Parallel, or Parallax - Depending on which direction you're looking at it from.

Defintion of Parallax from the not so new "The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary" (1971) par·al·lax n : the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different view points

After selling the T-craft I've been renting one of those tin can planes, a Cessna 172. Not a bad plane to rent, but after having the T for 12 years I just don't like renting. So here is my dilemma, I need a plane to fly when building the Skybolt. Rough, isn't it.... Having to look for another airplane to fly.

Anyways.. with the dilemma securely in place, I need to begin that search again. Looking for the next ride.... One of the planes I've looked hard at is the Wittman Tailwind. Love the speed with the minimal horse power. Some may think it's boxy but I love the look of it. I've seen some pretty nice looking examples of it out there. Not many of them for sale and there isn't a whole lot of information on the internet about them.

I'm not set in stone with the Tailwind. Just one of the planes high on my list for looking at.

If it came down to it, I'd be happy with a project/plane that needs to be re-skinned with a little additional work that needs to be done to bring it up to standards. A small break from the Skybolt project isn't that bad of a thing. Actually not a break... it's a matter of getting back up in the air with my own set of wings on a fast track.

A Few of the Planes that will be filling these pages.

These are in no particular order.

Fly Baby
Spezio Tu Holer
Taylorcraft
J3 Cub
Tailwind
Chilton DW-1
Luscombe
Midget Mustang
Ryan ST-R (plans were available through a company called Aero Draft out of CT.
Tailwind (see above)
Micro Mong (a sweet looking minimalist biplane - plans put out by Green Sky Adventures.)
F.8L Falco
WAR Replica (one of the half scale planes put out by WAR)

Starting off with...
Good Ol' Taylorcraft

It's hard to beat the low cost of up keep, low fuel consumption and overall good handling of this plane. On the same engine, she'll do circles around a J3.

To those of us who have oned one, they're affectionally called T, T-craft, T-cart or T-crate.

I recently sold mine (BIG mistake) after owning it for 13 years. Long story short... it got rust in the tailfeathers from sitting outside all that time. The guy who "restored" her in 1992 used a primer that didn't meld with the fabric covering system that he used. End result, actually the begining result was that every place that the fabric touched the tubing the primer disolved. Thus... corrosion in the tail-end where water tends to want to hang out for awhile. Having it out in the elements only accelerated this.

Anywho... I had some great times in her. Got my tailwheel training in her.

One of my first tailwheel landings she let me off the hook. I was getting dual in her with Ed, Sr. We headed over to Cross Keys Airport, which is just three miles down the road from Southern Cross Airport, where I kept her. Ed showed me the first landing and had me follow him through on it. He then turned it over to me.

Ok... my turn.
I pushed the throttle in and we got off the ground nice and quick (the T-craft only needs about 300 feet before she's airborne) and made it up to pattern altitude before we crossed over the far end of the 3300' runway. Down-wind to base all is OK. Flew just like a good ol' plane from the past; a lot of rudder to keep her centered. Base to final, everything is still OK. I come in over the numbers doing about 65 mph, she stalls at 35.

Throttle all the way out and I begin the flare. And, just like any normal Taylorcraft she just wanted to float and float and float down the runway. No problem, I had 3300' in front of me. OK now... bleeding the speed off, we're now down to 40-45 mph. Easing the wheel back a little bit, a little bit more, and still just a bit more, and we touch down. OK feet, do your dancing. A slight cross-wind from the left and with that big rudder we begin to turn right towards that wind. My feet begin to dance but they weren't dancing to the right beat. Ed starts to yell out right brake! right brake! right brake! And all I kept doing is, I don't remember what I kept doing, but we continued to turn to the left doing a complete 180.

By the way... that's not a picture of my T-craft after a ground-loop.

Unlike most airplanes, the T-craft comes with one set of brakes (I guess to keep costs down) and that set is on the drivers side. Ed was completely at my mercy. He was in it just for the ride at that point.

There aren't many planes that'll let a first-timer get away with doing something as stupid as that but the Taylorcraft, and it's 35 mph landing speed, kept me from doing a ground loop. I'm still one of those tail-dragger pilots that have yet to do a ground loop.

A lot of good memories in that Taylorcraft. Number one on the list of to get airplanes while I'm waiting for me to get finished building the Skybolt.