My wife surprised me this past weekend by taking me to Davenport Airport to see the B-17 Bomber- "Aluminum Overcast." Little did I know that she had arranged for me to take the ride of a lifetime. Like every red blooded male, I have dreamt of riding in an old warbird most of my life. It was the most memorable experience ever and words cannot describe the feeling of flying in that ol' bird....here's a few pics....ENJOY!
Here's a few pics from the flight: Safely back on the ground: My son Nathan digging the Browning .50 Caliber:
Thanks for posting the photos. I went up in the Aluminum Overcast about 5 years ago, it is a ride of a lifetime. Well worth saving up for a flight, to honor all the guys that flew in them and didn't make it home. God bless all the vets.
I agree. Well worth every penny spent for the ride. We are fortunate to have our freedom thanks to the the men that flew in those birds. There were a few WWII vets on hand, two of whom were B-17 ground crew men. The stories they told were priceless! Thanks for checking out the pics.
I had a similar ride in the B-17 "Liberty Belle" here in Phoenix last fall. Totally bitchin'! Unfortunately, "Liberty Belle" was destroyed by a fire back in June.
I also had a ride in one. My father was a pilot of a b-17 flew 35 missions, the name of the plane was the queen of hearts 303rd BG.
Thanks, guys! Last year I was able to do a walk through tour of Sentimental Journey with my son (he was 6 at the time) and he and I were both thrilled just to walk through a B-17. I was floored when my wife said she paid for me to take a flight. My son was crushed that he couldn't go up but they let him walk through after we landed. As you can see in the pics, he was okay with that!
Ya, that's the one. She landed safely in the field with an engine fire. The fire was still limited to #2 engine when the fire trucks arrived, but they determind that the ground was too soft and their trucks might get stuck, so they just let her burn. The "soft" ground had no trouble supporting the B-17, I reckon it would likely have supported the the fire trucks as well. Very sad. The important thing is everyone got out ok. People are far more important than machines, even priceless, irreplacable machines.
This is what we ride in every day during the fire season in the western US and Canada. All are about 50-70 years of age and still in the air. Normbc9
I got a ride in 909 a couple of years ago and as expressed it was a thrill. My dad piloted one for 25 missions out of England over Germany to bomb their fuel factories. Came home and signed up for B-29 training and flew out of Guam bombing Japan for the duration of WWII. Frank
In my younger years, down in Arizona at Miranna. The 17 was and still is owned by Evergreen Aviation. After we got thru with it in the early 80's Del took it back to McMinnville and restored it. It's in his collection of planes along with the Spruce Goose. One of the best there is now. It's also the same 17 that was in the movie Goldfinger, the one that had the pick up wires on the front and picked up the guy from the poles. My chief pilot of the tankers passed on a few years ago, another true HellRaiser. The P2v is what we used after the 17. The photo is of our yearly practice drop down at Miranna. . Had a chance to pilot the Collings Foundation B-24 back in the good ole days. But that's another story, for another day. HellRaiser .
More than one of the tanker 17's got destroyed in the early years. If a person had a engine failure on one of the engines, and was loaded, it was required to dump the load before landing. More than one got it's back broke from trying to land with a full load. Biggest thing I remember about them was the throttle quadrant. Ya had to learn to "tickle" the throttles to bring them in all together. The really weren't all that hard to fly. Or at least I didn't think so. Maybe it's because I never had an accident or incident in it. HellRaiser
I'd live to see that Mars do its thing. Magnificent! On my way home from the airport after spending a few days at Udvar-Hazy in DC, i look up to see the B-29 FIFI on approach at 500 ft above my head. Even my dogs go apeshit when thy hear round engines! My well trained early warning system.
Too bad the Ford flathead engines weren't made in the round. There's just nothing like the sound of a round engine. There will be a lot of conjecture of which one sounds the best. But having owned and flown the ole "BambooBomber" with the so called "Shakey Jakes", there is nothing that sounds a good as a Jake idling. Inside, they are pretty quiet. Same for the 17. It was pretty quiet. The Pratt 985's are so so, same for the 1340's. But then getting on up to the double row or even 4 row turbo compounds. Well they've got a sound of their own too. A really cute sounding engine is the, (if I can spell it right) the Slezki 3 cylinder. Three little short stacks a barking away. HellRaiser
Car show this weekend at Dover AFB Museum, one of the coolest local shows all y ear. www.amcmuseum.org Will post pics if i go.
My grandfather was a gunner on the Texas Raiders B-17 back in the war, and just hearing his stories gave me goose bumps! He was the one who got me into the love of great old cars. That's why I am building the 28 roadster in memory of him and his salt flat racer!
Thanks for sharing all of your B-17 related stories, guys! I remember the 17 in the James Bond film Thunderball! The 17 I flew in was originally used for firefighting/rescue work after the war. Pretty cool article on the plane at www.b-17.org 28 Jalopy- cant wait to see your 28 roadster tribute. Very cool. Jack, I'd love to see pics of the car show at Dover AFB.
Here is a registry of all the survivor B-17's and their history. http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b17registry/b17registry.html
We had this B 25 Maid in the Shade here at Mcallister Museum of Avaiation http://mcallistermuseum.org/ Last week. It is usually in the company of the B-17 Sentimental Journey which is down for engine replacement right now.
Thunder rocket- thats a great link, I've been on there before...really shocking to see how few flying examples of the B-17 remain, or of any warbird for that matter. Deuces- great pics, the plane on the left is the one I flew in! Mr48Chev- I love the B-25's as well. Would love a ride in one someday. My ultimate ride would be in a P-51 or P-47.
"FIFI" is in the Kansas City area this weekend for the Commemorative Air Force squadron open house at the old Olathe Naval Air Station. There was a photo montage on Friday atwww.kansascity.com (website for Kansas City Star) on it from when it arrived yesterday. According to the article they're giving rides in it, too. I'm going to KC for an all-T-bird show at Thoroughbred Ford off of NW Barry Rd/I-29 tomorrow but can't convince my wife to go down I-35 to Olathe (lived there 8 years before I moved back to Omaha) and let me go up for the ride of a lifetime. That's OK, though - I got to have a private tour of it in '88 when it was in Lincoln to have an engine rebuilt.
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