Ultimately, the B-17 did not complete the second evaluation. Of the 13 YB-17s ordered for service testing, 12 were used by the 2nd Bomb Group of Langley Field, Virginia, to develop heavy bombing techniques, and the 13th was used for flight testing at the Material Division at Wright Field, Ohio. Same for the wooden forms to make the tooling. While it’s always possible the engine failure wasn’t related to the crash, it’s beyond absurd to suggest there’s no reason to believe it wasn’t. Such knowledge would be incorporated by interceptor pilots while attacking Allied B-17s in future engagements. Of the thirteen people on board, seven died, with the remaining six surviving with injuries. Well yes and no they have done restorations that amounts to completely manufacturing an aircraft and they even remade some of the old tools. Pilot error, pilot error, pilot error. Hence the aileron trim must be applies rather than the rudder. Consequently, the USAAC went through a special F-1 funding procedure in January 1935 and procured thirteen B-17s, as YB-17s. I agree that cost would be extreme. Are you kidding? But even better, a modern airliner can fly with NO engines. It can even alert to things like rubber seals failing. A great experience, a great loss. How often did the crew of this plane fly? The first B-17D flew on February 3, 1941. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOTxPEPyEiw Next time you watch a documentary on bombers in WW II see how many B17's flew back to England on one engine. Several B-17 aviators were honored with military decorations. The preliminary report says engine #4 was feathered and #3 was “partially feathered” and it’s not clear why #3 was. Have faith that the NTSB will get to the bottom of it. 3D manufacturing on a large scale won’t work, because the loads would be all wrong. A 14th aircraft, the YB-17A, originally destined for groun… About 40 B-17s were captured and modified by the Luftwaffe to suit their specific needs. This is going to haunt me for a long time.”. This plane had made over 1,000 similar flights of this nature, easily 10 times the number of missions a B-17 would have flown over Europe. This was a mission carried out only by B-17s. :D. Same thing happened with that crazy powerful STOL aircraft named Draco. That does look like the left wing that is largely intact in the pic, and the pilot reported Engine 4 issue (far right). (photo: facebook) Some new pictures surfaced last evening on the Bally Bomber facebook page showing Jack Bally's incredbile 1/3 scale B-17 replica fully assembled and sitting next to a Cessna 140. Now that most of the crew members who flee during the war have succumbed to old age there’s not that living repository of knowledge to draw on and the same likely goes for the ground mechanics too. Daniel has updated the project titled ESP32 micropython led matrix driver. Liberty Belle was almost completely destroyed by fire back in 2011, and it is being reconstructed. The B-17s have long been decommissioned. BTW, my pop was a navigator on B29, pacific. I saw a few more fly overs that day, but none that dramatic. I assume that any doubt causes a piece to be tossed and a replacement fabricated. My sister’s Farther-in-Law (mentioned in a previous article) told me that after a fiery crash, there wasn’t much left of any wreckage, They would rake through the debris, and find some bone fragments and send those back to the families as the “body” of their loved one. Morbid maybe, but when I read about this crash the first thing that came to mind was the Hackaday writer’s comments about not feeling quite up to booking a spot on this old bomber… The same thing that makes it hard to just manufacturer some new ones presumably makes it hard to keep the existing few airworthy with anything like the degree of confidence you’d have with a plane for which new spares and up-to-date living documents on procedures and such were kept. An expedited return to the field to the field was initiated. It’s rather sad that, out of the 12,731 built, only 9 are still in flying condition. The USAAF lost about 60 B-17s in this mission, and over 550 crewmen were declared MIA. Neil Mundt has added a new log for Witches Brew V1.3 CV Joystick Controller. Not in any way intended to disparage the pilots, but it’s a simple fact that reactions slow with age, which is why, unless I’m mistaken, airline pilots in the US are required to retire by 65 – a decade younger than these pilots. A group brought a B-17 (possibly 909 but I can’t recall for sure) and B-24 to Gainesville for an airshow some years back. It largely depends on the design and what technology was available during the development of the flight control surfaces. Despite it having crashed with only around 10 hours flying time, the crash and decades of weather exposure and vandalism did bad things to it. How long until we say farewell to this part of our history, with the final flight of a B-17, or its kin? I agree,I also flew on the 9 0 9,what a great experience and a great flight,the Collings foundation is one of the most professional organizations I have seen,and safety is their top priority. I don’t think we need to worry about not having any more B-17s. They would sell tickets for an about 30min flight or so. The NTSB has indicated that they have dispatched a team to investigate the crash, and say that a preliminary report is likely two weeks away. RIP. …But I wasn’t there, I’m not a pilot, and not the NTSB…. There’s also absolutely no reason to believe the crash happened due to the age of the plane, or even a hardware failure. Even if the anecdotal reports that the plane had come in too low prove out, it is too soon to attribute that to the failed engine. A total of 17 Medal of Honor awards were given to B-17 crewmen, many of which were awarded posthumously. These samples are burned in a spectrometer, and trace elements are counted. I can’t even begin to imagine the sound that a flight of 1,000 of those planes would have made. If it was made once it can be made again – it’s mostly just a question of money. This was a good demonstration of the durability of the Flying Fortress which managed to fly back to base without falling apart after the severe collision. 5. It won’t catch catastrophic failures if it relates to structural or external engine components, but it could have saved a lot of lives when there are “unknown” circumstances for crashes in private aviation. Whoever was the engineer on that flight had them synchronized perfectly. The loss of yet another B-17 is also tough to swallow, as this leaves just ten airworthy B-17s. Rolling out of the Boeing hangar, it was simply known as the Model 299. An engine failure was reported, an emergency landing initiated, the plane came in too low causing it to clip ground hardware… yea, no reason to believe the engine failure had ANYTHING to do with it. It is this exceptional design that has kept them working in the hands of unskilled tinkerers over the decades. They were doing a sweep of several local airports, as the plane made it’s way up to the Dayton, Ohio air show later that month. The people that go through these planes, service them and fly them know them like the back of their hands. They did not have special skills, there was no time for training. Could bad or incorrect fuel be the issue? Later that afternoon, a couple of us played hookey from work, and went out to the local airport to see it. 2: The torque of an engine applies a force on the roll axis, not the yaw axis. After it appeared on HaD it suffered a nasty crash. By the end of the first evaluation, the USAAC had budgeted for 65 B-17s. Something happened, and the pilots weren’t able to recover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycPmZ85xn5M Read another story from us: B-24 “Hot Stuff” – The Forgotten Bomber That Broke the Memphis Belle’s Record First. Build a whole B17 from scratch? A student in the first Aviation class that they school had (A Pilot Pilot program?) They thought it was great. Look up the videos of the B-17 being restored to flying condition in Ohio. ... , raspberries or elderberries can provide 500mg of vitamin B17. I turned around, and Bob Pond’s B17 was only a couple of hundred feet away, taxiing my direction! The idea that the B-17 is too complex to maintain in this day and age seems a bit naive given the aircraft flying today. This was well before 9/11, mind you. | U.S. Air Force / Public Domain. Per the aforementioned Draco crash, a Patey quote: “I make no excuses. I’ve been in that plane (on the ground, 5 years ago in Worcester, MA). Each engine has a tracked life and when certain trends start, such as unusual metal content, silicon, or carbon, it allows the oil lab to predict an engine failure. Owing to its high price and the fact that the Great Depression was at its height, the USAAC settled for the DB-1 which was relatively cheaper. , and, finally close the valves, as well as regular of. 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