Airport Excursion

As I mentioned yesterday, we had the opportunity to go on a little field trip Wednesday morning. The company my Dad works for has their buildings situated on an old air force base. For a private pilot, it was just about a dream come true to be able to work right next to an airport. J He stays pretty current on what’s going on there, small as it is today.

He found out about a WWII airplane fly-in being held at their airport this past week. We decided that it’d be neat to go and see the planes, as they were offering up-close tours.

So Wednesday morning we all headed out the door early. We actually were going to the doctor’s office first, as I’ve battled a sinus infection all week. Once we finished there, we headed to the airport.

There were a fair number of people there, including kids, which surprised me a bit being a school day, but maybe they’re homeschooled like us. J We paid the admission fee, and then headed out to see the planes.

At the airport that day, they had a B-17 Flying Fortress and a B-24 Liberator. Both of these planes were bombers during WWII. I was pretty disappointed to find out that the P-51 Mustang had left already. We know a veteran who flew those as well as P-38’s during WWII. He was actually bombed down over Italy while flying a P-38 and was a POW for several years. His survival was miraculous, as he had shrapnel embedded in his head following the crash, and no medical help as a POW. When he returned to the States, he was told that he’d never marry due to his injuries. He became the father of 5 children, and the grandfather to many more. J

We started off by going through the B-17. Josiah was especially intrigued by the plane, because one of his favorite movie trilogies is “The Last Chance Detectives.” It’s about a group of Christian kids who have their own detective agency, and their headquarters is located in an old B-17.

Photo Credit: Betsy.

We believe that the 3 swastikas painted on the side indicate how many German planes this B-17 bombed down. It had 140 yellow bombs painted on the side. Usually these indicate how many missions the plane flew, but it may also indicate how many bombs it dropped. Either way, this plane did a lot in its day!

I was amazed at how cramped it was inside. I am only 5’6” and I was ducking and hitting my head quite a bit. I can’t quite imagine what it was like for full-sized men to work in there on bombing raids.

Underneath the B-17 is a small round gunner’s compartment. Unfortunately, if the planes had to make an emergency landing (on the belly of the plane), the man inside usually was crushed. The men who flew these planes were extremely brave, as this plane was known as a bit of death-trap because it was fairly slow.

Then we went and toured the B-24 Liberator, named the Witchcraft. This plane was a behemoth with a huge bomb bay. An interesting thing about this plane was that the gunner situated in the back of the plane had no access to the pilot and co-pilot due to the bomb bay in between them. So if you were in the back, you were stuck.

Photo Credit: Betsy.

There were several military jeeps on display. The gentleman who restored this jeep told us a lot about it. It was used in Italy during the war, and he found it at a junk yard. It took him a year to restore it. He has done a beautiful job, and it was fascinating to hear about how sturdy they were built. (Side note: Seeing these types of Jeeps always makes me think of the movie “White Christmas” because of the opening scene.)

Photo Credit: Betsy.

Unfortunately Daddy couldn’t make it for the tour because he had meetings up until 11:30 that morning. The planes were due to fly out at noon. He decided to come over and join us to watch them take off, as it’s not often that you can see planes of this era fly. What we didn’t account for was the near hour of pre-flight time! Thankfully the weather was nice, so we didn’t mind sitting around for awhile. It was interesting to watch them walk the propellers and load up the people who had paid for a ride.

Once they got all four props going, it got LOUD. I cannot imagine 20 or 30 of these planes all starting up at once during the days of the war. It would have been a sight—and a sound—to behold!

The B-17 letting off exhaust as it started its engines.

We watched them finally take off around 1:00 p.m. Since it was getting late, we went out for a quick lunch with Dad. He took us down the road to a little coffee shop that also has burgers and subs.

 

The burgers were great! They serve them on Texas toast. I of course had to have mine with all the fixings. J

We were all glad that we had the opportunity to go to the airport and learn a little more WWII history. I love airplanes and flying! Excursions like this make me think more and more about getting a private pilot’s license . . .