VAUGHN’S Vagabond - EAA Vintagemembers.eaavintage.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/VA-Vol...Michael...

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015

V A U G H N ’ S

Vagabond

•Restoring a Howard DGA

•OTW Reborn

•D-18 Family Tradition

Thank You for Another Great Year!

2105 was another remarkable year at AirVenture. The great partnership between Ford and EAA provided many benefits to AirVenture visitors and future aviators.

Ford Motor Company is proud to support EAA AirVenture with many experiences and contributions:• Fantastic opening-night concert performance from Dierks Bentley, with support from Cirrus Aircraft• Extraordinary sounds from Hotel California: The Original Eagles Tribute Band, to close the week• Blockbuster films such as Interstellar, Unbroken and more at the nightly Fly-In Theater; with legendary presenters such as Bob Hoover attending• Creating the one-of-a-kind Apollo Edition Mustang to generate $230,000 for EAA Youth Education programs, including the Young Eagles• Displaying concept designs, production vehicles and state-of-the-art technology at the Ford Hangar and Lincoln Pavilion• Offering a $750 EAA member incentive toward the purchase or lease of a new Ford or Lincoln vehicle through Jan. 4, 2016• Providing a family-friendly environment to ensure something great is offered for everyone

Thank you for visiting and we look forward to seeing you again next year!

The Privilege of PartnershipEAA members are eligible for special pricing on Ford Motor Company vehicles through Ford’s Partner Recognition Program. To learn more about this exclusive opportunity for EAA members to save on a new Ford or Lincoln vehicle, please visit www.eaa.org/ford.

2015-Sep_Thank_You_EAA_Divis_Ad-Final.indd 1 8/3/15 1:08 PM

EAA Publisher / Chairman of the Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack J. Pelton

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Busha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

VAA Executive Administrator . . Erin Brueggen920-426-6110 . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . Livy Trabbold

ADVERTISING:Vice President of Business DevelopmentDave Chaimson . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Advertising ManagerSue Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

VAA, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903Website: www.vintageaircraft.orgEmail: [email protected]

www.vintageaircraft.org 1

Oshkosh 2015 was truly one of the best events I have ever been in-volved in.

It all starts with EAA leadership and staff and their efforts to execute well beyond our wildest imagination, and they have far exceeded all of the ex-pectations of the membership and our thousands of guests. The buildup to opening day was palpable, and you could actually feel it in your bones…this is going to be exceptional! And it was! Mix in the amazing weather through-out the entire week of the convention, and the crowds were pouring through the gates beginning on day one! More than 550,000 members and guests visited Oshkosh 2015 this week. Vintage had more than 500 volunteers, and the EAA total was more than 5,000 volunteers making it all happen. Vintage counted more than 1,000 aircraft present in our area throughout the week, and the EAA total was more than 10,000 aircraft.

All of the news coming out of EAA and VAA about the AirVenture 2015 has been nothing short of incredible. The lineup of featured aircraft and events for this year was impressive. A B-52 Stratofortress, a B-29, an F-100, two F-22 Raptors, an F-35, and a 1911 Wright Model B replica that all flew during the air shows. This was an incredible event, and it was enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people. My favorite of all the performing aircraft has to be the F-100. As a youngster in the early ’60s I remember the F-100 Super Sabre flying near my home in northeast Indiana, so it has been a very long time since I actually saw one fly.

The new Vintage Interview Circle has been officially named The Bill & Myrt Rose Memorial Park. The finishing touches to the park were completed shortly before the opening ceremony on day one of the convention, and the grandstand was filled with Vintage members and friends of the Rose fam-ily. It was an honor for me to host the opening ceremony of the park, and we had a lot of fun during the program! Myrt was blessed to have in attendance nearly all of the Rose’s Raiders who had flown so many of Bill and Myrt’s air-craft to Oshkosh for so many years. We can never thank Myrt enough for her generous support throughout this initiative. I strongly suspect that Bill had a huge smile on his face for the whole week of Oshkosh 2015. The front yard of the VAA Red Barn has never looked so good!

The long-awaited phase two upgrade to the Tall Pines Café is now com-pleted. Our guests and members apparently enjoyed the new enlarged tent over a solid concrete floor this year, considering that we set a record of meals served at the Tall Pines Café during Oshkosh. This was accomplished in spite of the fact that we were unable to serve breakfast on the Saturday be-fore opening day because of some damage to the tent from an early morning

Straight & Level Vintage AirplaneSTAFF

Nothing but amazing!

GEOFF ROBISONVAA PRESIDENT, EAA Lifetime 268346, VAA Lifetime 12606

continued on page 62

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATIONCurrent EAA members may join the Vintage

Aircraft Association and receive VINTAGE AIR-PLANE magazine for an additional $45/year.

EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine and one-year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association are available for $55 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included). (Add $7 for International Postage.)

FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPSPlease submit your remittance with a

check or draft drawn on a United States bank payable in United States dollars. Add required Foreign Postage amount for each membership.

Membership ServicePO Box 3086

Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086 Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM—6:00 PM CST

Join/Renew 800-564-6322 [email protected]

EAA AirVenture Oshkoshwww.eaa.org/airventure

888-322-4636

VISITwww.vintageaircraft.orgfor the latest in information and news

and for the electronic newsletter:

Vintage AirMail

2 SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2015

C O N T E N T SVol. 43, No. 5

18Tim and Myrna’s Time MachineRestoring a Howard DGASparky Barnes Sargent

26Vaughn’s Valiant VagabondPutting the fun back in flyingSparky Barnes Sargent


TYSON RININGER

38Al Meyers and an OTW RebornThe Herrmann family’s biplaneBudd Davisson

45Keepin’ Up a Family TraditionWalt Bowe’s D-18 BeechBudd Davisson

52Doomed TitanThe sacrifice of the USS ShenandoahMark Carlson


C O V E R SFRONT COVER: Vaughn Lovely eases his Vagabond up close to the photo plane. Photo by Tyson Rininger

BACK COVER: Walt Bowe and his freshly restored Beech D-18. Photo by Tyson Rininger

For missing or replacement magazines, or any other membership-related questions, please call EAA Member Services at 800-JOIN-EAA (564-6322).

ANY COMMENTS?Send your thoughts to theVintage Editor at: [email protected]


COLUMNS1 Straight and Level Nothing but amazing! Geoff Robison

4 Friends of the Red Barn Thank you

5 Oshkosh 2015 Vintage Awards

9 Ask the AME Tremors John Patterson, M.D., AME

10 How to? Select and use aircraft screws Robert G. Lock

12 Good Old Days

14 Art of Flying Blu Sarah Wilson

58 The Vintage Mechanic Specialty inspection—Part 1 Robert G. Lock

62 VAA New Members

64 Vintage Trader


TM

Friends of theRED BARN

Diamond Plus LevelRobert F. CharlesCharles W. HarrisArthur P. Loring Jr.Michael MillerS.H. SchmidSisk Charitable Trust Diamond LevelRon & Jon ApfelbaumJames GormanRobbin HillKen & Lorraine MorrisEarl NicholasRichard & Sue PackerGeoff RobisonBen ScottRonald TarrsonLeonard Weiser Platinum LevelJames Hamilton Gold LevelSusan DusenburyJoseph Leverone

Silver Level Gary Brossett

Dave ClarkGerald CoxJohn CroninJohn KephartMariAnne & Mark KolesarLarry NelsonDwain PittengerCarson ThompsonMichael Wotherspoon Bronze Plus LevelDennis BeecherRay BottomRichard BroderickDonald ColemanA.J. HugoEd LewandowskiTerry RossDavid SmithTom VukonichBob & Pat Wagner

Bronze LevelDavid & Jeanne AllenLloyd AustinTom BakerHobart BatesMarilyn BoeseLogan Boles

Robert BuschSteve Buss George ChaffeyGeoffrey ClarkSydney CohenTimothy DevineDan DoddsDavid FlinnRoger FlorkiewiczStuart FraleyJoseph GambleTerry GriffinIan HarvieLee HusseyPeter KaralusGlenn KinnebergMarc KrierBarry LeslieCharles LuigsThomas LymburnStephen MoyerDan & Denise OsterhouseSandy & Barry PerlmanRonald PriceTim & Liz PoppRobert PorterPeter RammTimothy RauppJerome Riesz

John SeiboldJeffery ShaferBob Siegfried, IIJoseph M. SmokovitzDean J. StokerCarl & Pat TortorigeAlan ThielRobert TylerJan WolfeBrian WynkoopEd YessBoyt Young

Supporter LevelCharles BurtchBruce DenneyDuane DunwoodyWalter KahnJames LockwoodJohn MahanyJohn O’CallaghanMichael SchnellRobert StaightDon StewartMichael WilliamDuane Wething

We thank our Friends of the Red Barn supporters for their generousinvestment in the future of VAA.


VINTAGE AWARDS

Antique Awards (Through August 1945)

Antique Continuously Maintained AircraftJOHN RICCIOTTI, 117 DEER RIDGE DR, BARRINGTON, NHN140481934,WACO S3HD

Replica Aircraft ChampionBronze LindyFRANK PAVLIGA, 1965 NEW MILFORD RD, ATWATER, OHN498K1983 PIETENPOL

World War II Military Trainer/Liaison Aircraft ChampionBronze LindyJAMES SAVAGE, 119 GOLFVIEW DR, GIBSONIA, PAN176341939 SPARTAN 7W

Customized Aircraft ChampionBronze LindyPETER RAMM, 290 RIVERVIEW BLVD, ST. CATHARINES, ONN397521941 WACO UPF7

Bronze Age (19371941) ChampionBronze LindyDAVID PYEATT, 10153 WISH AVE, NORTHRIDGE, CAN209611940 WACO SRE

Silver Age (19281936) ChampionBronze LindyDAN MURRAY, 3842 FLORENTINE CIR, LONGMONT, CONC64641928 TRAVELAIR 4000

Antique Reserve Grand Champion Silver LindyDOUG HARKES, 88832 CHURCH ST, WROXETER, ONCFCVE 1944 FLEET M62A3 CORNELL

Antique Grand Champion Gold LindyCRAIG BAIR, 1647 CHEKAPA LN, GRENVILLE, SDN674781942 HOWARD AIRCRAFT DGA15P

Antique Grand Champion Gold Lindy

Classic Grand Champion Gold Lindy

Contemporary Grand Champion Customized Gold Lindy

Contemporary Grand Champion Gold Lindy

STEV

E M

OYER

PH

OTOS


Outstanding Cessna 120/140Plaques (Small)DOUG SYTSMA, 42333 TRENT DR, CANTON, MIN2339N1947 CESSNA 120

Outstanding Cessna 170/180Plaques (Small)JOHN CASTORINA, 675 DANA DRIVE, SANTA PAULA, CAN3261D1955 CESSNA 180

Outstanding ErcoupePlaques (Small)RONALD BLACK, 217 MILES AVE, VALLEY CENTER, KSN933941946 ERCOUPE 415 C

Outstanding Piper J 3Plaques (Small)MATT HOFELDT, 4918 LANTERN HOLLOW LN., WUNAKEE, WIN920121946 PIPER J3C 65

Outstanding Piper OtherPlaques (Small)PAUL GAGNON, 12 ELDERBERRY CRT, GUELPH, ONCFGAG1950 PIPER PA-20

Outstanding StinsonPlaques (Small)MICHAEL GARDONIO, 328 S 60TH AVE W, DULUTH, MNN9418K1947 STINSON 108 2

Outstanding SwiftPlaques (Small)CRAIG LAYSON, 8950 STONY CREEK RD, YPSILANTI, MIN903941946 GLOBE SWIFT

Outstanding Limited ProductionPlaques (Small)DAVID DENTON, PO BOX 1312, SILOAM SPRINGS, ARN2916V1951 CALLAIR A 2

PreservationPlaques (Small)PAUL “HARVE” APPLEGATE, APPLEGATE AIRPORT, RR 1 BOX 61A, QUEEN CITY, MONC8841K1947 STINSON 108 1

Custom Class B (81 - 150 hp)Plaques (Small)MARK HEUSDENS, 29130 2ND PL, KANSASVILLE, WIN2877H1946 ERCOUPE 415 C

Custom Class C (151 - 235 hp)Plaques (Small)TABER ROBBINS, 2230 GRAND CENTRAL, HORSEHEADS, NYN10RR1954 BEECH E35

Custom Class D (236 and up hp)Plaques (Small)CARY SINGLETON,23375 HIGHWAY EE, DEARBORN, MON4101K1947 NORTH AMERICAN NAVION

Best Customized Runner-UpPlaques (Large)JOHN NIELSEN, 108 N DUNCAN RD, BLOOMER, WIN170KW1955 CESSNA 170B

Class I (0 - 80 hp)Bronze LindyRYAN HARTER, 1434 BUTTERNUT CIR, GREENFIELD, INN3175E1946 AERONCA 11AC

Class II (81 - 150 hp)Bronze LindyTERRY DURHAM, 7743 E. SUMMIT RD, PARKER, CON1902B1948 LUSCOMBE 8F

Class III (151 - 235 hp)Bronze LindyCRAIG LAYSON, 8950 STONY CREEK RD, YPSILANTI, MIN180TP1955 CESSNA 180

Class IV (236 and up hp)Bronze LindyMICHAEL PRATT, 9223 SPRINGBROOKE CIR, LOUISVILLE, KYN1001D1950 CESSNA 195A

Champion Customized ClassicBronze LindyMARK MEREDITH, 509 REDLAND BLVD, ROCKVILLE, MDN7DW1951 DEHAVILLAND DHC 1 CHIPMUNK

Reserve Grand ChampionSilver LindyROBERT P. CHRISTENSEN, 1600 GRANDVIEW LA., ASHTON, IDN4846M1947 PIPER PA 11

Grand ChampionGold LindyROBERT EPTING, 410 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR BLVD, CHAPEL HILL, NCN924551946 PIPER J3C-65

Classic Awards(September 1945 through December 1955)


Outstanding Beech Single EngineOutstanding In TypeRAYMOND DEBS, 6209 27TH STREET CT NW, GIG HARBOR, WAN828R1959 BEECH K35

Outstanding Cessna 150Outstanding In TypeLORRAINE MORRIS, 2900 HOWARD ST, POPLAR GROVE, ILN6469T1960 CESSNA 150

Outstanding Cessna 170/172/175/177Outstanding In TypeSTEVEN WEINER, 15882 THRUSH AVE, NORA SPRINGS, IAN2867X1968 CESSNA 177

Outstanding Cessna 180/182/210Outstanding In TypeMARK DENSON, 3101 POST OAK DRIVE, BRENHAM, TXN751S1964 CESSNA 180G

Outstanding Cessna Multi EngineOutstanding In TypeTHOMAS HANDZLIK, 2931 FALCON WAY, MIDLOTHIAN, TXN4AF1968 CESSNA 421

Outstanding Piper PA 22 Tri PacerOutstanding In TypeJAMES HAMILTON, PO BOX 1283, ROGUE RIVER, ORN4770A1956 PIPER PA 22 150

Outstanding Piper PA 24 ComancheOutstanding In TypeJ. BRUCE CAMINO, 1611 E. 4TH STREET, SANTA ANA, CAN8871P1965 PIPER PA 24 260

Outstanding Piper PA 28 CherokeeOutstanding In TypeSTEFAN KURSCHNER, 3450 SW DOWNS VIEW TER, PORTLAND, ORN8933W1964 PIPER PA 28 235

Outstanding Piper PA 30 Twin ComancheOutstanding In TypeDAVID WINTERS, PO BOX 1542, REDWAY, CAN204WT1965 COMANCHE PA-30

Preservation AwardOutstanding In TypeROBERT MORELAND, PO BOX 1082, BYRON, ILN5224D1957 CESSNA 180A

Class II Single Engine (161 - 230 hp)Bronze LindyCODY ERICKSON, 2405 N EVY AVE, SIOUX FALLS, SDN8790D1956 PIPER PA 18A-150

Class III Single Engine (231 and up hp)Bronze LindyBRUCE MAYES, 2101 NUUANU AVE APT 1604, HONOLULU, HIN229RS1963 MEYERS 200B

Dean Richardson Memorial AwardBronze LindyRICHARD JONES, 10960 VILLA MONTE CT, MUKILTEO, WAN8370D1958 BEECH J35

Outstanding CustomizedBronze LindyTHOMAS RHINES, 2258 VZ CR 2301, CANTON, TXN7404R1966 PIPER PA 28 140

Outstanding Multi EngineBronze LindyDALE EGAN, 249 N WATER ST UNIT 204, MILWAUKEE, WIN434T1961 BEECH D50E

Reserve Grand Champion CustomizedSilver LindyJOE BORGESEN, 4235 LAFOREST DR, WATERFORD, MIN8376B1957 CESSNA 172

Reserve Grand ChampionSilver LindyED NEWBY, 431 RIDGE CT, LAKE IN THE HILLS, ILN7437D1957 PIPER PA 22 150

Grand Champion CustomizedGold LindyKEVIN MAYER, 5545 S WAPAK RD, LIMA, OHN76J1958 BEECH J35

Grand ChampionGold LindyPAUL SHANK, 5736 STANBROOK LN, GAITHERSBURG, MDN9060L1970 CHAMPION 7GCBC

Contemporary Awards(1956 through 1970)


To nominate someone is easy. It just takes a little time and a little reminiscing on your part.•Think of a person; think of his or her contributions to vintage aviation.•Write those contributions in the various categories of the nomination form.•Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions. Make copies of newspaper or magazine articles that

may substantiate your view.•If at all possible, have another individual (or more) complete a form or write a letter about this person, confirming why the

person is a good candidate for induction. We would like to take this opportunity to mention that if you have nominated someone for the VAA Hall of Fame; nominations for the honor are kept on file for 3 years, after which the nomination must be resubmitted.

Mail nominating materials to: VAA Hall of Fame, c/o Charles W. Harris, Transportation Leasing Corp. PO Box 470350 Tulsa, OK 74147 E-mail: [email protected], your “contemporary” may be a candidate; nominate someone today!

Find the nomination form at www.VintageAircraft.org, or call the VAA office for a copy (920-426-6110), or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information:

•Date submitted.•Name of person nominated.•Address and phone number of nominee.•E-mail address of nominee.•Date of birth of nominee. If deceased, date of death.•Name and relationship of nominee’s closest living relative.•Address and phone of nominee’s closest living relative.•VAA and EAA number, if known. (Nominee must have been or is a VAA member.)•Time span (dates) of the nominee’s contributions to vintage aviation.

(Must be between 1950 to present day.)•Area(s) of contributions to aviation.•Describe the event(s) or nature of activities the nominee has undertaken in aviation to

be worthy of induction into the VAA Hall of Fame.•Describe achievements the nominee has made in other related fields in aviation.•Has the nominee already been honored for his or her involvement in aviation and/or the

contribution you are stating in this petition? If yes, please explain the nature of the honor and/or award the nominee has received.

•Any additional supporting information.•Submitter’s address and phone number, plus e-mail address.•Include any supporting material with your petition.

Nominate your favorite vintage aviator for the EAA Vin-tage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame. A great honor could be bestowed upon that man or woman working next to you on your airplane, sitting next to you in the chapter meeting, or walking next to you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Think about the people in your circle of aviation friends: the mechanic, historian, photographer, or pilot who has shared innumerable tips with you and with many others. They could be the next VAA Hall of Fame inductee—but only if they are nominated.

The person you nominate can be a citizen of any coun-try and may be living or deceased; his or her involvement in vintage aviation must have occurred between 1950 and

the present day. His or her contribution can be in the areas of flying, design, mechanical or aerodynamic developments, administration, writing, some other vital and relevant field, or any combination of fields that support aviation. The per-son you nominate must be or have been a member of the Vintage Aircraft Association or the Antique/Classic Divi-sion of EAA, and preference is given to those whose ac-tions have contributed to the VAA in some way, perhaps as a volunteer, a restorer who shares his expertise with others, a writer, a photographer, or a pilot sharing sto-ries, preserving aviation history, and encouraging new pilots and enthusiasts.

CALL FOR VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Nominations

W.E. writes, “I have been diagnosed with benign essential tremor. How will this affect my medical?”

The term benign usually indicates that the tremor is not debilitating to the extent that it pre-vents the individual from accomplishing his or her normal tasks and activities. The FAA stance is that “essential tremor is not disqualifying un-less disabling.” Of course that determination can be very subjective, but it certainly gives the airman some wiggle room. There are many commercial and airline pilots flying with this condition and with-out restriction.

Essential tremor can be inherited and develop at a young age. Typically the tremor worsens with the attempted task (intention tremor) versus the tremor with Parkinson’s disease that is charac-terized by a “tremor at rest.” There is actual sup-pression of the tremor with the task attempt. Of course these are general statements, and the tremor may be present at all times.

Beta blockers such as propranolol are often used to suppress the tremor at rest. This same medica-tion is also given for blood pressure control and is approved unless there are adverse side effects.

As indicated above, the primary differential diagnosis of essential tremor is Parkinson’s dis-ease. The problem with diagnosing Parkinson’s is that there are no blood tests or imaging studies that will definitively make the diagnosis. Gener-ally the individual must have at least two of the cardinal manifestations of the disease. These in-clude tremor and rigidity, gait disturbance, and “bradykinesia,” or slow movement. Parkinson’s is a progressive disease and can lead to deterio-

ration of fine motor skills and even affect lan-guage. Dementia can be a part of the syndrome, and depression is a common occurrence.

Parkinson’s disease is felt to be due to a de-crease in the level of dopamine in the brain, which is a neurotransmitter (allows the nerves to con-duct impulses and essentially communicate move-ments). So treatment is designed to increase dopamine levels in the brain. The only medication approved by the FAA for this purpose is Sinemet, which is a combination of carbidopa and levodopa. Other medications that are used for Parkinson’s disease, such as Requip and Symmetrel, are not approved because of their sedating and other un-desired side effects.

Airmen with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and with symptoms severe enough for medication will need an FAA decision and special issuance. Special is-suance will typically result in a time-limited certificate and will depend heavily on the treating neurologist’s report. Follow-up status reports need to specifically address any progression in movement dysfunction and any dementia progression.


Ask the AME

Tremors

JOHN PATTERSON, M.D., AME

Essential tremor can beinherited and develop at a young age. Typically thetremor worsens with theattempted task (intention tremor) versus the tremorwith Parkinson’s diseasethat is characterized by a “tremor at rest.”

There are several types of screws available for air-craft use; however, two of the most popular are the AN525 washer head and the AN526 screw. Both are protruding-head screws and can be purchased as ei-ther slotted or Phillips head. All the older aircraft used slotted-head screws because the Phillips head was not invented yet.

The AN525 is a structural screw, being made from 2330 nickel steel and then heat-treated, just like the bolts. After heat-treating, the screws are plated with cadmium for corrosion protection. Common sizes are the No. 8 and No. 10.

The AN526 is a non-structural, truss-head screw made from low-carbon (1020) steel. It is not hard-ened by heat-treating because there is not enough carbon in the alloy. These screws are commonly used for attaching a cowling, fairings, etc. Do not substi-tute these screws in any structural application. Figure 1 is a sketch of these screws.

When driving screws into structure it is wise to

use a washer under the head to protect a painted sur-face or to keep from scratching polished aluminum.

For the size 10 screws you can use an AN90-10L steel washer or a No. 10 fiber washer. Either is commonly used.

Screw code sizes are difficult to remember, so I al-ways refer to a catalog or my trusty Standard Aircraft Handbook for reference.

The standard No. 10 screw will take an AN365-1032A fiber locknut, which is normally used. Or, an AN366 winged nut plate can be riveted to the struc-ture to make the removal and installation job easier. Figure 2 shows the AN366 nut plate.

The Phillips head screws are easier to install and re-move because the screwdriver fits well into the slots, so when using a slotted-head screw, be careful and

hold the screwdriver firmly to keep it from slipping out of the slot and damaging the finish.

Sheet metal screws may be used for attaching non-structural parts on the aircraft. These screws come in truss heads similar to the above machine screws and can be purchased in either Phillips or slotted heads. Type A screws have a point on the end of the threads, while type B screws are flat on the bottom of the threads. They are normally secured by Tinnerman nut plates that carry the NAS395 code and come in vari-

How to?

Select and use aircraft screws

ROBERT G. LOCK

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2


ous types from A-E and H. The Tinnerman nut plates come in screw sizes No. 6, No. 8, and No. 10.

Figure 3 is a Tinnerman Type NAS 144 nut plate that can be flush riveted to a structure. This type of nut plate readily will accept any coarse-threaded sheet metal screws—just secure the correct size when ordering.

Brass screws are used for installing instruments

because they are non-magnetic. The common screw to use is the AN520B round-head screw that comes in sizes 6-32, 8-32, and 10-32. Head types are ei-ther slotted or Phillips (recessed). Figure 4 shows a brass screw.

Special nut plates are available that fit into instru-ment holes and make mounting much easier. You must order these special mounting nuts by paying

attention to the length of the ears that insert into the instrument. When using this type of mounting nut, the only thread size available is 6-32; therefore, the only brass screw that can be used would be a 6-32. Figure 5 is a sketch of an instrument mount-ing nut plate.

There are flush-head countersunk machine screws available for aircraft use. These screws carry code AN510 and have an 82-degree included angle be-tween the taper. Like most all other machine screws, they come in slotted and recessed-head styles.

Finally, there are fillister-head screws that have a hole for safety wire drilled through the head. These screws carry the code AN502. They are manufac-tured from 2330 nickel steel and are heat-treated and cadmium-plated.

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

FIGURE 5


Good Old Days

Take a quick look through history by enjoying images pulled from publications past.

From pages of what was . . .


SCRAPBOOK


What would you have found . . .Classified AdsSCRAPBOOK


Entr’acte. Between acts. An entr’acte is a play within a play during the intermission. In early theater the action would continue in front of the curtain as a prelude to act 2. Audiences didn’t get up to buy popcorn or go to the bathroom then. They stayed riveted in their seats. Waiting to see what would happen. Act 1 of my story The Wish Twin was over. Action pauses. Curtain closes. No one knows where the plot will go next, includ-ing me. Smoke pots glowing on the proscenium. Mood shifts. The story within a story begins. Fade to Blu…

When I met my first plane, Blu, it looked so much bigger than the only other Stearman I knew. A Diana Cream and orange colored plane that looked just plain. Her owner was my friend and anything but plain. He was a successful pro athlete who had traded places with whom “he wished he could be” to actually become it: a pro-fessional barnstormer. He gave me my first Stearman lessons off Kermit’s grass strip after his customers had left

for the night. He told me if I could fly a Stearman, I could fly anything. I loved flying his biplane. I named her Crème Puff and left pink lipstick kisses on her metal cowling. My plane was different. It wasn’t feminine at all; gleaming in Army blue and yellow military colors. A stunning 1943 PT-17. The 111th Stearman Pete Jones restored at Air Repair and given the buzz number 111 by the builder.

A Stearman was a sentimental and dangerous choice for someone with seven hours of tailwheel

The Art of Flying

Blu

SARAH WILSON

SARA

H W

ILSO

N

SARA

H W

ILSO

N


time, and I was afraid of it. I was right to be. My few hours of tail-wheel time were not at all compensated by my 3,000-plus hours of air-plane time. While I had flown all types of air-craft, from pistons to jets, I had never really learned how to use my hands in sync with my feet. My boyfriend at the time, Chuck, was a second set of training wheels in my front seat. Another man who had traded places with whom “he wished he could be” to actually be-come it: a professional warbird pilot.

On June 11, 2005, Chuck and I left Pennsylva-nia to bring my Stearman back to Florida. I said, “This plane is trying to kill me,” again and again on the trip. It wasn’t trying to kill me; it was trying to tell me something. Years of poor pilot technique and neglect had created a pretty unhappy biplane. The plane was definitely a “he,” and I named him Blu on the trip back. His shiny exterior was a ve-neer, hiding all the things wrong within him. Three

hundred thirty-three hours on his engine in 11 years wasn’t nearly enough. One hour be-fore we landed in Lake-land, the rear main ball bearing went out. His Continental W670 en-gine was making metal. It would have to be taken off, driven to Air Repair, and rebuilt. Blu was a mess. I can’t begin to list

all the things wrong with that plane, but with each failure they fixed him. Once Blu was right, we flew together on an engine that never missed or failed. Then hung a second engine after we had run 1,400-plus hours together on the first. We became best friends after that first year.

I sold Blu out of fear. Fear I would not have enough money to keep him in the final year of my Speedmail’s restoration. I have no regrets in my life except for the decisions I made that were moti-vated by fear. Selling Blu was a knee-jerk response to fear. The antithesis of what flying is all about. I hated every moment of the transition and hated

SARA

H W

ILSO

N

I said, “This plane is trying to kill me,” again

and again on the trip.It wasn’t trying to kill

me; it was trying to tellme something.

myself for selling. I sat in the hangar with Blu for weeks, talking to my plane. Saying, “I love you; thank you for being my friend. I’m going to get you back soon.” Blu didn’t believe me, but he had never met anyone like me. I’ve had an army of pi-lots reporting on his well-being ever since. There is

a brotherhood among vintage aircraft own-ers that runs deep.

On the last day of May I woke up early and started Googling Blu’s N number. My intuition said he was for sale. I had to get my friend back. Blu was sold and about to be ferried to the new owner in Texas. Robbie Vajdos was the ferry pilot and one of the brotherhood. Blu was in safe hands for the moment. On June 11, 10 years to the date I flew him home from Pennsylvania, I called Robbie to see how I could get my plane back. Robbie said he had an idea that might work but was not sure. If he could make it work, it was going to cost me a lot. I said,

“I don’t care what it costs, get me my plane.” It did work. I got my first best friend Blu back on June 29.

In the years counting up to the time you start growing young again, it is easy to forget the worst thing that can happen to anyone is losing their first best friend. People worry about losing so many things, because people think they get to own everything, but that’s the best part of a friend.


Sarah Wilson and Blu.

SARAH WILSON


Friends choose you, and you choose them. That’s why you should always be kind and say, “Thank you for being my friend,” and “I love you,” to them.

I never wanted to be a pilot or a barnstormer. I fell into it, or maybe fate tripped me. I love in-spiring people to do things they think they can’t achieve. I do that when I fly with certain people. People who really need to fly. People who are afraid and unsure if they can. The people I found the greatest reward in flying with were not pi-lots. They were dreamers. Souls trapped on the ground, looking up. They’re the ones who contact me, year after year, reminding me how a flight changed their lives. Healed a wound, erased a fear, gave them a deep connection with joy and free-dom. Even if for only 30 minutes, they knew what it felt like to be free. To be a pilot. Are we the sum of whom we care for, or is whom we care for the sum of who we are? I traded places with whom “I wished I could be” to actually become it when I flew with them: a vehicle to lift a human spirit.

Friends choose you, and you choose them. Blu and I have something important to continue to-gether, and neither of us can do it without the other one. We’ve missed each other so.


It isn’t often that a non-pilot spouse is inspired to buy a res-torat ion pro j e c t—le t a lone when that airplane happens to be a World War II-era Howard. But that’s what Tim Weston was hearing from his wife, Myrna, back in 2000. They had just re-

turned home from Alaska, where they took a f light in a Pratt & Whitney-powered Beaver. Myrna just fell in love with the sound of that round, rumbling R-985, and when she saw an ad for a Howard in Trade-A-Plane, she pointed it out to her husband.

But Tim had other plans—he was enjoying retirement from his airline career by flying Angel Flight missions in his Baron C55 and working on a 1946 Piper PA-12 project. At first, he politely told Myrna that he wasn’t certain he’d actually finish his current

Tim and Myrna’s

Time MachineRestoring a Howard DGAby Sparky Barnes Sargent

TYSON RININGER


project, and he wasn’t about to buy another. Myrna was insistent, even adamant, that Tim inquire about the Howard—and she let him know that if he didn’t call, she would.

So it wasn’t long before Tim flew from their home in Yelm, Washington, to Manteca, California, to look at Se-rial No. 1830, a 1944 Howard (which was then registered as N100KS).

“Norman Way had purchased the project in 1996 along with two part-ners, and they had bead-blasted and primed the fuselage, gear, and tail feathers. My mentor, Mike Grimes, from Lancaster, California, happened to be in that area meeting a carpenter friend that had wood wing experience, and they were both amazed when they looked at the Howard project with me. The wood looked brand new, and all the parts were catalogued,” recalls Tim, adding, “the airplane had been built during World War II as a GH-2 air ambulance, and the wings still had the green paint that was used to cover the blue U.S. Navy colors. Everything looked good; it was a rare and com-plete project, with all parts original to the airplane. Norman and I struck a deal, and two weeks later, Myrna and I flew down to California. We rented a truck and spent a long afternoon load-ing the project for travel.” Myrna and Tim Weston

CHRI

S M

ILLE

R


A Few Words AboutMilitary Howards

With the advent of World War II, many civilian Howards were im-pressed into Army and Navy ser-vice, and for good reason. Howard Aircraft Corp. touted the How-ard’s functional versatility in its Aircrafter brochure: “Howard an-swers the demand for a faster air-plane which can carry heavier loads on wheels, pontoons, or skis. This ‘Multi-Use’ model is a conversion of the Personal Transport…and the cabin is so arranged that the operator can make quick changes without tools to accommodate pas-sengers, cargo, a stretcher for the ill or injured, mail or express, or for use in aerial photography. Mount-ings for machine guns and bomb racks are also obtainable.”

The Army designation for this model was UC-70. The U.S. Navy contracted Howard Aircraft to build four variants of the DGA-15. The GH-1 utility transport was clos-est to the civilian DGA-15P with its wheelpants and spinner. The GH-2 Nig htingale featured a rearward-folding utility door, as well as an enlarged baggage door that was hinged across the bottom to accommodate stretcher access. The GH-2 also had a 24-volt elec-trical system instead of a 12-volt

system. (Today, some components—such as the starter and the bulbs and motors for the Grimes retract-able landing lights—are more read-ily available and economical for the GH-2’s 24-volt electrical system.) The GH-3 was a utility transport, and the NH-1 was equipped for instrument training. During the war, some pilots found the aircraft challenging to han-dle during landings—hence its nick-name, Ensign Eliminator.

Serial No. 1830 was manufac-tured on May 9, 1944, and the Navy took delivery of the aircraft (military ID No. 32865) in June. It logged 125 hours as an aerial ambulance in southern California during the war. The aircraft was sold as war surplus by the war as-sets administrator for $2,000 to John Frederick Wood of Oakland in 1947 and assigned registration number NC63597. The Howard remained in California with vari-ous owners until it stopped flying around August 1957. The aircraft’s accumulated total time was 522 hours; it wouldn’t take to the sky again until 2013.

Historical records from the Howard A ircraft Found at ion (HAF), which currently holds the type certificate for the Model 15P (GH-2), reveal that Tim and Myr-na’s Serial No. 1830 was one of 131

GH-2s built for the U.S. Navy. The GH-2 Nightingale model was the only Howard model still in produc-tion when the Navy canceled the contract in 1944, and Howard Air-craft production ceased. Serial No. 1830 was one of the last Howards built for the Navy, and it was the highest serial number civil- certified by the CAA.

Work BeginsTim completed the PA-12 in Au-

gust 2005 and commenced work on the Howard in September. Per Tim’s request to the FAA, the How-ard’s original registration number (NC63597) was reinstated. He and Myrna didn’t realize it at the time, but the successful completion of the project would take seven-and-a-half years of continuous work. They decided to restore NC63597 to a prewar DGA-15P civilian liv-ery, as opposed to restoring it in its former Navy configuration. Along the way, Tim had help from nu-merous friends, especially those who were members of HAF. “There is such a great network of How-ard people and experience,” shares Tim. “I built a huge document of my resources; it just takes time, but parts and supplies are out there if you know where to find them.”

The first task involved reskin-

Tim works on the right wing. Instrument panel installation in progress.

COUR

TESY

TIM

WES

TON


ning the Howard’s mahogany-plywood covered flaps, ailerons, and wings. The original casein ad-hesive had deteriorated, so Tim spent several months researching different types of adhesives, spec-ifications, and application tech-niques. “The West System offered the best adhesive of all epoxies available,” says Tim, adding, “during this period I also made many phone calls to HAF members, including Les Sargent, Bruce Dickenson, and Dennis Lyons, in order to familiar-ize myself with wing reskinning.”

Fortunately, fellow HAF mem-ber Fred Lundeen was working on his Howard at the same time, so Tim and Fred were able to help each other with the reskin-ning process. After Tim finished his f laps and ailerons, he fabri-cated a new cabin roof by using the original one as a pattern. Then it was time to tackle reskinning the wings, while preserving their orig-inal washout. (The correct wash-out in the compound curve of the outer wing is critical for proper flight characteristics.)

“First, I built a frame from 12-inch prefab floor joists and 4-by-4-inch legs. My neighbor, Fred Tuche, helped level the frame, which we glued to the floor. Then we set the wing on the frame, bottom-side up,” recounts Tim. “Then we used

a hot-glue gun to secure the wings to the frame. It was easy to remove the old skins because small nails were the only thing holding them on. Amazingly, the ribs and spars looked as if they had been recently assembled. Then, with the interior exposed, it was easy to remove the metal parts for inspection and re-plating. Ed Schlect helped me re-skin the wings, and we placed the VOR and marker beacon antennae inside the wing to keep them out of sight. After we reskinned that side of the wing, we just popped the wing free from the frame and flipped it over, glued it down, and reskinned that side.”

If that all sounds like it was too easy, rest assured Tim encountered a bit of a challenge with the reskin-ning process. Back when his Howard was built, larger sheets of plywood were used for the wing skins than are available today. Per the Howard draw-ings, the original, single 12-to-1 scarf joint was centered over Rib 21, which was located 100-1/2 inches from the wing root. And Rib 21 was made 1/4-inch wider than the other ribs to support the scarf joint. Today, only 4-by-8-foot aircraft plywood sheets are available. Hence, Tim had to use two-and-a-half sheets of plywood for each side of the wing, which necessi-tated precise scarf joints where they could be placed over a rib. He rein-

forced the joints with doublers, and throughout the process, he learned the importance of keeping his wood plane very sharp.

After the flight control cables were fabricated and installed, and the electrical wiring was com-pleted, it was time to do a test-fit assembly of the airframe prior to fabric covering. Fortunately, HAF members Dennis and Susan Lyons of California happened to be visit-ing and were able to lend helping hands for that process.

Jim Erwin of the Seattle FSDO patiently guided Tim through the process of writing an FAA Form 337 for one-time field approval of the West System. Tim was ap-preciative of all his help, yet a bit dismayed that preparing the pa-perwork took longer than the hands-on process of reskinning.

Fabric and PaintTim used the Poly-Fiber process

to cover the Howard, with heavy-weight fabric on the fuselage and empennage and lightweight fab-ric on the wood-skinned wings. Rib stitching was the most time-consuming and tedious part of the fabric installation. FAA Advisory Circular 43.13-1B requires 1-inch stitch spacing, since the Howard’s VNE exceeds 250 mph.

“I counted 1,600-plus knots

The Howard is easily identified by its tall tail.SPARKY BARNES SARGENT


with the lacing in the tail feath-ers alone,” shares Tim, “and lacing the fuselage was quite an endeavor. Ed Schlect was inside with a long pair of forceps to pull the needle in and guide it outbound without tan-gling. Stretching back to the rear bulkhead required lots of twisting and turning, which isn’t easy for 70-year-olds!”

The metal fuselage skins were stripped, prepped, and primed prior to painting. Tim selected Ranthane for the final red coat (in September 2006, the Poly-Fiber STC was revised to allow Randolph Ranthane HS polyurethane as a topcoat option.)

Tim was using an HVLP paint gun to shoot the Ranthane, and re-calls, “I didn’t know how to do it well, and frustration built until I felt like it was time for a big bon-fire or a pro painter! So I found an aircraft painter to shoot the large surfaces in my paint booth, and with a little help and instruction from him, I became a fair painter. I had started with the HVLP gun using low pressure, and the paint orange-peeled badly. The profes-sional painter showed me how using higher pressure with the heavyweight paint would do the job. The side effect was fogging ev-erything in the paint booth, but the finish was correct. The painting part of this restoration took two years and required a lot of sand-

ing. I used 320, 600, 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000 grit, and then went on to three grades of machine buffing compounds before I had the end results I wanted.”

Fuel and EngineThe original fuel tanks clearly had

some leak issues, evidenced by tell-tale red rings around some rivet lo-cations from 80-octane gas. So Tim rolled up his sleeves once again and completely stripped the tanks, us-ing carb cleaner on the inside. Then he pressure-checked the tanks at 3-1/2 psi to find the pinhole leaks, which were then welded closed.

Myrna’s beloved R-985 was over-hauled by Ken Miller of Younkin Aviation at West Fork, Arkansas, and the Hamilton Standard 2D30 prop was overhauled by North-west Propeller. Tim’s friend, John Miller, helped with the engine and accessory case installation.

The Howard needed a spinner, and when Tim happened to be at AC Propeller Services at Seattle, he inquired if anyone knew of one for sale. It just so happened someone did, and Tim bought his spinner from John Nordstrom.

InteriorThe instruments in the How-

ard’s center panel are all original to the airplane and were overhauled by Keystone Instruments at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Tim was able

to purchase an original WWII Navy compass through eBay.

Tim and Myrna selected a beige wool fabric and dark blue leather for the cabin upholstery, accented by red piping around the con-tour of the seats, to complement the Howard’s red and blue paint scheme. Tim created the side pan-els, while an acquaintance, Pat Bertram, did most of the interior work. Pilot and passenger comfort was greatly enhanced by using Or-egon Aero memory foam for the seat cushions.

Paperwork and ModsWhen it came time to do the

weight and balance, Tim and his helpers pushed the tail of the How-ard just outside the hangar to have enough clearance to level the air-craft in an in-flight attitude. Not surprisingly, they discovered that the airplane had gained a few pounds, chiefly from thicker ply-wood on the wings, new f loor-boards and carpet, wheelpants, and larger-than-original tires. Through-out the restoration process, Tim’s IA, Ron Wright, provided helpful advice and a discerning eye to en-sure that correct methods and re-sults were attained.

Tim installed modern avion-ics and radios, which he concealed to help preserve the ambiance of 1944. “I didn’t like the manually operated wobble pump for pump-

The rearward-folding door and enlarged baggage door are special GH-2 features.

Cleveland wheels and brakes were installed.

CHRI

S M

ILLE

R


ing the fuel from the lower tanks up to the engine,” shares Tim, adding, “so we bought a Weldon electric pump, and I obtained a field approval for that modifi-cation, with the help of an FAA designated engineer-ing representative. We also installed a de Havilland fuel filter on the firewall.” (For a list of additional mods to this Howard, please see accompanying text box.)

Though NC63597 didn’t have an inordinate amount of field approvals, Tim shares that he’d never “worked quite this hard in the past to get proper wordage down on paper to satisfy the feds.”

The Howard was last airworthy when the airworthi-ness certificates were issued in conjunction with the annual (periodic) inspections, so Tim needed to apply for a permanent airworthiness certificate. “The FAA showed up with three guys who inspected the airplane and paperwork. They made a list of items that I had to fix, such as missing placards, loose screws, and a Form 337 for the radios.”

With those issues addressed, the FAA made another visit in February and issued the new certificate. Yet a few minor glitches were discovered, which had to be resolved.

“There were problems with getting the carburetor adjusted and the prop governor set right, but we fi-nally solved those things. Then, after we got the engine up and running correctly,” recalls Tim, “we discovered an oil leak and just couldn’t find the problem. My A&P friends looked at it, test ran it, and it still kept leak-ing—turns out it was just one governor oil fitting I hadn’t tightened!”

Finally FlyingNC63597 finally leapt from the runway on May 20,

2013, with Tim in the left seat. “With all the problems resolved, my friend Dick Smith, a CFI who has experi-ence in more than 200 types of aircraft, said, ‘Are you ready to fly?’ He had quite a time getting this foot-less wonder to start using rudders,” says Tim with a chuckle, adding, “the first few landings let me know this truly could be ‘the Ensign Eliminator.’ For me, be-ing competent and confident with flying the aircraft are two different items. I found I was competent with the five hours of required training. Getting confident took about 15 more hours to feel like I could make fly-ing this bird fun.”

Tim’s careful work during the wing reskinning pro-cess paid off—after more than 50 hours of flight time, it still doesn’t need any adjustment.

Time MachineThis Howard is a time machine in many ways. It sur-

vived the passage of time virtually intact, and after

1944 Howard DGA-15PGeneral Specifications

Manufactured Under ATC A-717

Length 24 feet 10 inches Height 8 feet 5 inches Wingspan 38 feet

Empty weight 3,200 pounds (Original U.S. Navy empty weight was 3,080 pounds)

Useful load 1,300 pounds

Max gross weight 4,500 pounds Fuel capacity 151 gallons

Oil capacity 8 gallons

Maximum speed 270 mphCruise 165-170 TAS @ 10,000 feetStalling speed 68 mph

Landing speed 75 mphEngine 450-hp Pratt & Whitney

R-985Rate of climb 1,500 fpm

Ceiling 22,500 feet

Cruising range 984 miles


absorbing 7,300 person-hours of devoted restoration efforts, it has transported Tim and Myrna to a yesteryear-style of flying, and si-multaneously into their future.

“Saying you are restoring a How-ard is one thing; getting it done is something else!” declares Tim. He and Myrna are enjoying the rewards of finally flying the How-ard and are elated with the awards that the airplane has garnered. NC63597 received the Antique Re-serve Grand Champion—Silver Lindy award during EAA AirVen-ture Oshkosh 2014.

“The thousands of hours of labor has paid off in b ig d iv idend s ,” shares Tim, adding, “as Oshkosh was ending, a gentleman stopped at our aircraft with an invitation to display the Howard during the Na-tional Aviation Heritage In-vitational, which is held at Reno each year. Thirty-five airplanes were on display there, and all were museum quality. I was fortunate to be awarded the Orville and Wilbur Wright trophy for

antique restoration. As I was be-ing handed the trophy, I felt an arm around my shoulder. I looked to my right and was stunned to see Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines’ fame standing next to me. Standing on my left was Dick Rutan. Seated next to Dick was Bud Anderson, World War II P-51 ace. Seated in back of us was Bob Hoover. It’s pretty humbling to be in the company of such legends, and we wouldn’t have been there but for the Howard.”

Myrna happily serves as PR rep-

resentative for the Howard during these fly-ins and gatherings. Smil-ing as she relaxes in the shade of the Howard’s high wing, she re-flects upon their restoration saga: “I don’t think Tim nor I knew exactly what we were getting into, but I just thought it would be wonderful to have a round engine, so here we are! I’m not a pilot, but I enjoy flying—I hand out the mints and the wa-ter! Seriously, flying in the Howard is such a big change from a Baron with twin engines—when you get behind this big, round engine, you

can’t see anything. So that just took some time getting used to, but I love the sound. As to which airplane is better, it just depends on what you want the plane to do—per-sonally we like to fly to Mon-tana and visit relatives, so I like the Baron for that. But for fun, this is the one!”

Tim, with a smile stretch-ing from ear to ear as he lis-tens to his fun-loving bride of 53 years, can’t help but chuckle when he comments, “All these guys say, ‘I wish I had a wife like that!’”Geoff Robison and Tim Weston.

TYSON RININGER

COUR

TESY

TIM

WES

TON


TYSON RININGER


Some folks never give it a second glance; just a few can call its name. But the Piper Vagabond hardly feels slighted, because it holds a secret that it shares with those who fly it. It slips right into the heart and soul of its pilot, with an endearing charm born of its unas-suming appearance and sweet flying characteristics. A delight to fly and forgiving in the air, the short-coupled Vagabond won’t tolerate complacency when its tires are on terra firma. It demands full respect and attention, for which it handsomely rewards its pilot with a happily enduring relationship.

Vaughn’s

ValiantVagabond

Putting the fun back in flyingby Sparky Barnes Sargent


Birth of the VagabondThough often overlooked, the

Vagabond filled a noble role in the history of Piper Aircraft Co. at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. By 1947, the company was in the depths of fi-nancial despair; its production was slashed, and employees were laid off. In an effort to save and revive its business, outside consultant William Shriver was hired. William worked about a year redirecting the company, bringing it slowly out of debt and into stable production. He commanded the Piper engineers to

design an inexpensive airplane that could be built from raw materials already on hand, and voila! A blue-print for the PA-15 Vagabond was completed in little more than six weeks. About six weeks later, on Oc-tober 29, 1947, the prototype was flown. Priced at $1,990, it was a no-frills airplane, painted plain yellow and powered by a 65-hp Lycoming, with rigid landing gear and a single set of controls.

The side-by-side, two-place PA-15 was the first of the lineage that would come to be known as the

short-wing Pipers (which include the Clipper, Pacer, Tri-Pacer, and Colt), and it saved Piper Aircraft Co. Production began in January 1948 and ceased in July, with a to-tal of 387 built. The PA-17 Vaga-bond Trainer, designed soon after Piper began producing the PA-15, was a dual-control, deluxe version of the PA-15, powered by a heartier 65-hp Continental and priced at $2,195. A total of 214 were built from May to October 1948.

The valiant little Vagabond ex-ceeded its intended purpose of

Air show stunt pilots Lowell C. White and Bill Fischer with NC4426H.

COU

RTES

Y VA

UG

HN

LOV

LEY


transforming Piper’s stock-pile of materials into cash; the company actually had to purchase more materials be-fore Vagabond production ceased. By the end of 1948, William had succeeded in changing the company’s ink from red to black, and his job there was completed.

By the early 1960s, the Vagabond was still enjoy-ing its popularity. The 1963 Annual Light Plane Guide described the airplane this

way: “ The Piper Vagabond is a curvy little dish. . .but she behaves like a real lady. She climbs at 500 fpm, cruises at 90 mph and lands between 40 and 45 mph. She has a gentle rate of sink, and very little tendency to float….”

Today, yet another generation of pilots is enamored with the per-formance and handling of the Vag-abond. As of March 2015, there were 169 PA-15s and 106 PA-17s registered in the United States. (Some are registered in other coun-tries, as well.) Vaughn Lovley is one of those loyal Vagabond pilots, and

his particular PA-15 has a flamboy-ant air show history.

NC4426HNC4426H (S/N 15-212) was

manufactured April 22, 1948, and its Statement of Conformity was approved April 23, “with the excep-tion of the following deviations: Engine Primer, Cabin Heater.” Lowell C. White of Moline, Illi-nois, bought NC4426H on April 29, 1948, for $2,010 from Piper. He had his choice of nearly half a dozen PA-15s at the Lock Haven factory and personally selected this particular one because it weighed 5 pounds less than the others. He had a mission in mind for it, and to maximize its performance, White had a 17-pound Hartzell HA-12U ground-adjustable propel-ler installed in place of the origi-nal 11-pound wood propeller. This brought the PA-15’s empty weight to 626 pounds and its useful load to 474 pounds.

Lowell immediately commenced f lying his Vagabond in air show comedy routines, primarily in the Midwest and Southeast. He was

lanky and tall at 6 feet 3 inches, and reportedly enjoyed putting the Vagabond through its aerial paces, at times by operating the f light controls while perched outside on the right-hand wing lift struts.

He was perhaps best known for his “smallest airport” act. A photo of Lowell landing NC4426H atop a 1949 “woodie” station wagon was featured in the December 16, 1948, edition of The Evening Independent (St. Petersburg, Florida). The cap-tion stated that he “will land and take-off from the ‘smallest airport in the world’ which is a platform at-tached to the top of a new station wagon. The platform is eleven feet long and eight feet wide.”

Look magazine featured a photo spread titled “World’s Smallest Airport” in its April 12, 1949, is-sue. “This stunt is made possible by precision flying. It’s done with a light plane, the Piper Vagabond, a stock Mercury Station Wagon—and daring teamwork. The feat is one of many by the Trans- American Sky Shows, now touring the country.” [See sidebar for more air show information.]


The project is ready to be hauled from Kansas City to Minnesota, June 2012.

The Vagabond project in June 2003, before fuselage restoration.

Installation in progress of the 12-gallon fuel tank in the right wing.

Close up view of the wing attach points on the fuselage.

Work progresses on the skylight installaton.

Close-up view of the brake cylinders and rudder pedals before restoration.

Work on the cowling progresses.

COUR

TESY

VAU

GH

N L

OVLE

YCO

URTE

SY V

AUG

HN

LOV

LEY

COUR

TESY

VAU

GH

N L

OVLE

YCO

URTE

SY V

AUG

HN

LOV

LEY

COURTESY FORREST LOVLEY




Changing HandsLowell sold the Vagabond to

Harold D. Sheldon of Jacksonville, Florida, on April 12, 1949. All told, this Vagabond changed hands and geographic locations about a dozen times until it came up for sale in 2002. It was one of three airplanes in an estate “package deal,” and Forrest

Lovley of Jordan, Minnesota, went together with air show pilot Warren Pietsch to purchase the lot. (War-ren retained and restored a Hisso-powered Travel Air.) The PA-15 arrived from Oregon on a trailer, and Forrest and a friend, Clifford Hatz, began gradually working on it.

Forrest was familiar with rag-wing Pipers, having been around airplanes all his life. He grew up on a farm in northern Maine, and recalls, “My dad always had an airplane; he ran a trap line in the wintertime when we weren’t farming, and he had a PA-11 that he kept either on skis or floats. After we moved to Minnesota, I just kept it up.”

Then in May 2010, the Vaga-bond once again changed hands—but this time, it remained in the family. Forrest’s 35-year-old son decided to buy the airplane and complete the restoration. Vaughn Lovley, who is tall and lanky just

like Lowell White was, makes his living as a disc jockey (known as DJ Str8Reppin), performing at a vari-ety of venues, including night clubs and corporate or private parties. Vaughn has 35 years of aviation ex-perience, and it’s almost an under-statement to say that he grew up around airplanes.

“I grew up ‘f lying in diapers,’ and our family vacations were fly-ing to the Antique Airplane fly-in at Blakesburg, Iowa,” shares Vaughn, adding with a big grin, “Until we went to school, all we knew were air-planes. All the kids we hung out with and all their parents had airplanes, too. So it was a weird culture shock going to elementary school and find-ing out other kids didn’t know any-thing about airplanes. We grew up around airplane people, and essen-tially no one else! I was 18 when I so-loed our PA-11—Dad bought that airplane the day I was born in 1978.

Forrest Lovley and Clifford Hatz work on the landing gear strut.

COUR

TESY

VAU

GH

LOV

LEY

TYSON RININGER


Mom soloed in it, as well as a lot of my friends. I have over 700 logged hours, but I’m knocking on a thou-sand I’m sure, and most of it is tail-wheel time.”

The genesis of Vaughn’s inter-est in the Vagabond came about in October 2008, when he was

living in Kansas City. “My good friend, John Swander, is really like a second father to me, and he had just let me solo his Waco to celebrate his birthday. He asked me, ‘When are you going to get your own airplane?’ I told him I didn’t know what I wanted—I’ve

always been a Bellanca guy, so a Vagabond wasn’t even on my list. John said, ‘Well, your dad still has that Vagabond project; why don’t you get that?’ So I called my dad the next day and asked if he would part with it, and we made a deal. On my 30th birthday in

This PA-15 retains its Spartan interior, sans the fuselage fuel tank.

A Breeze cap covers the front spark plug, eliminating the need for bumps on the cowling.

North Florida Motor Co. sponsored air show stunt pilot Lowell White, who bought this PA-15 new in 1948. Cliff Anderson Jr. hand lettered the company name on the fuselage.

SPAR

KY B

ARN

ES S

ARG

ENT

PHOT

OS

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT


November, Dad trucked it down from Minnesota.”

Restoration SagaJohn generously made a home

for the Vagabond project in his basement, where he and Vaughn immediately started working on it. “Then the economy crashed,” recalls Vaughn, “so I moved all around the country to stay work-ing, and the project stalled and just sat in John’s basement for a couple of years.”

Vaughn moved to Minnesota in late 2011 and started diligently working on the PA-15 again in June 2012. His friends, Larry and Barb Frost, had welcomed the project into their hangar at Le Sueur Mu-nicipal Airport. Vaughn was familiar with many aspects of restoration, since he and his father restored a Mooney Mite together during the winter of 2005. But Vaughn is the first to assert that the Vagabond would never have been finished without the help, experience, and expertise of a number of friends, to whom he remains grateful.

“This is the first airplane resto-ration that I’ve been involved with that I own,” shares Vaughn, adding, “I did a lot of work on it, but I had a ton of help, so I can’t claim I did the total restoration myself. Dad came back into the picture, along with Clifford Hatz, Chuck Doyle, and Tim Verhoeven. They really helped me out; I grew up around people who take a lot of pride in their work, and I had two former antique Grand Champion winners helping me with the Vagabond.”

North Florida Motor Co.“After Dad bought it back in

2002, a friend of Dad’s called and they were talking about Vaga-bonds,” recounts Vaughn, “and the guy said, ‘I’ve liked them ever since I saw an air show comedy act

in Redwood Falls.’ So Dad started looking through the logs and found the date that the airplane was in Redwood Falls. That ’s how he found out the history. After I pur-chased the airplane, I decided to put it back like it was when Lowell White was flying it.”

Vaughn contacted Lowell and his son, Jim, who shared numer-ous photos, old newspaper articles, and other historical information regarding NC4426H’s air show per-formance and appearance in 1948 and 1949. (Sadly, Lowell passed away a few months prior to the Vagabond’s completion.) North Florida Motor Co. was a Lincoln Mercury dealer in Jacksonville, Florida, and sponsored Lowell’s aerial stunt f lying—hence the company name was prominently featured on the fuselage. During the restoration, Cliff Anderson Jr. hand lettered the company name on the Vagabond’s fuselage, just as it was in 1948.

ModsW hile NC4426H bears a re-

markable similarity to its original

appearance, it is, in fact, highly modified. When Forrest owned it, his first order of business was installing a Continental C-90-12 engine and Sensenich 74-CK-46 metal prop, for which he received one-time FAA 337 field approvals. Breeze cups were installed over the top two front spark plugs, which eliminated the need for bumps on the cowling.

Forrest also transformed the PA-15’s fuel system by removing the original 12-gallon fuselage tank and installing a Clarence Witte 12-gallon fuel tank in each wing. He obtained a field approval for this by referencing STC SA1496GL and Air-Energy Service Drawing No. 200 for the Piper J-3C, noting that all ribs and cables are in the same place as in the PA-15. A fuel selector valve was installed in the cabin for the gravity-feed tanks. This gave the Vagabond 24 gallons of fuel to quench the thirst of the higher horsepower engine.

Vaughn and his team of helpers installed a B&C starter on the en-gine, and an Odyssey 12-volt bat-tery on a reinforced area of the


baggage compartment floor (per field approval). Other installations included a Marvel-Schebler carbu-retor, Steve’s Aircraft gascolators (per STC), and heat muffs on each of the separate exhaust pipes.

“John Swander and I did the boot cowl when I got the project—that was one of the first things we did, along with the instrument panel. Chris Blazer of Kansas City helped me a lot with the cowling,” explains Vaughn. “I can cut and form metal and know what looks good, but in terms of bending and stretching metal, Chris is just a pro at it. The cowling is kind of a hybrid between a PA-11 and Vagabond style, where it’s got the three-piece top—but the fasteners are very Vagabond. I did all the sheet metal baffling for the engine, and the nosebowl is the original nosebowl, which still has the dipstick opening on the top.”

Other mods include a skylight, and the Grove Aircraft Landing

Gear Systems disc brake conver-sion kit was installed (per STC) for reliable braking, longevity, and low maintenance.

Finally, the airframe was cov-ered with Ceconite 102 fabric and finished with butyrate dope. Then fuel flow tests were conducted “by creating a high angle of attack to simulate climb-out,” recounts Vaughn, adding, “with about 2 gallons of gas total, we did a full-

power engine run on each tank for about a minute. Since it was es-sentially a scratch-built system, it was important to us that this was tested thoroughly.”

When all the paperwork was completed, the airplane was ready to leave the ground. Vaug hn climbed into the Vagabond and made its first post-restoration f light on August 11, 2013. He’s logged more than 50 hours on the

Vaughn Lovley flies his restored PA-15 to AirVenture 2014.TYSON RININGER

TYSON RININGER


airplane since then, including his longest cross-country flight, which was to AirVenture in 2014.

“Because of all the mods, its empty weight is heavier than orig-inal, at 686 pounds. The C-90-12 burns around 5-1/2 gph, depend-ing on how fast I want to go and how lean the mixture is set,” says Vaughn, adding, “I cruise 107 mph at 2300 rpm. It’s the thrill of a life-time to be flying this airplane—it’s a dream come true!”

Forrest is glad to see his son fly-ing the Vagabond. “It’s really spe-cial to be at AirVenture with him and the airplane,” he shares, ex-plaining with a smile, “He was never forced into learning to fly—I may have leaned on him a little bit, but Vaughn has always made up his own mind.”

Vaughn echoes his father ’s words, explaining, “You can’t force flying on your friends or kids. It helps for them to be involved early at a young age to become inspired, but I’ve seen a lot of kids almost turned off because they felt it was expected of them. So it just has to come naturally, and you have to al-low that interest to develop.”

Vaughn and his wife, Cat, don’t have children, so the two-place PA-15 meets their present needs. NC4426H has won several notable awards, including Grand Cham-pion (Neo-Classic 1946-1956) during the Antique Airplane Asso-ciation 2013 Fly-In, and Outstand-ing Piper Other (Small Plaque) at AirVenture 2014.

“My plans are to enjoy the air-plane until I see there’s something else I can enjoy more,” he shares, smiling and adding, “This Vaga-bond has a neat history and it was a cool restoration, so I’m not in any hurry to get rid of it. At this point, I can’t imagine owning a more prac-tical, fun-flying airplane, especially with the 90-horse engine!”

The Vagabond Novelty PilotForrest Lovley recently acquired aerobatic champion Johnny Vasey’s per-

sonal scrapbook, and kindly shared its content for this article. Though the newspaper clippings and air show souvenir programs in its pages are tinged with the patina of passing time, they easily convey the fun-loving camara-derie of some very talented performers during the late 1940s. Those were the days when local airports welcomed the public, and air show admission was only a dollar or two. Following are excerpts from Johnny’s scrapbook.

In 1948 and 1949, air show novelty pilot Lowell White performed the air show circuit with headliner Johnny Vasey, who flew a 450-hp Stearman. Other fellow performers included Rose Parrakeet stunt pilot Bill Fischer; wing-walker and stuntman Billy Light; bat-wing parachute jumper “Red” Grant; skywriter Maj. Art Davis flying a Taperwing Waco; acrobatic pilot Marion Cole; and low-altitude parachute jumper Carl Ruppert.

A souvenir air show program offers this description of Lowell’s piloting skills: “During the war, the daring pilot served as an instructor in the army air forces and hundreds of the students he taught went out and helped write world history. He has over 6,000 hours at the controls of a plane to his credit. Veteran pilots, while watching White put his ship through his zany routine, have been heard to say, ‘You can’t do that with an airplane.’”

One period newspaper reported: “His plane is just a plain stock model, without special accessories and has not been strengthened for stunt flying. Pilots seeing the act seldom believe that White’s ship is not a specially con-structed stunt ship and are amazed when they examine the plane after the act is finished. The intrepid White … is known all over the United States for his ‘screwball’ flying and his crazy antics, and has amused countless thousands of spectators. Most of White’s stunts are performed under 50 feet and can be seen in detail by spectators at the show.”

Lowell also performed a crowd-pleasing “drunken flier” act and was sometimes billed as “T. Hennesey Collins from Bourbon, Corn County, Ken-tucky.” A newspaper account described the act in detail, as it was performed during the International Air Fair held at Stevenson Field at Winnipeg in early July 1948: “The ‘inebriated’ act was put on by Lowell White, novelty flier of the American Tiger air circus. His flight in a 65 h.p. lightplane was just one of the thrills and chills of spectacular flying put on by the American stunt pilots aided by the R.C.A.F. A good many of the spectators turned pale after stunt flier White eluded police and officials to jump into a tiny Piper Cub Vagabond and do a hairbreadth zig-zag takeoff. As part of the act he had been taken by police from the field earlier for causing a disturbance. Once in the air af-ter dragging a mechanic 25 feet across the ground, the little yellow plane shot into the air vertically and kept the crowd on edge for the next 15 minutes as the master of ceremonies Bob Doan shouted instructions over the loudspeaker to the runaway plane. Playing constantly on the brink of a stall, White flew the little craft sideways, bounced on several attempted landings, and at one stage flew across with one leg out the window, shouting frantically to the crowd. He finally made a one wheel landing almost in a circle to the relief of the crowd, who were then let in on the gag.”

The humble-yet-valiant Vagabond played a unique role in history—not only by saving Piper Aircraft Co., but also by providing thousands of air show spectators with priceless moments of surprising and awe-inspiring perfor-mances, when flown by the talented Lowell White.


Al Meyers and an

OTW Reborn

The

Herrmann family’s biplaneby Budd Davisson

TYSON RININGER


If you think about it , the 1930s was an incredibly contradictory time. On the one hand, soup kitchen lines stretched around the

block and Mother Nature had the Midwest vise-gripped in a crip-pling drought. Times were tough. However, for totally illogical rea-sons, highly intelligent people like Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna, Al Mooney, Clarence and Gordon Tay-lor, William Piper and Al Meyers, among others, decided that, even though the country was starving, it would be a good time to build airplanes. And so they did. And

they succeeded. However, it could be argued that, in a strange sort of way, Al Meyers owned much of his success to Adolf Hitler.

Al Meyers:Kid Airplane Builder

Al turned 21 years old the same year the stock market tanked and a depression with a capital “D” clamped down on the country. However, by that time, the fasci-nation he had for airplanes, which had apparently gripped him at an early age, had propelled him into aviation directly out of high school. Since the mid-1920s, he

had been working for all of the major pioneer aviation companies like Glenn L. Martin, Stinson, and Chance Vought. He had been hon-ing his skills in sheet metal work and gaining an understanding of aircraft design, engineering, and construction.

Even as he was getting his hands dirty, however, he was also learn-ing to fly, soloing a Jenny on Long Island. As his flight time increased, he bought a Waco 10 in 1932 and continued flight instructing and barnstorming to build his flight time. A pivotal trip came when he went on the road barnstorming with a friend, Martin Jensen, in an aircraft Jensen had designed and built. It was unique for the time be-cause it had an aluminum fuselage and fabric-covered, wood-struc-tured wings. Al liked the combina-tion, and while working for Stinson in Wayne, Michigan, he began de-signing and building an airplane of his own design that used the same combination. It’s interesting to put efforts like his in context: He was probably making a minimal wage (as everyone was), the coun-try around him was totally crushed by the Great Depression, and there he was, a young man in his 20s de-signing and building an airplane. An impossible dream was taking shape in the shadow of a national catastrophe. It seems the aviation disease first attacks that portion of the brain that sponsors common sense. It must also numb fears of starvation.

Al’s new airplane f lew for the first time at Wayne Country Air-

TYSO

N R

ININ

GER

The OTW owes its existence to the need for aerobatic trainers early in WWII.


port in May of 1936. But, in look-ing around at the state of aviation, he must have known that he had designed and built an anachro-nism. The open-cockpit biplane, even with a metal fuselage, was totally out of vogue in the market place. 1930s “modern” aircraft de-sign had the Beech Staggerwing and Spartan Executive at one end, and the new crop of small engine trainers and sports planes like the Taylors, Pipers, and Aeroncas at the other end. That’s when, al-though it was certainly not their intention, Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo came to his aid.

The Axis EffectBy 1937-38 it became blatantly

clear to American leadership that things were happening in Eu-rope and China that appeared to be headed for critical mass in the not-too-distant future. Besides the overt, and sometimes brutal, politi-cal moves being made, Germany had established hyperactive, suppos-edly civilian, “flying clubs” that were training pilots at an accelerated rate, far greater than would be expected for purely civilian, sports use.

Visionaries in Washington took note of what was happening and decided it would be in America’s best interest if they established some sort of program that taught lots of civilians how to fly. Robert Hinckley of the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) was charged with

developing what would be known as the Civilian Pilot Training Pro-gram (CPTP) under which the gov-ernment would pay for a 72-hour ground school and between 35 and 50 hours of f light training. The ground schools would be part of university and college programs, and the flight training would be conducted at civilian flying schools located near the schools.

What started initially at 11 col-leges around the country was in the process of succeeding, when, on September 1, 1939, the Weh-rmacht and Luftwaffe waded into Poland and things got very serious, very quickly. Accordingly, the CPTP was given emergency priority and was expanded to more than 1,100 educational locations and 1,400 flying schools. After Pearl Harbor, it was reorganized and renamed the War Training Service and func-tioned as a lead-in screening sys-tem for the military. When the program was phased out in mid-1944, more than 435,000 pilots had been created. Amazing!

As the CPTP began to be wildly expanded, a second tier of training

TYSO

N R

ININ

GER

PH

OTOS

The aluminum structure of the fuse-lage seems out of place with its oth-erwise traditional bi-plane details.


David Herrmann, OTW pilot/owner, will be the first to say that Joey Sahakian gets full credit for his airplane being what it is. And Joey is quick to say that one of the reasons he sold it to David was that he would continue to take care of it. “I made it so nice that the neat freak in me wouldn’t let it get dirty. I’d fly for an hour, get some bugs on it, and spend seven hours cleaning it. Even though I’d put my heart and soul into restoring it, flying it bordered on being work. I really enjoyed it but I didn’t enjoy it, if that makes any sense.”

Joey is a second-generation auto-repair guy, hav-ing taken over the business from his father. But he’s also a second-generation vintage airplane guy. “My dad had a bunch of old airplanes, including a Lus-combe and a Stinson, which I eventually restored. I got my first airplane, a Piper J-5A, in the ’80s. I flew that old airplane any and everywhere, before fi-nally restoring it. I must have done it right because it won a lot of awards.”

Joey has it better than most nonprofessional air-plane restorers. His auto shop was originally a body shop so it has a big spray booth in the back. Joey says, “I’ll put an airplane in there, and when things get slow in the shop or I want a break, I just walk back there and bang on an airplane for a little while.”

“I sold my J-5 when I got married, and a few months later we were having a backyard barbecue and I kept looking up at the airplanes flying over. That went on for several hours, and my wife finally cornered me and said, ‘Go buy an airplane. You’re driving me nuts!’”

And that’s how the OTW came to be.When he started his search for another airplane,

he heard about an old biplane, an OTW, that had been taken apart and had been sitting in a hangar for five years. The owner was in a hurry to sell, and Joey was in no hurry to buy, so he negotiated until the price was right and then pulled the trigger.

“I got my airplane buddies together, and we

started putting the airplane back together. It was to-tally complete, just apart and dirty. It took us three weekends, but we got it back in the air and licensed. I jumped in, never having flown a big biplane before, and flew home with no problems. That says more about how nice the airplane flies than me, as a pilot.”

He flew the airplane for nearly 10 years with it perpetually in “I’m going to restore it some day” mode. It wasn’t in bad shape. He says “fair” would describe it. That, however, changed on a whim.

He remembers, “One day a bunch of my buddies and I were supposed to fly to a strip that’s right on the beach, build a bonfire, and camp for a couple of days. But, the weather turned really sour and we were standing around the airplanes at the hangar watching gloomy skies. For whatever reason, with no

forethought whatsoever, I said, ‘I have it! Let’s take my airplane

apart, and I’ll restore it. Out came the pocketknives and wrenches, and by

nightfall, my airplane was totally naked and in a million pieces. At that point, I was pretty committed to restoring it.”

As always, when an airplane comes apart there are surprises.

“The airplane had never really been restored, especially the wings, and we found

a major crack in the rear spar of the center sec-tion. The rest of the wing wood was probably us-able, but I decided I wanted a brand new biplane,

so I replaced every piece of wood in the wings. All of it! My friend Ken Dodderer cut the raw stock for me. When I was done with the wing construction, the inspector looked at them and said, ‘They look like furniture. It’s a shame to cover them.’ But I did cover them using the Stits process all the way through.

“The fuselage aluminum was actually in good shape, but a total cleaning was in order, inside and out. The cowl was rough so another friend, John Nielsen, English-wheeled new metal for it.

“The wheelpants are fiberglass and originally for a Waco, so they aren’t original. I opted to go for an air show look, rather than the original, military scheme: bare metal fuselage, yellow wings. Same thing inside: It had leather seats, nice panel, etc. It may not have been original, but it looked great and was fun to fly. However, it was time for someone else to enjoy it, so I sold it to David. Now I’m helping a friend with his 1929 Fleet 2 and am looking for a project for myself. I’d like something a little unusual like a Porterfield, Interstate Cadet, or maybe a PA-12 Super Cruiser. A guy’s got to keep busy, right?”

The Man Behind the Machine: Joey Sahakian

TYSON RININGER


was added. Besides simply teach-ing them to fly, it was decided that student pilots would all be given aerobatic training , and that ’s where Al Meyers’ future immedi-ately changed. Aerobatics in those days automatically meant tandem, open-cockpit biplanes, and Waco couldn’t build enough UPF-7s to meet the demand, so Al was tapped to build his out-of-date biplane to be the aerobatics trainer for flight schools. There was only one glitch: The airplane had to be certifi-cated to be accepted into the pro-gram. A second Meyers airplane had been built in the company’s

temporary factory in September of 1939. Although the aircraft wasn’t certificated yet, the government had already issued a Group 2 ap-proval back in August that techni-cally allowed the company to begin building. The pressure to get air-planes into the f lying schools was so fierce that a lot of govern-mental winks and nods resulted in around 30 Meyers biplanes al-ready having been built by the time the paperwork for the type certificate was approved.

CPTP Provides aMarket, a Factory, andDavid Herrmann’s Airplane

With government orders in his pocket, Al Meyers suddenly found that funding and adequate facili-ties were no longer a problem. He was being courted by a number of communities to locate on their airport, and the small town of Te-cumseh, Michigan, offered him a tax and facility package he couldn’t turn down. So, Meyers Aircraft Co. (it had already existed in his mind and on paper for many years) of-ficially located onto what is now

known as the Al Meyers Airport.Al’s nameless biplane became

the OTW (Out To Win) as soon as it was selected as one of the CPTP’s aerobatic trainers. One hundred two aircraft were rolled out of the small plant, with production com-ing to a halt in 1943, probably be-cause the government decided to begin standardizing flight training with the Stearman. The war ended with the OTW having the enviable record of never having a student fatality occur in the airplane.

It was toward the end of produc-tion, in 1943, to be exact, OTW serial No. 95 was built. Seventy-one years later, wearing N34351 registration, July 2014 found S/N 95 parked on the grounds of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh under the tutelage of a proud new owner, David Herrmann of Two Rivers, Wisconsin. His aviation heritage runs deep, with the OTW being his latest love.

David says, “My dad talked about his uncle Otto who was a navigator on a B-24 named Tommy Thumper. He said when he was home he would get in his

TYSO

N R

ININ

GER

PH

OTOS

Many of the airframe features surrounding the 160 hp Kinner show that restorer Joey Sahakian was going for an airshow appearance, rather than an original military look.


Piper Cub and f ly around the farm having all kinds of fun. That kind of stuck in my head and then, in the early ’80s, going to EAA Oshkosh re-ally got my interests piqued.

“My dad and I kicked around building a Son-erai, and at some point my dad said, ‘You didn’t want to do college, so what do you want?’ and I answered that I’d like to get my pilot’s license so, that’s what I did.”

His flying hit a lull when the family business, suffering from high interest rates and competi-tion, went under, and for nearly 10 years he was pretty much ground-bound.

He says, “I got back into flying when I was about 28, and I got my PPL glider. I did a lot of soaring and even bought a motorglider, a Fournier RF5B. Then I bought a newly restored L-3B Aeronca in California, but I couldn’t fly it home because I didn’t have a power PPL. A friend flew it back. Then my CFI, Jim Wheeler, and I flew to AirVen-ture ’03, where it was runner-up in class.”

As David was getting back into flying, his busi-ness life was getting busier as he went to work for a Harley dealer, taking care of many departments in a growing business.

“One of our service techs and I built a RV-7 in my garage over four winters that I flew for years before selling it to Steve Morse, guitarist for Deep Purple. Then I bought an RV-8A, but I didn’t like the nose wheel so got rid of that in favor of a straight RV-8 and then an RV-3. That was replaced by an RV-4 and a Cub that I re-covered. And that’s when the OTW joined the fold.”

Accidental Biplane Purchase“I went looking for an OTW partially because

I accidentally sold my last RV at almost exactly the same time that I discovered OTWs. I’d never seen one until I ran into a local pilot who had one, and it intrigued me. I heard that little voice in my head saying, ‘Hey! I think I’d like to own one of those.’ And I listened to it. Just then a guy looking at my RV asked me if it was for sale. It wasn’t, but I tossed a silly number at him ex-pecting him to stomp off, but he smiled, and just that quickly, I needed another airplane. I had just looked at the local OTW, but it wasn’t for sale. Then I peeked at Barnstormers and there it was…an OTW! I called the guy, he still had it, and I told him to hold it for me. This all hap-pened on the same day, as if it was foreordained that I was to own an OTW or something.”

123 E. 4th Street • Newton, KS 67114316-283-8000 • BandC.info/VA

YourNext Oil ChangeJust Got

Easier

$328List: $450

BC700-1 (STC/PMA)O-235 thru IO-720

Limited Time and Quantity

3-D Machined Billet Aluminum

Mess Free!


The OTW he’d never seen but was about to buy had been re-s t o r e d b y J o e y S a h a k i a n i n Fresno, California. In the pictures it looked perfect. When David fi-nally saw it in real life, it looked the same way. (See the sidebar for Joey’s side of the OTW story.)

“I did some research through the OTW club and biplane forum, look-ing for someone to ferry the air-plane home and check me out, and Clay Hammond appeared to be the perfect person. I expected the check-out to be a big deal, because, among other things, the OTW tail wheel is totally free-swiveling. It doesn’t steer and it doesn’t lock. It was like nothing I’d ever flown before, and I expected it to be squirrely. But, it definitely wasn’t. We did five take-offs and landings to a full stop, as required by the insurance, and I was done. And the insurance premium is exactly the same as I was paying for my RV. This is because the OTW has such a good safety record.”

A Gentleman’sFlying Machine

“The landing gear is so wide and the rudder so effective,” he says, “you don’t even miss the tail-wheel steer-ing. The main gear also has a huge amount of well-damped travel so it’s really hard to bounce it on landing. Whether three-point or wheeling it on, it just settles on and sticks.”

David says, “Takeoff is leisurely and super easy to keep straight. It just sort of f loats off at 65 mph, You climb at 70 and gen-erally cruise in the 95-100 mph range, burning about 10 gallons per hour. You fly the pattern at 80 mph and just aim the nose at the numbers. I usually wheel it on be-cause it’s so easy and you can see what you’re doing.”

Cruising around at less than 100 mph takes a lot longer, and he says the RVs have spoiled him in that re-gard. But watching the sunset is so much more fun at OTW speeds.

“The first time I brought my wife,

Donna, out to see it, she wouldn’t even get out of the Jeep. She just watched me fly. The second time, she let me put her in it, but she wasn’t about to go flying. The third time, I had her in the cockpit and she says, ‘Can we go flying now?’ She really likes it!”

So, inasmuch as David changes airplanes the way most people change T-shirts, how soon before something new catches his eye?

He says, “This airplane is a big bucket list item for me. I’ve always wanted an open-cockpit biplane with a round motor. Always! So, it may be a while before I part with this one.

“Lastly, I’d like to thank my par-ents for the start of my aviation ad-venture, EAA for making sure my aviation interests were kept alive, and a few local mentors, namely Jim Wheeler, Don Gruett, Gregg Goins, Ray Roethle, and Don Kiel. Also, I definitely need to thank the most important person of all, my wife, Donna.”

TYSON RININGER

The OTW’s long-strong landing gear makes smooth landings easy.


Looking around at the sport aviation and vintage air-craft communities, it ’s obvious that we’re seeing second- and third-gener-

ation participants jumping into the fray. It seems the family that f lies together, at the very least, seriously infects their offspring with the av-bug. Walt Bowe of So-

noma, California, is certainly one of those generational aviators who never had a moment in his life when old airplanes weren’t part of his environment.

Bowe says, “When I was about 12 years old, I got my first vin-tage airplane ride in Old Rhine-beck’s D-25 New Standard. That one ride really gave me the bug,

and being from Sonoma, Califor-nia, I fell in with the Schellville airport crowd, which included a bunch of serious antiquers.

“I soloed in a C-140 and was very much taken under the wing of some of the local guys, including the late Ted Babbini and Don Carter. They let me fly their airplanes, which in-cluded a Jungmeister and a Fleet,

K e e p i n ’ U p aFamily Tradition

Walt Bowe’s D-18 Beechby Budd Davisson Chris Miller Photos


to fly-ins, where I was almost al-ways the youngest pilot. I was hav-ing the time of my life.

“My first airplane was a Pieten-pol that I bought when I was 15 years old for $500 from Joe San-tana. It was a bare-bones, unfin-ished project. I would have been better off starting from scratch in the long run, but it gave me in-spiration. My closest friend, Chris Price, and I were fascinated by the old flivver-style airplanes in high school. He started a Heath Para-sol (previous OSH winner), and I did the Pietenpol. The Pietenpol was my first project and restora-

tion. I finished it in 2005. College, work, and lack of money stopped me from finishing earlier. Chris beat me!

“I met Bud Field,” he says, “a well-known airplane collector and business man from Hayward, Cali-fornia, at one of those air shows, when I was a teenager. He offered to let me fly his stock Stearman and, of course, I jumped at it. He was very generous with his toys. That led to me flying his Travel Air and Model 4 Stearman to shows. I was fortunate to fly all his air-planes. He was to have a huge im-pact on my life.

“I left for college at California State University at Chico and ma-jored in earth science/environ-mental engineering. I graduated in three-and-a-half years and went back to Sonoma as a flight instruc-tor while hoping to become an air-line pilot. I did get an opportunity to fly for a company that operated 737s within six months of being out of school and was in the train-ing program in Tucson. I never ac-tually got the opportunity to fly, though. I began realizing that I was miserable and knew that the airline life was not for me. I grew up in an airline family, and many

TYSON RININGER

Walt Bowe’s opening comment to everyone about his airplane is that he can’t take any credit for its magnifi-cent restoration. That honor belongs to George Byaard, Carson City, NV.


friends were airline pilots. Many of those friends went out on a limb to help me climb the ranks to be an airline pilot. However, I was headed down a path that wasn’t right for me. Deciding not to fly for the airlines was tough, and I was worried about repercussions with friends and family, but ultimately I decided I couldn’t keep going.

“Before leaving for Tucson, I had received an offer from Bud Field to go to work for him in his con-struction business, but I turned him down, thinking I should fol-low the path I had been on for my short f lying career. He told me

that, if things fell through on the airline thing, I had a standing job offer that was good for one year. That was pretty sweet; he knew I would be miserable. Anyone who knew Bud would understand his craftiness. He had planted a hook in me, and he knew it.

“ Within a few months I was done with the 737 gig and working for Bud at his Industrial Construc-tion Co. based out of Livermore, California. Working for Bud was a great experience, and despite what many thought, we didn’t play with his toys as much as was assumed! Bud gave me an incredible oppor-tunity to learn his business, and in six short years I became a part-ner in the company. Four years later Bud passed away (February 10, 2010), and I took over his role as president of Lilja Corp. We had a five-year buyout plan, and it is sad that Bud only made it through four of those years. Even sadder, he never got to enjoy retirement and his collection of airplanes to the fullest. He died a young 63. I men-tion my history with Bud because it’s really important to me that people understand that he was an incredible mentor and friend and gave me the opportunity to ulti-mately fulfill my dream of collect-

ing airplanes. We tried each oth-er’s patience at times at work, but nothing a few glasses of wine at the end of the day wouldn’t fix.”

While working for Bud Field, Walt got to stretch his wings, so to speak, in the airplane building/col-lecting area. The Pietenpol was his first, and as he says, “I built it ex-actly to the plans and even acquired an original N number that had belonged to Bernie Pietenpol and painted the airplane accordingly. It is no brakes, tailskid, Model A pow-ered. Period-correct instruments, solder-wrapped cables, etc. To be honest, it’s ridiculously original!”

Walt ’s next airplane was an Eaglerock that had a family con-nection. He says, “My grandfather was really my inspiration for old airplanes. He learned in the teens and got his license, bought a Jenny for $500 and barnstormed. Later he went to work for an Alexander Eaglerock distributor, then onto the airlines, Eastern, then Ameri-can Overseas, and flew the Ber-lin Airlift, then on to PAA flying the flying boats out of New York. I am fortunate to have discovered all of his old logbooks and photo albums as a teenager. I never got to meet him, though I was named after him. Walter Hostetler was

Walt Bowe


his name. Neat history that I’m fortunate to have in my family, so buying an Eaglerock was a no-brainer. My wife, Carlene, and I bought one in Brewster, Kansas, and trucked it home to Sonoma. It was pretty much a complete airplane, not a basket case. I over-hauled the OX-5, did some fabric work, installed new cables, wiring, and plumbing. It was not pretty, but we got it flying again. That was a sentimental project because of my grandfather’s history with the type. Thanks to Carlene for mak-ing that all possible.”

Carlene is part of everything Walt does and still has the Cub she

soloed in. That one was joined by a 1939 Cub project that Walt fin-ished, and he says, “One day, we dreamed up the idea to have ‘his’ and ‘her’ Cubs and go to Lock Ha-ven for Sentimental Journey. Well, we have the Cubs, but have not made it to Pennsylvania yet.”

EAA/VAA members remember Walt’s next airplane well: an award-winning 1929 Laird that graced these pages. The project that fol-lowed the Laird, however, and is still underway is not only exciting but, as he puts it, “It’s a long, long, long project that has come a long way, but has a long way to go.” It’s a 1937 Beech 18A: the original pro-

totype Twin Beech. The very first one! (See sidebar for details.)

As he worked on the prototype D-18 project, Walt decided he had to do something about his over-whelming desire to own and fly a Twin Beech. The prototype was go-ing to take too long. “I wanted im-mediate satisfaction. I talked Car-lene into us buying one (kidding, but kind of true). I wanted to have an airplane we could load the dogs into and go somewhere.”

The D-18 he brought to EAA Air-Venture Oshkosh 2014 was a 1944 C-45B that had been totally re-stored by George Byaard in Carson City, Nevada, but it hadn’t been flown for five years. “It was beau-tiful and came back to life after a morning’s work. After lunch, Taigh Ramey flew it back to Stockton for a thorough annual.”

The airplane may have been beautiful, when Walt found it, but it hadn’t always been that way. In fact, reading through its military records makes it obvious that the airplane had been ridden hard and put away wet more than a few times.

It was delivered to its first duty station, NAS Norfolk in March of ’44, but a little over a year later, it had a “major repair” done in San Juan. A few months after that, it had a minor repair in the same lo-cation, and another two months later it was “reconditioned and re-paired.” The airplane was less than 18 months old but had spent more time in the hospital than flying.

It was “reconditioned and re-paired” again in November ’46 and again in February ’50, then went back to the factory to be remanufac-tured in ’53. It then cycled through a number of training command bases until it was put in storage at Litchfield Park, Arizona, in ’59. It was awakened a few years later and put to work again until it taxied into

When George Byaard restored the airplane, it was with function in mind, so, although the instrument panel harkens back to older times, it is still thoroughly usable in today’s airspace environment.


what is often a fatal parking spot at Davis-Monthan AFB, where mili-tary airplanes go to die.

Davis-Monthan AFB is better known as “The Boneyard.” The year was 1967, so, before it was stricken off Navy inventory in April of ’68, it had 24 years and 10,343 hours of military service in its logbooks. It was time for a well-earned rest…which it didn’t get. In fact, what it got was generally a death sentence for any airplane: C-45B, S/N 6198 was transferred to Southern Ne-vada Vocational Technical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, to be used for “instructional purposes.” Es-sentially, it was a cadaver to be dis-sected, poked, prodded, and stud-ied by students who had no appre-ciation for its elegance or history. For 17 years the plane suffered the indignities associated with being a “donor airframe.” Then, George By-

aard V came along. In December of ’98, he paid $6,000 for a tired-look-ing D-18. Byaard found as much of the corpse as he could and trucked the remains to his shop where he spent the next 10 years trying to put the aluminum jigsaw puzzle back together.

Walt Bowe says, “Most of it was there, but almost all of it was either worn out or suffering badly from ex-posure to students and/or the ele-ments. The skin itself, however, was in good shape. In fact, the airplane is still wearing all of its original skin. George went through the air-

Byaard had an extensive inventory of new-old-stock D-18 parts including plenty of seats. Inasmuch as the Bowe airplane spent over a decade in an airframe instructional school, it’s interior was completely missing. So Byaard stitched up a new one.


plane inch by inch, replacing every bit of original wire and plumbing. Even the plywood floorboards were replaced, including in the cockpit, which is a major project because all of the controls and many panels have to come out to allow access to the floorboards. This is part of the reason George separated the nose from the airplane. That gave him unrestricted access to the front of the floor and the back of the instru-

ment panel, which made it much easier to install new instruments, wiring, and avionics.”

George and John Crum had it easier than most when it came to do-ing a first-class job rehabbing all the systems: For years George had been buying new old stock military sur-plus airframe parts and had a terrific inventory of the necessary items. So, when they were done with this airframe, many parts were so new

that they still sported the original manufacturer’s part number. In the course of replacing all of the wiring, they even labeled each part with the appropriate number.

The Twin Beech is famous for the problems it’s had with its steel tube center section, and there have been any number of ADs and fixes aimed at it. George complied with the AD and installed a new spar strap on the original spar.

It is seldom that the very f irst of anything, much less an airplane, sur-vives. In this case, Walt Bowe’s on-going project is the very f irst D-18 Twin Beech. It was built in 1937 and carries serial number 62, which Walt says is curious because that’s right in the middle of the Staggerwing serial numbers. It differs from later Twin Beeches in many areas.

Everything is much lighter than later airplanes, which resulted in an empty weight of only 4,000 pounds. This is an amazing 2,300 pounds less than the later D-18s. Walt is undoubtedly cor-rect when he says, “I’ll bet it flies re-ally well.”

One noticeable difference is the airplane’s engines: rather than being 450-hp P&W R-985s, it was/is powered by a pair of Wright R-760 E2s (same as J-6 Whirlwind) of 350 hp each. These are fitted with cowls that feature very pronounced bumps over the cylinders. These alone call attention to the airplane’s early lineage.

Walt says the airplane was originally rescued by an-tiquers Bob Lock and Fred Patterson.”Bob saved it ini-tially by taking it from the Reedly, California, airport to his house to prevent further damage by vandalism, though he did not own it. Fred Patterson bought it in the 1980s and ultimately brought it to Novato, Califor-nia, where I bought it. Fred had done a lot of disas-sembly to stop corrosion, which included removing the center section, but had not touched it in many years,

when Carlene and I decided to buy it.” When Walt and Carlene bought it about three years

ago, it was totally disassembled. In Walt’s words, “It’s not like it hit a hill and needs to be built from scratch, but it was torn as far apart as a Beech 18 could be, but I think the project is worth investing the time and money. In my opinion, it is a very historic aircraft, being Beech’s first twin-engine airplane. This very airplane is the pro-totype that led to more than 9,000 being built.”

Walt says he plans to restore it “absolutely to the orig-inal brochure.”

The Twin Beech in the Wings: The First D-18The prototype Beech D-18, which Walt Bowe has been restor-ing for years is readily identifyable by the bump cowls hiding its Wright engines.

Walt says, “As the airplane came from the training school, the interior was pretty much gone. It had never had anything more than what the military had installed and much of that had disappeared, so John Crum fabricated, stitched, and installed an entire interior in the airplane using surplus D-18 seats from George’s collection. He was 85 years old when he finished, and commented that working on the airplane is what kept him alive.

“I picked the airplane up in Stock-ton and made one of my more em-barrassing takeoffs. I didn’t have the friction lock on, and just as the gear was coming up, the throttles crept way back. I immediately put them forward again, waking up the neigh-borhood as the props screamed. Everyone heard it. Flying it back to Schellville was actually my first twin solo! I had flown Twin Beeches, a Lockheed 10, and a DC-3, but al-ways with someone else. When I got it home, we polished it, and Larry Easterby, the gent who painted the Laird, kindly painted the stripes to match our STA.”

Walt says the airplane cruises an honest 150 knots at about 44 gal-lons per hour, which may not make it the most economical airplane to be flying, but with a useful load of over 2,000 pounds, he can load it anyway he wants and use it anyway that fits his mission.

He says, “I use it when I need to do a multi-stop business trip. Last fall, for instance, I had business in Chicago, Indiana, Oklahoma, Hous-ton, Shreveport, and Columbus. My stops were not in garden spots, so by the time I’d take an airline to all those locations, get rental cars and drive a few hours, a lot of time and money would be wasted. Plus, it was hard work. It was a lot more fun to just fly to the local airport and get a ride to the job site. Carlene and I have taken some trips in it locally. But to be hon-

est, we have it just for fun. The first year we had it we put 130 hours on it including going to Oshkosh.

“Flying a Beech 18 was always on my bucket list. As a kid, I wanted to work for Miami Valley Aviation in Ohio, but I was too inexperienced to get a job there. My friends, Chris Price and Josh Brownell, got to do that, and I was jealous. However, the way I’m flying the airplane now is pretty sweet, as I don’t have to do it in minus-degree weather and load car parts. I am fortunate for sure. And it’s really a great airplane to fly.”

He says, “You pull on the runway, lock the tail wheel, advance the throt-tles—left one about an inch more than the right—check everything is in the green, as the tail comes up on its own. The throttles go to max, as the tail comes to full height, then roll down the runway, keeping the nose right in front of you, which isn’t dif-ficult. It lifts off nicely, and you’re on

your way. It really is a sweetheart of an airplane. Very stable.

“It lands as nicely as it takes off,” he says. “It will fly nice tight pat-terns. I normally make nearly power-off landings to avoid an issue, if one quits on me. Come in about 100 knots on final, bleed the speed off, and roll it on the mains at about 75. If on a long runway, I pull up the flaps, as the tail starts to settle and, when the tail hits, anchor the yoke in my lap. The locking tail wheel is ideal, much like a tailskid at that point. It keeps everything lined up. I’ve had it in runways as short as 2,000 feet with no wind, but that’s a little tight.”

When asked if there was anything he’d change, if doing it over, he says, “Not a thing. George did an incred-ible job! He deserves all the credit on the restoration and quality of air-plane. I am just the current owner/operator/curator.”



In 1924, a year that had not yet seen a flight over the At-lantic nor the total collapse of the stock market, Americans

from Lakehurst, New Jersey, to San Diego, California, were treated to a remarkable and awe-inspiring ex-perience. It happened over towns and cities, farms and factories. Far away a sonorous drone grew in volume and clarity, seemingly out of nowhere. Men, women, and children ran outdoors to see what was making the strange sound but were unable to locate its source. The heavy drone increased until it made the very air vibrate. “It’s an airplane!” someone would yell.

Then they would point to the sky. “There it is! It’s a Zeppelin! Look!”

All heads spun as if on one neck to see a wondrous sight. Coming into view over the horizon was a silver behemoth gliding magically

toward them. As it passed over-head, the long, cylindrical craft soon eclipsed the sun, casting whole city blocks into shadow. For many Americans, this was their first sight of the U.S. Navy’s new dirigible, USS Shenandoah. She was on her first cross-country pub-lic relations tour to promote the Navy’s new airships. Just over a year later, she would be a mass of twisted wreckage scattered across the Ohio countryside, a tomb for 14 members of her crew.

Ever since the Prussian Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin had de-veloped the first practical rigid air-ships at the turn of the century, more than a hundred had been built, mostly in Germany. They had carried passengers on short flights around the country, but then, after the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, began long-range reconnais-

sance and bombing. Their greatest vulnerability was the use of vola-tile hydrogen gas for lift. A single spark could turn a 600-foot-long Zeppelin and her crew into a blaz-ing comet as it fell to earth.

The Zeps had been ineffective as bombers but had still caused death and destruction. In 1917 Germany began building Zeppelins with a lighter duralumin (an alloy of aluminum and copper) frame-work to gain altitude with the same gas capacity. This allowed the “height climbers” to reach altitudes higher than 20,000 feet, far above what the underpowered fighters could easily reach. But reducing the weight had a trade-off in less strength and durability. The height climbers were far more vulnerable to heavy winds and storm than their predecessors, but this was an acceptable compromise to protect

Doomed Titan

The sacrifice of the USS Shenandoahby Mark Carlson

photos courtesy of National Museum of Naval Aviation

them against fighter attack. How-ever this was short-lived and soon fighters were able to reach the lofty Zeppelins and shoot them down. By the end of 1917, the giant air-ships had lost their invulnerability.

The L49, a U-type Zeppelin that started life as the LZ96, first flew in June 1917. On a raid over Eng-land in October, it dropped 2 tons of bombs and then turned for home. Adverse winds forced it to land near Bourbonne-les-Bains, France, where it was captured vir-tually intact. It provided a three-dimensional blueprint of the most advanced German Zeppelins. It was

L49 that was used as the basis for the first American dirigible. Air-planes at that time were woefully limited in range, endurance, and cargo capacity. But large rigid diri-gibles (French for “steerable”) could stay up for days at a time and carry several tons of cargo. Military air-ships could range far out to sea and scout for enemy fleets and invasion forces, and report their findings.

In retrospect, the idea of a mas-sive, fragile slow craft that was highly vulnerable to capricious weather and anti-aircraft artillery and fighters being useful in war is ludicrous, but the U.S. Navy was still eager to find its niche in the air. The U.S. Army, even though most of its hidebound generals saw little use for their own airplanes,

was even more determined to keep the Navy on the water and out of the skies. But American airships would not carry highly flammable hydrogen as a lifting gas.

Germany had had no other lift-ing gas available, so their Zeppe-lins were designed with the most advanced safety precautions pos-sible. The ships’ construction and operation were meant to minimize the danger of igniting the gas. The United States possessed the bulk of the world’s helium, a byproduct of the natural gas industry. Even though helium had only 92 percent of the lifting power of hydrogen and was far more expensive, it was imperative that all American air-ships use the non-explosive gas.

Construction of the Navy’s first

rigid airship began in 1922, where major sections were built at the Navy Aircraft Factory in Philadel-phia, then shipped to NAS Lakehu-rst, New Jersey. A new hangar was the site of construction, as huge du-ralumin girders and rings were as-sembled on the floor and hoisted by crane to the ceiling. There, the rings, some of which measured more than 75 feet in diameter, were fitted to the airship’s backbone.

Soon the 680-foot-long skele-ton began to look like an airship. Twenty immense gas cells were hung in webbing inside the hull, where they would be inflated with more than 2.1 million cubic feet of helium. The cells were made of rub-berized cotton fabric with a gas-impermeable layer of “goldbeater’s



skin” glued and varnished to the inner surface. Eighteen automatic spring-loaded pressure relief valves were installed on the cells. Six eight-cylinder 300-hp Packard gas engines were fitted into cars ex-tending out from the hull to drive the ship at speeds up to 60 knots for 5,000 miles.

The airship was armed with six Lewis machine guns in the engine cars and had a bomb capacity of 3,000 pounds. Attached by metal straps to the hull, the control gon-dola was no larger than a delivery van. Surrounded by Plexiglas win-dows, it was crammed with con-trols as well as communication and navigational equipment. Annunci-ators and sets of gauges were con-nected to the engines, while banks of lights and dials monitored the 20 gas cells in the hull. An eleva-tor man stood his watch at a wheel on the port side, while a helms-man facing forward controlled the ship’s rudders. In all, at least seven men worked in the cramped space suspended under the 2.1 million cubic feet of helium.

The new dirigible’s final cost was $2.6 million in addition to the $3 million for Hangar One. After 14 months of construction, the new air-ship made her first flight on Septem-ber 4, 1923, under the command of Cmdr. Frank McCrary. She was not large compared to the dirigibles that were to come, but was long and slim. For the next two months, the un-named ship flew to New York, Phila-delphia, and the National Air Races in St. Louis. On October 10, she was commissioned into the U.S. Navy as USS Shenandoah, FA-1, for Fleet Air-ship, but this was soon changed to ZR for Zeppelin Rigid. In addition to being the first U.S. rigid airship, she was also the first one to use he-lium as a lifting gas. Since helium was far more expensive than hydro-gen, the Navy had to adopt different

techniques than those used by the Germans, who filled gas cells to full capacity and vented it as needed. But Shenandoah’s helium was too expen-sive, at $50,000, to use that way. The cells were filled to only 90-95 per-cent capacity, and unneeded gas was pumped into tanks in the hull.

An airship uses aerostatic lift to remain airborne, while the engine thrust, rudders, and elevators pro-vide aerodynamic force to main-tain course and control. Achieving a balance between the two requires constant vigilance. Wind direction and speed, air temperature, mois-ture and barometric pressure, the weight of fuel, and a dozen other factors that can change in minutes have to be monitored throughout a flight. A revolutionary system to condense the engine exhaust gases into water was used to compensate for the loss of weight as the fuel was consumed.

For her first full year of opera-tion Shenandoah was used to train her crew in every aspect of dirigible operations, from launch to flight to mooring. The learning curve was very steep, as they often found. On the night of January 16, 1924, a winter gale wrested the ship from her mooring mast and ripped the fabric on the upper fin, causing it to strike the ground, which in-flicted serious damage to the bow. Two gas cells were ruptured. Re-pairs took more than five months, during which one engine was re-moved and new radio equipment fitted into the control gondola.

In May the ship resumed her flights under Lt. Cmdr. Zachary Lansdowne, an affable, handsome 36-year-old from Ohio. He had been given command of ZR-1 in February while the ship was still under repair. A 1909 Annapolis graduate, he was an experienced airship officer, having earned the Navy Cross when flying with the

British R34 on the first trans- Atlantic airship flight in 1919.

Lansdowne was a fervent advo-cate of large rigid airships for the Navy and conducted tests in the At-lantic with the fleet, operating from a mooring mast fitted on the oiler USS Patoka. Although Shenandoah’s range and lifting capacity was lim-ited by her size, she helped develop the tactics for dirigibles as long-range scouts for the surface Navy. Her alternate role as a public rela-tions icon began in October 1924 with a record-breaking 19-day tour from Lakehurst, New Jersey, to Fort Worth, Texas, to San Diego and on to Seattle, Washington.

After refueling, she returned via the same route, logging more than 230 hours of flight. As 1924 ended, the ship was literally hung up in the hangar while her helium was pumped into cylinders. The Navy had only enough helium to fully in-flate one large dirigible, so Shenan-doah’s gas was then used to inflate the new LZ-126, a German-built Zeppelin that had just arrived in New Jersey to begin service as the USS Los Angeles, ZR-3.

ZR-2, built by the British as the R38, had crashed into the Hum-ber Estuary in 1921 after suffering structural failure. The problem of how to save helium during flight was a major concern. The automatic re-lief valves allowed too much expen-sive helium to be lost. At altitudes approaching 4,000 feet, the air pres-sure lessened and the helium ex-panded. Rubber hoses connecting the cells helped to equalize the pres-sure. But if the ship rose too fast, the cells could rupture so the valves automatically vented gas. This was costing the Navy too much money.

During the winter of 1924-25, Lansdowne had 10 of the 18 valves, which weighed 138 pounds, removed. The crew would manu-ally open valves if needed. But his


decision could have serious conse-quences. If the ship were to ascend as rapidly as 400 feet per minute, the crew would not be able to vent off enough gas to prevent dam-age to the cells and surrounding frames. But this was not consid-ered a likely scenario.

In the summer of 1925, more than 70 governors, mayors, and congressmen wanted Shenandoah to fly over their cities to impress their constituents. And Rear Adm. William A. Moffet, commander of the Navy’s aeronautical branch, was only too happy to oblige. Mof-fet was doing all he could to pro-mote naval aviation after the Army’s 1924 f light around the world. A major tour of the Midwest would do just that. He had origi-nally ordered the ship to make the tour in late summer, but this was the peak of the Midwestern storm season. Lansdowne protested and asked that the flight be postponed until the second week of Septem-ber. Moffet told Lansdowne that Shenandoah’s schedule had been published and he was to raise ship on September 1, 1925.

At 1500 hours that day, Navy ground crew pushed up on rails mounted on Shenandoah’s gondola and engine cars. The 77,000-pound ship lifted gracefully into the after-noon sky on her 57th flight. With

the engines roaring to life, the huge ship soared west into the set-ting sun. Her 41 officers and crew were to fly over 27 cities and fairs between New Jersey and Iowa in three days. The tight schedule was inviolate. Lansdowne could only deviate for bad weather.

Adm. Moffet did not want to dis-appoint any important politicians.

At 2345 on September 2, the air-ship was headed west over south-ern Ohio. In the control gondola, Lansdowne examined the charts on the small table with navigator Lt. Charles Rosendahl. Weather of-ficer Lt. Joseph Anderson handed them a report from Lakehurst that stated there were severe thunder-storms over the Great Lakes. The

Zachary Lansdowne

NAT

ION

AL M

USEU

M O

F N

AVAL

AVI

ATIO

N P

HOT

OS


officers decided the storms were far north of their track, and Lans-downe, exhausted from days of preparation, turned control over to Rosendahl and climbed the ladder into the hull to his bunk for a nap.

Three hours later on the morn-ing of September 3, he was shaken awake by a crewman, who said that a storm was closing in. The captain entered the control gondola to see storms and lightning to the east and northwest. A huge black storm front was far ahead to the west. Anderson suggested they turn south, but his commander, mind-ful of Moffet’s orders, held course. They were over the Ohio River Val-ley, barely making headway against the winds at 1,000 feet.

But fate was against them. A dangerous line squall was form-ing over them. A line squall is a se-ries of thunderstorms driven by a fast-moving cold front, where damp warm winds collided with dry cold air to form violent up and downdrafts. In moments, the help-less Shenandoah was caught in the storm and rocketed to more than 4,100 feet, then another updraft struck, driving the dirigible sick-eningly to 6,300 feet. The bow re-mained lower than the stern. There was no choice. The manual relief valves had to be opened to save the ship. Rosendahl climbed up into the hell to direct the crew. He never saw Lansdowne alive again.

At last the second violent ascent ended. Like a porpoise diving un-der the waves the ship dropped to 3,600 feet. Rosendahl later said it felt as if they were doing a loop. Water ballast was dumped to keep Shenandoah from driving itself into the ground. Lansdowne increased engine speed to pull the twisting ship out of the squall. But two en-gines overheated and died. The crew tried to hang on and carry out orders while girders groaned and

wires snapped all around them. Huge sections of the outer skin tore and flapped as the howling wind drove in sheets of icy rain. Far below, residents of Caldwell, Ohio, watched the black form of the long ship swinging violently in the churning gale.

Finally the ship’s plunge slowed at 2,000 feet and Lansdowne or-dered a course change to the south, away from the storm. But it was too late. Two massive pressure waves then acted on Shenandoah’s 860-foot length. An updraft forced the bow to rise to the left, while a down-draft slammed at the stern, bending it to the right. The whole ship was being twisted like a damp rag. Struts and girders snapped, and loud groans of tortured metal sounded as if Shenandoah were screaming in mortal agony. With loud cracks, the keel broke in two places, as Rosend-ahl put it, “like a tree limb,” tearing open the hull. The control gondola, carrying Lansdowne and seven other men, tore loose and fell half a mile to the ground.

USS Shenandoah was r ipped apart. The forward end tore loose about 125 feet from the bow. With some of its cells still intact, it rose to more than 8,000 feet, far above the maximum the ship was de-signed for. The longer stern section, carrying 25 men, began to drift earthward. Part of it broke off and smashed into the ground. The stern soon landed with little violence and slid into a small valley. But the bow, carrying Rosendahl and six other men, was not out of danger. It was totally at the mercy of the capri-cious winds. The Navy men held on. Slowly, by carefully venting helium, they were able to coax the uncon-trollable hull to the ground.

When a misty dawn rose, the huge airship was scattered over 6 miles of Noble County. It no longer looked like a silver titan of the skies

but a mangled, dead whale. Shenan-doah was a tomb for 14 men. But as-tonishingly, 29 survived, including Lt. Anderson, who had climbed out of the gondola just as it tore away beneath him. Eighteen men had survived when the stern landed, and four others were in the center section. Rosendahl and six others, after their harrowing ascent in the bow, also survived.

The crash site quickly became a tourist attraction when thousands of people arrived to look it over and pick through the wreckage. Even before the Navy could send a crew to protect the site and be-gin an investigation, the looting began. Pieces of fabric, girders, in-struments, logbooks, charts, cloth-ing from the dead men, and even Lansdowne’s 1909 Annapolis ring were stolen by the callous souvenir hunters. How much evidence was lost will never be known.

The court of inquiry into the ac-cident was conducted in Washing-ton in October, headed by Navy Judge Advocate Capt. Paul Foley, an aide to Navy Secretary Curtis Wilbur. The focus was on the sur-vivors’ accounts, weather reports, the ship’s construction, and a myr-iad of other details. Lt. Anderson testified that his captain had not taken his advice to steer south to avoid the storms to the west, in-sisting that they stay on schedule. Rosendahl said that he had been trying to carry out Lansdowne’s or-ders to vent helium during the vio-lent climb and dump water ballast while the ship was plunging.

The crash also figured promi-nently in the highly publicized court-martial trial of Army Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell, long a proponent of U.S. air power. In Oc-tober 1925 he had been charged with insubordination after making public statements that the Army and Navy had been ‘criminally neg-

ligent’ in their lack of support for the air services. In fact, the Shenan-doah’s loss had been the catalyst for his statements on September 5 to the national media.

While not a friend of the Navy, Mitchell’s 1921 aerial bombing tests against several obsolete American and German warships ultimately helped to give birth to the aircraft carrier. He argued that the loss of Shenandoah was an example of how badly the Navy was being run, par-ticularly by forcing Lansdowne, whom he had known, to fly over the Midwest even though there were re-ports of storms on the route.

Many witnesses testified on Mitchell’s behalf, including Mar-garet Lansdowne, widow of ZR-1’s commander. She stated that her husband had tried to have his or-ders rescinded because of the bad weather but to no avail. He had been opposed to what he called “a political flight,” and protested as vigorously as possible to have the tour postponed until the second week of September. Hearst editor Arthur Brisbane also said Lansd-owne had told him a September flight over the Midwest would be dangerous, and if the airship were to encounter storms, it would probably result in disaster.

Kapitan Anton Heinen, a German Zeppelin commander and consul-tant for the U.S. Navy, had helped train Shenandoah’s officers and crew. He had been on board when the ship was torn from the Lakehu-rst mooring mast in 1924 and took command to bring the helpless di-rigible back safely. Heinen told the court that the ZR-1 was essen-tially an experimental training ship whose structure was not strong enough to survive heavy weather. He claimed that the crew, with Lansdowne’s approval, had installed “jam pot lids” on the remaining eight automatic valves to prevent

leakage. In an emergency, they could not be removed quickly, fur-ther endangering the ship. Heinen had protested. But the officers and crew were certain that they could handle any situation. German Zep-pelins had automatic valves for just such an emergency as Shenandoah found herself in. Without them the ship was very unsafe. Heinen said he would “not have flown in her for a million dollars.”

Lt. Orville Anderson (no relation to Joseph) gave evidence that the January 16 accident had damaged and weakened the ship’s structure, even though it had been repaired. This is circumstantially borne out by the fact that the location where the keel broke was very close to where one of the longitudinal gird-ers had been torn loose in 1924. An Army airship officer named Maj. Frank Kennedy testified that when he reached the site about 0830 the

morning of the crash, he had found the gas cells in the stern section “completely destroyed, deflated and torn to pieces.”

This was strong evidence that the crew had not been able to vent the overpressure from the cells before the ship reached 6,000 feet. So it was probably a combination of factors, i.e., weak construction, the removal of the valves, unknown damage from 1924, and most of all, bad judgment on the part of the Navy and Lansd-owne that tore the silver titan from the skies. By 1935, the two newest Navy dirigibles, USS Akron and USS Macon had crashed at sea, thus end-ing America’s short love affair with the giant airships.


Mark Carlson11985 Tivoli Park Row, #1San Diego, CA [email protected]


In this issue we will discuss some components of inspections I’ll call “specialty” inspections. These will be listed by either airframe or powerplant applica-tion. First let’s look at some specialty inspections of the engine and those items that are firewall forward.

Cylinder Differential Pressure TestThe purpose of this test is to assist in determin-

ing the internal condition of the cylinder and its components. The test is normally conducted at the 100-hour or annual inspection, or when a cylinder problem is apparent. To conduct this test, a dif-ferential cylinder pressure tester is needed by the mechanic. A good source of dry compressed air pres-sure capable of providing a steady minimum line pressure, greater than 100 psi with a capability of 15 cubic feet per minute, is required. Figure 1 shows

my Eastern Technology Corp. Model E2A tester.In the absence of manufacturer’s instructions

for older engines, I downloaded Service Bulletin SB03-3 from Teledyne Continental Aircraft Engine. It states, “This section lists acceptable inspection and repair procedures that may be used in the ab-sence of a particular aircraft engine manufacturer’s maintenance information.” I suggest any mechanic performing cylinder differential pressure tests ob-tain a copy of this SB. Much of the information for this portion of the column comes from this data.

Ideally, the cylinder leakage test should be per-formed as soon as possible after the aircraft has been flown. If this is not possible, operate the en-gine on the ground with cowl installed (if cowled) until cylinder head temperature reads 300-350° F. For aircraft fitted with a fixed-pitch propeller, op-erate the engine long enough to warm up, and then operate the engine to full throttle (static) rpm. Al-low the engine to cool slightly at a low rpm, shut down, and make the test. Gloves should be worn to remove the hot spark plugs and leads. Make sure the magneto switch is in the OFF position to pre-vent injury. It is always best to have two people perform the test: one to position and hold the pro-peller, and the other to operate the tester.

1) Perform the test as soon as possible after the engine is shut down to ensure that the piston rings, cylinder walls, and other engine parts are well-lubricated and at operating clearance.

2) Remove the most accessible spark plug from each cylinder. I always identify the cylinder

The Vintage Mechanic

Specialty inspectionPart 1

ROBERT G. LOCK

FIGURE 1

number and position of the removed spark plugs so I can examine the spark plugs as an aid in diagnosing engine and cylinder condi-tions. Figure 2 shows a method I use to keep the identity of spark plugs separate for future reference. Spark plug manufacturers have a handy chart showing firing end conditions when removed from a cylinder.

3) For a radial engine, turn the propeller in the direction of rotation until the piston in the No. 1 cylinder comes up on compression. I in-stall the adapter in the spark plug hole to de-tect the compression stroke.

4) I check accuracy of the right side gauge, which reads leakage by connecting the air source and raising it until I read 80 psi on the left source gauge. My tester will read about 77 psi on the right gauge, thus requiring the source gauge be raised to about 84 psi. At 84 psi on the right gauge, the left gauge reads 80 psi, which is what I want in accuracy. As the test is per-formed on each cylinder I record the results on my worksheet.

5) With the test unit connected to the adapter, slowly open and apply pressure to the cylinder until the gauge reads 20 psi. It is extremely im-portant for one person to hold the propeller.

6) Continue rotating the engine in the direction of rotation, against the 20-psi pressure, un-til the piston reaches top dead center (TDC). Once the piston reaches TDC, the force re-quired to move the prop will suddenly de-crease. If you overshoot the TDC position, turn off the air source and continue to rotate the propeller in the direction of rotation until

you come up on the No. 1 compression again.7) With the piston at TDC, slowly increase cyl-

inder pressure to 80 psi (in my case 84 psi). Continue to hold the propeller so the piston stays at its TDC position.

8) To assure the piston rings are properly seated and the piston is square in the cylinder bore, slightly rock the propeller back and forth while applying the regulated pressure of 80 psi, to obtain the highest indication (right-hand gauge). Adjust the regulator as needed to keep the left-hand pressure gauge reading 80 psi.

9) Proceed to test all cylinders using the firing order of the engine. In other words check No. 1, go on to No. 3, No. 5, No. 7, etc. until you are back to No. 1. Record each reading as you proceed. The difference between the 80 psi on the left gauge and the reading on the right gauge is the amount of leakage through the cylinder. Record each reading as 80/___.

10) Note any leakage source and determine ser-viceability. Leakage may be heard from the following sources:

a) From the crankcase breather: Indicates ring breakage/wear. As crankcase internal pressure increases, there will be a puddle of oil under the breather after a flight.

b) From exhaust system: Indicates exhaust valve not seating or burned. Remove valve cover, place a piece of wood on the valve, and strike with a hammer. This is called “staking the valve.” When the engine is pulled through prior to starting you may hear a wheezing sound in the exhaust system as compression leaks around the valve seat.

c) From intake system: Indicates an intake valve not seating or warped. The sound will be sim-ilar to an exhaust valve leaking except the sound will be in the induction system.

d) From spark plug spot face: Indicates a possible crack or poor fit of the adapter.

e) From cylinder head to barrel juncture or be-tween head fins: Indicates a pending failure of the cylinder. Look for oil at the head/bar-rel juncture that will be baked on from heat. Remove the cylinder immediately and replace with a serviceable unit.

I conduct a cylinder leakage test at every 100-hour inspection. As the engine time approaches 500 hours SMOH, I conduct the test every 50 hours’ time in service. I record each test on a form


FIGURE 2


kept in the paperwork file of the airplane so a check of leakage can easily be determined. This se-ries of leakage checks will set a trend of the engine. Tie this together with oil consumption, and a pic-ture will be painted for the mechanic.

What is the leakage test showing me? Once the rings have seated on a newly overhauled engine, cylinder leakage will be somewhere from 80/78 to 80/70. The 80 psi is used as a test pressure for safety purposes. Cylinders at operating rpm and temperature will produce 800 psi to 1,000 psi combustion pressure. These extreme pressures aid in sealing the valves, valve seats, and piston rings during engine op-eration. Therefore, duplication of exact operating pressures within a cylinder is impossible. Once the rings have seated I chart the leakage pressure of each cylin-der and, during engine life, get concerned when it drops below 70 psi. I also look at the spread between cylinders and like to see leakage from 80/78 through 80/70.

Table 1 in SB03-3 lists air discharge source, pressure test value, symptoms and observations, and recommended actions that I won’t duplicate here.

Setting/Checking Valve ClearanceAll single-row radials that I have experience with use 0.010-inch cold valve clearance. Valve clearance should be checked on the 100-hour inspection. For this check the engine needs to be cold. Remove all the valve covers and remove the front row of spark plugs. Bring the No. 1 cylin-der up to TDC on the compression stroke. Metal propellers will align with the centerline of the cyl-inder when on the compression stroke, although this may not be true for all engines. Slip a 0.010-inch feeler gauge between the valve roller and top of the valve; there should be some friction feel on the gauge. If the clearance is incorrect, loosen the jam nut and adjust the screw until clearance is set. Snug the jam nut while holding the adjuster with a large-blade screwdriver. Rotate the engine four blades (two complete revolutions) and recheck the clearance. Adjust slightly if needed, then rotate the engine another four blades and recheck the clear-ance again. It will be necessary to check the clear-ance three times on every cylinder because the cam has three lobes and you must check the clearance on each lobe.

Once the clearance has been checked and if neces-

sary reset, go back and make sure all locking screws or nuts on the rocker arm adjusters are tight. Clean the rocker covers with solvent and reinstall them. I use silicone gaskets, which are reusable.

Figure 3 shows checking the valve clearance of 0.010-inch cold for each cylinder. Rotate the crank-shaft through three revolutions on each cylinder so that all three lobes of the cam will actuate valves in each cylinder.

The Wright R-760 engines tend to mix conden-

sation with the oil, no matter how hot they oper-ate. The moisture can be found in various rocker covers as sludge. I find sludge in the No. 3 and No. 6 cylinder mostly, but sometimes find traces in the No. 4 and No. 5 cylinder.

Reinstall the rocker covers with either cleaned silicone or new gaskets. Snug the retaining nuts and torque to 20-25 inch-pounds. When the airplane is ready for return-to-service, warm up and fly the airplane, then check for oil leaks around the rocker covers. Tighten as necessary for a good oil seal.

I rarely find excessive clearance on the valves of the Wright. However, the check serves to remove contaminated oil from the rocker boxes, as the Wright does not scavenge oil from that area. I have found rocker arms rusted in the various cylinders from a buildup of water condensation. It is hard to believe but true.

Before I leave the subject of valve train main-tenance, here’s a significant recent problem. The exhaust valve pushrod on a Wright R-760-8 failed on the No. 5 cylinder with 201 hours SMOH. It’s

FIGURE 3


never happened before to me, but fortunately the two halves of the separated rod somehow wedged together, so all I had was a loss of rpm and conse-quently a loss of power because the exhaust valve was not opening properly. I shudder to think what would have happened if the exhaust valve of No. 5 failed to open! As I say, it’s very unusual.

Finally, I have had exhaust valves stick in the OPEN position, which causes a loss of rpm and power. Sticking valves can be difficult to detect at times because they may be intermittent, as was the case with the Wright. It was in the No. 4 cylin-der on the first engine we operated, so I used the old rope trick to make the repair. One can remove valve springs without removing the cylinder to in-spect a valve stem and guide. Here’s how it is done!

On the Wright R-760 you can remove the ex-haust pipe, the exhaust adapter, and both spark plugs from the cylinder. Turn the prop until the piston has moved to TDC and then back off a lit-tle. Insert a soft cotton rope of 1/4 inch to 5/16 inch diameter into the combustion chamber and on top of the piston. Then slowly bring the pis-ton toward TDC until you feel some resistance to prop movement. Using a valve spring removing tool, depress the springs and remove the retain-ers and valve springs. Back off on the piston po-sition; the stuck valve can now be tapped back in the guide until free. I didn’t have to remove the valve from the guide, rather I tapped it open until it was free.

Next I mixed a solution of valve lapping com-pound with engine oil and then forced this mix-ture into the valve guide and began to lap the valve stem/guide until it worked free. The action is similar to lapping in a freshly ground valve. Obtain a short section of rubber hose that will fit over the valve stem and rotate the valve while moving it in and out. Do this until the valve has some clearance you can feel between valve stem and guide. Thoroughly flush out the lapping com-pound/oil mixture with solvent or gasoline; you don’t want this mixture getting into the oil sys-tem of the engine!

Finally, move the piston back toward TDC un-til the rope holds the valves in place. Reinstall the springs and retainers and reassemble the cylinder.

It works and took only a couple hours to com-plete. And, I didn’t have to remove the entire cyl-inder, which saved a lot of labor. This is an old mechanic’s trick that I always heard of but until now had never had the opportunity to try.

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION (Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685). 1. Title of Publication: Vintage Airplane. 2. Publication No.: 062-750. 3. Filing Date: 8/3/15. 4. Issue Frequency: Bi-Monthly. 5. No. of Issues Published Annually: 6. 6. Annual Subscription Price: $42.00 in U.S. 7. Known Office of Publication: EAA, 3000 Poberezny Road, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Contact Person: Randy Halberg, Telephone: 920-426-6572. 8. Headquarters or General Business Office of the Publisher: Same address as above. 9. Publisher: Jack Pelton, EAA P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Editor: Jim Busha, c/o EAA, 3000 Poberezny Road, P.O.Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Managing Editor: None. 10. Owner: Experimental Aircraft Association, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. 11. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amounts of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: None. 12. Tax Status: Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months. 13. Publication Title: Vintage Airplane. 14. Issue date for circulation data below: 9/15/15. 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation (Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months/ No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date): a. Total No. of Copies Printed (7251/8584) b. Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail): 1. Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies) (5632/5683). 2. Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies) (0/0). 3. Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution Outside USPS (342/340). 4. Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS (e.g., First-Class Mail) (28/29). c. Total Paid Distribution (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and (4)) (6002/6052). d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail): 1. Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541 (0/0). 2. Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541 (0/0). 3. Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) (0/0). 4. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or other means) (0/0). e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (Sum of 15d (1), (2), (3), and (4) (0/0). f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) (6002/6052). g. Copies Not Distributed (See Instructions to Publishers #4 (page 3)) (1249/2532). h. Total (Sum of 15f and g) (7251/8584). i. Percent Paid (15c divided by 15f times 100) (100%/100%). 16. Publication of Statement of Ownership: Publication required. Will be printed in the September/October 2015 issue of this publication. 17. I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties). James Busha, Publisher, 8/3/2015. PS Form 3526, September 2015.

Fredrick Abdallah . . . . . . . . . . Tucson, AZGlen Abrahamson. . . . . . . . . . Maribe, WIGeorge Adkins . . . . . . . . . . . Brooklyn, IARichard Aldrich . . . . . . . . . . Lancaster, CARoland Ashby . . . . . . . . Grand Rapids, MITodd Ashcraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aurora, ILValerie Barker . . . . . . . . . Pflugerville, TXDavid Bellm . . . . . . . . North Riverside, ILClifford Bender . . . . . . . . . . . . .Plano, ILLewis Berghoff . . . . . . . . . . . . Chicago, ILRoy Bischoff . . . . . . . . . . . . Belleville, ILMark Bowden . . . . . . . . . Kansas City, MOSteve Boyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wooster, OHWilliam Boyer . . . . . . . . . . . . .Custar, OHGerald Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dallas, TXDavid Brent . . . . . . . . . . . . Ann Arbor, MIKevin Brown . . . . . . . . . . Watsonville, CARobert Burke . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clinton, MOJoe Burley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tyrone, GAPaul Burns . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maricopa, AZRicardo Byers . . . . . . . Battle Ground, WATheodore Byrne . . . . . . . . . . . Eagan, MNMelissa Cabatingan . . . Menomonee Falls, WIStewart Campbell . . . . . . . . Kitchener, ONMary Carr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Geneseo, ILPatrick Carroll . . . . . . . . . . .St George, UTDale Cavin . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marianna, FLVirgil Chapman . . . . . . . Lees Summit, MOPaul Ciletti . . . . . . . Menomonee Falls, WIDarrell Cobb . . . . . . . . . . . . Corsicana, TXChristine Collins . . . . . . . . . Libertyville, ILRusty Coonfield . . . . . . . . . . . Lonoke, ARAndrew Corsetti . . . . . Pembroke Pines, FLWalter Costilow . . . . . . . . . . .Vestavia, ALMark D’Aversa . . . . . . . . . . Scottsdale, AZGlenn Davis. . . . . . . . . Gnadenhutten, OHBrian Daw . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monmouth, ILBarry Dechert . . . . . .South Rockwood, MIChristopher DeTuncq . . . . .Queen Creek, AZLarry Dick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sun City, AZEric Dienst . . . . . . . . . . . . Maple Park, ILBennie du Plessis . Randjesfontein, South AfricaJames Dyson . . . . . . . . . . . . .Breslau, ONBruce Ecker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waverly, IAMark Eggenberger . . . . . . . .Freeman, MOKent Eisenbath . . . . . . . . . . O Fallon, MOLeon Ekiert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Milton, VTRobert Engelhardt . . . . . . . . St John’s, FLBob Enos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Somerset, PATom Enyeart . . . . . . . . . . . . Atkinson, ILWill Evans . . . . . . . . . . . . Gardendale, TXMary Ann Falsetta . . . . . . . . Oshkosh, WIMichelle Falsetta . . . . . . . . . Oshkosh, WIDeborah Fortney . . . . . . . . Union City, CAAllen Friend . . . . . . . . . . . . .Holland, MIDavid Funk . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oshkosh, WIChep Gauntt . . . . . . . . . . Kennewick, WAAndrew Goans . . . . . Mammoth Spring, ARJames Good . . . . . . . . . . Nevada City, CAStephen Gray . . . . . . . . . . . Kitchener, ONRick Gritters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pella, IADaniel Gualandri . . . . . . . . North Port, FLBruce Gustafson . . . . . . . . . . . Eugene, ORKurt Gustafson . . . . . . . . . .Winchester, VAChriscilla Guyer . . . . . . . . .Northridge, CAKen Hamilton . . . . . . . . Junction City, ORHunter Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . Peyton, COTom Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . Corvallis, ORThomas Handzlik . . . . . . . .Midlothian, TXSusan Hard . . . . . . . . . . . North Aurora, ILRoger Harker . . . . . . . . . . . . .Minden, NVChristine Harper . . . . . . . .Beverly Hills, CAMichael Heuer . . . . . . . . . . Collierville, TNGary Heuser . . . . . . . . . . . . Hartford, MIJosh Hochberg . . . . . . . . . .Santa Rosa, CAJohn Hoffmann . . . . . . . . South Bend, INJerry Jackson . . . . . . . . . . San Antonio, TXRobert Jacoby . . . . . . . . . Jacksonville, FLRobert Jamieson . . . . . . .Douglasville, GAKevin Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . Lebanon, TNKerstin Kelly . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lindsay, ONSteve Kickert . . . . . . . . . . . Shakopee, MNPhilip King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stilwell, KSSteve Klineman . . . . . . . Barrigada, GuamJim Knowles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lee, NHJames Koepnick . . . . . . . . . . Oshkosh, WIRobert Lampman . . . . . . . . . . Vernon, NYRichard Land . . . . . . . . . New Carlisle, OH

Kip Lankenau . . . . . . . . . . Carrollton, TXDuane Leach . . . . . . . . . . . Southport, NCJohn-Michael Lee. . . . . . . . . Van Nuys, CADirk Leeward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ocala, FLTroy Lewis . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clarkston, MIJohn Lindinger . . . . . . . . . . . Auburn, NESummer Liu . . . . . . . . . . Shanghai, China John Lorren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steele, MOCory Lovell . . . . . . . . . . San Francisco, CATom Lynch . . . . . . . . . . . . Fort Collins, COAnthony Madonia. . . . . . . . . . Chicago, ILMaxim Maiornikov . . . . . . . Laval, CanadaMurray Manning . . . . . Kitchener, CanadaJason Marshall . . . . . . . .Prairie Du Sac, WIDeanna Mcalister . . . . . . . . . Munith, MIKelly Mcclure . . . . . . . . . . . . Augusta, GAMark Meadows . . . Saskatchewan, Canada Joel Meanor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keller, TXMichael Mermuys . . . . . . . . . . Fenton, MIJenny Mersal . . . . . . . Pompano Beach, FLDavid Meyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Olathe, KSAmanda Minder . . . . . . . Eden Prairie, MNPatty Minder . . . . . . . . . Eden Prairie, MNAlyssa Minder . . . . . . . . Eden Prairie, MNJeffrey Mitchell . . . . . . . Grand Island, NELeslie Moore . . . . . . . . . . . .Raymore, MOMike Moore . . . . . . . . . . Sherrills Ford, NCShane Morgan . . . . . . . . . . . . Seaside, ORJames Naphas . . . . . . . . . . . . Pitman, NJSusan Neal . . . . . . . . . . . . . Freehold, NYEd Newby . . . . . . . . . Lake In the Hills, ILJason Nichols . . . . . . . . . Selinsgrove, PAStephen Nicholson . . . . . . . . Lafayette, LAFrederick Niles . . . . . . . . . . . . Laurel, MDBrendan O’Rourke . . . . . . . Stoughton, WIJohn Papp. . . . . . . . . . . . . Braintree, MALee Ann Pierce . . . . . . . . . . Brookings, SDRacette Pierre . . . . . St-Eustache, CanadaGregory Pittman . . . . . . . . . . Nashville, INJudson Prater . . . . . . . . . . . . Wichita, KSJames Pyeatt . . . . . . . . . . .Northridge, CAKatherine Pyeatt . . . . . . . .Northridge, CAJudy Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Burrton, KSGary Raser . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reading, PAMike Redpath . . . . . . . . . Washington, OKRussell Reed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nunn, COStephen Reese . . . . . . . . . . . . .Albany, INScott Revoir . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hastings, NYEzra Rickards . . . . . . . . . . . .Millsboro, DEKevin Robbins . . . . . . . . . Horseheads, NYBonita Ruder . . . . . . . . . . . Maple Park, ILKenneth Schamberger . . . . . . . Austin, MNMike Schutt . . . . . . . . . . . . .Hastings, MNAndrew See . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denton, TXCharles Seiferd . . . . . . . . . . .Carthage, MOPaul Shank . . . . . . . . . .Gaithersburg, MDChristopher Shearer . . . . .Beavercreek, OHWes Skinner . . . . . . . . . . . . .Semmes, ALGeorge Slad . . . . . . . . . .Albuquerque, NMJames Smith . . . . . . . . . . . Fitchburg, WIGary Smrtic . . . . . . . . . . Morgantown, KYJohn Steiger . . . . . . . . . . .Nassau Bay, TXConstance Stevens . . . . . . Homewood, CAJohn Strong . . . . . . . . . . . . Derwood, MDDoug Sytsma . . . . . . . . . . . . . Canton, MIRobert Szego . . . . . . . . . . . Coxsackie, NYTommy Tigert . . . . . . . . . . . . Lancaster, TXDebbie Tigert . . . . . . . . . . . . Lancaster, TXDavid Tschopp . . . . . . . . . . . . Owasso, OKTed Vaala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Madison, WIMichael . . . . . . . Van Rosendale Dyer, INBill Vance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Hershey, PALuther Veale . . . . . . . . . . Burkburnett, TXTimothy Warren . . . . . . . . . . . .Aubrey, TXKen Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . Martinez, CAPatrick Weeden . . . . . . . . . . . Oregon, WIMark Weinreich . . . . . . . . . River Falls, WIThomas West . . . . . . . . . . . Wheeling, WVGordon Westphal . . . . . . . . Rochester, MNWilliam Wolfe . . . . . . . . . . . . Auburn, ALScott Woods . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tiburon, CARobert Zelmer . . . . . . . . . Montgomery, TXLeonard Zimmerman . . . . . Middlebury, INRussell Ziprik . . . . . . . . . .Ball Ground, GAJosh Zuerner . . . . . . . . . . Terre Haute, IN


New Members TMStraight & Levelcontinued from page 1

storm. The tent was soon repaired, and the noon meals were able to continue once the tent was safe to operate in. This upgrade was funded almost en-tirely by donated dollars. The phase three upgrade that will allow us to build a permanent pavilion-style structure on the new concrete floor has been approved, and a funding campaign to construct the pavilion structure was launched at this year’s event. Many thanks to everyone for your continu-ous support of the Tall Pines Café upgrades!

Speaking of generous members and guests at Oshkosh, the VAA Friends of the Red Barn fun-draising program was a huge success this year. I can never properly thank the many dozens of VAA members who have long been actively in-volved in this program. Your amazingly gener-ous support of the VAA is the backbone of our efforts to bring the membership solid program-ming, events, and facilities to the Vintage area during Oshkosh! As a reminder, the Red Barn fund has eight different levels of giving, and there are many levels of perks available to our supporters. Check us out at www.EAAVintage.org, and click on the Friends of the Red Barn tab for complete information on this program.

Many thanks also go to the aviation business sponsors who have been continuously supporting the VAA for so many years now! Special thanks to Univair, Radial Engines Ltd., B&C Specialty Prod-ucts, and Poly-Fiber for your generous support of our association. If you own an aviation-related business and are looking to get your name out to the vintage aircraft market, we always have dif-ferent programs during Oshkosh that are spon-sorship events, and you can easily attach your business name and logo to these events or pro-gramming. Please contact VAA Administrator Erin Brueggen at 920-426-6110.

Your thoughts and comments regarding the magazine as well as the business of the VAA is very much welcome! And if you have some words of wisdom to share with your president, please contact me at [email protected]. We would like to continue to hear your thoughts, positive or other-wise, regarding AirVenture Oshkosh and the VAA in general. I hope you all had as much fun as I did at Oshkosh 2015.


PresidentGeoff Robison

1521 E. MacGregor Dr.New Haven, IN 46774

[email protected]

Vice-PresidentDave Clark

635 Vestal LanePlainfield, IN 46168

[email protected]

SecretarySteve Nesse

2009 Highland Ave.Albert Lea, MN 56007

[email protected]

TreasurerJerry Brown

4605 Hickory Wood RowGreenwood, IN 46143

[email protected]

Ron Alexander118 Huff Daland Circle

Griffin, GA [email protected]

George DaubnerN57W34837 Pondview LnOconomowoc, WI 53066

[email protected]

Robert D. “Bob” Lumley1265 South 124th St.Brookfield, WI 53005

[email protected]

Joe Norris264 Old OR Rd.

Oshkosh, WI [email protected]

Tim Popp60568 Springhaven Ct.

Lawton, MI 49065269-624-5036

[email protected]

Susan Dusenbury1374 Brook Cove Road

Walnut Cove, NC 27052336-591-3931

[email protected]

John Hofmann548 W James St

Columbus, WI [email protected]

Ray L. Johnson347 South 500 EastMarion, IN 46953

[email protected]

David [email protected]

Robert C. [email protected]

Gene Chase

Phil [email protected]

Ronald C. [email protected]

Charles W. [email protected]

E.E. “Buck” [email protected]

Gene [email protected]

S.H. “Wes” [email protected]

John [email protected]

DIRECTORS

ADVISORS

OFFICERS

DIRECTORS EMERITUS

VAADirectory

Something to buy, se l l , or t rade?

Classified Word Ads: $5.50 per 10 words, 180 words maximum, with boldface lead-in on first line.

Classified Display Ads: One column wide (2.167 inches) by 1, 2, or 3 inches high at $20 per inch. Black and white only, and no frequency discounts.

Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (i.e., January 10 is the closing date for the March issue). VAA reserves the right to reject any advertising in conflict with its policies. Rates cover one insertion per issue. Classified ads are not accepted via phone. Payment must accompany order. Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426-4828) or e-mail ([email protected]) using credit card payment (all cards accepted). Include name on card, complete address, type of card, card number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to EAA. Address advertising correspondence to EAA Publications Classified Ad Manager, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.

Vintage Trader

MISCELLANEOUSDonate your factory built plane to leave a

significant legacy! A charity that provides mission/medical services to remote areas of the world. www.samaritanaviation.com 970-249-4341

Aircraft Exhaust Custom built performance a i rc ra f t exhaus t and components . By using our unique exhaust mockup process, we can build you a custom exhaust without your a i rc raf t ever leaving your location. 1-866-283-3775 www.experimentalexhaust.com

Copyright ©2015 by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association.All rights reserved.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE (USPS 062-750; ISSN 0091-6943) is published and owned exclusively by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association of the Experimental Aircraft Association and is published bi-monthly at EAA Aviation Center, 3000 Poberezny Rd., PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54903-3086, e-mail: [email protected]. Membership to Vintage Aircraft Association, which includes 6 issues of Vintage Airplane magazine, is $45 per year for EAA members and $55 for non-EAA members. Periodicals Post-age paid at Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54902 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Vintage Airplane, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. CPC #40612608. FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES—Please allow at least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surface mail. ADVERTISING — Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the advertising. We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken.

EDITORIAL POLICY: Members are encouraged to submit stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the contributor. No remuneration is made. Material should be sent to: Editor, VINTAGE AIRPLANE, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Phone 920-426-4800.

EAA® and EAA SPORT AVIATION®, the EAA Logo® and Aeronautica™ are registered trademarks, trademarks, and service marks of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. The use of these trade-marks and service marks without the permission of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. is strictly prohibited.

TM

Earl Nicholas219 Woodland Rd

Libertyville, IL [email protected]

What Our Members Are RestoringAre you nearing completion of a restoration?

Or is it done and you’re busy flying and showing it off? If so, we’d like to hear from you. Send us a 4-by-6-inch print from a commercial source or a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital photo. A JPG from your 2.5-megapixel (or higher) digital camera is fine. You can burn photos to a CD, or if you’re on a high-speed Internet connection, you can e-mail them along with a text-only or Word document describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program asks if you’d like to make the photos smaller, say no.)

For more information, you can also e-mail [email protected].

VAUGHN’S Vagabond - EAA Vintagemembers.eaavintage.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/VA-Vol...Michael...

Documents

Transcript of VAUGHN’S Vagabond - EAA Vintagemembers.eaavintage.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/VA-Vol...Michael...