Nostalgia

My dad, 1st Lieutenant Paul F. Chessare, Navigator, began his first missions in Europe in a B-24 Liberator, Snafuperman. The B-24s were also known as the flying gas tank, as they tended to explode when switching fuel tanks. Dad transitioned into B-17s when they came on-line. 31 missions later, 8 bombers shot out from under him, ditching twice in the English Channel, he finished the war without a scratch, physically.

I spliced 3 pics together to make this pic (large download). Notice under the wing the chubby guy on the left is doubled.

Because I was shooting with my telephoto lens at a long distance, I was using a very fast shutter speed. I inadvertently froze the props which were actually spinning at a high rate, only the blade which is pointing directly at the camera shows a little blurred movement.

Nine-O-Nine nose art



Here are a few pictures of Sentimental Journey when she came to Albany airport in '03.

Firing up No. 3

There nothing, nothing as beautiful as the sound of 4 radial, Wright R Cyclones.

Gear coming down.

Sentimental Journey nose art


On the enlarged picture you can see the listed crew weight of 1200 lbs. Men were smaller back in the forties, the B-17 had a crew of 10 guys, that's just 120 lbs a piece.