Aluminum Overcast heads out on tour...

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:06 am

mtpopejoy wrote:

What do you all think about taking him up?

Regards,
Mark the indecisive

JUST DO IT.

Ryan

flyingsailor · **Posted:** Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:11 am

mtpopejoy wrote:

Yeah, I think if I went up with him I would end up having to take 2 rides because I would miss everything because I would just be in awe watching him during the experience.

That alone would be worth the price of many rides...

JUST DO IT

Thomas · **Joined:** Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:14 pm **Posts:** 92

I can definitely see that happening. I wouldn't want to miss a minute of that. Once in a lifetime thing right there.

mtpopejoy · **Posted:** Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:45 am

I think I will take him over there to see how he does first.

ZRX61 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 14, 2005 10:16 am **Posts:** 2309

fotobass wrote:

This man walked with a cane on the ground.

Once we were in the air he didn't use it, and he NEVER a handhold all the way through the flight. Every bit of the interior of that aircraft was so locked in his muscle memory...and he hadn't been inside one since the war.

Every time I revisit this image, I wonder what he was seeing that the rest of us couldn't.

That photo needs a much wider audience. A very powerful & emotional image, has to rank as one of the best photo's I've ever seen.

Thomas · **Joined:** Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:14 pm **Posts:** 92

Agreed! I'm glad someone else feels that way. It gives me chills when I look at it. The greatest generation.

AeroTRrat · **Posted:** Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:02 pm

I worked at our "tour stop" last year when we had AO at Lewis Joliet airport. WHAT a BLAST that was. This year I am doing promotions for it and it is at DuPage Airport -KDPA.

My wifes former boss was the waist gunner and Jammer operator on Outhouse Mouse. His name is Al Kus. I don't know him too well but I want to ask him if he would like to come out to take a ride or just walk around inside. He gets around great but I am not sure how to approach him.

If anyone in the 'burbs west of chicago can make it, please come out to Dupage and look around on Sept 12, 13 or 14th.

Tom Buck, our Squadron 4 Co will bring his TBM out and there is a rumor that a "little friend" might show up. Mr. V? I said rumor, right? I don't know nuthin.

See ya there-

Dave

Thomas · **Joined:** Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:14 pm **Posts:** 92

Hey Dave,

I live right down here in Bloomington and getting ready for a flight in AO in October in Peoria. What does one have to do to volunteer to help? I would like to cruise up to DuPage and volunteer if there is any help needed.

Any Assistance would be greatly appreciated.

AeroTRrat · **Posted:** Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:17 pm

Thomas,

I will PM you about coming up in a few minutes. we can always use some help. I think Friday is kind of light on volunteers. but any day is good.

Dave

B-17 Buff · **Posted:** Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:42 pm

I flew in her at the beginning of April out of Long Beach. It's the most amazing thing i've ever done! Nothing beats hearing the pounding wrights, sqeaking brakes, rattling metal and actual engine smells like the real thing! I had a vet on board too who couldnt hear very well but quietly had a smile on his face the whole flight. Very humbling to see.

...and to sit up front in that plexi nose - the best seat in the world!

I had waited 16 years to do it (im 26) and came over from england especially... worth every penny.

Plus, how many people still walking the earth can say they have flown in a genuine WW2 bomber??! Not many. Do it.

C5Bgal · **Posted:** Fri Aug 22, 2008 6:19 pm

mtpopejoy,
From one fellow YAM member to another: Having done quite a few airshows being the "dog tag lady" and even helping on some Flight Experience rides on our B-17, I really hope you get to take your grandfather for one more flight. Yes, you are wise to just have him sit in the airplane first and just see what he says. I saw many a veteran, including one B-17 FE who, his daughter said, was on his deathbed three weeks before his special B-17 ride and she really thinks that knowing he was going on one more "mission" pulled him through to where he was well enough to go on the flight. You should've seen the look on his face even before he got on the plane. And he had an even bigger grin afterwards.
Please keep us posted!

6trn4brn · **Posted:** Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:52 am

Dang...the picture of the gentleman in the B-17 is just awe-inspiring as well as the comment about what he must have seen that fortunately we never will. Gratitude is putting it mildly.

The few stories in this thread are what make me glad to have found WIX. No matter how much we might bicker about paint,pilots and their scores, it seems we all agree that we owe so much to the greatest generation. I wonder if years from now, people will look back in here at the archives and think something similar about us? We only get so precious few chances to thank the men like the one in the B-17...I always go out of my way to thank a vet for their service and sacrifice...especially those from WWII. God Bless them all.

Thomas · **Joined:** Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:14 pm **Posts:** 92

Well said.

richkolasa · **Posted:** Sat Aug 23, 2008 1:21 pm

It's a shame that Tallichet's restaurant has been torn down (we had 2 B-17s and the B-24 there in the mid 1990s), but it was nice to see the '17 there before getting back in the 172 as a student myself today.

Here's some shots:

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Aluminum Overcast heads out on tour...

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