Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Liberty Belle - Rest In Peace

Yesterday was a sad day for WWII vets and WWII aviation fanatics.

RIP Liberty Belle!

(http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-13/news/ct-met-wwii-plane-crash-20110613_1_emergency-landing-engine-fire-bomber)







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2 comments:

Toadeus Maximus said...

This is the risk we face using this old stuff. But by definition machines are only fully realized when in use.

In a static environment we can appreciate the designers lines, the labor of safety wire and rivets.

In motion however, we see the machine as it is intended to be, a purposeful tool (for good or evil, i'm not to say) alive, working, it's intent on display for all to see.

Liberty Belle's parts will be used again. Those engines will someday keep another B-17 in the air. The parts make the whole, each piece, regardless of size is a machine.

This collection of machines took tons of aluminum and steel aloft, rained fire on our enemies, liberated millions.

Good or evil, I'm not to say. But I can say I've seen a static B-17 used as an awning over a gas station and I've flown in one. Both were beautiful but one was dead and the other most certainly alive.

Street rods, vintage motorcycles, warbirds.... they need to move. To be tuned, welded, driven, reinvented. They must interact with us.

In Liberty Belle's honor, use a machine today, consciously. Keep a spring or a bearing on your desk where you can touch it, move it, allow it to live if only for a moment. If you have a machine under a tarp in your garage... Start it, hear it, feel it. That's what it's for.

RIP Liberty Belle, Thank you for your service and thank you for reminding us what machines are for.

June 15, 2011 at 7:56 AM
ScooterMcRad said...

Wow!! Well said, sir! Thank you for posting that and I completely agree with you!

June 15, 2011 at 9:58 AM

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