Also Creepy: https://youtu.be/5uvqhA4_2tU?t=4
Great show. Excellent cast â Robert Conrad perfect as Pappy. I did get to meet a pilot that flew with Boyington in the Flying Tigers. Also got to meet some of the crew members that participated in the Dolittle raid. They practiced on Lake Greenwood and Lake Murray near Columbia SC. There is a island in Lake Murray named Lunch Island that the locals have nick named Bomb Island as it is off limits because all the un-exploded ordinance still on the island.
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Was never in the immediate vicinity â saw it being dropped in the distance. We were on the north side of DaNang and called puff in on a few occasions. Impressive as hell â particularly at night watching two little pinpoints of tracers umbrella out to put a round every square foot. The shock so great it even killed the earth worms.
You are right but I also know for a fact that you are incredibly biased since you are a full Colonel with flying rights in the Commemorative Air Force 
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Biased? Yes. I love these old birds.
That is a ceremonial rank only based on my donations and volunteerism over the years. I am the only âColonelâ who fixes, restores, and turns a wrench and the other âColonelsâ never seem to forget to remind me of that.
The lines that divide us never seem to fade. Sad but true. I donât mind though. I donât do it for anything other than personal satisfaction and keeping the WWII flying machines alive.
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Go figure whatâs going to happen when Boeing 7-whatever MAX take the air.
Another great day for Boeingâs âdiversityâ.
I once met an old man who was really into maintaining airplanes. He served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
Years ago, I would see him using his walker in our quite neighborhoodâŚon my way to and from work. I noticed the Veteran cap with the three listed wars and began a habit of stopping in the street, talking with him on several occasions when Iâd catch him outside.
He would tell me âwar storiesâ now and thenâŚabout his experiences As aircraft mechanic. He worked on fighters, helicopters, cargo planesâŚif it needed repairs, heâd do his part.
One night, the crew completed repairs on a rear-door cargo plane and took it on a test run. They loaded up several drums of napalm, flew over the Mekong Delta, had the pilot do a nose-upâŚand rolled the drums out the rear door. He liked seeing the balls of fire!
Before old Charles R. Stevens died, I took him twice down to Andersonville to visit his wife and sonâs burial site. Theyâre buried one on top of the other. Now heâs with them.
I still visit there around Memorial Day, stick an extra flag at his headstone and tour the POW Museum.
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Damn dude - that just choked me up hard.
Here is an update to this story.
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There are still hundreds of them mothballed so they can be replaced.
Many stored in the dry desert; and I guess they had to fly them there. You make a point.
What planes are you referring to that are mothballed?
The first time I visited Andersonville was around 1973 - 74, long before the POW museum was established. It was around 7:30 AM and it was foggy and shortly after daylight. I was the only one in sight. I first arrived at the âdead lineâ and walked from there to the cemetery. It wasnât eerie or frightening but you could definitely âfeelâ the ghostâs. A very humbling experience. Few that visit for the first time realize that it is still a active veterans cemetery. My complements for carrying your friend to âvisitâ with his family.
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My neighbor, who died a few years ago at age 90, was a Navy B-17 pilot in WWII, and he flew/fought in the Battle of Midway.
When my nephew graduated from the USAFA we had a party for him, and the old guy was there. New pilot met the old war horse. It was classic.
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We have literally tens of thousands of mothballed military aircraft sitting in large lots all across the desert SW.
It wouldnât take a hell of a lot to put any of them back in flying condition due to the dry conditions and lack of rust/corrosion.
Well the reason I ask is B-17âs are hard to find parts for. I have been to the Pima scrap yard in Arizona which they do have a lot of planes just not B-17âs
Pima is one of many. They are all over southern CA, NV, AZ, and UT.
Itâs the engines and engine parts and some of the electrical parts that are getting hard to come by. Engines donât fare well sitting for decades.
Well I know this because my Uncle was wanting to fund a restoration project of a B-17 some years ago and couldnât find one that was suitable. He did find one in Cali but it was missing too much that other Orgs used for theirs. The closest he could get was a B-29, but his heart was set on a B-17 so he decided not to pursue it further.
Bummer. Wish youâd gotten him interested in the A/B-26. One of the more amazing aircraft of the war.
The B-17 was the most produced LR bomber of the war but there were actually much better bombers built.
The B-29 by the end of the war was the pinnacle of prop driven bomber tech but they had a lot of issues. Many of them exploded in flight for no discernible reason. They later figured out it was due to some fittings that leaked and the sparks did the rest.
Unfortunately the engines and electronics of the B-17âs did not survive long term storage very well but thereâs quite a few of the air frames sitting around.
I had some friends in the Confederate Air Force when I was young since I had a real fascination with flying and particularly with WWII aircraft because of the amazing transformations made from the early thirties through the end of the war so I got to hang out with a lot of those guys and even got some stick time in some of the more interesting aircraft.
All it would take ( $$$$$$$ ) to restore any vintage aircraft would be, STOP HANDING $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ TO ILLEGALS. We could have an entire fleet in the air.