Bomber Camp fun- lots more photos

[Taigh Ramey]

Bomber Camp 2016 was a great success. Lots of fun was had by all.

Some of the pre game action was accomplished by Mark and Jim who were tasked with getting the liaison radios up and running in 909 and they did just that. Mark built a WWII interphone system with the BC-347 interphone amp and dynamotor and BC-366 jack boxes. He built it so it would tie in to the BC-348 receiver and BC-375 transmitter. He built it so the system could be removed after bomber camp as it would not last long with the thousands of people who tour through her each year. The same was true with the radios. The transmitter was Jim's that he uses fairly regularly.

The goal was to get the gear installed and operational and test fly it to see what problems we might encounter so we could get the Bomber Camp students to work the radios in flight. 909 has the basic radios installed but they are pretty beat up. We were able to get our gear in and wired for a test hop and thanks to Mark and Jim it worked...with a few issues to work out.

909 has a long wire command antenna on the right side of the radio operators compartment that we tapped into. It was pretty much for show but with some coaxing we were able to use it. It ran from the right forward side of the radio room near the command set to the top of the tail and back to the original AN-104 VHF antenna on top of the fuselage. The AN-104 axe handle antenna is presently used for the modern comm radios.

So for the first time in who knows how long the liaison radios were working on a flying B-17. Very cool indeed. Well done guys!

























The look on these guys face says just exactly how I felt too. What a great feeling to bring life back to the radio room and to get these wonderful old radios back on the air while in the air, just like they were intended to. Very cool!

They also got one of the museum's transmitters and receivers up and running in the ground radio trailer and were able to communicate between the two sets. At Bomber Camp 2017 we will have the B-17G, B-24J and the radio shack all intercommunicating with the students sending position and status reports from the air to the ground.

Thank you Mark and Jim. Awesome work.

Last edited by Taigh Ramey on Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[DH82EH]

Fun indeed!

Thanks for the post Taigh.

Andy

[phil65]

Cool....

[Vagabond]

That is totally AWESOME!! Way to go guys!

[ALOHADAVE]

OUTSTANDING!
I can appreciate all the work that was required to make that happen.
Now lets see the IFF and RADAR equipment in operation...

[K5DH]

I love seeing the filaments glowing on those VT-4C tubes! Great work, guys!

[JohnB]

When I hear the term "Bomber Camp"....I think of my days in SAC.
Now that was bomber camp.

[TheBigBadGman]

I guess it may be too late to ask, but how about a recording or two of this radio in action? Let's hear what these old radios and intercoms sound like.

If my WWII radio procedure isn't too dusty, you might try:

"Stockton Tower, this is Triangle Able-Roger, request wind-speed and heading, over."

Kudos to your hard work, BTW!

[Taigh Ramey]

Here are some photos of our recent camp. Some were mooched from Roger Cain and participants in the camp. Thank you all for the photos.

Setting up camp

First off the Arizona Living History folks are the best and truly make Bomber Camp so special with their detail and hard work! Thank you guys so much!

Here they are building the K and Air Crew rations for the campers. Talk about detail!



























The Bomber's arrive. Time to get them ready which is a ton of work in itself. This started when they came through Phoenix and then again at Moffett Field.










The Campers were met at the hotel by the Greeting Committee


The camper arrive for indoctrination






Checking out their newly issued gear











Classes begin
















Mark was kind enough to bring along his awesome fire truck and did an impromptu course on crash rescue. Needless to say it was a big hit with the campers. Thanks Mark!












Off to the gunnery range where the campers enjoyed their K rations on the bus










Bomb loading








Jon built the new bomb release system that we used in the B-25. It worked great. Well done Jon. Now we can put this system in just about any WWII bomb er for use in Bomber Camp.




Happiness is a Norden Bombsight with its gyros up to speed just waiting to do its job






After all was said and done the campers had a great time. We had 7 returnees one of which has been to all of our camps. I guess that says something. Lots of new and different things to do. More to come next year.

We were beat but nothing that a week of sleep wouldn't fix. Not to start planning for Bomber Camp 2017! After a long nap that is...













Here is a cool video that Gary put together from the B-24

https://youtu.be/y_4Tt7-fCnU

Here is a video on facebook from Harold line of the 50 cal firing in the waist of the B-24. Great video

https://www.facebook.com/harold.line/videos/10205908079453539/

Bomber Camp's facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Bomber-Camp-1685004951744442/

Please help to keep Bomber Camp going by spreading the word.

[Taigh Ramey]

I guess it may be too late to ask, but how about a recording or two of this radio in action? Let's hear what these old radios and intercoms sound like.

If my WWII radio procedure isn't too dusty, you might try:

"Stockton Tower, this is Triangle Able-Roger, request wind-speed and heading, over."

Kudos to your hard work, BTW!

That is a great idea. Too much going on this time around but I will make that happen. We even have a wire recorder from the day. I wonder how that would sound?

[JohnB]

Glad to see they slept in a barracks.
Hopefully, they ate period food...SPAM, powdered eggs, etc.
Snack time should consist of a Coke out of a glass bottle and a Hershey bar..but they don't cost a nickel each anymore.

One more item for authenticity, my dad said that back in pilot train I ng, they could only use three squares of toilet paper.
BTW...The training stayed with my dad his entire life. He'd put on his shoes and socks first, so you'd see him in his underwear but dress socks and shoes. He said that it was a habit, you couldn't go to the john barefoot.

[Zac Yates]

Simply amazing. Thanks so much for sharing the photos, what an experience for all involved.

[shrike]

Glad to see they slept in a barracks.
Hopefully, they ate period food...SPAM, powdered eggs, etc.
Snack time should consist of a Coke out of a glass bottle and a Hershey bar..but they don't cost a nickel each anymore.

One more item for authenticity, my dad said that back in pilot train I ng, they could only use three squares of toilet paper.
BTW...The training stayed with my dad his entire life. He'd put on his shoes and socks first, so you'd see him in his underwear but dress socks and shoes. He said that it was a habit, you couldn't go to the john barefoot.

The barracks were cadre. Barracks for the students is in the works.
Food was prepared from period army cookbooks and served in mess tins.
Glass bottle cokes and stubby bottle beer. The hole in the handle of you mess kit spoon is also a bottleopener.

Toilet paper was more generously provided, but yes, boots on for the latrine

[p51]

Great shots. I'd love to come down to volunteer my time someday (I'm a former Army Ordnance officer and a WW2 re-enactor since the 1980s, so I think I might have something to contribute) as this looks like a great event.

Okay, I give up, what's this?

[hbtcoveralls]

Great shots. I'd love to come down to volunteer my time someday (I'm a former Army Ordnance officer and a WW2 re-enactor since the 1980s, so I think I might have something to contribute) as this looks like a great event.

Okay, I give up, what's this?

There's a bomb hanging from the forklift and they're painting the nose yellow using a mask.
Tom Bowers