FISH & CHICKEN INN! Great food, Great people!

If you've never been there, you have to stop by for some excellent food, but also to meet some really nice people!
The place is the FISH & CHICKEN INN at the corner of Hudson Street and Joyce Avenue in Columbus, or more properly at 1828 E. Hudson St.
There you can have a fish sandwich that will impress you as it does the regular customers in the area who know about this marvelous place. And, you can have a lot more, including a gyro. Food is excellent and prices are reasonable. That means you really get value for your money, which is not always the case at a lot of restaurants where they spend more on the decorations and the advertising than they do the food.
Besides the great food, you also will get a chance to meet two of the nicest people you will ever meet Boubker Laassbi and his son, partner and co-owner, Adenane Haimani. No, those are not names you recognize, and you will even have to ask them how to pronounce their names.
They have their names because they are from way, way off, like Morocco, a country on the northwest part of Africa.
Boubker said they started the business about a year ago because they are good cooks, and they know the restaurant business and how important good food and value are, too.
They are also miracle workers in a way, in that they took what once, probably a long, long time ago, was a Dairy Queen, and by their own work turned it into what you can see today.
What you see is a brightly painted yellow building with welcoming signs. The building brightens up the whole neighborhood.
All of those things you must appreciate, plus the fact that Baoubker and his son had the nerve to go into business. Just that alone has to impress you because while going into business is easy, staying in business can be tough. Yet, he and his son have done it.
Go inside the FISH & CHICKEN INN and you will see a place that is clean, really clean. That means you will not only enjoy the food but that you can trust it, too.
“People like it,” Boubker said of the food he offers at the FISH & CHICKEN INN.
Their customers may like the place because the father and son likes their customers.
Why?
“When you treat people well, they like it,” Adenane said. “That's what we try to do, treat people well.”
Boudker especially praises his son's work. "We did everything together equally. We both cook, and we are business partners."
So, next time you are hungry, stop by. You will like the food, and you will like the people behind the counter.
You might also like their story about how with all the world to pick from they ended up in Columbus, Ohio—and also remember to ask why they keeps the front door wide open!
They are open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. -- 9 p.m., on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. -- 10 p.m. And then from noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.
If you want to order ahead, or get lost trying to find the you can reach them by calling 478-0675.
Click the picture to make it bigger. They stand outside their restaurant!

Who flew Flying Boxcar 037 to the US Air Force Museum?

There are two strings of airplanes parked in a sort of air park at the U.S Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, and in one of those lanes is a C-119, no to be precise a C-119J with the nose number 037.
For those of you who do not know, this was one of the first Air Force transport that could be loaded from the rear. Many of the early versions of Air Force transports, the C-47 and C-54, for example, all required side loading—and in the case of the C-47 through a very narrow door.
Also called the “Flying Box Car,” the C-119 at the Air Force Museum was configured for a specific mission, because it has a, well, what I can only call a clamp tail, in that it could be opened up, something like a clamp or mouth. The special tail was created for a special mission, to catch one of the early satellites in the United States space program.
A sign in front of this very unique C-119 says that, indeed on Aug. 19, 1960, made a mid-air recovery of the parachute to which the space capsule was attached. It says the event occurred at 8,000 feet 360 miles southwest of Hawaii. There must have been some jubilation among the aircraft's crew when that happened.

I'm including photos of it, a side view to show the clamp tail and then another that shows a curious configuration of antennas on the nose.
But, to my story and question, about who flew it to the Air Force Museum.
So, far I've had three different people tell me they flew it in.
One was an old friend Jim McMaster who for a long time was the public affairs spokesman for the 302nd Airlift Wing when it was at Rickenbacker ANGB, Ohio. He was a retired Air Force colonel and had had long service flying every plane imaginable during World War II.
Now, Jim, said he was the pilot. Well, since then, including two men I've met at the Air Force Museum say they were the pilots who flew it in, all suggesting to me that they were the pilot as opposed to the co-pilot.
Maybe I should have asked if the other two knew Jim McMaster, but I did not. So, maybe one or more of them weren't the actual pilot but, rather, the co-pilot for the trip to the Air Force Museum. The sign out front says the craft was flown to the museum in 1963.
That is interesting only from the standpoint that they were still in wide use then, at least in the Air Force Reserve, though maybe in active duty units, too.
No, matter, if anyone else out there knows who might have flown this bird to the museum, drop me a note.

Capital Winds: If You Live in or around Columbus, Ohio, You Must Hear Them!

The Ohio Capital Winds, a champion of wind ensemble music, performs a classic repertoire from masters such as Holst, Sousa, Grainger, and Ohio's own Henry Fillmore.
The musicianship of the ensemble's 30+ professional and semi-professional players is its hallmark.
Concert programs appeal to a wide range of tastes, taking audiences on a journey that blends exuberant crescendos with moments of quiet contemplation.
All that is directly from the group's web site, and all that it means is they are excellent musicians and wonderful to hear.
Their conductor is Catherine Hope-Cunningham, a young woman with a great deal of skill and love for her work.
Check their web site for future performances, to buy a CD of their work for anyone you know who loves great music and to even book them for your next event, social or business. They will bring wonder to any of those kinds of events.