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Collings Foundation B-24 at Omaha


gwb123
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The Collins Foundation road show came to town with its B-24, P-51 and B-17.

 

Despite over 19,000 B-24's being built during and immediately after World War II, only a couple of dozen remain, with just a handful in flying condition.

 

The Collins Foundation B-24 actually served during WWII, later to serve with the Indian Air Force. After it's rescue from obscurity, it took 5 years and 97,000 hours of labor to return to the skies.

 

http://www.collingsfoundation.org/aircrafts/consolidated-b-24-liberator/

 

Despite years of museum hopping, I had only seen one once before, at a distance flying over Dallas. It proved to be a great distraction as it circled the high rise office building I was sitting in for a job interview. While I was supposed to be looking my interviewer in the eye, the bulky twin tailed shape kept flashing across the skyline. For some reason, I did not get that job, but still enjoyed the experience.

 

So I was quite excited at the thought of actually seeing a live aircraft, and even getting close enough to touch it.

 

This is how it looked coming in from its morning flight, with all props spinning.

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For the whopping sum of $12, one could walk and gawk around these planes all day long, and even crawl through them!

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The engines are quite large. The cowings hide their complexity... thousands of parts all requiring care and maintenance in order to keep the beast in the air.

 

The tires must be a good 4 foot tall.

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The nose art has been faithfully reproduced for the aircraft "Witchcraft", which flew an incredible 130 missions without ever turning back, and without ever losing a crew member.

 

The left side of the aircraft is maintained in a fully authentic paint scheme. The right side is used as a signboard to show the appreciation for hundreds of donors who helped keep the plane flying.

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Even in the age of more sophisticated aircraft, the B-24 still presents a very lethal appearance.

 

In contrast to the B-17, the B-24 had power turrets both fore and aft. The ball turret could also be winched inside of the aircraft.

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Waist gunner stations. Despite what you see in the movies the amount of space between the two weapons is not very wide, which must have led to some very awkward moments if both gunners needed to stand in the same spot to track their targets.

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Unfortunately, for the self guided tour, we were not allowed forward of the bomb bay. But you could see the myriad of gauges and controls from a distance.

 

Those who paid the $450 to ride on the old girl got to sit in the seats in the radio operator's compartment, right behind the pilots.

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The business of a bomber is to deliver ordnance to a target.

 

Just sitting under these bombs was a bit unnerving... the thought of them being dropped from several thousand feet up even more so.

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If you haven't seen or been in them, go if they are in your area. I was in the B-17 and B-24 a several years ago and they are like a time machine inside. At that time I was driving a little bus in circles in downtown Lincoln, I heard the old engines and pulled over at the next stop, got out and watched the B-17 and B-24 circle the State Capitol Building wishing I had a camera.

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Even while the crowd was admiring the aircraft, ground maintenance was taking place. That's a lot of plex to clean. They were also working on the #3 engine that afternoon.

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What's better than a live B-24?

 

How about a B-24 with a P-51 and a B-17, all of them looking like it is 1944 all over again.

 

I'll have more on these later.

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If these folks come to your town (the schedule is on their website), you will know you are in the right place if you see this van!

 

I think they were trying to attract attention! What a cool ride!

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I hope you enjoyed this quick walk around of the Collins Foundation B-24!

 

I spent the better part of 4 hours wandering around these aircraft, and brought home about 300 digital photos! I was like a kid in a candy store and just could not stop!

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I always love seeing pictures of these old warbirds! If you ever get out to southern California you have to go out to Chino Airport(Cal-Aero Feild) and see the Planes of Fame Museum. They put on an amazing airshow each May. I've never been to the Reno races so I don't know how that would compare but, Oshkosh is the only show I've seen that was bigger on WWII than the Planes of Fame show.

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A bunch of them were at a nearby airport a few weeks ago but we were flooded and could not get there. Sucks!

there was a B-29 there also, FEE FEE is what I heard.

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decontrol215

My grandfather was a waist gunner on B-24s in the 8th AF. I saw this plane back in the 90's when it was painted up as "All American". I was too young to really remember it though.

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My grandfather was a waist gunner on B-24s in the 8th AF. I saw this plane back in the 90's when it was painted up as "All American". I was too young to really remember it though.

 

Hopefully it will come out your way. It's worth seeing again, especially given your father's experiences,

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