I saw a B-17 the other day in Erie, PA.

It was one hell of an airplane in its day.

It's amazing when you think the government took soda jerks out of the city, hayseed farm boys and gave them 120 hours total flight time and made them aircraft commanders of airplanes like this.

They were expected to fly sixteen hour long missions and stay in a tight 'combat box' formation. 

My father was a bombardier in one.

Someone else also pointed out that the first B-17 flew about 31 years after the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk. That's one hell on an advance in technology.

The part of that particular airplane is the amount of damage it would take and still fly.

On the flight over the sub pens at St. Nazaire where Maynard "Snuffy' Smith got awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions the plane had over 3500 holes of all sizes in it when it landed and fell apart after it had been on the ground for ten minutes.

It reminds me of the Bluesmobile in the movie The Blues Brothers.

Incidentally the story of Maynard Smith is pretty humorous. It proves you don't have to be a saint to be a hero. Here's a link to that story. Enjoy.

http://honorflightaz.org/ssgt-maynard-snuffy-smith-medal-of-honor-recipient/

http://honorflightaz.org/ssgt-maynard-snuffy-smith-medal-of-honor-recipient/















To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY