B17 Lost in US

[10680]

I too went over her at Duxford. A lovely aircraft. There should have been three Fortresses that year but Sally B was still U/S. I think that was Pink Lady's last year as well.

The apparent speed of the fire shows how lucky the crew were.

We are lucky to still be able to see these aircraft in their element, instead of stuffed and mounted. There is always the risk.

[Dan4th]

DXP::::::::

Those guys were just local volunteer
firefighters, not from the airport crew.

I'm sure they didn't have any foam or
any kind of training in the dispersal of
fire on an aircraft.

They were just trying to keep things
contained and not get killed themselves....

It does look as if the engines, at least,
will be okay for some kind of re-use,
except of course for the #2...

No one was Killed is the Good News!

Danf.

[Xplumberlives]

DXP::::::::

Those guys were just local volunteer
firefighters, not from the airport crew.

I'm sure they didn't have any foam or
any kind of training in the dispersal of
fire on an aircraft.

They were just trying to keep things
contained and not get killed themselves....

It does look as if the engines, at least,
will be okay for some kind of re-use,
except of course for the #2...

No one was Killed is the Good News!

Danf.

Thank you for the explanation D4th

[Mayfly]

I read they were investigating a burning smell when the a/c along side [not sure if it was a cameraship] told them they had an engine fire. Lucky they got it down when they did.

[Hungry Haggis]

Looking at the pics from the 2nd on she went up rather fast & if she had a full fuel load onboard as there was no life risk to the crew I guess they took the safe option as even at the second to third pic they could not have saved much more than they did I guess . Brings home the bravery of those that flew in them on missions in the war .It said in that article that Aircraft can be replaced (Not those ones though) But people can not .I salute the pilot in landing her wheels down giving those onboard the best chance of getting out .i also watched the vidio of someone saying that he saw her go down with one of the outer engines on fire ?Doesn't look like that to me it looked like the port inner and once down got a hold .Stand and watch maybe they didn't have a lot of choice .

[Nickolas]

Thought you might like to look at this. From the horses mouth so to speak.

http://www.libertyfoundation.org/index.html

[Mayfly]

Thanks for that Nick

Pleased it explains what problem the fire crew faced

[Xplumberlives]

So from that article by the "HORSES MOUTH" it would appear that the fire crew deemed the field too soft to drive on to because of recent rainfall and that they would watch the aircraft burn!

From the article posted by St.Nick;

By Ray Fowler The Liberty Foundation, Chief Pilot


Unlike the sensational photos that you have all seen of the completely burned B-17 on the news, you will see from photos taken by our crew that our Liberty Belle was undamaged by the forced landing and at the time of landing, the wing fire damage was relatively small. The crew actually unloaded bags, then had the horrible task of watching the aircraft slowly burn while waiting for the fire trucks to arrive. There were high hopes that the fire would be extinguished quickly and the damage would be repairable. Those hopes were diminished as the fire trucks deemed the field too soft to cross due to the area’s recent rainfall. So while standing by our burning B-17 and watching the fire trucks parked at the field’s edge, they sadly watched the wing fire spread to the aircraft’s fuel cells and of course, you all have seen the end result. There is no doubt that had the fire equipment been able to reach our aircraft, the fire would have been quickly extinguished and our Liberty Belle would have been repaired to continue her worthwhile mission.

What a great shame, the aircraft suffered no damage from the emergency landing in to a field of crops, the wheels didn't sink in and yet the fire crew(s) decided NOT to take their vehicles on to that same field!

I feel questions may well be asked, thankfully everyone was out of the aircraft by then!

[Dan4th]

Thanks for that, and it's nice to
get an actual first-hand account
rather than what's been reported
elsewhere.......

Still a crying shame, though.....

Danf.

[Nickolas]

Utter disaster.

Hope someone sues the Fire Dept. for negligence. (Not having enough hose available in the event that immediate access to a fire is not possible).

[Gully]

Utter disaster.

Hope someone sues the Fire Dept. for negligence. (Not having enough hose available in the event that immediate access to a fire is not possible).

Given that the aircraft landed in a farmer's field off the airport, how can the fire dept. be held liable? Scenario outside of what they could reasonably be expected to be equipped for?

Gully

[Nickolas]

Well we have hose layers in this country I believe which are vehicles full of hose to get to those awkward little places............
Might have left them with more than a pile of ashes. JMHO.