| Author | Message | ||
     Birdy |
Saw this and as I live about 1/2 mile from the airport and in the landing pattern it could be fun is noisy here! It should be cool and well worth a ride to Dayton to see. http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield -news/local-officials-preparing-for-wwii-tribute-6 40752.html | ||
| 46champ |
I didn't know there were enough 25's left to have that many in one place at the same time. That is great wish I could be there. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
A B-25 flew directly over my house and the town a few years ago. Illegally too low(near tree top level)........but who is going to bitch! Coolest thing I had seen or heard in a long time. Last one was when I spotted a pair of B-17's flying low in a valley at Gallatin MO. Both times it was Confederate Air Force Planes on their way to Osh Kosh..........  | ||
| Americanmadexb |
I would pony up the $400 to ride in one if they were closer! | ||
| Buellish |
I got an opportunity to fly in a B25 in the early 90's.My roommate did the avionics on it. He talked me into riding to the airport with him to pick up a meter he needed at home.When we got there instead of going to his shop he drove to the vintage air museum and they were wheeling the B25 out of the hanger.I was introduced to the owner and invited to fly to an air show in Lagrange, Georgia.Needless to say I tried to wipe the silly grin off my face and said lets go.It was an experience I'll never forget. I learned that day that you can't carry on a conversation next to the engine.I also learned that a B25 is great for picking up chicks. | ||
| Bobh |
My uncle was a young 20 year old Marine in the SW Pacific theater during WW2. He served as a gunner in one of the Marine B25 squadrons. During some of the missions they would fly low over Japanese airfields dropping anti-personnel parafrag bombs. They flew so low that the tree branches and leaves would get stuck in the bomb bay doors as they closed. The gunners would shoot up the field as they raced by and the big machine guns in the nose of the plane took a major toll as well. Those B25's were fearsome weapons to the enemy. I took my uncle and my dad to the Valiant Air Command air show in Titusville, FL several years ago where they had a couple of B25's on display. My uncle's eyes misted up when he saw the airplanes and started to relive those old memories. If one survived, the war was a great adventure for my uncle and his buddies, something you were proud to have experienced, but would never want to go through again. | ||
| Tbolt_pilot |
I would love to see that. Someone please take video of that and post it. One of the things that will bring me running out of the house looking up is the unmistakable chop of a WWII era radial slogging along. I can only imagine the sky filled with them. But I have a special place for the B-17 since that is what my Grandfather wrenched on. | ||
| Gjwinaus |
I tried to bum a joy ride in a B17 fire bomber in Cody, Wyoming in 1979, that would have been one of my defining moments, BUT something about insurance prevented him from doing it, he said they would cut out 2 of his private parts if we crashed, oh well, I think it would have been good. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
When I was but a lad of about 7 or 8 yrs old, the film "Battle of Britain" was shot at Duxford, just down the road from where we lived. The camera plane used was a B-25 if I remember rightly. What a summer! laying on the grass in the garden watching the planes every day. Sometimes me & friend or two would bicycle the half dozen miles to go & watch the take off & landings. Duxford was one of the big fighter stations during the war & is now part of The Imperial War Museum. Well worth a look if you get that way, I highly recommend it. http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/ | ||
| Indy_bueller |
My grandfather was a B-17G pilot in the 95th bomb group stationed at Horham East Anglia. A few years ago he and my brother went to see a B-17 at a local airport that was there giving rides. When folks found out he flew one in the war, they crowded around him and started asking him all kinds of questions. The old fella loved it. It's sad that there are so few of those men left around. If you know one, make sure you talk to him! | ||
| Dwardo |
Yes, the camera plane was a B-25. I believe it was owned by Frank Tallman and Paul Mantz. I have been up close to many warbirds and the B-25 is the loudest airplane I have ever heard, hands down. That thing is loud as S**T. Must be all those really short exhaust stacks. Once I was riding my Norton and heard a bang in the sky. I looked up and there was a B-24 with the wheels down and one propr feathered. I figured he was heading for the local airport and got over there in time to see them pulling a cylinder head. It had dropped a valve. It was the CAF B-24 (cargo version) and they had been headed for a local airshow I hadn't even known about. That was cool! | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
indy my grandfather had a similar king for a day experience some years back in bloomington when the collings foundation flew there 17 in Gramps flew for the 5th AF in the pacific on the original "Dragon and His Tale" and brought the pics with him and now his widow has a wonderful picture collage of the old photo and the new one 60yrs later hanging on the wall in the kitchen they offered to comp him a flight but his health wouldn't allow it he was gone a few years later. | ||
| Crusty |
I've seen pictures of The Dragon and his Tail. Very impressive paint job; it ran almost the length of the fuselage. A co-worker is retired Air Force, and he loves B-24 Liberators. He brought in a book that had photos of quite a few B-24s, and the Dragon was one of the more memorable paint jobs.  |
