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Photo by Ted Koston)

THE PRESIDENT S PAGEBy E . E. Bu ck Hilbert

Pres ident , Antique-Classic Division

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VOLUME 1 - NUMBER 11 OCTOBER 1973

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Gastonia '73 Ja k C o x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4Edna Gardner Whyte . . . H Glenn Buffington . . .. 12In vincib le Center Wing Mystery Solved Ja ck Cox . . .. 15Ted Ko ston At Blak esb ur g . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Around Th e Antique-Classic World . . . . . . . 9

ON THE COVER Morton Le ster s ClipwingMonocoupe at Gastonia .

Ph o to by J ac k Cox

BACK COVER . Ron Na s h s KR-21

WILLARD F SCHMrrr Ph oto by Ted Koston4 ~ 7ROCKY RIVER DR. NO . 2

cLEVELAND, OHIO 44135

HOW TO JOIN THE ANTIQUE-CLASSIC DIVISION

Member ship in the EAA Antique-Classic Divisio n is open to all EAA members who have a specialintere s t in the older aircraft that are a proud part of our av iati on herita ge . Membership in the AntiqueClassic Divi sio n is 10 .00 per year which entit les one to 12 iss ues of Th e Vintage Airplane publishedmonthly a t EAA Headqu a rt ers Each member wi ll a lso rec eive a speci al Antique Classic membership

(Photo by Ted Koston)

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GASTONIA '73

y Jack Cox

Photosby

Author)Coke Darde n s Douglas Dolphin 8

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Right, The Grand Champion at Gastonia,Chuck Weber 's WACO CUC-2. The air-plane was on the cover of the February1973 issue of the Vintage Ai rplane .

Below , Buck Buchanan ' s beautifullyrestored Cessna 170B, Best ClassicMonoplane award winner

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Bob and Hilda Ring of East Kingston N H and their

Jackie Poer waves good by as she and husband Swanson

head for home .

Clyde Sparrow of Charlotte N C and his Ford

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Left. Len Povey left famous as the "Cuban Hawk", was the featuredspeaker at Gastonia. On the right is Johnny Crowell of Charlotte,N.C . Johnny was a well known ai r show pilot in the 1930s andwas famous for an act in which he had himself handcuffed to thecabane struts, then took off and flew an enti re low - levelaerobatic routine To this day he will not reveal how he did it.

Below. George McKiernan of Charlotte, N.C. taxis by in his beautifulWaco UPF-7.

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Right. Waco Lovers! Chuck Weber, left , was the winner of the GrandChampion award . Center is Ray Brandly, President of the NationalWaco ' Club, and right is Gordon ' Sherman, UPF-7 owner and winner ofthe Red McCord Memorial Award for 1973.

. , .. i ~ ' ..... 1 , ' -WILLARDF. SCHMITT

~ 7 ROCKY RIVER [ R. No. "2.~ L e : v E l A N DSH lO A : l ~

Below . Dick Austin's Waco ARE . The outsize win ows were installed onspecial or er for the original owner of the plane, The New YorkDaily News.

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Dwight Cross , Jr. , at Huntersville , N.C. and his fouraileron Pitts . Dwight was elected vice-president ofChapte r 395 fa r 1974.

i ' fi, ""' {. t : t

Gene Padgett of Marion, N.C. and his sharp Luscombe8A. He has owned the plane for over 10 years andjust recently rebuilt it completely.

Jim Clevenger of Black Mountain , N.C . and his SuperStarduster Too. Jim was elected president of Chapter395 for 1974 .

Morton Lester of Martinsville, Va. and his just-restored Monocoupe 110 Special . Morton is a Trusteeof the EAA Air Museum Foundation.

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Edna M . Gardner and the OX-5 powered Travelir 2000 at Madison Wisconsin in 1928EDNA GARDNER WHYTE

. . . . A legend in her own time

By H Glenn Buffington EAA 1234)818 W Crockett St.

Seattle, Washington 98119

Generally in a lifetime you meet a few people whomake a lasting impression, and one of these could verywell be Edna Gardner Whyte, renowned pilot during thepast four decades. During her amazing career, she has beendubbed with sobriquets such as: The Flying Nurse ,

Flying Grandmother , The Flying Schoolmarm andThe Flying Saleswoman , all of which help to depict

f f l f

from the Navy Nurse Corps in 1935. Currently, herCommercial Pilot's License No. 20000 is endorsed forSingle and Multi-engine Land, Seaplane, Rotorcraft andGlider. Also, Flight Instructor with Airplane andInstrument , Ground Instructor Link Trainer .

An early-day Washington Press interview with BettyHynes quotes a couple of Edna's candid remarks,

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Schoolwise, Edna owned and operated the NewOrleans Air College at Shusham Airport from 1935to 1941, using three Taylorcrafts and three J-3 PiperCubs for primary and a Ryan ST A and a CessnaAirmaster for advanced training. She also instructedUSAF and USN pilots in WTS programs both at MeachamField and the Spartan School of Aviation. After herrelease from military service, she assisted her husbandGeorge M . Whyte, in fixed-base operations at FortWorth, Aberdeen, Mississippi and Flushing, Michigan.Even today, when most people would be thinking aboutretirement, Edna Gardner Whyte is going strong. WithAero Valley Estates Airport, Roanoke, Texas as a homeport and owner, she finds time to do some instructingand admits, "I am happiest when 1 am teachingstudents to be good s fe pilots". Currently, Edna

says of her work: " 1 am instructing in a busy pilotschool. 1 keep going; so all this keeps me flyingeveryday. 1 have five planes to use - Musketeer,Cessna 150, Cessna 120, Aeronca 7-AC and AeroCommander 200. 1 am now teaching children ofstudents 1 taught to fly 30 years ago . A man inNew Orleans said 1 had taught his instructor'sinstructor and asked what relation that made us.1 told him he was my great, great grand pilot!I do not know any other woman pilot who flew in1928-29 who is still instructing actively and flyingcommercially for a living, and believe me, I amgrateful!"

This peerless pilot has taught flying since 1931 with462 students soloed and has logged an impressive18,182 hours in the air in over 42 years activeflying, mostly instructing and competition . The flighthours continue to increase practically on a dailybasis while flight instructing.

Next to her love of teaching good, safe pilots,no doubt competitive flying (both cross country and

closed course) must be rated a close second followedby her desire to nurse very sick people back to goodhealth. Mrs. Whyte is holder of 112 trophies won in

titi fl i ll di

DATE PLACED

1930 Won1931 Won1932 Won

1933 Won

1933 Won

1934 Won

A photo of Edna taken in Washing ton D .Cin 1934 during the Coverall Era .

EVENT PLANE

Closed Course Pylon Race, Racine, Wis. OX5 Swallow T.P.Closed Course Pylon Race, Newpo rt, R.l. OX5 Curtiss RobinWomen 's Closed Course Race, Revere ,Fairchild 22Beach Airport, American Legion Meet,Boston, Mass.Kate Smith Trophy , National Air PageantOX.5 Waco 10

Roosevelt Field. Long Island, N.Y.Men and Women Relay Races, Springfield,Mass.Annette Gipson Trophy Race , RooseveltField N Y

Travel Air

J65 Aristocrat

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Edna Gardner with Beech Staggerwing C-17B, N17072 ,at Patterson , La in 1938 - while serving as a pilotto the May Lumber Company. f1 y;.t'-f2. 3 1- o

( >A.e y ( : '1- 1 1 i31958 Won Dallas D oll Derby Efficiency Race, Cessna 120 e L t. lf

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by Dean Crites)The Invincible Center-Wing in Dean Crites back yard during the winter of 1934-35 . That's analuminum sign used to make a new cowling

INVINCIBLE CENTER WING MYSTERY SOLVE

y Ja c k ox

Remember our Whatever Happened to the InvincibleCenter -Wing?" in the August issue? Well, as often is theca se we found the answer to this one right in our ownback yard

Dean Crites, twin brother of Dale Crites - well knownto you EAA Convention goers as the pilot of the 1912Curti ss Pusher (now in the EAA Museum ) - filled us inon the history of the Center Wing and provided ancient

At any rate, in the fall of 1934 Dean Crites ofWaukesha, Wisconsin (just west of Milwaukee ) purchasedthe Center-Wing and trucked it home. He purchaseda Challenger in Chicago and installed it on the old

bird using aluminum signs to make substitutes formissing cowling . On May 17 , 1935 he test flew the planefrom a farm field near his home on the outskirts ofWaukesha The flight lasted one hour and forty minutes

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had removed the Challenger and had substituted a Hisso .Shortly afterward, they learned the plane had crashedkilling the new owner. This, as far as we can determine,was the end of the Invincible Center-Wing.

Dean says the airplane had an odd characteristic .He would be flying along smoothly when the airplane

would suddenly shudder all over - as if the tail werefluttering. He was glad to get rid of the thing Deanand Dale laugh about the whole episode today . Dale saysthey had both been flying worn out Jennies and a VelieMonocoupe - s that the Center-Wing was "big airplaneexperie nce for them. They felt they were stepping up intothe transport class

No conversation regarding flying in the Milwaukeearea can go on very long without a mention of Deanand Dale Crites . They started their aviation careersin the late '20s and have been a prominent part ofWisconsin and Midwestern civil aviation ever since.Retired today, both are nevertheless still involved insport aviation activities. They are restoring a StraightwingWaco and Dale is well along to getting another earlyCurtiss Pusher flying - when he isn't flying his Davisor 85 h.p. Cub .

Photo by Lee Fray)Dean Crites, left , and his twin brother Dale

of Waukesha Wisconsin

Photo by Lee Fray)Dean Crites with the Vel i Monocoupe in the EAAAi r Museum . Dean flew one like it in the early1930s . He says its bad reputation as a stall /spin accident waiting to happen came frompilots used to flying heavy-on-the -controls Jenniestrying to yank the dainty little 'Coupe around andconsequently pulling their turns too tightly .too close to the ground . Pilots who learned to

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TED KOSTON ATBLAKESBURG

Harold Johnson s Vultee V-1A and Doyle Cotton s Rapide .

viation photographer Ted Koston of Chicago attendedthe ntique irplane Association s annual fly-in atBlakesburg, Iowa and spent a couple of days snappingpictures for the Vintage Airplane. _

Oshkosh 1973 s ntique Grand Champion lexanderEaglerock was also declared the 73 AAA Grand

Champion. The runner up or Sweepstakes ward waswon by Jack Greiner of Boulder, Colorado for hisbeautiful 1929 Stearman C3R.

Our congratulations to Eaglerock owners Ormand /Brouse /Boren, Jack Greiner and other award winners .and to Ted Koston for still another batch of beautifulcamera and darkroom work.

Right. Antique Airfield at Blakesburg , Iowa and the 1973

Fly-In. Buildings house Airpower Museum and AAAHeadquarters. Grass runway is just off the left of thepicture.

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Above . Jack Greiner s Stearman C3R from Boulder ,Colorado .

Right. Mickey Hardin s sharp Aeronca C-3 . Sheflew it in from Justin, Texas . That s BuckHilbert s Razorback just down the line .

Below . Tom Eanes of Grand Pra irie , Texas ownsthis big red Travel Air 4000 - con ve rt ed to a

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AROUND THE ANTIQUE/CLASSIC WORLD

(Photo by Frank Brown )This 1935 Taylor Cub E-2 is the pride and joy of Bob Whittier (EAA 1235) of Duxbury, Mass.Bob found it languishing on Cape Cod in 1962, got it going for a year in 1964 , put it in storagedue to pressure of work got it going again in 1972, and in the past year has taken it to severalNew England Fly-Ins. Color scheme is a very attractive Diana Cream and red . The 40 h.p. Continentalengine turns a one-bladed Everel propeller which was marketed briefly in 1937; as far as Bobknows it is the only such prop still flying . This ship is N-15009 and in its earlier silver andmaroon color scheme is pictured in the E-2 Cub write-up in Volume 5 of Joseph Juptner ' s U .S.Civil Aircraft.

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The Vintage Airplane is the official publication of Antique Classic Aircraft, Inc.,a division of The Experimental Aircraft Association, Hales Corners, Wisconsin.