Published: July 12, 2008 07:45 pm            

Boeing B-17G ‘Flying Fortress’ to visit Tuesday and Wednesday

TERRE HAUTE — Living history will be at the Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field in the form of a Boeing B-17G “Flying Fortress” on Tuesday and Wednesday.

This will be the third time the plane nicknamed “Aluminum Overcast” has been to Terre Haute, said Bill Foraker, secretary and newsletter editor of the local Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 83.

“These planes are living history, they are a piece of United States history that we’ll be a long time re-living,” he said. “It was a turning point in the United States … We mobilized during World War II to produce a military at a rate unheard of in the history of the world, and in fact, I don’t know that we could do it today …”

Between 1935 and May 1945, 12,732 B-17s were produced, and 4,735 were lost during combat, according to B17.org. Fewer than 100 B-17 airframes exist today and fewer than 15 can actually fly.

“Aluminum Overcast” was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Corps on May 18, 1945, too late to see any World War II action, but has still flown more than a million miles. It served as a cargo hauler, an aerial mapping platform and a pest control and forest duster after it was bought for $750 in 1946, B17.org states.

It was bought in 1978 by “B-17s Around the World,” a group dedicated to preserving its military heritage. However, the cost became too great and it was donated to the Experimental Aircraft Association five years later.

Restoration has taken more than 10 years and 1,000 hours from the association in Oshkosh, Wis. It displays the colors of the 398th Bomb Group, and commemorates a group that was shot down on its 34th mission over Le Manior, France on Aug. 13, 1944. Veterans of the 398th Bomb Group helped pay for its restoration.

“This is one of the most well-restored of all of the B-17s that are still flying,” Foraker said. “… When you look in the navigator’s compartment on this airplane, you see the old headset, you see the navigator’s table made out of wood, … and it looks very much a new bomber would have looked in the early ‘40s before it got all shot to pieces.”

Members of the public can look at all of these things and the rest of the plane starting at 2 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Ground tours are $5 a person or $15 per family (adults and children up to 17).

Ground tours are free to all active military or veterans.

Flights are available for $359 for Experimental Aircraft Association members and $399 for non-members. Payment plans also are available.

Foraker had to write out a proposal last year to the national EAA in order to get the B-17 to visit Terre Haute, he said. Terre Haute is one of three cities in the country to be visited by the B-17 and the Ford Tri-Motor in the same year.

“I think they’ll walk up to this airplane and hopefully, they’ll read a little bit about it or talk to someone who’s there, one of the veterans, they’ll learn a little about the airplane and the fact that this was the heavy bomber in World War II in Europe,” Foraker said.

… It has a place in history that, at its point in time, was pivotal, but you get to see what life was like back then, you get to see what the best military aircraft in the world was like in World War II,” he said. “Now you look at it and think ‘Oh my,’ but that’s the best they had, so you really gain some perspective on the history of the war.”

For more information, visit www.b17.org, or call 1-800-359-6217.

Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.



If you go

• The Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress “Aluminum Overcast” will land at the Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field on Monday and leave Thursday.

• Ground tours and flights are available Tuesday and Wednesday starting at 2 p.m.

• For more information, visit www.b17.org, or call 1-800-359-6217.

        

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