It's Just Nostalgia

Airplanes

When I first fell in love with airplanes, I have no idea, but the idea of flying has always appealed to me. In attended grade school with Bob Norman and Bruce and Jim Merizan. These three boys had fathers who were Boeing engineers and it seemed that all we talked about was airplanes. I think it was in 1954 or was it 55 or 6? My memory is failing me again, like it does so often, but Russell Merizan was taking his boys to the hydro races on lake Washington. Mrs. Merizan called my mother on Saturday night and asked if I'd like to go with them. You better believe I would! That meant getting up early Sunday morning because Mr. Merizan wanted to be on the bridge by 7 o'clock. That meant getting up 5 so I'd have time to get to their place and then it was still an hours drive from there to Lake Washington.

We parked on the East end of the floating bridge and took our lunches and coolers and what-not with us and walked down toward the West end. We were still early enough and we found a spot on the wall where we could all sit. It seems like the first heat didn't begin until about 11 or so that morning, but being right on the North turn meant being there early! Those big thunder-boats were something else to watch. With their Allison engines thundering they'd come straight up the course and turn right in front of us. The years have erased some of the memory of that day, like I don't remember whether there was 2 or 3 heats, but the thing I do remember well, was sitting there looking south when the spanking new -80 came in low above Seward Park. The flaps and gear were down and it was flying slow, but as it came across the race course, ole Tex Johnson, Boeing's chief pilot pull up the flaps and gear and applied the power. With that he set the plane into a climb like we'd never seen with commercial craft before and then did a slow roll. They tell me he rolled it twice. I honestly don't remember. But I'll never forget that roll.

The years went by, Bob Norman and I got hooked up again later, after we'd both married and we went into the drywall business together. We were finishing the walls on a house near the airport in Enumclaw and one day there was a lot of activity, aircraft shooting take-offs and landings. We got to talking, then we'd had a guy working for us who was taking lessons and he talked nothing but airplanes. Finally we couldn't resist any longer, and we started looking for an airplane to buy. We settled on a '47 Cessna 120. N77437. We bought it at the Port Orchard airport and it was delivered to us at the old Kent strip. Gas was high priced back then,about 40 cents a gallon. Auto gas ran about 27 to 30 cents. But that little 120 burned about 4 and a half or 5 gallons per hour. Bob soloed out in about 10 hours but even after 15 hours I still hadn't gotten the concept of stall landing on that little spighetti strip. Finally my instructor took me up to Thun Field on South Hill and when we came back that day I could land. One more practice session at Thun and he soloed me! Was that ever nice to get the instructor out of there. Now I didn't have to do stalls and tight turns and so forth and was able to keep my lunch down. Flying was really fun!

But all good things must come to and end, it seems and Bob and I just didn't have enough work to keep up the payments, tie-downs, and annuals. Finally we had to sell it, or trade it, or whatever it was we did. Anyway, I've always wondered what finally happened to N77437. It's not registered any more. I've lost 13 friends in airplane accidents. Most of those 13 were close friends too. So, like the motorcycles in my life, I chose self-preservation instead on continuing on with a sport that seemed life threatening.

But airplanes still fascinate me and I do enjoy the ease of airline travel. I've collected a few pictures that are available in 12"x18" prints. I'll be around the Western Wasington this summer at festivals and flea markets with them. Stop by and see me. My plan is to be in Packwood for both Memorial and Labor Day. Hopefully I be in Enumclaw and Kent and Puyallup too. If there's anything we could share contact me at HQPress@att.net. See ya! Steve