B17 ride

[CATI1835]

The thread about the B29 comes at an opportune time. Not wanting to hijack it, I decided to start one myself for the B17. Yesterday I got a seat on a B17 flight out of DAL, Frontiers of Flight Museum. It was part of the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour. They offer rides on a B17, B24 and B25. They also offer a P51 for the more enriched http://smith-wessonforum.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

A worthy foundation and a great cause. I wanted to do this for years and finally asked myself why I was putting it off. I couldn't come up with a good answer.

Here are a couple of pics as well as a link to the video I took of takeoff. I was seated for takeoff in the radio operator's chair. I enjoyed the experience. I enjoyed it A LOT. Already thinking about the B24 next year.

My wife took the takeoff still and I took everything else inside the aircraft with my cell.

Click here for video:
Flickr

 

[S&W ucla]

Rode that one a few years ago. Well worth the price of admission. Quite a view from that front seat! Have an even greater respect for those of the greatest generation that flew in them.

 

[zzzippper]

Good for you. It is a bucket list item that this old man will never be able to afford.

 

[Watchdog]

Beautiful plane! Nice photos!! Lucky you!!!

 

[Papaw]

Outstanding! My father was a flight instructor for B17s and B24s during WWII. I still have his B17 pilots training manual.

 

[BUFF]

I've been up in a B-17, B-24 and a Ford Tri-Motor. Sky-dived out of a B-25 one jump about 1969-1970 in High School. That was a disappointment, I was under the impression we would go out through the bomb bay but, no, we went out the same side door we came in through.

I see one of the organizations is bring in their B-25 in May. I may try it again. The sounds those big radials make are incredible.

 

[loknload]

Outstanding!
That's been on my bucket list for years now!
The B-17 is my most favorite plane from WWII

 

[30-30remchester]

My wife and her dad were inseparable then one day he just up and died. Her feeling of loss is still felt today. He was a ball turret gunner on a B-17 during the big war. So I gave her a ride on the B-17 Sentimental Journey as a birthday present. Sure beat diamond earrings as a present.

 

[Walter Rego]

I have gone for a ride on both the B-24 and the B-17 that belong to the Collings Foundation. My dad was a Navigator on a B-24 with the 15th AF and it was absolutely thrilling to see what it must have been like. Other than the FLAK and 20mm shells coming through the fuselage of course. We took a cruise down the southern California coast on a beautiful spring day each time. There is absolutely nothing like the sound and smell of the 4 supercharged engines whining and turning over and coughing until they start and then the whole plane vibrating and coming to life. It truly gave me goose bumps. I may take another ride in the B-24.

 

[30-30remchester]

I have gone for a ride on both the B-24 and the B-17 that belong to the Collings Foundation. My dad was a Navigator on a B-24 with the 15th AF and it was absolutely thrilling to see what it must have been like. Other than the FLAK and 20mm shells coming through the fuselage of course. We took a cruise down the southern California coast on a beautiful spring day each time. There is absolutely nothing like the sound and smell of the 4 supercharged engines whining and turning over and coughing until they start and then the whole plane vibrating and coming to life. It truly gave me goose bumps. I may take another ride in the B-24.

Walter may I ask when your father was in the 15th? My father-in-law was also in the 15th. He flew 32 times in the ball of a B-17 and credited with 51 mission. He flew from August thru December 1944. There was always a rivalry between B-17 and B-24 crewmen. The B-17 is the most beautiful 4 engine bomber of the war. The B-24 was a better long range bomber but was just ugly. The Germans called it the flying furniture van. B-17 crewmen claimed the B-24 was the crate the B-17 came in. It took me nearly 20 years to find the actual plane my F-I-L flew it. With help of others I have a photo of it. If you are interested in a book about the 15th in service I would be glad to lend you my copy of "The Forgotten Fifteenth", the written history of the 15th.

 

[chief38]

I was on the Memphis Belle about 14 years ago. It was not the original MB as that one is in some air museum in TN I believe, but this WAS a real restored WWll combat B17 that was done up to replicate the MB down to the smallest detail. It was pretty cool! At that time not only were my son and I in the plane but we actually met Col. Robert Morgan who was the Pilot of the original Memphis Belle. I purchased one of his books and he autographed it to my son and I. Col. Morgan has passed on now but I have plenty of photos of us with him and aboard the MB. A very cool and historic experience we will never forget.

 

[Bat Guano]

The wife and I rode that same B-17 about 8 years ago. It was worth every penny. I even made myself go up in that plexiglas nose for a while, and I HATE heights. The trip of a lifetime, though.

 

[Glashaus]

They are awesome planes and it is quite an experience to go up in one. I had the bombardiers seat on a flight last Fall on the Texas Raider, a B17G with the Commemorative Air Force that is based in the Houston area. I could sit in that seat and take a flight everyday, it was something that was on my bucket list.

 

[BigBill]

Is this the one that tours the country with a p51 mustang giving rides?

 

[Cardboard_killer]

Twice in my life I've had Wow moments brushing up with WWII icons. The first, when I was in high school I was at the beach early one Sunday morning, and as I was leaving I looked out over the calm ocean and saw the USS New Jersey being towed to New Orleans. I didn't know that at the time, I just looked out and said, that's a dang battleship! Later that day I heard it on the news.

The second was driving home from work one day in my little town, I happened to look up and saw a plan, and said, that's B-17! I knew it had to be going to the local airport, so I "fallowed" it over. They were just stopping by to fill up (our municipal airport keeps the lowest fuel prices in the area) on its way to Lakeland.

I would love to fly in one, but I wouldn't do it. I get motion sickness really easy and just know I'd be throwing up the whole time. Weired too, as my dad was an USAF navigator.

 

[CATI1835]

Is this the one that tours the country with a p51 mustang giving rides?

Yes, for about $4K. Here is the actual plane:

 

[chief38]

When the Air Show comes to my neck of the woods every July 4th weekend
I LOVE to hear the sound of all the WWll era Planes fly over my house. I am only about 15 miles from the airport where they land and take off from and when they fly over they are at about 1000 - 1500 feet (as best as I can estimate) so I've got a great view and some great sound! Once in a while I go to the Show but won't go if it's a super hot and humid day.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing that.

If you haven't read this one you need to. Lucky 666, the Impossible Mission.


I had enough rides on a C-117D (C-47) while in the Navy. God I hated that plane. Nothing ever worked right, always waiting for parts and looking for a beach to ditch. We flew over the beaches a lot. It was built in 1947 and still in service 23 years after it was built when we used it. Who knows, someone may still be using it hauling bananas or fish

At least your ride had 4 engines. One of the great things about those B-17's, you could shoot them to pieces and they would still get you home. They even used them for low level bomb runs on Japanese ships in the Pacific. They would come in low level and skip the bombs into the ships. The book highlights the B-17 used from bases in Australia. Most decorated aircrew in WW2 flew the last mission of a B-17, tail no. 666. Mostly all you read about is their use in Europe where most were sent.

 

[A-37]

B-25

Photos taken at Reese AFB, Lubbock TX in 1957. Reese AFB was one of the B-25 training bases.

I'm the guy under the prop dome.

The colonel is Travis Hoover, our school commander. You might recognize the name; he was the pilot of the No. 2 plane off the Hornet with Doolittle's Raiders.

 

[shouldazagged]

I'm terribly envious of you folks who have flown in the 17's and 25's. I could never afford it when the opportunity arose.

Closest I came was a short flight in a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor that was eight years older than I, and a few precious minutes at the controls of a C-47--I'm not a pilot.