Gary Austin Fly Safe

[Versatile]

Never met the man From his posts here you had to be his friend. Talked by PM's once and that is all. Rest in Peace Sir!

[T-6G Pilot]

[quote="Manonthefence"]To say this is sad news is like saying a 25 year old Macallan is a nice Scotch.

quote]

Like a lot of folks here, I'll be raising my glass tonight (with some good scotch) when I get home and toast Gary. Rest in Peace.

[bluehawk15]

Gary was a great guy. Who knows how many lives might have been saved by his inspection, and sometimes grounding, of so many warbirds. I give him so much credit for making the B-25 Yellow Rose a safe aircraft. He showed our maintenance team what to look for, and inspired them to look further and deeper, and to fix things the right way. The level of maintenance that he inspired our maintainers to do made me feel safe not only flying on, but getting checked out to fly, the Rose.

Gary will sure be missed. I think the best way to honor him is to keep the maintenance of our planes up to HIS standards! That would be a living legacy to Gary.

[Randy Wilson]

Brad - your last post was an excellent summary of some of the issues with which Gary was dealing. I think it will help others who did not know him personally or well to better understand this sad happening. I know it was not easy to write. You are a true friend. May you both fly safe.

Randy

P.S. CAF HQ just sent out a special On The Fly Edition - The Passing of a Friend with a link to the tribute to Gary on the website.

[Bearcat SA]

Heck ...I have only been on WIX for 4 months and I am already sad that I am going to miss his posts.
If only he really knew how many people around the world cared & admired him.

Bruce Perkins (Johannesburg South Africa)

[mustangdriver]

My computer died and I am on the road. I just read this. I'm truley and sincerly writing this through tears. I met Gary at oshkosh the first year it was done as 927. Me and bear went and introduced ourselves and the next thing I know we are posing for a picture by the nose and walking through it. I was honored to meet Gary and here he was treating me like an old drinking buddy. We traded e-mails and pm's all the time. Technology has made it possible to become friends with someone through devices. I feel horrible. I know that we all have differences and heated threads sometimes,but when it all comes down to it there are far more friendships here than anything. We lost a great one. I'm sure gary is in a far better place. I'll never ne able to see that airplane or the B-29 without thinking of him.

[Steve S]

just got back in my office and hear the tragic news from Elroy - totally in shock and numb- had really looked forward to meeting the man someday as I heard much about him from mutual aquaintances.

What a tragedy . :

[viking73]

I can’t believe this…

I am deeply shocked and saddened to hear about Gary leaving us so soon. I still have an e-mail from him in my inbox.

I’ll never forget the warm June day that just a few months ago I spent with Gary tinkering with that F-105 in Snyder. I learned so much in just that one day. Over lunch I got to know him as a person a bit and we talked about many things, including the fact that he was depressed that he wasn’t able to fly anymore due to some health issues he had. I am very sad that I won’t get to do that again with him.

Thanks for sharing your insight Brad, it is appreciated.

I do hope to God that you have now found the peace that you couldn’t find in life Gary. I’ll miss you.

-Derek

Last edited by viking73 on Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Mark V]

Cannot add much to whats been said here - still shocked and deeply saddend to hear this awful news. Gary was universally liked and highly respected here and he leaves a legacy via this forum of enormous enthusiasm, passion and skill (and his unique gift of being able to share that with his friends across the globe via WIX).

Very sad news indeed.

[Dave Cheeseman]

Like many on this site I never had the chance to meet Gary, but followed the B24 thread and learned to respect and admire Garys skill and detication to his craft. When the call went out for donations for the guns for the B24 I happened to have extra $ and made a donation. About a month or so I got a nice letter from Gary with a peice of the B24 skin, I would have never expected this, I thought just having my name on one of the gun placks was cool enough. When the B24 was out that summer doing the airshow tour I was intouch with Gary ( PM ) to meet up with him and the B24 in Michigan, but it had mech issues and could not make the show.

This new is very sad and I am at a loss for words, Like everyone else just numb

As mentioned I would love to see the B24 thread transformed in some way to a book in detication to this fine soul, I think it must be done and am willing to help whatever way I can.

Special thanks to Brad for sharing your insight.

Dave C

[Lightjug]

I'm stunned. Dumfounded. In total shock. My introduction to this web site was reading the ENTIRE thread of "Gary ~ What's The Plan For Diamond Lil? 2006 and Beyond!" and thinking this guy is amazing. His sense of homour with the Stratoliner really cracked me up.

You will be missed Gary. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.
My condolences to all who were close to him.

Mark

[Rob Mears]

Thanks for that, Brad. Sincerely.

[Iclo]

I red the first message of this subject juste after it was posted and stayed speechless since.

Like a lot of peoples I was never directly in contact with Gary outside of WIX, but followed the incredible subject about the B-24 transformation. I first came on WIX a few weeks before the starting of this thread, and I start to discover the "world of warbirds maintenance" throught it.

Don't forget the others posts where Gary spent time to share these stories and knowledge.

My prayers go to his familly and friends.

Gary, you will deeply missed by lots and lots of people.

Thanks to the people who take the time to share personnal stories they lived with him.

Regards

[peter]

I read mention of Gary passing away on another thread and thought no must be some kind of sick joke..

I really looked up to Gary, he was a very talented engineer. I think the B24 thread pretty much sums up his passion for old warbirds and having never had the honour of meeting him in person, I feel that through this forum and messages back and forth that he was a close friend.

Brad's post really helps to somehow explain why this happened and I am still shocked and saddened about it. I am having a hard time dealing with it as I just had a message from him on Fri Oct 23, 2009 at 4:16 pm regarding the Voodoo that he was trying to save.

I would like to share with you a conversation I had this past summer with Gary regarding the Voodoo doodoo. Back in July Gary was worried the aircraft may be scrapped. I explained to him through a pm about my cockpit project and if it were to be scrappped, I would like to place dibs on the throttle from it. Gary's reply...? Thanks Peter that is the best laugh I have had all day!


Gary, blue skies my friend, you will be greatly missed by all your friends and your virtual friends on this forum. I appreciate all the help you have given each and everyone of us!!

Scott, is there anything we can do for his family as I know on another forum we had a virtual book of rememberance thread that people could share there thoughts and wishes etc which in turn was copied and given to the family??

[CrewDawg]

I was stunned when I got the email from Scott today telling me the news. Like many others, I only new Gary through WIX and never had the honor of shaking his hand - but I still feel a terrible loss. My thoughts and prayers go out to Gary, his family and friends Scott, Brad, Jack and the multitudes of others he made over the years.

Blue skies Gary