The Aluminum Overcast On The Ground

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1888)

The Aluminum Overcast is World War II bomber built in 1945. It has four Curtis Wright 1820-97 nine-cylinder radial engines. Six to ten passengers are allowed on each flight along with a crew of three; two pilots and one crew chief. After take-off passengers are allowed to walk around but I had the wonderful experience of being allowed to sit forward in one of the jump seats behind the pilots and next to the crew chief. As we were lifting off the ground he unbuckled himself and leaped up motioning me to do the same. This allowed me to crawl toward the nose of the aircraft and into the bombardier section where I took a photo through the plexiglass just as the aircraft flew over the end of the runway. That photo will be in the In Flight photos. Today we will start with photos I took while the aircraft was on the ground.

As you can tell it was a cloudy day which caused our flight to be delayed for a couple of hours. The wait was worth it.

Aluminum Overcast revving up for the first flight of the day. We were the second.

Two of the huge Curtis Wright engines

The cockpit above and the bombardier section in the nose with the Norden Bombsight visible behind the plexiglass.