Barnstorming - Movie on PBS

I'll look for it. Thanks Eric.

Greg, they'll probably run it multiple times.
 
Yeah, looked like so much fun I wanted to go back an get a Talorcraft or Luscome instead of the Jabiru. One of the pilots cut an electrical feed on the way in. No damage and the REA coop fixed it. Ribbon (toilet paper) cutting, balloon busting, flour bombing...great fun. I watched balloon busting once at a Stearman fly in in KS. Amazing they ever hit them. Winner hit something like 12 before he missed.
 
I saw the movie "Barnstorming" on PBS and think it is the best description of why we fly old airplanes. My wife and I, along with the help of many great friends, spent over three years in restoring a PT-18 Stearman Kaydet. Restoring it was a work of love but sharing it with others, especially thos guys who learned to fly in them during WWII, was the greatest part of flying and owning it. We went to as many Military airshows as we could and invited those who had flown them in the service to climb in and enjoy the view. You can't believe the reactions we saw---sometimes tears, other times silence and joy but always there was a feeling of remembering the sound of the round and the feel of the control stick. I served in Navy Air during Korean time as a plane captain on SNB's and SNJ's then on F7U-3 Cutlasses. It was a very good time in my life flying right seat in an SNB or the back seat in an SNJ of watching my Cutlass launch off the catapult on the USS Hancock but none compared with cranking up the engine of the Stearman, taxiing to the runway to start a trip to NAS Miramar or Point Magu to have a chance to see the Old Guys sit in the cockpit and drift off into the past. At the same time we had a Forty Ford we had restored and drove to the airshows to display with the PT so when I saw the Model A's on the line with the old planes it made the picture complete for us and those who stood and stared at the duo. The movie Barnstormers is fantastic and a must see for those who fly and restore old planes and those who admire the work done by the pilots and restorers. I must admit, there were tears in my eyes when I saw the little kids bouncing around the field, watching history coming alive in front of them. The first time I took my grandson up for a hop in the PT I don't know who was more excited, him or me. He had never flown befor so when we went over the river and the open farm land it gave him a view he could never get any way else. Now he is telling me he wants to restore an old plane so he can share more of the beauty of our land. My hats off to those who spent the time to produce the movie because you gave me a gift I'll cherish to the day I leave earth for the last time.
 
Great 1st post.

Thank you for sharing. My first flights were with my Dad flying off a pasture behind our house in fabric covered taildraggers. Flight in a vintage aircraft is something every kid should have the opportunity to experience, imho.
 
Yeah, I'll definitely be watching for it to reappear, too. Thanks for the heads up.
 
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