Something different.
8/18/12, 11:09 PM
#1
Shelby GT500 Member
Thread Starter
Something different.
Moderators, I understand if you need to move this, I rarely visit any of the other forums and as such will post this here. If it's deemed to off topic, I will understand if you move it to another one.
Things like this are what make life worth living.
As a child, my father and I would build the plastic model planes that I'm sure many of us remember: Mustangs, Warhawks, Hurricanes, Spitfires, Corsairs, Mitchells, Lightnings, B-17's, etc., etc. I had a bedroom ceiling full of those models, every one of them painted and decal'ed just like the ones in the pictures and calendars My dad had all over the adobe walls of our well house (we didn't have a garage, thus no garage walls). Outside of riding my horse, there was nothing I looked forward to more than my dad bringing home another model for us to work on together.
We'd spend weeks on them, getting them just right. Part of it was the love of building things with our hands, part of it was the love of the too-short era of flight that was spotlighted by WWII, and part of it was the romanticism of that war that we had yet to see under the unkind light of a more harsh reality in films like Saving Private Ryan (which, from this former Marine's perspective, is unfortunately accurate in its portrayal of what combat can do to a human mind). My dad was an ordnance officer in the Army during Vietnam, unable to be a pilot because of his eyes. My curse was the same, which prevented me from following my childhood hero Maverick from Top Gun into an F-18 (He was my hero, but I already knew I wanted to be a Marine Aviator, not a Navy pilot). I never did lose my love of flight, and married a pilot (don't think her ability to fly a turbo-prop didn't play a part in that courtship). My dad was the same, and I remember how much he enjoyed hearing me tell him about the times a very good friend of mine would take me up in an F-14 at NAS NOLA...the supersonic runs he would make right over the deck, the super-tight barrel-rolls, immelmans, full loops, the feeling of your spine being pulled through the back of the seat when he would open the afterburners....I could tell he wanted that, but I couldn't give it to him. Even so, his dream was always to fly what he called the greatest warbird mankind ever created, the P-51. That time meant more to him than the jets of today, and I could understand why.
He would take us to airshows out at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, and at the time we were 40 or so years removed from the end of WWII. Those old planes were huge draws. I would climb up in the B-17's, smelling the hydraulic fluid, the fuel, the age in the leather seat covers...it was heaven to me, and to him. He never was happier than when we were working the cattle, building the models or watching the air shows. It's been more than two decades since I'd been to an air show, so I thought about finding one and bringing him to it. I started digging...and noticed there were some shows at which they actually allowed some people to fly in the planes themselves, particularly the B-17 housed down in Houston. I got the idea of looking into getting us all (myself, my wife and my parents) a seat on such a ride. Then, about a week later, I thought that surely, some enterprising individual had come up with the same idea for other planes--such as the fighters that were so glorified and romanticized. I started looking for a place that allowed people to fly with a pilot in a modified P-51 trainer (the fighters were single-seaters).
A few days later, I had spoken to Susan Orr at the Lonestar Flight Museum and arranged for my father to fly in the P-51 Galveston Gal on August 18, 2012. I drove down there this morning and watched him, having just driven back. Every kid wants to do something that puts the smile on the face of their dad that I saw on his face today. He called my wife on the way home (they live near Huntsville, TX) and told her that he wanted me to know that he hadn't had that much fun in his entire adult life, and that he fought back tears on the whole flight because he felt in so many ways that he was finally complete. It was only 30 minutes in the air, but the sheer joy it gave him will stay with me for the rest of my life.
And now, of course my wife (who was turning a dozen shades of green from her envy) has TOLD me that I am to do the same for her as a Christmas present.
By the way...I've heard all kinds of sounds in my life, including a jet doing a fly-by at Mach 1, being in a group of about 30 horsemen riding at full gallop (talk about thunder), a Ma Deuce, in my hands, on a full belt, the echo of a Barrett M82 of the walls of a canyon, the sound of an M1 Abrams firing The Gun, Metallica before they went ***** (apologies, ladies), even a touchdown in Baton Rouge on a Saturday night that won the game late...and there is no sweeter, no purer, no finer sound on the earth than a P-51 rolling into an attack run. I watched the pilot do that today and "strafe" the landing strip, with my dad in the cockpit right behind him. I'm still smiling.
Things like this are what make life worth living.
As a child, my father and I would build the plastic model planes that I'm sure many of us remember: Mustangs, Warhawks, Hurricanes, Spitfires, Corsairs, Mitchells, Lightnings, B-17's, etc., etc. I had a bedroom ceiling full of those models, every one of them painted and decal'ed just like the ones in the pictures and calendars My dad had all over the adobe walls of our well house (we didn't have a garage, thus no garage walls). Outside of riding my horse, there was nothing I looked forward to more than my dad bringing home another model for us to work on together.
We'd spend weeks on them, getting them just right. Part of it was the love of building things with our hands, part of it was the love of the too-short era of flight that was spotlighted by WWII, and part of it was the romanticism of that war that we had yet to see under the unkind light of a more harsh reality in films like Saving Private Ryan (which, from this former Marine's perspective, is unfortunately accurate in its portrayal of what combat can do to a human mind). My dad was an ordnance officer in the Army during Vietnam, unable to be a pilot because of his eyes. My curse was the same, which prevented me from following my childhood hero Maverick from Top Gun into an F-18 (He was my hero, but I already knew I wanted to be a Marine Aviator, not a Navy pilot). I never did lose my love of flight, and married a pilot (don't think her ability to fly a turbo-prop didn't play a part in that courtship). My dad was the same, and I remember how much he enjoyed hearing me tell him about the times a very good friend of mine would take me up in an F-14 at NAS NOLA...the supersonic runs he would make right over the deck, the super-tight barrel-rolls, immelmans, full loops, the feeling of your spine being pulled through the back of the seat when he would open the afterburners....I could tell he wanted that, but I couldn't give it to him. Even so, his dream was always to fly what he called the greatest warbird mankind ever created, the P-51. That time meant more to him than the jets of today, and I could understand why.
He would take us to airshows out at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, and at the time we were 40 or so years removed from the end of WWII. Those old planes were huge draws. I would climb up in the B-17's, smelling the hydraulic fluid, the fuel, the age in the leather seat covers...it was heaven to me, and to him. He never was happier than when we were working the cattle, building the models or watching the air shows. It's been more than two decades since I'd been to an air show, so I thought about finding one and bringing him to it. I started digging...and noticed there were some shows at which they actually allowed some people to fly in the planes themselves, particularly the B-17 housed down in Houston. I got the idea of looking into getting us all (myself, my wife and my parents) a seat on such a ride. Then, about a week later, I thought that surely, some enterprising individual had come up with the same idea for other planes--such as the fighters that were so glorified and romanticized. I started looking for a place that allowed people to fly with a pilot in a modified P-51 trainer (the fighters were single-seaters).
A few days later, I had spoken to Susan Orr at the Lonestar Flight Museum and arranged for my father to fly in the P-51 Galveston Gal on August 18, 2012. I drove down there this morning and watched him, having just driven back. Every kid wants to do something that puts the smile on the face of their dad that I saw on his face today. He called my wife on the way home (they live near Huntsville, TX) and told her that he wanted me to know that he hadn't had that much fun in his entire adult life, and that he fought back tears on the whole flight because he felt in so many ways that he was finally complete. It was only 30 minutes in the air, but the sheer joy it gave him will stay with me for the rest of my life.
And now, of course my wife (who was turning a dozen shades of green from her envy) has TOLD me that I am to do the same for her as a Christmas present.
By the way...I've heard all kinds of sounds in my life, including a jet doing a fly-by at Mach 1, being in a group of about 30 horsemen riding at full gallop (talk about thunder), a Ma Deuce, in my hands, on a full belt, the echo of a Barrett M82 of the walls of a canyon, the sound of an M1 Abrams firing The Gun, Metallica before they went ***** (apologies, ladies), even a touchdown in Baton Rouge on a Saturday night that won the game late...and there is no sweeter, no purer, no finer sound on the earth than a P-51 rolling into an attack run. I watched the pilot do that today and "strafe" the landing strip, with my dad in the cockpit right behind him. I'm still smiling.
8/19/12, 12:12 AM
#2
Legacy TMS Member
I don't care where this lands in this place, this is an awesome story. Thank you very much, from one aviation nut to another, for sharing that! You done a good thing. And your wife is right, you ARE going to get that done for her, yes? 
/also green here. Want.
//I did get to sit in the pilot seat of a 727-200 back when. That was a huge thrill for me, as that was, and still is, my favorite airplane ever. Such a classic, and beautiful. Not sure it compares to that, but one of my highlights.
///Oh, and the Goodyear Airship Columbia. That was a special fun event. So SLOW though...
////P-51. Cadillac of the sky!
/also green here. Want.
//I did get to sit in the pilot seat of a 727-200 back when. That was a huge thrill for me, as that was, and still is, my favorite airplane ever. Such a classic, and beautiful. Not sure it compares to that, but one of my highlights.
///Oh, and the Goodyear Airship Columbia. That was a special fun event. So SLOW though...
////P-51. Cadillac of the sky!
Last edited by houtex; 8/19/12 at 12:14 AM.
8/19/12, 09:10 AM
#3
I cannot believe this thread. I've got tears in my eyes man. It sounds like your father and my father are the same person.
My father and I used to build the exact same
models. And I too had a ceiling full of them. All correctly painted inside and out. Of course work kept him busy and I did most of them myself but he also gave me my fascination of war planes. His favorite was the P-38. With the P-51 a very close second.
And my father also took me to every was movie made while I was a child. Didn't matter of I was 5 or 12 we saw them all together.
I remember the scene of the P-51 from Saving Private Ryan. I also remember when Spielberg used it similarly in Empire of the Sun. Such a beautiful bird. I've heard them fly at air shows. The greatest plane ever made.
You are truly an awesome son.
My father and I used to build the exact same
models. And I too had a ceiling full of them. All correctly painted inside and out. Of course work kept him busy and I did most of them myself but he also gave me my fascination of war planes. His favorite was the P-38. With the P-51 a very close second.
And my father also took me to every was movie made while I was a child. Didn't matter of I was 5 or 12 we saw them all together.
I remember the scene of the P-51 from Saving Private Ryan. I also remember when Spielberg used it similarly in Empire of the Sun. Such a beautiful bird. I've heard them fly at air shows. The greatest plane ever made.
You are truly an awesome son.
8/19/12, 01:47 PM
#6
Shelby GT500 Member
Thread Starter
Thanks, guys. I am just glad to have been a part of it. It was awesome to watch.
Houtex, yes, I am getting her a flight on the Galveston Gal for Christmas. It will actually be during the Spring of '13, but she can wait a little bit. I think she'd divorce me if I didn't. heheh. I'm hoping at some point before I'm 50 to get my pilot's license myself and actually start flying on my own. That's the one thing I have to do before I leave this earth.
Thanks, Gary. When he took off, I started tearing up too. I could just imagine how my dad felt roaring down the runway, and it made me feel like I'd done a good thing for him. He called me again today and told me he was still smiling about it. I asked him if he still wants to ride in my Shelby when it gets here, and he said yes, but he hopes I understand if it's not quite as awe-inspiring anymore. I laughed.
In all honesty, I liked the Red Tail tribute mustang that had been done earlier this Summer, but it gives me even more admiration for the car and the efforts made to create it after yesterday.
Cadillac of the skies, indeed.
Houtex, yes, I am getting her a flight on the Galveston Gal for Christmas. It will actually be during the Spring of '13, but she can wait a little bit.
I think she'd divorce me if I didn't. heheh. I'm hoping at some point before I'm 50 to get my pilot's license myself and actually start flying on my own. That's the one thing I have to do before I leave this earth.
I cannot believe this thread. I've got tears in my eyes man. It sounds like your father and my father are the same person.
My father and I used to build the exact same
models. And I too had a ceiling full of them. All correctly painted inside and out. Of course work kept him busy and I did most of them myself but he also gave me my fascination of war planes. His favorite was the P-38. With the P-51 a very close second.
And my father also took me to every was movie made while I was a child. Didn't matter of I was 5 or 12 we saw them all together.
I remember the scene of the P-51 from Saving Private Ryan. I also remember when Spielberg used it similarly in Empire of the Sun. Such a beautiful bird. I've heard them fly at air shows. The greatest plane ever made.
You are truly an awesome son.
My father and I used to build the exact same
models. And I too had a ceiling full of them. All correctly painted inside and out. Of course work kept him busy and I did most of them myself but he also gave me my fascination of war planes. His favorite was the P-38. With the P-51 a very close second.
And my father also took me to every was movie made while I was a child. Didn't matter of I was 5 or 12 we saw them all together.
I remember the scene of the P-51 from Saving Private Ryan. I also remember when Spielberg used it similarly in Empire of the Sun. Such a beautiful bird. I've heard them fly at air shows. The greatest plane ever made.
You are truly an awesome son.
In all honesty, I liked the Red Tail tribute mustang that had been done earlier this Summer, but it gives me even more admiration for the car and the efforts made to create it after yesterday.
Cadillac of the skies, indeed.
Last edited by kcoTiger; 8/19/12 at 01:49 PM.
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