When World War II ended,
everyone thought when the thousands of pilots came home, they would want to
continue flying. There must have been over a dozen manufacturers
of single engine light planes, and they were building planes as fast as they
could, including Piper Cubs, Cessnas, Aeronicas, and faster single engines such
as Beachcraft Bonanzas and Navion. Small towns all over the
country got government grants to build airports and landing strips.
When the
fighter, bomber, and transport pilots came home, they had no interest in flying
a single engine light aircraft. Consequently, there were a surplus
of these light aircraft. Ten guys in my hometown, including me,
put in $100 a piece and bought a nearly new Aeronica Champion for
$600.00. Today, that same plane would bring over $30,000.
We later added a Cessna 120 for $1,200.00, and a surplus Primary Trainer
PT-26 for virtually nothing. We had a 30 ft. wide landing strip in
a field that my dad farmed next to 40 Hiway, close to where Wal-mart is
now. Our flying club eventually had over 30 members, an office,
and gas pumps.
On
weekends, guys would fly in from all over to shoot the breeze. One
was a turkey farmer from south of Higginsville, who flew a 4 place Stinson, the
Cadillac of small planes. He had a beautiful daughter who always
came with him and since I wanted to impress her and get to know her better, I
decided one day to buzz their farm house. I could see their
landing strip and the Stinson sitting behind a row of hedge trees next to the
house. I was pretty low going toward the house and in front of me
I saw what looked like an ocean wave. But instead of water, it was
turkeys. That’s why he landed behind the hedge trees.
I did a 180 and headed back to Oak Grove. I never
knew how many turkeys I might have killed when they panicked, because every time
after that when he flew in to Oak Grove, I would disappear.
Jack can be reached at
PO Box 40,
Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.
Visit www.jackremembers.com
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