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B18 Bombers

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:40 am
by gerrykan
Image
Douglas B-18A Bolo "shark nose" bombers on the flight line. Only 217 of these planes were built.

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:55 am
by Joe Gopan
My good friend Peter Marini was an enlisted pilot in the 6th AF and flew the B-18 on patrol for German subs off the southern coast of the US during WWII. He also flew the O-47 and L-5 on patrols. Peter was guest of honor in my MB and CCKW during Memorial Day and Veterans Day parades for the past two years. He passed away last August at the age of 91.

Re: B18 Bombers

Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 3:17 am
by Joe Gopan
Enlisted Pilot Peter Marini will be with me in spirit May 30th.

Re: B18 Bombers

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 7:23 pm
by RedArrow2016
What ever happened to the B18 bomber? What replaced it??

Re: B18 Bombers

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 11:57 pm
by Joe Gopan
Y1B-17 (late 30's early B-17)'s and the more modern B-17's starting with the B=17E that went into production in late 41. The US geared up big time and the B-17, B-24 and Amphibioius Patrol Bombers such as the PBY Catalina became the back bone for anti sub. B25, B-26, A-20 production along with B-17 and B-24 became the backbone of the first two or 3 years of the USAAF bombing fleet.
My friend and Americakn Legion mentor was in a Quartermaster Truck Company that convoyed from down South to Dow Army Air Field (DOW FIELD) in CCKW's while the base was still under construction. Their mission was to support a handful of B-18's that flew antisub patrol off the Maine coast.
B-18's continued to be used for maritime patrol, bomber trainers, transports, etc., for the remainder of the war. My friend Peter was only rated single engine and envied those other patrol pilots that flew later aircraft. The pre war Air Corps opted for the B-18 over the new B-17.
There's a lot more to the B-18 story that can be better told by other WWII aviation historians.

Re: B18 Bombers

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 8:00 am
by RedArrow2016
Thank you for your time in this and lesson when it came to this. Such great history and nice to know that people like yourself care about it like I do...