For Mr. John Erickson, my fellow WWII and military aircraft fan:
Hawker Hurricane
Avro Lancaster
P-38 Lightning (I’m omitting the “Lockheed” here so I can get this one in)
Piper L-4 Grasshoppper
Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka
Boeing B-17
Ilyushin IL-2
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
Tupolev Tu-2
Horten Ho 229
De Havilland Mosquito
Arado Ar 234
Yakovlev Yak-9
Junkers Ju 87
Oh damn, I can’t think of a plane that begins with O
Heinkel He 111
Northrop P-61 Black Widow
May you run like a Merlin engine, soar like a B-29, and kick ass like a P-51 Mustang!
Oh no, Weebs! You forgot the SBD Dauntless — that seems like a perfect plane name for our friend Sir John.
But there’s no S in there—I had to use the letters available!
However, I agree with you, the Dauntless is the perfect name for him.
OK, I’ll let you pass this time!
My dad was a gunner in an SBD, so it’s close to my heart.
NICE!!!!
“O” Oberlerchner which began as a glider and coincidentally ended up with an engine that manufactured the engine for the sassy, slightly goofy looking Osprey.
I love you tons, Honie. My list was all WWII-era planes, but I LOVE that you pulled these O’s out.
pulled ‘em right out of my A, Madame. HA!
I also did a little wrench turning on some recips at the “club” for officers with their own small planes. I LOVE vintage aircraft.
WWII-era aircraft are “the bomb” but those guys in the ’60s and 70s, trying to create what has ended up being today’s “drones” – those dudes had is going on!!
I worked on the pig engine J-79 on the (recon)R-F4 and the Pratt & Whitney J-T8D on the C9A Nightingale med evac aircraft. Both now decommissioned.
Marry me.
LOL. You’d kick me to the curb once you realized all of my skills are obsolete! That’s why I’ve decided to go back to school. I’m going to race my son to see which one of us can complete a graduate degree first.
…an engine that was manufactured by the same company that made the engine for the sassy….okay, now I think I said that correctly. what a goober I am sometimes
I knew what you were going for, sister, no worries!
Now that is what I call a birthday card.
Thanks Kate! I hope he likes it.
How do you come up with this stuff! Nice!
You’re badass.
Garsh. Thanks!
What a hugely creative way to wish John a Happy Birthday!
I know our John likes the planes, so I figured he would enjoy this!
Happy birthday to you, John!
Hopefully he’ll visit all the various birthday posts at some point today so he can enjoy all these greetings! I assume he’s out gallavanting.
Happy Birthday John. Though I don’t know you, anyone who can inspire Madame Weebs to write an acrostic poem is okay in my book.
Wow, this John guy’s getting around. Happy birthday to the popular guy!
Happy Birthday to Madame Weebles High-Flying friend
What a great birthday greeting for an aviation fan! My father-in-law was usually the navigator on a B-17 in WW II (which is rather funny when you realize how often he got turned around on the ground.
).
Wow! Weebs – very impressive!!
You do love those flyboys and their machines, don’t ya Weebs? Nice b-day for your fellow blogger. (I’ve still got my Dad’s aviation jacket from when he was in the Air Force and lived in Germany). It’s very cool.
Have no idea about all these aircrafts but I liked it.
Wonderful tribute to your friend, John, Weebs. I do have some connection to the flyboys of WWII. My uncle Norman (John N. McAnsh – my maiden name) was an Army Aircorps Sargent. Apparenty washed out of being a pilot – insubordination – I guess runs in the family…Anyway, he was a top turret gunner on a B17 – when the plane was badly damaged from flak, he was instrumental in flying the plane back to England instead of ditching in the North Atlantic – kindof a Memphis Belle story. Won him a Distinguised Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Clusters. I also worked with a great guy during my first internship as a P.T. at Homestead Airforce Base – a P51 pilot. There’s some amazing heritage there. Uncle Norman was really an amazing hero – He stayed in the Air Force after the war. Was in White Sands during the Atomic Bomb testing – died in the 60s of lung cancer – I was seven when he passed. We still have his medals. It’s just interesting to have these things in your family. History is a wonderful way of remembering and honoring. I do love it!
Hugs,
Cathy
An excellent birthday tribute for Mr E!
Great post Weebs!
That is some birthday greeting. If you were the pilot I suggested you could be, I bet you could spell this whole post out in sky writing.
How thoughtful of you, Weebs! You sure know a lot of planes.
Awesome, Madame. I couldn’t think of a WW2 plane begining “O,” so I had to look it up. Apparently there was an Oxford trainer (and yes, there was a Cambridge too)
I’m (slowly) putting together a few posts on the Spitfire, Hurricane, and battle of Britain.
Have a great christmas
Cheers!
How’s about the OS2U (I think) Kingfisher? I think that was the seaplane that non-aircraft carrier ships carried. I think there was a WW2 British plane called the Osprey – I’d have to check my books to be sure. And one of the Japanese fighters, the Ki-43 I think, was code-named Oscar. (Yeah, I know, a day late and a dollar short!
)
But I do appreciate this, really. Thank you VERY much. And I’m a bit peeved at WP – I thought I had already signed up to your blog! I’ve had a couple of subscriptions go oddly missing – shoot, it took me 5 tries to get subscribed to Archon’s Den!
Once again, thanks to you and all your readers for the great birthday wishes. And I WILL be back, even if I gotta hack into WP and hard-wire my connection!
This is priceless Weebs … and a fitting tribute. Well done .. and happy birthday John.
Excellent, Ms. Weebles… I am blogrolling you.
I find someone’s beaten me to it, and with another Japanese plane too, but there’s also the Yokosuka Ohka. On reflecting, though, maybe it’s not the bestest birthday-wish aircraft possible. A magnificent composition, whatever O one settles upon!
…and then, not absorbed in the matter of “O”, then sad goon on a second reading sees his suggestion has already appeared earlier in the composition. Alas, reading retention!
Off topic — Happy Holidays to Team Weebles … Cheers!
Merry Christmas! And Honie beat me to the Osprey (although it isn’t WWII-era, it’s a fine goofy-assed, and mostly grounded, air vechicle).
Genius Madam, simply genius!
This is awesome, I am showing this to my pilot fiance!
Lovely b-day tribute to your fellow WWII military aircraft devotee, Weebs. I only recognized the brand names Boeing and Northrop and the later from their passenger buses in a further display of my ignorance about this.
Lovely!
you’ll have heard of eric ‘winkle’ brown i take it? i met him a few times through work; he told me a great story about sending an aircraft in pieces back to the germans, together with two bottles of scotch; one for the guy who had to rebuild it, and one for the test pilot
he is a fascinating man
I feel very patriotic right now…