Barnstorming

[Bandit 286]

Just got these pictures from a couple in town. It is a picture of her dad when he was barnstorming around the country in 1929. He was a good friend of my dad. They hunted and fished together for years. I new Joe quite well my self. I remember as a kid Joe telling me about barnstorming. When I had my Taylorcraft in the late 70's I asked him if he would want to go for a ride. His eyes lit up and he had a smile from ear to ear, but when he said when he met his soon to be wife he promised her if they got married he would never fly agin. You know he quit flying, sold his airplane and bought the local hardware store in town, got married and never sat in an airplane again. You could tell by talking to him he never lost the love for flying though. He would tell me with a smile he loved to land outside a town to give rides. As soon as he climbed out of his airplane with his flying clothes on all the girls would come running. As you can see he also was a handsome Italian. Wow, what a decision! I am going to matte and frame these two pictures and hang them in my den.

That is Joe in the middle. Does anybody know what kind of airplane that is? I am not sure.

Edited 26 Sep 2013 by Bandit

[akflyer 1427]

Nice story and pictures... My ex wife kinda brought that up when I had the first engine out and augured .. She was not so sure about me flying anymore.  I told her I was doing airplanes long before I was doing her and I would be doing them long after her

 

You can always tell by the look in a guys eyes when you start talking about flying if he is an aviator or a pilot.  I hope the day I loose that sparkle when I talk or think about airplanes is the day they pat me in the face with a shovel.

 

[Bandit 286]

Carol and Jim let me go through his log books today when I picked up my pictures. He was logging time in a Eaglerock. I searched it now and I think it is a Alexander Eaglerock with a Curtiss OX-5 90hp. The first aircraft that came out in 1925 had wings that would fold back for storage. Well imagine that ! Us Avidfoxflyers are a few years behind. Ha Ha.

Edited 26 Sep 2013 by Bandit