Years Ten thru Fifteen

I'd like to try to construct a list of the people who started me in aviation. A chronological list. It would have to start with my father. Sometimes he would talk about airplanes and flying them. Second would be my older brother who took lessons at Freeway. This was a full introduction to me. He was 16, I was 12. It was very cool that we could go out to Freeway by ourselves in the car. We had recently moved from New Jersey where seventeen was the driving age. My brother driving at sixteen had made our adjustment to our new home in Maryland, and leaving all of our friends and family behind, much more bearable. I promptly forgot all my friends in "The Caldwells" except for the two girls I was in love with. Anyway, we would drive to Freeway in the family 1961 Mercury "Comet". My brother would take his lesson. Sixteen dollars an hour "dual" in the Piper Colt. While he took his lesson I would walk all over the airport and look at every single plane. Every time we went. Also there were airport bums. There was a lean- to shed on the runway side of the hangar where the guys would just sit for hours. They all had jobs and families they weren't attending to. So this hangar crowd really represents collectively my third "mentor" on the chronological list. Bernie, Stan, Tony, Vick, Ed, Bob S., Timmy, et al. Fourth would be Bill Millican from junior high. He was in the CAP Cadets, which I wanted to join. He had had a few rides in the CAP PA-18 Cub. He knew everything. He told me he was going to "solo" soon. But we both knew at thirteen, he wasn't old enough. We would sit at our desks and use rulers for "sticks". And our feet were on imaginary rudders. He taught me a lot that way, I think. Little did I know , "chair flying" would be something I would do a lot of in order to prepare for "check rides" in my airline career. Then there were the pilots of the four or five airplane rides I had before I took my first logged lesson. The first ride was in the PA-18. Then, a Luscombe, then an Air Force C-119 Flying Boxcar, then a Beech T-34, then a Mooney. This is about the end of my pre- lessons mentor list, except for one. The one who inspired me before I ever met him. The one who is the subject of my next blog post. Bartel.