President Ben Brewer announced some important dates for all members to mark on their calendars. Please look in your bulletin for information regarding the upcoming events. Once all Rotary Business items were discussed, Jerry McLaughlin gave a presentation on the B-17 bomber.
All B-17's during WWII were flown in and out of Hunter Army Airfield. When the 5000 plane was scheduled to fly to England, the crew was asked to take a picture with the plane named "City of Savannah" which was then published in the newspaper. On the flight to England, the plane had engine problems and had to land in Newfoundland. The "City of Savannah" never flew in any combat missions and the crew was assigned to a different plane. Two months later, the plane was flown to Arizona and was scrapped.
When the Mighty Eighth Museum was being built, they purposely built an exhibit room to display a B-17 plane since the plane held a prominent role in Savannah during WWII. The current B-17 that is in the Mighty Eighth was built one week after the war in Europe ended. It then spent two years in storage before 2 Navy pilots from North Dakota decided to buy the plane. They didn't own the plane for too long before a Canadian company took ownership. The Canadian company installed cameras throughout the plane and used the cameras to make maps of different areas. After that, the B-17 went back to North Dakota and was used as a fire bomber for 10 years. It was then traded to the Smithsonian and stayed there for 25 years before the Mighty Eighth purchased the plane. In order to transport it back to Savannah, the plane was broken down and placed on four tractor trailers. When it arrived, two people were placed in charge of the restoration with one of them being Jerry McLaughlin. The B-17 has been restored and is the only B-17 in the nation where the turrets will turn and spin. It also is the only B-17 that was restored on the interior of the plane at the cost of $400,000. Cameras are installed on the inside so visitors can view the interior. Jerry said that many people helped with the restoration but that Gulfstream played a pivotal role. The B-17 at the Mighty Eighth is appropriately named "City of Savannah."