History Burns
By Mitch Berg
Bob Collins – MPR’s de facto aviation reporter – on the destruction of Liberty Belle, a World War II-era B17G which suffered an engine fire after takeoff from a Chicago-area airport over the weekend.
According to the pilot’s statement, they made a textbook emergency landing after the engine lit up…:
Directly below the B-17 was a farmer’s field and the decision was made to land immediately. Approximately 1 minute and 40 seconds from the radio report of the fire, the B-17 was down safely on the field. Within that 1:40 time frame, the crew shutdown and feathered the number 2 engine, activated the engine’s fire suppression system, lowered the landing gear and performed an on-speed landing. Bringing the B-17 to a quick stop, the crew and passengers quickly and safely exited the aircraft. Overhead in the T-6, Cullen professionally coordinated and directed the firefighting equipment which was dispatched by Aurora Tower to the landing location.
…but the almost-70-year-old plane was completely destroyed anyway:
you will see from photos taken by our crew that our Liberty Belle was undamaged by the forced landing and at the time of landing, the wing fire damage was relatively small. The crew actually unloaded bags, then had the horrible task of watching the aircraft slowly burn while waiting for the fire trucks to arrive. There were high hopes that the fire would be extinguished quickly and the damage would be repairable. Those hopes were diminished as the fire trucks deemed the field too soft to cross due to the area’s recent rainfall. So while standing by our burning B-17 and watching the fire trucks parked at the field’s edge, they sadly watched the wing fire spread to the aircraft’s fuel cells and of course, you all have seen the end result. There is no doubt that had the fire equipment been able to reach our aircraft, the fire would have been quickly extinguished and our Liberty Belle would have been repaired to continue her worthwhile mission.
They don’t make ’em like that anymore…
June 17th, 2011 at 6:43 am
These old planes were truly incredible. Especially when you consider the fact that they were designed by a bunch of guys using little more than a slide rule. The History Channel used to run a show called “Wings” and I was absolutely hooked on it. Of all the planes they showed I loved the WWII planes the best. It took the right combination of crazy and courage to jump into a P-38 with nothing between you and death but a quarter inch of aluminum.
June 17th, 2011 at 7:26 am
Seems to me that the risk of damaging, or even wrecking a couple of fire engines that could be replaced in a week was worth saving a plane that was irreplacable.
Must have been a union crew.
June 17th, 2011 at 8:43 am
I’ll disagree, swiftee. I was down in Illinois a few weeks ago and saw the fields. There’s no way you could take a fire truck into those fields. It’s not even a close call. I saw what was down there and it makes us look like the Sahara by comparison. They’ve just been getting pounded for weeks now as the Jet Stream has been running across that part of the country. I’m not sure my ATV could have have made it through those fields.
I’m sad for the loss of the plane. I’ve seen it several times at air shows and it was a beaut.
June 17th, 2011 at 9:43 am
As I posted on Mitch’s piece earlier this week, I’m right there with you, Nick.
June 17th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
Only about 15 of the B-17’s still flying today, I’ve heard. What a shame.
June 17th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
A crew attempted to save a B-29 in 1994 in Greenland only to have the plane burn when they attempted to take off.
http://www.artificialowl.net/2008/07/crach-of-b29-kee-bird-near-thule.html
June 21st, 2011 at 5:34 am
I just saw the Liberty Belle in St Paul last week. Incredible. I spoke to my father in Arizona on the telephone on Sunday and told him about it. It was my Father’s Day call and since he was a former Navy flier it was a natural topic to share with him. He related how “one of them went down and burned in Illinois the other day.” I had not heard of it, and until reading this post I did not know it was the Belle. The fella who was responsible for refurbishing this warplane did so as a tribute to his father, who was a gunner on a B-17 during WWII. The man spent 3 million dollars on this labor of love. It is incredibly expensive to build, operate and maintain these kinds of airplanes. Is it possible to help this organization get another craft operational?