Doolittle Raiders Reunion 2012

[The Inspector]

If you look at the Grumpy Page ... and scan down to the write-up ... this is part of what it reports.



"Grumpy has a hangar. Today (Sunday), the midwest continues to endure violent weather. Several other B-25 crews are “camped” in cities they never considered visiting except for fuel. The cold front behind the massive storm system has brought snow to Great Falls. The system and tornadoes should run their course later today. We plan a sunrise departure tomorrow with arrival at Grimes Field by the time of the pilot briefing. Today, the highlights will be a crew snowball fight, the Lewis & Clark Museum and a visit to the airport to prepare the aircraft."

Spillover from all the weather related fun in the Midwest over the last couple of days, my buddy in Billings says it's 44 degrees there today

[pjpahs]

Went to a wedding in Indy Sat. and came home by way of Urbana, my wife was hoping I would forget about the B-25's, yeah right.. Got to see my ride in Reading in June and talk to the pilot there at Grimes. Can't wait till Reading . Real good crowd ,, good weather, came home happier. Flying in Panchito at Reading.

[MichiganRick]

Does anyone have an updated count of aircraft? Did Russiantogetya make it? Thanks

[b17warbirdguru]

I think there were perhaps 13 or 14 towards the end of the day. No Russiantogetya yet..

Here are some amateur shots from the formation practice earlier today.

[MichiganRick]

thanks very much guru. in 2010 there was a board with scheduled arrivals. Was there any talk about who was coming in tomorrow? Nice pics, i wish i was there.

[Lynn Allen]

Hope all goes well for everyone flying and driving in. I remember the 50th. The Yellow Rose was the only one there..

Fly Safe,

Lynn

[b17warbirdguru]

thanks very much guru. in 2010 there was a board with scheduled arrivals. Was there any talk about who was coming in tomorrow? Nice pics, i wish i was there.

If there was, you could pretty much throw it out the window anyways. Weather held up some planes out West as we have read and some came early. Weather is calling for winds again tomorrow and a 30% of rain. Hopefully we'll see the rest by tomorrow afternoon.

[DocThrock]

16 is the count for today. Yet to arrive is Grumpy, Russian Ta Get Ya, Take Off Time, and Special Delivery... all due tomorrow.

Betty's Dream brought her little friends, the Zero, Corsair, P51 and P40. Gusting over 30 knots and over 80 degrees made for for some interesting flying. Petie 2nd and Gentleman Jim did some two ship stuff today as well and are spending the night in the cozy Champaign Museum hangar. It was a great day for crews and spectators!

[Karpis]

Dang....what time did Betty's Dream get in?

[fotobass]

I understand that departure starts at 0700 Tuesday morning for WP...is that accurate?

Also...does anyone know if there's a chance to hitch/but a ride on the tranist flight, or are they heading over separately? I'd LOVE to shoot that air-to-air if they were heading over together.

[krislhull]

Nice photos of the formations. I was onboard Tondelayo for this formation with Panchito, Champaign Gal, and Barbie III with Petie 2nd flying escort.

Last edited by krislhull on Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Lightning]

Howdy All

Interested to know who is recording this last advent ?
Would love to see the DVD of twenty two B-25s taxing and flying together
Thats some noise !

Lightning

[DocThrock]

Dang....what time did Betty's Dream get in?

BD and friends were scheduled to arrive at about 1, but delayed for as yet unknown reasons and arrived late in the afternoon closer to 5.

Raining here now, just waiting for good weather for everyone to get back flying. Probably after lunch. Lots of good hangar flying right now in the Champaign Museum hangar.

[The Inspector]

GRUMPY is currently (08:11 A.M. PDT) about half way between Great Falls and Billings @ 7700 ft and making about 241 MPH.

[isrr70]

I was at Grimes from 10.00am to 4.00pm on Sunday. Looks like I left to early! (Betty's Dream and her escorts arrived about 5.00pm).

Boy was it windy out there. I can only imagine what it was like for the pilots. There was alot and I mean alot of flying on Sunday. There was never more than 10 or 15 minutes all day when there was not a B-25 either taking off or landing! I was very impressed that people came out and bought rides to help support in keeping these B-25's flying. I think all of the B-25 operators that were offering rides were happy with the turnout on Sunday.

I am not able to make it on Tuesday and Wed (not happy but work calls). I was there in 2010 and a great place to see and photograph the takeoff's is at the south end of Grimes field. There is nothing like the sight and sound of 17 (in 2010) and more this year going right over you!

Hope everybody has a good time and good weather.