Every once in a while I will hear the drone of a B17 overhead. Warhawk Air Museum is a very neat place, and they try to keep their birds in flying condition.
I highly recommend also the Collings Foundation.
collingsfoundation.org
Every year they take a set of warbirds on their "Wings of Freedom Tour" around the country. They offer flight experiences in several of their planes.
Yea, compared to a lot of modern aircraft, even the B-17 and B-24 are rather small, relatively speaking.
I have flown in both their B-17 and their B-24.
They are surprisingly small. They may have been big for their day, but inside, the B-17 is amazingly small and cramped!
This view in the B-17 is from the flight engineer's station, looking aft. That very narrow corridor you see is the bomb bay. There is about a 6 inch wide plank you can walk between the bombs (present in the pic). And in case you didn't know, the bomb bay doors are spring loaded to keep the weather out, but not to keep anything IN. Any weight on those doors and they will open and release whatever is upon them, be it a loose bomb or a mis-placed crewman. Beware, that first step is a doozy!
In the after section, the waist gunner positions offer probably the most open position in the plane. Still, at 5'10" I could not stand up.
The B-24 at least is tall enough that you can stand up in the waist.
But the nose, underneath the front turret, is quite cramped!
Is that a Norden bombsite? Well, it's a Bombadier Mk 1, that much we know!
Beginning turn for final run on U.S.S. Iowa …
There she is … a perfect approach to target!
And then a relaxing ride home in the comparative luxury of a B-24 waist.
Hey, if you consider yourself a WW2 aviation history buff to even a minor degree, the experience is NOT to be missed!
-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)