(NGC) Booked a B-17 ride - mission accomplished with pics

[Gliderjohn]

WOW! It was great experience. Weather was perfect. Soon as we leveled off we could move about the plane except for the tail gunner position and the nose. I was surprised that it was not as loud as I thought it would be (loud enough) and vibration was not as bad as I expected. The open side windows did not allow all that much air rush through the fuselage with a 130 airspeed. However the engines are not ever running at full power. Still cannot imagine pulling missions in those things. Here are some pics.

The plane:

















Crew and fellow passengers and clearing the engines (for those that have not met me I am am the black cap guy on the far right:





The business end of things:













The flight:











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[Gliderjohn]

For some reason I was cut out of the group photo when I posted it. Maybe I am a vampire. I am not the far guy on the right but that is me in the cockpit shot. really.
GliderJohn

[Arizona Wayne]

In 1 day in September of `68 I was hoisted up to a helicopter on the fantail of our Destroyer off the DMZ of Vietnam and rode to our  aircraft carrier(USS Bennington) for lunch. Then I was  launched off our carrier in a twin engine ASW aircraft (0 to 100 in 3 seconds) to land @ Cubic Point in the Phillipines.  After that ride I got on a C-47 and flew right over the top of the jungle to Clark AFB to finally stay on ground for 4 days in a tent waiting for a commercial flight back to Treasure Island so I could separate from active duty in the US Navy.  This was right at the end of the summer of Flower Power in SF which I knew nothing about until I got back to the States.  When you're on  a Navy ship all you know is what they tell you.   In the China Sea we couldn't pick up any radio signals.

[rodekyll]

A most excellent adventure!  It's hard to think that there was a time when people dreaded flying in those things.

[oldbike54]

 Whoopee John  Closest for me was a trip in a KC97 being flown by the ANG early '70's . They were kind of cheaters with a jet on each wing tip and modern (by 1972 standards) avionics  . Nothing like the sound of big recips spinning up , a bit envious down here in OK 

 dUSTY

[davedel44]

I am so jealous

Dave
Galveston

[Chuck in Indiana]

For some reason I was cut out of the group photo when I posted it. Maybe I am a vampire. I am not the far guy on the right but that is me in the cockpit shot. really.
GliderJohn

If you click on it, you're there, although the vampire theory sounds plausible, too.

[Gliderjohn]

Couple interesting items on board. Guess of purpose?







What's a bit of oil amount friends.






GliderJohn

[oldbike54]

Couple interesting items on board. Guess of purpose?







What's a bit of oil amount friends.






GliderJohn

 The top pic is of an auxiliary generator used to produce electricity .

 Dusty

[Brand X]

That power unit reminds me of a story my friend told me.. My best friend (now gone) flew over to England in one. He was late to his plane ride over, and (Iceland I think) threw he gunny sack on the aux generator. Started a small fire, but he got it put out... Not off to a great start to his war effort.. He did get to fly it on the way over.  He went on to fly 31 missions in a B-24 over Europe. Was in the 8th Air Force flying out of Bungay England. One base over from the one Jimmie Stewart commanded.

Bud did fly in the D day raids, first one was canceled do to bad weather.. I have the fight log in a pic.. Buds plane the Heinie Hunter(Willis in the pic) flew off the Col. wing on both missions  That plane was the Red ass.. Why does this matter.. Turns out his was the first  planes in on D-day.He was right out front of the whole 8th Air Force. (although not called the air force yet) His plane the second one he had was a all Silver B-24H with four bladed props. Only one he has ever  known with that setup.. It was quite the unit. Power steering, electronic turbo superchargers, better everything over his old plane. (Wee Willie) Lost when he and his crew was on leave for winning a plane naming contest. Lost all the replacement  crew during that week of leave.. Bud was one lucky fellow, and was in the Air Corp in 1939 before the war..


I had coffee with Bud almost every day, and I'd pick his brain on all those missions.. Quite interesting.. Even how he went from sweeping a blimp hanger out, to leading all the planes on D-day.. That's another story.. Along with the time he first got the new silver plane, and took it to 33 thousand ft. on his test drive.. (unloaded) Still climbing, but stopped when the fuel pressure gauge started to flicker.. Pretty good with the davis wing on that thing..

Found his planes here.. The Hennie Hunter went down one month after Bud left England. He was lucky that way.. Sometimes making his own luck.. Another story..

http://www.aviationmuseum.net/704BS.htm












http://www.aviationmuseum.net/446BGImagesNoseart.html

[ITSec]

In related news, there may be another old warbird offering rides soon - nearly 30 years of restoration work is coming to a successful conclusion with the FAA issuing a certificate to "Doc", a B-29.

See http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/may/21/restored-vintage-world-war-ii-bomber-certified-to-/

[Tom]

Good to see that you had fun.  My dad only loaded them during WWII.  Pacific.  Ground crew.  He admitted that flying around in something that leaked gas and had bombs in it wasn't a good idea.  He stayed on the ground which included runway bomb disposal duty.  Something he did twice.  First time was easy.  2nd time was difficult.

[Arizona Wayne]

Good to see that you had fun.  My dad only loaded them during WWII.  Pacific.  Ground crew.  He admitted that flying around in something that leaked gas and had bombs in it wasn't a good idea.  He stayed on the ground which included runway bomb disposal duty.  Something he did twice.  First time was easy.  2nd time was difficult.

Rounding off I'd say 2/3 of the B-17 crews didn't come back alive.  Their losses were higher than the Marines % wise.  I knew a guy whose bomber got shot down on his 1st mission and he spent the rest of the war as a POW.  At least he lived to tell about it.

[normzone]

Compared to you guys, I got nothing.

But, I did find a pair of sheepskin overpants with attached suspender straps in a thrift store in Denver circa 1979 - they were thick, fluffy, and had ARMY AIR CORP on them in gold. Wore those things through the winters until they were only shreds. I'd wear them again given the chance - made me look like Santa's badass cousin.

[oldbike54]

Compared to you guys, I got nothing.

But, I did find a pair of sheepskin overpants with attached suspender straps in a thrift store in Denver circa 1979 - they were thick, fluffy, and had ARMY AIR CORP on them in gold. Wore those things through the winters until they were only shreds. I'd wear them again given the chance - made me look like Santa's badass cousin.

 The alternate shelter thing for your wife is making more sense every day 

 Dusty

[Mooney78865]

Great post!

[Arizona Wayne]

Compared to you guys, I got nothing.

But, I did find a pair of sheepskin overpants with attached suspender straps in a thrift store in Denver circa 1979 - they were thick, fluffy, and had ARMY AIR CORP on them in gold. Wore those things through the winters until they were only shreds. I'd wear them again given the chance - made me look like Santa's badass cousin.

My father(bombardier on B-17) brought home 3 finger leather/lambskin? gauntlet gloves for gunners.  We had them for decades. 

[ITSec]

Couple interesting items on board. Guess of purpose?





GliderJohn

That looks rather like a unit that would spool wire out that tube through the fuselage, likely for an antenna for long-range radio...

[normzone]

Damn, it's sexy when you talk like that...

 

[Gliderjohn]

ITSec is correct on the second pictured item. It is a low frequency UHF antenna.
GliderJohn

[NorthRider]

  I booked a ride for my son a I in the Collings Foundation B-17 this past winter in Florida. It was a fantastic experience!! As others have stated, once the aircraft is up in the air, you are able to go almost anywhere within the aircraft. Of course, the most popular position was the navigator seat! Lol
  One nice thing about the Collings Foundation is that it is a non profit organization. So out of the $400 price for the flight, only $75 is the actual cost, with the balance considered a donation!
Next winter I'm booking a flight in their B-24 Liberator...the last flying unit left!

   

[LaMojo]

Interesting lifetime experience.  Thanks for sharing.