B29 Flies Again!!

[JohnnyNashville]

 

Enjoy,

 

johnny

[Leadfinger]

I am fascinated by the old aircraft and how they are so simple yet effective.

Back in WWII the US cranked out aircraft and they were consistently good at what they were designed for.

It's a shame that more of these aircraft didn't get saved.

 

Thanks @@JNashvilleXI

[TheLastColdBeer]

Saw Fifi fly in Reno with the surviving crew of Bock's Car and Enola Gay on board. Got to meet and shake hands with Paul Tibbets. Great honor.

[bds1961]

It's always great to see the old ones back in the air. Back in the late 70s my neighbor was the proud owner of that time only 1 of 3 flyable P38s. Through him I got to be around a lot of war birds at air shows and go through a lot of his friends planes. The 38 that he had was one of the variants that had a twin canopy, it had been modified to carry a radar system and the operator in the rear seat. Incredible machines and men that flew them

[AyaqGuyaq]

Awesome footage, Johhny Knox.

 

BDS, I believe the P-38 variant you are referring to was called the "Black Widow."

 

It was painted black and flew reconnaisance missions at night.

 

My all-time favorite recon aircraft during WWII was the plywood flying wonder, equipped with two Rolls Royce Merlin engines; i.e., the DeHavilland Mosquito.

 

Only thing faster was the ME-262 Swallow. Ayaq

[codpiece]

Sorry Ayaq - the Black Widow was a P-61. The P-38 with a twin canopy was a night fighter version with radar. The radar operator sat behind the pilot. Hence the twin canopy.

 

I am always here for your WW ll aircraft needs.

 

http://www.maam.org/p61/p61spec.html

 

http://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/us/cleaver3238m.htm

[bds1961]

Sorry Ayaq - the Black Widow was a P-61. The P-38 with a twin canopy was a night fighter version with radar. The radar operator sat behind the pilot. Hence the twin canopy.

 

I am always here for your WW ll aircraft needs.

 

http://www.maam.org/p61/p61spec.html

 

http://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/us/cleaver3238m.htm

I should see if I can find the pictures I took when we serviced the front shemmy dampener and cleaned the prop drives. It was so much fun at that time trying to get 40 year old painted screws out of the sheet metal.

[AyaqGuyaq]

LMOA, Cod.

 

I only go from memory. I expected SOB to Google everthing and correct me.

 

Hehahahhehwhhah!

 

I love you guys.

 

Now I'm gonna start Googling . . .

 

Can you at least agree that the Mosquito was the best WWII reconnaisance aircraft, hmm?

 

Hmm? Lol. Ayaq

[Leadfinger]

Sorry Ayaq - the Black Widow was a P-61. The P-38 with a twin canopy was a night fighter version with radar. The radar operator sat behind the pilot. Hence the twin canopy.

 

I am always here for your WW ll aircraft needs.

 

http://www.maam.org/p61/p61spec.html

 

http://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/us/cleaver3238m.htm

Great links @@codpiece I could spend hours researching old planes  . . . . . . just not enough hours in a day

[codpiece]

LMOA, Cod.

 

I only go from memory. I expected SOB to Google everthing and correct me.

 

Hehahahhehwhhah!

 

I love you guys.

 

Now I'm gonna start Googling . . .

 

Can you at least agree that the Mosquito was the best WWII reconnaisance aircraft, hmm?

 

Hmm? Lol. Ayaq

 

It's just that I know WW II planes like most guys around here know computers and games.

 

Off the top of my head I would agree about the Mosquito. Can't really think of anything better in the role at the moment. It was definitely an amazing airplane.

The Germans both hated and respected it. They even tried to make their own version.

 

Here is a link to my favorite Mosquito mission. There was a recon squadron that went on the mission and made some great shots. There is a good documentary out there on this. Here is the war time news film.

 

 

[AyaqGuyaq]

Yep, the Nazis tried to replicate the venerable Mosquito, but they didn't get the "glue" right. They suffered a few crashes because of it.

 

They (they Nazis, that is) didn't have the awesome Merlin engines at their disposal, either.

 

Like I said, the fastest and most beautiful recon plane of WWII, 'cept for the ME-262 Swallow.

 

Okay, Cod, go into how it was supposed to be a fighter, but Hitler wanted it to be a bomber. . .

 

Sigh.

 

Lol. Ayaq

[BattlewolF]

nice

[codpiece]

Hitler wanted it to be a bomber, but Galland made it a fighter. He even made some fighter squadrons against orders. He received an angry phone call from Goering which ended by saying he was sending some men over. Galland laughed at him and basically said ok then. Thinking he was going to be arrested and executed for defying orders, he told the pilots who had witnessed the call that we are going out for lunch. When they got back no one was there to arrest him. Galland was a stud.

 

You asked  

Edited December 22, 2016 by codpiece

[Leadfinger]

Dang @@codpiece you speak about it like you were there . . .lol . . .What did they have for lunch?? .. . lol J/K

 

I admire your knowledge about history  . .what made you so interested in WWII Aviation?

I lived just a few miles from the Chino Air Museum In Calif and was able to check out some of the stuff they were restoring . . .fascinating.

[bds1961]

Dang @@codpiece you speak about it like you were there . . .lol . . .What did they have for lunch?? .. . lol J/K

 

I admire your knowledge about history . .what made you so interested in WWII Aviation?

I lived just a few miles from the Chino Air Museum In Calif and was able to check out some of the stuff they were restoring . . .fascinating.

. Dammit Cod piece we were. It suppose to let anyone know about the time travel bit. Your giving it away

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[codpiece]

Holy crap @@Leadfinger! I made it there once as a kid. I begged my parents for years to take me there. It was awesome! I met and got an autograph from Greg "Pappy" Boyington! Also met George Gay there He gave a speech about watching the Battle of Midway from the water! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Gay,_Jr.

 

Man, if I lived near Chino I would be there all the time.

 

As for the Galland story, I think there was mention of it in the book, A Higher Call. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Higher-Call-Incredible-Chivalry-War-Torn/dp/0425255735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482488712&sr=8-1&keywords=a+higher+call+by+adam+makos

 

As for my interest in WW ll aviation I am not sure what put the bug in me. Just always loved airplanes and WW ll stuff. Spent my youth reading and building models and begging my parents to take me to Chino since we lived in AZ it was close, sort of. Was an avid reader of Air Classics magazine in my pre-teen and teen years. It's still around if you ever get into a bookstore.

 

I am now seriously considering getting checked out in a Mustang in England. It's expensive as hell but what a blast it would be.

 

Check out the Book Training Course Tab

 

http://www.boultbeeflightacademy.co.uk

 

 

If you ever want to talk about WW ll planes get me in TS. 

 

Also, I am an arm chair historian on WW ll in general. Been to a lot of WW ll sites and battlefields. So if you are ever considering a trip somewhere let me know. 

 

BTW - you said you fished in Havasu. Did you know the island was a R & R facility in WW ll? Kingman was a gunner training facility for bomber crews. So the crews would fly out there and fish, drink beer and skeet shoot. You can still see some of the cement casements for thing that flung the clay pigeons. When I was a kid you could still see a ton of clay pieces out there.

[codpiece]

On a side note @@Leadfinger, I flew a few times with the son of the guy who designed the Arado 234. Interesting guy to talk to.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_234

[TheLastColdBeer]

Get a chance, read Galland's book The First and The Last. Robert's Thunderbolt!, Rudel's Stuka Pilot, oh man, lots of books written & published by Ballantine back in 60's & 70's. Used to buy a book a week for $1.50. Devoured them all.

Everyone around us when we were growing up fought in the war. Uncle Max flew B-25s from Corsica. Morgan Rounds flew F4U Corsairs, Vince Nelson flew B-24 Liberators over Europe, all these guys we took for granted, now they're passed away.

[Leadfinger]

@@codpiece Enough with the links to historical videos!!!   Dang . . .  .  I cant get anything done for watching videos on Youtube  . .lol

 

I get done with one and then click on another and all of a sudden I'm reading about aircraft "incidents" on the NTSB website a couple hours later.

 

I grew up in Ontario CA. about a half mile north of the runway and about a mile west of the end of the runway. The planes took of mainly to the west so I had a front row seat as plane after plane took off and when the wind was from the east I watch them on final approach. When I was in 5th grade (1972) our class went on a field trip to Sacramento, CA (capitol of CA.) and we flew in a Boeing 727 with the tail that lowered for boarding. It was my first flight and I was blown away. I don't recall the year but I will never forget when the supersonic Concorde landed at ONT . .it was sooo loud.

Air Force One landed once with President Reagan on board and on final approach garage doors in the neighborhood with automatic openers began to operate randomly . . . lol I guess due to the electronic signals being generated by Air Force One.

 

I didn't know about the training facility at Kingman but I have visited the General Patton museum outside of Indio which was pretty cool. There really is a lot of places around that very few people know about that had a connection to WWII.

[codpiece]

LOL, Ok I will stop!