I graduated from college in 1965. The Vietnam War was in full swing, and any able-bodied male who was not being educated was being drafted. I could have gone to graduate school, but instead decided to take my chances. I moved in with a couple of old friends in Palo Alto, California. Having a fancy B.A. in English, I went to an unprepossessing flight school at the Oakland Airport and got work as a lineboy in exchange for commercial-license instruction and a pittance suitable only for a breatharian.
Technicalities: Two Bobs
Key Takeaways:
- The author recounts his early aviation experiences in 1965, learning to fly taildraggers from flight school owner Bob Short, an eccentric mentor who was also a notable jazz tubaist, before being drafted.
- Years later, while preparing for a trans-Pacific flight to Japan, a friend named Bob Long provides the author with a .22-caliber revolver for protection.
- Upon arrival in Japan, the author's declaration of the firearm leads to a significant bureaucratic challenge due to strict import laws, eventually resolved by the local police taking temporary custody of the weapon until the author's departure.
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