VOL 32 NO6 JUNE 2004

2 VAA NEWSHG Frautschy

5 THE FIRST LOCKHEED Cedric Galloway

8 MYSTERY PLANEHG Frautschy

10 2004 SUN N FUN EAA FLY-IN HG Fraustchy

16 THE SEVEN-YEAR PAINT JOB THERE ARE TRAVEL AIRS AND THEN THERE ARE TRAVELAIRS Budd Davisson

20 FLIGHT STORY A GRANDFATHERS INSPIRATION Tom Matowitz

24 CHAPTER LOCATOR

26 THE VINTAGE INSTRUCTOR RESIGNATIONDoug Stewart

27 PASS IT TO BUCK TAKE THE PLEDGEBuck Hilbert

28 CALENDAR

29 CLASSIFIED ADS

Publisher TOM POBEREZNY Editor-in-Chief SCOTT SPANGLER Executive Editor MIKE DIFRISCO News Editor RIC REYNOLDS Photography Staff JIM KOEPNICK Production Manager JULIE RUSSO Advertising Sales LOY HICKMAN

913-268-6646 Advertising Editorial Assistant ISABELLE WISKE Copy Editi ng COLLEEN WALSH

KATHLEEN WITMAN

VINTAGE AI RPLANE________--I Executive Director Editor HENRY G FRAUTSCHY VAA Administrative Assistant THERESA BOOKS Contributing Editors BUDD DAVISSON

DOUG STEWART JOHN MILLER

Front Cover What was going to be a quick paint upgrade turned into an award-winning restoration of this Beech Travelair owned by 5 partners For more on the fun they had see Budd Davisson s article starting on page 16 EAA photo by Jim Koepnick EAA photo plane flown by Walt Doriac

Back Cover The EAA Sport Aviation Art Competition is open to a wide variety of media including stained glass This Navy N3N was a Merit ribshybon winner in the 2003 competition for artist Gary Elshoff of Grafton Wisconsin Check out his website at wwwflyingcolorsglasscom

ST ESPIE BUTCH JOYCE

PRESIDENT VINTAGE ASSOCIATION

Division change amp Chapter fun

This is my 189th Straight amp Level co lu mn while serving as president of the Vintage Aircraft Association After this one the July and August columns will be the last ones I will be writing as your president

When you look at this years ballot you will see that I will not be running for the presidency but will be staying on as a director Ive had the pleasure of serving the membership as the president of this division for 16 years just more than half of the 31 years the divishysion has existed The total enjoyment of having done this is hard to describe because it has been such a long run

Over the years weve enjoyed the largest growth in membership and with greater n umbers comes a more stable financial position This was not my achievement alone I have had great support from the officers directors memshybership and staff

It just felt like the right time to turn over the leadership of the VAA to some younger people folks with new thoughts and new enshyergy I am not totally going away and look forward to serving as a dishyrector for a few more years It is not my intent to try and run the division from the background but to be there if needed when the inshyevitable questions come up concerning the hows and whys of past actions that concern the operation of the division

One of the areas Ill be working on within the coming months is the realization that as EAA staffers have rotated in and out of various positions over the years we have

not paid attention to ed ucating these new people regarding the reshylationship between EAA and its divisions It is my hope that we can do a better job in the future in this regard

Ive had the pleasure of serving the

membership as the president

of this division for 16 years

just more than half of the 31

years the division has existed

I was ab le to attend th e VAA Chapter 3 Spring Fly-In that was held at the Burlington North Carshyolina airport This fly-in is held each year on the first full weekend in May The past couple of years this event has been plagued by poor weather and as you would expect the attendance did not meet expectations This year we had great weather and there were at least 50 aircraft that showed up Friday afternoon

All of the old friends got toshygether to socialize before the barbeque dinner that was served in

a hangar on the airport on Friday night After the sun went down the group retreated to the hotel to watch old movies before turning in for the night Saturday morning the weather stayed great and airshyplanes started to fill the air Before the day was over the number of aircraft was estimated to be someshywhere around 200

It was great to see a number of aircraft that I had not seen before at this fly-in After lunch the judges were hard at it picking the winners that would be honored at the awards banquet Saturday night This dinner was held at the some hotel that served as the headshyquarters hotel for the fl y-in Sunday morning was one of those days that we get here in North Carshyolina in the early summer-an early morning fog smothered the trees and grass You know when you look out of the window on such a morning that you can have a relaxing morning As usual the fog burned off around 1030 or 11 00 am and people started to depart for home except for a group that decided to fly out to a local restaurant for lunch before going home It was a great weekend I hope your local fly-in has great weather too

Lets all pull in the same direcshytion for the good of aviation Remember we are better together Join us and have it all

VAA NEWS VAA Comments on FAA Air Tour NPRM

Eighteen individuals spoke against the National Air Tour Safety Stanshydards (FAA-1998-4521) notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) at the FAAs public hearing held Tuesday May II in Washington DC Not one person who testified at the daylong public meeting spoke in favor of the rule VAA Executive Director HG Frautschy appeared on behalf of the Vintage Aircraft Association and the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI)

EAA member Dave Humphreys from Shephardshystown West Virginia represented EAA at the hearing

HG FrautschyHumphreys included comments on the inherent unshyfairness of the proposed rule as well as the FAAs long tradition of partnering with EAA and others in aviation to address concerns

In EAAs long tradition of working with the FAA we did not just file comments in opposition to this proposed rule but provided comprehenshysive alternatives to the proposal Humphreys said Suggestions (were) based on the trust and knowledge of the uS airman the resources of the FAA field inspector force and our knowledge of general aviation We canshynot help but ask Why didnt the FAA ask the industry for this information before introducing this proposed rule

EAAs official comments on the rule which were submitted on March II 2004 concluded that the proposed sweeping changes to commercial and noncommercial passenger-carrying operations are not justified by historic safety data nor is there sufficient evidence that safety will be enshyhanced by these proposals The FAA also failed to adequately evaluate and address the dramatic negative cost-benefit impact these proposals would have on the general aviation industry Therefore the rule should be withdrawn

Afterwards Frautschy noted there were several small-time aircraft owneroperators who testified that the proposed rule would put them out of business and deva lue their aircraft Nobody wanted that NPRM to stand he said Everyone who testified wanted the rule to be withdrawn

Sitting on the panel for the FAA were Matthew Schack Manager AFS-200 Tom Smith Gary Davis Patrice Kelly Alberta Brown and Don Byrne

For complete VAA and EAA comments visit wwwvintageaircraftorg and wwweaaorg If you do not have access to the web contact the VAA office at 920-426-4825 and well mail you a copy

TCP Availability was a time when TCP was not availshyIn recent notes published in Ii Aeroshy able due to a couple of factors A

mail mention has been made of the move to a new facility disrupted proshyuse of TCP as a fuel additive to help duction and then when they were set scavenge lead during the combustion to restart manufacturing TCP one process A few members have menshy component needed to make the addishytioned the fact that TCP (Alcors trade tive was dropped from production by name for their product which conshy Shell Petrochemical so they had to tains among other elements the find a new ingredient A substitute has chemical tricresyl phosphate) was scarce been found and happily both for Alshyor not available To get the facts I spoke cor and those who use the product with Cindy McCoy at Alcor the manushy production of TCP has resumed After facturer of the fuel additive an initial batch of 2000 gallons was

Our members were correct there produced and tested Alcor is now JUNE 2004

shipping TCP in gallon cans to Aviall and other suppliers By early summer they expect to ship quart-size plastic bottles that feature a graduated secshytion which will eliminate the need for the syringe dispenser currently used

Alcor expects to clear up their order backlog within 2 months For more information visit wwwalcorinccom or call your favorite supplier for price and availability information

The Aeronca Aviators Club Is now offiCially back Originally

founded by Joe and Julia Dickey who published a very informative and enshyjoyable newsletter for many years before retiring from the aviation world the new club is dedicated to bringing you a new version of this venerable name with new contributors expeshyrienced Aeronca owners fliers mechaniCS historians and enthusiasts

This is a self-supporting endeavor backed by the administrative tools experience and resources of the Belshylanca-Champion Club Except for the back-office staff and some staff in common this Club is a separate entity formed specifically to serve Aeronca owners pilots and admirshyers as such it needs your support both as members and contributors

The initial staff (or cast of characshyters as we refer to ourselves) will be comprised of the following people

Rober t Szego President of the Bellanca-Champion Club

Cy Galley Editor-in-Chief of 8-C Contact has consented to be Editor of The Aeronca Aviator

Tony Markl L-16 rebuilder fabshyric recover instructor tailwheel and (low and slow) formation instructor has offered his technical support

Carl White Aeronca Editor of 8-C Contact and author of the Ii Aeronca Corner column and restorer of a good number of Champs and Citabrias

Also contributing will be Charlie Lasher author of several books on Aeroncas and STCs Bill Pancak e renowned Aeronca expert Jim Spee our West Coast connection Tony

2

VAA NEWS VAA Comments on FAA Air Tour NPRM

Eighteen individuals spoke against the National Air Tour Safety Stanshydards (FAA-1998-4521) notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) at the FAAs public hearing held Tuesday May II in Washington DC Not one person who testified at the daylong public meeting spoke in favor of the rule VAA Executive Director HG Frautschy appeared on behalf of the Vintage Aircraft Association and the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI)

EAA member Dave Humphreys from Shephardshystown West Virginia represented EAA at the hearing

HG FrautschyHumphreys included comments on the inherent unshyfairness of the proposed rule as well as the FAAs long tradition of partnering with EAA and others in aviation to address concerns

In EAAs long tradition of working with the FAA we did not just file comments in opposition to this proposed rule but provided comprehenshysive alternatives to the proposal Humphreys said Suggestions (were) based on the trust and knowledge of the uS airman the resources of the FAA field inspector force and our knowledge of general aviation We canshynot help but ask Why didnt the FAA ask the industry for this information before introducing this proposed rule

EAAs official comments on the rule which were submitted on March II 2004 concluded that the proposed sweeping changes to commercial and noncommercial passenger-carrying operations are not justified by historic safety data nor is there sufficient evidence that safety will be enshyhanced by these proposals The FAA also failed to adequately evaluate and address the dramatic negative cost-benefit impact these proposals would have on the general aviation industry Therefore the rule should be withdrawn

Afterwards Frautschy noted there were several small-time aircraft owneroperators who testified that the proposed rule would put them out of business and deva lue their aircraft Nobody wanted that NPRM to stand he said Everyone who testified wanted the rule to be withdrawn

Sitting on the panel for the FAA were Matthew Schack Manager AFS-200 Tom Smith Gary Davis Patrice Kelly Alberta Brown and Don Byrne

For complete VAA and EAA comments visit wwwvintageaircraftorg and wwweaaorg If you do not have access to the web contact the VAA office at 920-426-4825 and well mail you a copy

TCP Availability was a time when TCP was not availshyIn recent notes published in Ii Aeroshy able due to a couple of factors A

mail mention has been made of the move to a new facility disrupted proshyuse of TCP as a fuel additive to help duction and then when they were set scavenge lead during the combustion to restart manufacturing TCP one process A few members have menshy component needed to make the addishytioned the fact that TCP (Alcors trade tive was dropped from production by name for their product which conshy Shell Petrochemical so they had to tains among other elements the find a new ingredient A substitute has chemical tricresyl phosphate) was scarce been found and happily both for Alshyor not available To get the facts I spoke cor and those who use the product with Cindy McCoy at Alcor the manushy production of TCP has resumed After facturer of the fuel additive an initial batch of 2000 gallons was

Our members were correct there produced and tested Alcor is now JUNE 2004

shipping TCP in gallon cans to Aviall and other suppliers By early summer they expect to ship quart-size plastic bottles that feature a graduated secshytion which will eliminate the need for the syringe dispenser currently used

Alcor expects to clear up their order backlog within 2 months For more information visit wwwalcorinccom or call your favorite supplier for price and availability information

The Aeronca Aviators Club Is now offiCially back Originally

founded by Joe and Julia Dickey who published a very informative and enshyjoyable newsletter for many years before retiring from the aviation world the new club is dedicated to bringing you a new version of this venerable name with new contributors expeshyrienced Aeronca owners fliers mechaniCS historians and enthusiasts

This is a self-supporting endeavor backed by the administrative tools experience and resources of the Belshylanca-Champion Club Except for the back-office staff and some staff in common this Club is a separate entity formed specifically to serve Aeronca owners pilots and admirshyers as such it needs your support both as members and contributors

The initial staff (or cast of characshyters as we refer to ourselves) will be comprised of the following people

Rober t Szego President of the Bellanca-Champion Club

Cy Galley Editor-in-Chief of 8-C Contact has consented to be Editor of The Aeronca Aviator

Tony Markl L-16 rebuilder fabshyric recover instructor tailwheel and (low and slow) formation instructor has offered his technical support

Carl White Aeronca Editor of 8-C Contact and author of the Ii Aeronca Corner column and restorer of a good number of Champs and Citabrias

Also contributing will be Charlie Lasher author of several books on Aeroncas and STCs Bill Pancak e renowned Aeronca expert Jim Spee our West Coast connection Tony

2

Do Your AirVenture 2004 planning at wwwairventureorg

Buttacavoli with his inspiring prose Joe Abrahamson who hosts the Aeronca sector of the Cactus FlyshyIn and many more We welcome and will recognize your contribushytions

The clubs aim is to provide the Aeronca world with an international organization devoted to the marque and dedicated to the reborn Aeronca Aviators Clubs long-term future The first step in this process will be the organizations flagship publicashytion a quarterly newsletter In this regard the staff of the BellancashyChampion Club brings with them the ability and track record of the past six years which began with a 16-page newsletter that has grown to the current well-received B-C Conshytact of 28 pages and still growing

The AAC website wwwaeroncaorg will also grow with time and memshybership growth providing not only an entry point for those on the Inshyternet but gradually increasing its technical content A longer-term goal is to establish regional fly-ins for our members and guests for faceshyto-face contact with each other and provide venues to show off their airshycraft Many other programs limited only by imagination and finances will be added as resources allow We invite all Aeronca fans to join us and help us grow into the very valuable organization we hope to become Your commitment now will allow us to commit the resources that will be required-all new memberships will run effective July 2004-the date of our first full newsletter

Aeronca Aviators Club PO Box 66 Coxsackie NY 12051 518-731-313l

For more information contact Robert Szego Cy Galley Tony Markl or Carl White at stafaeroncaorg or visit our website wwwaeroncaorg

VAA Chapter 10 Steps Up The members of VAA chapter 10 in

Tulsa Oklahoma have stepped up to the plate and elected to support the VAA Friends of the Red Barn campaign

with a $600 Gold level contribution In a letter to VAA headquarters chapter president Chris McGuire wrote VAA 10 feels that the Red Barn is a great reshysource for the Vintage Division Its service during the convention allows us to have a central point of activity for all the myriad of tasks as well as a place for members to congregate and socialize

No matter if youre an entire chapshyter or an individual we invite you to learn more about the VAA Friends of the Red Barn campaign on page 4 of this issue

2005 VAA Hall of Fame Do you know someone who has

made a lasting contribution to vintage aviation since 1950 Perhaps it was in the area of restoration Or someone who has been an active instructor teaching others the correct way to fly older airplanes These contributions could be in the areas of flying design

mechanical or aerodynamic developshyments administration writing or some other vital relevant field

If you feel these contributions to the world of vintage aviation are worthy of national recognition consider nomishynating that person to the VAA Hall of Fame Nominations for the 2004 awards are now being accepted You can downshyload a copy of the nomination form at wwwvintageaircratorgprogramsnomishynntinghtml

If you dont have access to the Inshyternet call us at 920-426-6110 to request a copy of the form

The deadline to submit nominashytions for the 2004 VAA Hall of Fame is September 30 2004

VAA ElectionsAnnual Meeting In the center spread of this issue

youll find candidate biographies and a ballot for this years VAA elections

continued on page 31

Happy Birthday EAA Ford Tri-Motor

This year marks the 75th birthday of EAAs Ford Tri-Motor and the 75th annivershysary of transcontinental air service To celebrate EAA is planning Tri-Motor minishytours to selected Midwestern cities The first tour will cover Michigan Ohio and Illishynois between June 25 and July 18 The second mini-tour will take off in September for cities still to be confirmed

As part of EAAs mission to preserve our aviation heritage we invite everyshybody to live it firsthand by flying in the worlds first mass-produced airliner and seeing it in its intended environment flying from city to city said EAA AirVenture Museum Director Adam Smith

EAAs Tri-Motor will land at cities that have a historic connection to the airshycraft or the Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) Co which began flying coast to coast with 11 Tri-Motors in 1929 To prepare this grand airplane for its milestone birthday Gulfstream Aerospace Corp repainted the Tin Goose at the companys Appleton Wisconsin facility

At each city visitors can see their hometowns from the air during a 20-minute flight available for $40 when booked in advance or $50 per person at the flightline A secure flight-reservation system and complete information are available through EAAs Tri-Motor website at wwwflythefordorg

EAAs Ford Tri-Motor 75th Anniversary Tour June 25-July 2 Pontiac Michigan (Oakland County International Airport) July 3-6 Port Clinton Ohio (Carl Keller Field Airport) July 8-11 Columbus Ohio (Bolton Field Airport) July 12-15 Kalamazoo Michigan (Kalamazoo Air Zoo) July 16-18 Aurora Illinois (Aurora Municipal Airport) September (To Be Determined)

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

VAAs Friends of The Red Barn VAA Convention Fund Raising Program

special name badge recognizing tion is a major participant in the

The Vintage Aircraft Associashyyour level of participation During

Worlds Largest Annual Sport Avishy AirVenture youll have access to ation Event - EAA AirVenture the Red Barn Volunteer CenshyOshkosh The Vintage Division ter a nice place to cool off hosts and parks over 2000 vinshy Gold Level contributors tage airplanes each year from the will also receive a pair of cershyRed Barn area of Wittman Field south to the perimeter tificates each good for a flight on EAAs Ford of the airport Trimotor redeemable during AirVenture or during

The financial support for the various activities in the summer flying season at Pioneer Airport Silver connection with the weeklong event in the VAA Red Level contributors will receive one certificate Barn area is principally derived from the Vintage Airshy for a flighat on EAAs Ford Trimotor craft Associations Friends of the Red Barn program This is a grand opportunity for all Vintage members

This fundraising program is an annual affair beginshy to join together as key financial supporters of the Vinshyning each year on July 1 and ending June 30 of the tage Division It will be a truly rewarding experience following year This years campaign is well underway for each of us as individuals to be part of supporting with contributions already arriving here at VAA HQ the finest gathering of Antique Classic and ContemshyOur thanks to those of you who have already sent in porary airplanes in the world your 2004 contributions Wont you please join those of us who recognize the

You can join in as well There will be three levels of tremendously valuable key role the Vintage Aircraft Assoshygifts and gift recognition ciation has played in preserving the great grass roots and

Vintage Gold Level - $60000 and above gift general aviation airplanes of the last 100 years Your Vintage Silver Level - $30000 gift participation in EAAs Vintage Aircraft AssociashyVintage Bronze Level - $10000 gift tion Friends of the Red Barn will help insure the Each contribution at one of these levels entitles very finest in AirVenture Oshkosh Vintage Red

you to a Certificate of Appreciation from the Divi- Barn programs sion Your name will be listed as a contributor in For those of you who wish to contribute weve Vintage Airplane magazine on the VAA website included a copy of the contribution form Feel free and on a special display at the VAA Red Barn to copy it and mail it to VAA headquarters with during AirVenture You will also be presented with a your donation Thank you

---~----------- - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -

VAA Friends of the Red Barn Name______________________________________________ EAA_______________VAA ______________

Address____________________________________________________________________________________

Ci tyStateZi p ______________________________________________________________________________

Phone_____________________________________E-Mail ___________________________________________

Please choose your level of participation

_ Vintage Gold Level Gift - $60000 Mail your contribution to _ Vintage Silver Level Gift - $30000 EAA _ Vintage Bronze Level Gift - $10000 VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOC D Payment Enclosed D Please Charge my credit card (below) PO Box 3086 Credit Card Number _____________________ Expiration Date _____ OSHKOSH WI 54903-3086 Signature______________________________

00 you or your spouse work for a matching gift company If so this gift may qualify for a matching donation Please ask your Human Reshysources department for the appropriate form

NameofCompany __________________________

The Vintage Aircraft Association is a non-profit educational organization under IRS SOlc3 rules Under Federal Law the deduction from Federal Inshycome tax for charitable contributions is limited to the amount by which any money (and the value of any property other than money) contributed exceeds the value of the goods or services provided in exchange for the contribution An appropriate receipt acknowledging your gift will be sent to you for IRS gift reporting reasons

JUNE 2004 4

The First

Originally published in the February 1981 issue of Vintage Airplane PHOTOS COURTESY OF LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORP

W hen we hear the word Lockheed we visualize fast streamlined and graceful airplanes

But they were not always that way Everything has to have a beginshyning Even the name became streamlined after a time Allen Loughead the son of John and Flora Haines Loughead whose Scotch-Irish name in its phonetic spelling became Lockheed

Allen was the youngest of four children The family lived in Niles California inland from the southshyeast shore of San Francisco Bay Allens parents separated when Allen was quite young and his mother took the children to Alma in the Santa Cruz foothills where she operated a thirty-five acre fruit ranch College trained and tal shyented Mrs Loughead derived extra

CEDRIC GALLOWAY

income from writing novels and poetry Allen slowed by poor health never finished grammar school but his mother supplied an education with her fine tutoring

Young Loughead and his older brother Malcolm enjoyed ranch life but much preferred tinkering with machinery At 17 Malcolm got a job as a mechanic in San Francisco working on White steam motorcars Allen also left the ranch when he reached 17 and went up to the big city His first job was in a hardware store at $10 a week but he soon took a lower paying job as an automobile mechanic like his brother Malcolm

Meanwhile Victor the eldest of the three brothers worked as a conshysulting engineer in Chicago where he spent his spare time as an aeroshydynamist and a writer His Vehicles of the Air andAirplane Design for

(Above) The first Loughead airplane still under construction A seaplane powered by a Kirkham 6-cylinder enshygine with the Kirkham horseshoeshyshaped radiator

Amateurs were widely read disshycussed and used by would-be aeronauts including his brothers

Through Victor Allen found work in 1910 as an airplane engine mechanic in Chicago and soon had a chance to take his first flight in an airplane He met George Gates the proud builder of a pusher biplane with a homemade 4-cylinder SO-hp engine Gates discovered he couldshyn t fly it alone because the control system required manipulation of the ailerons rudder and elevators in three separate operations He asked Allen if he could operate the ailerons Allen had never handled an airplane but was not lacking in

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

self-confidence Sure he said They warmed up

the engine Allen climbed aboard the flimsy contraption sat behind Gates and wrapped rags around the aileron control wires to keep his hands from slipshyping The plane took off circled the field and landed safely making probably the first dual-controlled flight of its type in aviation history

The thrill lingered with him as he tuned the powerplant for the plane of his emshyployer James E Plew a truck distributor who was trying to break into aviation Plews Curtiss-type pusher with a 3S-hp engine was made ready for demonstrashytion flights from a nearby racetrack The pilot was having difshyficulty in getting the plane off the snow-covered ground

cisco to work in a garage until such time as he might be able to build an airshyplane of his own The design for a threeshyplace seaplane was already occupying his mind It should be a tractor type with engine in front he was tired of worshyrying about a heavy motor mounted beshyhind hanging there in readiness to crush the pilot should the

The seaplane after the installation ofa V-S SO-hp engine and conshy plane come down ventional-type radiator San Francisco Worlds Fair 1915 nose first

The Model G taxiing out for takeoff

When he finally gave up Plew deshycided to call the demonstration off Allen pleaded with Plew to let him have a try at getting the plane into the air With Plews OK Allen re-tuned the engine and with higher rpm he coaxed the flimsy pusher into the air gradually orishyented himself to the controls and the shoulder harness that worked the ailerons Jerkily he circled around and around the oval track and landed in one piece Of his first solo he says It was partly nerve partly confidence and partly damn foolishness but I was now an aviator

Allen had about an hour and a half in the air when he began workshying as a flying instructor II He also had a brief career as an exhibition

JUNE 2004

flyer which came to an abrupt end at Hoopeston Illinois Piloting a water-soaked and underpowered Curtiss Loughead left the ground in fine style but could not gain alshytitude His flight into the late afternoon dusk was suddenly intershyrupted by contact with some telegraph wire lines The fragile Curtiss came to rest in a tangle of wires hanging with one wing imshypaled on the crossarm of a pole Allen switched off the engine which was still running and scramshybled unhurt from the wreckage

Experiences on the country-fair circuit taught Loughead what was good-and bad-about the flying machines of 1911 Not trusting his luck too far and with a wife to support he returned to San Fran-

Allen often disshycussed aerodynamics with his brother Malshycolm and at length the two mechanics joined up to build their own plane A hydroplane was the logical choice because of the unlimited facilshyities in and around the Bay area and San Franciscos long-time interest in boating To give the impresshysion that they were not building their

first plane they deSignated the deshysign as Model G

The brothers kept their jobs and worked every other waking moshyment on their airplane Truly one of the earliest homebuilts They rented a former garage at the corshyner of Pacific Avenue and Polk Street and for the next year and a half that corner was the scene of ever-increasing activity as the new airplane took shape Max Mamlock of the Alco (locomotive) cab comshypany became interested in their project and invested $4000 to help them along

The first Loughead-built airplane was a sizable ship A biplane its upshyper wingspread was 46 feet and its triangular fuselage was 30 feet long It weighed 2200 pounds gross and

6

it carried a useful load of nearly 600 pounds It was equipped with midshywing ailerons and in the manner of French deshysign the entire tail swung on a universal joint The main center float was built like a sled and outrigger pontoons kept the wing tips from dipping into the water When its Kirkham 6shycylinder engine burst its crankcase after 15 minshyutes of operation the designers substituted an 80-hp water-cooled V-8 powerplant retaining the Kirkhams horseshyshoe-shaped radiator The Model G had only one instrument an old tachometer taken from a motorboat

On the afternoon of June IS 1913 Allen and Malcolm eased their creation into the waters from the beach at the foot of Laguna Street just west of the Armys transport dock at Fort Mason Allen climbed in started the engine and swinging into the wind got the G up on the step Soon the slapping of the waves

ator with a conventional type They obtained the flying concession at the Pan Pacific and during the SO flying days at the fair they safely carried more than 600 passenshygers and made themshyselves $4000

Allen and Malcolm decided to move to Santa Barbara after the exposition closed Since the gas tank of the Model G held only 8 galshylons the boys couldnt attempt to fly the ship

The movie acress Audrey Munson in the cockpit of the Model G the 300 odd miles south at Santa Barbara so they packed the plane

in crates and shipped them by train

Early 1916 found them settled in Southshyern California and launching a new projshyect The Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company For the third time the energy and obvious ability of Allen and Malcolm attracted financial backing It came in this instance from Burton R Rodshyman a Santa Barbara machine shop owner

Audrey Munson and Malcolm Loughead in the cockpit of the The new company proshyModel G

below ceased and the plane was airborne The ship was very sensishytive to handle but a short hop was enough to show that months of work had produced success Allen highly pleased returned to the beach and took Malcolm aboard This time the hydro-aeroplane made a 10-mile flight cruising around the island of Alcatraz soarshying in grand style some 300 feet above Market Street

The Lougheads Model G was one of the first successful tractorshytype seaplanes ever built It was highly unusual for this tender age of flight in that it could carry more than one person

The G was well proven but a minor landing mishap and general economic conditions put the plane in storage for two years Allen went back to his old trade of keeping San Francisco motorcars in runshyning condition Malcolm ranging further afie ld tried to sell the Chishynese a Curtiss pusher only to have the plane confiscated as contrashyband by the British at the outbreak of World War I

The opening of the San Franshycisco-Panama Exposition in 1915 inspired the Loughead brothers to dust off the Model G and with fresh capital they repaired the plane replacing the horseshoe radishy

posed to build a 10shypassenger flying boat

an unprecedented design which called for slow and painst aking workmanship

Back to the Model G the brothshyers often flew it to keep up their flying It was finally retired in 1918 With scant sentiment the engine was sold and the frameshywork of the Lougheads first airplane was junked for scrap

References Of Men and Stars A History ofLockshy

heed Aircraft Corporation by Philip L Juergens

Revolution in the Sky by Richard S Allen

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

BY H G FRAUTS CHY

MARCHS MYSTERY ANSWER

Our March Mystery Plane was fairly well known in its time but memories of it have slipped away into the dim recollections of the past century Heres our most complete answer

The subject airplane seems to be one of the three Swanson W -IS Coupe aircraft built by Swanson Airshycraft Co Inc ofHopewell Virginia (and elsewhere) They were built in about 1930-1931 and with restrictions could be registered under Group 2 Approval No 312 dated 122630 The three aircraft were registered as

cn 1 10546 cn 2 358N cn 3 751Y

The W-15 was designed by Sven Swanson who had just previously designed the similar Kari-Keen Coupe which became the Sioux Coupe

The references that I have used for the above informashytion are Joe Juptners appropriate volumes and Aerofilescom The Swanson registrations mayor may not have had the N or NC prefixes

Jack Erickson State Colege FA

Other correct answers were received from Wayne Van Valkenburg Jasper Georgia Charles F Schultz Louisville Kentucky and William Barger of Del Rio Texas

EAA LIBRARY

SEND YOUR ANSWER TO EAA VINTAGE AIRPLANE PO TO BE IN NO LATER THAN JULY 10 2004 FOR INCLUSION IN

Box 3086 OSHKOSH WI 54903-3086 YOUR ANSWER NEEDS THE SEPTEMBER 2004 ISSUE OF Vintage Airplane You CAN ALSO SEND YOUR REshy

SPONSE VIA E-MAIL DONT FORGET

WEVE GOT A NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

FOR YOU TO USE WHEN SENDING IN

YOUR RESPONSE S END YOUR AN shy

SWER TO mysteryplaneeaaorg

B E SURE TO INCLUDE BOTH YOUR

NAME AND ADDRESS (ESPECIALLY

YOUR CITY AND STATE) IN THE

BODY OF YOUR NOTE AND PUT

(MONTH) MYSTERY PLANE IN THE

SUBJECT LINE

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE

JUNE 2004 8

The First

Originally published in the February 1981 issue of Vintage Airplane PHOTOS COURTESY OF LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORP

W hen we hear the word Lockheed we visualize fast streamlined and graceful airplanes

But they were not always that way Everything has to have a beginshyning Even the name became streamlined after a time Allen Loughead the son of John and Flora Haines Loughead whose Scotch-Irish name in its phonetic spelling became Lockheed

Allen was the youngest of four children The family lived in Niles California inland from the southshyeast shore of San Francisco Bay Allens parents separated when Allen was quite young and his mother took the children to Alma in the Santa Cruz foothills where she operated a thirty-five acre fruit ranch College trained and tal shyented Mrs Loughead derived extra

CEDRIC GALLOWAY

income from writing novels and poetry Allen slowed by poor health never finished grammar school but his mother supplied an education with her fine tutoring

Young Loughead and his older brother Malcolm enjoyed ranch life but much preferred tinkering with machinery At 17 Malcolm got a job as a mechanic in San Francisco working on White steam motorcars Allen also left the ranch when he reached 17 and went up to the big city His first job was in a hardware store at $10 a week but he soon took a lower paying job as an automobile mechanic like his brother Malcolm

Meanwhile Victor the eldest of the three brothers worked as a conshysulting engineer in Chicago where he spent his spare time as an aeroshydynamist and a writer His Vehicles of the Air andAirplane Design for

(Above) The first Loughead airplane still under construction A seaplane powered by a Kirkham 6-cylinder enshygine with the Kirkham horseshoeshyshaped radiator

Amateurs were widely read disshycussed and used by would-be aeronauts including his brothers

Through Victor Allen found work in 1910 as an airplane engine mechanic in Chicago and soon had a chance to take his first flight in an airplane He met George Gates the proud builder of a pusher biplane with a homemade 4-cylinder SO-hp engine Gates discovered he couldshyn t fly it alone because the control system required manipulation of the ailerons rudder and elevators in three separate operations He asked Allen if he could operate the ailerons Allen had never handled an airplane but was not lacking in

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

self-confidence Sure he said They warmed up

the engine Allen climbed aboard the flimsy contraption sat behind Gates and wrapped rags around the aileron control wires to keep his hands from slipshyping The plane took off circled the field and landed safely making probably the first dual-controlled flight of its type in aviation history

The thrill lingered with him as he tuned the powerplant for the plane of his emshyployer James E Plew a truck distributor who was trying to break into aviation Plews Curtiss-type pusher with a 3S-hp engine was made ready for demonstrashytion flights from a nearby racetrack The pilot was having difshyficulty in getting the plane off the snow-covered ground

cisco to work in a garage until such time as he might be able to build an airshyplane of his own The design for a threeshyplace seaplane was already occupying his mind It should be a tractor type with engine in front he was tired of worshyrying about a heavy motor mounted beshyhind hanging there in readiness to crush the pilot should the

The seaplane after the installation ofa V-S SO-hp engine and conshy plane come down ventional-type radiator San Francisco Worlds Fair 1915 nose first

The Model G taxiing out for takeoff

When he finally gave up Plew deshycided to call the demonstration off Allen pleaded with Plew to let him have a try at getting the plane into the air With Plews OK Allen re-tuned the engine and with higher rpm he coaxed the flimsy pusher into the air gradually orishyented himself to the controls and the shoulder harness that worked the ailerons Jerkily he circled around and around the oval track and landed in one piece Of his first solo he says It was partly nerve partly confidence and partly damn foolishness but I was now an aviator

Allen had about an hour and a half in the air when he began workshying as a flying instructor II He also had a brief career as an exhibition

JUNE 2004

flyer which came to an abrupt end at Hoopeston Illinois Piloting a water-soaked and underpowered Curtiss Loughead left the ground in fine style but could not gain alshytitude His flight into the late afternoon dusk was suddenly intershyrupted by contact with some telegraph wire lines The fragile Curtiss came to rest in a tangle of wires hanging with one wing imshypaled on the crossarm of a pole Allen switched off the engine which was still running and scramshybled unhurt from the wreckage

Experiences on the country-fair circuit taught Loughead what was good-and bad-about the flying machines of 1911 Not trusting his luck too far and with a wife to support he returned to San Fran-

Allen often disshycussed aerodynamics with his brother Malshycolm and at length the two mechanics joined up to build their own plane A hydroplane was the logical choice because of the unlimited facilshyities in and around the Bay area and San Franciscos long-time interest in boating To give the impresshysion that they were not building their

first plane they deSignated the deshysign as Model G

The brothers kept their jobs and worked every other waking moshyment on their airplane Truly one of the earliest homebuilts They rented a former garage at the corshyner of Pacific Avenue and Polk Street and for the next year and a half that corner was the scene of ever-increasing activity as the new airplane took shape Max Mamlock of the Alco (locomotive) cab comshypany became interested in their project and invested $4000 to help them along

The first Loughead-built airplane was a sizable ship A biplane its upshyper wingspread was 46 feet and its triangular fuselage was 30 feet long It weighed 2200 pounds gross and

6

it carried a useful load of nearly 600 pounds It was equipped with midshywing ailerons and in the manner of French deshysign the entire tail swung on a universal joint The main center float was built like a sled and outrigger pontoons kept the wing tips from dipping into the water When its Kirkham 6shycylinder engine burst its crankcase after 15 minshyutes of operation the designers substituted an 80-hp water-cooled V-8 powerplant retaining the Kirkhams horseshyshoe-shaped radiator The Model G had only one instrument an old tachometer taken from a motorboat

On the afternoon of June IS 1913 Allen and Malcolm eased their creation into the waters from the beach at the foot of Laguna Street just west of the Armys transport dock at Fort Mason Allen climbed in started the engine and swinging into the wind got the G up on the step Soon the slapping of the waves

ator with a conventional type They obtained the flying concession at the Pan Pacific and during the SO flying days at the fair they safely carried more than 600 passenshygers and made themshyselves $4000

Allen and Malcolm decided to move to Santa Barbara after the exposition closed Since the gas tank of the Model G held only 8 galshylons the boys couldnt attempt to fly the ship

The movie acress Audrey Munson in the cockpit of the Model G the 300 odd miles south at Santa Barbara so they packed the plane

in crates and shipped them by train

Early 1916 found them settled in Southshyern California and launching a new projshyect The Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company For the third time the energy and obvious ability of Allen and Malcolm attracted financial backing It came in this instance from Burton R Rodshyman a Santa Barbara machine shop owner

Audrey Munson and Malcolm Loughead in the cockpit of the The new company proshyModel G

below ceased and the plane was airborne The ship was very sensishytive to handle but a short hop was enough to show that months of work had produced success Allen highly pleased returned to the beach and took Malcolm aboard This time the hydro-aeroplane made a 10-mile flight cruising around the island of Alcatraz soarshying in grand style some 300 feet above Market Street

The Lougheads Model G was one of the first successful tractorshytype seaplanes ever built It was highly unusual for this tender age of flight in that it could carry more than one person

The G was well proven but a minor landing mishap and general economic conditions put the plane in storage for two years Allen went back to his old trade of keeping San Francisco motorcars in runshyning condition Malcolm ranging further afie ld tried to sell the Chishynese a Curtiss pusher only to have the plane confiscated as contrashyband by the British at the outbreak of World War I

The opening of the San Franshycisco-Panama Exposition in 1915 inspired the Loughead brothers to dust off the Model G and with fresh capital they repaired the plane replacing the horseshoe radishy

posed to build a 10shypassenger flying boat

an unprecedented design which called for slow and painst aking workmanship

Back to the Model G the brothshyers often flew it to keep up their flying It was finally retired in 1918 With scant sentiment the engine was sold and the frameshywork of the Lougheads first airplane was junked for scrap

References Of Men and Stars A History ofLockshy

heed Aircraft Corporation by Philip L Juergens

Revolution in the Sky by Richard S Allen

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

BY H G FRAUTS CHY

MARCHS MYSTERY ANSWER

Our March Mystery Plane was fairly well known in its time but memories of it have slipped away into the dim recollections of the past century Heres our most complete answer

The subject airplane seems to be one of the three Swanson W -IS Coupe aircraft built by Swanson Airshycraft Co Inc ofHopewell Virginia (and elsewhere) They were built in about 1930-1931 and with restrictions could be registered under Group 2 Approval No 312 dated 122630 The three aircraft were registered as

cn 1 10546 cn 2 358N cn 3 751Y

The W-15 was designed by Sven Swanson who had just previously designed the similar Kari-Keen Coupe which became the Sioux Coupe

The references that I have used for the above informashytion are Joe Juptners appropriate volumes and Aerofilescom The Swanson registrations mayor may not have had the N or NC prefixes

Jack Erickson State Colege FA

Other correct answers were received from Wayne Van Valkenburg Jasper Georgia Charles F Schultz Louisville Kentucky and William Barger of Del Rio Texas

EAA LIBRARY

SEND YOUR ANSWER TO EAA VINTAGE AIRPLANE PO TO BE IN NO LATER THAN JULY 10 2004 FOR INCLUSION IN

Box 3086 OSHKOSH WI 54903-3086 YOUR ANSWER NEEDS THE SEPTEMBER 2004 ISSUE OF Vintage Airplane You CAN ALSO SEND YOUR REshy

SPONSE VIA E-MAIL DONT FORGET

WEVE GOT A NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

FOR YOU TO USE WHEN SENDING IN

YOUR RESPONSE S END YOUR AN shy

SWER TO mysteryplaneeaaorg

B E SURE TO INCLUDE BOTH YOUR

NAME AND ADDRESS (ESPECIALLY

YOUR CITY AND STATE) IN THE

BODY OF YOUR NOTE AND PUT

(MONTH) MYSTERY PLANE IN THE

SUBJECT LINE

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE

JUNE 2004 8

self-confidence Sure he said They warmed up

the engine Allen climbed aboard the flimsy contraption sat behind Gates and wrapped rags around the aileron control wires to keep his hands from slipshyping The plane took off circled the field and landed safely making probably the first dual-controlled flight of its type in aviation history

The thrill lingered with him as he tuned the powerplant for the plane of his emshyployer James E Plew a truck distributor who was trying to break into aviation Plews Curtiss-type pusher with a 3S-hp engine was made ready for demonstrashytion flights from a nearby racetrack The pilot was having difshyficulty in getting the plane off the snow-covered ground

cisco to work in a garage until such time as he might be able to build an airshyplane of his own The design for a threeshyplace seaplane was already occupying his mind It should be a tractor type with engine in front he was tired of worshyrying about a heavy motor mounted beshyhind hanging there in readiness to crush the pilot should the

The seaplane after the installation ofa V-S SO-hp engine and conshy plane come down ventional-type radiator San Francisco Worlds Fair 1915 nose first

The Model G taxiing out for takeoff

When he finally gave up Plew deshycided to call the demonstration off Allen pleaded with Plew to let him have a try at getting the plane into the air With Plews OK Allen re-tuned the engine and with higher rpm he coaxed the flimsy pusher into the air gradually orishyented himself to the controls and the shoulder harness that worked the ailerons Jerkily he circled around and around the oval track and landed in one piece Of his first solo he says It was partly nerve partly confidence and partly damn foolishness but I was now an aviator

Allen had about an hour and a half in the air when he began workshying as a flying instructor II He also had a brief career as an exhibition

JUNE 2004

flyer which came to an abrupt end at Hoopeston Illinois Piloting a water-soaked and underpowered Curtiss Loughead left the ground in fine style but could not gain alshytitude His flight into the late afternoon dusk was suddenly intershyrupted by contact with some telegraph wire lines The fragile Curtiss came to rest in a tangle of wires hanging with one wing imshypaled on the crossarm of a pole Allen switched off the engine which was still running and scramshybled unhurt from the wreckage

Experiences on the country-fair circuit taught Loughead what was good-and bad-about the flying machines of 1911 Not trusting his luck too far and with a wife to support he returned to San Fran-

Allen often disshycussed aerodynamics with his brother Malshycolm and at length the two mechanics joined up to build their own plane A hydroplane was the logical choice because of the unlimited facilshyities in and around the Bay area and San Franciscos long-time interest in boating To give the impresshysion that they were not building their

first plane they deSignated the deshysign as Model G

The brothers kept their jobs and worked every other waking moshyment on their airplane Truly one of the earliest homebuilts They rented a former garage at the corshyner of Pacific Avenue and Polk Street and for the next year and a half that corner was the scene of ever-increasing activity as the new airplane took shape Max Mamlock of the Alco (locomotive) cab comshypany became interested in their project and invested $4000 to help them along

The first Loughead-built airplane was a sizable ship A biplane its upshyper wingspread was 46 feet and its triangular fuselage was 30 feet long It weighed 2200 pounds gross and

6

it carried a useful load of nearly 600 pounds It was equipped with midshywing ailerons and in the manner of French deshysign the entire tail swung on a universal joint The main center float was built like a sled and outrigger pontoons kept the wing tips from dipping into the water When its Kirkham 6shycylinder engine burst its crankcase after 15 minshyutes of operation the designers substituted an 80-hp water-cooled V-8 powerplant retaining the Kirkhams horseshyshoe-shaped radiator The Model G had only one instrument an old tachometer taken from a motorboat

On the afternoon of June IS 1913 Allen and Malcolm eased their creation into the waters from the beach at the foot of Laguna Street just west of the Armys transport dock at Fort Mason Allen climbed in started the engine and swinging into the wind got the G up on the step Soon the slapping of the waves

ator with a conventional type They obtained the flying concession at the Pan Pacific and during the SO flying days at the fair they safely carried more than 600 passenshygers and made themshyselves $4000

Allen and Malcolm decided to move to Santa Barbara after the exposition closed Since the gas tank of the Model G held only 8 galshylons the boys couldnt attempt to fly the ship

The movie acress Audrey Munson in the cockpit of the Model G the 300 odd miles south at Santa Barbara so they packed the plane

in crates and shipped them by train

Early 1916 found them settled in Southshyern California and launching a new projshyect The Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company For the third time the energy and obvious ability of Allen and Malcolm attracted financial backing It came in this instance from Burton R Rodshyman a Santa Barbara machine shop owner

Audrey Munson and Malcolm Loughead in the cockpit of the The new company proshyModel G

below ceased and the plane was airborne The ship was very sensishytive to handle but a short hop was enough to show that months of work had produced success Allen highly pleased returned to the beach and took Malcolm aboard This time the hydro-aeroplane made a 10-mile flight cruising around the island of Alcatraz soarshying in grand style some 300 feet above Market Street

The Lougheads Model G was one of the first successful tractorshytype seaplanes ever built It was highly unusual for this tender age of flight in that it could carry more than one person

The G was well proven but a minor landing mishap and general economic conditions put the plane in storage for two years Allen went back to his old trade of keeping San Francisco motorcars in runshyning condition Malcolm ranging further afie ld tried to sell the Chishynese a Curtiss pusher only to have the plane confiscated as contrashyband by the British at the outbreak of World War I

The opening of the San Franshycisco-Panama Exposition in 1915 inspired the Loughead brothers to dust off the Model G and with fresh capital they repaired the plane replacing the horseshoe radishy

posed to build a 10shypassenger flying boat

an unprecedented design which called for slow and painst aking workmanship

Back to the Model G the brothshyers often flew it to keep up their flying It was finally retired in 1918 With scant sentiment the engine was sold and the frameshywork of the Lougheads first airplane was junked for scrap

References Of Men and Stars A History ofLockshy

heed Aircraft Corporation by Philip L Juergens

Revolution in the Sky by Richard S Allen

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

BY H G FRAUTS CHY

MARCHS MYSTERY ANSWER

Our March Mystery Plane was fairly well known in its time but memories of it have slipped away into the dim recollections of the past century Heres our most complete answer

The subject airplane seems to be one of the three Swanson W -IS Coupe aircraft built by Swanson Airshycraft Co Inc ofHopewell Virginia (and elsewhere) They were built in about 1930-1931 and with restrictions could be registered under Group 2 Approval No 312 dated 122630 The three aircraft were registered as

cn 1 10546 cn 2 358N cn 3 751Y

The W-15 was designed by Sven Swanson who had just previously designed the similar Kari-Keen Coupe which became the Sioux Coupe

The references that I have used for the above informashytion are Joe Juptners appropriate volumes and Aerofilescom The Swanson registrations mayor may not have had the N or NC prefixes

Jack Erickson State Colege FA

Other correct answers were received from Wayne Van Valkenburg Jasper Georgia Charles F Schultz Louisville Kentucky and William Barger of Del Rio Texas

EAA LIBRARY

SEND YOUR ANSWER TO EAA VINTAGE AIRPLANE PO TO BE IN NO LATER THAN JULY 10 2004 FOR INCLUSION IN

Box 3086 OSHKOSH WI 54903-3086 YOUR ANSWER NEEDS THE SEPTEMBER 2004 ISSUE OF Vintage Airplane You CAN ALSO SEND YOUR REshy

SPONSE VIA E-MAIL DONT FORGET

WEVE GOT A NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

FOR YOU TO USE WHEN SENDING IN

YOUR RESPONSE S END YOUR AN shy

SWER TO mysteryplaneeaaorg

B E SURE TO INCLUDE BOTH YOUR

NAME AND ADDRESS (ESPECIALLY

YOUR CITY AND STATE) IN THE

BODY OF YOUR NOTE AND PUT

(MONTH) MYSTERY PLANE IN THE

SUBJECT LINE

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE

JUNE 2004 8

it carried a useful load of nearly 600 pounds It was equipped with midshywing ailerons and in the manner of French deshysign the entire tail swung on a universal joint The main center float was built like a sled and outrigger pontoons kept the wing tips from dipping into the water When its Kirkham 6shycylinder engine burst its crankcase after 15 minshyutes of operation the designers substituted an 80-hp water-cooled V-8 powerplant retaining the Kirkhams horseshyshoe-shaped radiator The Model G had only one instrument an old tachometer taken from a motorboat

On the afternoon of June IS 1913 Allen and Malcolm eased their creation into the waters from the beach at the foot of Laguna Street just west of the Armys transport dock at Fort Mason Allen climbed in started the engine and swinging into the wind got the G up on the step Soon the slapping of the waves

ator with a conventional type They obtained the flying concession at the Pan Pacific and during the SO flying days at the fair they safely carried more than 600 passenshygers and made themshyselves $4000

Allen and Malcolm decided to move to Santa Barbara after the exposition closed Since the gas tank of the Model G held only 8 galshylons the boys couldnt attempt to fly the ship

The movie acress Audrey Munson in the cockpit of the Model G the 300 odd miles south at Santa Barbara so they packed the plane

in crates and shipped them by train

Early 1916 found them settled in Southshyern California and launching a new projshyect The Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company For the third time the energy and obvious ability of Allen and Malcolm attracted financial backing It came in this instance from Burton R Rodshyman a Santa Barbara machine shop owner

Audrey Munson and Malcolm Loughead in the cockpit of the The new company proshyModel G

below ceased and the plane was airborne The ship was very sensishytive to handle but a short hop was enough to show that months of work had produced success Allen highly pleased returned to the beach and took Malcolm aboard This time the hydro-aeroplane made a 10-mile flight cruising around the island of Alcatraz soarshying in grand style some 300 feet above Market Street

The Lougheads Model G was one of the first successful tractorshytype seaplanes ever built It was highly unusual for this tender age of flight in that it could carry more than one person

The G was well proven but a minor landing mishap and general economic conditions put the plane in storage for two years Allen went back to his old trade of keeping San Francisco motorcars in runshyning condition Malcolm ranging further afie ld tried to sell the Chishynese a Curtiss pusher only to have the plane confiscated as contrashyband by the British at the outbreak of World War I

The opening of the San Franshycisco-Panama Exposition in 1915 inspired the Loughead brothers to dust off the Model G and with fresh capital they repaired the plane replacing the horseshoe radishy

posed to build a 10shypassenger flying boat

an unprecedented design which called for slow and painst aking workmanship

Back to the Model G the brothshyers often flew it to keep up their flying It was finally retired in 1918 With scant sentiment the engine was sold and the frameshywork of the Lougheads first airplane was junked for scrap

References Of Men and Stars A History ofLockshy

heed Aircraft Corporation by Philip L Juergens

Revolution in the Sky by Richard S Allen

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

BY H G FRAUTS CHY

MARCHS MYSTERY ANSWER

Our March Mystery Plane was fairly well known in its time but memories of it have slipped away into the dim recollections of the past century Heres our most complete answer

The subject airplane seems to be one of the three Swanson W -IS Coupe aircraft built by Swanson Airshycraft Co Inc ofHopewell Virginia (and elsewhere) They were built in about 1930-1931 and with restrictions could be registered under Group 2 Approval No 312 dated 122630 The three aircraft were registered as

cn 1 10546 cn 2 358N cn 3 751Y

The W-15 was designed by Sven Swanson who had just previously designed the similar Kari-Keen Coupe which became the Sioux Coupe

The references that I have used for the above informashytion are Joe Juptners appropriate volumes and Aerofilescom The Swanson registrations mayor may not have had the N or NC prefixes

Jack Erickson State Colege FA

Other correct answers were received from Wayne Van Valkenburg Jasper Georgia Charles F Schultz Louisville Kentucky and William Barger of Del Rio Texas

EAA LIBRARY

SEND YOUR ANSWER TO EAA VINTAGE AIRPLANE PO TO BE IN NO LATER THAN JULY 10 2004 FOR INCLUSION IN

Box 3086 OSHKOSH WI 54903-3086 YOUR ANSWER NEEDS THE SEPTEMBER 2004 ISSUE OF Vintage Airplane You CAN ALSO SEND YOUR REshy

SPONSE VIA E-MAIL DONT FORGET

WEVE GOT A NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

FOR YOU TO USE WHEN SENDING IN

YOUR RESPONSE S END YOUR AN shy

SWER TO mysteryplaneeaaorg

B E SURE TO INCLUDE BOTH YOUR

NAME AND ADDRESS (ESPECIALLY

YOUR CITY AND STATE) IN THE

BODY OF YOUR NOTE AND PUT

(MONTH) MYSTERY PLANE IN THE

SUBJECT LINE

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE

JUNE 2004 8

BY H G FRAUTS CHY

MARCHS MYSTERY ANSWER

Our March Mystery Plane was fairly well known in its time but memories of it have slipped away into the dim recollections of the past century Heres our most complete answer

The subject airplane seems to be one of the three Swanson W -IS Coupe aircraft built by Swanson Airshycraft Co Inc ofHopewell Virginia (and elsewhere) They were built in about 1930-1931 and with restrictions could be registered under Group 2 Approval No 312 dated 122630 The three aircraft were registered as

cn 1 10546 cn 2 358N cn 3 751Y

The W-15 was designed by Sven Swanson who had just previously designed the similar Kari-Keen Coupe which became the Sioux Coupe

The references that I have used for the above informashytion are Joe Juptners appropriate volumes and Aerofilescom The Swanson registrations mayor may not have had the N or NC prefixes

Jack Erickson State Colege FA

Other correct answers were received from Wayne Van Valkenburg Jasper Georgia Charles F Schultz Louisville Kentucky and William Barger of Del Rio Texas

EAA LIBRARY

SEND YOUR ANSWER TO EAA VINTAGE AIRPLANE PO TO BE IN NO LATER THAN JULY 10 2004 FOR INCLUSION IN

Box 3086 OSHKOSH WI 54903-3086 YOUR ANSWER NEEDS THE SEPTEMBER 2004 ISSUE OF Vintage Airplane You CAN ALSO SEND YOUR REshy

SPONSE VIA E-MAIL DONT FORGET

WEVE GOT A NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

FOR YOU TO USE WHEN SENDING IN

YOUR RESPONSE S END YOUR AN shy

SWER TO mysteryplaneeaaorg

B E SURE TO INCLUDE BOTH YOUR

NAME AND ADDRESS (ESPECIALLY

YOUR CITY AND STATE) IN THE

BODY OF YOUR NOTE AND PUT

(MONTH) MYSTERY PLANE IN THE

SUBJECT LINE

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE

JUNE 2004 8

--------~ THE TWICEshy YEARLY ~Jio---------_

JULY 15 - 18 2004 DAYTON OHIO

VI NTAGE AI RCRAFT COMPETITION

HELD AT AMERICAS

PREMIER AIR

SHOWS

MOH I N~O AT

wwwheritdgetrophyorg O~ CONTACT INVITATIONAL COO~DINATO~ AT 1-300shy274-Jns O~ 1-703shy334-1700

Rolls-Royce

Smithsonian CKWmmJ]IDO NatUmal Air and Space Museum 1904 - 2004 a century of innovation

AI R

OkaYt its not an antique but if the folks at Mono Aircraft could have gotshyten their hands on a Vedeneyev M14 radial engine you never know Based on the Mullicoupe fashioned by Bud Dake Red Lirille and Jim Younkin John McCulloughs McCulloucoupe has a wonderful old-fashshyioned speedster look that Benny Howard the designer ofMr Mulligan would have loved McCulloughs workmanship on the wings is nothing short offantastic Each wing panel is perfectly smooth with no dips or wiggles in the plywood skin Youd swear they were molded not built up with ribs spars and plywood covering The McCulloucoupe will be feashytured in a Jack Cox article published in the August issue ofEAAs flagship magazine EAA Sport Aviation 10 JUNE 2004

After the spring rains departed on opening day the remainder of the week in central Florida was nearly postcard perfect Cool nights with highs during the rest of the week on either side of 80 gave those who attended the 2004 edition of the Sun n Fun EAA Fly-In a super week to learn about the latest aviation gadgets and catch up with all their aviation friends

This ambulance version of the 1934 Waco YKC was on display its registered to John Van Surdam of Seneca South Carolina A 275-hp Jacobs R755B powshyers the distinctive biplane

John Morrisons tricycle-gear Bellanca 260 picked up an Outstanding in at Sun n Fun

The seaplane activities at Lake Parker were split over two days ultralights flew on Thursday and the factory-built full-size aircraft were flying on Friday with the almost sold-out seaplane pilots dinner held that evening S amp N Aviation of Wilmington Delaware brought their TEC Champ mounted on a pair ofEdo 1400 floats to the event on Friday

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

AWARDS ANTIQUE GRAND CHAMPION

N785H Stearman 4E Alan Lopez Princeton NJ

RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION

N22410 Howard DGA Mike Vaughn Charleston IL

SILVER AGE CHAMPION

N230EB Morane Saulnier Thomas M Leaver London UK

BEST CABIN N9599H Howard DGA Joe Dudley Allen OK

BEST WW-II ERA N75675 Boeing N2S4 Rene St Julien Stewart FL

CLASSIC

CLASSIC GRAND CHAMPION N949D Stinson 108-2 Butch Walsh Arrington VA

CLASSIC CUSTOM GRAND CHAMPION N4PW Luscombe 8AE Phil Wells Cumming GA

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (0-100 HP) NC43645 Taylorcraft BC-12D Raymond Cook Spring Cove IL 60081 12 JUNE 2004

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (101-165 HP) N91686 Cessna 170B James C Kirby Mullica Hill NJ

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (OVER 165 HP) N2152C CESSNA 195B Terry Robertson Boynton Beach FL

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (0-100 HP) N1408U CESSNA 140 Robert A Runkle Swanton OH

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (101-165 HP) N2335M PA-12 Cody Owens Anderson SC

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (OVER 165 HP) N3214C Bonanza E-35 Jeff Beaton Morehead City NC

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT N195AB Cessna 195 Jay McClure Atlanta GA

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT NC6010M Stinson 108-3 Shawn Haring Columbus MS

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT N1369E Aeronca 7AC Robert B Haas Alva FL

A side trip to Fantasy ofFlight in Polk City was a grand excursion and Kermit Weeks graciously inshyvited me to fly with him in the attractions German-built Fi 156 Fieseler Storch As you can see the view from the Storch is remarkable Most Starches left are aircraft built by the French Morane-Saulnier company This one was restored in Detroit Michigan by Jan Mueller In addition to the complex you see here a large new hangar is being constructed at Fantasy ofFlight While at Fantasy ofFlight you can see plenty ofone-of-ashykind airplanes including the Gee Bee R-2 replica built by Steve Wolf and Delmar Benjamin and the Gee Bee Z built by Kevin Kimball and Jeff Eicher On the ramp is the same Ford Tri-Motor used in the motion picture Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

BEST CUSTOM FACTORY RESTORATION N2313K Luscombe 8F Luscombe Heritage Fund Chandler AZ

CONTEMPORARY GRAND CHAMPION N108M MEYERS 200 Tom Losey Fort Meyers FL

CUSTOM GRAND CHAMPION N100BH Beechcraft Travelair J Janovetz and R Wheeler Collyville TX

BEST TWIN N7765N Beech D-18 Twin Brad Neat Sarasota FL

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N8856R Bellanca 260 John Morrison Collierville TN

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N5478D Beech Bonanza Larry Van Dam Riverside CA

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N6233Y Piper PA-23 Aztec Jim Conley and Thomas Block Daytona FL

BEST CUSTOM N87DG Beech Bonanza Don and Wendy Gaynor Englewood FL

SEAPLANES BEST RESTORED N180DR Cessna 180 Bryon Jorgerson Wadsworth OH

GRAND CHAMPION SEAPLANE N62000 Grumman Widgeon James Rogers Summerland Key FL

BEST FABRIC AMPHIBIAN N19498 Cessna C-165 Glenn Larson Sarasota FL

BEST METAL AMPHIBIAN N6386K Republic Seabee RC-3 Bill Bardin Rockport NY

During the winter months Waldo Wrights Flying Service offers biplane rides at Fantasy ofFlight in its New Stanshydard D-2Ss Rob Lock and his father Bob Lock fly the biplanes more than 400 hours a year as they give a unique flight experience to thousands ofpassengers Theyre ably assisted by the Waldettes II a merry band ofwomen who take care of the passengers as they get ready to fly with one of the Waldos At Sun n Fun the Waldettes were Connie Buckner Cheryl Lock Sandy Lock Kathy Crawley and Cheri Sinclair

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

One of the most active small type clubs has to be the Howard Club with a lot of the activity spark-plugged by Ed and Barbara Moore From left to right we have Mike Slingluff Larry Skinner Ed Moore Ted Patecell Jim Calvin Frank Rezich (Ted and Frank are both former employees ofHoward Aircraft during the 30s amp 40s) Dan and Jean Dannecker Barbara Moore Jim Wade and Julie Wade The owners missing from the photo are Joe Dudley Chuck Nickerson and Mike and Iven Vaughan

Phil Wells

Thomas Leavers Morane-Saulnier 230 has no brakes and a very small taiLwheelskid and is powered by a 230shyhp Salmson 9AB engine If it looks vaguely familiar its because the airplane was used as the unnamed new monoplane in the closing scenes of the 1960s World War I flying movie The Blue Max Thomas lives in London England but keeps the US-registered Morane at the Winter Haven Florida airport 14 JUNE 2004

Phil Wells was tickled to learn that the recent restoration ofhis Lusshycombe BAlE won the Classic Custom Grand Champion award Dr Wells did much of the work himself including re-skinning porshytions of the airframe Hes from Cumming Georgia

Its not too often you see a pair ofStearman 4E biplanes on the same field Alan Lopez Princeton New Jersey has comshypleted the restoration ofa very nice Stanavo 4E and had it parked next to Ron Rexs Western Air Express 4E which he keeps in Ocala Florida Alans 4E was declared the Grand Champion Antique of the event

Ace Stinson restorer Butch Walsh ofArrington Virginia just completed this very pretty 10B-2 which was chosen to be the Sun n Fun 2004 Classhysic Grand Champion

Last years Grand Chamshypion Antique at Sun n Fun this is Tim Bailys Piper PA-22shy150 Tri-Pacer

One of the highlights of the week was the night air show which started at dusk on Saturday The AeroShell Team started off the evening with a sound smoke and light show that certainly got everyones attention

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

The Seven-Year Paint Job

There are Travel Airs and then there are Travelairs

Honest says ]] ]anovetz we were going to pull the gear to repaint it and then have the airplane stripped and painted

That was it Roll it in the shop do the work roll it out Two three months tops No biggie

It didnt work out that way ]anovetz is talking about their

1958 Travelair First its unusual to see a Travelair (at least that kind of 16 JUNE 2004

BUDD DAVISSON

Travelair) in the vintageantique area Second its even more unshyusual to see one that has been taken right down to its underwear and brought back up again which was not the original plan

The whole thing started I think just because a couple of us wanted to go flying with two engines It seemed like a glamorous thing to do and the Travelair seemed like an economical way to go Charlie

Hillard had just traded a Widgeon project for the Travelair but hadnt registered it in his name yet so it went directly to us

Richard Wheeler Archie Taylor and I had been partners in a 1980 Piper Warrior II We sold it to buy the Travelair from Charlie Archie who has over 400 hours instructshying in Travelairs then convinced another friend Lee Finley that it would be a great airplane so Lee

Then we got the Travelair and there were times I was practically living in the hangar

The partnerships Travelair is seshyrial number TD 130 and was part of the very first year of production of Beechcrafts entry into the lightshytwin field The Apache is generally accepted as the first full-producshytion light twin but Beechcraft intended the Travelair to be a cut above the competition both in quality and performance

Comparing the Model 9S Traveshylair to the Apache would seem to be unfair if nothing else because Beech designers spent so much time making their airplane look svelte and modern Plus the Model 9S had a lot of Bonanza in its

bones which is to say its fit and finish were superlative And it had a180-hp 0-360 Lyshycoming on each side Did it blow the competition away Not exactly because the fatshywing Piper had such a price advantage Still the Travelair enjoyed success until the product was discontinued in 1968 long after the biggershyengine Baron had been introduced The economicalwe ignored machine is still being used by lots of flight schools for mulshycommon sense tiengine training

When we got the airplaneand completely it really wasnt in bad shape

gutted the airplane joined us to help pay for the paint job As we got deeper into the projshyect Dan Bruhl jumped on board so now there are five partners

Beginning in 1990 I had my machine shop Lone Star Aero where I built parts for antique airshyplanes in Charlies hangar and I was always hanging around I had become a professional hangar rat and in 1994 he hired me full time so I was working on his Widgeons and anything else he was flying

It was a little tired but it was 38 years old and had earned the right to be tired We were going to do some cosmetic stuff like paint it and remove the four or five layers of paint

that covered the landing gear and just enjoy flying it But we had something happen at the paint shop that forced us around the corner toward total restoration

We had already discovered that we had a bad fuel bladder so we were going to have to get into the wings Then the paint shop didnt protect the lower molding on the windshield correctly and the stripshyper ate the gel coat

No problem right Well just

remove the molding and fix it Exshycept that to get the molding off the windshield had to come out And to get the windshield out we had to remove the instrument panel to get at the hardware You see where Im going right

So there we were with a really ugly stripped airplane with most of the panel laying on the seats the gear off and the wings parshytially opened up Oh and the windshield was out

At that point we had to make some serious decisions We were alshyready much farther into the airplane than we wanted to be And the market value on a firstshyyear Travelair wasnt that high Still we had the airplane apart and we had bought it to fly not to sell So what the heck we said if were going to do it we might as well do it right If we had only known

There are thousands of airplanes of the same vintage as the partnershyship Travelair that have never been completely gone through and reshyhabbed Most of them have never been allowed to go derelict plus they seem somehow modern and havent made it into the psyshychological category we reserve for true vintage machines even though they are old enough Because of this few of the airplanes have had someone lavish the kinds of TLC (and money) on them that they truly need Each of a long progresshysion of owners did what they needed to keep it safe but in the process they left their indelible tracks behind Airplanes like these resemble archeological digs where each layer reveals yet another layer and each bears the marks of the previous inhabitants

When we had the panel out we could see what a real mess it was It wasnt even close to being unairworthy but it had decades of wiring running around that served no purpose Plus as each new genshyeration of avionics came out yet another mechanic would chop yet another hole while patching up an existing hole

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

OkaYt its not an antique but if the folks at Mono Aircraft could have gotshyten their hands on a Vedeneyev M14 radial engine you never know Based on the Mullicoupe fashioned by Bud Dake Red Lirille and Jim Younkin John McCulloughs McCulloucoupe has a wonderful old-fashshyioned speedster look that Benny Howard the designer ofMr Mulligan would have loved McCulloughs workmanship on the wings is nothing short offantastic Each wing panel is perfectly smooth with no dips or wiggles in the plywood skin Youd swear they were molded not built up with ribs spars and plywood covering The McCulloucoupe will be feashytured in a Jack Cox article published in the August issue ofEAAs flagship magazine EAA Sport Aviation 10 JUNE 2004

After the spring rains departed on opening day the remainder of the week in central Florida was nearly postcard perfect Cool nights with highs during the rest of the week on either side of 80 gave those who attended the 2004 edition of the Sun n Fun EAA Fly-In a super week to learn about the latest aviation gadgets and catch up with all their aviation friends

This ambulance version of the 1934 Waco YKC was on display its registered to John Van Surdam of Seneca South Carolina A 275-hp Jacobs R755B powshyers the distinctive biplane

John Morrisons tricycle-gear Bellanca 260 picked up an Outstanding in at Sun n Fun

The seaplane activities at Lake Parker were split over two days ultralights flew on Thursday and the factory-built full-size aircraft were flying on Friday with the almost sold-out seaplane pilots dinner held that evening S amp N Aviation of Wilmington Delaware brought their TEC Champ mounted on a pair ofEdo 1400 floats to the event on Friday

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

AWARDS ANTIQUE GRAND CHAMPION

N785H Stearman 4E Alan Lopez Princeton NJ

RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION

N22410 Howard DGA Mike Vaughn Charleston IL

SILVER AGE CHAMPION

N230EB Morane Saulnier Thomas M Leaver London UK

BEST CABIN N9599H Howard DGA Joe Dudley Allen OK

BEST WW-II ERA N75675 Boeing N2S4 Rene St Julien Stewart FL

CLASSIC

CLASSIC GRAND CHAMPION N949D Stinson 108-2 Butch Walsh Arrington VA

CLASSIC CUSTOM GRAND CHAMPION N4PW Luscombe 8AE Phil Wells Cumming GA

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (0-100 HP) NC43645 Taylorcraft BC-12D Raymond Cook Spring Cove IL 60081 12 JUNE 2004

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (101-165 HP) N91686 Cessna 170B James C Kirby Mullica Hill NJ

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (OVER 165 HP) N2152C CESSNA 195B Terry Robertson Boynton Beach FL

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (0-100 HP) N1408U CESSNA 140 Robert A Runkle Swanton OH

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (101-165 HP) N2335M PA-12 Cody Owens Anderson SC

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (OVER 165 HP) N3214C Bonanza E-35 Jeff Beaton Morehead City NC

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT N195AB Cessna 195 Jay McClure Atlanta GA

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT NC6010M Stinson 108-3 Shawn Haring Columbus MS

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT N1369E Aeronca 7AC Robert B Haas Alva FL

A side trip to Fantasy ofFlight in Polk City was a grand excursion and Kermit Weeks graciously inshyvited me to fly with him in the attractions German-built Fi 156 Fieseler Storch As you can see the view from the Storch is remarkable Most Starches left are aircraft built by the French Morane-Saulnier company This one was restored in Detroit Michigan by Jan Mueller In addition to the complex you see here a large new hangar is being constructed at Fantasy ofFlight While at Fantasy ofFlight you can see plenty ofone-of-ashykind airplanes including the Gee Bee R-2 replica built by Steve Wolf and Delmar Benjamin and the Gee Bee Z built by Kevin Kimball and Jeff Eicher On the ramp is the same Ford Tri-Motor used in the motion picture Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

BEST CUSTOM FACTORY RESTORATION N2313K Luscombe 8F Luscombe Heritage Fund Chandler AZ

CONTEMPORARY GRAND CHAMPION N108M MEYERS 200 Tom Losey Fort Meyers FL

CUSTOM GRAND CHAMPION N100BH Beechcraft Travelair J Janovetz and R Wheeler Collyville TX

BEST TWIN N7765N Beech D-18 Twin Brad Neat Sarasota FL

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N8856R Bellanca 260 John Morrison Collierville TN

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N5478D Beech Bonanza Larry Van Dam Riverside CA

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N6233Y Piper PA-23 Aztec Jim Conley and Thomas Block Daytona FL

BEST CUSTOM N87DG Beech Bonanza Don and Wendy Gaynor Englewood FL

SEAPLANES BEST RESTORED N180DR Cessna 180 Bryon Jorgerson Wadsworth OH

GRAND CHAMPION SEAPLANE N62000 Grumman Widgeon James Rogers Summerland Key FL

BEST FABRIC AMPHIBIAN N19498 Cessna C-165 Glenn Larson Sarasota FL

BEST METAL AMPHIBIAN N6386K Republic Seabee RC-3 Bill Bardin Rockport NY

During the winter months Waldo Wrights Flying Service offers biplane rides at Fantasy ofFlight in its New Stanshydard D-2Ss Rob Lock and his father Bob Lock fly the biplanes more than 400 hours a year as they give a unique flight experience to thousands ofpassengers Theyre ably assisted by the Waldettes II a merry band ofwomen who take care of the passengers as they get ready to fly with one of the Waldos At Sun n Fun the Waldettes were Connie Buckner Cheryl Lock Sandy Lock Kathy Crawley and Cheri Sinclair

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

One of the most active small type clubs has to be the Howard Club with a lot of the activity spark-plugged by Ed and Barbara Moore From left to right we have Mike Slingluff Larry Skinner Ed Moore Ted Patecell Jim Calvin Frank Rezich (Ted and Frank are both former employees ofHoward Aircraft during the 30s amp 40s) Dan and Jean Dannecker Barbara Moore Jim Wade and Julie Wade The owners missing from the photo are Joe Dudley Chuck Nickerson and Mike and Iven Vaughan

Phil Wells

Thomas Leavers Morane-Saulnier 230 has no brakes and a very small taiLwheelskid and is powered by a 230shyhp Salmson 9AB engine If it looks vaguely familiar its because the airplane was used as the unnamed new monoplane in the closing scenes of the 1960s World War I flying movie The Blue Max Thomas lives in London England but keeps the US-registered Morane at the Winter Haven Florida airport 14 JUNE 2004

Phil Wells was tickled to learn that the recent restoration ofhis Lusshycombe BAlE won the Classic Custom Grand Champion award Dr Wells did much of the work himself including re-skinning porshytions of the airframe Hes from Cumming Georgia

Its not too often you see a pair ofStearman 4E biplanes on the same field Alan Lopez Princeton New Jersey has comshypleted the restoration ofa very nice Stanavo 4E and had it parked next to Ron Rexs Western Air Express 4E which he keeps in Ocala Florida Alans 4E was declared the Grand Champion Antique of the event

Ace Stinson restorer Butch Walsh ofArrington Virginia just completed this very pretty 10B-2 which was chosen to be the Sun n Fun 2004 Classhysic Grand Champion

Last years Grand Chamshypion Antique at Sun n Fun this is Tim Bailys Piper PA-22shy150 Tri-Pacer

One of the highlights of the week was the night air show which started at dusk on Saturday The AeroShell Team started off the evening with a sound smoke and light show that certainly got everyones attention

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

The Seven-Year Paint Job

There are Travel Airs and then there are Travelairs

Honest says ]] ]anovetz we were going to pull the gear to repaint it and then have the airplane stripped and painted

That was it Roll it in the shop do the work roll it out Two three months tops No biggie

It didnt work out that way ]anovetz is talking about their

1958 Travelair First its unusual to see a Travelair (at least that kind of 16 JUNE 2004

BUDD DAVISSON

Travelair) in the vintageantique area Second its even more unshyusual to see one that has been taken right down to its underwear and brought back up again which was not the original plan

The whole thing started I think just because a couple of us wanted to go flying with two engines It seemed like a glamorous thing to do and the Travelair seemed like an economical way to go Charlie

Hillard had just traded a Widgeon project for the Travelair but hadnt registered it in his name yet so it went directly to us

Richard Wheeler Archie Taylor and I had been partners in a 1980 Piper Warrior II We sold it to buy the Travelair from Charlie Archie who has over 400 hours instructshying in Travelairs then convinced another friend Lee Finley that it would be a great airplane so Lee

Then we got the Travelair and there were times I was practically living in the hangar

The partnerships Travelair is seshyrial number TD 130 and was part of the very first year of production of Beechcrafts entry into the lightshytwin field The Apache is generally accepted as the first full-producshytion light twin but Beechcraft intended the Travelair to be a cut above the competition both in quality and performance

Comparing the Model 9S Traveshylair to the Apache would seem to be unfair if nothing else because Beech designers spent so much time making their airplane look svelte and modern Plus the Model 9S had a lot of Bonanza in its

bones which is to say its fit and finish were superlative And it had a180-hp 0-360 Lyshycoming on each side Did it blow the competition away Not exactly because the fatshywing Piper had such a price advantage Still the Travelair enjoyed success until the product was discontinued in 1968 long after the biggershyengine Baron had been introduced The economicalwe ignored machine is still being used by lots of flight schools for mulshycommon sense tiengine training

When we got the airplaneand completely it really wasnt in bad shape

gutted the airplane joined us to help pay for the paint job As we got deeper into the projshyect Dan Bruhl jumped on board so now there are five partners

Beginning in 1990 I had my machine shop Lone Star Aero where I built parts for antique airshyplanes in Charlies hangar and I was always hanging around I had become a professional hangar rat and in 1994 he hired me full time so I was working on his Widgeons and anything else he was flying

It was a little tired but it was 38 years old and had earned the right to be tired We were going to do some cosmetic stuff like paint it and remove the four or five layers of paint

that covered the landing gear and just enjoy flying it But we had something happen at the paint shop that forced us around the corner toward total restoration

We had already discovered that we had a bad fuel bladder so we were going to have to get into the wings Then the paint shop didnt protect the lower molding on the windshield correctly and the stripshyper ate the gel coat

No problem right Well just

remove the molding and fix it Exshycept that to get the molding off the windshield had to come out And to get the windshield out we had to remove the instrument panel to get at the hardware You see where Im going right

So there we were with a really ugly stripped airplane with most of the panel laying on the seats the gear off and the wings parshytially opened up Oh and the windshield was out

At that point we had to make some serious decisions We were alshyready much farther into the airplane than we wanted to be And the market value on a firstshyyear Travelair wasnt that high Still we had the airplane apart and we had bought it to fly not to sell So what the heck we said if were going to do it we might as well do it right If we had only known

There are thousands of airplanes of the same vintage as the partnershyship Travelair that have never been completely gone through and reshyhabbed Most of them have never been allowed to go derelict plus they seem somehow modern and havent made it into the psyshychological category we reserve for true vintage machines even though they are old enough Because of this few of the airplanes have had someone lavish the kinds of TLC (and money) on them that they truly need Each of a long progresshysion of owners did what they needed to keep it safe but in the process they left their indelible tracks behind Airplanes like these resemble archeological digs where each layer reveals yet another layer and each bears the marks of the previous inhabitants

When we had the panel out we could see what a real mess it was It wasnt even close to being unairworthy but it had decades of wiring running around that served no purpose Plus as each new genshyeration of avionics came out yet another mechanic would chop yet another hole while patching up an existing hole

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

After the spring rains departed on opening day the remainder of the week in central Florida was nearly postcard perfect Cool nights with highs during the rest of the week on either side of 80 gave those who attended the 2004 edition of the Sun n Fun EAA Fly-In a super week to learn about the latest aviation gadgets and catch up with all their aviation friends

This ambulance version of the 1934 Waco YKC was on display its registered to John Van Surdam of Seneca South Carolina A 275-hp Jacobs R755B powshyers the distinctive biplane

John Morrisons tricycle-gear Bellanca 260 picked up an Outstanding in at Sun n Fun

The seaplane activities at Lake Parker were split over two days ultralights flew on Thursday and the factory-built full-size aircraft were flying on Friday with the almost sold-out seaplane pilots dinner held that evening S amp N Aviation of Wilmington Delaware brought their TEC Champ mounted on a pair ofEdo 1400 floats to the event on Friday

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

AWARDS ANTIQUE GRAND CHAMPION

N785H Stearman 4E Alan Lopez Princeton NJ

RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION

N22410 Howard DGA Mike Vaughn Charleston IL

SILVER AGE CHAMPION

N230EB Morane Saulnier Thomas M Leaver London UK

BEST CABIN N9599H Howard DGA Joe Dudley Allen OK

BEST WW-II ERA N75675 Boeing N2S4 Rene St Julien Stewart FL

CLASSIC

CLASSIC GRAND CHAMPION N949D Stinson 108-2 Butch Walsh Arrington VA

CLASSIC CUSTOM GRAND CHAMPION N4PW Luscombe 8AE Phil Wells Cumming GA

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (0-100 HP) NC43645 Taylorcraft BC-12D Raymond Cook Spring Cove IL 60081 12 JUNE 2004

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (101-165 HP) N91686 Cessna 170B James C Kirby Mullica Hill NJ

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (OVER 165 HP) N2152C CESSNA 195B Terry Robertson Boynton Beach FL

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (0-100 HP) N1408U CESSNA 140 Robert A Runkle Swanton OH

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (101-165 HP) N2335M PA-12 Cody Owens Anderson SC

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (OVER 165 HP) N3214C Bonanza E-35 Jeff Beaton Morehead City NC

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT N195AB Cessna 195 Jay McClure Atlanta GA

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT NC6010M Stinson 108-3 Shawn Haring Columbus MS

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT N1369E Aeronca 7AC Robert B Haas Alva FL

A side trip to Fantasy ofFlight in Polk City was a grand excursion and Kermit Weeks graciously inshyvited me to fly with him in the attractions German-built Fi 156 Fieseler Storch As you can see the view from the Storch is remarkable Most Starches left are aircraft built by the French Morane-Saulnier company This one was restored in Detroit Michigan by Jan Mueller In addition to the complex you see here a large new hangar is being constructed at Fantasy ofFlight While at Fantasy ofFlight you can see plenty ofone-of-ashykind airplanes including the Gee Bee R-2 replica built by Steve Wolf and Delmar Benjamin and the Gee Bee Z built by Kevin Kimball and Jeff Eicher On the ramp is the same Ford Tri-Motor used in the motion picture Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

BEST CUSTOM FACTORY RESTORATION N2313K Luscombe 8F Luscombe Heritage Fund Chandler AZ

CONTEMPORARY GRAND CHAMPION N108M MEYERS 200 Tom Losey Fort Meyers FL

CUSTOM GRAND CHAMPION N100BH Beechcraft Travelair J Janovetz and R Wheeler Collyville TX

BEST TWIN N7765N Beech D-18 Twin Brad Neat Sarasota FL

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N8856R Bellanca 260 John Morrison Collierville TN

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N5478D Beech Bonanza Larry Van Dam Riverside CA

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N6233Y Piper PA-23 Aztec Jim Conley and Thomas Block Daytona FL

BEST CUSTOM N87DG Beech Bonanza Don and Wendy Gaynor Englewood FL

SEAPLANES BEST RESTORED N180DR Cessna 180 Bryon Jorgerson Wadsworth OH

GRAND CHAMPION SEAPLANE N62000 Grumman Widgeon James Rogers Summerland Key FL

BEST FABRIC AMPHIBIAN N19498 Cessna C-165 Glenn Larson Sarasota FL

BEST METAL AMPHIBIAN N6386K Republic Seabee RC-3 Bill Bardin Rockport NY

During the winter months Waldo Wrights Flying Service offers biplane rides at Fantasy ofFlight in its New Stanshydard D-2Ss Rob Lock and his father Bob Lock fly the biplanes more than 400 hours a year as they give a unique flight experience to thousands ofpassengers Theyre ably assisted by the Waldettes II a merry band ofwomen who take care of the passengers as they get ready to fly with one of the Waldos At Sun n Fun the Waldettes were Connie Buckner Cheryl Lock Sandy Lock Kathy Crawley and Cheri Sinclair

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

One of the most active small type clubs has to be the Howard Club with a lot of the activity spark-plugged by Ed and Barbara Moore From left to right we have Mike Slingluff Larry Skinner Ed Moore Ted Patecell Jim Calvin Frank Rezich (Ted and Frank are both former employees ofHoward Aircraft during the 30s amp 40s) Dan and Jean Dannecker Barbara Moore Jim Wade and Julie Wade The owners missing from the photo are Joe Dudley Chuck Nickerson and Mike and Iven Vaughan

Phil Wells

Thomas Leavers Morane-Saulnier 230 has no brakes and a very small taiLwheelskid and is powered by a 230shyhp Salmson 9AB engine If it looks vaguely familiar its because the airplane was used as the unnamed new monoplane in the closing scenes of the 1960s World War I flying movie The Blue Max Thomas lives in London England but keeps the US-registered Morane at the Winter Haven Florida airport 14 JUNE 2004

Phil Wells was tickled to learn that the recent restoration ofhis Lusshycombe BAlE won the Classic Custom Grand Champion award Dr Wells did much of the work himself including re-skinning porshytions of the airframe Hes from Cumming Georgia

Its not too often you see a pair ofStearman 4E biplanes on the same field Alan Lopez Princeton New Jersey has comshypleted the restoration ofa very nice Stanavo 4E and had it parked next to Ron Rexs Western Air Express 4E which he keeps in Ocala Florida Alans 4E was declared the Grand Champion Antique of the event

Ace Stinson restorer Butch Walsh ofArrington Virginia just completed this very pretty 10B-2 which was chosen to be the Sun n Fun 2004 Classhysic Grand Champion

Last years Grand Chamshypion Antique at Sun n Fun this is Tim Bailys Piper PA-22shy150 Tri-Pacer

One of the highlights of the week was the night air show which started at dusk on Saturday The AeroShell Team started off the evening with a sound smoke and light show that certainly got everyones attention

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

The Seven-Year Paint Job

There are Travel Airs and then there are Travelairs

Honest says ]] ]anovetz we were going to pull the gear to repaint it and then have the airplane stripped and painted

That was it Roll it in the shop do the work roll it out Two three months tops No biggie

It didnt work out that way ]anovetz is talking about their

1958 Travelair First its unusual to see a Travelair (at least that kind of 16 JUNE 2004

BUDD DAVISSON

Travelair) in the vintageantique area Second its even more unshyusual to see one that has been taken right down to its underwear and brought back up again which was not the original plan

The whole thing started I think just because a couple of us wanted to go flying with two engines It seemed like a glamorous thing to do and the Travelair seemed like an economical way to go Charlie

Hillard had just traded a Widgeon project for the Travelair but hadnt registered it in his name yet so it went directly to us

Richard Wheeler Archie Taylor and I had been partners in a 1980 Piper Warrior II We sold it to buy the Travelair from Charlie Archie who has over 400 hours instructshying in Travelairs then convinced another friend Lee Finley that it would be a great airplane so Lee

Then we got the Travelair and there were times I was practically living in the hangar

The partnerships Travelair is seshyrial number TD 130 and was part of the very first year of production of Beechcrafts entry into the lightshytwin field The Apache is generally accepted as the first full-producshytion light twin but Beechcraft intended the Travelair to be a cut above the competition both in quality and performance

Comparing the Model 9S Traveshylair to the Apache would seem to be unfair if nothing else because Beech designers spent so much time making their airplane look svelte and modern Plus the Model 9S had a lot of Bonanza in its

bones which is to say its fit and finish were superlative And it had a180-hp 0-360 Lyshycoming on each side Did it blow the competition away Not exactly because the fatshywing Piper had such a price advantage Still the Travelair enjoyed success until the product was discontinued in 1968 long after the biggershyengine Baron had been introduced The economicalwe ignored machine is still being used by lots of flight schools for mulshycommon sense tiengine training

When we got the airplaneand completely it really wasnt in bad shape

gutted the airplane joined us to help pay for the paint job As we got deeper into the projshyect Dan Bruhl jumped on board so now there are five partners

Beginning in 1990 I had my machine shop Lone Star Aero where I built parts for antique airshyplanes in Charlies hangar and I was always hanging around I had become a professional hangar rat and in 1994 he hired me full time so I was working on his Widgeons and anything else he was flying

It was a little tired but it was 38 years old and had earned the right to be tired We were going to do some cosmetic stuff like paint it and remove the four or five layers of paint

that covered the landing gear and just enjoy flying it But we had something happen at the paint shop that forced us around the corner toward total restoration

We had already discovered that we had a bad fuel bladder so we were going to have to get into the wings Then the paint shop didnt protect the lower molding on the windshield correctly and the stripshyper ate the gel coat

No problem right Well just

remove the molding and fix it Exshycept that to get the molding off the windshield had to come out And to get the windshield out we had to remove the instrument panel to get at the hardware You see where Im going right

So there we were with a really ugly stripped airplane with most of the panel laying on the seats the gear off and the wings parshytially opened up Oh and the windshield was out

At that point we had to make some serious decisions We were alshyready much farther into the airplane than we wanted to be And the market value on a firstshyyear Travelair wasnt that high Still we had the airplane apart and we had bought it to fly not to sell So what the heck we said if were going to do it we might as well do it right If we had only known

There are thousands of airplanes of the same vintage as the partnershyship Travelair that have never been completely gone through and reshyhabbed Most of them have never been allowed to go derelict plus they seem somehow modern and havent made it into the psyshychological category we reserve for true vintage machines even though they are old enough Because of this few of the airplanes have had someone lavish the kinds of TLC (and money) on them that they truly need Each of a long progresshysion of owners did what they needed to keep it safe but in the process they left their indelible tracks behind Airplanes like these resemble archeological digs where each layer reveals yet another layer and each bears the marks of the previous inhabitants

When we had the panel out we could see what a real mess it was It wasnt even close to being unairworthy but it had decades of wiring running around that served no purpose Plus as each new genshyeration of avionics came out yet another mechanic would chop yet another hole while patching up an existing hole

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

AWARDS ANTIQUE GRAND CHAMPION

N785H Stearman 4E Alan Lopez Princeton NJ

RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION

N22410 Howard DGA Mike Vaughn Charleston IL

SILVER AGE CHAMPION

N230EB Morane Saulnier Thomas M Leaver London UK

BEST CABIN N9599H Howard DGA Joe Dudley Allen OK

BEST WW-II ERA N75675 Boeing N2S4 Rene St Julien Stewart FL

CLASSIC

CLASSIC GRAND CHAMPION N949D Stinson 108-2 Butch Walsh Arrington VA

CLASSIC CUSTOM GRAND CHAMPION N4PW Luscombe 8AE Phil Wells Cumming GA

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (0-100 HP) NC43645 Taylorcraft BC-12D Raymond Cook Spring Cove IL 60081 12 JUNE 2004

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (101-165 HP) N91686 Cessna 170B James C Kirby Mullica Hill NJ

BEST RESTORED CLASSIC (OVER 165 HP) N2152C CESSNA 195B Terry Robertson Boynton Beach FL

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (0-100 HP) N1408U CESSNA 140 Robert A Runkle Swanton OH

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (101-165 HP) N2335M PA-12 Cody Owens Anderson SC

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC (OVER 165 HP) N3214C Bonanza E-35 Jeff Beaton Morehead City NC

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT N195AB Cessna 195 Jay McClure Atlanta GA

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT NC6010M Stinson 108-3 Shawn Haring Columbus MS

OUTSTANDING CLASSIC AIRCRAFT N1369E Aeronca 7AC Robert B Haas Alva FL

A side trip to Fantasy ofFlight in Polk City was a grand excursion and Kermit Weeks graciously inshyvited me to fly with him in the attractions German-built Fi 156 Fieseler Storch As you can see the view from the Storch is remarkable Most Starches left are aircraft built by the French Morane-Saulnier company This one was restored in Detroit Michigan by Jan Mueller In addition to the complex you see here a large new hangar is being constructed at Fantasy ofFlight While at Fantasy ofFlight you can see plenty ofone-of-ashykind airplanes including the Gee Bee R-2 replica built by Steve Wolf and Delmar Benjamin and the Gee Bee Z built by Kevin Kimball and Jeff Eicher On the ramp is the same Ford Tri-Motor used in the motion picture Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

BEST CUSTOM FACTORY RESTORATION N2313K Luscombe 8F Luscombe Heritage Fund Chandler AZ

CONTEMPORARY GRAND CHAMPION N108M MEYERS 200 Tom Losey Fort Meyers FL

CUSTOM GRAND CHAMPION N100BH Beechcraft Travelair J Janovetz and R Wheeler Collyville TX

BEST TWIN N7765N Beech D-18 Twin Brad Neat Sarasota FL

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N8856R Bellanca 260 John Morrison Collierville TN

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N5478D Beech Bonanza Larry Van Dam Riverside CA

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N6233Y Piper PA-23 Aztec Jim Conley and Thomas Block Daytona FL

BEST CUSTOM N87DG Beech Bonanza Don and Wendy Gaynor Englewood FL

SEAPLANES BEST RESTORED N180DR Cessna 180 Bryon Jorgerson Wadsworth OH

GRAND CHAMPION SEAPLANE N62000 Grumman Widgeon James Rogers Summerland Key FL

BEST FABRIC AMPHIBIAN N19498 Cessna C-165 Glenn Larson Sarasota FL

BEST METAL AMPHIBIAN N6386K Republic Seabee RC-3 Bill Bardin Rockport NY

During the winter months Waldo Wrights Flying Service offers biplane rides at Fantasy ofFlight in its New Stanshydard D-2Ss Rob Lock and his father Bob Lock fly the biplanes more than 400 hours a year as they give a unique flight experience to thousands ofpassengers Theyre ably assisted by the Waldettes II a merry band ofwomen who take care of the passengers as they get ready to fly with one of the Waldos At Sun n Fun the Waldettes were Connie Buckner Cheryl Lock Sandy Lock Kathy Crawley and Cheri Sinclair

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

One of the most active small type clubs has to be the Howard Club with a lot of the activity spark-plugged by Ed and Barbara Moore From left to right we have Mike Slingluff Larry Skinner Ed Moore Ted Patecell Jim Calvin Frank Rezich (Ted and Frank are both former employees ofHoward Aircraft during the 30s amp 40s) Dan and Jean Dannecker Barbara Moore Jim Wade and Julie Wade The owners missing from the photo are Joe Dudley Chuck Nickerson and Mike and Iven Vaughan

Phil Wells

Thomas Leavers Morane-Saulnier 230 has no brakes and a very small taiLwheelskid and is powered by a 230shyhp Salmson 9AB engine If it looks vaguely familiar its because the airplane was used as the unnamed new monoplane in the closing scenes of the 1960s World War I flying movie The Blue Max Thomas lives in London England but keeps the US-registered Morane at the Winter Haven Florida airport 14 JUNE 2004

Phil Wells was tickled to learn that the recent restoration ofhis Lusshycombe BAlE won the Classic Custom Grand Champion award Dr Wells did much of the work himself including re-skinning porshytions of the airframe Hes from Cumming Georgia

Its not too often you see a pair ofStearman 4E biplanes on the same field Alan Lopez Princeton New Jersey has comshypleted the restoration ofa very nice Stanavo 4E and had it parked next to Ron Rexs Western Air Express 4E which he keeps in Ocala Florida Alans 4E was declared the Grand Champion Antique of the event

Ace Stinson restorer Butch Walsh ofArrington Virginia just completed this very pretty 10B-2 which was chosen to be the Sun n Fun 2004 Classhysic Grand Champion

Last years Grand Chamshypion Antique at Sun n Fun this is Tim Bailys Piper PA-22shy150 Tri-Pacer

One of the highlights of the week was the night air show which started at dusk on Saturday The AeroShell Team started off the evening with a sound smoke and light show that certainly got everyones attention

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

The Seven-Year Paint Job

There are Travel Airs and then there are Travelairs

Honest says ]] ]anovetz we were going to pull the gear to repaint it and then have the airplane stripped and painted

That was it Roll it in the shop do the work roll it out Two three months tops No biggie

It didnt work out that way ]anovetz is talking about their

1958 Travelair First its unusual to see a Travelair (at least that kind of 16 JUNE 2004

BUDD DAVISSON

Travelair) in the vintageantique area Second its even more unshyusual to see one that has been taken right down to its underwear and brought back up again which was not the original plan

The whole thing started I think just because a couple of us wanted to go flying with two engines It seemed like a glamorous thing to do and the Travelair seemed like an economical way to go Charlie

Hillard had just traded a Widgeon project for the Travelair but hadnt registered it in his name yet so it went directly to us

Richard Wheeler Archie Taylor and I had been partners in a 1980 Piper Warrior II We sold it to buy the Travelair from Charlie Archie who has over 400 hours instructshying in Travelairs then convinced another friend Lee Finley that it would be a great airplane so Lee

Then we got the Travelair and there were times I was practically living in the hangar

The partnerships Travelair is seshyrial number TD 130 and was part of the very first year of production of Beechcrafts entry into the lightshytwin field The Apache is generally accepted as the first full-producshytion light twin but Beechcraft intended the Travelair to be a cut above the competition both in quality and performance

Comparing the Model 9S Traveshylair to the Apache would seem to be unfair if nothing else because Beech designers spent so much time making their airplane look svelte and modern Plus the Model 9S had a lot of Bonanza in its

bones which is to say its fit and finish were superlative And it had a180-hp 0-360 Lyshycoming on each side Did it blow the competition away Not exactly because the fatshywing Piper had such a price advantage Still the Travelair enjoyed success until the product was discontinued in 1968 long after the biggershyengine Baron had been introduced The economicalwe ignored machine is still being used by lots of flight schools for mulshycommon sense tiengine training

When we got the airplaneand completely it really wasnt in bad shape

gutted the airplane joined us to help pay for the paint job As we got deeper into the projshyect Dan Bruhl jumped on board so now there are five partners

Beginning in 1990 I had my machine shop Lone Star Aero where I built parts for antique airshyplanes in Charlies hangar and I was always hanging around I had become a professional hangar rat and in 1994 he hired me full time so I was working on his Widgeons and anything else he was flying

It was a little tired but it was 38 years old and had earned the right to be tired We were going to do some cosmetic stuff like paint it and remove the four or five layers of paint

that covered the landing gear and just enjoy flying it But we had something happen at the paint shop that forced us around the corner toward total restoration

We had already discovered that we had a bad fuel bladder so we were going to have to get into the wings Then the paint shop didnt protect the lower molding on the windshield correctly and the stripshyper ate the gel coat

No problem right Well just

remove the molding and fix it Exshycept that to get the molding off the windshield had to come out And to get the windshield out we had to remove the instrument panel to get at the hardware You see where Im going right

So there we were with a really ugly stripped airplane with most of the panel laying on the seats the gear off and the wings parshytially opened up Oh and the windshield was out

At that point we had to make some serious decisions We were alshyready much farther into the airplane than we wanted to be And the market value on a firstshyyear Travelair wasnt that high Still we had the airplane apart and we had bought it to fly not to sell So what the heck we said if were going to do it we might as well do it right If we had only known

There are thousands of airplanes of the same vintage as the partnershyship Travelair that have never been completely gone through and reshyhabbed Most of them have never been allowed to go derelict plus they seem somehow modern and havent made it into the psyshychological category we reserve for true vintage machines even though they are old enough Because of this few of the airplanes have had someone lavish the kinds of TLC (and money) on them that they truly need Each of a long progresshysion of owners did what they needed to keep it safe but in the process they left their indelible tracks behind Airplanes like these resemble archeological digs where each layer reveals yet another layer and each bears the marks of the previous inhabitants

When we had the panel out we could see what a real mess it was It wasnt even close to being unairworthy but it had decades of wiring running around that served no purpose Plus as each new genshyeration of avionics came out yet another mechanic would chop yet another hole while patching up an existing hole

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

BEST CUSTOM FACTORY RESTORATION N2313K Luscombe 8F Luscombe Heritage Fund Chandler AZ

CONTEMPORARY GRAND CHAMPION N108M MEYERS 200 Tom Losey Fort Meyers FL

CUSTOM GRAND CHAMPION N100BH Beechcraft Travelair J Janovetz and R Wheeler Collyville TX

BEST TWIN N7765N Beech D-18 Twin Brad Neat Sarasota FL

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N8856R Bellanca 260 John Morrison Collierville TN

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N5478D Beech Bonanza Larry Van Dam Riverside CA

OUTSTANDING IN TYPE N6233Y Piper PA-23 Aztec Jim Conley and Thomas Block Daytona FL

BEST CUSTOM N87DG Beech Bonanza Don and Wendy Gaynor Englewood FL

SEAPLANES BEST RESTORED N180DR Cessna 180 Bryon Jorgerson Wadsworth OH

GRAND CHAMPION SEAPLANE N62000 Grumman Widgeon James Rogers Summerland Key FL

BEST FABRIC AMPHIBIAN N19498 Cessna C-165 Glenn Larson Sarasota FL

BEST METAL AMPHIBIAN N6386K Republic Seabee RC-3 Bill Bardin Rockport NY

During the winter months Waldo Wrights Flying Service offers biplane rides at Fantasy ofFlight in its New Stanshydard D-2Ss Rob Lock and his father Bob Lock fly the biplanes more than 400 hours a year as they give a unique flight experience to thousands ofpassengers Theyre ably assisted by the Waldettes II a merry band ofwomen who take care of the passengers as they get ready to fly with one of the Waldos At Sun n Fun the Waldettes were Connie Buckner Cheryl Lock Sandy Lock Kathy Crawley and Cheri Sinclair

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

One of the most active small type clubs has to be the Howard Club with a lot of the activity spark-plugged by Ed and Barbara Moore From left to right we have Mike Slingluff Larry Skinner Ed Moore Ted Patecell Jim Calvin Frank Rezich (Ted and Frank are both former employees ofHoward Aircraft during the 30s amp 40s) Dan and Jean Dannecker Barbara Moore Jim Wade and Julie Wade The owners missing from the photo are Joe Dudley Chuck Nickerson and Mike and Iven Vaughan

Phil Wells

Thomas Leavers Morane-Saulnier 230 has no brakes and a very small taiLwheelskid and is powered by a 230shyhp Salmson 9AB engine If it looks vaguely familiar its because the airplane was used as the unnamed new monoplane in the closing scenes of the 1960s World War I flying movie The Blue Max Thomas lives in London England but keeps the US-registered Morane at the Winter Haven Florida airport 14 JUNE 2004

Phil Wells was tickled to learn that the recent restoration ofhis Lusshycombe BAlE won the Classic Custom Grand Champion award Dr Wells did much of the work himself including re-skinning porshytions of the airframe Hes from Cumming Georgia

Its not too often you see a pair ofStearman 4E biplanes on the same field Alan Lopez Princeton New Jersey has comshypleted the restoration ofa very nice Stanavo 4E and had it parked next to Ron Rexs Western Air Express 4E which he keeps in Ocala Florida Alans 4E was declared the Grand Champion Antique of the event

Ace Stinson restorer Butch Walsh ofArrington Virginia just completed this very pretty 10B-2 which was chosen to be the Sun n Fun 2004 Classhysic Grand Champion

Last years Grand Chamshypion Antique at Sun n Fun this is Tim Bailys Piper PA-22shy150 Tri-Pacer

One of the highlights of the week was the night air show which started at dusk on Saturday The AeroShell Team started off the evening with a sound smoke and light show that certainly got everyones attention

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

The Seven-Year Paint Job

There are Travel Airs and then there are Travelairs

Honest says ]] ]anovetz we were going to pull the gear to repaint it and then have the airplane stripped and painted

That was it Roll it in the shop do the work roll it out Two three months tops No biggie

It didnt work out that way ]anovetz is talking about their

1958 Travelair First its unusual to see a Travelair (at least that kind of 16 JUNE 2004

BUDD DAVISSON

Travelair) in the vintageantique area Second its even more unshyusual to see one that has been taken right down to its underwear and brought back up again which was not the original plan

The whole thing started I think just because a couple of us wanted to go flying with two engines It seemed like a glamorous thing to do and the Travelair seemed like an economical way to go Charlie

Hillard had just traded a Widgeon project for the Travelair but hadnt registered it in his name yet so it went directly to us

Richard Wheeler Archie Taylor and I had been partners in a 1980 Piper Warrior II We sold it to buy the Travelair from Charlie Archie who has over 400 hours instructshying in Travelairs then convinced another friend Lee Finley that it would be a great airplane so Lee

Then we got the Travelair and there were times I was practically living in the hangar

The partnerships Travelair is seshyrial number TD 130 and was part of the very first year of production of Beechcrafts entry into the lightshytwin field The Apache is generally accepted as the first full-producshytion light twin but Beechcraft intended the Travelair to be a cut above the competition both in quality and performance

Comparing the Model 9S Traveshylair to the Apache would seem to be unfair if nothing else because Beech designers spent so much time making their airplane look svelte and modern Plus the Model 9S had a lot of Bonanza in its

bones which is to say its fit and finish were superlative And it had a180-hp 0-360 Lyshycoming on each side Did it blow the competition away Not exactly because the fatshywing Piper had such a price advantage Still the Travelair enjoyed success until the product was discontinued in 1968 long after the biggershyengine Baron had been introduced The economicalwe ignored machine is still being used by lots of flight schools for mulshycommon sense tiengine training

When we got the airplaneand completely it really wasnt in bad shape

gutted the airplane joined us to help pay for the paint job As we got deeper into the projshyect Dan Bruhl jumped on board so now there are five partners

Beginning in 1990 I had my machine shop Lone Star Aero where I built parts for antique airshyplanes in Charlies hangar and I was always hanging around I had become a professional hangar rat and in 1994 he hired me full time so I was working on his Widgeons and anything else he was flying

It was a little tired but it was 38 years old and had earned the right to be tired We were going to do some cosmetic stuff like paint it and remove the four or five layers of paint

that covered the landing gear and just enjoy flying it But we had something happen at the paint shop that forced us around the corner toward total restoration

We had already discovered that we had a bad fuel bladder so we were going to have to get into the wings Then the paint shop didnt protect the lower molding on the windshield correctly and the stripshyper ate the gel coat

No problem right Well just

remove the molding and fix it Exshycept that to get the molding off the windshield had to come out And to get the windshield out we had to remove the instrument panel to get at the hardware You see where Im going right

So there we were with a really ugly stripped airplane with most of the panel laying on the seats the gear off and the wings parshytially opened up Oh and the windshield was out

At that point we had to make some serious decisions We were alshyready much farther into the airplane than we wanted to be And the market value on a firstshyyear Travelair wasnt that high Still we had the airplane apart and we had bought it to fly not to sell So what the heck we said if were going to do it we might as well do it right If we had only known

There are thousands of airplanes of the same vintage as the partnershyship Travelair that have never been completely gone through and reshyhabbed Most of them have never been allowed to go derelict plus they seem somehow modern and havent made it into the psyshychological category we reserve for true vintage machines even though they are old enough Because of this few of the airplanes have had someone lavish the kinds of TLC (and money) on them that they truly need Each of a long progresshysion of owners did what they needed to keep it safe but in the process they left their indelible tracks behind Airplanes like these resemble archeological digs where each layer reveals yet another layer and each bears the marks of the previous inhabitants

When we had the panel out we could see what a real mess it was It wasnt even close to being unairworthy but it had decades of wiring running around that served no purpose Plus as each new genshyeration of avionics came out yet another mechanic would chop yet another hole while patching up an existing hole

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

One of the most active small type clubs has to be the Howard Club with a lot of the activity spark-plugged by Ed and Barbara Moore From left to right we have Mike Slingluff Larry Skinner Ed Moore Ted Patecell Jim Calvin Frank Rezich (Ted and Frank are both former employees ofHoward Aircraft during the 30s amp 40s) Dan and Jean Dannecker Barbara Moore Jim Wade and Julie Wade The owners missing from the photo are Joe Dudley Chuck Nickerson and Mike and Iven Vaughan

Phil Wells

Thomas Leavers Morane-Saulnier 230 has no brakes and a very small taiLwheelskid and is powered by a 230shyhp Salmson 9AB engine If it looks vaguely familiar its because the airplane was used as the unnamed new monoplane in the closing scenes of the 1960s World War I flying movie The Blue Max Thomas lives in London England but keeps the US-registered Morane at the Winter Haven Florida airport 14 JUNE 2004

Phil Wells was tickled to learn that the recent restoration ofhis Lusshycombe BAlE won the Classic Custom Grand Champion award Dr Wells did much of the work himself including re-skinning porshytions of the airframe Hes from Cumming Georgia

Its not too often you see a pair ofStearman 4E biplanes on the same field Alan Lopez Princeton New Jersey has comshypleted the restoration ofa very nice Stanavo 4E and had it parked next to Ron Rexs Western Air Express 4E which he keeps in Ocala Florida Alans 4E was declared the Grand Champion Antique of the event

Ace Stinson restorer Butch Walsh ofArrington Virginia just completed this very pretty 10B-2 which was chosen to be the Sun n Fun 2004 Classhysic Grand Champion

Last years Grand Chamshypion Antique at Sun n Fun this is Tim Bailys Piper PA-22shy150 Tri-Pacer

One of the highlights of the week was the night air show which started at dusk on Saturday The AeroShell Team started off the evening with a sound smoke and light show that certainly got everyones attention

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

The Seven-Year Paint Job

There are Travel Airs and then there are Travelairs

Honest says ]] ]anovetz we were going to pull the gear to repaint it and then have the airplane stripped and painted

That was it Roll it in the shop do the work roll it out Two three months tops No biggie

It didnt work out that way ]anovetz is talking about their

1958 Travelair First its unusual to see a Travelair (at least that kind of 16 JUNE 2004

BUDD DAVISSON

Travelair) in the vintageantique area Second its even more unshyusual to see one that has been taken right down to its underwear and brought back up again which was not the original plan

The whole thing started I think just because a couple of us wanted to go flying with two engines It seemed like a glamorous thing to do and the Travelair seemed like an economical way to go Charlie

Hillard had just traded a Widgeon project for the Travelair but hadnt registered it in his name yet so it went directly to us

Richard Wheeler Archie Taylor and I had been partners in a 1980 Piper Warrior II We sold it to buy the Travelair from Charlie Archie who has over 400 hours instructshying in Travelairs then convinced another friend Lee Finley that it would be a great airplane so Lee

Then we got the Travelair and there were times I was practically living in the hangar

The partnerships Travelair is seshyrial number TD 130 and was part of the very first year of production of Beechcrafts entry into the lightshytwin field The Apache is generally accepted as the first full-producshytion light twin but Beechcraft intended the Travelair to be a cut above the competition both in quality and performance

Comparing the Model 9S Traveshylair to the Apache would seem to be unfair if nothing else because Beech designers spent so much time making their airplane look svelte and modern Plus the Model 9S had a lot of Bonanza in its

bones which is to say its fit and finish were superlative And it had a180-hp 0-360 Lyshycoming on each side Did it blow the competition away Not exactly because the fatshywing Piper had such a price advantage Still the Travelair enjoyed success until the product was discontinued in 1968 long after the biggershyengine Baron had been introduced The economicalwe ignored machine is still being used by lots of flight schools for mulshycommon sense tiengine training

When we got the airplaneand completely it really wasnt in bad shape

gutted the airplane joined us to help pay for the paint job As we got deeper into the projshyect Dan Bruhl jumped on board so now there are five partners

Beginning in 1990 I had my machine shop Lone Star Aero where I built parts for antique airshyplanes in Charlies hangar and I was always hanging around I had become a professional hangar rat and in 1994 he hired me full time so I was working on his Widgeons and anything else he was flying

It was a little tired but it was 38 years old and had earned the right to be tired We were going to do some cosmetic stuff like paint it and remove the four or five layers of paint

that covered the landing gear and just enjoy flying it But we had something happen at the paint shop that forced us around the corner toward total restoration

We had already discovered that we had a bad fuel bladder so we were going to have to get into the wings Then the paint shop didnt protect the lower molding on the windshield correctly and the stripshyper ate the gel coat

No problem right Well just

remove the molding and fix it Exshycept that to get the molding off the windshield had to come out And to get the windshield out we had to remove the instrument panel to get at the hardware You see where Im going right

So there we were with a really ugly stripped airplane with most of the panel laying on the seats the gear off and the wings parshytially opened up Oh and the windshield was out

At that point we had to make some serious decisions We were alshyready much farther into the airplane than we wanted to be And the market value on a firstshyyear Travelair wasnt that high Still we had the airplane apart and we had bought it to fly not to sell So what the heck we said if were going to do it we might as well do it right If we had only known

There are thousands of airplanes of the same vintage as the partnershyship Travelair that have never been completely gone through and reshyhabbed Most of them have never been allowed to go derelict plus they seem somehow modern and havent made it into the psyshychological category we reserve for true vintage machines even though they are old enough Because of this few of the airplanes have had someone lavish the kinds of TLC (and money) on them that they truly need Each of a long progresshysion of owners did what they needed to keep it safe but in the process they left their indelible tracks behind Airplanes like these resemble archeological digs where each layer reveals yet another layer and each bears the marks of the previous inhabitants

When we had the panel out we could see what a real mess it was It wasnt even close to being unairworthy but it had decades of wiring running around that served no purpose Plus as each new genshyeration of avionics came out yet another mechanic would chop yet another hole while patching up an existing hole

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

Phil Wells was tickled to learn that the recent restoration ofhis Lusshycombe BAlE won the Classic Custom Grand Champion award Dr Wells did much of the work himself including re-skinning porshytions of the airframe Hes from Cumming Georgia

Its not too often you see a pair ofStearman 4E biplanes on the same field Alan Lopez Princeton New Jersey has comshypleted the restoration ofa very nice Stanavo 4E and had it parked next to Ron Rexs Western Air Express 4E which he keeps in Ocala Florida Alans 4E was declared the Grand Champion Antique of the event

Ace Stinson restorer Butch Walsh ofArrington Virginia just completed this very pretty 10B-2 which was chosen to be the Sun n Fun 2004 Classhysic Grand Champion

Last years Grand Chamshypion Antique at Sun n Fun this is Tim Bailys Piper PA-22shy150 Tri-Pacer

One of the highlights of the week was the night air show which started at dusk on Saturday The AeroShell Team started off the evening with a sound smoke and light show that certainly got everyones attention

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

The Seven-Year Paint Job

There are Travel Airs and then there are Travelairs

Honest says ]] ]anovetz we were going to pull the gear to repaint it and then have the airplane stripped and painted

That was it Roll it in the shop do the work roll it out Two three months tops No biggie

It didnt work out that way ]anovetz is talking about their

1958 Travelair First its unusual to see a Travelair (at least that kind of 16 JUNE 2004

BUDD DAVISSON

Travelair) in the vintageantique area Second its even more unshyusual to see one that has been taken right down to its underwear and brought back up again which was not the original plan

The whole thing started I think just because a couple of us wanted to go flying with two engines It seemed like a glamorous thing to do and the Travelair seemed like an economical way to go Charlie

Hillard had just traded a Widgeon project for the Travelair but hadnt registered it in his name yet so it went directly to us

Richard Wheeler Archie Taylor and I had been partners in a 1980 Piper Warrior II We sold it to buy the Travelair from Charlie Archie who has over 400 hours instructshying in Travelairs then convinced another friend Lee Finley that it would be a great airplane so Lee

Then we got the Travelair and there were times I was practically living in the hangar

The partnerships Travelair is seshyrial number TD 130 and was part of the very first year of production of Beechcrafts entry into the lightshytwin field The Apache is generally accepted as the first full-producshytion light twin but Beechcraft intended the Travelair to be a cut above the competition both in quality and performance

Comparing the Model 9S Traveshylair to the Apache would seem to be unfair if nothing else because Beech designers spent so much time making their airplane look svelte and modern Plus the Model 9S had a lot of Bonanza in its

bones which is to say its fit and finish were superlative And it had a180-hp 0-360 Lyshycoming on each side Did it blow the competition away Not exactly because the fatshywing Piper had such a price advantage Still the Travelair enjoyed success until the product was discontinued in 1968 long after the biggershyengine Baron had been introduced The economicalwe ignored machine is still being used by lots of flight schools for mulshycommon sense tiengine training

When we got the airplaneand completely it really wasnt in bad shape

gutted the airplane joined us to help pay for the paint job As we got deeper into the projshyect Dan Bruhl jumped on board so now there are five partners

Beginning in 1990 I had my machine shop Lone Star Aero where I built parts for antique airshyplanes in Charlies hangar and I was always hanging around I had become a professional hangar rat and in 1994 he hired me full time so I was working on his Widgeons and anything else he was flying

It was a little tired but it was 38 years old and had earned the right to be tired We were going to do some cosmetic stuff like paint it and remove the four or five layers of paint

that covered the landing gear and just enjoy flying it But we had something happen at the paint shop that forced us around the corner toward total restoration

We had already discovered that we had a bad fuel bladder so we were going to have to get into the wings Then the paint shop didnt protect the lower molding on the windshield correctly and the stripshyper ate the gel coat

No problem right Well just

remove the molding and fix it Exshycept that to get the molding off the windshield had to come out And to get the windshield out we had to remove the instrument panel to get at the hardware You see where Im going right

So there we were with a really ugly stripped airplane with most of the panel laying on the seats the gear off and the wings parshytially opened up Oh and the windshield was out

At that point we had to make some serious decisions We were alshyready much farther into the airplane than we wanted to be And the market value on a firstshyyear Travelair wasnt that high Still we had the airplane apart and we had bought it to fly not to sell So what the heck we said if were going to do it we might as well do it right If we had only known

There are thousands of airplanes of the same vintage as the partnershyship Travelair that have never been completely gone through and reshyhabbed Most of them have never been allowed to go derelict plus they seem somehow modern and havent made it into the psyshychological category we reserve for true vintage machines even though they are old enough Because of this few of the airplanes have had someone lavish the kinds of TLC (and money) on them that they truly need Each of a long progresshysion of owners did what they needed to keep it safe but in the process they left their indelible tracks behind Airplanes like these resemble archeological digs where each layer reveals yet another layer and each bears the marks of the previous inhabitants

When we had the panel out we could see what a real mess it was It wasnt even close to being unairworthy but it had decades of wiring running around that served no purpose Plus as each new genshyeration of avionics came out yet another mechanic would chop yet another hole while patching up an existing hole

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

The Seven-Year Paint Job

There are Travel Airs and then there are Travelairs

Honest says ]] ]anovetz we were going to pull the gear to repaint it and then have the airplane stripped and painted

That was it Roll it in the shop do the work roll it out Two three months tops No biggie

It didnt work out that way ]anovetz is talking about their

1958 Travelair First its unusual to see a Travelair (at least that kind of 16 JUNE 2004

BUDD DAVISSON

Travelair) in the vintageantique area Second its even more unshyusual to see one that has been taken right down to its underwear and brought back up again which was not the original plan

The whole thing started I think just because a couple of us wanted to go flying with two engines It seemed like a glamorous thing to do and the Travelair seemed like an economical way to go Charlie

Hillard had just traded a Widgeon project for the Travelair but hadnt registered it in his name yet so it went directly to us

Richard Wheeler Archie Taylor and I had been partners in a 1980 Piper Warrior II We sold it to buy the Travelair from Charlie Archie who has over 400 hours instructshying in Travelairs then convinced another friend Lee Finley that it would be a great airplane so Lee

Then we got the Travelair and there were times I was practically living in the hangar

The partnerships Travelair is seshyrial number TD 130 and was part of the very first year of production of Beechcrafts entry into the lightshytwin field The Apache is generally accepted as the first full-producshytion light twin but Beechcraft intended the Travelair to be a cut above the competition both in quality and performance

Comparing the Model 9S Traveshylair to the Apache would seem to be unfair if nothing else because Beech designers spent so much time making their airplane look svelte and modern Plus the Model 9S had a lot of Bonanza in its

bones which is to say its fit and finish were superlative And it had a180-hp 0-360 Lyshycoming on each side Did it blow the competition away Not exactly because the fatshywing Piper had such a price advantage Still the Travelair enjoyed success until the product was discontinued in 1968 long after the biggershyengine Baron had been introduced The economicalwe ignored machine is still being used by lots of flight schools for mulshycommon sense tiengine training

When we got the airplaneand completely it really wasnt in bad shape

gutted the airplane joined us to help pay for the paint job As we got deeper into the projshyect Dan Bruhl jumped on board so now there are five partners

Beginning in 1990 I had my machine shop Lone Star Aero where I built parts for antique airshyplanes in Charlies hangar and I was always hanging around I had become a professional hangar rat and in 1994 he hired me full time so I was working on his Widgeons and anything else he was flying

It was a little tired but it was 38 years old and had earned the right to be tired We were going to do some cosmetic stuff like paint it and remove the four or five layers of paint

that covered the landing gear and just enjoy flying it But we had something happen at the paint shop that forced us around the corner toward total restoration

We had already discovered that we had a bad fuel bladder so we were going to have to get into the wings Then the paint shop didnt protect the lower molding on the windshield correctly and the stripshyper ate the gel coat

No problem right Well just

remove the molding and fix it Exshycept that to get the molding off the windshield had to come out And to get the windshield out we had to remove the instrument panel to get at the hardware You see where Im going right

So there we were with a really ugly stripped airplane with most of the panel laying on the seats the gear off and the wings parshytially opened up Oh and the windshield was out

At that point we had to make some serious decisions We were alshyready much farther into the airplane than we wanted to be And the market value on a firstshyyear Travelair wasnt that high Still we had the airplane apart and we had bought it to fly not to sell So what the heck we said if were going to do it we might as well do it right If we had only known

There are thousands of airplanes of the same vintage as the partnershyship Travelair that have never been completely gone through and reshyhabbed Most of them have never been allowed to go derelict plus they seem somehow modern and havent made it into the psyshychological category we reserve for true vintage machines even though they are old enough Because of this few of the airplanes have had someone lavish the kinds of TLC (and money) on them that they truly need Each of a long progresshysion of owners did what they needed to keep it safe but in the process they left their indelible tracks behind Airplanes like these resemble archeological digs where each layer reveals yet another layer and each bears the marks of the previous inhabitants

When we had the panel out we could see what a real mess it was It wasnt even close to being unairworthy but it had decades of wiring running around that served no purpose Plus as each new genshyeration of avionics came out yet another mechanic would chop yet another hole while patching up an existing hole

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

Then we got the Travelair and there were times I was practically living in the hangar

The partnerships Travelair is seshyrial number TD 130 and was part of the very first year of production of Beechcrafts entry into the lightshytwin field The Apache is generally accepted as the first full-producshytion light twin but Beechcraft intended the Travelair to be a cut above the competition both in quality and performance

Comparing the Model 9S Traveshylair to the Apache would seem to be unfair if nothing else because Beech designers spent so much time making their airplane look svelte and modern Plus the Model 9S had a lot of Bonanza in its

bones which is to say its fit and finish were superlative And it had a180-hp 0-360 Lyshycoming on each side Did it blow the competition away Not exactly because the fatshywing Piper had such a price advantage Still the Travelair enjoyed success until the product was discontinued in 1968 long after the biggershyengine Baron had been introduced The economicalwe ignored machine is still being used by lots of flight schools for mulshycommon sense tiengine training

When we got the airplaneand completely it really wasnt in bad shape

gutted the airplane joined us to help pay for the paint job As we got deeper into the projshyect Dan Bruhl jumped on board so now there are five partners

Beginning in 1990 I had my machine shop Lone Star Aero where I built parts for antique airshyplanes in Charlies hangar and I was always hanging around I had become a professional hangar rat and in 1994 he hired me full time so I was working on his Widgeons and anything else he was flying

It was a little tired but it was 38 years old and had earned the right to be tired We were going to do some cosmetic stuff like paint it and remove the four or five layers of paint

that covered the landing gear and just enjoy flying it But we had something happen at the paint shop that forced us around the corner toward total restoration

We had already discovered that we had a bad fuel bladder so we were going to have to get into the wings Then the paint shop didnt protect the lower molding on the windshield correctly and the stripshyper ate the gel coat

No problem right Well just

remove the molding and fix it Exshycept that to get the molding off the windshield had to come out And to get the windshield out we had to remove the instrument panel to get at the hardware You see where Im going right

So there we were with a really ugly stripped airplane with most of the panel laying on the seats the gear off and the wings parshytially opened up Oh and the windshield was out

At that point we had to make some serious decisions We were alshyready much farther into the airplane than we wanted to be And the market value on a firstshyyear Travelair wasnt that high Still we had the airplane apart and we had bought it to fly not to sell So what the heck we said if were going to do it we might as well do it right If we had only known

There are thousands of airplanes of the same vintage as the partnershyship Travelair that have never been completely gone through and reshyhabbed Most of them have never been allowed to go derelict plus they seem somehow modern and havent made it into the psyshychological category we reserve for true vintage machines even though they are old enough Because of this few of the airplanes have had someone lavish the kinds of TLC (and money) on them that they truly need Each of a long progresshysion of owners did what they needed to keep it safe but in the process they left their indelible tracks behind Airplanes like these resemble archeological digs where each layer reveals yet another layer and each bears the marks of the previous inhabitants

When we had the panel out we could see what a real mess it was It wasnt even close to being unairworthy but it had decades of wiring running around that served no purpose Plus as each new genshyeration of avionics came out yet another mechanic would chop yet another hole while patching up an existing hole

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

Three of the five owners of N 1OOBH (top to bottom) Rich Wheeler Archie Taylor and II lanovetz Partners Dan Bruhl and Lee

couldnt make the

The Travelair 95 was Beechcrafts first enshytry into the light-twin market that was created in the post-World War II years Powshyered by a pair of 180-hp Lycomings it could tool along at a very respectable 180 mph

For this restoration everything from the baffles to the hoses was replaced in the engine compartments

18 JUNE 2004

Since the original panel had patches screwed to patches the entire panel was redes igned and a new one fabricated Behind the panel and throughout the airframe the wiring harness was replaced removing pounds ofunused wiring left from previously installed instruments

The instrument panel had been modified so many times it was like a quilt with pieces screwed to pieces that were screwed to other pieces Plus it had radios on both ends of the panel Not a tidy setup and by the time Richard was done he had rewired the entire airplane

When we pulled the do-itshyright trigger we ignored common sense and completely gutted the airplane Everything came out right down to the belly skins Forshytunately we found most of the skins were in good shape with no corrosion but they had 38 years of crud on them To get at the belly we had to remove the floorshyboards but it was a good thing we did-there had to be a solid half-inch of sludge from miscellashyneous oils and fluids that had collected there

We didnt have to do any walnut shell blasting or anyshything We just got in there with solvent rags and toothshybrushes and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

The pulleys and cables were in good shape so at least we didnt have to replace those but everywhere there was a movable part no matter how big or small if it had a bearing or a bushing we replaced it

The nose baggage compartshyment had some sort of tar-like sound deadener in it and everyshything we tried to clean it with

ate it So we sprayed it with a water-based truck splatter paint

Every time we ran across something made of rubber we took it out and replaced it The same thing with all the bolts and screws For some reason however we did use one origishynal screw on the landing gear actuator switch handle

I fabricated the aluminum side panels for the interior myshyself but we took the seats and side panels to C amp H Aircraft Interiors and had them done in Ultra Leather which is an imitation leather that s easy to clean To make the seats more comfortable I made and inshystalled four armrests which was just one of a dozen 33 7s we had to do

When it came to the instrushyment panel we decided to go from scratch and design and build an entirely new one First I sanded the control yokes down and painted them and then I made an instrument panel out of l8-inch alushyminum I m a machinist by trade so it was no problem to make anything we wanted

Even though this was a form of restoration we didn t want the panel to be 1958-origshyina We were looking for totally modern utility out of thi s airplane so we set it up with center stack radios a nd the standard T arrangement

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

I had seen something on Charshylies Widgeon that we copied on our panel The basic panel has a piece of Lexan covering it The backside of the Lexan is painted black and the front is painted with opaque white Then it is silkshyscreened with a chemical for lettering After the front topcoat of Cadet Gray is painted on and dried the panel is dipped in acid to remove the gray over the white lettering Lights hold the Lexan overlay to the aluminum panel and light the lettering at night The result is really impressive

We used the original instrushyments but shipped them all out to be rebuilt and refaced At the same time we pulled every actuating cashyble the throttles and so forth and pressure lubed them They work smoothly now

The wings were basically as good as the fuselage so we did a lot of cleaning and touch up At the time only one bladder was leakshying but we figured the others couldnt be far behind so we reshyplaced all four of them

The magnesium on the control surfaces was corroded so we went to aluminum on the ailerons but the tail surface magnesium was

okay so we cleaned and painted them Then they sat for six or seven years while we finished the rest of the airplane

The engines were more or less okay but like the rest of the airshyplane they were tired Of course we managed to make the situation worse because we didnt pickle them Hey it was supposed to be flying in less than a year right I found some rust on the cam and that made that decision for us

We did the engines and for the most part used the original parts and had them overhauled We sent the jugs out and had them welded and generally reconditioned The cams and cranks were ground and everything was brought back to new tolerances

The props were overhauled at the same time and the AD on the blade clamps and hardware was complied with

By the time we were done the logbook entry ran for five typeshywritten pages We did five 337s on one day

In typical pre-Oshkosh fashion they barely made it

The last four months before Oshkosh were a real grind and our wives didnt see much of us We flew

it for the first time 10 days before leaving for Oshkosh We spent an hour and a half circling the airport to break in the engines and that first flight had only a few minor glitches to fix With fifteen hours on the Hobbs we headed for Oshkosh It was the first time the airplane had left the field in over seven years

So now that theyre finished what does JJ think about the results

You could look at this airplane several ways Yes we have far more tied up in it than we will ever get out of it Still it feels and performs like a brand new airplane and it gives exactly the utility we need reshygardless of its age Its a 1958 airplane thats giving us 2003 utilshyity we couldnt buy in a new airplane for two or three times what we have tied up in this one

So I guess you could say they are pleased with the effort

]J says Mostly were pleased its over

Apparently the judges at Oshkosh 2003 were pleased too beshycause they awarded the airplane the coveted Contemporary Reserve Grand Champion trophy So it looks as if a little insanity comshybined with lots of dedication does have its rewards

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

Story A grandfathers inspiration

TOM MATOWITZ

Like so many stories of flight this one begins in May 1927 Charles Lindberghs solo crossing of the Atlantic inspired many adventurous young people with the desire to fly One of them was a 20-year-old resident of Cleveland Ohio named

George K Scott He began taking lessons at a field located on Mayfield Road operated by a local pilot named Kenshyneth Cole

George trained in Swallows and Waco Nines and Tens and soloed late that summer after 13 hours and 20 minshyutes of dual This made him a slow starter by the standards of his day but he began to fly more frequently and started to catch on faster By the summer of 1929 he held Limshyited Commercial Pilots Certificate No 4888 and with less than 100 hours total time he was instructing students himself During the next 10 years he flew extensively logshyging more than 2000 hours by 1939 In the process he owned or flew all the great light planes of that era When he married in 1933 he and his new wife flew to Chicago in a Kinner Bird for their honeymoon Subsequently he taught her how to fly in a Taylor Cub

The reason for my interest in these people is simple They were my grandparents and although they couldnt have known it at the time they were building the foundashytion for a love of flying that would last throughout my life My grandfathers only child was a daughter who showed little interest in flying I suspect he was pacing back and forth for a long time waiting for me

I was born in the late 1950s and by that time my grandshyfather had been an active pilot for 30 years Although I dont recall anyone consciously steering me in that direcshytion I cant remember a time in my life when I wasn t aware of and fascinated by airplanes By the time I knew him my grandfather was retired and living in a small town in western North Carolina He had a friendship with the local FBO and was doing quite a bit of instructing Very early in my life I began spending my childhood sumshymers with h im I was so young the first time I flew with him that I have no conscious memory of it

He was good company a warm man with a good sense of humor and great ability as a teacher I think it would be fair to say his students loved him and I knew of several who were still friendly with him decades after he taught them to fl y He was methodical and careful and I trusted him completely I never knew a moment of uneasiness 20 JUNE 2004

with him in an airplane The airplanes we flew then were rather run-of-the-mill

Cessna products They served a useful purpose but there was nothing particularly romantic about them What fasshycinated me were the old airplanes He kept all his logbooks and from time to time we would get them out and look through them together I have them still the oldest one is practically in tatters I would sit on the arm of his easy chair and watch as he leafed through the pages It seemed to me that every entry was the first line to an adventure story

One of my favorites was a tale he told about a delivery flight involving a Bird biplane He was in Nebraska lost in bad weather and low on fuel He was seriously considering using his parachute and jumping because he felt he couldshynt make a safe forced landing under the prevailing conditions Suddenly there was a break in the clouds beshyneath him and he found himself directly over an airport He quickly landed just as the weather closed in again He was met by a group of people who seemed very agitated It seems he spoiled the dedication of the new municipal airshyport at Lincoln with his unscheduled landing The plan was to have Charles Lindbergh land there first and be the principal speaker at a formal dinner After some grumshybling someone pOinted out that my grandfather after all was the first pilot to land there so they might as well proshyceed with their dinner with Grandpa as the guest of honor He sat at the head table in riding breeches and a leather jacket surrounded by men in tuxedos This is the best part-sometime in the course of the evening lindshybergh called with his regrets saying that the weather was too bad for him to attempt the flight

There were many other stories and I wish I could reshymember them all but I cannot My grandfather seemed indestructible and as a little boy I was sure he would go on forever so there would be time to learn the other stoshyries later

I was involved in one though that I remember vividly In the summer of 1964 we flew from his home in North Carolina to Knoxville Tennessee to have a radio repaired The shop that did this work usually had some sort of old airplane parked on the ramp I remember a Fairchild 24 and a Gullwing Stinson that I marveled at because of its great size and radial engine This particular day was someshything of a turning point for me After hearing all these

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

stories about open cockpit biplanes I was about to see one for the first time We walked into the hangar and there stood a Stearman It was a crop duster painted bright yellow and it clearly worked hard for a living It was nothing like the flawshyless restored examples seen at air shows today

I think it was a case of love at first sight I was enthralled and circled the airplane several times There it all was the rashydial engine polished landing and flying wires taut fabric covering windscreens struts and a distinctive smell I later would always associate with old airplanes I was seven and too little to see into the cockpit so Grandpa picked me up No one had made any effort to interior decorate it to resemble a car It was as functional as a steam locomotive There was a control stick the first one I ever saw and a throttle quadrant on the left The steel tube structure was plainly visible and there was a helmet and goggles draped over the stick He pointed all this out and then lowered me gently to the floor I walked around the plane several more times and then asked Grandpa to pick me up again so I could see into the cockpit once more He laughed and said I dont think its changed in the last five minutes Come on lets go get a hamburger We started to walk away but I stopped in the open door for a last look and vowed that I would fly one myself one day

I never dreamt how much time and effort it would take to achieve that goal

In the meantime these idyllic summers continued Any kid worth his salt clamored for the end of the school year but I did more than most since it meant an immediate departure for the mountains and three months of almost daily flying

The town where my grandfather lived was Bryson City North Carolina His best friend was the town doctor Harold L Bacon known universally as Doc Well almost universally since I was sternly lectured by Grandpa never to address him as anything other than Dr Bacon Im sure he himself wouldshynt have minded a bit had I called him Doc since he was a man of great warmth and dealt on easy terms with every level of the small towns social strata He was a skilled pilot himself almost exactly Grandpas age and shared many adventures with us on the ground and in the air He did a lot to reinforce my love of flying His enthusiasm for it was almost childlike Grandpa and I would stop by his office in the early

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

afternoon to ask if he wanted to fly with us later that day He would usually say Lets go right now and exit through a side door leaving a waiting room filled with patients

I dont know if he ever knew this but Dr Bacon reshyceived what was probably the greatest compliment my grandfather ever gave anyone For decades literally we were strictly ordered by Grandpa never to fly with any other pilot The only exception ever granted was airline travel Very late in his life Grandpa said he felt we would be perfectly safe flying with Dr Bacon the only time he conceded this about another pilot in almost 50 years of flying

As I said he himself was cautious Once in the early 1950s he took my father with him on a trip to Indianapolis in his Bonanza They were returning and had nearly reached Toledo There was some apshyparent bad weather to the east between them and their destination of Cleveland To my dads unpracshyticed eye it didnt appear all that threatening and he was surprised when Grandpa briskly announced that he was aborting the flight and landing in Toledo Dad turned to him and asked Cant you get through that His reply was priceless-Maybe He explained that he didnt see any point in subjecting them or the airplane to any unnecessary risk when he could easily get a ride to Toledo the next day to recover the aircraft They took the bus home

I was too young to realize this wasnt going to last forever As I was nearly old enough to begin formal flyshying lessons in earnest his health began to fail I was 22 JUNE 2004

able to log several flights with him as a student and I remember how serious and demanding he was as an inshystructor He held himself to very high standards and expected me to meet them without hesitation someshything I found very daunting as a youngster It all ended abruptly when heart disease caused the permanent loss of his medical For a time we deluded ourselves that his health would improve and we would continue as planned but it didnt turn out that way I see now that after so many years the loss of his ability to fly must have broken his heart although he never said so He died very early on a morning in May when I was a senshyior in high school

That was another turning point For the moment I thought my involvement in flying was over It was never inexpensive and I was to start college in the fall To put this in perspective the airport in the town where I lived charged $12 an hour for dual in an Aeronca Champ that summer while my college exshypenses would be based on fees of $ 7 per credi t hour Anyway two unexpected things happened First we lived on acreage and owned horses I used our old Ford tractor to pull a wagonload of manure out into a field to dump it I stood on top of the wagon intent on what I was doing and was startled when an ancient airshyplane materialized directly over my head It was a heavily wire braced two-bay open cockpit biplane with a long wingspan It took no notice of me but flew to the southeast at a low altitude and a slow airspeed To this day Im not sure what it was but it sure made me think I watched it until it disappeared

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

The thing that really did it was a chance remark from a co-worker I worked for a greenhouse an extenshysion of a part-time job I held throughout high school One of the women employed there Esther was in her early 20s We were eating lunch together one day and she mentioned she was going to learn how to skydive at an airport roughly 15 miles west of us in Grafton Skydiving never interested me all that much but she got my attention when she said there were two open cockpit biplanes based at the field I asked her for more details but she couldnt really provide any She said that if I would pick her up that evening after she ate dinner and got cleaned up she would be glad to ride out there with me and show me around She was true to her word Several hours later I found myself looking through a window into a hangar with two Stearmans It was the first time I had seen one on the ground since the episode in Knoxville more than 10 years earlier No one was around and there seemed to be no way of getshyting a better look at the airplanes Just then the property owner arrived and Esther introduced us After a brief conversation he invited me back the following day when the men who owned the biplanes would be presshyent and almost certainly fly them He thought there was a pretty good chance one of them would give me a ride Esther and I got in my car and started for home Somehow I found the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to a movie with me and she eagerly said yes So I now found myself offiCially out on a date with this beautiful woman who was five years older than I It had only been weeks since I graduated but I suddenly felt very far from high school

When the next day dawned it was beautiful and I lost no time driving to the airport where I quickly found Esther and walked with her over to the hangar She was looking her best and with her at my side I had no trouble attracting the attention of the pilots one of whom quickly asked me if my girlfriend would like a ride in the Stearman To my chagrin she smiled and announced that she certainly would and

was soon strapped in and trundling across the grass as the airplane maneuvered into position for takeoff This was not exactly what I had in mind but I thought I better be patient and see what developed The airshyplane returned 20 minutes later Esther got out stood on the wingwalk for a moment thanking the pilot and then jumped lightly to the ground One of the men who helped her get into the airplane in the first place accompanied her as she approached me He said to me If youd like to go up well be glad to take you for a ride I very nonchalantly said yes and walked to the airplane After a rather perfunctory briefing I was in the front cockpit strapped in and ready to go I wore a borrowed helmet and goggles and could hardly believe where I was There were no headsets so the airplane was much louder than I was used to but I didnt mind Finally the preliminaries were over and it was time to fly The engine accelerated to full power and the airplane began to roll The tail came up and a moment later we were flying The visibility from the open cockpit the engine noise the slipstream the changing sound of the wind in the wires all these things kind of overwhelmed me but the experience exceeded my expectations and I felt sure I saw GrandpaS hand in it somehow

Continued next month

WIVI bullbullIy_ CObullbullbull

These are thefirsttools you need to buy when you re~cover your

airplane Anyone who has used them will tell you theyre the next best thing to having one of our staff right beside you The VHS tape and the DVD will give you the Big Picture and the manual will walk you step by step through every part of the process Youre never on your own when youre using Poly~Fiber

wwwpolyfibercom e-mail infopolyfibercom

Aircraft Coatinu 800-362-3490

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

CALIFORNIA

Hayward CA VAA Ch 29 Meeting 2nd Thurs 700 PM Hayward Airport Hangar 7 William Field President Phone 510-784-1168 Email w(ield49aolcom

Riverside CA VAA Ch 33 Meeting 3rd Sat 100 PM Clubhouse at West end of Flabob Airport Jonathan Goldenbaum President Phone 909-360-6792

Sacramento CA VAA Ch 25 Meeting 2nd Sat 1000 AM For Location Contact Red Hamilton President Phone 707-964-7733 Email redreds-headerscom

FLORIDA

Lakeland FL VAA Ch 1 Meeting 2nd Sat all day For Location Contact John Brewer President Phone 386-649-4020 Email FSAACA2ndamendmentnet

ILLINOIS

Lansing IL VAA Ch 26 For Time amp Location Contact Peter Bayer President Phone 630-922-3387 Email c180bayeraolcom

INDIANA Auburn IN VAA Ch 37 Meeting 4th Wed 700 PM Dekalb Co Airport Term Bldg Lester Matheson President Phone 260-693-3642 E-mail les_mathesonhotmailcom

24 JUNE 2004

KANSAS

Overland Park KS VAA Ch 16 Meeting 3rd Fri 700 PM Gardner Municipal Airport-Term Bldg Gerald Gippner President Phone 913-764-8512

LOUISIANA

New Iberia LA VAA Ch 30 Meeting 1st Sun 900 AM For Location Contact Roland Denison President Phone 337-365-3047 Email eaaac30cox-internetcom

MASSACHUSETTS

East Falmouth MA VAA Ch 34 Meeting 2nd Sat 1000 AM For Location Contact Roger McDowell President Phone 508-457-0506 Email oakhousaolcom

MICHIGAN

Niles MI VAA Ch 35 Meeting 2nd Sat 1000 AM Niles MI (3TR) Term Bldg Kenneth Kasner President Phone 269-699-7064 Email KKasnerskyenetnet

MINNESOTA Albert Lea MN VAA Ch 13 Meeting 4th Thurs 730 PM Albert Lea MN Municipal Airport William Koza President Phone 507-373-9062 Email bjkalmcodeskmediacom

NEBRASKA OKLAHOMA Plattsmouth NE VAA Ch 31 Meeting 1st Sat 1030 AM Plattsmouth Airport Term Bldg Keith Howard President Phone 402-291-2103 Email howardkjWorldnetattnet

NEW HAMPSHIRE

North Hampton NH VAA Ch 15 Meeting 2nd Sat 1100 AM Hampton Airfield hangar SW corner Joseph Dion President Phone 603-539-7168 Email presidentVaa15org Website wwwvaa15org

NEW JERSEY

Andover NJ VAA Ch 7 Meeting 1st Sun 1000 AM Andover Aeroflex Airport William Moore President Phone 908-236-6619 Email popmooreWebtvcom

OHIO Delaware OH VAA Ch 27 Meeting 2nd Sat 830 AM Delaware Municipal Airport (DLZ) Term Bldg Roger Brown President Phone 740-965-9252

Troy OH VAA Ch 36 Meeting 3rd Sun Noon For Meeting Location Contact Richard Amrhein President Phone 937-335-1444 Email dickandpattiaolcom

Tulsa OK VAA Ch 10 Meeting 4th Thurs 730 PM Hardesty Library Christopher McGuire President Phone 918-341-6798 E-mail cmcguireattnet

SOUTH CAROLINA

Cross SC VAA Ch 3 For Time amp Location Contact Morton Lester President Phone 252-638-8783

TEXAS

Houston TX VAA Ch 2 Meeting 4th Sun 200 PM Dry Creek Airport Cypress TX Merrill Morong President Phone 281-353-7004 E-mail mcmorongpdqnet

WISCONSIN

Brookfield WI VAA Ch 11 Meeting 1st Mon 730 PM Capitol Airport George Meade President Phone 414-962-2428 Email gameadeexecpccom

How To START A VAA CHAPTER

Its easy to start a VAA Chapter All you need to get started is five Vintage enthusiasts Then conshytact the EAA Chapter Office at 920-426-4876 or at chapterseaaorg to obtain an EAA Chapter Starter Kit They h ave ways to help you contact all the Vintage members in your area plus theyll walk you th rough the New Chapter process

VI NTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Resignation DOUG STEWART

Your engine has just quit I anshynounced to the pilot sitting to my left as I reached to the throttle of the T-tailed Arrow we were flying and pulled it back to idle The pilot was a client who was working on his commercial certificate I sat calmly in my seat as the pilot went through the appropriate checks Estabshylishing best glide speed he turned to head towards the key point of the traffic pattern we were near He then switched tanks turned on the electric fuel pump pushed the mixture control to full rich and put on the alternate air

Arriving over the key point he then pushed the propeller control to flat pitch and entered a steep spiral About 1000 feet above the airport he broke off the spiral and continued downwind So far so good Everything was looking great we should be able to land right on the second centerline without any problem But as we turned to the base leg it became obvious that the wind was blowing a little harder than the pishylot thought yet he did nothing to modify his track

Rather than angling towards the runway he continued in a perfect pershypendicular track to the centerline With an engine running this would only reshyquire a little more power on final but we were simulating an engine failure

Shortly before turning final the pilot selected gear down and as the gear came down and three big holes in the form of wheel wells appeared at the bottom of the airplane the drag and associated inshycreased sink were going to make things interesting I prudently cleared the enshygine just in case The combination of head wind and high sink rate made making the runway uncertain

The pilot allowed the Arrow to drift to the right to avoid the spruce trees that were now blocking our way to the runway threshold With about one hundred yards to go the pilot anshy26 JUNE 2004

nounced Well I guess we wouldve crashed II as he reached to apply full power and go around At this pOint I pushed his hand away from the throtshytle pulled the propeller control all the way back and then reached to the flap lever and applied all three notches of flaps The airplane rose into the air about 20 feet (from the application of flaps) while leaping forward simultaneshyously towards the runway (from pulling the prop control to full coarse pitch) We landed on the runway and alshythough we didnt land on the second centerline we at least cleared the disshyplaced threshold

What I had just witnessed was the hazardous attitude of resignation The pilot had done a commendable job of dealing with the simulated engine failshyure until he broke off the steep spiral At that point he forgot to account for the wind and for the increased drag of the gear coming down and as he turned final realizing his mistake he gave up He stopped flying the airplane

I cannot help but wonder how many accidents occur in just such a manner or worse how many accidents result in fatalities because the pilot resigned himherself to fate I question how many pilots fail to apply the antidote of Im not helpless I can make a difshyference when confronted with the attitude of resignation

I know that many pilots if not all of us would tell ourselves (and any others who might listen) that we would keep flying the airplane in an emergency until there was nothing left but a smoking hole But the specter of speculation rises in my brain for I have seen pilots who have made such declarations exhibit resignation on alshymost every flight they make

How many pilots revert to resignashytion whenever they have to land They get within a few feet of the runway and

then resign themselves to the outcome As long as they can walk away and still use the airplane they consider it a great landing To my observation they cershytainly stopped flying the airplane when they got close to the runway At that point reSignation took over and they were content with the outcome as long as the aircraft remained on the runway and didnt get damaged

There are three steps to be taken in dealing with hazardous attitudes The first step is to recognize that you have the attitude in the first place The secshyond step is to learn the antidote to the attitude The third and most difficult step is to apply the antidote Whereas most of us might very well keep flying the airplane until there is nothing left but a smoking hole it becomes a little more difficult to make a difference when youve come down final a little too hot Now as you float down the runway slowly drifting to one side beshycause of the crosswind do not resign yourself to a sloppy landing Keep flyshying Get the windward wing down kick in a little opposite rudder Land on the windward main then the leeward main Or better yet GO AROUND and be on target and on speed on the next approach Make a difference

Hazardous attitudes are an insidious danger They are difficult to recognize in the first place and it is even harder at times to apply the proper antidote Doshying so will go a long way in helping us make the transition from being just good pilots to being GREAT pilots I hope you are making the effort I know I am

Doug flies a 1947 PA-12 He is the 2004 National Certificated Flight Inshystructor of the Year Visit his website wwwdsflightcom

TTO UCK

BY EE BUCK HILBERT EAA 21 VAA 5 PO Box 424 UNION IL 60180

Take the pledge

Back when EAA was not as large an organization as it is today when Paul Poberezny had a handle on everything that went on one of the blanks on the membership application was a shoulder harness pledge As an EAA member you advocated the installation of shoulshyder harn esses in your airplane be it a homebuilt or a standard airworthishyness airplane

Well somewhere along the line that pledge faded away Was it the sticky wicket the FAA Airworthishyness Inspectors made about unauthorized inshystallation of equipment or did we just ignore the situation

Not too long ago there was a loosening up of the regulations and the instalshylation of the sho ulder harness has now become a minor item as far as docushymenting it in the logs You can go to your friendly supplier of seat belts and harnesses buy a neat new set that comes complete with installation instructions and have them put in the airplane and all the airframe and powerplant (AampP) mechanic has to do after the installation is a logbook entry Pretty simple eh

Sure itll cost a couple of bucks but when you think about how the altimeter could make an imprint

Shoulder Harnesses

on your forehead and how much it would take to erase that imprin t after they fix your nose and fit you with new teeth maybe that couple of bucks would be worth it

While I was thinking about this subject I talked to a retired FAA accident investigator He told me that during his tenure as an investigator he saw more than 20 yes 20 accidents where the aircraft was repairab le but both occupants died from head injuries when they smacked the panel He

is adamantly in favor of the five shypoint harness stating that he had seen where victims had subshymarined and slid out from under the seat belt and diagonal harness

High wing or low wing didnt seem to make any difference nor did a padded instrument panel help The incidents he spoke of were in both agrishycu ltural spray planes and everyday trainers The crash-proof survival-strucshytured cockpits and the five-point harnesses inshystalled in the ag planes came out way ahead in his opinion

No argument will foreshysta ll serious injury There just isnt any excuse that can offset the benefit of sav in g you from getting hurt or dead You can still reach th e controls and once airborne and in cruise you can loosen up the harness to where youre comfortable Just cinch it up again when you enter the pattern for landing or if an emergency

is looming Lets get back to the old days

and take the shoulder harness pledge As the o ld saying goes The life yo u save may be your own

Over to you 1_ If

(( ~tltCIC-

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

FLY-IN CALENDAR

The following list of coming events is furnished to Ollr readers as a matter of information only and dues not coYlStitute approval spoYlSorship involveshyment control or direction ofany event (fly-in semshyinars fly market etc) listed To submit an event send the information via mail to Vintage Airplane I~ O Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Or eshymail the information to vintageeaaorg Information should be received four montlls prior to the event date

JUNE n-l3-Gainesville TX- Gainesville Municipal Airport (GLE) Texas Ch Antique Airplane Assoc 41 st Annual Fly-In Info jim 817-468-1571

JUNE l2- Ghent NY- Klinekill Airport (NY1 ) EAA Ch 146 Summer Fly-In Pancake Breakfas t 830shyn oon $5 Fly- in o r drive-in all welcome (Gas availabl e at Columbia County Airport I BI) Rain date 613 Info 518-758-6355 or IVIVIVeaa 146org

JUNE l2-l3-Ft Pierce FL- St Lucie County Int l Airport First Annual Wings n Wheels Air Show presented by Victory Children S Home Spectacular displays in the air and on the ground fro m vintage to modern day aircraft and military vehicles A two-day entertainment eve nt for the who le family 9am-5pm $7 adults $3 children Info 1-800-804-5445 o r wWIVslclVi gsadlVheelscol1l

JUNE l3-Nottingham UK-Nottingham Tollerton Airport Todays Pilot 2004 Fly-In Sat evening party for early arrivals Camping available Info 44 0 1780 755131 or StephellbridgewatelkeYPblishingcol1l

JUNE l6-1S-Lock Haven PA-19th Annual Sentimental j ourney to Cub Haven 2004 Fly in drive in camp Info 570-893-4200 or i2atbkcletorg

June 17-20-Knoxville lA-Bellamy Field (OXV) Ercoupe Owners Club 2004 National Convention Info Mike 515-287-3840 ppcmikehotmailcom Full info at IVwwercollpeorg under 2004 Convention button

JUNE 17-20-Middletown OH- (MWO) 12th Nat l Aero nca Assoc Convention Air Force Museum and Aeronca plant tours Aeronca aircraft judging and awards Aeronca fomms banquet with speakshyers All welcome Info 216-337-5643 or bIVlllll tz 11acyahoocom

JUNE 26-Gardner KS-Gardner Municipal Airport (K34) Greater Kansas City Vintage Aircraft Fly-In Enjoy vintage aircraft at the Greatest Little Airport in Kansas Info jeff 81 6-363-635 1 iSllllenskcrrcolII

JUNE 26-Prosser WA-EAA Ch 391 Fly-In Breakfast Info 509-735-1 664

JUNE 26-27- BowJing Green OH-Wood Coun ty Airport (1 GO) Ch 582 Plane Fun 2004 Young Eagles pancake breakfasts aircraft di splays pilot forum s antiques warbirds homebuilts and auto displays 9am-5pm both days Info j ohn 41 9shy666-0503 ibmcavoythevavzcom or IVIVIVeaIlS82org

JULY 4-Mt Morris IL- Ogle County Airport (C55) Ogle County Pilots and EAA Ch 682 Fl y-In Brea kfast 7am -noon Info 815-732-7268

JULY lO-Gainesville GA- (GVL) EAA Ch 611 36th Annual Cracker Fly-In 730 am Pancake Breakfast amp Fly-In judging in several categories trophies awards rides food amp drinks All day fun for the entire family Info 770-53 1-0291 or IVIvweaa6 1l org

JULY 17-Zanesville OH- Parr Airport EAA Ch 425 Fly-In Drive-In 8 am pancake sausage and egg breakfast Lunch served 11 am-2 pm Info 740shy454-0003

JULY lS-Algona lA- Algona Municipal Airpo rt Algona Pilots Association Fly-In 6 am-I pm Info Dean 515-332-4012

28 JUNE 2004

JULY 28-0 shkosh WI- Vintage Aircraft Association Picnic during AirVenture 2004 Wednesday evening ll1e tram will start taking peoshyple from the Red Barn over to the Na ture Center at 530 pm Tickets must be purchased in advance at the VAA Red Barn Each year has been a sell-out purchase your tickets as soon as you arrive on site The meal will be catered by the same great cook as the past few years Type Clubs may purchase tickets for their group and we will reserve tables for those clubs who wish to sit together Info Theresa Books 920-420-6 110 or tbookseaaurg

JULY 3D-Oshkosh WI- US Moth Club Annual Dinner during AirVenture 2004 Pioneer Inn near Lake Winnebago Cocktails 630 pm dinner 730 pm Directions distributed during Moth Forum Friday morning o r by email Please RSVP to Steve Betzler sbetzleTempirelevelcom

AUGUST l3-1S-Aliiance OH- Alliance-Barber Airport (201 ) 6th Annual Ohio Aero nca Aviato rs Fly-In Breakfast Sat amp Sun 7-11am by EAA Ch 82 Primitive camping o n fi eld local lodging availshyable All welcome Info 216-337-5643 bIVmatzllacyahoocom or IVwlVoaafly-illcom

AUGUST l4-Cadillac MI- Wexford County Airport (CAD) Fly-lnDrive-In Breakfast EAA Ch 678 Info 231-779-8113 idpaslllrillOtmail com

AUGUST 2l-Newark OH- Newark-Heath Airport (VTA) EAA Ch 402 Fly-In Breakfast Info Tom 740-587-2312 tmcalillk colII

AUGUST 2l- Broomfield CO-jefferson County Airport 8th Annual j effCo Aviation Assoc Fly-In 7a m-noon Trophies awarded in 9 cl asses Drawing for a free fli ght in Dick jones T-6 Info Daril 303-4 23-984 6

AUGUST 22-Madison WI- Blackhawk Airport (87Y) Brat amp Bea n Feed 11 am - 3 pm Info jim zflishyeraolcolII

AUGUST 27-29-Mattoon IL-Coles County Airpo rt (MTO) 2004 Luscombe Fly-In Forum s Luscombe judging shower camping electrical hook-ups $50 distance award Info j erry 2 17shy234-8720

AUGUST 27-29-Sussex Nj- Sussex Airshow Experimentals Ultralights Warbirds Info 973shy875-7337 or IVwIV5l1ssexairportinccom

AUGUST 28-Niles MI- j erry Tyler Memorial Airport (3TR) VAA Ch 35 will host its annual Corn and Sausage Roast l1am-3pm Coffee and donuts for early arrivals Rain Date 829 Info Len 269-684shy6566 or tripacerlenyahoocolll

SEPTnlBER4-Marion IN-14th Annual Fly-In CruiseshyIn Mario n Municipal Airpo rt Event features antique classic contemporary homebuilt ultrashylight amp warbird aircraft and vintage cars trucks mo to rcycles and tractors Pancake Breakfast Info raYiollllsollFlyIIlCnliselll colII or IVlVwFlylCniselllcolII

SEPTEMBER 4-Prosser WA- EAA Ch 39 1s 21st Annual Labor Day Weekend Posser Fly-In Info 509-735-1664

SEPTnlBER 4-Zanesville OH-Parr Airport EAA Ch 425 Fly-In Drive-In 8 am pancake sausage egg breakfast Lunch served II am-2 pm Info 740shy454-0003

SEPTnlBER 4-6--C1eveland OH-Burke Lakefront Airport 2004 Cleveland Natl Air Show Exciting ai r shows and displays Finish line for US Air Race Incs Nat l Air Race and Air Cruise (CA to Cleveland) celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Clevelands Nat l Air Races of 1929 Info 2 16-781shy0747 or wlvwclevehmriairsllOlVcOIII

SEPTnlBER 6-l2-Galesburg IL-Galesburg Municipal Airport (GBG) 33rd Nat l Stearman Fly-In Everything Stearman Fun and camaraderie Aerobatic formation sho rt-field takeoff and spot-landing contests Aircraft judging and awards Technical seminars Aircraft parts amp soushyvenirs for sale Dawn patrol and breakfast Lunch-time f1 youts Pizza party USO show Anual banquet Info Betty 309-343-6409 stearmanstearman(1yicom or wlvwstearmanflyin com

SEPTnlBER n-12- Baypo rt NY-Brookhaven Ca labro Airport Annual Fly-In of the Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York Awards fo r va rious categories fl ea market hangar party Info Roy 63 1-589-0374

SEPTEMBER l2-Mt Morris IL-Ogle County Airport (C55) Ogle County Pilo ts and EAA Ch 682 FlyshyIn Breakfast 7am-noon Info 8 15-732-7268

JUNE 18-20 Golden West EM Regional Ay-In Marysville CA (MYV) wwwgoldenwestflyinorg

JUNE 26-27 Rocky Mountain EM Regional Fly-In Front Range Airport (FTG) Watkins CO wwwrmrfiorg

JULY 7middot11 Northwest EM Fly-In Arlington WA (AWO) wwwnweaaorg

JULY 27middotAUGUST 2 EM AirVenture Oshkosh Oshkosh WI (OSH) wwwairventureorg

SEPTEMBER 18middot19 Virginia State EM Fly-In Petersburg VA (PTS) wwwvaeaaorg

OCTOBER 1middot3 Southeast EM Regional Fly-In Evergreen AL (GZH) wwwserfiorg

OCTOBER 7middot10 Copperstate EM Regional Fly-In Phoenix AZ (A39) wwwcopperstateorg

SEPTnlBER lS-Bartlesville O K-48th Annual Tul sa Regio nal Fly-In Info Charlie Harris 918shy622-8400

SEPTnlBER l8-Ghent NY- KJinekili Airport (NY I) EAA Ch 146 Fall Fly-In Pancake Breakfast 830shynoon $5 Fly-in or drive-in all welcome (Gas available at Colu mbia Coun ty Airport lBI) Rain date 919 Info 518-758-6355 or wIVIVeaa l 46org

SEPTEMBER lS-lS-Rock Falls IL-Whiteside County Airport (SQI) North Centra l EAA Old Fashioned Fly-In Forums workshops fl y-marshyket camping awa rds food amp exhibitors Fun for the entire family Free admission for all Sunday Sept 19th Super Country Breakfast Pancakes ham sausage eggs fruit cup juice coffee and milk In fo wIVwllceaa OIg

SEPTEMBER 23-26-EI Ca jo n CA-Gillespie Field 22nd Annual West Coast Travel Air Reunion Info Harry 619-583-0758

SEPTEMBER 2S-Hanover IN-Lee Bottom Flyi ng Field (641 ) Wood Fabric amp Tailwheels Fl y-In The name says it alL come and see us youll be amazed how fr iendly and laid back our family is Food and camping ava ilable A certified halfshyfa st aircraft asylum (certifi cate 1) Info 812-866shy3211 or IVIvwleebottomcolII

SEPTnlBER 25-26-Nashua NH-Boire Field adjacen t to the College Da niel Webster College 2004 Aviation Heritage Festival Ai rcraft speakers activishyties Adult admission is $ 15 children 6-1 2 are $7 and children under 5 get free admission SpeCial discounts for families seniors veterans and groups Info 603-577-6625 or IVlvwdwcedu

OCTOBER l-3-Pottstown PA-Pottstown Municipal Airport (N47) Bellanca-Champion Club East Coast Fly-In Info 518-731-6800 Robertbellallca-cllll lllpiollclIbcolII or IVwwbellanca-cllilmpiollclllhcom

OCTOBER 2-3-Midland TX-Midland Int l Airport AIRSHO 2004 Commemo rative Air Force HQ Info 432-563-1 000 est 223 1 or pllblicrelationsCafl qmiddotorg

OCTOBER l3-l7- Tullahoma TN-Beech Party 2004 A Bonanza Sponsored by the Staggerwing Museum Foundatio n Twin Beech 18 SOciety and Bonanza-Ba ro n Museum Owners and enthusias ts welcome Info 93 1-455-1 974

NOVEMBER 4-Madison WI-Blackhawk Airport (S7Y) EAA Ch 93 Annual Chili Fly-In 11 am shy200 pm Info jim zflier(glaol colll

FLY-IN CALENDAR

The following list of coming events is furnished to Ollr readers as a matter of information only and dues not coYlStitute approval spoYlSorship involveshyment control or direction ofany event (fly-in semshyinars fly market etc) listed To submit an event send the information via mail to Vintage Airplane I~ O Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Or eshymail the information to vintageeaaorg Information should be received four montlls prior to the event date

JUNE n-l3-Gainesville TX- Gainesville Municipal Airport (GLE) Texas Ch Antique Airplane Assoc 41 st Annual Fly-In Info jim 817-468-1571

JUNE l2- Ghent NY- Klinekill Airport (NY1 ) EAA Ch 146 Summer Fly-In Pancake Breakfas t 830shyn oon $5 Fly- in o r drive-in all welcome (Gas availabl e at Columbia County Airport I BI) Rain date 613 Info 518-758-6355 or IVIVIVeaa 146org

JUNE l2-l3-Ft Pierce FL- St Lucie County Int l Airport First Annual Wings n Wheels Air Show presented by Victory Children S Home Spectacular displays in the air and on the ground fro m vintage to modern day aircraft and military vehicles A two-day entertainment eve nt for the who le family 9am-5pm $7 adults $3 children Info 1-800-804-5445 o r wWIVslclVi gsadlVheelscol1l

JUNE l3-Nottingham UK-Nottingham Tollerton Airport Todays Pilot 2004 Fly-In Sat evening party for early arrivals Camping available Info 44 0 1780 755131 or StephellbridgewatelkeYPblishingcol1l

JUNE l6-1S-Lock Haven PA-19th Annual Sentimental j ourney to Cub Haven 2004 Fly in drive in camp Info 570-893-4200 or i2atbkcletorg

June 17-20-Knoxville lA-Bellamy Field (OXV) Ercoupe Owners Club 2004 National Convention Info Mike 515-287-3840 ppcmikehotmailcom Full info at IVwwercollpeorg under 2004 Convention button

JUNE 17-20-Middletown OH- (MWO) 12th Nat l Aero nca Assoc Convention Air Force Museum and Aeronca plant tours Aeronca aircraft judging and awards Aeronca fomms banquet with speakshyers All welcome Info 216-337-5643 or bIVlllll tz 11acyahoocom

JUNE 26-Gardner KS-Gardner Municipal Airport (K34) Greater Kansas City Vintage Aircraft Fly-In Enjoy vintage aircraft at the Greatest Little Airport in Kansas Info jeff 81 6-363-635 1 iSllllenskcrrcolII

JUNE 26-Prosser WA-EAA Ch 391 Fly-In Breakfast Info 509-735-1 664

JUNE 26-27- BowJing Green OH-Wood Coun ty Airport (1 GO) Ch 582 Plane Fun 2004 Young Eagles pancake breakfasts aircraft di splays pilot forum s antiques warbirds homebuilts and auto displays 9am-5pm both days Info j ohn 41 9shy666-0503 ibmcavoythevavzcom or IVIVIVeaIlS82org

JULY 4-Mt Morris IL- Ogle County Airport (C55) Ogle County Pilots and EAA Ch 682 Fl y-In Brea kfast 7am -noon Info 815-732-7268

JULY lO-Gainesville GA- (GVL) EAA Ch 611 36th Annual Cracker Fly-In 730 am Pancake Breakfast amp Fly-In judging in several categories trophies awards rides food amp drinks All day fun for the entire family Info 770-53 1-0291 or IVIvweaa6 1l org

JULY 17-Zanesville OH- Parr Airport EAA Ch 425 Fly-In Drive-In 8 am pancake sausage and egg breakfast Lunch served 11 am-2 pm Info 740shy454-0003

JULY lS-Algona lA- Algona Municipal Airpo rt Algona Pilots Association Fly-In 6 am-I pm Info Dean 515-332-4012

28 JUNE 2004

JULY 28-0 shkosh WI- Vintage Aircraft Association Picnic during AirVenture 2004 Wednesday evening ll1e tram will start taking peoshyple from the Red Barn over to the Na ture Center at 530 pm Tickets must be purchased in advance at the VAA Red Barn Each year has been a sell-out purchase your tickets as soon as you arrive on site The meal will be catered by the same great cook as the past few years Type Clubs may purchase tickets for their group and we will reserve tables for those clubs who wish to sit together Info Theresa Books 920-420-6 110 or tbookseaaurg

JULY 3D-Oshkosh WI- US Moth Club Annual Dinner during AirVenture 2004 Pioneer Inn near Lake Winnebago Cocktails 630 pm dinner 730 pm Directions distributed during Moth Forum Friday morning o r by email Please RSVP to Steve Betzler sbetzleTempirelevelcom

AUGUST l3-1S-Aliiance OH- Alliance-Barber Airport (201 ) 6th Annual Ohio Aero nca Aviato rs Fly-In Breakfast Sat amp Sun 7-11am by EAA Ch 82 Primitive camping o n fi eld local lodging availshyable All welcome Info 216-337-5643 bIVmatzllacyahoocom or IVwlVoaafly-illcom

AUGUST l4-Cadillac MI- Wexford County Airport (CAD) Fly-lnDrive-In Breakfast EAA Ch 678 Info 231-779-8113 idpaslllrillOtmail com

AUGUST 2l-Newark OH- Newark-Heath Airport (VTA) EAA Ch 402 Fly-In Breakfast Info Tom 740-587-2312 tmcalillk colII

AUGUST 2l- Broomfield CO-jefferson County Airport 8th Annual j effCo Aviation Assoc Fly-In 7a m-noon Trophies awarded in 9 cl asses Drawing for a free fli ght in Dick jones T-6 Info Daril 303-4 23-984 6

AUGUST 22-Madison WI- Blackhawk Airport (87Y) Brat amp Bea n Feed 11 am - 3 pm Info jim zflishyeraolcolII

AUGUST 27-29-Mattoon IL-Coles County Airpo rt (MTO) 2004 Luscombe Fly-In Forum s Luscombe judging shower camping electrical hook-ups $50 distance award Info j erry 2 17shy234-8720

AUGUST 27-29-Sussex Nj- Sussex Airshow Experimentals Ultralights Warbirds Info 973shy875-7337 or IVwIV5l1ssexairportinccom

AUGUST 28-Niles MI- j erry Tyler Memorial Airport (3TR) VAA Ch 35 will host its annual Corn and Sausage Roast l1am-3pm Coffee and donuts for early arrivals Rain Date 829 Info Len 269-684shy6566 or tripacerlenyahoocolll

SEPTnlBER4-Marion IN-14th Annual Fly-In CruiseshyIn Mario n Municipal Airpo rt Event features antique classic contemporary homebuilt ultrashylight amp warbird aircraft and vintage cars trucks mo to rcycles and tractors Pancake Breakfast Info raYiollllsollFlyIIlCnliselll colII or IVlVwFlylCniselllcolII

SEPTEMBER 4-Prosser WA- EAA Ch 39 1s 21st Annual Labor Day Weekend Posser Fly-In Info 509-735-1664

SEPTnlBER 4-Zanesville OH-Parr Airport EAA Ch 425 Fly-In Drive-In 8 am pancake sausage egg breakfast Lunch served II am-2 pm Info 740shy454-0003

SEPTnlBER 4-6--C1eveland OH-Burke Lakefront Airport 2004 Cleveland Natl Air Show Exciting ai r shows and displays Finish line for US Air Race Incs Nat l Air Race and Air Cruise (CA to Cleveland) celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Clevelands Nat l Air Races of 1929 Info 2 16-781shy0747 or wlvwclevehmriairsllOlVcOIII

SEPTnlBER 6-l2-Galesburg IL-Galesburg Municipal Airport (GBG) 33rd Nat l Stearman Fly-In Everything Stearman Fun and camaraderie Aerobatic formation sho rt-field takeoff and spot-landing contests Aircraft judging and awards Technical seminars Aircraft parts amp soushyvenirs for sale Dawn patrol and breakfast Lunch-time f1 youts Pizza party USO show Anual banquet Info Betty 309-343-6409 stearmanstearman(1yicom or wlvwstearmanflyin com

SEPTnlBER n-12- Baypo rt NY-Brookhaven Ca labro Airport Annual Fly-In of the Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York Awards fo r va rious categories fl ea market hangar party Info Roy 63 1-589-0374

SEPTEMBER l2-Mt Morris IL-Ogle County Airport (C55) Ogle County Pilo ts and EAA Ch 682 FlyshyIn Breakfast 7am-noon Info 8 15-732-7268

JUNE 18-20 Golden West EM Regional Ay-In Marysville CA (MYV) wwwgoldenwestflyinorg

JUNE 26-27 Rocky Mountain EM Regional Fly-In Front Range Airport (FTG) Watkins CO wwwrmrfiorg

JULY 7middot11 Northwest EM Fly-In Arlington WA (AWO) wwwnweaaorg

JULY 27middotAUGUST 2 EM AirVenture Oshkosh Oshkosh WI (OSH) wwwairventureorg

SEPTEMBER 18middot19 Virginia State EM Fly-In Petersburg VA (PTS) wwwvaeaaorg

OCTOBER 1middot3 Southeast EM Regional Fly-In Evergreen AL (GZH) wwwserfiorg

OCTOBER 7middot10 Copperstate EM Regional Fly-In Phoenix AZ (A39) wwwcopperstateorg

SEPTnlBER lS-Bartlesville O K-48th Annual Tul sa Regio nal Fly-In Info Charlie Harris 918shy622-8400

SEPTnlBER l8-Ghent NY- KJinekili Airport (NY I) EAA Ch 146 Fall Fly-In Pancake Breakfast 830shynoon $5 Fly-in or drive-in all welcome (Gas available at Colu mbia Coun ty Airport lBI) Rain date 919 Info 518-758-6355 or wIVIVeaa l 46org

SEPTEMBER lS-lS-Rock Falls IL-Whiteside County Airport (SQI) North Centra l EAA Old Fashioned Fly-In Forums workshops fl y-marshyket camping awa rds food amp exhibitors Fun for the entire family Free admission for all Sunday Sept 19th Super Country Breakfast Pancakes ham sausage eggs fruit cup juice coffee and milk In fo wIVwllceaa OIg

SEPTEMBER 23-26-EI Ca jo n CA-Gillespie Field 22nd Annual West Coast Travel Air Reunion Info Harry 619-583-0758

SEPTEMBER 2S-Hanover IN-Lee Bottom Flyi ng Field (641 ) Wood Fabric amp Tailwheels Fl y-In The name says it alL come and see us youll be amazed how fr iendly and laid back our family is Food and camping ava ilable A certified halfshyfa st aircraft asylum (certifi cate 1) Info 812-866shy3211 or IVIvwleebottomcolII

SEPTnlBER 25-26-Nashua NH-Boire Field adjacen t to the College Da niel Webster College 2004 Aviation Heritage Festival Ai rcraft speakers activishyties Adult admission is $ 15 children 6-1 2 are $7 and children under 5 get free admission SpeCial discounts for families seniors veterans and groups Info 603-577-6625 or IVlvwdwcedu

OCTOBER l-3-Pottstown PA-Pottstown Municipal Airport (N47) Bellanca-Champion Club East Coast Fly-In Info 518-731-6800 Robertbellallca-cllll lllpiollclIbcolII or IVwwbellanca-cllilmpiollclllhcom

OCTOBER 2-3-Midland TX-Midland Int l Airport AIRSHO 2004 Commemo rative Air Force HQ Info 432-563-1 000 est 223 1 or pllblicrelationsCafl qmiddotorg

OCTOBER l3-l7- Tullahoma TN-Beech Party 2004 A Bonanza Sponsored by the Staggerwing Museum Foundatio n Twin Beech 18 SOciety and Bonanza-Ba ro n Museum Owners and enthusias ts welcome Info 93 1-455-1 974

NOVEMBER 4-Madison WI-Blackhawk Airport (S7Y) EAA Ch 93 Annual Chili Fly-In 11 am shy200 pm Info jim zflier(glaol colll

TAKE SOME OF THE EXPERIMENTING

OUT OF HOMEBUILDING

June 11 - 1 3 Denver CO

June 25-27 Griffin (iA bull TIG Welding Atlanta area

June 25-27 Lakeland FL bull RV Assembly Sun n Fun Campus

August 28-29 Arlington WA bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avion ics

September 10-12 Corona CA bull RV Assembly LA area

September 1 0-12 Griffin (iA bull RV Assembly TIG Welding Atlanta area

September 25-26 Denver CO bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics

1-800-WORKSHOP 1-800-967-5746

YOU CAN BUILD IT LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW

WORKSHOPS ---~---

~ VINTAGE TRADER

Something to buy sell or trade Classified Word Ads $550 per 10 words

180 words maximum with boldface lead-in on first line

Classified Display Ads One column wide (2167 inches) by 1 2 or 3 inches high at $20 per inch Black and white only and no freshyquency discounts

Advertising Closing Dates 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (Le January 10 is the closing date for the March issue) VAA reshyserves the right to reject any advertising in conflict with its policies Rates cover one insertion per isshysue Classified ads are not accepted via phone Payment must accompany order Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426-4828) or e-mail (classadseaaorg) using credit card payment (all cards accepted) Include name on card complete address type of card card number and expiration date Make checks payable to EAA Address adshyvertising correspondence to EAA Publications Classified Ad Manager PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086

BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod bearings main bearings bushin9s master rods valves piston rings Call us Toll Free 1800233-6934 e-mail ramremfgaolcom Website wwwramenginecom VINTAGE ENGINE MACHINE WORKS N 604 FREYA ST SPOKANE WA 99202

Airplane T-Shirts 150 Different Airplanes Available

WE PROBABLY HAVE YOUR AIRPLANE wwwairplanetshirtscom

1-800-645-7739

THERES JUST NOTHING LIKE IT ON THE WEB

wwwaviation-giftshopcom A Website With The Pilot In Mind

(and those who love airplanes)

Warner engines Two 165s one fresh OH one low time on Fairchild 24 mount with all accesshysories Also Helton Lark and Aeronca C-3 project Find my name and address in the Officers and Directors listing and call evenings E E Buck Hilbert

Flying wires available 1994 pricing Visit wwwfyingwirescom or ca1iSOO-517-9278

For Sale - 1939 Spartan Executive 3500TT 10 SMOH 214-354-6418

Sensenich Model 73 BR 44 with front plate Fits an Aeronca Sedan etc (wood) excellent condishytion $600 McCauley 1 B90CM70 40 prop Maxwell record experimental $400 Don Mashycor PhoneFax 218-723-1126 - Duluth MN

LAWSON AIRCRAFT - Chapter 651 Green Bay WI is in search of plans for the MT-2 Lawson Tractor trainer which was built in Green Bay WI in 1918 920-465-0083 E-mail cnciseryahoocom

5 Smithsonian pictures with fabric sample Mushyseum wood framed and matted Picture 9x11 frame 16x21 CURTISS NC-4 BLERIOT XI ALshyBATROS Ova FOKKER EX DOUGLAS WORLD CRUISER $100 each plus shipping 952-997shy6797 E-mail Kundeliniaolcom

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29

VINTAGE Membership Services Directo~y-ENJOY THE MANY BENEFITS OF EAA ANDAIRCRAFT THE EAA VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

ASSOCIATION ~ OFFICERS

President Vice-President Espie Butch joyce George Daubner 704 N Regional Rd 2448 Lough Lane

Greensboro NC 27409 Hartford Wl 53027 336middot668middot3650 262middot673middot5885

windsockaoicom vaafiyboymsncom

Secretary Treasurer Steve Nesse Charles W Harris

2009 Highland Ave 7215 East 46th St Albert Lea MN 56007 Tulsa OK 74147

507middot373middot1674 918middot622middot8400 stnesdeskmediacom cwhhvsucom

DIRECTORS Steve Bender Dale A Gustafson

85 Brush Hill Road 7724 Shady Hills Dr Sherborn MA 01770 IndianapoUs IN 46278

508middot653middot7557 317middot293middot4430 sst lOcomcastnet dalefayemsncom

David Bennett Jeannie Hill PO Box 1188 PO Box 328

Roseville CA 95678 Harvard IL 60033middot0328 916-645middot8370 815middot943middot7205

antiquerinreachcom dinghaoowcnet

john Berendt Steve Krog 7645 Echo Point Rd 1002 Heather Ln

Cannon Falls MN 55009 Hartford WI 53027 507middot263middot2414 262middot966-7627

mj bfchldrconnectcom sskrogaolcom

Robert C Bob Brauer Robert D Bob Lumley 9345 S Hoyne 1265 South 124th St

Chicago IL 60620 Brookfield WI 53005 773middot779middot2105 262middot782-2633

photopilotaolcom lumperexecpccom

Dave CJark Gene Morris 635 Vestal Lane 5936 Steve Court

Plainfield IN 46168 Roanoke TX 76262 317middot839middot4500 817491middot9110

davecpdiquestnet n03captflashnet

john S Copeland Dean Richardson 1 A Deacon Street 1429 Kings Lynn Rd

Northborough MA 01532 Stoughton WI 53589 508middot393middot4775 608middot877middot8485

copeland l junocom daraprilairecom

Phil Coulson Geoff Robison 28415 Springbrook Dr 1521 E MacGregor Dr

Lawton MI 49065 New Haven IN 46774 269middot624middot6490 260493middot4724

rcoulsonSl6cscom chief7025aolcom

Roger Gomoll SH Wes Schmid 8891 Airport Rd Box C2 2359 Lefeber Avenue

Biaine MN 55449 Wauwatosa Wl 53213 763middot786-3342 414-771middot1545

pledgedrivemsncom shschmidmilwpccom

DIRECTORS EMERITUS

Gene Chase EE Buck Hilbert 2159 Carlton Rd PO Box 424

Oshkosh WI 54904 Union IL 60180 920-231middot5002 815middot923middot4591

GRCHACharternet b7acmcnet

EAA Aviation Center PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Phone (920) 426-4800 Fax (920) 426-4873

Web Site httpwwweaaorg and httpwwwa irventureorg E-Mail vintage eaaorg

EAA and Division Membership Services 800-843-3612 FAX 920-426-6761 (800 AM-700 PM MDnday-Friday Csn bull Newrenew memberships EAA Divisions

(Vintage Aircraft Association lAC Warbirds) National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI)

bull Address changes bull Merchandise sales bull Gift memberships

Programs and Activities EAA AirVenture Fax-On-Demand Directory middot 732-885-6711 Auto Fuel STCs 920-426-4843 Buildrestore information 920-426-4821 Chapters locatingorganizing 920-426-4876 Education 888-322-3229

bull EAA Air Academy bull EAA Scholarships

Flight Advisors information 920-426-6864 Flight Instructor infDrmation 920-426-6801 Flying Start Program 920-426-6847 Library ServicesResearch 920-426-4848 Medical Questions 920-426-6112 Technical Counselors 920-426-6864 Young Eagles 877-806-8902 Benefits AUA Vintage Insurance Plan 800-727-3823 EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan 866-647-4322 Term Life and Accidental 800-241-6103 Death Insurance (Harvey Watt amp Company) Editorial 920-426-4825 FAX 920-426-4828

bull Submitting articlephoto bull Advertising information

EAA Aviation Foundation Artifact Donations 920-426-4877 Financial Support 800-236-1025

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION EAA

Membership in the Experimental Aircraft Associshyation Inc is $40 for one year including 12 issues of SPORT AVIATION Family membership is available for an additional $10 annually Junior Membership (under 19 years of age) is available at $23 annually All major credit cards accepted for membership (Add $16 for Foreign Postage)

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION Current EAA members may join the Vintage

Aircraft Associaton and receive VINTAGE AIRshyPLANE magazine for an additional $36 per year

EAA Membership VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine and Dne year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association is available for $46 per year (SPORT AVIATION magaZine not inshycluded) (Add $7 for Foreign Postage)

lAC Current EAA members may join the Internashy

tional Aerobatic Club Inc Division and receive SPORT AEROBATICS magazine fDr an addishytiDnal $45 per year

EAA Membership SPORT AEROBATICS magaZine and one year membership in the lAC Division is available for $55 per year (SPORT

AVIATION magazine nDt included) (Add $15 for Foreign Postage)

WARBIRDS Current EAA members may jDin the EAA Warshy

birds of America Division and receive WARBlRDS magazine for an additional $40 per year

EAA Membership WARBIRDS magazine and one year membership in the Warbirds Divishysio n is available for $50 per year (SPORT AVIATION magaZine nDt included) (Add $7 for Foreign Postage)

EAA SPORT PILOT Current EAA members may add EAA SPORT

PILOT magazine for an additional $20 per year EAA Membership and EAA SPORT PILOT

magazine is available for $40 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included) (Add $16 for Foreign Postage)

FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS Please submit your remittance with a check or draft drawn on a United States bank payable in United States dollars Add required Foreign Postage amount for each membership

Membership dues to EAA and its divisions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions

Copyright copy2004 by the EM Vintage Aircran Association All rights reserved

VINTAGE AIRPLANE (ISSN 0091middot6943) IPM 40032445 is published and owned exclusively by the EM Vintage Aircran Association of the Experimental Aircran Association and is published monthly at EM Aviation Center 3000 Poberezny Rd PO Box 3086 Oshkosh Wisconsin 54903middot3086 Periodicals Postage paid at Oshkosh Wisconsin 54901 and at additional mailing offices POSTMASTER Send address changes to EM Vintage Aircran Association PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903middot3086 Return Canadian issues to Station A PO Box 54 Windsor ON N9A 6J5 FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES - Please allow at least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surface mail ADVERTISING - Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the advertising We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken

EDITORIAL POLlCY Readers are encouraged to submit stories and photographs Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the contributor No renumeration is made Material should be sent to Editor VINTAGE AIRPLANE PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903middot3086 Phone 920426middot4800

EMreg and SPORT AVIATIO~ the EM Logoreg and Aeronautica1U are registered trademarks trademarks and service marks of the Experimental Aircraft Association Inc The use of these trademarks and service marks without the permission of the Experimental Aircraft Association Inc is strictly prohibited

The EM AVIATION FOUNDATION Logo is a trademark of the EM Aviation Foundation Inc The use of this trademark without the permission of the EM Aviation Foundation Inc is strictly prohibited

30 JUNE 2004

VAA NEWS continued from page 3

which will be ratified at the annual business meeting held during EAA AirshyVenture Oshkosh 2004 Notice is hereby given that an annual business meeting of the members of the EAA Vintage Airshycraft Association will be held on Monday August 2 2004 at 930 am COT in the tent next to the VAA Red Barn headquarters during the 51st anshynual convention of the Experimental Aircraft Association Inc Wittman Reshygional Airport Oshkosh Wisconsin Notice is hereby further given that the annual election of officers and directors of the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association will be conducted by ballot distributed to the members along with this june isshysue of Vintage Airplane Said ballot must be returned properly marked to the Balshylot Tally Committee Vintage Aircraft Association PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 and received no later than july 22 2004 The Nominating Committee submits the following list of candidates for president Geoff Robishyson for secretary Steve Nesse for directors (eight total) Steve Bender jeannie L Hill Espie M Butch joyce john Berendt Robert D Bob Lumley David A Clark Dean A Richardson Steven L ltrog

Rolls-Royce Sponsors National Aviation Heritage Invitational

The National Aviation Heritage Inshyvitational comes alive through the efforts of Rolls-Royce North America the Smithsonian Institutions Nashytional Air and Space Museum and the National Aviation Hall of Fame

The 2004 bi-annual competition begins with Eastern Regional at the Dayton Air Races and Air Show Dayshyton Ohio on july 15-18 2004 and the Western Regional on September 16-192004 in conjunction with the Reno Air Races Reno Nevada

The Invitational allows vintage and military aircraft owners and reshystorers to showcase the pinnacle of their hard work Visitors walk away with a piece of times gone by in their hearts and minds as they admire the beautiful symbols of the past

Aircraft operators restorers and owners of fully restored vintage aircraft in origishy

nal flying condition can enter either Invishytational in one of three entry categories Antique (early aircraft to 1935) Classic (post 1935) and Military (all warbirds) Each aircraft must be 45 years old or older to compete in the Invitational Enshytrants will compete to win first place in-category the Peoples Choice Award by majority popular vote and the prestishygious first -in-competition trophy the Rolls-Royce Aviation Heritage Trophy

Rolls-Royce is proud to recognize and honor the preservation of our nations aviation treasures at the tWice-yearly Invitational said james M Guyette president and CEO of Rolls-Royce North America This year Rolls-Royce celebrates its own 100th year-98 of them in the United States and we plan to be a part of avishyation history for at least 100 more

Through Rolls-Royce the Smithshysonian and the National Aviation Hall of Fame our common goal is to preserve aviation history and bring together all the elements said Ken Perich vice president market develshyopment Rolls-Royce North America These three great partners are all looking for the same thing-to preshyserve our aviation heritage

Each year inductees from the Nashytional Aviation Hall of Fame join sponsors in presenting the prestishygious awards Past presenters include Neil Armstrong jim Lovell Paul Tibshybets and Bob Hoover

When people come to see the airshycraft they are seeing the finest examples of restoration in the counshytry said Perich judges look at the detailed aspects of the aircraft docushymentation and degree of difficulty in overall restoration

The winner of each invitational is presented with the extraordinary sixshyfoot Rolls-Royce Aviation Heritage Trophy When not actually being preshysented the impressive trophy is on display at the National Air and Space Museums Udvar-Hazy Center where the winners name and the name of the restoration facility are engraved on a plaque placed on the trophy

For application information visit wwwheritagetrophyorg or phone jenshynifer Ratza at 703-621-2784

Helio Couriers at AirVenture Fifty years ago Helio aircraft serial

number 001 rolled off the production line at Bedford Massachusetts Over the years the Helio has claimed its own place in aviation history It was the Harrier jet of its day It remains one the safest aircraft ever built And the lore surrounding it is as interesting as the plane itself It served with distinction in the US Army and US Air Force and also made a name as one of the premier mission airplanes

We will be celebrating the annivershysary with owners from around the US and many who are well known in the Helio community including the ownshyers of the Helio Aircraft Company our friends from jAARS Inc and others At AirVenture Oshkosh 2004 there will be seminars on STOL flying and proper aircraft maintenance from the leading experts The airplanes will be parked in the Type Club parking area just to the south of the Hangar Cafe

For more information and a schedshyule of events visit wwwheliocouriernet or call 704-523-0791

Notice of Annual Business Meeting In accordance with the Fourth Restated

Bylaws of the Experimental Aircraft Associshyation Inc notice is hereby given that the Annual Business Meeting of the members will be held at the Theater in the Woods on Sunday August 1 2004 at 1 pm at the 52nd Annual Convention of the Experimenshytal Aircraft Association Inc Wittman Airport Oshkosh Wisconsin

Notice is further given that the election will be held as the first item on the agenda at the Business Meeting Five Class III Dishyrectors (three-year terms) and one Class IV Director (three-year term who resides within 50 miles of Oshkosh) shall be elected In accordance with the Fourth Reshystated Bylaws of the Experimental Aircraft Association Inc the Nominating Commitshytee has submitted the following candidates

Class 11 Curt Drumm Susan Dusenbury

Bill Eickhoff Bob Gyllenswan

Vern Raburn Barry Valentine

Class IV Louie Andrew Curt Drumm

Alan Shackleton Secretary EAA Board of Directors

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 31

shyfnnshyshyrrint parts endorsements -~~

Robert Lett Dallas TX

bull Began flying at 17 years old

bull la-year Navy carrier pilotin a Prowler

bull Captain with Southwest Airlines

bull Type 737 and King 350

bull Aerospace engineer

Ive had my Spartan insured with AUA Inc

for four years All I can say is Great

Insurance

- Robert Lett

yjntelfl~jlrcrlatt Association Insurance Program Lower liabli and Hull premiums discounts for multiple aircraft carrying all risk coverages bull No hand-propping e clusion

bull Discounts for claim-free renewals corrying all ris coverages

The best is affordable Give AUA a call - its FREE

800-727-3823 Fly with the pros fly with AUA Inc

saved enough on my new truck to pay for a lifetime EAA Membership and a new GPS

RG EAA Member New Jersey

EAA is proud to offer their members the opportunity to save on the purchase or lease of Ford Lincoln Mercury Mazda Volvo Land Rover and Jaguar vehicles

You can save hundreds even thousands of dollars

In more ways than one it pays to be an EAA member Take advantage of the Ford Partner Recognition Vehicle Discount Plan The simple way to save money on your next vehicle purchase

Get your personal identification number (PIN) from the EM website (wwweaaorg) by clicking on the EMFord Program logo You must be an EM Member for 1 year to be eligible This offer is available to residents of the United States and Canada Certain restrictions apply Please refer to wwweaaorg or call 800-846-3612

WDVOLVO S mazca ~ LINCOLN MERCURY JAGUAR _

saved enough on my new truck to pay for a lifetime EAA Membership and a new GPS

RG EAA Member New Jersey

EAA is proud to offer their members the opportunity to save on the purchase or lease of Ford Lincoln Mercury Mazda Volvo Land Rover and Jaguar vehicles

You can save hundreds even thousands of dollars

In more ways than one it pays to be an EAA member Take advantage of the Ford Partner Recognition Vehicle Discount Plan The simple way to save money on your next vehicle purchase

Get your personal identification number (PIN) from the EM website (wwweaaorg) by clicking on the EMFord Program logo You must be an EM Member for 1 year to be eligible This offer is available to residents of the United States and Canada Certain restrictions apply Please refer to wwweaaorg or call 800-846-3612

WDVOLVO S mazca ~ LINCOLN MERCURY JAGUAR _