Wasn't any pictures posted with it... but saw a post over on Facebook...
where a crew on a restored B17 out of Renton WA took a 99 year old B 17 pilot who flew with the 8th Air Force in 1944 for 36 missions
out for a flight on their A/C for his 99th birthday...
Love stories like this when you see folks give thanks and gifts like this to our veterans, who in their youth served our nation and put themselves
in harms way to defend our freedoms 70 plus years ago...
Kudos to the guys who took this Veteran up on a flight in their B 17, at 99 y/o so he could relive his youth, one more time.
In a plane nearly as old as him. Made in America.....both of them.
Would you go up in a Huey for your 99th Birthday Dan?
I say God Bless both the B 17 and the 99 year old pilot....
and your RIGHT....
MADE IN THE USA!
Ride a Huey when I’m 99? Depends if I’m at the controls or not. 😁
My dad's first cousin was a co pilot in the 100th. His first flight was January 1945. He also did the training at different airfields across western America with time spent at Las Vegas and Lincoln Nebraska. I did an NVG training flight out of Lincoln many years ago.
kwg
God bless him and I hope he had an enjoyable flight. Very few of those B-17 guys left, whereas years ago I knew a bunch of them. One of my uncles was a ground crewman on them in England, one of my old girlfriends father was a ball turret gunner on one and I've worked with a few others years ago. I wish I had some audio recordings of stuff that I heard from them but back then I never thought about it much in those days. I bet that Rocky Rabb will peruse this thread, and some years ago IIRC, he took a ride in a B-17 and one of the other passengers was an elderly B-17 veteran. Rocky got a great picture of the old guy sitting in the plane. Hey, Rocky; if you still have that photo could you post it?
In the summer of 2000 the Experimental Aircraft Association B-17 "Aluminum Overcast" came to Lebanon Tennessee for an air show. They were selling rides to cover the cost of flying the bird, which is considerable. A 1-hour ride cost $600.00. Our family chipped in and bought Dad a ride, his first one since he left the Air Force as a pilot in 1945. By a happy coincidence, I repaired a tug they needed to move the planes around during the show. It had problems with the transmission, and I happened to have the parts to fix it handy at my shop a few miles away. When we showed up for his ride the next morning, I got a freebie. He got his turn in the left seat, along with all the other guys, and had an ear to ear grin the whole time. Spending a few minutes at the controls of a B-17 was a once in a lifetime experience for me- - - -doing it with my father onboard was priceless!