Gary Austin Fly Safe

[B29B24crewchief]

It absolutely makes me ill to read this tonight... as I said to a few people tonight as I collected my thoughts about it, I mentioned that I (along with many of us I am sure) have lost friends and acquaintances in the day-to-day risk we all see in warbirds... and as a result, we build up a thick skin to deal with the fact that the inevitable will happen to some of us. We chat with each other and give the standard "poor bastard" response...

Then we return to nursing our beer or whiskey and continue on. When you are friends with aging veterans and warbird pilots, you deal with it this way.

But then there are the people who, when they leave us, they take a part of us with them... and as a result we take it harder than the rest. I think it's because of the regret we feel... the regret over taking their quiet friendship for granted, the regret of not telling them how much we appreciate them, the regret of not getting to know them better and buy them that drink that we had been talking about for years.

I have only felt that with three people... the first being Darren Banfield in NH who lost his life in a tragic float-equipped UC-78 crash in '04, the loss of Air America Foundation founder and overall nice guy Paul Vasconi earlier this year... and now Gary.

I was just chatting with Ron Sanders, one of our old salesmen from Midland, at NBAA last week about coming out and staying with him and getting the chance to actually meet and shake Garys hand and chat a bit with him in the shade of the Stratalina... I had been saying I was going to do so for years... and what good are those intentions now?

God-damm-it... Gary, why the did you have to be one of the good guys we lose so early on?? I mean, most of us saw his posts here each day and felt he was like a brother... but how many of us got to actually meet him and really know him? I wish I had been one that did... but I always took his mortality for granted. I mean, he wasn't much older than I am... and he's a Texan, that's got to count for something right?

But I am one of those who never talked to him beyond the keyboard, and never got to actually look him in the eye and shoot the bull... and damm-it, he's gone.

Between Scott and I when we talked on the phone tonight, we were both near tears. Gary was such a critical part of WIX... he was as close to family as we all can imagine online. We are all so sad over this... more than sad though.

I've already raised a glass to the West and given him a toast... then raised another... then another.

The only consolation in all of this is that we have his words and spirit that will live on through his posts here. As long as WIX lives, his wisdom will as well... and it's my hope that someday his documentation of the B-24A project will make it into print... so it passes from the transient nature of the web and becomes just that much more a legacy.

God speed Gary... we all miss you already.

My biggest heartache in this is that this post was put out there before his next of kin have even been notified yet. Please be respectful of them, no matter what Gary might have thought of them!!
My next thought is anchored on what Ryan has said and I feel a huge loss in my life for the loss of Gary.
I wish you all could have known him like I knew him.
I wish you all could have talked to him like I have talked to him.
I wish you all could have learned from him like I have learned from him.
I wish you all could have laughed with him like I have laughed with him.
I wish you all could have worked with him like I have worked with him.
Gary was indeed special and everyone that knew him and was around him knew it. he will be missed and I don't know if I can say anymore.
Dave

[67N20]

"I wonder what the status on those birds he was trying to save is?"

I sent a PM to Gary on Oct. 11th, this is the reply

Well, nothing has officially happened to the airplanes just yet. The NMUSAF knows they're in the wrong here and won't publicly admit to it, so they're sticking with the "we still haven't come to a decision on that" theory.

I've slowly started tinkering with the F-105 again and IF I can come up with the money, will transport the F-101 here to my place.

I'm hoping to hear something more definite soon, but until then, that's really all the news I have. Sorry.

And thanks for the nice words about the B-24 thread. It was a lot of fun (and work) to do all of that.

I never met the man but read all 195+ pages of the Ol 927 project and felt I knew him as a good friend. Where else would someone like me learn how to remove/reistall a prop on a B24 or even start one?

[Steve]

I have also been here since Wix started and would always open a thread Gary had opened or responded to, What an incredible person. This is so sad

THANKS Gary

Steve

[wls3]

Very sad news.
God speed Gary.

[Chris]

Tragic, horrible. I met Gary briefly in Midland a few years back in front of the B-29. Like most of us, I knew him best through his posts. Always interesting and informative. What a loss. Just a numb feeling absolute void.

[mustanglover]

I am pretty much at a loss for words.

We had Gary down early last month to look at our projects with hopes of relocating here and taking them on as crew chief. You could tell he really wanted to take on the project, but the demons would not allow him to leave Midland. I spent several hours just b.u.l.l.s.h.i.t.t.i.n.g with him about Reno and IF1 and really had a great time. We conversed on phone and email quite a bit after that. My nephew just spoke to him last week about coming down for a week or two at a time and helping build up our QECs. He said he had a PBY gig to do and didn't have the time.

Really wish we could have got him here and knee deep in warbirds, maybe that would have helped keep those demons at bay.

God Speed Gary!

[Jesse C.]

Honestly, I do not know what to say.

He was one of the few people I have never met face to face but I consider him one of the totally cool people in my life.

My deepest condolences to his family and friends, both out there and here.

God Bless, Gary

Vaya Con Dios.

Jesse Chavez

[OZFURYFAN]

Hi all,feeling gutted as I write this for I was planning a trip to Osh next year and meeting Gary was at the top of the to do list.I love the OL'927 thread and still go back & read parts of it from time to time,that aircraft is Gary,his work ethic,his craftwork,and his desire to see a project finished the right way.When Fifi flies his legacy will continue.It seems a lot of us have first hand experience with depression in our families,my wife suffers,and my heart goes out to those of you who were close to him,God speed & God bless,Gary.Respectfully,Pete Bradley

[srpatterson]

I will always remember the first time I met Gary. It was at Midland for Airsho, and Andy Jones and I were taxing to the ramp in the Sea Fury. Unfortunately during landing we had blown a flap actuator seal and hydraulic fluid was leaking all the way in. I pulled into my parking spot and shut down, only to find Gary pulling a panel off the left wing! I didn't even know at this point I had a problem, and he had already diagnosed it before I got out of the cockpit!. Well, needless to say that was the beginning of a great friendship. I'm sure Andy still remembers the private tour Gary gave us of Fifi. I won't go into details, but ONE of us fit in the bomb bay tunnel and his initials were not AJ. Anyway, this is such terrible news and my heartfelt wishes to Gary's family. A truly great guy and a great loss for the warbird community.

Blue Skies, Gary.

[Kyleb]

Over last several years I've planned and eventually cancelled a couple of trips to Midland to CAF headquarters. Interestingly, the real intent of all of those trips was to meet Gary. His personality, his abilities, and his willingness to share his work with others really set him apart and made him someone whose hand I'd have liked to shake and say "Thank you".

I've never come across anyone who so loved old airplanes and gave his heart and soul to their preservation and to helping others who had similar interests. Rarely do you come across someone who is so good at what he does and has the willingness and ability to explain it so anyone can understand.

A huge loss indeed.

Last edited by Kyleb on Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Edward Sheetmetalhands]

Soar on, Gary. You were one cool dude. You are in my prayers.

[t6flier]

Wow.. Very sad. I had never met Gary but again felt like I knew him through this forum. Several years ago another good friend and wixer Dan Linn sent me a DVD of this guy he knew who had been working in Memphis. This guy put together a great little video of flying an F1 and a Texan and some Sea Fury footage all set to music. That guy was Gary and he was obviously having the time of his life! I'm going to have to dig out the video....

RIP Gary,

Miike Vadeboncoeur

[richkolasa]

Rest in Peace, Gary. Having just attended my first Texas airshow at Midland weeks ago, I am both saddened by his loss, and by mine, not having met him.

Not many words, but plenty of tears. Godspeed Gary...

Rich

[gary1954]

Gary and I traded only a few PMs back and forth, and I truly appreciated his thoughts and comments. As we all know, He set the Standard in Restoration that because of that others are taking more time to look for the little things that can lead to major problems and failures. My regret, is that in his time of anguish, that he didn't - not that I know of - tell someone of his thoughts, what he was going through that pushed him to this. I don't know what he was going through, but I have in the past came close as I have been there, a couple of times, and got through it. I am saddend in our loss of a Compadre, and deeply, deeply saddened for G-Mans family.
Anybody else in "our WIX Family" that feels like they have reached the end of the taxiway, please speak up, and someone in this forum will be there as quickly as possible. That is, after all, the way we are in this close small community in our world of Warbird Aviation.
I am done now

[ArtS]

Wow.

I only knew Gary through this site, but his post were definately a high point. Just reading WIX it was clear that knowledge, character and talent were great. Gary's passing is a loss to us all, whether we knew him well or not - that is why we all feel like we just got kicked in the gut.

I only knew you on WIX yet I will miss you.

Rest In Peace Gary.