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Fans flock to Air Zoo to see legendary B17 Flying Fortress flown during WWII

Posted at 8:06 PM, Aug 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-21 22:54:10-04

PORTAGE, Mich. — Gabby Gieske doesn’t start school for another few days. The 6-year-old dreams of becoming a pilot one day, she said. So her dad and grandfather drove her and her younger sister Aoife to see the B17 Flying Fortress at the Air Zoo in Portage.

“There’s so many cool parts,” Gieske said during an interview near the plane. “The front is really cool and we can get in it and get on a seat.”

Gieske toured the plane Tuesday afternoon with her family. When she went inside she immediately sat in the pilot’s seat near the nose and slowly made her way to the back of the plane squeezing through its aisle. When the staff asked her if she wanted to see it again, she quickly said "yes."

“There was a ball and really big bullets,” she remembered. “There was a place for bombers to sit and then they shoot ‘em out. It’s really cool to be in that plane.

Gieske was among the dozens who toured the plane at the Air Zoo’s east campus. For $10 fans were allowed to climb up a ladder and into the plane, sit on the seats and look out the windows just as the airmen did back during World War II.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Bill Hoffman from Battle Creek. “It just gives me such an appreciation you know for what these men had gone through.”

Nancy Kwiecien, an executive officer with the Commemorative Air Force, said many of the men who flew the B17 Flying Fortress during the war did not return home. There were 12,731 of these planes made. Many of them still in pieces scattered all over Europe. Now only nine are operational.

“The one you see here today is one of the best restored B17s,” said Kwiecien. “It’s authentic, fitted with all-period equipment. It has all its machines gun. It has all its radio equipment.”

Since this plane, called the Texas Raiders, was created at the tail end of WWII it was not used in combat. However it did serve in the Korean War. Now it’s been restored and used for educational purposes when Commemorative Air Force tours it around the country. And this was not their first time in Kalamazoo.

“We were here 10 years ago and it’s the first time we’ve been able to be back,” she said. “We’ve had a nice turnout and people are supporting the aircraft and supporting our mission in a big way.”

The B17 Flying Fortress landed on Monday and will be stationed at the Air Zoo until Thursday. They’ve already flown a few residents in the air. Each flight lasting at least 20 minutes and costing $475 per person.

“We let everybody that rides in the back of the airplane get up and move around in the flight,” said pilot John Cotter. “They get to walk through the bomb bay [and] come up into the cock pit.”

Some even get to sit close to the cock pit. However, according to Gieske, no matter where you sit everyone walks away with memories and a deeper gratitude.

“This saved almost everybody,” she said, pausing for a moment “in this country.”