B-17 bomber flight. Again.

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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 5:57 pm

I admit it; I'm addicted. I went up in 'Movie' Memphis Belle again yesterday. This was my 5th time up in a B-17 (four different planes). I've also flown in a B-24. My bucket list includes future trips in a B-25, B-29 and C-47. But the B-17 is somehow the most thrilling of all the great Warbirds.

This year's weather wasn't as pleasant as last year. It was damn cold up there, with wind rushing through the fuselage from the open port above the radio operator's section and the open waist gunners' windows. And extremely windy. We had one hairy moment when we banked just as we came to the Golden Gate Bridge and a strong gust hit the upraised left wing and sent the plane into a sudden dive. All 8 passengers were walking around different areas of the plane so we were tossed around by the jolt; one guy got a few minor cuts. I was able to grab on to a machine gun and hold steady until the pilots were able to level out and gain some altitude. I admit that was a bit terrifying, but at the same time it gave me a very tiny taste of how scary it would have been for the young boys who flew these in WWII, through flak and fighter planes.

The plane. Of nearly 13,000 B17s made, only ten remain in flying condition. This is the only one configured as a B-17F (all the other flying survivors are B-17Gs):

Taxiing:

Takeoff:

The new Bay Bridge, alongside the 1937 old bridge (being dismantled):

A P-51 took off right behind us and quickly passed us by:

Sitting in the bombardier's perch inside the plexigass nose of the plane:

San Francisco:

The Golden Gate Bridge, seconds before we took a dive:

Looking at the waist gunner window -- totally open:

I'm sure I'll be doing another flight next year.... I've done a Warbird flight every year since 2007 except one.

I don't like the word 'awesome' but for this it's really appropriate. It's hard not to be awestruck when you're up in one of these magnificent beasts.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

That's pretty incredible!

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 6:55 pm

Quote:

Sitting in the bombardier's perch

Amazing.

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 10:16 pm

Beautiful photos ! Thanks.

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 2:46 am

What a dream. I watch Memphis Belle every time it is on TV.

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:30 am

The plane I went up in is the one used in the movie. At least for the interior shots, and most of the exterior ones in ground scenes. But the shot-up semi-crash landing was entirely faked, with old-school special effects (long before CGI). It's interesting that a lot of the planes you see in the background in ground scenes were wood cutouts painted in perspective. They look real in the film, but there were only a few actual B-17s used in the movie. Some of those few were repainted several times with different nose art to make it appear like there were many more. Sadly, one original crashed during filming and was destroyed.

I enjoy that film as a representation of what it was like for B-17 crews but it has every possible cliché in the book. I can accept that, but what does bug me about the movie is that it's so completely fake. If they had called it "Betty's Dream" or "Miss Leggy" or any of hundreds of other common nose art names on thousands of other B-17s I would have been fine with it. But Memphis Belle was so famous during WWII that the Army sent movie crews up in it during their last couple of missions. There is a wartime documentary that shows the real Memphis Belle in action on its last mission (you can easily find it on Youtube). It's nothing at all like the 1990 movie. The plane was not shot up. It returned safely and then flew home, with its crew, to travel all over the US on War Bond drives. It was a huge propaganda event and the movie made during their real last mission documents the truth. So making a wildly over-dramatic potboiler and using that name was silly at best. Anyone can see the real Memphis Belle story and recognize the modern movie as bogus.

The original Memphis Belle ended up in Memphis where it rotted and was vandalized over many years. In 2005 the US Air Force Museum in Dayton finally took it back (after a lot of legal wrangling) and is currently doing a very long-term restoration to bring it back to the condition it was in when it flew its last mission. It will never fly again but it will be the most historically important display B-17 in existence. I'm dying to see it when it's completed.

'Movie' Memphis Belle may be famous for being in the film, and of course it is a genuine B-17, but like every B-17 that is still airworthy it never saw combat. All of the flying survivors were delivered late in the war, which is one reason they survived. All the battle worn hulks that came back to the US were scrapped and turned into consumer products during the boom post-war economy. Watch the movie "The Best Years of our Lives" sometime. Great film, and it shows a real honest-to-god scrap yard with hundreds upon hundreds of B-17s parked together awaiting their fate. A very sad end for a lot of historic aircraft.

Before they were scrapped their potentially usable cockpit instruments were salvaged, and for years were available from dealers in the southwest. You can still buy some common pieces. I have a couple myself, including a complete automatic pilot control unit. No idea what plane it was in, but it's a genuine B-17 relic from a plane that did survive combat. It's on my desk in a place of honor. (That is not one of the common instruments, however. It's become fairly rare.)

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:31 pm

^Juan wrote "It's on my desk in a place of honor", between the milk shake and the double burger. Couldn't resist Wink

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 7:20 pm

Great shots from the plane!

Aluminum Overcast is due in my neck of the woods in June.

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 8:32 pm

Indulge yourself when it comes to town.....

I went up in Aluminum Overcast 2 years ago. Every B-17 flight is a great experience, worth the price of admission.

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:25 pm

Program tonight mentioned that a film is to be made from a book (forgot the title) about a B-17 that was badly damaged coming back from Germany and a pilot in a Me109 would not shoot it down, the plane landed at Seething in Norfolk, record of aircraft landing is in control tower log. Airfield is now a museum.

http://www.seethingtower.org

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:41 pm

The book is "A Higher Call" by Adam Makos. A true story and a really great read. I hadn't heard they were making a movie from it but it is something of a natural for the screen.

Edit: here's a link to a video about the book.

Out of 1,773 reviews on Amazon, 1,494 are 5-star and the rest 4-star. Not one lower. You sure don't see that very often in Amazon reviews.........

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:54 pm

Is that the Norden bombsight in the 6th photo?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 10:36 pm

^^^
Yup.

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 8:25 am

Looking at the programme from last night, Tom Stoppard, Film Producer has obtained the rights to the book, filming starts next year.

The log at Seething has 14.29 on Monday 20th September 1943 has unexpected visitor S167 landed.

Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 12:08 am

Wonderful pics Juan. I remember seeing the Collings foundation's Nine O Nine flying parts in to the local airport to repair their b24 that was painted up as The Dragon and His Tail at the time. A beautiful,magnificent, lumbering beast. Thumbs up

Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 12:45 am

@Juan. I was stationed at NAS Millington in the suburbs of Memphis in 1989-90.

I remember going to Mud Island and seeing, I think, the Memphis Belle in a half pit sort of contraption. Does that sound plausible? There was some alcohol involved... Embarassed

They also had one hell of a model of the Mississippi River on Mud Island.

We got over to the island via an upside down trolley (of sorts)... Very Happy

Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 2:31 am

The real Memphis Belle (as opposed to 'Movie' Memphis Belle, in which I flew last weekend) was on display in Memphis from WWII up to 2005. So yes, you probably did see it.

It was stored outdoors, largely unprotected, and suffered from vandalism and the elements. The USAF finally took it back after much political wrangling. It's now at the Air Force Museum in Ohio and will be restored to the same condition it was in when it ended its 25th mission and came home for a barnstorming tour of the US. It will never fly again but it will be a fantastic and historic artifact.

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