Master of the round engine

By Ted Luebbers

It was clear that during his lifetime Roger Currier loved working on his round aircraft engines as much as he did flying his seaplanes around the Moosehead Lake area of northern Maine.

Sad to report our friend, Roger who we met last summer, died in April 2021. I remember him telling me that he had been ill for a while but that he was feeling OK at the time. He had stopped doing revenue flights because of his sickness, but still enjoyed flying for his own enjoyment. 

My wife Joan and I are again in Maine for the summer escaping the Florida heat and humidity for a more temperate seasonal climate. Usually while we are here, we travel around looking for aviation stories about unusual aircraft, remote grass airstrips and opportunities to take a general aviation flight over the state where I grew up.

We had agreed that when we came to Maine this summer, we would pay our condolences in person to Sue, Roger’s wife, who he said was the real boss of Currier’s Flying Service.

We waited for what seemed to be a beautiful day and made the two-hour drive north to Greenville, on the shore of Moosehead Lake.

We were able to talk to Sue Currier, who is still running Currier’s Flying Service and their pilot, Roger Paradise, who we had flown with last summer.

The day looked like it might be a good day for a flight over the large  lake but there was a pretty stiff wind that was creating swells on the water which made things difficult for the seaplanes as they would be subjected to a lot of pounding before getting airborne. Because of this, they were having to cancel some of their afternoon bookings. We will try this again on another day.

When we pulled into the parking area, we noticed a memorial garden with a large stone on which a bronze metal plaque was affixed stating “Master of the Round,” with Roger’s name, birth date and the date he passed away. It is surrounded by colorful perennial flowers and smaller rocks. Sue mentioned that some time ago Roger had noticed the large stone on their property and suggested to her that one day it would be a proper memorial marker.

Sue suggested we spend some time in Roger’s aviation museum which she had reorganized and added some pictures. When you go through the museum it becomes clear that Roger, who was an (A & P/IA) Airframe and Powerplant aviation mechanic with inspection authorization, really loved working on big radial aircraft engines. He got this training courtesy of the United States Air Force. I think he enjoyed working on engines as much as he did flying one of his several seaplanes.

There were archives containing aircraft engine service manuals, as well as individual aircraft service manuals, such as Cessna, Piper and de Haviland Beaver, to name a few. There were Jacob and Pratt and Whitney engines opened up on engine stands so you could look closely inside to see how they function and go together.

There were pictures and photos of seaplanes that Roger has owned. I found a photo of Roger and Jimmy Buffett, of the song “Margaritaville” who is also an accomplished pilot. Some time ago when Jimmy was in Maine, he took a flight with Roger over the Moosehead area.

The museum also contains an older Cessna 195 and a de Haviland Beaver, an old Link Trainer, a Jeep and a collection of old outboard motors.

Roger and Sue ran this successful flying service for four decades using the de Haviland Beaver, a couple of older Cessna 195’s, Cessna 180 and a Super Cub, all on floats.

To me Roger was the personification of the bush pilot of years ago flying fisherman and hunters into the north woods of Maine, landing on distant lakes where the only way in was by air.

In the parlance of aviation there is a phrase that is used to take notice of the passing of a pilot. It is stated that he or she “Has Gone West.”

He surely will be missed by his family, friends and the many folks that looked forward to flying with him. We were glad to see that Currier’s Flying Service was still going strong under the supervision of Sue Currier and their pilot, Roger Paradise.

Luebbers is a  resident of Tavares, Florida and summer resident of Glenburn.