ATLANTA — The storied Memphis Belle, a World War II B-17 Flying Fortress was in Atlanta the past several days on the first stop of a 50-city nationwide tour to raise awareness of living American history.Dang it. This is the second time I've seen the old girl fly past (once was from my office window), and I've never been up close. Got to start paying more attention.
For veterans, seeing the Memphis Belle will be a trip back in time. The ranks of WWII veterans and their war machines are dwindling.
The tour aims to revive memories and teach younger generations through hands-on experiences, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ( http://bit.ly/YXqGkC).
Bon voyage, Belle. Fair weather for your journey.
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| Image via Wikipedia |
8 comments:
The B-17: my favoritest plane ever! :^)
I remember about 20 years ago, seeing her in Memphis on Mud Island, all neglected and vandalized. Ironically, I had to sneak over to see it after hours but I got to spend much time just touching the sad old plane and mourning it's condition. I was so glad when they hauled it out of there for a proper restoration.
Rev Paul, mine too. Remember watching "12 O'Clock High"?
Murphy, I sure am, too.
Before the Belle went to Mud Island, it sat on a concrete pedestal at the National Guard at Hollywood and Central in Memphis. I grew up less than a mile from there and, when I was still skinny (50+ years ago), we would ride over there on bikes in the summer. The bomb sight had been removed and a hatch installed that wasn't locked. As kids, we figured out how to open it and climb inside. I vividly remember sitting in the cockpit "flying" the Belle to targets and dropping our bombs only to look out the window and see a Police car on Central with two cops staring At the presumably empty airplane with its control suhrfaces moving in climbs, dives and banks. We stopped moving things and, when the cops left, so did we, via the same hatch we used to sneak in.
'Patch,
Check out the tour schedule for The Collings Foundation. They go from place to place with a B-17G, a B-24, and a trainer version of the P-51C. The P-51C was a hybrid of sorts in that it sports a razorback fuselage & 'cage' style canopy, yet it was Merlin powered. And recently, the Collings Foundation has limitedly started flying a reproduction Me-262 !!!!!
- Brad
Yeah, I saw it overhead on Saturday, when I was on my way to the gun show in Jonesboro. First one I'd ever been to, and I walked out about 30 oz heavier than when I walked in.
Yeah, I bought one. :)
Wow. All these old warbirds flying again! I was told once there was no flying version of the P-40 in existence and a bunch of old aerospace engineers in Hawthorne Airport were working to remedy that situation. Is (are) there now flying version(s) of the P-40?
As for the Memphis Belle, my Uncle flew the "forts" over Germany from about August 1944 to the end. Before that he was a radioman in the Mosquitos that flew as pathfinders ahead of the B-17's to drop flares for where to bomb, as apparently the Navigators and Bombardiers needed a little help. He never talked about any of this, except that his B-17 was the "Brunswick Queen', but don't doubt he probably saw "S*** that would turn you white", to quote Winston Zeddmore from Ghostbusters.
I had the pleasure of a 40 minute flight in the CAF's Sentimental Journey. Several years ago. A B-17g that tours and sells flights when the weather is good and not much is broken . Best way I know to turn $$$$$. Into smoke and noise. If you get a chance to go just do it. And worry about the cost later
notDilbert
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