Collings Foundation B-17 and B-24 Tour

[Doc Ephraim]

Got a chance to walk through the Collings Foundation B-24 Liberator "Dragon and His Tail" and B-17 "Nine-O-Nine" today. Absolutely awesome experience. The aircraft have been touring the country and stopped in at Knoxville this week on their way to winter maintenence in Florida.

For $8 I got to walk all over and through these wonderful, historic aircraft. I gotta tell you, to see these babies in person is to be truly affected by the bravery and commitment of our men who flew them in combat in WWII.

As I was walking toward the aircraft, I paused briefly at the foundation's banner advertising 1/2 hour rides in these bombers. I was wishing I was making more than a PhD student's wages, when I heard a tired voice beside me and it was a WWII veteran, laughing about how he wished he had $400 for every mission he flew back in "the war". There isn't too many of these great men left, and they're passing on at an increasing rate each day.

God bless our veterans, from every engagement. God bless America.