Johnny Byrd (was: 30 Gone)

On Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 6:56:51 AM UTC-5, Vaughn Simon wrote:
On 9/19/2016 9:42 PM, Burt Compton - Marfa Gliders, west Texas wrote:
So many stories.

I remember that he set out to build the "Ultimate Tow Plane".

It is still in his hangar (that he built, of course) at Marfa, Texas, although I have not seen it lately.
Yes, a Piper Tri-Pacer he converted to taildragger with a Ford engine with the Blanton belt reduction.
Sounded like an old Ford truck with short stacks. The long wooden prop really whooshed around. I believe that he extended the wing span a bit for climb performance.

Johnny put over 1,000 hours on his creation and I can confirm that it did tow well at our 5,000' MSL Marfa elevation. He never added the spoilers. It was water-cooled so "shock-cooling" was not really an issue.

He was the last pilot to land at the old Marfa Army Air Field (later Presidio County Airport) where we held the legendary regional and national contests (ending with the 1972 Standard Class contest.) That huge airport has almost completely gone back to nature but Johnny slipped his Pacer in between the tall bushes on the wide bomber ramp (like Hobbs.)

For decades, his favorite red polo shirt with a long tail was worn outside his jeans almost every contest day. When it got too ratty I guess Ann washed it one last time (or maybe not) and Johnny carried it in his Discus A for good luck. He didn't need much luck as underneath his calm demeanor and quick humor was a determined and calculating soaring pilot, and a true Southern Gentleman.

Oh my . . .