A Globe Swift circa 1946 -1947. I flew an 85 hp Swift on a 98 deg. day with a passenger...Only once. Couldn't wait to get it on the ground.
We took off on runway 22, 5000 ft. long. It had, at that time, a clear unobstructed undeveloped overrun to Sarasota Bay. We had the full runway to run and about 150 ft altitude(maybe) to the bay. Full throttle the whole time and just tickled the wheel to maintain an almost unidentifiable climb ( two feet). We made a a very timid turn to the south and circled over the suburbs and orange groves and mushed down to a rather ungraceful landing. Sarasota Airport at that time was still Sarasota Airbase and retained all of the old buildings and OD paint
I most likely over estimated the temp, it was probably around 94-95, but it was too hot to fly the Swift. A low time pilot makes more bad decisions than good and this day was full of them. I remember staring at cyl head temp and airspeed and not much else. When we got over the bay the temp dropped a bit and I could put the nose down some to gain airspeed and cool things down a bit but it was minimal. I was criticized for flying over the north of town but it was the shortest way around to the runway. I was lucky that day. Twenty years later I was able to fly in the right seat of a Swift with a 150 Lyc. and enjoyed even minute of it. Fun airplane
