Yo:
Susan reminded me that I hadn't checked in with the post-flight debrief.
Oh man.
Tough to get started, almost one of those "words fail me" things.
Almost.
Attached a few pix to this... hopefully it won't balloon the size of the message too bad. Accidently switched the date setting to Day Month Year, so it really was October 5 when all this happened.
If you want to read more about these planes, check out http://www.collingsfoundation.org/
And now, to our story.
This all came about through one of the guys at the gliderport, who is learning to fly gliders as one of Paul's (bro-in-law) students.. He donated some thousands of bux to the Collings Foundation, got his name on the side of the plane, and as a plane sponsor gets to ride in it from city to city from time to time. Super nice guy... Can bring a few guests along, too. NICE to have friends in high places. Got a pic of him polishing his name on the side (Alain).
Weather started off pretty iffy... when I left home at 9 a.m. it was maybe 800 over, 1 mile in drizzle. But as I left the greater Stroudsburg metroplex and got closer to Hazleton the weather started to break up. By the time we flew around 2 p.m., you couldn't have ordered a better day for this flight. Screaming blue skies, calm air, early fall Poconos warm/cool, awesome all the way.
They sold rides for $400 for what basically amounted to a long spin around the pattern, had 8 or 9 takers for each plane which I guess for Hazleton is some sort of record. While the planes were on display we had a chance to spend time in the B-24... the only restored, flying B-24 anywhere. Remarkable... there's so little space inside either of these two planes for anything but bombs. They planned to have the B-25 there as well but, can you believe it, couldn't get a pilot? I'd do just about anything to fly one of these planes, any one of 'em, and here they are coming up short on pilots. Incredible. (Maybe it's time to get checked out in a B-25... anyone got a spare $30K or so?) Anyway, we took a few pix of the B-24, and climbed around inside... but most of our attention was focused on the -17.
We knew that was our ride.
After they finished with the local flights, it was time for us to climb in for the flight to Carroll County airport in Westminster, MD. We all had to be buckled in during ground ops, but as soon as the wheels left the ground, we could get up & go wherever we wanted. For takeoff I had an awesome seat at the left side, just forward of the waist gunner position, at a radio (with telegraph key). Unlike the folks further back, I actually had a small window. They had to sit on the floor, strapped in... at least I could see out, nice for me.
I expected this airplane to be LOUD... and it was pretty loud, but not as much as I expected. I brought along my DC headset, in case it was either (a) too loud and I had to put them on for protection, or (b) I could plug in. Turns out, I did neither. Those 9 cylinder radial engines really purr, a smooth, flowing sound, no brap brap brap at all. It was way too loud to hold a normal conversation, but you could make yourself heard if you shouted and were about 1 ft. away from the person you're talking to... all in all, about the same acoustics & volume as the Irish pub here in town.
I made a beeline for the bombardier's station as soon as we were wheels up, and stayed there while we climbed to a lofty 2200 ft. for the flight to MD. Scoped it out, spun the seat, adjusted the Norden bombsight, then (grudgingly, hesitatingly) let the others have a crack at it. It requires some gymnastics just to get to the bombardier's station... you have to crawl down through a tunnel, then back up a couple steps. But man, whatta view... perfect viz in all directions, including (especially) straight down. Left the bombardier's station, stood behind the pilots a while (note the GPS moving map in front of the pilot, vs. the 60-year-old power levers with the chipped paint between the pilot and co-pilot). Up to the radio operator's station, confirmed that our mission planning hadn't changed, did some celestial nav, fired a few hundred .50 cal rounds at a swarm of incoming Me262's, saved the B-17 once again. Back to the bombardier's station, took out a ball-bearing factory, an ammo dump, *and* a rail yard -- all on the same bombing run (a record for the month!). Captain Mitty got on the intercom with his warm congratulations on a Job Well Done.
Of course this plane has a few mods, one of the best ones being where they cut the roof off right in the middle of the plane, so as you're flying you can stand up and stick your whole head in the slipstream. An incredible view, completely unrestricted.
As we flew across central PA, I couldn't help but think how the landscape had to look like Germany, 1945... gently rolling hills, mostly small farms, lots of trees, a very few small towns. But you can bet we were thinking very different thoughts than when Uncle Ed was fline these for real Back When.
The other thing that struck me was... the skin on this airplane is t h i n and if you get hurt, you are in a World of Trouble. I never thought about it much, just sort of assumed these planes were armored, or at least protected *somehow*... but no. There is very little space to move around at all, much less try to treat someone who's bleeding all over the floor. Then there's the poor guy stuck in the ball turret (the station below the belly of the airplane... he sits in there scrunched over, firing his machine guns when needed). There's no way out for that guy... he gets in and out of the ball turret only when the plane is parked. So if there's any trouble with landing (say, one of the main gear legs breaks off) it's all over for him.
I had tons of respect for the guys fline these planes before... but now, seeing what they had to work with, thinking of sucking oxygen through a mask in an unpressurized plane at 31,000 ft. when it's 40 below outside and not much warmer in, the 22 year old captains and the 17 year old waist gunners and the 19 year old radio operators, and the guy stuck in that ball turret for 6 hrs. at a time, hoping the gear stays on when they land. Unbelievable.
What an incredible day. Thanks, Uncle Ed.
Cheers
