A man and his little 'Grasshopper' take flight

Editor's note: Tom Dwelle, LtCol USAF (Ret.) submitted his account of a recent flight in his 1943 Aeronca L-3 Observation aircraft. Here is his story: I saw the "flowers at Folsom Lake" short on Channel 3 this morning (published April 28), so I thought I'd go take a look. It was bound to be exciting. The wind was terrible, and our little WW II liaison aircraft is very basic. At 835 pounds, it has no battery, no electrical system, no radios, no flaps and a wooden propeller which must be "propped" by hand to start the engine. It's very much like winding up the rubber bands, like you did as a kid with a model airplane. My boys were off on a trip, so I was left to my own devices. So here I am contemplating this rotating death trap wondering, where is a kid when I need one? I'm getting too old for this. After 10 flips, the thing lights off and I duck under the wing holding onto a strut to keep my little "Grasshopper" from running off. Don't laugh, it's happened! That's a story for another day. The bumpy flight was delightful, it always is, and I found some lupines, as you can see from the photograph. I expected to find fields of poppies like last year, but I found none. Back home at the Auburn Aerodrome, I found several aircraft trying to land in that dreadful crosswind. I somehow persevered and lived to fight another day. – Tom Dwelle LtCol USAF (Ret)