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BIG BIRDS
Rich Minnick's 10 foot (3x scale) 1938 Rocketeer Page 3 of 3 by Andrew Tickle |
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Rich moved from his spacious
winery, and had to sell the Rocketeer.
An aviation partnership was born. Apart from raising
huge funds for the
undisclosed price of the bird, the partnership was also vital to keep the
bird flying. Only Chip had the vehicle big enough to
transport it, and only Andrew had the space to hangar it. Besides it takes
two people to carry it anyway.
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| Chip and Andrew (now co-owners) at the Canvas Falcon meet. With Greg Huffman, they flew a three bird formation with the Rocketeer, Greg's big Dallaire and an RC-1. Greg Huffman photo |
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| Greg Huffman with his Dallaire big bird. Andrew Tickle photo |
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Chip and Andrew took the Rocketeer to the Liberty Flyers site to get familiar with it before Canvas Falcon Day. The Rocketeer (all 15 lbs of it) turned out to be a great thermal flyer. And so easy to see at great heights.... Doug Greene, the owner of the flying field, spotted it from his house, and drove over in great excitement to see it up close. Photo at right shows (L to R) Chip, Greg and Andrew flying Big Rocketeer, Big Dallaire and an RC-1 on Canvas Falcon Day. |
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| Naomi takes the big bird back home. Andrew Tickle photo |
Unfortunately the BIG Rocketeer has been crashed twice but only fixed once. It is now waiting for it's fuselage to be rebuilt. We may someday see it in the air again.