Gone West – Scottie
The Progress & Filming Continues!
Progress on #43-48950 continues at what seems like a lightning pace! We’ve just posted updates from last month as we’re down filming now! We’ve gotten more volunteers here wrenching on the plane and a whole lot more of you have contributed to the filming. Thank you so very much! And thanks so much for the love notes about our coin! Enjoy!
Doolittle Raid 76th Anniversary
Lt Col Dick Cole
Doolittle Raider
Seventy-six years ago today, 80 airmen in 16 B-25Bs launched from the USS Hornet to attack mainland Japan. Pearl Harbor was fresh in everyone’s memory and even though the damage from the raid was thought to be a token at best, the boost to the US moral was immeasurable. In Dayton, OH in 2017, eleven B-25 flew over the USAF Museum to pay their respect and tribute to the Doolittle Raiders and thank them for their sacrifice for our freedoms on the 75th anniversary of this event. Lt Col Dick Cole, 102 years old, is the last of the eighty Raiders and was present for the ceremonies. We feel very honored to know Dick and being able to call him friend. He’s not just a piece of living history and a hero, but he’s incredibly funny! We owe all our vets a tribute and I’m glad we are saying thanks to this very special vet!
The 11 B-25s present for 75th Reunion
Love Plane Light
We’re down in Florida at Turian Aviation continuing our work on the C47 Normandy Bound project. Right now they are in the process of replacing all the main cabin windows. It was a perfect opportunity to go “el natural” and just use light and shadow to tell the story. I wanted both sides of the installation process which is what dictated in large part my lens selection. The D5 was the obvious choice for the body so by in telling the story, once the light was known, the rest fell into place.
C47 Project
captured by D5 / 24f1.4
That’s because, with the light, the story of the window was dealt with by how much or how little of the C47 was required in the photograph for you to know he was working on a plane. So for the interior, I went with the 105f1.4 and the exterior, I went with the 24f1.4, both being shot of course, at f1.4. After that, it was simple to arrange the elements so you can see the concentration and care going into the replacement process and bring a little visual drama to an otherwise mundane task. It’s what makes such projects like this both challenging and visually rewarding. That and the 550GB of video shot and the 24hr time lapse we have running. Bigtime fun!!!!
You Can Become a Fighter Pilot!
You Can Become a Fighter Pilot! – September 10th – 13th, 2018
The Utah Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, Historic Wendover Airfield, and the United States Army Air Forces Historical Unit (Arizona Ground Crew Living History Unit, Inc.) is excited to announce that it will be holding a WWII Pilot Training Camp at the Historic Wendover Army Air Field. Wendover Field is the most intact WWII Airbase left in the United States.
During your five nights and four days of training you will:
– Receive a Flight Suit and Pilots Log Book.
– Barracks accommodations for five nights.
– Three meals per day in the Mess Hall.
– Training materials
– Receive Ground School Training on all aspects of flying operations.
– Take Primary Flight Training in the PT-17 Stearman.
– Conduct Advanced Flight Training in the AT-6 Texan
– Air Cadets will be flying every day (3.5hrs total airtime) during this condensed training course and upon completion will Graduate and earn their WINGS!
TRAIN WHERE THEY TRAINED!
SLEEP WHERE THEY SLEPT!
EAT WHERE THEY ATE!
Air Cadets will be sleeping in the WWII Barracks and messing (eating) in the WWII Mess Hall. Ground School will be conducted in the massive Enola Gay Hangar. Visit the WWII Service Club on base while not training for a little relaxation or just sit on your bunk in the barracks and write a letter home on your footlocker.
You will be immersed in the lifestyle and culture of the USAAF while serving during this Training Camp. You will learn what it was like to be an Air Cadet during WWII.
For MORE information please visit us on Facebook at WWII Pilot Training Camp or go to the registration page www.planetreg.com/WWIIPilotTrainingCamp
And in case you’re wondering, yes I’ll be there and we’re working on having an aviation workshop going in conjunction with this killer event! Stay Tuned!
Normandy Bound!
There in the middle of a Florida swamp, forest, field, parked, was a piece of our history that’s now Normany Bound! #43-48950 was built in 1943 and instantly sent to Europe becoming part of WWII history. The Vintage Aero Group is putting this special piece of history back in the air and along with 32 other C-47s from the USA, flying it to France, June 2019 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the D Day Landing. This two-year project began last summer and our cameras have been there from the beginning!
Peterson & Sons Productions are filming a documentary on 43-48950’s recovery, restoration, and reliving of its life in 1943 flying the northern route to Europe. This history belongs to us all and we’re going to share it all with you! We’ve created a website about the project and the documentary, Normandy Bound. There you can see the Offical Trailer for the documentary, read about the history of 43-48950 and our days of trials and successes on-site with 43-48950 with our cameras. It’s already been helluva of an adventure and there’s so much more to come. You can be a part of it. There are opportunities for the public to actually work on the aircraft for example, because the history belongs to us all. There a place on the website where you can contribute to the filming of the documentary (and we thank you for contributing in a special way). We invite you to come along, it’s going to be one heck of a ride in history!
Footnote: We are overwhelmed and incredibly grateful to all of you for your contributions! Thank you ever so much!