I got the flying bug from my father about the time I could walk. Dear old Dad was a frustrated Navy fighter pilot who never got to see action in WWII. Bill, Sr. was in naval fighter pilot training at Long Beach, CA in 1942 but was ordered off the flight line and sent to the US Naval Academy. He sat out the war in a classroom instead of a cockpit. WWII ended a month before Dad graduated in 1945. After graduation, Dad contracted tuberculosis during the mop up operation in Italy and spent the next 4.5 years in a naval hospital. This ended his naval career and the chance to ever fly military planes. He was very disappointed.

While I was young boy growing up in Tucson, AZ in the mid 1950's, Dad was always trying to buy a surplus WWII fighter plane from the aircraft storage yard over at nearby Davis Monthan Air Force Base. He would drive up and down the fence line and point them out to me. For years he had dreams of rebuilding a surplus military plane in our small backyard. I have no idea how he planned to get it there or how he would fly it away but he was adamant about it. The military never sold Dad a plane. About this time Dad began raving about Mooney airplanes.

While I attended high school and college, Dad was frequently out shopping for a used plane but always backed out of the deal over some small mechanical problem. After college, I headed to Alaska in 1974 and worked on the Alaska Pipeline project. With my savings, I bought a brand new 1977 Taylorcraft F-19 model at age 26 before I even had a pilot's license. My flight instructor and I picked it up at the factory in Alliance, Ohio and flew it about 3,500 miles home at its cruise speed of 110 mph. I leased the plane back to my flight instructor and I later put it on floats to make it a seaplane. I called the business "Barnes Aviation" and I got to fly for free the first 200 hours or so before a nit wit flight instructor crashed it on take off from a lake. About 30 students in Juneau, Alaska got their pilot's license in my first plane. Meanwhile, Dad was still out shopping for an airplane!

Plane #2 was a 7GCBC Citabria which I bought in 1982 after the Taylorcraft was totaled. Dad would come visit me in Alaska and ask me for the airplane keys. I thought kids were supposed to borrow the car keys from their parents! Dad was still shopping for an airplane, backing out of every deal and still raving about Mooneys. I even wrote to Mooney Aircraft in 1983 and got myself a fancy, glossy Mooney 231 brochure but the price tag was more expensive than a new house.

Plane #3 was another Citabria but this time I insisted Dad go in with me on it 50/50 in 1984. After all, he had been shopping for an airplane for nearly 30 years by this time. Dad had a great time finally owning his own plane and I didn't have to listen about imperfect airplane stories any longer. I finally sold my share of the plane in 1986 and quit flying. After all the great flying in Alaska, landing on beaches, lakes and great fishing holes only accessible by airplane, I had done it all and had no intention of every flying again.

I got the flying bug again in late 2004. It was really bad this time! While getting current again, my flight instructor and I happened to land at Prescott for lunch. Lo and behold, there was a shiny 1991 Mooney 20J for rent at the local flight school. I promptly drove 90 miles back to Prescott and got 1.5 hours of flight instruction in the Mooney, my first flight ever. There I was at 9,500 feet, flying at 190 mph, programming my first autopilot, using speed brakes, retractable landing gear, using a GPS and even turning the plane on autopilot "hands off" by simply turning the compass dial. For 1.5 hours I was Captain of the Universe.

After this flight I spent the next 12 months searching Trade-A-Plane for a Mooney 20 model before finding a nice Mooney 20E located close by in Phoenix, AZ. The flying bug had bit me so bad this time that I even decided to close my business, sell my house and relocate 200 miles from Scottsdale, AZ to Lake Havasu City, AZ where there is an 8,000 foot uncontrolled runway, ample tie downs and clear blue skies for flying.

Plane #4: On January 31, 2006, I purchased a 1965 Mooney 20E N79337 from Captain Al Desrosiers, a retired TWA 747 pilot. Al owned this Mooney for 26 years and was nearly in tears when he handed over the keys to me. Luckily for me, Captain Al is also a flight instructor and agreed to instruct me in the Mooney for the 15 hours of flight instruction required for my (his!) comfort level and the insurance company. We flew 15 hours over three days and I have never been yelled at so much since I was a kid but I finally learned how to get that darn Johnson bar down to the floor with one hand without stalling out the plane. Al can land this Mooney like an aircraft carrier fighter pilot and I'm glad he sold it to me. I'll get the aircraft carrier landings down with time I'm sure.

Dad passed away in 1993 and I sure wish he could see my new 1965 20E Mooney now. He would have loved it and, yes, I would give him the keys. I've had Dad's pilot log books all these years since but I never took the time to look at them until a few weeks ago. Boy was I surprised at the log entries! By golly, lo and behold, Holy Toledo, there it is: numerous 1959 to 1961 log entries where Dad flew a 1957 Mooney M20 model, tail number N5284B, with me in the right seat at the tender age of eight years old. So it turns out my first Mooney flight was in 1959, not 2005, and in the Mooney 20A wood wing model with the 150HP engine. There are a whole bunch of flights with me and Dad in that Mooney including a 1,750 mile family trip from Tucson to Brownsville, TX and back. Thank goodness for logbooks! I now understand why Dad spent all those years ranting and raving about those Mooneys! Now that I own and fly one, it is one great airplane. So thanks, Dad, for giving me both the flying bug and the Mooney bug. The keys to the Mooney are in my flight bag next to the headsets.

Bill Barnes
November 2006
Lake Havasu City, AZ
wab4551@yahoo.com