It wasn’t until I was flying home from Sun ‘n Fun yesterday that I finally did the simple math. My last visit to this event was 1990; and that’s 20 years. A nice round number, though a slightly scary realization. Back then, there were no light sport aircraft, glass panels or electric airplanes. Even GPS was somewhere over the rainbow. From 5,000 feet over central Florida, my revelation about time started me musing about what’s different, and what’s the same about ‘Spring Break for Pilots.’ No, they didn’t call it that back then, but that’s what it was. Here’s what I noticed has changed, some for the better, some not. I guess it all depends on which end of the telescope you choose to look through.
Twenty years ago, I goofed off most of one day next to a P-51 Mustang talking with its owner-pilot. But mostly, I listened as one after another visitor wandered by and recalled their memories of the iconic World War II fighter. Some remembered them flying overhead from nearby training bases, some about how they drew pictures of them in their school notebooks during arithmetic class. Still others winced as they recalled busted knuckles from spinning wrenches on Mustangs in the wee hours before a dawn mission to Berlin. It was there that I met Paul Riley, a Mustang ace who flew with the American RAF Eagle Squadrons and later with the Fourth Fighter Group. In the shade of the Mustang’s wing, Paul discussed the pros and cons of flying the -51 in combat against Me-109s and Fw-190s – complete with all the requisite hand gestures.
“With the Mustang, you could turn inside a -109. But a -190 [both palms set at 45-degrees, with the trailing one cutting tighter]; he could get inside of you.”
