The "Liberty Belle" in flight over Sonoma Drive this morning. Photo: Chris Considine
by Chris Considine
The Skywatcher
Altadena was visited by one of the most famous airplanes of World War II at 11:09am this Sunday morning. The Liberty Belle came out of Van Nuys airport on its current tour and the pilots gave us a show by flying over southern Altadena with a full crew of nostalgia-seeking Angelinos anxious to get their chance to fly in history.
The Liberty Belle’s four giant engines made a wonderful throaty sound as it flew its paying tourist crew from the San Fernando Valley and turned over Altadena towards Pasadena while viewing our beautiful foothills from a slow moving, low altitude. One can only imagine hearing hundreds of those most important bombers approaching from a high altitude during the war and then unleashing their huge payloads of bombs onto enemy targets all around the globe in both theatres of war.
Here is a link to the same famous plane taking off from Van Nuys just a few years ago.
It’s been a while since we’ve had any really special aircraft in our local skies, and this was certainly one for our history books in Altadena. Be ready and listen, as it’s going to have multiple flights today to raise money for its continued upkeep and preservation. We might be lucky enough to see a World War I Ifighter plane as well that is also flying with a single, lucky passenger in the cockpit.
Well, we were indeed lucky enough as the Liberty Belle just passed over Sonoma Drive once again andthis time really low and slow allowing me to get some more images. You can clearly see each gun turret,the side gunners, and the classic painted lady insignia on the front of the plane. FUN!
