BeaconMediaNews.com
12 | MARCH 28, 2013 - APRIL 3, 2013
The Memphis Belle B-17 coming to Burbank and Long Beach
-Photo by Terry Miller
Last year a colleague, Andrea Olivas and I were privileged to fly in the “Liberty Belle” B17 high above Burbank and experience one of the best examples of a B-17 in existence. Arthur Sherman, Leon Wald, Mike LaVere were among those with whom we flew that day last March. These men had collectively flown hundreds of missions over Germany during WW11 and for these men, it was more than nostalgia. Their sense of humor and candor reminded me of why they are known as the greatest generation.
“The stories we have, some of which are true, are incredible.” quipped Arthur Sherman who spent a lot of time flying in B17′s in Italy. Sadly, the plane Liberty Belle, crashed in Chicago a few months after our amazing journey. No one was seriously injured as a result but the plane and history was destroyed. On Monday, Beacon Media publisher Von Raees and Marc Landau joined Temple City resident and Veteran Laurence Stevens (who was a 19-year-old B-17 tail gunner during WW11) and a handful of news peo-
By Terry Miller flights and tours . The bomber is making its first West Coast tour in honor of the 70th anniversary of its namesake plane's crew completing their 25th and final mission in May 1943 The Liberty Foundation relies solely on donations and contributions to help defray the B-17’s exceptionally high operational expense and maintenance costs. And now with aviation fuel at an all time high , one can only imagine how expensive a single flight must be. A porple were able to go on a dif- tion of all funds raised goes to ferent kind of mission Mon- help Angel Flight of Georgia day flying in the Memphis and for donations received of $500 or more, a random Belle above Long Beach. Stevens said he flew at WWII veteran will be selectleast 35-missions during the ed on tour and flown in the war, but hadn’t apparently B-17 on your behalf! Flight cost is $390 for been on a B17 since then. “It was quite different,” Stevens Liberty Foundation Memsaid after the B17 landed bers, $430 for non-members. post a 30-minute flight back Become a member for $40 and receive the member disin time. The Liberty Founda- count for friends and family. The Liberty Belle usution's Boeing B-17 "Memphis Belle" is one of only 13 B-17's ally flies between 10am and still flying today out of nearly 3pm each day with ground 13,000 built for service in tours after the flights. The Boeing B-17 is by World War II. The "Memphis Belle" will be at Long far the most famous bomber Beach Airport for Saturday of World War II. In 1934 the
Boeing Aircraft Company of Seattle Washington began construction of a four engine heavy bomber. Known as the Model -299, first flight was achieved on July 28th 1935. As a result, the U.S. Government placed an order for production of 13 of these aircraft and began to take delivery of the 13 production aircraft between January 11th and August 4th 1937. The B-17, dubbed the "Flying Fortress" as a result of her amount of defensive firepower, underwent a number of improvements over its tenyear production run. B-17 Models ranged from the YB-17 to the B-17G model. Throughout the war the B-17 was refined and improved as the combat experience showed the Boeing designers where improvements could be made. The Final B-17 production model, the B-17G was produced in the largest quantities (8,680) than any other previous model and is considered the definitive "Flying Fortress". With its 13 .50-caliber machine guns, Chin, top, ball and tail turrets; waist and cheek guns the B-17 was indeed
an airplane that earned the respect of its combatants. In addition, the flight crews loved the B-17 for her ability to take and withstand heavy combat damage and return safely home. During WWII, the B-17 saw service in every theater of operation, but was operated primarily by the 8th Air force in Europe and participated in countless missions from bases in England. A typical B-17 Mission often lasted for more than eight hours and struck targets deep within enemy territory. During the war, B-17's dropped 640,036 tons of bombs on European targets in daylight raids. This compares to the 452,508 tons dropped by the B-24 and 464,544 tons dropped by all other U.S. aircraft. The B-17 also downed 23 enemy aircraft per 1,000 raids as compared with 11 by B-24's and 11 by fighters and three by all U.S. medium and light bombers. There were a total of 12,732 B-17's that were produced between 1935 and May 1945. Of these 4,735 were lost in combat. FolPlease see page 15
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Building the future, one mind at a time To celebrate Financial Literacy Month, Wells Fargo is proud to sponsor Free Family Night at Kidspace Museum on Tuesday, April 2, 2013, from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Enjoy free admission to the museum and learn how we can help you teach your children the importance of saving through our Hands on Banking® financial education program. To learn more about the Hands on Banking program, stop by a store to speak with a banker today. For more information about Free Family Night, visit kidspacemuseum.org
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