Crawl through a B-24 Bomber IN FLIGHT!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to crawl through a B-24 bomber in flight? Today, we're going to find out. Alright, we just got in the airplane. We're waiting for the pilots to start up the engines and taxi out. Where we're starting this off is we're sitting right behind the cockpit, right down below it. Taxi, all aircraft required to read back runway assignment and hold short instructions. Advise our initial contact, give information Tango. Clearance delivery, it's N224JB24L. We're going to be doing a VFR flight to the northwest for about 30 minutes and then back for landing. N224J, contact ground for taxi. Ground, experimental N224J, we're at Banyan, pilot shop, taxi with you. Experimental 224J, ground, runway 9, taxi via B9E. Runway 9, B9E for experimental 224J. 93012, ground. Yeah, with the B17 over at Banyan, we go off our local VFR northwestbound, out and back in about 20 minutes. IFR or are you just going on your own? No, we're just going on our own, we're just local VFR out to the back of the area and back. Without a code, N93012, runway 9, taxi via B9E. B9E to 9, thank you much, 212. N224J. 224J, go ahead. N224J, wind 150 at 14, altimeter 2 at 99.70, caution for birds and drones on departure, contact tower, safe flight. Thank you much, 224J. I think we'll have to hold the yoke pretty good. 224J, ready in sequence for departure. 224J, go for it. Continuing the checklist. Okay, the briefing, we'll set 44 for takeoff, go, no goes, 100. Failure or problem prior to that, we'll stop on the runway after that. 48 on the symmetrical engine, 44 on the unsymmetrical engine, flaps to 5, gear up, 140. We are ready for departure, we can taxi up to the hold line if you want. Okay, cleared for takeoff, runway 9, left downwind, departure approved, 422J. Briefing, questions? No questions. Takeoff checklist complete, clear right. Wind 150 at 13, gusts 18. Runway 9, cleared to land, 130, Kilo. Gusts 18. 60 degrees, final, clear. Okay, roger that, got him on the pitchfinder, no visual, he's on top. Okay, we got the same situation, so we'll bring him up to 25. Engines look good. And the green. On the roll. Set 44. Airspeed's at 80. 90. 100, lock him down. Brakes are set, gear up. Speedo, 40. Speedo. Left turn. Gears up, neutral. Roger. 1 and 2 look good. 3 and 4 good. Alright, here we go. Welcome aboard everybody. It's time to let Captain Greg and Captain Will do their thing up front. Let's go explore this 1944 B-24 Liberator. The B-24 was designed as an American heavy bomber. It was able to carry up to 8,800 pounds of ordnance. It has six gun stations with 10 .50 caliber 12.7 millimeter M2 Browning machine guns located in the turrets in the waist gun positions. We're going to start our tour off with exploring the nose gunner position. First, we've got to get by this nose wheel which is spinning really fast after the takeoff. Arriving here at the front of the airplane was the location of the bombardier and the nose gunner. This location was actually considered more dangerous than the others due to the likeliness of flak from enemy guns penetrating the nose of the airplane. The bombardier was tasked with one of the most important jobs of the crew. A crew without a properly trained bombardier, the airplane would effectively be useless in the campaign if he was not able to do his job properly as the Liberator was designed with bombing in mind. The flight crew and the bombardier shared a common bond. When the bombing run would commence, the bombardier would actually take control of the airplane via autopilot during the bombing run. The nose gunner was awarded with one of the most unparalleled views of the bombing missions giving him full access of the forward view of the different bombing missions. You can only imagine what it would have been like to look out these windows at the different fighters trying to attack your airplane and knowing you had to defend your bomber. Now that we're finished exploring the nose of the airplane, we're going to crawl up into the chair of the dorsal turret gunner position. This is right behind the cockpit of the airplane. This position was manned by the flight engineer and gave the best defensive vantage point due to the available firing arc compared to the other gunner positions. This turret had a control panel which was motorized. You can see the control panel there. Also, when you look out the windows, you would think that the gunner would have to be very careful not to shoot off his own tail. Now that we're finished with the dorsal turret gunner position, we're going to make our way down out of the chair. We're going to go back towards the rear of the airplane. And to get there, we have to go through the bomb bay. So be careful here, guys. We have to follow this narrow little pathway. On each side of it are the bomb bay doors. One step on those and you'll be dropping with the bombs. It's pretty interesting to walk through this bomb bay during flight with the motion of the airplane, knowing you have to stay in this small little pathway. Looking at all the different bombs in the racks is pretty interesting. Before we continue this tour, let's go check in with Captain Greg and Captain Will. If anybody's listening, I'm Steve Oland. We just leveled off the B-17, took off from Fort Lauderdale Executive. We're at about 43,000 pounds of weight at 1,500 feet. Have the engines idled back to a low cruise power of 30 inches. About 2,000 RPM. We're burning about 200 gallons per hour of fuel and about 4 gallons per hour of oil right now. Smooth, beautiful day. On board are 10 really excited people to be flying on the B-24. Some of them had family members fly the airplane in World War II, which is pretty significant. Up here flying with me is Will. He's an airline pilot, a very accomplished guy. Air Force veteran mechanic. Much better pilot than I, but it's my turn to fly today. It's a privilege for us to fly the B-24. The only remaining flying example of combat veteran. All the original combat equipment and stuff on it. It's in memory of the thousands of men, young men, that flew the airplane and didn't come home from combat that we fly today. We're just northwest of the Fort Lauderdale area over the Everglades. Our passengers, now that we're safely airborne, their seatbelts are off. They're allowed to, under supervision, move around the airplane from the nose turret to the tail turret, bombardier station, navigator station, through the bomb bay, waist guns, experience all of that. The difference is today it's about 75 degrees where we're at right now. In combat over Europe it might be minus 20 or minus 30 at altitude. Be flying in formations with several other airplanes, up to several hundred other airplanes. Been a lot going on for those young crews. Between Will and I, we have a little over 20,000 flight hours. Lucky if a combat crew had 1,000 hours between the two pilots in those days. They were great guys. Everything we do is about preserving this airplane so that other people can see it and experience it. We don't believe in parking it in a museum. We want to take it to the small airports around the country. 110 different sites we go to each year. You can go on the Collins Foundation website to see where we're going. All our turns are nice and gentle. It's just easy on the machine. A couple things to share with you right now, the four engines to get their propellers exactly in synchronization with four engines. This is a little harder than two, but right now we're flying into the sun and Will or I can look across at those prop blades and you can see the visual strobing. What Will's done is a perfect job. As I look at engine number one and two on the left side, there's no strobing visible at all, so they're perfectly in sync. Same thing on the engines on the right side. On the airplane, you can see from the camera that's behind the cockpit, all the original equipment on here. The only compromise we've made is a modern navigation system and modern radios to deal with the modern aircraft control system. Everything else is as it was. This is actually where the autopilot control panel was in World War II. It's in that box where we installed the modern avionics. Well, that was fun checking in with the guys up front. Now that we're back down in the belly of this airplane, let's continue exploring the B-24. We have now arrived at the position of the ball turret. The smallest bomber crew personnel were usually assigned this position due to the tight quarters. They did not wear a parachute. The ball turret on the B-24 was able to be retracted into the fuselage during takeoff and landing. It was considered the coldest position on the plane, and crew members would often report of frostbite. We now arrive at my personal favorite gunner position on the B-24, the waist gunner position. This area consisted of two crew members, one on each side of the airplane, getting to stand in an open-air window with their machine gun. I could only imagine being up in altitude and how cold it must have been for the crew members back then. We now arrive at the last gunner position on the B-24. This is the location of the tail gunner. The tail gunner was tasked to guard the bomber's 6 o'clock position. It would be common for him to find trailing enemy aircraft, eagerly looking for an easy kill. As we get in here, you can see there's not a lot of room. On the left-hand side, you'll see all the oxygen indicators and gauges. And over on the right here, you'll see the audio panel. It's pretty interesting to see how the controls all work that would maneuver the gun mode. Hey, Stevo. Looks like they're coming around to land. Better go get your seat. Captain Mindy? I didn't know you were on this flight. Thanks for the heads up. We better go find our seats. Let's go back up front and join Captain Greg and Captain Will as they bring the B-24 back in for landing. Runway 9, 1-6-0-10, 10-knot crosswind. Correct. We'll use the full flaps, 120 miles an hour on short final. We're a little heavier than we were before. We'll remember the crosswind. We'll plan on using the full length of the runway. If you have to do a go-around, I'll bring it up to 40 inches. Copilot will bring the props up to 2,500 RPM. Engineer, if you could get the flaps to half immediately. Yes, sir. Once we have a positive rate, gear up, we'll come back around and try it again. Wind 1,500, 1-0, gust 2-0. Gust of 20. All right. Tango Tower, Liberator 224J, 12 miles to the northwest with Tango for landing. Martini 24J, excel, fire it up. We'll give you an ident for 224J. Martini 24J, next random runway 9, verified as Tango. We have information Tango, make a straight end runway 9 for Liberator 224J. Martini 24J, legit, just land runway 9 and report it. Gain or loss of 10 knots at 1,000 feet. Thank you, Martini. 224J, turning final 9. Martini 24J, traffic, mile final runway 13, runway 9, cleared to land, wind 170 at 1-6, gust 2-0. Runway 9, cleared to land for Liberator 224J. 20 knots, gusting to 20 knots, crosswind, gears. Handles neutral, 3 green, squeezing my brake. Green will be on the right. And on the left, flaps 3. Flaps 3. And we'll verify checklist. Flaps 3, 7A, make left traffic. Gear down. Brakes are checked, turbos are set. Flaps to go. Flaps 4. Here comes flaps. Flaps are full. Neutral. Checklist complete, cleared to land. 436J, contact ground. Okay, 8. Towers. Alright. About 115 on speed. There you go. 437A, traffic, final runway 9 on runway 13, cleared to touch and go. Correction. Yoke. Martini 24J, turn right 1, able contact ground, good day. We'll go to the end, turn right to ground for 224J. Andres, you're cleared on 3. Thank you. Yoke ground, liberator 224J, on Charlie, we're parking at Bayman, about 5-4. November 24J, cross runway 13 and continue via Bravo. Cleared to cross runway 13 at Charlie and continue Bravo. Alright, that's a wrap. Big thank you to the Collins Foundation and the Wings of Freedom Tour. If you liked that video, please smash that thumbs up button, subscribe to the channel. We'll talk again someday soon.