Old mate of mine was on the DC-9s. He died last year and when I ran into Jack Curtis at Pay's funeral, Jack said "Ah Bill! DId my line check on the DC-9..."
Old Bill loved the DC-9... and had cut his teeth on Catalinas during the war.
In the last 4 years I have lost a few WWII pilots close to me incl. a Lanc pilot, B-24 pilot, Spit driver and a couple of well known P-40 sqn leaders.
If you have a WWII driver nearby, spend a couple of hours with him over new year... not many left!
