Pirep: B-17 ride

Jay mentioned on here a couple months ago about B-17 rides available through
the Collings Foundation (http://www.collingsfoundation.org/menu.htm). I
checked the schedule and found the B-17 and the B-24 were going to be at the
Anoka County airport in Minnesota on July 9-13th. This was great timing as
my dad's birthday is July 12th and decided to get a B-17 ride for his 81st
birthday present. He flew with the 100th Bomb Group in WW-II as a top turret
gunner. I called the Collings Foundation a couple months ago and got it set
up for both him and me to fly. They called me back earlier this week to
confirm and we were scheduled for the 8:30AM flight on Saturday. They asked
that we arrive 30-45 minutes before for preflight briefing and paperwork.

I found more information on http://www.goldenwingsmuseum.com/Collings.htm
about the local activities. I drove up to northern Minneapolis and met my
parents on Friday evening and we went over to check out the museum. They had
9 bomber crewmen talk and give great stories of their experiences during the
war. There were 2 pilots, co-pilot, bombardier, navigator and gunners. After
the forum, they asked that the crewmembers in the audience to stand up and
there were another dozen or so in attendance.

There was an EAA pancake breakfast set up for 7-12 on both Saturday and
Sunday. We figured that we would get our flight at 8:30 and then have
breakfast afterwards there. I arrived at around 7:30 and stopped in to
register. They said I was all set and we could wander around to wait. I
glanced at the schedule and it looked like 4 flights were scheduled for the
B-17 and I thought that we would be on the second flight. After a while I
noticed other people that were also wandering around wearing stickers that
had B-17 or B-24 with numbers 1 through 4. We went back to the registration
area again and they gave us our B-17 stickers with #3 and said it would be
about another hour or so and that we could get breakfast. We watched them
turn the props on both planes and then get them started and take the first
groups up. We enjoyed the typical flight breakfast. A guy came up to us just
as we were finishing breakfast and told us to group together just outside
the museum hangar. A few minutes later, after we were all gathered there, he
explained that the planes weren't coming back to the hangar area for
passenger exchanges and we would take a shuttle over to get on the plane. He
said they would give us hand signals when we could get up after takeoff to
walk around to the various parts of the plane and there would be another
hand signal when we would have to return to our 'seats' for landing. He also
explained not to lean on the doors as they will open during flight or to
grab onto the exposed control cables which would not be a 'good thing'. He
went through other safety briefing items and then we waited for the shuttle
to take us over to the east side of the airport. While waiting, I asked my
dad when the last time he flew in a B-17 and he said it was in '45. The
others in our group heard us talking and started asking my dad about his
experiences during the war and in the B-17. My dad was thrilled to answer
questions and tell his stories. The group was in awe that an actual B-17
crewmember was on this flight.

I video taped the war planes taking off and landing on the previous flights
and had the video camera with me. The B-17 came back in to drop off the
passengers and we were ready to board. Entering through the back side door
was tricky for people that don't have experience in entering a B-17.
Standing in the prop wash of the 4 1,200 hp engines, grabbing the top of the
door opening and jumping up into the plane wasn't the easiest to do while
trying to hold onto a video camera and hat but all 9 of our group finally
made it in. During our briefing, they said that some of us would be sitting
at various places for the takeoff and landing. My dad and I were towards the
end of the group so there were five of us that sat on the floor in the waist
gunner area near the ball turret. We taxied for a bit and couldn't see
anything outside except for sky through the waist gunner windows. Once we
took off they gave us the signal that we could get up to walk around.

Saturday morning's weather for our flight couldn't have been better! No
clouds and very little wind. We all started to walk around to the various
areas of the B-17. There was an area between the waist gunner/radio operator
area and the bomb bay area that was open on top that we could stick our head
out and see out the top of the plane in the 160+ mph wind. Walking on the
~10 inch wide catwalk through the bomb bay area is interesting in a moving
plane and you could see ground through the spaces in the bomb doors. There
were some bombs loaded so you got a sense of the conditions that the crews
went through. Got a chance to look out through the top turret during flight
and imagine what it was like for my dad 58 years earlier to do the same over
Europe in war conditions. My dad then got into the top turret position. I
got that on video tape then the camera batteries died. We went on up to the
nose gunner area which had more space and looked out over the Minneapolis
area. My dad pointed out an altimeter on the side of the nose gunner
position and it said ~3k. We continued to look around taking in the sights
of the plane and the view of Minneapolis from a B-17. We looked out the
window and watched one of the other war planes behind us crossing back and
forth. Soon they gave us the sign to get seated for landing. Again, we
couldn't see outside from our seated position so we couldn't tell when the
plane was down except for the slight bump during landing. It was a real
smooth flight. Our flight time was about 45 minutes from 10 until 10:45.

Talking with my dad after the flight, asked him if it was like he
remembered, he said yes, but some of it he didn't remember. He said he
didn't remember the noise because they wore headsets and had intercoms to
communicate. During the war they would fly at 32k feet to try to be above
the flack and it would be about -60 degrees. They would take off at 5AM
after breakfast and wouldn't eat anything except a cookie until they
returned late that afternoon for supper.

Total costs for this trip:
The 2 of us to fly on a B-17: $800
Parking: $2

The experience and memories of a lifetime: PRICELESS!

There are only 14 airworthy B-17's left but only a half dozen of them still
actively fly around. The Collings' and EAA's are available for rides. It is
well worth it if you ever get the chance!