If you are interested in getting an up-close and personal look at a Sopwith Baby like I am building, the finest example is current kept at The Western North Carolina Air Museum.  The plane I have pictures of on here are in fact this aircraft.  Click here for their page on this aircraft and a good summary of the military history it holds.

And so it begins . . .

Ever since I was a young boy I have been fascinated with flying.  Raised by an Air Force Veteran who is also a certified private pilot and A&P, I guess I come by it naturally.  I remember constant trips as a young kid to the Air Museum at McCllean Air Force Base and sneaking away to watch A-10s and F-111's fly.

Unfortunately, life happens.  You go to school, then follow a career, and those lofty dreams you had in childhood seem to be just that - dreams.  However, some of us just can't let go of our dreams and persist in trying to make them reality.  A few years back I was finally in a position to make the investment and finally learned to fly.  It was like I was home in the sky.  It was where I needed to be.  I earned my private pilot's certificate and flew Piper Cherokees all over the State of California and have never looked back, always grinning ear to ear, even through tough flights.

My father always regaled me with stories of his flying days - getting his license in Alaska and flying the likes of Aeroncas and Citabrias and always talked about real flying - stick & rudder flying. While I love learning how to fly in the complex and often crowded airspace of today, it is the basic flying skills that thrill me the most. Nothing seems more awesome than the dawn-of-flight pilots and aircraft, especially those pilots in the Great War.

So, it is time to follow my passion. It is time to fly my own 1915 aircraft from WWI.  This week I get my first shipment from Airdrome Aeroplanes, the rudder plans and materials for my 1915 Sopwith Baby.

Here is what will hopefully be in my hangar when I am done: