Great video of a 95 year old veteran flying a restored C-47, just like the one he flew into Normandy on June 6, 1944.
He still flies smoothly and confidently.
8 comments:
Goatwhiskers
said...
Funny how my vision got all cloudy for a bit. Dad was an flight instructor early on, then flew one of those birds on the Hump run, India to China for the duration. What I would give for a ride in one of those. There's one hanging from the ceiling in the D-Day museum. I can just see that skinny old man sitting in the pilot's seat. GW
Yep, dusty in here... But they never forget. I heard an 87 year old at Udvar Hazy talking through the entire pre-start checklist with his son and grandson. And he hadn't been in the airplane in 60 years!!!
Got a few hours in an R4D-4 but most of my time was in the R4D-8 with the R-1820 engine and the squared off vertical Stab and wing tips. Absolutely loved that bird! SIGH
8 comments:
Funny how my vision got all cloudy for a bit. Dad was an flight instructor early on, then flew one of those birds on the Hump run, India to China for the duration. What I would give for a ride in one of those. There's one hanging from the ceiling in the D-Day museum. I can just see that skinny old man sitting in the pilot's seat. GW
Yep, dusty in here... But they never forget. I heard an 87 year old at Udvar Hazy talking through the entire pre-start checklist with his son and grandson. And he hadn't been in the airplane in 60 years!!!
I flew as pax in one in 1962. It was Ozark AL's, and had flown in the Berlin Airlift, had ack-ack patches to prove it...
That's pretty awesome.
The bar has been set might high for the rest of us.
I dug a little and found the obituary for Mr. Parker.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/sun-city-az/gerald-parker-7609694
Got a few hours in an R4D-4 but most of my time was in the R4D-8 with the R-1820 engine and the squared off vertical Stab and wing tips. Absolutely loved that bird! SIGH
Anyone else notice that he "suddenly" died a couple days after flying that aircraft, one he actually flew in the war?
More video of this aircraft's history, and Gerald:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnMLLg3Q2d4
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