Why Superboy?

Kirsten and Bjorn are the proud owners of a 1973 Cessna Cardinal. When we were naming our wonderful plane, we had just visited with our oldest nephew, Kaj. The adults had been ignoring him as he played in the wading pool so he butted in, and announced "everyone has to watch me jump in, and then you have to clap and say something like 'Cheero, What a Super Boy!'". So we did. And we loved the phrase so much that we gave our plane those call letters: C-GWSB - Cheero What a Super Boy

"Kaj and his foot", photo by his father/my brother, Nils, 1995

When it came time to repaint Superboy, we decided we wanted "something a little more interesting". So we commissioned Lyle Campbell, a Haida artist from the Queen Charlotte Islands to design a paint scheme for the tail. One thing led to another and we ended up with a fabulous design for the whole airplane - the elements are Human (representing power) over the engine cowl, Salmon (Pacific Northwest, of course) on the door, Harbor Seal (playfulness, fun) chasing the salmon, Bear (Bjorn is bear in Norwegian) on the tail, and Eagle (flight!) across the wings.

We had Cardan Aircraft Painting in Red Bluff put on the white base coat, and then my brother Nils (father of Kaj) and Kirsten and I put on the colors. Thanks to the EAA for an excellent series of articles on painting and to the Cardan folks for all their advice, it turned out magnificently. We'll never own an "art car", but now we have an "art airplane"!

P.S. Later, when we moved to the United States, we had to change to an N-number, so we choose N723SB, 7=G, 23=W, SB, of course.