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I received a phone call early Monday morning with the news about Gary. It was very sad. He should have had half a lifetime or so left to go. I thought of little else the first day or two. As for as I know, Gary was liked by most everyone. He certainly was one of, if not the most respected people to write on WIX. Many of the members knew him only through his writings and especially the long series he posted about the B-24 conversion. That was so well done, I doubt if many professional journalist could have done better. He certainly had some writing ability, and his photos were excellent and gave the viewer a real impression of what had been done. While I admired the dedication and the quality, not to mention the quanity of his work, what also added so much to it was his sense of humor, such as the posts of his cat. It gave him a human side.
When Gary came to the CAF maintenance dept. I spoke to him about coming to the airshow in Midland. When I got there I went to meet this new guy. He was very personable and accessible, nothing formal, no facade. I didn't get too long to talk to him as everyone is pretty busy at airshow time and Gary impressed me as a guy always looking for something useful to do. He seemed to be very helpful to anyone who needed it. I know one year Eric Downing was having some trouble with his Skyraider and Gary was out there getting it going.
Who would have thought they could get the B-24 ready in time to take it to EAA, but Gary did and there it was.
One of the highlights for me was seeing it there and seeing Sen. George McGovern there in the pilot's seat with Gary. For those who might be too young to know or remember, long before he was a Senator, or a Peace caondidate, he was a decorated B-24 combat pilot flying in the Italian action.
Becky took some photos of the B-24 that day and I will try to get them posted on Wix soon.
Over a couple of years Gary and I exchanged some pm's on WIX. Mostly they were humorous, or at least I tried to make them that way.
I'd joke with him about his messing with snakes and he'd tout the various radial engines over the Merlin. He even tried to claim the Allison was better than the Merlin. Hey, I never said Gary was perfect, too many long days in West Texas dust and heat can warp anyone.
Another thing one has to respect about Gary was how he took a used racer, rebuilt it, flew it to Reno, passed his race pilot's test, qualified and raced., and won best rookie prize. I think he even had a Mayday tha the handled well.The plane was not one of the fastest, but Gary did a good job, and seemed to have as much fun as if he was in Rare Bear, and had everyone's respect. And unlike some big stars, he let his work do the talking, no big bragging act. Gary did not seem like the kind of guy that you'd find in the bar in his "look at me suit" at 9 pm at night.
When a medical problem kept him from racing, he was very matter of fact about it, no whining, but I am sure it hurt. I had 25 years of warbird flying, if not racing, and I know how much I miss it.
I am going to write more about Gary later, got to clear my thoughts now.
Bill Greenwood
P S, thanks to Ryan for reactivated my account so I could write this, it has been almost a year since I have been on WIX and I appreciate the opportunity, although not the cause that we are addressing.
_________________
Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK
Last edited by Bill Greenwood on Sun Nov 01, 2009 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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