The Wizard of Oz--one of my all-time favorite movies.
More proof that even with six billion people on the planet, it's a small world after all.
First of all, I found out from one of my students yesterday that his great-uncle was one of the original Munchkin soldiers in The Wizard of Oz and lived ten miles away. This gentleman, whose name was Lewis "Idaho" Croft, left the small potato farming town of Shelley to seek his fortune--all three and a half feet of him--and ended up in one of the greatest films ever made. He had a distinguished career as a singer and dancer before passing away at age 89.
Lewis Croft, Munchkin soldier in Wizard of Oz, in later years.
Second, my wife was in Dallas, Texas for a nursing convention, and went to the Sixth Floor Museum at the Texas Book Depository, which is the site where Lee Harvey Oswald fired his shots at President Kennedy that terrible day in 1963. At the museum was a middle-aged African-American gentleman who comes to the museum from time to time to talk about the assassination. He can be seen in the photo in the red shirt, running, after JFK has been shot. He told my wife and her friend that he is absolutely certain he saw a puff of smoke from the grassy knoll at Dealy Plaza, near where he was watching the motorcade.
The man my wife talked to at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas is seen in red running shortly after the JFK assassination. Grassy Knoll in background. JFK was shot roughly where this press bus moments earlier.
Finally, one of my students at school turned out to be the nephew of a good friend of mine from Montana--from 25 years ago. I was the reader at her wedding Mass in 1985, she introduced me to my wife in 1984--and my wife introduced her to her future husband a few weeks later.
No aviation history here--just rambling. Back to aviation next post.
Hay stacks and tractor
Newly-planted fields, with Taylor Mountain in background.
Old storage shed on farm.
Anybody for snowmachining? Wait a minute...the truck and machine have been sitting there for twenty years
Starting to climb to the top of the hill. Quiet, peaceful, except for the occasional motorcyclist.
On top, looking out over the Snake River Plain.
Starting down off the hill. Notice the snow.
Looking over the edge of the hill. Motorcycles do hill climbs on it.
Trail running and target shooting do not mix. A fired, but unspent, high caliber bullet on the path.
Still life: Deer carcass with beer can and other trash.
Coming down off the hill.
Farm machinery. I almost got nailed by a car that was passing illegally right about here. *&^$%
A crew posing with full equipment in WWII. Note the parachute packs in foreground.
Exhibit at the 390th Museum at Pima Air Museum, Tucson, shows the full flight kit of a bomber crewman. Flying in temperatures down to fifty below zero at altitudes nearly devoid of oxygen, the kit includes, top to bottom, leather flight helmet with built-in headphones, flight goggles, throat mike, oxygen mask, shearling leather flight jacket, Mae West yellow life jacket, parachute harness, shearling leather flight pants, shearling leather gunner gloves, and shearling boots. The parachute is at the feet of the airman.
A vintage shot of a crewman with much of the same gear, though he is wearing clothing for slightly warmer conditions.
This electrically-heated 'bunny suit' was used by early air crews. Plugged in to the aircraft's power supply, the suit had a tendency to overheat or short out, causing burns, and many stopped using them because of this.
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