JT Hammer

Ok then, lets get back to the story!

When I left writing above, my brother and I were left wondering what happened when Gramma went to fetch the Falcon. Several minutes had passed, and still no response on the radio. Was she able to retrieve the airplane? Had she slipped off the edge of the sandbar into deep water,...perish the thought. Was the model in pieces? All of these scenarios raced through our minds as we sat waiting, now mostly in silence. Ten minutes or more probably passed when the static on our W.T. was interrupted by another sound, that of someone pushing the 'talk' key on the other unit. Her crackly voice followed, "I got your airplane Honey; I put it safe and sound in the punt." At that point Ron and I would have been doing 'high fives', but at that point in history I don't believe they had been invented! Our thoughts quickly returned to the state of our Grandfather. Ask her if she found the pills. He quickly did so, worried that the signal would be strong enough. Gramma's answer came back surprisingly clear this time,"You bet I got em; but they were sure wrapped up tight. I already had Narman swallow the one and he's holding the little one under his tongue." What a relief, at least this part of the mission had succeeded against incredible odds!

By now it was well past 4pm. While still quite windy, the squall had passed and conditions were improving to the point where my brother thought he could use the small dingy to get to the 'spit'. However, the waves were still cresting, so rowing would not be advised. For this reason we decided put the small three and a half hsp Evinrude on the back. It was kept on hand for use on this tiny craft. So in less than 15 minutes Ron had that little engine screwed on the back, and was set to go. The W. T. was left with me. Because of the on-coming waves, he some trouble pushing the dingy out, jumping in and starting the outboard. After a few futile attempts, this was accomplished. His heading was directly into the waves and this was good. As I watched him sputter away in a cloud of two-stroke smoke I noticed how this small craft rode the waves like a cork in a bouncy up an down fashion. This trip in it'self would have been an interesting experience.

It didn't take long at all for brother Ron to make it to the island. He used the WT. there to confirm he was there. Those little radios continued to operate through this whole adventure! The plan was to leave the dingy there and transport our Grandparents back in the punt. This was accomplished with only a little difficulty. Grandpa, although, shaky and terribly weak, made it into the punt with help from Gramma and Ron.

I didn't have to wait long before I heard the sound of the Mercury outboard, and soon the trio off them were at our shore. Coincidentiy, at just about the same time, I was happy to hear the distant throb of the big engine in my Father's fishing tug. After a day of fishing out in the lake, she would be soon coming around the Point and into the harbor. Fortunately, the tug was designed to handle squalls such as the one we just experienced. I must admit, my heart leaped a bit when I saw my faithful Falcon laying upside down in the bottom of the punt. She did indeed appear to be in one piece! According to Gramma, she waded through the cattails up to her thighs, where she found my airplane, upside down, on an angle with the engine submerged. Apparently, when hitting the cattail bed she flipped and was then snagged. This happy event prevented her from being blown away out into the 'Reach'. Upon closer examination of my bird, I discovered the canopy had departed and was long gone. I never liked it much anyway; it got in the way of strapping the wing on with rubber bands. Very little water had made it inside, and the receiver had already been put in a plastic bag. the engine would be fine after a thorough drying and rinsing with fresh fuel.

It didn't take long to get Florence and Narman out of boat and into my Dad's half ton truck. My brother drove them straight into town (Picton), a distance of about 20 miles, and to hospital. The attending physician did some preliminary assessment and ordered some diagnostic testing. It turns out that Grampa had a severe angina attack and quite possibly a mild heart attack. When Ron explained how we got the meds to him, he simply said, 'That was bloody brilliant!" He must have been English! He went on to say that without the medications, the story could easily have ended on a sadder note! Gramma was a tough old bird, but as soon as he could, Ron drove her home to get dry clothing, etc. Grampa remained a guest at the hospital for a few days. He remained somewhat fragile but lived for a couple of more years. He enjoyed many good days, even a few back at the cottage.

I WILL TRY FINISH THE STORY NEXT TIME - PERHAPS EVEN INCLUDE A PHOTO OF THE ACTUAL SENIOR FALCON.

JT Hammer

I didn't have the heart to reinstall the Gee Bee floats. Besides they just didn't look right. Instead, I put the wheels back on, and took her home that way. Back in my workshop where my building took place I considered what to do. In the end I opted to suspend my Falcon at a pleasing angle, from the ceiling of my workshop. Perhaps I felt she deserved retirement, or maybe I was turning her into a 'Sacred Cow"! It was pleasant, however, to catch the odd glimpse of her, and be reminded of the adventure we shared!

I WILL CONTINUE LATER

JT Hammer

Three years after the above ! had the urge to bring my Senior Falcon out of retirement. It was 1973. It didn't take a lot of effort to get her flight ready. The covering required a little tightening up.The battery pack for the receiver was replaced, and the engine got re-lubed and turned over a few times. That was it; she was good to go! We still had access to the Mohawk runway, so that's where we headed. In no time Leo, my flying buddy and I had the Falcon set up. We topped up the faithful Webra with the same old home brew that I knew she loved.

After a long sabbatical the engine started after only a few flips of the propeller. Due to the extra lub that had been applied for storage, the Webra huffed and puffed and blew a tremendous amount of smoke. This only lasted a few seconds. After that she smoothed out and sounded like she always had in the past.

The take off was perfect and I kept the flight gentle. The landing was anti-climatic, and I was happy! On that day I chose to have one flight only. I just wanted to savor that one. I will try to attach a photo that was taken on that very day. Much later my beloved Senior Falcon succumbed to fate when an elevator clevis failed at the bottom of an outside loop! I don't want to dwell on that.

I still like to get out to the flying field these days. One of the attached photos is of your's truly and my Great Planes P-51 Fun Fighter. I've included one for 'ski-lark flier' as well! Do you remember my Debolt Champ and the build thread I did in 2011?

Well that's the end of my story. I know it sounds incredible (like I said at the beginning).In fact re-reading it myself, it sounds like a 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' scenerio! If that's the way you regard it you will still have to choose!

Hope you enjoyed.......JT

Russmall

JT,
That was a really good story by an excellent story teller! I totally related to your early flying experience with the Senior Falcon. Though I never had a Senior Falcon, I had several similar birds such as the Midwest Sky Squire, Sterling Fledgling and the RCM Trainer. Thanks for sharing your story and the trip down memory lane........RS

grotto2

My Feedback: (2)

A great read, JT!
Thanks!!!

skylark-flier

JT, not only remember your Champ - I'm still subscribed to the build AND maiden threads. Geez man, have you ever considered sending this story to Reader's Digest? I can think of a couple other venues that would probably love to print it too - - AMA's Model Aviation magazine and the VRCS newsletter would probably both pick it up - this is too good NOT to spread far and wide. Russmall's absolutely right - you're a great story-teller, whether you know it or not.

Two winters ago my own Sr Falcon got a rebuild of the nose section. Built in 1974, back in the late '70s she had a "less than stellar" landing and the nose section was damaged. Being a "flyer", I did quick repairs and had her back in the air the next weekend - and she's been flying that way ever since, until late-fall 2015 when the entire firewall/engine area simply broke loose and forced the rebuild.

Attached a few pics of how she was in 1974, what she's looked like for the past 40+ years, what the damage looked like in the shop, old & new firewall, and her new nose today:

skylark-flier

Shoot! Forgot the old/new firewall. It WAS a mess:

JT Hammer

Thanks for those words guys; it made the effort worthwhile! sky-lark flier. You did a wonderful job on your Falcon. Well done, indeed. she looks good to go for a lot more years!..........jt

skylark-flier

Oh yeah, she's already got over 100 flights since the rebuild. Biggest problem, at first, was landing her. With the old blunt nose there was a fair amount of drag and she slowed and settled in rather nicely. With the new nose there's a whole bunch less drag and my initial landings overshot on several occasions due to excess speed on approach.

Anyway, definitely think about submitting your story to at least one of the venues - it's too good (and well written) to just be here.

JT Hammer

Wouldn't have thought it would make that big of a difference; huh! Maybe the runway shrunk!....JT

Joe Nagy

My Feedback: (3)

Hi JT:

I very much enjoyed your story, and looked forward to each installment, and agree with the comments above, that you could submit the article for commercial publication. Many thanx for a great read,best regards from Wickenburg, Arizona,

Joe Nagy.

JT Hammer

Thanks Joe. I enjoyed writing this thing off the top of my head. When I read it back I was struck with how bad some of the sentence structure and grammar was, especially punctuation. I'm afraid I'd have my work cut out for me if I ever tried to publish it!

By the way, I know I have seen your name someplace, probably more than once. Are you written up, or better yet, famous in the world of modeldom!?

JT (Terry)

Joe Nagy

My Feedback: (3)

Hi JT;

I was born and raised in Southern Ontario, tobacco farm country, and moved to Arizona the summer of 1980. My Brother Steve and I were active Sport and Pylon Racing fliers during the 70s, racing with primarily the UPRC [United Pylon Racing Curciut], out of Buffalo, NY. Hal deBolt, Dave Gierke, Kent Landefelt and many other great fliers were part of this group. I really was not a great flier, my Brother was though, I was more of the 'agony of defeat' type, but loved the hobby then, and even more so now. So, possibly our paths may have crossed; my Brother still lives up there and still flies. Great a'rappin wid U, best regards from Wickenburg, Arizona,

Joe Nagy.

Doog-meister

JT:

Just found this and read the whole thing at one sit. Great story - thank you for sharing.

scottrc

Nice story JT, thanks for taking the time to share it.