"They've got to get off the ground"

[OldAirmail]

If you don't find this interesting then you're on the wrong website.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fO6SQcou-c[/youtube]

[Shadowcaster]

Remember watching these on the tele ages ago, thanks for posting I will have to dig through the masses of old TV recordings and watch em again.

Cheers
Rich

[Hawkeye07]

OAM, thanks for posting that documentary. Although I've seen numerous other docs on aircraft and aero-engines I'm still amazed by them. I also get as charge out of many of the other topics that are shown afterwards such as the follow up on ship engines. Very interesting!

[OldAirmail]

Thanks, Hawkeye.

One thing that I liked in that video was the air time in the Ford Trimotor. That may be the closest I'll ever be to the insides of one.

The one on the ship engines? Yeah, watched that one from start to finish too.



I was eight when we crossed from Southampton, UK to New York City in the SS Liberte. This was in '58.

They hauled me off the steps down to the engine room. The same with the bow of the ship.

Keeping up with me was a real job. I think that the captain would have had me lashed to the mast if he could have gotten away with it.

Talk about an adventure for a little kid!

Surprisingly, there's even a few videos of the ship.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po1wGfM7vA0[/youtube]


Of course they don't show our cabin which was, I think, down is steerage.
Ours looked something like this, but without the sink.

[Hawkeye07]

OAM sez ..."I was eight when we crossed from Southampton, UK to New York City in the SS Liberte. This was in '58.

If you were eight in '58 then we're the same age or pretty close. I was born May 02 of 1950. (Same month and day as the Red Baron)

That trip across the Atlantic must have been an amazing experience for an eight year old. It's one of those experiences that every kid would have sold his siblings for.

I had two siblings...I wonder if I could have gotten a round trip?

[OldAirmail]

OAM sez ..."I was eight when we crossed from Southampton, UK to New York City in the SS Liberte. This was in '58.

If you were eight in '58 then we're the same age or pretty close. I was born May 02 of 1950. (Same month and day as the Red Baron)

That trip across the Atlantic must have been an amazing experience for an eight year old. It's one of those experiences that every kid would have sold his siblings for.

I had two siblings...I wonder if I could have gotten a round trip?

October for me.

And, yes, I had a great time.

The first three days everyone was seasick. Except me.

Then on the third day , they were well and I was seasick.


Life was good as a kid.

We flew from New York to London on a Constellation. Looking out the window, at night, over the Atlantic, I saw that the engine was on fire. No one else seemed worried, and I was tired. I fell asleep.

Watch what's coming out of the engines on this takeoff. I suppose that on that night we must have been climbing to avoid weather. That would have produced the same takeoff exhaust, I suppose.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dExlu488bM4[/youtube]

[Hawkeye07]

Definitely would have sold my siblings for that round trip.

By the way, out of curiosity, what was the purpose of that trans oceanic adventure OAM? (Besides making me very jealous.)

[OldAirmail]

My father was hired as a comptroller for a large project in England. After the work was done we moved back to New York City.


We were to be there only about six months before going on to the next assignment in the beginning of 1959. For whatever reason, we never did go to Saigon.

In all, we spent about one and a half years in Spain, Iceland, and England (in that order). Spain & England, needless to say, were my favorite places, with the best memories.

My brother and I traveled well, but my sister hated it, so we stayed in New York.


So the travel, a relative hung as a horse thief, and being one eighth American indian, are pretty much my only claims to fame.