B-17 Flight

What a wonderful week this has been. I was able to attend a 3-day glass workshop in Lansing Michigan which was amazing. There were only four of us and our instructor was very generous. We were able to make multiple projects over the advertised syllabus and learned some really neat techniques. Our studio in Fort Wayne is closing so I bit the bullet and bought a kiln and some more molds.... and some more glass..... Ah, shopping. I got home Friday night and my husband had a surprise for me. They have been working on two major installation projects, more difficult because one of our guys is on a short (3 week) deployment. He told me they had had a rush AOG (aircraft on ground) job they had to finish. I was initially irritated because he promised me they would not take anything else on because of the deadlines they were working under. Well the "lost" day ended up being totally worth it. He negotiated our trip with the non-profit for the work they had done on the aircraft. The Memphis Belle is one of 13, B-17 WWII era planes still flying. The weather was perfect so they had opened all of the panels for the machine guns as well as the center hatch. The breeze and views were fantastic. Under the nose below the pilots is a separate gunner area enclosed in plexiglass with additional gun mounts. There are only 8 people on each flight so with some careful maneuvering you could pretty much go everywhere. This was a bucket list item for me - I want to go again! Speaking with the Team Leader, they were having a great weekend. Every flight was fully booked. If you are into this kind of thing, totally worth the price of admission. Hubby filmed the whole trip for his You-Tube channel. I don't know when he will find the time to edit it though. No floor sanding this weekend, no wonder why I'm in such a good mood.

Wow it sounds like you had a fantastic time, and an interesting one to boot!

I missed this when you first posted it. That flight sounds like a blast! Is the video up yet? I'd love to see it!

CaraBou - yes it is. Also, before he included the vet in the video he was able to contact his daughter for permission before he posted it. They were very pleased and Brian burned them a dvd. Hope you like it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0xYREcA5ivs&feature=youtu.be

Oh, how absolutely thrilling! Thank you so much for sharing that! I remember watching a movie back in the '90's about the Memphis Belle starring Harry Connick Jr. I now feel very inspired to go rent it and watch it again!


IrishLass

Hey, nice ride! I'm amazed you were able to take pics out the open windows like that - I bet you had to be careful not to lose the camera, lol!

I wonder what it was like for the veteran to be flying inside a B17 again. I bet he had a lot of mixed memories. He looked sad or maybe just not feeling well on the flight. I am not great on small planes, and I'm barely half of his age. Anyway, I think it is cool he was there and that your husband gained his permission and shared the video with him.

What an adventure!

The gentleman I believe is 90 and at times he seemed overwhelmed by all of it. I would describe his emotion as "stoic". Men in those days did not show their emotions. He was interviewed through his daughter before and after the flight and even though he appeared to be in the middle stages of dementia, his posture was ram-rod straight; a proud soldier and hero. I got the impression he was somewhat bemused about all these middle-aged people crawling around this plane. Carabou, there is nothing small about this bird. She held 10 crew and is 68 feet long with a wingspan over 100 feet. Pretty narrow in the fuselage however. I'd choose this bird any day over some of the commuter puddle-jumpers I've had to fly. But for me one day in the air beats 10 on the ground. It was a wonderful day. Glad you enjoyed the video, Cindy

Wow how did you get to do this? I would love to do this. I am a third generation airline employee (flight attendant) and have been fascinated by aircraft and flying my entire life.

Aftgalley - sorry it took me so long to reply. Sanding floors again....The Memphis Belle is managed by the Liberty Foundation. A link to their schedule is below. If you get the opportunity you will enjoy it. www.libertyfoundation.org/schedule.html