Slightlly O/T Bomber gas Station w/pics

I used to live right down the street from her in Milwaukie, 1964 the gas station and repair stall was right under neath in those days they had a stairwell you could go up there, my brother ,myself and cousin spent many a day playing in there I was 10 years old. I often go by there my mother still lives there, the area has changed so much

 

Kind of off the subject but I made a couple difficult 4 wheeler trips to a crashed B-29 back in the 90s. Near Wasilla Alaska.

 

Any pics Willowbilly? Let's hear the full story!

 

Willowbilly, that plane wasn't near or in a lake was it? If so thats the KEE Bird. It set down on a lake In the late forties and was abandoned. Everything in it was origial. Sad thing was, some dudes tried not to simply restore it, but to make it airworthy and FLY it out. One guy died while fixing it up. Then they tried to take off. They didn't read the flight manual about rough field take offs and the APU "putt-putt" engine. It tipped over and caught fire. The B-29 BURNT to the ground. Ungh! The burned out hulk is still up in Alaska. What a shame.

 

Cool Post....we have a picture of this up at the hangar from back in its early days....didn't know it was still around, but was real glad to see that it wasn't turned into aluminum cans!!!
Thanks for the "off topic" post
Skot

 

Wasn't the Kee Bird in Greenland? What a heartbreaking tale...

 

And it a great place to stop and eat also. Been there and do that every so often.

 

A friend of mine (lives off 92 and Johnson Creek) wants to sell his if you're really interested. He picked it up a short while back, converted it to 68 Fairlane disc brakes, stuck an 8" under it, found another tailgate, and 2 extra fenders to cut up for radiusing the rears. He has found a 67 (his fourth) and now the 63 is surplus and he'll sell it for what he's got tied up in it.

As far as the Bomber goes, I've lived about a quarter mile from it for 30 years or so and promised Cyclone Kevin I'd shoot detailed pictures of it for him back around Xmas. I know 50, 60, and 70 hour workweeks are no excuse, so it's time to get the lead out and make it happen.

 

Some of the Greenland planes are covered in the book I mentioned above. Six Lockheed P-38s, and two B-17Es set down on the ice in 1942 after fuel ran low after passing the point of no return on a ferry trip during Operation BOLERO.


Mutt

 

One of the Lightnings was extracted from the ice about 6-8 years ago. The story has been published and should also be on the web.
Greenland gets (or used to get lots of snowfall and the planes are at least 50 feet down.) Foen winds are particular to Greenland and can blow at 150 mph and appear with very little warning.
Operation Bolero was the name of the first effort to fly (ferry) fighter planes to England. Given their relatively short range at the time methods had to be developed from scratch. German submarines were decimating Allied shipping at the time and Britain was badly in need of planes and pilots.
Bolero utilized refueling stops in Labrador (thank you Canada) Greenland, and Iceland.

B-17s have a wonderful engine drone. Very distinctive and almost musical.

 

50 ft? More like 400 ft. and a few miles away from their original position due to the ice moving. The B-17 was crushed.

www.thelostsquadron.com

 

I've got some info and pics in an old post. Search for p-38 or Glacier Girl. This
is the Kee Bird. For more cool stuff cheak out www.b29keebird.net or the book "Hunting Warbirds." The second and third photo is of the B-29 being torched. Stupid bastards! This thing really was in exelent condition.

 

Check the HAMB archives...or do a HAMB search...the story was entitled "One small ’49 Mercury and one huge B-17"
and it was written by me...it was one of the Friday Nite Read storys.

R-

 

Not trying to ressurect the dead here, but i just came across this post and had a small tidbit of info to offer.

Theres a Cruise-in at the bomber sometime tommorow (may 21st), and the thunder ranch is a "Rock 'n Roll Saloon".

 

You going? Just curious on who to look for. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110261

 

I love this Station/Plane and have since I was a Kid. The museum they have there is nice, but i would like to see the nose back on that baby!!

 

cool! I want to go there.. never been to the pacific north west.. hmm road trip

 

Here is one of the Post Cards they sell at the Bomber restaurant

 

This post is over 5 years old...talk about "resurrecting the dead"...

R-

 

yes sir this is a old post, but im glad it came up again. there is a old country store a few miles where i live in alabama. that has a small prop plane over the gas pumps. been there for many, many yrs. its closed down now but im going to go and take pics of it TODAY.before so called progress hits it.i just took it as a every day thing. not thinking it could and probably would disappear. pic time.

 

I will be driving thru in the next few weeks. Thanks for posting...I will take the family thru for gas with out saying anything and see what the kids say

 

your point is?

this place is all about " resurrecting the dead"

Im glad its still there, and someone cares about it
way too much is tore down in the interests of future and forgetting the past..maybe thats why we are continually doomed to repeat the past.

I hope to get to see this before I die, so im glad someone cares to keep it and restore it, no matter how old it is

 

Art Lacey flew that plane from the boneyard to Portland by himself, no co-pilot. He actually crashed the first one on takeoff, and they arranged to leave it at the boneyard and gave him a second plane.
The nose is in the Bomber Museum beside the Bomber, and the restaurant has lots of neat old pictures and memmorabelia from the old days. We eat there often, and it's still got that old time flair to it. Really nice waitresses, who are friendly and fun.
The plan is to get enough donations to make the plane flyable, although I'm not sure it will ever make it. It's a great part of local history, and I remember driving out of my way to get gas there when I was young, just to see the plane.

 

I remember as a kid getting gas there with my parents in their 68 Ford Torino. I was alway excited to drive past that thing, the high light of going to the big city to see relatives.

 

LOL...you're correct...but this was O/T at the time and is so today...!!! Resurrecting the dead is about cars -not airplanes...

Repeating the past depends on a lot of things, not resurrecting O/T posts.

Did you see my post about playing in the airplane when I was very young...way back in about 1954 or so...??? It's been there many, many years... I believe the problem is that there are very few old guys that remember planes like that...and those people are probably the ones that donate...those old guys are dieing off and no one today understands the sacrifice they made, hence donations come slowly and so does the restoration, someone has to pay for it.

Unless plans have changed in the last few years (I personally interviewed Art Lacey's daughter about her plans for the plane a few years ago when I was writing my book) and at that time there were no plans in place to make that B-17 flyable. It's an attraction, designed to get customers into the restaurant.

R-

 

Outlaw, Post the pic, I for one would love to see it!!!!



It about the gas stations that happen to have a Plane.