Bill Greenwood's Passing

[Forgotten Field]

I met Bill at KOSH in 2007. We had a short exchange as he was on his way to a briefing for a flight. But it was nice because we got to speak about our respective aircraft for a minute or two, which is after all, what it is all about for us. It was the only time we met. We corresponded a bit here through WIX, and he seemed a decent sort. I am sorry for your (and our) loss.

[Dan K]

Greetings, Charles.

Of course, all people fall into one of two categories: Either you've already lost your dad, or you dread the day approaching. Being in the former group, I certainly sympathize with your present sense of loss. I certainly wasn't expecting to learn of this news anytime soon.

As one of several guys who find themselves in this pic from way back in 2009, I'm guessing this is how many of us remember your dad. The common love of things old and airworthy drew us together...certainly good food and cold beer didn't hurt either.

With sincere condolences to you and all those hurting over your loss,

Dan

[CAPFlyer]

Hi Charles. Sorry to hear of the loss of your dad. I enjoyed my discussions with Bill here on this forum, in Private Message, and occasionally via e-mail. He is one of the aviators I've always looked up to and was saddened to hear of the damage done to TE308, the struggles to get it repaired and back in the air, and its eventual sale back to the UK. I have only a few aerospace memorabilia items in my possession, but the most valuable among those is one of your Dad's old helmets. He was kind enough to offer it to me when he replaced it after it developed a crack many moons ago. That he'd offer to send it to me, just a then early-20s kid to help out, was huge and a real testiment to who he was. I did get the crack patched/repaired (as he wanted me to) and I still have it boxed up and it will be used, hopefully in the near future, when I start flying tailwheel and warbirds, which is my ultimate goal.

Fair winds Bill, thank you Charles for letting us here know of his passing.

[Fouga23]

I always enjoyed reading his posts. I am sorry for your loss

[steve dickey]

Charles I'm saddened to hear of your dad's passing, mines 82 doin well but gettin up there. I took the following in April 2008 of I believe you and your dad when you came thru Breckenridge, Tx back when I used to work at Ezell's. Don't remember where you guys where going or coming from.

[cu360r6]

Hi Charles. Sorry to hear of the loss of your dad. I enjoyed my discussions with Bill here on this forum, in Private Message, and occasionally via e-mail. He is one of the aviators I've always looked up to and was saddened to hear of the damage done to TE308, the struggles to get it repaired and back in the air, and its eventual sale back to the UK. I have only a few aerospace memorabilia items in my possession, but the most valuable among those is one of your Dad's old helmets. He was kind enough to offer it to me when he replaced it after it developed a crack many moons ago. That he'd offer to send it to me, just a then early-20s kid to help out, was huge and a real testiment to who he was. I did get the crack patched/repaired (as he wanted me to) and I still have it boxed up and it will be used, hopefully in the near future, when I start flying tailwheel and warbirds, which is my ultimate goal.

Fair winds Bill, thank you Charles for letting us here know of his passing.

That story means more than you will ever know to me now. Thank you for sharing.

[Mark Allen M]

"Your Father didn't
tell you how to live;
he lived, and let
you watch him do it."

[Pogo]

Heartbreaking news indeed. We are the process of losing my dad at this time, and so I am feeling for you and yours especially acutely. I got to hang out with your father only one day, but the result was that my life was forever changed, and Bill Greenwood became one of my very favorite people in the whole world. I wish I could say more, but that's all I can write at the moment.

[oz rb fan]

Hi Charles so sorry for your loss.
the world in many ways is poorer for his passing,i exchanged the odd PM with him over the years,and i honestly couldn't imagine a nicer person ...his willingness to talk to a person from the other side of the Pacific ocean about our common interests was amazing,and his love for the spitfire was addictive,his knowledge of it and how it flew and then being able to put it down in words a non pilot could understand was amazing.

to say i was gutted at finding out about his passing is an understatement.

please accept my sincerest condolences and please pass them on to the rest of your family and friends...he truly was unique and will be much missed.

[wendovertom]

Sorry to hear of his passing. I loved his posts here and traded a few emails many years back trying to get the Spitfire out to the Wendover air show. Thoughts and prayers -

Tom P.

[Saville]

My condolences to you and your family.

[Matt Gunsch]

I have been having trouble logging in, when I saw the post about Bill, I feel like I got hit in the gut
Bill was one of the people I flew with when I was active in Warbirds and we have kept in touch over the years, while we didn't always see eye to eye, He was a friend that if I needed to talk to someone, he was there, so this hits me hard. He called me right after the new paint job was unveiled and we chatted for about a hour. It is ironic that because of Bill I have more time in a Spitfire than I do in a Mustang. Little did I know that when I first saw TE-308 at DeerValley not long before Bill bought it, that Bill and TE-308 would become part of my life in many ways.
Bill and I used to give a forum at Oshkosh on owning and operating Warbirds. If you ever saw him at a show, you would not believe he owned a plane, let alone a Spitfire. He carried a backpack that looked like it had won WWII and Korea singlehandedly, cut off shorts and a well worn t shirt. One year we were heading to the planes after giving a forum talk, and Warbird parking had all ready been closed off. Bill was about 50ft in front of me, when he got to the gate, he was stopped because he was not wearing the correct hat to enter, the spitfire was the first plane inside the gate, and Bill pointing at it and trying to tell the guard that it was HIS plane, he finally had to take off his pack and try to find the hat, I caught up and said Hi Bill as I walked on thru the gate. He finally found the hat, was allowed to enter, he walked to the Spit and opened the rear canopy, took his flightsuit out and put the backpack in, I wish I could have seen that guards face