When Harold Sorensen heard the B-24 bomber would be on display at the DuPage Airport, he couldn’t pass it up.

The 83-year old Chicago resident was a gunner on a B-24 Liberator that last flew in 1945. The former U.S. Army Air Force staff sergeant, who flew 25 combat missions during World War II, visited the display, which was part of the 19th annual Wings of Freedom tour Monday morning.

The tour, run by the Massachusetts-based Collings Foundation, is visiting 110 cities in 38 states and features a B-25 Mitchell Bomber and a B-17 Flying Fortress. Wings of Freedom presents a history exhibit more powerful than a classroom lecture, where visitors can walk inside and touch the aircraft. Flights in the historical aircraft also were available — at a price. Flights on the B-24, B-25 and B-17 ranged from $300 to $425.

The tour highlights and honors the efforts made by U.S. service members during World War II. More than 88,000 Army Air Force members died during the war, and many more were taken prisoner.

“It’s important for people to know what happened during World War II and the sacrifices made for this country and the freedom that exists today,” flight coordinator Paul Howes said.

The U.S. military produced 18,000 B-24s for combat missions in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific, but the touring display’s B-24 Liberator is the last operational, fully restored model. Liberators were flown by Britain’s Royal Air Force for bombing missions in the South Pacific and eventually used as transporters by the Indian Air Force. Most Liberators were recycled or used for scrap metal. The Collings Foundation purchased its bomber from a British collector, and, with the help of 200 volunteers, restored the aircraft in 1986.

“This is a national treasure,” said Jim Rollison, a pilot from Rollison, Calif., who flew in the B-24 from Rockford to West Chicago. “When you think about what it did for the world — America stepped up to the plate and liberated the world.

“It’s called the Liberator; it speaks volumes for what America intended to do.”
Bartlett resident Vic Fabrycy has enjoyed studying the B-17 and other large aircraft since his childhood. Fabrycy took his 12-year-old son, Connor, to get a look at the aircraft’s interior.

“Everybody should know what these guys did,” said Fabrycy, whose father, Bogdan, served in the Army during World War II.

Hunter Chaney, Collings’ director of marketing, said the military abandoned damaged B-17s. The model displayed at DuPage was abandoned in the Southwestern desert and later adopted by a company as a fire bomber.

Collings has introduced a new addition to the display; a P-51 Mustang. The C-model version of the aircraft originally was built for combat missions but later became a training model. It is the only one of its kind to feature dual controls, and only five to six of the models were ever produced, Chaney said.

The Wings of Freedom tour was scheduled to travel to Kankakee before moving to Bloomington, Ind.