Air Force Invades Rockford, Illinois

Saturday, July 20, 2013

We are suddenly in a time warp at the Chicago Rockford International Airport.  We are looking at a collection of WWII air planes that have been brought here by the Commemorative Air Force.  These planes have been restored and are available to tour, or you can purchase a ticket and take a ride in a vintage WWII aircraft. During the next few days, there will be several different planes on display here.  The cost to ride in one of these planes depends upon the plane you choose.  Prices ranges from $65 for a ride in a C-45 transport plane to $1895 to ride in a P-51 Mustang.

I have been flying some of these planes using a flight simulator that I purchased, a few years ago. It attaches to my computer and let's me choose different types to planes to fly including several WWII planes and even some jets.  So, I was really excited to see the P-51 Mustang because that is what I have spent the most time trying to fly on the simulator.  Unfortunately, it was not at the show during the two days I was there.  Darn!

The first plane on display is a B-17 Flying Fortress. This bomber made countless bombing runs over Europe during WWII.  There were 12,732 made and 4735 lost in combat.  Countless more were damaged.  The B-17 on display was delivered to the US Army on May 18, 1945, too late for to see actual combat.  It was built for the Army at a cost of $220,000, and was sold one year later for $750, with a full tank of aviation fuel.  It flies at 160 mph and uses 200 gallons of fuel every hour.  It carries 1700 gallons of fuel.  Many of it's missions took about 8 hours of flying, leaving less than 30 minutes of fuel upon landing.  It has 13 50 caliber machine guns and carries  an 8000 pound bomb load.

Kitty and I are standing in front of a B-17, it was named "Aluminum Overcast."

This is the belly gun.  Because this is such a small space, the gunner could not exceed 5' 5" height and 120 pounds. He would crawl into position only when needed.

 50 caliber guns on top

 Guns Everywhere!  This is the tail gunner position.  There is also a waist gunner on each side of the plane.

This is part of the 8000 pound bomb payload.

Inside the cockpit.

The next bomber is the B-24 Liberator.  Most of its missions were flown over Europe during WWII.  While waiting in line to see the inside of this plane, I overheard a woman telling her friends her dad was a co-pilot on a B-24.  They were making their first test flight and had to make an emergency landing at a non military air field.  

Another man told of his dad's experience as a tail gunner.  Their plane was shot down over Italy, and seven of the ten man crew were killed.  His dad parachuted safely and was rescued by friendly troops.  He purchased a ticket to ride in this B-24 for $350 and they let him ride in the tail gunner seat so he could get a feel for what his father experienced, except nobody was shooting at him!

The tail gunner position.

During the later part of WWII, the B-29 was developed.  It guns are fired by remote control, and was the most technically advanced air craft of its time.  It was designed for missions over Japan and never flew combat missions in Europe. It has longer flying range than the B-24 and and greater bomb payload.  It was the B-29 that dropped the A-bombs on Japan to bring the war to an end.  This plane was acquired by the Commemorative Air Force in the 1970's being rescued from missile target practice.

This is a T-6 Texan Navy SNJ

The Boeing Stearman PT-17 trained more crews than any other aircraft during WWII.

I gotta have one of these!

I could put Kitty and Kallie on the cart and drive them around the campground!

Since Kitty's dad was in the air force during WWII, we found this exhibit to be very interesting.  You may also know someone in your family that was involved in one way or another with one of these aircraft, and that's what makes history come alive, and is so much more interesting than reading about it from a text book!