Monday, June 13, 2011

A tragedy for historic aviation


Many readers will be familiar with the B-17G Flying Fortress named 'Liberty Belle', belonging to the Liberty Foundation of Atlanta, GA.




Sadly, it made a forced landing in a cornfield near Chicago, IL today after an engine fire started in mid-air.




The seven people on board managed to escape without serious injury (only one needed short-term treatment), but the aircraft looks to be a total loss.




This is a terrible blow to historical aviation in the USA. There are now only a dozen airworthy B-17's in the country, plus a couple more overseas. It's conceivable that in my lifetime, all of them will have to be retired due to lack of spare parts and/or airframe fatigue. It's sad to think that our children's children will have only a few static exhibitions and old movie clips to remember these warbirds.

Peter

7 comments:

  1. I consider this a tragedy as well, for exactly the reasons you lay out.

    ...but, on the other hand, the long term trend is for personal wealth to increase at something like 1% per year, due to technological advancement.

    We'll be PRINTING new B-17s soon enough!

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  2. A little bit of my heart just broke. Had it been Sentimental Journey, I'd be crying right now. Sad sad news.

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  3. Looks like the engines survived relatively intact, maybe the aircraft can be used for parts for other B-17s

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  4. Heartbreaking. Now I've got something in my eyes.

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  5. This is a terrible terrible loss.. I am glad I had the opportunity to see this jewel of history last summer. Indeed a very sad day for Aviation and History.

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  6. Umm, maybe 3 engines came through it OK. Remember, it was an engine fire that caused that landing.

    Bart Noir

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  7. Yikes! That's terrible news. Liberty Belle visited us regularly here in Hillsboro, Oregon. Several times a year giving rides and raising funds. I live beneath the landing pattern and she would fly right over my house several times a day while she was here. Hopefully, Aluminum Overcast will continue her visits.

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