As promised, here's two of my Jeff stories....
I had known Jeff four about 4-5 years and he even used a picture of my re-enactment group in one of his books. In 1992, I got a call from Jeff two weeks before the Geneseo Show. He needed WWII re-enactors to play parts in his Roaring Glory series then in production. Could I put a B-25 & B-17 crew together for Geneseo? Of course I could! It was a very memorable weekend at Geneseo. My son got his first B-25 ride during the shooting and we all got to be in the video.
As a side note, for those of you who have the video of the B-17, perceptive viewers will notice that the "WWII Crew" enters "Fuddy Duddy" from the outside, but once inside, there is an actual complete Ball Turret and a complete Top Turret. "Fuddy Duddy" had neither and still doesn't. On Thursday before the show, when we were ready to shot the interior crew shots, "Nine-O-Nine" pulled up and I suggested that we use it instead of "Fuddy Duddy" for the crew station shots. Jeff agreed it would be better and since my friends on "Nine-O-Nine" had to go check-in for the show, we were given the run of the aircraft.
My second Jeff story is my favorite and very close to my heart.
For many years, Jeff had told me that if he had a P-51 at a show, and we could work it out, he'd take me for a spin. I never pushed, because being around warbirds so much, I figured it would happen one day, either with my friend Jeff, or someone else. I had Jeff come to New Haven with Wallace Sanders in "Nervous Energy IV" for our 1995 airshow. He said we'd try to go flying that weekend.
Now here's where it gets special. My uncle was a pilot who was killed in combat flying P-51's with the 325th Fighter Group. "Nervous Energy IV" is painted to represent the 325th Fighter Group. I knew the flight might not happen, as I was deeply involved with the airshow production, but Sunday morning he grabbed me before brief and said, "Let's go!"
Now I try to be prepared for things like this, so I had my uncles wings with me and Jeff handed me a yellow & black, "Checkertail Scarf" to wear and keep.
After we took off, we flew over my house and buzzed a lake in Meriden, CT. We then flew down to Long Island Sound and over the house that my Uncle had grown up in. My Uncle Fred was lost on September 15, 1944 and my flight with Jeff was almost 51 years later to the day, Sept. 12th, 1995. Lots of emotion during that flight!
I knew I'd ride in a P-51 some day, I just never expected it to be out of MY airport, over MY house and MY Uncle's boy hood home, with HIS wings in my pocket and in a Mustang wearing his Fighter Groups colors!
WOW!
Jeff was a real class act and I do miss him so.
The last time I actually saw Jeff in person was a small aircraft display at Bradley International Airport for the New England Air Museum Open House in Sept. of 1996. Again he was with Wallace and "Nervous Energy IV", but it was raining all day on Sunday. We waited outside in the rain as he started up the Mustang, waved goodbye as he taxied out, and almost fittingly, watched as he disappeared into the raining, overcast sky, as though he was climbing to heaven.
We did speak on the phone several times after that, but that is the lasting image I have of my good friend, Jeff Ethell.
He knew what these planes meant to those of us who might not have the chance to fly in them and he was just as excited sharing his good fortune with others.
Thanks for sharing part of your life with people like me.
Godspeed Jeff.
Jerry O'Neill
_________________ "Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."
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