Meet the Fleet. More precisely, a Consolidated Aircraft Fleet, Model 2. This little cutie rolled off the assembly line at 2400 Elmwwod Ave, Buffalo, NY on July 5, 1929. We acquired it from another museum which had it restored, flown for an hour, then pickled for display. We are in the process of rigging, unpickling, then flying the airplane for a few hours to break in the brand new engine.
We call her Babe, after both Babe Ruth, who was playing for the Yankees in 1929, and for my mentor, John Cournoyer, who always greeted my wife Lisa with a big bear hug and a “Hey, Babe.”
Despite her good looks, Babe is a beast of burden—pretty to look at, but all business. She trained lots of young men headed off to War in the early 40s.
