Simviation Forums

 Yeaterday, as I was leaving work, I looked up in the sky and saw a B-17 flying toward Beoing field.  Then I realized that the Museum of Flight is hosting both a flyable B-17 and B-24 at the museum.  For a "donation" of $400* you can take a 30 minute ride around the Puget Sound on either of the WW2 bombers.  You can book a flight at the museum or call for reservations at 978-562-9182 or on the web at www.collingsfoundation.org.
 Both bombers will be at the Museum of Flight thru July 5th.  

 *The "donation" goes toward upkeep of the flyable aircraft and restoration of others.  

The EAA's Aluminum Overcast which had it's accident in May made my dream of flying in a B17 fade when the tour was postponed (suppose to be comming to my town in Sept)
But last week the EAA announced the B17 tour will continue after OskKosh!!! They had a B17 loaned to them so they can continue the tour so that means the show will go on and my dream has been reborn So come this Sept I'll be flying the Great Smoky Mountains in a B17!!!!!!!!!

 Go for it Fret...!!

lol, they had a show two weeks ago not far from here...for $400 USD I could get a ride on the B-17 Yankee Lady...

unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the show, and the B-17 didn't even fly over my house like in previous years...(usually they fly right over the house)

 These two aircraft have come to the Museum of Flight for the past three years now and it looks like it will become a yearly event.  
 I must admit that at $400 U.S. for 30 minutes the price is a little too steep for me, unless they let me sit in the ball turret and let me fire off a few rounds.  Now that would be fun!!

The Ball Turret is one place they won't let you sit. And the reason for that is easily explained in the photos of the Aluminum Overcast incident
I know that after take off they will let you roam the aircraft to photograph the different views and also let you sit in the various positions to imagine what the crew felt during thier missions. To me this is well worth $400, just the experiance.
I agree the price is steep but when you factor in the cost of keeping a piece of history flying (fuel ,insurance,maintainance etc) comes out to be reasonable.

p.s. the fact that they let you move around during the flight is based on flights offered by the EAA's B17 tour, so I don't know if this is the same for all B17 tours.

A B-17 flying around used to be a rather common event near me in Elmira, NY. The museum, "National Warbird Museum" started to lose money and had to sell the plane to another museum. "Sad Sack" still comes home once in a while for the rides but its not the same anymore.

What has happened to "Aluminum Overcast"?  Will it fly again?  When I saw it on the news last May they sounded like it may not.  I didn't think it was damaged that bad.

Jim

It was damaged pretty good, gear collapsed so it ruined everything to do with the gear, pushed the belly turret through the top of the plane, and added a few holes here and there. and basically destroyed the props.
They still have it in CA getting it prepared to fly back to OshKosh for repairs. It will fly again but will take time and money, I think the EAA website has pictures of it now. If not I can post some!

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At the airport near me Valporaiso, Indiana ,they have a lot of planes in hangers like a F-4u Corsair, P-51 Mustang, A-37 Dragonfly, and a F-16, . They were giving rides too in a B-17 for $300. And they had a B-24. Maybe its the same ones... Well whats funny is they had a little airshow before and they would have Cessna's taking off while a A-37 was flying over and then you see a bunch of small planes taxing in like a line and then you see the F-16 in the middle of line surrounded by a bunch of other planes.
              Then they had a group of reenactors fighting on the runway after the planes left, then had the Corsair flying by and made it look like bombs exploding with pyrotechnics. It was fun.