B-17s in Colorado

[Bill Greenwood]

I was just out at the Boulder airport and saw a B-17 come over, first going north along the foothills and then turning around and going back south. I'd guess this is CAF Sentimental Journey which is scheduled to be a Jeffco, aka Metro, tomorrow for sort of a fly in, small airshow. I think EAAs Aluminum Overcast is down in south Denver at APA, Centennial, also on display and doing some rides. The rainy weather passed by and it looks like a CAVU weekend if starting to get a bit hot.

[corsair166b]

Yep....both in town this weekend...and the Collings gang gets here 3-6 July...should be fun...

Mark

[Neal Nurmi]

This is a bit off Bill's topic, but I've been curious about something. Does anyone know how the finances are working out for the various bomber tours this year? Suddenly it seems there are a whole bunch of B-17s especially touring widely and selling rides. Are they making any money for their museums? It must cost a bunch to drive these things around America these days...

I got a "Bay Tour" out of Hayward a while back (in a lovely Cessna 180, not a Warbird), and as we were climbing out of the airplane, the next airplane in the pattern came taxiing up:

[Bluedharma]

Hi Bill,
Busy week in Colorado!
Today Aluminum Overcast is at APA and Sentimental Journey is at BJC.
At BJC, they did some practice runs for Sat event.










At APA there is still much to see and do.

[Bill Greenwood]

The airshow at Jeffco (BJC) was a nice day, a bit of a cool wind but sunny with a good turnout out of people. It was free, so maybe that was a key, or the weather or maybe the publicity better than average. Patty Wagstaff performed, then Joe Tibedoux 51 with Lee L and Joe in the Fury. Also Mig, T-33, B-17CAF, and B-25, as well as some modern jets. Saw Paul Gordon of WIX taking photos.

[Bluedharma]

Rocky Mountain Metro Aiport (Open House) (Jeffco)
Turned out great on Saturday.
Lots of great photos and good weather. Mountains views and Aircraft... Nothing better!



It was good to chat with Bill at the event. We just happen to be in the same location when the
fury came in after a flight with the mustang.


And WIX member Gordon Page had his Spirit of Flight display
set up. I finally got to meet him. Great guy.
I have to head up to his museum and check it out this summer.
http://www.spiritofflight.com/



















Paul

[skippyscage]

here are mine from Jeffco (Rocky Mountain metro even)

[Bill Greenwood]

Nice shots guys. The B-17 looks great. It has been flying right over Boulder a lot on Sunday, easy to hear the distinctive sound. Another 4 or 5 thousand trips and I'll get tired of the noise. It's great to have some warbirds here in our neighborhood, so often we have to go halfway across the country to get to a warbird show. The Jeffco one was good, because it wasn't an attack of jet noise until the afternoon, you could actually talk to people, and the loudspeaker was not non stop of some pr guy telling how great the pilot/jet was. The AFA cadets put on a Glider acro demo in a Blanik and I got to chat with the pilot who is from Ft. Worth. Lot's a folks enjoying lunch on the grass in front of the terminal. This is an airport that doesn't see many warbirds or sport planes, it is pretty heavy into the corporate transports.

Last edited by Bill Greenwood on Mon Jun 09, 2008 7:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

[K5DH]

Great shots, guys! Thanks for sharing them with us.

I really like the shot of the Viper with the moon!

Cheers!

[CAPFlyer]

Who was flying Crusader?

[Bluedharma]

Paul (Skippyscage),
Great shots! I really like the B-17 ones!
I saw some photographers up on terminal building.
Were you up there?
I saw one lady up there who had a lens bigger than my arm.
With a lens like that, I hope the pilots were wearing their cool sunglasses...

-Paul Gordon

[Bluedharma]

Who was flying Crusader?

I think his name is "Lee". He was flying Joe T.s aircraft for the heritage flight.

[CAPFlyer]

Wow... Lee Lauderback. There's a name to have in your Mustang. Almost as good as "Vlado" or "Jim".

Thanks for the info.

[Bill Greenwood]

Joe's Mustang used to have another pretty fair to middlin pilot in it. Jay Cullum from Dallas owned that one and was very active in CAF and warbird related flying, based out of Redbird. Joe also does a nice job flying it as well as the Fury.
I am back in Aspen for a few days and it is green, lush, and beautiful, with temps in the 60's. If you guys are cooking down south you shoild visit here.

[skippyscage]

yes it was Lee Lauderback flying the P-51 - heritage cleared pilot form the right coast.

I wasn't on the terminal building - I was mixing it with the normal people at ground (heat haze) level