I thought i would share this story with those of you Young and Old, pilot-Maintainer alike on some of the small things we seem to overlook as we pass on in to retirement and witness the best stock of American youth follow in our footsteeps, and how important it is to document, display and present our heritage to the Serviceman today.
Muddy
To:
NailFACS@yahoogroups.com
Cc:
FACNET@yahoogroups.com; Rustic NET
Subject: [NailFACS] before and....later
With all of this saving of airframes...one has to ask Why?
I mean after all ...what is an out of date, poorly preserved piece of
metal
with no soul worth. Who cares...hell it's worth 65 K for scrap...lets
reduce the national debt and crush/chop/ and K-ball them all.
Well....last Thursday, while wending my way down to the Ramada to
reunited
with "The Growth" (Nail 69 and Raven and Sundog ...Greg "did anyone
ever
call him that?" Wilson) I wandered out to Hurlburt to "Hug" my
airplane.
I presented my Drivers License to the "rent a cop" at the gate and
made an
effort not to run up to OV 626. I made it a point to walk among the
airframes than line Hurburt's "Air Park". First was an A-1E with two
MOH
monuments in front. Then there was a Stinger Gunship, an AC-130
Spectre,
an AC-47 Spooky, a Nimrod, a Tango, a C-123, an A-37, a Jolly
Green...I'm
sure that I forgot one.....
Then I got to the top of the park....I crossed the street....there
were two
empty pads where Ivan the Terrible had damaged the O-1 and the
U-10....then there was the FAC Memorial, and a new memorial to the
Navy P-2 Neptune guys who flew the trail. Then next there was the O-2.
She
had been re-painted, complete with new nose art...very smart...
But....next to her nestled in amongst the pines was 626. We dedicated
her 5
years ago during the mother of all reunions. She, to me, represents us
all
in her place among the other warriors there. I looked her over...she
needed
a bath, and some proper stores...but she looked good.
I was crawling under her when a young airman in a Nomex flight suit
wandered up and I chatted him up. It seems that he is a loadmaster on
an
HC-130 King Bird and...someone had told him that he had to go to
Hurlburt
to "see where it had all started". He was young, eager, well turned
out...I
envied him his future.
As we parted I asked him to do me a favor and take my picture with my
old
compatriot...he obliged.....but first a bit of a time warp...here is
a
young captain with his OV at NKP in 1973......
Now here is that 65K hunk of scrap that was used by trainees to learn
how
to do whatever they were learning how to do. It had been rescued by the
OBA, then passed on to the Rustics and Ft. Walton FACs, then it was
restored
by the guys at Hurlburt, and then placed with love and care where all
can
see.
Here is an Old Captain with his OV at Hurlburt in 2005.....she is
in
much better shape than he is....oh if she could only talk!! The
tales she
could tell.
Every once in a while you look at a plane in the sky and envy the
young
men and women in them. Then you remember..."Hey...been there...done
that...got the log book to prove it". But...long after we (and they)
are
gone ...the museums will remain. The living beasts that we flew will
still be there..a monument to all who flew them, wrenched them, armed
them,
or just loved them.
But first...we have to put them there....
Crash
Rustic/Nail/Bronco/Antar
"The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies, to chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth, to see their near and dear bathed in tears, to ride their horses and sleep on the white bellies of their wives and daughters."
-Genghis Khan
Edited by - thebigthug on May 08 2005 8:48 PM
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