We sold half of N26383 to Bill and Shirley McClung in about 1997 or so and continued to fly it for fun on occasion (it's still the most fun airplane I am aware of). My favorite thing to do with a Cheetah is to pull into a parking place forward, turn 45 degrees right for about 5 feet, then stand on the left brake to turn 270 degrees and pull up even with the line. It has to be done with speed, not power to avoid blowing gravel, etc., on other aircraft.
When I no longer have need for the speed and altitude, I will probably look for another Cheetah for my retirement days.
-- Dave Sturm
We shut down the engine at Grants Pass, and sat for a moment as the gyros spun down. Cheryl was the first to speak. Her words were quiet, slow and deliberate:
"I'm ready for a bigger airplane."
I knew it would be futile to argue with her.
A couple of weeks later my dad told me that he had heard of a Grumman Cheetah for sale at nearby McMinnville, Oregon. This was intriguing. I recalled my fondness for Yankees in which I had instructed students in 1971-72, but I had not flown one since then, and I had never flown one of the four-seat derivatives. The only time I could recall ever looking at a Cheetah or Tiger up close, was at a 1977 airplane show inside the Anaheim Convention Center.
I contacted the seller, Bill McClung, and arranged to see his airplane. The Cheetah was in annual, partially disassembled, at Cliff Hanson's shop in Independence, Oregon. I flew the 150 to Newberg, Oregon, where I picked up Bill and flew him to Independence. While not cosmetically perfect, N116MC seemed in good enough condition that further followup was warranted. Moreover the logbooks, with Cliff's complete and legible (what a concept!) entries over the past few years, inspired confidence in the airplane's integrity.
