Warbird Information Exchange

The only problem I have with aging is the cockpits keep getting smaller for some reason!
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."

i am 44, soloed at 16.got to go flying in FIFI in 1983.my son soloed at 16,and will go to the other big war in june.my son inlaw will go for the 3rd time to the other big war in feb.i also served in a little war.bill

52 years old here. The most depressing day of my life was the first time a pretty girl called me "Sir".

Les

My wife was talking about taking in a local art show. She noted the different prices for Senior, Adult, and Child. I was okay until she mentioned that at age 56, I could qualify for all three.

Next question: should I be upset or amused?

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Without wires, it won't work.

Strange to say that the only warbird I really hear about on WIX that is sort of "of my generation" is Capitain Downing's SPAD... I was 7 when the Vietnam Action ended. After that it was all high speed low drag aircraft, and they bore the snot out of me. I need to hear pistons to get excited, I guess. I think you'll find, Bill, that there are still plenty of people who love the old warbirds.

The problem is: who is gonna fly them in twenty years? GenAv seems to be hurting right now. The rules are getting pricklier (no more barnstorming, eh?) and the costs are going up exponentially. How are all the rich mustang owners of tomorrow going to get that ever precious flight training? I know there are still T6s out there, but an average kid can't afford one, and likely can't afford to even rent one. And that superb experience is getting older and older, so even if a kid in 15 years can afford flight time, and a shiny new mustang, who is gonna be around to teach him?So we're going to have less and less fliers, and less and less airworthy aircraft for them to fly.

These are the days of wine and roses, folks. Enjoy them And while we're at it, somebody teach me to fly:p

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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."

I had to trim some of this thread to eliminate some negative content. The originators of this comment have been warned or banned. In order to completely eliminate this negative comment I also removed the replies to this content. If your message is missing and you have not received a warning from me then you did nothing wrong but unfortunately your reply had to be deleted. With that said I will be moving this thread back into the main hanger and extending the amount of time the poll will remain open. Thanks for your support and understanding.

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Scott Rose
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50 Here, but alot younger at heart!

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Joe Amend - YAM Restoration

TriangleP- my dad is a WWII Navy air veteran, a PBY radioman. I just missed the Nam.

MuddyBoots- I'm with you. Large piston engines are the stuff. I like the older style Merlins with the two into one stacks like LSFM's Hurricane, and 18 cylinder radials really spin my crank , but I can't describe the rush I felt the first time I felt four Wright Cyclone R-1820's fire up under me!!!

Doug

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"I love the smell of 100LL in the morning."

Well...to all you internal combustion, piston goin' up n down with a big whirly thing on the front freaks....I'M WICHU

Mudge the combustible

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Land of the free because of the brave

Yeah, think it was '57 for the last one, though most Guard units had given their Mustangs up earlier. Jeez, is this thread making me feel old

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"They can teach MONKEYS to fly better than that"

http://www.heritageflight.org
http://www.bravo369.org

Yup, know that feeling

Eric

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The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

I'm 47 and have been a warbird nut since I was a toddler. My dad was heavy into Model planes and they used to fly control line combat control line on the weekends and he finally graduated to R/C in the mid-sixties. I've been building models for as long as I remember (maybe smelling all that glue had and effect). I discovered "air classics" in 1973 and it was all over from there. I saw my first real warbird that year (Miss America) at a Myrtle Beach air show.

My biggest thrill was attending a week long seminar at the Smithsonian in 1976 call "Kites to Kittyhawk" I got to meet Don Lopez, Mr Garber and many aces and other aviation heroes. My dad took tons of slides that I hope to find some day. They let us spend the evening in the mall museum and a full day at Silver Hill with free access to all of the buildings.

Anyway, enough rambling. I've got thousands and thousands of photos that I've shot over the years that someday I hope to scan and post.

Ray

I was 51 years old last birthday.

How our age relates to what we view as nostalgia is such an important question.

I can remember walking to the grocery store aged 6 or 7 with mother and being served by a nice man who still wore the leather jerkin he wore when he serviced Spitfires in the RAF in WW2.

At high school, my tutor who called the register every day had learnt to fly in a Tiger Moth in Australia. My geography teacher had a massive scar and dent in his skull from the impact of his head on the gun sight from the Spitfire he crash landed. If you went to the wood working class, that teacher had been an RAF apprentice at 14 and repaired aircraft throughout the WW2.

England was full of ex service people and aviation interest was something “normal”.

Role models like Douglas Bader, were still alive and seen on TV. And we thought that given a chance we could just about handle a Spitfire like the young men flew in the Battle of Britain.

There was even two newspaper shops within walking distance that stocked model airplanes from the floor to the ceiling because of the demand from school kids !

Today things are very different. The number of people today who have served recently in the armed forces is a tiny percentage of the overall population compared to the millions who did in WW2.

So the culture today is different. Many people will have kids who have not met or know someone who currently or recently served in the armed forces.

Where do you point youngsters for today’s aviation role models ? There isn’t the access to local airports for security reasons. Affordable model airplane kits aren’t around in the numbers they were. And if today’s teenagers do get misty eyed over the thought of a “old” F-14 / F-15 ….. it’s not like they can pick one up cheap, restore it and fly it. The technology has advanced too far for that.

I really hope that interest in WW2 / Korea / Vietnam warbirds continues so that we can go to airshows and see them fly. I suspect that the numbers of people interested will dwindle over time, as interest in WW1 aircraft has done for my generation.

It was very sobering to note at the Wings Over Houston Airshow in 2007 that the only act that got everyone to their feet was … the Jet Truck.

On a positive note, watching airshows in the UK still attracts the 2nd biggest number of spectators after football ( soccer ).

We’ve been so very lucky to indulge our love of history and passion for aircraft at a time in history when the conflicts involved were still all too recent in people’s minds.

Maybe we need the economic hardships we have today to remember the values of the Greatest Generation and what they fought and died for.

Perhaps the stories we tell and the pictures we share of wabirds and their crews can make a difference. We are the torch bearers of history to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

My appologies for such a LONG, indulgent ramble !

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Blue Skies .....

Peter

Consolidated by US state ~ see if there's a heavy bomber tour stop coming to an airport near you ...... http://www.bomberflight.info

Warbirdapps on facebook ~ every day a new image from my personal journey thru the world of warbirds ..... https://www.facebook.com/Warbirdapps

Peter:
Nice ramble. Thought provoking. Thank you.
Being concerned about the future interest of our 'WIX hobby', I am often soothed by comparisons to the US Civil War reeanactor movement. That sector of historical activity has no movies or first person recounting of the Civil War battles and actions. Yet it thrives to its own level of interest. Fortunately, WW2 groups did/do have the veterans available for us to interact and converse. Plus the volume of movies and photos. In future generations, I hope the Warbird movement will do as well or better than the Civil War interest.
2 cents,
VL

OMG....Got my first rating (Glider) in '66, and ASEL in '67, turnin' 60 this year....

..As with any area of interest, be it warbirds, reenactment (choose your era), etc., think it is of utmost importance to involve the younger generationS (no misspelling, there) in whatever area that activity is concerned with. Be it the Civil War (War Between the States for some folks), Roman Legions, frontier America, or warbirds, without their interest and participation, these things will gradually pass into the (perhaps) dusty, inanimate corners of some museum.

As for warbirds in particular, it all starts with promoting an interest in aviation - flying, maintaining, supporting. And it shouldn't start just at the airport.

('Nother 2 cents in the pot)

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Bob