Chapter 4

A goose ... I mean ... whodathunkit? All that wing damage from a pile of feathers and a little bone.

Objects in motion tend to remain in motion ... unless there’s something to stop it. An airplane is a terrible thing to use to stop a goose.

If the 44 had a one piece wing, the repairs would have taken forever. But, each wing half bolts directly to the fuselage (Another foreign word ... like empennage.). Under the interior trim is this huge machined aircraft quality aluminum structure that acts as the base for the wing bolts ... and I wouldn’t have known that if they hadn’t made me help.

Help! Help! I don’t want to be responsible.

Growing old is a given ... growing up is optional. I’ll be dead when I grow up. I play games ... online ... in paintball action ... off the beach ... with the Society ... I play games. I played games as a kid, as a teen, as a young adult ... as an old man ... I play games.

The factory ... Angel ... had a finished wing from a failed credit order and they were positively ecstatic when we called. It was even the same color ... red and white. Ed drove all night to bring the wing to us ... Iowa isn’t all that far.

That failed credit ... call it that ... but the holding company that provided the credit was one of those ‘blind pig’ operations ... and the pigs found the acorn. This led to arrests and the spare wing.

Stewart made me work all night stripping the old wing so we could ... we? Hah! ... put the old parts on the new wing, and get us to Belleville ... so I could find out how badly my brother has fucked my life.

So ... I unbolted slats, slots, flaps and all manner of things I’m certain would be banned as obscene ... or should be banned. Slat, Slot, and Flap all have sexual connotations. A young lady should be very offended upon listening to us as we removed wing parts. I know I was.

I wasn’t offended by the talk ... I was offended by the work. Wo ... wo ... wo ... rk.

As a general rule ... and NO rule extends to all situations ... the more cuts, bruises and broken nails one has proves how hard one has worked ... oh and stitches. If there’s a prize ... I was at least on the Podium.

Four days of excruciating mental anguish and physical pain and we were landing at Willow Run. Willow Run is/was a brain-child of Henry Ford.

Assembled from Wikipedia;

The plant began production in summer 1941; the dedication plaque is dated June 16. The plant initially built components; Douglas Aircraft and the plane’s designer Consolidated Aircraft assembled the finished aircraft. Remote assembly proved problematic, and by October 1941 Ford received permission to produce complete Liberators. Willow Run’s Liberator assembly line ran through May 1945, building almost half of all the Liberators produced. The airport was built as part of the bomber plant.

The airfield passed into civilian hands after the war, and it is now controlled by Wayne County. Part of the airport complex operated at various times as a research facility affiliated with the University of Michigan and as a secondary US Air Force Installation. Willow Run Airport remains active as a cargo and general aviation airfield; there’s a nice museum there.