A New Beginning
It's with tremendous excitement that I begin my first blog post about our project, where to start.... I first met Annie shortly after receiving my Private Pilot rating, I had just gotten my tailwheel endorsement and was making my first solo tailwheel flight to Watsonville airport for what would turn out to be the last official Air Show held there after a 50 year run. I think the ink on my endorsement was still wet when I arrived. I was flying a 7GCBC Citabria and was joined by many friends in other fun planes, including Annie. It was fun on the way down trying to keep up with her. We spent a weekend at the show among friends and I quickly became enamored with Annie and her story. I remember clearly how flying her seemed like a goal that was far away for me at the time.
Fast forward a year or so and I am working full time in aviation and got hired to work on polishing up Annie's aluminum skin. On top of the honor of getting her polished up and looking her best, I got to experience flying her for the first time and I was flat out hooked. There is something indescribable that happens to you when you fly her for the first time, its kind of like that feeling you get when you meet someone for the first time but you feel sure that you have known them your entire life. Once the polishing project was complete, well, any good aluminum polishing project is never really complete, I found myself finding any opportunity I could to help out working on her. I was working as an A&P at the time and whenever she would come into the shop I would make sure that I had the chance to work on her and gave her the best care that I could. One time I spent a lazy Saturday with her doing a 50 hour, just her and I, listening to music from the 40's, cleaning spark plugs, setting the timing and changing oil, what takes an hour to do on a 172 Cessna takes all day to do on Annie. Radial engines use oil to the tune of 9 or more gallons, so it takes awhile to add it all after a change.
During this time I was flying a lot, and was getting to be pretty proficient in the art of tailwheel flying. Martin approached me with an offer to join into Annie's ownership group and I was floored. I studied every piece of information I could find, read the pilots manual cover to cover more times than I could count, read Bud Davisson's BT13 Pirep, I was determined to be the best prepared student of warbird flying that I could be, all the while remembering my first experience flying Annie, which was, at the time, rather humbling. Martin, being the amazing person and CFI that he is, made me feel confident every step of the way. A few hours in and I was starting to feel like I could do it. I remember one particular late afternoon flight out of Palo Alto Airport, the sun was getting low on the horizon, the temperature was perfect, beautiful red and orange clouds in the sky, the air was calm. We were upwind off of runway 31, turning cross wind for right traffic and with the canopy open I looked out at the outstretched wing, the evening sunlight glinting off of the polished metal and a shiver ran up my spine, the hair on my neck stood up and I felt the presence of everyone that had ever flown Annie right there with me in the cockpit, urging me on. I am overwhelmed by this tremendous moment and I hear Martins voice come over the intercom, "It's pretty cool flying with ghosts isn't it?". I will never forget that moment.
In time I achieved my sign off to solo Annie and I took that first solo flight, it was the most exciting thing I have ever done in my life. I went on to take my children flying with Annie, proposed to my wife over the Santa Cruz coast with Annie, took people for their first airplane ride ever with Annie. Needless to say she has had a tremendous impact on many peoples lives. My children all refer to her as Annie, and she is a part of our family.
For those that don't know, we call her Annie because a few years ago during some corrosion repair deep in the wing we found a panel with the name "Annie" written down on it. Based on the inaccessible location it was most likely a "Rosie the Riveter" named Annie that had written her name down while she was assembling the plane.
I am so grateful and honored to be heading up the effort to return Annie to the sky. I am proud of the crew of new caretakers that we have assembled, they all are like minded in the kind care and heart and soul that they pour into repairing, protecting and sharing Annie's story. We are actively pursuing further information about her history. We know that she trained many at Merced Army Air Field, that her present markings are historically accurate to her, we know that a famous aviator named Sol Sweet purchased her after the war, she's been seen on the big screen alongside Mel Gibson, she's been featured in a magazine, she's been on display at a museum and most recently she's been capturing the hearts and minds of countless people who have enjoyed the thrill of hearing that big Pratt and Whitney bark.
Thanks for taking the time to read my first post. I have many more stories to share and will be posting updates on the repair work as we go.
Taurus