Update on the Oregon gas station B 17 restoration

Back in December 2014 it was loaded and moved to Salem
http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/b-17-alliance-moves-historic-milwaukie-b-17-bomber-salem-restoration.html

This is just one step in the years long coverage of Art Lacey's B 17 story started in 2013
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/01/i-love-b-17-bomber-story-here-is-good.html
updated a year ago http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gas-station-b-17-of-art-lacey-near.html

the Nine Oh Nine is going live fire on a bombing range, and for $3900, you can get some trigger time on one rare B 17 experience

last posted about with this video from Jay Leno:


currently there are only 8 flying B 17s http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/03/there-are-8-b17s-still-flying-and-one.html

the full article at http://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/want-to-live-the-dream-want-to-fly-your-own-mission-in-a-b-17-bomber-camp-2015-announced.html

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg team up for a 10 part tv series about WW2 bombers

the series is based on the 2006 novel by Donald L. Miller "Masters Of The Air" the story of the US Eighth Air Force’s crews, as well as the story from the ground or those being bombed in Britain, Germany and throughout Europe. fhttp://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/new-tv-series-masters-air-tell-story-world-war-two-bombers.html

The TV series, they say, will avoid using composite characters, focusing instead on the real stories of the actual figures who flew with Eighth Air Force, and in particular the "Bloody Hundredth" bomb group, one of the hardest hitting — and hardest hit.

 With a purported budget of $500 million (more than seven times that of Saving Private Ryan) the 10-part HBO miniseries Masters of the Air is poised to become the most expensive production in television history as Spielberg and Hanks endeavor to produce a visually stunning and at times viscerally heart-rending tribute to the brave aircrews. http://www.flyingmag.com/pilots-places/pilots-adventures-more/masters-air-tribute-mighty-eighth

Joining an oeuvre that already includes 2001's Band of Brothers and 2010's The Pacific, the miniseries will explore the aerial wars through the eyes of enlisted men of the Eighth Air Force. The miniseries are a significant financial commitment for HBO requiring the construction of large-scale sets, significant special effects and pyrotechnics and, because of the nature of the stories, big ensemble casts. Brothers cost $125 million to produce, and The Pacific was budgeted at $200 million; millions more were spent on promotion for both series. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hbo-developing-third-wwii-miniseries-413632

Spielberg has directed with Hanks in a leading role, in Saving Private Ryan, The Terminal, and Catch Me If You Can... and they have recently worked on the Cold War true story of the CIA attorney that was trying to get the release of the U2 spyplane Russia captured http://www.ew.com/article/2014/12/18/steven-spielberg-tom-hanks-cold-war-spy-mission

Jimmy Stewart served in the 8th

https://www.facebook.com/mighty8thmuseum is the source of the below images of crews from the 8th, and the image of Jimmy Stewart above

As you probably know already, World War II could not have been won without the Eighth Air Force's fearsome B-17 Flying Fortresses (the "Boeings," the Luftwaffe called them), which pounded Germany by day while the British bombed at night. As America's main strategic bomber command, the Mighty Eighth brought Nazi Germany to its knees with an unrelenting aerial assault from bases in eastern England involving tens of thousands of airplanes and hundreds of thousands of men. Never before in the history of warfare has such a fearsome force been unleashed on an enemy — nor is it likely in the post-nuclear era that the world will ever again witness such an awesome aerial display.

That's not to say that the young American men inside the bombers flew without fear. The Eighth Air Force's B-17s and B-24s launched on audaciously daring missions over heavily defended Europe to strike at the heart of Adolf Hitler's industrial war-­making capacity. Daylight strategic bombing on such a massive scale was an untested idea at the start of World War II, but military commanders including legendary American generals like Ira Eaker and Jimmy Doolittle knew that, while the plan was risky, it was also the surest way to inflict crippling damage on Hitler's ability to wage war.

The Mighty Eighth would eventually achieve its objectives through relentless bombing of German airplane factories, submarine pens, oil refineries, railway yards, ball bearing production facilities and other industrial targets deemed central to the Nazi war effort. In the beginning it would do it alone, without fighter escorts, another untested approach. But against the dug-in Nazis there seemed no other way. As President Franklin Roosevelt put it in 1943, "Hitler built walls around his ‘Fortress Europe' but he forgot to put a roof on it." http://www.flyingmag.com/pilots-places/pilots-adventures-more/masters-air-tribute-mighty-eighth

the tv series even has a Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Masters-of-the-Air/142322062593374

Bruce Bairnsfather, official cartoonist to the American forces in Europe

Image from https://www.facebook.com/mighty8thmuseum/

http://forum.armyairforces.com/Old-Bill-m93062.aspx

Bruce Bairnsfather congratulates crew of B-17 "Old Bill"

http://www.fold3.com/spotlight/2558/bruce_bairnsfather_congratulates_crew/

http://www.fold3.com/image/38257090/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/355080751842031060/

A couple of cool color WW2 photos

Both found on http://www.vintag.es/2015/01/27-rare-color-photographs-from-world.html

B 17 "Snake Hips" was shot to hell on the starboard side, but still made it home. Color video

How and why an airplane in WW2 was named for a train company

Found on https://www.facebook.com/pages/Union-Pacific-4014-restoration-BIG-BOY/455623014535432

in short, the aircraft received the special lettering to acknowledge the contributions of the 65,000 employees of Union Pacific Railroad who had raised an extra $379,000 in war bond purchases.

in the photo are the Executive Vice Pres., Boeing Aircraft Co.;  chairman Union Pacific War Bond Committee; F. W. Madden, representing Brotherhood Railway Clerks; John D. Beard, Brotherhood Maintenance of Way; Supt. Oregon Division; D. W. Hood, Brotherhood Railway Trainmen; and A. A. Murphy, Assistant to President of Union Pacific.

 To the Employees of the Union Pacific goes the distinction, according to the Treasury Department, of being the first railroad group in the Nation to be honored with a "named" heavy bomber for voluntarily increasing their payroll deductions for War Bonds by more than $379,000 during May and June of 1943

"The Spirit of Union Pacific" was on her fifth mission when shot down October 10, 1943, in a raid on enemy installations at Munster, Germany.

Most of the crew were taken prisoner, including the pilot, Capt. Robert B. Short of Los Angeles, a West Point graduate and former native of Norfolk, Neb. Others who parachuted to safety were Lt. Bud H. Hinckley of Rigby, Idaho, the co-pilot; Lt. Stoliar, the bombardier; and Sgts. William M. Esseltine, Syracuse, N. Y.; Donald Armstrong, Binghamton, N. Y.; Frank Becay, Cleveland, 0.; and Eugene A. Runser, Erie, Pa.

The navigator, Lt. Hal K. Hughes of Dallas, Tex., and Sgts. Donald Lowrie, Hazelton, Pa., and Richard Grace, Glassport, Pa., were reported killed.

for ALL there is to know about this B 17: http://utahrails.net/up/up-b-17.php