A Baby Ace Float Plane - Could Anything Be More Perfect?
Super Nice!!
It doesn't get any better than this. A Baby Ace on floats! Can you imagine? I flew a 90 horse power Piper J-3 Cub on floats once and it was magnificent to say the least. Possibly the best flying day I ever experienced. It was something I will never forget. It was so fantastic that I came home and wrote down everything that I experienced so that I would never forget any of it. The flight was in Westwego, Louisiana which had a seaplane base next to the paved runway. The airplane belonged to an English fellow named Gere England who lived in a little cabin on the swamp behind the airfield. His house was only accessible by boat or seaplane. Geer trusted me at the controls and once aloft he explained how to land and take-off. I proceeded to perform several touch and go and full stop landings in the rigolets leading out to the Gulf of Mexico. We high speed taxied easily passing several fishing skiffs.... and then back into the air. Finaly we landed by his cabin, taxied in to his peer and went inside for a cool drink of apple cider (non alcoholic). After a chat it was back in the air to Westwego. The price for an hour and a half (1986 dollars) was $36 bucks including airplane and gasoline (that is all I had on me as I told Geer prior to the flight)! I asked him for $36 bucks worth and he gave me a million in memories (continued below).
Something About This One Looks Even Nicer!
(continued from above...) That is why I get excited seeing these Baby Ace airplanes on floats. I still have that journal I made somewhere and when I find it I will post it here. I know from that experience that a Baby Ace on floats would be just as nice as that Cub if not better! The Baby Ace sure looks better on floats than the Cub which is saying a lot since the Cub looks great too. Have you ever noticed how beautiful a Dehaviland Beaver becomes when floats are added... an entirely different airplane. That Cub I flew had to be hand propped which was not so good over water. I would prefer one like this one pictured with a full pressure cowling to house a Continental 0-200 with electric start. That would do it fine. I was thinking the other day about how Jay Leno owns a 100 classic cars. His credo and philosophy is that if he wants to add another car after (contined below....)
Here is the same airplane in color this time!
(continued from above) he hits 100 he first needs to sell a car so as never to exceed 100 favorites. It may seem funny but I was picturing doing the same thing with Baby Ace airplanes. I would prefer 100 Baby Ace airplanes over cars anyday. For the price of one descent older Beechcraft King Air you could have a stable of 100 diffferent Corben Baby Ace airplanes! Shoot.... that is probably most all of the flying Baby Ace airplanes in the world. Of course I would not want to deprive any of you of your Baby Aces.... but wouldn't it be fun to have a little private airport with a couple huge hangars filled with 100 Baby Ace airplanes? I would want a grass runway; adjacent to it would be a parallel man-made canal for the float quipped Baby Ace airplanes! Better yet, a site with a small lake and a grass runway adjacent to the lake with a cabin. How would that be? Never hurts to dream... right? Guy Foster [The Baby Ace Man]
Looks in this view like the rudder has been changed to one that is more squared off on the bottom corner.
Looks in this view like the rudder has been changed to one that is more squared off on the bottom corner.
Another View on the Lake!
If anyone knows the status of these airplanes or who ended up with these airplanes, or - if you are the Owner, Builder, Pilot or Photographer involving either of these airplanes, please e-mail me with your story and I will try my best to publish it on these pages.
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Copyright notice: If you see an image here that should not be displayed due to prior copyright issues, please feel free to contact us about it. We will take necessary action if required.