Aviation where you least expect it
You might surmise that a bookstore in the hometown of a famous writer would lard the place with likenesses, and some of the author's titles, to create a sense of local flavor. Thinking that here would get you an A for effort--but it's not the whole story. Look around; you'll see that the store stocks works of only two writers: King and fantasy wordsmith Terry Goodkind. Autographed items are nearly out of stock right now, Tinker is telling the two customers, because the store was crowded with fan-club members the other day, and they were buying. And it's good that this visit didn't occur yesterday, when there were two tour buses parked outside, and 85 vacationers jammed into the store, which is about as long and as wide as a small corporate jet.
Name: Stu Tinker |
Chilling. But why the out-of-context models, photos, and art images of aviation on work space and walls of this hall of haunts and horrors? The answer is that Stu Tinker, 54, is never more than a customer away from resuming a running rhapsody on aviation. Bring up the subject and something spooky happens: He takes control of your thoughts, transports you back in time.
Sitting down to armchair-aviate, Tinker reverts to a 5-year-old child who thrilled at each of his pilot father George Tinker's takeoffs. Now Stu's the 16-year-old who soloed a Piper Cherokee 140, earning his private pilot certificate at the local flight school. Fast-forward to when the eager young pilot is working at Boire Field in Nashua, New Hampshire, having negotiated terms of employment allowing him to pump fuel in trade for flight time in the FBO owner's Piper Cub. Another reminiscence spills out: It's a ferry flight home to Maine to deliver a brand-new Piper airplane, its total time measured in minutes, not hours.
Aircraft ownership came along for Tinker--we're talking Cub again here--and the romance with aviation blossomed. What did he love about a fondly recalled 1937 J-2 with a tailskid? "No brakes. No airspeed indicator. Single ignition. Oil pressure gauge, oil temperature, altimeter, tach--that's all it had. When I got it, it had only 89 hours." Want to know what Cub aviation is all about? It's flying low, over flat land, then a hill, then back over flat. Watch the Cub's shadow race up to meet you as you overfly the hill. Then watch it fall away again.... "My heart's always been in a Cub." His most recent aircraft was also a member of the Piper family, a PA-22-108 Colt. This was a marital compromise between a pilot with a preference for tandem layouts and a spouse who'd rather sit next to the captain.
Here's something eerie: There's an aviation connection between Tinker and Betts Books that long predates his proprietorship. An omen? The 5-year-old Stuart "bought my first book from Mrs. Betts." It was a pocket aviation book purchased as a gift for Dad. One day, passing by the place when he was an adult seeking escape from a job requiring constant travel, Tinker spotted a for-sale sign on the door. He took the plunge. Ever since that day in 1991, the store has been Stu Tinker's workplace. Thanks to him, it's one of those delightful little oases of aviation that you find where you least expect them. Sure, there's stuff that may scare you in there. But flying's not one of them.
Dan Namowitz is an aviation writer and flight instructor. A pilot since 1985 and an instructor since 1990, he resides in Maine.
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