Somewhere in the Southern United States, during the 1920's, a barnstorming Jenny pilot runs out of gas. He spies a large field and sets her down.
A farmer and his son are out digging up a tree stump. Seeing this new invention headed in their direction, they pause for a moment and watch the big bird land and roll to a stop before their eyes. They've never seen an airplane before but they know what it is - they've seen pictures in magazines and they know gasoline engines.
Nearly lunch time, they offer the pilot a bite to eat. After some salt pork and beans and biscuits, they walk back to the barn and fill the pilot's gas can - refusing any payment! They ask a few questions about the airplane and its motor, but turn down his offer of a ride.
Meanwhile, as a cow takes an interest and is pondering the edibility of the monster, a dog demonstrates his opinion of the whole affair.
Out by the tail of the Jenny stands a little boy who dreams of flying one day.(His mama found an aviator's cap in a mail order catalogue and bought it for him - it's his most treasured possession.) He was on his way to the creek to do a little fishin' when he saw the Jenny swoop overhead - he just had to catch up and see where it went. A little shy, he did work up the courage to finally approach the aviator and ask about the airplane. Our intrepid pilot was amused and offered to take the boy up for a short hop. That caused perhaps the widest smile in the history of the county!
I don't know what happened in later years - maybe the boy
grew up and became a famous ace or a daring test pilot!
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The diorama is in 1/48th scale and is built around a heavily modified and detailed Lindberg kit. The U.S. star markings can still be seen under the red, white and blue wing stripes as a reminder of the plane's military trainer days. I also depicted a few fabric patches here and there. The cow began as a model railroad part but was hacked into several pieces and re-posed. The figures come from a scrap box full of heads, legs, torsos, etc... The Winchester 94 rifle, water bucket, fence, stump and bovine deposits are all scratch built.