(RIP) George H W Bush Passes away (Navy Pilot?)

The news today said president Bush decided to “live life to the fullest after his fighter jet was shot down in wwii”
 
Old97 said:
The news today said president Bush decided to “live life to the fullest after his fighter jet was shot down in wwii”
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Yeah, the press gets that wrong a lot. Just because a bomber has guns for defense doesn't make it a fighter plane. And then there's that jet engine goof. :eek:

H.W. mourned losing his crew members all his life, but from what I've read, Avenger pilots often got out when the turret gunner and radio man didn't. Radio man sat low in the fuselage, just aft of bomb/torpedo bay, with turret gunner above. To bail out, both would have to crawl through very tight spaces and depart through a lower hatch, and to compound matters, the didn't typically wear chutes like the pilot. They had access to them, but often there just wasn't time to put them on. What looks like a second seat, directly behind the pilot, was often filled with radio gear....it looks curiously vacant in most WWII photos.

Mulroney hit it out of the park with his poignant eulogy. Loved the story of the CAVU plaque outside Kennebunkport...not just a weather descriptor but the life philosophy of an eternal optimist. And W's tribute was awesome as well. "Die young, as late as possible." Good stuff. Makes me nostalgic for when you could respect both the office of the President and the man occupying it.
 
I watched the service this morning live from around the time they arrived to transport the coffin to the church, and then picked back up to watch the 747 lift off. I would make an effort to do the same for the death of any president, but as a fellow pilot, one who flew in WWII, and one who (from the stories) loved horsepower, maybe I felt I had more in common with this one. Although I was born under Reagan, Bush 41 is the first President I have memories of. Actually, I was in Poland in 1992. He was visiting at that point, and we went to see him as he got driven in his Cadillac limo to wherever he was going. That the summer of '92, and he was running against Bill Clinton at that point. It sounds like a ride in his boat would've been a blast, and taking up skydiving after retirement is also pretty neat. Maybe that's when I'll give it a shot. I thought it interesting that he held on to "CAVU" as something that still gave him comfort.

I thought the service was very well done, and the eulogies very well written and delivered. As I was between the ages of 4 and 8 during 41's term in office, I don't remember much. I've learned a lot about the man and his life since his passing, and have a great deal of respect for him.

CAVU and tailwinds, Mr. President.
 
Ghery said:
And George W had a very difficult job to do. Giving a eulogy at your father's funeral is a very tough job. BTDT.
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I was thinking about that during the eulogy. It was an interesting set of emotions watching him give his eulogy to his father. It occurred to me that, although I have attended a good number of funerals in my life of people whom I cared deeply for, they have all (or at least all that I can recall) been for women. I have never attended the funeral of a man, nor heard a man be eulogized by his son.

I'll never have the emotions of losing a beloved father, nor attending his funeral, since my father chose not to be a man (in the John Wayne sense) and was not in my life at all, and still requests that I call him by his first name. I didn't speak to him until I was 10, didn't meet him until I was 21, and those events only happened because he learned I am more stubborn than he is. We're on good terms but don't talk regularly. I doubt if I will even be invited to or informed of my father's funeral, even though I did make him promise that I would be told about it over 10 years ago. For me, the mourning occurred 20+ years ago over the loss of the father I never had.

As lucky as W was to have had a wonderful father who he loved, and had him for so long, I felt great empathy for him on his loss, and his tearing up at the end of his eulogy about brought tears to my eyes. I will never know that loss, but I know mine, even though for me it was over 20 years ago that I dealt with it and was of a very different nature. The price of love is loss, and the price of not having loss is not having love. I think the first option is a better one, but that doesn't make it easy when it happens. Hopefully when I die, my children will be as saddened as W was over the loss of his father.

I also thought President Bush's funeral today included some valuable life goals for all of us:

- Die young as late as possible
- Spend time with those you love
- Do what's right, even when it's going to cost you personally
- Be happy at the thought of CAVU

I might make a plaque that says "CAVU" and place it somewhere on my property, like he did. A pilot to the end.
 
Daughter says the 20 jet missing man that just flew over her house at 250' was pretty impressive. She says one jet must have been on a different path but 20 were directly overhead. Mr. Bush is being taken off the train in front of the bell tower on campus right now. The procession from campus to the library is private for family only.

Welcome home, Sir.
 
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Stewartb said:
Daughter says the 20 jet missing man that just flew over her house at 250' was pretty impressive. She says one jet must have been on a different path but 20 were directly overhead.
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https://news.usni.org/2018/12/06/navy-conducts-21-jet-flyover-president-bushs-interment-ceremony

"Being selected to participate in this memorial is one of the highest honors a Naval Aviator can receive,” Rear Adm. Roy Kelley, commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic, said in a statement. “In addition to being our president, he was also one of our brothers, flying combat missions off aircraft carriers during World War II. His service to our Navy and nation merits a tribute of this magnitude.”
 
A friend of mine lives near Reagan, Tx. He texted me earlier today saying 21 jets was in a holding pattern over his house, 66 miles from CLL, the biggest formation flight he has ever seen.

Must have been a spare in the air.
 
I can honestly say I didn't know what Flushing a Covey meant!
 
An old (older than me!) squadron mate and I kicked around a discussion yesterday on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1140969972737389&set=gm.725087194544786&type=3&theater&ifg=1
where then VP George HW Bush received a ships bell on USS Ranger CV-61 on 14MAY83 and we were trying to recall if we were there for it. Neither of us could remember the event, so checking my flight log, I had flights to/from CV61 on 10, 11, 17 MAY, and on 18 May 83 C61 back to Miramar, and then returned to CV61 on 8JUN83.
We decided both of us apparently have onset CRS ... :)
 

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35 AoA said:
There were 30 jets to make 21.......so 9 spares actually :)
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I thought they would have flown all 21 in the same cluster or diamond pattern and then 1 or 2 breakaway for the missing man portion.
 
I see the headlines now. Naval Aviator losses wings for flying IMC without a clearance. :eek:

 
Scrabo said:
I thought they would have flown all 21 in the same cluster or diamond pattern and then 1 or 2 breakaway for the missing man portion.
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That had been the plan. Somehow the USAF got administratively involved and insisted it be done this way. Not sure if they were just acting as the FAA liaison and that is what the Feds bought off on or what.....that would be my guess. The bubble of protected airspace around a 21 jet diamond would be pretty ginormous I'd imagine.
 
35 AoA said:
That had been the plan. Somehow the USAF got administratively involved and insisted it be done this way. Not sure if they were just acting as the FAA liaison and that is what the Feds bought off on or what.....that would be my guess. The bubble of protected airspace around a 21 jet diamond would be pretty ginormous I'd imagine.
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Still, I would have paid to see a 21 ship formation!!
 
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