Time travel (Ford Trimotor style)

[wby0nder]

My mom was born in 1927, the year Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic to Paris. In 1938 she took her first airplane ride in a Ford Trimotor at Ft Dodge Iowa. She was accompanied by her big brother Jim and the cost was $5 per person. She still has her ticket stub (see photo)


Today, mom, Nancy, went up in a restored 1929 Ford Trimotor 71 years after her first ride. This time I accompanied her (as a passenger though I did get 10 minutes on the controls years ago). Her brother Jim passed away 10 years or so ago. During WWII he became a Navy pilot and flew anti-sub patrols as a Blimp Captain....

At first she was reluctant but after having a look in the cabin she said, "if Jimmy was here he'd tell me to go up with Matt".

We had a BLAST!

Time travel at it's finest.

 

[tonycondon]

lol in picture 2 nancy looks either terrified or incredibly happy.

 

[Everskyward]

Very cool. I've taken a ride in the same airplane.

 

[Tristar]

I love her expression! Tell her its not too late to get her pilot's certificate.

 

[rottydaddy]

That's great!! Something tells me that Jimmy was there, in a way... I get a kick out of these "time machines" (I've also flown the Tin Goose), but it's even better when you get to share it with someone who knew these ships when they were new.
Like the time I found myself in the front hole of a D-25 at Old Rhinebeck once with an old man who hadn't been up in a light single since his first D-25 ride in 1929... he turned into a little kid again, right before my eyes. Or when I flew aboard a B-17 with a guy who came home from Europe after WWII in a C-47.... different plane of course, but it took him back, too, and most of the memories seemed like good ones (except that he told me his transatlantic C-47 flight was "very cold", LOL).
There's something magical about the effect of these rides on such people, and it rubs off on you.