ALARM!!!!! B-17 at 12 o'clock in Galvez heading west 270 degrees at 1655!!!!

[BOSS351]

In my garage cleaning my pistols from earlier today at Precision when I hear what I know are radial engines..I ran outside and saw this big green beauty with 4 musical radials singing together..Man, what a sight to behold!!! I've never seen one in the air before in flight--only on the ground with the engines running. I wonder where she is headed?? Beautiful plane and feel blessed to see one. Last time I was this excited about seeing a plane was in like 1985-86 when I watched a SR71 land in Belle Chasse and got to see it take off the next day..cool ****!!!!

 

[Nola 32/65]

Nice, that is a sight to see I bet. I wonder where it was going too. Must not of been flying that high huh?

 

[BOSS351]

8k maybe?? Not really high but not 3k either..she sounded beautiful!!!

 

[Leonidas]

http://www.gulfcoastwing.org/schedule.html

Commemorative Air Force website says their Fortress was in Gulfport 4/8 thru 4/10. Will be in Houston 4/12 and 4/13. Odds are, it was that one.

Only one of 11 still flying, it has performed at the Belle Chase air show. It circles the field really low then does a mock bomb run.

Gonna be at Barksdale the 25th to 27th.

 

[JHenley17]

I thought maybe Barksdale, but that's still two weeks away, so probably not.

 

[BOSS351]

So shes heading to Houston...I wonder if she is going to Ellington Field at NASA?? They have a big air show there every October....

 

[general mills]

So shes heading to Houston...I wonder if she is going to Ellington Field at NASA?? They have a big air show there every October....

Until I moved here 10 years ago, I lived in Houston and never missed that air show. If you have never been, you need to go.

 

[BOSS351]

My brother in law works there and has bugged me every year to go....I gotta go!!!! They say it is awesome with lots of warbirds there..

 

[Bam Bam]

When I lived in Atlanta I saw one making numerous low (1000-1500 ft) passes over Kennesaw airport. I pulled over and just watched for like 15 minutes till a cop stopped and asked what I was doing. I just pointed to the plane and said "listening", then we both listened for awhile. I get goose bumps just thinking about it. Only thing better is watching the air races @ Reno, its a must do on your bucket list if you like airplanes! The smell of high octane*gasoline, sound of turbos/superchargers screaming with the massive engines churning out huge amounts of HP flying barely 100 ft off the deck is something to behold!

 

[aboatguy]

She flew over stennis when I was leaving work today. The sound of radial engines is symphonic!

 

[Leonidas]

So shes heading to Houston...I wonder if she is going to Ellington Field at NASA?? They have a big air show there every October....

West Houston Airport.

I just noticed on their site, they were GIVING RIDES at Gulfport. How cool would that be. I' m way too big, but just imagine a ride in the ball turret.

 

[LACamper]

I watched one take off from the Lakefront airport once. The rides were $400 a person. Tempting but that's a lot of dough for a half hour flight. You can ride in a fighter instead but that was at least twice as much.

Now if you could run one of the turrets that would be great! Throw a few pallet boards into the lake for targets...

 

[NickelPython357]

About 10 years ago at B.R. Metro airport the Collings Foundation had a B-17 a B-24 and a B-25 there for a couple of days. It was amazing to actually walk through these iconic WW2 bombers and check them out up close. I had a still camera in one hand and a video camera in the other hand and didnt know where to look. I was definitely like a kid in the candy store. At the end of the last day They all cranked up taxied out and took off one by one. The sound of multiple radial engines going up close was indescribable. Since I had all this camera gear on me no one kept me behind the barrier and I was able to get some great video and photos. I built a plastic model of the exact B-24 that was there when I was like 12. Here are a few photos from that day. BTW for WW2 aircraft fans also at that time there was an extremely rare Focke Wulf FW 190 shortnose under restoration in one of the shops right here at B.R. Metro. I wonder what ever happened with that one.

The first 2 photos are from an earlier visit to B.R by the same planes.

This is the same B-24 but with a new paint scheme and the same B-17 but first up close look at a B-25.

 

[NickelPython357]

BTW I got the Das Boot reference LOL

 

[I_FLY_LOW]

I got to ride Aluminum Overcast from Shreveport DTN to Lakefront Airport many years ago. We felt like we were on top of the world. What an incredible experience!

 

[BOSS351]

Nickle I was wondering if anybody caught that...BTW in the fourth pic you can see the P51 that stayed outside forever. I used to wonder who had it and why it sat there whenever I flew out of BTR. It is my understanding from a thread somewhere on BS that it is now in Europe being restored, I think in England maybe. Knew about the FW being there and wonder what kind of progress is being made on it. That will be awesome to see and hear too.

 

[NickelPython357]

I am pretty sure the FW-190 was finished, but no idea if it is still in B.R. I was in Hobby Towne on Airline at Fla. one day a couple of years ago and overheard some conversation to that effect. Passing the airport recently it looks like (at least stored outside) the only thing left even resembling a warbird is what looks to be a T-28 Trojan 2 place radial engined trainer. I remember the P-51, it was out there for years. Barksdale AFB has their annual open house and airshow in 2 weeks and the Acadiana Airfest is in Oct. in New Iberia for all you plane fans out there. Here are some photos of the FW-190 and the P-51

 

[JHenley17]

I'll be at Barksdale with my dad and nephews. Saw a B2 flyover last time I was there, that was the weirdest-looking flying object I've ever seen.

Seems like I rember seeing a B-25 fly over a few times back in 2012 when I was working on the renovations at BTR. Were there any more there?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I497 using Tapatalk

 

[BOSS351]

Do you remember what engine they had in the FW? I know some folks doing restorations were fitting Chinese engines in them....

 

[NickelPython357]

At the time I took the photos I did not get a chance to talk to anyone about the resto. I do know that the engine shown in the photos is of the correct type (BMW 801 twin row 14 cylinder) but I don`t know if it is an actual BMW. The radial engine puts it in the earlier version of the FWs before they went to an inline mill and lengthened the nose and tail.