Richard Adams of New Bern shows his most recent contribution to the Havelock Tourist and Event Center.
Drew C. Wilson/Halifax Media Services
HAVELOCK | Richard Adams of New Bern was impressed the first time he saw the aviation exhibits at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center. The 83-year-old made a decision that he wanted to be a part of it.
He’s been making models to donate to the center ever since.
Adams recently brought his fifth by the center, where the exhibits are maintained by the Eastern Carolina Aviation Heritage Foundation.
“When I drove by here and I saw the plane out front, I said ‘Gee, something’s got to be done,’” Adams said. “It just blew my mind, all the different equipment, engines and history of aviation. It’s a wonderful thing. I can’t praise this place enough.”
The most recent plane to be delivered was a 1918 Fokker D.VII, a World War I-era German biplane that was on the cutting edge for its time.
“It had a 180 horse power BMW in-line six and it could hang on its propeller as it was going up to get the other planes,” Adams said. “It was just so powerful that it would just almost stand in the air. It would shoot them all down. It is such a darn good plane.
“This is the best of the best in Germany in the first world war, an extremely high-prized plane it was so good. As soon as the war was over, all the countries jumped to get a hold of it because it was so good.”
The Fokker D.VII could fly 124 mph and had two machine guns synchronized to shoot rounds through, but not hit, the plane’s propeller.
“I had that model kit in a box when I was a child,” said Adams, who lives in New Bern. “I found it a little while ago, so I put it together a little while ago when I was 80. It was for kids to fly. It wasn’t to be authentic. I made it as authentic as it could be.”
Adams added gauges, pedals, a hand pump, throttle, air vents and carved the propeller based on pictures of the original plane he found. He even made a little pilot out of clay and painted him.
“He’s got his hand on the joy stick and the throttle,” Adams said. “It’s a lot of fun. It keeps me young.”
To Adams, the Fokker D.VII represents an advance in aviation that fits well with the other models he has contributed to the center. He has a 1903 Wright Brothers first flyer, a 1909 Louis Bleriot plane that was the first to fly across the English Channel, the Fokker, a 1930 Curtiss Hawk biplane, and a late 1940s-era Piper Cub.
Adams, a veteran of the Korean War, is a former military helicopter pilot who flew the H-21 Boeing Vertol in Vietnam. The early helicopter had a nickname, The Flying Banana, because of its distinctive shape.
“It was 87.4 feet long and grossed out at 15,300 pounds,” Adams said. “It had a B-17 engine in it, R818102 nine cylinder, 1,425 horsepower, 300 gallons of 145 octane, three transmissions. She was a very nice aircraft to fly.”
Adams got his own nickname.
“The called me Flying Black Cloud because my aircraft was hit more times than anyone else in the company,” Adams said.
He survived the war to become an industrial arts teacher for 25 years.
“I’m making model airplanes now and I’m having a heck of a good time and the Lord was good,” Adams said.
Adams is currently making a 16-inch Pittman, an American civilian plane from 1929, and he looks forward to bringing that to the center.
“We need to have a place like this in every town to let people know what’s happening in the world,” Adams said.
Adams’ work is appreciated.
“He’s been a wonderful supporter of our cause and our missions,” Amanda Ohlensehlen, tourist center director, said of Adams’ support for the aviation foundation. “He has followed us as we have grown over the years. He just kept coming with these wonderful gifts. He has built model planes with children at the Fly-In. He and his wife Ingrid have volunteered for those events. We are very fortunate to be able to share that and help educate others.”
Adams said he is glad to do it.
“I’m very happy to help out the cause here,” he said. “And Amanda has done such a good job to advance and educate people on aircraft, and people need to know more about it. I’m nobody. There’s so many more that have given their lives to the cause. America is the greatest in the world and anything that can be done to help it is what I want to do.”
Story and Photo: http://www.newbernsj.com
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