I second Bob's comments but other things that can always catch my eye
are the Spitfire and P-51. Any idea how many Spitfires are still
flying? Seeing a P-51 takes me instantly to my boyhood of about 6-7
years of age. We lived next to an Air National Guard base that was
equipped with P-51s. There was a road that was very close to and
paralleled the runway. When I see a P-51 I'm suddenly riding my bike
down that road watching them take off or land.
When I first started to write this I though I must have been older than
7. But I looked up the history of that unit which says they had already
moved on to F-84s from the P-51 by 1950. I was 7 in 1950.
Chuck Norcutt
On 8/28/2016 11:17 AM, Jim Nichols wrote:
Hi Chris,
Thanks for giving us access to your aircraft album. Great shots! But
the girl-laden f-16 shot tops all the rest! :-)
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
On 8/28/2016 9:49 AM, ChrisB wrote:
Well, I hope to be able to tell you what it’s like, Bob. I might have
mentioned not too long ago that next year will be the 40th anniversary
of my First Solo in a Hawk T1.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4450879283&set=a.4138779283.747.511529283&type=3&theater
I was on the first Hawk course and I was the first ab initio student
to fly it solo, in July 1977. I had occasion to mention this to the
RAF Valley Station Commander last year and he offered me an
anniversary flight.
There were 3 of us on the first Hawk course at RAF Valley, two of us
remain. The 3rd died displaying a newer Hawk at Bratislava in 1999;
he had been the first RAF pilot to fly the F117.
Sorry if I am repeating myself :~)
Chris
On 28 Aug 16, at 12:48, Bob Whitmire <fujixbob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Oh, I dunno. If the pilot realized his passenger was an old poop and
adjusted his aerobatics accordingly... ;-)
I know there's a two-seat Spitfire, but I'm sure the cost of the ride
would leave me destitute.
Sigh.
--Ground-Bound Bob
Sent from my iPhone 6s Plus. This is a perfect mobile device. Any
perceived errors in spelling, grammar, or logic are figments of your
imagination.
On Aug 28, 2016, at 2:14 AM, ChrisB <ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It’s a beautiful poem, and apparently he wrote it after an early
trip in a Spitfire.
I don’t think that you’d enjoy a fast jet nearly as much, Bob :-)
Chris
On 28 Aug 16, at 00:11, Bob Whitmire <fujixbob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Just re-read High Flight by John Magee again today. What's the
chance I can hitch a ride in a fast jet sometime? Visiting
dignitary stuff, y'know? ;-)
"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
'Flung my eager craft through footless halls of air ...' Good lord,
where does that stuff come from?
--
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