Christmas Plane Porn...Part Two

Help, I can't help myself!!!

‘Thought I wouldn’t be back, didn’t you? Santa never fails!

It’s Old Rhinebeck again. This time it’s their Liberty-powered Curtiss JN4D Jenny. And it’s real, not a repro. When a flew a Jenny for the first time, the check pilot told me, “Pick out any obstacle ahead, add ten feet and don’t try to get any higher, sooner. It won’t happen.” It’s amazing to see old films of Jennies with two wing ridders on them doing loops. I mean REALLY amazing!

I’ve lived a blessed life in that I’ve known and worked with some truly gifted people and Jim Younkin, who both created this replica of a 1929 Travel Air Mystery Ship and is flying it, was one of those. He was a no-sh*t genius in every possible way! He could design and build anything (he held many patents on auto pilots). He designed and built an endless stream of amazing airplanes and could make sheet aluminum take forms only a few other craftsmen could equal. I was blessed to spend many days with him trying to pass along some of his skills to readers.

And speaking geniuses, there’s Burt Rutan. Future generations are going to look back and date everything as being “Before Rutan and after Rutan”. The man has a mind that looks at problems and goals differently than the rest of we common folk. I chaired an all day design forum for Popular Mechanics that included Burt, and six or seven other well knowns and a lunar astronaut. The goal was to design the training aircraft for the next generation. I only got to the third question presenting design directions before everyone just looked at Burt before answering because he obviously looked at things different than the rest of us. The rest of us started out listing how it had been done in the past. Burt always started with a clean piece of paper with no preconceived notions. We were evolutionary. He was revolutionary. He’s on a different level than anyone I’ve ever known. Defiant, VariEze, and his very first homebuilt design, the VariViggin. Who envisions shapes like that???

This is the first homebuilder Eze to be flown. That NJ’s High Point monument in the background.

I have to point out that photos like I’ve been throwing at you have little to do with the photographer. They have to do with is the talent of the guys flying the airplane (and the light, the location, etc.). How often do you see a view of a P-47 Jug like this? However, all I had to do is ask for it and they effortlessly created it. It’s interesting to see how much comes out of an airplane when it’s “down and dirty.”

Right here, folks, you’re looking at the future of homebuilt aviation taking a sharp corner in terms of design, production and flying qualities. This is the first line I wrote in the pilot report I did on the airplane in Air Progress at the time, “August, 1973, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Climbing out of the Van Grunsven prototype RV-3 after my first flight, it struck me how incredibly far the art of homebuilding has progressed…” Try to imagine Oshkosh (AirVenture to you youngun’s) without RVs. We measure them by the acre.

Back in the day I was almost constantly within earshot of pilots capable of pulling this kind of thing off with a 90 second briefing (formation loop) in almost any airplane. ‘Made shooting photos a piece of cake. Resulted in over 300 covers and God knows how many feature spreads.

I want you to remember a name: Ed Maloney. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves for saving so many older aircraft so they will exist for future generations. His various versions of the Planes of Fame Museum in California have fought the financial tide to save aviation history of all kinds for future generations. Steve Hinton, one of the original Chino Kids, is keeping the flame burning. Personally, Ed was so helpful to me and treated me so well, it pains me when I learn people don’t know his name. All I had to do was ask, often just as part of a passing conversation, about photographing some of his airplanes and he’d make it happen, including a camera plane. Where else are you going to have an original (original everything including engine) Zero up in formation with its two primary adversaries, the Hellcat and Corsair? Somewhere in that photo, a very young Steve Hinton is looking back at an equally young me.

So that’s it! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Thinking Out Loud. Here’s hoping good health for everyone reading this. With that, we can overcome anything.