Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantilla
I've heard Air Force and ex-Air Force pilots say the most fun they ever had was flying the T-38.
Wanting to fly myself, I'd take that, or the single seat version, the F-5:
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Many of the Apollo astronauts were active duty pilots. They were supplied a personal T-38 to keep up hours. Just fly yourself from Houston to Florida or wherever they wanted to go. Free fuel, free maintenance, and get paid to do it.
One of our customers came in and was fascinated with our 4 foot by 8 foot wall of airplane photos. He said he joined the Army Air corp in 1945, stationed in San Diego, and was through basic training in the P-51. They basically tossed him the key to a new P-51 and said go build hours. He was 21 years old, and his favorite pastime was flying in low over a fancy sailboat that only rich folks had. Just as he cleared the mast, he would pull up at full throttle and usually blow the boat over on it's side. He was gone straight ahead so they could not get a tail number. He just laughed. He said years later he did start to feel guilty, but the kid in him still laughed.