"The Fightingest Flying Fortress in the World"

A "Second" B-17??

Rob O;
Welcome, Sir.
At the beginning of this event (April 30th), there were three Boeing B-17's entered in the Bomber Class.. One dropped-out, one seems to have disappeared and I just finished all fifteen "legs" on May 24th 2011.
I thought I might have the dubious honor of being the "fastest" (read: Only) B-17 to finish the event, so I welcome you to "Carry The Torch" and bring honor and glory to us few, brave, B-17 Bomber Pilots ;-}
Originally, the event was to end on May 31st, but an "adjustment" to the rules states the event will run until the last pilot completes all the required landings..
With that in mind, watch these little airfields.. most are grass strips, short (like 3500') AND while the altitude of the runway might only be seven feet above sea level, the trees at the ends of the runways seem to be several hundred feet tall! While I did not crash on any landings or roll-outs, there were not many air strips where I was still ON the runway when I stopped!! (Juan Manual Fangio could not drive a Formula One Race Car as good as I "drove" my B-17 to keep from hitting trees! :icon_lol: )
So, best of luck.. and make us Bomber Pilots proud!
 
Hi Charles & Paul!

Thanks for the welcome Gentlemen! Glad to be a part of this... thanks for the work you have put into this and also thanks to the Organizers.

Charles... I kept an eye on your progress... very impressive run :salute:. I will be very happy to place a close 2nd (i.e. no crashes or craziness... decent enroute times) and do us proud. Thanks for the "heads up"... one thing I am using is the "lumberjack" add-on (used in RTRW too). Even with that... yes I have noticed the ever present tree problem.

I was probably as interested in WWII as any boy my age... with a number of relatives that fought (and died) in the war. What I did not realize was the extent of the B-17's participation in the Pacific Theater. I had thought of the B-17 almost exclusively as a Daylight Precision Bomber for the Eighth Air Force.

Pretty cool to read about the exploits of the Suzy-Q in LIFE Magazine (18 Jan. 1943)... so cool (to me) I had to order a copy of it from E-bay!

Below is a link to the article about the Suzy-Q in the 18 Jan. 1943 LIFE Magazine at Google Books: "The 'Fightingest Flying Fortress' Comes Back From a Year of Action"

http://books.google.com/books?id=mE...&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

-Rob

P.S. I noticed there was a problem with some using MS Wx… I am using ASE because I absolutely "have to" have something to fly in besides the MS Wx of “Severe Clear”. If this DQ’s me… of course I respect that decision.
 
Enroute to AYBK Buka from AGGM Munda

The "real" Piccadilly Princess (from yesterday) and an early morning departure from Munda
 
Completed:

Leg 3 AYBK - AYTK

Flight Time: 00:46:58
Total Time: 2:11:19

A fistful of trees on short final Rwy 28 Rabaul
 
Great snaps, Rob.

(Thanks for the Life link. Terrific bit of wartime writing for the home front, eh? Geisha girls, no less!)
 
Welcome aboard!!

Fine looking aircraft and a "Great" pilot ... should Fare well.

Good Luck Rob!



Took in an Airshow here last weekend ... over at 42VA.

Not too good with the camera, but not too many folks in front of me.

A circle with P-51D escort ... then a down wind - base - final ... I was pretty close to her.


Prolly need to squint on the first few ... you can almost hear her on that last shot.


View attachment 38831View attachment 38829View attachment 38830View attachment 38832View attachment 38833View attachment 38834


Grass runway ... right at 5000' if you use up all the open space at each end ... tree lined to the south and they had around a fifteen to twenty knot cross wind from the north ... hit it just right.


There was an Avro Lancaster that flew in from Canada ... wisely flew around twice before settin' that beast down .... same conditions ... took up all of the yardage.


Happy Trails,
 
Completed:

Leg 4 AYTK - AYKV

Flight Time: 00:44:33
Total Time: 2:55:52

==========================

Hi Mike & Austin,


Thanks Mike… yes the REX is fantastic; with the excellent A2A model and superb JKB repaint is just the recipe for some great pics!


I was pretty amazed with the writing too… I even thought of reposting some like the first paragraph because I enjoyed it so much, then started thinking how that sounded not so “p.c.” Hmmm… geisha girls… I have not read the entire article yet (saving myself for the real magazine to arrive). What geisha girls!? Whad I miss! :kilroy:



Austin… “great” as in great in spending much money on FSX… great as in great in consuming much food. :p: The aircraft is truly great... a challenge and a very nice one at that.

You’re pics are just primo! Thanks for posting them! :cool: Just imagine being in that cockpit! Grass strips are such a treat to land on. I’d imagine if you had any snaps of that “Lanc” we would enjoy seeing it.

I noticed… or so it appears, they wheel landed ‘er. After a bit of practice with the A2A version I do the same now… wheel-land then flaps up / stick back in the lap. Take-offs are just a matter of getting enough airspeed and letting ‘er fly off the ground.[FONT=&quot]:jump:
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Great Ozzie said:
I noticed… or so it appears, they wheel landed ‘er. After a bit of practice with the A2A version I do the same now… wheel-land then flaps up / stick back in the lap. Take-offs are just a matter of getting enough airspeed and letting ‘er fly off the ground.[FONT=&quot]:jump:
[/FONT]
Click to expand...

Rob;
That's the "approved" method of landing the '17.. In order to keep from "floating" down the runway, you raise your flaps, which lowers the tail.. Once the tail is down, it's full back on the yoke.. this raises the horizontal stabilizer, creates a huge drag to help slow the plane AND helps keep the nose up on "hard braking".. Makes a big difference with short-field landings..
 
Hi Rob,

It looks like the duenna file you posted for leg 2 is a duplicate from leg 1. Also, do you have a duenna file for leg 4? Great progress with the big Fortress!
 
PRB said:
Hi Rob,

It looks like the duenna file you posted for leg 2 is a duplicate from leg 1. Also, do you have a duenna file for leg 4? Great progress with the big Fortress!
Click to expand...

Hi Paul,

Sorry for the knuckleheadedness :redf:

(13-52-49.txt for Flight 2)
 
No sir... thank you! :salute:

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Departing from AYKV Kavieng to CPG Cape Gloucester


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DHC120 said:
Rob;
That's the "approved" method of landing the '17.. In order to keep from "floating" down the runway, you raise your flaps, which lowers the tail.. Once the tail is down, it's full back on the yoke.. this raises the horizontal stabilizer, creates a huge drag to help slow the plane AND helps keep the nose up on "hard braking".. Makes a big difference with short-field landings..
Click to expand...

One thing also I like to do (tho not so much for short-field landings) and which is taught when learning multi-engine landings, is to carry a smidge of power thru-out the roundout to the landing attitude (then smoothly remove and let ‘er settle in). This works very well in the Fort making a, "nice greaser Captain" a not so uncommon event. :cool: Much better than hearing one of the crew call out in pain (or worse like having to overhaul because of breaking the gear). :redf:
 
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