MAY 2011

Ashley Hall
Menlo Park, California
Lifelong aviation history buff
First flight at 4yrs in a Frontier
Airlines CV-580 in 1966 and
hooked ever since
Enjoy participating in the local
vintage aviation community as much
as a busy professional life and
parenthood allow

Ashley Hall and his seven year old son Aidan enjoy flying their 1947
Luscombe 8E out of Fraizier Lake Airpark in beautiful Northern California.
Ashleys Luscombe is a Moody Larsen 150hp Lycoming conversion and
was once owned by Ross Funk an original Luscombe employee.
Ive owned my Luscombe for 11 years now and have been with AUA all
the way. Their friendly service, responsiveness and excellent rates have
made me a loyal customer and I would recommend them to anyone.

Thanks AUA
!

Ashley Hall

AUA is Vintage Aircraft Association approved. To become a member of VAA call 800-843-3612.

Aviation insurance with the EAA Vintage Program offers:

Lower premiums with payment options QAdditional coverages
On-line quote request available QAUA is licensed in all states

Flexibility on the use of your aircraft

Q

Experienced agents

Q

Remember, Were Better Together!

The best is affordable. Give AUA a call its FREE!

800-727-3823
Fly with the pros fly with AUA Inc.
www.auaonline.com

M A Y

A I R P L A N E
Vol. 39, No. 5

2011

CONTENTS
2

Straight & Level

Getting ready for another great AirVenture
by Geoff Robison

News

N44VY and See the World!

Bob Coolbaughs Curtiss Model D Pusher
helps commemorate the 100th
anniversary of naval aviation
by Gilles Auliard

13

Noorduyn Norseman
Canadas unsung blue-collar worker
by Budd Davisson

18

The EAAs H-10 Pheasant

Retail price of $2,895
by Jim Busha and H.G. Frautschy

22

My Friend Frank Rezich, Part VIII

Fun on the National Air Tour with Frank
by Robert G. Lock

26

Light Plane Heritage

Prest Baby Pursuit

by George Hardie, Jr.

28

STAFF

The Vintage Mechanic

EAA Publisher
Director of EAA Publications
Executive Director/Editor
Production/Special Project
Photography
Copy Editor
Senior Art Director
EAA Chairman of the Board

Vibrations, Part 2
by Robert G. Lock

32

The Vintage Instructor

Overcoming self-doubt
by Steve Krog, CFI

34

Mystery Plane
by H.G. Frautschy

37

Classified Ads

18

COVERS

FRONT COVER: Naval aviator Bob Coolbaugh started on this project a few years ago, excited by the prospect of celebrating the 100th anniversar y of U.S. Navy aviation. Coolbaughs
Curtiss Pusher replica is one of the highlights of the official celebrations taking place during
2011, and it will be at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. Read more about it in Gilles Auliards
article starting on page 6.
BACK COVER: When EAA headquarters moved to Oshkosh, an early addition to the museum
grounds was the construction of Pioneer Airport, a grass strip where some of the great airplanes of yesterday could be displayed and flown. One of the first aircraft flown from the field
was this Pheasant H-10, a local product built in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Read more about this
OX-5-powered biplane starting on page 18. EAA photo by Jim Koepnick.

Rod Hightower
Mary Jones
H.G. Frautschy
Kathleen Witman
Jim Koepnick
Colleen Walsh
Olivia P. Trabbold
Tom Poberezny

Publication Advertising:
Manager/Domestic, Sue Anderson
Tel: 920-426-6127
Email: sanderson@eaa.org
Fax: 920-426-4828
Senior Business Relations Mgr, Trevor Janz
Tel: 920-426-6809
Email: tjanz@eaa.org
Manager/European-Asian, Willi Tacke
Phone: +49(0)1716980871 Email: willi@flying-pages.com
Fax: +49(0)8841 / 496012

Interim Coordinator/Classified, Alicia Canziani

Tel: 920-426-6860
Email: classads@eaa.org

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1

STRAIGHT & LEVEL

GEOFF ROBISON
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Getting ready for another great AirVenture!

As most of you have heard, Mother
Nature swung a big stick at the Sun
n Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Florida, on
March 31. The news coverage, the videos, and the many pictures that were
sent out to aviators all over the world
were disturbing to see. My heart goes
out to our partners in Lakeland, and
we are all so fortunate that no one
lost their life during this tragic event.
The resiliency of the staff and volunteers was remarkable; by the next day,
the field was still a bit soggy, but the
damage had been cleaned up, and
they were ready for action. With so
much devastation surrounding them,
they were able to reopen the show the
next day. This will hopefully prove to
be a once-in-a-lifetime event for Sun
n Fun and its guests, and we wish
them all good fortune with their future fly-ins.
As I write this column, I have
just returned from another sojourn
to the mecca of aviation: Oshkosh.
Although the gas prices were a bit
steeper this month, the enjoyment always easily overrides the expense involved. The occasion this month was
the first of three planned VAA volunteer work weekends for 2011. A great
time was had by all. In a very short
time period, 32 volunteers accomplished an amazing amount of work.
This all-volunteer force, including six
VAA officers/directors, tackled three
major projects, investing a total of
614 hours of hard work in one weekend. The first project was to construct
an 18-by-38-foot workshop area with
a 10-foot-high ceiling. This area will
be used to operate our metalworking
shop inside the Vintage Hangar. The
construction design included double-walled, double-insulated exterior

2 MAY 2011

walls, with heavy insulation in the

ceiling between all of the stringers.
This project will be a welcome
addition to the hangar for the type
club representatives who have patiently endured the noise of the metalworking operations over the past
two years. Amazingly, our volunteers
completed this project over a twoday period and well under budget.
The second project was the Air
Mail Station we are building to be
used as part of the EAAs celebration
of the U.S. Air Mails 100th anniversary at AirVenture 2011. This portable 16-by-16-foot building is also
being constructed by our VAA volunteers. The goal here is to construct
a building that appears to have survived from the 1920s. This building,
along with a large number of vintage
air mail aircraft from this era, will be
a must-see display during your visit
to AirVenture 2011. Come on by and
send an old postcard to a friend or
family member! We plan on flying
the mail with a vintage biplane as
part of this program.
The third project was an upgrade
to the north side of our Red Barn,
typically referred to as the Vintage
Hospitality/Guest Relations area. This
area has been long overdue for a nice
sprucing up. We have long needed to
upgrade some of the electrical issues
and storage issues in this area as well.
The chairwoman of this area, longtime VAA director Jeannie Hill, is very
excited with the progress made in her
area this past weekend. New paint on
the interior walls along with an upgrade to the wall decorations are on
her list as well.
Many thanks are offered to each
and every volunteer who stepped up

this weekend, and I sincerely hope

you all enjoyed the accommodations, the fellowship, and the fine
meals that were prepared by your fellow volunteers. Feel free to join us
at a future volunteer work party in
Oshkosh. The next two work parties
are scheduled for May 13, 14, and
15, and for June 10, 11, and 12. Call
Michael Blombach, the chairman of
our maintenance committee, with
any questions; his phone number is
260-433-5101.
I was also fortunate to spend some
time at Paul Pobereznys Aeroplane
Factory this same weekend. As mentioned in a previous column, Paul is
busy constructing a new/old Baby Ace
in the shop these days. This project is
coming along nicely with assistance
from his able volunteers. This weekend saw the project land on its feet
as the main gear attach points were
welded onto the airframe, and the
gear legs were attached and bungeed up. Looking good, Paul! By the
way, many thanks to you and Audrey,
Mike and Audra Hoy, and Adam and
Janet Smith for your attendance at
our Saturday evening meal at the old
farmhouse. Your talk with the vintage
volunteers was very inspirational, as
well as complementary to our organization, and it was very well-received
by our group.
VAA is about participation: Be a
member! Be a volunteer! Be there! Do
yourself a favor and ask a friend to
join up with us. Lets all pull in the
same direction for the good of aviation. Remember, we are better together. Join us and have it all.

VAA NEWS
What Was That
Little Monoplane?
On the back cover
of the March issue
of Vintage Airplane, we left it
to you to identify the small drawing on the left side of the artwork.
Any many of you wrote or called
to do just thatand each of you
agreed with one another! Its the
Alexander Flyabout D-2, a twoplace, side-by-side airplane powered by a Szekely 45. You can read
all about it in Joe Juptners U.S.
Civil Aircraft Series; it is Approved
Type Certificate 449, issued September 5, 1931. Check Volume 5,
page 143.

Sending in the re-registration

when its not their turn. We wont
take applications out of cycle,
Binkley said.
If you receive a final notice even
though you have already submitted re-registration materials, dont
worry; the FAA wants to give aircraft owners every opportunity to
re-register in the event of procrastination, materials lost in the mail,
or other reasons, Binkley said.
If you submit your re-registra-

tion and it has not been processed

by the prescribed final notice date,
youll automatically receive a final
notice. The FAA also sends a third
notice when an aircrafts registration expires, giving owners a final
opportunity to get their materials
in and save their N numbers.
Call 866-762-9434 (toll free) or
405-954-3131 with any questions
or concerns. Or go to www.Sport
Aviation.org to fill out an online
form for fastest response.

Mistakes That Can Derail

Your Re-Registration
The FAAs aircraft re-registration
initiative that began on November 1,
2010, is going about as expected, according to Walter Binkley, manager
of aircraft registry in Oklahoma City.
That is to say, its going fairly well
with more people than expected using online registration instead of
mailing the paper form. Re-registering
online is much more efficient, resulting in a one-week turnaround as opposed to the six to eight weeks for
filling out and mailing in the form,
then waiting for hard copies to wind
their way through the queue.
There are some mistakes the
branch is seeing that can derail a
registration; these include:
Failure to print or type name.
Making an alteration to the
text and whiting out or obscuring
something on the formthe only
acceptable way to alter text is to
line through and correct.
Including the appropriate fee.
Checking both info correct
and changes made boxes or leaving both uncheckedone of the
boxes must be checked.

Curtiss Model MF Flying Boat Now on Display

Back in April 2010, I was quoted in a news story on www.EAA.
org as saying, It was interesting to see a rare, museum-quality
aircraft from the 1910-1920 era auctioned; there are only five
Curtiss F boats left, and we can only hope that the buyer will allow
this amazing seaplane to be displayed so the public can enjoy it.
It seems my wish has come true. One of the trustees of the museum, Eric Driver, was kind enough to drop us a note and advise
us that the Curtiss MF flying boat sold at auction by Bonhams is
now on display in its new home, the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, Blenheim, New Zealand. For more on the museum, you can
visit its website at www.Omaka.org.nz.

H.G. Frautschy
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

ready been planned. Learn more

at www.LearnToFly.org.

Get Ready for Super Saturday

Win a Skycatcher
Enter the 2011 EAA Share the Spirit Sweepstakes for your chance
to win a Cessna 162 Skycatcher with fuel for the year cour tesy of
Shell Aviation, along with other great prizes. Ever y donation to the EAA
Sweepstakes directly supports EAA programs like Young Eagles, which
allow members to share the spirit of aviation among fellow enthusiasts
and the next generation of aviators. For more information, visit www.
AirVenture.org/sweepstakes.

Find AirVenture Housing

on New Website
The Oshkosh Convention &
Vi s i t o r s B u r e a u m a k e s i t e a s ier to find Oshkosh lodging offgrounds through the new website
www.VisitOshkosh.com. Search
through listings of hotels, motels,
bed and breakfasts, resorts, cottages, cabins, campgrounds, and
dormitories with their availability, searchable within a database
through a variety of criteria.
The new website also provides
an extensive list of private homes
and rooms that are available for
rent by area homeowners during AirVenture. Private homes
and rooms provide an affordable
lodging option with several price
point and amenity options, most
within close proximity to the AirVenture grounds.
A l s o c h e c k t h e FA Q s e c t i o n
of www.VisitOshkosh.com for answers to questions about accommodations during AirVenture,
or call the Oshkosh Convention

4 MAY 2011

& Vi s i t o r s B u r e a u t o l l - f r e e a t
877-303-9200.

Saturday, July 30, should be one

for the ages at AirVenture 2011,
with numerous special events and
attractions scheduled from dawn
to dark. From the 6 a.m. mass hot
air balloon launch in the Ultralight
area to the day-ending Night Air
Show, one would be hard-pressed
to find a single day filled with as
many outstanding attractions.
Between the balloons and the
booms, activities include the Runway 5K run/walk throughout the
AirVenture grounds; the expanded
Warbird Spectacular air show; the
nightly movie at the EAA Fly-In
Theater presented by Ford Motor
Company and supported by Hamilton Watches; and a concert at
Theater in the Woods by country
singer/pilot Aaron Tippin.
The Night Air Show and DaherSocata Fireworks & Wall of Fire drew
tens of thousands to the flightline
in 2010, and this years festivities
are set to start at 8:30 p.m.

International Learn to Fly Day

International Learn to Fly Day
is May 21, 2011. It is an aviation
communitywide effort helping
people of all ages take that first
step to discover the fun, freedom,
and accomplishment of flight.
EAA and numerous other aviation
organizations and businesses are
again joining together to organize
introductory flights, seminars,
open houses at airports and flight
schools, and other activities.
A primary focus of this years
event is to offer introductory
fl ights to adults who have always
wanted to discover flight. EAA
views these introductory flights
for adults as a key step toward establishing a year-round adult version of its popular Young Eagles
program, which has offered free
flights to more than 1.6 million
young people since 1992.
More than 80 events have al-

Sportsman Pilot
Back Issues Available
For a limited time, back issues of
Jack and Golda Coxs Sportsman Pilot magazine will be available for
purchase. While some issues have
very limited availability, most of
the magazines printed editions
are available. Priced at $3.50 each
($5.00 outside the United States),
they can be ordered by writing to
Sportsman Pilot, P.O. Box 400, Asheboro, NC 27204-0400. You can view
a list of back issues on its website at
www.SportsmanPilot.com.

Please help the VAA make EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

an unforgettable experience for our many guests.

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

Join the

N44V
Y
and See the
World!

n November 14,
1910, Eugene B. Ely,
a pilot with the Curtiss Aerial Exhibition
Te a m , c o a x e d h i s
Curtiss Pusher off the deck of the
cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-2)
which had been specially modified
for the occasionwhile it lay at anchor off Hampton Roads, Virginia.
On January 18, 1911, in San
Francisco Bay, Ely raised the bar a
few notches and landed on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania,
later taking off from the same platform, de facto signing the birth cer-

6 MAY 2011

tificate of U.S. naval aviation.

Eugene Burton Ely was born in
Williamsburg, Iowa, on October
21,1879, and raised in nearby Davenport. He attended and graduated
from Iowa State University in 1904.
Following graduation, he moved to
San Francisco, California, where he
was active in the early days of the
sales and racing of automobiles.
Relocating in Portland, Oregon,
in early 1910, Ely worked as a mechanic for E. Henry Wemme, a local auto dealer. Soon after, Wemme
purchased one of Glenn Curtiss
first pushers powered by a four-

cylinder engine and acquired the

franchise for the Pacific Northwest.
Wemme had no idea how to fly the
contraption, so Ely volunteered to
fly it for him. Ely didnt do well
initially, crashing it on his first
flight; to his credit, Ely offered to
buy the wreck.
Within a few months, he had
repaired the airplane and taught
himself to fly. In June 1910, he
participated in a display in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and met Glenn
Curtiss, who hired him for his
barnstorming exhibition team.
In October 1910, Capt. Wash-

Bob Coolbaughs

Curtiss
Model D Pusher
helps
commemorate the
100th Anniversary
of Naval Aviation

by Gilles Auliard
GILLES AULIARD

. . .Original
construction
methods were
followed and
original material
used when
possible.
The bamboo
used in the
construction was
tracked down to
the original
importer in
New Jersey. . ..
With Bob Coolbaugh in the pilots
seat, the Curtiss Pusher cruises in
the pattern at New Market Airport.
These pictures were taken from
Andrew Kings Taylorcraft, with an
outside temperature barely above
freezing and a surface wind at 6 to 8
mph. Normally, such light wind conditions would not be much of a factor,
but the Pusher has proven to be a
handful in all but the lightest breezes.

November, 1910, Norfolk Navy Yardthe US Navy hoists a company Curtiss

Pusher aboard the USS Birmingham.
The takeoff platform, angled downward
at a 5 degree angle, had been build on
the foredeck of the scout cruiser with
the express purpose of demonstrating
aircraft operations were possible from
a ship. No expectation of a landing was
part of this activity. The project, initiated
by Captain Washington I. Chambers, was
paid for by a wealthy aviation enthusiast,
John B. Ryan, was endorsed by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Beekman
Winthrop. Glen Curtiss made the same
pusher hed used the previous spring,
the Albany Flyer, available for use.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

U.S. NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER

November 14, 1910--With the weather conditions deteriorating, Ely gave the signal at 3:16 pm for release
of the Curtiss Pusher. With the Curtiss 50 hp engine
roaring, it rolled down the 57 foot ramp. With barely
enough speed to get airborne, Ely and the Pusher
dipped below the bow just after takeoff, and continued to the surface of the water of Hampton Roads,
Virginia. With no forward speed from the ship (you
can see its at anchor) to add some airspeed to the
biplanes takeoff effort, the flight nearly ended with
a splashdown. As it was, the wheels and prop of the
Pusher touched the water. The prop cracked, necessitating a quick landing on nearby Willoughby Spit. Still,
the experiment was deemed a success, and preparations were made across the United States for both a
takeoff and a landing from a warship.

January 18, 1911Success! Ely guides the Pusher

over the downturned end of the 120x30 foot runway
built above the deck of the armored cruiser Pennsylvania. The arresting system of hooks attached to the
Pushers landing gear, coupled with a set of ropes
strung across the deck, with sandbags attached at
each end, quickly brought the biplane to a stop.

Eugune Ely prepares for takeoff from the 120-foot temporary platform built above the aft deck of the USS
Pennsylvania, anchored in San Francisco harbor. The
large crowd on board was mirrored by the thousands
lining the bayfront to witness the earlier landing and
now take off. Sailors from various merchant sailing
vessels stood on the yardarms of their ships to get a
glimpse of the action.
All hail the intrepid pilot!
Eugene Ely is hosted on the
shoulders of US Army personnel after returning to shore
following his successful landing and takeoff from the
cruiser Pennsylvania. Sadly,
Ely would not live to see
1912. He died on October
19, 1911 in the crash of a
Curtiss Pusher during a flight
exposition in Macon, Georgia.
8 MAY 2011

ington A. Chambers, who was responsible for aviation matters at

the Navy department, traveled to
Belmont Park, New York, to meet
with pioneer aviators at the International Air Meet and inspect their
machines. During discussions with
Ely, he was quite impressed with
Elys technical knowledge.
Less than a month later, Chambers attended another air meet near
Baltimore, Maryland, and again met

with Ely. Upon hearing the captains

idea of a ship landing, Ely immediately embraced the concept.
In less than two weeks time, the
project took shape. At the Norfolk
Naval Shipyard, a wooden platform was quickly constructed over
the foredeck of the scout cruiser
USS Birmingham.
Designed by naval constructor
William McEntree and paid for by
wealthy aviation enthusiast John

GILLES AULIARD

This Curtiss at rest in its grass environment. The boxkite-like structure of the Pusher is held together by no less
than 130 pieces of wire.
Narry Ryan, the structure provided a 57-foot-long takeoff run
for Elys biplane.
Shortly before noon, on November 14, 1910, the USS Birmingham
steamed down the Elizabeth River
toward Hampton Roads, where the
flight was to take place.
However, the weather was dreadful, marginally improving by
mid-afternoon.
Ely, warming up his engine and
checking its controls, waited impatiently during the lengthy process
of the ship raising anchor. Noting
the visibility was again deteriorat-

ing, he decided on an immediate

attempt, even though the ship was
stationary. At 3:16, he gunned the
engine, gave the release signal,
rolled down the ramp, and was
airbornealmost.
The Curtiss briefly touched the
water, and the propeller started vibrating heavily. Ely had to touch
down at nearby Willoughby Spit after a five-minute, 2-1/2- mile flight.
Even though the flight did not fully
reach its goals, it was viewed as a
major achievement and received
widespread publicity.
Soon after, Capt. Chambers pro-

This is the most important instrument in the Curtiss,

and the only one installed the original biplane: a piece
of yarn, a simple and very effective yaw indicator. Even
today, Yaw strings are often used on gliders.

posed that Ely try to land his plane

onboard ship. The aviator offered
to make an attempt in January
1911, in San Francisco, California,
where he would be participating in
yet another air meet.
T h e P a c i f i c F l e e t s a r m o r e d
cruiser Pennsylvania was chosen,
and the Mare Island Naval Shipyard constructed a temporar y
wooden platform over the aft deck
and the gun turret.
Ely and others devised a method
of stopping the planes within the
platforms 120-by-30-foot dimensions. A series of ropes, with sand-

A very odd--but authentic--detail is the use of horse

blanket security pins to hold the elevator in place. Its
neutral incidence can be changed on the ground by
sliding the fitting up or down on a vertical post, with
the pins securing the mount.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

GILLES AULIARD

Bob is coming for a low and slow pass over New Market airports runway.
Flying the Pusher requires its pilot to keep a good grip on the wheel at all
times. Nobody knows what the airplane will do if you let go of the wheel.

In addition to civilian aviators, Model Ds

were purchased by the U.S. Army and Navy
as airborne observation platforms.

Bob Coolbaugh relaxes after another successful flight.

Andrew is getting ready for a flight

in the Pusher.
10 MAY 2011

bags at each end, would be stretched

across the temporary deck and held
above it by boards laid along its
length. Hooks were attached to the
landing gear to catch the ropes, and
the weight of the sandbags would
bring the machine to a rapid halt.
Shortly before 11 a.m. on the
morning of January 18, 1911, Ely
took off from Tanforan Racetrack to
reach the Pennsylvania, anchored,
in full view of the crowds, off the
San Francisco waterfront.
On final, Ely responded quickly
to the unexpected updraft that
caught his lightly loaded plane,
dove, and the hooks snagged the
arresting gear about halfway up the
ramps length. The Curtiss pulled
the ropes and sandbags and came
to a smooth stop.
After posing for photographs,
Ely remounted his machine, and,
an hour after the worlds first shipboard airplane landing, made the
second successful takeoff from a
ship. Capt. Pond, commanding officer of the USS Pennsylvania, sent

a favorable report to the Navy department, and the Navy started the
slow process of bringing flying machines into its force structure.
One day later Lt. Theodore G. Ellyson began the flight training that
would make him the U.S. Navys
first aviator.
Elys triumph was short-lived,
as later that year, on October 19,
1911, while flying during a meet in
Macon, Georgia, his plane crashed
and he was killed.
Opening with an all-out bash
in San Diego in February 2011, the
U.S. Navy began the celebration of
the Centennial of Naval Aviation
(CONA) in style, with no less than 32
CONA Tier 1 Events. These air shows
throughout America will pay tribute
to the aircraft and airmen who contributed to this first century of flight.
One of the folks participating in the
events is longtime airplane restorer
and now replica builder Bob Coolbaugh of Manassas, Virginia.
Coolbaugh retraces his involvement in the project:

GILLES AULIARD

About three years ago, the Navy

announced that they were looking
for ideas and propositions in relation with the Centennial of Naval
Aviation that they were planning.
I started talking with some of
the Navy people involved in this,
and we were kicking ideas around.
There were no Curtiss Pusher of
the type used by Ely to land on the
Pennsylvania left, so I offered to
build an as-exact-as-possiblewith
flight safety in mindreplica of the
plane that Ely flew on January 18,
1911. I knew I could do it.
The Curtiss Model D Pusher was
a biplane fitted with a wheeled tricycle landing gear. Early examples
of the machine were built in a canard configuration, with elevators
mounted on struts at the front of
the aircraft, in addition to a horizontal stabilizer at the rear. Later,
the elevators were incorporated
in the tail unit and the canard arrangement was dispensed with, resulting in what became known as
the Curtiss Headless Pusher.
Directional control (yaw) of the
airplane was accomplished by turning on the control column left and
right. Fore and aft movements of

the column controlled climb and

descent with the elevator, and roll
control was achieved by leaning
left and right against a shoulder
yoke that actuated the mid-strut
mounted ailerons.
By mid-1911, Curtiss Pushers
were pretty much standardized and
being manufactured in what could
be considered production quantities. Curtiss began to use specific
designations in its advertising.
In addition to civilian aviators,
Model Ds were purchased by the U.S.
Army and Navy as airborne observation platforms. A number of them
were exported to foreign militaries as
well, including the Russian navy.
Coolbaugh is a bold Navy man,
as he explains:
I got bit by the flying bug quite
early in life.
My dad was a fighter pilot during World War II. When I was a
little kid, my father worked at the
local airport, so, he would babysit me there. Consequently, I grew
up in the middle of those old airplanes, which, actually, were new at
the time; [airplanes] such as Cubs,
Aeroncas, Stinsons, and the like.
When I was old enough, I chose

to join the Navy. This choice was

mainly because I wanted to fly off the
deck of aircraft carriers. I was lucky
enough to do it and spent 21 years
with the Navy: 10 years in active
duty and 11 years in the Reserves.
The active-duty years were even
more exciting, adventure-filled
than I could have imagined. Flying on and off aircraft carriers is the
most exhilarating sensation. However, it is a youngs man game, with
some downsides, the biggest one
being that you are never home.
So, after a while, I looked at the
airlines as a career move and left the
Navy, flying for 27 years with what is
now Continental, soon to be United.
Over 20 years ago, I got involved with Andrew King and
some other antique airplane guys.
I finally had enough money to buy
the bits and pieces of a 1930 Monocoupe that was owned by Bud
Gurney, the longtime friend and
partner of Lindbergh.
This led to me running the
Monocoupe Club for 12 years, and
started my involvement in a hobby
that I have been pursuing full time
since I retired.
Starting from the plans drawn by

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

Charles Schultz [no, not the Schulz

of Snoopy fameHGF], which were
supposedly taken from original
blueprints, Coolbaugh built, from
the ground up, a replica of the
Curtiss version that undertook the
first carrier landing.
However, concessions to modernity had to be implemented, as
the airplane will be operating in
a cross-country modern environment and, occasionally, will have
to land at towered airports.
The first, and most important,
concession to functionality is the
six-cylinder Continental 125-hp
engine, ensuring safe and reliable
operation. With the inherent stability issues with the aircrafts design, one cannot afford to worry
about engine performance. Other
add-ons are disc brakes, a radio and
transponder, and a starter.
However, original construction
methods were followed and original
material used when possible. The
bamboo used in the construction
was tracked down to the original
importer in New Jersey who supplied the Glenn Curtiss Factory in
Hammondsport, New York, in 1910.
Helped and advised in his task
by Andrew King, well known in the
antique airplane world, Coolbaugh
built some 90 percent of the project

12 MAY 2011

over long and tedious working days

in his Shenandoah Valley workshop.
Art Wilder, the project leader for
the Hudson Flyer replica built by
a team of volunteers at the Glenn
H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, New York, proved an invaluable resource in researching original
Curtiss practices and procedures.
Vet Thomas of Hilton, New York,
builder of the Curtiss Pusher replica
now hanging at the Greater Rochester International Airport, used
his computer-aided design and
computer-aided machining (CAD/
CAM) program to water-jet cut the
plate metal parts. As with any project, many friends freely donated
their time and talents to help push
the project to completion.
Registered as N44VY, the Pusher
flew for the first time on October
8, 2010. The early test-flight program, in the hands of Coolbaugh
and King, revealed insufficient engine cooling as well as an endemic
lack of control. With its 37-foot
wingspan and an empty weight
of 970 pounds, the airplane has a
wing loading of 4 pounds per square
footabout half the wing loading
of a Piper J-3, making it very sensitive to any kind of turbulence.
At this point, Bob was ready to
throw in the towel:

After the first 12 flights, six of

which were mine, I was ready to
put the thing up on a pylon at the
entrance of the airport.
A crash program to alleviate
these problems was designed, with
incremental improvements continuing to this day. The result was
a plane that flew like a 100-year-old
plane, but was controllable enough
to depart for Chambers Field, Naval
Air Station Norfolk, Virginia, where
the Curtiss participated in the November 12 ceremonies commemorating Eugene Elys takeoff from the
deck of the USS Birmingham.
The Curtiss is scheduled to participate in a number of events across
the United States, including the New
York Fleet Week/Jones Beach Air
Show in May, Thunder Over Michigan in July, EAA AirVenture 2011
in late July, NAS Patuxent River in
September, and NAS Oceana in September, while other events are still
in the planning stage.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Navy
has not approved a request to recreate Elys arrested landing by allowing Coolbaugh or King to land
on a modern flattop. That one
event would close the loop on 100
years of naval aviation, and two of
the most daring pilots I know are
primed and ready!

Noorduyn
Norseman
Canadas unsung blue-collar worker
BY

oorduyn Norseman?
W h a t , y o u s a y ? Yo u
cant bring the airplane
to mind? Dont feel bad.
Theres a high probability the majority of people reading
this cant either. Thats interesting
considering that more than 900
were built. And, although the majority was military, a large number
never left the continent. Generally,
when that many of a type are built,

BUDD DAVISSON

the survivors are numerous enough

that their public profile is fairly
high. Not so the Norseman. Why?
Simple: They got used up. They were
working airplanes, and the kind of
work they did wore them out.
Yes, although the Canadian-built
Norseman was designed and built
to be a backcountry utility bird,
of the more than 900 built, 749
wound up wearing khaki as UC64As for the U.S. Army Air Forces

(USAAF) during WWII. They did

hack duty everywhere they went,
carrying everything and everyone who needed a ride from base
to base. An ambulance Norseman
was supposedly the first Allied airplane to land in Normandy after Dday. Not that many were shot at, so
most survived the war. As soon as
the war was over and theyd been
cashiered out as surplus, it was as if
the Earths tectonic plates abruptly

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

The size of the Norseman isnt readily apparent in the photos until you see it resting in the grass during EAA AirVenture next to a Beech 18. The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 with 600 horses requires the massive 3-blade prop to
absorb all the torque generated by the engine and convert it to working thrust.
tilted and stateside Norseman by
the hundreds automatically slid
north, where a blue-collar airplane
was highly appreciated and immediately put to work. What kind of
work you may ask? Hey, its Canada,
so it was hard work. The airplanes
specific mission in life was clearly
evident in the way the early development of the airplane progressed:
The prototype was first flown on
floats, then skis; then finally it was
put on wheels.

This isnt an airplane you get in, its

one you have to board! The step
plate on top of the landing gear
leg gives you the ability to clamber
aboard.
14 MAY 2011

The low survival rate of Norsemans (about 25 still exist or about

one in 36) is explained in the numerous obituaries: . . . ran ashore
where it was destroyed by fire. All
survived. Total time was 6,782
hours, . . . slewed, hit trees on
an island . . . sankno injuries, total time was 9,225 hours, and . . .
light freezing rain caused engine
failure due to carb icing, crashed in
bush. No injuries. Total time was
8,932 hours. And on and on the
list goes. They were nothing more
than tools, and they died with their
boots on terrain and in territory
well known to be hostile to both

man and airplane. The life they

lived was hard and could end in a
myriad of ways, all of them violent.
No Norseman died from neglect or
for want of work.
The foregoing is why you dont
see many Norsemans, especially
in the lower 48, so when Dennis
Mockford, from Strathmore, Alberta, pulled CF-LZO up alongside
a Twin Beech (which it dwarfed,
by the way) at EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh in 2010, it was obvious we
were looking at a survivor, which
turned out to be true of both plane
and pilot.
I was born in Edmonton, Den-

Plenty of room for a planeload of camping buddies and their gear. Out in
the bush, its often a long way to a fuel cache, so the aft fuel tank gives the
Norseman longer legs.

nis says, and as soon as I turned

16, I joined the RCAF reserves,
where I first polished Twin Beeches.
I later received training in navigation and flew in 418 Squadron. I
was then hired by an airline as a
navigator, with one of my first trips
being Vancouver to Dsseldorf,
Germany, and back in three days,
which was 43 hours of flight time.
Then it was into C-130 Hercules. That was a hard job because
we were going all over the world,
and I was gone 270 days of the year
to places you normally wouldnt
want to go. For instance, we departed Lagos, Nigeria, just before
the airport was bombed. But, this
was long before inertial navigation
and such, and I was good at shooting the stars, so I always had work
as a navigator.
I finally got around to getting
my pilots license, he says, with
little hope of flying for the airlines
I was navigating for. Fortunately,
one day I happened to run into the
VP of operations for Pacific Western
Airlines, my old employer, and he
had heard about a flight I had made
from Vancouver to Sydney, Nova
Scotia, in my Cessna 120 and back,
which is a very long trip for such
an airplane. He told me to come in
the next day. I spent a month fly-

ing an Apache, getting my multiengine and IFR check. Soon, I was

second officer on a Lockheed Electra. I think I had about 450 hours
at the time.
As Dennis worked his way up
into the left seat of 737s, his future
looked bright until he was in a serious car accident in 1991.
Basically, my body took a real
beating, but not as much as my
brain, he says, I was having
short-term memory losses, and I
was grounded for five and a half
years. It was a real struggle trying to
get back because most of the doctors I went to just relied on what
the last one said. So I wasnt getting
anywhere. Finally, I found a doctor
in Los Angeles who would actually
test me and see if I had progressed
or not. He worked with me, and
eventually I tested good enough to
get back into the airlines, where I
had a good career until I retired just
a few years ago.
Throughout my career, I would
continually think back to the first
time I saw a Norseman. It was 1964
and I was just a kid, but I knew
what I liked. As I got older, I kept
thinking about that first image. I
had never even been in the cockpit, but I loved everything about it.
Then, as I was retiring, I started do-

The view from the left seat. The center console throttle/prop/mixture quadrant and 3/4-circle control wheel reinforce the perception that this a nononsense working airplane, even if today it gets to not work quite as hard.

ing a little adventure flying, including being part of a search looking

for an A-20 that was lost during the
war. I was just beginning to work
my way back into little airplanes
when I started hearing people talk
about the 100th anniversary of
flight in Canada, so my brother,
Greg, and I started thinking about
some sort of commemorative flight.
The Norseman seemed like the perfect airplane for that kind of trip.
The Norseman is a big airplane;
plus, by the time Dennis started
looking for one, they were almost
all at the end of their working careers, so they werent likely to be
hangared. And, if they werent either working for a living or someones pampered pet, they werent
being cared for, and the famous
Canadian winters did their best to
cause the airplane to deteriorate.
The fuselages are steel tube, and the
wings are all wood, both being materials that really dont like cold,
damp weather. Plus, he wanted a
flying airplane because he didnt
have time before the air tour started
to restore an airplane thats the size
of the average small house.
I fi nally found one at Selkirk,
Manitoba. Although, it had been
parked for four years, prior to that
it had been a fully restored airplane, so, although it had been
sitting, it was actually in excellent condition. All I did was go
through it and freshen up everything that needed it.
One goal was to keep it as old
as possible and still have it be usable. So, yes, it has a GPS, but its
an early 1990s model, and this is
true of about everything else in the
airplane. Also, we did the inside of
the fuselage with diamond-plate
aluminum up to the bottom of the
windows. That protects the fabric,
and I worry a lot less about loading
things in the airplane.
The engine is a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 with 600 horses and a
three-blade prop. You usually see
the three-blade props on geared
1340s, but this one isnt geared.
The history of a specific airplane

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Norseman History
Rober t Noorduyn was a designer for Fokker who left and
designed the Norseman in 19341935. He and his partner, Walter
Clayton, began producing the airplane in 1935, and it was wellaccepted by the bush aviation
community. However, by 1940,
only 23 airplanes had been delivered. WWII obviously changed the
demand for the airplane greatly.
After the war, surplus UC-64As
were plentiful, and Noorduyn
found its own products to be its
biggest competition and the company just couldnt keep the doors
open. The tooling and rights were
purchased by Canadian Car and
Foundry, which produced another
51 aircraft. It designed a new version, the Mk. VII, with a bigger engine and all-metal airframe, but it
never went into production.
In 1953 the tooling and assets
were sold back to a group headed
by Bob, but he passed away in
1959. Although the company produced three new Mk. Vs in 1959,
that was the end of Norseman
production. Today, parts and support for the airplane are provided
by Gord Huges of Ignace, Ontario,
who has the drawings and jigs as
well as a sizable supply of parts.

is sometimes difficult to nail down,

but Dennis knew most of his airplanes history, some of which
worked right into the plans he had
for making the air tour.
It was built in 1944 for the
USAAF as a Mk. VI. So, it has lots of
gas. Fifty gallons in each wing, and
a variety of belly and aux tanks that
bring the total up to 233 gallons.
This includes the 36-gallon rear fuselage tank that is hard to find, but
we found one.

16 MAY 2011

Dennis Mockfords Norseman is one of about 25 still flying (thats a survival rate of 1 in 36 airframes built). The airplanes were almost exclusively
hardworking bush planes, which tends to use airplanes up.
One of the primary reasons the
Army bought so many of the airplanes and fitted them out with big
tanks is because in 1938, when it
looked as if a lot of airplanes were
going to be built in the United
States and ferried to Europe, they
assigned Col. Bernt Balchen (as in
winner of the Distinguished Flying Cross and, among a lifetime of
achievements, the chief pilot of the
Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1929,
flying a Ford Tri-Motor over the
South Pole) the task of surveying a
ferry route and setting up support
along the way. He was asked what
airplane he needed for the task,
and he said the Norseman was best
suited. Prior to that, the Army had
tested the airplane but few orders
were forthcoming. Much of the
success of the airplane can be attributed to Col. Balchens endorsement of it and subsequent use of it
to fly long distances during the survey missions. And it really can stay
up for a long time.
Dennis says, If I bring the power
back and loaf along at 100 mph,
which burns about 20 gallons per
hour, I have over 10 hours of endurance, and it doesnt really seem
to care how much youre carrying.
Its empty weight is right around
4,400 pounds and the useful is

3,000 pounds, so we can carry a lot

of people or stuff.
The air tour, which was in 2009,
was truly a memorable experience
and had a lot of high points. My
brother, Greg, and I were going to
do the planned entire circumnavigation of Canada, including the
high arctic to Alert, in celebration
of the 100th anniversary of flight
in Canada. We started from Red
Lake [the Norseman Capital of the
World] May 26, going east. Greg
could not continue past Sudbury,
Ontario, for medical reasons, and
a friend came aboard CF-LZO for a
time. In Labrador I found that fuel
was no longer available in Alert,
and fog surrounded Labrador and
Quebec for 15 days. The flight was
then diverted west through central north Canada to the west coast
and back to Red Lake for the annual Norseman Floatplane Festival,
as we had promised. CF-LZO had
flown 100 hours at 100 mph, over
two months, and had completed a
coast-to-coast round-trip flight.
There were lots of high points on
the trip, including little Pelee Island,
the southernmost point in Canada.
When I landed at Sudbury, Ontario, I called my mom, who had
her first flight in a biplane off the ice
there in 1937. That was very cool.

Although there are only a couple dozen surviving

Norseman, with fewer than 20 of them reportedly in
Canada, the Norseman, nonetheless, is recognized
throughout Canada as one of the more important
transportation links in the nations history. In recognition of that, beginning in 1992, the town of Red Lake,
Ontario, began hosting an annual Norseman Festival,
during which the airplane is the centerpiece in a weeklong happening that blends the airplane into all manner of cultural and musical events.
We made it again this year, and about half of the
flyable Norsemans in Canada showed up. Its an event
that gets the entire town involved and is a lot of fun.
In looking at the airplane from the outside, its hard
to guess how it would fly, but the assumption is generally that its a demanding airplane, which Dennis says
is definitely not the case.
Dennis says, When I got back into general aviation, I first flew a Champ; then I flew a Maule. Transitioning into the Norseman was really easy. In fact,
it flies easier than the Maule. I come down final at
80 mph, which is just a little fast, and generally do a
wheel landing because it bounces too easily in a threepoint landing. It stalls under 60 miles per hour and
the flaps help. In addition, the ailerons come down 15
degrees when the flaps go to full deflection. That really
doesnt help that much, and it slows the roll response
at full flaps, so most operators have removed the aileron-flap connections.
The tail wheel is full swivel, with no steering, but
the rudder is very effective, even at slow speed, which
is good because the brakes arent the best. In fact, turning it in grass can be something of a chore, and you
have to plan ahead.
When its on wheels, the military put 30 pounds
of weight in the back to make up for the fact that the
R-1340 is so much heavier than the 420-hp Wright
R-975-E3 it was originally designed for. Even so the
weight and balance isnt quite right, and its a little nose
heavy, so it actually lands better with some load in it.
On floats, its well balanced. The straight floats are big
Edo 55-7170As, but, even so, the airplane needs no ventral fin when they are installed. It has plenty of tail.
After Oshkosh this year, I flew -LZO to Sault Ste.
Marie, Ontario, where I saw the remains of the first
Norseman, CF-AYO, at the Canadian Bushplane museum. Then I overflew the site of its crash in 1953 in
Ontario and on November 14 overflew the St. Lawrence River at Montreal, where it did its first flight, on
floats, 75 years ago. The -LZO also flew to a number
of fly-ins, including those at the Canadian Aviation
and Space Museum at Rockcliffe/Ottawa, Ontario, and
the first annual EAA fly-in at Gatineau, Quebec.
It was really a kick seeing Dennis airplane at Oshkosh,
and its nice to know that one of the old ones is still out
there poking its nose into obscure locations and living
the life for which it was designed.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

The EAAs

H-10 Pheasant
Retail price of $2,895
BY JIM

18 MAY 2011

BUSHA AND H.G. FRAUTSCHY

In

built nine aircraft by the time the

approved type certificate, number
36, was issued on April 1, 1928.
A young air race pilot from
Wisconsin named Steve Wittman
bought one of the H-10 biplanes. In
September 1928, Steve flew it during a transcontinental race from
Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New
York, to Los Angeles, California.
His total time aloft was 34 hours,
33 minutes, 10 seconds, earning
him a 12th-place finish. Steve flew
his Pheasant back home to Fond

JIM KOEPNICK

last months issue

of Vintage Airplane,
we featured an article about a local
east-central Wisconsin aviator, Ray Goss, who at one
time had owned a Pheasant biplane. When Ray bought his used
H-10 Pheasant in the mid-1930s for
$250, the Pheasant Aircraft Company was already flat broke and out
of business. Incorporated on June
27, 1927, in Memphis, Missouri,
the Pheasant Aircraft Company

Restored to airworthy condition in the early 1980s,

the H-10 was flown from the newly built Pioneer Airport by United Air Lines Captain Verne Jobst.

JIM KOEPNICK

H.G. FRAUTSCHY

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

JIM BUSHA

The Pheasant at its permanent home at Pioneer Airport. Its one of only two known to exist.

du Lac, Wisconsin, and convinced

a local businessman, Tom Meiklejohn, to buy the company. Tom did
so, and Steve became the companys chief test pilot.
Seven of the H-10s (the entire
inventory) were flown by Steve
to their new home in Fond du
Lac, where a flyaway retail price
of $2,895 was placed upon them.
Manufacturing new Pheasants soon
began in earnest as the airplanes
rolled out of the factory. The good
times seemed endless as 21 more
H-10 Pheasants were produced,
with more planned to roll out the
factory doors at the original Fond

20 MAY 2011

du Lac airport, located just south

of the south shore of Lake Winnebago, now the site of the University of Wisconsin, Fond du Lac.
Like so many other biplanes of
the post-WWI era, the H-10 Pheasant was designed and built as an
improvement over the Curtiss
Jenny. The H-10 had a 32-foot-6inch upper wingspan and a 29foot lower wingspan. It was 23
feet 6 inches in length and stood
9 feet high. The Pheasants empty
weight was 1,350 pounds, with a
gross weight of 2,026 pounds. It
was powered by a liquid-cooled
Curtiss OX-5 engine, the same en-

JIM BUSHA

H.G. FRAUTSCHY

The instrument panel of the Pheasant. There are no instruments in

the forward cockpit.

JIM KOEPNICK

With Captain Jobst at the controls, the H-10 Pheasant soars over the west side of Wittman Field in Oshkosh
in June 1989.

H.G. FRAUTSCHY

Like so many other biplanes of

the post-World War I era, the
H-10 Pheasant was designed and
built as an improvement over
the Curtiss Jenny.

The OX-5 engine of the EAAs Pheasant H-10 is often used for handpropping demonstrations during the
associations Good Ol Days events
at Pioneer Airpor t. Longtime employee Bauken Noack prepares the
engine prior to starting on a cool August afternoon in 2009.

gine as the Jenny used, which developed 90 hp at 1400 rpm. The

H-10s maximum speed was 100
mph with a ceiling of 15,000 feet
and a range of 400 miles, carrying a
38-gallon fuel tank. To the builders
of the airplane, there was no end in
sight for the H-10s prosperity and
predicted long life. That was until
a black day in October 1929, when
the United States economy began
to turn upside down as the stock
market crashed.
With the country in full-blown
financial chaos during 1930, the
Pheasant Aircraft Company, like
so many others, fell victim to the
Great Depression as it deepened in
the months and years following the
stock market crash. By 1931, the
company was well on its way to
bankruptcy, and by 1934, the com-

pany ceased to exist. A grand total

of 30 H-10s were built. Only two
are known to exist.
One of these biplanes, NC151N,
is preserved for viewing in the Wittman Hangar at EAAs Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The
H-10 last tasted flight in mid-1989,
when it was flown during the early
days of Pioneer Airport. The biplanes OX-5 engine has been run
on occasion for special occasions,
and the biplane has been displayed
outdoors during special events
at the field. Its long nose, which
houses an OX-5 engine, is usually
pointed toward the Wittman Hangars door, basking in the afternoon
sun, facing the grass strip as it waits
patiently to become airborne, looking just as it would have during the
golden age of flight.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21

My Friend

Frank Rezich
Part VIIIFun on the National Air Tour With Frank
BY

ROBERT G. LOCK

PHOTOS COURTESY OF REZICH FAMILY COLLECTION

Wherever Frank travels, there

is always somebody he knows or
somebody who knows him. That
was never more apparent than at
the 2003 National Air Tour (NAT).
There, Frank was in his element,
surrounded by aviators young and
old, all admiring his rich aviation
background.
Frank and his daughter, Kathy,
flew much of the trip with me,
but there were times that Frank
tended to his mechanic duties. His
white coveralls carried the Travel
Air and Wright engine logos. He
wore them as he performed the
dance he perfected to the rhythm
of the Wright Whirlwind at idle.
He would stand at the right wingtip and move to the loping sounds
of the idling engine. At fi rst people didnt know what he was doing, but as I watched the crowd

22 MAY 2011

from the rear cockpit, they caught

on and were pointing at Frank doing his dance. It was hilarious! I
watched others imitate what Frank
was doing as they waited in line
to get a ride in an open-cockpit
biplane.
I recall one leg of the jour-

Above: Frank and Kathy on one of

the legs of the National Air Tour.
Frank had his trusty sectional charts
and would follow the course, pointing out interesting landmarks to
Kathy. There were a few times when
Kathy would help my wife, Sandy,
drive the van from point to point, but
she would really rather be flying.
Right: With aviation running in her
blood, daughter Kathy takes a turn
fueling at a stop in Atchison, Kansas, home to Amelia Earhart.

ney when the trusty Wright beg a n r u n n i n g a l i t t l e r o u g h l y.

I thought it could be carburetor ice, but the heat didnt seem
to make it run any better, so we
shot a precautionary landing at
a small airfield along the route
and checked things out. Frank
and I checked over the engine and
could fi nd nothing apparent that
would cause some roughness, so
we headed out and never had the
problem again. We deduced it was
a good load of carburetor ice and
pressed on with the trip.
Jim Rezich writes, The Stinson
Tri-Motor owned by Greg Herrick
was once owned by Bluebird Air
Service and flown on Midway Airport by both Nick and Frank as
copilots.
Frank knew every airplane and
every pilot on the trip. He knew
the history of nearly all the ships.
He was a walking and talking encyclopedia of aviation history.
We spent some time at the small
terminal building going through
Earhart memorabilia. And, true to
character, Frank knew there was a
very rare Northrop Delta stored in
a hangar at the end of the ramp.
He insisted we be allowed in to
see the airplane, to which the
young caretaker finally agreed and
opened the hangar door. I later
asked Frank how he knew that airplane was there and he said, Oh,
I know where there are quite a few
still stored, but this is probably
the most rare.
When the weather soured in
Maryland, Greg Herrick chartered
two buses, and we drove to the
Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center at
Dulles Airport. Greg arranged for
a special tour for the pilots and
crew of the new museum, which
was not open to the public yet.
Frank got to see the Travel Air
D4D Pepsi Skywriter proudly displayed in the gallery. Frank had
spent many hours maintaining
and repairing that airplane. Later
in the morning the buses took us
to the National Air and Space Museum on the mall in Washington,

Frank and Kathy with some very famous airplanes in the background. Thank
you, Greg Herrick and your crew, for all you did for us on that great NAT.

The smoke-writing Travel Air, NC434N, owned Andy Stinis from New York.
Stinis obtained the first contract with Pepsi Cola for advertising in the sky
using a smoke-writing airplane in 1932.

In his San Miguel shop, Frank specialized in building and repairing Travel
Air wings; here a new wing is being assembled in his special fixture. The fixture assured that new lower wings would fit onto the fuselage fittings. You
can also see a set of Travel Air wings stored overhead in the rafters. Jim
Rezich writes, The wings are from Franks Travel Air NC9946H. The number lapsed after the war, and when Mike got it re-registered he had to add
the H to it.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

Frank, wearing a Travel Air cap and white

mechanics coveralls, perfects his dance,
which we named The Wright Shuffle. At
age 80, Frank could keep up with the best
of them.

Frank at age 19. The second shot

(right, page 15) at Willow Run, Michigan, was taken in the shadow of
the old Ford plant that turned out so

A study of Frank and his cigar in the

rear seat of NC606K.

Taken on the 2003 National Air Tour at Wichita, Kansas. Frank entertains the crowd as the NAT airplanes prepare to arrive.
D.C. Frank had never been there
before, so he and Kathy wanted to
explore all the displays.
Earlier in our series, Frank recalled how he picked up converted
B-24s in Memphis, Tennessee, to
ferry to Florida and eventually to
North Africa. Designated C-109 by
the AAF, they were the tanker version of the B-24. He was back at

24 MAY 2011

the Willow Run factory in Michigan for the start of the 2003 National Air Tour, as you can see him
prep the Wright prior to our departure in 2003.
For many years, Frank kept the
Pepsi Skywriter flying. NC434N was
powered by a Wright R-760-E2 developing 350 hp, ideal for highaltitude smoke writing. Frank re-

called, When my brother Mike saw

this airplane and its performance
he decided to get a model D4D, and
that is when he purchased NC606K
with a 350-hp Wright R-760-E2 engine. I did several major repairs on
the airplane over the years that
Pepsi owned NC434N.
Frank has had a marvelous career in aviation, beginning at a
very young age. And he is not finished yet, as his two Travel Airs
await his touch. Frank Rezich is a
cherished friend. Now enjoy some
more photographs of this grand
old man of aviation.

many B-24s during WWII, as Frank

pulls the Wright through prior to
starting as we kicked off the 2003
National Air Tour.

Frank never passed an opportunity to fly in another air tour ship. He flies right
seat with John Mohr in Greg Herricks Stinson tri-motor.

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Light Plane Heritage

published in EAA Experimenter May 1991

PREST BABY PURSUIT

BY

he Prest Baby Pursuit was

a neat, single-place sportplane with great eye appeal when it appeared in
the days when Waco and Travel Air

GEORGE HARDIE, JR.

biplanes were common. A description of the airplane was given in the

April 1930 issue of Aero Digest:
The design of the Prest Baby
Pursuit, a semi-cantilever mono-

plane produced in Arlington,

California by Prest Airplane and
Motors, incorporates an unusual
arrangement of the fuselage. To
permit fastening the wing directly
to the top corner of the fuselage,
just above the level of the pilots
eyes, resulting in the minimum
obstruction to vision, the fuselage
is turned up on edge. The pilot has
normal vision forward, downward
and above. In the construction of
the fuselage, major stresses are distributed to the entire structure directly from the attached fittings.
The plane is powered with a Szekely SR-3 40-horsepower engine.
The wing is semi-cantilever,
with solid and laminated spruce
beams of full-length pieces, with
no splices in the one-piece wing.

Editors Note: The Light Plane Heritage series in EAAs Experimenter magazine often touched on aircraft and concepts
related to vintage aircraft and their history. Since many of our members have not had the opportunity to read this series, we plan on publishing those LPH articles that would be of interest to VAA members. Enjoy!HGF

26 MAY 2011

Specifications
Span

29 feet

Chord

49 inches

Wing area

92 square feet

Length

17 feet, 11 inches

Weight, fully
equipped

475 pounds

Useful load

225 pounds

Weight loaded

700 pounds

High speed

90 mph

Stalling speed

40 mph

Climb, first minute 700 feet

This spruce is known as Split-Rite

and is marketed by the Aircraft
Lumber Corporation of St. Paul,
Minnesota. The fuselage is covered
with A&N Nashawena fabric. The
wing is covered with Flightex.
Internal drag struts are of
chrome-molybdenum steel tubing, welded into a truss and bolted

to the beams. The drag bracing is

double and is of round MacWhyte
tie rods with Safe Lock fittings.
Chrome-molybdenum is used
throughout in the construction, including sheet fittings and tubing.
The fuel tanks are of aluminum,
pickled and vibration-tested according to Navy specifications. The

landing gear is fitted with Gruss Air

Struts. A Consolidated instrument
panel is provided.
The ailerons are controlled by
means of cables within the wing and
a push-pull tube to the wing from
the torque tube. The wing may be
removed without loosening the cables or pulleys, one pin being pulled
to disconnect the ailerons. The wing
is designed to be removed by two
men in approximately ten minutes.
The ailerons extend the full
length of the trailing edge and have
a chord of 4-1/4 inches, their total
area being 6.5 square feet.
The entire ship is constructed in
a jig, and all of the parts are interchangeable with equivalent parts.
The construction of the fuselage facilitates manufacture in jigs, and it
is designed to come from the jig in
alignment so that the landing gear,
wings and other parts may be fastened without fitting or forcing.
In 1937, EAA member Ernie Fillinger purchased his Prest for $100.
He decided to replace the unreliable
Szekely with a Lawrance threecylinder, which he overhauled himself. After flying the airplane to West
Coast events near where he lived, he
sold the airplane in 1960 and built
a modified version using a 90-hp
Franklin for power. Its present status
is unknown. Another Prest was still extant in 1961, owned by Bruce Keathley
of Edwards, California.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

Vintage
Mechanic

THE

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

Vibrations, Part 2
With few exceptions, vibrations in older, fixedwing aircraft are generated by the engine and prop.
In the early days of construction, the engines were
inadequately shock-mounted. As a result, many engine problems could be traced to extreme vibration.
Many early radial engine installations featured a
hard engine mount (without shock mountings) with
only a thick leather washer located between the engine and mount.
Illustration 1 is the original Command-Aire factory
engine mount ring for a Curtiss Challenger R-600 radial. A six-cylinder engine, it had extreme vibration
problems, yet there are no shock mounts anywhere.
The mount is welded to the fuselage frame. The only
shock mounts were 1/4-inch-thick leather washers
between engine and mount ring. No wonder there
were severe airframe and engine vibrations!

When rubber shock mounts were finally used,

they provided a means of changing the periods of
vibration so that the various nodes fell either above
or below the operating frequency of the engine.
Perhaps one of the best (for its time) engine shock
mounts was used on the Boeing Stearman PT-13/17
series aircraft to mount the Continental R-670 or
Lycoming R-680 radial engines. Illustration 2 shows
details of simple rubber shock mounts between engine and mount. Vibration damping was good, and
this type of mounting was used for aircraft up to 600
hp by enlarging the rubber shock absorbers.

Illustration 2
Illustration 1
28 MAY 2011

Compare the Command-Aire 5C3 factory engine

mount in Illustration 1 with the modified shock

mount version in my Command-Aire 5C3, as shown

in Illustration 3. A Lycoming R-680 shock mount
ring from a Boeing PT-13 will fi t the Wright R-760
by moving the two lower shock mounts slightly.
With this component installed, I could use Boeing
Stearman shock mounts, which could be purchased
new from Dusters & Sprayers Supply. It proved to be
a much better installation, by providing damping of
vibrations from the Wright and its Hamilton Standard propeller.

Illustration 3
There will always be airframe vibrations, but the
old designers did little to compensate; one just had
to get used to the shaking. Most instrument boards in
old biplanes were not shock-mounted. Instead, they
were firmly attached to the structure. By the mid-

1930s and beyond, designers began to shock-mount

the instrument panels. J.M. Lord began to manufacture shock mounts for aircraft use. Its small mounts
were double-mounted behind the instrument panel
to provide a means to dampen airframe vibrations
from being transmitted to the instruments. The new
dampers are called elastomeric, because of the material used and the method of dampening vibrations.
Illustration 4 shows the typical shock-mounting of
an instrument board in the late 1930s. As individual
2-1/4-inch, 3-1/8-inch, and 5-1/4-inch instruments
were developed in the 1930s, the need for vibration
damping became apparent for proper operation because of the weight of all those instruments. All early
instruments needed some vibration to operate correctly, but rigid mounting proved to be too much for
the instruments to take.
Shock-equipped engine mounts became a big deal
when all the World War II surplus Boeing Stearman
aircraft were sold in 1946. Originally converted to
crop dusters using stock powerplant installations,
these sturdy ships were converted to engines of 300600 hp to carry heavier loads of dust and spray.
At fi rst, engine mounts were hand-fabricated by
the modifi er. For the Pratt & Whitney 450-hp conversion, BT-13 engine mounts were cut so the mount
rings and attach fittings to the fuselage could be salvaged and reused. To save weight, the mounts were
shortened and the engine was placed as close to the
firewall as possible, only leaving enough space to
mount a starter and a 50-amp generator.
Except for the rubber shock pads on the ring (similar to the Continental and Lycoming pads shown
in Illustration 1 but larger in size), this was the only
vibration-damping mechanism provided.
A company in Salinas, California, by the name of
Serv Aero Engineering began to manufacture a better
shock mount in the early 1950s. Floyd Perry was the
owner of the company, and it eventually STCd many
different engine mounts. Note the heavy dampers at
the mount-ring and their shorter length to accommodate the higher weight of the Pratt & Whitney
R-985 engine as shown in Illustration 5.

Illustration 4
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29

Illustration 5
There are other vibrations introduced into the airframe that are not caused by the engine or propeller. One
such vibration is tail wheel shimmy. All full-swiveling
steerable tail wheels have an anti-shimmy device built
into the unit. Perhaps one of the best and most reliable
tail wheels is found on the Boeing PT-13/17 biplane. It is
well-designed and very rugged.
Tail wheel shimmy can introduce vibrations into the
airframe structure by simply being out of alignment. To
check for proper alignment, jack the aft fuselage so the
tail wheel is off the ground. Check the rudder pedals for
neutral position, and ascertain if the tail wheel is tracking
straight. If not, adjust the turnbuckles to align the rudder pedal neutral with straight tracking of the tail wheel.
While the tail wheel is off the ground, make sure there is
positive steering when the rudder is moved left and right.
The tail wheel should closely follow the movement of the
tail wheel. If it does not, troubleshoot and fix the problem. Illustration 6 shows one of the best tail wheels ever
designed, the unit for the Boeing PT-13/17.

Illustration 6
30 MAY 2011

There are times when this type of tail wheel will

shimmy even when it tracks correctly. See the large
spring on top of the steering arm? The purpose of this
spring is to apply pressure to the steering arm as it seats
on the thrust plate. The spring controls the force required
to cause the fork to kick out into full swivel operation.
Other airframe vibrations that may be introduced by
engine, propeller, or aerodynamic buffeting may be caused
by landing gear doors, which are not properly rigged in
a retractable gear airplane. The landing gear should be
tested every 100 hours of operation or during the annual
inspection. The airplane is placed on jacks and the gear
doors (if installed) are disconnected and wired into the
full open condition. Then the gear is actuated to the full
up position where rigging is checked. The final step is to
reconnect the gear doors and complete another retraction
check, this time to make sure the doors are completely
closed. This should eliminate low-frequency vibrations
caused by improperly rigged landing gear doors.
Loose or misaligned flying and landing wires can
cause undue high-frequency, low-amplitude in-flight vibrations. Most old biplanes do not have rigging manuals
or information regarding wire tensions. If that is the case,
then I refer to wire tensions given in the Boeing PT-13/17
rigging manual and use this data as a guide to wire tension for a specific aircraft.
Its important to recognize that the Stearman is a very
stout aircraft, and wire tensions may be higher than for a
ship built in the 1920s and 1930s. If a wire is not streamlined it will vibrate; at times the frequency will be so great
that the wire will blur, and if the amplitude increases, the
vibration can be felt in the flight controls and eventually
the structure.
A person standing on the ground will hear a whistle
sound emanating from the vibrating wire: the longer
the wire, the lower the pitch, and the shorter the wire,
the higher the pitch. It is important to pay attention to
details when rigging a biplane, and certainly the streamlining of wires is very important.
When I rigged my Command-Aire, there was no factory data provided that described the precise procedure,
particularly the streamline wire tensions. I set the tension
at what I thought would be acceptable, based on my
experience with the Stearman and other biplanes. I immediately noticed that when rear-flying wire tension was
increased, it tended to bow the upper wing trailing edge.
I experimented with wire tensions until I got the wires
just right, so the landing wire would not loosen in flight.
I measured the wire tensions, and they were close to
those of the Boeing PT-13/17 rigging manual, but somewhat looser.
As it turns out, tightening the front-flying wires will
slightly loosen the rear-flying wires. Once the ship has
been rigged, adjusting flying wire tension equally front
and rear, left and right, will keep the ship in rig, but that
procedure will tighten both the flying and landing wires.
I have no problem using this Stearman data and ap-

Illustration 7
plying it to another type of airplane, realizing that tensions will be a little looser because few early-production
biplanes had the structural strength of the PT-17. Illustration 7 shows my Command-Aire in flight.
There are myriad vibrations that can occur on an

aircraft while in flight. Maintenance personnel must

be able to identify the problem and attempt to cure the
cause. Understanding vibrationsthe cause, effect, and
corrective actionis an important skill all mechanics
must learn. Experience here is the best teacher.

Resources:
Airplane Maintenance, 1940. Hubert G. Lesley,
Maintenance Engineer Eastern Airline (Illustration 2)
Erection and Maintenance Instructions for Model N2S
Airplanes, 1941, compiled by Stearman Aircraft,
a Division of Boeing Airplane Company, Wichita, Kansas (Illustration 1)
Elements of Technical Aeronautics, 1942. N.A.C.
staff, New York Aeronautics Council Inc.
Airplane Design Manual, 1958. Frederick K. Teichmann
Dusters & Sprayers Supply catalog, 1969-1970.
Hugh Wilson and Bob Chambers

Have a comment or question for Bob Lock, the

Vintage Mechanic? Drop us an e-mail at vintageair
craft@eaa.org, or you can mail your question to Vintage Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 31

Vintage
Instructor
THE

BY Steve Krog, CFI

Overcoming self-doubt
Arising early for another day of work, you hear
the weather forecast in the background indicating it
will be a beautiful day to go flying after work. While
driving to work you scan the sky and note that it is
perfect for flying, but then you think about the last
flight you made.
Throughout the workday your mind wanders, and
you think youd much rather be flying than sitting
in an endless meeting chaired by the boss with a
monotone delivery. And again you think about that
last flight.
Finally, the workday comes to an end. You want
to go flying before heading home. The breeze is light
and the sky bright blue. But on the way to the airport
you begin thinking about your last flight and the
spectacular landing you made. You forgot to set up
for a crosswind landing and nearly ran your beautifully restored airplane off the runway and into the
deep drainage ditch alongside the pavement. When
will the FAA ever decide that drainage ditches next to
a runway can be airplane eaters? you wonder. Your
palms were sweaty then and your stomach knotted
seemingly into your throat as you nervously taxied
back to the hangar that day. You were thankful that
no harm was done to your airplane, but your ego was
severely bruised and confidence seriously shaken.
What did I do wrong on that landing? youve
asked yourself a hundred times since that flight.
Youve played it over and over in your mind to the
point where youre now fixated on it every time
you even think of going flying. Youve even dreamt
about it.
Approaching the airport, your palms begin to sweat
just thinking about that landing, and a knot begins
to grow in your stomach. What began as a thought
of exhilaration and flying your treasured airplane has
now become one of self-doubt. Excuses for not flying
today occupy your mind. The wind looks a little too
strong, and there seems to be some crosswind. Your
self-doubt grows. Perhaps tomorrow will be a better
day to fly, you think.
After spending an hour thoroughly overlooking
your airplane at the hangar, you check the windsock

32 MAY 2011

one more time and come to the conclusion that it is

just a bit too windy. Self-doubt has caused your stomach to become one big acid pit in need of a whole roll
of Tums. You slowly close the hangar doors; then you
hop in your car for the 30-minute drive home.
Defeated!
Once on the road home, you begin mentally kicking yourself for not flying today. After all, the weather
was nearly ideal. Now, rather than having a nervous
feeling about flying, youre down on yourself for not
flying. Then you tell yourself with confidence that tomorrow youll definitely go flying!
If youve read this far, ask yourself, honestly and
candidly, can you identify with this scenario? How
many pleasure flights have you denied yourself because you lost your self-confidence due to something
that had occurred during a recent flight?
Anyone who has experienced flight has also experienced times of self-doubt or loss of confidence. Over
the four-plus decades that Ive been flying and teaching flight instruction, Ive encountered this situation
personally, and Ive had many others share similar experiences with me. How one goes about dealing with
a loss of confidence can mean the difference between
enjoying many future pleasure-filled hours of flight or
walking away from a hobby that previously brought
you great joy.
I certainly dont have all the answers, but I can
share some methods Ive employed in dealing with a
loss of confidenceeither my own or those of a student or fellow pilot.

Incident Fixation
The bad landing you made can easily become foremost on your mind. The more time wasted on reliving the landing, the more obsessed you become by
it, leading to even more self-doubt. Admit to yourself
that you made a bad landing, and then tell yourself
youll do a lot better on your next flight. Think positively. You know how to make crosswind landings.

Recall Positive Flight Experience

You love to fly, right? Think about a good take-

off and the pleasure or satisfaction

you feel when flying. What an exhilarating experience it is to see
the earth drop away as you climb
out of the traffic pattern. Youre in
total control.
Remember giving a friend,
grandchild, or relative his or her
first ride in a small airplane? At
first they were a bit apprehensive
and asked a lot of questions. But
your enthusiasm and confidence
put them at ease. Once in the air,
you explained how to control the
airplane and let them do a bit of
flying. Out of the corner of your eye you could observe their look of awe. Seeing the world from a thousand feet is one of the most memorable experiences a
novice will ever experience.
Are you going to let a bad landing deny you of
these experiences?

Do Some Hangar Flying

Dont be afraid to talk to some of the folks at the
airport and share your experience. If these individuals have done any amount of fl ying, they have all
had experiences similar to yours. Sometimes their
responses might be a bit beyond belief (hangar flying is like telling fishing stories), but you will glean
some good advice if you cut through the exaggerated tales.
While at the airport on a day when there is activity,
find a shaded area, set up your lawn chair, and observe some takeoffs and landings. You will soon pick
up on the approach techniques other pilots are demonstrating, right or wrong, and be able to apply what
youve learned to your next flight.
This activity is a great morale- and confidence-booster.

Fly With a Friend

Another technique Ive found to help build confidence is to make a flight with an experienced pilot/
friend. Observe how he or she handles crosswind
takeoffs and landings. Observation can be a great
teaching method.

Fly With an Instructor You Trust

Most instructors I know will jump at a chance to
share their love of fl ight or fl y a different airplane.
Over the years past, Ive been asked numerous times
to fly with different pilots, young and old. Some are
just a bit rusty from not having done any recent flying, while others recognized a flaw in their piloting
skills and were in search of some advice. Usually it
takes no more than three to six landings to diagnose
the problem and re-establish a safe fl ight practice.
Im always personally amazed at how an individual

can go from self-doubt to self-confidence in a matter

of those three to six landings.

Schedule a Flight in Good Conditions

If you fall off your horse, the best thing to do is get
back on and ride. How many times have you heard that
line repeated in your lifetime? Remember when you first
learned how to ride a bicycle? One fall didnt keep you
from trying it again. The same can be said for flying.
A bad landing experience can certainly shake ones
confidence. All of us have been there at one time or
another. As a longtime flight instructor, Ive often
advised individuals who have come to me for flying
advice. My suggestion is to pick the next good-flying
light-breeze day and go for a flight. Theres nothing
better to build your confidence than going for and
completing a pleasant flight. Then try two or three
landings. If it was a crosswind landing that shook
your confidence, try a few crosswind landings when
there is a light crosswind. Continue rebuilding your
level of confidence by trying crosswind landings on a
breezier day. If there is a turf runway near where you
are located, try some crosswind landings there.
Confidence increases as your skill level increases.
Ive often taken students and even experienced pilots
for a flight on gusty, windy days. When Ive suggested
doing so, the reply is usually, Id never go flying on
a day like to today. That may be so, but what about
those days when you departed in the calm early morning for a breakfast flight only to return home finding
the wind to be 10-20 mphand its a crosswind! Well
try several crosswind landings in these conditions.
They may not be perfect and pretty, but theyll be
safe. At flights conclusion you may be sweating in
places you havent sweated since your early flighttraining days. However, your skill level and confidence will be greatly enhanced. You still may not go
for a flight on days like that, but youll know that you
could if you had to and you would be safe!
Practicing flight any time improves your skill level,
and on days that are less than ideal it enhances those
skillsbuilding confidence and erasing self-doubt.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 33

by H.G. FRAUTSCHY

MYSTERY PLANE
This months Mystery Plane is a real slow-pitch softballplenty of
you should get this one. Doug Fortune suggested it.
Send your answer to EAA, Vintage Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Your answer
needs to be in no later than June
10 for inclusion in the August
2011 issue of Vintage Airplane.
You can also send your response
via e-mail. Send your answer to
mysteryplane@eaa.org. Be sure to include your name plus your city and
state in the body of your note and
put (Month) Mystery Plane in the
subject line.

FEBRUARYS MYSTERY ANSWER

he February Mystery Plane
was sent to us by the folks
who head up that great
aviation website 1000AircraftPhotos.com. Its part of their Peter Carbin collection. Ron Dupas and
Johan Visschedijk have a wonderful
online collection of aviation photos, and they shared a few of them
with us. Their website is located at
http://1000AircraftPhotos.com.
I said in February that the airplane
was of foreign manufacturein fact,
it was built by our neighbors to the
north, across the Canadian border.
We love hearing from you, and
we got plenty of answers for this.

One answer comes to us from

Thomas Lymburn of Princeton,
Minnesota. Heres an edited version
of his note:

34 MAY 2011

Shown here on skis and in the other photo on Edo floats, CF-EIM was the last remaining flying Husky until it sank. It was later salvaged and placed on display at
the Canadian Museum of Flight and Transportation in Langley, British Columbia.
The aircraft in the February 2011
Mystery Plane column is the Fairchild
(Canada) F-11 Husky, registered CFEIM (s/n 3) during the time it was operated by Diversified Mining Interests.

The Canadian branch of Fairchild began in 1922 as Fairchild Aerial Surveys Ltd. In 1945, it started
design of a new bushplane that it
called the F-11 Husky.

The approved Edo float for the aircraft was the model 62-6560. Well regarded
in some respects by those who flew it, the Husky was felt by most pilots to
be underpowered when equipped with the original 450-hp P&W Wasp Jr.
A team led by J.A.T. Butler designed the Husky with an upswept
rear fuselage for easy loading (especially of canoes); an undercarriage
with interchangeable wheels, floats,
or skis; interchangeable control surfaces; and fuel tanks in the fuselage
for easy accessibility. The airplane was
intended to be flown by a crew of
two, with room for eight passengers
or 1,800 pounds of cargo.
The F-11 has an all-metal structure
with fabric-covered control surfaces
and fabric on the wing surfaces. The
prototype, CF-BQC, made its maiden
flight on floats from the St. Lawrence
River on 14 June 1946, powered by a
450-hp P&W Wasp Jr. The pilot was
A.M. McKenzie. CF-BQC remained as
a company demonstrator until 1947.
The first production model, CF-EIL,
was delivered to Nickel Belt Airways
Ltd., Sudbury, [Ontario], in September 1946. A further six went to Nickel
Belt, with others to the provinces of
Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Eight
were still registered in Canada in
1963. Some are believed to have continued in operation into the 1980s.
In the end, only 12 were built
due to the bankruptcy of Fairchild
Industries Ltd., which had been created to manufacture prefab houses.
These (with floats) sold for between
$29,000 and $36,000 Canadian. Although well liked by pilots, the
Husky was considered underpowered, and six aircraft were converted
with the installation of a 550-hp Alvis Leonides radial. First flight with

this engine took place on 8 July 1956.

This improved its rate of climb and
cruising speed. The first aircraft converted (as an F-11-2) was the one in
your picture, CF-EIM. It was modified with the Alvis and a three-blade
prop by Vancouver Aircraft Sales.
Conversions with a 625-hp Alvis,
600-hp P&W R-1340, and a 715-hp
P&W (Canada) PT-6A turboprop were
planned, but not made.
I found a website for Vazar Aerospace that is continuing technical development of the Husky as the Vazar
Turbo Husky with a 750-hp turbine,
possibly for reintroduction into production. The company currently does
turbine conversions of the Otter and
Beaver. Projected performance includes a 160-mph cruise and a 1,500
feet/minute rate of climb, with a
3,500-pound useful load. Their website detailing the project is www.Vazar.
com/fairchild-husky-aircraft-project.html.
Ive run across three huskies in
my travels: C-GCYV at the Western
Canada Aviation Museum in Winnipeg; CF-EIM (your photo) with the
Canadian Museum of Flight and
Transportation in Langley, British Columbia; and CF-EIR at the [Canadian]
Bushplane Heritage Centre in Sault
Ste. Marie, Canada.
Molson and Taylors Canadian
Aircraft Since 1909 (Putnam, 1982)
and Kent Mitchells Fairchild Aircraft
1926-1987 are good starting sources
for the Husky. It also gets some ink
in Gena Szurovys Bushplanes (Zeneth, 2004). I recommend Robert

S. Grants Great Northern Bushplanes

(Hancock House, 1997). Grant devotes an entire chapter to the Husky
and notes that CF-EIM was the last
airworthy example. Flown by North
Coast Air Service of Prince Rupert,
B.C., it sank and was salvaged by the
Museum of Flight and Transportation, where I saw it in 1989.
As always, many thanks for giving
me a chance to put to use my collection of dusty aviation books!
Other correct answers via e-mail
were received from J.W. Whitehead,
Cheyenne, Wyoming; Wes Smith,
Springfield, Illinois; Don Berrier,
Bartonville, Illinois; David Nixon,
Portland, Oregon; Hillis Cunliffe,
Millbrook, Alabama; Sam V. Smith,
Arlington, Virginia; Wayne Muxlow, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Walter
C. Dietrich, Hastings, Florida; Ken
Videan, Aldershot, United Kingdom;
Warren Kelley, Clarkson, Ontario,
Canada; John Bruns, Orange, California; Jamie Patterson, Miramichi,
New Brunswick, Canada; Stanley
B. Pickles, Tiverton, Ontario, Canada; Lars Gleitsmann, Alaska; Lynn
Goyer, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada; Earl Space, Renton, Washington;
Gerry Norberg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Larry Knechtel, Seattle, Washington; Jack Erickson, State
College, Pennsylvania; Brian Patterson; and Toby Gursanscky, Clontarf,
New South Wales, Australia.
And via good old regular mail, we
received correct answers from Harvey Alley, Grand Rapids, Michigan;
Joe Tarafas, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Wayne Van Valkenburgh, Jasper,
Georgia; Donald Sumrall, Sunrall, Mississippi; and Ev Cassagneres, Cheshire,
Connecticut. Good job, gang!
We were also pleased to hear from
Renald Fortier of Ottawa, Canada,
who serves as the curator of aviation
history for the Canada Aviation and
Space Museum. He pointed out there
are a few photos of the airplane taken
during the 1970s at this website:
www.AvCanada.ca/forums2/viewtopic.
php?f=54&t=46081&start=25.
You can view the website for this
Husky photo athttp://1000AircraftPhotos.
com/contributions/10350.htm.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 35

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one now
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Sa onlin
Buy

How to get to
the fun faster
at Oshkosh.
Buy your admission tickets online.
Print the tickets out ahead of time,
and take them to any entry gate.
Youll be heading for the fun in no
time. Buy by June 15 for a great
advance purchase discount.
Camp Scholler Express
As an EAA member, you can
pre-purchase your drive-in camping
online. When you get to Oshkosh,
youll be checked in and setting up
camp faster than ever. Andnew
this yearyou can choose any
arrival date.
B-17 and Tri-Motor rides too
Seats ll up fast for these
incredible ight experiences.
Buy yours online now.
AirVenture.org/tickets
Online. Its the smart way to plan
your AirVenture 2011 experience.
And save money, too.

July 25-31 | AirVenture.org

Advance tickets made possible by

Upcoming Major
Fly-Ins
Golden West Regional Fly-In
and Air Show

Yuba County Airport (MYV)

Marysville, California
June 10-12, 2011
www.GoldenWestFlyIn.org
Arlington Fly-In

Arlington Municipal Airport (AWO)

Arlington, Washington
July 6-10, 2011
www.ArlingtonFlyIn.org

VINTAGE TRADER
S o m e t h i n g t o b u y, s e l l , o r t r a d e ?

Classified Word Ads: $5.50 per 10 words, 180 words maximum, with boldface lead-in on
first line.
Classified Display Ads: One column wide (2.167 inches) by 1, 2, or 3 inches high at $20 per
inch. Black and white only, and no frequency discounts.
Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (i.e., January 10 is
the closing date for the March issue). VAA reserves the right to reject any advertising in conflict with its
policies. Rates cover one insertion per issue. Classified ads are not accepted via phone. Payment must
accompany order. Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426-4828) or e-mail (classads@eaa.org) using
credit card payment (all cards accepted). Include name on card, complete address, type of card, card
number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to EAA. Address advertising correspondence to EAA
Publications Classified Ad Manager, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.

MISCELLANEOUS
www.aerolist.org, Aviations Leading
Marketplace.

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

Wittman Regional Airport (OSH)

Oshkosh, Wisconsin
July 25-31, 2011
www.AirVenture.org
Colorado Sport International Air Show
and Rocky Mountain Regional Fly-In

Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC)

Denver, Colorado
August 27-28, 2011
www.COSportAviation.org

Retractable Tiedown Plans. Hand

prop, get in plane, release and
retract tiedown and store it in plane.
vetdrem@hotemail.com

SERVICES
Always Flying Aircraft Restoration,
LLC: Annual Inspections, Airframe
recovering, fabric repairs and
complete restorations. Wayne A.
Forshey A&P & I.A. 740-472-1481
Ohio and bordering states.

Biplane Builder Ltd. Restoration, fabric,

paint, fabrications, paperwork with 53
completed projects, Wacos, Moths,
Champs, Pitts etc. Test flights and
delivery. Indiana 812-343-8879
mike@biplanebuilder.com, www.
biplanebuilder.com.
Bully Aeroplane Works and
A i r s h o w s p ro v i d e s c o m p l e t e
airman estate and aviation
collection services without the
hassle and invasiveness of on-site
auctions. We specialize in antique,
aerobatic, and experimental aircraft
and parts. References available.
Contact Eric Minnis at 336-2638558 or ericminnis@yahoo.com

Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-In

Grimes Field Airport (I74)

Urbana, Ohio
September 10-11, 2011

What Our Members Are Restoring

http://MERFI.com
Copperstate Fly-In

Casa Grande Municipal Airport (CGZ)

Casa Grande, Arizona
October 20-22, 2011
www.Copperstate.org
Southeast Regional Fly-In

Middleton Field Airport (GZH)

Evergreen, Alabama
October 21-23, 2011
www.SERFI.org
For details on hundreds of upcoming aviation happenings, including EAA chapter fly-ins,
Young Eagles rallies, and other local aviation
events, visit the EAA Calendar of Events located at www.EAA.org/calendar.

Are you nearing

earing completion of a restoration? Or is it done and yo
youre busy
flying and showing it off? If so, wed like to hear from you. Send us a 4-by-6inch print from a commercial source (no home printers, pleasethose prints
just dont scan well) or a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital photo. A JPG from your
2.5-megapixel (or higher) digital camera is fine. You can burn photos to a CD,
or if youre on a high-speed Internet connection, you can e-mail them along with
a text-only or Word document describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program
asks if youd like to make the photos smaller, say no.) For more tips on creating
photos we can publish, visit VAAs website at www.vintageaircraft.org. Check the
News page for a hyperlink to Want To Send Us A Photograph?
For more information, you can also e-mail us at vintageaircraft@eaa.org or call us at 920-426-4825.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 37

Mens Golfshirt
Sporty shirt is 100% ringspun
cotton pique with a single
stripe on collar and cus. Embroidered on left with a biplane
design. Featuring a contrasting
three-button placket, contour
collar and double stitched hem.
SM
5265691802062
MD
5265691803062
LG
5265691804062
XL
5265691805062
2X
5265691806062

$29.99*

Ladies Stone-Color Polo

100% Peruvian Pima cotton with rib
knit cus, this polo has a feminine
t. Collar is a delicate y-collar with
a two-button placket.
SM
5265692402081
MD
5265692403081
LG
5265692404081
XL
5265692405081

$29.95*

38 MAY 2011

Womens Web Belts $9.95*

Choose from an array of bright colors with
a silver tone buckle which has the VAA
logo lasered on the front. Can adjust to
approximately 35.
52651252 Navy
52651254 Olive
52651255 Red

52651256 Fucia
52651257 Yellow
52651258 Green
52651259 Grey

Ladies Cotton Gauze Blouse

This is a light weight blouse for the
summer season. For warmer days, roll
up the sleeves and button in place.
Embroidered with biplane design.
MD Lime 5265770803050
LG Lime
5265770804050
XL Lime
5265770805050

$39.99

MD Blue
LG Blue
XL Blue

5265770803061
5265770804061
5265770805061

MD White 5265770803100
LG White 5265770804100
XL White 5265770805100
MD Salmon 5265770803011
LG Salmon 5265770804011
XL Salmon 5265770805011

Faux Leather Tote

Perfect for weekend travel this sturdy tote will hold
all the essentials. Elegant faux leather, the tote has
many side compartments for organized trips.
52658558

$34.99*

Tangerine VAA Cap

One size. Cotton cap with an
adustable velcro closure at
the back.
5265691314031

$14.99*

Splash Cap
One size. Seaplane motif embellishes
this soft blue cap.
52658252

$14.99*

Brass Logo Cap

One size. Stone color with stylish
black stripe on bill.
52651354

$14.99*

Mens UPF30 Sun Protection Shirt

This long sleeve salmon colored
shirt is an easy-care blend of
65/35 polyester/cotton. With
roll-up sleeves and secure
velcro and zipper pockets.
MD
5265820103030
LG
5265820104030
XL
5265820105030

$41.95*

Opal Blue Izod Shirt

Perfect for warmer weather ying.
Classy, casual combed cotton shirt
is pill resistant. Small VAA logo is
displayed on the left sleeve.
SM
5265339102060
MD
5265339103060
LG
5265339104060
XL
5265339105060

$29.95*

www.shopeaa.com/vaa
Telephone Orders: 800-843-3612
From US and Canada (All Others Call 920-426-5912)
*Shipping and handling NOT included. Major credit cards accepted.
WI residents add 5% sales tax.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 39

VINTAGE
AIRCRAFT
ASSOCIATION
OFFICERS
President
Geoff Robison
1521 E. MacGregor Dr.
New Haven, IN 46774
260-493-4724
chief7025@aol.com

Vice-President
George Daubner
N57W34837 Pondview Ln
Oconomowoc, WI 53066
262-560-1949
gdaubner@eaa.org

Secretary
Steve Nesse
2009 Highland Ave.
Albert Lea, MN 56007
507-373-1674
stnes2009@live.com

Treasurer
Dan Knutson
106 Tena Marie Circle
Lodi, WI 53555
608-592-7224
lodicub@charter.net

DIRECTORS

Steve Bender
85 Brush Hill Road
Sherborn, MA 01770
508-653-7557
sst10@comcast.net

Dale A. Gustafson
7724 Shady Hills Dr.
Indianapolis, IN 46278
317-293-4430
dalefaye@msn.com

David Bennett
375 Killdeer Ct
Lincoln, CA 95648
916-952-9449
antiquer@inreach.com

Jeannie Hill
P.O. Box 328
Harvard, IL 60033-0328
815-943-7205

Jerry Brown
4605 Hickory Wood Row
Greenwood, IN 46143
317-422-9366
lbrown4906@aol.com
Dave Clark
635 Vestal Lane
Plainfield, IN 46168
317-839-4500
davecpd@att.net
John S. Copeland
1A Deacon Street
Northborough, MA 01532
508-393-4775
copeland1@juno.com
Phil Coulson
28415 Springbrook Dr.
Lawton, MI 49065
269-624-6490
rcoulson516@cs.com

Espie Butch Joyce

704 N. Regional Rd.
Greensboro, NC 27409
336-668-3650
windsock@aol.com
Steve Krog
1002 Heather Ln.
Hartford, WI 53027
262-966-7627
sskrog@aol.com
Robert D. Bob Lumley
1265 South 124th St.
Brookfield, WI 53005
262-782-2633
lumper@execpc.com
S.H. Wes Schmid
2359 Lefeber Avenue
Wauwatosa, WI 53213
414-771-1545
shschmid@gmail.com

DIRECTORS
EMERITUS
Robert C. Brauer
9345 S. Hoyne
Chicago, IL 60643
773-779-2105
photopilot@aol.com

Charlie Harris
PO Box 470350
Tulsa, OK 74147
918-622-8400
cwh@hvsu.com

Gene Chase
2159 Carlton Rd.
Oshkosh, WI 54904
920-231-5002
GRCHA@charter.net

E.E. Buck Hilbert

8102 Leech Rd.
Union, IL 60180
815-923-4591
buck7ac@gmail.com

Ronald C. Fritz
15401 Sparta Ave.
Kent City, MI 49330
616-678-5012
rFritz@pathwaynet.com

Gene Morris
5936 Steve Court
Roanoke, TX 76262
817-491-9110
genemorris@charter.net

John Turgyan
PO Box 219
New Egypt, NJ 08533
609-758-2910
jrturgyan4@aol.com

TM

Membership Services Directory

Enjoy the many benefits of EAA and
EAAs Vintage Aircraft Association

TM

EAA Aviation Center, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh WI 54903-3086

Phone (920) 426-4800

Fax (920) 426-4873

Web Sites: www.vintageaircraft.org, www.airventure.org, www.eaa.org/memberbenefits E-Mail: vintageaircraft@eaa.org

EAA and Division Membership Services (8:00 AM6:00 PM

MondayFriday CST)
membership@eaa.org
800-564-6322
FAX 920-426-4873
www.eaa.org/memberbenefits
New/renew memberships Address changes Merchandise sales Gift memberships
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
888-322-4636
www.airventure.org
Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft Hotline 877-359-1232
www.sportpilot.org
Programs and Activities
Auto Fuel STCs
920-426-4843
EAA Air Academy
920-426-6880
www.airacademy.org
EAA Scholarships
920-426-6823
Library Services/Research
920-426-4848
Benefits
AUA Vintage Insurance Plan
800-727-3823
www.auaonline.com
EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan
866-647-4322
www.eaa.org/memberbenefits
EAA VISA Card
800-853-5576 ext. 8884
EAA Hertz Rent-A-Car Program
800-654-2200
www.eaa.org/hertz
VAA Editorial/Executive Director
920-426-4825
www.vintageaircraft.org
VAA Office
920-426-6110

airventure@eaa.org
sportpilot@eaa.org
stc@eaa.org
airacademy@eaa.org
scholarships@eaa.org
slurvey@eaa.org

membership@eaa.org
membership@eaa.org
vintage@eaa.org
tbooks@eaa.org

EAA Members Information Line

888-EAA-INFO (322-4636)
Use this toll-free number for: information about AirVenture Oshkosh; aeromedical and technical aviation questions;
chapters; and Young Eagles. Please have your membership number ready when calling.
Office hours are 8:15 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Monday - Friday, CST)

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
EAA
Membership in the Experimental Aircraft
Association, Inc. is $40 for one year, including 12 issues of SPORT AVIATION. Family
membership is an additional $10 annually. All
major credit cards accepted for membership.
(Add $16 for International Postage.)

FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS
Please submit your remittance with a
check or draft drawn on a United States
bank payable in United States dollars. Add
required Foreign Postage amount for each
membership.

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Current EAA members may join the
Vintage Aircraft Association and receive
VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for an
additional $36 per year.
EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE
magazine and one year membership in the EAA
Vintage Aircraft Association is available for $46 per

year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included).

(Add $7 for International Postage.)

WARBIRDS
Current EAA members may join the EAA
Warbirds of America Division and receive
WARBIRDS magazine for an additional
$45 per year.
EAA Membership, WARBIRDS magazine and one year membership in the
Warbirds Division is available for $55 per
year (SPORT OficAVIATION magazine
not included). (Add $7 for International Postage.)

IAC

Current EAA members may join the

International Aerobatic Club, Inc. Division and receive SPORT AEROBATICS
magazine for an additional $45 per year.
EAA Membership, SPORT AEROBATICS magazine and one year membership
in the IAC Division is available for $55 per
year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included). (Add $15 for Foreign Postage.)

Membership dues to EAA and its divisions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions

Copyright 2011 by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, All rights reserved.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE (USPS 062-750; ISSN 0091-6943) is published and owned exclusively by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association of the Experimental Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EAA Aviation Center, 3000 Poberezny Rd., PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54903-3086, e-mail: vintageaircraft@eaa.org. Membership to Vintage Aircraft Association, which includes 12 issues of Vintage Airplane magazine,
is $36 per year for EAA members and $46 for non-EAA members. Periodicals Postage paid at Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Vintage Airplane,
PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. PM 40063731 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Pitney Bowes IMS, Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor, ON N9A 6J5. FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES Please allow
at least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surface mail. ADVERTISING Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the
advertising. We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken.
EDITORIAL POLICY: Members are encouraged to submit stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with
the contributor. No remuneration is made. Material should be sent to: Editor, VINTAGE AIRPLANE, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Phone 920-426-4800.
EAA and EAA SPORT AVIATION, the EAA Logo and Aeronautica are registered trademarks, trademarks, and service marks of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. The use of these trademarks and
service marks without the permission of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. is strictly prohibited.

40 MAY 2011

Drive one.

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From a two-door contractors work truck to a four-door highperformance off-road pickup, the Ford F-150 is available in 11 different
models to meet virtually any buyers need. New for 2011 are three allnew engines that push fuel efficiency and power to the highest levels
in the segment. But the F-150 doesnt stop there. It offers excellent
driving manners and performance, while offering important safety
standard features that protect occupants as effectively as the truck
can tow and haul. The best keeps getting better!

EAA members are eligible for special pricing on Ford Motor Company
vehicles through Fords Partner Recognition Program. To learn more
on this exclusive opportunity for EAA members to save on a new
Ford vehicle, please visit www.eaa.org/ford.

VEHICLE PURCHASE PLAN