I got to see the Aluminum Overcast at the old Curtis Wright airfield in Fairfield, NJ Friday night and got to see her landing and taking off on Saturday. I know she was not a part of the 452th and never saw combat. None the less, I was very moved, it was as close as I will ever come to a B-17.  Hearing her engines starting was amazing, when she was ready to take off and the pilot let go the breaks she took off like a brick, LOL. With three crew and ten passengers she did reach speed and took off banking to the right what a sight!!

My introduction to combat was on an 82 foot CG Cutter on the rivers and harbors of Vietnam, to think of the risks airmen took, mission after mission gives me a great respect for our hero's and warrior's of WW II.  One thing I noted, the 50 cal changed very little from WW II to Vietnam, mine did have a 81 mm mortar but the 50 was pretty much unchanged.

Thanks to you all and welcome home.

Ed Armm

If you were able to take any photos, can you post?

Howard Keller (LTC, USA, Ret)