Have you ever stumbled across something unexpected, that triggers old memories, while looking for something else? This happened to me a few days ago. (Isn't the Internet wonderful?) I was looking through some old Antique Airplane Association Fly-In photos from 1961, that were posted on Jim Rice's webpage. Jim runs a Globe/Temco Swift Discussion List on Yahoo. I got there by way of the International Biplane Association's Facebook page. Yeah, I was in pretty deep. As I was scrolling through the photos, a red and yellow biplane caught my attention. I was pretty sure I was looking at a photo of Richard Bach's 1929 Detroit-Parks P-2A, the star of the show in Biplane and Nothing by Chance. The N-number was N499H. I checked my copy of Biplane, and sure enough, that's what it was.
Since Brother Barbeau had just finished reading Nothing by Chance, I copied the picture and fired off an email. I thought he might like to see a color shot of the airplane, since all the pictures in the book are in black and white.
After all of that, I continued scrolling through Jim's pictures. Most of the shots were similar to the one I had sent to Gary, so I was moving pretty quickly. Then another picture grabbed my attention. This time it was a Baby Ace by the name of N8686E. This airplane was very familiar! Back in my high school days it was owned by my best friend's brother.
Here's the short version: Back when I was in the seventh grade, I started talking airplanes with a guy on the school bus one afternoon. His name was Joe Mullis, and in short order we were fast friends. Joe's brother, Johnny, was a new hire in the Navy, and was in pilot training in Pensacola, Florida. A few years later he was a S-2 Instructor in Corpus Christi, Texas, and the proud owner of a Corben Baby Ace. When it was time for Johnny's next deployment, the Ace came to Charlotte.
Here's Johnny's recollection of that adventure: "When I was transferred from Corpus Christi to Norfolk in March 1975, Dad came down to help me move what few bachelor belongings I owned. It was too far to fly the Ace, especially in March with the chance of crummy weather for the 1100 miles between Texas and North Carolina. So we got the idea to find a trailer and tow the Ace home behind my 1974 VW Super Beetle. We happened across a guy who built made-to-order motorcycle trailers and we got him to modify one to fit the Ace. So we took the wings off, put it on the trailer, stacked the wings underneath the fuselage and towed it home. We stopped for gas somewhere in Louisiana and Dad got a big laugh talking to some guy who was astounded to see an airplane being pulled by a Volkswagon. It was a good trip."
Eight Six Echo's new home was at Brockenbrough Airport, which was located on the north side of Charlotte, North Carolina, adjacent to the old Metrolina Fairgrounds. (The airport closed in 1986, and the runway is now a driveway in the parking lot of the Metrolina Flea Market.) There were never more than two or three airplanes at the field, so there was not much going on. Joe and I would hang out there in the evenings when the place was deserted, and taxi the Baby Ace up and down the narrow runway. By this time we had both soloed in Cessna 150s, so thoughts of "taking it around the patch" crossed our minds a time or two. I laugh now just thinking about it! I wonder if we could have even raised the tail on takeoff?
By the time Joe and I were in college, Johnny was out of the Navy and flying for Braniff International---and the wings were off of the Baby Ace and it was in storage under the carport behind their parent's house. It was sold a short time later. I remember Mr. Mullis telling me that when the guy that bought the Baby Ace picked it up, he cut the fabric on the wings with a razor knife. He told Mr. Mullis he planned to recover the airplane, and didn't want the "temptation" after he got it home.
Back in the present, I copied the picture and fired off another email, this one to Johnny Mullis. Here's his reply: "Sure enough, that's it. It must have been owned at the time by the guy I bought it from in Weatherford, Oklahoma, Russ King. That is the paint scheme on it when I bought it. Mine had a metal prop. The guy who owns it now lives in Houston and works for the FAA, and the plane is painted entirely different. . . Thanks Bob, Great pix!" I sent another email asking Johnny if he had any pictures from the Brockenbrough days. His reply: "I don't think I do. . . It sure was a fun plane. Did you ever fly it?"
Footnote: Jim Wilson, the newsletter editor of the Carolinas - Virginia Antique Airplane Foundation (VAA, Chapter 3) sent a note: "I noticed the photo of Bach's Park's P-2. That airplane was owned by one of the founders of the Chapter, Evander Britt, from Lumberton, North Carolina."
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