B-25 At Boulder
Fri May 09, 2008 4:24 pm
The B-25 Pacific Prowler came into Boulder, Co. today, and will be doing some rides. The airport open house is tomorow, Sat May 10, with some T-6s helios and perhaps gliders expected also. Come on out. I landed right before the 25 and got to see their approach and touchdown. She looks good and the local media is here also. Hope to see some of you there. Bill G.
Fri May 09, 2008 8:25 pm
Bill, if you get back out there, say hello to Jim and Patrick for me. Pat is one of our B-17 pilots and mechanics (WIX user "pmahaffey").
Cheers!
Cheers!
Sat May 10, 2008 7:00 pm
I went to Boulder today.
Journeys Aviation and C.M.L.Air Limited Open House (BDU)
Saw Bill Greenwood, Muddyboots. Everyone looked like they were having a good time.
Weather was nice, then rain, then wind...
Lots of wind from every direction.(a normal Colorado Day).
Just one warbird, but it looked good with the mountains!
Great to see and meet some of the WIX people!
Here are a few pictures that I was able to get.
Journeys Aviation and C.M.L.Air Limited Open House (BDU)
Saw Bill Greenwood, Muddyboots. Everyone looked like they were having a good time.
Weather was nice, then rain, then wind...
Lots of wind from every direction.(a normal Colorado Day).
Just one warbird, but it looked good with the mountains!
Great to see and meet some of the WIX people!
Here are a few pictures that I was able to get.
Sat May 10, 2008 8:41 pm
Great pics!
I lived in the Boulder area back in the early '80s..always thought the Flatirons were spectacular. Gotta get back out there one of these days.
SN
I lived in the Boulder area back in the early '80s..always thought the Flatirons were spectacular. Gotta get back out there one of these days.
SN
Sat May 10, 2008 9:52 pm
The Flatirons haven't changed a bit (I look at the Devils Thumb every day when I go to work).
I was under my truck on a creeper when the Pacific Prowler made its first takeoff. I heard those big radials coming and grabbed the truck to pull myself out for a look--just as I rolled out into the street they roared over me headed up. Lordy what a way to start the day! My housemate was cleaning up the little pond at the end of the runway when they passed over as well. She said she also almost ran over a pilot who was taxiing somewhere at the airport (the pond folks have some kind of access across the airport, which is weird)
Col. Bower (I believe I got his name right), who was one of the Doolittle Pilots) spoke later, he and another pilot (I am ashamed to say I didn't get his name, but I think it was Lynn mumblemumbleimsoembarassed...described their war service, and answered a LOT more questions than they should have been made to--it was just such a great chance to get a firsthand view of what it was like for WWII fighters. I didn't know that they served the whole war on the front, except for brief rotations for R&R...that's a lot of fighting...It stands to reason that not very many men who started the war were around to finish the war.
Met Blue Dharma, whose camera is jes' HUUUUGE! Obviously a great guy, who is welcome to crash at my place anytime he wants when I finally make it to California. Any man with a camera THAT big must be appeased. and fed many virgins to keep him from exploding lava onto the village.
Bill spent a great deal of the morning wrenching the control stick on a video game growling that he couldn't find the airport and fighting with its autopilot(sorry Bill, I couldn't resist) because you can't just turn your head and LOOK for the danged thing! I have always had the same problem with simulators--they're intersting toys but until you can actually see ALL you would from a cockpit, I think they'll remain in a sense just a toy. I know that's not fully true, but my own humble opinion. How could you ever reproduce the experience of flying when you can't feel the G force, or the engine's vibrations, or the effect of wind and just he overall performance of the aircraft firsthand? It was neat, however, to see the display--three screens linked together so you could get a pretty good view from wingtip to wingtip.
I met a bunch of the crew of the Pacific Prolwer (awesome nose art, btw) and MAY get a chance to actually take a ride in the a.m. (I'm hoping but NOT going to bet on it--I'd rather see them fill up with paying passengers than drag my carc ass along.)
Best part of the day--watching the Prowler take off with a cross wind strong enough to make the pilot cant the plane to the left against the wind, and then plow up like nothing was out of the ordinary (earlier in the day a snow flurry driven by strong winds had crawled across the front range and blasted everyone indoors but the crew (what a bunch of hardasses
)
Oh, and being behind the bird as they ran the engines up just when my dad called for the eighteen bajillionth time in an hour: "
Hello? WHAT? I can't hear you, dad. there's a B25 next to me What? WHAT? Can you hear me? Can you hear me NOW? I can't hear you! I'll call you tonight!" *hangs up with a snigger*
The perfect excuse to get off the phone
Oh yeah--Bill introduce me to a guy who does just amazing computer imagery. His name is Joe Jones and I will be framing his work on my apartment walls when I get settled in! If you want to see some of his work, clickie here:
airmail-greetings.com
I was under my truck on a creeper when the Pacific Prowler made its first takeoff. I heard those big radials coming and grabbed the truck to pull myself out for a look--just as I rolled out into the street they roared over me headed up. Lordy what a way to start the day! My housemate was cleaning up the little pond at the end of the runway when they passed over as well. She said she also almost ran over a pilot who was taxiing somewhere at the airport (the pond folks have some kind of access across the airport, which is weird)
Col. Bower (I believe I got his name right), who was one of the Doolittle Pilots) spoke later, he and another pilot (I am ashamed to say I didn't get his name, but I think it was Lynn mumblemumbleimsoembarassed...described their war service, and answered a LOT more questions than they should have been made to--it was just such a great chance to get a firsthand view of what it was like for WWII fighters. I didn't know that they served the whole war on the front, except for brief rotations for R&R...that's a lot of fighting...It stands to reason that not very many men who started the war were around to finish the war.
Met Blue Dharma, whose camera is jes' HUUUUGE! Obviously a great guy, who is welcome to crash at my place anytime he wants when I finally make it to California. Any man with a camera THAT big must be appeased. and fed many virgins to keep him from exploding lava onto the village.
Bill spent a great deal of the morning wrenching the control stick on a video game growling that he couldn't find the airport and fighting with its autopilot(sorry Bill, I couldn't resist) because you can't just turn your head and LOOK for the danged thing! I have always had the same problem with simulators--they're intersting toys but until you can actually see ALL you would from a cockpit, I think they'll remain in a sense just a toy. I know that's not fully true, but my own humble opinion. How could you ever reproduce the experience of flying when you can't feel the G force, or the engine's vibrations, or the effect of wind and just he overall performance of the aircraft firsthand? It was neat, however, to see the display--three screens linked together so you could get a pretty good view from wingtip to wingtip.
I met a bunch of the crew of the Pacific Prolwer (awesome nose art, btw) and MAY get a chance to actually take a ride in the a.m. (I'm hoping but NOT going to bet on it--I'd rather see them fill up with paying passengers than drag my carc ass along.)
Best part of the day--watching the Prowler take off with a cross wind strong enough to make the pilot cant the plane to the left against the wind, and then plow up like nothing was out of the ordinary (earlier in the day a snow flurry driven by strong winds had crawled across the front range and blasted everyone indoors but the crew (what a bunch of hardasses
)
Oh, and being behind the bird as they ran the engines up just when my dad called for the eighteen bajillionth time in an hour: "
Hello? WHAT? I can't hear you, dad. there's a B25 next to me What? WHAT? Can you hear me? Can you hear me NOW? I can't hear you! I'll call you tonight!" *hangs up with a snigger*
The perfect excuse to get off the phone
Oh yeah--Bill introduce me to a guy who does just amazing computer imagery. His name is Joe Jones and I will be framing his work on my apartment walls when I get settled in! If you want to see some of his work, clickie here:
airmail-greetings.com
Sun May 11, 2008 12:37 am
I lived about an hour south of Boulder, and loved all the airshows in the area. Be moving back there in August, and am looking forward to doing some mountain flying. Nice pics
Sun May 11, 2008 9:56 am
Lynn Daeker--Steve, one of the pilots of the Prowler, gave me his name this morning as Bill and I stood around arguing about who would get on the flight--there was one seat on a 210 headed to Colorado Springs to pick up the paying passengers and one of us was by god gonna be on it. I won the "argument" and Bill took the last seat. I missed the flight, but by god I got to help turn one of the props before for the preflight. that ALONE was worth the getting up an hour early!
It must have been something watching a flight of those things forming up for a mission. One thing tha got me nervous was seeing a quart or so of gas blow out of the port engine as they were cranking it up--I had visions of them all staring out of the windows as the engine burned off at 10k...evidently this is a relatively normal thing (they didn't all jump out and run away from it) but it had me waving and pointing for a bit...Sorry for my panic guys
It must have been something watching a flight of those things forming up for a mission. One thing tha got me nervous was seeing a quart or so of gas blow out of the port engine as they were cranking it up--I had visions of them all staring out of the windows as the engine burned off at 10k...evidently this is a relatively normal thing (they didn't all jump out and run away from it) but it had me waving and pointing for a bit...Sorry for my panic guys
B-25
Sun May 11, 2008 1:09 pm
Several of us came out to the Boulder Airport this morning to see the B-25 off to Colo Springs to do some rides then on to St. Louis. They offered the vacant seats to us, but there was one extra person. I have had several B-25 chances so tried to give that seat to Clay, aka Muddyboots, but he declined so I jumped in. When had a very nice flight down to the Springs, with one go around due to a Cessna ( Cessna is latin for obstacle) landing ahead of us. Steve floated a little, but made a nice touchdown. I found it very nice that no metal was bent. A local glider pilot, ex F-86 and F-100, and ex United flew us back in his 210 which moved along quite well about 164 knots. A real clear and calm day in Boulder, wish we had this good of weather yesterday.
The man in the photo in the white cap in the B-25 window is Bill Bower, Doolittle Raider, now 90. The sign under the window says The Pilot, which is a bit understated in his case. On Sat we got the chat with him and also heard a presentation by Lynn Daeker ? another Boulder local who is also a B-25 vet from the Pacific. He's only 86, very talkative, survived quite a bit of combat including ditching after ground fire took out his engine. He stills flies Pacific Prowler on trips.
The man in the photo in the white cap in the B-25 window is Bill Bower, Doolittle Raider, now 90. The sign under the window says The Pilot, which is a bit understated in his case. On Sat we got the chat with him and also heard a presentation by Lynn Daeker ? another Boulder local who is also a B-25 vet from the Pacific. He's only 86, very talkative, survived quite a bit of combat including ditching after ground fire took out his engine. He stills flies Pacific Prowler on trips.
Sun May 11, 2008 10:51 pm
As it turned out I wasn't able to make the trip to Boulder. Sorry I missed everyone. I'm glad many of you got to meet Lynn. He is really something. I could listen to him speak for hours. I should be with the plane in St. Louis. If you are in the area stop by and say Hi.
Patrick Mahaffey
B-17 "Chuckie"
B-25 "Pacific Prowler"
Patrick Mahaffey
B-17 "Chuckie"
B-25 "Pacific Prowler"
Sun May 11, 2008 11:26 pm
well typically I got there late (due to work) missed everyone and caught PP on her last landing - sorry 
Mon May 12, 2008 9:16 am
Skippyscage,
These are great pictures!!!! Outstanding shots.
Best Regards,
These are great pictures!!!! Outstanding shots.
Best Regards,
Mon May 12, 2008 9:28 am
Great pics and stories guys! You're getting me excited to see it - where in St. Louis will it be?
Enjoy the Day! Mark
Enjoy the Day! Mark