Sad Story, Happy Ending
 

My son Matt got my wife and me tickets to join him, his wife Jessica and son Oliver to attend the “Wings Over Batavia (NY) Airshow” on Saturday September 2nd. The airshow started at 5:00 PM and ended at 9:00 PM or a little later. So, much of the airshow was done during darkness.

Of course, Batavia was home to Baker Gun and Forge Company back in the early 1900’s.

I should mention that my son Matt along with his son Oliver, our grandson, spend some of their free time at the Batavia Airport which is close by and he got to know much of what goes on there and the people who do it.

We had our folding lawn chairs to sit in during the airshow and we were seated on pavement just in front of a hanger that was converted to The Hospitality Hanger.

It was a fantastic airshow that started at 5:00 PM and was reasonably comfortable but windy. As the show progressed into darkness, it got colder and I noticed with my cold hands my wedding ring was pretty loose.

The show ends and we walk back to the car and that’s when I noticed my ring was no longer on my finger. I lost it somewhere. I wasn’t too upset but my son Matt was and insisted we got back and try to find it – in the dark.

We used the flashlight feature on his and my wife’s cell phone (mine doesn’t have one) to look. We looked at all the places we were and found nothing. A man asked if we were looking for something and I told him and he made notes on his phone in case someone finds it. I asked if he worked at the show, yeah, he was the show director – Dennis who also directs other airshows, including Oshkosh.

One week later I get a phone call and was asked if I lost a ring at the airshow. I told him yes and described it. It was mine. He had found it two days earlier in front of his hanger. WOW!

I asked when I could get it and asked if I may give him a reward. He said NO to the reward and said he would be available at the airport the next day Sunday around 2:00 PM and would not be available after that. He was going to Florida and Texas on Monday.

He gave me his name, Peter X, and his phone number to call on Sunday to tell us where he would be. I’m not using his full name because I do not have his permission to and don’t want to offend him. PM me if you’d like to know.

I then called my son Matt to tell him the good news and had the guy’s name and phone number. He asked who called, I said it was Peter X. He asked, Peter X called you? Yes, I said. He found your ring? Yes, I said.

Turns out Peter X is very well known in a very favorable way in Genesee County and the city of Batavia. He owns 3 hangers at the airport and owns several airplanes – including a P51 Mustang that’s been converted to a two seater so his wife can fly with him.

So, next day I call Peter and arrange for Matt and me to meet him at one of his hangers and get my ring. And we did.

He gave me my ring and I got a picture of me in front of his P51.

Sad story, happy ending.

https://i.imgur.com/HdfgkxL.jpg

WOW Bill - That's awesome in every respect!!





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Great story Bill, there's many great people out there, let's hope we can keep it that way!!

That is a cool picture, would be a great aircraft to have a ride in for sure.

That is a story with a happy ending. Good for you.

What a great story Bill, and a great picture. Just proves that good things happen to good people. Glad everything worked out.

A happy ending, indeed, shipmate!:cheers:

Great story Bill. I would have begged him for a flight in the plane.:)

Stan....You need one of those. Just imagine you buzzing the BoWhoop at Ernie's.:eek:

thanks for a happy ending story Bill

Thanks for the great story. You would look good sitting inside the plane and ready for takeoff.

John and you other guys, you're right, I would have looked good and felt good in the back seat of that Mustang. But probably not meant to be, for now anyway.

And if that's the case, it wouldn't be until next summer. The day after he gave me my ring, Peter and his wife flew his Mustang, "Crazy Horse 2" to Kissimmee Gateway Airport and taxied over to the Stallion 51 hanger where it will join Crazy Horse 1 and other P51's for the winter.

And you can be sure, if I get a ride in it when he brings it back home to Batavia next summer, I will have a picture or two for you.

I can only hope.

Bill

Talk about luck, you should have bought a lottery ticket right then and there, Gary

Great story, Bill. that pic brings back memories of my one and only first hand viewing of 1 of 3 restored and flying F4-U Corsairs. It was in a hangar at the Allendale/Fairfax airport in South Carolina some 25 years ago. It was owned, and flown, by Joe Tobul. It was a huge fighter plane and I was awed by it's sheer presence. The four blade prop was immense. Joe crashed and died in that plane at an airshow some years later. I've been told that his son has rebuilt the airplane to it's former glory.

As Bob Hope used to say, "Thanks for the memories".

The F4-U Corsair is the ultimate fighter aircraft and you got to see one of them fly. That's awesome Stan. Yeah, great memories.

Many years ago when I was in the Navy, 1956 - 1957 to be exact when I was on the USS Allagash AO 97, a fleet tanker or sea going gas station, we refueled ships at sea.

We refueled aircraft carriers on our port side and I can recall looking up to the edge of the flight deck and see that folded gull wing and large 4 bladed prop of the Corsair. We carried aviation gas for those plus JP 5 for Navy Jets that were in the early stages.

Some great memories there too.

Sometime if you don't have anything to do, check out the home page of the USS Abbot DD 629. Here: https://abbot.us/main/

I took that movie showing the Abbot coming alongside to refuel in some pretty nasty weather. And we didn't thank God.

Go here to see some more of my movies and you can just get a quick look of one of those carriers on our port side and see a couple of those Corsairs on the edge of the flight deck. Here: https://abbot.us/AO97/ You will get a very quick glimpse at 6:44 into this movie. And towards the end of that movie, I got on the fire control tower of the Allagash and took those movies of the flight deck of the carrier.

Wouldn't it be great if we could see one of those Corsairs in the air again. We can dream, can't we?

Thanks Stan.

Great memories, Bill. The close friend of mine who took me to see the Corsair piloted them in the latter part of WWII and in Korea. He flew for a time with the Black Sheep squadron in the South Pacific. His stories of flights in those planes are indelibly imprinted in my mind. I have a pic of him in his F4-U, taken by a wingman, somewhere. If I can find it I'll post it here, in memory of him and his sorties, if for nothing more.

I hope you can find it and post it here Stan.

That is a fantastic story with a great ending!!! There are still good people in this world!

And you think collecting Parkers is expensive....