Builders,
Devoted Minnesota aviator John Schmidt sent word that, Vi Kapler, the strongest living personal connection to the life’s work of Bernard Pietenpol, passed from earth last night. A very rich book of memories, knowledge, and understanding has been closed, never to be opened again. If you are a Pietenpol builder, a fan of the life of BHP, or fascinated by early homebuilding, it is hard overstate what has slipped from our grasp.
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I was fortunate to have spent a number of hours with the man, in person, listening to what he knew and thought. He was kind and humble. I borrowed the photos below from several websites, to remind Piet builders of what he looked like. This is important, because he surely had countless conversations with builders at Brodhead, and perhaps half of them didn’t understand that they were speaking with Vi Kapler. He was the kind of guy who could share something with a new builder without needing to be pre-understood as the living authority on Pietenpols.
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Vi’s list of contributions to Pietenpol building is very long, but I treasured most the fact that he had worked for many years, side by side with Bernard Pietenpol, and you could ask him almost anything about the experience and he was glad to share it.
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The stories most people tell about working with people understood to be famous or legends tend to get polished with every re-telling, until become something of a caricature rather than a sharp photo. The things Vi shared were just the opposite, they all had a real grit and grain to them which gave you the feeling that it happened yesterday. You were left with the feeling you had just be given a real look at how it was, and how it will never quite be again.
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Blue skies and tailwinds Vi, thank you for leaving aviation a richer place than you found it. -ww.
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Vi with a model A powered air camper
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At the 2013 Brodhead Pietenpol fly-in, Vi with a cane, looks at Pat and Mary Hoyt’s Zenith. Vi made many parts for Corvairs in the 1970s and 80s.
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Above, in the blue hat, sitting on the bench at Brodhead.
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I used to call BHP ‘Bernie” in my writing. I can tell you the exact minute I stopped this. I was speaking with Vi Kappler at Brodhead, in the MacDonald’s in town. It was early in the morning on Saturday, about 10 years ago. Listening to Vi, he was speaking of a man who was not an aviation legend, but a dear personal friend, who was gone. When Vi said the name ‘Bernie’, it suddenly struck me as private, sacred and something that was not mine to use in Vi’s presence. BHP, was my hero, but he was Vi’s friend, and to use the familiar name in Vi’s presence seemed very wrong. I stopped right there, and have written ‘Bernard’ ever since, because I never wanted to imply I was friends with the man, especially not to anyone who really was.
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For further reading:
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Don Pietenpol Passes, 1/8/14
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B.H. Pietenpol, Patron Saint of Homebuilding
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Cherry Grove story, “The long way home”
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Cherry Grove story, Part 2.
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