Warbird Information Exchange

Hello to each and everyone of you enthusiasts! I am at the other end of the age spectrum to the rest of you as I am a 67 year old grandfather with his flying career firmly behind him. My first ever flight was as a 12 year old in a Lancaster and I was deaf for 3 days, but I had been bitten by the aviation bug and I knew my what my career had to be.
For interests sake here is a list of the types I've flown:
In the Air Training Corps:
T 21 Sedbergh side-by-side training glider
T 3 Cadet tandem training glider
Grunau Baby single seat glider.
I was lucky enough to be awarded a Flying Scholarship and received basic training on the DHC-1 Chipmunk T 10 up to solo standard, bur did not solo due to being under-age.
RAF:
Provost T 1 side-by-side piston trainer
Vampire T 11 side by side jet trainer
Vampire FB 5/9 single seat fighter bomber, armament trg.
Venom FB 4 single seat fighter bomber, armament trg.
Hunter T 7 side-by-side advanced operational trainer
Hunter F6 single seater
Javelin T3 tandem advanced operational night fighter trainer
Javelin FAW 9 night fighter
AAC:
Chipmunk T 10 (again!)
Auster T 7/10 side by side trainer
Auster AOP 6
Auster AOP 9
Beaver AL 1.
Hiller 12B & 12C
Bell 47G3B1 Sioux (both training and in service use)
Skeeter T 10 & AOP 11
Alouette II
Scout AH 1
Gazelle AH 1
I also flew the civil DH Rapide for a season with the British Girls (!) skydiving team.
Those are all the types I can call to mind. I had 1881 hours on fixed wing and 3,141 hours rotary, so I just managed my 5,000 hours. Nothing too exciting, but on the whole I enjoyed my service - apart from the last 3 years as an instructor!
Have only rarely been aloft as a civilian, but it doesn't distress me as the rules and regulations in modern flying are many and varied and seem to be designed to make life as expensive and as difficult as possible.
I am the Air-Britain 'specialist' for Flight Manuals and Pilots Notes, and over the years have collected some 1,400 of them.
Sorry to have rambled on, but I'm still an enthusiast!!!!!

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Very old, so couldn't have been very bold.

Well, here goes my first post; figured I'd get this introduction out of the road.

I'm just an average guy that's been interested in warbirds for many years. As a kid growing up in the Midwest I got to see the occaisional Mustang as both the IA and NE Airguard units were still operating them. Think that must have hooked me for life, though I had to be satisfied with models for many years.

Got to help with the restoration of a Corsair many years ago, then hit a dry spell as life and job interfered with my warbird interest.

Fast forward to 2003 and I found that my long-time employer no longer needed my services so I took an early retirement. Spent a year goofing off and traveling, then decided that I needed something to do. So started volunteering at the Heritage Flight Museum here at BLI. Now I'm getting ready to take the A&P tests, so guess I've started a second career.

You just never know what life has in store for you...

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"They can teach MONKEYS to fly better than that"

http://www.heritageflight.org
http://www.bravo369.org

Like a lot of people I have been lurking here for awhile and decide to join in the fun. As you can see by my screen name my name is Mike Bates and I live in central Ohio. I know a few of you here from other web sites or eBay. I am also a member at Aircraft Resource Center and go by the name P-38 guy.
My main interest is the P-38 Lightning and some of my photo's were used in John Stanaway's new book on the 475th FG published by Osprey. I am also a model builder and have around 100 kits built and over 150 waiting to be built. Of those 150 almost 50 of them are P-38's of various variants and scales.

Regards,

Mike

Hi Mike,
Good to see ya here!

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Don't touch my junk!!

I stumbled onto this site late last week and I've spent wayyyyy too much time reading the threads on here over the last 4 days
My name is Rod Schneider, and I live in Woodstock, Ga, about 25 miles north of Altanta. I inherited my love of airplanes from my father. He builds flying models, mostly U-control, and was an engineer for Boeing and Lockheed before going to work for the state D.O.T.
I work at Delta (27 years) as a supervisor in the hangar, mostly overnight checks on our fleet.
I've had a Private Pilot license for about 5 years, and I'm building a Van's RV-6 that I hope to get into the air sometime in '08.
I've always loved Warbirds, and have a real fondness for B-17's and P-51's. It would be a blast to do volunteer work (I have an A&P and a sheetmetal background), but I'm not aware of too much activity in the north Georgia area. Time is also a factor until I get the -6 finished.....
I'd love to see more restoration/maintainence threads. The B-24 and F-86 threads have been fascinating!!

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Rod Schneider
Ball Ground, Ga

Thanks Jack!

Mike

My name is Tom Kelly.....and I am a warbird addict....wow, that wasn't so hard! I posted some of my personal history information under the topic "Freedom Flight 1995" but here's some of the same. I was born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1956, lived on a farm in rural PA until I was 8, then in '64 we moved to Glendale, Az. One day while still on the farm in PA, I heard a roaring noise, it kept getting louder, and louder, and the ground shook, then about 8 or so C-119s broke across the tree line on a low-level flight. I knew right then and there I was meant to fly......well now I'm 51, and still don't fly. But I have a plan to rectify that. If your interested you can read about that, under the "Freedom Flight 1995" thread. I definitely enjoy all the knowledge that is presented on this site. Hopefully one day I can be a contributor too.

Scott thanks for this site! - Tom

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AZ Flyboy

Welcome to all of you guys. I hope you all enjoy this place. There is a ton of knowledge to be had here. It is funny, as soon as you meet a WIXer in person, it is like you have been friends for years.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Hello everyone. I just found this site a few weeks ago, and just joined today. 24yr old learning to fly, but been interested in warbirds for a long time. This place looks like a great source of information.

Hello, all - my name is Garth and I discovered WIX thanks to the article in Warbird Digest on 927. I've spent the better part of a month reading through the 927 thread from start to finish (and a lot of the other threads) and am now hooked on your alls' site. I'm a military aviation enthusiast, scale modeller and, living in Northern Virginia, a NASM junkie.

My name is Keith, I'm 45 and an A&P for Delta Airlines. Back in the late 70's-early 80's, I was on Dick Dieter's T28 crew. (R.I.P. Doc) , I got the chance to fly with him in the T28, TBM, T6, and P51, and a few other warbirds. I stumbled across this forum by accident about a month ago, and just got around to registering in the last couple of weeks. This forum is now the first place I go to when I get on the computer. I sure do miss working with the warbirds, and I look forward to adding my .02 worth here from time to time.

Hello,
I'm Doug Ratchford from Brenham, Tx. and have been a regular here for most of the past year. My stellar introduction to this site came after an incorrect msg. I posted to PBY@Yahoo was reposted here about the old CAF Brownsville PBY getting scrapped. Didn't happen, BTW, if you're out of that ludicrous loop. BTW, I did take Gary a jumbo can of wasp spray when I was out there recently.
I'm 53, the son of a PBY veteran and have always been interested in warbirds and military history. (got me in trouble for daydreaming more than a few times). I've been seriously into warbirds for about four years since Daddy expressed and interest to take 'one more flight in a Catalina.' I haven't gotten him that flight yet, but I've had a darn good time looking and made some great friendships.
I've been a volunteer at Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Tx. for 2 1/2 years and truly love getting filthy dirty working on old airplanes. I like working with my hands and working on machines anyway, so it comes natural. I'm plane captain of LSFM's static PBY and have crossed paths with some of y'all even if we didn't know it at the time.
My first wife was ex USAF kid who hated airplanes. My present wife of sixteen years is so tolerant of my interest and knows many aircraft from each other whether she admits it or not. Just don't make her go to an airshow. We have two grown married sons and 2 1/2 grandkids. The oldest is nearing three yrs old and likes all little boy things that are bright shiny and noisy. WARBIRD INTRO TIME!
My first love is PBY's and other flying boats but my interests have broadened considerably over the last three years. One's least favorite warbird is a zillion times better than no warbird at all. I'm just blessed to be able to participate in a flying museum that lets vols. do so much cool stuff. I've found that vintage aviation is a real small world. A while back I ran into a high school classmate I hadn't seen in 30 yrs.!
I've discussed photography with a number of you here recently and have determined which DSLR body to use with all the optics I already have. I've also had one military aviation magazine article published in Naval History waaaay back inspring 1991.
After I post this I'll think of something else to say but here goes.

blue skies and tailwinds
Doug Ratchford "Canso42"
"the PBY guy" at LSFM

Scott, This isn't an afterthought to my intro but a reply to your intro at the beginning of this thread. You said you were a military 'brat' growing up. I think the term is a misnomer. In my experience, military kids are generally well behaved and respectful. It's civilians who are brats. My first wife was an air force kid and her family all disliked the term 'brat'. Several other military families I've known have rogered that sentiment.
I know it's a real common slang expression but I give rebuttal here in respect for all military families.

sincerely,
Doug Ratchford

Nice to meet you Doug! It is nice to know there is fellow PBY fanatics around. My name is Misty Marshall and I grew up in the CAF in Harlingen, TX. I used to be a crew member of the PBY-5A that had ended up in Brownsville and how now since been saved. Beautiful bird to fly in...glad she won't be scrapped. I was also a founding member of the P-82 Squadron in the CAF and their finance officer, newsletter editor, and membership coordinator. I am no longer a member of the CAF, but still have a very deep passion for the Warbirds.

"Lest We Forget" to "Remember When"
Misty Marshall (Dauwalder)

Misty,
Nice to meet you too! Not many p-boat people in this area. I've now seen four of five PBY's in Texas now and been on board three of them. N68756 looks rough but the hull is still intact. It's out of sight, out of mind at Gary's place guarded by thorn bushes, rattlesnakes and still some yellowjackets.
Been down to Lone Star lately? If not, wanna get back into warbirds? We have some of our people who live way north Houston, like Klein or Woodlands area.
At what point in the life of N68756 were you involved with that boat? PM me if you like but I'd like to hear it. The gang on PBY@Yahoo would probably like to hear from you too.
How did you get from Harlingen to Cornrow? I'm originally from Silsbee.

blue skies,
Doug.