Liberty Belle (B-17 Flying Fortress)



Liberty Belle was the name of several individual Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses used in combat during World War II. The first Liberty Belle B-17 (serial number 42-30096) crashed near Wakes Colne after an accidental on-board fire on 30 November 1943; while the BQ-7 Aphrodite variant (42-30039) named Liberty Belle "was hit by flak and crashed" during a mission against the Heligoland U-boat pens on 15 October 1944. Liberty Belle tail number 42-31610 and a Liberty Bell were attached to the 91st Bomb Group (Heavy), at Bassingbourne. A third Liberty Belle (42-97849) landed in Belgium with heavy damage on 14 February 1945, during an Oil Campaign raid. A fourth Liberty Belle B-17G (43-38037), was part of the 487th "B-17 Flying Fortress Story" and involved in a mid air collision on 30 September 1944. After a sharp turn in heavy contrails, this B-17 was caught in prop wash (presumed), went over on its back and collided with Tail Number 43-38154 of the same squadron. The right wing of '38037 and the left wing of '38154 came off and both aircraft crashed at Bexterhagen, 9 km east of Bielefeld. Only 3 out of 18 men on the two aircraft survived.

The combat Liberty Belles were commemorated by two B-17s which used the name, with one still remaining as a static display: Miss Liberty Belle (44-83690) is displayed at the Grissom Air Museum. The Liberty Foundation flew a composite B-17 named Liberty Belle (constructed from two damaged aircraft (non-combat 44-85734 and the rear part of 44-85813)) as a warbird from 2004 until 2011, when it was destroyed in a fire after an emergency landing.

Commemorative Liberty Belle B-17
The B-17G (SN 44-85734) did not see combat in World War II, and was originally sold on 25 June 1947, as scrap to Esperado Mining Co. of Altus, Oklahoma; it was then sold again later that year for $2,700 to Pratt & Whitney, which operated the B-17 as a heavily modified test bed (similar to 44-85747 and 44-85813). Following these flights, it was donated to the Connecticut Aeronautical Historic Association, where a tornado on 3 October 1979, blew another aircraft onto the B-17's midsection, breaking the fuselage.

The B-17 was eventually purchased by aviation enthusiast Don Brooks, who formed the Liberty Foundation to exhibit the plane as the Liberty Belle. Restoration began in 1992 with parts from another damaged B-17 (44-85813), performed by Tom Reilly and company/Flying Tigers Warbird Restoration Museum (aka "Bombertown USA"), located at that time at Kissimmee Gateway field, Kissimmee, Florida. She returned to the air on 8 December 2004, and had been touring the air show circuit since then. The Liberty Foundation also planned an historic overseas tour in July 2008 along the northern ferry route to England.

Aircraft loss
On the morning of 13 June 2011, Liberty Belle made a forced landing in Oswego, Illinois, after taking off from Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove, Illinois. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot of a T-6 Texan chase plane informed Liberty Belle's pilot that the B-17 inboard left wing was on fire and advised an immediate landing. The bomber landed successfully in a nearby field and the seven people aboard were able to evacuate without injury, but due to the muddy ground the fire engines could not reach it, allowing the fire to spread and destroy the plane.

Liberty Belle II
The 1944 B-24J Liberty Belle II (44-41234) flew 29 combat missions in the 22nd Bomb Group (33rd Bomb Squadron), while the B-29 Liberty Belle II (42-94045) was shot down in the first bomb raid against Balikpapan, after being in Herington, Kansas, during April 1945.