Virginia Drake, Urbana, IL at Illiani Airport, (now Frasca Field), August, 1964.
Virginia Drake, Urbana, IL at Illiani Airport, (now Frasca Field), August,
1964.
Barb Wilson, Dupage Airport, West Chicago, Il, September, 1998
From time to time, a Swift owner is able to connect with the past of their airplane. Swifter Barb Wilson was able to do this when she and her husband Steve came in contact with James Drake, husband of the late Virgina Drake. Steve Wilson related the following in the December 1997 edition of the Swift Internet Update...
"This was his first Swift (he owned two others, the second was N2322B, he couldn't remember the number of the last one). He was the pilot (not Virginia), but had the airplane registered in her name. He had owned the airplane for about a year and had gone through one extensive annual inspection just prior to flying to Washington, DC, to pick up his wife for a return trip to Champain."
Turns out that on the return trip they damaged the Swift on landing at a fuel stop. In hopes of getting if fixed Drake tried to get a ferry permit to fly it back home to Champain, IL but the FAA would not issue a ferry permit. He sold the Swift as salvage to Ellington Aircraft Salvage in Walbridge, OH. Steve picks up the story again...
"He said that a few months later he was looking for another Swift and saw one advertised in Trade-A-Plane. He went to see it at Lake Air Corp in Michigan city, IN, and found that it was the same Swift which had not yet been repaired. He lost touch with it after that and was surprised that it was still around. (Apparently it has never flown since...)"
Now, '76Kilo has a good home with new owner Barb Wilson. In time, it will be flying again alongside Steve's Swift N77753.
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