“I’ve always dreamed of having a Piper Cub,” says Greg Hansen of Moses Lake, Washington.
But since he’s not a pilot, it seemed like an expensive purchase to justify.
Many readers may remember Greg, who has always been fascinated by aviation, as the creator of the Cessna on a stick — a 1956 Cessna 182 that he made into a wind vane.
Knowing his penchant for turning old airplanes into something new, a friend gave Greg an old Cessna 150 fuselage — “no cowling, no wings, no empennage, totally stripped inside.”
“Thinking ‘how I can make it into a Cub?’ I moved the main gear forward and built a tailwheel for it,” he reports. “I then looked around and found wings without flaps, but J-3’s didn’t have flaps anyway. I found a cowling and a prop, but I had to build the vertical stabilizer and rudder from scratch. Put a seat inside and a pair of yokes and soon the rudder pedals were in place.”
While Greg has no formal training working on aircraft, he explains that “when you grow up on a farm and have to fix things and tinker around with old cars, you learn to improvise.”
After working on the new airplane project for nine months, it was finally finished.
“I picked out a nice color of yellow, painted it, and put a blue streak down the side,” he reports.
“Being 80 years old, getting a private pilot certificate is out of the question. But in spite of that I’m going for my taildragger endorsement,” he says with a laugh. “It’s been very easy — three point and wheel landings, no ground loops, no bent props, but then again the plane hasn’t left the ground. This is the most stable plane I’ve ever ridden in with the two tie-down cables attached.”
All kidding aside, Greg says it’s the perfect airplane for someone who loves aviation but doesn’t fly.
“I don’t have to worry about annual inspections, check rides, insurance, or the cost of fuel,” he says. “What more could you want? It’s a Cessna Cub.”
I’m a retired 75-year-old podiatrist who’s been an aviation fan and observer for my whole life. Take a look at scale radio control planes, some of them are just beautiful. The way I fly is I stay in the ground and the planes go in the air.
Beautiful job on building your Cessna Cub! Rnjoy it however you do use it and look at it.
??? There are several C150s modified with tailwheels… Google ‘tail wheel Cessna 150’.
NOT so sure about a ‘straight-back’ version… ever being modified…
This might fit somewhere within MOSAIC, eh?
This is one pain with getting old is the restrictions we have on us. At 82 I fully understand the issue. Your story was an inspiration and we need more of these for us old farts.
But this Cessna Cub needs revision, that’s all I’m saying.
My dad got his flying license, then a friend bought a Super Cub and asked dad to teach him how to fly. When his friend got his private license he gifted the plane to my dad, then went on to get his Instrument, multi engine and commercial endorsements. Back then having a radio and other instruments was a luxury so one would get into the airport pattern, if you got a Green light, you landed, a Yellow would to do a fly around and get back in the pattern. The Red meant to leave. Things have really changed in the past 70 years…
Greg needs to install a flight simulator in his Cessna cub. He can fly anytime he wants, and doesn’t need a license.
Hi Greg
I’m a 60 year old farm boy who worked on a tobacco farm in 1970s North Carolina. So I’ve grown up with that same “I can do that “mindset. (GO HEELS)
And I just bought my first aircraft . It’s a Challenger SP1. I’m looking for a 150 also. But I was squirming about the money also. Your example has given me a renewed vigor to go ahead and find one and get on with it. Can’t be anymore difficult than a 140 Farmall.
Thanks for the inspiration. Nice touch with the 172 by the way
Rick (still a farm boy ) Norris