2. Airplanes

Aircraft I Have Met

This is a collection of photos of every type of aircraft I've ever taken, or at least every one I can lay my hands on. I admit, some of the scans were pretty bad, the photos themselves suffering from being 30 years old and/or printed on textured paper, or due to the fact that I used to process my own black-and-white negatives and wasn't very accurate. My goal is to replace or add to the scanned photos with new digital images of the same type aircraft someday. I've tried to be as complete as possible with the aircraft model numbers, and manufacture or order dates (where available) are in brackets afterwards to give you a general idea of their age. Aircraft serial numbers, bureau numbers, N-numbers, etc. (if known) come after the dates. Aircraft names in quotation marks are the unofficial nicknames given to the planes by the pilots who flew them, not the official names given to them by their manufacturers.

Okay, it's time to take off and get on with the show. Happy Landings!
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  • Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 replica [1980] N928

    Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 replica [1980] N928

    Owls Head Transportation Museum, Rockland, Maine - July 2005

  • Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 replica [1980] N928

    Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 replica [1980] N928

    Owls Head Transportation Museum, Rockland, Maine - July 2005

  • Aero C-104 Jungmann [1948] N707S (was OK-BIF)

    Aero C-104 Jungmann [1948] N707S (was OK-BIF)

    Santa Paula Airport, Santa Paula, California - December 1975 This airplane is a license-built Czechoslovakian version of the Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann, a 1930s German training plane often referred to as "the plane that trained the Luftwaffe," although this plane was never in the military. At the time this photo was taken, it was owned and flown in aerobatic exhibitions all over the country by none other than Mira Slovak, the pilot of the Bell P-39 Mr. Mennen. (Photos of the Mr. Mennen photo shoot will appear later in this gallery.) The cowling seen here is a non-standard cowling, as this one is designed to cover a 225-hp Lycoming engine, which replaced the original Walter Minor 4-III engine. (By the way, that isn't a painting error on his plane's side -- that way you can read his name when he flies by inverted.) The lion crest seen on the tail is Mira's salute to his home country, Czechoslovakia, from which he escaped in the 1950s by flying an airliner from Prague to Frankfurt, West Germany. He was granted political asylum in the United States in December of 1953, and went on to fly race planes and drive hydroplanes throughout the 50s and 60s, the most notable being the hydroplane Tahoe Miss, the last hydroplane he ever drove in competition. If you ever want to see one of these planes being put through its paces, check out the movie The Great Waldo Pepper.

  • Aero Commander 100-180 Lark Commander [1969] N4019X

    Aero Commander 100-180 Lark Commander [1969] N4019X

    Casparis Airport, Alpine, Texas - August 2010 The Aero Commander 100 was produced in the 1960s, the various models of which were known as the Darter Commander and Lark Commander. Originally designed by Volaircraft, the firm marketed the original three-seat version as the Volaire 1035 and produced a four-seat version with a more powerful engine called the Volaire 1050, before North American Rockwell purchased all rights to the design in 1965 for production by its Aero Commander division. The vertical stabilizers on earlier models of the Aero Commander 100 had straight leading edges, much like Mooney aircraft. In 1967, North American Rockwell introduced the improved 100-180 Lark Commander, which had a more powerful 180-hp engine, a swept-back vertical stabilizer, reprofiled cowling, and a 200-lb increase in maximum takeoff weight. The Darter Commander version continued in production until 1969 and the revised Lark Commander continued until 1971, by which time Rockwell had dropped the Aero Commander brand name. Attempting to compete with the Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee, Rockwell found the light aircraft market too competitive for its liking, and sold the rights to all versions of the aircraft to Phoenix Aircraft in 1971, who never undertook production.

  • Aero Commander 500A [1962] N95AR

    Aero Commander 500A [1962] N95AR

    Casparis Airport, Alpine, Texas - April 2009 The FAA Registry has this airplane listed as a 500A, but the lettering under the cockpit windows states it's a 500S, probably since this aircraft has undergone modifications to make it a Shrike version. According to information from one Bobby Nunnally: "This aircraft was purchased new by the Mayfield Dairy in Tennessee, when the father of that company turned it over to his son. The son wanted a jet, though, so the Commander was put on the market. The company I flew for bought it and had it renovated inside and out -- new paint, new engines, new glass, air conditioning added, radar, and wool carpet. A GPS and new fuel bladders were added, also, after we had a rupture over Charlotte, North Carolina. The N-number was changed to N95AR when all these modifications were done. The Shrike conversion was done in part, but I think we could have done more. The company doing the conversion was Awbrey & Richey, Inc, started in 1995, thus the number N95AR. Mr Awbrey came up with the paint scheme. It really fit the bird well. It was a good aircraft and I hated to see her go, but the company and the boss retired, so they sold her." Thank you, Bobby! Aero Commander N95AR is currently registered to Mountain Air, LLC out of Marion, Indiana. In the late 1960s, I got to see Bob Hoover perform his "Energy Management" precision flight demonstrat