In the spring of 1941 Jack Delagrange was on active duty in the Army Air Corps. As a result he offered for sale his Piper J-3 Cub, NC 28022, powered by a 60 hp Franklin Engine, but with no wheel brakes. Several individuals at that time formed the Cumberland Flying Club and purchased the Delagrange Cub. The Club initiation fee was 50 dollars which allowed members to fly the Cub for one and one half dollars per hour, plus small monthly dues. The officers were Roy Henly, W.E. Ruehl, W.E. Swartzwelder, and Merle Cobler. Activity was brisk and two months later while Lewis Ort was home on leave from the US Navy he sold his Cub to the club. This aircraft, NC 28099, was a sister plane to the Delagrange ship. However, just before the sale, Bob Poling observed Lew Ort depart on the take-off roll from his hangar located on the east side of the south runway and go across the runway directly towards the two big hangars of Cumberland Flying Service. At the last possible moment the daredevil Ort zoomed the Cub barely over the hangars dragging the tail wheel on the roof as he successfully staggered the Cub into the air. In recent years Lew would laugh heartily when he would re-tell this story.
Bob Poling in front of the Cumberland Flying Club’s J-3 Cub, formerly owned by Lew Ort.
Flying activity increased in the summer of 1941 with the two club airplanes, however, misfortune fell in early September, 1941. A club member wanted to take his girl friend for a ride in NC 28022. While entering the rear seat the girl friend dropped a lighted cigarette on the floor which then rolled back into the fuselage igniting the cotton fabric and nitrate dope covering. Immediately the Cub was ablaze and burned completely. The Piper J-3 Cub that the author had soloed about a month before was no more. It is believed that the 60 hp Franklin Engine was salvaged and used as a replacement for the Szekley engine in a Buhl Pup. It is also thought to be the Franklin engine that was found in 1985 in the old Johnson oil house building and is now displayed in the Armstrong hangar at the private High Rock Airfield. The insurance adjuster arrived at the airport to investigate the fire that caused the demise of the Cub. The individuals involved in the fire convinced the adjuster they were not to blame as the engine had backfired and caused the aircraft to catch fire. Remuneration from the insurance company, in the form of total coverage payment, resulted.
A new 65 hp Lycoming powered J-3 Cub, NC 40629, was purchased with the insurance money from Martin Flying Service at Somerset, PA and was delivered by veteran instructor Cloyd Saylor, who had assumed the instructor function at the club. The new Cub was well equipped with a tail wheel, compass, air speed indicator, wheel brakes, navigation lights and all optional equipment. The life of this new aircraft was also short lived. It was crashed on take off at the intersection of the two runways at Mexico Farms in late 1942.
On the left is Sanford Jenkins, with M. Statler, at the site of Piper J-3 Cub crash site.
By this time, during WW II, most club members had entered the armed forces and, with the crash of the Lycoming Cub, the Cumberland Flying Club was liquidated. Virgil Parker was given charge of the remaining aircraft, NC 28099, the former Cub owned by Lewis Ort. Final disposition of this Cub is unknown. According to FAA records it is still airworthy today, located in New York State.
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Wings Over Cumberland 