Whew! It's been a whirlwind of activity recently, and Donna and I are looking forward to a change of routine. After my Mom's 95th birthday celebration, we enjoyed some time at "home", fixing and puttering, eating and talking. We enjoyed much good time with family and friends for about three weeks, and then the fun began!
A quick 1500 mile trip to Seattle to visit a friend also gave us an opportunity to spend an afternoon with some California neighbors who have just had the good sense to move to Washington state!
We spent a lovely afternoon with Bob and Gabi in the little town of Enumclaw, WA. The name is pronounced exactly as it is spelled, but the waitress in The Kitchen restaurant told us the locals call it "Enumscratch"!
Back home, it was a series of Dr visits, errands, and honey-do's nonstop for a week. Service the car, wash the motorhome, attend our grandson's performance at the Sacramento Music Festival (formerly the Jazz Festival). He was great, by the way!
The highlight of the week home had to be a special day my family created to celebrate my upcoming birthday. I was told only to be up, dressed, and ready to travel at 4:30 am. My son-in-law, Monte, and I jumped into his car and off we went, picking up my son a bit later, and heading west toward San Francisco. Feeling somewhat like I was standing on the edge of a cliff getting ready to jump, I waited for the next "something" to happen. And it did in a big way! After driving for about an hour and a half in rush hour California traffic, we turned toward a small local airfield.
Now, I gotta tell you that my father was in WWII, in the Army Air Corps. He was part of a maintenance squadron tasked with keeping the planes flying, and, as such, spent many hours in a B-17 doing shakedown flights, both in the US and the South Pacific. His only comment about his job in the AAC was that he was always concerned when the sparks began to fly! He never again set foot in an airplane. In honor of his service, I have developed an attachment to the old bombers, and particularly to the B-17. So guess what my eyes saw when we got to the air field:
The most beautiful 80 year old B-17 you can imagine!
The Collins Foundation keeps a variety of B-17, B-24 and 25, P-51 fighters, and such alive and well and flying. The Foundation does an annual tour with the planes, and they were making a stop in the Bay Area, and the family had arranged for "the Boys" to take a flight!
Monte and Jeff were well prepared with water, cameras, and cell phones! After a short orientation session that primarily told us to not touch anything, we climbed aboard. The crew chief positioned us in what had been the radio room on three seats. Two of the seats were cushions on the floor and one was a fixed chair at a small desk. All had wide, heavy, original equipment seat belts. The overhead, or ceiling, had two large holes open to the outside. Originally access hatches, the panels had been removed, so we took the opportunity to stick a head and a camera out and look back at the rear of the aircraft.
Those lines are the cables going back to control the "stuff" at the tail of the plane, and they were the first things the crew chief told us "don't touch!"
We nosed about the plane, looking forward toward the pilots cabin:
At about this time, my cell phone camera decided to quit, and I couldn't take anymore pics or videos. I haven't imported pics from the Boys yet, but will do so asap.
The noise as the engines started, the vibration as we taxied to the runway, and the trembling of this great racehorse of a plane as the "Nine-o-Nine" was held in check waiting to be released to leap into the sky was indescribable! As we looked out the small plexiglass window toward the wing, we could almost feel the anticipation that this thoroughbred felt.
My Father, and the boys grandfather, spent many unhappy hours in this tail gun turret while testing and refurbishing the planes. Early on, the support for the plane when landing was a metal skid, resulting in a shower of sparks completely enveloping the tail section. This was later changed to a wheel arrangement.
As Monte checked his phone, and Jeff began to take pictures, the pilot released the beast, and soon we were airborne. On the one hand, the flight seemed to take hours because there was so much noise and activity, and on the other hand, it took only seconds! These planes required a knowledge of when to use brute force and awkwardness, and when to use a gentle touch. Forgive me, but there is a reason most of the aircraft were named after beautiful women. Jeff was fortunate to stand in the machine gun turret just behind the pilot during the landing and reported that the pilot was pushing and pulling, straining and grunting during the descent. No fancy electronic controls here!
The entire experience is going to be one of the most memorable of my life. I remain in awe of the men who flew these planes, and the sacrifices they made. We will remain ever grateful.
A Burger Bar dinner with all of the family completed the day.The burgers were delicious, the beans were superb, and the macaroni salad was to die for! As we ate the most delicious four-layer chocolate cake made by Jamie, Jeff's wife, I was presented with birthday cards. On each very nice card, family members had written sentiments that brought a tear to an old man's eye. Thank you Teresa for preparing the meal, Thank you Jamie for the wonderful cake, and Thank you to my lovely wife for promoting the whole deal!
