Do you want to go for a ride in a B-17?

I was on vacation in Lake Havasu, AZ a couple of years ago and they were displaying and selling rides on a B17 at their local airport. One shiny big bird I'll tell you. Here at home there is a warbird museum about 40 miles from my house. They have one of two remaining Lancaster bombers that are still flying. It passes over my house regularly. I love hearing those four Merlins humming across the sky.

 

very nice

 

Aesthetically I've always like the F more, but they are beautiful planes regardless of the model. Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

This is a very cool post! Back in 2003 I think I was driving north one afternoon near Pleasanton, CA and noticed a plane flying south. The outline was unique and as it got closer I realized it was a B-17. I had to pull over and check it out as it flew by. Just seeing one of these magnificent old airplanes still flying is quite a treat. I'd love to go for a ride in one!

 

One of the coolest things I have ever done. It was a lot of money, but it was worth every penny, in my opinion. They won't be taking passengers in these forever, I am sure. Sure glad I got to experience it...Thanks Dad!

 

You Elmer kids sure know how to have fun... congrats on the ride, and thanks for the vivid post!

 

Mmmmmm... the sounds of Studebaker engines... ...

& agreed. If you can afford it, it's a *need*. Unfortunately, I can't afford it - now.

Guess it sucks to be me, for now...

Glad you could do it, & got & then shared the film. Many thanks.

My favorite bomber of the era - built almost every model available, some more than once, when I was younger. If I could ever do this, I'd like to try to get into each position & experience each one, (& get video of it. Of me & what can be seen from the position), even if only for a few seconds. I'm pretty sure that I can't get into the tail-gunner or the ball-turret position, as I'm too large - both tall *&* wide... . Sure would be fun to spin that ball around. Something tells me that'll never happen, time restraints, $$$ restraints, & of course, liability restraints.

Dreams... .

Marcus...

 

The flights do cost a bit, so do the restoration/maintenance costs, start a B-17 Flight savings jar right now and next year you should have the price of a ticket. No other flight is like it.

 

That is awesome, thanks for sharing.

 

After seeing the mechanicals of the B-17, now we know why our fathers and grandfathers are The Great Generation. It took gonads to step inside one of these planes and know that someone wants to shoot you down.

 

Man, that is a dream come true. God bless our VETS.

 

Awesome and what an experience! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

Yah A few years back I was in Tucson, and was at the Air and Space museaum. They had a B-17 there that was taking passengers for 400$ the day I left. I rember as the plane I was on headed back to CT(I had the window seat) I could see the ol girl's perpellers whirl, Wish I was in that plane instead of the big jet liner! The museaum at Tucson is a cool place to hit too!

 

Congrats on your flight! I went up in the B-17 "Aluminum Overcast" back in July at the Davenport Airport in Iowa. There is nothing cooler in the world. I have wanted to go up in a B-17 since I was a kid. My wife set the whole thing up without my knowing about it. I was led to believe we were going to see one and do a walk through which I had done many times, but never pass up a chance to do again.

When we arrived, my wife lead me to the flight office and said I needed to stop in and get my boarding pass to take my flight! Man was I floored! During pre-flight, the crewmen asked for a volunteer, before he finished his sentance, I had my hand up. They picked me out and told me I would be riding in the cockpit behind the co-pilot! I'll never forget that day!

 

Thats freakin Awesome, what a opportunity. I'm jealous too!!

 

man thats dream material for sure.....

 

Man I have wanted to do that for ages. My G-pa was a pilot in WWII and has time in all the big bombers, including the b-29. AWESOME!!!!!

 

Looks AMazing So Fun. . !!!

 

Nothing like the roar of big radials in the sky overhead! When the air show is here in Houston at old AFB Ellington Field just south of here the planes run right up the east belt 2 blocks from my house and form up or circle until their cues to run down to the field and perform. We can sit in the back yard and watch them almost overhead.

I have a letter home fom a WWII bomber crewmember who tells a sweet story. He was on a 3day pass to London and stepped in a pub and found 2, not just 1 but 2, friends of his from little Fayetteville TX sitting there having a pint. They were both back in England after spending some months on the line in France and Germany. He tells my wife's grandmother how great it was to see some hometown boys and that he had never known what the real effects of what he was doing were until that moment. They told him that every time the big bombers flew over they were encouraged and KNEW that the war would be won and soon.
This letter was the last she ever received as he was lost before he could write another. Every time I read it I cry. That we here in the USA have have so lucky and priveleged to have such men as these serving us is overwhelming.

 

Great post! Thanks for sharing the experience.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Very Cool! I'm going for a B17 flight on Friday in ABQ.

 

Thats cool that you were able to afford the ride and for sharing .They were in Idaho
also and were a little disappointed about the response for rides. FYI these guys are
part of the" Confederate Airforce" even though they no longer promote the name .
They are based in Arizona .

 

Let me tell you……. Going for a ride in that B-17 was the coolest thing I have ever done in my life. We have been taking about doing this for a long time and when I got that call on what was just a regular boring day at work was one of the happiest of my life! Dad says, do you want to go for a ride in that B-17 that’s up at the Ogden Air port? HELL YA I DO! He tells me that he purchased 3 tickets for the 8 am flight in the belly and 1 for the 9 am flight in the nose, and you and your brothers will flip a coin for that seat. I think all of us didn’t care were we got to ride just as long as we were in that plane. I don’t think I sleep that night. Got up at like 5:30 and jumped in the 34 and headed to the airport. I was the first one there just looking at the plane sitting as the sun was coming up and just thinking what my grandfathers must have felt every morning before each mission just gave me the chills. Not long after that Dad, Kris, and Mike showed up and we talked about who was going to get that nose seat. All of us wanted Dad to take that spot but he refused to and insisted that one of us needed to do it. So my brothers and I flipped for it. 1<SUP>st</SUP> flip….. All 3 of us had heads! 2<SUP>nd</SUP> …. Flip all 3 of us had tails! 3<SUP>rd</SUP> flip Kris, heads, Mike, heads, me tails! I got to ride in the seat that my grandfather road in so long ago. Climbing in the take off all the stuff that everyone has been talking about was a dream! Loved every second of it.
<O</O
Thanks Dad…. I think that flight meant more to us then you’ll ever know!

 

Awesome!!!!

 

wow!!!!

 

Your father and all WWII vets are my all time Heros!!! We owe our very existence to them!, Bill

 

Friggin sweet!

 

Thank you for a great post! I had the opportunity to tour a B17 a few years ago and I couldn't get over how small it was. We weren't allowed to sit in the pilots' seats, but we could stand right behind them, and the entire time I was there I was thinking "how could anybody get out of this thing if it was going down?" The guys who manned the ball turret and the tail gun positions couldn't have been more than 5'5" or so in order to fit. I couldn't imagine being in a B17 in combat - those were truly brave men. On a similar note, I live about a mile from our county's airport, and a local guy hangars his P51 there. He flies it a few times a year, and I can usually hear it when he cranks it up. I always head for the airfield if I think he's going to take it up, because its such a treat to see a piece of aviation history in flight. What a beautiful piece of machinery. I met the owner briefly at the airport's annual open house and asked him how much it cost per hour to fly it - he said on average it was @ $3000 per hour. He said it would burn about two gallons of fuel per minute at idle, and somewhere around 5 - 8 gallons per minute in flight depending on how much "go fast" he was looking for. What a hot rod!

 

Chop the top, drop spindles in front and a set of white walls and fly the wings off it.