About 7 years ago before he died, I took my Great Uncle Tom up to see the Collins warbirds when they came thru town. He was a bombardier in WW2 and hadn't been anywhere near a 17 or 24 since he left the army all those years ago. Was an interesting day...

My Dad was reading Trade a Plane and saw an ad where Ohio State Univ. was starting an aerial applicator school and was looking for participants. He was one of the lucky ones and got to attend. Here are some pic's he took. Notice the obstacle they were to fly though in a couple of the pic's. He didn't wreck anything but others did and the school didn't last. He spent more time in the Cub since that was what his budget would allow and the 220 Stearman was his favorite and he always said it helped ruin his hearing but it sure sounded good. The grass strip they flew off of was at Galloway OH. Sure wish there were some pic's of me mixing Toxaphene and DDT in a 55 gallon drum when I was 9 years old. Dad had a cutback J-3 at the time.

Here's a picture Ralph Aldridge, Aero Commander's test pilot after here test flew Dad's new Quail at Albany GA in 1970. Dad got a new Thrush in 1972.

I think those flaggers might be frowned upon now Marty, they don't even seem to use toilet paper anymore (everything is GPS). The Super Cub I used to have was an applicator back in the day, don't know how they ever got anything done with that small a payload.

Steve

OK my pictures start in the early 60's. I was one of the bamboo butterfly pioneers in hang gliding. I started with car tows in Tennessee and then moved to Oregon where I did car tows on the beach. The first gliders were bamboo, 6 mil plastic sheet and duct tape. Then I went hi-tech and replaced the bamboo poles with aluminum. It didn't take long to figure out that store bought gliders were better than anything I'd ever be able to build. The fist shot shows what happened when I crashed. The bamboo poles split lengthwise and absorbed most of the shock. Then the clothesline support wires would come unwrapped from the hardware store turnbuckles and that absorbed more of the impact loads. My knees are a bit messed up, but I survived...The last shot is me at launch on Sandia Crest in Albuquerque flying an Xtralight glider from Moyes in Australia. It flew MUCH better than the bamboo butterflies...

After flying hang gliders in the 60s, I got into power planes in the 70s. After I got my license, the first plane I owned was a Grumman AA5 Traveler. I was in a partnership for that plane and it worked out well. I'm on the left in this shot with my brother on the right. This would have been about 1978


I kept the Grumman for about 6 years then got interested in something a little more exciting and bought a share of a Pitts S2A. This is me on the left (clean shaven now) with one of the other partners. This would have been about 1986

I love these old pictures. I'd dig for more if I wasn't starting taxes, and tractor repairs.

180 Marty - I miss Toxaphene,

Courierguy - do you have this issue? First Grand Cayon landing 1922.

Zzz wrote:

robertc wrote:
Lots more photos in a box someplace.

The brilliance of that film is amazing. Those are slides, right?

Yes, most are slides.

tcj wrote:What's going on here?
Edit: never mind, I think I figured it out. At first thought the static line was snagged in the corner of the door.

The static line is not snagged. They always jumped two man "sticks" for accuracy. The Jumper pictured is the second one out the door. The air flow and the static line attach point allow the line to flow to the corner of the door.

Patrol Guy: I have not seen that cover before, that is great! I will print that out.

Flyhound: I would have thought I had the early hang gliding stories locked up, you got me beat! Great pictures of the visqueen flier. I was lucky enough to get hooked up with Dave Kilbourne, though after I taught myself (the hard way) the basics. He and his girlfriend Donnita Holland (both Hewlett Packard people, he was a prototype machinist and she was a secretary, a good story there....) took advantage of my Big Sur local knowledge and we pioneered a lot of sites down there. Dave was the first to ridge soar over an hour, an early bare foot water skier and Bill Bennett kite skier and all around bad ass! Looking back, it was lucky for me as up till then I was only flying in ground effect pretty much, Big Sur meant multi thousand feet AGL so I was lucky to get Dave's expertise plus I knew the local's to get access to the better sites, without getting shot.

Here's a shot of one my Howe Idaho rancher customers back (1981) when I was a Pterodactyl ultralight dealer. He had sheep, and didn't have much use for coyotes, the same with his neighbors. They bought the 12 gauge ammo, and he and I took care of the rest. Weight shift for pitch and tip rudders for roll. Direct drive Sachs 2 stroke, so some of the 'yotes probably died from fright. This was a VERY effective planform for this work, and when all else failed, cheap and easy to repair! A neighbor rancher had a sod farm so that was the obvious place to base out of.

After getting my first "real" airplane, an early Kitfox, in '87, I had to get a pilot's license, though I had already been flying since '72, it didn't count of course. The late Randy Gibson, a crop duster pilot out of Blackfoot, was kind enough to get me lined out in 3 axis control in this J-3. NOT a CFI, but he taught me more then the real CFI in the C-152 I got my ticket in. I found out rudder pedals were kinda handy, and to this day landing a cross wind makes me think of Randy and the J-3.

I am loving this thread!!! History (new and old) fascinates me. I love the stories behind the pictures as much as the pictures themselves.

I was just looking at my grandpas WW2 albums last weekend. He was in the south pacific flying P-40's and 39's mainly. He is still alive @ 93 and still sharp as a tack. I'm gonna ask him to borrow the albums to scan some pics.

about 1990, a great weekend in West Virginia. This bus load of Swedish nanny's showed up for the long 4th of July weekend form Washington DC to go rafting down the New River., and we just happened to be there with two airplanes! Everyone one of these girls went flying...


1999, My first Scout just back from Alaska. I had the decals of the state shapes of Ohio and Alaska on the tail. Every landing, I had someone sign the tail. One side was for the trip up, and the other side for trip back. I still have the tail fabric hanging on my shop wall. (... and a couple of those signatures were from topless strippers!).


our camp at Oshkosh, 1999. Emslie, me, and Bushy (BS - before Swingle).

Keep it up! This is one of the most interesting threads I've seen in awhile!

I found a couple more..this one is 'Breezy' built in San Ardo, here shown in King City with my little brother in the rear seat.
Sorry for the funkiness of the slide, it's just how I found it in the box:


The Concorde in England:

These next two, while fitting into the category of 'vintage photos' aren't necessarily of aircraft but they're kinda cool nonetheless.
This one was taken after we had landed at what at the time was called Crowley Lake Airport, on our way to hike the Muir Trail from Agnew Meadows to Yosemite. Now I think it's Mammoth Airport:


This one is for Ozy, it's one of my favorites. My dad is standing to Ras Tafari's right, obviously enjoying the moment:

AAAAAAA mon is much appreciated, yaaa dad is sooooo cool in dem shades, peace to you my brother.
You're a champion Tango, I understand why it is a favourite.

Friend Bill Linder flying a 180 - Hudson Bay.

I really like this thread too. Here are a couple of more reasons OSU's crop dusting school didn't last long. My Dad promised Grandpa if he could have the motorcycle he'd never mess with airplanes. One story dad always told---when he was a kid, they were driving home from town and a distant relative of ours was barnstorming. Grandpa said as they drove by "you see that, you don't ever want to be like him". That relative went on to fly for the airlines.

Robertc....those Johnson pictures are awesome!! Thank you for sharing them! I still have about a truck load of parts from Johnson's....
John

how about a good vintage story, with cool vintage photos??
http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/ ... mares.aspx