Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:32 pm
Jack the fact is that he had the recording equipment on hand the day that he busted the sound barrier which is what makes it official. The test equipment belonged to NACA and the USAF had a hard timegetting their hands on it to use it. They could have broken the sound barrier earlier if they could have had the equipment. The memphis Belle is still the first airplane to finsih 25 missions and be sent home. Hell's angels beet them by a day or two, but they also went on a warbond tour.
Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:00 pm
An intresting bit from an article on Bill Anders .. says alot about Yeagers true colors.....
Reaching beyond
While at Hamilton Field, Anders decided he wanted to be more than a fighter pilot.
"I thought I'd like to be a test pilot," he said.
In order to become a test pilot, he needed to be accepted at the Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base. He made a trip to the base to talk to Chuck Yeager, who ran the school.
"He looked at my record and said, 'Your flying time is good, but now the Air Force is looking for people with advanced degrees; why don't you apply to the Air Force Institute of Technology?'" Anders recalled.
He applied to the Air Force Institute of Technology, at Wright-Patterson Air Force, hoping to take aeronautical and aerospace engineering courses. Instead, because of his excellent math grades at the Naval Academy, the Air Force was interested in him for the Airborne Nuclear Propulsion program and shuffled him into nuclear engineering.
Bill Anders participates in a training exercise in the Apollo mission simulator in building 5, in the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.
"They had this wild idea of putting reactors in P-36s and flying forever on nuclear alert over the North Pole," he said. "They envisioned me being one of the possible test pilots for that, so I became a nuclear engineer, specializing in radiation shielding. But when I graduated, they had already cancelled the program—thank God."
Anders received a master's degree in nuclear engineering in 1962 and was assigned to Albuquerque, N.M. He took over technical management of nuclear power reactor shielding and radiation effects programs at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory. That same year, he returned to Edwards to talk to Yeager.
"I said, 'I'm ready; sign me up,'" he recalled. "Yeager said, 'We've changed the criteria; now we want flying time.'"
By then, the school had made some changes. The United States was in a race with Russia to put the first man in space. The Soviets had already launched the first satellite and orbited the first human. In 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a civilian agency, had selected seven veteran test pilots as Mercury astronauts. In May 1961, Alan Shepard had become the first American in space. Shortly after that, President John F. Kennedy had challenged the U.S. to commit itself to landing a man on the moon, and in 1962, another group of nine astronauts joined the original seven.
In 1961, the Test Pilot School had begun a space course and the school's name was changed to the Aerospace Research Pilots School. NASA began recruiting from the school's graduates for its corps of astronauts.
Anders continued to wait for his chances at the school. One day in 1963, while he was driving his Volkswagen bus home from work, he heard on the radio that NASA was looking for a third group of astronauts.
"I didn't pay much attention, because up until then, you had to be a test pilot," he said. "But then I thought I heard them say you had to be a test pilot or have an advanced degree. I immediately pulled over to the side of the road. It was one of these 15-minute news things, interspersed with music. I sat there and listened to 12 minutes' worth of music and advertisements, and sure enough, they came back on and said it was advanced degree or test pilot school."
When Anders got home that Friday evening, he told his wife what he'd heard.
"Valerie has always been a real trouper and supporter," he said. "We had four kids by that time. She was still nursing Gregory. She said 'OK.'"
That evening, Anders wrote a letter to NASA and sent it to the address given on the radio.
"I told them I was just the guy for them—the world's greatest pilot—and that I could solve their radiation problems," he said. "I sent it registered that Saturday."
On the following workday, after the usual Monday morning staff meeting, his boss made an announcement.
"He said, 'Oh, by the way, for you pilots, NASA's requesting applications for a third group of astronauts; here's the form, if you want to fill it out,'" Anders recalled. "I thought, 'Form?' I went up to him later, and I said, 'Boss, I'd like to fill out the form, but I've already sent a letter.' He said, 'Don't worry about it; just fill out the form.'"
Courtesy NASA
On Nov. 9, 1967, Apollo 4, the first test flight of the Saturn V, launched from Kennedy Space Center. On Dec. 21, 1968, Apollo 8 launched aboard a Saturn V. The crew was the first to ride on a Saturn V and to fly out of Earth’s orbit and around the moon.
Anders filled out the form and sent it in. He was surprised when he was asked to report for a physical.
"To my further surprise, I was asked to come back, and then, to my much, much, further surprise, I was asked to come back for a final interview," he said.
Astronaut candidates were interviewed in San Antonio and in Houston, where the Manned Spaceflight Center would be built. Out of several thousand applicants, 30 were eventually selected for final screening.
"We figured they were going to at least cut that number in half," Anders said. "We were all looking around at each other, wondering who it would be. I thought my chances were small."
In 1963, Anders received a fantastic birthday present.
"On my 30th birthday, I got a call from Deke Slayton, saying, 'How would you like to come work for us?'" Anders remembered. "I said, 'I'll be there!'"
NASA had selected Anders and 13 other men. Three days later, he got a call from Yeager, with news about his application as an aerospace research pilot.
"Yeager said, 'I'm sorry to tell you that you didn't make it, but you almost did; try again next year,'" Anders recalled. "I said, 'Thanks, but I got a better offer.' Yeager asked, 'What do you mean?' Keep in mind that Edwards' test pilots looked down their noses at the early astronauts. They were taking a lot of the glory, but Edwards was doing a lot of the hard work. I didn't know all that, so I said, 'I got a call from Deke Slayton to come and join the astronaut school.' Yeager said, 'That's not possible!'"
Anders said the conversation started "getting a little tense."
"At the time, I thought he'd already sent me down the wrong road, costing me three years out of my life," he said. "But it turned out it was the right road. I found out later that NASA was interested in the radiation work. When I told Yeager I'd been selected, he said, 'I was the head of the Air Force screening committee. I reviewed all of the applications. We threw out any of our Air Force applicants who hadn't been to the test pilot school.'"
Anders said that's when he made a big mistake.
"I said, 'Sir, it must have been that letter I sent them,'" he recalled. "Yeager asked, 'What letter?' I told him and he said, 'You went out of the chain of command; I'm going to have that decision overturned.'"
Anders immediately called Slayton.
"I told him, 'You're going to get a call from Chuck Yeager; he wants me to get kicked out of the program,'" Anders remembered.
Anders believes that the friction between the Air Force and NASA helped his cause further.
"That just locked me in even tighter," he said.
Reaching beyond
While at Hamilton Field, Anders decided he wanted to be more than a fighter pilot.
"I thought I'd like to be a test pilot," he said.
In order to become a test pilot, he needed to be accepted at the Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base. He made a trip to the base to talk to Chuck Yeager, who ran the school.
"He looked at my record and said, 'Your flying time is good, but now the Air Force is looking for people with advanced degrees; why don't you apply to the Air Force Institute of Technology?'" Anders recalled.
He applied to the Air Force Institute of Technology, at Wright-Patterson Air Force, hoping to take aeronautical and aerospace engineering courses. Instead, because of his excellent math grades at the Naval Academy, the Air Force was interested in him for the Airborne Nuclear Propulsion program and shuffled him into nuclear engineering.
Bill Anders participates in a training exercise in the Apollo mission simulator in building 5, in the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.
"They had this wild idea of putting reactors in P-36s and flying forever on nuclear alert over the North Pole," he said. "They envisioned me being one of the possible test pilots for that, so I became a nuclear engineer, specializing in radiation shielding. But when I graduated, they had already cancelled the program—thank God."
Anders received a master's degree in nuclear engineering in 1962 and was assigned to Albuquerque, N.M. He took over technical management of nuclear power reactor shielding and radiation effects programs at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory. That same year, he returned to Edwards to talk to Yeager.
"I said, 'I'm ready; sign me up,'" he recalled. "Yeager said, 'We've changed the criteria; now we want flying time.'"
By then, the school had made some changes. The United States was in a race with Russia to put the first man in space. The Soviets had already launched the first satellite and orbited the first human. In 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a civilian agency, had selected seven veteran test pilots as Mercury astronauts. In May 1961, Alan Shepard had become the first American in space. Shortly after that, President John F. Kennedy had challenged the U.S. to commit itself to landing a man on the moon, and in 1962, another group of nine astronauts joined the original seven.
In 1961, the Test Pilot School had begun a space course and the school's name was changed to the Aerospace Research Pilots School. NASA began recruiting from the school's graduates for its corps of astronauts.
Anders continued to wait for his chances at the school. One day in 1963, while he was driving his Volkswagen bus home from work, he heard on the radio that NASA was looking for a third group of astronauts.
"I didn't pay much attention, because up until then, you had to be a test pilot," he said. "But then I thought I heard them say you had to be a test pilot or have an advanced degree. I immediately pulled over to the side of the road. It was one of these 15-minute news things, interspersed with music. I sat there and listened to 12 minutes' worth of music and advertisements, and sure enough, they came back on and said it was advanced degree or test pilot school."
When Anders got home that Friday evening, he told his wife what he'd heard.
"Valerie has always been a real trouper and supporter," he said. "We had four kids by that time. She was still nursing Gregory. She said 'OK.'"
That evening, Anders wrote a letter to NASA and sent it to the address given on the radio.
"I told them I was just the guy for them—the world's greatest pilot—and that I could solve their radiation problems," he said. "I sent it registered that Saturday."
On the following workday, after the usual Monday morning staff meeting, his boss made an announcement.
"He said, 'Oh, by the way, for you pilots, NASA's requesting applications for a third group of astronauts; here's the form, if you want to fill it out,'" Anders recalled. "I thought, 'Form?' I went up to him later, and I said, 'Boss, I'd like to fill out the form, but I've already sent a letter.' He said, 'Don't worry about it; just fill out the form.'"
Courtesy NASA
On Nov. 9, 1967, Apollo 4, the first test flight of the Saturn V, launched from Kennedy Space Center. On Dec. 21, 1968, Apollo 8 launched aboard a Saturn V. The crew was the first to ride on a Saturn V and to fly out of Earth’s orbit and around the moon.
Anders filled out the form and sent it in. He was surprised when he was asked to report for a physical.
"To my further surprise, I was asked to come back, and then, to my much, much, further surprise, I was asked to come back for a final interview," he said.
Astronaut candidates were interviewed in San Antonio and in Houston, where the Manned Spaceflight Center would be built. Out of several thousand applicants, 30 were eventually selected for final screening.
"We figured they were going to at least cut that number in half," Anders said. "We were all looking around at each other, wondering who it would be. I thought my chances were small."
In 1963, Anders received a fantastic birthday present.
"On my 30th birthday, I got a call from Deke Slayton, saying, 'How would you like to come work for us?'" Anders remembered. "I said, 'I'll be there!'"
NASA had selected Anders and 13 other men. Three days later, he got a call from Yeager, with news about his application as an aerospace research pilot.
"Yeager said, 'I'm sorry to tell you that you didn't make it, but you almost did; try again next year,'" Anders recalled. "I said, 'Thanks, but I got a better offer.' Yeager asked, 'What do you mean?' Keep in mind that Edwards' test pilots looked down their noses at the early astronauts. They were taking a lot of the glory, but Edwards was doing a lot of the hard work. I didn't know all that, so I said, 'I got a call from Deke Slayton to come and join the astronaut school.' Yeager said, 'That's not possible!'"
Anders said the conversation started "getting a little tense."
"At the time, I thought he'd already sent me down the wrong road, costing me three years out of my life," he said. "But it turned out it was the right road. I found out later that NASA was interested in the radiation work. When I told Yeager I'd been selected, he said, 'I was the head of the Air Force screening committee. I reviewed all of the applications. We threw out any of our Air Force applicants who hadn't been to the test pilot school.'"
Anders said that's when he made a big mistake.
"I said, 'Sir, it must have been that letter I sent them,'" he recalled. "Yeager asked, 'What letter?' I told him and he said, 'You went out of the chain of command; I'm going to have that decision overturned.'"
Anders immediately called Slayton.
"I told him, 'You're going to get a call from Chuck Yeager; he wants me to get kicked out of the program,'" Anders remembered.
Anders believes that the friction between the Air Force and NASA helped his cause further.
"That just locked me in even tighter," he said.
??
Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:39 pm
BUMP 
Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:08 pm
Poor ol Chuck is getting OLD. He is still responsible for his current actions and if he can't be, then he needs a person who cares about HIM to guide him along and not put him in uncomfortable public situations.
We ALL want to see him, talk to him, ask him what it all felt like. For most people his age "what it felt like" is not a real memory. It's just a habit that you have repeated over and over. Stuff in an old brain (I have one) just comes out at odd times. You can say things that you shouldn't.
You can rememeber things that didn't happen -or happened just slightly differently(and Jack will catch you). You can dwell on the wrong things, like money... It's your old brain, not you. It's playing by different rules... and only using parts of what you think is right. When you meet him, and talk to him, you could come away with -"he's sharp as a tack". but it ain't so. Can't be... no matter how much we want it.
It seems sad that he may be being guided into commercialism or financial venues that he might not really care about.
While I would drive hundreds of miles to talk with him, maybe it's time to leave him alone. What is happening to him now is a shame and there is someone responsible for it. Someone who may want to look closely at the man and what he was... and is.
Heros and Jerks are seperated by a tiny moment in time. Just one little thing can make one from the other.
Could last an hour,
Could last forever.
I'm a Hero to my kids, till I shut off a video game. Then I'm Jerk. HUGE JERK! Then I hand a teenager the car keys and I'm a HERO. HUGE HERO.
C.Y., you are my hero -so quite bein a jerk! and gimme the KEYS!
Dave
We ALL want to see him, talk to him, ask him what it all felt like. For most people his age "what it felt like" is not a real memory. It's just a habit that you have repeated over and over. Stuff in an old brain (I have one) just comes out at odd times. You can say things that you shouldn't.
You can rememeber things that didn't happen -or happened just slightly differently(and Jack will catch you). You can dwell on the wrong things, like money... It's your old brain, not you. It's playing by different rules... and only using parts of what you think is right. When you meet him, and talk to him, you could come away with -"he's sharp as a tack". but it ain't so. Can't be... no matter how much we want it.
It seems sad that he may be being guided into commercialism or financial venues that he might not really care about.
While I would drive hundreds of miles to talk with him, maybe it's time to leave him alone. What is happening to him now is a shame and there is someone responsible for it. Someone who may want to look closely at the man and what he was... and is.
Heros and Jerks are seperated by a tiny moment in time. Just one little thing can make one from the other.
Could last an hour,
Could last forever.
I'm a Hero to my kids, till I shut off a video game. Then I'm Jerk. HUGE JERK! Then I hand a teenager the car keys and I'm a HERO. HUGE HERO.
C.Y., you are my hero -so quite bein a jerk! and gimme the KEYS!
Dave
Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:15 pm
My only experience meeting CY came at Edwards AFB at the 50th anniversary show of CY breaking the sound barrier.
We had taken my parents to the show and were sitting in the handicapped section as dad uses a cane and couldn't walk too far. After CY landed and talked at the podium for a while he started walking past us and I held out the show program and asked him to autograph it for my dad. He took it and as he signed it he asked what I was doing in the handicapped section. I replied I was there to help my dad and I turned and saw my dad's chair empty.
It seems my dad had gone to the head and get a beer. Our area started getting rushed by kids and adults. I moved aside and CY told the airmen to keep the people from rushing into the handicapped area. He proceeded to stand there for 45 minutes signing autographs and posing for pictures with all the kids in the handicapped area.
After CY left my dad returned and asked if he missed anything.
I then ran into a friend who was announcing an act at the show and he gave me a crew badge and said go enjoy the food and drink in the lounge. I went in and saw some pilots and photographers I knew and sat talking with them for a bit. I was constantly on the lookout for CY as I didn't want him to catch me in there after jumping me about the seating area.
I do have one Pappy story also. La Habra CA used to have an aviation fair at the mall every year. About 1979 or so I was there and witnessed a young boy, maybe 10 years old accompanied by his father, approach Pappy as he was leaving the show. The boy held out a magazine and asked for Pappy's autograph. Pappy replied to the kid rather gruffly "buy my book if you want my autograph kid." The kid was close to tears and the father was rather shocked. I was pretty pissed about the way he treated the kid.
As a side note Saburo Sakai had his table setup just a little ways down from Pappy selling his own book. I asked Pappy about Sakai and he gave a grunt and said "he is a liar."
Les
We had taken my parents to the show and were sitting in the handicapped section as dad uses a cane and couldn't walk too far. After CY landed and talked at the podium for a while he started walking past us and I held out the show program and asked him to autograph it for my dad. He took it and as he signed it he asked what I was doing in the handicapped section. I replied I was there to help my dad and I turned and saw my dad's chair empty.
It seems my dad had gone to the head and get a beer. Our area started getting rushed by kids and adults. I moved aside and CY told the airmen to keep the people from rushing into the handicapped area. He proceeded to stand there for 45 minutes signing autographs and posing for pictures with all the kids in the handicapped area.
After CY left my dad returned and asked if he missed anything.
I then ran into a friend who was announcing an act at the show and he gave me a crew badge and said go enjoy the food and drink in the lounge. I went in and saw some pilots and photographers I knew and sat talking with them for a bit. I was constantly on the lookout for CY as I didn't want him to catch me in there after jumping me about the seating area.
I do have one Pappy story also. La Habra CA used to have an aviation fair at the mall every year. About 1979 or so I was there and witnessed a young boy, maybe 10 years old accompanied by his father, approach Pappy as he was leaving the show. The boy held out a magazine and asked for Pappy's autograph. Pappy replied to the kid rather gruffly "buy my book if you want my autograph kid." The kid was close to tears and the father was rather shocked. I was pretty pissed about the way he treated the kid.
As a side note Saburo Sakai had his table setup just a little ways down from Pappy selling his own book. I asked Pappy about Sakai and he gave a grunt and said "he is a liar."
Les
Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:50 pm
BigGrey wrote:My only experience meeting CY came at Edwards AFB at the 50th anniversary show of CY breaking the sound barrier.
We had taken my parents to the show and were sitting in the handicapped section as dad uses a cane and couldn't walk too far. After CY landed and talked at the podium for a while he started walking past us and I held out the show program and asked him to autograph it for my dad. He took it and as he signed it he asked what I was doing in the handicapped section. I replied I was there to help my dad and I turned and saw my dad's chair empty.
It seems my dad had gone to the head and get a beer. Our area started getting rushed by kids and adults. I moved aside and CY told the airmen to keep the people from rushing into the handicapped area. He proceeded to stand there for 45 minutes signing autographs and posing for pictures with all the kids in the handicapped area.
After CY left my dad returned and asked if he missed anything.
I then ran into a friend who was announcing an act at the show and he gave me a crew badge and said go enjoy the food and drink in the lounge. I went in and saw some pilots and photographers I knew and sat talking with them for a bit. I was constantly on the lookout for CY as I didn't want him to catch me in there after jumping me about the seating area.
I do have one Pappy story also. La Habra CA used to have an aviation fair at the mall every year. About 1979 or so I was there and witnessed a young boy, maybe 10 years old accompanied by his father, approach Pappy as he was leaving the show. The boy held out a magazine and asked for Pappy's autograph. Pappy replied to the kid rather gruffly "buy my book if you want my autograph kid." The kid was close to tears and the father was rather shocked. I was pretty pissed about the way he treated the kid.
As a side note Saburo Sakai had his table setup just a little ways down from Pappy selling his own book. I asked Pappy about Sakai and he gave a grunt and said "he is a liar."
Les
I doubt it was Sakai, there was a guy name mike kwato that went to airshows claiming to have shot down Boyington. I had a friend that was in Military Intel in the pacific in WWII, and when this guy popped up at airshows in the southwest, he got to wondering about his claims. He researched it and found that while he was on the mission that intercepted Boyington, he was flying top cover, and unless he managed to hit Boyington, who was flying on the deck, from 20,000 ft, there was no way he could have shot him down. After that he dissappeared for a number of years only to pop up in the Northwest making the same claims. By then Pappy, and my friend, Robert Aldrich, and his research assistant, Martin Caiden, Yes, that Martin Caiden, all had passed away.
http://www.sharkhunters.com/EPKawato.htm
Last edited by Matt Gunsch on Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:02 pm
Matt Gunsch wrote: By then Pappy, and my friend, Robert Aldrich, and his research assistant, Martin Caiden, Yes, that Martin Caiden, all had passed away.
Is this the same Robert Aldrich, who was an aviation painter, and did several aviation art prints, including at least one about Pappy?
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:03 pm
Matt, you are probably right. It is likely the CRS kicking in. 
Les
Les
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:10 pm
warbird1 wrote:Matt Gunsch wrote: By then Pappy, and my friend, Robert Aldrich, and his research assistant, Martin Caiden, Yes, that Martin Caiden, all had passed away.
Is this the same Robert Aldrich, who was an aviation painter, and did several aviation art prints, including at least one about Pappy?
Yes, same guy. I met him when I started playing with the B-17 out at Falcon Field. Robert lived in Scottsdale at the time. THe first time I met him he was at a aviation event in the entrance to the state capitol, he was working on a painting of several B-29s under attack.
He did one painting I wish I had a copy of. There was a print the CAF sold of texas raiders and sentimental journey together. raiders being the first b-17 in the fleet was always leading when the 2 planes flew together. Robert did a painting of that, with journey in the lead and raiders being hidden in the rear.
????
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:12 pm
Boyington VS Kawato.............
A contest to see who could lie the most
A contest to see who could lie the most
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:19 pm
Matt Gunsch wrote:warbird1 wrote:Matt Gunsch wrote: By then Pappy, and my friend, Robert Aldrich, and his research assistant, Martin Caiden, Yes, that Martin Caiden, all had passed away.
Is this the same Robert Aldrich, who was an aviation painter, and did several aviation art prints, including at least one about Pappy?
Yes, same guy. I met him when I started playing with the B-17 out at Falcon Field. Robert lived in Scottsdale at the time. THe first time I met him he was at a aviation event in the entrance to the state capitol, he was working on a painting of several B-29s under attack.
He did one painting I wish I had a copy of. There was a print the CAF sold of texas raiders and sentimental journey together. raiders being the first b-17 in the fleet was always leading when the 2 planes flew together. Robert did a painting of that, with journey in the lead and raiders being hidden in the rear.
Thanks for the info. I have Aldrich's painting of when Pappy shot down a Hamp over Kahilli airfield. I bought that print from Pappy at Oshkosh back in the 80's, I believe. I liked Aldrich's work, and thought he was a very good painter. What can you tell me about him? Do you know how many paintings he did, when did he pass away? Is he the intel officer you were referring to? Any website's on the internet about Aldrich or his body of work?
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:41 pm
Matt,
I remember meeting "Mike Kwato" several times at gunshows in Portland. OR. He had a table and was selling memorbilia that included claims about shooting down Boyington. That was fifteen years or so ago, I think.
Ted
I remember meeting "Mike Kwato" several times at gunshows in Portland. OR. He had a table and was selling memorbilia that included claims about shooting down Boyington. That was fifteen years or so ago, I think.
Ted
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:45 pm
Tigercat wrote:Matt,
I remember meeting "Mike Kwato" several times at gunshows in Portland. OR. He had a table and was selling memorbilia that included claims about shooting down Boyington. That was fifteen years or so ago, I think.
Ted
I met Mike Kawato several times also and bought his book. Even reading it back then in the 80's, when I was a teen, I remember thinking, "this is the most incredible fabrication I've ever read". The book, entitled, "Flight Into Conquest", is just so unbelievable.
What's the story about Kawato? I remember reading that he was basically ostracized from the Zero Fighter Pilot's association because he was perceived to be less than honorable due to his tall tales.
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:47 pm
Jack, I saw the locked thread and about what you saw. THat is tragic, and I am sure that it haunts you from time to time. But I refer you to the thread about places we work. Take note of where I work. The horrors I have seen and had to deal with on a day to day basis and try to forget when I go home. Just because I am young, doesn't mean I haven't been around. Just because I am foolish to believe in heroes still doesn't make me wrong. People always say never meet your hero. Well Chuck Yeager is one of my heroes. I met him, and he was just awesome to me. And we still keep in touch from time to time. He proved that you don't have to be a rich educated person to be a legendary aviator. He showed a kid from a town in Pittsburgh, that it was possible to follow a dream and get out of doing what every one else is doing. I was told time and time again through Junior high that I should forget about flying and concentrate on football and then after high school just go work for my family construction company. Problem is the only thing I wanted to do was fly. I had to fight like hell, but I managed to do it. And I did it old school. I washed airplanes when I was 14 in exchange for airplane rides. I started at Air heritage the same time. I new I liked warbirds right away. I worked on the ramp through high school earning a pilot's license, and went to college to continue to fly and get my ATC. I never thought I would have ended up where I am, but now that I am here, I wouldn't change a thing. Flying EMS helicopter is the 2nd most dangerous type of flying you can do next to combat. That is a fact. So maybe I am foolish and stupid for beleiving that Boyingtons bastards were a little like the show, that Yeager is understood to be the best, and that the Belle was first, but they are just my heroes and they each have played a part in getting me to where I am. As for the things I have seen Jack, I have never served in the military, but that doesn't mean I haven't seen things to make me an old 28 year old. I was at ground zero in NYC 4 days after the attack, I had my friend die in my arms in the back of my helicopter the night before a wedding of a shared friend that we were both in, I had another friend pass away of a brain hemmorage while at work, my girlfriend was killed by a drunk driver a few nights after my prom(try sitting in homeroom weeks after the prom when your prom pictures come in and the girl you are with in the photos is no longer there), and every day I have to decide if a flight is safe to go and try to save a life. SOmeitmes it is not and we decide not to fly. SOmetime people die because of my decision. It sucks, but I deal with it. And maybe being dumb and having these heroes helps me deal with it. I think all veterans are heroes, regardless if you saw combat or not. Some just have more colorful stories.
As for you Jack, I have no anger at all towrad you or Dan. I think those who know me here know I get fired up, but I mean no harm. As we always say, if and when we all meet up beers are on me. They have to be Jack, because as a veteran , and because of the stuff that you have seen, you are one of my heroes.
As for you Jack, I have no anger at all towrad you or Dan. I think those who know me here know I get fired up, but I mean no harm. As we always say, if and when we all meet up beers are on me. They have to be Jack, because as a veteran , and because of the stuff that you have seen, you are one of my heroes.
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:54 pm
<What's the story about Kawato? I remember reading that he was basically ostracized from the Zero Fighter Pilot's association because he was perceived to be less than honorable due to his tall tales.>
I thought all fighter pilots told tall tales or they wouldn't be real fighter pilots!
I thought all fighter pilots told tall tales or they wouldn't be real fighter pilots!