WWII bombers in Knoxville

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Fly320s

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There are two WWII era bombers parked at the Knoxville airport today.

A B-17 and a B24J are there all day. Both of the planes have their .50cal guns mounted and are open to walk-throughs for $8.

The B17 is going for a flight at 4:30. You can buy a seat for only $400, but it is tax deductable.

I like the fact that people are taking the time and money to keep these pieces of history flying so I happily gave them eight bucks.

If you're in the neighborhood, they are located at the KnoxAir building right off of Alcoa Hwy (Hwy 129) just east of the airline terminal.
 
Are these Confederate Air Force planes? If so, I saw them in Charlotte abut a dozen years ago....well worth a trip to see them.
 
The B-17 came to Winston-Salem a few years ago. I had to go to county fire station on business and almost drove through the fence looking at it. My bad timing I didn't have the $400 to spend to fly it...:banghead:
 
Spent 350 to fly on the B-17 last Jan. in Florida. It was the ride of a lifetime, well worth the money to me. Now for the B-24.....
 
Saw the Confederate Air Force at Dulles airport many years ago. Stood right behind a WWII P38 Lightning twin engine fighter when the pilot fired up the engines prior to take-off. Awesome sound.

I think the Confederate Air Force changed its name because the name was not politically correct. Don't know for sure.

The CFA flies around the courtry from time to time for different events and occasionally they have a crash.
 
The CAF as we knew it is no more - - -

It was long a point of pride that the Confederate Air Force was based in Texas. For many years it was headquartered at Rebel Field at Harlingen, AWAY down souf.

Had a good friend who was a contributor and semi-active participant in their activities. (Not a pilot or aircraft owner.) Held the rank of Colonel, but then, everyone did - - No one outranked anyone else, y'see.

They moved out to the Midland-Odessa Airport several years ago, and had a great display and museum, as well as a nice base of operations. I dunno when the Politically Correct movement got all wrapped around the axle over the "Confederate" part, but they eventually brought enough pressure to bear. CAF now stands for "Commerative Air Force." I thought it was a bad joke for a long time - - A privately funded enterprise being forced to change their name just because of PC. Well, silly me!

All the signs, the announcements, everything - - Now indicate Commerative AF. The whole thing is really dumb. Yeah, I know, some localities threatened to cancel them out of big airshows if they didn't fall into line. They raised a lot of money for the Good Work of preservation and restoration of the fine old aircraft by air show participation, and couldn't risk it. I just wish there had been another way . . . .

And no, I have exactly ZERO sympathy for those who get in your face with the CSA battle flag, or with any racist attitudes. But there IS such a thing as a proud tradition. Quite a few of the old CAF hands either resigned or went inactive over the Commerative thing. I'm sure the loss of their donations and participation doesn't weigh much, compared to PC.

Kinda sad, is all. :(

Best,
Johnny
 
I was driving home one day near Perris Callifornia when I spotted a B-17 and another plane (pulling a blank, here!) winging toward me at about 400 feet! Awesome sight! Don't know what they were doing at that altitude, unless they were heading in to the Perris airport. (World famous among parachutists.)


In high school I got to wander around Chino airport and saw quite a few WWII planes, including a few P-51 pylon racers, Cox's Miss America foremost among them. Cool!
 
I was a member of the CAF back in the 80's, part of the Arizona Wing based in Mesa, AZ at Falcon Field.
Lots of fun flying around in "Tired Iron" as some called it back then.

If you ever get a chance to take a flight, do it. These old aircraft won't be flying much longer I'm afraid. Per hour flying costs are getting very high. And insurance has always been a struggle.

There was a time when the old B-17G that I worked on, "Sentimental Journey", would go up for a test flight, or any kind of flight.
Any member on the flight line could just pile on, go for a ride.
New insurance requirements did away with that, limiting flights to crew members, including ground crews. It's gotten tighter since then.

Paid, public flights are something else.
 
Like those who maintained and flew them in combat...
Those old war weapons are getting to be scarce and high maintenence.

Let us enjoy them, let our grandkids see and hear them, while they are still with us.

Sam
 
Yep, history,memories, and tradition.
I know a few Col. 's Great bunch, that rukus with the PC was a bad thing all right.
Knew a veteran pilot , got ate up with cancer. He made the choice to skip surgery so at least he could get affairs in order and enjoy his last days not healing up or doped up. not his way.

Arranged for him to take one last flight, the Cols wanted to do it, but we all chippped in for fuel. Little grandkids never seen grandpa with tears before...tears of happiness as he sat them down after the flight and explained how he flew one of these things...

Col said the old boy took controls and flew just like it was yesterday...shared some tips and stories...
 
saw a few at the Van Nuys AViation Expo two summers ago, and was surprised at how small they appeared.
I've probably watched 1000s of hours of WWII films & footage, and they always seem so much larger. I was particularly surprised at the smallish appearance of the B-29.

And on the same theme - outside the CA town of Delano (I think it was Delano), alongside highway 99, there is a F-4 Phantom parked alongside a B-17. They look almost the same approximate size.

VNAE01-b25.jpg
VNAE01-b24.jpg
VNAE01-b24wingspan.jpg
VNAE01-B29-1.jpg
VNAE01-B29-2.jpg
 
Went to a CAF display at Modesto back in '94 (has it been almost 10 years? :eek: ). They had their Heinkel 111 that had once belonged to Generalisimo Francisco Franco, and they were selling rides in a 2-seat P-51. The runway at Modesto starts way, way down from the hangars, so by the time the P-51 was going by, the pilot had it about 2 wingspans off the ground with the gear up, throttle firewalled. Make you weak in the knees.

They also had a single-seater on static display. No velvet ropes - walk right up and touch it. Amazing how big they really were. The propeller is 11 feet in diameter!

And on the same theme - outside the CA town of Delano (I think it was Delano), alongside highway 99, there is a F-4 Phantom parked alongside a B-17. They look almost the same approximate size.
Click to expand...

That's at the Tulare airport, and you're right - the B-17 looks small, but I think if you got close up, you'd see the F4 is actually really big.

Somebody really needs to wash them, too. :(
 
I was in Carolina when the 17 and 24 were there in the Piedmont a few years back as Bill Sparks mentioned. They were parked over at GSO and I drove over at lunch for a look see.

About 20 minutes later they flew right over the place I was worked at and they were hauling a--. You coud hear they circling at a considerable distance and the sight and sound as they passed right over head was a moving experience to say the very least. For that moment I felt like I had very great deal in common with the people in England that saw them day in and out during WWII. One of them was my Dad!

What a visual momory that created.

The weather was perfect.

S-
 
Gotta love those old birds. When I was in Bowling Green, KY two years ago, a B-17 dropped by for a weekend. You could fly it for 1/2 hour @ $400 a pop. Money was limited and I have to plan for it in advance. Heckuva nice write off to keep an old bird flying. :)
 
Somebody really needs to wash them, too.
Click to expand...
Noticed that. Drove past them 10days ago on the way to Hayward. Really dirty. Maybe get the local Fire Dept out there. (and 'Tulare', thanks - lost track of the small towns)
 
Did the B-24 have the two-gun turret in the nose and red wingtips? That would be the Collings Foundation's B-24J "All American" and their B-17G "Nine - Oh - Nine" They do a countrywide tour avery year. That 'Lib is one sweet resto job!
 
just a note, and a sad one at that, this past weekend up in Houston (wings over houston show i think it was) teh CAF lost one of their FM-1(F4F built by i think GM) Wildcats, appearently (i was at the texas renfest with the family or i would have been there) the wildact along witha few other planes was making a set of "photo op" passes, and on the backside of tha pattern, suddenly drop from the sky!!:what: last i heard it was still under investigation, but the desciptions i've seen, seem to indicate a "cessation of pilot function" (pilot dead or passed out at controls).

this as with ALL losses of rare/vintage aircraft saddens me. i am hoping to get to "AirSho" (they still call it that? the CAF anual, reunion/all operative planes fly-in/airshow) over in midland next year. i've been wanting to attend for the past 20 years. my first Airshow was one ,where probably 90% of the planes in display and or flying, were ones owned and or maintained and flown by the CAF. so i have a rather strong connection in my mind between airshows and those old warbirds.
 
FLY320-

Keep your fingers crossed that they once again, do not cancel our air-show due to "The War on Terrorism".
 
Did the B-24 have the two-gun turret in the nose and red wingtips? That would be the Collings Foundation's B-24J "All American" and their B-17G "Nine - Oh - Nine" They do a countrywide tour avery year. That 'Lib is one sweet resto job!
Click to expand...

Yep, that's them. They are in great shape, very well maintained.

---------

Bainx, when's the airshow?
 
I took my father on the EAA B-17 ride around Southeast Michigan. Ride of a
life time. My girlfriend, now wife, was afraid a plane "that old" might have
problems. She was not happy with the pictures I took of me hanging out of the
upper hatch that is at is abover the waist gunners position. EAA has a schedule
of when they are around the country. Their web site is WWW.EAA.org.
The next planes I would love to get a ride in are B-24, B-25 and P-51. My
grandfather was one of the people who ran the Willow Run B-24 Production
Assmebly plant during WWII. The stories he has about those plane and the
people who built them are out of this world.
 
For those who don't already know, the CAF did the flying in, "Battle of Britain", the movie made about 1970 with Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Susannah York, Sir Laurence Olivier, etc., an all-star cast.

Plenty of good action with Bf-109's (Spanish engines), He-111's, Stukas, Hurricanes, and Spitfires, although most are later than the Mk. I and II Spits available in 1940. I distinctly recall seeing the twin radiators beneath the wings of Mk. IX's.

It's out in both VHS and DVD. Just bought the DVD version this week. You may also be able to rent, but this is one movie that you'll want to own, if you like WWII or vintage aircraft.

Near the opening, watch as the 109's strafe the RAF airfield in France. One guy flies over a fence that must have him about ten feet, if that, off the ground! Much lower, and his prop would have hit the fence...

Lone Star
 
I used to go to the CAF back when it was in Harlingen Texas. This is back in the mid 80s. They had ALL the CAF planes in one location at this time. They even had a boneyard out back with a bunch of old cargo planes from the 1950s. It was fun crawling up into those huge old cargo planes.

The WW2 planes impress me big time. I currently work in the F/A-22 program, and I can honestly tell you that the WW2 planes impress me the most. They flew back in a time when Aerial Combat was a test between two pilots, not between two flying computers.

P.S. The Battle of Britian DVD is a must have if you like WW2 aircraft. Long movie with ALOT of dog fights.
 
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