And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Probably more P38's in this picture than exist in the entire world today
Why didn't they save them after the war? Why do we have such a huge military aircraft boneyard in the Arizona desert - when they would make such marvelous toys -- that we've already paid for?
I've wondered over the years, how did a young man who flew these or other fighters just give it up at the end of the war, shove his hands into his pockets and wander off, never to fly again.
I took the trouble to learn to fly. Unless one is flying 200 feet over the beach at Cape May or Wildwood, the boring dominates. It remains the fastest way to get there from here.
Years ago I befriended a man who had flown fighters in the Pacific. He loved flying the P-38, he commented that they had boosted controls, (power steering as it were) and were a joy to fly. At one point they transitioned to P-51's. His CO told him to get anything he wanted out of his P38. Shortly thereafter they bulldozed the 38s into a pile in the jungle and burned them. He didn't like flying the Mustang much. He ended the war with about 750hrs as a squadron leader. He flew an AT-6 once after the war and never flew again.
Why didn't they save them after the war? Why do we have such a huge military aircraft boneyard in the Arizona desert - when they would make such marvelous toys -- that we've already paid for?
ReplyDeleteI've wondered over the years, how did a young man who flew these or other fighters just give it up at the end of the war, shove his hands into his pockets and wander off, never to fly again.
ReplyDeleteCivilian aviation got a big boost from guys like that after the war ended. Many didn't give it up.
DeleteI took the trouble to learn to fly. Unless one is flying 200 feet over the beach at Cape May or Wildwood, the boring dominates. It remains the fastest way to get there from here.
DeleteYears ago I befriended a man who had flown fighters in the Pacific. He loved flying the P-38, he commented that they had boosted controls, (power steering as it were) and were a joy to fly. At one point they transitioned to P-51's. His CO told him to get anything he wanted out of his P38. Shortly thereafter they bulldozed the 38s into a pile in the jungle and burned them. He didn't like flying the Mustang much. He ended the war with about 750hrs as a squadron leader. He flew an AT-6 once after the war and never flew again.
ReplyDelete