getawaycar

A B-17 made several passes directly over my shop this morning. My guess would be no more then 1000 feet above me. Likely less. It was amazing and surreal to see a piece of history like that in the air. It made my day. I love the sound of radial engines.

The old war planes are in town for the Wings over Galespie air show. If anybody near San Diego is free tomorrow I would highly recommend it. I am taking my family. Cesna195, are you taking your plane?

Chris

2blu442

Cool! It's fun to see old war planes like that flying. I agree, they have a distictive sound when they fly overhead. Last summer there was a B-17 and a B-29 that stopped at our local airport, which is right next to where I work. Think what it was like for the young men of WWII to fly these into war. John

henryk8398

What a trip! I always loved the way they looked. What a rare treat to see that!

MDchanic

Whenever I see one of these planes in the air, I am reminded of Douglas Adams's description of an alien spaceship fleet:

"..huge as office [buildings], that hung in the air exactly the way that bricks don't"

Amazing.

- Eric

Yellowstatue

That's pretty amazing, that they made several passes and still missed you!!!

jaunty75

Hey, keep a camera handy, and if they fly over again, snap a few photos and post them here!

GrandpasDelmont88

kitfoxdave

I got to take a ride in a B-17 3 years ago... went up into the nose and watched the world pass by from 1000 feet. it was the EAA's Aluminum Overcast B-17. The noise and vibration are very impressive! After landing, you could smell the brakes and oil.
Old saying... Radial engines don't leak oil, they are just marking their territory!

Aron Nance

A B17 and B24 (at times, a B25) come to Dallas Love Field every year around Memorial Day, and fly for a week. $400-500 rides, and $8 static tours. Never paid the big price, but their flight path to Greenville Tx and back takes them right over our house, every fligh! Juju gets tired of my running through the house to get outside to catch sight of them, once more. My uncle Bodie courted my Aunt Tootsie while training to be a pilot. He would buzz my Grandmother's house in an AT6 Texan often, circa 1943. I remember it well, one of my earliest memories, along with the simulated black outs w/the searchlights/etc. Dating myself, once again!

OldsManNJ

Warbirds are awesome - I was a P51 Mustang restoration specialist for 12 years of my life. There was nothing like watching a freshly restored Mustang take to the skies for the first time. I got to take many rides in them over the years - and I have to say - it's right up there among the best things I have ever done in my life. A few pictures of some of the planes I worked on - the first one is of my boss in Bald Eagle - and his son in Frenesi. Then another 51 we restored for a hell of a character, Bob Ferguson, one of my favorite people - Ain't Misbehavin. Then I threw in a copy of one of my favorite Warbird pictures just for the heck of it - it is 4 generations of Warbirds over the Statue of Liberty, including Bald Eagle.

I have tons of pictures of the restorations over the years, but my scanner is currently dead - I can post some more if anyone has any interest once I can get them scanned in - back when I was doing this for a living - no one had digital cameras yet

BaldEagle.jpg

aintp51.jpg

WarbirdsoverManhattan2.jpg

All credits to original photographers...

GTI_Guru

@ OldsManNJ

Those are AMAZING! I've been around planes for a lot of my life as well. Airshows, small fields, etc. Dad just completed the restoration on his "Pride & Joy" (besides the grandkids of course) just about 2 years ago. Nothing as extravagant as the warbirds you worked on, but a true classic in it's own right.

Pictured is Me and Dad after touchdown from the maiden voyage after the 7.5 year full restoration on his 1957 Piper TriPacer. I was able to at least cross "test co-pilot" off my bucket list. Don't have my license yet, but I've spent a lot of time in 2nd seat with Dad over the years. Not nearly enough as I'd like, but always fun when we can get out together.

His work was well rewarded, as last summer he took "Best TriPacer in show" at the Short Wing Piper National convention.

(I love to brag on Dad, and the feeling is mutual from him!)

Lots more pics in a slideshow here of the other class winners from last summer.

http://shortwing.org/

I'll gladly oogle any other pictures you'd love to share of the vintage warbirds you're able to post. I LOVE old airplanes as much as I do cars. That hobby is way out of my price range unfortunately.

Was thinking about getting Dad and I tickets for a flight in Aluminum Overcast this summer, but the family schedule with weddings & such conflicted. There's always next year!

@ GetawayCar:

Thanks for starting this thread. Always great to find people with similar and overlapping hobbies and interests!

-Jeff

redoldsman

We are fortunate to have the B-24 (1 of 2 still flying) and the B-29 (Fifi, the only one flying) now based in Addison (part of the DFW metroplex for those that don't live here). They are based at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum since Cavanaugh made a very significant contribution to the cost of retrofitting new engines to the B-29. For my 60th birthday a few years ago, my family gave me a ride in the AT-6 Texan. It was a 30 minute ride and we flew right over my house. I love the old warbirds and get goosebumps hearing those old radial engines.

coltsneckbob

Yes, I've seen a B-17 flying low at air shows. Those planes have a certain grace about them. It is almost like comparing analog to digital in terms of their flight.

Higgins

Great pictures....I was a USAF Air Traffic Controller in the 1960s, then worked for the FAA. Most of the aircraft were jets by then, F4s, F104s, F101s, still some F100s, F86s & F84s but they were stll flying the A1 Skyraider prop fighter/bomber too, that was my favorite. They were still flying other prop jobs, C97 & C119 transports. Wish I had taken some photos.
Higgins

radioburningchrome

One B-17 came to Willow Grove NJAS when I was there.

Amazing how small the plane is in reality.

X2 on the smell of brakes and oil!

getawaycar

I went to the air show and got a lot of great pictures of the planes in the air, including the B-17 and the B-25. I will post them when I get them onto the computer. I got to go inside the B-17. Way cool. They do have a distinct smell of old oil. I love it. Better than old car smell. I got a video of their startup and the smoke from the radial engines as each one would light. Not sure how to post it though. I can imagine how it would sound and smell with dozens of those starting on a flight line. It was all very impressive.

Chris

1968Cutlassfallbrook

I would love it if I could have my cutlass in front of one of them so that I could get a photograph.

coltsneckbob

Last summer a B-17, B-24 and P-51 among other WW2 vintage planes were on show at a local executive airport. For $10 I got to walk through the planes. I am 6' 1" and I gotta say they are cramped. One bump of turbulence and you could be out cold. They had fake bombs in the bomb bay and it was interesting to see how they are hooked - and also how small the bomb bay really is. Another interesting aspect of the bomb bay was that you have to walk between the bombs on this narrow (perhaps 1 ft wide) cat walk between all the bombs to get to the front of plane from the belly where the side machine guns are.

I could have opted to take a 30min flight in the plane for a cost of $450, but I guess I wasn't sure I wanted to face WoW (wrath of wife) when I got home. But, if they show up again this summer maybe I will go for it.

And yes the planes are small on the exterior too (well at least compared to what we see today). While I was there 2 or 3 executive jets drove past to get to the runways and even the smaller jets were bigger.

toro68

There was a B-17 at the Portland Jetport, back in 2007.
It was a plane and car show. I had my gold W-34 Toronado there.

toro68

So on the money to have picutres of P-51 Mustangs!!! In the 1940s, Oldsmobile supplies crankshafts and connenting rods for the P-51!!!

Question, do you have any photos of P-51 Mustang ''red tails"? I think it might be the P-51 D models.
A very good friend of mine, who was a plane mechinc during WWII, worked on many P-51 Mustangs and other Curtis aircraft(Tuskgee Airman).
Jim Sheppard has told me many times, "the P-51 is not a great plane (or in some cases a terrible plane) for combat". The reason being this plane is a liquid/water-cool unit, and once a bullet hits the raditor.
I met Jim (in 2007) at vintage plane and classic car show in Portland.


I kind of fell in love with P-51, at the Maine Air Show(Brunswick,Maine - the base closed last week), in the summer of 1999. The bird I saw had Donald Duck in flight gear on.

Cameo White

I hope that wasn't the one that crashed and burned outside of Chicago today. Pictures are on the Chicago Tribune website, I think. It was on the way to Indy. The whole midsection burned up. Probably some good parts left to help restore another one to flight status.

redoldsman

I saw that on fox.com today. The good news everybody got out. It apparently had and engine fire. The pilot made a perfect landing in a corn field which allowed everybody to get out safely but the airplane burned. It is heartbreaking when one of these old birds is lost since they are irreplaceable.

getawaycar

It is very sad that the plane burned down but at least nobody was hurt. That was not the plane that was flying around our air show. That plane was called Sentimental Journey and is based out of Arizona. I still intend on posting the pictures I took when I can get the camera and the computer together in the same room. Both the B-17 and the B-25 flew over the crowd and opened their bomb bays. It was an ominous perspective.

Chris

GTI_Guru

aw geez. That's really sad. Glad nobody was hurt, but a small piece of history was irreparably lost.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...-RSS&ATTR=News

-Jeff

toro68

Last Sunday , I saw a B-25 at the Portland Jetport!
WOW! What a pretty plane!
Oh yeah, I saw/heard a B-2 Bomber flyover , last Saturday. That thing is loud!

GTI_Guru

Follow up for the complete story on this:

Here is a factual account of the B-17 "Liberty Belle" incident in Illinois last week (notice I did not call it a "crash" - it wasn't). It corrects the media's misreporting of the facts . . .

Statement from Liberty Foundation Chief Pilot:
June 14, 2011 - First, let me start off by sincerely thanking everyone for the outpouring of support that we are receiving. I am sorry that I have not yet had the opportunity to return the many phone calls, text or e-mails that I am receiving offering to help. Again, thank you for all of the kind words that we are receiving and for incredible offers to help emotionally, financially and/or with the recovery process. I hope this statement will help fill in a few details that everyone is wondering about that led to the loss of our “Liberty Belle”.
Yesterday (June 13, 2011) morning, both our P-40 and B-17 were scheduled to fly from Aurora, Illinois to Indianapolis, Indiana. We were in Aurora for the weekend as a part of our scheduled tour. Over the course of the previous week, we completed a scheduled 25-hour inspection on the B-17 which was completed by Saturday. On Saturday, the weather stayed below the required ceiling to give any passenger flights, however the B-17 flew in the morning on a routine training proficiency flight, performing several patterns. Following the flight, other maintenance issues arose that required us to cancel our Sunday flying schedule for repairs. The maintenance performed has not been, in any way, associated to the chain of events that led to Monday’s fateful flight, but is being considered in the preliminary investigation. However, due to the media’s sensational (mis)reporting, there is a large amount of misinformation that continues to lead the news.
Here is what we do know… Flying in the left seat of the B-17 was Capt. John Hess. John has been flying our Liberty Belle since 2005 and one of our most experienced B-17 pilots. He is an active Delta Air Lines Captain with over 14,000 hours of flying experience and flys a variety of vintage WWII aircraft. In the right seat was Bud Sittic. While Bud is new to the Liberty Foundation this year, he is also incredibly experienced with over 14,000 hours of flying time in vintage and hi-performance aircraft. He is a retired Captain with Delta Air Lines.
The news misidentified the P-40 as flying chase during the accident. I was flying our P-40, however I had departed 20 minutes prior to the B-17’s takeoff on the short flight to Indianapolis to setup for the B-17’s arrival. The aircraft flying chase was a T-6 Texan flown by owner Cullen Underwood. Cullen is one of our rated B-17 Captains and an experienced aviator tagging along as a support ship.
The takeoff of both aircraft was uneventful and proceeded on-course southeast. Prior to exiting Aurora’s airport traffic area, the B-17 crew and passengers began investigating an acrid smell and started a turn back to the airport. Almost immediately thereafter, Cullen spotted flames coming from the left wing and reported over the radio that they were on fire.

As all pilots know, there are few emergency situations that are more critical than having an in-flight fire. While an in-flight fire is extremely rare, it can (and sometimes does) indiscriminately affect aircraft of any age or type. In-flight fires have led to the loss of not only aircraft, but often can result in catastrophic loss of life. It requires an immediate action on the flight crew, as the integrity of aircraft structure, systems and critical components are in question.
Directly below the B-17 was a farmer’s field and the decision was made to land immediately. Approximately 1 minute and 40 seconds from the radio report of the fire, the B-17 was down safely on the field. Within that 1:40 time frame, the crew shutdown and feathered the number 2 engine, activated the engine’s fire suppression system, lowered the landing gear and performed an on-speed landing. Bringing the B-17 to a quick stop, the crew and passengers quickly and safely exited the aircraft. Overhead in the T-6, Cullen professionally coordinated and directed the firefighting equipment which was dispatched by Aurora Tower to the landing location.
Unlike the sensational photos that you have all seen of the completely burned B-17 on the news, you will see from photos taken by our crew that our Liberty Belle was undamaged by the forced landing and at the time of landing, the wing fire damage was relatively small. The crew actually unloaded bags, then had the horrible task of watching the aircraft slowly burn while waiting for the fire trucks to arrive. There were high hopes that the fire would be extinguished quickly and the damage would be repairable. Those hopes were diminished as the fire trucks deemed the field too soft to cross due to the area’s recent rainfall. So while standing by our burning B-17 and watching the fire trucks parked at the field’s edge, they sadly watched the wing fire spread to the aircraft’s fuel cells and of course, you all have seen the end result. There is no doubt that had the fire equipment been able to reach our aircraft, the fire would have been quickly extinguished and our Liberty Belle would have been repaired to continue her worthwhile mission.
Let me go on the record by thanking the flight crew for their professionalism. Their actions were nothing short of heroic and their quick thinking, actions and experience led to a “successful” outcome to this serious in-flight emergency. John and Bud (and Cullen) did a remarkable job under extreme circumstances and performed spectacularly. While the leading news stories have repeatedly reported the “crash” of our B-17, fact is they made a successful forced landing and the aircraft was ultimately consumed by fire. Airplanes are replaceable but people are not and while the aircraft’s loss is tragic, it was a successful result.
This leads me into discussing the exceptional safety record of the Boeing B-17 and to hopefully squash the naysayers who preach we should not be flying these types of aircraft. Since we first flew the “Liberty Belle” in December of 2004, we have flown over 20,000 passengers throughout the country and if you count our historic trip to Europe in 2008, worldwide. Of the other touring B-17s, some of which that have been touring for over 20 years, they have safely flown hundreds of thousands of people. The aircraft’s safety record is spectacular and I am certain the overall cause of our issue, which is under investigation, will not tarnish that safety record. In fact, as many of you know, other B-17 have suffered significant damage (although not as bad as ours!), only to be re-built to fly again. From a passenger carrying standpoint, I can think of few aircraft that offer the same level of safety as the 4-engine “Flying Fortress”. As mentioned earlier, in-flight fires are extremely rare and certainly could affect any powered aircraft under certain circumstances. I would put my children today in any of the other touring B-17s to go fly. I suggest to anyone that was thinking of doing so when a B-17 visits your area to do so without giving our loss any thought.
There is wild speculation going on as to the cause of our fire and the affect to other operators. Please let the investigation run its course and report the findings. The NTSB and FAA were quickly on the scene and we are working closely with them to aid in the investigation. As soon as we receive some additional information, we will release it via the website.
The ultimate question remains, where does the Liberty Foundation go from here? After the investigation and recovery, we will determine our options. We are still committed to the restoration and flying of World War II aircraft. Again, we appreciate the support and people offering to help get us back flying.
Please check back for updates. I will close by thanking everyone that made our tour so successful. From the first day of the B-17’s restoration, thank you for all of you who labored to get her flying over the initial restoration years and to everyone that has worked on her out on tour since. Thank you to the crewmembers, tour coordinators and volunteers who gave up weekends and countless hours to support her on the road. And finally, thank you to the passengers, donors and media patrons that flew aboard and everyone who supported our cause. Hopefully, this will not be the end of the story, but a new beginning.
Regards,
Ray Fowler
The Liberty Foundation, Chief Pilot

getawaycar

Thank you GTI Guru for posting that informative statement from the Liberty foundation chief pilot. It is too bad the local fire department didn't even try to get their trucks through the field to save the plane. Getting a stuck truck out of the mud is a lot easier than replacing a flying piece of history like that. The coolness of the pilots getting the plane safely on the ground in one piece certainly gave it a chance. I really hope this, like he said, is a new begining rather than an end of the Liberty Foundation. I know there are a lot more non-flying B-17 flying fortresses out there. There is one for sure at the March Airforce Base Museum up in Riverside California. I wonder what it would take for them to restore another one to flying condition?

Chris

Funkwagon455

I was wrapping up an inspection today and heard the resonating tell-tale sound of four large radial engines approaching from the North. Knowing the sound, I readied my phone to capture whatever appeared outside the hangar doors. It was "Fifi" the B-29 Superfortress doing some touch and goes north of Ft Worth. I believe she is based out of Midland, TX ...an awesome sight. It has been here before, but I've always been elbow deep into it and unable to snap a pic to share. The B-17 "Chuckie" is based at Meacham field here in Ft Worth as well and will occasionally swoop in. If you love cars, you will likely at a minimum like aircraft.....And regardless this bird has earned it's respect from everyone here in the "Good 'Ole U.S.A."!!!!!!! Cheers!!!!!!

ah64pilot

We have one fly in for avionics work and annuals. She's based out of Galveston, the Commemorative Air Force flies her. Gorgeous aircraft.

redoldsman

FiFi and the B-24 are now based in Addison at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum. Cavanaugh made a very large donation to the cost of the new engines for FiFi. Of course this time of the year they are on tour most of the time.

Lee_A

@ "Commemorative".... I'll stick to calling it by it's original name!

Lee

1969w3155

We had an air show here annually for twenty years, those aircraft are just great. I have seen some of these planes many times, and photographed plenty of them.

getawaycar

So cool to see this thread come back to life! One of these days I will get around to downloading the pictures from the air show that started this. I got some great pictures of the B-17 right over my head with the bomb bay doors open. Very impressive. All I need now is a computer to put them on. I use my stupid smart phone for email and internet since my computer crashed and it won't let me post pictures. Dang technology ...

Chris

toro68

x2! I have one at a show in the Portland (MAine) jetport.

SBORule

When I was living in S Florida back in the late 80s early 90s a B17 did a few fly by's at the Fort Lauerdale Executive Airport being trailed by a Messerschmitt Bf 109D. On the last fly by the pilot of both airplanes did low altitude, high speed fly by's while adding right aileron as they flew by the FBO which drops the right wing tip and if there was 10ft between wing tip and the ground I would be over estimating AG altitude.

Seeing such a huge aircraft like a B17 doing that only 100 yards from me at 250 knots is breath taking to say the least. The Bf-109D pilot couldn't let the B17 grab all the glory so he did the same thing but pulled up and did a victory roll as he climbed out to circle around and land.

First time for me to see a Messerschmitt 109 up close with my own eyes. I was amazed how much smaller the Bf-109 is compaired to a P-51 Mustang which it parked next to after landing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO9mE...eature=related

RATCHETMASTER

edit:

My pic won't load because it is a gif file.

Here is a pic of the P51 just before it crashed at the Reno air races.

Beautiful Plane. Bad way to end its life and those who perished in the crash.

My dad flew a t34 navy trainer for years to air shows. They are a blast to ride in. I had a bunch of pictures of the b17 and the b24 that tours the usa and gives free shows but lost them all when tmobile accidentally deleted my on line photo files!!

You can pay to ride on the B17 or the B24. About $300 for a thirty minute ride.

RATCHETMASTER

couple of good ones.

65-442

Had the chance to get a pic of my 65 442 and the B-17 this summer in Pittsburgh, Pa. when our local EAA chapter hosted it. We had a great time.

DSC00808-3.jpgDSC00804.jpg

RATCHETMASTER

Cool pic. I bet that was a lot of fun!

ONe of the b17s crashed this last summer and burned in a field. Can't remember the details.

There aren't many left.

Has anyone heard the story of the B-17 that is visible on Highway 99 in California in Porterville? Interesting story.

I will share if anyone is interested in how it was sold and then people were arrested, etc.

How about the one they found and were fixing up to fly in Greenland where it was left during WWII? That was one sad story!!

RAMBOW

I love those things.

FWIW, the one in Greenland that burned up was actually a B-29. Very sad though... they were like an hour away from takeoff. Rediculously close to acheiving their goal when it went up in flames.