Showing posts with label Mark. Show all posts

When Mark 1st started talking about getting a plane he started taking flying lessons from Paul Clark. He also immediately started trying to convince Dad that it would be such an economical time saver and they could "dash" out to the Red Flat and irrigate then run to the Lockhart place and fix all the fences and still be back before milking time everyday.

Dad wasn't that easy to convince and doubted that you could fly to the Lockhart Place, land at the strip up on the hill and walk down to the house in less time than you could drive to the ranch. Mark was anxious to prove it so the race was on.

Mark had to drive to Paul's house to pick him up then drive to the Cowley Airport to get Paul's plane, I think it was a two passenger Piper Cub.

Dad and I left home at the same time Mark left. Dad was going to win the race! He went over every hill we came to. On most of the hills the road just went around them and it would have been shorter to stay on the road but Dad would go over the hill every time. I believe we were in the Scout and, if the hill was too steep, gas wouldn't feed into the carburetor so the motor would die. That meant we had to back down the hill. Each time we backed down the hill that opened up a new challenge and he was sure he just didn't get a big enough run at the hill so he'd go back up the hill faster than the time before and would bounce over the lip of the hill and dive down the other side.

Dad dominated and we got there probably 15 minutes before Mark got there so Dad couldn't resist going to the landing strip and waiting for them.

After we ate lunch, Paul took each of us up in his plane and around the mountainside, landing in the tire tracks or out on the prairie to change passengers. It was a fun day and we really felt Mark's love for flying that day.