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Thread: Damn...

  1. #1
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    Damn...

    A Collings Foundation B-17 has crashed in Connecticut...No other details yet......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  2. #2
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    That is saddening to read. For, it's not like they're building replacement B-17s anymore.

    Hunter
    I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead

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    Quote Originally Posted by UTAH View Post
    That is saddening to read. For, it's not like they're building replacement B-17s anymore.

    Hunter
    Yes, prior to today there were less than a dozen still airworthy...Indications are that it was Nine-O-Nine, but I can't confirm because the Collings Foundation site is down from so much sudden traffic...If so, Cap'n Mike will remember it from the attached photo...Other photos of it here......Ben

    Click image for larger version. 

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    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

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    nine 0 nine?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Phillbo View Post
    nine 0 nine?
    Not entirely sure yet......Ben

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    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  6. #6
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    It's been confirmed it was Nine-O-Nine...

    14 injured with some fatalities......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  7. #7
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    Well, though the additional info is appreciated, it makes me realize I was callous in not mentioning the injuries and deaths.

    Sorry.

    Hunter
    I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead

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    Quote Originally Posted by UTAH View Post
    Well, though the additional info is appreciated, it makes me realize I was callous in not mentioning the injuries and deaths.

    Sorry.

    Hunter
    It's not uncommon, Hunter...The Governor of Connecticut issued a press release expressing his sorrow over the loss of a historic aircraft without mentioning the human cost...We all know it was just an oversight in the moment......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  9. #9
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    Like Ben said, damn!

    I am not overlooking the injuries and deaths that have occurred, I wish them all the best.

    The aircraft looks to be a total loss.

    My wife and I crawled all through those old warbirds, and I do mean crawled! Having never been up close and personal with these aircraft, I was amazed at how small they were. Especially when inside one of them. I didn't know you could buy rides on them until it was too late. I have planned ever since that show to buy a ride the next time they came to town. I guess I missed my chance on the Nine-0-Nine.
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike View Post
    The aircraft looks to be a total loss.
    Right now I'm hoping for more survivors...Not to seem callous, but we all take the same chance every time we wake up to a new day...Death or serious injury can befall any of us no matter what we are doing...

    Nine-O-Nine had already been rebuilt from its previous accident on 1987...It has had over 1,200 successful takeoffs and landings since...Maintenance costs on these, or any, aircraft is huge...In normal touring, cost was $2,000.00 an hour for this one, and that's with volunteer flight and ground crews...If it can't be rebuilt, maybe some parts can be used to keep another one flying...What can't be replaced is the people who sacrificed their lives or their health doing what they love...

    Mike, at least you and I got to see this one even if it didn't fly that day......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  11. #11
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    Here are some photos showing some of the extent of damage...The aerial shot shows one wing ripped out at the wingroot...Total loss as far as restoration......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  12. #12
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    Service history

    The original aircraft, a block 30 B-17G manufactured by Boeing, was nicknamed after the last three digits of her serial number: 42-31909. Nine-0-Nine was added to the USAAF inventory on December 15, 1943, and flown overseas on February 5, 1944. After depot modifications, she was delivered to the 91st BG at RAF Bassingbourn, England, on February 24, 1944, as a replacement aircraft, one of the last B-17s received in factory-applied camouflage paint.[1]

    A former navigator of the 91st BG, Marion Havelaar, reported in his history of the group that Nine-O-Nine completed either 126 or 132 consecutive missions without aborting for mechanical reasons, also believed to be a record.[2] M/Sgt. Rollin L. Davis, maintenance line chief of the bomber, received the Bronze Star for his role in achieving the record.

    Her first bombing raid was on Augsburg, Germany, on February 25, 1944. She made 18 bombing raids on Berlin. In all she flew 1,129 hours and dropped 562,000 pounds of bombs. She had 21 engine changes, four wing panel changes, 15 main gas tank changes, and 18 changes of Tokyo tanks (long-range fuel tanks).[3]

    After the hostilities ceased in Europe, Nine-O-Nine was returned to the United States on June 8, 1945, consigned to the RFC facility at Kingman, Arizona on December 7, 1945, and eventually scrapped.
    More History of the Nine-0-Nine
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

  13. #13
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    Maybe I shouldn't put the previous post and this post in this thread due to the respect of the lost and injured lives that just occurred. Please don't judge me for that, but I think it is part of the story and history of the bird and those who have flown her since the beginning and belongs in the same thread as the tragic news that started it.

    From the wiki site that I posted above, one entry really surprised me:

    A former navigator of the 91st BG, Marion Havelaar, reported in his history of the group that Nine-O-Nine completed either 126 or 132 consecutive missions without aborting for mechanical reasons, also believed to be a record.[2] M/Sgt. Rollin L. Davis, maintenance line chief of the bomber, received the Bronze Star for his role in achieving the record.
    I was unaware that those who tended the aircraft were eligible for decorations based on the performance of the aircraft itself. That is good to know and I hope many more men and women in the background who helped make the war come to an end were recognized as well.
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike View Post
    To be clear, Nine-O-Nine which crashed this morning was not the aircraft that flew 18 bombing missions over Germany, but a later model built and delivered by Douglas Aircraft...Like Texas Raiders, home-based at Conroe near my house, it was rebuilt after a civilian career, then painted in the same livery as the original Nine-O-Nine...Bombers which completed their missions over Germany were often not even airworthy enough to risk a crew's life on the return trip to America...Many were scrapped in England or on the European mainland...Some were repurposed into flying bombs flown by remote control, similar to the one which took the life of Joe Kennedy Jr in WWII......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike View Post
    Maybe I shouldn't put the previous post and this post in this thread due to the respect of the lost and injured lives that just occurred.
    Mike, the tragedy that occurred this morning has many blank spaces in the information available...At this point, all we can discuss is what we know, and most of that centers around the aircraft and its history...I find no fault in that, and I believe all who were involved aboard the aircraft would agree...All are a part of that history now......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

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