triumph5 wrote: Every single piece of the wreckage will be saved for possible reuse/museum display/sample of/auction of for funds of other planes....that, and the fact no one was hurt, is the best to come of this.
Yes, that's fantastic. But dayum this still sucks..
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-05-11/wwii-planes-us-1-demolished
That just happened up the road from me. Sad to see them go.
As sad as it is when an old warbird crashes, it makes me happy they're still being flown. Much like when I see a cool vintage car all busted up. It's sad it got busted up, but dammit they should be driven not parked in a garage forever.
On a related note: at this point it's looking like the wife and I might both be unemployed in July. If that is still the case in late July, I'm finally taking her to Oshkosh.
All you punk azz's need to go to the Udvar-Hazy in DC.. Damn shame about that B-17.
My family toured the Liberty Belle last year. A shame, the folks that maintained her truly are awesome people.
Just terrible to see a piece of history go away like that. Great that no one was hurt, but awful that it was irreplaceable.
Makes me wonder if they're better off in museums at this point...
Anyone in the Michigan/Ohio/Indiana area ought to come to Ypsilanti for the "Thunder Over Michigan" show. Last year I happened by the Willow Run Airport just as a group of WWII bombers flew over. I think there were 5 B-17s and a Lancaster. Literally brought tears to my eyes. I knew guys who flew them both and I grew up listening to their stories.
DeadSkunk wrote: Anyone in the Michigan/Ohio/Indiana area ought to come to Ypsilanti for the "Thunder Over Michigan" show. Last year I happened by the Willow Run Airport just as a group of WWII bombers flew over. I think there were 5 B-17s and a Lancaster. Literally brought tears to my eyes. I knew guys who flew them both and I grew up listening to their stories.
Never seen a Lancaster fly..the sound of one Merlin is entoxicating, imagine that x4.
I live near a small airport outside Milwaukee called East Troy...there is a hanger there that does warbird restorations. They have a resident P-51D, a T-28, and a couple of AT6s...and Champion L-5. He restored a F4U Corsair and a TBM Avenger over the last few years...it's always time to stop and watch when they are flying around.
A real shame. But as already mentioned, here is CNY's local B-17, Fuddy Duddy.
Or at least it was local some time ago.
Wiki said: B-17G (s/n 44-83563) Fuddy Duddy is airworthy and owned by Martin Aviation Inc. in Santa Ana, California.[13]
We stopped to see it on our way to Niagra Falls. For a museum in the middle of nowhere they have some pretty impresive planes http://www.wingsofeagles.com/collection.cfm
That's a damn shame, but 70 years past its prime, a -17 got its crew back to Earth alive. That's a truly remarkable airplane.
Those photos are heartbreaking. I don't think this is the same plane, but it's the same deal: pay your money, fly about for a bit, be stoked. In Seattle a couple years ago:
neon4891 wrote: A real shame. But as already mentioned, here is CNY's local B-17, Fuddy Duddy.Wiki said: B-17G (s/n 44-83563) Fuddy Duddy is airworthy and owned by Martin Aviation Inc. in Santa Ana, California.[13]
There's some good close-ups of Fuddy Duddy at my Chino Planes of Fame Air Show link on the previous page.
Wally wrote: We stopped to see it on our way to Niagra Falls. For a museum in the middle of nowhere they have some pretty impresive planes http://www.wingsofeagles.com/collection.cfm
That's about 20 minutes from Watkins Glen, by the way.
Among the WWII aircraft, the have a very nice Aeronca. 
The Canadian Harvard Association is based out of the airport in Tillsonburg,Ontario. I used to sit on my deck in the evening and watch 4 or 5 Harvards (same as T6 Texans, I think) flying in formation. It was wonderful to see, and even better to listen to.
Javelin wrote: Not just any B-17 either. She was a real Warbird that survived WWII (the only one of her squadron to return from one particularly nasty bomb run).
Not quite. SN 44-85734 did not see combat in World War II, and was originally sold as scrap. The B-17 was eventually purchased by the Liberty Foundation to exhibit the plane as the "Liberty Belle."
DeadSkunk wrote: Anyone in the Michigan/Ohio/Indiana area ought to come to Ypsilanti for the "Thunder Over Michigan" show. Last year I happened by the Willow Run Airport just as a group of WWII bombers flew over. I think there were 5 B-17s and a Lancaster. Literally brought tears to my eyes. I knew guys who flew them both and I grew up listening to their stories.
That sounds incredible. The wife has friends up there. I should try to schedule her friend meet up with this show!
Well the loss of the Liberty Belle is slightly personal to me because I saw the plane quite regulary, and more than once exchanged waves with the pilot as he would fly it just over my house. My son loved climbing around in that old plane. It was a nice bird, and a nice flight crew that flew her.
There are only a few left that can fly, and now there is fewer still.
Ill be at willow run this year...
Joey
Sadly, this may encourage yet another organization to stop flying their warbirds. Our local museum (The Kalamazoo Air Zoo - shameless plug - awesome place, 1/2 way between Detroit and Chicago right off from I-94) stopped flying theirs not too long after one of their pilots had to belly land an F8F Bearcat. Apparently, insurance premiums had gotten absurdly high, and I suspect some in management succumbed to the "we've got to preserve these aircraft" way of thinking. (A sentiment I totally understand, I just don't agree with) I grew up with a P-47, Corsair, Wildcats, Hellcat, Tigercat, Bearcat and Skyraider (along with a host of AT-6's and other trainers) from their collection periodically flying over the city. Sadly, it all ended about 10 years ago. I still miss it. I guess the good news is that all those planes (and dozens more) are still here for my kids to see. But they just don't get the same experience seeing them sit there in a carefully manufactured display as I did watching them fly. There's something about seeing a 2000 hp engine turning a 13 foot prop while dripping blobs of flaming oil that you just can't replicate in a static display. This is probably considered heresy on this site, but I'd still take the sound of an R2800 over a Lambo engine any day.
MCarp22 wrote: Not quite. SN 44-85734 did not see combat in World War II, and was originally sold as scrap. The B-17 was eventually purchased by the Liberty Foundation to exhibit the plane as the "Liberty Belle."
I noticed that there was no service indicated in the warbird registry also. I suspect this was one of those planes that were completed under a contract with the military, which had no use for them once they were built (because of the end of the war). So they were taken from the assembly line and put in storage immediately and not soon after, sold for scrap.
Must have made for some very interesting surplus stores / yards back in the day.
aircooled wrote:MCarp22 wrote: Not quite. SN 44-85734 did not see combat in World War II, and was originally sold as scrap. The B-17 was eventually purchased by the Liberty Foundation to exhibit the plane as the "Liberty Belle."I noticed that there was no service indicated in the warbird registry also. I suspect this was one of those planes that were completed under a contract with the military, which had no use for them once they were built (because of the end of the war). So they were taken from the assembly line and put in storage immediately and not soon after, sold for scrap. Must have made for some very interesting surplus stores / yards back in the day.
Yeah, sorry about that. As much as I appreciate the post-war planes flying the colors from another bird, sometimes they don't do a very good job explaining that they aren't one-and-the-same. I like the Collier Collection B-24 as they switch the scheme every 5-10 years or so. At one point it had a different scheme on each side.
kazoospec wrote: Sadly, this may encourage yet another organization to stop flying their warbirds.
Not the guys at Chino's Planes of Fame. They're flying the only Japanese Zero still airworthy with the original engine. Two others also fly but have P & W power.
These guys even have an Oka. That's the only plane in the collection they won't try flying since it was only designed to last for half a mission.
Jerry From LA wrote: These guys even have an Oka. That's the only plane in the collection they won't try flying since it was only designed to last for half a mission.
Ummm, the mission was to NOT come back.
This particular B17 was used as a test bed by Pratt and Whitney with their T34 turbo prop. Pratt bought the plan in 1947 and had Lockheed move the cockpit 4 feet back. There are some neat pics of it with 5 engines and the 4 on wing shut down.
Obligatory hotlink.
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