I know it's a boat forum but...

[Derek]

for those who appreciate vintage aircraft, I stopped by the Gathering of the Warbirds at the Olympia Airport this evening and grabbed some shots of the only flying B-24 in existence.

http://groups.msn.com/B24Liberator/shoebox.msnw

My grandfather flew 24's in WWII out of England and Italy and this was my first chance to see one up close and personal.

[Barry Pyeatt]

That must have been an enjoyable outing. Not often that we get a chance to see these old warbirds up close and personal like that.

I was fortunate to get to spend the day with my son at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The B-24 on display there was dwarfed by some of the other huge airplanes on display, but it was still a great bird.

They made a huge difference in the war.

[MikeStevenson]

The B-24 came through Monterey Airport two or three weeks ago. I didn't get out to see it, but have in years past (when we were still down south). Did you get to see the planes flying? When we were still living down in San Diego the B-24 and its companion B-17 came through town. They spent several days flying up and down the coast in front of our house. It was really impressive: especially when they'd do low passes just along the surf line! Thundering machines shaking the house...pretty cool. I wanted to take a ride then, but they were asking $150. Now it's $350 or something.

Glad they're still around, and not being used to bomb brush fires any longer. That was thrillling to watch but a waste of historic machines, particularly when better planes exist to do the job.

Mike

[capt jake]

Oh man!! Did I miss it again?? I love that show!!! I seem to miss it every year except the one that I made it!

[Guest EdWoerle]

Did you ever otice how BIG they look in the movies? And how SMALL they are up close and personal? I am fortunate in that the first airplane I ever worked on for pay was a B17. That was back in 195mumble-mumble-mumble. Still work on flying tin and still get a kick out of them

[Guest EdWoerle]

Can you imagine flying these things at 20,000 feet altitude WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN! That relates to about -30f. No wonder they wore electric socks.

[Guest]

My former neighbor was a flight instructor on the B-24. He hand a bunch of old timey WWII guys have a lunch group called ROMEO[Real Old Men Eating Out] and talk about a lot of the stuff that went on.

He flew in it in Florida. His sons gave him a mahagony model of it for his birthday.

Frank, if this is too much of off topic, you can remove it. What stories he can tell. One that comes to mind is that when in England, he would take the beer up in them an fly around till it got cold enough and return to ground for total enjoyment.

[Robert Cox]

I personally don't see anything wrong with this topic. There are many of us here who love airplanes too.

The B-24 and B-17 usually stop each year down here at Tamiami airport in Miami. They fly them almost every day giving rides. The best part is our warehouse is only a mile and a half off the end of the runway.

I like sailing boats because of the lack of noise, but I love the old warplanes because of it. When the B-24 or B-17 take off it's a mini-earthquake.

Have you ever seen a P-51 flyby at low level doing 300 kts. There is no sweeter sound than that old Merlin wound up.

Bob

[P Doug (WA)]

I can't stay out of this one.. My son flys the F-18 Superhornet in the Navy. Last year he spent part of his time going to air shows all over the states doing the Legacy flight demos (he flew in formation with old war birds). What a year he had. He got to actually fly some of the old birds including one of the old bombers I can't remember which - B-24 , B-17. If any of you here in the Northwest went to the Whidbey Island air show he flew there. He got us into a private "old war bird" fly in barbeque held in Calif., there were at least 20+ P-51's there alone, and all kinds of other old birds. He got us into the Reno Air Races, with tarmac passes, pit passes the works. I LOVE HIS NAVY CAREER. Coarse there is always a down side, he is now bobbing around off the coast of North Korea, on the USS Carl Vincant. They just extended the cruse, until November, that will put him out there 11 months.

Oh, he also got to do most of the flying of the F-18 in the show "Behind Enemy Lines". Many hours of flying turned in to about 30 seconds movie time.

[Craig]

These are nice airplanes. Many years ago I did some contract work on the wiring in a B24 slurry bomber working some NM fires. The Forest Service had a permenent loading/mixing station at Kirtland AFB in Albq. The sister ship was an old Navy P-5 with the little Jet mods. D model I think it was. Nice tin. That 24 and 17 come through here every summer and offer rides out of Bob ikes Airport at Crestview.....[/i]

[Derek]

Mike,

the 24 and the 17 flew directly over the house (we are in the flight path for the tour) 3 times last evening and expect to see a few more flights through the weekend. Got the telephoto lens out on the SLR camera for some good flight shots (I hope). Luckily here in Olympia its overcast all weekend, so they are flying at about 1200 feet. And the flight cost is now $400. But I'll be saving for it next year!

Jake,

they are there all weekend so stop by. Many other aircraft as well but my interest was in the 24.

Here's some of the other aircraft there http://www.olympicflightmuseum.com/aircraft_gallery/aircraft_inventory.htm

Sorry Frank for being way off topic.

[Frank Hagan]

Sorry Frank for being way off topic.

I declare it on topic.

There's a reason we all built boats instead of airplanes. Mine is that I can SWIM, but I can't FLY, so I could trust my abilities on a boat!

Great pictures. My uncle worked on them in England throughout the war, and my dad was intending to be a pilot. He was in the Air Corps at the Santa Ana Army Air Base when he met my mother, but washed out when he couldn't get code (Hagan's have no rhythm!)

His job then was to "take soil samples" (his description of the Infantry) and landed at Normandy a few weeks after D-day, went through Holland, was in the Battle of the Bulge, wen over the bridge at Ramaqen and into Berlin to wait for the Russians. Got there 2 weeks before the Russians, so they had to wait. And, he claims, some "fresh guys" were picked to meet the Russians because after a year of "taking soil samples", he and his men didn't look their best.

What those guys did, back then, is why we can do what we do today. Honoring them is always on topic.

[Andrew]

Frank et al.

There's a reason we all built boats instead of airplanes. Mine is that I can SWIM, but I can't FLY, so I could trust my abilities on a boat!

This is exactly where I started some 6 months ago now....

I was looking into building a Volksplane (VW powered plywood aircraft) but just couldn't bring myself to trust my building ability at 10,000'.

So I figured why don't I try something as adventurous, but not quite soooo life threatening :shock:

Then I found the Stevproj site after looking for a boat to build and PRESTO here I am.

Thinking back I'm kinda sorta glad the plane project never made it 'off the ground' so to speak - yous guys are a top bunch, the boat looks like a hoot - the lake's only a couple of minutes away - I don't have to deal with HEAPS of RED TAPE, the kids can join me, the kids can even steer/sail, the dog can come too, I can camp overnight........etc.etc. :wink:

Now i'm thinking of canning the whole plane project after the boat is finished and prehaps look into making a bigger boat at a much later date - to do some serious cruising up the coast.

So thanx all to the Stevensons, Frank for this site (and his other one) and to all yous guys that give the words of encouragement when I need it, critisism when I don't (LOL) and the help when I ask (ALL the time)