Warbird Information Exchange

The current topic about the James Cameron movie reminds me of a story right after college.
One of my best friends in college was a radio,tv,film major at school. Which school, well U of Texas , of course.

After we graduated he was friends with another film guy who had some connections in Hollywood. The second guy talked to us about a new movie that was going to be made and about me possibly investing in it. The good part was they were not asking for a lot of money, I could have obtained the $10,000 needed. The bad part was that I, as a business major, really knew nothing about making movies except that I was pretty sure that most of them lost money, and that I didn't have much faith in their accounting integrity. I could see my money going up someone's nose leaving no trace.

The final two parts of my decision was that while my friend was a very smart guy, I did not have much regard for the other guy. And I had never heard of the young actors involved.

So I did the prudent thing and said no, to my regret nowadays.

The movie, BADLANDS, did get made in 1973, and was somewhat of a critical success and did well financially. It was low budget so did not need huge revenue just to break even, The director Terrence Malik did a good job. The actors, Martin Sheen and Warren Oates acquired some fame and went on to long careers. The unknown young actress, was Sissy Spacek who got rave reviews and went on the be a big star.
Sometimes the "smart" thing is not always right.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Bill, We all experience "shoulda, coulda,woulda" situations in life but its a good story anyways.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Pat I have one more of those "prudent decisions" things.

Sometime back about 1970, as I recall I met a deputy sheriff in Aspen. I didn't really know him, he was just a friendly guy who I had a beer with. He was leaving his job to go to Florida to join a hunt for underwater treasure. Now that sounded like pie in the sky, even though I was an avid scuba diver with some experience. So , I did not try to invest or get a place or even pursue it at all.

Well, guess what? The head guy was Mel Fisher, and he was for real and he knew his stuff. He and his crew worked 16 years and found the Atocha a very rich Spanish gold carrying ship sunk in a hurricane in 1622 and they made a fortune from it. Not only the money they made but they found historic and beautiful things beyond anything you could wish for. There was an accident which took the lives of some of the crew however.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Pat I have

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Interesting Bill. My wife and I visited the museum there in Key West devoted to the Atocha a number of years ago. A fascinating story for sure.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Hey Bill, You wonder if Mel Fisher would have traded in all the booty he found in exchange for the lives of his son and daughter-in-law (or was it his daughter and son-in-law) who perished during the hunt/recovery of the Atocha?

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Prudent experiences.., i had a meeting with one of our insurance carriers on a fateful Septemeber back in 2001. It was to be on the 92nd floor of WTC 2. I was late for the meeting which began at 8:30.., so what do you do.., besides apologise.., go bring food.., so I went to the Krispy Kreme across the plaza. There was a L O N G line.., but I decided to tough it out and ordered two dozen.., on my way out of the store and partway across the plaza I heard a loud jet and instinctively looked up at a low flying plane.., we know what happened next..., I skipped my meeting and went to my offices a block away.

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S.

Life sure has alot of twists and turns in store for all of us.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

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S.

Pat, I wasn't sure about who was lost, that is why I only wrote that there was a fatal accident. It does seem that as my memory goes it was a Son, at least. I' m sure no amout of money would be worth that. However , I did see the TV news story on this, it was a sudden leak that happenedn at night. The pain of the loss was stunning for the family and group, but it seemed that the whole group belived in what they were doing so they continued on and did find the treasure ships.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

330 that is on heck of a story. I thinik I'd have been saying a serious prayer of thanks after that.

Years ago, my sister was taking Spanish , I think or maybe Italian in high school. Her teacher was going to book passage on a liner to go back to Europe to visit her family. To save money she got a berth down low. I can;t recall if it was going over or back, I think it was going over.

Anyway, the teacher got sick and had to postphone the trip. The liner was the Andrea Dorea and it was hit by the Stockholm broadside in the fog and sunk off the coast of N J. The Stockholm survived, picked up survivors, and only a few lives were lost. But of those who were, they were from the area of the ship where here cabin might have been.

One girl was asleep in her bunk on the Dorea and woke up unharmed but on the Stockholm after literly being scooped up.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

I can't say I have one of these stories but I'm sure enjoying reading them

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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."

330, I knew that Krispy Kreme donuts could be the downfall of many people, like me. But I never knew they were responsible for saving anyone.
I'll remember that the next time go get some in Boulder. Fortunately they aren't readily available at most stores so that you have to look for them.

I do know that they are magic for the line crew and front desk folks at the local FBO. If you bring in a box of those you sure get good service after that.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

When a Filipino friend of mine was 16, a casting director came to his school and was looking for students with Western features as extras for an American movie being shot locally. My friend was one of those chosen because he looked more Spanish than Asian (actually, he looks like Jerry Seinfeld!), but his father wouldn't let him be in the film. So my friend missed out on being an American soldier in Apocalypse Now.

Bill, I remember Badlands - Martin Sheen's character gets transported in a white with red trim civilian A-26 at the end. I wrote down the registration once but forgot it - N/three digits/one letter I think. Anyone remember which one it was?

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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)

Reel bad luck about the movie, Bill.