I was sitting here reading threads on RCU when I heard the sound of big round engines in flight. I turned around and looked out the window in time to see the Collings Foundation B-24 and B-17 fly over the house in a loose formation headed for the Addison airport in North Dallas. It looked like they had come from Ft.Worth and the vicinity of the old Consolidated/General Dynamics/Lockheed plant.
It brought back instant memories of my uncle, Captain H.B. Shields and his time with the two aircraft. He instructed in B-17s before we got into the war and then flew both during the war before being shot down in a B-24 in April of 1944. He and three others survived the bail out and were prisoners of war until the end.
His B-24 was the Gremlin Castle so named because there was a perpetual list of squawks on every flight that the plane made. Ironically he was shot down in another plane flying a partial pickup crew.
Its funny how round engines can bring back the memories of 60 years ago.

If you uncle is still with us, shake his hand for me and thank him for his service to our country

Unfortunately he has Gone West this past year but if you go to the gallery under my profile you can see a picture of him and part of his crew in a bar in Havana Cuba.

Hi Gremlin,
checking through your gallery was neat, you have some great Models there. That Pantera is really neat!
reminds me of something out of Bill Barnes 30's pulp magazine really neat!

Thank you for the kind words.
I see from your profile that you also fly the type of aircraft that are near and dear to my heart.
I guess that for me it is a difference between awe and magic. I am awed by some of the newer aircraft but I find real magic in watching the Golden Era stuff fly.

Here Here!
definitely sir!

Gremlin Castle,
We're all going West, some sooner than others. My Dad went last August. He was one of the Warrior Heros of the Greatest Generation. We are a family of Warriors and will probably always be to follow the example he set all those years ago. Hey, I love the Bearcat photo, nice bird! Your Rising Sun piece is nice too. Is that a Tony or a Kate? I have some Warbirds in my gallery. I just finished a Top Flite C-47, now I'm back on the B-25J. Good luck.

"Keep 'Em Flying!"
Flak

FLAK you have some nice birds in your collection. The big question is do you drive the scout car to the airfield?

The Japanese aircraft is a KI-84 Frank. It is powered by a Brison 4.8 twin and has an operational scale exhaust.

Gremlin Castle,
Yes, I have driven the Scout Car to the air field. I am going to have it at the airfield on May 27, 2006, for our "Bandits Over Kansas"
Warbid and scale fly-in, (see the flier on the events section here on RCU). Come to the event and I'll give you a ride in the Scout Car.
I have also flown in the "Show Me" B-25J; awesome, but loud! We did a 50 Ft. off the deck gear up pass down the runway and I was in her nose, AWESOME! The only problen with driving the Scout Car to the field is that there isn't room in the back for airplanes, so I have to hook up the 1943 "Ben Hur" 1 ton trailer to haul the Warbirds in. That's OK, but the trailer slows me down somewhat, as does my replica 105 mm howitzer.

"Keep 'Em Flying!"
Flak

Would like to come up but I have a conflict on that date. Maybe next year?

Gremlin Castle,
Sure, that will be fine. See you then.

"Keep 'Em Flying!"
Flak