I watched that plane at work in those days when I was cutting my aviation eye teeth. Little by little I became able to distinguish the different makes of planes, and the finer points of their performance. I realized that the small plane took off more quickly, climbed more steeply, was faster and easier to handle than its bigger brothers with their greater horse power and wing spread. After two and one-half hours I really felt myself a competent judge of planes! A few hundred solo hours since then have modified greatly that initial self-confidence! The fact that wise pilots with a thousand hours or so warned me against this little fellow, influenced me not. I wanted that sport plane that hopped off like a sandpiper and actually seemed to like it. And I set about buying it. My pilot friends came to me quietly. “Look out for the motor,” they said. Power was the thing, they assured me, and the paltry 60 horse power of the little Lawrence air-cooled motor simply didn’t measure up to commonsense requirements. It is interesting to realize that the plane in which Lady Heath made her famous solo flight from Croydon to South Africa and back, the lovely little Avian which I bought from her, actually has little more horse power than this first love of mine. [Illustration: description: Photo wide shot of crowds surrounding a crashed biplane caption: MY CABBAGE PATCH LANDING, CALIFORNIA, 1921 ] [Illustration: description: Photo wide profile shot of Earhart on a black horse caption: “I WAS FOND OF AUTOMOBILES, HORSEBACK RIDING, AND ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE THAT IS ACTIVE AND CARRIED ON IN THE OPEN” ] The small air-cooled motor I speak of was the first in this country. The man who had built it was not well known then. He was one of a number of able experimenters who were working out their own private ideas, often in the face of all sorts of sacrifices. The name of the builder of this original air-cooled engine is Charles L. Lawrence, famous today as the creator of the Wright Whirlwind which carried Lindbergh, Byrd, Chamberlin, Maitland and others on their famous flights, and with which our own Friendship was equipped. The idea of an air-cooled engine appealed to me. The elimination of the water cooling system meant simplification and a notable decrease in weight. Thanks largely to the lightness of the engine and resulting light plane, it was possible for me to pick it up by the tail and move it around the field easily, whereas with the Canucks and the others it took at least a man, or a dolly, and great effort. I was won by the motor, despite some weaknesses, and I have never regretted that first enthusiasm. So I said “no” to my pessimistic pilots, and “yes” to Mr. Kinner.