A Good Old Warbird

On my way home from work tonight, a B24 Liberator rose up in front of me as it took off from Burbank airport. I pulled off to the side of the road and jumped out on the sidewalk to watch it go by. The takeoff of a four engine WWII bomber is a rare and wonderful sight. Old propeller driven aircraft are not capable of the steep climb angles of jet aircraft, so the departure of a B24 from a crowded airport like Burbank, hemmed in on all sides by civilization, is something to behold. With long, thin wings stretched straight out from the fuselage, engines throbbing, the old bomber was a beautiful, terrible thing to see.