Warbird Information Exchange

My best Christmas was 1969. At 6 I didn't understand much of anything going on in the world. But, I was worried about my cousin Tom. He was in Viet Nam flying his 2nd combat tour with HMM-162. I didn't even know really know what VN was just that Tom was there and people were trying hard to kill him. I wrote a Tom but never got a reply. My mom explained that he was just to busy to write but not to worry. I did anyway. On Christmas Eve the doorbell rang and I opened it to see the mailman standing there with a large package. Better still, it was addressed to me with all kind of stamps, writing and scraps and scratches all over it. Better yet the return address said 1Lt T.O. Bong USMC HMM-162 Da Nang, RSVN. Only my mom's intervention stopped me from ripping the package apart to get inside.
It was brutal waiting till morning but well worth the wait. What else could the world's greatest helo pilot send his little cousin all the way from Viet Nam but a Vertibird!! 40 years later Tom's (a retired MN NG Lt Col with thousands of hours of helo time who now spends his free time hunting and fishing in the great state of Winconsin) Christmas is being spent with his 3 beautiful daughters and 6 grandchildren. I'm 40 years older also but he's still my hero!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

This is has close has my sister ever got to my beloved Vertibird!!!

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Don't touch my junk!!

Another kick A$$ story by Mr. Cook. Man you bring back some good memories for myself. I got a whirlly bird for Xmas too and enjoyed that way too much.

If only they made cool toys like that now

Cheers Dave C

Played with it forever until my sister's friend kicked it and it wouldn't fly anymore.

Cool story "Uncle Jack"! I was graduating high school in '69 but remember these well.

Thanks for all the great posts and I wish you and all WIXER's a very Merry Christmas!

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Christmas 1965:



Me (left) at age 5 with my brother Dan, who will never live down this photo. This was several years before I got into airplanes; can you tell I'm a car buff? ... the big red convertible behind us is a remote-controlled Crusader 101, which looked like a Russian copy of a '63 Pontiac.

And yes, we got the Vertibird four years later!

Merry Christmas to all my fellow WIXers, and best wishes for a happy and successful New Year!

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

You know, I had completely forgotten about the vertibird until I saw that picture. I must have logged hundreds or hours flying mine. I wonder what ever became of it...

But the story of how you got yours is really cool, Jack. Mine was just from Mom and Dad.