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Back in
the summer of 2006, I had the great honour to fly in the Lone Star
Flight Museums B-17, while it was being positioned between airshows.
At that time, Larry Gregory, President of the Museum outlined to me
his plans for starting a formal passenger ride program in 2007.
The 2007
Wings Over Houston Airshow promised the opportunity to sample the
LSFM's new flight program personally, with both the B-17 Flying Fortress
and B-25 Mitchell available for rides.
Having called in advance to see if it
would be possible to purchase rides in both airplanes over the
airshow weekend, the race was on to find accommodation near the show
and an airline ticket to get their at a price I could afford.
With the trip planned in accordance
with our own
Pathfinders
page hints and advice, nothing was left to chance,
or so I thought !
Although the official airshow web site
carried details of the airplanes that would be offering rides over
the weekend, I was surprised that no mention of these opportunities
were to be found in the airshow programme. There was no mention of
rides given out over the PA system either ..... hence, unless you
actually already knew about them and walked up to speak to the
respective crews, you might have had no idea that they were hoping
to fly people after the airshow !
And so, despite the low number of
people booked to fly in the airplane, Larry Gregory kindly decided
we would get to ride onboard "Thunderbird".
As the majority of the crowd headed
for home, a small band of passengers accompanied by pilots Paul
Evangelista and Jim Hahn and flight engineer Cliff Spencer made a
very different journey.
This may
have been my thirteenth ride in a B-17, but thanks to the dedicated
people at the LSFM, it was a memorable ride
none the less ! |
