Lloyd Grows up a Bit

When I was a high school kid I was in the Civil Air Patrol. That's a whole blog post and more. This post isn't about CAP really. CAP was like the Boy Scouts but more military. Our Commander told us one night at a meeting that the Air Force was giving our squadron an airplane. But we weren't to get too excited because the airplane was in pieces. Very small pieces. We rejoiced anyway because our squadron had never had an airplane. It was a USAF L-16A. I had never heard of this because I was 17 years old and had only flown a Piper Colt, a Cherokee, and a few rides in other things like Alon A-2's. But all us Cadets in the squadron were soon to learn all about it. Our Commander's plan was to rebuild the airplane in his basement. With the help of whoever he could get whether they were in CAP or not. First we had to get the airplane. It was at the state headquarters known as Wing Headquarters. This is where the Air Force had dumped it. The pieces, engine, wings, control surfaces, wing struts, wheel struts, wheels, seats, instrument panel, prop, windscreen, etc. were all in boxes, crates, pallets etc. Much of the pieces were wired together as to not be lost or separated. Some of the parts were brand new. It seemed the Air Force had supplied us with a complete aircraft. There was a mountain of government paperwork in a box too. With aircraft logbooks. It was simply "one hell of a project". It was free. The squadron had an Air Force surplus pickup truck. We borrowed a trailer. Went to Wing and in one big trip on one big Saturday we moved the "basket case" into our Commanders house. It wouldn't fit very well into the basement. Parts were in the dining room, the garage, the tool shed etc. At the next weekly meeting, each and every "Cadet" and "Senior Member" went home with a rusty piece of that airplane and a few sheets of the right grit sandpaper. And that was the beginning of a one year project. We had no one to fly this airplane. We had to fly it lots of hours or "Wing" would take it away from us and give it to another more deserving squadron. This was the government: use it or lose it. I had a Private license as did a few "Senior Members" but none of us were checked out in a "Champ" which was the civilian name of this plane. Our Commander found a retired Air Force pilot and convinced him to "volunteer" to train us. "R. Rice" became our mentor. He found out after he had volunteered that he was our "test pilot" also because after the airplane came out of the garage and had the wings put on at Freeway airport someone had to take it up on it's first flight. He also found out that 3 of his five "check-out" students were not grown up, over 21, "Senior Members", but 17 year old kids like me. One day it was my turn for my first lesson with R. Rice. He asked me some questions. "Do you have a manual for the L-16?" My answer: "No Sir". "Have you read and studied the manual for the L-16"? "No Sir". "Do you realize that you were 4 minutes late for this lesson"? "Yes Sir". " You're not in uniform so we can't fly today". "Sir, I have a flight suit in the car". "Go put it on, I'll stand right here and wait for you. We're using up your lesson time". "Yes Sir". I ran to the car and put on the flight suit and ran back. "Those sneakers are not regulation, you can't fly like that". "Yes Sir, er No Sir". He had me follow him to his car where he handed me a pair of Air Force ankle boots which were 3 sizes too big for me. As I laced them up as tight as I could, he read me the riot act and told me the only reason he was going to fly with me at all today or ever was because it was nice weather and he himself wanted to fly. He had heard I was undisciplined and spoiled. He had heard I had done little on the aircraft's rebuild project. He had heard I had achieved a rank of Cadet Captain and had passed the field grade exam, yet had not been promoted further due to my poor attendance and lack of enthusiasm. He said I shouldn't show up for flying or to another meeting without a proper haircut. He warned me I had better show him I was "eager" to fly this airplane or I was out of the program. I wanted to slug off those boots and run to my car and never see R. Rice again. But I got this funny feeling that R. Rice actually liked me. And wanted to make a good Cadet out of me. So I walked down to the plane with him and we pre-flighted it, and climbed in and flew our lesson. I wanted to do my best. I wouldn't grow up for my father. But I would for R. Rice. At the next Wednesday meeting my uniform was cleaned and pressed. I was a half hour early and helped set up some chairs and tables. My shoes were spit-shined. Belt buckle, hat brim, epaulets. I had L-16 fever and I was not to be denyed. At the end of that meeting there was an awards ceremony. At the end of the awards ceremony, I was asked to come forward and I was promoted to Cadet Major. R. Rice pinned the insignia on my collar.