Some men have life-changing experiences in their youth. Others spend their lives dreaming. A few have the opportunity to work through these moments later in life.
In Fawn Township, a group of retirees is turning discarded aviation memories into working studies of history.
Some men have life-changing experiences in their youth. Others spend their lives dreaming. A few have the opportunity to work through these moments later in life.
In Fawn Township, a group of retirees is turning discarded aviation memories into working studies of history.
Jack Kosko flew 18 missions in a Grumman TBM Avenger as a radioman during World War II.
"It took me out there and brought me back," Kosko said of the Avenger.
One of the planes made a bad landing on the aircraft carrier USS Langley. Kosko salvaged an altimeter and voltmeter before the bomber was pushed into the sea.
Today, the first Avenger Kosko ever restored still flies at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, carrying those gauges with it.
Kosko owns the Fawn Township property where the group gathers about twice a week to restore the old planes.
One of the men, Bill Butler, remembers how his father, a naval aviator during WWII, would take him to air shows.
"I can't fly, and I like to watch," said the Sykesville, Md., resident of the hobby, "so this is my big chair."
Frank Darney, of Jefferson, was an Air Force mechanic during WWII and with the Maryland National Guard for almost 40 years.
"We never had to do much with these planes back then other than daily inspections," he said.
While working to reconstruct the bomber doors of the group's second Avenger, Darney said, "This gives me something to look forward to."
Progress here isn't measured by time. It can take more than five years to reconstruct a vintage aircraft. But as Kosko will tell you when you meet him, "There are no problems, only challenges."
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