Stumbled on this thread and it consumed a fair bit of time because I am just awed by the old war birds. My wife's dad had a tad over 5,000 hours in the B17, flew with Jimmy Stewart once upon a time . His best friend was Bob Morgan of the Memphis Belle, Oneal was chosen to fly the new B-29 picking her up from Amarillo. His B-29 was the Little Gem and I believe he was the second B29 over Tokyo right behind Bob Morgan's Dauntless Dotty.
I love the sound of those warbirds, but the only warbirds I got much exposure to were the F4 Phantoms, man what a rush when they flew low overhead firing their guns, an unmistakeable sound. There was an airshow here in Albuquerque and the most fearsome aircraft I saw was a B2 bomber, it was just evil looking as it passed low overhead.
Only thing I miss about flight nursing is all the cool old war birds that would show up at the FBO for fuel or overnight stowage. Most pilots would take the time to show the aircraft.