Visitors to Aviation Day at the Columbus Municipal Airport can experience one of the most iconic planes that helped win World War II — the B-17.
Yankee Lady, a B-17 that was delivered by Lockheed to the U.S. Air Force in 1945, is one of the featured attractions at today’s fifth annual aviation festival.
The plane’s crew offered a few groups of invited guests a preview of the B-17 flights being offered at the airport between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. today, which are going for $450 a seat.
Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop was among those who got an opportunity to hop aboard the aircraft Friday morning, describing the half-hour plane ride as an “amazing experience.”
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The aircraft is one of nine B-17s left in the world still being flown, said Norm Ellickson, Yankee Lady’s crew chief. Ellickson retired from Delta Airlines after a 34-year career working in the airline’s maintenance department.
“It was really an airplane that helped win the war in Europe,” Ellickson said. “They were the icon of World War II.”
The plane has had a wide-ranging journey to its current use as a featured aircraft of the Yankee Air Museum at the Willow Run Airport in Van Buren Township, Michigan, north of Detroit. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display aircraft outdoors.
The Yankee Air Force, which purchased the plane in the 1980s after it was put up for sale in an auction, spent nine years restoring it at a cost of about $400,000, Ellickson said.
The restorers do not believe Yankee Lady ever flew combat missions in World War II, built too late to see war action. Instead, it was placed in storage with a group of other brand new B-17s in Texas and was later transferred to the Coast Guard to be used for air-sea rescue and iceberg patrol duties.
While the plane never went into real combat, several histories about Yankee Lady state the plane was one of five B-17s flown to Hawaii and used in filming of the 1970 war film “Tora! Tora! Tora!”
When the Yankee Air Force members obtained the aircraft, they learned that all the turrets and guns were missing and much of the aircraft, from its vertical and horizontal tail surfaces, had been altered over the years. In addition to serving the Coast Guard until the 1950s, the plane was also used in aerial survey work, to fight forest fires and to apply pesticides.
Since it has been restored, the plane makes appearances at different aviation events around the country, May through October of each year, Ellickson said.
The Yankee Lady, which can transport 12 passengers and three crew members, has been flying since 1995 and has a top speed of 160 mph, he said.
Ellickson said the plane is an educational opportunity not to be missed.
Karen Niverson, executive director of the Columbus Area Visitors Center, also on Friday’s preview flight, said the experience led her to have a new appreciation for World War II veterans.
“It was an awesome experience,” she said. “It was a glimpse of the experience they were having in the air.”
After passengers are briefed on safety procedures and the plane is in the air, they are allowed to unbuckle their seat belts and walk around the plane to see different parts of the aircraft, including the crew cabin.
“This is kind of a chance of a lifetime,” Niverson said of the B-17 preview flight.
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What: Aviation Day
When: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today
Where: Columbus Municipal Airport, 4770 Ray Boll Boulevard
Activities: Pancake breakfast, airplane rides, cruise-in, free bounce houses, hog roast lunch, Touch-a-Truck, educational programs, Lifeline helicopter, remote control aircraft and simulators, Tuskegee Airmen Inc. and a B-17 aircraft.
How much: Free admission, but there are fees for most airplane rides and some of the other activities.
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