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There's A B17 Buzzing My House

Here I found the guy...here is his web site:

liberty foundation




With the turn of the millennium, the B-17 was purchased by aviation enthusiast Don Brooks. Having a longtime goal to restore a Flying Fortress, Don had made multiple attempts to acquire a B-17 for over a decade. He helped finance and was directly involved in the Greenland Expedition’s search for B-17’s in Greenland and the recovery of the P-38 “Glacier Girl”. During the Greenland expedition, they discovered a B-17, but it was crushed under the weight of several hundred feet of ice. Not giving up, Don made other efforts to receive salvage rights to recover a B-17 in Canada that has been underwater for over 50 years. Finally, Don became closer to his dream by concluding a deal for 44-85734 being restored at the Flying Tiger’s Museum.

Mr. Brooks, whose father flew as a crew member in B-17’s during WWII,founded the Liberty Foundation, a 501(c)3 Museum that owns and will operate the aircraft. He choose to paint it as the “Liberty Belle” to honor his father, the thousands who served in 390th based in Framlingham, England and the many who fought for the Allies. The aircraft will be a living, breathing reminder of these aircraft and the men who flew and supported them. Don has been responsible for the preservation of several other vintage aircraft, including a C-47 that was used during the 1944 D-Day invasion and is completing the restoration of a rare P-40. His drive and dedication is extraordinary and we all look forward to seeing the results of his vision.

In February 2004, after over 12 years since the restoration began, the B-17 was extracted with only inches to spare from within the hangar’s confines. Being 90% reassembled, it is in the final stages of restoration and once again gracefully take to the air this summer!

The restoration exceeds 3-million dollars and its operation will only possible by the generous contributions and private donations received
 
The Greenland one was a heartbreaker. One of the guys actually died during the process. Contracted some kind of bad sickness during the project up there and DIED. They get the whole thing re-built, plow out a runway and taxiway. They are ready to fly it out. They start the engines, and the vibrations from the big recips starts vibrating the fuel tank for the APU (which is located above the APU. BAD positioning you Boeing gents!) Anyhow, the fuel tank starts leaking onto the really hot APU, fire starts, and these guys have barely enough time to scramble out. They end up sitting on beach chairs and watching the fruits of two years labor go up in flames right before their eyes. ANYBODY would've/should've cried.

Bonus question - What was their re-supply/support aircraft?
 
Negative, but you're onto something with the two-engine recip. I worked on these things for a year and a half as a hydraulic troop before becoming a boom operator.
 
On of my great uncles flew B-26 Marauders in WW-II......some of the stories he could tell....especially the one about flying under the Golden Gate Bridge........Damn near got him canned...........
 
Aww, man, I remember seeing that show about the B-29...They just basically had to sit there & watch 'er burn..What a shame !!!
 
If I am not mistaken,the fuel pump for the APU was fried so they went with a simple(but dangerous)gravity fed fuel delivery system for the apu.The vibration caused the fuel to spill onto the hot exhaust manifold of the APU thus causing the fire and tragically destroying the aircraft.THe restores even found new NOS engines for the 29 that they purchased for 10 thousand bucks apiece.
 
Sandy G said:
Aww, man, I remember seeing that show about the B-29...They just basically had to sit there & watch 'er burn..What a shame !!!
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Yes, I remember this tragic loss of an ultra-rare warbird. Heartbreaking to say the least! Credit to the crew for the work involved, but my opinion still stands....That aircraft should have been dis-assembled completely and flown out of there in pieces to be properly restored under better controlled conditions. A rare "minty" B-29 would have been worth the time & expense. Now its gone forever because "Race Bannon" had to fly it out soley for the glory of it all.

BIG aircraft like a B-29 would mean huge componet parts even stripped down completely but it could have been done.( Been done before!)

Oooooh! What a waste! That whole incident STILL pushes my buttons.

Russ

Russ
 
LBPete said:
Finally figured out who was behind these B17 and B24 flights. Here’s a link.

http://www.collingsfoundation.org/cf_schedule-wof.htm

Their schedule shows they are covering the west coast for the next few months. They will be around the greater LA area for awhile. For what it’s worth, they get 400 bucks for a 30 minute ride. (That’s more than it cost me to fly to the AK fest and back!) They claim it costs them $3,100 an hour to fly these planes.

A couple of other interesting facts, they claim the B17 is one of only 14 flying examples and the B24 is the only flying B24!

- Pete
Click to expand...

I have to get out to the Collins site sometime. The trio of bombers was hitting the local airports all over New England a few years back & A friend of mine went skydiving out of the bomb bay on either the B-24 or the B-17. IIRC, you could pay $100 to go up for 15 minutes & $300 to jump out (of a perfectly good airplane).

I knew nothing about this organization until one afternoon over by the Norwood, MA airport I heard the unmistakable sound of the bombers. Right over the car went the B-17 & the B-24!

"*&%$**#(#))*)##))*)#, those are WWII warbids! #*^#()@__#@_& #&^*%#@&*_ is going on?"

You get the drift. That night on the news, the birds were everywhere. The next day I searched up the Collins Foundation and discovered they don't have regular openings, you have to schedule a tour. But, they said just come on by if you are in the area as there is usually someone around. You'd be welcome to check out the collection. I really don't get what's up with these people but I sure like their style.

As an aside, my home is about 5 miles, as the crow flys, from the Pats stadium. First game of the season, we are directly under the F-18 flyover. which is 2 or 4 planes. They shoot over at perhaps as low as 500 feet, the planes look big they are so close. Oh, is that cool! What a noise!
 
Round engines=big noise

Any of you planning a trip to Oshkosh this year? Trying to work it out to head over w/brother-in-law and nephew to take it in. It'd be a good year to go...the Airline History Museum's fully-restored Super Constellation will be in attendance...a must-see. I've seen her fly several times....always get the chills. Pure flying sculpture. The story behind the plane is cool...20-odd years ago, a guy's driving thru Arizona and sees signs for an auction. Follows the signs, and ends up at an airport. Seems this shoestring cargo operation had gone belly-up, and all the assets were to go. Curious, he's following a pickup with the auctioneer in the back down the flightline as a variety of DC-4s, DC-6s, etc. go on the block. They pull up to this ratty old Connie, and the auctioneer starts the action. No bids. So, the guy goes "$4,000" just to get things going. No other bids. "Sold!" He then had to call his wife and say "Guess what I bought, honey." A group of retired TWA guys in Kansas City had been looking for a Connie to restore, got wind of this guy, paid him for his trouble, then headed for Arizona for several weeks of quick and dirty resto work to ferry the plane back to KC. I think it took about 4 years to get her in showable condition. TWA was nice enough to relent on their original stand and allow the group to paint her up in authetic 50s TWA livery. A sight (and sound) to behold.
 
I was in KC in 2001. There was a Super Connie in TWA livery on the way from the airport into town. Looked like it was at what was the old airport. It really snapped my head around when I saw it but I never tracked down what the story was. I agree, they are fantastically proportioned & graceful appearing planes.

As an aside, my father-in-law was a radar operator in the Air Force and did a brief stint on an EC-121 (Super Connie AWAC). Said it was the loudest damn plane he'd ever flown on!

electronjohn said:
Any of you planning a trip to Oshkosh this year? Trying to work it out to head over w/brother-in-law and nephew to take it in. It'd be a good year to go...the Airline History Museum's fully-restored Super Constellation will be in attendance...a must-see. I've seen her fly several times....always get the chills. Pure flying sculpture. The story behind the plane is cool...20-odd years ago, a guy's driving thru Arizona and sees signs for an auction. Follows the signs, and ends up at an airport. Seems this shoestring cargo operation had gone belly-up, and all the assets were to go. Curious, he's following a pickup with the auctioneer in the back down the flightline as a variety of DC-4s, DC-6s, etc. go on the block. They pull up to this ratty old Connie, and the auctioneer starts the action. No bids. So, the guy goes "$4,000" just to get things going. No other bids. "Sold!" He then had to call his wife and say "Guess what I bought, honey." A group of retired TWA guys in Kansas City had been looking for a Connie to restore, got wind of this guy, paid him for his trouble, then headed for Arizona for several weeks of quick and dirty resto work to ferry the plane back to KC. I think it took about 4 years to get her in showable condition. TWA was nice enough to relent on their original stand and allow the group to paint her up in authetic 50s TWA livery. A sight (and sound) to behold.
Click to expand...
 
Connies were reputedly "hot" planes, & they lorded it the DC-4,6,& 7 drivers by saying, "It takes a REAL man to handle 3 pieces of tail..."
 
Connies

Yah, Sandy...that's a good one! The late Len Morgan (Flying mag. writer) captained one for Brannif (there's a name from the past) back in the 50s. Had quite a few tales to relate regarding Connie quirks. For example, the windshield defroster consisted of two "cake pans", as they called them, with exposed heating coils inside. A pilot or copilot would sometimes get a nasty burn if they reached for the top of the instrument panel for a little help in jacking their seat up closer/higher. Lockheed design guru Kelly Johnson was responsible for the Connie, as well as nearly every Lockheed design from the mid-30s up through the SR-71. His mantra was "simplify and add lightness".
If you look at an overhead drawing of a Connie and compare it with an overhead drawing of a P-38 Lightning, you'll see the Kelly used the exact same wing planform for both planes...just a matter of scale. Most pilots who flew both the Connie and various four-engined Douglas birds felt the Connie was more of a thoroughbred...very responsive and relatively easy to fly. But, they were built in much smaller numbers, were somewhat maintenance-intensive...and thus now qualify as a "rara avis", On the other hand, there's still a decent number of small cargo operators running DC-6s..which had the added advantage of P&W R-2800 power...a bulletproof, easy-to-maintain engine.
 
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