Malcolm Peck has been rebuilding airplanes and cars since he was 17 years old. The Jefferson resident, now 73, was recently presented the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Accompanied by his wife, Ginnie, family members and friends, Peck was honored a plaque and gold pin at an aircraft inspector gathering at Atlas Aircraft, Pease Tradeport in Portsmouth, N.H. on March 7. Peck is also an FAA certified mechanic and received his aircraft inspector certification (“IA”) in 2004.
A selection committee from the Flight Standards District Office chose Peck for the award for his 50 years of dedicated service to aviation maintenance. The award is named in honor of the late Charles Taylor, who served as the engine mechanic for the Wright Brothers and, according to the FAA website, was the first aviation mechanic in powered flight.
Peck’s name will be added to a “Roll of Honor” book kept at the FAA building at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.
The Jefferson couple went to Long Island to study for the IA test, which took four hours to complete. They both trained for the test well over eight hours a day for five days straight to prepare.
Malcolm said Ginnie could also have passed the test, as she has worked right next to him for the past 30 plus years.
Peck’s aviation experience dates back to working under the shadow of his father who owned a plane. He said he started working on planes with his father in Connecticut when he was 12 years old.
“It’s all I wanted to do, work on cars and airplanes and such,” Peck said. “I loved what I did.”
Peck ran a garage and body shop in Waldoboro, near Moody’s Diner, for several years. When he started to repair and build airplanes on a commercial basis, he changed the name of his business to Peck’s Auto Marine Air Repair (PAMAR), based in Jefferson.
His clients have included Richard Hall, former owner of Hall’s Funeral Home in Waldoboro and Henry Gamage of the Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol. Peck rebuilt a Cessna 150 that he sold to Hall.
To Gamage, Peck rebuilt and sold a 1922 Studebaker that had been sitting in a field in Canada for many years. Peck also rebuilt a 1937 Ford “Woody” for Nicholas Wyeth.
In 1989, Peck designed and built an Amphibious Marine Maintenance Platform for the Great Salt Bay Sanitary District in Damariscotta. It looks like a boat with pontoons and a platform.
“That’s the type of thing I’ve done all my life,” he said. “I’ve never made a lot of money, but I’ve had a lot of fun.”
A candy red sloped metal roof with an overhanging bay and squat Quonset hut out back, the couple’s home looks like an airplane hangar. The “model room” inside their home is just that. There are model airplanes on shelves and leaning against the wall.
A remote control operated helicopter sits on a high shelf. An approximate six by six foot colorful mural adorns one wall that shows three planes flying over the green field outside the family hangar in Jefferson, which is just down the road on Rt. 32.
“The airplanes were always more of a hobby,” Peck said. “I could always make more money fixing automobiles.”
Peck said he learned a lot working with other mechanics when he served in the Air National Guard. He spent 20 years in the Guard with the 101st division based in Bangor.
Over the years, Peck has rebuilt several airplanes. Some of these planes include a Luscomb, two Cessna 150’s, a Stinson, a Cessna 120, a Teal Amphibian, a Maule, a Piper Colt, an Ercoupe, an Aeronca Chief, and a Cessna 172.
A 1956 Piper Pacer sits in the couple’s basement, where they have a fully operational workshop. They said it was in pieces when they brought it out of a barnyard north of Bangor. Starting with little more than a hull with a worn-out engine, the couple spent the past three years restoring the Pacer to mint condition. They took the hull down to bare frame and built the rest from materials in their metal shop.
“Everything has to be legal with the FAA,” Peck said. “It gets quite involved.”
The couple has maintained a near mile of grass runway at their airplane hangar in Jefferson.
“We’ve had a lot of nice visitors over the years,” Ginny said.
The Pecks have five planes tucked into a massive, padded Quonset hut. The aluminum and plexiglass door rattles open to a wide field. They have had other airplane enthusiasts sweep down to visit over summer weekends. Malcolm said the airstrip is registered with the FAA and they welcome visitors who get permission to land.
