B17 Flying Fortress

Yesterday was a banner day for photography between birds and bombers. I left the house well before six so I could go down to the airport in Ukiah to photograph EAA's restored B17 World War Two Bomber "Aluminum Overcast". The B17 was the first mass produced four engine heavy bomber used during WWII. It got the name from a Seattle newspaper reporter who when seeing all its machine guns deemed it a "Flying Fortress". The aircraft is currently on tour of the US with an all volunteer crew and support staff. The aircraft is only one of fourteen left flying in the world today from the thousands built during the war.Over a third were lost after being shot down during the war. Another third were lost due to accidents and crashes. After the war most of the rest were scrapped. Aluminum Overcast never saw combat as it was manufactured close to the end of the war and was never put into a combat role. After seeing the aircraft it was hard to imagine the feelings of all of the young flight crews that flew these aircraft into combat. Holding your position among other aircraft while under fire from flak and fighters must have been a terrifying experience.Even though it was well armed each .50 machine gun on the aircraft only carried roughly a minutes worth of ammunition.The ammunition was stored on a belt next to the gun that was roughly nine yards long. That's where the saying giving them the whole nine yards comes from. What an incredible piece of history and a living monument to those brave men and women of the "Greatest Generation" that served during world War Two and many wars and conflicts after. A Special thank you to them and to the EAA for bringing it to Ukiah,CA. God bless, chris

Hanging On

Lance Creek, Wyoming played an important role in WWII. The aviation fuel made from crude oil from the oilfields here had a higher than normal octane and was used by the Allied aircraft fighting the Germans over Europe.During it's boom several thousand people lived in the gas and oil camps in Lance Creek. It was once an active place filled with oil and gas camps and a carbon black factory. There were numerous restaurants, barber shops and beauty parlors, mechanic shops,filling and service stations,lumber yards,grocery stores,cold storage, a hardware and feed store, drug stores, a turkey farm wow!, dairies, laundromats, shoe repair shop, trucking and construction companies,Amazing it even had a 5 and 10, and of course several bars.You can't have rough necks without a bar or two. There were plenty of things for people to do as well. You could play tennis, golf, shoot at the range, go roller skating and ice skating, see a movie, go bowling, play pool or it you had a plane, Lance Creek has it's own airport. Once a bustling place Lance Creek has slowly declined. The 2010 census showed that forty three people make there home in Lance Creek.On my short visit looking at the school and some of the remaining buildings it's incredible to think about all of the lives that were once a vibrant part of this place. Many have moved on an there are a few souls that still make this place their home. God bless, chris Special thanks to my Brother in Law Steve Kant for his oral history and tour of Lance Creek and to The Niobrara Public Library for "Niobrara Historical Brevity" published by the Niobrara Historical Society, in observance of the Lusk Centennial 1886-1986