I was playing with a scanner today and came across these prints of my first airplane. It was a 1947 Luscombe 8E. I bought it in Anchorage, Alaska, and flew it around that part of the state. It takes "simple" to a new level. The Navcomm was one of those where you could talk or navigate. You had to switch it from one to the other. No GPS. Just look at the rivers and mountains, and figure out where you are. What a great way to get into flying. I got my private ticket on Jan. 1, 1984.

Tom,

Why did you decide to become a pilot?

How many slides left to scan? 100,000? That's where I'm at for now.

Max, I had always wanted to fly. Same as with many. We had moved to Anchorage, where there are planes and airports everywhere. For a year I though that Alaska was a terrible place to fly, because people kept crashing.

Then I began reading the accounts, and it was ALWAYS VFR pilots flying into weather.

I mentioned to my wife that I had always wanted to learn to fly. She said, "Then why don't you do that?"

She's a keeper!

My childhood was different from others. We traveled a lot. Typical summer vacation was the family in a camper, or motorhome, or something, for six weeks, driving through the West, or Mexico, or along the East Coast. My brother and I were given machettes at age 10 or so, and told to "go play."

Dad went all over the world, and Mom sometimes went with him. Unusual was normal for us.

Flying just seemed to make sense. Heck, I was editor of Alaska Magazine!

There's no way to scan all these pictures. I might actually hire an intern to start on them. They start in 1940, or so. By 1944, Dad was shooting thousands of b/w photos. We have the negs (some are 4x5, many are 6x4.5). He was editor of several magazines, then shot for and wrote for magazines for 50 years. I've been shooting for publication since I was 13 -- 45 years ago.

BTW, that Nikon D700 is a game-changer! Stunning camera, like nothing I've ever seen.

The Luscombe (back to aviation) sure taught me a lot. If you get lazy feet, you get to repair or replace the airplane. Simple as that. Pilotage was the only way to navigate. Well, the compass was helpful, but I used the VOR only a few times. Flying 200 miles in that plane was fun, and not a problem.

It scared me only a few times -- my own doing, of course. I had 100 hours when I bought it, and flew it for 100 hours. Best $6,000 I ever spent!

I saw a beautiful 1946 Luscombe this past weekend at KCXO. I was flying with my Dad, who at 78 is working on completing the flight training he started back in 1948 (I bought a pristine 1959 Cessna 172 for him to train and fly in). He went over and looked at it and told me he had taken a couple lessons in a Luscombe in 1948. The owner of the Luscombe then walked up and told us a little about it and the differences between the different models. I really enjoyed seeing and hearing the two of them talk about flying a Luscombe. Sure would like to fly one some day.

You probably already knew this, but they are making a brand new Luscombe 8F and selling them as LSAs.

http://www.luscombe-silvaire.com/default.aspx

Man, that's a lot prettier than my old one.

And they have a radial-engine version!!