I have been having trouble logging in, when I saw the post about Bill, I feel like I got hit in the gut Bill was one of the people I flew with when I was active in Warbirds and we have kept in touch over the years, while we didn't always see eye to eye, He was a friend that if I needed to talk to someone, he was there, so this hits me hard. He called me right after the new paint job was unveiled and we chatted for about a hour. It is ironic that because of Bill I have more time in a Spitfire than I do in a Mustang. Little did I know that when I first saw TE-308 at DeerValley not long before Bill bought it, that Bill and TE-308 would become part of my life in many ways. Bill and I used to give a forum at Oshkosh on owning and operating Warbirds. If you ever saw him at a show, you would not believe he owned a plane, let alone a Spitfire. He carried a backpack that looked like it had won WWII and Korea singlehandedly, cut off shorts and a well worn t shirt. One year we were heading to the planes after giving a forum talk, and Warbird parking had all ready been closed off. Bill was about 50ft in front of me, when he got to the gate, he was stopped because he was not wearing the correct hat to enter, the spitfire was the first plane inside the gate, and Bill pointing at it and trying to tell the guard that it was HIS plane, he finally had to take off his pack and try to find the hat, I caught up and said Hi Bill as I walked on thru the gate. He finally found the hat, was allowed to enter, he walked to the Spit and opened the rear canopy, took his flightsuit out and put the backpack in, I wish I could have seen that guards face
_________________ Matt Gunsch, A&P, IA, Warbird maint and restorations Jack, You have Debauched my sloth !!!!!! We tried voting with the Ballot box, When do we start voting from the Ammo box, and am I allowed only one vote ? Check out the Ercoupe Discussion Group on facebook
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