Tuesday - June 14, 2011

Another Air Crash

During 64 perilous World War II combat missions over Europe, the Liberty Belle survived the hellfire of German flak and a calamitous night in which six of the nine bombers in its squadron were destroyed.

But in sunny, clear and peaceful skies above Chicago’s western suburbs Monday morning, a working replica of the B-17 bomber caught fire shortly after take off from Aurora Municipal Airport.

Only the apparent quick thinking and skills of the pilot, John Hess, who emergency-landed the vintage plane in a muddy Oswego cornfield, saved the lives of all seven people aboard without serious injury.

“He did all of the right things,” the plane’s owner Don Brooks said of Hess as National Transportation Safety Board investigators inspected the charred wreck of the restored bomber, which has been touring the U.S. offering rides to paying passengers with the Liberty Foundation since 2004. “I’m proud of our guys.”

Black smoke billowed from the plane just five miles from the airport near Route 71 and Minkler Road. But extremely wet and muddy fields made it impossible for firefighters to get to the scene in time to save the plane, Sugar Grove Fire Chief Marty Kunkel said.

One person suffered a minor head injury when exiting the plane, but no one was seriously injured, Kendall County deputy Craig French said.

Brooks described the plane as a “national treasure” as he reeled from the news of its loss at his Georgia auto body shop Monday afternoon. One of only a dozen World War II-era B-17s still flying, it was grounded over the weekend with a fuel leak and was on a test flight when it went down in flames Monday, according to Pat Tessin, an aviation enthusiast who spoke with engineers working on it Sunday.

Let me clarify: this was a real B-17, built at the end of WWII. While this particular airplane never saw combat, and was used as an engine test bed after the war, when it was restored to original condition it was named in honor of the other B-17 that the owner’s father had flown in the 8th Air Force in WWII. FAA investigation will determine if the cause was indeed the fuel leak from the other day, but that’s beside the point. The point is that the pilot put this old bird down in a cornfield and saved all those aboard, and that the fire destroyed most of the airplane. Now there are only 11 of these planes still flying in all the world.

From the Liberty Belle web site, a somewhat different story emerges:

Here is what we do know… Flying in the left seat of the B-17 was Capt. John Hess. John has been flying our Liberty Belle since 2005 and one of our most experienced B-17 pilots. He is an active Delta Air Lines Captain with over 14,000 hours of flying experience and flys a variety of vintage WWII aircraft. In the right seat was Bud Sittic. While Bud is new to the Liberty Foundation this year, he is also incredibly experienced with over 14,000 hours of flying time in vintage and hi-performance aircraft. He is a retired Captain with Delta Air Lines.
...
The takeoff ... was uneventful and proceeded on-course southeast. Prior to exiting Aurora’s airport traffic area, the B-17 crew and passengers began investigating an acrid smell and started a turn back to the airport. Almost immediately thereafter, Cullen spotted flames coming from the left wing and reported over the radio that they were on fire.
...
Directly below the B-17 was a farmer’s field and the decision was made to land immediately. Approximately 1 minute and 40 seconds from the radio report of the fire, the B-17 was down safely on the field. Within that 1:40 time frame, the crew shutdown and feathered the number 2 engine, activated the engine’s fire suppression system, lowered the landing gear and performed an on-speed landing. Bringing the B-17 to a quick stop, the crew and passengers quickly and safely exited the aircraft. Overhead in the T-6, Cullen professionally coordinated and directed the firefighting equipment which was dispatched by Aurora Tower to the landing location.

Unlike the sensational photos that you have all seen of the completely burned B-17 on the news, you will see from photos taken by our crew that our Liberty Belle was undamaged by the forced landing and at the time of landing, the wing fire damage was relatively small. The crew actually unloaded bags, then had the horrible task of watching the aircraft slowly burn while waiting for the fire trucks to arrive. There were high hopes that the fire would be extinguished quickly and the damage would be repairable. Those hopes were diminished as the fire trucks deemed the field too soft to cross due to the area’s recent rainfall. So while standing by our burning B-17 and watching the fire trucks parked at the field’s edge, they sadly watched the wing fire spread to the aircraft’s fuel cells and of course, you all have seen the end result.

.
So a more accurate news title would have been “Fire crews unable to cross field to save vintage airplane” Darn shame, but my take is that the crew acted as professionally as possible.

h/t to Dave C

Posted by Drew458     on 06/14/2011 at 04:49 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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