Fly The Liberty Belle
 

This weekend people will have the opportunity to fly like it's 1942.

The Liberty Belle, one of only 14 remaining airworthy Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" bombers, will be in Seattle this weekend to offer tours or, for several hundred dollars, 30-minute rides in the historic plane. Instead of peanuts, these flights serve history.

"Those who flew in them [B-17s] loved the aircraft because of the battle damage it could take and still fly home," said Ron Gause, who served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and who volunteers for the nonprofit Liberty Foundation, which is on tour with the plane as part of its 2011 Salute to Veterans.

Gause told the story of one B-17 that managed to safely return to base after an enemy aircraft had crashed into the side of it.

Local News | Take a flight, or tour, with an old World War II hero | Seattle Times Newspaper

Thanks for sharing that. After my grandfather was discharged from the USAAF, flying B-24s in India, he got a job working for Boeing to ferry B-17s. I remember he often spoke highly of the -17. He retired from Continental Airlines as a DC-10 Captain in '79 after 30 years with the company. Great airplane.