B-17 BOMBER-INSIDE AND OUT--New Video

	Duration: 03:49 minutes Upload Time: 2008-01-10 14:47:55
While she was at Riverton Airport we got some nice pictures--many of these B-17's are crashed and still in Wyoming Mountains Probably the most unique accident in Graham County history occurred at 4:30 p.m. on February 2, 1943, when a B-17 bomber on a routine training flight from Casper, Wyoming, to Oklahoma City crashed and exploded in a pasture seven miles north and one mile east of Bogue. Though a standard crew of a B-17 was ten, it was later reported that there were eleven men aboard, all of whom were killed. Carl McKissen was an eyewitness to the crash. He saw the plane as it broke through the low overhanging clouds, saw it circle once, then watched it strike the ground in his father's pasture and explode. Lee M. Holmes, then sheriff of Graham County, who arrived soon after the crash, said the plane plowed a ditch five to six feet deep, ten feet wide, and around one hundred feet long. Wreckage was strewn over a fifteen to twenty acre area. The B-17 was perhaps the most famous of World War II aircraft, second in size only to the B-29. The wingspan of the Flying Fortress was 104 feet, with a length of 75 feet and a height of 19 feet. The gross weight of the B-17 was 65,000 pounds. The fuel tanks held 2,780 gallons. When the plane crashed, it still had half of its fuel aboard. Members of the local branch of the American Legion guarded the wreckage through the night of February 2-3, until Army Lt. Eaton and an emergency squad from Walker Air Base arrived. Parts of the bodies of the crew were collected in bushel baskets and brought to the Cutting Undertaking Parlor, where they were held for Army officials. There are many theories about how and why the B-17 crashed. Lt. Eaton thought that ice forming on the plane caused it to go out of control and lose altitude. An army pilot with Lt. Eaton at the crash site said he had been forced to make an emergency landing the same afternoon because ice had formed on his wings. Another theory involves the problem of cooperation between the pilot and co-pilot of the B-17. The idea was that when the plane dropped beneath the clouds, the pilot went to Instrument Flight Rules and the co-pilot went to Visual Flight Rules and was supposed to watch out for obstacles in the flight path. The pilot may have neglected his altitude observations for a moment and the co-pilot's warning came too late. Carl McKissen said that he could hear the engines surge in power just before the crash; it can be assumed the pilot tried to pull up before they crashed. The plane crashed somewhere between the gliding speed of 120 mph and its 250 mph cruising speed. ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- The Memphis Belle is one of the most famous B-17 Aircraft of World War II. Built by Boeing Aircraft Company in 1941. The Memphis Belle was among the first B-17s to complete its quota of 25 missions over Nazi occupied territory without a member of its crew being killed and was the very first B-17 to complete those 25 missions and return to the United States. Another Crash was near Dubois below Bommer Lake,on Torrey Creek---another in the Big Horn mountains---I've been to the Torry Creek crash,the plane hit the top of the falls and was spread over 100 yards--most of these planes are still there today.
Comments
lrraboczkay  2008-02-01 19:47:03 who ever has watched MEMPHIS BELLE know what it was like.these pics wrer awsome __________________________________________________
windrivercountrykid  2008-01-25 10:59:08 Cool---I almost took a ride last year when I took these pics---believe it or not, I backed out after the tour---Thanks __________________________________________________
gunnyhoney1  2008-01-25 01:48:41 I actually got to fly in this aircraft in 1981 at an airshow in mesa,az. i was 11 years old and it was the greatest experiences i had known at that time. __________________________________________________
windrivercountrykid  2008-01-10 16:56:53 Each gun has only enough amo to fire 1 Minute--better pick your shots!! __________________________________________________