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   The boys started building their first airplane which they called the Waco Cootie. The manner at which they arrived in calling the ship was this. W and A were the first two letters of Weaver Aircraft and the CO meant company. The name Waco had gained distinction from Waco, Texas because of the good reputation of the Field and the good reputation of the Field was principally due to the eleven civilian instructors. Buck was one of those. Therefore, all associations with the word "Waco" were Buck Weaver. The word "Cootie" was used because of the still vivid recollections of any one who had been in the A. E. F. and the ship being small was hoped by the boys to become as prevalent but non-irritating as the insect after which it was named. The Shop was a room over a pool room at the other end of town. Buck, Sam and Clayt left one morning in March to attach the propeller (which had finally arrived) to the Waco Cootie for its test hop. A fog deepened. The motor of the ship 'conked out' and a forced landing was necessary. Word was 'phoned Hattie that Buck had broken his nose. A car drove up in front of the house. One person carried Buck's shoes, one his coat, another his suit and Hattie was ready for the body to come next. Sam pushed past her, ran down cellar and sobbed aloud. Clayt, white as death, carried Hattie, who was have a bad chill, up to her room after giving instructions to get the hot water bottle and heat all the bricks they could find. Buck was not dead but badly hurt. As soon as possible Sam,smiling for encouragement, escorted Hattie to the hospital to Buck. Buck's face had been crushed in. He lay on a snow-white bed, his head and shoulders covered with encrusted blood which continued to ooze from the broken face at every breath. Just as Hattie was about to "spin in" Sam, tears streaming down his face, threw her a lovely smile and she "leveled out" thereby avoiding her usual dislike of dramatics or being "cissy".
For two or three months there was a great deal of concern about Buck's eye sight and the swelling in his head lasted through the year. Several operations were necessary to take out small pieces of ply wood which evidently had become embedded in his face when the ship landed in a deep ditch along side of the field,throwing Buck forward dashing his face on the cowling. One eye grew so bothersome the last year of his life in 1984, that it is doubtful were he living today, if he could