Great photo of B17's, the Flying Fortress

I stopped by a garage sale yesterday and came away with old pictures of military aircraft. I don't
know who to give credit to as this one has no names on it. It was probably some promotional shot.
These B17's are flying over Manhattan. I'm not certain if the B17 was the first or only to be called
the Flying Fortress as there were other "B's". It looks like the one is docked to the Empire State
Building like Zeppelins were suppose to. The shot, probably taken from one of the B17's in
formation, is looking east north east towards Brooklyn. One can see Macy's among many other
landmarks. The building that I lived in for 12 years at 37th and Fifth is in the shadow of the
Empire State Building. A B17 was depicted on the US 32 cent stamp Scott 3142K "Flying Fortress"
shown at:
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/b17lg.html
Anyone who wants can download the picture (a 224K version also) for their own use as it could be
used by WWII and aircraft philatelists.
TL

Here is the smaller scan (opens quicker):
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/b17.html

TL wrote:

I stopped by a garage sale yesterday and came away with old pictures of military aircraft. I don't
know who to give credit to as this one has no names on it. It was probably some promotional shot.
These B17's are flying over Manhattan. I'm not certain if the B17 was the first or only to be called
the Flying Fortress as there were other "B's". It looks like the one is docked to the Empire State
Building like Zeppelins were suppose to. The shot, probably taken from one of the B17's in
formation, is looking east north east towards Brooklyn. One can see Macy's among many other
landmarks. The building that I lived in for 12 years at 37th and Fifth is in the shadow of the
Empire State Building. A B17 was depicted on the US 32 cent stamp Scott 3142K "Flying Fortress"
shown at:
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/b17lg.html
Anyone who wants can download the picture (a 224K version also) for their own use as it could be
used by WWII and aircraft philatelists.
TL

Thanks Victor, I installed another page indexing where the main NYC Post Office is plus a few other
points. It's good to know for April 15th so a ny resident can take their tax return at 11.59 PM to
be postmarked by the deadline.
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/b17c.html

Victor Manta wrote:

Impressive indeed!

--
Victor Manta

"Tom Loepp" wrote in message
-choppaloppa- A B17 was depicted on the US 32 cent stamp Scott
3142K "Flying Fortress"
shown at:
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/b17.html
Anyone who wants can download the picture (a 224K version also) for their
own use as it could be
used by WWII and aircraft philatelists.
TL

An interesting photo, Tom, although from the composition (!) I would say it
was an amateur photo. The juxtaposition of the bomber and the Empire State
Building*is the equivalent of the utility pole growing out of a bride's head
in a wedding photo: it just leaps out at you, and that's all you ever see
from that point on. And now that I have brought coals to Newcastle....

The aircraft look like YB-17As, which the U.S. Army Air Corps began flying
in March, 1937, but they could be other, later incarnations of the same
aircraft. I don't know what the "Y" of YB17*meant, but it was soon dropped.
The flight of bombers that was approaching Hawaii when Pearl Harbour was
attacked were B-17Ds, but looked the same. Later in the war, the
tear-drop-shaped bubbles on the sides and top of the fuselage were taken
out; those on the sides were "replaced" by large, rectangular machine-gun
ports. The vertical tail assembly was changed, and given a dorsal fin.
Towards the end of the war, the aircraft bristled with machine-gun turrets;
in fact, it was so heavily armed with .50 calibre machine guns and armour
plating that its bomb load and/or range was greatly reduced. One variant,
called the B-40 according to a web site I found --
http://www.frontiernet.net/~pendino/B17.htm -- was designed to protect
other B-17s and was fitted with 30 machine guns!

I don't know of any other bomber that was called the Flying Fortress. The
were the B-24 Liberator, the B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Invader. The latter two
were light attack bombers; the B-25 was used to carry out the first attack
on Japan. My Uncle Phil worked with a crew of radio repairmen in the Pacific
during the war, and was transported from island to island in an unarmed
B-25. Here is an image of B-25 linen postcard in my collection:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/images/b25pc20.jpg.

The B-29 Superfortress destroyed scores of Japanese cities, including
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people aren't aware that more people died in
firestorms in Tokyo than in the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. A field post
cover in my collection was mailed from Tinian Island, home base of the atom
bomber Enola Gay, just 12 days before the bombing of Hiroshima:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/tinian.jpg.

The B-36 was the first bomber designed to carry nuclear bombs. The B-36 was
called the Peacemaker, which was wholly appropriate for this period, when
government policy makers reasoned that having the The Bomb would be a
deterrent to its use. Having nuclear bombs available would ensure peace, or
so it was thought. The sound of the B-36, created by its six turboprop and
four turbojet engines, was unforgettable; see a photo of the plane and hear
its weird, unforgettable sound at
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~pknox/b36/sound.html.

Later Boeing, all-jet bombers include the B-47 Stratojet, flown by Jimmy
Stewart in the movie Strategic Air Command (he actually was a bomber pilot
during the Second World War, flying on several bombing missions over
Germany); the B-52 Stratofortress (although it dates from the 1950s, it has
been used as recently as March and April of this year in Iraq), the B-57
Canberra (I saw one of these in flight in 1966 in Vietnam) and the B-58
Hustler, a supersonic nuclear bomber.

In most cases, these aircraft have played major rolls as the world's has
spun along its tortuous course. ), I am sure that stamps featuring all of
these aircraft are well represented in the issues of many countries, and
there are many postcards available as well.

Thanks again for sharing that interesting photo.

Bob

-------
No one appreciates the very special genius of your
conversation as a dog does. -- Christopher Morley
-------





From: Tom Loepp
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2003 13:19:26 GMT
Subject: Great photo of B17's, the Flying Fortress

I stopped by a garage sale yesterday and came away with old pictures of
military aircraft. I don't
know who to give credit to as this one has no names on it. It was probably
some promotional shot.
These B17's are flying over Manhattan. I'm not certain if the B17 was the
first or only to be called
the Flying Fortress as there were other "B's". It looks like the one is docked
to the Empire State
Building like Zeppelins were suppose to. The shot, probably taken from one of
the B17's in
formation, is looking east north east towards Brooklyn. One can see Macy's
among many other
landmarks. The building that I lived in for 12 years at 37th and Fifth is in
the shadow of the
Empire State Building. A B17 was depicted on the US 32 cent stamp Scott 3142K
"Flying Fortress"
shown at:
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/b17lg.html
Anyone who wants can download the picture (a 224K version also) for their own
use as it could be
used by WWII and aircraft philatelists.
TL

Bob Ingraham wrote :
..........

I don't know what the "Y" of YB17 meant, but it was
soon dropped.

Bob,

Many thanks for your very interesting post (as ever ;-)
(and also to Tom for sharing this nice picture with us)

If I recall correctly, here is how the US codify their military
aircraft.

For instance in B 17 D :

The first letter tells the category of aircraft :

A Attack
B Bomber
C Carrier
E Electronic warfare
F Flight refueling
H Helicopter
L Light aircraft ?
O Observation
P Patrol
R Reconnaissance
S Strike
T Trainer
U (like the U2 shot by the Soviets : I forgot the meaning of the U)
X eXperimental aircraft

(and other letters I forgot the meaning)

Letters can be associated like CF for a carrier & refuelling aircraft or
EF for a fighter specially used in an electronic warfare role.

Then comes a number : B17 is the 17th bomber adopted by the US forces.
But when the numner is too large, it comes back to 1 : B1 and B2 are
recent bombers.

The final letter tells which version : B17 D is the 4th version of this
aircraft.

The Y at the beginning of YB 17 means this aircraft is a prototype of
the B 17.
Another prefix is J for Joint (Air Force, Navy, Army, Marines)


..............
I don't know of any other bomber that was called the Flying Fortress.
There were the B-24 Liberator, the B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Invader

Aircraft are given a nickname which is unique to each type of aircraft.

HTH

All the best,
Pierre Courtiade

Bob,
Thanks for the Interesting information and the links. Made for some good=
reading. The 3 aircraft
have visible numbers; 80, 81, and 10. Maybe they can be traced. The origi=
nal photograph is quite
large, 11" x 14", as large as my monitor. I can see no visible constructi=
on going on in the city
which would be one way to date the picture. Above the back fuselage of th=
e far left B17 is the 59th
Street Bridge. Other than the unfortunate juxtaposition it has a dramatic=
impact and a clarity that
is impressive. There is amazing detail all the way to the horizon, probab=
ly not visible in the large
scan. This all reminds me of the Luftwaft camera I have. I'm also inspire=
d to look through my W.W.II
APO covers to track down where they originated.
Other pictures that I got are a Northrop X-4 (research) and a Scorpion.
Tom

Bob Ingraham wrote:

An interesting photo, Tom, although from the composition (!) I would sa=
y it
was an amateur photo. The juxtaposition of the bomber and the Empire St=
ate
Building=A0is the equivalent of the utility pole growing out of a bride=
's head
in a wedding photo: it just leaps out at you, and that's all you ever s=
ee
from that point on. And now that I have brought coals to Newcastle....

The aircraft look like YB-17As, which the U.S. Army Air Corps began fly=
ing
in March, 1937, but they could be other, later incarnations of the same=

aircraft. I don't know what the "Y" of YB17=A0meant, but it was soon dr=
opped.
The flight of bombers that was approaching Hawaii when Pearl Harbour wa=
s
attacked were B-17Ds, but looked the same. Later in the war, the
tear-drop-shaped bubbles on the sides and top of the fuselage were take=
n
out; those on the sides were "replaced" by large, rectangular machine-g=
un
ports. The vertical tail assembly was changed, and given a dorsal fin.
Towards the end of the war, the aircraft bristled with machine-gun turr=
ets;
in fact, it was so heavily armed with .50 calibre machine guns and armo=
ur
plating that its bomb load and/or range was greatly reduced. One varian=
t,
called the B-40 according to a web site I found --
http://www.frontiernet.net/~pendino/B17.htm -- was designed to protec=
t
other B-17s and was fitted with 30 machine guns!

I don't know of any other bomber that was called the Flying Fortress. T=
he
were the B-24 Liberator, the B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Invader. The latte=
r two
were light attack bombers; the B-25 was used to carry out the first att=
ack
on Japan. My Uncle Phil worked with a crew of radio repairmen in the Pa=
cific
during the war, and was transported from island to island in an unarmed=

B-25. Here is an image of B-25 linen postcard in my collection:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/images/b25pc20.jpg.

The B-29 Superfortress destroyed scores of Japanese cities, including
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people aren't aware that more people died =
in
firestorms in Tokyo than in the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. A field p=
ost
cover in my collection was mailed from Tinian Island, home base of the =
atom
bomber Enola Gay, just 12 days before the bombing of Hiroshima:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/tinian.jpg.

The B-36 was the first bomber designed to carry nuclear bombs. The B-36=
was
called the Peacemaker, which was wholly appropriate for this period, wh=
en
government policy makers reasoned that having the The Bomb would be a
deterrent to its use. Having nuclear bombs available would ensure peace=
, or
so it was thought. The sound of the B-36, created by its six turboprop =
and
four turbojet engines, was unforgettable; see a photo of the plane and =
hear
its weird, unforgettable sound at
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~pknox/b36/sound.html.

Later Boeing, all-jet bombers include the B-47 Stratojet, flown by Jimm=
y
Stewart in the movie Strategic Air Command (he actually was a bomber pi=
lot
during the Second World War, flying on several bombing missions over
Germany); the B-52 Stratofortress (although it dates from the 1950s, it=
has
been used as recently as March and April of this year in Iraq), the B-5=
7
Canberra (I saw one of these in flight in 1966 in Vietnam) and the B-58=

Hustler, a supersonic nuclear bomber.

In most cases, these aircraft have played major rolls as the world's ha=
s
spun along its tortuous course. ), I am sure that stamps featuring all =
of
these aircraft are well represented in the issues of many countries, an=
d
there are many postcards available as well.

Thanks again for sharing that interesting photo.

Bob

-------
No one appreciates the very special genius of your
conversation as a dog does. -- Christopher Morley
-------

From: Tom Loepp
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2003 13:19:26 GMT
Subject: Great photo of B17's, the Flying Fortress

I stopped by a garage sale yesterday and came away with old pictures =
of
military aircraft.

chop

A B17 was depicted on the US 32 cent stamp Scott 3142K
"Flying Fortress"
shown at:
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/b17lg.html
Anyone who wants can download the picture (a 224K version also) for t=
heir own
use as it could be
used by WWII and aircraft philatelists.
TL

From: Tom Loepp
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss
Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 04:08:30 GMT
Subject: Great photo of B17's, the Flying Fortress

Bob,
Thanks for the Interesting information and the links. Made for some good
reading.

You are welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

The 3 aircraft
have visible numbers; 80, 81, and 10. Maybe they can be traced.

No doubt they can, but it might require more time and energy than you care
to expend.

The original
photograph is quite
large, 11" x 14", as large as my monitor. I can see no visible construction
going on in the city
which would be one way to date the picture. Above the back fuselage of the far
left B17 is the 59th
Street Bridge. Other than the unfortunate juxtaposition it has a dramatic
impact and a clarity that
is impressive. There is amazing detail all the way to the horizon, probably
not visible in the large
scan. This all reminds me of the Luftwaft camera I have.

I'll revise my original comment that it was probably an amateur photo. It
might well have been taken with a hand-held aerial reconnaisance camera.
Such cameras used large format film and had good lenses, of course. The
detail that can be obtained from such film/camera combinations is
impressive.

I'm also inspired to
look through my W.W.II
APO covers to track down where they originated.

Check Jim Forte's web site, at
http://www.postalhistory.com/APO/APOInto.html, for a lot of information
about APO covers, including a list of numbers.

Other pictures that I got are a Northrop X-4 (research) and a Scorpion.

Now that you've let these cats out of the bag, you have to show them to us!
I remember building a Revell model of the Scorpion. And you know, I still
like models. Just today I bought a nice little 1/144 scale Corgi diecast
model of a Pan Am Clipper. I had to buy it; a few minutes before I got
outbid for a nice copy of Denmark C-5! The model was a lot cheaper! And
there's even a philatelic connection. I have several stamps and covers
related to the clippers. Just this week I bought a cover from Roy Lingen
that is addressed to Juan Tripp, founder and president of Pam Am.

Bob

Tom

Bob Ingraham wrote:

An interesting photo, Tom, although from the composition (!) I would say it
was an amateur photo. The juxtaposition of the bomber and the Empire State
Building*is the equivalent of the utility pole growing out of a bride's head
in a wedding photo: it just leaps out at you, and that's all you ever see
from that point on. And now that I have brought coals to Newcastle....

The aircraft look like YB-17As, which the U.S. Army Air Corps began flying
in March, 1937, but they could be other, later incarnations of the same
aircraft. I don't know what the "Y" of YB17*meant, but it was soon dropped.
The flight of bombers that was approaching Hawaii when Pearl Harbour was
attacked were B-17Ds, but looked the same. Later in the war, the
tear-drop-shaped bubbles on the sides and top of the fuselage were taken
out; those on the sides were "replaced" by large, rectangular machine-gun
ports. The vertical tail assembly was changed, and given a dorsal fin.
Towards the end of the war, the aircraft bristled with machine-gun turrets;
in fact, it was so heavily armed with .50 calibre machine guns and armour
plating that its bomb load and/or range was greatly reduced. One variant,
called the B-40 according to a web site I found --
http://www.frontiernet.net/~pendino/B17.htm -- was designed to protect
other B-17s and was fitted with 30 machine guns!

I don't know of any other bomber that was called the Flying Fortress. The
were the B-24 Liberator, the B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Invader. The latter two
were light attack bombers; the B-25 was used to carry out the first attack
on Japan. My Uncle Phil worked with a crew of radio repairmen in the Pacific
during the war, and was transported from island to island in an unarmed
B-25. Here is an image of B-25 linen postcard in my collection:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/images/b25pc20.jpg.

The B-29 Superfortress destroyed scores of Japanese cities, including
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people aren't aware that more people died in
firestorms in Tokyo than in the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. A field post
cover in my collection was mailed from Tinian Island, home base of the atom
bomber Enola Gay, just 12 days before the bombing of Hiroshima:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/tinian.jpg.

The B-36 was the first bomber designed to carry nuclear bombs. The B-36 was
called the Peacemaker, which was wholly appropriate for this period, when
government policy makers reasoned that having the The Bomb would be a
deterrent to its use. Having nuclear bombs available would ensure peace, or
so it was thought. The sound of the B-36, created by its six turboprop and
four turbojet engines, was unforgettable; see a photo of the plane and hear
its weird, unforgettable sound at
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~pknox/b36/sound.html.

Later Boeing, all-jet bombers include the B-47 Stratojet, flown by Jimmy
Stewart in the movie Strategic Air Command (he actually was a bomber pilot
during the Second World War, flying on several bombing missions over
Germany); the B-52 Stratofortress (although it dates from the 1950s, it has
been used as recently as March and April of this year in Iraq), the B-57
Canberra (I saw one of these in flight in 1966 in Vietnam) and the B-58
Hustler, a supersonic nuclear bomber.

In most cases, these aircraft have played major rolls as the world's has
spun along its tortuous course. ), I am sure that stamps featuring all of
these aircraft are well represented in the issues of many countries, and
there are many postcards available as well.

Thanks again for sharing that interesting photo.

Bob

-------
No one appreciates the very special genius of your
conversation as a dog does. -- Christopher Morley
-------

From: Tom Loepp
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2003 13:19:26 GMT
Subject: Great photo of B17's, the Flying Fortress

I stopped by a garage sale yesterday and came away with old pictures of
military aircraft.

chop

A B17 was depicted on the US 32 cent stamp Scott 3142K
"Flying Fortress"
shown at:
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/b17lg.html
Anyone who wants can download the picture (a 224K version also) for their
own
use as it could be
used by WWII and aircraft philatelists.
TL

Thanks for letting us see the other pictures, Tom, as well as the great
buffalo! I don't know quite why I like the Scorpion so much. It was hi-tech
when I first learned about it. Now it seems like a bridge between the
propeller fighters of the Second World War and the later jet fighters.

Bob

-----
Did you know that the famous Russian MiG-15 fighter was powered by a
British engine? A Cold War cover from China opens a window on the Korean
War: http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/mig15cover.html.
-----
From: Tom Loepp
Organization: MindSpring Enterprises
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss
Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 09:32:13 -0600
Subject: Great photo of B17's, the Flying Fortress

Here they are. There are also links from the small B-17 scan page. I buy old
unused airplane model
kits at garage sales. I have plastic and wood. Hanging in my NYC apartment at
37th and 5th was a
wooden version of the bent wing bomber - the Fokker. I built it and left it as
a wooden frame
because it looked so great. It appears in many of my photographs and
paintings. Apparently it was
not a great success story as a bomber. One day I will find the various model
kits that I have
collected. I remember one is a stealth bomber.
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/f-89.html
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/x-4.html
Maybe I have other such pictures so if they turn up I will mention it.
On another note, I have bought a digital camera and have finished out the
bison section of my
website. The resolution is off the charts. If you want to see what a tiny
camera can do these days
look at "Nicalo":
http://loepp.home.mindspring.com/tom...ew/bison5.html
I will be experimenting with doing stamp pages on the web using the camera.
I own the Forte book on APO's, I just need to research the importance of the
locations and dates.
Tom


Bob Ingraham wrote:

From: Tom Loepp
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss
Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 04:08:30 GMT
Subject: Great photo of B17's, the Flying Fortress

Bob,
Thanks for the Interesting information and the links. Made for some good
reading.

You are welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

The 3 aircraft
have visible numbers; 80, 81, and 10. Maybe they can be traced.

No doubt they can, but it might require more time and energy than you care
to expend.

The original
photograph is quite
large, 11" x 14", as large as my monitor. I can see no visible construction
going on in the city
which would be one way to date the picture. Above the back fuselage of the
far
left B17 is the 59th
Street Bridge. Other than the unfortunate juxtaposition it has a dramatic
impact and a clarity that
is impressive. There is amazing detail all the way to the horizon, probably
not visible in the large
scan. This all reminds me of the Luftwaft camera I have.

I'll revise my original comment that it was probably an amateur photo. It
might well have been taken with a hand-held aerial reconnaisance camera.
Such cameras used large format film and had good lenses, of course. The
detail that can be obtained from such film/camera combinations is
impressive.

I'm also inspired to
look through my W.W.II
APO covers to track down where they originated.

Check Jim Forte's web site, at
http://www.postalhistory.com/APO/APOInto.html, for a lot of information
about APO covers, including a list of numbers.

Other pictures that I got are a Northrop X-4 (research) and a Scorpion.

Now that you've let these cats out of the bag, you have to show them to us!
I remember building a Revell model of the Scorpion. And you know, I still
like models. Just today I bought a nice little 1/144 scale Corgi diecast
model of a Pan Am Clipper. I had to buy it; a few minutes before I got
outbid for a nice copy of Denmark C-5! The model was a lot cheaper! And
there's even a philatelic connection. I have several stamps and covers
related to the clippers. Just this week I bought a cover from Roy Lingen
that is addressed to Juan Tripp, founder and president of Pam Am.

Bob

Tom

Bob Ingraham wrote:

An interesting photo, Tom, although from the composition (!) I would say it
was an amateur photo. The juxtaposition of the bomber and the Empire State
Building*is the equivalent of the utility pole growing out of a bride's
head
in a wedding photo: it just leaps out at you, and that's all you ever see
from that point on. And now that I have brought coals to Newcastle....

The aircraft look like YB-17As, which the U.S. Army Air Corps began flying
in March, 1937, but they could be other, later incarnations of the same
aircraft. I don't know what the "Y" of YB17*meant, but it was soon dropped.
The flight of bombers that was approaching Hawaii when Pearl Harbour was
attacked were B-17Ds, but looked the same. Later in the war, the
tear-drop-shaped bubbles on the sides and top of the fuselage were taken
out; those on the sides were "replaced" by large, rectangular machine-gun
ports. The vertical tail assembly was changed, and given a dorsal fin.
Towards the end of the war, the aircraft bristled with machine-gun turrets;
in fact, it was so heavily armed with .50 calibre machine guns and armour
plating that its bomb load and/or range was greatly reduced. One variant,
called the B-40 according to a web site I found --
http://www.frontiernet.net/~pendino/B17.htm -- was designed to protect
other B-17s and was fitted with 30 machine guns!

I don't know of any other bomber that was called the Flying Fortress. The
were the B-24 Liberator, the B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Invader. The latter
two
were light attack bombers; the B-25 was used to carry out the first attack
on Japan. My Uncle Phil worked with a crew of radio repairmen in the
Pacific
during the war, and was transported from island to island in an unarmed
B-25. Here is an image of B-25 linen postcard in my collection:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/images/b25pc20.jpg.

The B-29 Superfortress destroyed scores of Japanese cities, including
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people aren't aware that more people died in
firestorms in Tokyo than in the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. A field post
cover in my collection was mailed from Tinian Island, home base of the atom
bomber Enola Gay, just 12 days before the bombing of Hiroshima:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/tinian.jpg.

The B-36 was the first bomber designed to carry nuclear bombs. The B-36 was
called the Peacemaker, which was wholly appropriate for this period, when
government policy makers reasoned that having the The Bomb would be a
deterrent to its use. Having nuclear bombs available would ensure peace, or
so it was thought. The sound of the B-36, created by its six turboprop and
four turbojet engines, was unforgettable; see a photo of the plane and hear
its weird, unforgettable sound at
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~pknox/b36/sound.html.

Later Boeing, all-jet bombers include the B-47 Stratojet, flown by Jimmy
Stewart in the movie Strategic Air Command (he actually was a bomber pilot
during the Second World War, flying on several bombing missions over
Germany); the B-52 Stratofortress (although it dates from the 1950s, it has
been used as recently as March and April of this year in Iraq), the B-57
Canberra (I saw one of these in flight in 1966 in Vietnam) and the B-58
Hustler, a supersonic nuclear bomber.

In most cases, these aircraft have played major rolls as the world's has
spun along its tortuous course. ), I am sure that stamps featuring all of
these aircraft are well represented in the issues of many countries, and
there are many postcards available as well.

Thanks again for sharing that interesting photo.

Bob

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No one appreciates the very special genius of your
conversation as a dog does. -- Christopher Morley
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From: Tom Loepp
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2003 13:19:26 GMT
Subject: Great photo of B17's, the Flying Fortress

I stopped by a garage sale yesterday and came away with old pictures of
military aircraft.

chop

A B17 was depicted on the US 32 cent stamp Scott 3142K
"Flying Fortress"
shown at:
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/covers/b17lg.html
Anyone who wants can download the picture (a 224K version also) for their
own
use as it could be
used by WWII and aircraft philatelists.
TL

Speaking of the China cover I'm not certain but it looks like the Scorpion is over the Great Wall of
China but then it could just be a mountain rode. It kinda has that zig-zag look of the wall and the
color is right.

Bob Ingraham wrote:

Thanks for letting us see the other pictures, Tom, as well as the great
buffalo! I don't know quite why I like the Scorpion so much. It was hi-tech
when I first learned about it. Now it seems like a bridge between the
propeller fighters of the Second World War and the later jet fighters.

Bob

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Did you know that the famous Russian MiG-15 fighter was powered by a
British engine? A Cold War cover from China opens a window on the Korean
War: http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/mig15cover.html.
-----

Fascinating stuff, Bob! On a couple of occasions in the past few years,
we've had a restored B-17 and B-25 both fly into our local airport and be on
display to the public for a couple days. I only regret I didn't have the
bucks to shell out for a ride, but those who flew---many of them WWII
vets---said it sure brought back some memories. I did get some great
pictures and video, though!

Mike