Warbird Information Exchange

I too am very sad to hear of Gary's passing. I have to say reading Gary's thread about the B-24 and all his work made me very proud that I too was also involved in aviation. I did not know him ,but his passion and love for Warbirds is something I do know. Blue Skies Gary, you will be missed.

EAA posted Gary's Timeless voices interview. Click here:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/pla ... 6700747001

Great guy.

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Taylor Stevenson

Thanks for that Taylor. It's still kinda hard to wrap your head around that he's no longer with us. But that clip and rereading his posts again bring his humor and insight back to life. Like has been mentioned, he'll always be with us here in WIX. He was the best guy I never met (in person anyways).

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Many thanks for the link... I'm listening to it now... it only makes me feel sadder for not having met him in person. He really was a wonderful chap.

Richard

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Richard Mallory Allnutt - Photography - http://www.rmallnutt.com

Its a shame he didn't make it to New Zealand, I would have welcomed him with open arms. Having also suffered from "The Black Dog" I can relate to what Gary must have gone through. I am lucky as I never got to the point of wanting to leave this life. I count my wife, family and my aviation friends for keeping me out of the dark side of life.
I too enjoyed Gary's threads and wish I could have met him.
Mr Cook I would like to meet you one day and enjoy your threads very much.

I can't add much that has not already been stated here. I was fortunate to meet Gary at Airsho 2005. He took quite a bit of time from what must have been a busy schedule to show John Beyl and I around Fifi. I'm still awestruck by his ability to not only make the projects he worked on look more authentic, but also safer and more 'airshow' friendly. I too really enjoyed reading Gary's posts regardless of the subject matter. His self deprecating sense of humor really struck a chord with me. I will miss him a lot.
Blue Skies Mr. Austin

I have to award you one of Jack's ponys for that sentence. Gary was TOTALLY about SAFETY, SAFETY, SAFETY. Every one of us can learn a great deal from his insight.

Scott

I first 'met' Gary Austin here on WIX. The first time I met him in person, I recognized him from photos here on WIX when he was at MAAM WWII weekend when the B-29 and B-24 were there. I walked up to him and said something (I don't remember what exactly) basically talking bad about Texas. If I knew he was not originally from Texas, I would have said something more abrasive about illegal immigrants to Texas. He said, "We're gonna have to go around about that." When I told him who I was, he immediately gave me a big handshake. He had to go work and the next time I saw him was at KOSH 2007 with Ol' 927. He absolutely looked in his element talking with people about the airplane. When I asked him about the last flying B-24 that Collings had, he just rolled his eyes and grunted. He was good people.

When he was director of maintenance, I contacted him through WIX to speak about making an across the board discount to chapters of the CAF for parts from my collection that went on flying aircraft. We talked for a while on the phone, he asked me to put my proposal in writing, and I got busy with my new house before I could put it in place. But we did talk about more than my proposal that time, and when I got done the call, my first thought was that the CAF had a real asset with Gary Austin. He was just a real organization man and had an absolute set of standards for safety and just loved his job.

People who are heading for suicide usually try to tell people what is happening indirectly, and they also try to make disposition of their possessions; unfortunately, the people they contact usually don't get the message for what it really means (NOT THEIR FAULT). I was pretty shocked when he left the CAF, and I would say that was probably the first message we didn't get about where he was headed. After he left, I was told he had some medical problems that he had to get fixed. That seemed like a good explanation, but I was in no way thinking about emotional or mental illness. The most recent message was the Stratolina. There it sits in the aerial photograph like a bonfire, and we all unfortunately missed it as the signal it really was. From my prior experience with this professionally, I know that there was nothing I could do about his illness and death, and everybody here should know that there was nothing they could do. But I sure do feel like crap that such a golden warbird worker gave so much to the things I love and there was nothing I could give back to him.

My father passed away a few minutes before fall began last month, September 22nd 2009. I was with him for a good bit of the time during his last illness. His illness was caused by a correctable problem that he refused to deal with, a surgery that he was afraid to have. He was finally literally forced to choose between certain death or the surgery, and even then had such a hard time making the choice that I was surprised that he made the choice. After he had the surgery, most of our conversations consisted of him saying to me, "Take me home." He just could not put it right in his head that he had to lay there and recover. He was on the cutting edge of dying most of the time he was there, but was making small steady improvements until he pulled out a tube and nearly bled to death. That was the last straw and he passed a few weeks later, those few minutes before fall.

I don't know why my Dad chose to do what he did- he was never able to tell me. And as painful as that is, it is just as painful that Gary chose what he did without letting us all know why. I am so sorry that both of them are gone and will probably go through the whole grieving process for both of them again and again. Gary's death hit so close to home for all of us- all of us struggle with what we do with warbirds financially, socially, and emotionally every day. What we do is outside the mainstream, is considered odd by a good number of people, and is quite a tax on our resources, personal and financial. Through all that struggle, Gary did a lot of great things for what we all love, and that makes his death so much more poignant. And it is like losing a brother when somebody who goes through all that struggle so common to us and is lost.

I have lost a brother, and may his soul find peace at last. Fly right, and blue skies, Gary Austin.

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

Very sorry to hear of your own loss John. I can only imagine how that feels. Thanks very much for relating your story about Gary too. You are so right about not seeing the warning signs for what they are... and also about not being able to do much, if anything, even if you do, as was the case for Brad, Jack and Hellcat and surely many others too.... I guess the best we can do in these circumstances is reach out to one another for our friendships and common kinship, and never forget those who've left us.

All the best,
Richard

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Richard Mallory Allnutt - Photography - http://www.rmallnutt.com

I met Gary in Memphis back in the early 1990s. I was originally from Memphis and had moved to Texas to work for Nelson Ezell. Gary was finishing up a T6 he was building from parts for a group of people at Dewitt Spain airport. He ended up moving to Texas and rented a room in a little house I bought there. We called Breckenridge the "Monastery on the Prairie" and we were both into airplanes more than girls so we spent all our time at the airport. We worked after hours on projects for Nelson and our own. We ended up renting a little shop on the airport to do our side projects in. Gary had a Pitts project and I was repairing a Cessna 150 for a guy. We would stay out there late at night and the old man who used to run the airport and own the shop we were in would come over and tell us stories. One cold night Gary was welding on the Pitts frame and I was working on something when he said under his welding helmet "I smell something burning." I turned around and he had caught his jacket on fire. I ran over there and we got him put out and laughed till our stomachs hurt.

Nelson's oldest son Ashley, Gary and I bought a Clipper in Sun Valley, ID. We drove non-stop up there, took it apart and drove it back to Texas. Got into snow, met an inebriated blind hippie somewhere in CO in the middle of the night who didn't believe his brother when he told him there was an airplane at the gas station until he got out and felt of it. That was quite a trip.

We assembled the Clipper and Gary helped Ashley and I get our licenses in it. Gary was the only one of us who already had a license. I remember my first stall in it with Gary next to me and I got a little abrupt with the controls and we rolled over on our back. I let go expecting him to get us out of it. Still don't know if he did it or the airplane righted itself.

I ended up moving to Graham which is 30 miles away and opening my own shop where Gary would come and visit. He had a Clipped wing Cub he wanted to recover the fuselage on. He got it all ready and had painted it with some high dollar automotive paint against my advice. (Gary was little hard headed ) We glued the fabric to one of the bottom stringers and as we started on the second one the fabric and paint started coming off the first like it was paint stripper. Gary was so mad and I couldn't keep from laughing. He wanted to take the glue to the body shop and pour it on the hood of one of their freshly painted cars.

He ended up leaving Nelson's and going back to running his own shop in Memphis again. I visited him every time I went up there for holidays and on my way to Sun & Fun. My folks still live there so I was there three to four times a year. He always loved the yellow T6 he had built from parts and I have pictures of him when he brought it to Graham one time. He brought a YAK down once and took me up and showed me how to do rolls. We always had fun flying together whether it was in Cubs or some warbird someone let him fly. I will always remember spinning his Clipped wing Cub in the fields across the Mississippi from his airport. I can still see the ground spinning around in my head.

I remember when he went to work for the CAF on the B24/B29 crew. He would send out an email several times a week about where he was and what he was doing. It always had some Gary humor in it and it was like living out his adventure via email. I always enjoyed reading about the things he was doing and places he was seeing.

I was really proud of him when he became the Director of Maintenance for the CAF. That was like the big time for a couple of airport bums like us. He would send me pictures of things he was working on and call from time to time asking me questions about some rag and tube liaison airplane he was dealing with.

We both got busy with our separate lives but would still talk from time to time. The last time I saw Gary was one Sat. after the tornado hit the Breckenridge airport. We were all over there helping clean up a little bit. It was fun because there were a lot of the old Ezell Aviation crew there that had long since moved away and we got to visit and reminisce.

I was confused when Gary lost his medical and couldn't get him to tell me why. I really didn't understand him leaving the CAF but I knew how Gary was and there was no way you were going to change his mind. I was very saddened when Dude Ezell called and gave me the news. She couldn't talk about it and gave the phone to Nelson and we talked about Gary and life. I talked to Dude last night and she is doing a lot better. What a lot of people don't know about working at Ezell's is that you become a part of their family. I moved to Breckenridge to work on warbirds. All my friends thought I was nuts moving to a small town where I didn't know anyone but I was living my dream. Gary was the same way. The Ezell's took us in, had us over for dinner, holidays, took us to airshows etc. I think to Gary the Ezells were like a family he felt like he never had. He was a part of that family. Though it makes me sad that he is gone I have to be grateful for the time we had. He is probably up there racing around in a 3350 powered Sea Fury that never breaks or runs out of gas, smiling from ear to ear. So long my friend, we had a hell of a ride.

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Steve Pierce
www.pierceaero.net

Saw the sad news and wanted to post a pic to honor Gary. I met Gary in 2005 during a flight in Fifi from Richmond Va, to Winston Salem. I saw the comment on someone's post that he didn't suffer fools and that was an understatement but a very neat and professional guy none the less. This photo is from engine startup and Gary was hard at work.

Sure gonna miss you Gary.

kevin

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

HI Jack,

I wonder if you could do me a small favour: about a week ago, for whatever reason, my computer or the WIX site undid my login, and I haven't been able to sort it out since. For whatever reason I'm unable to log into WIX, and I was wondering if you could post this on my behalf.
Gary's suicide knocked me flat on my ass. I didn't know him, though I was fortunate enough to email with him a couple of times and talk to him on the phone two or three times. He was one of those people that, after twenty some odd years in aviation I wish I could say I knew, though I didn't. I loved his posts,and I read them eagerly, and I really, really appreciated the encouragement that he gave me and others in our small efforts at preservation. The loss for those of us here that actually knew him in the flesh I can't imagine, but all of you have my profound sympathies. That this was a man that I would have enjoyed knowing is an understatement. I'm sorry for all of our losses and those of Gary himself. My only hope is that, wherever he is now he is at peace, and has found contentment, and one day,hopefully in the long distant future, I hope to meet with him and discuss how Kee-Bird should have been salvaged!
Very sincerely and respectfully,
Daniel W. Jones

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Don't touch my junk!!

There will be a Memorial Service for Gary next Friday at the CAF. Gary's parents are here, and his good friend Andy Bivins, and all the CAF HQ people have been doing whatever is necessary at this time to help with Gary's affairs.

CAF Director of Publications Ally Trevino is preparing a video tribute to Gary to be shown at the service and would like anyone with photos of Gary to send her copies (electronically if possible). Her email is atrevino@cafhq.org. I'm sure there will ba a fly-over but at this time I'm not sure what airplanes will be involved.

The outpouring of support for Gary has been very comforting to those of us here.

Old Shep

I'd just like to add my 2 cents.

I never met Gary. In fact, I've never met anyone from this board. Most of you have forgotten more about warbirds than I'll ever know. Gary never looked down at me in his post when I asked him things. Gary was always so patient answering my questions a lot of people probably thought were dumb and pretty basic warbird stuff. Gary's posts around FIFI and his work on Diamond Lil/Ol' 927 were awesome. I was so impressed with his abilities and workmanship. I learned a lot from his posts. I never saw him ever say a negative word about anyone. If anything, he always seemed to be a peacemaker. This is a terrible loss to the warbird community. But it is even a greater loss to his personal friends and family. My deepest condolences.


Doug