Topic: One less vintage B-17 in the sky's...'Liberty Belle' crashes in Aurora, Il.

[Damfino]

From the Chicago Tribune... 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-crews-responding-to-incident-involving-wwii-bomber-20110613,0,5852034.story

WWII bomber crashes near Aurora, all 7 aboard said to be OK

A World War II "Flying Fortress" bomber crashed and burned in a cornfield southeast of Aurora Municipal Airport this morning, but the seven people on board escaped without serious injury, officials say.

The B-17 took off from the airport at 9:30 a.m. and went down about three or four miles from Aurora about 20 minutes later, according to Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. "We believe the seven people on board escaped without injury."

The pilot made an emergency landing in a cornfield near Highway 71 and Minkler Road in Oswego after reporting an engine fire, according to Sugar Grove Fire Chief Marty Kunkle. Witnesses said he set the plane down between a tower and a line of trees.

One person on the plane was treated at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora and released, hospital spokeswoman Courtney Satlak said.

Jim Barry was at his home in the Deerpath Creek subdivision when he heard a plane flying low overhead. "The windows were rattling. I said, 'That's a crop duster.' "

He looked out and saw the bomber and a smaller yellow plane. An engine on the left wing of the bomber -- the one farthest from the cockpit --- was on fire.

"Not a lot of flames, just more smoke than flames," Barry said.

The pilot managed to set the plane down in a gap between a relay tower about 60 to 70 feet high and a line of trees 25 to 30 feet high -- around 500 yards from his home. "He did a great job," Barry said.

Once the plane was on the ground, flames started shooting 50 feet in the air. Within minutes, emergency crews were at the crash site.

"It was shocking," Barry said.

A neighbor told him she saw the words "Liberty Belle" on the nose of the plane.

His neighbor, Drew Mundsinger, was driving back home with his son after dropping off other children at school when they saw the plane flying low overhead. A smaller plane was flying with the B-17.

Mundsinger said he knew the plane was in the area providing rides and didn't think much of it. When they came close to their home, they saw large plumes of dark smoke filling the air and at first thought it was someone burning leaves.

Then he and his son realized one of the planes had crashed. By the time he reached his home, he saw the plane burning in a cornfield about 500 yards behind his home.

"When we first came here, it looked like nothing could survive that," Mundsinger said. "It looked to be right by my subdivision so I got worried. The scary thing is, it was heading right at our house.

“It made my heart race up a beat," he added. "I can clearly look straight out at it.”

Gene Sheeley was loading groceries into his car outside a Jewel store when he heard a plane flying overhead. Looking up, Sheeley said he noticed the bomber was gliding extremely low over the intersection of Orchard Road and Illinois Route 71 in Oswego.

 “I thought this puppy is flying low, but I didn’t realize it was going to crash,” Sheeley said.

But moments later Sheeley, 72, saw a large plume of black smoke rising into the clear blue sky.  “The first thing that came to my mind was did anybody get hurt,” Sheeley said.

The B-17 was primarily deployed by the U.S. 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, Fla., which restored the "Liberty Belle." The plane was at the Aurora Municipal Airport on Saturday and Sunday, according to the foundation's website.

The  "Liberty Belle" was sold on June 25, 1947 as scrap to Esperado Mining Co. of Altus, Okla. and was sold again later that year to Pratt & Whitney for $2,700, according to the foundation's website.

Whitney operated the B-17 from Nov. 19, 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 B-17’s mid-section, breaking the fuselage, the foundation said.

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. It was due to visit Indianapolis, Dayton and Cincinnati in the next few weeks.

[CycleRanger]

Dammit!

[zzpete]

Hell I know right where it crashed. I've seen that baby fly a couple times over events in the Chicagoland area. I used to work with a guy who was on the ground crew when it was parked in Aurora. What a shame!!!!

[Johnie]

Liberty Belle will surely be missed at the Experimental Aircraft Assn. (EAA) air show this year in Oshkosh, WI. I have seen it fly many times over here for the WWII show they have every year. What a true loss of a vintage aircraft.

[Damfino]

More photo's here....

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110613/news/706139928/photos/AR/

[ohiocaferacer]

Sad to hear.....but glad everyone is okay.

Me and the kids were just in that plane not long ago......have a ton of pics inside it.....glad we took them.

[zzpete]

  Looks like its totaled. I wonder if they can rebuild it or is it a parts plane now? They probably have resurrected worse!

[BobbyR]

I took a ride on it 5 years ago when they were at Westchester County Airport. The "little Yellow Plane" mentioned is a Biplane trainer. The pilot of the trainer was named "Dutch".  That day "Dutch had an engine go
and had to put the trainer down in the Long Island Sound just off a public beach. Good pilot , not a reliable lane. The Belle was also having her engine repaired that day. Very pretty plane, it is a shame.   

[BeSeeingYou]

While we were looking over the plane I noticed the outboard engine on the right side looked very fresh.  The pilot said it had just been installed and had about 100 hours on it.  He also said they had a few more extra engines rebuilt and the ones on the left side would soon be due for replacement.  They would get about 1800 hours between major overhauls.

[demon78]

Terrible, any time we the human race loses some thing like that we become more isolated from our collective history, just #$%*ing terrible, I'm not sure home many others are flying but I know there are maybe 3 Lancs flying and when they are gone there is less chance of people being able to relate to their grandfathers and it becomes fantasy.
Bill the demon.

[Frankencake]

Years ago in Ithaca, New York, I was doing an install at an office complex near the airport.  My boss called me and told me to take the rest of the day off and go to the airport as there were two vintage planes there.  I took a tour of both of them.  One was a Heinkle HE-111 and the other was The Liberty Belle.  The Heinkle crashed about 7 years ago and now the Belle.  It is a sad day, indeed.

[BeSeeingYou]

Years ago in Ithaca, New York, I was doing an install at an office complex near the airport.  My boss called me and told me to take the rest of the day off and go to the airport as there were two vintage planes there.  I took a tour of both of them.  One was a Heinkle HE-111 and the other was The Liberty Belle.  The Heinkle crashed about 7 years ago and now the Belle.  It is a sad day, indeed.

The Heinkel crashed in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 2003 after an engine failure killing two crew members.  That one was Spanish built under license and powered by Merlin engines.   Some of the Spanish built Heinkels remained in service until around 1960 with this one being used as Franco's personal transport.

[Frankencake]

Years ago in Ithaca, New York, I was doing an install at an office complex near the airport.  My boss called me and told me to take the rest of the day off and go to the airport as there were two vintage planes there.  I took a tour of both of them.  One was a Heinkle HE-111 and the other was The Liberty Belle.  The Heinkle crashed about 7 years ago and now the Belle.  It is a sad day, indeed.

The Heinkel crashed in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 2003 after an engine failure killing two crew members.  This one was Spanish built under license and powered by Merlin engines.   Some of the Spanish built Heinkels remained in service until around 1960 with this one being used as Franco's personal transport.

I sat in the pilot seat of that Heinkle.  It had Plexiglass that started behind your head above and surrounded your field of view.  It carried around in front and terminated just in front your hips on the floor.  The seat was kind of suspended over the edge of the glass and your feet were just hanging in mid air on the pedals.  This was the coolest cockpit I have ever seen.  You pretty much got to fly feet first, with your feet in mid air.  The pilot chair was about the width of a potato chip cafe seat, about as thick and just about as comfortable.  There was not really a separate bomb section of the plane like you would see in a B-25 or 17 but they bombs were stacked on end along the fuselage walkway in the middle of the plane.  When the fell, they hit the air tail first and dropped nose down.  There is some footage of HE-111's dropping bombs somewhere and you can see this.

[cb650]

That sucks!!!!!!  I to have video of it when it was here a few years ago.   Right before reading this the wind blew the poster down.

[Bob Wessner]

Really a shame. Each year the Yankee Air Museum nearby has an air show. A B-17 (flight worthy) has always been a part of it. They make a fairly low passes over our house as Willow Run AP is not far away. They have such a unique sound to them, you can't help but look up. 

[strynboen]

i just  like the fw-200 kondor. think it are inspired from boing kookpit..and pratt and whitny . kopi.. engines from bmw.   the danish civilian air company have some in 38..Focke Wulf FW200 Condor anti-shipping bomber in action

its just the plane i like..no politic..but they build some very interisting planes

[BeSeeingYou]

Years ago in Ithaca, New York, I was doing an install at an office complex near the airport.  My boss called me and told me to take the rest of the day off and go to the airport as there were two vintage planes there.  I took a tour of both of them.  One was a Heinkle HE-111 and the other was The Liberty Belle.  The Heinkle crashed about 7 years ago and now the Belle.  It is a sad day, indeed.

The Heinkel crashed in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 2003 after an engine failure killing two crew members.  This one was Spanish built under license and powered by Merlin engines.   Some of the Spanish built Heinkels remained in service until around 1960 with this one being used as Franco's personal transport.

I sat in the pilot seat of that Heinkle.  It had Plexiglass that started behind your head above and surrounded your field of view.  It carried around in front and terminated just in front your hips on the floor.  The seat was kind of suspended over the edge of the glass and your feet were just hanging in mid air on the pedals.  This was the coolest cockpit I have ever seen.  You pretty much got to fly feet first, with your feet in mid air.  The pilot chair was about the width of a potato chip cafe seat, about as thick and just about as comfortable.  There was not really a separate bomb section of the plane like you would see in a B-25 or 17 but they bombs were stacked on end along the fuselage walkway in the middle of the plane.  When the fell, they hit the air tail first and dropped nose down.  There is some footage of HE-111's dropping bombs somewhere and you can see this.

Years ago in Ithaca, New York, I was doing an install at an office complex near the airport.  My boss called me and told me to take the rest of the day off and go to the airport as there were two vintage planes there.  I took a tour of both of them.  One was a Heinkle HE-111 and the other was The Liberty Belle.  The Heinkle crashed about 7 years ago and now the Belle.  It is a sad day, indeed.

The Heinkel crashed in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 2003 after an engine failure killing two crew members.  This one was Spanish built under license and powered by Merlin engines.   Some of the Spanish built Heinkels remained in service until around 1960 with this one being used as Franco's personal transport.

I sat in the pilot seat of that Heinkle.  It had Plexiglass that started behind your head above and surrounded your field of view.  It carried around in front and terminated just in front your hips on the floor.  The seat was kind of suspended over the edge of the glass and your feet were just hanging in mid air on the pedals.  This was the coolest cockpit I have ever seen.  You pretty much got to fly feet first, with your feet in mid air.  The pilot chair was about the width of a potato chip cafe seat, about as thick and just about as comfortable.  There was not really a separate bomb section of the plane like you would see in a B-25 or 17 but they bombs were stacked on end along the fuselage walkway in the middle of the plane.  When the fell, they hit the air tail first and dropped nose down.  There is some footage of HE-111's dropping bombs somewhere and you can see this.

Probably pretty cool in peacetime but with people shooting at you I think I would feel a bit naked even though the sheetmetal may not provide anymore protection.

[Frankencake]

These old planes were made of metal but it did not have any effective qualities regarding stopping bullets or shrapnel.

[72 yellow]

Wife and I saw the "Liberty Belle" last year at the air show at Willow Run.  The gathering of B-17's was most impressive to see them in the air all at once. Can only imagine what one of those 1000 plane raids looked like.

[BeSeeingYou]

Checked in on the Liberty Belle website and they have a page written about the accident by the pilot.  It seems when they first landed in the field the fire was not to bad and localized but the fire trucks wouldn't drive across the field as they felt it was too soft.  The pilot felt the plane could have been saved if the firetrucks had been able to get to it.  They just had to watch as the fire eventually hit the fuel cells and consumed the aircraft.

[Damfino]

Wow! That's too bad and sorta confirmed by this pic....

[Damfino]

One of my proudest possesions....

An old B/W photo of the Memphis Belle crew, personally autographed by Capt. Robert Morgan himself.

Got it from him during Freedom Flight '95 at the same Aurora airport the Liberty Belle was flying from.

[Frankencake]

Wow! That's too bad and sorta confirmed by this pic....

That make me very angry.  Since when do fire trucks take precedence over a freakin WWII bomber.  Pathetic!

[Damfino]

A list of still flying B-17 survivors...

http://www.johnweeks.com/b17active/index.html

[BeSeeingYou]

Wow! That's too bad and sorta confirmed by this pic....

That make me very angry.  Since when do fire trucks take precedence over a freakin WWII bomber.  Pathetic!

Ya know, I was feeling the same way.  I wasn't there but come on, the B-17 landed without a problem so why couldn't a truck or two get across the field.  I guess since no lives were in danger at that point why get their tires dirty.

In some photos you can see the left inboard engine has the prop feathered but it's not clear if it was the engine or something in that area of the wing.  That engine nacelle does hold the oil tank for that side, at least 30+ gallons.

Schmthaus, pretty cool photo.