Font Resize
During World War II, thousands of B-24 Liberators and better-known B-17 Flying Fortresses swarmed over Nazi Germany and Japan like clouds of insects, bristling with guns and full of heavy bombs.
More than 60 years later, only a few serviceable specimens of the mass-produced bombers remain, their numbers decimated by time and a ferocious destruction rate. One-third of more than 14,000 B-17s built by the Boeing Co. were lost in combat.
"The loss rate was 10 percent at the beginning of the war. That meant if 100 took off, they expected 10 would not come back," said Greg Brubaker, of Layton, a member of the Utah wing of the Commemorative Air Force.
The CAF is said to be the largest flying museum in the world. The Utah wing is holding an open house at the Heber City municipal airport, where the public can get a rare tour of a B-17 and a B-24 -- from the inside as well as the outside.
Also on display are a P-51 Mustang fighter plane, a replica of the Me-262, a famous German jet, and 12 other warplanes. The open house will continue today from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free, but peeks inside the heavy bombers cost $12 for adults and $6 for children under eight.
For baby boomers raised on TV shows like "Twelve O'Clock High," the inside of a B-17 can be unsettling. While the plane seems big from the outside, the main body of the aircraft is filled with equipment, passageways are narrow and, except for the bomb bay doors, exits are tiny.
It's no wonder that guides and visitors referred to the pilots and crew as "kids." At 35,000 feet, temperatures inside the unheated planes got to minus 50 degrees. To get around inside, people needed to be lithe and small, as well as fearless and smart.
"They fascinate me. I can't believe they can fly," said Carol Porter, who lives in Preston, Idaho. "Just the technology, it's so intricate. Who had the brains to think of everything [that goes inside]?"
Tim Ruhl, copilot of the B-24, stands just over 5 feet. From Magnolia, Texas, he is a volunteer aviator for the Collings Foundation, a Massachusetts-based organization that owns the two bombers.
The B-24 he helped fly to Heber on Friday from Billings, Mont., may not be as well-known as the B-17. But it has plenty of history, too. Winston Churchill, Britain's prime minister during the war, used a B-24 as his personal hauler. In the Pacific Theater, B-24s were used as cargo planes, flying gasoline and other supplies over the Hump, a route across the Himalaya Mountains between India and China.
"They are temperamental. But if you fly it right, it will last longer than if you mistreat it," Ruhl said. "It's like a woman. If you mistreat a
|
|
The B-17 on display has been painstakingly restored, part by part, over the years in honor of the 909, a sister bomber that flew 140 missions to Europe from a base in England between 1943 and 1945.
The 909 "never lost a crew member, never had a mechanical abort and it never missed a target," said Mac McCauley, a volunteer pilot for the foundation.
McCauley lives in Seal Beach, Calif., near Long Beach, where Boeing built B-17s. Only about 10 are left in the world. Eight are in the United States, and only four are still able to fly he said.
On the fuselage, under the captain's left-side window, 140 bombs are painted, representing each of the missions the 909 flew. A small "B" is painted on 18 of the bombs, indicating the plane flew that many times to Berlin. Forward of the bombs are three swastikas, evidence that the plane's gunners shot down three German fighters.
"I like them because I like their guns, how they can kill the enemy," said Charles Becerril, 10, of Magna. "I thought [the plane] looked good and I was surprised how big it is and that it could fly."
Where » Heber municipal airport
When » Today, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Cost » Admission is free. Tours of the interiors of the B-17 and B-24 cost $12 for adults, $6 for children under 8.
