Names to Remember

It is not very often that authors and photographers step away from their keyboards and lenses into the spotlight. Typically, these professionals are focused on conveying the stories and accomplishments of others. Yet scribes and photographers do not necessarily just live vicariously through their subjects, they can and do lead interesting lives of their own.

Take for example, American aircraft historian and author John Swick. The day dawns bright and sunny in eastern Colorado, so John hops in his restored 1979 Ford pickup and drives a short distance to Kit Carson County Airport (KITR) in Burlington. Eagerly pushing open the T-hangar doors, a gentle breeze ruffles his hair as he casts an admiring gaze at his 1946 BC12-D Taylorcraft (N96290). After a thorough pre-flight, John hand props the Continental A-65-8 and removes the tiedown and chocks. The man and machine, whose combined ages total 161 years, taxi onto the runway and rise into the sky for a brief and refreshing respite.

John enjoys flying his Taylorcraft every week.

Born in 1932, John grew up on a small ranch, a cow-calf operation, in the hill country of central Nebraska. He attended a one-room school through eighth grade and was about nine when he first became enthused about aviation. “My mother gave me a cardboard book of cut-out aircraft and as time went on, she saw the error of her ways and started to give me civil engineering books!” he recalls. “My first ride was in a 1946 Aeronca 7AC Champion, for about $5,” reminisces John. “In the summer of 1946, my cousin, Oscar Swick, purchased a shiny new Luscombe Model 8A. I was really fascinated with that Luscombe and Oscar ultimately became a Luscombe dealer. My family was quite poor, so I worked for his father and uncle during the summers. I rode in several different airplanes with them.”

Three chapters

John was 23 when he soloed a 1940 Aeronca Chief in 1955 and continued flying for just five years. “My flying is divided into three chapters for numerous reasons: career opportunities, lack of financial resources and sometimes the unavailability of an aircraft. Plus, I decided that raising a family, being an entrepreneur and starting my own business, as well as pursuing other career opportunities, came first in my life adventure,” he says. “My wife, Joan and I were married for 61 years. She was an equity actor and travelled and performed in a theatre group, so from 1960 to 1978, I did not fly. Then I flew for 10 years until 1988. I did not fly for the next 28 years.” At various times throughout the years, he has owned two 1946 Luscombe 8As, a 1948 Luscombe 8F Deluxe, a 1942 Aeronca Chief and a Cessna 172N. In 2016, John picked up flying again when he bought the Taylorcraft which he now owns.

John’s 1946 BC12-D Taylorcraft is named Tiffany

“A fellow I knew had decided to sell his Taylorcraft because he did not fly it very much,” he says. “It was in excellent condition, so I talked to my daughter Cheryl, who used to fly with me and she said she did not care if I bought an airplane, but she would have a ‘fit’ if I bought a motorcycle!” Since he hadn’t flown for nearly three decades and there was not an airplane he could rent at his local airport, John went over to Renner Field (KGLD) in Goodland, Kansas and had his flight review in a Cessna 172.

Then he went to Jim Kelly Field Airport (KLXN) in Lexington, Nebraska, to fetch the BC12-D. “I found a flight instructor who checked me out in the Taylorcraft and I flew it back to Burlington,” he recalls. “It was really exciting to be flying again. I did not use a GPS. It was a 148 nm cross country and I navigated by drawing lines on my sectional chart and looking for checkpoints,” he continues.

John is right at home in the BC12-D he has owned since he was 84

“However, suddenly my life got really busy, so I did not fly it very much for a couple of years. Then I was a little sketchy, so I went over to Shalz Field Airport (KCBK) in Colby, Kansas and had my flight review and we did crosswind landings in a Cessna 150.” “I fly my Taylorcraft about every week and it costs me $20 a year to have bragging rights that I belong to the United Flying Octogenarian club,”he says with a smile.“My logbooks show 764 hours total time, and I have flown 22 different aircraft as pilot in command. The most interesting aircraft I have ever flown was Chuck Doyle’s 1931 Stinson Jr. S (NC443G).” John describes the most fulfilling aspect of having his BC12-D as being ‘the pride of ownership.’

“I will be 88 this year and I really get a lot of pleasure out of owning an airplane and being able to fly it,” he says. “I can still go and push it out of the hangar, start it, fly it and put it back in the hangar all by myself. Nobody has to help me. When I can no longer do this, I will quit flying it.”

Aviation history

John revels in aviation history. In the mid-1960s, he discovered there was not a book about Luscombe aircraft history, so he started doing some informal research on the topic. His mother, no doubt, wielded some influence on his research and writing endeavours. She was a writer whose stories appeared in magazines and newspapers. “In 1968, I was visiting my mother in Nebraska and researching Cousin Oscar’s Luscombe dealership.” My mother said, ‘I have been saving this for you for all these years,’ as she went to a closet and produced several boxes containing aircraft brochures that I had collected in 1946. One of those was the original Luscombe factory brochure and about 15 magazines from 1946 to 1948. That started my serious research and research is fun. I really enjoyed it,” smiles John.

“However, writing is the albatross around my neck and I must have had at least 20 rejections from publishers before Every Cloud has a Silvaire Lining was published in 1987. At that time, we did not have computer-assisted drawings. A young lady, Raylene Canada, drew them by hand on large Mylar sheets and then they were shrunk down for the book. Her drawings served as a springboard for her entry into a successful career and that was the best thing about that book.”

In 2005, John expanded that book into Luscombe’s Golden Age. The culmination of an additional seven years of research and writing yielded Stinson’s Golden Age (Volume 1, Stinson Aircraft 1938-1947 and Volume 2, Stinson Aircraft 1948-1950 and Beyond) as part of Wind Canyon Books’ “The Golden Age of Aviation” series. John’s forthcoming book, Stinson’s Early Years: 1920 to 1943, may be published by the Autumn of 2020.

Wing ribs

One of those aviator friends gave John a Piper PA-18 wing rib about 20 years ago. That launched John into a rather eclectic hobby, collecting wing ribs. His collection includes ribs from a Myers OTW, Fleet Model 9, Steen Skybolt, Ryan PT-22,Taylorcraft, Stinson, Luscombe, Aeronca and a de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth. It is cheaper than collecting entire airplanes,” chuckles John with his ever-present humour, “so each aircraft event that I attend, I just ask if anyone has wing ribs lying around that they would contribute to my collection. It is amazing to me the number of people who find a wing rib in their hangar or basement!”

An optimist’s outlook

“I was baptised in a river as a young man and my faith has sustained me through the years. I have always been an optimist, even in bad times. That is how I survived. As an entrepreneur, I owned a Ben Franklin Variety store and a Ben Franklin Crafts’ store,” elaborates John. “I was told if you go broke in business it creates character. I went broke once and I do not need any more character. We could not compete with the big box discount stores and went out of business. I lost everything except my house, and just picked up the pieces and started all over again.”

Although John’s lifelong interest in aviation is near and dear to his heart, it is not only aviation that tickles his fancy. Just prior to the coronavirus pandemic, he took dancing lessons and learned how to do the two-step, country swing, and waltz. He is still working on perfecting his polka. However, that is not all; John also plays competitive bridge and occasionally is called to work as a substitute teacher at a middle school and high school. Amongst other endeavours, John serves on his local hospital board and has nearly completed his research for a book about Ben Franklin Five and Dime stores. Ever optimistic and hoping the pandemic will soon pass, John is also planning to help celebrate the centennial of Stinson aircraft this summer by attending and speaking at various gatherings, including the Stinson gathering at the Antique Airplane Association’s fly-in at Blakesburg, Iowa and the Stinson fly-in at Beaumont, Kansas.

Whilst the research is fun, there is another element

of writing that John says he enjoys as well:

Overall, the thing I value most about writing is making good friends and meeting interesting,

creative people in the field of aviation.