How did you get into Aviation?

Viking1066 said:

When I began to develop an interest in Medieval Japan at 12, the interest in he Navy and Army took off.

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The fact I was a airplane nut led me to reading about all kinds of distantly related things. For example a book on the Flying Tigers summarized the history of China. As a result when we got into 20th Century History in the 12th grade I was light-years ahead of all my fellow students; it got downright embarrassing at times. I ended up taking the exemption tests for US History in college and got credit for two courses, 6 credits, without ever darkening the door of a college history classroom.

Being an airplane nut also led me to an interest in vintage electronics. I have more WW2 stuff than I do modern day equipment.

MIflyer said:

The fact I was a airplane nut led me to reading about all kinds of distantly related things. For example a book on the Flying Tigers summarized the history of China. As a result when we got into 20th Century History in the 12th grade I was light-years ahead of all my fellow students; it got downright embarrassing at times. I ended up taking the exemption tests for US History in college and got credit for two courses, 6 credits, without ever drakening the door of a college history classroom.

Being an airplane nut also led me to an interest in vintage electronics. I have more WW2 stuff than I do modern day equipment.

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It's funny too because it ended up leading me to becoming a teacher. I never wanted to teach kids, but college. Now here I am teaching children the last twelve years.

Many years ago, when I was a little boy, my father gave me a book named Le Grand Cirque (The Great Show), written by Pierre Closterman, relating his life as a pilot of the RAF during the world war two. After reading this book, I tried to know what are a Spitfire, a Messerschmitt 109, a Hurricane, a Focke Wulf 190...., and what they look like.

Gastounet said:

Many years ago, when I was a little boy, my father gave me a book named Le Grand Cirque (The Great Show), written by Pierre Closterman, relating his life as a pilot of the RAF during the world war two. After reading this book, I tried to know what are a Spitfire, a Messerschmitt 109, a Hurricane, a Focke Wulf 190...., and what they look like.

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Read that book in French and English versions...

My father was in the air force for a very short time in the 50s and always built plastic models. The house I grew up in was in the flight path of a very small local airport and my father and I would sometimes stop what we were doing and watch planes taking off or landing over head. Got to recognize various propellor engines by sound.

emu27 said:

started with a Lockheed 12, then Heron, F-27, Gulfstream 1.

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Wow, what a trip down memory lane! Our local airport hosted a Lockheed 12 for awhile back in the early '60s (like a Beech 18, but way cooler! Think A. Earhartt.), the commuter airline (Air Sunshine) at the civilian field near my permanent duty station dabbled in Herons (the Lycoming version) for a bit before graduating to DC3s, later, I got a mechanic job at a commuter (Air North/Rockaway Air) that flew the stretched airliner version of the G1, but I wound up working on their F27s and SD30s, as the G1s went away before I could get a wrench on one. Wound up flying their Beech 1900s.

XBe02Drvr said:

.. a Lockheed 12 for awhile back in the early '60s (like a Beech 18, but way cooler! ..

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Agreed.

I think both a quite good looking. Its like having a chooise in...one cant loose.

When I was a kid i lived near navy air base in Siemirowice, Poland. So jest were a comment occurence on my village skies (first licenced copies of MiG-15s than indigenous Jet trailer TS-11 iskra). Also a book about a certain 303squadron (written by one of the pilota Bohdan Arct) might have a big influence.

My father and his brothers were all in the U.S.A.A.F., on Monday the 8th of December, 1941, they piled into my dad's '37 Chevy and drove to Detroit and enlisted. Four years later, thankfully they all came home, a B-17/B-29 pilot, a P-61 radar operator, a check pilot at Willow Run for B-24's and a Mustang pilot.

After the war, they turned the family farm into an airfield, it was grass but had N/S and E/W runways, several hangars, overnight accommodations and a licensed repair shop. We lived right next door to the west of the north end of the N/S runway, from my bedroom window on the second floor I could see everything. I basically was hooked from birth.

In about 1967-8, Raytheon Corp. came around and rented hangar space for testing some new equipment, they had a glistening B-25 that would make about a 50 mile circuit and then roared right over our house at one of the hangars. God did those engines sound FANTASTIC! I mean he came in LOW, just above the tree tops, more than once the copilot gave a cool wave to the goofy kid jumping up and down with an ear to ear grin in our backyard... whoever he was...

Sorry for the long winded post, just felt like writing today, anyway, my dad and his brothers were 10 feet tall in my eyes, however I got very few "war stories", the ones I did get were the humorous type.