Ancient Silver Birds is a warm  recollection of air travel in the 1950's, when the DC3 was Queen of the Skies, carrying people, critters, and goods from smaller cities to the major hubs and their connections with the wide world.         For those who remember, it’s hilarious nostalgia, and for those who don’t, it’s a revelation of a bouncier, hotter, colder, more challenging time, when flying through thin air often meant breathing really thin air. The times are gone, thank goodness, but the memories are fun to recall.         The tales were written, and are told by Nels Winkless, who, desperate for a job, signed on as a combination cargo handler, passenger herder, and flight attendant with a little airline so poor that it sold one of its airplanes to make the payroll during his first week of employment, and taught him more about the airline biz than he ever wanted to know.         The music was written and performed by Jeff Winkless, who also engineered the recording and did post production in his Fort Mudge Productions studio. Oh, yes, Jeff is also the dogs. PURCHASE              For now, Ancient Silver Birds is available only through CD Baby at http://www.cdbaby.com/winkless/      (In the “Spoken Word” category) Price: $15.99 Return to Top LYRICS The Lyrics to the song “Ancient Silver Birds” Ancient silver birds soaring through the sky Pleasing ev’ry eye, ancient silver birds Ancient silver birds gliding through the blue Stately, staunch and true, ancient silver birds.         The world will never see again         such sterling planes, such sterling men         The Dee Cee Three is gone, and yet,         Let’s raise a toast lest we forget.         Ancient silver birds, pride of days gone by.         How did they fly so long? And why?         Let’s fill the glass and raise it high         To patient pilots fondly flying Ancient Silver Birds.         Ancient silver birds grinding through the sky Never very high, ancient silver birds. Ancient silver birds ducking ev’ry cloud Low and slow and loud, ancient silver birds.         The world will never see again         such stubborn planes, such stubborn men         The Dee Cee Three is gone, and yet,         Let’s raise a toast lest we forget         Ancient silver birds, pride of days gone by.         How did they fly so long? And why?         Let’s fill the glass and raise it high         To stubborn pilots fiercely flying ancient silver birds. Copyright © 1997        ABQ Communications Corporation    All Rights Reserved Return to Top CONTACT ABQ Communications Corporation P.O. Box 1432 Corrales NM 87114 correspo@swcp.com Return to Top FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS         Is Fluke Airways just a cover name for one real airline? No, Fluke is a composite. But did you really experience all of these stories? Most of them. All are true, reports from people who lived ‘em. Aren’t they exaggerations? It couldn’t have been like this all the time. If anything, reality was goofier than what we suggest here, but the goofiness was routine, and it’s hard to find stories that stand out. That wasn’t very safe, was it? Um, well, compared with what, driving cross country on two lane roads? Are DC 3s still flying commercially in 2005? Probably not in the U.S.. An airline in New England flew them as late as the 1990s, if memory serves, but even they retired the 3s as uneconomical,  at last. Were Fluke’s planes equipped with 1050 or 1250 horsepower engines? They told me all but one of our eighteen or so planes had the more powerful engines...and could fly to 12,000 feet on just one of them, which was reassuring...but almost everybody who was ever in the business knows more about the ships technically than I do. My concern was mostly with handling people and cargo. If piloting and old airplane technology charm you, a quick online search will turn up a bonanza for you. Why hasn’t Douglas just manufactured some more DC 3s, if they are so good? Probably for the same reason Ford doesn’t produce the Model A any more.  There are better planes for these applications now. There would probably be some buyers, but the cost of production and of compliance with current regulations is astoundingly high (people have looked into this), and nostalgia doesn’t provide enough incentive to make a market. Can I get a T shirt with that snazzy Fluke Airways logo on it? We don’t have any yet, but the subject has come up more than once. Let us know, and if the demand is sufficient, we’ll turn on the process at the silk-screen factory to produce a supply. How about coffee mugs? Once again, if you’d like to impress your associates with a cup sporting Fluke’s confidence-inspiring logo, we’ll happily respond to demand. Have you thought about making a TV show of Ancient Silver Birds? Oh, sure, and we’ve put together a proposal with an outline of the underlying story, sketches of the main characters, and about fifteen capsule episode ideas...but no bites so far. Don’t hold your breath. Return to Top