Aircraft N133BU Data

From 1977 to 1981 I flew for Sid Shannon's Shannon Air Museum in Fredericksburg, VA. Since Mr. Shannon had known the late Beverly "Bevo" Howard since Mr. Shannon was a youngster, and Bevo flew a Jungmeister in airshows, he thought it would be fitting to buy one and paint it to resemble Bevo's aeroplane. A Jungmeister was located in Espanola, New Mexico, owned by an attorney called Pat Chowning and aviation write Tom Mayer. I took the airlines to Albuquerque and was met by Mr. Chowing. We flew in his Waco Meteor...really an Italian SF-260...up to Espanola to see the Jungmeister. It was there that I met Tom Mayer, who was the author of Climb for the Evening Star, one of my favourite books. I examined the rather dreadful looking aeroplane..painted an all-over orange...but decided it was a good one. I was not allowed to fly the little single-seater until it was paid for, so I called Mr. Shannon, told him of my decision, and it took until about noon the following Monday..only two days..to get the money to New Mexico. After the funds had been transferred, I took off for home, my first stop being on the other side of the Sangre de Cristo mountains at Santa Rosa, NM. Whilst crossing the flatlands heading south towards Interstate 40, I found a good use for the Anton Chico VOR station. Since there was no radio equipment in the aeroplane..even the compass was inoperative..I used the VOR station as a reference point for a barrel roll, and allowed the wingtips to swap places. I wondered what all the "hype" had been about. I found the little machine rather sluggish compared to some other aerobatic aeroplanes I'd flown...but later, when doing the same sort of thing down much closer to sea level rather than in the thin air of about 10,000 feet MSL, I found the Jungemister a delightfully responsive, sensitive aeroplane. It took 9 days, and 19 hours of flying to get back to Virginia. I kept catching up with bad weather. One forfed landing in Texas added a bit of spice to the trip, but no damage to the machine. When the aeroplane was back in Virginia, Mr. Francis Clore and myself more or less copied the paint scheme on Bevo Howard's Jungmeister and made 133BU into a flying tribute to Mr. Shannon's old friend.