My father flew in a B17 during WWII. He was a Tech. Sergeant. One time he forgot to remove the wheel chocks from the landing gear well. The next time they flew that plane they had trouble retracting the landing gear. They knew he did it but couldn't prove it so instead of punishment he received scowls. He also talked about how whenever they flew over a city they didn't like they would empty the waste tubes. Gross
This plane was at the Aurora airport a couple years ago. I got to go through it with my dad. They were selling rides for a few hundred dollars. It was tempting but I couldn't afford it at the time. I think it's extremely sad about the loss of life, but also very sad about the loss of this rare war bird. I really wish people would stop flying these old pieces of history. They're irreplaceable and they're nearing 100 years old. When you take an old car out and it breaks down, you're just stuck on the side of the road. When you take an old plane out and it breaks down, the plane crashes and is lost forever. I get that these guys want to play with their toys, but it's the equivalent of buying a super rare and expensive painting and then carrying it around with you all day, leaving it on the coffee table, and expecting that nothing bad will happen to it.
When I was working at Boeing and living in Renton I use to pass by the Boeing Renton airport where they assembled the baby jets on my way home from the main Boeing facility across the street from the King County airport. Sometimes several B17s would be coming in for a landing at Boeing's Renton facility. So cool, I can't put it in words. I love it that B17s are still flying although I do wish they'd be so careful that an accident like that could never happen. I often fantasize about building several flyable replicas.
