G ST EDITORIAl.' by
Paul Poberezny
It
has been quite some time since I wrote a line or two for our VINTAGE AIRPLANE Magazine . All too often I am so busy with day-to-day correspon dence dealing with the many and varied problems that face the organiza tion, making trips to Washington, D.C. and sometimes having the privilege of flying the P-51 Mustang. Unfortunately, some of our Antique and Classic friends feel I have no love for this phase of flying. Truly my in terest is a lot greater in antique airplanes than one would realize . At age 16 I taught myself to fly in a bat tered glider that I repaired. It was given to me by my high school teacher. I can well remember when the Curtiss Hawks used to fly over our neighbor hood in the country southwest of Mil waukee . When I saw those two wings flying by I thought they must be flown by little men because the airplanes were not in proportion with my imagi nation. I always thought that the Cur tiss Hawk was a stunt plane because of its short, low wing. Why , I don't know . I can remember one night after going to a movie theater in West Allis, Wis consin (only a four-mile walk, one way) my mother told me that an airplane had landed in the field about two blocks away, because of fog. It didn't take me long to head down to the farmer's field to see it. I ap proached the airplane with great cau 4 JUNE 1989
tion , seeing the shadowy outline of the wings . I don't recall whether it was a Waco 10 , an American Eagle or a Swallow. I circled the airplane with caution and I must admit with a bit of fear. I went home and got a blanket , went back to the airplane and slept under the fuselage between the landing gear. I was so excited I didn't sleep much that night. I kept looking at the massive wings thinking that I, too would fly one of these wonderful machines one day. I rushed home after school the next day to see the airplane again but, the pilots were gone. It left a great impression on me . During high school I also joined a flying club, flying a Porterfield 3570 . I soloed it, which was quite a feat sitting in the back seat unable to see over the nose or around the speed ring that contained a 70-hp, five-cylinder LaBiond . Unfortunately , our flying club lost the airplane because of partial powerplant failure . I was working at a filling station stocking shelves to save money to buy an airplane. I also begged my Dad to borrow some money. He was on WPA at the time. He borrowed the money and we bought an American Eagle, long-nose, Model 101 , NC 221N from Dale Crites . It had a tailskid instead of brakes , which was common in that era. Dale checked me out. That airplane taught me how to be a mechanic and a pilot. Later, I had the
opportunity to fly Dale Crites's 1-5 , 225-hp, straight-wing Waco. At the time , that was flying the best of them all. During World War II , I instructed in Stearmans, PT-19s and -23s - over 2,000 hours sitting in an open cockpit, loving every minute of it. Later, I got to fly almost all the propeller-driven airplanes, two-engine , four-engine, etc . But my love has always been the older airplanes. I well remember when I was an eighth-grader, I walked miles to the Milwaukee County Airport, now known as General Mitchell Field, and was offered a ride if I would Simonize a Curtiss Robin . I took many IO-mile walks down the gravel road of Layton Avenue to complete the job, only to be disappointed when the owner and pilot said he didn ' t have time to give me a ride - certainly one of the greatest disappointments in my life . However, the EAA Aviation Foundation now owns that airplane. N50H is sitting in our Pioneer Airport , so I finally got my ride after all. There are many stories I could share. But, I would like to take this opportu nity to say how proud I am of our EAA Antique/Classic Division , the work you do during our annual Convention and the chapters that are keeping avia tion alive. I am truly glad to be a part of you and your love for those airplanes that gave us the inspirations . •