AMAZING package arrived today...

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The Pol

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No, it is nothing brewing related at all.

My grandfather passed away when about 23 years ago, and he had a pretty hard hitting impact on my life. Through the years I spent with him as a kid, and the stories I have heard about him, I have adopted the type of man he was in essence.

He was the one that gave me the bug to fly... he was a dairy farmer from Michigan, saved for years to buy his first plane with cash back in 1948. Over the years he upgraded twice to larger and faster planes, all paid with cash he earned from the sweat of his brow and in the dust of the fields of Shepherd, MI.

As I said, he passed away 23 years ago, his wife, my grandmother, passed in November after living years and years with stroke related disabilities. So my grandmothers home is being cleaned out, items divided up, and in my package today I found:

Cast iron WWI aircraft plaques that adorned the walls of my grandfathers office from the 1940s in immaculate condition.

Wall plaques from his presidency and member of the year awards in the International Flying Farmers Assoc.

His pilot log book that encompassed his entire piloting career. From private to commercially rated pilot. From 1948-1986 just prior to his death.

He learned to fly in 1948 in a C-120... they actually did spin training in his 8th hour of flight time (not even required today unless you are a CFI candidate). He soloed with 9 hours in a C-120... at the same airfiled where I soloed. When he passed on he had accumulated nearly 2,000 hours flying off a grass strip at his farm in Shepherd, MI. The name of the strip was Bonanza Lane... after his dream aircraft, the last he owned, the V35-A Beechcraft. He logged thier family Xmas trips to Florida... even the flight where he went to pick up my uncle after he returned from Vietnam. Logbooks are not just cities and dates, they encompass a families history in this case.

I have three logbooks detailing the 7,000 hours that I have accumulated... many seemingly empty hours criss crossing the US. Maybe someday my grandkids will recieve a package like this and look back with some nostalgia at what grandpa accomplished in his lifetime and what sort of family man he was, and how he lived.

I am going to try to search records and find out where his aircraft is... who owns it, via the registration #. I want that plane back... maybe not today, but the next time it is sold, I want to bring it home. Anyone have experience with this?


I have had one hell of a great week at home.
 
That is just totally awesome Pol. Gives me goosebumps thinking about how cool that would be to get a package like that. Thanks for sharing. :mug:
 
Very nice package indeed, keep us update with the plane!

Good luck finding the plane. The registration number is a good thing to have but with my experiance (motorcycle) the only way to get the name and contact info on title is court order. For me that was a 4 month process and cost about $450.
 
It could take me 30 years to find/acquire his aircraft... but I want to bring it back to our family before I die. He worked very hard, harder than I ever will, to realize his dream of flight while working in the soybean fields back in MI.

My grandmother used to tell me how my grandfather would see the military pilots practicing, doing maneuvers out over the farmland and tell her "someday that will be me". She just shrugged it off... silly farmer with a silly dream. He made it happen, and when he finally found his dream plane he flew out west to look it over, my grandmother did not accompany him, she ran the farm while he was gone. He called her crying because it was everything that he wanted, but he did not know what to do, because she was not there to help him make such a big decision. She simply told him to buy it, to bring it home to the farm. And he did... that is the plane that he took me up in, the plane that gave me the bug.

Id do anything to get that back.
 
That is really a sweet thing someone did for you. I had a similar feeling when I got back my grandpa's WWII Army jackets from my ex. I learned a bit about him from the battle patches from his jackets..
 
Thanks for sharing in this with me guys. I really wish that I had known him better, longer, in person. Much of what I remember is standing by his bedside as he died from bone marrow cancer... it is nice to still hear some stories about him and to be able to posess some of his things.

I am a very nostalgic sort of person... this caps off one of he most amazing weeks I have had in a very long time. This was a much better surprise than getting my food sealer.
 
That's fantastic that it ended up in your hands. Good luck on your search for the plane. Thank You for sharing with us.
 
Thanks for sharing in this with me guys. I really wish that I had known him better, longer, in person. Much of what I remember is standing by his bedside as he died from bone marrow cancer... it is nice to still hear some stories about him and to be able to posess some of his things.

I am a very nostalgic sort of person... this caps off one of he most amazing weeks I have had in a very long time. This was a much better surprise than getting my food sealer.

Do you know the call letters of the plane. I'm always checking out used plane sites. That's a nice plane he had.
 
The registration number? Here they are.

He had a G35 that was N4228D
He had a V35A that was N6218V

The last aircraft was sold to a man in California back in the late 80's, that is all that I know.
 
I FOUND THE PLANE AND OWNER!!!

It is still in California... the guy flew it 12 days ago! He filed an instrument flight plan in California 12 days ago and flew it! N6218V is still out there! I have his name and his whereabouts. How the hell do I contact this guy without sounding like a head case... to let him know that if that plane is EVER sold, I want the first and last bid??
 
I FOUND THE PLANE AND OWNER!!!

It is still in California... the guy flew it 12 days ago! He filed an instrument flight plan in California 12 days ago and flew it! N6218V is still out there! I have his name and his whereabouts. How the hell do I contact this guy without sounding like a head case... to let him know that if that plane is EVER sold, I want the first and last bid??

WOW.

So you have the pilots contact info?????

Just be honest, and open and tell the guy your story. It seems like you air jockeys are a nostalgic lot, and even us land lubbers are moved by your story...just send him a letter or email saying.."you don't know me, BUT..."

If you need help tweaking the letter after you write it, pm me, and I'd be glad to help.

Hey do you have any pics of your gramps and the planes?
 
I am not asking much, just, when and if it is ever sold... it would mean more to me than any other buyer.

I am getting some pics from the fam back in MI... some of the plane. How incredible... Google is freaking awesome. I am so happy that I found it and who is flying it. Id love to jumpseat out to Cali just to take it up!
 
I am not asking much, just, when and if it is ever sold... it would mean more to me than any other buyer.

I am getting some pics from the fam back in MI... some of the plane. How incredible... Google is freaking awesome. I am so happy that I found it and who is flying it. Id love to jumpseat out to Cali just to take it up!

I wanna see any pics you find. I only realized last week in something you posted that you are a former michigan boy!!!!

I betcha he'd get a kick out of hearing about his plane...and yeah somewere down the line he'll probably take you up on it...give you first consideration.
 
Yeah, I am an ol Michigan dairy farmer...

I also located my grandfathers FIRST plane... a 1948 Cessna 170 that he bought new. It resides in Utah currently.
 
I am not asking much, just, when and if it is ever sold... it would mean more to me than any other buyer.

I am getting some pics from the fam back in MI... some of the plane. How incredible... Google is freaking awesome. I am so happy that I found it and who is flying it. Id love to jumpseat out to Cali just to take it up!

Where is it? PM me if you want to.

Okay, I found it. It's 5 hours SW of me.
 
Same model, same year... SEXXXYYYY!

V35A.jpg


V35AP.jpg
 
I am going to try to search records and find out where his aircraft is... who owns it, via the registration #. I want that plane back... maybe not today, but the next time it is sold, I want to bring it home. Anyone have experience with this?


I have had one hell of a great week at home.

I searched the database at AOPA in the members section to find the current owners of the two planes my dad owned. There is a particular database where you enter N number and get the name and city of the owner. Using phone books I found addresses and sent letters to the owners. Both planes (a T-craft and a Champ) are still flying, and owned by guys who fly them from their own private strips.
 
I searched the database at AOPA in the members section to find the current owners of the two planes my dad owned. There is a particular database where you enter N number and get the name and city of the owner. Using phone books I found addresses and sent letters to the owners. Both planes (a T-craft and a Champ) are still flying, and owned by guys who fly them from their own private strips.

I found the owner, I will be sending him a letter with copies of some photos of me and gramps with the plane.
 
This thread rule. I'm happy for you Pol. I'd love to see some of those photos with your gramps and that plane. That would rule. :mug:
 
I will scan them and get them up when I recieve them...

I have been wanting to find that plane for years... and all of a sudden today it happens.
 
AOPAs database shows 4228D to be registered to Dan aero Inc in Hooks TX 75561
Yep that was his FIRST V35... I never flew in that one. It has the 225HP Continental, the other V35 is a 285hp IO520...
 
Pol, here is a thought one getting the “rights” for purchase of your grandfather’s planes. In real estate buyers will sometimes pay an owner a small fee to enter into an option. The option gives the holder the right to buy the property if he so chooses. Generally in real estate the option has a duration and purchase price. I’m sure that the format could be modified so that it is open ended and price to be negotiated at the time of sale. That way when the current owner comes to the point of selling you would get the “right of first refusal”. To make the contract binding you would likely have to pay a small fee to the owner. Good luck on your bid to reclaim some family history.
 
I will give you all some regular updates on what happens when I correspond with this guy. Thanks for all of the well wishes.
 
Pol, that whole story is really cool and eerily familiar. My grandfather, too, was a "flying farmer". He grew up watching the mail planes fly over and said the same thing your grandfather did, "some day that will be me." He saved up silver dollars and bought his first plane in the late 40s/early 50s. He had his own air strip on his farm and flew into the mid 70s. Then quit on account of Nana's worrying.

He's part of the reason I love flying and why I became an aircraft mechanic in the Marines. He's still alive... going on 86 now.

Anyway, I really hope you someday get that plane.
 
Wow, amazing! My grandfather bought his first Cessna in 1948, a Cessna 152. His next was a Cessna 170... followed by (2) Beechcraft V35s. All paid in full, all paid in cash. That alone is freaking amazing. He flew until the mid 80's when he lost his medical due to his cancer.
 
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