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Clear skies for Overcast Photo courtesy the Experimental Aircraft Association The Aluminum Overcast, a restored Boeing B-17 bomber, will visit the Medford airport this weekend. It's on a tour of 10 western states under the aegis of the Experimental Aircraft Association. 'Flying Fortress' lands today for holiday festivities By BILL VARBLE In the 1940s, they helped bring Hitler and the Nazis to their knees. Now a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress visits Medford for the Memorial Day weekend. What with the plane and all the activities around it, a visit to the Medford airport might feel a bit like being zapped back in a time warp to the World War II era. Look for a 1940s-style military camp set up at the airport by the Military Vehicle Club of the Rogue Valley. Vintage cars. Best of all, that legendary plane. The fully restored warplane is expected to land at about 4 this afternoon and be parked on the Logan and Reavis ramp next to Mercy Flights near the terminal. The visit is part of a tour of 10 western states under the aegis of the Experimental Aircraft Association, the nonprofit foundation of airplane buffs that spent 10 years restoring the plane. In the war against Hitler, thousands of B-17s flew bombing missions over Germany from bases in England. Some 4,000 were shot down. Many came back shot up but still game, flying into history. Of more than 12,000 B-17s that were built, about 12 are reported to be still flying. The plane with the decidedly unromantic name of Aluminum Overcast will be open to the public for tours from 2 to 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Half-hour flights are being offered to the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day. The plane goes up with either six or seven passengers. Monday is a makeup day in case of bad weather. The event is, in part, a benefit for the Medford chapter of the EAA for a scholarship fund for young people who want to fly. A media flight this afternoon kicks off the weekend events. Friday activities are to start with a morning visit by children from Kennedy Elementary School timed so that kids can see the plane take off shortly after 10. A tribute to the people who helped build, fly and maintain the legendary planes is planned for 1:30 p.m. Saturday with the Illinois Valley High School Air Force Junior ROTC presenting the color guard. A panel discussion will follow with veterans and videos of flight action. There's an exhibit of aviation art. A raffle for a free ride is slated for 6 p.m. Saturday. The B-17 carried 10 crew members and bristled with 13 50-caliber machine guns. It carried 8,000 pounds of bombs and had a range of 1,850 miles. It could fly 300 mph and had a ceiling above 35,000 feet. "It should be pretty dramatic to have that big bomber fly in and taxi up," says EAA member Art Lumley, of Jacksonville. Lumley was a U.S. Navy pilot in the 1950s and '60s and wound up his career as a pilot with United Airlines. Hal Dee is one veteran looking forward to the Aluminum Overcast with more than a token interest. In 1943, Dee, now of Gold Hill, was an 18-year-old radio operator/machinist/gunner when he started flying missions over Germany out of Kettering, England, on a B-17 with the American 401st Bomb Group. His crew was often at or near the front of formations of hundreds of planes. "We bombed Berlin three times near the end of the war," he says. "Some flights we'd leave while it was still dark and land in the fog. It was very scary." The Aluminum Overcast was built in 1945 and delivered a couple of weeks after the end of the war in Europe. It saw mapping and spraying duties in many countries before it was bought privately in 1978 and donated to the EAA in 1981. A 20-minute slide show about the B-17 is available for service clubs and other groups. Any World War II aviation veterans interested in taking part can call Lumley at 899-9546 between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. No other planes will be permitted in the vicinity of the B-17 while it's in flight. The EAA, with 170,000 members, was founded in 1953 in Milwaukee, Wisc., and hosts the famed Fly-In Convention in Oshkosh, Wis. The Overcast's graphics - red tail and wing tips - are those of the 398th bomb group of the then-U.S. Army Air Force, Lumley says. The plane's forebears might have been decorated with say, a leggy Betty Grable plus a swastika for each German plane shot down by the crew. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.