History More WWII planes still flying

You would probably appreciate the storied C-47 Kermit brought back from England last year.

http://blog.kermitweeks.com/?cat=71

 

I consider myself a "weak" plane enthusiast, meaning only that I claim NOT to know everything............... but I am thrilled to admit that I have never seen one of these........... I LOVE these threads!!!!!!!!!!! Love to learn something new ANYTIME!!!
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

 

Ramblur those are just awesome photos. Here is my 32 Roadster a couple years back.

32 Spitfire

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=502413&highlight=32+spitfire

 

So jelous of pics with your cool cars with the planes,just need to finish my T and will be there too and thanks Don for the thread. Will try and find some more of my Warbird pics.JW

 

B-25 at Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton Ont, Canada.

 

Got to ride a couple hundred miles through the Rockies in a Mustang this past Labor Day weekend. I can honestly say I have hung upside down in a P51. Two barrel rolls and a 4 point roll. The noise is absolutely deafening, took off the David Clark headset 5 or six times just to soak it up. Quite a bit of wind noise, but mostly music from the 12 cylinder Merlin symphony six feet in front. Not sure how I am going to top the experience.

 

I had a bomber and two fighters fly over my house yesterday. No time for pics, but it made me smile and think about my dad, who was in the Air Force.

 

You know, on thinking about it, I HATE YOU!!

Doc

 

Great comments!----Of course I'm partial to my favorites, the B-25 "Mitchell" medium bomber & the P-51 Mustang, both were being built at the North American plant during WWII in Inglewood,Ca.---Only one mile from our house.

Next summer my "Bucket List" will be realized when I get a free ride in a P-51 Mustang scheduled for June 2014.
You can see the converted cockpit to accept a second passenger in the pix.

"Keep 'em flying"-----Don

 

Doc Watson, one friend after hearing my story and seeing pictures and video said he "hopes my pecker falls off" I THINK he was kidding.
Deuce Daddy, see if you can line up a GoPro and stationary mount it. I tried to hand hold a video camera in flight but it was futile with the multiple G's. Let me know how your ride is. The sound is just awesome!

 

built a house and hanger for micky rupp, had a p-51 [old crow] went for rides many times, taxing w/canopy back sounds like riding in pack of harleys w/straight pipes. mick loved to play in the air, lot of rols, dives, loops, a wild and crazy ride. flew in the Ford tri motor , just the oposite from p-51, can walk faster than we flew.

 

I was working outside 2 days ago and heard a big radial engine plane coming low. I was bummed as I could not see it through the tree tops and sun glare.

A few minutes later, I hear it coming back, so I went to a 2 acre just cleared sand lot behind the shop, to stand and watch..

Damned if he did spot me looking at his plane at 500 feet minimum, so he must have thought that "if someone took the time to stand there, then i sure will show off my plane"

It was a AT6 Texan WW2 trainer. He spent 10+ minutes giving me a private airshow; he'd fly right over, then gun it to bank at 90 degrees hard, then really throttle up coming around to do another passover. It sounded like a dive bomber, diving

5 minutes of this and it starts smoking bad. i said s---, but it was set up for skywriting

Ok, I lead a boring life, but this was the best day so far this year. He spent $100 on fuel for me

 

Here is a link to what will soon be flying . The ONLY flying Black Widow P 61 . There are only about 3 in the world in any shape, except for the several rumored to be stashed in China somewhere left over from Lend-lease in WW II that the Chinese won't part with.
This one was savaged of a mountainside in the south Pacific somewhere. Really great site , shows the recovery and the restoration so far.
www.maam.org/p61.html‎

 

My auto shop teacher once told us a story about his friends uncle (or something like that) so, he and this guy were working on planes for the military, it was a big shop with many planes some running some not, then our teacher told us that ordinary light bulbs are not constant light but rather flashes of light that are so fast we don't see them (it was basic auto and I think we were talking about how timing lights work), what happened was a propeller was perfectly in time with the lights and it seemed like it wasn't moving so the guy walks over to give someone a part and because the prop seemingly wasn't moving he tried to walk through it, obviously he didn't survive but I found the story interesting because from the sound of it this was something that was so rare they didn't even worry about it, or maybe he was the new guy and didn't know better what do you guys think.

 

If any of you ever plan a trip to DC try and set up a tour of the Smithsonian Garber restoration facility in Silver Spring MD a few months before you go. I've done the tour 3 times and it's incredible. I saw the Enola Gay being refinished and touched the Nazi Horton Flying Wing There are 100s of one of a kind and rare aircraft and powerplants to be seen there.

 

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Here is a link to another thread that my buddy Dave started.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=41143

He had the opportunity to go up and fly formations in a vintage plane this past weekend. Be sure to watch the videos too. Way cool!

.

 

The B17 used to star as the Memphis Belle in the movie made a recent appearance locally. This particular 17 never actually saw combat as it was built late in the war.











Man, one day I've got to come up with the $$$ to fly in one of these!

 

If it was built late in the war, shouldn't it have a chin turret? Perhaps they removed it to be correct for the movie.

 

very cool tahnks for sharing

 

Yes, it had to be modified BACK to an earlier model to mimic the real Memphis Belle. I seem to recall it still having different windows in the side of the nose than the real Belle did though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MemphisBelle_crew_USAF.jpg

 

I've always loved the B-17's. My Grandfather served as a navigator in the 8th Air Force, 97th BG. He never talked much about his time in the war but always had pictures and models of B17's hanging in his basement workshop. It's been a few years but I've seen the "Nine-O-Nine" from the Collings Foundation several times, and I've also seen the B17's and other WWII era planes at the WWII Weekender in Reading, PA that takes place on the anniversary of D-Day every year. That's an incredible event if you ever have the opportunity to go.

Also, if you like B-17's, check out http://www.theballybomber.com/- This guy built an operable 1/3 scale replica of a B-17 bomber over the span of 14 years. Lots of build pics on the site.

 

Pick up a copy of "Frozen in Time" by Mitchell Zuckoff. This just published book is the story of the crash and rescue of several pilots and planes in Greenland during WWII. It also the story of how the Coast Guard, along with several private individuals, tried in 2012 to find the remains of two "Coasties" who perished there during the war.

Fascinating book.

 

Yes TigerII, my son says thats gonna' happen with the GoPro!!----Don

 

ol fueler, here's pix of Dad helping to sell War Bonds at Northrop 1943, Jack Northrop & others around the P-61 "Black Widow" plus some other Northrop pins. Both my parents worked at Northrop from 1941 thru 1958, then retired.------Don

 

Thanks, rrbrucea.

 

Gentleman I used to work for in the Neon business was, because of his size, the lower ball turret gunner on a -17. Spent 14 months as a German POW, the only member of his 10 man crew that made it to the ground. When a 17 came to our local airport and was giving rides, tried to get him to go up but he wouldn't go near it. That's the part we forget about. RIP Del.

 

Gotta love Old Warbirds and the guys that kept them flying,those were some well trained mechanics and an awful lot of them went into the auto repair business after VE day and became the hotrodders that started it all. I can't mention aircraft museums with out one of my personel favorites. The Mighty 8th AF museum near Savannah GA along side I 95 gets my vote as one of the best. I've spent many enjoyable afternoon shooting down Me109s at thier B24 waist gun simulator. So if you in the area or on your way to winter in FL be sure to stop you will not regret it.

 

Just now got buzzed by a mustang... Can't mistake that Merlin, blower coming at you, and that wonderful propwash as it leaves you... And I thought hemis were cool...


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A friend and former Naval Aviator (a rotor head) sent me this link. It's easy to see the parallels in our hobbies. Gary

See: http://www.youtube.com/v/TneYPcyGbbY&autoplay=1&rel=0</B>

 

Cool video !