N4173M USA Aircraft Registration Details

To: Rydell Reints - Owner of N4173M Piper PA-12

Hi Rydell, My name is Bob Rioux from Venice, FL. I stumbled on to this web site by accident and just for the fun of it put in N4173M registration number and was I surprised to find that the airplane is alive and well. Here's a little story about your airplane back in the 1960's.

I was just 20 years old when I started working on my commercial and instrument rating. That took 2 years and was able to earn small amounts of money from the local flying schools picking up and delivering airplanes. In late 1964 I had an opportunity to pick up your airplane after it had some maintenance done in Rhode Island and deliver it to a 1000' strip in the trees at the Brockton, MA Drive-In Theater. A pilot for Northeast Airlines met me and gave me a ride back to Quincy, MA (where I lived). His name was Berny Mynski and he flew N4173M towing banner signs out of the Brocton airport.

I was fascinated with his stories about the banner towing and he invited me back the following weekend so I could see him set-up, then pick-up a sign about 100' feet long. Wow, it looked like fun. I waited around for about 4 hours. When he returned from towing the sign over Providence, RI, we talked and I asked if he knew of any similar type of jobs that might be available in the area. To my surprise he said yes. He said he was transferring bases at Northeast Airlines and would not be able to tow signs after a month from then. If I was truly interested, he said I should talk directly to the owner of the banner towing operation, Mr Julian Rifkin (who owned 9 drive in theaters in New England).

I got hired that week, and Berny trained me and the FAA observed my first banner tow pick-up from the tree shrouded Brockton airport dirt runway. I flew N4173M for 2 years towing signs all over New England (from Maine to Connecticut. I estimate I flew 73M 25 to 30 hours a week in the spring, summer, and fall each year. What a blast. Towing along the New England beaches, over Red Sox ball games at Fenway Park in Boston was a lot of fun giving me great memories of when I was just a kid.

In late 1965 (when banner season was over, I landed a new job out of Lock Haven, PA delivering new airplanes to dealers all over the country from the Piper factory. I built my flight time with this new job and was very fortunate (and lucky) to get hired by Northeast Airlines (Yellow Bird) in January 1967.

Back to N4173M. Your airplane provided me with memories I will never forget. One of the most memorable was when I was circling Fenway Park chasing the tail of another banner tow airplane, suddenly the whole airplane started vibrating, and the engine was popping & banging (but still running with full throttle). It was a very hot day in Boston that day (92 degrees) and the performance of the airplane was significantly reduced to the point where I couldn't maintain altitude towing the sign. I headed for the Charles River to get clear of the hot city and BIG buildings. All this time I was slowly losing altitude, and at 500' over Boston Harbor, I dropped the sign in the water (it sank immediately due to the 25 pound steel tow bar at the front of the sign).

With airplane still shaking and making a lot of noise, I passed under Logan Airport jet arrivals (at 500') and headed for a closed WW-II naval airbase (Squantum Airbase) 2 miles away. The closed runway was used to conduct driver training classes for students learning how to drive 18 wheelers. I landed safely and held short of the trucks that were scrambling to get off the runway. It really was a comical scene. I waited for a ride from Julian Rifkin (the owner of the banner tow operation). While waiting the FAA showed up and checked my papers and the log book. A short time later Julian arrived, and brought his mechanic with him. It only took the mechanic a few minutes to discover the problem. A spark plug blew out of the motor. This caused all the banging, severe vibration, noise and loss of power, but the engine kept running.

I have many other stories involving N4173M and I hope you enjoyed this little bit of history about your airplane.

I enjoyed re-living that day through this little note.

Bob Rioux
Venice, FL

PS - One might ask, Why didn't you just land at Logan Airport? That's a good question, but the answer is another whole story involving a Narco Mark 12 VHF (Coffee Grinder) radio and an Alleghany DC-9.