Man's love of aviation takes flight with models

Replica aircraft now hang in museums and at conventions

DALE DOMBROWSKI/VIEWRobert Dawson?s one-fifth-scale replica of a 1941 Stearman biplane is based on the plane he purchased when he was 17 years old. The model is complete with crew, front and rear cockpit gauges, flying gloves, parachutes and even a map. DALE DOMBROWSKI/VIEWWith other working models in the background, aviator Robert Dawson examines the engine of his one-fifth-scale 1941 Stearman biplane, which is made out of tubing and balsa wood. Advertisement

He wouldn't take his butcher stepfather's beatings any longer, so Robert Dawson left home at 15 to live in one of the Bowles Air Service's hangars in Live Oak, Calif., located in the northern part of the state.

Dawson, who now lives in Henderson with his wife, Nancy, was born on the Oneida Indian Reservation in Vernon, N.Y. The lifelong aviator says he learned most of what he knows about flying during the years he lived in the Bowles hangar. In fact, the year he moved in, 1949, he earned his pilot's license and bought his first airplane -- a Piper Cub J2. He said it was a slow but maneuverable aircraft. "It could land on a tennis court, but took an hour to get up to 1,000 feet," he said.

In 1952, at age 18, Dawson passed the Department of Agriculture chemical exam. He also passed the test to become a commercial pilot, and he and Bowles became partners in a crop-dusting business.

"It was one of the most fun times of my life," he said. "It was thrilling to buzz crops while flying 25 feet off the ground and actually get paid for it."

If flying is a lifelong passion, it is equaled by Dawson's love of building model aircraft. He smiled when he said he was crossing sticks when he was just 2. His models are built at one-fifth scale with precise detail. The World War II Stearman PT-18 trainer he has hanging in his garage is a good example.

The aircraft was used to train pilots during World War II. Every instrument on the panel in the cockpit is perfectly reproduced. Even the small, almost unnoticeable stenciling of numbers on the wings are evident.

From Henderson, the Stearman will travel to Ohio in April, where it will go on display at the Weak Signal Trade Show at the Sea Gate Convention Center in Toledo.

Three of Dawson's other aircraft are on display in the aeronautical section of the Palm Springs Air Museum in Palm Springs, Calif. They include an SBD5, a Douglas-made, World War II dive bomber; a Mitsubishi-made World War II Japanese Zero manufactured in 1940; and a Newport 17, made famous by the World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker.

Dawson further displays his skills as an artist in his home studio in the form of pen and pencil drawings. What is truly extraordinary is that Dawson has essential tremors. The disease, which is not life-threatening, is a cousin to Parkinson's disease. It manifests itself in tremors of the hands. And although Dawson's hands visibly shake, he still is able to put the rivets on his airplanes with the use of hypodermic needles.

"It just takes much longer and more concentration," he said.

The PT-18 took about a year and a half to finish.

"There are two things that I am proudest about myself," Dawson said. "I am able to finish my model aircraft projects, and I was able to overcome stuttering as a child."

Even though Dawson left home at an early age, he never stopped educating himself. He finished high school while living at the Bowles hangar. He became a civil engineer by going to college at night, attending San Diego State College. Dawson founded El Dorado Engineers in 1969. The firm designed streets and undergrounds for high-rise buildings, including the Gas Lamp District in San Diego.