Last Updated Feb17, 2007
About This Issue Of The
TAXI-STRiP
TAXI-STRiP
| Best Buys For Under $1,000,000! |
If you have been flying for any length of
time I'm sure you've seen the news
stand magazines such as, Best
Planes Under $100,000...Affordable
Twins under $400,000.
The first of these magazines that I
bought was highlighting the best
airplanes for under $2,000. Just a few
years later, it was the best under
$5,000. A short time later they were for
the best under $10,000. The last one I
saw was for bargain basement planes
under $50,000.
Indeed, one can find a good plane for
under $50,000, depending on your
expectations. If you insist on traveling
at 175+kph, you'll need another
$25,000 to catch the bargain bird up on
its AD's, maybe a new radio, plenty of
rubbing compound, polish, a
non-cracked windshield, and several
rolls of upholstery repair tape.
If "A" and "B" are not as important
to you as is the trip in between, your
prospects are much better. A Cessna
150 for about the price of a late model
used car, beats that car any day of the
week.
A factoid: Flying has never been
cheap. Flying is not democratic.
Speed is inversely proportional to the
bucks spent. Those with the most
buckage flies higher and fly faster than
the rest of us.
Today's kit planes offer little relief
for we the masses. Prices can be as
much for a completed kit as we would
pay for a certificated craft. That's why
I'm hanging my hopes of the new Sport
category airplanes. Just maybe, they
can save aviation from itself.
time I'm sure you've seen the news
stand magazines such as, Best
Planes Under $100,000...Affordable
Twins under $400,000.
The first of these magazines that I
bought was highlighting the best
airplanes for under $2,000. Just a few
years later, it was the best under
$5,000. A short time later they were for
the best under $10,000. The last one I
saw was for bargain basement planes
under $50,000.
Indeed, one can find a good plane for
under $50,000, depending on your
expectations. If you insist on traveling
at 175+kph, you'll need another
$25,000 to catch the bargain bird up on
its AD's, maybe a new radio, plenty of
rubbing compound, polish, a
non-cracked windshield, and several
rolls of upholstery repair tape.
If "A" and "B" are not as important
to you as is the trip in between, your
prospects are much better. A Cessna
150 for about the price of a late model
used car, beats that car any day of the
week.
A factoid: Flying has never been
cheap. Flying is not democratic.
Speed is inversely proportional to the
bucks spent. Those with the most
buckage flies higher and fly faster than
the rest of us.
Today's kit planes offer little relief
for we the masses. Prices can be as
much for a completed kit as we would
pay for a certificated craft. That's why
I'm hanging my hopes of the new Sport
category airplanes. Just maybe, they
can save aviation from itself.
| Logging Hangar Hours |
Not too many Saturday's back, I was
having my breakfast at Wiley Post Airport with
a group of pilots from C.E. Page Airport. The
Page Squadron gathers each Saturday
morning for loggable hours of hangar flying.
"...two-eggs over medium, two sausage
patties, sliced tomatoes, hold the toast and
hash browns, with two pots of coffee, please."
having my breakfast at Wiley Post Airport with
a group of pilots from C.E. Page Airport. The
Page Squadron gathers each Saturday
morning for loggable hours of hangar flying.
"...two-eggs over medium, two sausage
patties, sliced tomatoes, hold the toast and
hash browns, with two pots of coffee, please."
Frank Hawks standing next to his Northrop Gamma
So it is with giving so much space to the
B-17, and to the Antoine-Saint Exupery story.
Each has the ability to transcend time and
directly touch us in profound ways. The way
in which a B-17 touches us may be more
obvious than of Saint-Exupery.
With that said, scratch the surface of most
pilots, doing away with all rationalizations,
you'll find that most of us fly as a matter of
heart. Rationalizations, other than heart, are
for spouses, bankers and the clueless.
The trinity of speaking for the heart are
Antoine Saint-Exupery, Richard Bach and
Earnest Ghann. For European pilots, finding
Saint-Exupery's P-38 is akin to us finding
definitive remains of Amelia Earhart.
More directly for us, while living here in the
States, Saint-Exupery was a friend of Wiley
Post, who visited him a number of times in
the old Curtiss-Wright hangar here in
Oklahoma City.
Some new pages have been added to the
Taxi-Strip this month: Wiley's Emporium,
Wiley Post Hangar, November Chronicles,
Bricks, and Dan Bowlware's cartoons.
Check out the new pages, plus revisit the old
ones. Pages are being updated almost daily.
Share with us your thoughts and stories.
The TAXI-STRiP crew is working on the
print version of the magazine. With a bit of
luck, out around the 1st of July.
B-17, and to the Antoine-Saint Exupery story.
Each has the ability to transcend time and
directly touch us in profound ways. The way
in which a B-17 touches us may be more
obvious than of Saint-Exupery.
With that said, scratch the surface of most
pilots, doing away with all rationalizations,
you'll find that most of us fly as a matter of
heart. Rationalizations, other than heart, are
for spouses, bankers and the clueless.
The trinity of speaking for the heart are
Antoine Saint-Exupery, Richard Bach and
Earnest Ghann. For European pilots, finding
Saint-Exupery's P-38 is akin to us finding
definitive remains of Amelia Earhart.
More directly for us, while living here in the
States, Saint-Exupery was a friend of Wiley
Post, who visited him a number of times in
the old Curtiss-Wright hangar here in
Oklahoma City.
Some new pages have been added to the
Taxi-Strip this month: Wiley's Emporium,
Wiley Post Hangar, November Chronicles,
Bricks, and Dan Bowlware's cartoons.
Check out the new pages, plus revisit the old
ones. Pages are being updated almost daily.
Share with us your thoughts and stories.
The TAXI-STRiP crew is working on the
print version of the magazine. With a bit of
luck, out around the 1st of July.
...it's those damned brakes!
Piccadilly Lilly The original -- lost
over Bremen 8 Oct 1944 6KIA 5POW.
over Bremen 8 Oct 1944 6KIA 5POW.
Swooze & Swooze Crew. Click on
thumbnail for larger picture
thumbnail for larger picture
| Memphis Belle Pilot Col Robert Morgan Dies at 85 |
25 Missions and home! Memphis Belle on the ramp after last
mission.
photo courtsey USAF Museum
mission.
photo courtsey USAF Museum
According to Army records, the plane flew 148
hours, dropping more than 60 tons of bombs, all on
daylight missions.
"Some of them were pretty rough missions. The
Luftwaffe (the German air force) boys would sometimes
fly into their own flak to get at us. They were mean
devils, I tell you," said top turret gunner Harold Loch of
Green Bay, Wis.
There were many close calls: engine fires, bullet
holes, confrontations with fighter planes. Somehow the
Belle always made it back to base when other planes
went down.
Morgan said he and his men never talked about
crashing or dying.
"Every time we were going to fly, we gathered in a
huddle and we just told ourselves that if only one plane
was coming back, it was going to be ours," he said.
The exploits of the Belle were brought to later
generations by a 1990 film, "Memphis Belle," that told a
heavily fictionalized version of the bomber's 25th and
final mission.
hours, dropping more than 60 tons of bombs, all on
daylight missions.
"Some of them were pretty rough missions. The
Luftwaffe (the German air force) boys would sometimes
fly into their own flak to get at us. They were mean
devils, I tell you," said top turret gunner Harold Loch of
Green Bay, Wis.
There were many close calls: engine fires, bullet
holes, confrontations with fighter planes. Somehow the
Belle always made it back to base when other planes
went down.
Morgan said he and his men never talked about
crashing or dying.
"Every time we were going to fly, we gathered in a
huddle and we just told ourselves that if only one plane
was coming back, it was going to be ours," he said.
The exploits of the Belle were brought to later
generations by a 1990 film, "Memphis Belle," that told a
heavily fictionalized version of the bomber's 25th and
final mission.
|
Someone, it might have been Doug
Frantz, asked me if I could have just one
airplane of all the airplanes ever, which one
would it be? Not as easy of a question to
answer as one might think. A new Lancair
with an LOIC-550, dual inter-coolers and
dual super- chargers would be high on the
list. Or, my dream Bonanza, an A-35
ex-Central Airlines plane back in its original
livery. But having my 1934 Kinner Sportwing
back in the air was high on my list. Right
now I have some traces of Kinner dna,
sawdust, and rusting tubing. A flying
airplane---but I dream.
My final choice of choices is the Northrop
Gamma. My, it's such a studley looking
airplane. Imagine the looks you'd get from
the line boy/girl when you pull in for refueling.
I admit that I'm a sucker for the Art Deco
and the Streamline period of design, but this
isn't about nostalgia. No one is ever
nostalgic fora Stradivari violin. Simply put, a
Stradivari represents the pinnacle of
development. So it is with certain airplanes
designs that represents a period or design
philosophy and its perfection.
I don't feel nostalgic when I fly open
cockpit, its just perfectly what it is, a type of
flying that hasn't changed. It represents a
constancy which bridges past present and
future.
Frantz, asked me if I could have just one
airplane of all the airplanes ever, which one
would it be? Not as easy of a question to
answer as one might think. A new Lancair
with an LOIC-550, dual inter-coolers and
dual super- chargers would be high on the
list. Or, my dream Bonanza, an A-35
ex-Central Airlines plane back in its original
livery. But having my 1934 Kinner Sportwing
back in the air was high on my list. Right
now I have some traces of Kinner dna,
sawdust, and rusting tubing. A flying
airplane---but I dream.
My final choice of choices is the Northrop
Gamma. My, it's such a studley looking
airplane. Imagine the looks you'd get from
the line boy/girl when you pull in for refueling.
I admit that I'm a sucker for the Art Deco
and the Streamline period of design, but this
isn't about nostalgia. No one is ever
nostalgic fora Stradivari violin. Simply put, a
Stradivari represents the pinnacle of
development. So it is with certain airplanes
designs that represents a period or design
philosophy and its perfection.
I don't feel nostalgic when I fly open
cockpit, its just perfectly what it is, a type of
flying that hasn't changed. It represents a
constancy which bridges past present and
future.
May 16, 2004
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- AP Col. Robert Morgan,
commander of the famed Memphis Belle B-17, first to
complete 25 combat missions over Europe during World
War II, died late Saturday of complications from a fall, his
wife said. He was 85.
Morgan was hospitalized April 22 with a fractured neck
after falling following an air show at Asheville Regional
Airport, said Carole Donnelly, spokeswoman for Mission
Hospitals, where Morgan was treated.
His condition had been deteriorating in the last week or
so, and Morgan was taken off life support systems, his
wife, Linda, said. His wife, two daughters, a close family
friend and two ministers were at his side when he died,
she said.
A native of Asheville, Morgan became famous as the
pilot of the Memphis Belle, which flew 25 combat missions
over Germany and France during World War II. Morgan
co-authored a book about some of his experiences, "The
Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle," with Ron Powers.
Morgan and three other members of the Memphis Belle's
crew were made honorary colonels of the state of
Tennessee in 2000.
The crew completed its 25th bombing mission during
World War II on May 17, 1943. It was a historic number;
the Belle was the first heavy bomber in the European
theater to last 25 missions, the magic number to be sent
home.
"Twenty-five doesn't sound like much until you start
flying them," Morgan later said.
Morgan and his crew were assigned to the plane Sept. 1,
1942. The pilot named the craft after his wartime
sweetheart's home town.
The Belle flew to England in late September and
departed on its first bombing mission on Nov. 7.
In the next six months, the Belle flew missions over
France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. She was struck
by flak, 20mm cannon shells and machine gun bullets.
Every major part of the plane was replaced at least once,
including the engines (nine times), both wings, tails and
main landing gears. Four of the plane's crew of 10 died
during combat.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- AP Col. Robert Morgan,
commander of the famed Memphis Belle B-17, first to
complete 25 combat missions over Europe during World
War II, died late Saturday of complications from a fall, his
wife said. He was 85.
Morgan was hospitalized April 22 with a fractured neck
after falling following an air show at Asheville Regional
Airport, said Carole Donnelly, spokeswoman for Mission
Hospitals, where Morgan was treated.
His condition had been deteriorating in the last week or
so, and Morgan was taken off life support systems, his
wife, Linda, said. His wife, two daughters, a close family
friend and two ministers were at his side when he died,
she said.
A native of Asheville, Morgan became famous as the
pilot of the Memphis Belle, which flew 25 combat missions
over Germany and France during World War II. Morgan
co-authored a book about some of his experiences, "The
Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle," with Ron Powers.
Morgan and three other members of the Memphis Belle's
crew were made honorary colonels of the state of
Tennessee in 2000.
The crew completed its 25th bombing mission during
World War II on May 17, 1943. It was a historic number;
the Belle was the first heavy bomber in the European
theater to last 25 missions, the magic number to be sent
home.
"Twenty-five doesn't sound like much until you start
flying them," Morgan later said.
Morgan and his crew were assigned to the plane Sept. 1,
1942. The pilot named the craft after his wartime
sweetheart's home town.
The Belle flew to England in late September and
departed on its first bombing mission on Nov. 7.
In the next six months, the Belle flew missions over
France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. She was struck
by flak, 20mm cannon shells and machine gun bullets.
Every major part of the plane was replaced at least once,
including the engines (nine times), both wings, tails and
main landing gears. Four of the plane's crew of 10 died
during combat.
"...an Autumn of Airplanes all called November"
The November Chronicles
| The TAXI-STRiP is deeply sadden to report the passing of a true American hero and patriot. Blue skies Colonel, and thank you for your scrafices and for what you have given to each of us...our freedom. |
| For the umpteenth time Wiley Post Airport was visited by a touring B-17...big and beautiful as always. Like a lemming to sea, I immersed myself in its sights, sounds and aromas; this time it was the EAA's Flying Fortress. As I stood under its strong wing I wondered about my attraction to this aluminum overcast. It's not that I haven't seen B-17s before. I've seen every flyable B-17 in the country, plus those tucked away in museums; including the Memphis Belle, back when it was rotting away in a Memphis park. That visit came about one 3-day weekend while I was in college. I loaded up my well oiled L-16 and flew to Memphis to pay homage. But this day, I came to understand my obsession...it's all my parents fault! Innocently, they took me to the Illinois Theater in Centrailia, IL to see the first screening in our town of "TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH," starring Gen. Frank Savage (aka Gregory Peck) and his trusty Piccidilly Lilly. I was no more than 5-years old, but I remember the scenes from that film as well as I do my first airplane ride. What a corrupting influence movies have on little kids! Because of that movie I was determined that I would become a pilot when I grew up. (Not sure about the grown up part, but I did become a pilot). Not only was I infected with the flying bug, I became an aerophile--a Boeing-a-holic, which has cost me mightily over the years--wanna see my Boeing key chain? Oh, the money for the countless models, books, drawings, paintings, videos, surplus B-17 bits and pieces, such as an R-1820 piston, a "Toby" mug from the movie, and a head full of trivia. An example: How did Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz come to hang the name Swoozie on their actress daughter? Ans: AAF Capt. Frank Kurtz named her after the famous B-17D, "Alexander the Swooze". A plane that he had piloted many times during the war and after the war saved from an Arizona scrap heap. Built in 1939 it was at Clark Field Dec. 7, '41-- serving until 1945. The Swooze is the oldest B-17 extant and the only skinny tail left. It got its name after a 1930's song by Glenn Burrs, Alexander the Swooze. Its now in the National Air Space Museum awaiting restoration. Yet with this life long fascination with all things B-17, I've have never ridden in one, must less flown one. I missed the free media rides at Wiley, by just a few minutes. As with a beautiful woman, often the fantasy is better than the reality. I assuage my bitter disappointment with fable. Anyone whose been around a moving B-17 can never forget the hauntingly ghostly sounds of those Hayes expander tube breaks. Every time I hear those brakes moan, the emotions of tens-of-thousands of people who lived and died be- cause of B-17s, both in the air and under them on the ground, races through me. How can an instrument of so much death and destruction be so damned beautiful? It's art I suppose. The juxtaposition of light and dark, joy and melancholy, good and evil; the extremes defining the norms of life and death. Maybe its good that I haven't flown a B-17. I don't know if I could control my emotions. B-17 drivers don't lose control of their emotions, ya know. It's gotta be those damned brakes. |
Click hangar for home page
| B-24 pilot McGovern Feels Lucky to Have Survived |
George McGovern may be best known for his political career as a
senator and 1972 presidential candidate. But his military career in
World War II really helped to form his belief that not all wars are good.
McGovern, who was at EAA AirVenture 2007, flew 35 combat
missions in B-24 bombers over Germany, Austria, Romania, and
Yugoslavia during World War II. He won the Distinguished Flying
Cross in his plane, the Dakota Queen, named after his bride,
Eleanor.
"I was very lucky to get out," said McGovern, "and I have a keen
appreciation that I am still alive. I survived at a time when half of the
B-24 crews in that theater did not make it."
But McGovern, 85, said he was also lucky because World War II was
a war people believed in. "I still have no regrets that I helped to
smash Adolph Hitler’s war regime," he said.
World War II gave him an appreciation of what it takes to prevail in a
huge military conflict. When the B-24 came out with its long, narrow
wing, many engineers said it wouldn’t fly. "But the engineer who
designed it knew what he was doing. It may have been ugly, but it
carried more bombs further without running out of gas and faster
than any other bomber.
senator and 1972 presidential candidate. But his military career in
World War II really helped to form his belief that not all wars are good.
McGovern, who was at EAA AirVenture 2007, flew 35 combat
missions in B-24 bombers over Germany, Austria, Romania, and
Yugoslavia during World War II. He won the Distinguished Flying
Cross in his plane, the Dakota Queen, named after his bride,
Eleanor.
"I was very lucky to get out," said McGovern, "and I have a keen
appreciation that I am still alive. I survived at a time when half of the
B-24 crews in that theater did not make it."
But McGovern, 85, said he was also lucky because World War II was
a war people believed in. "I still have no regrets that I helped to
smash Adolph Hitler’s war regime," he said.
World War II gave him an appreciation of what it takes to prevail in a
huge military conflict. When the B-24 came out with its long, narrow
wing, many engineers said it wouldn’t fly. "But the engineer who
designed it knew what he was doing. It may have been ugly, but it
carried more bombs further without running out of gas and faster
than any other bomber.
McGovern recalled one flight where they were returning from a
bombing mission when a crew member called on the intercom and
said one bomb was stuck on the rack, dangling out. "I said, ‘Get rid
of it.’ I wouldn’t land until it was off."
As the crew attempted to dislodge it, McGovern flew the bomber
lower so they could work without their oxygen masks on. Then, in the
middle of an Austrian farmyard, the bomb dropped. "It blew the
farmyard to smithereens," McGovern said. "I felt terrible knowing that
farmers eat lunch around noon and that we had probably blown up a
family. That bothered me for a long time."
But 40 years later, McGovern was a guest professor at a university of
Austria and was on television one night. He repeated that story, and
before the night was over, a farmer called the television station with a
message for the South Dakota politician.
The man said: "Tell him it was my farm. We saw the bomber coming
and knew it wasn’t in formation. So I got my wife and three children,
and we hid in a ditch and no one got hurt. Tell him if bombing my
farm made this war one minute closer to ending, it was fine with us."
McGovern, experiencing EAA AirVenture for the first time in July, was
impressed. "It’s the granddaddy of all air shows; it’s obviously
gigantic and well run."
bombing mission when a crew member called on the intercom and
said one bomb was stuck on the rack, dangling out. "I said, ‘Get rid
of it.’ I wouldn’t land until it was off."
As the crew attempted to dislodge it, McGovern flew the bomber
lower so they could work without their oxygen masks on. Then, in the
middle of an Austrian farmyard, the bomb dropped. "It blew the
farmyard to smithereens," McGovern said. "I felt terrible knowing that
farmers eat lunch around noon and that we had probably blown up a
family. That bothered me for a long time."
But 40 years later, McGovern was a guest professor at a university of
Austria and was on television one night. He repeated that story, and
before the night was over, a farmer called the television station with a
message for the South Dakota politician.
The man said: "Tell him it was my farm. We saw the bomber coming
and knew it wasn’t in formation. So I got my wife and three children,
and we hid in a ditch and no one got hurt. Tell him if bombing my
farm made this war one minute closer to ending, it was fine with us."
McGovern, experiencing EAA AirVenture for the first time in July, was
impressed. "It’s the granddaddy of all air shows; it’s obviously
gigantic and well run."
Right. Consolidated
B-24J, similar to
McGovern's plane.
Left: Sen. George
McGovern speaking at
Airventure 2007 about
his WWII experiences.
"You could always tell
a B-24 pilot at the
officers club...his left
bicep was twice as
large as his right!"
B-24J, similar to
McGovern's plane.
Left: Sen. George
McGovern speaking at
Airventure 2007 about
his WWII experiences.
"You could always tell
a B-24 pilot at the
officers club...his left
bicep was twice as
large as his right!"
| By Barbara A. Schmitz |