SPRINGBANK, Alta. – As a tail gunner aboard a Canadian Lancaster bomber during the Second World War, Doug Curtis mowed down many enemies in 48 missions.

He flew another mission Wednesday taking to the skies aboard one of the rarest of warplanes — the B-17 Flying Fortress — and mowed down another item from his bucket list.

“That was a great one,” the 94-year-old war veteran exclaimed as he stepped down from the rear of the plane at Springbank airport just west of Calgary and hugged members of his family.

Curtis made headlines earlier this month doing a tandem skydive to celebrate his birthday.

“I’ve got maybe two more things on my bucket list. I’d like to drive all around B.C. and, apart from that, I’d like to do a real jump by myself. I’d like to try that once and then I will quit,” he said with a chuckle.

The B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft is currently on a Canadian tour, giving airplane enthusiasts and military veterans like Curtis an opportunity to tour the plane and potentially get a ride as well.

Curtis said he remembers the B-17s, or forts as he called them, when he was flying bombing missions of his own, but he had never been this close to one before.

“We envied them because of the armament they carried. We only had peashooters compared to what’s on the fort. We could carry the bigger bomb load but they went during daytime and I wouldn’t have wanted to do that at all,” he said.

“We didn’t like the idea of daylight mainly because of the armament we carried. It brings back memories about all the fellows you used to do this with.”

The Flying Fortress got its name from the amount of armour and weaponry it contained. The long-range bombers often went without fighter escorts.

It had 13.50-calibre machine guns and carried 2,200 kilograms of bombs on two racks in the bomb bay behind the cockpit.

Although more than 12,700 of them were built, only about 10 remain flying.

Lorraine Morris and her husband Ken volunteered to fly the B-17 as part of the Canadian tour. She said the plane was aptly named. It’s “like flying a cement truck without power steering.”

“It’s quite a thrill. It’s a piece of history that we’re keeping alive and showing people. That’s what makes it so special,” said Morris, adding the plane could take “a beating and kept on ticking.”

“They named them fortresses because they were so strong. They’d bring all the crews back even though they were badly damaged.”

Jeff Seaborn, one of the tour organizers from the Experimental Aircraft Association which owns the aircraft, said it’s been touring in the United States for the past 20 years but this is the first time in Canada. It will be in Regina next week.

“We thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to show aviation-minded people here in Canada an antique airplane, the B-17, which was used in the war and to show them one (bomber) the Allies were using,” he said.

“It’s the 72nd year since D-Day. Planes like this are getting fewer and farther between.”

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