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A wonderful B-17 experience...


rustywings
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It's hard to describe the exhilaration I felt hanging out of the top hatch at 200 MPH with a P-51 circling all around!

(That's the 118 Freeway below.)

 

 

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Just to bring me back into reality, there's a picture of the original Memphis Belle crew attached to a bulkhead in the radio room. What a sobering reminder of why I have it so good!

 

 

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Wow, you are a regular photojournalist! This had to be the experience of a lifetime. thanks for bringing us along!

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Thank you for your responses Strawberry 9, US Dog, Bugme and Garandomatic.

 

Strawberry 9 and Garandomatic, if you go to the Liberty Foundation's website (www.libertyfoundation.org) they do have a fair amount of information about the history of the airplane prior to its modification for the movie in 1990. Just look for the "B-17 History" tab on the left side of the home page.

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Thanks for that. Some of my happiest memories of being a kid involved my dad taking me all over the place, usually on the motorcycle to see the B-17s that would be here and there on tour. Never saw this one, though. Local paper apparently thought it would be a good idea to publish a story about it after it had already left.

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Great photos! This is timely as I just rode in the Movie Memphis Belle today, and what a ride it was! Surprisingly, nobody on my flight bothered climbing in the bombardier's position after the first five minutes of exploration, and I got an incredible view from the nose for the duration of the flight!

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Great photos! This is timely as I just rode in the Movie Memphis Belle today, and what a ride it was! Surprisingly, nobody on my flight bothered climbing in the bombardier's position after the first five minutes of exploration, and I got an incredible view from the nose for the duration of the flight!

 

Hey Garandman, it's good to hear other Forum members have had the chance to experience this thrill as well! If you took any pictures, please feel free to post them here.

 

 

Some of the things that stood out during my flight are: The high pitch whine and deep-seeded rumbling as that first engine came to life; The steady increase in vibration as each engine joined the serenade; The black exhaust from the massive engines billowing past the waist windows; The distinctive and harmonious "purr" in flight; The mixed feelings of power and vulnerability while moving from one gunners station to another; The smell of rubber from the tires when setting back down; And the pride I felt for my Dad knowing he had experienced these same sensations under much different circumstances in 1945...

 

Russ

 

 

 

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Really cool photos thanks for posting so many! Getting to wander around the plane while it's in flight must've been quite the experience I'm sure I'm not the only one who's a bit jealous Too cool and congrats on getting to experience the flight of a lifetime!

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