The solo cross country flight, alone in the Cub, was a wonderful adventure. I’m sure George Vose watched the weather very closely before he sent any of us on our way. Typically, the route was Hartlee, Olney, Graham, and return. Olney was a very interesting place to visit, as Leland Snow, an A&M aeronautical engineering graduate, was building his ag planes there. I noticed his first one, the S-1, a light blue, crumpled in a pile of twisted wreckage near his hangar as I taxied by. I guess from it came the better handling S-2. Again, I digress. But, basically, it was a routine, uneventful flight. Well planned, well prepared, True course, Variation, Magnetic course, Deviation, Compass course, Wind, Compass heading…. Checking Ground Speed with a D-4 circular slide rule (George bought them surplus by the dozens) Sorry, digressing again. No surprises, just like any other endeavor one might contemplate. But sometimes, things do not proceed quite as planned….

Having called Meacham Tower and receiving light signals to land, I complied, taxied to the parking area and chocked “Four Deuces” and headed over to the terminal. This was the home of Acme Study Guides. Going upstairs to the FAA office, one could take a written exam, and if there were any questions on that written not covered in the Study Guide, they would pay five dollars for such information. This left them open to high jinx, but I know of no one who took unfair advantage of this offer. So, armed with five dollars, I enjoyed the best hamburger and fries in Ft. Worth. Calling the tower for departure, I informed them that “Piper J-3 N42222 will be departing northbound for Denton in fifteen minutes.” “I don’t think so”, came the reply. Uh Oh! “What’s wrong?” The Cub had been blown out of the chocks by a Twin Navion being run up on the flight line. The Cub’s tail had been damaged when it struck the tip tank of a parked Cessna 310. I ran to the scene, jumped upon the wing of the Navion and pointed to what was happening. The fellow said the Navion wasn’t being run up for the purpose of flight, so he wasn’t responsible. (Now, what did that mean?) The damage to the Cessna’s tip tank was substantial (I recall the Cessna owner’s name was “Dusty” Rhodes). Stunned, I called George, who came and picked me up. The maintenance facility doing the work on the Navion took responsibility, did all the repairs except left the Cub’s tail in silver. There were students ready to fly and yellow dope would have to wait. “Four Deuces” sported that shiny silver tail for quite a long time. A model Cub was built and presented to George Vose…complete with a silver tail.

Another wonderful feature of the Meacham terminal was the office and printing press of “Cross Country News”, Tony Page, proprietor. She was the greatest! She was the real deal, an aviatrix. (Look that one up!) The “Powder Puff Derby” in her Cessna 140 was one of her favorites. I stopped by her office one day to see about the cost of an ad in her Classifieds. She noticed I was rather dejected….I confided my girl had abandoned me. I thought perhaps an ad begging forgiveness would bring her back. Tony didn’t charge for the ad, I recall it read something like, “Linda, please don’t be mad at me. For what I paid for that ring, I could have rented a 210 for an hour!” Well, I’m happy to say the ploy worked, Linda and I were married in early 1965 and remain so today, the power of the press…..

I have to confess that my “editorial stance” at times resembles that of Tony Page. Rest in Peace, Tony.

dale gleason