91 Years Young, Larry Bartell Is Still Flying
By ANN Senior Correspondent Kevin O'Brien
Any time at Airventure that I start feeling old and sorry for
myself, I go hang out at the OX-5 Aviation Pioneers tent. Then I
soon find myself simply feeling sorry for myself.
I happened to walk into the tent as volunteer Larry Bartell and
another old-time birdman were playing a small game of pilot
one-upsmanship.
"I'm ninety-one," Larry volunteered, with a big grin. I'd never
have guessed -- if I had been asked to name his age, I'd have said
about seventy.
The other pilot bristled. "Well, I'm ninety-one AND A HALF."
Heck, I could see he was older than Larry -- he looked about
seventy-FIVE.
Larry nodded graciously, and accepted that he was a mere whelp
compared to this other man, who had, if I recall correctly, five
months on him.
Then Larry dropped the Big One.
"Ah, but do you still have your medical?" The other pilot
looked at the ground. He still flew, but with a safety pilot as
nominal PIC.
Larry, on the other hand, still flies his plane. What kind of
plane?
"A Bonanza. A 1947 Bonanza. It was ahead of its time then, and
it still is." He's flown the engine to the point of overhaul twice,
and he expects to overhaul it at least once more. "They aren't
making many of the planes they made then, but they still make the
Bonanza," he said with pride.
"What did you learn to fly in," I asked Larry, expecting to hear
a story of Liberty-powered Travelairs, or at least Wacos or
Stearmans or something. But no, Larry learned in a thoroughly
modern plane, fully enclosed, side-by-side seating and all the
latest conveniences: a Taylorcraft.
He was delighted to hear that the T-craft was back in
production.
The OX-5 Aviation Pioneers was founded in 1955 as a sort of
membership club for old-time barnstormers. The original membership
requirements were stringent: you had to have flown an OX-5 powered
airplane, like the Curtiss Jenny, or worked on them; historians
were accepted as a sort of associate member, based on the vote of
the general membership.
Its motto was: "Aviation History by those who lived it!"
The problem with such an organization is obvious: even in 1955,
most of your OX-5 era pilots were getting long in the tooth, and
1955 was a while ago. Or, to paraphrase Peter, Paul and Mary,
"OX-5s live forever, but not so little boys." The organization has
now closed its office, but will continue to exist, and anyone can
join by sending in an application with the requisite fee.
It's probably a pretty good way to meet some interesting
people.
Larry Bartell, for his part, volunteers at the OX-5 tent every
year at Oshkosh. His wife comes with him and also works her heart
out at the tent. They leave his plane at home and drives up with a
lot of "stuff"
for the display.
You can't miss the OX-5 Aviation Pioneers' tent: it has a
Curtiss OX-5 engine on a display stand in front of it!
Next year, stop in and say hello to Larry.
He'll be 92.