This B-17G was built by Lockheed/Vega in Burbank, California, on 8 May 1945 – the day the war in Europe ended – and did not see combat.
After declared surplus by the Army, it was purchased by the Institut Geographique National (The National Geographic Institute of France)
in 1947 and flown for twenty-two years as a high-altitude topographer in Europe, South America, and Africa. After its acquisition
by the Lone Star Flight Museum in June 1987, the B-17 began a four and a half year in-house restoration at Houston's Hobby Airport.
It carries the markings of Thunderbird, a B-17 that flew 112 missions over Europe.

The original Thunderbird, based at Molesworth, England, was attached to the 359th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force.