I once had a brother...

...who knew every aircraft ever produced, by sight. He really liked airplanes. Back in late 1960 he put together a science fair project for high school that he kept working on and used as a project to get into a good engineering school. The project was a wind tunnel that he built from scratch and once that was completed he started testing airfoil designs. He found a wing cross section that he liked then built a hang glider based on the work of Otto Lilienthal. We pronounced that "Lil-en-thal" back in those days, but who knows how it is pronounced now.

Anyway, he used aircraft grade Baltic birch plywood, vertical grained spruce for the stringers, waterproof two part adhesive, and planned on covering all the wing surfaces with cloth and treating the cloth with cellulose nitrate dope, WWI era style.

He documented his work as he went along and sure enough got accepted into a fine university. He never did finish the plane, and when I asked if he was ever going to fly it he said "Hell no, Lilienthal died flying his!"

So he stowed the pieces parts in the attic and once he went off to school I snagged the tail section and installed it on our Radio Flyer.

But that's not what I am here to talk about today. You know how I do. I was out walking the dogs Friday and I heard the unmistakable deep roar of four radial engines approaching overhead. Wha? You don't hear four engine prop planes every day, so naturally I was enthralled by the approaching aircraft. Not being my brother, and having never bothered to learn one airplane from another because I could rely on his encyclopedic knowledge (well, that's not strictly true, a DC-3 is readily identifiable) I just kind of stood there in awe and wonder as this massive bomber lumbered overhead. The thing was huge. I tried to pick out a detail that would allow me to identify it later and I settled on the vertical stabilizer. Very distinctive shape, it was.

I took some pictures, none of them very good, and started doing some research. I posted my lousy pictures on social media and got some feedback. That allowed me to do further research. Saturday dawned and I kept hearing that same plane. Every time I heard it coming I went outside and took more pictures, which I also posted.

At this point I positively identified the aircraft as a B-17, AKA The Flying Fortress. Friends helped me pin down why it was here and what it was doing, and now I know it is a B-17G, Serial # 44-83575. You can look it up if you want to know more.

In any case, it has moved on to its next barn-storming tour stop and I am thankful I got to see it.

At this point I should post something like "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" but that's been done. How about something different. How about something featuring a baritone sax, which my niece, daughter of the brother in question plays. LINK