In my many years as a shooter and collector I have found that a graet number of my fellow shooters have a background in aviation. Just for kicks how many of you folks either fly, flew, maintained or just drooled over aircraft.
I am a past Army aviation, Flight Engineer, A&P mechanic and Airline professional. How about you?

I've gone to school to me a mechanic but never took it all the way. One of the things that I am kicking myself on.

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Don't look, reload and shoot!

SEL, MEL, Com, I, A&P, Airline, Gen Aviation. Loved every minute of it, would be doing it today if I had the money or if EVERY company I ever worked for hadn't gone out of business.

Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class.. ( Jet Mech GE T-58 )

Helicopters, USN 1966 to 1970..

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

When I was a boy growing up in the 50s and early 60s some of my main heroes were the crop-dusters who flew the Stearman, Cubs, Super Cubs, and later, the Pawnee dusters. I grew up within sight of about a thousand acres of cotton fields on 12 or 15 different farms, so for about two months every summer, seeing them was a daily occurrence. It was a thrill to me for them to wave at me, and every now and then, one particular pilot would throttle back his 100 hp Lycoming on his J-3 Cub and holler something out the window at me from about 100 feet up. I wanted to be a crop-duster just slightly less than I wanted to be a professional baseball player.

Later, in my early twenties, I briefly owned a couple of airplanes; a 1948 vintage Aeronca Chief, then a 1957 Super Cub Trainer. I guess I sort of got soured on it when a couple of acquaintances spun in from 200 feet in an Aeronca and were killed. I happened to be at the airport when they took off on the flight that proved fatal.

I still am an aviation enthusiast, I guess you could call it. Used to go to a lot of air shows, but not any more. Too old to fight the crowds.

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Georgia On My Mind

Got my private pilot license in 1974. Flew Cessna's and Grumman's for years until I was priced out of general aviation. Wish I could fly today!

I'm a aviation fan. My dad had a 7AC Champ. parked out the back door and he took me weed-hopping many times. I soloed when I turned 16 but didn't get my license after a very good friend was killed in an a/c accident. Kinda took the wind out of my sails.

I was an Avionics tech in the Air Force.

I love aviation!

Hobie

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Laissez les bons temps roulez!

I started taking my instruction in Columbus, GA. I got about three hours in a 172, then moved to a small country airport in a nearby town. About two years after I started, my brother and I bought the Super Cub. It had a 100 hp Continental engine, and no wing flaps. It was designated as a PA-18 Trainer.

Anyhow, not long after I bought the Cub, a 172 landed at the local airport one day. A car met the passenger, an older lady. The pilot was hanging around the 172. I recognized him as the instructor I had in Columbus. He had brought the lady on a short charter hop, about 40 miles, from Columbus. I introduced myself, and told him I was a former student. He recognized me, then said, "let me show you something." What he had was a just issued ATR for DC-4 type aircraft. I was duly impressed. I showed him my Super Cub. He bragged on it, and I told him to take it around the pattern once or twice. He said no, his passenger might show up. I told him I would tell her he would be right back. He hemmed and hawed for a few minutes, then said, "To tell you the truth, I can't fly a tail-dragger." I was less impressed when he left than when I saw the ATR.

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Georgia On My Mind

Private pilot with a Cessna 182 until all my time went to running and maintaining a yacht.

(incidently...I grew up in Wisconsin very near the original site of EAA, was Paul Poberyzny's paperboy, and was in Sunday School with Jerry Meilhaf of Citabra. )

Private pilot and builder of a homebuilt experimental RV-4

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Memory of Randy Freas-Rimfired

Twenty five years Jet engine maintenance (what?) and 2 years major maintenance on 737s.

Worked C-141, C-133, F-4E, F-4D, RF-4C, B-57, C & AC-130, KC-135, B-52H, T-33, F-101, F-106, and the A-10 Warthog.

Bob

I've been a design engineer for an aerospace company since 1980 - originally Rockwell International, which was bought by Boeing and then split off as Spirit AeroSystems.

If you were involved in aviation for any length of time, funerals are a part of the experience. Something about the unforgiving nature of flight and physics. I had lunch with a Blue Angles pilot the day before he crashed at one air show. Tragedy hits both the fledglings and the experienced.

I really had the hots to build an RV-4 for several years, my checkbook finally won that fight.

Flying into the Oshkosh Show 4 years in a row and camping under the wing is my most cherished memory. The folks I met and heard talk at the "Theater In The WOODS" are today's movers and shakers of the aviation world.

600 KTS 10' off the water and having to pull up to avoid fishing boats is a ride to remember....................

Huey's, 58's and Chinooks. Airframe for the Army. I got to play with some other cool stuff too.

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Dum vivo cano

Commercial license with multi-engine and instrument ratings. Flew, still fly occasionally, a Navaho Chieftain for a construction company. Flown enough that the glitter wore off long ago; starting to get interested in boats which may be even worse than planes.
David

In high school I worked after school sacking groceries and in the summer I loaded Pepsi delivery trucks to pay for flying lessons and ground school. Got my FAA Private Pilots license my senior year in high school.

Still get to fly some fixed wing with the county rescue squad and even have around a hundred hours stick time in the sheriff's dept helicopter.

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- Change it back -

Retired Navy pilot here!

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GO NAVY!

I have my private license but have been inactive for a long time. I started out in the mid 60s. In the early days belonged to a club and we had a luscomb that I solo`ed in, a 150 and a 170. Dropped out for a few years and bought a piper PA-22. It was metalised. I cracked it up! Bought a citaberia GCBC that I still own but its being slooooowly rebuilt.
Someone mentioned Oshkosh, I was raised near there and attended shows way back.
I did 35 years as a lockheed guard 1965 to 2000. Started in burbank and ended up in palmdale for most of those years. Knew most of the test pilots, worked on every black program and practicly lived at the job for a average of 65 hours a week forever. Sometimes I escourted articles and babysat them in far away places. Worked around the YF-12, SR-71, F117, U-2, TR-2, P-3, L 10-11, Cheyanne helicopter, F-22 etc. Was there with the maiden flight of the F-22 etc.
I had nothing at all to do with the buiding of them, but was around and talked with everybody that did from the assemblers to the engineers and designers and the test pilots.
It seems that airplanes, motorcycles and guns draw the same people.

Aloha,

Private Pilot. Piper Cherokee 140. Original model.

Flying here in Hawaii can get $$$.

Wishing I won the PowerBall so I could afford to get a Martin Maurader

WWII bomber just for Fun.

Finished ground school, never had the cash to get the flight time in. I still love aircraft, attend a lot of air shows, have met a lot of stunt pilots, the Blue Angels, A10 demonstration teams, Thunderbirds, Tuskeegee Airmen, a few astronauts, test pilots, and spend a bunch of time at the Museum of Flight. And then there is my avatar.....best plane in the air!

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Even older, even crankier....

In 1971 the USN turned me into an Aviation Electricians Mate. In 1972 I became a crewman on the ship's C1A on the USS Forrestal. After that I went to shore duty in San Diego at NAS North Island working intermediate level maintenance on the S3A.

After that tour of shore duty I became a P3 Orion Flight Engineer for the next 12 years. For my last tour before retirement I went back to San Diego and did 3 years as a crewman onboard the C2As that delivered people,mail, and other stuff to the carriers off of Southern California. I was grounded medically for a shoulder injury right before PG1 so I finished out my tour and retired in 1992.

I haven't had much to do with aviation since then, not a lot of civilian flight engineers anymore.

bob

Ah, the memories...

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.:God Bless America:.

Only as a frequent passenger in my BIL's TH-55. Other passenger flights have included a Grob sailplane, a Pitts and a 140. The smaller the better!

I flew P-3's in the Navy and currently fly B-767's. A lot of my coworkers are hunters and gun collectors. Seems to be somewhat of a common interest of aviators.

Got my private license back in 1974. Haven't flown in 30 yrs so it would be like starting over for me. I have an unexplainable love for flying. Any and all forms. I love r/c aircraft, old aeroncas (C-3's etc) and have been to Oshkosh once. My dad flew back in USAAF (bt-13's, AT6's, Stearman's and ultimatly a bit of time in the P-51). He was the one that on my 16th birthday surprised me with lessons. For some reason every day I read the NTSB website on crashes and incidents. There are more than I ever realized. Back when I flew and rented the planes they were only $15 per hr (Cessna 150) and another $5 for the instructor. Those rates have gone up. I only flew for fun. Loved the uncontrolled airfields and grass strips. I still to this day darn near run off the road trying to watch the cropdusters while driving down the highway. I miss flying but have some wonderful memories.

Roger

In the early '70s I was partners with a friend in 2 Cubs and a Citabria.
I wish we would have stayed with the Cubbies - The Cit was an expensive toy that eventually priced me out of General Aviation.
In the '90s I was in the top 10% of miles on Northwest Airlines.

I would much rather drive - And do... Haven't been in an airplane since 2002.

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In dog years I'm dead.

Private, SEL, Instrument, currently fly '77 Mooney M20J, N201EL.

Spent 1970 with 13th Avn Btn, Soc Trang, RVN

I flew for years and owned an old 172. It just got to be too much of a hassle. I still miss it though.

Ed

26 years as an aerospace engineer performing wind tunnel tests for a major airframer. I'm also an aviation enthusiast, especially when it comes to military aircraft.

USAF Jet engine mechanic on B66, F84, T33, KB50J. Back in the early 60's.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

USS America CVA-66 Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class.This was my house for 4 years. 90 aircraft total. 1980-'84 The guns were bigger.

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RIP Shipmate

Former Navy Aviation Ordnanceman , and P-3 aircrewman. Currently working for a defense contractor in the avionics field. If I ever hit the lottery , my own plane is at the top of the list.

Son of a B-17 pilot in the 8th.

He turned 90 in November and is still barking orders.

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Professional Trainer

Aircraft mechanics in USAF 1956 to 1960. Multi engine airframe
mechanic.

I was a crewchief on the B-52. In 1971 I was sent to Phan Rang RVN to work on C-123s. When they stopped using 123s to spray chemicals I was sent to TSN to work on C-47s. In the 80's and 90's I worked all over Alaska and most of the villages I worked in were either fly in or go by boat. I made a lot of trips in the Grumman Goose, Beavers, Otters, Caravans and other aircraft. I don't know how to put a photograph on here but I have a picture of myself sitting on a Mig 17 near Phnom Penh Cambodia in November of 1971.

Started out training as a rotorywing Army Aviator in 1967. After the Army, went to school at Embry-Riddle. Got my degree and fixed wing ratings. Flying got put on the back burner for a number of years. Last ten years of my last job, I flew a lot. Ended up with 10,000+ hours of accident-free flying of small planes and helicopters.

This aircraft had been damaged when a bad guy tossed some exposives in the exhaust.

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Flew TH-55, TH-13T, UH-1A/B/C/D/H/V, OH-58A/C, UH-60A, U-8F, U-21A/F, C-12A/C/F, UC-35A. Instructor pilot in 4 helicopters and 4 Fixed Wing, Maintenance Test Pilot/Examiner in 4 FW. That was for the Army. S-76B, Lockheed JetStar II in the corporate world. ATP. Oh, and SEL too. It was good while it lasted (39 years). My Father was a pilot in WW II and retired from the AF the same year I joined the Army. My Son is an A-10C pilot (Cpt. P), so it's kind of a family thing.

Loaded bombs on F-5's in '66. Also flew doorgunner a time or two... does that count?

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A closed mouth gathers no foot

Retired AF Master Navigator. Trained in T-37B, T-43A; Instructor/Evaluator/Staff navigator in KC-135A/D/E/R/T, EC-135C, B-52H; Weapon System Officer in RF-4C. Also had plenty of rides in OH-58, UH-60, HH-60, and CH-47 while assigned as Air Liaison Officer.

Aviation Elect USCG. HH-3Fs were our birds. If you remenber the chopper off of Top Gun that was one of the ones I had worked on. SAR Aircrewman, Radio operator, Flight Mech, which for the CG back then required qualification to replace any part on the A/C, and QC. Got about a 1000 Hrs in the four years in San Diego (69-73) Five Sikorsky Winged S Awards, an Air Medal and Navy Helicopter Assoc Aircrew of the Year Award '73. Lots of fun, gradification in the work. Although I never got shot at like contemporities in S/E Asia I have had several severe pucker moments. Saying had always been you have to go out but you don't have too come back.
Spent last three years of my time in, farmed out to the Navy teaching at NATTC Millington.
Larry

Flying since 1964; learned in a C140. All general aviation. Comm, ASEL&S, Multi, Inst. Have owned alone or in p-ship C182, C206, Cessna T210R, NA SNJ-5 (two of 'em), NA T-28B. Flew one of the SNJs as one-half of a 2 ship aerobatic team (Pair O' Sixes) in the midwest late 70s early 80's. Just recently let my medical lapse; going to fly sport aviation now.
If I had spent, on guns, even a small percentage of the flying money I've spent I would have a world class collection!
To soon old, too late smart!

Just an SEL private pilot. I had a beautiful 1946 Aeronca Chief that was destroyed in a windstorm last July so my flying days are over.

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Rick, W0FG
CTR2 68-72

Army Air Traffic Controller for 7 years active duty and 25 years DOD civilian controller. Private Pilot SEL, Instrument, AA-5

Was in a flying club in 1964, soloed a 46 Luscombe 8A, then bought a 1940 Piper Cub coupe (J4) last flying done for Razorback CAP wing out of Rogers Ar. in a 1946 Cessna 140, from 1970 through 1973. I have ridden in 2 Stearmans, one a 450 hp Red Barron pizza bi-plane flown by Randy Drake, and 2 times in a 1929 New Standard flown by Beagle air tours out of Florida. Cant stop my self from looking up every time an aircraft goes over. Got my private license on March 20 1966. Jeff

I am the retired Chief Pilot of the NBA Charlotte - New Orleans Hornets basketball team. I retired in 2008 with 14000 hours and seven type ratings in jet aircraft. The FAA thought I would fall over dead with Alzheimers the day after I turned 65. I must tell you I really miss flying for a living and hate that the powers to be made me quit. David

And I flew that JS II. From just down Flightway Drive, David. Call me.

Tom (K. Enterprises)

I was hired by Delta 1 1/2 months after my 18th birthday in Air Cargo. About half of the time I was part of the ground crew on our L-100 (C-130) freighters. A year later I took Military Leave of Absence and enlisted in the Navy. Four years Navy as an Aviation Electronics Technician (AT) on A-7A,B&E Corsair II's. During two years with VA-174, I was the first AT on the east coast to work on the A-7E. Spent December 1, 1971 to Sep 10, 1972 with VA-46 in USS John F. Kennedy. Went back to Delta in 1972 working ramp, operations (weight and balance), ticket counter and finally was involuntarily transferred to Delta Reservations due to on the job injuries. I took the retirement package offered in 2001 after 9/11 at age 52. So my experience is with these aircraft. L-100, Convair 440, Convair 880, DC-6, DC-7, DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-88, L-1011, Boeing 707, 727, 737, 747, 757 and 767.

CW

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Retired USAF pilot...

Edmo

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TRUTH: Don't delete my posts!

I'm an avionics tech and airframe mechanic for a helicopter support company in PA.

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J.D. Roy