Hey Guys,
Here is a report I received today from Elaine and Howard Ginn who just had lunch and an after-action-report from Ken Knowles. I’ll start off by saying “Thanks, T-18ers, you done good!!”
The “Honor Flight Arizona” was a very organized and well-run trip for 26 WWII Vets from Arizona. A wealthy benefactor paid for everything including the chartered 737 airplane. The Vets were literally treated like royalty the entire trip. Of the 26 Vets the youngest was 90 years old, 20 of them were in wheelchairs and one gentleman celebrated his 98th birthday on the trip. They were taken to many of the Memorials in Wash DC and were always greeted with grateful crowds and applause.
As for Ken and his “mail call” bag, as he described it to my parents, it was one of the “Happiest Days of His Life.” He received many letters from T-18ers and thoroughly enjoyed reading them on the flight home. He also received a large mailing tube from Doug Shinn and opened it on the flight. When others on-board saw that, Ken was talked into going to the front of the cabin and explaining what it was about. He explained that he built airplanes and helped other guys build airplanes and was able to show the poster of the T-18 he built. He received a round of applause from his fellow Vets.
Thanks to the 20 of you who took the time to honor Ken. He greatly appreciated it and is looking forward to participating in the Sedona, AZ Thorp Fly-In in the Spring of 2015 that Rich Brazell is spearheading. Now y’all go eat very healthy, walk 3 miles a day and golf 3 times a week like Ken does so you, too, can spread Thorp goodwill into your nineties. THANKS AGAIN – you done good!
Tony - Out
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In 1996 I did some DOD work flying the Experimental DC-9 out of KNID over to Mugu flying against some "drones" out over the water . Only had to give one call over the radio and that was "Smoke Off !" Pretty sure Fraser was flying the drone as all he had to do was move the "smoke" switch from on to off ! 
I guess sometime in the late 90's VX-4 was transferred to KNID and later decommissioned ? If you remember Hugh Hefiner (sp) had an all black DC-9 with the Bunny Logo on the tail and VX-4 copied that paint scheme . He never did object to the squadron using the logo ? 
BOOM !