Young WIX'ers

[daveymac82c]

Hi everyone,

I was just curious how many WIX'ers there are on here that are below the age of 35. It's neat to see so many young people so passionate about Warbirds.

I bet it really makes all the veterans proud. That's partially why I love warbirds so much. It's because I appreciate everything the members of the greatest generation did for us. Most people my age don't seem to care much about the past, but are more interested in the future, text messaging and I-Phones. There's something also to be said about how awesome a warbird looks. Back then they were designed beautifully. Ok, so there are some ugly ones... but yeah, the Spit, the Mustang, Mossie, etc.

Besides finding out who among us are below 35 years old, I'm also really interested to hear/know how you got into warbirds.

Cheers,

David

P.S. Sorry for discriminating against all the "35+" crowd.

[MX304]

I am 34 for a few more days.

[daveymac82c]

MX304,

What got you into warbirds? For me it was my father, and for him, it was his father. It seems to run in the family, but I'm the first in my family to gain my wings.

-David

[Curtis Block]

27

[JohnTerrell]

I only recently began to post here, and unfortunately not to often at that, but I have been visiting this site each day for almost the past year, while my interest in warbirds and WWII dates back to my earliest years. I myself am 19. My interest in warbirds was sparked when I was four and five, drawing planes with my dad. He would draw P-40s with shark mouths, Stearmans, and others of his favorites. By the time I was seven I was visiting the Southern Minnesota Wing of the CAF at least once every month, viewing their PBY always parked outside, and thrilled by the chance to see Miss Mitchell start up and take off every now and then. Throughout the summer and till this day I'm able to view formations of Texans and Harvards over my house, with the random B-25. What really set the ball rolling for me was the CAF airshow here in St. Paul every year, meeting the veterans who had flown these aircraft and seeing aircraft up close in person that I could never have dreamed of seeing first hand. The thing that interested me the most at that time was the CAF's P-51C which was then on a trailer. When that thing first flew I think that spiked my interest to the highest it could go. Over the past several years now I have accumulated a total of four separate warbird-magazine subscriptions all at the same time, passenger time in several warbirds, creating countless aviation art, and a flight simulator full of warbirds. I do try to have a life outside of warbirds, but as most of you can agree, it has become a great passion.

[Warbird Kid]

20 over here.

[Warbird Kid]

Ooops. But yeah its good to see fellow younger Wixers here as well.

[Saabmeister]

I'm 20 and a half. My father has always been interested in airplanes ever since he was a kid, was a mechanic for Republic and Northwest, and had books upon books in the basement. I was a bit of an outcast in school, so I spent alot of my time reading about airplanes. It also didn't hurt that there was a wing of the Confederate Air Force about five miles away. I'm currently attending the University Of North Dakota working towards a degree in Commercial Aviation, and I'm the first in my family, as far as I know, that has a pilots license.

[Elroy13]

I grew up in a military family...the history runs long. I was at my first airshow at 3 weeks old. My Father and Grandfather were Colonels in the CAF. Once the CAF made the move from Harlingen to Midland it was time to jump ship. The next thing ya know there was a little collection that started at Hobby Airport in Houston and then moved to Galveston...Lone Star Flight Museum. Im hanging onto the tail end of thirty three and have a thirteen yr old daughter that teethed on warbirds just like I did. What I like the most is that it's a family thing for us. My Mother, Father, Brother and Daughter are all heavily involved with LSFM. I crew on Thunderbird & Special Delivery through out the season. Im also on the LSFM airshow committee and wear many other hats for the museum. My strongest connection with the warbirds is with my other grandfather who passed away last year. He was a waist gunner on 17's with the 390th BG.

[Jase]

How about 35 on the nose? But I've been involved with the CAF (you can read "involved" as obsessed) for a decade or so...

[daniel-k]

I’m nearly 29. Both my grandfather and my dad designed aircraft radar systems at Ericsson/Saab, I guess that’s what started my interest in aviation. In the early teens in was all about R/C models. My grandfather built and repaired the planes, I flew them and I crashed them. A neat symbiosis. Scale models are really a great way into historic aviation for young people. After that I joined a local vintage flying club – and I was hooked for life. Today I partly earn my living from photojournalism with focus on warbirds and vintage a/c.

[warbirdcrew]

I'm 20 and got into warbirds because I was fortunate enough to grow up in a warbird-owning family. My grand-father and dad have owned some pretty amazing and interesting airplanes over the years and I have been lucky enough to log time in most of them. Being out at the two airports where the airplanes are kept (Boundary Bay airport or Delta Airpark) on almost any given weekend tinkering or flying tends to get a few funny funny looks from the friends when you say you'd rather go to the airport than the movies.

-wc

[Nathan]

I'm 21. But been into flying pretty much all my life. Either war movies, airshows, or building models.

Tally ho,
Nathan

[CAPFlyer]

26 here. I blame my Grandfather and Guy Joe Smith for my love of warbirds.

[viking73]

I'm 34, not really sure how all this obession started... I grew up as an army brat but I just remember being fascinated with U.S. Military aircraft since I was very young. I build models as a teenager (something I wish I had the time/space to do now, maybe again someday) and bought lots of books on planes that interested me. S/S "In Action" books were a great starting point for me. I still buy lots of books (those Schiffer Avaition books are amazing) and love going to airshows and taking photos of warbirds on display. My favorite are probably 50's and 60's U.S. jets but WWII warwbirds are great too. I've been on a Vietnam Huey kick lately which I think has to do with my dad quite a bit since he served a tour in 'Nam. I wish I lived closer to a museum as I'd love to donate my time and finds to doing my part to preserve these important pieces of our country's history.