Charles Adams adjusts model of plane piloted by late Bill Adams, stunt flyer.
This story by Ruth Ann McWhorter originally appeared in The Vidette-Messenger on July 14, 1973.
Charles (Chuck) Adams doesn't fly, but he has a lot of small planes hanging in his bar—very small planes.
Knowing Adams' interest in planes, and particularly in old planes, friends have given or loaned Adams several of the model planes that are suspended in the barroom at Chuggie's, named after Adams' wife, who helps him in the operation of Strongbow Turkey Inn and Chuggie's, U.S. 30 East.
A copper model welded together by a famous "junk artist" and given to Chuck for Christmas last year by Chuggie, is suspended above the bar, and, by means of a wire cable, can make a "landing" on the bar. In spite of its propeller which actually works, the plane has crashed twice, Adams revealed.
One model that has particular significance for Porter County residents is a replica of the Stearman biplane flown by Bill Adams, 43, Menomonee Falls, Wis., during the dedication of the Porter County runway in July 1966.
Adams was killed, in view of 35,000 spectators, when a propeller apparently flew off and struck the right wing support wires of the plane, causing it to crash. At the time of his tragic death, Adams (no relation to Chuck Adams) was considered "the best in the business," it was reported in newspaper accounts of the runway dedication. His show had been barnstorming the country for 14 years. Only two more maneuvers remained for him to complete his act at the dedication.
Model of the plane at Chuggie's includes Bill Adams' name printed upside down on the side of the plane. The restaurant owner explained that one of the pilot's stunts was to fly upside down 20 feet over the runway and cut a ribbon with the plane's tail, which he had done at the dedication here.
The rest of the markings on the plane, which was made by Atty. Calvin Hubbell,
802 LaPorte Ave., are also authentic likenesses to the original. It took Hubbell 2½ years to build the model, it was reported.
The model can really be flown, said Adams, but never has been. Another large gas model given to Adams by his employees for his birthday on May 20 also can be flown, but never has been, he said. That model is in the opposite corner of the barroom from the Bill Adams plane model.
Among other models hanging from the room's ceiling is a B-51 large model made by James Dean, 554 Northview. A tale of a model made by Dean's brother demonstrates why some of the models believed capable of flying have not been flown. The model plane flew over Lake Michigan, crashed, and was lost in the lake, it was reported.
In addition to plane models, Adams has an old propeller ("prop”) from a plane used by students of a local flying instructor. The prop is evidence of students' nose landings, with the ends of the prop bent up like the toes of skis.
Adams himself hasn't learned to fly. "I never had the time or money to fly. I am an enthusiast and that is as far as it goes," he said. As an enthusiast, he has extracted a promise from John Schnaubelt, owner of the aircraft described in Richard Bach's
"Biplane," to bring the plane here (Bach is well known for his book "Jonathon Livinston Seagull."). Schnaubelt is completing a major overhaul of the engine of the 1929 Detroit Parks plane, at the airport at Dixon, Ill., where Adams is from.