Warbird Information Exchange

Simply splendid. Thanks so much for taking the time to reach out to Roy and for sharing the experience with us.

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Cheers,

Craig

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Great story Chuck... thanks for letting us know. I sure hope he can find his photographs for you guys to take a look at. Imagine if one of them show's your Dauntless with him sitting in it!

Cheers,
Richard

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Richard Mallory Allnutt - Photography - http://www.rmallnutt.com

That is really amazing Chuck. Thank you for sharing it with us on WIX. It can really inject energy and spur people like you on to continue what you are doing because you're doing it for all the right reasons.
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."

Wonderful story, thanks for sharing.

A few years ago, we had LSFM's P-47 up at Sheppard AFB for a Heritage Flight. Two WWII Jug drivers visited us. One flew D models in Italy and Southern France, the other N models out of Ie Shima. One of the gentlemen had his son with him, and hopped up and gave his boy a guided tour of the cockpit - I swear I thought he was going to jump in and fire it up! The other couldn't get up on the aircraft due to physical problems, but stood and touched it, and stared off in the distance for quite a while. You could see in his eyes that he was in another place and time. His daughter pulled me aside a little while later and thanked me for treating her father like he was someone important. I looked at her and said something along the lines of 'dammit, he IS important - he flew these things in a war'.

After the two had left us, the pilot looked at me and said 'That is why we do this s**t'. Couldn't have said it better.

Great stories. I always get a shiver down my spine when I hear about stories like these.

Wow indeed. Great stories... thank you all for sharing

Very cool and moving - thanks for sharing Chuck!

Awesome stuff Chuck. Wonderful story and well told too.

I hope we get to see those photos.

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Truly AMAZING story. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us!

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A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

What a great event! I get goosebumps when something like this happens.

Last July at Oshkosh, I was helping guide people in and out of Attu Warrior, when a large group of folks made their way up towards the Harpoons entry door. I happened to overhear an older gentleman talking to his family about when he flew the PV-2 during the war. Not meaning to be rude, I excused myself for interupting, and asked him "Did I hear that you flew the Harpoon during the war?" His response was yes, in the Pacific Theater....He then asked if there was any way that he could go look inside....I told him that there was no chance, but you are deffinately going aboard! What an honor to see this take place!

G

This gentleman looks very similar to a fellow who came abord the USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC, this past spring with his daughter. She approached me and asked if her father could co behind the ropes around our Dauntless. She explained that he had been a gunner on one in the Pacific in WW2. He was definitely allowed, and I escorted him to the aircraft and went behind the ropes. He walked up to the aircraft and just stood at the wing root for a few moments, lost in thought. He then turned and asked if he could get up on the wing walk. I told him "if you are able, go right ahead". He hopped right up there, and stood beside the gunners compartment, with his arm across the canopy. You could see the years melt away from his face, and again he was 17 years old and shoot at the Japanese. He came down, thanked me, and they walked off to see the rest of the ship.

This is the reason we do what we do, at museums all over the country.

Chuck, if he comes back, ask him if he was at the Yorktown earlier this year.

Walt

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If God had intended airplane engines to have horizontally-opposed cylinders, Pratt & Whitney would have built them that way.

Will do Walt!
Funny you mentioned his daughter, he commented to me just before he left, he said "Well I better get home before my daughter worries about me".

Chuck

This is what it's all about. Please keep us posted!

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

That is so cool!
Reminds me of the time many years ago when I saw a vet realize a T-6 was at the same field he was at in WW2 and he started looking it over and claimed the skin repairs were done by him. They opened up a panel and found his name in pencil on the inside, left from WW2. I never got over that, not only the chance he met the same plane, recoginized it, but also that the name wasn't removed during the restoration years before...

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)