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• Life on an Amish Farm (Part 2) July, 2011 by Gary Boens The Amish people have long maintained a firm commitment to eschewing the use of modern technology, automobiles being identified as particularly verboten. Even so, these days, the Amish hold no objections to utilizing tools outfitted with small internal combustion engines. Likewise, Amish farmers have made use of steam- and gasoline-powered engines to pump water, grind animal feed, saw wood, and run washers. Regardless, horse-drawn equipment boasts distinction as the primary means for plowing, cultivating, and harvesting crops. Many people unfamiliar with Amish culture mistakenly believe the Amish never allowed gas-fueled tractors on their fields, especially misleading considering that many Amish owned tractors of this sort as early as the 1920s. In the early 1900s, very few farmers in the United States employed motorized tractors in their work. During the first two decades of the century, primitive tractors with heavy steel wheels were introduced to farmers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, an innovation the Amish disregarded due in part to the common traits these machines shared with steam engines. In the early 1920s, however, some Amish farmers opted to allow the tractors onto their lands to facilitate physically demanding tasks such as threshing wheat. Not long after, Amish leaders, concerned that the tractors bore too many similarities to the automobile, gathered to discuss the new technology and its effect on the community at large. In the Amish’s perspective, horse-drawn equipment seemed easier to maneuver than motorized tractors, with traditional farming methods remaining much less costly to operate, as well. The debate over new approaches to farming wore on well into the 1960s. At long last, Amish leaders came to an agreement, choosing to allow modern tractors on family farms on a limited basis. Today, many Amish farmers own tractors that are kept in their barns. These machines power hydraulic systems, feed grinders, and ventilation units. The Amish currently use tractors to pump liquid manure and blow silage to the top of grain silos, rarely taking the motorized vehicles out into the field. As they have done for over three centuries, the Amish continue to rely on horse-drawn equipment for the majority of their farming needs. Gary Boens Life on an Amish Farm – Part 1

• The Flying Fortress, by Gary Boens , Gary Boens' Blog on Bigsight October, 2011 Developed in the 1930s for the U.S. Army Air Corps, the four-engine, long-range heavy bomber Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress underwent numerous design changes over the years leading up to and during World War II, and each successive design included heavier armor. The B-17E, the first mass-produced Flying Fortress, carried a 2-ton bomb load and 9 machine guns. The bomber also included a large, distinctive tail that provided increased stability and control. The B-17G, available in mid-1943, introduced the power-operated Bendix turret under the nose, equipped with 2 machine guns. Boeing B-17E in flight. U.S. Air Force photo Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain The Flying Fortress earned an almost mythical reputation for its ability to continue flying with substantial damage to the fuselage. Utilized primarily in the European Theater in strategic daylight bombing of German military and industrial targets, the Flying Fortress also saw action in the Pacific and with the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa. A typical mission to German targets might take seven or eight hours. One B-17 pilot compared the experience of flying in formation to driving at 70 miles an hour in heavy traffic, in three dimensions, for hours at a time. Add to that sometimes poor visibility, flying in an oxygen mask with temperatures outside as low as 35 degrees below zero, with the distraction and danger of flak bursts all around, or worse yet, enemy aircraft. The bombing raids conducted by the Eighth Air Force and the RAF Bomber Command crippled Germany’s industrial production. Out of 1.5 million tons of bombs dropped on the Axis power, B-17s delivered more than one-third. Nearly 250,000 young Americans, most in their late teens or early 20s, served as crew members on B-17s, and 46,500 became casualties, either killed or wounded. U.S. factories built more than 12,000 Flying Fortresses during World War II. The Army Air Corps scrapped most of the remaining B-17s after the war, and more met their demise in the 1960s as target drones. Only a few now remain. In June 2011, one of those B-17s went down in a field near Chicago. The passengers walked away from the crash, but the bomber burned. About the author: A former Air Force reservist, Gary Boens serves as President of InnoMark Communications in Fairfield, Ohio.

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