My friend Stanley Caulkins had mentioned the week prior that a B-17 would be winging into Leesburg for a weekend of educational and fundraising flights. I’d always wanted to see the famous Flying Fortress of World War II and finally would have the chance.

So it was that on September 9, 2010 I found myself the most accidental of tourists.
The Experimental Aircraft Association of Oshkosh, Wisconsin maintains the “Aluminum Overcast” in flying condition and tours the country spring through fall.  In Loudoun we’re well acquainted with the concept of historical re-enactment (Civil War, etc).  Folks, the challenge of keeping a real B-17 in flying condition is re-enactment at the Ph.D level.

According to the EAA’s B-17 website (http://www.b17.org) there were 12,732 B-17s produced by Boeing between 1935 and 1945.  Of these, 4,735 would be lost to combat ~ 37%.  Almost all that survived the war would be cut up for scrap, today there are 100 or so remaining and only about 12 which are airworthy.

“Aluminum Overcast” was actually produced at the end of WWII in 1945 and never saw combat.  Only a year later it would be surplused, sold for only $750! (at the end of the war it cost $125,000 to produce a B-17G, a ’46 Buick Roadmaster could be had for $1822)

B-17G-VE number 44-85740 would take on the moniker “Aluminum Overcast” from B-17 shot down over France in ’44 while on its 34th mission. The term “aluminum overcast” does not have its roots in meteorology, but was the condition of western European skies being filled with hundreds of bombers at a time, on their way to quiet the Nazi war effort.

A 10-year restoration effort brought “Aluminum Overcast” culminated in its first national tour in 1994 and has been on the wing since teaching the public and raising funds for its continued restoration (“on the wing” except for spending winters in Oshkosh, and a two-year hiatus for repairs after a belly landing in 2004).

September 9th was a brilliant blue day with a bit of breeze. We waited outside the terminal on the small patio which gave me time to hear a few more stories about Stanley’s time in the Army Air Corps. I’ll save those for another day.  Pretty much on schedule, we saw the B-17 on its landing approach.

As one accustomed to frequent flyer miles on 757s, 767s and the like, I guess I expected the B-17 to be much larger. It is called the “Flying Fortress” after all and in masse had flattened industrial WW II Germany. But it is quite compact, perhaps efficiently-sized might be the best description.  Just enough to deliver 10 men and a load of bombs to their target, and, if lucky, return the 10 men to England.

We had a light lunch with the EEA crew, a time to talk, a time for those men who survived the war to give us a glimpse of those terrible days.

Then the question was asked, “Are you ready to go?”.  I assumed that meant go and tour the plane. That question quickly followed by, “you need to sign these papers”.

Which meant I was about to go flying in a B-17 with Stanley Caulkins. A totally unexpected checkmark on my “Bucket List”.

One of the pilots helped me get latched into the 65 year-old seatbelts near the rear of the plane, just behind the left waist gunner’s 50-caliber. Over on the right side Stanley helped Leesburg Today reporter, Alex Bahr, get situated. (go to page 2)