first time i saw a P-51 fly over my head went numb and damned if i didn't tear up... then it happened the second time i saw one. there will be a P-51 fly-in at rickenbacker air force base in columbus in september of this year and they expect over 100 P-51s. holy crap. WWII's big with me... here i am with the "Sentimental Journey." first time i saw her, i was in the 2nd grade, seen her every time she's been through town. REALLY going to try to go up with her if she comes through this summer. gotta support these babies.
If you look at the scoop on the belly of the p-51, notice how much of a resemblance it has and the drag racing scoops of the 80's and 90's. By the way, go to a tractor pull to hear some of those old Merlin motors. The sound of two, three, or even four of them bastards screaming down a 300ft strip is pretty wild. By the way, the photo of the p-51 flying over a frozen lake is wild. That thing must be less then 15 feet off the ground. That's fucking low in a plane worth a few million.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
I've got a few PMs about the show at Willow run. Here's the link http://www.yankeeairmuseum.org/airshow/aircraft.htm And the list of Mitchells scheduled. Memphis Bell and Yankee Lady will rep the B-17s. List of P51 and P47s as well. North American Aviation B-25D Mitchell "Yankee Warrior" Yankee Air Museum North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Killer B" Flying Tigers Warbird North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Briefing Time" Mid Atlantic Air Museum North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Betty's Dream" C&P Aviation Services North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Lady Luck" C&P Aviation Services North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Pacific Prowler" Jim Terry North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Miss Mitchell" CAF/Minnesota Wing North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell "Miss Hap" American Airpower Museum North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Martha Jean" David Wheaton/Blue Yonder Inc. North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell Tom Duffy North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Axis Nightmare" Tri-State Warbird Museum North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Show Me" CAF/Missouri Wing North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Yellow Rose" CAF/Yellow Rose Wing North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Tondelayo" Collings Foundation North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Panchito" Rag Wings and Radials Aircraft Leasing LLC North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Wild Cargo" Fighter Factory North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Special Delivery/Doolittle Raider" Lone Star Flight Museum
I know what you mean , I had a B17 fly over our house last summer on its way to an air show and I just stood there staring at the sky like a 5 year old. It had the best sound, I could only imagine what it was like to have hundreds of them flying over europe.
I love WWII planes There has been a Mustang flying over Lee's Summit the past two Sundays. If I see it again I'm going to go to the airport and see if it's there. I'll get some picture if thats the case. Anyone else see or know of it? Mick
Great shot's Ryan..I'm envious. I like WWII aircraft a lot more than old cars. Jack Roush rebuilds Rolls Royce Merlin engines and has 2 P-51's. Every time he flies over my house I run outside like a little kid runnin' for x-mas presents. He's usually really moving, big suprise! Gotta love sound of that Merlin under high power. A side note for the air show at Willow Run (Detroit). In addition to the B-25's, there is scheduled to be 5 P-47's and several P-51's, one of which is supposed to be flown in an aerobatic display. I've seen this pilot and his display is incredible. He flies that plane like he stole it. Worth admission by itself.
You just can't get enough of this,hot rods & warbirds,timeless images.Thank you Ryan,we share the enthusiasm.
Even though I'm a little jaded, the sounds of unmuffled engines and props will always turn my head. My business is next door to www.fantasyofflight.com and I post links on here ad nauseum. Hardly a day goes by that there's not some piece of aviation history tearing it up overhead. No traffic cops per se to infringe on what these babies were built to do. Timely editorial as Fantasy just held a car/plane show last Sat. Mustangs & Mustangs gets larger every year. Kermit has a "B" and "D" model flying and building an Allison powered "A" model. 3 or more other P-51's put on a good show and photo-ops. I was just talking with Jakespeed63 about putting together a little Hamb style cruise to Fantasy of Flight soon. I envision Nads Packard-powered coupe sitting next to a Packard-powered prop job(and both leaving their mark on the tarmac). 10 miles down the road the http://www.sun-n-fun.org/content/ airshow starts tomorrow in Lakeland and runs through the weekend. I'll make a day or two of it, peruzing the swap meet for vintage goodies, checking the vendors for show specials on all kinds of cool tools and metalworking equipment. If you have the time there's also all kinds of tents set up for some hands on metalworking,welding,wiring demos where you can give it a go yourself or get questions answered.
A beautiful day it was! Picture yourself..... in a most wicked sounding flathead powered, Model A coupe. Quickchange whining,pipes rapping,compression popping. All to the rythym of a proprietary cam....
Ryan..it was nice to put a face to the name even though i'm still a longtime reader (lurker) and not enough yapper. I'm sure we'll cross paths again. When I went to school at Texas State (SWT) I was a volunteer for the Rose Squadron...i've been a certified B-25 slut since I was a kid and my dad took me to see the Devil Dog at a podunk show up in Gregg Co. You guys should also consider cruising down to SA to Lackland AFB and Stinson field this coming weekend. Special Delivery, Miss Mitchell, and the Pacific Prowler B-25s should already be there. I'm attaching a handful of photos from yesterday's event.
And if anyone cares to see, last year after the Roundup an unholy stroke of luck put me in the Yellow Rose for a flight over the hill country. http://www.mctullis.com/b25gallery/
Great slide show, good music too. Nothing beats the style of old warbirds. My favorite is the B-17. McTullis, your Damn good with a camera. the B/W are great too.
My dad flew his second mission as a tail gunner, on this plane,( or the original), he went on to fly 33 more. This planes call sign was the "nine-o-nine", it was in the 91st Bomb Group, Heavy, 323 bomb squadron, and flew out of Bassingbourne(?) England. That's the same unit that the Memphis Belle came out of, they got to come home after 25 missions, later in the war, the guys were told they would fly til you die. My dads next to last mission was D-Day and he came home shortly after that.He's 84 and still kickin, just slower. Howard
I spent my early years following my dad around the country to several Air Force bases. it was a career he chose after his WWII flying days. He was a 19 year old newly trained pilot when he picked up a new B-17 at the factory, flew it with his crew to England and flew 25 missions bombing Germany. After being home for less than 2 mos he volunteered for B-29 training and spent the remainder of the war stationed on Guam bombing Japan. After the war he returned home and spent 3-4 years back on the farm in Pennsylvania.before deciding he missed the flying and re-entered the AirForce. Upon re-entry he found himself back at the controls of a B-29 for a year or so before going to Texas and training in B-47's. During his time in B-47's his crew won the SAC (Stratigic Air Command)Combat Crew of the Year award while stationed at Lincoln Air Force Base in Lincoln ,Nebraska. From there it was off to B-52 school for training in the plane that carried him to his retirement. His last combat assignment was in Guam again during the Viet Nam Conflict followed by stateside assignments until he retired. Living with a true patriot gave me a unique perspective on life that I carry to this day, but one that allows me to see the slow disintegration of our values and focus as a nation. Dad died 4 years ago still proud of the country he lived in hoping the signs he saw coming would be turned around before it was too late. Frank
This is one of those posts that reaches way down inside you and takes you to another place. It just dawned on me, as i read Frank's post, that there is an undeniable common thread between Hot Rods and vintage War Planes. That common thread is the great men who created, operated and maintained them. It takes a special sort, then and now, to bring out the best in a machine, give it a soul and care for it as a true friend. It doesn't matter if it's an aluminum skinned aircraft or a low slung coupe. Thanks Ryan.
People are probably saying, "Why the hell haven't Appleseed or Django replied to this?" Well, here goes. Ever notice about two or three times a year an aviation thread pops up and brings out all the Prop-heads? It's cool to know that aviation and hotroding are very close brothers. As for the P-47, well thats a totaly different animal than a -51. Seversky Aviation developed a fighter called the P-35 from some of thier private ventures. The P-35 evolved into the P-41 and P-43, all with Alexander Kartveli's elipical shaped wing. With Pratt & Whitney's 2,000 HP R-2800 radial engine being built aroud the same time, Republic (as it was now called ) felt the P-43 could be adapted to the new engine. The size ot the new fighter was also applicable to G.E.'s turbo-supercharger. The new plane also had Kartveli's wing and was large enough to contain the turbo and all it's plumbing and controls. The new 12,000 pound fighter was the P-47. It was the only production fighter of the war to get a turbo. As a side note to all B-17 fans, About 15 miles from my house lies the second oldest B-17 in existance. Just Google B-17 Desert Rat. It is being slowly put back to fight status!
Thank you so much for the great slideshow(perfect accompaniment).Hot rods and aviation have always been linked,since flyboys of the 30's & 40's discovered both passions.
Here's a pic of my father in his B-17 During WW2. He was stationed in England. The second picture is of my father and me and my two sons at an air show at Martin's airport where a B-17 had flown in. My Dad never told me many tales of his time in the Air Corpes when I was growing up, but when my sons came along, he opened up and would tell them about his missions. I was glad that I was able to spend that day together with my Dad and my sons. My Dad passed away about 6 months after this shot was taken. He was 84.
Saw this flying over Phoenix this weekend. Son said, "Dad, look at that plane, the tail looks funny." He's 8. It's the one owned by the Collings Foundation. They were selling rides all weekend. $425 a pop.
When I was living in Rock Hill, SC there was an airshow in Charlotte and a B-17 and two Gooney Birds flew over my house in formation. The sound of those engines was incredible, I heard them coming before I saw them and I could tell something was up and I ran out of my house and looked up as they were going over at maybe 2,000 feet tops. Those eight radial engines made the hair on the back of my neck tingle and I was immediately filled with a sense of nostalgia and gratitude.
I know it´s not the same thing but once I was in a tractor pulling event and there was this thing that had 4 allison 27 litre V12:s. Hearing that sucker at WOT is something I wont forget. I love them old planes, B-29 is my favourite. Hats of to the gyus that flew these machines.
I give up all the props in the world to the P-51's. They're very loud, brash and well basically "hot-rod". I love them. But they aren't my favorite. I went to a vintage air show a few years back and saw a P-38 in action and it was jaw dropping SEXY. I know they are pretty rare and I know they aren't even in the top 5 (or even 10) in terms of being effective weapons of the air, but god damn if they aren't cool. I was amazed at the general quietness and speed of the craft (especially concidering the time frame that they were in service). These things flat out hauled ass!! My impression was that - and it may take some imagination here - if I were an enemy soldier and I was used to hearing the air strikes coming from the other crafts of the era, I would have probably been caught with my pants down by the P-38. It would likely be a case of the air stike being right on top of you and before you had a chance to react the bird would be gone. An when it was parked on the tarmac it looked every bit the part of a supermodel. Purrrdy. I would post a picture up here - but to be honest they aren't very photogenic. They look big and I don't know, just kinda plain in pictures, but in person they are a marvel.
actually, the P38s were supposed to have been very effective in the pacific. by the end of the war, they'd worked their bugs out and were highly sought after in the 5th air force at least. never seen one fly... i hope i get the chance at the P-51 fly in i mentioned... that B-24 is different than the one i had toured... guess that means there are two in flying condition, which is decidedly better than one... i like P-61s. an outfit in PA is restoring one to flying condition.
Look what I miss when I am swamped at work! Damn Ryan, that is so bitchin. I've not seen that Mustang before either. So bitchin. So one of the Suedes works for Odegard? No shit!? We will have to talk at the Pileup! This is top secret until the unveiling on May 12 but I guess here is as good a place to spill the beans as any... 2 weeks ago, I painted the nose art on the CAF B-24 formerly known as Diamond Lil... I did some sketches based on their requirements for the new art and the general staff picked one of my concepts unanimously. I was floored! So then they ask... "so do you want to paint it too?" uh... OK!! So I took along my Dad and olemuleskinner and our friend Mikey to help. I couldn't have done it without them. I took about 500 pics. Highlights include an aircraft "scrap" yard, crawling around FiFi for several hours, the B-29, which is something few ever get to do, making machine gun noises in the back of a Helldiver, seeing actual cut up nose art fuselage panels in the museum, and of course painting the plane! I am sworn to secrecy on the pics, so I can't post any pics until May 12. But it turned out great. It was down to the wire. We cleaned our brushes and left to catch the flight. It took 4 of us 3 LONG days to do the art on both sides, not counting the "field trips". Not only was it one of the coolest things ever to happen to me (I've seen this plane at airshows since my first in '78, age 7), and I got to spend 5 days with my Dad and that is something that doesn't happen nearly enough. Made a new friend as well. Gary, their crew chief is one hell of a guy. And I was suprised to find out that we are both the same age. They really want me to come down for the enveiling party/open house on May 12, and even offered to pay for the flight. But our band has a benefit gig that night, and I don't think it would be right to cancel. Oh well. My Dad might still go though. Yes, there are only 2 flying B-24s and this is one of them. Look for it at an airport or airshow near you this summer.
You're my new hero Django. Sounds like an extremely rad gig..can't wait to see the art. I haven't researched B-24s and their locations in a long time and knew about Diamond Lil and Witchcraft but what about Joe (44272)..Joe is airworthy I thought? Are there really only two left? Witchcraft used to be the aluminum-schemed Dragon and His Tail correct?
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