Warbird Information Exchange

I just happened to see this...
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/29/b- ... erans.html

Whether you like Fox or not, it's good to see a warbird operation get national attention.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

Thats great!

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Madras Maiden's co-pilot is only 21? I guess in wartime that was typical but it's pretty amazing now.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

I recently met the Collings chief pilot, he was under 25 as well.
My dad was 20 when he began pilot training in 1943, at 21 he was co- piloting B-17s (and while training at Lincoln, Nebraska he got some time in a YB-40). He spent his 22nd birthday in Italy assigned to the 463rd BG...the war had ended a few weeks before.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

I met a guy at Stead this summer when Aluminum Overcast was at Stead airfield. He had a collection of pics, and most incredible, bomb safety pins with tags from every mission his grandfather had flown. VERY cool.
As the veterans get older and pass, some of the next, or NEXT generation get the interest ion the history. Good to see.

Please don't compare the current generation of Americans with the WW II generation. We are a different country now.

No doubt the same thing was said by old timers just before WWII.
"All the kids today want to do is dance the jitterbug, listen to Glenn Miler on the radio and drive fast cars...".

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

More than anything I am impressed that the young guy is able to have the time and $$ to spend so much time on the road with the plane. I am jealous and I guess a bit sad that as a younger guy I did not take the opportunity to do something similar. With diabetes I could not have flown but I certainly would have crewed every chance I got.

Tom P.

Yep, my late uncle, a WW2 vet confirmed that "these kids today" was a gripe his generation got, too. He's the one who told me that it was biological that you think it's the generation after yours (never yours or before it) that has no work ethic or such. When I hit my late 30s, I started feeling it and realized he was right all those years ago.
Just see what these kids are doing in Iraq. They can step up when they have to.

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

IIRC, the minimum quals for a SIC rating in the B-17 is a Private Pilot Cert, Multi Engine rating, and Tail wheel endorsement. From there youll need to do B-17 ground school and then about 1.5-2 hrs in the air doing maneuvers and 3 t/o and landings to a full stop for the rating. Then you'll have B17 SIC Only printed on your ticket. You dont need to be rich to fly warbirds... you just need to be prepared when the right opportunities present themselves.

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” Socrates 5th Cent BC

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

-From "Wear Sunscreen" by Mary Schmich
Emphasis were done by myself...

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)