My wife and I drove down to north-central Minnesota last week for some great cycling on excellent trails with beautiful Fall colours.
We stayed in Park Rapids for a few nights, and the first day drove up to Itasca State Park to ride the beautiful trails there.
At the Mississippi headwaters spot, a man asked me to take a photo of his family all together - himself, his wife, and five young children. The little ones ranged from about 18 months up to 10 or 12. Lovely people - I had good talk with the dad - politics, parenting, social issues, faith issues, education, etc.
One of the girls was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a P-38 Lightning. I attempted a mangled version of the German name for the airplane (der Gabelschwantz Teufel - or "fork-tailed devil") and the girl said that a distant relative had flown it.
The dad expanded on that - he was something like a cousin, removed by several generations, of Richard Bong, who was credited with 40 victories in the Pacific. Tragically, Bong was killed in August 1945, test-flying an early P-80 Shooting Star, right before the end of hostilities. I think the P-80 was the first, or perhaps 2nd American jet aircraft. I think Yeager flew one after the war, and, having flown a captured Me-262, said the two aircraft felt comparable.
Anyway, I was able to impart one bit of trivia to the family - late in the war Richard Bong did a V-bond tour with Bing Crosby, known as the "Bing and Bing" show.
We stayed in Park Rapids for a few nights, and the first day drove up to Itasca State Park to ride the beautiful trails there.
At the Mississippi headwaters spot, a man asked me to take a photo of his family all together - himself, his wife, and five young children. The little ones ranged from about 18 months up to 10 or 12. Lovely people - I had good talk with the dad - politics, parenting, social issues, faith issues, education, etc.
One of the girls was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a P-38 Lightning. I attempted a mangled version of the German name for the airplane (der Gabelschwantz Teufel - or "fork-tailed devil") and the girl said that a distant relative had flown it.
The dad expanded on that - he was something like a cousin, removed by several generations, of Richard Bong, who was credited with 40 victories in the Pacific. Tragically, Bong was killed in August 1945, test-flying an early P-80 Shooting Star, right before the end of hostilities. I think the P-80 was the first, or perhaps 2nd American jet aircraft. I think Yeager flew one after the war, and, having flown a captured Me-262, said the two aircraft felt comparable.
Anyway, I was able to impart one bit of trivia to the family - late in the war Richard Bong did a V-bond tour with Bing Crosby, known as the "Bing and Bing" show.
