Two of my students today were visiting a local hangar that has a P-51, AT-6, and other types in it. This is third-hand, so take it for what it is worth.

The owner told the students that he knew the foundation and the crew of the accident airplane. Supposedly, it needed new fuel bladders, but they couldn't get any. Instead, they built aluminum tanks (this may mean that the wings were converted to wet-wings; not sure).

He guessed the wet wings/aluminum tanks may have leaked onto the turbochargers, which for engines 2 and 3, are well aft of the firewall.

From the pictures, that looks feasible to me.

never mind

Interesting read... Home | Liberty Belle B-17 Flying Fortress

Didn't sound like a "crash" as was depicted in most news sources. Sounds like a heck of a job on a forced landing.

Agreed, But you have to remember the news media does not care about the truth, they just want the big headlines that get attention, especially if it involves aviation.

I'm glad to hear the crew got out safe and nobody got hurt. They did an amazing job addressing the emergency. It was sad to read testimony of not being able to combat the flames and watching this beautiful plane go up in flames.

You also have to remember that the average reporter doesn't know a Piper Cub from a King Air and therefore, the quality of the story depends heavily on the knowledge of the primary source - in this case, I would bet the local police/fire, who they would be familiar with, and who often talk out of their posteriors in front of the media, rather than stick to what they know.

Yup, a good example is that one reporter hearing that is was a Second World War Two bomber, jumped to the obvious conclusion that there were only two built.

Active B-17 list .
B-17 — The Flying Fortress Survivors



Ally

A buddy of mine in Georgia knows Don Brooks and said they had nearly $4 million invested in that plane. Ouch.

Glad everyone was okay.