Yesterday I was having lunch at Wendy's and an elderly gentleman noticed the book Manned Submersibles. He asked me what my interest in submarines is, and we got into a long discussion over lunch. He is about 90 years old and a WWII veteran - Navy. He is also an electrical engineer and patent attorney. For years he was Chief Patent Counsel for a defense contractor and had several submarine stories to tell. He asked a lot of questions and I showed him pics of Bionic Guppy and R300. People such as him are a real treasure, and it was certainly a special privilege to stumble across him. He had to leave to get to the library, said he had some research to do, but he gave me his card and e-mail address and asked me to stay in touch. I'll absolutely do that.
I asked my dad to write down all the stories he used to tell about his days as a PBM pilot in the Pacific during WWII. He said he would, but never did before he died. Maybe I can get Mr. Humphries to do that.
JT