Carlson Skunk Works

July 9th, 2013

The Plane Train and Aluminum Overcast

Posted by Roger in news

Whenever I mention the EAA Chapter 1091 Plane Train I get a lot of “What is a Plane Train?”. Therefore I thought I would post a few pictures of it. Here goes!

Yup. That is a B-17 behind the Plane Train. Our EAA chapter was presented with an opportunity to host EAA’s Aluminum Overcast, so we did it. It took us all of two seconds to accept the offer and that was because it took that long for the shock of things to wear off.

Here are a few more pictures of the B-17. The ones on the inside were taken during my ride.

I just got in, so this is the view from the door before it was closed. I was the “Safety Volunteer” on this flight. That meant that I sat in the rear by the door and was responsible to open the door in case of an emergency. The tail on that thing really wiggles around!

One of the waste gun installations. The B-17 had a dozen Browning 50 caliber machine guns on board. During combat each gun was supplied with 1000 rounds of ammunition which would last for about a minute if it was fired in a single burst. Therefore the gunners had to be careful to ration the ammunition and had to be pretty good shots to take out any enemy planes.

The view from the top.

That wing is BIG! The engines are nine cylinder Curtis-Wright radials. Each engine could develop 1200 horse power. However, the superchargers and turbochargers have been disabled on this plane because it doesn’t fly at the altitudes where they are effective and they would require a lot more maintenance.

On mission with our bombs loaded. Well, these are dumby bombs, of course.

The main office. I was a bit disappointed that they had installed a GPS. I thought they should have been using all original navigation aids. But then they did not have a navigator in the crew, so I guess it was ok.

Flying over the metropolis of Minden, Nebraska.

There is the Great Platte River Road Archway going over I-80. This is looking west, so the new Cherry Avenue exit is in the foreground.

It’s Yanney Park!

Yanney Park and The Buckle distribution center.

Another view of The Buckle DC. This is the building where I spend most of my days. The Web Systems Development team has an area on the second floor in the south east corner of this building.