I only met Marcus twice, although I emailed and spoke to him on the telephone many times. By the time I started communicating with him and his wife Joann in the mid 1980s he had become very deaf, so telephone conversations were not always easy. "Do you have any wheels?" you might have asked. "Just a minute" Joann would reply. Then through a muffled microphone would be heard, "MARCUS - DO WE HAVE ANY WHEELS?" "WHAT?" "DO WE HAVE ANY WHEELS?" "WHAT SORT OF SEALS?" "NO, WHEELS!" . . . Marcus' hearing wasn't that much of an impediment though. It had become part of his character and part of his charm. Marcus would usually sign his emails or his forum posts "Marcus the Greater" :).
Part of the reason I am writing this is that I would like to know more. If anyone reading this has stories, anecdotes or information about the Bates, I would love to collect them for this website. Let's try not to lose any of these wonderful memories and do what we can to preserve Marcus and Joann's contribution to our lives. He was probably best known as an importer of Spanish CASA 1.131, but he was much more than that.
I'll start by recounting the story of my visit to Bates Field, West Texas in 2005 (I think)
Tom Muller at one time sold a Jungmann to Buzz Hurt in West Texas, and I had the privilege of delivering it. After enjoying Buzz's company for a little while, he suggested we pay a visit to Marcus and Joann, who lived not too far away. Buzz had a new litter of puppies at his ranch, and one had been promised to the Bates, so we would take it with us.
After a short drive, we took an unmarked turning and approached the airfield. There was no doubt we were in the right place:
The runway at Bates field is a brilliant white. It is built from compacted caliche, a form of calcium carbonate so soft that it feels like talc and polishes metal propellers to a brilliant shine. There is no missing it. Down the runway on the right, we saw the house. Also hard to miss since there were two Antonov AN2s in front of it.
I was flattered that Marcus and Joann not only remembered me but greeted me like an old friend. It was not because of anything I had done, it was because that was the way they greeted everyone. Everyone that didn't work for the government, that is :). We talked for a while and played with the puppy, but the evening was drawing on and everyone was tired. I asked if I might come back the next day and left for the hotel.
The next morning, in a truck Buzz had loaned me, I drove again to Bates Field. In the large kitchen, we sat at the table, had some tea and homemade muffins, and talked at length. We talked about Marcus' trips to Spain, the process of importing the CASA Jungmann, the people he had met, and the problems he had encountered with "the Feds" (US federal government.) I think it is fair to say that Marcus was not a fan of the government :).
After some hours, it was time to visit the hangar. What a place! There are aircraft and parts everywhere. A Glasair 1, Joann's Cessna, an unfinished Super Chipmunk that Leon Davis had built in the style of Harold Krier and "Pappy" Spinks, and everywhere you looked, Bucker parts. More than 50 engines, wings, tails, and rows and rows of wooden boxes - so many that they had been used to build walls and a second story erected on top.
Fins, rudders, and elevators
Boxes of goodness knows what!
There were canyons of boxes, and with his hearing difficulties, Marcus wasn't anxious to go down them and risk encountering a rattle snake. I didn't see or hear any, but he assured me they were there!
We poked around the hangar for a long time. We checked out the crates, counted the engines, looked over the Jungmeister project he was working on, and then, having taken up rather too much of his time, we went back to the house to say our goodbyes. There was another surprise in store.
They had prepared two gifts for me. One was a set of tail wheel steering cables/springs for my project, the other a shoebox in which Joann had packed muffins, water, a ham sandwich, a cookie and an apple. "You can't eat that stuff they give you on airplanes," she said. What a sweetheart.
And that was my visit. Thank you for your help Marcus, and thank you for your time and your advice. It was a most wonderful privilege to know you.
Joann Bates sitting in a Jungmeister obtained from Jennings Carter of Monroeville, Alabama in about 1979
More pictures soon.