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Boeing B-17 carries passengers over Seattle, back in time

ANDREA JAME, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Published 10:00 pm, Monday, April 27, 2009
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Don Brooks, who can take a lot of the credit for restoring the Liberty Belle, says the plane's cross-country tour is designed to honor the quietly courageous veterans.

This upcoming weekend in Seattle, a visiting Boeing B-17 should draw a set of citizens who are just as important as those who flew it: the folks who designed it.

"It's great to be able to bring a B-17 back to Boeing Field," Brooks said Monday. "That's where they all started."

At one point in the 1930s, Boeing was heavily losing money and bet the future of the company on the B-17, according to HistoryLink.org.

Of more than 12,000 B-17s that Boeing built, fewer than 100 exist today and just 14 are in flying condition. Nearly 5,000 were lost in combat. After World War II, many were sold for scrap and turned into pots and pans.

Brooks founded the nonprofit Liberty Foundation in 2002 and began restoring the Liberty Belle shortly after. This particular bomber was built in 1945 in Burbank, Calif., and never saw combat.

Dubbed the "flying fortress," the B-17 carried 13 .50-caliber machine guns and 10 bombs that weighed 500 pounds each. The planes flew by the hundreds during World War II, darkening the skies in carpet-bomb-style raids.

The Liberty Belle's armaments are still in place but are nonfunctional.

The public is invited to take flights on the B-17 this Saturday and Sunday. The flights take off from the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field.

Step onto the plane, please

The B-17 offers tight quarters, outdated upholstery and few frills -- sort of like flying coach on your typical airline. And anyone who's ever flown commercial will recognize the familiar sensations of takeoff and landing.

Other than that, the unrefined and unapologetic B-17 offers a different kind of ride.

In a commercial jet, you could close your eyes pretend that you are on a tour bus and your mind might let you get away it.

The B-17 allows no such foolery. The bomber demands that passengers be fully aware that they are in a flying piece of aluminum, held aloft by spinning engines roaring to make themselves known.

Once the engines start, the wires vibrate overhead, the seats rattle and the floor shakes. An adventure has begun.

"It's pretty much a Coke can with engines on it," the Liberty Foundation's Scott Maher said.

A crew member offers fresh earplugs to all aboard.

The military plane is not air-tight or pressurized -- sunlight peeks in through floor panels. A mere bullet hole, or several, would not bring this plane down.

During World War II, temperatures in the bomber could reach minus-40 degrees, and many men died when their oxygen tanks froze, Maher said. The Liberty Belle does not fly at such a high altitude for tourists, so the plane is breezy and chilly, but not uncomfortable.

The men who flew on the bombers during the war were usually aged 19 to 20. "If you were a 23-year-old B-17 crew member, you were an old man," Maher said.

At takeoff, a wind blows throughout the cabin. Once the plane reaches cruising height, passengers are free to poke around as they please.

The plane pitches and banks a lot, so walking upright is nearly impossible. If one desires to keep a camera in one hand, the other hand must be free to grab a hold of ... the nearest unmovable object. Lesson learned: Do not grab the end of a machine gun to steady yourself -- those things are still able to swivel.

Speaking of the machine guns, passengers can get behind them and point them at things. They don't function, of course. But the incongruous juxtaposition of the barrel of a gun pointing at the stick of the Space Needle below is worth half of the price of the flight.

Crew members warned that the Liberty Belle likes to collect DNA from passengers, so they should watch their heads. Maher joked that media members are the only ones who ever get motion sickness.

True to history, the plane does not have hydraulics to control flight. Pilots steer the thing using cables and pulleys.

"It's all muscle," Maher said.

Passengers can stand behind the pilots and watch them operate the controls. Pilot-in-command Bob Hill turned to give reporters and photographers a thumbs-up and a smile on the Liberty Belle's first flight over Seattle on Monday.

A jaunt into the wormhole below the pilot seats reveals the glass-encased nose of the plane.

If you happen to purchase a seat aboard the Liberty Belle this weekend, be sure to take a moment to sit in the seat at the helm of the nose. You get a panoramic view of Puget Sound, providing a separate sensation from the rest of the plane.

You have a machine gun, a bomb-sight and controls at your fingertips. The nose of the plane provides the best spot to steal a moment for oneself and be thankful for the generations who sacrificed to make life as we know it possible.

For about 48,000 young men in the 1940s, the inside of this type of plane was the last thing they saw on earth.

"Nostalgia attacks with these flights," said Hank Hendrickson, 88, who said he flew 30 combat missions with the 92nd Bomb Group. "One of the things you can be happy with flying this here, you don't get shot in half."


How can I hitch a ride in the B-17?

The bomber will fly on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. The flights leave hourly. The cost to fly is $430 per person. (Liberty Foundation members fly at a discounted $395. Some discount rates are available.)

Call ahead to reserve a seat, or show up at the Museum of Flight, 9404 E. Marginal Way S., any time this weekend. Seats are first-come, first-serve. Up to 145 people can go up each day, and as of Monday there were more than 250 spots left for Saturday and Sunday.

The number to reserve a flight is 918-340-0243.

"We have quite a few scheduled," Maher said. "So many family members want to come out and get a better understanding of what dad or grandpa did."

What if I just want to watch?

The plane will be flying over the city all weekend long. Takeoff and landing is visible for free from the parking lot of the Museum of Flight.

What should I wear on board?

The plane is chilly and drafty. Bring a jacket and wear comfortable clothing so you can crawl about with ease.

Where does my money go?

The B-17 cost more than $3 million to restore, and costs about $4,000 per hour to fly, including the price of fuel. The plane burns 200 gallons of fuel per hour and its fuel capacity is 1,700 gallons. The fuel bill for one weekend is about $16,000, Maher said.

Adding to the cost of maintaining the plane is the fact that it is equipped with authentic parts, which are exceedingly rare. The tires, for instance, cost $5,000 each.

Insurance on the plane costs $150,000 per year.

The proceeds go to The Liberty Foundation Inc., a nonprofit museum based in Douglas, Ga.

Is it safe?

The B-17 has four engines, and can fly with just one of them working. "That makes it a lot better -- more chances to get home," Brooks said.

For more information, visit libertyfoundation.org.

Who designed and built the B-17?

The planes were designed and largely built by Boeing, which was based in Seattle at the time. The Liberty Belle itself was built under license by the Vega Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin.

Why did this plane come here?

The restored bomber is touring the country to salute veterans. The tour started in Atlanta this year. In April, the plane visited Sacramento, Calif., and Portland, Ore., and after Seattle it will continue to Spokane on May 9.

The tours raise awareness and money to keep the plane flying.

(Full disclosure: About 20 members of the media flew free on Monday in two 15-minute flights. Paying passengers get 30- to 45-minute flights.)