"I look back, and I can see that he's shuddering, on the verge of a stall. He hasn't been able to get his nose up enough, hasn't been able to bring that big gun to bear. Almost, but not quite. I'm a fallen-down-dead man almost, but not quite. His nose begins dropping just as my airplane, too, begins shuddering. He stalls a second or two before I stall, drops away before I do."
"Good old Mustang."
Bud Anderson “To fly and Fight”
My uncle flew ponys. He spoke of his Mustang with a trace of awe in his voice.. he truly believed it was something beyond pieces of metal and wire and rivets. The respect he showed the builders was almost reverence.. and he had the utmost faith in what he flew. He told me once.. boozed and teary eyed: "..there will never be anything else that touched me (hand to heart) like that plane could. Not yer Aunt; not yer Grandma.. nothin. I'm here now because of that bird.. god bless it and them that built it."
He was quite a guy; but from all accounts a lousy shot... the only thing he ever shot down was a tree. Seems he and his wingy while coming back low from a fighter sweep spotted a "kite".. a little obs plane like a storch. He took a crack at it; hosed the thing on a fast low pass and was completely convinced he'd got his first kill. Gun camera footage reviewed later (in the squad room) showed the kite dodged; and a tree fallin over. They painted a tree on his plane that night and ribbed him no end... hoots of "Timmmmmmmmberrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" would go up when he walked into a room.
There was a pic of that stang; a D model; on the wall in the big room at his cabin up at BigBear. I still remember the rueful expression on his face when he told me that story. (I HAD to ask about the tree painted on the nose.) "The sum total of my contribution to the war effort.. two trains; 5 trucks and a diddlyin tree."
It seems that by the time they sent him into combat; not much of anything the LW had was flying anymore. He flew 7 combat missions before the end of the war; and managed to collect 34 holes in his plane from ground fire. "One thru the wing large enuff to stick your head in; and she still finished the sortie".
Now I'm sitting here wondering what he'd think of this AH stuff.. (he was gone to greener pastures well before the computer age) and what he'd think of guys like Hristo and their attitudes. What would he think of the kids we see so much of these days with their glib fast answers to questions that bring back painful pasts. I don't know.. honestly; I don't know.
We spoke of the war only a few times.. mostly after I came home from mine as a young man. He was very taciturn about it... he had a training assignment stateside while most of his pals from flight school went off to fight. Some in bombers; some to fighters. None of his bomber friends came home. "Not a one; son. Every one is in the ground over there... not one came home."
He did very much love that Mustang though... that kind of faith in "made in the USA" is very much out of style nowadays.. Back then it meant "best in the world". Sad.. time marches on. Made in USA means something else now.
Still; I like to think he'd like the sim.. and the concept. And I know he'd be in a Mustang. I’da purly loved for him to have been present to see this sim and it’s community evolve. His mindset in this age would have been quite refreshing, I think.
Salute Unca Stu. I'll kill a tree for yah.
Hang
