Hello all

[prang]

Hello all, I finally decided to quit lurking and sign on to the forum.

I've always loved the 30's-50's era of flight and frequented this site for links as I scrounged about the web. The discussions here are a lot of fun too. Anyway, I've been involved in flying and working on aircraft since birth seeing my father, uncle and a few others were in the military and either flew as a career or for fun.

If one was to ask me my favorite WWII planes I'd have to say that's a complex question; there are so many for so many different reasons. But, if one asked which one I'd love to own my response would be the HS-123 just because it was such a cool, rugged old workhorse biplane that, like the post man, delivered rain, sleet, mud or snow.

 

[DOUGRD]

Hi Prang. Welcome to the forum. You said you've been involved in flying and working on aircraft.. So in what capacities? We always like to hear about each others interesting adventures.

 

[ccheese]

Hello Prang..... I hope the nick-name is not indicative of intentionally
destroying an aircraft thru careless or flat-hatting. Hey... welcome to
the forum.

Charles

 

[prang]

During my childhood I grew up in Navy housing with family, friends and neighbors who flew during Vietnam. I could tell you what plane was flying over Miramar by the sound it made and sometimes who was flying it. Heck, I even harassed Yeager, my uncle's neighbor, a time or two to let me mow his lawn in Bernardino (Norton?). I worshiped these guys as a kid. Tragically though, I was not gifted with the right genetics and inherited my mother's family nearsightedness so the military aviation career eluded me. As for private flying, that too proved a short lived joy once rising insurance costs, hanger fee's, gas and the upkeep of a private plane soon exceeded my income. Instead I enlisted in the Army and enjoyed the occasional helicopter ride or renting something from the flying club if one existed. Eventually that too fell by the wayside.

On the other hand, I've continued to be an aviation enthusiast having dabbled in volunteer restoration work of a few old birds my first being a Jenny with the San Diego Air and Space Museum before the place caught fire, with later work on various light planes such as a Taylorcraft, Cub, Seabee, Cessna 195 then I delved into helping with finding parts for a Panther, a P-40 wing and later discovering I had a nose for aviation scrounging and bumping into old folks with loads of aviation history. For a while there I was stumbling across all sorts of relics like an intact A-26, a BT-13 and a mangled Banshee to name a few but being short on money I passed their whereabouts on for others to scoop them up.

My grail quest would be to find the other DO335 that was brought to the US whose disposition is unknown or maybe the missing 262… Sure, they're both probably 12th generation soda cans and hubcaps but you never know. Anyway, I've found some really odd things out there like the half buried front end of a Hellcat in a San Diego warehouse basement junk pile. What a tease that was. I thought "Oh my god, this can't be, hallelujah"! Then, after an hour of digging I found no fuselage aft of the cockpit or wings for that matter. Worse the monsters brutally sliced her apart and dumped engine blocks on the rest. Oh the humanity… *$#^%$!!! Still, at least the P&W found a home in some museum.

Luckily I've never pranged a plane…yet. But, I've had an "Oh S**t" moment or two and one "did we just do what I think we did second".

 

[Wayne Little]

Hello prang welcome to the forum!

 

[Wurger]

Hallo Prang and greetings from Poland.Nice to read you there.

 

[Lucky13]

Hi and welcome to the forum prang! Looking forward to your contribution and stories....

 

[david johnson]

hi!

dj

 

[Seawitch]

Hello Prang
Nice to meet you!
Seawitch

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Welcome to the forum

Im Former US Army Blackhawk Helcopter Crew Chief and an A&P mechanic (not working as one at the moment unfortunatly).

 

[ToughOmbre]

Welcome aboard to a great forum. A good place to share and learn.

TO

 

[Njaco]

Hello, Prang!!

 

[Emac44]

G'day Prang welcome to the site