CoxPilot
Posts: 14
Score: 100 Joined: 3/19/2007 Last Login: 5/18/2012 From: Lexington,
SC, USA Status: offline
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Hey Randy, I'm a new member, and all because of you mentioning Don Hatcher. I worked for Don and Keith Palmer (for Cox) at Disneyland, along with Bart Klapinski, George Molitor, and seveal others I can't remember. The plane that was used for the student pilots was the PT-19 Trainer. We gave a show every hour on the half hour, ten times a day. No breaks, no lunch, just a half hour between shows to do what we wanted. The show consisted of the following, in this order: the Little Stinker, Curtis Pusher, Piper Comanche (very short steel lines, and needle valve set to full-rich to keep the speed down) 2 Prop Rods and 2 W-196 Mercades cars and 2 Water Wizards all at the same time, the "guest pilot" with PT-19, dog fights with super cubs (two pilots and paper streamers, and finally the P-40's. Don didn't fly in my day (1959 to 1966), he did the anouncing. Kieth Palmer would fly 3, and when not around we would fly 2. Count them; 15 engines all in 30 minutes of show. What other engine would start that fast. The trick was to leave the needle valve at full speed setting, and spray the exhaust port with a fuel bulb until it was hot and running at full speed. No adjustments, just whack the prop, spray a couple of times, and let go. When starting the P-40's at the end, we would be sure to top off the fuel while running, starting from the back plane (count 5), and then to the middle, (count 5) and then the front. That way the real plane would run out first and could be landed first. Sometimes we would see the engine was running in reverse, and let go. It always got a big laugh. One time the Comanche lines broke, went over the fence, did a purfect half-role, and crashed into the Monsanto display on the otherside of Tomarrowland. I lost track of all the people I knew then. I think Bart is in Placentia, CA; Keith is in Chicago, but Dale Kern is still around and has a web site. ( http://kirn.hypermart.net/ ) I finally ended up working in the plant on Warner in Santa Ana, for the Art Dept., until the whole place went belly-up. I'll be interested if anyone comes up with film from the time. I have very little pictures myself, and would love to see some. I do have a pic of the Circle, and I'll bet that's either Don, Keith or myself in the photo, just before the first show of the day. (You can tell by the shadows of the time, and only one person in the Circle.) Lee H.
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