I am taking a break from my usual travelogue style blog entry and actually writing about something interesting that I did. Thanks to all of you who commented on my last blog entry. I know that I have at least 4 people who are following my blog. It was good to hear from people in 3 different countries!

Last weekend I had a new experience which I will not soon forget.  I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to fly in a vintage World War II B-17 Flying Fortress.  Every year the Olympic Flight Museum hosts an air show which features many warplanes from past wars, including several bombers which you can tour.  This year the bombers on tour were a B-17 Flying Fortress, a B-24 Liberator, and a B-25 Mitchell bomber.



Here is the B-17 taking off.  This was one of the most successful bombers used in World War II.  It was very heavily armed as you can see with thirteen Browning M-2 .50 caliber machine guns.  It was powered by four 1200hp turbocharged Wright Cyclone radial engines.

I admit to always having been fascinated by these symbols of American air superiority from the World War II era.  They look and sound so ominous flying through the air.  So I couldn't pass up the chance to actually fly in one.



Here is the seat I chose for most of the flight, right in the bombardier nose section.  This is the position where the bombardier used the once top-secret Norden bomb sight to sight and control the dropping of the bombs.  The domed nose window allows a birds-eye view of everything up, down, left, right, and ahead, a perfect spot to enjoy the scenery over the Puget Sound.



We had a beautiful flight, low over the country around Olympia, Shelton and Hood Canal.  There was something thrilling about sitting in the seat that had been once used by men who successfully flew 140 bombing missions in this plane.



So here I am sitting back, enjoying the view of the lovely waters of Puget Sound passing by beneath my feet.  But after sitting here awhile, I was curious to see the rest of the plane so I wandered back through the bomb bay, which has a very narrow catwalk squeezed in amongst the bombs.  I carefully navigated across the walk, minding the words from our briefing that falling off the catwalk into the bomb bay could mean a very unexpected exit from the plane.  About that time we hit some turbulence and I instinctively grabbed for something to steady myself, unfortunately catching one of the control cables which run unprotected all through the plane.  I heard a strange noise and felt the resistance of the cable and quickly let go and grabbed something a little more solid.  I don't want to be the one to send this plane into a dive.  Past the bomb bay was the radio room and the top mounted gun turret.  This was open so that people could look out for an unobstructed view across the top of the plane.



The 170mph wind in my face was almost enough to take my breath away.  But the feeling of sticking my head out of the top of a B-17 bomber flying along over the lovely landscape of Puget Sound was quite exhilarating.  I stayed there, looking out in all directions for quite awhile, thankful for this wonderful, unique opportunity to see things from a perspective few ever have seen.



I will end this story with a fitting scene from the air show of a sky diver who carried this incredibly huge United States flag with him on his descent and brought cheers from all the crowd.  It made me proud to be a part of such a wonderful country, which has been so blessed by God through the years.

Tags: weekends
Current Location: Olympia, WA