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My Dad was a Naval Aviator back in the 60's. Played hide and seek with Russian subs in the Pacific and did a couple deployments to 'Nam. Flew the P2V Neptune. Not as popular as the P-3, but a long history of military service. Still going strong as a wild fire aircraft, IIRC.
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During past summers, our IDPA matches would occasionally get buzzed by a Super Cub flown by the neighbor of two of the shooters.
The PBY Catalina is also still going strong as a water bomber for wildfires. The Cat may have been big, slow, and cumbersome, but it was a crucial plane in WWII, finding the Bismarck and the Japanese fleet heading for Midway among other actions which included countless SAR missions.
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Love the Catalina. Used to read about the Black Cat Squadrons when I was a kid.
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http://www.daveswarbirds.com/blackcat/
Brings to mind a TV series called Tales of the Gold Monkey that featured a Grumman G-21 Goose.
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I haz a sad, because back in '07 we went to the Museum of Flight with Mrs. Drangs father, and most of the pics I took seem to have disappeared. 909 (FKA Aluminum Overcast), Tondalayo, and, um, a B24 whose name at the time I cannot recall... :o
OTOH, I got to live out my 12 O'Clock High fantasies:
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Cool picture Drang!
My father-in-law, now deceased, was a waist gunner on B17s flying out of England when it didn't appear possible to survive the 25 missions. He was the only surviving member of his crew. On the mission the plane was lost, he had been pulled to work a gun cleaning detail and a newbie gunner was assigned for that flight. His plane was shot down with no survivors. He flew the remainder of the war and never got a scratch. It just wasn't his time to go.
909 is the Collings Foundation B-17. Aluminum Overcast is the EAA's. Both are still going strong.
Here is Aluminum Overcast right after it had been donated to the EAA. It had been used as a sprayer and for mapping. My dad took this in the late 70's.
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