To Bob

I agree.
Robert Parks is a National Aviation Treasure. We are lucky to have him here.

 

I likewise enjoy reading Bob's contributions here.

 

Absolutely! Bob is a seemingly endless well of aviation knowledge.

Good group here!

 

I'm also a fan of Bob's posts!

 

Dookie pilots rule..!
Cheers,
RE

 

Bob needs to do an aviation magazine feature like Peter Egan in Road and Track. Would be a huge hit.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

I could not agree more!

Fact is on the days that I check in and Bob hasn't written something here I find myself disappointed.

Thanks for sharing with us Mr. Parks.

 

Bob,

One of the interesting things you could share with us is some of your logbook entries.
Do you still have all or some of your pilot logbooks?

If you have the first one, tell us about the first few pages.
What years?
... what plane types?
... who were your instructors?
... when did you first solo?

I would find this very interesting reading.
I suspect your think it would bore us, but trust me, it would be great.

Thanks.

 

I haven't seen my old log book for years and I think that it is a box some place. I only had one.
I solo'ed in 1946 in a 1937 Cub , 55HP LYC., no brakes and with a tailskid. My instructor was the late Bob Ahern , a great instructor with military type experience while doing work at the CPTP program at Clewiston, Fla. during the war. I then went on to newer Cubs and Champs. When Cessna came out with their new C120's and C140's i checked out in those. I worked at the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport for three years starting in 1947 during summer vacations when I was in college (Duke) where I got to fly a bunch of things. Checked out in PT-13,17, 19, 22,23, and got to fly things like the Rearwin Sportster, Cub Coupe,40 HP T-Craft, 65 HP T-Craft, Fairchild 24, 300 HP Stearman, Brunner-Winkle Bird, Piper Clipper, Globe Swift, Ercoupe, and a little bit in a BT-13. I can't remember all of my instructors but the other two that I can remember is Buck Criddlebaugh and Ed Denham who were brutal task masters and taught me in the Stearman and PT-23. Ed gave me my check ride for my private. Then I got married (bad move)and stopped flying when I moved to Pennsylvania. A move to Seattle and Boeing gave me a few opportunities to fly a Luscombe 8F and a Timm PT. When i started flying again in 1966 I helped Pete Bowers with his Fly Baby project and got to fly that as a biplane (200th pilot) while we were messing around at Thun Field. There I got to fly all kinds of stuff; Student Prince, Pietenpol Aircamper, Monocoupe AW with the late Jack Leffler who also let me fly his C-185 at times. When I moved to Friday Harbor I teamed up with the late Les Labar and flew with him delivering freight in his C-206 and got to fly his C-195 (great airplane), then chugged around in a C-150 at times. Had some marvelous flights in a Stinson Bushman (SR-10 with a PW 450) helping to deliver mail and freight with San Juan Airlines. I got to fly Ernie Gann's C-310 and one of the most enjoyable, Mike Strong's Lockheed 12 that I flew from Spokane to Arlington and then to Seattle during the EAA Spirit Of St. Louis Tour in 1976-77. Made three really nice landings with it. Later on I got to fly a Cessna Bobcat at Sandpoint , Idaho that I liked and then I was able to fly a DC-3 with Bruce Salerno ( Salair) from Spokane to Pasco. Since then I have been able to fly a C-177 ( another beautiful Cessna) and a Aviat Husky that is very similar to my old restored Aeronca L-3 that we flew around for three years. I have probably forgotten some machines but it doesn't matter.

 

I forgot the most interesting flight. Jack Leffler, who purchased the Boeing 247 and donated it to the Museum Of Flight, asked me to go with him and to fly that old 1930 airliner in 1966 and I got one hour of revisiting what it was like to fly that old airplane. Solid, stable , and almost unmovable but a revelation. Landed at 60 MPH.

 

^^^ Great stuff Bob. Thanks.

Back in the mid 1960's, when you were doing all that flying, I was a pre-schooler that got the chance to be a passenger in my Dad's Cessna 140a two-seater.

I vividly remember that little plane and those special short flights with my Dad. We lived in the Mojave Desert part of Southern Californa back then.