September 20th, 2009 was an extraordinary day in my life, but never did I imagine how special of a day it would be.

Bob Rankin, Andrew Monahan, his son, Andrew Jr. and I attended Wings & Wheels Expo at Teterboro Airport. It featured vintage aircraft from World War II. On display were a F4U Corsair, TBM Avenger, B25 Mitchell and a B-17G Flying Fortress “Yankee Lady”. While reading the flyer I had noticed by her name; “rides available”. Hmmm.

My interest in the B-17F’s began with the movie “Memphis Belle”. The story is too lengthy to tell, but I became acquainted, via e-mail with Mrs. Linda Morgan, the wife of Col. Robert Morgan, the pilot of the Memphis Belle. It was a short period due to both their hectic schedules attending air shows all over the country. Although, it was only for a few weeks, I could hardly believe the twist of fate that brought me into there lives. Col. Morgan sent me his book, autographed to me personally by him, The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle. The book is a keepsake from a chapter of American history that will never be forgotten. After reading the book, it was then I was able to separate history from Hollywood. In brief, that is some background of my attraction to the B-17 Flying Fortresses.

I do not like to fly, and will do anything to avoid it. However, if I want to visit my brother in California, I fly. Taking a step back to the event flyer, “rides available”, I start to say to myself, “this is a once in a life time chance for you to actually fly in a B-17”. “You will regret it if you don’t.” I walked in and out of the hangar at least a half dozen times passing the table where families were signing up for rides. I think the expression goes, “you snooze you loose”? I am thinking, again, this is a one shot chance, you will kick yourself it you don’t, just like you did with the Caddy in Hershey, another story. So, I sat down at the table and signed up for a ride!

The Yankee Lady, a B-17G, fought in several combat missions during World War II. After the war, she was used by the United States Coast Guard for various duties. She also appeared in the movie Tora Tora Tora. She has been restored to be flight worthy, but much of her remains original. I do not know if you have ever seen a B-17G up close and personal, she is a giant. A wing span is 103’ 9”, length 74’ 9”. The B-17F, Memphis Belle her weight empty approximately 65,500 pounds. The Yankee Lady, could carry more weight because of the larger bombs she carried.

It is now time to board. We get our instructions from the pilots and in we go. It was stepping into a time machine; 66 years ago. I looked and stared at every inch of her. I saw dents from where the left and right side gunners fired their weapons. There were and scrapes by the doors, the seats were small made of heavy canvas and your back rest was against the metal of the aircraft. The seat belt consisted of a leather strap with a clasp and that was it.

Now she is taxing down the runway and preparing for take off. I do not now if it was the adrenalin rush or the fact that I was actually inside this aircraft that has so much history and my interest. The artillery was still there, the radio, oxygen control, bomb sight that the bombardier used everything. Fear of flying; gone. I had no fear what so ever. I was so taken back from what I was looking at and the feeling of being in the air in this historic beautiful aircraft, I did not even want to take pictures. I was lost in time. All I wanted to do was enjoy the ride, look around and go back 66 years ago and wondered what it was like for the men that flew in her. A quick reality check was if I did not take photos, I would not have been able to share this wonderful experience with my friends on the ground. In addition, I would not have any memories for myself.

The most amusing thing was when it was time to take off our seat belts to walk around or to sit back in our seats to put our seat belts on; it was done by word of mouth. It started starting with the pilot then passed from passenger to passenger. It was great!

Our actual air time was thirty minutes. We had to circle the airport for about ten additional minutes before we could land. Inside the plane we all looked at one another, smiled and all of us were thinking “bonus time”. Ten more minutes in this amazing, beautiful historical aircraft. I was a perfect day for flying, clear skies and I could see for miles all around. The bridge that you see in one of the photos is the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and there is another photo, off in the distance of the George Washington Bridge. The entire flight was as smooth as glass, as was the landing. What I did find out later that her air speed to take of was 200 mph!

When we all began to leave the plane, the pilot told us to stand aside and wait. We all looked at each other and could not understand. The pilot then told us that there was a Veteran of World War II on our flight. The pilot presented him with a medal and placed it over his head. He said something to him that I cannot remember. There was not a dry eye among eleven strangers. We all shook his hand and thanked him for what he had done for us. There still was one more surprise for me. I received a certificate as an official crew member of the Yankee Lady.

I was so involved with the “Wings” section of the show; I neglected to tell you about the “Wheels”. You will see in the photos, Bob Rankin’s ’63 and my red ’78 under the wings of the Yankee Lady (the third photo, below). Permission to do this was granted by an associate of The Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of NJ and solely to us.