With the advent of COVID-19, activities for H-34 Charlie came to a halt. She sat in her nest at
Pend Oreille Mechanical (heating and air conditioning company,) watching the flowers grow.
For nearly two years we were unable to do our usual activities such as the Lost in 50s Old
Time Car Show and the annual 4th of July Parade, both of which Charlie usually led.
(See previous posts to learn about these events.)
In the spring of 2021 the forest fire smoke situation in Sandpoint got so bad that my wife, Carlita, and I decided to pull chocks and relocate to the north east corner of the Olympic Peninsula, across the Puget Sound from Seattle, where the air here in Port Townsend is much cleaner and cooler and better for our health. I basically abandoned H-34 Charlie, leaving her all alone and lonely in her nest for months. Nobody else had the desire, energy nor the motivation to care for her. No one would anyone tow her in the parades without my being present to lead the show. Bad weather was a factor, also.
In early July of 2022, with COVID-19 abating, I drove 500 miles to Sandpoint to prepare Charlie for the 4th of July parade. Once again, no one was interested in pulling the beastie in the parade, but I managed to convince my son-in-law, Officer Mike Aerni of the Sandpoint Police Dept., to do so with his red Dodge pickup.Mike did a superb job. My main motivation for joining the parade this years was that last year, I promised the daughter of a friend that she could ride in the cockpit during the parade. I felt I had to keep that promise to young Leah. She sat in the cockpit holding her teddy bear, shooting soap bubbles out at the applauding crowd with her bubble gun. She was a superb Pilot-in-Command.
In early August of this year, I saw on Facebook an invitation to a Vietnam Veterans BBQ in Sedro-Wooley, WA, about an hour north of Seattle, sponsored by American Legion Post 43. I called the number on the flyer to talk to Ande Mitchelle, the veteran putting on the BBQ. I asked him if I could attend. He replied, "Of course!" I then asked him if I could sell my (then) two books about flying helicopters. He again said, "Of course!"
After we talked for a while, Ande told me that he owns a 20-acre plot of land just outside Sedro-Woolley that he is parking out and has plans to place into a 501 (C) (3) non-profit park to be held in perpetuity for veterans. He said he has a line on an old F-80 fighter-jet, and maybe the possible acquisition of an Army Huey Cobra. I thought to ask him if he would like to have an H-34.
"Of Course!" he once again replied. I found Charlie a new home!
Since the BBQ was coming right up, we made a severe effort to get Charlie moved to her new home before the event. Ande hired his friend, Chris Blackburn, with his huge truck and gigantic trailer to come to Sandpoint and bring Charlie to her new home. Once again I made to nearly 1,000 mile round trip to Sandpoint to prepare Charlie for transport.
(Blackburn Trucking, Sedro-Woolley, should you ever have the need to have something huge moved.)
I rented a big fork lift and used it to remove the forward rotor blade and to lift Charlie up so we could back Chris's big trailer under it.
H-34 Charlie Flies Again!
Here is the crew that helped:
I put out a call for help and we immediately had a crew of five workers.
From left to right:
Chris Blackburn, Trucking business owner.
Jeff Dunnum, current President of Vietnam Veterans Chapter 890, Sandpoint.
Behind clam-shell door, Sandpoint Police Officer Mike Aerni.
Kneeling in front right, educator extraordinaire Chris Corpus
Right side, former Idaho State VVA President, Russ Fankell.
(Photo by this blogger.)
Here are some more pictures of the preparations:
Truck business owner Chris Blackburn supervises the loading of Charlie:
(Note the clam-shell door off to the right.)
Helicopter safely positioned on trailer, strapped down:
Getting ready to depart:
Helicopter Charlie departs to points west:
Charlie disappearing down the highway:
`
H-34 helicopter Charlie at her new home in Sedro-Woolley, WA, waiting to be put back together.
She sits on her belly, awaiting some love and attention soon.
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I flew 40 different models of helicopters (and some airplanes, too) for 22 different entities in nine countries. I flew more than 200 individual, different H-34s for more than 4,000 hours.
I love the old machine, which led to me to adopt Charlie in the first place.
Future posts will cover some of my escapades flying H-34s in many different venues.
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P.O. Box 105,
Port Hadlock,
WA 98339.
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Thank you.
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(Audio books under consideration.)
My trilogy of books about flying helicopters:
