Above is a picture of a Piper Cub (N6856H) taken in August of 1953, in Rhinelander, WI. It was the first airplane that my dad ever rode in, and he kept this photo along with several others of it.
Well, he rediscovered those photos recently, and I pointed him at the FAA Registry to see if he could find the current owner. Turns out the airplane is still around, and in fact, still in Wisconsin. He mailed a letter and a couple of photos to the current owner, who responded back to him, and sent a photo along with it.
The current owners, a father and son, attend Oshkosh every year, and we are hoping to meet up with them during Airventure. They do not fly the plane in, however - too much headache, and they aren’t all that far from Oshkosh to begin with.
Below is a photo of the exact same airplane, fast forwarded 65 years. It was restored a few years ago:
Don’t you wish they had this for cars? I’d love to find my first car, if it hasn’t been crushed.