Good memory Panhead.
No, being a school night, I'll have to wait until the weekend to celebrate. Most likely a glass of some good Cabernet will have to suffice.
the real celebration will begin this weekend when we'll be flying down to San Clemente to celebrate the 95th birthday of Col. Robert Thacker USAF (RET).
He's well known in the radio controlled aircraft community, but also almost got shot down (by our own) as he flew into Hickem Air Field on December 7, 1941.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/thacker-156921-air-japanese.html This is a video of his Y-22 Model Jet. Wow!
"Colonel Thacker flew the P-82 (twin fuselage) from Honolulu to New York in 1947. This was the longest non-stop fighter flight carrying the maximum weight for
takeoff of a fighter and set the speed record between Hawaii and New York." He also flew high altitude missions in Nam. I'll have to ask him about that one.
https://www.modelaircraft.org/files/ThackerColRobertERet.pdfI've known his daughter since high school in Frankfurt Germany back in the 60s, but only recently met him at an event in San Diego this past summer. Since both their birthdays are within days of mine; we agreed to celebrate together this coming weekend. So that is going to be one of the best ever for me. He has been a Test Pilot in the Air Force and a close friend of Chuck Yeager, another Air Force hero, IMHO. While my flying has been limited to a number of years back, I find the world of aeronautics fascinating, so it should be an interesting weekend ahead. It will be one of the best birthdays yet!
So, that's how I'm going to roll this birthday weekend...Har! Love it!