Buzzed by a B-25

[Stig / Major Tom]

Early Sat morning I was riding a long flat, treeless farm road, when I heard something.
Sure enough, after I pulled over and flipped up my helmet - there was this rascal making another low pass over me.
I waved and, lo!, and as he approached he wagged his wings at me!
Pretty cool.
A WWII twin engine plane has a distinct sound. Being based nearby - it is not unfamiliar to me, but I never can get a pix of him!


@6 years ago a couple doz. B-25's flew in to join this one, Champaign Gal, for the 70th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid.
A fav of that group is Betty's Dream. (is that really the nose art from WWII?)



After the encounter with the B-25 I discovered that they were offering Vietnam era Huey and Cobra rides at Grimes Field (home of the restored Champaign Gal) and so I rode up there. Sadly the helicopters had " developed maintenance troubles" and were not coming.
 6-8min ride in the Huey was $85
8-15 min rides in the Cobra $550
Too $ for me - but I rode up there see and hear them again.

Toured their hangar where they are restoring a B-17.








These, mostly seniors, are doing a pretty cool thing with these planes.
Stig

PS: I found the pilot of the B-25 parked outside the hangar - asked him if he recognized me? "I'm the guy you buzzed on the scooter in Green County early this morning!"  He and his wife got a big laugh out of that.

[boo]

Our gang liked to ride to Middlesboro Ky. to see the "Glacier Girl" being reconstructed and  completely restored. This was a plane that made an emergency landing on the ice in I think it was Greenland during the second world war. This plane was about thirty to forty feet down under the ice. A business man from Middlesboro headed an expedition dig up and recover the plane. If I remember correctly, it was a B29. The workers dug down, disassembled the plane and brought it up, piece by piece and brought it back to Ky. Over time, we watched it being completely restored. It was beautiful. Today it flies in air shows around the country.

One very important thing to remember about these world war II planes, most were built by women!. Yes, women.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Our gang liked to ride to Middlesboro Ky. to see the "Glacier Girl" being reconstructed and  completely restored. This was a plane that made an emergency landing on the ice in I think it was Greenland during the second world war. This plane was about thirty to forty feet down under the ice. A business man from Middlesboro headed an expedition dig up and recover the plane. If I remember correctly, it was a B29. The workers dug down, disassembled the plane and brought it up, piece by piece and brought it back to Ky. Over time, we watched it being completely restored. It was beautiful. Today it flies in air shows around the country.

One very important thing to remember about these world war II planes, most were built by women!. Yes, women.

I was impressed by how many rivets it takes to assemble these planes. Hence my photo of the rivets waiting for the two haves assembly!

My father was a navigator on the 17's....he stayed on with the U.S. occupation forces afterwards. My 19 yr old mom joined him in Germany, from KY (an adventure in itself for a teenaged girl)  and my brother and I were born in Germany - to a pop from Ohio & mom from KY

Those babes did a heck of a job!
Stig

[klaviator]

Our gang liked to ride to Middlesboro Ky. to see the "Glacier Girl" being reconstructed and  completely restored. This was a plane that made an emergency landing on the ice in I think it was Greenland during the second world war. This plane was about thirty to forty feet down under the ice. A business man from Middlesboro headed an expedition dig up and recover the plane. If I remember correctly, it was a B29. The workers dug down, disassembled the plane and brought it up, piece by piece and brought it back to Ky. Over time, we watched it being completely restored. It was beautiful. Today it flies in air shows around the country.

One very important thing to remember about these world war II planes, most were built by women!. Yes, women.

I took a ride to Middlesboro years ago to see the Glacier Girl.  How they got that out of the ice was a fascinating story.



.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Thought this was interesting....stats for the 17 crews
Crew of 10, correct...with two waist gunners?


Stig

[big blue]

We had one of the B-25s at our Airport Days festival a couple of years ago. He was doing paid passenger fly-overs and when he buzzed the K-Mart parking lot next to the airport it set off all the car alarms. Just an amazing sound!

[GLV55]

Excellent shots, Stig! You are a man after my own heart, loving those beautiful old WW2 warbirds. We live about 1/2 mile from the Warhawk Air Museum here in Nampa, ID, and we always see a lot of great planes buzzing overhead. Every summer, the Warhawk Roundup features all types of great planes, including P-40s, F-4s, P-38s, P-51s, P-47s, B-25s, B-17s, TBF Avengers, T-28s, AT-6s, and a few others I can't remember right now. It is like heaven watching them fly right over my house. And you are right about the distinctive sound of a warbird's engine spooling up - no other sound like it to get me running out of the house with binoculars in hand.

[PaulF]

Love the old planes, so much character and also, great photos Stig. 

[CROSSBOLT]

Really great pix all of you! Used to have several bags of those "Clecos" temporary rivets for my aircraft sheet metal repair. Like C-clamps, you never have enough! Big, powerful military engines have a sound if they have pistons. Jets just make noise. I do love a turboprop, however!