Bonding with a boy who loves history and airplanes | THE MOM STOP

I was sifting through a box of dusty, unused books in my late father’s home back in 2019 when I came across a book about airplanes of World War II.

The book smelled of mildew and old paper — no telling how long it had been in that box — and was a few inches thick. It was likely one my dad, who loved history, had picked up from a yard sale or possibly out of a trash can at some point during his life. He always loved finding things for free or getting a really good deal.

But as I sat surrounded by piles of boxes that I had to sort through for “discard” or “donate” piles, I fingered through that old airplane book, which featured large, old photos of military aircraft of various different kinds.

The book would be heavy to pack in my suitcase when I flew from California back to Alabama, and would likely make my clothes stink. But, of all the random things contained in my father and grandmothers’ house, it was one thing, besides my grandfather’s old WWII-era Navy uniform, that I was sure my son would appreciate.

Unlike some kids who have a passion for sports, science, or even art, my boy, who is now 10, loves two things in particular: history, and anything to do with the military. If he gets on the topic of World War I or World War II, the discussion is unlikely to end any time soon since my son will talk incessantly about various different battles and their outcomes, or why certain artillery was better than others.

I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. While I always enjoyed history in school, it was never much of a passion of mine. But I’m married to a man who was a history major in college. I’m the daughter of a history buff, and my maternal grandfather also loved military history.

When I was on RV trips with my grandparents as a kid, it wasn’t unusual to stop to read historic markers on the side of the road, or take trips to Shiloh to see that Civil War battlefield. I have two uncles who went on to become engineers and helped design military fighter plans for Lockheed Martin.

I guess you can say that a love of airplanes and history is in my son’s blood.

Unfortunately, the opportunities to help foster my son’s love for military history are few, outside of getting him books or watching movies and documentaries on the topic. Which we do, as long as they are appropriate for a fourth-grader.

Last summer, after a family trip to the Mighty Eighth Airman Museum in Savannah, Georgia, my son was so passionate about the planes at the museum that he went back a few weeks later for a weeklong summer day camp that was themed around the spies of World War II.

One of my uncles, now a retired engineer, uses his 3-D printer to make models of antique aircraft for my boy and it’s always a game for my son to guess which type of plane it is — usually he knows, before my uncle even has to say. And last year, as a birthday gift, he was given a P-51 model remote control plane.

It was the same kind of remote control plane that my grandfather used to fly with my uncles when they were kids, only then they were gas-powered models. This one, extremely lightweight, came with a rechargeable battery.

Unfortunately, we didn’t take it out to fly, until last week. My son and I went to an abandoned golf course with one of our dogs on a sunny but extremely cold, windy day. We weren’t sure how well the plane would work exactly, but my boy took the controls and as he started up the propeller, he asked me to throw it into the direction of the wind.

And it flew. With what seemed like relative ease, my son learned to steer the plane and make it do turns. It crash-landed a few times, and once got stuck in a tree. But we threw sticks together up into the tree until the limbs shook enough to let the remote control plane go, falling to the ground below.

It was the first time in a long time that I can remember my son and I just spending time together, just the two of us, doing something my boy loves. And it was a reminder that it was something we need to do more often.

As we walked to the car to go back home, my son had his plane tucked under one arm while I put our dog back on the leash.

“You know, this is something your great-granddad would have loved so much, doing this with you,” I told him.

“Yeah,” my son replied. “But I had a lot of fun flying the plane with you,” he said.

Here’s hoping that we fly together more often.

Lydia Seabol Avant writes The Mom Stop for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at momstopcolumn@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Bonding with a boy who loves history and airplanes | THE MOM STOP