Warbird Information Exchange

I'm 18. Dad bought a T-6 the year I was born and the rest is history. Needless to say I've grown up with warbird aviation and the CAF. I soloed a Piper J-3 Cub on my 16th Birthday and afterwards I went to get my drivers license. I got my private on my 17th and since then have flown 150 hours and attended four airshows. This past summer I purchased Stinson L-5G Sentinel 45-35050 and it will be flying in june or july.

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Taylor Stevenson

24 here.

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

32 here

I guess I should say a little about my intro to the warbird world. First off, I'm 25.

Like mentioned before I got the bug from my father, who got it from his father.

When I was really young I built over 30 plastic 1/72 scale models of WWII planes specifically. They all still grace my bedroom ceiling at my parents house. I've since moved out.

I soon began volunteering with my Dad at the Canadian Museum of Flight when when I was 5. Of course all I was doing was counting the car loads of people coming into the museum's property during our "Wings and Wheels" event. A couple summers later I found myself working on the restoration of the world's only Handley Page Hampden currently on display. I learned a lot about metal work and a lot about what life was like during WWII. The man that headed the restoration was Fred Gardham who actually worked on Hampdens during WWII, in fact, even on the exact one we were restoring. From there I helped move our museum to Langley when we were expropriated from our Surrey site in 1994. I then worked on a few more airplanes, became a tour guide, and was on the board of directors for a couple years. Now I create our museum's newsletter with help from my girlfriend and I'm also involved with our fundraising committee. I also have a side project with another museum volunteer where we're going to try and raise money to purchase a Canadian Vickers PBY-5A Canso.

These days whenever I'm travelling I try and go to as many air museums as I can and have now been to quite a few along the West Coast of North America. I thank god that my girlfriend loves airplanes too. It make it so much easier.

I'm really glad to see so many young WIX'ers. Of course I feel less special, but it's nice to know I'm not alone.

Thank you to everyone who posted!

Cheers,

David

We need you youngin's flying. I'm 38 and for the last few years the youngest in the show briefings. I will be good to see more young faces learning the ropes.

GA is definitely aging, as is the pilot pool for many of these warbirds.

Hey oscardeuce,

That's the plan man. I've got my commercial multi-IFR, but what's more important is I've got some tailwheel time. I'm hoping that I will soon be able to get checked out on the Canadian Museum of Flight's Tigermoth, Fleet Finch, Fleet Canuck, Waco INF, Harvard, or Waco AQC.

I'm not really in a hurry though. I certainly need to work on my tailwheel time. It is my end goal though, flying warbirds!

I would love to perform at airshows in them too.

What kind of planes do you fly on the airshow circuit?

Cheers,

David

P.S. Maybe this leads me to the next question of asking all the young WIX'ers if they are pilots and if they fly or are planning to fly warbirds to replace the older gentlemen doing the job right now?

Well, I have started my flight lessons back in May. But ya, I hope one day I can get the chance to fly a P-40 or B-25.

I was 34 when I joined...am 36 almost 37 now.

Military Family, Military Guy, been around warbirds pretty much my entire life.

Hi all! I'm 27 years old and have been into aviation since I can remember. My parents took me to my first airshow when I was 6 years old and have been hooked ever since. I've always been attracted to warbirds and especially the P-51. Since that first airshow, I started putting together models, then got into RC as well. During the summers when we were off of school, my mother would drop me off at the local airport before she went to work and pick me up when she was done. I would wash planes and hang out there all day. That got me up in the air a lot of times. I then joined Civil Air Patrol, where I got to fly around in a T-41, which was our squadron plane at the time. I've got many more aviation related stories, but don't want to bore y'all, plus I suppose I should get some work done.

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P-51, The Cadillac of the Sky!

Part of the problem is cost. For guys like me who are young and not in great paying jobs, we just can't really afford to pay our bills and fly. Down here in Dallas, I'd either be looking at $500/month for cost of owning a plane with 1 other partner in it, or I'd be paying $100/hr for flying (and that in a 1970's vintage C-172). I have ~150 hours total with ~100 PIC, but for me to be able to fly the L-5 at the DFW Wing (if I could even afford the sponsorship) I have to have 200 hours PIC and my tailwheel rating. I think that guys my age who don't have the money are trying to help as I do as ground crew. Maybe in the future we'll get the money and time to move into the cockpit, but right now, that's not an option for us.

The other problem is the pay within the industry for new pilots. The pay rate is so low going in versus the cost (about $70,000 from student to 500 hours versus $18,000 - $20,000 a year for the first year of work and not getting above $40,000/year until 5+ years in the industry) that many parents and (more importantly) banks are reluctant to pay for that training.

I think that aviation is sadly killing itself because it's not doing enough to ensure that it's skill pool is being replenished at a high enough rate and are not taking initiatives to encourage more people to come into the industry since when someone sees $20,000/year to start and then see they can make at least $25,000/year at Pizza Hut as an Assistant Manager for basically nothing out of pocket in training, where do you think they're gonna go?

I'm 20 now, but I turn 21 tomorrow!

What got me interested in warbirds was seeing B-29 Superfortress "Fifi" way back when I was 2 years old in 1989.

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"Keep 'em Flying!"

twenty nine

I honestly have no idea. No one in my family has ever been into aircraft of any kind. One of my first memories as a kid was an airshow in San Angelo TX. I have a pic of me at that airshow standing beside the P-51 now known as Moonbeam McSwine. I gues it just sparked something in me, and I have been into warbirds, and aviation in general since. I am also the first and only in my family to earn my wings.

Beers all around!


Happy B-Day! It only goes down hill from here. lol

29 for another blissful 4 months...

kevin

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FOUND the elusive DT-built B-24! Woo-hoo!!!