Father’s Plane Coming Home

It only took four decades but a son and his father’s beloved airplane have been reunited and will fly home.

Former Riverside resi-dent Scot Douglas will pilot his father’s Cessna 310 to historic Flabob airport in Rubidoux, Calif. on June 17th, his father’s birthday. Douglas, a 1976 Rubidoux High School graduate, grew up hanging around his father’s flight training facility, aircraft maintenance shop and air charter facility at Flabob.

When his father died in 1978, his mother had no choice but to liquidate the business along with the modest fleet of aircraft. Among the airplanes sold was a 1956 Cessna 310, which had been the flagship of the charter operation.

Douglas moved out of the area shortly after his father’s death and his involvement in aviation came to an end. However, whenever in town to visit he would always make it a point to stop by Flabob, just to walk around and check the status of the Cessna 310, the only aircraft of his fathers that remained on the field.

Douglas said he was saddened to see that the aircraft was not being flown regularly, and was, over the years, slipping into a state of total disrepair. In 1985, during what would be his last visit, he found that the aircraft no longer occupied its normal spot and thought surely it had been shipped off to some nearby salvage yard.

By the year 2000, however, he had returned to aviation and had settled permanently in Ashland, Ore. One day while sharing mental lists of favorite airplanes with a group of fellow pilots, Douglas leaned of an early model Cessna 310 in Paso Robles, Calif. that was for sale.

Though not in the market for an aircraft, the attractive asking price prompted him to contact the seller, a conversation that resulted in an appointment to take a personal look. When he arrived at the Paso Robles airport, the excitement of seeing a 310 similar to his father’s was suddenly overpowering.

This wasn’t a square-tailed Cessna “like” the one his father flew, but what he was looking at was, in fact, the very same one his father had once owned. While reviewing the aircraft logs Douglas was shocked to discover that in the 22 years that had passed since his mother had sold it, it had flown only nine hours.

The last inspection entries were written in his father’s own hand and dated  1976. With very little thought given to the challenge of bringing it back to airworthy condition, Douglas bought the plane.

After several weeks and countless phone calls arranging for necessary repairs the aircraft was flown to its new home where the restoration process began. Because of the financial impact of such an undertaking Douglas said he had to exercise extreme patience, yet did so without losing sight of his ultimate goals; to bring it back to original 1956 condition and above all else, someday pilot it back to Flabob Airport.

Not lost on him is the ironic timing of his visit which happens to coincide with both his father’s birthday and Father’s Day weekend. Subsequently, he’s learned, several other square-tailed 310s will be on hand to welcome an old friend home.

(Douglas notes: “A very special 'Thanks’ to the kind folks at Flabob, The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Chapter 1 and EAA President Jerry Cortez.)