Aviation Art…

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B17G-30-BO of the 333rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group encounters home defense Me109s over Germany in 1944.

Comments

Aviation Art… — 13 Comments

  1. It took a lot of guts to get in those bombers and face, flack, fighters and mechanical difficulties over and over in the hopes of making 50 missions. A lot didn’t.

  2. The B-17 Superfortress is my favorite of the heavy bombers of WWII. A beautifully designed machine with a crew of 10 men and with a skin like chewing gum wrappers. No heat to combat the below zero temperatures up in the heavens, and very few of the crews made it through the required missions. A hardy bunch who flew day after day with little odds of returning to base alive. Talk about working under stress. Hand salute to everyone of them.

  3. Hey Old NFO;

    The B-17 is also one of my favorites, I have a picture of one making a run over Berlin in my man cave. it took a special bunch to do what they did.

  4. Back in the mid-sixty’s I was fortunate enough to work with a Major Gooch in a KC-135 Flt Simulator (he an IP & I an operator) At one time during WWII he was the youngest Aircraft Commander flying B-17’s from England over Germany. After he got to know me we had some great discussions. I asked how he managed to cope @ the 4 am briefings when you knew nearly half the Bombers would be shot down that day. He said simply that you figured the guy sitting on the left and the guy sitting on the right would be shot down that day !!

  5. Near and dear to my heart. I may have mentioned here before that my dad was a B-17 pilot. He flew 35 combat missions over Europe with the 447th BG.

    http://www.447bg.com/

    The Collings Foundation used to put Chico, CA on their schedule when touring the west coast.

    http://www.collingsfoundation.org/aircrafts/boeing-b-17g-flying-fortress/

    Aero Union had a base and fire fighting tanker fleet (S-2’s and P-3’s)there. They would assist Collings with any maintenance they needed to do.

    In 2004 they came through with their B-17 and B-24. I was fortunate to be able to go out to the airport during the week when there was not much of a crowd. By chance I struck up a conversation with a white-haired gentleman named Jim Hoffman. Turns out he was a navigator with the 91st BG, and flew two missions aboard the original 909. He and I went through the plane together, and I had my mini-cam rolling the whole time. I have since burned it onto DVD, along with text frames explaining each part to the video so that anyone can watch it without introduction.

  6. LL/WSF- Absolutely right! They clanked when they walked!

    CP- Agreed!

    Bob- No question, and to me the ballsiest were the belly turret gunners. 5’2″ on average, if things went wrong they were stuck!

    Woody- That had to have been VERY interesting!

    RHT- I do remember you talking about that! I’d love to have a copy of that DVD! I’ve toured Aluminum Overcast, and talked to a former gunner who flew both B-17s and B-29s. He was pretty deaf, and had lifelong problems due to frostbite suffered on missions over Germany.

  7. I love when the B-17 at the Yankee Air Force approaches over my house.
    I always think back to the opening to Twelve O’Clock High.

  8. I went up in that airplane on Memorial Day of 2008 for the “flight experience.” The Collings Foundation’s re-named plane anyhow. Their aircraft is a B-17G (Serial # 44-83575) that was too late for combat but did serve as part of the Air/Sea 1st Rescue Squadron, and later in the Military Air Transport Service.
    (https://notclauswitz.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/memorial-day-2008/ )

    The flight up and around the Bay was like riding on a big plush sofa, especially compared to the howling/shaking rattle of their hot-rod B-25 Mitchel “Tondelayo”. THAT was a real scream! (https://notclauswitz.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/so-loud-i-couldnt-hear-myself-think/)
    (http://www.collingsfoundation.org/aircrafts/north-american-b-25-mitchell/).

  9. Oops! Sorry, I didn’t mean to embed that, just provide a link – but it popped-up anyhow. What’s the matter with YouTube?