Mom's Log
Day 41
Thursday, July 7
California
Dave Pyeatt of Manhattan Beach, CA in a 1939 Waco UPF-7 flew to Corona and took Martha airport hopping. They stopped at Flabob Airport in Riverside, CA and met Bill Turner has been long-time refurbishing and replicating antique planes.
Roger Bailey, who wrote to Martha before her journey, was at Flabob when they arrived at 2 PM and took videos and will send Martha a Trade-A-Plane newspaper. He allowed her to use his camera to video the people she met while at Flabob Airport. It was a very unique place that seemed to be set back in time. The people at Flabob were also very interesting. Many had active antique airplanes and some flew in WWII.
Though Martha did not ask for donations, Mr. Turner offered Martha $40 toward expenses of her journey; two others then gave her $20 and $5.
They walked over to see Ray Stits at Flabob, an inventor of fabric covering for planes and plane pits, which he sells. He sent an ad to Lee Spencer’s aviation newspaper back in 1950 with a cover letter. The price then of a large display ad was $5. Martha sat with Mr. Stits at his desk and had a long conversation. He gave her $100 and said he remembered when he had a hard time getting started.
Met 4 or 5 more people and a man who is building a replica early 20’s or late teens of an Eagle Rock.
Dave then flew Martha to Long Beach Airport and they met Brian Launder in his 1941 Stearman. Martha took picture of Brian and Dave shaking hands. It was 5:30 and getting late and Martha wanted to see more airports in the area. Brian Launder flies a corporate plane, Cessna Citation. Long Beach Airport is very busy. They were the only antique planes in line and they were 8th and 9th for take-off.
Martha flew with Brian and took picture of Dave in his Waco with the Queen Mary and The Spruce Goose’s hangar in the background over the Long Beach Harbor. Dave then landed at Torrance Field in Torrance, CA and Martha and Brian circled the Goodyear Blimp and took a picture of a man waving from it. They flew over the beach and the industrial shipping channels and landed at Torrance Field, where they met six more people with Stearmans, etc. Dave Pyeatt knew them. M met a man (Harry Harlot?) who has an exquisite hangar with one of the first Stearmans ever built, different looking than others. He had a big box of WWII pilot helmets and gave Martha a soda and a WWI helmet with gosport holes (very rare) - megaphone type system for sound to travel from instructor to the student sitting in front of a “two-holer” (two open cockpits).
Went to another hangar where there were long-time fliers. Saw a 1928 Travelair and a Spitfire car that belongs to Dick [Smith]. Brian left for Long Beach and Dave took Martha to Manhattan Beach where she stayed overnight in a guestroom overlooking the ocean. Dave and Martha and his 6’7” very humorous roommate ate pizza and watched TV.