Steve Slater's insider comment on the historic aviation world

A week or two later, I received a telephone call with Alan's familiar friendly voice on the other end of the line. Alan had decided that it was an apposite time to part with his aeroplane, would I like to become its owner?

I very much doubt that there is any vintage flyer who has not harboured an ambition to own a classic, Lock Haven yellow, original specification Cub, let alone one with this aeroplane's history. Despite the fact that I could neither really afford, nor had a place to keep the aeroplane, the answer was an unqualified 'yes'.

These things, I presume, always work themselves out in the fullness of time!

Over the Hedge, one last time

Alan is better- known to many members of the Light Aircraft Association as the columnist John Beeswax.' Last month, in what he has decided will be his final "Over the Hedge" column for the Light Aviation magazine, Alan wrote that he had actually owned G-ASPS for even longer than the half century about which I wrote.

Alan actually first met his old friend at an airfield in New Jersey in April 1962 where it was "sitting between an old twin-engined Cessna

Bobcat trainer and a 'sprauncy' little twin-rudder Ercoupe".

Alan recounts that he paid the 'Playboy Flying Group' (don't ask) the splendid sum of $800, and that among the paperwork he had to sign was a document guaranteeing that he would not use the Cub for warlike purposes against the United States or its NATO allies!

Lets go flying!

Having 'arrived' at several airfields and fly-ins recently (I am still mastering the bouncy Cub bungee undercarriage!), one of the main things I have noted are the number of enthusiasts who come up and say "I made my first vintage aircraft flight in that Cub".

It seems over the years that Alan was always happy to offer a flight to a likely new recruit whenever the opportunity arose, and I feel therefore I should continue his tradition. So if you see 'G-ASPS' at an airfield in the future, do come and say 'hello' and, if there's a spare seat? Well, let's go flying!

‘VAC 50'

Not withstanding my new vested interest, I was delighted to see a khaki L-4H Grasshopper, the Cub's military equivalent, winning the Concours d'Elegance award at the Vintage Aircraft Club's 50th birthday party at the end of July. The award came in the form of the Liz Inwood Trophy, in memory of a pilot and flying instructor with a passion for vintage aircraft, who sadly passed away last year.

The award was judged by Liz's family and friends based on the "the aeroplane Liz would most have wanted to fly away". There was certainly plenty of competition as the 'VAC 50' weekend attracted the best part of 200 vintage and classic aircraft to Popham's grass runways.

What apparently clinched the award for Grasshopper owner Philip Whiteman was not just the aeroplane, which has a genuine front-line history from the Battle of the Rhine. It was the fact that Philip had decked the interior with period memorabilia and arrived wearing a genuine USAAF officer's hat!

This emphasis on fun in the Concours summed up the whole weekend. It was noted on the Saturday evening there was as much enthusiasm for the 'second prize' in the Spot Landing competition as for the winner's award. Jonathan Turnbull put the wheels of Britain's oldest Tiger Moth,

G-ACDA , just inches from the mark to win first prize. I won't name the winner of the 'Zebedee' doll for the most bouncy arrival, but at least it wasn't me!

Предлагаем посмотреть другие страницы сайта:
← A-20 available in Arizona | Love and cinema →