On a whim last month, young son Brady and I decided to run up to an air show put on by the Commemorative Air Force just to look at the airplanes. As student pilots we are developing a growing interest in aviation, but were not prepared for how the day would progress. It turned out great.

The whim came after we had finished our weekly flying lessons and noticed a poster for the air show in Lancaster, which is not that far up the road from the Corsicana airport. We also had a day pass from Lil' Red (wife and mother) who was visting a good friend out of town.

When we arrived, the show was due to shut down in a couple of hours but there was still plenty of airplanes to view, most of them World War II vintage. There was a navy Corsair fighter plane, a half-size Corsair, a number of trainers and a restored Ercoupe, an interesting little plane made after WWII for recreational pilots. The Ercoupe was manufactured to drive sort of like a car, except in the air, and does not have all the controls of a regular airplane—-there are no rudder pedals.

In addition to airplanes, there was a collection of restored military Jeeps and a tent set up as a field command center, and a number of folks were dressed in WWII Army Air Corps uniforms. Swing music from the 1940s played from the public address system to set the tone for the day.

What stole the show for us, though, was a restored Consolidated B-24 Liberator, a bomber that saw action in skies all over the world some 65 years ago. They were offering rides . . . and we had to go.

The B-24 is a massive airplane up close with a 110-foot wingspan and just over 64 feet in length. Maybe it is not all that big by the standards of airliners, but it is huge when you are used to flying a diminutive Cessna 150. The bomber weighs in at 58,000 pounds and its four 1,200-horsepower engines could move it along at 275 miles per hour. With 3,000 gallons of fuel, consumed at a rate of 200 gallons per hour, it could fly missions of more than 12 hours with some fuel in reserve, an important consideration.

First thing you notice is the lack of creature conforts in the bomber. There are no reclining chairs and seat back tables. Nor, is there any insulation to deaden the sound of the four engines, which inhibits conversation in normal tones, or to make the climate bearable. At 20,000 feet, and above, the airplane would have been cold. We flew at about 2,500 feet on a warm day and were dressed for the weather.

What struck me is the thinness of the airplane skin. Consider that the bomber crews often were under attack from antiaircraft guns and enemy fighter planes. The skin on the B-24 would not have stopped any projectiles. Those bomber crews were virtually unprotected, except for the armament. Ol' 927, as the B-24 is named, is still outfitted with its 50-calibre machine guns. There is one in the tail, another poking out a window on the right side, one sticking down through the floor and more in the nose. There is something satisfying about looking at the Dallas skyline over the barrel of a machine gun.

After we had been briefed and the bomber took off from the Lancaster airport, passengers were allowed to roam about the craft. We sat in the tailgunners sling, peered through through the waist and belly gunners ports and went into the cockpit to visit with the pilots. The B-24 cockpit had some similarity to that of a Cessna, the main difference being that four times as many instruments are needed to monitor the four engines. Pilots for the bomber come from airline and transport ranks, folks who are accustomed to flying big airplanes and who dedicate themselves to keeping a flying museum in the air. Needless to say, the plane was too big for someone like me to even think about flying. That's not entirely true. I did think about flying it.

A good part of our quick decision to take a ride on the old bomber is that it may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There are not many occasions to ride in those old airplanes, and how many years can they keep flying. Sure, there are a lot of old airplanes still in regular use, but not many as big and complicated as the B-24. The bomber requires almost constant maintenance because there are so many moving parts, and because those parts are more than a half century old. You can't just call up the airplane parts store for a fix.

The CAF, headquartered in Midland, is dedicated to maintaining and flying the warbirds of WWII, and maintains an active schedule at air shows across the country. They have one airplane on which I want to take a ride, FIFI the only flying B-29 in the world. FIFI currently is being outfitted with new engines but I will track it down when it is back in the air.

My interest in FIFI is directly attributable to my father, who flew as a navigator aboard a B-29 in the Pacific. The plane is more comfortable than the B-24 because it is pressurized, giving it more climate control. Dad was proud of his service in WWII and I want to experience at least a part of what he experienced. Fortunately for me, FIFI's home airport is in Addison and as soon as it is home I have a trip planned.