Pogo wrote:
Thanks for that, and please excuse me for bristling. So who's Paul Allen?
Funny thing is, I've been hanging around the warbirds scene since the latter half of the seventies, so you'd think I'd know all this stuff. But fact is, I was only ever interested in the airplanes and not the people behind them. I still don't care much, mostly just trying to keep up with the chatter here on WIX. Your R. Lewis thumbnail really makes a lot of stuff I see here make a lot more sense, so thanks again.
As for 'doing a search', I agree a person ought to be expected to do a bit of homework before asking questions. But I seem to be a bomb at searching in general, and this forum software doesn't seem to support searches worth a hoot to boot. It's the same software as on another forum I check in with on a daily basis, and same thing there - frustration! Sorry, but whaddya expect from an ancient old 50-year-old guy.....?

No problem, you're forgiven!
Paul Allen is the co-founder of Microsoft and is a multi-billionaire. Here is some info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_AllenAllen also has set up one of the world's premier privately owned air museums. Here is the website:
http://www.flyingheritage.com/TemplateH ... ontentId=1In the early days of Allen's collecting, back in the late 90's, he was extremely secretive about the airplanes he had or was getting restored. Up until maybe 5 to 7 years ago, he made everybody he dealt with sign legal "non-disclosure agreements", whereby if anybody talked about anything, Allen could legally sue them for "breach of contract". It was so secret, that Allen's hangar up at Arlington airport, Washington, was dubbed, "Area 51" because it didn't exist and nobody would talk about it. Once Allen secured a permanent place to house his air museum, he and his collection came out of the "black world" and became mainstream. Now, it's all public knowledge. During the late 90's/early 00's, Allen shocked a lot of the warbird world by buying up extremely rare warbirds at an alarming pace, just like Rod Lewis is doing now.
BTW, Pogo, I've figured out what your problem is. You don't spend enough time on WIX! Your assignment is to spend more time here and get to know the names, places, airplanes and history. It's actually quite fun!
