Like turning around on a dime and having nine cents left, was the trick pulled off successfully by J. VanCuren. "Van" is an instructor for Paul Lowman's Flying Service, had the job of converting Paul's sea-going Cub back to land service for the winter.

Sometimes these little Cubs are landed on wet grass with the pontoons still on, then the floats are removed, wheels put on. Sometimes they drag them up on the shore, put the wheels on and push the airplane down a road to a suitable field for take-off.

Handling an airplane on the ground is like shuffling cards with gloves on, anyway.

So "Van" surveyed the block-long parking lot at Paul's Tippecanoe dance hall, waited on a strong north wind and took-off in the Cub from the lot.

Said he had room to spare, too. The parking lot is right on the edge of the lake, requiring no extra handling of the plane. Such stuff is not for students and amateurs.

I'm scratching the bottom of my idea barrel today, cleaning up a number of small notes. Makes for a disjointed column, like reading an old-fashioned magic-lantern. A picture here, a picture there, short, jerky, but fun!

We have a flying milk-man in town now, though I doubt if you can expect quarts and pints by plane just yet. Johnny White, a Lowman student, passed his private pilot's exam last week. Russ Miller, at North Manchester, was the flight examiner.

Gene Noggle, back home after quick trip to Des Moines, Iowa, flying Cessna from Municipal airport.

Rumor has it that the playful pilot I told you about last week, did a buzz job on the C.A.A. inspector last Friday, isn't flying anymore. Being grounded will probably save this boy's life--perhaps others, too.

Genial Walt Bonney, down at Bell Aircraft gets paid for getting guys like me to mention Bell Helicopters in the paper. Does a good job, too, for Bonney comes up with a real newsworthy note every now and then. Here's one! First crossing of the English channel by air was in a hydrogen-filled balloon, January 7, 1785. Dr. J. Jeffries, a Boston physician, turned the trick.

On Thursday, September 25, a Bell helicopter did it too. For shame on you, Walt, calling that news. We knew a helicopter could do it, all the time.

Another novel helicopter trick, was to prevent a 40-acre field of tomatoes from getting frost-bitten. On the ground the air was dropping below freezing. At 100 feet a layer of warmer air registered 36 degrees. A helicopter flew around over the field during the night at the 100-feet mark, stirred up the high warm air and forced it down on the tomatoes with its powerful windmill. They didn't frost. Smart people, these helicopter folks! (Ask Bell for a raise, Walt.)

The city of Columbus, Indiana has a spanking new airport, just dedicated to the proposition that more and more people are going to fly.

And Miles Manwaring, one of those good eggs from Mentone, gets an apology from Sky Writing. In talking about the three Manwarings some time ago, I mentioned that Dick was teaching Charles and Miles to fly. Now that would be queer, because Miles flew gliders and C-47 airplanes all through the war. Dick and Miles were teaching Charley to fly.

Manwarings have an air-strip within spitting distance of down-town Mentone. Banker Kenneth Riner from the Farmers' State Bank there keeps right up with progress. He accepted a deposit and received $200 worth of quarters the bank needed at the air-strip last Saturday. Probably the only county bank with a branch operating on an air-field.

One of the most interesting things to look at is a large map, higher than a man and stretching clear across the south wall of the office at Municipal airport. Visitors stand in front of it for many minutes. It's an air chart of the United States, shows everything from the east coast, to way out west where the Indians hang out. You can look at it for free, too. Phone company's George Steele is one of the ground fans who gets a bank out of this map. Stop and see it sometime. You'll be surprised.

The Fort Wayne police were thrown into quite a dither other the weekend when a farmer informed them he had found a woman's purse in his wheat field. Thinking that the lady had met with foul play, they quickly searched the area. Further investigation revealed that an air enthusiast had dropped the pocketbook out of a plane.

How often we comment upon something we know nothing about--and only make a situation worse. Remember the old gag during the war about the worried mother who told her army-pilot son" "If you must fly, be careful. Fly low and slow, son." Oh, brother!

Warsaw Daily Times Mon. Oct. 6, 1947