"George Z. Bush" wrote in message
...

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...

I just picked up a copy of Flyboys at BJ's Wholesale Club. Read the
first two chapters last night.

I was amazed that the author uses the term Flyboys throughout the
book, or at least throughout the first chapter. I'd assumed it was
just a cute title, but no: "Flyboys were over Chici Jima" etc.

When I was growing up--which was about the time of these
events--"flyboy" was a derisive name. It's what a ground-pounder would
say when he complained about the soft life pilots (indeed air crews)
had, compared to the infantry in the mud.

Anyone else ever heard it this way? Any mllitary pilots here ever
refer to themselves as flyboys or Flyboys?

Thanks!

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

We may differ on other subjects, we we sure as hell don't differ on this
one. I
was a pilot during WWII, the Korean War, and the Viet Nam war, and I never
once
called myself or thought of myself as a "flyboy". The people I flew with
may
have been young, but they were men, and the overwhelming majority of them
didn't
even vaguely resemble the irresponsible bird-brains that the term infers.
It
may very well be what the green-eyed ground pounders called us, but
usually not
to our faces, particularly if we outranked them. I always looked on that
term
as a put down, however mistaken it might have been.

When the book first came out and got public attention, I mentioned this to
my
wife, and she told me that she thought I was making too much of it. I'm
glad to
learn that there are at least two of us who think otherwise.

BTW, I haven't read the book nor do I plan to. If he got that wrong, I
can't
help but think that the rest of his book is probably full of other things
that
he didn't quite get right.

George Z.

Although I'm sure there were those who might have used this term in a
derogatory way, it should be noted that the term itself is so generic that
it's use was certainly not limited to a negative context alone.
I'm fairly certain that there were many who used this term in an extremely
positive sense as the term related to them personally, and their positive
feelings about those who were fighting above them or for them, and in many
cases, protecting them.
I know that in my years of association with those who have flown in harm's
way, I can't remember anyone having a violent reaction to the term.
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
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