List of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress operators

They were used by the 1º and 2º Esquadrões (1st and 2nd Squadrons) of 6º Grupo de Aviação (6th Aviation Group), based at Recife, for search and rescue and photo-reconnaissance until 1968.

[2] Three Mk.IIIA and one Mk.III were lost in crashes, and the remaining two Mk.IIIs were sold to Argentina in 1948[3] where they received civilian registrations (LC-RTO and LC-RTP), and hauled beef in 1948, but were parked after 1949, and were finally scrapped in 1964.

[1] During World War II, after crash-landing or being forced down, approximately 40 B-17s were repaired and put back into the air by the Luftwaffe.

[7] When Israel achieved statehood in 1948, the Israeli Air Force had to be assembled quickly to defend the new nation from the war it found itself almost immediately embroiled in.

Among the first aircraft acquired by the Israeli Air Force were three surplus American B-17s, smuggled via South America and Czechoslovakia to avoid an arms trading ban imposed by the United States.

The three aircraft were thoroughly flight tested and evaluated at Tachikawa, Japan by the IJAAF Koku Gijutsu Kenkyujo (Air Technical Research Institute).

[1] Late in World War II, RAF and USAAF bombers that had been damaged in raids over the Reich would put down in Soviet-controlled territory rather than try to make it back to Western bases, and in April 1945 the Soviet Air Forces (VVS) issued a directive to its units in the field to report the location of any aircraft of its Western Allies that were in Soviet hands; among the aircraft salvaged were a total of 73 B-17s.

Although Russian aircrews and maintenance crews had no experience with such aircraft, the Soviets proved ingenious at keeping them flying, and in fact were delighted with the B-17's handling, comparing it to a "swallow" and the nimble Polikarpov Po-2 biplane trainer.

[10] Beginning in 1952, Taiwan (under the guise of the CIA's Civil Air Transport (CAT) and Technical Research Group (TRG) organizations, operated a number of "enhanced" B-17s (with as many as 14 crewmembers at a time) on surveillance and related flights of mainland China.

Two ex-RCAF/USAAF B-17E were sold in 1948 and registered as LV-RTO[12] and LV-RTP[13] Both were delivered to Carlos Pérez de Villa at Bernardino Rivadavia Airport (Morón, Buenos Aires) in 1948.

[4] Canadian B-17 flown by Kenting Aviation in the 60's for level photo in many parts of the world[citation needed] Danish airline DDL bought two B-17s from Sweden in 1945.

[citation needed] One B-17G Flying Fortress "44-85718" was registered in South Africa while in service with the Institut Géographique National between 1965 - 1966 performing geographical survey operations.

Today, one of them is on static display at National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, restored back to combat figuration.