Rod Lewis' collection

[warbird1]

Thanks for that, and please excuse me for bristling. So who's Paul Allen?

Funny thing is, I've been hanging around the warbirds scene since the latter half of the seventies, so you'd think I'd know all this stuff. But fact is, I was only ever interested in the airplanes and not the people behind them. I still don't care much, mostly just trying to keep up with the chatter here on WIX. Your R. Lewis thumbnail really makes a lot of stuff I see here make a lot more sense, so thanks again.

As for 'doing a search', I agree a person ought to be expected to do a bit of homework before asking questions. But I seem to be a bomb at searching in general, and this forum software doesn't seem to support searches worth a hoot to boot. It's the same software as on another forum I check in with on a daily basis, and same thing there - frustration! Sorry, but whaddya expect from an ancient old 50-year-old guy.....?

No problem, you're forgiven!

Paul Allen is the co-founder of Microsoft and is a multi-billionaire. Here is some info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen

Allen also has set up one of the world's premier privately owned air museums. Here is the website:

http://www.flyingheritage.com/TemplateH ... ontentId=1

In the early days of Allen's collecting, back in the late 90's, he was extremely secretive about the airplanes he had or was getting restored. Up until maybe 5 to 7 years ago, he made everybody he dealt with sign legal "non-disclosure agreements", whereby if anybody talked about anything, Allen could legally sue them for "breach of contract". It was so secret, that Allen's hangar up at Arlington airport, Washington, was dubbed, "Area 51" because it didn't exist and nobody would talk about it. Once Allen secured a permanent place to house his air museum, he and his collection came out of the "black world" and became mainstream. Now, it's all public knowledge. During the late 90's/early 00's, Allen shocked a lot of the warbird world by buying up extremely rare warbirds at an alarming pace, just like Rod Lewis is doing now.

BTW, Pogo, I've figured out what your problem is. You don't spend enough time on WIX! Your assignment is to spend more time here and get to know the names, places, airplanes and history. It's actually quite fun!

[Pogo]

Ha ha, need to spend more time on WIX?? You're right, of course, but good heavens, I need to spend a lot more time on a lot of things!! Too little time .... too little time.... But I'll try harder to keep all this stuff straight. Thanks again for your patience in helping me along here, and in return I promise to keep on doing what I've been doing - getting filthy and sweat-soaked laboring over our beloved old birds for free (actually, it costs me plenty)....

[warbird1]

Ha ha, need to spend more time on WIX?? You're right, of course, but good heavens, I need to spend a lot more time on a lot of things!! Too little time .... too little time.... But I'll try harder to keep all this stuff straight. Thanks again for your patience in helping me along here, and in return I promise to keep on doing what I've been doing - getting filthy and sweat-soaked laboring over our beloved old birds for free (actually, it costs me plenty)....

No problem, I'm just giving you a little good-natured ribbing. Some of us have been studying warbirds for a long time. I started my serious study of them in 1978, so I am at an advantage to someone who just got here. Everyone has to learn and start somewhere, right? Anyways, your cause (working on warbirds) is much more productive and better for the movement than becoming a techno-geek on warbird information. Keep up the good work and thank you for your contributions to keeping our treasures flying!