As a Generation Xer, I wasn't much interested in planes until My dad and uncles were watching a documentary about the Ploiesti raids in the room I was trying to do something else in, about age 11 or 12. I glanced up just in time to see a closeup shot of a squadron of P-38's peeling off to divebomb the refinery. As the first plane banked toward the camera, the sun glinted off its wings, and the incredible symmetry and novelty of the Lightning's airframe shape instantly snapped my attention and I instantly said inside, "Oy! They made a plane that looked like that? You mean, not all planes are just variations of the same old theme?" And I hated to admit it, even to myself, but I had just fallen in love with aircraft. Being already somewhat familiar with the history of the war, I became within one year a "teenage encyclopedia of World War II aviation." I could still give you approximate top speed and armament figures for practically any WWII warplane, common or obscure, off the top of my head to this day. For most of them, I remember even more details, like service ceiling, bomb load, number produced, and approximate wingspan.