|
From 1969 to 1974 I worked as line boy for Greg Stinis' Skytypers in Long Beach, CA. When I first met him, I basically bothered the poor guy until he hired me on.
Greg was and will always be a good, gentle man, quick to laugh. He was humble. Pam, Greg's striking wife, was very outgoing and happy. She always made people feel right at home. I can still hear that light-hearted voice whenever I called on the phone. When Greg and Pam were together, I thought they looked like a Hollywood movie couple. (I can see the Greg Stinis famous eye roll right now!) He had a mechanic name Herman Metz, who was an A and P instructor at Long Beach City College. He was a pleasant, cheerful fellow with gray hair and an impeccably groomed moustache. He hated spiders, especially Black Widows. I once heard and saw him do the ICBM missile thing out of the inspection hole behind the cockpit of one the SNJ's one afternoon. Until Greg fumigated ALL of the planes, he refused to step foot on the airport. His two favorite stories were retelling that he got to see Lindbergh take off for Paris as a little kid and was aboard one of the B-17s that arrived when Pearl Harbor was being bombed.
Greg himself had a colorful flying career. His dad, Andy, was a legend, whom I met twice. As teenager, he seemed a to be a force of nature so lasting was his impression on me. I worked long hours, sometimes into the early hours of the morning, laid in exhaustion after having to crank all five planes in succession and made no money but felt rich anyway. I stood with greased covered hands listening to the bone-stirring rumble of five Pratt and Whitney's on the ramp all in a line, laying in wait for the sky. After a mission, many times Greg would take us all to a restaurant where I could regale in hearing war stories, I mean real war stories by the pilots. I would not trade the experience for anything.
Carl Prather
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
