Flying Fortress is formidable

PROVO — Karl Schnibbe didn't expect the B-17 Flying Fortress to be so big.

The last time he saw one of the World War II bombers it was thundering 30,000 feet above his head on a bombing mission in Germany.

"They were like little silver fish, very small, flying in formation," he said.

The 83-year-old Schnibbe spent about 45 minutes wandering around the four-engine plane, just reminiscing, after it flew into the Provo Airport on Monday morning. The plane, named Sentimental Journey, is one of only about 10 still fit to fly. It is available for public tours in Provo until Friday.

Schnibbe had dreamed of seeing the plane up close since he was a prisoner in a German war camp during World War II. He spent three years in the camp, located just outside of Hamburg, for distributing anti-Hitler literature. Schnibbe, who was born in Hamburg, was 18 years old when he was imprisoned.

Schnibbe, like the several dozen others who crowded around the plane, said he was "fascinated" by the big plane. It was beautiful, he said — a beautiful bird.

But the plane, outfitted with about 1,000 pounds of bombs and 13 guns, was also terrible, Schnibbe said.

"Things that seem so exciting when I was younger, today just look dangerous," he said. "I asked where the bomb was — and wow, that's a lot of bombs."

The Commemorative Air Force, whose Arizona wing owns the plane, is offering tours of the bomber, touting it as a "flying museum." But Schnibbe opted not to squeeze into the plane's claustrophobic interior.

"It's too narrow for me — and I am too old," he said.

Nicholas Johnson, 24, crawled into the plane, dodging through a hatch only a few feet wide.

Johnson, who is training to be a pilot at Utah Valley State College, saw the plane land while he was turning in a paper in a nearby building. He hurried over to see what was going on.

"This is a really cool, old plane," he said. "Aviation hadn't been around very long before these things were built."

Climbing through each of the gun hatches had particular meaning to Johnson, who recently returned from a year in Iraq with the Army. The guns, he said, are the same as the guns mounted on the modern Humvees the Army uses.