A story finds a model

Most modelers take an active interest in history. Sure, a Tiger tank or a B-17 looks cool. But the fascination runs deeper than that. Where others may regard ancient ruins and see only a pile of rocks, modelers likely will linger and gaze across the years to imagine days and stories of long ago.

So, when Felipe García Naranjo Alvarez, an architect, real-estate developer, and modeler from Tijuana, Mexico, asked us to identify an airplane in an old picture of his uncle, we were intrigued. And, sure enough, it came with quite a story.

Name that plane

Gotta fly

Peacetime and tragedy

Uncle Luis, his Kaydet — and fate

Postwar surplus Kaydets sold for only a few hundred dollars. Their price, low-speed characteristics, and sturdy airframe made them ideal for cropdusting. And that is how the picture of Felipe’s uncle Luis came to be; the spray equipment can be seen on the lower wing of the airplane. The photo was taken in 1957.

Later that year, on June 29, a telegram arrived at Felipe’s home. “My father read the bad news,” Felipe says. “My uncle Luis died in an airplane accident near Hermosillo, Sonora, in northwest Mexico. He was buried there.”

Spraying a field, Luis’ plane had hit power lines and gone out of control. “One of my mother’s brothers-in-law was the only relative at the funeral,” Felipe says.

“As a young boy of 8 at the time, I was unable to understand this second tragedy in my family. My hero was gone and I could not comprehend the immense loss, nor the suffering of my mother, my aunts, and especially my grandmother.

“Through the years I have realized my special interest in aviation and everything related. I believe I would have been a pilot if these tragedies had never happened.

“But I am very happy to remember these two great people, my uncles José and Luis Alvarez.”  

This story appeared the April 2017 issue of FSM.