Around 1968 Pete Bowers had his creation flying, because in the 60s, you could do a LOT of stuff that the govt won't let you do anymore... turbonique rocket thrusters, build your own plane... etc without an electrical system, radios, and a transponder
Switching back and forth between the wings takes two people about an hour.
EAA Judges rate aircraft at Fly-Ins, not only on how well the builder did, but on how difficult the airplane was to build. The Fly Baby has ALWAYS occupied the "easiest" category...even in today's modern kit era.
They go together like a big balsa-wood model. You don't even have to build-up ribs like most wood homebuilts. Instead, you stack up sheets of plywood and "gang-saw" them all at once on a bandsaw.
Even today, one can probably build a Fly Baby (less engine) for $10,000 or less. Even though it doesn't come as a kit, a lot of the major parts (fuel tanks, engine mounts) come from the J-3 Cub, and companies like Wag-Aero and Univair still sell these parts.
It's not "Tab A into Slot B" kitbuilding. But the Fly Baby was the seminal EAA project; it was the first (and so far, only) design ever to win an EAA design competition.
When Pete Bowers passed away, he left his entire collection to Seattle's Museum of Flight. It included a set of original plans from 1965. The Museum has scanned in the plans, and they are available for free download. You can read them online, or click the "download" button.
I always had the desire to build a biplane. Ran across a Steen Skybolt under construction and decided to buy the planes which I still have to this day. In 1968, Lamar Steen was a teacher at Denver's Manual High School ... So he designed a new aerobatic airplane and coached his students as they built it. Really a great looking airplane. I quickly realized the cost of just the engine would break my back. The airframe was right down my alley as I had a shop where I built top Fuel dragsters. For once I common sense came into play and I pasted of the project, Still it would have been cool to have that tubing work hanging from my ceiling. Little Boys Can Always Dream. Maybe next life!
ReplyDeleteit really would be damn cool... I have the goofball idea that I am a conglomeration of the experiences and years that were added onto the "me" who was 8 years old, or whatever young age you first started having a desire to play with stuff, and knew that stuff was out of your parents financial ability. I hope you understand, it's probably a failure of my ability to communicate what I mean, but, we are not just old men. We are the little kids we once were, we are the teen agers that caused ourselves a lot of trouble, and had a LOT of fun, we are the young men of our 20s, that were in the military for years (I did 10 years in the Navy, crewed on 2 subs, was stationed in Orlando for a year, Groton Ct for a year, Pearl Harbor for 4 years, and San Diego for 4 years, were I was an MP) and the middle aged men that were struggling to have jobs and relationships and couldn't afford the toys appropriate for our 30s and 40s, like motorcycles, boats, tractors, planes, etc.
DeleteSo, when I pass a bunch of those gumball machines that used to have little cheap toys that I wanted when I was 5 or 6, I look at them, see if I still want any, would any of them please the 6 year old me, and god damn it I buy them. It's not money wasted, it's getting that little kid the toys he would play with for a couple minutes and forget in the car on the ride home from the grocery store... I'm sure every car any kids ever rode in have some little toy lost and forgotten in the seat crack by the seatbelt.
When I'm in Target or Walmart, I look through the magazine and book area, as I was SO hoping to go home with a fun magazine as a 10-12 year old, to read in the car on the one hour ride from the store to my parent's house. Yes, we made a monthly trip to the big grocery store to stock up, we lived that damn far from the bigger towns that had proper regular sized grocery stores.
Look on Google maps for Sidnaw Michigan, then look around for any town larger in a 60 mile radius.
Now you know where the middle of nowhere is.
As a guy in his 20s, I wanted a lot of stuff.
Now, I'm 53, still can't afford much, but realize every day that I'm unlikely to live another 53 years, and I BETTER buy myself what ever the fuck I desire that pleases me, to be just a little bit happier in the shorter life I have left, than the life I've had so far where I couldn't afford shit. Thankfully, I'm done paying off the credit cards I needed to survive, the car payment, etc etc.
Renting a very cheap little room, for 650 a month, gives me a bit of wiggle room on having the extra money to pay twice as much for a meal, as 20 years ago when a weeks food was somehow carved out of a 20 dollar bill, and a lot of dollar menu at Taco Bell and McDonalds.
So, I hope you, and anyone else reading this, decides from what I've just said, that they too should buy stuff to please the kid they were. Comic books for gods sake. And the teen... get that basket ball. It's still fun to bounce. The guitar. Yes, I bought one, still have to find time to learn to play it... might have to give up blogging to do that.
I did go up in a hot air balloon north of Dallas once. Was really a great flight but never gave any though to owning one as you had to rely on to many volunteers that were paid with flights from time to time. Did develop a passion for Harley Davidsons around April pf 67. Spotted a 67 CH Sportster with 4" extended fork tubes, 21" spool wheel and a bobbed rear fender topped with a Cobar seat. Pure lust that was frozen in my mind. Was in the base around San Francisco where I caught a flight to South Vietnam. Between tours I bought a brand new 69 XLH electric start Sportster. Came home in March of 70 with a friend. He bought a new 70 XLH and we hit the road to Florida. I rode that back for several years after ending up in Fort Worth. I learned to TIG weld and started building complete Big Twin frames and modifying Sportster frames. Finally started building Top Fuel dragsters. Built one Fuel Funny Car for a friend after much bribery and Jack Daniels. Just never had a interest those. They were all Fort Worth cops that I had known and like to drink as well. Many a rough night running with those guys. Now I'm just a dreamer! Much easier on my ole carcass!
Delete