June 20, 2011
A Fleet’s Last Lesson
Gene Breiner got a little choked up when he handed over his 1929 Fleet Model 2 to the National Air and Space Museum at “Become a Pilot” Day on Saturday. He dedicated it to “all the people who learned to fly in her, and all the people I took for their first and last airplane rides in her.” In the first category, that would be hundreds.
Chet Machamer in the Fleet Model 2 leaves little doubt that flying is fun.
The Fleet was the first aircraft designed to be a civilian trainer. That’s why Breiner’s Fleet, one of six Model 2’s remaining, earned a place at the Museum. This particular airplane was used in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, a U.S. Government effort begun in 1938 with the stated purpose of boosting general aviation. (An unstated purpose was to boost the number of U.S. pilots as war brewed in Europe.)
One of the students who learned to fly in Breiner’s Fleet was on hand for Saturday’s ceremony. In fact, 16-year-old Chet Machamer soloed the airplane that very morning. With his airline-pilot dad along, he flew it from Bermudian Valley Airpark in East Berlin, Pennsylvania, to Frederick, Maryland, where Breiner took over and flew, also with John Machamer, the last leg to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport in Virginia.
Machamer had already flown the long solo trip required for his pilot’s license in a J-2 Cub, but he preferred flying the Fleet. “The J2 is only 36 horsepower,” his dad explained. “He always complains that he can’t keep up with the big trucks on the highway.”
What did it feel like to solo in the Fleet? Chet, whose dad is also his flight instructor, said, “It was definitely different with a lot less weight.” His dad, the weight, replied, “That’s my son.”
We’ll have more about the Fleet in our September issue—including the story of how Breiner found and restored it. Pretty nice that on its last day of flying, the airplane did what it was invented to do: Help a novice rack up flying time on the way to becoming a pilot.
It is very sad to me that such a nice, flying plane, will not be flying anymore. Museums are very important to us all. Flying is very important to us pilots, IMHO. I hope the Fleet does well in the Musuem. It certainly will be a good addition to the museum collection. It is nice that the museum is saving our past for us all and for those that follow.
Comment by Steven Oxman — June 23, 2011 @ 1:15 pm
As the son of Clinton Warner, test pilot who tested the Fleets (all the way up to model 21s)for Consolidated Aircraft in Buffalo, this was a great story. I’m sure my dad would be thrilled to know “his babies” were still creating interest. Aviation museums to save the history of early aviation are so important: hopefully the authorities of Buffalo, NY will understand this importance, and enable a permanent museum there for the home of Consolidated, and other prominent aircraft companies such as Bell and Curtiss-Wright.
Comment by Phil Warner — June 23, 2011 @ 4:41 pm
I also hate to see a beautiful airplane grounded but I’m sure it will inspire many would-be pilots in the museum. It was a Strombecker model that inspired me when I was a child. I wish I still had that plane. It was a single engine plane somewhat like a Cub. I had built the model, sanded it and painted it Cub Yellow!
I grew up and became a flight instructor but still love those small single engine planes. I flew a Cub and a Citabria mostly and taught quite a bit in that Citabria! I never saw a cross wind it couldn’t handle! Great plane!
Thanks for the great article on the Fleet!
Comment by John Giles — June 23, 2011 @ 8:44 pm