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THE SPAR By ChetPeek With George Goodhead STORY

The Spartan Story

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Page 1: The Spartan Story

THE SPAR

By

ChetPeek

WithGeorgeGoodhead

STORY

Page 2: The Spartan Story

The Spartan StoryBy Chester L. Peek

With George Goodhead

Published by:Three Peaks Publishing

Norman, OK

Copyr.ight, 1994, Chester L. Peek

First Edition, Second PrintingPrinted in the United States of America

ISBN 0-943691-16-8

Other books by this Author

The Taylorcraft StoryResurrection ofa Jenny

The First CubFlying With 40 Horses

Page 3: The Spartan Story

ContentsAcknowledgements v

Prologue vii

Chapter OneThe First Spartan, (1926-1927) 1

Chapter TwoSkelly Takes Over, (1928) 11

Chapter ThreeThe Spartan Biplanes, (1928-1932) 23

Chapter FourThe Spartan Monoplanes, (1929-1932) 41

Chapter FiveThe Spartan School ofAeronautics, (1928-1938) 57

Chapter SixThe Spartan Executive, (1935-1941) 75

Chapter SevenThe Army Air Corps Arrives, (1939-1944) 93

Chapter EightThe British Are Coming, (1941-1945) 105

Chapter NineThe Spartan Warbirds 119

Chapter TenWar Comes to Spartan, (1941-1946) 131

EpiloguePostwar, (1946) 147

Page 4: The Spartan Story

v

AcknowledgementsThis book has been long abuilding. Some forty years ago, George Goodhead, a

early Spartan Student, began collectingfactory photos, drawings and documents from thecompany archives. The restoration of two Spartan planes, the Model 12 and a C-2-60,addedfurther to his Spartan information. I was contacted in late 1992 and agreed to writeThe Spartan Story, using as a startingpoint the volumes ofmaterialfaithfully collected byGeorge. Because ofhis considerable contributions to the book throughout its gestation, Iam proud to name him as co-author.

As the research went forward, many other individuals and organizations lent theirassistance. Former employees such as Randy Brooks, RexMadera andB. B. Broome gener­ously opened their personal files to me. Dick Smith, who was a student during the "DirtyThirties", sent photos and reminiscences of that difficult era. Neighbor andfriend ''Pete''Howard, a youngflying cadet at Spartan in 1941, gave a personal insight into that roman­tic period. Mary Jones shared an hour-long taped interview given by Jess Green, contain­ing interesting anecdotes ofSpartans's early years. Anotherfriend, Kent Faith, furnishedme with reams ofmaterials he had collectedfor a school writing project, including copiesof the "Spartan News "from 1941 through 1945. Tulsa Historian, Beryl Ford, opened hisvast archives of Tulsa lore,· many of the photos and newspaper articles came from hiscollection.

An internationalflavor was gainedwhen the Miami, OK, Dobson Museum allowedme to peruse their extensive collection ofmaterial on the #3 BritishFlying Training School,which operated there from 1941 to 1945. Through them I was able to contact the schoolsveteran's association, and a number ofBritish pilots generously sent stories and photosdescribing their training in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City's Air-Space Museum opened their historical library to me, and myever-helpful neighbor, HaroldMaloy, lent 1920-1930's periodicals from his extensive col­lection. Vernon Foltz, Director ofthe Spartan Alumni Association, copied old manuals andnews articles from their files. Two books were valuable in gaining background materialconcerning two main Spartan characters. Bill Skelly is well described in Ironside's book,"An Adventure Called Skelly", and Miller's book, "The House ofGetty", gives a thoroughreview ofJ. Paul Getty's career.

My family has been most supportive. Wife Marian accompanied me on the manytrips to Tulsa andMiami, searchingfor and copying documents. Andshe did not complainduring the hundreds of hours I spent, intense and uncommunicative, hunched over myoffice computer. Son Stan took valuable time from a busy law practice to guide me throughthe intricacies of WordPerfect and PageMaker.

To all the above I extend my sincere thanks.Chester L. Peek

Norman, Oklahoma, 1994

Page 5: The Spartan Story

Prologue(October 25, 1926)

Prologue vii

Willis Brown and Waldo Emery with the First Spartan. JUPlNER

Willis Brown was elated! The big biplane he was flying handled like a dream. It felt solidand steady; even the questionable "Super Rhone" imported motor was sounding smooth andpowerful. As he leaned over the padded leather cockpit coaming of this new plane, he could seethe Tulsa skyline spreading to the southwest. Directly below was the McIntyre airport fromwhich he had taken offmoments before. An interested and anxious crowd could be seen gazingup at the circling plane.

The onlookers included Paul Meng, OK. Longren and Waldo Emery, co-designers andbuilders ofthis new machine, dubbed "The Spartan C-3". The future ofthis endeavor, and muchoftheir own careers, could depend on the results ofthis test flight.

After trying a few stalls and tight turns, Brown cut the throttle and began a long circulardescent. The plane was heading into the prevailing southwest wind as it floated over theboundary fence and settled easily onto the dry Oklahoma prairie of the airfield Taxiing up tothe hangar line, past a couple of Curtiss Jennys, the plane stopped in front of the small groupofspectators. A cheer went up as Brown waved a "thumbs up" sign, steppedfrom the cockpit,andjumped to the ground.

"The Spartan Story" had begun!

Page 6: The Spartan Story

The First Spartan 1

Chapter One

The First Spartan(1926-1927)

Thefirst Spartan C-3 with "Super Rhone" Engine. BERYL FORO COUECI10N

The first Spartan plane was designed and builtthrough the efforts of a true aviation pioneer, WillisC. Brown. Born January 17, 1896, in Brooklyn, NewYork, Brown was only 13 years old when he had hisfirst aviation encounter. Encouraged by Bleriot'sflight over the English Channel that summer, Browndesigned and built a primary glider in spaceborrowed from a local wagon shop. His father wassomewhat fearful of this enterprise, but his motherproved sympathetic, even helping him purchasenecessary materials such as piano wire, fabric andbaby carriage wheels.

When finished, the 150 pound contraption washauled to Easton Parkway, where it was placed on aknoll for takeoff. Ropes were fastened to theundercarriage and held by eager schoolmates whowere to assist in the launching. Frantic running bythe crew, and a fortunate gust ofwind lifted the gliderand Brown into the air, but disaster struck almost

immediately. As he sailed down the hill, at analtitude of 10 to 15 feet, a tall telegraph pole loomedahead. Unable to avoid this obstacle, Brown endedup at the foot of the pole surrounded by the wreckageof his first aircraft. Fortunately he was unhurt, andhis ardor for aviation was undampened.

Realizing the limitation of a glider, Brown beganto design a powered plane, a biplane along the linesof the Curtiss pushers. In the summer of 1911, whileon vacation with his fanlily at Sebago Lake, Maine,he built the wings and tail group for the plane,continuing work that fall in the basement of hishome. A friendly machine shop proprietor allowedhim to use his facilities in the evening after he hadfinished his classes at the Pratt Institute. A junkdealer sold him a Mitchell auto engine, which headapted to his needs. His mother continued to helpfinance the modest costs of the project; other moneywas earned by such jobs as turning on and off the

Page 7: The Spartan Story

2 The Spartan Story

The First Spartan 3

The hangars at McIntyre AirpOf1 where thefirsl Spartan was assembled.FORD

the successful testing ofthe prototype wouldattract well-heeledinvestors from the oil­rich Tulsa businesscommunity.

When viewingphotos of this first planeit appears to be of thetypical biplane design,two passengers in thefront cockpit, the pilotin the rear. However,instead of the surplusCurtiss OX-5 motorused by most planes ofthe day, the Spartan ispowered by a clean-

FORD looking radial. Andwhere most biplanes

have a certain amount of "stagger" (i.e. the lowerwmg IS set somewhat to the rear of the upper), bothwmgs on the Spartan are exactly one above the other.

Structurally, the plane had been designed to meetall requirements of the "Class 1" planes as set forthby the new Aeronautics Branch of the Department ofCommerce. This meant that a complete stress

McIntyrejIying a Standard J-I.

new association with the Tulsa firm a realopportunity.

As the plane neared completion, operations weretransferred to the McIntyre Airport on the NortheastSide of the city, where two large hangars had beenrented. There the first plane was assembled andreadied for its inital flight. All those involved hoped

Willis C. Brown

biplane of Brown's design in early 1926. Progress wasslow at first; they had limited financing, and had toset up a complete factory from "scratch". To add atone of legitimacy to the enterprise, they chose thename of "Mid-Continent Aircraft Company" andcalled the plane the "Spartan". The suffix C-3indicated it was a commercial plane with a capacityof three persons.

Late in the summer, A. K. Longren, anexperienced production man from Kansas, was hiredto set up the construction. As was Brown, AlbinKasper Longren had been a true aviation pioneer. Inearly 1911, Longren and his brother, already veteransof the midwest racing-car circuits, began to build aplane of their own design on their farm seven milessoutheast of Topeka, Kansas. Using the typical"pusher" design of the day, a 60 HP motor wasmounted behind the pilot between the biplane wings.Longren, then 29, first flew this plane on September2, 1911. The brothers continued building and flyingexhibition planes until 1919, when they moved toTopeka and started the Longren Aircraft Company.After building more than 20 planes, the businessfailed, going bankrupt in 1923. He considered this

street lamps for the Brooklyn Edison IlluminatingCompany.

By the sununer of 1912, the craft was finished andready for test. The plane was hauled to the BrightonBeach Race Track, where, at age 16, Willis Brownwas determined to fly his first power-driven machine.After several experimental ground runs, the planelifted off, and flew at a height of 10 to 15 feet for adistance of over 200 yards.

The following year, Brown spent his spare timeflying his plane; continuing his studies of the theoryand practice of aerodynamics at the Pratt Institute.He graduated in 1914. Later that year, havingaccepted ajob with the Foxboro Company to test andinstall aeronautical instruments, he sold his plane toanother aviator, who used it for exhibition flying inthe midwest for a number of years.

World War I started shortly after Brown beganwork for the Foxboro Company, and his work tookhim to the various aircraft manufacturers of the time,installing the crude flight instruments then available.In 1917, when the United States entered the conflict,Brown joined the service, graduating from the U. S.Army School of Aeronautics at Cornell University.He saw active duty at Gershner Field, Lake Charles,Louisiana, and for some years held a conunission aspilot in the reserves.

While in the service he met another pilot, WaldoD. Emory, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was alsointerested in designing and building planes. Forseveral years after leaving the service, neither manwas able to find work in aviation. Brown went backto selling controls and instruments for the FoxboroCompany throughout the midwest; Emory set up anoil field instrumentation business in Tulsa. Thebusiness prospered, the entire oil and gas industrywas going through a huge expansion, and new, morescientific technologies were being used for the firsttime.

In the natural course of their businessassociations, Brown and Emory began to discuss thepossibility of building a "new production" planedesigned to replace the aging Jennys and Standardsthen being flown. Other aviation pioneers hadsimilar ideas. Stearman, Beech and Cessna werebuilding the first Travel Airs up in Wichita, Weaverand Brukner were building their Wacos in Troy,Ohio, and Matty Laird had designed his LairdCommercial in Chicago.

Using space available in Emory's instrumentshop, a former mattress factory at 915 NorthWheeling Ave., the two partners began to build a

Page 8: The Spartan Story

4 The Spartan StoryThe First Spartan 5

of stalic stabili y incorporated makes Ihe ship afe againstover-controlllllg and auses the airplane to seek it normalair speed at any lime the controls are released neverthele sthe SPARTA I bi~lanes have the utmo t in c~ntrollability,and can be flown JU t by the pressure of the fingers. Firehazard has been eliminated. Th gasoline tank is out,ideof tbe body structure. Overflowing of Ihe lank or leakagef,om any cause IS thus prevenled from draining into Ibe(uselage.

SPARTAN C-3

GENERAL

I -~he ~PARTIA b C-3 airplane is a tractor type bipla"e,a' ,~,g ~. slllg e ay. of struls. The wings are of semi-thIck sectIon embodYlllg great rigidity A h' h d 't' b T . . 'g egree 0k. atlcls~a I Itf IS produced by Ihe application of a thoroug';. now e ge 0 aero-dynamIC laws. The balance and slabil­,tv are constant, whether the ship is flown with or wilhoutuseful load (I.e. fuel or passengers I Th h' df(et nose.heavy or tail h 'b'. e Ip oes notfl' I I. I - eavy at t le eglllnlnf( or ending of

It;! 11. W Jere tle fuel is conslantly being used Th d. e egree

1fK~: A I R P LAN E~ in common with all other vehicles for the tran portation of as­

of ~:~sicf: ~e:~I~a:d~. ef. ml~st of .necessity be divided into several distinct c1a~ e

II~ TYPE C-3' has be ~ CI IcaO' y de Igned .for the purpose intended. The SPARTA'_I~ for a itot and t e de Ibned and bUilt to .provide afety and rapid transportation" _' Lhing ,P b dWO ~a sengers or Lhelr eqUlvalenL in articles of commerce Every-

, la een one III both de .0' d' .abilitv to perform arduous ta k Sl n an CIon tructlOn of the e hips to insure their. • 5 con tant y and con . t tl . h h ..

amount of mallltenance Th d . k' I en y WIt t e mlllimum. e e Igners wor 1110' to pe T t' If f .est degree of commercial uLility decided t 0, h CI Ica IOn ca mg or a slup having the high-. . a once tlat t e shIp sho Id h . . .non- pmnlllg characteristics. Thorou h dem' u ave po Illve no.n.stallmg andLhat th PARTA T C-3 as bu'lt b dg h on LratlOns have proven beyond a questIOn of a doubt

I em 0 les Lee pomL It h h d f' ..sponse to the slighte t wi h of th'l k' . S Jg egree 0 staUc stabIlIty and its re-

e PlOt rna e It a plea f b h h .e~c;~, an~;haf.t is most important safety for all. It i C ~~s;~N~b ~o eb:o;~;;:~t~u~~~ ~xp~ri-

. e me t materials procurable on the mark d' 0 sayown one of these ships, and thoroughl ati fied i~ ~t are use exclUSIvely. You will be proud toriding in perfect afety. y t e knowledge thaL you and your pa engers are

... '.:..•. :.:~:.: ..'. ....'. ,'.'. .... . '. '::'

l'hoto 1»' ~l L. MllI{'r

The wing structure consisted of box type sparssupporting Warren truss ribs made of spruce stripsand birch plywood gussets. All wing compressionribs were of the box type, designed to take bothcompression and torsion loads. Wing fittings weremade of Army specification steel.

The control surfaces were of similar constructionto the wings; box type beams with plywood sides, andribs of Warren truss construction. The high aspectratio of the control surfaces proved unusuallyeffective in flight. All maneuvers could be made withvery light control pressures. Elevators and rudderwere activated by steel control cables. Ailerons wereinstalled on both the upper and lower wings andcontrolled by a combination of "T" crank and cables,eliminating pulleys and balance wires. Interplanestruts were of streamline steel tubing, braced by

streamline steel tie rods.The landing gear of this prototype was of the

New Ideal Plane Which Was Flown SundayAnd the Men Who Made It a Success

analysis had been made for all parts, using the loadfactors designated. The plane, when it final1yreceived its Approved Type Certificate, would beeligible for use in interstate commerce.

Medium carbon 1020 steel, Army specification,was used for the fuselage construction. The structureutilized a modified Warren truss, being rigidlybraced with steel tubing, no wires or turnbucklesbeing employed. All tubing was flushed inside withboiled linseed oil to prevent rust. Red oxide primerwas used on the outside. The engine mount wasdetachable, allowing for the use of various engines.The forward fuselage was neatly cowled in astreamline shape by the use of aluminum panels,which were also used to cover both cockpits. Thebalance of the fuselage was covered with dopedfabric. The words "Maiden Tulsa" and "Mid­Continent Aircraft Company" were painted on the

rudder.

"Sitting on ~op or the world" Iiter- flights yesterday. WllIlp- Brown Is \ persons. I ne nl'W plane embodies Iheally describes the oullool

cor Tulsa's the d('signer and Paul MC'ng Is the last word In modern pro.ctlcC'. 115·

newest Induslry. How it feels Is pilot and construclor or the plane. unusual quallty Is In being halancedshown by the smiles on the faces or A conventional bi.plane type. with so that It will not stall and spin a~the pilot and desIgner or the first thick. high-11ft wings. racial alr- \ do ordinary planes. thus increasingTulsa built airplane after their test cooled motor, and seats for three its safety. .

FORDPage from thefirst Spartan C-3 brochure.

October 26, J926 Tulsa World.

Page 9: The Spartan Story

6 The Spartan StoryThe First Spartan 7

capital to bankroll the project.On May 21, 1927, young Charles Lindbergh

landed in Paris after a solo flight across the Atlantic,and America's attitude toward aviation was changedforever. He became an instant, likable, visible heroand an excellent spokesman for the future ofaviation.Shortly after his return to the U.S., he began a tour ofthe country, arriving in Tulsa to be a part ofthe StateFair and Petroleum Exposition on September 30.Following is an account of his visit offered byHistorian Beryl Ford:

FORD

L

they were greeted by W. G.Skelly and a thousandenthusiastic Tulsans as theyclimbed from their plane.After introductions andspeeches, the group wastaken by auto to the SkellyMansion where they werefeted by hundreds of oilexecutives and their wives.

Lindbergh's arrival wasscheduled for 2:00 PM atMcIntyre Airport. Theparade itinerary (almost 10miles long) was to be:From the airport to the

FORD fairgrounds, thence on awinding route through

most of the downtown Tulsa streets, finally ending atthe Mayo Hotel. All this by 4:00 PM.

With everything in readiness, Tulsans beganscannIng the skies in the early afternoon ofSeptember 30. Lindbergh approached the city ofTulsa from the north, flying at an altitude of 800 feet.Four escort planes from the McIntyre Airport immed­Iately took up positions alongside and sliglltly abovethe SPJrlt of St. Louis. Lindbergh flew over thebusiness district twice, then flew east and landed atthe McIntyre Airport against a strong wind at exactly

STRICKLAND, LINDBERGH, NEWBLOCK, GOEBEL

September 30, J927 at McIntyre Airport in Tulsa, Okla.

"The Day Lindbergh Came to Tulsa"

Lindbergh taXiing the "Spirt o/St. Louis ", Tulsa, Sept 30, /927.

The Aviation Committee of the Chamber madethe announcement of Lindbergh's proposed visit andasked Tulsans to help make his stay a pleasant one.HIS advance personnel requested that specialarrangements be made to protect the man and hisplane from welI intentioned admirers.

"The landing field must be kept clear or he willnot land; afimced enclosure must be prOVidedfor hissafety as he objects to beingpoked, punched or slappedon the back".

A welcoming committeewas organized and"Lindbergh Day" wasdeclared in honor of hisarrival. All schools were tobe closed. A publicitycampaign heralded Lindy'svisit based on the theme"Oil, Fuel and Aviation".

Art Goebel, back inBartlesvilIe after his flightto Hawaii in August, flewhis golden winged"Woolaroc" monoplane toTulsa's McIntyre Airportthe day before Lindberghwas due to arrive.Accompanied by FrankPhillips, head of the giantPhilIips Petroleum Co.,

SPARTAN

Specifications of the Spartan C-3

GE ERAL DETAILSDetailed £pecifications and the manufacturer's figures for

performance follow:Span, both wings 32 ft.Overall length (with radial engine) 23 ft. 6 in.Height 8 ft. 9 in.Dihedral, upper wing none, lower wing 2 deg.

I~~FJ:~c;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~odOeng~Weight empty (radial engine) 1,225 lbs.Useful load 800 lb .Total wl;lght loaded 2,025 lb .Wing loading 7.07 lb. per sq. ft.Power loading (radial engine) 16.8 lb. per h.p.Wing loading (Wright £·2 7.65 lb. per sq. ft.Power loading \ Wright £·2) 12.57 lb. per h.p.Maximum speed (radial 120 h.p.) 110 m.p.h.Landing speed (radial 120 h.p.) ' 35 m.p.h.Maximum peed (Wright £,21 125 m.p.h.Landing speed (Wright £-2) 39 m.p.h.Cruising range 500 milesClimbing speed (Wrillht £-2) 1,000 ft. per min.

The Spartan C-3 combines many features which go tomake up a fir t cIa s modern commercial plane. It is ex,tremely robu t in lructure ~ ..d i~ al'pearance wi!' mel'tfavorably l~.e eyes of all pilnts.

straight-axle "Jenny" type, but it wasanticipated that the more modern splitaxle configuration would be used inproduction. Wheels and tires were theusual 26" x 4" World War I surplus.

This prototype was powered by aSuper Rhone nine-cylinder Frenchengine of an estimated 120horsepower. Reportedly, this "Super­Rhone" was a static radial, reworkedfrom the famous rotary Rhone used inW. W.I. It powered a Hartzellpropeller. Gravity feed of fuel to thecarburetor was attained by the use of asmall tank in the center section, towhich gasoline was pumped from themain tank: in the fuselage.

Comfort for the pilot andpassengers was assured by luxuriouslyupholstered cockpits, well protected byample sized windshields. A luggagecompartment was located under thepassenger seat which would hold twoaverage sized suitcases. A glove andhelmet compartment was providedunder the cowling behind the pilot'sseat.

Flight tests of the prototypeindicated a top speed of 110 mph anda landing speed of 35 mph. The planehad been designed so that it would not"stall"; instead, when flying speed waslost, the nose settled and the planeentered a safe glide. This feature wasattributed to the proper positioning ofthe center of gravity, with the meanaerodynamic chord.

After the successful initial test inthe last of October, 1926, test pilot Spartan C-3 specifications.

Paul Meng went on a promotionalflight through the southwest, demonstrating theplane in such cities as OklallOma City, Dallas, andNew Orleans. As the result of his tour, a number offatuous pilots were able to fly the plane; many gavewritten endorsements as to its excellent handlingcharacteristics. A quality sales brochure was printedand distributed to the aircraft trade. Sales inquiriesbegan to come in, but there is no evidence that anyplanes were sold until the fall of 1927. It seemslikely that the early months of 1927 were occupiedwith setting up of a manufacturing facility, and moreimportant, the attraction of sufficient investment

Page 10: The Spartan Story

8 The Spartan StoryThe First Spartan 9

FORD

"Woolaroc" and climbed to about 1000 feet levelingoff beside Lindbergh. They flew to the wes;, wingtipto wmgtlp, untIl they disappeared over the flat prairiehorizon.

. As it did in many cities, Lindbergl1's appearanceIII Tulsa engendered an immediate interest in allthings aviation, especially in the businesscommunity. This evidently worked to the advantageof the Mid~Contment Aircraft Corporation. In earlyNovember It was announced that the Corporation hadbeen capitalized for $100,000 and that $65,000 oftills amount had been raised through a group ofwealthy Tulsans. New Company officers werenamed as follows:

President: W.H. Horster, a general contractorTreasurer: D.B. Hamilton, an accountantSecretary: Charles Parker, early OklahomaaviatorThe Board of Directors included some of thebusiness elite such as:c.c. Roberts, Y.P. of Southwest Utility Ice Co.E.W. Jacob, Y.P. of Exchange National BankM.F. Powers, Oil executiveWillis Brown, an original organizer of theCompany

Aircraft Companyto Employ 30 More;

to Enlarge Plant

The corporation Is capitalized for I$100,000 and $65,000 of the stock has; DOUBLE ACTION MOTORbeen sold to a group of wealthy: ~he plane is equipped with a four~Tulsans. The remainder of the cylmder Fafrchild-Camlnez motorca;pI~al stock will probably be sold which was designed by army engi­wlthm. a short time to a few large neers and successfully used in armyfmancla~ interests in Tulsa, rep- planes. Th~.mo~or Is a double­resentatlves of which have been actIOn or~e, glvmg It the power of anwatching development of the plane I elght-cylmder motor.DESIGNED BY WILLIS BROWN I The Spartan, a biplane, is lighter

The plane is known as the "Spar- I than m?st planes and jts weight isOrders for E10ght Planes tan," and was designed by Willis! so dlstnbuted that Browt: claims .itBrown, former army aviator who, will keep an even keel m the air,Rec' db T I FO after years of study of virtually making IUmposslble for use.in stunt

elVe y u sa lrm; every American and foreign-made flying.. Brown a.sserts that it willNew Machiner C ° plane, incorporated features of the not go mto tallspms or barrelrolls.y omlng different ships in his new model . Brown said today that the gaso-___ IA successful test flight of the Spar~ lme consumptIOn of the plane is

With orders for eight airplanes tan was made at Tulsa airport: about one-half that of the ordinaryalread r' ... Tuesday. ; plane, It requmng but about five

. y ecelved the Mld-Contment Officers of the corporation are" ga~Jons of gasoline for an hour's~~craft Corp., a Tulsa corporation President W. H Horster generai flymg. Its tank holds about 45 gal-

ICJ:1 :nanufactu:es a strictly com- contracto~" treas~rer D :B Hamil Ions of gasoline, giving it a nine-merCIa plane s~ld to be the last ton. expert accounta~t·· an"d s~cre - hour cruising range.ti0rd In safety, IS. making prepara- tary, Charles E. Parke;', Oklahom~ After other tests of the plane areto0~Skto enlarge Its .plant In order distributor of the plane and former made .It Will be flown to a purchaserness:t eh.c~e. of the Increased busi- owner of Tulsa airport. A vice pres- at Abilene, Texas. The second plane

W IC IS expected. ident will be chosen soon to be manufactured has been sold toThe IJresent force o~ 16 men cm- On the board of directors are: C Parker for an unnamed customer.

~i~y~ l~Vthe .corporatIOn's plant at C. Roberts, vice president of the Names of the other purchasers havet dY heelll1g av., WIll be aug.- Southwest Utility Ice Co' E W not been revealed. I

~eo~oe ~d10 mlore experts alld Jacob, vice president of" 'the' Ex:m: ~ IlOna machi!lery for Change NaLional bank: M. F. Pow-st:n~Ja~ture of planes WIll be in- ers, oil man; Brown and Horster.000 ~onf' The company has 14,-1 None of the officers or directors is

squale eet of floor space in ·ts 'ctplant and alread has . I. r pal a salary and all 8tock In thevalued at apprOXi~atelY$l~~~~~el) I company has been sold privately,

Tulsa World, November 11, 1927.

According to Mayor Newblock, Goebel shouted withenthUSIasm, "By gad, there are a lot ofgood lookingwomen in this town, aren't there?" To whichLmdbergh replied with an unemotional "Uh-J h"T ' 1U.

o save the town's reputation, a local reporter latersurmlsed they were "Chorus girls who hadInterrupted their performances. "

When the car finally arrived at the entrance of theMayo Hotel, Lindbergh, by then obviously tired,dashed up the steps and retired to his private suite fora much needed rest. Later that evening he addressedthe Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Producers Assn; 620executIves were fortunate enough to have tickets forthe affair. After touching briefly on his heroic non­stop .flight to France, he looked to the future ofaVIatIOn, saying, "In a few years, we can operateplanes across the nation in almost any weather." Hespoke at ease and without notes, thanking the peopleof Tulsa for their courteous treatment and tumultuouswelcome. He promised to return again.

The next morning, Lindbergh left at 9:30 AMfrom the McIntyre Airport, with more than athousand fans cheering and waving goodby. Beforehe left, he told D. A. McIntyre he was pleased withthe way he managed the field, and asked him toconvey his personal thanks to all the field personnel.

Lmdbergh circled the field several times in the"Spirit of St. Louis", then Goebel took off in his

families were waving and honking. The paradestopped briefly at 21st and Utica, so the white robedpatients of St. John's Hospital could greet thisunusual duo of conquering heroes. On to Peoria andnorth to Eleventh Street, the crowds grew thicker andnosier as the car neared Tenth and Boston. As theydrove througl1 the Boston Avenue "Canyon ofSkyscrapers", confetti and ticker tape fell like snowas an enthusiastic mass of people roared, threw hatsin the air, and waved handkerchiefs.

Lindbergh was at times plainly discomforted as hepassed through the lanes of cheering fans He simplydid not relish the limeligl1t, and seemed to endure allthis fanfare for the sake of advancing aviation. Lindyonly on occasion acknowledged the deafening roar ofthe crowd with a tentative wave of the hand.

Goebel, on the other hand, was smiling andwaving, shouting friendly greetings to the crowd.His outgoing manner almost led to an embarrassingmoment, when the entourage passed down FirstStreet, between Boston and Main, the city's "RedLigl1t" district. A large group of heavily rouged andscantily clad young ladies were perched on the roofsof the small hotels, shrilly cheering and waving.

McIntyre Airport where Lindbergh landed in 1927.

2:01 PM. The Colonel had always been noted for hispromptness. He taxied up to the fenced enclosure,aided by two young wingwalkers. Cameras clickedas thousands of enthusiastic greeters clapped, waved,shouted and honked auto horns in honor of their

hero.The tall blond "Lone Eagle" stepped from the

"Spirit of St. Louis" dressed in a grey business suit;the only flight gear visible was his leather helmet.The first person to greet him was Art Geobel; thenMayor Herman Newblock stepped forward towelcome him and declare "Lindbergh Day" in the

city of TulsaAfter tills short ceremony, the distinguished

visitor was led to an open limousine, where he wasseated on right side of the tonneau, Goebel on theleft. Mayor Newblock and a Boy Scout named PaulDay occupied the rear seat below.

The cavalcade stopped briefly at the fairgroundswhere Lindbergh told the crowd, including many WErepresentatives, "to adopt a progressive aviationprogram and carry it through." Proceeding slowlydown 21st St., at that time a country road, parkedautomobiles were bumper to bumper, and cheering

Page 11: The Spartan Story

10 The Spartan StorySkelly Takes Over 11

SPARTAN

already become a major marketer of gasoline to theaviation industry; the volume of business in this area.,thOUgll small, was growing rapidly. Thus it was notsurprising that the following announcement appearedin the Tulsa World on January 22, 1928.

"Organization of the Spartan Aircrajl Company,Inc. capitalized at 1,000,000 was announcedSaturday. The Spartan Company is a successor tothe Mid-Continent Aircrajl Company. Through anexchange ofstock, the merger was approved by thedirectors and stockholders of Mid-Continent at ameeting held January 17. One share of Mid _Continent stock will be exchanged for four shares ofSpartan stock".

It was obvious that the new company was nowowned by the Skelly Oil Co. Most of the positions on

Skelly Takes Over(1928)

Architect rendering a/the new Spartan plant (June 29, 1928).

Chapter Two

By 1928, the fabulous "Roaring Twenties" were infull swing throughout America. Bathtub gincircumvented the unpopular restrictions ofprohibition; flappers wore scandalously short skirtsand danced the "Charleston" in the wide-open"speakeasies." Business was booming; the stockmarket was setting new records daily. Especiallyfortunate was the oil industry, new paved roads andthe public's love affair with the automobile, had senttheir revenues and profits to new highs. Route 66,"The Mother Road", had been completed throughTulsa the year before.

It was against this background that William G.Skelly, President of the Tulsa-based Skelly OilCompany, sought opportunities to expand thecorporation into new fields. His company had

FORD

FORD

Lady Pilot at McIntyre Airport, 1927, with earlyMonocoupe.

of venture capital into his fledgling company. But hehad also, perhaps unwittingly, relinquished thefinancial control of the enterprise to a group of wealthyoutsiders. This would cause major changes in thecompany's management early in 1928.

The EM's Replica Spirit a/St. LOllis and the Woolaroc meet at Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1993.

In a news release datedNovember 11, 1921, the firmboasted of having orders for eightplanes. This influx of ordersnecessitated the expansion of themanufacturing capacity. Thework force of sixteen would soonbe augmented by thirty more.$9,000 worth of additionalmachinery had been ordered andwould be installed shortly. Thetone of the release indicated thatSpartan was at last "taking off'.

While the original brochurementioned the plane using theSuper Rhone, and being available

with the Curtiss OX-5 and the Barnstormers at McIntyre.Hispano Suiza motors, it was now .reported to be using the Fairchild-Canunez four­cylinder engine.

The "Caminez" motor was designed by HaroldCaminez, provoking much interest in aviation circlesbecause it operated on such a novel principle. It useda figure "8" cam instead of the usual connecting rodsand crankshaft to transmit power to the propeller. Itsfour short-stroke pistons were linked together totransmit their power to the cam. This methodspeeded up the normal cycle by two, producing a lowand very efficient propeller RPM. Unfortunately, anumber of "bugs" developed that could not beremedied and the motor was finally taken off themarket. Records indicate only a prototype was builtwith this engine. Whether it was sold as originallyproduced, or re-engined, is not clear. . .

So, by the end of 1921, it appeared that WIllisBrown had achieved his goal. He had designed andtested a new plane, had set up a modestmanufacturing facility, and attracted nearly $100,000

Page 12: The Spartan Story

12 The Spartan StorySkelly Takes Over 13

the board and in management were held by Skellypersonnel. This list was announced:

Willis Brown would be President of the newcompany, with F. T. Hopp, Skelly Secretary­Treasurer serving in the same capacity at Spartan.

Under its Certificate of Incorporation, the

Board of Directors:

W. G. Skelly, President of Skelly Oil CoWillis Brown, President of Spartan,

(formerly Mid-Continent).W. H. Horster, Contractor,

(from Mid-Continent board)C. C. Herndon, Skelly Vice-President1. F. Nagle, Skelly Sales ManagerEmbry Kaye, Manager, Skelly Gasoline Dep'tGlenn Condon, Skel1y Public Relations Manager

A. K. Longren,(formerly Manager of Mid-Continent

Production.)

AERO DIGEST

are shrunk, by special process, theaxle stubs. The landing shocktransmitted to the wheels is absorbedby telescopic cross tension members,on which are mounted shock rubbers.Stops are provided so that in case ofrubber breakage, the maximum travelof the wheel is Limited.

Tail skidThe tail skid is of chrome moly

tubing tmiversally swung and rubbersnubbed. It embodies a removabletail skid shoe which can be replacedas wear may occur.

Tail groupThe tail consists of the usual

suIfaces all of which embody hollowbox beams, spruce cap strips onthree-ply webbing giving anextremely light and strong tail group.The aiIfoil used is of thick sectiongiving great lateral rigidity and hasvery good aerodynamic qualities duein some measure to its high aspectratio.

Fuel systemGasoline is carried in wing tanks

so designed that they may beremoved without affecting thealignment of the ship or the necessityfor loosening anything but the wingtank fittings and the gas feed line.Forty-four gallons capacity isprovided with a straight gravity feedsystem. The tanks are fitted withArmy standard strainers and a gasfilter is installed immediatelypreceding the carburetor. Lubricatingoil is carried in an oval tank back ofthe engine.

PowerplantThe standard powerplant for the

improved "Spartan C-3" is a nine­cylinder Ryan Siemens radial air­cooled engine. However the planewill be offered with the Curtiss OX-5and Hispano-Suiza engines as well.

thoroughly treated with waterproofpreservative, after which they arecovered with "Grade A" sea islandcotton, impregnated with five coats ofdope and fmished with coloredlacquers. Wing covers of theenvelope type are fastened by sewing,no tacks being employed.

FuselageSpartan fuselages are constructed

of Army speciiication chrome­molybdenum steel tubing which isused throughout the structure. Nowires or any other means of bracingare employed. The entire structure isbuilt on jigs. Fittings used to attachthe wings, struts, tail group andundercarriage are located on thesecond set of jigs which assuresfreedom from misalignment in thefmal assembly.

On completion of the weldingprocess, the fuselages are sandblasted and treated with rustinhibiting coatings, after which theyare lacquered. All alwninum work inthe body group, such as the pilot andpassenger seats, fuewalls andcowlings, are treated and thenlacquered to prevent corrosion.Floorboards of five-ply birchthoroughly vamished are installed onSitka spruce floor board beams. Heelplates are provided adjacent to therudder control so that the pilot's heelcannot become jammed due to thewearing of the floor board. Acomplete set of instrwnents includingclock and compass, are standardequipment. Cockpits, both for thepilot and passengers, are upholstered.The controls in the passengerscompartment can be disconnected, sothat they cannot be jammed. Apartition is provided preventing dirtor any other matter from blowingback to the aft end of the fuselage.

UndercarriageThe undercarriage is of the split

axle type consisting of two main veesmade of Army ordnance chromemoly tubing, into the ends of which

Description of the New Spartan C-3

The Spartan biplane has been inthe process of development for morethan one year and has shown astandard of peIformallce in the handsof many of the best pilots that placesit among the leaders in its class. It isthe design of Mr. Willis C. Brown,president and engineer of the SpartanAircraft Company, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

WingsWings are constructed with

hollow box beams employing Sitkaspruce flanges and two-ply mahoganyplanked sides. These beams areassembled in jigs, using waterproofglue and brass cement-coated nails.The ribs, made in jigs, employ Sitkaspruce cap strips fixed by three-plywebbing, the upper and lower halvesof the ribs joined by a series ofWarren trusses of rounded spruce.Compression members are of hollowbox construction and are deep enoughto pick up the entire spar depth, thusserving the purpose of not onlyadequately taking the compressionload, but also preventing the beamsfrom any tendency to roll.

The drag wires are of normalaircraft wire. Care has beenemployed in the design of the fittingsto see that all wire pulls aretransmitted without eccentricities.Wing fittings are of Armyspeciiication steel, blanked, drilledand assembled on a complete set ofjigs and fixtures. ll1ese fittings arethoroughly protected against rustbefore being assembled to thewoodwork. At the butt end of thewings, the front and rear spars areprovided with fittings having a broadbearing suIface and employinghorizontal wing pins. The wing pinholes are line reamed so that any mis­rigging of the ship will not causestrain on the wing fittings or beams.Wing panels are assembled onfixtures which insure perfectsquareness and completeinterchangeability.

After assembly, the wings are

Willis Brown sent this press release to the aviation trade in early 1928.

company could "build, equip and sell airplanes,balloons, dirigibles, and all kinds ofheavier-than-airand lighter-than-air flying machines; conduct ageneral manufacturing business; own, lease andoperate hangars and flying fields; transportpassengers, freight and mail, and conduct schools ofinstruction in flying and the manufacture ofairplanes and accessories". This seemed to coveralmost any activity related to aviation. As will beseen later, the operation of "schools of instruction"would become a vital part of the Spartan story.

A new lease had been drafted for the two-acrefactory site at Wheeling Avenue and Jasper Street.New machinery was being installed to raise theproduction capacity to three planes per week.Propeller manufacture would be started as soon as thenew machinery, already purchased for this purpose,was received. The new company also renewed thelease on the two hangars at McIntyre Airport. Anoffice would be placed on the field, and it would bethe official test field for all Spartan planes.

The Spartan C-3 biplane was again described inglowing terms by the press release, but this time itwas to be powered by a nine cylinder radial Siemensengine, manufactured in Germany. When tested inearly January, the plane out-performed the prevIousmodels, achievi ng a 125 mph top speed Twenty-fiveof these engines had been ordered; delivery was

expected in May.When the career of this "Oil Baron" W. G. Skelly

is examined, it is not surprising that heenthusiastically embraced this new endeavor into

aircraft manufacturing.William Grove Skelly was born June 10, 1878, in

Erie, Pennsylvania, near the heart of thePennsylvania oil fields. His mother had immigratedfrom England, his father was an Irishman fromBelfast, and a Civil War veteran Bill attended publicschools until age 14, then went on to complete acourse in business at Clark College.

At age 16, Skelly went to work for his father as ateamster in the oil fields, hauling freight 90 milesfrom Oil City to Erie. During this period he learnedthe various workings of the oil drilling industry,finally becoming a tooldresser, one of the mostskilled jobs, at a wage of $2.50 per day. His careerwas interrupted by the Spanish American War; heserved in Company D of the 16th PennsylvaniaVolunteers. Following this service, he worked for ashort time as a salesman for the Westinghouse MeterCompany in Ohio, Indiana and [\linois. Thisexposed him to the natural gas side of the energy

SPARTANwc. Skelly.

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14 The Spartan StorySkelly Take Ov r 15

Spartan plane, I am convinced, is a big developmentover present aircraft. It embodies safety factors notfound in other commercial ships. It isfool proof"

The first activity noted after the new managementtook over was the readying of two planes for the AllAmerican Aircraft Show to be held in Detroit inApril. This was the first convention of its kind everheld in the U. S., attracting a total of forty-sevendifferent manufacturers. Both Spartans were flownthe 900 miles to Detroit; one plane was placed in thedowntown exhibit hall, the other left at the airport forflight demonstrations. The planes had specialfinishes; brilliant red fuselages and deep creamcolored wings.

developer C. H. Terwilleger.A site committee was namedimmediately, includingTerwilleger as chairman, andSkelly, Rogers and Cyrus C.Avery. (Avery was the civic­minded Tulsan who wasalmost single handedlyresponsible for thedevelopment of the "Route66" federal highway fromChicago to Los Angeles.)After taking options onseveral locations, theyultimately purchased 390acres of land at the northeastcorner of Sheridan Road andApache St.

In order to develop thisnew airport, the Chanlberarranged for the Tulsa

FORD Airport Corporation to beformed; Skelly was its first

"Tar Paper Shack "-The first terminal building. FORD

Will Rogers and Bill Skelly at the new Tulsa AirpOri--1928.

purchased by the millionaire sportsman and Texacoexecutive John H. Lapham and flown to San Antonioby William Welborne, Spartan's chief test pilot. Theother was delivered to a customer in California byCharles Parker. The retail price was reported to be$6000.00.

One of the most publicized aviation events of the1920's was the "Ford Reliability Tour," organized byHenry Ford. In early 1928, Ford executives offeredto make Tulsa one of the stops on the tour, if it wouldprovide a suitable airport. Knowing that officialaction would take too long, the Tulsa Chamber ofCommerce formed a committee to look for airportsites and arrange financing.

It was at this point that the famous "Stud HorseNote" was drawn up. The term "Stud Horse Note"supposedly originated in rural Pennsylvania whenfarmers pooled their money to purchase a stud fortheir herds, often by jointly signing a promissorynote. On February 28, a group of wealthy andaviation-minded Tulsans met and signed a"Subscription Agreement" for a total amount of$172,000, the sum to be used for the purchase ofairport land.

Bill Skelly and his company were the largestcontributors, $50,000, but substantial sums werepledged by other notables such as Waite Phillips,Robert Garland, Harry Rogers and real estate

FORDCharles Shori in Curtiss Pusher.

Charles Parker piloted one of the planes, with W.E. Jack, a Skelly engineer, as passenger. The otherwas piloted by Willis Brown accompanied byWilliam Welborn, pilot-mechanic. As did most ofthe exhibitor's home-town papers, the Tulsa Worldheaped praises on its local product. "Reportsreceived here were to the effect that the new Spartanattracted unusual attention as it was the firstopportunity that many of those attending the showhad to get a close-up view ofthe Tulsa product. It isunique in many respects, particularly the feature ofunusual stability, making it a truly safe airplane,tall-proofand spin-proof Word comes from Detroit

that the only difficulty the company will have will beto manufacture enough planes to fill the demand".

Evidently, both of the Spartan planes shown inDetroit were sold immediately. One, NX4208, was

industry and ultimately led to his starting his owndrilling company, at age 26.

In 1908 he moved his operational base to WichitaFalls, Texas, where he invested heavily in the westTexas oil and gas fields. Seeing even betteropportunities in OkJallOma, he moved to Tulsa in1912. At that time, the Tulsa Hotel lobby was theunofficial business center of the various "wildcatters"operating in the northeastern oil fields. It was in thissetting that Bill Skelly met such future oil titans asthe Phillips brothers, and the young Jean Paul Getty.More of Getty in later chapters.

When Tulsa became the base of Skelly'soperations, and the company expanded in the 1920's,he became heavily involved in the social and civicaffairs of the city. Calling itself the "Oil Capital ofthe World", Tulsa doubled its population from 1920to 1930. The leading citizens, having the advantageof their huge oil fortunes, constantly endeavored toimprove the economic and cultural climate of thearea.

This civic minded attitude is evident in Skelly'sannouncement of the Spartan purchase. He wasquoted in the press as saying, "Organization of thiscompany adds another industry to Tulsa. Wepropose to make Spartan known not only as thehome of the best commercial airport in the nation,but as the center of aviation manufacture. Thedevelopment of aviation in the future will be morephenomenal than it has been in the past. This

'WlIUam Welborn.. ehlef me­cha.nic, left, nnd \-Villis C. Brown,)ll'esldent of the Spal'tan Ail'ern rtcompan·, just' before taJdng orr'It ",[eInt)"·" airport ro,' the AU-

IlIcrtcan Atl'cl'cl,ft slJow ill Dc­troit.

TULSA WORLD 4-15-28

Page 14: The Spartan Story

17

v

Skelly Takes Over

AIDo.orolproYen...erit

(~ II i\. ).' T {~O ~ f l~ \. N Yo K I. A II 0 .)f A. •

, \ '1'- .. i,-

This Spar/an trade advertisement appeared in 1928.

T EST FLIGHTS al'c onlin:H'ily of small illl­POI't:~ncc cxccpt to indieatc what changeand 111\ provcmcnts should bc madc in ancxpcl'imcntal model of an aiq)Ianc. But

whcn ~ manllfact~rcl'dcli,bcl'atcly puts a provcn model in flight with thc intcntion of breakingdown Its mcchanlcal rcslstance and [01' thc purposc of discovcl-ing thc slightcst stl'ucturalweakncss, thc rcsult of that test should hc of intcl'cst to tlwsc cl'itical of ail'cl'aft pcr[ol'luancc,

~1.lch a ,tcst was undcrgonc hya stock model Spal'tan C·:~ \Valtcl' rcccntly at thc TulsaMunICipal Au'port. A Spartan powcl'cd with a stock Waltcr ]\'Iotor was flown at fullthrolllc mOl'cthan ninc hours daily for scvcntecn con ecutivc (!a)'s. At thc end of this f1i"ht thc pat'tan hadtravclcd a total of 1:3,500 milcs-morc than half thc distancc around thc car,th-h'ut dlll'in"thc cntil'c scvcntecn days of stl'cnuous nlotll\' lahol', repair's Wl'l'e ncilhcl' madc nOl' f01l11l1 nl'::'cs :U'Y, Prcviou to the flight thc motol' had alI'cady accumulated fifty-cight hours of flying timc.

~p:H'tan Ail'craft Company is atislicd with thosc rCi'ult for thcy dcmonstratc inhCI'cntstamllla and depcndability, alltl that a Spartan powcrcll with a \Valtcl' Motor is huilt to withstaudflight conditions that wouhl not rail 10 rcvcal any wcakncss that cxistcd, cither in con tructionor in thc balance betwccn plancand motor ... That is why Spal"tans in 0pcl'atioll along thc ail'lancs ofthc Unilcll States arc dailyunllcrgoing thc amc rigorou ,punishing trcatmcnt in thc scrviceof thcil' owncrs ... AmI hy Ihcsamc standard of compal'isondealcrs, distributor, commcrcialopcrators and thosc intcrcstcd illaiI'cI'aft for pCI'sonal busincss 01'

pleasurc have discovcrcd that thcSp:U'lan C·3 Waltcr oITers thc grcat­cst valllc in airplanc utility.

S .- i\. )1. T i\. -;' i\. I II.. ·TULSt\.

SPARTANWalter Motor.

The new plant was expected toemploy 300 people with an annualpayroll of $300,000. (Evidentlyworkers would average $1000 ayear in wages, or about 50 cents perhour). Production capacity wasprojected to be five planes per day,over 1000 per year! Clearly, Skellyexpected to make the SpartanCompany a major player in theaircraft industry.

To that end he sent his right-hand man, Vice President C. C.Herndon, along with Willis Brownon a six-week fact finding trip toEurope. They sailed from New

York in mid May on the S. S. Leviathan and spentthe next six weeks visiting 32 aircraft and enginefactories in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italyand England. While there they traveled over 2000miles on various airlines, observing the equipmentused and the airport conditions. Skelly was alsoconsidering opportunities in the airline field, later hehelped finance Tulsa's SA-F.E. Way Airline.

Brown was especially interested in the aircraftengine offerings, there was still a general feeling inthe U. S. that European technology was ahead ofthe domestic industry in this area. Early in the year,T. Claude Ryan had visited Spartan and sold them onthe use of the German-made Siemens radial engine

president. Under their direction, workers mowedseveral runways in the former wheat field, and hastilybuilt a 20' by 120' wood and tarpaper shack, dubbed

the "Terminal".With the airport situation in hand, Frank

Matchett, chairman of the Aviation Committee,journeyed to Detroit in April and negotiated with theBoard of Commerce there for bringing the Ford Tourto Tulsa. So on July 3, 1928, a short four monthsafter the airport was acquired, Tulsans were treatedto one of the largest aviation shows in the country.Contemporary reports claimed more than 50 aircraftof various types flew to the field during the three-day

Reliability Tour stop.At about this time, Skelly purchased a thirty acre

site across the street from the new airport, northeastof the intersection of Sheridan Road and Frisco, inthe Mohawk Ridge Addition. Then, on June 24,1928, Spartan made the following announcement to

the public:

This new factory, for the production of Spartanplanes, would be 135 feet wide and 300 feet long.Material for the building was on the way, and wouldcost at least $150,000. Equipment costs and realestate would raise the total to over 1/2 million. TheAustin Company, one of the country's leadingengineer-builders, would be in charge of the project.They projected the completion time to be 45 days!An artist drawing in the local newspaper showed atypical "monitor" style industrial building, completewith landscaping and railroad siding.

"HALF MILLJO DOLLAR PLA E FACTORY TOBE BUILT IN TUL :A"

Ford Tri-motor at Tliisa 1928.

16 The Spartan Story

Page 15: The Spartan Story

Skelly Takes Over 19

SPltllTttlN ItIKCKItFT CfjMPItNY

Inltrumentboard. indIcat­ing the .peci.Jnavigation in·struments in·llllllled (or this

fli&hL

Lieut. Flo and theSPARTAN in whichhe made the fiighl.showinglorward cock­pit equipped with

extra fuel tank.

Piloted by Lieutenant Leonard S. Flo of the FloFl~ing Services, Inc., Ann Arbor, a stock SPARTANAi~lane po.wered by a WALTER 120-135 H. P. 9­c~linder ra~al air-cooled engine took oft at Walkers­ville, Ontano, at 1l:<J7 p. m~ November 26th, andmade a non-stop flight to Key West, Florida-a com­plete hop across the United States-in 17\12 hours.

Th~ugh 25 pounds per horsepower has long beencons.dered the maximum poosible loadina lor aircraft, this lKoc:l<SPARTAN started. with a Iood 01 25.8 pound. per horsepower.De.plle the ~ceso.ve load and a lreerina temperature. ,he WALTEREngme negoua,ed the take-olI with entire ease, climbed rapidlyand performed perlectly throuahou, the long trip. •

Only SPARTAN'S .s~perior aerodynamic qualities.and 'he WALTER Engt~ s exceptional reliabilityacd efficiency,could have rendered po,,,"bJe ,his remarkable small-plane perform­ance. For new SPARTAN eatalogue. or lull informacion on theWALTER Engine, lor which we have exclusive American diotnb­uting rights, address

WaLter Engine ProvesReaL Load Carrier

SPtt1HTFlNbops across U.S.

Canada to Key West­Non Stop in l1X hrs.

Record makingj/ights were a common method ofgarnering nationwide publicityfor aircraft companies in the 1920' Th'adverl,lsement describes how Sparlan dealer Leonard Flo j/ew a specially equipped Spal1an C-3 from Canada to M:X;co. ~heplane s 225 gallon gasolme capacity gave it an endurance ofat least 24 hours j/ight time.

After visiting several factories abroad where suchengines are manufactured, we are convinced theWalter is unquestionably the best of them all. TheWalter company employs about 1000 men in itsfactory in Prague. 11 is now engaged in theenlargement of the plant and plans are to greatlyincrease the employment level soon, partly as aresult ofthis new association with Spartan.

"The Spartan company, in addition to using theWalter motor as standard equipment in its ownplanes, will also sell the engines to selectedmanufacturers throughout the country. There hasbeen a shortage ofpowerplants of this type but theadvent ofthe Walter engine is expected to relieve thesituation and result in increased production by thecompanies to whom the motor is made available.A lthough the Spartan company has purchased themanufacturing rights for this motor in the UnitedStates, plans have not yet been made for theproduction ofthe engines in this country."

A shipment of the Walter engines arrived in theSpartan factory in mid-July; work was immediately

for their planes. They ordered twenty-five of the 125HP model, which were to be delivered in May, at acost of $2,950 each.

Several arrived, but the rest were delayed due tolabor troubles in Germany. This led the Spartanpeople to search for an alternate source, which theyevidently found in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The 1.Walter Company there manufactured a 125 HP radialengine that appeared to be of high quality and theright size for the Spartan biplane. Brown andHerndon were both favorably impressed with theWalter organization, and made this announcementupon their return to the States:

"The Walter engine, which we will distribute inthis country, is a 125 HP nine-cylinder radial air­cooled engine and repre ents the highest quality ofmaterials and workmanship. For years it has beenunder development and in use by theCzechoslovakian and other European governmentsin military planes, as well as commercially. It habeen thoroughly tested and proved under allconditions and is the holder ofseveral world records.

18 The Spartan Story

Sparlan School and hangars-1928.

Page 16: The Spartan Story

21

GoODHEAD

Skelly Takes Over

GOODHEAD

the authority of Willis Brown, who had beenpresident of the company from its inception. It wasobvious that Bill Skelly was the real boss of Spartan,as well as its chief source of financial backing,Under these conditions, relations between Skelly andBrown gradually deteriorated, and, in late 1928,Brown resigned. He opened offices in Tulsa as theSales Manager for Walter Motors. However, after afew months he joined the Warner Engine Co. ofDetroit, Michigan, as Vice President of Sales. Overthe years he remained interested in novel airplanedesigns, two examples are the shown in photos onthis page,

Then in 1929, Skelly appointed a completely newteam of top factory managers. Lawrence V. Kerbercame from the C.A.A. to become President ofSpartan, Rex Beisel from Curtiss became V. P. ofEngineering and L. R. Dooley became SalesManager. Total employment rose to over 100.

As the organization grew, so did the variousmodels of aircraft offered to the public, Two hadreceived their "ATC" in 1928, more would appear inthe next several years. The following two chaptersdetail the Spartan plane designs built and sold from1928 to 1932,

Brown-Young BY-I, A sesguiplane built by WillisBrown at Tulsa about 1936.

of a large hangar on the Tulsa airport property to beused as a combination assembly plant, shop, andsalesroom. It would fit into the general architecturalscheme of the airport and be located only 1/4 milefrom the Spartan factory. A paved road would allowtransport of assemblies from the plant to the hangar,where final rigging and test flights would take place.

But along with new engines and new buildings,Skelly was also acquiring a new staff. It wasannounced that Dr. Willian1 G. Freidrich wouldarrive from Czechoslovakia to be chief researchengineer for Spartan. He had held a similar positionwith government offices in Prague, and also had doneconsiderable testing of the Walter motor, He was towork on the development of new models, designs andequipment.

With Dr. Freidrich, came motor expert G, Svab,who would be in charge of all motor maintenance forSpartan, Evidently these two foreign "experts" hadimpressed Herndon when he had visited their countryearlier in the year, George Hammond, who had beenwith the Mahoney Co. in San Diego, and had workedon the Spirit of St. Louis, joined the company as chiefproduction engineer.

All these management changes clearly reduced

Southern Aircraft Co, Twin. DeSigned and built by Will Brown after WWfl.

FORD

SPARTAN

View ofthe new Spartanfactory - 1928.

Early Spartan C-3, NC985 with Walter Motor. Note the Jenny wheels.

20 The Spartan Story

started on the installation of this new engine in aSpartan C-3 airframe. By late August the companyreleased publicity announcing the successful testingof a Walter powered C-3:

"Wednesday ajlernoon, a Spartan, unassembled,was taken to the airport, the wings, cowling and tailwere mounted, and it took offfor a test flight. Thenext morning, so confident were the builders of itsairworthiness, the ship lejl for El Paso, the first hop017 its way to the national air races and aeronauticalexposition at Los Angeles. 1. W. Welborn, test pilotfor the Spartan company and the first man to fly theWalter-equipped plane said he had 'never riddenbehind anything like it'. The ship went to EI Paso ineight hours and ten minutes, flying at 10, 000 feet totest the climbing ability before reaching the RockyMountains. 1. F. agle, sales manager, went alongas a passenger. The next day, Glen Condon, Skellydirector ofpublic relations went to Los Angeles withCharles Parker in another Siemens-equipped

Spartan. "By August 15, the new plant was nearing

completion and the new production machinery wasbeing installed. A production schedule of 12 planesper week was projected, but evidently never actuallyachieved. Plans were also under way for the erection

Page 17: The Spartan Story

22 The Spartan Story The Spartan Biplanes 23

Spartan C-3-225 Biplane

Chapter Three

SPARTAN

In February ofl929, John L. Hill, an engineer whohad worked for the Carter Oil Company and thePackard Motor Company, was hired to head theproduction department, with the title of ExecutiveVice President. L. R. Dooley, who came fromFairchild, became sales manager. This new teamimmediately announced plans for a number of newmodels ranging from small two-place trainers tolarge tri-motor transports. The labor force wasexpected to rise from 50 to 150 by summer.

In addition to the expanded production of thecurrent biplane models, a single engine 4-passengercabin model would be introduced, probably using the225 HP Wright Whirlwind motor then available.Plans were also being made for a tri-motor transport

The Spartan Biplanes(1928-1932)

With a new plant nearing completion, a numberof talented people added to the technical staff, andseveral hundred thousands of dollars invested in newbuildings and equipment, Spartan appeared poised tobecome one of the larger manufacturers of planes inthe country. Sadly, this did not occur. While anumber of models were designed, certificated andintroduced to the public, total production wasprobably less than two hundred planes. FAA recordsshow that in all, nine different models receivedApproved Type Certificates, four more receivedGroup 2 Approvals. There were seven differentversions of the C-3 biplane, four models of the bigC-4 and C-5 high-wing monoplanes, and two modelsof the C-2 low wing trainer.

This Tulsa World photo of May l4, 1928, tells of a typical Chamber of Commerce aviation promotion, common a the"Lindbergh Craze" swept the nation. The aviation tour was to visit l8 Oklahoma cities in two days. This Ryan-Siemenspowered Spartan C-3, #577, was piloted by Billy Parker with Taylor and Tiegen as passengers. Welborn flew another C-3,#4208, with Carson and agle in the front cocJ..-pit. These were probably the first two Spartan planes built after Skelly tookover the company. In this photo, . G. Henthorn, Treasurer of the TIIlsa World, is shaking hands wIth J. elson Taylor, a

World reporter. Billy Parker is leaning on thefllselage.

"The !Yorld" Takes the Air

Page 18: The Spartan Story

24 The Spartan Story

which would seat eight passengers and use enginesthat totalled up to 600 HP. It would be similar to theFokker and Ford tri-motor planes then being built.

It was also announced that the Walter motor "hadbeen found to be somewhat unadapted to thedifferent conditions in the western hemisphere", andthat other engines would be fitted to the C-3 biplane.As will be seen from the specifications following, atotal of eight different engines, including the originalSuper-Rhone, would be used in this rugged biplane.

Spartan C-3-1 ATC #71The first Spartan plane to receive an Approved

Type Certificate, (ATC), in September of 1928, wasthe Siemens powered model, the C-3-1. Claude Ryanhad been quite successful in selling the German-built"Ryan-Siemens" to various U. S. manufacturers.Both Waco and Travel Air certificated their biplaneswith this engine. Ryan had visited the Spartan plantearlier in the year and supervised the installation ofone of these engines in an early model C-3. Initialtest results were favorable, however, when deliveriesdid not arrive as promised, Spartan turned to otherengine suppliers. Early 1928 registration records arenot complete, but it is unlikely that more than adozen of this model were ever produced.

The plane itself was little changed from theoriginal prototype built in 1926. Externally, it couldbe seen that the landing gear was now a split-axletype using two spools of elastic cord for shock

Spartan Engineering Department. /928.

absorbers. An extra set of streamline struts bracedthe center section, eliminating the crossed wires thatmade entry to the front cockpit difficult. Thefuselage was constructed of chrome-moly tubing, aswere the streamline interplane struts. The wing sparswere now solid spruce beams, routed to an I-beamsection; the ribs were spruce and plywood. Thismodel was first shown at the Detroit show in April of1928, and at the Los Angeles show a short time later.

The Siemens motor was a 9-cylinder radial, aircooled, and was rated at 128 HP at 1736 RPM.Compression ratio was 5.3 to1; displacement was 517cu in; bore was 3.937" and the stroke was 4.724". Itwas 32" long, 40 1/2" in diameter and weighed 382Ibs. when dry.

Special features included an optional Boschelectric starter and a front mounted exhaustmanifold. All internal bearings were ball-type,allowing for a low pressure oiling system. Cylindershad steel barrels with aluminum alloy heads screwedand shrunk on. The crankcase assembly wascomposed of two major castings and a front and rearcover plane, all of aluminum. The connecting rodswere tubular and the crankshaft was a two piece,single throw. Aluminum alloy pistons used twocompression rings and two oil rings. Bosch intakeand exhaust valves were tulip shaped.

Two Siemens magnetos furnished doubleignition, with two Siemens spark plugs in eachcylinder. Most planes were fitted with a ground

SPARTAN

ModeL C-3-J

Spartan Model C-3-1Siemens Motor 128 lIP

Wingspan: 32 ft.Length: 23 ft. 6 in.Height: 8 ft. 9 in.Wing Chord: 60 in.Wing Area: 291 sq. ft.Ailfoi1: Clark YEmpty Weight: 1355 lb.Gross Weight: 2155 lb.Useful Load: 800 lb.Pay Load: 370 lb.

The Spartan Biplanes

Specifications

ATC #719-15-28

Fuel: 44 gal.Oil: 4.5 gal.Baggage: 30 lb.Maximum Speed: 115 mph.Cruise Speed: 98 mph.Landing Speed: 42 mph.Climb: 720 ft./min.Ceiling: 11,000 ft.Range: 500 mi.Price: $5,200

25

JUPTNER

Page 19: The Spartan Story

26 The Spartan Story

C-3-2 Spartan that crashed near Cleveland, Oklahoma.

adjustable metal propel\er. The advertised price ofthe Spartan C-3-1 was initially $5,200.

Spartan C-3-2 ATC #73The next certificated Spartan model was the

Walter-powered C-3-2, later renamed the C-3-120. Itreceived Approved Type Certificate #73 in October of1928. It was, in all respects, an identical plane to theC-3-1 previously described, with the exception of theengine. The general specifications of thisCzechoslovakian engine were detailed in theprevious chapter, along with Spartan's plans for U.S.production. Some attempt to sel\ the engine to othermanufacturers were made, but so far as can beascertained, the Commandaire Company, of near-byLittle Rock, was the only company to actually installa Walter on one of its planes.

As with the C-3-1 model, early production recordsare not complete. However, it appears not more thanthirty-five of these planes were built; serial numbersabout 65 to 100. Specifications are as shown in thetable on the fol\owing page.

The tragic end of one C-3-120 was told by long­time Tulsa resident orman Jones.

"1n the mid-thirties, another friend and J boughta worn-out Spartan C-3-2 biplane (NC/0004), andproceeded to learn to fly it by haVing an instructorcome from Tulsa to Cleveland, Oklahoma, where we

GoODl-lEAD

kept it in a cow pasture. My friend had washed out atRandolph Field in Texas, after having alreadysoloed. After afew hours dual instruction, 1soloed inthis Spartan off the field at 5/st and Sheridan inTulsa_ Bear in mind that this was one of the firstSpartans ever built.

"Unfortunately, this sturdy old biplane came to asad end. One Sunday afternoon, after a flight toArkansas to visit my folks, J decided to shoot a fewlandings off that cow pasture. Our instructor hadalways told us that if the engine ever quit on takeoffthere was no way to get back to the field; landstraight ahead.! 1t would be better to fly into a brickwall than to try to turn. The reason being that youwould lose ftying speed and fall like a rock. Hefailed to tell me another thing you should never do.Don't try landing into a late afternoon sun.! 1 madethe final approach to the cow pasture and suddenly 1was completely blinded by the setting sun. 1 couldsee nothing and before 1 could recover, J hit the topof the only tall cottonwood tree in the whole area.What happened next didn't take long. The old planenose-dived into the ground and the engine ended upin the front cockpit with the wings detached. 1escaped with only a few bruises and some hours ofunconciousness. 1t was one landing 1 didn't walkaway from.!"

Model C-3-2

Spartan Model C-3-2Walter Motor 120 lIP

Wingspan: 32 ft.Length: 23 ft. 6 in.Height: 8 ft. 8 in.Wing Chord: 60 in.Wing Area: 290 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 1310 lb.Gross Weight: 2150 lb.Useful Load: 840 lb.Pay Load: 370 lb.

The Spartan Biplanes 27

JUPlNER

Specifications

ATC #7310-28-28

Fuel: 49 gal.Oil: 4.5 gal.Baggage: 30 lb.Maximum Speed: 115 mph.Cruise Speed: 98 mph.Landing Speed: 45 mph.Climb: 720 ft./min.Ceiling: 11,000 ft.Range: 500 mi.Price: $5,250

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28 The Spartan Story The Spartan Biplanes 29

-­...-----

A full page ad, in color, was placed in variousaviation trade magazines, announcing this newmodel. However, no sales seemed to develop. Itappears that only the prototype, X8075, was built,and it may have been re-engined later.

C-3-4 Group 2 #2-78The Axelson (Floco) engine powered Spartan C-3

was the next model to receive its Group 2 Approval.Except for the engine, the plane was identical in allrespects to the other C-3 models.

The Axleson motor was offered by the AxelsonEngine Co. of Los Angeles. Axelson had taken overthe Floco Corporation, organized by Frank L.Arenbrect. Their engine was a 7 cylinder air cooledradial, of conventional design; rated 150 HP at 1800RPM. Quite a large engine, it was 45" in diameterand weighed 420 Ibs.

As did other manufacturers of this era, Axelsonfurnished potential customers with demonstratormodels of their engine, and often assisted in theinstallation, in hopes of having their productcertificated and adopted as a standard offering.Unfortunately for the Axelson Co., evidently no saleswere made. The engine was removed from theairframe and the same plane, SIN 101, was used tocertificate the Wright-powered model, the C-3-5.

Fuel: 65 gal.Oil: 6.5 gal.Baggage: 30 lb.Maximum Speed: 120 mph.Cruise Speed: 100 mph.Landing Speed: 49 mph.Climb: 820 ft./min.Ceiling: 12,000 ft.Range: 600 mi.Price: $5,900

Group 2 #2-786-14-29

Specifications

Spartan Model C-3-4Axelson 150 HP

Wingspan: 32 ft.Length: 23 ft. 10 in.Height: 8. ft 10 in.Wing Chord: 60 in.Wing Area: 291 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 1667 lb.Gross Weight: 2625 lb.Useful Load: 968 lb.Pay Load: 370 lb.

By June, 1928, it was evident that the newly­enlarged Engineering Department had been hard atwork modifying the C-3 airframe to take larger andmore reliable engines. On June 14, 1929, threeGroup 2 Approvals were issued to Spartan. Theywere:

#2-77 Spartan C-3-3 with a Curtiss Challengersix-cylinder engine.#2-78 Spartan C-3-4 with an Axelson engine.#2-79 Spartan C-3-5 with a Wright J-6-5 engine.

From the specifications that follow, it is evidentthat the plane had been strengthened considerably,the empty weight, not considering the engine, wasover 200 Ibs. heavier. Gross weight maximums wentfrom 2150 Ibs. to about 2600 Ibs. The only outwardlyvisible signs of the "beefing up" process were theheavy diagonal landing gear shock struts, and theaddition of a steerable tail wheel in place of theearlier skid.

C-3-3 Group 2 #2-77This C-3 improved model used the newly

introduced Curtiss six cylinder air cooled radialengine, already publicized by Curtiss in their famous"Challenger Robins". It was a two-row radial; oneset of three cylinders set slightly behind the other.Delivering 170 HP at 1800 RPM, it was reputed to beextremely rugged, and smooth running. With a boreof 5 1/8" and a stroke of 4 7/8", it was a "hefty"engine, weighing 420 lbs. dry.

-------.Jr----------j

--------------Q../~--------__i

Spartan C-3-2 three-view drawing. SPARTAN

Page 21: The Spartan Story

30 The Spartan Story The Spartan Biplanes 31

Model C-3-3.

Spartan Model C-3-3Curtiss Challenger 170 lIP

Specifications

Group 2 #2-776-14-29

SPARTAN .

7!

The ew Spartan C-] ChaHenger

The early standards of Spartan airplanes The new Spartan C-3 Challeng r j ruggedhave now proven themselves the most effect- but not heavy, and is easily landed with orive sales arguments and have resulted in without power. Qualities of balance and di -enthusiastic owner satisfaction, expanding triburion of surface are so thoroughly accu-and spreading the reputalion of Spartan as rate that flight in the Spartan i natural anda builder o[ advanced aircraft. docs not involve "fighting the stick."

Spartans are exact in construction, precise Special equipment which is standard onin maneuverability, dependable in perform- the partan C-3 Challenger indudes dualance and built to endure. They are suited to controls, booster magneto, air speed indicator,the trenuous demand of commerce, the reg- Oleo gear, 10 by 3 tail \Vh el with inflatedular business expedition or the casual pleasure tire, 30 by 5 Bendix wheel and brake, adju t-hop. Beauty i obtained by corr ct design. able stabilizer and Hamilton teel propeller.

An attractitJe folder gitJing full detaiLs will be sent on request.

r U L

"Challenger" Spar/an C-3-3 advertisemenl--1929

Tht tW Spartan C-J Challtngtri, PaWtrtd by Iht Cu rli,,­Challtngtr 170 h. p. radial

air-coolul motoT.

Dtlail. and 'Ptci/ica!ion, of !hiSPartan powtwi lry Iht 1)0 h. p.Improvtd Wal!tr Motor will bt

fUTnuhtd on TUJUt.St.

SPIIKTfI'N fllKCKflFT CflMPIiNY

Fuel: 65 gal.Oil: 6.5 gal.Baggage: 30 lb.Maximum Speed: 120 mph.ClUise Speed: 100 mph.Landing Speed: 49 mph.Climb: 820 ft./min.Ceiling: 12,000 ft.Range: 600 mi.Price: $5,900

Wingspan: 32 ft.Length: 23 ft. 10 in.Height: 8. ft lOin.Wing Chord: 60 in.Wing Area: 291 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 1667 lb.Gross Weight: 2625 lb.Useful Load: 968 lb.Pay Load: 370 lb.

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32 The Spartan Story The Spartan Biplanes 33

Aerial view ofSpartan Factory.

SPARTAN

ATC #1958-9-29

Fuel: 65 gal.Oil: 6. 5 gal.Baggage: 30 lb.Maximum Speed: 121 mph.Cruise Speed: 100 mph.Landing Speed: 49 mph.Climb: 820 ft./min.Ceiling: 12,000 ft.Range: 600 mi.Price: $5,975

Specifications

Wingspan: 32 ft.Length: 23 ft. lOin.Height: 8 ft. lOin.Wing Chord: 60 in.Wing Area: 291 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight 1617 lb.Gross Weight: 2585 lb.Useful Load: 988 lb.Pay Load: 370 lb.

Spartan Model C-3-165Wright J-6-5 165 lIP

Model C-3-165

SPARTAN

Spartan C-3-225The Spartan C-3-225 powered by the Wrigll1

J-6-7 "Whirlwind" represented the apex ofdevelopment for this venerable line of biplanes. TheATC approval for this plane (#286) was received onJanuary 2, 1930. With a horsepower increase ofnearly 30% over the previous models, theperformance was near spectacular for the day. Therate of cI imb was listed at 1160 ftJmin; the top speed137.7 mph. The extra weight of the 7-cylinder engine(75Ibs) required the engine to be moved back 7" forbalance. This gave the plane a rugged, bulldog-likeappearance.

Other than the length, the plane had the samegeneral dimensions and characteristics of theprevious Spartan C-3 models. The Wright J-6-7 wasthe seven-cylinder version of the "Whirlwind" series,developing 225 HP at 2000 RPM. It was 45" indiameter and weighed 445 Ibs. The list price of thisengine in 1930 was $3,900.

Based in Tulsa, the "Oil Capital of the World",many of Spartan's customers were involved in the oilbusiness and used their planes to ferry personnel andequipment to their various oil field operations. Theability to fly in and out of small rough fields, wasespecially valued. This the "225" could certainly do,and it was expected that the plane would sell well inthis market. This did not happen. Only 14 planes ofthis model were built, SINs A-I through A-14.Priced at $7,750, it was probably too expensive forthe depression-ridden oil industry customers.

Model C-3-5 Group 2 #2-79(Later C-3-165, ATC #195)

The Spartan C-3-165, powered by the WrightJ-6-5 engine, was destined to be the most widely usedof all their biplane models. Early records are notcomplete, but it seems likely that 50 or more of theseplanes were built. The Spartan School ofAeronautics was one of the best customers, earlyphotos show as many as 15 of the planes with schoollogos painted on the fuselage. It had the improvedlanding gear of the later C-3's, with an 83" tread,long oleo spring shock absorbers, 30x5 wheels and alarge steerable tailwheel.

A Hamilton-Standard metal propeller, Bendixbrakes, booster magneto, navigation lights and dualcontrols were standard equipment. The list pricewas first set at $6,750, later reduced to $5,975.

The Wright "Whirlwind" J-6-5, manufactured bythe Wright Aeronautical Corp. of Patterson, NewJersey, was a five-cylinder air cooled radial engine,developing 165 HP at 2000 RPM. It measured 45" indiameter and weighed 370 Ibs. The cylinders werecomposed of steel barrels over which aluminum alloyheads were shrunk and screwed on. Intake portswere at the rear, exhaust ports on the forward side ofthe cylinder. The crankcase assembly consisted offour major castings of aluminum alloy.

A two-piece single-throw crankshaft carried aone-piece master rod and "H" section articulatedrods. Aluminum alloy pistons, cross-ribbed on theunderside of the head, were fitted with full floatinghollow piston pins held in place by spring locks. Thevalves were "tulip shaped", theintakes with solid stems, andthe exhausts with hollowstems. The list price of theengine in 1929 was $3,000.

A Spartan C-3-165 wasflown in the 1929 National AirTour by the company test pilot1. W. Welborn, recording arespectable 9th place in thecontest. Because of theincreased gross weight, theplane, even with the addedhorsepower, did not have agreatly improved performanceover earlier models. Cruisingspeed was only 100 mph, notmuch more than many of theOX-5 powered biplanes beingoffered at much lower prices.

Page 23: The Spartan Story

34 The Spartan Story

Model C-3-225

Spartan Model C-3-225Wright J-6-7 225 lIP

Wingspan: 32 ft.Length: 23 ft. 2 3\4 in.Height: 8 ft. lOin.Wing Chord: 60 in.Wing Area: 291 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 1741 lb.Gross Weight: 2700 lb.Useful Load: 959 lb.Pay Load: 384 lb.

Specifications

ATC #2861-2-30

Fuel: 60 gal.Oil: 6.5 gal.Baggage: 30 lb.Maximum Speed: 137.7 mph.Cruise Speed: 110 mph.Landing Speed: 55 mph.Climb: 1160 ft./min.Ceiling: 15,000 ft.Range: 460 mi.Price: $7,750

SPARTAN

Model C-3-2-165 and 225 three-view drawing.

The Spartan Biplanes 35

SPARTAN

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36 The Spartan Story The Spartan Biplanes 37

SPARTAN

Even as the last of the C-3 series of biplaneswere being certificated, it was increasingly evidentthat the sales of these models were not reachingprofitable levels. A large plant had been built,machinery had been installed, and nine pilot­salesmen had been dispatched to all parts of thecountry. The sales of hundreds, even thousands ofplanes had been predicted. But, as the economicdepression deepened in 1930, few sales were beingmade. The $6,000 price tag on a new plane, tentimes the price of a popular automobile, was morethan the public was willing to pay.

This led to a financial crisis at Spartan, andforced the management to institute stringenteconomies in order to keep the organization afloat.Even though they were being supported by themuch larger Skelly Oil Company, some method ofstopping the financial hemorrhaging was needed.

By the fall of 1930, the dozen or so C-3-165demonstrator biplanes, which had originally beenassigned to the sales force, were called back to thefactory. It was no simple operation. The "fired"salesmen had left the planes allover the country;more than a year passed before they were allrecovered.

This unneeded inventory of planes was offeredfor sale in a full page advertisement placed inseveral aviation periodicals. Planes with a littleover 100 hrs total were listed for $3,500, a fractionof their original price. Such "Fire Sales" had theunintended effect of dampening completely anyprospect offurther new aircraft sales.

Spartan C-3-J66 ATC #290The Spartan C-3-166 was the final version of the

C-3 biplane series; ATC approval #290 was receivedon January 20, 1930. It was powered by a Comet 7Eengine, evidently a demonstrator model furnjshed bythe Comet Engine Co. of Madison, Wisconsin, adivision of the well-known Gisholt Machjne ToolCorp. The 7E was a 7-cylinder air cooled radial andcarried one of the first engine approvals, ATC #9. Itweighed 395Jbs and developed 165 HP at 1900 RPM.

Construction of the Comet 7-E was similar inmost respects to other air cooled radials, except forthe valve action. One rocker arm operated bothvalves on each cylinder, somewhat like the oldCurtiss OX-5 action. There was only one push rodper cylinder; a single cam provided positive action inboth directions, push and pull, for all valves. Theintake valves were operated by the downward pull,the exhaust by the upward push. Due to the positiveoperation of the valve rod in both directions, it wasclaimed that the valve spring tensions could bereduced materially, resulting in a very light andevenly distributed load on the entire valvemechanism.

Many of the aircraft manufacturers of the dayinstalled for test and even certificated planes withtills engine. Evidently, it did not live up toexpectations; no Comet-equipped planes wereproduced in quantity. The Spartan-Comet prototype,NC707N, SIN 151, was later re-engined with aWright J-6-5, and became a C-3-165.

A Spartan C-3-J65 0/1 display in their new showroom-hangar, 1930Spartan C-3-225 advertisement

SPARTAN(-3- 22 5

THE Spartan (-3-225, while almost duplicating the design of the (-3-166, is of

~ slightly heavier construction throughou.t t~ accommo,~ate a larger and more

,~ powerful engine ... the Wright "Whirlwind Seven. It produc~s 225 horse-

d d I· . the (-3-225 a high speed of 132 .7 miles per hour.power an elvers ... In • . . .' .

However, the landing speed of the (-3-225 is not proportionately Increased, being

only slightly faster than that of the (-3-166.» The Spartan (-3-225 cruises at a

speed of 110 miles per hour, climbs at the rate of 1,160 feet per. minute ~t sea level,

and its service ceiling is 15,100 feet.» Grace and beauty of line, efficiency of de­

sign, maximum performance and unfailing response to power and control ... these

are virtues common to every Spartan. ~ ~ ~

As a result, the discriminating pilot will The Spartan C-3-225 powered with the Wright "Whirl-wind Seven" 225 h. p. engine. Special equipment in-

find small room for choice between eludes dual controls, metal propeller, booster magneto,

these two models, the advantage of the gasoline gauge,air-speed in-I f dicator, oleo gear, 30 x5 Ben-

(-3-225 being additiona per ormance. dix wheels and brakes, ad-

»The Spartan (-3-225 can be operated justable stabilizer, navigation

Ilights. Price complete, , " flyaway Tulsa

for 14.2 cents per mi e.

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38 The Spartan Story The Spartan Biplanes 39

Now» UNUSUAL BARGAINS:."ro-.

IN

WRITE, WIRE OR PHONE

OKLAHOMA•TULSA

-AT

YOUR CHOICE

SPARTAN C-3-165 - license No.C64N - 120 hrs - Wright " 5 "

~

SPARTAN C-3-165 - License No.C73N - 120 hrs - Wright "5"

SPARTAN C-3-165 - license No.C286M - 167 hrs - Wright " 5 "

~

SPARTAN C-3-165 - license No.C572M - 163 hrs - Wright "5"

~

SPARTAN C-3-165 - license No.C857M - 159 hrs - Wright " 5 11

~

DEMONSTRATORS

SPARTAN AIRCRAFT COMPANYIIII1111111111111111

This October 1930 "Fire Sale" advertisement shows desperate, price-cuffing, efforts to sell the Spartan plane inventory.

JUP'INER

Fuel: 49 gal.Oil: 6.5 gal.Baggage: 30 lb.Maximum Speed: 115 mph.Cruise Speed: 92 mph.Landing Speed: 49 mph.Climb: 800 ft./min.Ceiling: 11,000 ft./min.Range: 550 mi.Price: $5,675

ATC #2901-20-30

Specifications

Spartan Model C-3-l66Comet 165 lIP Motor

Wingspan: 32 ft.Length: 23 ft. lOin.Height: 8 ft. lOin.Wing Chord: 60 in.Wing Area: 291 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 1677 lb.Gross Weight: 2605 lb.Useful Load: 968 lb.Pay Load: 370 lb.

Model C-3-J66.

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40 The Spartan Story The Spartan Monoplanes 41

SPARTAN

SPARTAN

spacious cabin, 40 in. wide by 84 in. long and 51 in.high. The interior was fitted out in automotive style,with two large entry doors, deep upholstered seatsfor four, and roll-up windows. A space behind theseats allowed for 100 Ibs. of baggage. Onecontemporary advertisement for the plane read,"Interior design by Kinnan, fittings by Tern tedt,broadcloth upholsteryfabric by Weise" ; names wellknown in the custom coachbuilding industry. Apermanent step on each side, welded to the landinggear, allowed for easy entry to the cabin. However,construction of the plane was the same "tube, woodand fabric" that had been used on the earlierbiplanes. The fuselage frame was welded 1025 steel,faired with wooden formers to a pleasing, roundedshape. The landing gear had a wide lOft. tread, wasof the outrigger type, cushioned by oil-spring shockstruts, and equipped with Bendix brakes.

Chapter Four

The Spartan Monoplanes(1929-1932)

Sparlan C-2 Trainer.

When the Spartan marketing staff surveyed theclientele who would be buying their line planes, itimmediately became evident that a series of closed,comfortable, cabin planes would be needed. The oiltycoon who drove to the airport in his Pierce Arrow orCadillac limosine would hardly be expected to climbinto a noisy, open biplane for an air journey, much lesshis wife or "secretary". As mentioned previously,plans had been announced for the production of"Deluxe" monoplanes as early as February of 1929, butit was not until January of 1930 that the first of theModel C-4 line of cabin planes was certificated. Bythe time they came on the market, they were alreadyobsolescent; fewer than a dozen of all models weresold.

But a valiant effort was made to produce a planethat rivaled the comfort of the 1930 luxury cars, and toa large part it had succeeded. The planes had a

Spartan C-4 Cabin Plane.

SPARTAN

SPARTAN

A line-up ojSpartan C-3-165 Biplanes at the Sparlan School ojAeronautics, 1930.

Spartan Biplanes in dead storage during the Depression years.

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42 The Spartan Story The Spartan Monoplanes 43

SPARTAN

SPARTAN

Many of the parts were interchangeable, the 9cylinder model retained the 5" bore and 5 1/2" strokeof the smaller engines. Of course the engine weighedmore, it was 75 Ibs. heavier than the R-760, and thelist price was $900 higher.

With the redesign of the structure to take thehigher horsepower engine, came an increase inempty weight of 242 Ibs. Although the cruisingspeed was now listed at 121 mph, this modestincrease came at the additional cost of $1,750, the listprice was now $11,500. As might be expected, thiswas not too attractive to the buying public; only oneC-4-300 model was built, SIN E-l.

C-5-301In order to offer customers the choice of the

popular Pratt & Whitney "Wasp" engines, theC-5-301 was introduced (ATC #389, 12-26-30). Itcarried the 300 HP 9-cylinder "Wasp Junior" andmaintained the same general specifications andoperating statistics of the Wrigllt-powered 300 HPmodels. The basic cabin layout had also been

Spartan Cabin Arrangement

Rear view ofa Spartan C-4-225.

C-4-225The first of the monoplanes to obtain

an Approved Type Certificate was theSpartan C-4-225 (ATC #310, 4-5-30).Originally, the Wright J-6-7, 225 HP motor wasused, but later the more powerful R-760 with 240 HPwas fitted. Only five of this model were built, serialnumbers B-1 thrOUgll B-5. As can be seen from thespecifications, it was not a sprightly performer. Witha gross weight of 3515 Ibs., the plane could onlymanage a cruising speed of 110 mph, less than mostof its competitors. In the Depression economy of1930, the list price of $9,750 certainly limited thenumber of potential customers.

The wing design was traditional, withsolid wood spruce spars and plywood trusstype ribs. The leading edges were coveredwith light aluminum sheeting, and twofuel tanks were mounted in the wingstructure, adjacent to the fuselage.Surprisingly, the horizontal stabilizer hadwooden spars and aluminum ribs, as didthe rudder. The horizontal stabilizer couldbe trimmed in flight; both the elevatorsand rudder were aerodynamicallybalanced so as to obtain light controlloads.

C-4-300Recognizing the need for better performance, the

Spartan engineers came up with the usual solution,more horsepower. The next cabin model, the C-4­300 was certificated nine months later (ATC #383,11-26-30). It carried the Wright J-6-9 motor of some300 HP and was marginally better in performancethan the C-4-225. It was natural for the Spartanengineers to specify another Wright "Whirlwind";they had used these engines successfully on theearlier biplanes, and the first of the cabin series.

COMPANYOKLAHOMA

* *

The Spartan C·4~225 is powered by the Wright "Whirl­wind Seven." Standard equipment includes duo I controls,melol propeller. boost.r magneto, darter, complete indru­ment panel, oleo gear, Bendix wheels and brakes. adjust­able stabilizer, navigation lights. Interior design by Kin­non . .. fittings by T.rnsl.dt ... broadcloth by Wiese.

W HEN you see the new Spartan C-4-225 you will be im­pressed with its many refinements of design. This new

de luxe cabin monoplane perpetuates the Spartan traditionof constant progress .... and sets it apart as another achieve­ment distinctively Spartan. Spartan offers the C-4-225 withbut one regret .... that its finer details of craftsmanship arenot entirely visible. Its trim, clean lines may be seen and ap­preciated. Its interior arrangement and the comfort of its ap­pointments for four are factors instantly impressive. But itsdurable, lasting construction, its stability under any conditionof flight, its advantages in safety .... these are qualities fullyapparent only when it is called upon repeatedly for extremesof service... Spartan Aircraft Company expresses its sincerebelief that no cabin airplane today contains more value, dollarfor dollar, than the C-4-225. A new booklet showing allSpartan models in natural colors will impress you. A demon­stration by a factory representative, which may be arrangedwithout obligation, will convince you. Write today for full in­formation and prices.

AIRCRAFT

-.............

- ......... "

TULSA,

*

* * another achievement * *d·stinctively SPARTAN

SPARTAN

This full-page Saturday Evening Post ad, theftrst for any Am ri an aircraft manufacturer, appeared in 1930.

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44 The Spartan Story The Spartan Monoplanes 45

SPARTAN

SPARTAN

As with the other cabin models,production was very limited.Probably four were built, serials H-lthrough H-4.

C-4-301The final model of this cabin

series to be certificated was theC-4-301 (ATC #394, 1-)9-31). Itwas identical to the C-5-301 model,with the exception of being fittedwith only four seats. By the time itwas ready for the market the effectsof the Great Depression were beingfelt throughout the nation. Fewcustomers were interested inpaying $12,350 for an airplane, andeven though the price was loweredto $11,900 in May of 1931, only onewas sold, serial F-1.

SPARTAN

A ,,,I II '"l1llcd f. "U IN pr;'I/lgn 0/11:011 (II,b-1 u'ilr II,t )1111"'1# Al/tNFI "'8 CIId" Pill M"d If /HIrli"pau III 1//1 elhty "d" liltS .r IN Of/b.

~••~ 20 0

flYING CADET

in the JIMMIE ALLEN FLYING CLUB

t-MEMBERSHIP CARD..M------ 1S (/

A Skelly "Jimmy Allen" membership card.

Spartan hangar in 1932.

C-4-301 constmction details.

changed to allow for a fifth passenger seat inwhat had been a large baggage compartment inthe C-4 model. Using the standard Spartanmodel designation system, the plane thenbecame the "C-5" indicating it was acommercial model and that it carried fivepeople. The list price was now $13,350, andthe gross weight went up to 4175 lbs., 200 lbs.more than the C-4-300.

While the overall appearance of all thecabin planes remained the same, there is onedifference that identifies the 300 HP models invarious photographs The rudder was greatlyenlarged, the vertical fin also, adding over 12"to the length of the plane. Evidently, moredirectional control was needed when the largerhorsepower engines were installed.

One of these C-5-30l models had aninteresting history as an advertising carrier forthe Skelly Oil Company's popular radio series,"The Air Adventures of Jimmy Allen".Youngsters, mainly boys of school age,listened to the nightly programs and wereencouraged to visit their local SkeIly "GasStation" where they could apply formembership in the "Jimmy Allen FlyingClub". Hundreds of thousands joined this club,and were able to further their interest inaviation through the various activities the clubsuggested.

SPARTAN

Fuel: 85 gal. maxOil: 6.5 gal.Baggage: 100 lbs.Maximum Speed: 130 mph.Cruise Speed: 110 mph.Landing Speed: 50 mph.Climb: 800 ft./min.Ceiling: 14,200 ft.Range: 700 mi.Price: $9,750

ATC #3101-20-30

Specifications

Wingspan: 50 ft.Length: 31ft. 6 in.Height: 9 ft.Wing Chord: 80 in.Wing Area: 299 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 2325 lb.Gross Weight: 3515 lb.Useful Load: 1190 lb.Pay Load: 620 lb. (With 60 gal. fuel)

Spartan Model C-4-225Wright J-6-7 225 HP

Model C-4-225.

Page 29: The Spartan Story

46 The Spartan Story

Model C-4-300

Spartan Model C-4-300Wright J-6-9 300 lIP

Wingspan: 50 ft.Length: 32 ft. 6 in.Height: 9 ft.Wing Chord: 80 in.Wing Area: 299 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 2567 lb.Gross Weight: 3965 lb.Useful Load: 1398 lb.Pay Load: 660 lb. ( 85 gal. fuel)

Specifications

ATC #38311-25-30

Fuel: 85 gal.Oil: 7.8 gal.Baggage: 100 lb.Maximum Speed: 142 mph.Cruise Speed: 121 mph.Landing Speed: 56 mph.Climb: 890 ft./min.Ceiling: 14,500 ft.Range: 605 mi.Pri e: $11,500

SPARTAN

The Spartan Monoplanes 47

1-- .Jo'·ooe-----------"1

1--------"....'-------------1

Spartan C-4-225 three-view drawing.

Page 30: The Spartan Story

48 The Spartan Story

Model C-5-30l.

Specifications

SPARTAN

Model C-4-301.

The Spartan Monoplanes 49

SPARTAN

Specificabons

Spartan Model C-5-30lPratt & Whitney 'Wasp Jr." 300 HP

Wingspan: 50 ft.Length: 32 ft. 8 in.Height: 8 ft. 11 in.Wing Chord: 80 in.Wing Area: 299 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 2632 lb.Gross Weight: 4175 lb.Useful Load: 1543 lb.Pay Load: 805 lb. (freight configuration)

ATC #38912-26-30

Fuel: 85 gal.Oil: 7.7 gal.Baggage: (freight)Maximum Speed: 145 mph.Cruise Speed: 124 mph.Landing Speed: 58 mph.Climb: 875 ft./min.Ceiling: 14,500 ft.Range: 610 mi.Price: $13,350

Spartan Model C-4-301Pratt & Whitney 'Wasp Jr." 300 HP

Wingspan: 50 ft.Length: 32 ft. 8 in.Height: 8 ft. 11 in.Wing Chord: 80 in.Wing Area: 299 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 2608 lb.Gross Weight: 4056 lb.Useful Load: 1448 lb.Pay Load: 710 lb.

ATC #3891-29-31

Fuel: 85 gal.Oil: 7.7 gal.Baggage: 200 lb.Maximum Speed: 145 mph.Cruise Speed: 124 mph.Landing Speed: 57mph.Climb: 880 ft./min.Ceiling: 14,500 ft.Range: 610 mi.Price: $12,350

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50 The Spartan Story The Spartan Monoplanes 51

SPARTAN

ATC #4277-1-31

Fuel: 15.5 gal.Oil: 6 qt.Baggage: 20 lb.Maximum Speed: 93 mph.Cruise Speed: 81 mph.Landing Speed: 39 mph.Climb: 750 ft./min.Ceiling: 13,000 ft.Range: 320 mi.Price: $2,245

SPARTAN

Specifications

Wingspan: 40 ft.Length: 22 ft. 5 in.Height: 6 ft. 11 in.Wing Chord: 54 in.Wing Area: 162 sq. ft.Airfoil: Clark YEmpty Weight: 731 lb.Gross Weight: 1195 lb.Useful Load: 464 lb.Pay Load: 190 lb.

Spartan Model C-2-60Jacobs L-3 60 HP

Model C-2-60.

GoODHEADJacobs LA-3 motor

The engine was a new offering by the JacobsAircraft Engine Company of Camden, New JerseyThey had scaled down their 150 HP LA-I sevencylinder model and made the LA-3, which put out amodest 60 HP. This little engine carried ATC engineapproval #75, weighed 170 lbs., and developed itsmaximum power at 1950 RPM. A Hamilton­Standard adjustable propeller was normally used.

By April, 1931, materials for 25 planes had beenordered, and a small assembly line set up forproduction. The Engineering Department wassuccessful in meeting the requirements for anApproved Type Certificate; ATC #427 was issued onJuly 1, 1931.

FAA records indicate that serial numbers for thismodel ran from SIN J-l to SIN J-16, so it appears thata total of sixteen of these planes were built. There issome indication that a prototype was built poweredby a Szekely engine.

C-2-60By the spring of 1931, it was evident to the

Spartan management that neither the venerable C-3biplane nor the new, but very expensive, C-4 seriescabin monoplanes would be selling in any sort ofvolume. The Depression was deepening; few hadthe financial resources to afford the thousands ofdollars required to purchase and operate these largeplanes.

Other manufacturers had seen the same problemsand had started to offer smaller, lighter planes whichcould be bought for less than $2,000 and could beflown for literally pennies per hour. Aeronca wasoffering the little two-cylinder C-3 monoplane for$1,730, and C. G. Taylor was building the first of thefamous "Cubs", selling them for $1,495. Dozens ofother manufacturers were designing small planes forthis market, but few had any lasting success.

It was against this background that Spartanbrought out the C-2-60 trainer. The plane wassomewhat larger, and heavier than the Aeronca orthe Cub; the price was also considerably higher,$2,245. It was a low wing monoplane, with side-by­side seating for two in a rather cramped cockpit.Deviating somewhat from other conventionaldesigns, it was completely wire braced and had nolanding gear shock absorbing system other than thelarge low pressure tires; Goodyear 19x9x3. Thefuselage was built up of steel tube, faired to astreamline shape, then fabric covered. The longslender wings were built with solid spruce spars andplywood and spruce truss-type ribs. The tail groupwas made of welded steel tube. Standard colorschemes were all maroon, or a maroon fuselage withorange-yellow wings.

Spartan C-2 Trainer.

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52 The Spartan Story The Spartan Monoplanes 53

immediately fell in love with it. I obtained a three­view as well as a fuselage assembly drawing fromFred Stewart and Lloyd Pierce who were engineersfor Spartan at that time. From these drawings. Imade several models ofthe little ship.

" In 1937 I enrolled in Spartan when they offereda solo flying course; 10 hours offlying time for $60.My first two hours of dual instruction were withFrank Altman flying the C-3-60. I ended up flyingand soloing in a Piper J-3 Cub, however.

"In 1958, after joining the Antique AirplaneAssociation, I decided to try and find or build aSpartan C-2-60. I talked to Lloyd Pierce, who wasback with Spartan again as an engineer, aboutobtaining draWings for the little ship. J was told thatmost of the old original draWings had beendiscarded, but that I was welcome to go up in theattic ofthe factory to see what was left. In the attic,I found a wing assembly tracing a well a manymiscellaneous drawings ofsmall parts. Also, therewere many tracings ofthe Spartan C-3 biplane.

" Searching further for draWings or parts, I placeda 'wanted' ad in the American Airman. I received areply from Bob Beitel, an Eastern Air Lines captain.He wrote that he had parts of a C-2-60 in thebasement ofhis folks home in Tiffin, Ohio. He alsostated that the fuselage might be in the rafters ofanold hangar east of Tiffin, and that I was welcome tothe whole plane ifI would come and get it.!

MY SPARTAN C-3"It a/l started back in 1931 while I was in high

school. A Imost every Saturday as well as manyafternoons, I would be out at the Spartan Aircraftfactory on north Sheridan Road here in Tulsa. Iwould watch Fred Tolly, Ford Carpenter and otheremployees bUilding the old Spartan C-3 biplanes. Inthe latter part of 1931, a difJerent type of airplaneappeared on the assembly line. It was a low-Wing,side-by-side seating job with a three cylinderengine. I was told that it was the new C-2-60 and I

Students and instructors at the Spartan school hada rather low opinion of the C-2, and some thought itwas too flimsy to be safe. Normally, no aerobaticswere taught in the C-2; the big, rugged C-3 biplaneswere used for this purpose. But old-timers tell astory, that is probably true, of one student who wasdetermined to find out just what a C-2 would stand.Announcing, "I'm going to pull the wings off thisplane!", he donned a chute, climbed into one of thelittle ships and took off. Heading for the north sideof the field, he proceed to "wring out" the C-2 until,sure enough, the wings folded up. He parachuteddown safely, but the plane was a total loss.

George Goodhead, the co-author of this history,restored one of these unique little monoplanes in thelate 1960's. This is the story of his restoration.

~--JIO.--~

r--------------u,lJ.----------1

\1~=======~A.....

}E~--4-

~---------'Orr----------1I-------------------i

Three-view, Spartan C-2-60. George Goodhead in his Spartan C-2-60. GoODHEAD

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54 The Spartan StoryThe Spartan Monoplanes 55

GoODHEADGeorge Goodheadin his Sparlan C-2-60.

!lIinois. / was eventually able 10 buy it from him for150. When received, Ihe prop was taken to the

Spartan shops, where they gave it a complete checkand polish job.

"During this time, / had found another SpartanC-3-60 (NC-/1016, SIN J-3) was being re-built byBruce Molleur of Greenland, New Hampshire. Wecorresponded back and forth for several years,exchanging parts and photographs and ideas.

"Building the wings was straight-jorward wood­work, done with the help ofBob's Carpenter's Shop.At this point / was able to turn the project over to Mr.J O. Payne at the Spartan School for completion,cover and assembly. / furnished the materials, theydid all the labor.

"On April 24, 1965, the plane was inspected by theFAA, and given an airworthy certificate. The sameday it was testjlown by my gOOdfriend, Gene Chase.Over the next several years we enjoyed jlying thelittle ship around Tulsa, and exhibiting it at severalairshows. For a time it was loaned to the EAAmuseum, but was later sold. /n /994 it was reportedto be in the St. Louis area. "

GOODHEAD

the fuselage, installed new elevator and ruddercontrol cables, as well as a new instrument panel.Randy Brooks inspected the work and Signed off thelog books, ready for cover.

"While working on the fuselage, / was also tryingto locate a Jacobs 3-cylinder engine for the ship. /wrote the Jacobs Aircraft Engine Company inPottstown, Pennsylvania, asking if they knew where/ could obtain an engine or parts. They replied thatthey did have a brand new engine that had been ondisplay in their museum for the past 25 years. Sincethey were discontinuing the museum, / couldpurchase the engine, which / did immediately. Whenreceived in Tulsa, the engine was taken to JohnArmstrong's shop, mounted on his engine lest stand.and run for the first time on Thanksgiving Day. /960.

"The Hamilton Standard propeller offthe ship hadbeen given to a Mr. M. V Williams of Gibson City,

"Betty and / immediately packed our luggage,loaded the car and took offfor Tiffin. When wearrived there we met Harry and Bea Beitel. Bob'sfolks. / would like to state at this time that we havenever been treated finer. or made to feel like one ofthe family, as we were at the Beitel's.

"We were fortunate to find a boat trailer at thelocal Montgomery Ward store, which we purchased.We then drove out to an airstrip east of town andfound the Spartan fuselage in the hangar aspromised. After loading it on the boat trailer, wewent back to the Beitel's and loaded the remainingparts. These included a tail group, landing gear,motor mount and miscellaneous wing fittings.

"When we arrived back in Tulsa, we unloaded allthe parts in our garage and took inventory. All themetal parts were sand blasted and sprayed with zincchromate. Encel Kleier and / put all newfairings on

George Goodhead's Sparlan C-2-60 inflight.

The Brown University flying club, Wiggins Airways, Providence Rhode Island, 1935. PALMER Sparlan C-2-60, NI1016.GOODHEAD

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56 The Spartan Story The Spartan School ofAeronautics 57

Spartan C-2-165

C-2-165The last Spartan model to receive any sort of

certification was the low-wing navigational trainer,the C-2-l65. It received its Group 2 Approval on5-3-32 at about the time both the factory and schoolwere almost shut down due to lack of business.Complete specifications are not available for tllis raremodel, but photographs suggest the fuselage andlanding gear may have been copied directly from theC-3 biplanes. Two struts braced the long low wing;no wires were used as with the lighter C-2-60.

The 5-cylinder Wright R-540 165 HP engine wasused, fitted with a metal, ground adjustable propeller.

A factory photo shows NC993N with a blind flyinghood covering the back cockpit, and the words"radio-blind flying" painted at the rear of thefuselage. Gross weight is listed at 2140 lbs., so theplane was almost 500 lbs. lighter than the C-3

models.Records indicate that serial No's D-l and D-2

were eligible for approval, but only SIN D-l wasbuilt, NC993N. It was routinely referred to as "TheArmy Trainer" by students. Tills plane was used forseveral years as a blind-flying and radio-navigationaltrainer for the Spartan School of Aeronautics.

Chapter Five

The Spartan Schoolof Aeronautics

(1928-1938)

/929 aerial view o/the Spar/an School and the "Tar Paper Shack" terminal. GOODJ-IEAD

Spartan C-2-165, NC993N, equipped/or blind flying instruction.

After announcing their plans for a new aircraftfactory and an extensive line of airplanes, the Skellydirectors looked to a second strategy for exploitingthe expected aviation "boom". Realizing that schoolswould be needed to train the pilots and mechanics inthe support of this new industry, they announced theestablishment of the Spartan School of Aeronauticsin October of 1928. With the full resources andprestige of the Skelly Oil Corporation behind it, thiswas to be Tulsa's "University of the Air". They couldhardly have known that this school would prosper forover 60 years, training thousands of pilots andtechnicians for aviation. It still exists at this writing,in 1994.

The first Director of the Spartan School was Capt.C. F. Gilchrist, an experienced WW I flier. Agraduate of Swathmore College in Pennsylvania, helearned to fly at Wilbur Wright Field near Dayton,Ohio, in early 1917. After the U.S. entry into WW [

in April, Gilchrist served as an Army flyinginstructor in the east and south for two years.

When the war ended, he entered the employmentof the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation as asales representative. In a letter, dated June 7, 1919,from Mr. 1. P. Davis, General Sales Agent of Curtiss,his duties were outlined as follows:

''As Sales Representative in Southern Texas, youwill have headquarters in Houston. Your duties willbe as Field Organizer to locate dealers throughoutthe territory of all South Texas and direct andpromote the Sale ofCurtiss planes and motors. Youwill receive a salary of $300 per month, plusnecessary traveling expenses. You will haveauthority to locate fields and negotiate leases withoptions of purchase, subject to approval of thiscompany." After spending some time in Texas,Gilchrist moved to California, where SydneyChaplin, son of Charles Chaplin, held the Curtiss

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58 The Spartan StoryThe Spartan School ofAeronautics 59

SPARTAN AIRCRAFT COMPANY

TUL SA, OKLAHO:MA

GoODIIEAD

modern air centers in the country. Tulsa, or moreprecisely a group of air minded business men, hadjust completed a half million dollar airport expansionon 400 acres of land. It boasted "all direction sodrunways", and boundary lights for night flying. Theadministration building, patterned aftercontemporary rail stations, contained a large waitingroom, baggage rooms, pilots lounge and sleepingquarters as well as radio and meteorological offices.Being literally across the street from this modernterminal was an obvious attraction and benefit for theSpartan student. Also close and available to thestudent was the large new Spartan hangar containingnot only aircraft storage, but a showroom and officesfor the Spartan Aircraft sales organization.

Along with physical facilities, Spartan haddeveloped a complete curriculum for both flying andaircraft mechanic's courses. The Department ofCommerce, through the CAA, had examined theschool and issued them an Approved SchoolCertificate in late 1929, indicating they wereauthorized to train private pilots, limited commercialand transport pilots as well as certified aircraftmechanics.

The new school advertised the following courses:Mechanic's Course .Tuition $ 150Welding Course .Tuition $ 150Private Pilot's Course Tuition $ 500

buildings had been erected, directly across the streetfrom the new Municipal Airport. The original framestructures consisted of a classroom building,dormitory, welding shop and cafeteria. Theclassroom building offered several well-lightedrooms equipped with comfortable arm chairs,blackboards and other instructional paraphenalia.The dormitory contained a number of bedrooms; withfour double-decked cots per room, in military style.A "strictly modern" bathroom was provided in thecenter of the building, with hot and cold runningwater. Also available was a central study room,furnished with overstuffed chairs and a "radioreceiving set". Maid service was provided, alongwith clean linens and blankets.

Behind the two main buildings was a cafeteriaavailable for student use. It also catered to variousairport employees as well as air transport passengers,and could seat 100 persons.

The prices for room and board were reasonable by1929 standards; but sound ridiculously cheap in the1990's. Room rent was $3.00 per week, board was$12.00. The cost of typical individual meals were:breakfast, 25 cents, lunch, 40 cents, and dinner, 50cents. Spartan students were given a 10 % discount.

The school's location, directly across the streetfrom Tulsa's new Art-Deco airport administrationbuilding, gave the students access to one of the most

Aerial photo ojSpCl/1an School and the new Til/sa terminal.FORD

tra1l1111g, among them Mrs. James G.Haizlip, Jimmy's wife. She would go on tobecome a famous early aviatrix. Gilchnstsaid further:

"We have had scores of inquiries fromprospective students living outside the statewho are anxious to take advantage of theall-year-round flying weather which Tulsaaffords. It is our intention to make theSpartan School of Aeronautics one of thebest in the country, which will only be In

keeping with our new expanded municipalairport, destined to be rated along with ourmost advanced ports. "

In February of 1929, a full page ad invarious aviation publications, placed through

the professional efforts of Skelly's advertising staff,trumpeted "Spartan School ofAeronautics Offers theBEST Training Possible to Develop." Photos of thefour school officials, in helmets and goggles, as wellas a long line-up of planes were featured. In the pre­crash euphoria of 1929, such optimistic statementswere not unusual.

However, Gilchrist did not remain long withSpartan. He left in the summer of 1929 to become adirector of Universal Airlines in WIchita, Kansas.He was replaced by S. L. Willits, who had been anofficial with the Department of Commerce.

By mid-summer of 1929, the Spartan School

Art-Deco interior ojthe new Tulsa terminal.

Gilchrist business card, 1928

C. F. CILCHRIST,

DIRECTOR SCHOOL OF' A~RONAUTICS

franchise. There he sold planes to many of theHollywood "Stars", also giving them flyinginstructions. (In later life, Gilchrist would be notedfor his organization of the Order of Daedalians~ apatriotic pilots group. He would also serve Wlthdistinction in WW II as an air base commander 111Brisbane, Australia.)

By January of 1929, the school was a goingconcern with a modest list of students recelv1l1ginstruction in borrowed quarters at the municipalairport. An instructional staff had been hired whichincluded Janles Haizlip as Chief Instructor, AlbertNims as Special Instructor and Ed White in charge ofthe ground schooling. Lieut. James G."Jimmy" Haizlip entered aviation as anArmy cadet at Brooks Field in 1917. Aftergraduation he was sent to France, servingas a pursuit instructor at the Issoudunreplacement depot. Returning to the statesafter the war, Haizlip remained in theArmy as instructor of cadets at variousfields in the south. Before joining Spartan,he was employed by the OklahomaTransport Co. of orman, Oklalloma.

Lieut. Albert K. Nims, a Cushing,Oklahoma, native, was also an Army­trained pilot, having served at WrightField and other air stations. His civilianexperience included selling aircraft andmanaging flying fields. Ed White was agraduate engineer, having attended JohnsHopkins University. He would havecharge of all classroom instruction.

In a January 20,1929, issue of the TulsaWorld newspaper, Gilchrist announced agroup of about 12 students were taking

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60 The Spartan StoryThe Spartan School ofAeronautics 61

Thefirst class a/Spartan students. Jess Green is second/rom left in the back row.

SPARTAN

SPARTAN

disdaining the old OX-5 powered ships still generallyin use. The planes were manufactured by the SpartanCompany and included the C-3-l65 open cockpitbiplane, and the C-4-300 four-place cabinmonoplane. [n 193 l, the ligllt C-2-60 and the one­of-a-kind C-2-165 were added to the flight line. Thebulk of the training would be done in the C-3 models.

These planes were stored and maintained in thenew Spartan Stucco-Steel hangar, where the flighttraining day always began. The planes were rolledout onto the wide concrete ramp and warmed up inreadiness for the day's flights. At the appointed hour,the student and instructor took their places in the

Jess Green aboutJ933.

A Spartan School C-3-225 trainer with the Black Cat insignia.

municipal airport.Miraculously, Green was not killed, in fact not

seriously injured. He was able to extricate himselffrom the wreckage, and was walking down the roadback to the school, when found by some of hisclassmates. He spent five days recuperating in thehospital, not because he was seriously hurt, butbecause "Pop" Skelly insisted on it. He rememberedreceiving a good deal of special attention during thishospital stay. He was allowed to smoke in his room,but the nurses were not allowed to smoke while onduty. So they all would sneak into his room for theircigarette breaks!

The crash did not deter Green. Shortlythereafter he passed his Transport Pilot'stests. Mr. Green would rise to the positionof School Director, and will be mentionedin chapters following.

A new student would find when enteringthe school that, under the direction ofNorman G. Souther, the business manager,all his activities would be scheduled andmonitored by the business office on aweekly basis. A Rand-Kardex record filewould record all class hours attended,examination taken, grades received, etc. Asimilar system would be used to schedulehis flying, Iisting the planes to be used,times to fly and test results.

Spartan took pride in the fact that it usedall modern "Radial Engine" planes,

buildings were not complete, they used borrowedquarters on the airport grounds.

At first he commuted from Bartlesville, fortymiles each way, but he later moved his wife and twochildren into a rented home near the airport. He wasa serious, willing student, a bit older than most of theyouths in his class. Noting his diligence, Skellyallowed him to work part time at the field, first forfifty cents per hour, but later, during the Depressionyears, the pay was as low as fifteen cents.

Green was working towards what was then calleda Transport Pilot's License, which required at least175 flying hours and, of course, a rigorous flying test.One day in 1931, when practicing spins for this test,he was involved in one of the school's most seriousaccidents. He had climbed to nearly 4000 feet inorder to begin this spin routine. Pulling the nose ofthe big C-3 biplane up into a stall, he started the spinby holding the stick back and kicking the rudder. Butthis time the plane rolled on its back and entered anunusual maneuver, perhaps an inverted flat spin.Whatever it was, Green could not bring it out, andafter losing almost 3000 feet of altitude, decided tobailout. But he was unable to rise from his seat, thecentrifugal force of the spin held him glued in thecockpit. The plane spun on down to the ground,landing in a cloud of dust about two miles east of the

10 hrs Dual, 10 hrs Solo, 120 Ius Ground SchoolLimited Commercial Pilot. Tuition $1,25015 hrs Dual, 10 hrs Solo, 240 hrs Ground SchoolTransport Pilot's Course Tuition $3,25035 hrs Dual, 165 hrs Solo, 500 hrs Ground School

While these prices do not seem great by today'sstandards, they represented a sizeable investment forthe average person in 1929-30. A year in a stateuniversity would probably not have cost more than$500. Enrollment grew slowly; by the time of theofficial "grand opening" on May I, 1929, about 30students were attending classes.

One of these students was Jess Green, a youngfarm boy from south of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Afterselling the home farm in 1923, Green and his wifehad moved to Bartlesville, and were earning a verymodest living running a cigar store in one of thehotels. But his future was not promising. So afterattending the Ford Tour show at the new Tulsaairport in 1928, he decided to enter the field of

aviation.He borrowed on his life insurance policy, drove to

Tulsa, and became one of the first students to enterthe Spartan School of Aeronautics. His flyinginstruction started in 1929, even before the school hadreceived its government approval. The new

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62 The Spartan StoryThe Spartan School ofAeronautics 63

U NDER normal conditions of flight, wit.h normal,:eath~r and a :well-behaved plane, there is veryhttle difference m t.he conduct of profes iooal pilots.

~ut s?oner ~r later in the eareer of every pilot there develops asItuatIon which reflects the character of his training. Seldom isany elD~rgency a pilot's fault. He may encounter bad weather. Ameehame may have developed that human tendency to err andthe mo.to~ that ~ee~anieal tendency to mis . But regardle s ~f thebl.ame It IS ~be pIlot s function to come tbrough neatly and safelyWIth the shIp and passengers_ In meeting tbat responsibility there~ecomes apparent a broad difference between the pilot trainedJust to fly ... and the pilot trained to fly and iliink.

In .the Sl?artan Sc~ool of Aeronautics the student gets trainingwinch. bUll.ds the kmd of character and ability air line managerswant III pIlots. Clear thinking ... expert co-ordination of headand hand ... confidence and poise ... the kiud of character thatp~ssengershave quickly learned to look for and distinguish inpIlots: And wh?t~er the emergency ever develops or never .the kllld of tralDlDg iliat fits the pilot to meet it.

Our 32-pa.ge book describing the school and outlining the coursesoffered, wIll be sent on request.

Spartan School Aero Digest advertisement, 1929.

SCHOOL OF AERONAUTICS

Stude"a. Mlho prefer can

CoJc. adllGntlJ6e 0/ ou,..ext.nded tuitioonJlGy~nlp14n '0 extend tMi,. ful·'ion poymenl, o".r aperioJ 0/0 year or more.

Pilots trained to... Fly and

Thin

SPARTAN

organization and in related publicity. The groundschool was under the direction of Lieut. 1. A. Reese,a native of Canada and an Electrical Engineeringgraduate of Liverpool University. During WW I hehad seen extensive service with the Royal Flying

Corps.The Spartan ground school requirements went

beyond that recommended by the U. S. Departmentof Commerce, requiring for the Limited Commercialand Transport courses 30 hrs of aircraft theory, 15 hrsnavigation and radio, 30 hrs engines, 12 hrsinstruments, and 6 Ius on parachutes. In addition, 50hrs of shop work on aircraft and 75 Ius on engineswere required. To a large extent, the engine andaircraft instruction was the same as for the mechanics

courses.Aeroplane theory covered the basics of

aerodynamics and aircraft structures. Having accessto the Spartan factory enabled students to observefirst hand the development of aircraft design and theactual construction of the planes, from blueprint tofinished product. In the Spartan maintenancehangar, students worked under licensed mechanics,actuaIly repairing, covering, assembling and testing

the school aircraft.Engine theory was even more thoroughly covered,

both in the classroom and shop; it was expected thatthe pilot of the day would have a working knowledgeof the motors in his plane. After classroominstruction detailing various internal combustion

Spartan student mechanics working on thejIight line, 1929.

cockpits and taxied across the field into position fortake-off. From the Tulsa Municipal Airport theywould fly one mile east to an auxiliary field, leasedand equipped by Spartan for the exclusive use of theirstudents. Its boundaries were distinctly marked, aregulation white circle indicating the exact center.The advantage of this auxiliary field was obvious.The student was able to practice his variousmaneuvers, including numerous take-offs andlandings, away from the airliner traffic of the mainairport. Starting inl929, the Southwest Air FastExpress (S.A.F.E.) airline was operating four FordTri-motors through Tulsa, and Universal Air Lineswas operating tri-motored Fokkers. Such flyingwould not mix well with the student training, and noradio equipped control tower was available in those

days.Since the Transport Pilot's License required at

least 10 hours of solo night flying, Spartan equippedone of its C-3 models with controllable landinglights, navigation lights and attitude instruments.The airport was equipped to governmentrequirements for night flying, including having allobstructions marked with red lights, and theavailability offloodlights. A rotating beacon operatedat night and during bad weather; the same towercarried a lighted wind cone.

The directors of Spartan considered the groundschool portion of their training courses of vitalimportance, giving it special emphasis in the

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64 The Spartan StoryThe Spartan School ofAeronautics 65

SPARTAN

SPARTAN

staggering, but the overflowing coffers of Skelly Oilcould certainly afford such expenses.

One unusual advertising media was used to enticestudents to the Spartan School. In June of 1930, theformation of the Mid-Continent Pictures Corporationwas announced:

"On the assumption that a combination of oraland visual forms ofexpression, such as found in thetalking motion picture, becomes a near 100 percentperfect sales media, the Mid-Continent PicturesCorporation has 'set up shop' at 3301 East FifthPlace for the commercial production of talking

C-3-225 advanced trainer.

formations. Even tornadoes werestudied, Tulsa being in the well­known "Tornado AIley".

The original staff recruited byGilchrist evidently did not stay longat Spartan. As mentioned earlier,Willits was named Director in 1929,and 1930 literature shows Ellis M.Fagan as chiefInstructor, with T. E.Caraway, 1.1. Kieffer, and RogerInman as pilot instructors. Inkeeping with the times, all wereshown with "helmet and goggles".

Despite the competentorganization and adequate physicalfacilities put in place by Spartan'smentor, Bill Skelly, the expectedflood of students never arrived.Even the valiant and veryprofessional efforts of the Skelly advertisingdepartment seemed to have almost no positive effect.Expensive ads were placed in most aviationperiodicals, and even some magazines of largecirculation, but to no avail. In the fall ofl929, a classof only 30 started through the flying courses.

Having the resources and talent of the Skellyorganization behind them allowed for someinnovative communication methods. In one monthlyissue of Aero Digest, Spartan placed two full sheetfour-color ads, one for the C-3 biplane and one forthe School of Aeronautics. The cost must have been

Spartan mechanic students working on a C-3/uselage, 1930

SPARTAN

SPARTAN

deviation, variation, and the direction and velocity ofthe winds aloft.

Radio transmissions between ground stations andthe plane were practiced, but no radio navigationalaids were available at that time.

The Meteorological studies of the Spartanstudents were especially complete, due to the factthey were able to work with the meteorologists fromthe local Government observation station (operatedby the U. S. Department of Agriculture) an~ acommercial station set up by the S.A.F.E. alrhne.Classes were allowed to assist in launching weatherballoons, recording results, and preparing maps.They learned to understand the significance ofatmospheric pressure, predict the direction andvelocity of winds, and to recognize the various cloud

engines, the student was taken into the factory shopswhere overhauls were accomplished and actualinstallation and testing was done. The list of enginesused included the Siemens-Halske, Walther, WrightWhirlwind, Curtiss Challenger, Pratt & Whitney andCirrus. Even the old water-cooled models, theCurtiss OX-5 and Hispano-Suisa were covered. Thework usually involved the complete assembly of anewly-overhauled engine.

The navigation instruction given in 1929 wouldseem primitive by today's standards. It consistedlargely of either "dead reckoning", or contact flyingusing visual landmarks as guides. Cross countryproblems were given in which the student wasrequired to calculate his air speed, ground speed,total flight time, etc., taking into account compass

Ajlight o/Boeing F4B-4 's visit Tulsa Municipal Airport, 1930.

Ford Tri-motors 0/S.A.F.E. Way Airlines at Tulsa, 1930.

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66 The Spartan Story The Spartan School ofAeronautics 67

NOW · The LOWEST TUITIONOF ANY U. S. COV/T APPROVEDSCHOOL IN AMERICA!

MASTER MECHANICS' COURSEWas $275,Now only $225

PRIVATE PILOTS' COURSEWas $300,Now only .$260

The film produced by this company for theSpartan School of Aeronautics was entitled "TheSpartan Legion" and a copy of the silent, subtitledversion still exists today. It offers a rare glimpse intothe aviation scene of 1930.

The film opens with an Art-Deco script titleoverlaying a line of three orange-winged biplanes,engines idling. Next the sub-titles announce the filmwiIl show "Bill MiIler", a typical student, goingthrough the Spartan pilot's instruction course. He isfirst shown arriving on a S.A.F.E. Airlines Ford Tri­motor at the Tulsa airport and being greeted by aschool official. (Free air transport was given tostudents living within the area served by the airline.)"Bill" is taken to the school headquarters where hemeets the director, then several of the faculty, most ofwhom are in some sort of military uniform. He walks

TRANSPORT PILOTS' COURSEWas $2750Now only. . $1975

LIMITED COMMERCIAL COURSEWa. $900Now only $650

MECHANICS' COURSEWas $175,Now only. .$135

movies in full natural color". President was TomEdgar of the Edgar Music Co., Rudolph Burns wasSecretary, Walter Adkins and R. A. Irwin were Boardmembers, and F. H. Herrick was the ProductionManager. The announcement continued:

''As compared to newspaper and magazineadvertising, the talking movie is the most effective aswell as the most economical means ofcommunicating for a large corporation whoseproduct and services need to be shown to the public,said Herrick. One large corporation (this was SkellyOil, has found that the old black and white silentfilms it made several years ago reached millions ofprospective customers. They are convinced that filmis one ofthe best media they ever employed, and arepaying several times as much for the addedeffectiveness ofsound and color. "

SPARTANA Spartan C-2-60 usedfor beginning instruction at the Spartan School.

The "one ofa kind" C-3-J 65 was used as a radio and blindjlying trainer.

SPARTAN5 C H 0 0 L 0 F A E RON AUT

MUNICIPAL AIRPORT-TULSA, OKLAHOMA

C 5

You can continue your High School or two years of Collegeat the Oklahoma Military Academy and take any Spartanflying course at tho same time at the Will Rogers Airport inClaremore. An outstanding school maintained by the Stateof Oklahoma with U. S, Army instructors and unsurpassedfaculty. Senior units of Infantry. Cavalry and Aviation.Complete units of Ordnance and Artillery of the Oklahom.National Guard. All sports and recreation including foot­ball, polo and boxing.

Now you can go to O. M. A., complete two years of college,and qualify for Transport Pilot's License all at the same timeand at less cost than for school work alone in most privateschools. If interested in combined School or College andAviation Courses, write direct to--Aeronautical Department,Oklahoma Military Academy, Claremore, Oklahoma, Col.Walter E. Downs, President.

AFFILIATED WITH OKLAHOMA MILITARYACADEMY FOR COMBINED SCHOOL OR

COLLEGE AND FLYINGCOURSES

ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATESTA V I A TION SC H 0 0 L S-S PAR TANGRADUATES HOLD THE BEST POSITIONS

IN COMMERCIAL AVIATIONMore than 38 states furnish the student body of the SpartanSchool. The best of building., barracks, cia .. rooms andequipment, as required for the highest rating by U. S.Department of Commerce. Tulsa-"Oil Capital of theWorld"-in the heart of the romantic southwest, all-year­round flying weather-scenery of every type and description-"World's Busiest Airport." Unde Sam's greatest avia­tion training center is located in the great southwest be­cause of its numerous advantages. Spartan offers the sameideal surroundings and attributes.

Take your place in the famous DAWN PATROL-mostfamous of all commercial aviation student formations---forthrilling. instructive cross-countTy flights. Live in the schoolbarracks and eat at the school restaurant if you like. Writeat once for full information of courses, etc. Address Box2649, Tulsa.

SPARTAN

SPARTANThis Spartan C-4 cabin plane was used in the school as a navigational trainer

A J932 advertisement demonstrated graphically how tuition prices were reduced during the Depression

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68 The Spartan Story The Spartan I . (lldl I

Tulsa, Oklahoma

RA D I 0, INSTRUMENTS, PARA­CHUTES, and WELDING. EachSPARTAN Course offers 'the exper­ience to fit YOU for a responsibleplace in the HUNDREDS of posi­tions awaiting TRAINED men. En­roll NOW for the June Term.

A

JESS D. GREEN, DI/ector

Dawn Patrol ad, 1930

For Information Write

P. O. Box 2649

SPARTAN Training is COMPLETE!Specialized instruction is offered inEVERY branch of modern Aviation.Up-to-the-minute training in suchfields as AIRPLNE and ENGINEMECHANICS, AERONAUTICALENGINEERING, SHEET METAL,

SPARTAN

Finally, "Bill's" flying instruction begins.Several students are shown walking to a line ofSpartan orange and black biplanes, replete withhelmets, goggles and seat pack parachutes. "Bill"climbs into the rear cockpit and listens to instructionsfrom his teacher. Then the take-off, at which timethe plane literally disappears in a cloud of redOklahoma dust. In almost the next scene, "Bill" isshown ready for his solo flight. The plane taxies upinto camera range, the instructor gets out of the frontcockpit and waves the student off. The plane, againraising a cloud of dust, rises over the Tulsa airporthangars and flies off into the blue. Several flyingsequences are shown, including an interesting shot ofdowntown Tulsa, before "Bill" comes in for a perfectlanding. Next, a graduation ceremony is staged, inwhich "Bill" and several other students are handedrolled up diplomas by the Director, while admiring

parents look on.The final minutes, showing students practicing a

rather loose form of formation flying, features the"Dawn Patrol". The biplanes are shown taking offinto the red dawn, then flying cross-country overbeautiful eastern Oklahoma. "Bill" has passed hismost important tests, and now has become a memberof this elite organization.

Spartan flight line in 1938, five Spartan C-3 models, one C-4, an Executive, a Waco and two Taylorcrafts

through the propeller shop, and engine shop, wherestudents are shown working on a Wright Whirlwindengine. He is issued coveralls with a Spartan logo onthe back and taken to his dormitory room whichcontains two cots, and not much else. In a curioussidelight, he picks up a shotgun leaning in the corner,evidently to indicate that there was good hunting inthe nearby countryside.

Lunch in the Spartan Restaurant is next on theschedule; he is shown eating enthusiastically, servedby an attentive waitress. He then was escortedthrough welding shop where he carelessly watchesthe sparking torches without any safety glasses. Inanother building, the construction of wing ribs andwings, wood of course, is shown, and a parachutepacking procedure is demonstrated.

The escort then loads "Bill" into a 1929 Buick anddrives to the Spartan Aircraft factory a few blocksaway. Workmen are shown building a 4-place cabinplane, forming aluminum fairings, crafting woodwings, etc. Long lines of impressive machines areshown. From the factory, the student is taken to theTulsa Municipal Airport where various flyingactivities and planes are seen. The first plane shownis an unusual little Aeronca C-2, then a Ford Tri­motor, a Fokker Tri-motor, and a Spartan C-3 withSkelly insignia.

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70 The Spartan Story The Spartan School ofA ronautics 71

and pulp magazines had romanticized the exploits ofthe Alhed filers taking off into the skies over Franceon dawn patrols. The Spartan flight schedules, toaccommodate the prevalent high winds in Oklahomausually began at the crack of dawn. Soon, thos~taking this formation flying instruction began callingthemselves "The Dawn Patrol", after a short time itbecame a semi-official part of the curriculum.

Often on week-ends, longer cross-country flightswere plarmed. When a flight of five or ten planeswould arrive at the destination city, crowds wouldusually flock to the landing field, to see this unusualevent. Soon, commercial clubs and chambers ofcommerce throughout the midwest were requestingthese flying visits. As the process evolved, the eventswere usually arranged by some aviation club or civicor~zation interested in the promotion of flying intheIr area. The Patrol would take part in the progranlat no cost since the flying time to and from Tulsa waspart of the student's flying training. On flights tooutlying cities, hotel rooms and meals werecustomarily furnished by the local sponsors. Thisexcerpt from the "Dawn Patrol News", describes a

typical midwestern trip."The first Spring cross­

country flight of the DawnPatrol was completed on April Jand 2, by seven members oftheDawn Patrol and threeinstructors who flew to DodgeCity, Kansas, to take part in thestate-wide program celebratingthe preview of the new motionpicture 'Dodge City'. Thepurpose of the flight was two­fold -- cross country flighttraining and a chance to visitthe movie stars Errol Flynn,Jean Parker and OliviaDeHavilland.

"The Dawn Patrol of threebiplanes was led by student pilotRaymond Allen with Louis Klienas passenger. GeorgeMontgomery flew the numbertwo position, and ThurstonPlantinga in number three.Gilberto Sojo, Bob Colton andRay Anderson piloted the four­place cabin plane whichfollowed the formation to make

SPARTAN the necessary radio contacts.

During these difficult years, Skelly contributed fundsfrom the oil company from time to time but often inquite limited amounts. Special pa~kages wereoffered. At one time 10 hours of dual instruction in aC-2-60, including a solo flight, could be purchasedfor $60. Extended payment plans were evenavailable for this modest amount.

One ~fthe more visible promotions of the SpartanSchool In the 1930's was its "Dawn Patrol". Thisunique flying organization was first started by threeSpartan students from New England who roomedtogether in the dormitory. They called themselves the"Three Blind ~ce", were enrolled in the Transportcourse, and Wished to do some formation flying,slnular to that often seen at Army flying exhibitions.Approval was obtained from the Chief InstructorJimn~y Haislip; he had done similar flying during hi~training at Brooks Field in 1917. Under Jimmy'stutelage, they becanle quite proficient, soon others~dents were added to these special flying classes.Since t~e Three Blind Mice name was no longerappropnate, a new name had to be selected. "TheDawn Patrol" was obvious and appropriate. Movies

The Dawn Patrol "Black Cat" logo.

By the fall of 1930, there were fewer than a dozenstudents at the school; a 1932 photo shows Greenwith nine students, the entire enrollment. It seemslikely that in the early years, there were never over 50students in the various programs. Considering themassive expenditure for advertising, and thesubstantial backing of Skelly, these results could onlybe described as extremely disappointing.

Other similar schools, especially those in the eastand in California, fared somewhat better. HaroldPitcairn's school, in Pennsylvania, boasted of 40transport pilots and over 200 other ratings graduatedin 1929.

Recognizing that money was "tight", the schooldirectors drastically reduced the tuition charges, evenoffering opportunities for students to "work it out".Chores were assigned to help keep the schoolrunning, cleaning up buildings and grounds,refueling aircraft, driving busses, and so forth.

Spartan diploma issued to Clarence West in 1936.

111 ip lnma":t tit .SI}a"'({IA' .9i:ltoo/o/ J?1e",oltaultd, :X;Ua, @k/al",n«" ",Iud.. .. a/0x"'ltod t.1I lit

(fo",,,, xce aj a $on¥'.o"t Cfl""'tnd {IA.d ~i'\1 5I'oItool.

% all who j/tal/ jee lheJe }'eJent:J, qil'eewJl/F

.Y'~vt·n!l UCCelJ;!u.//;J Cmj,leted lhe_--L,#~LQ~~:a.~C2..J.'!.n1·CL"&,,1<16 aJ ",e,,"';"ed "J" the f~.;led· aId "ded i" '(1o""".e"cs S<fct 0/Jf(lteW It Yffmd",ed and !Ji'"f,. .

Jess Green, mentioned earlier, continued with thefirst class of Spartan students, graduating in 1931.Showing unusual flying ability, and wanting toeventually obtain a transport license, he stayed onwith the school, instructing students and doing anyother work available, even after the Depression haddrastically reduced enrollment. He even became thepersonal pilot for Bill Skelly, traveling extensivelywith him throughout the United States. In thisconnection, he once recounted a special "duty" thatwas required of Skelly's traveling companion.

Bill Skelly was a rotund individual, with a ratherprominent "pot belly." Vain as to his appearance, heconcealed this embarrassing situation by wearing acorset. It was often Jess's task to help pull the corsetstrings tight when the garment was donned eachmorning. Green never mentioned this rather privateduty until after Skelly's death. He admired BillSkelly greatly.

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72 The Spartan StoryThe Spartan School ofAeronautics 73

DICK SMITH PHOTOS1936

2

4

1. Typical horseplay

2. First Dawn Patrol outing

3. Native American student

4. Dick Smith and a C-2-60

5. Lady student

3

5

8Mfm

airplanes and had noticed the romantic advertisingused by Spartan's Dawn Patrol. He thought a careeras a pilot was an impossible dream, but he mightbecome an aircraft mechanic. During high school heworked at the local 1. C. Penney store for 20 cents anhour, saving most of his pay for the Spartan tuition.At home, he raised a large field of potatoes, usingthis revenue for school expenses also.

So in early October, 1935, Dick Smith, a farm boywho had never been out of his home county before,hitch-hiked to Tulsa to begin what would turn out tobe a long career in aviation. When he arrived at the

Dick Smith at Spartan, [935.

DICK SMITHDick Smith was perhaps typical of the young men

who attended the Spartan School during theDepression. He was born and raised on a farm nearMeadville, Pennsylvania, but had never beensatisfied with farm life. He read all he could about

Instructors supervising the flight were1. Q. Myers, Robert Thomas and M. 1.Clarke.

"From the standpoint oftraining, theflight was unusually successful due tothe fact the country flown over wasentirely new to the student pilots, andthe altitude and size of the airport atDodge City made the landing adifficult one. In the next few weeks aflight to Oklahoma City is proposed, inorder that a number of qualijj;ingstudents may take their third classRadio Operator license tests. "

While news items and publicitymade these flights sound as innocent asBoy Scout outings, such was notexactly the case. One student, whoprobably wouldn't want his namerevealed, remembered the affairsdifferently:

"These Dawn Patrol flights to suchtown a Ft. Smith, Joplin andOklahoma City would usually end upa real drunken bashes. The townbusinessmen would give us free hotelrooms and liquor; there were plenty ofgirls around who were eager to be seenwith the romantic and dare-devilaviators. The partying often lasted allnight. The next day the whole crewwould be fighting hangovers as theyloaded into the planes and headedhome. As a young 19 year old, Ilearned a lot about life for the first timeon these trips. "

The insignia selected for the DawnPatrol was a black cat and the number13. The black cat had evil, fiery redeyes. Some said the insignia refecteddaring and distain for the conventional taboos; otherssuggested it signified that skills and knowledge mustreplace superstition and blind luck. Whatever themeaning, it became a nationally known symbol oftheSpartan School.

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74 The Spartan Story The Spartan Executive 75

Laura Tucker and Jess Green after a cross country jlightto Dallas, Texas.

SPARTAN

virtually shut down for several years. From his wideacquaintance among oil industry executives, Skellyknew they desired, and could pay for, the fastest andbest air travel available. But the private aircraftmanufacturers were still offering the relatively slow,fabric covered, noisy planes designed years ago,much like the Spartan C-4 cabin planes which werenever popular. True, Beech had just made the first ofits Model 17 series, the famous "Staggerwing", andwhile offering cruising speeds of up to 200 MPH, itwas a complicated plane, still made of wood and steeltube, covered with fabric. Cessna was upgrading itssleek AW series monoplane, but its cabin was smalland crowded, certainly not luxurious. One of themost popular cabin planes was the Waco YKS; a

Chapter Six

The Spartan Executive(1935-1941)

SPA RTAN EXEGUT I VE ..• MO. DEL 7- WArlist's draWing o/the Executive used in the first sales brochures.

The Spartan Executive was a true aviation legend.From an unlikely beginning in a small midwesternfactory during the depths of the Great Depression, itwas destined to become one of the most highlyregarded planes of that era. Built to the luxurioustastes of the rich oil "executives", it rivaled incomfort the most opulent limousines of the day. Inperformance, it was second to none, cruising at aremarkable 200 miles an hour and with a range ofover one thousand miles.

By 1934, the Skelly Oil Company had returned toprofitability; the tightened purse strings could beloosened a bit. Bill Skelly and Ed Hudlow, theexecutive in charge of Spartan, were searching forways to revive the Spartan factory, which had beenSPARTAN

were planned. The repair department had nowbecome Approved Repair Station #50. A radiodepartment was started as well as an instrumentrepair shop. In a letter sent 10-29-37 to recentgraduate Dick Smith, Jess said:

"We have been very busy around the school,making several changes, putting in new departments,adding personnel, and in general making a biggerand better schoo!... .... l'm glad you like the DawnPatrol ews. It is a monthly paper, put out solelyforthe purpose of arousing interest in prospectivestudents and keeping old students in touch withSpartan. We have approximately 50 studentsregularly enrolled at the present time, the largestclass in years. This is also a record month in flight,as we expect to exceed the 300 hour mark, which is

exceptionally good for this time ofyear. "The Spartan Executive plane, to be covered in the

next chapter, had just been introduced. Warpreparations in Europe were improving the businessclimate in the United States, especially for theaircraft industry. Things were looking up at Spartan.

Spartan School, he found it barely operating; only 20students (one of them a girl). Fortunately, the deeppockets of oil man "Pop" Skelly were there to helpout financially when needed. He started theMechanics course (tuition $135) and liked the work.It was a thrill to be in the romantic field of aviation,and to be around an active airfield.

But the realities of the Depression were alwaysthere; money was always scarce. Dick remembersthat he was usually short of food money, eating onlythe bare minimum at the Spartan Cafeteria.However, once a week a restaurant in downtownTulsa would offer a special, "all you can eat for 25cents!". The whole crew would head for Tulsa, andliterally stuff themselves. It was not unusual to eat adozen eggs at a sitting!

When Dick's money ran out, the school let him donight janitor jobs at 20 cents an hour for his foodmoney. He stayed on at Spartan, graduating in thespring of 1936. Looking allover the east coast forwork, he could find none until C. G. Taylor hiredhim at Taylorcraft in early 1937.

Jess Green persevered through all those difficulttimes and by 1936 had been named Director of theSchool. Under his management, several expansions

Page 44: The Spartan Story

Spartan prototype, the "Standard Seven ". Note the large dorsal fin and the "bugle" cowling.

77

SPARTAN

The Spartan Executive

TULSA WORLD

The Spartan Model7W Executive Airplane,as it was first called, wasa five-place single-engined, low-wingcantilever monoplane. Itssteel tube internalstructure, and metal skintype of construction, madefor a rugged, clean design.Advanced features such asvacuum controlled wingflaps, electric operatedretractable landing gearand other innovations,served to make theExecutive an outstandingairplane of its type, trulyahead of its time.

The plane normallycarried 112 gallons offueland 7 gallons of oil.

Provisions could be made at additional cost, however,for a fuel capacity of 148 gallons and 9 gallons of oil,which would considerably increase the range. Manyother items of additional equipment were available.

THE WINGS were full cantilever, metal skincovered (not stressed skin) and attached directly tothe stub wings which were part of the center section.The basic structure of the wing was a triangular steeltubing beam, or spar, consisting of two upper chordmembers, a lower chord member, and diagonalmembers. All tubing was heat treated to 125,000 PSItensile strength. Large, tapered bolts were used at thewing spar attachment to the fuselage wing stubs. The

II rtadJU>tmenL" recommended by AI-I

Ilen. Allen "'a., recalled to New YorkBunday night and "'lll return in

S fuI · about ten daY' to give the planeIuccess m a flnal flying chec".Engineering wor" tor the new

Spartan was begun tn January.

T t FI e h 1935, and actual constructlon start-·es Ig ts ed tn May. The illane Is 01 a typeIwhich will lend Itselt easily to pro­duction line construction.

The new plane has piaces tor'four pas5enRef5. It Is designed toIcruise slightly In ex 'e55 01 160 milesan hour. has 1\ 45-mlle-a.n-hour "landing speed. and can carry surn­c1ent luel tor an BOO-mile sustained!flight. Its price ",ill range close to j

Tulsa'. aviation Industry agatn ,n,ooo. ileaps Into actlYity "'Ith the ro:nple- The Standard SC\'en Is covered:tlon 01 the newall-metal "Stand- with alclad, an aluminum olio)';ard Beven." a product ot Lhe Spar- which "'elghs only' one-third 01 a Itan Alrcralt Co. pound per square toot The ",Ings /'

Test'flown tor tl:e flrst time Sun· are 01 a hea':lly reintorced stedday morning br Edmund T. Allen. tube mono-spar construction. The·New York, one 01 the nation's cmcl<Imotor 15 a :<even-cyllrder, 285 1te..t pllo~. the. plane develope<! a horsepo,,'er Jacobs 15. Landing g<arapeed 01 140 mIles an hour with folds into the wings "'hile the plane:the wheels. do:vn and Lhe throttle; Is In flight. Thts L' accompllshed!but three-quarters open. The tn-' by an oil pump "'orl<lng orr the iItial flight was made qllleUy at the Irngine, \\·r.!:e an auxiliary hand'Tulsa Municipal airport. pump can to used by the plio! In I

Atler t"'o llights the ship was Icase 01 emergency. Wing flaps are!returned to Its hangar tor ml:lot, operated by po\\·er. i

Craek New York Pilot toGive 'Standard Seven'

Final Check Soon

Spartan Ship

News item describing the Standard Seven, March 1936.

The Standard Seven injlight. A new NACA streamlined cowling had been fitted.

reason, the registration was cancelled on 11-15-39.The next model manufactured was the 7-W, which

becanle the standard for Executive production. Anew engine had been fitted, a Pratt and WhitneyWasp Jr. Model SB rated at 400 HP continuouspower, with 450 HP available for take-off. AHamilton-Standard constant speed two blade metalpropeller enabled the pilot to adjust the pitch fromthe cockpit. It received ATC #628 on 2-15-37.

To present this plane to the wealthy prospectivecustomer, Spartan prepared a 30 page slick-papersales brochure. The introduction describes the mainfeatures of this revolutionary plane:

SPARTAN

Standard Seven, was a radical departure from itswood and fabric ancestors. It showed a sleek,streamlined, almost futuristic profile. Covered withAlclad aluminum, with cantilever monoplane wingsand rounded fuselage, the plane resembled thenewest airline transports then in service. Thelanding gear retracted into the wing, further addingto the streamlining effect. One unusual feature wasthe long dorsal fin which blended into the top of therudder.

Built without publicity, almost in secrecy, theplane was ready for its first flight on Sunday, March8, 1936. The fanled test pilot, Eddie Allen, had beenimported from New York for these important tests.The Tulsa Tribune reported the results in a storydated March 10, shown on the following page.

Evidently the "adjustments" mentioned in thenews article were of a more serious nature than firstthought. Ultimately, a completely new tail assemblyof conventional design was fitted, and the unusual"Bugle Cowling" was replaced by a more streanllinedesign.

The Standard Seven never went into production.Records show the original prototype, Model 7X, SiN0, NX13984, was kept by the factory for school usesuntil 1939. Photos taken at that time show it with"Spartan School #22" painted on the side. For some

76 The Spartan Story

number were being sold, but they were reallyutilitarian, not luxurious. A few oil companies, suchas Shell, purchased the SR-5E Stinson "Reliant", butagain it was rather slow and fabric covered.

For years "Major" Ed Hudlow had dreamed ofbuilding a really superior plane, one that used state­of-the-art technology, and would exceed all otherprivate planes in speed, comfort and safety. When heexplained his plans to Skelly, who continued to be aflying enthusiast, the concept immediately drewinterest. Always of a competitive nature, the thoughtof having the "best" private plane for his own use wascertainly appealing to Bill Skelly. He approved theproject and authorized the necessary funding.

The first step in the execution of this plan was thehiring of a competent design engineer. After severalinterviews, James B. Ford was selected. A 39 year­old aircraft industry veteran, Ford had beendesigning planes since 1919. He started work on theExecutive in January of 1935, and by May of thatyear was releasing drawings to the shop for prototypeproduction. Working with student labor and a limitednumber of key experienced technicians, Hudlow andhis managers had .the practically hand-built planecompleted by March the next year, 1936.

When first rolled out of the factory doors, it wasevident that the new Spartan, then called the

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78 The Spartan Story The Spartan Executive 79

SPARTANSpartan Executive three-view drawing.SPARTAN

405.8 CV.

2.se ....8S,g3 KG{SO.....4.e' KA../CV.

3. "":. ....588 CM.

..,.ETRICSTANDARD

u. S.STANDARD

FAA

DESIGN CHARAC T ERISTICSSPARTAN MODEL 7W

"EXECUTIVE"

THE FIXED TAll.,SURFACES, both fin andstabilizer, were full cantileverconstruction, rigidly fixed to thefuselage. The structures were ofmulticellular, monococque type,fabricated from aluminum alloy.These surfaces were attached tothe fuselage by an angle section,and securely riveted. Thestabilizer tips were removable forinspection or replacement. Themoveable tail surfaces, therudder, and elevators, consistedof an aluminum alloy frameattached to a steel-tube spar andcovered with fabric similar to theaileron construction. The rudderwas dynamically balanced andthe elevator was staticallybalanced; both surfaces wereaerodynantically balanced.

THE MAIN FUSELAGESTRUCfURE, like the wing, was

composed of a steel tubing truss, aluminum alloybulkheads, stringers and external skin. The steeltubing was heat treated to 125,000 PSI tensilestrength. To this steel structure was attached thebulkheads, landing gear, tail wheel, seat supports,controls, engine and all other important units of theplane. The stringers were of the channel type,

OVERALL SPAN . .• 30 rT. 11.89 M.

AIRFOIL SECTION AT ROOT (CENTER SECTION) '08' CHORD .. N.A.C.A.24'8AIRFOIL SECTION AT TIP (THEORETICAL) 5 .... CHORD .. N.A.c.A.240eWING AREA QNCLUDING AILERONS) - .•. -- -------. --. 2S05O.FT. 23.23 SQ.....INCIDENCE .--. ••.•. --.-- .•• - -- I- 20'

DIHEORAL (CHORD PLANE) .... --- .. - .. - S· 30'

MEAN AERODYNAMIC CHORD· . - - - 7e.3 IH. 201,4 C .AILERON AREA .• • •. 22.18 SO.FT. 2.081 so .F"lN AREA •. -----.---------- - e.74SQ.FT..90580.M.

RUDDER AREA • - - - -. - - - - 10.0250.FT. .031 so .STABILIZEA AREA -- •. -.-.------ _•..... -- 21.8-4SQ.FT 2.02GSO .

ELE:VATOR AREA ---------.-----------. 18.805Q.rT. 1.5" SO."'.

OVERALL HEIGHT (TAIL DOWN) . - - - - - .. - -. - - - - - - 8 FT. 2-«".OVE:RALL LENGTH -. -- .---- --- •• -------------. 25'-\0" 8.18 ....

ENGINE - PRATT &. WHITNEY WASP JR. S8.RATED POWER AT 2200 RP..... AT 5000 FT. (1524"') - 400 HP.

PROPELLER DIAMETER -------- ----------- --- 8'-6""WING LOAOING ._ ---- .------ -------- '7.eLl¥~n:POWER LOADING -----.. --- ------.-- 1I.0LB,hiP.TREAD or LANDING GEAR .-. ---.-- ·------·10'-3'.·SIZE OF WHEELS (GOODVEAR)-. -- - -------- •• 27 IN.

Spartan Executive Model 7-W specifications.

DESCRIPTION OF AIRCRAFT

Model SPARTAN 7X 4 PCU,lSerial No. 0 Engln. JACOBS 265 HP

1he aircraft descri~ ubov:! b an unlit.'E:",ed aircl:lft on~ }~~I"~r\thenumber lndioted for identification only. This aircr:lft Is NOt ~f3I4i\~ndas alrworth)t.b¥.J.ho...Secro.1u)t.of£.ommuCll:. L..-:-

It b recorded u owned .. follow.:

Rl!:~:"~~·;~~;;:~~;:;':: UNITED STATES OF AMERICAIn th.a.lrualL DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

BUREAU OF AIR COMMERCE .• -',

dvV:...UNLICENSED AIRCIlAFT IDENTIFICATION MARK ASSIGNMENT

TEMPORARY REGISTRATION CERTIFiCATE - CiVIL AERONAUTICSAUTHORITY

t '.,.

Standard Seven Registration Certificate.

wing stub skin was attached to the inner structureby means of machine screws and stop nuts. The mainwing skin was riveted to "J" section stringers andchannel section ribs. Wing tips were again attachedby machine screws and stop nuts which facilitatedremoval for inspection or replacement. Inspectiondoors were located at all necessarypoints.

FLAPS were provided to facilitatethe landing approach and to reducelandi ng speed. They were vacuumoperated and built in three units. Therewere two outboard flaps, extendingfrom the ailerons inboard to thefuselage, and a center section flapcovering the fuselage portion of thewing. As the occasion demanded, theflap units could be used individually ortogether.

THE All.,ERONS were fabriccovered. The frame consisted ofaluminum alloy ribs fastened to a steel­tube main spar, and sheet aluminumleading and trailing edges. They wereaerodynamically and staticallybalanced and controlled by push-pulltubes, actuated by bell cranks inside thewing.

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81

SPARTAN

The Spartan Executive

Scintilla magnetos, radio shielding, Strombergcarburetor, Eclipse generator, Eclipse FI41 electricstarter, fuel pump and oil temperature regulator. Theexhaust collector ring was made of stainless steelwith two outlets at bottom of the engine cowling.Cold air entered the carburetor through a duct whichextended forward of the engine cooling baffles. Hotair was provided to the carburetor by means of a ductwhich ran from a shroud that surrounded one side ofthe exhaust stack. Both hot and cold air wentthrough a mixture box which could be operatedmanually by the pilot. An air temperature bulb waslocated in this box to give the temperature of the airentering the carburetor. This arrangement allowedthe pilot to recognize immediately when icingconditions could occur in the carburetor. A HamiltonStandard constant speed two blade metal propellerwas fitted.

The cabin engine controls consisted of thethrottle, propeller control, carburetor heat controland mixture control. All were operated from theinstrument panel.

THE FUEL SYSTEM of the Executive had anunusually large capacity. As mentioned earlier,either a 112 or 148 gallon configuration could beselected. The reserve and auxiliary tanks were

the two lower green lights indicated the wheels wereextended and locked. An additional amber light inthe center of this grouping would come on when themotor was running. A warning horn was providedwhich would sound if the pilot closed the throttlewithout extending the gear.

The wheels were Goodyear 7.50xlO and hadinternal hydraulic brakes. The tires were 8.50xlO andwere furnished with puncture proof tubes. A parkingbrake was provided on the right hand side of thecontrol column, accessible to either front seatoccupant. The tail wheel was attached to the steelfuselage structure with an oleo shock absorbing strut.It carried a 10 inch streamline tire. It was fullswiveling and had a centering spring which alignedit during flight. It was NOT steerable through therudder pedals, a situation which caused somedifficulty for less experienced pilots.

THE ENGINE used in the Executive was a Prattand Whitney Wasp Jr. SB Model that was regardedat the time as being one of the best of that company'sproducts. It was a rune cylinder radial, air cooleddirect drive. The maximum normal rating was 400HP at 2200 RPM at 5000 ft altitude. Maximum take­off rating was 450 HP at 2300 RPM at sea level. Itwas equipped with pressure type cooling baffles,

The factory assembly line set up for the Spartan Executive.

SPARTAN

THE LANDING GEAR was a completelyretractable, mechanically operated, single oleo strut,full cantilever type. It was retracted by swinging thewheels and oleo struts inboard to the wells in theleading edges of the wing stubs. The operatingmechanism was of the non-reversible type, thewheels being-locked in either the up or down positiondue to a "past center" arrangement in the linkage.The side loads were taken care of through this sameextension and retraction linkage. The power for thissystem was an Eclipse Y 150 electric motor whichoperated off the plane's 12-volt Exide battery. Thecontrol switch was located on the vertical centerlineof the instrument panel. To retract the gear, theswitch was thrown into the up position and to extendthe gear, the switch was, naturally, thrown into thedown position. Limit and indicator switches werelocated at the main gear boxes and operated by anarm that was connected to the gear shaft. Indicatorlights on the instrument panel showed the retractedand extended position ofboth wheels. The two upperred lights indicated that both wheels were retracted,

80 The Spartan Story

Spartan Executive infront ofthe new Tulsa terminal.

running lengthwise of the plane and continuousthrough the bulkheads. Channel type bulkheads wereused except at the main cabin section where twoheavy "H" sections were employed. The cabin doorwas located between these sections. The wing stubswere an integral part of the fuselage. The landinggear wheel wells, which housed the wheels in theretracted position, were located on the bottom side ofthese stubs. The landing gear leg wells were alsolocated in these wing sections, so that when retracted,the fairing would be flush with the wing skin.Throughout the Alclad sheet aluminum covering,heat-treated aluminum alloy rivets were used. Anumber of inspection doors and electrical junctionboxes were provided at the necessary points. Fueltanks in the fuselage could be taken out through largeremovable panels. The firewall, separating theengine compartment from the cabin, was made ofstainless steel. The steel tubing frame was firstwelded in a heavy fixture, then the shell structure wasapplied in a master jig, assuring accurate andpermanent alignment of all components.

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82 The Spartan Story The Spartan Executive 83

Executive interiorfacing forward.

SPARTAN

it was a "conventional gear" plane made itabsolutely necessary that the pilot stay alert, or shewould get you into trouble on takeoffS and landings. "

When first seated in the plane the pilot would notea remarkably wide field of vision, even forward.Dual controls were provided, a throwover type wheel,which controlled the elevators and aileron:;. The lefthand rudder pedals included toe brakes, the righthand pedals could be folded out of the way. Thecontrols for the throttle, propeller, elevator tab, flapsand fuel valves were located on a center pedestal, ineasy reach of both front seat occupants.

In the air, the stability and handling qualitieswere excellent. It could be flown "hands off' for longperiods of time, yet it would respond rapidly andsmootWy to reasonable flight maneuvers. The rudderwas effective down to the stalling speed and requiredonly light control pressures. Aileron controls werealso light, and remained effective even after the planewas stalled.

When gliding in for a landing, with the elevatortab set for cruising, the control forces were normaland the elevators had anlple control for a three-pointlanding. The wing and center flaps would normallybe used, the two levers were side by side on the centerof the control panel. The landing gear was retracted

Weston cylinder head temp. gaugePioneer manifold pressure gaugeWeston outside air temp.Pioneer turn and bankPioneer tachometerPioneer rate of climbScintilla ignition switchPioneer sensitive altimeterWeston electric fuel gaugePioneer engine gauge unit,(oil pressure, fuel press, oil temp.)Pioneer compassWeston carburetor air temp. gauge

Front view ofthe Spartan Executive

Special equipment such as an artificial horizon,radio receiver and transmitter, etc., could be added atextra cost.

Flying qualities of the Spartan Executive were, forthe most part, applauded by the experienced pilotswho flew it. Perhaps the characteristics were bestdescribed by Art Sautter, a former Spartan director offlight:

"She was a beautiful airplane to fly. She was avery stable plane in the air with a real nice responseto the controls. On the ground, she had a mind ofherown, and the pilot had to be the master. The fact that

COPLAND

PARTAN

THE CUSTOM BUILT CABIN INTERIORcertainly fit with the name "Executive". In keepingwith the quality of the rest of the airplane, only thefinest fabrics known to the industry were used.Laidlaw fabrics were tailored into the deep-texturedcarpets, side and center arm rests, window draperies,and high headrests in the rear seats. Harmonizingcolors were used for the control column, ash trays,window moldings, instrument panel and assist cords.The seats were upholstered over a combination ofMarshall springs, curled hair and wool. There werefoot rests, removable map cases and magazinepockets on the rear side of the front seats. These

front seats had a long fore and aftadjustment travel on chrome-plated rails.This permitted easy entry and exit fromthe cabin, and allowed the pilot to locatehimself at the most comfortable positionin relation with the rudder pedals.

Cabin illumination was provided byceiling lights of modern design. In theluggage compartment, the floor wascovered with Airflor linoleum. Anexterior door, with lock, made access tothis compartment convenient from theoutside of the plane.

THE INSTRUMENT PANEL wasfinished in colors to harmonize with therest of the interior. Standard instrumentsfurnished were:Pioneer 8-day clockWeston ammeterPioneer airspeed

Executive interiorfaCing the rear.

located in the fuselage; the main tankswere located in the wing stubs. It wasrecommended that the 24 gallonreserve tank be filled with 87 octanegasoline and used for take-off andlanding. The tanks were allconstructed of aluminum alloy sheet,welded and riveted. An electric typefuel gauge was used which registeredthe fuel supply in each tank on theinstrument panel.

THE ENGINE OIL SYSTEMconsisted of either a standard tank ofseven gallons or a larger optional tankof nine gallons for long range use.The tank was located in front of thefirewall, attached to the engine mountand easily accessible from the side ofthe airplane. A Harrison oil radiatorwas used in conjunction with a Pratt and Whitneyautomatic oil temperature regulating valve.

THE ENGINE COWLING was unique in design.The nose ring was in one piece and so attached to theengine that it was not affected by the cylinderexpansion. The back edge of the nose ring was farenough forward so as to allow for lubrication of therocker boxes without its removal. The side cowlingwas divided into four panels, all of which werequickly removable by releasing the Dzus fastenersaround the edges. Care had been taken in the designof the engine compartment so that servicing would beas easy as possible.

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85

SPARTAN

The Spartan Executive

SPARTAN is proud to present the exportmarket a cruising speed of 210 MPH t9,600 ft. Landing speed 57 MPH R a%0 '1 0 . =Pb .ml es. ver-strength engineered into a

aSlc monospar structure of chrome mol­yb.denu'!1 steel tubing and 24 ST AlcladskIn..FIngertIp control at all speeds. FinelcoordIn.ated stability. A luxurious interio;Ex~eptlOnally WIde visibility. SimplifiedmaIntenance. All incorporated into th fdamer:tal design. Spartan invites y~u u~~ca?le Its export representatives for full de­taIls. Cable address: AVIQUIPO NEWYORK. '

TULSA, OKLAHOMA

single tri-gear version, the 12W was built in 1946.These special models will be covered in more detaillater.. During WW II, sixteen of the 7W Executives wereImpressed into the USAAF and given the designationUC-71-SP. All but two were returned to civilian useafter the hostilities ended.

By 1994, the Spartan Executive had become one~f the most valuable and sought-after vintage planesIn the world. Remarkably, 20 remain on the FAAregister as of that date.

COMPANY,

Execuh"ves were customizedfor the wealthy oil industry customers.

210 H. P. AT 9,600 FT.Landing Speed 57 M.P.H. RANGE 950 MILES

SPARTANOFFERS THE EXPORT MARKET

SPARTAN AIRCRAFT

Spartan advertisement aimed at the export market.

Although heralded as one of the most advancedprivate aircraft marketed in the 1936-41 era, offeringunp~alleled performance and luxury, only arelatively few (34) Spartan Executives were sold. Butthe legend of this fabulous plane has endured to thisday..Whenever the name Spartan is mentioned in~vlatJon gatherings, ~he answering remark is usuallyThe Sp~ Executive?". Of the original thirty-four

produced, sixteen were sold to oil companies orrelated industries, and nine to miscellaneous businessInterests. Two were sold to private individuals andone was retained by Spartan forcompany use.Five were exportedto Mexico, of these three werefor use in the Spanish civil warand were re-exported to Spain:One specially equipped modelwent to the King of Iraq.

Four special related modelsshould be noted. One stockExecutive (probably SIN 10) wasfitted with machine guns andbomb racks for militarytrials. A three placephotographic model, the7W-P-I, was exported to China.A prototype fighter-bomber, theSpartan Zeus 8W was built but,not put into production. A

superintendent, purchasing agent, production controland accounting. The engineering departmentoccupied the entire second floor of this office block.Here the aeronautical engineers, draftsmen andclerks prepared the designs and maintained the

necessary records.The main shop was laid out in separate

departments. The center aisle was the final assemblyline, and on either side were located the machine,sheet metal, welding, pattern, and upholsterydepartments. The primary fuselage and wingdepartments were in the rear, where larger unitsstarted their way through the final assembly line.The paint room was in a separate building which hada connecting passageway to the main factory. Theraw material stores and the finished parts stock roomwere located near the center of the building. Theinspection department was adjacent to finished partsstores so that they could conveniently inspect partsbefore they went into storage. All these departmentswere housed in a fairly new brick and steel building,certainly making Spartan one of the better equippedairplane manufacturing plants of the day.

84 The Spartan Story

Another view ofthe Spartan Execuh"ve assembly line.

and extended by engaging the proper electricalswitches, a manual hand crank could be used inemergencies. The landing gear shock absorberstended to eliminate any bounce on landing.

Having large, efficient brakes, and a free­swivelling tailwheel, ground taxiing was relativelysimple. It was possible to make a 180 degree turn onthe runway in little more than the length of the plane.The wide tread of the landing gear, 10 ft 4 in, madefor safe rough field and cross wind landings.

Of course the entire plane had been designed tomeet the requirements of the United StatesDepartment of Commerce, Bureau of Airworthiness,and had received Approved Type Certificate #628.

The Spartan factory, as it existed in 1936-37, hadadequate space for the limited production of theExecutive. It was located on a rail spur, and quitenear the Tulsa Municipal Airport. Planes couldeither be delivered by rail, or flown to their

destination.The main offices of the firm were located on the

first floor in the front of the building. Here wereoffices for the general manager, sales manager, shop

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87

SPARTAN

The Spartan Executive

COPlAND

before it was sold to The Bodine Drilling Co. ofKansas on 12-15-38. It was one of the twoExecutives completely painted. It gained furtherrecognition when Arlene Davis, aviatrix and youngwife of packing house tycoon M. T. Davis, flew it toa 196.682 MPH win in the 1939 Bendix Trophyrace.

*7W-ll 9-7-37 N202005-9-42 42-43846 (As UC-71)

Origina1ly purchased by the famous oil wellcementing company of Halliburton in Duncan,Oklahoma, and given a specially requestedN-number. Impressed into the USAAF in 1942, itreturned to civilian registration in 1944.

*7W-1O 11-1-37 N176057-9-42 42-68361 (As UC-7l)

A retouched photo taken in 1938 shows this planein a military configuration, having machine gunsinstalled and a rear cockpit modification. Whetherthis work was actually done, or merely proposed, isnot clear. The 8W "Zeus" warplane was being built atthe same time, its N-number was 17612, so perhapsthe two planes were confused. The plane did remainin the company inventory for more than one year

N20200 as delivered to Halliburton Co. in /937.

Retouched photo showing SIN 10 as a military plane.

7W-9 7-24-37 N17604Sold to Lucy Products Co. of Oklahoma. Used in

1940 for RAF training in Lancaster, California, latertransferred to the UK Gov't and used in the RAFFerry Command. Returned to U.S. registry in 1945.

*7W-6 4-30-37 N17601First bought by the Lee Dri1ling Co. of Oklahoma

on 12-20-38, the plane was later impressed in 1943,but returned to civilian ownership in 1944.

SPARTAN

7W-8 8-7-38 N1760310-18-37 XB-BAX (Mexican)

Registered to the United Sugar Co. in Mexico,reported "Demolished" in 1939.

7W-7 5-30-37 N17602Origina1ly sold (or loaned) for use in President

Roosevelt's 1937 Infantile Paralysis campaign, named"New Hope". Later (12-10-38) sold to the ClaudeDrilling Co. of Oklahoma. (Pictured above)

7W-5 4-15-37 N139984-29-37 ? (Mexican)

7-38 XA-CFX (Mexican)This plane was taken to Mexico by the rebel

General Cedi1lo. When his stronghold was overrunand he was ki1led in 1938, the plane was confiscatedby the Federal Government and re-sold to a MajorCardenas.

7W-4 3-21-37 N139973-29-37 XA-BEX (Mexican)

Exported to Mexico as per SIN 7W-1.

*7W-2 11-30-36 Nl3993Originally sold to the A.D. Olson Dri1ling Co. of

Oklahoma. Impressed in 1942, returned to Spartanin 1944. The only Executive built with stick controlsinstead of wheels.

SPARTAN EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION

Spm1an Executive 7W-7 as it appeared when delivered in 1937.

7W-3 12-15-36 N139941-19-37 XA-BEW (Mexican)

Exported to Mexico as per SIN 7W-l

7W-l 12-15-35 Xl399211-9-36 N1399212-29-36 XA-BES (Mexican)

This was the prototype 7W which was used toobtain ATC #628 on 2-15-37. It was exported toMexico, then sent to Spain for use in their civil war.

A complete listing of all Executives produced,along with the serial number, (SIN), date ofmanufacture, first purchaser, and brief historicaldata, is presented below. An asterisk in front of theSIN indicated the plane is sti1l on the FAA register.A number of original factory photographs show theplanes as they appeared when manufactured anddelivered.

86 The Spartan Story

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89

PARTAN

SPARTAN

The Spartan Executive

7W-23 2-7-40 N1766110-12-43 42-78037 (As UC-71)

First registered to 1. I. Roberts Drilling Co. ofLouisiana, the plane was soon sold to the TexasPipeline Co. and used for survey work. Impressed in1943, it was released by the USAAF in 1944.

*7W-22 2-23-40 N17659First registered to Standard Oil Co. of Ohio, the

plane went through a number of owners untildamaged when the engine failed during take-off atHawthorne, California, on 7-8-74.

SIN 21 as an Air Force UC-71.

7W-24 8-24-39 NI76555-9-42 42-38268 (As UC-71)

First registered to Thompson Management ofNew York, then to Frontier Fuel Oil Co., it wasimpressed in 1942, later being declared Class 26 andused for airframe instruction.

SIN 19, "The Eagle ofIraq ". Built for King Ghazi but impressed in England.

"The Executive to be delivered to the King waseqUipped with all necessary instruments for blindand night flying as well as a radio compass andother instruments not standard because of theirexpenSive nature. Luxurious interior furnishingsincluded special upholstery in regal colors carryingthe King's coat-of-arms and royal crown. 11

The Coat-of-Arms was also painted on the fin ofthe plane, and the royal crown on the doors and wingtips. A special painting on the nose cowl designatedthe plane as the "Eagle of Iraq".

When the war started in Europe, the plane wasimpressed into service for the RAF, serving with the#1 PRU at Heston. It was written off in January of1941 after a bad landing at Montrose, Scotland.

*7W-21 7-29-39 N176633-15-42 42-57514 (As UC-71)

Delivered to the Red Rock Glycerin Co. of Texasin 1939, it had an unusual red and gold trim, with agold rocket painted on the side of the fusleage. It wasnamed, appropriately, "the Rocket." The plane wasimpressed by the USAAF in 1942.

Production note: The prototype NP-I biplanetrainer, NI7634 probably was started through theplant at about tllis time. Its N-number is the nextnumber a11ead of SIN 21 Executive.

7W-20 4-21-39 N176326-22-42 42-57514 (As UC-71)

First purchased by the Wynn-Crosby Drilling Co.of Texas, the plane was impressed in 1942. On11-17-42 it was wrecked and burned at Mooresville,South Carolina.

*7W-18 3-22-39 N176313-14-42 42-38267 (AsUC-71)

This plane was first bought by E.K. Warren ofIndiana, then by Bernard Baruch of New York State.The plane had special blue and grey upholstery, witha blue stripe on the fuselage and a blue spinner.Impressed in 1942, then released in 1944.

7W-19 5-8-39 YI-SOF (Iraq)8-1-40 AX666 (RAP)

Certainly the most luxurious Executive everbuilt, this plane was sold to His Majesty, King Ghaziof Iraq. A Spartan news release described the plane:

*7W-17 2-22-39 N1763012-31-42 KD102 (UK RAF)

This plane was first purchased by the ClaudeDrilling Co. of Oklahoma, the same company thathad previously owned SIN 7. As was SIN 16, it wassold to the Polaris Flight Academy and later served

with the RAF.

*7W-16 4-30-38 N1761712-31-42 KDI0l (UK-RAF)

Purchased by the Seismograph Service Co. ofOklahoma, the plane was later sold to the PolarlisFlight Academy in California for use in RAFtraining.

SIN 12 as delivered to the American Manufacturing Company.

88 The Spartan Story

*7W15 3-30-38 N176166-15-42 42-57515 (As UC-71)

After being originally purchased by the CondorPetroleum Co. in Texas, the plane impressed into theUSAAF where it was flown by a number of famouspersonages, including Howard Hughes. Taken overby the CAA in 1943, it was used in the Washington,

D.C. area.

*7W14 2-15-38 N176154-11-42 42-38368 (As UC-71)

First registered to Spartan in late 1937, theplane evidently remained at the factory untilpurchased by A. 1. Olson in 1940. The plane wasimpressed in 1942, then returned to civilian status in

1944.

*7W-13 11-14-37 N176144-13-42 42-38269 (As UC-71)

First purchased by the Standard Oil Co. ofOhio, then impressed in 1942, the plane was returnedto civilian status in 1944.

*7W-12 11-15-37 NI76133-16-42 42-38264 (As UC-71)

Originally sold to the American ManufacturingCo. of Texas, the plane was impressed in 1942, butreleased to civilian use in 1944.

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90 The Spartan StoryThe Spartan Executive 91

SPARTAN

7W-32 6-12-40 N17666VTC Airlines of Harlan, Kentucky, was the first

purchaser of this Spartan.

SPARTAN

7W-33 7-10-40 N176673-14-42 42-38286 (As UC-71)

First owned by the Standard Oil Co. of Ohio, thisplane was impressed in 1942. Later that year itsuffered a ground accident at Bolling Field and waswritten off on 10-1-42.

*7W-34 9-9-40 NI7668The last Executive produced, this plane was first

purchased by Texaco in 1940 for use in their NewYork area, where it received the logo "T-37".

SIN 22, N17659, injlight.

7W-30 4-24-40 N176643-31-42 42-38369 (As UC-71)

First sold through dealer Westchester AirplaneSales to M. R. Wilson of Michigan. Impressed in1942, it was released back to owner Wilson in 1944.

*7W-31 5-17-40 N176653-14-42 42-38257 (As UC-71)

According to an article in the Tulsa Daily Worldof 5-24-40, this aircraft was purchased by the NewYork area distributor B. K. Douglas. Evidently theystill owned the plane when it was impressed in early1942. Returned to civilian service in 1945.

Putting the UC-71 's back into civilian status.SPARTAN

SPARTAN

7W29 3-26-40 N17663Bought first by the Corning Glass Works of New

York State, it was evidently owned by them until itcrashed near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1942.

*7W-28 3-7-40 N17662This plane was kept by Spartan as an executive

transport until 1968. Flown regularly by Capt.Balfour when visiting both the Muskogee and Miamitraining schools.

*7W-27 12-14-39 N17658Registered to first owner, Thompson Equipment

in early 1940.

delivered to Thompson Management.

SIN 28 The Spa/tan School's "Executive Transport". Used extensively by Capt. Balfour.

*7W-26 11-2-39 N176573-16-42 42-38266 (As UC-71)

First purchased by Iowa's leading newspaper, theDes Moines Register and Tribune and labeled "GoodNews VlI" indicating it was the 7th plane thecompany had owned and used in its newsgatheringactivities Impressed by the military in 1943 it wasreleased in 1945.

*7W-25 10-31-39 N176563-14-42 42-38288 (As UC-71)

This plane was first sold to Luziers ofMississippi, but in 1942, like many other Executives,it was impressed.

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92 The Spartan StoryThe Army Air Corps Arrives 93

SPARTAN

Aeronautics and certain other similar flight schools.They were to ascertain the feasibility of using suchschools to provide primary pilot flying trainingcourses of approximately 12 weeks duration.Personnel from Spartan visited Randolph Field ontwo occasions during that winter, and also, using BillSkelly's political connections, made certain contactswith the Congress in Washington. Jess Green thenmade an assessment of the prospects and, along withSkelly, determined that such a school would requirea drastic enlargement of Spartan's physical facilitiesand that there was no guarantee the Army wouldmake the necessary long term commitments. In short,they were not interested.

But when Spartan was asked to be one of the eightschool operators to attend the decisive conferenceheld in Washington on May 17, 1939, Skelly decidedthe opportunity was too great to pass up. Jess Green,with only a civilian background, had never been

Chapter Seven

The Army Air Corps Arrives(1939-1944)

The Army Air Corps was in trouble. Simplystated, by late 1938 and early 1939 it was apparentthat there was not enough pilot training capacity inthe system to supply their increasing personnelneeds. Alarmed by the war in Europe, and proddedby Roosevelt, Congress was considering hughappropriations for new warplanes. But the new,more technically advanced aircraft would needhighly trained pilots, and the Army's meager trainingfacilities, such as Randolph Field, could not handlethe load.

General Jimmy Doolittle was handed the problem,and he was just the man to solve it. Doolittle'sanswer was simple and could be accomplishedquickly. Contract out the Army Primary Training tothe best of the civilian flying schools in the country!General Arnold accepted Doolittle's plan and in thefall of 1938, he directed Major H. C. Davidson andLt. E. M. Day to visit the Spartan School of

Army cadets marching to class; new Spartan cafeteria in background.

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A beautifully restored Spartan Executive in flight.

The last Executive built, SIN 34, NJ7668.

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95

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The Army Air Corps Arrives

- ......

Maxwell Balfour.

Balfour and his favorite Spartan Executive.

hospitalization for more than a year. Later, he hadnumerous operations which included plastic surgeryand ultimately changed his facial appearancedramatically. He carried massive scars for the rest ofhis life.

o longer being fit for test pilot work, he joined acompany at Roosevelt Field on Long Island, sellingflying courses and giving instruction. While there,he met Daniel Sickles, a millionaire sportsman whohad an interest in aviation. Sickles hired Balfour ashis personal pilot, and the two traveled togetherthroughout the U. S. and Europe. Through Sickles,Balfour met a number of rich and powerful menincluding 1. Paul Getty the oil magnate; their pathswould cross again. While on a visit to the Spartanfactory in April of 1939 (Sickles was considering thepurchase of a Spartan Executive) Max Balfour metBill Skelly. The two men hit it off immediately, andbefore the visit ended, Balfour had agreed to becomeSales Manager for Spartan Aircraft. He could nothave imagined that a short month later he would berepresenting Spartan in the Washington, D. C.negotiations for civilian flight schools.

Armed with his newly acquired authority to act onbehalf of Spartan, Balfour flew a demonstratorSpartan Executive to Washington on May 14, 1939.

1221-S

SYMBOLS

DL - Day Letter

LC - Defe""d Cable-., ~ • , _

_);aT - Cable Nh:ht Letter " '\ ",-;:~, .~. Ship R.-d'loiTom I' "\.00.',"

French air service. According to legend, he learnedto fly after three hours instruction, and went on to flyboth bombers and fighters in 1918. He remained inFrance after the war, attached to the U. S. Embassyin Paris settling war claims.

Having been promoted to the rank of Captain, hereturned to the U. S. in 1924 and became an AirCorps test pilot. This work proved extremelydangerous. On one occasion he had to bailout of aplane that had lost its wings at low altitude. Whiletesting another experimental plane, it caught fire.Flames were so intense that Balfour could not holdthe stick with his hands, so he manipulated the planeto a landing with his legs. He survived the ensuingcrash, but was so badly burned that he required

SPARTANTelegram which authorized Balfour to contract for Army training.

entirely comfortable when dealing with the Army"Brass". So Skelly designated "Captain" MaxwellBalfour, the newly hired Sales Manager, to attend asthe Spartan representative. It was a case of the rightman being in the right place at the right time! As theresult of this meeting, the Spartan Company wouldbe changed forever.

Maxwell Balfour was born on a farm near Traer,Iowa, in 1895. He received his elementary and highschool education there, later attending NorthwesternUniversity in Chicago, receiving a Bachelor of ArtsDegree in 1916. Upon graduation, he enteredmilitary service, driving an ambulance in Franceduring 1916-17. When the U. S. entered the war,Balfour was given the opportunity to train with the

94 The Spartan Story

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a.....sso, SU,V1CE

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The Army Air Corps Arrives 97

number of pilots and mechanics. He was able to senda wire to Green saying, "Personnel Worries Over".

After completing what must have been a gruelingfew days work, Balfour flew his Executive home,stopping at Cleveland and Dayton to interview pilots.In this short space of time he had started Spartan onthe road to becoming one of the largest and mostdurable aeronautical schools in the country.

The acceptance of the Army Primary FlyingTraining contract caused a flurry of activitythroughout the Spartan organization. Balfour hadrecruited his flying instructors from all over theUnited States; they ranged in age from 23 to 40, andcanle from various backgrounds. Some had learnedto fly in the Army or Navy, some had been taught incivilian schools or had learned as individuals, andsome had been trained by the Spartan School itself.All would be required to successfully complete theArmy's Civilian Flight Instructors course atRandolph Field in Texas. Although a substantialnumber of these men were "washed out", Balfour hadan initial group of 17 ready for work on July 1, 1939.

Balfour had also hired an experienced Armyaviator, Mr. Jay Gentry, to head this group ofinstmctors, with the title of Civilian Chief of Flying.(Lt.) Gentry had just resigned from active duty withthe Army Air Corps before he came to Spartan.With years of experience as a flying instructor atRandolph Field behind him, he knew what the Armywanted in the way of training its cadets. He modeledthe Spartan School similar to the Randolph Fieldsystem.

Balfour and the other school representativesr mained in Washington several days, negotiatingthe details of these primary flight training contracts.Basically, it meant the Army would furnish theplanes, at least at first, but the contracting schoolswould have to furnish instructors, flying fields, andIIv1l1g accommodations for the men. Spartan wasfairly well situated to handle this, they had theirschool buildings, and airfields. But they had no1I1structors, and Balfour would spend the next severaldays working on this problem. He reported to Greenon May 18 that he had sent out 21 letters toprospective employees. One of the items to be settledwas the salary to be offered to the instructors.According to Balfour, Parks and some of the otheroperators were offering $225 to $250 per month, butsome of his prospects were asking $300.

And at the same time, Balfour was wearing hisSales Manager's hat. He wrote Green further on thesanle day: "Saw Hunt (dealer)-has 4 to 8 prospectslined up for Thursday, probably no immediate salesbut thinks we would be foolish not to demonstrate. Iam hiring Hunt's girl to write a flock of letterstomorrowfor pilots. If they answer. look them over-­we've got to get set on men right away-only twoweeks lefl now."

May 19 found Balfour in New York, staying in theAstor Hotel, and with agent Hunt's help, arrangingdemonstrations of the Executive to several foreignprospects. One almost sure sale was to the Turkishgovernment. He also went out to his old haunts atRoosevelt Field and was immediately able to hire a

First group of instructors for the Spartan Air Corps School 9-20-39.SPARTAN

is to say theirs as they are hiring us.That is why we must send ourinstructors to them for the refresher

Jay Gentry

SPARTAN

course."General Yount (quote) 'Whether

this will be a continued affairdepends on the success of this firstgamble. If we can't do the job theywill pull out. They have been hardboiled in the selection of schools.Had 21, now there are 9. Climatehas been afactor in selection ofsites,as well as traffic. They could haveexpanded their own schools, butwould rather try this method ofpreparing for the emergency,although it is a radical departure'.They will not interfere with our work,but will expect us to meet theirrequirements. The C. 0. atRandolph, Col. Robbins, isresponsible and we are his men.There is no time for lost motion. Col.

Robbins and Gen. Yount will be around for apreliminary inspection. (Guess we'd better clean upthe old barracks). They don't want to beentertained. "

SYMI\OLS

,I }-"/---

The Spartan Story96

Wire, Balfour to Green, 5-19-39.

A fortunate record survives from these meetingswith the Air Corps officers. Balfour sent handwrittennotes daily to Jess Green, reporting on the state of thenegotiations. These notes show Balfour had aremarkable grasp of the entire situation, and probablyclose personal connections with some of the AirCorps officers. An excerpt from the first letter:

"Mayflower HotelWashington, D.C.5-15-39Dear Jess:

"Mayflower stationery too dainty for this kind ofletter and want to get down everything I can whilenotes are fresh.

''At 9: 00 AMfound out meeting was to be at 10:30so went down to Col. Young's office to see what Icould scare up in way ofReserve Officers lookingforjobs. Got a whole raft of names and am going towrite a lot ofthem from Hunt's office tomorrow. I amafraid we are going to have trouble on this point.Everyone seems to be set with pilots. Parks has hison hand already. I will send you a copy ofthe lettersso you can understand what's up when these menanswer.

"When the meeting started, General Arnold camein and shook hands all round. Quote 'Mere numbersof airplanes means nothing. Pilots are moreimportant. We need producing capacity for bothpilots and mechanics, but pilots are more important'.They are taking this shot in the dark. (Trying civilianschools). But we must speak the same language, that

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98 The Spartan Story The Army Air Corp Arrives 99

WILl-mE

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originally designated Class 1, later called 40-A,straggled in from June 27 to July 13, 1939. Most ofthese cadets came directly from civilian life, but somewere Army enlisted men, these latter would beappointed flying cadets upon arrival. One officer,West Point graduate Lt. John C. Pichford, was takingthe training in grade.

This program certainly offered an interestingcareer to young men of that era. With jobs stilldifficult to find, the pay of $75 a month whiletraining, along with free room and board, seemedattractive. The requirements were:

1. Unmarried male U. S. citizen, age 20 to 27.2. Graduate of a recognized college or pass a

special academic test.3. Meet rather stringent physical requirements,

including having perfect eyesight.

Mechanics working on the PT-3 trainers.

Army cadets marching to their early-model PT-J 9 trainers.

As the new buildings were being readied, thepersonnel and planes were also arriving. On June 16,13 of the newly-hired instructors flew 13 PI-3 ArmyPrimary Trainers from Randolph Field to Tulsa. 13more of these planes were ferried in before trainingbegan in July. The Consolidated PI-3 was adoptedby the Air Corps as a primary trainer in 1928, a laterversion of the Hisso-powered PI-I. The Wright J5"Whirlwind" was installed, delivering 220 HP at1800 RPM. When Spartan began using these planesthey were already obsolete, but were all that could bemade available, due to the shortage of the new PI­13's. The planes had no tailwheels, only a tail skid,which made them difficult to taxi, especially sincethere were no brakes either. "Wing Walkers" wereusually required to park the planes on windy days.

The panel contained five instruments: oiltemperature, oil pressure, altimeter,magnetic compass and tachometer.The gas gauge was a glass tubeprotruding from the bottom of thecenter section, a cork indicated thelevel of fuel aboard. One studentremembered, "There was no air­speed indicator, we flew byfeel, theseat ofour pants. Communicationsfrom the instructor to the studentwere made with a speaking tubeand hand signals. On our lastflight we were told to do as wepleased J chose to see how muchaltitude 1 could attain. 1 got to12, 000 feet, then kicked it into aspin. 1 was amazed at how fast 1lost a lot of altitude. it scared theHell out ofme!"

The first class of students,

providing a mess hall for Spartan Air Corps cadets,a private dining room for Air Corps ofjicers, and ageneral dining room for the public so that 335 can beserved at one time. The kitchen facilities have beencompletely renovated, and the most modern type ofequipment has been installed.

"Three auxiliary flying fields in addition to themain base on the Tulsa Municipal Airport, are nowpart of the school's training facilities. The largeAmerican Airlines (formerly S.A.FE. Way) hangaron the Municipal airport has been leased by Spartan,giving them four large hangars for storage andservicing of commercial and military trainingplanes, as well as privately owned transient aircrafl.Approximately 100 planes can be stored in thesehangars. Greatly enlarged gassing facilities havebeen added, since an average ofnearly 2000 gallonsper day are now being used.

'j4 complete commissary and a barber shop havebeen provided for the military detachment atSpartan, and a recreation field is being prepared,with facilities for baseball, tennis and other sports.Four new busses have been purchased, as well asseveral cars and trucks. The next large project,already under way, is the erection of a newclassroom building which will be 200 fl· by 48 fl.Both lecture rooms and shops will be housed in thisnew building, as well as an assembly room for largemeetings. There will be expanded facilities here forthe Radio Department. "

SPARTAN

TULSA WORLDTulsa World Headline.

Additional physical facilities had to be readied inthe short period of just 6 weeks. In a Tulsa Worldarticle dated June 24, 1939, Bill Skelly detailed thenew construction involved:

"Seventy-five thousand dollars have been spenton Tulsa's Spartan School ofAeronautics to expandand equip it to become on July 1 a complete link inthe national preparedness chain ofmilitary aviationtraining schools. The construction and extension ofbUildings had given employment to over 200 localmen, and apprOXimately 100 have been permanentlyadded to the school's personnel, due to the increasedactivity.

"Living accommodations on the school groundshave been increased four times by the completion offour more barracks buildings. This gives the Schoolsix dormitories with accommodations for over 300.Two extensions have been put on the Spartan Cafe,

A line-up ofArmy PT-3 trainers.

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100 The Spartan Story The Army Air Corps Arrives 101

The regimen normally included twelve weeks ofprimary training at a Civilian Contract School,twelve weeks of basic at Randolph, and twelve weeksadvanced flying at Kelly Field. Upon successfulcompletion of the course, the student received acommission as a Second Leiutenant in the Air CorpsReserve.

For the cadets at the Spartan School, the dailyschedule called for flight training at 8:00 AM or 1:00PM, with lectures on aviation subjects (groundschool) drill practice and inspections the remainder

Cadets in recreation room. SPARTAN

of the day. While the civilian instructors handled theground school and flight training, there was anobvious need for commissioned Army officers tohandle the dicipline and military instruction. Theiradministrative organization included a CommandingOfficer, Adjutant, OperationslEngineering Officer,and a Supply Officer, plus a medical staff. TheOperations/Engineering Officer was assisted by acompetent Sergeant-Major and several enlistedspecialists.

As the training went forward for Class 40-A,preparations were being made for the next class ofcadets. The first of Class 40-B began to arrive onAugust 12th; their training actually began on August19th. On September 24, 1939 the first class wasgraduated; 49 had successfully completed the course,and the group entrained for Basic Flight Training atRandolph Field, Texas. Thereafter, new classesarrived at approximately nine week intervals; in allsome 50 classes from 40-A to 44-K. Classes 44-Land M were cancelled due to a general shutdown ofpilot training. Contemporary records show that atotal of 6564 entered training, 4231 were graduated,while 2333 were eliminated during the period fromJuly 1939 to August 4, 1944.

There were, of course, a number of accidents,some resulting in fatalities. In the first class, CadetA1 Moye spun a Pf-3 in from 200 feet and didn't get

Line-up oflater model PT-19's and cadets marching in a staged photo. SPARTAN

(Pf-19's), three Meyers OTW biplanes, two Fairchild24 instrument trainers, three Spartan Executive7Ws, three of the old Spartan C-3 biplanes, fourPiper Cubs and two Taylorcrafts. Over 1500 hours ofinstruction per month were given under the directionof civilian Chief Flight Instructor Herman Arnspiger.

Shortly after the Army Primary School wasstarted, Spartan received a contract to train Air Corpsmechanics. Beginning in August 1939, the classeswere to each have 50 enlisted men and last for sixmonths. Starting under the supervision of Tech Sgt.W. B. Taylor, the school eventually handled 900students at one time, using 160 instructors. It was

officially known as the 45th AAF Technical TrainingDetachment, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

To further enhance their civilian aviation trainingcapabilities, Spartan announced in May of 1941 thecompletion of a new Aeronautical Engineeringbuilding, built specifically to house the Engineeringschool. More young men were realizing thatAeronautical Engineering and Air TransportEngineering offered permanent and well paying

a scratch. His first words after crawling from thewreckage were "Gimme another airplane!". Theschool had operated for almost a year, until June 17,1940, when a cadet was killed while flying solo in amid-air collision with a civilian aircraft. Twooccupants of the civilian plane were also killed. OnJune 18, 1941, a cadet flying solo was killed when hefailed to recover from a spin. An instructor and astudent parachuted to safety when their plane lost awing while doing a snap roll. Another instructor andstudent were not so lucky. They were both killedwhen performing a simulated forced landing on July19, 1943. Witnesses said the plane apparently spunin when the student attempted to stretch a glide tomake the field selected.

But the total safety record was exemplary. Onlynine fatalities total from July 1939 to August 1944, aremarkably small percentage.

Meanwhile, Balfour accommodated the increasednumber of civilian students by adding moreinstructors and purchasing more airplanes. Thecivilian school now had four Fairchild M-62A's,

The Spartan Cafeteria

SPARTANNew Spartan cafeteria, built in 1940.

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102 The Spartan Story The Army Air Corps Arrives 103

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administration building, a classroom and a barracksto house 180 cadets. The total cost of the airportimprovements, paid for by Spartan, amounted to over$125,000. The estimated $300,000 per year pay-rollwas expected to bring a major boost to the localeconomy. On September 13, the Muskogee Times­Democrat carried the following headline story:

Muskogee Cadet waiting room.

Muskogee, Oklahoma, flight line.

On May 16, 1940, President Roosevelt hadproposed to Congress a plan to train 50,000 pilots.When Congress approved this plan, it led to analmost unlimited expansion of the Air Corps. It hadalready become evident that General Arnold'sexperiment with the use of Civilian Primary Schoolshad been an unqualified success. Thus, when theincreased numbers of pilots wereauthorized, the Air Force first turned tothe existing schools to arrange for theexpansion of facilities. A meeting of theeight contractors was called inWashington, D.C., on May 23, 1940.They were all asked to nearly double thenumber of students they would train in ayear.

Since the Tulsa physical facilitieswere full (as were the skies for thatmatter) Balfour knew he would have toselect another school location away fromthe Tulsa area. Working with Gentry, hefound a suitable field just outsideMuskogee, Oklahoma, (Hatbox Field).Working at their usual speed, sixbuildings were erected in only 39 days;two hangars, a cafeteria, anSPARTAN

operations, operating economics and safety methods."Perhaps the most important advantage of the

Spartan training is the wealth of practical shopexperience gained by students during their 24-monthcourse. During the final term of their course atSpartan, the engineering students spend a half ofeach day as apprentice engineers at the Spartanfactory. in this way graduating students gain firsthand information about factory engineering andproduction procedures, and are qualified to stepimmediately into responsible positions."

At the same time of the Engineering School wasopening, the announcement was made that a hugebomber plant was to be built just to the east of theMunicipal Airport. Newspaper headlines read:"WORK BEGiNS ON TULSA'S BOMBER PLANT."The groundbreaking ceremonies for this $15,000,000plant were held on May 2, 1941, attended by over1000 local citizens. Fredrick Conant, Vice presidentof Douglas Aircraft, and Mayor C. H. Veale, joinedin turning the first spadeful of earth on the project.

The building was 4000 feet long, 320 feet wide,and would employ 15,000 men and women whenfinished. Fifty 8-24 bombers would be built everymonth. This was a boon for Spartan. It meant thatall aviation mechanics would have good jobsawaiting when they graduated.

careers. The need for such professionals wasexpected to increase in the years to come. Spartanissued the following press release on June 1, 1941.

"Spartan School ofAeronautics will have one ofthe finest and most modern engineering buildings tobe found in any engineering school in the UnitedStates, when the new $30,000 structure now underconstruction is completed. Designed specifically forthe training of Aeronautical and Air TransportEngineers, the building will measure i 90 feet by 5ifeet. included in the floor plan are three draftingand design rooms, four classrooms for technicallectures, a study hall and engineering office. Thebuilding is of steel and concrete construction. Theexterior will be finished in cream stucco to match thesurrounding buildings. A feature ofthe new buildingis the natural lighting provided by the saw-tooth roofand broad windows. Ofa total of 7, 500 square feet ofexterior wall, more than 3,800 square feet aredevoted to windows. Artificial light will be neededon only very dark days, thus eye strain will bereduced to a minimum.

"The curriculum of the Aeronautical Engineeringcourse consists of extensive technical training inmathematics, physics, aerodynamics, stress analysis,detail and structural design. General subjectsinclude instruments, English, maintenance, factory

Repair Hangar at the Spartan School,fu/l ofPT-19 's, 1941.

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104 The Spartan Story The British are Coming 105

Chapter Eight

British cadets marching to class. lIAMPTON

wrinkled after two nights cramped sleeping on thetrain. Captain Maxwell Balfour, his piercing blackeyes scanning the motley crew, gave them their firstofficial greeting in the U S.-

"Welcome to Tulsa. Climb on that bus and we'lltake you to breakfast". The British had come toSpartan.

As the war intensified in Europe, in 1940 and1941, the concept of training British aircrews in theUnited States became an attractive option to the topofficers of the R. A. F. Indeed, there was a precedentfor this; in 1917 British flying students and theirCurtiss "Canuck" trainers had been moved fromCanada to Texas in order to train in more suitableweather conditions. But in 1917 the US. was at war;in 1940 America was at least outwardly neutral,although obviously sympathetic to the English cause.

The advantages of training in the US. were many,including better weather conditions, more resources,

The British are Coming(1941-1945)

As they stepped off the train onto the hot, dustyplatform at the Tulsa train station, the British flyingcadets must have thought they had come to the end ofthe earth. Over the past three weeks, they had beenon an almost incredible journey. Leaving theirbeautiful, green, but embattled England, they hadcrossed the North Atlantic on an escorted liner,landing at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Then a long trainride down the St. Lawrence River to Toronto, and abrief indoctrination into Canadian life. There theyentrained again and, in deference to the U S. officialbut oft-broken neutrality, donned identical greycivilian business suits. After viewing the spectacularNiagara Falls, they entered the U S. at Buffalo,traveling on through Chicago, then St. Louis, untilthey finally arrived at Tulsa.

It was 5:30 in the morning, June 16, 1941, whenthey lined up on the platform in Tulsa, a sleepy,unwashed, bearded group, their suits hopelessly

SPARTAN

Observation flier. But by far the most uniqueexperience to come his way was the year ( 1934) thespent near Moscow in Russia, instructing Russianmilitary pilots. After several other itinerant jobs, helanded in Tulsa, part of the first group of 40-Ainstructors.

Later, the Muskogee operation was doubled insize, classes increased to 200 and a third hangar was

added to the facilities. Over 4000 cadets were trainedat Muskogee before it closed on June 27,1944.

One of the cadets to enter Class 42-J at Tulsa wasJohn T. Swais. He had been an outstanding studentat the University of Tulsa, and a football star. Hewent on to Basic and Advanced training at KellyField, Texas, and received his Second Lieutenant'scommission in December. Later that month hemarried Captain Balfour's daughter, Claude. Hewould take further training as a B-17 pilot; then besent to England to join the 8th Air Force.

The organizing of the Air Corps PrimaryTraining Schools under Max Balfour marked asignificant turning point in the history of the SpartanCompany. It was no longer a small, regional schoolwith a few dozen employees. By 1941, it had over1000 employees, branches in Miami and Muskogee,and was a large, profitable organization. Much of thetradition of excellence established at that time, stillexists today.

The aircraft manufacturing division of Spartanwas also attempting to find a niche in war productionfor its abilities and products. These moderatelysuccessful efforts will be covered in chaptersfollowing.

"Spartan School Opens Saturday With 50Cadets. Giant Chicken Barbecue 'Welcome toMuskogee' Scheduled at Honor Heights. With 16Army cadets already in Muskogee, their dufJle bagsunpacked and smart blue uniforms donned, theSpartan School of A eronautics prepared thisafternoon to move under full steam into flightinstruction.

"Without delay, the 50 flight students will beassigned to their instructors, and will inspect theirblunt-nosed Army training ships in which they willbegin flying Monday. Tomorrow they will receivepreliminary instruction covering flight regulations,traditions and air etiquette from Sam Gribi, Directorof the Muskogee school. Meanwhile, preparationswent ahead for a giant chicken barbecue scheduledfor 5 o'clock tomorrow afternoon at Honor HeightsPark, at which 110 officials and employees ofSpartan's Tulsa and Muskogee units will bewelcomed. Present will be W. G. Skelly, President ofSpartan and Maxwell Balfour, Director of theSpartan Schools ofAeronautics. Entertainment willbe provided in the form ofmusic from George Rogersand his Cookson Hillbillies. "

Balfour selected Sam G. Gribi to be Director ofthe Muskogee school. Gribi started his flying careerin 1926, barnstorming a Curtiss Jenny throughoutOklahoma and surrounding states. This dangerousactivity ended in 1929 when the Jenny got tired, andalso illegal. For the next few years he held suchpositions as test pilot for the Commandaire Co.,flying Stinson Tri-motors for Century Airlines andpiloting a rich oil man around in a Lockheed Vega.He even spent a couple of years at Ft. Sill as an Army

First class ,40-A, ofAir Corps Flying School graduates.

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106 The Spartan Story The British are Coming 107

and freedom from enemy action. Because of this, thenegotiations were carried to the highest level, and bylate 1940 the U.S. had agreed to assist in aircrewtraining. Several proposals were considered,including sending R. A. F. cadets to USAAF trainingestablishments alongside Americans, and the settingup of separate, private contract schools, exclusivelyfor British use, called the "All Through Scheme".

The question of cost was of vital concern to theBritish Government, as the expense involved wouldhave to be paid in dollars which already were in shortsupply. But when Roosevelt pushed the Lend-Leasebill through Congress, in the spring of 1941, amplefunds became available.

Harry Berkey was secretary of the Miami, Okla.,Chamber of Commerce, and it was through hisefforts that a British Flying School was established atMiami. In the fall of 1940, hearing rumors of suchschools being built, and seeing the business boomthat Tulsa was enjoying from similar activity, heprepared a very detailed leather-bound documententitled, ':4 Proposal for the umber One Royal A irForce Pilot Training Facility in the United States".In the spring of 1941, a delegation ofMiami businessleaders traveled to Washington, D.C., and presentedthe document to Lord Halifax, the British Foreign

Secretary. He told them that no funds were availablefor such schemes at present, but if the Lend-LeaseBill were passed, he would consider their request.

A few weeks later, when the Lend-Lease went intoeffect, the British Embassy called a number of theprivate contract school operators to Washington todiscuss the training of British pilots. Captain MaxBalfour was in this group, but after seeing the scopeof the requirements, he regretfully announced thatSpartan did not have any spare capacity available forsuch training. At this point, the head of the BritishMission handed him the Miami proposal, andsuggested he give it serious consideration.

In his "Open Post" history of the #3 British FlyingTraining School, Alan Thomas describes how Miamifinally became chosen as the site for this enterprise.

':4fter studying the brochure, Captain Balfourmade an appointment to visit Miami. This was thefirst of a number of visits with the Chamber ofCommerce representatives there, but for somereason, Captain Balfour decided to locate the schoolat Ponca City, and not Miami. (ponca City had alsoprepared detailed proposals, and would later haveanother contract school located there.) But havingput so much effort into the proposals for Miami,Harry Berkey decided to make a final attempt to

Co~o~cl ~. D. F~-:-lQ

Contlnc~tcl Oil Coqpa.nc'I'O:lcn. C1. t:.r. Ol:ln..'looa.

no~ Colonel r~rlal

Sn..!l~"1' A. H. I !'1C'... ave':' t~c Mction ~outh o! Ponen Cit', vi then A.~ rapreGon~tlvo. He findG, ne I e~ected, t~~t the south portionis oach too 10v O-'1d vonld nMd flo GI"eCLt ~e~l o! <L'"'O.1nn.e;e. !h1n type o!eo11 becaoas ver;r st1o~ v~en lloob::ld nod ,..'" fon::' \to could not ope:-nte,~thout nuoo:-ouo run~7e. Roucrvor, the. dnta you sent 1s not lost nethere c=o tut,~o pocs!bilitlca.

Bovavo:-. for the tl~ beine, to qy rocrot, th8,T ~vo decidedo.e;>.1not tho Ponc~ City ~ojact. The;y bve chason tho mnmi p:-ivatelyo'.""Ilod a.lrpart \lhich 10 ready to co.

I v1eh to thnnk you for your vhole-hoo.rt~d cooperation nnt\ toe:tp::-OSB !V recrete for the trouble end ex;penso to vh1ch 70U and tM tmmhn.ve bGOn put. Perhn.;JB ve vi11 hn.ve better 1uol: norl tiDe.

S1ncore17 ,.ours.

The Bnlish students meet Mr. Nicholson, their instructor, and their PT-19 trainer. HAMPTON

1-3

Balfour letter to Ponca City, Oklahoma.

change the Captain's mind and arranged a meetingon a Jv/onday morning at 6:00 AM. Berkey tookalong Herb Cobban, President of the North EasternOklahoma Railroad, for added support. It meant a3:30 AM start for these gentlemen, but it proved tobe well worth it.

"As the meeting progressed, the Miamirepresentative's eloquent and powerfully persuasivearguments impressed Balfour to the point he wasreported to have said 'For two cents I'd chooseMiami over Ponca City'. At this point. Herb Cobbanpulled two pennies out ofhis pocket and tossed themon the desk. Balfour smiled, picked them up and said/0 K, J'vfiami it is', and \lfiami became the site ofthe/13 British Flying Training School. "

However, it was to prove impossible to preparefacilities at Miami for the first class of British cadetsthat were due to arrive in late June. Thus it wouldbe necessary to house them temporarily in Spartan'sTulsa facilities. For this reason, these first cadets

FAD11

would be riding the Spartan bus to the School sevenmiles to the northeast of the trai n station, on thissweltering morni ng of June 16, 1941. They weretreated to some new and amazing sights. DowntownTulsa could be seen, with multi-story "skyscrapers"appearing to grow almost out of the raw prairie.Even at the early hour of 6:00 AM there were anumber of cars on the road; huge cars by Britishstandards. And the weather was HOT. Although itwas early morning, the temperature was in the 80's,making thei r grey woolen suits scratchy anduncomfortable. Arriving at the barracks, they wereallowed to change to their lightweight khaki Britishuniforms, topped off with their grey overseas caps.Captain Balfour then led them to the Spartancafeteria, where, after a welcoming speech, they weretreated to a huge American-style breakfast.

Throughout the existence of the British schools,the students were universally amazed by the food andaccommodations furnished them. One of the first

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108 The Spartan Story The British are Coming 109

The huge American cars amazed the British. HAMPTON

The total cost of the new faci lities would be over$500,000; but the ample coffers of the now­prosperous Skelly Oil Company could easily handlethe necessary fi nances.

The centerpiece of the building complex was to bethe abandoned and boarded up tourist hotel, the"Pierce Pennant". In the late 1920's and early 1930's,the PIerce Oil Company started a chain of "HotelStops" along the much promoted U.S. Highway 66,later to be called "The Mother Road" and madefamous in film and television. (It is interesting tonote that this same Highway 66 is now beingpromoted internationally as a major tourist attractionby the various cities and towns along its old route.)

These Pierce Pennant roadhouses were spacedabout 100 miles apart and would offer all the servicesneeded by the cross-country traveler. In addition toa multi-pump filling station, there would be a repairgarage, restaurant, barber shop, and hotel roomsavailable. One was built at Miami, another to theeast at Rolla, Missouri, and one at Tulsa. But theconcept was not successful, and by the mid-1930'smost had been abandoned. For a while the mainbuilding at Miami was operated as a tavern, withdances being held in the ballroom of the formerhotel; by 1941, the building was boarded up andvacant.DOBSON

When we're back iu dearold England,

.4nd. we hear the grutlera!n,

Witlt its piUer-piller­patter,

Beating on the zeilldo:u­pane,

Let us silently remembn

That we ought not tocomplain,

For it never rains inEngland

Quite like Oklahomarmn.

"Rain" poem by a British cadet.

"1 have not done muchflying lately because sincelast Thursday we have beenhaVing some terrible storms,the worst rain, wind, thunderand lightning 1 have everseen or heard. Today it isbeautiful and sunny again,but now at four o'clock thetemperature is 93 degrees. 1am sitting under an electricfan with just a pair ofshortson, but even the fan sends hotair over me. "

While this first class wasstarting its training in Tulsa,Balfour and the Spartanmanagement were rushing tocompletion the new flyingschool being built in Miami.Less than a month aftersigning the contract with theR. A. F. Mission, the Tulsafirm of Waller-Wells hadbeen engaged and were hardat work on the buildings for the new school. ByJuly I, Mr. Edmund Wells, the superintendent of theproject~ r~ported that over 125 men were working onthe bUlldmgs and that things were "on schedule".

cadets reported: "Everything in this place is cleanand efficient. Aeroplanes, equipment and on downto such things as food, beds and shower baths.Nothing is short or inferior. America haseverything!" From the outset, the United Statesofficials insisted that the British receive exactly thesame meals, physical facilities, recreationopportunities and medical care as that furnished forAmericans. At first the British representativesresisted this extra cost, but since the Americanswere paying for it through Lend-Lease, they had toagree.

After only one day to settle in, the first class ofBritish cadets reported to their flying instructorsand began training on the PT-19 primary trainers,using the Tulsa Municipal Airport. And whilebusy by day learning the new skills of flying, theirnights were equally exciting. From the beginningthe "RA.F. Boys out at Spartan" were localheadline news. Invitations flowed in daily. Teadances, ball ganles, rodeos, swimming parties, andchurch services were opened to the visitors.Families drove to the school to pick up any stray"Britisher" they could find that was off duty, andtook him out for the evening. Girls kept the schooltelephone ringing. Some lucky students metmembers of the Tulsa Country Club and weredriven out to a beautiful setting in the hills for golf,dining or swimming in lavish surroundings. Agreat many friendships were formed with theAmericans training at the Spartan schools, theiridentical tasks and ambitions gave them somethingm common.

True to their traditions, the British cadetsmarched to all their classes, and even to the flightline, in a crisp military manner; swinging theirarms stiffly in exact cadence. Their even ranks andprecision marching did not go unnoticed by theofficers in charge of the Anlerican trainees. Shortlyafter the British arrived, the "Yanks" were calledout to close order drill each evening in an attemptto remedy their rather casual marching techniques.Captain Balfour was said to have personallyordered this addition to the cadets training routine.

The British quickly became accustomed toAmerican food, and the somewhat different sociallife, but the Oklahoma weather was another matter.In contrast to their cool, danlP England, they wereto endure the heat, high winds and thunderstormscommon to the midwest. One student describedthis weather in a letter to his parents:

One of OklAhoma'. FiYe rl~Cadet Schoo" Will~ in

CountJ Seat July 19

Ont! of five l'1ylng cad&t ~hootl tobe oporated In the United Statu fOtthe training of Brltljh elvWaA pI1Dtitwilt bit opened In Mla.m1 July 19 underdirection ot th. flpart&n School 01AerQllAuUca, It WU aaDOuneM" Tu)..a Tu.-d.., b1 0&I't. Jluwell Sa1tour.cUreetor of the .ehool.

The echoot wti1 be oae 01. t1WrM op­eratecl bJ 8p&rtaa, the natloD'. larIMttraJaer of ctv1llan pUott, In tb. ltat.of Oklahoma. The other aehoola anat Tu1aa and MuakolH.

Captain Balfour wd that h. wunot prtvUeged to reveal lull detan. tilneefUat10na wbt.oh led to tM .1~loa

of Mtaml .. the llite for tIM ltChocJI Wiad.mltte4 that the unit to De .......then .. the Kme ODe that PNVtouIyka4 been echecluled to be 1ocate4 atPonca Oity.

Immediate C0118tl"Uotion hM been a ...thorlud on hangar" barraclu, om.buildlnp and other needed~taelHtiea, Captain BalfoUJ" AieL OUt­lay OIl the part of 8pe.rtaft, wm N tiltte neighborhood of $2150.000 1t1th t.Muntlm&te Inveatmt!nt to approximate$000,000.

B&lfOUT ..Id th.t thert! would be lfi1.tie diferenoe between the ocmduct ofthe acbool at Miami ana-the .chool. a.tTula and Muskogee.

British Pilots to BeTrained at Miami

The British school was welcome news throughoutnortheast Oklahoma. This article appeared in the June 19,1941 edition o/the Afton American.

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110 The Spartan Story The British are Coming 111

#3 BFTS at Miami, Oklahoma. Theformer Pierce Pennant Hotel in the foreground.

Ami

Peter McCallum was a cadet in one of the firstcourses, and fortunately sent a series of descriptiveletters home to his parents beginning on August 26,1941. Excerpts from these letters tell of the typicalwonder and excitement experienced by the youngBritish fliers. "This school is actually run by twoBritish Officers and one Flight Sergeant. Theinstructors and all other personnel are Americans. Itis a new school and you could just not imagine whata wonderful place it is. We have four fellows to aroom jilrnished like a hotel and two men to clean upand clean our shoes and press our clothe and doanything we want doing. We Jly from 7:00 AM until12: 00, then have ground school in the aJlernoons.

"The food in the camp is excellent and beautifullyserved by waiters. All the food is fancy and younever recognize anything until you taste it. It is allrich and sweet. The national drink seems to be icedtea served with lemon and sugar; we also drink a lotofmilk and orange juice."

Peter was evidently a good student, because hesoon was describing his solo flight in a letter home:"September 7, 1941. I went solo at 9 hrs 20 minwhich is nearly two hours below the average time. Iwas second to go solo in my course. The penalty forthis feat was buying everyone else in the flight adrink at the canteen. In case you misinterpret thisthe drink was orangeade. Oklahoma is one ofthe fewdry states in America and there are no pubs orlicensed houses ofany kind.

HAMPTON

The . E. Jr. College campus; temporary British barracks.

After the War, Ming stayed withSpartan, finally becoming Director ofits satellite overhaul operations atCamden, later Trenton, New Jersey.Sadly, he was to die in a plane crash,August 14. 1961 near Charleston,South Carolina.

One month after their arrival inTulsa, O!l Sunday morning July 13, the#1 class of cadets boarded the Spartanbusses and moved to their new home atthe #3 BFTS, Miami. At that time,Squadron leader A. C. Kermodearrived to take up his duties. Duringthe first few weeks at Miami,construction work was still going on,so the cadets were housed in the girls'dormitory of the N.E. OklahomaJunior College; the girls were still onsummer vacation. This began a longand pleasant association with thecollege; many friendships began at the welcomingdances held for each new group.

Churchill was reported to have said "English is thecommon language that divides us." The Britishcadets found some amusing language differencesduring their visits with American friends. F. C.Rainbird recalled one such incident. "! was invitedto a Sunday dinner by one family, they then repeatedthe invitation a week later. When I arrived thehusband did not appear to be at home. 'Where'sRuss?, I asked.' 'Oh, he's just piddling in the garden'she replied. I was puz:led, ! knew they had a moderntoilet indoors. He soon appeared, and it becameclear that he had been 'fiddling about' in the garden,as we would have put it."

"Horseplay" with mascot "Pete".

SPARTAN

"TONY"MINGAs soon as the #3 BFTS began operations, Max

Balfour appointed Anthony 1. "Tony" Ming as theschool's Director. He was to remain there throughoutthe entire period, from 1941 to 1945. Since all theflying instructors, as well as the ground schoolpersonnel were American civilians, it was anintricate task to weld together the diversepersonalities into a successful teanl. He took pilotswho had been barnstormers and ferry pilots,instructors who had been farmers or schoolteachers,and formed a creditable and efficient organization.His efforts were noted by British Air Ministry whenthey appointed him as an Honorary Member of theOrder of the British Empire. The citation read:

"! am commanded by the Air Council to informyou that they have learned with much pleasure thatHis Majesty the King has been graciously pleased toapprove your appointment as an Honorary Memberof the Order of the British Empire in recognition ofyour services to the Royal Air Force. The Councilwishes me to convey to you their warmcongratulations on this mark of His Majesty's Favorand to thank you for all you have done. "

But now, once again, it could serve a usefulpurpose. As remodelled under Balfour's directions,the hotel would become the main administrationbuilding of the school complex, containing areception area, offices, game room, snack bar andpost store. On the third floor one-time hotel roomswould become living quarters for the Spartan staff.

The old filling station would now become a gate­house and entrance office, but the rest of the facilitieswould be new construction. Behind the tavernbuilding a large level quadrangle was laid out,bounded on the other three sides by frame buildings.On the north side would be a 48x 110 foot restaurant,with a seating capacity of 200. Along its southexposure would be a long screened in porch. On thewest would be one story classroom buildings, and onthe south a huge T-shaped barracks.

At the 300 acre airfield, a half mile west of theschool buildings, other construction was under way.Earlier, the Mianli city fathers had purchased landfor the airfield, and had constructed a steel hangar.Now this hangar would be used by Spartan as amaintenance shop. A field headquarters buildingwould be erected, as well as classrooms for LinkTrainers, and a parachute packing facility. Later,several additional large hangars would be built.

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DOBSON

PEEK

"Time passed and then there were 15 grave. TheJunipers had to be taken out in time a they wererather short lived. The wooden crosses were takendown and the stone markers you see today were putin place. Some ofthe parents used to send money tolvlother to have flowers put on their son's graves onappropriate days, but most of the parents are gonenow.

"These days an American veteran's organizationput on large red and white wreaths on MemorialDay. They are artificial and are taken down andstored for the next year. "

Mrs. Hill died in 1989 and, as she wished, wasburied with the "British Boys" she loved so well. Hergravestone carries the following inscription:

"MRS F./vl. HILL of Miami, buried alongside,voluntarily tended these fifteen British Airmen'sgraves and helped their loved ones from 1941 to1982. These seljless human actions were unJ,;nown tomost. She was awarded the King's medal for servicein the cause offreedom by King George VI."

Above: British graves in Miami cemetery, 1943.Below: Same graves, 1993.

A touching illustration of the regard andaffection shown the British "boys" by thegood citizens of Miami, is the example ofMrs. F. M. Hill. When accidents happened,the casualties were buried in the G.A.R.Cemetery on the north side of town. Mrs.Hill made it her personal obligation to carefor these graves. In 1990, her daughter,Mrs. Florence Cunninghanl, gave thisaccount:

"I do not remember why lvlother and Ihappened to be out at the cemetery thatday. At the time there were two graves, butthey were so unkempt looking -- no grass,big clods ofdirt that had not been smoothedout (of course they were pretty new).Anyhow she said, 'I'm going to dosomething for those British boys '. and shedid.

"I went with her on lots of trips overthere, as did our little cocker, but she didmost of the work. Mother had a flair forgardening. Rose bushes came to the gravesand Irises. Later when there were moregraves, little Juniper trees were all in a rowwith the white crosses. As our lvlemorialDay would come, the newspapers wouldmake mention of it, and Mother. being arather shy soul, was a bit overwhelmed bythe fuss. She heard from a lot of peoplearound the country about it as well as theu.K.

"One lady in New York, an expatriate from GreatBritain, sent the Union Jack flags every MemorialDay for years. Mother would put the flags out andthen take them in to make them last longer as theywere hard to come by.

Mrs. Hill's grave marker, 1993.

DOBSON MUSEUM

other places and festivals. I had to refuse quite anumber ofpeople because my friends (the Slaytons)have already booked me up on every occasion I goout from now on until I leave. "

Sadly, tills was to be Peter's last letter home. Ashort time later he became one of the first cadetskilled in an aircraft accident. His plane fell duringnight training near Columbus, Kansas; he is buriedalong with fourteen of his countrymen in the Britishsection of the Miami cemetery.

BT-13 Basic trainer used at Miami.

"I have met a very nice American family in Miamiby the name ofSlayton. Mr. Slayton gave me a lift toMiami the other evening and as I wasn't goinganywhere in particular he invited me to his house fordinner. They are very rich people, farmers. Theyown five farms or ranches around here, nearly halfamillion acres. (Editor's note: tills figure must be inerror). The family comprises Mother, Father, Juneage eighteen and at College, and Mary Lou who ismarried and he has a baby boy. She lives in

alifornia but is home on a holiday. They own threecar .. Mum' , Dad's and June has one with her atcollege in Washington. I spent the weekend withthem and they gave me a 'swell time'. They areteaching me to ride a horse and I had a good timedriving a 40 horsepower Buick. At first it wasdifficult to keep on the right side ofthe road!"

In another letter home, October 1, 1941, Petermentions the close relationsillp he had developedwith the Slayton family:

"Last Sunday the local Episcopal Church gave atea, in one ofthe hotels, to the British cadets. It wasa 'help yourselffrom the table' affair, and all had agood time. There were lots ofAmericans there andeveryone got invitations outfor Christmas and lots of

PT-19 flown by the British students during Primary Training.

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114 The Spartan Story The British are Coming 115

DOBSON MUSEUM

October 26-27-28

, <lire q~ .. .q.~ .. ,//I"• FOUR STAR MUSICAL ? I'

" OF 1941! ..\

You Are Always Welcome At The

COLEMAN THEATRE

J-iAMpTON

After the solo, and throughout thetraining there were various types ofcheck rides, usually by the flightcommander, to check progress. Theycould result in the ultimate "WashOut", which meant the cadet was sentback to Moncton, Canada, asunsuitable for further pilot training, asad occurrence indeed. For the Basicand Advanced stages, the studentsmoved back to the main camp andflew from the municipal field,alternating between morning andafternoons. The municipal field, withits hangars, crew rooms, etc., was justa short walk up the road with a largeplaying field between it and the camp.

Every day those who were flying marched up to theflight lines where they met their instructors.

Also on the municipal field, as part of the hangarcomplex, was the Link Trainer building. This formof simulated flying was an important element in thetraining of pilots, but for some reason many of thecadets felt that the instructors took fiendish delight inputting the pupils in unusual positions as soon as thehood was lowered. The terms "needle, ball, airspeed"took on a whole new meaning, when heard over theearphones in that hot, dark cockpit.

STUDENTS OF THE R. A. F.

Sunday-Monday-Tuesday

Movies at the "Coleman" were popular.

These cadets soloed sllccessfully.

"What a grand morning, the air is so still andcalm, an aeroplane could fly itself My instructor iswaiting for me, highly pleased for his other student,John, has soloed this morning. We are soon alofttogether and I manage to make three good circuits.The last was a bit bumpy, but a nasal voice boomsdown the ear tubes 'take me back to the stage house'.I taxi back, and my instructor slowly, almostmaddeningly, climbs from his seat. With a cheerywave and a word or two of unheeded advice, hesaunters off.

"I am alone in the plane but somehow I donot realize it. Why worry, I can fly the thing.For the past 4 or 5 hours I've been doing it; hehas been only a passenger. Taxi back to theend of the field for take-off. S-turn, not toofast, don't forget to look around. Give her thegun. not too fast, let the engine pick up speed.keep her straight. Hell, she's off the ground.there's the wind-tee and stage house below.She never came offso quickly before, -- Ohyes, less weight, no instructor in front.Throttle back a little, watch the altimeter andtachometer. 250 feet, level offand turn to theright. Keep her nose up. Climb to 500 feet.Oh, this is easy. I'm even singing away at theengine. 500 feet, level off and turn on thedownwind leg. I must throttle back and turnon the base leg. That wind is stronger than Ithought; I've gained 50 feet. ow cut the gun,keep her nose up a bit to lose speed, thendown with the flaps. Put her nose down, glideat 80, look out for the fence. Oh, good, I'mwell over it, I won't overshoot. LevelojJ, easeback on the stick--and I'm on the ground withbarely a bump. I've done it, myfirst solo trip/"

DOBSONBritish cadet's art work.

DOBSON MusEUM

evening. The bus would often stop at the Ice Factoryon the way out to the airfield to pick up a block of icefor the water cooler in the crew room.

One unusual feature about flying from theauxiliary field was that both right and left handpatterns were used. Cadets were told which circuitthey had to fly. If they should forget and take off orland on the wrong side, their instructor wouldsentence them to a period of standing at attention bythe large wooden wind tee.

Two of the most critical and best rememberedevents in a flying cadet's schooling would probably behis "Solo", and the awarding of wings or"Graduation". Cadet E. Cook wrote these thoughtsabout his solo flight in the October 1941 Open Postmagazine. His experience was typical.

The flying courses were arranged very much asthose already being given by Spartan to the U.S.cadets. Each course was divided into stages,Primary, Basic and Advanced. There were threedifferent types of aircraft used, the PT-19 Fairchild inPrimary, the BT-13 Vultee in Basic, and the AT-6Harvard in Advanced. Eventually the BT's weredispensed with and the students went directly fromthe Fairchild to the Harvard. The classes werearranged to have 50 cadets each at the start, and tolast 20 weeks. Forty-five ground and flightinstructors were involved as were over 80 aircraft.

The school was run on the cadet system, withcadet officers responsible for the day to daydiscipline. There were no R. A.F. staff living in thecamp. Those assigned to the school were:

Commanding OfficerSenior Administrative OfficerTwo Pilot InstructorsOne Navigation InstructorOne NCO SignalsOne NCO ArmamentsOne NCOPTICadets trained six days a week, half day flying

and half a day ground school.The usual procedure for the Primary stage was for

half the students to fly out to the auxiliary field withthe instructors while the other half drove out in theschool bus. The procedure was reversed in the

A British cadet's drawing ofthe Miami, Oklahoma, aiifield.

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DOBSON MUSEUM

noticed what appeared to be black clouds ahead. 1asked TojJifit was possibly a big storm. He said noone had mentioned bad weather, so we flew on.Suddenly the supposed clouds became more visible;we were jlying low into the Rocky Mountains, clearlymarked on the map. Casually TojJsaid, 'Oh yes, 1see. Turn lejl and jly alongside the mountains andwe pass over them near Guadeloupe Peak.' 1 jlewsouth until this gap appeared, then turned westtowards distant EI Paso, passing over the mountainterrain 3-4000 feet high.

''At this point the fuel gauges indicated achange of tanks. 1 turned the valves, but the enginecut out ajler only a briefresponse. Ajler two or threeattempts to start, TojJ pulled back his canopy andsaid 'Let's jump '. 1 pointed out that we were stillover high mountains and that if we survived thejump, it might be weeks before we were found. Atthis point 1 decided to try the wobble pump, fitted toinject fuel manually when starting the engine. Thisworked and 1 managed to maintain a straight andlevel course. Taking turns on the pump, wedescended over a desert looking area to EI Paso. 1called the EI Paso Tower, but could get no response.1 finally told them that if they were receiving me 1was coming in straight ahead, regardless of traffic.We chased a plane or two out of the pattern, butmade a safe landing, with fire engines, rescue vansand ambulances chasing us down the runway.

"Later we found a broken fuel pump had call edour difficulty. The school sent instructors down toride with us on the return flight."DOBSON

DOBSON

Midair collision causingfour casualties.

appeared and explained the reasonfor our own sad experience. Thelocking pin in the tail wheel hadfailed, causing our ground loop.Furthermore, the staffat Big Springswere willing to replace our damagedwing tip with one from the otherplane. True to their word, the planewas readied in short order, and wewere on our way again.

''1 asked TojJ, who was navigatingfrom the rear cockpit, for a compasscourse. He replied he'd had no timeto check the weather and windconditions, but if we flew west andfollowed a pipeline shown on themap, El Paso was somewhere ahead!So ojJwe set, flying low and keepingthe pipeline in sight. Ajler a while 1

A BT-13 on its back.

]YJ'-19 crash at night.

HAMPTON

down the tailwheel until the aircrajl was well belowstalling speed, as was proved later.

"TojJjlew the plane (A T-6 #93) on to the next stopat Big Springs, Texas. 1 was studying my navigationdocuments as we landed, but noticed that he, true tocharacter. came boldly in at very near maximumspeed. 1felt a slight bump of the front wheels wheneve/ything went haywire. 1 was thrown around quiteviolently as the plane ground looped finishing upwith one wing imbedded in the ground, and theairfield safety crews rushing to our rescue. We weresure our trip to E/ Paso was not to be, instead a longtrain journey was in the cards.

"We duly reported to the Chief Flying lnstructorbefore making our very disconsolate way to the messfor lunch. As we ate we heard the crash crewheading out again. Someone had made theunforgivable error of landing without the wheelsdown! The plane was a wreck and we expectedcompany on our return to base. However, the CJ.

Three ''Jones'' and Hampton (R) with instnlctor Pitts in front ofa Harvard.

As each course drew to its end a number of eventstook place. There were the usual ground schoolexams, but the most challenging test was the"Wings" long distance cross country flight, usually toEl Paso on the Mexican border. These flightsinvolved two pilots flying alternately as pilot andnavigator. In 1993 Fred Hampton still rememberedthis experience:

"October 12th, 19-14 was a fine day and theairfield was full of sounds of departing Harvards,each carrying two excited young men on anadventure none had ever thought possible. On thefirst leg, Miami to Ardmore, 1 was the pilot with TojJsinging along behind me as navigator. (AllWelshmen sing.t) Landing at Ardmore, 1 wasdismayed when the aircrajl acted erratically onlanding. As the tailwheel touched the ground 1 had10 fight hard to maintain a straight course along thetarmac. TojJwas quite amused and 'ribbed' mefor abad landing. Fortunately, 1 had delayed touching

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118 The Spartan Story The Spartan Warbirds 119

SPARTAN

SPARTAN

except for some control surfaces, of all-metal design;had a retractable landing gear, and used a modern,high-horsepower Pratt and Whitney engine. By thesimple expedient of changing the seatingarrangements and adding a camera mounting, itbecame a "Warbird".

In early 1936, the second Model 7 airframe wasextensively remodeled to accommodate cameraequipment, and fitted with seats for three crewmembers. Powered by a 400 HP "Wasp Junior", itwas first flown on 9-14-36. The registration wasprobably NX13986 as pictured on the cover of Aero

Spartan "Zeus" attack plane.

Chapter Nine

The Spartan Warbirds

Spartan NP-J Navy PrimalY Trainer.

With World War II looming on the horizon, mostAmerican aircraft manufacturers made attempts todesign and build planes which would have militaryuses. Starting in 1936, Spartan began efforts to enterthis market, with only marginal success. Their firstattempt was to convert the high-performanceExecutive into a photographic model useful formilitary reconnaissance.

The Spartan Executive was a natural candidatefor modification into a warplane. When first built, itsperformance exceeded many of the planes then inservice with the United States armed forces. It was,HAMPTON

HAMPTON

The Public Records Office at Kew, England, lists2124 R.A.F. cadets and 117 U.S.A.A.F. cadetsstarted in the program; 116 of the Americans and1376 of the British cadets successfully completed thetraining and were awarded their coveted "wings".The school was closed in August of 1945.

Pinning on the coveted wings.

Finally came Graduation, the big day of the WingsParade and dance. The Parade was held at theMunicipal field, and would be accompanied by a bandand various dignitaries. Visitors in the form offriendsand families would be present to witness that veryproud moment which each cadet had worked so hardto achieve, the pinning on of those coveted "wings".

Presentations were made by a variety ofpersonages, the Commanding Officer, visiting SeniorR. A. F. officers, U.S.A.A.F. Generals and others.The bachelor "Wings" dinner was held at this time ata number of different locations as far away as Joplin.It was astonishing, in a dry state, where the liquorwould come from, and the amazing assortment thatmasqueraded under the label of whisky. The dance ongraduation night was a happy yet sad affair. Thegraduates had achieved what they wanted, yet theywere sorry to be saying goodby to Miami and manywonderful friends. They knew full well they wouldprobably never meet again.

Altogether 27 classes started at Miami, butnumbers 26 and 27 did not finish due to the war's end.

The long-awaited "Wings Parade".

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Spartan 7W-P-J photographic plane with Chinese markings.

SPARTAN

SPECIFICATIONS

Spartan Model 8W (Zeus)Span 39 ft.Length 27 ft.Heigllt... 8 ft. 4 in.Wing Area 250 sq. ft.Seats 2Power 550 HPFuel 118 galGross wt .4500 Ibs.Empty wt 3050 Ibs.Initial RlC. I65Oft./min.Range 680 milesCruising speed 210 mph

The Spartan Model 8W SIN I was the only Zeusever built. All of the company's plans for tapping themilitary market with this plane proved to be in vain.The career and ultimate fate of the Zeus is somewhatof a mystery. Early photos, including the factoryassembly line photo taken in 1937, show it withMexican military markings. Spartan was reported atthe time to be seeking a large contract with Mexicofor this warplane. This would lead to speculationthat the plane was actually sold for use in the Spanish

actual practice the plane would have only been usefulas a trainer. Its performance was roughly equivalentto the North American AT-6. Provisions were alsomade for the installation of floats. Hopefully, theNavy would be interested in the plane.

Under standard specifications, the gross weight ofthe ship with armament would be 4500 pounds.Empty weight would be 3050 pounds; ten 25 lb.bombs would weigh 250 pounds; it would carry 1200rounds of .30 caliber ammunition weighing 100pounds; 160 pounds of armament, 30 pounds of radio,and a crew of two weiglling 360 pounds.

Standard equipment called for a Pratt andWhitney Wasp S3HI engine of 550 horsepower, butthe Wright R975-E or Wasp Junior could also beinstalled. A Hamilton-Standard constant speedpropeller was fitted on the prototype. Also includedas standard equipment were: Eclipse starter, Eclipsegenerator, Autofan wheels, General streamline tires,Cleveland Pneumatic aerol shock struts, Grimeswing position lights, Pyle-National tail light,Reading 12 volt battery, fire extinguisher, fresh airducts, stick control and Bendix brakes.

A complete set of instruments was provided,either Pioneer or Kollsman, including an airspeedindicator, altimeter, turn and bank indicator, plus allappropriate engine instruments.

Spartan Executive assembly line, Zeus shown secondfrom front.

SPARTAN

The next attempt to enter the military market was

more serious, and involved the near completemodification of the Executive fuselage structure.This plane would be called the "Zeus", after theancient Greek god who was "Ruler of the Heavens".

Under the direction of Walter Hurty, chiefengineer for Spartan, the prototype was started downthe assembly line in early 1937. Factory photos showit partially completed, evidently being built just afterSIN 10 Executive, having been given a SIN 8W-I,and identified as NX17612. According to companypress releases, the plane would out-perform anysingle engine military ship then on the market.

The "Zeus" was described as a two-place attackbomber, designed for maximum efficiency in eitherdefense or offense. The airplane would carry ten 25lb. bombs, five under each wing, and three machineguns. The cockpits were arranged so the pilotoccupied the front, and the observer, or bombardier,occupied the rear. One of the machine guns was

flexibly mounted for use by theobserver. The other two weremounted in the wings, fixed so asto fire forward at the direction ofthe pilot.

However, the plane could bearranged in other ways than as anattack bomber. It could also beused as a two-place fighter or a twoplace observation plane. Anotherversion was being planned to beused for advanced trainingpurposes. Of course, when used asa trainer, the armament would beremoved and certain other changeswould be made, including completedual controls and instrumentpanels. (Note: Although these

JUPTNER were logical ideas at the time, inThe same Spartan 7W-P-J shot down in China.

Digest for September of that year. The modificationsrequired new certification; ATC #646 was awardedon 6-28-37.

The Chinese government had for some timemaintained a relationship with Spartan. Over theyears several of the flying students at the SpartanSchool had been Chinese. The last Model C-5-301monoplane had been exported to that country in 1935.

So it was not surprising to learn that thisphotographic Model 7 was sent to China underExport C of A #E2740 dated 7-16-37. Companyphotos show the plane, with Chinese markings, beingcrated for shipment at the Spartan plant. It wasdelivered to China Airmotive in Shanghai, intendedfor the Chinese government. There it was painted acamouflage color and received an identificationnumber, 1309. Several years later, a photo inPopular Aviation showed the plane nosed down in ariver, guarded by Chinese soldiers. There is norecord of any salvage.

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122 The Spartan Story The Spartan Warbirds 123

MALOy

..._lbs.

nll.4IItCltAn" ...."U

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UNIT.EO STATES OF AMER:CACIlPA"TI<IlNT 0'" COf,oIIoCUOCll:

IUIlU.U Of:.ull co... "'Dta

LICENSE AUTHORIZATION

re-engining the plane, in fact a project was launchedto install a surplus Ranger V-12 engine, retrievedfrom scrapped L-21's. But it soon became evidentthat this would result in an extremely nose-heavymachine, and the idea was scrapped.

So the Spartan Zeus, which had been introducedwith such high hopes and publicity, ended its life asa hangar queen, used to train students for work onother, more successful airplanes.

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~ H::t. :'1"':oj Mu:mum pay load is --- lbe. with (ull fuel tanlu .._.~8 .. ...'-.;5 ::: a Carvo .~cu: Location .nd upacity 'S.xtH3rimon±al. Only bona., !ida mflD-.oM :1 ~b8rB ot ere? l:'Iay be carrlerf in this aircraft.~ ~ -l THIS (r.AnnES, ,..., 11M .l h en k •• hu ,..'d •..., ." '- IIH I"" .. 1K....... l of•••::I 0 11lo.••-..l , , ••_ •• , _ _ ~ \0 01 _.1 .. __ oJ .

;" :3'3' u,;,u .July.. H •. 193L .,. -51.::: ~o,l Owner 5p.attan Aircr9.tt Company, Inc. . .j i~ d:re..,I) •...;I'..:: 264.'J\.-.':'u1Ba. ~1:lO:.c..~ ?.,.;;/'.J § - .

el 0 •.. _/.f:--!.~ .,~ ~':--- I -T-<:'...<.1A:J .::!' -'" ~ '\9.p;;-.rm.nt tf Commere-""lupKto.) .

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Zeus experimental license.

civil war, as had some of its earlierExecutive cousins. Later, in 1939, it was

issued an special experimental license for"One flight from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to LosAngeles & return before 8-24-39".

There is no record as to the outcome ofthis trip. Likely it was made to demonstratethe plane to either foreign or domesticmilitary buyers.

Later the plane is pictured in publicityphotos showing typical work being done bystudents in the mechanics school. When aspecial program opened in October of 1941to train employees for the new Tulsabomber plant, the plane was shown in shopphotos accompanied by this press release:

"At the inception, Spartan will offer twocourses of 480 hours each. To theelaborate and modern equipment already available,Spartan had recently added a $40,000 Spartan Zeusmilitary fighter. This airplane is an all-metal, low­wing monoplane powered by a 550 HP Hornetengine. The engine, instruments, propeller,lubrication and fuel systems are complete. As far asis known, Spartan is the only school in the country tomake available this high type oftraining. "

After the war ended, some thought was given to

39' --------i~

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Spartan Zeus three-view drawing. SPARTANSpartan Zeus with Mexican markin . SPARTAN

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124 The Spartan Story The Spartan Warbirds 125

BROOKS

was painted in Army training colors, blue fuselageand yellow wings. Completed on September 23,1939, it was flown on that date by none other thanJess Green, Spartan's Director. In a 1990 interviewGreen remembered doing test flying and workingwith the engineers to get an Approved TypeCertificate for the new design. They wereunsuccessful at that time due to the plane'streacherous spin characteristics. A spin chute had tobe used in order to recover, certainly not anacceptable condition.

Before these problems were solved, Green leftthe company to become an official with the CAA.Development work continued, and the variousproblems were remedied, but the Army was evidentlynot impressed with the new plane, no orders fromthem resulted. The prototype was kept in the shopsfor use in student training, finally being cut up forscrap tubing in 1944.

However, almost a year later the companyannounced the sale of 200 of these primary trainersto the Navy. The Tulsa World newspaper carried aphoto of the plane and the following announcementon July 6, 1940:

"SPARTAN WILL BUILD THIS TYPE PLANEFOR NA VY. Here is a prototype of the primarytraining ship that will be built by the Spartan Aircraftcompany for the United States Navy. The Spartancompany Friday was awarded a contract by the avydepartment totalling 1, 59,8 0 for approximat I200 of the ships to be built a ordin to avspecifications. Official ofthe partan mpany aidthey had not yet received the official ontra t andcould not say when work on the new training plan .

would start or what expan ion intheir plant the work will entail.This ship is an experimentalmodel constructed and tested lastSeptember. "

Landing a big Navy planecontract was a real coup forSpartan. While they had beenextremely successful in gainingcontracts for their flying andmechanics schools, the aircraftfactory had languished withoutsignificant production for someyears. But signing a contract andbuilding quality aircraft to a timeschedule are two different things,as the Spartan factory people weresoon to learn.

SPECIFICATION COMPARISON

C-3-225 NP-1

Gross Wt. 27001bs. 29551bs.

Empty Wt. 1741 Ibs. 22501bs.

Useful Load 9591bs. 7061bs.

Max Speed 132 mph 108 mph

Stall Speed 52 mph 48 mph

Climb 1160 ftfmin 725 ftfmin

Wing Area 291 sq. ft. 303 sq. ft.

Wing Loading 9.5 Ib/sq. ft. 10.22 Ib/sq. ft.

C-3-225 compared to the NP-1.

weight was caused by a number of factors. In thewings, the spars were no longer built up beams, butwere solid spruce. The ribs were much heavier.Wing tips, tail and front fuselage cover were nowmetal. The landing gear was wider and stronger.Both the rate of climb and the airspeed performancedeteriorated significantly. Certainly, precisionaerobatics would be difficult with such anunderpowered, or overweight, machine.

Actually, the plane was first named the NS-I, andoffered to the U. S. Army. The prototype NX17634

Randy Brooks working on the NP-1 prototype.

As can be seen from the comparison, the planehad gained over 500 pounds in empty weight, yet wascarrying approximately the same 220 HP. This extra

SPARTAN

unrolled the old blueprints, dusted off the longunused production jigs and went to work. Theprototype was given an N number, 17634, whichindicated it was built just after Executive SIN 21,NC17633, in July of 1939.

The fuselage frame jigs that were used to build theSpartan C-3's in the late 1920's were utilized toconstuct the side panels for the new plane. However,the fuselage was narrowed 12 inches since the trainerwas to have a single place front cockpit. In otherareas, more modern methods of construction wereintroduced. The fin and stabilizer were stressed skinaluminum alloy construction and the elevators andrudder were of riveted dural framework, fabriccovered. The wingspan was extended over 18 inchesby the addition of all-aluminum, easily replaceable,wingtips. This feature was probably suggested by theinevitability of student-induced ground loops. Forease in servicing, the front of the fuselage wascovered with aluminum lift-off panels, with fabric aftof the rear cockpit. The landing gear was redesigned,with a "pylon" extension on the bottom of thefuselage to attach the diagonal struts. The LycomingModel R-680-8, a more modern engine than the oldWrights, was adopted. It produced 220 HP whenturning 2100 RPM at sea level. A comparison of theC-3 specifications with that of the new NP-I is shownfollowing.

Spartan NS-1 Prototype.

THE SPARTAN NP-1 NAVY TRAINER

With the expansion of flight training facilitiestaking place throughout the nation, the need forprimary trainers became critical. Those available,the Stearman PT-13, the Waco UPF-7 and theFairchild PT-19 were in very short supply. WhenSpartan began training Air Corps cadets in thesummer of 1939, they first had to use the antiquatedPT-3's furnished by the military. So it seemed logicalto the Spartan management that they enter themarket with a plane of their own. Thus the NP-ISpartan biplane trainer was born.

Years before, Spartan had built the rugged C-3series of biplanes, and were still using them in theircivilian flight training division. By upgrading thisexisting model, they could manufacture a suitableplane without the expense of a complete newdesigning effort. But they also had the C-2-165 lowwing model which had been used for some years as anavigational trainer in their flight school. Indeed, ithad been called the "Army Trainer" by the studentsin the 1930's. It was evidently a satisfactorymachine, and was roughly equivalent to the FairchildPT-19 or the Ryan PT-22. Nevertheless, engineersFred Stewart and Lloyd Pearce were assigned todesign a biplane trainer in the summer of 1939. They

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126 The Spartan Story The Spartan Warbirds 127

DESCRIPTlOO OF 'lHE AIRPLANE

2955.5 lbs.706.0 lbs.

2250.25 lbll.

The Model NP-l &irplane is a single engine two-place biplanewhich was designed and constructed in accordance with Bureauof Aeronautics specification SD-278A. for prim&r7 traininguses.

The characteristics of the airplane are:

Gross Weight (43 Gallons fuel) •••••••••••••.•••••••Useful Load •••••••••••••..•••••••••••••••••••••••••We ight Empty •••••••••••..•••••••.••••••••••••••••••Engine, Lycoming, Model R-680-8, 220 H. P•

at 2100 R.P.M. at sea level.Full Speed at Sea Level •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 108.5 M.P.H.Full Speed at 4000 ft. alt ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 105.7 KoP~o

Full Speed at 8000 ft. alt •••••••••••••••••••••••• 102.5 M.P.H.Stalling Speed at sea level........................ 47.9 M.P.H.Initial rate of climb at sea level ••••••••••••••••• 720. ft/min.Climb to 5,000 ft. alt. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 8.5 min.Climb to 10.000 ft. alt. ••••••••••• ••••••••••••••• 22.5 nn.S~rvice Ceiling •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 13200.0 ft.Endurance at 108.5 mph (sea level) ••••••••••••••• 2.15 hrs.Endurance at 97.S.mph (sea level) ••••••••••••••••• 2.90 hrs.Endurance at 65.0 mph (sealevel) •••••••••••••••••• 3.90 hrs.Maximum Endurance ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 3.90 hrs.Maxim\.1I!l RBJ1ge ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 300.0 mi.Average Speed for Maximum range ••••••••••••••••••••• 86.0 mphWing LOading (gross weight1 ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 10 0 221bs.Power Loading (gross weight) •••••••••••••••••••••• 13.441bll.Wing Area •••.•••••••••••••••.•••••.•••.••••••••••••• 303.2 aq.ft.Wing Span (upper wing) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 33' 9ft

Wing Span (lower Wing) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 31' ~J­Height, Upper Wing (approx~) •••••••••••••••••••••• 9' 8-3/4ft

Height. over tail (thrust line level) •••••••••••••• 10' 5ft

Ground Angle ••••••••••••••••••••••.•••••••••.••••••• 12° 29'Dihedral (upper & lower winbs) •••••••••••••••••••• 20

Wing incidence (upper & lower win&s) 10

Diameter of propeller (2 blades) •••••••••••••••••• 8' 6ft

Fuel Capacity ••••••.•••.••.••••.••..••..•.•••..••.• 43.0 galsoOil Capacity (not including foam space) •••••••••••• 4.5 gals.

1

.'•l'II

33'-a!"

Spartan NP-l three-view drawing. SPARTAN

Spwtan P-l specifications as Ii ted in the Navy handbook. SPARTAN

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128 The Spartan Story The Spartan Warbirds 129

10

REMARKS

"Satisfactory check. Landings were average toabove with the exception ofone almost ground loop.Safe for solo".

Thus, with only 11.8 hours of instruction, pilotGeorge Bush made his first solo flight in SpartanNP-l #3830 on November 31, 1942. Many of hisfellow cadets took more hours and some were forcedto go before a board to request even more time. Quitea few dropped out of the program and never soloed.

His first night flight was on February 1, 1943, andhis night solos February 2 and 4. Bush wellremembers the ice and snow of his early flights fromthe frozen Minnesota turf which increased the risk ofground loops. He recalls the bitter cold and the needto wear a face mask against the icy chill of the open,no-heat cockpits of the Spartans.

By the time he departed NAS Minneapolis, he hadmade 61 flights and his total flight time was 82.5 hrs,of which 24.7 hrs was solo time. He had passed everyflight check-no downs, no extra time, no boards,

f"" • /: ? .---Number Duratlon Char·

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so disorganized and inefficient. Within a week, hehad arrived in Tulsa and taken over.

Of course, some of the planes were beingdelivered to the Naval Air Training bases, and, whilenot well-liked, they were being used. One of the mostfamous of the Navy pilots who trained in a SpartanNP-1 was President George Bush.

When George Herbert Walker Bush climbed intothe cockpit of Spartan NP-1 #3787 on a coldNovember day in 1942, he certainly had no thoughtof becoming President of the United States. Rather,we may assume, the 18 year-old Naval Aviation Cadetwas concerned with his ability to quickly master themysteries of flying. He had been assigned to theNaval Air Station in Minneapolis, located at Wold­Chamberlain Field. This was to be his first flight,under the watchful eye of instructor 1. C. Crume. Itwent well, George was evidently an apt pupil. Afterseven more lessons, and a check ride with instructor1. A . Boyle, this was recorded in his log:

SPARTAN

a confidential report on the Spartan NP-I, alleging itwas nose-heavy, poorly welded, and nine months latein deliveries.

This was distressing news for Getty. While heowned Spartan, through his acquisition of Skelly Oil,he had little idea of what was going on there.Certainly he would not abide a management that was

Spartan NP-I nameplate.

When deliveries started on the NP-I, theNavy inspectors had continual complaints.Without experience in serial production orgovernment quality requirements, theSpartan planes were continually rejected.As re-work piled up, the delivery schedulesslipped. When the war started onDecember 7, 1941, less than half of theorder for 200 NP-I's had been delivered.

As will be covered in the next chapter,1. Paul Getty would take over the Spartanmanagement in early 1942. There isevidence that this move was prompted by aconversation Getty had with his friend,Jack Swerbul who was president ofGrumman Aircraft. At a chance dinnermeeting on February 17, 1942, in Washington, D.C.,Swerbul was reported to have said, "Spartan stinks.We've had to reject every goddamned thing they haveproduced." He went on to explain that Grummanhad sub-contracted parts for fighter planes to Spartanand that "the quality oftheir product was poor, andthey are months behind schedule" He then pulled out

NP-I prototype with N-number and ring cowl. SPARTAN President George Bush's log book recording his solo flight in a Spartan NP-l. NAVAL MUSEUM

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130 The Spartan Story War om s To 'P rtan 131

Special NP-J in the Spar/an shops being readied/or a presentation ceremony.

VJ.V 'fJ1{]J.-.~f'. /1;/Y

,.... . -MINN::A bOLl3. MI;~N.

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f orv/ald.-1.15 Ilg [0 ry:fr'unlh -I (\Ial

/4i t.o -v-Y. !\l I~ate

I certify th t the foregoing flight record is correct

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SPARTAN

guards, some furnished by the military, patrolled thegrounds. These requirements were not particularlyburdensome, and the company's location in the centerof the country certainly made the likelihood of enemyattack quite remote. The position of Plant ProtectionManager was created, the job given to Pat Johnsonwho hailed from Headrick, OklallOma.

The factory and school schedules underwentsignificant change when both went on a six-dayweek, starting on February 2, 1942. The schoolcalendar now included five terms of ten weeks, whichwould allow the mechanics course to be completed injust nine months. The two-year engineering coursescould now be finished in fifteen months. At the sametime, anticipating the shortage of men due to thedemands of the armed services, all courses wereopened to women. In January, forty women startedinstruction in aircraft fabric covering; when theycompleted the work they would be offered jobs in the

Chapter Ten

War Comes To Spartan(1941-1946)

Almost everyone born in the United States before1930 can remember one specific day in their lives,Sunday, December 7, 1941. On that day Japanattacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, andthe U. S. was suddenly, and unexpectedly to most, atwar. No different than at most companies, theemployees of Spartan reported to work Mondaymorning, wondering what was in store for them andtheir organization. Certainly, they were alreadyplaying a major part in the war effort, both intraining airmen and building planes. It seemedlogical to expect that both areas would be greatlyexpanded in the months to come, and they were.

The first noticeable change involved securitymeasures. Because of the Army training contracts,some procedures were already in place, but thesewere almost immediately strengthened andexpanded. Everyone was issued name badges whichthey were required to wear at all times. Armed

J. Paul Getty presents an NP-J Spartan trainer to the Navy.

GoODHEAD

and no rechecks. The Spartan biplaneshe flew had served him well.

Regrettably, George Bush would failhis final flight check, the 1992Presidential election. War hero Bushwould be defeated by the younger BillClinton, who avoided serving in themilitary.

The 7W-P, the Zeus, and the NP-INavy Primary Trainer were the onlySpartan produced planes which couldtruly qualify as "Warbirds". However,Spartan did playa major role in wartimeaviation production for the United States,building sub-assemblies for some of itsmost famous fighting planes. HowSpartan grew and thrived during thiswartime period is told in Chapter 10following.

NAVAL MUSEUM.George Bush 's log-book signature.

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132 The Spartan Story War Comes To Spartan 133

Administration building, Tulsa Municipal Airport, J943. Note biplane trainer in background.J. Paul Getty in his office at the Spartan Company. SPARTAN

began immediately to flow at a rate of 100 barrels perday. George Getty was instantly an oil tycoon,something he would not have imagined a few monthsbefore. Organized now as the Minnehoma OilCompany, George Getty began drilJing a second welJon lot 50 at once. This welJ came in with productionequal to the first. Together they were yielding 2500barrels per month for Getty, giving him a net incomeof over $2,000.

George Getty evidently wanted his son to share inthe experiences of this new enterprise, for he tookhim out of Emerson school for six weeks, and movedthe family temporarily to the Rightway Hotel inBartlesvilJe. It was an exciting time for an elevenyear-old boy; Indian Territory was full of colorfulsights. Indians, cowboys and oil roughnecks walkedthe board sidewalks of the boom town; thesurrounding prairie hilJs were still largelyuninhabited. Travel was by horse and buggy, it tooktwo hours to cover the trail from the town to lot 50.This was J. Paul's first exposure to the oil business,and he liked it.

J. PAUL GETTYJean Paul Getty was born on December 15, 1892,

to George Franklin Getty and Sara Catherine(Risher) Getty of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The elderGettys had met while attending Ohio NormalCollege, and were married upon graduation there.Later, George continued his education at theUniversity of Michigan's law school, passing his barexaminations in 1882. Moving to the rapidly­growing city of Minneapolis, he became quitesuccessful, becoming legal counsel for several largecorporations.

Sara and George had been blessed early in theirmarriage by the birth of a daughter, Gertrude Lois.Sara's precarious health seemed to preclude herhaving more children, so it was a devastating tragedywhen their daughter died suddenly during a typhoidepidemic in 1890. Sara grieved openly for over ayear, and George turned to the Christian ScienceChurch for solace.

It was a complete and unexpectedsurprise when, at the age of 39, Saradiscovered that she was againpregnant. Just before Christmas, in1892, she gave birth to a healthy babyboy.

J. Paul Getty grew up in modestluxury in Minneapolis, attending theEmerson Grammar School, andenjoying the usual outdoor boyhoodsports such as swimming, huntingand fishing. The family had nointerest in, or connection to, the oilindustry until George made abusiness trip to the "boom town" ofBartJesvilJe, Indian Territory, in1903. He had been sent there by aclient, the Northwestern NationalLife Insurance Co. to settle a claim.Intrigued by the rumors of fortunesbeing made by the colorful"wildcatters" he met in the RightwayHotel, he purchased, for $500, the oilrights to Lot 50 on a lease in theOsage Nation west of town. DrilJingbegan on this lot in October, and inDecember 1903 oil was found at1400 feet. The welJ was a gusher and

SPARTAN

imminent, Spartan School is now accepting womenstudents in all courses on an equal basis with men.Spartan School is offering coeducational training.Aviation needs men, and women, immediately."

Production job training was not the onlyopportunity offered female students. Over thirtywomen were emolJed in the various flight courses atthe Spartan School; most expecting to become flightinstructors. They had formed a group called the"Tulsa Women's Air Corps" and regularly flew theschool's BL-65 Taylorcraft trainer.

The flight school benefitted immediately from thewartime restrictions put on private flying. Due to thepanic following the Pearl Harbor debacle, privateflying was banned within 150 miles of the Pacificocean. This effectively closed many of the Californiaschools; their students transferred to Tulsa. Flyingwas also curtailed on the east coast, a number ofstudents from Mitchell Field near New York camewest to fly.

But these modest accommodations to wartimeconditions were nothing compared to themonumental changes that would shortly come toSpartan. Few noticed when, on the morning ofFebruary 23, 1942, a tall, stooped man with a longface, large nose and rather doleful expression,alighted from a taxi and entered the plant. J. PaulGetty had arrived, and Spartan would never be thesame.

Spartan factory. In the January-February edition ofthe Spartan News newsletter, this editorial noted theneed for women in industry:

"President Roosevelt has askedfor 60,000 planesa year in J942 and J25,000 in J943. The generalpublic cannot realize the tremendous task that liesahead. The problems of plant expansion andpersonnel are tremendous. Airplanes cannot berolled offproduction lines like automobiles. Thereare thousands of parts and even a medium sizedbomber requires J0,000 inspections.

"The Selective Service is drawing many potentialmechanics into active service with the armed forces.The answer to personnel problems in airplane plantswill be, to a great extent, the employment ofwomen,as is done in England. They are willing and able toqualifY for about 60 percent ofthe work.

"The Spartan School has proved this point to itsown satisfaction in the training offorty women forthe Spartan Factory. The demand for spaces in thisspecial training class was tremendous. It isestimated that there were jive times as manyapplicants as we neededfor our jirst test group.

"Instructors report that ability equal, and evensuperior to that of men, was shown in suchoperations as fabric covering, riveting, and otherfabrication operations. They applied themselvesdiligently and learned quickly.

"Realizing that a severe shortage ofmanpower is

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134 The Spartan Story

With the certainty of these new oil richesavailable, George and Sara decided to leave the coldclimate of Minneapolis, and move to Los Angeles.Since their business interests now centered inOklahoma, it was as easy to travel there from thewest coast, and the weather would be much moresuitable for Sara's delicate health.

1. Paul was overjoyed at this move; California was

a much more exciting place than Minnesota, and theoutdoor sports he loved were available year-round.However, his enthusiasm was dimmed somewhatwhen his father enrolled him in the Harvard MilitaryAcademy. While he enjoyed the academic programwhich concentrated on the classics, he detestedregimentation which required uniforms andmarching drills. Heeding his complaints, his parentsallowed him to transfer to the local Polytechnic HighSchool, from which he graduated in 1909.

During that summer he requested a chance towork in the Bartlesville, Okla. oil fields, to "learn thebusiness". He was in good physical condition at thistime; nearly six feet tall and weighing over 160 Ibs.

Sparlan Flying School, 1942.

His father evidently thought the hard work aroundthe oil derricks would mature the young man, whohad become something of a playboy in the affluentLos Angeles society. Later reports from the fieldsuggest he tried hard while doing the most menialjobs, and earned the respect of his fellow workmen.

That fall he enrolled in University of SouthernCalifornia to study economics and political science.He ignored the college social life, considering itfrivolous and juvenile, but was pleased with theacademic atmosphere. Each summer he would returnto Bartlesville, working as a roustabout in the oilfields, finally advancing to the skilled trade of tool­dresser. In his final year, 1910, he transferred to theUniversity of California at Berkeley near SanFrancisco, but left before graduating.

Having taken several European tours with hisparents, 1. Paul was convinced he could best beeducated abroad, probably at Oxford. In the fall of1911 he enrolled there, presenting to the Head ofMagdelen College a letter of introduction signed bythe U. S. President, William Howard Taft.

SPARTAN

He spent two years at Oxford, greatly impressedby the adult manner in which the students deportedthemselves, and the lack of supervision by theprofessors. One of his friends was the Duke ofWindsor, who briefly became King in 1936. In Juneof 1913 Getty sat for his diploma in economics andpolitical science and passed easily.

After a leisurely year spent in Europe andCalifornia, he decided to move to Oklahoma and gointo the oil business. It was during this period thathe met Bill Skelly for the first time, but only as acasual acquaintance. Getty proved to be an astutebusinessman, and before long was a millionaire inhis own right. In the early 1920's he moved back toCalifornia, and became heavily involved indeveloping the new oilfields around Long Beach.

Then, in 1923, 1. Paul Getty, the internationalplayboy, unexpectedly announced his marriage (thefirst of five) to eighteen-year-old Jeanette Dumont.Over the years, throughout this and later marriages,he continued his eager pursuit of beautiful women.While not germane to this history, Getty's romanticescapades certainly overshadowed his businessactivities in the popular press for much of his life.

By the late 1920's George Getty was too old andtired to handle his extensive enterprises, so it wasnatural for 1. Paul to take over. By May of 1930,when his father died, he was effectively in charge ofmuch of the Getty holdings. This allowed him topursue his dream of building a truly gigantic oilempire.

As his first large acquisition, he set his sights onthe Tide Water Associated Oil Company, then ownedby Jersey Standard. When Bill Skelly got intofinancial troubles in the early 1930's, he had beenforced to sell controlling interest in his company toJersey Standard, but had remained as manager. Itwas through this long and torturous fight for controlof Tide Water that Getty ultimately came to Spartan.

It happened almost by accident. When Getty firstattempted a hostile takeover of Tide Water, in 1933,Jersey Standard spun off a holding company namedThe Mission Corporation. Included in Mission'sassets was the relatively small Skelly Oil Company.When he was unable to garner enough shares of TideWater to control the company, Getty turned to theMission Corporation, and through a series of brilliantfinancial moves, acquired control in 1935. While thiswould ultimately lead to control of Tide Water, andthe enmassing of the Getty fortune, for the purposesof this history it is enough to note that Getty nowowned the Skelly Oil Company.

War Comes To Spartan 135

Of course Bill Skelly was furious. JerseyStandard had let him run his own show, now he wasafraid Getty would move in and actively manage hiscompany. That did not happen. Getty ignoredSkelly, and it was not until December 7, 1939, thathe made his first visit to inspect his holdings. Hespent only one day in Tulsa. In the morning, inSkelly offices downtown, he went over the oilbusiness figures, and found them satisfactory. Notsurprisingly, Bill Skelly, who was supposed to meetGetty that day, "had been called out of town onurgent business". During the afternoon, Getty visitedthe Spartan factory and school. He found what hecalled "a run-down little plant employing no morethan sixty workers." But he was greatly impressed by"Captain" Max Balfour. He was running a profitableschool training hundreds of Army cadets, andappeared to be the kind of manager Gettyappreciated. After this one-day visit, Getty left forthe west coast, and did not return for over two years.

When the war started in December of 1941, 1.Paul Getty immediately tried to enlist. Knowing theNavy's penchant for bestowing commissions on therich and famous, he went to Washington to contactFrank Knox, the Secretary of the Navy. It was duringthis visit that he first learned of Spartan's troubles, asmentioned earlier in Chapter Nine. Knox told Gettythat his age, now 49, would preclude receiving aNavy commission, but that he should tum his talentsto managing the Spartan company. Knox said:

"The most useful thing you can do for the Navyand your country is to forget about putting on auniform, drop all your other business activities, andtake over the personal management of Spartan. "Thus it was that 1. Paul Getty canle to Spartan on thatcold morning in February, 1942.

Upon his arrival at the Spartan plant, and after aquick visit to the offices of Spartan's managers, Gettyspent the morning touring the factory, inspecting itfrom one end to the other. It made a strange sight,the tall dour patrician in an impeccably tailoreddouble breasted dark suit, prowling through thecluttered walkways of the plant. Perhaps because ofhis appearance, or because his reputation as a "LadiesMan" had preceded him, the girls on the assemblyline would give him wolf whistles as he passed. Hechose to ignore their salutes, even though theycontinued throughout his tenure at Spartan.

At lunch time he joined the line of overalledworkmen in the company cafeteria, then seated

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136 The Spartan Story I/,

AMessage From Spartan's NewPresident, J. Paul Getty

Spartan was an honored name in ancient Greece over2,000 years ago. It is an honored name in the aviation worldtoday. Let's keep it so and make it even more glorious. I\\'111 do m), best. and I know you will too.

-J. PAUL GETTY

President, Spartan Aircraft Co

A battle is being fought every day in everv one of theUnited Nations and in everyone of the Axis Kations. It isthe battle of production. The greatest battle in the produc­tIOn war IS bemg fought every day in our own country. Greatfactones and modern machme tools will not win this battle.All they can do is to help us to win. The war is a personalmatter for everyone of us. If we win we shall have peace andsecurity for our loved ones and ourselve. If 'we lose weshall have nothing but shame and sorrow. Nei~her our Jivesnor our personal possessions will he secure.

Our country did not want war. Everybody knows thatAmerica is the most generous, altruistic and charitable lando~ the face of the globe. VI'e were always Japan's greatfnend. VI/e were always her principal customer. Withoutthe American market Japan would never have been a greatpower. Italy was able to emerge from its traditional povertythrough the vast sums of American money which went toItaly from the remittances of Italian immigrants and theexpenditures of American tourists. A fter the first worldwar. "'heu other nation- were demanding and receiving huge~ums as reparations from Germany, America was generouslylendmg ItS former enemy hundreds of millions of dollars.] t is said that there is hardly a modern apartment houseathletic. field or public wimming pool in Germany that wa~not enttrely or partIally fmanced with the proceeds of Ger­man loans made in the 1920's in New York.

Fr?m the s~art of the European war in September, 1939,Amencan foreIgn pohc)' has been in accordance with inter­natIonal law. As the war progre sed. and especiallv afterthe fall of France. an increasing number of our ~itizensbecame aware that our own security might ultimately bethreatened and that a great expansion of our militarv andnaval power, together with more active support of -GreatBntam and ItS alhes. was urgently needed. Our governmentfortunately lost little time, and a year and a half ago thedefense program was already under way. Three monthsago the Japanese attacked us in a manner so infamous andtreacherous that history finds no parallel for it. A few dayslater Hitler and 11ussolini declared war on us. Our con­science is clear; we did not provoke the quarrel nor shedthe first blood. Our duty is clear. Vile must reduce anddestroy the military and naval power of our enemies andwhen their military and naval power is destroved we 'mustand we will see that it is not openly or clandestinelv restored.Two world wars are enough in one generation-=--we don'twant three.

Spartan Aircraft Company has two regiments. the Spar­t~n school and the Spartan factory, in the greatest produc­tIOn battle of all tIme. We are the men behind the men behindthe guns. What we do in the scbool and factory is just asImportant. If not as heroic, as though we were on the battle­field itself.

"SPARTANAIRCRAFT PLANS BIG EXPANSION""Floor Space to be Doubled, Personnel Tripled,

New Contracts Reported."Plans for a major expansion of the Spartan

Aircrajl Company are under definite considerationaccording to J. Paul Getty, President of thecompany. Drawings of the proposed expansion ofthe factory have been made and are now beingstudied by Mr. Getty, Captain Maxwell Balfour andMr. Kenneth Walkey, Works Manager. The plant hasalready been put on a 24 hour work shifl, in order tohandle increased aircrajl component contracts. "

An architect's sketch showed a large monitor-typeaddition to be built on the east end of the presentSpartan factory. Getty is quoted as saying: "1 am tooold to go to war, and consider an airplane factorynearly as important as the front line in the war".

While Getty was in charge of the entire Spartanorganization, he left most aspects of the Spartan

SPARTANSpartan aircrajljactmy; 1943 expansion slarled.

These changes bore immediate results. In March itwas announced that seven NP-l trainers had beendelivered to the Navy in one day. A publicity blitz inApril described the presentation to the Navy of a"donated" NP-l; the materials furnished by Spartan,and the labor given by the plant workers.

When his new team had settled in, Getty began tosearch out new aircraft manufacturing opportunitiesfor Spartan. He contacted his old friend, the boss ofGrumman, Jack Swerbul, and in May was awarded acontract to build wings for the Grumman fighter.There is no doubt that Getty's reputation as an astutemanager had much to do with the acquisition of thiscontract.

In June it was announced that Spartan would alsoproduce doors for bombers, and fuselages for anotherfighter plane. (Secret at the time, these were P-38parts). Local headlines soon reported:

SPARTAN NEWSGelty editorial, 1942.

"AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROMMR. W. G. SKELLY;"

"To the employees ofthe Spartan Company--"1 have resigned as President of the Spartan

Aircraft Company in order to be able, during thistime ofperplexing war emergency, to devote full timeto my duties as President ofthe Skelly Oil Company.

''Mr. J. Paul Getty has been elected today asPresident of the Spartan Aircraft Company. Forseveral years Mr. Getty has been one of my closebusiness associates. By taking an active part inSpartan's management, he will have the satisfactionoffeeling that he is making a direct contribution toour great National War effort.

" 0 change in operating personnel or policy iscontemplated. Every employee of this Company isrequested to give Mr. Getty his best effort to the endthat we may KEEP 'EM FLYING at Spartan.

" Signed: W. G. SKELLY"

By noon, a large portrait of Getty was hungABOVE the picture of Bill Skelly in the companycafeteria. Getty was completely in charge.

For the first several weeks, he spent all his timelearning every facet of the business. He askedquestions of the men on the plant floor, and pouredover the statistics from the various departments.Each night he would take a packed briefcase home tohis suite in Tulsa's finest hotel, the Mayo. Alwaysable to learn quickly, he was soon able to discuss withconfidence many of the technical processes involvedin aircraft manufacture.

When he had decided what was needed, he movedquickly. In April, Kenneth C. Walkey, a productionexpert from Douglas, was hired to be WorksManager. It would be Walkey's task to reorganizethe production flow in the plant so as to make it moreefficient. Alfred Reitherman, an experiencedengineer, canle on board as a special assistant to bothGetty and Balfour. Harold Littleton, a young tooldesigner, became Tool Planning Supervisor.

himself with several of the company executives.After lunch, he called the entire management teanl toa meeting behind closed doors which went on into theevening. He informed the group in no uncertainterms that he was taking over, and anyone not"shaping up" would be immediately dismissed. Fromthat day forward he expected quality to improve anddelivery dates to be met.

The next morning all the company bulletin boardshad the following notice posted:

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138 The Spartan Story War Comes To Spartan 139

Famous Filer Tnlned At Spartan

GoODHEADEntrance to Getty's "Bomb Shelter".

past. But Getty was a person who watched thesmallest details, and often changed a sentence, oreven a word, in the writings of his subordinates. Anexisting copy of the April 30, 1942, preliminary letterto the stockholders shows a number of his hand­written corrections and modifications.

By the SUlmner of 1942, it was apparent to Gettythat he would be required in Tulsa for the duration ofthe war. Leaving the Mayo Hotel, he purchased alarge apartment in the Sophian Plaza, certainly one

of the most exclusive residences in the city. It wasabout this time that he ordered the construction of thefamous (or infamous) "Bomb Shelter" near theSpartan factory. This was actually an office­residence for his use, built with a half-basement.The house walls were 18 inches thick, made of steelreinforced concrete, supposedly able to withstand theblast of a large bomb. The cost was rumored to befrom $30,000 to as much as $100,000. Speculationas to why Getty built this shelter was ranlpant andcontinues to this day. Some say he was actuallyafraid there would be air raids on the nearby Douglasbomber plant, others suggest a more reasonable fearof the legendary Oklahoma tornadoes. In this hewould be justified, as were the first settlers in theOklahoma Territory. One of the first structures to bebuilt on their claims would always be a "Fraidy Hole"tornado shelter. The concrete remains of theseshelters still dot the Oklalloma rural landscape today.

Balfour always maintained it was built so thatGetty could be close to the plant, and would not haveto make the long journey home to downtown TulsaFORDFireplace in the "Bomb Shelter".

attracted a number of female students. Instrumentoverhaul offered similar benefits for women, in fact,a special eleven week "Women's InstrumentTechnician's" course was offered. Radio engineers,operators and mechanics could all find suitabletraining in the Spartan curriculum. As an exampleof the increasing enrollment of women, BarbaraFriend was elected Vice-President of the Dawn Patrolin December of 1942 and Betty Neck was electedSecretary.

It was always news when a national figure, moviestar or sports personage, entered one of the armedservices. In December of 1942, Spartan announcedthat Ben Hogan, America's most famous golfer of theday, was enrolling in the flying training program.Hogan had won the most tournaments that year, five,and had also been the top professional golf moneywinner. Too old for combat service, he expected tobecome a flight instructor. He graduated severalmonths later and went on to train Army fliers formore than a year.

Although Balfour had considerable freedom in themanagement of all Spartan School matters, Getty stilltook much pride in the students, especially the pilots.Busy as he was, he took time to attend theirgraduation ceremonies, and to laboriously sign all thediplomas.

Certainly he watched the financial performance ofthe company closely, very closely, it seems. Whenthe accountants prepared the 1941 Spartan annualreport to the stockholders they probably thought itwould be routinely approved, as it had been in the

SPARTAN NEWS

Rated One or tbe Grealut Flabter Pilou of the Wu

Lance C. Wade, wing commander in the Royal Air Force,who received his early training at Spartan School of Aero·nautics, has been killed in Italy.

Wade's many brave deeds and daring exploits have beenreCorded by almost every American newspaper in the coun­try. He knew bow to fight about as well as anyone and couldoutfly most of the fighter pUots of the world. His twenty­five officially confirmed victories over enemy aircraft areevidence of his ability as a combat pilot.

Lance was decorated with the British Distinguished Fly­ing Cross and two bars is well as several other medals andcitations. Such awards rested lightly upon this twenty-sevenyear old hero. He was muc1l prouder of the achievements ofhis squadron than he was of the honors he bim6elf received.He fought with the RA.F. all through the Middle East cam­paign, helped drive Rommel out of Africa, clear the air forAllied troops in Sicily, and later in Italy.

Lance, whose home is in Reklaw, Texas, was a member ofthe second group of United Kingdom Re1resher students whocame to Spartan in December, 1940. He completed his train­ing at Spartan in April, 1941 and was sent to England. Therehe was trained in an operational unit and assigned to theEgyptian Theater where he fought against Rommel's bestpilou. Tom Treanor, war correspondent in Egypt, said in194.2, "He'. one of the tinest !liert in this Western Desert ofAfrica." In the early part of 1943, the Associated Press re~

ported Lance as the leading tighter pilot in the R.A.F. sec­tion of the western desert air force.

Lance almost didn't get to Oy at all. When he first cameto Spartan, he lacked the required hours of flying experiencefor qualification under the U.K.R. coune. Spartan officialswere about to reject him, but decided to give him the chancebe begged.

Shortly before his death Lance was promoted fromsquadron leader to wing commander, which is equivalent tolieutenant colonel in the American forces, and placed on thelta!f of Air Vice Marshall Harry Broadhurst, commander ofthe Desert Air Force.

On January 12. 194-4, Lance was killed in Italy. A smallcommunications plane be was !lying crashed several milesbehind the lines. He ,... buried with full military honors ina British war cemeter)l.-tri Italy.

Wing Commander Lanee Wade, Killed

an Army cadet in the Spartan program, graduating inClass 42-1.

Mrs. Claude Swais later joined the WACS andreceived her basic training at Fort Oglethorpe,Georgia. In August of 1944 she was assigned to theNewcastle Army Air Base at Wilmington, Delaware,where she would work in the Air TransportCommand as a personnel specialist. She re-marriedafter the war.

Lt. Lance Wade was one of the most decorated ofthe UKR volunteers. A fighter pilot, he was creditedwith downing fifteen enemy planes before his returnto the United States on leave in December of 1942.His exploits were recounted in a Spartan News itemat that time. Later, in 1944, another news article,appropriately edged in black, told of his death in aplane crash.

Schooling for various technical skills required forthe ground support of aviation was offered in greatlyexpanded facilities by Spartan. Meteorology, arelatively new science, was now taught; this field

Wade news article, 1944.

School in the capable hands of "Captain" Balfour.With the start of the war, there were increaseddemands for all kinds of aviation training, both forground technicians and fliers. In addition to theAAF primary cadet training that went on until thesummer of 1944, there were numerous otherprograms instituted by Spartan, both before and afterthe war started.

One program was the contract overhaul ofengines for the Air Force. Maintaining the hundredsof PT-19's for the flying school required aconsiderable force of trained mechanics. Thus it wasa natural extension of their work to set up an engineoverhaul department. At first, only the Rangerengines from their own school were renovated, but astheir equipment, space and personnel were expanded,motors were shipped in from other Air Force schools.By early 1943, they were turning out seven engines aday; later that summer the capacity was increased tofifteen. A ready source of experienced workers forthis enterprise was provided by the Spartanmechanic's school.

Another program, called the United KingdomRefresher course, trained American Royal Air Forcevolunteers to a standard that allowed them to enterthe regular British combat flying schools in Canada.It was termed a "Refresher" course because itspurpose was to take men with some flying experienceand bring them up to the British requirements. Theterm "some flying experience" was interpreted ratherloosely, it seems. Some of the applicants wererumored to have flown only a few actual hours, therest were "pencil whipped" into their log books. Thisprogram was especially popular in 1941, but after theUnited States entered the conflict, the number ofapplicants dwindled.

Many of these trainees were rushed into combat assoon s th r ched England, and the losses wereh ,In the fall of 1942, the Spartan News carriedtlti d headline: "Twenty Spartan Men in Royal

'r Force Reported Dead. Former UKR StudentsGive Lives as Pilots, Six Others Missing." Theselists of the dead, wounded and missing would becomelonger as the months went on, bringing the war homein a personal way to Spartan.

One such notice, in March of 1943, would revealthat Captain John T. Swais, the husband of CaptainBalfour's daughter, Claude, was missing after a B-17raid over Germany. A month later, word wasreceived from German authorities that CaptainSwais's body had been found, and that he was buriedat sea. As mentioned in Chapter Six, Swais had been

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140 The Spartan Story War Comes To Spartan 141

Spartan civilian flying school flight line. Hangar #5, formerly the American Airlines bldg.

each night. He often worked through all-nightsessions in deep concentration; nearby lodgingswould be handy and reasonable. Indeed, hesometimes held evening conversations with his topexecutives in this office. But these late nightmeetings spawned rumors of "secret conclaves"attended by shady characters who arrived anddeparted in limousines driven by bodyguards. Someeven said the building hid the entrance to a secretgold mine, but few believed this.

When viewed today, the modest building seemsto lose much of its mystery. Used until recently astrucking dispatch office, the only reminder of Getty'sformer presence is the aircraft bas relief sculptedinto the red streaked marble fireplace.

1. Paul Getty's wife, Teddy (his fifth and last)joined him in Tulsa for a few weeks during thesummer of 1942. She even attended and sang at adance in the plant for the aid of Navy Relief. Butshe was not cut out for these matrimonial duties.After a little more than a month of sampling thelimited social life of Tulsa, she returned to NewYork to resume her career as a night club singer.

Through the summer and fall of 1942, Gettycontinued to expand the production capabilities of

The Greatest Motherin the World

Red Cross poster, 1943.

the Spartan factory, and to attract and train a worforce. He demanded the highest standards. When hdiscovered an executive had run his personal mailthrough the company postage meter, the man wasimmediately fired.

By the spring of 1943, Spartan had built anotherlarge, 300,000 square foot addition to its factory totake care of additional sub-contracting business,much due to the B-24 plant nearby. A Spartan Newsarticle reported:

"FLAG RAISING CEREMONY HERALDSEXPANSION OF SPARTAN FACTORY."

''Approximately 2000 Spartan Aircraft employeesmingled with plant officials and military menThursday, April 1, as the formal flag-raisingprogram was held for the new addition to the plantwhich is nearing completion.

" 'Production and more production' was the themeofthe program and after it ended the men and womenworkers went back to their benches and lathes with anew determination to keep the nation's aircraftflying.

''Appearing on the program were 1. Paul Getty,president of the company, and Sgt. Kenneth Morey,a marine who has seen action on Guadalcanal. Sgt.N/orey is a former Spartan employee. The flag­raising ceremony lasted from 4:30 to 5:00 o'clockand the men and women present were paid full timefor attending.

"The new addition to the plant will mean thattwice the original space will be available. The hugeroom contains hundreds ofwindows and one end hasbeen constructed so it may be opened completely.

''At the conclusion of the program the workersstood as the national anthem was played. "

This plant expansion and those that followedwould make Spartan a major subcontractor to anumber of the nation's largest aircraft manufacturers.By the time the war ended in 1945, they wereemploying 5500 workers, and had gained areputation for quality and efficiency. In addition tobuilding the NP-I trainers, they had made rudders,ailerons and elevators for 5800 B-24 bombers,hundreds of wings for Grumman fighters, thousandsof control surfaces for the Douglas dive bombers and2500 engine mounts for the Republic P-47. Whentheir war production ceased, on June 25, 1945, withthe production of the last B-32 aileron, Getty wouldsay, ''] like to think that I have made a worthw~ile

contribution to America's war effort, without thoughtor possiblity offinancial profit".

Spartan's international reputation was to beenhanced when, in November, 1943, they werechosen to host sixty-seven Central and SouthAmerican mechanic trainees. These students hadbeen active in aviation in their own countries; nowthey were to learn the latest aviation technology atSpartan. While most spoke passable English,Spartan appointed Estaban Balleste as assistant co­ordinator of the program. Being bilingual, he couldassist the students who spoke either Spanish orPortuguese. These men, because of their admirationof the Spartan School, would for many years sendstudents back to Spartan for training.

By 1944, the tide had obviously turned against theAxis powers; victory was expected within the year.The thousands of pilots trained by the Air Force hadperformed well; returning veterans, combat toursended, were flooding the replacement depots. Theneed for new fliers was no longer critical, in factthere appeared to be more pilots than planes for themto fly. Recognizing this situation, the Air Forcebegan to shut down its contract training facilities,preferring to train what few pi lots were needed intheir own schools.

SPARTAN

When a letter from General Barton K. Yount,head of the AAF Central Flying Training Command,canceled Spartan's school contracts, Captain Balfoursent this message to all Spartan employees:

"SPARTAN COMPLETES THREE GREAT TASKS""Spartan School has now completed three of the

great tasks assigned to it by the Army A ir Forces."On June 30, 1944, our overhaul work for the

Service Command will be ended."On June 27, 1944, we will graduate the last

Flying Cadet at our Muskogee school."On August 4, 1944, we will graduate the last

Flying Cadet from our Tulsa School."There have been the usual rumors both as to

what is happening and the rea ons. We do notbelieve that anyone ha con idered that the eterminations were due to any deficiency on our partbut in case they do we are publishing the letter whave received from some of the great men who arguiding the policies of our powerful and ucce ifulArmy Air Forces.

"Thefact is that thejob, ofwhich we were assigneda part, has now been largely done. There will be no

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142 The Spartan Story I I i

This signaled the end of the government contractschool programs for the Spartan School. Getty hadseen that there would not be further growth in thisarea, and had opted out.

Sadly, this meant that some of the long-timeemployees of the Flying Training Department wouldbe terminated. A September Spartan News editorialwas entitled, "So long, Gentry, Hudson and Cohen.You were the brains, the brawn and the force ofSpartan's A.A.F TD. Gentry was the leader and theflyer; Hudson the teacher, and Cohen kept themflying. "

But one of the answers to Spartan's postwarbusiness direction was being announced in the pressat this same time. Congress had passed what waspopularly called the "G. I. Bi11 of Rights" whichguaranteed each veteran at least a year of schoolingafter his or her discharge from the service. Inaddition to paying tuition, the veterans would be paida subsistence allowance of $50 per month if single,$70 if married. At first the more liberal members ofcongress attempted to limit tuition payments only totax-supported institutions, but this was thwarted by acoalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats.Eventually, this far-reaching legislation would havethe effect of creating a bonanza, not only fortraditional universities, but also for trade schoolssuch as Spartan. Much of the Spartan School's post­war growth could be attributed to this singlegovernment program.

-)

IISp rtan shop und in rlt ul.described in a company publication:

"When the surplus Army planes came to Spartanthey were like tired warriors, still wearing their warpaint. They would leave a few weeks later with theengines, propellers, radio and airframe completelyreworked and put in perfect flying condition. Allsurfaces were sanded, painted and hand rubbed.Customers were given the choice of Berry Red,Stearman Vermillion, Loening Yellow, InsigniaBlue or Silver. The interior was soundproofed andupholstered. The two front seats were rebuilt toreplace the bucket seats used by the services. Theradio was converted to civilian from the militarytype. All CAA and manufacturers bulletin werecomplied with before these planes were presentedas airworthy and assigned a new NC number. "

A September 1944 announcement told ofSpartan's plans for post-war aircraft production aswell. Two newall-metal planes would be produced.One would be a derivative of the high-performanceSpartan Executive. The other would be a twin­engined light transport, to be called the "SkywayTrave11er". Factory publicity photos released at thetime showed the new Executive, now named the"Model 12" partially assembled in the shop floor.

SPARTANSpartan Model i2, NX2i962. Photo taken 5-2-46.

to employ some of their former flight instructor,most of whom had at least 4000 hours e periencand held transport licenses. It was e pected thatsome of the smaller transport aircraft would soon bedeclared war surplus, and could be used for this newpurpose. The personnel and facilities of the Spartanfactory could be used to refurbish and maintainthese planes, and their location on the Tulsa Airportmade a natural base of operations.

The airline operation did not gain much supportuntil June of 1945, when, with much fanfare,Spartan Air Lines, Inc. made an inaugural flightfrom Oklahoma City to Tulsa. Two small Lockheed12 airliners carried ten passengers each and a crewof two. As would be expected, the passenger listincluded Mayor Charles Litton, Fred Jones,Chairman of the Airport Commission, StanleyDraper, Chamber of Commerce manager, and othercivic leaders.

Starting in January of 1945, Spartan had beenengaged in the conversion of military aircraft tocivilian use. They first overhauled ten SpartanExecutives that had been taken over by the AirForce and returned them to their civilian status. ALockheed 10 and two Lockheed 12's were converted,the Lockheed 12 "Electras" being used by theSpartan Air Lines. Other converted ex-militaryplanes included three twin Beechcrafts, fourFairchild 24's, four Beechcraft Staggerwings, over

As the post-war Spartanmanagement team cast aboutfor likely peacetimeopportunities, it was naturalthat they looked primarily tothe aviation field. Expectingthat airline travel would begreatly expanded after thewar, they made application tothe Civil Aeronautics Boardfor a vast network of inter­state airlines in Oklahoma,Texas, Missouri, Kansas,Arkansas and Louisiana.

They began experimentaloperations in the spring of1944 by setting up a charterservice, operating to allpoints in the United States.By August, they had flownover 40,000 miles. This typeof operation enabled SpartanBROOKS

more overhaul ofAir Force equipment by civiliancontractors. The flight training ofmilitary aviatorsis being rapidly reduced. In their day, Tulsa andMuskogee were the proper locations for flyingschools. Under the plans of the Army A ir Forces,which have been explained to us but which we are notable to reveal, these schools are no longer suitablylocated or constituted to meet their requirements.Nevertheless, as General McNaughton has stated,because of the fine record of the people who haveworked with us, we could have asked for, andobtained, an extension at one ofour schools.

"We consider this, in light ofwhat we know, to beone ofthe most generous offers ever made. J am sureevery employee of this company will agree that theright and proper thing to do was to decline this offer.Spartan was good enough to be offered specialconsideration. Spartan is big enough to refuse it inthe interest ofthe country.

"These changes will not affect the greatness, theprestige and the future of this school. We arefinding, and will continue to find, other tasks toperform. People who perform as well as ours will notbe idle.

"We are therefore asking that you assist us incompleting the work which is about to be terminatedto the best ofyour ability and we are asking also thatyou adjust yourselves to the new duties we may findfor you to perform. "

Signed: MAXWELL W BALFOUR

Spartan shops converh"ng UC-7i 's back to civilian status, i945.

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144 The Spartan Story War ome To partan 145

SPARTAN

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Three-view drawing ofthe Spartan Model /2.SPARTAN

to the numbered list." 1t is expected that the first Executive Modell2

wi/! be completed and ready for test in October.Number two and others will follow in a muchshorter time than was required for the first plane sothat it 'won't be long now' before we see five ormore new five place Executives in actualoperation".

These statements were overly optimistic. Aswork on the prototype progressed, it became clearthat the plane could not be built profitably for theadvertised price of $25,000. The actual cost of theplane exceeded $40,000! Also, at about that time,1. Paul Getty was having second thoughts about thefuture of the airplane manufacturing. As he wrotesome years later, "1 could not help but feel thatmany serious drawbacks and pitfalls wereconcealed beneath the promise of that business. "There soon would be tens of thousands of "warsurplus" planes flooding the market at give-awayprices. And what market there was would surely becaptured by industry leaders such as Cessna,Douglas, etc. Getty canceled the progranl evenbefore the prototype had flown.

The Model 12 eventually did fly. Although itoperated on an Experimental AirworthinessCertificate, it was flown for more than 1000 hours

The engineers in charge of the "12" projectevidently decided to incorporate a number oftechnological advances in to the new design. First,it would have a tricycle landing gear, as did most ofthe military planes built during the latter part of thewar. In fact the nose gear was "borrowed" from aP-39 fighter. For a high-performance machine suchas the 200 MPH Executive, it would make for mucheasier and safer ground handling. A magnesiumskin was used on the wings, and for certain otherstructures, to lighten the plane. A new tail cone wasdesigned, using a stressed skin construction insteadof the welded steel tube inner framework.

But by September of 1945, the prototype was stillnot flying. As is often the case, marketing got aheadof production. Customers wanted the new plane, soSpartan set up a system of "priority numbers"whereby a prospective buyer could assure his "placein line" by putting down a $1,000 deposit. Thefamous baseball pitcher, Bob Feller, was one of thefirst applicants.

An October 1945 press release stated:"Priority numbers are being issued to prospective

purchasers ofthe new Spartan Executive Modell 2.A $ 1, 000 down payment is required if a prioritynumber is to be issued and orders will be filled asthe new planes roll offthe line in strict accordance

Rear view ofthe Model 12. Note the re-designed tail cone.

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After Getty vetoed Spartan's production ofaircraft in the fall of1945, he needed to find othersuitable products to manufacture in his sprawling factory. He and the Spartan managementconsidered refrigerators, small domestic appliances, home furnaces, and even automobiles, butdiscarded them all. It was Captain Balfour who finally came up with the product idea thatappeared to have great promise--house trailers.

Certainly there was an urgent needfor housing. Few homes had been built during the war,making it difficult for the returning servicemen to find suitable quarters for their new families.AndAmerica had become mobile. The men had been moved to new parts ofthe U.S as part theirmilitary training, the women hadfollowed the men, or had traveled to new locations for work inthe war plants. ''Mobile'' homes were a sensible answer to their housing needs.

As a product, these trailers were also compatible with the worker skills and machinecapabilities ofthe Spartan organization. They were sheet metal structures, riveted together, justas had been the aircraft components built for the war. For the next two years, J Paul Gettywould remain in Tulsa, overseeing this conversion ofthe Spartan plant to peacetime production.

In October, 1945, it was announced that 100 trailers were to be built as a pilot run on theassembly lines. This first group would be the middle-sized model, twenty-three feet in length.The pilot model had already been completely road tested to the satisfaction ofDon Eigle, the

146 The Spartan Story

by Captain Balfour on company business. Of itscharacteristics he remarked, "ft was an easy-to­handle airplane. i spent many enjoyable hours inthe air with it. We took it to every State in theUnion. i vividly remember the first flight of theModel 12. it was with Earl Ortman, a famous testand racing pilot ofthe day, along with Fred Tolleyof the Spartan Company. Fred was sitting on thefloor behind us when we decided to take offwithouttelling him. it really gave him a surprise"

After being used as a company executive planefor a number of years, the Model 12 was retired in1959 and moved into storage in the repair hangar.There it languished until, in 1965, the companydonated it to George Goodhead, a former Spartanstudent. Two conditions were demanded. First the

Balfour presents Goodhead with the Spartan Model 12.

plane was to remain in Tulsa, and second, everyeffort was to be made to restore the plane to flyingcondition. Goodhead did restore the plane, and afterflying it for several years, loaned it to a museum fordisplay.

Meanwhile, 1. Paul Getty was endeavoring to findpeacetime production opportunities for the Spartanorganization..He did not, as some feared he might,turn his back on the Spartan organization. Later, hesaid, "By rights, i suppose i should have gone backto work expanding my oil business. But i had cometo regard Spartan as my personal responsibility. "

So it was that 1. Paul Getty led Spartan into a newand thriving industry, "house trailers!" These effortsare briefly covered in the "Epilogue" following.

SPARTAN

Spartan Manor mobile home.

Epilogue(1946)

Epil 'J. 147

SPARTAN

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148 The Spartan Story Epilogue 149

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SPARTANThe First Spartan Trailer, 1945.

design engineer in charge of theproject. G. R Schutes, a designer ofnational reputation, had beenengaged to plan the furniture andinterior design of the mobile homes.He had selected light coloredhardwood plywood for the walls andcabinet finishes. Sketches shown atthe time suggest an "Art-Deco"rounded look, with special fold-awayfeatures for storage.

Originally, three models oftrailerswould be built, a 19 foot, a 23 footand a 28 foot body length. Eachwould be a complete home, with livingquarters for four people. There wouldbe a living room with built-in couch, a complete and compact galley, and a bedroom with apermanently made-up bed, plenty ofstorage and closet space. All the comforts ofhome!

Spartan intended to utilize aircraft engineering and aircraft materials to turn out a coachthat was big enough to live in, yet light enough to travel. It was to be lighter and stronger thananything else on the road The use ofanodized aluminum for color, and new plastics for interiorfinishes, allowed beauty and grace to be attained in a practical manner.

The Spartan trailer utilized an aerodynamic design that cut wind resistance, but still allowedfor extra storage space in the front and rear areas. The framework and skin were fabricated andassembled using aircraft riveting technology.

Spartan Mobile Home factory, about 1958. SPARTAN Spar1an Trailer Advert isemenl.

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150 The Spartan Story

The Spartan employees were asked to enter a contest suggesting a name for the new 23 footmodel trailer. Charles Gober, an instructor in the ground school, came up with the winner"Silver Queen". For this he was awarded a $50 war bond.

The Spartan Trailer garnered national publicity when Getty gave the use ofone of the firstmodels to a homeless Marine. Veteran David Mizrahi, with his wife and baby, had set up a puptent in a downtown Los Angeles park, unable to find a home in the crowded city. Gettygenerously invited the family to be his guests in the Town House Hotel until the trailer arrived.Spartan's press release said:

"The shining stainless steel galley was given afinal rub with a polishing cloth, the big doublebed made up with fresh sheets and blankets, the swags over the living room windows carefullystraightened and every detail checked in the snug little travelling home before it was hooked tothe Spartan station wagon and started on its trek to California and Marine Mizrahi, onSaturday, November 5, 1945." The Spartan trailer operation thrived for a time, but in 1958the bulk ofthe operations were moved to Albany, Georgia.

Larger model Spartan mobile home. SPARTAN

The Spartan School of Aeronautics was greatly expanded after WWII, enrolling more than10,000 G. 1. Bill students from 1945 to 1950. Foreign enrollment at that time included 300South American and 200 Israeli mechanics. During the Korean War, the U S. Air Force sentover 2000 men to Spartan for training as fixed wing and helicopter mechanics. Flight trainingcontinued at Tulsa's Municipal Airport, but crowded conditions forced a move to RiversideAirport in 1967. Enrollment, which had been fairly low in the 1950's, gained slowly in the1960's, by 1969 the school had 1,250 students.

J Paul Getty sold his Spartan interests in 1968 to Automation Industries, Inc. Actually, hehad taken no active part in the managementfor some time. In 1951 he sailedfor Europe, neverto return. He died, a recluse, in his Sutton Place mansion on June 6, 1976.

The Spartan School moved into new multi-million dollar quarters on Pine Street in 1969. In1972, the company was purchased by a private school organization, National SystemsCorporation. This company still operates the school. As of1994, the Spartan School could boastofhaving over 80,000 graduates throughout the world.

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