Gents,
I just returned from AirVenture and had a great time. After standing on my feet 12 hours a day for 6 days my feet really hurt
. So on Sunday I finally was heading home. I had to catch the early flight (7:00 am) out of Appleton WI so I was at the airport rather early.
In addition to meeting some really great RV builders and fliers at the show I got a chance to hear Chuck Yeager talk. I knew he was on the schedule so I made sure I wouldn't miss his talk. I had read his autobiography and I really wanted to see him in person.
When I was waiting for my flight home at the Appleton airport (Appleton to Minneapolis) I looked up from my chair and there was Chuck. I introduced myself , we shook hands and started talking. I told him I saw him at the show and he asked which time did I see him because he spoke several times. I mentioned it was in front of the P-51 and he said "that was the time I was bashing Rolls Royce". It seems that all the P-51's had Packard built engines (licensed from Rolls Royce) and he didn't want the Brits to get all the credit. He complained about how the Dash 8 he flew down in had a broken air conditioner and it was 100 degrees in the cabin and how "these airlines stink". Our gate was changed so we walked over to the new gate. Along the way I asked him what he thought about the P-51 accident at the show. He said "Rich kids just killing themselves" and "they shouldn't be flying". He went on to tell me after the war P-51 were cheap and people bought them and killed themselves in them because they didn't know how to really fly them.
We entered the plane and Chuck sat in the 2nd row and I sat in the 11th. I entered the plane after Chuck and I told the stewardess to tell the pilots that Chuck Yeager was on board. Maybe the pilots might pull some fancy maneuver to show Chuck they had the "Right Stuff" or maybe just land smoothly. While sitting in my seat for the one hour flight I thought how honored I was to talk one on one with a legend. We landed without any fan fair and I exited the plane. I had to catch the airport tram to another terminal. To my surprise Chuck was waiting for the same tram. I wasn't standing near him and I didn't want to disturb him so I just kept my distance. We entered the tram which wasn't very full and Chuck leaned against the wall. I held onto the poll next to him. I didn't want to bug him so I didn't say anything. That was until Chuck taps me on the arm and continues with our talk. I was thrilled that he wanted to talk to me and I continued to ask him some more questions. We spoke about Bob Hover and a few other things and then the tram stopped and Chuck continued on his journey back to California.
It was a trilled to talk with him. Though he repeated himself several times how it was "100 degrees in the Dash-8" I didn't mind. Of all the people in the world that I could ever want to have a one on one conversation with would be the aviation greats. I could care less about meeting presidents, rock stars or rich folks.
This truly was the highlight of my adventure to Oshkosh this summer.
I just returned from AirVenture and had a great time. After standing on my feet 12 hours a day for 6 days my feet really hurt
. So on Sunday I finally was heading home. I had to catch the early flight (7:00 am) out of Appleton WI so I was at the airport rather early.In addition to meeting some really great RV builders and fliers at the show I got a chance to hear Chuck Yeager talk. I knew he was on the schedule so I made sure I wouldn't miss his talk. I had read his autobiography and I really wanted to see him in person.
When I was waiting for my flight home at the Appleton airport (Appleton to Minneapolis) I looked up from my chair and there was Chuck.
I introduced myself , we shook hands and started talking. I told him I saw him at the show and he asked which time did I see him because he spoke several times. I mentioned it was in front of the P-51 and he said "that was the time I was bashing Rolls Royce". It seems that all the P-51's had Packard built engines (licensed from Rolls Royce) and he didn't want the Brits to get all the credit. He complained about how the Dash 8 he flew down in had a broken air conditioner and it was 100 degrees in the cabin and how "these airlines stink". Our gate was changed so we walked over to the new gate. Along the way I asked him what he thought about the P-51 accident at the show. He said "Rich kids just killing themselves" and "they shouldn't be flying". He went on to tell me after the war P-51 were cheap and people bought them and killed themselves in them because they didn't know how to really fly them. We entered the plane and Chuck sat in the 2nd row and I sat in the 11th. I entered the plane after Chuck and I told the stewardess to tell the pilots that Chuck Yeager was on board. Maybe the pilots might pull some fancy maneuver to show Chuck they had the "Right Stuff" or maybe just land smoothly. While sitting in my seat for the one hour flight I thought how honored I was to talk one on one with a legend. We landed without any fan fair and I exited the plane. I had to catch the airport tram to another terminal. To my surprise Chuck was waiting for the same tram. I wasn't standing near him and I didn't want to disturb him so I just kept my distance. We entered the tram which wasn't very full and Chuck leaned against the wall. I held onto the poll next to him. I didn't want to bug him so I didn't say anything. That was until Chuck taps me on the arm and continues with our talk. I was thrilled that he wanted to talk to me and I continued to ask him some more questions. We spoke about Bob Hover and a few other things and then the tram stopped and Chuck continued on his journey back to California.
It was a trilled to talk with him. Though he repeated himself several times how it was "100 degrees in the Dash-8" I didn't mind. Of all the people in the world that I could ever want to have a one on one conversation with would be the aviation greats. I could care less about meeting presidents, rock stars or rich folks.
This truly was the highlight of my adventure to Oshkosh this summer.
