Look Up in the Sky — It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's… My Uncle Buddy?

First off, to tell this story right, I have to tell you about my Uncle Buddy.

Most people have to go to some big engineering college to build things others can't even dream of. Then there are some who can do just that — dream. My uncle was one of those.

They say necessity is the mother of all invention. Well, on a farm we had plenty of necessity, and Uncle Buddy had the inventions. He's the one who built our playhouse — the one from the Hogan Heroes story. And you might say, "Big deal, I could do that." But what about a Ferris wheel? Yep, you heard that right. A Ferris wheel. He also built a mini tractor for us little boys to play on — fully functional — and I believe one of my cousins still has it running to this day.

When we wanted to go swimming, he'd fire up his track loader, dig out a big hole in the creek, and when it filled up — bam — swimming hole. He also used the bucket on that loader to lift us 15 feet in the air to pick muscadine grapes out of the trees.

But the thing I remember most was his fascination with flight.

I'll tell you the truth — he built an airplane out of 3/4" thick-wall conduit, covered it with cloth, put my aunt's kitchen chair in it, and flew it. Well… almost flew it. No — he flew it. Okay, he glided it. There was no internet back then, and buying an airplane engine wasn't the easiest thing to do. So he tied a rope from the front of the plane to the bumper of his Pontiac GTO, my dad drove the car, and my mom and aunt ran under the wings touching them lightly for balance — and Uncle Buddy flew that plane. And it flew. Well… glided. But it flew.

Now he needed an engine. In the back of an airplane magazine he found a gyrocopter kit — and as luck would have it, it came with a Piper Cub engine. So he bought one. He only wanted the engine. But when it was delivered, it got the best of him and he had to put the whole thing together and try it.

And try it he did.

That thing was the most dangerous-looking contraption I have ever seen in my life. Two beams making a cross, three wheels, a stop-sign-shaped rudder, free-wheeling upper blades, and a Piper engine with a backward-pitch propeller that pushed you instead of pulling you. He'd start the upper blades spinning by hand, give it gas, go rolling down the runway with the blades spinning faster and faster — and eventually that gyrocopter lifted right off the ground and he flew it around the farm.

He was actually featured on a local CBS Carolina Camera news show for it.

Now, I suppose it was safer than it looked — because if the motor cut off, it would gyro slowly down to the ground. Which it did. Quite regularly. And even from far away, when it did… there went that language again. 😄

He eventually sold it after the TV show — someone offered more money than he could pass up. The cloth airplane never did get a motor, but that was okay. It became one more toy for us kids.

And Uncle Buddy? He just went and got his pilot's license and bought a used Cessna.

Of course he did.

Thanks again for reading, and remember — do yourself a favor, take someone to church with you Sunday.

God Bless. — Big PaPaw