The Wings of Freedom Tour Stops in Shreveport

Back in November Steve and I had the opportunity to tour the EEA Aluminum Overcast B-17 which stopped over at the downtown Shreveport airport.  There are only about 10 to 12 of these mighty World War 2 era aircraft still flying and today we got to see another one.

Today we went back downtown to see the Collings Aircraft WW2 planes: the B-17 Nine-0-Nine, the B-24 "Witchcraft", and the P-17 Mustang "Betty Jane."

It's truly fascinating to see these planes and realize their role in history.

We started with the B-17:

This plane was commissioned in 1945 and didn't see combat but did serve as part of the Air/Sea 1st Rescue squadron.  In April 1952 the plane was instrumented and subjected to the effects of 3 nuclear explosions.  After a 13 year "cool down" period it was sold as scrap and the restoration began.  For many years the plane was in service fighting forest fires.

The cockpit:

From a window:

Machine gun:

Ball turret:

Then on over to the B-24.  The Collings Foundation says this is the only restored B-24J in the world.  They say it completed 130 combat missions.

It's a big old bird:

What's really cool about going to these tours is talking to the vets that come out to see them.  Steve and this guy started talking until he was interrupted by a phone call:

Steve got to play with a machine gun:

Boys will be boys.

Some guys were working on this one:

A prop:

Inside, it's a tight squeeze; no fat pilots allowed:

The ball turret:

The nose:

From there we went over to the P-17 Mustang, "Betty Jane":

We couldn't get into this one but it's a sweet little plane.

My dad flew P-47s (as a training instructor) in WW2 and I know he would have loved seeing these birds.

I forgot the memory card for my camera today so that's all the pictures I've got.

We bought a book and a couple of t-shirts before leaving and headed to Monjunis for an early dinner and a cold Abita.

We were about the only people in the place and the sound system was playing Frank Sinatra tunes.  Good times.

If you get the chance to see these planes, don't miss it.  The schedule is here.

Touring the Aluminum Overcast

Yesterday, Steve and I went to the Downtown Airport to tour the Aluminum Overcast, a fully restored WWII B-17.

The plane is owned by EAA now and tours the USA and Canada.  If you've got some spare cash you can schedule a flight in the plane.  This particular plane was completed in 1945 so it never saw combat, but it is one of 11 or 12 B-17s that are still flying today.

I've read lots of memoirs from WWII but I was totally unprepared for the experience of seeing this plane. 

This one shows the catwalk over which one must walk to get to the back of the plane.  It's extremely narrow!

Space is tight all over the plane.

The radio station:

Another view:

The ball turret: 

And from the outside, you get a perspective of what those ball turret gunners had to do:

Steve checking out the rear gunner position:

I liked the nose art:

You could also walk underneath the plane and look at the bomb bay:

Another shot:

All in all, it was quite impressive.  One volunteers there giving tours told of a veteran who had come to see the plane earlier in the day.  He was so overcome with emotion he just couldn't go inside it, after all. 

There's a great website here that tells about the plane, its restoration, and the organization that runs it.  There's a schedule of appearances and lots of great videos.  One video takes you on a flight and another has historic footage. 

If you get a chance, get out there today to see it.  Or look to the skies around 10:00; it's taking a flight group up around then.

Seeing it gave both of us a whole new appreciation for those brave fliers who went up in them in the war and gave me a whole new definition for the word courage.