How did you get started

[Baron_von_Tecumseh]

I was 8yrs old,paging thru *one of my Dad's magazines I
turned the page and the was a photo of a Nieuport 12,I
was hooked for life,I turned the next page and there was
the prettest thing I ever saw a Fokker DR1 in Red.
Hereing of my new found interest my great uncle Carl
gave me "The Red Knight of Germany" by Floyd Gibbons
Not long after that while Christmas Shopping,in the window of a book store were the greatest books I had ever seen the new
Harleyford Books on WW1 planes and pilots and coming soon
the one on the Red Baron and the flying circus,
I had to have them,I saved ever cent I could lay my hads on till I had
those books.
How did you get hooked,what was the first thing that sparked your interest?

[Dave_Kent]

Hello:

About age 5 or 6 I was given 3 sticker books, one on ships, one on cars and one on aircraft. The ships did little for me, but the cars and planes were great. I can still remember the JN 4, the Caproni triplane bomber and the Spitfire from the plane book, long since gone.

About age 10 I read a school copy of KNIGHTS OF THE AIR by Harris and began building plastic models of the aircraft. A couple of years later I was given a copy of THE FIRST WAR PLANES by Barrett. This finished the job.

Oddly enough this book is also responsible for a friendship with another Forum member which must be coming up to 40 years. He spotted my book one day and realized that we shared a common interest, one we obviously still share.

Dave

[PeterL]

The usual heady mix of Airfix and Biggles. Of course this was in the days when children were encouraged to read and make things, there being only one hour of childrens TV per day and that *too encouraging reading and leisure activities.

I feel sorry for the new intake for whom reading is so "uncool". And to-day I saw for sale in my local hobby store a ready painted partly assembled plastic kit. That's the trouble with hobbies, they're just too time consuming. If there is the germ of an interest in WWI aviation latent in the new generation it will more likely be awakened by flight sims and shootemups rather than W E Johns or Cecil Lewis. At least I hope so.

I used to read Commando comics,and others of that ilk,so I suppose it could be there......But then again maybe not!!Certainly I have been building kits for longer than I care to remember so it could be a continuation of that interest[I dread to think just how many Spitfire`s I have built-it is just the PRETTYIST of aircraft!!] and I am still building but I have found that my interests have widened,like my waistline, with the years.

[CharlesNungesser]

First of all, Biggles. Then we had a magazine ages ago called PILOT, with comics about WWI and WWII aviation, that you could buy every 14th day. Then for some years the interest was more or less put on ice as to speak. Now that my interest in WWI aviation has really exploded, I´ve to blame KNIGHTS OF THE AIR by TIME-LIFE BOOKS. I just found it in the basement where I live, so I´ve been looking in it every day since. One more thing, THIS website hasn´t been to much help either ( LOL), When I first found it I just went WOW!! It really has everything that you can possibly ask for (a HUGE Thank You to the webmaster), can it possibly get any better? I´m NOT forgetting you guys, you´ve been more than helpful, I don´t have much to contribute with more than my endless questions Thank You! Btw, am I the only Swede here??

[Martin]

I remember as a small boy going into our local shop and seeing all the Airfix kits in their plastic bags, suspended from a dislay stand. Mind blowing to a 7 year old.

[Graeme]

As a choirboy, rather listen to the vicar's sermon, I read my first Biggles book and got hooked. Following my new hero's example, I smoked - great for the street cred but a disaster for the singing voice (didn't do wonders for the old ticker, either).

Graeme

[Ross_Moorhouse]

At the age of 10 I was staying with my Grandmother for school holidays and talked her into buying me a kit and some glue. Well I used too much glue and the poor Airfix StarFighter just melted. But I was hooked.

Then 13 years ago I meet my wife to be and was so distracted by her that I didnt do anything with models till this year. Now both my daughters are getting into it as well. The youngest one has built one plane kit so far and wants to do a horse next.

[jado]

At about the age on nine my school class was taken on a field trip to the Boston Public Library. We were required to get a library card and to select a book to write a report on. My selection was Quentin Reynolds "They Fought For The Sky". To this day I don't remember the grade I received for my paper but I shall never forget the excitment and knowledge that poured forth from each page of that book.

Today I recommend Reynolds to all new aviation enthusiasts and still keep both a hard and paperback copy on my aviation shelf.

I can truely say that I am as excited today as I was fifty years age, and it is all thanks to Quentin Reynolds, a man I've only had the pleasure of meeting through his work.

From the time I was born, my father was an R/C aircraft modeler, this sparked my interest in aviation. At the age of 10, I ordered a book from Scholastic Book Services titled Flying Aces Of World War I by Gene Gurney. It was 180 pages detailing the exploits of Guynemer, Ball, MvR, Lufbery, Mannock, Willy Coppens, Dave Ingalls, and Rickenbacker.

That was 1978. I still have that book, and I've been hooked ever since! 8)