FLIGHT OUT OF THE PAST VISITING WWII BOMBER STIRS MEMORIES.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick and Jim Skeen Staff Writers

LANCASTER - A B-17 Flying Fortress, a relic from the past, is visiting the Antelope Valley, known for producing cutting-edge aircraft.

Owned by the Experimental Aircraft Association's Aviation Foundation, the B-17 nicknamed Aluminum Overcast is spending the week in the Antelope Valley as part of a tour of the Western United States. The airplane was flown Tuesday and Wednesday at Edwards Air Force Base and spent Thursday at Fox Field in Lancaster.

``There were 12,731 B-17s built and there's only about a dozen left flying,'' said Bill Harrison, who led a group of investors who bought the aircraft and later donated it to the EAA.

Although the nation's B-17 fleet was extensively used in Europe during World War II, Aluminum Overcast was never flown in battle. It was built in 1945, as the war was coming to an end.

The B-17 was a state-of-the-art aircraft for World War II, but advances in technology made the aircraft obsolete shortly after the war. Many of the aircraft were cut up for scrap or sold as surplus. People buying surplus aircraft tended to look for those that never saw battle.

``Almost all of the ones left flying never saw combat,'' Harrison said. ``When people buy an airplane, they want one that's not all shot up.''

Aluminum Overcast is adorned with the colors of the 398th Bomb Group, which flew combat missions over Europe in World War II. The bomber's nose features a painting of a busty blonde in a swimsuit, nose art typical of the era.

The bomber was dedicated to another B-17 that was shot down on its 34th combat mission over Le Manior, France, on Aug. 13, 1944.

Veterans of the 398th helped finance the bomber's restoration.

The crew accompanying the aircraft hopes to take paying passengers on a few flights this afternoon out of Fox Field prior to returning to Edwards in time to be put on display for the base's air show Saturday. The crew had planned to take passengers on flights Thursday, but the aircraft developed engine problems, Harrison said.

``It's all tentative,'' Harrison said of the schedule. ``With old airplanes, nothing is in stone.''

Students from Edwards' test pilot school took turns flying the plane Tuesday and Wednesday, watched over by two B-17 pilots from the EAA and an EAA engineer.

The dozen test-pilot students, all accomplished military fliers, took off and landed the old bomber, took it through tight turns, tested its acceleration and even slowed down one engine so that it was like flying with only three - like flying a battle-damaged bomber back from Germany.

Nine other navigators and engineers in the test pilot school went along on the flights.

Although Edwards is home to every advanced jet in the Air Force - plus a long line of experimental NASA craft - the B-17 drew lots of interest from airmen while it was parked on the base ramp.

Test Pilot School deputy commandant Lt. Col. David Cooley, who also took a turn at the controls, regarded it an honor to fly an airplane with such a history.

``It was a treat. This is coming from a guy who has flown planes for 20 years,'' said Cooley.

Cooley was also impressed by what Boeing designers accomplished decades ago. The plane was stable and responsive, even when it was flying on only three engines, he said.

``My impression, after 20 years in this business, is that more than 50 years ago when they built this airplane in the infancy of aviation, they built it right,'' Cooley said.

Although not a combat veteran, Aluminum Overcast has a long, productive history. It was acquired by a civilian in Texas in 1946 at the bargain price of $750.

The aircraft flew cargo in the Caribbean for a couple of years before it was sold back to the U.S. government for use in high-altitude surveying work. The airplane was flown over the Middle East and Asia during that time.

In the 1960s, the airplane was again sold as surplus. It was used for crop dusting and later served as a firefighter aircraft.

Harrison and his group of investors acquired the airplane in 1978 and donated it to the EAA in 1981.

After an extensive restoration effort lasting more than 10 years, the EAA began flying the aircraft in a series of tours across the country. Money raised from the tours is used to finance restoration and maintenance of the aircraft and to promote other EAA programs.

This year's tour is called ``The Freedom Tour'' and is dedicated to the memory of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Murry Springer, right, tells his son, Steve Springer, how the two 50-caliber guns work in the tail of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. The aircraft was at Lancaster's Fox Field on Thursday.

(2 -- color) Ex B-17 crewmen Adolf Fix of Lancaster, left, and William Clutterham of Leona Valley share a laugh when one of the WWII bombers visits Fox Field. Fix had flown over Europe as a waist gunner; Clutterham was command pilot of an air and rescue squad in the Pacific.

(3 -- color) B-17 bomber Aluminum Overcast, grounded Thursday at Fox Field for mechanical reasons, may fly paying passengers today.

(4) Visitors check out the belly of a B-17 bomber named Aluminum Overcast at Lancaster's Fox Field on Thursday. If ready, the WWII bomber will be in the air show at Edwards AFB this weekend.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer