Some weeks ago there was a discussion about the planes exhibited by the
Collings Foundation. www.cfdn.org I got to see them today.

This weekend they are in Worcester MA. As I was driving up the road to
the airport the B-17 flew right across in front of me as it ws landing.
I parked and walked to the fence just as the B-25 taxied to its parking
spot.

It was great to see the planes, but listening to some of the guys
waiting was better. Some vets of WWII were talking about their jobs
with the various branches of service during the war. Easy to look at
them as a bunch of old farts out for the day but these were the guys
that fought for our freedom and put their lives on the line.

I don't recall who mentioned it to me here, but, thanks. I had a very
nice afternoon seeing history.

Oh, no I did not fly in the P-51 for $2200. I forgot my checkbook.

On Fri, 23 Sep 2016 18:59:51 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

Some weeks ago there was a discussion about the planes exhibited by the
Collings Foundation. www.cfdn.org I got to see them today.

This weekend they are in Worcester MA. As I was driving up the road to
the airport the B-17 flew right across in front of me as it ws landing.
I parked and walked to the fence just as the B-25 taxied to its parking
spot.

It was great to see the planes, but listening to some of the guys
waiting was better. Some vets of WWII were talking about their jobs
with the various branches of service during the war. Easy to look at
them as a bunch of old farts out for the day but these were the guys
that fought for our freedom and put their lives on the line.

I don't recall who mentioned it to me here, but, thanks. I had a very
nice afternoon seeing history.

Oh, no I did not fly in the P-51 for $2200. I forgot my checkbook.

Hi Ed,
I'm glad you had a chance to see them.
I had attended the Geneseo NY World of Warbirds few times south of
Rochester NY. As far as warbirds go this event usually has the most
aircraft of many nations in once place and in fact they ALL fly during
that event.
And many allow the public access to the inside. Quite an experience.

One time after attending it was a few days later and I was returning
to CT on I90 the NYS throughway with my car's moon roof open on a
sunny day. At a reasonably low altitude a B-17 flew overhead
following the throughway. The sound was incredible. Looking in my
rear view mirror I could see other aircraft approaching and each one,
in turn flew overhead on the same course. I remember a B-24, B-25, a
C-46, a P-51 and even a Mitsubishi. Quite a show "after the show".
Who knows. they might have been enroute to another show somewhere in
New England.

Thanks for sharing.


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On 9/23/2016 8:27 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 23 Sep 2016 18:59:51 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

Some weeks ago there was a discussion about the planes exhibited by the
Collings Foundation. www.cfdn.org I got to see them today.



Hi Ed,
I'm glad you had a chance to see them.
I had attended the Geneseo NY World of Warbirds few times south of
Rochester NY. As far as warbirds go this event usually has the most
aircraft of many nations in once place and in fact they ALL fly during
that event.
And many allow the public access to the inside. Quite an experience.

One time after attending it was a few days later and I was returning
to CT on I90 the NYS throughway with my car's moon roof open on a
sunny day. At a reasonably low altitude a B-17 flew overhead
following the throughway. The sound was incredible. Looking in my
rear view mirror I could see other aircraft approaching and each one,
in turn flew overhead on the same course. I remember a B-24, B-25, a
C-46, a P-51 and even a Mitsubishi. Quite a show "after the show".
Who knows. they might have been enroute to another show somewhere in
New England.

Thanks for sharing.

The sound of 1200 HP radials is good for your blood circulation.

On 9/23/2016 3:59 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Some weeks ago there was a discussion about the planes exhibited by the
Collings Foundation. www.cfdn.org I got to see them today.

This weekend they are in Worcester MA. As I was driving up the road to
the airport the B-17 flew right across in front of me as it ws landing.
I parked and walked to the fence just as the B-25 taxied to its parking
spot.

It was great to see the planes, but listening to some of the guys
waiting was better. Some vets of WWII were talking about their jobs
with the various branches of service during the war. Easy to look at
them as a bunch of old farts out for the day but these were the guys
that fought for our freedom and put their lives on the line.

I don't recall who mentioned it to me here, but, thanks. I had a very
nice afternoon seeing history.

Oh, no I did not fly in the P-51 for $2200. I forgot my checkbook.

I was going through some of my dad's records last week, after his death
in May. I found his official list of missions. 39 missions over enemy
territory with the 526th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group.
He was a B17 Radar operator, navigator, bombardier, and "was called upon
to lead not only the Combat Wing, but the entire Air Division, on
several missions." I believe that means up to 1000 B17s, with his plane
at the front of them all. "Lead Lead Squadron" was "Position Flown" on
his combat record.

This stuff sure gives me new perspective on his service. I wish I had
seen it before he died. I missed the opportunity of some very
interesting talks.

On 9/24/2016 12:15 AM, Bob F wrote:


I was going through some of my dad's records last week, after his death
in May. I found his official list of missions. 39 missions over enemy
territory with the 526th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group.
He was a B17 Radar operator, navigator, bombardier, and "was called upon
to lead not only the Combat Wing, but the entire Air Division, on
several missions." I believe that means up to 1000 B17s, with his plane
at the front of them all. "Lead Lead Squadron" was "Position Flown" on
his combat record.

This stuff sure gives me new perspective on his service. I wish I had
seen it before he died. I missed the opportunity of some very
interesting talks.

Wow, he sure did a lot. You can be very proud of him. I cannot imagine
the noise of some of the large groups of bombers that were flying together.

A gentleman giving a talk today said there were more airmen lost than
marines and half were non-combat from failures of the plane or pilot.
He also told us about how the enemy fighters went after the bombers that
were flying at 24,000 feet by going above them and dropping small
incendiary bombs on them

On Fri, 23 Sep 2016 21:15:37 -0700, Bob F wrote:

I was going through some of my dad's records last week, after his death
in May. I found his official list of missions. 39 missions over enemy
territory with the 526th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group.
He was a B17 Radar operator, navigator, bombardier, and "was called upon
to lead not only the Combat Wing, but the entire Air Division, on
several missions." I believe that means up to 1000 B17s, with his plane
at the front of them all. "Lead Lead Squadron" was "Position Flown" on
his combat record.

This stuff sure gives me new perspective on his service. I wish I had
seen it before he died. I missed the opportunity of some very
interesting talks.

Thanks Bob. What a great story. My Dad and Uncle (Army Infantry)
served together in North Africa, fighting against German Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel -- "The Desert Fox". Our tank troops study him
today to learn. Some troops during Operation Desert Storm has his
photo in the tank turrets. A captured Iraqi was held in a tank and
asked why they had his picture. One of the troops stated; "if you
studied him, you wouldn't be sitting in my gun." (paraphrased).

Dad was hit by grenade shrapnel in the bicep and had loss of feeling
in his arm until he died.

Trying to get his military records, during genealogy research, I found
out all the records were destroyed in a major fire at an archive
facility in St. Louis, MO.

Your dad makes me proud. HOOAH!

On Friday, September 23, 2016 at 7:00:01 PM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Some weeks ago there was a discussion about the planes exhibited by the
Collings Foundation. www.cfdn.org I got to see them today.

This weekend they are in Worcester MA. As I was driving up the road to
the airport the B-17 flew right across in front of me as it ws landing.
I parked and walked to the fence just as the B-25 taxied to its parking
spot.

It was great to see the planes, but listening to some of the guys
waiting was better. Some vets of WWII were talking about their jobs
with the various branches of service during the war. Easy to look at
them as a bunch of old farts out for the day but these were the guys
that fought for our freedom and put their lives on the line.


One year here they were giving free rides to WWII vets. I watched
them get a guy who was with the Flying Tigers in WWII out of his
wheelchair and into the B-25.


I don't recall who mentioned it to me here, but, thanks. I had a very
nice afternoon seeing history.


That was me!



Oh, no I did not fly in the P-51 for $2200. I forgot my checkbook.

Me too. LOL

On 9/23/2016 11:43 PM, Oren wrote:
On Fri, 23 Sep 2016 21:15:37 -0700, Bob F wrote:

I was going through some of my dad's records last week, after his death
in May. I found his official list of missions. 39 missions over enemy
territory with the 526th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group.
He was a B17 Radar operator, navigator, bombardier, and "was called upon
to lead not only the Combat Wing, but the entire Air Division, on
several missions." I believe that means up to 1000 B17s, with his plane
at the front of them all. "Lead Lead Squadron" was "Position Flown" on
his combat record.

This stuff sure gives me new perspective on his service. I wish I had
seen it before he died. I missed the opportunity of some very
interesting talks.

Thanks Bob. What a great story. My Dad and Uncle (Army Infantry)
served together in North Africa, fighting against German Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel -- "The Desert Fox". Our tank troops study him
today to learn. Some troops during Operation Desert Storm has his
photo in the tank turrets. A captured Iraqi was held in a tank and
asked why they had his picture. One of the troops stated; "if you
studied him, you wouldn't be sitting in my gun." (paraphrased).

Dad was hit by grenade shrapnel in the bicep and had loss of feeling
in his arm until he died.

Trying to get his military records, during genealogy research, I found
out all the records were destroyed in a major fire at an archive
facility in St. Louis, MO.

Your dad makes me proud. HOOAH!


My dad didn't talk about it much. He really played it down, so I didn't
realize how significant his service really was.

I once asked about whether he was ever injured. He told me his thumb was
cut by a piece of shrapnel.

My searching since this topic came up here has taught me a lot about how
important the radar was to the war effort. It allowed "blind" bombing,
which drastically opened up the possibility of missions in the often
cloudy weather. There are training videos available on youtube showing
the basics of getting a B17 off the ground and landing, and describing
the radar and other equipment.

The ground war was certainly a very different thing than the air war,
and I imagine a lot harder to get over when they came home.