Spitfire ride - Oshkosh 1988
Sat May 10, 2008 12:32 am
Way back in 1988, on my first ever visit to the US, I was privileged to have a trip in Bill Greenwood's Spitfire on his morning flight from Fond du Lac (where we were all staying in the Holiday Inn) to Oshkosh. This was arranged, without my prior knowledge, by the late Jeff Ethell. Jeff had been over to the UK with a crew from Lone Star earlier that year to prepare and collect the B-17 'Thunderbird' and ferry it back to the US. I had helped them out for the couple of weeks they were over. They'd been unable to offer me a flight in the B-17 for insurance reasons, this was Jeff's way of saying 'thank you'.
So thanks again to Jeff for arranging it, and my thanks to Bill for generously allowing me to act as 'talking ballast' in the back of his lovely Spitfire. After climbing out over the lake, and a few gentle aerobatics, we met up with 2 P-51s and a T-28 for a photo shoot.
Bill's recent unfortunate accident in the Spitfire has made me think again of this unforgettable trip, so I thought I'd dust off the few photos that I have scanned in from that memorable day.
These photos are scanned in from slides and prints, so please excuse the quality, but I thought they might be of interest. The first one, taken by Bob DeGroat, shows the formation over the lake (if you look closely enough, I swear you can see my mile-wide grin in the back seat of the Spitfire)
The second shot is one I took of Bob in the back of the T-28 camera ship.
The third and fourth I took of the P-51s (Jeff Ethell in Joe Scogna's 'Baby Duck ' - whatever happened to that one? - and Don Davidson in 'Double Trouble Too' - now back in the USA with Jerry Yagen after several years in Switzerland)
And finally, the Spitfire back on the ground at Oshkosh after our flight.
Thanks again Bill, and I hope you do decide to get the Spitfire up and running again. I'm sure you can count on many of us in the Wix community for aid if you need it.
So thanks again to Jeff for arranging it, and my thanks to Bill for generously allowing me to act as 'talking ballast' in the back of his lovely Spitfire. After climbing out over the lake, and a few gentle aerobatics, we met up with 2 P-51s and a T-28 for a photo shoot.
Bill's recent unfortunate accident in the Spitfire has made me think again of this unforgettable trip, so I thought I'd dust off the few photos that I have scanned in from that memorable day.
These photos are scanned in from slides and prints, so please excuse the quality, but I thought they might be of interest. The first one, taken by Bob DeGroat, shows the formation over the lake (if you look closely enough, I swear you can see my mile-wide grin in the back seat of the Spitfire)
The second shot is one I took of Bob in the back of the T-28 camera ship.
The third and fourth I took of the P-51s (Jeff Ethell in Joe Scogna's 'Baby Duck ' - whatever happened to that one? - and Don Davidson in 'Double Trouble Too' - now back in the USA with Jerry Yagen after several years in Switzerland)
And finally, the Spitfire back on the ground at Oshkosh after our flight.
Thanks again Bill, and I hope you do decide to get the Spitfire up and running again. I'm sure you can count on many of us in the Wix community for aid if you need it.
Sat May 10, 2008 5:00 am
Baby Duck is in PA from what im told.Not flown for a long time and far from doing it again in a hurry.
Joes T-6 is at chester county airport.
His Spitfire Mk9 project MH603 is for sale on provenance fighter sales
regards
fred
Joes T-6 is at chester county airport.
His Spitfire Mk9 project MH603 is for sale on provenance fighter sales
regards
fred