something different in the landing pattern ..

[Digger]

Driving down the highway from Carson City to Minden , I noticed something different in the landing pattern .... the profile looked familiar , like a B-24 ... drove on in and this is what I found ..shame was I didn't have time to stick around to enjoy them .
106857106858106860

[Beagle333]

Man...... what a sight. Beautiful!!! Thanks for the pics. 8-)

[aspangler]

C.A.F. flying again!. BEautiful!

[Digger]

Yeah , they are even more impressive in the air .... have had to stop and take it all in .

[Got-R-Did]

Digger, you get to see the coolest things!
Got-R-Did.

[MaryB]

I get to see this fly over several times a summer, airport is 20 miles from me

http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/?survivors/serial/44-63864

[Digger]

yes Got-R-Did , it is quite the area if you think about it , with all the history ,location against the base of the Sierras , Tahoe just over the hill ,car shows just down the streets , military reenactments across the highway , every Tuesday a farmers market just a mile down the road ,open ranch land between here and Carson city ....
Told the wife how lucky we are to be here at this point in our lives ..
will have to take a picture of looking down the street before I turn to my house ...straight at Job's Peak , quite spectacular if one stops to look.
Years back , worked on sailplanes and spent some time on the spot where you see those planes sitting now .
We have three gun shops , all within a mile of my house ,closest one block away and now we have a new "reloading specialty shop" no guns , just ammo and reloading specific ..
Quite the area ...

[Digger]

[QUOTE=MaryB;2805816]I get to see this fly over several times a summer, airport is 20 miles from me

http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/?survivors/serial/44-63864[/QUOTE

Bet that is one beautiful sight to see ....

[MaryB]

To hear! The sound is unmistakeable and LOUD

[HeavyMetal]

These three were here in LA mid May, at the Chino airport, yep loud is descriptive to say the least.

Flew over the Apt 5 or 6 times with sight see'er's on board.

[fecmech]

Took a ride in this 2 yrs ago, it was on my "bucket list". That's me in the back taxiing out for take off and I even got some stick time (no rudder control in the back).

[WILCO]

Took a ride in this 2 yrs ago, it was on my "bucket list". That's me in the back taxiing out for take off...

That's great!

[Digger]

Okay Fecmech , now I am jealous , you lucky one you ..

[Digger]

Just now heard and ran outside my office here in Carson City and it was the B-25 over head on it's way out of town in a loop trip giving some lucky person or person's a ride .
What a distinct sound those radials make .......:awesome:

[Got-R-Did]

Digger, are you near the "Out West" gun shop. I think I recall seeing it and another one close to it when I was out there in Oct of last year. I didn't have time to get over to them on the Sat. and they were closed on Sunday.
Got-R-Did.

[Digger]

In Carson , they have a "America West Gun Shop" amoung others in Carson City.
They changed hands this last year from what I understand .....maybe that could have been "Out West:. as I do not know of any by that name now ..
To many to choose from between Carson and MInden !! ...have to watch your money carefully , oooh the temptation !

[Don Purcell]

Designed and built when men were men and the women liked it!

[bdicki]

My father was a belly gunner on a B-17 during WWII. A few years ago they flew one into a local airport, so I asked him if he wanted to go check it out. His reply was, Nope I've seen enough of them. I remember as a kid his duffle bag in my grand mothers basement with his sheep skin jacket and pants and some other stuff some of which was a few pieces of shrapnel. I never could get him to talk about it. He passed last year at 85.

[Digger]

My father was a belly gunner on a B-17 during WWII. A few years ago they flew one into a local airport, so I asked him if he wanted to go check it out. His reply was, Nope I've seen enough of them. I remember as a kid his duffle bag in my grand mothers basement with his sheep skin jacket and pants and some other stuff some of which was a few pieces of shrapnel. I never could get him to talk about it. He passed last year at 85.

I am sure your father was an exceptional man .... a belly gunner no less , Wow !
Says so much for the man to go do what had to be done at the time , Why is it , it seems that the quiet ones are the true hero's of our society .
The stories of being a belly gunner ... exceptional I am sure.
Thanks for that note bdicki ... especially on this day of remembrance .. D-Day , Normandy.

[Digger]

Bump for bdicki ......

[dagger dog]

The Lib's had Pratt Whitney Wasps turbo supercharged, the sound of 4 of them with the throttles pushed to the wall and the brake holding them back is something to hear.

I worked 3 miles away from a ex WWII airfield,(Bowman Field) when the Collins Group B-24 J "The All American" flew in on it's maiden tour in the mid '80's, during her take off when leaving for the eastern cities on her tour she emptied all the businesses along the road leading to the field.

It was grand to hear the roar and watch as she cleared the horizon and made another pass over the field and disappeared into the bright summer sky her shiny, unpainted fuselage gleaming in the sun.

Bowman Field was used to ferry the Lib's into Louisville where the Ford Automobile Co. was producing Emmerson electric tailgun turrets, they were fitted at Bowman, then shipped out to meet their crews.

GREAT PHOTOS !

[smokeywolf]

Dad was a crew chief at Lockheed Burbank in the late 40s and early 50s. Said when the Air Force pilots would take delivery of the P-38s they would take a long roll down the runway, attain high take-off speed, slowly rotate until about 60-80 ft. off the ground, then rotate to vertical and climb straight up.
He also had another story about a Navy Leutnenant who was picking up a P2V Neptune, but I'll tell that one another day.

smokeywolf

[Digger]

Just now found them and their schedule .... here ya go.
http://www.collingsfoundation.org/cf_schedule-wof.htm

[Got-R-Did]

Digger, yes, you may indeed be correct on the name of the shop as American West. Whichever shop you get to in the near future, please PM me their website info or at least a phone number. I would like a t-shirt or perhaps a hat from a few of them if indeed they offer such a thing.
Dagger Dog, I am about 35 miles east of Bowman Field, but used to live just a few miles from there in the late 80s on Southern Pkwy. Back in my party days, I would frequent the Air Devils Inn across the street from Central American Airways hangar. Always enjoyed sitting on the tiny deck out front with the small to medium prop planes being tested after repairs. They fired up a tail dragger twin engine (type unknown to me) while we were sipping/swapping lies at ADI and the prop blast and smoke was perfume compared to the normally smoggy stretch of Taylorsville Rd. Aahhhhh the memories.
Got-R-Did.

[markinalpine]

Did a web search: http://www.americawestguns.com/
Is this the place?
Mark [smilie=s:

[9w1911]

My great uncle flew some of the best fighters of the war, at 17 he was in a Spit over the English channel, two years later he was in a P38 flying with the 7th Air Force in the Pacific.

[dagger dog]

America's leading WWII fighter ace Richard Bong got most of his kills flying P38's in the Pacific campaign.

The few P38 squadrons that served in the European theater were well liked by the 8th Air Force bomber crews, because they had the "legs" to stay with them all the way to the targets plus they were easy to recognize with their twin booms and the center cockpit.

Many enemy fighters had similar profiles to the American escort planes at great distance, the P38 jockeys would drop their wing and flash their unique top view to the crews letting them know for sure they were friendlies.

They (38's) were so fast in a dive some actually suffered from sonic compression that would "lock up" the controls and quite a few were lost, they didn't know it at the time but they were mere few m.p.h. away from if not breaking the sound barrier when that happened.

[Digger]

Did a web search: http://www.americawestguns.com/
Is this the place?
Mark [smilie=s:

Yep ! that be the place alright ! ...
among quite a few around here , seems people like to go shooting in these parts ...

[Digger]

America's leading WWII fighter ace Richard Bong got most of his kills flying P38's in the Pacific campaign.

The few P38 squadrons that served in the European theater were well liked by the 8th Air Force bomber crews, because they had the "legs" to stay with them all the way to the targets plus they were easy to recognize with their twin booms and the center cockpit.

Many enemy fighters had similar profiles to the American escort planes at great distance, the P38 jockeys would drop their wing and flash their unique top view to the crews letting them know for sure they were friendlies.

They (38's) were so fast in a dive some actually suffered from sonic compression that would "lock up" the controls and quite a few were lost, they didn't know it at the time but they were mere few m.p.h. away from if not breaking the sound barrier when that happened.

yeah , that P-38 was a mighty pretty airplane ....

[FLHTC]

We get to see many of the War Birds every summer at the WWII Weekend. Even the fly overs are spectacular.
http://www.maam.org/wwii/photos/aircraft/ww2_acft.htm

[dagger dog]

Dagger Dog, I am about 35 miles east of Bowman Field, but used to live just a few miles from there in the late 80s on Southern Pkwy. Back in my party days, I would frequent the Air Devils Inn across the street from Central American Airways hangar. Always enjoyed sitting on the tiny deck out front with the small to medium prop planes being tested after repairs. They fired up a tail dragger twin engine (type unknown to me) while we were sipping/swapping lies at ADI and the prop blast and smoke was perfume compared to the normally smoggy stretch of Taylorsville Rd. Aahhhhh the memories.
Got-R-Did.[/QUOTE]

Been in there ADI myself and sucked down a few, had to stop by Mazzoni's for a couple rolled oysters !

[Digger]

By the way , Just watched the movie , "Red Tails" last night , really enjoyed the flying scenes ...even if some are animated .

[Got-R-Did]

Oh Yes, the oysters at Mazzoni's are indeed a treat! PM replied.
Likewise, Many Thanks for the link above to American West, I will have to check my map to see if indeed this is the shop I was thinking of. There is another on the other side of the road that advertised reloading components. I should have stopped in while there.
Got-R-Did.

[Digger]

Oh Yes, the oysters at Mazzoni's are indeed a treat! PM replied.
Likewise, Many Thanks for the link above to American West, I will have to check my map to see if indeed this is the shop I was thinking of. There is another on the other side of the road that advertised reloading components. I should have stopped in while there.
Got-R-Did.

The place on the other side is S+W FEED store ...farm,ranch supplies .... good people ,unfortunately they are closing down , scaling down and moving across town to a highway 50 location from what I understand .
The gentleman there tried to carry the basics at least with powder and primers available whenever he could get his hands on them.
Talk is he will still have reloading supplies at the new location.