All 7 people onboard a LIBERTY FOUNDATION Boeing B17 Flying Fortress escaped without injury this morning, when the WWII bomber crashed and burned in a field SE of Aurora Municipal Airport in suburban Chicago. The B17 took off from the Airport at 9:00am, local time, and went down in a corn field and burst into flames, about 3 or 4 miles from Aurora about 20 minutes later, according to an FAA spokeswoman. The Captain reportedly declared an emergency reporting engine trouble and made a forced landing in a corn field. The B17 was primarily deployed by the US Army Air Forces in daylight strategic bombing of German industrial and military targets. It also participated to a lesser extent in the Pacific, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields. The plane that crashed was manufactured in 1944 and is registered to the Liberty Foundation in Miami, Florida, which restored the "Liberty Belle." The plane was at the Aurora Municipal Airport this past weekend. The plane was sold as scrap in 1947 and was sold again later that year to Pratt & Whitney for $2700. Whitney operated the B17 from November 1947 to 1967 to test turboprop engines. It was donated in the late 1960s to the Connecticut Aeronautical Historic Association in East Hartford, but was heavily damaged in 1979 when a tornado threw another aircraft against the B17’s mid-section, breaking the fuselage. It was stored in the New England Air Museum in Connecticut until the foundation began restoring it. The plane travels around the country, giving rides to the public at $430 each. The NTSB is investigating.
Such a sad, sad day in aviation history. There's not a lot of these ladies left up in the air. Thank you for such a detailed account of this ones' demise.
ReplyDelete