North Bay vintage aircraft fans mourn B-17 after fiery crash

<p>North Bay connoisseurs of rare vintage aircraft bowed their heads Monday at word that the B-17 Flying Fortress that paid a visit to Sonoma County just two months ago burned in an Illinois field following an emergency landing.</p><p>“I'm a good friend of the pilot who flew it in here,” said Lynn Hunt, a veteran pilot and restorer of historic aircraft in Santa Rosa.</p><p>He did not yet know if his friend, Bob Hill, was at the controls when flames erupted Monday on the “Liberty Belle” shortly after the World War II-era bomber took off from the municipal airport in Aurora, west of Chicago.</p><p>It's been reported that all seven people on board, including the crew and volunteers with the non-profit Liberty Foundation, escaped safely in a cornfield before fire destroyed the four-engine plane.</p><p>Witnesses praised the pilot for bringing the B-17 safely down between a tower and a line of trees.</p><p>The Liberty Foundation had sent the bomber around the nation to keep alive the history of the flying machines and aviators that helped the Allies prevail in World War II.</p><p>The B-17 and a Curtis P-40E Warhawk fighter came to the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in early April and took North Bay people on rides. The passengers paid $430 to go up in the B-17, $1,050 to ride in the Curtis, but the fares allowed the Liberty Foundation to pay to keep the planes fueled and maintained.</p><p>Santa Rosa's Hunt, who has restored and maintained vintage war birds, said the Liberty Foundation is known for sparing no cost or effort in the maintenance of its aircraft.</p><p>He said it's a sad day when the country loses a B-17. “It's just irreplaceable.”</p>