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B-17 tour stop in Valley offers historic flight experiences
Flying in a Boeing B-17
Gallery
By Karl Henkel
VIENNA
Before Thursday, Dixie Lee Kosovec of McDonald never had the chance to ride in a World War II-era B-17 bomber.
Kosovec, who’ll be 75 in November, admittedly didn’t know much about the warplane either, despite having her name — “Dixie Lee” — plastered along the nose of a B-17 and an uncle who flew one during the war.
“He didn’t talk much about the war,” Kosovec said. “I got some pictures back from him and some letters and stuff, but he never discussed anything that went on in the war.”
The B-17 bearing her name was shot down Aug. 13, 1944, over Le Manoir, France.
Kosovec on Thursday finally got a taste of what her uncle, Sgt. Andy Bugzavich experienced in the military.
“I understand what they went through,” Kosovec said softly after her inaugural flight. “It was a fabulous ride.”
The B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, named “Aluminum Overcast,” is in town through Sunday at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and commemorates that flight shot down in 1944.
Though Aluminum Overcast was not used during World War II, it remains in splendid condition today thanks to a group called B-17s Around the World that helped refurbish the aircraft, originally delivered to the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1945.
It has flown more than a million miles and dons the colors of the 398th Bomb Group, which flew hundreds of missions over Nazi Germany-held territory.
It previously served as a cargo hauler, aerial mapping platform and in pest control and forest dusting applications before it was purchased by B-17s Around the World in 1978.
It later was donated to the Experimental Aircraft Association in 1983.
Aluminum Overcast — 74 feet 4 inches long — is one of about a dozen B-17s still flying today. In all, 12,732 B-17s were built for military use during wartime.
Also on Thursday’s flight: Poland resident 1st Lt. Richard Ames, who flew 33 missions as part of the 100th Bomb Group at the end of the war.
The flight, his second postwar, brought back memories.
Some were good — how he used to lift himself up through to enter the aircraft from under the bomb bay — and others bad, such as his lost war brethren, some of the more than 400,000 American military members who lost their lives in World War II.
“There’s not much I don’t remember,” Ames said after the flight. “I did not remember just how loud this darn thing was.”
Those participating in the flight will have a chance to walk through the aircraft as it flies over the Mahoning Valley, looking through windows and even sitting in the bomb bay for an all-encompassing, panoramic view and great photo opportunities.
Ground tours of the plane are from 2 to 5 p.m. and cost $5 per person or $15 per family. Children under 8, active military or veterans and spouses are admitted free.
Actual flights can be pre-booked by visiting www.b17.org or by calling 800-359-6217.
The 30-minute flights, scheduled four per day, cost $425 for Experimental Aircraft Association members and $465 for nonmembers.