This Aeronca 7AC has the original paint ûscheme and original “small” vertical stab ûfound on lower horsepower models. It’s ûowned by Frank Smith of Indianola, Iowa.

It’s that leisurely, midsummer country flying, where you can smell new-mown hay through the window that has real romantic charm. (If you don’t know what we mean, grab an early Richard Bach book.)

Options for the low-and-slow set include the $100,000-plus Aviat Husky or flying lawn chair ultralights. But reliable, cheap, slow airplanes once were as common as mayflies in a farm meadow.

Collectively known—by those who don’t own them—as “puddle-jumpers” these two-seaters emerged in the brief post-World War II aviation boom. …