B-17 Coming In!

[439th Signal Battalion]

Living in the vicinity of Asheville, NC, I am usually in the path of many of the planes coming in to the area airport. Back in the 80's, the Concord actually flew over, rattling every window in the house.

 

Asheville was the hometown of Colonel Robert K. Morgan of the Memphis Belle and so every year, there is a B-17 that flies into the airport for rides and spectators. When he died some years ago, this B-17 and an accompanying P-51 flew over the area for quite some time as a memorial.

 

I have seen this plane fly over several times in the past, but this time I finally had the opportunity to grab my camera and take some shots. According to the article, this was the B-17 used in the movie.

 

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2014/09/30/b-flew-hollywood-movie-based-asheville-war-hero/16488215/

 

Words cannot adequately describe hearing, and then seeing this machine fly over at a couple thousand feet. My mind is then filled with images of the multitudes of these planes that would fly over Europe on their way to Germany, filling the sky was countless vapor trails. I am also saddened at the same time, knowing that many a young man never came back after getting into one of these...

 

 

Back in 2004, western North Carolina was slammed by back to back hurricanes that blew in and were trapped by the mountains (Ivan and Francis) over a two week period, literally flooding the entire area.

 

I had heard that the Morgan family had many of the Colonel's keepsakes and uniforms in a storage unit in Asheville that was along the Swannanoa River. When the rains came in, that whole area was flooded and underwater for days. As a result, all the items that were in the storage unit were destroyed.

[toadboy65]

i was over by the airport and saw, and heard it buzzing overhead. I used to live near Ellington field when they were the Confederate Air Force, and they buzzed us regularly.