Bob Webb , ME | When I was 18 or 19 years old, my musical partner Bob Bornstein and I were engaged to play music during the Labor Day weekend on Catalina Island in California. Being a long-time historic-airplane buff -- my father helped build B-25 bombers during World War II -- you can imagine my excitement when I learned that we were to be flown from Long Beach to Avalon in the last surviving S-44A. That was my first ride in any airplane, and the most unusual and fascinating of hundreds I've made since. I can still remember climbing into the hull as it floated on the water, then the big windup of the engines and the sea spraying over all the windows as we got up on the step. Great stuff! The only problem was, we were flown back to the mainland in a Grumman Goose amphibian, which landed at Long Beach airport, several miles from the seaplane terminal where we had parked our car! 11/26/2010 @ 13:23 [ref: 33371] |
Kirk Conway Alton, KS | I met Robert Layher of thew former flying Tiger,s
here In Kansas where I live,
I was looking up Info on him, and I found out that he flew the S-44 sikorsky,s,
I was really Impressed by this, as Ive liked the S-44,s
for a long time,But never saw one except In picture,s,
I keep in touch with him,and we talk about different thing,s,
I feel really fortunate to have met him, as Im an avid warbord nut also,and love the music of the older engine,s,
There,s nothing like them anywhere.
Kirk Conway, 06/18/2006 @ 05:55 [ref: 13539] |