It was a crisp Tuesday morning in early July, the second I think, 1963 and I was on summer vacation (doing summer school most mornings) when I removed the sum of twenty dollars from my savings account...a grand total of fifty or sixty dollars from my after school job delivering the old Evening Bulletin...and bicycled the 25 kilometers from my home in Philadelphia to Turner's Field, now closed, very near the Willow Grove Naval Air Station in Prospectville, PA. It was a long, hot ride through pleasant countryside, with the occasional fright of being chased by an unfriendly dog.

I arrived at Turner's Field at about noon. Instructors Ike Blair and Jim Frankenfield were lounging around the living room/office in the white farmhouse. The airplane I was to get my first lesson in was a chocolate brown and cream 1946 Aeronca 7AC Champion, N83618, equipped with a 65 hp Continental engine and big funny splashguards above its balloon tires.

TO BE CONTINUED Back to Aeronautical Index Back to Homepage