All pictures shared here were taken by Job Conger. Visitors to this site are welcome to
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1a. Experimental Aircraft Association's "Aluminum Overcast"
returns to the apron in front of First Class Air after a sortie with paying passengers. |
2a. A crew member waved the pilot into a parking space. On the right is the EAA souvenir
trailer which travels via ground tow from destination to destination. |
3a. Closer in the crewman disappears off camera to the left. |
4a. Engines stopped. You can tell they just stopped because the props on the left wing (as
you view it here) have not been moved to match the props on the right. |
5a. This view is something of a photo cliche, so to speak, to coin a phrase, but the sky
always seems to be different in each picture. |
6a. Nose art on the left side of the fuselage as the flight crew sees it. This airplane
belly landed in California last year (no injuries), and the EAA
organization did a terrific job expediting recovery and restoration to flight status. |
7a. The plane returned to the air in April 2006. |
8a. Earnest camera guy in the middle and a healthy portion of the rest of the airplane are
reflected in the propeller boss (the round dome in the middle of the fan. |
9a. The ball turret with two (non-operating) Browning 50 calibre machine guns is a part of
aviation warfare unique to World War II aircraft manufactured by the US aircraft industry.
|
10a. Only the shortest enlisted flight crew candidates could serve in the ball turret. The
brave soldier sat on his back using the red handles to rotate, raise and lower the
turret's weapons. His head rested where the straps are, backed up by the closed hatch. |
11a. An EAA flight crew generously explained the turret to me, and we were both glad we
had not been born short and aged between 18 and 43 during those calamitous years of 1941
--1945. |
12a. Tail gunners entered the turret from the fuselage after takeoff. His parachute was
left in the airplane. If the crew was required to exit, he positioned the turret with guns
pointing down, re-entered the fuselage, strapped on his chute and hit the silk. More ball
turretl gunners died in combat than any other B-17 crew members. |
13a. This is the helpful EAA crew member who showed me around the airplane.
|
14a. As I started to leave, I heared a vaguely familiar voice and was delighted to meet my
grade school pal John Forneris who kindly posed for this picture. His father flew B-17s in
World War II. I knew his dad, but I never knew he flew B-17s. A lot of veterans didn't
talk about those days. |
15a. This woman (a volunteer guide at the Abe Lincoln Presidential Museum in historic
downtown Lincolnville -- make that Springfield -- brought her demised husband's mission
log and a picture of him taken with his flight gear on. We didn't tell her, but I hope she
knows, she and other sweethearts like her were why good men fought so hard to
come home. |
16a. The EAA fellow (piture 13a) asked if he could take my picture, part of the policy for
visitors whose cameras weigh more than half a pound. Sure. And this is the picture he
took. |
17a. The crew were kind enough to button up the bird and take the ladders away at my
request, so I could take some cleaner pictures. |
18a. The bomb bay doors remained open, probably because they're controlled from inside the
airplane, and leaving them alone conserves the battery. |
19a. This picture has been retouched. |
20a. Civil registration. The EAA Oshkosh ID does not appear with the N number on the port
(left) side. |
21a. This picture has been retouched. |
22a. This picture has not been retouched. |
23a. |
24a. This picture has been retouched. |
1) Maintained by what was long called the Confederate Air Force, "Texas
Raiders" was hotographed at Springfield Air Rendezvous 1989. A recent
welcome note from flight engineer Jerry Hobbs pro9vided the names of pilot and
copilot (pictures 14 & 15). He also shared the good news that after being off flight
status since December 2001, TR is nearing the end of major maintenance and should return
to the air during the summer of 2007. |
2) "Texas Raiders" featured in this grouping was photographed
before, during and after a flight in this aircraft at the Bloomington, Illinois air show
during the summer of 2001.
For more information about this excellent restoration (I wouldn't say
this if they had painted it light grey and called it "aluminum.") visit their
web site
www.gulfcoastwing.org |
30 I was publishing Springfield Skyways and brought samples to
share. The Airshow Director Dave Keim was iimpessed enough to permit me aboard for a VIP
and media flight. |
4) While the crew preflighted the airplane, I took this picture. During startup and
takeoff I rode in the radio room, probably the roomiest place in the airplane. |
50 Today, the renamed Commeorative Air Force, continues to delight aviation
enthusiasts when their aircraft appear at air shows. From the pilot's seat, this is the
view forward. |
6) This is the view with me seated in toe pilot seat, looking left. It's
amazing that pi and co-pi looked forward to see the engines. It was easier to see
which engine was in trouble (though accoutrements like tachometers and cylinder head temp
gauges must have helped) but the likelihood of catching pieces of "the Wright stuff
(the engines were made by the Wright Company) must have been great in combat. |
7) Looking left from the radio room. In years of meeting them os
official media and as "just another guy with a camera," I have never encountered
a discourteous volunteer, or one who didn't seem happy to be with the airplane. |
8) With my head and camera sticking out of the dorsal hatch of the radio
room, this is the view. We were warned to take off our glasses and empty shirt pockets if
we tried this. It was good advice. |
9) From the navigator and bombardier's "office" up front, this is
the view from the navigator's table. |
10) I have never seen a picture like this, taken looking back from inside the
Astrodome. So I decided to correct that situation and took this picture. |
11) From the right side of the forward compartment. |
12) From the bombardier's chair, this is the view as we entered a gentle bank
to port. |
13) This is a color picture transformed to black & white. Another
passnger was in the bombardier's seat on final. I was incredibly lucky -- and priviledged
-- to be in the airplane at all, and the view from the nose was breathtaking! |
14) Flying left seat was Dean Robnett. It was thanks to his courtesy I was
able to take picture 6 above. . |
15) Jack Adney was co=pilot. The entire crew were as patient and
accommodating as any I've flown with, and the fligiht with "Texas Raiders" was
one of the most unforgettable warbird experiences of my life. |
16) A retouched view of "Texas Raiders" at the 1999 Springfield Air
Rendezvous. |
17) "Sentimental Journey" banks to the crowd during a flyby at
Springfield Air Rendezvous 1987. The sky was pure luck! This earnest camera guy salutes
flight crews who tilt wings in the direction of the crowd during fly-bys. Sure makes for
better pictures and it always thrills the crowds.
|
18) This picture draws eyes for two reasons: "Sentimental Journey" is
clearly the key here, but the cloud scape is rare as a background, no horizon, no modern
warbird -- a T-34 comes to mind -- off a wing; and two: this is a view an enemy pilot
might see just before pressing the firing button. |
19) EAA's "Aluminum Overcast arrives at SPI, Capital Airport, Springfield,
Illinois. |
20) Just after engine shut down. |
21) This gentleman is a shoe rpairman in Springfield by day and a uniform
collector (among many pursuits) when he's not loitering around the hardware and adding
welcome, truly appreciated history to the scene. |
22) The airplane in the background in the photo left and the next view is
"Aluminum Overcast" flown by the Experimental Airplane Association. This
airplane visited Springfield in July 1999. |
23) Another member of the uniform collectors' organization. Great bunch of
people! |
24) This airplane recently suffered a landng gear collapse, and has been
trailered back to EAA for repair. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident . . . or
anywhere else. |
25) These four pictures |
26) are close-ups of |
27) "Aluminum Overcast" |
28) Sincere thanks to the EAA members connected to this airplane and to the
local EAA Chapter 770 who sponsored its appearance at SPI. |
29) Combat airplanes are not designed to be impressive in looks, but on this
crystal clear morning in 1989, "Texas Raiders" sure came through that way! |
30) Same photo as on left, slightly retouched. |
31) "Sentimental Journey" The people who maintain this immaculate machine
deserve a lot of credit for keeping the natural metal finish of late WWII 17s. One popular
B-17 flying today has been painted with light grey paint which is as true to truth as
white shark is to Nevada. "Sentimental Journey" speaks volumes about
authenticity and about the men and women who fly and maintain her. |
32) As morning opens the sky at Springfield Air Rendezvous 1989, "Texas
Raiders" awaits the day parked next to a P-51. |
33) Before the Air Force Museum in Dayton relocated to its current
location, many aircraft were displayed outside like this B-17. |
34) Another view taken in June 1969. Note the Atlas ICBM in the background. |
35) One of millions of reasons why at least half of the United States still
considers English our everyday language, former ETO based B-17 pilot Eugene Gilbert poses
at the USAF Museum during a 1969 visit. Gene Gilbert died in 2003 and is interred in a
Springfield, Illinois cemetery. It was my privilege and pleasure to know him and his son,
Robert. |
36) "Texas Raiders" streams harmless smoke from a simulated engine fire
above smoke unleashed by ground bound pyrotechnics at SAR '89. |
(37) Another view of "Texas Raiders" |
(38) "Texas Raiders" ball turret |
(39) "Sentimental Journey" at Springfield, Illinois' Capital Airport |
40. From "Texas Raiders," somewhere over central Illinois. |
41. "Texas Raiders" during Springfield Air Rendezvous. |
42. Same picture as the one on the left, but solarized. |
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