Posted on 05/17/2022 6:20:03 PM PDT by lgjhn23
I was outside the shop changing the deck belt on the lawnmower this morning, and I could hear it coming. It's not unusual to have propeller-driven air traffic here in this rural area, mostly crop dusters though, and few private aircraft. But this was a different sound...more than one or two engines, a loud, deep, steady drone sound....unusual. I stopped what I was doing and stepped out from under the awning, looking up. It was a partly cloudy, but sunny day, and then I saw her. She was up maybe 5000' heading due east. There was no mistaken her for what she was even at 5000'; a B-17 Flying Fortress...beautiful! I immediately thought of the old movie, The Memphis Belle. Then, my thoughts turned to the reality those days, and our boys that flew em. Men that were our father's and grandfather's generation. Young men that unselfishly sacrificed their very lives for the cause of freedom. I, then thought of the vile, godless, communist/socialist regime that now rules over us versus the men of those days. We have let them down.
Ya, we should’ve sat on our ass after Pearl Harbor and waited to see whether Germany or Japan ruled us.
There are many young Americans who have and would still give their lives for this country.
Just because the old bastards around here are soured, get out and spend some time with them. Most of them are exceptional.
If you ever get a chance, tour the inside of a 17 or 24.
My first time, I was amazed at how wide open the plane was. I know they had electric warmed flight suits but it still had to be brutal operating conditions for the crew.
Walked through a B17 once at an air show. When I got just aft of the cockpit, I stretched my arms out and I was close to touching left and right side of interior of fuselage.at same time. I’m a below average height guy. Those aviators were brave....flying way up there in a freezing thin metal tube....thinking you could get killed or shot down without warning. Very humbling for me. Utmost, to the max, respect for those guys.
I think there was one at Sun ‘n Fun air show last year? This year a B-29 was there.
For five years or so, FiFi was hangared at the Cavanuagh Flight Museum at the Addison, Texas airport... right across the street from my office. It was always a treat to drive past the airport when she was warming up... the prop wash had the mingled smells of a running top fuel dragster and the black plume of anthracite coal smoke of a steam locomotive. Just amazing to experience up close.
I live in an area that old WW2 planes fly over often. Nothing like the sound of a radial engine! I try to imagine the sky with hundreds of planes when they flew in anger 80 years ago, must of been a sight to behold. Lovely flying history.
Forgot to add, I am in total awe not only of the aircraft, but definitely in awe of the men who flew in them. May God Bless all of them and all of our brave aviators who risked and lost their lives back then.
The Greatest Generation, indeed!
Absolutely correct. I recall it being very difficult to see as recently as during the Vietnam War.
yup
the press kept a lid on much of it
Truth is often unpleasant
Go back to sleep
Congratulations! You win the prize for the lamest, most idiotic, and least patriotic post for this month.
Now please, place your award up where the sun never shines.
“They believed all the bullshit and propaganda and willingly marched off to war to protect the interests of the international bankers who ran the US Federal Reserve Bank. “
So you know more about motivations of our men and women from 80 years than they did.
Yeah we all know FDR was a leftist.
You think we should have sat on our a$$es and let Hitler and Japan own the world?
You think all the WWII vets were just suckers?
Geez
Took a bunch of photos at the Great Texas Airshow of the Commemorative Air Force B-17.
“My father was a B-29 pilot flying from Saipan.
I’m not fit to be in the same room with veteran’s of his generation...heroes’ each and every one.”
From this veteran to your family, much love!
“..Our grandfathers and fathers were led by the vile, godless, communist/socialist president named Franklin D. Roosevelt...”
Having visited Roosevelt’s summer home on Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada (pre-COVID) and reading thru much of the BS propaganda that’s displayed in the museum there, along with reading lesser-known history, I certainly do not disagree with you about the guy: he was born with a nice, rich, sliver spoon in his mouth, raised to become a flaming-azz liberal POS, pushed around by his wife, and the press/media of the day covered for him all the time: from the polio he contracted to his radical policies...much like they do today for pedoJoe/Obama.
On the flip side, we were outright attacked and declared war on by the Axis Powers, and our guys responded unselfishly and bravely....the Greatest Generation. I, for one, will ALWAYS respect and honor them for their service and sacrifice.
Yup,
Fat Lady to sing soon.
Circa 1954 as a small boy we drove past Pyote Air Force Base in West Texas. Hundreds of B17s were parked their post WWII. I suspect they were salvaged for their metal value and engines, most sad this is. At that time they had no value.
What’s amazing is the speed of evolution of aircraft and engines between the 1903 Wright Flyer and the B-17 which first flew in 1936. In 33 years they went from a fabric, wood and wire kite powered by a four-cylinder engine to an all metal airplane powered by four turbocharged 9-cylinder radial engines.
Source :
https://nationalwarplanemuseum.com/airshow/
"The National Warplane Museum is proud to present the 41st Geneseo Airshow June 4th and 5th, 2022 "
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