Small world indeed, and "Hi" back at you :-)
I was down there twice actually. The first time as a guest of TPS to fly the T38. The second time as a guest of Admiral Brown and Strike to try on the F14.
The guys I remember would be Tom Flannery, Jack Battenberg, Nial, and of course Tex Birdwell and Johnson who releived him during the time I was there.
Paul Nafzinger worked with me on the T38 flights.
I remember well how DD looked after the punch. I still have a picture of his face around here somewhere. God what a mess he was. He was minus 7 erect and couldn't reach the curtain. He finally got hold of the lower handle to get out. Pete was right on the spin axis and had no comparable problem.
DD and Jo moved out to California near Mirimar. Last word I had was that he was a banker of all things :-))
I hope they survived all the banking mess and are still doing ok.
You mentioned the YF17 prototype. I never met Jack, but I narrated the demo for Northrop when Hank and Bob Elder brought the bird down to Pax for the air show.
That's another great DD Smith story. He was doing the demo in the Tomcat and I was narrating the demo for Strike. Admiral Holloway was standing right next to me as I did my thing on the podium. DD made a low pass blindsiding the Marine Corps band who were standing right in front of the podium. He went to zone 5 right over their heads. The entire band went down as one man not knowing what the hell was happening :-)
It was a great moment for the Navy with Holloway laughing at the whole thing.
I believe there were several rounds bought for the Marines later on over at the Belvedere to amend as the rest of us decided whether or not we could get away with stealing the bull off the roof of the motel :-)))))))))
Great times; great people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dudley
Last edited by Dudley Henriques; 14th Dec 2009 at 13:13.