Historical Plane Flights Grounded While Investigation Continues Into Deadly B-17 Bomber Crash at Bradley International Airport

The nonprofit foundation that owned and operated the World War II-era bomber that crashed and killed seven people last year at Bradley International Airport will only offer ground tours of its remaining planes as part of an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration, a spokesman said this week.

The voluntary “stand-down” is in place for an undetermined period as the Collings Foundation launches the 31st year of its nationwide Wings of Freedom tour with a B-24 Liberator bomber and a Mustang fighter plane, spokesman Hunter Chaney said. Money from the flights, however, is an essential source of funding, Chaney said, so foundation leaders hope to resume the “living history” experiences in the near future.

The organization’s executives have not decided whether the 2020 tour — which stopped in Venice, Fla. on Thursday — will come to Connecticut, he said.

On Oct. 2 in Windsor Locks, the foundation’s Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress crashed with 13 people aboard after the pilot reported engine trouble and tried to return to the airport soon after takeoff. The bomber’s right wing hit approach lights about 1,000 feet before the runway and the plane eventually crashed into a de-icing tank and exploded in flames. The pilot, co-pilot and five passengers were killed. Seven others were hurt.

For the past 30 years, the Collings Foundation has offered the public “living history” flights in World War II airplanes. The FAA, however, asked that flights be put on hold until the foundation addressed the agency’s questions about operations and procedures, including hours spent on mechanical upkeep and details about pilot training, Chaney said. The foundation provided those answers, but is continuing the hold on public flights until the FAA “filters through all the information,” he said.

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board is continuing its investigation into the crash, agency spokesman Eric Weiss said. A report that lists all the facts of the case is still months away, Weiss said. The cause, or probable cause, of the accident follows in a final report.

A preliminary report that the agency issued soon after the crash said one of the pilots turned off the two engines on the right side of the plane as he tried to make an emergency landing. After acknowledging the call that the plane needed to return, the NTSB wrote, “the controller then asked for the reason for the return to the airport, and the pilot replied that the airplane had a ‘rough mag’ on the No. 4 engine.”

“Mag” is short for magneto — an engine-driven electrical generator that uses permanent magnets and coils to produce high voltage to fire the aircraft’s spark plugs.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has questioned why the No. 4 engine had not been overhauled for at least 838.2 hours before the plane took off for the last time, while the other three engines were overhauled in January, according to the NTSB report. Blumenthal also questioned the inspection and maintenance of the plane.

The Collings Foundation is one of several groups across the country that sought and received a special exemption from the FAA to fly the vintage planes in 2001. The foundation recently submitted an application to the FAA to renew that exemption in March 2020. Blumenthal, however, has asked the agency to review the exemptions for vintage planes, as well as how they are maintained, who supervises them and where they fly.

“Not to say these planes need to be grounded, but they do need to be inspected and maintained and repaired with a frequency and intensity that guarantees their air trustworthiness,” Blumenthal previously said. “There are a great many FAA regulations that apply to private aircraft and commercial aircraft, and then there’s a gray area applying to these tourist and sightseeing vintage aircraft trips that needs to be looked at.”

Chaney said foundation staff remain devastated by the loss of life in the B-17 crash. Still, he said, the organization hopes to resume offering flights to the public to keep the Wings of Freedom tour alive.

The cost is $475 per person for a flight on the B-24 and $425 for the B-25, according to the foundation’s website. It is an oversight that the website currently lists bomber flights during the stand-down, Chaney said, but he added that the flights are essential for the ongoing mission of engaging people in the history of the deadliest conflict in history.

He mentioned a recent obituary of a B-24 gunner whose family said his flight on the plane many years after the war was a highlight of his life.

“It’s for the veterans and it’s for the country,” Chaney said. “It’s so vitally important that we continue to provide a tactile interaction with something from WWII history. ... To fly in these planes makes history come alive.”

Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at [email protected]

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