Bringing Back Miss Liberty

Airmen, volunteers, and contractors at Barksdale AFB, La., are restoring a B-17G bomber for the 8th Air Force museum in honor of Maj. Gen. Lewis Lyle, a B-17 pilot who flew 69 combat missions over Germany during World War II. “Lyle was an aviator’s aviator” and the “the most decorated in 8th AF,” said Gary Miller, 8th AF museum director. The B-17G is being restored to replicate the “Miss Liberty,” the bomber that Lyle flew on a raid against Berlin on March 22, 1944. It is one of only about 30 or so B-17s left worldwide. “It is very important that we preserve the remaining artifacts from that time period so that the stories and the sacrifices made are not forgotten altogether,” said MSgt. Keith Baron, museum restoration and maintenance superintendent. Lyle died in 2008 at age 92. (Barksdale report by SSgt. John Gordinier)