So early in my career right out of college I took care of a man who started talking about flying instead of letting me completely listen to his lungs. He had the best stories and this was the one I will never forget. If I ever write a book of the stuff I have seen or heard, this is one of my highlights.
So Jim tells that as a teen in the late 30s his dad was an Air Mail pilot and he frequently would go along and learned how to fly from his dad. He said by the time he entered College in Sept of 1941 he was licensed and had a few hundred hours.
He was going to school in Michigan at an all boys college and a ways up the road an all girls school hosted a winter formal the week before finals. They had opened some common areas so the visiting gentleman could bring bedrolls and stay over as many had travelled a good ways. The next AM was December the 7th and he was hanging around with the rest of the guys in the gymnasium getting ready to head home to prep for finals when someone put the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor on the loudspeaker in the gym.
The next AM he skipped his first college final to walk into the Air Corp recruiting office and dropped his pilot license of the table and said "Where do you want me?"
Day one of flight school the instructor took him up and asked him to show him what he knew. According to his story, he had 3-4 times the flight time of the instructor and lots of it was "free time" to mess around and not in accordance with a lot of rules. So he took over, did a couple barrel rolls, a loop, and then a dive. The instructor puked in flight, signed him off, and told him to get out of there. He was sent to the Pacific and spent a lot of his time flying people and documents for the OSS.
He continued a career in aviation after leaving the military after the war until retirement.
He said in the late 80s he was transporting a stunt plane to it's new buyer in Vegas when he noticed a plan coming somewhat close and not making radio contact, so he disappeared behind a cloud and came in right over the other plane and and flipped the other pilot off. Problem was, though the guy was just curious looking at the stunt plane and should have made contact, he was an FAA inspector and had his license revoked.
I have heard a lot of stories from these old timers and this is always a favorite.
So Jim tells that as a teen in the late 30s his dad was an Air Mail pilot and he frequently would go along and learned how to fly from his dad. He said by the time he entered College in Sept of 1941 he was licensed and had a few hundred hours.
He was going to school in Michigan at an all boys college and a ways up the road an all girls school hosted a winter formal the week before finals. They had opened some common areas so the visiting gentleman could bring bedrolls and stay over as many had travelled a good ways. The next AM was December the 7th and he was hanging around with the rest of the guys in the gymnasium getting ready to head home to prep for finals when someone put the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor on the loudspeaker in the gym.
The next AM he skipped his first college final to walk into the Air Corp recruiting office and dropped his pilot license of the table and said "Where do you want me?"
Day one of flight school the instructor took him up and asked him to show him what he knew. According to his story, he had 3-4 times the flight time of the instructor and lots of it was "free time" to mess around and not in accordance with a lot of rules. So he took over, did a couple barrel rolls, a loop, and then a dive. The instructor puked in flight, signed him off, and told him to get out of there. He was sent to the Pacific and spent a lot of his time flying people and documents for the OSS.
He continued a career in aviation after leaving the military after the war until retirement.
He said in the late 80s he was transporting a stunt plane to it's new buyer in Vegas when he noticed a plan coming somewhat close and not making radio contact, so he disappeared behind a cloud and came in right over the other plane and and flipped the other pilot off. Problem was, though the guy was just curious looking at the stunt plane and should have made contact, he was an FAA inspector and had his license revoked.
I have heard a lot of stories from these old timers and this is always a favorite.
