[snip]
attached is a favorite old photo of the late Jack Leffler, who was not only an airline pilot and a master display model maker but Jack was also responsible for finding and flying that old Boeing 247 aircraft that was left to rot in Alaska...
Performed a quickeee patch job and then bravely flew it down to Seattle with the gears locked in the down position...
with a bare minimummmmmm' amount of fuel...
and after much smooooze and gather of $$$$ from the rich folks of aviation, managed to live long enough to see that beautiful old Boeing airliner fully restored to live again.
Here he is holding one of his favorite display model.
Waaay back in 1970....
Jack Leffler was neighbor of mine when we lived in DesMoines. He heard me breaking in one of my old engines in the backyard and within minutes...he and his family after that, were long time friends until he passed this life all too soon.
Even put a good word into Boeing for me...when I bailed out of the photo processing industry.
Wow, Schultzie. This is just too wierd!
When I was a tiny guy (pre kindergarten) Jack Leffler and my Dad bought several war surplus PT-26s together in the crates hoping to assemble them and get rich selling them off. The assembly part worked out but the "getting rich" part wasn't quite as successful. My Dad kept one of them (all silver with the red nose and stripe down the side) which we all called "Red Nose" for the obvious reasons. Big brother Gary and I flew most of our early childhood hours strapped together in the back seat with the sliding canopy closed (for obvious reasons) although Dad often kept his open for ventilation.
Later, when my Dad bought the old Smith Aviation on the Renton airport and renamed it Renton Aviation Jack eventually brought his Bonanza (IIRC) and rented a hangar to keep it in from my Dad. Jack (an incredible and incurable raconteur and story teller) spent endless days sitting around R.A. entertaining folks when he wasn't out flying the Bonanza or an airliner for UAL.
I do have to argue just a bit about the B-247's origins. My recollection is that he flew down to Bakersfield, CA where the airplane had been "aging" in a field after a stretch as a crop duster in the valley. You are absolutely correct about the gear being welded in place. In addition, the tail wheel wouldn't swivel (don't remember exactly why whether it had been welded or was just rusted together). The cool part of the story was that he flew the ship from Bakersfield to the Renton Airport where he wheel landed, kept the speed up enough to keep the tail in the air and taxied to the ramp in front of Renton Aviation where he gunned the right engine, stood on the left brake, twirled it around and set the tail down neat as a pin! (told you he was a character...and a showboat!) I think this had to have been around 1960 or so because Shareen remembers being there when he came in and we had started dating when I was a Junior in High School. It was, as you can imagine, a big event and there was quite a crowd around to witness Dave's "showmanship".
The coolest part for this kid was that when Jack flew the 247 over to Boeing Field I got to ride along and actually "flew it' for about 30 seconds as did a number of other intrepid tag-a-longers. What a kick that was. For those that don't know, that airplane is now a prime exhibit (better than new) at the Boeing Museum on KBFI. (Although I vaguely recall somebody mentioning it had an accident of some sort at one time. I'm unsure if it is still on display?
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Jack and my Dad also did some fun airshow flying together during some of the annual Renton Chamber of Commerce type celebrations that happened every year. I remember my Dad always had all the new model Cessnas on display and even taxied them down Rainier Ave. one year to display them in downtown Renton. I remember he and Jack did the "drunken non-pilot" (Dad) steals a cub and takes off with it while the guy that flew the Cub in (Jack) took off after him in another plane (probably another Cub) and they chased each other around the field doing crazy stuff as they played their way down the runway" bit. Always a big hit!
When I started flying for United Shareen and I quickly moved down to San Fran and I didn't see as much of Jack any more. He did start flying 747s out of SF late in his career and we would occasionally get together in ops and reminisce about the fun years in the Northwest. When Jack retired from United he was #1 on the pilot seniority list and beloved by every pilot that ever flew with him. That's a pretty rare accomplishment for a guy with the proverbial "Captain born with the silver spoon in his mouth" weight to carry on his shoulders.
One last Jack item. He was also an avid photographer and took and published some of the most dramatic and widely disseminated airborne pictures of Mount St. Helens erupting. By that time my Dad was retired from fllying, living near Ellensburg and raising and showing cutting horses. Little did Jack know that some of the picttures he took which included Yakima could have shown my father struggling through falling ash trying to "get outta town" while the getting was good.
Sorry to run off at the mouth. That picture of Jack just started the mental kine scope running in my head. Lots of wonderful airplane memories.
Ted
p.s. I assume you meant you lived by Jack in Des Moines, WA; not Iowa. Right?
Topic: Old modeling photos (Read 16114 times)