[Tidbits] B-17

Jewelry Discussion
#1

Pilot to co-pilot. Props on. Fins out. Tail feathers working. Talons
bared. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? We’re up and off. Flying
Fortress to ground crew. This guy writing this article knows nothin’
about planes. Crackle crackle. Static static. Keep her steady Mac.
Bombs in place. Don’t worry about the writer. He’s in jewelry.
Doesn’t have to know crap about bombers.

3000 feet up. Noise on the radio. Can’t hear directives. Droning
engines throbbing through the body. Approaching German mainland.
Operation Pointblank. Operation Overlord. Nyahhhh. Tatatatah. Ground
crews firing up at us. Hold it Mac. Hold it. Two degrees south.
Whoosh. Whew. Close one. One more minute Mac. Thirty seconds. Ten.
Nine… Two. One. Open the hatches. Let 'em drop Mac. What’s this
guy writing about? Open the hatches? Let 'em drop? Where’d he learn
this stuff… this jeweler of yours?

Not to worry Mac. If he was a pilot he’d be piloting. He’s a jeweler
so he’s writing. Don’t know crap about planes and bombs and how they
work. Holy Moley. Look at that. Explosions. Clouds. Fire.
Devastation. Bodies blasting through the smoke. We got 'em Mac. I can
almost hear 'em screaming from way up here. You don’t mess with
Americans. Hey Hitler. Take that. And that. Thank you Boeing.

Before it’s over… 640, 000 plus tons of bombs dropped in Europe.
Got another mission Mac. Wanna go for it. Maybe Hiroshima. Nah. B-29
for that. Enola Gay. We’re off Mac. Another day another bombing. Here
we go… into the wild blue yonder… We’re an icon of American
power Mac. Open the hatches Mac. Let 'em rip. Hey jeweler. You
getting all of this?

Leave him alone Mac. He know nothing about bombers and flying
fortress. He knows nothing about operational protocol. He knows
nothing about spinning engines. But he knows his trade. He knows
about precious metals and brooches. And he knows about a Bomber pin
of a B-17 made out of silver with spinning props and dangling
compasses reading “Japan”. It’s from the 1940’s. It measures three
inches. It’s worth 50 bucks. You wanna see? All aboard what’s going
aboard.

For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… and you will see represented on our pages a
silver in representing one of America’s most renowned Bombers of
WWII… The Flying Fortress… The B-17.

And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark

#2

Hi Benjamin:

I may not know much about jewelry, or bombers for that matter, but
I’ve flown in a B-17. Those guys had guts.

The skin was aluminum thin enough you could stab a pencil through it,
(About 16-18 ga?) and the ribs and stringers were folded up out of
stuff that wasn’t a whole lot thicker. Imagining being five miles in
the air in that soda can, with people shooting at you. The Fortress
was famous for two things: almost always bringing her boys home, and
the devastating flat spins she went into when she couldn’t.

Those guys had guts.
Brian Meek.

#3

Brian,

I’ve often wondered what went through the minds of those amazing
people.

I don’t think I have enough imagination to make a guess.

A friend of mine was a door gunner during Viet Nam. To me he’s a
hero, but, I don’t think his wounds are healed. You can’t see them,
they’re inside and weren’t caused by bullets. “M”