We lost another one today......

JerryS · Nov 11, 2017

Mr. Leonard would have considered it a great honor that his last day here would be Veterans' Day. He flew 30 missions, including bombing runs over Germany and air support for the D-Day landings. He was a top turret gunner on the B-17 and the B-24. I asked him once on how many of his missions was his plane hit by bullets or flak, and he said, "All of them." He bailed out of one over England, and another crash landed. He always joked that he still owes the government for two airplanes.

A few years ago I took him out to see a B-17 and a B-24 that came to town. His eyes glistened the whole time.

Steve A W · Nov 12, 2017

Rest in peace Mr. Leonard.
You earned it.

Steve A W

gtractorfan · Nov 12, 2017

Different era, I wonder what those guys back then would have done with someone disrespecting our flag? BTW. a B 24 has a narrower fuselage than I imagined.

Texasmark1 · Nov 12, 2017

Salute you sir for your service.

Willow Run in Michigan was Ford's B24 assy. Plant. He built thousands of them. The story about the task and how he went about it makes for good reading. Going to Google Maps, Satellite, you can still see some of the remnants of that factory. As I recall a B24 came off the assy line something like every hour. The whole thing was built in one building, like a mile long (recollecting)...raw materials in one end and finished product out the other. Had an airstrip there for "shakedown" 1st flight.

Goose · Nov 12, 2017

First flights off the assembly line must have involved some trepidation.

BTW, I read somewhere once that if you could taxi a B-24 you could fly it.

620 John · Nov 12, 2017

It's sad to see the WW2 veterans generation passing on. I always enjoy reading, listening, and talking to WW2 veterans.

Thank you to all you veterans out there.

dr sportster · Nov 12, 2017

That was really great of you to take him to see those planes !

Texasmark1 · Nov 13, 2017

I read that they were hard to fly and the long skinny " high aspect ratio Davis wing." that was designed for better lift and less drag than the (big fat) Boeing wing in the B-17 couldn't take the pounding the 17 could. The nose wheel apparatus for steering it was manual and said to be a bear, and they had engine problems initially at high altitudes...superchargers fixed that. However there were thousands of them built and they did what had to be done.... Ploiești, Romania oil refineries for one......flying from airfields around "Benghazi", Africa..........Operation Tidal Wave.

JML755 · Nov 13, 2017

(quoted from post at 08:12:10 11/12/17) Salute you sir for your service.

Willow Run in Michigan was Ford's B24 assy. Plant. He built thousands of them. The story about the task and how he went about it makes for good reading. Going to Google Maps, Satellite, you can still see some of the remnants of that factory. As I recall a B24 came off the assy line something like every hour. The whole thing was built in one building, like a mile long (recollecting)...raw materials in one end and finished product out the other. Had an airstrip there for "shakedown" 1st flight.

I walked down the office hallway of that plant many times. IIRC, It was said to be the longest single hallway anywhere. Couldn't see the end,it ran parallel to the factory floor.

GarryinNC · Nov 13, 2017

19,256 B-24s built. More than any other WWII aircraft, I think. That is a lot of bombers. Had a relative that was flight engineer on B-24s in the Pacific Theater.

We lost another one today......

JerryS

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Steve A W

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gtractorfan

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Texasmark1

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Goose

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620 John

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dr sportster

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Texasmark1

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JML755

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GarryinNC

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