In June 2024, the Yankee Air Museum (now called Michigan Flight Museum) sold the Boeing Flying Fortress B-17G “Yankee Lady” to a secret buyer; they refused to say who it was, or where its new home would be.

According to Air Classics’ Facebook page, Yankee Lady is heading to Chino, California, to be taken apart and shipped-off to Avspecs in New Zealand.

During the afternoon of 20OCT2024, Yankee Lady flew over my head while I was mowing the lawn in my backyard, in Chubbuck, Idaho.  It was heading towards the Pocatello Airport (which is actually not in the City of Pocatello), and now so was I.

My video from the evening of 20OCT2024:

I can only assume that the new owner(s) of Yankee Lady were on their way to California.

Even though there was no local news media announcement about the bomber’s visit the Yankee Lady did have an audience, consisting of the KPIH airport’s Aviation Center‘s employees, the U.S. Forest Service-BLM fire crews, and looky-loos from the Idaho State University’s Aviation Maintenance Technology school.

Typical windy day in Southeast Idaho:

According to Air Classics, once Yankee Lady gets a thorough rebuild by Avspecs Limited it is supposed to end up back in the U.S. of A.  It should be noted that Avspecs also has operations in California, so is Yankee Lady actually going to Kiwi-land, or just the land of fruits-n-nuts?

Prop-spinners:

Start your engines:

21OCT2024, taking off for destinations not known:

On the night of 21OCT2024, I was informed the bomber had landed at the Redmond Municipal Airport, in Oregon.

More B-17 stuff:

Germany destroys B-17 bombers in Ukraine!

My recurring encounters with Sentimental Journey: 1986-2021

How to paint your 1:1 scale B-17 Memphis Belle with ‘period correct’ paint