N370Y was also in Champion Spark Plug ads in several aviation publications. Also in Air Progress. The airplane was built in a horrible old building that was rented by EAA Chapter 73 in Bloomfield NY. I test flew the airplane at what was then the Caldwell Wright Airport. After the phase one I flew to Hamilton NY where a friend painted the airplane in? a dirt floor t hangar. Then on to Rockford.?
I returned to Hamilton after Rockford. A chance encounter with a guy I had met but didn't really know well. He said if you're interested in a job as a apprentice mechanic go to Skaneateles and talk to Dick E. I did and he hired me. Hangar for the Tailwind was $10 a month, under the wing of the owners Douglas Invader.?
Empire Aero was a Piper Distributor, selling around 125 new Pipers a year. I got to go to Vero Beach to pick up new airplanes. Airline to Melborne on Friday afternoon and a Piper Factory pilot would pick me up and we would go to Vero. When the weather cooperated I would be back to work on Mon.?
When flew the Tailwind the first time I had exactly 300 hours total time. When I left Skaneateles I had around 1000 hours. Commercial, Instrument and Multi and was flying all the Pipers, Aero Commander 560 and Beech 18. My next two jobs involved Beech 18's.
In 1969 I fell off the back of a turnip wagon and landed in the right seat of a brand new Douglas DC9. I skipped turboprops and went from the Twin Beech to the DC9. The second year with that company I flew as Captain on the Lockheed Electra. My first type rating in a large airplane. That only lasted a year and I went back to the DC9. I got a type rating in the DC9 in 1981.?
In 1967 I was working in Princeton NJ We used copilots on the Beech 18's. Two new hire co pilots showed up. Tom and Bill. They were both straight form American Flyers.
At Flyers they had both done some flying in Tailwind N223A with John Beyreis. John was killed in San Jose CA in 1993 flying the second W8 built by Steve Wittman.?
Tom and Bill were both pilots for the DC9 operator. I had not talked to Tom for probably 20 years. Sat afternoon we talked for a couple of hours. A trip back in time including many pilots we had flown with, the good, the bad and the ugly.?
I plan to visit Tom after Oshkosh.?
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