HEY HOMEY, and the rest of you lovers of history and "aeroplanes"

[TUSooner]

I just finished reading Eddie Rickenbacker's 1919 book, Fighting the Flying Circus, about Pursuit Squadron 94, the "Hat in the Ring" squadron of WW Uno. It's an easy but intelligent read, amusing, yet not without some poignancy. Rickenbacker was a Great American hero; his massive autobiography is awesome. He was one of America's first great race-car drivers, and one of the first great fighter pilots. He writes so cooly about the deadly "sport" of air combat against Fokkers and Albatrosses in Nieuports whose wing fabric rips off under stress, and the nifty Spad -- and no parachutes. You see that this man had nerve to spare, but was always ready to learn something from his mistakes or others'. The bits of WWI slang and jargon are kinda neat, too.
Read this book!

[royalfan5]

Sounds interesting, I will try to flag down a used copy.

[mdklatt]

Those WW I jobbers didn't even have throttles. Pilots had to regulate power by using the ignition to turn off the engine.

[Okla-homey]

I think Rickenbacker went home after the War to End All Wars and got involved with Eastern Airlines if memory serves.

[mdklatt]

I think Rickenbacker went home after the War to End All Wars and got involved with Eastern Airlines if memory serves.

He was the CEO that turned Eastern into a big-time airline.

Hmmm...according to Wikipedia, Rickenbacker has the same birthday as me and died in the year I was born. Does that mean anything?

[TUSooner]

He was the CEO that turned Eastern into a big-time airline.

Hmmm...according to Wikipedia, Rickenbacker has the same birthday as me and died in the year I was born. Does that mean anything?

You're him?

Ironically, Rickenbacker was badly hurt and nearly killed in an Eastern AL crash after getting thru WWI without even a scratch. He cheated death more than a few times. He, with 2 or 3 other guys, also survived a month on an open raft in mid-Pacific during WWII after their plane got lost and had to ditch. He wasn't fighting in that one, but was on some sort of morale-boosting tour. A seagull landed on his head; they ate it raw.

[Okla-homey]

You're him?

Ironically, Rickenbacker was badly hurt and nearly killed in an Eastern AL crash after getting thru WWI without even a scratch. He cheated death more than a few times. He, with 2 or 3 other guys, also survived a month on an open raft in mid-Pacific during WWII after their plane got lost and had to ditch. He wasn't fighting in that one, but was on some sort of morale-boosting tour. A seagull landed on his head; they ate it raw.

The human memory is wierd. Your telling of that life raft tale reminded my of reading it in 1968 when I was in third grade on one if those "SRA" cards. Remember SRA? You went to a big box of 8x10" cards in your classsroom and the cards had stories on them, read the stories and moved through color levels as you read the stories and then took the little reading comprehension quizzes on the back of each card. In retrospect, I think it was a pretty cool reading program.

[TUSooner]

The human memory is wierd. Your telling of that life raft tale reminded my of reading it in 1968 when I was in third grade on one if those "SRA" cards. Remember SRA? You went to a big box of 8x10" cards in your classsroom and the cards had stories on them, read the stories and moved through color levels as you read the stories and then took the little reading comprehension quizzes on the back of each card. In retrospect, I think it was a pretty cool reading program.
I remember the color-coded cards, but I forget; what did SRA stand for?

[Okla-homey]

I remember the color-coded cards, but I forget; what did SRA stand for?

Methinks it stood for Scholastic Research Associates. I think they were also the "My Weekly Reader" folks.

The cool thing about SRA was each kid had a goal for which to strive. The stories got tougher as you read through the colors. It was fun to compete with your buds. The teacher even kept a chart on the wall indicating what color every kid had completed.

Of course, these days, competition among kids is considered less than desirable...or so I've heard. Perhaps this is part of the reason we're turning into a nation of slackers

[mdklatt]

I remember those cards, too.

[1stTimeCaller]

we had those cards too.

[Okla-homey]

I reckon if you were in elementary school in OK or TX in the 60's you probably had SRA.

[mdklatt]

I reckon if you were in elementary school in IA in the late 70's/early 80's you probably had SRA.

;)