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[R.I.P.] World War 2 Era B-17 Flying Fortress Crashes, Killing 7

Wife an I are currently stuck at the airport in myrtle beach, for a flight that was SUPPOSED to land at Bradly at 5:05 pm.
 
On another not, I'm friends with the manager of the Seymour airfield, where most of those planes land and take off at, and got to fly in one.

Bumpy, noisy ride. Kinda like the difference between a modern car and an old one.
 
I toured on this plane when I was 12, it came to Bremerton Airport every year for a historical display. She flew over my house just earlier in the summer.
 
KevinKohler said:
On another not, I'm friends with the manager of the Seymour airfield, where most of those planes land and take off at, and got to fly in one.

Bumpy, noisy ride. Kinda like the difference between a modern car and an old one.
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I know. And they were freezing cold with no cabin pressure. My grandfather was a nosegunner on a B-24 Liberator flying over the oilfields and trainyards in Romania and Germany towards the tail-end of the war. His biggest enemy wasn't enemy fighters because the Luftwaffe was decimated at that point, but rather 88mm flak.
 
Like an attention whore idiot, Democrat Senator Blumenthal calls for ALL vintage aircraft to be grounded. :roll:
 
My middle school history teacher was a part of an aircrew on a WWII bomber. I cannot remember if he was assigned to B-17s or B-24s. We could get him off his lesson plan by asking about the war. The stand out story for me was the time an aircrew member removed his thermal gloves and handled a machine gun; the available crew gathered around him and peed on his hands to unstick them from the exposed metal he had grabbed without thinking......
 
A sad day; lives lost and a bit of history gone.

In the summer of 2011 another B17 was on display in Saint Paul; the Liberty Belle, I was fortunate enough to be able to get my children to see the inside and tour it before it took off the next day.

Unfortunately, it also was lost a few days later when it crashed in Illinois; fortunately, no lives were lost in that incident.

These vintage birds are becoming increasingly rare, with only about a half dozen being airworthy.


Condolences to the families of the lost.
 
I don't know what kind of inspections they do for vintage aircraft, but I think they need to reexamine them perhaps?

Assuming, of course, that this isn't within the expected operating parameters - did they accept less reliability in WWII?
 
The Mark said:
I don't know what kind of inspections they do for vintage aircraft, but I think they need to reexamine them perhaps?

Assuming, of course, that this isn't within the expected operating parameters - did they accept less reliability in WWII?
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The airplane was about eighty years old.

B17s were legendary for the amount of damage they could sustain and still return to their bases.
 
Rexedgar said:
The airplane was about eighty years old.

B17s were legendary for the amount of damage they could sustain and still return to their bases.
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From the description in the article, it sounds like they lost some engines and crashed, but I thought B17's could make it on only 2 engines, although without a bomb load.

Edit: Ah, they were still climbing (or trying), I doubt they could do so with engine dmg.
 
The Mark said:
From the description in the article, it sounds like they lost some engines and crashed, but I thought B17's could make it on only 2 engines, although without a bomb load.

Edit: Ah, they were still climbing (or trying), I doubt they could do so with engine dmg.
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Any plane the size of a B17 is going to be a handful for the pilots if the engines aren't performing. Especially when it's heavy. In WWII bomber crews dreaded crash landings because the aircraft would invariably breakup with fire and heavy smoke immediately following. The aircraft is quite cramp for space and movement within wasn't all that easy even under normal circumstances. Never mind after becoming twisted up and filled with smoke. And remember that primary entrance and exit way is located on the underside of the fuselage. It was a tragedy to survive all the hellfire they went through over Europe just to die upon the same airfield from which they had left at the end of it all.
 
Something else to consider is, all the parts on those aircraft are fabricated, now. That stuff has been out of production for years.

And last, these are modern pilots, used to modern planes. They're simply not going to pilot them as well as the folks from the 40s. Just like race cars. Modern drivers can't pull out as much performance from vintage racers as the vintage drivers could. They're not used to dealing with play in the steering wheel, chassis flex, rev hangs, etc.
 
KevinKohler said:
Something else to consider is, all the parts on those aircraft are fabricated, now. That stuff has been out of production for years.

And last, these are modern pilots, used to modern planes. They're simply not going to pilot them as well as the folks from the 40s. Just like race cars. Modern drivers can't pull out as much performance from vintage racers as the vintage drivers could. They're not used to dealing with play in the steering wheel, chassis flex, rev hangs, etc.
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According to the NTSB the pilot in this crash had logged more than 7000 hours piloting B 17s.
 
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