luckily, this wasn't a true warbird. this plane never saw combat. It was sent to boeing to be modyified for a third nose engine installation that Pratt and Whitney wanted test. boeing made lots of changes to the plane. moved the cockpit aft, reskinned it with thicker skin and smoothed areas over. the aircraft was used as a test bed for 20 years before being shipped off to the new england air museum where it was hit by of all things a tornado, which tore the fuselage in half.
Of all the B17's that could have been restored to flying shape and risk losing I think this was the best candidate. Sad way to look at it, but it could have been a plane that really made 60+ plus bombing runs on germany......