Posted on 12/18/2010 11:16:16 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Not long before the UK Royal Navy decommissioned the last British Aerospace Sea Harrier in March 2006, Maryland resident and aircraft mechanic Christian Vlahos received a phone call from a close friend.
Art Nalls, calling from England, immediately got to the point.
"He said, 'Christian, I want to buy a Harrier,'" Vlahos recalls nearly four years later. "I was like, 'As in, a 'Harrier'-Harrier?!'"
As unusual as the conversation may seem, it was not entirely out of character for Nalls. A former US Marine Corps test pilot-turned-real estate-millionaire, Nalls has an eccentric streak. Not only had Nalls restored - with Vlahos' voluntary assistance - an assortment of Yakovlev and Aero Vodochody aircraft to fly on the airshow circuit, Nalls had once owned the Guinness record for designing and riding the world's tiniest bicycle, standing about 12.7cm (5in) high.
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
The entire article is a great read. Thanks for posting this.
The bit about the bow at the end of each air show is hilarious. I’d like to read that e-mail.
Still don’t know what a “USMC test pilot” is, though. (Unless he was on some type of exchange duty.)
Take a trip to PAX River.
Thanks for the link.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.