The Ultimate Contest

[Steve Hand]

My father was a radio operator-waist gunner on a B-17 they called "The Wheel". He flew 25 missions. During the actual bomb-drop he took pictures from the waist gun position. He used to tell me about the unimaginable terror. I don't mean to be depressing today, but remember the saying "lest we forget"?

[Paul Smith]

Great pictures !!!

That Boeing B-17 was really the right stuff at the right time. 

[Jim Oliver]

Not to disagree about the great B-17, but the men who flew them (and those who didn't) were the right stuff at the right time.

Don't get me started about the men who died to preserve my freedom-------I/we could never repay them, even if we had the chance.

Thankful to be an American,

Jim

[john e. holliday]

As my computor will not down load the posted addresses, I think back to the B-17 Museum portion of the Pima Air Museum at Monthan Air Force Base in Tuscon Arizona.  Pictures of the crews that flew that beautiful plane.  DOC Holliday

[Bill Gruby]

Not to disagree about the great B-17, but the men who flew them (and those who didn't) were the right stuff at the right time.

Don't get me started about the men who died to preserve my freedom-------I/we could never repay them, even if we had the chance.

Thankful to be an American,

Jim

12


   Jim Oliver, you already have my friend you already have.

  "Bill Gruby"

[Dave Adamisin]

First off, thanks for sharing. I looked close at img.pdf. There is a 17 below and way beyond the prominent 17 in the upper right. It looks like there may be a p51 above and just beyond it. Any one else see it too?

[Paul Smith]

Maybe a Mustang ?  I dunno, I'm working on tail number.

[Bob Disharoon]

I personally met and chatted with the captain of the Memphis Belle at an airshow.His steely blue eyes still burn a hole in my memory. It brought tears to my eyes as he autograghed a picture to my dad who landed at Normandy.

Has anyone been watching "THE WAR" by Ken Burns?..dam good stuff

[Jim Morris]

May God bless our troops,our country and those kids who sacrficed so much for our freedom,and lets not forget those who want to take it away,even in the US senate!!!

[Steve Hand]

ama21835,

Go to the 8th A.F. Historical Group on the web. They have all of the squad. and wings listed by date and location. These photos are the 486th and my dad's tail marking was the square W in yellow based in Sudbury, England. All they say left at the airstrip now, that was there when all of this took place, is the original bar. Now, how is that for a historical site? Pretty fitting I guess, considering the circumstances.

[Bob Disharoon]

Maybe a Mustang ?  I dunno, I'm working on tail number.

                                Looks like a 17 to me, by the scale of it. If we knew the date of the shot it would be a big help. The 51's usually flew top cover for those guys. But, I don't really know, either.....Bob

[proparc]

These pictures are priceless. This is what freedom looks like.

[Steve Hand]

It is highly doubtful that it would be a fighter since the the bombers are actually in the flak field during bomb release. Our fighters and the Germans would not dare go into that during a run.  Only in the above position and the befores and afters; not during the actual drop. As you can see, the bursts are quite thickly laid out. I am always moved when I pull these photos out every once in a while, especially by #4. He said he knew some of them.

[Jim Oliver]

Sort of on topic-----do any of you Navy guys know anything about this so called "Law of the sea treaty" that is being discussed in our fair capital?

Jim

[Bill Little]

Col. Dugan, a B-17 poilot, used to fly R/C with us.  He was blown out of his B-17 over the ball bearing factories.  He still walked with a limp close to 40 years later.  He spent the last months of the war in a POW camp.  A great man to talk with.

Our gratitude to the generation of Americans that fought WW II can never be fully expressed.  I'm afraid of what might happen today if we were faced with the same situation....................

[Jim Oliver]

I was just watching some of "The War" on our local PBS station---one of the facts mentioned was that the US lost over 405,000 Soldiers, Sailors and Marines.  (Capital letters reflect my feelings.)

Jim

[Roger Vizioli]

Lost my (would have been) Father-in-Law on 21 Feb 1944 during Operation Big week, he was the pilot on a B-17 flying out of Poddington, England. Just before reaching their target, a German fighter flew through his wing between engines 3 and 4, no survivors. I have gathered a lot of info but always willing to have more, if anyone has anything it would be sincerely appreciated. I would rather have duplicates of what I have rather than miss something.
Ref: 8th Air Force, 92nd Bomb Group, 327th Bomber Squadron.

Sparky, I know this is not the purpose of this site but "we" are airplane oriented and it might turn up something I missed.
Sincere thanks, in advance,
Roger V.

[Bob Disharoon]

Lost my (would have been) Father-in-Law on 21 Feb 1944 during Operation Big week, he was the pilot on a B-17 flying out of Poddington, England. Just before reaching their target, a German fighter flew through his wing between engines 3 and 4, no survivors. I have gathered a lot of info but always willing to have more, if anyone has anything it would be sincerely appreciated. I would rather have duplicates of what I have rather than miss something.
Ref: 8th Air Force, 92nd Bomb Group, 327th Bomber Squadron.

Sparky, I know this is not the purpose of this site but "we" are airplane oriented and it might turn up something I missed.
Sincere thanks, in advance,
Roger V.

            You probably know this fact, but the Germans at that point of the war had sripped out 109's with only 60 bullets onboard. The idea was to use their plane as a buzzsaw to ram the 17s and then hopefully bail out to safety. I recall their having two hits out of 100 or so tries. The rest were shot down. One pilot actually did survive.

[Roger Vizioli]

Bob,
Many thanks, I did not know that.
Roger V.
Merritt Island,FL
ps Are you going to P. Coopy's Lake Wales fly in?

[Paul Smith]

I was just watching some of "The War" on our local PBS station---one of the facts mentioned was that the US lost over 405,000 Soldiers, Sailors and Marines.  (Capital letters reflect my feelings.)

Jim

By US standards that's a big number.  The nations who allowed the war to be fought on home ice had body counts ten times the above and more.  Furthermore, our CIVILIAN BODY COUNT for the above conflict was in single digits, vs millions for those who lacked long range bombers and the necessary crews.

Today's anti-patriots who criticise going to Iraq and Afganistan needs to look at the pictures of Berlin and Stahlingrad.  In one of these "ultimate contests", our road warriers are doing the fans a real service, even if they refuse to believe it.

[Alan Resinger]

The guy who taught me to fly control-line was a tail gunner in a 17.  He got shot down twice, once over occupied France where the resistance got him out and once over the channel.  He flew all his missions but had some tough times for the rest of his life with health problems both physical and mental.  He told some stories that made it easy to see why he had some of the problem he did.  He was a real hero that I really looked up to.  He and his wife loved kids but couldn't have any and his hobby shop was like a magnet for lots of us.  On weekends during the summer they'd load his car and trailer up with kids and planes and head to contests that we would have never been able to get to.
Yea, he flew clockwise too.

[Bob Disharoon]

Bob,
Many thanks, I did not know that.
Roger V.
Merritt Island,FL
ps Are you going to P. Coopy's Lake Wales fly in?

              Roger, I wasn't aware of the fly in. Would love to have the details..thanx, Bob

[Roger Vizioli]

              Roger, I wasn't aware of the fly in. Would love to have the details..thanx, Bob

Bob,
Details and map are in the Contest Calendar, events section of this forum.
Roger