Hangar Sweepings

After Charles Lindbergh made his historic nonstop flight from New York to Paris, the whole country went "air crazy." All the fashionable young women wore cloche hats with simulated goggles and danced the Lindy Hop. My mom was one of them. The following year, when I was three, we stood in front yard and cheered when "Lindy" flew over in the Spirit of St. Louis in the front seat of Curtis "Jenny." I never got over it. My dad only flew once in his life, with me after I got a private license. It was a trust thing. He sat in the back seat of Cub, rigid as a board the whole time. These stories all first appeared in the Carolina Unicom, which is the monthly newsletter of the EAA Chapter 1083 based at the Rowan County Airport in Salisbury, North Carolina. The stories were gleaned from my days as a "ramp rat" at the airport and twenty-two years as a photo interpreter in the air force. The pencil sketches were made by my youngest son, Curtis. Some of the photos were made by me; the others were made by my old friend, G.C. "Luke" Teeter, John Suther, Jim Torrence, and Smith Kirk.