A Family Affair

Bernard Pietenpol’s happiest moments came when he was flying one of his homebuilt airplanes—with a child or two in tow.

  • By Diane Tedeschi
  • AirSpaceMag.com, March 15, 2010
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Courtesy Pietenpol Family


During an interview with a newspaper reporter in Fillmore County, Minnesota, in 1974, Pietenpol displayed the Air Camper blueprints, which can still be purchased at www.pressenter.com/~apietenp.


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Comments (4)

The Pietenpol aircraft looks very similar to the Heath Parasol aircraft that we are rebuilding at our Western North Carolina Air Muaeum at Hendersonville, NC. It is an early kit designed by Mr. Heath that could be purchased in the 30's for $200.00 + the engine. There is some engine work (a Contenental 70 series engine, substituted for the Heath engine) to be done and minor final assembly. Some day soon, off to the wild blue yonder.

We have 8 other aircraft from the 30's and 40's in our collection. One of our members has recently finished refurbishing a Stearman. It's a silver and black beauty, that makes you want to get in and fly away.

The museum holds an air fair the first weekend in June, fly-ins are welcome. There is a 3000ft hard strip and grass strip that run parallel, in front our our facility. Welcome.

PS As a subscriber to the Air and Space Magazine, I enjoy each and every article, in each and every issue, thanks for keeping aviation alive. Don. EDITORS' REPLY: Thanks for the kind words, and for your support, which keeps the magazine alive.

I own N56JY, And am willing to donate a picture if you like.

I very much doubt that Mr.Pientenpol would be running a television repair shop in the late 20's and early 30's as is noted in the article. The caption on one of the accompanying photographs mentions an auto repair shop, which is much more likely!

The caption of the 3rd photo mentions a "16 Value Ace engine". Could that actually be a "16 Valve Ace engine" instead?

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