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.
Sunday, January 12, 2025
B-24 Liberator, B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell and a P-51 Mustang flown and maintained by the Collings Foundation
My dad was a bombardier in WW2. Received his wings in '45 and was getting ready to be deployed in the Pacific when he was in a crash in an AT-11. He had many neat stories even though he never deployed into the war.
I had the opportunity to fly in all four of those airplanes. Absolutely breathtaking. The P-51 was a hoot; pilot asked me if I could see a small grass airstrip below us and to the right. Once I acknowledged I could see it, he said some friends of his lived next to the grass strip and would I mind if he buzzed the runway to "wake them up". Damn right I said, "Yes!". Next thing I know he did a wingover to drop altitude, then lined up with the runway and buzzed it 50 feet or so off the ground at full throttle and a couple of hundred knots of airspeed. The pullup was pretty impressive also. What a rush. :-)
The Collings Foundation, HQ-ed just west of Boston, has a really fine tank museum that if you are in the area, you should take the time to visit. My US Marine Vietnam veteran group visited it and we were quite impressed. They are planning to create a new building and move the majority of their airplane collection into it.
Needs a P-38 Lightning and a P-47 Thunderbolt.
ReplyDeleteSadly, Nine-O-Nine no longer with us.
ReplyDeleteYup.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtcsVZcuVqI
Yeah...so much for that "maintained by the Collings Foundation"
DeleteI don't think any of the Collings planes are still flying due to failures in their maintenance and training programs.
ReplyDeleteI believe that you are mistaken.
DeleteThe b-25 that was what I was named after. My father worked on those during WWII, on some island in the Pacific Ocean.
ReplyDeleteHeltau
I flew on the Nine-O-Nine out of Tico field, Titusville FL. Experience of a lifetime! The view from the bombardier's seat was breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteMy dad was a bombardier in WW2. Received his wings in '45 and was getting ready to be deployed in the Pacific when he was in a crash in an AT-11. He had many neat stories even though he never deployed into the war.
DeleteI had the opportunity to fly in all four of those airplanes. Absolutely breathtaking. The P-51 was a hoot; pilot asked me if I could see a small grass airstrip below us and to the right. Once I acknowledged I could see it, he said some friends of his lived next to the grass strip and would I mind if he buzzed the runway to "wake them up". Damn right I said, "Yes!". Next thing I know he did a wingover to drop altitude, then lined up with the runway and buzzed it 50 feet or so off the ground at full throttle and a couple of hundred knots of airspeed. The pullup was pretty impressive also. What a rush. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe Collings Foundation, HQ-ed just west of Boston, has a really fine tank museum that if you are in the area, you should take the time to visit. My US Marine Vietnam veteran group visited it and we were quite impressed. They are planning to create a new building and move the majority of their airplane collection into it.
ReplyDeleteCool. I got to see those planes close up when they were on tour a few years ago. Very nice.
ReplyDelete