B-17 Flying Fortress

[PiratePast40]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

Gary Sinise is another person who does a great job of promoting respect and rememberance of those who defend our country. I've heard him at several airshows during the "legacy flights" with a modern fighter and WWII or Korean era aircraft.

It's pretty awesome to see the painstaking dedication and devotion of those that restore the warbirds. Even if you can't afford to pay for a flight, a few bucks in the donation jar really helps.

Keep 'em Flying!

 

[ehenry]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

A B-29 and a B-24 came through Jackson not too terribly long ago and I got Pop to go with me to see them. Was the first time I'd seen a B-24 up close and personal. Pop was 24 pilot in WWII and flew in the Pacific theater. If they would have been offering rides in the B-24 I would have gladly paid for a couple seats just to be in the same type air craft my daddy flew in to harms way.

We were allowed up in the cockpit when they found out Pop flew 24s in the war. I'll never forget the look on his face when he sat in the left seat and me in the right. He looked around, touched the yoke with his left hand, patted throttles with his right. He never said a word....not one....he looked at me and told me he was ready to go. I wish I could have read his mind while we were there.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

A B-29 and a B-24 came through Jackson not too terribly long ago and I got Pop to go with me to see them. Was the first time I'd seen a B-24 up close and personal. Pop was 24 pilot in WWII and flew in the Pacific theater. If they would have been offering rides in the B-24 I would have gladly paid for a couple seats just to be in the same type air craft my daddy flew in to harms way.

We were allowed up in the cockpit when they found out Pop flew 24s in the war. I'll never forget the look on his face when he sat in the left seat and me in the right. He looked around, touched the yoke with his left hand, patted throttles with his right. He never said a word....not one....he looked at me and told me he was ready to go. I wish I could have read his mind while we were there.

That is great!

Now I'm having trouble reading my screen for some reason.

 

[Dave Barnett]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

As a teen I had a good friend who along with his parents would travel to the Oshkosh Wisconsin Air show each year. Sadly I never got to go along but I sure loved the pictures and home movies they took. My dad was a WWll vet. Before he was sent to Germany He was stationed at Debdon (spelling???) Airforce base in England. It was a P-51 Mustang base. I loved the stories he would tell about how the pilots would compete. Sometimes they would see who could mow grass the closest. Of course this was against regs. but what done anyway. I personally don't care for flying but I love the old planes especially military.

 

[DECK SWABBER 58]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

That is great!

Now I'm having trouble reading my screen for some reason.

Me too......

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

A B-29 and a B-24 came through Jackson not too terribly long ago and I got Pop to go with me to see them. Was the first time I'd seen a B-24 up close and personal. Pop was 24 pilot in WWII and flew in the Pacific theater. If they would have been offering rides in the B-24 I would have gladly paid for a couple seats just to be in the same type air craft my daddy flew in to harms way.

We were allowed up in the cockpit when they found out Pop flew 24s in the war. I'll never forget the look on his face when he sat in the left seat and me in the right. He looked around, touched the yoke with his left hand, patted throttles with his right. He never said a word....not one....he looked at me and told me he was ready to go. I wish I could have read his mind while we were there.

I had a similar experience with my father, except it was at the D-Day Museum, in New Orleans. We went to see it, during one of his visits here. He was a paratrooper and jumped the night before the invasion, with the Pathfinders.

Going through the exhibits with him was a very interesting experience, because he was able to offer a perspective way beyond what simply looking at the stuff and reading the plaques, would have given. Also, as a bonding experience between father and son, the visit was one of the best that I ever had with him. Like a lot of WW2 vets, he really didn't say much about the war, throughout his life. Listening to him then, revealed a side of him that I really didn't know and it was almost like it completed my knowledge of him.

He died a couple of years later, at age 82, but not before I was able to buy a brick for him and send him the certificate that goes with it, for Christmas that year. The framed document was one of his favorite things in his home and it is now with me, hanging on the wall behind me as I write this.



???

 

[bigredinohio]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

A B-29 and a B-24 came through Jackson not too terribly long ago and I got Pop to go with me to see them. Was the first time I'd seen a B-24 up close and personal. Pop was 24 pilot in WWII and flew in the Pacific theater. If they would have been offering rides in the B-24 I would have gladly paid for a couple seats just to be in the same type air craft my daddy flew in to harms way.

We were allowed up in the cockpit when they found out Pop flew 24s in the war. I'll never forget the look on his face when he sat in the left seat and me in the right. He looked around, touched the yoke with his left hand, patted throttles with his right. He never said a word....not one....he looked at me and told me he was ready to go. I wish I could have read his mind while we were there.

I had a similar experience with my father, except it was at the D-Day Museum, in New Orleans. We went to see it, during one of his visits here. He was a paratrooper and jumped the night before the invasion, with the Pathfinders.

Going through the exhibits with him was a very interesting experience, because he was able to offer a perspective way beyond what simply looking at the stuff and reading the plaques, would have given. Also, as a bonding experience between father and son, the visit was one of the best that I ever had with him. Like a lot of WW2 vets, he really didn't say much about the war, throughout his life. Listening to him then, revealed a side of him that I really didn't know and it was almost like it completed my knowledge of him.

He died a couple of years later, at age 82, but not before I was able to buy a brick for him and send him the certificate that goes with it, for Christmas that year. The framed document was one of his favorite things in his home and it is now with me, hanging on the wall behind me as I write this.

???

Those are great stories!

 

[ehenry]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

my family is going to New Orleans around the end of July and I hope to go to the museum with Pop.

No clue what year this was but this is him............

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

A couple of years ago we had "Miss Mitchel" at our airport. I forget what kind of aircraft it was but I thought it was neat on how they started the engines.

Back in 04 my son got to take a close look at an A10

[/IMG]

And for some reason they didn't want us taking pictures of this old girl. Actually had to pay to go see inside of the plane, (I didn't want to pay) But I was able to snap a picture of her.

[/IMG]

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

A couple of years ago we had "Miss Mitchel" at our airport. I forget what kind of aircraft it was but I thought it was neat on how they started the engines.

Its a Mitchel B-25 bomber. This is the aircraft that was used for the famous Doolittle raid on Japan.

Starting a radial aircraft engine is kind of a dance of the starters, primers, magnetos and mixture controls. You don't want to actually start the engine, until you have rotated the engine through 9 - 12 "blades" with the starter, because the motors tend to collect 90 weight oil in the lower cylinders. Starting them before you scavenge this oil, tends to bend connecting rods. From there, you feed fuel with the primers, engage the mags and feed more fuel, via the mixture controls, when the engine fires.


PS: In the above photo, the crew members are pulling the blades of the #1 engine through. They are doing the same thing that you do on many radial powered aircraft with the starter.



???

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

I thought it would be just a simple is flip switch and fire it up.
But they were there a few minutes messing with the propellors for a bit before it started spinning.

Did it to both sides.
Here's a link to him doing it on the 2nd engine.
http://gallery.computervitals.com/main.php?cmd=imageview&var1=Stevens+Point+Fly-in+2008/PICT0491.jpg

right side fired up.
http://gallery.computervitals.com/main.php?cmd=imageview&var1=Stevens+Point+Fly-in+2008/PICT0501.jpg

Left fired up.
http://gallery.computervitals.com/main.php?cmd=imageview&var1=Stevens+Point+Fly-in+2008/PICT0504.jpg

If you want to see more pics.
Here's Stevens Point Fly in 2008
http://gallery.computervitals.com/main.php?cmd=album&var1=Stevens+Point+Fly-in+2008/

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

Yup, pulling both engines through, before starting. The B-25 has Wright R-2600 engines in it. The motors are 14 cylinder, twin row radials. I don't know why they hand pull them, rather than using the starter, but it may just be the larger displacement and increase in number of bottom cylinders, as compared to the nine cylinder, single row, Wright 1820s, that I have experience with.

Another possibility, is that my aircraft had a gasoline fueled generator in the after portion of the fuselage. It was used for ground power and relieved the batteries of the starting load. I don't know if B-25s had APUs in them and I don't see a GPU in your photos, so that might have been a factor.



???

 

[DECK SWABBER 58]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

What a great day today. For the second weekend in a row the B-17 Sentimental Journey was an hour away. So today we went to the Heroes and Legends "A Salute To Those Who Serve" air show in Cape Girardeau, Mo to see it.

Along with the Sentimental Journey their were two B-25 Mitchell Bombers. One of them the "Special Delivery" is the official B-25 of the Doolittle Raider Association painted in the exact color and markings of a Doolittle Raider. The other B-25 and a P-40 did exhibition flights.

The Blue Angels did their usual fabulous show along with a A-10 which put on a impressive demonstration. And the U.S. Army Golden Parachute Team and numerous acrobatic stunt planes including Skip Stewart who I think imho is probably the best stunt pilot you will ever see.

We took the tour through the B-17, if you have interest in WWII history and have never seen the inside of one it's a must see. Now I'm going to have to fork out the $425.00 to experience a flight in it! What the CAF has done to keep this history alive is truly increcible. It's all volunteer, these guys flew this thing in and sat out in 97 deg. heat and humidity so we could see it. And they even let a bunch of us sit under the shade of the wing during the show. Tomorrow they might be flying to a town near you, so go see it and support them if you get the chance.
http://www.azcaf.org/

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

The Collings Foundation also has a bunch of vintage aircraft. I got a ride on a B-24 called the "All American," many years ago. For an old airplane nut, it was quite a thrill.

I have a bunch of photos of the aircraft and the trip, but I was shooting slide film in those days, so I'll have to try to find them and scan a few for posting.

I just looked at the Collings website and it looks like their collection has grown considerably. They still have the B-17 that I saw, along with the B-24 that I flew in, but have added two more B-24s and a bunch of other aircraft. Someone has been doing some serious fundraising!


http://www.collingsfoundation.org/cf_aircraft.htm



???

 

[bigredinohio]

Re: B-17 Flying Fortress

What a great day today. For the second weekend in a row the B-17 Sentimental Journey was an hour away. So today we went to the Heroes and Legends "A Salute To Those Who Serve" air show in Cape Girardeau, Mo to see it.

Along with the Sentimental Journey their were two B-25 Mitchell Bombers. One of them the "Special Delivery" is the official B-25 of the Doolittle Raider Association painted in the exact color and markings of a Doolittle Raider. The other B-25 and a P-40 did exhibition flights.

The Blue Angels did their usual fabulous show along with a A-10 which put on a impressive demonstration. And the U.S. Army Golden Parachute Team and numerous acrobatic stunt planes including Skip Stewart who I think imho is probably the best stunt pilot you will ever see.

We took the tour through the B-17, if you have interest in WWII history and have never seen the inside of one it's a must see. Now I'm going to have to fork out the $425.00 to experience a flight in it! What the CAF has done to keep this history alive is truly increcible. It's all volunteer, these guys flew this thing in and sat out in 97 deg. heat and humidity so we could see it. And they even let a bunch of us sit under the shade of the wing during the show. Tomorrow they might be flying to a town near you, so go see it and support them if you get the chance.http://www.azcaf.org/

Yep, they'll be at the Dayton Air Show this year so I'll get to see them.