It was nearly May before spring arrived this year in the Ohio Valley, and then it seemed like forever until the grass strips dried out from weeks of rain and I declared victory in a fierce battle with some miserable bug. But eventually all the stars aligned — the weather, the runways and my snotty nose — and I dragged N3513N, my Cub, out of its “new” T-hangar to go flying. It had been living in one of three large hangars built at Lunken Airport in 1927 for the new Embry-Riddle Co. While I was glad it was under roof, a Cub in a common hangar with people pushing it around is a recipe for disaster; so it was good news when a T-hangar became available on the south line. The bad news was that the “sliding” doors in this row of hangars, built in the 1940s or ’50s, were even more cantankerous than they were when I learned to fly there in 1962.
In the ’70s my Pietenpol Air Camper was in this very same hangar and I don’t remember the doors being an issue, but then there’s 50 years’ worth of wear on both the doors and me! We cleaned the tracks and smeared serious grease to free them up, but they’re worn and warped and literally a pain in the back. I’ve always thought that every airport needs an elephant. Think about having one of these gentle giants to shove hangar doors, push flying machines around, lift disabled airplanes, snuffle up foreign object debris (FOD) from the runways and jack up an airplane to change a wheel or a tire.
