Interesting Family History Stories

[Abscate]

[finster]

a staggering achievement and all done with basic navigation aids and landing beacons.
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

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[pondoras box]

[zerotofifty]

[finster]

[Abscate]

[finster]

my dad did his national service around the time of the berlin airlift. he chose the RAF but ended up in coastal command based at kinloss learning 'if it moves salute it, if stationary paint it'. he was trained on radar to watch for soviet planes over the north sea, however it turned out he was red/green colourblind

in the 80s I worked with guys who had been aircrew on the airlift - they were all stone deaf from the engine noise.
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

[pondoras box]

About 3 miles away from the airfield I mentioned above was an older guy that had a field full of Volkswagens. This was in the early 90’s so these types of places still existed. But talked to the guy about the cars and buying parts, but nothing was for sale. I noticed an aircraft prop on the wall in his entry way. Being I was in school to get my airframe and power plant certification I asked if he was in aviation. That opened a whole new world for him. He was one of the pilots for the Berlin Airlift operation. It was like the scene out of Sandlot. Old house older guy that was grumpy and unapproachable. Once we found common ground we talked for hours. He showed me pictures and memorabilia from his flying days. I had never heard of the Berlin Airlift before. He still had one of the little parachutes they used to drop candy and stuff.

But alas, no cars or parts were ever for sale. He just enjoyed having them and I respected that. I stopped by occasionally and we talked VW’s. Never let go of any VW’s but he introduced me to yellow meat watermelons that he grew in his garden. If you’ve never had one try it. Hard to find in stores though.

I had forgotten about this gentleman and glad this thread reminded me about him.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop (Arschloch)
1973 standard bug (Dirty Gertie)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=804912
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion

[finster]

[Abscate]

I had dinner one night with the guy who armed the Hiroshima bomb. Talk about a conversation stopper. It still haunted him. 1990s
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🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🍊 🍊 🍊

[Xevin]

[zerotofifty]

[pondoras box]

[Fish]

My Grandfather, Mortimer William Fish has 10 United States Patents issued to him from July 7, 1925 through May 17, 1949 while working for Delco-Light Co, Frigidaire Corp. and General Motors Corp. All having to do with Electrical components and refrigeration. His last patent was for a “Liquid cooler, including agitator motor and heat removing device therefore.” #2,470,551.
My grandmother always had all the latest appliances in her kitchen. Most were test units with counters on them to see how many times a door opened/closed or a switch turn on/off and for how long. She said men from Grandpas plant would come out once a week and take down the reading or switch out appliances. This was still happening after Grandpa retired and I can remember as a child seeing the counters on the fridge.
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Prosit!

.·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·..><((((º>
.·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·..><((((º>

# 303 and #156

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[OB Bus]

My father was a staff officer (non-flying) in the Army Air Corps in WW2. He like most male college students was in ROTC. He graduated from college in 1941 but was unable to find a teaching job. There was a 1 year active duty obligation so he and my Mom decided that he would "get that over with" before going on with their lives. Then Pearl Harbor was attacked and all orders were converted to "For The Duration".
His group was flying B-25s and training in South Carolina. The group received an order to loan 8 aircraft to a special unit being formed by Col. Jimmy Dolittle. My father was the officer who authorized the transfer of the planes. Despite tight security it was pretty obvious to everyone in his group what was going on. The planes practiced very short field takeoffs. Painted on the runway was the outline of an aircraft carrier flight deck.
This all was for the "Doolittle Raid". Those planes took off from the USS Hornet and bombed Tokyo. The physical damage was minimal but the psychological effect on Japan was great. .
None if the planes made it back. The crews that were shot down over Japan were executed. My dad told me that he assumed he was still responsible for the loan of the planes that were never returned.
And despite being a non flying officer, he did quite a number of bombing raid as a copilot. There was a shortage of pilots
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Larry in OB
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!
69 Westfalia and 2002 Eurovan Camper.
People deserve the Government they voted for.

[Shonandb]

I remember my Grandmother on my Mom's side used to tell us stories when my brother and I were kids (under 10). She was born in the mid 1890s in England and like many at that time, her parents had a dream to resettle in North America.

She said that they were initially planning to take a boat across in 1912 but her Father was ill and ended up passing away so they made the journey the following year in 1913 instead. She said that they were initially trying to buy tickets on the Titanic and was grateful that they didn't as they would have been in the lower decks and most likely, not have survived.
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76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
Click to view image

[mrinnovation1]

Not my family but we had a neighbor where we used to live who claimed her father was one of the Trujillo assassins in 1961. The U.S. then got him and his family safely out of the Dominican Republic.

[pondoras box]

Not my family but still interesting is there is a real estate agent in Erie, PA who’s late husband was one of the guys who defected from the USSR in a MIG fighter jet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciszek_Jarecki

As a weird side note the US Border Patrol station in Erie is at the location where his horse track was located. In fact you drive on the track itself to get to it, paved over now of course.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop (Arschloch)
1973 standard bug (Dirty Gertie)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=804912
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion

[zerotofifty]