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B-17

PJPJ Member Posts: 1,556 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited May 2006 in General Discussion
I know a lot of the members here have posted regarding this airplane. However, this AM will at work in Castle Rock, Colo....the big bird flew right over the home that I was working on. What a sight...!! She was beautiful... Not quite a big as I had imagined, but steady and strong sounding. There is an air show at Centennial Airport, south of Denver, this weekend and the B17 is to be the centerpiece. I am going and taking my grandson....
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  • PJPJ Member Posts: 1,556 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    tumblr_n7zhu9ibug1tfjr3vo1_500.jpg

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    tumblr_n859joLxIN1tfjr3vo1_500.jpg

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  • PJPJ Member Posts: 1,556 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sitting here at my computer at 11:45 in the morning and heard a roar of engines overhead. I looked up and watched a B-17 Flying Fortress fly over. Way cool!
    Pete
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  • sig232sig232 Member Posts: 8,018
    edited November -1
    Whats in your coffee? Is that a WWll flashback?
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  • MossbergboogieMossbergboogie Member Posts: 12,211
    edited November -1
    Thats pretty amazing my dad loves those things.
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  • Da-TankDa-Tank Member Posts: 3,718 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Your computer is outside?? At my computer if I look up I see livingroom light.[:D]
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  • sig232sig232 Member Posts: 8,018
    edited November -1
    My Uncle Jack flew, I think 25 or 26 missions over Germany in those planes, Says to this day they are the best and safest plane made. Told me that they could absorb more hits and still fly than the B-24 and most others ever made. He is now 85 and retired as an Air Force Col (Full Bird Col.) He was a navigator.
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  • PJPJ Member Posts: 1,556 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I was out on the deck (ain't wireless great). It flew by again about an hour later and appeared to be a later model with the chin turret.
    Pete
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  • jimkanejimkane Member Posts: 1,534 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by PJ
    I was out on the deck (ain't wireless great). It flew by again about an hour later and appeared to be a later model with the chin turret.
    Pete


    That'd be the B-17G with the chin turret I believe.
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  • KSUmarksmanKSUmarksman Member Posts: 10,705 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I may be mistaken, but I think that only the -G and later models are still around as airworthy planes.

    Is the Memphis Belle still airworthy? I know she's a museum and no one in their right mind would try, but would she fly if she had to?
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  • mrseatlemrseatle Member Posts: 15,467 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Confederate Air Force in Texas still flying them, for airshows and stuff. Flying Fortess is one sweet Bird.
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  • MuddBuggMuddBugg Member Posts: 107 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I got to go up in one a few years ago at an airshow. They were offering rides for 50 bucks a seat and said it was to fund getting another B-17 in flying condition, it was a real blast, we were up about 15 min.
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  • hughbetchahughbetcha Member Posts: 7,801 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by sig232
    My Uncle Jack flew, I think 25 or 26 missions over Germany in those planes, Says to this day they are the best and safest plane made. Told me that they could absorb more hits and still fly than the B-24 and most others ever made. He is now 85 and retired as an Air Force Col (Full Bird Col.) He was a navigator.




    There are only a few B-17s flying in the US today. i think confederate Air force has one. The B-24 could carry a larger bomb load with greater range!
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  • nomadictaonomadictao Member Posts: 1,310 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I was at a car dealership in El Cajon CA, when a B-17 ans a B-24 flew over me at about 500 feet. They had just taken off from Gelespie, simply Awsome!! The sound was something else!
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  • Bill DeShivsBill DeShivs Member Posts: 1,264 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    No, the Memphis Belle is not airworthy.
    Bill in Memphis
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  • 11BravoCrunchie11BravoCrunchie Member Posts: 33,423 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Might've been the Nine-o-Nine. I know she's still airworthy.
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  • boeboeboeboe Member Posts: 3,331
    edited November -1
    My dad built them here in Wichita during WWII. He helped design the fix that kept the belly turret from poping out at high altitude.
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  • gunpaqgunpaq Member Posts: 4,607 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Had the honor of exiting through the bombay of the B-17 "ThunderBird"
    at an air show many years ago.

    FF5.jpg
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  • TrinityScrimshawTrinityScrimshaw Member Posts: 9,350 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    About twenty years ago I was working for a Sheriff's department South of Houston. While on patrol one day I saw one flying real low and landing at a nearby private airfield that was then the home for the Confederate Air Force. It was the first one I had ever seen, and I was awe struck. I pulled over my patrol vehicle and got out to watch the most beautiful aircraft I had ever seen gliding gracefully through the sky like a hot knife cutting butter. Other vehicles started pulling over also when they saw what I was looking at.[:)]

    Growing up near NASA I have seen the shuttle on back of a 747, I have seen SR-71 Blackbirds, to many fighter jets to mention, the Blue Angels, and I have even shaked hands with Chuck Yeager, and numerous Astronauts. But, seeing the B-17 flying over head was the most exciting of all. Now if I can just see a P-38 still flying around I'll be happy.[8D]

    I tried to do a goole search on the Confederate Air Force, and didn't find as much as I thought I would. The reason why was because they have changed their name because of Political Correctness. See the C&P below which talsk about the history of the CAF.

    Trinity +++

    The origins of the Confederate Air Force date back to 1951, with the purchase of a surplus Curtiss P-40 Warhawk by Lloyd Nolen, a former World War II Army Air Corps flight instructor. In 1957, Nolen and four friends purchased a P-51 Mustang, each sharing in the $2,500 cost of the aircraft. With the purchase of the Mustang, known as Red Nose, the group was unofficially founded.

    On September 6, 1961, the CAF was chartered as a nonprofit Texas corporation in order to restore and preserve World War II-era combat aircraft. In 1965, the first museum building consisting of 26,000 square feet was completed at old Rebel Field, Mercedes, Texas. The CAF created a new Rebel Field at Harlingen, Texas, when they moved there in 1968, occupying three large buildings. The CAF fleet continued to grow and included medium and heavy bombers such as the B-29, B-25, B-17 and B-24.

    Today, the CAF is comprised of over 11,000 members, several hundred of whom serve as pilots and flight or maintenance crew members committed to preserving World War II American aviation heritage. The CAF is responsible for operating a fleet of more than 140 airplanes known as the Ghost Squadron.

    The dynamic and patriotic O.P. Alford III died in 1996, and I'm glad he didn't live to see the CAF lose its name.

    Not long after 9-11, the name change was announced at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) annual banquet across the street from JSC. And at the end of the very entertaining CAF presentation, the announcement: Because the word "Confederate" is offensive to some, after fifty years, the CAF was to change its name within the next few days. I know it wasn't just the evil eye I cast in his direction, the presenter knew this wasn't right, as cowardice was written all over his face.

    So if you want to link to them in all their cowardly glory, the old URL for the CAF still works, but it now takes you to the home page of the "Commemorative" Air Force.

    But don't look for the word "Confederate" in the "Commemorative Air Force History" page, or anywhere else on the site. You won't find it. In their defense, what would they say? "Because the collective huevos of the CAF are the same as that of a little girl, in the year 2002 the word `Confederate' was removed from the name of the organization."

    To hear the old CAF lore, long ago a group of South Texans chose the name Confederate Air Force as kind of a joke. Well, it's no joke now.
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  • merskmersk Member Posts: 150 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Airworthy B-17s

    Identity No. Name Operator/Location
    B-17F 42-29782 Boeing Bee Museum of flight, Reton CA
    B-17G 44-83514 Sentimental Journey CAF, Falcon Field AX
    B-17G 44-83546 Memphis Belle (renamed) MARC, Farmingdale, NY
    B-17G 44-83563 Fuddy Duddy NWM, Horseheads, NY
    B-17G 44-83575 Nine O Nine Collings Foundation, Stow, MA
    B-17G 44-83785
    Evergreen Vintage Aircraft Inc.
    Portland, OR
    B-17G 44-83872 Texas Raiders CAF Gulf Coast Wing, Houston TX
    B-17G 44-85718 Thurnderbird Lone Star Flight Museum Galveston TX
    B-17G 44-85740 Aluminium Overcast EAA, Oshkosh, WI
    B-17G 44-85778 Miss Angela Palms Springs Air museum, CA
    B-17G 44-485784 Sally B B-17 Preservation, Duxford, Cambs UK
    B-17G 44-85829 YANKEE LADY Yankee Air Force Ypsilanti, MI
    B-17G 44-8543 Chuckie Vintage Flying Machines, Forth Worth TX
    B-17G 44-8846 Pink Lady Fortress Toujours Volante, Paris FR.

    Note: B-17G 44-83546 (N3703G) Was the plane contracted for use in the movie "Memphis Belle" in the spring of 1989, Comsmetic work to convert the B-17G to a B-17F modelwas done for the movie. In August of 1989 she flew back to the U.S. with her film paint job. And still wears its "Memphis Belle" markings.
    The real "Memphis Belle 41-24485" is located on public display at Mud Island, Memphis TN.
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  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If you haven't seen 12 O'Clock High by now, do see it.
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  • fugawefugawe Member Posts: 1,540 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The real Memphis Belle is in Dayton, Ohio at the AF museum undergoing restoration. She's not on display but they say you can request the 'behind the scenes' tour and see her.
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  • PJPJ Member Posts: 1,556 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    "12 O'Clock High" is truly one of the classics.
    Pete
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  • merskmersk Member Posts: 150 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I stand corrected. I did not know the Memphis Belle was in Dayton getting restored. Thats good news, I'd like to see alot more of old birds flying around.
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  • mrseatlemrseatle Member Posts: 15,467 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Texas Confederate Air Force...

    9-3-01-003.jpg
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  • fugawefugawe Member Posts: 1,540 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Back in the early 80's the CAF would have at least two B-17s at their annual air show. Several times I got to see two of them taxi up to the announcer's stand, hold brakes, run up the two inboard motors and lift their tails about 5 feet. They called it the 'B-17 Salute'. If I remember right, it was usually 'Texas Raiders' and 'Sentimental Journey'.
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  • CJ7nvrstkCJ7nvrstk Member Posts: 678 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    AWESOME. I want.
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  • NickCWinterNickCWinter Member Posts: 2,927
    edited November -1
    Once in a great while, a vintage multi-engine bomber visits the Purdue Airport for exhibition. My first decade was the 40's, and I heard a number over the years. But to this day, I know the sound is something special, stop, and watch. Glad I've always been alone at those moments. No witnesses to the tears that sometimes welled up. USA.
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