D was a different kind of pilot. For one, he owned a Globe Temco Swift, powered by a 125-horse Continental. The Swift was a gorgeous airplane; she had tapered wings, a round tail, and pronounced dihedral. I will always remember D telling the story of how he had acquired The Swift.
It seems that D and his wife were on vacation traveling by car near an airport serving as a satellite to a larger airport in the southeast. Apparently, an airline pilot purchased The Swift about four years before the first time D spied it. Now when D saw this airplane for the first time, he was northbound on his vacation with his wife. He got excited when he saw the airplane.
The Globe Swift / Wikipedia
D is a tinkerer and a man of action. He became even more excited on his trip southbound when he saw the airplane sitting exactly where he saw it on his northbound trip.
Oh, did I mention the airplane was crashed in a ditch next to the runway at the airport where he found it?
The airline pilot who bought the airplane four years previously had no tailwheel experience at all. But, as he told the onlookers, he was an ATP and could fly anything. The old codgers with tailwheel experience said, “Ya’ll ought not do that.” They advised him to take at least a few laps around the airport with an experienced tailwheel CFI. Oh, how pride goeth before the fall.
Of course, the new Swift owner groundlooped The Swift on the very first attempted take off. He was not hurt other than his pride. He got out of the airplane, walked away, and abandoned her where she rested.
There the airplane sat for four years until D came along and rescued her.
I will never forget D telling the story of negotiating the deal, taking the wings off the plane, and putting her on a trailer to bring her home. For laughs and giggles, D pulled the bent prop off the engine replacing it with one that was straight. He pulled the engine through a few times, rigged a makeshift gas can, and put a fresh battery in the fuselage. Then he climbed into the airplane as it sat on the trailer.
“CLEAR!”
A few had gathered around to watch the shenanigans. There was much laughter and shaking of heads. Most did not expect what happened next.
D pulled on the starter cable engaging the starter motor. The propeller spun one blade, a second blade, and then burst to life and settled on a nice even 600 rpm.
Everyone, including D, was surprised. What followed was years of reconstruction that turned The Swift back into one of the prettiest airplanes ever built.
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© 2011 J. Clark
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One busy day in the practice area as a flight instructor a thunderstorm approached. We all flocked back to the airport and tied down, then proceeded to the rocking chairs on the porch to watch mother nature do her thing. By now the wind was about 30 knots and right down the runway. We watched a J3 approach and almost hover before touching down smoothly. The airline pilot flying the cub turned to taxi back and kept the stick in his lap. You know the rest. The rain arrived just as we pulled him out of the inverted cub.
I hate it when the thunderstorms do that! One day I had to make the same type of return to the aiport in Daytona. We landed on the southside and on the taxi back to the ramp, had to hold short of 25R while all the other Cessnas came running for cover. I was really proud of my student; he instinctively “flew” the airplane on the taxiway when the storm overtook us, avoiding being thrown upside down or sideways.