Keeping history alive: Wings of Freedom Tour touches down at Clark

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IF YOU GO

• WHAT: Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour
• WHERE: Honaker Aircraft, Clark County Regional Airport
• WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday.
• COST: Ground tours are $12 for adults and $6 for children 12 and younger. Flight experiences on the B-17 and B-24 cost $425 per person, while a 30-minute flight experience on the P-51 costs $2,200 and counts as flight-instruction time. Flight experience fees are tax-deductible.

Related Photos

Lee Wheeler snaps a photo of a North American P-51 Mustang on display at Clark Regional Airport for the Wings of Freedom Tour. Staff photo by C.E. Branham
A spectator looks into the nose of a Consolidated B-24 Liberator Monday afternoon at Clark Regional Airport. The B-24 along with a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, and North American P-51 Mustang will be on display through Wednesday. Staff photo by C.E. Branham

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August 7, 2012

Keeping history alive: Wings of Freedom Tour touches down at Clark

Regional Airport; tours available today, Wednesday

By MATT KOESTERS matt.koesters@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Tue Aug 07, 2012, 05:03 AM EDT

SELLERSBURG — When Dennis G. Andres and his daughter Deborah agreed to give Jim Harley a ride from the Clark Regional Airport to Evansville, they didn’t know Harley would return the favor by taking them on the ride of their lives.

Just a few hours later, instead of returning to Sellersburg by car, the Floyds Knobs residents arrived with Harley in the last operating B-24J Liberator in the world. While Dennis, 60, enjoyed the view from the cockpit, Deborah, 31, took in the scenery from one of the bomber’s tail-mounted gun turrets.

“You could see everything,” Deborah Andres said. “You could see the whole country. It was windy, but it was beautiful.”

Harley is the chief pilot with the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour, which brings World War II-era aircraft to communities around the nation. Now in its 23rd season, the tour visits 110 cities in 38 states every year, Harley said.

“I’ve been doing it 10 years, and it’s pretty amazing,” Harley said. “It’s an honor to be able to fly them. ... These are the last of their kind, really, and it’s something you cherish.

“You buy a memory, is what you’re doing, just to see what these guys had to serve with.”

Three aircraft are on display outside of Honaker Aircraft at the airport. In addition to the B-24J, Wings of Freedom also has a B-17 Flying Fortress and a P-51 Mustang on premises. The three aircraft heavily contributed in the Pacific and European theaters during World War II. Even though the three are each about 70 years old, they’ve withstood the test of time, said Wings of Freedom mechanic Derrick Ward.

“They hold up real well,” Ward said. “The fact that they get to fly every day, the airplanes like it.”

Ward used to run sightseeing tours in Alaska before he got involved with the Collings Foundation. Now he gets to work on full-size versions of the models he put together as a kid.

For $12 for adults and $6 for children 12 and younger, visitors get the chance to tour the inside and outside of both bombers. Flight experiences are available for significantly more, but the fees for flight experiences are tax deductible, as the Collings Foundation is a 501(c)3.

“It’s not just walking around the outside of [the planes] from a distance like at a museum,” Ward said. “It’s a hands-on experience.”

Ground tours won’t include a look inside the P-51, but the two-seat fighter is available for flight experiences at a cost of $2,200. The 30-minute experience includes the opportunity to take control of the dual-controlled plane once it’s in the air.

Flight experiences in the two bombers cost $425 per person. But for Ward, perhaps the most special part about the Wings of Freedom tour takes place on the ground.

“We’re losing them fairly quickly, but we still get veterans that come out every stop, and hearing their stories straight from them is absolutely incredible,” Ward said. “That’s something that should be required for everybody. Every school kid needs to hear a veteran tell the story.

“That’s really why we’re out here, to help keep history alive and honor them.”