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dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/29dtaaj:
Oh yes, and I got these photos off my camera too– the “FiFi”, the last flying B-29 in the world. I put up a phone photo before, but these are the pictures from my proper camera.
I have some more somewhere of a flyover– a couple of days later, we took the kids to the beach, about 25 miles away from this airport. And we were down by the water, and there was the sound of a loud plane, and my dad’s head went up, and he said, “Those are radials,” and I turned with him and looked, and he shouted, “It’s the Fifi! It’s the B-29!” and pointed. Everyone on the beach, hundreds of school kids and whatnot for whom it was the first day of summer vacation, all turned and looked to the treeline just as the plane came into view, and it flew in all its not-very-fast pre-jet glory, pretty low, right along the beachfront, and we all stared up and waved.
“Last one flying in the world,” Dad said, and a man next to him repeated it, and I heard the murmur go across the beach. “Last one flying in the world.”
And we all stood and watched, and it waggled, just a bit, and disappeared over the other treeline. Clearly, the pilots had chosen that flight path deliberately; it’s the biggest beach in the area. And it was a beautiful sight, on a sunny day, just glittering as it lumbered majestically by overhead.
It’s not that big a plane, but it’s not one you’d forget.
First in a lot of ways– first pressurized cabin, for one– and controversial, certainly, but just a hell of a thing to see.
And I just– I sort of can’t get over that tail gunner’s perch. What a swank little windshield.
Oh yes, and I got these photos off my camera too– the “FiFi”, the last flying B-29 in the world. I put up a phone photo before, but these are the pictures from my proper camera.
I have some more somewhere of a flyover– a couple of days later, we took the kids to the beach, about 25 miles away from this airport. And we were down by the water, and there was the sound of a loud plane, and my dad’s head went up, and he said, “Those are radials,” and I turned with him and looked, and he shouted, “It’s the Fifi! It’s the B-29!” and pointed. Everyone on the beach, hundreds of school kids and whatnot for whom it was the first day of summer vacation, all turned and looked to the treeline just as the plane came into view, and it flew in all its not-very-fast pre-jet glory, pretty low, right along the beachfront, and we all stared up and waved.
“Last one flying in the world,” Dad said, and a man next to him repeated it, and I heard the murmur go across the beach. “Last one flying in the world.”
And we all stood and watched, and it waggled, just a bit, and disappeared over the other treeline. Clearly, the pilots had chosen that flight path deliberately; it’s the biggest beach in the area. And it was a beautiful sight, on a sunny day, just glittering as it lumbered majestically by overhead.
It’s not that big a plane, but it’s not one you’d forget.
First in a lot of ways– first pressurized cabin, for one– and controversial, certainly, but just a hell of a thing to see.
And I just– I sort of can’t get over that tail gunner’s perch. What a swank little windshield.
