sad
Liberty Belle had a fascinating history too. After WWII she was used by Pratt&Whitney to test turboprops. Involved removal of her nose and replacement with a large rig to mount the engines she was testing.
After being retired from that role, she went to the New England Air Museum. Where she was seriously damaged during the 1979 tornado, when another plane in the museum’s collection was thrown into her and cut her in half.
After a couple decades in storage, she was obtained and restored to flying condition in her B-17G bomber configuration. A few years back she was flown over to Europe where she was joined by the then-two flying European B-17s (”Pink Lady” from France and “Sally B” from the UK).
Really, really sad day. Glad everyone got out ok, obviously, but she was such a precious piece of irreplaceable history.