Photos from my B-17 flight

[Docjonel]

I've posted these on some other forums but thought some of you here might enjoy them as well.

I went up in the Collings Foundation B-17 "Nine O Nine" last week and took many photos of this thrilling experience. There's nothing like sitting in a B-17 at the end of a runway as those four massive radial engines start to roar and the whole plane starts to vibrate to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck! 'twas worth every one of the many pennies I shelled out for this opportunity. Hope you like the pics!

It was a beautiful day for a flight along the Connecticut coastline. We took off from Groton-New London airport and flew out over Rhode Island and the Long Island Sound:
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/4870/img5893dx8.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5893dx8.jpg)

Some close up shots of those aforementioned radials in action just a few feet away:
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/1356/img6005bko0.th.jpg (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6005bko0.jpg) http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6828/img6021blq9.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6021blq9.jpg)

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6393/img5972bro4.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5972bro4.jpg) http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3023/img5981bhv6.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5981bhv6.jpg)

The view from the nose was spectacular! And very exposed... :o
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/7483/img6008bth5.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6008bth5.jpg) http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/4895/img6014bnp3.th.jpg (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6014bnp3.jpg)

To be continued...

[Docjonel]

I risked my Canon Digital Rebel in the 160mph slipstream! :huh: :yep:

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/5005/img5993bll1.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5993bll1.jpg) http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6490/img6023brn2.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6023brn2.jpg)

The starboard ammunition feed into the ball turret:

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/7940/img6038bmc9.th.jpg (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6038bmc9.jpg)

The view from the top turret looking forward:

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/7999/img6020bqc7.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6020bqc7.jpg)

Hard not to imagine what it must have been like...:hmm:

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/2290/topturret1vs5.th.jpg (http://img71.imageshack.us/my.php?image=topturret1vs5.jpg) http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2109/starboard1brd6.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=starboard1brd6.jpg)

[Docjonel]

Back on the ground, a classic pose:

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/1214/img6044brs7.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6044brs7.jpg)

The B-24 landed right behind us. She suffered a birdstrike on this flight. In the second shot you can barely make out the hole in the wing leading edge between the starboard inboard and outboard engines. :o

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6883/img6049blp2.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6049blp2.jpg) http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/4084/img6057bir9.th.jpg (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6057bir9.jpg)

Love this shot. The ghosts of days gone by:

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3504/img6063tv1.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6063tv1.jpg)

B-25, B-24, and B-17, all back from their flights:

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/4587/img6091bmw3.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6091bmw3.jpg)

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/8246/img6112boj9.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img6112boj9.jpg)

I have all of these in higher resolution, should anyone be interested.
Hope you liked 'em!

[Dowly]

Great shots!! Thanks for sharing them with us! The B-17 is my favorite aircraft, a real beauty. :up:

[kiwi_2005]

Wow! :up:

Kiwi dusts of B-17 fighting fortress and installs!

[Camaero]

Right on man. I have been inside that very B17 along with the B-24 it travels with. Never in flight though. The B-17 is certainly one of my favorite aircraft.

Is that 190 photoshopped?

If they had 190s buzzing the plane it would really be worth the money!

[Onkel Neal]

Very cool, thanks for sharing:yep:

[Docjonel]

Right on man. I have been inside that very B17 along with the B-24 it travels with. Never in flight though. The B-17 is certainly one of my favorite aircraft.

Is that 190 photoshopped?

If they had 190s buzzing the plane it would really be worth the money!

No, it's only Paint Shop Pro'd! :lol:

Took some screenshots of IL-2 Sturmovik with the proper lighting, pasted in the Focke-Wulf, then down-adjusted the gamma settings and blurred it. Came out looking pretty cool, IMHO.
Here's another one, maybe not as good as the first two:

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/6029/headonattack1cac7.jpg

[Rose]

That's... so... beautiful.... You lucky SOB.

[TteFAboB]

:o

Fantastic! :up:

[Perilscope]

Wow, in colors! Usually we see them in black and white, or in videogames. :-(
You are very lucky to have flown in it and without worries of an enemy coming at you too! :D

Double thumbs up for the pics :up: :up:

[Takeda Shingen]

Those are beautiful photographs. You have a good eye for lighting.

[HunterICX]

:o Wow, you lucky bastard!
nice photos, i had an scale model of that type Bomber

[moose1am]

I was thinking the very same thing about the FW190 in attack mode. Very good picture even it it's photoshopped. It sure looks real to me.

Thanks for posting the pictures.



Right on man. I have been inside that very B17 along with the B-24 it travels with. Never in flight though. The B-17 is certainly one of my favorite aircraft.

Is that 190 photoshopped?

If they had 190s buzzing the plane it would really be worth the money!

[Docjonel]

We are so used to seeing grainy black and white films of aerial combat in Europe. During my flight I was trying to imagine what it would be like if we were damaged, alone, and heading back from a mission at low altitude. Those events happened in vivid color for the men involved. I'm glad the photoshopped images convey a little of the reality of that experience.

Again, the higher res versions look even better than these ones I have posted at ImageShack.
Thanks for the comments all. You want to share photos like these with people who appreciate them. :up:

[Sailor Steve]

A-MAZ-ing! Those of us who could never afford that thank you for the shots.

[sonar732]

What...no pictures of SUBBASE GROTON? JK...looks around for NIS. :rotfl::rotfl:

[tycho102]

Absolutely beautiful pictures.

I believe Gene Roddenberry flew his 25 in a B-17.

[Docjonel]

Actually, I'm now working on a little video set to a popular 1940's song to show off some of these photos. Hope to have it finished soon, then need a way to post it. Will I run into trouble if I use a period recording of a Glenn Miller Orchestra song? :hmm:

[Yahoshua]

Post some more photos with fighter aircraft, maybe we could come up with something more interesting (another photo competition thread?).