Wings of Freedom Tour

B-17 Flying Fortress

B-24 Liberator

The "Wings of Freedom Tour" is a celebration of aircraft from the past that have made a real impact on the preservation of the freedoms that we enjoy and pretty much take for granted today. When I read a couple of days ago in the St. Petersburg Times that this tour was coming here and only a 15 minute ride from home, well, I just had to go. And after rounding up some of the usual suspects, I'm hugely glad I did. As usual, the day started with a nice, light, little breakfast at a nearby Cracker Barrel. As I recall, some of us ate more than others.

This tour was conceived by the Collings Foundation. These beautifly restored old planes are among the last of their kind still flying (the B-24 shown above IS the last of its kind still flying), so to see them, and touch them, and to be able to actually crawl through them is a real and very rare privilege. When you consider that these are among the last survivors, and that there were 12,700 B-17's, and 18,188 B-24's built in the 1940's, it might start to give you an idea of the incredibly huge sacrifices that were made for the preservation of our freedom. I, for one, am glad I'm not forced to be speaking German now. Way too guttural.

Check out the histories of the Flying Fortress and the Liberator and try to get a feel for what these amazing people who were flying and crewing these planes actually went through. Over and over. For years and years. For their children and grand-children. Us.

Here are some pictures: B-17, B-24.