a couple of people have requested me to post some of my dad's pictures, so here goes. I am putting his alblums on a cd for the family, so I will share as I go. enjoy

 

some more. enjoy

 

3rd plane is a fairchild

 

Very cool On the third pic is that your pops? If so how old was he then.

 

he's in all so far, he's the one standing behind the prop on shell pusher. I would guess age to be 19, or 20.

 

That's a dang big prop on that airplane!

And I bet it's a Hamilton Standard...
(I can't quite see the logo)

If "SHELL PUSHER" was the 101 bird - does that mean he was what in the NAVY we would call the "XO" or second in command of his squadron?

 

yup. you must be a wwII plane fan too

 

I'm an airplane fan period - and I spent 20 years in Uncle Sam's "Never Again Volunteer Yourself".

Aside from that - one of the few things besides classical music and dirt track racing my Poppa and myself agreed on was that mankind was never intended to be stuck to the ground barefoot...

He was an Aircraft Engineer, I became an "Aviation Electronics Technician" - specialising in COM/NAV and airborne early warning search radar.

My one great hope is that he forgave me before he passed away for trying to loop his Taylorcraft while we were on the way back from
a salmon fishing trip on the offshore islands west of Seattle...

I thought I could do it! But I was only about eight years old at the time. We were lucky I didn't fill up the whole fuselage with dead and scattered
fish... You could look over the back of the bench seat in that plane and see all the way to the rudder cable pulleys.

That was where we stashed our fishing poles.

HE GOT ME BACK... I'm not going to say how, when, or where - but he sure did.


I MISS HIM

If he was alive today, we could go to the races and airshows together...

 

I know what you mean, we lost pap last year. he would sit for hours, and tell his wwII stories. some we thought he just made up, then after his passing, his wing commander gave us a lot of records thah we didn't have before. wow, he was actually a true, storybook hero. , I miss him too

 

Thanks for sharing!!!!


The P47 was one heck of a tough bird!!!!!!!

I saw a recount of one Thunderbolt pilot (History or Military Channel), and he said that he was making a strafing run on a freight-train, and that he heard some loud 'pops' and 'bumps' and 'bangs' and other assorted noises, then smoke started trailing from the engine.

He said that the engine ran rough for a couple of minutes, then smoothed back out, so, he continued his mission, as ordered.

When he returned to his base, the ground crews were amazed at what they saw!
One of the cylinders had been blown completely away, and another was smashed (from supposedly machinegun fire)!

Imagine seeing a piston just 'hanging' by the connecting rod, slapping around.



Sorry for the hi-jack!
Please. . . post more photos!!!!!!!!

 

one story pap told was how he ran through flak 1 time, he said the plane seemed to have a miss or something , but still flew fine, as he returned, oil started to cover the canopy, and he had to fly home, and land on instruments. when he got out of the plane, the crew chief showed him that 5 jugs out of 28 were missing. wow. what a plane. I will post more pictures later.thanks to all for your great comments.

 

Fantastic pics, Charlie!.........Something to take pride in and treasure always. Your Dad really lived the life flying the Jug!..........I would have much rather flown the P-47 than the P-51, nothing much could bring the P-47 down...... One shot in the intercooler on a P-51 Mustang and you were headed for Stalag 17!

 

yeak, air cooled over liquid cooled sometimes has it's advantages. did you fly?

 

Great pics. I go through all my grandfather's Navy pics with him when I visit him every summer.

 

enjoy them with him, and get him to sit with you and write down some of the stories. their a personal look at history!!