| Briana Thompson checks out the 50-caliber machine guns while touring the interior of a restored B-17 Flying Fortress at St.Petersburg-Clearwater Airport during a field trip Monday with 45 other third-grade students from Forest Lake Elementary School. A B-24 Liberator also was on display. The students came to learn more about the World War II bombers to go along with their current class studies on United States presidents and inventions. The B-17 has a wingspan of nearly 104 feet, is more than 74 feet long and more than 19 feet high. The restored aircraft are being taken on a 35-state, 10 1/2-month Wings of Freedom tour by the non-profit Collings Foundation of Stow, Mass. Their next stop is Dolphin Aviation in Sarasota.
Times photo: Dirk Shadd
Published February 14, 2000 |
