Posted on 02/12/2010 10:47:23 AM PST by Patrsup
The Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress,” perhaps the most readily recognized bomber of the World War II era, will be center stage for its 75th anniversary during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010, “The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration,” on July 26-August 1 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh.
Only about 15 of the iconic aircraft remain airworthy anywhere in the world, including EAA’s renowned “Aluminum Overcast,” which brings aviation history to the public through its annual national tours. Potentially, at least four B-17s could be present at Oshkosh as the exact 75th-anniversary date of the B-17’s first flight on July 28, 1935, comes during AirVenture.
(Excerpt) Read more at airventure.org ...
They were huge in their day, but look puny and dangerous today.
No kidding and feeling how thin the skin on it is amazing.. No wonder we lost more men in the skies of europe then the marines in the Pacific.
What a great feeling - I took a ride in “Aluminum Overcast” three years ago at Airventure. Sat in the bombardier’s seat while they flew low across the countryside.
Many of us owe our existence to her, although in my case it is the B-29 since my dad was in the South Pacific late in the war.
Amazing when you think of how much industrial capacity we had back in WW II. I'd hate to think what would happen if we ever needed to fight a real war again.
Gotta go this year...
Think Boeing will show up with the Dreamliner?
That would be something to see - Airbus was there last year...
They were small considering they had a 10 man crew. My dad was a radio opperator in one. There were 17 MOH awards given out to B-17 flyers.
I got to crawl all over one when I was a pup in airplane mechanic school...the name escapes me but the nose art had a guy riding a bomb on it...
My dad was a tailgunner in a B-24 out of Italy
Grandpa got three bronze stars flying on one of these. Once sustained serious flak damage over Germany and crash-landed only a mile past the line into allied-controlled France. Can’t decide which grandpa had better stories, this one or the one in the south pacific.
You want to read something, go to Wikapedia type in B-17 and go to the Medal of Honor Winners. What a bunch of heros. I am sure you could it for the B-24. Your dad was a hero.
My dad was a B-24 nose gunner, but was injured in training -— bailed out of a burning B-24 over Harlingen, Texas and got a double hernia. Spent the rest of the war as a clerk-typist for the 420th Base Operations Company at March Army Air Field in California.
The USAAF got ‘war weary’ aircraft back from overseas and used them to train new crews. The rooky pilots exceeded the limits for the engines and they caught fire. This happened twice to my dad. The first time he bailed out, the 2nd time he decided to ride the plane down when the pilot gave the crew the option of jumping or landing with him. Dad’s double hernia was found during his final pre-deployment physical for the Southwest Pacific in early 1944. And to quote him the hernia “was found after I had received all my shots!”
Instructors used to tell the belly gunners their bubble was bullet proof, they didn’t find out the truth until their first bombing run over Germany.
Sounds just like the beginning of the movie “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946), when Dana Andrews,USAAF Captain, bums a stateside ride on a B-17 to get home quicker. Great scenery from the bombardier’s bubble in the front of the bomber.
As he leaves, you see in the background rows of B-17s ready to be scrapped at the airport.
I’ll have to check the movie out
I have a book on my Dad’s bomb group. He only talked a little about it, said it was the end of the war and all. But going over the crew list I found one out of six from the group were either made war prisoners or died. There’s a picture of one plane that made it back with it’s nose turret all shot up. Those were relatively small and cold planes flying with young kids stuck in lonely ball turrets. All heroes indeed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.