I was a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol in the late 80's, whose membership was with Squadron Number 42214: the Black Sheep Squadron. Needless to say, I'm a huge VMF-214 and Greg Boyington fan... Even if he was a bit on the shady side, to say the least. He actually endorsed the squadron not long after its creation. I was fortunate enough to get to learn to fly with them under the cadet program, in an old 1953 Cessna 170 conversion to 172 that had once belonged to the U.S. Air Force Academy. The radios worked about half the time, the flaps were manual, and I distinctly remember my flight instructor (Maj. Paul Salos of Americas Got Talent fame) slamming the starboard door open and shut several times at 1000 Ft AGL. It wouldn't close!!!
As a kid I built Hellcat and Wildcat models that my grandparents would bring me; eventually graduating to jets. My favorite build being that of a wolf pack consisting of F-15s and F-16s that streamed missiles with cotton trailers. Eventually, I married and had kids. And that was the end of that...
Until about a 2 years ago. I've got back into modeling, though I've had to take a short break due to some serious health issues.
My main love is WWII war birds, especially those from the Pacific Theater. That's not to say I don't dabble in in WWI era war birds, the occasional civilian ship, normally converted into a Civil Air Patrol bird, and "fast mover..." you gotta love them jets, and lately I've got into war ships.