I had two inspiring opportunities recently to meet the CG's next generation of aviators. I am so impressed, and envious - would that I could start all over again! It was especially poignant to stand in the National Naval Air Museum in Pensacola and talk with a room full of CG flight students and instructors, with a beautiful bright orange H65 C gleaming on the taxi strip just outside the glass. Inside the museum suspended from the ceiling were the old T34 and T28 radial recips I learned to fly on, and of course in the place of honor, the NC4 which in 1919 flew the first successful trans-Atlantic crossing with CG Aviator Number 1, LT Elmer Stone at the controls. Last week I went to Corpus Christi and presided at the winging of the newest fixed wing aviators in the CG, USMC, USN and USAF. Congratulations, CG aviators LT Steve Simpson - #4194, and LTjg Sawyer Mann - #4193, welcome to the flock! We've come a long way baby, through the decades of ducks and goats and widgeons and pigeons, to today's top notch aviation assets coming off the line. I can say with great pleasure, our new pilots and crews match that continuous improvement, and our nation, precious environment and the world's mariners are in good hands! Fly safe.
The Vice, aka Ancient Albatross # 21, and CG Aviator Number 1820
