Fly Them or Display Them?
July 5th, 2011 § 3 Comments
Fly Them or Display Them?
A World War II era B-17 named “Liberty Belle” recently
crashed in a field in the Midwest as it was preparing to be shown at a flying
event in Indiana. Seven people were aboard and all escaped without injury just
prior to the aircraft being consumed in a post-crash fire.
It was totally destroyed. Since nobody produces new Boeing
B-17s and since there is a finite amount of them left in the world – and even a
smaller number of them actually flying – it was a huge loss for the aviation
world.
I grew up worshiping war birds like the B-17 and was able to
work on them, hang out around them and even occasionally fly in them. Today I
still get to fly a Stearman and have bought a ticket every year when the EAA’s B-17
when it comes through town giving rides.
The experience of actually flying in a B-17 is something that
cannot be duplicated in a book, television show or movie. In flight, the B-17
is noisy, crowded, bumpy, and even a little smelly. It is a humbling experience
to ride in it, or any other kind of war bird, and marvel at what an impressive
thing it was in its day.
The experience makes you think about the people who operated
these airplanes in combat. The rides that flight crews took in the bombers and
other combat aircraft of World War II weren’t joy rides. They were horror
shows. Boys and young men flew these
thinly skinned heavily armed aircraft over land and oceans populated with
people brandishing very large guns who wanted to kill them.
The air was too thin to breathe. It was too cold in the
unheated cabins to survive for long if exposed and highly skilled fighter
pilots were shooting thousands of bullets at them that were the size of D-cell
flashlights.
The odds of getting home unscathed after twenty-five missions
were almost too small to consider. The chances of an entire crew surviving a
combat tour unhurt were nil. More than fifty thousand young men were killed in
this environment.
Teenagers who the year before were concerned with prom dates
and football games were now destroying cities and facing razor-sharp flack
daily. Many watched their best friends bleed to death on the four hour ride
back to England from the target.
To honor and remember these young people of almost a century
ago we should keep as many war birds flying as long as we can and not sequester
them all to climate controlled rooms in museums.
We have to face the fact though that the day will arrive
when the aircraft left over from the World War II era will not be available to
fly and the precious few museum pieces we have left will have to be protected
like the priceless art.
General Aviation News columnist and contributor Jamie
Beckett spent over a year working on the restoration of the ill-fated “Liberty
Belle” and says that even though the time he spent working on the aircraft was
a “great and rare experience with happy memories” he also recognized that
“every flight in a rare restored war bird is a potential disaster.”
It is obvious that no one is suggesting that rules be
implemented that restrict the rights of vintage and historical aircraft owners
to fly their aircraft. The choice is clearly theirs and it will be based on
economics, emotion, and simple mathematics.
When is a piece of machinery too valuable, too historical or
just too damn irreplaceable to be used?
If you have a vintage war bird or any other historical
high-value aircraft, please think carefully about where and when you choose to
fly it. Yes, it is your property, but it also belongs to history. Recklessly
destroying it during a fly-in or an attempt to prove your manhood after you go
bald is no reason to kill an invaluable artifact.
At a certain point when the inventory of available aircraft
of a certain type is limited to a precious few, there will be no other choice
than to ground the remaining aircraft to preserve their physical presence for
future generations.
Their remaining fly-bys at events should not be the occasion
for yahooing and slapping our thighs while we glory in the days when the
greatest generation whupped-up on our enemies. We should not make their
appearance an opportunity to set off explosions, play loud Toby Keith music
about 911, or pretend the Japanese are bombing us.
The young frightened and incredibly brave people who flew
these aircraft against all odds during a time in our history when our national
survival was at stake deserve more than a trumped-up feel-good carnival show.
They went through Hell in those aircraft and more than fifty
thousand of their buddies never made it home. We need to preserve their memory
along with the memory of their fantastic aircraft as long as we can and do it
in a responsible manner.
************
Kevin Garrison is an aviation author, historian and
professional pilot. His latest book, The
CEO of the Cockpit is available as an eBook or at Barnes and Noble.
K: In the late ’80s, I interviewed several guys who had been enlisted airmen during WWII and who had flown as gunners on B-17s. Their stories quickly disabused me of notions of the nobility of bomber missions (which I had gained from too many post-war movies). I remember how horrified I was when I heard how crew members routinely had to crawl around the plane and revive those whose oxygen masks or hoses had failed. You nailed all of this in your blog. I hope people pay attention.
Ed P.
Well written, Kevin. You make some solid points on a topic that’s difficult to wrestle to the ground on several different levels. As you know, I think this may be a self-limiting problem to the extent that the pool of trained pilots who can safely operate these beasts is shrinking each year. Ultimately, there may be more flyable warbirds left in the world than pilots who can fly them.
It’s an interesting discussion. I’m glad you weighed in, and did it so well
[...] Fly Them or Display Them? A World War II era B-17 named “Liberty Belle” recently crashed in a field in the Midwest as it was preparing to be shown at a flying event in Indiana. Seven people were aboard and all escaped without injury just prior to the aircraft being consumed in a post-crash fire. It was totally destroyed. Since nobody produces new Boeing B-17s and since there is a finite amount of them left in the world – and even a smaller number … Read More [...]