PENN TWP — Beginning Wednesday Butler County residents will be able to view both World War II vintage aircraft and the modern day Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport.

The Collings Foundation's Wings of Freedom tour is slated to touchdown at the airport at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The Living History display will feature the B-17 Flying Fortress “Nine O Nine: heavy bomber, the B-24 Liberator “Witchcraft” heavy bomber, the B-25 “Tondelayo” midrange bomber and the P-51 Mustang “Toulouse Nuts” fighter.

Visitors can tour the aircraft for a fee or take a 30-minute flight aboard one of the rare aircraft until their departure at noon Friday.

Any World War II veteran who attends the event will be welcome to a gift certificate to purchase Collings Foundation items, courtesy of the airport, said Ike Kelly, the airport manager.

One of those veterans planning to visit the airport is Howard Franklin Struble Jr., 93, of Evans City. He was the right waist gunner and armorer on a B-17 in Foggia, Italy.

He said, “It was very scary, but the B-17 was known to be more likely to bring you back home than the heavier, slower bombers.”

Brant Dempster of Sarver is planning to attend to honor the memory of his great-uncle Robert Dempster Jr. who was the pilot of a B-24 in the Pacific during World War II.

“He was a Freeport boy,” said Dempster of his grandfather's brother. “They did the island-hopping campaign,” he said. On Sept. 11, 1944, his great-uncle's plane, “Pistol Pakin Mamma”was on a reconnaissance/bombing mission” over Marcus Island when it was shot down and all but one of the 10-man crew was killed.

Returning Wings of Freedom to Butler County after being here last year was an easy decision, according to Ken Miles, director of operations for the Stow, Mass.-based Collings Foundation, a nonprofit educational foundation that collects historical vehicles of all types.

Miles said, “We visit 105-110 airports a year. Some stops like Butler and Indiana, Pa., we will visit two, three, four times in a row because of the turnout.

Kelly said, “We had 3,000 people come out for it last year, even though the weather was rainy.”

The aircraft arriving this week aren't just historic, they have histories, said Miles.

“The B-24 was a Lend-Lease aircraft for the Royal Air Force,” he said. “It was abandoned in India after the war where it was used in the China-Burma-India theater.”

“The Indian Air Force was able to put together 24 B-24s, including this one, from the scrap heap,” Miles said.

The “Witchcraft” and its fellow B-24s served in the Indian Air Force for 20 years, before it was scrapped again.

Miles said a collector from England eventually rescued the bomber again and it made its way to the Collings Foundation.

The B-17 Flying Fortress saw a lot of action, just not overseas.

“It was produced in January 1945,” said Miles. “When the war ended, they strapped a life raft to it and used it as an air/sea rescue craft.”

“Then it was used to fight forest fires. A lot of B-17s fought forest fires until the end of the 1970s,” Miles said.

When the Collings Foundation acquired it, it was repainted and had its name changed from “Tanker 79” to “Nine O Nine,” Miles said.

Now it and its fellow Wings of Freedom tour members, travel 300 days a year beginning the third week in January in Florida and flying across the country until the second week in November.

Traveling with them are 14 pilots, co-pilots and support staff, almost all of them volunteers, Miles said.

Kelly said the airport will complement the World War II aircraft with some World War II ground vehicles.

“When of the collectors in the area is bringing in a half-track that was used extensively in World War II to move troops. Another is bring in a 'deuce and a half' general utility truck and a Navy bomb trailer,” Kelly said.

Kelly said, “This is a chance to show off the airport. A lot of people are not aware we are here since we are set off Route 8 on Airport Road.

“We can promote the businesses on the field. We have two flight schools, a charter service, Lifeflight and Serventi's restaurant,” Kelly said.