Tom Tries Again

By ANN Warbird Correspondent Tom Griffith

Since first seeing this big, beautiful Boeing bomber at LSFM over 10 years ago, I have wanted to get a ride in this warbird. My dream to fly in a B-17 actually dates back maybe 50 years, and among bombers, I consider the B-17 the Holy Grail.

The magic day arrived in October, 2002 when Ralph Royce, head honcho at LSFM, invited me to ride in "T-Bird" at the upcoming November airshow. As an ANN correspondent, I'd written articles on their Spitfire and their Privateer, as well as covered LSFM airshows that are held in the spring and fall (November still IS fall on the Texas Gulf coast - it might get into the 80s in November in this semi-tropical island paradise) each year.

Being a serious amateur photographer, I naturally shot the occasional one or two (OK, one or two HUNDRED) photos on each visit to LSFM. Long story short, on that fateful day in November, 2002, the B-17 was "sick" and I was "forced" to accept a consolation ride in the LSFM's equally super B-25/PBJ Mitchell, "Special Delivery."  

The following spring, my ever-suffering wife, Louise, and I, along with several cameras, arrived at Galveston's Scholes Field (home of the LSFM) after, once again, Ralph had so graciously invited me to ride in "T-Bird." This time, just prior to our arrival at Scholes, "T-bird" blew a tire on landing and they had to put a bald "spare" onto her and tow her back to the hangar.

The LSFM crew took a look at the other main tire, and it, too, was rather "iffy, so they decided to change both of them. This saga, too, was filed as a story for ANN, and to make a long story short in this instance, it took all day and they still were NOT finished with the tire changes before the end of the flying day. It seems that changing a B-17 main tire is a little harder than it is on a Ford pickup, so… I got snake-bit again, like we say in Texas!

That was 2003 and because of moves, job changes, a granddaughter taking center stage in our lives in 2003, we had not been back to an LSFM airshow since the spring of '03. That's too long, neighbor!

We finally made plans for this spring's airshow (The 15th Annual Spirit of Flight Airshow, to be exact) and I e-mailed Ralph, who, when I asked if I still had a ride coming on the B-17, replied, and I quote, "YOU BET!". …BIG capital letters, exclamation point and everything!

So…it was on again! My work schedule and the airshow weekend (April 23rd and 24th) dovetailed perfectly! Louise made arrangements with a wonderful bed and breakfast in Galveston (we stayed at Queen Anne's Bed and Breakfast, to be exact, and we recommend them HIGHLY! Beth and George Ibarra are the new owners and they treat you like family, but I digress). "Bad" weather was forecast, but with Gulf coast weather, you never know.

We arrived in Galveston a couple of days before the airshow and naturally proceeded to Scholes Field and the Lone Star Flight Museum. I flashed my LSFM membership card and my ANN Press Pass and told them that Ralph Royce had promised me a ride on the B-17. Debbie Kolojaco, the giftshop manager and gatekeeper of the Museum, made a phone call and announced my presence. About two minutes later, I heard a voice from above call out, "Tom Griffith."

"Is that you, Lord," I wanted to say, but before I could say anything, the same voice said "up here." I looked up to the second floor balcony above the giftshop and there was Larry Gregory (the Number Two guy at LSFM) who said that I was scheduled for 10:30 the next morning, which would be the day before the airshow started. This was way cool, because from experience, I knew that rides outside of airshow dates were usually longer than ones during the airshows themselves.

As an aside, I was pleased and flattered to see a post card with one of my photos (a B-26 Marauder) on their rack of souvenir post cards. I just had to let Debbie know that it was one of my photos! She was obviously too star-struck to remember to ask me for my autograph. OK, OK - so she really wasn't star-struck, but a guy can dream, right? 

When we drove up, we had seen that a number of their birds were out on the ramp behind the LSFM's hangars, so I took advantage of the situation. Their F4U, B-25/PBJ, P-47, a couple of AT-6s, and other planes were basking in the sun.

During airshows, it's very hard to get "clean" photos of the aircraft. You usually have someone or a herd of someones in front of your subject, and you get steamed that they're usually standing there looking around deciding things like, "do we get corndogs first and then funnel cakes, or just stick with funnel cakes…" You get the idea. Now if they were admiring one of the warbirds, then I'd understand, but… Rest assured that pre-airshow photos on the ramp generally require less waiting and allow for more shooting!

I made my way back into the main hangar and found Tom Owens, the crew chief of "Thunder Bird," in his usual location, doing his usual thing: scurrying around the big bomber checking everything out - looking for excessive leaks (it's been said that radial engines - the B-17 has four nine-cylinder Wright R-1820 radials - constantly drip oil, and if they ever stop dripping, then something's wrong!), wiping off smudges and dust here and there.

This was my first viewing of "T-Bird" since she received her shiny new paint job last year. Although shiny camouflage paint was never seen in wartime, it makes a classy airplane look that much more classy. Anyway, I let Tom know that he'd better have everything shipshape by the next day, because I didn't want to miss out on a ride on her at 10:30. He seemed surprised that they'd be flying the next day - he said something to the effect that he was "always the last one to know.

I had taken maybe 50 or 60 photos in maybe 30 minutes outside of the hangars and a few inside, too, and then hung around outside of the Museum grounds for a few minutes to catch the B-25 taking off for a short flight. This is the very same plane that I flew in 2½ years ago and I decided that if the B-17 couldn't fly for some reason, that I'd happily accept another ride on the B-25.

Note to self: the B-25 NEVER, EVER lets me down when I need a lot of racket in my life. What a wonderful noise two Wright R-2600s make! Man, how I'd like to have that sound, at THAT volume, on hand to blast through my stereo speakers in my car when there's some kid playing rap so loud that my car vibrates!

Anyway - I was all set up for the next day. I just had to somehow live through the night and remember to wake up in time for the 10:30 AM flight. I was ready at 5:30 the next morning and a little voice (Louise's) told me that we wouldn't be leaving quite yet!

So, we hung around the Queen Anne, ate an excellent breakfast (the second, and very important part of "Bed and Breakfast") and made our way to Scholes about 10 AM, and saw a lot MORE aircraft lined up outside of the hangars (even a couple of USAF A-10 Warthogs), with the gleaming, huge B-17 leading the pack, closest to the runway! …lookin' good for me!

In part two, we'll see if Tom Griffith gets to ride in the object of his affection and the subject of this article.

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