Post by Richard on Jul 26, 2004 6:29:23 GMT -7
As told to me by my mother, a high point in her youth. The year was 1919, it was late fall in the hartland, the crops were in and the kids had been looking toward the sky for signs of a airplane landing in a field out side of town that might be giving rides for a Dollar. They had been waiting all summer as the news had spread that barn stormers were going from town to town giving rides if one were lucky enough to be one of the first to spot the airplane buzzing the town, as was the practice of these brave pioners of the sky. My Mother was eight years old, and a fast runner, for a girl, and had been saving her nickles and dimes all summer for a chance at getting a ride. It happened on a Saturday as my Mother was helping her Mother hang the wash on the line, she looked up to see a speck in the sky moving slowley toward town. As the speck moved closer and lower it was a airplane with two wings, and it started to buzz the town lower and lower untill it vanashed below the trees on the west side of town. My Mother took off like a shot, running as fast as she could toward the wheat field where the plane had landed. It was a good quarter of a mile to where the Bipe had landed, and as my Mother ran with her dollar in hand, she was hopeing to be the first one there for a ride. She was in fact the first girl to get to the plane, but three boys had managed to beat her in line. The small crowd gathered around the plane, as the pilot was pouring gas in to the tank from a five gallon can. Someone in the crowd said the plane was a Curtiss Jenny, a popular war surplus plane. As the pilot finished fueling, he said "who's first for a ride" and a young boy was the lucky one. Three rides later it was my Mother's turn, and as she handed her dollar to the barnstormer he helped her up and in to the front seat of the Jenny. Strapped in her seat, the prop was given heave, the engine started as the Bipe moved away from the crowd the engine noise increased as the bipe started its take off roll. Very quickly the Jenny was airborne, and my Mother was excited beyond words as the plane gained altitude. The pilot banked the plane in a turn over the town, and Mother could see the whole town and adjoining country side. What a thrill, this was better than the county fair, or the the silent movies all rolled in to one. All to soon the bipe was over the weat field getting read to land, and as the wheels touched the earth my Mother vowed to save up for the next plane ride. The pilot said he would be back next year about the same time, and my Mother did get her second ride the next fall.
You left your readers hanging...... ;D