Flying Fortress: Rare WW II bomber visits Valley

VISALIA - Sitting in the cockpit of a B-17 bomber was something one Hanford resident didn't think he'd ever be able to experience.

"It's incredible," said 27-year-old Mark Louro. "To be inside a B-17 and see the views out of the windows, to sit in the pilot seat and look at the view of the wings."

Louro was one of about 30 who turned out to see the Sentimental Journey, a World War II vintage bomber that flew into the Visalia Municipal Airport Monday. The B-17 Flying Fortress plane is part of a flying museum display presented by The Arizona Wing Commemorative Air Force, a nonprofit organization made up entirely of volunteers.

The flying museum tours an average of 60 cities a year all around the U.S. and Canada.

Monday was the first day of the Sentimental Journey's display in Visalia. The plane will be on display until Thursday. Members of the public can tour the plane or ride in the rare, fully-restored aircraft.

The plane is one of about 10 airworthy examples left out of 12,731 made over 50 years ago, according to Rick Senffner, spokesman for the Arizona Wing Commemorative Air Force Museum.

The Sentimental Journey came off the assembly line in 1944. Though the plane never saw combat, it served the country in many ways.

In 1947, the Army Air Corps used the B-17 as a photo-mapping plane in Manila before being transferred to Eglin Field, Fla., where it served as an air-sea rescue craft. After that, the plane was used in a nuclear weapon test series conducted by the United States in 1951. Following that, a civilian company, Aero Union Corporation of Chico, acquired the plane and began using it to fight forest fires.

The plane was donated in 1978 to the Arizona Wing CAF. The organization's members spent more than four years restoring the aircraft back to its original combat configuration.

Co-pilot Bob Blue, an unpaid volunteer of the Arizona Wing CAF, said he flies the plane on tour because he likes to share history.

"I do it primarily because I think young adults and children should learn about World War II history," he said.

Blue said he didn't think history about the war is being taught as much in schools today.

He said he also enjoys meeting people who come to see the plane.

"Sometimes you actually get to meet those who flew in B-17's," he said. "I've met quite a number. They're becoming very few and far between."

The tours will be available today through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

A $5 donation is requested for touring the plane and a 45-minute ride costs $425. A minimum of five people are needed per flight.

The $425 goes toward fuel and other operating costs. Costs to operate the plane run at about $3,000 per hour, fuel for one hour of flying totals about $1,000, said Mel Tiensvold, an Arizona Wing CAF pilot.

The reporter can be reached at 582-0471, ext. 3052

(April 29, 2007)