Hiya Brooke! The spirit is willing, but ya know, the older I get, the more befuddled I appear to become. Oh for the good old days when tweaking config.sys made one a techno-stud! Now, I know nothing...I see nothing...
I made a weak attempt to try and figure out how to get my old TM joystick working under XP and am puzzled by what rig I might best replace it with. Sigh. I think my brain has slowed down and my patience with technology has vanished.
Now for memory lane:
Brooke was my very patient instructor back in early 89, I think it was, when I eagerly signed up for what I think was the 2nd go-around of AWTA on GEnie. I still remember my hands shaking and sweating (no exxageration) as he gently flew back and forth in front of me while I made holes in the sky spraying round after round after round uselessly nowhere near his a/c...
I remember vividly flying in the arena for ELEVEN WEEKS before I got my first kill. 4 color, VGA graphics ("distant aircraft display as 'T's") but so heart-pounding. How'd they do that?
Typical sortie the first 11 weeks: my screen would flash red and I would explode. "Damn!! What the hell happened!?!" Man, I was so hooked...
First squad I joined was the RCAF in Cland (the only non-Canadian allowed). After the squad disbanded, went on tour and even flew in a red dress in Bland for awhile. (Boy, were those Warhawks organized ).
Sleeping with Velcro Fly at the LA Con got me into the Muskies. Wait. Well, it's close enough to the truth. After that, the sheep at the swearing in cermony were a piece of cake.
Ah...Shadow Demon...was there when he arrived at the LACon "(12 year old high-pitched-scream) Dad!!!!!!!! BRING THE QUADRA!!!!!!" Boy it was fun to pull his chain...
That VHS video that B-man (and Bushwacker?) made was truly excellent. Did you ever upload it? I still have mine here somewhere...
Had a great time flying with the Dons as El Tio Suave. Spellbound (no longer gaming, sadly, lives in San Francisco) aka Jihad was my favorite non-Muskie wingy. We used to race jeeps at 2 am; taxi buffs to opposing fields (still have a great film of Pyro flying an absolutely perfect high side pass at us...only to auger at 400 yards 'cause he didn't realize we were trundling along wheels down hehe)...I *really* miss all the shenanigans both up and in the O Club...
On the serious side, was proud and honored to XO the Muskies for awhile and lead the 2nd Muskie squad. Eventually taught in the AWTA and contributed some 2v2 curriculum. Most goose-bumping moment: when Bob Shaw ("Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering") offered me a *job* fergawdsakes during a teleconference Q&A. Hadda tell him I wasn't reeeeely a pilot ...
Salutes to OD, DoK, Doc1, Air, (anyone have any contact info for VF?), NB, Moggy!, Brooke, Shaky, QT, Vor, B-man, Stil, Sniv, MLM, Bush, Zazen, HT, Heater, Fencer, DD, GE, GB, HR, Vol, Clay, wow, what a great thread this has been.
Crap. I do miss it.
-)-Wax-
