Fortress
J's a history buff. He had wonderful teachers in middle school and high school that lit the fire within him. If he's watching TV, there's a pretty good chance the tube is tuned to the Military Channel or the History Channel. Since he found out that his great uncle flew a B-17 in WW2, he's gone out of his way to learn all he can about the plane. He's taught me so much I was ignorant about this important part of that war. As we toured the plane, he was more than pointing out all the subtle nuances that he had read about the plane but never really seen up close. This is a shot looking out the nose of a Flying Fortress. I was quite surprised by the amount of wood that was a part of the plane. From nose to tail it was found. The passageway to the tail was oh so narrow. If you were overweight, you probably weren't going to be a part of the B-17 crew. I thought about a lot of things as I wandered inside the belly of the plane. How difficult it must have been, after they were hit, for all of the 10 member crew to evacuate the plane in bulky parachutes. Not easy at all.
On starry nights, I took up at the diamond-clad ceiling. Buster's up there somewhere looking down on us.
beautiful colors ! I like your picture a lot !
ReplyDeleteThe amount of wood surprises me also.
ReplyDeleteterrifying to think about...
ReplyDeleteNot the interior I was expecting. The wood really changes things.
ReplyDeleteMy father's B-17 was hit by flak over Ploesti, and not all of the crew who bailed out made it alive to POW camp. He never would talk about it. All I know comes from the newspaper clippings in the scrapbook my mother made in 1944.
Maybe Buster and Dad are up there in the wild blue yonder right now discussing the war with each other, man to man.
What a fantastic shot of the inside of this plane. I'm so glad you shard it with us.
ReplyDeleteFor all your shooting, that B-17 will fly once more. As you can see they were not built for comfort, but to carry and deliver a payload of bombs. They did that effectively.
ReplyDelete