B-17 "Flying Fortress"

[Gerry Doyon]

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady", a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in Paint Shop Pro 7.

 

[WODIN]

Magnificent shot. Pleasure to look at it. I remember them well. Good sharpness too. Oly 3030?
G

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady",
a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at
the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this
aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No
crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides
a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes
because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the
money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in
Paint Shop Pro 7.

 

[Gerry Doyon]

Thanks! It was taken my my Oly 3000, which is identical to the 3030 except that the 303 has twice as much internal memory for take more/faster sustained shooting one right after the other. Did that make sense?

How do you remember them? I am only 36 years old so I ceartainly don't remember them. Boy, that aircraft "purred like a kitten". So smooth to listen to!

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady",
a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at
the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this
aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No
crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides
a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes
because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the
money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in
Paint Shop Pro 7.

 

[Bob M.]

Aluminum overcast indeed! Thanks for documenting a "Grand ol' Lady". From what I know, she was the workhorse of WW2.
Bob M.

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady",
a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at
the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this
aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No
crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides
a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes
because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the
money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in
Paint Shop Pro 7.

 

[Elizabeth23842]

She is indeed beautiful. My dad will love these pictures! Would love to know when this "old lady" might visit our area so I could give him the gift of a ride in her.
Liz

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady",
a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at
the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this
aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No
crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides
a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes
because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the
money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in
Paint Shop Pro 7.

 

[Gerry Doyon]

Thanks! I believe that they are done touring for the year, but here is the web page for this B-17. It has links for tour schedules, memorabelia, etc.

http://www.b17.org/aluminum.html

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady",
a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at
the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this
aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No
crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides
a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes
because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the
money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in
Paint Shop Pro 7.

 

[Rob Patterson]

I've always been interested in the old prop aircraft. I'm 53 and a World War II resulting baby.

I've spent in excess of 30 years doing treework. One of my best friends and most skilled treeman is a man by the name of Bill Moore.

Bill was a waist gunner in a B-17. I listened to a thousand first hand stories about the flying experiences on the B-17 crews from Bill.

His aircraft was shot down twice. Not by enemy fire but by friendly fire. He flew out of North Aftrica. When the bomber formations were about to enter enemy territory where enemy fighters were expected, the pilot gave the command to "clear guns". Each gunner was responsible for headspacing and adjusting their weapons (Browning 50 caliber) so they would fire reliably. The "clear gun" command was a way to verify that these weapons would fire. Because the formations were so large, it was hazardous to say the least. Some of the rounds would hit other bombers. That's what got Bill twice !

Sad story about those bombers and crews. Highest casualty rate in the war. Particularly true of the planes that flew out of England towards Germany's Industrial heart.

Nice shots. If you ever want to get a very close experience of the air war in Europe, get a copy of Microsofts Combat Flight Simulator. Very precise simulation of the planes and tactics involved.

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady",
a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at
the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this
aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No
crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides
a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes
because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the
money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in
Paint Shop Pro 7.

 

[Canyonlu]

Gerry, What beautiful photos. We were able to do the same thing this spring at John Wayne Airport, Ca. I was particularly interested in the B-24 which was traveling with the B-17, as my Dad was a bombardier in the 24. My husband got special permission (he is a pilot) for me to go all the way up, and sat right where my Dad would have sat. It was quite a feeling. I have a few photos from our visit here:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=238336&a=6168183



thanks for sharing....Marilu bishop

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady",
a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at
the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this
aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No
crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides
a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes
because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the
money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in
Paint Shop Pro 7.

 

[Gerry Doyon]

Very COOL! Thanks a lot for sharing your pictures! You were very lucky to get such close shots.

I missed the B-24 that came around earlier this year. Darn. I didn't have my digitial camera then anyhow.

Beautiful shots!

thanks for sharing....Marilu bishop

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady",
a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at
the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this
aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No
crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides
a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes
because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the
money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in
Paint Shop Pro 7.

 

[Gerry Doyon]

Thank you VERY much for the interesting background Rob!

I've spent in excess of 30 years doing treework. One of my best
friends and most skilled treeman is a man by the name of Bill Moore.

Bill was a waist gunner in a B-17. I listened to a thousand first
hand stories about the flying experiences on the B-17 crews from
Bill.

His aircraft was shot down twice. Not by enemy fire but by friendly
fire. He flew out of North Aftrica. When the bomber formations were
about to enter enemy territory where enemy fighters were expected,
the pilot gave the command to "clear guns". Each gunner was
responsible for headspacing and adjusting their weapons (Browning
50 caliber) so they would fire reliably. The "clear gun" command
was a way to verify that these weapons would fire. Because the
formations were so large, it was hazardous to say the least. Some
of the rounds would hit other bombers. That's what got Bill twice !


Sad story about those bombers and crews. Highest casualty rate in
the war. Particularly true of the planes that flew out of England
towards Germany's Industrial heart.

Nice shots. If you ever want to get a very close experience of the
air war in Europe, get a copy of Microsofts Combat Flight
Simulator. Very precise simulation of the planes and tactics
involved.

This is a collage of pictures I took of this beautiful "old lady",
a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the last B-17's built at
the end of WW2. It did not see any action. The pilot of this
aircraft did have his B-17 shot down from under him in the war. No
crew members were hurt.

This aircraft tours around the country and gives seven people rides
a a time. It cost $350 per person to fly in it for 30 minutes
because it costs $2,000 per hour to fly it. I did not have the
money to spend to get a ride. Maybe next year!

Anyway, these photos were take with my Olympus C300Z and edited in
Paint Shop Pro 7.