To P model or not to P model...

[Colonel]

Your first is your "Starter wife".
Your second is your "Trophy wife"
Your third is your "Keeper".

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I think I mentioned that the guy who did my (class 4 initial) instructor rating
had 6 ex-wives. I am not making this up. What an optimist.

What I found fascinating is that the adjacent wives strongly disliked each other,
but the alternating ex-wives got along fine. There's probably a masters in Psych
or Sociology from the University of Phoenix in there for ya, if you mail them a
couple bucks. An MSc looks nice on the resume or business card next to the ATP.

I forget which group (1-3-5 or 2-4-6) of ex-wives organized him a very nice
50th birthday party. After he dies I can tell some hilarious stories.

[TwinOtterFan]

I was always told stories about the mythical second wife so thats what I'm sticking with lol.

[JW Scud]

After he dies I can tell some hilarious stories.

Well, you have plenty of them. Why don't you start a few threads on the Colonel's page on some of the stories you can tell.

[Colonel]

I am a gentleman, so you first! I get the feeling we know a lot
of the same characters. :^)

[JW Scud]

Perhaps. Big country, small community. I know aviators from coast to coast. Probably every province and territory except the Yukon off the top of my head.

[David MacRay]

I'm not even part of the community anymore and still I notice, if I meet a pilot and talk with them a bit, pretty soon we will both know a few other pilots. It's pretty cool for the most part.

[Colonel]

I'll start. Ormond Hayden-Bailey. Never met him.

I am told by people that knew him from the RCAF, that he was quite a guy.

it is interesting to note that Wensley Haydon Bailey’s brother Ormond Hayden Bailey was also a fantastic character. He was a pilot who flew with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He went on to own a Sea Fury in which he entered the Reno air races with one year. He also owned a Lockheed T33 jet trainer named the White Knight. It was said that he would arrive over the airfield so low that you could not see him until he was half way down the runway and that his staff would regularly find bits of corn attached to the engine intakes and leading edges of the wings. He was also described as being a proper gentleman of the old school. Very approachable with no airs, a proper stick and rudder man.

My father and I both looked upon him as being up there with the likes of Neil Williams and Ray Hanna as greatest display pilots of their time. Alas as is so often the case he was killed, along with his 16-year old (I think) boy passenger in his recently-acquired P51 Mustang I-BILL at a German flying display in 1977. The circumstances of the accident have never been fully explained. It was also said that he had obtained a stash of Spitfires from the Indian Air Force and even more amazingly was in the process of restoring a twin engined De Havilland Hornet when he died.

[Liquid_Charlie]

I ran across this gem in Sondi about 20 years ago. It was immaculate and being ferried. They were just there on a tech stop for fuel.

[JW Scud]

I could start a thread with interesting stories of strange pilots. I have one, strictly copy and paste.