Palm Springs welcomes the incredible Madras Maiden
"Why, it's a flying fortress!" - Seattle Times reporter Richard Williams (upon first seeing a B-17)
The excitement among the small crowd gathered on the tarmac outside the Palm Springs Air Museum was palpable. Docents and visitors scanned the sky above, while another monitored radio traffic to the tower at Palm Springs International Airport. One plane droned high above - too high to be the right one. Jets, shiny, with their bright light announcing their position as they prepared to land, couldn't be her, either.
But like the belle of the ball, the Madras Maiden lined up for her arrival just long enough after her scheduled time to be fashionable. No bright light and sleek tiny wings - she appeared as ready for business as she had in the 1940s, and she was gorgeous anyway. The Madras Maiden is a B-17G Flying Fortress heavy bomber, after all. One of only about a dozen of this proud aircraft that survives today in flying condition.
A flight on the Madras Maiden is more than just a flight on a historic aircraft. It takes you back into the lives of the crews who flew the massive daylight bombing raids of World War II in these rugged aircraft, into a time of different values and perspectives on the meaning of liberty and freedom.
As the Madras Maiden taxied in to the museum, a veteran who had been a prisoner of war in Germany during part of World War II recounted how they would count the parachutes coming out of crippled B-17s as they returned from their bomb runs. He described the sinking feeling they would get when it became apparent not all of the crew had bailed out.
The Palm Springs Air Museum, with its invaluable docents (the best part of the museum is its docents - they're fantastic), and its excellent collection of World War II aircraft, is the perfect setting for taking a flight back in history. The passion docents and staff have for their work is both palpable, and admirable. If approached by a docent wanting to tell you a story, consider yourself blessed. It will be time very well spent.
As we boarded the Madras Maiden for our flight, taking our seats in the narrow fuselage of the aircraft, it became evident this was a plane made for war, not comfort. Calling the plane "spartan" is being generous. Somehow, crews flew in this non-pressurized hull at high altitudes, in bitter cold, fighting through flak and Nazi fighter planes to reach their targets.
I was in awe. I still am. No wonder World War II era Americans are known as "the Greatest Generation."
During takeoff and landing, we strapped ourselves into the jump seats near the waist guns, the .50 caliber machine guns protecting the mid-section of the bomber. We climbed through turbulence with the wind picking up and a High Wind Warning slated to take effect only a couple of hours later. But once we reached our operational altitude, we wandered about the plane, sliding down into the nose to get the bombardier's viewpoint on things, or standing exposed to the wind, looking aft toward the tail with no window between us and the elements.
It was magnificent. It is these kind of events that truly bring history alive. To imagine climbing into formation with several hundred other B-17s, rising over the English countryside, headed deep into Germany... now that's history!
I may never get another chance to fly in a B-17 during my life. But I will never forget this flight. And given the chance, I'll make certain to take our grandchildren on one of these flights if I can. It's not just a "ride." It's a fascinating history lesson that reaches your head, and your heart.
FLY ON THE MADRAS MAIDEN
Saturday & Sunday
April 29 & 30
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Mornings: Public Flights
Afternoons: Ground Tours
Palm Springs Air Museum
745 N. Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs
Take a ride on the Madras Maiden!
The Madras Maiden had arrived in Palm Springs as part of the Salute to Veterans flight tour organized by the Liberty Foundation. The Maiden, formerly known as "Chuckie," is part of the Erickson Aircraft Collection based in Madras, Oregon (http://www.ericksoncollection.com/). Miss Angela, the Palm Springs Air Museum's own B-17G, is being gradually restored to flight condition, but is currently open for visitors to explore.
Visitors to the Palm Springs Air Museum can explore the B-17G, "Miss Angela."
The B-17 was originally designed in 1934 as the US Army Air Corps held a competition to find a replacement for the Martin B-10 Keystone bomber. The Boeing plans were up against aircraft manufacturers Martin, and Douglas in the competition. Boeing's prototype crashed during the USAAC trials when the crew failed to remove flight control gust locks, and Douglas was awarded the initial order for the B-18.
But the B-17 (Model 299) had been breaking records and 13 planes were ordered. Additional orders followed, and the Flying Fortress set more records during a 1938 goodwill mission to South America where they proved their stamina, flying 5,225 miles in 28 hours with only one stop. Later in 1938, a trio of B-17s flew 700 miles out to sea to intercept the passenger liner Rex, a feat which annoyed the Navy greatly.
While arguments were made that the United States didn't need a long range bomber, by fall, 1938, it was becoming clearer that U.S. involvement in a European war was likely, and by early 1939, President Roosevelt asked Congress for the funds to build 3,000 new aircraft for the USAAC. When Hitler invaded Poland later that year, the U.S. was the only nation with a strategic bomber - with a total of 13 Flying Fortresses.
The B-17 evolved and improved throughout World War II, with the B-17G, the Madras Maiden's model, being the most produced. The biggest addition to this model was the addition of a chin gun turret under the nose, a modification that provided much needed protection against head-on air attacks on the bomber.
B-17s were primarily used in the European theater of the war, though they served in the Pacific as well (some were destroyed in the raid on Pearl Harbor). In January, 1943, B-17s made their first attacks on Germany, with high losses during daylight bombing raids. On one raid that year, out of 291 B-17s involved, 60 were shot down and 138 were damaged, with a loss of 650 crew. Some raids suffered even higher casualties.
There were nearly 13,000 B-17s produced in the decade between 1935 and 1945, with nearly 5,000 lost in combat. After World War II, B-17s continued to serve in three more wars in Korean, Israel, and even Vietnam.
Madras Maiden was built near the end of the war and never saw combat. She is painted in the colors of the 381st Bomb Group which flew 297 operational missions during the war, dropping 22,000 tons of bombs. The 381st lost 131 B-17s and shot down more than 223 enemy aircraft.
The Madras Maiden was built under contract by Lockheed-Vega in Burbank, on October 17, 1944. She spent her entire military career as a research and development aircraft, being modified to be a "Pathfinder" B-17, equipped with the H2X "Mickey" radar system. She is the only Pathfinder left in existence.
Sold as surplus in 1959 for just over $5,000, she was re-sold and used as a cargo transport carrying fresh produce between Florida and the Caribbean. In 1963 she was sold again and converted into a Fire Ant sprayer under contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Between 1979 and 2014, she was purchased by three different aviation museums and was slowly restored back to her original combat configuration.
In 2016, the Liberty Foundation began operating the Madras Maiden and she flies to continue the foundation's mission to honor veterans, and provide education to current and future generations about our history and aviation history.
Flying on the Madras Maiden is a once in a lifetime kind of experience. While it is expensive to take a public flight ($450 for the general public), a Flying Fortress costs more than $5,000 per hour to fly. The Liberty Foundation spends more than $1.5 million annually to keep the Madras Maiden on tour.
Visitors can fly on the Madras Maiden, or take a ground tour, this weekend only, at the Palm Springs Air Museum.
