bucksmith
Did you lock the doors?
I was a lucky kid.
The guy who taught me to fly in the early 90’s was a FedEx pilot and was a young fella back when my Dad was flying Aztecs for TwinAir out of Asbury Park and Allaire Airport (BLM) in NJ.
My old mentor and teacher also moon lighted as a Collins Foundation pilot on the Nine-O-Nine and the All American. I got to hop along quite a few times in the summers and even got some stick time in both.
At the air shows, I would hang out and help out where I could. More times than I can count, I was sitting in the belly of one those bombers, talking to a Vet and crying a bit, listening to their stories as they sat in a plane they hadn’t been in since the war.
It changed my life. I’m a better person because of those experiences.
I have to admit, the site of the wreckage overcame me for a while before it occurred to me there was also loss of life.
I didn’t know anybody on the crew, but I know they touched lives everywhere they went. God bless them and may they rest in peace along with those poor folks that went with them.
Ive got a news paper clipping somewhere with me standing in front of one of the bombers pointing up to the red plaque in the nose. It read “Jets are for Kids”.
Just thought I’d share.
The guy who taught me to fly in the early 90’s was a FedEx pilot and was a young fella back when my Dad was flying Aztecs for TwinAir out of Asbury Park and Allaire Airport (BLM) in NJ.
My old mentor and teacher also moon lighted as a Collins Foundation pilot on the Nine-O-Nine and the All American. I got to hop along quite a few times in the summers and even got some stick time in both.
At the air shows, I would hang out and help out where I could. More times than I can count, I was sitting in the belly of one those bombers, talking to a Vet and crying a bit, listening to their stories as they sat in a plane they hadn’t been in since the war.
It changed my life. I’m a better person because of those experiences.
I have to admit, the site of the wreckage overcame me for a while before it occurred to me there was also loss of life.
I didn’t know anybody on the crew, but I know they touched lives everywhere they went. God bless them and may they rest in peace along with those poor folks that went with them.
Ive got a news paper clipping somewhere with me standing in front of one of the bombers pointing up to the red plaque in the nose. It read “Jets are for Kids”.
Just thought I’d share.