July 20, 2007. The Collings Foundation was giving rides out of DuPage County Airport (DPA) west of Chicago. I was returning to the DeKalb, Il airport (DKB) 18 miles west of DPA after a training flight with a student. I made all the appropriate calls as we approached the airport and I heard three other pilots in the pattern announcing their positions. DKB is surrounded by lush green corn and bean fields in July. As we descended to pattern altitude I suddenly saw a flash of red in front of and just below us. I immediately recognized the red triangle on the tail and hauled back on the yoke. The Collings B-17 passed approximately100" below us, its olive drab paint a perfect camouflage against the green crops below. My student was alarmed when I suddenly hauled back on the yoke and never saw the B-17. I announced what had just happened and asked the other pilots in the pattern if I had missed a call or something. One of those pilots told me no, I hadn’t missed anything; that the B-17 had flown directly through the DKB traffic pattern at pattern altitude and never said a thing.
After wrapping up the lesson I drove to DPA to talk to the Collings pilots but was told by a ground crewmember that they had left for the day.
Pilots unfamiliar with the area? On the wrong Unicom frequency? They came within a second or two of a mid-air collision. Was this near mid-air the result of a lack of preparation? Did they fly out of so many airports that the areas just blur together? “Let’s give the rides then hurry on to the next airport?”.