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Holy Crap!


JoJo35

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There I was, minding my own business washing the car outside in the driveway...

..and I hear this very loud drone.. coming closer... and closer..

..it was the sound of four sixty year old radial engines, not even a thousand feet over my home. An ancient B-17, like some kind of spooky ghost from a not so distant past, flew directly over!

EDIT:

I just got back from the airport where I took a couple pics of the ship as it buzzed the field, and then went around to make another pass for a landing:

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Where are you located? Could you tell how it was painted- see any of the numbers or the nose art? There are only 13 of those aircraft left flying in the world today.

Several tour the country, three ( that I know of) carry passengers, sell rides at their stops. Interesting to know which one it was. (Your pic is of the Sally B, in the UK, I think. )

I've been aboard the EAA's Aluminum Overcast twice, and ground-crewed for it a few times. It is an awesome experience to spend time around one of these birds at their tour stops- just sitting under the wing and listening to snippets of conversations, watching the faces of some of the folks visiting who actually flew these craft in the forties.

And then watching as a 65-year-old bomber fires up and takes off... there ain't a match to the sound of a round engine, unless it's four of 'em flying in tight formation!

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And then watching as a 65-year-old bomber fires up and takes off... there ain't a match to the sound of a round engine, unless it's four of 'em flying in tight formation!

DrHydro, I was at Geneseo in '06 attending the flying aces nationals the week after that airshow. I didn't get the chance to see the 'Belle take off, but they fired up all four and moved the aircraft into the hangar towards the end of the day :)

PS: Today is at Teterboro :D

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That is a very cool thing to happen. I love WW2 aircarft and the B17 is pretty rare. I saw one flying out here at Nellis AFB a couple years ago, and the sound of those engines is like nothing else in the world.

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Something like that happened to me earlier this summer. A P40 was flying over my house... just doing circles... blowing some smoke too... for about 10 minutes... around and around... I guess he was happy to have an audience because we were all out in the yard waving... this is a pretty rural area and I can't imagine what else he could have been doing. Anyway, that plane was flying so slowly, all I could think about was what an easy target those guys must have been when they were actually fighting a war. So slow, so shiny, so elegant and with an engine that's a pleasure to hear. I really felt like watching that thing overhead transported me back in time. I'm sure Grahams weren't around back then- at least not in their current configuration, but wearing mine reminds me of that day.

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Great thread. I love the vintage WWII planes, nothing like them. Several years ago I was driving next to Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio. I see this black line in the sky coming towards me. Then the thing banks and it is B2 and two things almost happened: 1. I almost crapped my pants. 2. I almost drove my SUV into a tree on the side of the road because I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It is amazing to me how far technology has come from the beginning (B17) to the current (B2).

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'JoJo35' date='Sep 20 2008, 08:08 AM' post='533506']

There I was, minding my own business washing the car outside in the driveway...

..and I hear this very loud drone.. coming closer... and closer..

..it was the sound of four sixty year old radial engines, not even a thousand feet over my home. An ancient B-17, like some kind of spooky ghost from a not so distant past, flew directly over!

I just got back from the airport where I took a couple pics of the ship as it buzzed the field, and then went around to make another pass for a landing:

IMG_0119.jpg

Wow !!! the "Flying Fortress" .. my fav model as a kid...

made by Boeing .. the first Boeing aircraft with a flight deck and not an open cockpit

.50 caliber machine guns..13 of them !!!

Flight crew of 10 .. 5 of them were "gunners"

4 - 1,200 hp Wright radial piston engines .. 300 mph

In Service for 10 years .... over 12,000 built..

We used to build these then wait until New Years Eve to blow them up.. since Hawaii has alway's been big with fireworks .. we must of built several a year.. hang them from our rooms with fishing line .. and dream .. with all the fighter escorts around them..

thanks for bringing back some great memories of childhood Jojo !!! :D

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Something like that happened to me earlier this summer. A P40 was flying over my house... just doing circles... blowing some smoke too... for about 10 minutes... around and around... I guess he was happy to have an audience because we were all out in the yard waving... this is a pretty rural area and I can't imagine what else he could have been doing. Anyway, that plane was flying so slowly, all I could think about was what an easy target those guys must have been when they were actually fighting a war. So slow, so shiny, so elegant and with an engine that's a pleasure to hear. I really felt like watching that thing overhead transported me back in time. I'm sure Grahams weren't around back then- at least not in their current configuration, but wearing mine reminds me of that day.

Yeah grahams were around back in the second world war... british pilots and naval officers wore them all the time. Look it up, theres a pic of a really old 1940's graham with a huge antique lever.. god i love those things.

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It's a rep! They're onto you.

There's more truth to that than you think. I saw a spitfire on display next to 2 Bentleys (La Swiss was there doing promotions) and spoke to the gentleman sitting next to the plane. Then I saw another on the tarmac and noticed the size difference. The gentleman noticed my double take and told me that his was a replica spitfire....a couple of feet shorter but can fly just as well as the real one. Incredible for someone to put it together and most are fabricated. I would not have believed if I did not see it.

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