The Newtown Pentacle

Thursday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As described yesterday, a humble narrator was tipped off by a neighbor that a museum aviation outfit, based in Arizona, would be making a July 4th oriented week long stand at Allegheny County Airport here in Pittsburgh.

They flew out two of their planes – a B-17 and a B-25 Mitchell – with the latter being the focal point of today’s post and the former yesterday’s. Links to information on both planes, the airport, and some general WW2 stuff were embedded in the prior post, so scroll down if you’re curious about such things.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The Wings of Victory people had set up ladders, of a common variety, to facilitate the climb up into the planes. Once within, you needed to drop down to all fours to move through its confines for an interval, at which point you were able to stand up but needed to stay stooped over. It was very quarters tight within, but these are warplanes and they weren’t built for comfort or for modern day American bodies.

These are still operational aircraft, as a note, and were flown here.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

From the prone position, this was what I saw while looking towards the nose of the plane. Below was the fore gunner’s station, above, the pilot and co-pilot/radio operator seats. I clumsily reoriented myself towards the neck of the plane, which would carry me through the bomb rack.

That’s right about when I started feeling a bit claustrophobic.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Squeezing through the breech above required sucking in the gut, but the buttons on my shirt were still clicking against the metal. All the kids on the tour jumped through like deer, whereas me and all the other fat assed old men had to turn sideways and hope for the best.

Americans were physically smaller back then, in stature and especially in body weight. Back then, the average height on a draftee was just under 5’ 8,” and their weight would have been about 150 lbs.

Modern day yanks… we don’t have lived knowledge of famine, drought, or financial depressions like they did back then. We’ve been very well fed, as a country, for the last 80 years. In 2024, the average weight of an American male is 197.9 lbs.

On the bomber doors and bomb bay walls, several former service members had left behind autographs with their unit information.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

All of the kids were having an absolute blast, and were allowed somewhat free rein to explore. As you’d imagine, those machine guns on the windows were often grasped and ‘choom-choom-choom-gigatah-gigetah-gigateh’ sounds were enunciated more than once.

After leaving the plane, and checked the time on my phone, it was time to leave as I had another destination for the afternoon. I had driven here, so it’d be reached by automobile. It’s still quite novel owning a car, after all those years living in the center of NYC.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

On my way out of Allegheny County Airport and to the parking lot, I noticed that the emergency fire unit, which is housed on the airport property, had just deployed their trucks in front of the hangar/garage which they operate out of. Neat.

My next destination was about a 25 minute long drive away, but more on that tomorrow.

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