 Flying the replica of a Curtis Pusher, what could you tell me about your plane? It was built by an EAA group at Deer Park, New York, who were six and a half years building on it and never flew it out of an airport. I've owned it about a little over eight years. I've flown it 326 flights and each flight is event as one of them was today. I've flown it at Reno at the Air Races of Florida a couple times, six times here, at Navy Base in Corpus at Omaha off of the Air Force. I've flown it quite a few places. Luckily I've gotten back intact every time, but it's not a very good flying airplane. It's not a lot of fun to fly when it's rough and hot. I've flown, started flying in 29 airlines for 28 years during the war. The last five years flew DC7Cs, which were capable of flying for a brand of airlines, capable of flying nonstop from Dallas to Paris if I had enough gas in. Also I flew Dallas to New York and Chicago, but I also flew some charter trips with the company, ad football teams and all during the war primarily flew Dallas to Chicago just past that field airplane. Now what else, Randy? Okay, do you know any information about the original Curtis pusher when it was built? You mean this one? The Curtis, of course, were built in from about 1907 or 1908 along and there and so forth and every airplane those days was a different size and type and they were still fishing. They weren't like Model T's where they all the same. This is about like they were in 1912. It's heavier than the same size airplane. Most of theirs were a little larger than this. This is all well that the inside if it were not pretty strong I wouldn't haul around the country and have fun with it. It looks enough like the original where if Glenn Curtis was here he'd know what we were imitating. Okay, do you have any favorite flying stories you'd like to share with us? With this? With anything. Well I'm just fortunate to still be here. I've had a lot of things happen down through the line whether it's the lightning, the burning antennas, the holes, the wings, the landing once with one inch and feathered and three of them in reverse on the final. Two complete radio failures due to electrical systems and so forth the baggage bin and the seats pull loose the cabin and thunderstorms and then ice up to where we kept reporting those altitude and couldn't hold it finally got the control of things. I've had a lot of things happen down through the years. How do you like your piece of flying being followed by the Concorde? It's a little beyond me. Instantly some of my buddies who used to fly a co-pilot with me flew Concorde for a while between Dallas and Washington and then the British foot in Washington, Paris. And I've talked to them extensively and they said it took about two months training to get through all the systems and be able to fly it. Of course any good pilot can fly another airplane if he's given an opportunity to get practiced up in it and learn the systems assuming he's a pretty good pilot to start with. And I've flown the DC-7C's that I flew with his large four-inch airplane that was being operated before the straight jets came. And then in the early days I have flown some trips when there was one round trip a day between Dallas and Houston a room for two passengers. That's all the service. Now there's about 40 or so airline trips a day back and forth and of course there's no railroad service. So I've seen considerable change. In the early days they didn't have runways. When I first flew into Love Field in Dallas they had no runways. It was the fielders out in the country now surrounded by billips and so forth. And the airplanes then had no brakes and they had no starters and they had no flaps and a lot of things. And nowadays people think they have to have no radio and nobody would tell you where to go when they do it. So there's a whole lot of difference. A person who flew in those days couldn't get the first base on some of this stuff but by the same token I sold the Bonanza to a captain in the Air Force who was based at El Laredo about three years ago. He paid the money I went out twice to show him how to fly and it was hot and gusty. He'd make a fine descent but he couldn't line up with the runway because he couldn't move the runner. Bonanza has a tail like this and it's kind of unstable and goes back and forth and then the jets on the takeoff they use the nose wheel steering and they don't use the rudder. So the result was we flew three times about an hour and a half of whack and he'd bought it and he finally went to El Laredo and made it. But that shows the difference. He'd been instructing two years teaching people to fly and that and it flew so much different than another airplane. So you explain your unique style of starting your plane with the help of two pullers. Starting to plane the engine itself with the two pullers. To start it if you stand in and pull it, hand pull it, you're too close to the propeller. So if you start it with the wires and things down here you might trip and get into it. If you stand back at this place it's too far out when you can't get a good chunk. So I talked to my dogs and they gave me their dog bowl and they cut it up and put it on there and they wrap rope around it and that way we spin the motor good. It starts every time even though usually when the starter man falls down but that doesn't matter. I warn them in advance. If you haul the airplane a thousand miles or so as I have and get ready to fly and it won't start you're kind of upset. But this way while we can really spin it and nine times out of ten I prime it, pull it through four compressions, wrap the rope five times, put three or four fellas on, bam it's gone. Okay that's about it unless you want to say anything else. Well I might tell you that I'm 81 and 1-6 and still trying to hold my two best buddies are playing the harp and they're going to teach me how when I get there and so it's kind of unpleasant going and playing it. They both of them were Air Force or Chief Pilot of Braniff and so forth and I'm traveling alone and it's a bit difficult. Maybe next year I'll have some other fellas broken in if I make it again. Thank you. The Concorde is British Airways supersonic jet that flies at Mach 2 which is twice the speed of sound. It was a major display at the 88 flying and made five local flights of one hour each which many consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. After its four-day stay in Oshkosh it departed for London. Power is supplied by four Rolls Royce Smikma Olympus and five 93 engines which are mounted in pairs on each wing. Each engine is capable of generating 30,000 pounds of thrust. The Concorde carries 100 passengers, all for its class and cruise at an altitude of 55 to 60,000 feet. Its cruising speed is approximately 1,300 miles per hour which is twice the speed of sound. Bleistift, yeah. Do I have a Bleistift? No. Can I have my Bleistift? Bleistift? Ah, yeah. The life is beautiful, but you can also have it cheaper. But then it's no longer so beautiful. Life is nice but expensive. You can have it cheaper, but then it is not quite so nice. Yeah. People with a lot of brass don't have enough polish, right? Good, good. I don't believe that you're 87 years old. You don't believe that I'm... No, no. You don't believe I'm 87? Well, sometimes people are skeptical. Let me prove it to you, though, Fred. Fred, I've been flying since 1930 when I was 29 years old. This is my vintage license, my pilot license that I got in 1930. You can see what happened. The reason I look a little bit younger than 87 is because in 1932 I had a brand new travel air biplane. This is the travel air that I had. And I was a bush pilot up in the Northwest Territory, now called Alaska. One day I was out on a mission and a freak storm was approaching. So I landed on an iceberg. When I saw the storm coming, I jumped out of my traveler, began running and the freezing rain hit me and put me and my traveler into a frozen state of suspended animation. I just thought out last year and I saw that my vintage airplane, it was brand new at the time that I was flying it, had left. Someone had stolen my travel air but the tracks were going down to the lower 48. And so now I'm in search of my travel air all over the country. Have you seen my travel air? Not I. No? Not I. Well, I've flown in five of them since I've begun my hitchhiking journey around America but none of them fly quite as nice as mine did. Was it a 2,000 travel air or 4,000? It was a 4,000. No, now I saw a 2,000. You did? Can you tell me where I want to look this person up and see if it's mine? Well, at 91. My memory's a little old. You're 91. You're older than me. That's good. I like older men. Oh, that's good. Well, have you thought out yet? Pardon me? Have you thought out yet? I'm well thought. And some people tell me that my brain my brain is thought too. But they don't really know me. I'm really a sane person. You're warm. You're warm to the touch now, huh? Yes. Real warm to the touch. No, wait a minute. No, no, no. Let's not get into that. You're still warm to the touch, you are. Now don't maul the AVA tricks. AVA tricks. I just want to see if you're warm. That's all. I'm warm. Yes. I'm warm. Some of these guys, boy, you gotta... Aviators. Aviators. Oh, sure. You know, they had a cartoon. Some have the devil in them. You know, she's an ace now. She just bagged her sixth aviator. You gotta watch out for some of these aviators. Okay. But... Well, look, that's very nice. That is very nice. Let me see. Thank you. How did you come by that? I told you. Well, these are my... All of my instructors were Wilbur Wright. Longway Corrigan was my navigation instructor. And as you see, Roscoe Turner taught me Montefi. Montefi, that is nice. Thank you. Thank you. But... He's got... He's got white out on him. He's discovered the white out. I mean, official souvenir of the... Cleveland Airways. Yes. Okay. What do you have here? This is for you, for your travels. Oh. 101st Arrow Squadron. Gosh, this is so special. Well, whatever. This is so special. Well, I have something for you. This is lovely. I will wear this and cherish it. I have something for you also. You give me your pen. I will give you my pen. I will make you an air adventurer. Would you like to join my club? I'm starting a club for people who love old aeroplanes. Well, sure. Okay. Let me... Well, you better put it over. First, you must take the pledge, however. Uh-oh. Okay. Raise your right hand and repeat after me. This is my ability. To the best of my ability. I pledge to support. I pledge to support. The ideals and principles. The ideals and principles. Of air adventurers. Of air adventurers. And we'll do all in my power. And we'll do all in my power. To further the advance of aviation. To further the advance of aviation. Congratulations, Fred. You're our newest air adventurer. So help me, Richard Bach. And I will give you your air adventurer's membership card in a few minutes. All right. But in the meantime, for being so kind and giving me this beautiful pin from the Royal Air Force, I would like you to have an air adventurer's wing pin. Oh, that'd be excellent. These go to honorary members. Where would you like it? Right there? Put it right there. Okay. We'll pin it right there. Okay. Hey, how about this? You can button it. I will. Thank you. Thank you. You want to go to dinner now? I would love to go to dinner. I was smitten. I've been smitten by Harry Clinton ever since I saw him. Oh, yeah. I'm trying to go back in time. That's why I thought maybe I'd come up here. Talking to Martha Ashe. Martha, could you explain what you're doing here this weekend at the EAA convention? Well, I'm meeting a lot of the people that wrote me letters with regards to my barnstorming USA project. What I'm doing is I'm hitchhiking rides in vintage aeroplanes all over the United States of America for a six month period of time. Okay. Have you found any unusual things on your way? I sure have. So far, since May 28, when I began the journey, I've flown with 79 pilots through 19 states and have flown in three P-51s, three AT-6s. That's a warbird from World War II. I've flown in five travel airs from the late 20s and early 30s, four Wacos, let's see, Stearman's Cubs, and some one-of-a-kind airplanes like Channing Clark's Fleetwings Seabird from 1936. Okay. Besides the rain right now, we're having air shows going on. What are you trying to accomplish with your trips? Well, I'm just having a lot of fun, really. But action from people, notes from people about themselves. Your name, sir? My name is Fred Jung-Clause. Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about your plane here? Yeah. This is a replica of a 1918 SE-5A British World War I fighter. It was made by the Royal Aircraft Factory in Hinden in England. This particular replica and numbers flown by the oldest surviving American ace of World War I, who was the fourth ranked ace of World War I for the United States side, Colonel George Vaughn Jr., George A. Vaughn Jr. He flew for the 84th RAF squadron up until mid-1918, at which time he came over to the 17th U.S. Camel Squadron where he flew us up with Camel. The Camel that he flew was replicated at the Air Force Museum, and I thought it would be really a tribute to the time he spent in the RAF to replicate the SE-5 in his colors. In 1977, I wrote him a letter, an advice that he had no photographs of his airplane, but he did make a drawing, and he was 80 at the time of his squadron insignia and also the other markings. I had flown this airplane the first time on June 29th of this year. On July 2nd, I was able to call the general and tell him that the airplane had flown better for me than him, certainly. How many other events like this do you attend to plane? Well, I've only got 34 hours on this airplane, totally. Last weekend, I was able to go to the Dayton Air Show and show it there, so I've only been to Oshkosh and the Dayton Air Show so far, but that's again within about a 34-day period. It comes out to about an hour a day. What do you think about the program going on here? The biggest thrill of my life, one fellow said, I live in southern Indiana, he said, how long can it take you to come here? I said, 12 years. That's how long it took me to build this airplane, three times longer than World War I lasted. Okay, anything else you'd like to add? That's about it. It's just a tribute to General George A. Vaughn Jr., the highest-ranking American ace of World War I still a lot. Okay, thank you. Anything else, Martha, you'd like to see? Where are you planning going from here? If you wanted me to. From here, I've got to go across the top western states on over towards Washington and Montana, and then I'll zip back across the top and go through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, up into the New England states and then back down, and I should be back in Orlando, Florida where I began my journey. I should be there at Thanksgiving. Where you came up with this unusual plane? Well, my name's Jim Hay, and my brother actually came up with this unusual plane. It's his project or his creation. I helped him a little bit on it, you know. But I don't like to take credit for this. Too much. That's my son here. He's going to put some water in here so he's going over heat. Maybe you ought to get some more, huh? He uses quite a bit of water from flying too many missions. Right. Well, yeah. It's from sitting here idling in the sun. Idling in the sun, if you want. That's our cooling system right there. You just saw him put water in. That's our cooling system. What type of engine do you have? This is a Stover Farm engine. I don't know. From about 1923 or something, and it runs, I think it's about three horsepower. That's two and a half, three horsepower. Where did you come up with the idea? My brother had this engine and he wanted to put it in something, so he started out making this car. And he just ran it as a car. Well, then we were so involved in the air show, he thought, well, I've got to have put wings on it, you know. And what he built this for originally is he runs it a lot in parades. Stuff running in our local area. You think you have a pretty good patten here for planes of the future? Well, we tell anyone who wants to steal any of these ideas, feel perfectly free to just take whatever they want. Okay, as far as I can, is that operational? Well, it's not. It could be made operational, though, but it's not loaded, that's why it's not operational. You'd need a ball and some powder and a rag and a plunger rod, you know, to get it loaded, which means that the spider airplane, once you got it in the air, would really only basically have one shot. Be a hell of a shot, though, when you shot it. Do you have any future plans for revamping or making improvements on this plane? Oh, I think it's gone as far as it can, technically. I mean, I think this is as much improvement as anyone would ever want to see made of this thing, possibly made to it. It's all made out of the finest oak and the finest rusty steel. One problem that's very common to aircraft is nuts and bolts coming loose. We found out that if you put just raw nuts and bolts on and let them rust down, they never come loose. You know, we've solved a lot of technical things that plaguing aviation industry for years. The front wheels used to be about, oh, about this much higher. They just keep wearing down. Any landings, take-offs? No, taxing tests. Yeah, we're not ready for landing a take-off yet. We figure about five to eight more years of taxing tests and they won't be ready for a take-off. Then we've got to find a runway that goes downhill about 45 degrees and ends with a cliff, you know, there. And then we need a five-pound pilot. It was really stupid, you know. Do you have trouble finding crew members? No, no, we just recruited my son here. No, we don't have any trouble finding crew members. Finding clean crew members, you have trouble. There's oil sprays on his thing all over. I'm going to have trouble finding somebody who really wants to fly it, though. And we decide to fly it. We're going to have somebody... Put names in a hat or something? Jog Jog. There'll have to be something like that. I have to think of something more devious than that. Somebody you hate. They're like an odd man out contest or something. The biggest loser of the week, there's something like that. You know, we'd have to be the one to fly it. No, not anybody I hate, no, no.