B-17 Liberty Belle fire & landing in Oswego,Ill, EVERYONE OK

[ZRX61]

Looking at the video feed, it seems that the crew did one heck of a job getting her down, on her gear, in a ploughed, short, field. From the burn marks and tire tracks, looks as if the fire was in the left inboard, and was probably fully involved before they got it stopped. Just my non-aviator opinion, but the folks on board and their families owe a huge thanks to the pilots and their skill.

Left inner prop is feathered.

I vaguely remember on the thread about the French B-25 incident someone had mentioned that it was costly and/or very difficult to install modern fire suppresion systems on that aircraft. Is this true across the board for money/technical reasons? Someone here knows, I'm sure.

Not a problem putting new stuff in a warbird if it is operated as "Experimental", not sure what the deal is with "Restricted" etc

[RyanShort1]

For those that are AOPA members - there is an interesting post here: http://forums.aopa.org/showthread.php?p ... ost1377505

Ryan

[Matt Gunsch]

one of the links had a couple of photos of it in the air with flames visible thru a burn in the wing behind #2, no engine firebottle would put that out. A engine fire is one thing, a fire inside the wing, next to a fuel cell is another...

[lmritger]

one of the links had a couple of photos of it in the air with flames visible thru a burn in the wing behind #2, no engine firebottle would put that out. A engine fire is one thing, a fire inside the wing, next to a fuel cell is another...

Just saw it in the photo link posted above... wow, that's no good at ALL, those pilots must've been sweating something fierce looking for a place to put her down. What systems are in that general area within the wing?

Lynn

[Punisher05]

Cripes...what an awful way to wake up. Really glad everybody got out OK though, speaks volumes for the crew.

I got a chance to crawl all around the inside of the LB when it stopped in for the LRAFB airshow last year, first B-17 I'd ever been in so it holds a special place for me. I'll post my pictures when I get to work tonight.

And as far as the firefighters are concerned...I know from my time with the ARFF guys that they need special chemicals (especially AFFF) for fuel burns, I'm relatively sure the local guys used to fighting structural fires may have a little, but not nearly enough to combat that kind of burn.

Cheers-

Brandon

[B17news]

again those guys did a great job landing it safely. Found the link to the pic on the post above mine.

Last edited by B17news on Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[StangStung]

Jeebus. That flaming wing pic gave me the creepy crawlies.

Mega kudos to the gents who got that thing on the ground!

Thanks for the response ZRX61, much appreciated.

[67Cougar]

the pics in that link are on a copyrighted site ... cut and paste at your own risk, but I would suggest not posting them here to keep from any legal issues.

[Matt Gunsch]

Perhaps the left main tire threw something up on takeoff that punctured the fuel cell, the leaking fuel eventually being lit off by the exhaust of #2.

Not likely, the cells are under a stress panel that is composed of sheet aluminum over corrugated aluminum, all told prob 1 1/2 inch thick.

[Matt Gunsch]

Just saw it in the photo link posted above... wow, that's no good at ALL, those pilots must've been sweating something fierce looking for a place to put her down. What systems are in that general area within the wing?

Lynn

not alot other than one of the largest fuel tanks, it is mounted fore/aft, just inside the wing butt. The exhaust in that area is enclosed in stainless steel, but since Liberty Belle did not have live turbos I am nut sure how they have the exhaust system set up.

[wendovertom]

So so so sad - BUT - the aircrew and passengers all got out alive - thank the man upstairs for a talented and skilled crew to get them home safely.

Tom P.

[Robbie Roberts]

I hate to say it, but I guess the upside is that while she is a total airframe loss, it looks like she has a lot of salvageable parts, and will be a good basis to do a data-plate rebuild, or to help with another restoration... But DAM^! I am sad to see that. I was sick to my stomach for a while, and consider her's a major death in the warbird community.

It looks to me like the fire came through behind the exhausts, and I would SPECULATE, simply based on the pics, a fuel line behind the engine, or maybe something hydraulic?

I just looked up her Wikipedia bio, and find it spooky the ORIGINAL "Liberty Belle" crashed for the same reason!(11/30/1943)

I hope the Liberty Foundation can start again with another airframe... If they do, I may have a full set of BC-375 tuning units and some other bits for the radio room I might donate to them if asked...

Scott

[krlang]

Thunder 2010

[davidbray]

In the Tribune article something was mentioned about them already having another B-17 in restoration.

Sad that Liberty Belle appears to have been totally lost, however that is an amazing job of landing her where she's at. Fields in this area are soft right now after a lot of rain. Kudos to the pilots for getting her stopped and remaining on the wheels. Glad all are safe.

[Air_Force_Vet]

Reading this article...if the eye witness reports are even close to correct...it looked as if the crew had a challenge on their hands shortly after takeoff and it's simply amazing that they got her down and everyone out safely...

"[The pilot] banked hard right and you could tell something was wrong," Paravola said. "His wings almost went vertical and I saw him put out his landing gear. ... He looked like he was headed back to the airport."

http://bolingbrook.patch.com/articles/vintage-wwii-plane-crashes-near-route-71