(November 2011) In November 1954, having accumulated a bit more than 26 solo hours flying 65 hp Cubs and Aeroncas, and having become an aircraft owner several months before, I was supremely confident in my flying abilities. Nevertheless I deferred to my medical school classmate, Ed, a veteran, older by 10 years than most others in the class and, most impressively, a former B-29 pilot; this latter accomplishment was gained in the last year of the war but did not require dangerous duty, that is until his last mission as a civilian pilot.
The airplane of which I was part owner was a 1939 Taylorcraft, having 40 rather tentative horsepower, miraculously achieved with a single magneto and carried aloft on fabric wings of uncertain lineage. Though I was proud of this purchase, the siren call of more horsepower (65), all metal construction and greater speed led my airplane partner (another classmate and student pilot) and me to a 1946 Luscombe 8A obtained with a cash outlay of $475 each.
