S. Cal. B-17 sighting

[scottmandue]

It has been a little surreal at my house for last week or so... a B-17 has been circling my neighborhood, I have also spotted what I believe to be "liberator" WWII bomber. The liberator commonly flys out of Torrance airport so it is not too unusual to see it (kind of weird to pull into Home Depot and have a bomber zoom over your head coming in for a landing)
There was a large film crew working in the area so I presume that is what was going on however we have some pilots that post here that also live in my area so I thought I would check in to see if they knew what was going on.

[Porschephile944]

If you are seeing a B-24 "liberator" it belongs to the collings foundation. http://www.collingsfoundation.org/ They own the only flying example in the world. They also have a B-17 and are touring in southern California right now.

Somehow my parents managed to buy a house that is right in the take off pattern of there "home base" in Stow Massachusetts. During the summer we pretty consistently have the single engine prop planes flying over and once a summer or so the B-17 and 24 will make a few passes. It is definitely very cool to see those things flying right above your head.

[wheatdog]

When the flying circus showed up in New Orleans about 18 mos ago, I threw down my $400 bucks for one of the coolest rides I've ever been on. Loaded up on the B-17 for about a 30 min jaunt around Lake Ponchartrain. They put about 10 of us in and once we leveled out, let us wander around the plane. No access to the ball turret or the tail gun area though. Sat up front spread eagled around the Norden bombsight and imagined how exposed I would feel with a FW-190 coming head on with the nose cannon lit up. They even let us hang out of the Navigator's hatch behind the upper gun turret. Pulled out what little hair I have left on my head after hanging out in the 200mph breeze. Before starting up the 4 Wright Cyclone 9 cyl radials, each engine had to be hand propped 9 times to clear any possible oil from the cylinders. I even had fun helping push that huge prop. You should have seen the beautiful blonde girl who was the co-pilot on the B-24. My buddy went for a ride there and didn't have much to say about the scenery, just how gorgeous the co pilot was.

Mike

[Superman]

Those planes come to Olympia once or twice each summer. They like it here. Yes, it is special, to say the least, to see and especially to hear these marvellous aircraft. Also, it seems clear to me now at least part of why these planes were so beloved. Besides their legendary ability to fly with huge chunks of their flight surfaces missing, these things look like a darned porcupine with all the gun barrels sticking out. You can't approach a B-17 without having eight or ten gun barrels pointing at you.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I've been watching that too over the last few days. Did several low-ish (pattern altitude) passes over my place on Sunday - possibly doing some sort of recurrent training or landing practice at LGB?

Cool as hell either way.

[Neilk]

I live under the Love Field flight path in Dallas. When the Collins Foundation was here several weeks ago, the B-17, B-24 and B25s would fly right over my apartment. They sounded AWESOME.

I wish I had a spare $400 lying around to get a ride...

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I used to see a silver B-17 flying in and out of Van Nuys airport on occassion.

[aj88cab]

Absolutely nothing like the sound a B-17 flying overhead. My Father was in the Air Force stationed in England during WWII. He was Staff Sergent of a crew that worked on B-17's. He could tell stories for hours about those days. I think he could still take apart one of those engine in his mind 40 years later. He told me once while we were tuning up my 914 that hey used to tune the B-17s literally by "ear", the sound of the engine was their guide. He taught me how to work on cars, what a gift. The only TV show he would go out of his way to watch was "12 O'Clock High". I believe he felt about B-17s the same way we feel about our Porsches. My Uncle told me once that his crew never lost a plane due to mechanical failure. A few years ago I was going thru some boxes my Mother had found stashed in the basement and I came across his notebook from B-17 maintenance school. Unbelievable hand drawn assembly details of the engines and other components. My father passed about 20 years ago, knowing what it meant to him, it brought tears to my eyes when I saw it. No doubt he flew to heaven on a Flying Fortress!

[FrayAdjacent911]

I believe there's a B-17 operating in Texas, that you can pay to ride in. I think it's about $400 or so for like a half hour ride.

Someday, I'd like to do that. Not many people, in this day and age, could ever say they flew in a B-17. I want to be one of them.

[Jeff Higgins]

My mom is 75 years young and still working here at Boeing, at the Plant II facility in Seattle. I had some business down there about a month ago, so I took her to lunch. We stopped in the old final assembly building on the way back. In it is stored a B17 and a B29 being restored by volunteers. She started crying as we were poking around on the B17.

Several years ago, there was a big event at the Museum of Flight, right accross the street from Plant II. A B17, B24, and B29 flew over in formation. She cried then, too. She asked me if I could possibly imagine what it must have been like to see hundreds in formation flying overhead. To hear them for an hour before you could see them, even in broad daylight.

My mom was a young girl growing up in Germany, in the small farming town of Warburg, during WWII. It's just outside of Kassel, home at the time of a large ball bearing factory. Early in the war, they would all run to their basements in the middle of the night as the air raid sirens wailed. Later, when the bombers came in broad daylight, and they realized Warburg would never be a target, they would sit on the roof and watch them bomb Kassel. How surreal. I just could not imagine what that would have been like.

My mom is a remarkable woman. She tells me the happiest day of her life (next to marrying my dad) was the day the Allies rolled through Warburg. They were giving the kids rides in their Jeeps, trucks, and tanks. My mom was a rather good looking young lady, with braided blond hair down to her... legs. She had no trouble getting a ride on a tank. Anyway, she sure has some stories to tell about those days. Her all-time favorite airplane is the B17; she just can't look at one without crying.

[Tim Hancock]

Most of the month of May, the EAA's B-17 "Aluminum Overcast" is scheduled to be making the rounds at various California airports giving tours and rides. This plane was just repaired earlier this spring after being down for awhile due to a landing incident. Often when this plane makes it's rounds, other warbirds show up for photo ops etc. Here is a link to the tour schedule. http://www.b17.org/tour/

The vertical stabilizer on "Aluminum Overcast" is green with a large white "W" painted above an "H". This rest of the plane is basically silver.

[Superman]

That's a completely cool story, Jeff. Completely.

[Bob's Flat-Six]

Yes, Cool story Jeff.
Nothing like the experiences that your mom has.


I saw a program on cable once about a team of guys who went down to Antarctica (I think) to salvage a B17 that went down there during the war.
They brought the plane back to life after much blood, sweat and tears and $$$ only to loose her on her first take off when a can of gas that was left inside turned over setting the plane on fire.

It was surreal.

[KevinP73]

I saw the same plane or a similar one leaving Burbank last week. It sure is a sight to see. Can you imagine the sky filled with hundreds of those. Awesome

[typ550]

What's surreal is having a Heinkel-111 fly over your house. We're in the flightpath for a local airport that usually hosts the CAF when they come to the area. They have a Spanish-built HE-111 (with RR Merlin engines), but it's still the only one you're going to see in the air.

Also cool was having Glacier Girl (the P-38 recovered from under the ice in Greenland) flying over the neighborhood. A friend of mine was on several of the expeditions to bring that plane out of the ice.

[zuffen]

flew in "Fuddy Duddy" last year during an event at Boeing and WOW what an experience.

A bunch of old B-17 Pilots were on board telling stories as we flew over Seattle

[joehahn]

I flew in that liberator (B-24J "Dragon and his Tail") when my Grandfather died in 2001. He had helped with the restoration. He died July 31, 2001, exactly 57 years to the day after being shot down piloting a B-24J over Ludwigshaven. It would take me an hour to type out all the cool stuff he told me (Stalag Luft III, Jimmy Stewart, 50 Urns of those shot after the Great Escape from Luft III, etc etc etc) but nothing rivaled that plane. He would talk about it constantly as if it was part of the crew or "alive" (having trouble articulating here...). Anyway, when he died I flew in the B-24 from Quonsett in RI to somewhere in Connecticut. It was absolutely amazing. One of the best hours of my life. Can't believe those guys would fly those planes for 10 hours or so through flak and fighters. I miss him a lot! I am now hopelessly addicted to the history channel and military channel WWII documentaries.

joe

[kevin993]

Good topic. Here are a few pics from my trip in the Collings B-17 last year out of Long Beach. Definately one of the coolest things I've ever done. Enjoy!

[Bob's Flat-Six]

It's hard to imagine what it must have been like to fly a bombing mission in one.

A big plane loaded down with bombs, flying into a country that knew how to make weapons to bring you down.

That took guts. God bless those guy's.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Bob's Flat-Six
Yes, Cool story Jeff.
Nothing like the experiences that your mom has.


I saw a program on cable once about a team of guys who went down to Antarctica (I think) to salvage a B17 that went down there during the war.
They brought the plane back to life after much blood, sweat and tears and $$$ only to loose her on her first take off when a can of gas that was left inside turned over setting the plane on fire.

It was surreal.

That plane was a B-17G model and it was on Greenland. Friend of mine was on the recovery mission.

What happened was there was a gasoline powered aux power unit in the tail of some of these birds. It caught fire and they could not put it out. Everyone bailed out and stood there and watched it burn to the ground.... So sad to see.

Jeff, know what you mean. My ex-wife's Mother is from Berlin and she remembers the bombing of the city very well, among other things. The stories that she told kept us listening for hours on end.

The men and women of this time really were "The Greatest Generation"...