"Liberty Bell" B17 reported crashed and burned

[PhilipA]

Just heard on teh news that the B17 "Liberty Bell" came down in a cornfield and burned soon after takeoff.
If it is the real Liberty bell , it is a great shame.
Regards Philip A

[p38arover]

Video here: YouTube - ‪Liberty Belle B-17 Crash Landing Fire‬‏

[Disco_owner]

it's a real shame. Just watched the Video.

[dhc4ever]

Heres the story from the horses mouth, so to speak;
Home | Liberty Belle B-17 Flying Fortress (http://www.libertyfoundation.org/index.html)

It is a real pity to loose one of these, from memory there is less than 12 still in flying condition.
The only good news out of this is the crew and passengers got out alive and relatively uninjured.

[JDNSW]

Unfortunately it is a hazard of flying elderly aircraft. Not just the age of it is likely to cause failures, but the skills to maintain them are getting rarer (and parts too - may be a temptation to not replace parts that should be, because the part can't be found, or the part may have aged in some non-obvious way).

In this case the preliminary report seems to implicate a mechanical problem, which may have been a maintenance issue, but on the other hand may simply reflect that, for example, fire suppression systems in a 1930s design aircraft are simply not up to modern standards.

John

[mudmouse]

Hmmm, that is no good at all.

It appears the No.2 prop was feathered but even with that not producing power, it should have been able to maintain a positive rate of climb - perhaps the landing gear could not be retracted with No.2 shut down....?? That would bring it down. I guess we'll have to wait and see what the NTSB reports.

Good to hear no one was injured, but a real shame.

Matt.