Leaving Cuba to Build Vintage Airplanes - 1941 Boeing Stearman Flight

A flight in a 1941 Boeing Stearman Biplane and tour of some beautiful airplane restorations. Some builds include the Beechcraft Staggerwing, Piper PA-12 Cruiser, and Stearman. In the pilot interview, Robert also shares his experience leaving Cuba and building his life in the United States. He now owns a Piper Cub, Cessna 182, DG sailplane / motorglider, and lives on an airport community.
He is a true aviator.
MERCH
teespring.com/stores/floridaflyingmerch
MUSIC
/ 2018-beat-tape

[@SR-ob3wn]

This is awesome! My wife’s father escaped from Cuba by flying a Stearman to Jamaica in 1961.

[@jamesandiago6829]

His restorations look beautiful and his story is inspiring. I can't stop looking in awe of his Staggerwing.

[@ashtonbrown4318]

Man this should be more popular than it is. It looks like there is a lot of effort that went into this.

[@FloridaFlying]

Thank you! Hopefully it gains some viewers in the coming weeks. Share it if you feel like it :)

[@craigpennington1251]

He made it and did it right and the reward is phenomenal. Outstanding Stearman and perhaps one of the very best designs ever done. Thanks for a great video.

[@gracelandone]

Beautiful story. Fantastic success story. It’s thrilling to see this man make a world for himself. His restorations and his hangar designs are gorgeous. Thanks to you and Robert.

[@kristov29]

5:36 "Let me show you something interesting." Sir, the entire video was interesting from start to finish. My own parents escaped from communist Poland and came to America in 1954. I salute you for all that you have achieved in America.

[@BIBSTERSrepairshop]

Maybe you have already but let’s talk about living at an airport how cool is that great video with a great story of beating the odds

[@PapaRick68]

Wow! Best vid yet, I could listen to Robert talk all day long Maybe one day I’ll meet him

[@aaronlopez3585]

Muchas gracias Robert for chairing your story. Originally my parents brought my brother and I from Havana on 01-27-70 in the freedom flights. My first love as a 7 year old was seeing a flight of Mig's taking of from San Antonio de los baños air Base. We lived in "Little Havana" for a few years. My dad would take me to Homestead to see the F 4 Phantoms Wow!! You're story brought back a lot of great memories. Muchas gracias y que Dioz me lo bendiga. ☕

[@FloridaFlying]

Gracias amigo por compartir tus experiencias. It was great to hear the first hand account from someone who came from Cuba and ended up loving aviation

[@animatek6171]

Pronto voy a cumplir 34 años y llevo los últimos 4 tratando de salir de esta isla. Amo mi país, no me malinterpreten; pero el régimen asfixia de muchas maneras, y aparentemente ya soy "oficialmente" un disidente, un perseguido. De más está decir que aquí está prohibido poseer una aeronave (solo un paramotor), así como está prohibido también, solo para los cubanos, abordar en embarcaciones propulsadas o de recreo; solo a algunos pescadores con botes de unos pocos pies de eslora, con una licencia. Historias como las de Robert (Roberto, para mí) son las que no dejan que se nublen mis sueños. ¡Abajo el COMUNISMO! Abrazo desde Cuba.

[@realediciocco1598]

Incredible story of a very accomplished man. Thanks for sharing.

[@FloridaFlying]

Thank you for always being so supportive. You’ve been here since the beginning, and I appreciate your positive comments :)

[@realediciocco1598]

@@FloridaFlying Thank you Pedro. Your content is excellent and very well delivered. Always looking forward to the next one. I wish your channel continued success and hope you and yours are taking care in these unprecedented times. Blue skies and tailwinds always.

[@1006V]

Great guy and great planes! Love the “Gracious Fidel”. Hilarious!

[@billace90]

Gracias Fidel.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

A.M.F., Fidel...😉

[@nadavegosi5213]

I'm actually helping him build his Super Cruiser.

[@FloridaFlying]

Awesome! I’m sure it’s going to turn out beautiful

[@oldglory1944]

Wonderful Robert. Video is excellent. Thank you for sharing. BEAUTIFUL landing !!! R Bud Fuchs

[@jom5826]

The cuban accents 🇨🇺..myself been proud to be cuban...

[@ginacalabrese3869]

More people of your generation need to talk to people like this man. I don't know your political beliefs and you are entitled to them but please understand that authoritarianism whether right wing or left wing is dangerous. The freedom to go for a flight for enjoyment like in this video would never be allowed. I've been a subscriber for a while and enjoy your content. I mean no disrespect.

[@YouLoveMrFriendly]

You're right. The "protests" in the US right now are being funded and directed by self-proclaimed "Marxists." Cuban Americans' voices and life stories are especially important right now. They can tell our younger people in America what the college professors and mainstream media won't...

[@ModelAV8RChannel]

I was hesitant to go political, but I have to say this man is a great example of what can be done in this great country. The truth is that unfortunately the left is doing their best to take us from democracy and capitalism to socialism. If they succeed this country will no longer be a place worth escaping to. Everything this man represents is at stake. Republicans are not perfect to be sure, but they are the party that has interest in NOT throwing everything in the constitution away. Vote for continued freedom.

[@bishop51807]

Agreed, My own flight instructor had escaped an oppressive government, to come here.

[@bishop51807]

@@ModelAV8RChannel Didn't stop you there. I'd agree with the apollo astronauts when saying politics are just petty.

[@user-di7hk3dp5l]

He s reminds me AirPaints through the pages of Air Progress Magazine !! Of early 70ties ( EAAs !! Too.!!)

[@alexalexis2544]

Fantastic Man!!

[@FloridaFlying]

Alex alexis thank you!

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Tampa = _Almost Home_ {St. Pete} *GREAT VIDEO!*

[@TheGyroJoe]

Wow! Just Wow!

[@FloridaFlying]

namsinc thanks Joe!

[@edwinmedina7492]

Roberto muchas gracias por su historia, ojalá los jóvenes de hoy dia aprendieran a valorar mas las cosas en la vida gracias a experiencias como la suya! Roberto, thank you very much for your story, I hope the young people learned to value things more in life thanks to experiences like yours!

[@tenlittleindians]

That's the kind of guy I like to hangout with. Less and less of them around as time goes by.

[@FloridaFlying]

ten littleindians I agree, this is why it is important to document their stories. Hopefully I can do the same for more people

[@terrykimsey6241]

Great video! Robert is an amazing man! I loved hearing his story ❤️. His restorations are gorgeous, as is home and hanger. My all time favorite flight was in a 1941 Stearman and that one is a beauty. I absolutely love the Staggerwing!

[@casimsalabim]

absolutely beautiful! Thanks for this video.

[@paulestridge5791]

Great Post. I really enjoyed. I had a Stearman. Now a Legend Cub. You did a great job.

[@chrisoconnor4809]

Great video

[@josemmontes5810]

Great video and a great story, I loved the "gracias Fidel" banner, I was at that airstrip last Thursday looking to see if there were any for-sale signs on the planes on the ramp...

[@bobjones8864]

Great airplane, fantastic gentleman.

[@JosepMPla]

Beautiufull video and great guy y disfruta de la vida compañero, te lo mereces.!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@eliasrodriguez4179]

Very nice!!!

[@FloridaFlying]

Elias Rodriguez thank you!

[@jimheckert5383]

Thank you Sir.

[@josephjolly1936]

Awesome. 👍

[@FloridaFlying]

Joseph Jolly thank you!

[@juanjuanillo1]

Me encanta su historia, felicidades, sería interesante subtitularlo en español, un abrazo. Saludos desde Galicia

[@CarDocBabaPhilipo]

beautiful shots! my dream plane :)!

[@FloridaFlying]

Thank you! It sure is a beauty!

[@DavidMcbrady]

WOW what a life!

[@theprudentpilot788]

Dude! You totally knocked it out of the park with this video. Anything else I watch after this will be a bit anti-climactic! LOL! Love your stuff bro.

[@FloridaFlying]

Ah you think so?? Thanks for the support man!

[@lear1980]

I always wanted to learn to fly.The first time I ever flew was in the front seat of a Stearman. Working for Learjet I got the chance to go up on a pre-delivery flight once. I have a picture of me sitting right seat at FL450 while the co pilot was checking something aft. Talk about experiencing both ends of the spectrum.

[@stanleydenning]

The Beechcraft stager wing. OMG! What a beautiful bird. I would have rather seen her in the air.

[@danielmaloney128]

Cool, I would love to fly an airplane one day

[@FloridaFlying]

Daniel Maloney I hope you get the opportunity to, don’t give up on your dreams my friend!

[@juanjuanillo1]

good fly

[@markanthony653]

Just like dying and going to heaven with gasoline great upload thank you very much very interesting very informative

[@paperclipmaniac]

Been watching random videos on your channel for about a year now, and this is most definitely my favorite, great job. Side note, I grew up in south FL and my dad learned to fly at X51, so Cuban history has always been interesting to me(much to the chagrin of people that think Communism is great).

[@dmdrewitt]

Awesome video. Thank you for taking time to make and share this insight into the life of Roberto. Would you be able to list your camera equipment used on the wing?

[@FloridaFlying]

Thank you for watching and supporting! The camera is the Gopro Max 360 camera, and the mount is the flightflix strut mount. The 360 camera is really amazing, I think I’ll be using it in all my flying videos from now on

[@dmdrewitt]

@@FloridaFlying Awesome. Thank you. Does the GoPro Max 360 take the complete 360 video, and then you can choose angles to use in post production?

[@FloridaFlying]

Yep, exactly. It takes a little bit of editing experience to work with long clips like flying videos, but gopro makes a great app that makes it easy for shorter clips

[@katee4796]

Can you make a video of 10 2 seaters you can fly without a licence?

[@RTD1947]

Wait a minute!!! I saw the inertial starter on that thing!!!! What’s the deal with electric start? Cranking that thing is part of the experience!!!!

[@FloridaFlying]

Haha, you know he actually had the original hand crank on display on the wall. Sometimes a mix of old and new is the right stuff

[@mlarson]

i got an ad to vacation in Cuba

[@suserman7775]

What kind of engineer was he?

[@Adriatic1290]

Where is this Airport and what is the Ident of it

[@nadavegosi5213]

@@MrDavidNeiss yes. It is pilot country. Quite a cool pilots community

[@chetmyers7041]

address: 11500 Pilot Country Dr, Spring Hill, FL 34610 suburb of Tampa

[@Adriatic1290]

@@chetmyers7041 thanks, but an airport code would have helped

[@American001_offical]

One of my best friends is his grandson