And there were people alive at the time who remembered the airplane being invented. Today, we can tell astounding stories to our snapchatting kids of the time when men walked on the moon.
I was lucky enough to once see a Mitsubishi "Zero" fighter in Japan once being spun up and taxi'ing about. I later found out from the company the owns it that they knew the pilot who flew it in WWII Personally.
That pilot had started his career on biplanes and ended it (in a crash, unfortunately) flying F-4 Phantom Jets (Commonly called Third generation Jets).
In my mind these eras of flight have been so ... seperated that I could not really imagine one man flying basically such a wide range of technology (and of course, he saw the moon landings).
Yeah, the delta in technology that bookends a life is getting bigger fast.
My Dad told me that his first airplane ride was as a kid when a barnstormer put on a show at his town in Utah. The pilot/showman took him up in his Jenny:
The kicker is that Dad told me this when he, Mom, and I were at flight level 350 about halfway to Hawaii for their 61st wedding anniversary, flying in a Boeing 757.
From an iffy ragwing biplane to a routine miracle world-spanning machine in his lifetime. Wonder if I'll get to see the equivalent of 757 service to Mars before I shuffle off...
That pilot had started his career on biplanes and ended it (in a crash, unfortunately) flying F-4 Phantom Jets (Commonly called Third generation Jets).
In my mind these eras of flight have been so ... seperated that I could not really imagine one man flying basically such a wide range of technology (and of course, he saw the moon landings).