Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:



It's the old guys like us who HAVE the stories....simply because
we've
survived most of them :-))
Actaully, I could dine out for a week on the storis I had by the
time
I
was 22. I was a very poor listener.
Sometimes when I actually have the time to sit down and reflect on
some
of the absolutely wild crap I've gotten into and out of in my
career
it
scares the hell out of me :-))

I figure it's mostly been a dream.

Take my "famous"... (with the family at least) story about the day
I took the horns off a cow with a P51. Now THERE'S a story!!

This story is so good that every year at Thanksgiving when I
forget everybody in the house has heard it a thousand times and
trot it out
for
the whole table it's met with shouts of enthusiasm and excitement
as they anxiously await every word of it.
"Oh NO!! Not AGAIN!!!!"
"Jeeze,,Holy Cow Hon....not the damn COW story again!!"

Yup!!!....they can't WAIT to hear the cow story!
I have one with hornets...Since it ends up with me being stung and
covered in **** everone enjoys it.


Bertie

These self deprecating stories do seem to be the best received
stories.
It's funny about "stories". Take the one I've posted here about the
cow.
I kid with this one a great deal and have had some fun with it over
the
years, but there's another side to this story.

I've used it as well in safety seminars where I've been asked to
speak with war bird pilots on flight safety issues. Of course in
that venue the more serious side of the same story is emphasized and
all the self deprecation crap is put aside.
When talking to war bird pilots, the cow becomes incidental to the
fact
that the lead in a two ship formation loop has to be velvet smooth,
leave the trailer a few extra inches of manifold pressure and
positive
g
to fool with to use in maintaining position, and most of all, go
through
the high gate position on speed, on altitude, and correctly in the
float.
Stories from us "older folk" have their place in aviation. The same
story can be funny for a forum or it can be a much needed reminder
that
has the potential to save lives.
But.....I digress.........aging by the minute........remembering old
stories :-))


Well, I love them. I have a fw (that pale in comparison to most of
your's) and like telling em. But tghere's nothng like hearing a real
ripper.
I got to talk to a Flying Tiger once. Carl Spaatz's nephew, in fact.
I can't remember his name, bt he told me stories for hours and hours.
Also met a Lancaster pilot that went down in Belgium during the war
and ws missing most of the finger on his left hand as a result. A
Sopwiht Camel driver who came up to my flightdeck, An ex RAF test
pilot who reagled me with tales of flying everything from the Hampden
to the Hornet, a WASP, I worked for a Korean war ace (who is still
alive and will almost certainly humt me down for taking his name in
vain) also worked for a WW2 pilot who flew an A-20 in combat in the
Pacific (he didn't say much abvout it) a CG-4 instructor a B-50 pilot
and I once met Matty Laird though he didn;t tell me any stories, nor
did Dick Rutan or Eric hartman, but I like to imagine my life is
richer for just getting to shake their hand and say "hi". the best of
all must have been Phil Cochran who probably would have told me
anything I wanted to know, but I was only very young and too shy to
ask!

As you probably know, Tony Levier hung around RAH, but died before I
got to ask him anything. I'd have loved to ask him what it was like
to fly in the Greeves or Thompson, but he's flying around somewhere
else now..



Sorry for the ramble! guess the point is, treasure them while they're
here!

Bertie
You're right. Talking with men like these was where I learned my
history. Many are gone now and we;re losing more every day.
I don't know how many hours I spent on the phone with the many friends
I have known from this era.

Aside from hashing about Chennault and the AVG with Scotty and
fighting the air war with a few more close pilot friends from the old
days, I think I appreciated my friendship with Douglas Bader the most.
Strangely enough it wasn't his ability and record as a pilot I
respected the most, but his constant work with paralyzed people,
especially children that I liked and respected him for the most.
What a wonderful person he was. I really miss kidding him about the
endless comparisons I made with the Mustang and his Hurricane and
Spit. Talk about trolling!!!! But it was all in fun, and I miss
Douglas very much. He was a fine gentlemen and a real friend.



K'm speechless.

Bertie

Impossible! I have faith :-)

--
Dudley Henriques