Photography

[AggieGuy]

Cool pictures, Eric.  I've been in a B-17 that visited a nearby airport.  Really cool but it was much more cramped that I could ever imagine.

Somewhere I have a B-17 pic from the museum.  Will have to find it when I get home from work.  They were cramped beyond belief.  Everything devoted to fuel, payload, ammo, avionics, etc. and nothing for crew comfort.

[AggieGuy]

One B-17G @ the USAF Museum

[Emer Dreamer]

  My  dad  would  have  loved  these  old  airplanes. He used  to  work  for  Boeing  before  he  became  a  pastor.

[AggieGuy]

And speaking of Boeing, probably one of the most famous, if not the most famous, aircraft at the USAF Museum.  While the B-36 I posted earlier is my favorite type of aircraft, this is the one specific aircraft I wanted to see more than any other.  I spent so long in school studying military history and especially WWII.  I did my senior thesis for my BA on the use of nuclear weapons in WWII.  Now I just need to see its sister Enola Gay at the Smithsonian.

A Boeing B-29A Superfortress modified to what was called "Silverplate" configuration.  This allowed the aircraft to carry and deliver nuclear weapons.





This specific aircraft is Bock's Car, named for its normal pilot/commander Captain Frederick C. Bock.  On 9 August 1945, flown by Major Charles W. Sweeney, she dropped the second, and to this date, last nuclear weapon ever used in combat on the city of Nagasaki.

On the nose art, the 4 black "fat men" above the mushroom cloud represent the dropping of "Pumpkin bombs" which were identical to the nuclear bomb called "Fat Man" in size, shape, and weight.  They dropped these for practice and later in combat missions over Japan.  The main difference is they carried high explosives.  The red one is for the nuclear weapon.

Every now and then some dipstick will try to vandalize it.

[Jack]

Early in my Air Force career I was stationed at Kingsley Field in Oregon.  Not sure why, but we had a B-17 stop over.  I was shocked at how small it looked, as I was a big fan and had followed its history throughout WWII.  I was flying in the F-101B, a state-of-the-art fighter-interceptor at the time.  To my surprise, the F-101 was just as long and taller at the tail than the B-17.  The wing spans were different of course, but the empty and max weights were quite similar.  I wish we had asked for a tour.

[AggieGuy]

Was it the fighter bomber, recon, or interceptor version?

Here's the museum's F-101B on display.

[Jack]

Nice photo of three of my favorite aircraft.  I flew in the F-101B Air Defense Command interceptor (back-seater), maybe even the one shown here.  I believe an aircraft from my squadron was sent to Dayton for the museum.  I also noticed the business end of a F-106 Delta Dart to the left and an F-4 Phantom in the background.  I flew in the F-101B eight years, then the RF-4C Phantom (WSO, Recon) for twelve, including a tour in Southeast Asia.

Here's a nice action shot of a Canadian F-101B I found recently, taken during takeoff.  The "One-Oh-Wonder" was as large and as heavy as the B-17 yet it performed like a hotrod!  Brake release to 35,000 feet, ten miles down range in one minute and forty-plus seconds. 

Typical scramble:  From sitting in the alert hangar playing cards, we could get airborne in 2 1/2  minutes.  That included a slide down a fire pole, run to the aircraft, strap-in, engine start, obtaining tower clearance, copying taxi/scramble/vector and GCI contact info.  Of course we practiced and the ground crews would have done NASCAR proud, pulling chocks, disconnecting starting unit cables, buttoning up doors, opening the alert hangar doors plus a few other things I probably forgot.  Alert taxiways were usually angled to the runway and quite often we were already doing fifty or sixty knots when we pulled onto the runway.  Fun times, miss them.  I especially miss the people, different breed, tigers all!




Last airplane picture, promise!  I have some wildlife photos I will try to post later.

[AggieGuy]

Here's the F-106 which earned the nickname the "Cornfield Bomber."





And the F-4 flown by General (then Col.) Robin Olds.

[Sorgi]

I live across from an Airpark, I have to remember to get some pictures.  Several restored WWII planes in there.  One outfit restoring a helldiver and dauntless; already have a SNJ-5C Texan under their belt

[AggieGuy]

I live across from an Airpark, I have to remember to get some pictures.  Several restored WWII planes in there.  One outfit restoring a helldiver and dauntless; already have a SNJ-5C Texan under their belt

The Dauntless, despite its age, was one of the best dive bombers in WWII.  You could shoot it to bits and it would still fly.  As for the Helldiver, there is a reason crews said its SB2C designation meant Son of a "Female Dog" Second Class.  It was pretty much universally disliked in the fleet.  I've seen both at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola but that was in 1996.  Probably have a picture somewhere, on a slide.  

Probably have a picture of the USAAF version of the Dauntless somewhere in the pile of museum photos.

[Hubert]

One B-17G @ the USAF Museum

Thanks for posting the B-17.  The one I toured was "Aluminum Overcast".  It travels all over the country.  One time it showed up on Pawn Stars.  The old man and Chumlee took a flight in it.

At an air show one time I toured a twin engine (props) transport that had a ramp in the back of the fuselage where cargo could be loaded and unloaded.  The fuselage was really fat.  I have tried to find it on the internet but all the transport planes I have seen do not look like it.  Could any of you guys identify it?

[AggieGuy]

At an air show one time I toured a twin engine (props) transport that had a ramp in the back of the fuselage where cargo could be loaded and unloaded.  The fuselage was really fat.  I have tried to find it on the internet but all the transport planes I have seen do not look like it.  Could any of you guys identify it?

I could think of a dozen it could be.  Was it an in service aircraft, or one retired and now just flown as part of a heritage fleet?

[Hubert]

At an air show one time I toured a twin engine (props) transport that had a ramp in the back of the fuselage where cargo could be loaded and unloaded.  The fuselage was really fat.  I have tried to find it on the internet but all the transport planes I have seen do not look like it.  Could any of you guys identify it?

I could think of a dozen it could be.  Was it an in service aircraft, or one retired and now just flown as part of a heritage fleet?

Retired.  Probably WWII or Korean War.

[AggieGuy]

Retired.  Probably WWII or Korean War.

Hmm.  I'm trying to eliminate possibilities.  Were the wings low, mid, or high fuselage.

My earlier pictures give examples.

The EC-135N would be low; the B-50 mid; and the C-141 high.

[Hubert]

Wings were high.