I love aeroplanes. Fortunately for me, so does Big Guy. When he read that a refurbished B-17, a Flying Fortress, was coming to our little pueblo of Santa Tourista, we knew that we had to go and check it out.
This is the “Fuddy Duddy.”
As you can see it was named after that famous small-game hunter, Elmer Fudd. It didn’t really have 85 missions as the bombs painted on the side seem to declare. It never actually flew in combat. But, it’s still cool.
I got to sit in the pilot’s seat.
I make a pretty good fly-boy I think. Big Guy has a special place in his heart for the B-17. When he was in high school, he went to work at Northup aircraft building B-17s.
The group that owns the “Fuddy Duddy” takes it, and other planes, around the country. People can go in them and even in take a flight in them. These old planes aren’t going to be around forever. It’s a wonderful experience to go inside one. You can imagine for a minute how these young men fought the war.
You had to be young to last in one of these bombers. I don’t know exactly how many B-17s were lost, but there were a lot. The fellows who were in especially vulnerable positions were the belly and tail gunners. You can’t imagine how it was until you’re in a B-17.
Sitting in that pilot’s seat, I felt transported back in time. This isn’t a high-tech experience, but it must have been hair-raising. Pretty soon it will be the 60th anniversary of V-E day. Let’s remember the young men who went off to war so long ago and not forget those who didn’t come back.
A la prochaine. Moochas smoochas,
Please give what you can to Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders).
Les commentaires récents