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"See how the wings striking against the air hold up the heavy eagle in the thin upper air, near to the element of fire. And likewise see how the air moving over the sea strikes against the belying sails, making the loaded heavy ship run; so that by these demonstrative and definite reasons you may know that man with his great contrived wings, battling the resistant air and conquering it, can subject it and rise above it." -- Leonardo da Vinci
The Cloudbuster saga began for me in the mid-1970's. I had written a letter to the editor of a hang gliding publication, in which I ranted about the divisiveness that was growing in the sport, and harangued against the exclusionary purists, and railed against the factions developing into insiders and outsiders. Basically I said "Shut up and let them fly; share the air".
A few months later I received a letter postmarked in the mountains of Idaho, with a return address that simply said "The Great White Marshmallow Factory". This letter agreed with what I had written, and contained a passionate appeal for me to stand firm against the ego demons who fragment the airways with their one-upmanship attitudes. Enclosed with the letter was a song, and it was signed "Cloudbuster".
Since that first mysterious letter arrived years ago, I've gotten perhaps a couple of dozen letters, always postmarked from a different flying site (Big Sur, Kitty Hawk, Telluride, the Wasatch front, the Crawfords, Indian Valley, Peru, the Himalayas, etc.), always containing another song, always just signed "Cloudbuster", and never with a return mailing address.
The last letter I got had in it a copy of The Seventh Men (from Olaf Stapeldon's book "The Last and First Men"), and it said he might not be back this way for 2 or 3 earthling lifetimes. He had finally perfected a solar powered ornithoper wing that he had been working on ever since he commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to sketch a similar device in the 15th century. He was now heading for other galaxies to spread his message of self-actualization through flight. (His first stop was to be a nearby solar system where the Intergalactic Revenue Service has announced an "air molecule tax", based on the number of molecules used in flight. A union of the flying masses was being formed to fight the new tax, and needed his leadership.) He asked me to publish his songs, and use them to promote aerial consciousness and comradery.
He said that he hopes the flying community will continue to adapt songs as he has done, and use the power of music to bind pilots of all types together. (Cloudbuster said it's easier to do this than you might think; try it with your favorite songs! All original songs are in fact floating around in the ethereal skyways, and alot of "songwriters" just happen to get lucky and "catch" the song floating out there. They were originally all flying songs, but the songwriter instead sets them down on paper as a country or pop song for commercial reasons. It is our responsibility as pilots to convert songs back to their original form as a flying song.)
So folks, here's my collection of the songs Cloudbuster sent me before he flew away. Whether you're a hang glider pilot, a skydiver, or whether you fly ultralights, Cessnas, paragliders, or sailplanes; whether you're an astronaut, a pole vaulter, a high jumper, or a jet pilot; whether you fly a blimp, balloon, homebuilt, or notebook-paper airplane, may the pure spirit of flight be yours, and may you always share the sky. Here's hoping that these songs can be a springboard for your imagination and your own flights of fancy.
See you at cloudbase,
Reklai Salazar
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