A Tribute To Our Father - Glenn P.

[GPutt33]

I just wanted to publicly THANK our Dad for instilling the love of airplanes and flying in us at such a young age . Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of spending time in a hangar at the tender age of about 4 or 5 while my dad rebuilt / restored his full scale bird, a Culver Cadet. Many great hours of flying in full scale birds. Discussion after discussion on every type of plane known to be flown by man I think. I can also remember sitting in front of the television for EVERY televised shot of either the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo lift offs and even now each and every shuttle launch.

As my brother and I got older we were always building something that either flew or blew up As we left home and got on with our lives as we all must do, we always had that topic of flight we could always talk about either by phone or in person, regardless of where our jobs took us through the years.

My dad has really enjoyed we 'boys' and our RC addiction of building and flying. Our Dad built a glider about 5 years ago, and it turned out to be a beautiful bird. Unfortunately on it's first flight there was a mishap and it has been waiting to feel the wind under it's wings once more

This Fourth of July my brother surprised my dad by bringing the glider up, looking like a brand new bird, fully charged and ready to go. So the 3 of us took off for a small field we new we could hand launch it from for a few trim runs and do a short high start on it. If just flew like a CHAMP, and seeing that big ol'smile on my Dad's face just made the whole Fourth for us

So first I want to say "Dad, thanks for all you've instilled in your boys and I Luv Ya!" To my brother Rob, thanks for getting the bird back in flying shape and for always being there, I hope we all have many years of flying together now that we are once again living so close .

Hope you ALL had a Wonderful Fourth of July. We all did, one day of flying the glider and part of the Fourth spent at the Field flying the big birds

Pics:
My Dad and I (I'm wearing the hat)
My brother Rob bringing the glider in on final
Dad and Rob getting ready to use the high start
Glider in Flight
My Dad and Rob (no hat, has hair )
My Dad in about 1959 with his restored Culver Cadet.

[SleepyC]

Nice Post man!
I'm sure that was a great 4th for all you guys!
Days like that you'll remember for a long, long time!

And your pop looks happy as a clam in those pictures!
Nice!!

[Boulder]

Awesome stuff Gregg,

Tell your Dad "Hi" from all of us, and to you and your brother, it couldn't have been a better 4th for your Dad, HUGE PROPS to you guys!!!

[JustPlaneCrazy]

I can just imagine his excitement, what a beautiful tribute !!

[GPutt33]

Glad you guys liked it as well as we did. I found a picture of my Dad in front on his Culver Cadet not to long after he got finished rebuilding it and added it to the pics above. The CC has manual crank up gears, which before landing need to be locked in place by a pin that seats into place. Usually done by rocking the plane back and forth just for added assurance. Well, the previous owners failed to get one pin in, they landed, gear collapsed and took one wing off as well as fuselage and tail runway rash as you might expect. Dad bought the plane and re-built it by hand. Even steamed the wood to bend into wing ribs. I mainly just got into trouble crawling over, under, and into every cockpit that came available during my trips to the hangar with him

[T28Driver]

A big "Thanks" to my big brother for putting together this tribute to our Dad - they're both pretty special guys!
Now that the test flight is out of the way, Dad wants to go find some thermals with his big bird - we'll help him with that this Summer.

Dad hitch-hiked forty-some miles, one way, for two years between the ages of 13 and 15, cleaning airplanes and hangers at a small airport in Nebraska to earn enough money to afford flight lessons. His log book shows him soloing in two different airplanes on the same day - a Stearman, and a Luscombe (I think) - he wanted to fly one plane with a wheel and one with a 'stick'.
I remember sitting on his lap in the Culver Cadet and just after takeoff him reaching down and cranking the wheel to ratchet up the landing gear - 'tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk' was the noise it made - what special memories
That's me peering out the side window of the Culver - probably around 4 years old - best I can figure is that it was my brother taking the picture.

Thanks for the nice comments all!

[VIPER69]

That was a very nice tribute. My dad started me and my brothers RC flying as well. He flew control line and free flight as a kid and got into RC back when there was just 1 channel. He is not with us anymore, but every time I visit mom I go to his garage and the memories start flowing.

I know your dad must be very proud of his boys. Great job.


For what it is worth, did you know that plane is still around?
It is owned by the Golden Age Air Museum in Bethel, Penn. It was built in 1941.

[T28Driver]

Hi Viper, thanks for the heads-up on the location of the Cadet. We had located it a few years back via googling the tail number. At that time it was owned by a gentleman in Penn. I've sent the museum a note letting them know that if they need more info, Dad would be glad to fill in the blanks - it would make his day! We'll have to try and get him out there to see it.

Thanks again, Rob