The Fly Boys Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    Thinking about it, Gold supposed he was also a little envious of his son. He himself had tried to enlist in the Army Air Force
     after Pearl Harbor, but had been rejected for being too old, too overweight, and for weak eyesight.
    Gold sighed. It seemed like only yesterday when he himself was Steven’s age, and also a fighter pilot and an ace, flying with
     Herr Rittmeister Richthofen during World War One.
    Feeling restless, he got up from his desk and wandered over to the memento-filled display cases. His smile was wistful as
     he gazed at the faded black-and-white photograph of himself alongside his barnstorming buddies Hull and Les Stiles. The picture
     had been taken in 1921, when he’d been a tall and gangly kid, a carrot-topped, freckled-faced scarecrow in high scuffed boots,
     faded flannel, a brown leather jacket, and a battered gray fedora. He’d only emigrated from Germany a few months before his
     barnstorming tour across America, flying stunts in Captain Bob’s Traveling Air Extravaganza.
    Gold moved on to photographs taken of himself a couple of years later, when he and the Stiles brothers and Teddy Quinn were
     running a fledgling mail, freight, and passenger air transport service out of Los Angeles. How proud that bright-eyed, bushy-headed
     young Herman Gold looked in his suit and tie! Gold thought ruefully as he ran his fingers through the short curls wreathing
     his ears and the strawberry-colored fuzz he presently had left up top.
    Gold continued his tour of the display cases, letting the memorabilia jog his memories. Gone yellow with age were the framed
     commendations and the newspaper photos of Gold with Los Angeles politicos; there were pictures of himself and his one-time
     partner Tim Campbell at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Burbank complex.
    In a glass case occupying a place of honor in the office was a large silver-framed photo taken in 1934 of Gold shaking hands
     with President Roosevelt in the White House Rose Garden. The occasion had been the presentation to Gold of the coveted Ross
     Trophy, aviation’s award for design excellence. Bracketing the photograph was the large, ornate bronze trophy itself and a
     model of the GAT Monarch airliner that had won him the award.
    There were also more recent mementos, leading up to the present.
But what about the future?
Gold found himself wondering.
    He paused when he got to the portion of the collection devoted to his wife Erica’s accomplishments. Gold had taught his bride
     to pilot a plane during their honeymoon, and now she could be proud of her own illustrious career in aviation spanning the
     twenty-one years of their marriage.
    There was a photo of Erica when she was a newlywed barely out of her teens, a brown-eyed blonde beautiful enough to be a starlet,
     waving from the cockpit of a De Havilland DH 4 biplane. There was a photo of her dressed in her flying gear, posing beside
     her silver-skinned GAT Yellowjacket racer at the National Speed Competitions. The display case held a complete collection
     of the many magazine covers that featured Erica after she’d stunned the world by becoming a GAT test pilot.
    Gold realized that his dark mood had lightened. He was smiling, thanks to thinking about Erica. It had helped to talk things
     over with Teddy, who was a good friend, but not his best friend. He suddenly knew where he wanted to be for the rest of the
     afternoon.
    Gold went to the intercom on his desk and asked the secretary to call to see if his wife was at home. A few moments later
     the secretary buzzed back to say that Mrs. Gold was on the line. Gold told his wife that he was on his way, and asked her
     to stick around.
    (Two)
    Gold Household
    Bel-Air
    Gold guided his Cadillac through the wrought-iron entrance to his estate. He was pleasantly surprised by how little time it
     took to make the drive from Burbank to Bel-Air, but it made sense that midday traffic would be light, considering the gas
     rationing,