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Old 09-09-2019, 07:32 AM   #731
woofa.express
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Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Tocumwal, NSW, Australia
Posts: 1,748
Default Re: tell a Model A related story

Shed your equipment and toys.

I was at Finley this avo, it’s 10 miles north of Tocumwal and it is the town from which I operated my business. The current operator has an Airtractor in the drive through loading bay. A 600 hour aeroplane and it was looking immaculate.
To build a shed or drive through costs only a small amount of money compared to the cost of a modern aeroplane. Not only does it keep the aeroplane paintwork well, it preserves the expensive electronic equipment from the extremes of temperature, helps prevent corrosion, preserves the cockpit glass and perspex and when thunderstorms occur one does not need to worry, in other words it aids sleep. I had built all this shedding as soon as I had money available. Why doesn’t every aeroplane owner house their investment?
However I can recall years before I could afford this shedding. My Airtractor was exposed to the elements and had done alot of work. My competitor was the Airtractor dealer and always had new aeroplanes. One afternoon I towed their aeroplane to my concrete wash pad and towed mine to where they parked theirs. When they arrived at work at sparrows in the morning it took them a few seconds to work out what happened. They didn’t leave me the nice new and shiny machine.
My old boss man from Queensland called by with his new shiny Airtractor. I said “Viv, I wish my aeroplane looked like yours” and he responded with, “I hope my aeroplane doesn’t take long to look like yours”.
As I said, when money was available they were all shedded and painted, one colour, yellow. I never had my name signwritten for every farmer knew who they belonged to. I learned years later Finley airstrip was known as Canary Island.

I’ll be away for a couple of weeks. I will probably write only a few stories. If you enjoy reading them, why don’t you ask a few questions and I will be pleased to respond. My memory does need stimulating.
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Last edited by woofa.express; 09-09-2019 at 02:14 PM.
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