SuperCub MD
Registered User
Collins, Wisconsin
I didn't know where to post this, so here it is.
I learned today that a Super Cub Pilot has passed on. He was in his high 90's, and from what I am told, he lived a full life. He bought his A model Super Cub brand-new. Picked it up in Lockhaven and flew it home to Texas himself. He was a pilot of coarse, and also a A&P IA. He was the only one who dusted with, and flew that Cub, and the only one who ever worked on it. Finally, he got to old to fly the Cub, and the Cub was a little tattered from the years of hard work. So he gave up flying, and sold the Cub as a project. The poor Cub was restored partially by some locals, given up upon, and sat in a hanger, covered with dust, till I found her. I wanted a Super Cub, needed a Super Cub, and this was a 150 Super Cub. I didn't even glance at the little flaws, the primary structures were sound, and the engine was strong. She was bare, just the basics that she needed to fly, (no electrics, instruments that worked, interior, seats, finish paint, ect.) But the front seat frame was in, with a stick and some rudder petals, so with duct tape and foam on the seat, I started the engine and climbed in. Opening the throttle, the tail snapped up, and that Cub flew like no other. She was mine, and I brought her home, (which is a whole story in it's self, but for another time). After huge amounts of work and lots of trials and tribulations, N8172C sits in my hanger. While rebuilding Charlie, I constantly found little things the former owner had done to make her fly better. Not big things, just small "tweekings" here and there that all add up to the best Super Cub I have ever flown. I have the original Piper Logbook, and the original owners name is the only one in it - till mine, so now there are only two names in the logbook, and it is going to stay that way. People ask if my Cub is for sale - it's not. People ask what my Cub is worth - I tell them it is priceless. They shake their heads and do not understand, I guess money means a lot to most people. My regrete is that I never flew the Cub back to Texas, I was always to busy to take his Cub back to let him see her, or maybe get him back in the front seat and let him fly her... Now it's to late. The moral is, do the important things in life first. I do feel that when I hold the same stick and push the same throttle, or when working or her, come across more of those small "tweekings", I do know the man very well.
I learned today that a Super Cub Pilot has passed on. He was in his high 90's, and from what I am told, he lived a full life. He bought his A model Super Cub brand-new. Picked it up in Lockhaven and flew it home to Texas himself. He was a pilot of coarse, and also a A&P IA. He was the only one who dusted with, and flew that Cub, and the only one who ever worked on it. Finally, he got to old to fly the Cub, and the Cub was a little tattered from the years of hard work. So he gave up flying, and sold the Cub as a project. The poor Cub was restored partially by some locals, given up upon, and sat in a hanger, covered with dust, till I found her. I wanted a Super Cub, needed a Super Cub, and this was a 150 Super Cub. I didn't even glance at the little flaws, the primary structures were sound, and the engine was strong. She was bare, just the basics that she needed to fly, (no electrics, instruments that worked, interior, seats, finish paint, ect.) But the front seat frame was in, with a stick and some rudder petals, so with duct tape and foam on the seat, I started the engine and climbed in. Opening the throttle, the tail snapped up, and that Cub flew like no other. She was mine, and I brought her home, (which is a whole story in it's self, but for another time). After huge amounts of work and lots of trials and tribulations, N8172C sits in my hanger. While rebuilding Charlie, I constantly found little things the former owner had done to make her fly better. Not big things, just small "tweekings" here and there that all add up to the best Super Cub I have ever flown. I have the original Piper Logbook, and the original owners name is the only one in it - till mine, so now there are only two names in the logbook, and it is going to stay that way. People ask if my Cub is for sale - it's not. People ask what my Cub is worth - I tell them it is priceless. They shake their heads and do not understand, I guess money means a lot to most people. My regrete is that I never flew the Cub back to Texas, I was always to busy to take his Cub back to let him see her, or maybe get him back in the front seat and let him fly her... Now it's to late. The moral is, do the important things in life first. I do feel that when I hold the same stick and push the same throttle, or when working or her, come across more of those small "tweekings", I do know the man very well.
