ah...a true benefit to owning the spit...great vignette
richard / colorado
----- Original Message -----
From: "Banbury, Terrence" <Terrence.Banbury@dnr.state.oh.us>
To: "'Vic Whitmore'" <vicwhit@home.com>
Cc: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 8:46 AM
Subject: RE: Much further off topic/RAF museum
>
> On the first day at my job many years ago, I met an RAF pilot, who
commented
> on my "Spitfire". What the hell was an RAF pilot doing in my small town
in
> Michigan?, I wondered. Turns out, as a 17 year old American kid, of
French
> decent, he couldn't wait to fight, but mostly wanted to fly. So he made
his
> way to Canada and lied about his age, and probably a few other things, and
> volunteered for the Canadian service. At some point he was mustered out
to
> England as a pilot. His name was Orlo Schatte. He was probably in his
late
> 50's at the time. He would sit in his office, smoking his cigarette,
> telling me stories of action and adventure, while the ash on the ciggy
grew
> long and added to the tension by making me wonder when it would finally
fall
> off. Now... I can spot Bullshit a mile away. This guy was legit. Most
of
> his stories were about his (and his mates') errors and stupid moves, not
> about how many kills they made. Things like victory rolls over the
> airfield, flying under bridges, and other acts of bravado that they
usually
> paid some kind of price for. Oh, he would explain technically how the
guns
> worked, what maneuvers you would make in combat, etc. A great guy...and
I
> met him because I drove a Triumph Spitfire.
>
>
>
>
> > ----------
> > From: Vic Whitmore[SMTP:vicwhit@home.com]
> > Reply To: Vic Whitmore
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 9:45 AM
> > To: Mark Gardner
> > Cc: Zach; spitfires@autox.team.net
> > Subject: Re: Only slightly off topic
> >
> >
> > The museum is at Hendon. It is very very good. I visited it over ten
years
> > ago
> > and really enjoyed it. But if you are not a flying buff, it may not
> > interest
> > you.
> >
> > Vic Whitmore
> > 76 Spitfire
> > Thornhill, Ontario
> >
> > Mark Gardner wrote:
> > >
> > > Zach wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Greetings fellow pre-NASC members,
> > > >
> > > > I was just wondering if the boundless knowledge could be of use yet
> > again.
> > > > You see, I'm traveling to England, well, London to be precise, next
> > week
> > > snip
> > >
> > > Zach - If you have the time and the transportation go to the RAF
Museum
> > > just north of London - can't remember the name of the city - starts
with
> > > a B I think - can anybody from the home team help Zach out?
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > >
> > > Mark Gardner
> >
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