14 Jun Liberty Belle
The Liberty Belle in Atlanta, GA Feb. 2, 2009
In 2009, I took a ride in a restored B-17, the beautiful Liberty Belle. This was a significant event for me. Thanks to the crew and other passengers who knew why I was there, I rode in the bombardier position for most of the flight, same as our Dad had done in the B-17 Liberty Lady sixty-five years before. I took lots of photos and wrote about that day here. Gratefully, a member of a real B-17 crew made comments on various photographs. He told us how it really was, back then. Thank you, Bill Dixon.
The original Liberty Belle B-17 saw 64 combat missions. The restored Liberty Belle never saw actual WWII action. This plane was built right when the war ended, then was used as a test plane until the 1960’s when it given to the Connecticut Aeronautical Historic Association. It went to a museum and was damaged by a tornado in 1979. The wreck was stored in the New England Air Museum until 1987.
Don Brooks bought the B-17 to restore it in honor of his Dad, a B-17 tail gunner, and created the Liberty Foundation in order to accomplish this daunting 15-year project. In 2004, the “new” Liberty Belle made its first flight in over 45 years.
In 2008. the Liberty Belle followed the traditional flight path of the WWII bombers from its home base in Georgia and flew to Britain for the first time.
It was the next year in 2009 that I took my Ride on the Liberty Belle. Last year, my son Johnny called me after a B-17 flew right over his head while he was relaxing on a beach in Massachusetts. He sent me a photo, and I identified it as, yes, the same plane I had ridden. The Liberty Belle.
Then OH, NO! Yesterday, Monday June 13th, my Liberty Belle made its final flight. Shortly after taking off the crew smelled smoke, and the pilot was alerted by another plane that an engine was on fire. He skillfully made an emergency landing in a cornfield in Oswego, Illinois. All seven passengers exited safely. For that, we are thankful, but the vintage B-17 burned, and that is a tragedy. Here is a link to the news story in the Chicago Daily Herald. Lots of photos and videos.
Liberty Lady B-17 on March 6, 1944 as it burns in a farmer’s field on the island of Gotland, Sweden
I’ve been thinking all day of the Liberty Lady and the day its pilot, Charles W. Smith had to make an emergency landing onto a farmer’s field on the island of Gotland, Sweden. That was on March 6, 1944. All ten crew members walked off, unharmed. The crew set that plane on fire, fearing that they were in enemy territory.
Thankfully they were not, and that was the beginning of my story of the Liberty Lady.
Owner Don Brooks told a Chicago reporter, “We’ve lost a national treasure.” We have. I read that over 12,000 of these “Flying Fortress” bombers were built. There are few that still remain. Here is a link to a site which lists known airworthy B-17s. I have also toured Aluminum Overcast, another restored B-17, when it was in Atlanta.
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