Wings of Freedom Tour

We checked out the vintage aircraft brought to the Washington Airport by The Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour. The tour included four WWII aircraft that offer rides and in one case the chance to fly a vintage plane. 

We were having our morning coffee when we heard the distinctive sound of a B-17 flying over. We decided we wanted to get an up close look at these beautifully restored planes so Nanc and I went on Wednesday afternoon and Mike and I went back Thursday morning to watch all four of them depart.  

Not part of the tour but very neat to see is this bi-plane taking off behind the B-17 Flying Fortress.

This B-17, one of 12,731 built, was put into service in April 1945, too late to serve in combat. This plane served as part of the 1st Air/Sea Rescue Squadron and for the Military Air Transport Service. In 1952 she was fitted with instruments to measure the effect of three nuclear explosions. After a 13 year "cool down" period it was refitted to be used to drop water on forest fires. In 1986 she was sold to the Collings Foundation to be restored to her wartime configuration.     

Each of the planes are painted with the name of a plane that flew missions during WWII. This one is the "Nine-O-Nine" that was part of the 91st Bomb Group, 323rd Squadron. The Nine-O-Nine made eighteen trips to Berlin between February 1944 and April 1945, dropping 562,000 pounds of bombs. In that time she had 21 engine changes, four wing panel replacements and fifteen fuel tank changes. When the war ended she had 600 patched bullet holes.

Looking out the nose where the bombardier flew. Two of the plane's thirteen 50 milometer machine guns are mounted here.

Nanc in the bomb bay. The B-17 could carry up to 8,000 pounds of bombs. Depending on the mission it carried eight 1,000 pound bombs or sixteen 500 pounders.

The plane had a crew of ten, most of whom were machine gunners. I sure would not want to be the guy in the belly turret. They were in a bad spot if they could not get the turret into a position where they could get out and the plane had to do a crash landing.

The tail gunner was one of the worst positions. When I started teaching in Washington one of the teachers at the high school had been a tail gunner on a B-17. You can take a half hour flight on this plane for $450.00. 

The P-51 Mustang was designed to escort and protect bombers on the long flights from England to Germany. It had a range of 1,600 miles at speeds up to 440 mph, with six 50 caliber wing mounted machine guns.

  The Toulouse Nuts is one of only three original TF-51D two-seaters. It was used to train pilots. It is painted with the markings of a West Virginia Air Guard, 167th Fighter Squadron. You can go up in this plane for $2,200 dollars for a half hour or $3,300 for an hour. At those prices you get to take the controls. Not sure I would want to go up in a plane that had flames coming out of the engine as it prepared to taxi to the runway.

The B-25 Mitchell was a medium range bomber that was used primarily in the Pacific, but served in all theaters during WWII. Nearly 10,000 B-25's with a range of 1,350 miles and able to carry 1,200 pounds of bombs, were built. These planes became famous when Jimmy Doolittle lead 16 B-25's on a bombing raid on Tokyo only four months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The plane had to take off from the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier that got them closer to Japan.  

This B-25 was given the name Tondelayo and it flew with the Air Apaches in the South Pacific raiding the Japanese in New Guinea. The name came from a character played by Hedy Lamarr in the 1942 movie White Cargo.

Rides are also available on the B-25. The 25 minute flight cost $400.00. The roar of those engines is an unmistakable sound.

This B-24 Liberator heavy bomber is one of nearly 18,500 built. It was delivered to the US Army Air Force in October 1944 and then transferred to the Royal Air Force. In the Pacific Theater it was used for bombing missions and resupplying resistance forces. Following the war it was used by the Indian Air Force until 1968. 

In 2005 she was repainted with the name Witchcraft to honor the veterans of the 8th Air Force who flew in Europe. The original Witchcraft flew an unbelievable 130 combat missions over Europe without ever turning back or having a crew member injured or killed. 

The B-24 had ten 50 caliber machine guns. I can't imagine the bravery of the men who flew in these planes as pilots, navigators, bombardiers and gunners.  

The B-24 carried up to 8,000 pounds of bombs. Then only way from the front to the tail was across this narrow catwalk above the bomb bay doors.

A look into the cockpit gives one a clear understanding of what complex machines all these bombers were. It's a good thing RV manufactures were not building them, we may have lost the war.

On Thursday Mike and I went to see the planes take off to there next destination. Seeing them on the ground is one thing......

........seeing these 75 year old planes in the air is fantastic. You can take a 30 minute flight for $450.00.

These old engines were real oil burners and smoked a lot when they fired them up.

All three bombers preparing to depart one after the other. 

You want to cool off on a hot day just stand in the prop wash of one of these planes. Mike's shirt was flapping and the leaves on the trees across the road were shaking.

The B-17 taking off while the B-25 waits its turn. While we did not spend the money to fly, getting up close to these great, old planes that played such a big role in winning WWII is something you should not miss if the Wings of Freedom Tour is in your area. 

While not part of the Wings of Freedom Tour, the Spirit of Freedom C-54 is parked at the Washington Airport. It has been restored as a museum and to honor those who flew the Berlin Airlift in 1948-49. It is owned by the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation and appears at many shows around the country every year.

We continue to be busy with family, friends and doctors here in WashPA. We are working on a couple RV projects but the weather has not been good for working outside, either too hot or rainy. We are here until the middle of October before heading south for the winter.