Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: andrewg
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: andrewg
I live in an area with all kinds of aircraft. Military (JBLM), airliners (Seattle Tacoma Intl.) civil (hundreds of little airports) and manufacturing/assembly (Boeing). Not a minute passes were an aircraft of some type is either heard or seen.
Do kids look up any more and wonder? No, not around here at least. They are FAR more involved with a gizmo (smart phone stuff) than to bother looking up. That doesn't mean they don't, but I don't notice it happening. It also has something to do with the fact that airplanes are as common as cars here. I will say that folks, including kids sometimes, will look up when we occasionally hear a fighter aircraft above. The noise is recognizable due to the fact that we have the Blue Angels visit every year and just about everybody recognizes a fighter aircrafts engines.
Now if you go to a local airshow...all kinds of kids seem very interested. Maybe not as much as decades ago, but you can still see kids getting into airplanes. Maybe even more so with space related items.
We have a well known flying aircraft museum called the Flying Heritage Collection. Many extremely interesting WW2 aircraft in actual flying condition. P-40, Zero, FW-190, BF-109, etc. Occasionally, especially around the city, you'll see these aircraft flying overhead. I always instantly recognize them by sound before I look up. Most people pay zero attention to them and haven't a clue what is in the sky...kids included.
Oh well, times are different and it takes a lot more to interest kids these days. If it doesn't fit onto the screen of an iPhone...they don't care so much.
To me, WWII aircraft are the most interesting...not only because it's cool to watch them operate, but because of all of the heritage behind them...there's nothing like watching an old warbird from the 1940s fire up and fly around the skies...I wish we had more of these aircraft around me, I could sit and watch them all day, every day and never get sick of them...didn't the Flying Heritage Collection used to be called the Confederate Air Force?
No...a different group entirely. Here is a link to the organization. They have a tab you can click on that tells the story of them and how they started.
http://flyingheritage.com/default.aspx
I also LOVE old WW2 fighter aircraft. They almost bring tears to my eyes when I see them fly past. I think about all the men that flew into combat over Japan and Germany...the courage...the lives lost...and then what we have become today.
When I was a kid growing up I took for granted these warbirds would be around forever. They were so plentiful back then. Now they are so rare, just to be able to see them still flying is a miracle. I can't imagine how much it costs now days to keep these plane flying. Parts have become so rare, some have to resort to having the parts made. Not only that, but insurance premiums on these things have to astronomical.
There was a pilot who kept his P-51 Mustang at the Lewis University Airport. He had a "Chek" sounding name...his 1st name was Vlad, but I can't remember his last. I saw him doing a preflight on his Mustang one day so I approached him. He was very friendly and I noticed his Mustang was a 2 seater. I asked if he ever took passengers with him when he flies, and he offered to take me with him sometime. I gave him my number and he actually called me a few days later to say he was taking the P-51 up and asked if I wanted to go. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of something at work I couldn't walk away from or I would've been there in a heartbeat! Never heard from him after that, and now it's been 2 years since I've even seen him flying around here. I think he keeps his plane somewhere else now. I may have missed my one and only opportunity to ride in one of the most legendary fighter planes of all time! It's still on my bucket list though...
Great story....but yes, a missed opportunity for sure! You can always pay big money at airshows to ride in one. At least around year you can. It's very expensive...but if that is what thrills a person they should really save up the cash and give it a go before these planes will only be available in museums.
