A Sentimental Journey

The  "Sentimental Journey," a WWII B-17G Flying Fortress, arrived for its fifth visit to Wisconsin Aviation-Madison on August 2, 2010.  Its first visit was during the period of September 4-11, 2001.  That was also the date of our first Hangar Dance, but more memorable, the fateful date of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City.  Since then, it has been our desire to always request the B-17 as the significant prop for our annual WWII Hangar Dance.  This year, due to scheduling, the aircraft arrived two days after our 9th Hangar Dance.  Nonetheless, its arrival was greeted by members of the "Ladies Must Swing" dance orchestra, playing "Sentimental Journey" as it taxied up to the Madison's east-ramp hangar.

The "Sentimental Journey" rolled off the assembly line at Douglas Aircraft in late 1944 and served in the Pacific, but did not see military action.  After the war it was transferred to Eglin Field, Florida, to serve as an air-sea rescue aircraft.  Later, in 1959, it went to military storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.  It was then sold to a California corporation for service as a borate bomber, flying thousands of sorties as a forest fire suppression fighter throughout the United States.  In January 1978, with the formation of the Arizona Wing of the Confederate Air Force (CAF), it was announced that B-17G #N9323Z had been donated to that organization.  It was subsequently disassembled and meticulously restored to its original WWII configuration.  In the process it needed a new top gun turret.  After months of searching, one was located on the top of a bar in Oregon.  The owner of the bar was contacted, and an offer was made to replace the top turret with a replica, identical to the one adorning the bar, in an exchange for the real one.  The deal was consummated, and that turret now garnishes the famed bomber.

The "Sentimental Journey" can be seen on static display from late fall to early spring each year at the CAF's (Commemorative Air Force-the word "Confederate” was changed to "Commemorative" in 2002) Arizona Wing Museum in Mesa, Arizona.

Not A Lemon But A Mellen

                     
In 1942, with enemy submarines taking a severe toll on ocean going ships Howard Hughes designed the 200 ton, 8 engine Hercules to serve as a transport plane to fly men and materials overseas. It would be the largest airplane built up to that time.  The War Department specified that he could not use any strategic material such as aluminum for his plane, so Hughes opted for birch-veneer plywood. The largest supplier of veneers for Hughes was Penokee Lumber and Veneer of Mellen, WI.  The predominately female workforce at Mellen produced 400,000 board feet of birch ply’s as thin as 1/10^th to 1/85^th of an inch that the Roddis Lumber and Veneer Company and other manufactures glued to basswood core to make plywood up to ¾ inches thick.  It took Hughes Aircraft more than 5 years to build the world’s largest airplane, which had a wing span longer than a football field, a fuselage longer than a hockey rink and stood over 7 stories high.  The Hercules made it's first and only flight in November 1947, and has remained aviation’s largest curiosity ever since.  An enterprising reporter nicknamed the Hercules “the Spruce Goose,” but even that is misnomer since the plane also contains significant amounts of Wisconsin white birch and basswood.  Hughes’ ill-fated plane was neither goose nor a lemon but a Mellen.

Articles on this subject by me in the following:

Forward in Flight

The History of Aviation in Wisconsin

Midwest Flyer Magazine, June 1984

Pictures:

Cover Midwest Flyer Magazine, June 1984

Spruce Goose Long Beach Harbor, November 2, 1947.

*Flight lasting one minute at an altitude of 70 feet