I started flying in a very unusual manner.

While attending college in Nampa Idaho I had a good friend, Byron Henry that was raised by a very fine father and mother that had 6 or 7 boys. His father was a very accomplished outdoors man and had his boys up in the mountains whenever possible; and they learned to love it. They kept a lot of pack horses and saddle horses for their excursions and were well equipped for the mountains. As a college student I did not have these kinds of assets and so was glad to go with them whenever they were going and I could spare the time.

I am thankful that he learned the ways of survival so well as he saved my life one time when I almost froze to death, but that is another story.

One time when Byron was up in the mountains around Nampa he seen a plane crash an took his horses there to see if he could help the pilot. The pilot was ok but the plane was a little damaged. Byron collected him and his things and got him out of the mountains and while doing so the pilot gave Byron the airplane.

Byron contacted me to see if I was interested in going in on the plane with him and fixing it up. I definitely was and we got stuck into the project.

It was interesting, as nether of us had ever worked on an airplane before or even flown one. The plane was a Piper J4 certificate number N23199 using a Cont. 75. The next model after the famous J3. The J3 carried 2 passengers in tandem, were the J4 carried 2 passengers side-by-side.

We approached it as if we were working on one of our cars. Byron run a service station and was a good mechanic and I had been raised on a farm and dad had me working on machinery from a very young age, so nether of us were intimidated by the job, even though it was beyond our experience.

We soon learned there were things we did not know, but no problem, there was a very kind and talented old German man by the name of Lee Cock working at a small airfield in Caldwell Idaho that liked to talk, especially to young fellows interested in aviation. We would sometimes go there and talk for hours. He was one of those kind souls that are always helping someone out. Being a very talented mechanic, he kept most of the planes flying in that area and was a godsend for many a pilot that could not afford to keep their planes flying without him. He would let people come there and work on their planes and give them direction and then inspect the planes for a minimal fee.

There was another interesting thing about him. He was acknowledged as one of the best aircraft mechanics of his day and could do almost anything with a airplane. This extend to the fact that he could hear a plane flying over and, if it was a local plane, without looking up at it, tell you who's plane it was by the sound of the engine. If the engine had any problems he would note that as well. I have seen him working at his work bench in the hanger and hear a plane approach the field and say John's coming and he still has not fixed this or that on his engine. But he never would fly. Even with pilots that he knew were very good pilots.

One time a fellow that was a regular there approached the field and he dropped every thing and rushed out to meet him. That was strange action for him, so we all rushed out after him. He told the pilot to tie the plane down and not to fly it again as he was afraid the crank shaft was damaged. The pilot answer that no one could tell that from listening to the engine. And anyway the plane was up for sale and the buyer was on the way for a test flight.

The buyer arrived and he took him up for a test flight. The crank-shaft broke right in half on take off. The worst thing was the magneto was driven by the back cylinders and the prop by the front cylinders and they quickly got out of sink and almost vibrated the engine off before he could get the engine shut down. By the time it was shut down it was just hanging by one bolt. Fortunately for them they got enough height to turn back and glide to the airport. A lessen to all that it was a good idea to listen to Lee Cock.

Also, he had his heart in his mouth for another reason. When he returned to the field, he was returning from a flight to the grand canyon were he had been flying down in the canyon following the river. If it had of happened there it would have been a different story.

Well anyway when we did not know how to do something we would go over there and ask him how to do it. He never tumbled to the fact that we were rebuilding a plane, how could he, who would think that two kids had a plane, let alone be rebuilding it, and we never thought to tell him. He just thought we were curious and interested in aviation. We were not hiding it, we just simple never thought to tell him. To us it was all the same as if we were working on a car.

In the crash the propeller had been broken and one day when we were visiting Lee he had A wood propeller leaning against the wall of his shop. We asked him what he wanted for it and said we could have it. We did not know that it was a cruising prop and not right for our plane. To us a propeller was a propeller.

The long and short of it was that we got it repaired and started flying it around that area. At that time the area around Nampa was sparsely settled, fortunately for all concerned. We had a great time flying around and enjoying the plane. There was an old flight instructor that hung out at the airfield by the name of W. J. Hill and we would set for hours hanger talking with him and learning about flying. Looking back on this time it is clear that he probable saved our lives by what we learned from him with all his talk about flying.

I had a terrible time landing the plane. I was never able to get a three point landing. Sometimes I would stall it out so high that on the third bounce I could still read the numbers on top of the hanger. Then one day the old flight instructor, Hill, was watching me and told me maybe it would be better if I gave up on three point landings and used wheel landings. I did not know what they were so he explained it to me and told me how to make them. After that I did wheel landings and things went better.

Things were going well then one day Byron was out flying and I was setting and talking to the old flight instructor, Hill, when we seen the plane coming in to land. Byron was doing a terrible job of flying; the plane was all over the sky and it was a very bad landing. Byron taxied up and did not even tie the plane down but staggered over to us and said: "How!!! How!!! how do you get out of a spin??? in a voice that was struggling to speak. We looked at him and asked what had happened. After he calmed down a little he told us the story.

Some of the men around the field had been talking about spins and told him how to get into one. So after he had gotten up to about 3000 ft. above the ground, a big task for that plane as it climbed very slowly, it had the wrong prop on it and the pitch was wrong so it would only turn up 2100 rpm on take off and took about fifty miles to get 500ft., he decided to try one. Only after he kicked the plane into a spin did he remembered that he did not know how to get it out of a spin. He was headed for the ground at an terrible pace and all he could see was first the mountains, then the desert, then the mountains, then the desert, etcetera on and on. But worst they kept coming faster and faster and the ground was coming up very fast. Nothing he did stopped it or even helped. Finally he gave up, let the controls go and grabbed the two rods that go up past the wind shield to brace himself for the crash. But then the plane puled itself out of the spin and started flying again just over the top of the sage brush. The old instructor laughed and said you did right, the plane can correct itself if you let it go. Then told him how to get out of a spin.

After that things went well until one day Byron flew the plane to Boise and tied it down right in front of the FAA office. One of their inspectors was standing looking out the door and came running over when Byron got out. Yelling you cannot fly that plane that way. This startled Byron, but he was a quick thinker and got on his guard. He asked what was wrong. The inspector told him you cannot fly a plane with that window all black.

The plane had those mica windows that we used before plastic and when we got the plane the window on the left side had turned black. That was a very common thing to happen to that material. It did not bother us as we would always fly with that window down anyway. There were no instruments in the plane, except a tacheometer, and we judged the air speed by the sound of the wind as it passed the window. But, Byron had closed the window preparing to tie the airplane down.

Byron always fast on his feet turned and looked at the window and said "yes it turned black last night and that is why I am here to try and get a new one." the FAA man said I want to see your logs. So Byron answer that they were in the hanger and asked if they had to be in the plane. The FAA man said no but he wanted to see them and that Byron should get them and bring them to him.

The thing was that the logs were laying right behind the seat but the FAA , man could not see them as the window was black. We had found them when rebuilding the plane, but decided they were to keep track of flights and we did not want to bother with that and so tossed them there and left them. Suddenly Byron realized they were important for some reason and decided to find out before we gave them to him.

Byron got back into the plane and returned to Nampa and looked me up and asked me. I did not know so we decided to fly to Caldwell and ask Lee Coch. We landed and taxied up to his shop. He was out side working on a plane and stopped and greeted us. He asked where we got the airplane we told him it was the one that we were rebuilding. He stared at us for a while and said you mean that when you were asking me all those questions you were rebuilding this airplane. And Byron answered yes it crashed in the mountains and I got the pilot out and he gave the plane to me.

Lee Cock stared at the airplane and said over and over "it was wrecked!". We thought he was proud of the job we did on it, but that was not the case as we were soon to learn. Then Byron asked about the logs. Asking what they were and how important they were. Lee did not answer but walked out to the plane and the first thing that caught his attention was the prop. He said that looks like the prop I gave you. We told him it was and he said I thought you wanted it to put up on the wall. That one is condemned and should not be on an airplane. Let me see your logs. He looked at them and said you did not get this plane licenced! We ask what that was and his answer was you tie that plane down and you do not even taxi it until I have a chance to look it over completely. How long have you been flying it? We told him about a year. He said "did not your flight instructor teach you about licencing a plane" we told him we never had a flight instructor. He asked how did you get you licence to fly. We told him we did not have one.

Then we heard about it. He set us down and lectured us for about an hour. He told us that not only were we not getting the plane back until he had torn it all apart and checked everything, but until we also got a flight instructor and he came to get the plane not us.

So our free days of flying were over and we had to start taking lessens and fly right. We never did get instruments in the plane though and Hill, the old instructor that we had spent so much time hanger talking with, became our instructor and he did not care about instruments. When he learned to fly they did not have them and he felt we could learn the same way. We took lessens till he signed us off for solo and then gave up the lessens, and did not get a licence at that time. We finally sold the plane for $1300 and felt we had ripped the guy off. I only wish we still had it today.