WWII Bomber Camp Stockton, CA (photos)

Taigh Ramey · **Posted:** Thu Jun 04, 2009 6:36 pm

The 1st WWII Bomber Crew Fantasy Camp was a great success. I have put together a web page with lots of photos and a few videos that you can find here:

http://www.twinbeech.com/bombercrewfantasycamp.htm

Below are just a few photos of the event which was a blast (punn intended) in every sense of the word.

I have been wanting to put together a Bomber Crew Camp like this for a long time. I have been collecting and building the equipment needed for such a camp and everything came together for this event.

The students came in and went through indoctrination, ground school (Navigation, bombardier, radio and Gunnery training). Then they went off to the gunnery range to learn how to lead targets by shooting at skeet with authentic Remington M11 shotguns that were used in WWII for training aerial gunners.

From the hand held shot guns they climbed into the 1.5 ton Chevy E-5 Turret truck where they fired shotguns at clay pigeons from the Crocker Wheeler A-8 training turret. I put up $20 to the first person who hit a clay pigeon from the turret truck and one guy hit two of them! He was our Ace in the class.

After the turret truck they went to learn the 50 cal and fired at paper targets fashioned after the ones they used in the WWII gunnery schools.

Day two started with ball turret training on our ground trainer. Several folks wanted to try the ball turret out in flight so we gave them ground instruction before they crawled in the turret in flight.

The ground crews loaded up the bombs as we prepared for the brief and flight. We had two crews together in two separate flights.

Each crew member changed positions throughout the flight rotating from shooting the 50's in the open waist windows to all of the turrets especially the lowered ball turret.

Albert the wonderful slip ring assy that you donated works flawlessly! THANKS! I owe you a ride in the ball in flight.

We flew over the target area and dropped three single bombs (Concrete and wood fin replicas) and then one salvo of two bombs. It was a challenge to figure out the bomb sight but after making several mistakes right out of the book I got better each time. We still have directional/PDI issues to work out. I have the sight head figured out but i still need to work out some bugs with the stabilizer.

After both missions we had a great BBQ cooked up by Ricky, our resident Chef.

The camp was a great success simply because of the volunteers that made it so special. Lots of local folks around here (Stockton, Ca) put in a lot of hours to help prepare for the event with everything from making concrete bombs and wood fins to wiring the aircraft and E-5 turret truck fabrication.

The best part of the camp for me was the reenactors that came up from Phoenix. These guys are awesome!

The air of authenticity that these guys bring to the camp made it 300% better than anything. We all owe them a great debt of gratitude for their hard work and dedication.

Check out the other shots of them, the students/Cadets and the whole program.

Roger Cain sure came through with the best photos ever taken. He is a shoe in for the WIX photo contest. I wanted to fly the missions late because of the dramatic low sun light makes for good pictures and Roger sure captured it beautifully.

He also captured the feeling of the camp in his shots of the ground crew loading up the B-24.

THANK YOU ROGER!

A special thank you to all of the other volunteers who made this possible.

The Collings Foundation also thanks you all for a job well done.

We will be taking signups for future Fantasy Camps as each one will get better than the last.

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:20 pm

that looked like a fabulous experience you lucky dog!! congrats!! i'd love to see a pic of the concrete bomb mold!! were the concrete bombs actual weight 500 or 1000 pounds??

Sixcarbs · **Joined:** Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:31 pm **Posts:** 22

Wow, that looks like a great time!

Love the writing on the bombs.

Roger Cain · **Posted:** Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:50 pm

tom d. friedman wrote:

were the concrete bombs actual weight 500 or 1000 pounds??

Around 250 lbs

Oscar Duck · **Posted:** Thu Jun 04, 2009 9:26 pm

amazing stuff....

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:57 pm

Taigh;
Looks like a great event!
Roger did do a great job with the photos, but you need to take some credit too! It must have been a logistical nightmare figuring everything out and planning the schedule of events to make it worth peoples hard earned money.
I wish I was closer as I could've helped out as a volunteer!
Great job and well done!
Jerry

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:17 pm

between the concrete & the wood fins the bombs look to have the correct drop velocity. great job!! great pics too!! thanks roger!!

Roger Cain · **Posted:** Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:51 pm

tom d. friedman wrote:

between the concrete & the wood fins the bombs look to have the correct drop velocity. great job!! great pics too!! thanks roger!!

I didn't grab them, but I believe the fins were metal.

As Jerry mentioned above, none of this would have happened if Taigh hadn't gone through the massive job of setting this up and following through with it. There was so much more involved that isn't even mentioned here. We also had two CAF planes show up from the Modesto wing, an L-5 and an L-2 that flew as spotters at the drop zone.

Taigh Ramey · **Posted:** Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:08 am

Hey Tom,

Last year we made a fiberglass mold from a real 250 pound AN M57 GP bomb. We also made steel fins just like the original. The problem was attaching the fins. We used a 4 inch steel pipe from nose to tail and welded the suspension lugs to them. The tube had pipe threads on each end instead of straight threads. As a result we had trouble getting the fin group to fit snugly against the bomb body when the pipe threads bottomed out. We shimmed them up but a couple of the bomb fins loosened up in flight and we had some wobbler's.

One was so wobbly that when it hit the ground it didn't penetrate the ground at all. The other ones that flew straight made these perfect round gopher holes and went in the ground about 8 feet.

The other problem with last years bombs was that the steel fins and pipe were too expensive so we went to a cheaper alternative. We used 4 PVC pipe and eye bolts for suspension lugs. We then made the fin group out of plywood with a PVC collar that we glued into place. This worked great and as you noticed the bombs flew great.

I finally found an original set of bomb tables for the AN M57 bomb (gotta love eBay!) so I could set the correct information into the Norden Bombsight since I was guessing at the numbers last year.

It was a kick to run the sight since I only have training manuals and a film to learn from. The sight is NOS, out of the box, and seems to work just like it is supposed to.

I set the information into the sight from the tables (Disc speed, trail and the tangent of the dropping angle), Uncage and level the gyro, Line up the cross hairs and synchronize the sight with the target and when the two indices meet the bomb is dropped automatically. From looking out of the nose I can't tell when I should drop the bombs by guess work so I am at the mercy of the sight.

I made several classic mistakes right out of the training manuals. I could just hear a WWII bombsight instructor yelling at me for being a bone head. But when I got the hang of it I kept getting better. From 3000 feet I got within 60 feet of the target. I should say the sight got the bomb within 60 feet of the target with me as the operator. I think I could hear the sight laughing at me too!

What an experience to be able to drop bombs from a B-24J. I didn't realize how tough it is to see out of the nose of the B-24J and to try and find the target. Our target was a hay bail dusted with flour and a 5o foot ring of flour around it. Tough to spot from 3000 feet. I can only imagine what it was like to try and spot a target from 25,000 feet.

I want to thank Rob Collings and the rest of the Collings gang for letting us play with their rare bomber. Every time I ask Rob if I can get a turret working or hook up some other obscure system in one of his bombers to make it more combat operational he couldn't be more supportive.

My friend Mark and I worked on the B-17 for a couple of weeks in Florida and on the road and got the racks, bombsight circuit and bomb door safety switches up and running. We will try out the B-17 sometime too. You will also see a train of 12-250 pound bombs coming out of the B-24 too as well as the turrets coming on line slowly but surely.

What a kick! Not only did a bunch of Fantasy Campers have the time of their lives but we made the Collings foundation some money too. Three of the crew members said they are coming back to do it again. it was that fun for them.

Thanks again Rob; It was that fun for us too!

Taigh Ramey · **Posted:** Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:25 am

Jerry and Roger,

Thanks for the kind words. It was quite the project and it turned out better than I had hoped it would.

Thanks again to all of the volunteers that put in so much hard work to make this such a special event.

We all seem to have that goofy grin on our faces from the satisfaction of taking such a wild idea and bringing it to life.

bluethunder28 · **Joined:** Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:26 am **Posts:** 199

Fantastic job Taigh!!! Gives me something to look forward to next year!!!

warbird1 · **Joined:** Fri Sep 21, 2007 6:25 pm **Posts:** 2760

Wow, how awesome, that's really neat!

I would have loved to have been a part of that. Maybe next year, I can participate.

Just curious, how the bomb dropping went. Some questions:

1) Did you have to do any coordination with either the FAA or ATC. For example, did you have to declare a NOTAM, kind of like what parachutists do for drop zones?

2) How did you pick the bomb zone? Did the FAA dictate any terms or conditions of this drop zone? Did they make you use private land out in the middle of nowhere?

3) How did you make sure the bomb zone was clear or people or equipment? Did you have a liason on the ground, sort of like a FAC, so to speak?

The bomb dropping portion really fascinates me. I would love to know any of the details that went into that, if you feel like relaying them to us.

Thanks, and great job to all involved who made that event possible!

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Fri Jun 05, 2009 5:58 am

taigh, excellent narrative, explained perfectly & meticulous work. question...... who's the lucky sucker that digs the bombs out of the dirt?? in this economy & the hassle of making concrete bombs somebody surely recycles them.

Second Air Force · **Posted:** Fri Jun 05, 2009 6:58 am

Great show, Taigh! I'd often wondered about you guys doing an event like that since you have so much of the proper equipment. Thanks to everyone involved for putting it on, and thanks for sharing the program with us.

Scott

Taigh Ramey · **Posted:** Fri Jun 05, 2009 9:58 am

We used a real big private ranch for the target. There was an observation area on a hill overlooking the range and we even had forward air controllers (a couple of CAF L birds) watching over things. The local fire department was also on hand to keep an eye on the event.

We also shuttled the other flight crew of students to the range so they could watch from the ground.

We have a few shots of the bomb hits but they are far enough away that it is hard to see much. Just a bunch of dirt that was kicked up.

I haven't been out to the range myself yet to see the impact spots but I am told that this time the bombs just shattered on impact.

Last year, at a different range, I had a friend put my own video camera on a tripod near the target. I figured that the safest place, with me at the bombsight, is the target! I got some awesome video of the bombs hitting. I will have to post that for you all as it is an amazing video. The sound the bombs make as they come in is incredible.

I asked the land owner if he could put an old truck or something out for us as a target and he did. Later when I saw the video I about ---- as he had a WWII 1.5 ton Chevy out there. I would have cried if I had hit it but, like I said, the safest spot in the whole area was the target!

Warbird Information Exchange

WWII Bomber Camp Stockton, CA (photos)

Who is online