History’s in the air

Culture | June 24th, 2015

Photo by Raul Gomez

Two WWII bomber aircrafts landed at the Fargo Air Museum this past Monday and will be available for rides and ground tours till Sunday.

Commemorative Air Force: Airbase Arizona is flying its B-17 “Sentimental Journey” and B-25 “Maid in the Shade” planes across the country to preserve and showcase some of the finest tangible pieces of American history.

Photo by Raul Gomez "We are raising an entire generation now that when you say we have a B-17 bomber, they say, ‘What? What’s that?’” said Anita Magorrian, a flight load master.

The B-17 and B-25 bombers were two types of combat planes used in World War II. More than 9,800 B-25s were built for the war. B-17s dropped more than 640,000 tons of bombs. A total of 300,000 planes were manufactured for combat during WWII though very few exist today.

“Maid in the Shade” was used in a total of 15 combat missions, whereas “Sentimental Journey” came off the assembly line near the end of the war so it was never used during combat, Magorrian said. However, it has been used as a sea and rescue and firefighting plane, among other service types, over the past 70 years.

Photo by Raul Gomez "For anyone interested in the aviation community, definitely come on out and talk to the pilots, talk to even the people that work here, even our volunteers,” said Matt Swangler, the air museum’s maintenance coordinator. “There’s a wealth of knowledge going around about any of the planes.”

Plane rides are a bit pricey, starting at $395 for a spot in the waist/radio-room area of the B-25 and topping out at $850 for a spot in the nose section of the 74-foot-wide B-17 bomber.

“We don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to keep them flying,” Magorrian said. “Parts are harder and harder to find, and (the FAA) is getting more restrictive with the air emissions for airplanes. Obviously we can’t change over to the type of gas that is more fuel-efficient, air friendly. So we kind of have to see what’s going to happen with that.”

Photo by Raul Gomez Commemorative Air Force crew members donate their time as volunteers, though they say they do it to serve a greater purpose.

“There’s so many crew that died, and to honor them for the sacrifices they made, and all those that went overseas and did the mission that had to be done under very harsh conditions,” said Sean Magorrian, Anita’s husband who’s also flight load master. “We take the plane around as a flying museum.”