VOL 33 NO9 2005

CONTENTS 1 Straight and Level

2 VAA News

4 EAA AirVenture 2005 VAA Aircraft Awards

6 Reminiscing with Big Nick The Pylon Club-Part II by Nick Rezich

10 The First Practical Airplane Part II The season of success by HG Frautschy

16 Restoring Versus Buying The Realities Being objective about your restoration by Budd Davisson

20 The Forgotten Performers Part II NC251M is resurrected by Vic Pike

25 Mystery Plane by HG Fra utschy

26 Pass it to Buck Proper Behavior by Buck Hilbert

28 Th e Vintage Instructor Try it youll like it by Doug Stewart

31 Calendar

31 Classified Ads

C OV ERS FRONT COVER Thinking about buying or restoring a lightmiddot

plane You can restore a Taylorcraft like this beauty rebuilt

by a the son of C G Taylor himself Bob Taylor or you can

choose to buy one already restored See the article on

bui lding or restoring by Budd Davisson in this issue of

Vintage Airplane EAA photo by chief photographer Jim

Koepn ick Shot with a Canon EOS 1n on Fuji Velvia film

EAA photo plane flown by Bruce Moore

BACK COVER One of the highlights of this years EAA Art

Competition was the submission of this painting by Housmiddot

ton Texas resident Jonathan Frank The oil painting timiddot

t ied Era of Enchantment captures the look and feel of a

sandy tropical beach being overflown by one of Pan Amerimiddot

can s oceanic clipper ships during the late 1930s

STAF F Publisher Tom Poberezny Editor-in-Chief Scott Spangler Executive Di rectorEditor HG Frautschy Adm inis trative Assistant jennifer Lehl Managing Editor Kath leen Witman News Editor Ric Reynolds Photography jim Koepnick

Bonnie Bartel Production Manager julie Russo Classified Ad Manager Isabelle Wiske Copy Edi tor Colleen Walsh

Director of Advertising Katrina Bradshaw

Display Advertising Representatives Northeast Allen Murray Phone 609middot265middot1666 FAX 609middot265middot 166 1emiddotmail allemllllrraymilldsprillgcom

Southeast Chester Baumgartner Phone 727middot573middot0586 FAX 727middot556middot0177 emiddotmail cballmlllmilldsprillscom

Central Todd Reese Phone 800middot444middot9932 FAX 816middot74 1middot6458 emiddotmail toltldSpc-magcom

Mountain Pacific Keith Knowlton Associates Phone 770-5 16middot2743 emiddotmail kkllowltolleaaorg

GEOFF ROBISON PRESIDENT VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 200S is now in the record books By all meashysures this years premier event has clearly been labeled a huge success You have oftentimes heard me extolshyling the accomplishments of our volshyunteers and staff and although I am always amazed at their efforts I have failed in the past to recognize another critically important group of members Who am I referring to Why the many members who have chosen to bring their beautifully restored vintage flyshying machines to this event

A lot of folks just take this Hercushylean effort for granted One would anshyticipate that with the increasing cost of flying maintaining and insuring these treasures who could possibly expect so many of you to make the trip to Oshkosh and tie down your aircraft in a field exposed to all the elshyements for days on end What would it be like at EAA AirVenture if this trend were somehow reversed I dont like thinking about it Your efforts are not only recognized but are sincerely appreciated as well

You folks are really the icing on the cake when it comes to providing a wonderful display of our aircraft types at our annual event It should also be noted here that the quality of vintage restorations continues to amaze us all I hope that this phenomenon continshyues long into the future so that our grandchildren and their children can also experience and enjoy this excepshytional display of Vintage aircraft at Oshkosh for many years to come

There were so many wonderful atshytractions and events and so many breathtaking moments to observe this year Of particular note of course were the arrivals of White Knight and

Oshkosh 2005 SpaceshipOne followed by GlobalshyFlyer The crowds were stretched for what had to be at least a mile long and the depth of the crowd was truly reminiscent of the early arrivals of the Concorde SST in years past There were many photo ops in particular when the F-4 and the F-16 flanked by two P-Sl Mustangs flew by repeatedly I actually forgot to take a picture I was absolutely mesmerized by the view of these unique aircraft in tight forshymation together The reaction of the crowd was also unique It was loud and emotional What a response

There were many other success stoshyries at AirVenture However I really have to single out and mention one of Vintages newest programs that beshygan at AirVenture 200S One of our own Vintage board members had this crazy idea of demonstrating the proper techniques of propping an airshycraft This concept was borne out of a conversation between Dale Gustafson and Dave Clark With the assistance of Dave Clark (also a VAA board memshyber) and Gene Chase (director emershyitus) they arranged for EAAs Cuby (the black one built by EAA Founder Paul Poberezny) to be parked in the front yard of our Red Bam Headquarshyters and twice daily a seminar was held that assisted our many members in learning the fine art of safely propshyping a Vintage airplane

The depth of the crowd observshying these lessons was remarkable We consistently averaged SO-60 attendshyees per session Special thanks to Jerry Brown for assisting us by sharing his expertise in this effort as well Also many thanks go to Norma Joyce of AVA Insurance Agency for sponsorshying this very worthwhile effort

Each year at AirVenture there are two very special awards presented to our valued volunteers who provide untold hours of dedicated service to the Vintage Aircraft Association This very special recognition began under the leadership of Art Morgan Art recshyognized early on that each year there were many standout individuals who were deserving of special recognition As a result Art started the Volunteer of the Year awards program

When Art passed away this proshygram naturally became known as The Art Morgan Volunteer of the Year Memorial Award Each year at AirVenture during the Vintage Airshycraft Association Membership meetshying we announce the current years winners I am pleased to announce that the Vintage Flightline Volunteer of the Year for 2005 is a fine gentleshyman from Sonoma California by the name of John Watts John is the genshytleman who is having way too much fun stopping traffic with his stop sign at the Classic Taxiway crossing in the Vintage area at each years event

The second award is known as the Vintage Behind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year and this years reCipient is Joanne Fox from Fort Wayne Inshydiana Joanne is known as one of our secret weapons She can accomplish more logistical tasks in one hour than most of us can do in a full day Conshygratulations to each of you Youre efshyforts are not only greatly appreCiated but you are a hoot to work with

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

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

EAA Continues Efforts on Sport Pilot Double Standard

At AirVenture EAA and the FAA met to address an unforeseen doushyble standard in the sport pi lo t rule Pilots who hold a sport pilot certificate and a valid US drivers license are allowed to exercise sport pilot privileges wi t hout an FAA medical certificate But an imporshytant exception added late in the rule-making process in response to FAA concerns about safety says that individuals cert ificated as prishyvate pilots or higher cannot fly as sport pilots

bull If they were not issued a medishycal certificate at the time of their most recent application

bull If their most recently jssued FAA medical certificate was revoked or suspended or

bull If their most recent authorizashytion for a special issuance medica l certificate was withdrawn

The double standard occurs beshycause a pilot who applied fo r a medical but didnt receive it or who had a medical but lost it beshycause of medical condition cannot fly as a sport pilot Meanwhile an individual with an identical medishycal condition who never applied for a medical or never had a med ica l revoked can fly as a sport pilot with a drivers license

The meeting was positive and drew out a cooperat ive excha nge of ideas with several possible solushytions offered and considered Both groups pledged to share the ideas with their respective headquarters and to continue the dialogue

EAA Membership Sweepstakes Winners

John and Kim Sery Minneapolis Minnesota are the lucky win ners of a newly refurbished better-thanshynew Piper Cherokee 140 in the anshynual EAA Membership Sweepstakes The drawing took place at the end

SEPTEMBER 2005

EAA AirVenture 2005 Wow What else can we say Except for a true deluge on Monday evening the

weather was perfect the attendance up and the aircraft were well amazing

Greg Herrick and Cody Welch managed to corral seven tri-motored airplanes five

of which were displayed in the VAA area with six flying at one time during the afshy

ternoon showcase It was quite a sound In addition to the tri-motors well have

plenty to report on in the October issue of Vintage Airplane Stay tuned

of the air show on Sunday July 31 at EAA AirVenture

Other sweepstakes winners in shyclude

bull Harley XL 1200C Sportster Anshydrew Roberts Roanoke Virginia

bull Joh n Deere lawn tractor Gorshydo n and Shei la Pa rker Sequim Washington

middot BOSE Aviation Headset X Kurt Rathgaber Mish icot Wisconsin

Also d raw n at the end of EAA AirVenture on Sunday Cindy McshyNeight of Smyrn a Georgia is the lucky wi nn er of eith er a Jagu ar XK8 convert ible or a Range Rover Sport after winning the annual EAA Young Eagles Raffl e

2005 VAA Hall of Fame The VAA boa rd of djrectors and

the VAA Hall of Fa me committee are pleased to announce that this years inductees for the VAA Hall of Fame are as follows

bull Dick Knutson of Lodi Wisconshysin noted res to rer an d expert o n Piper aircraft restorat ions

bull Charlie Nelson founder and presshyident of the Swift Museum Foundashytion Inc and the Swift Association

Both men will be inducted durshying the Hall of Fam e ceremoni es h eld during the Hall of Fame dinshyn er th e evening o f Octobe r 2 1 2005 We ll have m o re on these two m ost-deserving men in future issues of Vintage Airplane

A limited amount of tickets are available to the gen eral public for this event which is h eld in the Eashygle Hangar of EAAs AirVenture Mushyseum Contact the EAA Developshyment Office 800-236-1025 fo r inshyformatio n concerning ticket sa les and availability

Vintage Airplane Cover Wrap A number of yo u h ave co nshy

tacted us regarding the reinstateshyment of the use of cover wrap on your magazine and we appreciate your enthusiastic feedback

We do need to clarify one item A few ha ve n o ti ce d the printshyin g o n the n ew co ver wr a p reshy

2

lated to renewing your membershyship This appeal to renew should not be confused with the Last Isshysue cover wrap some may have seen if their renewal date hapshypens to coincide with the date of the magazine being mailed The Last Issue cover wrap is writshyten in bolder type-dont worry it would be difficult to misinterpret its meaning should it show up in your mailbox

We appreciate each of you who renew on time or early Over twoshythirds of you whose renewal date is nearing help us by renewing on the first or second mailing That level of response helps keep our costs down each year Thanks

VAA Calendar Dont forget the 2006 VAA Calshy

endar as published by Turner Pubshylishing is available to you by adshyvance order only Dont miss out on this beautiful 17-by-II-inch wall calendar featuring the phoshytography of EAAs chief photograshypher Jim Koepnick The Free Skies Forever 2006 VAA Calendar can be ordered only through Turner Pubshylishing and will highlight the airshycraft of yesteryear along with our special tribute to VAAs outstandshying volunteers Be sure to check out the advertisement on page 24 and get your order placed today Each calendar costs only $1595 (p lus $395 SampH) and can be orshydered by calling Turner at 800shy788-3350

The calendars need to be orshydered no later than September 30 2005 for shipment in November well in advance of Christmas Orshyder one or better yet two (one for a gift) today

EAA Library Book and Periodical Donations

The EAA library is in need of book donations Donations are the primary way the library increases its holdings In addition we use the duplicates for the annual AirVenshyture book sale The sale is very popshyular and puts good aviation books

at reasonable prices back in the hands of the aviation community

I would also like to invite any of you who are aviation book colshylectors to think to the future and make arrangements for your lishybraries Please consider the EAA lishybrary as a destination for your colshylection and make provisions to ensure that happens The EAA lishybrary is your library and preserves the history of aviation for you and for future generations You can contact the library by callshying 920-426-4848 for more inforshymation about donating a book or your collection

Thank you-Susan Lurvey EAA Library Archives Manager

EAA Museum Events The EAA AirVenture Museum has

plenty to offer the vintage airplane enthUSiast and this fall is no excepshytion A trio of events certain to apshypeal to fans of old airplanes are on tap They are the following

Vintage Biplane Fantasy Camp Se~ember23~52005

The new EAA Biplane Fantasy Flight Camp includes two nights in the EAA Air Academy Lodge six meals-Friday supper through Sunshyday lunch EAA tours including the VIP tour of the AjrVenture Museum the convention site collection storshyage Pioneer Airport Kermit Weeks Hangar and EAA administrative and support facilities three biplane flights from Pioneer Airport flight simulation-flying a J-3 from Wittshyman and Pioneer fields and varishyous meal and evening speakers Bishyplane flights include an extensive preflight and starting procedures briefing for groups followed by inshydividual flights

Spirit of St Louis Fantasy Flight Camp Sept 30-0ct 2 2005

A truly unique opportunity EAA operates the worlds only two-seat dual-control replica of the Spirit of St Louis Over this incredible weekshyend you will be immersed in the history of Charles Lindberghs fa-

ELECTRICAL CONDUIT

ASSEMBLIES bull MIL SPEC and RFI SHIELDING

CONDUIT ASSEMBLIES custom made per your specifications

bull Original equipment style Braided Conduits in Aluminum Brass or Stainless Steel

bull We carry a complete line of AN - MS Electrical Fittings Backshell Adapters and Specialty Fittings

bull We also have full machine shop capabilities for any custom applications you may require

bull Rebuild your Warbird back to Original

AIRFLEX INDUSTRIES 2538 SUPPLY STREET POMONA CA 91767

Tel 909-392-8474 AI RFLEXIN DUSTRI ES CO M

mous airplane The experience is capped by a 30-minute flight Take the controls in the only Spirit of st Louis replica that flies under lindshyberghs original registration numshyber N-X-21 1

Ford Tri-Motor Fantasy Flight Camp October 14-16 2005

EAAs 1929 Ford Tri-Motor keeps alive the early days of passenshyger transport spirit This program gives participants a new undershystanding and appreCiation for one of aviations classic deSigns-afshyfectionately referred to as the Tin Goose The experience is capped by a two-hour flight during which participants can log 02 hours at the controls

Learn more about all three camps at wwwairventuremuseumorgflightops fantasycamp or call 800-236-4800 extension 6820 You can also e-mail for more information by writing to airacademyeaaorg

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

EAA Continues Efforts on Sport Pilot Double Standard

At AirVenture EAA and the FAA met to address an unforeseen doushyble standard in the sport pi lo t rule Pilots who hold a sport pilot certificate and a valid US drivers license are allowed to exercise sport pilot privileges wi t hout an FAA medical certificate But an imporshytant exception added late in the rule-making process in response to FAA concerns about safety says that individuals cert ificated as prishyvate pilots or higher cannot fly as sport pilots

bull If they were not issued a medishycal certificate at the time of their most recent application

bull If their most recently jssued FAA medical certificate was revoked or suspended or

bull If their most recent authorizashytion for a special issuance medica l certificate was withdrawn

The double standard occurs beshycause a pilot who applied fo r a medical but didnt receive it or who had a medical but lost it beshycause of medical condition cannot fly as a sport pilot Meanwhile an individual with an identical medishycal condition who never applied for a medical or never had a med ica l revoked can fly as a sport pilot with a drivers license

The meeting was positive and drew out a cooperat ive excha nge of ideas with several possible solushytions offered and considered Both groups pledged to share the ideas with their respective headquarters and to continue the dialogue

EAA Membership Sweepstakes Winners

John and Kim Sery Minneapolis Minnesota are the lucky win ners of a newly refurbished better-thanshynew Piper Cherokee 140 in the anshynual EAA Membership Sweepstakes The drawing took place at the end

SEPTEMBER 2005

EAA AirVenture 2005 Wow What else can we say Except for a true deluge on Monday evening the

weather was perfect the attendance up and the aircraft were well amazing

Greg Herrick and Cody Welch managed to corral seven tri-motored airplanes five

of which were displayed in the VAA area with six flying at one time during the afshy

ternoon showcase It was quite a sound In addition to the tri-motors well have

plenty to report on in the October issue of Vintage Airplane Stay tuned

of the air show on Sunday July 31 at EAA AirVenture

Other sweepstakes winners in shyclude

bull Harley XL 1200C Sportster Anshydrew Roberts Roanoke Virginia

bull Joh n Deere lawn tractor Gorshydo n and Shei la Pa rker Sequim Washington

middot BOSE Aviation Headset X Kurt Rathgaber Mish icot Wisconsin

Also d raw n at the end of EAA AirVenture on Sunday Cindy McshyNeight of Smyrn a Georgia is the lucky wi nn er of eith er a Jagu ar XK8 convert ible or a Range Rover Sport after winning the annual EAA Young Eagles Raffl e

2005 VAA Hall of Fame The VAA boa rd of djrectors and

the VAA Hall of Fa me committee are pleased to announce that this years inductees for the VAA Hall of Fame are as follows

bull Dick Knutson of Lodi Wisconshysin noted res to rer an d expert o n Piper aircraft restorat ions

bull Charlie Nelson founder and presshyident of the Swift Museum Foundashytion Inc and the Swift Association

Both men will be inducted durshying the Hall of Fam e ceremoni es h eld during the Hall of Fame dinshyn er th e evening o f Octobe r 2 1 2005 We ll have m o re on these two m ost-deserving men in future issues of Vintage Airplane

A limited amount of tickets are available to the gen eral public for this event which is h eld in the Eashygle Hangar of EAAs AirVenture Mushyseum Contact the EAA Developshyment Office 800-236-1025 fo r inshyformatio n concerning ticket sa les and availability

Vintage Airplane Cover Wrap A number of yo u h ave co nshy

tacted us regarding the reinstateshyment of the use of cover wrap on your magazine and we appreciate your enthusiastic feedback

We do need to clarify one item A few ha ve n o ti ce d the printshyin g o n the n ew co ver wr a p reshy

2

lated to renewing your membershyship This appeal to renew should not be confused with the Last Isshysue cover wrap some may have seen if their renewal date hapshypens to coincide with the date of the magazine being mailed The Last Issue cover wrap is writshyten in bolder type-dont worry it would be difficult to misinterpret its meaning should it show up in your mailbox

We appreciate each of you who renew on time or early Over twoshythirds of you whose renewal date is nearing help us by renewing on the first or second mailing That level of response helps keep our costs down each year Thanks

VAA Calendar Dont forget the 2006 VAA Calshy

endar as published by Turner Pubshylishing is available to you by adshyvance order only Dont miss out on this beautiful 17-by-II-inch wall calendar featuring the phoshytography of EAAs chief photograshypher Jim Koepnick The Free Skies Forever 2006 VAA Calendar can be ordered only through Turner Pubshylishing and will highlight the airshycraft of yesteryear along with our special tribute to VAAs outstandshying volunteers Be sure to check out the advertisement on page 24 and get your order placed today Each calendar costs only $1595 (p lus $395 SampH) and can be orshydered by calling Turner at 800shy788-3350

The calendars need to be orshydered no later than September 30 2005 for shipment in November well in advance of Christmas Orshyder one or better yet two (one for a gift) today

EAA Library Book and Periodical Donations

The EAA library is in need of book donations Donations are the primary way the library increases its holdings In addition we use the duplicates for the annual AirVenshyture book sale The sale is very popshyular and puts good aviation books

at reasonable prices back in the hands of the aviation community

I would also like to invite any of you who are aviation book colshylectors to think to the future and make arrangements for your lishybraries Please consider the EAA lishybrary as a destination for your colshylection and make provisions to ensure that happens The EAA lishybrary is your library and preserves the history of aviation for you and for future generations You can contact the library by callshying 920-426-4848 for more inforshymation about donating a book or your collection

Thank you-Susan Lurvey EAA Library Archives Manager

EAA Museum Events The EAA AirVenture Museum has

plenty to offer the vintage airplane enthUSiast and this fall is no excepshytion A trio of events certain to apshypeal to fans of old airplanes are on tap They are the following

Vintage Biplane Fantasy Camp Se~ember23~52005

The new EAA Biplane Fantasy Flight Camp includes two nights in the EAA Air Academy Lodge six meals-Friday supper through Sunshyday lunch EAA tours including the VIP tour of the AjrVenture Museum the convention site collection storshyage Pioneer Airport Kermit Weeks Hangar and EAA administrative and support facilities three biplane flights from Pioneer Airport flight simulation-flying a J-3 from Wittshyman and Pioneer fields and varishyous meal and evening speakers Bishyplane flights include an extensive preflight and starting procedures briefing for groups followed by inshydividual flights

Spirit of St Louis Fantasy Flight Camp Sept 30-0ct 2 2005

A truly unique opportunity EAA operates the worlds only two-seat dual-control replica of the Spirit of St Louis Over this incredible weekshyend you will be immersed in the history of Charles Lindberghs fa-

ELECTRICAL CONDUIT

ASSEMBLIES bull MIL SPEC and RFI SHIELDING

CONDUIT ASSEMBLIES custom made per your specifications

bull Original equipment style Braided Conduits in Aluminum Brass or Stainless Steel

bull We carry a complete line of AN - MS Electrical Fittings Backshell Adapters and Specialty Fittings

bull We also have full machine shop capabilities for any custom applications you may require

bull Rebuild your Warbird back to Original

AIRFLEX INDUSTRIES 2538 SUPPLY STREET POMONA CA 91767

Tel 909-392-8474 AI RFLEXIN DUSTRI ES CO M

mous airplane The experience is capped by a 30-minute flight Take the controls in the only Spirit of st Louis replica that flies under lindshyberghs original registration numshyber N-X-21 1

Ford Tri-Motor Fantasy Flight Camp October 14-16 2005

EAAs 1929 Ford Tri-Motor keeps alive the early days of passenshyger transport spirit This program gives participants a new undershystanding and appreCiation for one of aviations classic deSigns-afshyfectionately referred to as the Tin Goose The experience is capped by a two-hour flight during which participants can log 02 hours at the controls

Learn more about all three camps at wwwairventuremuseumorgflightops fantasycamp or call 800-236-4800 extension 6820 You can also e-mail for more information by writing to airacademyeaaorg

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

lated to renewing your membershyship This appeal to renew should not be confused with the Last Isshysue cover wrap some may have seen if their renewal date hapshypens to coincide with the date of the magazine being mailed The Last Issue cover wrap is writshyten in bolder type-dont worry it would be difficult to misinterpret its meaning should it show up in your mailbox

We appreciate each of you who renew on time or early Over twoshythirds of you whose renewal date is nearing help us by renewing on the first or second mailing That level of response helps keep our costs down each year Thanks

VAA Calendar Dont forget the 2006 VAA Calshy

endar as published by Turner Pubshylishing is available to you by adshyvance order only Dont miss out on this beautiful 17-by-II-inch wall calendar featuring the phoshytography of EAAs chief photograshypher Jim Koepnick The Free Skies Forever 2006 VAA Calendar can be ordered only through Turner Pubshylishing and will highlight the airshycraft of yesteryear along with our special tribute to VAAs outstandshying volunteers Be sure to check out the advertisement on page 24 and get your order placed today Each calendar costs only $1595 (p lus $395 SampH) and can be orshydered by calling Turner at 800shy788-3350

The calendars need to be orshydered no later than September 30 2005 for shipment in November well in advance of Christmas Orshyder one or better yet two (one for a gift) today

EAA Library Book and Periodical Donations

The EAA library is in need of book donations Donations are the primary way the library increases its holdings In addition we use the duplicates for the annual AirVenshyture book sale The sale is very popshyular and puts good aviation books

at reasonable prices back in the hands of the aviation community

I would also like to invite any of you who are aviation book colshylectors to think to the future and make arrangements for your lishybraries Please consider the EAA lishybrary as a destination for your colshylection and make provisions to ensure that happens The EAA lishybrary is your library and preserves the history of aviation for you and for future generations You can contact the library by callshying 920-426-4848 for more inforshymation about donating a book or your collection

Thank you-Susan Lurvey EAA Library Archives Manager

EAA Museum Events The EAA AirVenture Museum has

plenty to offer the vintage airplane enthUSiast and this fall is no excepshytion A trio of events certain to apshypeal to fans of old airplanes are on tap They are the following

Vintage Biplane Fantasy Camp Se~ember23~52005

The new EAA Biplane Fantasy Flight Camp includes two nights in the EAA Air Academy Lodge six meals-Friday supper through Sunshyday lunch EAA tours including the VIP tour of the AjrVenture Museum the convention site collection storshyage Pioneer Airport Kermit Weeks Hangar and EAA administrative and support facilities three biplane flights from Pioneer Airport flight simulation-flying a J-3 from Wittshyman and Pioneer fields and varishyous meal and evening speakers Bishyplane flights include an extensive preflight and starting procedures briefing for groups followed by inshydividual flights

Spirit of St Louis Fantasy Flight Camp Sept 30-0ct 2 2005

A truly unique opportunity EAA operates the worlds only two-seat dual-control replica of the Spirit of St Louis Over this incredible weekshyend you will be immersed in the history of Charles Lindberghs fa-

ELECTRICAL CONDUIT

ASSEMBLIES bull MIL SPEC and RFI SHIELDING

CONDUIT ASSEMBLIES custom made per your specifications

bull Original equipment style Braided Conduits in Aluminum Brass or Stainless Steel

bull We carry a complete line of AN - MS Electrical Fittings Backshell Adapters and Specialty Fittings

bull We also have full machine shop capabilities for any custom applications you may require

bull Rebuild your Warbird back to Original

AIRFLEX INDUSTRIES 2538 SUPPLY STREET POMONA CA 91767

Tel 909-392-8474 AI RFLEXIN DUSTRI ES CO M

mous airplane The experience is capped by a 30-minute flight Take the controls in the only Spirit of st Louis replica that flies under lindshyberghs original registration numshyber N-X-21 1

Ford Tri-Motor Fantasy Flight Camp October 14-16 2005

EAAs 1929 Ford Tri-Motor keeps alive the early days of passenshyger transport spirit This program gives participants a new undershystanding and appreCiation for one of aviations classic deSigns-afshyfectionately referred to as the Tin Goose The experience is capped by a two-hour flight during which participants can log 02 hours at the controls

Learn more about all three camps at wwwairventuremuseumorgflightops fantasycamp or call 800-236-4800 extension 6820 You can also e-mail for more information by writing to airacademyeaaorg

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

VAA AIRCRAFT AWARDS EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005

ANTIQUE AIRCRAFT (BUILT PRIOR TO 9145 )

ANTIQUE GRAND CHAMPION

Michael Wendt Columbus NE 1941 Boeing PT-17 N9686F

ANTIQUE RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION

Thomas Dinndorf Baudette MN 1938 Stinson SR-l0J N21104

ANTIQUE BRONZE LI NDY - JUDGES CHOICE

Iren Dornier Clark Field Pampanga Philippines 1936 Dornier Amphibian DO 24ATI RP-C2403

REPLICA AIRCRAFT

John Hudec Collinsville OK 2004 Waco UMF-5 N14377

WORLD WAR II TRAINERI

LIAISON AIRCRAFT

Frank Iacovelli Arlington Heights IL 1940 Boeing A75 N725FR

TRANSPORT CATEGORY

James Rollison Vacavil e CA 1943 Beech N69044

CUSTOMIZED AIRCRAFT

Robert Simon Del Mar CA 1943 Boeing N2S-3 N9039H

WORLD WAR II ERA (1942-1945 )

Robbie Vajdos Louise TX 1942 Stearman B75Nl N93WW

BRONZE AGE (1937-194 1)

Ronald Tarrson Santa Fe NM 1940 Spartan 7W N17662

SILVER AGE ( 1928-1936)

Lewis Shaw Dallas TX Waco CUC-2N14625

RUNNER UP

William Smith Franklin PA 1937 Monocoupe 110 SpeCial N2064

SILVER AGE ( 1928- 1936)

RUNNER UP Richard Hornbeck Bowdoinham ME 1929 Waco ASO N608N

CLASSIC 2005 ( SEPT I 1945 TO DEC 31 1955)

CLASSIC GRAND CHAMPION

Robert Baker Dorr MI Aeronca 7AC NC84020

CLASSIC RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION

James Dyer Brighton CO - Piper N78759

CLASSIC BRONZE LINDY

CLASS I (0-80 HP)

Nicholas Howell Aurora CO Aeronca AC N85313

CLASS 11 (81 - 150 HP )

Carl-Erik Olsen Orinda CA Scandinavian Aero KZ VII N159KZ

CUSTOM CLASS III ( 151 -235HP)

Kent amp Sandy Blankenburg Grovelancjj CA Luscombe llA N1666B

CLASS IV (236 HP amp HIGHER)

Danny Davis Arcadia OK Aero Commander 520 N590W

OUTSTANDING LIMITED PRODUCTION

Barry Holtz Fairport NY Grumman G-44A N402E

LARGE CLASSIC LAQUES

PRESERVATION

Sydney Cohen Wausau WI Ercoupe 415-D N94196

PRESERVATION

George Willford Waterville OH Piper PA-12 N3309M

MOST UNIQUE

Wayne Poppy New London WI Hiller UH-12B N90577

OUTSTANDING AERONCA CHAMP

Brandon Jewett Brighton CO Aeronca 7AC N1968E

OUTSTANDING BEECHCRAFT

Mike Barron Perry MO Beech C-45H N241

OUTSTANDING CESSNA 120140

Henry Roux Willow Street PA Cessna 140A N5398C

OUTSTANDING CESSNA 1701180

Donald Lindholm Phoenix AZ Cessna 170A N1424D

OUTSTANDING CESSNA 1901195

Beau Bradley Sheridan MT euroes na 195A N252BB

OUTSTANDING ERCOUPE

Ward Marsh Dixon CA Ercoupe 415-C NC93404

OUTSTANDING LUSCOMBE

arold Roeske Roxbury CT Silvaire Luscombe 8F N1885B

OUTSTANDING PIPER J-3

Raymond Cook Spring Grove IL

ANTIQUE PLAQUES

OUTSTANDING WORLD WAR II

MILITARY TRAINERLIAISON

Hal Skinner Springfield OR 1941 Interstate S-lA N37262

MONOPLANE

Russell Williams Issaquah WA 1938 Ryan Aeronautical SCW-145 N18914

4 SEPTEMBER 2005

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC

Bill Bradford Independence MO Luscombe 8A NX2133K

CLASSIC PLAQUES

CUSTOM CLASS D ( 236 AND UP )

Christopher Gardner South St PaUl MN Ryan Navion N721CM

Piper J3C-65 I09H

CONTEMPORA~Y 2005 (JAN 1 1956 TO DEC 31 1967)

CO TEMPORARY GRAND CHAMPION

Dean Richardson Stoughton WI Cessna 80H N2451F

CUSTOM MULTI ENGINE

Mike Adkins Butler TN Piper PA-30 N4YA

CLASS I SING L E-E NGINE (0- 160 HP)

Jack Demyan Pasadena MD Champion FC N7596B

CLASS II SI N GLE- E N GINE ( 16 1-230 HP)

Chris Bruck St Peters MO Cessna 182B N182HD

C L ASS III S I NGLE-ENGINE (23 1 HP amp HIGHER )

Giffen Marr Fort Worth TX Piper Comanche N5272P

OUTSTANDING CUSTOMIZED JM Dwight Chehalis WA Cessna 182A N6119B

CONTEMPORARY PLAQUES

OUTSTANDING BEECH SINGLE-ENGINE

Richard White Plymouth WI Beech A23A N701DW

OUTSTANDING BEECH MULTI-ENGINE

Don Binns Ft Myers FL Beech E18S N7765N

OUTSTANDING CESSNA 170172175

Patrick Halligan Eagan MN Cessna 172 N7252A

OUT5TANDING CESSNA 1801182210

Mark Holliday lake Elmo MN Cessna 182 N5609B

OUTSTANDING CHAMPION

Robert Gutteridge Santa Rosa CA Champion 7FC N7557B

OUTSTANDING PIPER PA-18 SUPER CUB

Mark Warren Coatesville IN Piper PA-18A 150 N960VS

OUTSTANDING MOONEY

AndY Pell Fremont MI Mooney M20C N6691U

OUTSTANDING PA-22 TRI-PACER

James Raleigh Mexico MO Piper PA-2220-150 N7117B

OUT5TANDING PIPER PA-24 COMANCHE

Walt Meziere Rockwall TX Piper PA-24-250 N6168P

OUT5TANDING PIPER PA-28 CHEROKEE

RandY St Julian Garrettsville OH Piper PA-28-180 N4815l

OUTSTANDING LIMITED PRODUCTION Marc Stamsta Hartland WI Aeromere F8l Falco N212SF

BEST CONTINUOUSLY MAINTAINED l elaniSpafKs San FranCiSCO CA Bellarlca 17-30 N6665V

SEAPLANE AWARDS

OUTSTANDING FABRIC FLOATPLANE Dana Smith Lindsay ON Canada Piper PA-18 C-FZSK

OUTSTANDING METAL FLOATPLANE

Brent Wenger Hayward WI Cessna 170B N3287A

Come for the wee en BUILD FOR A LIFETIME

HANDS-ON HOMEBUILDER WORKSHOP

SCHEDULE

Sept 23-25

Oct 1-2

Oct 14-16

Oct 15-16 Corona CA bull Composite Construction (LA Area) bull Fabric Covering bull Sheet Metal Basics

bull Electrical Systems ampAvion ics bull Test Flying Your Proj ect

~-------+----------~~--Oct 22-23 Griffin GA bull RV Assembly (Atlanta Area)

Oct 22-23 ChicagoIL (lewis University)

Nov 4-6 Frederick MD

KLEINEM SportAir Sponsors TOOLS

wwwklelntoolscom

~EAA riAl fJDllrlll lIWORKSHOPS ---~---YOU CAN BUILD IT LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW

VINTAGE AI R P L ANE

Denver CO bull Repairman (LSA) Inspection-Airplane (Westwood College)

Columbus OH (Columbus State

Community College)

Griffin GA (Atlanta Area)

bull Composite Construction bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Electrical Systems bull Cas Welding__shybull TIC Welding

1-800-WORKSHOP 1-800-967-5746

wwwsportaircom

bull Composite Construction bull Fabric Covering bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Electrical Systems amp Avion ics bull Introduction to Aircraft Build ing bull Test Flying Your Project

bull Repairman (LSA) Inspection-Airplane

faAlr e r ft Cop ll no

_polyfibercom wwwaircrafisprucecom

5

CLASS I SING L E-E NGINE (0- 160 HP)

Jack Demyan Pasadena MD Champion FC N7596B

CLASS II SI N GLE- E N GINE ( 16 1-230 HP)

Chris Bruck St Peters MO Cessna 182B N182HD

C L ASS III S I NGLE-ENGINE (23 1 HP amp HIGHER )

Giffen Marr Fort Worth TX Piper Comanche N5272P

OUTSTANDING CUSTOMIZED JM Dwight Chehalis WA Cessna 182A N6119B

CONTEMPORARY PLAQUES

OUTSTANDING BEECH SINGLE-ENGINE

Richard White Plymouth WI Beech A23A N701DW

OUTSTANDING BEECH MULTI-ENGINE

Don Binns Ft Myers FL Beech E18S N7765N

OUTSTANDING CESSNA 170172175

Patrick Halligan Eagan MN Cessna 172 N7252A

OUT5TANDING CESSNA 1801182210

Mark Holliday lake Elmo MN Cessna 182 N5609B

OUTSTANDING CHAMPION

Robert Gutteridge Santa Rosa CA Champion 7FC N7557B

OUTSTANDING PIPER PA-18 SUPER CUB

Mark Warren Coatesville IN Piper PA-18A 150 N960VS

OUTSTANDING MOONEY

AndY Pell Fremont MI Mooney M20C N6691U

OUTSTANDING PA-22 TRI-PACER

James Raleigh Mexico MO Piper PA-2220-150 N7117B

OUT5TANDING PIPER PA-24 COMANCHE

Walt Meziere Rockwall TX Piper PA-24-250 N6168P

OUT5TANDING PIPER PA-28 CHEROKEE

RandY St Julian Garrettsville OH Piper PA-28-180 N4815l

OUTSTANDING LIMITED PRODUCTION Marc Stamsta Hartland WI Aeromere F8l Falco N212SF

BEST CONTINUOUSLY MAINTAINED l elaniSpafKs San FranCiSCO CA Bellarlca 17-30 N6665V

SEAPLANE AWARDS

OUTSTANDING FABRIC FLOATPLANE Dana Smith Lindsay ON Canada Piper PA-18 C-FZSK

OUTSTANDING METAL FLOATPLANE

Brent Wenger Hayward WI Cessna 170B N3287A

Come for the wee en BUILD FOR A LIFETIME

HANDS-ON HOMEBUILDER WORKSHOP

SCHEDULE

Sept 23-25

Oct 1-2

Oct 14-16

Oct 15-16 Corona CA bull Composite Construction (LA Area) bull Fabric Covering bull Sheet Metal Basics

bull Electrical Systems ampAvion ics bull Test Flying Your Proj ect

~-------+----------~~--Oct 22-23 Griffin GA bull RV Assembly (Atlanta Area)

Oct 22-23 ChicagoIL (lewis University)

Nov 4-6 Frederick MD

KLEINEM SportAir Sponsors TOOLS

wwwklelntoolscom

~EAA riAl fJDllrlll lIWORKSHOPS ---~---YOU CAN BUILD IT LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW

VINTAGE AI R P L ANE

Denver CO bull Repairman (LSA) Inspection-Airplane (Westwood College)

Columbus OH (Columbus State

Community College)

Griffin GA (Atlanta Area)

bull Composite Construction bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Electrical Systems bull Cas Welding__shybull TIC Welding

1-800-WORKSHOP 1-800-967-5746

wwwsportaircom

bull Composite Construction bull Fabric Covering bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Electrical Systems amp Avion ics bull Introduction to Aircraft Build ing bull Test Flying Your Project

bull Repairman (LSA) Inspection-Airplane

faAlr e r ft Cop ll no

_polyfibercom wwwaircrafisprucecom

5

REMINISCING WITH BIG NICK

THE PYLON CLUB-PART II

The Pylon Club opened officially on Valentines Day with Bob Babb the aluminum welder from Howard Aircraft serving as chief mixologist and my brother Frank and I assisting behind the timber Opening night was gangbusters-we were wall to wall in people and they were standing five deep outside trying to get in The club was an overnight success Word about the Pylon Club spread like fire throughout the aviation industry and auto-racing fraternity which resulted in every night being New Years Eve

The Pylon Club started out as a sashyloon but it wasnt long before it also served as an employment agency a ground school an aviation consultant service a charitable institution and a center for EAA recruiting aircraft sales blood donors and marriage and divorce counseling

The club also introduced many firsts including the first public use of

by Nick Rezich

Photos courtesy of Nick Rezich

the now popular Gone Flying signs The Gone Flying sign came

about due to my absence while I was flying weekend air shows or flying for the non-skeds About four months after the club was opened I signed on with several non-skeds to fly and supply flight crews out of Chicago on a demand basis What I mean by on a demand basis is that a flight would leave Burbank for New York with stops in Kansas City and Chicago with only a crew of two pilots and the required stewardess Theyd be out of time by the time they reached MDW During the 50s the FAA was riding herd on all the non-skeds and checking papers and logs at every stop Nine times out of 10 when a flight would arrive at MDW the airplane was legal but the crew wasnt to go on to La Garbage so a fast phone call to the Pylon Club was in order to furnish a fresh crew for the New York leg It was during

this time that I hired extra barkeepers and the Gone Flying sign evolved

The two daytime barkeepers were mail carriers from the post office one block west of the club and the night crew came from the Midway control tower Ill skip over Roy and Milo the daytime help at this time because they are a whole story by themselves The tower guys were watch supervisors at MDW who loved to fly and enjoyed the company of other pilots I would like to name them but with all but one of them still being with the FAA I dont think it is ethical at this time to remind some supervisor about their activities some 25 years ago

The Gone Flying sign saved a lot of explaining as to my whereabouts When I was away flying an air show we would hang the air show poster under the sign and if I was out on a non-sked trip we would hang a strip with my destination and retum

Reprinted from Vintage Airplane February 1975

SEPTEMBER 2005 6

date on the sign I dont know where Flying picked up the idea of its Gone Flying sign but believe you me it was the Pyshylon Club that originated and popularized it

The Pylon Clubs success and worldwide notoriety was not a result of my sole efforts or popshyularity but that of the people and happenings that were a part of the club

Many people were responsishyble for the success of the club but I must single out a great humanitarian who played a major role in the club and my well-being

The late Dan Clark was the president of his familys firm in Chicago and resided in a modest home close to the club Dan was a close friend of Benny Howard and it was through Benny that I met Dan while working for Howard Dan was an avid autoshyracing and air racing fan and a guy who the whole world loved and he in tum loved the world of people

It was Dan Clark who introshyduced the club to the world of busishyness which included such names as the Rothschilds of European banking fame Sherman Brothers Furniture and numerous other world figures of industry As a regular club member Dan knew everybody who came through the doors and vice versa He was as much a part of the club as I was

Our first annual picnic was a reshysult of a bragging contest we had over who could build and fly a kite higher than the other The more we bragged how good we were the more the customers encouraged us to have a contest What started out as a prishyvate boasting affair now turned into a full-blown contest with everybody wanting to witness the outcome This tickled Dan and he agreed to the flyshyoff with the stipulation that the kites would be homebuilt and no box kites were allowed

The site of the contest was to be the Bailey Airport in Lowell Indiana where Dan kept his BT-13 in a hangar along with my Travel Air The Bailey

Dan Clark holding his winning kite the Pylon Club Special No 43 Number 43 was the racing number for the Rezich Brothers Goodyear racer

Airport was a private airport operated by the Bailey brothers Charley and Don on their fathers farm and it was best thought that we should obtain approval of the Bailey family before we dragged all the saloon people down to their peaceful and quiet farm

The following Saturday Dan and I drove down to the farm to seek pershymission for our wacky contest During the hour-and-a-half drive to the farm we concluded that we were defeating the purpose of our boasting-mainly that kids today dont build their own kites as we did in the years past It was then decided to open the conshytest to all of the Pylon Clubs memshybers and their families We now had a program-a special fly-off between Dan and me and an open contest for all When we announced our crazy program to the Baileys they were overjoyed and suggested we hold the contest on a Sunday so they could participate by furnishing fresh sweet com for a corn boil and making lemshyonade for the thirsty Hence the idea of a picnic Driving back to the club Dan suggested we send invitations to all of the out-of-town members and make it a huge gala affair complete with an air show an airlift parachute jumps etc-the works

Our little private kite contest was

now taking on the shape of a major event that would require funding and much help

I called on club member and old-time EAA favorite Pete Myers to join me in the Travel Air and the Bailey Super Cub for the air show portion and Mike Burson for the chute jumps We now had an air show not much different than a regular weekend show We reshycruited Walter Brownell former test pilot for Howard and John Murray as pilots for the airlift We printed official kite contest rules and entry forms ordered trophies and lined up a panel of judges cooks for the spare ribs an official starter and my brother Mike for the beer

Another trip to Bailey Airshyport was necessary this time to

obtain permission to bring beer on the premises Permission was granted with the mutual agreement that no beer would be served until after the air show and all airplanes were put away for the day We adhered to the agreement religiously however we learned a thirsty lesson the first year We flew until sundown giving rides in the Clark Airlines BT-13

By sundown many tongues were hanging long and dry including yours truly The following years we made some modifications to the airlift by adding more airplanes and pilots so we could get to that beer sooner

The kite contests were good for business due to the publicity gained from the annual event We had conshytestants come from all over the counshytry just for the contest and picnic I still get letters to this day inquiring when and where the next contest is going to be held Dan always won our personal kite fly-offs He proved his pOint every year-he was the better kite builder

I could tell stories about Dan for the next 10 years and never run out of mashyterial like the time he led a six-car caravan up to race driver Bob Muhlkes Clover Club in Skokie Illinois

This was a two-level wall-to-wall carpeted saloon that was the gather-

VINTAGE A I RPLA NE 7

ing place for all the Indy 500 drivers and owners The six-car caravan contained the members and friends of the Pylon Club band that was invited to perform at Muhlkes durshying the Indy 500 Week Muhlke had arranged to have Merle Bellengers Indy 500 winning race car on display along with the ownshyers and drivers of the rest of the field The evening was quite festive with most everyone beshying pretty well bent out of shape by 200 am When it was time to go home Dan lined all six cars behind his new Hudson and caushytioned all of us not Big Nick behind the timber at the Pylon Club to race or pass him and that he would lead us home without getting pinched I must say here that Dan loved to drive at high speeds so it was hard to believe that we would make it back to the Pylon Club without a race with Dan Nevshyertheless we followed All went well and legal for the first 10 miles when suddenly Dan puts his foot into it As we are going through Cicero Ilshylinois a place no Chicago driver should get pinched sure enough the race lasted about 2 miles when a squad car pulled all of us over to the curb As the two burly cops apshyproached Dans car Dan gets out and tells the copper that all the cars belong to him and he will take care of all of them About now I knew we were all going to spend the night in the pokey and that it was going to cost a bundle to get out of this one Dan and the No1 copshyper exchange some good words and then drive off in Dans car while the No2 boy watches over the rest of

SEPTEMBER 2005

us About 10 minutes later Dan and the copper return and Dan gives us the crank up signal As we start up I notice the squad car pulling in front of Dans car with the red flashshyers on I knew it-we were going to the slammer Damn you Dan Damn me for following Suddenly we were running at SO mph again With the police car in front and the last car doing 60 I don t know to this day what Dan said to the copshyper or what he paid if he paid but I do know that we were escorted at SO mph to the Chicago city limits and turned loose

When we all arrived back at the club I asked Dan how did he do it and how much did it costhe laughingly told us to be careful driving home

Then there was the time we all were driving to my brother Franks wedding reception I had just purshychased a new Dodge and was drivshying at 30 mph to break it in when

Dan pulled up beshyhind me and started pushing me We went through the busy intersection of 79th and Ashshyland Ave doing 55 mph-Dan was pushing and laughshying Jo Anne my wife was screaming Stop Stop and I was steering like hell hoping and praying nobody pulled out in front of me That gutless Dodge would never have out-accelershyated Dans Hudson so I rode it out

We turned the tables on Dan one nigh t He had a home in Miami and would visit his mother regularly Before going on his visits he would alshyways stop in the

club and tell me his schedule and check to see who would be flying the trip His favorite airline to Mishyami was Delta and it would do anything to please Dan

When I found out what flight Dan was going on I called the Delta station manager and told him I would like to bring my band from the saloon out to Midway and set up on the ramp alongside the loadshying ramp to give Dan a surprise send-off The manager said it was okay with him if it was okay with the airport The airports okay was no sweat because John Casey the airport manager was an old friend of mine and a club member We put the band between the DC-7 and the terminal out of sight from the waiting lounge When Dan walked out of the terminal we started by playing Danny Boy followed by Moon Over Miami and the Pylon Clubs Signature song When the Saints Go Marching In

8

Ole Dan damn space for customers near fell off the The club was opened boarding ramp with during Mardi Gras surprise The capshy and to mark the ocshytain met Dan at the casion the band doorway and adshy adopted the song vised him that he When the Saints Go was Deltas first ce shy Marching In as our lebrity to be boarded Signature number with an orchestra So when we would When they finshy open the nights first ished boarding all show I would lead the passengers we the band out of the went into our Dixshy saloon playing the ieland show numshy Saints and would ber This brought march up the back the whole plane shy of my car over the load to the door roof and down the and the captain was hood while bangshyleaning out of the ing drums We then cockpit for a better would march down look and listen to the corner and

All the black porshy back-all the while ters were on the playing the Saints ramp doing a jig My new Dodges were saying MI Clark a huge mass of dents sho goes first class that would have By this time the been on my cusshywhole terminal conshy tomers cars if they verged on the Delta parked in front ramp We kept playshy People would ing waiting for the come from all over

Big Nick at the drums back in the Pylon Club days If youve seen him fly the Travel Air youve seen only haN the show bull he doesnt walk on cars too much anymore but he still plays a mean set of drums

skipper to start the engines but unbeknownst to me he was waiting for us to stop and leave the ramp

After about 40 minutes the stashytion manager advised me that he had to release the flight because an incoming flight needed the gate The Delta flight was over an hour late getting off but not one pas shysenger complained Dan spent the whole trip explaining the band and telling the passengers about the Pyshylon Club and Crazy Nick I have alshyways wondered what the captain and station manager filed as the reason for the one-hour delay in departing MDW

~ dont know why they called me Crazy Nick sure I stopped streetshycars and invited the passengers in for a drink and I walked on autoshymobiles drove sports cars through others saloons and flew under

bridges (with my Culver Cadet) but I wasnt crazy

During the 50s Chicago was still operating two-man streetcars on 63rd Street which ran in front of the club and whenever I felt devilshyish and generous I would run out front and flag down a streetcar and invite everybody on board in to the saloon for a free drink play them a fast number on the drums and send them on their way The first few times I pulled that stunt I damn near got run over by the streetcar But after the motorman got to know the spot and word was passed on he would slow down and stop right in front of the place and inform the riders it was okay to leave the car I drove the coppers nuts

First-time customers could never figure out why I parked my own car out front instead of leaving the

the continent just to see that march and I didnt dare disappoint them

A friend of mine had a saloon down the street and most times I would march the band through her saloon and back and in doing so I would clean out all of her customshyers who would follow us back to my place Her place had a large set of doors so one night I jumped into an MG that my bass player owned and drove it into and out of her place before anybody realized what had happened Crazy Nick No way We had some crazy customers also like Merle F Buck who played a piano concert in the rain on the street in front of the club Yes the piano belonged to the club

Im late again-gotta run Next month Ill tell you about Crazy Bart the blood run the python lady the Pylon Club and EAA

V INTAGE AI RPLA NE 9

THE qJMi PRACTICAL AIRPLANE

Part II The season of success

(UJsing all they knew from the 105 flights made with the 1904 Flyer II the Wrights completed the Flyer III

over the winter of 1904-1905 using the hardware and engine from the previous airplane It took some time for the craft to be assembled and poor weather hampered their start in 1905 By early summer of 1905 they were ready to resume flying at Huffman Prairie

With revisions to the machine which they thought would cure the pitch instability the new craft weighed 850 pounds including enough water and fuel to run the engine for an hour To remedy the odd characteristic they encountered when the airplane slid sideways in a turn they added a pair of vertical semicircular vanes between the forshyward rudders twin surfaces

They had built a new shed buildshying closer to the Simms Station inshyterurban trolley rail stop that ran along the road along the northshywest side of Huffman Prairie Charshy

10 SEPTEMBER 2005

HG FRAUTSCHY

lie Taylor had been serving as their airport manager overseeing and participating in the construction of the 1904 and 1905 sheds and working on the revised engine deshysign Still using the basic horizontal four-cylinder design they had used for the 1903 Flyer it could now produce 16 hp and would eventushyally produce 20 hp during the 1905 season At one pOint during testing it produced 22 hp for a short time

By June they were ready and on June 23 they pulled the weight up to the top of the derrick and Orville piloted the first attempt that Friday

Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905 pages 1-3

Friday June 23 1905 (1) First flight O W Time 9-12

sec WW 8-3 4 CE T 76 Ft wind [at 45deg ] Distance 272 ft over ground The left wind was struck in landing and four ribs were cracked at rear left corner [Power insufficient Missing explosions ] The machine was fitted with two semicircular vershytical front vanes (7 sq ft) and was

very hard to control Picture A couple of explanations are

needed at this pOint Each flight was timed by the pilot in this case Orville Wright as well as at least one observer on the ground For this event Wilbur Wright timed the flight and Charlie (CET) made an observation about the current conshyditions presumably with an aneshymometer It also mentions a 45 crosswind The items in brackets denote sentence fragments added from Orvilles diary The troubles from the previous year continued to dog them and the next day anshyother type of accident took place Wilbur continued in his Diary F

While getting ready for first start the anchor stake was pulled from the ground and the machine ran down the track with O W doubled over the front handle riding backwards Forshytunately no serious damage to man or machine

It was the second time the mashychines restraining stake had gotshyten loose and the Flyer had been

Lead Photo The beginning of the flying season 1905 Orville Wright is at the controls of the Flyer III on June 23 Wilbur appears to be running alongside while Charlie Taylor stands to the far right On the extreme right the weight-driven catapult derrick is visible This is the first photograph taken by the Wrights of that apparatus With the engine developing a misfire the flight lasted only 9-112 seconds and covered 272 feet The Flyer III was hard to control and landed heavily on the left wing breaking four wing ribs

pulled down the rail before one of the brothers was ready to fly Both times Orville leapt to the front of the Flyer and at least one time he depressed the lever for the forward rudder so the machine wouldnt rear up at the end of the rail and smash itself into the prairie

While photos were taken that day the control difficulties apshypeared to preoccupy the brothers as no other photos appear to have been taken until September The ninth flight of the season was atshy

tempted on July 14 1905 Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905

pages 6-7 Friday July 14 1905 Wind N W 6-7 miles [straight

ahead] (9) First light O W Distance 568

ft Time about 12 sec Anem-251 meters The machine seemed to steer all right laterally but after attaining high speed began to undulate someshywhat and suddenly turned downward and struck at a considerable angle breaking front skids front rudder upshyper front spar and about a dozen ribs and lower front spar and one upright The machine rolled over on front edge O W was thrown violently out though the broken top surface but suffered no injury at all

n repairing machine a number of changes were made F[ront] rudder inshycreased to about 84 ft and placed 12 ft from front edge of machine Turns upward 31deg and downward 26deg Total weight about 870 lbs Owing to very hard rain the field became loaded and delayed us several weeks

That was it Both brothers had long known

that flying at speeds approaching 35 to 40 mph could be dangerous but this accident was a close cali and they knew it Amazingly once again Orville came out of the acshycident with nothing more than bumps and bruises They had to come up with a solution to the stashybility problem that had perSisted since December of 1903 or the unshydulations they regularly encounshytered would prevent them from making an airplane that could be considered safe to fly

In the 1912 disposition menshytioned in part I of this story Wilbur wrote about the risk

n 1905 we built another machine and resumed our experiments in the same field near Dayton Ohio Our parshyticular object was to clear up the mystery which we had encountered on a few ocshycasions during the preceding year Durshying all the lights we had made up to this time we had kept close to the ground usually within ten feet of the ground in order that in case we met any new and mysterious phenomenon we could make a safe landing With only one life to spend we did not consider it advisable

September 7 1905 Flight 23 After suffering a nearly disastrous crash on July 17 the brothers completely redesigned the forward rudder (elevator) moving it further out in front of the machine and increasing its surface area The changes paid off and by this flight they were able to control the airplane consistently Orville made two complete circles with the Flyer III during a 2-minute 45-second flight

VINTAGE AIRPLANE t t

The 41st flight the second of two flights on September 29 1905 After the Wrights warmmiddotup flight of one circle in the morning Torrance Huffman the owner of the prairie the Wrights had borrowed for their flying experiments in 1904 and 1905 was present for this flight which lasted an astounding 14 circles of the field traveling 19570 meters in 19 minutes 55 seconds according to Wilburs stopwatch time of Orvilles flight The Flyer III averaged 36 miles per hour Wilbur took 12 photographs of the flight which lasted until Orville ran the Flyer Ills gas tank dry

to attempt to exploTe mysteries at such great height from the ground that a fall would put an end to our investigations and leave the mystery unsolved I

Even while keeping close to the ground and rarely exceeding 20 feet in altitude accidents were happenshying on a regular basis to both OW and WW as they referred to each other in their pocket notebook dishyaries If they flew any higher accishydents such as Orvilles on the 14th of July would most likely be fatal

A major revision was made to the layout of the Flyer Ill s design during the rebuild of the machine The forshyward rudder was increased from just over 52 square feet in surface area to 84 square feet and it was moved from 732 feet to 117 feet in front of the wings The greater surface area and added moment arm meant the added ballast weight could be removed

They resumed flying on Thursday August 24 Three flights were made and the changes to the Flyer proved to be on target The Flyer had become

12 SEPTEMBER 2005

more controllable One other aspect of the flights proved to be noteworthy enough that Wilbur felt it needed to be mentioned At the end of his diary enshytry for that day he jotted down IINoth_ ing broken in any of these three flights II

That was a big change from their previshyous experiences

Soon the flights started lasting over a half a minute on a regular bashysis and as the brothers became acshycustomed to the aircrafts handling without having to concentrate on overcoming the pitch instabilshyity flights like the ones made on Wednesday September 6 1905 were obtained

(20) 1st trial O W 620 meters [in] 40-15 sec W W 37 sec C E T 37-45 sec Distance over ground 1688 [ft]

(21) 2nd trial O W [Speed through air] 165 [meters per sec) 4730 meters [in] 4 54 sec W W 4 46- sec C E T 4 47-251 Four rounds offield and landed at starting point

The pitch instability problem seemed to be fixed they no longer

had to endure the ever-increasing undulations that would end in an abrupt landing which often meant repairs some major would have to be made Their confidence in solvshying the riddle began to relax them as well In one entry concerning a flight on Wednesday August 30 1905 by Orville Wilbur wrote that the flight was A very comical performance Orvilles landing resulted in breakshying the ends of four wing ribs

There was one more problem that kept them from making even longer flights Their accidents were not reshystricted to the problems with pitch stability A curious loss of speed and a subsequent arrival in the humshymock-filled pasture was still happenshying with annoying frequency

Wilbur wrote in his 1912 disposhysition

17he machine had reached the ground in the peculiar cases J have mentioned too soon fOT us to detershymine whether the trouble was due to slowness of the correction or whether it was due to a change of conditions which would have increased in inshytensity if it had continued until the machine would have been entirely overturned and quite beyond the conshytrol of the operator Consequently it was necessary or at leas t advisable to discover the exact cause of the pheshynomenon before attempting any high flights For a long time we were unshyable to determine the peculiar condishytions under which this trouble was to be expected But as time passed we began to note that it usually occurred when we were turning a rather short circle We therefore made short circles sometimes for the purpose of investishygating and noting the exact conduct of the machine from the time the trouble began until the landing was madeI

Time after time the vexing pecushyliar cases occurred during 1905 as they had in 1904 Wilbur continued

IIAt one time we thought it might be due to the fact that the mach ine in circling did not face exactly in the direction of the line of motion To test this point we disconnected the rudder wire from the warping wire and opershyated the rudder by an entirely separate

Another of the 12 photographs taken of flight 41 shows Orville flying 60 feet over Huffman Prairie Compared to the 1904 machine one can clearly see how far forward the Wrights placed the elevator after the July 17 crash

INTERESTING WRIGHT WEBSITES

wwwwrightexperiencecom

wwwfirst-to-flycom

Plenty of Wright materials here including a nice collection of photographs of all

19 aircraft produced by the Wrights and their company Also included is a delightful

interview and caricatures of the Wrights by Kate Carew a wellmiddotknown journalist and

artist working at that time for the New York World

wwwrootcandlescom

In addition to their current business a short summary of the A1 Root company

history is maintained on this site and it includes full excerpts of the January 1 and

January 15 1905 articles written by Amos Root about his experiences at Huffman

Prairie the previous year

wwwibraries wright edu special wrighCbrothers

The Online Archives of Wright State University There is an extensive collection of

Wright materials within the librarys collection which was donated to the university

by the Wright family in 1975

References

A number of published sources were consulted to compile these articles chief

among them

The Bishops Boys A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch

The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright including the Chanute-Wright Letters

Volume 1 1899-1905 edited by Marvin W McFarland Aeronautics Division of the

Library of Congress

Kill Devil Hill Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers by Harry Combs

with Martin Caidin

The Wright Brothers by Fred C Kelly

You can see the original Wright Flyer ilion display at the Wright Brothers Aviation

Center at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton Ohio Log onto wwwcarillonparkorgfor

park hours and other information

handle The trouble however continshyued as before A flight was made on the 28th of September 1905 with the rudder wires entirely disconnected from the warping wires When it was noshyticed that the machine was tilting up and sliding toward the tree the opershyator turned the machine down in front (emphasis ours-VA Ed) and found that the apparatus then reshysponded promptly to the lateral control The remedy was found to consist in the more skillful operation of the machine and not in a different construction The trouble was really due to the fact that in circling the machine has to carry the load resulting from centrifugal force in addition to its own weight since the acshytual pressure that the air must sustain is that due to the resultant of the two forces The machine in question had but a slight surplus ofpower above what was required for straight flight and as the additional load caused by circling increased rapidly as the circle became smaller a limit was finally reached beshyyond which the machine was no lonshyger able to maintain sufficient speed to sustain itself in the air And as the lifting effect of the inner wing owing to its reduced speed counterbalanced a large part of the increased lift resulting from the greater angle of incidence on that wing the response to lateral conshytrol was so slow that the machine sank to the ground usually before it had been brought back to the level again When we had discovered the real nature of the trouble and knew that it could always be remedied by tilting the machine forward a little so that its flyshying speed would be restored we felt that we were ready to place flying machines on the market

The brothers clearly understood the nature of wing loading and how the additional load of turning flight was affecting their airplane They knew that maintaining forward speed was essential and by doing so they avoided the slide to the inside of the turn they had been fighting With the problem solved higher flights of 40 to 60 feet in altitude were comshymonplace By the beginning of Ocshytober they were flying the Flyer III at will and flight times started being

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

date on the sign I dont know where Flying picked up the idea of its Gone Flying sign but believe you me it was the Pyshylon Club that originated and popularized it

The Pylon Clubs success and worldwide notoriety was not a result of my sole efforts or popshyularity but that of the people and happenings that were a part of the club

Many people were responsishyble for the success of the club but I must single out a great humanitarian who played a major role in the club and my well-being

The late Dan Clark was the president of his familys firm in Chicago and resided in a modest home close to the club Dan was a close friend of Benny Howard and it was through Benny that I met Dan while working for Howard Dan was an avid autoshyracing and air racing fan and a guy who the whole world loved and he in tum loved the world of people

It was Dan Clark who introshyduced the club to the world of busishyness which included such names as the Rothschilds of European banking fame Sherman Brothers Furniture and numerous other world figures of industry As a regular club member Dan knew everybody who came through the doors and vice versa He was as much a part of the club as I was

Our first annual picnic was a reshysult of a bragging contest we had over who could build and fly a kite higher than the other The more we bragged how good we were the more the customers encouraged us to have a contest What started out as a prishyvate boasting affair now turned into a full-blown contest with everybody wanting to witness the outcome This tickled Dan and he agreed to the flyshyoff with the stipulation that the kites would be homebuilt and no box kites were allowed

The site of the contest was to be the Bailey Airport in Lowell Indiana where Dan kept his BT-13 in a hangar along with my Travel Air The Bailey

Dan Clark holding his winning kite the Pylon Club Special No 43 Number 43 was the racing number for the Rezich Brothers Goodyear racer

Airport was a private airport operated by the Bailey brothers Charley and Don on their fathers farm and it was best thought that we should obtain approval of the Bailey family before we dragged all the saloon people down to their peaceful and quiet farm

The following Saturday Dan and I drove down to the farm to seek pershymission for our wacky contest During the hour-and-a-half drive to the farm we concluded that we were defeating the purpose of our boasting-mainly that kids today dont build their own kites as we did in the years past It was then decided to open the conshytest to all of the Pylon Clubs memshybers and their families We now had a program-a special fly-off between Dan and me and an open contest for all When we announced our crazy program to the Baileys they were overjoyed and suggested we hold the contest on a Sunday so they could participate by furnishing fresh sweet com for a corn boil and making lemshyonade for the thirsty Hence the idea of a picnic Driving back to the club Dan suggested we send invitations to all of the out-of-town members and make it a huge gala affair complete with an air show an airlift parachute jumps etc-the works

Our little private kite contest was

now taking on the shape of a major event that would require funding and much help

I called on club member and old-time EAA favorite Pete Myers to join me in the Travel Air and the Bailey Super Cub for the air show portion and Mike Burson for the chute jumps We now had an air show not much different than a regular weekend show We reshycruited Walter Brownell former test pilot for Howard and John Murray as pilots for the airlift We printed official kite contest rules and entry forms ordered trophies and lined up a panel of judges cooks for the spare ribs an official starter and my brother Mike for the beer

Another trip to Bailey Airshyport was necessary this time to

obtain permission to bring beer on the premises Permission was granted with the mutual agreement that no beer would be served until after the air show and all airplanes were put away for the day We adhered to the agreement religiously however we learned a thirsty lesson the first year We flew until sundown giving rides in the Clark Airlines BT-13

By sundown many tongues were hanging long and dry including yours truly The following years we made some modifications to the airlift by adding more airplanes and pilots so we could get to that beer sooner

The kite contests were good for business due to the publicity gained from the annual event We had conshytestants come from all over the counshytry just for the contest and picnic I still get letters to this day inquiring when and where the next contest is going to be held Dan always won our personal kite fly-offs He proved his pOint every year-he was the better kite builder

I could tell stories about Dan for the next 10 years and never run out of mashyterial like the time he led a six-car caravan up to race driver Bob Muhlkes Clover Club in Skokie Illinois

This was a two-level wall-to-wall carpeted saloon that was the gather-

VINTAGE A I RPLA NE 7

ing place for all the Indy 500 drivers and owners The six-car caravan contained the members and friends of the Pylon Club band that was invited to perform at Muhlkes durshying the Indy 500 Week Muhlke had arranged to have Merle Bellengers Indy 500 winning race car on display along with the ownshyers and drivers of the rest of the field The evening was quite festive with most everyone beshying pretty well bent out of shape by 200 am When it was time to go home Dan lined all six cars behind his new Hudson and caushytioned all of us not Big Nick behind the timber at the Pylon Club to race or pass him and that he would lead us home without getting pinched I must say here that Dan loved to drive at high speeds so it was hard to believe that we would make it back to the Pylon Club without a race with Dan Nevshyertheless we followed All went well and legal for the first 10 miles when suddenly Dan puts his foot into it As we are going through Cicero Ilshylinois a place no Chicago driver should get pinched sure enough the race lasted about 2 miles when a squad car pulled all of us over to the curb As the two burly cops apshyproached Dans car Dan gets out and tells the copper that all the cars belong to him and he will take care of all of them About now I knew we were all going to spend the night in the pokey and that it was going to cost a bundle to get out of this one Dan and the No1 copshyper exchange some good words and then drive off in Dans car while the No2 boy watches over the rest of

SEPTEMBER 2005

us About 10 minutes later Dan and the copper return and Dan gives us the crank up signal As we start up I notice the squad car pulling in front of Dans car with the red flashshyers on I knew it-we were going to the slammer Damn you Dan Damn me for following Suddenly we were running at SO mph again With the police car in front and the last car doing 60 I don t know to this day what Dan said to the copshyper or what he paid if he paid but I do know that we were escorted at SO mph to the Chicago city limits and turned loose

When we all arrived back at the club I asked Dan how did he do it and how much did it costhe laughingly told us to be careful driving home

Then there was the time we all were driving to my brother Franks wedding reception I had just purshychased a new Dodge and was drivshying at 30 mph to break it in when

Dan pulled up beshyhind me and started pushing me We went through the busy intersection of 79th and Ashshyland Ave doing 55 mph-Dan was pushing and laughshying Jo Anne my wife was screaming Stop Stop and I was steering like hell hoping and praying nobody pulled out in front of me That gutless Dodge would never have out-accelershyated Dans Hudson so I rode it out

We turned the tables on Dan one nigh t He had a home in Miami and would visit his mother regularly Before going on his visits he would alshyways stop in the

club and tell me his schedule and check to see who would be flying the trip His favorite airline to Mishyami was Delta and it would do anything to please Dan

When I found out what flight Dan was going on I called the Delta station manager and told him I would like to bring my band from the saloon out to Midway and set up on the ramp alongside the loadshying ramp to give Dan a surprise send-off The manager said it was okay with him if it was okay with the airport The airports okay was no sweat because John Casey the airport manager was an old friend of mine and a club member We put the band between the DC-7 and the terminal out of sight from the waiting lounge When Dan walked out of the terminal we started by playing Danny Boy followed by Moon Over Miami and the Pylon Clubs Signature song When the Saints Go Marching In

8

Ole Dan damn space for customers near fell off the The club was opened boarding ramp with during Mardi Gras surprise The capshy and to mark the ocshytain met Dan at the casion the band doorway and adshy adopted the song vised him that he When the Saints Go was Deltas first ce shy Marching In as our lebrity to be boarded Signature number with an orchestra So when we would When they finshy open the nights first ished boarding all show I would lead the passengers we the band out of the went into our Dixshy saloon playing the ieland show numshy Saints and would ber This brought march up the back the whole plane shy of my car over the load to the door roof and down the and the captain was hood while bangshyleaning out of the ing drums We then cockpit for a better would march down look and listen to the corner and

All the black porshy back-all the while ters were on the playing the Saints ramp doing a jig My new Dodges were saying MI Clark a huge mass of dents sho goes first class that would have By this time the been on my cusshywhole terminal conshy tomers cars if they verged on the Delta parked in front ramp We kept playshy People would ing waiting for the come from all over

Big Nick at the drums back in the Pylon Club days If youve seen him fly the Travel Air youve seen only haN the show bull he doesnt walk on cars too much anymore but he still plays a mean set of drums

skipper to start the engines but unbeknownst to me he was waiting for us to stop and leave the ramp

After about 40 minutes the stashytion manager advised me that he had to release the flight because an incoming flight needed the gate The Delta flight was over an hour late getting off but not one pas shysenger complained Dan spent the whole trip explaining the band and telling the passengers about the Pyshylon Club and Crazy Nick I have alshyways wondered what the captain and station manager filed as the reason for the one-hour delay in departing MDW

~ dont know why they called me Crazy Nick sure I stopped streetshycars and invited the passengers in for a drink and I walked on autoshymobiles drove sports cars through others saloons and flew under

bridges (with my Culver Cadet) but I wasnt crazy

During the 50s Chicago was still operating two-man streetcars on 63rd Street which ran in front of the club and whenever I felt devilshyish and generous I would run out front and flag down a streetcar and invite everybody on board in to the saloon for a free drink play them a fast number on the drums and send them on their way The first few times I pulled that stunt I damn near got run over by the streetcar But after the motorman got to know the spot and word was passed on he would slow down and stop right in front of the place and inform the riders it was okay to leave the car I drove the coppers nuts

First-time customers could never figure out why I parked my own car out front instead of leaving the

the continent just to see that march and I didnt dare disappoint them

A friend of mine had a saloon down the street and most times I would march the band through her saloon and back and in doing so I would clean out all of her customshyers who would follow us back to my place Her place had a large set of doors so one night I jumped into an MG that my bass player owned and drove it into and out of her place before anybody realized what had happened Crazy Nick No way We had some crazy customers also like Merle F Buck who played a piano concert in the rain on the street in front of the club Yes the piano belonged to the club

Im late again-gotta run Next month Ill tell you about Crazy Bart the blood run the python lady the Pylon Club and EAA

V INTAGE AI RPLA NE 9

THE qJMi PRACTICAL AIRPLANE

Part II The season of success

(UJsing all they knew from the 105 flights made with the 1904 Flyer II the Wrights completed the Flyer III

over the winter of 1904-1905 using the hardware and engine from the previous airplane It took some time for the craft to be assembled and poor weather hampered their start in 1905 By early summer of 1905 they were ready to resume flying at Huffman Prairie

With revisions to the machine which they thought would cure the pitch instability the new craft weighed 850 pounds including enough water and fuel to run the engine for an hour To remedy the odd characteristic they encountered when the airplane slid sideways in a turn they added a pair of vertical semicircular vanes between the forshyward rudders twin surfaces

They had built a new shed buildshying closer to the Simms Station inshyterurban trolley rail stop that ran along the road along the northshywest side of Huffman Prairie Charshy

10 SEPTEMBER 2005

HG FRAUTSCHY

lie Taylor had been serving as their airport manager overseeing and participating in the construction of the 1904 and 1905 sheds and working on the revised engine deshysign Still using the basic horizontal four-cylinder design they had used for the 1903 Flyer it could now produce 16 hp and would eventushyally produce 20 hp during the 1905 season At one pOint during testing it produced 22 hp for a short time

By June they were ready and on June 23 they pulled the weight up to the top of the derrick and Orville piloted the first attempt that Friday

Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905 pages 1-3

Friday June 23 1905 (1) First flight O W Time 9-12

sec WW 8-3 4 CE T 76 Ft wind [at 45deg ] Distance 272 ft over ground The left wind was struck in landing and four ribs were cracked at rear left corner [Power insufficient Missing explosions ] The machine was fitted with two semicircular vershytical front vanes (7 sq ft) and was

very hard to control Picture A couple of explanations are

needed at this pOint Each flight was timed by the pilot in this case Orville Wright as well as at least one observer on the ground For this event Wilbur Wright timed the flight and Charlie (CET) made an observation about the current conshyditions presumably with an aneshymometer It also mentions a 45 crosswind The items in brackets denote sentence fragments added from Orvilles diary The troubles from the previous year continued to dog them and the next day anshyother type of accident took place Wilbur continued in his Diary F

While getting ready for first start the anchor stake was pulled from the ground and the machine ran down the track with O W doubled over the front handle riding backwards Forshytunately no serious damage to man or machine

It was the second time the mashychines restraining stake had gotshyten loose and the Flyer had been

Lead Photo The beginning of the flying season 1905 Orville Wright is at the controls of the Flyer III on June 23 Wilbur appears to be running alongside while Charlie Taylor stands to the far right On the extreme right the weight-driven catapult derrick is visible This is the first photograph taken by the Wrights of that apparatus With the engine developing a misfire the flight lasted only 9-112 seconds and covered 272 feet The Flyer III was hard to control and landed heavily on the left wing breaking four wing ribs

pulled down the rail before one of the brothers was ready to fly Both times Orville leapt to the front of the Flyer and at least one time he depressed the lever for the forward rudder so the machine wouldnt rear up at the end of the rail and smash itself into the prairie

While photos were taken that day the control difficulties apshypeared to preoccupy the brothers as no other photos appear to have been taken until September The ninth flight of the season was atshy

tempted on July 14 1905 Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905

pages 6-7 Friday July 14 1905 Wind N W 6-7 miles [straight

ahead] (9) First light O W Distance 568

ft Time about 12 sec Anem-251 meters The machine seemed to steer all right laterally but after attaining high speed began to undulate someshywhat and suddenly turned downward and struck at a considerable angle breaking front skids front rudder upshyper front spar and about a dozen ribs and lower front spar and one upright The machine rolled over on front edge O W was thrown violently out though the broken top surface but suffered no injury at all

n repairing machine a number of changes were made F[ront] rudder inshycreased to about 84 ft and placed 12 ft from front edge of machine Turns upward 31deg and downward 26deg Total weight about 870 lbs Owing to very hard rain the field became loaded and delayed us several weeks

That was it Both brothers had long known

that flying at speeds approaching 35 to 40 mph could be dangerous but this accident was a close cali and they knew it Amazingly once again Orville came out of the acshycident with nothing more than bumps and bruises They had to come up with a solution to the stashybility problem that had perSisted since December of 1903 or the unshydulations they regularly encounshytered would prevent them from making an airplane that could be considered safe to fly

In the 1912 disposition menshytioned in part I of this story Wilbur wrote about the risk

n 1905 we built another machine and resumed our experiments in the same field near Dayton Ohio Our parshyticular object was to clear up the mystery which we had encountered on a few ocshycasions during the preceding year Durshying all the lights we had made up to this time we had kept close to the ground usually within ten feet of the ground in order that in case we met any new and mysterious phenomenon we could make a safe landing With only one life to spend we did not consider it advisable

September 7 1905 Flight 23 After suffering a nearly disastrous crash on July 17 the brothers completely redesigned the forward rudder (elevator) moving it further out in front of the machine and increasing its surface area The changes paid off and by this flight they were able to control the airplane consistently Orville made two complete circles with the Flyer III during a 2-minute 45-second flight

VINTAGE AIRPLANE t t

The 41st flight the second of two flights on September 29 1905 After the Wrights warmmiddotup flight of one circle in the morning Torrance Huffman the owner of the prairie the Wrights had borrowed for their flying experiments in 1904 and 1905 was present for this flight which lasted an astounding 14 circles of the field traveling 19570 meters in 19 minutes 55 seconds according to Wilburs stopwatch time of Orvilles flight The Flyer III averaged 36 miles per hour Wilbur took 12 photographs of the flight which lasted until Orville ran the Flyer Ills gas tank dry

to attempt to exploTe mysteries at such great height from the ground that a fall would put an end to our investigations and leave the mystery unsolved I

Even while keeping close to the ground and rarely exceeding 20 feet in altitude accidents were happenshying on a regular basis to both OW and WW as they referred to each other in their pocket notebook dishyaries If they flew any higher accishydents such as Orvilles on the 14th of July would most likely be fatal

A major revision was made to the layout of the Flyer Ill s design during the rebuild of the machine The forshyward rudder was increased from just over 52 square feet in surface area to 84 square feet and it was moved from 732 feet to 117 feet in front of the wings The greater surface area and added moment arm meant the added ballast weight could be removed

They resumed flying on Thursday August 24 Three flights were made and the changes to the Flyer proved to be on target The Flyer had become

12 SEPTEMBER 2005

more controllable One other aspect of the flights proved to be noteworthy enough that Wilbur felt it needed to be mentioned At the end of his diary enshytry for that day he jotted down IINoth_ ing broken in any of these three flights II

That was a big change from their previshyous experiences

Soon the flights started lasting over a half a minute on a regular bashysis and as the brothers became acshycustomed to the aircrafts handling without having to concentrate on overcoming the pitch instabilshyity flights like the ones made on Wednesday September 6 1905 were obtained

(20) 1st trial O W 620 meters [in] 40-15 sec W W 37 sec C E T 37-45 sec Distance over ground 1688 [ft]

(21) 2nd trial O W [Speed through air] 165 [meters per sec) 4730 meters [in] 4 54 sec W W 4 46- sec C E T 4 47-251 Four rounds offield and landed at starting point

The pitch instability problem seemed to be fixed they no longer

had to endure the ever-increasing undulations that would end in an abrupt landing which often meant repairs some major would have to be made Their confidence in solvshying the riddle began to relax them as well In one entry concerning a flight on Wednesday August 30 1905 by Orville Wilbur wrote that the flight was A very comical performance Orvilles landing resulted in breakshying the ends of four wing ribs

There was one more problem that kept them from making even longer flights Their accidents were not reshystricted to the problems with pitch stability A curious loss of speed and a subsequent arrival in the humshymock-filled pasture was still happenshying with annoying frequency

Wilbur wrote in his 1912 disposhysition

17he machine had reached the ground in the peculiar cases J have mentioned too soon fOT us to detershymine whether the trouble was due to slowness of the correction or whether it was due to a change of conditions which would have increased in inshytensity if it had continued until the machine would have been entirely overturned and quite beyond the conshytrol of the operator Consequently it was necessary or at leas t advisable to discover the exact cause of the pheshynomenon before attempting any high flights For a long time we were unshyable to determine the peculiar condishytions under which this trouble was to be expected But as time passed we began to note that it usually occurred when we were turning a rather short circle We therefore made short circles sometimes for the purpose of investishygating and noting the exact conduct of the machine from the time the trouble began until the landing was madeI

Time after time the vexing pecushyliar cases occurred during 1905 as they had in 1904 Wilbur continued

IIAt one time we thought it might be due to the fact that the mach ine in circling did not face exactly in the direction of the line of motion To test this point we disconnected the rudder wire from the warping wire and opershyated the rudder by an entirely separate

Another of the 12 photographs taken of flight 41 shows Orville flying 60 feet over Huffman Prairie Compared to the 1904 machine one can clearly see how far forward the Wrights placed the elevator after the July 17 crash

INTERESTING WRIGHT WEBSITES

wwwwrightexperiencecom

wwwfirst-to-flycom

Plenty of Wright materials here including a nice collection of photographs of all

19 aircraft produced by the Wrights and their company Also included is a delightful

interview and caricatures of the Wrights by Kate Carew a wellmiddotknown journalist and

artist working at that time for the New York World

wwwrootcandlescom

In addition to their current business a short summary of the A1 Root company

history is maintained on this site and it includes full excerpts of the January 1 and

January 15 1905 articles written by Amos Root about his experiences at Huffman

Prairie the previous year

wwwibraries wright edu special wrighCbrothers

The Online Archives of Wright State University There is an extensive collection of

Wright materials within the librarys collection which was donated to the university

by the Wright family in 1975

References

A number of published sources were consulted to compile these articles chief

among them

The Bishops Boys A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch

The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright including the Chanute-Wright Letters

Volume 1 1899-1905 edited by Marvin W McFarland Aeronautics Division of the

Library of Congress

Kill Devil Hill Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers by Harry Combs

with Martin Caidin

The Wright Brothers by Fred C Kelly

You can see the original Wright Flyer ilion display at the Wright Brothers Aviation

Center at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton Ohio Log onto wwwcarillonparkorgfor

park hours and other information

handle The trouble however continshyued as before A flight was made on the 28th of September 1905 with the rudder wires entirely disconnected from the warping wires When it was noshyticed that the machine was tilting up and sliding toward the tree the opershyator turned the machine down in front (emphasis ours-VA Ed) and found that the apparatus then reshysponded promptly to the lateral control The remedy was found to consist in the more skillful operation of the machine and not in a different construction The trouble was really due to the fact that in circling the machine has to carry the load resulting from centrifugal force in addition to its own weight since the acshytual pressure that the air must sustain is that due to the resultant of the two forces The machine in question had but a slight surplus ofpower above what was required for straight flight and as the additional load caused by circling increased rapidly as the circle became smaller a limit was finally reached beshyyond which the machine was no lonshyger able to maintain sufficient speed to sustain itself in the air And as the lifting effect of the inner wing owing to its reduced speed counterbalanced a large part of the increased lift resulting from the greater angle of incidence on that wing the response to lateral conshytrol was so slow that the machine sank to the ground usually before it had been brought back to the level again When we had discovered the real nature of the trouble and knew that it could always be remedied by tilting the machine forward a little so that its flyshying speed would be restored we felt that we were ready to place flying machines on the market

The brothers clearly understood the nature of wing loading and how the additional load of turning flight was affecting their airplane They knew that maintaining forward speed was essential and by doing so they avoided the slide to the inside of the turn they had been fighting With the problem solved higher flights of 40 to 60 feet in altitude were comshymonplace By the beginning of Ocshytober they were flying the Flyer III at will and flight times started being

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

ing place for all the Indy 500 drivers and owners The six-car caravan contained the members and friends of the Pylon Club band that was invited to perform at Muhlkes durshying the Indy 500 Week Muhlke had arranged to have Merle Bellengers Indy 500 winning race car on display along with the ownshyers and drivers of the rest of the field The evening was quite festive with most everyone beshying pretty well bent out of shape by 200 am When it was time to go home Dan lined all six cars behind his new Hudson and caushytioned all of us not Big Nick behind the timber at the Pylon Club to race or pass him and that he would lead us home without getting pinched I must say here that Dan loved to drive at high speeds so it was hard to believe that we would make it back to the Pylon Club without a race with Dan Nevshyertheless we followed All went well and legal for the first 10 miles when suddenly Dan puts his foot into it As we are going through Cicero Ilshylinois a place no Chicago driver should get pinched sure enough the race lasted about 2 miles when a squad car pulled all of us over to the curb As the two burly cops apshyproached Dans car Dan gets out and tells the copper that all the cars belong to him and he will take care of all of them About now I knew we were all going to spend the night in the pokey and that it was going to cost a bundle to get out of this one Dan and the No1 copshyper exchange some good words and then drive off in Dans car while the No2 boy watches over the rest of

SEPTEMBER 2005

us About 10 minutes later Dan and the copper return and Dan gives us the crank up signal As we start up I notice the squad car pulling in front of Dans car with the red flashshyers on I knew it-we were going to the slammer Damn you Dan Damn me for following Suddenly we were running at SO mph again With the police car in front and the last car doing 60 I don t know to this day what Dan said to the copshyper or what he paid if he paid but I do know that we were escorted at SO mph to the Chicago city limits and turned loose

When we all arrived back at the club I asked Dan how did he do it and how much did it costhe laughingly told us to be careful driving home

Then there was the time we all were driving to my brother Franks wedding reception I had just purshychased a new Dodge and was drivshying at 30 mph to break it in when

Dan pulled up beshyhind me and started pushing me We went through the busy intersection of 79th and Ashshyland Ave doing 55 mph-Dan was pushing and laughshying Jo Anne my wife was screaming Stop Stop and I was steering like hell hoping and praying nobody pulled out in front of me That gutless Dodge would never have out-accelershyated Dans Hudson so I rode it out

We turned the tables on Dan one nigh t He had a home in Miami and would visit his mother regularly Before going on his visits he would alshyways stop in the

club and tell me his schedule and check to see who would be flying the trip His favorite airline to Mishyami was Delta and it would do anything to please Dan

When I found out what flight Dan was going on I called the Delta station manager and told him I would like to bring my band from the saloon out to Midway and set up on the ramp alongside the loadshying ramp to give Dan a surprise send-off The manager said it was okay with him if it was okay with the airport The airports okay was no sweat because John Casey the airport manager was an old friend of mine and a club member We put the band between the DC-7 and the terminal out of sight from the waiting lounge When Dan walked out of the terminal we started by playing Danny Boy followed by Moon Over Miami and the Pylon Clubs Signature song When the Saints Go Marching In

8

Ole Dan damn space for customers near fell off the The club was opened boarding ramp with during Mardi Gras surprise The capshy and to mark the ocshytain met Dan at the casion the band doorway and adshy adopted the song vised him that he When the Saints Go was Deltas first ce shy Marching In as our lebrity to be boarded Signature number with an orchestra So when we would When they finshy open the nights first ished boarding all show I would lead the passengers we the band out of the went into our Dixshy saloon playing the ieland show numshy Saints and would ber This brought march up the back the whole plane shy of my car over the load to the door roof and down the and the captain was hood while bangshyleaning out of the ing drums We then cockpit for a better would march down look and listen to the corner and

All the black porshy back-all the while ters were on the playing the Saints ramp doing a jig My new Dodges were saying MI Clark a huge mass of dents sho goes first class that would have By this time the been on my cusshywhole terminal conshy tomers cars if they verged on the Delta parked in front ramp We kept playshy People would ing waiting for the come from all over

Big Nick at the drums back in the Pylon Club days If youve seen him fly the Travel Air youve seen only haN the show bull he doesnt walk on cars too much anymore but he still plays a mean set of drums

skipper to start the engines but unbeknownst to me he was waiting for us to stop and leave the ramp

After about 40 minutes the stashytion manager advised me that he had to release the flight because an incoming flight needed the gate The Delta flight was over an hour late getting off but not one pas shysenger complained Dan spent the whole trip explaining the band and telling the passengers about the Pyshylon Club and Crazy Nick I have alshyways wondered what the captain and station manager filed as the reason for the one-hour delay in departing MDW

~ dont know why they called me Crazy Nick sure I stopped streetshycars and invited the passengers in for a drink and I walked on autoshymobiles drove sports cars through others saloons and flew under

bridges (with my Culver Cadet) but I wasnt crazy

During the 50s Chicago was still operating two-man streetcars on 63rd Street which ran in front of the club and whenever I felt devilshyish and generous I would run out front and flag down a streetcar and invite everybody on board in to the saloon for a free drink play them a fast number on the drums and send them on their way The first few times I pulled that stunt I damn near got run over by the streetcar But after the motorman got to know the spot and word was passed on he would slow down and stop right in front of the place and inform the riders it was okay to leave the car I drove the coppers nuts

First-time customers could never figure out why I parked my own car out front instead of leaving the

the continent just to see that march and I didnt dare disappoint them

A friend of mine had a saloon down the street and most times I would march the band through her saloon and back and in doing so I would clean out all of her customshyers who would follow us back to my place Her place had a large set of doors so one night I jumped into an MG that my bass player owned and drove it into and out of her place before anybody realized what had happened Crazy Nick No way We had some crazy customers also like Merle F Buck who played a piano concert in the rain on the street in front of the club Yes the piano belonged to the club

Im late again-gotta run Next month Ill tell you about Crazy Bart the blood run the python lady the Pylon Club and EAA

V INTAGE AI RPLA NE 9

THE qJMi PRACTICAL AIRPLANE

Part II The season of success

(UJsing all they knew from the 105 flights made with the 1904 Flyer II the Wrights completed the Flyer III

over the winter of 1904-1905 using the hardware and engine from the previous airplane It took some time for the craft to be assembled and poor weather hampered their start in 1905 By early summer of 1905 they were ready to resume flying at Huffman Prairie

With revisions to the machine which they thought would cure the pitch instability the new craft weighed 850 pounds including enough water and fuel to run the engine for an hour To remedy the odd characteristic they encountered when the airplane slid sideways in a turn they added a pair of vertical semicircular vanes between the forshyward rudders twin surfaces

They had built a new shed buildshying closer to the Simms Station inshyterurban trolley rail stop that ran along the road along the northshywest side of Huffman Prairie Charshy

10 SEPTEMBER 2005

HG FRAUTSCHY

lie Taylor had been serving as their airport manager overseeing and participating in the construction of the 1904 and 1905 sheds and working on the revised engine deshysign Still using the basic horizontal four-cylinder design they had used for the 1903 Flyer it could now produce 16 hp and would eventushyally produce 20 hp during the 1905 season At one pOint during testing it produced 22 hp for a short time

By June they were ready and on June 23 they pulled the weight up to the top of the derrick and Orville piloted the first attempt that Friday

Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905 pages 1-3

Friday June 23 1905 (1) First flight O W Time 9-12

sec WW 8-3 4 CE T 76 Ft wind [at 45deg ] Distance 272 ft over ground The left wind was struck in landing and four ribs were cracked at rear left corner [Power insufficient Missing explosions ] The machine was fitted with two semicircular vershytical front vanes (7 sq ft) and was

very hard to control Picture A couple of explanations are

needed at this pOint Each flight was timed by the pilot in this case Orville Wright as well as at least one observer on the ground For this event Wilbur Wright timed the flight and Charlie (CET) made an observation about the current conshyditions presumably with an aneshymometer It also mentions a 45 crosswind The items in brackets denote sentence fragments added from Orvilles diary The troubles from the previous year continued to dog them and the next day anshyother type of accident took place Wilbur continued in his Diary F

While getting ready for first start the anchor stake was pulled from the ground and the machine ran down the track with O W doubled over the front handle riding backwards Forshytunately no serious damage to man or machine

It was the second time the mashychines restraining stake had gotshyten loose and the Flyer had been

Lead Photo The beginning of the flying season 1905 Orville Wright is at the controls of the Flyer III on June 23 Wilbur appears to be running alongside while Charlie Taylor stands to the far right On the extreme right the weight-driven catapult derrick is visible This is the first photograph taken by the Wrights of that apparatus With the engine developing a misfire the flight lasted only 9-112 seconds and covered 272 feet The Flyer III was hard to control and landed heavily on the left wing breaking four wing ribs

pulled down the rail before one of the brothers was ready to fly Both times Orville leapt to the front of the Flyer and at least one time he depressed the lever for the forward rudder so the machine wouldnt rear up at the end of the rail and smash itself into the prairie

While photos were taken that day the control difficulties apshypeared to preoccupy the brothers as no other photos appear to have been taken until September The ninth flight of the season was atshy

tempted on July 14 1905 Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905

pages 6-7 Friday July 14 1905 Wind N W 6-7 miles [straight

ahead] (9) First light O W Distance 568

ft Time about 12 sec Anem-251 meters The machine seemed to steer all right laterally but after attaining high speed began to undulate someshywhat and suddenly turned downward and struck at a considerable angle breaking front skids front rudder upshyper front spar and about a dozen ribs and lower front spar and one upright The machine rolled over on front edge O W was thrown violently out though the broken top surface but suffered no injury at all

n repairing machine a number of changes were made F[ront] rudder inshycreased to about 84 ft and placed 12 ft from front edge of machine Turns upward 31deg and downward 26deg Total weight about 870 lbs Owing to very hard rain the field became loaded and delayed us several weeks

That was it Both brothers had long known

that flying at speeds approaching 35 to 40 mph could be dangerous but this accident was a close cali and they knew it Amazingly once again Orville came out of the acshycident with nothing more than bumps and bruises They had to come up with a solution to the stashybility problem that had perSisted since December of 1903 or the unshydulations they regularly encounshytered would prevent them from making an airplane that could be considered safe to fly

In the 1912 disposition menshytioned in part I of this story Wilbur wrote about the risk

n 1905 we built another machine and resumed our experiments in the same field near Dayton Ohio Our parshyticular object was to clear up the mystery which we had encountered on a few ocshycasions during the preceding year Durshying all the lights we had made up to this time we had kept close to the ground usually within ten feet of the ground in order that in case we met any new and mysterious phenomenon we could make a safe landing With only one life to spend we did not consider it advisable

September 7 1905 Flight 23 After suffering a nearly disastrous crash on July 17 the brothers completely redesigned the forward rudder (elevator) moving it further out in front of the machine and increasing its surface area The changes paid off and by this flight they were able to control the airplane consistently Orville made two complete circles with the Flyer III during a 2-minute 45-second flight

VINTAGE AIRPLANE t t

The 41st flight the second of two flights on September 29 1905 After the Wrights warmmiddotup flight of one circle in the morning Torrance Huffman the owner of the prairie the Wrights had borrowed for their flying experiments in 1904 and 1905 was present for this flight which lasted an astounding 14 circles of the field traveling 19570 meters in 19 minutes 55 seconds according to Wilburs stopwatch time of Orvilles flight The Flyer III averaged 36 miles per hour Wilbur took 12 photographs of the flight which lasted until Orville ran the Flyer Ills gas tank dry

to attempt to exploTe mysteries at such great height from the ground that a fall would put an end to our investigations and leave the mystery unsolved I

Even while keeping close to the ground and rarely exceeding 20 feet in altitude accidents were happenshying on a regular basis to both OW and WW as they referred to each other in their pocket notebook dishyaries If they flew any higher accishydents such as Orvilles on the 14th of July would most likely be fatal

A major revision was made to the layout of the Flyer Ill s design during the rebuild of the machine The forshyward rudder was increased from just over 52 square feet in surface area to 84 square feet and it was moved from 732 feet to 117 feet in front of the wings The greater surface area and added moment arm meant the added ballast weight could be removed

They resumed flying on Thursday August 24 Three flights were made and the changes to the Flyer proved to be on target The Flyer had become

12 SEPTEMBER 2005

more controllable One other aspect of the flights proved to be noteworthy enough that Wilbur felt it needed to be mentioned At the end of his diary enshytry for that day he jotted down IINoth_ ing broken in any of these three flights II

That was a big change from their previshyous experiences

Soon the flights started lasting over a half a minute on a regular bashysis and as the brothers became acshycustomed to the aircrafts handling without having to concentrate on overcoming the pitch instabilshyity flights like the ones made on Wednesday September 6 1905 were obtained

(20) 1st trial O W 620 meters [in] 40-15 sec W W 37 sec C E T 37-45 sec Distance over ground 1688 [ft]

(21) 2nd trial O W [Speed through air] 165 [meters per sec) 4730 meters [in] 4 54 sec W W 4 46- sec C E T 4 47-251 Four rounds offield and landed at starting point

The pitch instability problem seemed to be fixed they no longer

had to endure the ever-increasing undulations that would end in an abrupt landing which often meant repairs some major would have to be made Their confidence in solvshying the riddle began to relax them as well In one entry concerning a flight on Wednesday August 30 1905 by Orville Wilbur wrote that the flight was A very comical performance Orvilles landing resulted in breakshying the ends of four wing ribs

There was one more problem that kept them from making even longer flights Their accidents were not reshystricted to the problems with pitch stability A curious loss of speed and a subsequent arrival in the humshymock-filled pasture was still happenshying with annoying frequency

Wilbur wrote in his 1912 disposhysition

17he machine had reached the ground in the peculiar cases J have mentioned too soon fOT us to detershymine whether the trouble was due to slowness of the correction or whether it was due to a change of conditions which would have increased in inshytensity if it had continued until the machine would have been entirely overturned and quite beyond the conshytrol of the operator Consequently it was necessary or at leas t advisable to discover the exact cause of the pheshynomenon before attempting any high flights For a long time we were unshyable to determine the peculiar condishytions under which this trouble was to be expected But as time passed we began to note that it usually occurred when we were turning a rather short circle We therefore made short circles sometimes for the purpose of investishygating and noting the exact conduct of the machine from the time the trouble began until the landing was madeI

Time after time the vexing pecushyliar cases occurred during 1905 as they had in 1904 Wilbur continued

IIAt one time we thought it might be due to the fact that the mach ine in circling did not face exactly in the direction of the line of motion To test this point we disconnected the rudder wire from the warping wire and opershyated the rudder by an entirely separate

Another of the 12 photographs taken of flight 41 shows Orville flying 60 feet over Huffman Prairie Compared to the 1904 machine one can clearly see how far forward the Wrights placed the elevator after the July 17 crash

INTERESTING WRIGHT WEBSITES

wwwwrightexperiencecom

wwwfirst-to-flycom

Plenty of Wright materials here including a nice collection of photographs of all

19 aircraft produced by the Wrights and their company Also included is a delightful

interview and caricatures of the Wrights by Kate Carew a wellmiddotknown journalist and

artist working at that time for the New York World

wwwrootcandlescom

In addition to their current business a short summary of the A1 Root company

history is maintained on this site and it includes full excerpts of the January 1 and

January 15 1905 articles written by Amos Root about his experiences at Huffman

Prairie the previous year

wwwibraries wright edu special wrighCbrothers

The Online Archives of Wright State University There is an extensive collection of

Wright materials within the librarys collection which was donated to the university

by the Wright family in 1975

References

A number of published sources were consulted to compile these articles chief

among them

The Bishops Boys A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch

The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright including the Chanute-Wright Letters

Volume 1 1899-1905 edited by Marvin W McFarland Aeronautics Division of the

Library of Congress

Kill Devil Hill Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers by Harry Combs

with Martin Caidin

The Wright Brothers by Fred C Kelly

You can see the original Wright Flyer ilion display at the Wright Brothers Aviation

Center at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton Ohio Log onto wwwcarillonparkorgfor

park hours and other information

handle The trouble however continshyued as before A flight was made on the 28th of September 1905 with the rudder wires entirely disconnected from the warping wires When it was noshyticed that the machine was tilting up and sliding toward the tree the opershyator turned the machine down in front (emphasis ours-VA Ed) and found that the apparatus then reshysponded promptly to the lateral control The remedy was found to consist in the more skillful operation of the machine and not in a different construction The trouble was really due to the fact that in circling the machine has to carry the load resulting from centrifugal force in addition to its own weight since the acshytual pressure that the air must sustain is that due to the resultant of the two forces The machine in question had but a slight surplus ofpower above what was required for straight flight and as the additional load caused by circling increased rapidly as the circle became smaller a limit was finally reached beshyyond which the machine was no lonshyger able to maintain sufficient speed to sustain itself in the air And as the lifting effect of the inner wing owing to its reduced speed counterbalanced a large part of the increased lift resulting from the greater angle of incidence on that wing the response to lateral conshytrol was so slow that the machine sank to the ground usually before it had been brought back to the level again When we had discovered the real nature of the trouble and knew that it could always be remedied by tilting the machine forward a little so that its flyshying speed would be restored we felt that we were ready to place flying machines on the market

The brothers clearly understood the nature of wing loading and how the additional load of turning flight was affecting their airplane They knew that maintaining forward speed was essential and by doing so they avoided the slide to the inside of the turn they had been fighting With the problem solved higher flights of 40 to 60 feet in altitude were comshymonplace By the beginning of Ocshytober they were flying the Flyer III at will and flight times started being

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

Ole Dan damn space for customers near fell off the The club was opened boarding ramp with during Mardi Gras surprise The capshy and to mark the ocshytain met Dan at the casion the band doorway and adshy adopted the song vised him that he When the Saints Go was Deltas first ce shy Marching In as our lebrity to be boarded Signature number with an orchestra So when we would When they finshy open the nights first ished boarding all show I would lead the passengers we the band out of the went into our Dixshy saloon playing the ieland show numshy Saints and would ber This brought march up the back the whole plane shy of my car over the load to the door roof and down the and the captain was hood while bangshyleaning out of the ing drums We then cockpit for a better would march down look and listen to the corner and

All the black porshy back-all the while ters were on the playing the Saints ramp doing a jig My new Dodges were saying MI Clark a huge mass of dents sho goes first class that would have By this time the been on my cusshywhole terminal conshy tomers cars if they verged on the Delta parked in front ramp We kept playshy People would ing waiting for the come from all over

Big Nick at the drums back in the Pylon Club days If youve seen him fly the Travel Air youve seen only haN the show bull he doesnt walk on cars too much anymore but he still plays a mean set of drums

skipper to start the engines but unbeknownst to me he was waiting for us to stop and leave the ramp

After about 40 minutes the stashytion manager advised me that he had to release the flight because an incoming flight needed the gate The Delta flight was over an hour late getting off but not one pas shysenger complained Dan spent the whole trip explaining the band and telling the passengers about the Pyshylon Club and Crazy Nick I have alshyways wondered what the captain and station manager filed as the reason for the one-hour delay in departing MDW

~ dont know why they called me Crazy Nick sure I stopped streetshycars and invited the passengers in for a drink and I walked on autoshymobiles drove sports cars through others saloons and flew under

bridges (with my Culver Cadet) but I wasnt crazy

During the 50s Chicago was still operating two-man streetcars on 63rd Street which ran in front of the club and whenever I felt devilshyish and generous I would run out front and flag down a streetcar and invite everybody on board in to the saloon for a free drink play them a fast number on the drums and send them on their way The first few times I pulled that stunt I damn near got run over by the streetcar But after the motorman got to know the spot and word was passed on he would slow down and stop right in front of the place and inform the riders it was okay to leave the car I drove the coppers nuts

First-time customers could never figure out why I parked my own car out front instead of leaving the

the continent just to see that march and I didnt dare disappoint them

A friend of mine had a saloon down the street and most times I would march the band through her saloon and back and in doing so I would clean out all of her customshyers who would follow us back to my place Her place had a large set of doors so one night I jumped into an MG that my bass player owned and drove it into and out of her place before anybody realized what had happened Crazy Nick No way We had some crazy customers also like Merle F Buck who played a piano concert in the rain on the street in front of the club Yes the piano belonged to the club

Im late again-gotta run Next month Ill tell you about Crazy Bart the blood run the python lady the Pylon Club and EAA

V INTAGE AI RPLA NE 9

THE qJMi PRACTICAL AIRPLANE

Part II The season of success

(UJsing all they knew from the 105 flights made with the 1904 Flyer II the Wrights completed the Flyer III

over the winter of 1904-1905 using the hardware and engine from the previous airplane It took some time for the craft to be assembled and poor weather hampered their start in 1905 By early summer of 1905 they were ready to resume flying at Huffman Prairie

With revisions to the machine which they thought would cure the pitch instability the new craft weighed 850 pounds including enough water and fuel to run the engine for an hour To remedy the odd characteristic they encountered when the airplane slid sideways in a turn they added a pair of vertical semicircular vanes between the forshyward rudders twin surfaces

They had built a new shed buildshying closer to the Simms Station inshyterurban trolley rail stop that ran along the road along the northshywest side of Huffman Prairie Charshy

10 SEPTEMBER 2005

HG FRAUTSCHY

lie Taylor had been serving as their airport manager overseeing and participating in the construction of the 1904 and 1905 sheds and working on the revised engine deshysign Still using the basic horizontal four-cylinder design they had used for the 1903 Flyer it could now produce 16 hp and would eventushyally produce 20 hp during the 1905 season At one pOint during testing it produced 22 hp for a short time

By June they were ready and on June 23 they pulled the weight up to the top of the derrick and Orville piloted the first attempt that Friday

Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905 pages 1-3

Friday June 23 1905 (1) First flight O W Time 9-12

sec WW 8-3 4 CE T 76 Ft wind [at 45deg ] Distance 272 ft over ground The left wind was struck in landing and four ribs were cracked at rear left corner [Power insufficient Missing explosions ] The machine was fitted with two semicircular vershytical front vanes (7 sq ft) and was

very hard to control Picture A couple of explanations are

needed at this pOint Each flight was timed by the pilot in this case Orville Wright as well as at least one observer on the ground For this event Wilbur Wright timed the flight and Charlie (CET) made an observation about the current conshyditions presumably with an aneshymometer It also mentions a 45 crosswind The items in brackets denote sentence fragments added from Orvilles diary The troubles from the previous year continued to dog them and the next day anshyother type of accident took place Wilbur continued in his Diary F

While getting ready for first start the anchor stake was pulled from the ground and the machine ran down the track with O W doubled over the front handle riding backwards Forshytunately no serious damage to man or machine

It was the second time the mashychines restraining stake had gotshyten loose and the Flyer had been

Lead Photo The beginning of the flying season 1905 Orville Wright is at the controls of the Flyer III on June 23 Wilbur appears to be running alongside while Charlie Taylor stands to the far right On the extreme right the weight-driven catapult derrick is visible This is the first photograph taken by the Wrights of that apparatus With the engine developing a misfire the flight lasted only 9-112 seconds and covered 272 feet The Flyer III was hard to control and landed heavily on the left wing breaking four wing ribs

pulled down the rail before one of the brothers was ready to fly Both times Orville leapt to the front of the Flyer and at least one time he depressed the lever for the forward rudder so the machine wouldnt rear up at the end of the rail and smash itself into the prairie

While photos were taken that day the control difficulties apshypeared to preoccupy the brothers as no other photos appear to have been taken until September The ninth flight of the season was atshy

tempted on July 14 1905 Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905

pages 6-7 Friday July 14 1905 Wind N W 6-7 miles [straight

ahead] (9) First light O W Distance 568

ft Time about 12 sec Anem-251 meters The machine seemed to steer all right laterally but after attaining high speed began to undulate someshywhat and suddenly turned downward and struck at a considerable angle breaking front skids front rudder upshyper front spar and about a dozen ribs and lower front spar and one upright The machine rolled over on front edge O W was thrown violently out though the broken top surface but suffered no injury at all

n repairing machine a number of changes were made F[ront] rudder inshycreased to about 84 ft and placed 12 ft from front edge of machine Turns upward 31deg and downward 26deg Total weight about 870 lbs Owing to very hard rain the field became loaded and delayed us several weeks

That was it Both brothers had long known

that flying at speeds approaching 35 to 40 mph could be dangerous but this accident was a close cali and they knew it Amazingly once again Orville came out of the acshycident with nothing more than bumps and bruises They had to come up with a solution to the stashybility problem that had perSisted since December of 1903 or the unshydulations they regularly encounshytered would prevent them from making an airplane that could be considered safe to fly

In the 1912 disposition menshytioned in part I of this story Wilbur wrote about the risk

n 1905 we built another machine and resumed our experiments in the same field near Dayton Ohio Our parshyticular object was to clear up the mystery which we had encountered on a few ocshycasions during the preceding year Durshying all the lights we had made up to this time we had kept close to the ground usually within ten feet of the ground in order that in case we met any new and mysterious phenomenon we could make a safe landing With only one life to spend we did not consider it advisable

September 7 1905 Flight 23 After suffering a nearly disastrous crash on July 17 the brothers completely redesigned the forward rudder (elevator) moving it further out in front of the machine and increasing its surface area The changes paid off and by this flight they were able to control the airplane consistently Orville made two complete circles with the Flyer III during a 2-minute 45-second flight

VINTAGE AIRPLANE t t

The 41st flight the second of two flights on September 29 1905 After the Wrights warmmiddotup flight of one circle in the morning Torrance Huffman the owner of the prairie the Wrights had borrowed for their flying experiments in 1904 and 1905 was present for this flight which lasted an astounding 14 circles of the field traveling 19570 meters in 19 minutes 55 seconds according to Wilburs stopwatch time of Orvilles flight The Flyer III averaged 36 miles per hour Wilbur took 12 photographs of the flight which lasted until Orville ran the Flyer Ills gas tank dry

to attempt to exploTe mysteries at such great height from the ground that a fall would put an end to our investigations and leave the mystery unsolved I

Even while keeping close to the ground and rarely exceeding 20 feet in altitude accidents were happenshying on a regular basis to both OW and WW as they referred to each other in their pocket notebook dishyaries If they flew any higher accishydents such as Orvilles on the 14th of July would most likely be fatal

A major revision was made to the layout of the Flyer Ill s design during the rebuild of the machine The forshyward rudder was increased from just over 52 square feet in surface area to 84 square feet and it was moved from 732 feet to 117 feet in front of the wings The greater surface area and added moment arm meant the added ballast weight could be removed

They resumed flying on Thursday August 24 Three flights were made and the changes to the Flyer proved to be on target The Flyer had become

12 SEPTEMBER 2005

more controllable One other aspect of the flights proved to be noteworthy enough that Wilbur felt it needed to be mentioned At the end of his diary enshytry for that day he jotted down IINoth_ ing broken in any of these three flights II

That was a big change from their previshyous experiences

Soon the flights started lasting over a half a minute on a regular bashysis and as the brothers became acshycustomed to the aircrafts handling without having to concentrate on overcoming the pitch instabilshyity flights like the ones made on Wednesday September 6 1905 were obtained

(20) 1st trial O W 620 meters [in] 40-15 sec W W 37 sec C E T 37-45 sec Distance over ground 1688 [ft]

(21) 2nd trial O W [Speed through air] 165 [meters per sec) 4730 meters [in] 4 54 sec W W 4 46- sec C E T 4 47-251 Four rounds offield and landed at starting point

The pitch instability problem seemed to be fixed they no longer

had to endure the ever-increasing undulations that would end in an abrupt landing which often meant repairs some major would have to be made Their confidence in solvshying the riddle began to relax them as well In one entry concerning a flight on Wednesday August 30 1905 by Orville Wilbur wrote that the flight was A very comical performance Orvilles landing resulted in breakshying the ends of four wing ribs

There was one more problem that kept them from making even longer flights Their accidents were not reshystricted to the problems with pitch stability A curious loss of speed and a subsequent arrival in the humshymock-filled pasture was still happenshying with annoying frequency

Wilbur wrote in his 1912 disposhysition

17he machine had reached the ground in the peculiar cases J have mentioned too soon fOT us to detershymine whether the trouble was due to slowness of the correction or whether it was due to a change of conditions which would have increased in inshytensity if it had continued until the machine would have been entirely overturned and quite beyond the conshytrol of the operator Consequently it was necessary or at leas t advisable to discover the exact cause of the pheshynomenon before attempting any high flights For a long time we were unshyable to determine the peculiar condishytions under which this trouble was to be expected But as time passed we began to note that it usually occurred when we were turning a rather short circle We therefore made short circles sometimes for the purpose of investishygating and noting the exact conduct of the machine from the time the trouble began until the landing was madeI

Time after time the vexing pecushyliar cases occurred during 1905 as they had in 1904 Wilbur continued

IIAt one time we thought it might be due to the fact that the mach ine in circling did not face exactly in the direction of the line of motion To test this point we disconnected the rudder wire from the warping wire and opershyated the rudder by an entirely separate

Another of the 12 photographs taken of flight 41 shows Orville flying 60 feet over Huffman Prairie Compared to the 1904 machine one can clearly see how far forward the Wrights placed the elevator after the July 17 crash

INTERESTING WRIGHT WEBSITES

wwwwrightexperiencecom

wwwfirst-to-flycom

Plenty of Wright materials here including a nice collection of photographs of all

19 aircraft produced by the Wrights and their company Also included is a delightful

interview and caricatures of the Wrights by Kate Carew a wellmiddotknown journalist and

artist working at that time for the New York World

wwwrootcandlescom

In addition to their current business a short summary of the A1 Root company

history is maintained on this site and it includes full excerpts of the January 1 and

January 15 1905 articles written by Amos Root about his experiences at Huffman

Prairie the previous year

wwwibraries wright edu special wrighCbrothers

The Online Archives of Wright State University There is an extensive collection of

Wright materials within the librarys collection which was donated to the university

by the Wright family in 1975

References

A number of published sources were consulted to compile these articles chief

among them

The Bishops Boys A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch

The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright including the Chanute-Wright Letters

Volume 1 1899-1905 edited by Marvin W McFarland Aeronautics Division of the

Library of Congress

Kill Devil Hill Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers by Harry Combs

with Martin Caidin

The Wright Brothers by Fred C Kelly

You can see the original Wright Flyer ilion display at the Wright Brothers Aviation

Center at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton Ohio Log onto wwwcarillonparkorgfor

park hours and other information

handle The trouble however continshyued as before A flight was made on the 28th of September 1905 with the rudder wires entirely disconnected from the warping wires When it was noshyticed that the machine was tilting up and sliding toward the tree the opershyator turned the machine down in front (emphasis ours-VA Ed) and found that the apparatus then reshysponded promptly to the lateral control The remedy was found to consist in the more skillful operation of the machine and not in a different construction The trouble was really due to the fact that in circling the machine has to carry the load resulting from centrifugal force in addition to its own weight since the acshytual pressure that the air must sustain is that due to the resultant of the two forces The machine in question had but a slight surplus ofpower above what was required for straight flight and as the additional load caused by circling increased rapidly as the circle became smaller a limit was finally reached beshyyond which the machine was no lonshyger able to maintain sufficient speed to sustain itself in the air And as the lifting effect of the inner wing owing to its reduced speed counterbalanced a large part of the increased lift resulting from the greater angle of incidence on that wing the response to lateral conshytrol was so slow that the machine sank to the ground usually before it had been brought back to the level again When we had discovered the real nature of the trouble and knew that it could always be remedied by tilting the machine forward a little so that its flyshying speed would be restored we felt that we were ready to place flying machines on the market

The brothers clearly understood the nature of wing loading and how the additional load of turning flight was affecting their airplane They knew that maintaining forward speed was essential and by doing so they avoided the slide to the inside of the turn they had been fighting With the problem solved higher flights of 40 to 60 feet in altitude were comshymonplace By the beginning of Ocshytober they were flying the Flyer III at will and flight times started being

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

THE qJMi PRACTICAL AIRPLANE

Part II The season of success

(UJsing all they knew from the 105 flights made with the 1904 Flyer II the Wrights completed the Flyer III

over the winter of 1904-1905 using the hardware and engine from the previous airplane It took some time for the craft to be assembled and poor weather hampered their start in 1905 By early summer of 1905 they were ready to resume flying at Huffman Prairie

With revisions to the machine which they thought would cure the pitch instability the new craft weighed 850 pounds including enough water and fuel to run the engine for an hour To remedy the odd characteristic they encountered when the airplane slid sideways in a turn they added a pair of vertical semicircular vanes between the forshyward rudders twin surfaces

They had built a new shed buildshying closer to the Simms Station inshyterurban trolley rail stop that ran along the road along the northshywest side of Huffman Prairie Charshy

10 SEPTEMBER 2005

HG FRAUTSCHY

lie Taylor had been serving as their airport manager overseeing and participating in the construction of the 1904 and 1905 sheds and working on the revised engine deshysign Still using the basic horizontal four-cylinder design they had used for the 1903 Flyer it could now produce 16 hp and would eventushyally produce 20 hp during the 1905 season At one pOint during testing it produced 22 hp for a short time

By June they were ready and on June 23 they pulled the weight up to the top of the derrick and Orville piloted the first attempt that Friday

Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905 pages 1-3

Friday June 23 1905 (1) First flight O W Time 9-12

sec WW 8-3 4 CE T 76 Ft wind [at 45deg ] Distance 272 ft over ground The left wind was struck in landing and four ribs were cracked at rear left corner [Power insufficient Missing explosions ] The machine was fitted with two semicircular vershytical front vanes (7 sq ft) and was

very hard to control Picture A couple of explanations are

needed at this pOint Each flight was timed by the pilot in this case Orville Wright as well as at least one observer on the ground For this event Wilbur Wright timed the flight and Charlie (CET) made an observation about the current conshyditions presumably with an aneshymometer It also mentions a 45 crosswind The items in brackets denote sentence fragments added from Orvilles diary The troubles from the previous year continued to dog them and the next day anshyother type of accident took place Wilbur continued in his Diary F

While getting ready for first start the anchor stake was pulled from the ground and the machine ran down the track with O W doubled over the front handle riding backwards Forshytunately no serious damage to man or machine

It was the second time the mashychines restraining stake had gotshyten loose and the Flyer had been

Lead Photo The beginning of the flying season 1905 Orville Wright is at the controls of the Flyer III on June 23 Wilbur appears to be running alongside while Charlie Taylor stands to the far right On the extreme right the weight-driven catapult derrick is visible This is the first photograph taken by the Wrights of that apparatus With the engine developing a misfire the flight lasted only 9-112 seconds and covered 272 feet The Flyer III was hard to control and landed heavily on the left wing breaking four wing ribs

pulled down the rail before one of the brothers was ready to fly Both times Orville leapt to the front of the Flyer and at least one time he depressed the lever for the forward rudder so the machine wouldnt rear up at the end of the rail and smash itself into the prairie

While photos were taken that day the control difficulties apshypeared to preoccupy the brothers as no other photos appear to have been taken until September The ninth flight of the season was atshy

tempted on July 14 1905 Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905

pages 6-7 Friday July 14 1905 Wind N W 6-7 miles [straight

ahead] (9) First light O W Distance 568

ft Time about 12 sec Anem-251 meters The machine seemed to steer all right laterally but after attaining high speed began to undulate someshywhat and suddenly turned downward and struck at a considerable angle breaking front skids front rudder upshyper front spar and about a dozen ribs and lower front spar and one upright The machine rolled over on front edge O W was thrown violently out though the broken top surface but suffered no injury at all

n repairing machine a number of changes were made F[ront] rudder inshycreased to about 84 ft and placed 12 ft from front edge of machine Turns upward 31deg and downward 26deg Total weight about 870 lbs Owing to very hard rain the field became loaded and delayed us several weeks

That was it Both brothers had long known

that flying at speeds approaching 35 to 40 mph could be dangerous but this accident was a close cali and they knew it Amazingly once again Orville came out of the acshycident with nothing more than bumps and bruises They had to come up with a solution to the stashybility problem that had perSisted since December of 1903 or the unshydulations they regularly encounshytered would prevent them from making an airplane that could be considered safe to fly

In the 1912 disposition menshytioned in part I of this story Wilbur wrote about the risk

n 1905 we built another machine and resumed our experiments in the same field near Dayton Ohio Our parshyticular object was to clear up the mystery which we had encountered on a few ocshycasions during the preceding year Durshying all the lights we had made up to this time we had kept close to the ground usually within ten feet of the ground in order that in case we met any new and mysterious phenomenon we could make a safe landing With only one life to spend we did not consider it advisable

September 7 1905 Flight 23 After suffering a nearly disastrous crash on July 17 the brothers completely redesigned the forward rudder (elevator) moving it further out in front of the machine and increasing its surface area The changes paid off and by this flight they were able to control the airplane consistently Orville made two complete circles with the Flyer III during a 2-minute 45-second flight

VINTAGE AIRPLANE t t

The 41st flight the second of two flights on September 29 1905 After the Wrights warmmiddotup flight of one circle in the morning Torrance Huffman the owner of the prairie the Wrights had borrowed for their flying experiments in 1904 and 1905 was present for this flight which lasted an astounding 14 circles of the field traveling 19570 meters in 19 minutes 55 seconds according to Wilburs stopwatch time of Orvilles flight The Flyer III averaged 36 miles per hour Wilbur took 12 photographs of the flight which lasted until Orville ran the Flyer Ills gas tank dry

to attempt to exploTe mysteries at such great height from the ground that a fall would put an end to our investigations and leave the mystery unsolved I

Even while keeping close to the ground and rarely exceeding 20 feet in altitude accidents were happenshying on a regular basis to both OW and WW as they referred to each other in their pocket notebook dishyaries If they flew any higher accishydents such as Orvilles on the 14th of July would most likely be fatal

A major revision was made to the layout of the Flyer Ill s design during the rebuild of the machine The forshyward rudder was increased from just over 52 square feet in surface area to 84 square feet and it was moved from 732 feet to 117 feet in front of the wings The greater surface area and added moment arm meant the added ballast weight could be removed

They resumed flying on Thursday August 24 Three flights were made and the changes to the Flyer proved to be on target The Flyer had become

12 SEPTEMBER 2005

more controllable One other aspect of the flights proved to be noteworthy enough that Wilbur felt it needed to be mentioned At the end of his diary enshytry for that day he jotted down IINoth_ ing broken in any of these three flights II

That was a big change from their previshyous experiences

Soon the flights started lasting over a half a minute on a regular bashysis and as the brothers became acshycustomed to the aircrafts handling without having to concentrate on overcoming the pitch instabilshyity flights like the ones made on Wednesday September 6 1905 were obtained

(20) 1st trial O W 620 meters [in] 40-15 sec W W 37 sec C E T 37-45 sec Distance over ground 1688 [ft]

(21) 2nd trial O W [Speed through air] 165 [meters per sec) 4730 meters [in] 4 54 sec W W 4 46- sec C E T 4 47-251 Four rounds offield and landed at starting point

The pitch instability problem seemed to be fixed they no longer

had to endure the ever-increasing undulations that would end in an abrupt landing which often meant repairs some major would have to be made Their confidence in solvshying the riddle began to relax them as well In one entry concerning a flight on Wednesday August 30 1905 by Orville Wilbur wrote that the flight was A very comical performance Orvilles landing resulted in breakshying the ends of four wing ribs

There was one more problem that kept them from making even longer flights Their accidents were not reshystricted to the problems with pitch stability A curious loss of speed and a subsequent arrival in the humshymock-filled pasture was still happenshying with annoying frequency

Wilbur wrote in his 1912 disposhysition

17he machine had reached the ground in the peculiar cases J have mentioned too soon fOT us to detershymine whether the trouble was due to slowness of the correction or whether it was due to a change of conditions which would have increased in inshytensity if it had continued until the machine would have been entirely overturned and quite beyond the conshytrol of the operator Consequently it was necessary or at leas t advisable to discover the exact cause of the pheshynomenon before attempting any high flights For a long time we were unshyable to determine the peculiar condishytions under which this trouble was to be expected But as time passed we began to note that it usually occurred when we were turning a rather short circle We therefore made short circles sometimes for the purpose of investishygating and noting the exact conduct of the machine from the time the trouble began until the landing was madeI

Time after time the vexing pecushyliar cases occurred during 1905 as they had in 1904 Wilbur continued

IIAt one time we thought it might be due to the fact that the mach ine in circling did not face exactly in the direction of the line of motion To test this point we disconnected the rudder wire from the warping wire and opershyated the rudder by an entirely separate

Another of the 12 photographs taken of flight 41 shows Orville flying 60 feet over Huffman Prairie Compared to the 1904 machine one can clearly see how far forward the Wrights placed the elevator after the July 17 crash

INTERESTING WRIGHT WEBSITES

wwwwrightexperiencecom

wwwfirst-to-flycom

Plenty of Wright materials here including a nice collection of photographs of all

19 aircraft produced by the Wrights and their company Also included is a delightful

interview and caricatures of the Wrights by Kate Carew a wellmiddotknown journalist and

artist working at that time for the New York World

wwwrootcandlescom

In addition to their current business a short summary of the A1 Root company

history is maintained on this site and it includes full excerpts of the January 1 and

January 15 1905 articles written by Amos Root about his experiences at Huffman

Prairie the previous year

wwwibraries wright edu special wrighCbrothers

The Online Archives of Wright State University There is an extensive collection of

Wright materials within the librarys collection which was donated to the university

by the Wright family in 1975

References

A number of published sources were consulted to compile these articles chief

among them

The Bishops Boys A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch

The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright including the Chanute-Wright Letters

Volume 1 1899-1905 edited by Marvin W McFarland Aeronautics Division of the

Library of Congress

Kill Devil Hill Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers by Harry Combs

with Martin Caidin

The Wright Brothers by Fred C Kelly

You can see the original Wright Flyer ilion display at the Wright Brothers Aviation

Center at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton Ohio Log onto wwwcarillonparkorgfor

park hours and other information

handle The trouble however continshyued as before A flight was made on the 28th of September 1905 with the rudder wires entirely disconnected from the warping wires When it was noshyticed that the machine was tilting up and sliding toward the tree the opershyator turned the machine down in front (emphasis ours-VA Ed) and found that the apparatus then reshysponded promptly to the lateral control The remedy was found to consist in the more skillful operation of the machine and not in a different construction The trouble was really due to the fact that in circling the machine has to carry the load resulting from centrifugal force in addition to its own weight since the acshytual pressure that the air must sustain is that due to the resultant of the two forces The machine in question had but a slight surplus ofpower above what was required for straight flight and as the additional load caused by circling increased rapidly as the circle became smaller a limit was finally reached beshyyond which the machine was no lonshyger able to maintain sufficient speed to sustain itself in the air And as the lifting effect of the inner wing owing to its reduced speed counterbalanced a large part of the increased lift resulting from the greater angle of incidence on that wing the response to lateral conshytrol was so slow that the machine sank to the ground usually before it had been brought back to the level again When we had discovered the real nature of the trouble and knew that it could always be remedied by tilting the machine forward a little so that its flyshying speed would be restored we felt that we were ready to place flying machines on the market

The brothers clearly understood the nature of wing loading and how the additional load of turning flight was affecting their airplane They knew that maintaining forward speed was essential and by doing so they avoided the slide to the inside of the turn they had been fighting With the problem solved higher flights of 40 to 60 feet in altitude were comshymonplace By the beginning of Ocshytober they were flying the Flyer III at will and flight times started being

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

Lead Photo The beginning of the flying season 1905 Orville Wright is at the controls of the Flyer III on June 23 Wilbur appears to be running alongside while Charlie Taylor stands to the far right On the extreme right the weight-driven catapult derrick is visible This is the first photograph taken by the Wrights of that apparatus With the engine developing a misfire the flight lasted only 9-112 seconds and covered 272 feet The Flyer III was hard to control and landed heavily on the left wing breaking four wing ribs

pulled down the rail before one of the brothers was ready to fly Both times Orville leapt to the front of the Flyer and at least one time he depressed the lever for the forward rudder so the machine wouldnt rear up at the end of the rail and smash itself into the prairie

While photos were taken that day the control difficulties apshypeared to preoccupy the brothers as no other photos appear to have been taken until September The ninth flight of the season was atshy

tempted on July 14 1905 Wilbur Wrights Diary F 1905

pages 6-7 Friday July 14 1905 Wind N W 6-7 miles [straight

ahead] (9) First light O W Distance 568

ft Time about 12 sec Anem-251 meters The machine seemed to steer all right laterally but after attaining high speed began to undulate someshywhat and suddenly turned downward and struck at a considerable angle breaking front skids front rudder upshyper front spar and about a dozen ribs and lower front spar and one upright The machine rolled over on front edge O W was thrown violently out though the broken top surface but suffered no injury at all

n repairing machine a number of changes were made F[ront] rudder inshycreased to about 84 ft and placed 12 ft from front edge of machine Turns upward 31deg and downward 26deg Total weight about 870 lbs Owing to very hard rain the field became loaded and delayed us several weeks

That was it Both brothers had long known

that flying at speeds approaching 35 to 40 mph could be dangerous but this accident was a close cali and they knew it Amazingly once again Orville came out of the acshycident with nothing more than bumps and bruises They had to come up with a solution to the stashybility problem that had perSisted since December of 1903 or the unshydulations they regularly encounshytered would prevent them from making an airplane that could be considered safe to fly

In the 1912 disposition menshytioned in part I of this story Wilbur wrote about the risk

n 1905 we built another machine and resumed our experiments in the same field near Dayton Ohio Our parshyticular object was to clear up the mystery which we had encountered on a few ocshycasions during the preceding year Durshying all the lights we had made up to this time we had kept close to the ground usually within ten feet of the ground in order that in case we met any new and mysterious phenomenon we could make a safe landing With only one life to spend we did not consider it advisable

September 7 1905 Flight 23 After suffering a nearly disastrous crash on July 17 the brothers completely redesigned the forward rudder (elevator) moving it further out in front of the machine and increasing its surface area The changes paid off and by this flight they were able to control the airplane consistently Orville made two complete circles with the Flyer III during a 2-minute 45-second flight

VINTAGE AIRPLANE t t

The 41st flight the second of two flights on September 29 1905 After the Wrights warmmiddotup flight of one circle in the morning Torrance Huffman the owner of the prairie the Wrights had borrowed for their flying experiments in 1904 and 1905 was present for this flight which lasted an astounding 14 circles of the field traveling 19570 meters in 19 minutes 55 seconds according to Wilburs stopwatch time of Orvilles flight The Flyer III averaged 36 miles per hour Wilbur took 12 photographs of the flight which lasted until Orville ran the Flyer Ills gas tank dry

to attempt to exploTe mysteries at such great height from the ground that a fall would put an end to our investigations and leave the mystery unsolved I

Even while keeping close to the ground and rarely exceeding 20 feet in altitude accidents were happenshying on a regular basis to both OW and WW as they referred to each other in their pocket notebook dishyaries If they flew any higher accishydents such as Orvilles on the 14th of July would most likely be fatal

A major revision was made to the layout of the Flyer Ill s design during the rebuild of the machine The forshyward rudder was increased from just over 52 square feet in surface area to 84 square feet and it was moved from 732 feet to 117 feet in front of the wings The greater surface area and added moment arm meant the added ballast weight could be removed

They resumed flying on Thursday August 24 Three flights were made and the changes to the Flyer proved to be on target The Flyer had become

12 SEPTEMBER 2005

more controllable One other aspect of the flights proved to be noteworthy enough that Wilbur felt it needed to be mentioned At the end of his diary enshytry for that day he jotted down IINoth_ ing broken in any of these three flights II

That was a big change from their previshyous experiences

Soon the flights started lasting over a half a minute on a regular bashysis and as the brothers became acshycustomed to the aircrafts handling without having to concentrate on overcoming the pitch instabilshyity flights like the ones made on Wednesday September 6 1905 were obtained

(20) 1st trial O W 620 meters [in] 40-15 sec W W 37 sec C E T 37-45 sec Distance over ground 1688 [ft]

(21) 2nd trial O W [Speed through air] 165 [meters per sec) 4730 meters [in] 4 54 sec W W 4 46- sec C E T 4 47-251 Four rounds offield and landed at starting point

The pitch instability problem seemed to be fixed they no longer

had to endure the ever-increasing undulations that would end in an abrupt landing which often meant repairs some major would have to be made Their confidence in solvshying the riddle began to relax them as well In one entry concerning a flight on Wednesday August 30 1905 by Orville Wilbur wrote that the flight was A very comical performance Orvilles landing resulted in breakshying the ends of four wing ribs

There was one more problem that kept them from making even longer flights Their accidents were not reshystricted to the problems with pitch stability A curious loss of speed and a subsequent arrival in the humshymock-filled pasture was still happenshying with annoying frequency

Wilbur wrote in his 1912 disposhysition

17he machine had reached the ground in the peculiar cases J have mentioned too soon fOT us to detershymine whether the trouble was due to slowness of the correction or whether it was due to a change of conditions which would have increased in inshytensity if it had continued until the machine would have been entirely overturned and quite beyond the conshytrol of the operator Consequently it was necessary or at leas t advisable to discover the exact cause of the pheshynomenon before attempting any high flights For a long time we were unshyable to determine the peculiar condishytions under which this trouble was to be expected But as time passed we began to note that it usually occurred when we were turning a rather short circle We therefore made short circles sometimes for the purpose of investishygating and noting the exact conduct of the machine from the time the trouble began until the landing was madeI

Time after time the vexing pecushyliar cases occurred during 1905 as they had in 1904 Wilbur continued

IIAt one time we thought it might be due to the fact that the mach ine in circling did not face exactly in the direction of the line of motion To test this point we disconnected the rudder wire from the warping wire and opershyated the rudder by an entirely separate

Another of the 12 photographs taken of flight 41 shows Orville flying 60 feet over Huffman Prairie Compared to the 1904 machine one can clearly see how far forward the Wrights placed the elevator after the July 17 crash

INTERESTING WRIGHT WEBSITES

wwwwrightexperiencecom

wwwfirst-to-flycom

Plenty of Wright materials here including a nice collection of photographs of all

19 aircraft produced by the Wrights and their company Also included is a delightful

interview and caricatures of the Wrights by Kate Carew a wellmiddotknown journalist and

artist working at that time for the New York World

wwwrootcandlescom

In addition to their current business a short summary of the A1 Root company

history is maintained on this site and it includes full excerpts of the January 1 and

January 15 1905 articles written by Amos Root about his experiences at Huffman

Prairie the previous year

wwwibraries wright edu special wrighCbrothers

The Online Archives of Wright State University There is an extensive collection of

Wright materials within the librarys collection which was donated to the university

by the Wright family in 1975

References

A number of published sources were consulted to compile these articles chief

among them

The Bishops Boys A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch

The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright including the Chanute-Wright Letters

Volume 1 1899-1905 edited by Marvin W McFarland Aeronautics Division of the

Library of Congress

Kill Devil Hill Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers by Harry Combs

with Martin Caidin

The Wright Brothers by Fred C Kelly

You can see the original Wright Flyer ilion display at the Wright Brothers Aviation

Center at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton Ohio Log onto wwwcarillonparkorgfor

park hours and other information

handle The trouble however continshyued as before A flight was made on the 28th of September 1905 with the rudder wires entirely disconnected from the warping wires When it was noshyticed that the machine was tilting up and sliding toward the tree the opershyator turned the machine down in front (emphasis ours-VA Ed) and found that the apparatus then reshysponded promptly to the lateral control The remedy was found to consist in the more skillful operation of the machine and not in a different construction The trouble was really due to the fact that in circling the machine has to carry the load resulting from centrifugal force in addition to its own weight since the acshytual pressure that the air must sustain is that due to the resultant of the two forces The machine in question had but a slight surplus ofpower above what was required for straight flight and as the additional load caused by circling increased rapidly as the circle became smaller a limit was finally reached beshyyond which the machine was no lonshyger able to maintain sufficient speed to sustain itself in the air And as the lifting effect of the inner wing owing to its reduced speed counterbalanced a large part of the increased lift resulting from the greater angle of incidence on that wing the response to lateral conshytrol was so slow that the machine sank to the ground usually before it had been brought back to the level again When we had discovered the real nature of the trouble and knew that it could always be remedied by tilting the machine forward a little so that its flyshying speed would be restored we felt that we were ready to place flying machines on the market

The brothers clearly understood the nature of wing loading and how the additional load of turning flight was affecting their airplane They knew that maintaining forward speed was essential and by doing so they avoided the slide to the inside of the turn they had been fighting With the problem solved higher flights of 40 to 60 feet in altitude were comshymonplace By the beginning of Ocshytober they were flying the Flyer III at will and flight times started being

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

The 41st flight the second of two flights on September 29 1905 After the Wrights warmmiddotup flight of one circle in the morning Torrance Huffman the owner of the prairie the Wrights had borrowed for their flying experiments in 1904 and 1905 was present for this flight which lasted an astounding 14 circles of the field traveling 19570 meters in 19 minutes 55 seconds according to Wilburs stopwatch time of Orvilles flight The Flyer III averaged 36 miles per hour Wilbur took 12 photographs of the flight which lasted until Orville ran the Flyer Ills gas tank dry

to attempt to exploTe mysteries at such great height from the ground that a fall would put an end to our investigations and leave the mystery unsolved I

Even while keeping close to the ground and rarely exceeding 20 feet in altitude accidents were happenshying on a regular basis to both OW and WW as they referred to each other in their pocket notebook dishyaries If they flew any higher accishydents such as Orvilles on the 14th of July would most likely be fatal

A major revision was made to the layout of the Flyer Ill s design during the rebuild of the machine The forshyward rudder was increased from just over 52 square feet in surface area to 84 square feet and it was moved from 732 feet to 117 feet in front of the wings The greater surface area and added moment arm meant the added ballast weight could be removed

They resumed flying on Thursday August 24 Three flights were made and the changes to the Flyer proved to be on target The Flyer had become

12 SEPTEMBER 2005

more controllable One other aspect of the flights proved to be noteworthy enough that Wilbur felt it needed to be mentioned At the end of his diary enshytry for that day he jotted down IINoth_ ing broken in any of these three flights II

That was a big change from their previshyous experiences

Soon the flights started lasting over a half a minute on a regular bashysis and as the brothers became acshycustomed to the aircrafts handling without having to concentrate on overcoming the pitch instabilshyity flights like the ones made on Wednesday September 6 1905 were obtained

(20) 1st trial O W 620 meters [in] 40-15 sec W W 37 sec C E T 37-45 sec Distance over ground 1688 [ft]

(21) 2nd trial O W [Speed through air] 165 [meters per sec) 4730 meters [in] 4 54 sec W W 4 46- sec C E T 4 47-251 Four rounds offield and landed at starting point

The pitch instability problem seemed to be fixed they no longer

had to endure the ever-increasing undulations that would end in an abrupt landing which often meant repairs some major would have to be made Their confidence in solvshying the riddle began to relax them as well In one entry concerning a flight on Wednesday August 30 1905 by Orville Wilbur wrote that the flight was A very comical performance Orvilles landing resulted in breakshying the ends of four wing ribs

There was one more problem that kept them from making even longer flights Their accidents were not reshystricted to the problems with pitch stability A curious loss of speed and a subsequent arrival in the humshymock-filled pasture was still happenshying with annoying frequency

Wilbur wrote in his 1912 disposhysition

17he machine had reached the ground in the peculiar cases J have mentioned too soon fOT us to detershymine whether the trouble was due to slowness of the correction or whether it was due to a change of conditions which would have increased in inshytensity if it had continued until the machine would have been entirely overturned and quite beyond the conshytrol of the operator Consequently it was necessary or at leas t advisable to discover the exact cause of the pheshynomenon before attempting any high flights For a long time we were unshyable to determine the peculiar condishytions under which this trouble was to be expected But as time passed we began to note that it usually occurred when we were turning a rather short circle We therefore made short circles sometimes for the purpose of investishygating and noting the exact conduct of the machine from the time the trouble began until the landing was madeI

Time after time the vexing pecushyliar cases occurred during 1905 as they had in 1904 Wilbur continued

IIAt one time we thought it might be due to the fact that the mach ine in circling did not face exactly in the direction of the line of motion To test this point we disconnected the rudder wire from the warping wire and opershyated the rudder by an entirely separate

Another of the 12 photographs taken of flight 41 shows Orville flying 60 feet over Huffman Prairie Compared to the 1904 machine one can clearly see how far forward the Wrights placed the elevator after the July 17 crash

INTERESTING WRIGHT WEBSITES

wwwwrightexperiencecom

wwwfirst-to-flycom

Plenty of Wright materials here including a nice collection of photographs of all

19 aircraft produced by the Wrights and their company Also included is a delightful

interview and caricatures of the Wrights by Kate Carew a wellmiddotknown journalist and

artist working at that time for the New York World

wwwrootcandlescom

In addition to their current business a short summary of the A1 Root company

history is maintained on this site and it includes full excerpts of the January 1 and

January 15 1905 articles written by Amos Root about his experiences at Huffman

Prairie the previous year

wwwibraries wright edu special wrighCbrothers

The Online Archives of Wright State University There is an extensive collection of

Wright materials within the librarys collection which was donated to the university

by the Wright family in 1975

References

A number of published sources were consulted to compile these articles chief

among them

The Bishops Boys A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch

The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright including the Chanute-Wright Letters

Volume 1 1899-1905 edited by Marvin W McFarland Aeronautics Division of the

Library of Congress

Kill Devil Hill Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers by Harry Combs

with Martin Caidin

The Wright Brothers by Fred C Kelly

You can see the original Wright Flyer ilion display at the Wright Brothers Aviation

Center at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton Ohio Log onto wwwcarillonparkorgfor

park hours and other information

handle The trouble however continshyued as before A flight was made on the 28th of September 1905 with the rudder wires entirely disconnected from the warping wires When it was noshyticed that the machine was tilting up and sliding toward the tree the opershyator turned the machine down in front (emphasis ours-VA Ed) and found that the apparatus then reshysponded promptly to the lateral control The remedy was found to consist in the more skillful operation of the machine and not in a different construction The trouble was really due to the fact that in circling the machine has to carry the load resulting from centrifugal force in addition to its own weight since the acshytual pressure that the air must sustain is that due to the resultant of the two forces The machine in question had but a slight surplus ofpower above what was required for straight flight and as the additional load caused by circling increased rapidly as the circle became smaller a limit was finally reached beshyyond which the machine was no lonshyger able to maintain sufficient speed to sustain itself in the air And as the lifting effect of the inner wing owing to its reduced speed counterbalanced a large part of the increased lift resulting from the greater angle of incidence on that wing the response to lateral conshytrol was so slow that the machine sank to the ground usually before it had been brought back to the level again When we had discovered the real nature of the trouble and knew that it could always be remedied by tilting the machine forward a little so that its flyshying speed would be restored we felt that we were ready to place flying machines on the market

The brothers clearly understood the nature of wing loading and how the additional load of turning flight was affecting their airplane They knew that maintaining forward speed was essential and by doing so they avoided the slide to the inside of the turn they had been fighting With the problem solved higher flights of 40 to 60 feet in altitude were comshymonplace By the beginning of Ocshytober they were flying the Flyer III at will and flight times started being

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

Another of the 12 photographs taken of flight 41 shows Orville flying 60 feet over Huffman Prairie Compared to the 1904 machine one can clearly see how far forward the Wrights placed the elevator after the July 17 crash

INTERESTING WRIGHT WEBSITES

wwwwrightexperiencecom

wwwfirst-to-flycom

Plenty of Wright materials here including a nice collection of photographs of all

19 aircraft produced by the Wrights and their company Also included is a delightful

interview and caricatures of the Wrights by Kate Carew a wellmiddotknown journalist and

artist working at that time for the New York World

wwwrootcandlescom

In addition to their current business a short summary of the A1 Root company

history is maintained on this site and it includes full excerpts of the January 1 and

January 15 1905 articles written by Amos Root about his experiences at Huffman

Prairie the previous year

wwwibraries wright edu special wrighCbrothers

The Online Archives of Wright State University There is an extensive collection of

Wright materials within the librarys collection which was donated to the university

by the Wright family in 1975

References

A number of published sources were consulted to compile these articles chief

among them

The Bishops Boys A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch

The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright including the Chanute-Wright Letters

Volume 1 1899-1905 edited by Marvin W McFarland Aeronautics Division of the

Library of Congress

Kill Devil Hill Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers by Harry Combs

with Martin Caidin

The Wright Brothers by Fred C Kelly

You can see the original Wright Flyer ilion display at the Wright Brothers Aviation

Center at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton Ohio Log onto wwwcarillonparkorgfor

park hours and other information

handle The trouble however continshyued as before A flight was made on the 28th of September 1905 with the rudder wires entirely disconnected from the warping wires When it was noshyticed that the machine was tilting up and sliding toward the tree the opershyator turned the machine down in front (emphasis ours-VA Ed) and found that the apparatus then reshysponded promptly to the lateral control The remedy was found to consist in the more skillful operation of the machine and not in a different construction The trouble was really due to the fact that in circling the machine has to carry the load resulting from centrifugal force in addition to its own weight since the acshytual pressure that the air must sustain is that due to the resultant of the two forces The machine in question had but a slight surplus ofpower above what was required for straight flight and as the additional load caused by circling increased rapidly as the circle became smaller a limit was finally reached beshyyond which the machine was no lonshyger able to maintain sufficient speed to sustain itself in the air And as the lifting effect of the inner wing owing to its reduced speed counterbalanced a large part of the increased lift resulting from the greater angle of incidence on that wing the response to lateral conshytrol was so slow that the machine sank to the ground usually before it had been brought back to the level again When we had discovered the real nature of the trouble and knew that it could always be remedied by tilting the machine forward a little so that its flyshying speed would be restored we felt that we were ready to place flying machines on the market

The brothers clearly understood the nature of wing loading and how the additional load of turning flight was affecting their airplane They knew that maintaining forward speed was essential and by doing so they avoided the slide to the inside of the turn they had been fighting With the problem solved higher flights of 40 to 60 feet in altitude were comshymonplace By the beginning of Ocshytober they were flying the Flyer III at will and flight times started being

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

The last photographed of 1905 Wednesday October 4 1905 432 pm The brothers sister Katharine as well as their father Milton were present along with nine others (including Charlie Taylor) when Orville flew for 33 minutes 17 seconds on Wilburs stopwatch covering nearly 21 miles Now they were confronted with new mechanical difficulties As their flight times increased they began to experience overheated bearings By this flight theyd added an oiler to the rear bearing on the axle under the chains but not on the front bearing You guessed it the flight ended as the front bearing overheated Orville shut down the engine while in flight and g1ided 400 feet to land in front of the storage shed His record for flight endurance would stand for exactly one day-on October 5 1905 Wilbur would keep the Flyer III in the air for 30 laps of the field flying 38 minutes 3-15 seconds according to Orville The slightly more than 24-mile flight would stand as the record until they resumed their flights in 1908

measured in half-hour increments ertion produces quick exhaustion so instead of half a minute that only a few flights can be made at

The weather hadnt helped them a time The wet grounds did not permit much either In a letter to Octave us to resume experiments till the last Chanute dated October 18 1905 week of September but the next two Wilbur wrote li The wet weather of weeks were so fine that we did more flyshythis year has very much interfered with ing than in all our previous flights of our practice by keeping the ground so three years put together On the 26th we wet and soft that we have been entirely passed the ten-mile mark for the first prevented from operating many days time with a flight of 17961 meters in when the sky was clear The labor of 18 min and 9 sec The exhaustion of moving the machine on wheels has the gasoline supply ended the fl ight I been greatly increased and the over ex- For a week it seemed that every

14 SEPTEM B ER 2005

time they mounted the Flyer on the rail and launched it the pilot set a new record The only limiting facshytors were the gasoline supply and the new prob lem of ove rheat ing bearings Th e en gine and ch ain d rive tra nsmission were ru nning so long that the transmission bearshyings would run out of lubrican t so they added oil cups to them The same thing happened occasionally to the fro nt engine bearing Th e airp lane could be fl own almost whenever it pleased them and on the 5th of October Wilbur flew the Flyer for the second to the last time that yea r He remained aloft for 30 laps over Huffman Prairie flying 38956 meters (24 2 miles) in just over 38 minutes The weather that fall was st ill unsettl ed and the last fli ght of the 1905 season on Mon day October 16 lasted only a bi t more than a minute Delays prevented Wilbur from flying unshytil a 5 p m launch too late for extended flight according to his diary entry It would be over two years before either brother would take to the air again-on May 6 1908 in Kitty Hawk North Caroshylina They took the 1905 Flyer III t o their o ld ca m p on the Outer Banks to knock the rust off of their flying skills before their fi rst major public flight demonstrations in the United States and France

By the fall of 1905 they knew they had a practical airplane Now all they had to do was sell it It would prove to be as great a challenge as either of them would ever face

All of the images presented in this article are available as digital downloads from the Library of Congress website Start your search at wwwocgov rr print cataloghtml

Tap the blue Im ready to search butshyton and when the next page comes up click on the middot Wmiddot hyperlink or scroll to the very bottom of the page The Wright Brothshyers Collection is number 57 Once you re at the search page for the Wright Collecshytion just enter a keyword such as 1904 and a list of images will be presented Have fun There are plenty of interesting images-more than 300 Wright images scanned from their original glass plate negatives are part of the Library of Conshygress collection

~Inc SUPE RI ~~mAIR PART S INC ~-S

Order On-Line 24n365 wwwaircraft-specialtiescom Aircraft Specialties Services is your complete one stop aircraft

parts and pilot supplies supercenterYoull know we re serious by the brands we keep Superior Air Parts Continental Lycoming ECI Air Support Goodyear Rapco Gill Brackett Champion Lord 3M just to name a few

You can phone-in fly-in drive-in or order online 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year Aircraft Specialties Services is located at 2680 North Sheridan Road in Tulsa Oklahoma just across the street from the general aviation runway at Tulsa International We have sales people who average over 20 years experience They can

help you find what you need when you need it Because of our central location in Tulsa orders shipped with the major carriers arrive in a very timely manner almost anywhere in the United States

Aircraft Specialties Services goal is to keep general aviation alive and well So in addition to our machining division our parts and supplies division is designed for timely service and convenience You can save big with our reconditioned parts then make sure you have everything you need to get back in the air fast all in one convenient stop web visit or phone call On all in-stock merchandise on orders received by 300 pm COT

1middot800middot826middot9252 Now The Exclusive Distributor For

AIRCRAFT SPECIALTIES SERVICES 2860 N Sheridan Road Tulsa OK 74115 Phone 918-836-6872 Fax 918-836-4419

Everyone in this part of aviashytion is a wannabe restorer Were all gripped by a someshytimes-irrational dream that we

can take a lump of coal and through a lot of elbow grease and a small amount of money turn it into a diashymond That part of the dream is abshysolutely sound Where it falls apart is when we convince ourselves we can do it more economically than we can buy the same airplane already finshyished This too is possible but only under specific circumstances

Quite often the real joy of the projshyect is found in the process of restorshying and the fun of flying the restorashytion is just a by-product However that fun can come with a price If you dont want your joy flattened by a financial steamroller its a good idea to stand back with a sharp pencil and cold eye and do a serious evaluation of not only the airplane but also the person you see in the mirror each morning Its only after totally understanding the person holding the hammer that we can turn our eye toward the restorashytion process and why we should or shouldnt be doing it

Why Are You Doing This The answer to the above question

had better be Because I like working with my hands and creating things that fly not Because I want something

16 SEPTEMBER 2005

cheap to fly If you want to fly more than you want to build you had betshyter find a flying airplane or pick a very very cosmetic restoration project Othshyerwise youll get discouraged You have to love the airplane and the process of restoring if you expect to finish

Time There is little argument that time

is the only truly nonrenewable reshysource on the planet We have a limshyited supply and it has to be carefully spread around for us to accomplish share and be what we are supposed to be For that reason the concept of doing something in our free time doesnt hold water No time is free It all comes from somewhere

Most of us have inflexible blocks of time like jobs semiflexible blocks like sleep and what we usually view as flexishyble blocks such as family time TV time etc Unfortunately though that univershysal view of time is actually backward in terms of getting an airplane restored

Its a running joke throughout aviashytion that airplanes lead to AIDS avishyation induced divorced syndrome which is almost always the result of the reverse thinking above Family and relashytionships should not be treated as time piggy banks from which we can steal hours and transfer them into our projshyect This kind of thought pattern inshyevitably leads to project resentment

within the family or relationship Its a mistake to take time from the

family to work on an airplane but its a huge benefit if a family gives you that time A family that resents a project beshycomes an impediment and often dooms the project the relationship or often both A family that is made a part of the project however and that is behind it becomes a great source of support and the airplane then becomes a gathshyering pOint for everyone involved Its a wonderful thing when an airplane is referred to as the Smith Family Cub That means relationships have beneshyfited from the airplane and vice versa

What the foregoing means is that you have to carefully look at your life and see if you actually have the time and family support to do a restoration and if so at what level Do you have to take Jenny to soccer every Tuesday and Thursday and does Scott have litshytle League on Saturday Evaluate the demands on your time and recognize which time blocks you can steal from (TV sleep golf) and which blocks you cant (family activities job etc) Then come up with an available time budshyget and see how it fits against a proshyposed project

How Much Time Are We Talking About

The question of time required is comshyparable to how high is up It is howshy

ever something that you can control by the type of project you get into Stripshyping paint (an ugly job but a great place to save money) and prepping for new paint can run 60 to 100 hours easyshyften much more A full restoration on something like a Luscombe could run 1000 to 1500 hours (a pure guess) and much higher if youre doing the polshyished-super-show-bird route while a larger airplane like a straight-tail 172 may be 25 percent to 35 percent more

What does 1000 hours mean in a normal life At two hours a night five nights a week plus maybe five hours on the weekend youre at 15 hours a week which is actually a lot of time At that rate 1000 hours will eat up about 15 months and thats if you keep a steady pace Hey no one said restorashytion was either easy or quick A serious restoration project like doing a Stearshyman from the bones up could take three to four times that amount A litshytle daunting isnt it

What Kind of Shop Facilities Do I Need

What kind of shop If were talking buying versus building the obvious answer to one approach is You dont need a shop at all Just a bank loan The other is You need space that fits the project plus some elbow room There have been T-6s restored in secshyond-story New York loft apartments and C-140s done in living rooms but thats not conducive to finishing projshyects or enhancing marital bliss

Space Almost any of the two-place classics are great two-car or even oneshycar garage projects but things start to get crowded as soon as you move into four-place aircraft and a two-car garage is about minimum With proper planshyning and a place to store large composhynents it can still be done in a singleshycar garage but it isnt easy Probably the most common size shop for larger projects is 30 feet by 40 feet but again you can do with half that space if you plan ahead

location Given a choice between a smaller but adequate work space at home and a much larger one even a block away pick the one at home If you have to as much as put on a coat

and walk 100 feet itll slow the project down because youll find after-dinner excuses not to go to work Proximity and convenience are everything when it comes to finishing a project

Lighting There is no such thing as too much light Scout around for used fluorescent fixtures and get lots and lots of light in there A bright work pLace is cheerier and more inviting so youll get more done

Tools Tools required are driven by the type and degree of the restoration A paint-and-interior or a purely meshychanical restoration wont need rivetshying or welding equipment If youre bringing it up to the ready-for-paint stage and farming the paint out you wont even need an air compressor A light restoration can be done with your normal hand tools

Paint The subject of paint is worthy of an entire book but suffice it to say that painting is an art learned through experience If youre going to be critishycal about the final looks get it totally prepped and masked which is where most of the labor is invested and get a pro to blow the final coats If you want to tackle it yourself be ready to conshystruct a crude paint booth out of plasshytic sheeting and your tools-required list will inlrolve exhaust fans and high-end respirators or free-air supply systems depending on the type of paint used Youll also need a high-capacity air comshypressor and good spray guns Also get a pro to advise you on the paint because some of it will kill you in a heartbeat The stuff that looks the best is the most lethal Lay in a supply of Valium to preshypare you for paying the paint bill beshycause the price of most modern paints can be a real heart-stopper Four hunshydred dollars per gallon is common

How Will We Handle the Money Question

Most of us dont have money lying around loose so we have to carefully examine the finances of restoring or buying If youre buying the financshying thing is pretty cut and dried as there are lots of aircraft finance comshypanies ready to cut you a deal Most restoration projects are airplanes that range from the classics to the contemshy

poraries and buying the same airplane ready to fly will generally run from $20000 to $50000 dollars Financed for five years at 8 percent $20000 is $635 per month and youll pay $2896 interest over the term If you borrow $50000 youll pay $1037 per month with $12275 in interest If you take it out to seven years the payment drops by about 20 percent but the interest goes up about 40 percent

Its theoretically possible to finance a restoration project but the problem here is that because its not a flying airshyplane and theres a chance it might never be finished banks arent that crazy about using it for collateral so theyll insist something else be used to secure the loan probably your house A project however once the initial purchase is made can be scheduled to proceed at the rate the money is comshying in so it can get by without having to be financed Plus you can schedule it so the big hits like rebuilding the enshygine can be put off until the end

Another approach is to take out a line of credit on your house then when the airplane is finished get a loan on the airplane to pay back the house note In that situation the interest is deductible This of course puts your house at risk however theres nothshying like the fear of losing your house to make sure you finish the airplane

Project Orientation A major personality trait that has

to be closely evaluated is what well call project orientation When we get started on something do we have the kind of mindset that lets us keep plugshyging along even though in some cases were talking years Some folks just dont have that kind of brain They keep looking too far down the line hoping theyll see the finished product on the horizon and when they dont they realize how much further they have to go and get discouraged Project orientation means that when you get into something like an airplane restoshyration project several things happen

Each part is a project in itself The piece youre working on at that moshyment is the project and you seldom think in terms of the entire airplane

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

You do one piece at a time and when there are no more pieces to work on you must be done

It Is touched every single day You may not physically work on it every day but its always in your mind and youll be ordering parts doodling solushytions while on the phone etc

Work sessions are goal-orlented You walk into the shop with a specific goal in mind For example such and such a part will be finished before you walk out the door

Shop time Is scheduled A certain part of each week is reserved to work on the airplane and everyone around you knows that You dont view it as a project that will be worked on when I feel like it and the time is available You make that time available and afshyter dinner you literally force yourself out of the TV chair and into the shop After a hard day at work that one step forcing yourself to leave the comfort of an easy chair is the hardest part of any project However once youve stepped into the shop the energy takes over and you wonder why you had to work so hard to get your butt out of the chair in the first place

Skills Required We purposely left skill as the last pershy

sonal trait to be evaluated because its essentially unimportant There is nothshying in restoring an airplane that cant be learned by anyone Besides since youre working on a certificated airshyplane all of your work has to be overshyseen and checked out by a certificated airframe and powerplant mechanic so youre not likely to have something in the airplane that isnt safe

As for the skills there are so many learning aids available that address evshyerything from welding to fabric to sheet metal that you dont even need to know which end of a screwdriver to hang on to and you can still learn the skills reshy

18 SEPTEMBER 2005

quired This isnt brain surgery folks Of course if youre handy with your hands and have a long history of building meshychanical stuff life will be easier

Can It Be Restored Cheaper Than It Can Be Bought

Buy or restore is the big question and of course there are about a billion factors to be considered but well put together an analysis on a mythical airshyplane of the square-tail Cessna variety

111e Buy Option 111e Ready-to-F1y Recently Restored 1957 Cessna 172

The airplane was restored less than two years ago and was a middle-of-theshyroad nice restoration aimed mostly at making it totally reliable and cosshymetically pleasing rather than a show winner but it was still done right It wasnt totally disassembled but it was stripped and painted and the entire structure cleaned inside and out It was painted with an aircraft urethane by a known aircraft paint shop

The hardware (pulleys cables bolts etc) wasnt replaced en masse but was done on an IRAN (inspect and replace as necessary) basis All of the glass was replaced at the time The instrument panel overlay was repaired and some of the plastic interior side panels replaced The complete interior was replaced with an AirTex unit and all exterior screws and bolts were replaced with new stainshyless The instruments were partially reshybuilt and are all working and the avishyonics are limited to a King KX-155 nav comm and a low-end transponder

When it was restored the engine an 0-300 Continental had about 900 hours on it since major overhaul which was done nearly 15 years before but it was top overhauled using Supeshyrior jugs The exhaust and heater sysshytem were overhauled at the same time The airplane has flown 125 hours since

it was restored The prop was freshened up and the spinner replaced along with the tires

The asking price for the airplane is $52500 but the owner will take $49500 Lets call it $50000

Our Project Airplane The airplane again a 1957 Cessna

172 has been sitting tied down at a southwestern airport for more than 18 years It has no corrosion and in fact has pretty straight metal The sun has done its usual thing with the interior (its hanging in shards) and the Plexishyglas is really ugly (you can actually see through some of it) The paint which consists of at least three layers the last looking like it was applied with a roller is as youd expect nothing more than colored dust stuck to the metal We paid $17500 for it where is as is

There is some minor damage to a wingtip area where a storm tipped it up on the wingtip Other than that we cant see any other damage

When it was parked the engine was fairly low time about 450 hours but even in that dry area the engine is a huge question mark The instruments all look baked and its unknown whether any of them are usable or not The overlay panel is missing while the interior side panels are cracked but intact Tires are black flat-bottomed lumps most of the Fiberglas (wingtips elevator tips etc) is cracked and the screw hole areas are flaking

The radio stack is pretty sad Mk 12 Narco navcomms and an ARC Cessna DME

We talked seriously about getting it ferriable and flying it the 500 miles home but chickened out Besides we reasoned assuming the dry air proshytected the engines internals there may be some good parts and runshyning the engine could cycle rust and silicon crude through it ruining what good parts there are So we rented a car trailer and small Penske truck and came down to take it apart and truck it home It took a total of three days and two nights only half of one day was reshyquired to get it apart and on the trailer were good We also came prepared

with lots of moving blankets ratchet comm and a low-end transponder straps and used tires to sit things on and purchase a handheld GPS that we

Heres a list of what the airplane mount on the control yoke needs and what we decide to do about it Our goal is to be as original as we Figuring the Costs can without going overboard Also its First of all one of the biggest re -to be an airplane we use a lot for family alities of a proj ect like this is that vacations not a Judge Me special no matter how you figure it the to-

Engine Rather than doing a com- tal you come up with is going to be plete overhaul we tear it down and wrong Sometimes very wrong A lot find it has a lot of good parts that dont of guys just double their estimates need overhauling and still meet new and are still usually wrong This is limits The jugs however have surface not encouraging However below rust and one is cracked so we have you ll find a quick spreadsheet that them all overhauled rather than going can at least give you a guide If you with new ones We split the case and download thi s Exce l spreadsheet do an IRAN on everything We go for from wwwvintageaircraftorg youll be a Slick mag conversion and new wiring able to play what if games to your harness We also change the pull-type heart s content Th e blue numbers starter to a B amp C key starter We have are the ones you can change and the work done by a local shop and get the final cost will roll out on the botshya good price tom Leave everything else alone If you

Airframe Its super dirty inside and screw it up just download it again out SO we strip it down to the bare alu- The numbers weve put in the difshyminum and replace all the cables nuts ferent areas are our best-guess esti shybolts etc because so many have rust on mates but as you get actual quotes on them We cant do sheet metal work so things like cylinders or engine rebuild-we have the wingtip repaired and some ing you can plug them in and make cracks on the nosebowl repaired We the final total more accurate strip the paint ourselves disassemble The most important thing to come it and mask it for painting but have out of the spreadsheet is that its obvishya local automotive paint shop do the ous that its going to take some luck final coats We assist by racking up all and a lot of elbow grease to restore an the small parts for painting and trying airplane as cheaply as you can buy it to make it so all the painter has to do is Too often the seller of any restored air-blow the paint We also repair all the Fi- plane is taking a hit on what he has inshyberglas parts ourselves and rebuild the vested and his loss becomes the purshybrake assemblies and master cylinders chasers gain This is especially true if

Interior We install an Airtex interior any of the major work (engine pain t ourselves including carpets and go for etc) is farmed out The minute you a replacement panel overlay have a pro do an entire section of the

Instrument panel We scrounge restoration youve just driven the price around and find usedrebuilt replace- above what you can sell it for Its an ments for about half the instruments ugly truth but still a truth and send the rest out for overhaul We On the other hand theres only one spend a lot of time doing interior detail way to make an airplane truly yours paint work on small interior parts and and we dont need to tell you that is have the local auto paint store make by liberal injections of your personal US some spray cans that exactly match sweat It may not be the smartest thing the color of the original plastic parts to do finanCially but simply writing a SO we can use Fiberglas to repair the check cant possibly give the same per-plastic and paint them ourselves sonal satisfaction as being able to say

Avionics We install a King KX-97 I did it myself

Plug in your own numbers in this Excel spreadsheet Download it at wwwvlntagealrcraftorg

SAMPlE PROJECT-19S7 CESSNA 172 Component Ioweot Expected IIfamphest Purchase $$ S17500 $17500 S17500

Transport Truck rental w mileage S225 S225 $225 $ day $75 No of days 3 Fuel costs S200 S200 S200 Sgal S24 mpg 12 miles 1000 Trailer rental $100 $150 $225 Motel S255 S255 $255 S night $85 No of nights 3 Food S90 S90 $90 S day S30 No of days 3 Transportation subtotal $92000

Engine Complete overhaul $0 SO $0 Parts mags S800 S900 $1100 harness S250 $300 $350 starter S350 $450 S550 cylinder assemblies S4SOO $6000 SSOOO plugs S125 $200 S250 hoses S200 $350 $450 Misc S500 $750 $1000 Alternator S300 $400 $500 Inductioncam rebuild Sl200 $1500 $1800 misc misc misc misc

Labor $1000 $1500 $1800 Engine subtotal-expeeted S1235O00

Prop overhaul (fixed pitch) S500 $750 S1000 (constant speed) na n a n a

Airframe Stnpping chemicals $125 $175 S225 Sheet metal labor $400 S600 $800

Sand blasting SO $0 SO Weldingtube repair SO SO SO FaMccovering matenals $0 SO SO Cables pulleys bolts $1400 $1700 S2OOO Fiberglas matenals S150 S225 S250 Brake repair pads hosesCHIngs S125 S175 S200 Tirestubes S175 S200 S250 Tailwheel rebuildreplace SO SO $0 Windshield S250 S300 $350 Side Windows $100 $150 $200 Masking tape etc $125 $175 $225 Transport to paint shop $0 $150 S225 Misc $000 $000 SOOO Misc so so $0 Misc so $0 $0 Paint Cost (three colors) pnmer S550 $S50 $1000 Paint labor spray on~ (est) S350 S550 $700 Complete paint SO SO SO Airframe subtotal-expeeted $525000

Interior (aftermarket kits) Seats $900 S950 $1 100 Side panels S600 S625 $750 Headliner $290 S310 $450 Carpet $275 S320 $425 Interior total-expeeted S220500

Instrument panel Instrument replacement S600 Sl800 S3500 Instrument overhaul $300 $1100 $2200 Ovenay panel S250 $350 $400

Misc panels SO $300 S450 Seat belts S500 $600 S700 Misc $500 S700 $900 Unknown SOOO SOOO $000 Panel subtotal-expeeted $4150

Avionics Radios (comm only) S800 SlOOO $1700 Nav units (handheld GPS) S400 S650 $900 Navcom $0 $0 $0 Transponder $1350 $1500 $1900 Intercom $350 S500 S7509 Unknown $0 $0 $0 Miscellaneous $400 S600 S750 Avionics subtotal-expected $4250

Lowest Expected Highest TOTALCO$T$ S39660 $48075 S65354

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

ever something that you can control by the type of project you get into Stripshyping paint (an ugly job but a great place to save money) and prepping for new paint can run 60 to 100 hours easyshyften much more A full restoration on something like a Luscombe could run 1000 to 1500 hours (a pure guess) and much higher if youre doing the polshyished-super-show-bird route while a larger airplane like a straight-tail 172 may be 25 percent to 35 percent more

What does 1000 hours mean in a normal life At two hours a night five nights a week plus maybe five hours on the weekend youre at 15 hours a week which is actually a lot of time At that rate 1000 hours will eat up about 15 months and thats if you keep a steady pace Hey no one said restorashytion was either easy or quick A serious restoration project like doing a Stearshyman from the bones up could take three to four times that amount A litshytle daunting isnt it

What Kind of Shop Facilities Do I Need

What kind of shop If were talking buying versus building the obvious answer to one approach is You dont need a shop at all Just a bank loan The other is You need space that fits the project plus some elbow room There have been T-6s restored in secshyond-story New York loft apartments and C-140s done in living rooms but thats not conducive to finishing projshyects or enhancing marital bliss

Space Almost any of the two-place classics are great two-car or even oneshycar garage projects but things start to get crowded as soon as you move into four-place aircraft and a two-car garage is about minimum With proper planshyning and a place to store large composhynents it can still be done in a singleshycar garage but it isnt easy Probably the most common size shop for larger projects is 30 feet by 40 feet but again you can do with half that space if you plan ahead

location Given a choice between a smaller but adequate work space at home and a much larger one even a block away pick the one at home If you have to as much as put on a coat

and walk 100 feet itll slow the project down because youll find after-dinner excuses not to go to work Proximity and convenience are everything when it comes to finishing a project

Lighting There is no such thing as too much light Scout around for used fluorescent fixtures and get lots and lots of light in there A bright work pLace is cheerier and more inviting so youll get more done

Tools Tools required are driven by the type and degree of the restoration A paint-and-interior or a purely meshychanical restoration wont need rivetshying or welding equipment If youre bringing it up to the ready-for-paint stage and farming the paint out you wont even need an air compressor A light restoration can be done with your normal hand tools

Paint The subject of paint is worthy of an entire book but suffice it to say that painting is an art learned through experience If youre going to be critishycal about the final looks get it totally prepped and masked which is where most of the labor is invested and get a pro to blow the final coats If you want to tackle it yourself be ready to conshystruct a crude paint booth out of plasshytic sheeting and your tools-required list will inlrolve exhaust fans and high-end respirators or free-air supply systems depending on the type of paint used Youll also need a high-capacity air comshypressor and good spray guns Also get a pro to advise you on the paint because some of it will kill you in a heartbeat The stuff that looks the best is the most lethal Lay in a supply of Valium to preshypare you for paying the paint bill beshycause the price of most modern paints can be a real heart-stopper Four hunshydred dollars per gallon is common

How Will We Handle the Money Question

Most of us dont have money lying around loose so we have to carefully examine the finances of restoring or buying If youre buying the financshying thing is pretty cut and dried as there are lots of aircraft finance comshypanies ready to cut you a deal Most restoration projects are airplanes that range from the classics to the contemshy

poraries and buying the same airplane ready to fly will generally run from $20000 to $50000 dollars Financed for five years at 8 percent $20000 is $635 per month and youll pay $2896 interest over the term If you borrow $50000 youll pay $1037 per month with $12275 in interest If you take it out to seven years the payment drops by about 20 percent but the interest goes up about 40 percent

Its theoretically possible to finance a restoration project but the problem here is that because its not a flying airshyplane and theres a chance it might never be finished banks arent that crazy about using it for collateral so theyll insist something else be used to secure the loan probably your house A project however once the initial purchase is made can be scheduled to proceed at the rate the money is comshying in so it can get by without having to be financed Plus you can schedule it so the big hits like rebuilding the enshygine can be put off until the end

Another approach is to take out a line of credit on your house then when the airplane is finished get a loan on the airplane to pay back the house note In that situation the interest is deductible This of course puts your house at risk however theres nothshying like the fear of losing your house to make sure you finish the airplane

Project Orientation A major personality trait that has

to be closely evaluated is what well call project orientation When we get started on something do we have the kind of mindset that lets us keep plugshyging along even though in some cases were talking years Some folks just dont have that kind of brain They keep looking too far down the line hoping theyll see the finished product on the horizon and when they dont they realize how much further they have to go and get discouraged Project orientation means that when you get into something like an airplane restoshyration project several things happen

Each part is a project in itself The piece youre working on at that moshyment is the project and you seldom think in terms of the entire airplane

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

You do one piece at a time and when there are no more pieces to work on you must be done

It Is touched every single day You may not physically work on it every day but its always in your mind and youll be ordering parts doodling solushytions while on the phone etc

Work sessions are goal-orlented You walk into the shop with a specific goal in mind For example such and such a part will be finished before you walk out the door

Shop time Is scheduled A certain part of each week is reserved to work on the airplane and everyone around you knows that You dont view it as a project that will be worked on when I feel like it and the time is available You make that time available and afshyter dinner you literally force yourself out of the TV chair and into the shop After a hard day at work that one step forcing yourself to leave the comfort of an easy chair is the hardest part of any project However once youve stepped into the shop the energy takes over and you wonder why you had to work so hard to get your butt out of the chair in the first place

Skills Required We purposely left skill as the last pershy

sonal trait to be evaluated because its essentially unimportant There is nothshying in restoring an airplane that cant be learned by anyone Besides since youre working on a certificated airshyplane all of your work has to be overshyseen and checked out by a certificated airframe and powerplant mechanic so youre not likely to have something in the airplane that isnt safe

As for the skills there are so many learning aids available that address evshyerything from welding to fabric to sheet metal that you dont even need to know which end of a screwdriver to hang on to and you can still learn the skills reshy

18 SEPTEMBER 2005

quired This isnt brain surgery folks Of course if youre handy with your hands and have a long history of building meshychanical stuff life will be easier

Can It Be Restored Cheaper Than It Can Be Bought

Buy or restore is the big question and of course there are about a billion factors to be considered but well put together an analysis on a mythical airshyplane of the square-tail Cessna variety

111e Buy Option 111e Ready-to-F1y Recently Restored 1957 Cessna 172

The airplane was restored less than two years ago and was a middle-of-theshyroad nice restoration aimed mostly at making it totally reliable and cosshymetically pleasing rather than a show winner but it was still done right It wasnt totally disassembled but it was stripped and painted and the entire structure cleaned inside and out It was painted with an aircraft urethane by a known aircraft paint shop

The hardware (pulleys cables bolts etc) wasnt replaced en masse but was done on an IRAN (inspect and replace as necessary) basis All of the glass was replaced at the time The instrument panel overlay was repaired and some of the plastic interior side panels replaced The complete interior was replaced with an AirTex unit and all exterior screws and bolts were replaced with new stainshyless The instruments were partially reshybuilt and are all working and the avishyonics are limited to a King KX-155 nav comm and a low-end transponder

When it was restored the engine an 0-300 Continental had about 900 hours on it since major overhaul which was done nearly 15 years before but it was top overhauled using Supeshyrior jugs The exhaust and heater sysshytem were overhauled at the same time The airplane has flown 125 hours since

it was restored The prop was freshened up and the spinner replaced along with the tires

The asking price for the airplane is $52500 but the owner will take $49500 Lets call it $50000

Our Project Airplane The airplane again a 1957 Cessna

172 has been sitting tied down at a southwestern airport for more than 18 years It has no corrosion and in fact has pretty straight metal The sun has done its usual thing with the interior (its hanging in shards) and the Plexishyglas is really ugly (you can actually see through some of it) The paint which consists of at least three layers the last looking like it was applied with a roller is as youd expect nothing more than colored dust stuck to the metal We paid $17500 for it where is as is

There is some minor damage to a wingtip area where a storm tipped it up on the wingtip Other than that we cant see any other damage

When it was parked the engine was fairly low time about 450 hours but even in that dry area the engine is a huge question mark The instruments all look baked and its unknown whether any of them are usable or not The overlay panel is missing while the interior side panels are cracked but intact Tires are black flat-bottomed lumps most of the Fiberglas (wingtips elevator tips etc) is cracked and the screw hole areas are flaking

The radio stack is pretty sad Mk 12 Narco navcomms and an ARC Cessna DME

We talked seriously about getting it ferriable and flying it the 500 miles home but chickened out Besides we reasoned assuming the dry air proshytected the engines internals there may be some good parts and runshyning the engine could cycle rust and silicon crude through it ruining what good parts there are So we rented a car trailer and small Penske truck and came down to take it apart and truck it home It took a total of three days and two nights only half of one day was reshyquired to get it apart and on the trailer were good We also came prepared

with lots of moving blankets ratchet comm and a low-end transponder straps and used tires to sit things on and purchase a handheld GPS that we

Heres a list of what the airplane mount on the control yoke needs and what we decide to do about it Our goal is to be as original as we Figuring the Costs can without going overboard Also its First of all one of the biggest re -to be an airplane we use a lot for family alities of a proj ect like this is that vacations not a Judge Me special no matter how you figure it the to-

Engine Rather than doing a com- tal you come up with is going to be plete overhaul we tear it down and wrong Sometimes very wrong A lot find it has a lot of good parts that dont of guys just double their estimates need overhauling and still meet new and are still usually wrong This is limits The jugs however have surface not encouraging However below rust and one is cracked so we have you ll find a quick spreadsheet that them all overhauled rather than going can at least give you a guide If you with new ones We split the case and download thi s Exce l spreadsheet do an IRAN on everything We go for from wwwvintageaircraftorg youll be a Slick mag conversion and new wiring able to play what if games to your harness We also change the pull-type heart s content Th e blue numbers starter to a B amp C key starter We have are the ones you can change and the work done by a local shop and get the final cost will roll out on the botshya good price tom Leave everything else alone If you

Airframe Its super dirty inside and screw it up just download it again out SO we strip it down to the bare alu- The numbers weve put in the difshyminum and replace all the cables nuts ferent areas are our best-guess esti shybolts etc because so many have rust on mates but as you get actual quotes on them We cant do sheet metal work so things like cylinders or engine rebuild-we have the wingtip repaired and some ing you can plug them in and make cracks on the nosebowl repaired We the final total more accurate strip the paint ourselves disassemble The most important thing to come it and mask it for painting but have out of the spreadsheet is that its obvishya local automotive paint shop do the ous that its going to take some luck final coats We assist by racking up all and a lot of elbow grease to restore an the small parts for painting and trying airplane as cheaply as you can buy it to make it so all the painter has to do is Too often the seller of any restored air-blow the paint We also repair all the Fi- plane is taking a hit on what he has inshyberglas parts ourselves and rebuild the vested and his loss becomes the purshybrake assemblies and master cylinders chasers gain This is especially true if

Interior We install an Airtex interior any of the major work (engine pain t ourselves including carpets and go for etc) is farmed out The minute you a replacement panel overlay have a pro do an entire section of the

Instrument panel We scrounge restoration youve just driven the price around and find usedrebuilt replace- above what you can sell it for Its an ments for about half the instruments ugly truth but still a truth and send the rest out for overhaul We On the other hand theres only one spend a lot of time doing interior detail way to make an airplane truly yours paint work on small interior parts and and we dont need to tell you that is have the local auto paint store make by liberal injections of your personal US some spray cans that exactly match sweat It may not be the smartest thing the color of the original plastic parts to do finanCially but simply writing a SO we can use Fiberglas to repair the check cant possibly give the same per-plastic and paint them ourselves sonal satisfaction as being able to say

Avionics We install a King KX-97 I did it myself

Plug in your own numbers in this Excel spreadsheet Download it at wwwvlntagealrcraftorg

SAMPlE PROJECT-19S7 CESSNA 172 Component Ioweot Expected IIfamphest Purchase $$ S17500 $17500 S17500

Transport Truck rental w mileage S225 S225 $225 $ day $75 No of days 3 Fuel costs S200 S200 S200 Sgal S24 mpg 12 miles 1000 Trailer rental $100 $150 $225 Motel S255 S255 $255 S night $85 No of nights 3 Food S90 S90 $90 S day S30 No of days 3 Transportation subtotal $92000

Engine Complete overhaul $0 SO $0 Parts mags S800 S900 $1100 harness S250 $300 $350 starter S350 $450 S550 cylinder assemblies S4SOO $6000 SSOOO plugs S125 $200 S250 hoses S200 $350 $450 Misc S500 $750 $1000 Alternator S300 $400 $500 Inductioncam rebuild Sl200 $1500 $1800 misc misc misc misc

Labor $1000 $1500 $1800 Engine subtotal-expeeted S1235O00

Prop overhaul (fixed pitch) S500 $750 S1000 (constant speed) na n a n a

Airframe Stnpping chemicals $125 $175 S225 Sheet metal labor $400 S600 $800

Sand blasting SO $0 SO Weldingtube repair SO SO SO FaMccovering matenals $0 SO SO Cables pulleys bolts $1400 $1700 S2OOO Fiberglas matenals S150 S225 S250 Brake repair pads hosesCHIngs S125 S175 S200 Tirestubes S175 S200 S250 Tailwheel rebuildreplace SO SO $0 Windshield S250 S300 $350 Side Windows $100 $150 $200 Masking tape etc $125 $175 $225 Transport to paint shop $0 $150 S225 Misc $000 $000 SOOO Misc so so $0 Misc so $0 $0 Paint Cost (three colors) pnmer S550 $S50 $1000 Paint labor spray on~ (est) S350 S550 $700 Complete paint SO SO SO Airframe subtotal-expeeted $525000

Interior (aftermarket kits) Seats $900 S950 $1 100 Side panels S600 S625 $750 Headliner $290 S310 $450 Carpet $275 S320 $425 Interior total-expeeted S220500

Instrument panel Instrument replacement S600 Sl800 S3500 Instrument overhaul $300 $1100 $2200 Ovenay panel S250 $350 $400

Misc panels SO $300 S450 Seat belts S500 $600 S700 Misc $500 S700 $900 Unknown SOOO SOOO $000 Panel subtotal-expeeted $4150

Avionics Radios (comm only) S800 SlOOO $1700 Nav units (handheld GPS) S400 S650 $900 Navcom $0 $0 $0 Transponder $1350 $1500 $1900 Intercom $350 S500 S7509 Unknown $0 $0 $0 Miscellaneous $400 S600 S750 Avionics subtotal-expected $4250

Lowest Expected Highest TOTALCO$T$ S39660 $48075 S65354

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

You do one piece at a time and when there are no more pieces to work on you must be done

It Is touched every single day You may not physically work on it every day but its always in your mind and youll be ordering parts doodling solushytions while on the phone etc

Work sessions are goal-orlented You walk into the shop with a specific goal in mind For example such and such a part will be finished before you walk out the door

Shop time Is scheduled A certain part of each week is reserved to work on the airplane and everyone around you knows that You dont view it as a project that will be worked on when I feel like it and the time is available You make that time available and afshyter dinner you literally force yourself out of the TV chair and into the shop After a hard day at work that one step forcing yourself to leave the comfort of an easy chair is the hardest part of any project However once youve stepped into the shop the energy takes over and you wonder why you had to work so hard to get your butt out of the chair in the first place

Skills Required We purposely left skill as the last pershy

sonal trait to be evaluated because its essentially unimportant There is nothshying in restoring an airplane that cant be learned by anyone Besides since youre working on a certificated airshyplane all of your work has to be overshyseen and checked out by a certificated airframe and powerplant mechanic so youre not likely to have something in the airplane that isnt safe

As for the skills there are so many learning aids available that address evshyerything from welding to fabric to sheet metal that you dont even need to know which end of a screwdriver to hang on to and you can still learn the skills reshy

18 SEPTEMBER 2005

quired This isnt brain surgery folks Of course if youre handy with your hands and have a long history of building meshychanical stuff life will be easier

Can It Be Restored Cheaper Than It Can Be Bought

Buy or restore is the big question and of course there are about a billion factors to be considered but well put together an analysis on a mythical airshyplane of the square-tail Cessna variety

111e Buy Option 111e Ready-to-F1y Recently Restored 1957 Cessna 172

The airplane was restored less than two years ago and was a middle-of-theshyroad nice restoration aimed mostly at making it totally reliable and cosshymetically pleasing rather than a show winner but it was still done right It wasnt totally disassembled but it was stripped and painted and the entire structure cleaned inside and out It was painted with an aircraft urethane by a known aircraft paint shop

The hardware (pulleys cables bolts etc) wasnt replaced en masse but was done on an IRAN (inspect and replace as necessary) basis All of the glass was replaced at the time The instrument panel overlay was repaired and some of the plastic interior side panels replaced The complete interior was replaced with an AirTex unit and all exterior screws and bolts were replaced with new stainshyless The instruments were partially reshybuilt and are all working and the avishyonics are limited to a King KX-155 nav comm and a low-end transponder

When it was restored the engine an 0-300 Continental had about 900 hours on it since major overhaul which was done nearly 15 years before but it was top overhauled using Supeshyrior jugs The exhaust and heater sysshytem were overhauled at the same time The airplane has flown 125 hours since

it was restored The prop was freshened up and the spinner replaced along with the tires

The asking price for the airplane is $52500 but the owner will take $49500 Lets call it $50000

Our Project Airplane The airplane again a 1957 Cessna

172 has been sitting tied down at a southwestern airport for more than 18 years It has no corrosion and in fact has pretty straight metal The sun has done its usual thing with the interior (its hanging in shards) and the Plexishyglas is really ugly (you can actually see through some of it) The paint which consists of at least three layers the last looking like it was applied with a roller is as youd expect nothing more than colored dust stuck to the metal We paid $17500 for it where is as is

There is some minor damage to a wingtip area where a storm tipped it up on the wingtip Other than that we cant see any other damage

When it was parked the engine was fairly low time about 450 hours but even in that dry area the engine is a huge question mark The instruments all look baked and its unknown whether any of them are usable or not The overlay panel is missing while the interior side panels are cracked but intact Tires are black flat-bottomed lumps most of the Fiberglas (wingtips elevator tips etc) is cracked and the screw hole areas are flaking

The radio stack is pretty sad Mk 12 Narco navcomms and an ARC Cessna DME

We talked seriously about getting it ferriable and flying it the 500 miles home but chickened out Besides we reasoned assuming the dry air proshytected the engines internals there may be some good parts and runshyning the engine could cycle rust and silicon crude through it ruining what good parts there are So we rented a car trailer and small Penske truck and came down to take it apart and truck it home It took a total of three days and two nights only half of one day was reshyquired to get it apart and on the trailer were good We also came prepared

with lots of moving blankets ratchet comm and a low-end transponder straps and used tires to sit things on and purchase a handheld GPS that we

Heres a list of what the airplane mount on the control yoke needs and what we decide to do about it Our goal is to be as original as we Figuring the Costs can without going overboard Also its First of all one of the biggest re -to be an airplane we use a lot for family alities of a proj ect like this is that vacations not a Judge Me special no matter how you figure it the to-

Engine Rather than doing a com- tal you come up with is going to be plete overhaul we tear it down and wrong Sometimes very wrong A lot find it has a lot of good parts that dont of guys just double their estimates need overhauling and still meet new and are still usually wrong This is limits The jugs however have surface not encouraging However below rust and one is cracked so we have you ll find a quick spreadsheet that them all overhauled rather than going can at least give you a guide If you with new ones We split the case and download thi s Exce l spreadsheet do an IRAN on everything We go for from wwwvintageaircraftorg youll be a Slick mag conversion and new wiring able to play what if games to your harness We also change the pull-type heart s content Th e blue numbers starter to a B amp C key starter We have are the ones you can change and the work done by a local shop and get the final cost will roll out on the botshya good price tom Leave everything else alone If you

Airframe Its super dirty inside and screw it up just download it again out SO we strip it down to the bare alu- The numbers weve put in the difshyminum and replace all the cables nuts ferent areas are our best-guess esti shybolts etc because so many have rust on mates but as you get actual quotes on them We cant do sheet metal work so things like cylinders or engine rebuild-we have the wingtip repaired and some ing you can plug them in and make cracks on the nosebowl repaired We the final total more accurate strip the paint ourselves disassemble The most important thing to come it and mask it for painting but have out of the spreadsheet is that its obvishya local automotive paint shop do the ous that its going to take some luck final coats We assist by racking up all and a lot of elbow grease to restore an the small parts for painting and trying airplane as cheaply as you can buy it to make it so all the painter has to do is Too often the seller of any restored air-blow the paint We also repair all the Fi- plane is taking a hit on what he has inshyberglas parts ourselves and rebuild the vested and his loss becomes the purshybrake assemblies and master cylinders chasers gain This is especially true if

Interior We install an Airtex interior any of the major work (engine pain t ourselves including carpets and go for etc) is farmed out The minute you a replacement panel overlay have a pro do an entire section of the

Instrument panel We scrounge restoration youve just driven the price around and find usedrebuilt replace- above what you can sell it for Its an ments for about half the instruments ugly truth but still a truth and send the rest out for overhaul We On the other hand theres only one spend a lot of time doing interior detail way to make an airplane truly yours paint work on small interior parts and and we dont need to tell you that is have the local auto paint store make by liberal injections of your personal US some spray cans that exactly match sweat It may not be the smartest thing the color of the original plastic parts to do finanCially but simply writing a SO we can use Fiberglas to repair the check cant possibly give the same per-plastic and paint them ourselves sonal satisfaction as being able to say

Avionics We install a King KX-97 I did it myself

Plug in your own numbers in this Excel spreadsheet Download it at wwwvlntagealrcraftorg

SAMPlE PROJECT-19S7 CESSNA 172 Component Ioweot Expected IIfamphest Purchase $$ S17500 $17500 S17500

Transport Truck rental w mileage S225 S225 $225 $ day $75 No of days 3 Fuel costs S200 S200 S200 Sgal S24 mpg 12 miles 1000 Trailer rental $100 $150 $225 Motel S255 S255 $255 S night $85 No of nights 3 Food S90 S90 $90 S day S30 No of days 3 Transportation subtotal $92000

Engine Complete overhaul $0 SO $0 Parts mags S800 S900 $1100 harness S250 $300 $350 starter S350 $450 S550 cylinder assemblies S4SOO $6000 SSOOO plugs S125 $200 S250 hoses S200 $350 $450 Misc S500 $750 $1000 Alternator S300 $400 $500 Inductioncam rebuild Sl200 $1500 $1800 misc misc misc misc

Labor $1000 $1500 $1800 Engine subtotal-expeeted S1235O00

Prop overhaul (fixed pitch) S500 $750 S1000 (constant speed) na n a n a

Airframe Stnpping chemicals $125 $175 S225 Sheet metal labor $400 S600 $800

Sand blasting SO $0 SO Weldingtube repair SO SO SO FaMccovering matenals $0 SO SO Cables pulleys bolts $1400 $1700 S2OOO Fiberglas matenals S150 S225 S250 Brake repair pads hosesCHIngs S125 S175 S200 Tirestubes S175 S200 S250 Tailwheel rebuildreplace SO SO $0 Windshield S250 S300 $350 Side Windows $100 $150 $200 Masking tape etc $125 $175 $225 Transport to paint shop $0 $150 S225 Misc $000 $000 SOOO Misc so so $0 Misc so $0 $0 Paint Cost (three colors) pnmer S550 $S50 $1000 Paint labor spray on~ (est) S350 S550 $700 Complete paint SO SO SO Airframe subtotal-expeeted $525000

Interior (aftermarket kits) Seats $900 S950 $1 100 Side panels S600 S625 $750 Headliner $290 S310 $450 Carpet $275 S320 $425 Interior total-expeeted S220500

Instrument panel Instrument replacement S600 Sl800 S3500 Instrument overhaul $300 $1100 $2200 Ovenay panel S250 $350 $400

Misc panels SO $300 S450 Seat belts S500 $600 S700 Misc $500 S700 $900 Unknown SOOO SOOO $000 Panel subtotal-expeeted $4150

Avionics Radios (comm only) S800 SlOOO $1700 Nav units (handheld GPS) S400 S650 $900 Navcom $0 $0 $0 Transponder $1350 $1500 $1900 Intercom $350 S500 S7509 Unknown $0 $0 $0 Miscellaneous $400 S600 S750 Avionics subtotal-expected $4250

Lowest Expected Highest TOTALCO$T$ S39660 $48075 S65354

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

with lots of moving blankets ratchet comm and a low-end transponder straps and used tires to sit things on and purchase a handheld GPS that we

Heres a list of what the airplane mount on the control yoke needs and what we decide to do about it Our goal is to be as original as we Figuring the Costs can without going overboard Also its First of all one of the biggest re -to be an airplane we use a lot for family alities of a proj ect like this is that vacations not a Judge Me special no matter how you figure it the to-

Engine Rather than doing a com- tal you come up with is going to be plete overhaul we tear it down and wrong Sometimes very wrong A lot find it has a lot of good parts that dont of guys just double their estimates need overhauling and still meet new and are still usually wrong This is limits The jugs however have surface not encouraging However below rust and one is cracked so we have you ll find a quick spreadsheet that them all overhauled rather than going can at least give you a guide If you with new ones We split the case and download thi s Exce l spreadsheet do an IRAN on everything We go for from wwwvintageaircraftorg youll be a Slick mag conversion and new wiring able to play what if games to your harness We also change the pull-type heart s content Th e blue numbers starter to a B amp C key starter We have are the ones you can change and the work done by a local shop and get the final cost will roll out on the botshya good price tom Leave everything else alone If you

Airframe Its super dirty inside and screw it up just download it again out SO we strip it down to the bare alu- The numbers weve put in the difshyminum and replace all the cables nuts ferent areas are our best-guess esti shybolts etc because so many have rust on mates but as you get actual quotes on them We cant do sheet metal work so things like cylinders or engine rebuild-we have the wingtip repaired and some ing you can plug them in and make cracks on the nosebowl repaired We the final total more accurate strip the paint ourselves disassemble The most important thing to come it and mask it for painting but have out of the spreadsheet is that its obvishya local automotive paint shop do the ous that its going to take some luck final coats We assist by racking up all and a lot of elbow grease to restore an the small parts for painting and trying airplane as cheaply as you can buy it to make it so all the painter has to do is Too often the seller of any restored air-blow the paint We also repair all the Fi- plane is taking a hit on what he has inshyberglas parts ourselves and rebuild the vested and his loss becomes the purshybrake assemblies and master cylinders chasers gain This is especially true if

Interior We install an Airtex interior any of the major work (engine pain t ourselves including carpets and go for etc) is farmed out The minute you a replacement panel overlay have a pro do an entire section of the

Instrument panel We scrounge restoration youve just driven the price around and find usedrebuilt replace- above what you can sell it for Its an ments for about half the instruments ugly truth but still a truth and send the rest out for overhaul We On the other hand theres only one spend a lot of time doing interior detail way to make an airplane truly yours paint work on small interior parts and and we dont need to tell you that is have the local auto paint store make by liberal injections of your personal US some spray cans that exactly match sweat It may not be the smartest thing the color of the original plastic parts to do finanCially but simply writing a SO we can use Fiberglas to repair the check cant possibly give the same per-plastic and paint them ourselves sonal satisfaction as being able to say

Avionics We install a King KX-97 I did it myself

Plug in your own numbers in this Excel spreadsheet Download it at wwwvlntagealrcraftorg

SAMPlE PROJECT-19S7 CESSNA 172 Component Ioweot Expected IIfamphest Purchase $$ S17500 $17500 S17500

Transport Truck rental w mileage S225 S225 $225 $ day $75 No of days 3 Fuel costs S200 S200 S200 Sgal S24 mpg 12 miles 1000 Trailer rental $100 $150 $225 Motel S255 S255 $255 S night $85 No of nights 3 Food S90 S90 $90 S day S30 No of days 3 Transportation subtotal $92000

Engine Complete overhaul $0 SO $0 Parts mags S800 S900 $1100 harness S250 $300 $350 starter S350 $450 S550 cylinder assemblies S4SOO $6000 SSOOO plugs S125 $200 S250 hoses S200 $350 $450 Misc S500 $750 $1000 Alternator S300 $400 $500 Inductioncam rebuild Sl200 $1500 $1800 misc misc misc misc

Labor $1000 $1500 $1800 Engine subtotal-expeeted S1235O00

Prop overhaul (fixed pitch) S500 $750 S1000 (constant speed) na n a n a

Airframe Stnpping chemicals $125 $175 S225 Sheet metal labor $400 S600 $800

Sand blasting SO $0 SO Weldingtube repair SO SO SO FaMccovering matenals $0 SO SO Cables pulleys bolts $1400 $1700 S2OOO Fiberglas matenals S150 S225 S250 Brake repair pads hosesCHIngs S125 S175 S200 Tirestubes S175 S200 S250 Tailwheel rebuildreplace SO SO $0 Windshield S250 S300 $350 Side Windows $100 $150 $200 Masking tape etc $125 $175 $225 Transport to paint shop $0 $150 S225 Misc $000 $000 SOOO Misc so so $0 Misc so $0 $0 Paint Cost (three colors) pnmer S550 $S50 $1000 Paint labor spray on~ (est) S350 S550 $700 Complete paint SO SO SO Airframe subtotal-expeeted $525000

Interior (aftermarket kits) Seats $900 S950 $1 100 Side panels S600 S625 $750 Headliner $290 S310 $450 Carpet $275 S320 $425 Interior total-expeeted S220500

Instrument panel Instrument replacement S600 Sl800 S3500 Instrument overhaul $300 $1100 $2200 Ovenay panel S250 $350 $400

Misc panels SO $300 S450 Seat belts S500 $600 S700 Misc $500 S700 $900 Unknown SOOO SOOO $000 Panel subtotal-expeeted $4150

Avionics Radios (comm only) S800 SlOOO $1700 Nav units (handheld GPS) S400 S650 $900 Navcom $0 $0 $0 Transponder $1350 $1500 $1900 Intercom $350 S500 S7509 Unknown $0 $0 $0 Miscellaneous $400 S600 S750 Avionics subtotal-expected $4250

Lowest Expected Highest TOTALCO$T$ S39660 $48075 S65354

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

E ) UJ ltJ) )

E UJ

~ ii UJ J Z o ~ ~ ~ ltJ)

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

THE FORGOTTEN PERFORMERS

Part II NC251M is resurrected VIC PIKE

With its left wing and float torn off was replaced with a PampW R-985 Johns establishment in a 1963 takeoff accident it seemed The Fairchilds fuselage is wooden At birth John was destined to to be the end of the airway for Belshy monocoque similar in construction fly His father Claude a minister lanca Pacemaker NC251M It didnt to the Lockheed Vega The method built a glider as a boy and began end that way as this months installshy was proposed as proof of the Dushy powered flight in a J-3 Cub that he ment by Vic Pike shows us a good ramold process and as a labor- and discovered in 1954 dismantled in airplane is rarely down forever cost-saving practice to avoid drivshy a hangar at the McMinnville Oreshy

In 1964 John Pike (EAA 711429 ing hundreds of thousands of rivshy gon airport The owner was willing VAA 715987) entered the life of ets unfortunately it turned out to to part with the Cub but mentioned NC251M despite the appearance be more expensive which explains that rather than money he really that it had been extinguished Now why only one was built wanted a small car-top boat Claude John is an airplane man private pishy The 46 was first flown by test said Youll have your boat Able lot CFI-II single-engine seaplane pilot Dave Lewis who was so imshy to build anything Claude took $35 everything through ATP AampP AI pressed he purchased it from Fairchshy worth of plywood and after a few and type rated in Citations and ild It was sold after several years days returned with a boat and exshyHawker 125s For a livelihood he is and passed through many owners changed it for the J-3 the proprietor of Big Sky Stearman finally being left in the weather unshy Claude assembled the Piper and Wings and in that capacity scratch til the woodwork was in shambles was so eager to get aloft he began builds new Stearman wings In adshy Lewis rediscovered it in that conshy to fly from a nearby pasture withshydition he restores antique aircraft dition repurchased the relic and out official sanction When the with a focus on Stearmans from sold it to John CAA (FAA) learned of this pilot stock to custom 450s On the middle burner for John and plane were grounded for a year

Currently he is completing the is a one-off sport plane that began Once the Cub was airborne legally woodwork on the one and only as a Stearman fuselage Its on the John became a capable co-pilot and Fairchild 46 This plane was conshy gear and theres a Pratt amp Whitshy was soon boring dependable holes structed in 1937 as a fast (220 ney R-1340 up front For a cowling in the sky as a lO-year-old mph) six-place low-wing monoshy John searched through his stash of The Cub remains in the family plane powered by a 420-hp Ranger trade goods and came up with one but is now on floats with a C-85 inverted V-12 The Ranger engine from a Ford Tri-Motor If you want 0-200 on the nose Typical of most did not live up to expectations and to soak up airplane ambience go to plane kids John soloed on his 16th

20 SEPTEMBER 2005

Lead Photo NC251M decorated with the Alaska Air1ines logo hauled up on shore at Lake Hood in about 1946 H it was in that year that would have been a brand new Aeronca Champ parked behind it

birthday and earned his private on his 17th in the familys newly acshyquired Stinson 108-I

In the spring of 1964 John was flying low and slow over the Willashymette Valley in standard Cub fashshyion when voila That looks like airshyp lane stuff down there Circling around he landed on a conven ient grass strip and confirmed that at some time the pile had been an airplane CuriOUS he went to t h e house and learned from Helen Poet the story of the Pacemakers remains Intrigued John returned later with his father and ultimately they bought everything for $150

At that time the Pikes intention was to keep the parts as a memento a piece of history a novelty But Chuck Rawson the airframe and enshygine mechanic from Mulino airport where John was instructing came to see the wreckage and after scrushytinizing it for some time said You guys should rebuild that and fly it Hmm The spark was kindled

How do you make a flying airshyplane out of a twisted tangle of steel tubes and a collection of splintered wood Well you start by eliminatshying everything that could never fly and try not to be discouraged with how little is left

The aft fuselage was determined to be one of the earthbound parts and it was discarded John correshysponded with August Bellanca Gishyuseppes son and received some asshySistance but on the ground he took a more pragmatic approach In Seshyattle there existed another Bellanca Pacemaker NC26E intact but not airworthy that was owned by Lloyd Rekow Lloyd like Clayton Scott (the two are friends) ran an aircraft modification business Foreign and Domestic Enterprises on nearby Boeing Field and is well known in the Grumman Goose community for his improvements to that type

NC251M on the Columbia River

Bellanca Pacemaker NC251M on the Oregon Coast

John made arrangements to visit the Pacemaker and calculated tube placement and dimensions by tapshying butcher paper to the fuselage and tracing the positions

John and his father then reshypaired the right wing and essenshytially scratch-built a new left one Because Bellanca Pacemaker landshying gear isnt generally carried even by Aircraft Spruce or Unishyvair Claude whittled it from BT-13 stock and fitted tundra tires Then came construction of new seats a new panel complete covering paint glass and the untold other details involved in a reconstrucshytion of this magnitude including the fabrication of dual controls

Next came a run-out PampW R-985 from a duster and it was overshyhauled with help from AampP-IA Cliff Krum neighbor and good friend

of George Bogardus the promi shynent Oregon outlaw who illegally flew his homebuilt to Wash ington DC after World War II in an effort to prove the viability of amateurshybuilt aircraft After 15 years of partshytime but tedious hard labor the old bird was looking more an d more like something that could return to the skies

Bellanca Pacemaker Seria l No 154 experienced a rebirth on sunny April 27 1980 when John with no previous dual in type took off from the Pikes private grass st rip near Oregon City witnessed by a large group of family members and other airplane enthusiasts (includshying me EAA 180885 VAA 10444) Everyone applauded but the apshyplause was overwhelmed by the conspicuous rumble of the Pratt amp Whitney Wasp Jr

VINTAGE A IRPLANE 21

Frank Barr (left) John Pike in the cockpit and his brother Ted (right)

Two of th e participants that day were fellow antique airplane restorers Stu Mitzel and his son partner Mark They flew in with an equally impressive restoration a Travel Air 4000 powered with a Wright 450-hp R-9 75-30

Another person in attendance was an AampP by the name of Harry 22 SEPTEMBER 2005

Day Harry had two connecshytions in this story First he did the rib stitching on the wings when the plane was rebu ilt by Bob Bohanan in 1961 and second as John Pike earned his AampP at Portshyland Community College Harry was head of the airshycraft program Harry took a ride in the Pacemaker

But more was to come In the mid 1940s when NC251M was flying nonscheduled for Alaska Airlines the logs showed that acclaimed bush pilot Frank Barr frequently flew it Frank came to Alaska as a 29-year-old aviator in 1932 and spent the next 16 years as an itinerant flier of the old school he never beshycame IFR rated although he made frequent flights u nshy

der IFR conditions For five years he flew the weekly l200-mile Kuskokwim River mail run for legendary pioshy

neer pilot Harold Gillam In 1980 Frank was retired and

living in Grants Pass Oregon John contacted him with an invitation to attend the celebration and he accepted After Frank had been around the patch in the Bellanca an attentive audience gathered unshy

der the wings to hear of his experiences which included the Alaska method for loading freight in a Pacemaker

The preliminary task was to crank down the pilots-side window Then you piled in the payload starting at the right-side firewall Items were stacked to above t he windscreen and then at ceiling height clear back to the rear bulkhead Loading conshytinued until you either ran out of cargo or there was no more room with only casual thought

to weight and balance Then you crawled into the cockpit through the open window and took off

Frank said he damaged the Paceshymaker only one time He was sent on a rush trip to a hillside landing strip newly built to serve a mine He neglected to drag the site before landing and realized on a short straight-in final that it sported a sigshynificant down slope He flared and flared and flared but the ground deshyscended as rapidly as the plane did With trees ahead and no opportushynity for a go-around he slammed it on and ploughed into the brush bending the prop Considering his job security he was relieved when the company wrote it up as an accishydent but Frank said Being stupid is no accident

What a day April 27 was The Pacemaker the Travel Air 4000 and Frank Barr Three icons in one aftershynoon was almost too much

In 1980 John his father and his brother Ted flew the Pacemaker to Washington DC Dallas Texas and then back to Oregon in supshyport of the National Day of Prayer

In 1981 John constructed a belly pod and painted the Bellanca as Miss Veedol and was center stage in Wenatchee for the 50th anniversary of Pangborn and Herndons recordshybreaking flight from Japan in 1931

In 1990 John purchased from Kenmore Air a pair of damaged Edo 6470 floats that had originally been on a Noorduyn Norseman They were stored in Kenmores yard when a drunk driver came off the hill smashed through the cyclone fence and crumpled them Supplied with aluminum sheet and a barrel of rivshyets John rebuilt them and considershying their gargantuan size mounted the plane on the floats (rather than the floats on the plane)

What is it like to fly a 75-yearshyold Bellanca Pacemaker For startshyers John notes the plane is noseshyheavy and in fact it is placarded for the single passenger to sit in the rear seat in wheel configuration and for 100 pounds of ballast in the bagshygage compartment when solo on floats Perhaps a contributing facshytor to this balance is that the PampW R-985 is 103 pounds heavier than the original Wright J-6-9 This reshyquires an inordinate nose-high atshytitude at touchdown which virtushyally precludes a greased-on landing even by John who can three-point a C-180 with never a quiver He refers to Pacemaker landings as arrivals

Stick forces are high There are no flaps and the stall occurs at 55 mph John flies 80 mph on final and 70 over the fence He reports there is a delicate balance between sink and float and a little power on final renders a more consistent glidepath With the nose high a slip is mandatory for visibility A locking tail wheel contributes to a straight rollout

The Pacemakers load-carrying capability is legendary and Alan Hauan from Wilderness Airlines states that NC251M could routinely outhaul a Beaver This is reflected in a ground run with medium load being a tidy 600 feet Landing roll is 1200 to 1500 feet Empty weight is 2900 pounds and gross is 4880

Takeoff is at 2350 rpm with 37 inches of manifold pressure Cruise is 1850 rpm 28 inches 110 mph and 25 gph The factory pubshylished the top speed as 160 mph at 10000 feet which John considers

Clayton Scott after four hours of dual instruction soloed a Waco 9 three

months before Lindbergh made his flight to Paris He was station manager for

Vern Corsts Pacific Air Transport (first airmail service from Seattle to los Angeshy

les March 8 1926) at Pearson Field in Vancouver Washington before Portlands

Swan Island Airport opened In 1928 he was a pilot for Seattle Flying Service sitshy

uated at the old sand lot on Marginal Way Then it was Corst Air Transport and

Seattle-Bremerton Air Ferry where he won a new Oldsmobile for flying a record

number of passengers to and from the US naval base

In 1929 he flew a loening amphibian from New York to Seattle in 19 hours and

35 minutes and then spent the next two years in Alaska flying the loening and a

Boeing 204 A flying boat where he was a colleague of Shutte and Kay In the fall of

1933 he began flying Boeing 247s from Portland to Salt lake for United Airlines

and in 1934 he became Bill Boeings personal pilot flying him all over Alaska in

Boeings 204 and a Douglas Dolphin

later came a rare Douglas DC-5 (high-winged and tricycle-geared) that kept

Boeing in touch with his traveling racehorses In 1941 Clayton became a producshy

tion test pilot for Boeing and flew everything in its inventory up through 727s He

has flown more B-l7s than any other person

Clayton Scott retired in 1966 Retired Not a chance he just moved full time to

his previously established Jobmaster Co where float installations are engineered

and certificated for a wide variety of planes including Piper Aztecs and Cessna

195s He also built a replica of Bill Boeings first airplane the BampW (Boeing amp

Westervelt) which is now in the Museum of Flight in Seattle Oh yes he casually

acknowledges that for a number of years he owned the type certificate for the

Howard DCA-IS which he recently sold to the Howard Foundation

This remarkable pilot engineer mechanic and entrepreneur has been continuo

ously employed in the aircraft industry for 77 years and with all of his ratings inshy

tact regularly flies his Cessna 195 on floats

I asked Clayton what airplane was the most gratifying to fly and without hesitashy

tion he said The B-52 Lightly loaded and with a minimum of fuel we would take

off from Seattle and arc over the Cascade Mountains to land at Moses lake Air

Force Base and deliver them to the military The twinkle in his eye underscored

the delight of those flights

wildly optimistic thunders right below the window Despite its idiosyncrasies on and the sights sounds smells and

wheels the Pacemaker on floats is vibrations that assault the senses another story In this configuration combined with sitting in the soul John describes it as a big gentle of this historic airplane make it J-3 The Edo 6470s are a bit overshy difficult to decide whether youll size and in crosswinds the plane grin or cry tends to skate sideways For 21 years John flew the Belshy

In addition to the facts and figshy lanca In the fall of 2000 another toshyures for someone who stands in tal refurbish was in order After a comshyreverence of 1920s and 30s airshy plete disassembly he built two comshycraft flying in the Pacemaker is an pletely new wings but then discovshyawesome experience As it comes ered terminal corrosion in the original on the step the big R-985 exhaust cabin section of the fuselage

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

A beautiful day is not complete unless it is seen from the inside of a cockpit The Vintage Aircraft Association is providing you with the opportunity to bring the magic of flight to your home office or hangar Take flight with the 2006 VAA Calendar Free Skies Forever

The gorgeous 17 x 11-inch full-color wall calendar is the perfect gift for yourself or your favorite pilot Each month contains the amazing photography from the Vintage Aircraft Association and captures the spirit of flight

As a commemoration to the great aviators before us the VAA 2006 Calendar Free Skies Forever contains great feats in aviation printed on the exact date of occurrence Dont let this opportunity fly past you Order your 2006 VAA Free Skies Forever Calendar by September 30 2005 Calendars will ship in November for Christmas arrival

Or to order by mail send your checkmoney order to Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar do Turner Publishing Company bull PO Box 3101 bull Paducah KY 42002-3101

o Please enter my order for __ copies of the Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar - only $1595 Your Name

OShippingiHandling add $395 for each calendar Address

o Kentucky residents add 6 sales tax City State Zip

TOTAL ENCLOSED $______

For Office Use Only - VAA2006-AmiddotGW

Ck Arnount

Telephone

E-mail address (for order confirmation)

BY HG FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE tOMES TO US FROM THE EAA LIBRARYS GARNER P EMMERSON COLLECTION WEVE GOT A NUMBER OF PHOTOS

IN THAT ALBUM THAT MAKE GREAT MYSTERY PLANES

Send your answer to EAA Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Your answer needs to be in no later than October 10 for inclusion in the December 2005 issue of Vintage Airplane

You can also send your response via e-mail Send your answer to mysteryplaneeaa org Be sure to include your name city and state in the body of your note and put 1 (Month) Mystery Plane in the subject line

JUNE S MYSTERY ANSWER

The June Mystery Plane also from the Emerson Collection elicited only a pair of letters the first from Wayne Van Valkenburgh who thought it might be an Aeromarine Model 40F and the second from Thomas Lymshyburn Princeton Minnesota At first

Thomas thought it might be the Curshytiss F flying boat but not everything matched Heres what he wrote

So lets check John Andrades US Military Aircraft Designations and Seshyrials Since 1909 Hmm if the numshyber on the side in your photo is 5256

(It is-Ed) then its not a Curtiss Anshydrade lists 5256 as a 1917 Alexandria 10 flying boat trainer (serials A-5247 to A-5256) It gives no other data II

According to the penned caption included in the Emerson album it is indeed an Alexandria A second closer photograph of the seaplane is shown on this page The man standing in the cockpit is Garner Emerson s fashyther Edwin B Emerson The Alexanshydria Airplane Co built other designs under license including the Briggs F flying boat (serial A3327 for examshyple) but we have no other informashytion on the company or the Mystery Plane itself Its possible that Thomas and Waynes guesses as to the origin of the Alexandria 10s design may be correct and the airplane is actually a modified license-built example of one of the Curtiss Fs with a Httle Aeromashyrine added to the mix Any additional information would be welcome

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Bucks 1990 column on propping is simply timeless Unfortunately on a regshyular basis we still hear ofpropping accishydents that occur During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 thanks to the generosity ofAUA Inc we ran a twice-daily seminar on the proper technique to use when propshyping an airplane Well show you more on that in the October issue For now lets all get a refresher from Buck on the gotchas that are out there when youre starting your vintage airplane -HGF

During the summer of 1940 when I was a line boy at the old Elmhurst Airshyport west of Chicago we were running in a newly overhauled engine In those days there was a regular schedule for break-in after the overhaul was comshypleted We ran them up at half-hour intervals at increasing rpm until finally after about four hours we brought them up to takeoff power Only then was it allowed to fly Quite a difference as compared with today Nowadays you just put the power to it and fly at full throttle for the first hour

Anyway there sits the Cub with the stick tied back and the engine runshyning at about 1000 rpm unattended doing its own break-in I hasten to add that this airplane did not belong to us Harbicon Airways would never do a thing like that (Now Ill tell you about a certain bridge you can buy)

Well this fellow is posing his girlfriend alongside our Porterfield PL-SO He has her standing by the door liquidly draped around the wing strut and hes trying to get her into the frame of that little camera Some of you remember those box cameras with the neat viewfinder on the top The trick was to put the subject squarely in the frame It reshy

26 SEPTEMBER 2005

E E BUCK HILBERT

Proper Behavior quired stooping over and shading the viewfinder with one hand while you backed up for the focal length You guessed it With all of us shoutin and hollerin he got a rapid lOOO-rpm spanking He never got the picture but Ill never forget that moment We all had a good laugh about it later but Spanky never lived it down For years afterward he would drop his pants to show people the result of his encounter It didnt read Sensenich or Flottorp either

I propped many airplanes as the years went by and made a study of propping Some engines were easy some were downright recalcitrant The easiest of the lot are the Kinners and R-98Ss such as on a BT-13 The Kinner will start every time with those Bendix mags throwin a spark an inch and a half You dont really prop the Kinner you just gingerly pull it past compression and get the heck out of the way Ive had them back up on me and catch from the wrong way when theyre too lean but theyll go on the next pull Again it takes extreme care to be absolutely sure it isnt hot

We were standing in the hangar one day working on a Ryan STA and a good friend of mine was supervisshying (like any good sidewalk superinshytendent) He was leaning up against the prop of my PT-22 but it wasnt quite comfortable enough for him so he went to repOSition the prop He turned it about 30 degrees the imshypulse snapped and there was Carl stretched to his full height his back against the STAs tail with my PT-22s 90-inch prop whisking his fly Fortushynately it only hit about four cylinshyders and then quit Wow I was up in

that cockpit and checking before Carl could even let out the breath he had been holding to make himself that skinny The switch was at idle cutoff and the fuel was off It turned out the airport owners kids had been playshying in the cockpit and fooling around with the switches The kid I think was responsible is now an aerobatic show pilot He still likes to fool around

A year or so after this one I was alone out front of the hangar at the same airport and I was going to take my two youngest kids for a ride in our Champ Id just gassed up and added a quart of oil and was ready to avishyate There wasnt anyone else within close range so I elected to prop it myshyself I had the two kids side-by-side on cushions in the back seat under one belt I put my right foot in front of the right tire and propped it seaplane style from behind It was between the prop and the door Just as I snapped it through I heard my daughter say Ill help you Daddy and she shoved the throttle forward It caught of course and there I was in a helluva predicashyment My right foot was the chock the door wont let me get to the throtshytle or the switch and the engine is turnin about 1700 rpm Im dancing around in a circle trying desperately not to lose it If I pull my foot out from in front of the wheel itll go for sure I cant get around the door and under the strut I cant grab and stop the prop at 1700 rpm without chopshyping my arm off and Im literally helpless About the second Im ready to give up and let it happen the front door of the office bursts open and one of the guys comes running out to cut the switch I would have kissed him

if I had the strength but all I could do was sit down and mumble my thanks-over and over again

Shortly after this one I was at the old Chicagoland Airport one day when a friend of mine who owned a T-6 had an experience He was parked between two rows of airplanes and decided to prop the Six The battery had died long ago and like most of us in the 1960s he couldnt afford to buy a new one He had been propping the plane for years so it should have been no problem This time though th rough a mismanaged mess-up it started and went to 1600 to 1700 rpm like right NOW Normally an R-985 or 1340 will fire mutter spang and gradually accelerate to idle so slowly you can leisurely walk around the wing crawl up to the cockpit and still have time for a Coke and a sandwich before it finally clears its throat Not this time It tore down the line and went through two airplanes before it wrapped itself up in one of those cast-iron Navions Paul himself

had quite a problem there You can imagine how much insurance he had since he couldnt even afford to buy a battery It took him several years to payoff the damages to the other airshyplanes and he trucked his T-6 home where it sat until he died

Same airport same scene- almost the same tiedown The STA had been flying for about four years Our trusty Red Ba loney is go ing to t ake h is niece up for a ride There was no one around so he put her in the front seat set up the engine controls told her to hold the brakes and started pulling through the prop About four blades and away it went It spurted right up to about 1700 rpm He dropped to the ground as the airplane rumbled over him and he grabbed one of the flying wires under the wing as it went by With him hanging on for dear life the Ryan did two 360s between the parked planes He was hollerin fo r his niece to turn it OFF but she misshyunderstood and further complicated matters by jumping out and getting

knocked down by the tail as it swung by About this time the engine quit beshycause he did something right He had turned off the fuel as Id taught him to do when he propped it himself Niece was bruised but the airplane and everyone else was okay-so what caused the problem He looked under the cowl and there was the fractured end of the throttle push-pull rod It broke from corrosion and wear right at the firewall Lesson You betcha Next time we tie the tail

We are learning One day I propped Bob Heuers Pitts when I saw him all alone Then he asked me to untie the tail A couple of months later I noshyticed that Bob Davis another aeroshybatic pilot had a tow hitch on his Pitts-Smith Whats he doing with a tow hitch Simple He sez I can prop it myself and then after I get in and all suited up and ready to go I just pull the release and Im free Lesson there are some real practical people in

the world ~ l Over to you cIACGshy

AERO CLASSIC COLLECTOR SERIES

Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vin tage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these ti res set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

500 x 5 600 x 6 700 x 8

Oesser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

~ TelePhone 800-247-8473 or

DESSER(~ 323-721-4900 FAX 323-721-7888

6900 Acco SI Montebello CA 90640 TI RE amp RUBBER COMPANY 3400 Chelsea Ave Memphis TN 38106

wwwdessercom

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

DOUG STEWART

Try it youll like it The takeoff on this formation flight was going to be

with a slight tailwind but the downhill slope of the grass runway would compensate a little bit We were taking off with the tailwind primarily because of the increased options we would have going in this direction in case anything went wrong Going the other way meant clearshying trees at the end of the runway and then nothing but a busy highway beyond the trees As long as the wind didnt increase there should be no problems

I was surprised at how quickly we were up off the bumpy runway and flying in ground effect especialJy with I cannot the left to head down and tow yet an-two of us on board This time rather recommend in other glider back up into the sky Now than sitting in the back as the instruc- the fun was about to start in earnest tor I was sitting in front and Tom strong enough This was not my first time in a Decker was sitting in the back coach- bull glider My first glider flight had been ing me It felt really refreshing to be terms my feelIngs about 50 years ago (In fact that flight receiving instr~cti~n for a change that every power had been the first time in my life that rather than offenng It there had been more than a few feet

Because we had become airborne pilot should between my posterior and the earth before the Piper Pawnee in front of bull and to this day I have not forgotten us we stayed in ground effect until spend some tIme it) I also got to fly in the same glider the Pawnee lifted off We then flew flying a glider I was now flying about two years ago through the turbulence behind the Pawnee and settled in for the climb staying exactly 200 feet behind it Tom instructed me to aim just a little below the Pawnees tail He told me that if the Pawnee turned I should aim the nose of my aircraft toward the outer wingtip of the Pawnee

A big smile was spreading across my face as I settled in for the challenge As the Pawnee banked into a turn to leave the pattern I realized I was going to h ave to match his bank perfectly to stay in trail If I banked too steeply I would cut inside his turn and if too shalshylow I would fly outside of the Pawnees arc This didnt present too much of a problem but I found that I was having trouble maintaining my vertical distance

As the Pawnee hit some lift I found I could anticishypate and thus maintain my relative vertical position But when the Pawnee encountered sink I often found myself flying right up into the prop wash and wake

turbulence of the lead airplane Gosh I hadnt had this much fun in an airplane in a long time

As we reached 2500 AGL Tom told me to pull the red knob in the center of the panel uOh no the big red one I thought As I pulled it the towrope that had been maintaining that perfect 200 feet between the Pawnee and us shot forward toward the towplane I guess if you hadnt figured it out yet I was on an aerotow in a glider As that towrope appeared to shoot

forward we banked to the right and the Pawnee executed a diving turn to

courtesy of the Valley Soaring Club based at the Randall Airport (06N) in

Middletown New York (wwwvalleysoaringorg) It was a 1967 Schweizer 2-33 glider one of the more common training gliders in use today

A client of mine and now a good friend Matt Blades is the VP of the club We had first met when he came to me to acquire his ASEL (airplane single-engine land) rating He then later came to me to get tailwheel transhysition training in my PA-12 He had always given me a standing offer to come to his club and experience the exhilaration and joy of flying a glider Thus I found myself eagerly headed to the Valley Soaring Club at Randall to pump some new excitement into my flyshying experience

I cannot recommend in strong enough terms my feelings that every power pilot should spend some time flying a glider There are so many things to be reshy

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

Lead Photo NC251M decorated with the Alaska Air1ines logo hauled up on shore at Lake Hood in about 1946 H it was in that year that would have been a brand new Aeronca Champ parked behind it

birthday and earned his private on his 17th in the familys newly acshyquired Stinson 108-I

In the spring of 1964 John was flying low and slow over the Willashymette Valley in standard Cub fashshyion when voila That looks like airshyp lane stuff down there Circling around he landed on a conven ient grass strip and confirmed that at some time the pile had been an airplane CuriOUS he went to t h e house and learned from Helen Poet the story of the Pacemakers remains Intrigued John returned later with his father and ultimately they bought everything for $150

At that time the Pikes intention was to keep the parts as a memento a piece of history a novelty But Chuck Rawson the airframe and enshygine mechanic from Mulino airport where John was instructing came to see the wreckage and after scrushytinizing it for some time said You guys should rebuild that and fly it Hmm The spark was kindled

How do you make a flying airshyplane out of a twisted tangle of steel tubes and a collection of splintered wood Well you start by eliminatshying everything that could never fly and try not to be discouraged with how little is left

The aft fuselage was determined to be one of the earthbound parts and it was discarded John correshysponded with August Bellanca Gishyuseppes son and received some asshySistance but on the ground he took a more pragmatic approach In Seshyattle there existed another Bellanca Pacemaker NC26E intact but not airworthy that was owned by Lloyd Rekow Lloyd like Clayton Scott (the two are friends) ran an aircraft modification business Foreign and Domestic Enterprises on nearby Boeing Field and is well known in the Grumman Goose community for his improvements to that type

NC251M on the Columbia River

Bellanca Pacemaker NC251M on the Oregon Coast

John made arrangements to visit the Pacemaker and calculated tube placement and dimensions by tapshying butcher paper to the fuselage and tracing the positions

John and his father then reshypaired the right wing and essenshytially scratch-built a new left one Because Bellanca Pacemaker landshying gear isnt generally carried even by Aircraft Spruce or Unishyvair Claude whittled it from BT-13 stock and fitted tundra tires Then came construction of new seats a new panel complete covering paint glass and the untold other details involved in a reconstrucshytion of this magnitude including the fabrication of dual controls

Next came a run-out PampW R-985 from a duster and it was overshyhauled with help from AampP-IA Cliff Krum neighbor and good friend

of George Bogardus the promi shynent Oregon outlaw who illegally flew his homebuilt to Wash ington DC after World War II in an effort to prove the viability of amateurshybuilt aircraft After 15 years of partshytime but tedious hard labor the old bird was looking more an d more like something that could return to the skies

Bellanca Pacemaker Seria l No 154 experienced a rebirth on sunny April 27 1980 when John with no previous dual in type took off from the Pikes private grass st rip near Oregon City witnessed by a large group of family members and other airplane enthusiasts (includshying me EAA 180885 VAA 10444) Everyone applauded but the apshyplause was overwhelmed by the conspicuous rumble of the Pratt amp Whitney Wasp Jr

VINTAGE A IRPLANE 21

Frank Barr (left) John Pike in the cockpit and his brother Ted (right)

Two of th e participants that day were fellow antique airplane restorers Stu Mitzel and his son partner Mark They flew in with an equally impressive restoration a Travel Air 4000 powered with a Wright 450-hp R-9 75-30

Another person in attendance was an AampP by the name of Harry 22 SEPTEMBER 2005

Day Harry had two connecshytions in this story First he did the rib stitching on the wings when the plane was rebu ilt by Bob Bohanan in 1961 and second as John Pike earned his AampP at Portshyland Community College Harry was head of the airshycraft program Harry took a ride in the Pacemaker

But more was to come In the mid 1940s when NC251M was flying nonscheduled for Alaska Airlines the logs showed that acclaimed bush pilot Frank Barr frequently flew it Frank came to Alaska as a 29-year-old aviator in 1932 and spent the next 16 years as an itinerant flier of the old school he never beshycame IFR rated although he made frequent flights u nshy

der IFR conditions For five years he flew the weekly l200-mile Kuskokwim River mail run for legendary pioshy

neer pilot Harold Gillam In 1980 Frank was retired and

living in Grants Pass Oregon John contacted him with an invitation to attend the celebration and he accepted After Frank had been around the patch in the Bellanca an attentive audience gathered unshy

der the wings to hear of his experiences which included the Alaska method for loading freight in a Pacemaker

The preliminary task was to crank down the pilots-side window Then you piled in the payload starting at the right-side firewall Items were stacked to above t he windscreen and then at ceiling height clear back to the rear bulkhead Loading conshytinued until you either ran out of cargo or there was no more room with only casual thought

to weight and balance Then you crawled into the cockpit through the open window and took off

Frank said he damaged the Paceshymaker only one time He was sent on a rush trip to a hillside landing strip newly built to serve a mine He neglected to drag the site before landing and realized on a short straight-in final that it sported a sigshynificant down slope He flared and flared and flared but the ground deshyscended as rapidly as the plane did With trees ahead and no opportushynity for a go-around he slammed it on and ploughed into the brush bending the prop Considering his job security he was relieved when the company wrote it up as an accishydent but Frank said Being stupid is no accident

What a day April 27 was The Pacemaker the Travel Air 4000 and Frank Barr Three icons in one aftershynoon was almost too much

In 1980 John his father and his brother Ted flew the Pacemaker to Washington DC Dallas Texas and then back to Oregon in supshyport of the National Day of Prayer

In 1981 John constructed a belly pod and painted the Bellanca as Miss Veedol and was center stage in Wenatchee for the 50th anniversary of Pangborn and Herndons recordshybreaking flight from Japan in 1931

In 1990 John purchased from Kenmore Air a pair of damaged Edo 6470 floats that had originally been on a Noorduyn Norseman They were stored in Kenmores yard when a drunk driver came off the hill smashed through the cyclone fence and crumpled them Supplied with aluminum sheet and a barrel of rivshyets John rebuilt them and considershying their gargantuan size mounted the plane on the floats (rather than the floats on the plane)

What is it like to fly a 75-yearshyold Bellanca Pacemaker For startshyers John notes the plane is noseshyheavy and in fact it is placarded for the single passenger to sit in the rear seat in wheel configuration and for 100 pounds of ballast in the bagshygage compartment when solo on floats Perhaps a contributing facshytor to this balance is that the PampW R-985 is 103 pounds heavier than the original Wright J-6-9 This reshyquires an inordinate nose-high atshytitude at touchdown which virtushyally precludes a greased-on landing even by John who can three-point a C-180 with never a quiver He refers to Pacemaker landings as arrivals

Stick forces are high There are no flaps and the stall occurs at 55 mph John flies 80 mph on final and 70 over the fence He reports there is a delicate balance between sink and float and a little power on final renders a more consistent glidepath With the nose high a slip is mandatory for visibility A locking tail wheel contributes to a straight rollout

The Pacemakers load-carrying capability is legendary and Alan Hauan from Wilderness Airlines states that NC251M could routinely outhaul a Beaver This is reflected in a ground run with medium load being a tidy 600 feet Landing roll is 1200 to 1500 feet Empty weight is 2900 pounds and gross is 4880

Takeoff is at 2350 rpm with 37 inches of manifold pressure Cruise is 1850 rpm 28 inches 110 mph and 25 gph The factory pubshylished the top speed as 160 mph at 10000 feet which John considers

Clayton Scott after four hours of dual instruction soloed a Waco 9 three

months before Lindbergh made his flight to Paris He was station manager for

Vern Corsts Pacific Air Transport (first airmail service from Seattle to los Angeshy

les March 8 1926) at Pearson Field in Vancouver Washington before Portlands

Swan Island Airport opened In 1928 he was a pilot for Seattle Flying Service sitshy

uated at the old sand lot on Marginal Way Then it was Corst Air Transport and

Seattle-Bremerton Air Ferry where he won a new Oldsmobile for flying a record

number of passengers to and from the US naval base

In 1929 he flew a loening amphibian from New York to Seattle in 19 hours and

35 minutes and then spent the next two years in Alaska flying the loening and a

Boeing 204 A flying boat where he was a colleague of Shutte and Kay In the fall of

1933 he began flying Boeing 247s from Portland to Salt lake for United Airlines

and in 1934 he became Bill Boeings personal pilot flying him all over Alaska in

Boeings 204 and a Douglas Dolphin

later came a rare Douglas DC-5 (high-winged and tricycle-geared) that kept

Boeing in touch with his traveling racehorses In 1941 Clayton became a producshy

tion test pilot for Boeing and flew everything in its inventory up through 727s He

has flown more B-l7s than any other person

Clayton Scott retired in 1966 Retired Not a chance he just moved full time to

his previously established Jobmaster Co where float installations are engineered

and certificated for a wide variety of planes including Piper Aztecs and Cessna

195s He also built a replica of Bill Boeings first airplane the BampW (Boeing amp

Westervelt) which is now in the Museum of Flight in Seattle Oh yes he casually

acknowledges that for a number of years he owned the type certificate for the

Howard DCA-IS which he recently sold to the Howard Foundation

This remarkable pilot engineer mechanic and entrepreneur has been continuo

ously employed in the aircraft industry for 77 years and with all of his ratings inshy

tact regularly flies his Cessna 195 on floats

I asked Clayton what airplane was the most gratifying to fly and without hesitashy

tion he said The B-52 Lightly loaded and with a minimum of fuel we would take

off from Seattle and arc over the Cascade Mountains to land at Moses lake Air

Force Base and deliver them to the military The twinkle in his eye underscored

the delight of those flights

wildly optimistic thunders right below the window Despite its idiosyncrasies on and the sights sounds smells and

wheels the Pacemaker on floats is vibrations that assault the senses another story In this configuration combined with sitting in the soul John describes it as a big gentle of this historic airplane make it J-3 The Edo 6470s are a bit overshy difficult to decide whether youll size and in crosswinds the plane grin or cry tends to skate sideways For 21 years John flew the Belshy

In addition to the facts and figshy lanca In the fall of 2000 another toshyures for someone who stands in tal refurbish was in order After a comshyreverence of 1920s and 30s airshy plete disassembly he built two comshycraft flying in the Pacemaker is an pletely new wings but then discovshyawesome experience As it comes ered terminal corrosion in the original on the step the big R-985 exhaust cabin section of the fuselage

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

A beautiful day is not complete unless it is seen from the inside of a cockpit The Vintage Aircraft Association is providing you with the opportunity to bring the magic of flight to your home office or hangar Take flight with the 2006 VAA Calendar Free Skies Forever

The gorgeous 17 x 11-inch full-color wall calendar is the perfect gift for yourself or your favorite pilot Each month contains the amazing photography from the Vintage Aircraft Association and captures the spirit of flight

As a commemoration to the great aviators before us the VAA 2006 Calendar Free Skies Forever contains great feats in aviation printed on the exact date of occurrence Dont let this opportunity fly past you Order your 2006 VAA Free Skies Forever Calendar by September 30 2005 Calendars will ship in November for Christmas arrival

Or to order by mail send your checkmoney order to Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar do Turner Publishing Company bull PO Box 3101 bull Paducah KY 42002-3101

o Please enter my order for __ copies of the Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar - only $1595 Your Name

OShippingiHandling add $395 for each calendar Address

o Kentucky residents add 6 sales tax City State Zip

TOTAL ENCLOSED $______

For Office Use Only - VAA2006-AmiddotGW

Ck Arnount

Telephone

E-mail address (for order confirmation)

BY HG FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE tOMES TO US FROM THE EAA LIBRARYS GARNER P EMMERSON COLLECTION WEVE GOT A NUMBER OF PHOTOS

IN THAT ALBUM THAT MAKE GREAT MYSTERY PLANES

Send your answer to EAA Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Your answer needs to be in no later than October 10 for inclusion in the December 2005 issue of Vintage Airplane

You can also send your response via e-mail Send your answer to mysteryplaneeaa org Be sure to include your name city and state in the body of your note and put 1 (Month) Mystery Plane in the subject line

JUNE S MYSTERY ANSWER

The June Mystery Plane also from the Emerson Collection elicited only a pair of letters the first from Wayne Van Valkenburgh who thought it might be an Aeromarine Model 40F and the second from Thomas Lymshyburn Princeton Minnesota At first

Thomas thought it might be the Curshytiss F flying boat but not everything matched Heres what he wrote

So lets check John Andrades US Military Aircraft Designations and Seshyrials Since 1909 Hmm if the numshyber on the side in your photo is 5256

(It is-Ed) then its not a Curtiss Anshydrade lists 5256 as a 1917 Alexandria 10 flying boat trainer (serials A-5247 to A-5256) It gives no other data II

According to the penned caption included in the Emerson album it is indeed an Alexandria A second closer photograph of the seaplane is shown on this page The man standing in the cockpit is Garner Emerson s fashyther Edwin B Emerson The Alexanshydria Airplane Co built other designs under license including the Briggs F flying boat (serial A3327 for examshyple) but we have no other informashytion on the company or the Mystery Plane itself Its possible that Thomas and Waynes guesses as to the origin of the Alexandria 10s design may be correct and the airplane is actually a modified license-built example of one of the Curtiss Fs with a Httle Aeromashyrine added to the mix Any additional information would be welcome

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Bucks 1990 column on propping is simply timeless Unfortunately on a regshyular basis we still hear ofpropping accishydents that occur During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 thanks to the generosity ofAUA Inc we ran a twice-daily seminar on the proper technique to use when propshyping an airplane Well show you more on that in the October issue For now lets all get a refresher from Buck on the gotchas that are out there when youre starting your vintage airplane -HGF

During the summer of 1940 when I was a line boy at the old Elmhurst Airshyport west of Chicago we were running in a newly overhauled engine In those days there was a regular schedule for break-in after the overhaul was comshypleted We ran them up at half-hour intervals at increasing rpm until finally after about four hours we brought them up to takeoff power Only then was it allowed to fly Quite a difference as compared with today Nowadays you just put the power to it and fly at full throttle for the first hour

Anyway there sits the Cub with the stick tied back and the engine runshyning at about 1000 rpm unattended doing its own break-in I hasten to add that this airplane did not belong to us Harbicon Airways would never do a thing like that (Now Ill tell you about a certain bridge you can buy)

Well this fellow is posing his girlfriend alongside our Porterfield PL-SO He has her standing by the door liquidly draped around the wing strut and hes trying to get her into the frame of that little camera Some of you remember those box cameras with the neat viewfinder on the top The trick was to put the subject squarely in the frame It reshy

26 SEPTEMBER 2005

E E BUCK HILBERT

Proper Behavior quired stooping over and shading the viewfinder with one hand while you backed up for the focal length You guessed it With all of us shoutin and hollerin he got a rapid lOOO-rpm spanking He never got the picture but Ill never forget that moment We all had a good laugh about it later but Spanky never lived it down For years afterward he would drop his pants to show people the result of his encounter It didnt read Sensenich or Flottorp either

I propped many airplanes as the years went by and made a study of propping Some engines were easy some were downright recalcitrant The easiest of the lot are the Kinners and R-98Ss such as on a BT-13 The Kinner will start every time with those Bendix mags throwin a spark an inch and a half You dont really prop the Kinner you just gingerly pull it past compression and get the heck out of the way Ive had them back up on me and catch from the wrong way when theyre too lean but theyll go on the next pull Again it takes extreme care to be absolutely sure it isnt hot

We were standing in the hangar one day working on a Ryan STA and a good friend of mine was supervisshying (like any good sidewalk superinshytendent) He was leaning up against the prop of my PT-22 but it wasnt quite comfortable enough for him so he went to repOSition the prop He turned it about 30 degrees the imshypulse snapped and there was Carl stretched to his full height his back against the STAs tail with my PT-22s 90-inch prop whisking his fly Fortushynately it only hit about four cylinshyders and then quit Wow I was up in

that cockpit and checking before Carl could even let out the breath he had been holding to make himself that skinny The switch was at idle cutoff and the fuel was off It turned out the airport owners kids had been playshying in the cockpit and fooling around with the switches The kid I think was responsible is now an aerobatic show pilot He still likes to fool around

A year or so after this one I was alone out front of the hangar at the same airport and I was going to take my two youngest kids for a ride in our Champ Id just gassed up and added a quart of oil and was ready to avishyate There wasnt anyone else within close range so I elected to prop it myshyself I had the two kids side-by-side on cushions in the back seat under one belt I put my right foot in front of the right tire and propped it seaplane style from behind It was between the prop and the door Just as I snapped it through I heard my daughter say Ill help you Daddy and she shoved the throttle forward It caught of course and there I was in a helluva predicashyment My right foot was the chock the door wont let me get to the throtshytle or the switch and the engine is turnin about 1700 rpm Im dancing around in a circle trying desperately not to lose it If I pull my foot out from in front of the wheel itll go for sure I cant get around the door and under the strut I cant grab and stop the prop at 1700 rpm without chopshyping my arm off and Im literally helpless About the second Im ready to give up and let it happen the front door of the office bursts open and one of the guys comes running out to cut the switch I would have kissed him

if I had the strength but all I could do was sit down and mumble my thanks-over and over again

Shortly after this one I was at the old Chicagoland Airport one day when a friend of mine who owned a T-6 had an experience He was parked between two rows of airplanes and decided to prop the Six The battery had died long ago and like most of us in the 1960s he couldnt afford to buy a new one He had been propping the plane for years so it should have been no problem This time though th rough a mismanaged mess-up it started and went to 1600 to 1700 rpm like right NOW Normally an R-985 or 1340 will fire mutter spang and gradually accelerate to idle so slowly you can leisurely walk around the wing crawl up to the cockpit and still have time for a Coke and a sandwich before it finally clears its throat Not this time It tore down the line and went through two airplanes before it wrapped itself up in one of those cast-iron Navions Paul himself

had quite a problem there You can imagine how much insurance he had since he couldnt even afford to buy a battery It took him several years to payoff the damages to the other airshyplanes and he trucked his T-6 home where it sat until he died

Same airport same scene- almost the same tiedown The STA had been flying for about four years Our trusty Red Ba loney is go ing to t ake h is niece up for a ride There was no one around so he put her in the front seat set up the engine controls told her to hold the brakes and started pulling through the prop About four blades and away it went It spurted right up to about 1700 rpm He dropped to the ground as the airplane rumbled over him and he grabbed one of the flying wires under the wing as it went by With him hanging on for dear life the Ryan did two 360s between the parked planes He was hollerin fo r his niece to turn it OFF but she misshyunderstood and further complicated matters by jumping out and getting

knocked down by the tail as it swung by About this time the engine quit beshycause he did something right He had turned off the fuel as Id taught him to do when he propped it himself Niece was bruised but the airplane and everyone else was okay-so what caused the problem He looked under the cowl and there was the fractured end of the throttle push-pull rod It broke from corrosion and wear right at the firewall Lesson You betcha Next time we tie the tail

We are learning One day I propped Bob Heuers Pitts when I saw him all alone Then he asked me to untie the tail A couple of months later I noshyticed that Bob Davis another aeroshybatic pilot had a tow hitch on his Pitts-Smith Whats he doing with a tow hitch Simple He sez I can prop it myself and then after I get in and all suited up and ready to go I just pull the release and Im free Lesson there are some real practical people in

the world ~ l Over to you cIACGshy

AERO CLASSIC COLLECTOR SERIES

Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vin tage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these ti res set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

500 x 5 600 x 6 700 x 8

Oesser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

~ TelePhone 800-247-8473 or

DESSER(~ 323-721-4900 FAX 323-721-7888

6900 Acco SI Montebello CA 90640 TI RE amp RUBBER COMPANY 3400 Chelsea Ave Memphis TN 38106

wwwdessercom

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

DOUG STEWART

Try it youll like it The takeoff on this formation flight was going to be

with a slight tailwind but the downhill slope of the grass runway would compensate a little bit We were taking off with the tailwind primarily because of the increased options we would have going in this direction in case anything went wrong Going the other way meant clearshying trees at the end of the runway and then nothing but a busy highway beyond the trees As long as the wind didnt increase there should be no problems

I was surprised at how quickly we were up off the bumpy runway and flying in ground effect especialJy with I cannot the left to head down and tow yet an-two of us on board This time rather recommend in other glider back up into the sky Now than sitting in the back as the instruc- the fun was about to start in earnest tor I was sitting in front and Tom strong enough This was not my first time in a Decker was sitting in the back coach- bull glider My first glider flight had been ing me It felt really refreshing to be terms my feelIngs about 50 years ago (In fact that flight receiving instr~cti~n for a change that every power had been the first time in my life that rather than offenng It there had been more than a few feet

Because we had become airborne pilot should between my posterior and the earth before the Piper Pawnee in front of bull and to this day I have not forgotten us we stayed in ground effect until spend some tIme it) I also got to fly in the same glider the Pawnee lifted off We then flew flying a glider I was now flying about two years ago through the turbulence behind the Pawnee and settled in for the climb staying exactly 200 feet behind it Tom instructed me to aim just a little below the Pawnees tail He told me that if the Pawnee turned I should aim the nose of my aircraft toward the outer wingtip of the Pawnee

A big smile was spreading across my face as I settled in for the challenge As the Pawnee banked into a turn to leave the pattern I realized I was going to h ave to match his bank perfectly to stay in trail If I banked too steeply I would cut inside his turn and if too shalshylow I would fly outside of the Pawnees arc This didnt present too much of a problem but I found that I was having trouble maintaining my vertical distance

As the Pawnee hit some lift I found I could anticishypate and thus maintain my relative vertical position But when the Pawnee encountered sink I often found myself flying right up into the prop wash and wake

turbulence of the lead airplane Gosh I hadnt had this much fun in an airplane in a long time

As we reached 2500 AGL Tom told me to pull the red knob in the center of the panel uOh no the big red one I thought As I pulled it the towrope that had been maintaining that perfect 200 feet between the Pawnee and us shot forward toward the towplane I guess if you hadnt figured it out yet I was on an aerotow in a glider As that towrope appeared to shoot

forward we banked to the right and the Pawnee executed a diving turn to

courtesy of the Valley Soaring Club based at the Randall Airport (06N) in

Middletown New York (wwwvalleysoaringorg) It was a 1967 Schweizer 2-33 glider one of the more common training gliders in use today

A client of mine and now a good friend Matt Blades is the VP of the club We had first met when he came to me to acquire his ASEL (airplane single-engine land) rating He then later came to me to get tailwheel transhysition training in my PA-12 He had always given me a standing offer to come to his club and experience the exhilaration and joy of flying a glider Thus I found myself eagerly headed to the Valley Soaring Club at Randall to pump some new excitement into my flyshying experience

I cannot recommend in strong enough terms my feelings that every power pilot should spend some time flying a glider There are so many things to be reshy

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

Frank Barr (left) John Pike in the cockpit and his brother Ted (right)

Two of th e participants that day were fellow antique airplane restorers Stu Mitzel and his son partner Mark They flew in with an equally impressive restoration a Travel Air 4000 powered with a Wright 450-hp R-9 75-30

Another person in attendance was an AampP by the name of Harry 22 SEPTEMBER 2005

Day Harry had two connecshytions in this story First he did the rib stitching on the wings when the plane was rebu ilt by Bob Bohanan in 1961 and second as John Pike earned his AampP at Portshyland Community College Harry was head of the airshycraft program Harry took a ride in the Pacemaker

But more was to come In the mid 1940s when NC251M was flying nonscheduled for Alaska Airlines the logs showed that acclaimed bush pilot Frank Barr frequently flew it Frank came to Alaska as a 29-year-old aviator in 1932 and spent the next 16 years as an itinerant flier of the old school he never beshycame IFR rated although he made frequent flights u nshy

der IFR conditions For five years he flew the weekly l200-mile Kuskokwim River mail run for legendary pioshy

neer pilot Harold Gillam In 1980 Frank was retired and

living in Grants Pass Oregon John contacted him with an invitation to attend the celebration and he accepted After Frank had been around the patch in the Bellanca an attentive audience gathered unshy

der the wings to hear of his experiences which included the Alaska method for loading freight in a Pacemaker

The preliminary task was to crank down the pilots-side window Then you piled in the payload starting at the right-side firewall Items were stacked to above t he windscreen and then at ceiling height clear back to the rear bulkhead Loading conshytinued until you either ran out of cargo or there was no more room with only casual thought

to weight and balance Then you crawled into the cockpit through the open window and took off

Frank said he damaged the Paceshymaker only one time He was sent on a rush trip to a hillside landing strip newly built to serve a mine He neglected to drag the site before landing and realized on a short straight-in final that it sported a sigshynificant down slope He flared and flared and flared but the ground deshyscended as rapidly as the plane did With trees ahead and no opportushynity for a go-around he slammed it on and ploughed into the brush bending the prop Considering his job security he was relieved when the company wrote it up as an accishydent but Frank said Being stupid is no accident

What a day April 27 was The Pacemaker the Travel Air 4000 and Frank Barr Three icons in one aftershynoon was almost too much

In 1980 John his father and his brother Ted flew the Pacemaker to Washington DC Dallas Texas and then back to Oregon in supshyport of the National Day of Prayer

In 1981 John constructed a belly pod and painted the Bellanca as Miss Veedol and was center stage in Wenatchee for the 50th anniversary of Pangborn and Herndons recordshybreaking flight from Japan in 1931

In 1990 John purchased from Kenmore Air a pair of damaged Edo 6470 floats that had originally been on a Noorduyn Norseman They were stored in Kenmores yard when a drunk driver came off the hill smashed through the cyclone fence and crumpled them Supplied with aluminum sheet and a barrel of rivshyets John rebuilt them and considershying their gargantuan size mounted the plane on the floats (rather than the floats on the plane)

What is it like to fly a 75-yearshyold Bellanca Pacemaker For startshyers John notes the plane is noseshyheavy and in fact it is placarded for the single passenger to sit in the rear seat in wheel configuration and for 100 pounds of ballast in the bagshygage compartment when solo on floats Perhaps a contributing facshytor to this balance is that the PampW R-985 is 103 pounds heavier than the original Wright J-6-9 This reshyquires an inordinate nose-high atshytitude at touchdown which virtushyally precludes a greased-on landing even by John who can three-point a C-180 with never a quiver He refers to Pacemaker landings as arrivals

Stick forces are high There are no flaps and the stall occurs at 55 mph John flies 80 mph on final and 70 over the fence He reports there is a delicate balance between sink and float and a little power on final renders a more consistent glidepath With the nose high a slip is mandatory for visibility A locking tail wheel contributes to a straight rollout

The Pacemakers load-carrying capability is legendary and Alan Hauan from Wilderness Airlines states that NC251M could routinely outhaul a Beaver This is reflected in a ground run with medium load being a tidy 600 feet Landing roll is 1200 to 1500 feet Empty weight is 2900 pounds and gross is 4880

Takeoff is at 2350 rpm with 37 inches of manifold pressure Cruise is 1850 rpm 28 inches 110 mph and 25 gph The factory pubshylished the top speed as 160 mph at 10000 feet which John considers

Clayton Scott after four hours of dual instruction soloed a Waco 9 three

months before Lindbergh made his flight to Paris He was station manager for

Vern Corsts Pacific Air Transport (first airmail service from Seattle to los Angeshy

les March 8 1926) at Pearson Field in Vancouver Washington before Portlands

Swan Island Airport opened In 1928 he was a pilot for Seattle Flying Service sitshy

uated at the old sand lot on Marginal Way Then it was Corst Air Transport and

Seattle-Bremerton Air Ferry where he won a new Oldsmobile for flying a record

number of passengers to and from the US naval base

In 1929 he flew a loening amphibian from New York to Seattle in 19 hours and

35 minutes and then spent the next two years in Alaska flying the loening and a

Boeing 204 A flying boat where he was a colleague of Shutte and Kay In the fall of

1933 he began flying Boeing 247s from Portland to Salt lake for United Airlines

and in 1934 he became Bill Boeings personal pilot flying him all over Alaska in

Boeings 204 and a Douglas Dolphin

later came a rare Douglas DC-5 (high-winged and tricycle-geared) that kept

Boeing in touch with his traveling racehorses In 1941 Clayton became a producshy

tion test pilot for Boeing and flew everything in its inventory up through 727s He

has flown more B-l7s than any other person

Clayton Scott retired in 1966 Retired Not a chance he just moved full time to

his previously established Jobmaster Co where float installations are engineered

and certificated for a wide variety of planes including Piper Aztecs and Cessna

195s He also built a replica of Bill Boeings first airplane the BampW (Boeing amp

Westervelt) which is now in the Museum of Flight in Seattle Oh yes he casually

acknowledges that for a number of years he owned the type certificate for the

Howard DCA-IS which he recently sold to the Howard Foundation

This remarkable pilot engineer mechanic and entrepreneur has been continuo

ously employed in the aircraft industry for 77 years and with all of his ratings inshy

tact regularly flies his Cessna 195 on floats

I asked Clayton what airplane was the most gratifying to fly and without hesitashy

tion he said The B-52 Lightly loaded and with a minimum of fuel we would take

off from Seattle and arc over the Cascade Mountains to land at Moses lake Air

Force Base and deliver them to the military The twinkle in his eye underscored

the delight of those flights

wildly optimistic thunders right below the window Despite its idiosyncrasies on and the sights sounds smells and

wheels the Pacemaker on floats is vibrations that assault the senses another story In this configuration combined with sitting in the soul John describes it as a big gentle of this historic airplane make it J-3 The Edo 6470s are a bit overshy difficult to decide whether youll size and in crosswinds the plane grin or cry tends to skate sideways For 21 years John flew the Belshy

In addition to the facts and figshy lanca In the fall of 2000 another toshyures for someone who stands in tal refurbish was in order After a comshyreverence of 1920s and 30s airshy plete disassembly he built two comshycraft flying in the Pacemaker is an pletely new wings but then discovshyawesome experience As it comes ered terminal corrosion in the original on the step the big R-985 exhaust cabin section of the fuselage

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

A beautiful day is not complete unless it is seen from the inside of a cockpit The Vintage Aircraft Association is providing you with the opportunity to bring the magic of flight to your home office or hangar Take flight with the 2006 VAA Calendar Free Skies Forever

The gorgeous 17 x 11-inch full-color wall calendar is the perfect gift for yourself or your favorite pilot Each month contains the amazing photography from the Vintage Aircraft Association and captures the spirit of flight

As a commemoration to the great aviators before us the VAA 2006 Calendar Free Skies Forever contains great feats in aviation printed on the exact date of occurrence Dont let this opportunity fly past you Order your 2006 VAA Free Skies Forever Calendar by September 30 2005 Calendars will ship in November for Christmas arrival

Or to order by mail send your checkmoney order to Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar do Turner Publishing Company bull PO Box 3101 bull Paducah KY 42002-3101

o Please enter my order for __ copies of the Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar - only $1595 Your Name

OShippingiHandling add $395 for each calendar Address

o Kentucky residents add 6 sales tax City State Zip

TOTAL ENCLOSED $______

For Office Use Only - VAA2006-AmiddotGW

Ck Arnount

Telephone

E-mail address (for order confirmation)

BY HG FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE tOMES TO US FROM THE EAA LIBRARYS GARNER P EMMERSON COLLECTION WEVE GOT A NUMBER OF PHOTOS

IN THAT ALBUM THAT MAKE GREAT MYSTERY PLANES

Send your answer to EAA Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Your answer needs to be in no later than October 10 for inclusion in the December 2005 issue of Vintage Airplane

You can also send your response via e-mail Send your answer to mysteryplaneeaa org Be sure to include your name city and state in the body of your note and put 1 (Month) Mystery Plane in the subject line

JUNE S MYSTERY ANSWER

The June Mystery Plane also from the Emerson Collection elicited only a pair of letters the first from Wayne Van Valkenburgh who thought it might be an Aeromarine Model 40F and the second from Thomas Lymshyburn Princeton Minnesota At first

Thomas thought it might be the Curshytiss F flying boat but not everything matched Heres what he wrote

So lets check John Andrades US Military Aircraft Designations and Seshyrials Since 1909 Hmm if the numshyber on the side in your photo is 5256

(It is-Ed) then its not a Curtiss Anshydrade lists 5256 as a 1917 Alexandria 10 flying boat trainer (serials A-5247 to A-5256) It gives no other data II

According to the penned caption included in the Emerson album it is indeed an Alexandria A second closer photograph of the seaplane is shown on this page The man standing in the cockpit is Garner Emerson s fashyther Edwin B Emerson The Alexanshydria Airplane Co built other designs under license including the Briggs F flying boat (serial A3327 for examshyple) but we have no other informashytion on the company or the Mystery Plane itself Its possible that Thomas and Waynes guesses as to the origin of the Alexandria 10s design may be correct and the airplane is actually a modified license-built example of one of the Curtiss Fs with a Httle Aeromashyrine added to the mix Any additional information would be welcome

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Bucks 1990 column on propping is simply timeless Unfortunately on a regshyular basis we still hear ofpropping accishydents that occur During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 thanks to the generosity ofAUA Inc we ran a twice-daily seminar on the proper technique to use when propshyping an airplane Well show you more on that in the October issue For now lets all get a refresher from Buck on the gotchas that are out there when youre starting your vintage airplane -HGF

During the summer of 1940 when I was a line boy at the old Elmhurst Airshyport west of Chicago we were running in a newly overhauled engine In those days there was a regular schedule for break-in after the overhaul was comshypleted We ran them up at half-hour intervals at increasing rpm until finally after about four hours we brought them up to takeoff power Only then was it allowed to fly Quite a difference as compared with today Nowadays you just put the power to it and fly at full throttle for the first hour

Anyway there sits the Cub with the stick tied back and the engine runshyning at about 1000 rpm unattended doing its own break-in I hasten to add that this airplane did not belong to us Harbicon Airways would never do a thing like that (Now Ill tell you about a certain bridge you can buy)

Well this fellow is posing his girlfriend alongside our Porterfield PL-SO He has her standing by the door liquidly draped around the wing strut and hes trying to get her into the frame of that little camera Some of you remember those box cameras with the neat viewfinder on the top The trick was to put the subject squarely in the frame It reshy

26 SEPTEMBER 2005

E E BUCK HILBERT

Proper Behavior quired stooping over and shading the viewfinder with one hand while you backed up for the focal length You guessed it With all of us shoutin and hollerin he got a rapid lOOO-rpm spanking He never got the picture but Ill never forget that moment We all had a good laugh about it later but Spanky never lived it down For years afterward he would drop his pants to show people the result of his encounter It didnt read Sensenich or Flottorp either

I propped many airplanes as the years went by and made a study of propping Some engines were easy some were downright recalcitrant The easiest of the lot are the Kinners and R-98Ss such as on a BT-13 The Kinner will start every time with those Bendix mags throwin a spark an inch and a half You dont really prop the Kinner you just gingerly pull it past compression and get the heck out of the way Ive had them back up on me and catch from the wrong way when theyre too lean but theyll go on the next pull Again it takes extreme care to be absolutely sure it isnt hot

We were standing in the hangar one day working on a Ryan STA and a good friend of mine was supervisshying (like any good sidewalk superinshytendent) He was leaning up against the prop of my PT-22 but it wasnt quite comfortable enough for him so he went to repOSition the prop He turned it about 30 degrees the imshypulse snapped and there was Carl stretched to his full height his back against the STAs tail with my PT-22s 90-inch prop whisking his fly Fortushynately it only hit about four cylinshyders and then quit Wow I was up in

that cockpit and checking before Carl could even let out the breath he had been holding to make himself that skinny The switch was at idle cutoff and the fuel was off It turned out the airport owners kids had been playshying in the cockpit and fooling around with the switches The kid I think was responsible is now an aerobatic show pilot He still likes to fool around

A year or so after this one I was alone out front of the hangar at the same airport and I was going to take my two youngest kids for a ride in our Champ Id just gassed up and added a quart of oil and was ready to avishyate There wasnt anyone else within close range so I elected to prop it myshyself I had the two kids side-by-side on cushions in the back seat under one belt I put my right foot in front of the right tire and propped it seaplane style from behind It was between the prop and the door Just as I snapped it through I heard my daughter say Ill help you Daddy and she shoved the throttle forward It caught of course and there I was in a helluva predicashyment My right foot was the chock the door wont let me get to the throtshytle or the switch and the engine is turnin about 1700 rpm Im dancing around in a circle trying desperately not to lose it If I pull my foot out from in front of the wheel itll go for sure I cant get around the door and under the strut I cant grab and stop the prop at 1700 rpm without chopshyping my arm off and Im literally helpless About the second Im ready to give up and let it happen the front door of the office bursts open and one of the guys comes running out to cut the switch I would have kissed him

if I had the strength but all I could do was sit down and mumble my thanks-over and over again

Shortly after this one I was at the old Chicagoland Airport one day when a friend of mine who owned a T-6 had an experience He was parked between two rows of airplanes and decided to prop the Six The battery had died long ago and like most of us in the 1960s he couldnt afford to buy a new one He had been propping the plane for years so it should have been no problem This time though th rough a mismanaged mess-up it started and went to 1600 to 1700 rpm like right NOW Normally an R-985 or 1340 will fire mutter spang and gradually accelerate to idle so slowly you can leisurely walk around the wing crawl up to the cockpit and still have time for a Coke and a sandwich before it finally clears its throat Not this time It tore down the line and went through two airplanes before it wrapped itself up in one of those cast-iron Navions Paul himself

had quite a problem there You can imagine how much insurance he had since he couldnt even afford to buy a battery It took him several years to payoff the damages to the other airshyplanes and he trucked his T-6 home where it sat until he died

Same airport same scene- almost the same tiedown The STA had been flying for about four years Our trusty Red Ba loney is go ing to t ake h is niece up for a ride There was no one around so he put her in the front seat set up the engine controls told her to hold the brakes and started pulling through the prop About four blades and away it went It spurted right up to about 1700 rpm He dropped to the ground as the airplane rumbled over him and he grabbed one of the flying wires under the wing as it went by With him hanging on for dear life the Ryan did two 360s between the parked planes He was hollerin fo r his niece to turn it OFF but she misshyunderstood and further complicated matters by jumping out and getting

knocked down by the tail as it swung by About this time the engine quit beshycause he did something right He had turned off the fuel as Id taught him to do when he propped it himself Niece was bruised but the airplane and everyone else was okay-so what caused the problem He looked under the cowl and there was the fractured end of the throttle push-pull rod It broke from corrosion and wear right at the firewall Lesson You betcha Next time we tie the tail

We are learning One day I propped Bob Heuers Pitts when I saw him all alone Then he asked me to untie the tail A couple of months later I noshyticed that Bob Davis another aeroshybatic pilot had a tow hitch on his Pitts-Smith Whats he doing with a tow hitch Simple He sez I can prop it myself and then after I get in and all suited up and ready to go I just pull the release and Im free Lesson there are some real practical people in

the world ~ l Over to you cIACGshy

AERO CLASSIC COLLECTOR SERIES

Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vin tage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these ti res set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

500 x 5 600 x 6 700 x 8

Oesser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

~ TelePhone 800-247-8473 or

DESSER(~ 323-721-4900 FAX 323-721-7888

6900 Acco SI Montebello CA 90640 TI RE amp RUBBER COMPANY 3400 Chelsea Ave Memphis TN 38106

wwwdessercom

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

DOUG STEWART

Try it youll like it The takeoff on this formation flight was going to be

with a slight tailwind but the downhill slope of the grass runway would compensate a little bit We were taking off with the tailwind primarily because of the increased options we would have going in this direction in case anything went wrong Going the other way meant clearshying trees at the end of the runway and then nothing but a busy highway beyond the trees As long as the wind didnt increase there should be no problems

I was surprised at how quickly we were up off the bumpy runway and flying in ground effect especialJy with I cannot the left to head down and tow yet an-two of us on board This time rather recommend in other glider back up into the sky Now than sitting in the back as the instruc- the fun was about to start in earnest tor I was sitting in front and Tom strong enough This was not my first time in a Decker was sitting in the back coach- bull glider My first glider flight had been ing me It felt really refreshing to be terms my feelIngs about 50 years ago (In fact that flight receiving instr~cti~n for a change that every power had been the first time in my life that rather than offenng It there had been more than a few feet

Because we had become airborne pilot should between my posterior and the earth before the Piper Pawnee in front of bull and to this day I have not forgotten us we stayed in ground effect until spend some tIme it) I also got to fly in the same glider the Pawnee lifted off We then flew flying a glider I was now flying about two years ago through the turbulence behind the Pawnee and settled in for the climb staying exactly 200 feet behind it Tom instructed me to aim just a little below the Pawnees tail He told me that if the Pawnee turned I should aim the nose of my aircraft toward the outer wingtip of the Pawnee

A big smile was spreading across my face as I settled in for the challenge As the Pawnee banked into a turn to leave the pattern I realized I was going to h ave to match his bank perfectly to stay in trail If I banked too steeply I would cut inside his turn and if too shalshylow I would fly outside of the Pawnees arc This didnt present too much of a problem but I found that I was having trouble maintaining my vertical distance

As the Pawnee hit some lift I found I could anticishypate and thus maintain my relative vertical position But when the Pawnee encountered sink I often found myself flying right up into the prop wash and wake

turbulence of the lead airplane Gosh I hadnt had this much fun in an airplane in a long time

As we reached 2500 AGL Tom told me to pull the red knob in the center of the panel uOh no the big red one I thought As I pulled it the towrope that had been maintaining that perfect 200 feet between the Pawnee and us shot forward toward the towplane I guess if you hadnt figured it out yet I was on an aerotow in a glider As that towrope appeared to shoot

forward we banked to the right and the Pawnee executed a diving turn to

courtesy of the Valley Soaring Club based at the Randall Airport (06N) in

Middletown New York (wwwvalleysoaringorg) It was a 1967 Schweizer 2-33 glider one of the more common training gliders in use today

A client of mine and now a good friend Matt Blades is the VP of the club We had first met when he came to me to acquire his ASEL (airplane single-engine land) rating He then later came to me to get tailwheel transhysition training in my PA-12 He had always given me a standing offer to come to his club and experience the exhilaration and joy of flying a glider Thus I found myself eagerly headed to the Valley Soaring Club at Randall to pump some new excitement into my flyshying experience

I cannot recommend in strong enough terms my feelings that every power pilot should spend some time flying a glider There are so many things to be reshy

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

In 1990 John purchased from Kenmore Air a pair of damaged Edo 6470 floats that had originally been on a Noorduyn Norseman They were stored in Kenmores yard when a drunk driver came off the hill smashed through the cyclone fence and crumpled them Supplied with aluminum sheet and a barrel of rivshyets John rebuilt them and considershying their gargantuan size mounted the plane on the floats (rather than the floats on the plane)

What is it like to fly a 75-yearshyold Bellanca Pacemaker For startshyers John notes the plane is noseshyheavy and in fact it is placarded for the single passenger to sit in the rear seat in wheel configuration and for 100 pounds of ballast in the bagshygage compartment when solo on floats Perhaps a contributing facshytor to this balance is that the PampW R-985 is 103 pounds heavier than the original Wright J-6-9 This reshyquires an inordinate nose-high atshytitude at touchdown which virtushyally precludes a greased-on landing even by John who can three-point a C-180 with never a quiver He refers to Pacemaker landings as arrivals

Stick forces are high There are no flaps and the stall occurs at 55 mph John flies 80 mph on final and 70 over the fence He reports there is a delicate balance between sink and float and a little power on final renders a more consistent glidepath With the nose high a slip is mandatory for visibility A locking tail wheel contributes to a straight rollout

The Pacemakers load-carrying capability is legendary and Alan Hauan from Wilderness Airlines states that NC251M could routinely outhaul a Beaver This is reflected in a ground run with medium load being a tidy 600 feet Landing roll is 1200 to 1500 feet Empty weight is 2900 pounds and gross is 4880

Takeoff is at 2350 rpm with 37 inches of manifold pressure Cruise is 1850 rpm 28 inches 110 mph and 25 gph The factory pubshylished the top speed as 160 mph at 10000 feet which John considers

Clayton Scott after four hours of dual instruction soloed a Waco 9 three

months before Lindbergh made his flight to Paris He was station manager for

Vern Corsts Pacific Air Transport (first airmail service from Seattle to los Angeshy

les March 8 1926) at Pearson Field in Vancouver Washington before Portlands

Swan Island Airport opened In 1928 he was a pilot for Seattle Flying Service sitshy

uated at the old sand lot on Marginal Way Then it was Corst Air Transport and

Seattle-Bremerton Air Ferry where he won a new Oldsmobile for flying a record

number of passengers to and from the US naval base

In 1929 he flew a loening amphibian from New York to Seattle in 19 hours and

35 minutes and then spent the next two years in Alaska flying the loening and a

Boeing 204 A flying boat where he was a colleague of Shutte and Kay In the fall of

1933 he began flying Boeing 247s from Portland to Salt lake for United Airlines

and in 1934 he became Bill Boeings personal pilot flying him all over Alaska in

Boeings 204 and a Douglas Dolphin

later came a rare Douglas DC-5 (high-winged and tricycle-geared) that kept

Boeing in touch with his traveling racehorses In 1941 Clayton became a producshy

tion test pilot for Boeing and flew everything in its inventory up through 727s He

has flown more B-l7s than any other person

Clayton Scott retired in 1966 Retired Not a chance he just moved full time to

his previously established Jobmaster Co where float installations are engineered

and certificated for a wide variety of planes including Piper Aztecs and Cessna

195s He also built a replica of Bill Boeings first airplane the BampW (Boeing amp

Westervelt) which is now in the Museum of Flight in Seattle Oh yes he casually

acknowledges that for a number of years he owned the type certificate for the

Howard DCA-IS which he recently sold to the Howard Foundation

This remarkable pilot engineer mechanic and entrepreneur has been continuo

ously employed in the aircraft industry for 77 years and with all of his ratings inshy

tact regularly flies his Cessna 195 on floats

I asked Clayton what airplane was the most gratifying to fly and without hesitashy

tion he said The B-52 Lightly loaded and with a minimum of fuel we would take

off from Seattle and arc over the Cascade Mountains to land at Moses lake Air

Force Base and deliver them to the military The twinkle in his eye underscored

the delight of those flights

wildly optimistic thunders right below the window Despite its idiosyncrasies on and the sights sounds smells and

wheels the Pacemaker on floats is vibrations that assault the senses another story In this configuration combined with sitting in the soul John describes it as a big gentle of this historic airplane make it J-3 The Edo 6470s are a bit overshy difficult to decide whether youll size and in crosswinds the plane grin or cry tends to skate sideways For 21 years John flew the Belshy

In addition to the facts and figshy lanca In the fall of 2000 another toshyures for someone who stands in tal refurbish was in order After a comshyreverence of 1920s and 30s airshy plete disassembly he built two comshycraft flying in the Pacemaker is an pletely new wings but then discovshyawesome experience As it comes ered terminal corrosion in the original on the step the big R-985 exhaust cabin section of the fuselage

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

A beautiful day is not complete unless it is seen from the inside of a cockpit The Vintage Aircraft Association is providing you with the opportunity to bring the magic of flight to your home office or hangar Take flight with the 2006 VAA Calendar Free Skies Forever

The gorgeous 17 x 11-inch full-color wall calendar is the perfect gift for yourself or your favorite pilot Each month contains the amazing photography from the Vintage Aircraft Association and captures the spirit of flight

As a commemoration to the great aviators before us the VAA 2006 Calendar Free Skies Forever contains great feats in aviation printed on the exact date of occurrence Dont let this opportunity fly past you Order your 2006 VAA Free Skies Forever Calendar by September 30 2005 Calendars will ship in November for Christmas arrival

Or to order by mail send your checkmoney order to Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar do Turner Publishing Company bull PO Box 3101 bull Paducah KY 42002-3101

o Please enter my order for __ copies of the Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar - only $1595 Your Name

OShippingiHandling add $395 for each calendar Address

o Kentucky residents add 6 sales tax City State Zip

TOTAL ENCLOSED $______

For Office Use Only - VAA2006-AmiddotGW

Ck Arnount

Telephone

E-mail address (for order confirmation)

BY HG FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE tOMES TO US FROM THE EAA LIBRARYS GARNER P EMMERSON COLLECTION WEVE GOT A NUMBER OF PHOTOS

IN THAT ALBUM THAT MAKE GREAT MYSTERY PLANES

Send your answer to EAA Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Your answer needs to be in no later than October 10 for inclusion in the December 2005 issue of Vintage Airplane

You can also send your response via e-mail Send your answer to mysteryplaneeaa org Be sure to include your name city and state in the body of your note and put 1 (Month) Mystery Plane in the subject line

JUNE S MYSTERY ANSWER

The June Mystery Plane also from the Emerson Collection elicited only a pair of letters the first from Wayne Van Valkenburgh who thought it might be an Aeromarine Model 40F and the second from Thomas Lymshyburn Princeton Minnesota At first

Thomas thought it might be the Curshytiss F flying boat but not everything matched Heres what he wrote

So lets check John Andrades US Military Aircraft Designations and Seshyrials Since 1909 Hmm if the numshyber on the side in your photo is 5256

(It is-Ed) then its not a Curtiss Anshydrade lists 5256 as a 1917 Alexandria 10 flying boat trainer (serials A-5247 to A-5256) It gives no other data II

According to the penned caption included in the Emerson album it is indeed an Alexandria A second closer photograph of the seaplane is shown on this page The man standing in the cockpit is Garner Emerson s fashyther Edwin B Emerson The Alexanshydria Airplane Co built other designs under license including the Briggs F flying boat (serial A3327 for examshyple) but we have no other informashytion on the company or the Mystery Plane itself Its possible that Thomas and Waynes guesses as to the origin of the Alexandria 10s design may be correct and the airplane is actually a modified license-built example of one of the Curtiss Fs with a Httle Aeromashyrine added to the mix Any additional information would be welcome

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Bucks 1990 column on propping is simply timeless Unfortunately on a regshyular basis we still hear ofpropping accishydents that occur During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 thanks to the generosity ofAUA Inc we ran a twice-daily seminar on the proper technique to use when propshyping an airplane Well show you more on that in the October issue For now lets all get a refresher from Buck on the gotchas that are out there when youre starting your vintage airplane -HGF

During the summer of 1940 when I was a line boy at the old Elmhurst Airshyport west of Chicago we were running in a newly overhauled engine In those days there was a regular schedule for break-in after the overhaul was comshypleted We ran them up at half-hour intervals at increasing rpm until finally after about four hours we brought them up to takeoff power Only then was it allowed to fly Quite a difference as compared with today Nowadays you just put the power to it and fly at full throttle for the first hour

Anyway there sits the Cub with the stick tied back and the engine runshyning at about 1000 rpm unattended doing its own break-in I hasten to add that this airplane did not belong to us Harbicon Airways would never do a thing like that (Now Ill tell you about a certain bridge you can buy)

Well this fellow is posing his girlfriend alongside our Porterfield PL-SO He has her standing by the door liquidly draped around the wing strut and hes trying to get her into the frame of that little camera Some of you remember those box cameras with the neat viewfinder on the top The trick was to put the subject squarely in the frame It reshy

26 SEPTEMBER 2005

E E BUCK HILBERT

Proper Behavior quired stooping over and shading the viewfinder with one hand while you backed up for the focal length You guessed it With all of us shoutin and hollerin he got a rapid lOOO-rpm spanking He never got the picture but Ill never forget that moment We all had a good laugh about it later but Spanky never lived it down For years afterward he would drop his pants to show people the result of his encounter It didnt read Sensenich or Flottorp either

I propped many airplanes as the years went by and made a study of propping Some engines were easy some were downright recalcitrant The easiest of the lot are the Kinners and R-98Ss such as on a BT-13 The Kinner will start every time with those Bendix mags throwin a spark an inch and a half You dont really prop the Kinner you just gingerly pull it past compression and get the heck out of the way Ive had them back up on me and catch from the wrong way when theyre too lean but theyll go on the next pull Again it takes extreme care to be absolutely sure it isnt hot

We were standing in the hangar one day working on a Ryan STA and a good friend of mine was supervisshying (like any good sidewalk superinshytendent) He was leaning up against the prop of my PT-22 but it wasnt quite comfortable enough for him so he went to repOSition the prop He turned it about 30 degrees the imshypulse snapped and there was Carl stretched to his full height his back against the STAs tail with my PT-22s 90-inch prop whisking his fly Fortushynately it only hit about four cylinshyders and then quit Wow I was up in

that cockpit and checking before Carl could even let out the breath he had been holding to make himself that skinny The switch was at idle cutoff and the fuel was off It turned out the airport owners kids had been playshying in the cockpit and fooling around with the switches The kid I think was responsible is now an aerobatic show pilot He still likes to fool around

A year or so after this one I was alone out front of the hangar at the same airport and I was going to take my two youngest kids for a ride in our Champ Id just gassed up and added a quart of oil and was ready to avishyate There wasnt anyone else within close range so I elected to prop it myshyself I had the two kids side-by-side on cushions in the back seat under one belt I put my right foot in front of the right tire and propped it seaplane style from behind It was between the prop and the door Just as I snapped it through I heard my daughter say Ill help you Daddy and she shoved the throttle forward It caught of course and there I was in a helluva predicashyment My right foot was the chock the door wont let me get to the throtshytle or the switch and the engine is turnin about 1700 rpm Im dancing around in a circle trying desperately not to lose it If I pull my foot out from in front of the wheel itll go for sure I cant get around the door and under the strut I cant grab and stop the prop at 1700 rpm without chopshyping my arm off and Im literally helpless About the second Im ready to give up and let it happen the front door of the office bursts open and one of the guys comes running out to cut the switch I would have kissed him

if I had the strength but all I could do was sit down and mumble my thanks-over and over again

Shortly after this one I was at the old Chicagoland Airport one day when a friend of mine who owned a T-6 had an experience He was parked between two rows of airplanes and decided to prop the Six The battery had died long ago and like most of us in the 1960s he couldnt afford to buy a new one He had been propping the plane for years so it should have been no problem This time though th rough a mismanaged mess-up it started and went to 1600 to 1700 rpm like right NOW Normally an R-985 or 1340 will fire mutter spang and gradually accelerate to idle so slowly you can leisurely walk around the wing crawl up to the cockpit and still have time for a Coke and a sandwich before it finally clears its throat Not this time It tore down the line and went through two airplanes before it wrapped itself up in one of those cast-iron Navions Paul himself

had quite a problem there You can imagine how much insurance he had since he couldnt even afford to buy a battery It took him several years to payoff the damages to the other airshyplanes and he trucked his T-6 home where it sat until he died

Same airport same scene- almost the same tiedown The STA had been flying for about four years Our trusty Red Ba loney is go ing to t ake h is niece up for a ride There was no one around so he put her in the front seat set up the engine controls told her to hold the brakes and started pulling through the prop About four blades and away it went It spurted right up to about 1700 rpm He dropped to the ground as the airplane rumbled over him and he grabbed one of the flying wires under the wing as it went by With him hanging on for dear life the Ryan did two 360s between the parked planes He was hollerin fo r his niece to turn it OFF but she misshyunderstood and further complicated matters by jumping out and getting

knocked down by the tail as it swung by About this time the engine quit beshycause he did something right He had turned off the fuel as Id taught him to do when he propped it himself Niece was bruised but the airplane and everyone else was okay-so what caused the problem He looked under the cowl and there was the fractured end of the throttle push-pull rod It broke from corrosion and wear right at the firewall Lesson You betcha Next time we tie the tail

We are learning One day I propped Bob Heuers Pitts when I saw him all alone Then he asked me to untie the tail A couple of months later I noshyticed that Bob Davis another aeroshybatic pilot had a tow hitch on his Pitts-Smith Whats he doing with a tow hitch Simple He sez I can prop it myself and then after I get in and all suited up and ready to go I just pull the release and Im free Lesson there are some real practical people in

the world ~ l Over to you cIACGshy

AERO CLASSIC COLLECTOR SERIES

Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vin tage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these ti res set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

500 x 5 600 x 6 700 x 8

Oesser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

~ TelePhone 800-247-8473 or

DESSER(~ 323-721-4900 FAX 323-721-7888

6900 Acco SI Montebello CA 90640 TI RE amp RUBBER COMPANY 3400 Chelsea Ave Memphis TN 38106

wwwdessercom

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

DOUG STEWART

Try it youll like it The takeoff on this formation flight was going to be

with a slight tailwind but the downhill slope of the grass runway would compensate a little bit We were taking off with the tailwind primarily because of the increased options we would have going in this direction in case anything went wrong Going the other way meant clearshying trees at the end of the runway and then nothing but a busy highway beyond the trees As long as the wind didnt increase there should be no problems

I was surprised at how quickly we were up off the bumpy runway and flying in ground effect especialJy with I cannot the left to head down and tow yet an-two of us on board This time rather recommend in other glider back up into the sky Now than sitting in the back as the instruc- the fun was about to start in earnest tor I was sitting in front and Tom strong enough This was not my first time in a Decker was sitting in the back coach- bull glider My first glider flight had been ing me It felt really refreshing to be terms my feelIngs about 50 years ago (In fact that flight receiving instr~cti~n for a change that every power had been the first time in my life that rather than offenng It there had been more than a few feet

Because we had become airborne pilot should between my posterior and the earth before the Piper Pawnee in front of bull and to this day I have not forgotten us we stayed in ground effect until spend some tIme it) I also got to fly in the same glider the Pawnee lifted off We then flew flying a glider I was now flying about two years ago through the turbulence behind the Pawnee and settled in for the climb staying exactly 200 feet behind it Tom instructed me to aim just a little below the Pawnees tail He told me that if the Pawnee turned I should aim the nose of my aircraft toward the outer wingtip of the Pawnee

A big smile was spreading across my face as I settled in for the challenge As the Pawnee banked into a turn to leave the pattern I realized I was going to h ave to match his bank perfectly to stay in trail If I banked too steeply I would cut inside his turn and if too shalshylow I would fly outside of the Pawnees arc This didnt present too much of a problem but I found that I was having trouble maintaining my vertical distance

As the Pawnee hit some lift I found I could anticishypate and thus maintain my relative vertical position But when the Pawnee encountered sink I often found myself flying right up into the prop wash and wake

turbulence of the lead airplane Gosh I hadnt had this much fun in an airplane in a long time

As we reached 2500 AGL Tom told me to pull the red knob in the center of the panel uOh no the big red one I thought As I pulled it the towrope that had been maintaining that perfect 200 feet between the Pawnee and us shot forward toward the towplane I guess if you hadnt figured it out yet I was on an aerotow in a glider As that towrope appeared to shoot

forward we banked to the right and the Pawnee executed a diving turn to

courtesy of the Valley Soaring Club based at the Randall Airport (06N) in

Middletown New York (wwwvalleysoaringorg) It was a 1967 Schweizer 2-33 glider one of the more common training gliders in use today

A client of mine and now a good friend Matt Blades is the VP of the club We had first met when he came to me to acquire his ASEL (airplane single-engine land) rating He then later came to me to get tailwheel transhysition training in my PA-12 He had always given me a standing offer to come to his club and experience the exhilaration and joy of flying a glider Thus I found myself eagerly headed to the Valley Soaring Club at Randall to pump some new excitement into my flyshying experience

I cannot recommend in strong enough terms my feelings that every power pilot should spend some time flying a glider There are so many things to be reshy

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

A beautiful day is not complete unless it is seen from the inside of a cockpit The Vintage Aircraft Association is providing you with the opportunity to bring the magic of flight to your home office or hangar Take flight with the 2006 VAA Calendar Free Skies Forever

The gorgeous 17 x 11-inch full-color wall calendar is the perfect gift for yourself or your favorite pilot Each month contains the amazing photography from the Vintage Aircraft Association and captures the spirit of flight

As a commemoration to the great aviators before us the VAA 2006 Calendar Free Skies Forever contains great feats in aviation printed on the exact date of occurrence Dont let this opportunity fly past you Order your 2006 VAA Free Skies Forever Calendar by September 30 2005 Calendars will ship in November for Christmas arrival

Or to order by mail send your checkmoney order to Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar do Turner Publishing Company bull PO Box 3101 bull Paducah KY 42002-3101

o Please enter my order for __ copies of the Vintage Aircraft Association 2006 Calendar - only $1595 Your Name

OShippingiHandling add $395 for each calendar Address

o Kentucky residents add 6 sales tax City State Zip

TOTAL ENCLOSED $______

For Office Use Only - VAA2006-AmiddotGW

Ck Arnount

Telephone

E-mail address (for order confirmation)

BY HG FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE tOMES TO US FROM THE EAA LIBRARYS GARNER P EMMERSON COLLECTION WEVE GOT A NUMBER OF PHOTOS

IN THAT ALBUM THAT MAKE GREAT MYSTERY PLANES

Send your answer to EAA Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Your answer needs to be in no later than October 10 for inclusion in the December 2005 issue of Vintage Airplane

You can also send your response via e-mail Send your answer to mysteryplaneeaa org Be sure to include your name city and state in the body of your note and put 1 (Month) Mystery Plane in the subject line

JUNE S MYSTERY ANSWER

The June Mystery Plane also from the Emerson Collection elicited only a pair of letters the first from Wayne Van Valkenburgh who thought it might be an Aeromarine Model 40F and the second from Thomas Lymshyburn Princeton Minnesota At first

Thomas thought it might be the Curshytiss F flying boat but not everything matched Heres what he wrote

So lets check John Andrades US Military Aircraft Designations and Seshyrials Since 1909 Hmm if the numshyber on the side in your photo is 5256

(It is-Ed) then its not a Curtiss Anshydrade lists 5256 as a 1917 Alexandria 10 flying boat trainer (serials A-5247 to A-5256) It gives no other data II

According to the penned caption included in the Emerson album it is indeed an Alexandria A second closer photograph of the seaplane is shown on this page The man standing in the cockpit is Garner Emerson s fashyther Edwin B Emerson The Alexanshydria Airplane Co built other designs under license including the Briggs F flying boat (serial A3327 for examshyple) but we have no other informashytion on the company or the Mystery Plane itself Its possible that Thomas and Waynes guesses as to the origin of the Alexandria 10s design may be correct and the airplane is actually a modified license-built example of one of the Curtiss Fs with a Httle Aeromashyrine added to the mix Any additional information would be welcome

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Bucks 1990 column on propping is simply timeless Unfortunately on a regshyular basis we still hear ofpropping accishydents that occur During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 thanks to the generosity ofAUA Inc we ran a twice-daily seminar on the proper technique to use when propshyping an airplane Well show you more on that in the October issue For now lets all get a refresher from Buck on the gotchas that are out there when youre starting your vintage airplane -HGF

During the summer of 1940 when I was a line boy at the old Elmhurst Airshyport west of Chicago we were running in a newly overhauled engine In those days there was a regular schedule for break-in after the overhaul was comshypleted We ran them up at half-hour intervals at increasing rpm until finally after about four hours we brought them up to takeoff power Only then was it allowed to fly Quite a difference as compared with today Nowadays you just put the power to it and fly at full throttle for the first hour

Anyway there sits the Cub with the stick tied back and the engine runshyning at about 1000 rpm unattended doing its own break-in I hasten to add that this airplane did not belong to us Harbicon Airways would never do a thing like that (Now Ill tell you about a certain bridge you can buy)

Well this fellow is posing his girlfriend alongside our Porterfield PL-SO He has her standing by the door liquidly draped around the wing strut and hes trying to get her into the frame of that little camera Some of you remember those box cameras with the neat viewfinder on the top The trick was to put the subject squarely in the frame It reshy

26 SEPTEMBER 2005

E E BUCK HILBERT

Proper Behavior quired stooping over and shading the viewfinder with one hand while you backed up for the focal length You guessed it With all of us shoutin and hollerin he got a rapid lOOO-rpm spanking He never got the picture but Ill never forget that moment We all had a good laugh about it later but Spanky never lived it down For years afterward he would drop his pants to show people the result of his encounter It didnt read Sensenich or Flottorp either

I propped many airplanes as the years went by and made a study of propping Some engines were easy some were downright recalcitrant The easiest of the lot are the Kinners and R-98Ss such as on a BT-13 The Kinner will start every time with those Bendix mags throwin a spark an inch and a half You dont really prop the Kinner you just gingerly pull it past compression and get the heck out of the way Ive had them back up on me and catch from the wrong way when theyre too lean but theyll go on the next pull Again it takes extreme care to be absolutely sure it isnt hot

We were standing in the hangar one day working on a Ryan STA and a good friend of mine was supervisshying (like any good sidewalk superinshytendent) He was leaning up against the prop of my PT-22 but it wasnt quite comfortable enough for him so he went to repOSition the prop He turned it about 30 degrees the imshypulse snapped and there was Carl stretched to his full height his back against the STAs tail with my PT-22s 90-inch prop whisking his fly Fortushynately it only hit about four cylinshyders and then quit Wow I was up in

that cockpit and checking before Carl could even let out the breath he had been holding to make himself that skinny The switch was at idle cutoff and the fuel was off It turned out the airport owners kids had been playshying in the cockpit and fooling around with the switches The kid I think was responsible is now an aerobatic show pilot He still likes to fool around

A year or so after this one I was alone out front of the hangar at the same airport and I was going to take my two youngest kids for a ride in our Champ Id just gassed up and added a quart of oil and was ready to avishyate There wasnt anyone else within close range so I elected to prop it myshyself I had the two kids side-by-side on cushions in the back seat under one belt I put my right foot in front of the right tire and propped it seaplane style from behind It was between the prop and the door Just as I snapped it through I heard my daughter say Ill help you Daddy and she shoved the throttle forward It caught of course and there I was in a helluva predicashyment My right foot was the chock the door wont let me get to the throtshytle or the switch and the engine is turnin about 1700 rpm Im dancing around in a circle trying desperately not to lose it If I pull my foot out from in front of the wheel itll go for sure I cant get around the door and under the strut I cant grab and stop the prop at 1700 rpm without chopshyping my arm off and Im literally helpless About the second Im ready to give up and let it happen the front door of the office bursts open and one of the guys comes running out to cut the switch I would have kissed him

if I had the strength but all I could do was sit down and mumble my thanks-over and over again

Shortly after this one I was at the old Chicagoland Airport one day when a friend of mine who owned a T-6 had an experience He was parked between two rows of airplanes and decided to prop the Six The battery had died long ago and like most of us in the 1960s he couldnt afford to buy a new one He had been propping the plane for years so it should have been no problem This time though th rough a mismanaged mess-up it started and went to 1600 to 1700 rpm like right NOW Normally an R-985 or 1340 will fire mutter spang and gradually accelerate to idle so slowly you can leisurely walk around the wing crawl up to the cockpit and still have time for a Coke and a sandwich before it finally clears its throat Not this time It tore down the line and went through two airplanes before it wrapped itself up in one of those cast-iron Navions Paul himself

had quite a problem there You can imagine how much insurance he had since he couldnt even afford to buy a battery It took him several years to payoff the damages to the other airshyplanes and he trucked his T-6 home where it sat until he died

Same airport same scene- almost the same tiedown The STA had been flying for about four years Our trusty Red Ba loney is go ing to t ake h is niece up for a ride There was no one around so he put her in the front seat set up the engine controls told her to hold the brakes and started pulling through the prop About four blades and away it went It spurted right up to about 1700 rpm He dropped to the ground as the airplane rumbled over him and he grabbed one of the flying wires under the wing as it went by With him hanging on for dear life the Ryan did two 360s between the parked planes He was hollerin fo r his niece to turn it OFF but she misshyunderstood and further complicated matters by jumping out and getting

knocked down by the tail as it swung by About this time the engine quit beshycause he did something right He had turned off the fuel as Id taught him to do when he propped it himself Niece was bruised but the airplane and everyone else was okay-so what caused the problem He looked under the cowl and there was the fractured end of the throttle push-pull rod It broke from corrosion and wear right at the firewall Lesson You betcha Next time we tie the tail

We are learning One day I propped Bob Heuers Pitts when I saw him all alone Then he asked me to untie the tail A couple of months later I noshyticed that Bob Davis another aeroshybatic pilot had a tow hitch on his Pitts-Smith Whats he doing with a tow hitch Simple He sez I can prop it myself and then after I get in and all suited up and ready to go I just pull the release and Im free Lesson there are some real practical people in

the world ~ l Over to you cIACGshy

AERO CLASSIC COLLECTOR SERIES

Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vin tage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these ti res set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

500 x 5 600 x 6 700 x 8

Oesser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

~ TelePhone 800-247-8473 or

DESSER(~ 323-721-4900 FAX 323-721-7888

6900 Acco SI Montebello CA 90640 TI RE amp RUBBER COMPANY 3400 Chelsea Ave Memphis TN 38106

wwwdessercom

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

DOUG STEWART

Try it youll like it The takeoff on this formation flight was going to be

with a slight tailwind but the downhill slope of the grass runway would compensate a little bit We were taking off with the tailwind primarily because of the increased options we would have going in this direction in case anything went wrong Going the other way meant clearshying trees at the end of the runway and then nothing but a busy highway beyond the trees As long as the wind didnt increase there should be no problems

I was surprised at how quickly we were up off the bumpy runway and flying in ground effect especialJy with I cannot the left to head down and tow yet an-two of us on board This time rather recommend in other glider back up into the sky Now than sitting in the back as the instruc- the fun was about to start in earnest tor I was sitting in front and Tom strong enough This was not my first time in a Decker was sitting in the back coach- bull glider My first glider flight had been ing me It felt really refreshing to be terms my feelIngs about 50 years ago (In fact that flight receiving instr~cti~n for a change that every power had been the first time in my life that rather than offenng It there had been more than a few feet

Because we had become airborne pilot should between my posterior and the earth before the Piper Pawnee in front of bull and to this day I have not forgotten us we stayed in ground effect until spend some tIme it) I also got to fly in the same glider the Pawnee lifted off We then flew flying a glider I was now flying about two years ago through the turbulence behind the Pawnee and settled in for the climb staying exactly 200 feet behind it Tom instructed me to aim just a little below the Pawnees tail He told me that if the Pawnee turned I should aim the nose of my aircraft toward the outer wingtip of the Pawnee

A big smile was spreading across my face as I settled in for the challenge As the Pawnee banked into a turn to leave the pattern I realized I was going to h ave to match his bank perfectly to stay in trail If I banked too steeply I would cut inside his turn and if too shalshylow I would fly outside of the Pawnees arc This didnt present too much of a problem but I found that I was having trouble maintaining my vertical distance

As the Pawnee hit some lift I found I could anticishypate and thus maintain my relative vertical position But when the Pawnee encountered sink I often found myself flying right up into the prop wash and wake

turbulence of the lead airplane Gosh I hadnt had this much fun in an airplane in a long time

As we reached 2500 AGL Tom told me to pull the red knob in the center of the panel uOh no the big red one I thought As I pulled it the towrope that had been maintaining that perfect 200 feet between the Pawnee and us shot forward toward the towplane I guess if you hadnt figured it out yet I was on an aerotow in a glider As that towrope appeared to shoot

forward we banked to the right and the Pawnee executed a diving turn to

courtesy of the Valley Soaring Club based at the Randall Airport (06N) in

Middletown New York (wwwvalleysoaringorg) It was a 1967 Schweizer 2-33 glider one of the more common training gliders in use today

A client of mine and now a good friend Matt Blades is the VP of the club We had first met when he came to me to acquire his ASEL (airplane single-engine land) rating He then later came to me to get tailwheel transhysition training in my PA-12 He had always given me a standing offer to come to his club and experience the exhilaration and joy of flying a glider Thus I found myself eagerly headed to the Valley Soaring Club at Randall to pump some new excitement into my flyshying experience

I cannot recommend in strong enough terms my feelings that every power pilot should spend some time flying a glider There are so many things to be reshy

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

BY HG FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE tOMES TO US FROM THE EAA LIBRARYS GARNER P EMMERSON COLLECTION WEVE GOT A NUMBER OF PHOTOS

IN THAT ALBUM THAT MAKE GREAT MYSTERY PLANES

Send your answer to EAA Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Your answer needs to be in no later than October 10 for inclusion in the December 2005 issue of Vintage Airplane

You can also send your response via e-mail Send your answer to mysteryplaneeaa org Be sure to include your name city and state in the body of your note and put 1 (Month) Mystery Plane in the subject line

JUNE S MYSTERY ANSWER

The June Mystery Plane also from the Emerson Collection elicited only a pair of letters the first from Wayne Van Valkenburgh who thought it might be an Aeromarine Model 40F and the second from Thomas Lymshyburn Princeton Minnesota At first

Thomas thought it might be the Curshytiss F flying boat but not everything matched Heres what he wrote

So lets check John Andrades US Military Aircraft Designations and Seshyrials Since 1909 Hmm if the numshyber on the side in your photo is 5256

(It is-Ed) then its not a Curtiss Anshydrade lists 5256 as a 1917 Alexandria 10 flying boat trainer (serials A-5247 to A-5256) It gives no other data II

According to the penned caption included in the Emerson album it is indeed an Alexandria A second closer photograph of the seaplane is shown on this page The man standing in the cockpit is Garner Emerson s fashyther Edwin B Emerson The Alexanshydria Airplane Co built other designs under license including the Briggs F flying boat (serial A3327 for examshyple) but we have no other informashytion on the company or the Mystery Plane itself Its possible that Thomas and Waynes guesses as to the origin of the Alexandria 10s design may be correct and the airplane is actually a modified license-built example of one of the Curtiss Fs with a Httle Aeromashyrine added to the mix Any additional information would be welcome

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Bucks 1990 column on propping is simply timeless Unfortunately on a regshyular basis we still hear ofpropping accishydents that occur During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 thanks to the generosity ofAUA Inc we ran a twice-daily seminar on the proper technique to use when propshyping an airplane Well show you more on that in the October issue For now lets all get a refresher from Buck on the gotchas that are out there when youre starting your vintage airplane -HGF

During the summer of 1940 when I was a line boy at the old Elmhurst Airshyport west of Chicago we were running in a newly overhauled engine In those days there was a regular schedule for break-in after the overhaul was comshypleted We ran them up at half-hour intervals at increasing rpm until finally after about four hours we brought them up to takeoff power Only then was it allowed to fly Quite a difference as compared with today Nowadays you just put the power to it and fly at full throttle for the first hour

Anyway there sits the Cub with the stick tied back and the engine runshyning at about 1000 rpm unattended doing its own break-in I hasten to add that this airplane did not belong to us Harbicon Airways would never do a thing like that (Now Ill tell you about a certain bridge you can buy)

Well this fellow is posing his girlfriend alongside our Porterfield PL-SO He has her standing by the door liquidly draped around the wing strut and hes trying to get her into the frame of that little camera Some of you remember those box cameras with the neat viewfinder on the top The trick was to put the subject squarely in the frame It reshy

26 SEPTEMBER 2005

E E BUCK HILBERT

Proper Behavior quired stooping over and shading the viewfinder with one hand while you backed up for the focal length You guessed it With all of us shoutin and hollerin he got a rapid lOOO-rpm spanking He never got the picture but Ill never forget that moment We all had a good laugh about it later but Spanky never lived it down For years afterward he would drop his pants to show people the result of his encounter It didnt read Sensenich or Flottorp either

I propped many airplanes as the years went by and made a study of propping Some engines were easy some were downright recalcitrant The easiest of the lot are the Kinners and R-98Ss such as on a BT-13 The Kinner will start every time with those Bendix mags throwin a spark an inch and a half You dont really prop the Kinner you just gingerly pull it past compression and get the heck out of the way Ive had them back up on me and catch from the wrong way when theyre too lean but theyll go on the next pull Again it takes extreme care to be absolutely sure it isnt hot

We were standing in the hangar one day working on a Ryan STA and a good friend of mine was supervisshying (like any good sidewalk superinshytendent) He was leaning up against the prop of my PT-22 but it wasnt quite comfortable enough for him so he went to repOSition the prop He turned it about 30 degrees the imshypulse snapped and there was Carl stretched to his full height his back against the STAs tail with my PT-22s 90-inch prop whisking his fly Fortushynately it only hit about four cylinshyders and then quit Wow I was up in

that cockpit and checking before Carl could even let out the breath he had been holding to make himself that skinny The switch was at idle cutoff and the fuel was off It turned out the airport owners kids had been playshying in the cockpit and fooling around with the switches The kid I think was responsible is now an aerobatic show pilot He still likes to fool around

A year or so after this one I was alone out front of the hangar at the same airport and I was going to take my two youngest kids for a ride in our Champ Id just gassed up and added a quart of oil and was ready to avishyate There wasnt anyone else within close range so I elected to prop it myshyself I had the two kids side-by-side on cushions in the back seat under one belt I put my right foot in front of the right tire and propped it seaplane style from behind It was between the prop and the door Just as I snapped it through I heard my daughter say Ill help you Daddy and she shoved the throttle forward It caught of course and there I was in a helluva predicashyment My right foot was the chock the door wont let me get to the throtshytle or the switch and the engine is turnin about 1700 rpm Im dancing around in a circle trying desperately not to lose it If I pull my foot out from in front of the wheel itll go for sure I cant get around the door and under the strut I cant grab and stop the prop at 1700 rpm without chopshyping my arm off and Im literally helpless About the second Im ready to give up and let it happen the front door of the office bursts open and one of the guys comes running out to cut the switch I would have kissed him

if I had the strength but all I could do was sit down and mumble my thanks-over and over again

Shortly after this one I was at the old Chicagoland Airport one day when a friend of mine who owned a T-6 had an experience He was parked between two rows of airplanes and decided to prop the Six The battery had died long ago and like most of us in the 1960s he couldnt afford to buy a new one He had been propping the plane for years so it should have been no problem This time though th rough a mismanaged mess-up it started and went to 1600 to 1700 rpm like right NOW Normally an R-985 or 1340 will fire mutter spang and gradually accelerate to idle so slowly you can leisurely walk around the wing crawl up to the cockpit and still have time for a Coke and a sandwich before it finally clears its throat Not this time It tore down the line and went through two airplanes before it wrapped itself up in one of those cast-iron Navions Paul himself

had quite a problem there You can imagine how much insurance he had since he couldnt even afford to buy a battery It took him several years to payoff the damages to the other airshyplanes and he trucked his T-6 home where it sat until he died

Same airport same scene- almost the same tiedown The STA had been flying for about four years Our trusty Red Ba loney is go ing to t ake h is niece up for a ride There was no one around so he put her in the front seat set up the engine controls told her to hold the brakes and started pulling through the prop About four blades and away it went It spurted right up to about 1700 rpm He dropped to the ground as the airplane rumbled over him and he grabbed one of the flying wires under the wing as it went by With him hanging on for dear life the Ryan did two 360s between the parked planes He was hollerin fo r his niece to turn it OFF but she misshyunderstood and further complicated matters by jumping out and getting

knocked down by the tail as it swung by About this time the engine quit beshycause he did something right He had turned off the fuel as Id taught him to do when he propped it himself Niece was bruised but the airplane and everyone else was okay-so what caused the problem He looked under the cowl and there was the fractured end of the throttle push-pull rod It broke from corrosion and wear right at the firewall Lesson You betcha Next time we tie the tail

We are learning One day I propped Bob Heuers Pitts when I saw him all alone Then he asked me to untie the tail A couple of months later I noshyticed that Bob Davis another aeroshybatic pilot had a tow hitch on his Pitts-Smith Whats he doing with a tow hitch Simple He sez I can prop it myself and then after I get in and all suited up and ready to go I just pull the release and Im free Lesson there are some real practical people in

the world ~ l Over to you cIACGshy

AERO CLASSIC COLLECTOR SERIES

Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vin tage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these ti res set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

500 x 5 600 x 6 700 x 8

Oesser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

~ TelePhone 800-247-8473 or

DESSER(~ 323-721-4900 FAX 323-721-7888

6900 Acco SI Montebello CA 90640 TI RE amp RUBBER COMPANY 3400 Chelsea Ave Memphis TN 38106

wwwdessercom

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

DOUG STEWART

Try it youll like it The takeoff on this formation flight was going to be

with a slight tailwind but the downhill slope of the grass runway would compensate a little bit We were taking off with the tailwind primarily because of the increased options we would have going in this direction in case anything went wrong Going the other way meant clearshying trees at the end of the runway and then nothing but a busy highway beyond the trees As long as the wind didnt increase there should be no problems

I was surprised at how quickly we were up off the bumpy runway and flying in ground effect especialJy with I cannot the left to head down and tow yet an-two of us on board This time rather recommend in other glider back up into the sky Now than sitting in the back as the instruc- the fun was about to start in earnest tor I was sitting in front and Tom strong enough This was not my first time in a Decker was sitting in the back coach- bull glider My first glider flight had been ing me It felt really refreshing to be terms my feelIngs about 50 years ago (In fact that flight receiving instr~cti~n for a change that every power had been the first time in my life that rather than offenng It there had been more than a few feet

Because we had become airborne pilot should between my posterior and the earth before the Piper Pawnee in front of bull and to this day I have not forgotten us we stayed in ground effect until spend some tIme it) I also got to fly in the same glider the Pawnee lifted off We then flew flying a glider I was now flying about two years ago through the turbulence behind the Pawnee and settled in for the climb staying exactly 200 feet behind it Tom instructed me to aim just a little below the Pawnees tail He told me that if the Pawnee turned I should aim the nose of my aircraft toward the outer wingtip of the Pawnee

A big smile was spreading across my face as I settled in for the challenge As the Pawnee banked into a turn to leave the pattern I realized I was going to h ave to match his bank perfectly to stay in trail If I banked too steeply I would cut inside his turn and if too shalshylow I would fly outside of the Pawnees arc This didnt present too much of a problem but I found that I was having trouble maintaining my vertical distance

As the Pawnee hit some lift I found I could anticishypate and thus maintain my relative vertical position But when the Pawnee encountered sink I often found myself flying right up into the prop wash and wake

turbulence of the lead airplane Gosh I hadnt had this much fun in an airplane in a long time

As we reached 2500 AGL Tom told me to pull the red knob in the center of the panel uOh no the big red one I thought As I pulled it the towrope that had been maintaining that perfect 200 feet between the Pawnee and us shot forward toward the towplane I guess if you hadnt figured it out yet I was on an aerotow in a glider As that towrope appeared to shoot

forward we banked to the right and the Pawnee executed a diving turn to

courtesy of the Valley Soaring Club based at the Randall Airport (06N) in

Middletown New York (wwwvalleysoaringorg) It was a 1967 Schweizer 2-33 glider one of the more common training gliders in use today

A client of mine and now a good friend Matt Blades is the VP of the club We had first met when he came to me to acquire his ASEL (airplane single-engine land) rating He then later came to me to get tailwheel transhysition training in my PA-12 He had always given me a standing offer to come to his club and experience the exhilaration and joy of flying a glider Thus I found myself eagerly headed to the Valley Soaring Club at Randall to pump some new excitement into my flyshying experience

I cannot recommend in strong enough terms my feelings that every power pilot should spend some time flying a glider There are so many things to be reshy

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

Bucks 1990 column on propping is simply timeless Unfortunately on a regshyular basis we still hear ofpropping accishydents that occur During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 thanks to the generosity ofAUA Inc we ran a twice-daily seminar on the proper technique to use when propshyping an airplane Well show you more on that in the October issue For now lets all get a refresher from Buck on the gotchas that are out there when youre starting your vintage airplane -HGF

During the summer of 1940 when I was a line boy at the old Elmhurst Airshyport west of Chicago we were running in a newly overhauled engine In those days there was a regular schedule for break-in after the overhaul was comshypleted We ran them up at half-hour intervals at increasing rpm until finally after about four hours we brought them up to takeoff power Only then was it allowed to fly Quite a difference as compared with today Nowadays you just put the power to it and fly at full throttle for the first hour

Anyway there sits the Cub with the stick tied back and the engine runshyning at about 1000 rpm unattended doing its own break-in I hasten to add that this airplane did not belong to us Harbicon Airways would never do a thing like that (Now Ill tell you about a certain bridge you can buy)

Well this fellow is posing his girlfriend alongside our Porterfield PL-SO He has her standing by the door liquidly draped around the wing strut and hes trying to get her into the frame of that little camera Some of you remember those box cameras with the neat viewfinder on the top The trick was to put the subject squarely in the frame It reshy

26 SEPTEMBER 2005

E E BUCK HILBERT

Proper Behavior quired stooping over and shading the viewfinder with one hand while you backed up for the focal length You guessed it With all of us shoutin and hollerin he got a rapid lOOO-rpm spanking He never got the picture but Ill never forget that moment We all had a good laugh about it later but Spanky never lived it down For years afterward he would drop his pants to show people the result of his encounter It didnt read Sensenich or Flottorp either

I propped many airplanes as the years went by and made a study of propping Some engines were easy some were downright recalcitrant The easiest of the lot are the Kinners and R-98Ss such as on a BT-13 The Kinner will start every time with those Bendix mags throwin a spark an inch and a half You dont really prop the Kinner you just gingerly pull it past compression and get the heck out of the way Ive had them back up on me and catch from the wrong way when theyre too lean but theyll go on the next pull Again it takes extreme care to be absolutely sure it isnt hot

We were standing in the hangar one day working on a Ryan STA and a good friend of mine was supervisshying (like any good sidewalk superinshytendent) He was leaning up against the prop of my PT-22 but it wasnt quite comfortable enough for him so he went to repOSition the prop He turned it about 30 degrees the imshypulse snapped and there was Carl stretched to his full height his back against the STAs tail with my PT-22s 90-inch prop whisking his fly Fortushynately it only hit about four cylinshyders and then quit Wow I was up in

that cockpit and checking before Carl could even let out the breath he had been holding to make himself that skinny The switch was at idle cutoff and the fuel was off It turned out the airport owners kids had been playshying in the cockpit and fooling around with the switches The kid I think was responsible is now an aerobatic show pilot He still likes to fool around

A year or so after this one I was alone out front of the hangar at the same airport and I was going to take my two youngest kids for a ride in our Champ Id just gassed up and added a quart of oil and was ready to avishyate There wasnt anyone else within close range so I elected to prop it myshyself I had the two kids side-by-side on cushions in the back seat under one belt I put my right foot in front of the right tire and propped it seaplane style from behind It was between the prop and the door Just as I snapped it through I heard my daughter say Ill help you Daddy and she shoved the throttle forward It caught of course and there I was in a helluva predicashyment My right foot was the chock the door wont let me get to the throtshytle or the switch and the engine is turnin about 1700 rpm Im dancing around in a circle trying desperately not to lose it If I pull my foot out from in front of the wheel itll go for sure I cant get around the door and under the strut I cant grab and stop the prop at 1700 rpm without chopshyping my arm off and Im literally helpless About the second Im ready to give up and let it happen the front door of the office bursts open and one of the guys comes running out to cut the switch I would have kissed him

if I had the strength but all I could do was sit down and mumble my thanks-over and over again

Shortly after this one I was at the old Chicagoland Airport one day when a friend of mine who owned a T-6 had an experience He was parked between two rows of airplanes and decided to prop the Six The battery had died long ago and like most of us in the 1960s he couldnt afford to buy a new one He had been propping the plane for years so it should have been no problem This time though th rough a mismanaged mess-up it started and went to 1600 to 1700 rpm like right NOW Normally an R-985 or 1340 will fire mutter spang and gradually accelerate to idle so slowly you can leisurely walk around the wing crawl up to the cockpit and still have time for a Coke and a sandwich before it finally clears its throat Not this time It tore down the line and went through two airplanes before it wrapped itself up in one of those cast-iron Navions Paul himself

had quite a problem there You can imagine how much insurance he had since he couldnt even afford to buy a battery It took him several years to payoff the damages to the other airshyplanes and he trucked his T-6 home where it sat until he died

Same airport same scene- almost the same tiedown The STA had been flying for about four years Our trusty Red Ba loney is go ing to t ake h is niece up for a ride There was no one around so he put her in the front seat set up the engine controls told her to hold the brakes and started pulling through the prop About four blades and away it went It spurted right up to about 1700 rpm He dropped to the ground as the airplane rumbled over him and he grabbed one of the flying wires under the wing as it went by With him hanging on for dear life the Ryan did two 360s between the parked planes He was hollerin fo r his niece to turn it OFF but she misshyunderstood and further complicated matters by jumping out and getting

knocked down by the tail as it swung by About this time the engine quit beshycause he did something right He had turned off the fuel as Id taught him to do when he propped it himself Niece was bruised but the airplane and everyone else was okay-so what caused the problem He looked under the cowl and there was the fractured end of the throttle push-pull rod It broke from corrosion and wear right at the firewall Lesson You betcha Next time we tie the tail

We are learning One day I propped Bob Heuers Pitts when I saw him all alone Then he asked me to untie the tail A couple of months later I noshyticed that Bob Davis another aeroshybatic pilot had a tow hitch on his Pitts-Smith Whats he doing with a tow hitch Simple He sez I can prop it myself and then after I get in and all suited up and ready to go I just pull the release and Im free Lesson there are some real practical people in

the world ~ l Over to you cIACGshy

AERO CLASSIC COLLECTOR SERIES

Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vin tage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these ti res set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

500 x 5 600 x 6 700 x 8

Oesser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

~ TelePhone 800-247-8473 or

DESSER(~ 323-721-4900 FAX 323-721-7888

6900 Acco SI Montebello CA 90640 TI RE amp RUBBER COMPANY 3400 Chelsea Ave Memphis TN 38106

wwwdessercom

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

DOUG STEWART

Try it youll like it The takeoff on this formation flight was going to be

with a slight tailwind but the downhill slope of the grass runway would compensate a little bit We were taking off with the tailwind primarily because of the increased options we would have going in this direction in case anything went wrong Going the other way meant clearshying trees at the end of the runway and then nothing but a busy highway beyond the trees As long as the wind didnt increase there should be no problems

I was surprised at how quickly we were up off the bumpy runway and flying in ground effect especialJy with I cannot the left to head down and tow yet an-two of us on board This time rather recommend in other glider back up into the sky Now than sitting in the back as the instruc- the fun was about to start in earnest tor I was sitting in front and Tom strong enough This was not my first time in a Decker was sitting in the back coach- bull glider My first glider flight had been ing me It felt really refreshing to be terms my feelIngs about 50 years ago (In fact that flight receiving instr~cti~n for a change that every power had been the first time in my life that rather than offenng It there had been more than a few feet

Because we had become airborne pilot should between my posterior and the earth before the Piper Pawnee in front of bull and to this day I have not forgotten us we stayed in ground effect until spend some tIme it) I also got to fly in the same glider the Pawnee lifted off We then flew flying a glider I was now flying about two years ago through the turbulence behind the Pawnee and settled in for the climb staying exactly 200 feet behind it Tom instructed me to aim just a little below the Pawnees tail He told me that if the Pawnee turned I should aim the nose of my aircraft toward the outer wingtip of the Pawnee

A big smile was spreading across my face as I settled in for the challenge As the Pawnee banked into a turn to leave the pattern I realized I was going to h ave to match his bank perfectly to stay in trail If I banked too steeply I would cut inside his turn and if too shalshylow I would fly outside of the Pawnees arc This didnt present too much of a problem but I found that I was having trouble maintaining my vertical distance

As the Pawnee hit some lift I found I could anticishypate and thus maintain my relative vertical position But when the Pawnee encountered sink I often found myself flying right up into the prop wash and wake

turbulence of the lead airplane Gosh I hadnt had this much fun in an airplane in a long time

As we reached 2500 AGL Tom told me to pull the red knob in the center of the panel uOh no the big red one I thought As I pulled it the towrope that had been maintaining that perfect 200 feet between the Pawnee and us shot forward toward the towplane I guess if you hadnt figured it out yet I was on an aerotow in a glider As that towrope appeared to shoot

forward we banked to the right and the Pawnee executed a diving turn to

courtesy of the Valley Soaring Club based at the Randall Airport (06N) in

Middletown New York (wwwvalleysoaringorg) It was a 1967 Schweizer 2-33 glider one of the more common training gliders in use today

A client of mine and now a good friend Matt Blades is the VP of the club We had first met when he came to me to acquire his ASEL (airplane single-engine land) rating He then later came to me to get tailwheel transhysition training in my PA-12 He had always given me a standing offer to come to his club and experience the exhilaration and joy of flying a glider Thus I found myself eagerly headed to the Valley Soaring Club at Randall to pump some new excitement into my flyshying experience

I cannot recommend in strong enough terms my feelings that every power pilot should spend some time flying a glider There are so many things to be reshy

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

if I had the strength but all I could do was sit down and mumble my thanks-over and over again

Shortly after this one I was at the old Chicagoland Airport one day when a friend of mine who owned a T-6 had an experience He was parked between two rows of airplanes and decided to prop the Six The battery had died long ago and like most of us in the 1960s he couldnt afford to buy a new one He had been propping the plane for years so it should have been no problem This time though th rough a mismanaged mess-up it started and went to 1600 to 1700 rpm like right NOW Normally an R-985 or 1340 will fire mutter spang and gradually accelerate to idle so slowly you can leisurely walk around the wing crawl up to the cockpit and still have time for a Coke and a sandwich before it finally clears its throat Not this time It tore down the line and went through two airplanes before it wrapped itself up in one of those cast-iron Navions Paul himself

had quite a problem there You can imagine how much insurance he had since he couldnt even afford to buy a battery It took him several years to payoff the damages to the other airshyplanes and he trucked his T-6 home where it sat until he died

Same airport same scene- almost the same tiedown The STA had been flying for about four years Our trusty Red Ba loney is go ing to t ake h is niece up for a ride There was no one around so he put her in the front seat set up the engine controls told her to hold the brakes and started pulling through the prop About four blades and away it went It spurted right up to about 1700 rpm He dropped to the ground as the airplane rumbled over him and he grabbed one of the flying wires under the wing as it went by With him hanging on for dear life the Ryan did two 360s between the parked planes He was hollerin fo r his niece to turn it OFF but she misshyunderstood and further complicated matters by jumping out and getting

knocked down by the tail as it swung by About this time the engine quit beshycause he did something right He had turned off the fuel as Id taught him to do when he propped it himself Niece was bruised but the airplane and everyone else was okay-so what caused the problem He looked under the cowl and there was the fractured end of the throttle push-pull rod It broke from corrosion and wear right at the firewall Lesson You betcha Next time we tie the tail

We are learning One day I propped Bob Heuers Pitts when I saw him all alone Then he asked me to untie the tail A couple of months later I noshyticed that Bob Davis another aeroshybatic pilot had a tow hitch on his Pitts-Smith Whats he doing with a tow hitch Simple He sez I can prop it myself and then after I get in and all suited up and ready to go I just pull the release and Im free Lesson there are some real practical people in

the world ~ l Over to you cIACGshy

AERO CLASSIC COLLECTOR SERIES

Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vin tage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these ti res set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

500 x 5 600 x 6 700 x 8

Oesser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

~ TelePhone 800-247-8473 or

DESSER(~ 323-721-4900 FAX 323-721-7888

6900 Acco SI Montebello CA 90640 TI RE amp RUBBER COMPANY 3400 Chelsea Ave Memphis TN 38106

wwwdessercom

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

DOUG STEWART

Try it youll like it The takeoff on this formation flight was going to be

with a slight tailwind but the downhill slope of the grass runway would compensate a little bit We were taking off with the tailwind primarily because of the increased options we would have going in this direction in case anything went wrong Going the other way meant clearshying trees at the end of the runway and then nothing but a busy highway beyond the trees As long as the wind didnt increase there should be no problems

I was surprised at how quickly we were up off the bumpy runway and flying in ground effect especialJy with I cannot the left to head down and tow yet an-two of us on board This time rather recommend in other glider back up into the sky Now than sitting in the back as the instruc- the fun was about to start in earnest tor I was sitting in front and Tom strong enough This was not my first time in a Decker was sitting in the back coach- bull glider My first glider flight had been ing me It felt really refreshing to be terms my feelIngs about 50 years ago (In fact that flight receiving instr~cti~n for a change that every power had been the first time in my life that rather than offenng It there had been more than a few feet

Because we had become airborne pilot should between my posterior and the earth before the Piper Pawnee in front of bull and to this day I have not forgotten us we stayed in ground effect until spend some tIme it) I also got to fly in the same glider the Pawnee lifted off We then flew flying a glider I was now flying about two years ago through the turbulence behind the Pawnee and settled in for the climb staying exactly 200 feet behind it Tom instructed me to aim just a little below the Pawnees tail He told me that if the Pawnee turned I should aim the nose of my aircraft toward the outer wingtip of the Pawnee

A big smile was spreading across my face as I settled in for the challenge As the Pawnee banked into a turn to leave the pattern I realized I was going to h ave to match his bank perfectly to stay in trail If I banked too steeply I would cut inside his turn and if too shalshylow I would fly outside of the Pawnees arc This didnt present too much of a problem but I found that I was having trouble maintaining my vertical distance

As the Pawnee hit some lift I found I could anticishypate and thus maintain my relative vertical position But when the Pawnee encountered sink I often found myself flying right up into the prop wash and wake

turbulence of the lead airplane Gosh I hadnt had this much fun in an airplane in a long time

As we reached 2500 AGL Tom told me to pull the red knob in the center of the panel uOh no the big red one I thought As I pulled it the towrope that had been maintaining that perfect 200 feet between the Pawnee and us shot forward toward the towplane I guess if you hadnt figured it out yet I was on an aerotow in a glider As that towrope appeared to shoot

forward we banked to the right and the Pawnee executed a diving turn to

courtesy of the Valley Soaring Club based at the Randall Airport (06N) in

Middletown New York (wwwvalleysoaringorg) It was a 1967 Schweizer 2-33 glider one of the more common training gliders in use today

A client of mine and now a good friend Matt Blades is the VP of the club We had first met when he came to me to acquire his ASEL (airplane single-engine land) rating He then later came to me to get tailwheel transhysition training in my PA-12 He had always given me a standing offer to come to his club and experience the exhilaration and joy of flying a glider Thus I found myself eagerly headed to the Valley Soaring Club at Randall to pump some new excitement into my flyshying experience

I cannot recommend in strong enough terms my feelings that every power pilot should spend some time flying a glider There are so many things to be reshy

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

DOUG STEWART

Try it youll like it The takeoff on this formation flight was going to be

with a slight tailwind but the downhill slope of the grass runway would compensate a little bit We were taking off with the tailwind primarily because of the increased options we would have going in this direction in case anything went wrong Going the other way meant clearshying trees at the end of the runway and then nothing but a busy highway beyond the trees As long as the wind didnt increase there should be no problems

I was surprised at how quickly we were up off the bumpy runway and flying in ground effect especialJy with I cannot the left to head down and tow yet an-two of us on board This time rather recommend in other glider back up into the sky Now than sitting in the back as the instruc- the fun was about to start in earnest tor I was sitting in front and Tom strong enough This was not my first time in a Decker was sitting in the back coach- bull glider My first glider flight had been ing me It felt really refreshing to be terms my feelIngs about 50 years ago (In fact that flight receiving instr~cti~n for a change that every power had been the first time in my life that rather than offenng It there had been more than a few feet

Because we had become airborne pilot should between my posterior and the earth before the Piper Pawnee in front of bull and to this day I have not forgotten us we stayed in ground effect until spend some tIme it) I also got to fly in the same glider the Pawnee lifted off We then flew flying a glider I was now flying about two years ago through the turbulence behind the Pawnee and settled in for the climb staying exactly 200 feet behind it Tom instructed me to aim just a little below the Pawnees tail He told me that if the Pawnee turned I should aim the nose of my aircraft toward the outer wingtip of the Pawnee

A big smile was spreading across my face as I settled in for the challenge As the Pawnee banked into a turn to leave the pattern I realized I was going to h ave to match his bank perfectly to stay in trail If I banked too steeply I would cut inside his turn and if too shalshylow I would fly outside of the Pawnees arc This didnt present too much of a problem but I found that I was having trouble maintaining my vertical distance

As the Pawnee hit some lift I found I could anticishypate and thus maintain my relative vertical position But when the Pawnee encountered sink I often found myself flying right up into the prop wash and wake

turbulence of the lead airplane Gosh I hadnt had this much fun in an airplane in a long time

As we reached 2500 AGL Tom told me to pull the red knob in the center of the panel uOh no the big red one I thought As I pulled it the towrope that had been maintaining that perfect 200 feet between the Pawnee and us shot forward toward the towplane I guess if you hadnt figured it out yet I was on an aerotow in a glider As that towrope appeared to shoot

forward we banked to the right and the Pawnee executed a diving turn to

courtesy of the Valley Soaring Club based at the Randall Airport (06N) in

Middletown New York (wwwvalleysoaringorg) It was a 1967 Schweizer 2-33 glider one of the more common training gliders in use today

A client of mine and now a good friend Matt Blades is the VP of the club We had first met when he came to me to acquire his ASEL (airplane single-engine land) rating He then later came to me to get tailwheel transhysition training in my PA-12 He had always given me a standing offer to come to his club and experience the exhilaration and joy of flying a glider Thus I found myself eagerly headed to the Valley Soaring Club at Randall to pump some new excitement into my flyshying experience

I cannot recommend in strong enough terms my feelings that every power pilot should spend some time flying a glider There are so many things to be reshy

28 SEPTEMBER 2005

membered relearned or perhaps learned for the first time when flying a glider

To begin with your feet are going to have to expeshyrience a reincarnation if they have been sitting flat on the floor of your spam can Tailwheel-current pishylots will not have as much difficulty but even I found that my feet did not work as well as they could have at first

Gliders with their much wider wingspan have much greater adverse yaw whenever they are banked If you are not prepared to compensate with sufficient rudder whenever rolling into or out of a bank you will find the glider slipping through every turn There is no inclinometer (thats the ball in the turn coordinator) to help you out but there is a yaw string attached to the pi tot tube in front of the windscreen Unless you know how to use your feet when flying youll probashybly find that yaw string resembling a windshield wiper as you fly through your first few turns

The next thing to be remembered and refined is what it is like to fly in slow flight for extended periods of time not only in straight and level flight but more importantly in turning flight As we all know one of the best ways to maximize flight time in a glider is to find some lift Thermals (rising columns of air) are one of the best sources of that lift To make the most of a thermal you have to fly a glider at a speed just slightly above the stall And since most thermals are rather small in diameter you need to constantly circle to stay in the thermal But thats not the only challenge of flyshying a glider

We all know that as bank increases so does stall speed So here you are flying just above the stall but to remain in the thermal you need to bank If you bank too steeply youll quickly feel the first buffets of a stall and now youre no longer climbing in the lift If you dont bank steeply enough youll fly out of the lift And then youre no longer climbing Plus if you dont keep your turns coordinated youll find that slipping turns will rob from the benefit of the thermal

The last challenge that I have room to discuss relashytive to flying gliders is the landing I have said more than once in this column that one of the least pracshyticed maneuvers in flying is the go-around Well in gliders youll never get to practice that Every landing is a dead-stick spot landing

In gliders we have several fCmIs-to help in that reshygard Spoilers dive brakes and the good old forward slip can all be used to aid us in putting the aircraft on the ground exactly where we want it Needless to say there is little room for error

If your only flying experience has been in a Cherokee or a Skyhawk youll have never really experienced a seshyrious forward slip Those of you used to a Cub Champ or T-craft are more experienced in that technique but not to this extent Because gliders have large rudders to counter all the adverse yaw these same rudders can

be used to get the glider almost perpendicular to the centerline of the runway while on final approach By combining the slip with the use of the spoilers (on the upper surface of the wing) and dive brakes (on the botshytom of the wing) you can easily control the altitude Pitch controls the airspeed And just like a powered plane you can fly final lion target on speed to a pershyfect spot landing All without any power

There are many other challenges that flying glidshyers present-enough challenges to keep flying a glider an exciting and enthralling endeavor for what I would think could well be the rest of ones flying career I am not suggesting that you give up flying powered airshycraft but I am suggesting that you should try flying a glider at least once or twice Why you could even fulfill the requirements for a biennial flight review or Wings program in one

Regardless of your reason I can guarantee that flyshying a glider will teach you some new tricks and reshymind you of some you might have forgotten It will definitely put a smile on your face and it wont disapshypear overnight Its almost been a week since I flew that glider and Im still glowing In fact I think I might have to make the time to get my glider rating Why dont you try it I think youll like it

Doug Stewart is the 2004 National CFI ofthe Year a Master Instructor and a DPE He operates DSFI Inc (wwwdsflight com) based at the Columbia County Airport (1Bl) ~

Ir======================================~-shy

Just Uke in the Good Old Days

All the Randolph products aD the Randolph colors aD the Randolph quality An aviation icon is back on the market again to stay

800-362-349degltOr e-mail us at info ~ randolphaircraftcom ~

~~

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29

Jack Francis Perry UT

_ Started fiying in 1966

_ Enlisted in the US Air Force in 1968

_ Bought 1946 Swift N3324K in 1990s currently has over 250 hours in the Swift

I had only owned my plane for three days and had never flown it

when we got a 125 mph wind that blew the hangar door in on the

plane AUA paid the claim in full and in record time

- Jack Francis

AUAs Exclusive EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Insurance Program lower liability and hull premiums

Medical payments included - FJeet discounts for multiple aircraft carrying all risk coverages - No ~and-propping exclusion

N o component part~ endorsements - Discounts for claim-free renewals carrying all risk coverages

The best is affordable Give AUA a call - its FREE

800-727-3823 Fly with the pros fly with AUA Ina AVIATION UNLIMITED AGENCY

wwwauaonlinecom

Something to b u y se ll or trade Classified Word Ads $550 per 10 words 180 words maximum with boldface lead-in on first line Classified Display Ads One column wide (2167 inches) by 1 2 or 3 inches high at $20 per inch Black and white only and no

frequency discounts Advertising Closing Dates 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (ie January 10 is the closing date for the March issue) VM

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 (classadseaaorg) using credit card payment (all cards accepted) Include name on cardcomplete address type of card card number and expiration date Make checks payable to EM Address advertising correspondence to EM Publications Classified Ad Manager PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086

BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod THERES JUST NOTHING LIKE IT Airplane T-Shirts bearings main bearings bushings master rods valves piston rings Call us Toll Free 1-800-233-6934 e-mail ramremfgaocom Website

ON THE WEB wwwaviation-giftshopcom

A Website with the Pilot in Mind (and those who love airplanes)

150 Different Airplanes Available WE PROBABLY HAVE

YOUR AIRPLANE wwwairpanetshirtscom

wwwramenginecom VI NTAG E ENGINE MACHINE WORKS N 604 FREYA ST SPOKANE WA 99202

Warner engines Two 165s one fresh OH one low time on Fairchild 24 mount with all accessories Al so Helton Lark and Aeronca C-3 project Find my name and address in the

1-800-645-7739

Flying wires available_ 1994 pricing_ Visit wwwflyingwirescom or call

Officers and Directors listing and call B00-517-9278 CUSTOM PRINTED T-SHIRTS for your evenings E E Buck Hilbert

flying club flight shop museum Free samples Call 1-800-645-7739 or 1shy

For Sale - 1939 Spartan Executive 3500TT 10 SMOH 214-354-6418

AampP IA Annual 100 hr inspections Wayne Forshey 614-476-9150

828-654-9711 wwwpjetservicescom Ohio - statewide

REGIONAL FLY-IN SCHEDULE Virginia State EAA Fly-In Evergreen AL (GZH) October 1-2 2005

The following list ofcoming events is furnished to our readers as a matter of inforshy Petersburg VA (PTB)mation only and does not constitute approval sponsorship involvement control wwwvaeaaorg or direction ofany event (fly-in seminars fly market etc) listed To submit an event send the information via mail to Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086 Osshy EAA Southeasthkosh WI 54903-3086 Or e-mail the information to vintageaircra(teaaorg Regional Fly-InIn formation should be received fOllr months prior to the event date

SEPTEMBER S-H-Galesburg IL-Galesburg Municipal Airport 34th Annual Stearman Fly-In Techn ical seminars Aircraft judging and awards Aerobatic fo rmation short-field takeoff spot-landing and flour bombing contests Dawn Patrol lunch-time flyouts pizza party stage show banquet and more Info 309-343-6409 o r stearmanstearmanflyin com or wwwstearmanflyincom

SEPTEMBER ll-Mt Morris IL-Ogle County Airport (C55) EAA Ch 682 Fly-In Breakfast 7am-12pm Info 815-732-7268

SEPTEMBER 16-17-Bartlesville OK-Frank Phillips Field (BVO) 49th Annual Tulsa Regional Fly-In Info wwwtulsaflyil1 com or Charlie Harris at 918-622-8400

SEPTEMBER 17-Poplar Grove IL-Poplar Grove Airport Vintage Wings amp Wheels Museum Salute to WWII Combat Aviators Military aircraft display and fly-by Interviews with 12 WWII veterans of air combat Info wwwpoplargroleairmotivecommuseum

SEPTEMBER 17-18--Rock Falls IL-Whiteside County Airport (SQI) North Central EAA Old Fashioned Fly-In Forums workshops fl y-market camping air rally awards food amp exhibitors Info wwwl1ceaaorg

SEPTEMBER 22-25-St Louis MO-Creve Coeur Airport (lHO) Monocoupe Club Fly-InReunion Info Frank Kerner (3 14) 277-4306 or monocollpesbcglobalnetor www monocoupecom

SEPTEMBER 23-25-Sonoma CA-Sonoma Skypark (OQ9)

32 SEPTEMBER 2005

October 7-9 2004

wwwserfiorg

Copperstate Regional EAA Fly-In October 6-9 2005 Phoenix AZ (A39) wwwcopperstateorg

23rd Annual West Coast Travel Air Reunion Come to wine country for the largest gathering of Vintage Travel Airs Info 925-689-8182

SEPTEMBER 24-0 ntario OR-Ontario Air Faire-Breakfast by EAA Ch 837 Large warbird collection aero airshow car show stage entertainment Free admission Info Roger 208shy739-39 79 or rlstpsaolcom

SEPTEMBER 24-Topping VA-Hummel Air Field 10th Annual Car amp Air Event 8am-4pm Featuring antique cars and planes plus fire apparatus tractors amp engines and arts amp crafts Info (804) 694-5995 or in(oWingsandwheelsus or wwwwingsandwheelsus

SEPTEMBER 24-Hanover IN-Lee Bottom Flying Field (641) Wood Fabric amp Tailwheels Fly-In Info wwwleebottomcom

OCTOBER 1-2-Midland TX-Midland Intl Airport FINAshyCAF AIRSHO 2005 will commemorate 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II Info 432-563-1000 x 2231 or pllblicrelationscafhqmiddotorg

OCTOBER S-9--Tullahoma TN- 1932 to 200S-The Tradition Lives Year of the Staggerwing Staggerwing Twin Beech 18 Bonanza Baron Beech owners amp enthusiasts Sponsored by the Staggerwing Museum Foundation Staggerwing Club Twin Beech 18 Society BonanzaBaron Museum Travel Air Division amp Twin Bonanza Assn Info 931-455-1974

OCTOBER 14-15-Pineville LA-EAA Ch 614 Annual Fall Fly-In Info httpwwweaa614org margaretortigohotmailcom or 318-445-1772

VI N T A GE AIRP L ANE 31

Something to b u y se ll or trade Classified Word Ads $550 per 10 words 180 words maximum with boldface lead-in on first line Classified Display Ads One column wide (2167 inches) by 1 2 or 3 inches high at $20 per inch Black and white only and no

frequency discounts Advertising Closing Dates 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (ie January 10 is the closing date for the March issue) VM

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 (classadseaaorg) using credit card payment (all cards accepted) Include name on cardcomplete address type of card card number and expiration date Make checks payable to EM Address advertising correspondence to EM Publications Classified Ad Manager PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086

BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod THERES JUST NOTHING LIKE IT Airplane T-Shirts bearings main bearings bushings master rods valves piston rings Call us Toll Free 1-800-233-6934 e-mail ramremfgaocom Website

ON THE WEB wwwaviation-giftshopcom

A Website with the Pilot in Mind (and those who love airplanes)

150 Different Airplanes Available WE PROBABLY HAVE

YOUR AIRPLANE wwwairpanetshirtscom

wwwramenginecom VI NTAG E ENGINE MACHINE WORKS N 604 FREYA ST SPOKANE WA 99202

Warner engines Two 165s one fresh OH one low time on Fairchild 24 mount with all accessories Al so Helton Lark and Aeronca C-3 project Find my name and address in the

1-800-645-7739

Flying wires available_ 1994 pricing_ Visit wwwflyingwirescom or call

Officers and Directors listing and call B00-517-9278 CUSTOM PRINTED T-SHIRTS for your evenings E E Buck Hilbert

flying club flight shop museum Free samples Call 1-800-645-7739 or 1shy

For Sale - 1939 Spartan Executive 3500TT 10 SMOH 214-354-6418

AampP IA Annual 100 hr inspections Wayne Forshey 614-476-9150

828-654-9711 wwwpjetservicescom Ohio - statewide

REGIONAL FLY-IN SCHEDULE Virginia State EAA Fly-In Evergreen AL (GZH) October 1-2 2005

The following list ofcoming events is furnished to our readers as a matter of inforshy Petersburg VA (PTB)mation only and does not constitute approval sponsorship involvement control wwwvaeaaorg or direction ofany event (fly-in seminars fly market etc) listed To submit an event send the information via mail to Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086 Osshy EAA Southeasthkosh WI 54903-3086 Or e-mail the information to vintageaircra(teaaorg Regional Fly-InIn formation should be received fOllr months prior to the event date

SEPTEMBER S-H-Galesburg IL-Galesburg Municipal Airport 34th Annual Stearman Fly-In Techn ical seminars Aircraft judging and awards Aerobatic fo rmation short-field takeoff spot-landing and flour bombing contests Dawn Patrol lunch-time flyouts pizza party stage show banquet and more Info 309-343-6409 o r stearmanstearmanflyin com or wwwstearmanflyincom

SEPTEMBER ll-Mt Morris IL-Ogle County Airport (C55) EAA Ch 682 Fly-In Breakfast 7am-12pm Info 815-732-7268

SEPTEMBER 16-17-Bartlesville OK-Frank Phillips Field (BVO) 49th Annual Tulsa Regional Fly-In Info wwwtulsaflyil1 com or Charlie Harris at 918-622-8400

SEPTEMBER 17-Poplar Grove IL-Poplar Grove Airport Vintage Wings amp Wheels Museum Salute to WWII Combat Aviators Military aircraft display and fly-by Interviews with 12 WWII veterans of air combat Info wwwpoplargroleairmotivecommuseum

SEPTEMBER 17-18--Rock Falls IL-Whiteside County Airport (SQI) North Central EAA Old Fashioned Fly-In Forums workshops fl y-market camping air rally awards food amp exhibitors Info wwwl1ceaaorg

SEPTEMBER 22-25-St Louis MO-Creve Coeur Airport (lHO) Monocoupe Club Fly-InReunion Info Frank Kerner (3 14) 277-4306 or monocollpesbcglobalnetor www monocoupecom

SEPTEMBER 23-25-Sonoma CA-Sonoma Skypark (OQ9)

32 SEPTEMBER 2005

October 7-9 2004

wwwserfiorg

Copperstate Regional EAA Fly-In October 6-9 2005 Phoenix AZ (A39) wwwcopperstateorg

23rd Annual West Coast Travel Air Reunion Come to wine country for the largest gathering of Vintage Travel Airs Info 925-689-8182

SEPTEMBER 24-0 ntario OR-Ontario Air Faire-Breakfast by EAA Ch 837 Large warbird collection aero airshow car show stage entertainment Free admission Info Roger 208shy739-39 79 or rlstpsaolcom

SEPTEMBER 24-Topping VA-Hummel Air Field 10th Annual Car amp Air Event 8am-4pm Featuring antique cars and planes plus fire apparatus tractors amp engines and arts amp crafts Info (804) 694-5995 or in(oWingsandwheelsus or wwwwingsandwheelsus

SEPTEMBER 24-Hanover IN-Lee Bottom Flying Field (641) Wood Fabric amp Tailwheels Fly-In Info wwwleebottomcom

OCTOBER 1-2-Midland TX-Midland Intl Airport FINAshyCAF AIRSHO 2005 will commemorate 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II Info 432-563-1000 x 2231 or pllblicrelationscafhqmiddotorg

OCTOBER S-9--Tullahoma TN- 1932 to 200S-The Tradition Lives Year of the Staggerwing Staggerwing Twin Beech 18 Bonanza Baron Beech owners amp enthusiasts Sponsored by the Staggerwing Museum Foundation Staggerwing Club Twin Beech 18 Society BonanzaBaron Museum Travel Air Division amp Twin Bonanza Assn Info 931-455-1974

OCTOBER 14-15-Pineville LA-EAA Ch 614 Annual Fall Fly-In Info httpwwweaa614org margaretortigohotmailcom or 318-445-1772

VI N T A GE AIRP L ANE 31

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT

ASSOCIATION OFFICERS

President Vice-President Geoff Robison George Daubner

1521 E MacGregor Dr 2448 Lough Lane New Haven IN 46774 Hartford WI 53027

260-493-4724 262-673-5885 cilie7025aolcom vaalyboyms (om

Secretary Treasure r Steve Nesse Ch arles W Harris

2009 Highland Ave 7215 East 46th St Albert Lea MN 56007 Tulsa OK 74 147

507-373-1674 918-622-8400 stnesdeskmedia c01ll cwhhv5ucom

DIRECTORS Steve Bende r Dale A Gustafson

85 Brush Hill Road 7724 5hady Hills Dr Sherborn MA 01770 Indianapolis IN 46278

508-653-7557 317-293-4430 sst 10co mcast lIet dale(ayemmcom

David Bennett Jeannie Hill PO Box 1188 PO Box 328

Roseville CA 95678 Harvard IL 60033-0328 916-645-8370 815-943-7205

alltiqllerimeach co11l dilglzaoowcnet

John Berendt Espie Butch Joyce 7645 Echo Point Rd 704 N Regional Rd

Cannon Falls MN 55009 Greensboro NC 27409 507-263-24 14 336-668-3650

mjbfchldrcolff1ectcom windsockaol com

Robert C Bob Brauer Steve Krog93455 Hoyne 1002 Hea ther Ln

Chicago IL 60620 Hartford WI 53027 773-779-2105 262-966-7627

photopilotaolcolll sskrogaoi com

Dave Clark Robert D Bob Lumley 635 Vestal Lane 1265 South 124th 5t

Plainfield IN 46168 Brookfi eld WI 53005 317 -839-4500 262-782-2633

dmfcpdques ttJet ittmperexecpccom

John S Copeland Gene Morris lA Deacon Street 5936 5teve Court

Northborough MA 01532 Roanoke TX 76262 508-393-4775 817-491-9 1IO

copeand l jllflocom gellemorriscJlarler lIet

Phil Coulson Dea n Richardson 28415 Springbrook Dr 1429 Kings Lynn Rd

Lawton MI 49065 5toughton WI 53589 269-624-6490 608-877-8485

rcouso SI 6(gcscom darapriiairecom

Roger Gomoll SH Wes Schmid 8891 Airport Rd Box C2 2359 Lefeber Avenue

Blaine MN 55449 Wauwatosa WI 532 13 763-786-3342 414-77)-1545

pledgedrivellsflcOlll sllscllmid111iiwpc(om

DIRECTORS EMERITUS

Gene Chase EE Buck Hilbert 2159 Carlton Rd PO Box 424

Oshkosh WI 54904 Un ion IL 60 180 920-231-5002 815-923-4591

GRCHAcltarterl let b7acmcet

Ronald C Fritz 15401 5parta Ave

Kent City MI 49330 616-678-5012

rFritlpa thwaynet (om

Membershi~ Services Directory ENJOY THE MANY BENEFITS OF EAA AND ~ THE EAA VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATlON

EAA Aviation Center PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Phone (920) 426-4800 Fax (920) 426-4873

Web Site wwwvintngeaircrntorg and wwwnirventureorg E-Mail vntageaircratenaorg

EAA and Division Membership Services 800-843-3612 FAX 920-426-6761 (800 AM-700 PM Monday-Friday CST)

-Newrenew memberships EAA Divishysions (Vintage Aircraft AS50ciation lAC Warbirds) National AS50ciation of Flight Instructors (NAFl)

-Address changes -Merchandise sale5 -Gift memberships

Programs and Activities EAA AirVenture Fax-On-Demand Directory 732-885-6711

Auto Fuel STCs 920-426-4843 Build restore information 920-426-4821 Chapters locatingorganizing920-426-4876 Education 888-322-3229

- EAA Air Academy - EAA Scholarship5

Flight Advisor5 information 920-426-6864 Flight Instructor information 920-426-6801 Flying Start Program 920-426-6847 Library ServicesRe5earch 920-426-4848 Medical Questions 920-426-6112 Technical Counselor5 920-426-6864 Young Eagle5 877-806-8902

Benefits AUA Vintage Insurance Plan 800-727-3823 EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan 866-647-4322 Term Life and Accidental 800-241-6103 Death Insurance (Harvey Watt amp Company) Editorial 920-426-4825 Vintage FAX 920-426-6865

- Submitting articlephoto - Advertising information

EAA Aviation Foundation Artifact Donations 920-426-4877 Financial Support 800-236-1025

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION EAA lAC

Membership in the Experimental Aircraft Current EAA members may join the Association Inc is $40 for one year includshy International Aerobatic Club Inc Divishying 12 issue5 of SPORT AVIATION Family sion and receive SPORT AEROBATICS membership is an additional $10 annually magazine for an additional $45 per year Junior Membership (under 19 years of age) EAA Membership SPORT AEROBATshyis available at $23 annually All major credit ICS magazine and one year membership cards accepted for membership (Add $16 for in the lAC Division is available for $55 Foreign Postage) per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine

not included) (Add $15 for ForeignEAA SPORT PILOT Postage)

Current EAA members may add EAA SPORT PILOT magazine for an additional WARBIRDS $20 per year Current EAA members may join the EAA

EAA Membership and EAA SPORT Warbirds of America Division and receive PILOT magazine is available for $40 per WARBIRDS magazine for an additional $40 year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not inshy per year cluded) (Add $16 for Foreign Postage) EAA Membership WARBIRDS magashy

zine and one year membership in the VINTAGE AIRCRAFf ASSOCIATION Warbirds Division is available for $50 per

Current EAA members may join the year (SPORT AVIATION magaZine not inshyVintage Aircraft Association and receive cluded) (Add $7 for Foreign Postage) VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for an adshyditional $36 per year FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS

EAA Membership VINTAGE AIRPLANE Please submit your remittance with a magazine and one year membership in the EAA check or draft drawn on a United States Vintage Aircraft ASSOCiation i5 available for $46 bank payable in United States dollars Add per year (SPORT AVIATION magaZine not inshy required Foreign Postage amount for each cluded) (Add $7 for Foreign Postage) membership

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

Gopyrightcopy2005 by the EM Vintage Aircraft Associalion All rights reserved

VINTAGE AIRPLANE (USPS 062-750ISSN 009t-6943) is published and owned exclusively by the EM Vinlage Aircraft Association of the Experimental Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EM Aviation Center 3000 Poberezny Rd PO Box 3086 Oshkosh Wisconsin 54903middot3086 e-mail vintageaircrafteaaorg Periodicals Postage paid at Oshkosh Wisconsin 54901 and at additional mailing offlCes POSTshyMASTER Send address changes to Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 PM 40032445 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Wortd Distribution Services Station A PO Box 54Windsor ON N9A 6J5e-mail cpcretumSWdsmailcom FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES - Please allow alleast two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surface mail ADVERTISshyING - Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the advertising We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken

EDITORIAL POLlCY Readers are encouraged to submit stories and photographs Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the contributor Noremuneration is made Material should be sent to Editor VINTAGE AIRPLANE PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Phone 920-426-4800

EMregand EM SPORTAVIAnONreg the EM Logoreg and Aeronautica are registered trademartlts trademartlts and service marks of the ExperimentalAircraft Association IncTheuse of these trademartlts and service marks without the pennission of the Experimental Aircraft Association Inc is strictly prohibited

32 SEPTEMBER 2005