First off, I wasn't sure if this belongs in the O'club and so my aplogies now if anyone thinks this does not belong here.
I had to take my 280ZX to the dealer today for some minor repair work and put my name on the list on the shuttle for the drive home. My name was called and I got in the van with an older gentleman who would be the driver. He apologized ahead of time for the upcoming "testing" of the brakes and then told me it's an old habbit from his airline days. "Oh yeah? What airline?" "TWA" was his answer. Then my question that started quite the conversation with this gentleman, "Did you fly military before that?" He answered with "Yes, P-38s in World War 2." Oh man, I always think I have so many questions I'd ask of a World War 2 vet and when I have one cornered I'm dumbfounded. Luckily he could talk all on his own with just the shortest bit of prodding. He flew in the Pacific and I think he said he flew the old E models but most of his P-38 talk was about later models. He went into detail about the guns. Every 5th round was a tracer and also a HE round and he said the Japanese planes would just light up. I mentioned I'd heard some people talk about the cutting of one engine to increase turn but he replied that is wouldn't be very smart because you want to keep up the speed. I hate Spits in Aces High and asked him a question about P38 vs Spit. He did say that the later P-38 with the boosted controls he could "make box turns" and could out turn a Spitfire. But he also said the earlier 38s you would'nt want to turn with even the 109s/190s because of it's "big fuselage." He told me that several WW2 pilots get together every Wednesday at a Denny's near me here in Oceanside (San Diego) CA. He rattled off a bunch of plane-types the represent the group and I believe he said the highest living Mustang ace shows up along with F4U and other pilots and one guy a POW of a Japanese prison camp. And he said he knows some guy named Gunther Rhal (sp?) who he's met and talked with several times and who is coming to visit this "Denny's Club" in Sept. This gentleman, my driver, invited me to their morning meetings and to meet Gunthar in Sept. And yeah, like the dork I am, I mentioned to him about the Aces High game I play and he was intrigued a little it seems. I told him search the words Aces High online. We actually sat in the mini-van out front of my home talking about WW2 aircraft and the pilots he knows. He told one funny little story how Gunthar R. when pressed about the P-38 stated that the Germans let their novices go after the P-38s in combat. ;-) Anyway, the conversation was a whole lot more than I can type in here and really, my mind was still trying to catch up with it all. I'm not a talkative guy and would be very out of place, but I think I will take him up on his offer and visit this Wednesday morning group. This gentleman's name is Bob Waggoner and he's Membership Chairman of the P-38 National Association.
That was the last thing I was expecting out of my morning. Was way cool!
(I re-read that and that's terrible writing. Sorry. I corrected a few typos and words left out.)
