I bought my 1946 Cessna 120 right after I got out of the Air
Force in 1976 or early 1977 (hard to remember exactly when). The C-120 was a
post WWII civilian airplane with very few extras we come to expect on private airplanes
today. It had no electrical system which meant no battery, no radios, no lights,
no starter, no anything except an airplane and an engine that used magnetos to
keep it running. It was also a taildragger meaning the main gear was in front of
the center of gravity and the tailwheel was way in the back. This is a critical
issue compared to modern airplanes that use a nose wheel. Tail draggers are always
trying to get the tail in front of the center of gravity, so the pilot must always
be conscious of this fact if he does not want to experience the dreaded ground
loop. Nose wheel aircraft naturally want to center the aircraft behind the nose
gear so much easier to take-off and land. A taildragger also has another
handicap in that while on the ground, the nose is much higher than a nose wheel
airplane therefore you are blind straight ahead until you start your takeoff
roll and raise the tail once you have about 40-50 mph airspeed (take off is
around 70-80 mph). This is also why tail draggers S-turn while taxing so the
pilot can look around the nose to not hit anything while on the ground. This
information is all necessary to understand this story.
I loved the C-120 and flew it all over the mid-west states
around Oklahoma where I was working for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
as an Air Traffic Controller at Burns Flat, Ok. My home was in the Tulsa area
and I would fly the C-120 home every couple of weeks to visit family and
friends. Since I had no radios, I would get bored on this 100+ mile trip (cruise
airspeed about 110 mph) and would occasionally start to get sleepy which is not
conducive to good flying safety. To keep alert, I would go down to about 100
feet above the ground and fly the whole trip running parallel to the main
highway which ran from Western Oklahoma all the way to Tulsa. I would occasionally
have to climb a little higher to pass over Okla. City, etc. but it did stop me
from falling asleep.
On one trip, I landed at a grass runway at the 81st
Street Airport in Tulsa (no longer exist) because it was an uncontrolled
airport and my taildragger loved grass over paved runways. I had some longtime
friends (Bill and Sharon) that were to meet me there to give me a ride to my folks,
but they also wanted to take a flight in my C-120. They were there as planned,
and we talked for a while before I asked if they were ready to go fly. My C-120
had only 2 seats that were side-by-side which meant they had to take turns for
the flight. Bill was to go first so he got into the right-hand seat while I
hand-propped my C-120 to get it started. This is another one of those handicaps
of an airplane with no electric starter. Engine started easily since I had just
landed a short time before. Sharon was going to stand on the left-hand side of
the runway and take pictures while I took off and made a few touch and go’s
with Bill as my co-pilot.
As I stated earlier, the taildragger is blind straight ahead
until I got the tail off the ground during take-off. I S-turned to the start of
the runway, lined up then applied full power for take-off. During our take-off
roll I kept it aligned with the runway by glancing out the side window to make
sure I was not drifting to one side. I finally pushed the wheel forward to
raise the tail and that is when I see Sharon start to run across the runway
right in front of the airplane to the other side. When I first see her, she is
directly in front of my propeller and I do not have enough airspeed to get over
her. I immediately aborted the take-off by pulling power back and started to
ease the C-120 to the left to try and miss her. Somehow, I did miss her, and I
pulled off to the side of the runway and killed the engine.
I got out of the airplane and started yelling at Sharon
saying something like “What the F___ were you doing!” She said the sun was in
her eyes on the left-hand side of the runway, so she wanted to get on the other
side to get better pictures. After calming down and explaining to them both not
to do stupid things like that again, I finally took off with Bill and did
several touch and go’s and even let him fly some.
After landing with Bill, I asked Sharon if she now wanted to
fly. I cannot remember if she had ever been in an airplane before, but I know
she had never been in a small private airplane. She finally got up enough courage
to want to go. We loaded up and I told Bill not to run across the runway like
Sharon which he just smiled. Sharon and I taxied out, lined up and started our
take-off roll. That is when I realized this might not be a good idea.
As soon as I applied full power, Sharon grabbed my right arm
with both hands and dug in her fingernails with enough force to almost break
the skin. I use my right hand to control the throttle, so this distraction was
not at all welcomed. My mistake was to continue taking off. I thought she would
let go once we were airborne, but I was wrong. The higher we went the more
pressure she applied to my arm. I tried to get her to let go but she was
freaking out by this point. I finally just made one circuit in the pattern and
landed as soon as I could. Only after we had come to a full stop did she
finally let go of my arm. You could see the deep gouges still in my arm when
she did. The funniest thing was she then said she loved it but did not want to
go up again which suited me fine.
Shortly after I bought the C-120 in late 1970’s. I paid
$3,500 for the C-120 back then but it is worth 10 times that amount now and it
is still flying somewhere out west.
Picture taken after I had painted the C-120 and was taken by
a friend, Charlie, flying formation with me in his 1947 Aeronca Chief (neither
airplane had radios). This is also the altitude I would fly between Burns Flat
and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
This is my C-120 and Charlie’s Aeronca Chief at Clinton-Sherman
Airport in Burns Flat, Oklahoma. This was a closed Strategic Air Command (SAC) Air
Force Base where I worked for the FAA. The building behind the airplanes was a
hanger used when the base was still active. A tornado lifted off some of the
roof which landed on my C-120 that took a year to repair and generated the new
paint job. That is another story that is in my blog.
