Check These Pictures Out, Airplane Porn

[rp23g7]

So, little story here.

My dad is a retired Boeing special projects engineer, after he retired he helped restore the museums B-17 and the Stratocruiser that went into the water off of Alki in Seattle, so they restored it again, and he is helping restore the B-29 they have.

He is a tour guide at the Seattle Museum of Flight with his spare time too.

So today he got permission to take me down to Plant 2, where the B-17 and B-29 were actualy made and we crawled all over them inside and out.

There are also some pictures of the Concorde, first 727, 737, 747 and Kennedy/Johnsons/Nixons Air Force One. The museum is also restoring a Lockheed Super Constellation, other pictures too.

Check em out
http://s572.photobucket.com/albums/ss161/rp23g7/MuseumofFlight/

[BigBlackDodge]

Great Pix!

Thanks for posting!



BBD

[tan top]

   good lot of pictures !!  intresting stuff  especialy the B17
thanks for sharing 

[rp23g7]

Thanks,   i just cant imagine being a 17-21 yr old kid, and flying a combat mission in one of those, especially the B-17.

Flying at 15-20,000 feet with wind blowing through the airplane, and trying to do your job wearing all your flight gear. Incredible.

[mauve66]

thats sure a dang big building

[70charginglizard]

Thanks,   i just cant imagine being a 17-21 yr old kid, and flying a combat mission in one of those, especially the B-17.

Flying at 15-20,000 feet with wind blowing through the airplane, and trying to do your job wearing all your flight gear. Incredible.

My dad did. He was a B-17G Pilot back in the day and a pilot for the USAF for over 20 years.

Just lost him last year though.

[BB1]

Porn eh...    "oh I thought..." never mind.

[rp23g7]

Hats off to the maintenance guys that took care of the planes too. You see all the mechanical/electical things in there, then realize that probably after each mission something got shot up or damaged somehow.

Those mechanics must have worked their butts off.

[Finn]

Wow thanks for posting!
These are awesome.

[rp23g7]

thats sure a dang big building

You should see the Everett assy plant for the 747.

[rp23g7]

Thanks,   i just cant imagine being a 17-21 yr old kid, and flying a combat mission in one of those, especially the B-17.

Flying at 15-20,000 feet with wind blowing through the airplane, and trying to do your job wearing all your flight gear. Incredible.

My dad did. He was a B-17G Pilot back in the day and a pilot for the USAF for over 20 years.

Just lost him last year though.

My dad has been doing a family tree ancestory thing.  We found out that he had a cousin, that was a waist gunner on a B-17.  He got killed on a mission over Germany when his plane got shot down

[b5blue]

My hat is off to your Pop for helping save such historical aircraft!  It must be a kick to have an all access pass! 

[rp23g7]

My hat is off to your Pop for helping save such historical aircraft!  It must be a kick to have an all access pass! 

Thanks B5. He has fun doing it, hes been a airplane guy all his life, got his pilots licence at 12.  He retired and needed something to do.  Got me interested as a kid, used to go to airshows all the time too.

Airplanes are my second love too after cars, i worked at McDonnell Douglas from 90-94 on the C-17, and at Boeing from 95-99 on the 737-800 line.

Yeah, its great to have a pass with him, he worked Special Projects, Black box stuff, for 35 yrs.  He was always going to Edwards and Mojave, White Sands, Alamagordo, etc when we were little.

He never talked about what he did at work, and still doesnt, but you look at what happened after he came back, and kinda could peice it together.  He would come back with pictures of wind tunnel models and pictures of B-52's dropping cruise missles and kinda got the idea. 

[b5blue]

Getting a ride in a B-17 is on my "Bucket List" I probably built every model made of it when I was a kid, some many times in different versions, those boys went to hell and back alone until we got the Mustang's and P-38's up there to protect them!  I'm proud to work for the V.A. helping take care of them!

[69rtse4spd]

Took the walk threw tour of the B-17, & B-24 when they flew into FT. Wayne  International airport last year. Vary tight space for us older & bigger guys, around $600.00 for a flight in the B-17 if I recall. Plan on doing it this year if   all work's out. Much respect for all the men & women in the military, past & present. Great pictures also, thanks to you & your dad.

[68RRFlyer]

Back about 15 years ago (holy crap!  Am I that old??? ) I soloed one of my students at Millville airport in NJ, which was a little ways from where I flight instructed at Cross Keys Airport.  After I let her fly around on her own, we ate lunch at the restaurant there.  While eating, we heard the tell tale rumble of the radials coming around the corner.  The Confederate Airforce's B-17 "Fuddy Duddy" I think it was, came lumbering around the corner.  They let us crawl all over that thing and after doing that, it puts what those boys did back then into a real three dimensional perspective.  It's just amazing what they all went through during the war that allows us to do what we all do today.  There's a reason why those guys were all 18-20.  No 40yr old in his right mind would say, "You're going to shove me in that aluminum tube, make my fly around in all kinds of weather, cramped quarters, AND have people shoot at me?  Oh man, sign me up!!! "  I now have the pleasure of flying our troops around on something they could have only dreamed of back in the day.  We fly into and out of Germany so I'm over here usually every month.  Flying over the countryside, my mind sometimes wanders to what it must have been like back then during that time.  Truly amazing.

I was also operating out of JFK Int'l headed to Boston and had the Concorde take off right in front of me one time.  We heard the tower guy clear him into position and hold on the runway, so I turn to my FO and say, "Watch this man, this will be something that'll stick in your memory for a long time."  When he was cleared for takeoff, all I remember is the deafening noise from those engines and seeing all the afterburners light up and my little commuter airplane Jetstream 3200 shaking all over the place from the thrust.  Truly amazing.  Bitter sweet though, as I was in Dulles Airport for the final flight of the Concorde and saw it land and take it's permanet place at the Air & Space museum . 

Cheers   

[rp23g7]

Took the walk threw tour of the B-17, & B-24 when they flew into FT. Wayne  International airport last year. Vary tight space for us older & bigger guys, around $600.00 for a flight in the B-17 if I recall. Plan on doing it this year if   all work's out. Much respect for all the men & women in the military, past & present. Great pictures also, thanks to you & your dad.

Those two belong to the Collins Foundation i think.  They come to Seattle every summer too.  My friend lives on the hill by Boeing Field, and you can sit there all day and listen to those radials fly over.

[rp23g7]

Back about 15 years ago (holy crap!  Am I that old??? ) I soloed one of my students at Millville airport in NJ, which was a little ways from where I flight instructed at Cross Keys Airport.  After I let her fly around on her own, we ate lunch at the restaurant there.  While eating, we heard the tell tale rumble of the radials coming around the corner.  The Confederate Airforce's B-17 "Fuddy Duddy" I think it was, came lumbering around the corner.  They let us crawl all over that thing and after doing that, it puts what those boys did back then into a real three dimensional perspective.  It's just amazing what they all went through during the war that allows us to do what we all do today.  There's a reason why those guys were all 18-20.  No 40yr old in his right mind would say, "You're going to shove me in that aluminum tube, make my fly around in all kinds of weather, cramped quarters, AND have people shoot at me?  Oh man, sign me up!!! "  I now have the pleasure of flying our troops around on something they could have only dreamed of back in the day.  We fly into and out of Germany so I'm over here usually every month.  Flying over the countryside, my mind sometimes wanders to what it must have been like back then during that time.  Truly amazing.

I was also operating out of JFK Int'l headed to Boston and had the Concorde take off right in front of me one time.  We heard the tower guy clear him into position and hold on the runway, so I turn to my FO and say, "Watch this man, this will be something that'll stick in your memory for a long time."  When he was cleared for takeoff, all I remember is the deafening noise from those engines and seeing all the afterburners light up and my little commuter airplane Jetstream 3200 shaking all over the place from the thrust.  Truly amazing.  Bitter sweet though, as I was in Dulles Airport for the final flight of the Concorde and saw it land and take it's permanet place at the Air & Space museum . 

Cheers   

68RR What do you fly?   

Around 1988 or 89 a charity around here sponsored a Flight to Nowhere.  $1200 bought you a seat on the Concorde, where they would take off, fly over the ocean to break the sound barrier and come back.

I was going to A&P school at the time and they let us go down to watch the Concorde come in.  It was a beautiful sight on final approach.  We went back down to the airport the next day to watch it take off, Yes the thing was loader than heck.

Which Concorde is at the Air and Space Museaum?  The one that flew in for that was tail number OAB, Seattles is OAG

[mopar73]

Great pics

[68RRFlyer]

 "68RR What do you fly?"

I fly an MD-11.  We carry 355 of America's finest around in one class:  FIRST!!  Basically, a 630,000lb MTOW taxicab  We also fly the cargo side too.  

I was on the approach end of the runway when it came into IAD.  Man, you could hear that thing coming from miles away.  I believe it was frog air ( Air France   ) and the last three are VFA on the registration.  Not sure what number that is in the line up.  

I do remember sitting at the terminal when we were delayed several hours one time and wandering over to the British Airways gate there at JFK while they had one parked at the gate.  They let me down the jetway since I was in uniform and had all those scrambled eggs on my hat and all official looking   and gave me the full tour.  The pilots were going over their checks so they let me look around and showed me everything in the cockpit.  The "flight hostesses" showed me the cabin.   The cabin is quite a let down, actually.  It's narrow, the seats are small, and the windows are really tiny.  You're paying for the speed, obviously.  The cockpit is no better.   Small, cramped, and just jammed packed full of switches.  It seemed as though if there was a clear spot on a panel, they drilled a hole and put a switch for who knows what!  I remember leaving thinking holy moly, I hope I didn't brush up against anything and turn who the heck knows what, off or on!        

[rp23g7]

"68RR What do you fly?"

I fly an MD-11.  We carry 355 of America's finest around in one class:  FIRST!!  Basically, a 630,000lb MTOW taxicab  We also fly the cargo side too.  

I worked on the first MD-11 , when i got hired at McDonnell Douglas, then got switched to the C-17, installed all the flight systems for 4 yrs.  I was amazed too at the interior of the Concorde, i thought it would be bigger.  When they delivered it, they had the flight crew sign the bulkhead, and on the approach, the Co Pilot slid his cap bill in a expansion joint that it has for when it heats up.

It was stuck in there, but some one going through it cut if off and took it.  Jerks