A restored piece of aviation history will fly into Joplin Regional Airport on Monday, just in time to help the airport open its new terminal.

A fully-restored B-17G Flying Fortress bomber, named Sentimental Journey and built in 1944 to fight Nazi Germany in World War II, will land at the airport at noon on Monday and stick around until Friday morning.

The airplane will be open for tours from noon-6 p.m. on Monday and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, which owns and operates the plane, said the cost to tour the plane is a $5 donation to the plane's maintenance fund.

People willing to shell out some cash will also get the chance to fly in the B-17. The cost for a 45-minute flight in this historic aircraft will be a $425 per person donation to the plane's upkeep.

Rick Senffner, spokesman for the Arizona CAF Wing, said the plane has been touring air shows and airports in the Midwest all summer showing off one of the tools used by "The Greatest Generation" to defeat tyranny in Europe and the Pacific theaters of World War II.

"Only a handful of these rare birds remain in the world today and most of them are on static display in museums," the CAF said in a written release. "Sentimental Journey has been restored as a flying museum/memorial by the Commemorative Air Force Arizona Wing so the public can tour these one-of-a-kind aircraft.  All tour proceeds benefit Sentimental Journey. Members of the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force are volunteers and the Commemorative Air Force is a non-profit organization."

Senffner said this particular airplane was completed by the Boeing Aircraft Company in November 1944 and accepted by the U.S. Army Air Forces in March 1945.

By that time, thousands of USAAF B-17 and B-24 Liberator bombers had pounded Nazi Germany into rubble at the cost more than 4,750 planes, about one quarter of the 12,731 built.
This plane was sent to the Pacific theater of war, but the war ended before it could fly any combat missions. It flew a number of photo mapping missions in the Philippine Islands before it was sent back to the States and converted into an air-sea rescue airplane.

Senffner said this plane returned to the Pacific to act as a control aircraft for drones used to investigate the radioactive clouds created by the test explosions of the atomic bombs over the Bikini Atoll.

He said the plane was taken back to the U.S. once again and used for 11 years as a firefighting aircraft, dropping water on forest fires.

"Sentimental Journey is a flying memorial and museum of the men who flew and crewed these airplanes, as well as the men and women who built them more than 50 years ago during and especially to the crews that did not return," the CAF's written release said. "The B-17 Flying Fortress was famous for the daylight bombing raids over Germany during World War II and could sustain such battle damage that the aircraft lived up to its name of the Flying Fortress. Out of 12,731 built there are only about 10 restored and airworthy examples remaining. For the airplane enthusiast, it's an opportunity to have a museum come to the visitor instead of the traditional other way around."