B-29 Superfortress
Ever have one of those days when everything just doesn't seem to go your way? Yesterday was one of those days for me.
I got up early and planned to head to Springfield Missouri where I was going to take pictures of a B-29 Superfortress, go to some parks, Sam's Club and watch a movie at the theater. I only had one quick stop to make at the post office to drop off a package I had sold on Ebay..... but nothing would go as planned.
I left the house and got out to my Jeep to discover I had a flat tire. I aired up the tire and took it to Wal-mart to have it repaired. Wal-mart told me it would be a 2-3 hour wait, so I took it to another tire shop who also told me it would be a 2-3 hour wait. The tire seemed to be holding up well after I had aired it up and I figured I would take it to the Wal-mart in Marshfield to be fixed since that was right on my way to Springfield. I dropped the package off at the post office and proceeded to Marshfield.
I get to the Wal-mart there and I over hear one of the employees say two of their workers in the shop had just walked out. They told me it would be an hour and a half wait at least. I walked around the store for about an hour and I think I looked at everything twice! After an hour they told me they couldn't work on the tire because the lug nuts were too tight and they were afraid they would break them off. But they recommended a couple repair shops which could fix it. I ended up taking it to a repair shop across from the Walgreens and they had it fixed in less than 15 minutes and it only cost me $10.00
After all the delays I ended up not getting to my destination in Springfield until 2:00. I met my friend Jonathan and we took pictures of the B-29 Superfortress for about an hour. I decided to wait in the extremely long line to see the cockpit and Jonathan decided he was going to leave rather than wait in a line that long. I waited in line for about 15 minutes and only moved up about 5 people, with over a 100 people in front of me. I could see there was no way I would make it to the B-29 before they closed down the line so it could take off on it's scheduled flight.
They were giving rides in a C-45 Expeditor and a PT-17 Stearman biplane and I decided I would take a ride in one of those. How often are you going to get a chance to fly in a World War II airplane!? I decided I would go up in the PT-17 Stearman, it's open cockpit would provide the best pictures, video and just be a whole lot more fun! I had also seen this PT-17 several times at the Salute to Veterans Airshow in Columbia and it's really a beautiful plane!
As I waited in line to purchase my ticket for the PT-17 it started raining. Having my DSLR with me would get it soaked. So I decided to fly in the C-45 Expeditor and ten minutes after I purchased my ticket they shut down the flights because of the weather. They were going to try to fly again at 5:00 which left me with an hour to kill.
The rain had chased off most of the people from the line waiting to see the B-29, it was now only 1/3 as long going under and just past the wing tip of the aircraft. The rain had eased up some to just a light sprinkle. I decided I would once again brave the line......
I stood out in the line braving the right lane crossing my arms over my chest using them as an umbrella to protect my camera and turned my back towards the wind to further shield my camera from the rain until the line moved enough I was under the shelter of the wing.
I watched as small commercial jets took off on the neighboring runway and as workers placed orange cones C-45 Expeditor. Then as they attached orange plastic tape between the cones like the kind of tape police use around crime scenes. I began to get the feeling flights had been canceled for the day. Even though the line was a lot shorter I still ended up waiting an hour, getting to go through the cockpit at 4:55.
It was a very neat experience! There were several veterans there who had flown in the aircraft during the war. Then just to be in such a historical aircraft, the last one of it's type to still fly. It was the type of aircraft to drop the bomb on Japan, one of the first aircraft to have a pressurized cabin, an electronic fire-control system, and remote control machine-gun turrets. The lay out was much different inside than I had expected. Instead of the inside being a big open compartment, it was segmented into several compartments. If crew members wanted to go from the front to the back of the plane they would have to crawl on their hands and knees through a pressurized tube running along the ceiling of the plane's interior. The bombays reminded me of the ones I had seen on a B-25 Mitchell, another bomber from the World War II era.
After having toured the B-29 I returned to the hanger and as I had expected flights had been canceled for the rest of the day. I was a little disappointed, this would have been my first time landing in an airplane. I have landed in helicopters, but I have only flown in airplanes when I have been skydiving so I've never actually landed in one. So at least I can keep saying "I've flown in airplanes several times, but I have never landed in one."
After leaving the airport I headed to Sam's to get some groceries and fill up the gas tank. Stopped by Andy's Frozen Custard on the way home for a James Brownie Funkie Jackhammer. (Vanilla custard, blended with creamy peanut butter, brownies and hot fudge in the center). I figured after the day I had I deserved one.
I got up early and planned to head to Springfield Missouri where I was going to take pictures of a B-29 Superfortress, go to some parks, Sam's Club and watch a movie at the theater. I only had one quick stop to make at the post office to drop off a package I had sold on Ebay..... but nothing would go as planned.
I left the house and got out to my Jeep to discover I had a flat tire. I aired up the tire and took it to Wal-mart to have it repaired. Wal-mart told me it would be a 2-3 hour wait, so I took it to another tire shop who also told me it would be a 2-3 hour wait. The tire seemed to be holding up well after I had aired it up and I figured I would take it to the Wal-mart in Marshfield to be fixed since that was right on my way to Springfield. I dropped the package off at the post office and proceeded to Marshfield.
I get to the Wal-mart there and I over hear one of the employees say two of their workers in the shop had just walked out. They told me it would be an hour and a half wait at least. I walked around the store for about an hour and I think I looked at everything twice! After an hour they told me they couldn't work on the tire because the lug nuts were too tight and they were afraid they would break them off. But they recommended a couple repair shops which could fix it. I ended up taking it to a repair shop across from the Walgreens and they had it fixed in less than 15 minutes and it only cost me $10.00
After all the delays I ended up not getting to my destination in Springfield until 2:00. I met my friend Jonathan and we took pictures of the B-29 Superfortress for about an hour. I decided to wait in the extremely long line to see the cockpit and Jonathan decided he was going to leave rather than wait in a line that long. I waited in line for about 15 minutes and only moved up about 5 people, with over a 100 people in front of me. I could see there was no way I would make it to the B-29 before they closed down the line so it could take off on it's scheduled flight.
They were giving rides in a C-45 Expeditor and a PT-17 Stearman biplane and I decided I would take a ride in one of those. How often are you going to get a chance to fly in a World War II airplane!? I decided I would go up in the PT-17 Stearman, it's open cockpit would provide the best pictures, video and just be a whole lot more fun! I had also seen this PT-17 several times at the Salute to Veterans Airshow in Columbia and it's really a beautiful plane!
As I waited in line to purchase my ticket for the PT-17 it started raining. Having my DSLR with me would get it soaked. So I decided to fly in the C-45 Expeditor and ten minutes after I purchased my ticket they shut down the flights because of the weather. They were going to try to fly again at 5:00 which left me with an hour to kill.
The rain had chased off most of the people from the line waiting to see the B-29, it was now only 1/3 as long going under and just past the wing tip of the aircraft. The rain had eased up some to just a light sprinkle. I decided I would once again brave the line......
I stood out in the line braving the right lane crossing my arms over my chest using them as an umbrella to protect my camera and turned my back towards the wind to further shield my camera from the rain until the line moved enough I was under the shelter of the wing.
I watched as small commercial jets took off on the neighboring runway and as workers placed orange cones C-45 Expeditor. Then as they attached orange plastic tape between the cones like the kind of tape police use around crime scenes. I began to get the feeling flights had been canceled for the day. Even though the line was a lot shorter I still ended up waiting an hour, getting to go through the cockpit at 4:55.
It was a very neat experience! There were several veterans there who had flown in the aircraft during the war. Then just to be in such a historical aircraft, the last one of it's type to still fly. It was the type of aircraft to drop the bomb on Japan, one of the first aircraft to have a pressurized cabin, an electronic fire-control system, and remote control machine-gun turrets. The lay out was much different inside than I had expected. Instead of the inside being a big open compartment, it was segmented into several compartments. If crew members wanted to go from the front to the back of the plane they would have to crawl on their hands and knees through a pressurized tube running along the ceiling of the plane's interior. The bombays reminded me of the ones I had seen on a B-25 Mitchell, another bomber from the World War II era.
After having toured the B-29 I returned to the hanger and as I had expected flights had been canceled for the rest of the day. I was a little disappointed, this would have been my first time landing in an airplane. I have landed in helicopters, but I have only flown in airplanes when I have been skydiving so I've never actually landed in one. So at least I can keep saying "I've flown in airplanes several times, but I have never landed in one."
After leaving the airport I headed to Sam's to get some groceries and fill up the gas tank. Stopped by Andy's Frozen Custard on the way home for a James Brownie Funkie Jackhammer. (Vanilla custard, blended with creamy peanut butter, brownies and hot fudge in the center). I figured after the day I had I deserved one.
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