Barbara Kitchens.
Barbara Kitchens
(EAA 43852A, AlC 4946A)
Rt. 1, Box 181A
Griffin, GA 30223
Airplanes and flying have been Barbara's whole life and career. As a little girl of 11 , she lived near an airport and would wander over and quietly watch the planes for hours. At 14 and 15 she got a summer job washing planes in exchange for flight instruction. On her 16th birthday she soloed and has been in aviation ever since. She owns the J-3 Cub she soloed in and also owns a 1931 Waco RNF, a 1931 Curtiss Junior, a 1956 G Model Beech Bonanza which she uses for air charter and cargo flying. She is co-owner with Dr. Roy Wicker ofa 1933 DavisDIW. Barbara has her own banner-towing business, towing banners for all the Atlanta Braves baseball games, and also for weddings, anniversaries and businesses. It is a fun job which also helps support her airplanes. She has over 10,000 hours of flying time . Her great love is flying the old planes and she was thrilled to be able to ferry such planes as a Bird, Comman daire, PI'-19. Stinson SM-8A, Travel Air 6000, etc. from the Wings & Wheels Museum, then of Santee, South Carolina, to their next home in Orlando, Florida. It was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience fly ing so many famous old planes. In her flying career, she has fond memories of making good friends through the years, such as Bevo Howard, Johnny Crowell, Louise Thaden and many, many more . Barbara's husband is Bob Kitchens who is a Captain for Eastern Airlines, and he shares in her enthusiasm of old planes. Barbara and Bob have high praise for the new Aviation Center and she became emotional when she saw it for the first time. She was very proud to see what had been accomplished in just one year. Barbara has been to every Oshkosh Convention and she attended Rockford before that. Jim Ewing
(EAA 146125, AlC 7925)
152 "M" Street
Fresno, CA 93721
Jim was into hot rod cars until he met a female pilot who took him to a Chino, California fly-in breakfast. He got "hooked" on flying immediately, sold his cars and bought a Cessna 150 even before he had learned to fly. The girl's father, Marty Wagner, flew it from Torrence to LaVerne, California, and Marty's friend , Dale Conway taught Jim to fly . . . Jim started searching for another aIrplane and m 1977 found this 1955 one-owner Cessna 195, N2196C , in good condition. He received 10 hours of dual before he soloed 10 OCTOBER 1983
Jim Ewing and Rod Nash.
it and then on his first solo flight, the 195 threw a rod
d~ring power-reduction after takeoff. He dialed the emergency frequency but received no response , so he called Approach Control at the Bracket Airport, who immediate ~y cleared him to land on any runway. There was a twm Beech on final at the time who heard the emergency clear ance and shot practically straight up to get out of the way . During the emergency Jim forgot to put the flaps down so he floated almost halfway down the runway before he finally touched down. He remained calm throughout the entire emergency, but fell apart once he was safely on the ground. It didn't dampen his enthusiasm for flying in the least. From that day on he's been restoring the plane, using all new engine parts from the Jacobs engine people. The plane had cross-wind gear with poor brakes so he put a Cleveland Conversion kit on it. He rebuilt the tail wheel strut and springs, put in new radio equipment, new instru ment panel, etc. The restoration was finished in July 1983 just in time to leave for Oshkosh. Jim and his. frie.nd Rod Nash experienced all kinds of weather on their tnp from California, including severe thunderstonns. One highlight of the trip was a stop at the Cessna Airport at Wichita, Kansas to "bring the old girl back to where she was born." She seemed to shine a little brighter when she was there. They were very fortunate to get a tour of the Cessna factory, and a fellow named Jim Kimper was very helpful on how to buy and where to buy parts for the 195. The Cessna Historian also gave them informa tion on this very plane. They also stopped to see the Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio, then on to Oshkosh, arriving mid-day on Friday. They were anticipating frantic air traffic, but it was exceptionally orderly and easy. Air Traffic told them to fall in line near Ripon, and they came right on in. They immediately got out their polishing rags to take ca re of all the bugs and rain spots and soon brought the 195 back to its shiny glory. For Jim, it is a dream come true to attend Oshkosh for the first time and he is awestruck by the whole thing. He can't praise it highly enough, and was very impressed by the friendly and helpful people in attendance. He has been an EAA member for some time and is now a member of the Antique/Classic Division too. Jim also owns three Luscombes in various stages of restoration, a 1959 8F with flaps, a 1946 8A and a 1949 8F. He is active in the Continental Luscombe Association. Jim and his friend Rod just recently formed a partnership and opened a maintenance and sales facility in Fresno called "Flashback Aviation". Jim's beautiful Cessna 195 won the Custom Class C (151 hp and up) Award, an excellent reward for a job well done.