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Meet Don
Ricci,
Aviation has always been a huge part of my life. As a little
runt I'd read with wild eyed enthusiasm every aviation book,
magazine, photo, or flight manual I could get my hands on.
Dreams of being a fighter pilot and stroking the burners,
tearing down the runway, clawing for flight in fighter became my
life's ambition at a very early age and consumed every thought.
As fate would have it. At the age of 16 a car accident damaged
my eyesight and my dreams for the Air Force Academy and of being
a fighter pilot were gone in the blink of an eye.
So Instead of flying a fighter, I get to run into burning
buildings for a living but that desire and love for aviation has
always been there. It is a bug I will never loose. I think it
only gets worse as I get older. Just ask my wife about the F-4 I
have parked next to my house….She'll tell ya I still have it
BAD! I found my niche and am able to get my fighter fix through
the air museum as well as my love for recreating aviation nose
art. I love bringing back that nostalgia that is so intertwined
with military aviation. While I am painting nose art on a P-51,
T-28, T-33, (or even Will's flight helmet!) I feel like I am
fulfilling that dream. When I get to fly in the aircraft I just
put nose art on….Wow! Life is good!
I was doing some nose art on the flight line when I met Will for
the first time about 2 years ago. I have heard so much about him
and the Steadfast Team. We talked about nose art and he asked if
I'd like to visit the hangar and see Steadfast. I flipped!
Watching the hangar doors open and seeing the sun hit the sleek
lines on that beast made me almost have a coronary! Everything
about that beautiful, brutish, Lavochkin looking beast I love.
The lines, the huge spinner, that distinctive empennage, that
massive radial, the smell the sound……
Oh that beautiful sound.
Will is by far one of the greatest guys I have ever met and I am
proud to call him my friend. I love hanging out at the hangar
with the guys and learning everything I can. Every single person
on the team seems to be cut from the same mold…approachable,
eager to teach, open, connected by a love for aviation and 100%
driven to do their best Team Steadfast. I live for being at the
hangar having the chance to hand over a tool, wipe down a part,
and assist the crew with anything. At the end of the day when I
am covered that wonderful smell of oil and exhaust, my head is
full of all the new things I have learned from some of the
greatest people I have ever met……Will and the Steadfast Team
have done everything to make a boyhood dream come true. Thanks
guys!! |
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