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Collings Foundation B17 crashes on landing

Not sure of damage. I have flown on that plane. Let me say that onboard safety equipment was WW2 vintage. Bradley Airport in Harford.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1061161

Hadn't heard that two were killed. I think they were near the end of this years national tour. They carry paying passengers 8 or 10 at a time. They tour with and give rides on the 17 , B24, ,B25, and a P51 trainer. I have flown on the 17 and 24.

Makes me sad

It was carrying 10 passengers.

My "seat" was on the floor behind the pilot's. My seatback was the back of the pilot's seat. My seatbelt was a WW2 vintage lap belt.

This vid was taken out of it's open top hatch. You could stick your head out during the flight

https://youtu.be/hxB9lFA1sMg

Anothet from the top turret

https://youtu.be/VCze6ma96Oo

This is terrible news, not only the (potential) tragic lose of life but the lose of another part of that time period.

Sad news indeed. Especially the loss of life.

A departed Uncle once crashed a B-17 with loss of life. I only recently learned of it...he never talked about the war.

oeing B-17G Flying Fortress 42-38093. 367th Bombardment Squadron, 306th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, US Army Air Force, based at Thurleigh Bedfordshire.
Pilot Lt Gordon L Donkin.

On the 12th September 1944 the 306th BG took part in a raid on the Ruhland oil refineries south of Berlin, part of a concentrated effort by the USAAF to destroy German fuel supplies.
367th BS sent nine aircraft, with Lt Donkin's 42-38093 as the lead aircraft of the lower group. North of Berlin the group came under heavy flak and fighter attack, 367 squadron losing four aircraft to fighters and 42-38093 badly shot up. In 42-38093 the tail gunner was killed, the radio operator and top turret gunner wounded and one of the engines shot up. The aircraft continued to the target and on the return flight came under renewed fighter attack with another engine and the intercom put out of action.

Escorted part of the way by P-51 Mustangs 42-38093, now with just a single engine, crossed the English Channel rapidly loosing height. As soon as the English coast was crossed Donkin ordered the crew to bail out but only four had time to do so. On the final approach to Manston the last engine quit and the aircraft crash landed on a smooth area, crossed a ditch and knocked down a search light tower before coming to a halt, then catching fire, the bombardier being killed in the crash.

The crew.

Lt Gordon L Donkin: pilot. Injured in crash.
Captain Donald C MacDonald: Co-pilot. Injured in crash.
2nd Lt Gerald A Weiler: Navigator. Injured in crash.
Technical Sgt Clarence B Tuers: Flight engineer/top turret gunner. Wounded in action.
T Sgt Willard M Colvin: Radio operator. Wia.
Staff Sgt Norman Morrow: Ball turret gunner. Injured in jump.
Sgt Lawrence G Joslin: Waist gunner.
Capt Arthur S Hostettler: Bombardier. Killed in crash.
S Sgt Jack B Eppler: Tail gunner. Killed in action.

7 crew returned to duty.

http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=19856.0

Ohhh..that's not good. Hopefully some people were able to get out..

My grandfather was a bombardier in a B17 over Europe from late '42 through the end of the war. He signed up on Dec. 8, 1941 and went for pilot but missed it by a few points on his tests.

I have a number of items including his wings, silk survival maps, letters to my grandmother, dog tags and a diary he kept of his missions.

The diary stops around mission 22 or 23 when he, the pilot and radio man were the only ones to make it back to England alive. The crew was the same he had been with since training so it hit the survivors really hard, so he couldn't write about it anymore.

He didn't talk about his experiences very often, but when he did, he had some very interesting stories.

13 on plane, 5 dead, the rest badly injured, some beyond recognition.

Just horrible.

“Lord guide and protect those who fly,
Who draw great faces in the sky.

Be with them always in the air,
In darkening form or sunlit fair.

Oh hear us when we lift our prayer,
For those in peril in the air.”

Amen

Author unknown

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1570050459.jpg

I am seeing where the two pilots died and at least 3 others.

This is a pic looking up through fhe plane towards the pilots cockpit. That small walkway is through the bomb bay. You can see the"bombs" on either side of the walkway. Where you see the girl flight attendant is where two passengers would be sitting. (That is where I sat for takeofff and landing.). The pilots have an exit but the passengers behind them would have to crosss through the bomb bay or climb over the pilots seats to reach the exit.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1570056123.jpg

There has long been a debate over flying warbirds. This will inevitably happen to 70-80 year old machines. But on the other hand they cannot really be appreciated unless they fly.

Don’t know which side I’m on.

I would fly on one tomorrow.

A tragic day! I love those old war birds but they are statistically certain to crash at some point.

The exhibit was in my town a few weeks ago. They come every year for a week.