When I was a boy I built model airplanes and dreamed of flying. As a teenager a buddy and I took over a botched P-38 Lightning, “Comet Really Flies Kit.” It was supposed to be powered by rubber bands. We had to create some of the bulkheads from the plans, since the preprinted wood had been broken and mutilated. We almost finished it when we got a brilliant idea. We each had a small Cox “Thimble Drone, 0.049 cu. in.” gas airplane engine from our multi-crashed trainer airplanes. We would install these engines in this tiny little airplane with 36 inch wingspan. To make a long story short we succeeded even beyond our grandest dreams and flew this airplane on control lines for hours and hours.
Many times over the years I have returned to my modeling roots, but mostly these days I get my thrills by flying the Microsoft Flight Simulator program.
These last two weeks I have been able to play with the real thing, so to speak. I have been volunteering my time at the Wings of History, Air Museum. This group meets for about five hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and they restore antique aircraft. I have joined forces as a rote apprentice with Steve and Jerry and I am helping restore a 1934 Pietenpol “Air Camper” designed by Bernard Pietenpol to be built by home builders in the grand old days of barn-stormers. It uses a Ford, Model “B” engine for power. Our task is to build a right wing for the aircraft to replace one destroyed in a landing incident. So far all our efforts have been centered around duplicating the broken wing spars out of two of the most beautiful straight grained spruce beams I have ever seen. We spend hours meticulously measuring the broken wing and the intact left wing and duplicating the position of every fitting and rib assembly on the new spars.
The longer story of the “Air Camper” is that it was restored by this same group last year. One of the pilots flew the restored aircraft to an air show fly-in and returned to San Martin. A second fly-in was planned but part way there the Model “B” engine seized up. Now the “Old Pilots'” definition of a “successful landing” is one that you get to walk away from. An “excellent landing,” on the other hand, is one where you can use the aircraft again. The pilot made a “successful” dead stick landing in a plowed field.
What a thrill to work with these pioneers of aviation, the people and the aircraft. These folks are intensely interested in these antique airplanes. One gentleman, showing me around the grounds brought me up in front of the most derelict skeleton of a fuselage and glowed as he explained the wonderful qualities of the airplane and showed me bare wing skeletons propped up in a rack behind the museum. Through his eyes I could almost see the trim lines of an Avro “Avian” rolling along a grass runway and climbing into the sky.
Here is a link to the Wings of History web site and the Pietenpol “Air Camper”
We are still in the Gilroy California area. We will be watching grandson, Cody graduate from high school on Saturday. The weather is predicted to be toasty warm. And yes I see what you folks are getting in the Pacific Northwest. We will try to drag some of this sunny weather along with us when we come.
Love to all, Gary and Judy.
