Flying in a B17

E

ErikD

Joined
Dec 5, 2000
Messages
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As a child we got the unique opportunity to walk through a B17 while on the ground. I always knew there was an option to pony up for the chance to fly in the vintage aircraft, and as it happens this was the year things came together. I am now an adult, and decided this was a perfect time to treat my father (who is an antique aviation enthusiast). So back a few months I bought us tickets for the first flight of the day. We had an amazing experience which words can't describe, so some videos.



[video=youtube;PPrWcT6f17o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPrWcT6f17o[/video]

[video=youtube;qi0RBBqF5Zw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi0RBBqF5Zw[/video]

[video=youtube;pw5HXMIHv48]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw5HXMIHv48[/video]
 
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[video=youtube;D7MPwcGTuaE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7MPwcGTuaE[/video]

[video=youtube;Neyf1XaqjQg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Neyf1XaqjQg[/video]

[video=youtube;onhSYUgLq2w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onhSYUgLq2w[/video]
 
[video=youtube;tr5SnNRQzHE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr5SnNRQzHE[/video]

[video=youtube;KpuENXlDo9g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpuENXlDo9g[/video]
 
:thumbup: I'm a little jealous. I'll admit it. :D

Do you know which B-17 it was? With the red wing tips it looks like the Yankee Lady that flies out of Willow Run in Michigan. It wasn't far from my house there so I'd see it all the time.
 
Rupestris said:
:thumbup: I'm a little jealous. I'll admit it. :D

Do you know which B-17 it was? With the red wing tips it looks like the Yankee Lady that flies out of Willow Run in Michigan. It wasn't far from my house there so I'd see it all the time.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was Yankee Lady, but we flew out of NY. Due to the holiday weekend they also had an air show, and since we were on the tarmac also got to see a bunch of jet teams (US Blue Angles, Canada Snow Birds, France Breitling) take off from a couple hundred feet away. So close we felt the jet wash. Then a lunch of Wagyu steak and King Crab legs at Uncle Jack's steakhouse. Definitely a most amazing day.

Unfortunately the night before while out for a walk I saw a P-47 Thunderbolt (flying out of the same museum we flew out of) crash into the Hudson killing the pilot.
 
:cool:

The Yankee Lady came close to being lost in a fire in 2004. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Air_Museum

She's a resilient old bird :thumbup:. Congrats again on being able to experience a little history with your father.

Here is a couple pics I took at a show in Michigan a couple years ago:

821-2.jpg


821-3.jpg


821-6.jpg
 
I love telling this story especially to WWII pilots. I was at BIA in Ct changing engines on a Gulf Stream jet with a small crane. There were a couple of hours of down time between the picks. The Memphis Belle was parked on the tarmac and a B25 Bomber was in the hanger. A veteran pilot was working on one of the engines so I struck up a conversation with him. He wasn't happy. The FAA grounded the plane because they said it leaked too much oil. He tried to explain to them they all leaked oil but they wouldn't buy it.

He said I could go inside so I climbed the ladder into the bomb bay, walked along the narrow plank to the ladder up through the man way into the cockpit and took a seat. I was amazed at the condition of the plane as there were gauges missing, wires hanging from under the panel, springs popping out of the original leather seats, cracked windows and bullet holes in the fuselage.

I climbed down and asked him how he flew this thing? He pointed to the Gulf Stream jet and said "that blow torch?"! "that ain't flyin, this is flyin".
 
I was in D.C. Earlier this year and got to visit the Air and Space Museum. It is amazing. Seeing their restoration area was like looking at my dream job.

In it was Flak Bait. A B26 Marauder that holds the record for completed mission over Europe at 207 including several decoy missions. Those are marked on the side with a silhouette of a duck instead a of a bomb.

4deb9ab20fff22e4ca166f1889788d03_zpsizvsaq0m.jpg


http://www.airspacemag.com/airspacemag/hundreds-holes-iflak-baiti-180954662/

http://www.historynet.com/b-26b-marauder-american-bomber-in-world-war-ii.htm

The story is just short of unbelievable. Over 1000 holes in it. Landed with no instrument panel by the pilot that was wounded by the same 20mm round that took out the instrument panel.

Just like the War Department, I always liked the B-17 and B-25 more than the homely B-26 but I now have a ton of respect for it.
 
Wow dude, that video you sent me didn't really capture the vastness of the experience. I'm not claustrophobic but I don't think I could fly in that. Amazing still.
 
I took a four-engine prop bomber over to Korea in 1957, via LAX, Hawaii, Wake, Tokyo, then a ship. Flight was 31 hrs and real sucker. Could hardly walk to disembark in Tokyo.
 
My father was part of the crew of a B-17 during WWII and even survived a crash. He would not talk about his war experience except to say the B-17 was the plane that would get you home, even when shot all to doll rags.
 
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