Charlie Coe - Pilot - and His Nash Metropolitan

Another chunk of Greenville history is Charlie Coe, a legendary pilot for Folsom's Air Service on Moosehead Lake, Maine. I happened upon this video on YouTube this morning which instantly reminded me of Charlie and his wife Evelyn. For years, Charlie drove a Nash Metropolitan identical in vintage and color to the one featured here:

Is The Nash Metropolitan A Good Investment Or Sale Proof?

When Charlie and Evelyn first moved to Greenville, they rented an apartment in the house that I grew up in located just east of the Greenville airport. In the 1960's Dick Folsom, owner and chief pilot for Folsom's Air Service, purchased a red de Havilland Beaver and converted it to floats. The plane became a legend for the remainder of the Twentieth Century starring each year in Greenville in the annual Seaplane Pilots Association fly-in the weekend after Labor Day weekend as well as starring in the movie Sweet Home Alabama.

In Yellow: Aircraft N1537V

In Red: DICK FOLSOM : BUSH PILOT A LEGEND REFLECTS

I have fond memories of Charlie buzzing Evelyn sometimes on return trips from Horseshoe Pond in that Beaver, then painted yellow, roaring over the house at treetop level. Charlie and Evelyn also lived in the small house at the Greenville airport, and I suspect there are still travelers who have forgotten memories of this Nash Metropolitan parked there and of Evelyn welcoming them to the airport.

I have written about Charlie before - A Blast from the Past - but somebody needs to write a book about him. He was a low-keyed but distinguished character in aviation history.

P-51 Mustang "Night Mare" World War II pilot Charlie Coe:

Charles Sherwood Coe referencing this obituary: 1SGT Charles Sherwood Coe

And here: Charles S Coe (1922 - 1994)

Charlie had the kind of personality that would lead me to believe that the only enemies he ever had were the pilots he shot down in World War II, whoever they were. He was an enormously amiable guy, short but always wearing his wide, toothy smile.