Pietenpol-List: meeting owners
Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:43 pm
Original Posted By: Tim Verthein
My name is Marshall Lumsden and I'd like to meet with some Pietenpol owners in the Southern California area where I live. I am a freelance writer who has done some articles for Smithsonian Air & Space magazine. I've suggested an article on the Pietenpol and they'd like to move ahead with it. I'm also interested in hearing about any planned get-togethers or fly-ins anywhere in the country in the next six months. My own background includes time as a WWII pilot (P-40s in N. Africa and Italy and time in P-39s and P--47s among other antiques. That was a time when "tail draggers" were known as "conventional landing gear.") My interest is rooted in my early days on the farm in Michigan where a neighbor built a Pietenpol from scratch from mail-order plans. He taught himself to fly it by first building the wings and empennage onto a two-dimensional truss to make a glider, adding controls and a cultivator seat, and getting a friend to tow him aloft. Truly a remarkable achievement, I think you'll agree. WWII grounded his Pietenpol for good, but he continued to fly over central Michigan's flat farm landscape in a store-bought Funk -- without a pilots license -- for the rest of his long life. The vitality of the Pietenpol community today shows what an amazing slice of American aviation history this aircraft represents. I look forward to hearing from you. ________________________________________________________________________________Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 11:49:25 -0800 (PST)
My name is Marshall Lumsden and I'd like to meet with some Pietenpol owners in the Southern California area where I live. I am a freelance writer who has done some articles for Smithsonian Air & Space magazine. I've suggested an article on the Pietenpol and they'd like to move ahead with it. I'm also interested in hearing about any planned get-togethers or fly-ins anywhere in the country in the next six months. My own background includes time as a WWII pilot (P-40s in N. Africa and Italy and time in P-39s and P--47s among other antiques. That was a time when "tail draggers" were known as "conventional landing gear.") My interest is rooted in my early days on the farm in Michigan where a neighbor built a Pietenpol from scratch from mail-order plans. He taught himself to fly it by first building the wings and empennage onto a two-dimensional truss to make a glider, adding controls and a cultivator seat, and getting a friend to tow him aloft. Truly a remarkable achievement, I think you'll agree. WWII grounded his Pietenpol for good, but he continued to fly over central Michigan's flat farm landscape in a store-bought Funk -- without a pilots license -- for the rest of his long life. The vitality of the Pietenpol community today shows what an amazing slice of American aviation history this aircraft represents. I look forward to hearing from you. ________________________________________________________________________________Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 11:49:25 -0800 (PST)