Scott Glover with the Mid America Flight Museum gives us a tour of the Cessna Bobcat that the museum just received the day before. Talk about hot off the press. This plane is pretty cool.
My grand dad bought one in 1947 from the army air core in Oklahoma - he had a similar plane that needed a wing that he was going to replace and part out the rest of the plane he bought in Oklahoma. However - when he made it up to Janesville airport the fog (according to the newspaper) was the worst on record and unfortunately after flying around for a bit trying to figure out the landing went into spin and nose dived into a cornfield and died.
I've flown this plane several times. My brother bought it in Calexico, CA around end of 1982. Along with our dad, he ferried it home to Kennett, MO and dad's 2000' grass ag strip. It was orange and white with a civilianized windshield and overhead glass at the time. They painted it in pretty short order an a couple of years later, we removed the entire windshield/overhead and replaced it with a stock overhead/windshield frame and all new glass (which was a story in itself). IIRC, it was damaged in 1994 in a ground accident which damaged one wing outboard of the engine nacelle. Terry Sullivan, my brother, dad and I have all been good friends since the 80s. Terry bought this plane from my brother following the accident which broke the wing. Terry did it right restoring the old Bomber, doing an great job. Glad to see it has a new home where it will be well cared for and flown regularly. Jim Rice Collierville, TN
Absolutely Love the UC-78! Glad to see you got a hold of this one. Hope you take us all Flying with you in it so we too can continue to enjoy the marvelous antique Twin Cessna
I'm going to have to go up there one of these days. Scott did bring up an interesting point; with my mother in a retirement community, I wonder how big a draw I'd have heading there and patching a computer into a projector and using your vids to let people see planes they might have flown or remember from their childhood. Or how quickly an outing would be organized to have busloads of seniors headed up there. Thanks brother, always cool to see an old plane that's new to me.
We're doing a UC-78 restoration now. As a fun fact, the current owner of "Songbird" gave us the original wing mount doorstop from the plane in the series. Pretty cool, eh?
When I Was a Kid Every Airport West of The Rockies Had One Sitting In Some State of Deterioration... Engines Missing,,, Windows Busted Out,,, Flippers Missing ect,,, ect...
