On one of our summer visits to North Lima, Dad took my brother Brian and I out to Elser Airport. I remember feeling pretty excited about the trip. This was where Dad and Uncle John learned to fly. Galen Elser operated the airport, and it was built on his family's farm. The Elser's were neighbors when Dad was young, and in 1936 Galen built a Pietenpol Sky Scout, with a Ford Model-A engine, in his basement! Growing up we heard plenty of Galen stories. . .
After introductions and catching up on family stuff, Galen opened the hangar door to reveal a Pietenpol Sky Scout with a Model-A engine, just like the one he had built in 1936. He told us he had bought this one (I think from a museum) a few years earlier. Also sitting in the back of the hangar was the original Sky Scout fuselage from 1936! Brian and I both got to sit in the cockpit and work the control stick and rudder bar. I was in heaven! Then he cranked it up! I can still hear the Model-A engine going "Bap-pa-da, Bap-pa-da, Bap-pa-da. . ." I wanted to ask him if he would take it around the pattern so we could see it fly, but I was pretty much in awe of the whole situation, and kept my mouth shut. To this day I have never seen a Pietenpol fly. Not even at Oshkosh.
I'll let Dad take it from here:
A Pietenpol was my first encounter with the field of Aviation. When I was 5 years of age (that's a lifetime ago) in 1936, we lived next door to a sixteen year old, named Galen Elser, that was building a Pietenpol with plans that were printed in "Popular Science" magazine. Since I had not started school yet, I spent a lot of time with him after he got home from school. Then next year, when I did start to school, I broke my elbow when I jumped off the back porch at home. I could not do much with the other kids, so I spent more time next door. As time went on, the Pietenpol building progressed. Many times when assembling the finished parts, I would help hold things in place while he put them together.
To digress a little, when Galen was cutting out dikes for reinforcements for wing and rudder ribs, he used a coping saw to cut the teak wood. I saw no reason for me not being able to do the cutting with the coping saw. Remember, this was expensive teak wood. Well, needless to say, he was not happy with my attempt to save him some work.
Getting back to assembly, after the wings were installed, he would need some balance so he could put the wheels on. He would set me out on a wing so he could lift the wheel with one hand and put the wheel on with the other hand. Occasionally he would need to take the fuselage to the weld shop after he had the gear and wheels on. He towed it behind his mothers 1936 Chevrolet. I know he must have worn out a set of tires towing it. I never did get to see the Pietenpol fly. We moved away before the it was finished, but WWII was in the news now, so my interests were directed to the war planes of the day. I built many models. B-24's were my specialty.
After the War, Galen came back and built an Airfield on his Father's farm. He started Flight Instruction, and I was his 4th student. Since I was only 14, I had to fudge my age on my medical because you had to be 15 to get a medical, and 16 to solo. So, I soloed at 15.
After moving away from North Lima, the next time
I heard about Galen was a newspaper story about Galen having to jump out of his
airplane with a parachute. Years later I had the opportunity to ask him about
the incident. He said that he was flying another Pietenpol that he had bought,
and the Government authorities had started requiring pilots flying homebuilt aircraft to wear parachutes. He said the extra weight
changed the horizontal axis putting more weight distribution further back
causing the angle of the parasol wing to change. The extra stress caused the
wing to fold. He said that was the only time he had to bail out of a plane.
The original Pietenpols were powered by a Model A Ford engine. One of the
problems was carburetor heat. The carb. was an updraft which made it difficult
to fashion a way to generate heat for the carb. His fix was using a coffee
can that could be controlled by pulling a wire connection on the can. Pulling it back cut the air flow around the carb., allowing it to hold heat.
Galen was an instructor in the USAAF in Texas for awhile, then went to the far
east flying C-47's supplying island locations in support of the troops fighting
the Japs.
When he got out after the War, he bought 2 PT-19s in Texas and flew them home. I
believe he said that he paid $100 each for them. Those planes were the first
that I had instruction in. However, the cost of flying those Ranger 175
engines was too high, so he sold them and bought a brand new Taylorcraft
BC12D. That is what I soloed in. He later picked up a Stinson Voyager with a 90
horse Franklin engine. A great handling aircraft. I was also was able to get some
free time. Before Galen was able to get fuel at the field, he would have me fly
the planes to the next field about 10 miles away to fill the tanks. But he
finally got tanks, which ended the freebees.
Years later, when Bob and Brian were with us on a trip to Ohio, we visited
Galen. He had a Pietenpol there that Bob got to set in. Glory time for him.
Galen died several years ago at the age of 84. I had visited him a year
before. He had sold the airfield to a friend. They paved the runway, added
lights, and extended the runway. It is now called Youngstown-Elser Airport.
They house the Medi-vac Chopper there for the general area. The owner is a
major annual, and re-builder of Beach 17 Staggerwing aircraft.
Since my flying out of Elser Airport was curtailed when I got out of the Air
Force, I had not had my hands on controls until Joe let me fly the Luscombe on the way to the Camden Fly-In last year.
Dad Cottom
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