Posted on 07/19/2005 10:26:17 PM PDT by quietolong
B-17 Visits Eau Claire
Shaun Verbout
The 'Flying Fortress' is going to be at the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Eau Cliare until Wednesday. The public will be able to take ground tours and will even be able to a flight on the plane.
Ground tours are available between 2-5pm and cost $10 for a family, $6 for adults, and $5 for students. If you would like to take a trip back in history, you can get a ride for $395. The fee is $355 for EAA members.
Flights take place every 45 minutes between 9:30am and 1:15pm.
For more info visit www.b17.org or call 1-800-359-6217
http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/1710807.html
B-17 Lands in Eau Claire
Updated: 6:12 PM Jul 19, 2005
Tours and rides of a B-17 bomber that flew missions in World War II will be on display for only one more day at the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport.
The planes paint scheme matches the one of the original "Fuddy Duddy." Tuesday people came out to take tours of the plane. Almost 13,000 B-17s were built during WWII; only 13 still take to the air.
Flights are $355 for EAA members or $395 for non-members. Flights on the B-17 will take place every 45 minutes beginning at 9:30 a.m. and running until 1:15 p.m. Ground tours cost $10 for a family, $6 for adults, and $5 for students.
http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/1713387.html
The B-17 is my Favorite aircraft With the E & Gs Being the best looking Airplane ever made.
I had a Great Uncle that flew 50+ missions in the tail of one of these birds
Do you want to know how to fly a B-17
http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/B17.html
Take a virtual tour of a B-17
http://www.b-17.com/
I have taken the ground tour of the B-17 And it gives you a new appreciation of these guys that were in these planes as MEs came in and 20mm coming at you. Next time you watch 12 O’clock High you’ll be thinking. how did Sergeant Kamanski ( ? spelling ) keep from shooting his tail off. ( humming the theme as I type )
Vets relive B-17 flights (World War II Bomber)
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ad3cb0057b1.htm
There was an interlock that shut off the guns when they would hit parts of the aircraft.
A relative of mine from Wisconsin was a B-17 pilot
in WWII He named his plane the Tomahawk Warrior
for the town he was from.
He and his crew went down with their plane rather than
have it crash into a town in England.
Sentimental Journey - one of the most gorgeous aircraft that the CAF owns.
Had an uncle who flew in a B-17 over Italy and North Africa in WWII. He never spoke much about his adventures in WWII but he said it was a thrill to fly in the B-17.
I know. But not at first. And you can see why they were needed.
Do you get a parachute?
While the ground tour is interesting enough, everyone needs to save up $395 and take the flight once in their lives. (The money helps keep these babies flying so folks can get the smallest taste of what a mission by the Mighty 8th was like).
I took a ride on "Sentimental Journey", run by the Confederate..... oops, I mean "Commemorative" Air Force based in Texas. Takeoff on a commercial airliner is a pretty flaccid experience compared to the vibration from all those piston engines revved at the end of the runway. A B-17 without a bomb load can scoot pretty briskly too!
During the flight, we passengers cycled around through all available locations (no tail gun or belly turret, sorry). Big thrill is sitting at the bombardiers stool in the greenhouse in the nose with the whole earth spread below you. (That was one of my dad's jobs, the other was at the navigator's station just behind.) Yep, you get to play with the Brownings at the waist & nose too.
Now, you can get a reasonable and free thrill by standing in the prop wash on the ground, but there's nothing like the real thing. Just do it!
What people don't realize is how cramped it is inside one of those things. A B17 looks hugh until you get inside one of them. Walking the catwalk between the bomb racks gives you a good idea. How the tailgunner fit in there, I don't know.
Looks to be a very late G model with staggered waist guns & Cheyenne tail turret
My grandfather flew his 24 over Germany in a B-17 named the Nedralind. I always look for pics of 17's that might have that written on the nose cone.
Same with my great uncle.
But my dad told me of the few stories he got out of him when he was young.
Like the time he had his throat mike shot off. That’s close! Plus some of the photos he had. Wow!
No. I'm still saveing up to go in on off the ground.
Is that the Sentimental Journey from Mesa, Arizona? Its been out on tour lately.
Although I have worked on and been in a B-17, I have never flown in one.
What an experience it would be!
I’m saving!
My Uncle did ride in the nose as a toggler on some of his latter missions.
My parents were bombed on a regular basis by B 17's. Parents lived in Germany during the war as foreign laborers. In fact were moved to a railroad siding just outside of Dresden while being evacuated from Oppeln and just missed being part of the fire bombing. Dad was working at Ploesti the day it got bombed. My dad told me he knew Germany had lost the war the day he counted over 1,000 US bombers and not a single German fighter rose to meet them.
My parents by the way were thrilled the day I put on my USAf uniform as an officer. I love seeing the B 17 and War birds flying around my house every year during EAA in Oshkosh.
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