Some things, you just have to do

The Callair Cadet is in Malcolm's shop undergoing a thorough restoration, so what's a fellow to fly? 

-Click on the pictures below to make them bigger-

The answer is to scratch an old itch. I've always wanted to feel the wind through my (diminishing) hair and look out through clear air unimpeded by plexiglas. 

A Breezy seemed like a good idea but I flew once (in 1976) with Charlie Shivers in his Breezy and I quickly got the idea that it wouldn't take long, as the airport philosopher Harold said, "to get a bate of flying in a Breezy" (from the auld Gaelic, meaning in this case "to get enough of"). So I did what anyone would do, I looked around for a non-breezy Breezy.

...and the answer came in a flash (after 2 years): the Woody's Pusher

ta-da

 The illusion, at least, that there's something holding you inside makes all the difference

...so does a windscreen

 If you don't see an instrument, you don't need it.

"Woody" was an actual fellow named Harris L. Woods from Holly Springs NC. An engineer by training and avocation, Woody designed some seventeen unique and different aircraft for production and homebuilders, first as an employee of some of the best known aerospace companies in the U.S., then the Benson Gyrocopter company and then as the founder, chief bill payer and janitor of his own Aerosport Corporation. His range was broad; seven of his creations were gyrocopters, two were air-cushion vehicles and the remaining eight were fixed-wing airplanes. The Pusher was patterned loosely after the Curtiss-Wright CW-1 Junior. (One of the designers of the predecessor to the Junior, the "Skeeter", was Walter Beech, who went on to found Beechcraft.)

The Curtiss-Wright CW-1 "Junior", powered by a 45hp Szekely radial engine. This example is in the Smithsonian National Air&Space Museum.

We lost Woody in 1975 but his favorite design flies on. 

For more on Woody and his designs, go to: http://www.oshkosh365.org/saarchive/eaa_articles/1977_02_16.pdf

My new friend Denny saw winter approaching northern Iowa and decided he needed an LSA-compliant trainer instead of the Woody, so we talked, emailed, and talked some more and I ended up doing something I'd never done before: I bought an airplane sight unseen. Denny arranged for a pre-buy and disassembled the airplane - Tony Partain trucked it down to Florida for me (A GREAT service. If you ever need an airplane shipped somewhere, Tony and his driver-partner Michael are TOPS). Malcolm and I helped unload late at night after Michael's very long day. This was the very best way to do this in November. When Malcolm took a look at the workmanship and overall quality of the airplane, he allowed as to I might have a friendly angel looking out for me - it looked really good.

The Woody is going together now and I can't wait to have it flying. That old itch begs for scratching.