Calling all MotA fans (especially those based in the UK):
If you haven't considered this already, have you thought of joining the Sally B Preservation Society?
She is the only B-17 plane which is still airworthy in Europe, and still flies regularly. She is based at IWM Duxford (which is still an amazing place to go to on its own), where you can visit and admire her from outside the airfield gates where she is 'parked'.
Sometimes there might be some ground crew hanging about who may be free to answer quick questions about her.
However, for 50 quid a year, you can be a member of the Sally B society, and attend special tour days where you can actually visit inside Sally B and have an intimate tour with a very passionate ground crew member (John Owens, I'm giving a shout out to you), though all of them are super friendly and would be more than honoured to show you around.
You can't go inside the cockpit because it is still an operational plane, but can take a peek at it from the radio operator section. You can also take a peek through the navigators hatch (I.e the hatch where Rosie and Co usually show off their acrobatic swinging skills), but you can't enter through there (for obvious reasons).
And, for 495 quid you can have your OWN name painted on Sally B as part of their annual 'roll of honour'. It sounds like a lot of money, but when you think about the cost of maintaining such an iconic plane in order to fly -- and to continue flying, it is actually a piddling amount of money.
Plus -- next year is Sally B's 50th anniversary since she was bought and lovingly restored by the current company that is looking after her.
I would also recommend checking days that she is due to fly and go to Duxford to see it take off!
Anyway!!! This is a longwinded post to say, please support your local, last airworthy B17 Flying Fortress in Europe!!!