An early Father's Day gift!

[Barry]

I was in the aircraft biz for 15 years. From the fall of 87 thru the summer of 89, I bought over 100 aircraft in So. Cal. I would stay in the Howard Johnson on PCH across from the Torrance airport. There was an old man that would hang around the airport named Ray something. He was almost 80 at the time. He was one of the test pilots that worked with Hoover for a long time. The stories that guy would tell. I laughed till I would cry. This old gentleman ferried a number of aircraft back to Texas for me. I could call him day or night and he was ready to gooooo! I wonder if he is still alive... .....

 

[Jumbo Jet]

I was over at a 78 year old friends house the other day and he showed me his new "toy".

Had Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator and a Wingman joy stick.

If your dad loves vintage airplanes, he may enjoy flight/combat simulation too - when he's not checking out the TDR.

 

[jperreault]

Thanks Rob for the tower visit offer. I’m sure that would be a fascinating tour and I hope
we can meet up someday and do that. The advances in aviation are always an interest to
me and I now enjoy its history. Glad too that Papa Joe enjoys the subject.

Two fascinating books tell a lot of aviation history, “Mustang designer” and “Forever
Flying. ” The Mustang Designer is the story of Edgar Schmued, who was a primary
designer of the Mustang. He emigrated from Germany to Brazil in 1930 and landed a job
with General Motors there as an auto mechanic, working his way up to heading field
service units. GM was impressed with his work and suggested he go to the U. S. GM
bought the controlling interest of Fokker Aircraft when the depression forced the
consolidation of Fokker, Berliner Joyce, Eastern Airlines and others to form a new firm
called General Aviation. Disaster hit the new firm when Knute Rockne was killed in a
Fokker plane crash in 1931. Edgar’s fellow workers seemed to be mostly Dutch and
German immigrants, which made him at ease with technical projects, but he still studied
English at night school. So he started on the ground floor at GA and became a project
engineer on new designs. In 1935, GA became North American Aviation and new
leaders were hired... James “Dutch” Kindleberger (former vice-president & chief engineer
of Douglas Aircraft) as president, and J. Leland “Lee” Atwood as chief engineer. The
company worked long and hard on a new bid for trainer for the Army Air Corps. Federal
law forbid working over 40 hours a week, so the men would come in on weekends, throw
a “beer party” and keep working without pay. This resulted in winning a contract for the
early AT-6 Texan. That’s when NAA decided to move to California. The men were told
their jobs were there for them... . they just had to get there by rail or otherwise. Most of
them made it and the company did well from then on.

I’ll relate more of this story later on. John