Historic WWII Bombers to Fly into Denton
By Dave Ferman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Mar. 7–DENTON — It’s one thing to hear about the bombers that helped the Allied forces win World War II, and quite another to fly in one and get a taste of what their crews experienced.
“It’s a very tactile history lesson,” said Hunter Chaney of the Collings Foundation, a Massachusetts group that restores vintage aircraft. “When people can crawl through the planes, that active participation is a direct connection to history.”
The foundation restored three World War II bombers, a B-17 Flying Fortress, a B-25 Mitchell and a B-24 Liberator, that fly in the Wings of Freedom Tour. The tour will be at Denton Municipal Airport this weekend. The B-24 is the only one still flying of the 18,000 built, Chaney said. All were restored by volunteers at the foundation’s headquarters.
Many B-24s were built at the Consolidated Aircraft Co. plant in Fort Worth, now owned by Lockheed Martin.
The tour’s Denton stop begins from noon to 5 p.m. Monday and continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and March 14.
Viewing the planes up close and taking tours inside the aircraft are free, but donations of $5 for children younger than 12 and $10 for adults is requested. In addition, the tour offers 30-minute flights in all three planes. The cost is $425 per person to fly aboard the B-17 or B-24; for the B-25, the cost is $400 to ride in the front fuselage and $325 in the waist gun area, according to a news release.
The three planes have been touring together for 18 years, Chaney said. While the tour frequently stops in Texas, it has never come to Denton, city spokeswoman Lisa Lemons said. Air shows are popular at the Denton airport, she said.
“This type of event is handmade for the airport,” she said. “People love to come see the planes, and we think it will do very well.”
The foundation has restored 27 aircraft from World War I through the Vietnam War, Chaney said. Twelve of the 27 aircraft are from World War II. All three of the bombers on tour were found in pieces; Many of the planes used during the war were sold for scrap or abandoned afterward.
The foundation is working to restore an A-36 Apache dive bomber used during World War II and has just finished restoring a Huey helicopter used during the Vietnam War, he said.
Several displays of vintage aircraft can be found in the Metroplex, including the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field and Fort Worth’s Vintage Flying Museum. The latter includes an operational B-17 Flying Fortress, but planes from that museum travel, at most, 300 to 400 miles, said W.D. “Doc” Hospers, the museum’s chief executive officer.
“They’re three good aircraft,” Hospers said of the planes in the tour. “Kids have no concept of the Second World War. Some of them don’t even know there was a Second World War.”
IN THE KNOW
Wings of Freedom Tour
Where: Denton Municipal Airport, 5000 Airport Drive, Denton
When: Noon to 5 p.m. Monday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and March 14.
Cost: Requested donation of $5 for children younger than 12 and $10 for adults
Information: Collings Foundation, 800-568-8924; Denton Municipal Airport, 940-349-7736.
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Dave Ferman, 817-685-3957 dferman@star-telegram.com
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Copyright (c) 2007, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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