Mr. Pete's Lycoming Powered Corben Baby Ace 'C'
This Baby Ace was recently offered 'For Sale' by an old friend of mine living in Tallulah, Louisiana. Mr. Pete and I go back even more than 50 years. I have known Mr. Pete since I was a small boy. Mr. Pete used to come over to my Grandfather's farm in Tallabena, Louisiana driving his old Jeep when I was just 5 years old. Mr. Pete was 15 years old then (1959) and came to see my uncle Mike (who was Mr. Pete's age) for a planned excursion down to the banks of the nearby Mississippi River to shoot at floating debris and poisonous snakes with their 22 semi-automatic rifles . Later, Mr. Pete got his pilot's license and would fly a Piper Cub over the farm and wave down to me and my Uncle Mike as we worked in the cotton field below. Seeing him fly over like that - plus the fact that Mr. Gomitz had his crop dusting airstrip just across the highway from our farm, caused me to became hopelessly hooked on aviation. My Grandfather used to take me out to watch them spray his cotton using a Super Cub spray plane. Seeing that Cub making passes at 5' AGL was a thrill. Afterwards, we would jump in the truck and run over to see the airplane after it had landed. My grandfather would set me in the cockpit (a hopper was in the back seat area) to let me minipulate the controls and see the panel (which was sparse with no altimeter or radios... just oil pressure, cylinder temp head temp, airspeed indicator and little else). Looked to me like I could fly that thing at 6 years old. The nose of that old Cub looked like a smiling face with its huge spinner on the prop. I wanted to become a pilot when I grew up in the worst way! When the time finally came in 1977; Mr. Pete encouraged me to buy a Piper J-3 Cub like he had flown in 1959. I was determined to buy a taildragger and to learn to fly in it. Mr. Pete wanted me to buy a J-3 Cub of course. But I would complain to Pete that I could more easily afford to buy an Aeronca Champ, or a Luscombe 8A for $2,500, or perhaps a Chief for $2,200 or Taylorcraft for $2,000; but a J-3 Cub cost $4,500 - a small fortune by comparison to the others in those days. $4,500 was a lot of money in 1977. Well, Mr. Pete insisted that the J-3 Cub was the way to go. I asked him why a Cub was priced so much higher than the other similar airplanes. Mr. Pete told me that the Piper Cub was just more popular than the others - for fun and for its flying reputation. I listened to Mr. Pete and waited until I had the $4,500. I bought the Cub even before I had learned to fly. Prior to that Mr. Pete and I flew R/C model airplanes together at Scott Field in Tallulah. Those were the good ole' days. The part of this story that is most amazing is the price that Mr. Pete was recently asking for this Baby Ace. I am placing the advertisement below - but the airplane has most likely sold by now. Guy Foster [The Baby Ace Man]
If anyone knows the old or future status of this airplane, or who ended up with this airplane, or - if you are the current Owner, Builder, Pilot or Photographer involving this airplane, please e-mail me with your story and I will try my best to publish it on these pages.
If anyone knows the old or future status of this airplane, or who ended up with this airplane, or - if you are the current Owner, Builder, Pilot or Photographer involving this airplane, please e-mail me with your story and I will try my best to publish it on these pages.
Notice the Price!
CORBEN BABY ACE • $5,000 • PRICE REDUCED • Corben Baby Ace C Model SN 5727; Built in 1959; 65 Lyc, latest fabric 1998 and polytone 2002; brakes; ASI, ALT; Tach; oil @ pressure gauges. Contact Pete, Tallulah, LA 71282; 555-555-4321 • Contact XYZ, Owner - located Tallulah, LA USA • Telephone: 555-555-4321 • Posted October 26, 2010
Sure, it has a Lycoming engine - but look at the price... what a deal for a flying Model 'C' Baby Ace. The low price would make it a breeze to upgrade to a C-65,
C-85 or C-90 Continental engine. The Lycoming 65 could be sold for whatever to help defray the cost. Lycomings are top notch engines today, I prefer them, but the 65 HP model of the 1930's and early 1940's was very sluggish compared with a Continental C-65 of the era and it was not built in anywhere near the same numbers.
Mr. Pete; if you see this post drop me an e-mail! Long time no see. We need to catch up. Guy Foster [The Baby Ace Man]
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. 1974475813
Sure, it has a Lycoming engine - but look at the price... what a deal for a flying Model 'C' Baby Ace. The low price would make it a breeze to upgrade to a C-65,
C-85 or C-90 Continental engine. The Lycoming 65 could be sold for whatever to help defray the cost. Lycomings are top notch engines today, I prefer them, but the 65 HP model of the 1930's and early 1940's was very sluggish compared with a Continental C-65 of the era and it was not built in anywhere near the same numbers.
Mr. Pete; if you see this post drop me an e-mail! Long time no see. We need to catch up. Guy Foster [The Baby Ace Man]
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. 1974475813