_______________________ _

,
.&1iifi
Restorer's
Corner
fJJ!I.J.R. NIELAl\nEH,.JR.
Your officers, directors, advisors, convention chair-
men and convention co-chairmen of your EAA An-
tique/Classic Division respectfully dedicate this conven-
tion coverage issue of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE to
each of you who volunteered your time to the Division
and put forth your efforts to make th is 1977 Silver An-
niversary EAA Convention such a great success. It would
not have been possible without your help and dedica-
tion. This year 170 of you, a 33% increase in Division
volunteers over last year, pitched in and took over con-
vention duties so that your fellow members, their fami-
lies and guests could enjoy your convention. We know
that all of you who helped got a great amount of person-
al satisfaction out of being "a member of the team".
Many of you worked as much as fourteen hours per day,
and we are all very much indebted to you for th is great
devotion to your fellow members. We sincerely apolo-
gize to those of you who, because of this great devotion,
did not have the opportunity to see the other areas of
the convention. I f an add itional 210 members had offer-
ed to help with convention duties this year, then two
3-hour shifts sometime during the week would have been
all that would have been needed from any volunteer in
order to supply the complete Division convention man-
power requirements. This desired total of 380 conven-
tion volunteers would have made your Division's part of
the convention operate even more efficiently and would
thus have made it even more enjoyable for all of us. We
hope that next year the additional needed volunteers
will step forward and help our very ded icated and hard
working group.
Your convention chairmen and co-chairmen are meet-
ing with your Division officers, directors and advisors at
EAA Headquarters on Saturday, November 12th, for a
combined convention debriefing and Board of Directors
meeting. The suggestions for improvement of the con-
vention which come out of this meeting will be forward-
ed to EAA convention management. Your Division con-
vention management team welcomes suggestions for im-
provement or recognition of areas of deficiency. Please
send any comments to Division Headquarters as soon as
possible so that they can be included in the Division
debriefing report.
We have written on numerous occasions about the
desirability and necessity of increasing the membership
in the Division. With the holiday season coming up next
month, many of us are wondering what kind of a present
we can give to that good friend who has helped us so
much with the work on our restoration, or who has
helped us to maintain our bird in such beautiful condi-
tion. Others of us are wondering how we can show our
appreciation to the A & P who has been so helpful in
supervising our work, or the inspector who has been
signing off our periodic inspections, or the base operator
who has gone out of his way to help us locate much
needed scarce parts. Why not show your appreciation to
these good and valued friends by giving them a member-
ship in the EAA Antique/Classic Division? Certainly
they have demonstrated their interest in vintage aircraft
by the interest they have shown in your project. They
would surely enjoy such a present, and it would be re-
membered all year long with the monthly arrival of THE
VINTAGE AI RPLANE magazine.
If your friend is already an EAA member, you can
enroll him as a Division member for just fourteen dol-
lars. If he is not an EAA member, the cost is just twenty
dollars, and this includes full membership in EAA as
well, but without the subscription to SPORT AVIA-
TION magazine. You can use one of the membership
application blanks included with this issue to sign him
up. If you will attach a note to the application stating
that it is a gift membersh ip from you, an appropriate
letter will be sent to your friend from Headquarters ad-
vising him of your gift. Do it today so that he will re-
ceive his membership in time for Christmas.
ANTIQUE AND CLASSIC
DIVISION
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT
J. R. NI'ELANDER, JR.
P.O. BOX 2464
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL 33303
VICEPRESIDENT
JACK WI,NTHROP
a RT. 1, BOX 111
ALLEN, TX 75002
SECRETARY
RICHARD WAGNER
P.O. BOX 181
LYONS, WI 53148
TREASURER
E.E. "BUCK" HILBERT
8102 LEECH RD.
UNION, II,. 60180
,THE VINTAGE" AI RPLANE is owned
Hales Corners, Wisconsin 53130.
531 30, and addi tional mailing 01
period of whi ch $1 0.00 is for the
inte,ested in aviat ion.
Editorial
Staff
Editor
AI Kelch
Associate Editor
Robert G. Elliott
1227 Oakwood Ave.
Daytona Beach. Florida 32014
Assistant Editor
Lois Kel ch
Associate Editor
Edward D. Williams
713 Eastman Dr.
Mt. Prospect, Illinois 60056
Associate Editors will be identified in the tdble of con-
tents on articles they send in and repeated on the article
if they have written it. Associate Editorships will be
assigned to those who qualify (5 articles in any calendar
year).
Di rectors
William J. Ehlen
Route 8 Box 506
Tampa, Florida 33618
Claude L. Gr dy, Jr.
9635 Sylvia Avenue
Northridge, California 91324
Dale A. Gustafson
7724 Shady Hill Drive
Indianapolis, Indidna 46274
W. Brad Thomas. Jr.
301 Dodson M ill Road
Evander M. Britt
Box 1525
Lumberton, North Carolina 28358
AI Kelch
7018 W. Bonniwell Road
Mequon, Wisconsin 53092
Morton W. Lester
Box 3747
Martinsville, Virginia 24112
Pilot Mountain, North Carolina 2704 1
Advisor s
M.e. "Kelly" Viets
RR1,Box151
Stilwell, Kansas 66085
Arthur R. Morgan
513 North 91s1 Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226
Roger J. Sherron
446-C LasCa si tas
Santa Rosa, California 95401
Stan Gomoll
104290th Lane, N.E.
Minneapoli s, Minnesota 55434
Robert E. Kesel
455 Oakridge Drive
Rochester, New York 14617
Robert A. White
1207 Falcon Drive
Orl ando, Florida 32803
usively by Antique Classic Aircraft, I nc. and is published monthly at
Postage paid at Hales Corners Post Office, Hales Corners. Wisconsi n
ship rates for Antique Classic Aircraft. Inc. at $14.00 per 12 month
ion of THE V I NTAGE AIRPLANE. Membership is open to all who are
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
ANTIQUE / CLASSIC
DIVISION
of
THE EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 229 Hales Corners, Wi s. 53130
NOVEMBER 1977 VOLUME 5 NUMBER 11
flljtecial '77
Editor's Note
We have dedicated this issue to the winners at Oshkosh '77 and have attempted to have one article
for each airplane. The following are winners whose article was not available at press time.
Best Cessna 190/ 195 Best Taylorcraft Limited Production
Raybourn Thompson Edwin Disch/Kent Jarellien/Wm. Knight Johnson Rocket
Houston, TX Brodhead, WI Orval Fairbairn
Sunnyvale, Ca.
The response was amazing, all but three responded, making this issue a fat and sassy one. We thank
all the contributors and hope you enjoy the reading as much as we have.
AI Kelch
Assistant Editor's Note:
It has been a pleasure to work with the great stories received from this year's winners. We thank
them for their time and effort in preparing their restoration stories to share with us all. It is interesting
to note the similarity of so many of them that of finding them in barns or in the back of hangars, and
the work and patience to restore them back to their original. Also noted was the fact that almost
everyone states they could not have done it alone they had the help of family and friends, and in
some cases had the help of total strangers, who through the project, became close friends.
Loi s Kelch
(Photos of winners receiving their trophy were taken by Bob Mi//er)
EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION MEMBERSHIP
o NONEAA MEMBER - $34.00. Incl udes one year membership in the EAA Anti que/Cl assic Division. 12
monthly i ssues 01 THE VINTAGE AI RPLANE; one year membership in t he Experimental Aircraft Associ a
ti on. 12 monthly issues 01 SPORT AVIATION and separate membership cards.
o NONEAA MEMBER - $20.00. Includes one year membership in the EAA Ant ique/Classic Division, 12
monthly issues 01 THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE; Gne year membership in the Experimental Aircraft Associa
tion and separate membership cards. SPORT AVIATION not included.
o EAA MEMBER - $14.00. Includes one year membership in the EM Antique/Classic Division, 12 monthly
issues 01 THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE and membership card. (Applicant must be current EAA member and
must give EAA membership number.
PICTURE BOX
ON THE COVER (Back Cover)
Don Freitag's Grand Champion
Antique. (Photo by Les Elliott)
Forrest Lov/ey's Grand Champion
Classic. (Photo by Les Elliott)
Copyri9ht C 1977 Antique Classic Aircraft, Inc. All Rights R.-..ed.
2
GRAND CHAMPION
KARl-KEEN SIOUX COUPE
# NC10721
By: Forrest Lovely
6905 Elliot AvenueSouth
Richfield, MN55423
Strange as it may sou nd, this project started with
Gary Hanson breaking the crankshaft in the Velie engine
on his Star Cavalier on the way to Oshkosh '75. While
looking for Velie parts a friend told me of a Kari-Keen in
Elroy, Wisconsin that had a littl e round engine with one
cylinder missing. Upon contact ing owner Dick Braund I
found that it was a 90 H.P. Warn er and not a Velie.
Gary Hanson, Har lan Darr and I went to Elroy one
Friday to look at the airplane and to make a long story
short, we sti ll didn't have the Velie parts but I now had a
big proj ect ahead of me. The conditi on of the airplane
can best be described by the fact that about a year later
Gary admitted to me that he wondered what I was ever
goi ng to do with all that "j unk " that we hau led home
from Elroy.
We finally got started rebuilding in February of 1976.
The fuselage was in pretty good shape and only two
pieces of tubing needed to be replaced. The entire st ick
control system was mi ss ing and had to be built using
original factory drawings obtained from Way ne Ri sk of
Sioux City, Iowa. One gear leg was missing and was
made from a piece of old sty le stream lin ed tubing
supplied by Larry Frost of LeSeur, Minn. This about
wrapped up the work on the fuse lage, exce pt for sand-
blasting and painting, so it was put aside and work was -
started on the wing.
The wing is anot her story all by itself. There wasn't a
whole rib left on the wing. They had been broken and
some had been lost in the many times it had been moved
si nce the airp lane was dismantled in 1942. Since every "'.J' .
rib is different, I had imagi ned at least a year's work in -:: .
getti ng the ribs lofted and built. Wayne Risk came to the
Forrest Lov/eyandhisprideandjoy. (Photo by
rescue again and supplied me with nearl y a com pl ete set of
Ted Kaston)
or igi na I factory r ~ s t ha t had been left over when they
went out of business. Better yet, he had all the rib jigs
and Fred Davis used these to make the four ribs that he was smart enough to build a turning fixture for hi s. A
were missing. The spars needed some new plywood in point of interest here - wh en we first got the airpl ane
places where it had gotten wet and also in a few pl aces home it took seven or eight men to move the wing
where I ope ned them up to have a good look at the around because anything that big just had to weigh at
wood. All new wires were bought from MacWhyte and least 500 pounds. After it was completed we weighed it
the wing was reassembl ed. The wing was put on the and found that two guys cou ld easily move it around as
fuselage for the first time in May 1976 and all cables it only weighed 17 5 pounds co mpl ete.
(nicopress) were installed. At this time I decided not to The engine had been a continuing proj ect all along
push the project to completion and took the summer and although it only had 171 hours total time it was in
off. We actually didn't go back to work on it until about terrib Ie shape. I t had sat in the rafters of a mach inc shed
November. for twenty years missing one cylinder and the birds had
In the meantime Gary had come home fro m Oshkosh moved in and made a four-plex out of the rest of it.
with the id ea to go completely original in order to qual- Luckily most of the top end parts are the same as the
ify in the antique category. This, along with Claude ol d 110-7 cylinder engine and enough parts were found
Gray's article prompted me to remove all the nicopress to make it run. The only thing that was impossible to
cab les and lear n the five-t uck splice. All the elastic stop find were the exhaust valves. To solve this problem I
nut s came out and Fred Davis clai ms to have bent over visited an old friend , Ed Canaday, of Redwood Falls,
at lea st a "million billion" cotter keys. The on ly conces- Mn. one weekend. When I asked him what he thought I
sion to originality was made on the landing gear. The could do about my probl em he calmly walked over to a
originals were 22 X lOX 4 Goodyear Airwheels with corner of hi s shop and came back with a fistfull of 7/ 16
mechanical brakes. Since it was impossible to find tires Lycoming exhaust valves. Not only did the valves fit
and tubes these were changed to 8.50 X 6 ti res on perfectly but 50 did the entire spri ng, retainer, and
Cleveland 600 X 6 mecha ni cal brake wheels. This ended keeper asse mbl y. The stem is just a little larger diameter
up with a profil e within 1/ 2 inch of original and st ill than the original Warner valve which enabled us to ream
retained the cushion needed as the gear had no shock out the worn out guides and we were in bu siness.
absorbers. Things got pretty hectic around the first week in July
Th e covering process took longer than normal and everybody pitched in to help get the ship done to go
because of the wing being 30 feet long and 7' 6" wide to Oshkosh. Ted Dahl volunteered to replace the original
and nothing to hang on to. It became a regular Saturday interior and did a beautiful job of it. Littl e did he know
ritual at the Lydia airport for all the neighbors to stop that he was goi ng to have to do it while we were test
by the hangar and help turn the wing over. I don't envy running the engi ne. My pare nts duplicated the original
Gar Williams with his huge Cessna AW wing but at least seat cushions and they must have done everyt hing right
3
Forrest LovleyandGary Hanson makinga fly byin the
Grand Champ. (Photo by Ted Koston)
as I sat on them for four hours going to Bl akesburg and I
could still walk when I got there.
The airplane was test flown on Friday, July 29th
after A.1. Ken Muxlow and F .A.A. inspector Jess Larson
gave it their stam p of approval. I flew the sh ip about 10
minutes and then after an adjustment on the fin Gary
flew it another 10 minutes. On Saturday Gary and I
went out and rode around together for one hour to get
an idea of the gas and oil consumption . On Monday I
took off at sun-up and 2 hours and 20 minutes later I
was sitting at Oshkosh.
One of my greater thrills in life was to have had my
airplane judged Grand Champion at Oshkosh '77.
Although I did not hire any work done on the airplane,
by no means can I take any where near all the cred it for
its restoration. To list all the friends that helped, just
because they wanted to, would take at least a ream of
paper. I will say that Gary and I figured out that in the
sixteen months spent restori ng the airplane that we
bought 320 cases of beer. That's cheap labor if I ever
saw it!
After flying the ship for about 20 hours now, we are
quite pleased with it. It cruises at about 100 MPH on 6
gallons of gas and no oil. It used a quart of oil in the first
hour and hasn't used any since. With that big, thick
under-cambered wing it climbs flat and goes fast. It
doesn't have any trouble hauling a load and about the
only difference it makes with a full load is that the tail
skid runs for about 10 feet before the tail comes up.
When the ship is light, the tail comes up immediately.
All in all, it seems to be a pretty honest airplane and we
will enjoy flying it for some time to come.
$adand$oyu
RESERVE GRANDCHAMPION
PITCAIRN PA-8 MAILWING
# N10753- 1931
By: Jack Rose
Route 7Box 737
Spangle, WA 99037
Built by Pitcairn Aviation for Eastern Air Transport,
five model PA-S's saw service from May 1930 to August
1933. Last registered in 1936, Pitcairn No. 164 was
brought back to life by myself, wife and friends. I have
the bones of No. 162 resting in the corner of my hangar
(available for restoration) and along with No. 164 are
the only remaining examples of the PA-S. The service
life of these ships was typical of the times, hauling the
night mail for Eastern Air Transport CAM Route No. 19,
Newark to Atlanta to Miami. Early in 1931 the Post
Office Department, through the Watres Bill, stipulated
that the mail planes must be able to carry passengers. In
anticipation of orders by small mail lines who would
now be forced to buy new equipment, the PA-S was
A boatloadof longstemroses to jackandjoyce Rose
forsuchamagnificentmachine. (PhotobyTed Koston)
designed by Pitcairn to fill that need. Eastern Air
Transport ordered 5 PA-8's for their own use and as it
happened, they were the only customer. The advances in
aircraft design had made the commercial biplane ob-
solete and even the Condors and Curtis Kingbirds had a
short life span. The PA-S's were equipped for night
flying and were the first to use the Sperry artificial
horizon. PA-8 pilots such as Earl Potts and Dick Merrill
taught themselves how to fly instruments in these ships
and were supplied with radios for the first time. Pitcairn
Aviation was deep in the Autogiro development at the
same time the 8's were being built. Little enthusiasm
remained regarding further development of the Pitcairn
biplane. Consequently the PA-S Mailwing was the
culmination of efforts of a group of dedicated individ-
uals and reflected the ultimate in mail carrying design.
In 1973, Tony Stei nback of Klamath Falls, Oregon
advertised two Pitcairn mailwings for sale. Looking for a
project but with no idea what I wanted, I called my
friend Skeeter Carlson and asked him what Pitcairn PA-S
was. After talking to Skeeter, I could hardly wait to go
to Klamath Falls and take a look. When we arrived we
met Tony and he took us to the hangar where the ships
had been stored for 25 years. Stacked in the corner of
the loft of a huge ex-military hangar were the bones of
two complete Pitcairns, so he said. Skeeter and I count-
ed wings, flying wires, struts, etc. and spent half of a day
trying to match up parts. In my mind, I decided the best
course was to buy all the parts he had and sort later,
hoping for one complete airplane. I also found out that
Tony was very attached to the Pitcairns and wasn't at all
sure he wanted to sell them. I t took all afternoon to
4
''flJuci 9JJowllty XIkiI
GOLDEN AGECHAMPION
( 1918- 1927)
SWALLOW MAILPLANE # 3
By: "Buck" Hilbert
87 02 Leech Road
Union, IL 60780
In 1926 when the Swallows of VarneyAirlines began
the CAM 5 operation, maximum payload was about
6001bs, Range about 3 hours, or approximately 250
miles. Weatker was the BIG factor and the pilot's of
Varney flew a schedule under conditions that today are
unthinkable. There is more weather information avail-
able to the general public today than to professional
meterologists ofthe day. Weather observers were farmers
along the route, or Forest Ranger stations thatcould be
telephoned and queried about the weather at their
position.
Capt. Leon D. Cuddeback who was Varney's Chief
The beautiful workmanship is evident in this picture. For authenticity they had the help of
Earl Potts who flew the same plane for Eastern Air Transport. (Photo by Ted Kaston)
convince him that I was sincere and that I intended to
restore the ships. Time was running out and our flight
back to Spokane was due to leave soon. I hadn't made
much progress but decided to make one last effort. We
had agreed on a price for both ships and thanks to his
wife, he reluctantly decided to sell. Making a run for the
airliner, I grabbed the fin, which was still covered, to
show my buddies that I had found a genuine antique
airplane to restore. Two trailer trips from Spangle to
Klamath Falls brought all the parts home. Now the fun
begins. Matching the parts using ID numbers and bolt
holes revealed that Idid indeed have two complete air-
planes which were very restorable and would be very
original upon completion. It also became apparent that
neither ship had flown a great number ofhoursand the
bestestimate was approximately 450hours each.
The actual restoration began in May of1973with my
wife sandblasting the fuselage. The nuts and bolts ofa
restoration and the frustrations involved regarding the
suppliers is known to all and there is no need to delve
into that. The knowledge and skills gained from a
project such as the Pitcairn are rewarding and whenit's
all said and done, it'swhat it'sall about.
In order to make an authentic restoration, valuable
contacts were made with Stephen Pitcairn, the son of
the founder and with Carl Gunther, the Pitcairn histor-
ian. Never can a restoration be completed wholly by one
person --- so with the help of Bill Duncan, SkeeterCarl-
son, Art Swenson, Jack Hordemann and our FAA friend
Dale Mumford, this Pitcairn No. 164, the only example
ofits type, flies again.
Many people have asked me "how does it fly)" My
answer is, "how would you like a big old biplane to
fly?" Its handlingqualitiesare the resultsofasuccession
of designs by Agnew Larson who combined all thegood
traits of the previous models and came up with a ship
that took a load off the pilot's shoulders and allowed
him to concentrateon "flyingthe mail".
Wingspan 35' Empty Wt. 2,294
Total Wt. 4,000 Useful Load 1,706
Wing Loading 14.4Ibs. pel- sq. ft. 100gals. fuel
Cruise speed 120at 15 gal per hour
Stall Speed 50 Engine Wright Whirlwind
Horsepower440 Price New $12,500
Manufactured April 1931
5
Pilot, related to me how when the pass was closed, th ey
used to hire a State Trooper to drive a specially
equipped Chrysler over the pass. The Swallow would
land at an auxiliary field near the pass, the mail would
be transferred to the waiting Chyrsler and the Trooper
would make a hi gh speed run of about fifty mil es to the
other side, where the mail would be transferred into
another waiting Swallow and then flown on to its
destination.
Navigation was st riclty pilotage. If you couldn't see
to fly, you set her down and waited till you could. The
engine reliability was a bit shakey, too. Walter "Doc"
Eefsen, number seven Varney pilot, showed me his log
book in an attempt to cheer me up after our Wri ght J 4
had disentegrated. I was absolutely astounded to find
that about every third entry was a forced landing, and
the majorit y of those "irregularities" as they are called
today, were engine malfunctions. He explained it this
way, .
"The Wri ght Whirlwind was the greatest and most
reliable engine we had ever seen or used. Adimiral Byrd
had used them on his first Polar f li ghts, the engines had
set all kinds of endurance and other records, but now
the J-5 was coming along and the J-4's were surplused by
the Navy. That was how Varney acquired ours."
"With all the valve mechanisms out in the open and
no overhead oiling of any sort, we greased and oiled
everyth ing before eac h fl ight. These engi nes used a lot of
oil too, normal being abo ut a gallon an hour. After take-
off it was sheer fo lly to st ick your head out beyond the
windscreen. You'd get all full of grease and oil. It took
about an hour to throw off all of the extra grease and
oil, then you could almost set your watch in anticipation
of what was going to happen. About an hour and a half
after the engine dri ed up and quit throwing off oil and
grease, almost without exception one or more of the
valves would start to get st icky. If one stuck open, which
was often the case, the pushrod would fall out and you
made an eight cylinder landing, took out your oi l can
and little hammer, and tapped on the offending valve
while oiling it until it broke loose and bega n operating
again. You then stuck in a spare pushrod and went on
your way."
"Doc" showed me pictures of land ing places that
would make a strong Helicopter pilot cringe. From talk-
ing with these old timers I can tell you forced landings
ain't what they used to be. To illustrate; the first
Swallow to be di spatched to Pasco, Washington where it
was to start the airmail service the next morning, had
seven, yes, SEVEN, forced landings on the way up there.
At that time it was equipped with a Curtiss C-6 engine,
and although they were noted for being hard starting, it
wouldn't run at all without gas.
The Varney pilots and mechanics, often one and the
same, didn't trust those new fangled aluminum fuel
tanks and so had theirs made of turnplate. That's kinda
like galvanized steel to you young fellows. Whoev er had
soldered up the tan k had left all the solder flakes inside
the tank. As the engine vibrated in fli ght it shook all
those little flakes and beads down to the point where
they would block off the fuel outlet and the engine would
quit. Bouncing along the ground during the subsequent
landing would shake them all up, uncover the out let and
when they'd attempt a restart, the engine would run as if
nothing happened. On the last and final forced landing
luck deserted them. They ran thru a ditch and flipped
the Swallow.
All this goes to illustrate that today we have engines
and airframes to take you across the country in living
room comfort at speeds better than 10 miles a minute.
We take this for granted. It' s inconceiveable to try, but
let's compare. ~ h Swallow of fifty years ago with that
Freighter you saw fly-by at Oshkosh. I flew one of those
DC-8 Freighters from Chicago's O'Hare Field to Detroit
Metro. Last Tuesday morning we carried thirty six
thousand pounds of freight and the trip took forty-three
minutes.
Let the mind wander for a minute. Swallow's payload
is 600 pounds. WOW! that means we'd have to have
six-hundred Swallows to do the job, with about four
hours flight time for each one .. Lets see .. six hundred
times 12 gallons times four hours .. Whats the weather?
Hey l, How do we navi gate? Wow! Can you imagine what
the tower will do when 600 no radio Swallows come on
the scene? What about hotel rooms for all those pilots?
Oh man
l
This is too much!
And so, when we show the Swallow alongside one of
those big jets we aren't just showing an airplane, we are
showing FIFTY years of aviatio n. Fifty YEARS of
Aviation progress, and alt hough there are those who say
all the fun is gone and adventure is no longer, I feel it's
been all our way. We can now take our trip in living
room comfort, at dazzling speeds, with inflight
entertainment, and be reaso nably assured of reaching
our destination when the sc hedu le says we should .....
And the Swallow ..... showed them the way ...
"Buck" and his immortal Swallow, one of the best
known antiques of the day. (Photo by Bob Miller)
SILVER AGE CHAMPION
{1928-1932}
1930PARKS P2-A # NC499H
By: Wayne L. Amelang
77 2 Stone Boulevard
Tullahoma, TN 37388
6
Right: Wayne Amelang built up what was a sorry old
bird that formerly belonged to Richard Bach. I can
attest to the fine workmanship as I stopped to visit
several times on the way to Sun 'N Fun.
I have been flying a Ryan PT-22 for the past 10 years,
but during all this time I always wanted an old biplane. I
heard about the Parks being for sale in December, 1975.
It was disassembled and stored in a hangar in Newman,
Georgia and I was fortunate in having first choice at
buying it. I trailered it home in January, 1976 and start-
ed work on it almost immediately. It was obvious that
the airplane had been badly neglected and was in need of
some TLC.
The restoration of the Parks was more or less routine;
the only thing unusual being the short period of time in
which it was done. It was dismantled down to bare
bones; all welding repairs made, and all steel parts sand-
blasted and primed. All the wood in the fuselage was
replaced and many ribs in the wings replaced due to
damage or bad repair work. I even spliced in a new
section on one of the wing spars. All leading and trailing
edges were replaced. All covering was with grad e A
cotton, butyrate dope, and more sanding than I care to
do again soon. All new cowling was fabricated and new
stainless steel flying wires purchased. I had never built
up a Wright J6-5 engine before, but it didn't present any
unusual problems. I was able to buy all the new parts I
needed and it runs beautifully, using very little oil.
My original goal was to complete the restoration in
time to go to the North Georgia Chapter Fly-in at Gains-
ville, and I made it with 5 days to spare. I test flew the
to Bobby Graves for their help. They all spent many Above: Sharing your rare airplane with others is half the fun of owning it. Gene is most generous, and if you look
long hours with me and were always available when closely, there's a pair of goggles barely visible over the back cockpit - no doubt some future aviator is getting
needed. initiated to the grand thrill of open cockpit, light plane flying. (Photo by Ted Koston)
plane on June 26 and was very pleasantly surprised at
how nice it was. I later flew it to Oshkosh and .
burg, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. It's a :: 1 ,.,;;;:-JJl ';J
delightful old airplane and a joy to fly. I did have a small .'
problem on July 4. I had neglected to grease the plain
bearings in my wheels; one wheel locked up on a land-
ing, resulting in a ground loop and minor gear damage.
Fortunately, I was on the grass strip. I learned from this
experience to keep the wheels well greased and have had
no problems since.
As you know, a job like this restoration can't be done
by one person, and th is restoration was no exception. I'll
be forever grateful to my son Jerry, to Gene Hood, and ':".,'p..;.,
7
SILVERAGE RUNNER UP
1931 AMERICAN EAGLET
# NC548Y
By: Gene and Mary Morris
24 Chandelle Drive
Hampshire, I L 60740
Whoops, my white scarf just got caught around the
cabane struts and even at sixty indicated it tied a knot in
itself and as I moved to look around the nose I was
startled by a pulling around my neck.
Th is story takes place enroute to AI Kelch's for his
annual "Turkey Shoot" where all of the Wisconsin
antiquers gather at AI's beautiful strip to partake of
scrumptious roasted turkey, sweetcorn, tomatoes, and
all the rest. This fly-in is looked forward to by all of us,
all year long.
My trip in the Eaglet, just like any other, in any other
airplane, just like it has always been to us, that is, we
don't hide our little bird back in the corner only to
come out for a special fly-in on a special no wind day.
We fly it just like we would a Cub or Champ and enjoy
taking anyone that drops in to visit for a ride. I am
always amazed, and joined by many other, at how those
35 horses can carry two grown men, so well.
Since our last "Trophy Winner" article we have flown
our Eaglet and abused "Ole Zeke" about 150 hours, so
in that time it's only natural that Murphy's law would
get around to leaving the oil shut off at least once and I
sure hope it's the last time! I had to steal the crankshaft
from my spare engine and just barely got it altogether
again for Oshkosh. That was my wife, Mary's lesson so I
didn't say too much, but if she does it again, I'll cut her
arm off.
So, this day is a beautiful September day with a south
breEze eager to push me along my way. Higher and
higher Ole Zeke pulls us 15002000 ft. it's getting cool
now and my sweater is in the rear seat with my brand
new white scarf. After four or five minutes of bobbling
and wobbling around I have my sweater on and my scarf
flying behind. I'll fly by, when I get there, and let the
scarf fly in the breeze. 3,000 ft. MSL and I level off
enjoying an estimated 30 mile tailwind. I estimate, for I
have no map or compass, just a watch which says I will
be one of the last to arrive. As I near the Milwaukee area
I'm on top of some scattered clouds, I climb up to 4,000
to stay more legal and perhaps pick up even more wind.
The clouds are beautiful from any airplane but I had to
wonder if Ole Zeke had ever been there before. I t's also
getting cold. Almost to Kelch's I see Timmerman off at
two o'clock and moving slowly to my right. I'll just stay
up here, I'm thinking, I'll be over head, on top and see if
anyone can figure out what that funny sound is high
above the clouds. I can see Kelch's now with some 15
beautiful antiques lined up on AI's lawn, a sight to
behold. I'll get a picture from up here before I come
down. AI's is under a cloud at first but I can see a hole
just south and moving north. One three sixty and the
hole is right over Kelch's where everyone is basking in
the sun. I quickly turn around and get one, my last,
picture with my wing struts and tip framing my subject.
Down I come throttling back and spiraling. Ole Zeke
is really funny now, if they hadn't seen me by now,
they'll surely hear the popping and backfiring that
sounds like a comical shooting gallery. Round and
round, down and down I come at one point I reach 95
MPH. I've never had it that high before and slowly ease
it back, thinking of those frail little ribs hanging on to
the spars with all their might. Again my scarf is tied
around the cabanes, I take time to free it before my
"low pass" so that it will fly properly. It did, I flew by
and landed white scarf and all, just in time to walk to
the chow line and fraternize with my fellow antiquers,
knowing all the while that that little Eaglet with that
funny little engine makes it all possible.
SILVERAGE - OUTSTANDING
OPEN COCKPITBIPLANE
1929ALLIANCE ARGO # N596K
By: Jim Browder
5647 W. Sutliff
Peoria, I L 67607
The first time I saw the Argo, it was in the back of a
hangar (it wasn't for sale at that time) under what
appeared to be an inch of dust and bird droppings.
In 1950, they had removed all front cockpit,
controls, main wheels and the very low time Hess
Warrior and installed a Continental R670, smoke tank in
the front cockpit, Glidertow hitch, wing walk and used
it in various air shows.
Bill Sweet refers to the "oddball" (because of the 220
Cont. engine) in his book 'They Call Me Mr. Air Show."
The plane was last flown in 1952.
I acquired it a few years later. A ferry permit was
issued, and the plane was flown to Peoria to be rebuilt.
The airplane was completely dismantled and the momen-
tous task of trying to find any information and missing
parts was undertaken.
8
Right: Not only is the Argo a rare airplane, but the
Hess-Warrior engine was built specifically for the air-
plane. It would be very safe to say that it is the only
such engineoperable,asis theairplane.
Very few people ever heard of it and no onehad any
information on the airplane. All welds were dye
checked, the wings and center section rebuilt with Sitka
Spruce (as original) by "Custom Woodcraft, Milan,
Michigan." All new stainless steelflying wires, Grade A
cotton and butyrate dope. Everything completely
original except tail wheel instead of skid, new tires,
chromed stacks, shielded ignition, and I added a 100
channel trans-receiver radio.
Both aircraft and engine restoration was watched and
carefully checked by Herbert O. Edwards, air craft
Inspector.
Many years were spent in collecting bits of informa-
tion. I talked to Mr. lato, one of the company's test
pilots several times. I also learned, Russ Miller had built
the "Miller Special" using the Hess Warrior and other
partsofthe Argo.
Anyway, after many, many years, Argo N596K and I
made thefirst flight in May of1974.
I received several trophies at various Fly-Ins in the
middle westin 1974and 1975,includingWWII P.T. Fly-
In, NationalA.A.A.-A.P.M. Fly-In. Due to the weather, I
made Oshkosh on the last day ofthe show in 1975.
The plane stayed in the hangar and flew very little in
1976 and the spring of 1977, as the weather and my
work kept me from havingmuch timeto fly it.
The plane was built by the Alliance Aircraft Com-
pany, Alliance, Ohio, one of the few companiesof that
era that built both aircraft and engine. Approximately
28 were built.
N596K is the only one flying, and accordi ng to
research, the only one in existence. There was another
one in Massachusetts. It was rebuilt using a 145 Warner
engine. When this onewas being restored, Imade several
trips to the East coast and acq uired the original ground
adjustable propeller and miscellaneous items. However,
thatArgo was later destroyed in a hangar fire.
The ai rcraft is fully aerobatic and unrestricted. It is
really a crowd pl easer. Very few know what it is. Many
think it is an original design. Fewold timers recogni zeit
as an Alliance Argo.
I was very happy to receive the award at the
1977-25th Anniversary Convention.
__
.n
t@
.--
@
fJlJe Hess- Warrior Aircraft Engitle
A.I.(;o, powered by our own seven cylmder,
.. ir-coolcd eDglnC, dc,'clops 115 horse. powt't
:u 1925 R P. M Thn en,!:lnc c.ames the App""r,d
CfJ
HE
The uoh- mmriah recom-
mended Iw "tmy ;tod Srandlfd" . Cylinder coostruc-
tion IS the same U (ound In cn,Rlnes (wiCe theCOSI of
the \\'''RRIOR.

:;-;,.:, - .,,/"

The ...Argo
CfJ
HE oUlsundrng rn.1lncu\cT;l.bdtty beaut)' o(the
.... rgoh:tvc..... on (orII well menteddistinct iOn lnd pr.1lsc wherever
II hunown.
Clp.1blc of l high of IlS MPH" cruising of
JOO M. P. H., Ihe Argo hu euned Ihe righl CO IcldcrshlP 10 rhc
pl lne field.
Insrrumenrs, Bendix
The rnHlo t response. to Ihe controls hu won pr iors ldmlrllion Ihe
COUntry o' er. Visrhrllty IS perfC'C1 In IlndmgorflYing due ro Ihe merhod of
(onstrunion
For rhose seckln,': a smlll, flu, DEPENDABLE ship for sporr,
orhuuness, IheArgo IS rdeal.
'FLY IT AND YOll \\'ILL Bl."Y IT..
.. ().
SILVERAGE - OUTSTANDING
CLOSED COCKPIT BIPLANE
(OPEN COCKPITWITH COUPE TOP)
1932WACO IBA # N12453
By: EdPaclwrd
227S. EddyStreet
South Bend, IN 46677
When I was learning to fly 25 yrs. ago, I used to
practice landing at Cadet field, which was all sod that
used to be South Bend, Indiana Municipal Airport. Isaw
this old biplane in ahangar thatfascinated me. Foryears
after Igot my li cense, Iwould stop in and imagine things
about that old biplane. I never saw it f ly or knew who
owned it.
One day I landed on a farm with a friend, my oid
instructor, to ride his horses. Hi s wife came by car to
pick him up, and when I took off, I found to my
dismay, the wind had changed, and my Cessna 182
didn't fly too well from a vall ey field with atai lwind. I
totaled it, so Ineeded a new airplane.
9
My son Barney Packard with coupe top on, ready to go.
A housing development had gone in where the sod
fie ld was; so I inquired as to what ever happened to that
o ld biplane. I discovered the fuselage had been stored in
a barn for 12 yrs. and the wings in another barn 30 miles
away . I gave $1900 for the pieces, and had it rebuilt. Six
months later the engine quit because of crud in the
carburetor; and it went down and over in a cornfield the
last week in August. I met Walt Sh elto n, wh o is an A&E,
and he used to teach at Parks. He is an art ist who loves
old planes, so he didn't repair it; he restored it. I sti ll
didn't realize what I had, excepti ng an o ld biplane that I
liked to fly.
I saw Haro ld Johnson from Dayton fly an ai rshow in
Wabash. He saw my pl ane and said, "you have a rare
Waco, so why don ' t you join the Waco Club?" He told
me about Ray Brandl ey, and my education began.
The IBA was delivered 45 yrs. ago with the coupe-top
installed. It was gray with silver wings and tail. It was
advertised as the golfers' airplane you land on the golf
course when you pl ay . Behind the back baggage
compartment, it says "golf clubs only." One ad from
1932 showed the golfer with his knickers, cap, and clubs
by the plane on a golf course.
Another ad from '32 said, "The plane for the man
who wants to go places and do things." The front
baggage compartment holds 87 Ibs. and the back one 35
Ibs. My wife can take all the suit cases and luggage she
wants, and does.
It stalls at 39 MPH; cruises at 92 MPH. The coupe-top
speeds it up about 3 MPH and can be install ed in 20 min.
It is in three pieces. One piece goes in each door with
sid e window and plastic V shape on top so when door
opens V pulls out, so you ca n step down inside without
crawling under. With coup e-top on, you can easi ly
converse and look at maps, etc.
It has the 125 HP Kinn er B54 and wheels are off the
ground in 150 feet. The span is 30 ft.; length 21 ft,;
height 8'6"; holds 30 gals. gas; and burns 71/z per hour.
Waco only sold two IBA's.
When I bought it, it had 687 hrs. airframe time. Th e
Kinner only had 12 hrs. on it, because the owner bought
it war surplus for $65. They put the B54's on PT 22's to
start with, but went to the 160 Kinner, so 125 HP B54's
were sold new for $65 war surplus. I've added almost
800 more fun and loop-filled hours to it; and never plan
on stopping.
CONTEMPORARY AGE CHAMPION
(1933 - 1945)
1941 WACO VKS-7F #N31653
By: Vince Mariani
2409 Sweetwater Road
Findlay, OH 45840
WACO N31653 was built in August of 1941 as a VKS
and converted to a VKS-7F (addition of flaps) by
WACO in 1944. The airpl ane was used by the WACO Co.
executives until 1949.
I do have all of the original log books including the
"C" ration gas card used du rin g W.W.II.
I purchased N31653 in August of 1963 and spent the
next 3 yea rs re-building and hand rubbing out the
butyrate dope over t he ceconite covers.
The airplane is pure pl easure to fly and it is a good
comfortable cross country airplane.(1 added lots of
sound proofing and padding.)
It now has bee n flown 11 years (+ 1000hrs.) since
restoration, and N31653 continues to bring home
trophies. The total trophies and awards number over 90,
of which 20 were Grand Champions. N31653 has been
Grand Champion and " past" Grand Champion at least 5
times at the Marion, Ohio EAA eastern regional fly-in. I
can only say, that owning and flying a WACO has been
my boyhood dream come true.
10
CONTEMPORARY AGE
RUNNER-UP
1940 FAIRCHILD F24
#N25323
By: Ed Wegner
70 StaffordStreet
Plymouth, WI 53073
My Fairchild 24 was purchased from a good friend,
Andy Dettman, from our area. He did some work on the
airframe. He also built up a zero time engine from all
new parts - yes - all new parts. Thi s was about IS years
ago. The Ranger performs and runs very well.
I completely rebuilt the wood and wings; install ed
new wiring, instruments, radio and interior. It is finished
in red and cream.
It cruises at 120 at 22 inches, 2100 RPM , uses 11 or
12 gallons per hour.
I enjoy flying this Fairchild as this is my second F24.
I was very pleased to receive the award for Contem-
porary Age Runner-up.
Above: Bonnie and Vince Mariani (from previous page) and their 7947 WACO VKS 7F. It has won a boat load of
trophies, including 20 Grand Champions. (Photo by Bob Miller)
Below: Over the years, Ed Wegner has cranked out a stable full of immaculate restorations, the Fairchild 24 being
no exception, is letter perfect. Of all the exotic airplanes he has restored, Ed says the 24 is one he intends to
keep.
11
OUTSTANDINGOPEN
COCKPIT BIPLANE
1941 STEARMAN # N57041
By: j. F. Atkinson, Jr.
4873Concho Court
Sacramento, CA 75847
N57041 is a Boeing A-75N1, serial No. 75-2935,
PT-17. According to the Stearman Guide book, it was
one of a batch of 84 delivered in 1941 .
It was restored by Drs. Larry I ngemanson and Rich
O' Day. The covering, painting, rigging and engine work
were done by Air Repair in Clarksburg, Ca lif. (just south
of Sacramento Executive Airport.) I know nothing of
the plane's history prior to that. The current airworthy
certificate is dated Sept. 16, 1970.
I purchased N57041 in the fall of 1973. It has always
been hangared. The airplane is flown about 100 hrs!year.
The engine is a Conti nental W670-A. The aircraft is as
near stock as possible. The only exceptions are electric
starter, ELT,Geneve Nav-Com wit h built-in intercom and
an anti, co li ision strobe on the belly.
The photo included was taken two years ago. The
on ly change visible since then is t he fire extinguisher
Right: The flight to Oshkosh
from California in a sturdy
old Stearman would be
enough of a thrill - taking
home a trophy is frosting on
the cake.
door in the proper color (reddish brown) with the
stencil, "fire extinguisher".
The flight to Oshkosh took four days and was great
fun. We departed Sacramento Executive Airport and
stopped over night in Ogden, Utah; New Castle,
Wyoming and LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Flying time was
approximately 23 hours. We settled quickly on legs of
21'2 hrs., more in deference to our sore butts than fuel
considerations.
The Stearman seemed reluctant to climb much over
9,000 feet, but we were able to get her up to almost
11,000 at times by taking advantage of thermals. Prob-
ably the most exciting part of the trip was departing
Elko, Nevada at noon time fully loaded with a tem-
perature of 95 F and density altitude of 8,700 feet. I'm
glad that there were no obstructions higher than a jack
rabbits' ears for a few miles.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Oshkosh ( our
first) and plan to repeat the tr ip next year.
I received the plaque in the mail and need less to say
was very happy. The Stearman has two trophys fro m
Merced, Ca lifornia Annual West Coast An itq ue Fly-in.
The latest and best 1st place Primary Trainer Biplane in
June 1976.
CONTEMPORARY AGE
OUTSTANDINGCABIN BIPLANE
1936WACO EQC-6
# N16591
By: Stan Gomoll
704290th Lane N. E.
Minneapolis, MN55434
12
Stan Gomoll 44479- 7936 WAco EQC6. (Photo byBob Miller)
r
r'
On November 9, 1936, this Waco known as N16591
model DQC-6 was delivered to H. L. Linder - Paramount
Trucking Svc. Inc., Milwaukee, WI. It was delivered with
a 285 HP Wright engine with a 2B20 constant speed
propeller. The airplane was painted gray with a vermilion
strip, edged in gold. It was the most plush air plane you
could buy at that time. The custom series Wacos were
the executive planes of the day being owned by movie
stars such as Victor Fleming, Howard Hawks, Leland
Howard and Henry King. Henry B. DuPont and Jesse
Vincent. Other owners were Stokely Bros. Food, an
Aerial Taxi in the Philiippines, 2 large newspapers,
several oil companies. 2 were shipped to Argentina and 3
were used by the Coast Guard. There were 20 EQC
models and 11 DOC models built in 1936.
The selling price of DQC. with 285 HP Wright engine
was $8,975.00 and $9,650.00 for EQC model with 350
HP Wright engine.
The second owner of th is airplane was Howard Air-
craft Company, Chicago, IL. They owned the airplane
from 11-15-38 to 111539 when Anthony Sedlek of
Conrath, WI became the third owner. It was then sold to
Lawrence Sadlek, Walter W. Sittler and B. D. Gordon of
Chicago, I L. on 38-43. From there it went to Harlen M.
Sheldon of Okanogan, WA on 12-1-45.
About this time the engine was changed to a 350 HP
Wright model R-760-E2 with a super charger blower
ratio of 9.17 to 1 which gave it a service ceiling of
19,000 feet. This changed the model to a EQC-6. The
interior was changed to leatherette and Y2 plywood floor
installed as the next record owner as Okoma Airways,
Inco Box 809 Okanogan, Wash i ngton on 6-1 -46.
The next recorded owner was Herb Brouker Avia-
tion Industries Inc., Coeurd "0" Alene, Id aho.
It changed owners on 48-53 to Ray Phillips and
Elmer Carlson in Idaho. Shortly after they bought it, the
airplane went into dead storage due to a cracked power
case.
In 1965 Bob Lueck of Missoula, Montana was looking
for an airplane to use in his flight school to have para-
chute jumpers in. He found this Waco sitting in the back
corner of a dark hangar with its tail feathers removed.
Not knowing about the cracked power case he bought
the airplane and brought it home to Missoula, Montana,
where it took several years to find another engine and
have it overhau led . This is when he found out why the
airplane had changed owners many times, and had low
time on airframe. When the engine was changed to a
R760 E-2, they installed a bump cow ling off a 1935
Waco, which has a sma ll er diminsion at the fire wall so
the cowling would not let the air pass thru as it should,
which caused overheating problems in warm weather
such as high cylinder heat temps. an.d high oil temps.
I bought the airplane on Feb. 3, 1968 and became the
13th owner. I flew it home to Minneapolis, Minnesota in
the middle of winter. When warm weather came I found
out the problem I had inherited. It took severa l years to
solve all the problems, with the help from many people.
The airplane now flies year around with no problems.
This airplane was recovered 19 years ago with grade A
fabric, 33 coat finish and so has never been restored, just
maintained thru the years. It is a fun airplane to fly.
CONTEMPORARY AGE
OUTSTANDING OPEN
COCKPIT MONOPLAN E
RYAN STA # NC17361
By: DorrCarpenter
225S. Saunders
Lake Forest, IL 60045
Ryan STA, serial number 166 was manufactured on
July 7, 1937 by the Ryan Aeronautical Company of San
Diego, Calif. The company records show that she was
delivered to Booth Hemming, a dealer, and as the logs
prior to 1942 have been lost, we have only sketchy
information of her early days.
Nevertheless, we do have a few facts. Her logs start
with 1875 hours and are well kept. At th is time she was
used hard; day after day the logs show four or more
hours in the air per entry. By February, 1944, this pace
leveled off to a more usual individual entry of half an
hour per flight. By June, 1945 she had accumulated
3210 hours total.
From 1948 to 1953 she was not flown and only 50
hours were added by Stanley Sicora in the next two
years. Again she went into storage, this time in an apart
13
ment building basement in Chicago. Here she stayed
until purchased by Dario Toffinetti in 1967. For the
next eight years, Dario flew the aircraft to many events
and the red and white Ryan became a familiar sight.
Two items of interest come out of the logs: first,
there are no recorded incidents of damage of any kind to
the aircraft. Secondly, one engine, a Menasco D4, stayed
on her for over 3000 hours. It was majored at least four
times and topped three times.
I purchased number 166 in the fall of 1975 in.slightly
damaged cond ition. The propeller was broken and the
rudder bent.
In the process of checking out the aircraft, it was
noted that the left wing had been replaced. This was
most certainly done before 1942. The overhaul included
refabricing the flying surfaces and re-shinning the
aluminum fuselage. Also, a new Canadian surplus
Menasco D4-87 engine was installed along with a Fahlin
propeller.
In Ju ly of this year she was assembled under an oak
tree in the newly cut alfalfa field behind my home. On
the eighteenth of the month' she flew for the first time in
two years. Two weeks later she was on her way to
Oshkosh.
Any aircraft used for training, that was never a
military plane, and was not involved in accidents of any
consequences, is bound to have a dull history. But based
on the fact that this plane flew safely for at least six
registered owners for 40 years and 3445 hours proves
she is a good aircl'aftl
Below: Dorr Carpenter's Ryan STA.
CONTEMPORARY AGE
OUTSTANDINGCABIN MONOPLANE
PORTERFIELD MODEL35-70,1935
By: johnP. Innes
5200 ValleyCircle Boulevard
Woodland Hills, CA 97367
AN AEROPLANE CALLED "SPINACH"
By way of introduction; I am a model 35-70 Porter-
fie ld . Thi s designation was given when my design was
created in 1935 and thus the 35. My power plant was a
70 hp LeBl ond and that is where the 70 came from.
My serial number is 229 so I had 228 sisters before
me and many more younger, some with 90 Warners .. ,
.Wow, what performers they were!
On August 26, 1936, I was released to the sky, from
the Porterfield factory at Kansas City, Mo. How proud I
was of my new owner. He had selected me above many
others. My forest green color suggested the name:
"Spinach" which he prompt ly gave me. My happiness
was even greater when I discovered I was to be a sport
trainer for Instructor, License No. l...Bob Cummings!
.. My first owner.
Between Bob (I always cal led him by his fi rst name,
'cause we were so intimate) and my Present Master, I
had many owners and vast experiences which I intend to
tell the entire world, in a book-size story.
I had an affair with John for twenty short minut es at
Ogden, Utah on Feb. 28, 1943. I knew at that time, (he
didn't) that some way, some time, some where I would
capture and possess him.
Twenty six years passed and one day I presented myself
to John at Santa Paula, California. I was a mess! My
weary bones crumpled in the corner of a breezy, leaky
corrugated metal hangar.
The moment we met, I knew I had been saved ... to be
born again!
Seven and a half years later, I blossomed forth, better
than new, under the careful, meticulous, loving hands of
my Saviour. John did 90% of the work himself. Only my
engine was entrusted to a good buddy to recreate.
Oh, .. there's so much to te ll ... but must keep it short!
This was our third trip to Oshkosh. We won a beauti-
ful trophy. We travelled over most of the whole United
States, even up to New York. We were away from home
(Los Angeles) for over six weeks.
I showed John many beautiful views of our wonder-
ful country. I also taught him a thing or two about how
tempermental we gals can be. Jealous too. John simply
had to learn to straighten up and fly right!
Tell you all about it in the book.
Children of all ages wi ll love the story of romance,
adventure, happiness, sadness and even stark terror.
say, Children, because they love my kind of Spinach.
14
An airplane called "Spinach". (Photo by Ted Koston)
CUSTOMIZED ANTIQUECHAMPION
1943 HOWARD DGA 15P
# NC95462
By: "Chub" Trai nor
22 Kathleen Court
Way ne, NJ 07470
I purchased " Bi g Red" in December, 1976 from John
Turgyan. Thus ended my long, often frustrati ng, coast to
coast, and even international search for an antique air-
plane in good, flying condition. Finding this beauty, in
mint conditi on was certainly one of the hi ghl ights of my
long interest in flying.
When I saw "For Sale" in the window of thi s "Damn
Good Airplane" at Oshkosh '76, I co uldn't believe that
Joh n was se llin g his " labor of love". The more I fly this
aircraft, the more I reali ze that all the fi ne things John
and I had discussed about it are fact and then some. Th is
Howard has had eleven other owners, so consequently,
has an indefinite restoration history. Originally built for
the Navy, it has progressed on to becoming a beautiful
classic. Th e last two owners were Ron Rippon, and of
course, John Turgya n! The engi ne and prop had 57
hours on them when I bought it, and John, at one time
or anot her, had rebuilt every syste m. The Howard has
got dual 360 channel Comm, and dual Nav receivers,
dual glid e sco pe receivers, ADF, mar kers, transponder
and DM E. It was repainted with Dupont Delux enamel.
Thi s was 30 coats of dope and two coats of enamel. It
was also fitted with a leather interior.
My interest in antique aircraft is lon g standing, and I
feel it a privilege to fly this one. To me, it is an infinite
thrill to be behind that PW R 985 engi ne, to hear it's
sound and to feel it 's capabilities. It is no stranger to
fly-ins, and I appreciate everyone's interest in this air-
pl ane. It is my Irish good fortune to own this pri ze
winner.
Chub Trainor and his Howard DGA. (Photo by Bob Miller)
CUSTOMIZED ANTIQUE
RESERVE CHAMPION
1940PIPER J4A # NC30340
By: A/anandMary Anderson
28988Swan Island
Grosse lie, MI 48738
15
This article is written as an Epilogue in that most
things worth knowing about our Cub Coupe were
printed in the August issue of Vintage Airplane. That
story was prompted by our success at Oshkosh '76, in
which we won the award for Outstanding Workmanship.
Since that time, we have had the good fortune to win at
Marion, Ohio's Mid-Eastern Regional Fly- In, '76 and
'77, Sandusky Fly-I n and culminated in 1977 with Re-
serve Champion in Class at Oshkosh. At the insistence of
your Editor, AI Kelch, who has the ability to apply pres-
sure better than anyone I know, we would like to ad-
dress this "Epilogue" to a special part of the "Vintage
Airplane Scene" unforeseen by us and the source of the
title to th is vignette.
WIND: The terrible bugaboo of all Antiquers. A con-
stant worry whether we are on the ground or in the air-
is it too windy to fly today? Anything over 5 knots
somehow feels like a full gale: Once in the air, the J4A
performs like the elegant lady she was intended to be,
"First Cabin all the way". We guess this is usually the
case for most Vintage Aircraft. Eventually, however, one
must land and a crosswind on the ground can cause
sweaty palms and shaking knees while mentally review-
ing the countless rib stitches, tip bows, nav. lights, etc.,
that could be sacrificed to the Ground Looping Gods.
If the plane is located at an airfield away from home,
wind seems to become an obsession and the Antique is
baby-sat in the best of parental style during the duration
of the stay. Once home and properly hangared, wind
becomes something to casually listen to and contemplate
in front of a fire pl ace. Owners finally get a good ni ghts
sleep!
WEATH E R: Besides wi nd, Antiq uers seem to worry
more about element s - is it too hot to fly today, or is it
too cold with the possibility of a start-up carb fire as she
decides not to digest her 80 Octane. Worry, worry, wor-
ry.
Has it rained recent ly and is that airstrip paved or is it
a huge mud puddle bent on redesigning the fi ni sh? May-
be it 's going to drizzle, which would be an easy method
of washing the bugs clean enroute to a show; but what if
the drizzle turns into a downpour and the visibi lity
drops to zero (good thing we have a great local Flight
Service Station sy mpathetic to Antiquers).
Wheel pants and snow present another problem to be
cont ended with and mulled over. Is our airport really
plowed clean and what about our destination? Will the
slush on the runway accumu late in the pants and tai l
Alan and Mary Anderson, she loves the Cub Coupe
because it is the plane in which she was courted.
wheel lock and create a more sudden stop than planned
or an uncontrollable beast bent on embarrassing its own-
er by being only capab le of traveling in circles? The
unesthetic solution (removal) seems to be to concur-
rently detract from the plane's beauty, reduce precious
speed by about 3 M PH and leave lovely streaks on the
wings undersides. Hence, "to remove or not to remove"
the wheel pants until warm and dry weather returns is in
itself the source of a real trauma.
PEOPLE ATTENDING FLY-INS: Are "they" going
to exhibit the touch of the real airplane lover or are they
going to completely ignore the EAA "Please Don't
Touch" signs and poke and probe in an ulcer provoking
way. As have those Antiquers before us, we have become
accustomed to the attention drawn at every airfie ld and
then suffered reverse conditioning when we rent a "store
bought" and receive no more attention other than "Gas,
Sir" or "Will you be staying overn ight ". Some Psychol
ogist wou ld love to probe the Antiquer's world.
From the dear woman who loved the Cub Coupe
because it is the plane in which she was courted, to the
A and E who repaired NC 30340 when she was onl y 3
months old, to the countless picture takers who are
working on their own Antiques, the year and a half of
flying our J4A has been fu ll of personal rewards far
exceeding the effort or anxieties we have portrayed here,
somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Many tha nks to you all and
the staff of EAA and Vintage Airplane whose effort
makes our "Antique Airplane Lifestyle" possible.
OUTSTANDING AIRCRAFT
1943 STEARMAN # N9078H
By: Griff and j eannie Griffin
3022 Northview Road
Minnetonka, MN 55367
How can a person write a few paragraphs about an
airplane that you' ve worked on for 4 years?
I t all happened by accident on a very warm day in
August 1973. Bill Duncan and Jack Rose were visiting
our neighbor who introduced us, and also negotiated a
ride for us in Stearman 9078 H. These two fe ll ows were
on their way home to Spokane, Wash. from Oshkosh.
We had no intention on buying a pl ane until that ride
and that same evening, when we fo und out that Jack
would sell the Stearman. That ni ght was a sleepless one,
wonderi ng about whether or not our banker was airplane
orie nt ed . He was.
Most of my time was in a J-3 and Tri-Pacer so, just to
be sure I took some extra instr uction with Nei ls Soren-
son who was a W.W.II Stearman instructor.
Later on that fall, we flew to Montana on a weekend
to visit some friends when Jean ni e noticed a stick
flapping in the breeze on the left ail eron. She got my
attention in a hurry thinking that I had not checked over
16
the plane thoroughly enough when a head appeared, and
then Mr. mouse tried to climb up onto the wing. Before
I had time to reach for the camera or the fire extinguish-
er, he slid down the aileron, all fours extended for his
free fall 2000 feet to the ground. We had to rib stitch
and patch some wing area, and decided to look for a
hangar with a door; a very tight door. We were renting a
hangar, but with no door and we were always worrying
about vandalism, etc.
I n Nov. 1973, we bought a hangar at Crystal airport.
More payments to the payments!
We made arrangements with the tower at Crystal to
fly in. Now we had a home and workshop for our Stear-
man. Since the R680 hadn't been majored since 1946,
we had Bolduc Aviation check it over to see if it needed
the valves ground and then re-ring it. That move turned
out to be an R & R job. Remove and replace with all
new parts from the case outward. More payments to the
payments to the oayments!
The next step was to check the propeller, which Max-
well Prop Shop found unfit for service. Two new blades
later, the prop was in A-1 condition. Then we added a
rad io, shielded ignition, electric starter, generator,
battery and re-wire for strobe lights. Also removed and
had the instruments overhauled.
I n early spring of 1974, we had it painted in the navy
color and markings and thought it was correctly done. It
wasn't and we didn't like it.
By now, Jeanne is almost hysterical and ready to
supplement her day time teaching job with a night time
~ . ~ - Left: jeannie and Griff enjoy
a lot ofcross country in this
beauty.
cab driving job. Yup - more payments!
During the winter of 1975 we removed and stripped
all the metal, sanded fabric and re-painted it in our own
hangar. Ask Rick Hovind how much metal there is to
strip on a Stearman. It's a big pile when its on the floor.
Every time someone came into the hangar, he was given a
piece of 400 wet or dry and told which area to work on.
In 5 months and 300 cases of beer, we were finished
with the paint job. Jeannie was the designer. She was
fussy, fussy, fussy, with the color scheme, which I didn't
appreciate at that time.
Now to start building my dream engine which would
be a 300 with a front exhaust and constant speed propel-
ler. I figured you could build one of these in 120 days. It
took 1 Y2 years. Kenny Maxwell did the prop and gov-
ernor work, and John Sandberg assembled the crank and
power section and supervised all the rest of the work. Of
course with a new engine, you need more gauges, so
another friend's help was enlisted . Eddy Jacobson, who
is rebuilding a V77 Stinson made up a new little panel
above the radio. There were so many people that helped,
and a special thanks to all of them.
Also a special thank you to the Antique and Classic
Division for the beautiful and treasured plaque.
Jeannie quits flying with me around Halloween when
the weather cools off, but any day that I have the time,
and it is above zero, you can see that '01 Griffin bird
heading out of Crystal airport. The coldest day I've
flown was -6 degrees and that's too cold for comfort.
The payments continue!
OUTSTANDING CUSTOMIZED
ANTIQUE 1941 MONOCOUPE 90A
# N38922
By: BudDake
8378Fairbanks
Berkeley, MO 63734
When asked to write words about our 1941 Mono-
coupe 90A, where does it begin? First I want to thank
the Ant i que/Classic Division for the Outstand ing
Customized Antique Award . It was certainly an honor
and a big surprise. We still find such an Award hard to
believe, after remembering all those beautifully restored
and customized Antique/Classic planes which attended
Oshkosh '77.
I had been searching several years before I found my
Monocoupe. I was happy with the other airplanes I had
owned but there was always that someth ing special
wanted, to fulfill my needs. That little extra is what the
Monocoupes have and that's what makes them such
delightful airplane. The one I now own was built in 1941
at the factory in Orlando, Florida, where they moved
after they left Robertson Airport (now Lambert Field)
in St. Louis, Missouri. It featured fuselage framework of
1025 and 4130 steel tubing. The Model 90A used dural
metal sheet formers and wood fairing strips to come up
17
I
with the attractive Monocoupe styling. The entire air-
plane was fabric covered with the best linen. The wing
span is 32', overall length 20' 10" and height 60" with
the wing area of 145 sq. ft., the wing loading is 11 Ibs.
per sq. foot. Empty weight is 1025 Ibs., gross is 1610
pounds. A Clark 'Y' airfoil is used on this model. It
carries 28 gallons of fuel in the two wing root located
tanks.
I acquired my Monocoupe in July 1973. Although
she was in good mechanical condition, having at that
time, a 135 Lycoming installed. She needed some minor
airframe, interior, and metal work. So while my wife,
Connie, and I had a fun flying machine we also had work
ahead. We also needed to find some of the original
equipment, like fairings, wheel pants, etc.
In September 1974 we completely disassembled the
airplane for a comprehensive inspection. I installed new
bolts, control cables, pulleys, new brakes and tires and a
new exhaust. I removed the instrument panel, which
someone had made of aluminum and made a new panel
of birch plywood. My wife stained it and I then applied
a clear acrylic finish. This new panel was more like the
original, which was also of wood. I also made up a new
Left: Bud and Connie Dake,
making like a bird. (Photo by
Robert Hegge)
Right: james Patterson has
made this 7938 Spartan the
passion of his life and pocket-
book for three years.
bottom cowl for a more original look and a slight gain of
speed.
A new interior, new glass, soundproofing, firewall
pad, new engine cowl and several new instruments were
installed. Now it was time for the cosmetics. This was
one of the more time consuming jobs consisting of
sanding, cleaning and preparing for the finish. It was
quite a job to maneuver that 32' wing ... preparing one
side, painting and then the good part...you have to turn
that wing over, with its one degree dyhedral, without
doing any damage. A job not for the weak of heart. Also
a new skylight needed to be doped into place. Next
came a repeat performance of getting the fuselage
prepared for painting. The yellow and red Monocoupe
has over 35 coats of dope on Irish Linen and three coats
of hot enamel.
From the factory this Monocoupe originally had a 90
hp opposed Franklin. It was later changed to a
0-290-D11 and in the winter of 1976 we began the
installation of a 9-320 Lycoming and this undertaking
was completed and Field Approved in August 1976.
The time spent rebuilding N38922 was well worth all
the effort. The labors of love are never a chore. Mono-
coupes have always been our favorite, guess that is why
we have enjoyed Luscombes, but then they are
genetically related, through the same designers, Clayton
Folkerts and Don Luscombe. My wife and I have taken
over the original Monocoupe Club, very recently, and
hopefully there will be more of the magnicent Mono-
coupes attending many more of the Fly-ins. We would
like to see more interset in the preservation of the Mono-
coupe.
OUTSTANDING AIRCRAFT
1938SPARTAN 7W #N17615
By: Dr. James T. Patterson
7977 Falmouth Drive
LOUiSVille, KY 40205
I t was the most beautiful airplane I had ever seen! So
sold my Beechcraft Bonanza and forced $35,000 on
the guy who owned it. And that's how I came to own the
1938 model Spartan airplane that for three years and
more has been the passion of my life, consuming my
18
time, attention, plus week-ends and a considerable share
of my money. For this, the plane has returned me fun,
and forced the learning of new skills.
The plane was built in February 1938 by Spartan
Airplane Co. of Tulsa, Okla. Itwas one of 32 such planes
made from 1932 to 1942. In the year of its birth it
participated in the cross country Bendix Trophy race. It
has passed through the corporate hands of Belmont
Radio Corp. of Chicago, Airpath Instrument of St.
Louis, and Scripps-Howat-d Corp. of Cincinnati. During
World War II it was in the Navy - officially designated a
UC-71 - as a personnel transpOi"t on the West Coast.
When I bought it around Christmas 1972 it had a
bright red paint job, and had been extensively altered
inside. At first I had no intention of doing anything but
flying and enjoying it; certainly not rebuilding the whole
thing. But a minor mishap changed all that. DUI-ing an
early familiarization flight, my son dropped the rudder
lock beneath the floorboards. Aftet- landing I removed
the floorboards to retrieve it. The more I took up, the
more problems I encountered - corrosion, aging, and
the like. Mid 1973 found me in an extensive rebuilding
and restoration job. I dismantled the plane entirely;
wings, motor, fuselage, everything that could come off
did. I worked every weekend and every Thursday for a
year and a half, under the supervision of two licensed
mechanics.
I t was enough to qual ify me for licensing by the FAA
as an air-frame mechanic, should oral surgery ever pall.
The project became a passion for the family, as well .
My wife and two boys came out to lend a hand. Our
social life was zero.
My goal was to restore the plane as closely to its 1938
configuration as I could. I replaced the upholstery with
plush material that reproduces its original very closely,
had the plane repainted to its original design, in a lovely,
cool mint green.
In January 1973, two years after I bought the Spar-
tan, it was finished. I now have a beautiful five place
plane powered by a rebuilt-to-new 450 horsepower Pratt
& Whitney radial engine. It cruises at 200 miles an hour
and its range is 1,000 miles. At crusing speed it burns 22
gallons of gas and hour. Now I am hooked and thinking
about buying and restoring a biplane, if I can find the
machine I want. I have the feel ing my wife will welcome
a new project.J ust the other day she was asking "Now
that the Spartan is finished, what am I going to do with
you all winter long?"
OUTSTANDING AIRCRAFT
1944BEECH-STAGGERWING 0175
#N16M
By: W. McBride
7969 Fair Oak Drive
Rochester, MI48063
Above: Mr. McBride is to be commended for his for-
titude, and if there was a trophy for "Bravery", he
wouldbethe recipient. (Photo by RobertF. Pauley)
Exactly why I became interested in the Staggerwing,
and when my interest was aroused, I don't recall; I
suppose it had to do with the fact that I owned a Stear-
man and that I am partial to biplanes. Also, a good
friend of mine, George York, a Staggerwing buff, got me
interested.
I actively started looking for an airplane in the spring
of 1975, and attended the Staggerwing Convention in
Albuquerque in October 1975, to look at several airplanes
there for sale.
Upon leaving the convention, I went to Salt Lake
City and looked at an airplane that had been partially
rebuilt. It was in a dark hangar on a cold evening, and
from what I could determine the airplane looked pretty
good. The best part of it was that the airplane had been
completely recovered and was still in the silver, which I
liked because it gave me the opportunity of finishing the
craft any way I wanted. The sheet metal looked good
19
I
and from what I could see, the workmanship didn't look
too bad. (I later found out I didn't look too closely.)
The airplane also had no radios, which I also liked,
because I wanted to start with an all new rad io package.
I went back to Detroit, made my decision, called the
seller, and made a deal. I was assured the airplane would
be put together and in working condition within a
couple of weeks. However, several weeks went by and
several phone calls made, and for various reasons given
me the airplane was still in the condition in which I had
left it in back in October. So I decided to go to Salt
Lake City and put it together myself. The oil tank,
exhaust system and all of the sheet metal had been
removed and were scattered about the hangar. Optimis-
tically I told my wife I would be gone a couple of days.
After a week and a half, in a cold, poorly lit hangar, and
with only one change of clothes, I finally got the air-
plane assembled. By this time it was late in November
and the weather was not good.
I was told there was a man in Gunnison, Colorado, by
the name of Rocky Warren, who owned two Stagger-
wings and had acquired thousands of hours in Stagger-
wings. Since I had never flown one, I decided to call him
and ask if he would come to Salt Lake City and check
me out. And this he did. When he arrived, the weather
was bad so it was a couple of days before we could get
the plane flying. I wanted to run a retraction test, could
find no one on the field to help me. So, against my
better judgement we flew the airplane without one. We
flew for a couple of hours, then Rocky suggested that he
make the first landing, of which I was in favor. We had
flared out and were in the touch-down position when
Rocky suddenly poured on full power. I heard a terrible
sound. The prop was digging into the cement, and as I
looked out the side window I could see the flaps bei ng
ground down by the pavement. Somehow he got it back
into the air. We got the gear down manually, and check-
ed the gear position by looking at our shadow in the
snow. Rocky then madean uneventful landing, and we
taxied up to the fixed base operator on the field. With
tears in my eyes, I viewed a prop which had six inches
removed from the blades, the flaps torn to shreds, and
gear doors ruined. Luckily we did no damage to the
bottom of the fuselage with the exception of wearing off
the heads of a few sheet metal screws. I assumed this was
the end of my airplane, but "good old" Rocky put his
arm around my shoulder and told me not to worry
because he had a brand new set of flaps and a new
propeller back in his shop in Gunnison. He told me to
remove the flaps and prop.
He made a few phone calls, and in about three hours
a friend of his rolled up in a 320 with the seats removed
and in their place were a new prop, two flaps, and a few
other things we needed. By 9:00 that night we had the
airplane completely back together and ready to go. I
believe I had the only man in the world with me who at
that time had a spare set of flaps and a prop for a
Staggerwing. The next morning we departed for
Gunnison and had an uneventful landing. We were un-
ab Ie to put the plane in Rocky's hangar because the
hangar was broken, so we had to work outside. I remov-
ed the wheels and brakes, which were not functioning,
and replaced them with a set off of one of his planes. I
now had a Staggerwing with borrowed flaps, borrowed
prop, borrowed battery, borrowed brakes, and borrowed
wheels.
I spent a couple of days working on the airplane in
feeezing cold weather but finally got the gear problem
solved, and was ready for a check-out with Rocky.
I believed that if you could fly a Stearman you could
fly anything. Wrong! I had a terrible time landing and
taking off the airplane, and had decided there was no
way I could ever handle it, and Rocky thought I was a
typically rotten flat-land pilot. However, with a good
night's sleep and a couple of hours in Rocky's 180,
Rocky felt I was good enough to try it from the left
seat, at which time he opened the door and started out
of the airplane. I asked him why he was getting out, and
I don't remember his exact words, but they were some-
thing to the effect that since there were only brakes on
the left-hand side he could do me no good in the right-
hand seat, and besides he didn't want to put his life in
danger. I made a couple of terrifying landings and
decided it was time to head for home. By this time over
two weeks had elapsed on my "two day" trip. We
topped off the plane fuel, and Rocky made me file a
flight plan and promise to call him after I had made it
over the mountains. Somehow I did, and I called him
form Pueblo, Colorado. The rest of the trip went
smoothly, and even my landings started to improve.
Upon getting home and looking the airplane over
more closely, I decided that probably I had made a big
mistake. The plane was now out of license. I had to
make the decision whether to rei icense it and learn how
to fly it, or to tackle the bigger job of rebuilding it and
having the airplane the way I would really like it. I
decided on the latter.
The interior of the airplane had been recently reuphol-
stered in a horrible blue vinyl. My financial resources did
not allow me to redo the upholstery, so I decided to
paint the airplane in a color that would be compatible
with the interior.
Another good friend of mine, Ken Wilson, who
knows everything about airplanes, suggested that
restore the aircraft to the configuration of a mil itary
YC-43. There were three aircraft of this type built in
1939 for the U.S. Embassy : one each for London,
Rome, and Paris. These three aircraft had the identical
colors of the Stearman PT-17, that is blue fuselage,
yellow wings, red and white stripped rudder, and stars
on the wings. I had restored my Stearman in these exact
colors and had lots of butyrate dope left over so the
decision was easily made.
The complete project took me approximately 1Yz
years. I removed every nut and bolt I could get at with-
out removing the fabric. There were numerous problems.
The fabric job was very poor, and much of it had to be
done over.
I even had problems, after the airplane was complet-
ed, with the dope peeling off in sheets to below the
silver. On a couple of wings I was faced with peeling all
the dope off and starting over again.
The engine was rebuilt, I pulled the instrument panel
and re-conditioned every instrument, installed all new
Narco radios, and I rewired the aircraft completely. As it
turned out, both of my flaps were unusable because the
spars were broken, which meant building new flaps from
scratch.
One of the major problems I had in completing the
aircraft was getting the U.s. Embassy seal for the side of
the fuselage. It seems that the State Department does
not like to sell decals to private individuals regardless of
their intended use. I don't know how many times I call-
ed Washington and hung up frustrated. I finally had an
artist friend of mine draw the seal free hand and through
the process of using seven silkscreens made me some
beautiful decals.
The Staggerwing convention in 1977 started June
8th, I completed the airplane the evening of June 8th
and made it to the convention in Wichita the morning of
the 9th.
The Hobbs meter now records over 40 hours and I'm
becoming more comfortable with every hour. I may even
get to like it almost as much as my Stearman.
r
REPLICA CHAMPION
FOKKER DVIII # N7557U
By: EdSwearinyen
40Monee Road
Park Forest, IL 60466
The Fokker eased in behind and slightly above the
Sopwith. Glancing behind to his right and left the
Fokker pilot checked for unwelcome traffic. Satisfied,
he dropped his left wing, at the same time tapping in
right rudder. The Fokker went into a slight slip, allowing
him to see down past the nose and check again the
position of the seemingly unwary British plane. The
sun's rays glanced dully off its olive brown wings and the
cockades of red, white, and blue were in sharp contrast
to its generally dull finish. Not so the German plane.
With its red and white cowling and black striped
empennage it proudly proclaimed its identity with
jagstaffel-6. True, the camouflage pattern on the fuselage
and green painted wing made it hard to see from above,
but from the side it was a cock pheasant among hens.
Straightening, the Fokker pilot dove and picked up
his quarry over the sites of his twin guns. Start from th e
rear and rake forward as you pull up and away. The gap
closed slowly at first and then the pace quickened as the
faster German plane closed rapidly. Not too close, he's
flying steadily, but you can't be too careful. Then it was
time, and he pushed hard with his thumb on the top of
his control column.
Nothing
l
There was no crashing, bucking of twin
machine guns, no powder smoke pouring back in his
eyes and streaking his face with burnt cordite, no rattle
of cartridges racing through guide chutes. Malfunction-
ing guns over France 1918, no. It was Toronto, Canada
1972. The British plane was a rotary powered copy of
the Sopwith Pup built and flown by George Neal, chief
test pilot for De Havilland of Canada. The German plane
was my own Fokker DVIII N7557U, built in Park
Forest, Illinois, and the occasion, the Canadian National
Exposition.
Walter Middyish, perhaps, but not solely. It had been
fun to fly in shows such as this, and in fact we will be in
one Oct. 15 and 16, 1977 in Virginia flying a World War
I segment with Dick King of Old Rhinebeck, New York
and his Pup. On rare occasions, we have stalked un-
suspecti ng Cubs and Cessnas, the Fokker and I. But
primarily, the Fokker was built for my own pleasure just
to have fun.
As late as the day this is being written I have had
friends and strangers alike ask; "what's in you that says
you have to do this? Why did you choose an old plane
like that to build?" To me the answer is very simple.
Since I was a teen-ager I have yearned to own a WW I
fighter.
As early as that, too, I have felt that the D-VIII was
the one that I wanted if I could have a choice. To me it
has always been the neatest and cleanest of all the WW I
designs. But of course there are no choices, finding
authentic examples of WW I aircraft today is a combi na-
tion of luck and perseverance. There are still some
around, you hear stories all the time but lives and
fortunes will be spent before they are all found. My
odyssey with my fighter started in the Spring of 1960,
shortly after earning my private license. Just as every
pilot in the past and all those in the future will do, I
began to search for a plane to own. I found to my
dismay that you could spend thousands of dollars and
still not have anything different than doze ns of other
planes on the field. This is not to say the Cubs, Cessnas,
Aeroncas, etc. aren't alright, but I didn't feel at the
21
moment like owning one. It was then I decided to build
a plane. Once that decision was made there was no
question which it would be; if I was going to build then
it would be the one I had always wanted, the D-VIII.
With this decision I unknowingly opened up a phase of
my life that has proven to be one of the most gratifying
and fruitful and certainly one of the most stimulating.
Although airplanes and aviation have been a part of
my life off and on since I was eighteen, this would be
my first attempt to build one. Not knowing any dif-
ferent, therefore, my search for information of the
Fokker began with all the easy sources; the Smithsonian
I nstitute, the Air Force Museum, etc. Soon letters were
going overseas to England, France, Germany, and Italy
and though I cannot read these languages the word "No"
shows up fairly quick in any langauge. After many
disappointments, an answer came back from the curator
of the Munich Museum in . West Germany saying the
original designer, Herr Platz, was still alive. In this letter
he sent what he felt was Herr Platz's correct address with
the suggestion I write directly to him. With hope born of
frustration, a letter was sent off to Herr Platz telling him
of my ambition to build a Fokker D-VIII. Within a few
weeks I received a letter from this great man stating that
he would be glad to help. There were, however, a couple
of conditions. First, since it had been many years since
he had designed the D- VIII and he had designed many
planes, would I be so kind as to send him the general
dimensions to refresh his memory. That was easy, the
second requirement was not quite so simple. Please, to
aid him, all future correspondence would have to be in
German. Not only mine to him but his answers. Man,
that was a killer. I could neither read nor write German.
Fortunately our very good friends and neighbors, Dr.
and Mrs. Vrla, were German and for the next six years
they received a liberal education in the design and
construction of fighter aircraft. Without them and their
invaluable help, it would have been an impossible task.
With this, however, our correspondence and later our
friendship began and as stated above, this was one of the
most gratifying six years of my life. My greatest loss was
in not being able to meet Herr Pl atz personally, but
through his letters, notes, and cards I will always feel
that I did know him.
Gathering up all my information, I sent it to Herr
Platz and within a few months back came a package. In
it were sketches on millimeter graph paper showing the
general details of the D-VIII. There were no dimensions
or measurements since it automatically was one tenth
scale. From these sketches all of the working drawings
have been made and from them the plane itself, also a
complete set of blueprints are being drawn. Certain
details of Fokker construction techniques were learned
from other sources and with available measurements and
graph paper, the empennage was laid out, Herr Platz
never forwarded this information.
Through the years, Platz would send additional infor-
mation as it became needed. Because the wing was the
greatest mystery and, of course, the secret of success as
far as the D-VIII was concerned, our correspondence on
this was to say the least, interesting. The only question
never really answered was how he hung the ailerons, and
I have come to believe that this was a deliberate omis-
sion on his part. I feel that he felt the original system
was dangerous in light of later knowledge gained and he
suggested instead, the piano hinge type that was a post
war development for Fokker. This detail by the way,
precipitated one of the more humorous episodes in our
volumnous correspondence. In one letter after much
prompting, he gave a long and detailed explanation of
the airleron hinge arrangement and then in a post script,
he advised I disregard all that he had written. It seems
that he disagreed with himself.
Looking back on those years, I have come to realize
in retrospect that I have had a privilege and an honor
afforded only a few men.
After some time the shocking realization came to me
that Herr Platz was ill. On occasion his answers would
be delayed and once or twice I wrote and answers ex-
plaining the delay came from members of his family.
This set for me an unknown deadline and I worked every
possible moment to no avail. I n the early Fall of 1966, I
received the inevitable black bordered card telling me of
the death of my friend.
The plane is full scale, wing span is 27'6" and length
is approximately 19'. Construction details are as accu-
rate to Fokker practice as was possible to duplicate.
Some specifics, the fuselage is welded steel tubing, wire
braced with .090 piano wire, wire ferrels and turn buck-
les. The Platz practice of weld i ng loops in the corners of
his bays and looping the wire through was researched
and duplicated. I have had the pleasure of measuring the
only known example of an original D-VIII fuselage,
which belongs to the Caproni family in Milan, Italy. Herr
Platz's 44 year old memory was fantastic, he made one
mistake. My cockpit area is 95 millimeters longer than
the original and one aft bay is 5 millimeters longer, mak-
ing my D-VIII 100 millimeters longer than the one still
in existence. All other major dimensions are exact.
The landing gear is mounted in the Fokker ball and
socket arrangement with the cross bracing taking the
loads. The hinges on the rudder and elevator are strap
hinges with bronze bushings silver soldered inside and
drilled for lubricating. The empennage, rudder, etc., is of
steel tubing as is the landing gear. The wing is of wood
construction with two full span box spars, Fokker type
ribs covered with 1.5 milometer three-ply birch ply-
wood. Over this, I doped on razorback and then painted.
The original had the 110 horsepower Oberursal rotary
engine. Mine has 145 horsepower Warner and from all I
can determine concerning performance it comes very
close to duplicating the original's performance envelope.
Although mine climbs well, I do not think it possible to
make it duplicate the original's climb potential. With a
Sensenich 86/67 prop, take-off r.p.m. is 2050. Take-off
run is about 900 to 1000 feet. Cruise speed is whatever
you feel like, but at 21 to 22 inches of manifold pressure
and 1825 r.p.m. it hits in at about 95 to 97 miles per
hour. Top speed on a mile course at 3000' came in
roughly at 121 miles per hour.
Stalls are hard to pin down, because of the Cub air
speed indicator, but seem to be between 40-45 m.p.h.
Besides that, I have always been too busy being scared to
really look. It wants to climb under power, so therefore,
it requires some forward stick at cruise. It is a fighter,
but amazingly stable. Slow flight can be accomplished
by pulling power back to 1550 r.p.m. and turning loose
the stick. It will try climb until it starts to lose too much
speed, then the nose will bob down, it will then pick up
speed and try to climb again. It maintains altitude, but
you are sort of looping across the sky at an indicated 55
miles per hour, a very weird feeling. This is also the best
procedure and time to check your charts on cross coun-
try trips. Although you have to be careful unfolding the
charts or they will blow up over your head .
Landings are still heart-thumpers, because of the nar-
row track gear and high center of gravity. The best pro-
cedure is wheel landings und er any wind condition 0 to
10 miles per hour. It is never flown in high gusty cross
wind conditions unless absolutely unavoidable. Stall
landings can be done under calm conditions, however,
the right wing drops if you get too slow and are in
ground effect. Don't ask me why, I just accept it and
wheel it on.
22
REPLICA CHAMPION RUNNER-UP
1910 CURTISS PUSHER
By: Dale Crites
804 RidgewoodDrive
Waukesha, WI 53786
Ever yearn to fly a 1910 Glenn Curtiss Pusher? Well
you can, and if you are retired and have a few dollars
you don't know what to spend it on, you can fly the
Pusher. It will take a few handy friends and will be a full
time job for you, and take about a year to build one just
like the Silver Streak, which has become a winner at any
and all fly-ins or air shows. But to get it there takes a
long and tedious decision on your part on how you are
to make this possible with the least amount of work and
time.
It takes two people three hours to disassemble and
load it up on a special trailer and a station wagon to haul
it from point of departure to your destination. Then
another three hours with the help of three or four
people - this time to assemble it for the flight. Then of
course, the reverse to get it back home again .
So, after long thought you say "OK - it's on ly about
60 miles to Oshkosh, and that should take only and hour
to fly it there". Anyway it's a lot more fun to sit out
Dale Crites flying "IFR"to Oshkosh - the
(Photo byDick Stouffer)
there in front and wave at all the farmers as you go by.
The only thing you keep thinking "Well I wonder how it
would be to make a forced landing in a field ." Anyway,
with all my confidence in the trusty OX5 engine, which
has been performing so well of late, I decided to make
the flight and save all that work. So on Wednesday after-
noon, after listening to all the bad weather we were
supposed to get, I decided to drive down to Kelches field
at Mequon, where the Pusher is hangared, and fly it back
to Oshkosh. So my friend Harry and I jumped in the
station wagon and arrived at the hangar, and soon had
the Pusher out and ready for the long cross-country trip
back to Oshkosh, thinking about the bad weather that
was to soon meet me on the fl ight to Oshkosh. With a
short run north about 200 ft. I was on my way, follow-
ing the highway back at an altitude of about 200 ft.,
keeping and eye on those fie ld s near the highway, just in
case!
So with a little zig-zagging, I made my first landing at
Fond du Lac in 46 minutes. I checked the gas, called
Oshkosh by phone, and found I could land with no
trouble. Once again on my way, I decided to get a little
"R"is visible in lowerpartof picture.
higher for my arrival at Oshkosh, so with a little effort, I
climbed to about 1200'. This gave me a chance to plan a
let-down into the aircraft landing pattern. The landing
was accomplished with a two spira l glide and I came in
for an uniterrupted downwind final, and landing. On
final roll-out I gunned the OX 5, held right stick and
rudder for a perfect run-off the runway, into the grass
with no help at all.
After three days at Oshkosh, I flew it back to the
hangar non-stop, direct 55 miles, made in record time of
60 minutes. "Air encounter and mission accomplished!"
Editor's Note: Dale makes it all seem so easy. I have
it that he took off in a drizzle, and came into good
weather at Fond du Lac. All those that spotted his
approach at Oshkosh know that he had to have a nose
bleed - I have never seen the Pusher that high. He picked
his spot, slid into the pattern, landed and taxied off - all
by himself. Several of us were headed for the runway at
high speed (for us that is) and arrived too late - he had
already done it! To everyone who speaks of Oshkosh as
a tough place to get into - think about that a little bit. It
can sti ll be done with the oldest aeroplane in existance!
23
ANTIQUE HOMEBUILT CHAMPION
1928 HEATH PARASOL # N1926
By: Dr. Ed Garber
7870 Lakeshore Drive
Fayetteville, NC 28304
The Heath Parasol was a dream of many would-be
aviators in the 1925-35 era. Dual instruction and air-
plane rentals were expensive and America was entering a
financial depression. Many who wanted to fly were not
particularly interested in speed, altitude or traveling.
They simply wanted to fly, thus the Heath Parasol as
conceived by Ed Heath. The first kit was offered in 1927
for $199.00. However, it could be purchased in install-
ments, and for $12.00, one could go to work. The Heath
was s6 designed that it could be built in a garage or
basement by an average craftsman using only hand tools.
The fuselage was bolted and wire braced with no weld-
ing. No doubt hundreds of Heaths were started and nev-
er completed.
The primary power for the Heath was the Henderson
motorcylce engine. Kits were available for conversion or
the Heath factory would do the conversion. A complete
Ed Garber and his Heath were quite the center of
attention at Oshkosh.
Henderson-powered airplane, Flyaway Chicago, was
$975.00.
Plans were available and actually published in the
1929 Modern Mechanics/Flying Manual.
My Heath, N1925, was built from a kit in 1928 by a
father and son in New Jersey. The father died and the
airplane was not completed. It went to Arizona where it
remained for many years, thus the explanation for its
fine state of preservation. It was offered to me from
Arizona but for some reason I did not purchase it. Then
a few years later when I tried to locate it, I learned that
the owner had been killed in a crop-spraying accident.
In 1971, an ad appeared in TAP from California. I
recognized it as the Heath from Arizona and purchased
it. Albert Lane crated it in a single crate 5'x3Y2'x14' and
shipped it by motor freight labeled "motorcycle parts".
Marion McClure provided plans.
Fuselage tubing was in good condition. Some of the
bracing wires were replaced as well as many turnbuckles.
All fittings were made new and this was the most diffi-
cult task. All fittings are wrap-around with a rivet
through the longeron. (Heath plans call for a 2 penny
shingle nail as a rivet.) The soft steel used in 1928 appar-
ently was much easier to bend than the 4130 of today!
It was necessary to make a new landing gear, motor
mount and wing cabane struts.
The wings were in excellent condition and required
only minor repairs. The airplane was then assembled for
strut fitting, cables and pre-cover inspection.
I n an effort to stay as light as possible, Stits 1.7 oz
fabric was used. This was followed by two coats of clear,
two of silver and very little pigment. In fact, throughout
this project,weightwas the number one consideration.
The Henderson motor was a home conversion. Histor-
ically, the engine had been used only eight hours; there-
fore, we did not take it down but simply cleaned and
timed it. The back plate was not drilled for a tachometer
cable so Reagan Ormond generously "loaned" his. The
engine started on the first pull! The first start in forty
eight plus years. Ray Hegy reconditioned the original
propeller and made a new standby. Elmer Rogers was
always available to help me as he had been on previous
projects.
The Heath was completed in November 1976. It flies
quite well. We have a 4,000 foot grass strip at Elmer
Roger's 195 South Airport. Several take-off and landings
were made straight ahead. I picked cool days with wind
conditions ideal. I weigh 160 Ibs. and the Heath gets off
and climbs with ease. The FAA is treating this as a
home-built and the test area is limited to one mile of the
airport. I doubt the airplane will ever fly seventy five
hours!
We were anxious to take the Heath to Oshkosh, there-
fore, an enclosed trailer was constructed. Our trip was
without incident. We assembled the Heath Monday
morning down by Ollie's Woods. Needless to say, we had
plenty of help! I attempted to get a waiver from the
FAA to fly the Heath at Oshkosh, but this was denied.
The engine was started several times a day.
I nterest in the Heath was tremendous. Many young
folks wanted to buy a kit for $199.00! The real pleasure
was talking to the older group of fellows who had many
tales to tell about the Heath. Some even had pictures of
Heaths and Henderson motorcycles.
In summary, it was a great week and well worth the
effort. We reloaded the Heath Friday evening and head-
ed for Blakesburg Saturday morning.
24
BEST ANTIQUE RACING PLANE
HEATH CENTERWING
By: RaymondE. Von Ruden
Box504
Owatonna, MN55060
Heath Centerwing N-12881 began existence in the
Heath Factory in Niles, Michigan in the latter part of
1932. There were only five of the model made. N-12881
and two sister ships flew from the factory bearing a
letter from the Governor of Michigan to the Governor of
Il linois, landed in the street in front of the 1933 World
Fair.
In 1935, Robert Thompson , EAA 5351, of 232
Stansberry Road, Dayton, Ohio purchased the racer, af-
ter it had been partially destroyed in a storage-room fire.
Bob took the racer to Dayton and placed it in dry stor-
age for 24 years until he acquired a partner, Charles
Mathias, EAA 6265 of Box 66, Cherry Fork, Ohio.
Together, Charlie and Bob worked five and one-half
years turning out one of the finest restorations in the
country. They' reported it a real jewel and a pilot's
"dream" to fly . It's sensitive but responsive in all maneu-
vers! The little ship is very stable and spin-resistant. The
aileron controls are powerful and respond to 50 mph,
which is 10 mi les per hour below the stall speed. Take-
off and landing rolls are about equal - approximately
700 ft. on hard surface. We purchased it from Bob
Thompson and Charlie Mathias last December. I t was in
good condition but needed a lot of work. We took it
completely apart except for the engine and gave it a
complete going over ... new dope rubbed down, new
lettering, stripping metal parts, repriming and painting,
some new parts, new tires.
I t is now a beautiful antique airplane, with standard
type certificate No. 495, a memory of another age in
aviation. It is thought provoking to imagine how the
course of aviation and also homebui lding would have
been altered if Ed Heath had not lost his life just before
the Centerwings were manufactured. They had a lot of
features way ahead of their time. For instance a top
speed of more than 120 m.p.h. in pylon racing with only
40 h.p./ in the nose.
GRANDCHAMPION CLASSIC
PIPER CUB PA-ll # NC78661
By: Don Freitag
707 Rainbow Road
Summerville, SC29483
I first became interested in flying while stationed in
Alaska as a member of the USAF. I made friends with
one of the Hunting and Fishing Guides in Anchorage and
did most of the maintenance on his float-equipped PA-
18 Super Cub. In return he took me on several fly-in
hunting and fishing trips. That is when I reali zed I was
hooked on flying and bought my first airplane, a J-3 Cub
on floats with an 85 hp engine. At that time I did not
have a pilot's license so hired an instructor and learned
to fly. The Cub was not equipped with the necessary
in stru ments and radios required to take a private check
ride, so I had to rent a plane to take the flight test.
Since that time I have lived in several different states
and owned many airplanes. I had always wanted to own
a PA-ll. As my family and I traveled from state to state
we came across one or two which I always tried to buy
but it seemed they were never for sa le. In 1975 I got the
idea to go through the FAA Register and write to own-
ers of PA-ll 's east of the Mississippi, hoping to come
across someone who was willing to se ll, and I finally did.
We found this airplane at a sma ll grass strip in the
25
The grand result of a family team - Don Freitag, wife Pat and son Mitch, who was not present at picture time. (Photo by Bob Miller)
hills of wester n Pennsylvania. It belonged to Gilbert
Myers of Leechburg. He was the second owner and had
owned it himsel f sin ce 1954. As my son Mitch, a friend -
Tim Richter and I arrived in Leechburg, we found this
old Cub Special tucked away in the back of a large hang-
ar, covered with dust and cobwebs. After gett ing it out
and checking it over a little, we patched up a few holes
in the fabric, installed so me missing inspection pl ates,
cleaned it up a bit and after look ing it over ca refully, we
decided it was airworthy. Mitch and Tim flew it back to
Summerville. DUIing the trip it became evident that the
engine was a littl e sick as they had plugs oil fouled each
time they checked the mags. After they arrived in Sum-
merville, I checked the compression and found it very
low. I then decided to remove the engine, disasse mbl e it
and preoare it for a major overhau l.
I fully intended to put the majored engine back on
the plane but just cou ldn't bring myse lf to put that
"beautiful" engine on that "not so beautiful" fuselage.
So I removed the wings and hauled it all home to my
garage, storing the engin e safely in the closet of my
home. My wife was not too happy with that arrange-
ment, but durin g the months that followed, accepted it,
as more cleaned or freshly recovered pieces found them-
selves into other inconspicuous corners of the house.
After a couple weeks I was sure I had made the ri ght
decision, for a tornado ca me ripping through the Sum-
mervi ll e Airport, demolishing 35 of the 40 airpl anes
there, including my 1975 Award winning Aeronica
Champ. A J-4 tied in the spot where I had the PA-11 , was
rolled up in a ball in the middl e of the runway.
As I started the rebuild, I decided that I wanted to
restore it to original. There are not too many PA-11 's
around and we had a difficult time trying to find the
exact paint scheme, colors, etc. I had a drawing from the
front of the PA-11 Part s Li st and a small picture showing
the front exterior portion from, "The Piper Cub Story".
I must give my son credit for the detailed lettering in the
interior and also for the exterior design and numbers
done to scale. He had only th e above to go by.
When we removed the old cover we found th e struc-
ture to be in excellent condition. The airplane had never
been damaged and had always been hangared. Stits Pro-
ducts were used with a finish of Stits Aerothane. The
nosebowl and windshield were the only things that
weren't replaced. Everything else was made new but i-
dentical to the original. My wife, son, and I worked most
of our spare time for 111 years and finally completed it
on May 19, 1977. My son wanted to test fly it, and since
he had worked so hard on it I felt he deserved it. It flew
great without any further rigging.
Now that it is completed and flying again, it is every-
thing that I expected. Now I feel as the other PA-11
owners did , "Not For Sale"l
26
RESERVE GRANDCHAMPION
BELLANCA 14-19 # N6RJ
By: Roland joslyn
3833 Paseo Hidalgo
Malibu, CA 90265
When you look around for a low-cost, four place, low
wing monoplane with retrac table landing gear, control-
lab le or constant speed propeller, high performance and
most important, a tubular steel fuselage for crash impact
resistance, there is very little from which to choose.
And, if you like to see the tail on the ground, you have
got to 'home in' on a Bellanca.
Late in 1969, I purchased a 1950 Cruisemaster,
N509A, a cosmetically good looking plane in need of
tender care. Although I had previous Air Force flying
experience and a degree in aeronautical engineering, my
newness to private flying and eage rness to purchase the
plane clouded common sense. How blind I was to the
difference between what is fly ab le and what is safely
flyable. This was a Bellanca forecast for an accident.
When I started to change the battery, I uncovered a
broken baggage floor under carpet, and this, in turn, led
to a leaky auxiliary fuselage fuel tank, oil soaked fuse-
lage insulation, worn control pulleys with dirt and debris
around them, a wing with skin delamination, broken
main landing gear springs on both sides, worn oleo struts
and on and on. I could not believe that I had flown in
the plane prior to purchasing it, and that it had, two
weeks before, received a fresh annual by a licensed air-
craft in spector.
The fixes began, slowly at first, but it was like trying
to stem a tide. Too much wrong, too many fixes. I could
gu lp, or get mad, but I had to start all over. Might as well
build it fresh and incorporate all the goodies that I
would like, that time, willpower and budget could stand.
Grin and bear my mistake ... and change the registra-
tion number to eliminate the grim reminder.
Strip the fuselage to the frame, glass blast it - - beauti-
ful condition - - spray on zinc chromate and clear epoxy
to keep it that way. Use new wood throughout and a
fresh ceconite covering with nitrate through the silver.
Stuff in layers of lightweight air line insulation and then
put in a beautiful interior to cover it, high-lighted by
solid mahogany trim for the baggage floor and around
the exposed frames and doorway. Build new seat frames
and get Terry Martin, a real craftsman, to cover them in
yellow 'comfort-weave' fabric to compliment the oyster
headliner and tobacco colored carpets. (This was Terry's
last job before he ducked into the better paying insur-
ance business.)
Scrap the instrument panel and design and fabricate a
modern layout. Place functions in groups, and stick to
the Air Force standard flight arra ngement; put all the
engine instruments in one row and above their appro-
priate controls; all radio circuit breakers in one line, and
all aircraft circuit breakers in another. Change the land-
ing gear warning circuit so th at when the gear is up no
lights glow, and the terrifying red light glares only when
the gear, is in transit or not down and locked. Find space
for dual nav-coms, dual transceivers, ADF, glide slope,
marker beacon, transponder, G-meter, remote compass,
and a remote ELT. Don ' t think of auto-pilot (you have a
licensed pilot for a wife) and wait on DME to become
more reasonably priced (it never will.) Paint the panel
any color but black, so settle on a soft shade between
the yellow seats and the oyster head liner - - in fact, mix
the trim paints together to get the right background for
the individually eye-brow lighted instruments. Put mi-
crophone buttons in the control wheels, and spend a
small fortune to duplicate the old Bell anca flying geese
wh eel medallions to give the cockpit a taste of its origi-
nal character. Don ' t forget the intercom - - planes are
noisy.
Landsakes, all that work and sti ll harnessed to an old
powerplant
7
Sell the Lycom ing 190 hp to a Stinson
owner and latch onto a 260 hp Cont inental I0-470F
from a later model Bellanca, complete with cowling, en-
gine mount and exhaust system. It on ly cost $2500 for
this maneuver, but watch out, down the line it will cost
more. Modify the cowling to fit the lower firewall con-
tours; attach a support ring to the firewall; put in a cowl
flap (FAA cooling tests ahead) and cha nge to a single air
intake system (no nose gear to go around). Bellanca
hasn't changed the mounting points on the firewall in 40
years. The new mount, less nose gear trunion, fits per-
fedly. Bolt in the engine, and reshape the exhaust stacks
to get them to comply to the new cowling contours. Do
an analysis on the forward fuselage truss, and a fuel flow
report and test for the FAA.
Work on the wings. Completely de-skin the one that is
delaminating; check a spar repair made in 1952 by per-
forming a load test up to limit loads on the main spar - -
all OK. Truck the wings to Harl ey Ki esz in Clements,
California, for reskinning. Truck them back home and
start the long process of micro-ballooning both wing sur-
faces to eliminate the valleys and smooth the rough
spots. New wood fuel tank covers, too. Bond to the
outer wing surfaces copper foil transceiver, navigation
and glid e slope antennas designed by Glenn McClure.
Cover the wings with two ounce fiberglass cloth and
epoxy resin, and listen to the 'experts ' say I have made a
grave mistake. They are wrong. I nstall power-packed
strobe I ights in the wi ng ti ps - - it's fu n to fl y at night.
But nobody will know what I've done or will appre-
ciate the subsurface work without seeing the outside glit-
ter. With Neal's help at Thunder Airmotive, overhaul the
landing gear hydraulic and oleo system, then chrome
plate the gear to MIL specs to eliminate hydrogen
embrittlement, and add sh ine to an otherwise dull under-
carriage. Spend days coloring and drawing over Xeroxed
outl ines of the wings and fuselage to get a paint scheme
that will softe n the older Bellanca's ugly window shape,
and stay away from the racy, current factory designs
which do not lend grace to an older lady. Four colors of
white, soft yellow, rich brown and orange, for accent,
should do it. And along the way, flush the windows.
It sounds as though I have done a lot, but most of it I
have forgotten to write down here, and that's true for
anyone who has built or restored a plane. See, I almost
forgot to mention the wheel pods, some smart thinking
by Wally 'Bellanca Bert ' Bertram, which add an easy five
27
"
i
r
RolandandDorothyJoslyn andtheir 7950Bellanca. (Photo byBob Miller)
to seven mph to the cruise speed .
ROLLOUTI Your lovely wife and great kids throw a
big hangar party and fr iends turn out to watch cham-
pagne spi ll over the spinner. Nothing can go wrong on
the first flight. Too much time, labor and love have been
expended. Get old pro Don Dwiggins to accompany you
because he has watched it from the beginning and know s
it almost as well as you do. Everyt hin g checks out fine.
GO!
On climbout, the pl ane begins to shake. Vibration,
but from where? Friends and authori ties all have id eas
and recommendations and I try them all. Block off the
trim tab syste m, change engi ne mount s, check th e fuel
system for air leaks, take off the cow l flap and wheel
pods, change propellers, check tail wire tension, put in
new eng in e hydraul ic lift ers, even try dynamic balancing
of the engine-propeller combination in flight. Is it one of
those things that Fish Salmon says you so meti mes mu st
live with because you can never find it ? Stop the guess-
work and talk to Stan Ras mu sse n, a dynami cs whiz, who
hands yo u off to Sand y Friezner at Specialized Test in g
Service. Mount recording eq uipment o n the backseat,
and tape six acce lerom eters to sensitive parts of th e
plane. (Will the duct tape peel off the lovely paint job ? -
- it didn't.)
Fligh t test and readout and there it is. Engine and
prope ll er imb alance, but th e propell er is a new Hart ze ll,
espec ially made fo r this pl ane. It has to be the engin e,
and Lynn Cooter, in Long Beach, is the man who can
find it. A compl,et,e major engin e overhaul with dynamic
balancing of the crankshaft - - the crank was alm ost an
ounce out, and you wonder how it got through the fac-
tory in the first place, and how the previous owner had
never noticed the vibration. Remo unt the engin e and fly
agai n. It sti ll shakes, but not as badly. I want to put a
match to the plane but decide to tr y anot her propeller.
Back to Ray Fulton at the Santa Monica Propell er Shop
and a switch to a McCauley. It WORKS . It had been an
unlucky combi nat ion of BOTH engin e and propell er
being sour. Like finding needl es in a hay stack .
Now a good cross-country and a trip to the East.
Cruise at 185 TAS at 67% to Alexandria, Minnesota, and
stop at the Bell anca workshop. Yes, I know every part of
my plane and I'm thrill ed to see them maki ng the new
Vikings th e sa me way, with infinite care, prec ision and
prid e.
And then a week's stay at Oshkosh, because friends
have bee n rav ing about th e show and th e ca mpgrounds
that are clea ner than Di sney land. You see yo ur competi-
tion and wonder if you measure up, what two years of
test flying and abuse did to that pristine plane that once
was.
Well, good enough to win abea utiful and well appre-
ciated troph y. It was all worthwhile.
Now, mayb e I shou ld change th e registratio n number
back to N509A.
BESTCUSTOM CLASSA
TEMCO SWIFT42WW
By: Hugh Evans
South 3608Davison Boulevard
Spokane, WA 99204
Your letter of August 17, 1977 has been passed to me
by Mr. Harley Howell, EAA 114666, for reply. Mr
Howe ll took our Swift 42WW to Oshkosh thi s year for
display and we are very pl eased that it was a trophy
winner. Incid ent ly, Mr. Howe ll has a lovely Swift,
2341 B, which has the tur bo 210 Continental, but we
were unabl e to finish STC approval in time for Oshkosh.
42WW is a fine aircraft and an excell ent example of
what many Swift owners are doing. We are proud of the
aircraft, but cannot claim credit for producing this su-
perb machine. Most of th e credit belongs to Len
Lundmark from San Di ego, Ca. Len purchased the craft
about four years ago after it had suffered exte nsi ve dam-
age from a gear-up landing. The pl ane at that time had
been converted to the 210 Continental, but it was Mr.
Lundmark's efforts along with a number of spirited help-
ers, that produced the present result.
It has been our pl easure to see many fine Swifts and,
of which, 42WW is a beauty. We have thought many
times of building new Swifts incorporating many of the
28
STC's on 42WW, but it is not economically practical.
Rather, the Swift will remain an extremely personal air-
plane, altered or preserved original, to suit the owner's
personality.
BEST CUSTOM CLASS B
(81 - 150 HP)
1946AERONCA CHAMP # N85700
By: Robert Price
7905 Deepwood
Round Rock, TX 78664
I n March 1974 I received my private pilot's license.
Although I was enjoying my 1/ 3 ownership in a Cessna
150, a ride in a friend's Citabria convinced me that I
would not be happy until I flew my own tail dragger
stick "fun" airplane. Being a model builder for many
years I decided to direct my creative energies into restor-
ing a full size airplane of this type.
After spending several months chasing Trade-a-Plane
ads and crawling through old hangars and barns I finally
found N85700, a 1946 model 7AC Aeronca Champ.
Stored in a barn, straw and bird nest infested, ripped
fabric hanging loose, bent spars, and damaged leading
edges left one wondering if this classic could ever be
restored. Piece by piece, with mahy a strange look from
my wife and neighbors, I brought 700 home.
Above: Hugh Evans' Temco Swift 42WW, Below: Robert Price and his prize! Prize!
rebuilt by Len Lundmark, San Diego, CA. 7946 Aeronca Champ N85700.
29
Not being an "authenic nut" but wanting to add cross
country capability and pi zazz I decided to convert the
7AC model to a jazzy 7DC model. The larger engine
would help compensate for the 26 gal. wing tank fuel
system, low bounce landing gear, Hanlon-Wilson muf-
flers, full gyro panel, nav-com radio, whee l pants, large
spi nner and fancier interior.
I completely disassembled the wings and fuselage, ex-
posing all metal parts. After thorough sand blasting, all
metal parts including fuselage tubing were coated with
Epoxy Zinc Chromate paint. After storing all wing parts
in the attic I continued to rebuild the fuselage. Some
fuselage wood was replaced with new and a dorsal fin
was added. The fuselage and tail surfaces were then.cov-
ered with Ceconite 101 fabric and finished with
Randolph Dope products. The final color coats were
Randolph red, white, and blue butyrate dope usin g the
scheme of the 197374 Decat halon.
The interior was completely revamped with red
naughehyde and herculon fabric. A new headliner was
purchased from Air-Tex. I added an extra wide rear seat
and plush red carpet. All windows were replaced with
new, including windshield.
Eliminat ion of the main fuel tanks with the wing tank
installation allowed room for an expanded instrument
panel with an Alpha 200 radio, rate of climb and full
gyros.
All cowling pieces were stripped and some replaced
with new. All surfaces inside the cowling including the
firewall and engine mount were painted with white
Imron. The outside cowling surfaces were painted with
Randolph enamel.
The landing gear was replaced with the "no bounce
type" which significantly improves the landing charac-
teristics,especially in crosswinds.
My enthusiam for totally rebuilding the 7 AC led me
to Boston, Mass. where I spent a whole day inspecting
and buying a completely dismantled engine. I completed
a major overhaul on the engine which included a fresh
ground crank, oil pump gears, chrome cylinders with all
new pistons, rings, guides, seats, and high octane valves
and of course, bearings, seals and gaskets. Not to
discount new plugs and shield ignition harness (required
by the addition of the Nav-Com radio) to eliminate igni-
tion noise.
After all this enthusiam and energy the project took a
break. I mounted the engine on the fuselage, gathered
wing parts and moved 1800 miles from Wappingers Falls,
NY to Round Rock, TX.
The project was restarted after several months of set-
tling into the new home. I began by repairing ribs and
making new spars (from scratch). All new leading edge
stock was preformed with great difficulty using a hand
made aparatus. The wings were assembled and slightly
mod ified to accept the new 13 gal. wing tanks and mod-
ern citabria fiberglass wing tips. After covering and
painting the wings I was ready to transport the finished
product to the airport for assembly.
I was fortunate to obtain a hangar at Tims Airpark in
nearby Austin. I t was now February of 1977 and the
hangar not only served as a convenient place to assemble
my pride and joy but will continue to protect the
brightly colored fabric of N85700 from the hot Texas
sun for many years.
After asse mbly, careful inspection, and final signoff, I
was ready for the first flights. I had accumulated about
25 hours in a rented Champ at Tims during the preced-
ing months so I was ready to do the honors myself. The
first flight in the airplane I had spent 3 years restoring,
was as exciting as my first solo flight. I have since logged
over 100 hours in my Champ and I can not imagine
how any other airplane could be more fun to fly.
I had an exciti ng time flying my Champ to Oshkosh
this summer. and I intend to return every year. Receiving
the Best Class B Custom Classic award for my first fu ll
size airplane project has made mv first trin tn Ochk-mh
Four time winner of its class is a record that is hard
to beat. N83633 did it
BEST CUSTOM CLASS C
(0- 80 HP)
AERONCA 7AC # N83633
By: Melvin B. Hill
702 Ash Street
Danville, I L 67832
Aeronca N83633 has been the typical Champ, from
trainer to sprayer and back.
In 1973, Don Freitag had completely rebuilt the air-
craft in beautiful shape and was at the Burlington, WI.
airshow when the tornado hit. It picked N83633 up and
turned it upside down smashing the wings, cowling, prop
and top of cabin.
My friend Tom Johnson bought the aircraft then and
rebuilt the wings and cabin damage.
Then I acquired the Champ and finished bringing it
back to show condition with the excellent help of my
friend Vic Andrews.
I have been taking in quite a lot of airshows with 633
and have had excellent results. I have been to Sun 'N
Fun all three years and have won all 3 years.
N83633 has won its class at Oshkosh 4 years in a row.
I feel th is has to be some kind of a record.
I think I will retire it from competition at Oshkosh as
I think it only fair to give the others a chance too.
30
BEST WORKMANSHIP
TAYLORCRAFT BC 12D # NC44493
By: Warren B. Long
7209 E. Washington Street
Thomasville, GA 37792
Taylorcraft BC 12 D, NC44493 was completely dis-
assembled and the following accomplished: All tubing
sandblasted, all wood formers and blocks replaced, all
metal zinc chromated, then painted with black poly-
urethane. Wings were cleaned and two coats of varnish
applied. Entire aircraft was recovered with Grade "A"
using a total of25 coatsbutyratewith sandingand hand
rubbing. Metal parts were finished with matching red
and black polyurethane in the original paint scheme,
keeping panel and interi or appointmentsas near original
as we could. Aircraft was assembled using all new bolts
and nuts. Work was completed July 22, 1975. We list
belowawards received for this aircraft:
Best Classic 1 1976Sun 'N Fun, Lakeland, FL
Best Classic Tallahassee Fly In,Quincy, FL
Best Classic Albany, GA. Fly In
Neo-Classic Cracker Fly In 1976, Gainesville, GA
Best Classic N.Tampa Fly In in Brooksville, FL
Best Classic 1977 Sun 'N Fun, Lakeland, FL
Best Classic Albany, GA. Fly In 1977
Best Classic Monoplane Cracker Fly In,Gainesville, GA
Classic Aircraft Award-Workmanship Oshkosh 1977
Above: Warren Long's Taylorcraft is another winner thathas along record ofprevious wins.
Our 1951 Ryan Navion N5437K, Super 260 Model B,
Serial Number 2733B, Isuspect is possibly oneofa kind
considering its history. I t has been a single owner air-
plane, my father having picked it up personallyfrom the
Ryan factory in San Diego in April 1951.While 37 Kilo
has lead an active flying life over the last26years ithas
always been based here at our field in its own hangar
with practically all maintenance supervised by the same
individual, Leon Bright, now with Lancaster Aviation,
since it first arrived from California.
I'm afraid Ican'ttalk aboutany completerestoration
project because N5437K has been kept continually in a
virtually restored condition (barring paint and uphol-
stery) since it left the factory. With the exception of
engine and prop change from the original Lycoming
GO-435-C2 with Hart zell to aContinental 10-470Hwith
McCauley, and of course electronics, the plane is abso-
lutely stock. New upholstery, badly needed, was in-
stalled in 1974 and this May the factory paint was re-
moved (they used good paint and primer in 1951 since
we had problemsgettingitoff) and theship repainted as
BEST CLASS III CLASSIC
original, but this time using Alumigrip. We carefully
(151 HP -up)
matched the original red and cream colors and markings,
RYAN NAVION 260B
preserving the wing numbers which had never been re-
# N5437K
moved. Since the 30 year limit from date of original
typecertificate had passed we couId go back to the verti-
By: Hale E. Andrews
cal fin and wing numbers in lieu ofthe fuselage mark-
Box 786
ings. This is the reason I didn't repaint the exter ior in
BerkeleySprings, WV 25477
1974. Since the Continental 10-470 is runningsmoothly
31
at 910 hours we don't plan to tamper with it for awhile,
although a major or an engine change sometime in the
future will give an opportunity to restore that depart-
ment to new cond ition. We will stay with the Continen-
tal and not go back to the geared Lycoming.
I'll end by saying N5437 K is a member of our family
having been flown 1800 total hours over much of the
United States, most of Mexico, and some of Canada by
my father, brother and myself over the last two and a
half decades. Only a Navion fli es like one and she has
never let us down.
We don't intend to make the same mistake with
N5437K that we did with another "member of the
family" in 1967. Until then we owned and flew two
factory new Navio ns, one of which was a North Ameri-
can Navion N8792H purchased in 1947. N8792H was
also a beauty, all stock, Continental 205 engine, and
sparkling, hand polished, unscratched aluminum finish.
Alas, we sold it, which was tragedy enough, but within
12 months it had been rolled into a ball, completely
unrecognizable except for the vertical stabilizer after
being flown into the ground on a below-minimum instru-
ment approach by its new owner. Most peopl e will agree
that the Navion is probably the safest instrument air-
plane ever produced, and no comment is needed as to
the accident cause. N8792H's unfortunate new owner,
with no instrument rating and probably no experience
had attempted what experienced pilots would not. We
think we'll keep N5437K as a family member.
Thanks again for your interest in 37 Kilo. We hope to
make more shows in the future with it along with our
restored Ryan ST3-KR, N441 V.
Above: Hale Andrewsruns a tight ship -
one of the mostbeautiful Navions.
BEST CLASS II CLASSIC
( 100- 150 HP)
CESSNA 170B # N2535C
By: M. R. Baas
2700 Lago Vista Loop
Irving, TX75062
To an actor it's the smell of grease paint and the roar
of the crowd that makes his efforts worthwhile, but to
an avid antique/classic aircraft enthusiast it's the beauty
of a newly restored aircraft and the roar of old engines
that makes fly-ins worthwhile. Since I am one of those
persons who not only enjoys fly-ins, but has been
accused of being a photoholic, (I'm always taking
pictures of aircraft and carry a camera instead of a
flask), I needed an aircraft that could take at least two
people with all the necessary camera gear, etc, to fly-ins.
(I usually travel to fly-ins with another photoholic, E. M.
Johnson, who also serves as navigator, flight engineer
and chief fingerprint on strut wiper.) The aircraft would
also have to cruise at a reasonable speed, (yes, I call 120
MPH reasonable even though I earn my living flying at a
much faster pace), in relative comfort, use most any
available airport, and last, but not least, be economical.
My criteria was met in the Cessna 170B, and after
searching for about a year I fou nd N2535C, commonly
referred to as "Blue Bird", close to my home in Irving,
Texas. This was in the spring of 1968 and she was sitting
forlorn, in the need of TLC (tender loving care). Her log
books showed that she had had one major engine over-
haul in her 1500 hrs., but that she had never received
any serious damage. There were a few Kansas hail dents
which she had received prior to delivery to the first own-
er, but all surfaces and paint were still the original bare
aluminum with blue trim.
She was complete with a full panel and radio equip-
ment commensurate with the state of the art in 1954.
An unusual but interesting accessory called a Globe
Gyro-Stabilizer had also been installed. This unit has its
own electric driven gyro wh ich couples to the rudder
through its own set of rods and cables and is used for
holding a heading or making slow turns. Since this unit
needed only minor work I retained it as a single axis
auto-pilot.
In the past nine years I have attempted to upgrade
her slowly rather than do a complete restoration at one
time. This not on ly was easier on my budget, but kept
her avai lable for use with a minimum of down time. A
top overhaul and replacement of some of the engine
accessories was all that was required to bring the engine
compartment up to standard. Next came new exterio r
paint and a complete polish of all the bare aluminum
surfaces. I repeat the clean and polish exercise once a
year and each time threaten to paint all surfaces. Having
a desire to keep her original as long as possible has been
32
the main reason for not painting all surfaces. Soon the N
number will be removed from her sides so that the paint
scheme will be the same as she was delivered, the N
number on the wings having never been removed.
Eventually the inevitable will happen and I'll have to
paint her allover, but I will attempt to keep the original
color scheme. A new interior and soundproofing were
added after a family of field mice decided to make a
home in the headliner.
Fortunately the later 170 B's had enough panel space
so that the necessary equipment could be added for full
I FR operation, thereby adding to her usefulness when a
long cross-country is required to attend a fly-in.
I have flown "Blue Bird" from coast to coast to at-
tend fly-ins and to take my family on an occasional
vacation. This was my 6th trip to Oshkosh and it seems
that the Antique/Classic division grows every year.
For those of you who are interested in statistics I can
vouch for an honest cruise speed of 118 MPH on 8 GPH
at 63% pwr. between 4500 and 7500 PA. She has no bad
handling characteristics and will carry a useful load of
over 800 Ibs. with her 145 HP Continental engine. What
more can be said except that she fulfills her design criter-
ia and that her overall profile certainly belies her 23
years of age. You'd be surprised how many line boys
have asked me if she was new, and where I got her
chrome plated. (Honest)
I feel honored that she was selected at what I feel is
the inimitable of fly-ins . . .. Oshkosh.
BEST CLASS I
(0- 99 HP)
1946 CESSNA 140 # N76688
By: Ronald Degnan
462 Fairview A venue
Canfield, OH 44406
The "Blue Bird" has flown coast to coast, and has
attended many fly-ins. It's unfortunate that a better
picture was not available. I have seen this airplane and
it is as shiney as a new boot - M. R. Baas keeps it that way.
Cessna 140, SN10861 rolled out of the factory
10/23/46 and served 8 owners faithfully until 1968.
F rom the factory 688 went to Montana, then to Provo,
Utah, Long Beach, Cal., Titobouro, N.)., and finally
ended up in the Ohio area where the last owner decided
the plane was not worth the money and effort needed to
put her in airworthy condition.
For the next 5 years 688 sat outside at Martin Field,
Canton, Ohio while the birds and parts snatchers further
reduced the plane to a pretty sorry condition of parts.
Two years of the customary haggling with the past
owner and subtle negotations with my wife, Diane, 688
rested, almost, in my garage in Canfield, Ohio.
Disassembly of the airframe and the 246 hr. S.F.R.M.
engine revealed no seriousdeterioration and the long pro-
cess of restoration began.
A corner of the cellar served well for the engine re-
build and the C-85-12F received new rings, bearings,
valves, guides and mags.
The garage however, was too small for the airframe
rebuild area. The family budget was modified, the garage
area was more than doubled, Mrs Degnan got a new
covered patio, and airframe rebuilding now became
serious.
The inside of the fuselage and all control surfaces
were cleaned, etched, alodined and chromated. All parts
were rebuilt or replaced and all hardware replaced. All
new wiring was installed as well as rebuilt instruments,
nav-com and ADF radios. Wings were etched and epoxy
chromated and covered with Razor back. The entire air-
craft was painted with epoxy chromate and Emron.
A fellow machinist, Ted McCreary, helped me
throughout the restoration with the only payment of
being a passenger on the first flight. I am indebted to
him for all his generous labor.
The 140 has since repaid our efforts with now over
100 hrs. of fun flying and most rewarding is being an
award winner two years in a row at Oshkosh. Many
thanks to the EAA for the best time of the year.
33
Ronald Degnan's Cessna 740 triggered the enlarging
of the house. Of course there were some concessions
to the wife to make it all palatable. This is not the
first airplane that has altered the abode of its owner.
BEST AERONCA CHAMPION
1946 AE RONCA # N85544
By: Eugene M. Strine
4378 Kaybay Street
Harrisburg, PA 77770
It all began one summer day at a small airport in
Eugene M. Strine says, "It all began one summer day at a small airport in Marietta, PA. ......."
Marietta, PA. where an old 1946AeroncaChamp finally
came to the point where it could go no further. I had
seen it come in and sit for several months, and watched
as the parts were slowly removed, including the engine.
Something had to be done and soon. The more Ithought
about it the more convinced I became that the Champ
would be my next project. But before I could start re-
building I would have to purchase what was left of the
aircraft. After locating the owner, itdid not take long to
convince him to sell theaircraft.
Now it came time to move it closer to home, to a
small shop I have. This is where I built, repaired and
recovered the Champ. My shop has given new life to
aircraft from Super Cruisers to Fairchild 24's, and every
thing in between, includingseveral Pitts Specials.
The decision was made to upgrade the Aeronca and
constructiongot underway in 1972.Thefirst thing to do
was remove the fabric, after which came the inspection
and evaluation of the fuselage tubing, landing gear and
tail assembly. Several tubes and part of the bottom lon-
gerons had to be replaced. New pully mounting brackets
to re-route the elevator cables under the floor were add-
ed and extra bracing tubes at the front firewall section.
A bigger engine was also decided on, which is a Ly-
coming 0235-C1, 115 HP. The Champ now has a cruise
speed of 120 MPH, and climb of1,000feet per minute.
The STC for this installation was purchased from Buzz
Wagner, who is not a newcomer to modifying Aeroncas.
A high fuII instrument panel, new two tone
naugahyde interior, electrical system, Cleveland hydrau-
lic brakes, and extended baggage compartment (due to
elevator cables being relocated under the floor) were
added. Modernized square rear windows and a flatter
windshield contribute to theairplane'sappearance. High
energy taxi springs were installed in the oleos and a no
bounce landing gear were added for a higher gross
weight.
The wings received one new spar and a pair of 19
gallon wing tanks. The leading edges were flush riveted
for a cleaner airfoil and fiberglass wing tips were in-
stalled.
There was no question as to thecovering material, as
I have worked with all types ofcovering over the past
years. We choseCeconite for the Champ. As the work on
covering and doping progressed, I thought we should
strive for afine finish tocomplimentthis classic aircraft.
As the clear dope base built up it started to look good.
After applying the necessary amount of silver dope and
sanding in between, the Ceconite was filling very well.
One final light sanding and then the color coats were
applied.
The engine was installed and a new nose bowl and
cowling made. A couple of hours were spent in taxi and
engine run-up and test. Everything was now checked and
it was time for flight. Yes, it was time, but the weather
was not co-operative. As the haze slowly moved up and
time grew shorter, the Champ made its test flight from
Devener Airport in Hanover, PA. to the Reading Air
Show. Then on to the biggest Aviation Show in the
world - - OSHKOSH!
The date now, 1977, five years later. Looking back
over those years of thinking, discussing, removing, re-
placing, modifying and just plain work, was it worth it?
Was it fun? "I'll say it was!"
34
Clifford Wadsworth's Aeronca Chief. Cliffsays ifyou
dislike sanding, wet the floor down before you spray.
(PhotobyBob Miller)
BEST AERONCA CHIEF
# N9820E ll-AC
By: CliffWadsworth
Route 7 Box32A
Lapel, IN46057
I purchased my Aeronca Chief in April, 1972, know-
ing the fabric would probably not pass the next annual
inspection, but looking forward to restoring it as my
first aircraft project.
The restoration of N9820E began in January, 1973.
What I thought would be a six-month project stretched
into two and one-half years. The entire aircraft was dis-
assembled, checked, and rebuilt using several new parts
including new wood formers and stringers in the fuse
and new headliner and seats in the cabin. When the proj-
ect was started we lived in a house with only a one car
garage. We managed to do most of the work in the
garage, though, by doing one wing at a time while the
fuselage hugged one wall. The fuselage was tended to
while the wings were positioned on their leading edges
against the other wall. After everything was covered with
Stits Poly-Fiber I had to learn how to spray paint. This
was accomplished along with a lot of sanding of the first
coats, which were applied roughly. By the time the final
color was applied I had the hang of it and had learned
one important lesson about spray painting - - that is, if
you dislike sand ing as much as I do, wet the floor down
before you spray.
The project could have been completed earl ier but
like a lot of other projects, at least in our EAA chapter,
they get set aside for one reason or another. This project
was no exception as it sat idle for a period of six months
in which time we moved to another home. Then in
April, 1975, we decided to make Oshkosh '75 our goal
and resumed the project. The plane was reassembled and
flew July 1, 1975.
If it hadn't been for my wife Linda giving me a help-
ing hand and wanting the plane out of the house I prob-
ably would still be working on it today.
One suggestion I would make to those ready to start a
project is that they keep a photo album of each step of
the process as they work. Th is is very nice to have when
the project is completed to show others exactly what has
been done to the plane. Needless to say, restoring my
Chief was more time consuming than I had expected,
but winning a trophy at Oshkosh makes it all worth
while.
~ tuUi!l!ucy e ~
BEST BEECHCRAFT BONANZA
# N3869N - 1947
By: Gerald B. Coigny
Timberline Ranch
46360 Todd Eymann Road
Miramonte, CA 93647
In a recent visit to the Beechcraft factory with our
original 1947 Bonanza, N-3869N, the office force turned
out enmasse to look it over. Bob Buettge.nbach was espe-
cially interested because his records showed that he de-
livered our airplane to Mesa Farms of Bakersfield, Calif.,
35
on Nove mber 7, 1947. Then in February of 1952 it was
purchased by the Dudl ey Steele Farms in Delano, Calif.
Wh en we read the fo r- sale "ad" in the Fresno Bee news-
paper in 1967, we rushed down to Dela no fo r an inspec-
tion . Although the airplane was dull in appearance, the
800 hours total claimed seemed reasonable. The log
books showed no damage. The original plexiglass had
not even started to craze. The original type wooden pro-
peller was in good condi tion. The log books showed that
the engine had been run up at least once a month and
occasionally the airplane was flown an hour or so.
It took me nearly a week of hard work with an elec-
tric powered buffer, using Met-al polish to get its present
shine. We have flown the airplane about another 500
hours bringing the total hours to 1340 o n
165 horsepower Continental engine. The engi ne st ill has


its original
jerry and Lucy Coigny get great enjoyment from this classic that will take you places. (Photo by Bob Miller)
good compression on al l six cylinders. It fli es about
three hours to the quart of oi l. At 12,000 feet it burns
approximately eight ga ll ons per hour at an average air-
speed of 165 MPH. The engi ne has never been over-
hauled.
When we purchased the airplane in 1967, it sti ll had
the original Motorola push-button hi gh frequency radio
with the manual DF loop looated in the tai l co ne. Th e
mechanism for the trailing antenna was sti ll inside the
fuse lage. To make the airplane legal we had an Alpha-
200 installed. We also added a Kett ADF. Also install ed
an artificia l horizon in the same panel in front of the
pilot.
In January of th is year we located the origi nal type
woo len material fo r the interior. We had the upholsterer
sew the seat covers with the exact st itching used by t he
facto ry. Also installed new glass all t he way around. The
red trim was redone except for t he underneat h surfaces
of the controls. They stil l have the origina l fini sh. Thi s
work was done in preparat ion for showing it at the EAA
Convention in Oshkosh. It was ent ered in the
Antique/Classic Division wh ere it received a First Pl ace
awa rd trophy. We would like to hear from anyo ne who
has a Bonanza more original than ours.
For the past ten years we have kept N-3869 N hanga r-
ed on our private airstrip in the mountai ns at an eleva-
tion of 4,000 ft. The strip is 2400 ft. long and located
44 mil es east of Fresno. EAA members who drop in to
see us are given the tour of the nearby Gi ant Redwood
trees, accompani ed by a pi cnic in the woods. Our dirt
r
airplane previously was owned by Chuck Froman. He
li ked the airplane so well, he kept it for ten years. Chuck
was a Bell anca dealer in Torrance, California, so his per-
sonal Cruisemaster was kept in perfect condition during
those ten years. When Chuck died, the Bell anca was sold
to actor Conlin Carter, best known fo r hi s portrayal of
the medic in the "Combat" TV series. Carter also was a
! classic air pl ane buff from way back, and he immed iately
stripped the ent ire airframe for recovering and stored the
pieces in his garage. Unfortunate ly, Conlin had some
acting commitment s in Europe that required him to be
out of the country for a year, making it difficult to
fi nish the restoration on 524A. He'd also recently
bought a Staggerwing Beech that took up what littl e
spare time he had, and the Bell anca wound up sleeping
in the garage for a year before I heard about it.
After some negotiation, Conlin agreed to sell me the
airpl ane "as was", and I was very happy to get it. There
was no damage hi story, the wings and tube steel fuselage
were in excell ent condition and t he engine was still fairly
low time.
BEST BELLANCA Nevertheless, the rebuild process took nearly a year.
I'd had previous experience rebuilding air pl anes from
#N524A -14-19
Navions and Clippers to a Bell anca Cruisair, all of which
By: Jim Herbage made the task of putting 524A back into the air more
4945 Castana fun than work. After recovering the entire aircraft with
Lakewood) CA 9077 2 ceconite and overhauling all syste ms, I adapted a 1967
Viking 300 pai nt scheme and finished the airpl ane in
The story of Bellanca 524A is probabl y very similar Dupont Dulux enamel.
strip is marked with an " R". You must use it according- to that of many class ic airplanes, though I may have had Bellanca 524A has seen 38 of the 50 states since I've
ly. a li ttle more to start with than most rebuilders. The
36
owned her, not to mention a trip around the Bahamas
(who can resist that?) and severa l hops up into Canada.
Despite Bellanca's wild 180 mph claims, my Cruise-
master is probably typical of the breed, cruising at a
so lid 160 mph and hauling four in relative comfort over
four hour legs. Fuel consumption is hi gh compared to
Mooneys and Bonanzas; about 12 ga ll ons an hour. Climb
with four aboard runs 750-800 fpm, certainly adequate
in most situations.
I suppose in the final ana lysis, you cou ld call me a
bonafide Bellanca nut. Several times, I' ve cons idered
buying other airpl anes, but I always come back to the
Cruise master as the best compromi se of performance,
initial purchase price and overall operating economy on
the retractable market.
BEST CESSNA 120/140
# N3516V -1948
By: Richard Harden
7209 70th A venue
Minneapolis, MN 55423
3516V is not a product of restoration but rather an
example of what twenty-nine years of T.L.C. can do.
We purchased the 1948 Cessna 140 in 1971 from Ken
Jim Herbage's Bellanca
29 years of T.L.e. for Richard Harden's Cessna 740.
Monson of Minneapolis. He had owned the plane since We try to attend as many fly-i ns as poss ible, and
1948 and had kept it hangared, polished and well main hardly a weekend goes by that we don't fly somewhere.
tained for twenty-three years. He made no unnecessary We have flown to Lakeland, Fla. "Sun 'N Fun" fly-in,
changes so therefore the original condition is truly orig- Oshkosh (six times) and participated in the "A. C. Fli ght
inal , including headliner, panel, etc. In the six years Rally" four times. We've flown over 800 hours in the si x
we've had the plane we have tried to keep it maintained, years we've owned 3516V, and have pl ans for many
polished, and touched up without making any changes. more because it flies even nicer than it looks!
37
BEST CESSNA 170/180
# N170BB
By: C. M. Brady
Route 7
Dwight, / L 60420
Just returned from the Int. 170 Club Convention in
Edmonton, Canada, where we took the Cessna award for
the Most Outstanding 170, and then to return home and
find we are trophy winners at Oshkosh, it seems to make
all the time and work worthwhile.
We have now won five trophies in the past two years,
and we plan to redo the panel yet.
Well my story is the old classic one about seeing a
poor sick old bird setting in the weeds with flat tires, out
of license, stripped of paint, and the interior hanging
down on the top of the seats.
I wrote to the state and got the address of the owner,
who I called and made an offer, he turned me down
cold. I was in the area again later and I called him, this
time we talked and with some effort I bought the plane.
A ferry permit and some work later we flew the 170
home and landed in a hay field near our home and
pushed it home.
We then built a 50' x 60' hangar and a 2600' runway,
then we started working on the old bird.
We brought the plane home in May of 1972 and it
didn't fly again until July of 1975.
First we started working on the engine, the logs
showed a total of 938.07 hrs. airframe and engine.
I'm very lucky to have a friend who is a Capt. for
Delta and an A & P who also has a very beautiful 195
which he keeps in our hangar, N9849A polished alumi-
num and blue trim, all original.
He and I worked many hours on the total plane but
having a "0" time engine makes a guy feel as if he has
more than a new engine, because he feels he knows each
and every part that went into it with much T.L.e. He
also helped me with the wiring which, if you looked
under the dash, is very neat.
I then took the headliner out and using it as a pat-
tern, another friend, who has a repair and carpet shop,
took an off white and tan naugahyde and made a head-
liner that fits as if it came from the factory.
I wanted to use the vacuum pump and didn't care
about the amount it would cost to change the two
cowls, so the pump which mounts on the front of the
engine, well with much work and the help of the FAA, I
customed the original cowl to fit the pump, looks much
like the 172 - 17 5 cowls.
I then took a 180 baggage door and again with the
FAA, I started with the tin snips and much checking and
double checking I got the door in and working fine.
Custom door handles, chrome steps, side vent, heated
pitot, droop tips, wheel pants, and a '68 Hawk interior,
the seats fit without any changes, the side panels had to
be fit, all new glass including the Cardinal compass.
Then the paint job, well you plan and make drawings
and change it a few hundred times and then you start.
We had some different colors in mind, but with the
Hawk interior being green, we thought white with two
tones of green, well again I went back to my local
friends and talked to a very good car painter, who had
never painted aluminum, so we went to the Ditzler deal-
er and got much good info from him, well we started
and with about 5 miles of masking tape and enough
paper to cover the world, we got it pai nted in three
colors in about a week, and it came out beautiful.
And the 1954 - 170B fl ies as good as it looks.
But as for Oshkosh 1977, my wife and I flew while
the kids drove up in the truck camper. We arrived Sun-
day about 11:45 AM. The tower had everyone landing
on 27 due to the strong winds, well we landed about on
the numbers and the plane sounded like the rear end had
fallen off, and I was pumping rudder pedals like a bicy-
cle for a few seconds, well we had lost our tail wheel.
As soon as I could, I got into the grass and killed the
engine. I got out to see what had gone wrong, and the
first people there to help of course were Paul and Tom
Poberezny, they helped me get the plane back from the
runway and told me help would be short coming, and it
was. I went back along the runway to find my tail wheel,
when an old gentlemen came over and asked "are you
looking for your tail wheel?" I was so happy to think I
had found someone who saw where it had gone, I said,
"I sure am looking for it." He said "well friend you
didn't have it coming in over the lake, but you did a hell
of a job of landing that bird."
So I went to the exhibit building and bought a new
tail wheel, then on to the repair tent, the boys there got
tools and a truck and withi n two and a half hours from
touchdown, I was taxii ng into the Antique/Classic Divi-
sion grounds.
If you must lose a tail wheel, what better place could
you pick? The help was fantastic and the people so
friendly.
38
The paint job on Don Stretch's Coupe gives it a very fast appearance.
BEST ERCOUPE #N24AP -1946
By: Don Stretch
77 Harvey Avenue
Yardley, PA
Ercoupe 24 AP was purchased in July 1976, and res-
toration completed in July 1977. Restoration included
complete over haul of engine, entirely new panel all new
instruments and radio, complete Randolph urethane
paint-job new Airtex interior and many of the modifica-
tions such as Cleveland brakes, Kenney wheel pants,
many other items such as engine mounts nose strut, and
other related items.
Restoration was done in the garage at my home, thru
many adverse conditions, such as freezing temperatures,
and the typical bombardment of the local neighborhood
kids and friends . Airframe wise Ercoupe 24AP has ap-
proxi mately 1200 hrs. on the airframe, with many struc-
tural replacements over the years, thru various accidents.
Still a rather good looking and sound airplane. The wings
were metalized in 1962 and engine was upgraded to an
85 in 1962 also.
After now completing the aircraft and flown approxi-
mately 50 hrs. I must say that I am a firm Ercoupe lover
and hope in the future to rebuild one more, and do some
of the things that I did not get a chance to do in this
airplane.
BEST LUSCOMBE
#NC2259K
By: Alan Ward
86Pine Brook Road
Spring Valley, NY70977
Like so many others, my love for flying and for my
Luscombe was placed in me by my Dad, years ago. To-
gether we built many model airplanes, spend ing count:
less hours dreaming about flying. He would tell me many
tall tales of his experiences flying all sorts of airplanes
and as a 8-24 pilot in WW II. We were both in the Civil
Air Patrol for awhile and occasionally we flew the squad-
ron's Champ, and sometimes we rented a Piper J-3 and
we would go for a short hop (always too short!). These
were some of the more memorable times of my child-
hood, and so that's how I got the flying bug. More than
fifteen years have past since we built our last model
airplane together, and we now I ive on opposite sides of
the country. We both have for a long time yearned to
have our own bird and never did, until July '76.
January '76, I decided to take the plunge into air-
plane ownership. It was 6 months, however, of tracking
down Trade-a-Plane ads and local airport bulletin boards,
and miles of ground-pounding the northeast in myoid
kidney-busting pickUp. I looked at several airplanes,
mostly Champs and Chiefs, until 1 had rides in a
Luscombe 8E and an 8F. Now the possibilities had nar-
rowed down. People tried to warn me of the Luscombes
"reputation" as a ground looper, and its alleged tenden-
cy to go over on its back easily, but 1 was determined
and convinced.
After looking at several unsatisfactory Luscombes for
sale, I finally found "Haida" just outside Philadelphia, a
'47 Luscombe Silvaire 8A (metal wing) NC2259K serial
4986. 1t was love at first sight. She had just been re-
stored by her last owners, Leroy and Alan Moyer of Line
Lexington, PA., and needed only a few details and new
interior to complete the restoration. A price was agreed
upon, the deal made and a life long dream realized.
{I ncidentally, my Dad bought a '46 Lu scombe 8A fabric
wing 2 weeks after I bought my Luscombe!}
39
Since July 2, 1976, when I brought Haida home, I've
put about 150 hours on her, including two trips to Osh-
kosh. The most recent, Oshkosh '77, where Haida was
awarded a Classic Aircraft Award for best Luscombe
(what a thrill!)
My Luscombe is based at Romapo Valley Airport in
Spring Valley, NY., where members of our EAAChapter
69 have given me valuable assistance and advice in caring
for my Pride and Joy.
Thanks EAA, thanks Ch . 69 and thanks Dad.
Luscombe 8A Max. speed 115
Continental A-65-8 Cruise 105
Span 35' Stall 45
Lenght 19' 11" I. R.O.C 705
Area 140 Range 350
Wt. empty 750 Wt. gross 1,260
I
BEST NAVION
# N8865H -1947
By: Merle Smith
Route 7
Lewistown, PA 77044
Navion N8865H was sold to a person in the construc-
tion business at Reading, PA., by Reading Aviation Ser-
vice in 1947. I t was owned for about six years at which
time it was traded for another aircraft. N8865H was
then sold to a person at Bloomsburg, PA., who owned
the aircraft for a few years. Then in 1966 people back in
Reading, PA., purchased the airplane and had Reading
Aviation Service strip the paint, repaint the aircraft, in-
stall new interior, new center mount radios and panel,
new E-225 engine and prop and all accessories, new
Britten tip tanks, Palto Alto tail, new tinted windows,
and single axes auto-pilot.
Two years later a woman bought the airplane at
Wi ll iamsport, PA., who is a 9ger. My wife, who also is a
9ger, comm. pilot and flight instructor got together on a
deal with the above. My wife and I acquired N8865H in
1972. In the six years we have had N8865 H, I have
installed two Mark 12A's 360 channel along with Bendix
Above: This picture willnodoubtbringAlan fond memories when thesnow flies. (Camping under
the wingatOshkosh.)
Below: Aslick lookingpaintjobmakes65Han eyecatcherwhen itgoes whistlingby!
A. D. F., t hree LMB transponder auto - amp, gear door's
leading edge wing speed fairings, strobe and a few other
items.
Total time on the aircraft is about 2,200 since new,
655 since rebuilt and new engine installed. It is a mighty
fine machine. It gets off with my wife and two boys in
about 600 feet, climbs 700 feet per minute, cruises at
150 at sea level at 2300 RPM and 23 inches, thats 75%
power.
I maintain, license, and hangar N8865H here at our
approved repair station at Mifflin County Airport,
Reedsvil le, PA. I hold Inspectors, A & P license, comm .
pilot, and flight instructor rating in both fixed wing and
helicopter.
40
BEST PIPER J3 CUB
# N92643 - 1946
By: Dr. Tom Willroth
2779 Carroll Street
Boone, IA 50036
was home recuperating from an accident in the lat-
ter part of December, 1975, which gave me a great deal
of time to read about, think about, and dream about
antique airplanes. I saw an ad in the Des Moines Register
for two )-3 Cubs for sale. That ad was the beginning of a
new life for NC92643, although the real beginning for
me was in 1951 when I first soloed in a local Denison,
Iowa )-3 Cub.
My new, old Cub rolled off the Piper line April 23,
1946. By August of that year it was a sprayer and re-
mained so for most of her next 5000-plus hours. She was
tired and I knew it would take tender, expert, and dedi-
cated hands to give her 30 more years.
I had been fortunate in that earlier I had the opportu-
nity to see several of the gorgeous antique airp lanes that
had been restored by Mac and Rose McGlothlen of
MAC'S AI RCRAFT REPAI R of Boone, Iowa. They a-
greed to restore my newly acquired, tired and worn-out
old sprayer) -3 and we ferried it on permit to Boone.
The restoration took six months and we encountered
the usual problems of finding authentic new or "as new"
This is the only picture we had of Tom beautiful Cub.
It is too bad for it is the finest restoration of a Cub I have
ever seen. Every detail is original.
parts. What we cOl.!ldn't find, Mac made ,as only he can.
We traded the 115 hp engine that was hung on the Cub
when I bought it for an old, sick, run-out 85 hp Conti-
nental. The end result was a beautiful, better-than-new,
1946 metal spar )-3 Cub with a snappy, zero-time engine
attached to it.
We finished the airplane just in time to take it to the
Pender, Nebraska Antique fly-in and new airport dedica-
tion. The Cub won BEST ANTIQUE at that show and
my wife Mickey and I returned home in the rain as
proud as new parents. We then entered it at the National
A.A.A. Fly-I n at Blakesburg and we lost the BEST
PIPER award to a WW \I Piper Warbird. The editor of
Vintage Airplane gave me many helpful ideas on little
things (such as original cable guides instead of plastic,
old black harness wire instead of blue, etc.) to improve
our Cub, so we are determined to give it a go at Blakes-
burg again this year.
In the meantime, our Cub won BEST PIPER at the
A.A.A. WW \I and Liaison Fly- In at Blakesburg earlier
this summer, and BEST )-3 CUB at Oshkosh most re-
cently.
I would be remiss, if I didn't mention how helpful the
Piper Aircraft Corporation was in the restoration of
NC92643. I made many phone call s to Lock Haven, and
Mr. Walter J amouneau, for whom the ")" Pipers are
named, and Mr. Larry Butler of Customer Service were
most helpful in finding the minute facts on )- 3's. Mac's
Aircraft insisted on doing everything as minutely correct
and original as practical and we indeed did it.
Tommy Martin, Martin Field, South Sioux City, Ne-
braska was also most helpful. Tommy Martin is probably
the existing active dean of J-3 pi lots and his hangars are
like a "candy store to a kid " if you're looking for old
Cub parts.
Our Cub is not one of those "prima donna" antique
airplanes that is covered up between shows. In my pur-
suits as a large animal practicing veterinarian, I land on
gravel roads and in pastures frequent ly. We use it weekly
for giving rides to friends and strangers alike, just to
introduce them to the fun of "75 mile-an-hour flight".
My 18-year-old son, Tom is also flying the Cub and as
with cars, I sometimes feel he's harder on it than the
gravel roads.
Again, I'm most indebted to MAC'S AI RCRAFT RE-
PAIR for the new li fe he gave our Cub. I'm also indebted
to Crawford County, Iowa's animals and their owners as
they made it possible for me to own not only the best,
but also the most expe nsive J-3 Cub in America.
r
BEST PIPER- OTHERS
PA-22 TRIPACER # N72CJ
By: Bruce R. Lund
472 Hounds Run, West
Mobile, A L 36608
After 35 years of corporate flying, what do you do
when you retire) My father, Carl Lund, was faced with
that decision a few years ago. His interest in airplanes
41
A retirement project for an old Flyer produces a superb (Milk Stool) P.A. 22.
has run the full range. In 1924, he built and flew a tow
glider. Hi s first solo flight was in 1928, at the controls of
a OX-5 Lincoln Page, after 1 Y2 hours of dual. He owned
a Thomas-Morse "Scout " ; flew Boeing 40B' s, 247's,
Fokker Universals, Ford and Stinson Trimotors for the
airlines; De Havill ands, Wacos, Travel Airs, Ryans, Eagle-
rocks, J ennys, Curtiss Robins and Curti ss Pushers for
pl easure. Lockheed 10's and 12's as a corporate pilot.
During WW II, he was a test pilot flying B24' s and P38's
right off the production lines. He also flew a P47 and
B26. After WW II , he went back to corporate flying with
a Lockheed Loadstar, Beech 18's, King Airs, Grumman
Gulfstream, Cessna Citations, Jet Star, and Falcon Jet.
After 35 years, 15,000 hours, and over 80 different
kinds of aircraft, what could keep his interest? Air-
planes!
Whenever "Old Timers", like my father, get together
and discuss the good old days, the tales that come out
would f ill a series of books that would put Jul es Vern e
to shame. To name a few: navigation by fo ll owing rail-
roads, always staying on the right side so you wouldn't
run into the guy following the tracks coming from the
ot her direction. forced land ings through barbed wire
fences, repairs made with fe nceposts, baling wire, and
tablecloths for fa bric; looki ng for an updraft to get you
over the mountain passes; melting ice off the windshields
with hot coffee; blind land ings in blizzards without in-
st rument s or radio; and the smel l of castor oi l soaked
flying suits of the rotary engine pilots.
Rebuilding these ai rpl anes after almost every flight
kept the pilot s and ground crewman busy. Usually, every
pilot was an A. & E. mechanic out of necessity. They
would do whatever was necessary to get those old crates
back up in the air as soon as poss ibl e. Can yo u imagine
doping the wings of a large biplane in a small building
during the middl e of a cold winter in Montana? To keep
the room warm enough for the dope to dry, every win-
dow was shut tight. No ventilation at all. The vapor
would soon get to you and you would stagger out or be
carried out, only to go back in and put on another coat.
These were "the good old days".
As years past, airpl anes became more sophisticated
while the men maintaining them beca me better trained.
Gone were the days of " make do". Everything has to be
just ri ght now or the airpl ane will not fly. My dad was
no exception. He lear ned at an earl y age to do it right
the first time and chances are you won't have to do it
again . There are no short cuts in thi s business.
Perhaps it was the drive to relive "the good old days"
or a desire to see if he still had the touch to rebuild just
one more airplane. For whatever reason, one day he de-
ci ded to do it and started looking for a suitable project
to rebuild. Nothing fancy or expensive. Finally, he set-
tled for a Piper Tri-Pacer that was obviously on its last
three legs. It had bee n sitting in an open field for
months, just a couple of mil es from the Gulf of Mexico.
The mildew and fungus had just about taken over t he
inside of the cabin. The fabric was torn and the flaps
were drooping. It looked pretty sad. It was an old Tri-
Pacer (SIN 183) that had been shuttl ed from owner to
owner over the years. Each time showi ng more wear and
tear from years of abuse and neglect.
After we had dismantled the plane and stored it in
my dad's garage, we started stripping the fabric. It was
rotten and in very poor cond itio n. First inspection of
the wings showed a spliced spar and many bent ribs. As
best we could tell, the pl ane had been on its back at least
twice. The wooden wing tip bows were rotten, being
held in pl ace by the fabric. The tail was corroded badl y,
as the last time it was covered, someone forgot to pro-
vide drai n hol es in the fabric. We looked at the fuselage
bottom longerons expecting them to be in very bad
shape. They, surprisingl y, were in pretty good condition.
Whil e discussing how fort unate we were not to have ma-
jor fuselage corrosion, I happened to see a bit of rust on
the to p longeron near the wing attachment point. Closer
inspection revealed that you could stick a sharp instru-
ment through both top longerons in several pl aces. We
now reali zed that this was not going to be merely a
patch and recover job. The pl ane was in such poor condi-
tion that it would have to be completely stripped, in-
spected, repaired, and reassembled.
No two pieces were left together. E veryth ing, and I
do mean everything was taken apart: wings, tail, engine,
fuselage, and landing gear. Each pi ece was cl eaned, re-
pai red, inspected, painted, and stored for reassembly.
The fuselage framework was sandblasted, repai rs made,
linseed oil placed inside, and finally, placed in a ji g for
reassembly. After three years, reassembly of the plane
began. It was in as good, or in some cases better condi-
tion, than when it left t he Piper factory 24 years ago.
Not one repair waS made to just get by. They were all
"by the book", and inspection was a snap.
Final assembly was made in the hangar where the
42
corporate aircraft that my dad had flown so much were
hangared. They seemed to be saying, "Who is that new
upstart over there in the corner with the bright paint job
and shiny spinner." You could tell at a glance that this
airplane was more than just a new paint job. It was
proud, and not at all out of place sitting beside those
expensive corporate jets.
After rigging the washout in th e wings and making a
thousand and one adjustments, it was time to start the
engine for the first time. Dad had also rebuilt it just as
met iculously as the airplane. I t was pulled through a few
times and the starter was pushed. As the first cylinder
came into compression, it fired and the engine came to
life. After 15 minutes, the throttle was brought back to
idle and you could al most count the prop blades as they
went by .. tic ...tic ...tic ... The test flight went very
well with only a few squawks.
It was almost Oshkosh time by now, so the little
plane was made ready for its first long flight in many
years. The flight to Oshkosh was long, and as always,
into a head wind. 10Yz hours later N72CJ settled onto
Whittman Field, and was immediately flagged into the
Classic parking area, within a stones throw of the tower.
This was great! My dad had thought that he would have
to park at the far end of the field with all of the other
"common" aircraft.
During the week at Oshkosh, we would occasionally
come by and check on our plane. We would usually find
Tri-Pacer lovers looking at it. Friday morning N72CJ
headed south to Mobile, and would you believe, head-
winds all the way. Another 1 OYz hours.
A few days later a letter arrived telling us that N72C)
had won a trophy at Oshkosh. My dad was all smiles.
Members of Chapter 416 were as thrilled with the
trophy as he was.
I n the meantime, I had been looking for an engine for
my Mustang II project. A severe windstorm at the local
airport flipped several planes over on their backs and
produced an opportunity for me to buy an airplane for
salvage. I figured that I could get the engine, instru-
ments, radio, and other goodies from it. I dismantled the
plane and towed it to my dad's garage. He was away on
vacation at the time. When he came home and saw what
I had done, I could see what was going to happen. He
said, "This plane looks like it could be repaired and
flown again. Let's strip the fabric and see what the struc-
ture looks like. You know, this is a newer Tri-Pacer than
mine and it has a larger engine .... "
I -- -
r
BEST STI NSON
# N8074K 108-2
By: R. C. Kramer
Route 7
Pella, IA 50279
I purchased my Stinson in 1969 from its second
owner, at Pella, Iowa. He had owned the plane since near
new. It was in pretty nice shape, and I flew it regularly
until the fall of 1973, when at annual time, the fabric
was found to be marginal.
I decided to have the plane recovered, and one thing
led to another, and I ended up pretty much completely
restoring it. Ceconite was used, with original Stinson
blue with white trim. The engine was pulled and majored
by myself. The interior was redone, new carpet,
naugahyde seats, and original type cloth headliner, start-
er installed, and an Escort 110 radio. The major part of
the work was done by Maci Aircraft Repairs, and they
did an excellent job on it.
I wish to thank you for the interest and the award
again given this year for my plane.
I have been to OshkoSh every year from 1972 to
1977, and the last three years have shown my Stinson.
The EAA people have always been very friendly, and I
really enjoy the Convention each year. Hope to be back
in 1978.
r
BEST SWIFT
# N2334B
By: jimMontague
3360Klondike
Lake Elmo, MN55042
I first saw Swift N2334B at Independence Airport
near Kansas City on ) uly 22, 1972. Having just pur-
chased a basket case Swift I looked 34B over with con-
siderable interest. Although at first glance she appeared
faded and tired, I noted the airframe was extremely
straight and the skin was in exceptional condition. I real-
ized then and there that my basket case would require
years of effort just to equal this bird. During the next
year I sold a flying Swift I owned and renewed efforts
on the basket case airplane. Then, like a bolt from the
blue I received a phone call from the owner of 2334B,
would I be interested in her at a premium price? I found
out 34B had only 500 hours total time aircraft and en-
gine! The next weekend I was on a 727 for another look
- and after one quick trip around the patch I brought her
home to Minnesota.
A partial restoration followed, new air/oil landing
gears, new Scott tail wheel, new brakes, the instrument
panel which was the only non-original thing on the air-
plane was replaced with an original panel. The original
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Above: Too bad we couldn't publish this Swift light case engine developed an internal failure and was
picture in color - it is obviously taken in winter at replaced with a balanced 0-300A, along with new Bendix
extremely high altitude - it's a beauty. mags and a 60 amp alternator. Five different propellers
were tried and I finally used a Sensenich M74DR-1-62 ,
which gives me cruise speeds high enough to qualify me
Below: Another picture that needs color - this as a liar among those who think they know how fast a
Stinson looks great in its original al/ blue with white 145 Swift should go! The original blue trim and wing
trim configuration. numbers were repainted although the numbers on the
bottom of the left wing have not been repainted or even
touched up since leaving the factory in August, 1948. Of
course, the big thing manhour wise on this, or any pol-
ished bird, is the countless hours spent restoring the
skin, polishing and repolishing - then polishing again.
At Oshkosh '77, 2334B was awarded the "Best
Swift" trophy for which I am very gratified. I don't
consider her "finished" yet - new plexiglas is coming,
and a new interior. In the meantime I'm enjoying flying
her - I've put on al most 300 hours so far. She's fast
enough for cross country and when life gets a little stale
a few loops and rolls are just what it takes to get my
head on stra ight.
With just about 1000 hours in type and 38 different
Swifts in my log I feel somewhat qualified to comment
on flying the Swift. I t's just an airplane but it does have
a few characteristics that can get an unqualified pilot in
trouble, and if you have 20,000 hours but no Swift
hours you're unqualified. First of all its a taildragger,
and a short one at that, so a modern trained pilot should
be at least checked out in a Citabria before trying the
Swift. With the smaller engines, the takeoff should never
be forced, or made 3 point, but accelerate to 65 mph in
a level attitude then gently lower the tail and allow the
airplane to fly itself off. A considerable amount of right
rudder is required in climb. With a fixed pitch prop its
best to climb at higher airspeeds - 100 mph or more. The
airplane is licensed in the old part 4 and legal for aero-
batic maneuvers excepting extended inverted flight and
spins. It has no difficulty in flight characteristics and is
as easy to drive around the sky as a Cessna 150. The
landing is perhaps the greatest challenge, wheel landings
are definitely recommended for beginner Swift pilots.
Three point land ings can be done, the flare is very close
to the ground and airspeed control is the secret, 1.3
times indicated stall speed over the threshold being the
number. Even though I may sound real smart I still em-
barass myself by dropping in occasionally doing a 3-
pointer! In a word flying the Swift is great! She's a little
heavy for her power but the newly STC'ed 200 - 210 -
220 hp conversions are fantastic. I'm building up an-
other Swift with a 210 hp Continental 10-360 but 34B
will remain a 145, I don't have the heart to mod ify her.
Incidently the Swift Association is the number one
active owners group tn the sport aviation movement. We
have more fly-ins and activities than just about anybody.
The address is : Swift Assoc., Box 644, Athens, TN
37303.
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Left to Right Photo by Bob Miller
John R. Turgyan Doug Rounds Ken Williams Dale A. Gustafson C.W. Covington
Edward C. Wegner Richard K. Martin H.N. Rhodes Claude Gray - Chief Judge
Absent from picture E vander M. Britt
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George York Ed Kendall Herb Buckett Patsy Padgett Gene Padgett Fred A. Komlosy Brad Thomas - Chief Judge
Paul Justus Jim Mankins Dal e Wolford Stan York Paul Stephenson John Womack
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