Well, it slowed down a little bit, so I'll add something.
So I've mentioned that my dad was an accomplished, private pilot. He did not serve in the military. He wanted to enlist after Pearl Harbor, but his business partners convinced him he could do more good building pipelines and refineries in the US than he could getting shot down over the Pacific. So he stayed stateside and spent a lot of weekends flying officers from base to base. When he finally hung it up, he had over 10,000 hours. His last flight was in the early 80s. He was flying back from Eagle, CO. One of my half-brothers and the rest of the hunting buddies were in the cabin getting loaded. Toward the end of the flight, my brother yells toward the cockpit, "C.B., when are you gonna start riding back here and enjoying the good life with the rest of us?" As my dad told the rest of the story, "So after that, I greased the runway at Andrau one last time, and I hung it up." Just as well, probably. The O&G market went to crap a few years later, and the company sold the plane.
But I got curious a couple of years ago about that plane. Turns out, its last recorded flight (with a repower and a new livery over the years) departed from Switzerland in 2002). I eventually found it mothballed in Egypt. The apparent lesson is don't break down in Cairo. It was a cool plane.
in the late 70s. Pueblo, CO. We look like a Wes Anderson movie. I have his parka still. It's the best.
Switzerland 2002
Cairo