After a day out at several airfields in the LA area, I was heading back towards my hotel in Long Beach and decided to pay a quick visit to the nearby airport, expecting to shoot a succession of biz jets and JetBlue A320s. Probably the last thing I expected to see holding short of the departure runway was an immaculate B-24 Liberator! This was the first indication I had that the Collings Foundation were in town, bringing with them a gaggle of their WWII-era aircraft.
The Collings Foundation was set up in 1979 as an educational foundation to organise and support “living history” events. Such events were designed to allow the American public to learn more about their heritage through participation, and in the early days of the Foundation this mainly took the form of small events such as classic car rallies and a winter ice cutting event near the Foundation’s base in Stow, Massachusetts.
In the 1980s, the Foundation expanded their activities and included aviation events such as airshows and barnstorming. During this period they acquired the two heavy bombers which they are best known for operating – the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator.
Realising that the best way to spread their message and reach the largest audience was by taking the aircraft out on tour, the Foundation launched the “Wings of Freedom Tour” in 1989. In the 20 years since its inception, the tour has made over 2400 visits to airports across the US, and it is estimated that 3-4 million people see the aircraft annually.
The 2010 Tour began in Florida in mid-January and reached California towards the end of April. Currently involved are both heavy bombers along with the Foundation’s TP-51C Mustang, “Betty Jane”. Flights are offered in all of the aircraft on tour, allowing the public to experience a taste of what life was like for the men who took them to war.
The Foundation acquired its B-17 in 1986 and the aircraft is currently named “Nine-O-Nine”, the identity of an aircraft from the 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group which completed an incredible 140 missions without an abort or loss of a crew member. The Foundation’s aircraft (serial number 44-83575) has a colourful history itself, being built by Douglas at Long Beach in 1945.
Delivered too late to see combat in WWII, it did enter service initially as an air-sea rescue aircraft before taking on transport duties. In 1952 however life got somewhat more exciting (and dangerous) for the aircraft when it was equipped with instrumentation and subjected to three nuclear test explosions! After “cooling down” over the course of 13 years, the aircraft was sold as part of an 800 ton lot of scrap metal. Recognising that it was in a salvageable condition, the purchaser, Aircraft Specialties Company, began restoration of the aircraft.
The restoration was a long and difficult one, but eventually the aircraft took to the sky once more. It went on to spend 20 years operating as a fire fighting aircraft, before being purchased by the Collings Foundation and restored back to its wartime configuration.
Operating alongside the B-17 currently, as it did the USAAF in WWII, is the B-24 Liberator. The Foundation’s B-24 is the only fully restored and airworthy B-24J, and as such it is a very rare bird indeed. In common with the B-17, it also has a colourful and illustrious history. Built at Consolidated’s Fort Worth plant, it was delivered to the USAAF as 44-44052, but was quickly transferred to the RAF in October 1944. It was allocated the serial KH191 and used by 8(Special Duties) Sqn for a variety of combat operations, including resupply missions for ground forces, often behind enemy lines.
At the end of the war, KH191 was abandoned at Khanpur, India; RAF airmen were tasked to put the aircraft beyond use, but obviously did not manage to damage the aircraft sufficiently to accomplish this. In 1948, a team from the Indian Air Force (IAF) surveyed the aircraft and determined that it would be feasible to refurbish a number of them for future use.
One of the aircraft which was earmarked for service was KH191 – in all, 42 Indian Liberators were refurbished and they eventually served until 1968. Today we have much to thank the IAF for – virtually all the B-24s still in existence were aircraft which were rescued from the Khanpur graveyard.
On retirement, KH191 passed to the IAF Technical College at Jalahalli as an instructional airframe before being abandoned. It was acquired by British warbird collector Doug Arnold in 1981 and was dismantled and flown to the UK by cargo aircraft. In 1984 it was sold on to Robert Collings of the Collings Foundation for restoration.
Initially it was expected that the B-24 would be restored to static display condition, but Robert Collings was persuaded that restoring the aircraft to airworthy condition would ensure many more people got to see this important bomber, especially as the Liberator is often overshadowed by the more famous Flying Fortress.
The restoration was a lengthy process, but eventually the B-24 made its first post restoration flight in September 1989. Since that time it has had three identities, representing aircraft which flew missions in Europe and the Pacific. Most recently the aircraft adopted the identity “Witchcraft”, a legendary B-24 based at Rackheath, UK during the war.
During the tour, the Foundation offer flights to members of the public, in exchange for a donation to cover costs. The aircraft generate a great deal of interest wherever they go, and there are always plenty of passengers eager to experience a taste of conditions aboard one of the legendary bombers. For many people, it is a dream come true, one gentleman remarking to me after his flight “I grew up watching these aircraft in movies – I always wanted to find out what it would be like to fly in them.”
Accompanying the bombers, and also available for flights is a unique TP-51C Mustang, named Betty Jane. This is one of only a small number of early “razor-back” P-51s still flying, and the only one to be fitted with dual controls. Betty Jane was built in 1942 as a P-51C, and restored between 2000 and 2004. During the restoration, it was converted to dual controls as a TP-51C; although this was not its wartime configuration, at least five early P-51s were modified “in the field” during WWII, enabling them to carry a passenger, so there is a historical precedent for such an aircraft. The most famous of these modified aircraft was named “The Stars Look Down” and used to fly General Eisenhower over the Normandy landings.
As theirs is the only P-51C to be fitted with dual controls, the Foundation is able to offer the unique opportunity to undertake training flights in the aircraft, giving members of the public the chance to fly the aircraft for themselves. This experience is available to all regardless of previous flying experience.
The three aircraft above make up the core of the Wings of Freedom tour, and are joined by other aircraft from the collection at various dates around the US. Shortly to join the tour for the first time is one of the latest aircraft acquired by the foundation, one which is bound to stir great interest wherever it visits – the Messerschmitt Me-262. The Foundation hopes to be able to offer flight experiences in the faithfully reproduced replica aircraft in the future, which will no doubt be of huge interest to the public.
Wherever they go, the aircraft draw crowds of people, interested to find out more about the aircraft. In addition to the flights, for a small donation it is possible for members of the public to take a tour inside the bombers and appreciate both the uncomfortable, cramped conditions for those who flew the aircraft and also the incredibly high standard of the restoration work. The attention to detail includes replica bombs in the bomb bays, complete with “goodwill” messages to those unfortunate recipients!
Many veterans and their families visit the aircraft whilst on tour, with the aircraft providing a link with the past for such people. On the day I spent with the Foundation, visitors included Mrs Josephine Ramirez, whose husband was the late MSgt Joe Ramirez, the crew chief of the original “Witchcraft”. Attending with several generations of her family, Mrs Ramirez was delighted to see her husband’s name on the side of the B-24, with the Foundation’s volunteers being equally delighted to meet her and show her around the aircraft.
In addition to the WWII aircraft involved in the Wings of Freedom tour, the Foundation also operates some more modern aircraft, which are available for airshows and in some cases flight experiences. These include examples of the F4U-5NL Corsair and T-33 Shooting Star, which commemorate those who fought in the Korean War.
The Foundation also operates some exciting Vietnam War era aircraft including a UH-1E Huey, TA-4J Skyhawk and perhaps most excitingly, an F-4D Phantom. The Huey is available to all for flight experiences; currently the jets are only available for flight training for already qualified pilots, but this is currently under discussion with the FAA and the Foundation is hopeful that there may be a change to this rule in the future.
For now, the Wings of Freedom tour provides a superb opportunity for the US public to connect with a past generation. This opportunity diminishes with every passing year, as highlighted by Greg Bishop, a local volunteer for the Collings Foundation in SoCal. “Every day is an opportunity to recognize all our military. And with the older veterans, time is getting short. Even if a veteran living today was 17 years old and enlisted right around the attack on Pearl Harbor, that individual is now almost 86 years old. Most are in their 90's. We are extremely fortunate to be able to thank them, maybe even offer to buy lunch or a cup of coffee and talk about whatever they care to discuss. Very soon every one of them will be gone.”
With the passage of time, the role of organisations such as the Collings Foundation in maintaining the memories of past generations becomes of ever increasing importance. This shared appreciation of the past also unites people in a shared sense of their national history. In Greg’s words, “I've been very impressed by how this 'living history' tour brings people together like few other things can in today's world. All differences are put aside, because the aircraft, the veterans, the history is what is important to everyone there.”
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