Meeting an Ace

On Wednesday we flew to Spirit Lake, IA to visit with an aviation
artist, both for the inn and to evaluate his ability to appear at our
upcoming Iowa City 2-day hoopla, the Big Kids Toy Show.

(Yes, we visited the Surf Ballroom, where Buddy Holly played his last
gig. It's still there, and still going strong. No, we didn't visit the
crash site where "The Music Died"...)

Anyway, the painting that most interested me was one depicting a
Mustang shooting down a BF-109. It was autographed by the pilot,
Robert Abernathy, and I commented to Ernie, the artist, on how many of
these World War II vets we were losing every day.

To my surprise, the artist asked if we'd like be meet "Ab". We, of
course, responded in the affirmative, and he immediately phoned "Ab" to
see if it would be okay. It was.

We headed over to the "assisted living home" where "Ab" is now housed.
As we pulled into the driveway, an elderly gentleman was being helped
into the home's shuttle van -- at which point our artist friend
recognized Ab! We quickly approached the van, which was about to take
him to some forgotten doctor's appointment.

Of course, Ab had TOLD the driver that he had friends en route, but --
as happens so often to the extremely old -- he was not believed. The
driver, a nice young man, obviously hears these stories all the time,
and he simply smiles and glad-hands them into the van. This time, of
course, it was real -- but how could he have known?

Ab shuffled back inside, leaning heavily on his walker. He's had two
strokes, and moves with great effort -- but, according to Ernie (the
artist), until fairly recently he was on his own. The strokes removed
his ability to drive, and now he's one of the many unfortunate souls
that are warehoused against their will.

He sat down at a table, and asked what we'd like written on our
painting. We had hoped to have time to hear all of his wonderful
stories, but the driver was impatiently waiting outside, so we just
asked him to sign whatever he wanted. He wrote "Many safe landings",
and signed the print again in his careful, left-handed scrawl.

Then, just like that, it was time for him to go. Sadly, as with all
partings in this place, we all knew that we'd never see each other
again. Ab, once a steely-eyed P-51 fighter jock, battling the
Luftwaffe over the skies of Europe, shuffled off to his doctor's
appointment, looking down at his feet and feeling for every step.

He's one of the only fighter pilots to have shot down an ME-262 jet
fighter in a real dogfight. (Most were downed while landing or taking
off, negating their huge speed advantage.) Ab took his down with a
deflection shot that was "one for the books", raking the 262 from nose
to tail with machine gun fire, flaming an engine. The German pilot,
with over 100 victories, bailed out and survived.

A couple of years ago Ernie was actually able to locate the German
pilot Ab shot down, and put them in telephone contact. What an amazing
conversation THAT must've been.

It's hard to imagine a world without these men -- but it's nearly here.

--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,
You need to get make an appointment to spend an hour or so with him
over the period of a couple of days. Find a nice quiet, softly lighted,
comfortable environment to sit and talk in. Prepare a list of questions
and take a video camera.
Don't let his stories be lost.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...

It's hard to imagine a world without these men -- but it's nearly here.

We use a notation in the Fellowship borrowed from Latin that just about says
it all.

"sic transit gloria mundi" (and thus shall pass the glory of the world)

Dudley

I second this idea. Unfortunately, my interest in aviation started too
late in life, and now the B-17 and P-51 pilots I used to know, and now
would love to hear tell their tales, are all gone.

tom

You need to get make an appointment to spend an hour or so with him
over the period of a couple of days. Find a nice quiet, softly lighted,
comfortable environment to sit and talk in. Prepare a list of questions
and take a video camera.
Don't let his stories be lost.

Agreed -- but Spirit Lake is a 70 minute flight or a 4-hour drive --
away. The odds of us getting back that way any time soon are somewhere
between slim and slimmer.

:-(
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Yes, but there is a good chicken meal in a place just a
short distance from the airport in a converted farm house.



--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
| You need to get make an appointment to spend an hour or
so with him
| over the period of a couple of days. Find a nice quiet,
softly lighted,
| comfortable environment to sit and talk in. Prepare a
list of questions
| and take a video camera.
| Don't let his stories be lost.
|
| Agreed -- but Spirit Lake is a 70 minute flight or a
4-hour drive --
| away. The odds of us getting back that way any time soon
are somewhere
| between slim and slimmer.
|
| :-(
| --
| Jay Honeck
| Iowa City, IA
| Pathfinder N56993
| www.AlexisParkInn.com
| "Your Aviation Destination"
|

You need to get make an appointment to spend an hour or so with him
over the period of a couple of days. Find a nice quiet, softly lighted,
comfortable environment to sit and talk in. Prepare a list of questions
and take a video camera.
Don't let his stories be lost.

Agreed -- but Spirit Lake is a 70 minute flight or a 4-hour drive --
away. The odds of us getting back that way any time soon are somewhere
between slim and slimmer.

Jay, we missed our opportunities with our fathers because we thought we
would have the time later. It was we who were too late.
Think of it as another another aviation destiny you must fulfill. :-))

It has been a long time since I was last there, but I
remember the converted farm house had very good food. It
was along a country road and not in town. I had a ride
there and don't remember the road or route. But there are
lots of good places to eat in Iowa.

Seriously, WWII vets are now in their 80 and 90s, ask them
about their service and say thanks!


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
| Yes, but there is a good chicken meal in a place just a
| short distance from the airport in a converted farm
house.
|
| Is that long-hand for "restaurant", Jim? Which one are
you referring
| to?
|
| Ernie took us downtown to eat at "Dad's Diner" -- our kind
of
| home-grown, locally-owned-and-operated place. Big
servings, fresh
| food, reasonable prices, endless coffee. It's right
downtown, within
| sight of the lake. I highly recommend it.
|
| He's even got airplane pictures on the walls!
| --
| Jay Honeck
| Iowa City, IA
| Pathfinder N56993
| www.AlexisParkInn.com
| "Your Aviation Destination"
|

"Jim Macklin" writes:

Seriously, WWII vets are now in their 80 and 90s, ask them
about their service and say thanks!

I did manage to get a few war stories from my father recorded before
he died (non-aviation; in fact non-combat). (While it didn't feature
in those stories, what he did later for the Korean war was
*anti*-aviation -- he ran the anti-aircraft gunnery training group at
Aberdeen Proving Grounds).
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
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