That little F-100 was " flown" to destruction by my kids. It had a steerable tailwheel, flaps, ailerons, elevator, rudder, and a full panel---well, three instruments from an old battery charger. Rolled out in 1959. The L-3 was restored in 1967. Switches
That little airplane literally had the wheels flown off of it. Then the kids took to a sloping grassy hill nearby and flew it down the hill until it crashed into a tree one day. Pilot slightly injured, plane a writeoff. Same thing happened to the L-3 during an airshow where the pilot who borrowed it was killed in a midair. Switches
I never got to fly in the F-100. Too young to solo but got to spend quite a few hours in the L-3. L-3 = "Super Slug", Slower than the 7AC Champ.
Yep, Spasso (Dana) was a toddler then but he flew the L-3 with me many times. Also the 7AC Clown plane coming back from airshows when he was 11 or 12. Number one son, Kris, did have many hours in the F-100 and went on to fly for the airlines after soloeing in the L-3 when he was 16. Digging up more pictures.
I should mention that Spasso spent many grubby hours inside the bare bones of the L-3 removing old paint, sanding and applying zinc chromate when he was 9 to 10 years old. He did many other boring chores but then later he got a lot of flights that were'nt very boring and saw some great airshows with us. Switches
Yeah, with no protective equipment, gloves or dust masks and I'm still kicking. OSHA, EPA, Greenpeace and the SCPA would freak if they saw what went on during that restoration in the garage...............................
We used to crawl into the tail booms of our Army Huey helicopters and wash out the fluids with bottles of MEK and rags. I get headaches thinking about it.
Bad stuff to breathe for too long but I think all of us did things in our younger days that we wouldn't and couldn't do now. We sprayed on the silver and pigmented dope without respirators and spit, coughed , and snorted out gobs of junk at the end of the day. For some reason we're still here. Switches
Back when I crewed F-16s I was at Nellis for Red Flag and they made me remove paint from wheels in a clean suit, which I couldn't stand, so I removed my mask for half an hour and had head spins and chemical pneumonia for a month. Ah yes, youth is wasted on the young and stupid.
