Posted by Keith in Washington on Monday, June 18, 2001 at 1:58PM :
What a combination. My wife tied all of these together yesterday. She "rocks"!!!!!
A week ago my wife her sister and I were leaving West Seattle after making arrangements for her mother's funeral. I saw a B-17 come around on final approach and land at Boeing Field. I pointed it out and made some comments and got a little excited. It was a silver plane with red markings.
This last Saturday I was sitting in the kitchen with my wife and her sister when a plane flew very low over the house. I stated that that is the B-17 and I do not even need to look up to confirm it.
Sunday we had a graduation party for my youngest son. The house was full. Near the end my wife started suggesting that people needed to leave so we could get my oldest son to the airport. This was not normal behavior for her. I have never seen one of our parties end on time and there was plenty of time to get to the airport. Se stated traffic was bad due to the holiday and that we also needed to stop at my dad's house since he left his father's day gift at our house. I commented that it was way to early. She said go. We got my son to the airport about 2 hours early. I appologized to him, he usually shows up as the door of the plane is closing. He said not to worry. We then headed for dad's house.
As soon as we pulled in my younger brother (Jim) arrived and my dad came down the stairs. He said that he and Jim were headed out and did not know if I was invited or not. Jim said yes, I said "I know nothing". My wife said I was going. I had no clue where.
We left and headed towards Seattle. We were going past the Boeing plants and my brother turned towards Boeing Field. I thought that we may be headed to the flight similators. We pulled up to a building. On the door was a hand written sign that stated "B-17 and B-24 flights". I just about died.
We headed went on in. We had a pre-flight where they told us what we we in for and a little about the plane. My dad piped up about certain aspects of the plane much to the suprise of the preflight person and pilot. They soon found out that my dad was part of the team that did the original flight testing of the B-17 when it was first built. My dad was responsible for reducing the exhaust flare coming out of the pipes. It ranged from 5 ft long to 15 feet long at full power. It had to be reduced as it made a perfect target during night flights.
We found out that here would be 8 passengers on the flight. As soon as we took off we would be allowed to move around the plane. I was in the radio area with my dad on take off. As soon as the wheels left the ground I was standing and looking out the top window that the navagator used. It was open. I had a perfect view of the tail section of the B-17, Boeing Field and Seattle as we departed. Putting you hand out into a 160 MPH slip stream is a kick. A few minutes later I was in the bombadier's seat. I looked down to see that we were flying diredly over the building that I worked at. What an interesting view point. By the way the plane was perfectly restored. It even had the guns in place.
We were in the air for about 45 minutes and flew around the foothills east of Seattle. What a flight. Words can not express this experience. I will never forget it. It is one of the major highlights of my life. When it was time to land I was just behind the pilots in the top gun turret. Man what a view. We came around on final approach and landed.
When I got off the plane and met my wife, I simply stated that she had just fullfilled one of my wildest boyhood dreams. My father had a great time. He had a smile on his face as soon as he figured out what was happening. It was quite a walk down memory lane for him. He talked about all the men on the flight test team and what they managed to accomplish. The smile was still there as I said good good night.
I do not know what my wife did to get me on that flight. I will never ask her what it took. All I know is that she walks on water and made my wildest boyhood dream come true. Today I can hardly sit still. I keep thinking about the flight and my dad.
I almost drove the WC 53 to the airport. If I had known about the flight I would have taken it. It would have been a great picture with it and the B-17.
I do have some pictures. I will try to post them and possibly a video clip or two in the future.
The plane in currently flying to Alaska. Charlie if you can try to get a flight