Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Now For Something Completely Different: B-24 Edition

B-24J startup and takeoff:



The B-24 was the workhorse of the Army Air Corps bombing campaign in Europe. The B-17 got more of the glory and the -17 could take more of a punch. But they built 6,000 more B-24s, if that tells you anything.

7 comments:

Nangleator said...

That still frame was alarming, until I realized he was just there for the startup.

I wonder about those warbirds and what they refurbish. Are those top turrets motorized? Or just a seat with a good view, now? If I was younger, I'd love to try a ball turret in flight. But I'm sure none of them are operational anymore.

Sarah said...

Not so. The local CAF's B25 top turret s functional. I'd like to see a B-17 ball turret in operation, but I'm not aware of any that still work. Not that there's any way *I* would fit in there.

LRod said...

B-17 vs B-24—the eternal question. I'll always have a bias as my father was in '17s. But there was only one division of '24s in the 8th AF and two divisions of '17s, if that tells you anything.

Incidentally, in my father's group (457th BG) there were quite a few crews who trained on '24s in the States, but who were reassigned to '17s when they got to England. The sentiment generally was that they were grateful.

My next door neighbor in Illinois was in the 455th BG in Italy—the same group as George McGovern.

LRod
ZJX, ORD, ZAU retired

w3ski said...

That special sound from the plane, right at the end of the video. It sends a chill down my spine thinking about a couple dozen of these babies roaring off to do some serious damage somewhere.
w3ski

BadTux said...

What the fact of more B-24's produced tells me is that a) the USAAF appreciated the fact that it could carry significantly more bombs than the B-17 and get them there faster and farther than the B-17 (since it had a significantly faster cruising speed and longer range), and b) life was cheap, since it was a tin can with fuel tanks scattered all over the place that had a disturbing tendency to catch on fire and crash whenever flak came near it, much less shredded it. A B-17 would fly when half a wing was missing, the B-24, no way.

tom said...

Is that "M" on the tail for Milo Minderbiner enterprises?

Comrade Misfit said...

I think that Milo's outfit flew B-25s.