I've mentioned the story here once or twice, about a 1941 Taylorcraft that has been tied down outside and left to rot at Porterville, CA. It had flown in maybe 30 years ago, and taken in as collateral (on a loan or a balance owed) by a character named Harry Deliker (or Dellicker?) with a company called Del-Air.
Harry refused to sell it, or let it go, or give it back to whoever had owned it, and it always seemed to me that he had done this out of mean-ness or cruelty. Many people, me included, had begged Harry to let the airplane go to a good home, or put it in a hangar, or something, but he never did. The airplane sat out in the weather in tatters, with only small strips of fabric hanging from the structure.
Harry went West a few years ago, and his shop hand took over the Del-Air business.
Today, finally, to the cheers of the worldwide Taylorcraft community, that airplane has been purchased. My friend Paul Curley called me the other day and asked me what I thought of a "cheap Taylorcraft basket case in Porterville" that he might be able to get for a song. When I finally stopped screaming at him to get off his ass and go get it, I was able to tell him the story.
Today I got a call from him, he drove up there and laid down the cash and made the deal. In a couple of days he'll go back with a trailer, and rescue a pre-war classic! The Porterville Ghost is saved!!!
Harry refused to sell it, or let it go, or give it back to whoever had owned it, and it always seemed to me that he had done this out of mean-ness or cruelty. Many people, me included, had begged Harry to let the airplane go to a good home, or put it in a hangar, or something, but he never did. The airplane sat out in the weather in tatters, with only small strips of fabric hanging from the structure.
Harry went West a few years ago, and his shop hand took over the Del-Air business.
Today, finally, to the cheers of the worldwide Taylorcraft community, that airplane has been purchased. My friend Paul Curley called me the other day and asked me what I thought of a "cheap Taylorcraft basket case in Porterville" that he might be able to get for a song. When I finally stopped screaming at him to get off his ass and go get it, I was able to tell him the story.
Today I got a call from him, he drove up there and laid down the cash and made the deal. In a couple of days he'll go back with a trailer, and rescue a pre-war classic! The Porterville Ghost is saved!!!
