Homage To A Mentor
By Brent Peterson
Carter's Prop Shop
The beginnings of Golden Age Propellers go back to the late 1920s in Aurora, IL. A young man named Fred C. Carter developed a love for aviation and flying model aircraft. Along with handcrafting every part of these rubber-powered airplanes, came the daunting task of carving a perfect propeller. As practice makes perfect, Fred eventually became very talented in this craft and competed at high levels with his airplane designs. In 1932, right in the middle of the "Golden Age" of aviation, Fred carved a walnut propeller for one of his woodshop projects with an amazing skill for a 15-year-old.
Grandpa Fred
Years later, during the 1970s Fred showed me how to carve propellers when I helped him build some of his boyhood planes. Because of the loss of his leg, I became the launcher and retriever of these models. I will never forget watching his "Twin Pusher" (two rear props) go out of sight and into a 1,000 ft. overcast, never to be seen again; nor will I forget the tear in his eye when he lost that six-month project to the sky. Fred was a prolific engineer of all things mechanical. He excelled at photography, mechanics, electronics, and the repair of everything from a Timex to a V8 engine. When I was about eight years old, I asked a lot of questions about mechanics and how things work. When I told him that I didn't know about certain things, he replied, "Can you read?" I told him "Of course!" He then asked if I had a library card, which I did. He then explained that there was therefore nothing that I could not learn, and presented me with a stack of old Popular Mechanics magazines. I had a special relationship with Fred; partly because I lived next door to him and partly because he was my Grandfather.
Fred's Legacy
During the 1990s after Fred and my Grandmother passed away, I was cleaning out his house with our family when my uncle Bob handed me the walnut propeller that he had found in a box with some of Fred's old mechanical drawings from his high school years. The prop was hung on a wall in our home for many years and I planned to one day carve a prop or two of my own. This was not a far-flung dream since I had been a professional woodcarver most of my adult life. Eventually, I borrowed an Ole Fahlin prop from 1938 and began to study it and make templates. I found a genuine enjoyment in laying out these shapes then carving them to perfection. Fred instilled in me a great interest in all things technical. He taught me that being meticulous is a strength and an advantage in life. He told me about the Wright Brothers, Charles Limbergh, Jimmy Doolittle, and Amelia Earhart. He described the "Barnstormers" flying over the town and the legendary airmail pilots defying foul weather and landing in fields to knock the ice off of their wings.
Fred died in 1983, just as my career was beginning. My children never got to know him or read his Popular Mechanics magazines. I have often wanted to call him to ask him what he thought about certain problems I was working on or take some of my photos over to see what he thought about them. In a very strong sense, everything he taught me has been invaluable to me in my professional journey and he deserves to be brought to your attention here on this site. Every Golden Age Propeller that I carve is more than a block of wood, it is a piece of history that started with that young boy back in the Golden Age of aviation.