F-22 Raptor

Sometimes I just take a quick ride with someone when we're at EAA AirVenture. And sometimes I get to spend more time with a pilot I didn't even fly with. That's what happened with Bullet. He was the pilot of a F-22 Raptor, but not the pilot I got to fly with. That was Loco, but either way, the F-22 is a really fast, neat looking airplane and there are all kinds of secret things about it. Some of the technology is so secret we won't sell any of them to any other country, not even our friends. 

In the picture above Bullet is holding me with a lady who really, truly worked on airplanes during WWII. Lots of planes were built in Wichita Kansas and she lived there and put rivets into the planes to keep the pieces of metal together. She was at EAA because, DOC, a WWII plane had been rebuilt in Wichita in recent years. As amazing as it seems, she worked on DOC when it was originally built and she worked on it to get it restored to flying condition. She is really an wonderful lady. Bullet liked her and so did I.

My custodian also took pictures of me and Bullet with Brigadier General Charles McGee, he was only a Colonel at the time, and George Hardy, another Tuskegee Airman. But George is lots younger and he was the last group of Tuskegee Airmen being trained. He was being trained to fly bombers, not fighters.  

I got to fly with Loco when he was doing his demo routine in the AirVenture Air Show. I don't think I've every flown that fast before. It was amazing.