More than 60 years ago, thousands of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers filled the skies over America and Europe.

They brought feelings of security to residents of the U.S., hope to those oppressed by Nazi tyranny and fear to the leaders of the mighty German war machine.

Today, fewer than 10 of these famous warbirds remain flyable. One of them is parked at Joplin Regional Airport waiting for crowds to come see it, tour cramped interior and for a lucky few, possibly take a ride back to yesteryear.

Sentimental Journey, a B-17G, built too late to fly any combat missions against either Germany or Japan, arrived at Joplin from Springfield, Ill., under control of pilot and Colonel in the Commemorative Air Force, Jim Kimmel. The Arizona Wing of the Texas-based Commemorative Air Force operates the plane.

"This is our summer tour," Kimmel said. “We go out every summer and stop by about 50 or 60 cities every summer in an effort to generate enough revenue to keep this airplane flying. It is a very expensive venture to maintain, restore, preserve and present these airplanes to the public."

A crowd gathers

Douglas Miner, Carthage, brought his two sons, Phillip, 8, and Joseph, 3, to see the B-17 as it glided to the Joplin airport runway.

Phillip Miner said he was impressed with all the big machine guns that studded the sides, nose and tail of the big, four-engine bomber. A B-17G was one of the most heavily armed variants of the Flying Fortress, carrying up to 13 .50 caliber machine guns for the crew of 10 to use to defend it from enemy fighter planes.

Douglas Miner said he was one of hundreds of the children of World War II veterans who thrilled in building the plastic model airplanes popular before the advent of the home computer and the Internet.

"When I was a teenager I was really into the model airplanes of the World War II era and I remember making a B-17," Douglas Miner said. "I had it hanging from my ceiling. I harbored fascinations of flying through that model."

Mark Cook, Carthage, brought his wife, Becky Cook, to see the plane land so she could experience the sights and sounds he remembers from an air show more than 20 years ago at the headquarters of the Commemorative Air Force.

"I went to the Commemorative Air Force air show down in Texas back in 1987 and I knew that I enjoyed it immensely," Cook said. "It was an all-day show and it was just incredible, the sounds, the sights all that. I wanted my wife to be able to see one of these up close to be able to appreciate how big they are and eventually we want to pay to crawl through it to see how cramped it is on the inside. It's big on the outside and tiny on the inside."

Impressive machine

Cook said he is impressed with antique machines.

"We were sure we wanted to be here to hear it land because we wanted her to hear what all these motors sound like," Cook said. "We really appreciated the crew doing the flyby. I didn't expect it, but we really appreciated it.

"It's 60 years old at least and I get excited seeing a 60-year-old antique car. Something like this that still flies is incredible. I appreciate the intelligence these crew members have to be a part of a club that can organize the upkeep on something like this."

Leisha Beard, Webb City, who watched the plane land with her husband and son, Marty Beard and Brandon Beard, 8, said both of them are interested in World War II.
Brandon Beard, like many children who saw the plane up close, was most impressed with the guns.

Marty Beard was impressed with the history.

"I just like the oldness of it, the history," Marty Beard said. "That's the problem with kids, they don't really know the history of something like World War II. They learn some in school, but I don't think they go into the fine details of something like that, what they went through and what they did.

"You see on the television programs about how some of these had the tails almost blown off and they flew back, it's really unbelievable that they built this and built so many of them way back then."

Len Matson, 75, Carthage, was not old enough to fight in World War II, but he is old enough to remember when the roar of the piston engine filled the skies over America.

"I lived near Los Angeles at the time so we would see all different types of airplanes flying around," Matson said. "As far as I know I never had any relatives who went down in B-17s. I had a relative who went down in either a B-24 or B-25 in Europe, but I have lots of memories of these types of aircraft as well as other parts of the various military services.

"There's a lot of history here. I remember a lot of the stuff from back when I was young. We saw the newsreels all the time. They were very impressive back then, and my dad had been in the first World War so we used to talk about how much better equipped our people were to fight in World War II than he had been and how it took this nation to not only build all these aircraft, but to find the people to fly them."

Fast Facts:

• A total of 12,731 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of all types were built between 1936 and 1945.

• Approximately a quarter of all B-17s built, more than 4,000, were lost in combat in World War II.

• Sentimental Journey is powered by four, 1,200-horsepower Wright Cyclone engines that use 200 gallons of fuel per hour and carry 37 gallons of motor oil.

• For more details, see the Web site belonging to the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force at http://www.azcaf.org/