Bernard
H. Pietenpol was born in 1901 and died in 1984.
He quite literally lived through the rise of the airplane and especially
during the Golden Years of flight between WWI and WWII. For the better part of his life he lived in
Cherry Grove Minnesota.
In
1928 Mr. Pietenpol built and flew his prototype the Pietenpol Air Camper. The first plane was designed to fly with an
Ace water cooled engine. Many early
Piet's flew with ford Model A and Model T engines. More recent Piet's fly with a variety of aircraft
and automobile engines; I’m told that Bernard favored the Chevy Corvair
engine. Like most aircraft of the period
she was designed to fly in and out of unimproved fields and pastures and she is
good at it.
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| Corvair Powered Piet "BP's Last Original". |
Among
her other qualities the Piet is designed to be built by anybody. Her materials are spruce, plywood, and cloth
just as God intended. Her introduction
sparked the homebuilt aircraft craze that still endures today. She is relatively easy to build and
especially enjoyable to those who like working with wood. Because she can be built out of common
materials she is a fairly affordable aircraft to build and own. She definetely belongs on my list of aircraft for the next century.
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| Ford Model A Powered Piet, notice the interesting radiator location. |
Her
flying qualities are suitable for a student tail dragger (conventional)
pilot. She has two seats so it's a great
plane to learn in and to give rides to young people. Her max speed is 100 mph which is pretty darn
good for an open cockpit strut braced plane that only stalls at 35 mph.
Last
but certainly not least. The Pietenpol
designs have been built and loved for a very long time this means she has a
very massive support community. The
importance of community in flying cannot be overemphasized. We cannot rely on the government or
manufacturers to pull private flying out of the death spiral it's in. In the end we must rely on one another and
our boundless love of flight.
Works Cited:
For Support:
