Kinda O/T, but I know how most of us truly appreciate WWII aircraft. Heard the unmistakeable sound this monster (The Aluminum Overcast)fly over the house last Sunday morning. Nads and I ran over to local airport to scope it out. This example never actually saw any combat missions, hence it's current flying status. The crew has done a marvelous job on the restoration and the up-keep. Powered by 4- Studebaker 9 cylinder radial engines. Someone more knowledgable than me, said it had to do a belly flop landing a few years ago because of a landing gear malfunction. OUCH!! Enjoy the pictures and the slide show. J.T. http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e...ercast B-17/?action=view¤t=8b7014e0.pbr http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e275/jakespeed63/Aluminum Overcast B-17/
just a quick note I caught just the end of a news broadcast on the 12 oclock news the commanding officer of the Enola Gay died today
the old warbirds come to the local airport here and your right awsome sight, took my two boys to see 'em. for quite a few $$ you can get a ride in it, they sound like nothing else in the world. this summer there was a B-17 and a B-26 flying around .
Every year we have an airshow at the old Ellington Field (WWI & WWII air base) just south of Houston called "Wings Over Houston". It was, and is?, put on by the Confederate Air Force based in TX. They have several old bombers and many many fighters and other aircraft, do a Pearl Harbor Attack scene and various other scenarios as well as one of the military precision flying teams and static displays of many current USAF, Navy and Marine aircraft fixed and rotary wing. My house is just at the form-up point for the approaches to the field south of here so we get a great show from our back yard. Nothing like the thunder of multi-engine radials and V12s to make a Saturday morning right!
Thank you for the post, I flew in The Aluminum Overcast a few years ago when it was on tour at the Danbury, Ct. Airport. Sure, it was spendy, but Dad spent all of WWII maintaining B-17's at Great Ashfield in England, so I went up thinking about him, but thought a lot more about the guys that didn't get to come home. They were the Greatest Generation.
It was just here in Charlotte, NC a month ago. I did not have the scratch to take a flight in it but seeing that thing touch down on the landing strip was on of the coolest thing I have ever witnessed. Then to actually see the ingenuity that it takes to create something like this really got my mind going. Just looking at how they run lines and mount everything is really cool. I was in AW of the craftmanship that it took to rivet the thing together. Absolutey an amazing piece of history.
Used to have the "Fuddy Duddy" in Geneseo NY till the dumb bastards that ran the museum moved the museum to a different County then lost it because they couldn't pay bills at the new location. I was like 10 when it flew in for the first time. I was there. It was so cool to see it break the Horizon of the village and drop down intothe airport. Used to see it flying all the time. Flew very slow. Almost like it shoudln't even stay up. Neat to watch fly and do bomb drop runs. They had an airshow every year and dropped pumpkins. Cool to see. Down on Long Island now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-17_Survivors
Man air to air there is nothing much as sexy as the B-17 in flight, from the front they are all sorts of right. On the ground though, kinda ungainly but I guess thats not its natural habitat! Luck people, I hope you appreciate the wealth of old heavy metal still flying over there. I'm green with envy! The G model is my favorite (Aluminium Overcast) love the chin turret! They were powered by four Wright R-1820-97 turbo-supercharged radials of 1200 hp each, sweet music!! Did you know that by eliminating external paint they saved around two tons of weight!! Doc.
That machine was so incredible, I was lost for words, two of its engines were made by Studebaker, each one was turbocharged and supercharged and held 37 gallons of oil in each tank. The gangway between the bombs to the rear of the vuselage was narrow. We meet an old timer who was the ball turret gunner, he was so cool, just talking to him made my day. He walked out of the film Memphis Belle, he said it was 'too Hollywood.' My kids loved it too. To think all of the thousands of components on that plane could be R & Dd in such a short span of time and be made into a machine that flies and be produced by the thousands speaks volumes about the spirit of America at the time. I don't think it could ever be done again.
when the nine o nine b-17 was in seattle in june 2007 took the wife for a 1/2 hour flite at $375.00 each person it was killer good time moses
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