Subject: Best Fighter For It's Time
From: "ArVa"
Date: 7/24/03 12:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:


"Ed Rasimus" a écrit dans le message de
.. .
"ArVa" wrote:


But since the guy was about to retire and the Mirage was his last plane,
maybe he was a little bit biased. I guess (fighter) pilots have a natural
tendency to cherish their last bird more than the ones they have
previously
flown, don't they?

Regards,
ArVa


Well, for most of us, it's the first fighter, not the last that holds
the special place. Here's what no less a personage than Ernest
Hemingway had to say about love of fighters:

"You love a lot of things if you live around them, but there isn't any
woman and there isn't any horse, nor any before nor any after, that is
as lovely as a great airplane, and men who love them are faithful to
them even though they leave them for others. A man has only one
virginity to lose in fighters, and if it is a lovely plane he loses it
to, there his heart will ever be."

- Ernest Hemingway, August 1944.

Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (ret)
***"When Thunder Rolled:
*** An F-105 Pilot Over N. Vietnam"
*** from Smithsonian Books
ISBN: 1588341038


I first thought that the plane you are about to fly for the *last* time was
the most important, as a career's achievement and the last opportunity to be
part of a rather special community. But reading your answer and Ernest
Hemingway's statement I guess both of you are right. I didn't pay attention
enough to the emotional factor.
As for me, I never had nor will have the opportunity to fly a fighter and I
don't own a horse so it just leaves me with the women (which is not so bad),
but if I do remember the first one, the last in date is the one I prefer...
:-)

Regards,
ArVa



To me it is the B-26 Martin Marauder. One in particular, " Willie the Wolf,
King Nine Jig. He had a stout heart of steel.
Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer