Cool watching a B17 fly over about every hour...costs about $400 for a ride I hear...

Ask Elliot.

He probably flew them when they were new...

Come on now Geoff.

All day and no pictures?



I've been in one. On the ground.

My Dad flew B-17s, and then B-25s... And a B-47 just before he got out.

And I think my 914 is cool & fast

And BTW Thank you to all the vets !!

I was down at Boeing Field today watching them fire it up and take off. It blows a little smoke when they start up the radials. Reminded me of a VW. Hehe, just kidding.

Nothing sounds like an air-cooled, and nothing sounds like a radial.

The two combined sound even better!

Zach

A long time ago, early in my Air Force career, a bunch of us were on a C-131 (Convair 440). A guy was looking out the window, watching the Pratt R2800 radial engine leak oil. I told him not to worry about the leak... worry when it stops leaking!

That day, in October, 1987, was probably the last time that four C-131s were ever on the same airfield. Our C-130 airlift was re-tasked, and we were left with nothing but a few old C-131s to transport the troops home... equipment was stranded until airlift could be secured.

Ahh, the C-130.

I was an F-4 Crew Chief for a few years in England and remember our TDY trips.

As far as the Hercs go, all I remember is that there was no a/c on the tarmac and no heat in the air.

Good times...

You worked on F-4's? Damn, you and old fart! I Crewed F-4s, F-105s, and EB-66s in the late sixties in southeast Asia. Thailand and Nam.

Also did 105's, 106's, and even worked on a few RAF Vulcan bombers that ended up at our base...

A few years ago I was working near March Air Force Base the day after the air show.
While I was working I heard a faint rumble then getting louder and louder and then the house started shaking. I thought WTF and ran to the door and looked up and a
B-29 was flying straight above the house at a pretty low altitude. That was so awesome. There is nothing like the low sound of 4 1200 hp supercharged radial
engines.

As a kid I got to fly in Confederate Air Force's 17. My father ran an airport outside of Cleveland and they were in town for an airshow. Way cool.
Washed a guy's SN-J for a ride and some stick time, but my favorite was flying front seat in a hopped -up Stearman. Like riding a Harley at 4000 feet!
Live on the aproach for Barnes in Westfield now and get F-15 over all the time. Maybe I can get my kid's a ride someday, now they get 914's & 911's....they like!
Neighbor growing up was a mechanic for 8th Air Force in England during WWII and he had to pull boy's out of those plane's...when they did make it back.

Everyday IS MEMORIAL DAY

Thanks Vet's

I got to fly in a B-24 last week. My Dad was shot down in one over the Med. in 1942. He spent 34 months as a guest of Adolf.

I think your finger slipped... 2200 HP each

I've been to a lot of airshows, grew up a Navy brat, and spent 22+ years in the Air Force, but nothing beats the Reno Air Races:

http://photografik.net/reno/

My father was a kid growing up in Cleveland and got to see Doolitle in his GeeBee, hope to do Reno someday.
Wright Patterson rocks. Went down as a kid with a guy who was in SAC in the 50's, flew in B-50's & 36's, the big one. It was amazing getting a tour from that guy. He's one of the guy's that used to take me to Mid-Ohio for CanAm, IMSA et..Good place for the P-Bug to get planted.

Cheers

I had the opportunity to do a walk around a B-17 some time back....I've been a fan of planes for as long as I remember. My dad helped build 17s, 29s,47s & 52s so I was thinking about him & his days.

I walked to the rear of the plane....it was parked under the horizontal stab of a 747...and really quite small by todays standards. The tail gunners position was about belt height.....humm.....tough spot to work with the 88s coming up and the 109s coming down. About 1/8 inch of aluminum & plexi-glass between the gunner & the
sharp stuff.....just enuff room to hunker over your guns. Prolly a bit cold to boot at 25000 ft. Tough job for tough guys.....Could I have done that?

It's wonderful that these aircraft are being preserved and flown in rememberance and recognition for those who have served and those who are now serving. I'm sure we are all united in our gratitude to those who wear and have worn a uniform in our countrys' service.

Paul

It's only ~10 feet longer than an F-15, and fully loaded weighs 2000 lbs less. Armament payload is roughly the same.

I'm glad that they finally ditched the Confederate Air Force moniker and adopted the Commemorative Air Force... much more appropriate.

The B-17 and B-24 that tour and give rides are from the Collings Foundation. They also have a B-25, P-51C and an F-4D Phantom that you can buy a ride in.

Ahhh the 130's.... the only airframe that I have almost been sick in.

One of thoes took in into and out of Baghdad when I did my tour and the flight in was ok but the flight out was more up and down than a roller coaster. I would feel weightless and then I could feel the webbing of the jump seat stretch as the aircraft finished its decent and started to climb agian. This went on for a half hour or more.

At one point I started hearing this really odd noise and was not sure what it was. I just thought it was an odd noise for a 130 to be making. So I lifted my head from between my legs (trying to keep from loosing it) and notice that the civilian reporter that is sitting next to me is blowing chunks into his barf bag.

At least I found out what that noise was.

It's a great airframe and highly adaptable but I'll leave rides like that one to roller coasters from here on out.

My only C-130 ride was from Taiwan to Okinawa in 1969. We were all pretty faced and the loadmaster got a bit pissed. He threw a tie-down strap down pretty hard and it mistakenly hit my foot. It took 3 of my budds to pull me off him. I wanted to kick his ass but settled for puking on his floor. MMMMM, that was a looooong time ago.

Yep - the Collings Foundation is flying their B-17, B-24. B-25 (and P-51 I think) out of Moffett Federal Airfield (formerly NAS Moffett) in Mountain View. They've been doing it for the last week; I think today was the last day for this visit. I never tire of hearing the drone of those engines and looking up at them when they fly over my house in South San Jose. Reminds me of all the sacrifices the "Great Generation" made for all of us; very fitting for the Memorial Day weekend.

I knew Bob Collings. I went to work for him 30 years ago (ugh) at his company, Data Terminal Systems, in Maynard, MA. Dr. Bob (as employees called him) started up DTS in the early 70s to build electronic cash registers. This was shortly after NCR did a study that concluded that electronic cash registers could never be cost effective vs. mechanical ones.

Anyway, Dr. Bob was a brilliant guy, and the most unbelievable people person you'd ever imagine. Every time the company doubled (I think) its revenue, he shut down for a week and took all employees to Europe. Some of the folks from the assembly lines had never been on an airplane before, and there they were- London, Paris, Rome (different years). When we had manufacturing holiday parties down at the VFW, Dr. Bob was always there- often out on the dance floor with the ladies from the line.

In those days, he collected old cars- a 100 point Dusenburg, the last Cord made, V-16 Cadillacs, etc. He had all employees to his farm for a party one year, and we got to tour his "barn". I counted 54 cars total, all backed into their own spots with a walkway down the middle. He liked to show up in one of them from time to time at work. On at least one occasion, he took an employee award-winner to lunch in one, I seem to recall it was the Dusie.

Anyway, then he switched over to collecting airplanes. The B-17 was one of the first we heard about, and legend has it that he bought the B-25 for his wife for her birthday.

So a couple of years ago, word went out that Dr. Bob was throwing another party. That it had been "way too long" since our last one (how about 20 years?), and everyone was invited up to the farm. Word mainly went out by word of mouth, but I think at least a couple of hundred of us showed up. This time, he'd build a new building next to his "barn". He calls it "the hanger". You can guess what was in there. There was room for all of us to have a sit down dinner on the mezzanine level, looking down on the hanger floor. There were a number of planes down there in various stages of restoration.

Thought I'd share that. Lots of people have heard of the Collings Foundation, but that sounds pretty institutional, and there's a genuinely great guy behind it.

Last fall I got the chance to fly in a B-17. It was pretty cool. It cost me less than 400 bucks, they cut me a deal because I'm a C-17 Loadmaster.

I got to see some of them last weekend at Andrews....cool show...

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I have a buddy that was a C-141 loadmaster. When they had the 82nd Airborne on board, they would discreetly warm up a Tuna Casserole MRE and put it in an airsick bag. Then they would pass it down the line for disposal. By the time they hit the drop zone, half the 82nd would be heaving