Booked a Thursday flight on a B-17

[jrd1976]

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, March 3-5, you can book a short flight at the Monroe (La.) Regional Airport on WWII vintage airplanes. This airport was known as Selman Army Airfield in WWII, training over 15,000 bomber-navigators.

B-24 1/2 hour for $425
B-17 1/2 hour for $425
P-51 Mustang 1/2 hour for $2,200; 1 hour for $3,200

I can't handle the P-51, so I booked a flight on the B-17.

[Raider]

Wow, it would be worth the money to fly in a B-17 or B-24. Theres no way I can get to LA on those dates but I can dream. Maybe later. Glad you got your flight.

Charlie

[DeathGrip]

I'd love to do that.I hope you can post some pics for us dreamers.

Have fun!!!
D.G.

[HAWKEYE10]

"YES" pictures are a must. Sounds like real fun. Don

[deralte]

Some of us have all the luck - meaning me. In 1954 I flew on the last operational B-17 in the AF inventory. It had been the personal plane for the 5th AF commander and was being taken to Tachicawa AB in Japan for disassembly and shipment back to the states.

[perrazi]

we had b-17 and b-24 here for an airshow several years ago. the price had went up some. the price here was $350 and if you could fly they would let you at the controls for 15 min. and yes, i did. what a hoot.

[Len]

Went up in one for an hour two years ago, at Willow Run Airport. This one never saw the war, was built, ready to go, and the end came before she was put into action.

It's awful surprising how little space there is inside. From watching all the old movies, the tendency is to believe they're much bigger than they are. The bomb bay catwalk is not for, uh, stouter lads...it's a tight squeeze.

No view is better than the nose seat...an absolutely spectacular view when airborne.

You'll have a hoot!

Len

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

A B-17 and a B-24 were at Trenton Airport last August, I watched them take off. VERY impressive.
There was a veteran who had been a ball turret gunner on a B-24, he described the flight suits they had to wear because at the altitudes they flew at it was about -20 degrees.

[jrd1976]

Google "fly in b-17" or Collings Foundation or go to this link to view their schedule. Go to the home page to check out the other planes.


Wings of Freedom Schedule - The Collings Foundation

[Nathan Forrest]

I flew in the Collins B-17. It was worth every penny. Take ear plugs.

[Walter Rego]

I rode on the Collings Foundation B-24 in 2001 and on their B-17 in 2003 and loved every minute of both flights. Expensive, yes bit how many opportunities will you have to do it ? I may go up in the B-24 again. My first flight I was too busy taking video to really soak it all in, and same with taking stills on the B-17 flight. You will get goosebumps, guaranteed.

[snowman]

It would be fun, I'm sure; a lot more so than for the original crew members on a bombing mission. In my first job out of high school I worked with a vet who had been a tail gunner on one of those in the European theatre. The man at the time was in his fifties and had had four heart attacks -he was absolutely a nervous wreck most of the time. I'm sure it was largely because of his wartime experiences.

He told me a few stories during lunch breaks. The most memorable thing he said was that the average lifespan of a tailgunner on a B17 once German fighters were engaged was 24 seconds; somehow he survived and came home. He said that after each mission many of the crews would go to the local pub and get as drunk as possible -just to calm their frazzled nerves.

It was but a few years after I left that job that I ran across his obituary in the paper -died from another heart attack.

Well, pardon me for raining on this parade. The thread just took me back and reminded me of some sobering things. Let me just wish the OP a wonderful time tasting a bit of a bygone era.

Andy

[2krkrider]

My father flew 32 missions in 1944. Sixty years later we went for a B-17 flight. It was worth every penny. When we got back, he spent the next eight hours talking with visitors about the plane and what it was like as a waist gunner and toggler.

If you have the chance, take the flight. I could of bought a S&W for what it cost for both of us to fly, but the S&W could be lost, sold or otherwise gone. The memory of that wonderful flight with my father will be with me forever.

[willy]

Not to long ago a guy went up in a b-17 and a B-24 and did a vid on each.
It was the next best thing to being there.
I think with all the modern stuff out there today I would still feel safest on a B-17 after seeing pictures of damaged ones still makeing it back after being blown to bits!
Amazing plane!!!!

[JamesArthur60]

Excellent! I chose to do the flying myself in an WWll trainer AT-6. This YouTube is the same pilot for my ride, but that's not me in the video. If you enjoy the ride in the bomber, you really should try the AT-6 for fun. You're in the front seat with your hand on the stick and rudders. I must admit, the parachute bailout briefing during your strap-in the cockpit is scary. You only live once.

YouTube - AT-6 loop

[bmcgilvray]

My son and I got to fly in a B-24 in 2004. Those engines deliver amazing thrust on takeoff.

[M28]

Buddy of mine has a medium sized machine shop in SoCal that caters to certain avaition applications. One of the few B-17's that offer the rides had a brake failure on landing somewhere in SoCal and had kissed a dumpster off in the weeds at the end of the runway. The damage was minor, but was enough to keep the plane on the ground.

Somehow he was contacted and was happy to build the damaged part(s) for kicks and grins. Boeing still had the drawings of the necessary part(s) in stock, but in a showing of what's partly wrong with America today, would not release them for legal reasons...... He had to run out to where the bird was parked and create his own drawings.

Since he wouldn't take any money, they sported he and his partner to a ride. He couldn't say enough about the entrie experience.

Brian~

[PALADIN85020]

Several years ago at an air show in Mesa, Arizona's Falcon Field, they were offering rides in the restored B-17 "Sentimental Journey." I didn't have the $500 it required, but I did buy a souvenir spark plug!

[Bat Guano]

My son and daughter in law flew in the aluminum finished one. The wife and I went up in the Collings "909". The experience of a lifetime.

Although I hate ladders and heights, flying doesn't bother me as a rule. However I had to really force myself to go up front and sit in the bombardier's chair with only plexiglas between me and thin air. Don't know if I could have done that if I knew people might shoot at me...not that the aluminum skin was going to stop bullets, cannon shells, and flak much better. It's just the idea, I guess.

Wonderful old birds and certainly "living history" at its best.

[jrd1976]

The flight was everything I expected and more. They have not added modern seats for take-offs and landings. I sat with nothing between me and the fusalage but a foam cushion over a piece of plywood. The seatbelt was original. After takeoff, we were able to roam all over the plane. We had to walk the catwalk between the bomb racks to get to the top gunners position, just behind the pilot/copilot, and go below them to get to the nose gunner position.

They did not install the top plexiglass window above the radio station, so we were able to look through that opening and take pictures.

I did not need earplugs, because the waist gunners windows were plexiglassed.

We could not access the tail gunner or the ball turrent gunner positions.

Two WWII veterans flew with us. They both said this was the first time they had flown in the rear of a B-17. One was a former pilot and the other was a former top gunner.

A friend chose to fly in the B-24, since his dad was a B-24 nose gunner. The dad passed several years ago, but once told his son that you didn't need anyone to tell you when the ME 109's were near; you knew when you saw the P-51's dropping their belly tanks. It was his job to walk the catwalk, over the open bomb bay doors and dislodge bombs that had failed to fall out. He would trigger the release with a screwdriver.

This is a flight you should make. Go to the website in earlier posts to check their schedule.

[calmex]

And you took photos, right? I am so jealous, at least let me see them.

Cheers!

[MaximumLawman]

Wow, it would be worth the money to fly in a B-17 or B-24. Theres no way I can get to LA on those dates but I can dream. Maybe later. Glad you got your flight.

Charlie

Chas.,

You can go to Oklahoma and jump out of a WWII C-47...with a parachute for not a whole lot of money! For the B-17 fans, the following airplanes are going to be at "Thunder Over Michigan" at Willow Run in August:




Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress "Yankee Lady" Yankee Air Museum

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress "Aluminum Overcast" EAA Aviation Foundation
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress "The Movie Memphis Belle" Military Aircraft Restoration Corp
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress "Texas Raiders" Commemorative Air Force - Gulf Coast Wing
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress "Sentimental Journey" Commemorative Air Force - Arizona Wing
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress "Liberty Belle" Liberty Foundation
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress "Nine-O-Nine" Collings Foundation
Consolidated B-24J Liberator "Witchcraft" Collings Foundation

Messerschmitt ME-262 Schwalbe "White 1" Collings Foundation

Messerschmitt BF-109E-4 Russell Group Aviation
North American Aviation P-51D Mustang The Horsemen
North American Aviation P-51D Mustang The Horsemen
North American Aviation P-51D Mustang The Horsemen
North American Aviation TP-51C Mustang "Betty Jane" Collings Foundation

North American Aviation P-51B Mustang "Old Crow" Jack Roush
North American Aviation P-51D Mustang "Gentleman Jim" Jack Roush
North American Aviation B-25D Mitchell "Yankee Warrior" Yankee Air Museum

North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell "Briefing Time" Mid Atlantic Air Museum
Douglas C-47D Skytrain "Yankee Doodle Dandy" Yankee Air Museum
North American Aviation LT-6G Texan "SCREAM 'N REBEL" Jim Greeson
North American Aviation SNJ-5 Texan Dan O' Connor
North American Aviation T-6 Texan Bob Pingston
North American Aviation T-6 Texan "MissTLC/Precious" John Feldvary
North American Aviation SNJ-5 Texan Mark Todd
North American Aviation Harvard CHAA - Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association
North American Aviation Harvard CHAA - Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association
North American Aviation Harvard CHAA - Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association
North American Aviation Harvard CHAA - Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association
Vultee SNV-1 Valiant Bruce Koch
Boeing PT-17 Stearman John Mohr
Boeing PT-17 Stearman Dave & Deb Groh
Boeing PT-17 Stearman Christopher Dackson
Stinson V-77 Reliant Yankee Air Museum
F/A-18F Super Hornet - East Coast Demonstration Team VFA-106 NAS Oceana
F/A-18F Super Hornet - East Coast Demonstration Team VFA-106 NAS Oceana
Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress "Desert Rat" (Display with parts, not a complete aircraft) Mike Kellner
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress "Champaign Lady" (Display with parts, not a complete aircraft)