N8683P The first time I came into contact with Comanche 8683 Papa was about in about 1977. At that time it was owned by Les Ward and Goevert van Vloten of Memphis who were both in the automotive aftermarket and retail automotive sales.

One of my closest friends, Peter Dangerfield, a long-time employee at FedEx became partners with Goevert taking Les's 50% partnership.

My first flight in 83 Papa was from HOU to MEM. While I had been checked out with an instructor, and had flown in the right seat on the trip down with Goevert, I was still pretty nervous flying what was the most complex airplane so far in my young career. Goevert had purchased a car which had been delivered to the Port of Houston, and was driving it back to Memphis. The flight was uneventful, and too quick averaging a ground speed of over 200 mph.

A few months later Goevert took a job with Cessna aircraft in European sales, and sold his 50% to myself and Jim Creech leaving Peter, Jim, and I as one third partners.

I had taken a travelling job with Ethan Allen, Inc., and was able to use the Comanche in business. It was through this job that I amassed about 400 hours in this aircraft.

Peter was our "genius" partner who had his FAA A&E certificate. It was through Peter's ability to do most maintenance and avionics work for us that Jim and I were able to fly the aircraft.

Peter had flown in the aircraft to Jamaica one summer with some friends with no problems. Later, however, Jim and Pete were on their way home from Oshkosh when the engine blew. Fortunately they were able to make a limited power landing in Southern Illinois where they left the plane, and came home to Memphis.

Our decision was to put a new engine in 8683 Papa, and later replaced the entire instrument panel with King radio equipment. The final decision investment was with a new paint job which was based on the design of the day used by Piper on its Lance. The colors chosen were red and white on sand. Boy were we proud of that airplane!

In 1980 I moved to Beaumont, TX, and sold my interest in 83 Papa to Peter and Jim.

They in turn traded 83 Papa in on a new Beechcraft A-36.

Goevert van Vloten had returned from Europe by this time, and learned that the 83 Papa was now property of the Beechcraft dealer. He then bought it, and took it to Gulfport, MS where it was based for many years.

Eventually Goevert sold it, and we lost track of 8683 Papa until we saw it is still flying and based in Washington, NC, and sports a new IO-540 engine. We don't know the current owner but see that he flies the airplane.

Peter and I made some great flights together in 8683 Papa...particularly from MEM to the Bahamas. In those days I had the bladder control matching the range of the Comanche which was 1,100 nautical miles with 90 gallons of usable fuel. Typically we would fly it non-stop at 75% power into the Miami area...refuel and then have lots of fuel left for island hopping. In those days there was not a lot of choices for 100LL in the out islands.

On one Ethan Allen trip from MEM to Wichita Falls, TX, I lost the alternator, and the avionics gradually went out. We had talked about the the emergency procedure for gear extention so I executed the manual extention with the crank in the floor. It worked, but it was a slow trip back to MEM with the wheels down all the way. Peter wasn't thrilled because he had to jack the plane up to engage the power extention mechanism.

Before the paint job, 8683 Pop was white with black and red trim.

We flight planned 153 knots which made it a 175 mile an hour airplane which was big to us.

The Comanche was based at MEM Hanger 5 which at that time was located at the NW departure end of runway 17L. That hanger has long since been demolished in favor of a new runway, 18L. 17L is now know as 18C.

Lots of memories with a great partnership with great friends and a great airplane.