JackieB
11-01-2008, 07:51 PM
Hello Forum Friends,
I dug out a couple of photos of Jackie Brown (my namesake) and his Piper Super Cub airplane that I wanted to share with everyone. I’ll tell a bit of his story as well.
Jackie learned to fly at a young age and earned his pilot’s license as a teenager. He flew medical evacuation missions in the service for years and finely honed his flying skills and logged thousands of hours in the air.
After being discharged from the military with numerous honors, Jackie wanted to continue to fly, but he didn’t have much money. So, he bought an old Piper Super Cub for $2,000 that had been mostly destroyed (pilot uninjured) landing in a corn field. Jackie then earned his Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) license through a local community college and began lovingly restoring his Cub to better-than-new condition. It took him five years and he worked as a rural postal carrier for income during the time.
Here is a photo of Jackie’s Super Cub after he finished it.
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/JackieB_2008/JackieBrownSuperCub002.jpg
Jackie was actually far too humble to want his name emblazoned on the side of an aircraft. But, he needed a bit of advertising for his business, so he reluctantly agreed to paint his name on the side of the Cub. You can see that the letters aren’t real big, though. That was pure Jackie Brown.
Jackie then flew his Cub up to Alaska and began a long and exciting career as a bush pilot. He specialized in landing in very difficult spots in the wilderness such as small gravel bars on rivers and even developed a new technique for these landings.
The full name of the technique is, aptly enough, the “Jackie Brown”. However, it has been shortened over time and is referred to simply by its initials “JB”, which are pronounced as one word with one syllable - “Jayb”. If you hear a bush pilot in Alaska say something like “I think we can jayb it into that spot”, you’ll know that she’s going to try the “Jackie Brown” maneuver. It’s a fairly complex technique that requires perfect coordination of all four paws on the stick, throttle, and rudders at once.
Here is a photo of Jackie Brown next to his airplane. He was already very elderly by the time I took this photo and had lost some of the sparkle in his eyes. He wasn’t sad, just calm the way a creature should be at the end of a long and well-lived life.
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/JackieB_2008/JackieBrownSuperCub001.jpg
I asked Jackie if he would kindly climb into the cockpit for a photo and he agreed. Here is that picture. He got a little misty-eyed when he rested one paw on the stick, the other on the throttle, and his hind paws on the rudder peddles. He didn’t say anything, but I could see him conjuring up memories from years and years flying fisherman into remote lakes, children of wilderness families out to their dental appointments, and even an abandoned bear cub to a sanctuary once.
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/JackieB_2008/JackieBrownSuperCub.jpg
Jackie Brown left for the Rainbow Bridge not too long after I captured these photos. Sharing so many years of my life with him is a treasure that I can’t fully express with words. He was content, calm, wise, and taught by example. I’ll look forward to seeing him again when I get to the Rainbow Bridge. In the meantime, I honor Jackie Brown by using his name when I need an online identity – JackieB.
Thanks for reading a bit about Jackie Brown, his legendary flying skills, and his beautiful Piper Super Cub bush plane.
I dug out a couple of photos of Jackie Brown (my namesake) and his Piper Super Cub airplane that I wanted to share with everyone. I’ll tell a bit of his story as well.
Jackie learned to fly at a young age and earned his pilot’s license as a teenager. He flew medical evacuation missions in the service for years and finely honed his flying skills and logged thousands of hours in the air.
After being discharged from the military with numerous honors, Jackie wanted to continue to fly, but he didn’t have much money. So, he bought an old Piper Super Cub for $2,000 that had been mostly destroyed (pilot uninjured) landing in a corn field. Jackie then earned his Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) license through a local community college and began lovingly restoring his Cub to better-than-new condition. It took him five years and he worked as a rural postal carrier for income during the time.
Here is a photo of Jackie’s Super Cub after he finished it.
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/JackieB_2008/JackieBrownSuperCub002.jpg
Jackie was actually far too humble to want his name emblazoned on the side of an aircraft. But, he needed a bit of advertising for his business, so he reluctantly agreed to paint his name on the side of the Cub. You can see that the letters aren’t real big, though. That was pure Jackie Brown.
Jackie then flew his Cub up to Alaska and began a long and exciting career as a bush pilot. He specialized in landing in very difficult spots in the wilderness such as small gravel bars on rivers and even developed a new technique for these landings.
The full name of the technique is, aptly enough, the “Jackie Brown”. However, it has been shortened over time and is referred to simply by its initials “JB”, which are pronounced as one word with one syllable - “Jayb”. If you hear a bush pilot in Alaska say something like “I think we can jayb it into that spot”, you’ll know that she’s going to try the “Jackie Brown” maneuver. It’s a fairly complex technique that requires perfect coordination of all four paws on the stick, throttle, and rudders at once.
Here is a photo of Jackie Brown next to his airplane. He was already very elderly by the time I took this photo and had lost some of the sparkle in his eyes. He wasn’t sad, just calm the way a creature should be at the end of a long and well-lived life.
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/JackieB_2008/JackieBrownSuperCub001.jpg
I asked Jackie if he would kindly climb into the cockpit for a photo and he agreed. Here is that picture. He got a little misty-eyed when he rested one paw on the stick, the other on the throttle, and his hind paws on the rudder peddles. He didn’t say anything, but I could see him conjuring up memories from years and years flying fisherman into remote lakes, children of wilderness families out to their dental appointments, and even an abandoned bear cub to a sanctuary once.
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/JackieB_2008/JackieBrownSuperCub.jpg
Jackie Brown left for the Rainbow Bridge not too long after I captured these photos. Sharing so many years of my life with him is a treasure that I can’t fully express with words. He was content, calm, wise, and taught by example. I’ll look forward to seeing him again when I get to the Rainbow Bridge. In the meantime, I honor Jackie Brown by using his name when I need an online identity – JackieB.
Thanks for reading a bit about Jackie Brown, his legendary flying skills, and his beautiful Piper Super Cub bush plane.