what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 Cool! Photos, please. These are some from an air show in WV four years ago. The AF Thunderbirds don't make it to WV very often.

They're banking a bit north of our house this year. And all I had handy was my cell phone camera...

This is four jets divebombing down to Miramar (just east of our house)


And this is a few pictures from a few years ago (taken with a Point and Shoot camera).
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[Walt34]

That is so neat when you get to see it from your house.

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 That is so neat when you get to see it from your house.

When I was a kid neighbors used to set up lawn chairs on their roof.
Now most of the neighborhood goes to a local park that is directly in line of the west end of the runway... Parents socialize in lawn chairs sharing snacks - kids play on the playground.... dogs freak out with every passing plane.

Last year the show was cancelled due to sequestration.

Too bad it's horribly hot this weekend - the static display must be miserably hot. It was 90 when I took that picture this afternoon....

[FIREd]

It was a perfect day to take a ride in the Miata. We got stuck in a monster traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. Turns out October is a really bad month to drive by a pumpkin farm. Since we were not in a hurry to return to our stiflingly hot apartment (85F, no A/C), we went on a walk through the woods. It was nearly 90F, but the shade provided by the Redwoods and the cool created by the running creek kept us comfortable.

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREd It was a perfect day to take a ride in the Miata. We got stuck in a monster traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. Turns out October is a really bad month to drive by a pumpkin farm. Since we were not in a hurry to return to our stiflingly hot apartment (85F, no A/C), we went on a walk through the woods. It was nearly 90F, but the shade provided by the Redwoods and the cool created by the running creek kept us comfortable.

Muir Woods? If so it's one of my favorite places in the world.

[FIREd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi Muir Woods? If so it's one of my favorite places in the world.

Not this time. Muir Woods can get very crowded on Saturdays and Sundays. So we chose the less beaten paths of the Purisima Creek Redwoods preserve today. I hiked Muir Woods last week though. And it is still one of my favorite spots around here.

[Theseus]

Caught another apple thief in the back yard. Often seeing groups of 2-3 does and fawns around dawn and dusk, many become individually recognizable as frequent "guests" but the other morning there were three distinct groups that showed up around the same time, they were more wary of each other and not even concerned about me not so quietly going about making my breakfast. Yesterday around midday this young buck stopped by, hungry feller ate two big Wolf River apples.

[Walt34]

Last night I half-jokingly said to DW "Would you mind if I blew $450 on a half-hour airplane ride?"

She said "You should do that."

To myself: "Huh? She's serious!"

Out loud: "Okay, if you're going to twist my arm about it."

So I called a retired BIL and asked if he wanted to go and we went up to Hagerstown Airport and toured the B-17G Nine-O-Nine. He didn't go on the ride but we both took a lot of pictures.

Space is cramped in there. Those guys who flew bombing missions and got shot at in those airplanes had big brass ones. I see no way anyone could get out of one all shot up and out of control, contending with all those "g" forces and still get out. But obviously some of them did.

There is no heat in it, no wonder they had to bundle up and wear electrical heating suits and they still got frostbite. No matter the time of year it's cold at 25,000 feet.

Anyway, some photos:

[REWahoo]

Dang Walt, that is so cool! I'm envious of your adventure!

Sure hope you were using a fast exposure in that third picture. If not, did you tell the pilot he'd better feather #3 and #4 if that thing had a prayer of staying airborne?

[seraphim]

Nice shots Walt


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[splitwdw]

Theseus, I had some of his buddies stop by last month.

[Sue J]

Good for you, Walt!! We have been to many air shows and I've seen a few B-17s and B-24s, or was it a B-25? Anyway, we've never taken the flights. Instead we can spot them in the sky, sometimes right from home. Those old war planes make a very distinctive sound. DH has a couple of scanners and when there is an airshow in the area we can listen to the chatter.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue J Good for you, Walt!! We have been to many air shows and I've seen a few B-17s and B-24s, or was it a B-25? Anyway, we've never taken the flights. Instead we can spot them in the sky, sometimes right from home. Those old war planes make a very distinctive sound. DH has a couple of scanners and when there is an airshow in the area we can listen to the chatter.

I would love to do that.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Sure hope you were using a fast exposure in that third picture. If not, did you tell the pilot he'd better feather #3 and #4 if that thing had a prayer of staying airborne?

1/2000 sec shutter speed and the props were turning normally. If they hadn't I'd have had to change my underwear.

Actually, the part that made me the most uneasy was traversing the open space in this image. There is no window there - it is open to the sky - and you can stick your hand (or camera) outside the airplane. I could just envision having the airplane taking a severe drop in turbulence, having that experience when flying myself, and ending up outside the airplane.

And the ride was a bit choppy. Everyone had to hang on to stuff to stay upright when moving around on the airplane.

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 Last night I half-jokingly said to DW "Would you mind if I blew $450 on a half-hour airplane ride?" . . . So I called a retired BIL and asked if he wanted to go and we went up to Hagerstown Airport and toured the B-17G Nine-O-Nine. He didn't go on the ride but we both took a lot of pictures.

For $450 did they let you shoot the .50 cal machine gun? Or would you have to pay extra for that? Pretty cool.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley For $450 did they let you shoot the .50 cal machine gun? Or would you have to pay extra for that? Pretty cool.

Naw, all the barrels are plugged (blame ATF for that, they have no sense of humor) and to make it worse, they are wired into the positions shown. I wanted to wave it around and at least point it at something/someone!

But that's probably why they're wired down....

There's a good reason for the price of the ride. One main landing gear tire costs $6k and they go through about three of those a year. Can you imagine trying to find brake pads for an airplane that's been out of production since 1945 and what they would cost? The fuel it burns costs $6/gallon. Each engine burns 25 gallons/hour.

And all this is if nothing breaks, which of course happens. A lot.

I can't imagine what it costs to maintain and run an airplane like that.

[Meadbh]

That is way cool, Walt. An experience like that is exactly what FIRE is all about!

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley For $450 did they let you shoot the .50 cal machine gun? Or would you have to pay extra for that? Pretty cool.

The M2s on B-17s went from 500 rounds per minute to 1200 rpm. 50 cal. ammo is around $500 per hundred. Would be fun.

Great experience, thanks for sharing!



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[Ronstar]

Great experience, Walt! And thanks for posting the nice photos!


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[davemartin88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 Actually, the part that made me the most uneasy was traversing the open space in this image. There is no window there - it is open to the sky - and you can stick your hand (or camera) outside the airplane. I could just envision having the airplane taking a severe drop in turbulence, having that experience when flying myself, and ending up outside the airplane.

Glad you did the trip. If I remember my similar flight on a B-17 from a few years ago, this opening is above where the radio operator was stationed and there was a machine gun through that opening for the operators use. As I mentioned in the other thread, my dad was a radio operator on one of these B-17's during WWII so that would have been the machine gun he was responsible to man when attacked. He didn't talk often about this but did talk about the cold and cramped spaces. He was stationed in Sicily for most of his missions, then once he completed his combat missions, he was a radio operator on cargo/plane transfer flights from the US to Europe til near the end of the war.

My flight was a lot of fun as well, flew from an air show at the Leesburg, VA airport. We lived not far from there so the pilot did a slow flyover of the house we lived in at the time as well. I have some pictures around here somewhere so will have to try and find one!

Thanks for sharing the photos.