|
Author |
Message |
Rick Site Admin
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22446 Location: UK
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Old-Nail
Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 853
|
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
It's amazing how many of these old birds were cut up for scrap just after the war.
I had (on my old hard drive) photo's of several hundred in rows awaiting the scrapman!
With various twisted bits of burned aluminium regularly turning up on ebay as 'part of a Messerschmitt' etc even crashed ones are worth a fortune now.
I have in mind to paint a B17 at some future time and would like to feature 'Ye Olde pub', a B17 that should never have made it home but for the gallantry of one individual.
It's a very moving and uplifting story, all the more special for having happened during a period in WWII when any thoughts of chivalry had long since faded.
Read it here: http://www.afa.org/magazine/valor/0197valor.asp |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Rick Site Admin
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22446 Location: UK
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Penman
Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 4756 Location: Swindon, Wilts.
|
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hi
Next time you are on Google Earth have a look for the Davis Monthan Airbase.
It is near Tucson, Arizona.
I challenge anyone to try to count the number of disused, (some mothballed, some being dismantled) aircraft there are there. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
47p2
Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 2009 Location: Glasgow
|
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Now that's what you call a restoration job.....What a mammoth task that must be _________________ ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars |
|
Back to top |
|
|
62rebel
Joined: 03 Dec 2007 Posts: 343 Location: Charleston, South Carolina
|
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:14 am Post subject: |
|
|
have any of you seen the video/film clip of these magnificent machines being used for unpiloted remote control bombs? several were packed with explosives and flown into mountainsides to test the potential damage they could cause... heartbreaking to see otherwise functional aeroplanes destroyed thusly.
i have a deep soft spot for WWII 'planes from all theatres/combatants, but for sheer brilliance of design i'll call "Mosquito"....... |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Uncle Joe Guest
|
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
Yes, I've seen that clip. If I remember correctly, wasnt JFK's elder brother killed when one exploded?
I spent a while yesterday looking for a photo that was taken on Burtonwood airfield (in the UK) just after the war. It showed literlly hundreds of B-17's with their backs broken, being prepared for scrap. A very sad picture.
Whats even more sad though, is that there is virtually no memorial to this US base, which at one time was the biggest in Europe, and the Gateway for many US service personnel in WW2. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
pigtin
Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1879 Location: Herne Bay
|
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:46 am Post subject: |
|
|
I remember going to Burtonwood on business in the 80s, they told me they had the biggest warehouse in the world there... I think it was US army at that time?
Don. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Uncle Joe Guest
|
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
It had the largest covered warehousing in Europe.
Yes, it was the US Army that had it in the 80's, to be precise, the 47th ASG. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
woljags
Joined: 26 Dec 2007 Posts: 29 Location: Maidenhead
|
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
for a short time in the 80's I was ground crew at some of the warbirds airshows,happy times |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Rick Site Admin
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22446 Location: UK
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
woljags
Joined: 26 Dec 2007 Posts: 29 Location: Maidenhead
|
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
spitfires/p40/mustang plus we used to assemble static aircraft on the field before the public got there which was hard graft,it was mainly getting the aircraft out of the hangers before they had their preflight checks and were moved out onto the main airfield |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Uncle Joe Guest
|
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Drifting a little off topic, how could the B-17 in this photo possibly fly?
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Rick Site Admin
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22446 Location: UK
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Uncle Joe Guest
|
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Neither would I Rick, neither would I! The thing that amazes me is that it actually got back to base...which must show an amazing level of pilot skill! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|