Flying Fortress

About This Project

Inspired by stories told by my grandfather about World War II bombing raids over Slovenia, this project explores the connection between personal family history and aviation history. More than just a model aircraft, it serves as a tribute to the memories and experiences passed down through generations.

Full Story

This project carries a story that began long before I was born, in Slovenia during the Second World War.

My grandfather often told me about the American B-17 Flying Fortresses that flew over the region, bombing railways, bridges and factories in Jesenice, Slovenia. One of those raids struck the apartment building where his family lived while he was at school, forcing them to move. Believing they would be safer in the small village of Vrbnje, they settled in with relatives a few kilometers away. Yet the bombers returned. According to his story, they likely released their remaining bombs before heading home and somehow managed to hit the area around their new home as well. Nobody in the family was injured, and they moved once again. He always told the story with a certain sense of humor, amazed by the sheer improbability of being bombed twice in two different homes.

As a child, inspired by those stories, I built him a model of a Flying Fortress. Over the years it became damaged and eventually fell apart. Every now and then he would ask if I could repair it, and every time I would postpone the project, convinced there would always be more time.

Then he suffered a severe stroke, loosing his ability to speak and walk. The illness required full-time care, and he moved into a retirement home. Realizing that time was no longer something I could take for granted, I decided it was finally time to keep the promise I had been delaying for years. Rather than repairing the old model, I started from scratch and built an entirely new one. I worked on it every day, trying to finish it as quickly as possible because I did not know how much time we had left.

When I finally brought the completed model to him, although he felt lost and couldn’t talk, the moment he saw it, he immediately recognized the aircraft. I could see how happy and proud he was. The model remained beside him every day, standing on the table to his left, for the next year until he passed away.

This project is not really about a model aircraft. It is about a promise kept, a shared story passed from one generation to another, and a memory that deserved to be preserved.

Za Ata Lojza.

Model: B-17G “Flying Fortress” (Revell 04283)