Posted: Saturday, June 8, 2013 12:01 am | Updated: 12:12 am, Sat Jun 8, 2013.
By RICHARD DEGENER, Press of Atlantic City
LOWER TOWNSHIP - The World War II B-17 bomber "Yankee Lady" is due to arrive at the Cape May Airport on Sunday evening. It will be open for tours and excursion flights Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Flying Fortress, fully restored by the Yankee Air Museum, is scheduled to arrive at Naval Air Station Wildwood around 7 p.m. Sunday. It opens to the public at 10 a.m. Monday. The ground tours will be included with regular museum admission. Flights will cost more. For prices and to make reservations, call Dave Wright at 734-483-4030, ext. 236.
Yankee Lady pilot Duane Nelson, a retired Northwest Airlines pilot and one of only a handful of pilots worldwide qualified to pilot B-17s, said just seeing the four-engine heavy bomber take off and land is exciting. Flights should be within a 35-mile radius.
"Once airborne, we'll climb to approximately 1,200 feet and, under visual flight rules, assume an easterly heading for an outbound leg north. Following the coastline at approximately 160 mph, our northern marker will be the Somers Point area. We'll make a sweeping 180-degree turn to head south over the Intracoastal Waterway on the return leg to Cape May Airport," Nelson said.
Bruce Fournier, executive director of NASW, said the Yankee Lady's visit will help celebrate American Pride Days at the museum. He says it's an opportunity to provide people with a "once in a lifetime, remember forever, bucket list adventure."
American Pride Day includes three days of events at the airport, from Monday to Wednesday. Entertainment includes The Bob Ferris Orchestra on Monday and The John Walters Band on Wednesday.
American Pride Days includes several lectures on Tuesday. Geoffrey Rossano, recipient of the 2010 Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize, will present "Stalking the U-Boat" at 11 a.m. and "Hero of the Angry Sky" at 1 p.m.
For more information, contact Fournier at 609-886-8787 or by email at bruce-nasw@comcast.net or visit the Hangar's website, http://www.usnasw.org.
Source: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com
Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum: http://www.usnasw.org
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