Warbird Information Exchange

break out the weinies & marshmallows & the 500 foot toaster forks!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

My other hobbies are coin collecting, and digging up dinosaurs. If any of you are in Indianapolis or Houston, you can see some of my work. I helped with the Children's Museum display, in that I helped clean and assemble their Triceratops and T. rex skeletons. Houston is about to get a T. rex that I helped dig. If you're interested, try this link:

http://unearthingtrex.com


Chris

A few of my interests can be seen at:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/index.html

Which shows my boatbuilding and the replica ancient nautical navigational instruments I build.
Used to crew on tallships - HMS Rose, HMS Bounty, USB Niagara, schooner Ernestina.

I also like to make furniture.

bugazon and rwdfresno,
Thanks for the nice comments. Sadly, I no longer own this White M2A1. Downsized a couple of years ago. She is a very original beauty.I still get to see her once in awhile. Here's a pic of my current love interests......................John

What do I have an interest in other than warbirds? Well, does General Aviation count?


This is my 1949 Aeronca 7CCM Champion, recently completely rebuilt from essentially a flying derelict. I've put about fifty hours on it since finishing her a couple of years ago and am now just ironing out the last of a few bugs. It still amuses me that it's gross weight is less than 1% of the gross weight of the airplane that I fly for a living!

Besides that and all things Warbird, I collect historically signifigant firearms, used to have a serious trap-shooting problem, make all my own ammunition(reloads and handloads), crash rc model airplanes, still collect 1/48 & 1/72 scale model airplanes, am an avid book collector (albeit mostly aviation/warbird related), and am slowly learning the finer points of becoming a machinist. I also recently started making wine, which fits in well with my love of cooking.

But, generally speaking, my life revolves around and is consumed by airplanes and aviation, be it warbirds, classics, homebuilts, and then of course there's always work! Sure enjoy Scott's forum, and have made alolt of great friends here.

darn i'm glad i live in a(relativly)safe country i dont need no gun's.
but you like muscle car's i can live with that .
ryan nice artwork.

JBell,

Are you the John Bell that used to pilot the B-25J "Heavenly Body?"

The M2 is a heavy piece of machinery to be lugging around to events. The M2 pictured is actually for sale because my good friend Jim who owns it is downsizing his collection. Nice WC-1 though. I learned how to drive in a WC-1 and M-135.

Ryan

rdfresno,
Actually its a WC-12. Yes, I too grew tired of arranging transport for an 8 ton HT. The WC trailers well behind my PU.
No, I've never piloted "Heavenly Body" but I have spent some quality time with MO CAF's beautiful "Show Me". Thats me on the left with pilot Everett Feltham.............John

Other interests ??.... Hmmm, that's a tough one.

Well, sometimes I take pictures of (and from) airplanes that are not warbirds...

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Neal Nurmi

---Wingman Photo---

i'm truely impressed with the with the amount of talent here. i was expecting more than one or two car heads and modellers but the amount of people involved in artistic pursuits surprised me.
i guess i have learnt not to sell the people here short.

henry.

I find it interesting that many of us who can't afford to collect warbirds collect rifles. And the rifles we collect are along the same line: M1903, M1903A3, Garand, M1 Carbine, etc. WWII military hardware at an affordable price

I've always had an interest in military history, starting with the Civil War and expanding to the US Cavalry and WWII. I played with the 1903 I'm shooting in my earlier post when I was 6-8 years old. ( With NO ammunition and only under my Grandfathers supervision). I got a copy of "Great American Fighter Pilots" a year or so later. Guns I could buy as a kid, but the only warbirds I knew about were a bunch of guys down in the valley that had some. Didn't know their names or what aircarft they had. My how times have changed !

Street rods rock! HotRodJosh-tell me about that purty flatmotor in your A. I like street rods, old trucks, was totally into big street bikes eat-sleep-breathe motorcycles for almost twenty years, but gave it up. I like antique tractors but since I work for a tractor dealership, I can mess with that one free on someone else's time
I've always loved WWII stuff, my dad is a Navy PBY veteran and I've been involved with Lone Star Flight Museum for two years,and PBY@yahoo for three or four. The last year or so I've gotten back into model planes after a lapse of several decades.
My wife and I do a lot of landscape gardening and I have my big pond goldfish.
I used to do a lot of hunting and recreational shooting but have slacked off on that since the developers squeezed out the last convenient shooting range I belonged to.

My grandson is 2 1/2 and and likes all little boy stuff that's bright shiny and goes ZOOM! He's ready to be introduced to warbirds. Do I hear a second on the motion?

Doug Ratchford, Brenham, Tx.
"Canso42" ' the PBY guy' at LSFM

Street rods rock! HotRodJosh-tell me about that purty flatmotor in your A. I like street rods, old trucks, was totally into big street bikes eat-sleep-breathe motorcycles for almost twenty years, but gave it up. I like antique tractors but since I work for a tractor dealership, I can mess with that one free on someone else's time
I've always loved WWII stuff, my dad is a Navy PBY veteran and I've been involved with Lone Star Flight Museum for two years,and PBY@yahoo for three or four. The last year or so I've gotten back into model planes after a lapse of several decades.
My wife and I do a lot of landscape gardening and I have my big pond goldfish.
I used to do a lot of hunting and recreational shooting but have slacked off on that since the developers squeezed out the last convenient shooting range I belonged to.

My grandson is 2 1/2 and and likes all little boy stuff that's bright shiny and goes ZOOM! He's ready to be introduced to warbirds. Do I hear a second on the motion?

Doug Ratchford, Brenham, Tx.
"Canso42" ' the PBY guy' at LSFM

Pardon the double post. My internet server is being stupid tonight.
I also like working with my hands building stuff. I'm the maint man at work and I'm artsy-fartsy too. Last fall I entered a scrapbook in the county fair in adult-individual division and won Grand Champion. The title was "One hundred and one things to make out of old crap that's lying around the house." The title and original idea came from my older son and I made the scrapbook for him as a gift.
Cant' top that again. Next fall I hope to enter some air to air photos. I like photography too and would like to hear some opinions on various DSLR cameras. SLR is my format of choice.

Doug R., the groundpounder.