Rush Limbaugh...and not OT (Liberty Belle, Rush, and I)

[richkolasa]

I flew as "safety officer" (glorified flight attendant) in Liberty Belle on Sunday at Bridgeport. Three flights, and then a visit by Rush Limbaugh, who's G-5 was across the taxiway. Ron Gause (one of LibertyBelle's pilots), Bob Hill and I went over to Rush (his pilots said "no photos, he's going right from the car to the plane, no time to sign anything") and Ron invited him to the Belle.

Rush was very gracious when Ron invited him over, saying "you want to give ME a tour of that plane? I'd love to...". He came over, went in the nose, posed for some pix, signed some stuff for Ron and others (including a few Belle books), and then peeked into the back door. I explained the rarity of Liberty Belle, and Bob Hill spoke to him about flying the B-25, which Rush's late dad flew stateside as an instructor. He also stated that his dad flew P-51s in the China-Burma theatre, and that he'd seen some B-25s up close, but never a heavy bomber.

Oh, we also did three flights before this, up the coast, on a gorgeous day at Bridgeport. On the last flight, I had the pleasure and honor to assist two WW2 vets on the flight. The more spry gent even went down to the nose during the flight. The other, pictured below, was a ground crew member in the 8th AF. Great day, quite exhausting though. It was about 95 out. Luckily, the Liberty Belle is a drop-top (see image of line-crew guy below).

I'd like to once again thank my friend Bob, and co-pilot (California guy, probably don't like Rush) John Ferguson (who likes the WW2 "flip brim" cap look!), Scott Maher (no relation to Bill, I'm sure, as he's a big Rush fan), and Ron Gause for the hospitality and opportunity to really really sweat a lot...and fly in this amazing aircraft!

[Ztex]

Cool!
(now if "we" could get him to sponsor some warbirds it would be that much better! )

[b29flteng]

Awesome! (Bill Greenwood won't like it)

[Green Goggles]

Sweeet!


I listen to Rush's program often, and I've heard him talk about flying and his father's love of flying many, many times.

Rush said one of his greatest regrets is that his father is not around to enjoy his success, because if his dad were still alive, he would be up front, flying right seat and pestering the pilot anytime the G5 went anywhere.

[richkolasa]

Awesome! (Bill Greenwood won't like it)

ROFLMAO!! We can block Bill from the thread, so as to not affect his blood pressure.

Seriously, I'm going to send Rush the photos and some photos from the flights, and suggest he stop by an airshow some time if he hasn't lately. Maybe a warbird stable is in his future.

Rich

Last edited by richkolasa on Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[richkolasa]

I was impressed. There were maybe 30-40 people left hanging around, and he had no problem shaking hands (me about 4 times!), chatting, signing things. His hearing is gone in the right side, and he has the implant in the left, but when I was telling him some B-17 history, he was interested, asked me to repeat a few things he didn't catch.

My buddy's an Eagles fan, middle of the road politically, not a Rush fan, and he's like "cool, I would have said "you were right about McNabb""! I never thought of that.

Rich

[Green Goggles]

I have several dozen pictures of all the insides ofLiberty Belle, but, I'm sure you guys all know what a B-17 looks like.


It's difficult to photo two airplanes together, but I did catch a couple photos of our plane with Liberty Belle when we traveled up to Wichita to see it a couple years ago:










This is my favorite picture of all I took that day with the B-17.
This kid was just standing, staring up in awe, and the plane frames him perfectly:

[richkolasa]

The funny thing is that in every photo, people seem to be smiling...

Rich

[Jerry O'Neill]

Rich;
Nice story and pics.
I almost came down to see Scott and the other guys but I had too much going on at home.
I didn't know you were there as I would've enjoyed meeting you.
Oh well, next time!
Jerry

[richkolasa]

Rich;
Nice story and pics.
I almost came down to see Scott and the other guys but I had too much going on at home.
I didn't know you were there as I would've enjoyed meeting you.
Oh well, next time!
Jerry

Well, I don't take kindly to Connecticut types (Chris Dodd voters!), so maybe it's better... JUST KIDDING.

I was looking for you, actually. Next time indeed.

Rich

[Jerry O'Neill]

I Never voted for Dodd!

[JBoyle]

Glad he took time to look at the plane.

Hopefully, wherever you're at politically, you've got to admit it's nice to have another friend of warbirds.

[Pat Carry]

My mom always said, "if you cant say anythig nice, dont say anything at all" Besides, its against forum rules to bash anyone.

[tom d. friedman]

good thing rush dropped a few pounds, he would have had much trouble physically negotiating a tour some years back.

[warbird1]

Now, if we could just get Nancy Pelosi to take flight on the Liberty Belle, maybe we could get a friend on both sides of the aisle and get bi-partisan support for warbird friendly legislation!