2001-09-26 02:03:19+02 by Dan Lyke / 0 comments
When I was a kid, airplanes were my fetish. My uncle owned a Cessna 150, I think it was N7660S, and sometimes he took me a long when he took it to get serviced. We flew out of the grass strip which he tied down at to this old airport up in the Adirondacks. Literally had a graveyard at either end of the runway, and when we taxied down-wind we went up to rotation speed to keep the potholes from ripping off the nose-gear. Cokes in the machine cost a nickel, and the airplanes were mostly from that era too. I remember poking through the back of one of the hangars one day and finding a Beechcraft staggerwing biplane. That was a gorgeous piece of machinery. Anyway, I'd spend the ground-time there listening to stories by the guy who ran the place. Eric asked how much a crop-duster cost, and while researching that I ran across Border Pilot [link has gone 404] reminiscences by a crop-dusting pilot.
Brings back memories. Good memories.
[Edit: The book now appears to be available as an e-book and in two formats on dead trees. I still recommend it!]
[ related topics: Nostalgia Dan's Life Aviation ]
2001-09-27 00:48:59+02 by Dan Lyke / 2 comments
So the reminiscence brought on by finding Border Pilot has me trying to remember something: I'm looking for the name of a metal H-tailed single engine tricycle landing gear low-wing plane. It might have been the Europa or similar, built around the late '40s, I think one of its quirks was that it just had a castoring nose wheel. Ringing any bells?
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