My visit to the B-17G, Aluminum Overcast, in Nampa, Idaho

Jeff Head

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Registered Member
A vintage, but rebuilt and refurbished B-17, the Aluminum Overcast was in Nampa, Idaho from Friday May 26 through Monday, May 29, 2017, Memorial Day.

Nampa is about 25 miles from where we live so we drove over there.

My Uncle, Albert Spacil, my mother's only brother, flew in B-17s during World War II. He was killed on the 3rd mission before his final mission when an 88 mm anti-aircraft gun's ordinance hit them. Several of the crew were able to parachute, but Al, who was the lower turret gunner, did not make it out.

I have a picture of him with the gold star my Grand Mom got that I keep. I took it with me and told his story to the people there.

Though his body was not recovered at the time, in 1949 a farmer in Belgium came upon his remains and contacted the US recovery teams. His dog tags were there and they identified him and he was returned to Taylor, Texas and buried in the casket that had been buried empty a few years earlier.

It gave closure to the family.

However, his wife, Betty, who had married him in 1942 a few months before he shipped out, had died in 1946.

She had told family and friends that she was going to buy a new dress for A because she was sure he was coming home. So, she drove to Bryan, Texas to do so. On the way back she was involved in a automobile crash and killed. Our family story says that she had the right feeling, except it was her who was going home to Albert.

It was a wonderful day, meeting so many people and talking about the great sacrifice so many made. we built over 12,000 B-17s before and during the war...most of them during the war. We lost something like 4,000 of them and tens of thousands of personnel just in those bombers.

This is the sacrifice required for a nation to be free. It was then...and it remains so today.

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I will post several of the pictures below in separate posts:

@bd popeye @Jura @Air Force Brat @FORBIN @Equation @Miragedriver @vesicles @Obi Wan Russell @TerraN_EmpirE @Blackstone @SamuraiBlue @Janiz @asif iqbal @SouthernSky
 
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