B-17 info for those interested

[dacrazyrn]

Awesome shots. My grandfather was a pilot on a B-17 in the 305th Bomb Group of the 40th Bomb Wing and flew missions over Germany from Sept 1944-March 1945. He put together and hardbound book with a bunch of his pictures, letters and stories for all his kids and grandkids. Finished it just before the Alzheimers really set in. (I will scan some shots out of that tomorrow after I sleep some).
My grandmother and him went to their bombgroups get togethers every year. I am trying to find out when it is this year to take my grandmother. My grandpa passed away in Dec of '04, 2 months after my Dad.

[s4son]

Scott/ Rocky...great pics...and there's nothing better than hearing those big radials roar huh? I just can't imagine sitting in one of those aluminum cigars and hearing them for hours on end...but when I hear something like that I'm craning my head all around to see where it is....I was camping in Colo...up near Aspen and heard 2 engines about 6AM I thought...than ain't a Cessna!!!...ran out of the trailer and saw a P51 and a Corsair going over to Aspen for an air show...they were down in the valley and I was up on a ridge...what a site and a sound...I loved it!!! made for one of my best camping memories... Doug

Doug,
My house is just east of the flight path for our older airport downtown. We have a group here in KC formed by a bunch of ex-TWA guys that have restored a Lockheed Constellation and they fly it to air shows. My neighbors must think I’m crazy because every time that thing flies over I run outside to listen and watch. This group has formed a museum and now has a DC-3 and Martin 404 in the inventory. Unfortunately the Connie is down with a bad engine right now. You could build a few teardrops for what it cost to overhaul one of those jobs! Here are a couple web sites if anyone is interested.

http://www.airlinehistorymuseum.com/

http://www.conniesurvivors.com/1-twa_75th_anniversary.htm

Another of my passions, don’t get me started.

Scott F.

[Spadinator]

Cool link Scott......I toured that connie when it was in SLC. Absolutely beautiful bird. The roar of those engines are the greatest when it was taking off!!! Oh and the flames out of the power recovery turbos is way cool!!!

[Lazybones]

:thumbsup: I remember living in Portland and a gassing up at a station near Portland, it had a B-17 suspendid over it.

That plane is still there. They are suppose to be restoring it. Not too long ago a delivery truck backed into it. Luckily it was a part that had not been restored yet.

That place is called the Bomber Cafe. They have great food. My friends and I go and eat there everytime we go to the Portlad swap meet.

[ALAN GEDDES]

Spent a number of years working on radial engine aircraft. I still love the sound and will go out of my way to see and hear any.

[Kens]

My Dad spent the war in Texas. He repaired the cockpit dash electronics on the B-17s in Delrio near the border. Kens

[alaska teardrop]

Before retiring from Boeing as an illustrator my uncle Art Schultz painted this picture for the B-17 50th anniversary (1935-1985). He was kind enough to give me one of the original limited prints. For those interested in searching, 10 or 12 other artist were also commisioned to paint scenes of individual planes. There must be a complete set somewhere possibly showing the individual plane of your interest.

[Spadinator]

My grandfather got one of the prints but of a different view. GREAT PHOTO!!! Thanks for posting it!!

[Mike Ahern]

For the B-17s that didn't make it back there's a story of a B-17 that went down on Tells Peak 25 miles east of Georgr Town Calif on Nov 2 1941 and it is still there. Go to http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/B17Cdamage.htm
and
http://www.donrjordan.com/tellspeak.html

[dacrazyrn]

I have been to a wreck site here in CO of a B-17. Got tons of pictures. Was a grueling day hike in and out. There are some cool sites on "wreckchasing." This link is the one I went to see at Crown Point up the Poudre Canyon in Colorado (west of Ft Collins, CO).
Colorado Wreck Chasing

[dacrazyrn]

Here are 4 pics from the Crown Point, CO wreckage I took.
Radial Engine
Landing Gear
Rim
Wreckage (Old School)

[GeorgeT]

B-17 Specs and diagram at http://www.eaa582.org/b17_specs.htm My mother was in a bunker in Berlin during the bombings of WWII near Reich Strasse close to the Olympic Stadium. She was in her mid- teens. My dad, from Sherman, Texas was in the first American armored infantry that entered Berlin. They met in 1945 and were married in Berlin and lived until 1947 in the apartment building that she lived in and survived all the years of the bombing. For a time most every evening after school she and her parents took their suitcases and mattress pads to the bunker. They were not Nazis. My grandfather had his cosmetics factory that he co-owned with a Jewish partner confiscated by Hitler and his insane gangsters early in the war and it was turned into a factory that produced war materials. They were given the apartment on Reich Strasse as compensation which turned out to be a blessing as even though it was located near Spandau, an industrial section of Berlin and a serious target for allied bombers, the building survived pretty much intact with only minor damage.

My grandfather was eventually taken by the SS to serve in the military as was many older males toward the end of the war. He was assigned to an anti-aircraft battery in Berlin. He was later captured by the Russians and was interred in a concentration camp outside of Moscow. He made it back to Berlin in time to meet my dad and attend the wedding. He had lost most of his hearing from the anti-aircraft battery shooting and lost his teeth from the diet in the concentration camp. Odd thing, my dad's name was George William Teague, her dad's name was Georg Wilhelm Wichmann. Same names. My grandfather is in the picture, the tall one in black tux and white tie.

Here's a photo taken of my mom at 16 in Berlin and a photo at the wedding. I was born in Sherman, Texas in 1949. Mom retired from Century 21 real estate in New Jersey and lives in Williamsburg, Va, where she volunteers at the German section of Busch Gardens. She went through 20 years or so of therapy to rid herself of the memories of the war especially the days when the Russians entered the city pilaging, raping, shooting horses, old men, women and children. She told me once that occasionally she still hears the thunder of the bombing in her head at nights. Dad is a retired Sheriff in New Mexico. I was assigned to Berlin when I joined the Army Security Agency as an interpreter from '69 thru '71. Mom came over and visited and we went to the apartment building that still stands on Reich Strasse and visited her old apartment. The bomb damage repairs can still be seen. Her childhood girlfriend now lives there in her old apartment. I met her and she showed me photos of myself I hadn't seen that was taken when I was 3 years old when I stayed in Berlin with my mom and grandparents after her divorce from my Dad. Weird how things turn out.

[madjack]

here George...I cleaned the pics up a little for you...thanks for the pics and the story......................................

[GeorgeT]

here George...I cleaned the pics up a little for you...thanks for the pics and the story......................................

Thanks, much better size.

[Spadinator]

Great story!!!! I love stories like that. My grand father and grand mother met when she was a parachute packer in England and of course he was a tail gunner. She also made ammunition for the guns on the bombers.