Mural: Peter M. Bowers "Fly Baby"

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Like many boys growing up in the years between the World Wars, Pete Bowers was caught up in the explosive growth of aviation. He hung around the airports, he collected pictures of aircraft, and built models of airplanes.

Where he differed from his contemporaries was in his scientific approach to his hobby. It wasn't enough to merely snap pictures of the airplanes that visited nearby airports. Bowers noted the subtle differences between related types, and learned how to compose the images to best-preserve the distinctive features of each aircraft. He categorized his photo collection to allow faster access to data on particular aircraft. He studied how to make his models fly faster and farther.

Like many who design and build model aircraft, he sent photos of his creations to the national magazines that covered the hobby. But instead of the usual blurry snapshots, the editors received clear, crisp photos and drawings, and well-written descriptions of the aircraft. Soon, Bowers was writing for several national modelling magazines—while still in high school!

Bowers enrolled in the Boeing School of Aeronautics in Oakland, California in 1940. This was an intensive Aeronautical Engineering course, compressing a four-year program into two years. The coursework not only included the normal engineering classes, but a series of shop classes to qualify for his mechanic's license.

Pearl Harbor led to his joining the Engineering Cadet program for the U.S. Army Air Forces. Commissioned in 1943, he was eventually assigned to the China/Burma/India theater as a maintenance officer.

By the end of the war, his abilities to photograph and categorize aircraft led to his being placed in charge of the U.S. Army Aircraft Recognition Program.

His photographic skills kept improving. Soon, he was having photos published in non-aviation magazines such as LOOK. He began submitting photos to JANES ALL THE WORLD AIRCRAFT in 1941, and continued the practice for the next fifty-one years.

After leaving the Army in 1947, he was hired as an engineer by the Boeing Company in Seattle. He remained with Boeing until his retirement in 1988.

During his time at Boeing, Bowers worked a variety of tasks. Engineers who can write well are relatively rare, so he was often brought in as a "hired gun" to edit and improve company proposals.

Engineers with Bowers’ understanding of aviation history are even rarer, so Pete was brought in when the company decided to make a full-scale, flying replica of the B&W, Boeing's first aircraft. The replica is currently in the Seattle Museum of flight. He also wrote historical articles for various company publications.

His writing continued outside of his company work, too. Bowers authored or co-authored more than 40 books, and about 1,000 magazine articles

Peter Bowers and the Fly Baby

In 1957, the Experimental Aircraft Association announced its first design contest. The entrants would be judged on how easy they were to fly, how difficult and expensive they were to build. To encourage the lowest cost of ownership, the designs would have to have folding wings and be trailerable.

Pete designed an airplane for the contest, giving it the same name he gave many of his free-flight model aircraft: “Fly Baby.” It was based on the well-proven aerodynamic layout of Les Long’s “Wimpy” and Tom Story’s “Story Special.”

Six aircraft were in attendance at Rockford '62 for the contest judging. The Fly Baby came out the winner. Pete wrote up the building instructions, which were published in "Experimenter" magazine over a two-year period. He had anticipated selling about 500 set of plans, but actual sales exceeded 5,000.

Fly Baby N500F, the original Fly Baby, became one of the most famous aircraft in homebuilt aviation. Not only was it well-publicized within the Experimental Aircraft Association, Bowers often “happened” to include it in the background when he took photos of other aircraft. 

The Fly Baby and Auburn Airport

Bowers kept N500F at the original Auburn Airport in the 1960s. This was located where the Muckleshoot Casino currently stands.

In the 1980s, with his flying days behind him, Bowers loaned the aircraft to Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 26 in Seattle, to fly as a club airplane. A hangar was rented on the current Auburn Airport, and the plane was operated from Auburn until the mid ‘90s. N500F is currently located in the Museum of Flight’s restoration facility at Paine Field.

The Mural

In the early 1960s, Bowers handed his camera over to a 16-year-old named Dale Weir, and placed him in a Piper Cub. Both the Cub and N500F headed for Mount Rainier to take the picture that the mural was eventually based on. This is one of the most famous photos of Fly Baby N500F.

Photographically, it wasn’t perfect—the airplane isn’t centered over the mountain, and the sun position puts most of the plane in shadow. Artist Myron Curry corrected both faults in the mural.