blueldr wrote:...They taught me to fly, and by god we won the war.
Honestly. Thats how it was.
I always wondered why we needed to produce another whole airplane every few minutes. Now we know.
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Dick, you really should sit down with a video camera (preferably interviewed by a cute young thing to keep your interest at a keen level) and don't leave all of us without treasured memories.
One of the family treasures we most appreciate are the recorded voice of my wifes beloved father.
Just make sure the cutie can handle the rich vocabulary!
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
I had an old vet talk to our EAA chapter about his experiences and his son came along because he never talked to the family about this. His son video taped the talk just for a record to have for the family and others that are interested. I am going to have him back because he has more stories about his ferrying flights to the Aleutians.
I encourage you to get your experiences on some sort of record.
John
John Hess
Past President 2018-2021 President 2016-2018, TIC170A Vice President 2014-2016, TIC170A Director 2005-2014, TIC170A N3833V Flying for Fun '67 XLH 900 Harley Sportster EAA Chapter 390 Pres since 2006 K3KNT
I remember when I was a kid, listening to my grandfather tell stories about his time during the war. He was a B17 pilot early on, a German POW for most of the war and then FAC flying Bird Dogs in Korea. I loved to hear his stories and deeply regret not recording them in some way.
George,
I am somewhat reluctant to say that Uncle Sam won WWII because he taught me to fly, BUT, after all he did and he did, and you can't change history.
Though I spent 22 years in military service, I have never seen a shot fired in anger or in combat so I am really not much of a veteran. I have always figured that the Germans and the Japanese knew that there was always the chance that Uncle Sam might send me over there and that probably gave them a helluva lot to worry about.
The WSO in the the F-111 video was my USNTPS classmate...his long version of the story is quite interesting and funny with his Aussie humor thrown in, after the fact that he survived!
In looking at these great pix again, I notice that the picture of the P-40s in north Africa are the model that was powered by a Rolls Merlin engine as indicated by
the lack of an intake air scoop on the TOP side of the cowling. The Allison powered models, the vast majority, used a downdraft carburetor and had an airscoop on the top running foreward on the cowling. The Rolls engine had an updraft induction system and the intake airscoop was incorporated in the larger bottom scoop. The Rolls Merlin engine in the P-40 was not the TWO STAGE engine used in the P-51.
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