Walking in the parking lot in downtown Herndon, I happen to notice two ladies, one of the ladies had on an interesting WWII B-17 Airplane flight jacket on. I was curious about her unusual jacket and the WWII B-17 Airplane tours so we began to talk.
Tour Coordinator for WWII B017 Bomber
It turns out, that Mary Dominiak is a B-17 Tour Coordinator, Aluminum Overcast. She is part of a crew which gives B-17 Airplane tours. The flight is in an authentic WWII B-17 bomber. Each flight experience is about one hour long of which 24 minutes is in the air.
I rarely post photographs of individuals. However, Mary’s story about the World World II airplanes is a story worth telling.
Flight Jacket
The photograph on the left is a side view of Mary’s jacket.
The yellow, red and blue stripes on the sleeve of Mary’s flight jacket gives the years of her flight service.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber from the 1930’s, made for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). During WWII, B-17s made strategic bombing campaigns against German industrial, military and civilian targets.
To a lesser extent, it was used in the Pacific war conducting raids against Japanese shipping and airfields.
B-17 Bomber Facts
During WWII the B-17 was a high-flying, long-range bomber. It had a reputation for resilience based on stories and photographs of severely damaged B-17s safely returning from missions.
The B-17 dropped more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II.
Hopefully, I got all the information correct on the airplane and its history.
The photograph on the right shows the back of the flight jacket with an embordered B-17 Bomber.
The Flight Jacket and Ending Notes of the WWII B-17 Airplane Tours
If you’re wondering if you can buy this neat flight jacket, it is not for sale.
The only way you can get one is become part of the B-17 crew of the WWII B-17 Airplane Tours.
For more information or taking a flight on this historic bomber airplane, please see the web site of (EAA) or B17.org.
A Big Thank You to Mary Dominiak for allowing me to use her interesting story and take photographs for today’s blog.