Bent Wing Special

In the early 1970s, when I was about 12 years old, a group of us went to Durango, Mexico, to help a missionary, Gilbert Ross, rebuild a small building at a church and re-roof a house for a local pastor. I had my 35 mm camera with several lenses with me; I was really into photography back then. I carried my camera gear in an old surplus .50 cal. ammo can. Crossing the border was interesting when they were inspecting our stuff, and they saw that ammo can. Gilbert had an old Piper two-seat tandem plane that looked like a surplus aircraft. He used the Piper to reach the small communities that were difficult to reach by ground. One time, he was landing on a hillside airstrip, and before he could come to a stop, the plane veered sideways and came to rest on its right wing. You could see a slight bend in the wing, so it became known as the Bent Wing Special. He kept the plane patched up the best he could and relied on the Grace of God to get him where he needed to go.

One day, Gilbert asked if I would mind going with him to take some pictures of a couple of the churches he supports. I was excited to go since we would be taking the Bent Wing Special. We drove to a nearby remote area, and I saw the plane parked under a large oak tree. We got out, and Gilbert started to remove some tools from the car. I asked him what he was doing. He said we need to replace a brake line and bleed the brakes. I watched as he removed one of the old brake lines, flared the tube on the new one, and installed it. I sat in the plane and pressed the brakes while he bled the air out of it. Then we pumped fuel from a barrel to the wing tanks. We took the side windows out and leaned them against the tree. A quick walk-around to make sure there were no tears in the fabric covering the plane and that we were ready to go.

I climbed into the rear seat as Gilbert cranked up the engine. He went through a mental checklist and throttled up. As he pulled away from the parking spot, Gilbert tested the brakes a couple of times and was satisfied with the results. It was then that I started looking for an airstrip; there was none. We started to taxi uphill towards a mountain. Cows were moving out of the way as we went through their field. We reached the foot of the small mountain and turned around to face downhill. I could see the strip; it was the area where all the rocks had been removed. We stopped, and Gilbert bowed his head. After a few moments, I asked whether everything was ok. He did not answer right away, but finally said that he had clearance from God for a safe flight and that we were ready to go. I will never forget that moment as long as I live.

He throttled up, and the small Piper started downhill. The tail rose, and a few seconds later, the main wheels left the ground. We flew directly over the oak tree that served as the “hangar” for the plane. I have always loved flying, so I was having the time of my life as we looked at the sights below us. It did not take us long to be over Durango. Gilbert looked over his shoulder and had to yell over the wind noise. He said that he would orbit counterclockwise over a church he wanted pictures of, so he would be ready to shoot from the left open window. After taking a few pictures, we leveled out, flew to another building, and did the same. After flying around for about an hour, Gilbert steered the plane back towards the mountain. When we arrived at the landing field, we had to fly low over the cows a few times to get them off the ‘runway’. Gilbert then lined the plane up for landing. We touched down not far from the oak tree and coasted uphill to a stop. We turned around and taxied over to the parking spot under the tree. As he shut the engine down, Gilbert said, “It is sure nice to have brakes again. It makes taxiing a lot easier.”

Many years later, I saw Gilbert and his wife. She said that he has Alzheimer’s. I asked him if he remembered the flight we took those many years ago. He smiled and shook his head no. I said, " That is ok, one day we will talk about it in Heaven. He smiled.