The Aerodrome Forum - View Single Post - i'm writing a book

AAC Cadet Leader · 5 November 2007, 11:06 AM

Getting the Idea

September 17, 1987, 2 p.m. written from my journal notes ~
Sitting in my motor home, currently homesteaded beneath the big, old oak tree at Orlando Country Airport in Zellwood, Florida.

I think I'll always have ambitions to fly for a living, though I dream more about it then I actually do something about it. My ears are always open for the perfect job, like the job my friend Johnnie Vincent has, skywriting and towing banners, or as Johnnie says, "draggin' rags." Or I could be a blimp pilot…or maybe I'll try again for a front seat of an airliner one day. But, what I really want to be is a barnstormer! But how can I be a barnstormer without an aeroplane?

I know, I'll get one of those old WWI $600 war-surplus Jennies. I'll fix it up, just enough to make it fly and travel the country, giving rides and thrilling all the people that go to the county fairs! Or maybe I'll fly with a flying circus! Or even start my own…yeah, that’s it - a Flying Circus! World-Famous, Death-Defying Acts! I can see it now...Flying low over the field, upside down, a dashing young man holding on to the struts of my biplane's left wings…the thrilled audience below waving at us, our silk scarves waving back.

Our magnificent troupe will travel the world, buzzing down Main Street in every town, showing the world what real fun is! New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris. Waving from the back of our parade car, Roscoe Turner on my left arm and Lucky Lindy on my right, all around us tickertape falling like snow. We'll be taken to the White House where FDR will welcome us as his honored guests... Wait a minute...

Wake up Martha! Barnstorming and the glamour days of aviation are long gone. They're history. Today, a Main Street buzz-job would cost you your pilot license and that old Jenny will cost a tad more than $600. Oh, how depressing, I was born too late...

Hey, I've got it. I'VE GOT IT!! BRAINSTORM #471: How I can fulfill my dream of becoming a barnstormer:

I'll hitchhike rides and take photographs of the pilots with their old aeroplanes to go into a book someday. That's it! And maybe I can get around the whole country doing this!

Okay, so maybe I won't be a barnstormer in the true sense of the word, but I'll fly around the country in old aeroplanes and rough it like the real barnstormers did, sleeping under the wing, going where the wind takes us and meeting good people wherever we land...yeah!

~

5 November 2007, 11:06 AM	#58 (permalink)
AAC Cadet Leader Have Goggles Will Travel! Contributor Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: california	Getting the Idea September 17, 1987, 2 p.m. written from my journal notes ~ Sitting in my motor home, currently homesteaded beneath the big, old oak tree at Orlando Country Airport in Zellwood, Florida. I think I'll always have ambitions to fly for a living, though I dream more about it then I actually do something about it. My ears are always open for the perfect job, like the job my friend Johnnie Vincent has, skywriting and towing banners, or as Johnnie says, "draggin' rags." Or I could be a blimp pilot…or maybe I'll try again for a front seat of an airliner one day. But, what I really want to be is a barnstormer! But how can I be a barnstormer without an aeroplane? I know, I'll get one of those old WWI $600 war-surplus Jennies. I'll fix it up, just enough to make it fly and travel the country, giving rides and thrilling all the people that go to the county fairs! Or maybe I'll fly with a flying circus! Or even start my own…yeah, that’s it - a Flying Circus! World-Famous, Death-Defying Acts! I can see it now...Flying low over the field, upside down, a dashing young man holding on to the struts of my biplane's left wings…the thrilled audience below waving at us, our silk scarves waving back. Our magnificent troupe will travel the world, buzzing down Main Street in every town, showing the world what real fun is! New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris. Waving from the back of our parade car, Roscoe Turner on my left arm and Lucky Lindy on my right, all around us tickertape falling like snow. We'll be taken to the White House where FDR will welcome us as his honored guests... Wait a minute... Wake up Martha! Barnstorming and the glamour days of aviation are long gone. They're history. Today, a Main Street buzz-job would cost you your pilot license and that old Jenny will cost a tad more than $600. Oh, how depressing, I was born too late... Hey, I've got it. I'VE GOT IT!! BRAINSTORM #471: How I can fulfill my dream of becoming a barnstormer: I'll hitchhike rides and take photographs of the pilots with their old aeroplanes to go into a book someday. That's it! And maybe I can get around the whole country doing this! Okay, so maybe I won't be a barnstormer in the true sense of the word, but I'll fly around the country in old aeroplanes and rough it like the real barnstormers did, sleeping under the wing, going where the wind takes us and meeting good people wherever we land...yeah! ~ Last edited by AAC Cadet Leader; 18 November 2007 at 09:58 PM.