Flying Fortress Sally B takes to the skies for resort’s show

Sally B, which also played a starring role in the film Memphis Belle in 1989, will take part in the Festival of Flight on Saturday and Sunday, alongside displays by other iconic aircraft including Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster bomber, and the more modern Typhoon Eurofighter.

The world’s last flying Vulcan bomber will fly past on Saturday.

Other highlights include the Red Arrows and The Parachute Regiment’s Red Devils Freefall Team.

Sally B will stay overnight at Humberside Airport, which has waived the usual landing fees and ground handling charges in support of the show.

Paul Litten, the airport’s commercial director, said: “It’s great to have such an iconic and historical aircraft visit Humberside Airport and also, to have it flying locally again in the skies for the Cleethorpes Air Show.

“We’re only too pleased to support the air show, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the region.”

Sally B is permanently based at the Imperial War Museum Duxford on static display when not flying, but is not part of the museum’s own collection, and is operated by Elly Sallingboe and maintained by chief engineer Peter Brown and a team of volunteers.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was first introduced in 1938 and used by the United States Eighth Army Air Force.

It flew daylight missions out of British bases over Germany during The Second World War.

The aircraft is kept flying as a tribute to thousands of young Allied airmen who never returned.

Sally B, a four-engined bomber, was one of five flying B-17s used in various scenes in Memphis Belle, which was filmed at the former RAF Binbrook nearby. It was also used to replicate the real Memphis Belle in one scene.

One of the key events in the flying calendar for Sally B is an annual tribute flypast following the Memorial Day service at the American Military Cemetery at Madingley, Cambridge, which takes place over the May bank holiday weekend.

Flying at the Cleethorpes Air Show will take place between 11.30am and 4.30pm each day with an interval for lunch.