Photo Collection #6 - Lee Airport & 8" Criterion Telescope
Well, These Are Not Models, But...

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My first-ever airplane ride certificate

My solo flight certificate

My ground school certificate

Me with the Piper Colt that I flew while taking flying lessons at Lee Airport, Edgewater, Maryland. I went into the USAF before being able to take my check ride because of icy weather (November 1978). I had 50+ hours logged & FAA written passed - never did get my license (heavy sigh). Note the Annapolis Flying Service ad above showing flying lessons were something like $20/hour solo, and $28/hour with the instructor!

Erie Airport, about a mile from where I live now, charges around $240/hour with instructor for their least expensive airplane. According to the Inflation Calculator hosted on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, $28 in 1977 is the equivalent to $120 in 2018, so the effective cost has doubled.

To the right is an aerial image of Lee Airport; and the surrounding area from sometime in the 2005-2006 timeframe. The airport itself has not changed much since I last flew from there in Fall of 1978.

I cannot believe that this same old white building is still the headquarters. I can remember walking in to pick up the keys to the Piper Colts (three of them at the time). In the back room, they used to keep the cut off shirt tails of all the people who soloed there. Mine might still be in there. It would be nice to visit some day and see it they would let me look for it.

This Quonset hut is probably the one where I took my ground school. It was definitely a cool environment.

Here is my me with my 8" Criterion Newtonian reflector telescope, Mayo, Maryland, circa 1983. A clock drive was added later. I buried an AC line to the pier for powering the drive. This was in the Fall of the year I separated from the U.S. Air Force. The bigger finder scope is a 2" refractor. While stationed at Robins Air Force Base, in Warner Robins, Georgia, I had ordered a Criterion 6" Newtonian telescope, but it never arrived. It took me a year of writing to them to get my purchase refunded. This 8" model was found in a camera shop in Baltimore, Maryland, about 30 miles from where I lived. If memory serves me correctly, I paid about $800 for the telescope and then another $100 for the clock drive.

Posted November 10, 2021
(updated from original post on 12/12/2015)