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 p.895 #8 · Mustang Air to Air: The Sequel | |
Stew and Ben Morphew have been good friends for decades. They would come down to the hangar while I was building my biplane, they'd have some rare airplane that they had gotten a hold of and they would want me to go fly it. Ben had a beautiful Rearwin Cloudster that he'd purchased and he came down to see how I was doing on the bipe project. He taxied in with the Cloudster and said, "Wilson, you need to go fly this............". I was excited, as always, and said "Sure! Let's go Ben!" He laughed and said, "I'm not going....you're going......" I had never flown a Cloudster, but Ben assured me that "it'll be fine....". Both Ben and Stewart have always thought that everyone possessed their natural flying abilities. Not wanting to disappoint Ben, scared to death, Ben gave me a couple of pointers and I taxied out in what turned out to be the only airworthy Rearwin Cloudster in the world at the time. Ben was right, it was fine, flew like a dream and the fact that I pushed myself and went gave me a real shot in the arm, always loved Ben and Stewart.
About a month before the biplane was ready to fly Ben stopped in to check on me. He walked around it, looked at me and said, "Who is gonna fly it the first time?" I said "Me." Ben looked at me and said, "I understand, and you are sure plenty capable as far as that goes, but I'd be honored to fly it first for you and there is one big difference between you and me." He went on to say, "You have spent six years and countless thousands of hours creating this airplane, it's been your life. I expect it will fly perfect, but if it doesn't, or something goes wrong, all that you have put into it is going to cause you to figure out how to try to save it. The difference between you and me is, I'll stand up on the seat and pop the chute in the time you are trying to save it........." Ben flew 777JW the first time, rolled it, looped it, taxied back in to me all smiles. "Great airplane Wilson, it needs two washers underneath the rear left I strut fitting............go fly it!" One of the best days of my life, and you know what? Ben was right, the first time I flew it was still the first time I flew it...................
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