Esco:
I met Don "Mac" McKibben about 15 or 16 years ago at a meeting of our local EAA Chapter (87) located here in Bowdoinham, Maine. The topic being discussed was some trivial details regarding some upcoming fly-in event, and there was some heated discussion regarding the colors of the t-shirts or something dumb like that.
"I need a drink." I muttered to myself, and this older gentleman sitting next to me who I didn't know elbowed me in the ribs.
"Do you like Martinis?"
I'd never had a Martini in my life. So I said, "Yeah!"
"Do you like Jazz Music?"
"Sure!"
"Then lets get out of here," the gentleman said, "I live just down the road."
In ten minutes I was leaning against the mantlepiece in his living room while Don (we'd by then introduced ourselves) was mixing drinks in the kitchen. The room was devoid of any aviation-related knick-knacks with the exception of a small metal scale-model of a North American P-51C (or B) Mustang on the mantlepiece.
Don presented me with my inaugural Martini, "They're a special recipe," he said, "I call 'em Silver Bullets."
I took a sip and my mouth made an involuntary O-shape, "Fifty caliber, I'd say."
"Yep," Don chuckled, "You're only allowed to have two."
"Why is that?"
"If you have a third, you'll discover that you have opinions that you didn't know you had before, and you won't mind sharing them...at the top of your lungs...and then I'll have to throw you out."
"Hm." I frowned at my drink and changed the subject. I remarked on the model P-51 he had on the mantlepiece, and the fact that it was the earlier design, before the more recognizable bubble canopy D-model came onto the scene. I continued on about the various differences between the C/B models and the ubiquitous D model, and Don nodded enthusiastically and presently made us another round of drinks.
"Here," he said, handing me the glass. "Follow me. I've got something in my office you might like to see."
I followed him into is office, wall-to-walled with all kinds of mementos of his service with the USAAF, and instantly realized I had just spent the last twenty minutes telling Don about his own airplane, "Miss Lace".
I also realized instantly that this was a guy with a sense of humor that I could appreciate, and we've been fast friends ever since.
Don learned how to fly through the federal CPT program and soloed in a J-3 in 1940. Everyone knew the war was coming and Don had (and still has) a burning passion for flight. During the Battle of Britain he decided that he couldn't wait, and made arrangements to join the RCAF in Toronto.
He had his train tickets, and his scheduled date for induction was December 8, 1941. History intervened the day before, and, as he'll tell you, "There went my chance to fly a Spitfire."
The US Army made him a pilot, and he was assigned as one of the original members of the 21st FS (soon to be redesignated the 486th FS) of the 352nd FG, who would become known as "The Bluenosers".
They started with and deployed to England in Republic P-47s, and transitioned to P-51s in 1944. Since Don was one of the original members of the squadron, and not a replacement pilot, he was assigned his own aircraft from the start, designated "PZ-Y".
Don lost his P-47 "Sneezy" (after one of the seven dwarves - "Not my idea!", Don will protest) in a three-way midair collision in IMC at about 3,000 feet agl.
(Yep. Read that last sentence again. They're still digging chunks of "Sneezy" out of the backyard of the house that it crashed into, and he's got a few chunks in his personal collection.
"Miss Lace" was a character in Milt Coniff's cartoon strip "Male Call", and apparently the likeness to the lovely supine damsel was good enough that many enlisted personnel in the Group had their photos taken with her.
"Miss Lace" was destroyed when it collided with an Bf-109 that Frank Cutler (another one of the original members of the 486th) was chasing. Frank was assigned to Don's aircraft that day, and seventy years later, Don's still a little sore at Frank.
If you want to learn more, just Google it.
At 92, Don's still sharp, funny, erudite and has two Silver Bullets commencing daily at 5PM.
This past summer five aircraft from our airport in Wiscasset, Maine brought Don to the big show in Oshkosh (stopping off in Hornell, where he soloed 73 years ago), and if you were there you might have heard him speak during the presentations in Warbird Alley.
The Roundrel? You'll have to look up the ICAO identifier for Wiscasset...
I hear there's another organization that uses the same trademark....must let our lawyers know about that...
