One of the reasons Jake is right for me.

Jake and I met on line, back in the hay-day of AOL. Our mutual interest in aviation history brought us together. I like B-17's and C-130's. Jake has ridden in both. Below is a short excerpt from a story he wrote recently about how his love for airplanes in general, and B-17's specifically, began. Somewhere in a photo album is a picture of a six year old Jake standing in front of the Memphis Belle. You've gotta love a man who can write a 4 page story in a couple of hours and even includes punctuation!

On a trip to visit his Grandmother's house in Black Oak, Arkansas from Decatur, Alabama, a young lad's family makes a stop in Memphis, Tennessee to see some of the sights. The family stops near a National Guard armory because the father wants to show something to the young boy. And there it was.... A huge big green airplane on a concrete pedestal. It was the neatest thing this six year old kid had ever seen. It had these big tires and all those engines and stars on the sides, with so many machine guns sticking out from it from everywhere. You never saw a bigger smile on a kid’s face. "What is it dad?" the young boy asked his father. "It's a B-17 son. It's called The Memphis Belle. It's a pretty famous airplane and I got to ride home in one like this one when I came home after the war. I'll always remember that ride."