It never crossed my mind, or my brother's, that we had to "LEARN" to fly! We received a Cox P-51 and Cox Stuka, after some sincere promises were made to our Mom, about how well we would help around the house, not fight with each other, and generally wear our little halos with pride, if she bought us the pair of planes.
Each box was complete with everything we needed to start and begin our flying carrer. We had already built plastic model planes, Centuri and Estes rockets, but WOW! here are real planes with engines, you can REALLY FLY! I was 9 or 10 years old, he was a year-and-a-half older. We weren't messing this up! Read and re-read the instructions for assembly and starting a thousand times, Figured-out how to wrap the string around the peg on the handle, to trim the elevator to neutral. Mostly, that flying starts at your elbow, not one's wrist.
Mom drove us to the school parking lot, that was about 3 blocks away, and helped us fuel and try to start the engines. Sputter, no run. She was a real enthusiast for us, though, and let us decide that it was time to call it a day. We get home, unload the car, and talk to some neighbor kids. Then she comes running through the front door, with my Mustang in her hand, and the thing is screaming full blast! She didn't give up, and was working on it in the dining room, and managed to get it running! Oh Boy, now we are PILOTS! I think it was too dark to resume activities that evening at the school. The next time at the school, I performed the classic PPC- Plastic Plane Crash- Launch, Straight up, and Straight down. Hmmm, no feel of flight, or an airplane at the end of the lines. Minor damage, if any but we decided to not fly Roger's Stuka, anyway. Hey, we have the engines figured out!.
So, now a research project began, and I checked-out a book from that school, which was all about building model airplanes from balsa wood. Now, I become the REAL compliant son, as now I have to convience Mom that I can be an even better kid, when she buys me the list of lumber and Dope that this new wooden plane needs, and mostly... A NEW COX BABE BEE .049 ENGINE, with integral fuel tank. What a cool score! Get this built, and fly it! A few thick planks of wood, deftly shaped by an eager kid, modified the nose of the plane, to accept this new, fuel tank-type engine. Bend the wire for the landing gear, and then remove it for hand launches-over the grass-according to the book! We learned the starting procedure, Roger learned to launch, and it all came together in one afternoon that we actually became pilots on the same day! That flying was going around in circles, now, I'm trying to learn how to get around the circle with some style, and stunts. This story began in 1972, or 1973, and has just started, again. I'm building new airplanes for us to become profiecient with, because flying is so fun!