Visiting a B-24 Bomber

The Collins Foundation (http://www.collingsfoundation.org/) flys a restored B-24 bomber (along with a B-17 and a P-51 fighter aircraft) to various airports around the United States each year. This week, they were in McKinney, so we went to see them. We waited in line at Cutter Aviation.

There were a million school kids ahead of us. As it turned out, when we got to the ticket place, the man in charge took one look at me and said "you guys go right on in".

I'm sitting under the inboard engine of the B-24J. This is the aircraft type I trained to be a radio operator on during WWII.

Here I am by the main landing gear.

This restored B-24 is painted to commemorate a particular aircraft that fought during the war.

This is a view of the bom bay, with some dummy bombs on the bomb rack.

This is the radio operator's station. This is where I would have been, if I had been deployed into action. Thank the Lord, the war ended before I had to go into action.

A highlight of the visit was being thanked for my service during the war by a group of people who were visiting the display.