WIX Archives
For the next generation...
Posted by Steve T on Tue Dec 23, 2003 02:21:49 PM
In reply top Re: Thank you JACK COOK, Randy posted by Scott WRG Editor on Tue Dec 23, 2003 06:26:30 AM
Scott et al--
: As an example I will site a surreal moment I had years ago
: at an airshow. I was standing on the edge of the flight l
: ine watching a P-51 warm up and a man stood next to me wit
: h his yound son on his shoulder. The kid was enthralled by
: the spectacle of the noise and smoke (and flames in this
: particular case) as well as the prop. He asked his father
: what it was and the father replied "This is just old junk,
: lets go find the jets."
Whew. This isn't "surreal" so much as desperately sad. I hope the youngster eventually succeeded in following what looks to have been a nascent passion for "old junk"...
I have an anecdote that flips this one upside down, sort of: I used (more years ago than I like to admit) to work at CWH. One afternoon I was tending the desk in the bookshop, which doubled as the admission desk, and a few people arrived from out of town for a visit. One of them was a boy of nine or ten, I'd guess, who wanted to know what was in the collection. I started rhyming off what was there at the time: Harvards, TBM, B-25, et cetera. I came to "Hurricane". Now everyone knows what a Spitfire is; but a kid of nine or so in the era of "Top Gun" recognize a Hurricane or care what a Hurricane was? Well this one sure did: he gaped at me like I had suddenly become Santa Claus himself and breathed, awestruck, "You've got a HURRICANE?" I have a good few favourite memories from my CWH days...but that is one of the top two or three. (I like to think that kid might be a WIXer now. If this anecdote sounds familiar to anyone from the "other end"...most cool!)
Best of the season,
Steve
: Suffice it to say that I was stunned by this complete disr
: egard for the history before him.
:
: I feel the responsibility of informing as many people as p
: ossible on the history and technology of these aircraft, h
: ence this site. My friend know about them even though they
: don't have an interest in them because I never shut up, a
: nd I drag them to airshows when I can manage it. This Chri
: stmas my friends 7 year old son will be opening a toy P-51
: in my attempt to spark an interest.
:
: If we want the warbirds to survive we have to strengthen t
: he movement. Take your children to airshows and museums, i
: f you don't have kids then invite your friends that do. Yo
: u pilots out there, take a kid up with you next time you f
: ly. Talk to them about flying and your interest in history
: .
:
: I was heavily influenced by my father and his time as a fl
: ight engineer in the Navy. Aviation in one form of another
: has been apart of my life as I'm sure it has been apart o
: f yours. Take the time to share that with the next generat
: ion.
:
: Scott WRG Editor