[maple_leaf_eh]

When I was in high school I was in the aviation club. We had a teacher who helped us build a hang glider. It was a clunky heavy thing with polyetheline sheet for skin and a not very effective airfoil. The idea wasn't to actually fly, but to build.

Next door to his house/shop was The Dominion Snath Company, which made scythe handles. Steam bending 1 1/4" ash staves with complex curves is not easy on a production line. Not surprisingly, the owners were mechanical masters. I remember neat stuff in their plant, including an inverted straight 6 cylinder Ranger aircraft engine AND a four-wheel steer "Army" truck. The comment was that they wanted a very agile vehicle that could negotiate in maple sugar bushes with a sap collecting tank on the back. So, the guys took two steering axles and low gearing. I wonder what happened to that plant.