The Matchcover Storyteller

There are any number of gas and service stations that have featured an airplane in some way or another. One of the earliest was The Airplane Station in Powell, Tennessee, built, yes, in the shape of an airplane in 1930 after Lindbergh’s famous 1927 flight,.  The Royal Albatross on Ventura Boulevard in L.A. was another, also in the 1930s.  Then there was Art Lacey’s Bomber.

Art Lacey was Oregon-born in 1913.  He was a logging camp cook and then worked for the Army Corps of Engineers in WW II.  In 1947, this young pilot opened a service station in Milwaukie, Oregon, a bit south of Portland.  You’ll note the matchcover says it’s on “Super Highway”  — that’s what they called McLoughlin Boulevard, or Oregon Route 99.  The station was Lacey’s 3rd venture with 4 gas pumps that soon grew to 40.  And flying remained his passion.

In 1947, all the stories say he “just decided” he wanted a B-17 Flying Fortress to grace his property.  His friends thought he was nuts but it seems you didn’t bet against Lacey, because he went down to Altus AFB in Oklahoma and yes, purchased a war surplus B-17 for about $13,000  (about 189,000 today)! 

Lacey flew his Fortress, never mind that he’d only ever flown single-engine in his life.  And yes, it had issues and he crash-landed it at Altus while getting the hang of it.  They took pity on him, wrote it off and actually sold him another for about $1,900!  This time, he had friends with experience get it up to Oregon, only to learn the county wouldn’t permit him to move it to his gas station.

Again, never mind; Lacey, some motorcyclists and teenagers moved it in pieces and without incident at 2 a.m.  (The county fined Lacey later)

They named the plane the “Lady Lacey” and it graced that station till 1960 when it was moved to another larger station. The thing is, weather in the Pacific Northwest is not conducive to aircraft preservation. In 1996, the Lacey family began preservation efforts that might have wound up costing $4 million but cash ran short.

Art Lacey died in 2000   In 2014, “Lady Lacey” was finally lowered to the ground and has been undergoing a very slow full-flight restoration since then in a hangar in Salem, Oregon.  She’s the lowest flying time B-17 in existence.  Estimated cost is now approaching $10 million and yes, they’d like donations!

This 20-strike Front Striker from Universal is the only cover I have seen.  If you have something more, please share with the RMS Bulletin!

Oh, by the way, that 1930 Airplane Station in Tennessee?  It’s on the National Register of Historic Places.  It was sold in the 1970s, and has been a liquor store, a barber shop and last I heard, was being renovated into an Air BnB.  There’s a 235-member Airplane Filling Station Preservation Association, but the Tennessee job seems its only focus.