Back in the early 1980s when they had one of the best flight-training programs in the nation, I was working on the admissions staff of Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire. I somehow convinced the administration that we should recruit a few students and fly out to the big Oshkosh airshow now known as AirVenture to display one of the college’s two Mooneys as well as one of our French-built Mudry CAP 10 aerobatic trainers.
Often confused with “Civil Air Patrol,” CAP actually stands for “Constructions Aéronautiques Parisiennes.” Derived from the homebuilt Piel Super Emeraude, the factory-built CAP 10 is an elegant, stick-controlled, all-wood aerobatic trainer with Spitfire-like elliptical wings and a bubble canopy covering its two side-by-side seats. If you ever get the chance to fly one, I promise you won’t be disappointed.
As we were executing an almost-straight-line VFR flight plan, I was riding shotgun in the CAP 10, with DWC flight department chair Tom Teller, a veteran Naval aviator, leading the flight of two from the left seat of the Mooney. We were communicating air-to-air via the easily remembered frequency 123.4 (legal back then, but not anymore, BTW). As we approached one of our VOR waypoints, Tom transmitted, “Prepare for a course change, turning right two degrees in three miles.”
Looking down at my five-point aerobatic harness and parachute straps, I couldn’t resist. I keyed the microphone and responded, “I’ll brace myself for the Gs.”
One of the best I’ve heard.
One of my favorite memories from working the Sussex (New Jersey, USA) Air Show-“Greatest Little Air Show on Earth” was the French Connection performances. Daniel and Montaine were friendly, approachable people and fascinating to watch as the quietly performed a fantastic routine in those stock (except for smoke generators) CAP10s.