scissors

[hvychev]

Hey great thread guys! Every time I see pics like this it reminds me of my grand father Emil Strnad from Cicero, IL. He was a Beach Head on D-Day and I am sure that he saw these babies fly over his head that day!

[hvychev]

Here are him and his boys after the battle. (he is second from right)

[nuch_ss396]

Hey guys,

Got the thrill of my life this past summer here in Western
NC. The Commerative Air Force ( formerly the Confederate
Air Force ) flew in a B-29 ( yes, a B-29 ) and a P-51.
For $750.00 ( tax deductible ), you got a 30 minute flight
in the P-51 Mustang. Now, I'm not a real Mustang fan ( the
car anyway ), but who could resist a 12 cylinder powered
Mustang. The take off was awesome and the in-flight
maneuvers almost made me loose my cookies. The pilot did a
high speed fly-by the crowd as the flight ended. What a
rush... I'd strongly suggest any of you take this
opportunity as the pilot told me that they are facing more
and more regulation due to insurance issues. I was so glad
I did it and I got the T-shirt too.

Lastly, and this is cool, the B-29 had suffered an engine
loss in flight to the air show, so many of us got a chance
to see the crew replace the engine right in front of us as
they tried to fire it up. It was very interesting to say
the least. I have mpeg's of it, but I don't know how to
post them here. Someone clue me in and I'll post them.

Steve

[PeteLeathersac]

Frank, great pics of your Gramps! . Helps make a fella understand the old saying "they were the worst of times, the best of times"?

Steve, awesome story....you're a lucky dog and a smart one to spend the dough and do it! . And you're so right, the insurance etc. will soon make this kind of thing impossible! . The B-29....wow, up close to these must be something!

Keep it coming fellas....I know it's a car site but these stories and planes are just too cool also we're all here today enjoying what we do thanks to the sacrifices made by our own Grandfathers etc! . If you have the opportunity, thank a Vet and listen to what they have to say while you still can....they're going faster than ever! ~ Pete

[budnate]

second that!!!...wish they would re-run Wings..that was a good show!!!, always was glued to the tube when it was on..and the vintage action films were very cool!!!

[nuch_ss396]

Addendum:

I was just thinking about my post regarding the B-29 engine
swap-out I saw while waiting for my P-51 flight. What
amazed me was the engine burn-in process. They ran that
engine at damn near full throttle for about 20 minutes and
a bunch of us relocated ourselves about 500 feet directly
behind the engine being tested. With just this one engine
running at full throttle, you could lean all the way forward
on the tips of your toes and not fall. The force of the
wind kept you up. Now, that's lift !!!

[ANDY M]

Here is the official photo of "Fifi", the last of the B-29s.



The link to the CAF home page is:
http://www.cafb29b24.org/

I have been through the inside tour of both planes, and until you have seen first hand how easy it was for these planes to get shot down, you can't really appreciate how brave the crew was to fly these birds into harms way.

[nuch_ss396]

That's the plane alright. Left outboard engine was the
one replaced.

[nuch_ss396]

Here are some pics of the engine swap-out on FIFI !

Enjoy!

Engine installation:


Initial start-up:

[hvychev]

Celebrating when he got home. He is in the middle with his Irish War Bride (grandma) in the center.