An Ol' Flying Fortress

Much to the delight of Simon, this last week the Municipal Nampa Airport was home to a B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber along with a B-25. For the past while every time an airplane would fly over head Simon would ask, "Daddy, is that one a Bombeh?? I think that was a Bombeh!" If you know Simon, he's still working on the pronounciation of his R's. We hope he'll grow out of it some day, but it'll be a little sad when he does.

So, to Simon's shear delight, what should fly into Lil' Ol' Nampa, some REAL Bombers! Even if planes aren't your thing, I think just about everyone could appreciate these aircraft, and the history they represent. These two aircraft in particular were pristine, completely restored right down to every last detail. Thousands of B-17's were produced during the 2nd World War, and of the 12 airworthy ones still flying, this is the only 'fully operational' B-17. If you've seen old war reals of American planes in massive formation dodging flak and getting shot at, it was probably B-17's.

 Giant bomber a 5 min. walk from Si's front door...priceless!

 One of the 13  50 cal. machine guns this old plane carried...hence the name "flying fortress".

 If there was ever any doubt that people were a wee bit skinnier back in the day, check out the size of this ball turret. Most of the men/boys who fit in there were 18 or 19 and couldn't have been over 150 lbs.

 Bombs!

 Walking back across the ramp to the MAF hangar. The left side is where the 3 training aircraft operate out of, and the right side is where older tired aircraft go to get that 'extreme makeover'. But since you're now on the edge of your seat with curiosity, maybe I'll save that for another juicy exciting aircraft maintenance blog post :)

Back home across the road, Luke and Si have been prepping for overseas by finding whatever creepy crawlies happen to call the MAF property home. Under the bush behind Luke there is a little garden variety snake trying its best to hide from a couple curious boys. At least here, they're not poisonous!