http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8187278
All 7 on board got out safely. From what I can see she landed wheels down. Appearently there was a fire in the cockpit.
Seeing as all are safe, salvage everything possible to help others fly.
You will be missed.
Ah, man! That is too bad. At least no injuries! Hamilton, Ontario is having an airshow on Father’s Day, and a B-17 from the states was coming up. I hope that this was not the one.
Rob
OUCH! Glad everyone made it out OK. It’s always sad when we lose a piece of history.
Saw this on the news tonight! What a loss. At least everyone got out safe.
Really sad,one less to see airborne, but thankful all are safe…
My understanding was they had a fire in one of the outboard engines, but the footage I was able to see didn’t look as if any of the engines suffered a fire. The pilot landed with the gear down in a field and the plane was burning from the cockpit back. The entire plane was burning but not the wings or tail. The problem was they flew about a mile or so from the airfield so it took quite a while for any firefighting equipment to get there. This happened about 25 miles from me. I’ve never seen this particular aircraft but have seen several B-17’s and this is surely a loss to all fans of vintage aircraft. I was glad to hear that the pilot was able to set her down safely so all seven aboard could get out safely. She will surely be missed.
Now… correct me if I am wrong… but can’t they take out everything they need to get other’s flying, including engines and such, but just keep the airframe itself intact and keep it as a museum piece just not a flying piece, so it can still actually exist?
I’m glad the crew made it out.It’s always sad to see one of these old birds crash.
From the pics in the link,the pilot appears to have made a great landing.No crash involved,just a catastrophic fire.
http://www.wgnradio.com/news/nationworld/chi-110613-b17-plane-crash-pictures,0,3751939.photogallery
Man, that’s horrible. As said, at least the crew is safe.
The best to all the Crew , you know they gotta be hurtin’ inside.
Without a doubt!
From the pics I’ve seen on the internet, it looks like a fire in the #3 or #4 engine, right side. You can see the right horizontal stab sooted pretty bad and the fabric gone from the right elevator. Spooky pictures, they look exactly like hundreds of WWII vintage crash photos! Not much left to salvage from her, the whole fuselage is burned away, the rudder is damaged, but the vertical fin may be OK and also the ailerons. But that’s about it! One helluva job of flying on the crew’s part, and good disipline on the part of the volunteers aboard to get out with no injuries.
Good news about the crew, but very sad to see the Fort lost. Looks like one could use the left wing and engines for parts, if the fire started in #3 or #4
I did hear that the Liberty Belle’s org, is restoring another B-17 to flight status.
The airframe? What airframe:
You’ll have a fort there. The movie memphis bell will there. I wish the lancaster in hamilton would go down to geneseo for the airshow there. Been a long time since I’ve seen it down there.
That is horrible. I saw the crash on my Comcast page but didn’t know it was Liberty Belle?
I took several pictures of her a few years back when she was at the Hayward Municipal Airport. [:(]