By Rob and Georgina May
Flying out of a partly cloudy sky, the Piper Cub club made a quick pit stop into Lompoc’s airport for the July 11 weekend. Vintage local small taildraggers of various makes and models joined the Cubs for a short visit. Sadly, the 36th annual West Coast Piper Cub Fly-In was canceled. The aviation event, which features historic yellow Piper Cub airplanes, had been planned for July 10 through 12 at the Lompoc Airport.
Social distancing was practiced during this non-public event. Georgina Garcia May Photography offers us a glimpse back in time. Joe Lesmeister with his Yellow and White 1946 Aeronca Chief kept the Wright Brothers’ spirit alive as we await until 2021 for the formal typically publicly advertised Fly-In weekend in Lompoc.
Aeronca, Aeronautical Corporation of America, was founded November 1928 in Ohio. After WWII, between 1946 and 1950, their Chief version was produced for civilian usage. The GI bill helped to make it affordable to veterans. The fuselage’s framework was formed out of wood and thin metal, then the outside was covered with fabric. Sitka (Alaska) Spruce was the wood of choice. The 65hp 4-piston engine required hand-turning the prop to start. Equipped with a main 15-gallon tank with an 8-gallon reserve tank, the plane held enough fuel for a four-and-a-half-hour flight. The typical cruising speed was 80 to 85 mph pending winds.
[See full slideshow below]
Joe Lesmeister, a Lockheed Martin employee at Vandenberg AFB since 1984 (the shuttle days), has been flying for 25 years. Vandenberg’s long runway was the perfect place for Joe to become solo certified. Four Touch and Gos are possible along its three-mile stretch. He enjoys flying low and slow. His longest trip was from the San Fran Bay area to the San Diego to the desert. Affixed to his Chief’s canopy window is a Vintage Aircraft Association EAA decal. (EAA is Experimental Aircraft Association). He also connected with the Piper Cub club before starting his plane’s restoration. Over 20 years ago, after having lunch with his son, they would often taxi past a dilapidated red and white plane.
“It certainly needed love as it was essentially held together by bailing wire,” he said. Joe left sticky notes on the front seats offering to purchase the Chief. Several times notes were left. Finally, the former owner called and asked for an offer and immediately accepted Joe’s $8,000 bid. The old bird was flown in from San Luis Obispo.
At the time, there were no shop classes available in their local schools. Therefore, Joe and his son, Adam, made their own shop class of restoring the Aeronca. Piece by piece, they removed and restored each piece. “My daughter, Niki, named the plane Daisy,”he said. Denise, Joe’s wife, completed the fabric work while Joe performed the welding, cutting out rust and re-forming the frame. Restoration was done in 3.5 years. The engine was re-fired up in the garage! The plane was painted in 2000 to its current color scheme. Joe is also a member of National Aeronca Association.
It wasn’t always the friendly skies. Taking off from Porterville, 15 years ago, the engine exploded. “It was really loud, then really quiet.” Joe managed a perfect landing “dead-stick” after gliding into Bakersfield. “I pulled the wings off and trailered the plane home.” Fortunately, Joe has continued to spend many years in the sky enjoying his plane. Flight is restricted to daylight, and fog makes things certainly challenging.
Join us in 2021 for the Piper Cub club to return with their featured main event in Lompoc. Dozens to a hundred planes are usually in attendance. Lompoc, and other airports On the 101, were also previously the sites of Ford’s Tri-Motor airplane tour. We look forward to more airport activities (hopefully in the near future)!
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July 20, 2020 at 09:25AM
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Piper Cubs make a stop at Lompoc Airport – On the 101 - On the 101
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