And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
My wife and I went to a Cold War air show a decade or so ago at Lancaster, TX. We'd just arrived a few minutes before when we heard an unmistakable sound. "Radials!" I shouted to her, pointing up. Sure enough, it was an A-26 (WWII) or B-26 (post-WWII) overhead and coming around to land. She couldn't quite understand my excitement, but we did get to look in the cockpit of the A-26, as well as MiG-23 (non-flying, of course), Mi-24 Hind-E gunship (pilot and gunner positions), and some others. Watching the Mi-24E flight demo was great, only wish we could've afforded the price of the gunner's seat for me. But the sound of big radials is unmistakable.
That's what it looks like to me - the piers are in he right place, and the hill looks like the site of Coit Tower, Telegraph Hill. You can see the lower bit of the tower ...
This is a scene from the movie "30 seconds over tokyo" as the crew arrived from the cross-country flight. IIRC they even filmed Lawson's flight under the Golden Gate. I thought the Doolittle aircraft were B-models but I could be wrong Boat Guy
My father-in-law was a skydiver in the early-to-mid-1960s and had an acquaintance who had bought a surplus B-25 after the war who wanted to know, "Would you like to jump from the bomb bay?" The answer, for an aspiring Marine officer was, of course, "Hell, yeah!" Well they went up, and were going at a pretty fast clip for a B-25 when the bomb bay doors began to open. My F-i-L got thrown around the bomb bay by the wind blast pretty quickly and said he wasn't sure he'd make it out of there in one piece from the air blast coming up from below, but he finally bounced out after what he said could hardly have been more than 2-3 seconds but seemed a lot more to him. The only good news (according to his 'buddy') was that he hadn't bunged up one of the doors on his way out.
I was working at the airfield in St. Croix years ago, and there was a guy there who flew a B-25, using it for "cargo"....the field was closed at 8:00 pm for us to go to work on the runway....about midnight we heard a pair of radials fly right down the centerline in the dark.....we were working on the west end of the runway and we saw a pair of landing lights coming around to land....he overflew us and we heard the chirp of the tires as he touched down about 2500 feet up the runway....the next day we were out working on equipment when the police came out and arrested the guy while he was unloading....never knew what happened after that....I figured the spirit of all B-25 pilots was alive in that guy....
Got a free ride in one back in the 70's. I traded a can of black powder to a guy who got his boss to let me go along on a training ride. What a trip. As we sat down and turned around to taxi to the ramp a small 4 seater landed facing us. Our pilot took off cross country to get out of the way but the other pilot turned off well before he would have reached us. By the time we were shut down that pilot was nowhere to be found. I did get to help pulling through the engines prior to starting them to clear the lower cylinders of any oil/gas to avoid blowing a jug off. jack
1972.Training at Sheppard AFB. going along us62-I think-west of Waco TX, had found six of them lined up inside the fence on the north side of the highway-movie heros from "Catch 22". Sooooo, we took a look. on the north side of the hill behind the six B-25's we discovered a private field with hangar. The owner had an amazing collection of at least two hundred aircraft, all around his six foot wide asphalt runway-only so that his P-38 wouldn't fold the nose gear. there was a B-17G with the guns and all manner of very nice airworthy aircraft. the crew were in the hangar doping a PT-17 in primary trainer colors.they were doing some of the nicest work I have had the pleasure to see. there was a lockheed lodestar out in the field that was so clean it looked like it had just came of the line and sitting next to it was a Howard 500. we all ran out of film in thirty seconds. he had a P-51H (former ROK AF)that was for rent $1,500.00 per hour(1972 dollars!) the B-17 would rent for $500.00/hr if you were checked out in a multi engine taildragger with an endorsement. all plus fuel. he had a 5,000 gal tanker filled with 115/145 avgas parked in the shade priced at cost. what a hell of a collection that was.
Had one of those fly over the house a few years ago on the way to the local air show. I couldn't believe how load it was........
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I went to a Cold War air show a decade or so ago at Lancaster, TX. We'd just arrived a few minutes before when we heard an unmistakable sound. "Radials!" I shouted to her, pointing up. Sure enough, it was an A-26 (WWII) or B-26 (post-WWII) overhead and coming around to land. She couldn't quite understand my excitement, but we did get to look in the cockpit of the A-26, as well as MiG-23 (non-flying, of course), Mi-24 Hind-E gunship (pilot and gunner positions), and some others. Watching the Mi-24E flight demo was great, only wish we could've afforded the price of the gunner's seat for me. But the sound of big radials is unmistakable.
DeleteLoud, not load..........
ReplyDeleteIs that old San Francisco in the background? That was my first guess but I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteThat's what it looks like to me - the piers are in he right place, and the hill looks like the site of Coit Tower, Telegraph Hill. You can see the lower bit of the tower ...
DeleteYep, SF waterfront.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteRuptured Duck was flown by Ted Lawson in the Doolittle Raid.
ReplyDeleteThis is a scene from the movie "30 seconds over tokyo" as the crew arrived from the cross-country flight. IIRC they even filmed Lawson's flight under the Golden Gate.
ReplyDeleteI thought the Doolittle aircraft were B-models but I could be wrong
Boat Guy
A great, and very flexible, medium bomber.
ReplyDeleteMy dad flew them and loved it! He wanted to keep flying B25s, but, the Army Air Force had other plans for him, C47 and other multi-engine cargo craft.
DeleteMy father-in-law was a skydiver in the early-to-mid-1960s and had an acquaintance who had bought a surplus B-25 after the war who wanted to know, "Would you like to jump from the bomb bay?" The answer, for an aspiring Marine officer was, of course, "Hell, yeah!" Well they went up, and were going at a pretty fast clip for a B-25 when the bomb bay doors began to open. My F-i-L got thrown around the bomb bay by the wind blast pretty quickly and said he wasn't sure he'd make it out of there in one piece from the air blast coming up from below, but he finally bounced out after what he said could hardly have been more than 2-3 seconds but seemed a lot more to him. The only good news (according to his 'buddy') was that he hadn't bunged up one of the doors on his way out.
DeleteBetter the "Ruptured Duck" than "Old John Feather Merchant".
ReplyDeleteI was working at the airfield in St. Croix years ago, and there was a guy there who flew a B-25, using it for "cargo"....the field was closed at 8:00 pm for us to go to work on the runway....about midnight we heard a pair of radials fly right down the centerline in the dark.....we were working on the west end of the runway and we saw a pair of landing lights coming around to land....he overflew us and we heard the chirp of the tires as he touched down about 2500 feet up the runway....the next day we were out working on equipment when the police came out and arrested the guy while he was unloading....never knew what happened after that....I figured the spirit of all B-25 pilots was alive in that guy....
ReplyDeleteGot a free ride in one back in the 70's. I traded a can of black powder to a guy who got his boss to let me go along on a training ride. What a trip. As we sat down and turned around to taxi to the ramp a small 4 seater landed facing us. Our pilot took off cross country to get out of the way but the other pilot turned off well before he would have reached us. By the time we were shut down that pilot was nowhere to be found.
ReplyDeleteI did get to help pulling through the engines prior to starting them to clear the lower cylinders of any oil/gas to avoid blowing a jug off.
jack
1972.Training at Sheppard AFB. going along us62-I think-west of Waco TX, had found six of them lined up inside the fence on the north side of the highway-movie heros from "Catch 22". Sooooo, we took a look. on the north side of the hill behind the six B-25's we discovered a private field with hangar. The owner had an amazing collection of at least two hundred aircraft, all around his six foot wide asphalt runway-only so that his P-38 wouldn't fold the nose gear. there was a B-17G with the guns and all manner of very nice airworthy aircraft. the crew were in the hangar doping a PT-17 in primary trainer colors.they were doing some of the nicest work I have had the pleasure to see. there was a lockheed lodestar out in the field that was so clean it looked like it had just came of the line and sitting next to it was a Howard 500. we all ran out of film in thirty seconds. he had a P-51H (former ROK AF)that was for rent $1,500.00 per hour(1972 dollars!) the B-17 would rent for $500.00/hr if you were checked out in a multi engine taildragger with an endorsement. all plus fuel. he had a 5,000 gal tanker filled with 115/145 avgas parked in the shade priced at cost.
ReplyDeletewhat a hell of a collection that was.