My Oshkosh trip

Incidentally, the Taylorcraft Factory in earlier days (and smaller) was the Alliance Argo factory.

At Alliance I traded the TCraft for one of Frank Pavliga's Pietenpols, the original 1934 one we call "The Rudolph Piet" or "Allen's airplane", because it was owned by Allen Rudolph of Juneau, Wisconsin, from 1940 to 1990.

Then it was off to Packer Airport in Radnor, OH, and then to Jim Hammond's strip near Dayton.  On Tuesday we did a fly-in at Hagarstown, IN, one of the longest grass strips in the US, and on Wednesday we spent the whole day watching the rain come down

On Thursday we went to the farm we visit every year, www.barnstormingmovie.com

This year we had a nice collection of vintage types

But the mag mount had cracked on the Model A engine on the Piet, so we pulled it under a nice shade tree, hoisted the engine with a come-a-long, took the offending part to a local tig welder, and had it flying again a few hours later

and

The next day, up at dawn

And on towards Wisconsin and the PIetenpol fly-in at Brodhead.  But fate had other ideas, and the crankshaft broke on the Model A at 1,000 feet just north of Momence, IL  Fortunately there was a suitable bean field near by

Frank and the guys came and got me a rental car, and we spent the night on the floor of the airport office in Joliet with a bunch of other Wisconsin bound pilots.  Next morning I rode to Brodhead with Paul Workman in his Vagabond, then Frank borrowed a Chevy Tahoe and trailer from Ted Davis, and four of us drove back to the bean field and took the Piet apart.  With the help of a friendly local named Harold Schriefer we got it packed in the trailer and were back in Brodhead at 3:30 AM.

Not much sleep, unloaded the Piet, and took the Chevy to Oshkosh

Flew the 'giro a bit at Oshkosh, and had a good time,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4vLyc2MZdM

For the trip home I rode with Jim in his Stinson, flew one leg in it, flew Steve's Fairchild 22 for one leg, RONed in Dayton, rode wth Jim in his C-185 to Alliance, and took the old Taylorcraft back to Virginia.

And a good time was had by all...

That's a good story! It might be worth writing down in more detail. A magazine could be interested.

A great stroy and some good pics.  I like the 'can do' and 'never say die' attitude it displayed.