Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
So fire in or near cockpit...both pilot and co-pilot bail....and the gunners leave their post, put out the fire, take control of the B-17 and make a perfect landing at their airfield...
Hmmm....doesn't say much for the p/cp...does it.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
...and red stars on a white field. Could be Grande Prairie for all we know.
Could be Edmonton as well.
Grizz
I wondered about that, but there's never been a hill like that anywhere near Blatchford Field. Gotta be someplace with more pronounced geography than Edmonton.
Could be Ft Nelson, BC or the larger field at the Beaton River airstrip, east of Wonowon. There used to be all sorts of WWII junk, including parts from different planes, Quonset huts, vehicles and garbage pushed into a bank there. Airstrip was still in decent shape the last time I was there. There was an old burn area just North East of the strip that pretty much matches the contour and cover on that hill shown in the background.
All of the junk was cleaned up during the big effort marking the 50 year anniversary of the Alaska Hiway.
There’s still a gravel pit by the hot springs full of half buried stuff, only if you know how to find it, probably mostly overgrown now. Spent a lot of my early career bouncing around in trucks in that part of the country, instead of heading south in the spring I started turning north for a few weeks every year to go fishing and check it out. Anyone know if that abandoned truck stop/shop is still outside Fort liard (the town, not the hot spring)? Been a few years since I’ve been up that way
They were facing a fire. There is nothing more scary than a fire close at hand in an airplane.
I had one once. I did a 180 on take off, got it back on the ground and jumped immediately. Tumbled a bit. Plane coasted to a stop.
I did not decide to jump. My body did it without asking permission.
B17 pilots were forced out the same way.
I believe it's now called the Liard Valley Motel.
Another huge maintenance facility was at Summit Lake. Vehicles of course. Little hot springs all over the place up there. Ice cold, crystal clear water flowing beside them. Water way to hot to put your hand in and containing small black fish about 3cm long.
Did you ever get into Maxhamish Lake and fish??? Some incredible Pike in there. There's another small lake, with a cabin on it just before Maxhamish. More like a slough with a small creek flowing through it. I didn't think there would be any fish in it, because it was so shallow. We stopped for lunch and watched a duckling get grabbed of the surface by a Pike.
They were oxygen fed fires, about as bad as it gets. Turret rotation abraded a poorly placed line. These guys were lucky their oxygen supply was low.
Grizz
Lol funny you should mention that lake, my second year out there I was 18yo dragging rite-a-way with a haggy (bv206) back and forth all day listening to CD’s on a discman duct taped to the engine cover with a bunch of batteries, up pulls two inspectors brand spankin new trucks, so I stop swing open the door “we have to do some exploration” he said “aaah ok let me radio my boss” I replied “no need for that ” came the rebuttal “unhook the tires” out like a flash I popped the drag rubber off and walked back over to see them throwing in bags and fishing gear “go where I tell you” and away I went tearing down the rite-a-way in high gear which was a treat in itself because I wasn’t to use high dragging. There’s my boss pulled over by a sysmic line, I’m done for I thought as I slowed to a stop back door swung open in came the beer and down the sysmic line I went breaking mirrors and branches snow flying everywhere while these three old boys in charge started in on a case, and it was 9 in the morning, I sat at that lake all day well them three got piled and caught fish we left when it was dark I had to drive all three of them back too camp,I’ll never forget that day it was hilarious, them machines sure can move it deep snow and pop up riverbanks. That was the only time I went to maxhamish lake the next year I started my trade schooling and worked in the helmet, then GP,
I’ll also never forget being in a strong wind in -30 with not a damn tree nor hill to hide behind and having the wind cut so deep he’ll doesn't sound like a bad place, I’d go back there tomorrow if someone asked lol beautiful country lot of good people
I have a story about the yellow double wide on the far side. I met some incredible people, while staying in it, on a Moose hunt. It belonged to Duke Energy and I have no idea why it was there.
I did a compressor re and re for them and as part of the bonus for getting it done well ahead of schedule, up and running, they told my partner and I the we were welcome to use it. The folks we met lived in the area year round. We made some very good friends.
I still shiver watching those kids in that water, with ice forming on the banks. Didn't bother them one bit.
That's about as far as I'm going with this. It was and adventure in itself.
There are or were Pike in that lake 3+ feet. Lots of 2 footers. The FNs didn't keep the bigger fish. That's when I had my first taste of properly prepared Pike. Delicious.
I did a compressor re and re for them and as part of the bonus for getting it done well ahead of schedule, up and running, they told my partner and I the we were welcome to use it. The folks we met lived in the area year round. We made some very good friends.
I still shiver watching those kids in that water, with ice forming on the banks. Didn't bother them one bit.
That's about as far as I'm going with this. It was and adventure in itself.
There are or were Pike in that lake 3+ feet. Lots of 2 footers. The FNs didn't keep the bigger fish. That's when I had my first taste of properly prepared Pike. Delicious.
New York Harbor, end of WWII, 1945.
Queen Elizabeth liner filled with the American troops coming home from war.
Hitler and Speer looking at the Schwerner Gustav, the biggest gun ever used in battle
Queen Elizabeth liner filled with the American troops coming home from war.
Hitler and Speer looking at the Schwerner Gustav, the biggest gun ever used in battle
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When we lived in Iqaluit we walked to work at -30 in our sneakers (fine if no snow and you kept moving). Our Inuit friends (and they were) preferred sleeping with the windows open at the same -30 and suffered the cold as much as the rest of us. Heck, once we even beat them in a snow house making competition. But they were the masters at seal gutting. Just me? Seal liver ain't no delicacy...
Hurling 7000 kg nearly 50 km in the late 1930...deserves bragging rights I'd say.
If you read about it, it's explicit purpose was to destroy the forts along the French Maginot Line (Battle of France) who surrender before it was ever needed.
It was later used against Russia.
Crew = 250 to assemble the gun in 3 days (54 hours)
If you read about it, it's explicit purpose was to destroy the forts along the French Maginot Line (Battle of France) who surrender before it was ever needed.
It was later used against Russia.
Crew = 250 to assemble the gun in 3 days (54 hours)
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maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The FG42 rifle is another example of a highly focused passion project that absorbed scarce materials, machine time, and engineering capital. I have come around to the idea that the FG42 was another reason why the Germans lost the war - they weren't making FW190 and ME109 fighters.
