Collings' B-24 "Witchcraft" Lands Safely After Landing Gear Issue

[RyanS]

It seems that the Collings Foundation's B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft" had some issues getting the nose gear down today, but landed safely after circling for a while to sort out the issue. Hats off to the crew for getting this rare piece of history down in one piece!

A WWII bomber participating in an aviation exhibition at Cecil Airport safely landed Saturday after experiencing landing gear issues in flight, officials said.

The B-24 Liberator reportedly had issues lowering its nose gear and was forced to circle the airport for over an hour while sorting out the issue, according to airport officials.

Airport officials said they were notified about 9:58 a.m. The bomber was carrying two crew members and five passengers. The flight was offered to exhibition visitors as part of the show.

Officials said the bomber landed safely about 11:35 a.m. The B-24 is equipped with a manual crank to lower landing gear in case of hydraulic failures.

The pilots circled the airport to burn fuel in case they were unable to lower the landing gear. In the instance that the gear couldn't be lowered, the pilots would have performed an emergency landing in the grass next to the runway.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/wwii-airc ... ear-issues