The Thiel

There are two "Rogers" in my life. Not counting the "Roger" I use as a radio phrase. Old timers use "Roger and Wilco and Over". Oh, I used to be able to talk CB pretty good. "Breaker 19 this here's the wing man, You got your ears and a copy on me good buddy, comeback"? Before the big CB craze, when I was in high school, I actually had my own base unit CB with a licensed call sign. I was KOI 2342. We didn't use handles and lingo. We went by the book with our "ten signals". Before there were personal computers we had our own "net" of radios for emergency services in case the phones went down. I was a disc jockey at the college station, and a Restricted Radio Telephone Op Permit wasn't enough. I had to go to downtown D.C. to the FCC building and take a test to get my Third Class Radio Operators Permit. A so called "Third Phone". I could send and receive Morse code, and owned two surplus telegraph keys. So if you ever hear me bullshit non- standard crap on the radio, it isn't because I don't know better. Roger that. My wife's father is a Roger. He's a great guy. The other Roger is Roger Thiel. Known as "Thiel" or "The Thiel". He is more than an aviation enthusiast. More than a buff. Airplane "Fan" is a good word because.. You know what "fan" means? It's short for "fanatic". Yea Thiel is an airplane fanatic. He's a pretty knowledgeable historian as well. He's an actor, a singer, a pilot, a sailor. A printer. An announcer. He lives on a house boat in D.C. He owns two planes. That's what I want to talk about. First plane is a J-5. A J-5 is perhaps the best cub of all. It has all the appeal of a J-3, but it's better. Can carry a third person! It's the first of the "Cruiser" series of cubs and the purest. So if you like pure long wing Pipers, the J-5 can't be beat. The other airplane he owns is a Ryan. Yea Ryan. The company that made Lindburg's plane. Roger's plane is a Ryan S model. Called a CW. He could tell us all about it and he will if we give him the slightest chance. There are about 4 or 5 of these planes around today. Thiel gives a nice talk every year at Oshkosh and Lakeland about civilian sub patrol during WWII and how the home guard in little airplanes protected our shores. The Ryan SCW was one of the planes they used. If you're ever at an airshow, wings and wheels, or fly-in and over the PA a rich barritone voice singing the Star Spangled Banner greats you and then the voice describes aircraft and cars in a way that ties in society and public mentality of the period with those contraptions, you've been listening to my friend "The Thiel". GA Informal.