I had decided to build a Hatz Biplane to use for Young Eagles rides. I thought young people should be able to enjoy the fun of an open cockpit biplane and the Fly Baby didn't work for giving rides. A friend of mine at work, Leon Johenning, pointed out that the Hatz was a copy of a WACO. His point was if I wanted something with a 1920's appeal I should build a WACO not the Hatz since the drawings were available. That all made sense so Leon and Winny, and Patricia and I decided to attend the National WACO Club fly-in at Wynkoop airport in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.
Off we went to Ohio for a complete rain out. There were few people and only 3 planes for a weekend of rain. Leon heard there was a WACO for sale at Knox County airport 2 miles down the road. This was at least a 33% increase in WACOs to look at so off he went. He came back all excited about it but at that point he did not have a pilots license so I told him we'd buy it and take him flying in it. So, off we went to Knox County. We walked in and I was in love with it. I had just taken 2 1/2 hours dual in a Stearman and this was the same size, engine etc. with the advantage of a closed cabin and roll down windows. Oh yeah, it was less than half the price of a Stearman or open cockpit WACO.
We had sold our house when our youngest son graduated from high school so we had cash for a down payment.
On July 24th a friend flew Jeff Ethyl to Knox County to meet Patricia and I there. We loaded a spare engine for Patricia to drive back to Virginia. Jeff made 3 take-offs and landings at Wynkoop to be legal, we gassed up and headed back to Gordonsville, 4 1/2 hours. When we got to Gordonsville I asked if he would mind letting me land the plane. He gave me the yoke, leaving him with only rudder and brakes and me with the yoke and rudder but no brakes on the right side. Gordonsville airport is paved, 50 ft. wide, 2000 ft. long, with a big "S" wave from one end to the other. At the last minute he was regretting his decision, but the plane is so easy to land that we had no problem despite it not being my best landing.
Fly Baby moved temporarily into the big hangar.
The rainbow pictures were taken one rainy evening working on the plane. It was so pretty I pushed the plane out for some quick pictures.
In August the wings were taken off Fly Baby and we put it back on the trailer for a ride to our town house in Charlottesville. Under the deck at the corner of the house is our basement door. It was an important feature of the house so I could get an airplane in the basement.
Our next door neighbor George Melvin was surprised to come home and see an airplane parked in one of the parking spaces. He was even more surprised to find out it had disappeared the next day into the basement. That's what I thought basements were for since that's where Fly Baby started its existence. He used his basement for his Jazz buddy's to jam for the neighbors, a nice way to spend Christmas evening. They were all professional musicians.
Time to do some repairs and recover the plane.
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