Bits of wood and heart

On my desk, flying toward me, is a hand-carved Navion (plane) suspended forever in a banking position... This was loving carved. I use the word lovingly with specific intent, for love was implicit in this model plane’s creation. Let me explain how I came to receive this 12-inch, technically accurate Navion plane which is both a reminder of a dear person, and a celebration of an event.

I have a dear friend who I have known for almost 30 years, a very loving man. People come and go but this man was never far from my thoughts – we stayed in touch on an infrequent basis.  I went to visit on Thanksgiving Day 2008 at a hanger in Beeton, Ontario. I came ready with my camera to board a Navion plane for a little jaunt over the spectacularly coloured fall countryside. We sat side-by-side in the cockpit with headphones clamped over our ears, ready to taxi down the length of runway that was no more (or less) than a field that had been cared and tended for this express purpose. We bumped, bumped, bumped along the runway. I emitted a shudder of awe and relief as we left the ground. Birth, flight and death continue to awe and amaze me beyond anything else! As we gained altitude, I felt a kind of unease deep in the pit of my stomach. Were we meant to be listing, ever so sllightly from side-to-side, like a sailboat with no rudder? I was assured that once we were above 2000 feet, the plane would cease to list and the ride would be smooth.  We settled into rythmic flight and I was able to relax enough to look down and around and take pictures. The country was awash in orange, brown, green and hues between. Each time the plane circled, it banked slightly and considerably more than slightly, yet I started to feel more comfortable. I took many pictures but the one that is the most significant for me is a photo where the colourful, richly-textured land is on an angle of 45 degrees to the camera.

And so the lovingly carved Navion model that is banking at roughly the same angle it would have been when I took my picture, was my gift this Christmas. Flight is this man's antidote, his drug, his second love after his boys; flight is his salvation and in carving the Navion, he shared that deep love with me. There was no kit, there was no reference beyond the actual Navion that was fastened to the ground and no doubt listing in the strong winter wind. This hand crafted, smoothly sanded plane was fashioned out of bits of wood and heart.

[About the Navion Plane: When the Second World War ended, North American Aviation, maker of the Harvard trainer (Americans call it A6, or Texan) and the superior P-51 Mustang needed to diversify. With military contracts gone, they turned to general aviation and designed this remarkable four place, retractable, cross country private aircraft. Some components, like the landing gear, bear distinct resemblance to P-51 parts and the tail is similar. North American put the aircraft into production and turned out 1,100 of them between 1946 and 1947. This is a 1947 with the distinction of having serial number 953. It has a 185hp Continental engine and with the exception of upgrades to its panel, is pretty much what it would have been like when it was made.

North American sold the design to Ryan, the fellow who put Lindberg's Spirit of Saint Louis together and this company went on to build more than a thousand, with some variation in power and fuel capacity from 1948 to the early 50s. Many of these had 205 and 260hp Continental engines. The aircraft was then picked up in the 60s by a company called Navion who built a fixed ceiling version with doors and five seats called the Rangemaster, the last built in the mid-70s. The company was sold, moved from Texas to Bowling Green and is making new machines, and though different in design, the basic concept is still there. Description: www.pilotfriend.com]