Ted Speaks Out!
Did you know? - The Western Museum of Flight (WMOF) is an aviation museum located at Zamperini Field, the municipal airport in Torrance, California. WMOF is operated by the Southern California Historical Aviation Foundation.
The museum has several rare aircraft among its collection, including one of only two Northrop YF-23 stealth fighter prototypes (though this has been temporarily relocated to the Northrop Grumman production facility in El Segundo, California for refurbishment). Also on display is a Northrop YF-17 Cobra, a lightweight fighter which was the basis for the heavier Boeing (originally McDonnell-Douglas) F/A-18 Hornet currently used by the United States Navy and Marine Corps. In addition, a Grumman F-14 Tomcat and a Northrop JB-1 (one of only three JB-1s flying wings remaining) are both on public display, plus numerous other notable jet- and propeller-drive airplanes.
The museum is located at 3315 Airport Drive, Torrance, California and is open on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Ted Was Invited To Speak... And Speak He Did!
His grand-daughter, Nikki Jones Soltis, put together a superb PowerPoint presentation and assisted Ted in getting everything organized. Family is great! Nikki has a special grandpa!
"Coffee? Where's the beer??"
The Adventure
Handsome Devil; 1943 Graduating Class!
Ted could have easily been a movie star
Outside his barracks in 1943
"The P51-A was a kick in the pants to drive! 600+ HP"
Blanchard (KIA), Hiro (KIA), and Conlin - War is indeed hell!
He Is Still A Cool Character...
Laid back; ready to go!
Ted doing some serious speech-a-fining!
The audience is at the edge of their seats
Good crowd. We saw a lot of heads nodding when he told some stories!
"Yes, I got a medal but I don't know exactly why!"
"Derned Russians tried to fly us out directly over a major battle....
Thanks to the B-17 kid we missed it!"
71 missions, 275 hours flying this machine 75 years ago!..... Wow!!
Wow... It was an amazing story!