[Newsbot]

Title: Got $40K' You could cross the Atlantic in a Lancaster bomber
Category: History
Posted By: Hyack
Date: 2014-05-02 16:21:48
Canadian

[Jabberwalker]

Man, I'd do it in a second (if I had $40,000 to spare). My dad made that same flight in a twin engine Catalina in early 1942.

[Hyack]

Would that not be the trip of a lifetime? And at $40K I think it would be well worth the price..........if you had it to spare....which I don't...

[xerxes]

I can't imagine it would be a comfy ride and you probably wouldn't get an inflight movie, there's plenty of worse ways to spend that much money.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

I got the chance to fly in a B-17 once(for the price of about $1/minute). It was cramped, it was drafty and it was friggin' awesome!!. BUT, I don't know if I would have wanted to be in one long enough to cross the ocean. I've been inside of a Lanc just not in the air, and the crew conditions were comparable.

Plus...no heads and there's no place along the way to pull over and go

[PostFactum]

For this money you can build your own one.

[GreenTiger]

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

I got the chance to fly in a B-17 once(for the price of about $1/minute). It was cramped, it was drafty and it was friggin' awesome!!. BUT, I don't know if I would have wanted to be in one long enough to cross the ocean. I've been inside of a Lanc just not in the air, and the crew conditions were comparable.

Plus...no heads and there's no place along the way to pull over and go

Yes, crew comfort was not a big priority when these aircraft were designed.

Imagine all of that discomfort for hours while getting shot at.

[Jabberwalker]

It was the most dangerous thing that you could do as an Allied serviceman. It's almost as risky as being part of a U-boat crew. If you can overcome that reality, you can live through anything, I would imagine.

[PluggyRug]

Those tail gunner guy's had it rough.

[GreenTiger]

Dis the Lancs have a ball turrent like the b-17?

[Regina]

GreenTiger GreenTiger:

Dis the Lancs have a ball turrent like the b-17?

No ball turret in the belly of a Lanc.

For just over $3,000 US an hour, you can fly a P51 if you don't have the $40,000.

[Jabberwalker]

Regina Regina:

GreenTiger GreenTiger:

Dis the Lancs have a ball turrent like the b-17?

No ball turret in the belly of a Lanc.
quote]


That is how the German night fighters used to get them. They would fly up from underneath, guided by their Freya radar until the were close enough and at the right attitude to shoot.