Granddaddy is a Rock Star

Wednesday, December 21 - I need to post about all the places we've been in the last two weeks, but I'm going to skip ahead and tell you about yesterday.  A few days ago, Dad saw that there was going to be a full size model of an F-35 downtown and Dad thought that Granddaddy (Dad's Dad) would like to go see it.  It's been pretty cold, but yesterday it was warmer, so we went and got Granddaddy.

I thought the plane was the star and we were just going to look at it, but when we got there, Granddaddy was the star!  Everyone wanted to talk to him and the paparazzi snapped lots of photos.

What I found out is Granddaddy isn't just special to me.  He's special to everyone.  He is 91 now, so he was a young man at the time of World War II.  He enlisted in the Navy and went to radio school on Navy Pier.  (That's communication type radios so that soldiers in one place can talk to soldiers in another place.  They are different than the radio you have in your car.)  He was always really good with radios and electronics, so after the war he got a job with a company called General Dynamics.  He worked there for 35 years in the Avionics Division designing air to ground communication on the B-58, the F-111, and the F-16.  General Dynamics has since been acquired by Lockheed Martin and Lockheed builds the F-35, so there were lots of Lockheed people around the plane. They were so excited to meet Granddaddy.

First, the Head Test Pilot wanted to meet Granddaddy

Granddaddy let the Head Test Pilot have an official photo with him, Dad, and Mom.

Then Granddaddy got into the cockpit to check out the plane.

And the paparazzi got a photo of Mom and Dad with Granddaddy...

Afterwards, the Head of the Fort Worth Division of Lockheed wanted to show all the features of this new plane to Granddaddy and get his thoughts on it.  He presented Granddaddy with an official F-35 pin.  

It was so cool being with a star.  I have to say Thank You to Angel who is the Lockheed photographer who sent me all these pictures.  Sometimes the paparazzi are really nice.