Cool old airplanes (pic heavy)

[Oeditpus Rex]

Today my brother-in-law and I went to play in a B-17, a B-24 and a B-25 here on a tour by the Collings Foundation and I thought I'd share a few pics.

The B-17G "Nine-Oh-Nine" (top) and the B-24J "Witchcraft" taxiing prior to takeoff, each carrying a handful of passengers for a 30-minute flight (at $425 each).







The nose of the B-17, fortified with four .50-caliber machine guns. (In all, the aircraft has 13 guns.)





The "office" of the B-17. Pretty damned cramped on a 10-hour mission.





I bagged me a FW-190!





Edit: .50-caliber, not 50-millimeter. A 50-millimeter shell would be the size of an old milk bottle. :eyes:

[Dangerously Amused]

1. Sweet! And hey - how did you get your initials on the B-17?

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. Four cans of spray paint

And two really big stencils.

[KitchenWitch]

3. I love air shows!

Sounds like you had a good time.

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Around WWII aircraft?

Bet the house on it. :bounce:

Oh... when they took off, one of the local P-51 Mustangs (there are four at the airport here) escorted them. Dog, whatta sight!

Here's the Mustang:

[Swede]

4. Those old planes look big until you get inside.

Then they seem so small.

[BrotherBuzz]

6. Warbirds are grand when you can feel them fly overhead

I thought we had a nice heavy one fly over today but it turned out to be a C-45 flying real low. Close, but no B-25, and certainly no B-17 or B-24.

[reyd reid reed]

7. Looks like you were in your element...

And having a Lot of fun. They do those around here sometimes...I haven't been in ages, though...

Maybe it's time I pack up the boys and go....

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. If I were in my element

there woulda been flak bursts and Luftwaffe fighters all over the sky.

And it woulda been in black-and-white.

[Swede]

10. My uncle was a bombadier in the RCAF.

He flew 30 missions in a Lancaster.

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. The Lanc was a hell of a plane

The Brits' version of the B-24: Ugly as hell, rugged as hell, superior bomber.

Is your uncle still with us? I'd love to hear his stories.

[Swede]

14. Sadly,no he's gone.

He hated the night operations the most. He said you could see the cities burning 100 miles before you got to them.

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Yeah, and that's mostly what the RAF did

The U.S. did precision daylight bombing while the Brits did area bombing at night.

Of some 400,000 U.S. servicemen killed in WWII, 220,000 were bomber crewmen.

Incredible.

:patriot:

[reyd reid reed]

16. Yeah, but I'm thinkin'

That in your imagination, at least, there WERE flak bursts and Luftwaffe fighters all over the sky.

Prolly not in black-and-white, though.

Some of those pictures would prolly be pretty cool in B&W, though.

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. Actually...

my BIL had to tell me to stop moving while he made the photo. See, that 190 was at about 10 o'clock and breaking away, the damned fool, and I was knocking hunks of aluminum off his starboard wing — and those .50-calibers shake a lot.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

9. I went on a B24 one time

not flying, it was being restored and it was late at night with a flashlight. Half the insturments were out of the cockpit - felt like it would be to dive on a wreck.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. My dear Oeditpus Rex!

What great pics! I know you were having fun...

Nothing like boys and their toys!

Thanks for sharing your day with us......:bounce: :bounce:

[bertha katzenengel]

13. That photo of you at the gun (waist gunner) reminds me of a line:

"Aw, shit on a stick!" from Memphis Belle.

:hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. You know that movie was total bullshit

Full of historical inaccuracies. Christ, they didn't even get the nose art right. :eyes:

Entertaining, though. I've seen it four or five times, and I still get teary-eyed when they touch down to the strains of "Danny Boy."

[Redstone]

18. Can't see your pictures, but no matter. I've flown in a B17, and it's

whatever you have to pay to do it. That airplane is an icon of America.

Have you ever been to the Planes of Fame museum at the Chino Airport in southern California? If not, you should. You can buy a ride in a P-51 and / or an F4U Corsair.

Go there.

Redstone

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Went there about 10 years ago

while at a conference in Pomona.

That was my first Fort — the Picadilly Lilly.

Also, last year I went to Open Cockpit Day at the Castle AFB Museum near Merced. My neighbor was one of the people who reassembled the B-36 after it was hauled there, and I've been invited to be on the tour crew next year. :bounce:

They have quite a few planes, including a B-52 and a B-29.

http://www.elite.net/castle-air/

[Monk06]

20. self delete