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One of those babies got my slack-jawed attention in 1952. I was on a diesel sub at the time, taking a Grand Tour of the Caribbean, courtesy the USN.

On the way back to the States, we teamed up with another boat and a minesweeper. We had to transit a war games area and the minesweeper was there, flyng all kinds of flags, indicating that we were neutrals.

One afternoon a bunch of us were getting some fresh air up on the cigarette deck, just nattering away. To this day, I remember hearing a background drone and not paying attention to it.

Of a sudden, the starboard lookout yells “AIRCRAFT, CLOSE ABOARD!” as the done became deafening. At that time, I could identify all U.S. prop planes from a far distance, but this four-engined puppy was an unknown - and she was up close and coming in about 50 feet above the water with bomb bay doors wide open. That pilot had the pedal to the metal and you got the feeling of RAW power at work.

We all gaped and I swear I could see the wiring inside the bomb bay as she flew directly overhead. I also could see what looked like a Red Star on the nose and thought that we had gone to war with Stalin and that I was a dead man.

She made a graceful bank and that’s when I saw the red-white-blue circular emblem on the wings and thought “What the Hell are the French doing here?”

She came in again for another perfect bombing run and by this time we were all full of piss and vinegar and pointed our fingers at her, making machine gun noises. Then I saw that the “Red Star” was a maple leaf and it finally dawned on me that the Canadians were having some fun with us.

After a change of underwear, we all wondered what “neutral” meant to those guys.

On two different occasions here in southern NJ I had the same experience you did. I was at work in Wall Township, NJ, there’s a private airport, Allaire Airport nearby that every few years hosts a “WW2 Warbirds’’ show. I was out by the loading dock when just as you heard that roar so did I. I said ‘’Damn, that sounds like a Pratt&Whittney engine!’’ Well it was four of them and like a giant shadow that momentarily blotted out the sun a B-24 bomber, the only one still flying, swept overhead no more than a hundred feet or so. I could see the pop rivets in the wings and felt the air stream from it’s passing. Took my breath away. And then as gentle and smooth as if it owned the sky it banked slightly to the left(west) to Allaire Airport and was gone. Some years later, recently in fact in the same area coming out of work again I heard that roar and this time it was a B-17. It’s one of a few that are still flying. “909’’ it’s called. Took a tour of that baby! Talk about cramped. You can read all you want about the four engine bombers of WW2 but until you see one actually in flight can you appreciate their grace and power.