Warbird Information Exchange

Ah..I think I was confusing that one with Paul Allen's. I remember seeing pics of a restored E (ex-Bolivian meat-hauler I think) in bare metal with basic star-and-meatball insignia..but it seems to have dropped off the radar.

SN

I also wonder what the future holds for the Lyon example ('Fuddy Duddy') too, as it is rarely flown and does seem another possible candidate to be retired to static display at some point.

okay, so what does this medium Rare Steak of an airframe look like today, or at least in the last week? New thread perhaps??

DENVER -- You heard about the Miracle on the Hudson and Pilot Sullie, well now we have Pilot Bud and the Miracle in the Corn Field.

Bud Sittig of Centennial, Colo. and his co-pilot, John Hess, only began flying together on Saturday, but on Monday as they were flying the Liberty Belle, a WWII Bomber to an air show in Indiana, they spotted flames coming from the bomber’s left wing.

“The chase plane pilot flew under us and radioed that the Grand Old Lady was on fire,” said Sittig, a 25-year veteran of the Colorado Air National Guard and long-time Delta Airlines pilot.

“When he told us to put the plane down in a corn field, we knew how serious the situation was. We couldn’t make it back to the air field in Aurora, Illinois, so we turned around, put the gear down and set her down.”

The five passengers on board made it out safely and exited the escape hatch under the flight deck.

Fire crews couldn’t get foam on the fire because the field was so muddy, so all anyone could do was just watch the vintage craft burn. The good news is that everyone made it out safely and Sittig thinks the four engines can be saved.

As members of the “Greatest Generation” continue to fade away, so too do the planes that helped win the ‘Big One.’ There are only three of the Flying Fortresses that are still air worthy, and there are only a handful of the B-29s left.

Bud says his 48 years of training and experience helped him turn what could have been a major disaster with loss of life, into one that saw everyone walk away uninjured and engines that may still be able to power one of the three B-17s still flying.

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-b17-pilot-back-in-colorado-after-crash-20110616,0,6301848.story?track=rss


Only three left airworthy?! LMAO
I love it when newscrews do not do their homework.., which is all to often the case.

Video on the link above and some sad photos I have not seen yet.

Rumor has it that one or more of her engines were Studebaker ~ can anyone confirm that?

A lot of B-17Gs flew with Studebaker-built Cyclone engines. I've seen some original WW2 magazine ads from Studebaker bragging about their Cyclones, with B-17s flying overhead in the background. (you may find ads for sale on eBay)

A lot of B-17Gs flew with Studebaker-built Cyclone engines. I've seen some original WW2 magazine ads from Studebaker bragging about their Cyclones, with B-17s flying overhead in the background. (you may find ads for sale on eBay)

I can do you one better than ads...a Studebaker memorbilia maker has T-shrits with several B-17-themed ads. http://bondobilly.com/warshirts.htm