A short story during a long winter

[solo1]

I'm starting the 12 year of doing my own laundry.  I now live alone in an apartment, a long cry from having a loving wife and with four kids to raise. This winter hasn't been all that great. My Vstrom has been sitting since November, no riding, I miss the Valkyrie that I had but mainly miss the riding.
Today I have some things to do in Ft. Wayne and I will be in the vicinity of Smith field, a still small airport in north Ft. Wayne.  This brought to mind a little story that I wrote some years back.  It's been on these pages before, i think, but I thought that I'd post it again to take the place of the frustrations I see on posts here.

For me, this story takes me back to better times.  I hope that many here will enjoy it.


                                                          Lookin' back to Motorcycling, Circa 1948



Here in the Ft Wayne area there has been controversy about Smith Field, a flying Field for small
aircraft on the north side of Ft. Wayne. The land that Smith Field is composed of has a high
value. Many people want the county to sell it and plat it out for new homes. I wouldn't want to
see it go, too many fond memories. Today, Smith Field is completed surrounded by many
homes.
It wasn't like that in 1948. In fact Smith Field was out in the sticks then and my riding buddy,
Tom, worked there in the evening.
Tom's major duty was to turn on the runway lights if someone wanted to land there at night.
Since there was no two way radio, it was the practice to fly over the field twice. This would be
the signal for turning on the runway lights. Night landings at Smith were few and far between!
Enter a brilliant idea.
I would ride out there at night to keep Tom company. Of course the real reason was to drag race
our 1946 Matchlesses on the runways. Our thumpers were exactly alike, both were '46 models,
500 cc singles, hard tails, and with the compression plates removed.  The compression plates were installed at the Matchless factory for the use of the low octane gasoline (petrol) that was available in Britain.  Removing the quarter inch thick plates from under the cylinder (jug) resulted in a higher compression and made better use of the higher octane gasoline in the US. It raised the compression level from a dismal 5.7 to 1 to  a whoppin'  7.3 to one   Both thumpers were producing a mighty 22 horses, not exactly head snappin today.  At any rate, we still had fun .
Needless to say, some nights I would win, some nights Tom would win. That became boring fast
I decided to make a change so I experimented shifting through the gears of the Flying M at
different speeds (our bikes had no tachs).Watching the Smith speedometer click its way up through the mph readout,  it took awhile but I found that by using the "seat of the
pants" approach that I was revving the engine 'way past its torque curve in first, second, and
third gear. I finally ended up with shifting that  high torque, low horsepower  engine out of 1st at
15mph, 2nd at 30mph, and 3rd at 45mph.  It seemed like a noticeable difference.
The next night that I knew Tom was on duty I rode out to Smith field but I didn't tell Tom what I had found out.
We lined up on the runway, Tom blew his horn and we started out even. I short shifted through
the gears and left him behind all the way to 8Omph, which was close to the max top speed of
both bikes. We tried it twice more to allow for "missed shifts, late starts, etc" or whatever else
excuse that Tom could think of. Nothing worked for him. It was obvious that Tom thought I had
done something to my bike.
I let him stew for awhile and then I dropped the bombshell! I told him that since he thought my
bike had been "worked on" I would, in all fairness, swap bikes. He could ride mine and I would
ride his. He was all for that. We swapped bikes and did the drill.
It got him nowhere! I beat him again and again. I was really getting to him, I was driving him
nuts!— And then, since he was a good friend, I told him my secret, the early shift points..

The two Matchlesses were again equally matched and Tom and I had a big laugh over it!

I learned early that there is a difference between horsepower and torque, especially in low revving British singles.


Special Note:  Many years later, in an Army motor pool in  Korea, I raced the motor pool dispatcher, PFC Winston, his F head Jeep against mine..  I beat him.  We switched jeeps and I beat him again.  However, I never told him what I did.  Winston was a misplaced opera singer and not a motorhead and he wouldn't have understood .  It was fun though!

Wayne, solo1

[Spirited-6]

I'm starting the 12 year of doing my own laundry.  I now live alone in an apartment, a long cry from having a loving wife and with four kids to raise. This winter hasn't been all that great. My Vstrom has been sitting since November, no riding, I miss the Valkyrie that I had but mainly miss the riding.
Today I have some things to do in Ft. Wayne and I will be in the vicinity of Smith field, a still small airport in north Ft. Wayne.  This brought to mind a little story that I wrote some years back.  It's been on these pages before, i think, but I thought that I'd post it again to take the place of the frustrations I see on posts here.

For me, this story takes me back to better times.  I hope that many here will enjoy it.



Wayne, one thing nice of being alone, you can do what ever you want, when you want. 

[Patrick]

You had mile long runways way back then ?

I used to go to Huntington [HHG, if I remember correctly] on a somewhat regular basis years ago. Nice area and some really neat planes based there.

[solo1]

You had mile long runways way back then ? Quote by Patrick.

No, the maximum length of the longest of two runways is 3,124 feet.  Smith was called Baer Field prior to WWII. Pilots like Rickenbacker, Wiley Post,  Jimmie Dolittle, Chas. Lindberg, and Howard Hughes, all landed there at one time or another.  Lots od flying history.

Smith Filed is still active today but surrounded by homes and industry.

[Patrick]

Oh, OK, I mis-read your statement. That makes sense now. I thought you meant flying mile rather than flying Matchless [I think]. I had a Matchless twin many moons ago, wish I still had it.
We flew out of 2300ft for years and had to stretch that to 3200ft for the Citations. The insurance companies stuck their noses in and made them go to 'at least' a mile. That kinda takes some of the fun out of the flying business.

[Jess from VA]

Good story Wayne.   

Here's what's left of Grosse Ile Naval Air Station on the island where I grew up.  Designed for props only, so closed many years ago.  Kept open as small industrial park and private airport.  No tower, you fly around and announce you are landing and if anyone is in the area they need to watch out.  My Boy Scout troop met here. Got my aviation merit badge there.  Brother used to own a fixed base operation there, with 3 Cessnas, gas and a maintenance hanger.  Against zoning, he lived in an attic of the hanger... and his three cats learned to climb the ladder to his loft.  Some of the best drugs in Detroit were flown in here, until the DEA discovered it.