Re: IMG: Inside a B-17 (attention WWII buffs)

Peter:
Whenever I look inside one of these WWII-era bombers, I'm hit by a lot of things: - there's no insulation in there, so these guys got pretty cold at elevation, even with heated underwear - steel looks a bit thin, so they flew through anti-aircraft fire pretty unshielded 
- they had to be pretty gutsy to fly in them
Also, those were tube radios - pretty susceptible to vibration, even built to mil grade.
I'm glad for their courage, else I probably wouldn't be here today - Grandpa was Jewish. 

Thanks for the nice series.

Mark Bohrer, KI6KQD (mostly VHF, soon to have a vertical on 10m)
Wildlife Photography on the Urban Edge
www.mountain-and-desert.com


At 03:46 PM 2/16/2008, you wrote:
While on vacation in southern California, I visited the Palm Springs Air museum. They had a still-flyable B-17 on exhibit, and I took a tour of it. I was able to crawl around inside and get some decent shots. Since I know there are a lot of WWII buffs on the list, I thought I'd share.
I must say that experiencing this airplane from the inside left me very moved, and with an even greater appreciation for "the greatest generation." It really brought home what flying must have been like at that time. No pressurization, no cabin heating. Much of the control is via cables attached to various levers that the pilots pull. Your body is physically part of the aircraft. At around 30,000 feet, air is unbreathable, and it's about 40 degrees below zero (F or C, take your pick). You wear an oxygen mask, plug your electrically-heated long underwear to a power jack at your station, and hope the other side doesn't shoot out your #2 engine, which has the generator. You're flying at 200-300 mph, the fighters opposing you are faster, and your guns are all manually aimed. 

The B-17 from outside:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002646-prf_001.jpg.html
Bombardier's station, equipped with the famous Norden bombsight. The latter was a state-of-the art optical device, equipped with gyroscopes and a mechanical analog computer. 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002649-prf.jpg.html

Cockpit:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002651-prf.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002654-prf.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002657-prf.jpg.html

Bomb bay (I could just about squeeze through here sideways):
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002661-prf.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002662-prf.jpg.html

Radio operator's station:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002663-prf.jpg.html
I actually knew these radio receivers. We used to convert them into cheap ham radios in the 60s: 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002664-prf.jpg.html
Transmitters. You can see some of the airplane's control cables threaded through the ribs of the airframe on the upper right. 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002665-prf.jpg.html

Side machine gun:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002668-prf.jpg.html
Middle of the aircraft, looking towards the front. You can see two side machine guns and the top of the ball turret gunner's station that protruded from the underbelly of the aircraft. My guide is gesturing to another guest in the background. 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002674-prf.jpg.html

Tail gunner's station.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002678-prf.jpg.html
Of course, it made me think of "Tail Gunner Joe." So in the spirit of extreme irony. . . 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002679-prf.jpg.html

Photo taken lying on my back on the tarmac, looking up into the open bomb bay:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002681-prf.jpg.html

More outside views of the plane:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002686-prf.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002692-prf.jpg.html

My guide (he was from Brooklyn, yuh know whaddeyemean?)  Great guy!
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002687-prf.jpg.html

This propeller was on a different aircraft, but I like it:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002694-prf.jpg.html

Cautionary sign inside the museum:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/palmsprings/L1002696-prf.jpg.html
These are records, not art. It was a very high contrast situation, and some blown highlights were unavoidable to keep detail in the interior. M8, mostly with 28/3.5 V/C Skopar, a few with the 35/2 Summicron v.4. 

--Peter


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