Several years ago, I paid for a ride in a WWII B-17 bomber. I have a history of doing unusual exploits in the air.

On another occasion, I paid to take a ride in a WWII torpedo bomber. It was the type of plane that President Bush piloted. I'm speaking about the President Bush who didn't shirk his manly duties, by joining the National Guard to hide out, instead of flying a jet fighter in combat missions, during the Vietnam conflict. The President Bush that I'm talking about had a set of gonads, as opposed to what his son is rumored to have missing. The son is rumored to have inherited his "lack of gonads" from his mother.

A pilot of a torpedo bomber during WWII, had a very short lifespan. It was an extremely slow moving plane and it flew straight and narrow at an extremely low altitude, to ensure that the torpedo would hit the enemy ship.

A pilot of a obsolete Texas Air National Guard jet, during the Vietnam war, had an extremely long life span.

Besides the two WWII planes that I paid to take a ride in, I also paid to fly in an aerial combat dogfight. The dogfight would have one plane chasing another plane while attempting to shoot it down. The planes used lasers and sensors located on different vulnerable  locations of each plane. A sensor that detected a laser would register it as a hit. When a hit is recorded, smoke would be ejected from a canister located on the airplane that was shot. 

It is always better to use  harmless lasers instead of using actual ammunition. Not too many people would sign up for an Air Combat dogfight if there was a chance of being shot and killed. That is probably the same reason that Dick "Shoot A Lawyer In The Face" Cheney has a hard time finding anybody to go hunting with him.

In a future blog post, I will discuss my Air Combat dogfight experience and my WWII torpedo bomber trip. As a history buff, they were quite interesting. An extremely fun hands-on experience that I can BRAG about.   

Getting back to the B-17 adventure. My father was a gunner / radio man on a B-17 during WWII. I wanted to see, to a tiny degree, what he experienced. It was quite illuminating.

The Collings Foundation operates reconditioned B-17 & B-25 bombers. The foundation takes the planes to different airports and uses the donations to help pay for their mission of restoring historical aircraft back to a new condition.

Three years ago, I was at the Dupage County Airport, West Chicago, Illinois, for my flying experience. The others that were going up with me were an interesting group of antique warplane fans.

It just occurred to me, there wasn't a single female in my group of approximately 12 people. I don't get that. History is history for everyone. For some reason, generally speaking, women are not interested in history.

I'm an old fart and there were a large contingent of fellow "old farts" and there were a group of ROF's (Really Old Farts) who obviously served in the armed forces during WWII. The most unusual occupant was an eight year old boy. His parents paid for his trip, but, more than likely, did not have enough money to accompany him. I wouldn't do that if I were in their shoes. Everything turned out alright and the young man had an incredible experience to tell his friends. As the saying goes - "All's Well That Ends Well."

The Collings Foundation took the machine gun bubble off the top of the plane. The occupants could take turns sticking their heads out of the plane while it was flying over the "enemy territory", also known as the fiefdom of Dupage County, Illinois.

Posted below are several of my photos from that trip three years ago. A few weeks ago, I went to the 2010 event to gather more photos of the planes while they were on the ground. Unfortunately, I think the B-17 was a different plane than the one that I flew in. Oh, well, like they say, "Life is a *itch and then you marry one."

THIS IS THE B-17 THAT I FLEW IN


THE WIND DEFORMING MY HAND, AS I STUCK IT OUTSIDE OF THE PLANE DURING THE FLIGHT.



LOOKING TOWARDS THE REAR OF THE PLANE.
MACHINE GUNS FIRING ON THE DUPAGE COUNTY BUILDING.

A JOKE, ..... MAYBE.



A FULL PROFILE OF THE B-17 FROM THE 2010 EVENT.










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