Liberty Belle

Today someone at lunch asked me if I had heard about the B-17 that crashed. I said that I didn't. I didn't think much of it until I was reading one of the other blogs I read and they mentioned the crash of the Liberty Belle. I remember that she was one of the planes that was at Willow Run last year. So in tribute to the plane, here are some pictures of her.

According to the news story about her, the crew got out safely which is a good thing.

This was during the re-enactment last year at the Willow Run Air Show. She is coming is coming in for a pass over the ground troops. She was a pretty nice looking bomber.

Here she is coming in for a landing.

Seeing these planes flying makes me forget just how old they are. Most of them are pushing 70 years old now. Fortunately, they were planes that were introduced late in the war, so they didn't see the wear and tear that most B-17's saw but they are still 70 years old. Even if you don't use a plane that much, things break. So I believe this will leave 7 B-17's flying out of the 12,371 that were built. Hopefully, they will remain flying but I think as time goes by that is less likely.