Warbird Information Exchange

I know we have threads about "what's your favorite airplane", "favorite hero", etc. But this time lets get to the root of all our problems. What makes you tick?

1. When I was a kid I told my dad I would like to see every U.S. aircraft ever built, fly.
-So in doing that my enthusiasm became very high. I see every aircraft has the ability to take to the sky again. If it has flown before it can fly again. This inadvertently rubs people the wrong way I guess. Sorry. But how else am I to see some of these airplanes fly that I never got the chance? I know the reality of some of these airplanes but it doesn't mean I still can't think about it and or enjoy chatting about it with some of my airplane friends out there.

2. Lots of people enjoy these warbirds for the people that flew them and the combat these airplanes saw. For me there is a third avenue why I like warbirds.....because I like them for the machines they are. I can like an airplane that hasn't any wartime use , just as much as an airplane that did see combat or wartime service. This too I guess rubs people the wrong way some times. I like all the types, regardless if it saw war or not. Perhaps this is why I have an interest in all the lesser know types or types people just don't care about. Heck, I can get excited just thinking of a C-131. How boring is that right? But all these airplanes are cool for the machines and technology they are.

3. There has always been more popularity towards the European war. And since I'm the type that doesn't follow the current trend, my interest has always been the Pacific war. Such a more diverse and harsh war. All the guys that fought in the Pacific during ww2 definitely had guts. And perhaps there was more at stake then in Europe. We all could be speaking Japanese now if it weren't for the guys who fought in that war. I always think about that. And we all know how the Japanese treated human life in ww2. No need for that kind of ideology in this world anymore. So I like P-51's and P-47's, and I really like a lot about the European war. But Pacific stuff definitely get my juices flowing more. P-40, P-39, wildcat pilots in the Pacific are definitely my heroes. To be able to fight and successfully hold off a superior trained and numbered enemy is something of legend. Lots of guys had to die. So I think their sacrifice is worth to be remembered. So that is why the Pacific is of a main interest to me. I guess my thoughts on this also rubs people the wrong way.

4. I have an intense interest in the cold war. When my dad grew up living near a USAF station that was part of SAGE. My dad being a kid in the late 50's used to tell me stories of hearing sonic booms and seeing fighter jets fly over the house and also one time seeing a C-119 boxcar for the first time. My dad always had a thrill about seeing one. For a kid in the 50's a C-119 was definitely a strange thing to see. I can only imagine all the cool aircraft he got to see fly back then. Also of interest are really big airplanes. And the cold war saw the introduction to giantism. Also there is nothing cooler then a century series fighter in a highly polished NMF scheme. A plane that shines so much one also needs sunglasses. It's like going to a car show and seeing a bunch of 68 dodge chargers.

It's not everything about my ideals and interest but I hope what I wrote above clears a few things up for people that might have the wrong impression of me. Im not an expert, Im not involved with warbirds all the time. But I'll do what I can, and spread the word and enthusiasm about warbirds the best I can. We all need hope, we all need to keep our interests keen. If for anything else, it is to help remember the past. For those of us looking to remember our past, or those of us trying to live through a time we have not had the opportunity to travel.
That's about all I can think of at the moment.

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

Anyone who flew any aircraft prior to the 1950's had to have plenty of intestinal fortutude. Engines, turbochargers, electrical systems, radios, and hydraulics were unreliable at best. All of these technologies were in their infancy. It was often a dangerous business that required one to remain calm and think fast. Incompetence would kill you. Long over-water flights using dead-reckoning had to test your courage.

My first exposure to warbirds (at age six) was a book called "Flying Tigers" by John Toland. I was impressed by the ability of the AVG to overcome all of the many obstacles they faced, and prevail over a numerically and technically superior enemy force.

Speaking of which: Does anyone have photos or film footage of Chennault's prewar flying demonstrations, where three P-40's (or P-36's?) were connected wingtip-to-wingtip with 40' of rope between them? Over the years, I've wondered if it was true, or just a tall tale.

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"There's nothing new under the sun. It's only new to you."

"Deserve's got nothing to do with it."

Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could you ask of life? Aviation combined all the elements I loved. There was science in each curve of an airfoil, in each angle between strut and wire, in the gap of a spark plug or the color of the exhaust flame. There was freedom in the unlimited horizon, on the open fields where one landed. A pilot was surrounded by beauty of earth and sky. He brushed treetops with the birds, leapt valleys and rivers, explored the cloud canyons he had gazed at as a child. Adventure lay in each puff of wind.
I began to feel that I lived on a higher plane than the skeptics of the ground; one that was richer because of its very association with the element of danger they dreaded, because it was free of the earth to which they were bound. In flying, I tasted a wine of the gods of which they could know nothing. Who valued life more highly, the aviators who spent it on the art they loved, or these misers who doled it out like pennies through their antlike days? I decided that if I could fly for ten years before I was killed in a crash, it would be a worthwhile trade for an ordinary life time.”— Charles A. Lindbergh

Interesting topic, Nathan!

What makes Dean tick? Aw, heck, I'm easy to figure out. I'm a "gearhead", plain and simple. I love mechanical things. Cars, planes, trains, ships, tractors, bulldozers, robots, whatever! I just dig machines. If they go fast, fly high, maneuver well, or dive deep... so much the better!

As for flying... well... "flight equals magic". And who doesn't like magic?

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

The Lindbergh quote nailed it...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

I've always been fascinated by planes. As a young child, I would read endless books, mostly World War II stuff, to the point where my teachers were concerned that I had an unnatural interest in a single topic. My father used to trot me out for the house guests and ask "how many guns did a Spitfire carry", of course, I would answer "Which Mark?". I built models, etc. Unlike other friends, my interest never waned as I got older.

As an adult, I became a tinkerer, initially with bicycles. At the same time, I began to go to air shows and felt the thrill of seeing these planes in person. The next logical step was getting to tinker with them. Fortunately, there was a restoration crew within driving distance with Jack Kosko and his crew in Fawn Grove. No kid on Christmas morning could even compare to the feeling of being able to crawl all over an Avenger for the first time. It didn't take long to become addicted to the wrenching end, and I get up there whenever I can. There is definitely something about being able to see one of these warbirds flying and say "I worked on that plane".

The one constant is that gearheads are gearheads. Plane guys are not much different than train guys, who are not much different than car guys, who are not much different than boat guys. We just choose our favorite poison, but end up respecting them all.

My dad flew C 46's in the CBI so his stories got me interested in flying. By age 8 I could probably identify most planes flying overhead. Living between NAS Oceana and Norfolk we got to see a lot of different planes. My dad worked at NARF Norfolk and I would go down sometimes and play in the cockpits of the various aircraft there. Security back then was not what it was today.

I soloed at 16 and got my PPL at 17. Did it off a grass strip that is now long gone. My dad told me to enjoy it all while I could. I didnt know what he meant then. I do now.

I like to fly planes more than I do looking at them. I do enjoy seeing the old iron fly overhead though I would much rather be flying it. I came across my L 4 back in 2010 and fell in love with the simplicity and pure flying experience of the thing. ( 4 gph doesnt hurt either ). I have logged over 300 hours on her in 4 years. Wish it could have been more!

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Flying Piper L4-J 45-55209

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Jerry
S/Sgt. - USAF Radio Operator '52-'56
C-119 "Flying Boxcar" - Korea & Japan

Volunteer: National Museum of the US Air Force (2007-2016)
LTM 381st Bomb Group Memorial Association

My dad owned a Champ. then Stearman, and later a P-51. He always had airplane magazines laying around like Sport Aviation. Air Progress and Air Classics and they would get mixed in with his stack of Playboys and Penthouse magazines. Somehow in my teenage years while looking at the magazines my brain wiring melted and fused the two visuals together . Tried to remedy with Tennessee sippin' whiskey but to no avail.