Hey Dad, A Huey Followed Me Home, Can I keep It?

A few nights ago, while totally engrossed in an online flight with my good compadre' and fellow flight sim enthusiast Griff, he stopped me in my tracks with a simple question...

"What do you think your Dad would've thought of this?"

Simple enough question, not at all a simple answer. First a bit of background.

For those of you that know me, you know I was blessed with being raised by a man that was not only my hero, but also the driving force behind my career in aviation (November 2013 marks my 30th anniversary flying for a major U.S. airline). He was fun (and funny), intelligent, handsome, caring, an incredible parent, but one of the coolest things I loved (and could "cash in on" in my little boy world), was the fact that he was a career Army officer, and a veteren combat helicopter pilot. He rocked as a Dad.

He joined the military at a very young age, struggled through Korea carrying a Carbine, and entered Army Aviation back in the day when flying helicopters was more of a fringe idea than a career path. He went to Vietnam early in the conflict in the cockpit of the CH-21 Shawnee, came home and transitioned to the OH-13 for a few years, hauled us off to Germany (for the second time) to fly the CH-34, and after two years, received orders to check out on a machine that was definitely on his "wish list"...the CH-47 Chinook. The only proviso was that when finished at Ft. Rucker training, his next destination would be back in South Vietnam. The year was 1968, he had his "twenty in", so he declined and decided to retire.

Although he never "officially" checked out on the UH-1 Huey, he did indeed log time in that wonderful machine from the boys at Bell Helicopter. It was brought into the Army inventory when he was landing in the rice paddies of S.E. Asia in the CH-21, but he was fortunate enough to fly her many times before he retired.

After retirement from the Army, good news followed with a job as a civilian flight instructor training new WOCs (Warrant Officer Candidates) at the Army's Primary Helicopter Training Center in Ft. Wolters, Texas. His love for being a "fling wing pilot", and his penchant for teaching, and his "gift of gab" served him well as an I.P. He loved the job, it loved him, and yours truly was allowed to accompany him to work on many occasions. I sat in on briefings, was allowed to follow him to the flight line to observe the many preflights of the cool little TH-55 trainers. I would then hop in a pickup truck and bounce across the North Texas dirt roads enroute to one of the dozens of "Stage Fields" where the actual training took place.

They had cool names like, Sundance, Mustang, Rawhide, and Pinto, but then as Vietnam spooled up to it's horrific crescendo, names like Da Nang, Phu Loi and Soc Trang became part of the Ft. Wolters lexicon. I was a typical 13 year old, interested (but not too concerned) with Vietnam, the "hippie movement", and race riots, and I was totally enthralled with baseball, dirt bikes, and girls, but there was that one thing that most young men my age never gave two hoots about. Flying in general, and helicopters in particular.

Although my first lesson in a cockpit wouldn't happen for three more years, I was being weened on the language of my passion. Words like rotor blades, hovering OGE (and IGE), pedal turns, retreating blade stall, pinnacle landings, nap of the Earth, auto-rotations, vortex ring state, cyclic, collective and pedal controls were working their way into my speech. It was a new language, and it stoked the flames of my aviation passion.

When at the various Stage Fields, my place was to function as their defacto "mascot". I was accepted by these brave men, and I would be tasked with getting coffee, running errands, passing messages and anything else those "six foot a million", square jawed, broad smiled heroes might ask me to do. In return I was gifted with story after story of flying heroics (complete with the fighter pilot habit of "flying your hand"), lots of "chin music" toward each other (and their respective students), and tons of tidbits about how to fly a helicopter...the right AND the wrong way. All of the I.P.s had been to Vietnam, most had been shot down at least once (my Dad was in that unenviable club), they all had medals to wear, and I'm sure they had scars to hide. I cherish those days those many years ago, and marvel even today about how I was allowed a glimpse (and even a taste) of their world.

I lost this wonderful man (and his beloved wife and my beautiful Mother) way back in 1993, and truth be told, nary a day goes by that I don't have many thoughts of them both. In the latter stages of his life, his boyish charm and love of fun with gadgets got the best of him, and he bought his first GameBoy (of many I might add). He loved that little plastic device, and he truly loved playing his games....his favorite was a golf game. He would spend hours after his day was done, sitting in his easy chair, thinning grey hair, with glasses covering those wonderful "aviator" crows feet in the corner of his blue eyes. Inevitably, a big smile would spread across his face and his dancing fingers would be putting it there. Unfortunately, he passed before my first computer purchase, but fortunately for me, that little Gateway system came complete with a flight simulation by the name of "Aces Over Europe". It was my first exposure to flying in the virtual world, and I was hooked for life.

Over the years, my little Gateway joystick (suction cupped, trigger and one red button on top), has morphed into a TM Warthog HOTAS, with Saitek rudder pedals, all complete with a wooden stand constructed by a person that has not one modicum of skill with the likes of saws, hammer and nails (yours truly), but it somehow suffices. I cannot begin to account for all the expenditures in money and precious time that virtual flying has taken from me, and with the advent of online flying, the latter (time) has increased ten fold. The good news, of course, is that I've been blessed to meet and become fast friends with lots of folks through this 21st century medium. Most don't hold any sort of FAA certificate, but in my eyes, that doesn't diminish the fact that they share a passion for flying machines. They're all pilots to me.

This brings me back to Griff's original question. How WOULD my father have liked virtual flying, specifically our newest venture...a machine he fell in love with almost 50 years ago. I knew that when DCS World (and Belsimtek) released the UH-1H "Huey", I would be drawn back to those days of my youth when I watched heroes laughing, smoking, drinking coffee and making fascinating flying machines dance a most difficult ballet. The smell of sweat, leather, coffee, cigarettes and Old Spice, complete with the summer Texas heat mixed with the roar of Lycoming engines was where I would be transported as I fired up that beautiful piece of software for the first time.

To answer the question, I'll simply say this. Even though it's still only considered a "beta" release, I'm fairly sure our first phone conversation after he flew it would be something on the order of this:

"Hey son...what's up?"

"Not much Pop...have you fired up that neweset module from DCS? You know, the Huey?"

"Yeah....wow! Flying that brings back a lot of great memories! That was a great helicopter, fun to fly and this is damn close to what it was like!"

"Really, it's that good?"

"Yep! Oh... and your Mother has a bone to pick with you!"

"Uh oh...."

"Yeah, she said to tell you that the new monitor, new Warthog, new pedals, TWO new video cards, new chip, extra RAM, and those SSD hard drives I just ordered are coming out of YOUR inheritance!"

"LOL....thanks Dad. Tell her I love her, and that all this started back with your FIRST Gameboy in 1991...so it's not really my fault! Oh, and can we expect you in TeamSpeak tonight at the regular time?"

"Damn right I'll be there....SOMEBODY has to show you noobs how to really fly the Huey!"

'till next time,

BBall

:thumbup: That has to be one of the best answers, I've read in a while.

Fantastic.

Cowboy10uk

awesome thread is awesome

Speechless a little, but thanks for that. You have a way with words.

Its seems kinda hollow, but +1rep incoming, for your Pops.

Awesome story Bball, thanks for sharing.

Grenadey

Wow... Teared up a bit with that one..

Thank you..

That was awesome writing! Even as dead tired as I am right now it was a joy to read and I could see your story unfolding as a moving picture in front of my eyes instead of plain text.

Thank you!

Nice story choked me up to.

Great story BBall!

Bball - great story!

I've flown fixed wing aircraft virtually for about a decade and a half. I got the KA-50 mostly to support ED, but never really flew it much. But when the Huey came out I knew I had to learn it.

My father spent a great deal of time in Huey's during his service days and had some great stories to share. It's nice to have a bonding topic with my dad because of a sim. While I doubt he'll get it, he enjoys watching my videos.

That was awesome thanks!:thumbup:

I've been trying to read that story all night but the misses kept interrupting me! Finally read though and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing that mate

such a wonderful story! I truly loved it. I really hope Belsimtek will read this if he hasn't already. It's so great to have developers see how their product affects those who buy it.

Wow, excellent story BBall! Beautifully written, thanks for sharing!

MOST EXCELLENT ! Was a bit hard for me french man at first sights then I think I got the whole thing...

Bravo, and RIP your father ...

Very nice mate. Here's to Pop's *ching :)

Proud to call that guy a friend!

Amazing story! Thank you for taking the time to share it!

Very cool story. You are a lucky man and I hope that you have kids of your own. Need more of this type in this world.

Unfortunately the COD kiddies are spat out like mice spawn.

Great story man!

Beautiful stuff BBall, thanks for sharing that with us.

I too am glad to call you my personal friend BBall. That was a great read and it would have been a pleasure to know your father. However, I will continue to enjoy the many stories you have about him and his time as a helicopter pilot. He was a wonderful influence to be sure and I'm sure we all look forward to hearing more stories about your Dad.

Griff, aka the "Huey Noob!"

Wow BBall, great to see you here! Not sure if you remember me, but we interacted quite a bit back in the day over at Frugal´s World. Well, you probably don´t remember, since it´s been what, ten or so years by now? Also I haven´t really been active in the simming community in between the days of Falcon 4.0 and when DCS A-10 came out, so yeah...

Anyway, loved your story, as always. Do you still happen to have all those awesome essays you posted at Frugal´s? Maybe the crowd here would appreciate them as well. Back in the day the word was you were actually thinking about putting together a book, are you still pursuing those plans? If so, where can I preorder? ;)

Again, great to see you here, and thanks for telling your stories. They are always a real treat to read. Should you ever make it to Germany (I understand your a/c type serves two destinations over here, not sure if you fly those routes though), any place in Germany, drop me a line and I´ll make sure you won´t have to pay for a single drink while you´re here. ;)

Hey guys,

First of all, thank you for the kind words regarding the post about my Dad. I'm not sure I'm deserving of such praise, but thanks nonetheless. I always find it quite easy to write about things (or people) you love.

Cookie! Of course I remember...10 years is but a wink of the eye when one grows a bit long in the tooth. The days at Frugal's World were magical, and Mark was indeed a brave man publishing my yarns and/or allowing me to "work" there as his Senior Editor. I continue to struggle to put pen to paper on a fairly regular basis, and continue to have all the old pieces on file. The wonderful folks over at SimHQ have been kind enough to put up two that I've done (they can be found under their "Aviation" section...this one was difficult to do, but I think it came out O.K.: http://simhq.com/_air14/air_534a.html ). I still hope to someday pen the novel that's been floating around in my head for years, or put all my past works into book form...maybe that's what retirement is for, right? (or for more flight simming...lol) BTW, 99% of my flying nowadays is in the Far East, but I promise the next time I'm in Deutschland (my birthplace...and emotional second home), I'll let you know and we will certainly lift a stein or two.

Again, thanks guys for the kind words.

Oh, and to Dusty and Griff. Deb says to get your asses back to our neck of the woods for another LAN...she misses Dusty's apparel expertise, and Griff on the tractor spreading horse crap!

BBall

Hey guys,

 

First of all, thank you for the kind words regarding the post about my Dad. I'm not sure I'm deserving of such praise, but thanks nonetheless. I always find it quite easy to write about things (or people) you love.

 

Cookie! Of course I remember...10 years is but a wink of the eye when one grows a bit long in the tooth. The days at Frugal's World were magical, and Mark was indeed a brave man publishing my yarns and/or allowing me to "work" there as his Senior Editor. I continue to struggle to put pen to paper on a fairly regular basis, and continue to have all the old pieces on file. The wonderful folks over at SimHQ have been kind enough to put up two that I've done (they can be found under their "Aviation" section...this one was difficult to do, but I think it came out O.K.: http://simhq.com/_air14/air_534a.html ). I still hope to someday pen the novel that's been floating around in my head for years, or put all my past works into book form...maybe that's what retirement is for, right? (or for more flight simming...lol) BTW, 99% of my flying nowadays is in the Far East, but I promise the next time I'm in Deutschland (my birthplace...and emotional second home), I'll let you know and we will certainly lift a stein or two.

 

Again, thanks guys for the kind words.

 

Oh, and to Dusty and Griff. Deb says to get your asses back to our neck of the woods for another LAN...she misses Dusty's apparel expertise, and Griff on the tractor spreading horse crap!

 

BBall

I just read your article over at SIMHQ and damned if you didn't make me tear up once again... http://simhq.com/_air14/air_534a.html

When you decide to publish that book, I have a fist full of cash to send your way... You are a talented writer and better yet... An honorable and compassionate one at that. The world is a much better place with folks like you in it and I thank you for weaving your literary pieces and showing those things that are truly important in this life...

My hat is off to you sir!