On Saturday September 16 2017 17:05, you wrote to me:
MV>> At age 14, I was trained to help my father start the Cub. He at MV>> the prop, I at the controls.
RB> Interesting... the Cub must have been a forerunner of the Piper Colt I RB> learned to fly during my graduate school years in Boston. The Colt had RB> an electric starter.
The Piper Colt is an entirely different aircraft than the Cub. The Cub comes in different flavours, but the Cubs from the Hilversum Air Club were the first versions. It was a two seater with the pilot sitting behind the passenger. It had a tail wheel. The fusulage was welded steel tubing covered with fabric. No flaps, no spoilers, just elevator, rudder and aileron. To quickly lose height one used "slipping". Moving the rudder and ailerons in opposite directions.
No electrical instalation. No lights, no radio, no electric starter. The only thing electrical were the magnetos. The instruments were also the bare minimum. Height, air speed, compass and engine revs. The fuel indicator was a knitting needle with a cork that stuck out of the fuel tank mounted above the engine and visible through the front window. IIRC it did not even have a turn indicator. All "seat of the paints" flying.
The stick in the front seat was removable. At first they always removed it. But after I was "initiated" by operating the controls under supervision when my father cranked the prop, they always "forgot" to remove my stick. ';-)
Pity I never got around to getting a license myself...
