Looked through my logs the other day

[Clunkmeister]

And remembered an interesting tidbit.

My primary flight instructor was Guy Gibson, who signed me off to solo a Citabria in 10 hours.

No, not THE Guy Gibson, but still, it was Guy Gibson. 😄

[Peterpools]

Ernie, as I remember it took me a lot longer to solo in a J3 Cub, 2038M at Zahns Airport, Amityville, NY in 1965. I road my bike to the airport (still waiting for my turn at drivers ed in HS so I could get my drivers license). BTW, the cost of flying in those days: solo - $12/hr and with an instructor - $21/hr. Back in 1965, that was a bit a tidy of money for a teenager and at best, I could only afford and hour a week. 

 

[JohnB]

I solo'd on July 28, 1968 in Cessna 150 N2594T. I still have my shirt tail signed by my flight instructor.

[Clunkmeister]

2 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Ernie, as I remember it took me a lot longer to solo in a J3 Cub, 2038M at Zahns Airport, Amityville, NY in 1965. I road my bike to the airport (still waiting for my turn at drivers ed in HS so I could get my drivers license). BTW, the cost of flying in those days: solo - $12/hr and with an instructor - $21/hr. Back in 1965, that was a bit a tidy of money for a teenager and at best, I could only afford and hour a week. 

 

Looking to find the tail number for my solo.  It’s washed out some. My PPL Flight Test was in a Traumahawk C-GAKT, and my multi and multi IFR were in Twin Comanche CF-UBA.  160 howling hp per side.  Perfectly cleaned up, it had about a 200 fpm climb on one engine, IF you were light and smooth on the controls, but that second engine was pretty much only guaranteed to get you to the scene of the crash, nothing more. 
But with both mills producing, it was a GREAT traveling machine with gobs of power.  An extra 40 hp per side and it would have made takeoffs less of a white knuckle affair. You cleaned it up quick, and kept it low and fast till you could climb with a comfortable excess above Vse. 
 

John, I played with a 150 for a bit when I was working on my Commercial ticket.  It was a nice little time builder.  Honest and true. 

[Peterpools]

Nothing like remembering the good old days. After soling in the J3, I got my PP in a Cessna 150 and all my other ratings in a Cessna 172. 

 

[PanzerWomble]

Very common name that 😀