[RitchieMars]

Back when I was a kid, I recall how my parents were into CB radio and my mom, in particular, was really into WWII planes after we saw "The Memphis Belle." We went to a couple air shows and at one show, I climbed up inside of a B-17 called "Sentimental Journey." I remember that I got behind the left side waist gun and starting aiming it towards some of the people walking around on the ground! At the next show, we got the see the movie version of the Memphis Belle. I believe they had landed and came rolling by as all the spectators watched. As she turned into her parking spot and turned her tail towards us, the gust from those engines blew over all this stuff at the souvenir stand! Pictures and hats and table cloths just went flying... it was quite a sight.

I did get to actually see a B-29 once at another air show. Her name was "FiFi" and in comparison to the B-17, she was considerably larger. I didn't get to climb up inside that one, but there was this other plane called "Liberator" which I believe was a B-24, and they had said that a president had ridden in it once, as I recall. I did climb up inside of it, and remember that it had one of those creepy dummies in uniform in there. Never cared much for those dummies!

But yeah, I do recall watching this documentary about the Kee Bird when it came out and we were all quite heartbroken and shocked at how it ended. It's horrible that one random piece of equipment breaks loose and destroys an irreplaceable aircraft. I understand that it could have been dismantled and transported in pieces and restored elsewhere, but who could blame these guys? I would have wanted to fly it out there, too!

When a restoration project goes horribly wrong, I guess we have to look back and remind ourselves that it could be much worse!