Great story!

I’m hoping that before I reach that age somebody will fly a bomber over Mecca and cut loose with a big one.

+6

Glad FiFi is back in the air. She was deadlined for several years ( I think it was lack of R3350 engines).

+3

“Just as I was about to leave, Harry Truman dropped the bomb and the war was over,” he said in the pilot’s lounge before his flight Saturday. “Like I was telling those other young men earlier, that really made a Democrat out of me for a long time.”

If I’m interpreting his comment correctly, that’s the story I want to hear; why he’s not a Democrat any more!

+6

What a heart warming story. We owe so much to so many who gave so much

+5

…the Commemorative Air Force, a nonprofit Texas group that preserves and flies historic aircraft across the country.

They used to be called the Confederate Air Force but some brain-dead, knuckle-dragging libtard was offended by the word confederate and the gov’t told the CAF if they didn’t change their name, they would get their non-profit status stripped.

As opposed to NOW and ACORN and Planned Parenthood and the like who get to keep their non-profit status even though they are nothing but shills for the democrat party, against the non-profit laws.

+5

My father flew 30 missions in B-17s over Germany with the 91st Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force. I was lucky enough to get a flight in Liberty Belle before she crashed and burned. These are beautiful aircraft that need the preservation so we can continue to teach the young people about them and the war they fought in.

Here is my take on what the B-17 and B-24 crews faced flying and fighting over Germany.

+4

There’s a great story about how Randy Sohn commandeered Fifi from China Lake and flew her to Harlingen, TX for the Confederate Air Force in 1971. You can read the history at John Deakin’s Pelican Perch:

N529B…is a B-29B delivered in mid-1945, and thus never saw combat. It served in various roles with the USAF for years, then went into “final” storage with the Navy in China Lake, with all records getting lost. Vic Agather, an early member of the CAF, heard about it one day from a fellow who spotted it from the air in that highly secret area. He was part of the original design team on the airplane at Boeing in Renton, and had long been interested in acquiring one for the CAF fleet.

The military at first denied all knowledge of the airplane’s existence, but Vic persisted through his many contacts in the political arena, and eventually the whole thing came together. A CAF team spent six weeks getting it ready for flight, and Randy Sohn and crew took off. A local test hop was skipped, as Randy felt once they got it in the air, he wanted to make just one landing, and that back at CAF HQ, then in Harlingen, Texas. Randy had never been in one, but he had read the manual, and had also flown the C-97 and B-377, both of which have many things in common with the B-29. That single flight was probably somewhat more eventful than he relates, but they got the job done in fine style. The next several years were spent in restoration, and there was a lot to restore! When done, the airplane was given the name “FIFI” in honor of Mrs. Agather, and the huge letter “A” was painted on the tail in honor of Vic. Vic “went west” a few years ago, and today his son Neils is the leader of the B-29/B-24 Squadron, now based in Midland, Texas.

Those guys had brass balls…

+6

Great stories. Love IOTW.

+4

Sweet.

+2

@Irish

readin your Churchill again

+1

<— Me "flying" Enola Gay 1n 1950.

+2