George's GNA'13: Day 54 - Goodbye Walter

Day 54 – Thursday: August 08, 2013, miles ridden today: 68.0

After confirming tomorrow’s flight, Walter called the airline to upgrade his seat assignment. One first class seat was available for $100 and to upgrade he had to do it at the counter. So, in lieu of visiting "Galloping Gertie" (the nicknamed construction workers gave the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which self destructed in 1940 due to design flaws), we headed for Sea-Tack Airport. Unfortunately the reservation person would not sell him the ticket for the remaining seat, stating something like she’ll sell it for more before tomorrow. They now work on commission??? He did get an exit row upgrade.

We then headed to the Museum of Flight just up the highway. Seattle Highways are something to rival LA, DC, and Boston if not worse (hard to believe), it was a slow crawl!

Once at the museum, paid our admission we toured the facility.

I took an one-hour tour of a fully restored 1943 B-17F while Walter kept himself occupied elsewhere. Touring this particular airplane reminded me of last years visit to the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum in Pooler, GA. A family member was lost in WWII piloting a B-17 over Bordeaux France on June 19, 1944, and I was able to reference several books in the library that included materials about cousin Jack Doyle. It was his 13th mission, they had to make two attempts on the secondary target, took flak at the right wing root causing all but three to be trapped in the aircraft due to the centrifugal force preventing them from bailing out. Now having actually crawled though the interior of this aircraft, seen the equipment and imagined the conditions he and his crew had to work with and endure, it was an astonishing feat these young men accomplished their missions. The average crew member was 145 pounds, stood 5'7" tall.

B17F & B-47

Passageway Tail Gunner had to Crawl to get to Post

50 cal. waist guns

Looking up top gun turret

Outside - Lower Ball Turret

Inside - Lower Ball Turret

US: 50 Cal & Germany: 20 mm

Some of the radios were primitive by today's standards; they had tubes:

Switch to Select Either Cable or Fixed Aircraft Antenna

Cable Antenna

Antenna Cable feed out from this tube

Bracket for IFF (SECRET), see red button in front of Pilot

Plane 2 Plane Communications

Switch out Box from Other Boxes in picture below to Change Bands

GE of Course!

During the war everyone contributed to the effort. The planes were either made by Boeing, McDonald, or Lockheed-Vega. The engines were Wright, but made by others:

Studerbaker

Each Engine had 36-gal Oil Tank & Filter behind it

Hydraulic System

Not Sure They Are Still In Business Today

Payload, why the 12,732 planes were built in the first place:

What & Where

500 lbs

Lot's of other supporting equipment:

Inverter

Navigator & Bombadier Compartment

Norden Bomd Sight (SECRET)

Command Central, the cockpit:

Red Buttons - Activated the self-destruct devices of the IFF & Bomb Sights

Plane to Plane Com: cables operated boxes in rear

Before returning the Harley Davidson to the dealer in Bellevue, we visited Pikes Market Place for a coffee. Too many people! We did find a nearby parking space, and our wait in line was only 20 minutes for our ice-coffee.