Happy Birthday to me

rsv1cox Sun Oct 06, 2019 11:55 am

I Turned 82 years old yesterday. That's 82 years OLD not young. Whomever started that young nonsense should be disciplined.

Mark and wife turned up and spent the night. We watched Jimmy Stewart in "Spirit of St. Louis" for reasons that will become evident in a moment.

Mark an avid flea market shopper and one with an eye for a good deal came up with some jewels this time for my birthday as he has done in past years.

First an as new never started Cox Fokker Triplane with instructions. There must be an epidemic of tails falling off model airplanes be they balsa or plastic. I must have restored at least 10 in the recent past.

Then he found another seller with magazines for sale, Scale Modeler and Universal Model Airplane news and a post card mailed in October 1942 picturing the old "Blue Box" link trainer. I used to maintain one of these in the 1950's for Piedmont Airlines, more about this in a later thread.

But the big hit for me was a first edition copy of Charles Lindbergh's "WE" a book that I first read as a child back in the 1940's. Now the most meaningful book in my aviation oriented library.

Curious, The Cox engine shows a separate washer (nose weight?) that does not appear in the parts breakdown.

5$ for the Cox airplane and 5$ for the book, magazines, and post card.

fredvon4 Sun Oct 06, 2019 12:13 pm

Crap Bob.....every visit I click on the show new posts at top of main page and never scroll down to see who is on line or birthdays
Every salutation I post of Happy Birthday is never the first acknowledgement

So brother looks like it was a good and fun day...happy for you

rsv1cox Sun Oct 06, 2019 12:23 pm

fredvon4 wrote:Crap Bob.....every visit I click on the show new posts at top of main page and never scroll down to see who is on line or birthdays
Every salutation I post of Happy Birthday is never the first acknowledgement

So brother looks like it was a good and fun day...happy for you

Thanks Fred, but I never included my birthday in my statistics. No particular reason, I just never clicked it in.

getback Sun Oct 06, 2019 12:46 pm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU OLD FART !!! now cover one eye so as not to hurt yourself ..

sorry we forgot Brother !!!! Embarassed

rsv1cox Sun Oct 06, 2019 12:48 pm

getback wrote:HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU OLD FART !!! now cover one eye so as not to hurt yourself ..
sorry we forgot Brother !!!!

"Happy Birthday You OLD Fart"...………….

Now that's more like it. Thanks Eric...……

Bob

**944_Jim** Sun Oct 06, 2019 12:50 pm

I thought this website was family-oriented.

That plane has a nice tail!

TLAnderson Sun Oct 06, 2019 1:01 pm

Happy Birthday, Sir.

ian1954 Sun Oct 06, 2019 1:02 pm

Did you know that 82 happens to be a "Happy Number"?

A happy number is one where in number theory, a happy number is a natural number in a given number base b that eventually reaches 1 when iterated over the perfect digital invariant function for p=2. Those numbers that do not end in 1 are unhappy numbers or sad numbers).

So Happy Birthday!

Mind you, it is also the atomic number of lead and the 23rd biprime. So being a product of two prime numbers, you are now in your prime the second time around.

Many Happy returns!

fredvon4 Sun Oct 06, 2019 1:20 pm

ian I am so glad you are back with these morsels of cool fun facts....

dckrsn Sun Oct 06, 2019 2:11 pm

Happy Birthday Bob, you're doing something right.
I saw a photo of you, and you look great. Of course
people say that about me, but I know better. Shocked

Enjoy,
Bob

NEW222 Sun Oct 06, 2019 2:32 pm

Happy Birthday Bob. Glad you had a great day, and some cool gifts as well.

KariFS Sun Oct 06, 2019 3:24 pm

Happy birthday Bob!

balogh Sun Oct 06, 2019 3:35 pm

Bob I often look at the calendar here and if an active member has a birthday I am among the first members to congratulate...when I read your post I was really embarrassed and thought I may have missed your day...but just saw that your birthday is not registered on CEF.

Happy birthday Bob! Beer Cheers

Oldenginerod Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:06 pm

Good one Bob. Glad to see you're still so active at 82. Many guys have just about given up by then. We have a phenomenon here in Aus called "Men's Sheds". Old guys get together over a "cuppa" and build things, fix things, solve the world's problems in their conversations etc. Too many guys were retiring and finding they had nothing to do. Stats show that these "inactive" guys seemed to die much earlier than those who were meaningfully occupied.

So stay meaningfully occupied Bob. With a son like yours, it looks like your gonna continue to have many projects into the future.

Happy Birthday.

Rod.

DrCox Sun Oct 06, 2019 5:52 pm

Happy Birthday Bob and many more.

Marleysky Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:05 pm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB!
No need to keep it secret now, I’ll remember it’s near the Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon! If, I remember! Great presents from Mark! Waiting for the rest of the story on the Blue Box Trainer!

Mark Diedrichs Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:13 pm

Happy B Day Bob!!!! I know you still have plenty of wind to blow out all of your candles !!!! Clapping

Mark

nitrosmeller Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:21 pm

Happy Birthday Bob Enjoy your special day!!!

rsv1cox Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:29 pm

Thanks all again.

I'm finding lot's of good stuff in those magazines. Articles, plans, vintage advertisements. I'll post excerpts randomly here on the forum in the future.

No comments on the Fokker triplanes nose weight. Seller said airplane has never been tampered with and that if he can find the horizontal stab and elevator assy he will save it for Mark.

rsv1cox Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:45 pm

Marleysky wrote:HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB!
No need to keep it secret now, I’ll remember it’s near the Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon! If, I remember! Great presents from Mark! Waiting for the rest of the story on the Blue Box Trainer!

I spent my first few years in the Navy instructing Naval aviators in navigation, emergency procedures, and pure instrument flying in the much more sophisticated successor to that Blue Box. Mark finally found internet pictures of it that I never could.

The Army Air Corps referred to it as the C11, In the Navy it was known as the 2F23. It simulated the flight characteristics of the Navy's first operational fighter the P (later F) F-80 "Shooting Star."

Will put something together about it later.