  The supernova remnant S147 harbors the pulsar PSR J0538+2817 whose
characteristic age is more than an order of magnitude greater than the
kinematic age of the system (inferred from the angular offset of the pulsar
from the geometric center of the supernova remnant and the pulsar proper
motion). To reconcile this discrepancy we propose that PSR J0538+2817 could be
the stellar remnant of the first supernova explosion in a massive binary system
and therefore could be as old as its characteristic age. Our proposal implies
that S147 is the diffuse remnant of the second supernova explosion (that
disrupted the binary system) and that a much younger second neutron star (not
necessarily manifesting itself as a radio pulsar) should be associated with
S147. We use the existing observational data on the system to suggest that the
progenitor of the supernova that formed S147 was a Wolf-Rayet star (so that the
supernova explosion occurred within a wind bubble surrounded by a massive
shell) and to constrain the parameters of the binary system. We also restrict
the magnitude and direction of the kick velocity received by the young neutron
star at birth and find that the kick vector should not strongly deviate from
the orbital plane of the binary system.
