History points to the sky

Riveting
London, ON
September 2022
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Spent the day at @airsholondon yesterday. And while the main focus was watching the most sophisticated planes on Planet Earth rip up the sky, it’s this photo, taken in a quiet corner of the ramp, that sticks with me.

This is the engine of a B-17 Flying Fortress, a strategic bomber that played a pivotal role in the Allied campaign to destroy Nazi Germany’s industrial capacity from the air.

This is one of the final flying examples of the type, rescued from the scrap heap by a group of 10 volunteers who each mortgaged their homes for $25,000 to buy the wrecked aircraft. Hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours later, this remarkable machine rules the skies once more.

The decidedly more modern planes on display - F-22 Raptor, F-15 Eagle, B-2 Spirit, you name it - all owed their very existence to this historic machine.

21 years to the day since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this hushed spot in the shadow of a legendary bomber seemed like an appropriate place to reflect on why we still need instruments of war, why we stand on guard against tyranny, and why those who sacrifice their lives to protect ours deserve so much more than we’ve traditionally been willing to give back.

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