The Yorkton Municipal Airport will be hosting an event in August to celebrate aviation history and raise community awareness about the local facility.
Keith Vaughan, chair of the Yorkton Airport Authority, said the YAA was looking at ways to make the airport more visible to the community when they learned the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force (AWCAF) would be visiting Brandon and Winnipeg this summer with its refurbished World War 2 B17 bomber.
The Arizona Wing was actively seeking somewhere to spend some time between Brandon, and an event in Saskatoon.
So the historic B17 will make a stop at the Yorkton Airport, Saturday and Sunday Aug. 24 and 25.
The bird, named 'Sentimental Journey' through a naming contest has a long history behind it.
"Sentimental Journey rolled off the Douglas assembly line in late 1944, and was accepted by the U.S. Army Air Force on March 13, 1945. Manufactured too late to see service in the European war, the aircraft was assigned to the Pacific theater for the duration of the war," detailed the AWCAF website at www.azcaf.org. "In 1947, the aircraft was removed from storage in Japan and assigned to Clark Field in Manila as a photo-mapping plane. For nearly three years she served in that capacity, flying to all corners of the Pacific in the configuration of a RB-17G.
"Sentimental Journey was then transferred to Eglin Field, Florida, and was converted to a DB-17G for service as an air-sea rescue craft. During the 1950's, B-17 serial number 4483514 was converted once again to become a DB-17P, serving with the 3215th Drone Squadron at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. During this time Sentimental Journey participated in "Operation Greenhouse," the fourth postwar atmospheric nuclear weapon test series conducted by the United States during the spring of 1951. This test used unmanned, radio controlled B-17 drone aircraft to measure blast and thermal effects and to collect radioactive cloud samples. During the test, a drone aircraft would be taken off by ground control. A "mother ship," already airborne, would then come from behind, take control of the drone and fly it to the target area. Sentimental Journey served as a mother ship for this nuclear testing. On January 27, 1959, final military orders were cut, transferring the airplane to military storage at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. Within a few months, 83514 was acquired by the Aero Union Corporation of Chico, California, and became a civilian aircraft as N-9323Z, the registration which remains with her to date. For the ensuing eighteen years, an aircraft that had been designed to survive no more than a hundred missions, flew literally thousands of sorties against forest fires throughout the country.
"On January 14, 1978, at a membership banquet for the newly formed Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, Colonel Mike Clarke announced the donation of the aircraft to the CAF for assignment to the Arizona Wing."
The AWCAF undertook a major project to return the B17 to wartime condition, and it now is a showpiece of events across North America.
Vaughan said with 'Sentimental Journey' already landing here, it was the chance to build, what they hope becomes an annual event, around the old bomber.
At a press conference Monday YAA member and City Councillor Larry Pearen reviewed the weekend schedule, which will include static tours of the B17 for $5, vintage A26, Harvard and Tiger Moth aircraft from the Brandon Commonwealth Air Museum, and an aviation display from the Western Development Museum.
STARS, Air Ambulance search and rescue as well as local airport tenants have also been invited to have airplanes on display.
A beef supper, with proceeds to Habitat For Humanity will be held Saturday, as well as a WWII era hangar dance, featuring All That Jazz Big Band.
The hangar at the Yorkton Airport was built as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the war. Vaughan said there are stories dating back to the BCATP operation that dances were regularly held in hangars, and he is hoping a 1940s-themed jazz program will be part of the festivities.
Sunday will again be an open house, and highlight a fly-in pancake breakfast.
Yorkton Mayor Bob Maloney said the event will be a great way "to promote our airport."
