First Aircraft?

For me it was seeing Bill Greenwood in his Spitfire (TE308 - N308WK) flying up at Estes Park, Colorado for a scottish festival back in the 90s.

There is nothing like hearing the echo of the Spitfire engine in that mountain valley. It really gets the blood running.

Regards,

There is someone here in Colorado that runs the "Spirit of Flight" museum.

http://www.spiritofflight.com/

His name is Gordon Page, and he has an awesome book out on warbird recovery (...a very good book!!!...but that is another story.)

I asked Gordon where he got the name "Spirit of Flight" for his museum and he said he named it after the moment we were bitten by the aviation bug.

The Pioneering Spirit of Flight...

An airplane model given to you by a Grandparent, a WWII movie on a Saturday afternoon, your first airplane flight, a relative who flew in the military…

Somehow, the Spirit of Flight was ignited within, and it forces those who have it to look up to see what is flying overhead.

I think he was right on the money with that name.

I have been bitten by the aviation bug, as I imagine most of the members of this site have been.

Best Regards,

I have some photos posted on here that I took when I was 9 years old - going back to the 1980s.

I am not sure what particular aircraft got me interested in spotting, but my earliest knowledge of interest in aircraft probably stems back to when I was three years old riding my first plane - a Delta L1011 in 1978 direct DTW - FLL - yes this was pre dereg.

I had a bug about planes ever since I took an Aeronautics class in the 10th grade. It was essentially a ground school with extras, and the instructor was a guy who flew the Hump in WWII and was one of the early testers of the ejection seat. He brought in lots of old films, including him riding the seat. A year later was my first visit to the Air Force Museum at its old location and I took some photos. From then on it was a bug, even though I didn't have much of a camera until almost a decade later (I had a little boxy 127 film camera, followed by Instamatic 126 and then a Tele-instamatic 110 before my 35mm). But my first shots of flying planes was the same year of my first AF Museum visit because that was when we moved back to Ohio from Denver. The house we lived in, in Springfield, OH, was right under the approach for Wright-Patterson AFB and I got to see numerous B-52s as they'd come home in a long line after playing all day. That is where I first saw the C-5 testing with a T-28 chase plane; lots of transports of various types for 1969-1970, including the Argosy - looked like a 4-engined C-119; and C-119s and KC-97s, etc. But I also saw the B-58 once, and years later I learned it was probably that last flight to the air base so it could be displayed at the AF Museum. I had a hundred photos I took as all these planes flew over, but with that 126 Instamatic, even though you could tell what they were, the planes were mere specks. I kept the photos for a long time for sentimental reasons, and finally threw them all away about 25 years ago. Now I wish I had kept them!

Glenn C.,

Wow! Great story.

I kept the photos for a long time for sentimental reasons, and finally threw them all away about 25 years ago. Now I wish I had kept them!

I wish you still had those pics. They would be great to see!

I wish I had kept those pics to prove I saw the B-58. You don't know how many times I've been told it wasn't possible because they no longer flew, but it flew to the Museum in December 1969 and I saw it and shot it with my 127. And the C-5 with the T-28 chase plane, etc. The shots were such poor quality that I figured they were worthless and finally just tossed them when we were moving.

The two n Glenn comes from my Welsh ancestry.

I grew up around cotton fields and paratroopers, My first planes were cessna 172 outfitted to jump from and ag- wagons, thrush commanders and my prize was my uncles P51D (N7711C) it was a beaut. flew so much as a kid it was funny listening to people who have never been up, but I still love it to this day.

I have been afflicted with aero-nut-ism as long as I can remember.

My mom saved drawings that I made as a kid and they were mostly airplanes.

We lived in Lubbock...I begged may parents to take me out to Reese AFB to watch the T-37 and T-38's fly. We went to airshows..even went to the general aviation side of LBB to look at Cessna's a few times.

My first ride was on a Braniff 727 to San Antonio. My first prop ride was in a Cessna 4 seater of some sort that my neighbor owned. WOOT!

The first pictures I can find, of me with an airplane, that my dad too,k are @ 1972 at a CAF airshow in Fort Worth.

P-51! Cadillac of the sky!

I've been interested in planes since I can remember, so there is no distinct memory of what got me interested. I've just always been awestruck by powered flight of all kinds.

Not uncommonly, as a boy the spitfire is the plane I liked the most, though I also had a fondness for the underdog Hurricane. I also liked Messerschmit 109's. Another type that I read about in a War Picture Library comic, that I like because it was different, was the Cobra. (the Cobra is a mid engined WWII era fighter plane). The P51 is also pretty cool.

The Mig 15 is the aircraft I'd own if I had the money. It's a beautiful aircraft.

Bombers: the Dornier HE111, the Lancaster, the B29 (my favourite bomber) and the B17. And the lincoln.

Civilian: learjet's always got me excited. I also was rather fond of 727's. I travelled in them as a child visiting my mother in Sydney. I still remember cockpit visits to meet the pilots and if lucky get to touch the controls. A shame kid's don't get this opportunity anymore..

Hey Zane, if you relable that P-51 photo to N51GY, that's what she is today.

My first plane ride was when I was 18 and I paid for an introductory flight in a Cherokee. Two months later my next plane ride was a DC-9 from Columbus, OH to Washington, DC where we took a bus to Ft. Bragg, NC for basic training. My next couple rides were airliners getting me to Ft. Leonard Wood for Combat Engineer Training and then to Ft. Benning. So up to Ft. Benning I flew four times and my fifth flight was in a C-130 to jump out of it! Four more of those to get my wings and within the next four months more jumps and then I started flying lessons.

My favorite WWII bird was always the P-47 after I read the book "Thunderbolt", and for later years my favorite was the F-105 - I read "Thud Ridge". But my overall favorite plane to fly was the L-17 the flying club had. I loved that Navion.

Funny how our favourite aircraft are often because of some connection we have with them, not necessarily for purely technical or aesethetic reasons. For example I never like the shape of the Vought F4U Corsair due to it's v shape wings, until I had a model of one! Now I really like the wing shape.

Or the reverse. There may be a dog ugly aircraft that due to it's prowess we see as beautiful to behold. The B29 for example, or the Stuka JU87. Or the ME-262.