<\/p>\n
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by Daniel Vighi<\/p>\n
Translation from Romanian by <\/em>Wendy Stein<\/em> and <\/em>Florina Samulescu<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n pentru versiunea rom\u00e2n\u0103 click\u00a0aici<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018We all took off like a rare bat out of the park just outside the nursing home. We left the bench, the gypsy kids, the girl and the boy with the water boots, who had recently returned from the job he had made in the dilapidated stable where two emaciated mares where sheltered with their ribs sticking out of their coarse hide, loaded with burrs. We took off like a rare bat towards Ion Creanga Street where the Sephardi synagogue was, and we didn\u2019t know what it would mean and we were attracted by its strange name and by the fact that it was hidden in the back of a yard. It had a tiny window that overlooked a fallow garden. It was through that window, actually, that we managed to squeeze into the tiny synagogue with its dusty chairs, cold, silent, freezing in the middle of summer.\u2019 These were the statements that one of the members of the expedition will write in his own hand later on. It might have been Pitiu. Or Mandragora. It\u2019s less likely that it was J.H. who, as you will see, was not really willing to co-operate and give such statements. Also, J.J. doesn\u2019t seem to have written it. The tone of the work, so to say, was manly and more educated than it would have been if it had belonged to one of the frontier punks that accompanied our rockers as instructors, and also as nosy blunderers who were frequently open-mouthed with wonder. So, they left the park with the pimping trees, with the children\u2019s sand pit that no one used, with the contorted iron swings, with torn wooden back rests. They left towards Ion Creanga Street and then they dragged on with guitars, tin kettles, bubble-gum harmonica,\u00a0 Pol\u2019s Mexican poncho and people stared at them in amazement, the few passer-bys that were out on that slightly foggy summer morning, with the sun hidden behind the clouds. \u00a0They stared as if struck by lightning: \u2018stop this invasion\u2019 their stupefied faces seemed to say. They finally arrived at the crossroad between Ion Creanga Street and Ispirescu, and Sepi stopped in front of the gang, turned around with a sulky face and said: \u2018This is Artie\u2019. \u2018Where\u2019 asked the confused colourful crowd of tyke rockers. \u2018Where is Artie\u2019 they asked again with muddled physiognomy, and Sepi raised his right hand and with his index finger pointed towards the huge rented house right in front of them. \u2018Here!\u2019 It was a hovel eaten away by dampness, covered in mildew, with grapevine on its fa\u00e7ade and with chubby stone cupids, consumed by rain and the Fabric torrid summer heat. Here, repeated again Sepi and they all watched, puzzled, how a fowler was exiting the hovel with a giant bird cage where he kept carrier pigeons for the Contest in Yugoslavia of the Pigeon Racing Society which organized long distance flights. The fowler stopped his bicycle before them and the pigeons started struggling between the bars when he asked the group in wonder: \u2018where are you from?\u2019 and Sepi answered just as sulky and almost bored. \u2018What do you mean where from, from Fabric, where else\u2019. \u2018Is Artie home?\u2019 \u2018Home, yes!\u2019 The fowler looked in amazement at them for a while but since no one was interested in his amazement, they went straight into the back yard of the rented house. Only that, right at the time they were barging in under the long archway, filled to the brim with trash barrels, ash and cabbage leaves, Harri Holinek suddenly appeared, with his bicycle with aerodynamic wings, with the handle bar similar to an aeroplane\u2019s stick and with the small engine in the back, fuelled with gasoline from the tank placed where the one usually carries the bread and milk bottles. They watched him in silence as he passed by, pushed by the propeller that gyrated loudly with smoke coming out of the tiny exhaust pipe. You almost expected that any moment Harri would fly away over the trash cans filled with cabbage leaves. Sepi raised his hand and yelled: \u2018Hi, Harri!\u2019 A wave was his reply. A few years ago, Artie also stared at Harri\u2019s transition through the yard, and then on to Hay Market, heading for the Electric Turbine and then further on towards the neighbourhood Between Poplars. As they were staring at this unexpected transition, Artie pops up from a pantry: \u2018I\u2019m fixing some crates at neighbour Rosenstern Iliuta. He\u2019s getting ready to leave\u2019. Sepi raised his shoulders in confusion: \u2018where\u2019s he going?\u2019 Artie looks at them in amazement: \u2018What do you mean, where? To Sion!\u2019 \u2018We didn\u2019t know that\u2019 said the gang with sudden respect. Silence enveloped the back yard where old Jews go and stand in line at Petracowski Convenience Store, banging milk and yogurt bottles. One of the frontier guys, namely Benda, signalled them to follow him, and they all started towards the old linden tree in the middle of the yard, which had at its base two broken bed settees, thrown out by Iliuta Rosenstern who cut loose everything redundant because \u2018he was getting ready to leave for Sion\u2019 as Artie said. Everyone sat down anywhere they could on those broken beds, ready to listen to frontier Artie\u2019s story and how he made a cool plane to cross over the border.<\/p>\n \u2018Look, Artie, these little children are getting ready to leave and I said that we should talk, to see how things are with this leaving business.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Where do they go?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Far, far away, where else?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And do their parents know, cause I can see they\u2019re rich kids, and if this comes out, we\u2019re busted. I don\u2019t really care, cause I know I\u2019m tough, but them? What\u2019s the hurry, spawns?\u2019 J.H. mumbles something, Mandragora talks about Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.<\/p>\n \u2018Never heard of those two you\u2019re talking about. So, you want to meet up with them and for this you\u2019re willing to go into the wide world? Why not call them here, to Fabric, it\u2019s easier for them to come here, than for us to go to them, that\u2019s a fact, I had a friend that called someone from the Federacy and he came, and the whole neighbourhood talked about it, and they found out, and they were both called in for questioning, but they didn\u2019t start on the Fisie. It\u2019s a catastrophe there.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018They both died last year!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018So, what\u2019s the deal?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018They want to put flowers on their graves. Idiot kids\u2019 stuff.\u2019<\/p>\n Sepi raises his hand:<\/p>\n \u2018We want you to tell us your story, so those little ones can understand how things really are.\u2019 Pitiu adds: \u2018the A solution! That\u2019s how I called it: from air.\u2019 He turns towards the gang: \u2018only he will ask Artie and the rest of you will just listen and write it down. Understood?\u2019 Everybody sits down on the broken bed settees, under the thick linden tree:<\/p>\n \u2018Fabric you say! You were born here?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Yes. In Fabric, but I grew up in Freidorf till I was sixteen.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018You grew up there till you were sixteen?<\/p>\n \u2018My father comes from an Armenian family, they went toYugoslavia, they were kicked out and that\u2019s how they got toTimisoara.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Right\u2026 Armenian you say. And your mother?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018German, half Hungarian, a mixture the way they are in Fabric.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018The Pheonix musical movement reached Fabric and I understood they were called The Saints in the beginning and that they played at a Cultural Centre. Do you anything about it?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018No, no\u2026 I\u2019m not a music lover, I\u2019m more of a wood guy, wood carver. Here in this yard I\u2019m living is this rent house built by Jews, there are about forty tenants and they\u2019re all accustomed with me fixing their things in the pantry, and their chairs, furniture, whatever each has.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018This is something you inherited from you family or what?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Probably from my father, he was a gunsmith, jeweller, you know how it goes, Armenian and Jews back then were all about precious stones, jewels, trade, but as an inheritance, about thirty per cent, let\u2019s say forty, everything else is from my mother.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Yeah, yeah \u2026 yeah, and what\u2019s your name, I only know you as Artie, and that\u2019s it.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Harriutiunian\u2026 it\u2019s hard to pronounce, sometimes I can\u2019t even say it\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Wow, what a name, it\u2019s great, really, but difficult\u2026 can you say it again?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ll say it again: Harriutiunian.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And this is only one name?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Yeah, and the other one is Harriutiun.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Fantastic, that\u2019s quite a mouthful; I believe you must have had some trouble with it in school, when they were calling you out.\u2019<\/p>\n Pitiu turns to his colleagues who are conscientiously writing down in their notebooks. There, under the old linden tree, in the middle of the yard, on the run down Iliuta Rosenstern\u2019s bed settees, frowning, they all write down the name. Sepi continues his investigation:<\/p>\n \u2018Tough name!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Only a few years ago I found out from my mother what it means, since my father was atheist and he never told me, recently mother told me that the name means \u2018Christ is risen!\u2019 And father never told me, he was a true atheist and he taught me the same, to be a little atheist.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s ok, there\u2019s plenty of room for everybody on this earth.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018What matters is what kind of person you are!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Exactly!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Now, I\u2019m no longer like that, I\u2019ve been through a lot, I see things differently now.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Your father named you, how is that since he was an atheist?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018No, nooo\u2026 the name is a legacy from my grandparents, from where they came from, originally, fromSerbia, and then here in Fabric.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Wait a minute; let me get this straight, this Harriutiun Harriutiunian name means Christ is risen?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Right.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Really, no offence, but this seems like some kind of a joke somehow\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018So tell me, you went to school in Fabric?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I only went until secondary school and then I went to trade school. I learnt trade, sculpture, pottery. I was also a driver, I liked driving very much, I have a motorbike, car and truck licence.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Good for you! Ok, ok, we\u2019re closing in on the airplane stuff. How did you come up with the idea?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s nearly three years since I tried to leave by plane.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018But why, how did you come up with the idea?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Look, for me it did not matter the escape per say, how do I say this, it mattered more the chance to strike these thieves who thought they guarded everything, and saw everything, and that it is impossible to make any moves without them knowing about it. I wanted to strike at them, those vile security scums who terrorize people and if I had managed that trick of mine it would have been truly an uppercut!\u2019 Everybody fidgets on the two bed settees as if they had fleas. Sepi steps in:<\/p>\n \u2018Keep it down; we don\u2019t want anybody to hear us!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I said: look, father, I\u2019m not killing anyone, I\u2019m not stealing, I\u2019m not hitting anybody over the head, I\u2019ll build a plane and I\u2019ll give then a clean, honest hit, given by an honest man from all points of view, and that is what got me going\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Ok, ok, but what did you know about airplanes? How they work, what\u2019s the deal with them, things are not that easy.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Here\u2019s how it is, you see sometimes that things fit together as if you had connected them yourself, you even have a neighbour that know a little about it and\u2026 how should I say this? Several coincidences contributed to my decision, as I said, I had just met a neighbour of mine down the street who knew about aerodynamics, stuff like that, the first time I saw him he was riding his bicycle and he had a small engine with a propeller in the back, and he was peddling\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And what was his route, through parks\u2026 where did he go\u2026 downtown\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018No way, he was on Ion Creanga, onEcaterina Teodoroiu Street\u2026 and when I saw him, I said \u2013 this cannot be real, check this guy out the way his riding his bike with a plane engine!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Is your father still alive?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018My father is dead. He didn\u2019t live to see this tale; it would have probably killed him on the spot.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Oh, poor guy!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018You know how it goes, he was a great Communist, well\u2026 he kind of realized, during the last few years\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018That things were not going well!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Oh yeah, he realised that he was in with the enemy!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018There were a lot of true believers.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018My father was like that. He was devoted to it, not like those jackals. My father was one of those idealists that only saw the system \u2013 how it will be, and how good it will be, stuff like that.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Sooo, Artie, you saw the guy with his aerodynamic bike.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018\u2026 and we became friends. Harri Holinek\u2019s his name- \u2026he still lives in our rented house, still there.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Harri Holinek you say?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Yes, that\u2019s his name. He was a fine craftsman.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Is he German\u2026? You know, the name.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Czech\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Well what do you know! And he\u2019s also from Fabric? Or not?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Yes, he\u2019s from Fabric, but I don\u2019t know where he was born, maybe in Freidorf like myself. I didn\u2019t ask him.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And how did you meet him, you saw him with his bike with the small plane engine and you said: how are you, tyke?\u2019 Everyone laughed .<\/p>\n \u2018No, I didn\u2019t meet him then. Some other time, I don\u2019t know. A year passed by, two until someone took me to meet him. And after that, through visiting \u00a0Harri\u2019s I started understanding the aerodynamics phenomenon, engines.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Is he an engineer?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018He\u2019s not, no, but he had a lot of papers on it, and he reads about aerodynamics, and talking to him I realized that: \u2018wait a minute, it\u2019s not that hard to build as I thought.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is a cold April morning; \u00a0certainly in the afternoon it will be warmer. Harriutiun Harriutiunian, also known as Artie, goes early in the morning to Harri\u2019s house to grab the replica of a wing measure, a model, and to take it to Cornel, his friend from synthetics from Solventul factory, who has matrices over there and could make a fine job, but they need the exact measurement. They cast it out in plastic in the required dimension. He told him: \u2018Cornel, look, I\u2019m making a plane.\u2019 \u2018You\u2019re making a plane\u2019 he stared at him \u2018man, you\u2019re losing it, what do you mean you\u2019re making a plane?\u2019 Anyway, Cornel liked the idea and didn\u2019t ask any more questions, \u2018you\u2019re making a plane and that\u2019s it, it\u2019s made, there are many craftsmen who think all kinds of things, how to build this or that. \u2018This Artie is a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic and \u00a0makes all kinds of crazy stuff. Harri\u2019s passes by in his aerodynamic bike. The propeller makes a buzzing sound one just loves to hear and the engine is purring. It\u2019s a wonder the Police and the Security don\u2019t get wise to this.\u00a0 How can someone to go around in one of these things ? He\u2019s lucky they can\u2019t check every one; they can\u2019t check each and every one. Half a year ago Artie\u2019s father died and he didn\u2019t get to see the craziness he and his buddies are doing because that would have broken his heart. Old Harriutiunian believed in Communism, he used to tell him of the Greek Communists and Tito\u2019s partisans.\u00a0 His folks originated somewhere around there. Artie\u2019s grandparents were fromTimisoaraand over there the sickle and the hammer were very popular, not like over here, with these tykes from the party here in the county who only flap their mouths and steal everything and smokeKentand drink whiskey all the time. Old Harriutiunian died, and he didn\u2019t get to see what his son is doing in the workshop on Musicescu corner with Hebe, where he was building his house for the past years.\u00a0 He has a big workshop there, fifty square meters, he\u2019s even walking around in it as we speak. He kept talking with Harri and Ispas: \u2018we build the plane, we don\u2019t steal anything from anybody, we build the plane and we leave by it\u2019. Artie is so happy when his buddies agree with him: \u2018it\u2019s a deal Artie, if you say so, we do it, but we have to study the problem, it\u2019s not that easy\u2019. Those were the words of both Harri and Ispas and they kept getting all kinds of magazines with models they would build up to scale, it wasn\u2019t that simple, they had to take into account their weight, on the whole they were three of them, each with his own weight and the wings were determined by this, they couldn\u2019t do it any other way, it had to lift off, man, the problem was not that simple.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n \u2018\u2026 and I started to understand aerodynamics, the propellers\u2026 all connected with this flying stuff, and slowly, knowing my craftsman capabilities, and considering the facilities we had in the house we had built, with the tools and everything, having everything I needed I started working on it.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And where did you say the house was?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018On Musicescu, corner with Hebe.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And I understood everything from Harri, from the drawings, from our talks, he always explained how he did things, overall I really enjoyed working with him\u2026 there was another one, poor guy, his name was Ispas, he was an engineer, he killed himself eventually.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018You don\u2019t say! He killed himself?\u2019 Sepi turns to the other who sat crouching on Iliuta\u2019s bed settees and warns them again that that wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n \u2018He probably crumbled under arrest. So, you said you had good conditions to take care of the problem?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Yeah, yeah, they were great\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018But in your house, over there on Hebe, you must have had a big workshop, because you can\u2019t snap your fingers and build an airplane.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Of course, of course, I had one in my house. It was pretty big, about fifty square meters, it was enough, and a big hallway, it was enough, and as I was saying, talking with this friend of mine, and with Ispas, I wanted for us to build the airplane together: \u2018look\u2019 I kept saying \u2018we can make a good job together, run away in the plane, man, no stealing, no nothing, we build and we run, man, and that\u2019s it.\u2019 And they all said: \u2018of course, obviously!\u2019 I was so glad\u2026 there was this engineer that committed suicide, he was very good at math, the best, he knew his numbers, that you couldn\u2019t build a propeller just like that, if you wanted to make the propeller, how should I say this\u2026 work, anyway, it wasn\u2019t that easy, there were some calculations, after some diagrams, and he knew how to make them, and so we got started.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018You made blueprints, or what?<\/p>\n \u2018Man, we started drawing; we also had a lot of magazines at his house.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And you needed the wing\u2019s span, it wasn\u2019t that easy\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018We had several choices; we had to pick a certain type of airplane.\u2019<\/p>\n Sepi turns to the obedient class of frontier students sitting down on bed settees and who were writing down in their notebooks conscientiously. He says:<\/p>\n \u2018Write down that they needed a plane for three people.\u2019<\/p>\n Artie raises his hand:<\/p>\n \u2018That\u2019s what I kept saying, even if it was pretty tough, imagine building a plane that can take three people, it was complicated as hell. Anyway, shortly I realized that I didn\u2019t stand a chance to do anything with them because every time we started working more seriously, they backed off, and this and that, that they have families and they realized they were the family type\u2026 and cowards!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Ok, ok, and what did that mean? You kept saying: let\u2019s get this started, let\u2019s lathe them, and bring in the materials\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n This time Artie turns towards those on the settees and yells at them like a teacher who discovers that none of them had made their homework:<\/p>\n \u2018This can\u2019t keep on going, man, only with stories, and drawings, and figuring out diagrams. We have to put them in effect at some point. And then we got into a fight, you know how it is; many don\u2019t have that practical side very developed. Especially when they\u2019re taking chances, then they don\u2019t even have that practical side developed at all! Look, I\u2019m not saying that Harri didn\u2019t do many of the things that needed to be done, but every time important things came up, he was either busy, or with his family. For me, the worst part was that they were state employed and I was an outlaw, I didn\u2019t have a job, I was a rake, I made doors out of plywood, made a good living, had orders, but I was freelancer, illegal! And since they were either busy with their job and with their families, I quickly understood that we can\u2019t make it between the three of us.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And you didn\u2019t tell them anything\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Didn\u2019t say much and I started getting busy.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Working on it!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018By myself\u2026 I kept in contact with Harri, asking him this and that.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018You started gathering materials? What did you need?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Want to know how I got started? With stuff that I could find out in the field, there were some irrigation pipes lying around there, abandoned.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018On the outskirts ofTimisoara?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Yes! I also spoke to a buddy of mine and I paid him and he found me some pipes that I needed for the plane and I bought thirty meters, but of a certain kind, those with 3 millimetre walls, there were others thinner but they were no good.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And how did you know you needed a thickness of 3 millimetres?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018How should I say this? The wind has an aerodynamic profile\u2026 Harri had several catalogues where several types of these here profiles were shown, and I chose one that on lower speed lifted more, that is it lifted off the ground more rapidly.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018The wing is important?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Everything depends on it. And then I started designing it\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And did those pipes need welding?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018No, no, I tested the pipes with two tons of bags of sand, I put them on the spots where they leaned, you understand? And I filled them with bags of sand and I noticed that on two tons the pipe curved. But it didn\u2019t break. It was good enough for me, I didn\u2019t need any math, and this was a one to four, almost one to five factor, so I didn\u2019t have to be scared, there was no danger of curving, even less of tearing. And once I convinced myself of that, I got even more excited. If I had any serious doubts\u2026 you understand? There was no room for doing something without thinking it through, this was serious, otherwise you didn\u2019t stand a chance!\u2019<\/p>\n Sepi nods and turns to those who sit on the settees and write down in notebooks.<\/p>\n \u2018Obviously, no doubt about it.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I was building something that I was about to leave in, not something I was doing just because! Anyway\u2026 obviously I didn\u2019t know how to pilot a plane, there was no way of me knowing that, I had made some tests on the ground but that was as wholesome<\/span><\/a> as<\/span><\/a> a shoulder<\/span><\/a> of<\/span><\/a> mutton<\/span><\/a> to<\/span><\/a> a sick<\/span><\/a> <\/span>horse<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/span> Now I have the courage to say that if I had managed to fly, I would have died. No doubt about it!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018You would have died, wouldn\u2019t you? We thought the same. You would have fallen out of the sky, tumbling down!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Obviously, no doubt about it. I would have died on the spot.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Ok, carry on with the building process. What other materials did you need? You had the pipes. What else?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I had slicker from Dermatina, I don\u2019t even know what use it had at Dermatina.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And how did you find out that this slicker was at Dermatina?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I had friends, buddies all over, man\u2026 that wasn\u2019t a problem\u2026 and I talked to them. I also found an engine, from an old Volkswagen Variant bus, which had the spare tire in the front, those were good engines, and I saw in a magazine how a German built an airplane with that engine.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Aha, so you knew it would work on an airplane?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Of course I did! I didn\u2019t make it up, it was all out of Harri\u2019s papers, and he also had many magazines fromRussia, because Russians are good at aircrafts. For instance, I didn\u2019t put ailerons on my wings!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Ailerons you say?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Yes, ailerons! Everybody kept saying when they saw me: Well, but you don\u2019t you have any ailerons?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And ailerons are those\u2026?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Rear flaps that lift\u2026 like this\u2026 and then, the big wing\u2026 when you turn has to lift, when to go right, you lift the wing, you understand? This one didn\u2019t have aileron!\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And you saw this in a magazine, this business with the ailerons?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I saw it in a Russian magazine, the Russian didn\u2019t install ailerons, twisted the wing, you understand?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I understand you.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018The whole wing\u2026 and one of those half a meter wing when you twist it at one end to make the turn\u2026 it\u2019s a manner of saying you twist it, only a little and there\u2026 you already got direction\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Yeah, yeah and it takes you where you want! And did Harri speak any Russian?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018No, he didn\u2019t.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Fine, fine, but how did he came across those magazines?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018He had subscriptions, he was passionate about aircraft.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Of course he was passionate about it, if he even installed an engine with propeller on his bike! You know, I thought since he was Czech, he might speak Russian.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018He has aircraft magazines fromCzechoslovakia, but the Russian ones are better.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Fine, and you spoke with someone from Dermatina\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018He brought me the slicker\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Did you pay him?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Of course, I paid for everything; they earned a few tips down there at the factory. I took the engine from some private business, near this business there was a gasoline station, over there, how should I say this? Across the street from Electromotor. If you\u2019ve heard of it\u2026 on Beghe\u2019s bank.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Right, right, I know where it is.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And the funny part was, that there, at Electromotor, I had a friend that lathed for me some very, very complicated parts, so I had everything I needed right there, in that place\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And what did you need? The propeller transmission\u2026 this, that\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018A lot of parts, lots of them\u2026 collars\u2026 what can I tell you, lots and lots of part! For suspension, for the wheels, for bearings\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Right, you need wheels too. How did you get them?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Well, I had some wheels from some wheelbarrows, you know the way things were back then, and I didn\u2019t need anything special. Anyway, because I didn\u2019t have access to aircraft materials, the plane was a little heavier than it was supposed to.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018But did it look like a plane?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Of course it did, it wasn\u2019t perfect but I upgraded the compression bearing on the engine and I got more power, instead of the gearbox I put in the bearing that had the axis for the propeller. Soooo\u2026 and with the engine thus assembled I went out in the field about five times, with a special support, I had a dynamometer, I anchored it to a tree and I switched it on to see how it pulled.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018It means that you had the propeller attached to the engine.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I had the engine with the propeller and the axis, but I couldn\u2019t very well come out into the street by plane, you can only imagine what would have happened on the street, and so I only took the engine on the field.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Daniel Vighi Translation from Romanian by Wendy Stein and Florina Samulescu pentru versiunea rom\u00e2n\u0103 click\u00a0aici \u2018We all took off like a rare bat out of the park just outside the nursing home. We left the bench, the gypsy kids, the girl and the boy with the water boots, who had recently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[925,22],"tags":[936,1160,54],"class_list":["post-8757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egophobia-35","category-short-story","tag-daniel-vighi","tag-egophobia-35","tag-proza-scurta"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DakB-2hf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8757"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8970,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8757\/revisions\/8970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}