FLYING FORTRESS, LIBERATOR TO SOAR AGAIN IN SOUTHLAND : RESTORED WWII BOMBERS TO BRING PIECE OF HISTORY TO VAN NUYS.Byline: Steve Getzug Daily News Staff Writer The thing Manny Manny may refer to: In nobility:
As a top-turret gunner and flight engineer who flew 14 missions during World War II, he knew it was a sound that he and his crewmen could depend on amid heavy flak and bruising bruising discoloration and actual hemorrhage at the site of injury, and a serious disadvantage in the meat trade. In the first 12 hours after injury the bruise is bright red, at 24 hours it is dark red, at 24 to 36 hours it loses its firm consistency and becomes watery and at 3 or attack of enemy fighters. And it's a sound he's eager to hear again Sunday when a restored B-17 Flying Fortress and a B-24J Liberator bomber storm into the Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport (IATA: VNY, ICAO: KVNY, FAA LID: VNY) is a public airport located in Van Nuys, California in the San Fernando Valley, within the Los Angeles city limits. , where they will be displayed through Tuesday. ``That sound - believe me - is a sound you'll never forget,'' said Biera, 72, of Walnut. Biera is one of hundreds of former crewmen and aircraft buffs expected to examine the planes, which have been restored by the Massachusetts-based Collings Foundation and will fly to several California cities in May. The planes will arrive in Van Nuys about 3 p.m. Sunday and will be displayed outside the Airtel Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel in New York City is a landmark 19-story luxury hotel with a height of 250 feet (76 m) and length of 400 feet that (122 m) occupies the west side of Grand Army Plaza, from which it derives its name, and extends along Central Park South in Manhattan. at 7277 Valjean. Hosted tours inside both planes will cost $7 for adults and $3 for children under 12. The planes' visit to Van Nuys is being sponsored by the B-17 Combat Crewmen and Wingmen, an organization that seeks to preserve the memory of the celebrated aircraft that thousands flew during World War II in bombing campaigns over Europe. Bob Stane, the group's president, was 6 when Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor, land-locked harbor, on the southern coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, W of Honolulu; one of the largest and best natural harbors in the E Pacific Ocean. In the vicinity are many U.S. military installations, including the chief U.S. was bombed, signaling America's entry into the war, and he remembers seeing, as he grew up, military aircraft flying over his Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, home before their combat duties overseas. ``We called it aluminum overcast,'' Stane said, recalling the sight. ``And the B-17 was the most impressive of them all.'' At the time, the Boeing-built B-17 Flying Fortress, with its 103-foot wingspan and its 2,400 mile range, was the ultimate in America's bomber technology. The Consolidated B-24 Liberators
Nearly 12,800 B-17s were produced. The planes delivered more than 640,000 tons of bombs on European targets during World War II. A total 4,750 B-17s were lost in combat missions, more than any other aircraft in the war. Stane's group has assembled former crewmen to help lead tours of the restored aircraft and to tell visitors some of the stories that made the B-17 a flying legend. Biera was a member of the 384th Bomb Group, and he was stationed in England before his first combat flight on Christmas Day 1944. The veteran pilot called it a milk run, but Biera recalls the terror of a mission that encountered heavy flak and kept the 10-man crew busy fending off attack, with the plane's 10 heavy machine guns A heavy machine gun refers to either a larger-caliber, high-power machine gun or one of the smaller, medium-caliber (rifle caliber) machine guns meant for prolonged firing from heavy mounts, less mobile, or static positions (or some combination of the two). spitting .50-caliber bullets. ``The plane was special. It could take a lot of beating,'' Biera said. ``A lot of planes came back with one engine. Some came back with their tail shot nearly (off). That plane took a lot of punishment. ``Being the top turret gunner was exciting,'' he recalled. ``You had a better view of the whole situation, and you had to stay pretty alert. You could see the enemy all around you.'' It was Biera's 14th mission that would prove to be his last of the war. After dropping the plane's cargo of eight 500-pound bombs on a target over northern Germany Northern Germany is the geographic area in the north of Germany. The native German concept of northern Germany is called Norddeutschland. Northern German States Norddeutschland is the geographic area of five German states:
Only after the remaining engines caught fire did the crew bail out. As Biera and crewman dangled from parachutes, dodging machine-gun fire from below, they saw the B-17 crash in the distance. Biera was captured by Nazi forces and held in various camps for months, until April 1945, when Stalag 7A was liberated by Gen. George S. Patton “George Patton” redirects here. For the 19th century Scottish jurist and politician, see George Patton, Lord Glenalmond. George Smith Patton Jr. GCB, KBE (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a leading U.S. . Biera served briefly as a reserve in the Korean War Korean War, conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation. , but it wasn't until 1985 - when Seattle-based Boeing held a 50th anniversary event commemorating the first B-17 - that the retired mechanical engineer and aerospace worker again heard the roar of the Flying Fortress. ``They had three B-17s out there,'' he said. ``When they started those engines, it just tore me to pieces. It's amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. , I was trying to hold back my tears. That just really got to me. In fact, it still does.'' |
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