Got to sit in a real P-47 Thunderbolt!!!

[flyboy4612]

Hey everyone!
This week for spring break my girlfriend and I ventured off to the air museum at Tillamook. It was definitely more of my wanting to go and her willing to come along and pretending to be interested in all the aircraft I was drooling over. My main reason for going was that I noticed on the museum web page it said "Pay 25 dollars and sit in any of the museum aircraft and get your photo taken!" The staff sure gave me a whole bunch for 25 bucks. They left me climb up on the wing and open the canopy myself and hop on in. A photographer came out and got on a hydraulic lift and raised himself up and took about 10 different pictures from a couple different angles up front. Then seeing my excitement, the staff (and eventually my girlfriend) left me alone with the Thunderbolt. After having used Accu-Sim so much, none of you can deny that you wouldn't have been tempted like me to flip a few of those familiar switches and fire her up! Thanks to A2A, the cockpit felt like home. When I was finished the museum had closed so I was alone in the hangar. With the hangar doors closing, it was a really cool feeling hopping out of the cockpit, closing the canopy, and leaving the Thunderbolt in the hangar as if I had parked it there. Anyway, here are some of my photos. The photographer hasn't sent me his yet. Enjoy!

[MTFDarkEagle]

Very cool pictures

Lucky man

*being jealous *

[Chunk]

Very cool indeed!

/me wonders if my 6' 5" frame could squeeze in there.

[Norforce]

Wow you are one lucky man

[Phantom88]

Awesome! You Lucky Dog! Fantastic Pics,Does your Girlfriend have a Sister? lol

[pjc747]

Small World. I was a the Tillamook Air Museum a few years back and sat in that very P-47! I also got to see inside the Mini Guppy since the door was open that day.....

[Rockitglider]

Now that looks like real fun, so how did they get (pry) you out of the pit?
Very cool.

See ya, Rockitglider

[Pac]

Thats Awswome! Wish I could do that. Looks like they had all kinds of aircraft there. From your pictures I saw a TBF Avenger and a C-47 and lots more. Whish I could be in your shoes. BTW I have those same nikes, lol.

[pjc747]

Its an ACTUAL DC-3, although after WWII all the C-47's were given a new airowrthiness certification and all are technically DC-3's but that one is one of the original passenger versions.
They also have (or had) an F-4 Phantom and a Mini Guppy outside and a P-51 (I think). I was a wee little kid when I was last there.

[seaniam81]

Those are some nice pictures. You are a very lucky man.

[Lenop]

just TOO cool! Must have been great. Funny question, but how did it smell? I always love that particular smell of oil and grease.

[flyboy4612]

Rockitglider, it was hard getting out of the cockpit! I mean that in the fact that I didn't want to get out and because nobody showed me where the step for my foot was. When I was getting out, there wasn't anybody around to ask. I just had to step from the seat and reach my leg down to the wing. Quite a stretch!

Lenop, that's not a funny question. I was wondering the same thing myself before I got in. But since the plane hasn't flown for a few months and the hangar doors were open, it just kind of smelled like the rainy day that was going on outside.

Thanks for the compliments on the pictures! You know, the whole experience gave me an even greater appreciation for the work the A2A team does. The fact that I can go from my sim to sitting in the real airplane and feel right at home speaks volumes about their attention to detail. It also renews my hopes that one day they'll make a bubble canopy for our Thunderbolt's!

[Jp11994]

Wow, you're a lucky guy, I don't really have any great museums nearby. And the museums around here certiantly won't let you sit in the planes! Too bad there aren't more museums that'll let you do this, but it's a good thing for me I suppose, all my money would be gone quick.

[flyboy4612]

I agree with you Jp11994, I also think it's too bad there aren't more museums that let you sit in the planes. But at the same time, I do understand it because not everyone is exactly gentle or cautious around aircraft. However, it does help fund the museums and it does have a lot of educational value to it. It's one thing to read about the planes and see them from a distance at an airshow, but sitting in them just brings everything to life.

Oh, I was messing around with photoshop and wanted to give one of my pictures a vintage look. What do you guys think of this?

[Norforce]

Now your cooking it looks great