"A gem can not be polished without friction, nor a man without trials" - Chinese proverb
I used to fly competitive aerobatics in a Pitts Special, a tiny biplane with a big motor. After every flight, I would grab a rag and a bottle of spray polish and clean the airplane. One of the airport mechanics would consistently tease me "you are going to polish the paint off the machine." I would poke back with a comment about being "vain." My airplane was always clean and most of the time spotlessly so.
Pitts Specials generally have beautiful finishes. Until recently, they were painted with a product known as butyrate dope, relatively ancient technology that with lots of preparation and effort, will produce a deep, glossy finish. It takes twenty or thirty coats of paint, with careful sanding in between each coat, to obtain the desired effect. The result is spectacular.
I love the look of a well-polished Pitts. A part of my motivation for polishing was aesthetic. My main motivation, though, was that a careful polish required that I touch every part of the airplane. I would start methodically from the right side of the engine and proceed around the entire machine. By the time I was finished, I would have found and replaced a few missing screws. Sometimes, I noticed and fixed other problems as well. When I then placed the airplane back in its hangar, I knew that every part on the exterior of the machine, from paint to tires, was as it is should be. My next flight would be a little safer as a result of these efforts and the airplane looked beautiful to boot!
I still prefer flying a polished Pitts.
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