I'm still undecided whether buying an airplane in 1975 was a good thing or not. I was 25, was making more than half again what my father did at his peak and really didn't know a thing about handling money. Financially of course it was a disaster, but I sure had a ball with it! I still treasure the memories of some of the flights I took and most especially the 1976 trip to
Oskosh. Other pilots here will understand the significance of making that aviation pilgrimage. For that week Oskosh, Wisconsin is the busiest airport in the world and there was an air show every day. I'd never seen a P-51 Mustang (famous WWII fighter) IRL and was astonished that it wasn't a whole lot bigger than my Piper Tri-Pacer. I slept in a tent under the airplane wing and awoke at 6:00 AM daily to the music(?) of a Boeing 737 at takeoff thrust 50 yards away. It was fun at the time.