Greater Kankakee Airport for the next few days.
$12 ($6 for under twelve) to visit a B-17, a B-24, and a P-51.
For those interested in going up, a half hour flight in the bombers is $425/person and a half hour flight instruction in the Mustang is $2200.
A few years back my brother and I arranged a ride in the B-17 (909) for our Mom. It was the thrill of a lifetime for her.
That was just at [del]Palwaukee[/del] Chicago Executive Airport last weekend - and I didn’t realize it until late Sunday, when, you know, a B-24 flew over the house.
I was so pissed I missed it! Maybe it’d be worth dragging my kids to Kankakee - my stepson especially, whose grandfather was the radio guy in a B-26 (the well-nicknamed Widowmaker :eek: ) and who lived on one particular day because he missed a flight sick.
What amazes me - and I hope to get across to the kids - is what tin cans those things are/were. It’s really just sheet steel between you and 12,000 feet of nothing. The machine guns look like they were mounted by some random guys who were told ‘just get them on there somehow. Here’s some tie-rods and tools, just get it done.’
While the B-26 had a bad reputation among test pilots and trainees (possibly because of its notoriously poor wing loading?), in actual combat, the story was different:
[QUOTE=Wikipedia]
The B-26 is said, by the 9th Air Force, to have had the lowest combat loss rate of any U.S. aircraft used during the war.
[/QUOTE]
Huh. Should’ve read the whole article, although I *thought *I already knew what it said. My kid’s grandfather sure makes it sound like it was the worst bomber to be on.
That would be fun to ride in one of those but $425? Wow, that’s a lot of sawbucks, Joe!
The Kankakee County Fair also starts today, you could do both.
Putting one of them in the air for half an hour costs the Foundation a couple grand.
Not to mention the energy cost to boot up the time machine if you need spare parts.
Not even that: It’s sheet aluminum. You could punch holes in it with a screwdriver, so imagine what flak, machine gun bullets, and cannon shells could do!
The crew stations in bombers were “armored,” but that was a very relative term. In proportion to their total strength, the US Army Air Forces in Europe had the highest operational losses of any branch of the service during WWII, and by far the highest loss of commissioned officers, who accounted for 40% of most B-17 and B-24 crews.
It’s an experience you’ll never forget, you’ll have great bragging rights, and I think it’s tax-deductible (And it’s a cheaper than a ride on Fifi, the B-29)
They must have flown to Kankakee from here in Valpo. My office window looks out on the airport, and since last Thursday I saw/heard that Mustang take off several times a day. Walked over to see them over lunch yesterday. Pretty neat.
Well fuck. Im working till Sunday.
Just saw the Fortress and the Mustang take off, heading west. Did the weather keep them from Kankakee yesterday?
And there goes the Liberator with another Mustang right above it. Way cool! The FF sure seems to work to get off the ground.