Continued, page two. Oshkosh, 2003:
Wendell Davenport is a well known commercial artist, now retired in Hawaii. His airplane, a 1969 Flybaby, lives most of the year in Riverside, California. Wendell comes to the mainland a couple times a year to fly his baby, and Oshkosh provided one of those occasions. From there, he's flying to Kitty Hawk to pay his respects to the Wright Brothers personally.
The Flybaby is a "stick and rudder airplane," says Wendell. It flies beautifully, cruises at 84 mph, approaches a landing at 80 because the flying wires and landing wires create a lot of drag to overcome.
Wendell says the Wrights are his heroes. "Combine creativity with scientific method," he says, "and look what you can do."
By the way, if you visit the EAA museum's Lindbergh exhibit this year, look for Wendell's work. He painted the picture of Lindbergh parachuting from a mail plane. The plane is circling down around him. It really happened.
For good measure, here's a picture of the Flybaby's cockpit. Notice that the flying wires join at a turnbuckle in front of the lower section of the instrument panel. Wendell says when the airplane is flying, the wires under the wing take up the load and the upper wires go a little slack. It can be startling the first time you see it.
A pretty Bellanca. Elegance personified.
Airbus's "Beluga." I've always called this kind of airplane a "Guppy," but whadda I know? Anyway, it delivered airplanes. But I think it got more attention than they did.
