B-17G Sentimental Journey

A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

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The B-17G "Sentimental Journey" owned and maintained by the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force in Mesa, AZ. This aircraft is painted with the aircraft markings of the 457th Bomb Group based in Glatton, England during WWII with the 8th Air Force.

I have been a student of WWII ever since grade school and, at one time, had a collection of WWII memorabilia that rivaled most small museums. I have stood on the memorial at Pear Harbor spanning the battleship Arizona. I have been at the foot of the building located next to the bridge which was used as the aiming point when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. I've met and spoke to Col. Paul Tibbetts who piloted the B-29 Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb. I've been aboard a German U-Boat (U-505) and I had the distinct honor of having Gen. Joe Foss who was the highest scoring Marine Ace during WWII as a personal friend. Ironically, I served in the same squadron (VMA-121) in Vietnam that Joe served with during WWII (VMF-121).

On April 9, 2006 I had the opportunity to take a flight in one of the most famous heavy bombers flown during World War II. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, along with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, were the two main heavy bombers used in the European Theater of Operations flown by the U.S. Army Air Corps. Words cannot describe what I felt. Here was an aircraft that carried thousands of crew members, millions of tons of ordnance, over a period of 3 1/2 years to free Europe from the Nazi's.

This is a "no frills" aircraft - its all business: No sound-proofing, no air conditioning, no heaters, no bathrooms. Wind, exhaust fumes and the smell of engine oil are permeate the air inside the fuselage. Everything is vibrating. Soft stepping the catwalk between the aft end of the aircraft to the cockpit through the bomb bay allows you can see the ground between the gap between the closed bomb bay doors. The day we flew was perfect (sunny, 80 degrees, light wind) and we flew no higher than 2,500 feet (as required by the FAA). All I could think about was what it must have been like flying an eight hour combat mission at 35,000 feet in the freezing cold wearing an electrically heated flight suit while wearing an oxygen mask. Not to mention that there were thousands of enemy fighters and anti-aircraft guns shooting at you! I honestly don't know how those young airmen did what they had to do to help win the Second World War but I have the utmost respect for each and every one of them!

This flight was definitely a highlight. I'd recommend it to anyone who has an interest in aviation or the time period in which this awesome airplane flew in.

Some interesting facts about the Sentimental Journey:

Date built ..... November 1944
Wingspan ..... 103' - 9 3/8"
Length ..... 74' - 3.9"
Height ..... 19' - 2.44"
Powerplant ..... Four Wright R-1820-97 Cyclone engines (1,200hp each at takeoff)
Empty weight ..... 36,134lbs
Gross weight ..... 65,000lbs
Cruising speed ..... 160mph
Top speed ..... 287mph
Service ceiling ..... 36,400ft
Range ..... 2,000 miles
Fuel capacity ..... 2,780 gallons carried in the wings
Fuel consumption ..... 200 gallons per hour
Oil capacity ..... 37 gallons per engine
Crew .... 10
Bomb load ..... 6,000lbs
Armament ..... thirteen 50 cal heavy machine guns
Total number of B-17's built ..... 12,731
Total number of B-17G's built ..... 8,600
B-17's still in existence ..... approximately 50
Operational costs (2006 dollars) ..... $2,000 per hour

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Here I am with my good friend Jesus Garcia preparing to board the aircraft. I was the 'bomb load' and Jesus was the ball turret gunner.

A nice lady was trying to sell us flight insurance (just kidding).

One we were all aboard it was time to fire up the engines. I have flown many times in a C-130 during my military career but this was a whole new ballgame!

Preparing to taxi to the active runway. The noise was deafening and earplugs were a necessity. In the background is a U.S. Navy TBM torpedo bomber with its wings folded.

The 'best seat in the house'. This is where the bombardier sat for the duration of a mission. On a hot day this position could be quite unpleasant.

The ball turret gunner's position. Considered the safest position in the aircraft because it afforded the smallest target.

Another view of the ball turret. It took a special individual to man this position. You couldn't get up and move around as you were 'locked' into this turret for the duration of a mission.

The top turret position. Normally operated by the flight engineer. To the left of the antenna is the single .50 cal machine gun operated by the navigator.

This view is from the waist gunner's position looking forward to the navigator and radio operator's stations. The top of the ball turret can be seen below the yellow tank.

Looking aft from the navigator/radio operator's position. The framework supports the ball turret.

One had to walk on the 'cat walk' in order to move to the front of the bomber. This is a tight fit for someone my size. I have no idea how someone did this in a bulky, heated flight suit while bouncing around at 35,000 feet!

Looking forward to the pilot/co-pilots position from the navigator/radio operator's position through the bomb bay.

An inside view of 'the best seat in the house'. The Norden bomb sight is located just in front of the seat and the remote control for the 50 cal. 'chin guns' is on the right.

Quite a view!

If you were to look straight down there is nothing but Plexiglas keeping you inside the B-17!

Coming in for the landing. I can only imagine what the flight crews of wartime B-17's thought of when they experienced this view!

Back on solid ground!

For additional information on the aircraft maintained by the
Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force click here .

Our next adventure....

A SNJ Navy Trainer

Another Exciting Day in Vietnam (Chu Lai 1967)

I took the following pictures while I was a member of VMA-121. '121' was equipped with the A4-E Skyhawk aircraft which, in my humble opinion, was one of the best aircraft ever designed for close air support of Marine ground forces in any war.

On this particular day we launched four aircraft to targets in North Vietnam loaded with eight MK-82, 500lb, low-drag bombs per aircraft. I was the ordnance line chief at the time and I thought it would be interesting to take photo's of the returning aircraft. Little did I know that it would be a little bit more than I expected.

Please excuse the quality of the photos. They were taken more than thirty-eight years ago!

Semper Fi!

The first photo shows the last Skyhawk (of four) to land. You might notice that the left wing is a little higher than the right wing. This is due to the 'trim' of the aircraft as it was carrying 500 pounds more on the left side than the right side at the time it 'touched down' on the runway.

What happened is that the pilot experienced a 'hung bomb' (one that did not drop when it was supposed to). Upon landing the bomb released, hit the runway and skidded off to the left of the picture into the sand. I thought that the Skyhawk had blown a tire and a piece of the tire had gone off into the sand on the left side of the runway. The A-4 rolled past me with all three of its tires intact and that is when I noticed a giant 'rooster tail' plowing through the sand. A moment later the 'rooster tail' turned into a bomb and skidded onto the runway and started following the A-4 down the runway.

The bomb stopped about 50 feet from where I was standing and I walked over to it to see if it had armed itself. It was armed as the arming wire was pulled from the fuze (fuze is not misspelled - check a dictionary) and the prop on the fuze had turned the required rotations to arm itself. The bomb was equipped with a M-904 fuze and when this fuze is armed (there is a small round window on the side of the fuze that displays a red disk when armed). The window was red.

Since I had loaded this aircraft and knew how to remove this fuze and I started walking towards the bomb but I was strongly discouraged to do so by the people in the air traffic control tower (they were yelling obscenities at me to leave the area). Yeah, right! Who is going to miss a photographic opportunity like this?

I waited a few minutes and EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) showed up. This picture shows how two guys, with all of the patience in the world, can handle a 'problem' like this. That's why they are paid 'the big bucks' (the photographer wasn't).

This photo shows the 'old timer' of the two removing the M-904 fuze from the bomb. One nice thing, if you could call it that, is that if something went wrong with the removal of the fuze there would be little time to reflect on what went wrong!

The guys I knew in EOD are a 'special breed' of people and I continue to have the utmost respect in the skills and patience they possess. And you thought you had a tough day!