I remember when the Tampa airport only had one little building and you had to walk outside to your plane.
And wind up the propellor?
PBA DC-3s- Loved ‘em. One of the steepest climbs ever was getting to the cockpit.
I used to ride my Lambretta motor scooter out there and climb the stairs to the control tower where I would spend hours bugging the controllers with questions. It was sometime in 1957 as I recall.
They would have the aircraft parked on the tarmac for a couple of hours before flight time. There were no fences and no locked doors to prevent access to the cockpit of a plane waiting there. I would wander up and sit in the cockpit and play make believe. When the crew came to get ready I would hang around and question them until they ran me off.
Thanks for the memories!
And I remember when Newark and LaGuadia were walk-to-your-plane airports... :)