Vintage World War II Plane Crashes Outside Chicago (B-17)

WKRC ^ | 6/13/2011 | WKRC

[TSgt]

A WWII bomber plane crashed and caught fire near Chicago Monday morning. No one was injured.

Seven people were onboard the plane. Officials say they all walked away from the crash.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was at airport in Oswego, Illinois, to mark the 67th anniversary of D-Day. The bomber was grounded over the weekend due to mechanical problems and took off from Sugar Grove Airport at 9:30 a.m. The Daily Herald profiled the plane and D-Day event over the weekend.

The restored B-17, called "Liberty Belle," is owned by Liberty Foundation. The plane was at Lunken Airport on June 19, 2010 where the public was invited to fly on it for a fee of $430.

[Taylor42]

I still grieve when I see pictures of hundreds upon hundreds of B-17s and other aircraft disassembled for scrap after the war, with no thought of saving a few score for museums and posterity.

My late father used to tell stories of flying airplanes from the factory to the scrap yard after the end of the war. He said they would give the planes a real workout since they were headed for destruction.

[jazusamo]

Very sad, she was a beautiful plane.

[kbennkc]

HUGE KUDOS to the pilot for bringing the pland down with no casualties. Great job

The only thing better would have been to not fly an aircraft that is not airworthy.

[HereInTheHeartland]

Very sad.
I think that is the one I saw fly over my home 2 weeks ago when it was here.

[Gordon Pym]

B17 E with the chin turret. Made late in the war. Makes her even more rare.

Sad

[The Antiyuppie]

I’ve seen this particular plan “in action”, too.

Sadly, I don’t think there will be many WWII airplanes operational within the next 20 years - most remaining will be hanging from the ceilings of museums. Let’s face it, they aren’t making any more, and there will be accidents no matter how well maintained the remainder are. So, see them while you can.

[sjmjax]

Sad, quite a loss of history.

Any word on the cause?

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

[ Still and all, such a shame we couldn't’t have saved more for history’s sake.]

It was a shame the so many other models from the war were not sold to the public for appreciation. One case, they buried over 1500 P-38’s fresh off the assembly line, drover over them first with D-8’s and burried them, new engines and all. They made no attempt to salvage a thing from these priceless war birds.

They did the same with most new P-51’s etc,.....Pure shame!

[windcliff]

ping

[tanknetter]

Liberty Belle had a fascinating history too. After WWII she was used by Pratt&Whitney to test turboprops. Involved removal of her nose and replacement with a large rig to mount the engines she was testing.

After being retired from that role, she went to the New England Air Museum. Where she was seriously damaged during the 1979 tornado, when another plane in the museum’s collection was thrown into her and cut her in half.

After a couple decades in storage, she was obtained and restored to flying condition in her B-17G bomber configuration. A few years back she was flown over to Europe where she was joined by the then-two flying European B-17s (”Pink Lady” from France and “Sally B” from the UK).

Really, really sad day. Glad everyone got out ok, obviously, but she was such a precious piece of irreplaceable history.

[Psalm 144]

“Breaks my heart to have another beautiful warbird lost, but she took care of all aboard. The Fortress did her job of sacrificing herself for the crew. Sucks, but a happy ending nonetheless.”

You are right. Faithful to the end.

[Think free or die]

I’m glad all survived, but what a sad loss of our history. I took my parents and sons to see the Liberty Belle some years ago when she was visiting my parents’ home town. It was quite an experience for us. My parents remembered hearing the Americans overhead in the latter stages of the war when they were still under Nazi occupation. They knew at that point that it was only a matter of time until the war was over.

[capt. norm]

It's one heck a lot closer to Aurora

It's a bit ironic that Aurora is home to a huge FAA facility (Chicago Air Route Traffic Center).

[Psalm 144]

Yes, and how heartbroken the pilot must be!

[Buckeye McFrog]

I knew an old fella who flew on those during the war. He used to regale me with stories of how much flak one of them could take and keep on flying. Sad to see one meet its end on a sightseeing cruise then.

[tanknetter]

Then there was the “Kee Bird” B-29 that sat on the Greenland ice pack since 1947 and somebody completely restored it on site in 1995 and then it caught fire and burned while taxiing for takeoff.

The loss of Kee Bird was a complete travesty, and (imho) a crime against history.

She was restored, but only to the most basic condition capable of flight to the nearest airfield, where she was to be broken down for shipment back to the US.

During the taxi tests the crew had an APU in the rear fuselage that was being gravity fed with fuel from a 5-gallon can suspended overhead. Some of the fuel sloshed around as she was taxiing (no surprise there, given the condition of the improvised "runway" they were using), hit the hot APU and *POOF*. B-29, extra crispy.

The only positive thing about Kee Bird is that the risks associated with getting her to successfully lift off from that "runway" were high ... there was a VERY good chance that they were going to crash her trying and people were going to die.

[ken5050]

Awesome pic..many thanks for posting

Since we have just passed another D-Day anniversary, a little perspective is in order.

The 8th USAAF ( for which the B-17 was the main bomber) lost 26,000 men over Europe. That number is GREATER than the total USMC KIA in all of WW II. Of the Marine deaths, almost 8,000 occured taking Iwo Jima.

The chief reason for the Iwo Jima campaign was to use the island's airstrips as an emergency landing site for the B-29's that were bombing Japan. Indeed, the first B-29 ditched in the water along side the landing beaches on day 3 of the invasion. USAAF studies done just after the war suggest that having Iwo available for emergencies may have saved 20-25,000 USAAF lives.

Also, we must never forget that the main reason for the constant bombing of Germany from 43-44 was to destroy the Luftwaffe. The D-Day invasion could not have succeeded ( or at best been much more costly) without total air supremacy over the invasion beaches.

[tanknetter]

The only thing better would have been to not fly an aircraft that is not airworthy.

Chances are the FAA investigators have just arrived on the scene, and not even begun their investigation let alone made their conclusion and released their report. Where do you draw the conclusion that Liberty Bell was "not airworthy" at the point when the decision was made to fly her?

[magslinger]

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[PA Engineer]

What a loss. B-( IIRC, the Liberty Belle was at the Pittsburgh Air Show too.

I saw her at the show and she flew over my house. You could hear her coming. My Wife and I were jumping up and down, waiving like a couple of kids. Glad everyone walked away, however I am sad about the loss.