MY FIRST HOMEBUILT PLANE

[EDMO 1078]

When I was about 15 years old, about 1956. living in Flint, Michigan, I helped a neighbor build a "SNOW-PLANE". My photos burned up years ago, so you have to make a mental picture of the machine.

Imagine the tandem cockpit of a J3 Cub, with a nose ski and two main skis - no wings, and a rear-engine Harley Davidson 45 hp engine turning a prop.

We covered it with fabric just like a regular plane, and it had a rudder, and nose steering.

It wouldn't fly, but went like hell across the snow. No speed meter either.

The only brakes were spikes that were attached to a lever on each side of the cockpit, and could be lowered to stop or slow down the plane.

Biggest drawback was no heater, and the windshield would frost over from your breath. We rigged up breathing tubes to take your exhale out the side.

I think the Big-Pilot was watching out for me, or I might have died in it!

It got totaled after I left there.

EDMO