I visited the Hazleton, Pa Municipal Airport today and climbed all through the B-17 that's visiting there. Amazing how relatively primitive planes were then, but the objective was apparently to crank out aircraft that did the job and could be made as fast as possible. The only hydraulics were for the brakes, for instance; cables moved the flight surfaces. The bomb bay seemed awful small, but after loading nukes in B-52s, any other bomb bay will seem small to me, I guess. The B-24 that was supposed to be there is stuck in Poughkeepsie (sp?) with carburetor problems. The P-51 fired up and taxied to a hangar for an oil change, so I didn't get a good look at it, but its engine sounded awesome! I'm glad I finally made it to see the planes' annual appearance there. Suggest anybody here try to see these legends of aviation while you can.
Bob in NEPA
Added: Rusty, 30 minute flights were available in the B-17 for $450, or $2200 in the 2-seat P-51. An hour in the fighter was $3200. A local paper had an article about a woman who bought a full hour for her boyfriend. He's a pilot, so he did a few maneuvers and had a ball. Don't we all wish we had a wife or girlfriend like that?