I have about 35 minutes worth of dad sharing stories from his life that I recorded on OneNote. The only way I can figure out to upload a sound file is to attach it to a photo in a movie file... if you know more about how to do this in a more compact format please let me know!
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ReplyDeleteokay, well, now it works :P
ReplyDeleteOne of my Father's draws to Alaska was to work on an aircraft called an America Pilgrim 100-B N709Y. On a flight one day, my Father was sitting strapped to the bulkhead closest to the tail, the pilot landing the aircraft at Goodnews AK, hooked the tail wheel on a sea wall and ripped the whole tail off. Dad reported feeling the jolt and day light streaming in from behind him. Dad had the tail section shipped to Port Orchard WA, where he spent the winter of 1972/3 rebuilding it. During a 26 Mar 2011 visit at the Alaska Heritage Air Museum, I was able to identify the welds where Dad had reattached the tail, and examine his signature on a document authorizing the plane airworthy again.
ReplyDeleteThe earliest event I recall of this plane was Dad retrieving it from behind the Alaska Airlines hanger at SeaTac. I was with him and he taxied the plane to the end of the runway and after executing two 90 degree turns to line up for takeoff one of the main tires blew. He rounded up someone with a forklift and small baggage cart, they arrived, lifted the wheel on the cart, the forklift dragged the plane by its tail 2 miles back down the taxiway with Dad running behind steering the baggage cart all the way. All the while Air Traffic control were routing 747's around them. They were unable to locate a tire, or wheel to replace it with, so later Dad replaced both tires, wheels and brakes assemblies with something more modern and supportable. He then flew the plane to Port Orchard where he commenced to make it legal for flight. The plane has a 58 foot wing span with metal spars and wooden stringers, covered in fabric. It had a large rotary piston engine. It flew like a giant size super cub, taking off in 900 feet at 45 mph. Top cruise speed was 90mph. When I arrived in Anchorage summer 1974, I helped Dad re-fabric one of the wings.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=3275 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_100
LeEric