Vintage Airplane - Aug 1973

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GRE TER TH N EXPECTED

E E "B k" Hilb P id


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VOLUME 1 - NUMBER 9 AUGUST 1973

TABLE OF CONTENTSAntiques And Classics At Oshkosh . Jack Cox . .. . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . .. 4Grand Champion Eaglerock . . . Bill Hodge s . . . . . . . .. . . .. 10A Family Of Dope (Butyrate) Add icts Dr Chester Martin .. . . . . .. . 12

The Death Of A Tri-Motor . . . Paul Pob e zny .. . . . . . . . .. 14Thaden T-2 . . . Jack Cox . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 16Whatever Happened To The Invincible Center Wing? . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . 17Around The Antique /Classic World . .. .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . .. . 18

HOW TO JOIN THE ANTIQUE-CLASSIC DIVISIONMembership in the EAA Antique-Classic Di vision is op en to all EAA members who have a special

interest in the older aircraft that are a proud part of our aviation heritage. Membership in the AntiqueClassic Division i s 10.00 per year which entitle s one to 12 issues of Th e Vintag e Airplane publishedmonthly a t EAA Headquarter s. Each member will a lso receive a specia l Antique-Classic membershipcard plus one additional card for one's spouse or other designated family member.

Membership in EAA is 15.00 per year which includes 12 issues of SPORT AVIATION All mem~ r h i pcorrespondence should be addressed to: EAA Box 229 Hale s Corners Wisconsin 53130


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ANTIQUES AND CLASSICS AT OSHKOSH

y Jack ox

1973 was a vintage year at Oshkosh pun intended .

The 406 Classics and 173 Antiq ues registered andeligible for judging represented the greatest number ofvintage aircraft ever assembled on one airport of whichwe are aware. That s all I intend to say about the impressive NUMBERS, because i t was the quality of theaircraft and the variety that blew the mind of this observer.

Photo by Dick Stouffer)President Buck Hilbert, right , and Roger Davenport at the awards presentation program.

ANTIQUES

First let s consider the antiques and the incredible


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The quality of the restorations was such that thiswriter was moved to mutter several prayers of solemngratitude that he was not an Antique or Classic judge.The Awards List at the end of this article will show thechoices of the judges and Bill Hodges has a story on theGrand Champion Eaglerock elsewhere in this issue, however, there are a few capsule comments I wou ld like tobring to your attention.

- The 5-AT-C Ford Tri-Motor at the fly-in this yearwas 01 414H - back on the barnstorming circuit onceagain. In the early 60's the old Corrugated Cloud labored from su n up to nearly midnight carrying passengers a t the EAA Fly-Ins, then held a t Rockford. It wasowned by Johri Louck who now mans the InformationBooth a t Oshkosh each year. John later sold the Ford toAmerican Airlines who displayed i t at the New YorkWorld's Fair (causing an erroneous report of vandalism

to the plane) before taking it home to Tulsa.t

and asecond Ford , N-9683, languished there at American soverhau l facility for several years, but both are now gone.N-9683 was delivered to the Smithsonian during Transpo'72 and 414H was so ld to Chuck LeMasters. 414H is alsoresponsible for the EAA Air Museum having a BT-13.One summer at Rockford the Ford blew an engine andJohn Louck bought a BT-13 to get the R-985 Prat t &Whitney . After installing the engine and returning theFord to service, John donated the BT-13 air frame tothe Air Museum. t was later restored by the Air Guardunit in Milwaukee and is airworthy today.

- Al Kelch of Mequon, Wisconsin, a north-side suburb of Milwaukee, figured to have one of the sho rt e st andmost routine flights to Oshkosh in his rare 1932 FranklinSport 90. t was not to be . After watching his privatestrip disappear over the horizon behind him, it was justa matter of listening to the little Lambert droning awayup front and an occasional squint ahead for a glimpse ofbig Lake Winnebago. Suddenly, the fuel tank split wideopen dumping the entire fuel load. Al masterfully dead

sticked into a farmer s small field, called ahead for help,got the tank repaired and was soon on his way to the flyin without further incident. This was an everyday af

- Another antique owner having an interesting flight to Oshkosh was Dick Austin of Greensboro, N. C.He and sons David, Andy and Jeff punched through thestationary front that seems to inevitably hang over theAppalachins every year at fly-in t ime . . . and came outwith the scars to prove it really doesn t pay to fool withMother Nature. The leading edges of his Waco ARE werepeeled down to silver by a rainstorm encountered ineastern Kentucky . Knowing he was out of contention formajor awards, Dick forged on anyway, thus giving fly-in

(Photo by Lee Fr a y)Best Class II Classic - ,'Cessna 140

owned by Dutch rafford of Lima, Ohio.


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goers a chance to see the only ARE. This 330 hp Jacobspowered beauty has been out of circulation for manyyears, most recently as a part of the Wings and WheelsMuseum collection in South Carolina. N-20953 wasbuilt on special order for the N ew York Times as a photoship. t still has the large plate glass windows on theright side of the cabin. Interestingly , several former

owners (subsequent to the Times ) and pilots came byand introduced themselves to Dick, helping to unravelthe rich fabric of this magnificent cabin Waco's existence .

- Since there was a fly-in at Wittman Field the firstweek in August, John Turgyan was there in his big beau-tiful Howard DGA-15P. And being there, all the way fromthe wilds of Nu Joisey" , it was only natural that he flewat every opportunity. John loves to show off the performance of his Howard, especially its little known slowflight capabilities . One of the most incredible sights ofthe 1973 Oshkosh Fly-In was John, flaps down, no sehigh and lots of power, flying down the entire displayarea right off the wing of a Breezy

(Photo by Dick Sto u fferBest Open Cockpit . Silver Age - a KR 21

owned by Ron Nash of South Bend . Indiana .


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CLASSICS

Oshkosh Tower, Cessna 170, ten southwest , landing. This is a flight offive-oh Cessna 170s .

Cessna 170 . . . uh, was that five ok Cessna 170s?

Affirmative, five-oh, a flight offifty Cessna 170s.During fly-in week, the Oshkosh tower is the world'sbusiest, but you can bet that the above exchange broughtabout a couple of seconds of stunned silence . . . becauseit was just what the man said, a flight of 50 Cessna 170sup from their annual convention being held at WagonWheel airport resort near Janesville, Wisconsin. The efficient FAA crews did manage to get the 170s down andour EAA parking crews corralled the 50 170s together,making a very impressive sight.

Actually, the entire Classic line-up this year was quiteimpressive : This is the third year of Classic participationat Oshkosh and each year the quality of the restorationsclimbs a few notches

(Photo by Lee Fray)The Best Monocoupe award went to WillardBenedict of Wayland, Michigan for his 90 AF(L) .

with one hand in the cockpit while he props with the other

from behind - a heck of a lot safer than trying to propfrom out front . This feature will be of especially greatinterest to T-Craft owners who fly their birds on floats- and on skis. The door also affords more than ampleventilation while taxiing on hot days and seals moretightly for cold weather flying . John's airplane had abeautiful interior and top notch workmanship throughou t . His custom paint job was slick, but brings up an int r ~ s t i n gquestion you see acres of yellow Cubs withblack lightning strokes down the side, robin red breastedChamps, silver Swifts, etc. but when have you seen anoriginal style factory T-Craft paint job circa 1946 -47?Remember the metallic blue and silver BC-12Ds of thatperiod?


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The post-War Luscombes were well representedSA's, E 's and F's, an Observer and a couple of Sedans .One of the latter was Joe Johnson s really super Sedanrestoration. Next year he should have the rarest of therare Luscombes at Oshkosh - the Colt we pictured lastmonth .

We've already mentioned that the Classic Pipers wereout in force - J -3 s, PA-l ls , PA-12s , Vagabonds, Clippers and Pacers and yes, men, twenty years ago was1953 and that was the year the Tri-Pacer was introduced .We had a couple registered - kinda make s a guy realizethe sand in the 01 hourglass is getting a little deep in thebottom end.

Cessnas? What can you say? There were so manyreal superb 120s, 140s, 170s and 9 195s that, again,I'm really glad I wasn t having to judge them .

Aeroncas were there in great numbers - mostlyChamps but a few Chiefs and a four-placer. Besides having the Grand Champion Classic from their ranks, Aeroncas added to their luster by having the 1000th registeredshow plane, Roger James Aeronca L-3 Defender (an antique Aeronca ). Roger restored the plane , then learned tofly in it.

Some rare Classics were a Johnson Rocket and Mississ ippi State s Anderson Greenwood.

This year a full slate of antique and classic forumswere held and were very well attended. The Cessna 2 1

140 group started a national type club with J . R Nielander at the helm.Antique and Classic judging teams deserve an award

for service to the cause and a second one for physicalfitness for simply surviving the week And, finally, Antique-Classic President Buck Hilbert rated a commendation"":" and a rest - for holding It all together . He bouncedback so quickly that he already is making plans for next

. year .In the next couple of issues of Th e Vintage Airplan e

we will be attempting to cover all the antique and classichappenings at Oshkosh '73.

Photo by Ted Koston)1973 Classic Judges. Back row, left to right : George Yorkof Mansfield , Ohio, Co-Chairman Jim Gorman of Mansfield Ohio, Antique /Classic PreSident Buck Hilbert, CoChairman Morton Lester of Martinsville, Virginia, JohnEngles of Lakeland , Florida , John Shearer of Raleigh ,N C . Kneeling , at left, John Parish of Tullahoma, Tennessee and Dub Yarbrough, right , of Tullahoma , Tennessee .


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(Phot o by L e ~Fray )Reagan Ormand, left, shows famous news com-mentator Paul Harvey the Eaglerock's OX-5 .

(Photo by Dick Stouffer)Evander Britt, Chairman of the Antique Judging Com

mittee , center, congratulates the winners of the 1973Grand Champion Antique award . Left, Reagan Ormandand, right , Jack Brouse, both of Arlington , Texas. TheirOX-5 Alexander Eaglerock is in the background .

Jack was also in World War II as a U. S. Marine aviation ordinance man. Jack was assigned to VMF-422which flew Vought F4U-1 "Corsairs". Beginning his flying career in 1940 , the war caused a postponement until1960. Since that time Jack has rebuilt several planes including a Taylorcraft BD-12D and has gone on to get hisinstructor rating.

.Now , back to the big trip - Grand Prairie , Texa sto Oshkosh , Wisconsin which took 20 flying hours. It alsotook 3 days , 16 st ps and 2 forced landings. The first involved a blown exhaust gasket which tempered a valvespring and required a landing a t Junction City, Kansas.Unable to locate an OX-5 valve spring (wonder why?), aContinental spring was modified and used to continue thejourney (modified Ford V-8 exhaust gaskets were alsoused) .

Everything went along O.K. until arriving in Iowa ;then the OX-5 began backfiring, but the Albia Airportwas in sight and a landing was made there. The AirpowerMuseum at nearby Blakesburg kindly traded springs withReagan from the OX-5 engine on static display there andsoon the "Eaglerock" was winging its way on to Oshkoshonce again. Reagan and Jack were prepared for the trip,however, having both a Cherokee 180 chase plane and apickup following.

Congratulations to Reagan Ormand, Jack Brou se andDouglas Boren for their truly outstanding antique, the

AlexanderE a ~ l e r o c k .

SPECIFIC TIONS

Wing Span 36' 8"Length 24' I I "Height . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9' 8"Empty Weight .. . 1,459 lbs .Useful Load 786 lbs .Payload . . . . 340 lbs.Gross Weight . . . . . .. . . 2,245 lbs .

Maximum Speed . . . . . . 99 mphCruise Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85 mphLanding Speed . . . . . .. . . . . . 34 mph


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A FAMILY OF DOPE (BU TYRAT E) ADDICTS


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Dr. Martin and his wife Marilyn.

Flying one of the newest planes with the latest equipment wasn't like flying in the 1940's . I wanted a taildragger, and that's how i t all began - first a Cub, then aVagabond.

A basket case, Piper Cub J -3 was purchased inMarch, 1970. Most of the original pieces could beused but much rust had to be removed and some of thes t r u ~ t u rneeded rebuilding. The Cub was covered withGrade A cotton fabric, 25 or more coats of butyrate dopewere brushed on with a Styrofoam brush and then handrubbed. At this time Red Lerille (of Monocoupe fame)lent his know how and encouragement during the re

The left wing was destroyed. Both spars were bentbeyond repair which meant a new left wing would needto be purchased or rebuilt. An ad was placed in Trade-APlane for a left wing. Weeks went by with no response .Finally one wintery Sunday afternoon a call came fromGreat Bend , Kansas, from Bill Koelling who had been

reading an old issu e of Trade-A-Plane . His Vagabondhad crashed and burned two weeks before so he mostgenerously offered parts for my plane . He shipped aburned wing which was used to help rebuild another leftwing. This rebuilding job took approximately one monthof spare time work.

. L C Bordelon, an aviation inspector, suppliedthe technical know how and all supervision and inspectionduring the repair. He began the complete overhaul ofthe little Continental 65 hp engine and converted it to75 hp.

In March , 1972, all repair work was done, and the recovering job was begun with Grade A cotton . Nitrate dopewas used for the first coats, and butyrate dope was usedon the last few coats. A total of 35-40 coats was appliedwith a Styrofoam brush , sanded, and compounded . KeyWest Blue was the main color with Ensignia Blue andwhite u se d as trim .

Ori g in a ll y t h e Vagabond ha d no rear windows.Mono cou pe rear window s were a dd ed , which aid in bothlook s a nd vi s ibility. A bubble-type windshield was a lso

ad ded . Wind s hield a nd wi ndow s are gree n t int ed

A walnut formica instrument panel was installed , and walnutpanels were placed over the wing roots in the cabin. Insulation was placed around the cabin and firew a ll , whichaid in heat and noise reduction .

However, bad times were ahead for me. June, 1972 ,found me in ill health . The immunization treatmentwhich I had been receiving reacted adversely, and I became gravely ill. This setback lasted for approximatelytwo month s, and i t took some time before I could ' re- 'start the project because of extreme weakness.

By Christmas of 1972 I was in good health , practicingmedicine and working on the plane. Once . again , thisCh i h b f h li i fill d


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THE DEATH OF A TRI-MOTOR

y Paul H Poberezny

The Burlington Air Show on June 16 was a real blastif you want to look at it that way But any way one

views it, it really was.The morning of the show dawned with poor visibility,

high temperatures and scattered , imbedded thunderstorms- making it tough going for the early arrivals. I made aweather check flight in a P-51 and as I cleared the end ofthe runway , encountered moderate turbulence and a windshift. A check of the area revealed scattered thunderstorms, but the weather appeared to be improving.

Upon returning to the field a t Burlington , I found thatI would have to land on the short grass north/south stripas the east/west paved runway had a 30-35 mph crosswind . . . in fact, a couple of concessionaires already hadtents down . Gear down . . . full flaps a power-on approach down in just 1600 feet of the available 2500 .Then it came back to me - this was how we did it duringthe Big War and Korea

Shortly the sun came out and it looked like a greatday ahead . The show would go on .

Nick Rezich and Bill Bordeleau were at the air showmike. The parachute routine went off as planned withCharlie Hillard and Gene Soucy tracing circles of smokearound the jumper as he floated down with his Americanflag flutt e ring -in the breeze. Charlie and Gene wereflying the identically painted EAA Acro Sport and SuperAcro - the first air show appearance of the two beautiful little biplanes together .

After a couple of acts everyone began to notice a sudden darkening of the sky to the west . Milwaukee Radarreported a severe thunderstorm 20 miles to the west . Aircraft owners bE gan to be uneasy so we stopped the show .EAA aircraft and some of the air show planes were moved

h h d h h i d d

(Dick St o uffer Phot o)The death of a Tri-Motor? EAA President Paul Poberezny thinks not.


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of concern. Big Nick, armed with a bullhorn, workedfrantically to clear the area and get the wreckage ropedoff.

The Ford is now the property of the EAA Air Museum.Her engines have been removed , her broken-off tail andaft fuselage have been moved to the EAA Museum shopin Hales Corners and the crushed cockpit has been re

moved. The remaining wing and partial fuselage havebeen turned over and now sits on the somewhat bentmain gear.

At first the Ford appeared to be a total loss , but aftera close examination - through the eyes of a homebuilder- maybe, just maybe 01 NC8407 didn t die after all. Someparts , several sections of corrugated aluminum and financial help to hire one or two good sheet metal mencould snatch the old girl from the hands of the junk manand get her airborne again.

I ve already put some money where my thoughts arewhat about you?

(Dick Stouffer Photo )Righting the aft fuselage. Notice the relatively simplestructure . . . this is what has led EAA Headquarters tothe conclusion that the plane can be rebuilt.

(Dick Stouffer Photo)

" What You mean I don't get zee ATR just because ofone leetle bouncy-bounce? " That's our boisterous Belgian Philippe Van Pelt of the EAA Air Museum.


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The haden T-2, a 1928 design featuring a full cantilever wing and flaps.

y Jack ox

In the 1920s and 1930s new aircraft were introducedto the public at lavish aviation shows held in places likeNew York , Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.One of the sensations of the 1928 Los Angeles Aeronautical Exposition was an all metal three or four placehigh wing monoplane designed by Herb Thaden and builtby his Thaden Metal Aircraft Company of San Francisco.

Designated the T-2, Herb's machine incorporatedquite a few features which made it unique for that da y .Constructed almost entirely of duralumin, with a full

cantilever wing, fully enclosedcabin with

auto-like furnishing, split landing gear and flaps, the T-2 was aharbinger of things to come in a time when open cockpit,wood, tube and fabric biplanes dominated the Americanaviation m a rket.

The T-2 was powered by a seven cylinder Comet radial that developed 150 hp at 1 800 rpm. A ground adjustable propeller with micarta blades was used, probably forthe relative ease of trying various pitches to determinethe best prop /engine /airframe combination. A ratherlarge plane for the horsepower, the Thaden had a span of39 feet, a length of 25 feet and a height of 7 feet 9 inches .Nevertheless, a top speed of 121 mph and a cruise of 90mph was obtained due largely to the lack of wing struts

Th e T-2 's fl a ps cau se d som ewhat of a s t ir in 1928th ey were th e fir s t 'm ode rn " fla ps on a n American pl a neth a t h a d t he effect o f chan g in g the ca mb er o f th e win g toproduce additional lift. This allowed shorter take offs

and landings with no penalty at cruise. The flaps wereactuated by a worm gear which allowed the pilot to chooseany setting up to the full travel position. The flaps oc-cupied the entire trailing edge of the wings with the exception of the ailerons and constituted 9 of the totallifting surface.

Two twenty gallon fuel tanks were located in the wings.Metal cover plates allowed for inspection and removal ofthe tanks, if needed. An emergency or reserve tankholding ten gallons fed directly to the carburetor .

The fuselage was a monocoque structure with onlytwo main bulkheads - a t the front and rear of the cabin.Lighter aluminum tubes served as formers in the tailconewith close spacing near the tail skid attach point for addedstrength.

The cabin was designed to approximate the interiorsof contemporary automobiles. t was 8 feet long, 3 feet4 inches wide and 4 feet high. Large , easily opened plateglass windows were provided for the rear seat and a bigwindshield with triangular sections extending all the waydown the side of the fusel age to the landing gear fittings

were provided for the pilot. A conventional , auto-likedoor was located on the left side of the cabin , however , asliding glass hatch was installed over the pilot 's seat for


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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THEINVINCIBLE CENTER-WING?

This month's "Whatever Happened To . . . ?" is sent along by Dave Jameson of Oshkosh . The Invincible Center-Wing wa s built by the Invincible Metal Furniture Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin,makers to this day of a fineline of file cabinets , desks , etc. Some years ago Dave contacted the companyto see what had happened to X631 and was told that no records exist in Invincible's files today thatgive a clue as to the final disposition of the prototype . They did send the 1929 brochure we have reproduced here.

Can any of you shed any light on this mystery-of-the-month? All we know about this interestingairplane is printed in the brochure below.

1"'""",- " ' . . '\

G1ft N\1\.s1"f-{ L \

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AROUND THE ANTIQUE/CLASSIC WORLD

"MYSTERY" PLANE

NO MYSTERYFinally, one of our eagle-eyed members has solve d

one of our "Mystery" plane capers. H erb Harkcom 'sletter is self-explanatory . don't miss his referencea t the end of the letter on his latest project , a Curtiss-Wright Speed wing. This one will have the tongues ofyou biplane fans hanging out a mile!

Dear Jack:Your "Mystery" aircraft in the June issue of he

Vintage irplane is no mystery to me .A close examination with a magnifying glass willshow that it is an Eaglerock which someone rebuiltwith a canopy in an effort to make a closed cockpitjob.

The landing gear is definitely Eaglerock as to thebest of my knowledge no other airp la n e had a gearlike it. The fuselage and engine mount are a lso Ea glerock as well as the vertical fin . The wood engi n e bear-ers have no doubt rotted away or were removed butthe mountings are still plainly visib le.

From the picture it is hard to tell what e ngi n e i thad but it must have been ei t h er an OX- 5 or a Hi ssojudging from the mount.

I am making s low progress on the C W Speedwingas we were on vacation for a month and then whenwe returned I had two trips to Sydney plus four daysin school which kept me busy for another month.However I have the wi ngs and tail feathers ready forcover and am working on t h e fuselage no w.

I won't be able to make Oshkosh th is year du e to

work schedule but I will be there in spirit.Yours,Herb H arkcom

C \ ~~ O \ ' S ~

~ ~ ~ ~O S ~ ~ ~~ O ~ ~ N ~ ~ ~

O AERONCA C-3 WANTS - James P . Wood ,3415 W. 80th St . Inglewood , California90305 is restori ng an Aeronca C-3 Masterand needs drawings for the wood aileronsused on the British version of th e plane.His metal ailerons are beat. Mr . Wood alsoowns Aeronca K NC-19339 which has beendown since November of 1972 for engine

overhaul.


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