Have you ever stopped to think about how grateful you should be that starting your car isn’t as hard as it was in your grandfather’s time (or your great-grandfather, as the case may be)?
Today, it’s purely reflex to get in, make sure it’s in park (or neutral), and twist a key (or push a button). The car starts. You drive away. No huhu, no fuss, no broken wrists. In the old days, if you weren’t careful, the engine would backfire and the crank handle would tear off your face. Ah, those good old days.
Well, there are some vehicles that are a whole heckuva lot harder to get started than grampa’s Model A Ford Truck, and here’s one of them. Feast your eyes on how to start a B-17 bomber:
7 replies on “How hard can it be?”
Good stuff. My dad was a career Air Force Pilot. He retired in 1967 but had a love for the old war birds he carried till he died in 1991. At one point in the late 80’s he wrote a recovery plan for planes that had been crash landed in Greenland in the 1940’s. The planes were the Kee Bird (B-29) and another flight of 6 P-28’s and 2 B-17’s that crash landed in Southern Greenland. He was in the process of getting approval from the Danish Govt and gathering funding when he died. Both projects have been attempted by others with the same goal with limited success. Darryl Greenamyer failed on the B-29 which was documented by Nova I spoke to one of the guys from that crew (Vernon Rich) who is a brilliant engineer brain and has since done some amazing projects with Dillon Precision. If you are interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE9j-W_8USw
All that to say I got to read through the original flight manuals for the B-29 and was amazed at what it took to understand that aircraft.
Great story, Buck. You should turn this comment into a blog post!
If you have ever been interested in this obsession check out the book “Hunting Warbirds” by Carl Hoffman. Lots of detail on Greenamyer’s project. I picked it up years ago after a friend had told me my dad was mentioned in it, but that he “suddenly disappeared”. I contacted Carl Hoffman and filled him in on what had happened. He was the guy who put me in touch with Vernon Rich. Don’t mind sharing more limited but don’t want to make it a blog. Here is Hunting Warbirds.
https://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Warbirds-Obsessive-Quest-Aircraft/dp/0345436180
Here is Vernon Rich and his project I was telling you about. Some great stories of development and testing this beast. Really a nice guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j0eJ0xB7LU
Thanks!
That’s a lot more complicated than turning a key.
That is a lot to remember. Geez Louise. I’d be exhausted even before I got the plane in the air!
I guess that’s why we don’t take B-17s to work anymore!