Gentlemen, and any ladies out there in stunt land, a moment of silence is in order if you please.................OK now that that is over let me testify. Late this evening I was at my favorite flying site. It is over grass with black dirt so common here in north Texas. I was enjoying doing the pattern with a profile Oriental that Dale Gleason had given me this past spring after VSC. It had been hanging in Mike's hobby shop in far north Dallas located on I-35 E for quite a while. Not that I don't have several other great stunt planes available in my own hobby land but who is going to turn down a freebee? Anyway this ship is a slow turner on the inside maneuvers. As you can imagine this can be hazardous in the vertical 8s and hour glass. On the second vertical 8 the plane did not clear the turf. The plane itself is very repairable with adding in some new motor mounts. But the LA .40 with low hours on it is toast. The opposite side of the exhaust engine mounting lugs were sheared off. I have cleaned and disassembled the engine and bagged it. I have plenty more engines. But don't you just hate it when you break an engine? I broke my first engine in the spring of 1968 in Long Bi en Army base camp in Vietnam. The little .19 quit in the overhead 8 and came in breaking off the cylinder from the block. The ground there was a helicopter landing pad and had been oiled down to keep the dust down. The left the dirt hard as concrete. I felt really bad as the plane belonged to a fellow soldier. He was not too upset since he had only given about $5 for it from another trooper returning home from his hitch. I certainly do not mind losing planes for that is a given but engines. Oh how hard that is to take.
Comments anyone...................Jerry
Topic: A moment of silence please for a late great LA .40 (Read 4160 times)