gahorn wrote:I’m curious about the “E” on the left cowl...
George I often told folks who ask that the E was not an E at all but a ground symbol. They usually give me a confused look.
In truth the E is a great memory between me and several of my friends. One of my longest flying buddies Dan, bought a '65 Cessna 210. This is the model that has the flat retractable gear. He is very proud of his 210 and was very upset when someone would approach and say "nice 206" not seeing the retract doors or even knowing there was a flat gear 210.
We Witnessed this many times. There was no identifying number on the airplane just the words Centurion. And very few it seems know a Centurion is a 210.
So one Sunday before our weekly breakfast flight my friend proudly placed 210E on each side of his cowl using 2" high vinyl letters he'd had lying around from a house mail box lettering project. He announced his aircraft would never be misidentified again by a dumb as_ who didn't know what he was looking at. We flew to breakfast and upon landing the left E was peeled half way off. No problem he stuck it back on. We flew home and once again the E was half off when we got there and he stuck it back on. This went on for several weeks flights. Every flight the E was half off and he would stick it back on. We all new at the end of a flight to look for the status of the E.
Finally, upon landing after several weeks of this, finding the E half off again, and after an appropriate comment from me about it of course, Dan ripped the E from his plane and walked over and planted it on my airplane just as you see it. Of course I just left it there. And there it has stayed . Not once in the last 5 years has it ever had even the appearance of coming loose.
And for the last 5 years any time Dan and I would fly someplace in each of our planes or in the last year on the occasion that Dan would fly my 170, the E would always come up. Sometimes we would rehash the story with friends and others we would theorize how Cessna was developing an E model.
Lots of good memories of many people we know locally who have stories of 7A as many learned to fly in her. Dan was one of them.
