This is a very interesting video of America's first jet aircraft on its first flights, September/October, 1942.

http://www.aircraftowner.com/v...tober-1942_1617.html

It is amazing what technologies have changed in my lifetime.

In a time when a computer flies the plane it is great to see history of aviation.

I don't know exactly when but either in 1944 or MAYBE early 1945 I attended an air show at Brookley Field, Mobile ,Ala to see a demonstration of glider operations as Brookley was a glider training base i believe. The gliders were Waco's I'm pretty sure , but the highlight of the whole show was the finale was a low (probably 50 ft or so) pass by a Bell Aircomet which then landed and everyone got a good close look. It impressed hell out of a 10 year boy but not half as much as the glider pilot who landed the glider in front of the viewers and rolled the nose up on a 50 cent piece. Especially when the boy treasured that 50 cent piece for many years. Such were the war time years for a young boy.Plus I got to watch them launch ships at Gulf Shipbuilding where my father worked.

I soloed at Bates Field in Mobile in July, 1959 at age 16. At that time, Brookley was a jet base of some sort and later became an overhaul base for F-105 Thuds. It was closed by Lyndon Johnson in one of his tantrums after Alabama went for Goldwater. Many people were instantly unemployed. That was just another reason to despise LBJ.