Memories

[Jack C]

I don't feel all that old. At least not old enough to quit. But my heart tells my doctors otherwise. It's genetic, the same thing that took my father about 20 years ago.

My mentor and role model.

When I was in grade school he flew the mail in a Twin Beech, and flying relief supplies, he took me to see the devistation that Ceilia delivered to Corpus Christi in "70.

Later, when he flew auto parts, I was a frequent visitor to the Universal dispatch offices at Willow Run where a bijillion B-24s were built. He followed Gene Zantop to Fairbanks, flying DC-3s and C-46s, before taking my favorite of his jobs.

Mom was less than impressed, but we lived in a WW2 USAAF barracks that had been converted into apartments. Dad flew C-46s loaded with 55 gallon barrels to gravel strips and frozen lakes in the Alaskan interior, from the rail head at Nenana, for John Coghill.

After flying the C-46 as an unofficial third pilot, getting certified in the Cessna 150 and Apache after we moved to Florida was a non-event.

Dad was working for Jean Rich, and after a bit of flying the WSJ and Herald to Nassau in the Apache, I went to work for Harold Bellomy and Charles Lawson flying right seat in a, wait for it, a C-46 (with Dutch lettering). But this time I got paid.

Anyway, that's good for now. What a wonderful trip it has been.

 

[Hengelo]

Sometimes winning looks like being able to walk away and still tell a good story.

 

[geezer]

Congratulations on a great life experience, and a father to go with it...

You must be close to my age. Somehow, you are not on my "Old Pilots On POA " list. My birth year was1934.
Last PIC time 1 1/2 years ago, never failed a medical, just quit getting them, hearing too bad.

At 21, I was working with a guy that flew the HUMP in first a C 47, then a C 46. He flew the trans Pacific ferry flights for both of those planes.

Another was the weather man and radio man at the Chinese end of the hump flights

A paratrooper who jumped on D day, before the sun rose.

Those 3 talked freely of their adventures, but remembered those that were there with them, and fell in the line of duty.

Others also served, and did not care to remember...

I envy your trip through life with your father, and later, but would not swap. Mine has been good too. I miss flying, but getting olld has its price to pay. I walk an average of more than a mile a day to help keep in shape, and hit the gym an averager of weekly.

Take care of your health, and keep living until death comes. You last longer if you stay active. It is much more fun if you are busy doing the safe limit of your physical abilities. 2 years and 2 months ago, I quit riding my bike. First time I could not pull the hill to my house. Always quit at the right time, not after an injury.


edited to add, I just did the math from both posts, you were born about when I was drafted into the army, so much younger than I. You have outlived my Dad by about 29 years...

Congratulations for a relatively long life, and time with a great father.