Opportunity To Tour and Book a Flight On Visiting WWII Bombers

It’s not very often that we get vintage World War II aircraft flying through the Wenatchee Valley. That is precisely what happened late Monday afternoon.

A B-17 flew in, making a couple of passes up and down the valley just after 10 am, followed by a B-25, half an hour later.

Colby Goodrich, the FBO manager at the Chelan Douglas Regional Port, says the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-25 Mitchell have flown in thanks to the Commemorative Air Force, out of their Mesa, Arizona, base.

"The planes conduct a Summer tour, transitioning back and forth (across the country). One year, they'll do the West Coast (this year, it thankfully included Wenatchee in its Pacific Northwest tour). And the following year, they'll do a tour on the East Coast.

There aren't many of these flying still to this day, and it's a way for them to do community outreach, get these aircraft out in front of the community, and let everybody see a little piece of history that's still flying."

How long will the two planes be staying in our Wenatchee Valley? 

"So they'll be here until the following Monday when they leave. They're gonna do ground tours Tuesday through Sunday. And then they will do flight tours or flight rides on Friday morning, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning."

John Mummery, a recently retired volunteer with the Commemorative Air Force, joined our conversation and explained how anyone can sign up and pay for a ride on these historic and rare aircraft.

How can the community sign up and book a flight on the B-17 or B-25?

Okay, so to book a ride on either aircraft:

1. Go to the website, AZCAF.org.
2. Click on the summer tour.
3. Click on the town of Wenatchee on the map, and that'll bring you to the booking page for either aircraft.