Re: Doc, (B29) took his first flight this morning.

Wow. How disappointing. I hope my father chimes in as he posts here too.

My recollection from a few Fifi vists to Topeka 20 some years ago. First. Fifi arrived during an airshow we were putting on. My father was in charge of parking her up on the corner of the flight line and the big bird loop. I too was on the line crew having grown up around radials and Allison's. So moving and directing around belching and coughing machines was nothing new, just bigger.

After being parked, the fight crew exited and the sponsoring CAF group took over. I don't remember bad maners per se but this was how CAF operated and we knew it. As i recall Fifi was in between shows and did not want to fly home to turn around and fly back north two weeks later. CAF was looking for a parking place to save them and we provided it. They made their tour money but we didn't pay the appearence fee since we were providing a secure location.

A few weeks later we repeated this except we were not having an airshow. At that time I was invited in by some of the crew and given a tour. Myself and a few others that were "line crew" then sat with a few of the crew in the mid section and talked, listened to stories and had a good time. I guess a lot can change in one score.

Not trying to discount other's experiences, it just was not my experience.

Phil