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Fox Valley Flying ClubNewsletter, June 2002 |
Memorable Flights: "Crash" Doesn't Crash Stearman!
Story submitted by Evan Wright
When I saw the blue and yellow 1943 Stearman from Littlefield Aviaton was giving rides, I was an easy sell and signed up right away. Eventually it was my turn to go, and Gene Littlefield showed me how to climb into the cockpit of what he affectionately called the world's worst aerobatics plane. He said the stability did make it a great plane for wing-walking, though. When I asked him how you wing-walk on a fabric plane, he replied, "carefully." Being a primary trainer, the instrument panel was pretty spartan and didn't even have slip-skid/ball. The fuel guage was a glass cylinder which hangs down from the center section, and reads 1/4 of a tank high with the tail wheel on the ground. While taxiing out to 18, I noticed the pilot had to constantly S-turn to be able to see around the nose. Once we had back taxied, he throttled up for takeoff. Despite the 450 h.p radial, the heavy Stearman accelerated slowly, but eventually the tail came up (and with main gear that tall, you REALLY know when the tail comes up). We climbed out to 1000 ft and settled in at 2000rpm and 100mph.
When I mentioned to the pilot, I had seen this Stearman several times at Cushing, and that I was an ultralighter, he said "Hell, you know how to fly, you take it." Being a historic aviation nut, I was completely thrilled to be flying in a WWII trainer anyway, and getting to take the stick and rudder made it even better. I followed the pilot's instructions to fly over the quary, skirt along the edge of the few open fields and then put us back on downwind for 18. The pilot took over at that point, pulled the power, and landed us on the grass to save the tires, which cost a mere $350 each. While taxiing back, I noticed the pilot kept the stick all the way back, to improve traction and hold the tail down. Could all that open cockpit flying in my Quicksilver diminish the novelty of flying in a classic biplane. Never! Rest assured I will be boring everyone at work with this story for a long time to come.
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