Hosted by the Commerative Air Force (CAF), Warbird weekend is an annual chance to get up close and personal with some pieces of history. This year featured:

Texas Raiders - One of 3 still flying B-17's in the US, and really the only one that actually still flies often (as in most weekends during airshow season).
Devil Dog - A Marine Corp PBJ-1 (a B-25 Mitchell), not sure how many are still actually flying, but it can't be too many.
That's All Brother - The LEAD aircraft of D-Day, not a repro, not a repaint, but a very expensive restoration. An absolute piece of history.
T-6 Texan - Single engine trainer
U-3 - USAF version of the Cessna 310 (310B to be specific IIRC)

So not a lot of planes, but well worth the price. All the A/C were fully open, you could clamber in them and on them to as much degree as was safe. This was a heck of an experience. For a fee you could even go up for rides (next year if anyone's willing to fund some flights, I will be more than happy to go up and record the whole thing). Pricing wasn't bad actually, $75 for a backseat ride in the U-3 to $800 for sitting in the bombardiers seat of Texas Raiders ($475 for waist gunners positions).

So being able to climb around in the various A/C gave me a different perspective than I have had for years. To start with the big guys (B-17, PBJ-1, and C-47) are TALL. As in you can comfortably walk under the wings front to back with cracking your head at 5'10", and not crouching too much. The bottom on the engine cowlings are probably close to 5' off the ground.

The B-17 is incredibly cramped inside, every thing is almost on top of itself. The walkway in the bombay is narrow, as in at 5'10 220 I barely fit between the V supports sideways. Big guys in flak gear and bundled up would have had no chance of fitting through. Getting from the nose to the cockpit would require a contortionist act, and the ball turret is even smaller than you think it is. A 13 year old these days would probably find it a bit cramped.

The PBJ-1/B-25 is about the same. The fuselage is barely shoulder width across, and getting into the tail gun requires a combination of spelunking an gymnastics to make it. The cockpit pretty much has you rubbing shoulders with each other as well.

The C-47 is actually fairly roomy in the back. The seat pans are a little close for modern sized folks, but it's actually got a lot more room between you knees and the guy across from you then you do on some birds now days. The cockpit is tight, but actually little roomier than the B-25, about on par with the B-17.

The T-6 is about what you'd expect for a WW2 era trainer. Bigger on the ground than you'd think, and more cramped inside than you'd expect lol. Also when the pilot would blast the throttle to whip it around to park, it'll send everyone's hat flying just for reference. The U-3 is a pretty comfortable, and pretty dang sporty, I was impressed with how well it climbed out.

I've got to say that listening to a B-17 startup, and then take off is AWESOME, same with the PBJ-1, and C-47. They are pieces of history, and very important pieces at that.

If you can make it down I highly recommend doing so!

I shot a lot of film (I've got 3 rolls left to scan), so more pics will be added this week at some point. Here's some teasers, the fully gallery is here (LINK). (I'm posting lower res versions on Flickr due to some issues I've had. If you would like a full res version for personal non-commercial use, just PM me.) I'll put up another post about shooting photos, for those who might find that of interest.

So the lighting was BRIGHT as in full Sunny 16 in effect (actually it seemed like "Sunny 16 plus a full stop" at times). Digital this isn't a huge deal as you can simply set the camera on aperture priority and go to work. The only time this really became an issue was when the sky was visible from inside the A/C as it would totally screw up the metering. Bringing a strobe would have solved that problem, so lesson learned for next year. I tried a few shots with the on camera flash, they turned out about as bad as you'd expect. Shooting film was a bit hit or miss (more hit than miss at least). I had a couple technical issues. I had a film back on my medium format come loose so I had a HUGE light leak, I think I got 2 usable frames off that roll. The other was on my 35mm, I had a leader pull out of the take up roll so I spent and hour shooting blanks. However even with all that I got some pretty dang solid shots, and it was fun to shoot full manual all day. I even busted out my light meter (which is analog as well), and got some good stuff that way too. I was planning on going out day 2 and shooting some large format stuff with my Speed Graphic, but due to some family scheduling issues I didn't get the chance to do so. There's always next year though.

In case anyone cares:

Digital: Pentax K-50 with the 18-55mm kit lens - This is a surprisingly good lens for what it is, you have to stop it down a little for maximum sharpness but for what I ask of it it does great.
35mm: Pentax Spotmatic with a 50mm kit lens (this is 1967 vintage, as my Dad bought it in Thailand during Vietnam on RR); Kodak Tri-X 400 (not scanned and up yet); FujiColor 200 (WAAAY expired, hey it's what I had on hand, and it turned out great)
120mm: Koni Omega M with 90mm lens (this is the standard lens for this sucker); Kodak Tri-X 400 (not scanned yet either); Artista Edu Ultra 400; Kodak Ektar 100

-Jenrick

Wow, didn't know that C-47 had been preserved. Thanks for the info and the photo!

Cool. FiFi is out in Western MA, I think Westover right now. Wish I could have gotten out there, should be a good number of WWII aircraft at that air show

Oh man, I'd love to see Fifi or Doc in person, huge B-29 fan. I was Doc backer on KS, maybe I'll make it out to Oshkosh one of these years to see her in person.

-Jenrick