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I took the opportunity to attend
the 2010 Wright Brothers Memorial
Dinner on December 17 at the EAA
AirVenture Museum. This year’s
guest speaker was Col. Joe Kit-
tinger, who set the still-standing al-titude record for a parachute jump
of 102,800 feet. Joe accomplished
this record-setting jump way back
in 1960 from a balloon while test-
ing various pieces of equipment for
the U.S. Air Force. This testing was
conducted for the purpose of devel-
oping equipment and procedures
so that our pilots could survive
high-altitude, high-speed emer-
gency egress from a fighter aircraft.
The technology developed out of
these experiments is still in use to-
day in front-line fighters all over
the world.
Joe Kittinger is a remarkable in-
dividual whom I am proud to have
met. He has survived life’s chal-
lenges on many fronts. He was a
squadron commander in the Air
Force, flying more than 480 mis-
sions during three tours in South-
east Asia, all in the F-4 Phantomover Vietnam. During his last
combat tour as commander of the
555th Fighter Squadron, his air-
craft was shot down, and he was
imprisoned for 11 months in a
notorious North Vietnamese POW
camp known as the Hanoi Hilton.
Joe received the Distinguished Fly-
ing Cross five times throughout his
career. Two were for his balloon ex-
periments, and three were for his
combat tours in South Vietnam. Heis an absolutely captivating speaker.
Joe also wrote a book that chron-
icles a lifetime of aviation experi-
ences, including his fascination for
barnstorming around the United
States for several years in a D-25
New Standard. His book is titledCome Up and Get Me, and I heartily
recommend it as a great read.
Harold Neumann’s Monocoupe
is now back in Oshkosh, and we
recently reinstalled the 90AW War-
ner engine. “Dr. Phil” Riter, the me-
chanic/project team coordinator,
and I installed the engine, bump
cowl, and prop, and the aircraft
is looking great. We will soon be
moving on to painting and install-
ing the tail feathers and then the
monster one-piece wing sometime
this coming spring. It’s really nice
seeing this project coming to a
close. It’s been a great experience
for numerous members of EAA Vin-
tage Chapter 37 as well.
It’s not too early to begin plan-
ning for the 2011 flying season. I
have to tell you that the upcoming
flying season holds a unique level
of excitement for me. I endured acouple of eye surgeries late last fall
to correct cataracts in both of my
eyes. I also learned through this
experience that if I threw enough
money at the problem, I could po-
tentially regain the eyesight that I
enjoyed for the first 40 years of my
life. After signing on to having new
lenses implanted in each of my
eyes during the cataract procedure,
I had a good chance of coming out
of this experience with uncorrectednear and far vision of 20/20.
After having endured this expe-
rience I have described this simple
procedure to many of my friends as
a ”complete non-event.” I am very
fortunate to now enjoy 20/20 vision
in both eyes without ever havingto wear eyeglasses again. The best
news it that it is an approved FAA
procedure!
I started my 2011 flying season
with a good friend by flying to the
annual New Year’s Day “hangar-
over” fly-in at EAA Chapter 938 in
Nappanee, Indiana. This was my
first flight since the surgeries, and
my pilot-in-command friend in my
Cessna 120 was laughing at me full
time when I would comment, “Hey,
I can see and read the water tower
on that little town down there,”
or “Wow, I can see the destination
runway 11 miles out.” You have no
idea how that made me feel! So, as
you can imagine, I am really look-
ing forward to getting back in the
saddle with my new eyes.
The planning for EAA AirVen-
ture 2011 continues at a brisk rate.
I am particularly excited about theplanned celebration of the 100-year
anniversary of air mail. The display
will reside in the Vintage area, and
we already have commitments for
some awesome aircraft represent-
ing this era of aviation. You will be
amazed with what you see! It’s a lock!
See you at EAA AirVenture Osh-
kosh—July 25-July 31, 2011.
GEOFF ROBISON
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION
STRAIGHT & LEVEL
Col. Joe Kittinger
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IFC Straight & Level Col. Joe Kittinger by Geoff Robison
2 News
4 A Family Burger Bomber The Colvins’ Consolidated Vultee L-13 by Budd Davisson
10 Vintage Chapters Across the USA VAA Chapter 15, Hampton Airfield (7B3) by John Maloney
14 My Friend Frank Rezich, Part V After the war by Robert G. Lock
20 The Antiques in Winter, Part III If airplanes could talk . . . by Roger Thiel
22 Light Plane Heritage The Hild Marshonet by Owen S. Billman
26 The Vintage Mechanic Bendix 30x5 wheels by Robert G. Lock
32 The Vintage Instructor Taking the fear out of crosswind takeoffs by Steve Krog, CFI
34 Mystery Plane by H.G. Frautschy
38 Classified Ads
40 But It’s Cold Outside
Hangar time—a finer time by S. Michelle Souder
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1
A I R P L A N E FEBRUARYC O N T E N T S
S T A F FEAA Publisher Rod Hightower
Director of EAA Publications Mary JonesExecutive Director/Editor H.G. Frautschy
Production/Special Project Kathleen WitmanPhotography Jim Koepnick
Copy Editor Colleen WalshSenior Art Director Olivia P. Trabbold
EAA Chairman of the Board Tom Poberezny
Publication Advertising:Manager/Domestic, Sue Anderson
Tel: 920-426-6127 Email: [email protected]
Fax: 920-426-4828
Senior Business Relations Mgr, Trevor Janz
Tel: 920-426-6809 Email: [email protected]
Manager/European-Asian, Willi Tacke
Phone: +49(0)1716980871 Email: [email protected]
Fax: +49(0)8841 / 496012
Interim Coordinator/Classified, Alicia CanzianiTel: 920-426-6860 Email: [email protected]
C O V E R S
Vol. 39, No. 2 2011
FRONT COVER: Congratulations are due to EAA’s Chief Photographer Jim Koepnick as he sur-
passes his 500th magazine cover photograph with this shot of the rare Consolidated L-13, a military
liaison airplane now serving as the “family truckster” for Clu Colvin and his brood. Read about it in
Budd Davisson’s article starting on page 4.
BACK COVER: Air Trails was one of the most popular aviation pulp magazines in the years prior to
World War II. Their annual Light Plane Survey issues often had colorful artwork depicting the great
airplanes of that decade. Can you name them all? The answers are on page 38.
4
14
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FCC Pulls Order toProhibit 121.5 MHz ELTs
Citing a request by the FAA, the
Federal Communications Com-mission (FCC) issued a f inal rule
on Tuesday, January 11, remov-
ing its earlier prohibition of 121.5
MHz emergency locator transmit-
ters (ELTs) in the United States .
Last June the FCC published a
change to 47 CFR Part 87 calling
for “prohibiting the certification,
manufacture, importation, sale, or
use of 121.5 MHz ELTs other
than the Breitling Emergency
Watch ELT,” due to the fact
that satellite monitoring of
121.5 MHz units terminated
in 2009.
After protests by EAA and
othe r o rg a n i z a t i ons , t he
FAA soon requested that the
FCC not implement the rule
amendment because it cre-
ated a conflict in federal regu-
lations; general-aviation aircraft
are required to be equipped withELTs—the overwhelming majority
of which are 121.5 MHz. Since the
current supply of 406 MHz ELTs is
not sufficient to replace all exist-
ing 121.5 MHz ELTs in the short
term, such a law would essentially
ground most general-aviation
(GA) aircraft, the FAA said.
EAA brought forth that very is-
sue when the FCC rule was pub-
lished in the Federal Register and
worked with other aviation asso-ciations to explore all avenues of
action to address the rule before it
went into effect.
EAA contended the regulatory
change would impose a substan-
tial and unwarranted cost on
GA and also would create a bur-
den for the GA community and
those ground-based rescue units
that continue to use the 121.5 fre-
quency to perform searches and
save lives.At the very least, EAA con-
tended, the FCC’s action was
conducted without properly com-
municating with the industry or
understanding the implications ofits action.
This week’s FCC final rule states
that no action will be taken re-
garding 121.5 MHz ELTs until
further notice, following an addi-
tional opportunity for interested
parties to comment.
Pilot Certificate ChangesThis month, EAA will submitcomments to an FAA notice of
proposed rulemaking entitled
“Photo Requirements for P i -
lot Certificates.” The proposal,
which is in response to a congres-
sional mandate resulting fr om
the Intelligence Reform and Ter-
rorism Prevention Act (IRTPA),
would require a pilot, when fly-
ing, to carry a pilot certificate
that includes a photo.The proposal, as written, could
cause unnecessary financial hard-
ship for EAA members, would
not increase the current level of
security (now, pilots must pres-
ent their pilot certificate along
with a government-issued photo
ID), and may not meet all of the
IRTPA requirements.
EAA recommends members
submit their comments to the
docket, FAA-2010-1127. (See www.SportAviation.org for a direct link.)
NTSB RecommendsMandating ShoulderHarnesses
In a letter issued last month, theNational Transportation SafetyBoard (NTSB) recommended thatthe FAA require aircraft withoutshoulder harnesses be retrofit-ted to include them. Aircraft cur-rently equipped with shoulderharnesses would be required to
be modified if the seat restraintsystem is incorrectly installed.The NTSB made the recom-mendations after a three-yearstudy concluded that correctlyinstalled shoulder harness/lap belt combinations providesignificantly greater protec-tion in GA accidents than alap belt alone. The NTSB ad-opted six recommendations,which also included a revi-sion of restraint systems cer-
tification standards.The NTSB based its conclusion
on an analysis of more than 37,000GA accidents, finding that the risk
of fatal or serious injury was 50
percent higher when an occupant
was restrained only by a lap belt as
compared to the combination lap
belt and shoulder harness.
The NTSB recommended that
the FAA further study the feasibil-
ity of requiring airbag-equipped
aircraft. Currently, more than 30
aircraft manufacturers offer air-
bags as s tandard or optionalequipment. Airbags were first ap-
proved for use in the pilot and
copilot seats in GA aircraft in
2003. Today nearly 18,000 airbag-
equipped seats are installed in
more than 7,000 of the 224,000
GA aircraft in the United States,
according to the NTSB.
NTSB recommendations are
non-binding; only the FAA has
the authority to mandate such ac-
tion through the federal rulemak-ing process.
VAA NEWS
2 FEBRUARY 2011
T
stils
l
ific
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3
Sun ’n Fun Fly-In
Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL)
Lakeland, Florida
March 29-April 3, 2011
www.Sun-N-Fun.org
AERO FriedrichshafenMesse Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen, Germany
April 13-16, 2011
www.AERO-Friedrichshafen.com/html/en
Virginia Regional Festival of Flight
Suffolk Executive Airport (SFQ)
Suffolk, Virginia
April 30-May 1, 2011
www.VirginiaFlyIn.org
Golden West Regional Fly-In
and Air Show
Yuba County Airpor t (MYV)Marysville, California
June 10-12, 2011
www.GoldenWestFlyIn.org
Arlington Fly-In
Arlington Municipal Airport (AWO)
Arlington, Washington
July 6-10, 2011
www.ArlingtonFlyIn.org
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
Wittman Regional Airport (OSH),
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
July 25-31, 2011
www.AirVenture.org
Colorado Sport International Air Show
and Rocky Mountain Regional Fly-In
Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC)
Denver, Colorado
August 27-28, 2011
www.COSportAviation.org
Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-In
Grimes Field Airport (I74)
Urbana, Ohio
September 10-11, 2011http://MERFI.com
Copperstate Fly-In
Casa Grande Municipal Airport (CGZ),
Casa Grande, Arizona
October 20-22, 2011
www.Copperstate.org
Southeast Regional Fly-In
Middleton Field Airport (GZH),
Evergreen, Alabama
October 21-23, 2011
www.SERFI.org
Upcoming Major F ly - Ins
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4 FEBRUARY 2011
A FamilyBurger
Bomber
The Colvins’ Consolidated Vultee L-13
BY BUDD DAVISSONJIM KOEPNICK
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5
“Meet me by that
big, yellow,
round-nosed
t h i n g . Y o u
can’t miss it,
because it towers over all the other
‘planes.’”
“Did you see the inside? You
could roller-skate in it!”
“What happened to the tail? It
looks as if someone stood up too fast
in the tent under it and broke it.”
“It has a nurse painted on the
nose. Maybe it’s an ambulance of
some sort.”
And so it went for the entire
week of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh:
The Colvin clan’s colossus towered
above the Vintage aircraft area,
prompting all manner of com-
ments and guesses. Some about its
identity. Some about its mission in
life. Some about how short it couldland. There were no guesses about
its speed—that was obviously mea-
sured in various degrees of “slow.”
What few could know was that
the airplane was the direct result
of 2-year-old Baron Colvin’s birth.
His father, Clu (who’s part Chero-
kee, and Clu means “Little Bird.”
Fitting, eh?), explains, “We were
doing pretty good with our ’54 Bo-
nanza. But we already had two kids,
so Baron definitely put us over thelimit. We needed more seats.”
Incidentally, the degree of the
Colvin family’s dedication to avi-
ation can be seen in their kids’
names: The eldest daughter (8 years
old) is Piper; number one son is Lear
(6); and Baron brings up the rear.
The need for space was just one
of several factors behind Clu’s de-
cision to find an L-13. “When we
knew Baron was on the way and
we were going to rapidly outgrowour Bonanza,” says Clu, “I initially
thought I’d be buying
something like an old
C-310. But then I started
looking at how we used
airplanes. The majority
of the time we were just
going out to lunch and
didn’t need 180 knots.
What we needed was a
solid 90 knots and lots of room. Be-
sides, I knew the L-13 fairly well be-
cause my dad had a couple projects
and one flying at one time.”
Actually, his father had practically
everything at one time or the other.
“I’m third-generation aviation,”
Clu says. “Granddad was a general-
aviation pilot, and my dad went to
Spartan School of Aeronautics right
out of high school. He was an IA [a
mechanic with inspection authori-
zation], but buying, selling, and ex-
porting aircraft was a big part of hisbusiness. At the same time, however,
he also rebuilt or restored a huge
variety of aircraft, including Cubs,
Stearmans, BT-13, T-6, B-25, and just
about everything in between.”
To say that Clu was into avia-
tion almost as soon as he was out of
diapers is no exaggeration. “Mom
really got on Dad’s case one time,
when she came out in the shop
and found he had me down in the
tail cone of a Mooney, bucking riv-ets without ear protection. I was 5
years old at the time.”
Further ensuring that Clu had
few, if any, barriers between him-
self and aviation was that he
was raised on his father’s farm in
northeastern Oklahoma.
“It actually was a working farm,”
Clu says, “so we farmed during the
summer and built airplanes during
the winter. Dad had a runway on
it, and later when I got married, webought 75 acres, built a house, and
started farming on the other end of
the runway.”
The farm gave Clu a childhood
that was very av-centric because of
its semi-isolated location 7 miles
from a small town of less than 300.
“We don’t have a stop light, which
means, as a kid, my world was very
much centered on the farm, and
that meant airplanes. I rebuilt a
Cub mostly on my own as an after-
school project when I was 12 years
old and built up my first Luscombe
when I was 14. And of course I hadthe obligatory and highly illegal
‘farm solo’ when I was 14.
“One day an FAA inspector was
out at Dad’s place inspecting an air-
plane he was going to export. He
had been out lots of times and saw
me always working on airplanes. I
wasn’t 18, so I didn’t have an A&P
[airframe and powerplant me-
chanic] ticket yet. The inspector cor-
nered me and said, ‘I want you in
my office on your 18th birthday totake the A&P exam,’ which I did.”
He moved to Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma, to work for an airline
as a mechanic, quickly becoming
its top dog for C checks on MD-80s.
He was still flying his brains out
and, at one point, met the airline’s
chief pilot, which resulted in an of-
fer to fly as a flight engineer.
“I flew as an engineer for a cou-
ple of years, moved into the right
seat, then was furloughed. I woundup with another carrier that was ab-
Actually, they could be considered bigger
than we need, since they were originally set
up for six seats or two litters. But whoever
has too much room in an airplane?
JIM KOEPNICK
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6 FEBRUARY 2011
sorbed by yet another carrier until,
in 2001, I landed at my present job
where I’m based out of Denver.”
When he’s not playing airline pi-
lot, Clu, like his father before him,
is rebuilding airplanes—lots of air-
planes. Especially Luscombes.
“I’ve had at least 20 to 25 Lus-
combes,” he says. “Most of the time,
I’ll take a real basket case and build
it up to where it’s a pretty easy proj-
ect for someone and then sell it. Ihave fuselage and wing jigs, and I’ll
go through them and replace every-
thing that needs replacing, which is
usually because of corrosion. This
is especially true of the wings. I’ve
gotten to where I don’t trust the
spars. I had 13 sets of wings at one
point, and every single one of them
had at least one spar with bad inter-
granular. So, since Univair has the
extrusions for the spars, I just re-
place them. That lets me sleep bet-ter at night knowing everything I
sell has good spars.”
Even though a lot of Luscombes
come and go, he’s working on one
for himself. “I have three T8F Lus-
combes and will finish one up and
keep it,” says Clu.
But Luscombes wouldn’t even
come close to solving his family
transportation problem. “When we
decided to go big, low, and slow,
I automatically thought aboutthe L-13,” he says. “When I was
a kid, Dad had four or five proj-
ects around, so I knew them really
well. And they were exactly what
we needed. Actually, they could be
considered bigger than we need,
since they were originally set up for
six seats or two litters. But whoever
has too much room in an airplane?
“I hadn’t seen one for sale for
some time, so I came up with a way
of ferreting projects out. I ran a bo-
gus ad on eBay in which I just said,‘Airplane for sale.’ Since it was eBay,
I knew I was going to get tons of re-
sponses, which I did, including one
from eBay itself, because what I was
doing, running an ad to sell some-
thing when I really didn’t have
anything to sell, was against their
rules. I knew that, which is why I
put the ad up on Friday, knowing it
would take them until Monday to
take it down.
“All I wanted to do was talk to alot of people who were looking to
buy airplanes and get the word out
about the L-13. Practically no one
knows anything about the airplane,
and this way I could spread the
word until someone sees one. And
that’s exactly the way it worked.
“The first one that came up was
in Scottsdale. It had no firewall-
forward, which is pretty standard
for these projects because the six-
cylinder, 240-hp, flat Franklinthey originally had turned out to
be very difficult to keep running.
So, a lot of the airplanes became
lawn ornaments because of no
available engines.
“Originally designed and proto-
typed by Stinson before it was ab-
sorbed into Consolidated Vultee,
the military actually bought 300
of the aircraft in 1946 and ’47. It
was supposed to be the ultimate
ambulance/liaison/utility airplane,
so it has a lot of unique features.For one thing, for battlefield mo-
bility, it’s designed specifically to
be able to be towed through a hole
no wider than a Jeep. So, not only
do the wings and tail fold, but the
main gear wheels can be pivoted
back inside the landing gear legs,
giving it a really narrow profile. I
don’t have the right brake line fit-
tings on my gear legs, so I can’t ro-
tate the wheels, not that I have any
reason to.“The flaps are massive, as are the
wings, so it can really come down
steep and land at practically zero
airspeed. Most of its role was taken
over by the helicopter, so shortly
after the Korean War they were all
surplused. Unfortunately, the lack
of a suitable engine meant a lot
of them wound up rotting behind
hangars. Not all of them, though.
“Two companies went through
the STC [supplemental type certifi-cate] process to certify the airplane
Stowing the horizontal tail requires nothing more than the removal of a couple of pins
and the relocating of the brace strut to two different mounts on the tail and fuselage.DEKEVIN THORNTON
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7
for a 300-hp, R-680 Lycoming ra-
dial. One was known as the Cen-
taur 101. They also did a couple as
Centaur 102s with 300-hp Jacobs.
Besides being more horsepower,
the Lycoming was a well-provenengine, and at the time there were
lots of them available surplus. An-
other company did a Lycoming
type certificate and named their air-
craft the Husky. It carried eight pas-
sengers with two bench seats in the
back. They used the airplanes as air
taxis bouncing around the Carib-
bean islands.
“Because one of the companies
had done a Lycoming 680 design
investigation for the USAF, theycould easily market the conversion,
and that’s what saved many of the
few L-13s that have survived. With
that engine, it began working in
Alaska and anywhere a high-lift air-
plane was needed, such as for tow-
ing gliders. They also came up with
a conversion for a 450-hp P&W
[Pratt & Whitney], and at least one
of those has survived and is being
restored. Now that one ought to be
a real hoss.”Once Clu had committed to
purchase the first L-13 project, he
found himself on a roll as a second
one popped up on his radar almost
immediately. This one was in Van
Nuys, California.
“That airplane was a complete
airplane, although modified some-
what with metal over the skylights
and other changes. One odd thing
about this airplane was that I havea picture of me standing in front
of it as a little kid. [Even though]
this one was a complete airplane
as compared to the project I had
just trailered home, I wasn’t sure I
wanted it. I had just won a salvage
bid on a C-195 that had an engine
my friend Nick Howell wanted for
his Staggerwing, so I was already
committed. Still, the 195 was more
or less in the same direction as
the L-13, so I threw a number atthe L-13 owner, deciding ahead of
time that if he took it, we’d just
take two trailers and bring them
back together. I wasn’t about
to fly it home. Complete or not,
it hadn’t flown for 25 years, and
I learned long ago that it’s much
easier to take an airplane apart on
the ramp than in a pasture. That
assumes you find the right pasture
at the right time.“He took the offer, so we took off
with two trucks and trailers think-
ing we were picking up two air-
planes. However, when we started
loading the L-13, we found I hadn’t
bought one L-13 but closer to two-
and-a-half, because there was an-
other project fuselage and wings
as part of the deal. He hadn’t men-
tioned that. So, at that point I
owned three-and-a-half L-13s.”
Because he commuted to Denverfor his airline job, Clu had a han-
With Clu’s son Lear up in the cock-pit, Clu Colvin (far right) had two
of his flying buddies, Matt Mitchell
(left) and Brandon Jewett (center),
with him during our EAA AirVenture
photo shoot.
The cockpit is very utilitarian, with steeply sloping sides on the instrument
panel to allow for maximum visibility. The beefy control yoke columns are
unusual, being a triangular cross-section.
How many airplanes that you’ve flown come with a trap door? Befitting one
of its military roles as a liaison aircraft, the L-13 has this cargo pickupdoor in the aft section of the cabin.
D E K E V I N T
H O R N T O N P
H O T O S
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8 FEBRUARY 2011
gar at Front Range Airport, which
is only minutes from where he’s
based. He has always had an air-plane project in that hangar, includ-
ing the oldest Taylorcraft flying, so
he dropped the L-13 off there where
he could work on it during the dead
times while staying in Denver.
“When we started taking the air-
plane apart, and bear in mind that
it appeared nearly flyable, it became
obvious that this was an airplane I
would have flown only if someone
was shooting at me. For one thing,
the yoke was rusted tight, andit took some banging to break it
loose. The landing gear wasn’t L-13
gear. I don’t know what it was, but
it definitely was not L-13. The L-13
gear is a little odd to begin with be-
cause the legs don’t line up right
and left: They are a little offset fore
and aft, so the upper ends of the
legs can miss each other and push
against oleos that pivot from the
opposite gear leg attach point.
“The tail wheel was…well…I don’t know what it was. It was
a cobbled-together something or
other. It looked as if someone had
stolen the original and stuck thisthing under it so no one would no-
tice. I’m certain the owner didn’t
even know it had been changed.”
The L-13 is much bigger than it
looks in photos unless someone is
standing next to it to give it scale.
It’s actually a little taller than a
Beaver and a fair amount wider.
Or at least it looks wider, because
the cockpit is so open and airy.
That’s one of its most attractive
attributes; the entire flight deck isjust that, a deck, and only the pi-
lot’s seat appears to be more or less
permanently attached in place. Ev-
erything else is quickly removable
to allow a wide variety of seating/
cargo arrangements. The structure
is also easy to access which makes
bringing a dead one back to life a
little less difficult.
“We crawled all over this thing,”
says Clu, “and were amazed at what
a small amount of corrosion wefound. There was a little rust here
and there on the tubing, but the alu-
minum needed nothing but a good
cleaning. Considering how disrepu-
table the airplane looked, we were
pleasantly surprised. We wound up
doing a refurbishing job, not a res-
toration. In fact, that had been our
goal all along because we wanted a
working airplane that we could en-
joy, not a showpiece that we’d worry
about scratching. So we didn’t go
nuts with the thing in any area.
“We haven’t done the panel yet
because we want to find a radio com-
pass and take everything back to
pretty much original, but usable. The
panel hasn’t been cut, so the radios
are mounted in such a way that they
can be removed leaving no marks.“The engine supposedly only
had a hundred hours on it since
overhaul, but that was back in ’77.
So when an accessory gasket let go
while we were running it up, we
dropped the engine off. As soon as I
got it apart, it was obvious the parts
were in good shape, so rather than
doing a complete overhaul, I just
did an IRAN—inspect and replace
as necessary—which was mostly
hoses and gaskets.”When it came time to fly the air-
plane for the first time, Clu went
out of his way to avoid one of the
usual pressure points of first flights.
“We did it late in the evening
with no one but helpers around.
No spectators. You don’t need a
peanut gallery on a test flight.
“The airport is at 5,400 feet MSL
[mean sea level], and I chose the
long runway just in case. While
taxiing out, I messed with the tail-wheel lock and found it different
DEKEVIN THORNTON DEKEVIN THORNTON
JIM KOEPNICK
The wings are folded after accessing the forward spar mount and releas-
ing the wing root fairing.
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 2011
11/44
than most tailwheel locks in that
it locks it steerable, not centered;
when unlocked, it becomes full
swivel, which is usually the case.
“As the power went in, the air-
plane had barely started moving
before the tail wanted to come up,
and a few seconds later it was off
the ground. This at 5,400 feet MSL!
However, as it started accelerating,
the trim began trying to push the
nose up and the forces got quite
high. I found later that the trim
cable was wrapped the wrong way
around the trim drum and I hadn’t
noticed it. I did my Schwarzeneg-
ger thing, keeping the nose down
and the power back until I came
around and landed it. On that firstone, I wheeled it on so I could take
off again if I needed to. Even on
that first approach the flaps were
something to be reckoned with:
There’s a big pitch change, which
helped with the out-of-trim condi-
tion, but until you’ve seen it, you
can’t comprehend the view out the
windshield with the flaps all out.
You’re looking at nothing but pave-
ment, because the nose is so far
down. And that’s on every landing.We flew it again the next day with
absolutely zero problems.”
At this stage of the airplane’s de-
velopment, it was still in bare alu-
minum. But painting something
that big is a pretty daunting task,
and Clu gave some thoughts to
having a professional paint it.
“I changed my mind and de-
cided to paint it myself when I got
the first quote,” he says. “I know
that $8,000 isn’t that unusual fora paint job, but I just couldn’t see
paying that much. So I took ad-
vantage of a good friend, Brandon
Jewett, who wanted to fly the air-
plane so badly he could taste it. In
exchange for some flights in the
airplane, we took it up to his pri-
vate runway and painted it out in
a pasture with the help of Tom Al-
exander, Don Smallwood, and Matt
Mitchell. Nothing complicated.
Like I said, I didn’t want a show air-
plane, but I don’t think it turned
out too badly.”
Yellow isn’t a color often associ-
ated with ex-USAF aircraft, but it
was actually fairly common during
the mid-’50s.
“I went for yellow because,
among other things, when youhave something this ugly, you
don’t want to hide it. You want it
to stand out. Besides, I remembered
that some of Dad’s L-13 parts were
yellow. The nose art is inspired by
my wife Jenifer, and it’s set up as
an air ambulance, ‘Intensive Care
Unit.’ We’re thinking about paint-
ing our T8F Luscombe the same
way and naming it ‘First Aid Kit.’
“When I brought the airplane
home, I buzzed t he runway so
my dad would come out. The first
thing he said when I got out of the
cockpit was, ‘I wouldn’t pay $8,000
for that paint job,’ and I replied, ‘I
didn’t. I paid $457.”
So now the Colvin family has
a five-place, $100-hamburger air-
plane. Clu laughs, “At 17 gallons
an hour and 105 to 110 mph, that
hamburger had better be pretty
close, or it’ll be more than a hun-
dred bucks.”
We, however, think he has to
look at his airplane from a different
angle. Its normal useful load is 1,900
pounds (wartime useful load was
4,200 pounds!), so with all 110 gal-lons on board, he can carry his entire
family and some baggage for six-
and-a-half hours. That’s a lot of fly-
ing! Or he can carry four-and-a-half
hours of fuel and carry eight people
with room to spare. That being the
case, Clu says the airplane can be his
hamburger bird until child number
six shows up. We wonder if he’s re-
ally considered that.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9
DEKEVIN THORNTON
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10 FEBRUARY 2011
Located 2 miles west of the
New Hampshire coastline,
Hampton Airfield (7B3) has
one 1,800-foot grass run-
way, 04-22. Owned by Mike
and Cheryl Hart since 1975,
the field hosts a primary flight school, a
fixed base operator, and an antique air-
craft restoration busines s. It’s also the
home of one of the Northeast’s most ac-
tive groups of Vintage Aircraft Associa-
tion members, VAA Chapter 15 (we refer
to ourselves as VAA15).
The flight school has been operating
Piper J-3s continuously since 1946. Best
of all, you can solo them! This is the place
to come for a tailwheel endorsement. The
school also offers C-172s. Should you pre-
Vintage Chapters
Across the USAVAA Chapter 15, Hampton Airfield (7B3)BY JOHN MALONEY
PRESIDENT OF VAA CHAPTER 15
The construction of the chapter’s German primary glider project, an SG38, is one of the many
projects VAA15 has undertaken at Hampton Airfield.
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 2011
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Remember, We’re Better Together!
www.auaonline.com
Aviation insurance with the EAA Vintage Program offers:
Lower premiums with payment options Additional coverages Flexibility on the use of your aircraft Experienced agentsOn-line quote request available AUA is licensed in all states
The best is affordable. Give AUA a call – it’s FREE!
Fly with the pros… fly with AUA Inc.800-727-3823
AUA is Vintage Aircraft Association approved. To become a member of VAA call 800-843-3612.
Dick has retired from a great career of flying corporate and charterflights in jets, recips, and helicopters as well as a 16 year position asa Safety Program Manager in South Carolina. Due to his contributionto so many pilots, he was named Aviator of the Year in 1999. Dicknow enjoys time at his local airport, Whiteplains Plantation, where hekeeps this very pretty, 1950, PA-20, Piper Pacer.
It has been a great pleasure to be a customer of AUA. I alwaysreceive friendly, understanding and knowledgeable service. To me,AUA means, Always Understands Aviators!
— Dick Hitt
Dick HittLexington, South Carolina
A&P, IA
Commercial – Helicopter
ATP – Lear Jet, Sabreliner,Citation 550, King Air 300
VFI – Single Engine,Multiengine, Instrument
Ground Instructor
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 2011
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12 FEBRUARY 2011
fer that someone else does the
piloting, you will find outstand-
ing tours of the Granite State in
a New Standard open-cockpit bi-
plane, truly a unique experience.(Leather flight jacket, helmet,
and goggles not included.)
A very welcoming place, the
field is home to The Airfield Café
for breakfast and lunch. On week-
ends you may find a group of re-
tired pilots sharing brunch and
war stories. During the summer,
the Loop–T-Scoop ice cream bar
remains open until early evening.
It is a great place to enjoy your
favorite flavors while watchingsome of the classic aircraft based
at 7B3. You might see Stearmans,
Wacos, New Standards, Cubs, or a
variety of homebuilts and ultra-
light vehicles.
Hampton Airfield is home to
VAA15. The chapter boasts both
a clubhouse and a workshop,
thanks to the generosity of Mike
and Cheryl Hart. The group re-
cently completed building an
SG38 glider completely fromscratch. SG stands for Schulgleiter ,
VAA15 presents its 2009 scholarship to winner Robert Nee (fourth from the left). Also pictured
are Fred Drake, Marcey Nee (Robert’s mother), George Vossler, Ken Perkins, Errol Dow, and
George Schumacher.
Casey Brown’s fl ight instructor, Bill Rose; Casey Brown of Eliot, Maine;
Casey’s mother, Alison; Kim Brown; Casey’s father, Nick; Kent Lawrence,
one of the scholarship committee members; VAA15 Technical Advisor DickBlevens; and Sue Gagne.
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13
a German primary glider, circa 1930. After World
War I, because of restrictions on motorized air-
craft, Germany focused much of its effort on glider
development; the SG-38 was an ideal “stick and
rudder” trainer. Indeed, the first part of its name
means “school” in German. In this country, the
glider is known as a Northrup, named not for avia-
tion’s Jack Northrop, but for the man who first im-
ported one.
VAA15’s SG38 was an educational project and
hands-on learning experience for our members.
It took approximately 700 hours to complete. Wetook the plans from an old Popular Science maga-
zine and converted the measurements from met-
ric. Everything is scratchbuilt: The ribs are Sitka
spruce, the fuselage is built with birch Haskelite,
and the runner shoe is ash. We fashioned the land-
ing and flying wires from 1/8-inch stainless cable,
the control wires from 1/16-inch, and the bracing
wires of 3/32-inch. We covered the wings and tail
feathers with the Poly-Fiber process.
VAA15 sponsors a scholarship program for young
people entering the aviation field. Robert Nee of
Salem, New Hampshire, won the $1,000 award in2009. He is a student at Daniel Webster College in
Nashua, New Hampshire.
On the third weekend in May, Hampton Airfield
hosts an annual “Fly Market,” an aviation flea mar-
ket with quite a bit of nonaviation stuff. To raise
funds for our projects, VAA15 sponsors a pancake
breakfast plus burgers and dogs, perfectly cooked
by our talented members. This is a treat not to be
missed. Come on up!
In 2010, VAA Chapter 15 did award two $500
scholarships to be used for flight training at our
home field, Hampton Airport, in 2010. Casey Brownand Kyle Drake were our scholarship winners.
What Our Members
Are Restoring
Are you nearing completion of a restoration? Or is it done
and you’re busy flying and showing it off? If so, we’d like to
hear from you. Send us a 4-by-6-inch print from a commercial
source (no home printers, please—those prints just don’t
scan well) or a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital photo. A JPG from
your 2.5-megapixel (or higher) digital camera is fine. You can
burn photos to a CD, or if you’re on a high-speed Internet
connection, you can e-mail them along with a text-only or Word
document describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program
asks if you’d like to make the photos smaller, say no.) For
more tips on creating photos we can publish, visit VAA’s
website at www.vintageaircraft.org . Check the News page for
a hyperlink to Want To Send Us A Photograph?
For more information, you can also e-mail us at vintageaircraft@
eaa.org or call us at 920-426-4825.
near ng completion of a restoration? Or i
Kent Lawrence with Rob Drake (accepting the award for
his son, Kyle Drake, who was away at school). Kyle is
an air traffic control student. In the background is Kim
Brown’s Dakota Hawk, a kit from Fisher Flying Products
kit that members were tweaking prior to its first flight.
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14 FEBRUARY 2011
In 1946, after being discharged
from the Army Air Corps,
Frank opened his own shop
at Stinson Airport, a short dis-
tance from where he grew up. His
brother Nick had just opened the
Pylon Club tavern.
Nick approached Frank with a
proposal: design and construct aracer for the Goodyear-sponsored
races at the Cleveland National Air
Races. These races became popu-
lar after the war and featured some
of the hottest World War II mili-
tary fighters of the time, “souped
up” to go even faster. Also featured
was a new class of racer, the Good-
year-type racer with engines up to
85 hp. The Continental C-85 wasthe engine of choice. His brother
My FriendFrank RezichPart V
After the war BY ROBERT G. LOCK
PHOTOS COURTESY OF REZICH FAMILY COLLECTION
Above Lead Photo: Frank with the
Rezich Brothers Racer, RBS-1,
which he designed for the Cleve-
land National Air Races.
Right: An artist’s rendition
of the Rezich racer with
race number 43.
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15
Mike came to him and said, “De-
sign it for me. You know what the
heck you’re doing. Let’s get on
with it. I’ll finance it, and you do
all the work.” Frank also remem-
bers, “It wasn’t even finished when
Bill Odom got killed [in 1949] and
there went the races.” The racer was
never completed.Nick and Frank were involved
in the construction, but the design
was all Frank’s. The ship was des-
ignated the Rezich Brothers Racer,
RBS-1. Nick’s son Jim provides ad-
ditional information on the racer.
“I believe this photo was taken in
1951 or 1952. You can see Steve Bev-
ell’s Lil Spook #77 in the background.
The ship was owned by the Pylon
Club, as my dad was interested in
air racing and flying in air races.
He attended the 1947 Cleveland
races and the 1950, Detroit races. I
think the construction on the racer
was started in 1950 when my dad
opened the Pylon Club tavern. The
plan was for Frank to build the air-
plane and Dad to fly it. The airplane
was also designed to have the C-85
engine removed and a 600-cubic-
inch engine installed for use in the
Unlimited races. The racer was do-nated to the EAA and displayed in
the museum in Hales Corners, Wis-
consin. When the museum moved
to Oshkosh, they changed their pol-
icy to having only fully completed
airplanes on display. So, they at-
tempted to sell the RBS-1.”
Overcoming some technicalities,
Jim was able to obtain the racer.
The ship now resides with the fam-
ily in its uncompleted state.
While work in his hangar was spo-
radic and sometimes slow, Frank re-calls a series of events that took him
to the Illinois Air National Guard.
“Right after the war—I don’t
know how long I was out, but an
Air National Guard colonel, Wil-
son Newhall, came over and said
he wanted me to go to work for the
Guard. I responded I didn’t want
any more military, and he said
no, no, no, you work as what we
call full-time maintenance people;
you’re civil service. He said he was
buying a P-63 and we’re going to
Cleveland with it. We’re gonna race
it. Oh, okay. I didn’t have a job.
There was no Howard. So the Na-
tional Guard of Illinois was right
there at Chicago Municipal. They
had another strip on the north side
of Chicago with two runways that
was called the ‘orchard’ that is to-
day O’Hare. So, every three or four
weeks the Illinois, Michigan, andWisconsin National Guard would
go on an encampment. I was chief
of maintenance for Illinois, and
Mike Sitik was chief of mainte-
A two-view sketch of the racer as
designed by Frank. Note the simi-
larity of this drawing to a Cassutt
racer that came after this design.
Jim recalls, “Tom Cassutt was a
TWA pilot who was a frequent visi-
tor to the Pylon Club and shared
an interest in the new Goodyear
racers. He was able to see the
RBS-1 taking shape, and he sure
copied a lot of the same ideas that
Frank and Dad had in the design.
He was able to get his airplane fin-
ished, and it was well received.It went on to be a popular sport
airplane and was even upgraded
with a tapered wing in place of the
‘Hershey Bar’ wing.”
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18/44
nance for Michigan. So when Mike
went to work for Ford, he came
over and kept pestering me, ‘Come
on, Frank, you gotta go to work for
Ford. We need guys with radial en-gine experience.’ Mike Sitik spent
three hours with me and kept say-
ing ‘Come on, Frank, I’ll give you
the general foreman’s job.’ That’s
how I got the job at Ford.”
The tumultuous 1940s were
over, and those who came home
from the war looked for new ho-
rizons and stable employment.
Frank wanted to settle into a more
normal life, get married, and raise
a family.Ford had received a contract
from the military to build R-4360
radial engines that were used in
Boeing C-97 and Model 377 Stra-
tocruiser, the Convair B-36, the
Northrop XB-35, and the Douglas
C-124. Frank was hired and imme-
diately went into management of
the aircraft engine division, assem-
bly, and test section. Ford was get-
ting its engines out into the field.
The first engines were being builtfor the massive B-36 that was be-
ing constructed at Convair’s Fort
Worth, Texas, plant.
As Frank familiarized himself
with the new 28-cylinder radial
engine, a new position opened,that of a technical representative
from the Ford plant. Frank re-
calls, “The military says to Ford…
you gotta have technical reps out
there in the field, just like Pratt &
Whitney. I go to the guy who is
the head of service and tell him
I want to be the first guy who
goes west or southwest. So I was
assigned to Fort Worth and the
Convair factory. I’ve got a picture
of me walking on the top of thewing of a B-36.”
Frank has always been a peo-
ple person, working with people
rather than against them. That is
his strength—confronting a prob-
lem, then designing a solution.
When one looks back over Frank’s
experiences prior to that point in
his career, he was honest and hard-
working, and his word was good. If
he made a commitment, he would
follow through. He seemed to bein the right place at the right time.
People noticed him and were envi-
ous of his talent.
Having spent two years in Fort
Worth, and with his work at the
Convair plant winding down,Frank received his next assignment.
Frank was assigned to the West
Coast, specifically at the North
American Aviation plant in El Se-
gundo, California.
At that time they were building
the F-100 Super Sabre jet-powered
aircraft. Pratt & Whitney designed
the model J-57 afterburning en-
gine. Ford began production of
these engines under contract to
Pratt & Whitney, and ace 4360 techrep Frank Rezich would be involved
with the installations in new pro-
duction aircraft and retrofit in ex-
isting aircraft. So Frank began work
at El Segundo.
Frank recalls, “I came out here
because we [Ford] delivered the en-
gine for the F-100. It was an engine
swap—the original airplane had a
G.E. nonafterburning engine, and it
didn’t perform. Along comes Pratt
with the J-57 with afterburner. SoI came out here as a factory rep for
16 FEBRUARY 2011
A new R-4360 B-36 engine, with Frank standing third from the right.
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17
that engine at North American. A
lot of people don’t understand gov-
ernment contracts. North American
builds the airplane, and there are
certain products that the govern-
ment furnishes, GFP. Engines are
one of them. I came out here and
met the vice president of manufac-
turing, their production and engi-
Frank (right) on the wing of a B-36 at the Convair factory in Fort Worth, Texas, perhaps trouble-
shooting the installation of an R-4360.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Working closely with factory engineers and assembly peo-ple, Frank solved critical problems with his hands-on methods.
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18 FEBRUARY 2011
neering people. Pratt & Whitney
was also delivering engines, so you
could get an airplane with either
Pratt & Whitney or Ford manufac-
tured engines installed. Well, they
were just ramping up production
around 1954.”
Frank’s daughter Kathy was bornin 1956, when Frank and Eileen
were living in Canoga Park. “As
production really got going I got
a couple more reps. They [North
American] had their own test cells,
and we had a contract with PAC
that if any warranty work was re-
quired it was done at PAC [Pacific
Aeromotive Corporation]. Any-
way, I was the senior rep on the
West Coast for Ford.”
Near the end of the Ford con-tract, Frank recalls, “Barry Stoh,
the vice president and general
manager [of North American],
came to me and asked what I was
going to do when the contract was
over. I said just go across the run-
way to the commercial side. He
said that was pretty tough over
there, and so he made me an offerto come work for us [North Ameri-
can]. So I thought about it a day or
two, and I came back to him. What
do you have in mind? He said how
about assistant to me. We haven’t
had any problems with your en-
gines, and if they needed fixing,
the work was done on time. Your
people got along with our people.
You will have a special assignment
out of this office. He made me su-
perintendent of the whole NorthAmerican Palmdale plant!”
It should be noted here that
Frank did not want to go back to
Chicago. He liked the West Coast,
and that is where he wanted to
live. I recall a story Frank told
about changing a fuel valve in a
DC-3 on the ramp of Chicago Mu-
nicipal Airport in the dead of win-ter. With freezing weather and fuel
flowing down his arms, the cold
was miserable. He thought at that
time, “I need to get out of here and
go where the summer tempera-
tures are bearable, but the winter
temperatures are mild.” He eventu-
ally settled in the Canoga Park area
of Southern California, between
Santa Barbara and San Diego.
Next month, we’ll share some
incredible stories from the NorthAmerican days and the XB-70.
Frank Rezich at North American Aviation with a new Ford-built Pratt & Whitney J-57 afterburn-
ing engine still in the shipping can. By the end of this contract, Frank’s life would take anotherinteresting turn.
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It’s gonna bea big day. All
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Monday, July 25Opening Day Concert
Tuesday, July 26Tribute to Bob Hoover
Wednesday, July 27Navy Day
Thursday, July 28Tribute to Burt Rutan
Friday, July 29Salute to Veterans
Saturday, July 30Night Air Show Returns
Sunday, July 31Big Finale, the Military Scramble
Join us for a big celebration ofthe 100th Anniversary of NavalAviation. See it all, from the CurtissPusher replica to the Navy’s hottesthardware. All week long.
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20 FEBRUARY 2011
The Great Lakes’ Story
The other antique airplanes had
felt some sympathy for the only bi-
plane in the group—called a Great
Lakes—because in the fall some mi-
nor repair issues had come up on its
annual inspection, and it had not
flown since.
At last it spoke up: “I heardthe earlier talk about the airplane
types that did not survive the De-
pression, and my line was one of
them. But such was my design’s
unique ability to revive—thus, I
have many descendants.
“My line was started in 1928,
one of the “brioso” startups that
took advantage of the Lindbergh
success. I am from 1931, as the
factory was soldiering on during
the Depression and the situationtoughened terribly. My rakish lines
and aerobatic ability captured the
hearts of aviators, but in the end,
not their thin wallets. And like so
many others, my factory’s doors,
too, closed in 1932.
“Everyone thought that we
were, well, down. But evidence of
our line continued in a surpris-
ing and spectacular way, as ourdesign’s popularity as an air show
mount kept us going.
“Like the success of Depression-
era movies, people would pay a
little something for the diversion
of an aerial exhibition. It was one
of the few ways for pilots to make
money in the 1930s, and we Great
Lakes were, well, back up at a time
when many other airplanes never
left their hangars for lack of funds.
“Then came the war, and airshows stopped. Our status, like the
majority of civilian lightplanes, was
down again.
“But after the war, something
surprising happened, rare in Ameri-
can aviation. As our air show work
resumed, our nimble design was ap-
preciated, even with all of the ex-
military biplanes on the market,
and we were up again, and referredto in the 1950s as ‘still the standard’
for such flying. Many pilots mar-
veled at our air show performances,
and unable to buy one of us, peti-
tioned the design holders for sets of
plans. This was done, and in work-
shops all over the country, Great
Lakes biplanes were again made by
individuals in the new homebuild-
ers movement.
“As the postwar ‘tail fin years’
passed, new trends in aerobatic fly-ing and competition again threat-
The Antiques in WinterPart III
If airplanes could talk . . .BY ROGER THIEL
This is the third installment of a story,
wherein a large communal lightplane hangar
in the present-day American Midwest in win-
ter, six antique airplanes come to life and
tell their tales of Depression-era survival
to the newer airplanes, who are worried
about recent national economic issues.
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21
ened the Great Lakes line. Rather
than the beautiful, sweeping, left-
hand/right-hand choreographed
nature of our performances, a new
trend called ‘vertical penetration’
came to pass, and the situation
again for us looked, well, down.
“Then something happened,
even more unusual than the 1950sdemand for my plans, something
unique at that point in American
aviation. In 1974, on a wave of nos-
talgia and the desire for traditional,
open-cockpit flying, a factory
tooled up and began manufactur-
ing my line anew, some 40 years
after my company’s demise, in a
final swing up of our decades-long
up-down ride.
“And so this winter, my tail
feathers need some minor repair
work and some fabric re-covering.
Am I therefore never to fly again?
Am I expunged from the list?
Should I give up? Of course not!
I will be patched up, and I will
fly again. The whole issue, quite
frankly, seems normal to me.
“Because, you see, as my line’s
history bears so well—down is
not out —and up can often be just
around the corner!”
The Cessna’s Story
Known for minding its own busi-
ness and usually remaining silent,
the Cessna 140, with its sleek, un-
derstated aluminum covering, and
the only all-metal aircraft among the
six antiques, spoke up last, and the
other five took immediate notice.
“It was a great gamble to make
me in 1946,” it said. “As the war
ended, Cessna changed over frommaking wooden-winged, twin-
engine trainers to a brand new line
of three different aircraft models.
“To the civilian mar ket, we
looked modern and different, but
of conservative design, and this was
extreme risk for us. Everything was
designed around patient, safe util-
ity. We received undramatic ‘form
follows function’ monocoque fuse-
lages and thin spring-steel landing
gears of a sort not seen before onmajor production aircraft.
“But look at a picture of me on an
aircraft ramp in the late 1940s, near
a parking lot with contemporary
autos, and note the huge contrast.
The public wanted bulgy, tanklike,
‘we won the war’ cars, but Cessna
minded its own svelte air business,
making its models functional and
finished in efficient taste.“In the postwar bust, we fought
for what business there was. And
with our step toward great moder-
nity already taken, there was no
turning back. We were forced to
promote an understated product
and fought to persevere.
“We recovered from the postwar
slump in slow, undramatic fashion,
minding our own business and re-
lying on our sheer practical utility
to persevere. Slowly this happened,
ushering us into the more pros-
perous era in which ‘swords were
beaten into tail fins.’
“I morphed into the Cessna 150,
and my bigger brother into the 172
Skyhawk, which went on to be-
come the most popular airframe in
all of world aviation history!
“My line’s story might be com-
pared to comedian and straight
man Bud Abbott, who was con-sidered a better talent and paid a
higher salary than his partner,
punch line-grabbing Lou Costello.
Hardly any of my line has thrilled
an air show audience or flown in
a speed dash, and yet we patiently
and undramatically ‘bring them
there’ and get it done every time—
again and again and again.
“As American manufacturer An-
drew Carnegie said, ‘Put all your
eggs into one basket, and thenwatch that basket.’
“Understated, subdued, and yet
the most popular of all time. And
how did we Cessnas do it? Why, by
minding our own business!”
Had the young airplanes been
listening? The ant iques didn’t
know. And if so, would they even
care? Did all of the storytelling
even matter at all? The six old air-
planes settled into their tidy warren
of tail feathers, struts, wing panels,fuselage sides, and tail wheels.
From the unjoined portions of
the metal hangar, tiny furrows
and channels of light stabbed in,
and the shadow-shapes they made
etched weird, angular caricatures of
airplanes onto each other and onto
the cold floor.
The old planes’ thoughts became
hazy, too, drifting in and out ofwarm summer flights, of easy engine
starts, of being washed and polished,
of being photographed, and of tak-
ing people up for their first time off
earth. These and hundreds of other
pictures, incomprehensible to those
who do not fly, came and went.
Outside, the municipal light
buzzed amidst the whistling sound
as the unconcerned night wind
blew tufts of stale snow into small
eddies, atop the stark hibernating
vegetation, into the ditches of the
section line roads . . . and behind
all of this was the distant sound of
the encroaching trucks, marching
in their endless, carnivorous line,
roaring like lions.
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22 FEBRUARY 2011
Light Plane Heritage
published in EAA Experimenter February 1991
Editor’s Note: The Light Plane Heritage series in EAA’s Experimenter magazine often touched on aircraft and concepts
related to vintage aircraft and their history. Since many of our members have not had the opportunity to read this se-
ries, we plan on publishing those LPH articles that would be of interest to VAA members. Enjoy!—HGF
THE HILD MARSHONETBY OWEN S. BILLMAN
It began during World War I . . .
two young men, already deeply
involved in aeronautics, became
determined to design and manu-
facture for sale an airplane—for the
Sunday flier that would be their
equivalent of Henry Ford’s ubiq-
uitous Model T Flivver. These men
were Frederic Hild and his brother-
in-law, Edward Marshonet.
Like so many optimists of theday, they visualized a postwar pe-
riod when returning servicemen,
aviators, “doughboys,” and “swab-
bies” alike would insist on their
right to fly affordable airplanes far
and wide across this free land—if,
as, and when they chose. To that
end they applied themselves to
their drawing boards and came up
with a small, single-seat biplane
fitted with a two-cylinder, 20-hp
engine that drank gasoline in rela-
tively small sips.
By war’s end these men, living
in Hempstead, Long Island, had
achieved an enviable reputation in
aeronautical circles. In 1910 they
entered into a partnership and
operated a business they rathergrandly called The American Aero-
nautical Supply House.
They manufactured and offered
for sale a Bleriot “type” mono-
plane. With that small word en-
closed in quotation marks, one can
only wonder if their offering had
the stamp of approval of Louis Ble-
riot, or may have resulted from the
borrowing of his original plans. Re-
gardless, their first sale of an aero-
plane came in 1911.
It is recorded that in 1912, Hild
taught himself to fly in one of their
own production ships, a common
practice in those early days. He rap-
idly gained experience and soon
flew an exhibition for representa-
tives of Fédération AéronautiqueInternationale. On February 22,
1913, he was issued Aero Club of
America license number 216.
Hild immediately found his ser-
vices in demand, so he began mak-
ing exhibition flights. One was in
Newton and another in Asbury
Park, both in New Jersey.
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23
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24 FEBRUARY 2011
On March 4, he flew from Hemp-
stead to circle New York City, ran
out of fuel, and landed on a farm,
on what is now known as Roosevelt
Island, gliding in on final under the
Queensbury Bridge.
He taught flying around Hemp-
stead, as well as that hotbed of aero
activity, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
He and Marshonet soon sold out
their supply house in Hempstead
only to establish United Eastern
Aeroplane Corporation, 1251-57
DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn.
When war broke out in Europe
they sold that interest and went
into design work, first for the Cur-
tiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
in Garden City, Long Island, andlater for Standard Aircraft Corpo-
ration in Elizabeth, New Jersey. It
was during this period they gained
the knowledge and experience that
enabled them to develop the design
for their sportplane. At war’s end in
1918 they began building and test-
ing it. It was ready late in 1919.
Their sportplane was quite
small. Wingspan (upper) was 24
feet, and length was 19 feet. Power
was supplied by a two-cylinder, 20-hp engine of unknown origin. It
was a small V-twin that looked sus-
piciously like a motorcycle engine
of the period.
Their concept was unique in
that both upper and lower wings
were swept, the upper one to the
rear and the lower one forward.
Both sets of wings were tapered.
Attached to a cabane strut over the
fuselage, the top wing’s rear spar
was located about over the pilot’shead; the front spar of the lower
wing attached to the bottom lon-
geron at a point about even with
the pilot’s hips. At first glance this
appears to be a strange configura-
tion, but close examination seems
to reveal a method in their mad-
ness, as we will see.
The fuselage consisted of a long,
wooden box that connected the
pod housing the engine and pilot
with the tail assembly. Entry to
the cockpit was gained by stepping
up onto the 18-inch-high fuselage
deck with one foot and then into
the cockpit with the other while
grasping a handhold in the cutout
center of the upper wing, slithering
forward until comfortably seated.
It can be seen that without the
method of staggering the mount-
ing of the wings in this way, entry
to the cockpit of such a small bi-
plane would have been very diffi-
cult, if not impossible.
Specifications:
Span top plane 24 feet
Span lower plane 19 feet 3 inches
Chord top plane 5 feet to 3 feet
Chord lower plane 4 feet 6 inches to 3 feet
Gap 3 feet to 4 feet
Overall length 19 feet
Angle of incidence 4 degrees
Wing section N.P.L. No. 4
Total area of mainplanes 160 square feet
Area of ailerons (two) 20 square feet
Stabilizer 6 square feet
Elevators 9 square feet
Fin 3 square feet
Rudder 6 square feet
Factor of safety throughout 7
Empty weight 450 pounds
Gross weight 700 pounds
Speed range (40-hp engine) 35-65 mph
Climb 780 fpm
Glide 1 in 8
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25
Dihedral angle of the upper wing was 0 degrees and
that of the lower 6 degrees. It was claimed that the
unusual layout of the wings made for excellent stabil-
ity, lateral as well as longitudinal. The wings could be
folded very quickly by one man, and the plane stored
in a space measuring just 9 feet by 20 feet.
No performance figures are available for the 20-hp
version, but the same airframe powered with a 40-hp
engine claims a speed range of 35 to 65 mph.
Advertisements showing the new plane appeared
beginning with Aerial Age magazine dated March 1,
1920. It included a photo of the Sportsman in profile,
proclaiming that readers should own one for pleasure
or business . . . save time, earn money. The ad pro-
claimed, “It is easy and safe to fly. Enjoy good health
and recreation by flying through the air.”
Some of the features mentioned were:
•You can see the wheels while landing.
•Slow landing speed.•Will start or alight on roadway, etc., no needfor large field.
•Can be stored in a small barn, garage, etc.when not in use. No need to erect a hangar.
•Ease in getting in and out of seat, particularlydesirable for ladies.
•Economical. Fuel cost 1 cent per mile.•Low upkeep cost. Plane can be moved about on
ground by one person.
•Motor reliable and efficient. Easy and simple tooperate. 18 years of reputation in back of it.
•Large factor of safety. Excellent stability. Work-manship and materials guaranteed for one year.•Price complete, $2,000.Sales of their Sportsman apparently did not mate-
rialize as hoped, for as later in 1920, Hild and Mar-
shonet dissolved their partnership and went their
separate ways. It is not known what happened to the
latter, but Hild was next reported in Chicago, where,
in 1927, he founded the Hild Floor Machine Com-
pany. This business was quite successful, and he op-
erated it until 1954, when he sold out and retired to
Florida. He died unexpectedly in Miami on October
31, 1963, at the age of 73. Much of the material for this article was found in a per-
sonal letter dated April 24, 1963, signed Fred C. Hild, to
E.A. Goff, Secretary, Early Birds of American, courtesy of
the Library at the National Air and Space Museum, Wash-
ington, D.C.
It is regrettable that so little information is available in
regard to Edward Marshonet. It is evident that he was a si-
lent partner of Hild’s.
References:
Aerial Age Weekly , March 1, 1920
Flight magazine, March 25, 1920
NASM Library
Journal of American Aviation Historical Society ,
Spring 1968
Telephone Orders: 800-843-3612 From US and Canada (All Others Call 920-426-5912)
Or send to: EAA Mail Orders, P.O. Box3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086
Limited supplies available.*Shipping and handling NOT included. Major credit cards accepted.
WI residents add 5% sales tax.
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26 FEBRUARY 2011
Ear ly a i rc ra f t whee ls were
classified as either spoke type
(clincher), spun disc type (Bendix
30x5), or cast drop-center type
(Bendix and Hayes). See Figure 1.
Very few aircraft stil l operate with
the spoked clincher-type wheels.
Some, however, operate with the
spun disc Bendix 30x5 wheel, and
many more still operate with the
cast drop-center type wheel.
BY ROBERT G. LOCK
Bendix 30x5 Wheels
THE VintageMechanic
FIGURE 1
First, let’s look at loadings on wheels during ground operation
and landing. Normal landings do not impose a heavy load on
the wheels (assuming it is not a hard landing). Nevertheless, the
Bendix 30x5 wheels do not absorb side loads well. The faster
the airplane is moving on the ground, the heavier the load im-posed on the wheels.
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3
Figure 2 illustrates what happens when
an aircraft touches down in a crosswind
landing, in this case from left to right. As
the aircraft slows, the rudder becomes
increasingly ineffective. Unless brake
is used, the ship will weathervane into
the wind. If it is traveling fast enough, it
will complete a turn, thus damaging the
wheel, landing gear, and outboard wing. If
things get really bad, it will flip over on its
back. A conventional tailwheel-type air-
craft would rather travel down the runway
tail-first. Therefore, the tricycle landing
gear is much preferred for modern flight
training. Consider when the aircraft goesout of control, there is a tremendous side
loading placed on the wheels.
Figure 3 clearly shows what happens when an aircraft places heavy side loading on the wheels. The aircraft
is a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, and the wheels are spoked type clincher. Side loading on the wheels caused by the
aircraft sliding sideways has collapsed the spokes, a common problem with this type of wheel. Similar loads
can be imparted on the spun disc type Bendix 30x5 wheels if the aircraft ground-loops and slides sideways. The
spinnings are not designed to withstand heavy side loads.
Photo from Ron Alexander (http://PeachStateAero.com) and the collection at Candler Field Museum. The photo, taken in 1926, is of DougDavis who was based at Candler.
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The aluminum hub casting can be seen along
with the side spinnings, inner band, and side
beads. Roller bearings cannot be used in this
wheel assembly.
Figure 5 illustrates the Bendix 30x5 roller bearing
type spun disc wheel. Note the difference in the hubcasting to accept tapered roller bearings on the axle (left).
Using the chart, one can easily see a maximum
wheel load of 1,600 pounds per wheel and a guaran-
teed side load ultimate strength of 3,300 pounds.
The inboard spun disc is attached to the cast alu-
minum hub with steel rivets. These rivets should al-
ways be checked for looseness. Looseness will be
accompanied by a trace of black soot-like dust around
the head, indicating that the rivets are moving or the
aluminum under the head is loose. The outer portion of
the inboard disc is attached to the liner and bead as-
sembly with heat-treated alloy 2117 (AD) or 2024 (DD)flush head rivets of 5/32 inch or 3/16 inch diameter.
The outboard spun disc is attached to the bead and
liner assembly with flush-head, heat-treated rivets, the
same as the inboard disc. The disc is fastened to the
hub with 5/16-inch diameter bolts. In most installa-
tions these bolts also fasten a bearing cover to keep
dirt out of bearings.
When inspecting these type wheels it is necessary
to deflate the tire, loosen the bead area, and move it,
in order to inspect the rivet heads. Look for loose or
missing rivets. Again, if the rivet is loose, there should
be a black powder around the head. Mechanics callthis the “smoking rivet.”
Figure 5 contains notes on installation of the wheel
and brake assembly. These wheels are designed only
to carry the maximum load, which the tire manufac-
turers specify for standard tires, not oversize. These
loads should never be exceeded. Maximum thickness
for the brake-mounting flange is also shown in the
illustration.
The brake-mounting flange must be machined true
to the axle within 0.0005 inch, measured at the out-
side diameter of the flange. The brake assembly must
be concentric with the wheel drum or drum-to-lining
clearance cannot be properly set. Brake lining should
be adjusted to the least clearance possible beforedragging occurs. This clearance is from 0.005 inch
to 0.010 inch (0.008 inch to 0.010 inch is usually the
norm) depending whether the brake is mechanically
or hydraulically activated. It might be necessary to
turn the wheel brake drum on a lathe to assure that
it is absolutely round, or adjustment of clearance will
be impossible. Make a check by inserting 0.010 inch
feeler gauge in the slots on the brake-backing plate.
If accurate adjustments cannot be made, check the
drum to see if it is, in fact, round.
28 FEBRUARY 2011
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 5
Bendix manufactured 30x5 wheels in two basic
types, the plain bearing and roller bearing type
hubs. The plain bearing hubs used bronze bush-
ings, which slid over the axle and centered thewheel on the axle. Of course, wear was always a
problem and the bushings had to be lubricated at
regular intervals. Figure 4 shows a cross-section
sketch of the plain bearing Bendix 30x5 wheel.
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Figure 8 is a photograph of my 1929 Com-
mand-Aire 5C3 with Bendix 30x5 wheels and
a Scott 3200 steerable tail wheel. The airplane
handles extremely well on the ground, even
when landing in a crosswind above 20 mph.Daily inspection includes feeling the inner and
outer spun discs for wrinkling and checking
for any loose rivets. On one occasion, the riv-
ets that attach the inner disc to the hub were
found to be loose. This was discovered when
one wheel made a “groaning” sound when
the airplane was pushed forward. I found the
paint cracked around the rivet heads, a clear
indication of loose rivets. The wheel was re-
moved from service. I would not authorize
any riveted repairs to the discs other than replacement of a rivet. Riveted repairs, no matter how good, will only
return approximately 80 percent strength to the part. Therefore, I would say no sheet metal repairs to the spundiscs.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 8
Figure 7 shows a typical tapered roller bearing. Bearings should be removed, cleaned, inspected, and re-packed with grease at each 100-hour or annual inspection. Any discoloration or grooving of the race is grounds
for replacement. Always use a good grade of heavy-duty wheel bearing grease. Most mechanics will hand-pack
the bearings with grease, forcing the grease from one side of the rollers to the other side, assuring that all open
areas around the rollers are completely filled. Never blow compressed air over the bearing, causing it to spin.
Bearings should be cleaned in mineral spirits or cleaning solvent.
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30 FEBRUARY 2011
Have a comment or question
for Bob Lock, the Vintage Me-
chanic? Drop us an e-mail at vin-
[email protected], or you can
mail your question to Vintage
Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Osh-
kosh, WI 54903.
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 10
INSPECTION:
Jack the a i rplane, spin the
wheel, and look for excess wobble.
This indicates a side loading may
have been imposed on the wheel or
it was repaired incorrectly.
Deflate the tire, move the bead
to expose the rivet heads on the in-
side of the wheel rim area. Look forloose or missing rivet heads, and
any cracks along the bead area.
Check for cracks, dents, or wrin-
kling of spun discs. Run your hand
over the disc to feel for irregulari-
ties. Look closely at the hole in the
outboard disc, where the air valve
extenders are installed, and check
for cracks.
Conduct this inspection as often
as necessary to assure the wheel
is in serviceable condition. At mini-mum disassemble the tire from the
wheel at annual inspection time to
thoroughly inspect the wheels.
Only the pilot knows of a hard
landing or heavy side loading, and
if the inspecting mechanic is not
promptly informed, wheel failure
could occur with subsequent dam-
age or loss of the airplane.
In Figure 9, when a severe side load is imposed on these 30x5 wheels,
a catastrophe is in the making.
Finally, Figure 10 shows an original Bendix 30x5 wheel and the disas-
trous effects of side loading beyond maximum. Note that the flush rivets
around the bead are mostly intact, although a few have failed from over-
stress. Failed rivets can be seen by observing shadow of the wheel on
ground—missing rivets allow light to pass through the drilled holes. Obvi-
ously this wheel cannot be repaired, but the hub was undamaged. When
repairing or assembling these wheels, only the highest-quality craftsman-
ship is acceptable. If the wheel fails, severe damage to the airplane will
occur. Hearing wing spars crack or hanging upside-down in the rear seat
is not comfortable! Keep a close watch on all 30x5 wheels for any signs ofdamage or deterioration.
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32 FEBRUARY 2011
BY Steve Krog, CFI
THE VintageInstructor
Taking the fear out of crosswind takeoffs
“Every time I taxi to the runway
for takeoff my palms begin to sweat,
and I get a nervous knot in my stom-
ach, especially when at a fly-in with
a large audience. I’ve read your pre-
vious articles about crosswind land-
ings and have put your tips to practice
with great success. I no longer fear the
crosswind landing, but the takeoff is
another matter.”
Crosswind takeoffs can be a little
intimidating, especially with a lot
of observing critics judging your
every move. But, just as with cross-
wind landings, a little forethought,
some practice, and learning to re-
lax will go a long way to perfectingthat takeoff.
I’ve found when either giving dual
instruction or providing Biennial
Flight Reviews (BFR), the hardest part
of the takeoff is self-induced pilot
anxiety! Whether sitting in the front
seat of a J-3 Cub or in the right seat of
a Taylorcraft BC-12D, I can practically
read the student’s or pilot’s pu