Of the B-24 and B-17, which did you favor and why?
Yes, because.
I was more familiar with the B-17 and it was the airplane I hoped to get typed in. I grew up with the B-17...Twelve O'clock High...both the movie and the TV series that ran for 3 years. The B-17 is much more aesthetically pleasing than the B-24, although the -24 grows on you and once in flight isn't nearly as clumsy looking.
I started on the -17. Although it is a tailwheel airplane it isn't a difficult airplane to handle as long as you mind a few basic rules such as NEVER unlock the tailwheel with a side load on it because you will most likely be unable to stop that turn. Even with that big tail the airplane isn't too bad in a x-wind. I've taken off with 45 knots about 45 from runway heading and had no problem. Landing is a bit more challenge of course. Differential power and good technique goes a long way to keeping things calm. The B-17 is a bit nicer to fly than the -24. The -17 is the airplane you'd take on a sunny afternoon to just bore holes in the sky, the -24 is a bit more work to fly. The B-17 has very heavy aileron and rudder forces along with a very low roll rate. It wasn't uncommon with the B-17 for a show pass to use full aileron rolling into and out of the bank. I watched my pilot wipe the cockpit out with the yoke one afternoon in Titusville when we flew through the worlds biggest flock of seagulls. Mike pushed, pulled and twisted the yoke but the airplane never really moved. It probably made him feel better. I did a summer afternoon ILS down almost to minimums through cummulo bumpies. I was working my butt off trying to impress the boss with my instrument skills and worked up quite a sweat as I wrestled the Fort down the glide slope. Once on the ground and taxiing in my wife, who had been standing behind me during the approach, asked if it was really that hard or if I was just acting out for her!!! The boss got quite a laugh out of that.
The -17 was probably the easier of the two to get a descent landing in, but I think the harder of the two to get that nice squeaker landing. The -24 is nose heavy and it takes a firm pull to get a good flare for landing, many landings being more 3 point flops. The -24 wasn't bad in a x-wind. I landed in Lake Charles with 30+ knots directly across the runway, a good split of power to keep the nose pointed forward and standard x-wind technique worked as expected.
The -24 could be a pain to taxi. Even though it has a nose wheel it is a non-steerable castering nose wheel. The CG is such that the nose wheel is very "light" on the ground. The brake system is an open hydraulic system, using expanding tubes to actuate the brake pucks. What all that means is there is a slight delay between pedal pressure and braking action. This drove me nuts at first. I'd press the brakes, perceive no response and press harder and then I'd get the entire braking response. That would dip the nose down, I'd let off the brakes and the nose would pop up getting the nose wheel very light and with any input at all the nose wheel would dart left or right and away you'd go!! I had to stop more than once just to get things under control.
Once I learned to just use a slight pressure on the brake pedals and WAIT for the response it became easy peasy. Some of the guys just never figured it out and hated the -24.
The -17 seemed more forgiving of an engine loss at least in the configuration we flew the bombers. When working up for the type ride on the -24 I did a simulated 2 engine out approach to what was a rather firm landing.
On another practice approach with 1 engine at zero thrust we did a missed approach and it took an entire 7000 runway to get the airplane headed uphill again, some of that probably my poor flying and it was a 90F+ day with high humidity.
I grew to love the -24 and was quite happy I got typed in it. It is a bit more challenging to fly, that challenge made it more fun. The -24 is a hydraulic airplane and a single point failure can take away your gear, flaps and brakes. That happened to us in Burbank but we had just landed when the line cracked literally filling the interior with hydraulic fluid mist. As it worked out we were able to coast to a safe stop.
In the big picture I didn't care which airplane I was flying. Holy cow, I was flying a WWII bomber!!!
