Cape May Airport- The Yankee Air Museum (YAM) today announced preliminary flight plans for Flight Experience (FLEX) rides on board its B-17, “Yankee Lady.” The meticulously restored World War II Flying Fortress will be at Naval Air Station (NAS) Wildwood Aviation Museum from June 10 through 12 conducting flight operations from mid-morning to dusk. FLEX Rides are booking now and are selling fast.
“The weather is always a factor,” said Duane Nelson, Yankee Lady Pilot. “Once airborne we’ll climb to approximately 1200 feet and, under visual flight rules (VFR), assume an easterly heading for an outbound leg north. Following the coastline at approximately 160 mph, our northern marker will be the Somers Point area. We’ll make a sweeping 180 degree turn to head south over the Intercostal Waterway on the return leg to Cape May Airport.”
Nelson, a retired Northwest Airlines pilot is one of only a handful of pilots worldwide qualified to pilot the four engine heavy bomber. The YAM is bringing several B-17 qualified pilots on this trip. Nelson explained the aircraft has a FLEX Ride operating radius of about 35 miles giving the pilots many options. He says they are always ready to consider special requests from FLEX Riders and Bruce Fournier, Executive Director of the NAS Wildwood Aviation Museum.
“We encourage people to talk with us before takeoff,” said Fournier. “There’s a lot of beautiful scenery to the north, south, and west of Cape May and many customers hail from these areas. It’s great to see your neighborhood from a thousand feet, especially through the Plexiglas nose of a Fort.” The B-17 Flying Fortress, Yankee Lady will arrive at Cape May Airport on Sunday evening June 9 and will receive visitors the next day.
Fournier added that the purpose behind bringing Yankee Lady to Cape May is to help celebrate American Pride Days. He says their aim is to exceed expectations and the opportunity to provide people with a ‘once in a lifetime, remember forever, bucket list’ adventure does just that. This year, American Pride Day has been expanded to 3 days to include entertainment by The Bob Ferris Orchestra (June 10) and The John Walters Band on June 12. The Aviation Museum will also incorporate its lecture series into American Pride Days on Tuesday June 11th. Presentations will be given by Dr. Geoffrey Rossano, recipient of the 2010 Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize. Dr. Rossano will present “Stalking the U-Boat” at 11:00 a.m. and “Hero of the Angry Sky” at 1:00 p.m.
“We’ll be set up by 10:00 a.m. Monday morning June 10, and the Yankee Lady will be available for ground tours,” said Wright. Walk through tours will be included with regular museum admission. “Hopefully she’ll be going out on numerous FLEX flights but will always return throughout daylight hours. When she departs and returns it’s just part of the excitement to see her in action.” For flight reservations, call Dave Wright at 734-483-4030, extension 236For more information, contact Bruce Fournier at (609) 886-8787 by email at bruce-nasw@comcast.net or visit the Hangar’s website www.usnasw.org
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