With that "bugs in the teeth" artwork in you signature, I think I'm going to quit browsing this forum before dinner!
Miles
I love my little 170B, but the pic is what my smile would be if I got to fly......
My Dad instructed in these in WWII and I have grown up loving them. Even though I have only ridden in one once.
I'm still a bit perturbed at my dad for selling his Stearman this past summer . When I bought my 170B in August of 1982, he couldn't stand me having an airplane and him not. He said he'd wanted a Stearman since he was a kid, and by October he had one. ( http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cessna170 ... /my_photos ) He put well over 3000 hours on it in that time, some years over 300. I first soloed it one Father's day and have around 200 hours logged, but never got comfortable enough to solo off of pavement .
Dad says he doesn't regret selling it, but he keeps talking about a 450-powered one that he knows is for sale....
Miles
Miles
“I envy no man that knows more than myself, but pity them that know less.”
— Thomas Browne
That is what got me back in flying. I had basicly stopped flying about 1989. In I believe it was 1994, at the annual LaFayette fly-in, I had a chance to go up in a Stearman and that got me hooked again. I love open airplanes with round engines. Don't plan on stopping flying again untill I can no longer jump through enough FAA hoops to keep my medical.
Stearmans are great fun airplanes. When I was in college,in the early 1950's, I was in the ATL CAP squadron. We had a Stearman, a PT-19, and a Stinson L-5, all courtesy of the USAF. We could fly these neat airplanes to our heart's content just for gas & oil. I built up my hours towards a commercial license in these planes, taking classmate for rides where they sprung for the gas & oil. (This did not help my GPA).
Years later (1982) I did some ag flying in 450hp Stearmans. But in my opinion it's hard to beat that nice stock 220 hp Stearman for just fun flying.
BTW, it's not at all a good aerobatic airplane with relatively heavy ailerons and a slow roll rate. But hell for strong, just right for training those WW2 cadets !
Rudy
C-170B N4490B
Plantation Florida
(Based at North Perry Airport,
KHWO, Miramar FL)
I want two. One original, and one with a R-985 and four ailerons. Is the plural for Stearman....Stearmen?
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
You're into things numbered "four" these days, aren't you Rudy?
BTW, .. how're you feeling? UP and at 'em?
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
So does that mean you are keeping the 170? Hang in there, you'll get it back.. We had a guy up here who had a multiple bypass (5 I think), plus several recurring bouts of cancer and he still managed to keep his medical and fly his 195.
. When I bought my 170B in August of 1982, he couldn't stand me having an airplane and him not. He said he'd wanted a Stearman since he was a kid, and by October he had one. ( http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cessna170 ... /my_photos ) He put well over 3000 hours on it in that time, some years over 300. I first soloed it one Father's day and have around 200 hours logged, but never got comfortable enough to solo off of pavement 
.
