Warbird Information Exchange

SNOOPY

pappy gunn one brilliant & colorful guy!!

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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!!

I can't have one answer for this question, as so many have influenced me over the years. It's sort of like "What is your favorite airplane?".

Martin Caiden- for writing all those books that got me excited about aviation as a kid- and being a nice guy to that kid when I met him at airshows.
Bob Hoover- for flying such greta shows in so many aircraft, and also being one of the nicest guys ever to excited kids
Art Scholl- for flying great shows, movie work, being nice to aforementioned kids....and organizing the A & P program I later went to at SBVC.

Each have inspired and infludenced me in a different way, and I thank them all!

I have a LOT of aviation heroes, but for me the one who truly stands out most...a hero above heroes is Doolittle. To me, Jimmy Doolittle represents the best combination of aviation skill, leadership and personal/family life.

I couldn't possibly limit it to just one.

LCDR John Waldron and all the men of VT-8, who represent courage in the face of overwhelming odds.

Lt. Bert Stiles, who represents the "Everyman", the regular college-age Joe Public who goes to war to "do his bit", and sometimes, doesn't make it back home. We know what they experienced thanks to Bert's amazingly insightful writing- we know how much we as a society lost when he was killed. How much more have we lost with the deaths of millions of others who have fallen in war?

Charles Lindbergh... for obvious reasons.

And I absolutely must include Gen. Jimmy Doolittle- I think history will reveal he did more to advance the cause of aviation between the wars than just about anyone else, and also served as a sterling example of leadership no matter what he did or where he went.

Lynn

Doolittle and MAC Collings Foundation

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When you meet a Veteran shake his or her hand and thank them, they earned your freedom.
I plan to fly in as many B-25 as possible be fore I die! B-25 for ever!!!

I would have to go with Doolittle as well. Bob Hoover a very close second.
~J~

My aviation "hero" is the pilot who goes out to fly with the attitude that every flight made is a training flight. My "hero" pilot has never been nor ever will be satisfied with their performance and ability. My "hero" pilot is the one who engages in a constant activity of self evaluation seeking improvement where ever and when ever they find the opportunity to do so.
My "hero" pilot knows the limits for the aircraft as well as the personal limits, never allowing one to exceed the other.

Dudley Henriques

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Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship

Pappy Boyington and Jimmy Doolittle.

aeroeng

See every photo thread I've posted. And +1 to Dudley Henriques post.

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Zero Surprise!!...

if I was a horse race announcer i'd begin like...... it's Doolittle in front.......... w/ hoover coming in fast...... on the rail is lucky lindy w/ boyington & friedman's folly pappy gunn coming in neck & neck dragging ass....... but wait there is a bottle of jack daniels on the track & boyington has come to a screeching halt!! only funny guys!!

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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!!

Mine are the designers who created the great planes. Just a few are: Louis Bleriot, Tom Sopwith, Geoff de Havilland, Tony Fokker, Reinhold Platz, Glenn Curtiss, Jack Northrop, Lloyd Stearman, C.G. Taylor, the brothers Gunter, Willi Messerschmitt, Kurt Tank, Jiro Horikoshi, Edgar Schmued, Kelly Johnson, Alexander Kartveli, Chance Vought, Reggie Mitchell, Clyde Cessna, Sidney Camm, Matty Laird, Walter Beech, Alexander Yakovlev, Mikoyan and Gurevich, A.N. Tupolev, Igor Sikorsky, Leroy Grumman, Glenn Martin, William Boeing, Ed Heinemann, James McDonnell.

August

Jack Northrop and Ed Heineman. I had a personal relationship with Jack and his family and I can honestly say the most brilliant man I ever met. He explained to me once that he and a guy in his shop took six months to invent the TIG welder. I don't think anyone has given him credit for that. If it wasn't for the welder no aluminum framed aircraft.

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Better is the enemy of Good.

Gary Austin

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A man's got to know his limitations.

Darryl Greenamyer
Scott Crossfield
The astronauts from Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo

And as of 2010- Charles 'Obie' O'Brien, Cdr, USN (Retired)


Chappie

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Brrring. Dispersal? TWO SECTIONS SCRAMBLE!!