Profile: Wilbur A. Carpenter was born on January 4, 1914 in Eaton Township, Lorain County Ohio. Airplanes always fascinated him. When very young, if one was in sight or sound he would watch it until it disappeared from sight. As soon as he could drive he would practically live at the airport during the days of the Cleveland National air races. On one Sunday, not during the Air Races he was at the airport. Amelia Earhart was there with two of her mechanics working on her Lockheed Varga. He said that if he had known then how famous she was he would have introduced himself.
In 1928 he took his first airplane ride in a standard bi-plane. In 1934 after eight hours instruction he made his first solo flight in a WACO 10 powered with an OXX-6 engine. His next solo flight was in 1935 in his own airplane, he owned an airplane before he owned a car. The plane was a Harper, a cantilever low-wing two-place monoplane powered with a 45 hp radial 3-cylinder Szekely engine. He took his father up in it to see his farm from the air; it was his father's only time in an airplane.
In 1938 he bought an Avro Avian with an in-line, air-cooled, 4-cylinder Cirus III engine. It was an English designed, open cockpit bi-plane with slots in the upper wing. Built around 1930 it was a good flying machine but the engine was not dependable.
During WW2, he received a telegram in 1943 asking him to report to an airfield in Wisconsin as a flight instructor. He telegraphed back that he would need a month to wind up his business, he never heard back from them. Instead he volunteered for service in the Merchant Marine.
Before WWII he flew many different airplanes, many were bi-planes with WWI-OX-5 engines, After the war he flew many war surplus aircraft including a BT13. At age 75, he was still flying an airplane.
You could fill a book with his many flying experiences including going up in a WWI observation balloon, barnstorming, flying gliders, being a flight instructor and crashing in the woods in an old bi-plane.
In 1999, Great Grandpa Carpenter still enjoys sharing his flying experiences with his grandchildren and great grandchildren.