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The B-17 - A Historical Perspective
By Joe "Impaler" HighmanOne by one, each engine sputtered and coughed its way into action. A cloud of white smoke billowed from the rear exhausts of the power plants that spread over the tarmac and obscured the crowd of spectators from view. Moments later, all four engines sang with life. I looked from my small viewing port above the wing at the tall grass and wheat dancing in the fields at the end of the runway and for a moment I thought back to all those farmers in England during the war years, and just how often they had witnessed this very same thing.As the aircraft taxied out to the end of the runway, I absorbed the fine points of the moment. It occurred to me that I had never actually seen a real B17 in motion… ever! The brakes squealed with annoyance at slowing their 19-ton burden. The air rushed in through the open bomb bay doors, and I reflected that from 20,000 feet where the air gets to be 30 degrees below zero, that rush of wind was probably not a very welcome sensation for the men just aft of the bay!The pilots put the engines through the final stage before takeoff. This procedure is called the run-up, and it verifies that the turbochargers are functioning properly so the engines can provide enough speed to get nearly 40,000 pounds of steel and her cargo into the sky! The run-up shook the aircraft vigorously, and the others aboard shared in the anticipation of a historic and memorable event.Soon, all four engines roared with power and the ship lunged forward, tearing at the air in front of her. A monstrous craft, the B17 still only requires 110 miles per hour air speed to lift off, and very soon the rows of July corn in the fields were below us. Almost immediately, and I know it was against our instructions, but I forgot myself in the moment, I tore myself out of my seat restraints and began to explore the ship!For our flight, the crew removed the Plexiglas cover of the Radio Operators compartment, so I soon found my head popping out of the top of an airborne legend. Even though the morning was overcast and gray, as Ohio tends to be most of the time anyway, the unpainted aluminum surface of the warbird glistened with energy. The wind roared mercilessly and made we wonder just what dogs find so darned exciting about the whole sensation anyway!