B17 Takeoff

Comments · 272

• BL

  @blueegrettours · 1 month ago

  My dad, RIP was a navigator in a B-17 flying bombing runs on Berlin.  On his 9th mission his plane took shrapnel just outside the nose cap that killed the bombadier and almost killed him.  He was in the hospital from age 21 to age 24.  I still have a golfball size chunk of German iron in the ammo box with his medals.  When we were leaving the theater after seeing Memphis Belle when it first came out I asked what he was thinking.  He said "We were all. so damn young."  That was all he would say.  He had his mom sign his papers when he enlisted at the age of 17.  Thanks Dad and I am sorry that noone knew what PTSD was back then.

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• ON

  @OneHitWonder383 · 5 months ago

  Now imagine doing that as your first combat takeoff in 1944. My father flew 30 missions over Germany for the 91st Bomb Group. Thanks, Pop.

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• DA

  @dalbygriffis3611 · 5 months ago

  I am 81 years old with over 4000 hrs, I can't imagine flying on these airlines in tight formation,  into combat with 250 hrs,  it's a miracle that anyone made it back. They were indeed heroes and saints.

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• WI

  @WilliamJordan-f8m · 6 months ago

  Having sat in the pilots seat during an air show here years ago, you realize how small those cockpits really are, and how you would need all the stamina that the 20 something year old pilots possessed to fly them.  They are not built for comfort, and piloting one requires skills beyond physical strength in order to master the many procedures necessary to launch them and keep them in the air.  The heroism of the 8th Air Force in the Second War is well known.  They faced long odds of returning alive during a mission, bitter cold at altitude, flak and enemy fighters, and the ability to continue as you watched friends and fellow pilots going down in flames.  I knew some of the men who survived the war, and it was a privilege to know them.  Good video here.

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• ST

  @stunmunky2 · 2 years ago

  Is there any better sound than 4 radial engines at full boogie, phazing in and out with each other? I don't think there is.

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• LE

  @lenmatthies9626 · 5 months ago

  My dad was in a B-17 squadron in the pacific theater in WW2.  I have his cruise book that documents there campaign through the Japanese held islands.  It is priceless.

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• TO

  @todd3205 · 5 months ago

  I had the honor to have worked in my family's rubber mold shop with a fellow, Herschel Steele, that had been a waist gunner in a B-17F that flew out of Bizerte  and Foggia.  It was a rare bird called Sweater Girl with the 'nose art' on the tail.  These guys had a life expectancy of 11 missions.

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• BO

  @boblittle2529 · 5 months ago

  I admit I did holler several times at the guy behind the pilot to sit back.

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• JE

  @jefferypitts343 · 1 year ago

  I got to fly in the Memphis belle, the movie plane, I'll never forget the take off, this was  unbelievable how loud it was and how much vibration there was ,kinda scary but once it got off the runway, it was so stable ,I was amazed,still am,that was my childhood dream come true.

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• RO

  @robertmonaghan5420 · 2 years ago

  Back in The 8th Air Force, 22 Year Old First Lieutenants had To Do This. Great Video

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• JO

  @johnnorman7708 · 1 month ago

  My uncle George Frahm was a B 17 mechanic in England during the war. He mentioned an engine coming apart on takeoff. He said a chunk of piston actually came through the cabin wall near the flight engineers position. That would certainly rattle your cage.

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• PH

  @philbrown9764 · 2 years ago

  The B-17 has always been my favorite bomber.  I had a model of one, with a detailed interior, so much so, I never glued the halves together.

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