[SADXA] Gonna take a sentimental journey

[Wes]

HI Jim,

That is by chance the one!

The flight was a ball.  The WX here cooperated; we were up in the clear but 
could see some rain in the distance.  We were aft of the bomb bays next to the 
side gun mounts and got to hang out the ports once airborne.  We had first class 
seating for take off and landing; flat on the deck below the guns:-)

I did meet and talk to some WWII vets, one flew in B-24s and two of them were 
gunners in B-17s, one up, one down, 32 and 35 missions over Germany 
respectively. These guys are exceptional and very sharp for 90+.  One of them 
drove himself to the event.

There was also a P-51 two-seater there that one guy spent $2,220 to ride in for 
a half hour.  He was a pilot and got to take the controls and get some flight 
time in his log.  I'm not, but I was still tempted, but figured it would be a 
waste by not being a pilot.  The only things I've ever been in control of are 
some old Taylorcrafts and a Grob Twin sailplane.

Congrats on the work on the old warbirds.

Wes

On 4/10/2016 9:10 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> Hey Wes:
>
>     Would that by chance be 'Witchcraft' of the Collings Foundation?
>
>     I have been in that one, but not flown in it.
>
>     A few years ago they were up here, and one year i got a ride on the B-17 
> after helping them with minor restoration work on their radio position.
>
>     Also did some similar on their B25.
>
>     And another group had the B29 Fifi here, and I opted for a (very 
> expensive) ride in that one. But it was worth it.
>
>     The best reward, however, came from an old WW2 B25 veteran who came thru 
> the plane just after I had secured a genuine WW2 J36 hand key to the desk. I 
> had done a fair amount of research and located what I hoped for was exactly 
> the correct model of key for that airplane.
>
>     I asked him if he recalled how the radio position appeared in his day, and 
> if the key was 'right'.
>
>     After a pause, he said: "That is exactly what we had."
>
>     The rides were all fun, but seeing the misty eyes of all the Old Timer 
> Vets that came through, remembering their friends lost in combat so many years 
> ago, brought real value to these flying museum pieces. I am glad i have had 
> the good fortune to have been in all 3 of those, and to have been able to make 
> even a small contribution to keeping them acccurate.
>
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 4/10/2016 5:36 AM, Wes wrote:
>> I know there are a lot of airplane buffs in the club so this might be of 
>> interest.
>>
>> Sometime around 1940 or early 1941 my parents left Tucson and moved to San 
>> Diego, where I was born just before the outbreak of WWII. My dad had a job as 
>> a machinist at Consolidated Aircraft Co, the designer/builder of the B-24 
>> bomber. At the conclusion of the war, the job was gone and we moved back to 
>> Tucson, where I have lived since then.
>>
>> Barring unforeseen events, tomorrow Annette and I will fly in the last 
>> airworthy B-24. Although my dad did learn to fly light planes in 1946 at the 
>> Benson airport, I'm pretty sure he never got to fly in one of the planes like 
>> he helped build. (This one was actually built in Ft. Worth)
>>
>> Sorry, no /AM operation
>> Wes  N7WS
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>