Back in the 70’s, I had a couple of older friends. One owned an SNJ. I went out with him one day. We had just gone through some aerobatics and thankfully (for my stomach) gotten back level when I noticed the other friend about 11:00 high coming down at us. He gave us a good bounce, banked off to the right to come back around. He was in a gorgeous FG-1D Corsair that he and the SNJ pilot owned together. He lowered the flaps and parked off our right wingtip and we had a little conversation. It was cool to see his lips move over there in his cockpit and here his voice in my headset. He put the flaps up and left us like we were standing still.
A few years later, the SNJ pilot was killed in a crash and the other Corsair partner and the SNJ’s family decided to donate the plane to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola.
I love to old round motors and I have many great memories that can be triggered by the aroma of 60 weight oil and hydraulic fluid.