`Toddler’s dream of flying takes off`

By Erin Remai
Herald Staff Writer

Jean Neice/Herald: Rachel Harper, 2½, is flying high in her brand new plane built by her father, Perry Harper. Rachel is a fourth generation “pilot” in the Harper family.

Rachel Harper, 2½, wants to “fly high in the sky.” And with one of her Christmas presents, she’s on her way.

Rachel’s father, Perry Harper, of Lackawannock Township, spent the last three months building a scaled-down version of a Jee Bee airplane for his daughter to tool around in until she’s old enough to fly an airplane herself.

Rachel makes the plane move with foot pedals that also spin the propeller. The plane doesn’t quite take off — at least beyond Rachel’s imagination.

“We’re going to have to put her in it and carry it around,” Harper said. He finished the plane three days before Christmas and he and his wife, Lori, presented the plane to Rachel on Christmas morning.

“I take her to air shows, and she loves planes,” Harper said. “She’s fascinated ... even when she was small she’d look up at the sky. It’s in her blood.”

Rachel is a fourth-generation “pilot.” Her father and paternal grandfather are pilots, and her great grandfather, Jack Harper, built about 30 planes at his factory in Cleveland. He also had a flight school in Ohio, where Charles Lindbergh once visited.

Harper said his grandfather designed and built airplanes until the Great Depression shut down his factory. Among Jack Harper’s designs was an airplane wing that did not have to be reinforced with wires, which was how most wings of that day were built.

After spending nights in his shop building the plane for Rachel from actual airplane blueprints, Harper said he sees his grandfather in a whole new light.

“I’ve got a little more respect for my grandfather now,” he said.

Rachel’s plane was built using ordinary materials from local stores. The body of the plane, painted a shiny red, is made of wood. The propeller is flattened PVC pipe attached to a salad bowl.

“I’ve never built anything like it before,” Harper said. “I didn’t know what I was getting into.” Harper also has the blueprints for a toy biplane, which he might build if he and his wife have another child.

Although Rachel has yet to fly in a real plane, her parents said she has no fear about taking off into the wild blue yonder.

“She said, ‘I want to fly high in the sky,’ ” Mrs. Harper said.

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