XBradTC

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XBradTC

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Columbine II

The very first Air Force One was an Air Force C-121. And after being found languishing in the boneyard in Arizona, it was partially restored to flightworthiness. And flown to Virginia to complete it’s restoration.  And along the way, the beautiful Constellation was filmed from a B-25 from the Mid America Flight Museum. Now, some…

The very first Air Force One was an Air Force C-121. And after being found languishing in the boneyard in Arizona, it was partially restored to flightworthiness. And flown to Virginia to complete it’s restoration.  And along the way, the beautiful Constellation was filmed from a B-25 from the Mid America Flight Museum.

Now, some of you sharper readers might have noticed that I took a hop in a B-25 about a week or so ago. And afterwards, as I was chatting with the flight crew, they explained to me that in addition to receiving donations from the public, they also hired out to serve as an air to air photography platform.  You may recall from this video that the rear pane of perspex was missing from the tail gunner position. But what you probably didn’t know was that many of the B-25s flying today can remove the entire rear of the aircraft, leaving a wide panorama for photography. You just gotta make sure the  photographer and his equipment are securely strapped in.

Man, oh man, the Connie is one sexy beast.

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Responses to “Columbine II”

  1. Captain Ned

    Pretty much all of the air-to-air shots in The Battle of Britain were shot out the back of a psychedlically-painted B-25.
    http://www.daveswarbirds.com/bob/b-25.htm

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  2. John in Philly

    According to family history, my first flight was in a Connie. That would have been about sixty years ago. Sadly, I do not remember.
    An awful lot of moving parts in those four engines.

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  3. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    Flew in the Save-A-Connie foundations Super G at Quincy, IL. It was the World Freefall Convention and yup got to jump out of it!!!! Awesome lines on that aircraft.

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  4. Quartermaster

    Truman Flew in a plane that was tagged “Independence.” Which was a C-54/DC-4. They didn’t call it Air Force one, however.
    My first flight was in a C-118/DC-6 flown by MATS which took us to Germany the first time in the late 50s. Came back 3 years later on the same type. Didn’t see another until I got on a R6D while in the Naval Reserve.
    I always wanted to get aboard a Connie, but never had the opportunity. I can’t remember if the MATS flew the Connie or not.

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  5. dhmosquito

    Check out “Down Under” twilight takeoff at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dExlu488bM4 & see the exhaust flames on those turbocompound R3350s! cheers chuck

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  6. Quartermaster

    Part of the Naval Reserve flight on the R6D was at night, and there was a constant flame from the exhaust stacks. That’s probably the case will all those old Wright radials.

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