The sad end of the Liberty Belle

It was a fine, old machine. The B-17 that I flew in over downtown St. Paul a few weeks ago was a traveling museum, dedicated to the bomber crews that flew her in World War II.

But the Liberty Belle is no more. It crashed made an emergency landing and then burned this morning in Illinois

b17_after.jpg

Everybody who was aboard got out.

Last week, the Confederate Air Force’s B-25 and three P-51s were lined up on the ramp at South St. Paul’s Fleming Field, when the B-17 made a thrilling high-speed low-pass tribute, just feet above the runway, before rising quickly and lumbering off for Chicago.