Sorta kinda.....

https://youtu.be/pw9LsMZ1H90

Awesome! Always liked the polished look.

One of my father-in-law's best friends had a Luscombe that was based at the old West Texas Airport (just east of El Paso). It was "sort-of" polished – every 3rd year, whether it needed it or not... No electrical system, so always hand-propped to start it.

My F-I-L said he was convinced it must have had zero cylinder compression, because his 86-year-old buddy would just climb in the plane, then open the door, lean out, and "flip" the prop one-handed. It started every time. I thought this was a "war story" until I witnessed it myself one day. Three short flights to nearby airports for an EAA meeting, then lunch, then the flight home. Each time, he would start the engine like he was starting to dribble a basketball, just a flip of the wrist with a small forearm movement, while leaning out of the cockpit... It lit off first time, every time. Simply amazing to watch...

But in flight, it could easily keep up with the Champs, Cubs, Citabrias, etc. flying in their gaggle... It was faster than the comparably powered J3 Cub, and was only "left behind" by my F-I-L's Swift. F-I-L flew that Luscombe with the owner fairly often, said if flew like a dream, sipped gas, and that landing it was easier than in the Swift. I sat in it at one of the EAA fly-ins, but never got to fly it. Not sure it would have worked out well, since the cockpit was designed for folks like them (5'8", 145 lbs), and I don't quite fit that mold... It wasn't just narrow, but also very little front-to-back space. Not sure I could have pulled the yoke to full nose-up position...

West Texas Airport, like so many other privately owned airports, became a housing development after the old man who owned it died. His kids wanted nothing to do with running an airport. The local EAA chapter tried like crazy to buy it from them, but could not compete with what the housing developers offered for the land. Sad to see all the hangars scrapped and the runway turned into "main street" for the subdivision. I have no idea what they did with the "museum" the old man had built there... He had one of the computers that was used in a few of the early Apollo missions. Roughly the size of a VW Bug, with less processing power and memory than my Fitbit...

He also had a Lancaster bomber that he purchased in the UK and had ferried to somewhere on the east coast. As soon as he landed, the ferry pilot called to tell him where the plane was, and that he "quit" because the plane was absolutely unsafe to fly. My F-I-L's friend (a former WW2 bomber pilot) grabbed another old geezer who had flown a Lancaster once during the war. They flew out to the east coast, got in the plane, and proceeded to fly it to El Paso. When they got to West Texas Airport, he realized that the runway might be too narrow to land there, so he diverted to El Paso International. They got out and measured the wheel width, found it was exactly one foot narrower than the runway at WTA.

They left the Lancaster at ELP overnight, thought about it, then went back to ELP, got the plane refueled and flew it over to WTA and landed it. Only after they landed did he realize that the plane was about 6 feet too long to fit into even the largest hangar on the airport. So he just cut a hole in the door for the tail to stick through! Every time I flew into that airport, I'd see that tail sticking out, and remember the whole story. The old man kept on flying, well into his 90's.

His copilot, by the way, quit flying after that repositioning flight. F-I-L said the old bomber pilot told him that he wasn't too old to keep flying (mid- to late-80s at the time), but that he was "too dumb" to keep flying... "After all, anyone who would fly a 60+ year-old, non-airworthy plane 2000+ miles with only a hand-held radio, and land it on a runway with 6" of clearance on each side had to be an idiot..." He never flew again as PIC, though he would fly with my F-I-L occasionally.

Nice to see something manufactured today that is so simple and will be around for generations.

JP256, I sprayed out of Fabens, Texas but had a few Dennis Ivy plots near the east side of El Paso. I used West Texas Airport for those. I paid 25 cent per gallon for water from the small water tower.

The Ivys, Ivy Realty and Ivy Farms, were a large Catholic family with ten boy and two girl siblings. I enjoyed volleyball at the home place. A huge percentage of Dennis's Sweet Spanish onions were colossals. I picked up my check at the Realty run by the oldest brother. On the wall in his office was a large oil painting of a distinguished looking man in a suit. It had a title: King Cotton Ivy.

Anyway, check the little tag with the bar code when you buy onions to see if it says: Ivy Farms. I have no idea where the Pima long stem cotton goes.

Coincidentally my dad took this photo that was supposedly at an airshow in Avenal, not far from Harris Ranch. He was probably 18 at the time so this would've been taken around 1943.

Don't remember who it was or where they were located,
but I remember the "New Luscombe" company being promoted back about 2005.
A couple young guys were flying one around the west coast,
including attending the NWAAC fly-in at Scappoose Oregon that year.
Nice shiney new airplane...only it wasn't--
it was an old Luscombe that had been rebuilt.
They never did actually build any new airplanes.
Hopefully this is the real deal, and not that same thing all over again.

They were based at Flabob (Home of EAA Chapter 1 among other distinctions). To my knowledge they did in fact build a few NEW airplanes. But the market was very limited. Turns out when you can buy a nice flying 70 year old one for $30k, nobody is paying $150k for one.

hotrod180 wrote:Don't remember who it was or where they were located,
but I remember the "New Luscombe" company being promoted back about 2005.
A couple young guys were flying one around the west coast,
including attending the NWAAC fly-in at Scappoose Oregon that year.
Nice shiney new airplane...only it wasn't--
it was an old Luscombe that had been rebuilt.
They never did actually build any new airplanes.
Hopefully this is the real deal, and not that same thing all over again.

JP256 wrote:One of my father-in-law's best friends had a Luscombe that was based at the old West Texas Airport (just east of El Paso). It was "sort-of" polished – every 3rd year, whether it needed it or not... No electrical system, so always hand-propped to start it.

My F-I-L said he was convinced it must have had zero cylinder compression, because his 86-year-old buddy would just climb in the plane, then open the door, lean out, and "flip" the prop one-handed. It started every time...

He also had a Lancaster bomber that he purchased in the UK and had ferried to somewhere on the east coast. As soon as he landed, the ferry pilot called to tell him where the plane was, and that he "quit..."

F-I-L said the old bomber pilot told him that he wasn't too old to keep flying (mid- to late-80s at the time), but that he was "too dumb" to keep flying... "After all, anyone who would fly a 60+ year-old, non-airworthy plane 2000+ miles with only a hand-held radio, and land it on a runway with 6" of clearance on each side had to be an idiot..." He never flew again as PIC, though he would fly with my F-I-L occasionally.

Nahh, not dumb, just of a different breed.

Those are the types of guys I hung out with at the airport (Phillips Field, Fairbanks AK) when I was growing up. Before I soloed back in the summer of '75, dad and his cohort taught me their ways. He grew up during the war and went through Cadets, the war ended as he was sent to Lubbock to fly B-25s. Everyone there was like your guy, "do it yerself guys" flying DC-3s and C-46s out onto frozen rivers and lakes in the wintertime.

It was just the attitude, "aviate, navigate, communicate, who needs a dern radio anyhow." Dad had this ditty on an old vinyl Oscar Brand record... (God I miss those guys -- Jacqueline)

Hap Arnold built a fighting team that sang a fighting song
about the Wild Blue Yonder and the days when men were strong
but now we're regulated cause we don't know right from wrong
the force is shot to hell

glory flying regulations
have them read at all the stations
burn the ass of those that breaks them
the force is shot to hell

once they flew B-26's through a hail of flak
and bloody dying pilots gave their lives to bring 'em back
now they're playing Ping-Pong in the operations shack
the force is shot to hell

I have seen them in their T-Bolts when their eyes were dancing flame
I've seen their screaming power-dives that blasted Goering's name
now they fly like sissies and they hang their heads in shame
the force is shot to hell

now, one day I buzzed an airfield with another happy chap
we flew a hot formation with my wingtip on his lap
so they passed a new directive and we'll have no more of that
the force is shot to hell

so, now mine eyes are dim with tears for happy days of old
we loved to take our chances for our hearts were young and bold
from now on we have no choice but live to be quite old
the force is shot to hell

Good One !