Old aircraft pics...
 

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358911577.jpg
This is a Bristol freighter that I got my first aircraft ride on.
Us on top. Car below going from Lydd UK to Le Touquet France

My father in RAF in front of Tiger Moth around 1937
 

My father late 1930's in RAF uniform in the UK
 

Very interesting.

What did he fly in WWII?

Nice photos!

He was a pilot in a Lancaster and did 2 tours of operations. He got the DFC and bar.
He was an acting Wing Commander at the end of WW2. I have a list somewhere of all the cities he bombed during WW2. He survived the war but got delayed shock reaction after WW2. He was never the same after the war my mother says and never talked about it.

I have his prewar log books but my mother donated the wartime ones to a museum.
He was a teacher during the 1930's and much to his mother's disgust he quit being a teacher to join the Royal Air Force. He was an only child . So when WW2 came up he was prime for being a bomber pilot. At the end of WW2 he had the choice of staying in admin. in the air force or leaving for civilian life. He could not fly anymore because his hearing was bad. Anyway he decided to leave the RAF and open a garage.
He sold Austins, Morris etc and employed mechanics to fix cars. Sold gas etc.
He died in 1967 of cancer. My mother stayed single for the rest of her life.
They were both strong people in their own ways.

Great story. Any pics of the Lancaster?

One of the last two Lancasters in operation in the world lives about 5km from my house. We see (and hear!) it fly over all the time in the summer. It's very slow, and very loud. Kind of like my 911 :) Cool story about it, the father of a friend of my dad's flew it in the war, and when they were finished restoring it the log book was on display - turns out this guy was one of the last pilots to operate it during the war.

CANADIAN WARPLANE HERITAGE

btw, that museum is absolutely awesome - if you're ever around this way (west edge of lake Ontario, 45 min. north of Niagara Falls, 45 min. west of Toronto) it's well worth an hour or 2 to stop in and have a look. It's both a museum and a workshop, and you can watch the mechanics working on the planes. Now that's a dream job.

Maybe not the exact one my father flew but similar.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359233064.jpgPic taken in 1974 and was flying then.
Likely pic taken in Lincolnshire UK.

And she's still flying, still operated by the RAF.
PA474 :
RAF BBMF - Lancaster PA474
is the 'flagship' of the Battle of Britain Memorial flight.

Absolutely brilliant machine...

When I was in 4th grade 1963 our neighbor across the street was building a Lotus race car in his garage. Little old me naturally gravitated over there. Turns out he had joined the Canadian RAF in1940 and flew Spits and Hurricanes early on. Then P-38's, P-47's and finally Mustangs. Man he could tell great stories.

Another neighbor story. I had an old neighbor in the mid '70s who was in the Pacific during WWII. He wasn't a pilot, but a mechanic who was flown all over the theatre to repair downed planes. If it was repairable, he'd get it up & going to be flown back to a nearby base to be fixed more extensively. He said he flew back to base lots of times when he'd be finished and they would send a pilot out to fairy the place back. I guess he had a decent level of confidence in his work.

My daughter in front of the Lanc at the Warplane Museum:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359251248.jpg

Met this guy at my work. A brief conversation with him took a sharp turn when asked "What did you do in the Air Force?" AFAIK, Ed is still driving a wood pulp truck in northern WI as this was how his U-2 career ended. Wow.

56-6714 art.#381
Lost on 31 January 1980 near Oroville, CA. USAF Pilot: Edward I. Beaumont lost consciousness while on a training flight the aircraft. The aircraft glided earthward, followed by a chase aircraft, till it hit some high tension electrical lines causing the U-2 to slowly spiral to the ground. Where having regained consciousness by the sudden jolt of hitting the ground, the pilot exited the U-2.
The U-2 is now mounted on pylon at Beale AFB, CA.

Did Dad ever bail out over Italy?

http://i2.listal.com/image/2718867/9...ve-buscemi.jpg

No he never did. Always managed to bring his aircraft home. He came home on three engines once probably due flak damage. They think they shot down an enemy aircraft but nothing confirmed. On one of the pics of a damaged aircraft my mother wrote that Glen was good at crashing aircraft. He was in three aircraft accidents before WW2.

I really liked Steve Buscemi in that movie based in N.Dakota - the name of it escapes me right now. However I do appreciate your humor. :)

If I come up with any more photos I will post them here.

And the Constellation cockpit photo was great thanks to that poster....
Am I correct in saying that the Connie had no autopilot?If so was it any good?