Hunting Bombers

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pishta said:
We got a B-25 over here at John Wayne airport (SNA) and we get a few bombers a year flying over my house which is in the glide path. I always run out and look up when I hear radials flying overhead. My neighbor Gale Cunningham (RIP) was a co-pilot in a 24, told me of a Italy mission once that made him shake to this day, said the flak was like flying into a black cloud and their were more holes in his Lib than he could count, got him home though he said chuckling. I also had a customer that flew P-51D's in WW2 Europe. His was a wingman to a 5+ ace, himself had 1+1/2 kill. Amazing old men, just in their early 20's when it all went down. My great uncle, USMC was a Jap POW for the ENTIRE war, was a embassy radio operator in China and was taken prisoner 12-07-41 and was liberated 2 weeks after the war ended..the guards just disappeared one day and 2 weeks later the Americans arrived to find everyone POW that was still alive just standing around, not knowing what the hell was going on...Got an appendectomy (?) with nothing but a double shot of sake from an English POW doctor, that was one hard core Marine! Ooh Rah!
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Our grandfathers probably knew each other. Mine was an embassy gaurd in Peking. Look at the North China Marines website. You might find him listed there and see where/what he went through.
 
I was down in Orange County at the end of February / early March when we saw in the OC Register that the B-17 was supposed to be doing some flyovers and landing around 11:00AM one Saturday. Went down and sat in the park-and-ride lot across the freeway...nothing. Drove over to the museum to find it parked - mechanical problems they said. So.....we toured the museum.
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Kermit Weeks (Fantasy of flight owner) has been flying around the area in the same type of plane Amelia Earhart had, and IIRC, was planning to retrace her last flight.

That guy does with planes, what some of us are able to do with cars.

Amazing.
 
YY1 said:
Kermit Weeks (Fantasy of flight owner) has been flying around the area in the same type of plane Amelia Earhart had, and IIRC, was planning to retrace her last flight.

That guy does with planes, what some of us are able to do with cars.

Amazing.
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That guy is really somethin' He lives more in a day than I do in a year
 
Love B17's! I've always liked them I went to check out the one in the first post at Moffett Field a few years ago. It's called "909", although it's not the original 909, but a replica. Anyway, I dragged my wife with me. She wasn't too interested at first, but once she got inside the plane, she thought it was really cool. I've gone back once since then. Haven't taken a ride in one yet. It's on my bucket list.

Ever since seeing a B17 up close, I've been reading every good book about them that I could find. Just finished reading the late Col. Robert Morgan's book "The Man Who Flew The Memphis Belle". Good read!

I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with B17's, but I can't get enough of them!

If you want to find out more about Witchcraft and 909 and where they will be, check out the Collings Foundation. http://www.collingsfoundation.org/menu.htm
 
comoxian said:
I've had the CF-18 Hornets flying over my house for the last few days. It's really cool to see them screaming through the air.

And we just had the Snowbirds in town for their annual pre-Airshow practice.

It's great living close to the base, CFB Comox.
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I worked on a crew that repaired the tail sections on all those Canadian CF-18s in Cold Lake Alberta in the early 80s. I got lucky too and was one of two crew members that got to ride the CF-18 simulator.

The jets are truly awesome, but there is nothing quite like the sound of a big radial on startup. I did maintenance on DC-3s up in Fort St John BC. What I don't miss is working on them in the cold. They did not fit in our hangar.

We truly do owe a debt to the WW2 soldiers. I try to honor every one I meet.

Have a listen to this sweet sound. We get just a little taste of this sweetness when we can hear the cam in our Mopars.

Rattle rattle... cough... cough... ohhh ya baby play that tune

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1WRCW30H9s&feature=related"]Firing up the Corsair - YouTube[/ame]
 
Just a few more things to add. As far as the movie Memphis Belle goes, I went to see it on opening night here in Asheville,NC. The movie was late starting, by almost 30 minutes....and the lights came up and a few people are walking towards the front of the theater. One of them was Col. Robert Morgan! He talked for about 15 minutes, about the plane, the crew, the war, and how the plane was named. He then thanked everyone for coming to the movie, and told us to keep in mind that everything portrayed in the movie actually happened to him and his crew. He said also keep in mind, that unlike the movie....it all didn't happen on one mission! He said "If it had all happened in one mission, I would have died of a heart attack when I was 21 years old!"

The other thing I just remembered while reading the comments on this thread is about a B-24. Ten or twelve years ago, The Confederate Air Force had a few planes here at Asheville Airport. I paid my money and went to look at the planes. I was inside the B-24 and was trying my damndest to get up into the top turret, just to get an idea of the view my Dad had during the war. I couldn't twist and wiggle into any position to where I could get far enough up in it to see. These 2 old guys in their late 70's were watching me, and laughing at me cussing trying to make it up there. One of them finally said "Son, what the hell are you doing?" I told him I was trying to get up there because my Dad was the top turret gunner on B-24's named "Sandy"and "Iron ***" They turned and looked at each other and kind of chuckled. I looked at them and said "WHAT?" in a rather perturbed tone. One of the old men asked me "Son, how big of a man was your Daddy? I answered that he was about 5' 6" tall and maybe 135 lbs. They both just looked at me, and one just gestured towards me and raised his eyebrows. Then it hit me why I couldn't get up there. I'm 6' tall 220 lbs! The old man just said. "Son, the little fellars got all the **** jobs like that!" I stood and talked to them for an hour or so, and listened to their stories. Great old dudes that I lucked into meeting.:prayer:
 
When I was on active duty with the US Air Force, I was TDY at Ellington Field down in Texas and the Confederate Air Force had thier B17 out with an Engine problem when I got my WC-130 off the ground I walked over and helped change the Engine, then sat in the copilots seat on the engine run. I was supposed to go on the test flight but my acft came back early so I had to recover it and did not get the chance to go up in the B-17 the one big reget I have is not going up. Maybe one day I'll make a flight.
 
This is the placard that was with the B-24. It says it's the sole flying Liberator. That's the info I was going on. Sorry if it's wrong or I am.
 

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sr71mopar said:
Our grandfathers probably knew each other. Mine was an embassy gaurd in Peking. Look at the North China Marines website. You might find him listed there and see where/what he went through.
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PM'd
 
I collect old aviation stuff from Alaska. This photo was taken somewhere in the Aleutian Islands during the 1940s. I have not been able to find any info on the wreck yet.
 

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Hey, Rev, thanks for the pic of Fuddy Duddy.

That plane used to be here at the National Warplane Museum in Big Flats. They ran out of money and had to sell her off. I spent a lot of time in the yard watching it fly over the house when she was doing tours. I miss the sound.
 
I've rarely had the pleasure to see many of these birds in person, but anytime we head to the States, we always go to check them out. It is a humbling experience for sure. My room used too be full of 1/72 versions of all these glorious machines, and I often fell asleep reading about them.. A good fictional read is Bomber, by Len Deighton. It's a Lanc, but gives an excellent sense of realism, and of course Martin Caidin's "Flying Forts". A must read.

Grant
 
Planes of Fame in Chino has a B-17 "Pacadilly lilly". It has been waiting restoration forever. Don't know if they still do or not but they used to let you clime around inside it for a few bucks.

They got one down in Palm Springs too you can go inside of. I am only 5"5 110lb but still could not talk them in to letting me go in to the ball turret though. But most of it you can clime all over.

http://s580.photobucket.com/albums/ss241/burntorange70/#!cpZZ15QQtppZZ20
 
Something I found incredibly interesting was a demo of the B-29 remote gunsights, which were a crude form of analog computer that could crank in speed, wind, and lead on the target

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nskFayhBcy0"]B-29 gun turret sighting system at Boeing Seattle Part 1 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h4yBxydz0E&feature=channel&list=UL"]B-29 gun turret sighting system Boeing Seattle part II - YouTube[/ame]
 
ramenth said:
Hey, Rev, thanks for the pic of Fuddy Duddy.

That plane used to be here at the National Warplane Museum in Big Flats. They ran out of money and had to sell her off. I spent a lot of time in the yard watching it fly over the house when she was doing tours. I miss the sound.
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I gotta think she's still an operational airframe. They had drip pans under every engine. (And they weren't dry).

Just checked the registery, it says she is still airworthy.....
 
67Dart273 said:
Something I found incredibly interesting was a demo of the B-29 remote gunsights, which were a crude form of analog computer that could crank in speed, wind, and lead on the target

B-29 gun turret sighting system at Boeing Seattle Part 1 - YouTube

B-29 gun turret sighting system Boeing Seattle part II - YouTube
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That is wicked cool. To think, that was 70 years ago and now we could do that computing with the PC your staring at.

Check this link out.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b29registry/b29registry.html
 
Burntorange70 said:
Planes of Fame in Chino has a B-17 "Pacadilly lilly". It has been waiting restoration forever. Don't know if they still do or not but they used to let you clime around inside it for a few bucks.
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Our Inland Mopars Car Club monthly activity for July is going to be the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino. Of course we're going to "Flo's" for breakfast first - you can't go to Chino Airport without stopping at "Flo's"!
Let me know if any of y'all want to join in with us on July 14th for our "Flo's"/Planes of Fame Museum club activity.

In case you didn't know, Chino Airport now has two air museums:
* Planes of Fame (www.planesoffame.org)
* Yanks Air Museum (www.yanksair.com)
 
Revhendo said:
That is wicked cool. To think, that was 70 years ago and now we could do that computing with the PC your staring at.

Check this link out.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b29registry/b29registry.html
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Gosh I didnt know they that kind of tech back then

My father and I built a house for a fellow that was on the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. He had a guest stop by which was approximately same age as he. Turns out he was the/a pilot. It was kind of erie being around those two. I do remember calling the "gay" in which it was Enola Gay I bet. Poor fellow more than likely has passed by now.
 
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