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I wouldn't have to think twice about forking over $375 to ride a 17. It's one of the things I want to do before I die, that and ride shotgun with the Blue Angels or the ThunderBirds(hey, I'm not picky), drive something that cost more than my house VERY fast, etc, etc. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
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Neither one of us had the cash on hand, and Mum would've kilt us dead if we'd put it on our respective Visas. Or gone to our respective banks and drawn the cash. But I'm reasonably sure that if we'd prepared a bit for this, we'd have gone. Dad, who's not all that keen on airplanes, but likes 'em well enough (more of a steam train guy, aside from sports cars), seemed awful interested. I think the novelty of flying around in a vintage aircraft intrigued him.
For many years, probably until about six or seven years ago, there used to be a big airshow at DuPage airport. Quite a few vintage aircraft would fly in (I've seen Aluminum Overcast and Sentimental Journey, as well as a coupla Mustangs), and there'd be all sorts of flyovers of more recent hardware. You military types will most likely be nonplussed by this, but a constant stream of flyovers of B-52s, Tomcats, Eagles, Falcons, and various airliners is an awful damned impressive sight! They have a similar show out at the Aurora airport, but I've never managed to go out there.
-Wm.