Researching Madness

Researching madness sounds like a noble cause, doesn’t it? Me? Why I’m researching madness. Except in my case, I’m experiencing researching madness!

You’re a writer. You know how it goes. Before you write that piece, you’d best know what you’re talking about, right?

Whilst waiting and waiting and waiti… wait, some news! My lovely editor/wife said, without my prompting, that she’d read my book THIS WEEK! Granted, that was Sunday evening, after a promise to read it that weekend, and here it is Wednesday and the dust on the cover hasn’t been moved… but, hey, I can hope!

Anyway, I’ve started that Aerospace Museum project by building a database about the many California Air Museums I plan to visit.

Yep, a database. Here’s the museum, here’s their list of aircraft, here’s the history of each one. Ah, the Internet is a wonderful tool. It’s gonna be so cool…

Except, I mean, like, come on, you know? Castle Air Museum has 90 different airplanes. Ninety! OMG, how much can a fellow cut and paste in one lifetime?

Wait, that North American SNJ is the same thing as the North American AT-6, isn’t it? What do I do now? Isn’t the F-4J the same as an F-4? What the hell is a Ryan Navion, for crying out loud?

I’m an airplane nerd, among oh so many other subjects, but, holy cats, this is crazy-making!

So far, I’m on my fifth museum, and I’ve cataloged over 130 aircraft. My head, oh how she spins!

There are only 60 museums to go.

But, when this is done, I’ll have the supreme record of ALL the museum aircraft in California, including their complete histories and other cool stuff.

When I finally go and visit a museum, I’ll be able to point and say “isn’t that a BF-108 Taifun?” and the proprietor will give me an admiring glance and say “why, you are a discerning writer, aren’t you?”

And then it will all be worth it.

And then I’ll say “that’s a nicely restored A-6,” and the proprietor will shake his head sadly and say “that’s an AT-6, you whistlehead,” and I’ll have to leave the museum. Sigh.

And, to be fair, the museum in Boron, CA, away out there in the middle of the desert, has only one airplane. That was pretty easy data entry…