Yeah, but us rocketeers tend to be a bit more informed than the average slug out there. Rockets and planes go together. I admit to having a strong liking for the P-38 and the P-51 also.

We live next to a glider club and one of the members who does not live on the premises has a Mustang he stores at the Lewis U airport in Romeoville. You can hear him coming for miles. During the summer he'll buzz the glider club landing strip several times at full throttle. Another one has a Dauntless he stores at the Joliet airport and it's radial engine is even louder than the Mustang's Merlin. I grew up in West Texas only 20 miles from the Edwards Ranch, where Connie and his brothers kept their little private air force.....couple of Mustangs, a PBY, at least one AT-6 Texan, couple of ME-109's, a spitfire , and a F-86. For a long time they had the only working ME-109's in the world and made a LOT of money flying for the movie "Battle of Britain". We used to see those planes flying around all the time. Everyone hearing one of those warbirds coming was guaranteed to stop whatever was going on to gawk. He or his brother buzzed the school on September in a Mustang while we were at football practice and gave us a welcome breather as even the coaches were gawking.

Dear Joe,

No offense intended. In Idaho, we call the area up toward Sun Valley (which is actually a town) the "Wood River Valley." There are two rivers, which we call the "Big Wood River" and the "Little Wood River." So I didn't really expect Bill's quip about the "Big Wood" (although I know I *should* have ).

So I was actually pointing the finger at *myself,* for finding a different (unexpected meaning) to "Bong State Park."


And no further disrepect intended, but some people would find "*Dick* Bong" even more ironic than Richard.

Plus, NARCON 2006 was the first time I'd been to the lovely towns of Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin. Not to mention eating fried cheese curds while hanging out with Scott Hansen, Bill Eichelberger, and a bunch of other rocket-heads.


Cheers,

--Jay

I was a Corsair fan, but I also loved the P-38.

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2

I remember building at least two P-38's back in my plastic model days... just 'cause they looked cool.

To radically steer this thread elsewhere, I saw one of these planes at an airshow here in town a couple of years ago, which looked *way* cool trailing gray (artificial) smoke. (I think it had a fog machine onboard. )

http://velocityaircraft.com/

http://www.ez.org/


Cool idea for a rocket glider, but hell to model in RockSim.

--Jay

Ya, you just wanted to knock that Eveready battery off of Pappy Boyington's shoulder.

(Let's see who gets that. heh)

__________________
Scott D. Hansen
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe!
Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies!
Ye Olde Rocket Forum
WOOSH NAR Section #558

"Go ahead. I *dare* ya."

It was on during the first year of Charlie's Angels, IIRC.

--Jay

Good ole Robert Conrad. I loved watching Baa Baa Black Sheep, as it was first called. I believe it was later renamed to Black Sheep Squadron.

__________________
Scott D. Hansen
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe!
Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies!
Ye Olde Rocket Forum
WOOSH NAR Section #558

I loved Black Sheep Squadron. Several years ago they reshowed it on the history channel and my son and I got into watching it in the afternoon before dinner. Things were great right up to the point that they brought in "Pappy's Lambs", and then the whole thing went to hell. I always liked the cigar-chewing chief mechanic.
I couldn't watch Charlie's Angels. It made me walk funny.

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2

You could *walk?!?* All *we* could do was drool...

Bill had that funny three-legged walk.

__________________
Scott D. Hansen
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe!
Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies!
Ye Olde Rocket Forum
WOOSH NAR Section #558