A sad note...
On April 9, 2003, my friend, Gordon "Papa" Cargile passed from this life. He was truly the finest man I ever met. Papa, without really trying, taught me the true meaning of caring.
I shall miss him terribly.
Bill Fulmer
Y'know, I think a
little "Boogie-Woogie" sets a great mood for reading this tale,
and especially when viewing the great photos at the end....
Live a little... Press the "PLAY" (>) button...
Papa Gets His Cub....
Every child wants to
do something special for their Mom or Dad.
Here's how to make a Dad's lifelong dream come true...
When you see Gordon "Papa" Cargile of Columbia, South Carolina these days, it will often be at the airport, and he will be wearing this really big grin. Why? Because after many, many years of waiting, he finally has the Cub of his dreams. But to get to the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey would say), we need to go back a few years, say 50 or so. The place was Thorsby, Alabama; the year was 1941. Being located within a mile of the exact center of the state, Gordon's home town was surrounded by military training fields; Gunter and Maxwell at Montgomery, Craig in Selma and, of course, Tuskegee. And like a lot of 15 year olds, Gordon loved anything to do with aviation and would stop and look skyward whenever an airplane flew over. And believe me, there were tons of aluminum passing overhead in the early war years. 1943 came and Gordon was able to join the Navy and learn to direct artillery as a "fire controlman." Then, after the war he learned to fly, thanks to the G.I. Bill, in J-3 Cubs. These could be rented for $6.00 an hour or you could rent the 50 hp Franklin powered Cub for $4.00 an hour, but it was for solo only. To keep the cost down, you'd get a buddy to split the cost and fly for $3.00. This sounds wonderful today, but remember that the average pay back then was around $28.00 a week.
Time progressed, with Gordon flying Cubs most of the time, but also an Aeronca or two and a 75 hp Funk. Then in July 1948, Gordon decided that his growing family needed his time and resources more than his flying did, so he closed his logbook and hung up his wings, and did not solo again for the next 42 years. Don't get me wrong; the love was still there and he shared it with his boys, Jeff and Pat, by taking them to the airport to watch planes come and go, to air shows, even getting them acquainted with the legendary Bevo Howard. Many visits were made to the Wings & Wheels Museum at Santee, South Carolina in the late 1960s.
The seed that Gordon planted sprouted and grew until Pat decided that aviation was the field for him and went off to A&P school in Florence, South Carolina. While studying to become a mechanic, some of the guys decided to get their private so that they could have a better chance at getting a job. This sounded good to Pat, so he went along with it. After working at local FBOs in Florence and Columbia, Pat got a flying job and worked his way up to twins and then kerosene burners. Today he flies left seat in Saberliner jets, owns half interest in a Pitts S2-A and is recovering his 1949 Piper Clipper.
Now, I know you are wondering what all this is leading to. Well, here it is. For the past 30 years, the top item on Gordon Cargile's wish list had been a "Piper Cub." And we all know that you don't give Cubs as gifts. But this didn't keep Pat from looking around for a good deal, and if you have been watching Cub prices lately, you realize that even ratty Cubs go for over $10,000. In January 1990, Pat had narrowed the field down to a couple, and in February he bought a local Cub and started a "cleanup" for presentation on March 23rd. Like a lot of fabric airplanes, this one had a few spots of hangar rash, chipped enamel on the cowl, etc., along with a set of wings that were covered at a different time than the fuselage. This, and a right aileron that had been recovered at yet another time, made for an airplane with four or five different colors of "Cub" yellow.
A decision was made to repaint the cowl and try rejuvenating the fuselage, hoping to bring it up to the newer color of the wings. No dice. We tried for a color match of the wings - the fuselage was sprayed and it looked OK when we left for the night, but when it was dry the next morning, we still had different color wings. The final fix to the problem came about when the entire plane got a fresh coat of paint. And wouldn't 24 inch numbers look good on the wings? How about we take all the instruments out to be refurbished and the faces redone? The "quick cleanup" snow-balled until we had people of all sorts roped into helping get this thing finished in about 30 days! An artist friend painted the "cub caps" for the wheels, a local auto trim shop made vinyl N-numbers for the tail along with lettering for the baggage compartment and "NO STEP" signs for the struts. Thanks are due to a lot of folks who were assigned large and small tasks that makes Papa's Cub one of the best looking ones around.
Well, the last job was finished 30 minutes before sundown two days before the 23rd, so the main crew -- Pat, Tony Brunson and myself -- had just enough time for a couple of trips around the pattern before dark. Then the next day was spent giving rides to all the rest of the helpers and a photo shoot at a grass strip located in a peach orchard that was in full bloom at the time. Then on Friday, the 23rd, Pat flew the Cub up to Columbia and placed it into a borrowed hangar for the surprise party. It's not unusual for Pat to fly in to Columbia and have Papa pick him up for a weekend visit, so when Pat called and said to be there at 7:30 p.m., that didn't arouse any suspicion, but the instructions were to bring Mom along. Then when Jeff, his wife Ann and daughter Claudia also showed up to "pick up Pat," Papa thought something might be up. As soon as they got to the airport, Pat jumped into the drivers seat and instead of driving back home, he drove them around to a hangar that had two lawn chairs sitting facing the hangar door. Papa and Helen were invited to have a seat and the music began --2001, A Space Odyssey. Then the door started to rise slowly.......
Inside was a smoke generator churning out clouds of smoke, a strobe light flashing, spotlights shining from the rear of the hangar onto the sides of the Cub and balloons rising from the wingtips. Because there was nothing close enough to judge scale by, Papa told me he couldn't tell if it was a real big scale model radio control plane or the real thing. When the reality sunk in, Papa was just speechless. By this time quite a crowd of friends had gathered and there was your typical aviation party with all the southern fixin's. All the while Papa just kept muttering, "I can't believe it!". So when Pat showed him that it was registered to "Gordon Cargile", Papa wanted to know what he needed to do. Pat told him, "go find a tail wheel instructor, get current, find somewhere to keep it..... It's yours, enjoy!!".
So that's what transpired, and in the past year Papa has put over 100 hours on the Cub, has acquired one of the new hangars built at Owens Field in Columbia and has furnished it with a couple of chairs, a fridge and another gift, from son Jeff -- this time a brand new Huffy bike with balloon tires that was disassembled, painted with the same Cub paint as the cowl, along with a black lightning bolt on the chain guard. The chain guard even has a "No Step" marking. Gordon now has the time to enjoy his Cub having retired from the Telephone Company. He hasn't just been sitting around though - he had a big hand in Hurricane Hugo relief, using his pickup truck to make runs to disaster areas with food, water and supplies.
All in all, this story has been about an out-of-the-ordinary man and his out-of-the-ordinary son. But the Cub that Papa flies is also out of the ordinary. Cub NC 29043 was built on 7 January 1941 and was flown little, if any, until 1943. Then it was flown until July 1946 when it was put into long-term storage. Long term, you ask? How about FORTY years long! It's almost like these two were waiting for each other, don't you think?
John T. Baker, (EAA 244915, A/C 10233) 16 June 1991
Here are a few shots of Papa's Cub lookin' good.....
"Low 'n slow... with the door open!!!" "Last flight of the day... a happy pilot at sundown!!!"
"Doin' what Cubs do best.... Just lookin' pretty....." "Pat Cargile finishing up his gift to "Papa"....."
Epilogue....
Shortly after the model was finished, me, my wife Martha, and friends Carroll and Mildred Ledet packed it and a few changes of clothes and made a beeline to Columbia, SC, to meet Papa Cargile and his Cub, have a major photo shoot, and have Papa fly my Cub (with a "Buddy Box"!!!).
Papa did real well, only once did he "lose it", into a really cool terminal dive, but the trainer setup saved the day!!!
Please read the story of our visit, as told by Papa's son, Jeff, for publication in their E.A.A. Chapter newsletter, and see a great photo of the two Cubs.
