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This flew over my house. A B-17G WW2 bomber, was at the local airport giving rides to anybody for $450.00. My next door neighbor who just turned 100, flew these over Germany in WW2, with the 100th Bomb Group.
saw many vintage warplanes over my house today while i was waxing my boat in the yard.waved and saluted.wished them to be safe too.i fly my flag outside year round.god bless America!
Oh man, that's awesome! I'd happily pay that for the opportunity to experience history like that. Who knows how long these planes will still be flying, there's less and less airworthy examples with each year, and all the people that originally flew them are sadly passing on.
Well worth it!!! We took the ride on the B24 liberator Witch Craft. Unbelievable experience! The B17 will only fly for a half hour. The B24 would go 45 minutes so we did that flight. When we went I told the flight engineer how they would fly over the house every summer when I was a boy. He told me he had something special for me and had me sit Indian styled in front of the landing gear. When we were ready to land I could see me old home when the landing gear doors opened, the wind blowing my face off unbelievable! I'm saving for the P51 ride 3500$!
Well worth the 400 bucks, I will never forget it!
I flew as aircrew on Navy P2 Neptunes with Pratt & Whitney 3350 recips...and jets running on avgas. The forward observer sat in the nose with plexiglass all around. On final approach you had to leave your seat, crawl along a catwalk in the open nose wheel well and check for the gear being down and locked. Then you had to climb thru a hatch and strap yourself into a seat at one of the ASW consoles for landing. We used to do training flights for transitioning pilots. One of my favorite training maneuvers sitting in that nose was the power-on stall. That would put your stomach in the back of your throat.
My dad flew The Hump over the Himalayas before Pearl Harbor, delivering avgas in 55 gallon drums to General Chenault's P40 Flying Tigers. They flew in C46s, C47s and B24s converted to transports. Once he crashed on takeoff and once he bailed out when the B24s tail broke off.
A few years ago when our nephew was in town from California I paid for him and I to fly on Sentimental Journey B17! It was a great time. I bought a ride for me in the back of the plane and paid extra for him to fly up front in the bombardier/navigator area since his Grandfather had flown as a bombardier in WWII. The memories were well worth it!
Some years back, the GF and I flew on B-17G "Nine-O-Nine", owned by the Collings Foundation.
I had a blast. The GF, not so much. It was her first time in an airplane of any kind!
awesome pics Peterc3.one flew over my boat quite a few years age and was so low i could see the people.i also remember how slow the props were turning.i swore i could see individual blades,what a sight!
My Dad rest his soul, being 5'6" and a photographer got the second best seat the tail gunner. Air crews only had to run 25 mission, on his 6th flight the B17 landed on left wing then the right so he didn't have to do all 25. Thanks to all our veterans. T
I had the opportunity to tour a B17 several years ago. There are no words to describe the bravery it took to man that plane and fly those missions. While meaning no disrespect to those who served before, after, or currently there is a reason they are called the greatest generation.
one of these flew over a shopping center I was outside getting tools out of my work van . The airport was on 1/4 mile away across the road , is was approaching for a landing. Before I even looked up,I knew it. was a vintage plane when i heard the drone of the big radials . This was maybe 20 years ago ! I don't recall the name on the plane . But people could go t the airport and check it out for a donation .
Out here in CA, we have a B17, B24, B25, and P51 flying over my house between Moffett Field and the coast all day long. Wings of Freedom, Collings Foundation. $2200 to get a ride in the P51. Maybe next year, they've been here regularly. You can crawl around inside them for a pittance. Here's my wife Betty Ann with 'Betty Jane'.
That's a good "There I Was" story. Thanks for sharing!
Tho the Memphis Belle was on display here for many years, I've only had the privilege of witnessing a B17 in flight once, which was during a Commemorative (formerly Confederate) Air Force show. They performed a very low flyby with only one gear down as part of their Pearl Harbor tribute. Sadly, the Memphis Belle itself fell into such disrepair due to lack of proper care, the Air Force rightly saw fit to relieve our community of the responsibility and move it to Wright Pat for restoration to preserve it for posterity.
BTW, have a copy of God is My Co-pilot, signed by Robert L. Scott. Great read for anyone interested in flying the Hump or the Flying Tigers.
I just read where Memphis Belle will be on display very soon. A few yrs back we had the only airworthy B29 at the time, FiFi at the Henderson airport. My wife tried to buy me a ride on it but the only seat left was over the catwalk area. I wouldnt have had much of a good view of anything but bomb bay doors. So I declined. I fix planes for a living, love aviation. The WW2 era planes my favorite.
On holidays, we have a variety of WW2 aircraft flying around Houston. When a B17 is flying, you can tell long before it arrives overhead. Can you imagine what twenty or thirty of them flying together would sound like? It must have been awesome.
The P2V Neptune was equipped with Wright R-3350's.
Aircraft flying over the "Hump" didn't start until after Pearl Harbor, April 42.
Thank you so much for correcting my mistakes. It is very kind of you. I promise to try to be more careful in the future.
My dad enlisted in 1940 at the age of 18. He was a tech sargent flight engineer and often flew right seat due to a lack of officer pilots. Maybe he did not make a trip over the Hump until April, but he was in Burma getting strafed by Japanese zeros. Once he had one on his wingtip...out of ammo. They just stared at each other.
Last edited by Faster Rat; 05-31-2017 at 03:20 PM.
My dad was a crew chief on a B17 in WW2. If you ask him, he will tell you, that plane belonged to him, it was his and no one else touched his plane, no one. He was 91 years old this past week and still going strong.
05-28-2017, 06:33 PM
I was Waxing My C3 And Then . . .
