Yarns

This page includes some random stories I've received through email or other correspondences over the years. Perhaps the best description for these items are un-verified old airplane quotes, quips, tales, hangar lore, and yarns!!!  I am passing them on here for their unique interest, and for curiosity and posterity sake.  Enjoy:

Curtiss Robin N6H

From: John Klawitter
To: barnstmr@aol.com
Subject: Terry - I need to track an ancient Curtiss Robin Registration
Date: Sun, Nov 7, 2010 10:49 am
Attachments: JW_plane_CU_-_image_on_door.jpg (19K), John_Warren_with_his_airplane.jpg (788K), 172_John_Warren_Oshkosh.jpg (3174K)
Hi Terry -
I found your barnstormers blog by googling for information on Curtiss Robins. If you can, I need your help locating ownership information to help solve a family mystery. Here's the story, as I know it:
My wife's grandfather, John Warren, born in 1900, owned a Curtiss Robin, which he flew on business. (Picture attached, you may use it on your blog if you wish). I'm not sure what that business was, but the logo on the side of the plane indicates it may have been a U.S. Mail contract. This picture, taken circa 1928-1932, shows him standing in front of the plane. The registration number on the tail is NC6H, and I'm also attaching a close-up of the insignia..

This aviation pioneer, John R. Warren died in 1937. But there is another John Warren, born in 1913 (died in Ottsville Pennsylvania in 1994) who claimed he and his brother 'learned to fly in a Curtiss Robin'. This man lived in the same area as the first John Warren, and had a barn/hanger with some older planes and plane parts in it. It had a strut from a Curtiss Robin, and this 2nd John Warren remarked to his pals in the 1970's that it belonged to the very plane on which he'd learned to fly. He also claimed to have trained U.S. Pilots in WWII. He was involved with airports and civilian light plane flying and had lots of flyer friends in the Bucks County PA and adjacent New Jersey areas, but nobody really seems to know anything first hand about him before 1970.

When I first heard of this second John Warren, I was stunned to think it might be the same man who had left his family and lived a separate life for 50 years...but I now believe this to not be true. The original John Warren died in 1937 of pneumonia. However, there is a huge gap in the family history between 1937 and the 1970's when this 2nd John Warren emerges with stories of his pioneering aviation days and his experiences of training pilots in WWII.  Unfortunately, the military records indicate this 2nd John Warren was not in the U.S. Army Air Force as a pilot in WWII as he claimed, he was actually a private in the U.S. Army. A Vietnam Vet myself, I consider this a serious question. Either the military records need to be corrected, or this fellow told untruths about his experience in WWII. And if he would misstate his military record, the question arises, what else might he have misrepresented? And so I have been trying to find out what I can about this 2nd John Warren's past.

There is a picture of him in the 1970's standing next to a Curtiss Robin that is 'like the one on which he says he and his brother learned to fly.' (I'll also attach it to this email) I know it's just a long shot, but am hoping there is some way to track the registration of the plane NC6H and perhaps find out who owned it after 1936. If it was indeed picked up by the 2nd John Warren, it would go a long way to clear up the old records. The two black and white photos are of the original John R. Warren, born in 1900. The color photo is of the 2nd John Warren, taken at a fly-in at Oshkosh in the 1970's. Hoping you and your pals in the Curtiss Robin network can be of some help. If not, at least here are some pictures of a mighty stout and fine airplane.
Thanks!
JOHN KLAWITTER
www.johnklawitter.com
http://www.johnklawitter.blogspot.com/
 

     

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