Dangit! B-17 just went down less than a mile from the house...

[MotoSook]

If they haven't cleared the site by 7 tonight, I'll be driving right past it.

Plane Crash In Oswego: Plane Crash And Fire Involving A WWII Bomber - WGN



B-17 Bomber Crashes in Suburbs | NBC Chicago

[exc911ence]

That's a real shame. I hope they can rebuild it.

[pwd72s]

One less flying...and the number of them left is small. The good news is that nobody died...

[rattlsnak]

no rebuliding that one. interested to hear what happened. tail is right side up but main body/wings are upside down. wondering if it cartwheeled on landing or such..

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

one less flying...and the number of them left is small. The good news is that nobody died...

+1

[slodave]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

no rebuliding that one. interested to hear what happened. tail is right side up but main body/wings are upside down. wondering if it cartwheeled on landing or such..

Video shows it to be right side up.

[URY914]

Sad. Just like the old pilots themselves, thier numbers are thinning.

[widebody911]

A few years ago, they had one flying out of McClellan for some event - my house was in the flight path; you could get a ride for $XXX but I never got around to doing it.

[stevepaa]

right side up

[DaveE]

Got to tour one at a local airport several years ago, along with a B-25. I'm glad everyone got out of this one OK.

[crustychief]

I am glad everyone made it out ok. It is a shame to lose such a treasure.

Just saw the video, why were the firemen just watching it burn? or were they using the new fire-putting-out-cameras?

[GG Allin]

Caught fire, landed & continued to burn.

[BRPORSCHE]

pic from reddit.

[A930Rocket]

Oh that sucks! Glas everyone made it out ok.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by crustychief

I am glad everyone made it out ok. It is a shame to lose such a treasure.

Just saw the video, why were the firemen just watching it burn? or were they using the new fire-putting-out-cameras?

Probably a local municipal FD without the proper equipment/training for a fully involved aircraft fire.

RoninLB or Vinman may know more about their ability or lack of in being able to tackle it.

[romad]

Looks like a perfect off field landing, must have been a electrical fire or a fuel leak. I have not seen this one before, very sad but the crew is very good and lucky.

[Halm]

WOW, what a shame. My uncle flew 100 missions over Europe in WWII in one of those. Beautiful aircraft.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by crustychief

I am glad everyone made it out ok. It is a shame to lose such a treasure.

Just saw the video, why were the firemen just watching it burn? or were they using the new fire-putting-out-cameras?

Spraying it with water simply will make the fire spread even farther. It takes special chemicals to put out a fire from aviation fuel. This is not something the average fire department would just have around. (I mean, who stores several hundred gallons of gasoline in their house???)

Their primary purpose in showing up, was probably just to make sure it didn't spread around and catch other things on fire. There wasn't much they could do for the plane. Just a guess, I'm not local.

[tcar]

Wow...

I was sitting at a stoplight on Saturday here in Denver.

A B-17 flew right over my head (targa). So one of them was here.


A good older friend was a crewmember of a B-17 in WWII... Was shot down (flak). A family hid him in their barn for a few days but he finally realized that if he was found, the Germans would kill the whole family; so he left during the night.

He was captured a couple days later, prison camp for a couple years.

A few years ago he went back to Germany and visited the family that hid him they were thrilled to see him.

[azasadny]

Very6 sad! I'm glad nobody was killed.