Maynard man wins rare airplane in raffle, says it will keep memory of pilot father alive

By Sarah N. Mattero, Globe Correspondent

A Maynard man says he might have had a little help from above when he won a raffle for a rare 1946 airplane similar to the one his late father taught him to fly in.

Mason shows off the winning ticket. (Jack Mason)

Jack Mason, 56, drove to Minuteman Airfield in Stow on Monday to watch his new plane land — and pick up the keys from the president of the group holding the raffle.

“It was exciting watching it fly in,” Mason said. “I had about six or seven friends up there with me when he handed me the keys.”

Mason learned May 19 that he had won the Luscombe 8E airplane, seven years to the day that his father died. Mason’s father had loved flying so much he built a 1,000-foot grass runway in the back yard of his home in 1948.

Somewhere his father must have been looking down during the raffle, Mason said. “I think he probably said, ‘Maybe I’ll help you win it.’ ”

Mason had purchased 10 raffle tickets for $300 last year. Only 3,000 tickets were available in the international raffle held by the Arizona-based Luscombe Endowment Inc.

The Endowment is a non-profit organization that provides historical information, technical support, and produces FAA-approved parts for owners and mechanics working on the old planes. To support the projects, the group restores and rebuilds donated planes and raffles them off, said Doug Combs, president of the Luscombe Endowment, who flew the raffle prize to Stow from Phoenix, after a short stop in Virginia Monday.

Luscombe airplanes were America’s first mass-produced, all-metal airplanes, Combs said. The aircraft company went bankrupt in 1950 and again in 1958, and the 6,000 planes that it built went unsupported from 1961 until 1993, when the Luscombe Foundation was founded, and then reorganized as the Luscombe Endowment in 2000.

Mason was particularly fond of this plane, the 1946 8E, because it is a similar model to the one his father purchased, a 1946 8A, with three other friends in 1947 for $1,000. Mason spent his teen years learning to fly the 8A and obtained his aviation license when he was 21.

Mason first saw the Luscombe 8E that he won when he was attending an airshow last summer in Oshkosh, Wis.

“I decided I’d like to have another plane like the one I learned on with my father,” he said. “It would keep his memory going.”

Mason, who bought his parents’ home in 2009, added that he will also have to make a few modifications to the airstrip in his backyard.

“It’ll probably take me about three days to clean it up and a few hours to re-learn how to fly it,” said Mason.

Mason also owns a Cessna 180 aircraft, which he keeps at the Minuteman Airfield.