Dudley Henriques wrote in news:
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in news:jPSdnQVqtcu-
:
You knew Dick Schramm? Cool!

Most of the time I did this I was flying barefoot anyway....

Bertie

Knew both Sr. and Jr. Both were great guys. Dick Jr. was on the
mike
narrating for Dick when he was killed.
He was probably one of the finest sticks ever with a light
plane.
It was a freak accident, and I used it in my "Importance of
Preflight Inspections" safety talks for many years.

I don't know how it happened, in fact. My father saw it and came
home
talking a buch of BS about how it was a result of that fake stick
thing he used to do, and in fact I heard that story from the
usual
suspects for years afterwards, but I alwyas thought it sounded
like
BS.

Bertie

The way we got it was that Dick used to "borrow" a J3 from Red
Bank
when he was doing the clown act at Reading. I believe it was their
airplane that day that he was using.
Apparently they had used it the day before for a photo shoot and
had
taken the rear stick out of the airplane to accommodate that
mission.
When the stick was put back into the airplane after the photo
shoot,
whoever put it back apparently forgot to replace the lower cotter
pin
that safties it in the bracket.
Dick was doing one of his low altitude loops and had just gone
through
the upper energy gate and was starting down the back side when the
stick came out of the bracket. He had 0 control at that point. I
swear
I saw him trying to put it back in the bracket (of course we had
no
way of knowing this was what he was doing at the time).
He went straight in. Never had a chance. Dick Jr. was on the mike
and
I don't know how in hell he got through it but he kept his cool
and
tried to quiet everyone down. We both knew it was bad.
Anyway, that's what happened.
Oh. OK. That's what I heard, in fact.
Dick is remembered fondly in the aerobatic and demonstration
community. There is an award in his name and he is probably the
only
person ever to be made an honorary Naval Aviator without going
through
Naval Flight training. A wonderful guy, and a great pilot. Never
had
a
bad word for anyone about anyone.
The cotter pin should have been checked secured before the display
but
for some unknown reason it was missed.

Jesus.
I don't think the rear stick on a J-3 comes out. Maybe they do but
I'm
guessing the airplane was modded. Some of the tugs I flew had no
rear
stick and no rear rudder pedals, but they were heavily modified.


Bertie

I've never actually seen the lower attach bracket on that stick.
This
plane might very well have been modified because it was our
understanding that they used it for aerial photography in normal
operation. I would imagine that would be a 337 if so.


Can't really see why piper would have made it removable.


Bertie

It might very well have been done in the field. This particular Cub
was
used for photo shoots by the FBO as well as a rental, so it makes
sense
they would have done a 337 on the stick. Anyone shooting from the back
seat with several cameras would find a stick in their way for sure.
I've had photographers show up with so many cameras they could pass
for
a Japanese tourist :-)

A friend of mine took some photographer up in a 150 with the right door
removed for some air to air photography. The photographer got so
absorbed in his shoot that he undid his belt and ended up hanging out of
the airplane. I mean out! Standing on the gear leg and hanging on to the
strut.

Well, so I was told.


Bertie