Lure of WWII aircraft on display in Santa Rosa

<p>T.M. Holmes, a retired chiropractor from Fort Bragg, was at the Sonoma County airport Monday taking in the arrival of a B-24 Liberator just like the one he flew for 49 missions over Europe in World War II.</p><p>Holmes was full of admiration for the plane, but he shook his head at the chance to get airborne in it. The last time he did so, he barely survived, bailing out over Italy after limping back with two engines out from a raid on Romanian oil refineries.</p><p>For his daughter, Jill, though, the chance to fly in a B-24 was a can't-miss opportunity — one that lived up to all expectations — and the $425 price tag</p><p>“That was awesome,” she said after a 30-minute flight that allowed her virtual free range from nose to tail. “Just to experience somewhat of what Dad experienced and how vulnerable you would have been up there, it's amazing what they went through.”</p><p>The B-24 will be at Sonoma County airport through Wednesday along with a a B-17 Flying Fortress and a P-51 Mustang fighter plane. They are part of a 300-day cross-country tour by the Collings Foundation, a non-profit group focused on promoting living history.</p><p>Even as World War II vets become increasingly scarce, interest in the planes continues with younger generations thanks to the History Channel, movies such as "Saving Private Ryan" and connections with vets themselves, said Fred Lewis, spokesman for the Collings Foundation.</p><p>“Everybody has a connection to World War II, whether it be a neighbor, a boss, a grandfather or father,” he said. “People want to find out what they did.”</p><p>Gail Karppinenen, a retired nurse from Mill Valley, made the trip because of her late father, a B-17 pilot who died before she could ask about his wartime experiences. She was most struck by the cramped quarters and thin fuselages of the planes.</p><p>“I would have been really afraid,” said Karppinenen, who toured the planes but did not go up in them. “It just feels really claustrophobic and very vulnerable.</p><p>Not everyone touring the planes had a direct familial connection to the planes — at least not in this lifetime. Daniel Sinotte, a builder from Sonoma, said he's always felt as if he were involved with War II in another life.</p><p>He and a friend were scrutinizing the ins-and-outs of the bombers, especially the size of the belly gun turret below the B-17.</p><p>“You'd have to fold a guy up to get him in there,” he said.</p><p>Ryan Terry, an Army Reservist and military history buff, made the trip from Sacramento where he missed the previous stop in the tour. He, too, went up in the B-24, getting to inch along the catwalk in the bomb bay, sit in the tail turret and gaze out the open windows as the wind roared and Sonoma County spread beneath him.</p><p>“That was better than Disneyland for me,” he said after landing.</p>