Another airplane’s screaming engine sounded as we all hopped off of the first bus at the Lewiston-Auburn Airport. It was still early, around 8:30, and it was chilly without long sleeves. My classmates and I stood patiently for the other two buses to unload and our teachers to take attendance. Then, nearly twenty minutes later, we began our trip.

Of the three groups, ours was the first to walk to the home of Maurice Roundy and to see the Constellation Starliners in his backyard. He explained to us a brief history of the Starliners and how they were used in the 40’s and 50’s. Very few of them are now in existence. We also go the chance to climb aboard one of the Starliners. They’re much smaller on the inside than what they look like on the outside. The roof is low and it’s not very wide. The cockpit is jumbled mess of gears, gizmos, and gadgets.

All too soon, it was time to depart from our newly found friends and make our way back to the Lewiston-Auburn Airport.

Once back, we caught our first glimpse of the famous B-17 “Flying Fortress.” It was immense from the outside, and the nose art on the left side of it showed St. Chris thumbing his nose at the German forces. Directly underneath were three swastikas, symbolizing that this plane had shot down three German planes. Finally, at long last, we were allowed to go inside.

I was one of the lucky few that got to go inside ahead of the mob of kids I saw the few people ahead of me climbing up and stooping, I didn’t realize that the door was directly beneath the pilot’s seat! As soon as we were off the ladder, we had to crawl a few feet, then we could stand up. It was really warm in the plane, and everything seemed too mall. The seats that the men got to sit on for the ride across the Atlantic were about the right size for first graders. Between the dormant rack of bombs was a four inch walkway to the back half of the plane. There the navigator would sit in another teeny seat. There were four enormous guns, one fully loaded with a row of .50 caliber bullets. Luckily the safety was on! At the very back of the plane, there was one more gun, the one at the very base of the tail, where a man would lie down and shoot. Then the time trip from the 40’s was over and we were back to the present time

My classmates and I spent the remainder of our time exploring the outside of the plane. Most of us were very much in awe at the site of these powerful weapons. It was amazing to see these planes from the movie screen to real life.