Grumpy....

[bd43]

Hey, any vintage aircraft admirers here?

This B-25D Mitchell Bomber flew into town yesterday on a lay over to its final destination in Paine Field, Washington. The 5 person crew had stopped in for the couple of days to show her off as they had just completed a Trans Atlantic crossing, now on a Trans Continental voyage to its new owner.

Thought I would share some up close pcitures...

 

[afpreppie04]

I always liked the P38, unfortunately they are hard to find; I've only ever seen one in person and I saw a lot of airplane museums and such growing up.

 

[PowellB]

Nice, my grandfather was a radio-op in those!!

I was in the Civil Air Patrol and planned on the Air Force Academy until I found out I was a touch color blind. Used to work security on flight lines of the local air shows and check out every museum I could. Still love those old warbirds. Made my day when I saw a B-17 and a B-24 in flight earlier this summer on a random afternoon.

Growing up, the local airbase, Mcguire, had a P38 on display since it's named after an ace hew flew one. Such an interesting design.

 

[steveindenmark]

Some people have too much money :Ø(

 

[forwil]

Saw that on the news last night
Thanks for the pix

 

[RJ2112]

Thanks for sharing.

There's one of these in Hillsboro, OR.... I think it only comes out during the airshow each year. Not many left, as they were heavily used as water bombers for fire fighting.

Evergreen Aviation's museum in McMinnville, OR has a really good B-17 on display... for a few dollars you can crawl around inside. Feaking amazing...... the tail surfaces are controlled by guy wires thinner than our clutch cables.

 

[kamao]

Great shots, thanks for posting! Hoping to get to some vintage airshows next year, should be a few going on what with it being the BoB 70th etc.

 

[Moses195]

I'm a plane buff also, Here's some of a B-24 from last year.

 

[oldfast007]

OK you WWII plane buffs.... this company funds/fly's A B24, B17 and others around the country, I've had the privilege to walk through both of them a few times, almost went up in the 17, but was just shy on funds to do so

Must add my favorite fighter...Vought F4U Corsair:thumbup:

The Collings Foundation - Preserving Living Aviation History for Future Generations

 

[GSBandit6]

@bd43: I hope you got a chance to watch her land. There's nothing like the sound of those radials running. I had the good fortune to see the air show in Smyrna, TN in 2000 where the organizers arranged to have three flying B-17s at the same time. The sounds of those 12 radial engines starting up and cruising around the airfield is a memory I'll carry to my grave. Thanks for taking some pics of this beautiful lady. I hope she's going to someone who will keep her flying. I would like to think some of the old veteran warbirds will still be in the air for my daughters to see in the years to come.

 

[Botch]

I didn't realize how much glass was on the front of the "Mitch"... you could grow chile peppers in there!

Beautiful pics, thanks!

 

[Binks33]

love the pics i'm a huge fan of the old warbirds.:thumbup:

 

[cv_rider]

I love WWII-era equipment, especially the planes. There is something so primordial about their sound and "essence."

I got the chance to fly in a TD-6 trainer two years ago, which is similiar in look to a Navy's aircraft carrier fighter-bombers. These were the main planes used to train WWII Allied pilots. This particular plane flew around the country and took people for rides. As a trainer, it had front (passenger) and rear (pilot) controls. So I got to control it for about 10 minutes. I took it through a couple of backwards rolls and several left and right corkscrews. I blacked out for a second on one of my backward rolls, when the pilot chastized me for not pulling back aggressively enough on the first one. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever done. I was motion sick for about six hours afterwards. Had to sit in the parking lot for about 45 minutes - didn't think I'd be able to pilot my car home in the state I was in.

 

[kamao]

Here's a few from the '07 RIAT:

 

[bd43]

@bd43: I hope you got a chance to watch her land. There's nothing like the sound of those radials running.

No, unfortunately, she flew in unannounced but apparently did some fly-bys over the city. Don't know where I was when that happened. I have heard the sound of the engines on YouTube and they sound great. I'm kind of partial to the B-25 Heavenly Body as I have the RC version sitting on my workbench.

I was just so happy to climb in one of these and touch one up close. Here are some more pics.

 

[GSBandit6]

Thanks for the additional shots. When you look into the ****pit, it's amazing how these were flown such long distances with no GPS, no VORs, no real nav-aids of any kind.
The sounds on YouTube are good, but nothing like being there in person. I am not familiar with "Heavenly Body", but any B-25 is a beautiful plane.

Did they mention the actual history of the aircraft? Was it the original "Grumpy"? Judging by the number of missions it appears the actual "Grumpy" has quite the service record. The only reason I ask is I saw the B-17 "Texas Raiders" at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville about 20 years ago. I thought it was so cool then, but I started noticing that the aircraft was not a B-17F, but a B-17G (the one with the chin turret). The airplane was only painted to look like "Texas Raiders" and actually served as a sub patrol plane at the very end of the war and saw no action. Kind of killed the mystique of it all.

 

[cv_rider]

It looks like the rear facing gun turret on the "spine" of Grumpy could shoot the vertical stablizers off. Does anyone know if there was a mechanism on any of these planes to prevent the gunner from hitting parts of his own plane? Seems in the heat of the moment, tracking a Messerschmidt flying left to right behind you, it would be easy to do.