AUBURN, Maine — As soon as Glenn Shelley heard there was a World War II-era B-17 bomber coming to town, he knew he had to see it for himself.
"When I heard that they were coming to Auburn it was important for me to go see them," Shelley said. "They're pieces of living American history."
It was part of the Collings Foundation's 'Wings of Freedom Tour'. The foundation is a private non-profit based out of Massachusetts that is dedicated to the preservation of transportation-related history. The display travels to airports and air shows around the country, giving aviation lovers an up close and personal look inside the planes. Last Friday, that display was right here in Auburn, Maine.
"Each year there are less and less people to tell the story of what these machines and people who flew on them went through," Shelley said. "So it was incredible to get up close and personal to the plane and be able to crawl in them and just get a sense of what it was like for the young men who managed these things back in World War II and Korea -- the plane itself really kind of speaks to you."
Sadly, the B-17 bomber was destroyed in a fatal crash Wednesday morning while trying to land at the Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
The plane took off at 9:45 am., and shortly after that it radioed that there was a problem, which witnesses described as an engine failure. The plane was cleared to land on Runway 6 and crashed at 9:54 a.m., according to officials. The deicing facility and maintenance facility were damaged as the plane came to rest.
Sources say at least seven people have died.
"My immediate thought was 'wow that's tragic, we lost the airplane'," Shelley said. "But finding out that people had lost their lives in the crash obviously makes it that much worse."
Fourteen people were injured, 13 people from the plane and one on the ground. There were 10 passengers and three crew members. Three patients are being treated at Hartford Hospital with critical injuries, two with moderate injuries, and one with minor injuries.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.