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B-17 Crash in Connecticut

atomheartbevo

By atomheartbevo
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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15299

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Dammit.  Hate hearing this.  Was it determined to be maintenance issues or something unrelated to the age and capacity of the plane?

Have a friend with a little Cessna here in the DFW area - always trying to get me up in that little death box.  Nope....

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XYZ

XYZ 2154

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Some years ago they had this exhibit at the ABIA south terminal. They had a P-51, a B-17, and I think the other big one was a B-29. Anyway, you could pay to go on a ride in one of the big bombers. I didn’t do it cos it was like $500 and I’m a cheap bastard, but I wanted to. Safety be damned, those things are awesome.

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Horn_Spanker

Horn_Spanker 524

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CSB

I had an uncle who was the flight engineer in a B-17.  When the shit got real, he stood behind the pilot and co-pilot and manned the top turret gun.  Well, he crashed and died in 1943.

My whole life I remember seeing a photo of him in his flight jacket sitting on a fence in front of a windmill.  This summer I was showing my aunt (his very elderly sister) my vacation photos from Amsterdam.  She commented, I wonder it you got to see "brother's" windmill?  

That statement bugged me all the way back to Austin.  He couldn't have been "on leave" in the Netherlands since they were occupied by Germany?  Also, being naive, we assumed windmills meant the Netherlands.  Once I got home, I Googled "windmill society" or something close and found a web-page run by a guy in New Zealand.  I emailed all the above information and 12 hours later I got an email showing that windmill about a mile from the B-17 base in England.  It ground corn instead of pumping water.  CSB

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InkaUtexas

InkaUtexas 25950

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55 minutes ago, XYZ said:

Some years ago they had this exhibit at the ABIA south terminal. They had a P-51, a B-17, and I think the other big one was a B-29. Anyway, you could pay to go on a ride in one of the big bombers. I didn’t do it cos it was like $500 and I’m a cheap bastard, but I wanted to. Safety be damned, those things are awesome.

You can do that in San Marcos on a B-25. 3K for 8 people. Lets get a group together! 

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RDCanecutter

RDCanecutter 26446

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1 hour ago, Lat22 said:

The loss of life and the loss of that historic airplane is tragic. When it’s your time, it’s your time. How cool would it be for your family to say “he went down in a B-17 while blasting with the waist-gun .50 cal at Space Aliens ” instead of a senseless car accident?

Give me the modified version above, and we're just talking details after that.

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Judge Roybeanbag

Judge Roybeanbag 11819

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1 hour ago, Lat22 said:

The loss of life and the loss of that historic airplane is tragic. When it’s your time, it’s your time. How cool would it be for your family to say “he went down in a B-17” instead of a senseless car accident?

Agree, if I had the opportunity and the cash I’d definitely fly in one.  

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elfenix

elfenix 34243

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2 hours ago, Horn_Spanker said:

CSB

I had an uncle who was the flight engineer in a B-17.  When the shit got real, he stood behind the pilot and co-pilot and manned the top turret gun.  Well, he crashed and died in 1943.

My whole life I remember seeing a photo of him in his flight jacket sitting on a fence in front of a windmill.  This summer I was showing my aunt (his very elderly sister) my vacation photos from Amsterdam.  She commented, I wonder it you got to see "brother's" windmill?  

That statement bugged me all the way back to Austin.  He couldn't have been "on leave" in the Netherlands since they were occupied by Germany?  Also, being naive, we assumed windmills meant the Netherlands.  Once I got home, I Googled "windmill society" or something close and found a web-page run by a guy in New Zealand.  I emailed all the above information and 12 hours later I got an email showing that windmill about a mile from the B-17 base in England.  It ground corn instead of pumping water.  CSB

well, yeah, it was a windmill, not a windpump.

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C-Man

C-Man 27230

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3 hours ago, XYZ said:

Some years ago they had this exhibit at the ABIA south terminal. They had a P-51, a B-17, and I think the other big one was a B-29. Anyway, you could pay to go on a ride in one of the big bombers. I didn’t do it cos it was like $500 and I’m a cheap bastard, but I wanted to. Safety be damned, those things are awesome.

Almost positive it's the same group I posted about in Dallas and that was involved in the crash. On the link I posted, there's a video shot by the DMN photog that was on the flight. I think that was the B-25 they were on, not the B-17 that went down. The society that owned this plane had renovated all of them and looks like the pilots were probably in their 40's or 50's. This one crashed because of something that happened on takeoff -- couldn't gain altitude and then crashed trying to return and land.

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Zepol87

Zepol87 9186

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Posted
The loss of life and the loss of that historic airplane is tragic. When it’s your time, it’s your time. How cool would it be for your family to say “he went down in a B-17” instead of a senseless car accident?

I like this line of thinking. I'm hoping for 4 hookers to put me out
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chesthair

chesthair 231

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I was at the Reno Air Races last month.  They had a demo with a B-17 being chased by a zero, a couple hellcats were chasing down the zero.  It was fucking awesome, I have some cool video of it.  Anyway, the point of this great story is that i was wondering how reliable those were.  A pilot standing next to me said "every time that zero takes off, something breaks". 

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wood

wood 11226

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On 10/2/2019 at 6:48 PM, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Agree, if I had the opportunity and the cash I’d definitely fly in one.  

Back when I was still at UT, I dated a girl whose dad owned a T6 Texan he flew in the CAF. One day he took me up for a full aerobatic routine. Loops, rolls, tailslides, hammerheads, & more. Absolute blast & I'd go again if I had the chance.

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Judge Roybeanbag

Judge Roybeanbag 11819

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15 minutes ago, wood said:

Back when I was still at UT, I dated a girl whose dad owned a T6 Texan he flew in the CAF. One day he took me up for a full aerobatic routine. Loops, rolls, tailslides, hammerheads, & more. Absolute blast & I'd go again if I had the chance.

Kid I went to high school with bought an old P40 when he was 19 or so, for a pittance.  Swore he was going to restore it.  Haven’t seen him since then but always hoped he finished it.  

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Homercles

Homercles 10205

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CSB
I had an uncle who was the flight engineer in a B-17.  When the shit got real, he stood behind the pilot and co-pilot and manned the top turret gun.  Well, he crashed and died in 1943.
My whole life I remember seeing a photo of him in his flight jacket sitting on a fence in front of a windmill.  This summer I was showing my aunt (his very elderly sister) my vacation photos from Amsterdam.  She commented, I wonder it you got to see "brother's" windmill?  
That statement bugged me all the way back to Austin.  He couldn't have been "on leave" in the Netherlands since they were occupied by Germany?  Also, being naive, we assumed windmills meant the Netherlands.  Once I got home, I Googled "windmill society" or something close and found a web-page run by a guy in New Zealand.  I emailed all the above information and 12 hours later I got an email showing that windmill about a mile from the B-17 base in England.  It ground corn instead of pumping water.  CSB


Well the windmill cancer was going to get him if he didn’t die fighting Nazis
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Lat22

Lat22 4014

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23 hours ago, Bobby_Batronic said:

I think the boys out at King Ranch have one, but I don’t recall if it is flyable. They have enough operable warbirds out there to start a small war. 

The King Ranch in Kingsville has warbirds? Maybe the Edwards Ranch?

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Bobby_Batronic

Bobby_Batronic 1994

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55 minutes ago, Lat22 said:

The King Ranch in Kingsville has warbirds? Maybe the Edwards Ranch?

No, that was the name of the private airport that held them. Or it was.  It's been too long and I may have misremembered, but it's a private strip with two hangars chock full of flyable warbirds near Del Rio.  It's actually close enough that you have to be cognizant of the MOA's, and the UPT boys at Laughlin are aware of warbirds doing aerobatics near their playground.

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Assman

Assman 1830

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2 minutes ago, Bobby_Batronic said:

No, that was the name of the private airport that held them. Or it was.  It's been too long and I may have misremembered, but it's a private strip with two hangars chock full of flyable warbirds near Del Rio.  It's actually close enough that you have to be cognizant of the MOA's, and the UPT boys at Laughlin are aware of warbirds doing aerobatics near their playground.

Yep.  Used to see P-51s and F-86s doing BFM in our outer MOAs.  What a fucking site to see.

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bolverk

bolverk 29683

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8 hours ago, Lat22 said:

The King Ranch in Kingsville has warbirds? Maybe the Edwards Ranch?

Connie definitely had a Spitfire and some other old war birds out there. Next time I get a chance, I'll ask PZ what she plans on doing with all of his WWII toys.

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15346

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On 10/3/2019 at 7:43 AM, Wally Fairway said:

I used to have some family in Mid-Ohio, and every couple of years we'd head over to Wright-Patt for the museum.
I was totally in awe when I would stand next to Bockscar, and if they flew that bird again I'd pay to go on a ride; maybe/maybe not for a short jump on any other WWII airframe.

CSB.  I’ve posted a pic on this site before of my Grandad’s plane in formation with Bockscar on a mission over Germany.  I’m not on my computer or I’d dig it up. 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89675

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https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/26/metro/faa-bans-collings-foundation-conducting-historical-flights-citing-safety-concerns-after-fatal-plane-crash/
 

Quote

Almost six months after a fatal plane crash killed seven people in Connecticut, the Federal Aviation Administration rescinded the Collings Foundation’s permission to carry passengers in historic planes, saying the Massachusetts-based organization “lacked a commitment to safety,” officials announced Wednesday.

 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89675

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30 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

No shit. All the stuff I said up thread but was poo pood. If these warbird guys aren't going to adopt a part 121 type mindset in maintenance and in the cockpit then park these planes in a museum.

From a few other articles as well, it sounded like it wasn’t a matter of if, but when they were going to have a major accident.  

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