Vintage Airplane - Feb 2002
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VOL
3
, No. 2 FEBRUARY
2 2
STRAIGHT LEVELl
Butch
Joyce
2
VAA
NEWS/
H.G.
ra
utschy MaryJon
es
4
MYSTERY PLANE/H.G. Frautschy
5
FROM
THE
ARCHIVES/H.
G ra
utschy Susan
Lurvey
6
FROM
SEA TO
SHINING
SEA/James Diane Mo rton
and
Walter Thomas
1
TYPE
CLUB NOTES/Scott Barland
13
MEMBERS PROJECTS
15
THE VOLUNTEER SEABEE/Budd Davisson
21
PASS IT
TO
BUCK/Bu
ck
Hilbert
25
NEW
MEMBERS
26
CALENDAR
27
CLASSIFIED ADS
3
VAA MERCHANDISE
WWW VINTAGEAIRCRAFT ORG
http:///reader/full/WWW.VINTAGEAIRCRAFT.ORGhttp:///reader/full/WWW.VINTAGEAIRCRAFT.ORG
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R IGHT e LEVEL
Y
ESPIE
BUTCH
JOYCE
PRESIDENT VINTAGE ASSOCIATION
Celebration and a helping hand
Time certainly has a habit of sneaking up on you.
As
I
write this,
we
have
only
23
months
to go until we cele
brate 100 years of powered flight with EAA's flight of a
reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer
at
Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina. This amazing airplane
is
taking shape in
the shop of
Ken
Hyde and the Wright Experience.
At this year s EAA Sun n Fun
Fly-In
at Lakeland,
Florida, be sure to check out the C
ent
ennial of Flight tent
display for a wide range of displays highlighting
the
cele
bration of
EAA's
Countdown
to
Kitty Hawk.
Aft
er Sun
n
Fun, all eyes will be focused on
th
e 2002 edition of
EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh, where we'll continue to honor the
Wright brothers' achievements.
Time really does streak by. Here's a graphic exam
ple-during
this year's EAA AirVenture event, we'll take
part in festivities that will commemorate the 50th an
niversary of
EAA's
annual fly-in, which was first held in
September
1953. Fifty
years
of
EAA
conventions?
It
hardly seems possible, but indeed,
th
e 2002
gathering
is the
fiftieth such event,
which took
place
during the
first year of EAA's existence
(EAA
came into being
on
January 26, 1953).
We're quite pleased to announce that th e
VAA
will be
helping the E
AA
commemorate that first gathering with
a special display in the grassy area just north of VAA's
Red
Barn, south of AeroShell Square (often refe
rr
ed to
as
the
West Ramp ) . EAA is well along in its planning of a re
creation
of
that
first
gathering, with many
of the
airplanes and
displays
that
were prese
nt at
that
first
event on hand during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2002.
t
really
is
amazing to
see
how
far
we've come
as
an organi
better
way
to
show
the
world
that
we are
all responsible, capa
ble individuals who
enjoy the
freedom of
the
skies
in
the same way a sailor revels in taking to the
nation's waterways or an automobile or motorcycle en
thusiast
takes
to the
highways. Plan on attending EAA
AirVenture and showing the world
that no
matter where
we fly from,
the
events of last September will
not
cause
us
to cower and retreat.
See
you at the
fly
-
in
As we are often reminded, for good or bad we are still
a
pretty
small
group
of
people.
It's
not
so good when
you're trying to be heard above the crowd of other voices
calling for restrictions. A nice part of being a small group
is that we often know and take care of one another. Un
fortunately, sometimes things don t go
as
planned, and it
really can
put
a sour taste in someone's
mouth
if he
feels
the community didn' t treat him well.
We've all heard stories
about
parts being
sent out
for
repair and
then not being
returned
to
their owners.
When
and if the part finally does get back to the owner,
i t turns
out to not be the same one
sent
in. That's very
disappointing, and it belays the trust placed in the recipi
ent
by the part's owner.
This type of situation recently happened
to
me,
and
I
am disappointed and not happy that this has
come
to
pass. For the time being, I'll continue to believe that the
situation will reach a satisfactory conclusion. I was dis
cussing this matter with a fellow antique owner, who fe lt
that this type of occurrence should not
happen
in avia
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VAA
NEWS
COMPILED BY
H G
FRAUTSCHY MARY JONES
Sport Pilot
NPRM
Release
Imminent
As this issue goes to press the
sport pilot/light-sport aircraft notice
of proposed rulemaking
is
about to
be published in the Federal Register.
There are plenty of opportunities for
vintage aircraft enthusiasts to enjoy
the privileges afforded by these pro
posed regulations, so we encourage
you
to read and comment on
the
NPRM. Check EAA's websites
at
www eaa org
and
www sportpilot or
for
the latest on this issue.
Commenting
on
the
Sport
Pilot
NPRM
After the NPRM
is
published, a
90-day
public comment period
will follow. During that time, any
one can officially register support,
concerns, or
questions
about the
proposed new rule. EAA expects
significant public
input
because
the
sport pilot rule will establish
not only
a
new pilot certificate
and a new
aircraft category but
also new aircraft
maintenance
reg
ulations.
There will be
several
ways to
submit
comments to the sport pi
lot docket:
1. You may submit a letter in
triplicate
to
the
docket office via
FRONT
BACK
COVERS:
The vol
unteers at
Wally Fisk's Polar
the mail. Be sure to use the specific
docket number, which will be an
nounced with the NPRM.
2. You may
submit comments
electronically:
a
Via e-mail. That process will
be
explained
in detail when the
NPRM
is
released.
b Via fax. Again, the proper fax
number will be supplied with
the
NPRM.
3.
EAA
will provide a direct link
through both the
www eaa org
and
www sportpilot org websites to make
general comments to the
NPRM
and
to
ask
the
FAA
to add
specific
aircraft to the
NPRM.
Commenting
on
the
NPRM will
be
very important.
However,
what's even more important is
what you say
and
how
you
say
it EAA offers this guidance:
1.
NOTE THAT ALL COMMENTS
ARE
OPEN TO PUBLIC REVIEW.
(For example, that includes all me
dia, members of medical and
environmental groups, and other
governmenta l agencies.)
2.
Comments
should be written
reasonably and
rationally. Emo
tional or
unsupported statements
will be disregarded.
3. Identify
and
be specific about
which part of the rule you are com
menting on .
4. Be factual and, if possible, of
fer suggested changes to the
cost of obtaining a medical for many
people. The requirement
to
hold
a
valid U.S. driver's license does es
tablish
a
medical
re
quirement.
Therefore, at
no
time should any
one make a reference to no medical
being required.
8. There
is
no
limit
to
the
num
ber of comments
you
can submit.
Separate comments may be sub
mitted for different subjects.
9. Your name,
address,
and
phone number
or e-mail address
is
required in case
the FAA
needs to
contact
you
to
help
them
under
stand your
point of
view.
TECHNI
C
L
RTICLES
W NT
E
As a group, we ' re a pretty re-
sourceful bunch, and one of the
stated missions
of
the
Vintage
Aircraft Association
is to
share
educational opportunities among
the membership.
We're always
on the lookout for good technical
articles.
This year
, we ve re-
ceived a number
of
requests for
solid information on radio and
transponder information in light
airplanes. If you've done a well-
executed, approved
installation
http:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.sportpilot.orghttp:///reader/full/www.sportpilot.orghttp:///reader/full/www.sportpilot.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.sportpilot.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.sportpilot.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.sportpilot.org
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WHAT
OUR MEMBERS
ARE RESTORING
We're always interested in seeing
what
our
members
are
f lying
and
restoring. I f
you'd like to
share
your
project
with
your fellow
members,
send
us
a
small
selection
of photos
(two
to four
pictures) and a shor t de
scription.
Use
the address at the end
of this page.
NEW
BOOKS
OF
INTEREST
VAA member and historian Chet
Peek has filled in
one
of the blank
spots in the
history
of light
aircraft
in the
United States with
the
publi
cation of his latest book, Flying With
40 Horses, A History of
the
Continental
A-40 Aircraft
Engine
and
the Planes
t
Flew. Chet takes us on a journey
though the
history of
l ight aircraft
engines, setting the stage for the
well-timed
introduction
of the
Con
t inental
A-40
in
February 1931.
WANT TO SEND US PHOTOGRAPH
If you're thinking about sending a photograph to Vintage Airplane, we'd ap
preciate it if you'd follow these pointers.
All
photographs must
be
sharp, with the main subject
in
clear focus. If it's
not in focus in the photographic print or slide, no amount of production magic
on our part
can
make it usable for magazine reproduction.
The same holds true for the exposure of the print. If it's over- or underex
posed, we can't fix it. If it has problems like this, we simply can't publish it.
Here's our list of acceptable photograph formats, in order of preference:
A. 35 mm slides on
100 ASA
or lower film
B.
4-by-6-inch or larger prints from 35 mm or larger negatives
C. Digital photographs- The digital file directly from the camera should
support a file that is
300
dpi at a photo size of 4-by-6 inches. That does not
mean that a low-resolution file can Simply
be
re-sized to the larger size-the
file
must
be a high-resolution image for us to use it in a magazine. Since
prints from digital printers vary so widely in quality,
we
prefer not to use them
for publication, unless they are printed with at least 300 dpi resolution on a
high quality photo inkjet or dye sublimation printer, using photo paper appro
priate for the printer. Prints made on regular inkjet paper are not suitable for
reproduction .
To
help you take a great picture of your airplane, here are some tips to
make it look its best:
1. Shoot your photos early in the morning or later in the day. Our favorite
times are during the "golden hour" after sunrise or before sunset. Avoid mid
day as the harsh shadows of noontime sun can obscure details. Keep the
sunlight
on
the nose
and
side
of
the airplane. Facing the sun at about a 45
degree angle seems to work well.
2. Clean the airplane. Even a coating of dust can make it look drab.
3. Put away any accessories such as fueling steps or ladders . Keep the
background clean. When you're shooting the airplane, avoid including other
objects or people. Be mindful of background landscape items such
as
airport
antennae or control
towers-in
a photo, they can appear to grow from your air
plane. The same holds true for people standing behind the airplane-your
fuselage may sprout feet!
4. Keep the horizon level in the viewfinder.
5. Use a separate shot if
you
want to highlight people. If a person is next to
the airplane, please don 't show them leaning on the prop.
6. Don't have the engine running and no
one
in the cockpit!
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MYSTERY
PLANE
BY
H G
FRAUTSCHY
This
month's
Mystery
Plane
is
bare-bones shot
from
the
collection of
Dr
Stanley Mohler of
Wright
State University.
SEND YOUR ANSWER TO: EAA VINTAGE AIRPLANE, P.O.
Box 3086 , OSHKOSH ,
WI
54903-3086 . YOUR ANSWER
NEEDS
TO
BE
IN
NO
LATER THAN
MARCH 10
FOR INCLUSION IN
THE MAY
2002
ISSUE
OF
VINTAGE
A
IRPLANE
.
You CAN ALSO SEND YOUR RESPONSE VIA E-MAIL.
SEND YOUR ANSWER TO
vintage@eaa org
BE
SURE TO I
NCLUDE
BOTH YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS (ES-
PECIALLY
YOUR CITY
AND
STATE ) IN THE BODY OF YOUR NOTE
9 2 6
RROW
FIVE
Wayne Muxlow, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
sent
us
the
one and only response
to
the November Mystery Plane:
The
November Mystery Plane is
the
1926 Arrow Five.
Built
by
Arrow Aircraft
Motor
Corp.,
Havelock, Ne
braska.
To clear
up
th e March Mystery Plane, it
is not
the Ben
Jones
Special,
but the
Briggs Special, also
known
as
the
Briggs-Marion. I t set a lightplane altitude
record of
21,750 feet in 1936.
Pete
Bowers
submitted
November s photo, and he
sent
along this write-up with the
photo:
As identified
in
this photo
taken October 13, 1926,
this o
ne
is
called
the
Arrow Five.
It
looks
like a
1924 Lincoln-Standard LS-5
fuselage
with new
tail surfaces and an entirely
new
one-bay wing
with a single I-strut
on
each side. There's a 180-hp Hisso
engin
e and
a fou
r-s
eat front
cockpit
with the
tw
o for
ward seats facing aft.
As on th
e
LS-5
the front seats
had
side windows.
Arrow, later
noted
for
the
little sport
biplane
and th
e
Ford V-8
powered ship, seems to have started in 1926
with some personnel from Lincoln-Standard.
The
address on the back of the print
says
Havlock
,
Nebraska.
Modern
atlases
and
a search
on
the
Internet
show
it
to be Havelock, located
on the
north side of Lin
coln. The later Arrow firm, supposedly founded in 1928,
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FROM THE
A
CHIVES
BY
H.G. FRAUTSCHY AND SUSAN LURVEY
FROM
THE
EAA
AVIATION FOUNDATION
LIBRARY
ARCHIVES
Frank
P
Cavenagh
of
Hudson,
Ohio, snapped
these
images on
3-
1 2
by
4·1 2
inch
Eastman
nitrate stock
during
the National
Air Races of the
1930s.
We have
Richard Downes
(he was
Frank s
half·brother)
to thank for
saving
and
donating the
images
to the
EAA Aviation Foundation.
Racers
1932
, Cleveland, Ohio. Jim
my
Doolittle taxis in
with the
Gee
Bee R-1's
800
-hp Pratt & Whitney
Wasp Senior barking and snapping under the
tight cowling.
The Gee Bee R-2,
Race No.7
at rest in a hangar at
Cleveland
in 1932
(possibly the Skyways hangar?).
L
ee
Gehlbach flew the R-2 in the Bendix Trophy race.
Up
against three Wedell-Williams racers, the
Gee
Bee
was considered a favorite to
win
.
An
oil leak forced
Gehlbach to land at Chanute
Field
in Rantoul , Illinois ,
to refill the oil supply for the 550-hp
Wasp
installed
for long-distance racing. Unable to repair the leak,
Gehlbach removed the canopy
so he
could at least
peer around the windshield's opaque, oil-coated sur
faces.
He
landed 1 hour,
21
minutes, 54 seconds
after the race winner, Jimmy Wed ell, did in his
No.
92
racer. Gehlbach trailed the third place winner
by
nearly half
an
hour.
The
exceptional metalworking
done
by
Hill Aircraft Streamliners
of
Cincinnati,
Ohio,
is clearly evident in this view of the firewall cowling
and
landing gear fairings (then called boots
)
.
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I
early 1998 Walt
Thomas men
tioned to Jim and Diane Morton
his intent
to
fly his Cessna
140
from Maryland
to
Chino, California,
for
the
International Cessna 120/140
Association Convention. The Mor
tons
and
Walt agreed to make
the
trip
together. For Jim and Diane,
it
was a
once in a lifetime opportunity to fly
their
Cessna
140,
NC89676,
across
the country. Walt previously had
flown N2026V to California
in
1989.
A
Cloudy Start
On September 18 Jim called at
1400 Zulu
to
say
that despite
the
overcast, the weather was flyable. We
agreed
to
meet at Potomac Airfield
(VKX), west of Andrews Air Force
Base. After
everyone
arrived
near
midday, we refueled
both
planes,
and
then Jim rechecked the weather.
Our
originally planned route was
south-southeast to First Flight Air
port (FFA-Kitty Hawk)
and
then
Jim
Morton and
NC89 7
pause before departing Cape May, New Jersey.
Jim
's wife , Diane, served as navigator, accommodations manager,
and pho-
tographe
r
and
an
hour later
picked
up a west
bound tail
wind
26V was doing
S-turns
behind '676,
since Jim
and
Diane were
breaking in a
just-re
placed cylinder.
The
next
stop was
was excellent. We refueled at Tay
lorsville, Illinois,
and then flew
west-southwest, crossing the Missis
sippi River
north
of Saint Louis. For
our next overnight stop, we landed at
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Waiting
for
the rain to stop
and
the ceiling to lift. Walt rises up
on
his tip-
toes to confirm that the airplane
he
sees taxiing in is another Cessna 14 ,
also
en
route to the 1
2
/
14
Convention.
with
us
for several miles in his classic
Piper. The two Cessnas flew past Jef
ferson City, over the
Ozarks
, and
landed at Neosho EOS) for refueling
and lunch .
We
took off, headed
MSL and
picked up
Interstate
40
near Clinton,
Oklahoma. Another
60
miles under our wings and
we
were over
the Texas Panhandle,
where the
visibility
was unre
Cessna's high-density-altitude per
formance,
so
extra
clothing
and
other items were
packed
and
shipped
back
to
New Jersey. After
ward, we celebrated Jim's birthday
with
dinner
at the hotel's pub and
retired early.
We
departed AMA on the fourth
day at 0815 local. Our 140s climbed
quickly in
the
cool,
smooth
air
to
6,500 feet
MSL.
Flying west along
40,
the
terrain
underneath
began
rising, so we climbed to 8,500 feet.
Santa Rosa ,
New Mexico,
was
our
next
stop; we landed
into
a stiff 20
knot breeze directly down Runway
26. Leaving Q58, we climbed again
to 8,500 feet and could see the San
dia Mountains 90 miles away. Thirty
miles east
of
Albuquerque, civiliza
tion reappeared. The
lead
aircraft
contacted
ABQ
Approach
, and our
flight was given vectors to the Albu
querque International Sunport
Airport. Once we passed the moun
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turbulence were becoming worse, we
landed at Gallup. The winds were 20
knots at 30 to 45 degrees to the run
way,
so we
bo
t h
carried
higher
approach speeds and
made
wheel
landings. This was the first airport we
noticed
really heavy chains being
used as tiedowns.
The strong winds
made their existence obvious.
Our fifth day began with a trip to
the airport
before sunrise. Pullover
sweaters and
other
layers
were
needed
for
the
39 °F
temperature,
but takeoff
performance
would be
great
We
lifted off just after sunup,
departing
east (downhill
and
up
wind),
and turned west to follow
the highway. At 8,500 feet
MSL
we
had a 10- to 12-knot tail wind and
unrestricted
visibility.
The
smooth
morning air was enjoyab le, espe
cially after yes terday's turbulence.
We passed the Petrified Forest and
then headed
over
the desert,
past
Holbrook
and
Winslow, Arizona.
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Peninsula was pumping moisture
across
the
desert and up
the
moun
tains.
As the
warm,
moist air rose
up
the
mountain
slopes, it cooled
and condensed, causing the over
cast and precipitation.
Two hours later
FSS
said
condi
tions were improving.
We
departed
Runway
03
and followed
1-40
at 500
feet AGL. Twelve miles
west, low
clouds
hung
entirely across a ridge,
obscuring it
and the
terrain
on
the
other side.
We
could see
clearly
northward but not west where we
were headed. We turned around and
returned
to
FLG.
There
we
joined
three
gentlemen
for
lunch.
They
were also waiting out the weather
en
route to the ' 140 Convention. After
another
hour's wait,
we
tried again.
This time we flew around the west
ridge, and within 20 miles skies be
came scattered and then clear.
Our "concrete compass" guided
us past Williams and Seligman to a
This interesting array of mirrors with a cent ral tower
is
a solar power gener-
ating station located just west of Barstow Daggett airfield in California.
The
esert
esolation
Day six started with a sunrise de
parture. We headed southwest along
the highway, flew past the Ford Mo
tor Company Proving
Grounds,
then west to Needles, California.
At
Needles we followed the road north
by
white plumes
falling
to the
ground.
Whoa
These
were
muni
tions exploding over the desert.
We
never
determined
where
they
origi
nated,
but
it
definitely got
our
attention. Uh-huh That's
why
it's a
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12/36
PE CLUB NOTES
TOWARD SAFER EFU ELING
s published
in
the
17 News
M
ny of
us
who utilize the
autogas
STC
refuel
our
Cessna 170s with
those
2.5-
and
5-gallon plastic jugs that
are so easy to use and
that
pass the
test
of being an appropriate and
properly labeled
container
when
we stop by
our
favorite gas station
on the way
to
the
airport. While
these
jugs are obviously
intended
for transporting gasoline, they
have several characteristics that
cause concern about fire safety.
The one that
causes
the most
concern is that
the
molded poly
ethylene plastic is an insulator ,
preventing
any
buildup
in static
electrical charge from
escaping
rapidly
through the container
to
the ground. Remember the science
experiment
where you pull a plas
tic
comb through
your
hair on a
dry day and generate
a
spark of
SCOTT B RL ND
setting
the
plastic
jugs
on
the
ground doesn
't
complete
ly
bleed
off
the
static charge unless they re
main
there for a while, because
the
insulating characteristics of
the
plastic jug slows
the
static charge's
dissipation to a slow trickle.
The
real
concern comes when
we take that
jug
up
the ladder
,
open the
fuel cap,
and
start
pour
ing the go-juice in. If
the
plane has
acquired a slight static charge from
such
things as
the
wind
blowing
over it,
there
may be enough elec
trical potential (difference in static
charge) between it and the fuel in
the
jug to cause a spark.
This was
brought
home to
me in
a
rather dramatic fashion
when a
good friend
and
fellow Cessna 170
Association member called to relate
what he thought might have been a
close
approach to
disaster. He had
become
the
centerpiece in a fire de
partment training film.
I
started
thinking about
static
proof ing this process,
and the
ob
vious first step is
to
be
sure that
your plane
is
adequately grounded .
This
is
critical
during
the refueling
operation,
and
there's
no
good rea
son
why
it shouldn't be
grounded
all
the time
. If
your
hangar
is
grounded electrically
through
your
electrical service, attach
one end
of
the
wire to
the
hangar steel
and the
other end, through an alligator clip,
to
any
bare metal part of
the air
frame. If your airplane
is
tied down
on
grass/dirt,
anyone
of your metal
tie-down rods
is a
good
ground
.
Tied
down
on pavement? Your tie
down rings in the pavement should
do nicely. I used a piece of stranded
14 gauge copper house wire for this
airframe
ground
cable,
one end
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13/36
[Vintage Airplane Editor's Note:
Be
certain the airframe component
you attach
your
grounding strap to
is
indeed electrically bonded
to
the rest
of
the airframe, all the way
to
the
fuel tank-you d be surprised how
may light airplanes have electrically
isolated components. A simple check
with the continuity test function
on
a multimeter can be used
to
confirm
your
ground location.]
So
what do
we
do about those
pesky plastic jugs? If we electri
cally connect the gasoline to
the
now-grounded airplane (before
opening
the fuel
tank
caps
or
the
plastic jugs), then
no
static charge
can
exist. And
no
spark
can jump
up
and
bite us. Here's how I modi
fied
my
plastic jugs to allow
me
to
do that.
See
the drawing below.)
Cut
the
head
off a 10-32 x 1.5
inch
machine screw and drill a
No.
48 hole down
the
center of
the
screw
about 1/4-inch
deep.
Cut
a piece
of
14 gauge solid cop
per
house wire long
enough
to
reach
from
the
handle of
the plas
tic
jug to the bottom
(inside),
strip
the
insulation from its
full
length, and so lder one end
of
the
wire into the drilled
screw
.
Thread
on
a
common
hex nut,
a
flat washer,
and
a rubber washer
cut from
an old inner tube . Drill
a
3/16-inch
hole in the jug han
dle just
behind
the filler
opening.
[Vintage Airplane Editor's Note: If
you're using an electric drill, be
cer-
tain
no gasoline fumes are
present-you d
feel
pretty foolish
if
you blew up the gas jug and yourself
10 24 X 11 2
M A C H I N E S C R E W ~
/
H X N U T ~
FLAT METAL WASHER
RUBBER
W A S H E R ~ = = : ~ : - i i i i i i ~ .,.
#48
HOLE
1/4
EEP
~
t
14 BARE COPPER
WIRE
SOL ER INTO
SCREW
while installing a grounding strap ]
To install the ground wire you
just made,
ho
ld
the
wire/screw
assembly with
a
long-nose
pliers
or a
hemostat,
insert the
assem
bly,
wire-end
first, through the
filler
opening and up through
the
3/16-inch
hole. Spread a little
gasoline
-
resistant sealant around
the base of the protruding threads
(I
used some neoprene cement left
over from
a
wet-suit repair
kit),
and
then
add another rubber
washer, flat washer,
and
hex nut.
You
should
now have
about
1
inch of screw thread exposed to
act as your
ground
lug. The bare
copper wire
should be
pushed,
pulled, or bent as necessary to
reach
near
the bottom
of
the
con
tainer without blocking the filler
neck. Snug the top hex
nut
down,
and let the sealant/cement cure
before
exposing it
to gasoline . I
modified all five
of
my
containers
in less
than
two hours, so it
is
not
a big job. The photo
on
the fol
lowing
page shows
one
of
my
own
anti-static fuel containers, at
tached to its connecting wire
alligator clip (that's next).
We
have
to be able to connect
the fuel jug's ground
l
ug
to
the
airframe, so make a connecting
cable: I used another piece of
that
14
gauge
stranded
house
wire,
about
10 feet long,
and
attached
medium-size alligator clips to
each end . You'll see how it
is
used
in just a
moment.
To put this system to work,
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14/36
(an
exhaust
stack
is
convenient
and
works well .
After touching
the
free end of
this
wire
to
each jug s
ground
lug, clip it to
one,
carry
the jug
up
the
ladder,
and start
the refu-
eling. t is most
important
that
this
connecting wire
be
attached
both to the
plane and
the
fuel
jug
before
taking the jug up near
the
fuel cap,
and
it must
remain
attached throughout to make
sure that any static electricity is
bled off
harmlessly before
it
builds
up
enough to cause a
spark. Bring the
empty
fuel
jug
down
off
the
ladder,
attach the
clip
to
the next one, and con
tinue.
Remember also
that
gasoline
fumes are heavier than
air, sink
ing to
the
floor and
following
any sloping
surfaces
downward.
Any open flame,
pilot
light, or
source of electrical spark below,
downwind, or
down-slope from a
fuel
overflow or spill
can com
pletely
wipe
out
all
your
good
work in eliminating the static
electricity
hazard. t has
been
said that
fire is a
wonderful
ser-
vant
but
a horrible
master.
You
don t need to let a gasoline-fed
fire
prove
it to you.
This doesn t
eliminate all fire
hazards; it
just
helps
minimize
ones we can
do
something about
without too big
an
effort. f noth
ing
else,
your
insurance
carrier
should breathe a little easier, and
you
can
tell that
smart
mouth
across the ramp to put away the
marshmallows.
Grounding
Wire l ternative
Vintage Airplane Editor s Note: I ve used a similar
set of
grounding wires for a number
of
years, built
using 1/16-inch stranded stainless steel cable bought
by the foot
at
the local
hardware
store. The store
even
had
a
vinyl-covered
version,
but
I
was
too
cheap to buy it. I added clips from the local electrical
supply house, and
my
grounding cables looked
just
like the ones on the fuel trucks . If you really hate
those finger sticks that
occur
when your tender
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WHAT
OUR MEMBERS
ARE
RESTORING
BY H G FRAUTSCHY
DH.82A
TIGER
MOTH
Nick and Elsa Steo of Mendon, New York are the proud owners and restorers of this 1944 de Havilland Tiger Moth.
Built at Hatfield, Herts
R-S063
served
the RAF and then the
Belgian air force
as
a primary trainer. Next it belonged to
the Brasschaat Aero Club in Belgium, where it was used for banner
and
glider towing, as well as general sightseeing
flights. After it had accumulated more
than
4,000 hours of flight time in its logs, Gert Frank bought it and had it and
a number of other Moths shipped to the United States. In 1971, Nick Steo Sr. bought
the
project and slowly began its
restoration, but he passed away before its completion. His son, Nick Jr., and his son s wife, Elsa , then picked up the
project and restarted
the
process using professional restorers. Fifteen years after it began, the project was completed,
thanks to the efforts of George Denys. Its maiden flight in U.S. airspace took place
on
August 24, 2001.
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DH .82A
TIGER
MOTH
William "Bill" King, a
name
well
known
to
those
who have had the pleasure of visiting Cole Palen's Old
Rhinebeck Aerodrome, decided
to
restore his Tiger Moth, which he had been flying
at
the
aerodrome for 5 years.
Bill pointed out
that
the Tiger Moth has plenty of small parts, so the restoration progressed slowly, but in spring
2001
the
airplane was restored
and
ready for
the
air show season. Bill credits
John
Cullere
and John
Tremper for
helping him
not
miss a third season with his Tiger Moth. Bill's son, Andrew King, sent us the second photo showing
Bill's brother, David, flying the Moth, Andrew in his Ryan M l mailplane, and Bill flying the recently completed
Rhinebeck Aerodrome Curtiss Jenny. That's quite a formation shot Tom Polopink, the Aerodrome's museum direc
tor, took the photo.
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t 's
a
common
story:
Someone finds an airplane
abandoned
in a barn/field/
hangar. It s totally run-down
with
mice
corroding
the
wings,
the engine
frozen
into a solid lump, the fabric
a c lose approximation of
papyrus
,
and everything in
the
airplane needing
re
placement. So the would-be
restorer takes it apart, trucks
it home, and starts the long
process
of disassembling,
tagging, restoring, and re
assembling.
But that's not the story of
Wally
Fisk s Volunteer
Seabee. The
above story,
where
the
restorer starts with
an entire airplane
and, in
the process
of
disassembling
it, figures out
where
every
thing
goes,
is the exact
opposite from what the
Seabee crew started with.
They didn't start with a cor
roded hulk covered with bird
droppings;
they
started with
mounds and mounds of
boxes full
of
parts, not a one
of
which was identified. The
Seabee,
although
partially
re-
stored and painted,
was
totally disassembled and rep
resented
one
of
those jigsaw
puzzles
that
come in a plain
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who
banged
away
on the airplane,
Wally Fisk originally bought the air-
During
E
AirVenture Oshkosh
2001 Seabee pilot
Larry Mullaly stands
between fellow
restorers Ray Kreps
and Duane Poehls
When we got the airplane, only a
half a
gallon of paint
of each color
When
the airplane came
to
us,
according to
Duane, the wings
and
control surfaces were in crates.
The engine
was
disassembled and
in boxes. Another box
held
a bunch
of
actuators, but
we didn't
know
what they were for. All the hy-
draulics
parts
were
in
another
box.
Again, not tagged. We had a terrible
time just figuring
out which
parts
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The six-cylinder Franklin engine is coupled to a cooling Cloth
interiors
are
not
usually the
best
choice for sea
fan
in
front
and
a crankshaft extension
on
the rear, which
planes, so
the
Seabee was
neatly upholstered
in vinyl
drives the prop .
You
can clearly see the Franklin 's distrib with a close-nap carpet used
underfoot
. A basic
VFR
in-
utor
and coil ignition
system. It
' s
mounted
on
the left
strument
panel
was
re-instalied,
along with
expertly
side
of
the shaft extension case, just aft of the
baffle.
rendered lettering for each switch and placard . The new
The
Franklin uses a mixed system, with one magneto fir lettering included a placard
for
one unusual switch-on
ing one set of plugs and an automotive-style distributor
the lower
left
corner of the panel,
there s
an electrical
for the other set.
ca
u
se
they didn't match
.
The
water
rudder
was a classic
case of not knowing
what
did what.
We had no way of knowing how it
attached
. We e-mailed a lot of peo
ple. We even made parts out of wood
to try to figure out
how
it worked.
The tail wheel
steering
was
the
same way.
As
far as we could tell, we
had
all
the
parts ,
but
because
they
had this kind of Rube Goldberg way
of working, we just couldn't figure it
out. If we hadn't had another air
plane to
look
at
, we might still be
trying to make i t work.
The seats had already been uphol
stered, but there were
no
side panels,
so
they came up with upholstery
that wo uld match
and
had Airtex
make up
the
panels.
The instruments that came with
the airplane were a mixture
of
over
switch labeled Anchor Light.
turned
out to
be a real
problem
be
cause most of it, including the axles,
were badly corroded
and had to
be
replaced or rebuilt. Fortunately,
that
was
the
only serious corrosion in
the
airframe because the airplane
only
had
about 450 hours total time
and
had never seen sa ltwater.
If
they thou ght the
landing
gear
was a problem, then they must have
thought gett ing
the
Franklin engine
running was a
borderline
disaster
because,
among other
things, some
of the accessories were missing along
with some of the internals. On top
of that,
many
of
the
parts
they
did
have
couldn't
be
rebuilt,
and they
had to buy a second
engine
just to
get enough
usable
parts
to get one
running. They had the basic engine
overhau
led
by
Bolduc
Aviation
in
Minneapolis. Then it was found that
did,
they
could
expect some
prob
lems , because one of their engine
manuals had
the notation
that they
should ... expect major repairs
shortly after 600 hours.
Once
they got
the engine prob
lems solved, the project really kicked
into high gear. According to Duane,
We could see
the
airplane was start
ing to take shape,
so
we put the pedal
to
the
metal.
When we
started work
ing on the windows, we realized they
weren't
tagged
either. They were
grommet mounted, so they could be
kicked out in [an] emergency, but we
didn't know
which
grommet went
with which
window.
It
was just an
other
piece of the Seabee puzzle.
Towards
the
end, we were
calling
people, including
those
who had
painted the airplane, and tracking
down information like what type of
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The designers
of
the Seabee made
extensive use
of
corrugated metal to
add
st
i
ffness to
the wings tail and
in
this case the water rudder.
Greg Jones-landing gear struts
Ray Kreps-an
ex-F-86
pilot; did
whatever was needed and was
Mr.
Window Guy
Larry Mullaly-research
and
pa
perwork
Duane
Poehls-wiring
and parts
coordinator
Frank Sokolik- a little of every
thing and head parts cleaner
Alden Bjorkland-Plexiglas polisher
When the volunteers came to the
museum,
the universal attitude
among them
was, We
don't want
to be tour guides. We want to work
on
airplanes. The Seabee fulfilled
th
at desire. When
the
museum
closed, Fenton, Kreps, Poehls,
and
Sokolik stayed on
the
project, and
every
Wednesday
night
became
Seabee night
for
them.
"We wound up working 156 days
on
the
project for a total of 1,002
man
hours, as
near
as
we
can
fig
ure, says Duane.
In a long-standing Oshkosh tradi
tion
,
the
y didn't
get
the
airplane
finished and ready to
fl
y until just a
few days before EAA
AirVenture
Slence
nll
his Seabel'
By
H.G.
FRAUTSCHY
I
n the
year before
the United
States entered World War II, P.H.
Spence Spencer lofted the lines
on what he would call the Spencer
Amphibian Air Car, Model S-12. By
March
I,
1941, Spencer
and
his
two employees (one part-time,
the
other
in
the
shop all day) cut the
first parts for
the
two-place aerial
boat. nly
5.5
months
after con
struction
began the Air Car first
flew from
the beach at
Belmore,
Great South Bay, on New York's
Long Island.
With
flat plywood for
the
fuse
lage
and
conventional wood spars
and ribs for the wings,
the
Air Car
was quite practical, albeit a
bit
un
usual in
appearance
. Its pusher
engine allowed for a handy door
on
the
nose of the airplane. A pilot
or passenger could settle into the
right-hand
seat,
flip
open
the
cabin hatch/door on the nose, and
fish all day in comfort. When
the
pilot
was done, the amphibian
could be nosed
up
to
the
beach or
floating dock.
t
was a simple mat
ter of opening the door and
stepping out to
secure the ma
chine. The rear-mounted prop was
somewhat
protected from
the
hull's water spray, and Spence en
joyed
the
rest
of
the
summer
operating
the Air Car from
the
Babylon,
Long Island,
seaplane
Spence
to help
the
company, he
would have access to
its
wood
molding
workshop
during
off
hours. By
that
time some restric
tions on
civilian flying
had
been
lifted, and Spence flew the Air Car
to Chicago, where he made further
changes to the airframe, streamlin
ing
some
of the
early version's
rather
slab-sided looks. He flew
it
regularly from Fox Lake, northwest
of Chicago,
where
he tested
the
hull's hydrodynamic qualities.
By the
close
of
'43, Mill's Nov
elty
had not
been
very successful
in getting more than one contract,
and Spence was ready when Nels
Kelly called again. Kelly had gone
back
to
work for Republic,
and
upon
hearing
that the
company
was interested
in
a civilian project
for work after the war ended, he
made
a
pitch to senior
manage
ment
regarding
the
production of
the
Air Car. Spencer was hired
as
a
design consultant, and Republic
paid him $17,000 for
the
rights
to
the design.
Republic
had plenty of
experi
ence in building
airplanes
out of
sheet metal, and
i
the
postwar
market was
as
hungry for airplanes
as was forecast, they'd need to pro
duce
them at a
pretty good
clip,
possibly as many as 10 per day
After Republic built and
flew
the
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production,
and
extensive use
of hydro-formed sections of alu
minum
for
all
of the
major
components kept
the
number
of pieces in
the
airframe
down
to a minimum.
As
originally de
signed, the
hull
had 362 parts
assembled with 6,200 rivets. t
took 590 man-hours to build it.
After the design
review
, the
number of parts tumbled to 63,
with only 2,400 rivets needing
to
be
driven
in
place
,
taking
only
20
man-hours. The total
number of parts
in the
airframe
went
from 1,800 down to a
more manageable 450. The wing's
new structure
was
also innovative,
using beading stamped into the
wing panel's surfaces to act as stiff
eners for
the
structure, instead of
laborious wing rib installations. Af-
ter heated debate about
the
merits
of such a structure,
it
proof tested
to
be four
times stronger
in to r
sional
rigidity
and held
up
to a
proof load of 115 percent.
The
RC-1
Seabee,
as the
design
was
now dubbed,
was
ready
to
show to
the
postwar public by
the
winter of 1945, and when
the
pro
duction
RC-3s started
coming
off
the
line
at
Republic's Long Island
factory, it was believed
they
had
about
4,000 orders for
the
unique
airplane . But those
orders
were
made
when
the
price was $3,995,
and the
book started shrinking as
soon as the price started to increase.
Republic management had targeted
a price that was far too low to meet,
into the sides of the
hull.
Elimi
nating the
wells added enough
room to the interior to make a
four-seater practical.
Also
needed
was
more horse
power.
The
Franklin engine
first
considered
for the
revamped
de
sign developed 200
hp,
but more
was
needed
, and
to help
control
costs, Republic bought a control
ling interest in Aircooled Motors,
Sy
racuse, New
York . Aircooled
had
been
building
the
Franklin
series
for
a number of airframe
makers , and it
managed
to sim
plify the Franklin 500 engine and
get
a 12
hp boost in
the process .
When finall y
put into
produc
tion, that horsepower had grown
to
215
ponies,
with the Franklin
6A8-215B9F as
the
standard
in
stallation. While the Koppers
Aeromatic prop
was standard
equipment ,
the
metal Hartzell
controllable/reversible prop was a
Douglas Ro lfe
continued to develop his Air Car
series as a homebuilt project until
his
death
in 1995 at the age
of
97.
Spencer's life was filled
with
a
number of remarkable technical
achievements
,
no doubt
a legacy
of his
father,
Christopher Minor
Spencer. C.M.
Spencer
invented
the
Spencer repeating rifle,
one
of
the Union Army's
most
effective
weapons of
the
Civil War.
Longevity
must
run
in the
Spencer
family,
as
Spence was
born
long
after the war,
when
his
father was 63 years old. The elder
Spencer lived
long
enough to see
his
son
solo a Curtiss- type flying
boat on the Connecticut
River
in
the
summer of 1914.
For information on the Seabee
visit
www min
prin
g
com
jh
oop
e
r3
se c
lub htm
That s
the
web address for
John
P. Hooper's Seabee web page, the
home
of
the International
Re
public Seabee Owners
Club
. You
http://www.mindspring.com/-jhooper3/seaclub.htrnhttp://www.mindspring.com/-jhooper3/seaclub.htrnhttp://www.mindspring.com/-jhooper3/seaclub.htrnhttp://www.mindspring.com/-jhooper3/seaclub.htrnhttp://www.mindspring.com/-jhooper3/seaclub.htrnhttp://www.mindspring.com/-jhooper3/seaclub.htrn
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The Seabee s distinctive lines come
from
the genius of
Percival H. Spencer whose
basic design for
an
amphibious airplane
made out
of
steel tube and wood was
bought by Republic and then modified
and produced
after
World
War II. Spencer
helped Republic design the airplane for
all-metal construction
on an
assembly
line, but its unique art deco lines re
mained
true to his original concept.
opened
it
up to
work on
it, there
were no brushes
in
it.
We
found one
brush in Grant's
garage
attic,
so
Bolduc [Aviation] took
the
one brush
down
to the
parts
store
and pawed
through a bunch of brushes until
they
found a pair that
matched.
When
we investigated
the
discharg-
ing problem,
i t
turned out
the
generator was wired for
'normal'
ro-
tation. The Franklin
turns the other
direction, so we swapped a
few
wires
and were on
our
way.
With a cruise
of
103 to lOS
mph,
the Seabee isn't a rocket ship, but with
its pregnant pickle shape, you would-
n't expect it to be. Fortunately, says
Duane, we
aren't burning much
oil
and
[are using]
about
14 gallons
of
gas. However,
the
engine has a mag-
neto
and
a battery/distributor, which
isn' t shielded, so there's lots of igni-
tion noise in the radio.
The airplane isn't really very
good in a crosswind because
of
that
huge tail, he says, Which is aggra-
vated on takeoff by the
way
it
levitates up on
the
struts at such a
slow speed. I don't
think
it even has
a demonstrated
crosswind
compo-
nent
in
the
handbook.
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P SS IT
TO
CK
BY
E.E. BUCK
HILBERT, EAA 21
VAA
5
Reading about the adventures
and
experiences of Dutch Redfield and
now Bill Dunn sure triggers your ex
citement bones. They're wonderful
I've had a few adventures
as
well,
but
I hesitate
to
relate
them,
know
ing full well that some of them were
pretty
boneheaded
and I was lucky
to have survived to tell about them.
Before I spill
the
beans about this
incident, here's a little background.
At 17, right out
of
high school, I en
listed
in
the
Army Air
Corps
at
the
beginning of World War II. I had fin
ished a specialized course in aviation
mechanics
and
enlisted
to
become
an aviation cadet.
I
had
been working
at
the local
airport
for a
couple
years,
had
all
kinds of "sandbag" and dual time,
and had
soloed in
the
J-3
Porter
field, Aeronca Defender, and the
Duster Stearman C 3. I was pretty
hot; I'll tell you that.
After the stint in pre-flight school I
was
assigned to Primary Flying School
at Wickenburg, Arizona. I was intro
duced to PT-l7s, PT-13Ds, and
PT-27s.
The
-27 was a fully
instrumented,
electrically equipped version.
My instructor, Mr.
Bingham,
soloed me in
short
order, and I was
free to practice what I was supposed
have learned. Unlike of
P O
Box
424,
UNION,
IL
60180
climb. Finally, after an eternity, I got
up to 13,500 feet indicated. In Janu
ary, I can tell
you,
it was
very cold
up there.
I was freezing
and now
only wanted to
get
back to
that
warm Arizona desert air.
I thought a
while
and then de
cided a
spin would
be
the
best
and
quickest way
down.
After about six
turns I
pulled out,
and I
was still
above 10,000,
but it was a little
warmer. Okay,
what
to do now? How
about a few rolls
on
a point?
So
from
about 15 miles away from the field, I
put the
nose
on
a
point and began
doing rolls, one after another, maybe
about 10 or so.
Now that 220 Continental, as
some of
you
well know, has a float
type carburetor and would always
quit when
inverted.
I
had
held
in
verted for a couple minutes during
one of the rolls, and when I
rolled
right
side up, the
engine
was
just
wind milling. Never giving it a sec
ond
thought,
I just kept
on
rolling
and rolling. I finally got down to
about 2,000 or 3,000
feet
off
the
ground, poked
the
power to
it,
and ...
NOTHING
I pumped the
throttle, I checked the fuel selector, I
hit the primer
... it
took
a little,
but
not enough to keep me in the air.
By I was
four or
five
miles off the highway, no
one knows where I am, and it's get
ting
to the point where the sun
is
setting.
Now,
the book says in a situa
tion like this you stay
with the
airplane and wait for rescue. But wait
a
minute;
I think I know what's the
matter with
this
engine
. I'll bet
the
float is stuck. I t ran on the primer,
didn 't it?
Well
that's got to be
it
Find
a rock; bang on the carburetor bowl.
Bang it good; this used to happen
on
the Duster Stearman. Now, let's try it.
Wind up the inertia starter and, "That
was
it
It runs " It's now almost dark,
so a
quick run
-up
with
a full power
check and it's off for home.
When 1 land the proverbial stuff
hits the fan. The A.O. (airdrome offi
cer)
is
upset, as I
am
the
last
one
to
land and
it's dark "Where 'n 'ell
have you been?" Thinking I was a
hero,
I
explained, and explained
again in front of the e.O., and again
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24/36
I ve told you about
this project
some
time in the past,
and
after the dust
settled over
Sep
tember
11,
I got to
fly
Gary
Karner s
Aeroncopy.
It
was
great fun, and i t
flies great
with
a
Continental
A-65.
Gary used my C-3
to
take
measure-
ments to make his
copy
of
a
C 3
as a homebuil t airplane. I ve been sell ing some
of
my
toys
to
make a bit
of
room around here at the Funny Farm, and my C-3, which I ve
had since the
1960s,
was
on
the block. Gary bought it, so now he owns both.
As
soon as the weather gets nice, and we get
it
running,
it
will move to the
Brodhead, Wisconsin, airport. Isn t Gary s Aeroncopy cute?
got
fixed
and got
home in fine
shape, and I m here to tell about it
almost 60 years later.
I've had several forced landings
since
that
time,
and
I've lucked
out
every time. It did teach me to always
be aware of your options and always
have a plan in mind in case the un
mentionable happens.
Here's a recent note I received:
to see
the
northbound mail planes
come
in.
There
were
three
pilots:
Lindbergh, Slonnegar,
and
Smith.
I
had the great privilege of seeing and
talking to all three.
The
big thrill was in 1928
when
Col. Lindbergh flew over his old air
mail
route
in the Spirit o
St
Louis
with Slooney
and
Smith in DH-4s in
formation. They were about S feet
Richard,
It's a pleasure to hear from you,
and I
thank you
for your
kind
re
marks about Vintage Airplane
When
I was a trustee
for
the
Wings
&
Wheels Museum in Florida,
now
defunct,
we had an ex-Marine
Corps DH-4 in almost-flying condi
tion.
When
the
museum
broke
up
it
was auctioned off and went to Brazil,
I think.
It was one that
had
been modi
fied to a steel tube fuselage
and,
of
course, was
not the
mail plane
model that was all wood. It also
had
armament and was a
single
place
with a cargo pit
up
front.
Not
too
authentic
at that.
I m sending
you,
on loan of
course, the Smithsonian publica
tion on the
DH-4 history. In
this
book you ll find all
sorts
of
infor
mation
on
the original airplane
and
the many variants. Enjoy the book,
and
one
of these days when you are
finished with it, either drop it off
at
my son s house over in
Rockford
(address included), or if
you
are
out
for a drive,
stop by
here at
the
Funny Farm.
Reading about your childhood
in Peoria
is
very interesting. I never
got to actually meet Lindbergh ,
but
I was
just
a kid
when
he flew
over Rockford on his
nationwide
tour
and
dropped
the
message
con
tainer. I was only 4 years old, but I
remember the
crowd
was going
crazy yelling, "Lindy Lindy " and
jumping up and down with excite
ment. Quite a time. Lindbergh sure
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8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 2002
25/36
Wally
Baldwin of Middle-
town, Ohio, whose father
spent many years
at
Aeronca
during its aircraft production
heyday,
sent
us
this photo-
graph. Taken at Lunken
airport
(sometimes referred
to
as sunken Lunken J in
Cincinnati , Ohio, t shows the
airfield the year before the
devastating flood of January
1937. The new
administration
building in the center
was
added on
to the smaller
termi
nal just to its left.
When
the
airport
was
flooded,
only
the
top floor of the new building
and
the instruments
on top of
the small white weather in-
strument
box were
visible.
In
the
far
upper
left
comer,
the
low
building
along the
road
is the
first
Aeronca
factory.
On
the
left
side
of
the
ph
oto
is
th
e M
etal
Ai
rc
raft
Company, builders
of the
Ramingo
series
of all-metal airplanes. The flood
bankrupted the
already
fragile
c
ompany
, and Aeronca bought
the
building. Aeronca chose to
move
its
operation
to
Middletown,
Ohio, and the Metal Aircraft Company building was
moved
to Aeronca's
new
location
after the floodwaters receded.
n
the main ramp is a Stinson Trimotor and an American
Airways Douglas DC-3,
complete with the entry door on the
right side of
the cabin.
The administration building still stands, and it now has
Dr.
Kindall's Aeronca C-3 hanging in
the west
wi
ng
.
Explore
= ~ f : s ~ ~ l i n f i ~ It
Wil Blue Wonde
rs
Explor
in
g the Magic ofFlight
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8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 2002
26/36
St 4 t St 4
a mesa.
For
winds 10 knots or
less
,
continlled
from
p ge
you land uphill. Turning base, an
4,500-foot altitude. The valley other mesa sticks up a mile
away.
was filled with
quilt-patterned
No
problems, just very different to
vegetable
fields crosshatched
us
flatlanders./I
We
enjoyed tour
with irrigation
canals . We saw
ing
Sedona's
many tourist
laborers tending some fields
and
boutiques, which sell Indian art
Flight planning
with
a wall
chart
is always fun,
other
fields
that had just been
work
and
wares.
Then
we drove
and i t s
also neat
to
figure
out just
how far
reclaimed
adjacent
to
the
low
back up the mesa to view an ab
your
flight
has
taken
you. Walt and Jim use
the
hills west.
solutely stunning sunset, followed
time-honored
string
and
scale method of
dis
by dinner and a restful sleep.
tance calculation to
figure
out how far they
Coast to Coast
had flown
with their
Cessna
140s.
Leaving
the
Imperial Valley
we flew northwest
above
the
Salinas Valley
to
west
of
Salinas Air-
port at
the
valley's
north
end. jim,
leading
since Bakersfield, called
Monterey Approach
and
requested
and
was
granted
a flyby
over Mon
terey
Bay
then back across the
peninsula. Walt, never having flown
over the Pacific Coast, was amazed
at
the
ocean's clear, deep blue color.
After
our
aerial
reconnaissance
we
landed on MRY s 28L at 1505 local,
taxied
in, and
tied
down at Del
Monte Aviation. As a
destination,
Monterey
was
significant
since it
was a duty station during
jim's
Navy
career. He
acquired his commercial
and
instrument
ratings while here.
NC89676
and
its crew
had com
pleted the trek from the Atlantic
to
the Pacific Ocean,
flying
2,930
statute miles in six days. N2026V
had
traveled 2,920 miles,
not
quite
from sea
to
sea (albeit W18
is
beside
the
Patuxent River, which
empties
into the Chesapeake
Bay,
which
empties
into
the Atlantic).
Our afternoon, evening, and
fol
The Convention
and
Return
Thursday
afternoon
we left
MRY
at
1500 local
with '676
leading. We
flew back down
the
Salinas Valley,
followed
Route 101
southeast,
crossed
over
the pass
at
Las Cruces,
flew beside
the mountains adjacent
to the ocean, and landed
at
Santa
Barbara
(SBA)
for fuel. We left
SBA
at 1745 loca l
and
headed southeast
along
the coast
with Point Mugu
Naval Air Station. Approach proVid
ing
flight following
into the Los
Angeles
basin.
The
basin
was
hazy
with an overcast 1,000 feet
above.
We
landed
at
Chino
(CNO) just af
ter
dark, taxied in,
and
parked our
two transcontinental Cessna 140s
together at
the
base
of the
tower.
The next two days
we
enjoyed the
International Cessna
120/140
Asso
ciation Convention, caught up with
friends who
had fl
own out at
30,000 feet, toured
the
several avia
tion
museums at CNO, changed
'676's and
'26V's
oil, and
relaxed
before our return east.
On Tuesday we departed Se
dona
at 0725 local,
refueled
at
Gallup, and then
flew back
to
ABQ International.
Wednesday
morning '26V
departed
ABQ for
the
A/C Chapter 3 Fly-In
at
Darlington,
South Carolina, arriving
Friday
morning
. Walt
returned to
Mary
land on
October 5. jim
and Diane
stayed
in
New Mexico, visiting Taos
and
taking in
the
Balloon Festival
on
Saturday.
'676 departed
ABQ
on
Sunday,
October 4, and
returned
to
Cape May
on
October 10, having
to
follow a weather system across Okla
homa,
Arkansas, Tennessee, North
Carolina, Virginia,
and
Maryland.
j im and Diane
received
the
Longest Distance Flown
Award
at
the
1998 International Cessna
120/140
Association Convention.
They
said:
The longest distance
award
was nice,
but
we are pleased
with the fact
that
we
did
it; we flew
our
Cessna 140s literally
'from
sea to
shining
sea,' saw our beautiful coun
try, met some very nice people,
and
will
remember this experience
for
the rest of
our
lives./I Walt received
the
Longest
Distance
Flown Award
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8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 2002
27/36
NEW MEMBERS
Jeff Ottewell. Richmond,
BC,
Canada
Jean Hickman Stoneycreek,
ON,
Canada
Alan McLeod. . . . . . . . . Hudson Heights, po, Canada
Frederic
Djakov
L'Hay
les
Roses,
France
Ian
Rosewell
Little London, Hamps,
Great
Britain
John E. Stevens Staffs, Great Britain
Richard Wery . Juneau, AK
Ralph
Doss Wynne, AR
Robert D.
Hohanshelt Scottsdale, AZ
David
Molina Tucson,
AZ
William N. Doushkess Pasadena, CA
Rick
Mohr .
Placerville,
CA
Donald P. Stevenson Denair, CA
Don
Zabel Tujunga,
CA
Ronald Padgett Tampa, FL
Frank
J.
Sierra
Tampa, FL
Ronald Cox Pop l
ar
Grove,
IL
Melvern K. Finzer. Naperville, IL
Jack
Gladish
Camp Point,
IL
Paul David
Stevens
. . Montgomery,
IL
Clarke
Tate Gridley,
IL
Jerry L. Maxfield Hutchinson, KS
R
O.
Lassalle New
Iberia, LA
Donald Sands Lafayette, LA
Gary
M.
Banks
Scituate, MA
Thomas W. Tinkler . Edgewater, MD
Corey G.
Jacques Saco, ME
Warren
S.
Bolton
Niles,
MI
Peter Keillor, III Midland, MI
Daniel
L. Mills Manchester, MI
Paul
R. Nicholls Lowell,
MI
Donald C.
Berndt
Coon Rapids, MN
Robert
E. Bush Maryville, MO
H.
Dwight Hardy . Tulsa,
OK
Bradley Hardy . . . . . . . Tulsa, OK
Gordon E. Munch . .
Aumsville,
OR
Eugene Chiappe Granbury,
TX
Rodney
L.
Doss . . .
Dallas, TX
Louie Hamilton Houston, TX
John Ingham . . .
Fort
Worth, TX
Walter Lansing . .
San Marcos, TX
Mike
Plyer . . . Sherman, TX
James W. Welch . . . .
El Paso, TX
John A. Williams
Dallas,
TX
Kimbel
H.
Watson . . . . . Ogden,
UT
Thomas A. McKee . Spotsylvania, VA
Charles Schuck . . . . Vienna, VA
Larry Toigo . . . . . .
Da
le City, VA
Patrick Thompson Enumclaw,
WA
John Reidenbach . Kenosha, WI
Clif Harper. . . . . . . . Rock
Springs, WY
Fly
high
with
quality
lassic interior
omplete interior assemblies ready for installation
Custom qua
li ty
at
economic l
prices.
• Cushion upholstery sets
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The following list ofcoming events is furnished to our r
ea
der s as a
matter of information only and
does
not constitute approval, sponsor
ship, involvement,
co
ntrol or direction of any event fly- in, seminars,
fly market, etc. listed. Please se
nd
the in formation to EAA, A tt: Vin
t
age
Airplan
e,
PO.
Box
3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Information
shollid be received four months prior
to
the event date.
FEBRUARY 10 M ondovi, WI-Ski-Fly-ln at Log
Cab
in
Ai rpo rt.
In f
o: 715-287-4205.
FEBRUARY 2
3 Fort
Pier
ce,
FL EAA Ch.
908
Pancake
Breakfast, 7-11 a. m .
at
th e
EAA
Hangar, St. Lucie
International Airport.
Info
:
561-464-0538
or
561-489-0420.
FE
BRUARY 28 - MARCH
2 - Bozeman, MT
M ontana
Av
iation Confere
nc e
, Ho liday Gran Tree Inn s.
Workshops
se
min
ars,
nationally recognized
speakers,
tr
ade show.
Info
:
phone:
406-444-2506
fax:
40
6-444-2506,
e-ma
il :
dalke@s tat
e.
mt.lls .
MARCH
1 3
Casa Grande,
AZ
t
e Arizona An
tiqu
e Air
craf
t
Assoc is sponso ring th e 44th Ann ua l Cac tus Fly-[n, 480-987
55 16.
MARCH 2 3 Fort Pierce,
FL EAA
Ch . 908 Pancake Breakfast,
7-11 a.m. EAA
Han
ga r, St. Lucie Interna
ti
onal Airport. Info:
561-464-0538 o r 561-489-0420.
"I
couldn't
have
won
these swell
trophies
without
Poly-Fiber "
ell,
OK. ..
maybe he
didn
t actually say that. ..
Roscoe Turn er - Famaus
Race
Pilot
APRIL 20 Furt Pierce, FL EAA Ch. 908
Pancake
Breakfast, 7
11
a.m.
EAA Hangar St. Lucie In ternational Airpor t .
Inf
o:
561-464-0538
or
56
1-48
9-0420.
MAY 3 S Cl
eve
land,
OH-18th Ann ual Symposium of
th
e
Society
of
Ai
r Racing
Historians.
Sessions f
ea turin
g
talk
s
by
pilots, crew
members and others at
the
Holiday Inn-Ai rport.
In fo:
Herman
Schaub 440-234-2301
o r
Don
Berliner, 703
548-0405.
MAY
4 S
Woodland, CA-8
th
Annual Great Valley Fly-In,
Watts-Woodland Airport (041). Judging of antiques, cla ssics,
and homeb uilts. Pancake breakfasts, food ve
ndors
raffle,
Young Eagles
program.
Info:
530-662-9631
or www.woodlan
daviatioll .com.
MAY 4 -
S
Daytoll,
OH Ch .
48
A
nnu
a l
Funday
Su
nd a
y
Regional Fly-In
at Moraine Ai
rPark (1-73).
Ca
mping,
awards
,
d i
sp
lays.
Inf
o:
937-859-8967
o r
www.MoraineA irpark.com.
MAY S R ockford, IL EAA Ch. 22
Fly-In/Drive-In Breakfast,
Greater
Rfd. Airport , Co ur tesy Ai rcraft Hangar. Info: 815
397-4995 .
MAY TUlIghkenamon, PA-EAA Ch
apter 240
Open House
H
angar/Cl
ubh
ouse
Dedication. 28
th
Annual
Fly-In/Drive-In
season at New
Gar
den Airport (N57), with
pancake
brea kfast.
Young Eagles flights. Ad mission free . Info: 215- 76 1-319l.
MAY 17 19 Co
lllmbia, CA-Gathe rin
g of
Luscombes
2002,
26
th
ann
ual event. Aircraft judging, spo t
landin
g, flour
bombing compe
tition
s, and more.
In f
o:
559/888
-2745;
619/482-8236
or
www.luscombe-c1a.org .
MAY
18
Fort Pierc
e,
FL EAA
Ch .
908 Pancake
Breakfast, 7-11
a.m. EAA Hangar, St. Lucie In t
ernationa
l Ai rp
or
t . In fo: 561
464-0538.
MAY
9
Troy,
OH VAA
Chapter
36 1
st
An nual Fly-[n
Barbeq ue
at
Waco Field. In fo:
937-447
-41 45.
MAY
19 R
omeoville, L EAA Ch . 15 Fly- In Breakfast
at
Lewis
Romeoville Airport (LOT).
In f
o:
630-243-8213.
MAY 24 2S At
chison,
KS 36
t
Annua
l Kansas C ity Area Fly
In ,
Ame
lia
Earhart
Memor ial
Airport
(K59).
In f
o:
816-238
2161 or
816-363-6351
or
jsullens@kc. rr.com.
MAY 31-JUNE I Bart lesvill
e,
O K 16
th
An nu al
National
Bi
plane Co
n
vention and
Exposit i
on
at
Frank Phillips
Field.
Forums static
displays,
seminars ex h ibit
s. All
types of
ai r
craft and airp
lan
e lovers are invited. Biplane crews and
NBA
m emb ers admitted free. Info: 9 1
8-622-8400
o r 9 18-336-3976
JUNE 7- Ga inesville, TX Texas Ch. Vintage Aircraft
Association hosting its 39
th
An nual Fly-In. Ga in esvi lle
Municipal
Ai rp
ort (GLE)
In f
o:
817-429-5385;
817-468-157
l.
JUNE
2 3
Nil
es, MI-EAA Ch .
865 Annua
l Fly-[n/ Breakfast at
Jerry
Tyler
Municipal Airport
(3TR), 7 till noon.
Info
: 219
271-8533.
J ULY
6 R
cnsselae r,
IN EAA
C
hapt
er
828
Fly-[n
at
Jasper
Co unty
Airport.
Ham bean lun
c
h. Inf
o: 2
19-866
-
5587.
JULY
3
TOllghkenamon,
PA EAA
Chap ter 240 28
th
Annual
Fly- In/Drive- In Pancake Breakfast
8:00 a.m.
at New Garden
Airport (N57). Young Eagles Ra ll y. Ad mi ssion free. In fo:
215-761-3191
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Aircraft Exhaust Systems
Jlmlping Branch, WV 25969
800-227-5951
30
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Antiques, Warbirds, General Aviation
304-466-1724 Fax 304-466-0802
ww
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The
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nallook
righl
on
vinlage
aircrah,· from
Robert
Mikesh, former
curalor
ollhe
Nolionol
Air and
Spo,"
Museum, in
his
book Restoring Museum Aircraft.
VltiTAGE.
AE.RO fAP.>RIC./.
LTD
,.....,
:::::; ./
I I I IJ 1/(1/,\
:::::;
Don t
compromise
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. finish the
job correctly
with
authentic fabrics.
C
rti
fi
lat
ed Gr
ad
e A
oti
on
Ea
rly
ai rcra ft
lotion
Impor
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en (bei
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an
dt
an
)
Ger
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fabril
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b
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pnked and early
Am
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nked
Wa
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d
li
n
en lodng
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Pure cotton machine and hand sewing threa d
Vintage
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fabrics,
ltd.
18
Journey 's End, Mendon, VI 05701
lei:
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·Original Nieupart 28 restored by Vintage Avianan Services·
ew
Wedell-W illiams
Air
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er
vice
Authors: Robert Hirsch & Barbara Schultz
A timel
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Stree
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Award Winning Vintage Interiors
Paul Workman
OHIO AI RCRAFT INTERIORS
Parr Airport (421)
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$19.95 plus $3.95 shipping.
Order from : Little Buttes Publishing Co.
PO
Box 2043
Lancaster,
CA
93539
OR
online:
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VINTAGE
TRADER
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