An incredibly tragic accident last week took a legendary airplane, her crew, and her passengers into a fiery landing up in Connecticut. Though I didn’t know the pilots of the Boeing B-17 Nine-O-Nine, many of my friends did–and we all felt their loss as keenly as a collective heartbreak.
Historic aircraft fly on the wings of passionate people who dedicate time, money, and effort every day to keeping them in the air. For those who would say these aircraft belong only in a museum, I counter that there’s no comparison to seeing cold metal on a display and feeling the vibration in your chest as those radial engines rumble overhead. Only in that moment can history be understood to its fullest depth–and only in that moment can the lessons be fully granted to the next generation.
To Mac, to Mike, a toast to you pilots who flew her through til the end. I know Mac would have preferred a Bud Lime–but I’m sure as a Scot he would have appreciated the Black Sail Scotch Ale. To you…
