8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 1/36
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 2/36
EDITORIAL
STAFF
Publisher
March 1997
Vol.25,No" 3
CONTENTS
Ta m P
obe
r
ezn
y
EdHor,in,Chlef
Ja c k
Cox
EdHor
Henry
G. Frautsc
hy
Managing EdHor
Go
ld a Cox
Art Director
M k e D
rucks
Computer
Graphic
Specialists
O livia L. Phillip Jennifer Larsen
Ma ry
Premeau
Associate Editor
No
rm
Pete r
se
n
Feature Writer
Denn
is Par ks
Staff Photographers
Jim
Ko e
pn i
ck
LeeAn n A b rams
Ke
n U
ch
tenburg
Advertising/Editorial Assistant
I
sabell
e W
s
ke
EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION, INC.
OFFICERS
President
VIce-President
Espie "Butch" Joyce
George Doubner
P
.O. Box 35584
2448 Lough
Lone
Greensboro. NC 274
25
Hartford. WI
53027
910/393-0344
414/673-5885
Secretary
Treasurer
Steve Nessa
C h a ~ e s H a r r i s
2009Highland Ave.
7215 East
46th
St
.
Al
be rt Leo, MN
56007
Tulsa.
OK 74145
507/373-1
674
918/622-8400
DIRECTORS
John Berendt Gene Monis
7645 E
cho
Point
Rd.
IISC
Steve Court, R.
R.
2
Connon Falls.
MN
55009
Roanoke,
TX
76262
507/263-24
14
817/491-9110
Phil
Coulson
Robert C.
"Bob"
Brouer
28415 Spri
ngbrook Dr.
9345 S.
Hoyne
Law1on, MI 49065
Chicago. IL
60620
616/624-6490
3121779-2105
Joe Dfckey
John S.
Copefond
55Oakey Av.
28-3 Williamsbur8 Ct.
Lawrencebur
g.
IN
47025
Shrewsbury. MA 1545
812/537-9354
fiJ8/842-7867
6
Dale
A.Gustafson
StonGomoiI
7724
Shady
Hill Dr
.
1042
90th
Lone
,
NE
Indianapolis.
IN 46278
Minneapolis.
MN 55434
317/293-4430
612/784-1172
Robertlk:ktelg
JeannieH iH
1
708 Boy
Oaks
Dr.
P.O. Box
328
Alberf L
eo
. MN
56007
Harvard. IL 60033
507/373-2922
815/943-7205
Dean Richardson Robert
D.
"Bob"
Lumley
6701 Colony Dr.
1265 South 124th st.
Mad
ison. WI 53717
Brookfield. WI
53005
608/833-1291
414/782-2633
S.H_
Wes"
Schmid
GeoII
Robison
2359 Lefeber
Aven
ue
1521 E. MacGregor Dr.
Wauwatosa
.
WI
53213
New Haven
.
IN
46774
414/771-1545
219/493-4724
George
York
181
Sloboda Av.
Mansfield.
OH
44906
419/529-4378
DIRECTOR EMERITUS
E.E."Buck" Hilbert
P.O . Box 424
Union.
IL 60180
815/923-4591
ADVISORS
Steve
Krog Roger
Gom
oll
930 Taro
HL E 3238 Vicoria
St
. N
Hartford. WI
53027
S Paul. MN 55126
414/966-7627
612/484-2303
Page 8
I Straight&Level
Espi
e"Butch"Joyce
2 lCNewsIH.G. Frautschy
3TypeClubNoteslNonnPetersen
lC Volunteers
rr
ris
ha
Dorlac
7MysteryPlanelH.G.Frautschy
8CurtissMuseum!
KirkHouse
11Antique/ClassicHome/
AndyHeins
12
TheGranville
rother
s
NR49VI
D
avi
d
B.
Jacks
on
13
LouiseThaden60thAnniversary
Memorial1996StaggerwingTourl
NormPetersen
17
DougFuss'Laird LC-BCommerciaV
H.G. Frautschy
22 PietenpolHomecomin
g!
AndrewKing
24What Our MembersAreRestoring!
Norm
Pe
tersen
26 Pass
I t
ToBucklE
.E.
"Buck"Hilbert
27 WelcomeNewMembers
28 Calendar
29
VintageTraderlMembership
Information
FRONT
COVER
Doug
Fuss. Mington, TX eyeba lls
the photo
ship through the disc of
his
Hamitlon propeller
being
driven by the Wright J-4
engine
that powers
his
1926 Laird
LC-B
Commercial. Picked as
the Golden
Age
Champion
at
E M
Oshkosh '96, it hod members
"oohing'
and
"ahhing'
all week during the Convention. An historic airplane. it placed
second in the 1927 National Air Derby. in addtion to flying over 70.000 air miles during
~ ~ ~ ? e _ ' : : : on Contract Air Mail Route 9. E M
photo
by Jim Koepnick. shot with on E05-1 n
equipped
with a 70-21Omm le
ns.
1/125 sec.@f
16
on 100 A
SA
slide film.
E M
Cessna 210
photo
plane
flown
by
Bruce Moore.
BACK COVER Italy "The Great War '
is th
e title o f this watercolor
illustration
by
accomplished aviation artist William Marsalko. Fairview Park. OH. For more information
on
this entry in the E M Sport Aviation Art Competition. please tum
to
A/C News
on
page
2.
Copyright © 1997 by the EM Antique/Classic Division Inc. Al l rights reserved.
VINTAGE
AIRPlANE ~ S S N
0091-6943)
is published
and o
wn
ed exclusively by the EM Ant
ique/Classic
D
vision,
Inc.
of the Experi
mental
Aircraft Association and is published monthly at
EM
Aviation Center,
3000
Poberezny
Rd.
,P
O. Box 3086
,Oshkosh,
WISCOnsin
54903-3086.
Periodicals Postage
paid
at Oshkosh, Wisconsin
54901
and at addnional mailing
offICeS
.The membership rate for
EM
Antique/Classic Division,
Inc. is $27.00 for current
EM members
for 12 month period of which $15.00 is for the publication
of
VNT
AGE
AIRP
LANE
. Membership is open
to all who are interested in aviation .
POSTMASTER:
Send
address
changes to EM Antique/Classic
Division,
Inc., P.O. Box 3086,
Oshkosh,
WI
54903-3086
.FOREIGN ANDAPO
ADDRESSES
- Please allow at leasl two
months for delivery
of
VINTAGE
AIRPlANE
to foreign
and
APO addresses via surface mail.
ADVERTISI
NG- Antique/Classic Division does not guarantee
or
endorse any pr
oduct
offered
th
rough the advertising.
We
invite
construc
t
ive
criticism and welcome any report
of
inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that
cooective measures
can
be
taken.
EDITORIAl POUCY: Readers are encouraged to submn stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles
are
solely those
of
the
authors. Responsibilny for accuracy
in
reporting rests entirely
wnh the
contributor.
No
renumeration
is made
.
Material should
be sent to: Ednor, VINTAGE AIRPlANE P.O. Box 3086.
Oshkosh
, W 54903-3086. Phone 414/42 -4800
The
words
EAA,
UL
T
RALIGHT
, FLY W
IT
H THE FIRST
TEAM
, SPORT
AVIATION
and
the
logos of EAA , EAA INTERNATIONAL
C
ONVENTI
ON, EM ANTIQUE/CLASS
IC
DIVl
SfON
, INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB, WARBIRDS
OF
AMERICA are ®registered
trademarks. THE
EM SKY SH
OPPE
and logos of
the
EM
AVIA
TI
ON FOUNDATION
and EAA UL
TRALIG
HT
CONVENTION
are
trademarks
of the
above associations
and their
use by any
person
other than
the
above association is
strictly prohibited
.
Page 13
Page
17
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 3/36
STRAIGHT LEVEL
by Espie Butch
Joyce
What a contrast between the weather
ere on the beach in Florida and the
last
week during
the
ntique
/
Clas
s ic
Board meeting in
shkosh. The weather was not that bad
in Oshkosh, but it was sure different from
high
of
85°F during the day down here
in Florida
Your Board of Directors had a good
eeting, with a number
of
new programs
nd
projects
being discussed. As these
items take shape I will keep you
in
formed on their
progress
.
The
EAA
oard
of
Directors, Foundation Board
of
Directors, Antique/Classic Board of Di
rectors , NAFI Board of Directors, the
Ultralight Committee
,
other various
committees and a number
of
EAA
staff
members were invited to dine together at
the EAA Museum on Friday
eveni
ng .
his is a great way to relax and discuss
different EAA issues with people outside
of
the structure
of
a board room. During
this evening it was my privilege to pre
sent an award to a pair
of
individual s
of
most deserving character.
In my remarks that night, I stated that
being recognize d
before
such a di stin
guished group of leadership
and
volun
teerism would be hard to match anywhere
else I could imagine.
First to be
called
forward was Gene
Chase. Gene was the editor of your mag
azine VINTAGE AIRPLANE for a num
ber
of
years and, before that, he worked
for
EAA performin
g
other duties as
needed. Once Gene retired from EAA in
1988, he became a volunteer for the
An
tique/Classic Division and soon came on
board as an
Antique
/
Classic
Di re
ctor.
He has also served as a volunteer in the
Antique judging corps durin
g EAA
Oshkosh. To honor him for his effort in
furthering the EAA
Antique/Classic
movement , Gene was prese nted with a
plaque
detailing hi s accomplishments
and featuring a photo of Gene in the
cockpit
of
hi s Davis D-l W.
The next individual to be honored was
E. E. "Buck" Hilbert. There is hardly a
person in the old airplane movement who
does
not
know Buck . He's a
ch a
rter
member
of
the Antique/Classic Division,
and
has
been
a
co ntributin
g
editor to
VINTAGE AIRPLANE from the start.
He continues volunteering for the Divi
sion with his "Pass it to Buck" articles,
and has been the Treasurer of your Divi
sion for years. Buck was honored several
years
ago by
being placed in
the An
tique/Classic Hall of Fame. To honor his
service to the
Division
and VINTAGE
AIRPLANE
, Buck again was
given
a
plaque to once again recognize his dedi
cation to the Antique/Classic movement.
These two individuals have chosen to
retire
from the EAA
Antiq ue/Classic
Board of Directors, but still today remain
active within our movement. To replace
Buck as Treasurer, the Board appointed
Charlie Harris to fill Buck's
un
expired
term. To replace Charlie Harris as Direc
tor , the Board appointed Joe Dickey to
fulfill
Charlie's unexpired
t
er
m. I
also
feel honored to be associated with such
great people.
I am sitting here in the sunshine writing
this "Straight & Level" with my lap top.
t
is totally amazing how
f
st technology has
co me
in such a short time. I
mean
, no
sooner had I paid for the Foster R-Nav in
my Beech, when the first aviation Loran
units hit the marketplace. Now , faster
than I can spend money, here is the GPS
receiver.
The
second week of February,
two Long-EZs left the USA for a trip
around the world ; I'm sure you
will
be
hearing more about this in SPORT AVIA
TION.
The
y have a GPS, a SAT Link,
and laptops computers so that they can E
mail anytime that th ey wish Via the
satellite
link, th
ey can access mo
st
any
other item you might think
of
, but it is still
a great challenge
of
man and machine to
complet
e this mission. Can you eve n
imagine what it must to have been like to
have done this by shooting the stars?
I'll
bet many of you are making your
plans to attend the EAA Sun
'n Fun Fly
In. I plan to be there for the entire week,
and look forward to visi ting with individ
ual members
on the grounds. The
An
tique
/
Classic Parking Chairman
is
Ray
Olcott. Should you have any special re
quest contact
Ray
at
P. O.
Box
6750,
Lakeland, FL 33807 or 1-941-644-2431 ,
FAX 1-941-644-9737.
The Antique/Classic Headquarters and
aircraft registration
is
handled by
A/C
Chapter I, and they can be contacted in
the same manner. Some of the site im
provements that
have
been completed
this year include a new
public
entrance
pathway, redesigned outdoor commercial
exhibit area , a
newly designed
camper
registration center,
and the
ultralight
camping area has been relocated and ex
panded. Over 400 commercial exhibits
representing the leading edge
of
aviation
technology
will offer
everything
from
comp lete kits to components. And, for
the
restorer or
builder
looking
for
that
elusive part a vi sit to the Plane Parts Mart
is def i nitel y in order. Check out
their
web site at http: //www.sun-n-fun.com.
By the way,
if
you are one
of
the many
members who have access to E-mail, you
can send me mes
sages
directly at wind
As you can see, being an
Antique/Classic Division member can be
a lot of fun - even more so when you get
to know so
me other
members. We will
in the near
future
be showing you how
you can help us out with your growing
membership and ha ve some fun at the
same time.
Guess what? That sunshine has turned
to raining like crazy. I have got to run
down and cover up some old airplane en
gines on the back
of
my pickup. Let
's
all
pull in the same direction for the good of
aviation. Remember we are better to
gether, join us and have it all
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 4/36
A C NEWS
compiled by H.G. Frautschy
SWIFT FINDS A NEW SUPPORTER
The Swift Museum Foundation has entered into a licensing agreement with Aviat, Inc.
in Afton, WY.
Stuart
Horn,
president
of Aviat, said The foremost thought in our
mind, is
the
continued
support
of the approximately 700 Swifts still flying.
By
mid-1997
we will
have worked Swift assemblies into our existing production
facilities and will be producing parts, as requested by the
Swift
Museum Foundation.
The
parts will
be made on
original
tooling which
will
have been
reconditioned
or
updated."
Joining in for
the
announcement, Charles Nelson, Founder and President of
the
Swift
Museum
Foundation said
that they were
pleased
to
have a reliable
source
of
parts
for
the Swift Association members' aircraft.
"
Aviat
's
business is building
aircraft
and
that's
what
we've
needed all
along.
Plans are also
being
made
to
put the Swift
back
into production, hopefully within the
next
two
years. The "Swiftfire project is not included in the agreement - those mod
ifications are owned by a separate company.
Aviat is in
the
business of producing
aircraft
that fill narrow niches in
the
aviation
market. They build the Pitts Special and
the
Husky A-1, as well as the Eagle biplane
kit. We
offer our
congratulations on
their
decision to
support
one of
the
most beauti
ful Classic airplanes ever bu ilt , and salute Charlie Nelson and
the Swift Association
for their
progressive
work towards
keeping
the Swift
in
the
air
ABOUT
OUR
BACK
COVE
R . . . low him is the War Cross. Just slightly be
William Marsa lko, Fa irview Park, OH
low the center of the painting is the portrait
has been creating a series
of
mixed media
il
ofTen.
Ruffo Di Calabria, Italy's finest
ww
lustrations depicting, in montage form, many I ace wi
th
20 victories. To the left of him is
of the key World War I pilots, their planes Ten . Adriano Bacula of the 85a Squadriglia
and decorations. As you can see, each paint
and his Macchi I I
Nieuport Bebe
." Just
ing requires a great deal
of
research. This
below that, above the map
of
the
Ita
l ian
painting is entitled Italy "The Great War,"
Front, is an Ansaldo S.V.A.5
of
the Italian
and it was awarded a Par Excellence ribbon
87a Squadrig
li
a. At the very bottom
is
Capi
during the 1996 EAA Sport
Aviation
Art tano Arturo Bonucci, 91a Squadriglia.
Competition.
A mu lt iple
award winner
in the
Sport
At the top
of
the
painting
is a
Caproni
Aviation Art Competition, William is best
Ca33 of the 3a Squadr
i
glia of
the
1
8th
known for his work focused on WW I avia
Bomber Wing. Just below and to the right
is
tion. He credi
ts Mr .
Neal O'Connor
of
New
a portrait
of
Capitano Federico
Zappe
l York for helping him with his research on
lonione of the Caproni Bomber Force.
his projects, and has many of these paintings
Flanking him are, on the left , The Order of
are on display
in
the Kettering Ha
ll
Ga
ll
ery.
St. Maurice, 5th Class, and on the righ
t
The
Our thanks to
Wi ll
iam for sharing his paint
Order of St. Lazarus, 5th Class. Directly be- ing with us.
2 MARCH 1997
YOU
NG
EAGLES
DAY
JUNE 14, 1997
Mark your calendars and be sure the an
nual on your ae
ri
al chariot is completed in
time for International
Yo
ung Eagles Day,
held this
yea
r on
Jun
e 14.
Wh
ile
you
are
certainly encouraged to fl y a Young Eagle
any
ot
h
er
d
ay of
the
year,
the
wor
l
dw
i
de
event on
June 14 acts
as
a
foca
l
point
to
highlig ht the benefits
of
the
EAA Yo
ung
Eag les program. By giving a new perspec
tive on the world of aviation to youngsters,
we can help ensure the future of sport avia
tion.
If
you need more information on how
to become a Young
Eagles pilot
,
or if
you
j u
st need
to
ask
a few questions , please
contact the
EAA Yo
un g
Eagles
office
at
4 14/426-483 1.
80 OCTANE AIRPORTS
As
me
ntio n
ed
in l
ast month's issue
of
VINTAGE
AIRPLANE, we are compiling
a
li
st
of
airports that se
ll
80 octane aviation
fu
el, which will be published in the June is
sue
of
the magazine, as we ll as
post
it on
our EAA AntiquelClassic Web Site and in
clude it in the
EAA
Fax-On-Demand sys
tem wh
en it becomes
avai lab le.
If
you ' d
li
ke your FBO listed, send a note to us here
at EAA HQ.
The
address is: Vintage Air
plane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903
3086.
No
phone ca lls please, but you
can
fax your listing to
4 14/426-4828 or
it to [email protected].
THE D
EN
TO N FLY
-I
N M OV
ES
If you
're
one
of
the many antiquers who
enjoys
the
Texas Chapter of
the Antique
Airp
lane Association ' s
fly-in
at Denton
Texas, you '
ll
need to change your destina
tion
.
The
"
Dento
n
Fly
-In" is
moving
to
Gainesville
, TX.
It
wi ll
be
held
June
13
15, on the municipal airport there in
Gainesville. Camping is still OK, although
no shower facilities are available. The edi
to r
s
of
the
ir
newsletter suggest booking
your hotel rooms as soon as you can , since
there a re other
events
being he ld in
the
area. Have fun
VINTAGE SAIL
PLANE RALLY
If
you like something different
on
your
fly
in visit, why not consider a trip to the 1997
Southwest Antique and Classic Soaring Rally
(SVCSR), June
15-21 in
Moriarty, New Mex
ico. Open to the first 60 vintage gliders that
are
25
or more years of age that register (ramp
space limits the number of gliders that can be
accomodated), the event brings together those
aviators who enjoy silent flight
in
the gliders
of yes teryear. Who knows, you might get a
good look at a Baby Bowl
us
or perhaps take a
ride in a WW II era training glider. For more
information , please contact the Southwest
Glider Ra
lly P. O.
Box 1812, Moparty, NM
87035 or call
505
/832 0755. ....
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 5/36
Type
Club
by Norm Petersen
As a lot of ten, the cowls will
be delivered spun, leading
ompiled
from various type club
edge ring installed, bumped,
cut and hinged for approxi
publications newsletters
mately $850. Contact Larry
Coupe Capers, the Ercoupe
Club
and Executive Director :
Skip
Alerts - DOT
415-C - Wing Corrosion
spar caps on both wings
.
problem
was discovered while
wings for fabric replacement.
of various types
of
old tape
to
the spar caps hid, and probably
of the corrosion.
of the spar caps had pro
to the point
of
exfoliation and
of the metal. The area of
covered the full length of the spar
in depth to a maximum of
0625 inch. The cause of this defect was
alluded to by the submitter, although it
held water and
in contact with the spar
Part total time - 1,938
hours
.
e Editor s Not e: Ce
rtainly
the
er ofhours on this part
is
important,
most
important ar
e the number of
ars it took
to
accumulate
1,938
hours -
years
of
being exposed to all th e
nvironment has to offer - HGF)
upe Flyer - Newsletter 121 ,
1997
Coolbaugh, editor, Manassas, VA,
: 703-590-2375
PAGE NEWS AND NOTES
has ordered TEN Warner
bump cowls. The maker
minimum of ten to turn the
plug and set up the bumping jigs,
Larry footed the bill for the lot
in
antic
of members
of
the Monocoupe
in
with orders. Larry has
diligently
on
the cowling
nearly had it resolved with Jaap
's KLM connection, but it appears
local source nailed down.
Scalbom for exact details and
figures at 847-564-8643 or
The Air Force wire services ran a lengthy
piece on the services for Charles A .
Anderson, who died last April at the age
of
89 . The
dispatch
reads , "
".
Charles
Anderson was the son of a chauffeur who
taught himself to fly and is best remem
bered for his role as mentor
of
the Army
Air Corps' first black fighter pilots, the
Tuskegee Airmen, and is widely recog
nized as the father of African-American
av iation. The Tuskegee Institute hired
Anderson in 1940 to develop a civilian
pilot training program for blacks.
At the time ,
he
was the only African
American who held a commercial pilot's
license
from
the CAA . A native
of
Bridgeport, PA, Anderson bought his first
airplane, a used Velie Monocoupe, in 1928
with $500
in
savings and $2000
in
loans
from family and friends . Because most
flight instructors would not accept black
students, Anderson learned much about
flying from trial and error. After his first
serious accident, his mother tried to chop
up his Velie with an axe. He found an
instructor - Ernest Buehl, a German immi
grant and WW I aviator - and earned his
commercial pilot's
licen
se in 1932.
Anderson's commercial flying career con
tinued until he was into his eighties
.
."
(Note: Ernie Buehl, by 1928, had flown
with (Roald) Amundsen to the Arctic (in
1923), and was a noted Jun kers/BMW
mechanic and barnstormer. He ran several
FBO's
in the Langhorne , PA, .
area
,
including his "Flying Dutchman Field" at
Somerton, PA, which he operated for 30
years. So, "
Chief'
Anderson did well to
learn his fundamentals from the Flying
Dutchman and the Monocoupe. These he
very ably passed on to a very successful
fighter squadron.)
International Cessna 120/140 Association
Bill Rhoades, newsletter editor and main
tenance advisor, phone: 612-652-2221
IS IT HEAVIER THAN YOU THINK?
by Jeff Burnes, Coupeville, WA
The answer to that question might be sur
prising, even shocking to many 120 40
owners. The truth is , you might just want
to go on not knowing, rather than being
di sappointed. t is a very important factor
in
the operation of your aircraft The origi
nal "typical" aircraft weights given by
Cessna were approximately 780 pounds
for the 120 and 860 pounds for the 140,
and the only way to know what your air-
craft weighs is to have it accurately
weighed as
it is
equipped today. If you
do
go through this exercise, the frrst thing you
are going to ask yourself is, "Is there real
ly more gravity now than
in
1946 or do
old airplanes just get heavier with age
(like some of us)?" One thing is very
clear - the "original" weights were for a
very basic airplane , i.e., wood prop , no
heater, single brakes, 3 coats of dope, no
whee
l
extensions
,
two-ply
tires,
basic
instruments, no radio, no strobes or bea
cons and a sma ll tailwheel. Oh, and of
course, no paint.
Since we haven ' t seen a 1201140
in
this
configuration lately (or ever),
it
helps us
to
cope with this realization that the average
airplane is 950+ Ibs. empty. Now when it
comes to flying, weight
is
everything and
more specifically, weight to horsepower.
The problem is that (as with other weight
gain) the weight
is
not as easy to get rid of
as it is to gain.
At this point I must warn you, if you want
to get into this weight loss/performance
thing, it can become an obsession (it has
with me) . t can be fun and rewarding
such as 120 mph cruise and 1000 fpm
climb on
85 hp!
Many would not care for
the sacrifice in equipment
to
achieve this
performance. The other alternative is to
increase the horsepower to the 100 hp
engine which also works well. After own
ing four previous 140's with the 85 hp
engine and other higher performance air
planes, I wanted to have a little more
envelope with my "new" 120. Yes, I
always wondered what an original 120
flew like when it left the factory.
This set the stage for my ongoing re-con
figuring of N77016 - a Cessna 120.
Starting with a big cardboard box, I pro
ceeded to remove the 100+ pounds that
had been added through the years. This
is
a partial
li
st of the items I removed: metal
prop, complete electrical system including
the lights and wiring, gyro and venturi ,
remote compass, large tailwheel , and some
very heavy interior materials. I did retain
a 720 radio, intercom, a 12
amp battery
and the wheel pants. This made it very
close
to
th
e original data sheet specifica
tions for the
120
, i.e., wood prop, no elec
trical at all , basic instruments, no wheel
Continued on page
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 6/36
VOLUNTEERS AT
OSHKOSH:
MANPOWER
nd DATA
PROCESSING
by
Patricia
"Trish"
Dorlac
ThismonthIhavetheprivilege
of
in
troducingyoutoAnnaOsborn,Chair
man
of
Manpower,andJanetBennett,
Chairman of DataProcessing, in this
ongoing series
about
volunteers
at
Oshkosh.
AnnaOsbornhasbeeninvolvedin
aviationformanyyears. Herpersonal
bicentennialprojecttoearnherpilot' s
licensebeganJanuary I , 1976! Anna
learned
to
fly inChicagowhereshewas
achartermember
of
EAAChapter790
in
Barrington,Illinois. Shewasalsothe
secondfemaletoholdan officeinthe
Stick and
Rudder Flying
Club in
Waukegan
,
Illinois, and
is
the only
woman
to
have
served as
that
club's
president!
theoutstandingeffortsandcraftsman Oshkosh is
matchin
g
volunteers
with
Anna
retired
after
27 years as a
ship
of
StanGomollwhohasgreatlyin
jobs theylove . Therealsatisfaction is
school librarian and moved to Ker
creased
the
comfort of their working
watching
those
volunteers move
be
rville, Texas with
her husband John ,
quarters ,installing shelves
and drop
yondsimplybeingatOshkoshtobeing
their1944Cuband 1978Cessna172.
down
shades
. Sheandher assistants
anactivepart
of
Oshkosh!
If
youhave
She
is
currentlytheEngineeringLibrar
wouldnotmind if nextyearasignwere
notyetmetAnna,dropbythevolunteer
ianforMooneyAircraft. Annaisactive
added
stating,
"SEAPLANE BASE
booththisyear.
If
you
haven't
worked
inbothEAAchapters1088and747and
BUS
THATWAY"! Due
tothe
booth's
lo-
with usbefore, Iknow Anna andher
isalsosecretary
of
theSouthwestRe
g ional Fly-In held every October in
cationatabusyintersection,
itis
oftenmis
staff canfindjust thejob youarelook
takenforaninformationbooth.Nowwe
ingfor!
errville .
Annabeganvolunteeringofficially
knowwhat
the
mostcommonlyaskedques
CloselyconnectedtotheManpower
with
Antique Classic
in 1980on the
tion
isat
the
Manpower
booth!
operationsisDataProcessing,chaired
flight line,workingwithcrowdcontrol
Asked
about
her
favorite part of
byJanetBennettfromRoseville,Cali
andparkingplane
s.
Shecreditsherre
Oshkosh, Annatoldmethatsheloves
fornia . Janet' sworkbeginswellbefore
cruitmenttotheefforts
of
thelateArt
tobeat work early inthemorning to
the
show
startsandends
after
itisall
Morgan,whoshesayswasapleasure
to
watchthefieldcometolife. Shealso
overas she crunchesnumbers,figuring
workwith.
enjoyscampingintheAntiqueClassic
outall kindsof statistics, finallysend
Beforebecomingchairman
of
Man
areaandlivingonthefieldduringthe
ingherfindingsontoseveralof
the
An-
power,Annawasrecruited by former
airshow. Whendiscussingairshows in
tiqueClassicDirector
s.
chairmanGloriaBeecroft. Initiallyshe
thepast,Annacommentedthathermost
Janethasbeenvolunteeringwith
An-
co-chairedwithhusbandJohnandwith
awesomememorywastheyearallthe
tiqueClassicsince
19
88 . Attendingher
BarbaraandFrankMiles. Aschairman
Jennyswereondisplay. " Likemost
of
firstconvention, sheheadedstraightfor
the lastyear,Annahaskeptbusy,
but
us ,
Anna loves being
a
part of the
theRedBarnandsigneduptoworkon
creditsthesmoothrunningoperationto Oshkoshannualfamilyreunionwhere
theflight linewhere she helped with
her
co-chairman John Osborn and to
everyyearpeopleandtheirplanesare
crowdcontrolandparkingaircraft . Al
keyhelpersJanKamps,PatTortorige,
reunited!
though shekeepsbusywithdatapro
andRuthieClaussen. Shealsopraises
Themostexcitingpart
of
her
job
at
cessing, herexpertiseonthecomputer
Anna Osborn, Gloria
eecroft
and John Osborn
demonstrate the attitude
we volun-
teers
have
co
me
to
know as one
of
our young
er
voluntee
rs
Paige)
looks
on.
4 MARCH 1997
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 7/36
Earl Nicholas and Sarah Marcy look bemused as Janet Bennett literally enjoys the
support
of
her
husband Dave the
Division s newest
advisor)
during
a
break
in
the
computing.
found her recruited this year to work in
Operations as
a
beHringer
.
In
1989
she became the unofficial" co-chair
man for Tom Auger. When asked
to
chair
for
1990 , she acce
pt
ed and ha s
so enjoye d her
job
that s he keeps
coming back!
Included
among
her
key
volunteers
are Sue Trovillion
an
d Jason Hartwig
who Janet says we re
both
tremendous
help.
Her
c
hi
ef programmer is her hus
band David who also works in the An
tique/Classic membership and informa
tion booth. Earl Nicholas of Aerogram
fame runs the
nametag port
io n
of this
operation and along with Janet has initi
ated many changes to the nameta
g.
The
name
tags
were
once
ba sica
lly
di spos
abl e
but
now are l
am
inated and more
official looking -
they
now include the
volunteer's nam
e,
job
de
scr
iption,
and
occasionally even a photo!
Some other changes Janet ha s seen
include
the
move
from
a trai ler to the
Aerogram building . In th
eir
new quar
te rs Janet has bee n
ab
le to
st
r
eam lin
e
the data base and thus provide more de
tailed reports. The sampling in the box
below shows what Janet does and illus
trates how fasc inati ng statistics can be.
Hats off to you 1anet Bennett and to
your staff!
Here's
a sampling
of
the sta
tistics put together by Janet and the An-
tique/Classic data processing staff:
1996
CONVENTION
VOLUNTEER STATISTICS
There was a total of 318 volunteers who logged 12,791.90 hours for an
average of 40.23 hours per volunteer.
87 worked less than 10 hours for a total of 382.75 hours averaging 4.4
hours per volunteer.
61
worked more than 70 hours for a total of 7250.0 hours averaging
118.85 hours per volunteer.
There were 157 volunteers who worked last year who returned to work this year.
They logged 9,572.4 hours averaging 60.97 hours per volunteer.
There were
141
volunteers who signed up for the first time this year.
Of
these new volunteers, 110 logged 1,688.25 hours averaging 15.35
hours per new volunteer.
Just from this sample you can get an indication just how important your
volunteer effort
is
- whether it
is
for 1 hour
or
40, it all counts, and
your effort
is certainly appreciated!
L.... _ _..::._ ; _ : _ _ J
*
Type Club Notes
Continued from page 3
exte nsions, no back windows, sing le
brakes and a small tailwheel. Even at that
my e
mpt
y we ight
was
s till
over
850
pound
s.
The paint still has to be removed
(I'm waiting for warmer weather) and the
in terior
finished
. All finished, I am
shooting for an empty weight
of
850
Ibs.
This really results
in
a di fferent airplane
that is nimble and fast.
Think about the reduced stress. I removed
40 pounds stressi ng the engine mount
itself by removing the starter, 35 amp gen
erator and the metal prop. The 40 pounds
turns into 120 at 3 g's - my personal limit
for the plane. Thi s brings up another fea
ture. Even though we don ' t do aerobatics
in these airplanes, it is amazing the view
you can get of the horizon from every
angle without exceeding 112 to 3 g' s in
this light plane.
Well, all
in
all , I'm having fun with this
real Cessna
120.
It's not the plane for
everyone, being basic and no electrical,
but I sure do like the performance.
Bamboo
Bomber C
lub Newsletter
-
Cessna T-50, AT-17, UC-78
Newsletter editor, Jim Anderson, Marine
on St. Croix, MN, phone: 612-433-3024
21 ST AND 22ND FLYING BOBCATS
FOUND
A model
builder
from
Nebraska
and
Elmer Steier (Whittemore, IA) told me
that Gene Overturf in Columbus, NE,
is
flying his Bobcat and is not on my list
of
flying T-50's.
Yes , indeed, I called Gene and he con
firmed that N47
15
5, Serial Number 5264,
is flying, the 22
nd
known T -50
in
service,
with Bill Cherwin 's the 2 1st.
Gene and his wife, also a pilot, tried to get
to the Jonesboro T-50 reunion, but lost an
engine due to ign ition problems on the
way, and ended back in Kansas City. He
says the plane flew we ll on one engine!
He has had
it
for about fifteen years. The
engines were majored abo ut twenty-five
years ago and he has just installed a new
avion
ic
s system.
Bill Cherw in is a former Air Force pilot
ass igne d to 97's for 3 1 /2 years flying
medevac
in
the South Pacifi c. He
is
just
about ready to retire from
hi
s electrical
motor and control business . He has at
l
eas
t
five
ai rpl anes including a
Staggerwing
Beech under comp lete
restoration, hi s wi
Fe's
Cessna
120
, a
172
and two Wacos, a cabin version flying and
another project.
We had a long conversation and I learned
that he grew up
in
Ottumwa, Iowa, along
side the "Carrier in the Prairie." He's
been an active Ant ique
Airplane
Association member.
*
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 8/36
by
H G
Frautschy
This month s Mystery
Plane
should be pretty
easy
especially
for
those
of
you
who
like the
light
air-
planes
built
during
the
early days of aviation. Answers will be published in
the
June issue of Vintage
Airplane. Your reply needs
to
be here at EAA HQ
by
April 25 1997.
The December Mystery Plane had a
number
of
responses, all
of
them cor
rect Here's our first:
"I believe I have a positive identifica
tion for the
'Mystery
Plane' in the De
cember 1996 issue
of
Vintage Airplane.
The airplane depicted is
the
Thomas
Morse S-6, perhaps the so le examp le
built (It was - HGF). I make this identi
fication on the basis
of
a photo and writ
ten description that appeared
in
the jour
nal World War I Aeroplanes (Andrews,
Hal "The Tommy Scout," Issue No. 83,
Feb. 1981). I enclosed copies of a few
pages from this reference.
The
photo
from the article labeled as the S-6 ap
pears to
match
the Mystery Plane, a
l-
though it seems to show the aircraft with
a different paint scheme.
The Thomas Morse S-6 was a post
Thomas-Morse S-6
WW
I
product
of
the
Thomas-Morse
Company
of
Ithaca, New York, produc
ers
of
the wartime S-4 series
of
single
seat training aircraft sometimes referred
to as the "Tommy Scout." The S-6 was
developed with a market for two-place
civilian aircraft in mind.
The S-6
was
a tandem two-seater
and is
said to have
been designed to
make maximum use
of
components from
the
single-seat
S-4C Scout. Thi s in
cluded
using S-4C upper
wing panels
for both the upper and lower wings on
the S-6. Comparison
of
the S-4
dr
aw
ings from the previously mentioned arti
cle shows several
similarit
i
es.
The
wings on the Mystery Plane do indeed
look like the upper planes of the S-4C
Scout. The rear
fuselage and
emp en
The
S-6
was
reported
to
have
had
good flying
characteristics, but
there
were no buyers for a production version.
This is attributed to the fact that surplus
nage also look very much like those
of
the Scout. Power for the S-6 was the 80
hp LeRhone rotary, which was one of
the engines used
in
the S-4c.
6 MARCH 1997
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 9/36
ilitary
aircraft (i .e. Jennies and Stan
ard trainers) met
most
of the needs of
."
Sincerely,
T
Sean
Tavar
es
Andover, MA
Sean ' s on the right track.
I'll
let one
f the masters at aviation history fini sh
ut the run
down on
the S-6. Here ' s part
f what Pete Bowers has to say about the
S-6:
" .
. .
It was essentially a stretched ver
sion
of its
famou
s
single-seat
S-4C
of
1917-1S ,
with
the wings built a little
longer and the fuselage extended forward
o accommodate a second cockpit. There
as no
center section
;
the upper
wing
anels joined over the fuselage centerline
as on the S-4C, and the tail surfaces were
from the
S-4C.
A
major improvement
was to relocate the wheels relative to the
center
of
gravity, to eliminate the notori
ous tail heaviness
of
the S-4C, and the en
gine was the same
SO
hp LeRhone rotary
of
the S-4c.
"Unfortunately for Thomas-Morse, and
other manufacturers who developed early
post-
war sport-trainer models, there was no market
for the S-6. One of
its major shortcomings,
other than competition
from
cheap war-surplus
models, was the difficulty
in
getting into the
front cockpit. Thomas-Morse corrected this
with
the
S-7, which featured side-by-side seat
ing behind the
wing,
and longer
wings
with two
bays of struts. This did not sell either, and
Thomas-Morse
carried on
with
military
models
until
it
was absorbed by Consolidated Aircraft
Co.
of
Buffalo, NY,
in
1929.
"The only S-6 produced survived as a pri
vately-owned airplane with civil registra
tion C9S until it crashed in 1931 ."
Specifications Thomas Morse S 6
Wing Span 29 ft.
Length 28 ft, 8 in.
Wing Area 296
sq . ft .
Gross
Weight
1232 lb.
High Speed
105 mph.
Landing Speed
40 mph.
Climb
in
10
mi n
.
8000
ft.
John Underwood adds:
" . Its first public appearance was at
the New
York Aviation Exposition
in
March
1919,
and
it later raced a time
or
two , as the picture suggests. It was subse
quently licensed C9S.
"In the summer of 1931, Fred Koehn
lein of
Rochester ,
NY swapped
a
TM
Scout S-4C plus some cash for the S-6, so
he could take his girlfriend with him . He
said it was the sweetest ship he ever flew
and it had amazing performance with the
SO hp LeRhone. Be
that
as it may , Fred
let it get away from him and spun in. He
got away with
it ,
but the Tommy
was a
goner. This was in the late fall
of
'
31
."
Other correct answers were sent in by
Richard
Roe
, Fairfax, VA and Frank Str
nad, Northport, NY.
....
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 10/36
Curtiss Museum
hows
How
a m m o n d ~ o r t
Reached for the Skies
by Kirk House,
Mu
um Cu
rator
Glenn Curtiss was born a mile east
of
the
museum that now bear
s his
name
,
and
he
was buried a mile west. This intimate con
n
ec tion
of Curtiss
with
hi s community is
part
of
the appeal at the Curtiss Museum.
In the 52 years between
hi
s birth and his
death, Glenn Curtiss raced across two conti
nents (usually at top speed), using bicycles,
motorcycles, gliders, dirigibles, boats, and,
of
course, airplanes. He agonized through
sumptuous banquets in New York and Paris,
and gracefully turned down royalty cadging
airplane rides. He deve loped three cities in
Florida and built a mansion there, but he al
ways called Hammondsport home.
Curtiss Museum is not just a collection
of aircraft
or
an ode to Curtiss. It
's
an at
tempt to showcase the man in his setting - a
vi lla
ge that
became the
aviation
center of
the world.
Many veterans of the aviation circuit re
call visiting the original museum
in
the old
school
building. Since
1994 th e museum
has hoste d visitors in a 56,000
square
foot
climate-controlled facility on
the
edge of
town. Fifteen aircraft now form the heart of
the collection , along with motorcycles, en
gines, a Curtiss travel trailer, and materials
on Hammondsport during the Curtiss years.
The first case, fittingly, is filled with per
sonal and family memorabilia But the visit
really starts with a 14 minute video on the
man and his work, followed by touring the
Dawn of Aviation gallery. An abstract bi
cycle shop recalls
Curtiss'
first business
venture, with panels and
photographs
dis
playing the pedal powered speed passion of
his youth. But he quickly turned to motor
ized vehicles. A half-dozen Curtiss motor
cycles
are on
display
,
along with
an
even
older Hercules -
the
brand
nam
e Curtiss
used for his very earliest products.
The lightweight, powerful Curtiss engines
led the young man to aviation by way
of Cap
tain
Thoma
s Scott Baldwin.
The aeronaut
used a Curtiss engine on America's first suc
cessful dirigible, then moved his operations to
Hammondsport, where Curtiss assisted in the
creation
of
dirigible SC-I, the first powered
aircraft
in
the U.S military.
Those early engines and motorcycles
helped catapult Curtiss into the public eye.
He used a V8 dirigible engine on a seven
foot motorcycle frame to travel 136 mph in
1907,
becoming
the Fastest
Man
Alive .
His exploits helped inspire the original Tom
Swift books .
8 MARCH 1997
Mo torcycl es and engines
started
Curtiss' career at the
turn-of-the-century.
Many of
his engines and
'cyc
les are displayed at
the
museum.
Spectacular mural, The Flight of the June Bug, commemorates Curtiss ' 1908
f t-
America 's first officially observed
f l ight-one
mile in length.
The Ba ldwin display faces a
45 foot
was
America's
first officially observed
mural taken from
Bob Bradford's
painting,
flight, and it won him the Scientific Ameri
The
Flight of the June Bug. Next to the can trophy. At that time, Curtiss was Direc
mural is June Bug II, created in Hammond
tor
of
Experiments
for
Alexander Graham
sport for the U.S. bicentennial. Curtiss flew
Bell 's
Aerial Experiment Association,
the original June Bug a mile
over
the fields
which made good u
se
of Curtiss' engine
outside the
museum
on July 4, 1908 .
This
know-how,
his personal daring , and his
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 11/36
(Right) The Curtiss Jenny
was a Hammondsport
product.
Restoration on
this JN4D was finished in
1995. The 1918
Jenny is
flanked by
a 1918
Buick
and an OX-5 engine.
Three decades of pi l
ots
depended on
Curt
iss
OX-5 engines which
were
pro
duced
in
thousands
through the end of
WW I.
The museum host
s
th
e OX-5
Club's Aviation Hall of Fame.
busy motorcycle factory. The AEA devel
oped ailerons and
wheeled
landing gear.
June Bug and its predecessor White Wing
were the first American aircraft to use
them. Bell's Boys had earlier used the
slopes across from the museum for glider
experiments.
June Bug
II, a
faithful reproduction,
flew ten miles for its longest
fl
ight before
going on display.
After his
spectacu
l
ar successes
in
Rheims, France, along the Hudson, and in
Los Angeles, Curtiss was able to so lve the
problem of
water
flying, first with float
Work underway on the new Model
E
flying boat; the original
was
produced at
planes and next with flying boats. The first
the Curtiss plant
in
Hammondsport
.
boat to fly took
off
from Keuka Lake near
the Hammondsport waterfront, and Curtiss
quickly marketed such craft to the military.
The U.S. Navy still considers Hammond
sport the birthplace
of
Naval aviation.
He also marketed flyi ng boats to wealthy
sportsmen. A 1913 Model E boat hull (on
loan from NASM) is on disp lay. LA V
originally belonged to Logan A (Jack) Vi
las, who used this
craft
to make the first
crossing
of
Lake Michigan.
Since only the hull survives, some visitors
have trouble visualizing the entire aircraft.
To help them out, museum volunteers are
building a twin sister for LAV This two
place
,
shoulder-yoke, mid-wing aileron
pusher is the first flying boat being built in
Hammondsport for 80 years. After it flies
from Keuka Lake - perhaps in 1998 - it will
go
on display
in
the museum. Guests have a
chance
to
visit the
shop
and hear about
progress directly from the workers.
Visitors don' t have any trouble visualiz
All that remains of the Curtiss house is this cupola , which he called h is
ing the famous Curtiss Jenny. A JN4D was
Thi
nko
rium.
Much of th
e
modern airplane was conceived
in
this room.
VINTAGE AIRPL NE 9
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 12/36
Harvey Mummert s 8-1 Racer was produced by Mercury Aircraft, another local air
craft manufacturer.
one
of
the first aircraft the museum acquired
30 years ago. For decades it was a skeleton.
But the shop crew, before turning its hand
to
the flying boat,
lovingly
restored the
Jenny. Still 80 percent original, it shines in
trainer yellow army livery.
The Great War produced orders
in
thou
sands for Jennies and flying boats, making
Curtiss a millionaire. A Navy Curtiss Fly
ing Boat (NC4) made the first Atlantic
crossing
in 1919; an NC
propeller
is dis
played
in
the lobby.
A 1919 Curtiss
Oriole
was
acquired
along with the Jenny (workers are still seek
ing a pair of Oriole wings), while a Robin
helps bridge the gap between the early days
and the more modern period which began
around 1930. Although the concentration is
obviously on Curtiss, and even on the 1900
to
1920 period, other manufacturers are rep
resented. Mercury Aircraft
of
Hammond
sport made Harvey Mummert s S-I racer,
while the
1949
Ohm-Stoppelbein
Racer
Special was created
in
nearby Rochester.
A Curtiss
Aerocar
helps round out the
collection. Considered the first streamlined
travel trailer, this fifth-wheel vehicle helped
create the travel trailer industry, just as Cur
tiss earlier work had helped create the mo
torcycle and aviation industries.
Still being developed are displays high
lighting
turn-of-the-century
life in
Ham
mondsport. Horse-drawn vehicles, house
hold implements, professional tools, toys ,
and dolls are all exhibited . Special shows
focus on various aspects
of
Curtiss life and
work . 1997
specials
will focus on WW I
and on
Curtiss
motorcycle racing career.
n 1998 the
wine industry
and the flying
boat will be featured . A dirigible
ex
hibit is
planned for 1999.
Curtiss Museum
is
the focus
of
a Museum
Studies Program
for fifth
graders
in
area
schools, and for a more extensive flight tech
nology program used by junior
hi
gh schools.
1 MARCH 1997
Vi
siting groups may request guided tours.
Museum archives include thousands of
photos and documents from
hi
s first 20 years
of heaver-than-air
fli
ght. Curtiss himse
lf
had
Hammondsport photographer H M. Benner
produce some 3,000
shots ,
negatives for
which
are
own
ed by the muse um .
The
se
The Curtiss Robin was a widely used
civil aircraft.
Canadaigua-Middelsex EAAers crafted this half-scale Curtiss pusher, complete with
working control surfaces, for younger visitors.
negatives and other documents also serve as
a splendid resource for local history. This is
fitt
in
g, since Curtiss was a Hammondsport
boy and a Hammondspo rt man. Although
their number is sadly dwindling, the Ham
mondsport area st
ill
has
re
sidents who fondly
remember their town s most famous son.
Curtiss Museum is open 360 days a year.
Admission is charged, with a discount for
seniors, students, AAA members and orga
nized groups. School groups and bus tours
are welcome. Museum members are admit
ted free . The National Soaring Museum and
National Warplane Museum
are
located
nearby
.
More
information is
available
from: Curtiss Museum, 8419 State Route
54,
Hammondsport, NY
14840,607
/569
2160. Contact Kirk House, Curator, for in
formation on traveling photo exhibits con
cerning early aviation.
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 13/36
ANTIQUE CLASSIC HOME
by
Andy
Heins
le 2 529
It's 7:00 a.m. and the bright sunshine
glows through my bedroom window like
a beacon. Another glorious summer Sat
urday has arrived. As I stroll into the
kitchen,
I
glance
out
the window and
there's Harold Johnson's familiar red
pickup pulling up to his hangar. Boy,
he's
here
early
I
think
to
myself.
I
guess you can never be too early to work
on a Waco. You see, Harold is working
on his 1934
Waco
YMF-3, NC14080.
He
almost
has the
fuselage
ready for
cover and he's just finishing up fitting
the cowling. His other 1934 Waco UMF
3, NC14041, is two rows back waiting to
fly another air show this afternoon at a
local EAA fly-in. That's why he's here
early, figuring that he could get a little
work done before the show. Harold also
has two 1940 Waco UPF-7s, NC30122
and NC20979 at his strip at home.
It's now
9:
IS a.m., I've showered and
had breakfast with my wife Michele. As
we're
sitting at the kitchen table drink
ing coffee, I'm contemplating whether
to go work on my 1927 Waco ASO,
NC3782 or take our Stinson 108 Voy
ager out for a spin. The sound
of
a ra
dial engine is heard. Michele and I rush
outside just as the
B. F.
Goodrich owned
1929 Waco CTO, NR13918, Taperwing
flashes by.
It's
Pat and Bob
Wagner
coming
down
to retrieve some tools
from their hangar. As they land and taxi
to the pumps, we walk over to say hello.
The newly restored Joe Mackey/Linco
Flying Aces Taperwing is restored in its
original 1936 colors when it flew in the
famous aerobatic competition in Paris,
France, in which Col. Joe Mackey fin
ished first. Bob has been selected as the
pilot
for B. F.
Goodrich
to fly the air
craft
in
shows this summer. As we stroll
to their hangar talking about the next
fly-in, we pass Jay Newberry S
hangar
where
he's
spraying
color
on his 1940
Waco YPF-7, NC29916. We stop and
talk a while and ask the usual questions
about
dope versus enamel or
polyurethane for the best finish.
As Bob opens his hangar, I see a fa
miliar sight. There's a 1941 Waco UPF
7 NC5528N and his beloved 1935 Waco
YMF-5, NCI4132 sitting side by side
awaiting restoration. As Bob gathers his
tools
and
I
look
at the
projects, there
goes that radial engine
sound again.
This time it's a 220 Continental and it's
Darrell Montgomery flying Harold John-
son's third 1940 Waco UPF-7,
NC29988, and he's just picked up a ban
ner advertising a craft show at the local
arena. Air Ads
of
Dayton is the business
and
they've
been doing it for 30 years.
Darrell stays current in the UPF-7 be
cause his
1941
Waco HPF-7, NC32065
is down for restoration. It's in the back
row of hangars near Paul Harper's 1942
Waco UPF-7, NC39717. Paul 's airplane
is also in storage awaiting restoration
since a mishap several years ago. Bob
closes the hangar and we all walk back
to the Taperwing to say goodbye. Bob
and Pat have to get home because they
have to meet their partner, Jim Beisner,
to work on the newly acquired
1928
Waco GXE, NC5852. They were work
ing on their
1940
Waco UPF-7,
NC29905, but the GXE became avai l
able
and they
just cou
ldn
' t pass
it up.
You
all know how the Waco fever is,
one is not enough. Jim is usually seen
puttering around the sky in
the
OX-5
powered Waco 4 owned by
several
members
of
the Waco Historical Soci
ety, of which Jim is President. Michele
and I wave as the Taperwing soars into
the morning sky and we walk back to
house
for
a
cool lemonade.
All
this
Waco talk has made us thirsty.
As she pours us both a drink, I
hear
the throaty roar of a Wright starting.
Looking out the living room window, I
see that my brother Pete, his wife Kelli
and baby son
Clayton (named
after
Waco President Clayton Bruckner) have
decided to take advantage of
the beauti
ful day and take his one-of-a-kind 1930
Waco CRG, NC600Y out for spin. As
they taxi by, they wave a greeting and
we enthusiastically do the same. Noth
ing can
quite
match the
sound and ex
citement as Pete taxi's out onto the run
way, turns on the smoke, and pushes the
throttle
forward. As the
350 Wright
comes to life, the sound is like music to
my ears. In less than 500 feet they are
off
and
climbing
like a rocket. This is
what the airplane was built to accom
plish in 1930 when Waco built it to win
the
1930
Ford
Air Tour. Flown
by
Johnny Livingston, the airplane finished
a close second behind a Ford Tri-Motor.
As they depart the field, here comes an
other Waco taxiing
by.
This time
it's
Mike Brown, Kelli's father, and his part
ner Alan Hoeweler in their pretty orange
and chocolate 1940 Waco UPF-7,
NC29300. And what's this, they're tow
ing a glider behind them. Normally,
they would be flying their 1929 Waco
ATO, NC719E Taperwing, but it's down
at
Creve Coeur, having
the finishing
touches put on its restoration by John
Halterman's
shop. Until it's finished,
they have to be content with flying the
UPF-7. I bet everyone is sympathizing
with them by now. With the glider in
tow,
they take
off
and climb to 4,000
feet and release. As the glider gracefully
soars above the field, the next thing I see
is the UPF-7 upside down, in the process
of a roll. As it comes level, the nose
dips then rises and now begins a vertical
climb into a loop. Mike is never content
to fly straight and level. I see that Dar
rell is back in the pattern and makes a
low pass to drop the banner. Instead of
returning to land he heads
off
towards
Mike. As I turn to look for Mike, I see
that he
and
my brother Pete are now
playing a game of cat and mouse, loop
ing and rolling as they follow each other.
Darrell joins the fray and
it's
now two
UPF-7s against the CRG. The CRG eas
ily
out climbs them
and is
quite
a bit
faster straight and level. Conceding de
feat, the two UPFs join up on each wing
as Pete throttles back.
Watching closely,
they're
now head
ing straight for Michele and I and our lit
tle house. They pass over, three abreast
and zoom into the sky. One by one, they
each take their respective place in the
pattern and come back around to land in
the grass. They
taxi to the
pumps and
shut down.
Laughing
and joking, they
climb out
of
the cockpits and stand on
the ramp talking. It ' s only noon and all
this has happened in our typical day at
my home.
Where is this magical place you ask?
Well, it's Moraine Airpark located on
the banks of the Great Miami
River
on
the south side of Dayton, Ohio. All you
old-time antiquers would know it as
South Dayton Airport. We welcome any
Waco enthusiast with open arms and
guarantee that you'll have a good time
on our typical Saturday or Sunday sum
mer day.
If
you'd like to take a first hand look,
why not join us for our annual fly-in, held
this year on the 4th
of
May. EAA Chap
ter 48 puts on a fly-in breakfast that will
knock your socks off. Call Jeannie Dyke
*
or more information at 513/878-9832.
VINT GE IRPL NE
11
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 14/36
The Granville
Brothers Aircraft
Sportster
NR49Y
y David
B.
Jackson
Granville Brothers
Aircraft
Model D Sportster ll
043
While paging through the
scrapbooks
and archives of the late Granville brothers,
Robert and Thomas, I was able to deter
mine the origins of the famous scalloped
Gee Bee color scheme.
The striking Gee Bee trademark paint
scheme was NOT patterned after the Coca
Cola logo as has been mis-reported in sev
era l publications, but rather after a dragon.
Please note the vertical stabi lizer marking
on the
photos
you see here,
which
have
never before been published. They show
Granville Brothers Aircraft
NR
49V while
still under construction. Under the
Gee
Bee
logo is the
name
Dragonfly , and
under
that is
F
inished With
The
New
Berryloid Pigm ented Dope System .
George Agnoli, the Springfield, MA sign
painter commissioned by the Granvilles to
paint their airplanes, simply followed the
original Granville Brothers sketch, with his
only deviation being the omission
of
scal
lops on the leading edge
of
the horizontal
stabilizer, matching those on the wings, as
were on the original sketch l also have a
photograph of this original sketch, as well
as the original sketch
of
the Harris Tib ert
Co. logo on the side ofNC 11-44). As is
much of hi story, time distorts the facts.
This picture must have been taken very
shortly prior
to
the listed 6-24-30 manufac
ture date, at which time the name Sport
ster had
been
painted over the original
name. Zantford Granville
is
at the controls
running the
Cirrus engine with
Edward
Granville making adjustments while Mark
and Tim Granville look on. The little Gee
Bee was issued restricted airplane license
49V, SIN I-GBA on 7-90-30, and sported a
four-cylinder inverted inline supercharged
American Cirrus engine of 110 bp, s n
310S, and a steel Hamilton Standard pro
peller. 49V was originally built for compe
tition
in
the All American Air Derby spon
sored by the American Cirrus Engine Co.
in
which it was the first stock certified air
plane
to
finish with Lowell Bayles as pilot.
Bayles and Roscoe Brinton later purchased
49V from the Granvilles on September 19 ,
1930 with the help of Bayles' prize money
2 MARCH 997
Not quite ready to take to the sky, the Gee Bee Dragonfly," later re-named Sport
ster
," is having its engine run- in and adjusted. Note the horizontal stabilizer root
fairings have not yet been installed.
and toured the country as the Brinton and
Bayles Flying Service, Inc . performing air
shows (or sky rodeos) and racing. An in
verted six cylinder Fairchild 6-390
of
120
hp, s n 9, with a Curtiss Reed propeller
(M4042) was later installed
on
10-15-30.
On
September
12, 1931 ,
while
flying an
airshow in Brattleboro, VT, Roscoe Brin
ton bailed out of 49V when the booster
magneto extension cables jammed the con
troI
s
He jumped at 1,000 feet and landed
uninjured,
while the plane smashed into
the nearby woods, and
caught
fire when
an unthinking newsman threw the match
from lighting his cigarette into the fuel
soaked wreckage. The only surviving
piece
of
this
airplane
is
one prop
e
ller
blade from a Hamilton Standard in stalled
at the time of the
crash (Roscoe
Brinton ,
Jr. now has this blade.)
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 15/36
Louise
Thaden
and
her
co pilot
Blanche
Noyes cross the finish line of the 1936 Ben-
dix
Trophy
race
in this painting by John
Amendola. (Top) Louise accepts the Bendix
trophy
during
the 1936 National
Air
Races
from Vincent Bendix himself.
Compiled
by
Norm Petersen
from accounts by
l s
Gasser, Terry von
Thaden
,
Michael
Greenblatt,
Jake Atteberry and
John Parish
As a young boy in the 1930s, Bill Thaden thought flying an air
plane with his mother was akin to hopping in the family car for a
ride to the
comer
market.
Bill s mother
, pioneer aviatrix Louise
McPhetridge Thaden, was a record setting pilot who walked in the
same circles as the other great aviators
of
the day. That is why, in
1936, he didn t pay much attention to hi s mother's participation in
the Bendix Transcontinental Speed Race . For Bill it was
just
an
other occasion
of
his mother going
off
to fly and see some
of
her
friends. When he learned of his mother s win, this seemed only
normal to Bill.
Of
course hi s mom won, she usually did.
Now , so me 60 years later, it was Bill
Thaden s
quest to com-
memorate his mother
s
win
of
the 1936 Bendix, one
of
the turning
points in aviation history, by calling upon friends and family to par
ticipate in a cross country tour to pay heed to a woman who helped
mold aviation into what it is today.
The Bendix races began
in
1931 as the vision
of
Vincent Bendix,
to promote civilian aviation through
an
all-out speed dash across the
country. The rules were simple: take off at any time after midnight
and arrive at the other side of the United States by 6 p.m. Over the
years, this race has been run in both directions across the country.
In 1936, it was run from Floyd Bennett Field, in Long Island, New
York, to Mines Field (what is now LAX)
in
Los Angeles, Califor
nia. Up until 1936, it had been officially a male only race. All
of
this changed in 1936 when it was agreed to open the race to female
contestants. A special consolation prize
of
2500 was offered to the
rust female to cross the finish line, despite her standing in the race.
At
the time, Louise
Thaden
was
working
for the
Federal Air
Marking Program, which consisted
of
traveling across the country
painting navigational aids on prominent landmarks She was sur
prised to learn, when Olive Ann Beec h phoned her to see if she
Louise Thaden
60th
Anniversary
Memorial
1996
Staggerwing
Tour
The beginning of the Staggerwing line. Jim Younkin, whose
skilled hands were most important to its present beauty, poses
by ole number one which is Staggerwing NC499N, SIN 17R-
1
This fabulous airplane has been totally restored and resides
in the Staggerwing Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee.
William V (Bill) Thaden, center, receives a Merit Award from
the Staggerwing Club For Outstanding Contribution to the
Preservation of the Beech Model 17 from Morton Lester on
the right. On the left
is
Bill 's daughter, Terry, who bears a re-
markable
resemblance
to
her famous flying grandmother,
Louise Thaden.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 16/36
(Left)
Flanked by some pretty neat air-
planes, Dave Swanson
pulls
his Lock-
heed
12
up to the parking line
at
Gille-
sp
ie Field in San Diego.
wanted to participate, that the Bendix was
open
to
women. After some careful thought,
Louise decided to enter, and bring her friend
Blanche Noyes along for the ride.
Beech agreed to provide
Louise
with a
stock model Staggerwing C l7R, which had
the rear seats removed to accommodate the
extra fuel tank. There was so little room in
the
craft Louise opted
to
remove the
seat
pack parachutes in favor
of
the quick con
nector type; but she doubted there would be
sufficient room to actually escape from the
airplane had the need arisen. The Stagger
wing
also
had
only
an old style
radio
re
ceiver, no transmitter, and no directional
gyro . Louise borrowed a DG from Teddy
Kenyon at Floyd Bennett Field, which her husband quickly in
stalled. The Staggerwing was a fast commercial airplane, but not
built primarily for racing. This, coupled with last minute repairs
and details to be taken care
of
before the race, added to the stress
and the excitement Louise felt about flying in the Bendix.
The weather in 1936 was not particularly favorable to the racers .
Battling fog, clouds, and stiff headwinds, Louise found herself rely
ing on dead reckoning to navigate her course. Flying her own race,
she chose to cruise at 65% power, deciding that the race is not al
ways won by the fastest plane, but by good common sense and at
tention to equipment. When she made her one fuel stop
at
Beech
Field in Wichita,
Walter
Beech, in his usual
congenial manner
,
asked Louise, "What the heck
to
you think you are in, a potato race?
Open this plane up " Louise agreed to accommodate Walter, noting
to hersel f that once she was in the air, she would fly the latter half
of the race
just
as she had flown the first portion - at 65% power,
recognizing that reliability could be a deciding factor.
When she arrived at Mines Field slightly after 5 p.m., Louise
was sure she had lost the race. Squinting into the setting sun, con
centrating on finding the airport itself and not the race fie ld, she
overshot the finish line and had to cross it from the opposite direc
tion. Trying
to
taxi unnoticed to the sidelines, Louise was flanked
by officials running beside her plane.
Wondering what
she had
done wrong now, she asked what it was they were after. Theyex-
claimed that they thought she had just won the Bendix.
When all was authenticated, and Louise had been declared to be
the official winner
of
the Bendix, the race executives changed the
name of the consolation prize for the first woman to cross the fmish
line to a special award. n addition to the $5,000 purse, Louise was
awarded the special $2,500 prize also. Not only had she proven that
a woman could finish the race, she had proved that
by
flying her
own race, she had beaten the others at their own game. When Wal
ter Beech arrived in Los Angeles the next day, he praised Louise for
following his advice and pushing the throttle all the way forward.
When she told Walter that she had flown the whole race
at 65
power,
Walter
roared with laughter and
revealed
he
had given
Louise an engine (Wright R-975) with 1200 hours on it - a woman
had won the Bendix in a stock aircraft at cruising speed, with an en
gine that was practically a grandfather
(Below) As far as the eye can se
e
are
round
engines
on
the business end of a
row of beautiful Staggerwings. It is a
welcome
sight
to see
80 87
octane fuel
available
for
those fortunate
pilot
s
whose airplanes
that can
use
that grade
of fuel.
Overhead
view of the
entire
gathering at Gillespie Field . In
the foreground
is
the grass parking area
in
f ront
of
Bill
Allen
s hangar, filled
with
antique
airplanes. The red and
white
airplane
in the left
front
doesn
t have a br
oken wing
-
it is a Fairchild
7 with folding
wings.
The exc
i
ted group of Staggerwing driver
s
and friend
s
get
ready
for
a
tou
r
of the
San Diego
Air
and
Space Museum
.
14 MARCH 1997
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 17/36
(Left) Included
in
the
Museum
visit was a tour of the restoration
facilit
i
es in the
basement where, among
other projects
, a Ford
Tri
Motor
is being
carefully restored to original cond i
tion in-
cluding
an engine-turned boot
cowl
and engine
shutte
rs.
Above) Christine St. Onge
of Mexford, PA, taxis up
in
her
Staggerwing
C-17B that
is painted
in
the exact race colors
of
number
62,
Louise Thaden
' s Bendix
winn
i
ng
C-17R
Stagger
wing fr
om
1936.
Such was the scene
of
the Bendix race some 60 years ago.
In
1996, a dedicated group of vintage aviation enthusiasts would gather
with Staggerwing, Lockheed, Twin Beech, Waco, and other aircraft
to pay tribute to
thi
s extraordinary woman and to the race itse
lf.
They
would gather at Youngstown Elser Metro Airport in Ohio, and
fl
y
across the country
to
Gillespie Field
in
EI Cajon, California, stopping
enroute to participate in commemorative ceremonies.
The Commemorative Tour began for some of the early partici
pants at 10:20 a.m., Saturday, August 24, from Sanford Field
in
Maine as the group took off: Bill Thade n (son of Loui se Thaden
and tireless organizer
of
the memorial tour), Dave Swanson, Dick
Jackson, Pat Jac kson, Terry von Thaden, and Les Gasser. Their air
craft was a magn ificent 1939
Lockheed
12 , silver
with
red
and
black
hi
ghlights and British markings on the wings and fuselage.
It
belongs to Dave Swanson,
an
ex-Eastern Airlines pilot.
The flight to Youngstown Elser Metro airport took 3.5 hours in
the elegant Lockheed at altitudes up to 13,000 feet to stay in smooth
air. The last part of the flight was in perfect CA VU weather as they
arrived and made a fly-by before touching down and being met by
Mike Stanko, one of the top Staggerwing restoration experts, and
his crew at Elser Metro. Dick Perry
of
Hampshire, IL, had flown
his red Staggerwing D-17S into Elser and Dub Yarbrough
of
Grand
Rapids, MI, had driven to Elser especially for the weekend. Dub
knew Louise Thaden well, and
is
a longtime family friend of the
Thadens. Before long, four more Staggerwings arrived to spice up
the party along with a Beech 18 , a Waco cabin and Jim Gorman's
Staggerwing.
The entire weekend at Elser ce lebrated the 50th Anniversary
of
the airport and featured Mr. and Mrs. Elser, for whom the airport
was named. The first pilot who soloed at Elser was also on hand for
the lively celebration
(Above) Parked
in front
of
two
beautiful
red Staggerw
i
ngs
is a
restored 1936 Ford v a
convertible
,
complete with rumble seat
for you
younger
folks
, that 's
the open seat
just
ahead
of
the
spare tire).
On
Monday, most
of
the
tour group
was off to Springdale,
Arkansas,
in
spite
of
low ceilings and rain showers along the way.
The hosts for this gathering were Jim and Ada Younkin, who have a
collection of
prize airplanes that
will
make
your
mouth
water.
Among the classic airplanes,
Jim s
replica Mr. Mulligan" of 1936
Bendix fame was indeed a treat for the visitors.
The next morning, the tour group made the short ten-minute
flight to Bentonville, Arkansas, Louise Thaden's home town, to be
greeted by over 100 townspeople including the Mayor and several
re latives of Louise Thaden. A room
in
the main airport building at
Bentonville holds a considerable collection of clippings and photos
of Louise Thaden and her exploits. It is clear the people
of
Ben
tonville appreciate their aviation heritage.
Later in the day , the tour group had fired up their engines and
one by one, took
off
for Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to rendezvous with
a large group
of
Staggerwings and tour people at Frank Phillips
Field. The hosts for this part
of
the tour were Charlie Harris and
crew, who really know how to throw a banquet. The hospitality of
the "Bartlesville Bunch"
is
known far and wide and was a perfect
se
nd
-off for the '96 Staggerwing Tour.
Wednesday morning, a fast tour
of
the Raytheon Aircraft facili
ties (the new corporate name for Beechcraft) at Wichita, Kansas,
was pretty much scrubbed due to poor weather and lousy ceilings,
As
the
sun
slow
ly
sinks
in
the west
,
the
eveni
ng shadows
begin
at ill
Allen
's Ryan STM-2
and continue past the
rows of
mag-
nificent
Staggerwings glistening in the
evening
twilight
.
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 18/36
(Below) Outstanding entertainment was provided
by this group of
five singers,
all fancied up in
1940 s costumes , who
put on
a dandy program
during Bill and Claudia Allen s hangar party.
A fantastic g r
oup
visi t t o Tom Warner 's nearby ranch wa s
highlighted by a c
hance
t o w atc h th e ir
German
shepherd
sh
eep
dog, Tony, do a mas terful job of herding a flock of
sheep. The u
nc
a
nny
a
bility of this highly
t rai
ned
dog left
many
s
hak
ing t
he
ir h
eads
in
wonderment.
so the group took
off
for the long run to Albuquerque, New Mexico,
dodging showers much
of
the way. As the weather improved to the
west, it was possible to look down from the Lockheed
12
and see
pairs
of
Staggerwings pass them up with their higher cruise speeds.
Coming through the pass over the Scandia mountains, the first view
of
Albuquerque was fantastic as the planes landed on the long run
ways and taxied to the ramp. To see such a gathering
of
beautiful
Staggerwings along with assorted classic airplanes was indeed a
treat for all, especially the locals. Several planes were safely down
at airports along the way and would have to make a longer run into
(Left) Some of the really classy automo-
biles that were shown
included
this Lin
coln li
mo
, Bugatti coupe and
Cadilla
c
sedan. The
styli
ng
of these cars
is
righ
t
in
tune
with the
styling
of the
Stagger
wing
- a ll time
classics from the
1930 s.
(Below) The September
meet
i
ng
of t he
Staggerwing Club will now come
to
or
der. Business meetings were held at
Safari
Aviation
s hangar.
San Diego s Gillespie Field the next day.
Thursday afternoon brought
the final arrival for the
group
at
Gillespie Field
and they were
greeted
by Louise
Thaden
(Bi
ll
s
wife) and daughter, Tracy, along with Patricia Thaden Webb, her
son, Fred Frost and his wife, Lisa. John Parish was on hand to di
rect the participants to the tour headquarters at Dick McDowell s
Ye Olde Flying Circus. Bill Allen s hangar, filled with planes and
aviation memorabilia, served as the main soc ial gathering place for
the weekend. Eventually, row upon row
of
Staggerwings covered
the tarmac at Gillespie - what an impressive sig
ht
There
are
approximately
110 Staggerwings still flying and at
least thirty showed up for the weekend activities. In addition, many
hi storic airplanes were on hand including Bill Turner s DH Comet,
Ryans, Spartan Executives and Stearmans. No less than five Travel
Air biplanes were on hand including Louise Thaden
s
1929 D-4000
Women
s
Air Derby winner, now owned by Bill and Claudia Allen.
The late afternoon barbecue, courtesy of the Aliens, saw everyone
enjoying an outdoor party (with all the trimmings) and taking it
easy among the huge collection
of
airplanes.
A tour reception was held Friday evening at the San Diego Air
and Space Museum which allowed the Tour participants to explore
the entire facility including the basement restoration facilities where
a huge Ford Tri Motor restoration is nearly completed.
Saturday many
of
the pilots flew the 14-minute hop to Palomar
Airport to the Cinema Air facility where several
of
the Staggerwings
were used to film a flight along the southern California coast. It was
exc iting, to say the least. Back at Gillespie, the Saturday evening fi
nal banquet was held at Bill Allen s hangar and featured a special
singing group doing numbers from the
40s
and dressed in period
costume. The outstanding food, the camaraderie and the beautiful
surroundings made for a perfect evening. Among the awards pre
sented at the banquet was a very special award to Bob Van Ausdel s
children, Connie, Bob and Tom. The Tour was dedicated to hi s pio
neering effort
in
test flying the Travel Air Mystery Ship.
The accomplishments of one of the greats of the Golden Age of
Aviation, Louise Thaden, were commemorated through this 1996
Tour, with its celebrations, ceremonies, banquets and new friends
quickly becoming old friends. The entire experience
of
the 1996
Commemorative Tour showed us that both the adventure
of
experi
mental flight and the human and aviation ideals
of
the Golden Age
still endure.
16 MARCH 1997
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 19/36
Laird
Commercial
As the Antique airplane movement
has grown over the years , there have
been a few projects that people were itch-
ing to get their hands on. To an
antiquer
,
it s
tough to see a potential project just sit,
with no
one getting
it
ready
to head
back
into the skies.
Off
ers to purchase it would
us
ually
be rebuffed , and the old
airplane
would just look sadder
and sadder
as the
years wore on.
t often fell vic tim to the
"('ll
get to it
one of these days syndrome. For whatever
reason, be it lack of money
or
lack of time,
the
airplane
just never seemed to
get
re-
stored , and before you knew it, the decades
slipped by and the project didn
t
get done .
Keeping the dream
of
restoring it was some-
times what kept a person going, so in that
sense it se rved its
purpose
. Hopefully it
wouldn' t deteriorate too badly as it waite
d.
The airplane
you see on these
page
s is
one
of
those projects. t sat in storage for
over three decades.
It
was known
to
a num-
ber of active restorers, but not one
of them was able
to
woo the air-
plane
away
from its
owner
until he
was
incapable of
restoring
it himself.
t
was
sought after
by antiquers
such as Al
Kelch a
nd
Dave lameson back
in
the 1960
s
but owner August Maross of Steger, IL had
owned
it since 1933, and he
just couldn t
part with it. A retired Col. from the Army
Air Corps, he flew in both WW I and WW
II
during the latter flying cargo and trans-
port airplanes.
Hi
s attachment to the airplane was cer-
tainly understandable
. It had made a fair
amount of
history while flying in the late
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 20/36
'20s,
and when he put it in storage for the
duration during WW II, I'm sure he planned
on flying it again after the war ended. Ac
cording to at least two accounts, it did get
back in the air a few times after the war, but
it generally just sat in the back of the hangar.
By 1926, Emil Matthew Matty Laird
had a company with a reputation for build
ing stout,
thoroughbred airplanes
for the
discerning owner who had a checkbook to
match. These were no bargain basement
airplanes with quick finishes, but most often
were
built
to order, finished in multip le
coats of hand rubbed dope.
By 1926, the Wright Aeronautical Cor
poration's Whirlwind series
of
engines were
well on their way to aviation immortality.
The air-cooled radial was a jewel
of
an en
gine, and those who could afford the Laird
airframe and Wright engine for the princely
sum
of
$9,850 in 1926 dollars got a sharp
looking 3-place biplane that looked great
with its black and gold color scheme, a
Laird trademark.
Based on its speed and load carrying capa
bility (not to mention Matty's reputation),
Charles
Pop
Dickinson chose the Laird
Commercial as the
primary mount
for his
fledgling air mail line between MinneapoliS/St
Paul and Chicago. As the lowest bidder on
Government Contract Air Mail Route 9, Pop
had to keep his costs down as much as possi
ble He'd made good on the family business of
seeds
for
crops, and late in life caught the
fly-
ing bug. He soloed at the age
of
62, ten years
after founding the Aero Club of Illinois in
1910, along with organizing an airport on the
southwest side of Chicago called Cicero Field
18 MARCH 1997
Just
aft
of
the pilot
s cockpit is this bag-
The
front cockp it shares space with the
fuel
tank
, and
for
the passenger s
amusement , they
get an alt imeter for
reference as they peer over the cockpit
coaming
and then later Ashburn Field, the site
of
his air
mail service.
His stewardship
of
an air mail
route
would be short lived, when after a fatal
crash on the inaugural day, continued hard
ships with running the line finally
caused
Dickinson to give notice to the U.S. Gov
ernment
that he
intended
to
abandon
the
gage
compartment
, secured
by
a
pair
of
turn fasteners on the fuselage. As you
can see , much
of
the airplanes
orig
inal
wood
was usable.
route. One
of
the fledgling line's pilots,
Charles Speed Holman, knew that for the
right price
per
pound, the line could make
money with
the
right
airplane. He made
sure that the director of the Chamber of
Commerce of St. Paul knew about this busi
ness opportunity.
After pounding the pavement looking for
backing, Col. L. H. Brittin put together a
new airline named Northwest Airways, Inc.
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 21/36
By the beginning of the
fall
of
1926,
Northwest
held the inn il
contract for Route No.9 between
Chicago and
MinneapolislSt
Paul.
Using Stinson Detroiters, among others,
the line began to operate on a regular basis.
Since Dickinson no longer needed the air
planes for his airmail route, the Laird Com
mercial registered as C240, Serial Number
150, eventually would be sold to Litton J.
Shields,
a Northwest
stockholder who
owned the National Lead Battery Company.
He thought that a speedy, long-legged com
pany airplane would be handy to have, and
he asked Charles "Speed" Holman, North
west's Chief Pilot, to fly it for him. Holman
suggested that it would be great advertising
to
enter the Laird in the upcoming National
Air Derby, with the "National Eagle" name
emblazoned on the sides of the fuselage.
t
sounded good to Shields, so Holman made
plans
to
enter the Derby, taking a leave of
absence from Northwest to fly in the race.
Remember that all
of
this activity took
place amidst the hoopla and hype that sur
rounded the solo flight of a
certain
Min-
nesotan
across the Atlantic earlier
in the
year, so getting people enthused about avia
tion was rapidly becoming easier
The sister ship
to
the National Eagle was
registered
C 0, and
was still owned
by
Pop Dickinson. Ed Ballough, another pilot
who also happened to be
Holman's
flight
instructor,
wanted
to fly in
the
same Air
Derby. He
was
able to use C 0 for
that
purpose, with Pop Dickinson and mechanic
Anthony Makiewicz as
his
passengers.
(Speed Holman
also
had a
mechanic
ride
with him in C240.) A close race ensued be
tween
Holman
and Ballough during the
derby, which started in
New
York on No
vember 20, 1927. The closely matched bi
planes raced towards Spokane, WA
over
the next two days, with Ballough arriving
first at a refueling stop in Butte, MT. With
his tank filled to the brim, he and Dickinson
roared off in the direction of Spokane, only
to be forced into making a landing outside
of
Lime, MT
after encountering
a
snow-
storm that couldn't be penetrated
.
The
landing was a bit rough, and culminated in a
damaged prop. Repairs took time, and be
fore he could get the Laird back in the air,
Holman had passed him. Holman now had
the lead, even though he managed to pull a
tire
off
the rim of one wheel on his hasty de
parture from Butte. The upshot
of
all this
excitement was that Holman beat Ballough
into Spokane, winning the 1927 National
Air Derby by 44 minutes,
12
seconds.
Ballough and C 0 were not done racing
yet. Later, it was modified by the Laird fac
tory into the LC-RJ-200 Speedwing version,
with a Wright J-4B engine and a new set of
wings designed to reduce drag and make the
airplane even
faster.
Other changes
in
cluded a change in the landing
gear
to the
split axle type, and other streamlining re
finements . The Commercial-to-Speedwing
project
really was a
series of evolutions,
with the ideas coming from Matty's mind as
Holman and Ballough worked with him to
get as much from the design as they could.
In 1928, Ballough flew the now modi-
fied Laird to
second
place in the National
Air Derby from
New
York to Los Angeles,
and then
later won
the
civilian AC Spark
Plug free-for-all over a 75 mile long course
with an average speed of 137 mph.
This same
airplane
also
set a
few
time/distance records, including a run from
Miami to Chicago in 9 hours, 59 minutes.
During this time, Laird C
11
0, registered
as X-7086, was owned by Charles Dickin
son and registered to Laird. Dickinson, an
enthusiastic pilot
didn't
sit on the sidelines
- he flew as a passenger as often as possi
ble in the Laird during these record break
ing flights, and
was
often
pictured
with a
wide grin on his face. Later, in 1929 and
1930, the airplane is registered to the Laird
company
. When
his Laird
wouldn't be
ready in time ofr the
'29
races, Holman and
Dickinson came to an agreement allowing
X-7086
to
be flown by Holman, as long as Pop
j
E
'
could ride along. They didn't finish in the cross
country derny that year due
to
a mechanical fail-
ure, but they finished fust
in
a
100
mile closed
course race, only to
be
disqualified for cutting a
pylon. That race marked the end of X
7086
/C II
O's racing
career.
In either 1933
or
1934, August "Augie"
Maross bought
it and
contracted with
the
factory to have Matty ' s brother Harold re
built
the airplane
back
to the Commercial
configuration.
The
standard wings went
back on it, as did the J-4 engine. Starting
in
1935, Maross flew it until the beginning
of
World War II, when he put it in storage in a
hangar in Steger, IL. After the war ended, it
did get back in the air, and recalled by An
tique
/
Classic and
Midwest
Antique Air-
plane Club member Budd Hayes. Budd was
looking at the airplane with a big grin on his
face at EAA Oshkosh '96 when we caught up
Doug Fuss EAA 79446 AlC 9479 the
owner/pilot of Laird Commercial C110.
with him. As a kid, he used to play in
CliO.
"The last time I saw it flying was in '46, and
they were playing tag with a T-6, having a
great time. All the fellows had come home
from the military and they still had some time
(they weren't married yet ). They had a lot of
time to go play with airplanes, and I saw this
plane and the T -6 playing tag right over my
farm," he recalled .
Here
it is - it brings
back a lot of memories."
As mentioned before, although the air
plane was known to many, it never left the
hangar until 1974, when Jonesy Paul
of
Cy
press,
TX was able
to
convince
August
Maross
to
part
with the
airplane. Jonsey
saw an ad in a automobile publication that
advertised a few antique autos and a Laird
airplane . When he went up to look at the
cars and the plane, Augie wouldn't even let
him see it until he had inspected
Jonsey's
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 22/36
logbook. During a second visit, he was al
lowed to look at the airplane. It was sitting
in what used to be the airport's hangar The
field was long since gone, and the completely
assembled Laird sat
in
the back, collecting the
dust kicked up by the municipal trucks and
equipment that now filled its interior.
For
so
me tim e after that
Jonsey
and
Augie dickered bac k and forth . It finally
came to a culmination after an article was
published in a Chica go newspaper. In
cluded in the article was a photo of the air
plane pulled out
in
the sunshine with Matty
Laird himse lf. Matty also tried to buy the
airplane, but Augie wouldn ' t se
ll it
to him
he figured Matty was too old, and wouldn't
be able to completely restore the airplane.
When Jonsey hea rd
about
th e a
rticle,
he
knew that potenti al bu ye rs
wou
ld be all
over Augie. He was headed back to Hous
ton from Chicago, so he turned around and
closed the deal with Augie.
The airplane
lo
oked good enough that he
thought about ferrying the airplane home, but
before he could get back up to Steger to get the
airplane,
it
had been vandalized by hav
in
g the
fabric cut
in
places on the wings and fuselage,
as though someone wanted a better look at
what the structure looked like. So much for
ferrying the Laird back to Texas .
After trucking the Laird to his place on
Dry Creek Airport in Cypress,
TX
, Jonesy
began to farm out various parts of the pro
ject, and a bit later, Bob Guttmann
of
Hous
ton, TX started work
in
g on the project. For
one reason
or
another, the
project
wo uld
end up "on the back shelf for a time, until
Jonsey and Doug Fuss were able to come to
terms on the sale
of
the pro
ject
to Doug in
1991. A successful entrepreneur
in
the auto
parts retailing business, Doug has
14 loca
tions of his Gateway Auto Supply in th e
DallaslFt. Worth area to look after. Fortu
nately, he has the resources to see a project
like this through to completion, and he was
committed to gett ing the project done. He
decided that Bob was the talented man to
finish the job.
In many respects the project was a dream
for an antiquer. It was all there, right down
to having both the original tail skid and tail
wheel. The instruments were all there to be
restored
,
as was
a
J-4
Wright
engi
ne.
Jonesy had already sent it out to Jack Lan
ning in Washington state for an overhaul. It
came back in immaculate condition. That's
no mean feat - the
Wright
J-4 is a very
rare engine, with few spare parts.
In
fact,
Doug is always on the lookout for spares
for the J-4, and is interested in finding a J-5
engine (they're only a little less rare ).
Also with the airplane was a Standard
prop (before they merged with Hami lton)
that had been with the airplane since the
1930s - it even has sequential seria l num
bers on the blades
One
of the neat things abo ut seei ng an
airplane like this at the EAA Convention is
sitt ing down and paging through the photo
20 MARCH 1997
The
pilot's
cockpit of
this beautiful An-
tique
airplane is one of
the restoration's
focal points , and
the
expertly refur-
bished instruments require you to look
outside
the
airplane
to
be
sure it 's not
1933 (All
right,
the
GPS
is
a pretty good
clue
as well )
Philip Krause
of
Vintage
Aero in Westport, NY
did the
instrument
work.
albums of each project. The hows and
whys of each restoration are laid out in de
tail, ready for you to ask each question as
each picture is revealed. One
of
the most
fascinating aspects
of
this restoration is the
fuselage.
The Laird Commercia l s fuselage struc
ture is built up using sections
of
aluminum
tubing
joined
together by steel sockets and
fittings at the juncture of each upright in the
fuselage. There is no se t of four uninter
rupted longerons running the length
of
the
A complete lighting
system is installed
on
the
airplane, with a
pair
of these 100
watt landing l ights mounted
below
the
lower
wings. Doug does
not
fly
the
air-
plane at night, but the entire system
was
restored since i t was
on
the airplane
when
it
was
rebuilt
by the Laird factory
in 1933.
fuselage. Instead, it s built up with lengths
of al uminum tubing . Each of the bays is
held
together by
the bracing
wires
that
criss-cross each bay, and are secured to the
stee l socket fittings at each intersection.
Can you imagine rigging all
of
these wires?
Each section
had to be
trammeled,
turn
buckles
adj usted and then
after
it was all
squared
up,
each
of
the
turnbuckles was
safetied. As many as thirteen turnbuckles
could be present in each bay Since restor
ing the airplane required the complete dis
assembly
of
the fuselage, that, plus the hand
sp
li
cing of all of the galvanized steel ca
bles, made the project very time consum
ing Bob says it took him a good year to get
the fuselage done - just safetying the turn
buckles took him a month - whew
The instruments
went
off
to a fellow
who really knows old instruments, and has
th e
know-how
to
get them done
.
You
mustn t
be
in a
hurr
y,
for the
work
is
painstaking and exacting, but Philip Krause
ofYintage Aero in Westport, NY refur
bished the instruments to their original ap
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 23/36
sleek lines
of the
Laird
ommercial
biplane
flow
back from
the spinner
to
the
rakish tail. The
ommercial
and its successor
Speedwing
were
both
good performers
that
often took the
ir
pilots
to
the top of the list of winners
in
the
late 1920s.
as they are mounted in the beauti
wood dashboard. (Somehow, the term
i
nstrument panel" just
doesn't
seem to fit
this instance.)
The
airplane
had a
lighting system
in
the Laird factory, including a pair
f
underwing landing
li
ghts. Since the J-4
not
have
a generator , the li
ghting
is
by a
batter
y.
Doug
, of
course,
s not fly the airplane at night, but it has
restored in the interest of authen
. The wiring system
is
one of the only
s from originality - it had a set
of
added
to
the modem wiring, in the in
of
safety.
The only other concession to the modem
use
of the
Stits
(now Poly
sys tem to
cover
the airplane. Doug
Bob agonized over the decision, but
at
e
the
covering
deci
sion had to
be
the only cotton cloth available for air
work came from overseas . Unfortu
, it was substa ndard in
quality
, and
deteriorating quicker than normal after
app lied. In the interest
oflongevity,
Stits dacron-polyester system was used,
a
specially mixed go
ld for
the
surfaces.
Bob related that applying the gold was
st difficult part of the cover
/painting process. Each time the go ld
it would reflect li
ght
differ
ly, resulting in apparent color shifts in
Fortunately,
they
managed
to
this restoration beast. Judging from
gets
every
time it is
out
of the
,
I'd
say they managed to hit on the
right technique.
Happily,
all of
wood was there
for the
wings, and they were in fairly decent condi
tion .
They
did need
to be
completely
re
built, but about 80 percent
of
the wood was
reused. Most of the rework was related to
the old glue
joints being sub
par, and the
damage
the wi n
gs
s
ustained while being
moved around. A few ribs were broken and
needed repair,
but
the
spars were
in
good
condition.
The sheet metal was also use
ful
- those
pieces that needed to be replaced were good
for
patterns,
and
the big 30x5 Sauzedde
wheels and
brakes
were cleaned
up
and
reused. A
pair
of new
smooth Coker
tires
were mounted.
The Laird on the rudder presented a chal
lenge for Doug. He searched and searched
for someone who could do a proper looking
logo. The early logo used on CliO was dif
ferent
than the
one
used on later
Lairds.
The newer ones were avai lable, but no the
onld one. Finally, Doug found Len Eack
owski of Veteran Screen Printer
in
Somerset
NJ
. It is
an involved proces
s
of screen
printing on
a
clear lacquer coated paper
base. The logo is then printed from front
to
back on the paper, so that when a light coat
ing of
thinner
is flowed onto the decal , it
can
be
softene
d and laid into a
coating
of
fresh
lacquer
on the
rudder.
The
l
ogo
is
then beautifully transferred to the rudder,
and
it
looks
as though it was painted
in
place. Len had done extensive research on
the original system used to produce the "de
cal" and he did
hi
s best to have the logo for
the
Laird done
ju
st as it
was
in the
Laird
factory. You can reach
him
at
201/828
3925.
It
took 4-1/2 years of work to put the fi
push on
to
complete the Laird, and when
it was done, it was as original as they could
get
it
Doug credits Bob Guttmann with the
completion of the project. "
If
it weren't for
him, I
'd have
never
known
about
the air
plane, and it was
hi
s skill that put it back in
the air," Doug said later.
Flying suc h an origina l airplane means
you get to deal with it as it was originally
flown. Grass airports were sought out and
used, and after calling and consulting with
EAA
Director
of
Flight Operations
,
Joe
Schumacher, a
pre-Conv
ention landing at
EAA's
Pione
e r
airport was made
on
the
grass. Flying an airplane with a Wright J-4
means you get to spe nd time keeping it up
as well.
The
rocker arms are exposed and
are not forced oi l lubricated , so they must be
greased every
three hours
of
flight
time.
Doug
also
checks
the va lve
clearance
s on
the engine every five hours On an antique
engine such as this, it is certainly no "kick
the tires and
light
the fires type
of
pre
flight. With
so
much pre-planning and
preparation that needs to go into flying long
distances, you
can
see that
Doug's
cross
country to EAA Oshkosh from
Texas
was
not a weekend jaunt. But as he pointed out,
the trip to show the airplane
to
so many ap
preciative EAA and Antique/Classic Divi
sion members was something he just had to
do.
We're
all glad
he
did
VINTAGE AIRPLANE
2
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 24/36
PIETENPOL
HOMECOMING
By
ndrew
King
Ale 10739
I
always
tell
people that Ohio
is
the
friendliest place I know and that the rest of
the American Midwest
isn t
far behind
.
Every year when July comes around
, no
matter where I' m living at the time, I beg ,
borrow or buy
an
airp
l
ane
and
head
for
Ohio and then Wisconsin. In 1996 I was
li v ing in Ca li fornia
and was offered
a
Pietenpol
to
fly from Albany, New York to
the
i
etenpol Fly-In at Brodhead, Wiscon
sin. That filled the need, so I
bought
air
line tickets and rode a kerosene burner to
the East Coast to start the adventure.
The airplane, an 0-200 powered Air
Camper, was a familiar one, as I had flown
it to
Wisconsin
two
years
earlier. It
was
owned by a retired doctor, Mike Brusilow,
who was driving out to the fly-in with his
wife. Since I d
last seen the airplane, he
d
named it after hi s grandson and Mr. Sam
was painted on the side of the fuselage.
I met Mike at Saratoga Airport on Mon
day
morning,
the
29th
of
July
,
and
de
parted
in hi s
airplane, destination
Ham
mondsport
in the
Finger
Lakes
region of
western New York state. Thi
s
was the
home of Glenn Curtiss back in the days
of
his competing
with
Orville
and
Wilbur,
and is now the home
of
the wonderful Cur
tiss Museum, which is not to be missed by
any aviation enthusiast who passes through
the area. I stopped at
Norwich
and Penn
Yan on the way, and touched down at the
little grass strip at the sound end of Keuka
Lake at 3:45 p.m. Art Wilder,
one of
the
movers and shakers at the museum, came
and picked me up, and
after
a visit to the
museum
to
see their 1913 Curtiss E Flying
Boat
reproduction project,
I
spent
a de
lightful night courtesy of Art and his wife
at their lake shore home.
The
next day
it
was on
to
Ohio after
spending a couple
of
hours in E
ri
e, Penn
sy lvania watching the thunderstorms rain
down on the Pietenpol. When th e weather
cleared we flew on to Barber Field in Al
liance where my usual cohort in the annual
flying circus was waiting, Frank Pavliga,
with his Pietenpol, the Sky Gypsy. t was
also here that we decided that the 6.00 x 6
tires
on Mr. Sam
were
too small. Fortu
nately, Forrest Barber had a pair of 8.50 x
Air Camper, and the three Pietenpols and strange old lady appeared and explained to
6s and the next
morning Mike s airplane
pi lots
headed
for
Indiana
.
We made our
us
how the
smoke from the factories
in
sat a little
taller and looked
a lot better.
usual stop in the friendly town of Deshler, town would ruin
our
engines. We waited
The
only question was how we would ex
Ohio, and then ran into a big line of thun out the rain for awhile and then flew on to
plain this
to
Mike.
derstorms
near the
Indiana border which
Miller
Airport
in
Bluffton. This was
a
On Wednesday morning we picked up
forced us to angle
off
to the so uth , finally
beautiful place
with two l
arge grass
run
the third member of the troupe, Will Graf
landing
at
Decatur
where a suit of a
rmor
ways and an original CAA airways beacon
of Wadsworth, with his Model A powered
watched
us
from
atop
the
off
i
ce and
a on a
tower next
to the hangar.
The wind
22 MARCH 997
Mr. Sam with one big tire and one small one.
Pietenpols in the rain at Decatur, Indiana. Note the suit of armor over the office.
Miller Airport, Bluffton, Indiana, with the aluminum wind sock and antique air-
ways beacon.
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 25/36
Four Pietenpol Air Campers on Pietenpol Field
tow er also and I was as
to see it starched out as if the
was blowing at 40 mph We were
to di scover
on landing
that the
made
of al
uminum and was eter
; the wind was actually
5 mph.
Our aim
for the
night was
Wabash , a
30 miles distant, but it was to be a
30
miles.
We ran into more rain
and got
separated in the
gather
darkness, and when I landed at
there was
Will, but no
Frank.
was too dark to land, but a call to
wife revealed that he had
made
a
landing
in a
nearby hay
and after awhile he showed up at
airport with
a
sympathetic
neighbor.
decided that we'd had
enough
adven
for the
day and instead
of tents we
to a hotel for the night.
We
refueled
at Prairie-du-Chien, and
enough
get
to Cherry Grove.
Our
turned out to be just right, as
sun was
just disappearing
when the
airstrip came into view. A white
driving along the side of the run
and we flew
past
in formation and
off to land . While the others were
in I flew over the town, a tiny cross
in a big country, but a very big spot in
of
home built airplanes and avia
in
general.
It
turned out that the dri ver of the van
was none other than Don Pietenpol, Bernie 's
son, who had heard we were coming and
had driven down from
another part of
the
state to c"amp with us . Soon so me of the
townspeople showed up, including the
Finkes
, John
and
Bernice.
John's
uncl e
Don had been one of Bernie
's
good friends
and pilots and was often mentioned
in
con
temporary articles, and Bernice's father was
Orrin Hoopman, another part of the Pieten
pol team, who drew up the drawings that so
many used to build their own Air Campers.
In fact, Bernice was named after Bernie
Pietenpol. Not only that, but it turned out
that Don Pietenpol had learned to fly at age
nine in 1939 in the same airplane that Ted
Davis had just landed
in
The women went and rounded up food
for the hungry aviators, and a lively and fas
cinating session
of
hangar flying provided
the
evening's
entertainment. Finally we
settled down for the night in our tents under
a clear moonlit sky.
At dawn we flew some more, gave some
rides, and went into town to see Bernie 's
old house and workshop. At the mercantile
store we ate some breakfast, and who should
walk in but Orrin Hoopman himself, the last
surviving member of the trio who put
Cherry Grove on the aviation history map .
We had stepped back in time, or flown back
anyway, walking those streets and talking to
those people flying over those fields and
The author with
Don
Pietenpol; Don s
signature is on
the
rudder
fanus. Don drove us to the county histori
cal museum where there were
numerous
Pietenpol artifacts, including a single seat
Sky Scout and a windmill electrical genera
tor. On the way back he pointed out a tree
next to the road and told the story
of
how
Jim 's airplane had flown through the top of
it one night in 1940 while dropping eggs on
a
nearby tavern
that the
pilots
had been
thrown out of. Talk about living hi story
Frank had an indelible marker with him,
so I had Don sign and date the rudder
of
Mr.
Sam and write
C
herry Grove." Rumor had
it
that I was just raising the value of the air
plane, but that piece of fabric will make a
great memento some day.
In the afternoon we flew back to Brod
head for the
Pietenpol
Fly-In, but even
though we had a great time that weekend,
everything
was a little anti-climatic after
Cherry Grove. I think that enough people
heard our enthusiastic accounts of the visit
that it will certainly happen again, probably
with more airplanes next time.
And what
of
Mike and the big tires on
Mr
Sam? Well, we all played dumb for awhile
and pretended that they were the same ones
that had been on the airplane when I left New
York, and finally I told him that they had
been a
little
soft
and
we'd put 120 psi in
them. He still wasn't buying it, so eventually
I confessed to changing them, and told them
that they made the airplane look more like a
Pietenpol should. I think he agreed, and as
far as I know they're still on there.
After all of this adventure r had to get Mr
Sam back to New York, then take the airline
back
to
California, and then quit my job, and
drive all the way back to the East Coast with
a Ryan fuselage on top of my car, but that's
another story.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 26/36
IVII T
OUR MEMBERS RE RESTORING
b y N o r ~ P e t e r s e n
Golden Oldi
e
This photo of a Travel Air 4000 duster, N9048,
S N
849, was taken
in
the 1950's by veteran EAAer Leo
Kohn (EAA 4). The sign on the side of the fuselage reads, Rex Williams Airplane Crop Dusters, Phoenix,
Arizona. The photo came from the collection of the late John Van Buren of Mattydale, NY, and was con
tributed by Chuck Burtch (EAA 56205)
of
Phoenix, NY. Noteable items include a 245 Shakey Jake engine
with a huge over-wing exhaust, very flat pitched propeller, minimal cowling between the engine and firewall
and Grimes navigation lights. Eventually, the Travel Air was returned to a life of hauling passengers by Paul
King (EAA 191361,
lC
10180) in Watsonville, CA . About five years ago, the airplane caught fire and was
totaled, however, it is still registered to Paul King.
lmer Steier's
Cessna
UC 78
This photo
of
a totally restored
1943 Cessna T-50 (UC-78), N60453,
S N 5193, was sent in by owner, Elmer
Steier (EAA 308687, IC 14955) of
Whittemore , Iowa. Purchased in De
cember,
1987, from
Otto Stender of
Maysville
, lA , the big twin Cessna
was flown home on May 5, 1988, and
the restoration begun . Assisted by his
highly experienced nephew, Tim Steier
(EAA 109759,
IC 2264) of Blue
Earth, MN, Elmer says
the
rebuild
took seven years and 21 days. The ex
terior is finished exactly like the UC
78 looked when it left the factory on
October 12, 1943. After a summer of
flying the pretty Cessna, the engines
and props have been replaced with
overhauled ones, ready for the
97
sea
son. Plans are to bring the big twin to
Oshkosh
97,
so folks, keep your eye
open for the prettiest Bamboo Bomber
you ever laid eyes upon. There are
154 Cessna T-50 s remaining on the
FAA register.
24 MARCH 997
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 27/36
Eight Yellow Ponca City
Cubs
en
Jackson s
KR-
31 Challenger
This photo of a recently restored 1929
KR-31
Challenger
,
NC327H
,
in by owner and long
EAAer, Ken
Jackson (EAA
95080,
le 6831)
of
Fairport, NY, who spent six
of part time work restoring the OX
powered biplane. Ken reports NC327H
built in Hagerstown, MD, on May 31,
,
and
was sold to
the
DW
Flying
in western New
York.
Ken's
learned to fly in this very air
in the early 1930's and eventually
the KR-31 ,
barnstorming around
area for a few years. His grandfather
away
in
1963 and never knew that
had gone into aviation as an Eastman
corporate pilot
for the
past
22
flying a G-4
Challenger
Of the
Challenger airplanes that he flies,
says the KR-31 wins hands down as
fun to fly . Congratulations Ken,
beautiful restoration.
This photo of eight yellow Piper J-3 Cubs
in
a row
was taken by Bert Blanton EAA 413085, AlC 22572
last September 20th during the first Ponca City Cub
Fly-In at Ponca City, Oklahoma. The fly-in was spon
sored by EAA Chapter 1046 and the Ponca City Avia
tion Booster Club
in
honor of the 50th Anniversary of
the manufacture of Piper Cubs at Ponca City in 1946
and 1947. Enough to make a dyed-in-the-wool Cub
driver go into near hysteria at the sight, the Ponca City
gathering was held the day before the huge Tulsa Fly
In and a grand time was had by all. On Friday, the
entire group flew en masse to Tulsa, landing n single
file - a
stirring sight
that
endeared
the Cub to the
many visitors. The Ponca City group voted to hold
the same gathering next year
in
1997 at Ponca City.
Be there.
Michael Uding
s
Stinson 108-2
This picture of a nicely restored 1947 Stin
son 108-2, N198C, SIN 108-3198, was sent
in
by
Michael Uding (EAA
16170,
A /C
26950) of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Mike
reports the Stinson had been stored
in
a bam
for 30 years before being carefully
extr
i-
cated and the rebuild begun. t took approx
imately two years for the restoration with
the Stits process being used for covering,
the fina l coats
being
D
ay
tona White and
Portland Green. The flfSt flight was made on
Thanksgiving Day, 1996. The engine is a
Franklin six -
cylinder
of 165 hp .
Note
the
pretty meta l wheelp ants, the metal prop and
the Scott 3200 tailwheel. Special congratula
tions go out to Mike Uding on the return to ac
tive duty of hi s restored Stinson
108 2
.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 28/36
A while back I wrote
about owner
as
sisted annual inspections. Well , here s a
suggestion. It'll cost a couple of
bucks, but
I feel it ' s well worth it.
Browsing through
the
Typ e Club
newsletters is one
of
my most time consum
ing efforts .
I
don t let any
of
them slip by
without really going through them. There is
a lot to be learned from these Newsletters,
and it is all very valuable information for
the owner/operator.
I
came acro ss this gem in the Cub
Newsletter and it really fills the bill when it
comes to the owner doing his oil changes.
Now all my airplanes, with the exception
of
the Aeronca Sedan (which has the ADC
oil filter installed) are A-65s, A-75s and the
Aeronca E-113 engines.
They
don t have
external oil filters. This means that you pull
the screens,
put
them
in a
rag-bag
, s l
osh
them around in solvent and look for trouble.
Very simple and easy, as you can see the re
sults immediately.
Now
in
comes the Pacer with the 0-290
D Lycoming and it has an external filter,
screw-on type, a Champion 48109 or some
thing. t has screens too, but the full flow
oil filter is the "biggie," and that is where
this gadget comes in.
It 's a can opener An oil filter can
opener! About the handiest and most rea
sonably priced one I've run across. Easy to
use , adaptable to just about any
of
the cur
rent manufactured filters and a must to con
duct a proper oil change.
The
money spent on this gadget is
peanuts
compared
to the cost of yo ur en
gine. When you figure the overhaul cost in
today's dollars , preventive ma intenance
comes easy!
I read about this tool in the Cub Newslet
ter, and with the memory fresh in my mind
of
the trouble we went through taking the
used filter over to a friends shop where he
had
a can
opener,
I
decided
to
order
one.
Especially since it was a club member dis
count deal to boot.
I wrote the man a letter, and you should
26 MARCH 997
P SSdh
UCK
by E.E.
Buck Hilbert
EAA 21
NC
#5
Here's what the Filter Wiz™ looks like. This
is
the
Model
1 which will open
all 314 spin-on filters (CH 48108,109,110,111 . You can also buy, either at
the time of purchase or later, a conversion adapter which allows you to do all
production piston engine filters, (CH 48103, 104). It also allows
you
to open
many automotive filters that have 13/16 thread, and 3-5/8 dia. filters such as
the AC/PF-35, etc.The cost
is
$49.00, less a 5 percent discount to EAA mem
bers. A full money back 90 day warranty
is
included Add $2 to cover COD
costs, otherwise pay
by
check or money order. No credit cards or phone or
ders, please (it helps keep my overhead down
so
I can offer this at reason
able price). Order it from: K. Santerre, 8127 Counselor Rd . Manassas, VA
22111.
see what I got back! The opener, rubber
gloves, a steak knife, detailed written in
structions and, to add to the
stuff
I could
read, a video showing the whole operation.
He even
extended
a promise to extend the
discounted price to all EAA members!
Now how can you beat a deal like that?
Take a look at the picture, think about it a
bit, and
if
you need one, order it
He re's more on the Breeze Spa rk Plug
cap dilemma:
Dear Buck,
Just a no te t h
at cou
ld he lp so l
ve
th e
prob lem of breakdow n of the Breeze Cap.
There is a product avai lable through elec
tronic supp ly houses
known
as "corona
dope." This is a high vo ltage, high dielec
tric leak resistant coating that can be brushed
on any clean, dry surface.
t
is brownish red
in color and about the consistency of Par
alketone. I used it back in the '60's when
we rebui lt a lot
of
generators and starters, to
set the fie ld coi ls in the cases and prevent
l
eakage
and grounding. A TV man who
used it to seal and coat the ends of picture
tu
bes
to ld
me about
the
ma
teria l - we a ll
know that there is p lenty
of
voltage to con
tend with in that area.
That was a good article - it 's surp ri sing
how many of the old heads (new ones too)
who have never heard
of
the Breeze system.
t
wasn't
too common in the old days be
cause most radio reception was on low fre
quency and ignition High Frequency didn ' t
present a prob lem. After the war, planes
that came with radios
didn't
have shielded
ignition, including the Stinson I 08's, Cessna
140's, etc.
Back To You,
C. C.
"Ace"
Cannon
Winterset, IA
Dear Ace,
Your letter on the Breeze Cap is most ap
preciated. I'm amazed at how much input
I 've gotten so far on that letter. Marv Hop
penworth had some comments to make by
phone, and a couple other calls came
in
as
well. Everybody agrees that it was a good
set up. Too bad they don t make 'em any
more.
I ve
got boxes
of
C-26s that could
probably be used we had the system.
Over to You
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 29/36
WELCOME
NEW
MEMBERS
-
Cynthia D. Almquist... .... .....Weeping W ater,
NE
Sven H. Andersen ......
..
....... ..........Oslo, Norway
John F. Arnold ......... .. .. .... ... Pompton Plaines,
NJ
Stephen A. Badolato ......................Harrison, NY
Phillip W .
Bass
.......
..
...................Gulfshores, AL
Frederick H .
Be
ck............. ....... ...... ..
Ro
ckford, IL
Brad Beckworth ..... ....... ...... .......Jacksonville, FL
David S. Behne ................ ....... ... Brentwood, CA
William
H. Berrick ............... ............Omaha,
NE
Jim
Borst
...
............... ........ Colorado Springs,
CO
Bruce K. Chester. ..... .. .......... ....... .....Raleigh, NC
Edward R. Clay ................................Fishkill , NY
Mike Clouse ...... ..
..
.................. .... .Olympia,
WA
Eddie Crowder ..... ..... .
...
.......... ......Asheville, NC
Homer L. Dangler .................. .........Addison, MI
Steven De
rk se
n ...... .... ....
Edson,
Alberta, Canada
Bill Dickey .....
..
.... ..... ............ ..... .Redmond, WA
John W. Dolan ............. ..... ......
.. Paso
Robles, CA
John
Dutra ..................... ......
.. ... ..
...Sarato
ga,
CA
George
Fi
eld,
Jr
....... ........ .... ............ . Tempe, AZ
Chooks Fowler .... Cootamundra, NSW, Australia
John H. Garabedian ............ ..Southboroug
h, MA
Arlen Gellings
...
.......... ........... ..
...
Franksville, WI
Arthur Haefliger ................
Nuf
enen, Switzerland
Greg M. Hagen ...... ... ........... ........Muskegon, MI
Hyman E. Harrelson .... ........
..
..... ...... Ogden, UT
Gregory A Harris
. ..
.... .. .. ..
..
.............Jordan, MN
Merle Helt... ...... ...... .
...
...... .......
.. Pon ca
City,
OK
Don E. Herfurth ..... ...... ......
..
....
Grass
Valley, CA
Dudley Hill ...... .... .... .... .... ....... .. ....Lancaster, PA
Brian E. Hoffmann ....... .......... .. ........... . Boise, ID
James
B. Hoover
..
.......... .....
...
......Ridgeland, W I
Daniel
P.
Horton .........................Wetumpka, AL
Ken Humbertson .. ... .. ...... .... .. ..... ..St. Peters, MO
Phi
ll ip M.
Jones
...... .......Richmond Heights , MO
Richard H. Kiser ..... ......................Abingdon, VA
Timothy
Kraus ...
........ ............ .... .... .
..
Seattle, WA
Wi
ll iam
W.
Lon
g,
Jr. .........
.. ..
Campbellsvil l
e, KY
David G. Lybarge r ............................Murray,
NE
Ray mond D. Main ...... ... .... .....West Monroe, NY
Tom McDuffee ...... .... ........... .. .... .Rosamond, CA
Norvin J Meitner ........................
Mi
lwaukee,
WI
Stanislaw Misiewicz ......... ... .............Murray, UT
Josef Mueh lbauer ..... ...... .. North Fort Meyers, FL
Robert Myers ........ ...... ... ..... ....... Calumet City, IL
Richard M . Nelson .......... .. .........
...
Arlington, VA
Daniel R. Peterson ........
..
......... .....
..
.Omaha,
NE
Robert L. Phillips ..... .................. Wilkesboro, NC
Jeff
J
Plantz .............. ......................Madison, W I
Carl Pruiss ...............
..
...... .. ... ...Terrace Par
k,
OH
Kenneth W . Reiman ............. ....... ..Spoka
ne
, WA
Michael Scott Reiman
..
.... ..........
...
...La Jolla, CA
Richard Reiser. ............. .. ...... ...... ..Cupertino, CA
Rick L. Shelor ............ ............ ..
..
........Vinton, VA
Mich
ae
l J. Smith ... .......................Grapevine,
TX
Michael Tabler .......... ......... ............Bellevue,
NE
Dennis Thomas .......
..
..
..
......
..
.....Santa Cruz, CA
Paul
R. Thomas ...... .... .............
..
.... .St. Paul,
MN
Robin L. VanValkenburg ...... .........Elk River, MN
Fred
Voltz .............. ............ .. ......... .
..
Coppell, TX
Bruce Wallis
..
....... ...... ...... .
.. ..
......... .
..
.Porter,
TX
Steven P.
Webre ...... ........... .....
..
.
..
Broussard,
LA
Randy Williams............ ... ..........Tumacacor i, AZ
G I l N ~
The West s Premier E Event
HOMEBU
LTS
• N
T
QUES
ULTRALIGHTS
CLASSICS • HELICOPTE
RS
WARBIRDS
•
IRCR FT
FLY
-
BYS
IRSHOW
EVERYD Y
•
EXHIBITS
FORUMS
FLY M RKET
• A
RCR FT JUDGING W RDS
•
F MILY CTIVITIES
C MPING
• OUTDOOR RUNW Y THE TER
E CH EVENING
•
HOT
IR B LLOON R LLY
•
HOME
BUILDERS
WORKSHOP
•
COMPLETE FOOD
SERVICE
VINTAGE AIRPLANE
27
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 30/36
REG IONAL FLY IN
SEPTEMBER 6-7 -
MARION
OH - Mid
Eastern
EAA
Fly-In (MERFI). Call Lou
Lindeman,
573/849-9455.
OCTOBER 9-12 - MESA,
AZ
Copperstate
Fly-In. Ca
ll
Bob
Hasson
, 520/228-5480.
OCTOBER
10-12 -
EVERGREEN, AL -
Southeast Regional Fly-In. Call Harold
Bubba Hamiter, 334/765-9709.
OCTO BER 10-12 -
WILMINGTON
, DE -
East
Coast EAA Fly-In. Call
Andrew
Alvarez, 302/738-8883.
OCTO
BER 17-
19 - KERRVILLE, TX -
Southwest Reg ional Fly-In.
Call
Stu
McCurdy,
5 72/388-7399.
MA RCH 22-23 - BORREGO SPRINGS CA -
Third Annual
Borrego
Valley Fly-In.
Camping, food available on field. Fly-In
info,
ca ll
the airport manager at 679/767
7475,
ca ll
th e Chamber of Commerce for
lodging, transporation
679/767-5555.
A
PRIL
6
-1
2 - LAKELAND, FL - 23rd
Annual
Sun 'n Fun
EAA
Fly-In and Convention.
87 3/644-2437.
APRIL 26 - LEVELLAND, TX - EAA Chapter 79
Fly-In breakfast. 8-70 a.m. Info: Call Bob
Stites, 806/794-596 7
or
Lome Sharp,
806/793-3202.
A PRIL
27
- H A LF MOON
BA
Y, CA -
7 th
Annual Pacific Coast Dream Machines, bene
fit for the
Coastside
Adult Day H
ea
lth Center.
70
a.m. -
4 p.m. 70 for adults, 5 for children
under
74
and senior citizens 65 years+ ) Kids
under four free . For info, call 475/726-2328.
APRIL
30 -
M AY 4 - SAN ANTON IO , TX -
Stinson Aerodrome Reunion. A Celebration
of th e history of Stinson Aircraft Co.
An
extensive program is being planned.
Contact Marcia Gietz, 2358 Bolsover
St .,
Houston
, TX 77005-2648 , fax 713/ 522
2458
or
e-mail [email protected]
MA Y 2-4 - ROANOKE RAPID
S NC
-
Annual
Spring Fly-In ,
sponsored by
EAA
Antique/Classic Chapter 3. All welcome.
For
info contact Ray Bottom, jr. 757-722-5056 or
Fax at 757/873-3059.
M AY 4 - DAYTON OH -
34th Annual
EAA
Chapter 48 Fly-In Breakfast at Moraine
Air
Park.
Lots of
Antiques on the field. Contact
jennie Dyke at
573/878-9832.
MA
Y 18 - ROM E
OV
ILLE IL -
EAA Chapter 75
Fly-In breakfast
7- 77
a.m . at Lewis
Romeoville Airport (LOT). Info : Frank
Goebel 875/436-6
75
3.
MAY
18 - WA RW ICK, NY - EAA Chapter 50 7
annual Fly-In at Warwick Aerodrome (N72)
in Warwick, NY. 70 a.m. - 4 p.m. Food, tro
phies, judging closes at 2 p.m..
Unicom
723.
0.
Info: Harry Barker, 201/838-7485.
28 MARCH 1997
The following list
of
coming events is furnished to
our
readers
as a
matter
of
nformation only and does not
cons
titute
approval, s
pon
s
or
s
hip
, involvement, con
trol or
direction
of
any e
ve
nt (
fl
y-in, seminars,
fl
y
market, etc.) listed. Please send the information to
fAA,
Aft: Golda Cox, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI
54903-3086.
Inform
ation should be received four
month
s prior to the event date.
Fly-In Calendar
M A Y
23
-25 - WA TS
ONVILLE
, CA - 33rd
annual
West
Coast Fly-In and Airshow. This
years theme Quest For Speed . Air
Racing Through
Th
e Ages. I
nfo: Call
408/496-9559.
MAY
24 - DECATUR,
AL
-
(KDCU) EAA Chapter
947
9th Annual Fly-In. Food, fun, aircraft
judging.
For
more information contact Dick
Todd, 205/977 -4060 or 205/96
7
-4540 (work).
JUNE 1 -
DEKALB
,
IL
-
DeKalb-Taylor
Municipal Airport. EAA Chapter 24 7 Fly-In
Breakfast.
7
a.m.
-
noon.
Info:
Bernie
Simuuich, 875/758-8434.
J
UN
E 6-7 - BARTLESVILLE,
OK
- Frank Phillips
Field.
77th
Annual National Biplane
Convention
and Exposition. For info
call
Charlie Harris, Chairman, 978/622-8400,
Virgil
Gaede,
Expo Director, 978/336-3976.
JUNE 6-7 - MERCED, CA -
40th Merced West
Coast Ant ique Fly-In. Info: write the Merced
Pilots Assoc., PO Box 23 72 , Merced, CA
95344 or call Virgina Morford, 209/383
4632
or for concessions Bud Holck
209/722-8323.
JUN E 6 -8 - SUG A R GROVE ,
IL
- Aurora
Municipal Airport, EAA Chapter 579 Annual
Fly-In and Open House. lAC Chapter One
Heuer Classic aerobatic competition will be
held at the same time. Antique/Classic aircraft
displays, and EAA B-77
tours
are scheduled.
Lunch available on Friday, breakfast and
lunch on Saturday. For info: Alan Shackleton,
630/466-4793, Bob Rieser, 630/466-7000,
David Monroe, 847/639-6490.
JU NE
14
- ALL OVER THE WORLD -
I
NTER
NA TlONAL YOUNG
EAGLES
DA Y. Fly
a
Young Eag le on th is day, and
join
the thou
sands of other pilots who will be doing the
same to further the awareness of sport avia
tion. For info
call
the EAA Young
Eagles
office at: 474/ 426-4837.
JUNE 14-1
5 -
ANDOVER
,
NJ
-
Aeroflex
Andover Airport (72N). Ol
de
fashined fly-in
sponsored by EAA NC Chapter
7.
Authentic
WW
I birds, good
eats.
Info : 207/786-5682
or 207/367-0875.
JU N E 15 -
ANDERSON
, IN - Anderson
Municipal Airport. EAA Chapter 226 Father s
Day Fly- In
breakfast,
7 a.
m.
-
a.m.
For info
call Larry Rice, 377/649-8690.
JUNE
15 - LACROSSE, WI -
Father
s Day
Fly/Drive-In
Breakfast. 7 am-72 pm.
$4.50, PIC
free. Cakes
by Big jakes, displays by Harley
Davidson, Skipper/iner, aviation
vendors.
NC
fly-bys and static displays. Check NOTAM5.
Info: Steve Schmitz,
608/787
-5277.
J
UNE
19-22 ST.
LOUI
S
M O -
Creve Coeur
Airport. American Waco Club Fly-In.
Contacts: Phil Coulson,
676/624-6490
or
jerry Brown, 377/535-8882
.
JUNE
21
- WALWORTH, WI - Bigfoot Airfield
(WI05) Fly/ Drive-In Breakfast. Young Eagle
rides, airshows at 9 and 77 am. Rain date:
6/22. Info: Bob Kirkpatrick 474/736-4207.
JUNE
22 -
NILES
,
MI
- jerry Tyler
Mem.
Airport. 70th Annual Fly-In Breakfast/Lunch.
6
m -
7pm. Carbon's Malted or Healthy
Gourmet
pan ca kes, real
orange juice.
$3.95, kids under
5 free
. Luch is Chicago
style
Hot Dogs, chip and soft drinks .
Tropies
for
first arrival and 7 categories.
Proceeds
to
benefit
EAA
Chapter
865
hangar project and their safety and young
peoples programs. Info: Ralph
Ballard
,
676/684-0972.
JUNE
26-29 -
MT
. VERNON,
OH
- 38th
Annual
National
Waco
Reunion Fly-In. 573/868-0084.
JULY 3
0-AUGU
ST 5 - OS
HKO
SH,
WI
-
45th
Annual
f
AA Fly- In and Sport Av ia
t i
on
Convention.
NOTf
DAY CHANGf - Now
Wednesd
ay
through Tue sda y.
Wittman
R
eg
ional Airport. Co
nt
a
ct John
Burton,
fAA
P.O.
Bo
x 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086,
414/ 426-4800.
AUGUST
2 - ELLSWORTH, KS - (9K7)
EAA
Chapter
7 727
Fly- In breakfast and Cowtown
Festival. Info:
973/472-4773.
AUGUST 9-
10
-
RICHMOND
HEIGHTS,
OH
-Cuyaho
ga
County
Airport.
Wings
&
Wheels , to benefit the Crawford Auto
Aviation Museum. Info: 276/
727-5722
or
the web site at www.whrs.org
AUGUST 30 - MARION IN - 7th annual Fly
In/Cruise- In Breakfast sponsored by the
Marion High School Band Boosters .
Antiques/Classics/Homebuilts,
as
well
as
Antique/Classic cars welcome. Info:
Ray
johnson,
377/664-2588.
SEPTEMBER 19-20 -
BARTLESVILLE
,
OK
-
Frank
Phillips
Field.
40th Annual Tulsa Regional
Fly
I
n.
For info call Charlie Harris, 978/622-
8400.
SEPTEMBER 19-21 - SELMA, CA -
75th
annual
West Coast Travel Air Fly-In. Old fashioned
fly- in where aviators do what comes natu
rally. Flying events, memorabilia auction,
great food . Info:
jerry
Impellezzeri,
408/356-3407 or Bob Lock 209/638-4235.
SEPTEMBER 20
- SULPHUR SPRINGS,
TX
EAA
Chapter 7094 3rd annual Fall Fly-In.
Coincides with the 28th annual Hopkins
County
Fa
ll Festival and World Champion
Stew Contest.
Info:
908/885-5525
or
903/439-3272.
SEPTEMBER 21 - HINKLEY, IL - EAA Chapter
247
Fall
Fly-In Breakfast. Info: Bernie
Simuuich, 875/758-8434.
OCTOBER 5 - TOMAH, WI - Bloyer Field.
EAA
Chapter
935
70th Annual Fly-In break
fast . Static Displays,
food, craft market,
radio controlled planes, 7 am - 4 pm. Info:
call 608/372-3725.
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 31/36
MEMBERSHIP
INFORMATION
Something to buy, sell or trade? An inexpensive d in the Vintage
Trader may be just the answer to obtaining that elusive part. .40¢ per
word, 6.00 minimum charge. Send your ad and payment to: Vintage
Trader
fAA
Aviation Center, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh,
WI
54903-3086, or
fax
your ad and your credit card number to
414/426 4828.
Ads must be
received
by
the 20th of the month for insertion in the issue the second
month following (e.g., October 20th
for
the December issue.)
EAA
the
Experimental Aircraft
Inc. is $35
for
one year
including
12
of SPORT AVIATION.
Family
membership
available
for
an
additional $10 annually. Junior
19 years
of age)
is
available
$20 annually. All
major
credit
cards accepted
ANTIQUE/CLASSIC
EAA
members may join the Antique/
Division and receive
VINTAGE
AIR
magazine
for
an
additional
$27 per
year.
Membership,
VINTAGE
AIRPLANE
mag
and one year membership in
the EAA
Division
is
available for
$37
per
(SPORT AVIATION magazine
not included).
lAC
EAA members may join
the
Intemational
Club,
Inc. Division and receive SPORT
magazine for an additional
$40
year.
Membership, SPORT AEROBATICS maga
in the lAC
is
available for
$50
per year
(SPORT
magazine not
included).
WARBIRDS
EAA members may join the EAA
of America Division and receive WAR
magazine
for
an
additional $35 per year.
Membership, WARBIRDS magazine and
year membership in
the
Warbirds Division
is
for $45 per year (SPORT AVIA
TION
not included).
AIRCRAFT
1946 Aeronca Champ . Original and correct
from prop decal to tailwheel (except shielded
ignition and textured paint on interior panels to
simulate flock). 85 hours since detailed restora
tion and engine overhaul. Cared for like museum
piece. Same owner past 20 years. In
cludes
spare, runout engine, COM radio, documentation
and manuals. (860) 535-1699 after 8:30 p.m.
Inquires welcome. Offers considered.
MISCElLANEOUS
SUPER CUB PA-18 FUSELAGES - New manu
EAA EXPERIMENTER
EAA members may receive EAA
magazine for an additional $20
year.
Membership
and
EAA
EXPERIMENTER
is
available for $30 per year (SPORT
magazine not included).
FOREIGN
MEMBERSHIPS
submit
your remittance with a
check or
drawn on a United
States bank payable
in
. Add
$13
postage for
magazine
and/or $6
postage
any
of
the
other
magazines.
EAA AVIATION CENTER
P.O.
box
3086
Oshkosh, WI
54903-3086
WEB SITE http://www.eaa.org
E-MAIL Vintage @ eaa.org
PHONE
(414) 426-4800
FAX (414) 426-4873
OFFICE HOURS:
8:15-5:00
mon.-fri.
1-800-843-3612
MEMBERSHIP
DUES
TO
EAA
AND
ITS DIVISIONS ARE
NOT TAX
DEDUCTIBLE AS
CHARITABLE
CONTRIBUTIONS.
facture, STC-PMA
-d, 4130 chromoly tubing
throughout,
also
complete fuselage
repair.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN AIRFRAME INC.
(J
. Soares,
Pres.), 7093 Dry Creek Road, Belgrade, Montana
59714, 406 /3
88-6069, FAX
406
/ 388-0170.
Repair station No. QK5R148N. (0274)
• IATIONINSUR NCE·
FREE CATALOG - Aviation books and videos.
How to, building and restoration tips, historic, fly
ing and entertainment titles. Call
for
a free
cata
log. EAA,1-8OO-843-3612.
Insure
it
as
you
build
it!
Ragwing Replicas - Ultralight legal Aircamper,
Thil feathers to
nose
gear
eath, Pitts , Duster , Triplane. Plans 52 .
Brochure 3 . P. O. Box 39 , Townville , SC
29689.
(0400)
we
love
homebuilts!
EAA Aircraft Finance Program. We finance
most types of aircraft including experimentals.
No aircraft age limit. Call 1-800-999-4515, FAX
941 / 646-1671
E-mail [email protected]
US and Canada ca
ll
Homepage
http
://w
ww
.airshow.netleaaloan+
administered by NAFCO. (1626)
Piper J5C Information
Needed
- Will beg, bor
row or purchase any information, articles, pic
tures
etc
.
on
the Piper
J5C
. This is
the
fully
800-276-5207
Notavailable in
Ouebec
-
ow led model with the Lycoming 0235 engine
that
became
the PA12 .Bob
Ruffini
-
Days
800/224-5522
, FAX 81 0 /
644-8909,
Eve
v i M O
I
NSURANCE COMPANY
10/644-9081 .
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 32/36
Visit the
ll
ew
Hammondsport. New York
The Cradle
of
Aviation
Explore the life and times of Aviation Pioneer Glenn H. Curtiss. Experience a
rare collection
of
early aircraft, motorcycles, bicycles and engines. Relive turn
of the century lifestyle through collections of antique toys, dolls, furniture and
other curiosities. Special exhibits and events. Something for the whole family
May
1 - October
31
November
1 -
April
30
Monday Saturday 9 -5
Monday
Saturday 10
4
Sunday
11-
5 Sunday U -5
Admission
•
Accessible
•
607)
569-2160
Curtiss
Museum •
Hammondsport
• New York •
14840
oute
54
, one halfmile south of the Village
Spirnl-Bowtd
Classrooll1..
Our
new
manual isn't
just a reference - it's a
covering course in a
book. It's the clearest,
most thorough, and
most fun-to-read
rder Yours Just $10.00
Plus
SblppIng
f
andllng
i r c r f t
oa
t i n s
-
It' ll
show
you
just
how easy
it
is
to
cover
an
airplane
800-362-3490
~ p o ~ b e £ c o E n
E-maU: inCo@po lyflbc r.com
F
AX: 909
-
684-0518
Fly high with
a
quality Classic interior
Complete interior assemblies for do it yourself nstallation.
Custom
quality
at economical prices.
• Cushion upholstery sets
• Wall panel sets
• Headliners
• Carpet sets
• Baggage compartment sets
• Firewall covers
• Seat slings
• Recover envelopes and dopes
Free catalog of complete product line.
Fabric Selection Guide showing actu
al
sample colors and
styles of materials: $3.
00
.
j8
I
I
Q i l : ~ R O D U C T S
INC
259 Lower Morrisville Rd . Dept. VA
Fallsington, PA 19054 (215) 295-
4115
ZJ
step-by-step
book
of
its
kind. It
wi
ll
guide you al l
the way
through the enti re
Po
ly-Fiber process in
plain easy language
and w ith a delightfu l
sense of
humor.
with
Po
ly-Fiber,
and how much
fu
n it can
be
. It
includes our enti
re
catalog
of
tool
s
products, and other
goodies, too. A ll you
need to make it happen
is
our new manual ..
and a dream.
30 MARCH 1997
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 33/36
EAA/SPORTAI R
aean
D
T
WORKSHOPS
End the
Oil Mess
Co-sponsored
by EAA
and Alexander
~ ; ; :
SportAir, these Workshops offer weekend
programs with a wide range of basic and advanced aircraft
fabricat ion a
nd
restoration
skil
ls.
D-18
Twin
Beech
Grumman
Mallard
D-17 Staggerwing Beechcrak
For Round Engine Classics
Any Size Radial From PT's
to
Constellations
Over
300
Clean KitsTM on
radial engines worldwide;
including antiques, classics,
warbirds and
transports
.
Our proprielary eiednc oil """"' ling and shnofI system
;, 100 1 . foolproof
and.de.
This.I is
codpil<.onlrolled,
guarded
switches and annuociolioo
I ~ h l s
12- and
24""1
systems OI Oibbie.
Custom
engi"""ing ;,
our s p e c i o l ~ CIeon Kn'
is
e I ~ f
bIe
lor
IieId OW"'" ""ng
sIor1<bd 337 process or aU
colegooes 1 airaal1
Darton International, Inc.
264 Trade Street, 101
Son
/laws. CA 9 CY:fJ
800-713-2786
619-471-9304 FAX
©
Dorton InlerOOliono/,
Inc..
19'16.
Denton,
TX
(Dallas)
March 22-23
Griffin,
GA
April 26-27
Reno,
NV
May 17-18
Pleas
e contact SportAir for location information and
registration_ Call 1-800/967 746
Fax
770/467-9413.
WW1 AERO (1900-1919)
SKYWAYS
(1920-1940)
• historical research
• workshop notes
• Information on painVooor
• aeroplanes, engines,
parts
for
S8Je
• your wants and disposals
• Information
on cu rren
t projects
•
news
of museums and airshows
•
lechnal drawings and data
•
photographs
Sample issues
$4
each
• sca le modelling material
BUILD ONE A REAL ONE
• news of current publications
Sole distributors lor P3V. a computer program to generate a 3-view from a photograph .
f ublishcd
by
WORLD WAR 1 INC.
15
Crescenl
Road . Poughkeepsie . NY 1260 1 USA
(9
14 ) 473-3679
Own
the
Airplane
of
our
reams
with EAA s®Aircraft Finance Program.
EAA 's
Aircraft Finance Program is
design
ed
to make it easier and more
affordable to own an airplane. The plan
wi
ll
finance not only homebuiits, antiques
and ultralights - but most other airplanes
as well. Skyhawks, Bonanzas, Aztecs,
Citations - with no aircraft age limit.
The EAA Aircraft Finance Program
offers low down payments, loan mini
mums
of
$ 10,000 and attractive rates with
tenns
up to 15 years.
We welcome partnerships, flight
schools and flying clubs. Save money by
refinancing your current airplane.
EAA membership is included wi
th
every
loan that's approved. We'
ll
also automati
cally renew and pay for your annual EAA
dues for the length
of
the loan - on loans
over $20,000.
For
more information on the
EAA
Aircraft Finance Program or to obtain a
loan application call :
1·800·999·4515
or fax 941·646·1671.
A IM NIIT -
~ ~ 3
../
•
EAA®Aircraft Finance Program
Th
e EAA Aircraft Finance Program is administered by NAFCO P.D. Box
6145
Lakeland FL. 33807.
VI
NTAG
E AIRPLANE 31
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 34/36
r
R
B ew;tt
Youngstown OH
Bob has
been
flying
sin e
1947
Long time EAA
and
member.
C tavana
Colf andOH
ill
has
been
flying
sin e 1954
Long time
EAA and
member.
AUAis
approved.
become
an
Antique &
Member, call
00-843-3612
32 M RCH 1997
"We have had super service
from AUA, especially when we
had prop damage last year and
were able to get a new prop
with just a small 'upgrade' or
appreciation charge. We are
also appreciative of
the fact that
we weren't charged any
deductable, as it was our
first claim."
- Bob Blewitt &
Bill
Stavana
AUA's Exclus ve E Ant;que Class;c D v s on Insurance Program
Lo
er liability and hull premiums
Medical
payments included
Fleet discounts for multiple aircraft carrying all risk coverages
No
hand-propping exclusion
No age
penalty
No component parts endorsements
Discounts for claim-free renewals carrying all risk coverages
The best is affordable.
Remember,
Give AUA a call - it's FREE
We re Better Togetherl
Fly with the pros.. fly with AUA Inc .
VI TION UNLIMITED GENCY
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 35/36
AUA
In
c.
h
as
the broad kn
ow
led
ge
it takes to cover the specialized needs of antique
ic
ai
rcraft
pil
ots. COMAV coverage is backed
by SAFECO
Insurance, one of America s most trusted
ni es
wit
h an
A
rating from A.M. Best. For more about our unique programs, contact your aviation
li
st.
Or,
if
you re an
EAA
memb er ca
ll
AUA at 800-727-3823. Remember, we re better together.
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 1997
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-mar-1997 36/36