Aircraft

[kflach]

It's a very cool place!

Of course you might also see if you can get to the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi Texas as well.

http://www.usslexington.com/

[Steel Horse Bailey]

One of these days i would love to get to Pensacola and go through the Naval Air museum. want to see the navy WW II era planes i've always read about for real.............Buck

Buck - it's worth the trip.  It's a FINE Museum ... one of the few tax-supported things worth their salt.

[Texas Lawdog]

I was there during the 75th Anniversary of Naval Aviation. They have a large static display on the outside of the Museum.

[Texas Lawdog]

There is supposed to be a Warbird flyin this Sat. in one of the suburbs of Dallas, south of I 20. I'm gonna try and sneak over there. It starts about 10 am and runs till 4 pm. I hope that there will be a good turn out of people and several Warbirds show up.

[kflach]

TL, which one? I live n Arlington, which has an airport, so it could be here???

[Texas Lawdog]

Kevin, It's gonna be at the Lancaster Airport in Lancaster,Texas. I just got a call from one of my friends on the B29/B24 Squadron this evening. I am now one the crew members on the B24. The B24 will be featured at the fly in. I am gonna be part of the back end crew. We will fly out to Lancaster from the Cavanaugh Flight Museum on Sat. Morning. To say the least, I am extremely excited.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Awesome, pard!  I'm excited for you!

[Texas Lawdog]

This aircraft is the oldest flying B24 in existence. It was at Long Beach, Calif. in 1942.

[Texas Lawdog]

Now, I have to go to Fort Worth Tent and Awning to have me a flight suit made.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Little Jimmy, you said this liberator is the oldest still flying ... is it the A (I think) model - with the full greenhouse nose & no turret like the Gs?  Same model of the Strawberry Bitch?"

[Forty Rod]

Got a catalog of DVDs, CDS, books, etc from an outfit named Acorn (Like the President's Gestapo group) and they have all sorts of stuff involving planes, including shirts, jackets. etc.  Thought some o you might like to take a look.

[kflach]

I checked online and couldn't find any thing on Acorn Flight Gear (or the "president's gestapo group") but I found this:

http://www.ljmilitaria.com/

Lancaster may be a bit far to get to this weekend.

Sigh...

[Forty Rod]

Try ACORN ONLINE.  I'll check yours if you'll check mine.

[kflach]

That worked. They have a broader product line than I realized.

[Forty Rod]

I don't buy a lot from them, but their catalog is fodder for movies to get from Netflix.

I like their Christmas catalog.  If you're a reader, watch DVDs, or just like "stuff", it's a wonderland.  Should be coming out soon.

[Texas Lawdog]

Forty, That's what I do with my Acorn catalog. The Moose and I watch a lot of the British shows on PBS as well as the Mystery and Police shows that are on DVD.  Kevin, Lancaster isn't that far. I spent the day over there and it was a blast. Our B24 A was the hit of the show.  SHB, It was actually built in January of 1941. Our of our Squadron members flew with the RAF in 1941, before we entered the war. He flew fighters, mainly the P 47. He is 86 years old and gets around better than I do. I also got to met a B24 tailgunner, also 86 years old. He crawled back to the tailsection and his son took pictures of him with the machine gun. He also got around good for someone 86 years old. I love to talk to those guys, we are loosing so many of them each day. We had a Corsair, Wildcat, an A26, 3  AT6's, an R4D, and P40 show up. They also had a classic carshow for the folks more interested in cars than planes. We had walk through tours of the B24 for 5 bucks. The last time that I taked to the guys taking money, they had taken about 700 dollars. Hopefully, "FIFI" will be back from Midland this month and be ready for the the annual AirSho in Oct.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

TL, I've mentioned my Dad, the Navy pilot before, but I doubt I've mentioned my StepDad.  He was USAAF in ww-twice, too.  He was a nose-turret gunner on a B-24, the one with the turret made by Tucker - G-model, I think, but I may be thinking of the G-model B-17 that WAS the one with the chin turret.  Bud passed a couple years back, but we had MANY interesting conversations.  He flew 4 Ploesti raids.  BAD stuff, there.  He NEVER had a good word about Germans, and hated flying, but he sure loved that airplane!  There's one (B-24) hangered in Kissimmee, FL.  He was pretty excited because he visited it once when the crew was preparing to leave on a "pay-for-a-ride" tour and when they found out he'd flown many missions in one, they invited him to go for a ride for a small $200 donation.  (I think the normal price was $400-$500)  He politely refused the offer, but DID get back in it (for free at their invite) and looked around and went up to his position - as well as his, uh ... size would allow. 

He was excited about that until he died - it was one of the good things at the tail-end of a life.  I was really happy for him.

[Texas Lawdog]

The tailgunner I met flew in the Burma Theater. His son was grinning from ear to ear, watching his Dad in the tail gunners sling. I sorta feel cheated that I didn't get to spend enough time with my Dad before he passed away. He was my Best Man at my wedding and took part im my EA Masonic Degree. I plan on being as active as possible with the 2 Aircraft of our Squadron. SHB, Ol'927 does have the birdcage nose. It was the hit of the show for sure.  Rides were $450., however we needed at least 5 people to sign up. We only got 2, so no rides were given. "FIFI" will be at the Cavanaugh Museum next month. They have hangar facilities for both aircraft in the Addison Airport complex. It's really great that Mr. Cavanaugh is financially able to take on the care of these aircraft. He has an extensive private Warbird collection of his own.

[kflach]

If anyone is interested, the Alliance Airshow (http://www.allianceairshow.com/) is being held the same weekend as the NCOWS Southwest Regional here in North Texas. I'm planning on going to the airshow on Sunday, Oct. 31, the day after the Regionals ends.

[Texas Lawdog]

Kevin, The AirSho at Alliance is always a good one. I am still trying to shake this broncitis. I did'nt feel up to making the trip to Midland last weekend for the annual CAF AirSho.