mrskyguy From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 1203 posts, RR: 3 Posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 5102 times:
I just heard a rumor that a B-17 crashed on takeoff from Chicago's ARR airport. Survivors are being reported, but the aircraft is still on fire. Some believe its the Collings Foundation aircraft.
This is all I know.. does anyone else have any information?
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mrskyguy From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 1203 posts, RR: 3 Reply 1, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 5096 times:
KC135TopBoom From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 11708 posts, RR: 52 Reply 2, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 5058 times:
Fortunately no one was killed in this accident. The B-17 belonged to the Liberty Foundation out of MIA. The B-17 looks like a total loss in this live feed.
KPDX From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 2525 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 5019 times:
This breaks my heart.
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Venus6971 From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 1409 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 5012 times:
Thats a shame, I remember during a airshow at EGUN Air Fete that we almost lost the BOB flight Lancaster when its brakes failed.
canoecarrier From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2657 posts, RR: 12 Reply 6, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 4935 times:
Quoting NIKV69 (Reply 5): Liberty Belle, the yellow gives it away. This totally sucks!
I was taking the kid for a walk two weekends ago here in Seattle and believe she flew over us giving rides to vets. Sorry to see her go.
dragon6172 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 1160 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 4878 times:
Terrible when we lose one of these parts of history. It does look like a total loss, but hopefully they can find some parts that are still useful to keep the remaining fleet airworthy or at least whole and museum quality.
dlednicer From United States of America, joined May 2005, 505 posts, RR: 6 Reply 8, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 4660 times:
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Even worse, "Liberty Belle" was one of a two-of-a-kind B-17 model, the 299Z. Two B-17s were built as engine test beds, for P&W and Curtiss Wright. They had their cockpits moved aft and a fifth engine installed on the nose. "Libery Belle"was P&W's (44-85734, NX5111N) and after retirement, was displayed in the Bradley Air Museum. After it was badly damaged in the infamous tornado that hit the museum on March 10, 1979, it was rebuilt as a stock B-17G. Curtiss Wright's 299Z (44-85813, N6694C) became a fire bomber and was lost in a crash in 1980. Some parts from it were used in "Libery Belle's" restoration, and the remains of the wreck are being rebuilt in Ohio.
HaveBlue From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2069 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 4629 times:
I know its too early to speculate with so little information available, but from the newspaper article it seems that only the #1 engine was on fire, and I would presume was shut down. If that is the case would he not be able to continue on with 3 engines, or because of the fire would you cut off fuel completely and do an emergency landing?
I'm very glad everyone got out the accident alive and well. It is sad to see another great plane removed from the ranks of those flying. Nine-0-Nine (Collins Foundation) comes down just a few miles from where I live for its annual maintanance every year along with a B-24 and B-25 and that is a nice treat.
moose135 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 2009 posts, RR: 12 Reply 10, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 4607 times:
It's hard to tell from the photos, HaveBlue, but I thought I read that it was an inboard engine - #2, maybe - that had the fire. If it was a simple fire that went out when they shut down the engine, it shouldn't be an issue to return to base, but depending on what happened, say if a fuel line ruptured or the fire spread to the wing, the best course of action would be to make an emergency landing as they did.
HaveBlue From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2069 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 4587 times:
Moose in the article the reporter stated "He looked out and saw the bomber and a smaller yellow plane. An engine on the left wing of the bomber -- the one farthest from the cockpit --- was on fire. "Not a lot of flames, just more smoke than flames," Barry said.
Now that is a non aviation reporter relaying what a 'witness' saw, so it is entirely possible that it was engine #2 but I'm just referencing the article linked early in the thread
Quoting moose135 (Reply 10): If it was a simple fire that went out when they shut down the engine, it shouldn't be an issue to return to base, but depending on what happened, say if a fuel line ruptured or the fire spread to the wing, the best course of action would be to make an emergency landing as they did.
That's kinda what I was thinking, along with the fact that I don't know how good, if any, the fire prevention/extinguishing capabilities of the engines in planes of that era. Did they even have fire bottles to pull with a switch/handle from the cockpit?
KC135TopBoom From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 11708 posts, RR: 52 Reply 12, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 4547 times:
In this sequence of photos you can see she made it safely on the ground, before the fire got really big. One picture clearly shows the #2 engine in full feather. In a few pictures you can clearly see the ball turret burned in the wreckage. The airplane is a total loss, but it looks like some parts can be salvaged, perhaps two, or more engines, and just about everything in the cockpit and foreward of the wings.
KC135TopBoom From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 11708 posts, RR: 52 Reply 13, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 4355 times:
It seems this discussion has moved to the civil av boards, even though it started here first.
HaveBlue From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2069 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (1 year 11 months 1 week 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 4109 times:
Moose you are correct, according to a more accurate report it was engine 2... the chase pilot in a T-6 told them to land immediately that they were on fire, and orbited the site until emergency help arrived.
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