B-17 Crash / Hartford Ct (BDL closed)

I was a lucky kid.
The guy who taught me to fly in the early 90’s was a FedEx pilot and was a young fella back when my Dad was flying Aztecs for TwinAir out of Asbury Park and Allaire Airport (BLM) in NJ.
My old mentor and teacher also moon lighted as a Collins Foundation pilot on the Nine-O-Nine and the All American. I got to hop along quite a few times in the summers and even got some stick time in both.
At the air shows, I would hang out and help out where I could. More times than I can count, I was sitting in the belly of one those bombers, talking to a Vet and crying a bit, listening to their stories as they sat in a plane they hadn’t been in since the war.
It changed my life. I’m a better person because of those experiences.
I have to admit, the site of the wreckage overcame me for a while before it occurred to me there was also loss of life.
I didn’t know anybody on the crew, but I know they touched lives everywhere they went. God bless them and may they rest in peace along with those poor folks that went with them.

Ive got a news paper clipping somewhere with me standing in front of one of the bombers pointing up to the red plaque in the nose. It read “Jets are for Kids”.

Just thought I’d share.
 
I'm sure I'm not the only one who keeps thinking of the final scene in Memphis Belle each time I read this thread.
 
Ah I see now. I think we can safely say when people are I am talking about The Memphis Belle they’re I'm not referring to the 1944 movie.

FIFY

The William Wyler movie was a substantial cultural event when it came out and remained significant for decades after as the benchmark depiction of 8th AF bomber operations (even though it is a bit dramatized itself as moderate propaganda).

It is literally the root reason that the name "Memphis Belle" is even remembered. It created the mythos around the airplane.
 
FIFY

The William Wyler movie was a substantial cultural event when it came out and remained significant for decades after as the benchmark depiction of 8th AF bomber operations (even though it is a bit dramatized itself as moderate propaganda).

It is literally the root reason that the name "Memphis Belle" is even remembered. It created the mythos around the airplane.

And has since faded into obscurity and almost no one remembers it compared to the more recent
 
Some of the findings are pretty shocking.....

an FE with no training, certification or experience as an FE-R; but getting OJT.......wow. Among many other factors discovered, both causal as well as non-causal, with the entire operation.


 
Some of the findings are pretty shocking.....

an FE with no training, certification or experience as an FE-R; but getting OJT.......wow. Among many other factors discovered, both causal as well as non-causal, with the entire operation.



that’s downright frightening
 
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