Continued, page three. VA State EAA Fly-in:
Here's a love affair. Dick Roe of Fairfax, VA has had his "Yellow Bird" about four years. He got the Stearman from a guy who had it for 30 years after buying it from another fella in 1969 who got it 1964 after it had been in storage down in Miami for several years following its retirement from the Navy in 1946. Dick has all the logs. But it doesn't matter who had it once upon a time..this airplane is strictly Dick Roe's.
JS: "Dick, what's it like to own a legend?
DR: "Oh, it's really a ball. I'll tellya, this is the funnest airplane I've ever flown in.
JS: "In what way?
DR: "Well, it's open cockpit, two wings, big round engine. Lot of history behind this airplane and it's so responsive, aerobatic, and it's just fun watching the countryside go by at a thousand feet.
JS: "When you bought it, was it in this condition?
DR: "Not quite this good. But almost. I had the wings rebuilt last year and the engine overhauled, and a new paint job. It's the same colors, but it's a new paint job so it's almost like a new airplane now."
JS: "Tell me what it's like when you pull up at a strange airport?
DR: "Well, I can honestly say it's not ignored. I suppose that's one of the fun things about owning an antique like this..particularly a big yellow bi-plane. It draws a crowd no matter where I park. Two years ago, my wife and I took it out to the National Stearman Fly-In in Galesburg, Illinois. And with an engine that burns 13-14 gallons an hour and only a 46 gallon gas tank, you stop a lot. Everywhere we stopped, people'd come up, look at it, ooh-and-ah at it."
Dick says Stearmen are grassfield airplanes; you can land in 5 or 600 feet, he says, and take off in about the same distance. He says they're a handful on pavement because of their short-stance gear and that 46 gallon fuel tank in the center section of the upper wing which makes it "sort of the SUV of the airplane world." Nevertheless, I don't think he'd trade it. He's clearly having too much fun.
Even Stearman owners have to earn their beans. Dick went off to do some official airplane judging. There were beauties to look at and prizes to pin on 'em.
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