The Liberty Belle

Cover Stories | Nan Mahon | November 1, 2009 at 12:01 am
Sold for scrap, Liberty Belle rose from the discard heap like a Phoenix and continues to fly across America. The revival of the B-17 bomber aircraft and the establishment of The Liberty Belle Foundation is a salute to history and the men flew these planes over hostile skies during World War II.
Don Brooks, a 57 year-old businessman from South Georgia, formed The Liberty Belle Foundation, a non-profit museum, to honor the flight crews of the Eighth Air Force who took the B-17s on missions from bases in England into enemy territory. It all began as a tribute to his father, a tail gunner on the original Liberty Belle.
“I do this to honor my dad and the others who flew with him,” said Brooks. “And to remind people of the high price of freedom.”
The senior Brooks came home from the war and started an auto parts business. He taught his son the business and encouraged him to learn to fly. The younger Brooks became a war history buff and studied the conflict during the time his father spent in service. The elder Brooks died in 1978 and his son continued with a dream that began to form as he learned more about the bomber planes like the one his dad had flown in.
“My interest in warbirds just grew,” he said. “The more I learned the more I knew I wanted people to remember what these pilots and their crews did.”
Brooks set out to find a B-17. This was no easy task since there was 12,732  of the planes produced between 1935 and 1945 and almost half were lost in combat. Brooks searched for a plane for almost a decade. An expedition to Greenland to locate a B-17 found the plane crushed under the weight of the ice that covered it. The hunt continued.
“We had to find one partly restored and on the market,” said Brooks.
When Brooks found the B-17 he was looking for it had a long history that began when it was built near the end of WWII. No longer needed, it was sold as scrap to a mining company in 1947.  Brooks acquired his Liberty Belle after it had gone through several owners, modifications and extensive wind damage.  It took another 12 years to restore it.
The nose art on the big bomber is a pinup girl with a cracked bell and an American flag, just as it was on the first Liberty Belle. The plane flies from city to city and draws crowds of aviators and young people to witness its magnificence. Thirty regular volunteers make the operation run while six crews take visitors up to experience the thrill of flying in the B-17. Our own Iris Taggart Is responsible for their Sacramento visit.

b17cSold for scrap, Liberty Belle rose from the discard heap like a Phoenix and continues to fly across America. The revival of the B-17 bomber aircraft and the establishment of The Liberty Belle Foundation is a salute to history and the men flew these planes over hostile skies during World War II.

Don Brooks, a 57 year-old businessman from South Georgia, formed The Liberty Belle Foundation, a non-profit museum, to honor the flight crews of the Eighth Air Force who took the B-17s on missions from bases in England into enemy territory. It all began as a tribute to his father, a tail gunner on the original Liberty Belle.

“I do this to honor my dad and the others who flew with him,” said Brooks. “And to remind people of the high price of freedom.”

Don Brooks in front of the ”Liberty Belle”

Don Brooks in front of the ”Liberty Belle”

The senior Brooks came home from the war and started an auto parts business. He taught his son the business and encouraged him to learn to fly. The younger Brooks became a war history buff and studied the conflict during the time his father spent in service. The elder Brooks died in 1978 and his son continued with a dream that began to form as he learned more about the bomber planes like the one his dad had flown in.

“My interest in warbirds just grew,” he said. “The more I learned the more I knew I wanted people to remember what these pilots and their crews did.”

Brooks set out to find a B-17. This was no easy task since there was 12,732  of the planes produced between 1935 and 1945 and almost half were lost in combat. Brooks searched for a plane for almost a decade. An expedition to Greenland to locate a B-17 found the plane crushed under the weight of the ice that covered it. The hunt continued.

“We had to find one partly restored and on the market,” said Brooks.

Nose artWhen Brooks found the B-17 he was looking for it had a long history that began when it was built near the end of WWII. No longer needed, it was sold as scrap to a mining company in 1947.  Brooks acquired his Liberty Belle after it had gone through several owners, modifications and extensive wind damage.  It took another 12 years to restore it.

The nose art on the big bomber is a pinup girl with a cracked bell and an American flag, just as it was on the first Liberty Belle. The plane flies from city to city and draws crowds of aviators and young people to witness its magnificence. Thirty regular volunteers make the operation run while six crews take visitors up to experience the thrill of flying in the B-17. Our own Iris Taggart Is responsible for their Sacramento visit.

Nan Mahon

About the author Nan Mahon

Nan Mahon lives in Elk Grove and is both the Cover Story and Senior Spotlight writer for Senior Magazine. She is also the author of Junkyard Blues, a thrilling motorcycle ride through Texas, California and Mexico behind a Vietnam vet running from the drug Cartel.
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