View Single Post
  #38  
Old February 11th 04, 02:04 PM
Vicente Vazquez
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message thlink.net...
It's wonderful to see these airplanes in the air of course, but as they get
down to the nitty gritty of the last ones in the world, the desire to see
them in flight weighs more heavily on those entrusted with their care and
safe keeping.
I flew my Mustang, but I would respect another pilots decision not to fly
their warbird. It's a tough call!! :-)
Dudley


Sure it is... :-)

But you can guess the frustration when that kind of decision is not up
to the pilot. An AF vet, Brig. Gen. Magalhães Motta, worked hard for
nine years
on that restoration... and when everything was ready, with the plane
on the
ramp, engine ready to start, he got an urgent telegram from the AF
High
Command saying "Nope! You cant' fly it!". Must have been a very tough
blow
for an old P-47 pilot who was about to revive old memories...

I remember when I first saw a Spitfire in flight here in Brazil, with
the
"Battle Of Britain" theme playing on the background, during the
cerimony
when it was delivered to a museum. While I watched it in flight, names
of
people and places like Biggin Hill, Hornchurch, Sailor Malan and
Douglas
Bader came through my head. All those black and white still images I
saw in
books suddenly turned into a colored motion picture, with that
wonderful
soundtrack provided by the Merlin engine. And then I learned that
reading
about aviation history is one thing: seeing it in flight right before
your
eyes is something completely different. You can call me "excessively
emotional" or whatever the word in English is, but man... I had to
wipe
some tears... :-)

And every time I look at that P-47 I regret not being able to see that
piece
of our history crossing our skies again, carrying the same colors that
were
seen over Italy 60 years ago, with that same "Ostrich" we are so proud
of,
painted on it's fuselage.

Maybe one day... Who knows? :-)