Airplane Buff

The question has been posed to me, when did you first become interested in flight (airplanes, dirigibles, gliders etc.)?

At the age of 8 (1928) I was walking on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ and a Curtiss Seaplane appeared flying from the north at about 200 ft just off the surf making the two occupants very visible. When the plane came over the Million Dollar Pier flying at about 50 mph it made a 180 degree turn and went back to the north.

The visual effect and the noise of the un-muffled motor did the trick—I was hooked.

Since our grandparents had a home in Atlantic City (12 minute bike ride from the new airport, Bader Field) my younger brother and I spent many hours at the airport. We “worked” there for no money, pushing the planes in and out of the hangers, chasing seagulls off the runway etc.

One day when a friend of ours was visiting, we pooled our funds (one dollar each) and asked for a ride. Since it was a slow day we were told to climb in the front cockpit—all three of us, one seat belt. The airplane was a Stearman biplane with a 400 hp motor. The ride lasted about 10 minutes, but it did the trick, we were really “hooked for life”.
When summer was over the family had to retreat to Philadelphia and school. In spite of all the formal learning, the need to be involved in flying was still strong.
My brother and I became very interested in model airplanes. We built them by the hundreds. We started the first model airplane club at La Salle High School and finally could not resist the urge to build a full size airplane. Our Father ok’d the project, but would not buy us a motor. As a result we built a glider, modeled after an Octave Chanute glider. The ribs and ailerons were made of plywood and the longerons were made of aviation grade spruce. The covering was 300 lb craft paper, extremely strong and affordable. We covered the wings and tail and then sprayed them with water to make the paper very taut. The last step was to coat everything with amber shellac. The wingspan was 22 ft and the fuselage was 14 ft. The pilot was Bill O’Donnell, the lightest weight member of our school class. All flight attempts were well within “ground effect”. Drawings and photo of this project still exist.

A few years later, the next event in this field was becoming a pilot in WWII, thanks to the Army Air Corp. This great achievement was short lived as I was transferred to bombardier - navigator training shortly there after, but it did not make much difference, as long as it was flying.

Among our five children were two boys, and whether they liked it or not, they were required to build model airplanes (by this time gas powered), go to air shows, etc.

In observation, I must say once bitten by the flying bug the condition is permanent, but harmless.