Sucks to lose two functional historical airframes. There are only 8 other airworthy B-17s out there. When they're gone the history is no longer visceral. It's just a museum curiosity that has no sense of the mechanics or performance. We've already got the first crop of kids born who will never interact with a WW2 vet in the way I never did with a WW1 one, and that's losing any connection to the war which isn't from a film or game.
Sucks to lose two functional historical airframes. There are only 8 other airworthy B-17s out there. When they're gone the history is no longer visceral. It's just a museum curiosity that has no sense of the mechanics or performance. We've already got the first crop of kids born who will never interact with a WW2 vet in the way I never did with a WW1 one, and that's losing any connection to the war which isn't from a film or game.
Even when they were brand new, B-17s crashed from mechanical problems all the time. A few years ago one belly landed in a cornfield and burned.