‘Wings of Freedom Tour’ offers rides in storied survivors of World War II aerial combat

That series of low rumbles Bay Area residents heard in the early morning and late afternoon hours this weekend was not thunder.

Four World War II warbirds made stops in this area Saturday and Sunday, launching from Concord and rumbling over Benicia and points far and wide.

The Collins Foundation’s Wings of Freedom nationwide tour gives the public a chance to tour and examine the historic planes on the ground. But for some that’s not enough, so the foundation also offers rides in exchange for donations.

This year, foundation volunteers brought the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, North American B-25 Mitchell and P-51 Mustang on tour, making appearances in several Southern California cities, then flying north to Sunnyvale before making a three-day stop at Concord’s Buchanan Field Airport from Friday to Sunday.

The planes will be in Sacramento this weekend.

Veterans, historic plane enthusiasts and other visitors flocked to Concord to line up for tours, photograph the planes and take flights, as well as perch on tower bleachers to watch the planes take off and land.

Collins, a Stow, Mass., educational nonprofit, started Wings of Freedom in 1989 so the public could see fully restored vintage WWII planes, according to the organization’s former director of marketing, Hunter Chaney.

The B-17G Flying Fortress, named the Nine-0-Nine, is painted in the scheme of an 8th Air Force, 91st Bomb Group heavy bomber that completed 140 missions without the loss of a crewman.

The aircraft was built in 1945, and served in the Air-Sea First Rescue Squadron and in the Military Air Transport Service. Sold as scrap, the plane was purchased for restoration, though many speculated the plane would never fly again. It became a firefighting bomber for 20 years before the Collins Foundation purchased it and turned it to an award-winning wartime configuration.

The foundation’s 1944 Consolidated B-24J Liberator is painted as Witchcraft, an 8th Air Force bomber that flew a record 130 missions over Europe as part of the 467th Bomb Group. Dr. Robert Collins started his foundation simply to restore this former warbird.

Described as the only flying plane of this designation, it was built in Texas in 1944 and flew for both the U.S. Army Air Force and the Royal Air Force in Great Britain, participating in Pacific Theater conflicts. The plane was restored by the Indian Air Force and flew in that country before being abandoned.

Collins bought the plane in 1984 after it had been returned to England. He had the plane hauled to Boston in four truckloads, and started his foundation initially to restore the plane for static display — until B-24 crew personnel convinced him the plane was capable of flight.

“We were convinced by the argument that only about 3,000 people a year would see a static display, but three million might see it on a nationwide tour,” Collins said.

The price of flights and other donations underwrite the foundation, which relies solely on such contributions to keep the planes maintained and in operation.

The B-25 Mitchell Tondelayo, which flies in support of the Jimmy Doolittle Center in Vacaville, represents the medium-sized bomber that became famous from the Doolittle Raid, the first American assault on Japan after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Though the planes weren’t expected to depart from aircraft carriers, for the daring raid they took off and landed on the deck of the USS Hornet, now moored in Alameda. After the war, the planes remained employed in firefighting roles.

The P-51C Mustang, the Betty Jane, represents the thousands of fighter and escort planes that would accompany the bombers, and according to the foundation it still may be the finest fighter aircraft.

“The P-51 Mustang and the pilots who flew them saved countless lives in the skies and on the ground, and helped turn the tide of World War II,” Chaney said.

“The P-51 was affectionally nicknamed by the bomber crews as their ‘Little Friends.’”

The tour left Monday morning for Minden, Nev., where the planes will be displayed until Wednesday, when they fly to Reno.

They will be at the end of Dudley Boulevard, Sacramento, starting at 2 p.m. Friday. Saturday and Sunday hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission for walk-through tours are $12 for adults and $6 for children 12 and younger.

Flights take place before and after tours. Cost for 30-minute flights on the B-25 is $400 per person; for half-hour flights on the B-17 or B-24 is $450 per person. A half-hour training flight on the P-51 is $2,200, and hour flights are $3,200.

Those interested may call 978-562-9182 for flight reservations.