| Author | Message | ||
     Just_ziptab |
Make that totally SUCKS! http://www.thirdage.com/news/b-17-bomber-crash-lan ds-outside-chicago_06-14-2011 Doesn't look like much can be salvaged to keep other birds in the air....... | ||
| Hughlysses |
Yea, I saw that. At least the crew got out safely. That's almost as bad as that B-29 they recovered in Greenland (?) a few years back that was covered in a documentary. The crew spent months restoring the plane in a remote location; they installed 4 fresh engines and had it ready to fly out. On a test taxi run, the APU (a Honda generator) fell over and caught fire. They stopped the plane, jumped out, and watched it burn to molten aluminum. What a waste. | ||
| Blake |
Darn.  | ||
| Just_ziptab |
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| Tbolt_pilot |
I got a little down when I saw this today. I feel somewhat of a connection with the Fortress. My Grandfather was a mechanic and munitions specialist with the 457th Bomb Group, 748th Squadron in Glatton, England during WWII. He is the main reason I chose the Air Force some 19+ years ago. Hate to see any warbird meet it's end, especially a 17. | ||
| Joshinga |
Sad, one less great piece of American history | ||
| Ltbuell |
One of my uncles was a B-17 co(still alive) and flew with the 97th out of Foggia, Italy into Germany..did a lot of the Brenner Pass bombing runs..those"gals" were/are history and the men who flew them were/are "pages of history" and when anyone of them "leaves" its like removing a page of history from the book. I saw that B-17"Liberty Belle" at Boeing Field awhile back(got to see her fly too) so that makes it all the more to me as when i see something like this its like an old friend passing that you grew up with(i've seen quite a few of them and others in my times at air shows and at the Reno Air Races and special Fly-Ins at various air ports). There's things that draw you to them in so many ways and when you see and hear and touch them .....only way to describe it is you have to just go and take it all in and once you do, its addicting and way so much fun,expecially listening to the men who worked on and flew them(i've had countless times talking with them..truly humbling to be in groups of them and listening and conversing with them..can't put a price on that for sure).Yup a very sad day indeed.. | ||
| Mls1 |
Sad for sure, but the way I look at it is this B-17 would have ended up melted for scrap years ago had not the Liberty Foundation restored it. It did it's purpose educating thousands of young Americans about the war and reminding us of the sacrifice given. Thanks you Liberty Foundation and I am glad all crew are safe! | ||
| 99savage |
Have really, really mixed feelings about putting irreplaceable mechanical contrivances to use. - If destroyed they can never be replaced and all history suffers but if not put to use they are just so much inert metal. Question: If you were to have a really unique ride, say a Vincent, come in to your possession would you ride it like any other scooter or just from the trailer into the showroom? | ||
| Dnlink |
I was bummed to see this too but....It's an Airplane and Airplanes are meant to fly. I'm a user not a collector. I personally won't own anything I'm not willing to ride,drive or shoot. | ||
| Drkside79 |
Yeah that happened not to far from me. There were a few local stories about additional passengers who are thanking their lucky stars they backed out at the last minute. One of which already rode one to the ground during the war. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Tbolt, I know Glatton used to live not far away. If you're interested in the history of the uk wwII airfields & bases, the "Action Stations" series of books is essential reading. Can't remember the author's name offhand but if you're interested pm me I have all the details somewhere. | ||
| Aesquire |
You ride the Vincent. As a trailer queen that never runs and just has mirrors underneath to show off.... it's a museum piece. Laughing at the GSXR rider who double takes as he passes... that's a live machine in motion. The Blackbird at the SAC museum will never fly again. It's a dead reminder of better days when people flew mach3 and Aerospace meant actual hardware being tested in a real world at the edge. Edge of space, edge of speed, edge of ability. ( at mach3+ you blink, you crossed a county...in Europe, a nation. ) The B-17 at the Air Force museum is history. Dead metal, cold pistons, a sign, a few photos of long gone hero's. The B-17 at the airshow throbs, the gale from it's 4 Wright radials flaps your clothes as unburnt high octane fuel bites your sinuses. Your eyes water. As the lightly loaded heavy bomber lifts off you can imagine the crews more than half a century ago straining to get the heavy load of fuel, ammo and bombs to lift, preparing for a flight into hostile skies, no foxhole to hide in, no camo to conceal. Massed batteries of anti aircraft cannon await. Dedicated aces prepare to climb 5 miles to kill them, the very altitude a danger unknown to Destroyer crews and Infantry. Only the crews of Submarines understand how precious the very air you breath can be, when it's stored in high pressure bottles, vulnerable to bullet of splinter, a bomb behind your seat. A ship may sail in harms way time and again, but it's battles usually can be counted on the fingers of your hands. An Infantrymen may be in several major battles, and dozens of minor skirmishes.. ( modern duty in the War on Jihad is an unusual thing with it's frequency of combat... ) The Bomber crews went up against the enemy every mission. The odds were better that you would die before completing your tour. The RAF lost more men in combat than they had in the RAF at the start of the war. More than the RAF has total, today. More than you can believe....... So, yes. It's a tragic loss of a piece of history when a warbird dies. The number of people who have chosen to restore, often from mere scraps and a data plate, these precious relics is on the rise, however. There are only a few left who race the old birds, and I wouldn't stop them, but racing has taken it's toll as well. ( I'd love to have one of the rare FG2's... but they're gone. ) When the last vet of the war is gone, like my Uncle Robert Yost, Sgt. USMC, Merrill's Marauders, CBI, the stories of those days ends. But in the meantime... We took uncle Robert to the Geneseo Airshow. Mostly bored it seemed. The B-17 was a yawn, He liked the PBY ( like me he thought it would be a great camper ) but we got up to the lone P-47 and his face changed. "These were the best planes ever, these planes saved my life" as the young pilots & crews heard this, they gathered 'round the stooped skinny former mule skinner. He told of fighting in Burma, where the T-Bolt pilots would get right into the treetops and drop 500 lb. bombs literally in the ditch across the road from him, while in fierce firefights with the Japanese troops. Times when combat stopped, suddenly, as the Whine from the Jug's turbocharger swept over the battlefield, and the japanese slipped away to avoid certain death. The pilots and groundcrews stood rapt as an old man told tales I'd never heard of jungle so dense enemy patrols actually stepped on you as you lay in the mud, rain for weeks on end, building a road that was being washed out as fast as you cut the trees to extend it, supplies dropped by parachute that drifted into enemy hands, and eating captured, half rotten rice sitting next to the bodies of men who came to kill you, for their God-Emperor, and stayed in the jungle forever, because you got lucky, or an American plane got there in time...... Keep em flying. Ride the Black Shadow. | ||
| Britchri10 |
Action Stations Series: Author: Michael Bowyer. I think #1 is East Anglian Airfields. 8th Air Force Chris C Edited 'cause I forgot to add th ename of the book series (Message edited by britchri10 on June 15, 2011) | ||
| Bolthead |
I saw a B-17 today while I was outside during my lunch hour. The sound of those 4 radial engines roaring 500 feet above me gave me chills. the plane is owned by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). They were in Ankeny, Iowa giving 1/2 hour rides to the public for around $400. I feel rotten that we lost one of those marvels, but glad it wasn't the only one and that other dedicated people are keeping the story alive. Man, I wish I had a little extra discretionary income...someday. | ||
| Dwardo |
Well said, Aesquire. There is a place for museum aircraft, of course, but they are just taxidermy, basically. I love air museums and have scheduled many a business trip around visiting them, but nothing beats a real live airplane. I saw that PBY at Geneseo make really nasty crosswind landing some years ago when a sudden storm blew up during the air show. It was a nice job, and I for one, had my heart in my mouth until he got all three wheels on the ground. | ||
| Mtjm2 |
Fell in love with the B-17 as a kid watching 12 O clock High . Finally saw one flying at an air show . WOW ! WHAT A MACHINE . The only thing that topped that was the P-51 . It takes a little out of all of us when things like this happen . | ||
| Tbolt_pilot |
Grumpy and Brit, thanks for the info. I'll look up those books. I don't have much in the way of stories from my Grandfather. I was pretty young when he passed but my Dad said that he wouldn't really talk much about the war. Probably saw too much man and machine come back with holes in them...if they came back. I've done online research and found pics from then and now of Glatton. Would be nice to go there someday. I have a few pics of him from then and a cool 8x10 of a D or E model Fortress named 'Boomerang' that he had. Seemed an appropriate name. | ||
| Crusty |
Here's a link to the facts about the Liberty Belle fire: http://www.libertyfoundation.org/index.html | ||
| 99savage |
Aesquire: Live near the Elmira/Coring Airport, heir to the Geneseo Museum. Had an airshow about 15 years ago with (3) B-17's & (1) B-24 in the air simultaneously. - Sometimes flying over my house Was the only time I ever felt sorry for Germany - Feel those engines shaking the ground. - Look up & see airplanes w/ guns bristling every direction and know most of them are going to get thru - You can hurt a lot of them a lot but most of them are going to get thru and there ain't squat you can do about it. Modern planes look beautiful but the WWII war birds were just plain mean looking (Mosquito excepted) Even then worried that one of them would come to ruin & on the way home from the show a C-47 did. Still have mixed feeling about putting them in the air but sure glad I got to see them | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
That's the one Chris. My mum used to know Michael Bowyer, he actually came for christmas once, nice enough chap but a typical academic.. | ||
| Thumper74 |
My great uncle, who's suffering from dementia was a WWII pilot and I love sitting around, hearing his stories. I'm almost 30... From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. -Randall Jarrell |
