From: Michael S. Nichols (m.s.nichols@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Feb 27 2005 - 16:45:01 PST
Thanks for the great story about the Sherman and the hometown I grew up in
in the 1950's. My Catholic grammer school was about 3/4 mile outside the
Hospital grounds. As a first grader, I remember seeing some of the patients
who were walked into town in a group to do shopping, and being very afraid
of them. A main road ran through the hospital complex, and sometimes you
could hear the inmates howling and yelling out the barred windows......
About a mile and a half away from the hospital grounds going west on Islip
Avenue there were ( in the mid '50's) more than a couple of old WW1 biplanes
in various states of disrepair, owned by an old Army Air corps veteran of
WW1 named Captain Bender.. My dad told me today that O-3 Bender had a
small airport with a tin hanger in the 1930's, and offered $1.00 biplane
rides over Central Islip. On Sundays's there would be barnstorming, where
O-3 Bender flew the biplane and his partner in the act---with a peg
leg--would go out on the plane wing and jump off and open his parachute and
land near the crowd...... I hope I have not bored anyone with these L. I.
stories..
Regards,
Mike Nichols, Atlanta GA
Member GA MVPA
1972 M151A2
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