Warbird Information Exchange

Some buddies of mine and I helped coordinate Aluminum Overcast's tour stop at Waukesha County WI last Thurs-Sun. I lucked out and got these pics when I was playing with my new Panasonic DMC-TZ3 digital camera (a fairly nice, compact $400ish camera with wide angle lens, 10x zoom, 7.2 mp).

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The pic above is of my buddy Jim Seip and his father Jim Seip Sr. The elder Seip was pilot of 390th BG B-17 "The Silver Meteor" out of Framlingham. On one mission he had an engine shot out, began dropping out of formation and German fighters swarmed in to finish him off. Just as they got in close, 357th FG P-51s swarmed in piloted by none other then Bud Anderson and Kit Carson. They saved Seip and his crew and escorted them all the way back to the UK. What a great weekend it was hearing stories from several WWII B-17 combat vets.

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Above are three WWII B-17 combat vets meeting for the first time. Doug Holt (pilot 381st BG--still flies a PA-17!), Jim Seip (pilot 390th BG), and Erv Keepman (bombardier). [/img]

Beatiful sunset shots!

Ryan

The sunset shots were great!
Bluedharma

Nice sunset shots. Sometimes, I really miss Waukesha... and then winter comes

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Best Regards;
Chuck Giese --- Volunteer helping to restore B-17G 44-85734 "Liberty Belle".

I hear ya on the long winters Chuck! Sometimes I miss Atlanta til I think about the summers down there! Ha!

Great shots Paul and a great story!!!

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Don't touch my junk!!

Last time I was up in WI on business the door in my rental car froze shut and I had to go in the passenger door and start and heat up the car enough to open the driver's door. It only took me about 45 minutes to get the car heated up . It can be amazingly beautiful in the summers though, the rolling green hills. I was in Georgia this spring and it was beautiful there, but my buddy who was in Army Ranger school there during the summer told me that the summertime is a real killer. My family has a bed and breakfast in NC and I suspect they have similar hot humid summers. Of course, sitting here in this 104 degree heat today makes me envy just about all of you right now.

He was right, but nowhere near as bad as south Louisiana!

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Very nice story and images.

Eric

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The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

EXCELLENT post ! The sun set shots have a timeless quality to them ~ thanks for sharing !

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Blue Skies .....

Peter

Consolidated by US state ~ see if there's a heavy bomber tour stop coming to an airport near you ...... http://www.bomberflight.info

Warbirdapps on facebook ~ every day a new image from my personal journey thru the world of warbirds ..... https://www.facebook.com/Warbirdapps

GREAT photos!!

Were you guys at the airport near the Dells on Friday in the afternoon? I saw a B-17 land as we were passing on I-90, but I was too far away to see which one. I thought it looked OD, but maybe it was Aluminum Overcast??

Thanks guys!

No, Aluminum Overcast stayed close to Waukesha so that must've been the Memphis Belle B-17 going to the Dells Air Show.