Up until January 20, 2013, my favorite thing I had ever done in an airplane was to fly a King Air 200 at FL230 over Atlantic City, NJ, at sunset. That might sound pretty outstanding to you too. If you have any interest in aviation or really awesome things, it should. It's still one of those aviation moments I will never forget, but it has been replaced as my all-time favorite. My new favorite aviation experience was getting some one-on-one time with a beautiful and truly unique airplane, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.
It's number 252534, the last Liberator still flying. Out of 18,000 that were manufactured, this is the last one that flies. This was truly a once in a lifetime kind of experience.
It's number 252534, the last Liberator still flying. Out of 18,000 that were manufactured, this is the last one that flies. This was truly a once in a lifetime kind of experience.
People have been asking me repeatedly, "how did you swing this?!?" Like all good stories, mine begins with "I know a guy." Actually, it's a gal in this case. A colleague of mine happens to be the co-pilot on this bad boy. A fortuitous set of circumstances led us to the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, FL, where I got to spend some quality time in the cockpit of the B-24, usually off limits to fee-paying tourists. This airplane, along with many others, belong to the Collings Foundation. The Foundation, with the help of donors and people who pay for tours and demo flights, keeps the B-24 and other historic airplanes airworthy and flying. Most of the pilots and crew on these pieces of living history volunteer their time to keep costs as low as possible. This airplane is part of the Wings of Freedom Tour, which was making a stop at Sport Expo this year. The tour fleet also included a picture-perfect B-17 and an extremely rare P-51C Mustang.
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I did my sightseeing on Saturday morning, wishing the entire time I could take one of the few rides offered in this legendary, extremely rare B-24. That afternoon, I got my chance! There was an open seat in the afternoon demo flight. Excitement quickly turned to disappointment as inclement weather pushed the flight back to the following morning. Believe me, it was worth the wait.
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I have done a lot of really cool things in airplanes over the years. I hope to be able to continue that trend for many years to come. However, it's going to take something really amazing to knock this experience off the pedestal as my favorite experience in an airplane. Thank you Collings Foundation and the pilots and crew of the Wings of Freedom Tour for making flight in a B-24 possible. Thank you all the more for making it a reality for me!
Fly safe everybody!
Fly safe everybody!