MAY 2011

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Ashley Hall and his seven year old son Aidan enjoy flying their 1947 Luscombe 8E out of Fraizier Lake Airpark in beautiful Northern California. Ashleys Luscombe is a Moody Larsen 150hp Lycoming conversion and was once owned by Ross Funk an original Luscombe employee.

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2 Straight & Level Getting ready for another great AirVenture by Geoff Robison

3 News

6 N44VY and See the World! Bob Coolbaughs Curtiss Model D Pusher helps commemorate the 100th anniversary of naval aviation by Gilles Auliard

13 Noorduyn Norseman Canadas unsung blue-collar worker by Budd Davisson

18 The EAAs H-10 Pheasant Retail price of $2,895 by Jim Busha and H.G. Frautschy

22 My Friend Frank Rezich, Part VIII Fun on the National Air Tour with Frank by Robert G. Lock

26 Light Plane Heritage Prest Baby Pursuit by George Hardie, Jr.

28 The Vintage Mechanic Vibrations, Part 2 by Robert G. Lock

32 The Vintage Instructor Overcoming self-doubt by Steve Krog, CFI

34 Mystery Plane by H.G. Frautschy

37 Classifi ed Ads

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1

A I R P L A N E M A YC O N T E N T S

S T A F FEAA Publisher Rod HightowerDirector of EAA Publications Mary JonesExecutive Director/Editor H.G. FrautschyProduction/Special Project Kathleen WitmanPhotography Jim KoepnickCopy Editor Colleen WalshSenior Art Director Olivia P. TrabboldEAA Chairman of the Board Tom Poberezny

Publication Advertising:Manager/Domestic, Sue AndersonTel: 920-426-6127 Email: sanderson@eaa.orgFax: 920-426-4828

Senior Business Relations Mgr, Trevor JanzTel: 920-426-6809 Email: tjanz@eaa.org

Manager/European-Asian, Willi TackePhone: +49(0)1716980871 Email: willi@fl ying-pages.comFax: +49(0)8841 / 496012

Interim Coordinator/Classifi ed, Alicia CanzianiTel: 920-426-6860 Email: classads@eaa.org

C O V E R S

Vol. 39, No. 5 2011

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

6

18

2 MAY 2011

As most of you have heard, Mother Nature swung a big stick at the Sun n Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Florida, on March 31. The news coverage, the vid-eos, and the many pictures that were sent out to aviators all over the world were disturbing to see. My heart goes out to our partners in Lakeland, and we are all so fortunate that no one lost their life during this tragic event. The resiliency of the staff and volun-teers was remarkable; by the next day, the fi eld was still a bit soggy, but the damage had been cleaned up, and they were ready for action. With so much devastation surrounding them, they were able to reopen the show the next day. This will hopefully prove to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for Sun n Fun and its guests, and we wish them all good fortune with their fu-ture fl y-ins.

As I write this column, I have just returned from another sojourn to the mecca of aviation: Oshkosh. Although the gas prices were a bit steeper this month, the enjoyment al-ways easily overrides the expense in-volved. The occasion this month was the fi rst of three planned VAA volun-teer work weekends for 2011. A great time was had by all. In a very short time period, 32 volunteers accom-plished an amazing amount of work. This all-volunteer force, including six VAA officers/directors, tackled three major projects, investing a total of 614 hours of hard work in one week-end. The fi rst project was to construct an 18-by-38-foot workshop area with a 10-foot-high ceiling. This area will be used to operate our metalworking shop inside the Vintage Hangar. The construction design included dou-ble-walled, double-insulated exterior

walls, with heavy insulation in the ceiling between all of the stringers.

This project will be a welcome addition to the hangar for the type club representatives who have pa-tiently endured the noise of the met-alworking operations over the past two years. Amazingly, our volunteers completed this project over a two-day period and well under budget.

The second project was the Air Mail Station we are building to be used as part of the EAAs celebration of the U.S. Air Mails 100th anniver-sary at AirVenture 2011. This por-table 16-by-16-foot building is also being constructed by our VAA vol-unteers. The goal here is to construct a building that appears to have sur-vived from the 1920s. This building, along with a large number of vintage air mail aircraft from this era, will be a must-see display during your visit to AirVenture 2011. Come on by and send an old postcard to a friend or family member! We plan on flying the mail with a vintage biplane as part of this program.

The third project was an upgrade to the north side of our Red Barn, typically referred to as the Vintage Hospitality/Guest Relations area. This area has been long overdue for a nice sprucing up. We have long needed to upgrade some of the electrical issues and storage issues in this area as well. The chairwoman of this area, long-time VAA director Jeannie Hill, is very excited with the progress made in her area this past weekend. New paint on the interior walls along with an up-grade to the wall decorations are on her list as well.

Many thanks are offered to each and every volunteer who stepped up

this weekend, and I sincerely hope you all enjoyed the accommoda-tions, the fellowship, and the fine meals that were prepared by your fel-low volunteers. Feel free to join us at a future volunteer work party in Oshkosh. The next two work parties are scheduled for May 13, 14, and 15, and for June 10, 11, and 12. Call Michael Blombach, the chairman of our maintenance committee, with any questions; his phone number is 260-433-5101.

I was also fortunate to spend some time at Paul Pobereznys Aeroplane Factory this same weekend. As men-tioned in a previous column, Paul is busy constructing a new/old Baby Ace in the shop these days. This project is coming along nicely with assistance from his able volunteers. This week-end saw the project land on its feet as the main gear attach points were welded onto the airframe, and the gear legs were attached and bun-geed up. Looking good, Paul! By the way, many thanks to you and Audrey, Mike and Audra Hoy, and Adam and Janet Smith for your attendance at our Saturday evening meal at the old farmhouse. Your talk with the vintage volunteers was very inspirational, as well as complementary to our organi-zation, and it was very well-received by our group.

VAA is about participation: Be a member! Be a volunteer! Be there! Do yourself a favor and ask a friend to join up with us. Lets all pull in the same direction for the good of avia-tion. Remember, we are better to-gether. Join us and have it all.

GEOFF ROBISONPRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

STRAIGHT & LEVEL

Getting ready for another great AirVenture!

VAA NEWSWhat Was That Little Monoplane?

On the back cover of the March issue of Vintage Air-plane, we left it to you to identify the small draw-ing on the left side of the artwork. Any many of you wrote or called to do just thatand each of you agreed with one another! Its the Alexander Flyabout D-2, a two-place, side-by-side airplane pow-ered by a Szekely 45. You can read all about it in Joe Juptners U.S. Civil Aircraft Series; it is Approved Type Certificate 449, issued Sep-tember 5, 1931. Check Volume 5, page 143.

Mistakes That Can DerailYour Re-Registration

The FAAs aircraft re-registration initiative that began on November 1, 2010, is going about as expected, ac-cording to Walter Binkley, manager of aircraft registry in Oklahoma City. That is to say, its going fairly wellwith more people than expected us-ing online registration instead of mailing the paper form. Re-registeringonline is much more effi cient, result-ing in a one-week turnaround as op-posed to the six to eight weeks for fi lling out and mailing in the form, then waiting for hard copies to wind their way through the queue.

There are some mistakes the branch is seeing that can derail a registration; these include:

Failure to print or type name. Making an alteration to the

text and whiting out or obscuring something on the formthe only acceptable way to alter text is to line through and correct.

Including the appropriate fee.Checking both info correct

and changes made boxes or leav-ing both uncheckedone of the boxes must be checked.

Sending in the re-registration when its not their turn. We wont take applications out of cycle, Binkley said.

If you receive a fi nal notice even though you have already submit-ted re-registration materials, dont worry; the FAA wants to give air-craft owners every opportunity to re-register in the event of procras-tination, materials lost in the mail, or other reasons, Binkley said.

If you submit your re-registra-

tion and it has not been processed by the prescribed fi nal notice date, youll automatically receive a fi nal notice. The FAA also sends a third notice when an aircrafts registra-tion expires, giving owners a fi nal opportunity to get their materials in and save their N numbers.

Call 866-762-9434 (toll free) or 405-954-3131 with any questions or concerns. Or go to www.SportAviation.org to fill out an online form for fastest response.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

Curtiss Model MF Flying Boat Now on DisplayBack in April 2010, I was quoted in a news story on www.EAA.

org as saying, It was interesting to see a rare, museum-quality

aircraft from the 1910-1920 era auctioned; there are only five

Curtiss F boats left, and we can only hope that the buyer will allow

this amazing seaplane to be displayed so the public can enjoy it.

It seems my wish has come true. One of the trustees of the mu-

seum, Eric Driver, was kind enough to drop us a note and advise

us that the Curtiss MF fl ying boat sold at auction by Bonhams is

now on display in its new home, the Omaka Aviation Heritage Cen-

tre, Blenheim, New Zealand. For more on the museum, you can

visit its website at www.Omaka.org.nz. H.G. Frautschy

4 MAY 2011

Find AirVenture Housingon New Website

The Oshkosh Convention & Vis i tors Bureau makes i t eas-ier to find Oshkosh lodging off-grounds through the new website www.VisitOshkosh.com . Search through listings of hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, resorts, cot-tages, cabins, campgrounds, and dormitories with their availabil-ity, searchable within a database through a variety of criteria.

The new website also provides an extensive list of private homes and rooms that are available for rent by area homeowners dur-ing AirVenture. Private homes and rooms provide an affordable lodging option with several price point and amenity options, most within close proximity to the Air-Venture grounds.

Also check the FAQ section of www.VisitOshkosh.com for an-swers to questions about accom-modations during AirVenture, or call the Oshkosh Convention

& Vis i tors Bureau tol l - f ree at 877-303-9200.

International Learn to Fly DayInternational Learn to Fly Day

is May 21, 2011. It is an aviation communitywide effort helping people of all ages take that first step to discover the fun, freedom, and accomplishment of flight. EAA and numerous other aviation organizations and businesses are again joining together to organize introductory flights, seminars, open houses at airports and fl ight schools, and other activities.

A primary focus of this years event is to offer introductory fl ights to adults who have always wanted to discover flight. EAA views these introductory flights for adults as a key step toward es-tablishing a year-round adult ver-sion of its popular Young Eagles program, which has offered free flights to more than 1.6 million young people since 1992.

More than 80 events have al-

ready been planned. Learn more at www.LearnToFly.org.

Get Ready for Super SaturdaySaturday, July 30, should be one

for the ages at AirVenture 2011, with numerous special events and attractions scheduled from dawn to dark. From the 6 a.m. mass hot air balloon launch in the Ultralight area to the day-ending Night Air Show, one would be hard-pressed to find a single day filled with as many outstanding attractions.

Between the balloons and the booms, activities include the Run-way 5K run/walk throughout the AirVenture grounds; the expanded Warbird Spectacular air show; the nightly movie at the EAA Fly-In Theater presented by Ford Motor Company and supported by Ham-ilton Watches; and a concert at Theater in the Woods by country singer/pilot Aaron Tippin.

The Night Air Show and Daher-Socata Fireworks & Wall of Fire drew tens of thousands to the fl ightline in 2010, and this years festivities are set to start at 8:30 p.m.

Sportsman PilotBack Issues Available

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

Win a SkycatcherEnter the 2011 EAA Share the Spirit Sweepstakes for your chance

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

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

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Address______________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Phone___________________________________________________E-Mail______________________________________________Please choose your level of participation:

Payment enclosed (Make checks payable to Vintage Aircraft Assoc.) Please charge my credit card (below) Credit Card Number _____________________________ Expiration Date _________ Signature_________________________________________

*Do you or your spouse work for a matching-gift company? If so, this gift may qualify for a matching donation. Please ask your human resources department for the appropriate form.Name of Company __________________________________________________________________The Vintage Aircraft Association is a non-profi t educational organization under IRS 501c3 rules. Under Federal Law, the deduction from Federal Income tax for charitable contributions is limited to the amount by which any money (and the value of any property other than money) contributed exceeds the value of the goods or services provided in exchange for the contribution. An appropriate receipt acknowledging your gift will be sent to you for IRS gift reporting reasons.

Mail your contribution to:VAA FORB

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Please help the VAA make EAA AirVenture Oshkoshan unforgettable experience for our many guests.

Become a Friend of the Red BarnBecome a Friend of the Red Barn

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Two Tickets to VAA Picnic Tri-Motor Certi cate 2 Tickets 2 Tickets 2 Tickets 1 Ticket

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Special FORB Cap Two Passes to VAA Volunteer Party Special FORB Badge Access to Volunteer Center Donor Appreciation Certi cate Name Listed: Vintage Airplane Magazine, Website, and Sign at Red Barn

6 MAY 2011

N44VYand See the World!

Join the

On N o v e m b e r 1 4 , 1910, Eugene B. Ely, a pilot with the Cur-tiss Aerial Exhibition Team, coaxed his

Curtiss Pusher off the deck of the cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-2)which had been specially modifi ed for the occasionwhile it lay at an-chor off Hampton Roads, Virginia.

On January 18, 1911, in San Francisco Bay, Ely raised the bar a few notches and landed on the ar-mored cruiser USS Pennsylvania, later taking off from the same plat-form, de facto signing the birth cer-

tifi cate of U.S. naval aviation. Eugene Burton Ely was born in

Williamsburg, Iowa, on October 21,1879, and raised in nearby Dav-enport. He attended and graduated from Iowa State University in 1904. Following graduation, he moved to San Francisco, California, where he was active in the early days of the sales and racing of automobiles.

Relocating in Portland, Oregon, in early 1910, Ely worked as a me-chanic for E. Henry Wemme, a lo-cal auto dealer. Soon after, Wemme purchased one of Glenn Curtiss first pushers powered by a four-

cylinder engine and acquired the franchise for the Pacifi c Northwest. Wemme had no idea how to fl y the contraption, so Ely volunteered to fly it for him. Ely didnt do well initially, crashing it on his first fl ight; to his credit, Ely offered to buy the wreck.

Within a few months, he had repaired the airplane and taught himself to fly. In June 1910, he participated in a display in Minne-apolis, Minnesota, and met Glenn Curtiss, who hired him for his barnstorming exhibition team.

In October 1910, Capt. Wash-

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

Bob CoolbaughsCurtiss

Model D Pusher helps

commemorate the100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation

by Gilles Auliard

. . .Original construction methods were followed and original material used whenpossible.The bambooused in theconstruction was tracked down to the originalimporter inNew Jersey. . . .

With Bob Coolbaugh in the pilots seat, the Curtiss Pusher cruises in the pattern at New Market Airport. These pictures were taken from Andrew Kings Taylorcraft, with an outside temperature barely above freezing and a surface wind at 6 to 8 mph. Normally, such light wind condi-tions would not be much of a factor, but the Pusher has proven to be a handful in all but the lightest breezes.

November, 1910, Norfolk Navy Yard-the US Navy hoists a company Curtiss

Pusher aboard the USS Birmingham. The takeoff platform, angled downward at a 5 degree angle, had been build on

the foredeck of the scout cruiser with the express purpose of demonstrating aircraft operations were possible from

a ship. No expectation of a landing was part of this activity. The project, initiated

by Captain Washington I. Chambers, was paid for by a wealthy aviation enthusiast,

John B. Ryan, was endorsed by the As-sistant Secretary of the Navy, Beekman Winthrop. Glen Curtiss made the same pusher hed used the previous spring,

the Albany Flyer, available for use.

GILLES AULIARD

8 MAY 2011

ington A. Chambers, who was re-sponsible for aviation matters at the Navy department, traveled to Belmont Park, New York, to meet with pioneer aviators at the Inter-national Air Meet and inspect their machines. During discussions with Ely, he was quite impressed with Elys technical knowledge.

Less than a month later, Cham-bers attended another air meet near Baltimore, Maryland, and again met

with Ely. Upon hearing the captains idea of a ship landing, Ely immedi-ately embraced the concept.

In less than two weeks time, the project took shape. At the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, a wooden plat-form was quickly constructed over the foredeck of the scout cruiser USS Birmingham.

Designed by naval constructor William McEntree and paid for by wealthy aviation enthusiast John

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

Eugune Ely prepares for takeoff from the 120-foot tem-porary platform built above the aft deck of the USS Pennsylvania, anchored in San Francisco harbor. The large crowd on board was mirrored by the thousands lining the bayfront to witness the earlier landing and now take off. Sailors from various merchant sailing vessels stood on the yardarms of their ships to get a glimpse of the action.

January 18, 1911Success! Ely guides the Pusher over the downturned end of the 120x30 foot runway built above the deck of the armored cruiser Pennsyl-vania. The arresting system of hooks attached to the Pushers landing gear, coupled with a set of ropes strung across the deck, with sandbags attached at each end, quickly brought the biplane to a stop.

U.S

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All hail the intrepid pilot!Eugene Ely is hosted on the shoulders of US Army person-nel after returning to shore following his successful land-ing and takeoff from the cruiser Pennsylvania. Sadly, Ely would not live to see 1912. He died on October 19, 1911 in the crash of a Curtiss Pusher during a fl ight exposition in Macon, Georgia.

Narry Ryan, the structure pro-vided a 57-foot-long takeoff run for Elys biplane.

Shortly before noon, on Novem-ber 14, 1910, the USS Birmingham steamed down the Elizabeth River toward Hampton Roads, where the fl ight was to take place.

However, the weather was dread-ful , marginally improving by mid-afternoon.

Ely, warming up his engine and checking its controls, waited impa-tiently during the lengthy process of the ship raising anchor. Noting the visibility was again deteriorat-

ing, he decided on an immediate attempt, even though the ship was stationary. At 3:16, he gunned the engine, gave the release signal, rolled down the ramp, and was airbornealmost.

The Curtiss briefly touched the water, and the propeller started vi-brating heavily. Ely had to touch down at nearby Willoughby Spit af-ter a fi ve-minute, 2-1/2- mile fl ight. Even though the fl ight did not fully reach its goals, it was viewed as a major achievement and received widespread publicity.

Soon after, Capt. Chambers pro-

posed that Ely try to land his plane onboard ship. The aviator offered to make an attempt in January 1911, in San Francisco, California, where he would be participating in yet another air meet.

The Pacif ic Fleet s armored cruiser Pennsylvania was chosen, and the Mare Island Naval Ship-yard constructed a temporary wooden platform over the aft deck and the gun turret.

Ely and others devised a method of stopping the planes within the platforms 120-by-30-foot dimen-sions. A series of ropes, with sand-

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

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

A very odd--but authentic--detail is the use of horse blanket security pins to hold the elevator in place. Its neutral incidence can be changed on the ground by sliding the fi tting up or down on a vertical post, with the pins securing the mount.

This Curtiss at rest in its grass environment. The boxkite-like structure of the Pusher is held together by no less than 130 pieces of wire.

GILLES AULIARD

10 MAY 2011

bags at each end, would be stretched across the temporary deck and held above it by boards laid along its length. Hooks were attached to the landing gear to catch the ropes, and the weight of the sandbags would bring the machine to a rapid halt.

Shortly before 11 a.m. on the morning of January 18, 1911, Ely took off from Tanforan Racetrack to reach the Pennsylvania, anchored, in full view of the crowds, off the San Francisco waterfront.

On fi nal, Ely responded quickly to the unexpected updraft that caught his lightly loaded plane, dove, and the hooks snagged the arresting gear about halfway up the ramps length. The Curtiss pulled the ropes and sandbags and came to a smooth stop.

After posing for photographs, Ely remounted his machine, and, an hour after the worlds fi rst ship-board airplane landing, made the second successful takeoff from a ship. Capt. Pond, commanding of-fi cer of the USS Pennsylvania, sent

a favorable report to the Navy de-partment, and the Navy started the slow process of bringing fl ying ma-chines into its force structure.

One day later Lt. Theodore G. El-lyson began the fl ight training that would make him the U.S. Navys fi rst aviator.

Elys triumph was short-lived, as later that year, on October 19, 1911, while fl ying during a meet in Macon, Georgia, his plane crashed and he was killed.

Opening with an all-out bash in San Diego in February 2011, the U.S. Navy began the celebration of the Centennial of Naval Aviation (CONA) in style, with no less than 32 CONA Tier 1 Events. These air shows throughout America will pay tribute to the aircraft and airmen who con-tributed to this fi rst century of fl ight. One of the folks participating in the events is longtime airplane restorer and now replica builder Bob Cool-baugh of Manassas, Virginia.

Coolbaugh retraces his involve-ment in the project:

In addition to civilian aviators, Model Ds

were purchased by the U.S. Army and Navy

as airborne observation platforms.

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

Bob Coolbaugh relaxes after an-other successful fl ight.

Andrew is getting ready for a fl ight in the Pusher.

GILLES AULIARD

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

About three years ago, the Navy announced that they were looking for ideas and propositions in rela-tion with the Centennial of Naval Aviation that they were planning.

I started talking with some of the Navy people involved in this, and we were kicking ideas around. There were no Curtiss Pusher of the type used by Ely to land on the Pennsylvania left, so I offered to build an as-exact-as-possiblewith fl ight safety in mindreplica of the plane that Ely fl ew on January 18, 1911. I knew I could do it.

The Curtiss Model D Pusher was a biplane fi tted with a wheeled tri-cycle landing gear. Early examples of the machine were built in a ca-nard confi guration, with elevators mounted on struts at the front of the aircraft, in addition to a hori-zontal stabilizer at the rear. Later, the elevators were incorporated in the tail unit and the canard ar-rangement was dispensed with, re-sulting in what became known as the Curtiss Headless Pusher.

Directional control (yaw) of the airplane was accomplished by turn-ing on the control column left and right. Fore and aft movements of

the column controlled climb and descent with the elevator, and roll control was achieved by leaning left and right against a shoulder yoke that actuated the mid-strut mounted ailerons.

By mid-1911, Curtiss Pushers were pretty much standardized and being manufactured in what could be considered production quanti-ties. Curtiss began to use specific designations in its advertising.

In addition to civilian aviators, Model Ds were purchased by the U.S. Army and Navy as airborne observa-tion platforms. A number of them were exported to foreign militaries as well, including the Russian navy.

Coolbaugh is a bold Navy man, as he explains:

I got bit by the fl ying bug quite early in life.

My dad was a fi ghter pilot dur-ing World War II. When I was a little kid, my father worked at the local airport, so, he would baby-sit me there. Consequently, I grew up in the middle of those old air-planes, which, actually, were new at the time; [airplanes] such as Cubs, Aeroncas, Stinsons, and the like.

When I was old enough, I chose

to join the Navy. This choice was mainly because I wanted to fl y off the deck of aircraft carriers. I was lucky enough to do it and spent 21 years with the Navy: 10 years in active duty and 11 years in the Reserves.

The active-duty years were even more exciting, adventure-filled than I could have imagined. Fly-ing on and off aircraft carriers is the most exhilarating sensation. How-ever, it is a youngs man game, with some downsides, the biggest one being that you are never home.

So, after a while, I looked at the airlines as a career move and left the Navy, fl ying for 27 years with what is now Continental, soon to be United.

Over 20 years ago, I got in-volved with Andrew King and some other antique airplane guys. I fi nally had enough money to buy the bits and pieces of a 1930 Mono-coupe that was owned by Bud Gurney, the longtime friend and partner of Lindbergh.

This led to me running the Monocoupe Club for 12 years, and started my involvement in a hobby that I have been pursuing full time since I retired.

Starting from the plans drawn by

GILLES AULIARD

12 MAY 2011

Charles Schultz [no, not the Schulz of Snoopy fameHGF], which were supposedly taken from original blueprints, Coolbaugh built, from the ground up, a replica of the Curtiss version that undertook the fi rst carrier landing.

However, concessions to mo-dernity had to be implemented, as the airplane will be operating in a cross-country modern environ-ment and, occasionally, will have to land at towered airports.

The first, and most important, concession to functionality is the six-cylinder Continental 125-hp engine, ensuring safe and reliable operation. With the inherent sta-bility issues with the aircrafts de-sign, one cannot afford to worry about engine performance. Other add-ons are disc brakes, a radio and transponder, and a starter.

However, original construction methods were followed and original material used when possible. The bamboo used in the construction was tracked down to the original importer in New Jersey who sup-plied the Glenn Curtiss Factory in Hammondsport, New York, in 1910.

Helped and advised in his task by Andrew King, well known in the antique airplane world, Coolbaugh built some 90 percent of the project

over long and tedious working days in his Shenandoah Valley workshop.

Art Wilder, the project leader for the Hudson Flyer replica built by a team of volunteers at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammond-sport, New York, proved an invalu-able resource in researching original Curtiss practices and procedures.

Vet Thomas of Hilton, New York, builder of the Curtiss Pusher replica now hanging at the Greater Roch-ester International Airport, used his computer-aided design and computer-aided machining (CAD/CAM) program to water-jet cut the plate metal parts. As with any proj-ect, many friends freely donated their time and talents to help push the project to completion.

Registered as N44VY, the Pusher flew for the first time on October 8, 2010. The early test-flight pro-gram, in the hands of Coolbaugh and King, revealed insufficient en-gine cooling as well as an endemic lack of control. With its 37-foot wingspan and an empty weight of 970 pounds, the airplane has a wing loading of 4 pounds per square footabout half the wing loading of a Piper J-3, making it very sensi-tive to any kind of turbulence.

At this point, Bob was ready to throw in the towel:

After the first 12 flights, six of which were mine, I was ready to put the thing up on a pylon at the entrance of the airport.

A crash program to alleviate these problems was designed, with incremental improvements con-tinuing to this day. The result was a plane that fl ew like a 100-year-old plane, but was controllable enough to depart for Chambers Field, Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia, where the Curtiss participated in the No-vember 12 ceremonies commemo-rating Eugene Elys takeoff from the deck of the USS Birmingham.

The Curtiss is scheduled to par-ticipate in a number of events across the United States, including the New York Fleet Week/Jones Beach Air Show in May, Thunder Over Michi-gan in July, EAA AirVenture 2011 in late July, NAS Patuxent River in September, and NAS Oceana in Sep-tember, while other events are still in the planning stage.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Navy has not approved a request to re-create Elys arrested landing by al-lowing Coolbaugh or King to land on a modern flattop. That one event would close the loop on 100 years of naval aviation, and two of the most daring pilots I know are primed and ready!

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

Noorduyn Noorduyn NorsemanNorseman

Canadas unsung blue-collar workerBY BUDD DAVISSON

Noorduyn Norseman? What , you say? You cant bring the airplane to mind? Dont feel bad. Theres a high probabil-

ity the majority of people reading this cant either. Thats interesting considering that more than 900 were built. And, although the ma-jority was military, a large number never left the continent. Generally, when that many of a type are built,

the survivors are numerous enough that their public profile is fairly high. Not so the Norseman. Why? Simple: They got used up. They were working airplanes, and the kind of work they did wore them out.

Yes, although the Canadian-built Norseman was designed and built to be a backcountry utility bird, of the more than 900 built, 749 wound up wearing khaki as UC-64As for the U.S. Army Air Forces

(USAAF) during WWII. They did hack duty everywhere they went, carrying everything and every-one who needed a ride from base to base. An ambulance Norseman was supposedly the fi rst Allied air-plane to land in Normandy after D-day. Not that many were shot at, so most survived the war. As soon as the war was over and theyd been cashiered out as surplus, it was as if the Earths tectonic plates abruptly

14 MAY 2011

tilted and stateside Norseman by the hundreds automatically slid north, where a blue-collar airplane was highly appreciated and imme-diately put to work. What kind of work you may ask? Hey, its Canada, so it was hard work. The airplanes specific mission in life was clearly evident in the way the early devel-opment of the airplane progressed: The prototype was first flown on fl oats, then skis; then fi nally it was put on wheels.

The low survival rate of Norse-mans (about 25 still exist or about one in 36) is explained in the nu-merous obituaries: . . . ran ashore where it was destroyed by fi re. All survived. Total time was 6,782 hours, . . . slewed, hit trees on an island . . . sankno injuries, to-tal time was 9,225 hours, and . . . light freezing rain caused engine failure due to carb icing, crashed in bush. No injuries. Total time was 8,932 hours. And on and on the list goes. They were nothing more than tools, and they died with their boots on terrain and in territory well known to be hostile to both

man and airplane. The life they lived was hard and could end in a myriad of ways, all of them violent. No Norseman died from neglect or for want of work.

The foregoing is why you dont see many Norsemans, especially in the lower 48, so when Dennis Mockford, from Strathmore, Al-berta, pulled CF-LZO up alongside a Twin Beech (which it dwarfed, by the way) at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2010, it was obvious we were looking at a survivor, which turned out to be true of both plane and pilot.

I was born in Edmonton, Den-

The size of the Norseman isnt readily apparent in the photos until you see it resting in the grass during EAA Air-Venture next to a Beech 18. The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 with 600 horses requires the massive 3-blade prop to absorb all the torque generated by the engine and convert it to working thrust.

This isnt an airplane you get in, its one you have to board! The step plate on top of the landing gear leg gives you the ability to clamber aboard.

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

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

nis says, and as soon as I turned 16, I joined the RCAF reserves, where I fi rst polished Twin Beeches. I later received training in naviga-tion and flew in 418 Squadron. I was then hired by an airline as a navigator, with one of my fi rst trips being Vancouver to Dsseldorf, Germany, and back in three days, which was 43 hours of fl ight time.

Then it was into C-130 Hercu-les. That was a hard job because we were going all over the world, and I was gone 270 days of the year to places you normally wouldnt want to go. For instance, we de-parted Lagos, Nigeria, just before the airport was bombed. But, this was long before inertial navigation and such, and I was good at shoot-ing the stars, so I always had work as a navigator.

I finally got around to getting my pilots license, he says, with little hope of fl ying for the airlines I was navigating for. Fortunately, one day I happened to run into the VP of operations for Pacifi c Western Airlines, my old employer, and he had heard about a fl ight I had made from Vancouver to Sydney, Nova Scotia, in my Cessna 120 and back, which is a very long trip for such an airplane. He told me to come in the next day. I spent a month fly-

ing an Apache, getting my multi-engine and IFR check. Soon, I was second offi cer on a Lockheed Elec-tra. I think I had about 450 hours at the time.

As Dennis worked his way up into the left seat of 737s, his future looked bright until he was in a seri-ous car accident in 1991.

Basically, my body took a real beating, but not as much as my brain, he says, I was having short-term memory losses, and I was grounded for five and a half years. It was a real struggle trying to get back because most of the doc-tors I went to just relied on what the last one said. So I wasnt getting anywhere. Finally, I found a doctor in Los Angeles who would actually test me and see if I had progressed or not. He worked with me, and eventually I tested good enough to get back into the airlines, where I had a good career until I retired just a few years ago.

Throughout my career, I would continually think back to the fi rst time I saw a Norseman. It was 1964 and I was just a kid, but I knew what I liked. As I got older, I kept thinking about that first image. I had never even been in the cock-pit, but I loved everything about it. Then, as I was retiring, I started do-

ing a little adventure fl ying, includ-ing being part of a search looking for an A-20 that was lost during the war. I was just beginning to work my way back into little airplanes when I started hearing people talk about the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada, so my brother, Greg, and I started thinking about some sort of commemorative fl ight. The Norseman seemed like the per-fect airplane for that kind of trip.

The Norseman is a big airplane; plus, by the time Dennis started looking for one, they were almost all at the end of their working ca-reers, so they werent likely to be hangared. And, if they werent ei-ther working for a living or some-ones pampered pet, they werent being cared for, and the famous Canadian winters did their best to cause the airplane to deteriorate. The fuselages are steel tube, and the wings are all wood, both being ma-terials that really dont like cold, damp weather. Plus, he wanted a flying airplane because he didnt have time before the air tour started to restore an airplane thats the size of the average small house.

I fi nally found one at Selkirk, Manitoba. Although, it had been parked for four years, prior to that it had been a fully restored air-plane, so, although it had been sitting, it was actually in excel-lent condition. All I did was go through it and freshen up every-thing that needed it.

One goal was to keep it as old as possible and still have it be us-able. So, yes, it has a GPS, but its an early 1990s model, and this is true of about everything else in the airplane. Also, we did the inside of the fuselage with diamond-plate aluminum up to the bottom of the windows. That protects the fabric, and I worry a lot less about loading things in the airplane.

The engine is a Pratt & Whit-ney R-1340 with 600 horses and a three-blade prop. You usually see the three-blade props on geared 1340s, but this one isnt geared.

The history of a specifi c airplane

The view from the left seat. The center console throttle/prop/mixture quad-rant and 3/4-circle control wheel reinforce the perception that this a no-nonsense working airplane, even if today it gets to not work quite as hard.

16 MAY 2011

is sometimes diffi cult to nail down, but Dennis knew most of his air-planes history, some of which worked right into the plans he had for making the air tour.

It was built in 1944 for the USAAF as a Mk. VI. So, it has lots of gas. Fifty gallons in each wing, and a variety of belly and aux tanks that bring the total up to 233 gallons. This includes the 36-gallon rear fu-selage tank that is hard to fi nd, but we found one.

One of the primary reasons the Army bought so many of the air-planes and fi tted them out with big tanks is because in 1938, when it looked as if a lot of airplanes were going to be built in the United States and ferried to Europe, they assigned Col. Bernt Balchen (as in winner of the Distinguished Fly-ing Cross and, among a lifetime of achievements, the chief pilot of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1929, flying a Ford Tri-Motor over the South Pole) the task of surveying a ferry route and setting up support along the way. He was asked what airplane he needed for the task, and he said the Norseman was best suited. Prior to that, the Army had tested the airplane but few orders were forthcoming. Much of the success of the airplane can be at-tributed to Col. Balchens endorse-ment of it and subsequent use of it to fl y long distances during the sur-vey missions. And it really can stay up for a long time.

Dennis says, If I bring the power back and loaf along at 100 mph, which burns about 20 gallons per hour, I have over 10 hours of en-durance, and it doesnt really seem to care how much youre carrying. Its empty weight is right around 4,400 pounds and the useful is

3,000 pounds, so we can carry a lot of people or stuff.

The air tour, which was in 2009, was truly a memorable experience and had a lot of high points. My brother, Greg, and I were going to do the planned entire circumnav-igation of Canada, including the high arctic to Alert, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada. We started from Red Lake [the Norseman Capital of the World] May 26, going east. Greg could not continue past Sudbury, Ontario, for medical reasons, and a friend came aboard CF-LZO for a time. In Labrador I found that fuel was no longer available in Alert, and fog surrounded Labrador and Quebec for 15 days. The fl ight was then diverted west through cen-tral north Canada to the west coast and back to Red Lake for the an-nual Norseman Floatplane Festival, as we had promised. CF-LZO had fl own 100 hours at 100 mph, over two months, and had completed a coast-to-coast round-trip fl ight.

There were lots of high points on the trip, including little Pelee Island, the southernmost point in Canada.

When I landed at Sudbury, On-tario, I called my mom, who had her fi rst fl ight in a biplane off the ice there in 1937. That was very cool.

Norseman HistoryRober t Noorduyn was a de-

signer for Fokker who left and designed the Norseman in 1934-1935. He and his partner, Walter Clayton, began producing the air-plane in 1935, and it was well-accepted by the bush aviation community. However, by 1940, only 23 airplanes had been deliv-ered. WWII obviously changed the demand for the airplane greatly.

After the war, surplus UC-64As were plentiful, and Noorduyn found its own products to be its biggest competition and the com-pany just couldnt keep the doors open. The tooling and rights were purchased by Canadian Car and Foundry, which produced another 51 aircraft. It designed a new ver-sion, the Mk. VII, with a bigger en-gine and all-metal air frame, but it never went into production.

In 1953 the tooling and assets were sold back to a group headed by Bob, but he passed away in 1959. Although the company pro-duced three new Mk. Vs in 1959, that was the end of Norseman production. Today, parts and sup-port for the airplane are provided by Gord Huges of Ignace, Ontario, who has the drawings and jigs as well as a sizable supply of parts.

Dennis Mockfords Norseman is one of about 25 still fl ying (thats a sur-vival rate of 1 in 36 airframes built). The airplanes were almost exclusively hardworking bush planes, which tends to use airplanes up.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Although there are only a couple dozen surviving Norseman, with fewer than 20 of them reportedly in Canada, the Norseman, nonetheless, is recognized throughout Canada as one of the more important transportation links in the nations history. In recogni-tion of that, beginning in 1992, the town of Red Lake, Ontario, began hosting an annual Norseman Festival, during which the airplane is the centerpiece in a week-long happening that blends the airplane into all man-ner of cultural and musical events.

We made it again this year, and about half of the fl yable Norsemans in Canada showed up. Its an event that gets the entire town involved and is a lot of fun.

In looking at the airplane from the outside, its hard to guess how it would fl y, but the assumption is gener-ally that its a demanding airplane, which Dennis says is defi nitely not the case.

Dennis says, When I got back into general avia-tion, I fi rst fl ew a Champ; then I fl ew a Maule. Tran-sitioning into the Norseman was really easy. In fact, it flies easier than the Maule. I come down final at 80 mph, which is just a little fast, and generally do a wheel landing because it bounces too easily in a three-point landing. It stalls under 60 miles per hour and the fl aps help. In addition, the ailerons come down 15 degrees when the fl aps go to full defl ection. That really doesnt help that much, and it slows the roll response at full fl aps, so most operators have removed the aile-ron-fl ap connections.

The tail wheel is full swivel, with no steering, but the rudder is very effective, even at slow speed, which is good because the brakes arent the best. In fact, turn-ing it in grass can be something of a chore, and you have to plan ahead.

When its on wheels, the military put 30 pounds of weight in the back to make up for the fact that the R-1340 is so much heavier than the 420-hp Wright R-975-E3 it was originally designed for. Even so the weight and balance isnt quite right, and its a little nose heavy, so it actually lands better with some load in it. On fl oats, its well balanced. The straight fl oats are big Edo 55-7170As, but, even so, the airplane needs no ven-tral fi n when they are installed. It has plenty of tail.

After Oshkosh this year, I fl ew -LZO to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where I saw the remains of the first Norseman, CF-AYO, at the Canadian Bushplane mu-seum. Then I overfl ew the site of its crash in 1953 in Ontario and on November 14 overflew the St. Law-rence River at Montreal, where it did its fi rst fl ight, on fl oats, 75 years ago. The -LZO also fl ew to a number of fly-ins, including those at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum at Rockcliffe/Ottawa, Ontario, and the fi rst annual EAA fl y-in at Gatineau, Quebec.

It was really a kick seeing Dennis airplane at Oshkosh, and its nice to know that one of the old ones is still out there poking its nose into obscure locations and living the life for which it was designed.

18 MAY 2011

The EAAs

H-10 PheasantRetail price of $2,895 BY JIM BUSHA AND H.G. FRAUTSCHY

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

In last months issue of Vintage Airplane, we featured an ar-ticle about a local east-central Wiscon-

sin aviator, Ray Goss, who at one time had owned a Pheasant bi-plane. When Ray bought his used H-10 Pheasant in the mid-1930s for $250, the Pheasant Aircraft Com-pany was already fl at broke and out of business. Incorporated on June 27, 1927, in Memphis, Missouri, the Pheasant Aircraft Company

built nine aircraft by the time the approved type certificate, number 36, was issued on April 1, 1928.

A young air race pilot from Wisconsin named Steve Wittman bought one of the H-10 biplanes. In September 1928, Steve fl ew it dur-ing a transcontinental race from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, to Los Angeles, California. His total time aloft was 34 hours, 33 minutes, 10 seconds, earning him a 12th-place fi nish. Steve fl ew his Pheasant back home to Fond

Restored to airworthy condition in the early 1980s, the H-10 was fl own from the newly built Pioneer Air-port by United Air Lines Captain Verne Jobst.

JIM

KO

EPN

ICK

H.G. FRAUTSCHY

JIM

KO

EPN

ICK

20 MAY 2011

du Lac, Wisconsin, and convinced a local businessman, Tom Meikle-john, to buy the company. Tom did so, and Steve became the compa-nys chief test pilot.

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

du Lac airport, located just south of the south shore of Lake Win-nebago, now the site of the Univer-sity of Wisconsin, Fond du Lac.

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

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

The instrument panel of the Pheas-ant. There are no instruments in the forward cockpit.

JIM

BU

SH

A

JIM BUSHA

H.G. FRAUTSCHY

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21

gine as the Jenny used, which de-veloped 90 hp at 1400 rpm. The H-10s maximum speed was 100 mph with a ceiling of 15,000 feet and a range of 400 miles, carrying a 38-gallon fuel tank. To the builders of the airplane, there was no end in sight for the H-10s prosperity and predicted long life. That was until a black day in October 1929, when the United States economy began to turn upside down as the stock market crashed.

With the country in full-blown financial chaos during 1930, the Pheasant Aircraft Company, like so many others, fell victim to the Great Depression as it deepened in the months and years following the stock market crash. By 1931, the company was well on its way to bankruptcy, and by 1934, the com-

pany ceased to exist. A grand total of 30 H-10s were built. Only two are known to exist.

One of these biplanes, NC151N, is preserved for viewing in the Witt-man Hangar at EAAs Pioneer Air-port in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The H-10 last tasted fl ight in mid-1989, when it was fl own during the early days of Pioneer Airport. The bi-planes OX-5 engine has been run on occasion for special occasions, and the biplane has been displayed outdoors during special events at the field. Its long nose, which houses an OX-5 engine, is usually pointed toward the Wittman Han-gars door, basking in the afternoon sun, facing the grass strip as it waits patiently to become airborne, look-ing just as it would have during the golden age of fl ight.

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

The OX-5 engine of the EAAs Pheas-ant H-10 is often used for hand-propping demonstrations during the associations Good Ol Days events at Pioneer Airpor t. Longtime em-ployee Bauken Noack prepares the engine prior to starting on a cool Au-gust afternoon in 2009.

H.G

. FR

AUTS

CH

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JIM KOEPNICK

Like so many other biplanes of the post-World War I era, the H-10 Pheasant was designed and built as an improvement over the Curtiss Jenny.

22 MAY 2011

My FriendFrank Rezich

Part VIIIFun on the National Air Tour With FrankBY ROBERT G. LOCK

PHOTOS COURTESY OF REZICH FAMILY COLLECTION

Wherever Frank travels, there is always somebody he knows or somebody who knows him. That was never more apparent than at the 2003 National Air Tour (NAT). There, Frank was in his element, surrounded by aviators young and old, all admiring his rich aviation background.

Frank and his daughter, Kathy, flew much of the trip with me, but there were times that Frank tended to his mechanic duties. His white coveralls carried the Travel Air and Wright engine logos. He wore them as he performed the dance he perfected to the rhythm of the Wright Whirlwind at idle. He would stand at the right wing-tip and move to the loping sounds of the idling engine. At fi rst peo-ple didnt know what he was do-ing, but as I watched the crowd

from the rear cockpit, they caught on and were pointing at Frank do-ing his dance. It was hilarious! I watched others imitate what Frank was doing as they waited in line to get a ride in an open-cockpit biplane.

I recall one leg of the jour-

Above: Frank and Kathy on one of the legs of the National Air Tour. Frank had his trusty sectional charts and would follow the course, point-ing out interesting landmarks to Kathy. There were a few times when Kathy would help my wife, Sandy, drive the van from point to point, but she would really rather be fl ying.

Right: With aviation running in her blood, daughter Kathy takes a turn fueling at a stop in Atchison, Kan-sas, home to Amelia Earhart.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

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

ney when the trusty Wright be-gan running a l i t t le roughly. I thought it could be carbure-tor ice, but the heat didnt seem to make it run any better, so we shot a precautionary landing at a small airfield along the route and checked things out. Frank and I checked over the engine and could fi nd nothing apparent that would cause some roughness, so we headed out and never had the problem again. We deduced it was a good load of carburetor ice and pressed on with the trip.

Jim Rezich writes, The Stinson Tri-Motor owned by Greg Herrick was once owned by Bluebird Air Service and fl own on Midway Air-port by both Nick and Frank as copilots.

Frank knew every airplane and every pilot on the trip. He knew the history of nearly all the ships. He was a walking and talking en-cyclopedia of aviation history.

We spent some time at the small terminal building going through Earhart memorabilia. And, true to character, Frank knew there was a very rare Northrop Delta stored in a hangar at the end of the ramp. He insisted we be allowed in to see the airplane, to which the young caretaker fi nally agreed and opened the hangar door. I later asked Frank how he knew that air-plane was there and he said, Oh, I know where there are quite a few still stored, but this is probably the most rare.

When the weather soured in Maryland, Greg Herrick chartered two buses, and we drove to the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport. Greg arranged for a special tour for the pilots and crew of the new museum, which was not open to the public yet. Frank got to see the Travel Air D4D Pepsi Skywriter proudly dis-played in the gallery. Frank had spent many hours maintaining and repairing that airplane. Later in the morning the buses took us to the National Air and Space Mu-seum on the mall in Washington,

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

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

24 MAY 2011

D.C. Frank had never been there before, so he and Kathy wanted to explore all the displays.

Earlier in our series, Frank re-called how he picked up converted B-24s in Memphis, Tennessee, to ferry to Florida and eventually to North Africa. Designated C-109 by the AAF, they were the tanker ver-sion of the B-24. He was back at

the Willow Run factory in Michi-gan for the start of the 2003 Na-tional Air Tour, as you can see him prep the Wright prior to our de-parture in 2003.

For many years, Frank kept the Pepsi Skywriter fl ying. NC434N was powered by a Wright R-760-E2 de-veloping 350 hp, ideal for high-altitude smoke writing. Frank re-

called, When my brother Mike saw this airplane and its performance he decided to get a model D4D, and that is when he purchased NC606K with a 350-hp Wright R-760-E2 en-gine. I did several major repairs on the airplane over the years that Pepsi owned NC434N.

Frank has had a marvelous ca-reer in aviation, beginning at a very young age. And he is not fi n-ished yet, as his two Travel Airs await his touch. Frank Rezich is a cherished friend. Now enjoy some more photographs of this grand old man of aviation.

Frank, wearing a Travel Air cap and white mechanics coveralls, perfects his dance, which we named The Wright Shuffl e. At age 80, Frank could keep up with the best of them.

Taken on the 2003 National Air Tour at Wichita, Kansas. Frank en-tertains the crowd as the NAT airplanes prepare to arrive.

A study of Frank and his cigar in the rear seat of NC606K.

Frank at age 19. The second shot(right, page 15) at Willow Run, Mich-igan, was taken in the shadow of the old Ford plant that turned out so

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

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

many B-24s during WWII, as Frank pulls the Wright through prior to starting as we kicked off the 2003 National Air Tour.

Frank as we all know and love himhelmet, goggles, and cigar.

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26 MAY 2011

The Prest Baby Pursuit was a neat, single-place sport-plane with great eye ap-peal when it appeared in

the days when Waco and Travel Air

biplanes were common. A descrip-tion of the airplane was given in the April 1930 issue of Aero Digest:

The design of the Prest Baby Pursuit, a semi-cantilever mono-

plane produced in Arl ington, California by Prest Airplane and Motors, incorporates an unusual arrangement of the fuselage. To permit fastening the wing directly to the top corner of the fuselage, just above the level of the pilots eyes, resulting in the minimum obstruction to vision, the fuselage is turned up on edge. The pilot has normal vision forward, downward and above. In the construction of the fuselage, major stresses are dis-tributed to the entire structure di-rectly from the attached fittings. The plane is powered with a Sze-kely SR-3 40-horsepower engine.

The wing is semi-cantilever, with solid and laminated spruce beams of full-length pieces, with no splices in the one-piece wing.

Light Plane Heritagepublished in EAA Experimenter May 1991

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

PREST BABY PURSUITBY GEORGE HARDIE, JR.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

This spruce is known as Split-Rite and is marketed by the Aircraft Lumber Corporation of St. Paul, Minnesota. The fuselage is covered with A&N Nashawena fabric. The wing is covered with Flightex.

Internal drag struts are of chrome-molybdenum steel tub-ing, welded into a truss and bolted

to the beams. The drag bracing is double and is of round MacWhyte tie rods with Safe Lock fittings. Chrome-molybdenum is used throughout in the construction, in-cluding sheet fittings and tubing. The fuel tanks are of aluminum, pickled and vibration-tested ac-cording to Navy specifi cations. The

landing gear is fi tted with Gruss Air Struts. A Consolidated instrument panel is provided.

The ailerons are controlled by means of cables within the wing and a push-pull tube to the wing from the torque tube. The wing may be removed without loosening the ca-bles or pulleys, one pin being pulled to disconnect the ailerons. The wing is designed to be removed by two men in approximately ten minutes.

The ailerons extend the full length of the trailing edge and have a chord of 4-1/4 inches, their total area being 6.5 square feet.

The entire ship is constructed in a jig, and all of the parts are inter-changeable with equivalent parts. The construction of the fuselage fa-cilitates manufacture in jigs, and it is designed to come from the jig in alignment so that the landing gear, wings and other parts may be fas-tened without fi tting or forcing.

In 1937, EAA member Ernie Fill-inger purchased his Prest for $100. He decided to replace the unreliable Szekely with a Lawrance three-cylinder, which he overhauled him-self. After fl ying the airplane to West Coast events near where he lived, he sold the airplane in 1960 and built a modified version using a 90-hp Franklin for power. Its present status is unknown. Another Prest was still ex-tant in 1961, owned by Bruce Keathleyof Edwards, California.

Specifi cations

Span 29 feet

Chord 49 inches

Wing area 92 square feet

Length 17 feet, 11 inches

Weight, fully equipped

475 pounds

Useful load 225 pounds

Weight loaded 700 pounds

High speed 90 mph

Stalling speed 40 mph

Climb, fi rst minute 700 feet

28 MAY 2011

With few exceptions, vibrations in older, fixed-wing aircraft are generated by the engine and prop. In the early days of construction, the engines were inadequately shock-mounted. As a result, many en-gine problems could be traced to extreme vibration. Many early radial engine installations featured a hard engine mount (without shock mountings) with only a thick leather washer located between the en-gine and mount.

Illustration 1 is the original Command-Aire factory engine mount ring for a Curtiss Challenger R-600 ra-dial. A six-cylinder engine, it had extreme vibration problems, yet there are no shock mounts anywhere. The mount is welded to the fuselage frame. The only shock mounts were 1/4-inch-thick leather washers between engine and mount ring. No wonder there were severe airframe and engine vibrations!

Illustration 1

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

Illustration 2

Compare the Command-Aire 5C3 factory engine mount in Illustration 1 with the modified shock

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

Vibrations, Part 2

THE Vintage Mechanic

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29

mount version in my Command-Aire 5C3, as shown in Illustration 3. A Lycoming R-680 shock mount ring from a Boeing PT-13 will fi t the Wright R-760 by moving the two lower shock mounts slightly. With this component installed, I could use Boeing Stearman shock mounts, which could be purchased new from Dusters & Sprayers Supply. It proved to be a much better installation, by providing damping of vibrations from the Wright and its Hamilton Stan-dard propeller.

Illustration 3

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

1930s and beyond, designers began to shock-mount the instrument panels. J.M. Lord began to manufac-ture shock mounts for aircraft use. Its small mounts were double-mounted behind the instrument panel to provide a means to dampen airframe vibrations from being transmitted to the instruments. The new dampers are called elastomeric, because of the mate-rial used and the method of dampening vibrations.

Illustration 4 shows the typical shock-mounting of an instrument board in the late 1930s. As individual 2-1/4-inch, 3-1/8-inch, and 5-1/4-inch instruments were developed in the 1930s, the need for vibration damping became apparent for proper operation be-cause of the weight of all those instruments. All early instruments needed some vibration to operate cor-rectly, but rigid mounting proved to be too much for the instruments to take.

Shock-equipped engine mounts became a big deal when all the World War II surplus Boeing Stearman aircraft were sold in 1946. Originally converted to crop dusters using stock powerplant installations, these sturdy ships were converted to engines of 300-600 hp to carry heavier loads of dust and spray.

At fi rst, engine mounts were hand-fabricated by the modifi er. For the Pratt & Whitney 450-hp con-version, BT-13 engine mounts were cut so the mount rings and attach fi ttings to the fuselage could be sal-vaged and reused. To save weight, the mounts were shortened and the engine was placed as close to the firewall as possible, only leaving enough space to mount a starter and a 50-amp generator.

Except for the rubber shock pads on the ring (sim-ilar to the Continental and Lycoming pads shown in Illustration 1 but larger in size), this was the only vibration-damping mechanism provided.

A company in Salinas, California, by the name of Serv Aero Engineering began to manufacture a better shock mount in the early 1950s. Floyd Perry was the owner of the company, and it eventually STCd many different engine mounts. Note the heavy dampers at the mount-ring and their shorter length to accom-modate the higher weight of the Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine as shown in Illustration 5.

Illustration 4

30 MAY 2011

Illustration 5

There are other vibrations introduced into the air-frame that are not caused by the engine or propeller. One such vibration is tail wheel shimmy. All full-swiveling steerable tail wheels have an anti-shimmy device built into the unit. Perhaps one of the best and most reliable tail wheels is found on the Boeing PT-13/17 biplane. It is well-designed and very rugged.

Tail wheel shimmy can introduce vibrations into the airframe structure by simply being out of alignment. To check for proper alignment, jack the aft fuselage so the tail wheel is off the ground. Check the rudder pedals for neutral position, and ascertain if the tail wheel is tracking straight. If not, adjust the turnbuckles to align the rud-der pedal neutral with straight tracking of the tail wheel. While the tail wheel is off the ground, make sure there is positive steering when the rudder is moved left and right. The tail wheel should closely follow the movement of the tail wheel. If it does not, troubleshoot and fi x the prob-lem. Illustration 6 shows one of the best tail wheels ever designed, the unit for the Boeing PT-13/17.

There are times when this type of tail wheel will shimmy even when it tracks correctly. See the large spring on top of the steering arm? The purpose of this spring is to apply pressure to the steering arm as it seats on the thrust plate. The spring controls the force required to cause the fork to kick out into full swivel operation.

Other airframe vibrations that may be introduced by engine, propeller, or aerodynamic buffeting may be caused by landing gear doors, which are not properly rigged in a retractable gear airplane. The landing gear should be tested every 100 hours of operation or during the annual inspection. The airplane is placed on jacks and the gear doors (if installed) are disconnected and wired into the full open condition. Then the gear is actuated to the full up position where rigging is checked. The fi nal step is to reconnect the gear doors and complete another retraction check, this time to make sure the doors are completely closed. This should eliminate low-frequency vibrations caused by improperly rigged landing gear doors.

Loose or misaligned flying and landing wires can cause undue high-frequency, low-amplitude in-fl ight vi-brations. Most old biplanes do not have rigging manuals or information regarding wire tensions. If that is the case, then I refer to wire tensions given in the Boeing PT-13/17 rigging manual and use this data as a guide to wire ten-sion for a specifi c aircraft.

Its important to recognize that the Stearman is a very stout aircraft, and wire tensions may be higher than for a ship built in the 1920s and 1930s. If a wire is not stream-lined it will vibrate; at times the frequency will be so great that the wire will blur, and if the amplitude increases, the vibration can be felt in the fl ight controls and eventually the structure.

A person standing on the ground will hear a whistle sound emanating from the vibrating wire: the longer the wire, the lower the pitch, and the shorter the wire, the higher the pitch. It is important to pay attention to details when rigging a biplane, and certainly the stream-lining of wires is very important.

When I rigged my Command-Aire, there was no fac-tory data provided that described the precise procedure, particularly the streamline wire tensions. I set the tension at what I thought would be acceptable, based on my experience with the Stearman and other biplanes. I im-mediately noticed that when rear-fl ying wire tension was increased, it tended to bow the upper wing trailing edge.

I experimented with wire tensions until I got the wires just right, so the landing wire would not loosen in fl ight. I measured the wire tensions, and they were close to those of the Boeing PT-13/17 rigging manual, but some-what looser.

As it turns out, tightening the front-fl ying wires will slightly loosen the rear-fl ying wires. Once the ship has been rigged, adjusting fl ying wire tension equally front and rear, left and right, will keep the ship in rig, but that procedure will tighten both the fl ying and landing wires.

I have no problem using this Stearman data and ap-Illustration 6

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 31

plying it to another type of airplane, realizing that ten-sions will be a little looser because few early-production biplanes had the structural strength of the PT-17. Illustra-tion 7 shows my Command-Aire in fl ight.

There are myriad vibrations that can occur on an

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

Have a comment or question for Bob Lock, the

Vintage Mechanic? Drop us an e-mail at vintageair

craft@eaa.org, or you can mail your question to Vin-

tage Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903.

Resources:Airplane Maintenance, 1940. Hubert G. Lesley,

Maintenance Engineer Eastern Airline (Illustra-

tion 2)

Erection and Maintenance Instructions for Model N2S

Airplanes, 1941, compiled by Stearman Aircraft,

a Division of Boeing Airplane Company, Wich-

ita, Kansas (Illustration 1)

Elements of Technical Aeronautics, 1942. N.A.C.

staff, New York Aeronautics Council Inc.

Airplane Design Manual, 1958. Frederick K. Teich-

mann

Dusters & Sprayers Supply catalog, 1969-1970.

Hugh Wilson and Bob Chambers

Illustration 7

32 MAY 2011

Arising early for another day of work, you hear the weather forecast in the background indicating it will be a beautiful day to go fl ying after work. While driving to work you scan the sky and note that it is perfect for fl ying, but then you think about the last fl ight you made.

Throughout the workday your mind wanders, and you think youd much rather be fl ying than sitting in an endless meeting chaired by the boss with a monotone delivery. And again you think about that last fl ight.

Finally, the workday comes to an end. You want to go fl ying before heading home. The breeze is light and the sky bright blue. But on the way to the airport you begin thinking about your last flight and the spectacular landing you made. You forgot to set up for a crosswind landing and nearly ran your beauti-fully restored airplane off the runway and into the deep drainage ditch alongside the pavement. When will the FAA ever decide that drainage ditches next to a runway can be airplane eaters? you wonder. Your palms were sweaty then and your stomach knotted seemingly into your throat as you nervously taxied back to the hangar that day. You were thankful that no harm was done to your airplane, but your ego was severely bruised and confi dence seriously shaken.

What did I do wrong on that landing? youve asked yourself a hundred times since that flight. Youve played it over and over in your mind to the point where youre now fixated on it every time you even think of going fl ying. Youve even dreamt about it.

Approaching the airport, your palms begin to sweat just thinking about that landing, and a knot begins to grow in your stomach. What began as a thought of exhilaration and fl ying your treasured airplane has now become one of self-doubt. Excuses for not fl ying today occupy your mind. The wind looks a little too strong, and there seems to be some crosswind. Your self-doubt grows. Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day to fl y, you think.

After spending an hour thoroughly overlooking your airplane at the hangar, you check the windsock

one more time and come to the conclusion that it is just a bit too windy. Self-doubt has caused your stom-ach to become one big acid pit in need of a whole roll of Tums. You slowly close the hangar doors; then you hop in your car for the 30-minute drive home.

Defeated!Once on the road home, you begin mentally kick-

ing yourself for not fl ying today. After all, the weather was nearly ideal. Now, rather than having a nervous feeling about fl ying, youre down on yourself for notfl ying. Then you tell yourself with confi dence that to-morrow youll defi nitely go fl ying!

If youve read this far, ask yourself, honestly and candidly, can you identify with this scenario? How many pleasure flights have you denied yourself be-cause you lost your self-confi dence due to something that had occurred during a recent fl ight?

Anyone who has experienced fl ight has also experi-enced times of self-doubt or loss of confi dence. Over the four-plus decades that Ive been fl ying and teach-ing fl ight instruction, Ive encountered this situation personally, and Ive had many others share similar ex-periences with me. How one goes about dealing with a loss of confi dence can mean the difference between enjoying many future pleasure-fi lled hours of fl ight or walking away from a hobby that previously brought you great joy.

I certainly dont have all the answers, but I can share some methods Ive employed in dealing with a loss of confi denceeither my own or those of a stu-dent or fellow pilot.

Incident FixationThe bad landing you made can easily become fore-

most on your mind. The more time wasted on reliv-ing the landing, the more obsessed you become by it, leading to even more self-doubt. Admit to yourself that you made a bad landing, and then tell yourself youll do a lot better on your next fl ight. Think posi-tively. You know how to make crosswind landings.

Recall Positive Flight ExperienceYou love to fly, right? Think about a good take-

BY Steve Krog, CFI

THE Vintage Instructor

Overcoming self-doubt

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 33

off and the pleasure or satisfaction you feel when fl ying. What an ex-hilarating experience it is to see the earth drop away as you climb out of the traffi c pattern. Youre in total control.

Remember g iv ing a f r iend, grandchild, or relative his or her first ride in a small airplane? At first they were a bit apprehensive and asked a lot of questions. But your enthusiasm and confidence put them at ease. Once in the air, you explained how to control the airplane and let them do a bit of flying. Out of the corner of your eye you could ob-serve their look of awe. Seeing the world from a thou-sand feet is one of the most memorable experiences a novice will ever experience.

Are you going to let a bad landing deny you of these experiences?

Do Some Hangar FlyingDont be afraid to talk to some of the folks at the

airport and share your experience. If these individu-als have done any amount of fl ying, they have all had experiences similar to yours. Sometimes their responses might be a bit beyond belief (hangar fl y-ing is like telling fi shing stories), but you will glean some good advice if you cut through the exagger-ated tales.

While at the airport on a day when there is activity, find a shaded area, set up your lawn chair, and ob-serve some takeoffs and landings. You will soon pick up on the approach techniques other pilots are dem-onstrating, right or wrong, and be able to apply what youve learned to your next fl ight.

This activity is a great morale- and confi dence-booster.

Fly With a FriendAnother technique Ive found to help build confi -

dence is to make a fl ight with an experienced pilot/friend. Observe how he or she handles crosswind takeoffs and landings. Observation can be a great teaching method.

Fly With an Instructor You TrustMost instructors I know will jump at a chance to

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

can go from self-doubt to self-confi dence in a matter of those three to six landings.

Schedule a Flight in Good ConditionsIf you fall off your horse, the best thing to do is get

back on and ride. How many times have you heard that line repeated in your lifetime? Remember when you fi rst learned how to ride a bicycle? One fall didnt keep you from trying it again. The same can be said for fl ying.

A bad landing experience can certainly shake ones confi dence. All of us have been there at one time or another. As a longtime flight instructor, Ive often advised individuals who have come to me for fl ying advice. My suggestion is to pick the next good-fl ying light-breeze day and go for a fl ight. Theres nothing better to build your confidence than going for and completing a pleasant flight. Then try two or three landings. If it was a crosswind landing that shook your confi dence, try a few crosswind landings when there is a light crosswind. Continue rebuilding your level of confi dence by trying crosswind landings on a breezier day. If there is a turf runway near where you are located, try some crosswind landings there.

Confi dence increases as your skill level increases. Ive often taken students and even experienced pilots for a fl ight on gusty, windy days. When Ive suggested doing so, the reply is usually, Id never go fl ying on a day like to today. That may be so, but what about those days when you departed in the calm early morn-ing for a breakfast fl ight only to return home fi nding the wind to be 10-20 mphand its a crosswind! Well try several crosswind landings in these conditions. They may not be perfect and pretty, but theyll be safe. At flights conclusion you may be sweating in places you havent sweated since your early flight-training days. However, your skill level and confi-dence will be greatly enhanced. You still may not go for a fl ight on days like that, but youll know that you could if you had to and you would be safe!

Practicing flight any time improves your skill level, and on days that are less than ideal it enhances those skillsbuilding confi dence and erasing self-doubt.

34 MAY 2011

The February Mystery Plane was sent to us by the folks who head up that great aviation website 1000Air-craftPhotos.com. Its part of their Pe-ter Carbin collection. Ron Dupas and Johan Visschedijk have a wonderful online collection of aviation pho-tos, and they shared a few of them with us. Their website is located at http://1000AircraftPhotos.com.

I said in February that the airplane was of foreign manufacturein fact, it was built by our neighbors to the north, across the Canadian border.

We love hearing from you, and we got plenty of answers for this.

One answer comes to us from Thomas Lymburn of Princeton, Minnesota. Heres an edited version of his note:

The aircraft in the February 2011 Mystery Plane column is the Fairchild (Canada) F-11 Husky, registered CF-EIM (s/n 3) during the time it was op-erated by Diversifi ed Mining Interests.

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

Send your answer to EAA, Vin-tage Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Osh-kosh, WI 54903-3086. Your answer needs to be in no later than June 10 for inclusion in the August 2011 issue of Vintage Airplane.

You can also send your response via e-mail. Send your answer to mysteryplane@eaa.org. Be sure to in-clude your name plus your city and state in the body of your note and put (Month) Mystery Plane in the subject line.

This months Mystery Plane is a real slow-pitch softballplenty of you should get this one. Doug Fortune suggested it.

MYSTERY PLANEby H.G. FRAUTSCHY

F E B R U A RY S M Y S T E RY A N S W E R

Shown here on skis and in the other photo on Edo fl oats, CF-EIM was the last re-maining fl ying Husky until it sank. It was later salvaged and placed on display at the Canadian Museum of Flight and Transportation in Langley, British Columbia.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 35

A team led by J.A.T. Butler de-signed the Husky with an upswept rear fuselage for easy loading (espe-cially of canoes); an undercarriage with interchangeable wheels, floats, or skis; interchangeable control sur-faces; and fuel tanks in the fuselage for easy accessibility. The airplane was intended to be flown by a crew of two, with room for eight passengers or 1,800 pounds of cargo.

The F-11 has an all-metal structure with fabric-covered control surfaces and fabric on the wing surfaces. The prototype, CF-BQC, made its maiden fl ight on fl oats from the St. Lawrence River on 14 June 1946, powered by a 450-hp P&W Wasp Jr. The pilot was A.M. McKenzie. CF-BQC remained as a company demonstrator until 1947. The first production model, CF-EIL, was delivered to Nickel Be