Warbird Information Exchange

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Those are great! Thanks for sharing!

Really cool ads - I was intrigued to see the Sperry Corporation ad which lists their address as "30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York" - the old RCA building now the home to GE and most famously NBC's NYC studios. Just struck me as kind of an odd address for a company that was in the gyroscope and turret business!

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Makes me long for my own Ball Turret!:wink:
Thanks for posting them!
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

The artwork made me think of this image from a book I've had since i was a kid a LOONNGG time ago

While replacing a jug on Aluminum Overcast last year me and a couple of other guys decided to try on the ball turret for size. We challenged each other to see how long each one could stay in there. I was by far the youngest, so odds were on me. I did end up winning, but after only about 10 minutes a leg cramp forced me out. How a man could stay in there for hours I will never know.

Curtis Block

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did I want to know about turtles? noooooo!

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Sounds like an episode of Sienfeld..


I was sitting next to an old Ball Turret Gunner while flying in Aluminum Overcats a couple of weeks ago. It was a very hot, turbulent day, and the plane was bouncing around like we were dodging heavy flak. The old vet turned to me and smiled, saying "how'd you like to put up with this for eight or nine hours straight?"




I've got that book myself! In fact, it was my primary inspiration back in junior high. I first really got hooked on warbirds when my uncle got me the (then new) Monogram 1/48 B-17G. In an effort to "get it right," I mixed my own "zinc chromate green" for the interior (gloss of course..all that was available at the local supermarket.) I also went to the town's tiny library looking for references, and found this book..




I must have taken it out a couple of dozen times during my junior high and high school years (along with my best freinds.) I jokingly told the librarian that if it ever went out of circulation I wanted it. A couple of years ago, I got a package in the mail with her return adress. It was obviously a book, and I was delighted when I opened the package. She even left the original card in the back! She's definately a special lady..and as a side note, her late husband fought his was through France, Belguim, and Czeckoslovakia, then came home to raise a family.

Sorry to hijack the thread with my little stroll down memory lane...

SN

best post I have read in weeks!
I went from Cackling about your old Ball Gunner's comment to smiling about your librarian! Obviously a special lady who saw something special in you!

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

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I remember that book as well in the school library.That has been some years back now.

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Hang The Expense

Yep that's the book. That one and this one below are the two books from my elementary school library that hooked me as a little kid. 40 years later the obsession is still there. I was the only kid to check them out, and I had them constantly

Great books considering they were aimed at kids. Some of the photos in the first book are classics too.

Almost forgot. It was the Monogram 1/48th P51B Ding Hao! That put me over the edge with model building. Still the best bang for your buck kit ever made.

Thanks, guys! Robin the librarian was pretty much a foster grandmother to me (she actually is my sister's godmother.) She's in her 80s now, and sadly won't be around for too many more years..need to get home and pay her a visit.

The book was part of a whole series. I also nearly wore out "Carrier War in the Pacific" and "D-Day, the Invasion of Europe." Not sure how many volumes there were..it'd be neat to find the whole series.

SN