It can Happen to you..

"Everybody knows" that planes are fabulously expensive things that you must have a heck of a salary to support, right?

Except I'm working retail, on the floor, and I just bought a plane. She's a project, which is akin to a "fixer-upper" in house parlance, as her wings were taken off and disassembled to be overhauled. All the parts are there, and there are even new parts to replace the old - but I bought a jigsaw puzzle, basically, that takes power tools and patience to put back together. Oh, and I don't have the picture (blue prints, or complted wing) to look at. 

On the other hand, I just bought a plane. A plane!

She's a 1941 Taylorcraft BL12-65. When she was first turned out of the factory, she wasn't intended to last more than 5-10 years; as she's still around, like Ming vases and Papyrus Scrolls, she's become something to cherish and preserve, protect, and fully fly all I can out of her. She started life in Alliance, Ohio, when the Japanese were a distant threat over the horizon, months before Pearl Harbor, and Europe was in a war that we were refusing to enter, stating our oceans would keep the Natzi threat far way.  She now lives in Alaska, a state where the Japanese landed and occupied in that same war.

The key to putting her back in the air is persistance - steadily working a little bit each night.  So that's what I'm doing. Pictures may follow.

(After all, if I can do this, anyone can.)