Things I wish I flew
Oh, yeah...
If you're going to have a mistress, she should have two wings and a propeller. Pictured is a 1947 Luscombe 8E belonging to Dave Lyjak of Kennesaw, GA. Full electric, gyro panel, and an 85 fire breathing horsepower Continental engine. Nice plane to be sure.
1946 Luscombe 8A "ragwing" owned by Henry McFarland of Canton, GA
Ragwing refers to the fabric covering on the wings. I believe the Luscombe was the first general aviation plane sold with an all aluminum structure. Power is provided by a Continental A65 engine. No electrical system. Therefore no wires, lights, radio stack, starter, generator, transponder. Guess how much all that stuff weighs? In the case of these two planes it's about 200 lbs, around 25% of the basic empty weight. You have to hand prop the 8A to get it running. It is the true essence of a group of planes called "classic tail draggers". It's beauty is simplicity. The reward for leaving all of the modern day crap at home is excellent flying qualities and low maintenence. Anything that your plane doesn't have can't break and can't cost you anything during annual maintenence. This particular plane left the factory at 735 lbs, and now weighs 781 lbs because of it's metal prop and paint. In case you haven't gathered by reading the model parts of my page, weight is the supreme ruler of flying qualities. That means that this plane is a gem. Depending on the airspace that Henry and Deb fly in, they most likely communicate with a hand held radio and use the words "negative transponder" a lot.
If planes like this interest you, then click your way over to the Luscombe Foundation web page.
Or Maybe...
Taylorcraft BC12, owner unknown (it was for sale when I scammed this picture off the internet a few years back)
Also on my list of planes I would like to play with is the Taylorcraft. Mister Taylor had a big hand in the original version of the Piper Cub, but the world was better off with his solo venture. His "new" plane sat it's two occupants side by side instead of in tandem, used control wheels instead of sticks and utilized an airfoil that allowed it to flat run away from other rag and tube tail draggers that used the same engine.
If only there were still some of these around
An original Rearwin Speedster, photo property of Eric Rearwin
I really know nothing about the actual Rearwin Speedster. I know there are few (if any) airworthy examples in original configuration. But I do know a cool airplane when I see one and I'm here to tell you that this plane could park next to me any day. Since the main point of my web page is to highlight model airplanes, it is here that I come (nearly) full circle. Considering that the Speedster is such a rare airplane it seems odd that it has been modeled so many times, but I've seen model Speedsters from 13" wingspan "peanut scale" versions (check the Model Builder magazine listing on Dave Livesay's page, and also the Easy Built model line) up to 1/4 scale radio controlled versions. For a free flight model I would recommend you build the Earl Stahl version (I've got the plans around here somewhere) and if you're into r/c then I would recommend that you check into the .45 size version kitted by Jack Stafford Models.
To learn more about all of the various Rearwin aircraft I suggest you go straight to the most authoritative source, the Rearwin Aircraft page created by Eric Rearwin