Profile 104: IN PROGRESS—"A-Bar" as flown by Newton Cobb, 364th FG, 385th FG

Have a look at "Newt" Cobb's 'A-Bar.'   It's almost finished.   In fact, it should have been finished months ago.  But it isn't.  And yet, it's a "hurry-up!" work because I'm all out of time.

(sigh)

I tell ya—though today is a balmy April day, it 'feels' like one from a bitter November; gray, spitting sleet and hissing of a vicious winter ahead.  Too poetic?  Maybe.  But years ago, when I heard so-many people moan, "We're losing all those WWII veterans so quickly!" I still had a contact-list of a hundred or more, all of who would either answer their cell phones or respond to an email (usually within a few hours).

Today?

(sigh)

By the time you view this, Newt's P-51 will be finished and if I'm fortunate, in the production que at my printer's place.   I'll post the final version here along with Newt's story of being (possibly) the shortest-time POWer of WWII.   Shot down during the last days of Hitler's reign, the man waited out the inevitable end by agreeing to a fascinating (and bizarre) code of ethics with a German officer.

Yeah, you'll want to read the final story.

But in the mean-time, I'd like you to click the link below and watch a quick video of Newt describing a encounter with another German officer that, if you're like me, will leaving you wondering about the strange poetry of how life works.

"By that time it was too late...I don't understand why I'm alive today."

Stand by.  The next post might give a little more clarity to Newt's comment about not understanding why he's alive today...

UPDATE:  I doodled this quick sketch of what Newt might have seen regarding that Me-163.  The proportions are off (the 163 was about half the size of a P-51) but you'll get the drift...

Newt Cobb vs. Me-163