How did you get started

What a cool thread.

I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 when I watched the Blue Max on t.v. I was struck by how cool the planes looked.
That was the spark. From there it was a trip to the school library where I checked out large coffee table edition of a book that was full of photo's and paintings of WWI planes and aviators (wish I could remember the name.)

I too read "Flying Aces of WWI," and some other titles mentioned here. Read my brother's copy of "Rickenbacker" and helped him build a balsa model of his Spad. Even named my parakeet Max after the movie/medal "Blue Max."

From there until about 12 I would read what I could find and also developed an interest in WWII a/c.

Then disaster struck. I dearly wanted a r/c aircraft. They were spendy and my parents couldn't afford to get me one. So for Christmas they bought me a gas powered Cox P-51 Mustang that you fly with the wire. I was jazzed. Spent most of Christmas day applying decals and customizing the paint job. The next day my Dad, brother and I went to the nearby high school to fire it up.

I stood there in the field holding onto the handle and waited for Dad to start it. It roared to life. My older brother, who was standing next to me, grabbed the handle from me saying "Let me do it first you don't know how." The P-51 went straight up, and then straight down and shattered. I stood there with tears welling up as my brother proceeded to tell me that I would have done the same thing and not to worry as he would fix it.

A week later he returned MY P-51 glued together with massive globs of grey barge cement. It looked like crap and as I picked it up to examine it the landing gear fell off. I never flew it. That sort of dulled my childhood hobby. Actually it killed it.

Fast forward 25 years. My 3 year old son and I are watching an airplane circle the field where he is flying my kite, and he says he wants to go look at planes. Sure. 20 minutes later he and I are wandering around in the hangars at our local airport. The fun of planes returned. Since then I found a copy of RB2 that he and I play, we play with stomp rockets, dive bomb his Lego forts with a die cast Ford Tri-motor, and regularly make trips to a local r/c a/c aerodrome.

Life is good.

Best wishes, and happy holidays,

Neophyte (Bill)

[Darryl]

At 8 years old I won a book prize at school..."Early Aeroplanes" Living near an aerodrome (as we still routinely refered to them), this sparked my interest. Then came The Blue Max and another (and attrocius) film, Roy Brown and the Red Baron. From there it steamrolled..Biggles, Reynold etc.

Later on I got into research.

Simple as that.

Darryl

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Tyson:
* *I remember that kid at Longwood School in Hayward, California, it seems along time ago. That kid grew up to be an endearing friend, who Patti and I hold close to our hearts,
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Merry Christmas Jim,
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dan & Patti

[CaptainLewis]

God damned, Tyson, if I don't remember that first issue of Savage as well-- "I'm the gun, I'm the gun!"-- something that had to be buried in my memory for at least 30 years! Thank you very, very much for reviving this memory...
A comic book cover comes to mind-- probably the very first one about WW1 aviation that I ever bought-- it had to be about 1965 or '66-- there's our old pal Steve, out of the SPAD's cockpit, riding the fuselage, one hand holding what's left of the rudder, in the other hand a six-shooter, blazing away at a Fokker... and all this only cost 12 cents!

tyson and Captain Lewis- Here is a link you may find interesting:

http://209.235.66.44/comicbooks.htm

[Lufbery]

Rex ,

That's an awesome site. Thanks for posting the link!

-Drew

Sure thing, Drew! 8)

[CaptainLewis]

Dear Rex, Jim, and Drew--
Youse guys iz da best!
Thank you, over and over, for the data and link-- I'm a seven-year-old all over again...
BTW Drew, did you know that your namesake, probably America's greatest ace ever IMHO, spoke with a pronounced French accent? Go figure (I'm also planning on relating long passages about Luf from Gordon's book THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS).
If you fellows have no scruples about it, I'd be most happy to send you copies of the games KNIGHTS OF THE AIR (on 3.5 diskette) and Sierra's RED BARON (the original, on CD); and you know, you just KNOW, that as I insert each and every CD into my burner, there I'll be, high in the empty blue, shouting (above the "roar" of the drive), "I'm the gun! I'M THE GUN!"
[I'm probably also certifiable; just provide me with mailing addresses, okay?]

[Lufbery]

BTW Drew, did you know that your namesake, probably America's greatest ace ever IMHO, spoke with a pronounced French accent? Go figure (I'm also planning on relating long passages about Luf from Gordon's book THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS).

Yes, as I understand it, Luf was born in France to a French mother and an American father, so it's not surprising that he had a thick French accent. In fact, I don't think he became an American citizen until his late teens or early twenties. I'll have to check out the book you mentioned -- I'm hungry for more info on Lufbery.

If you fellows have no scruples about it, I'd be most happy to send you copies of the games KNIGHTS OF THE AIR (on 3.5 diskette) and Sierra's RED BARON (the original, on CD); and you know, you just KNOW, that as I insert each and every CD into my burner, there I'll be, high in the empty blue, shouting (above the "roar" of the drive), "I'm the gun! I'M THE GUN!"
[I'm probably also certifiable; just provide me with mailing addresses, okay?]

You just may be certifiable. Anyway, I've got the original Red Baron. What's Knights of the Air like? I still play Red Baron 3D with some regularity.

Regards,

[Kory_Clark]

Stared with a school lesson on " Billy Bishop" for me...but really kindled when Red Baron I came out in 91'. I played that game 100's of times.