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Re: [OM] Liberator Crash site

Subject: Re: [OM] Liberator Crash site
From: "John A. Lind" <jlind@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 00:06:10 +0000
At 11:42 8/1/01, you wrote:
I have made a little website with some photos of the War Memorial in Scotland that I visited with my wife and younger son. If anyone is interested, it is at:

http://www.threeshoes.co.uk/liberator/lib_grave_main.html

If that does not work, try going to http://www.threeshoes.co.uk and clicking on the link about 2/3rds of the way down the page.

Chris,
Thanks for posting these. We have a saying in the U.S. Army that are words to the effect: "So long as a single soldier still lives, those who went before are never forgotten." (I'm now retired.) Thanks for helping us live up to that.

Today I took a day of vacation today to photograph a B-17 Superfortress and B-24 Liberator as they landed at the very small airport here, and then to make some ground shots of them after they landed. Because the airport is so small, I was able to position myself less than 200 yards from the end of the runway, on the shoulder of a public road running between sets of approach lights. The B-17 is one of just a few still flying. The B-24 is the *only* one still flying.

Used the OM-4 with winder and 18/3.5 on a tripod. Had the traverse and elevation loosened so I could pan and track as they lined up on final approach. Was able to fill the viewfinder looking almost straight up as they passed overhead. I've never had a large aircraft fly over me that low. As they lined up it looked like they were headed straight for me (DOH, I guess they were). The thundering of their four radial engines was magnificent; nothing like any other aircraft I've heard before. I cannot imagine what it must have sounded like in the huge formations they flew during the war, when the sky would go dark from the numbers of them. For military aircraft over 55 years old, they are in "KEH EX" condition.

I was able to walk through each of them, if you can call it that. For the first time in my life, I felt aged. The crews had to be contortionists and gymnasts to move around the inside of them. Just getting from the forward hatch to the flight deck was a chore climbing around oxygen tanks and the top turret mount. The bombadier had to crawl through an opening below the flight deck to get to his station. Not a job for someone with vertigo; it hangs out into the plexiglass nose!

Got the OM-4 back from a CLA and overhaul by John H. just in time to use it for this. Performed flawlessly (thanks John). Shot two rolls of Kodachrome and now must wait a week for them to be processed. Never done the overflight shots before. It will be interesting to see how they turn out.

-- John


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