I'm sure almost everyone remembers the first time they did things. The first time deserves a special marker among all the other things we do throughout our lives. Do you remember your first love, your first train ride, your first house, your first activity? You get the idea. Recently, in a moment of nostalgia, I remembered the four years I spent serving my country in the United States Navy and remembered my first plane ride. For as long as I can remember, I've been a plane nut. Growing up, I built many model airplanes and imagined myself sitting in the cockpit at the controls of a model airplane, often unfinished. Military fighter jets have always been the most fascinating and my all-time favorite was the North American P-51 Mustang. And as I write this news story, there's a full-scale model of a Mustang in my small home office and a smaller version on my desk. When I joined the Navy in 1956, I applied for naval aviation cadet training. program and was rejected due to my lack of education. A university degree or equivalent was required and I had neither. The Navy offered many alternative training programs and I decided to forget about aviation for the time being and chose radio communications school. After 6 weeks of training to become a Navy radioman, I was sent to a ship to support the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Life on the ship was routine and very boring, and luckily I met a special detachment of the Navy. guys on my boat who fascinated me. They were Underwater Demolition Team 21. Besides flying planes, they were exactly the kind of macho guys I wanted to be a part of – so I volunteered. There was a lot of paperwork, physical and psychological exams...... middle of paper...... for comfort. You must wear the harness but there is no need to click on the parachute/seat except when necessary. It's dark inside and there are few windows. While the C-119 is flying, however, there is a lot of engine noise and quite a bit of vibration. The tremors and vibrations cause the pallets of goods attached to the center of the cell to move and dance across the entire deck. One can simply and vividly imagine being crushed or pushed completely through the skin of the aircraft at any time, although the straps should narrowly prevent one from doing so. I guess because I was nervous, scared and very excited at the same time, the flight seemed to last several hours. My first plane flight lasted only 30 minutes, but it was one of the unforgettable experiences of my life and truly the original white knuckle. flight.