LYNCHBURG, Va. – Tracy Turner is one of the two dozen people in Lynchburg who joined the flight to climb aboard the B-17 bomber, also known as the Aluminum Overcast.
"To fly on one, really brings it to life what the crews went through during the war," Turner said.Â
In 2016, Turner says he played a part in getting a WWII bomber plane to Roanoke.
That same plane crashed and killed seven people in Connecticut earlier this month.
Turner knew the pilots on board.
He says, as soon as he heard this B-17 bomber, associated with another organization, was coming to Lynchburg, he knew he had to make the trip.
"I want to support the organization. It costs a lot of money to operate these big monsters," Turner said.
The Lynchburg chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association helped bring the plane to the Hill City.
"Young lady introduced herself and said she was affiliated with the B-17 and ‘Would you like to have it visit Lynchburg?' I was like, ‘Whoa! Yeah,'" Len Rogers, secretary for EAA Lynchburg Chapter, said.
Due to the overcast skies, the Aluminum Overcast could not fly as expected, but it was still a family affair.
"It is rare and it's rare that a plane like this could visit Lynchburg. So we're lucky to have it here," Rogers said.
"It's so important to go out and foster a multigenerational understanding of what occurred in WWII and what the veterans did for us. And not really just the boys that were out there fighting, but the women were building these airplanes. And it's amazing what our industry did," John Bode, pilot, said.Â