Cape Breton's Magazine

(You got your license in....) 1932. The first private license. (But you continued to work, I guess, at your job.) Oh yes, you had to keep working at that. (It wasn't like you were going to now leave and become a professional pilot.) No. Again, you have to consider, that was still in the Depression era--1929 on till almost the opening of the Second World War. There was a lot of unemployment and a lot of dead industries--just nothing mov- U-DO CRAFT SUPPLIES LOCAL CRAFTS WICKER AND WOOD Crafts & Supplies AND MUCH MUCH MORE! Drop in and enjoy our targe selection jor tfour personal use or jor (fijts. m 1818 KING'S ROAD, SYDNEY B1P6G5 564-9877 SUMMERTIME PRODUCTIONS SOCIETY presents FEATURING: Marcel Doucet John Mollis Berkley Lamey Fred Lavery Bette MacDonald Marilyn MacDonald Max MacDonald Doris Mason Matt Minglewood Maynard Morrison Neil Robertson DIRECTOR: Don Gillies MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Leon Dubinsky *90 ANEW MUSIC & COMEDY SHOW July 30 - August 4 Savoy Theatre Glace Bay August 6 - 8 Centre Bras d'Or Baddeck August 9-10 DeCoste Centre Pictou August 11-13 I August 16-17 , Rebecca Cohn | SAERC Halifax Port Hawltesbury August 14 I August 20-25 University Hall Savoy Theatre Wolfville Glace Bay TICKET OFFICES: 500 George Place • SYDNEY Savoy Theatre • GLACE BAY 564-6489 * 849-1999 ing. It was the war that practically was responsible for starting up the economy again. Oh, the world was in a real Depression. Kept flying, and kept gaining experience-- working towards my commercial license. Which I eventually got in 1934. I didn't buy an aircraft until 1937. (Bill points to a propeller on a beam in his living room.) I bought the one that had that prop on it. That was a Taylor Cub. Taylor was a former, I think, U. S. Air Force pilot. Taylor was a pioneer pilot and designer. And he was-- his primary design that Taylor became world-famous--Taylor Cub. But he had an ac? countant by the name of--the things are called today--Piper. Taylor had this Piper - as an accountant, and I guess he was better at the business than Taylor was, so Taylor lost out. And today the Piper Cub is known by Piper although it was Taylor's design and everything. And today it's one of the I biggest aircraft companies in the world.... (Why did you buy a plane?) Well, the idea was to--you know, again, more flying hours, and to do a bit of barnstorming--land on the lakes in the wintertime, you know. And in the summer you'd fly it over the field. We'd even have things like "a-cent-a-pound day." You'd take a fellow up for his weight. Or maybe if they're kids you get two of them in to? gether in the back seat. We used to make quite a lot of money in that time. And rent it out to the Flying Club for flying instruc? tion and all that. (How did you pay for it?) Well now, I'll tell you, at that time--there was a friend of mine, he's a Jewish boy from Glace Bay--Izzy Shore.... Izzy and I were good friends, and he was learning to fly. We more or less shared the aircraft. I did the flying because I had my li? cense, I had a commercial li? cense. And I practically paid for it. But Izzy and I more or less--you would say it was a partnership thing. And Izzy's retired today.... (Is it in Cape Breton that you were taking people up?) Oh yeah, oh yeah. (Did you advertise any? where?) Sometimes. Yeah, some? times in the newspaper or on the radio or whatever. And then we'd--on a Sunday we'd have the big day, because most people are off then. And we'd have it at the airport, or I flew out to-- wintertime, we went all the way across to Inverness. And perhaps