Vintage Airplane Vol.40 No.03 (2012-03)

MARCH 2012

Vintage M

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intage March 2012.indd 1

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Remember, Were Better Together!

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Aviation insurance with the EAA Vintage Program offers:Lower premiums with payment options QAdditional coverages QFlexibility on the use of your aircraft QExperienced agentsOn-line quote request available QAUA is licensed in all states

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Our L-4 was based in the US During WWII from 1943 to 1945. We bought it early this year and have enjoyed every minute of it. The stearman was built in 1942 during WWII and we have owned it since 1975.

Owning and operating antique aircraft has been a part of our family for 3 generations going back to 1963 when my father Tom bought a Piper Tri-pacer. Our family has owned aircraft ever since. Our aviation roots run deep in this family, and that is why we choose AUA as our agency. They have a long distinguished record of service with the types of aircraft we operate, and understand our problems and concerns.

Mark Henley

The Henleys Mark, Tanner, and Johnathan Mark is an ATP and has been

a pilot since 1976

Tanner is a student pilot who flies every chance she gets

Jonathan is 18 and has been a private pilot for one year

TTTTTTTThhhhhhhaaaaaannnnnkkkkkkkssssss AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

Vintage March 2012.indd 2 Vintage March 2012.indd 2 3/2/12 8:55 AM3/2/12 8:55 AM

2 Straight and Level Cubs2Oshkosh and FAA funding by Geoff Robison

3 News

6 Friends of the Red Barn

9 Travel Air: Performance and Dependability The excitement of sharing it with people by Sparky Barnes Sargent

14 Breaking Through the Clouds: The First Womens National Air Derby The story of grassroots aviation pioneers by a grassroots independent fi lm producer by Sparky Barnes Sargent

16 Achtung, Baby! Prague E.114M Air Baby HB-UAF restored to fl ying condition by Stefan Degraef

20 Light Plane Heritage Exploring the Parasol Monoplane by Bob Whittier

28 The Vintage Mechanic Wood defects: Compression failure, shakes, checks, longitudinal cracks by Robert G. Lock

34 The Vintage Instructor A Proud Moment by Steve Krog, CFI

36 Mystery Plane by H.G. Frautschy

38 Classifi eds

28 I Fly With The Best Wearing the airplane S. Michelle Souder

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1

A I R P L A N E M A R C HC O N T E N T S

S T A F FEAA Publisher Rod HightowerDirector of EAA Publications J. Mac McClellanExecutive Director/Editor H.G. FrautschyBusiness Manager Kathleen Witman

Publication Advertising:Manager/Domestic, Sue AndersonTel: 920-426-6127 Email: [email protected]: 920-426-4828

Senior Business Relations Mgr, Trevor JanzTel: 920-426-6809 Email: [email protected]

Classifi ed Advertising Coordinator, Jo Ann Cody SimonsTel: 920-426-6169 Email: [email protected] O V E R S

Vol. 40, No. 3 2012

FRONT COVER: Joe Santana ares out as he gets r eady to tickle the grass airstrip at EAA Air-Venture Oshkosh with his T ravel Air 3000. T urn to page nine for Sparky Bar nes Sar gents ar ticle on this beautifully r estored example, which was on display during the 2011 salute to the cen-tennial of U.S. Air Mail. V AA photo by H.G. Frautschy .

BACK COVER: An alpine meadow isnt often the setting for an airplane in the pages of Vintage Airplane, so we wer e quite pleased to bring you the stor y of a rar e Praga E.114M Air Baby . Ste-fan DeGraef sent us the stor y of this ne Swiss-r egister ed example fr om his home in Eur ope. Photo by Edwin Bor remans.

9

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

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AirVenture 2012 is now a mere five months down the road! Wow, there is so much going on right now, and so much to accomplish before July sneaks up on us yet again. Ev-ery year I tell our Vintage volun-teer group that the goal is to always outdo ourselves from one year to the next. The volunteer work weekends are already completely planned out, and were ready to launch into yet another year of accomplishment on the grounds at EAA. Its going to be another great year at Oshkosh, so I hope you will be able to join us for another exciting event full of avia-tion and excitement.

Planning for the Cubs2Osh-kosh event is already gaining a fair amount of steam. This will certainly be an event to remember. With the exception of the wonderful yearly Sentimental Journey fly-in that takes place in Lock Haven, Pennsyl-vania, I dont believe you could ever see a bigger fi eld of yellow Cubs; it will be a magnificent thing to see. I have been really impressed with the number of folks who have al-ready committed to participating in the 75th anniversary of the beloved Piper J-3 Cub. It all really makes me want to just go out and buy one! Be sure to stay connected to the of-ficial website (www.Cubs2Oshkosh.org) to stay abreast of the latest in-formation on how to participate in this very special event. As our plans come together, well get the word out via that website and EAA and VAAs offi cial communications.

Join the forums area on the site and share your enthusiasm for this once-in-a-lifetime event with oth-

ers who are also planning to make the trip. Be sure to click on the Cubs Location link and check out the map that shows where all of the Cubs will be coming from. A num-ber of individuals are already plan-ning to hook up with other Cub pilots traveling from the same gen-eral area en route to Oshkosh.

VAA Director/CFI Steve Krog, who owns and operates several Cubs out of the Hartford, Wisconsin, Munic-ipal Airport (HXF), has graciously reached out to the community of Hartford and has already experi-enced a large interest from them desiring to participate as a host com-munity/gathering spot for the many dozens of Piper Cubs en route to AirVenture Oshkosh. Hartford, Wis-consin, is conveniently located 33 miles northwest of Milwaukee and is a convenient short 60-mile fl ight to Oshkosh. Hartford has a grass strip (2,250 feet), and self-serve fuel is available. Several other airports around the country are also plan-ning to host our Cub pilots while en route to Oshkosh, and that infor-mation will be kept updated on the forums area of the Cubs2Oshkosh website. The parking/camping ar-rangements at Oshkosh will be ide-ally located in and around the Type Club parking area. Be assured that EAA and VAA are planning to make your visit to this anniversary event very special. Hope to see you there with your Cub!

Theres fi nally some long-awaited news from inside the beltway re-garding the extensive efforts to get a long-term FAA reauthorization bill through Congress, which would fund the agency for several years.

House and Senate conferees have now managed to work out their dif-ferences and recently finalized the language in the bill. The U.S. Sen-ate overwhelmingly passed the FAA Reauthorization Bill, 75-20, on Feb-ruary 6, so its now headed to the presidents desk for signature. If the president signs the bill, the FAA will have its fi rst long-term funding plan since 2007. This will fi nally end the string of 23 short-term funding ex-tensions that have kept the FAA op-erating since 2007, and will allow the agency to plan and implement some of its key projects and initia-tives. EAA and other aviation groups have long worked hard to have lan-guage included that benefi ts GA in a variety of areas, including no user fees or aviation fuel tax increases, funding for airport improvement projects and the NextGen air traffi c control system, as well as progress for vintage aircraft data and airport through-the-fence agreements. This effort toward a full FAA reauthoriza-tion bill was the result of GA groups being stronger together to repre-sent our members and all aviators. But, its not all good news for our local airports that may now experi-ence their local share on federally funded airport improvement proj-ects increase from 2.5 percent to 7.5 percent. This is going be painful for some small airports that just simply dont have those kinds of local funds available to implement a large-scale airport construction project.

Remember, we are better to-gether. Join us and have it all.

2 MARCH 2012

Geoff RobisonEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VAA

STRAIGHT & LEVEL

Cubs2Oshkosh and FAA funding


VAA NEWS

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

SOME VINTAGE AIRCRAFT OWNERS got a big win in the FAA reauthorization bill signed in early February by Presi-dent Obama, as the measure included an EAA-supported provision that authorizes the FAA to release certain type certifi cate and design data for aircraft no longer supported by a manufacturer.

Th e specifi c element of the bill (Section 302) provides that the FAA can release abandoned data that is essen-tial to safely maintain and operate vintage aircraft. Th at includes data for aircraft such as those built by long-defunct companies whose type certificates were not ac-quired or maintained. Th ree years is the initial threshold for inactivity. It also gives the FAA the authority to de-clare that data as abandoned, or releasable to the public if aviation safety will be enhanced by the information for aircraft, engines, propellers, and other aircraft appliances.

Th is is great progress for those who own and restore vintage aircraft and preserve our aviation legacy, said H.G. Frautschy, executive director of the Vintage Aircraft Association, a special interest group within EAA. EAA and VAA have been working for many years to eliminate this dilemma for those who want to own, fl y, and display these magnificent aircraft. We have previously sought and implemented policy and regulatory solutions to this dilemma. Each effort has failed under legal pressure on the FAA not to release solutions that could be considered proprietary or intellectual property. It was clear that a leg-islative solution would be required.

An additional amendment to the reauthorization bill (Section 816) requires the FAA to maintain engineer-

ing data relating to aircraft that were certifi-cated between 1927 and 1939, and precludes the destruction of any such airworthiness and historically significant documentation. Th e amendment also eliminates the ability of type certificate holders from that period to force the FAA to withhold such data under the claims of trade secrets. Th e amendment was proposed by longtime EAA member Greg Her-rick, an owner and restorer of numerous vin-tage aircraft, and included in the legislation by Rep. Sam Graves (R-Missouri).

There are two initial and complementary victories contained in the nearly decade-long eff ort: the preservation and release of histori-cally significant documentation necessary to restore and maintain truly antique prewar air-

craft contained in the Herrick Amendment, and the EAA initiative giving the FAA authority to release the design and airworthiness data for both pre- and post-World War II general aviation aircraft that are no longer supported by a manufacturer, said Doug Macnair, EAA vice president of government relations.

These efforts do not give completely unfettered ac-cess to design data, continued Macnair, but they do go a long way toward helping owners of antique and vintage aircraft maintain these beautiful fl ying pieces of history. Th e EAA eff ort also seeks to protect not only owners of aircraft that are no longer supported by a manufacturer, but also those that may not be supported in the future, making this a long-term protection for all general avia-tion owners. We are very grateful to the FAA for their collaboration in this effort and their willingness to in-troduce the original language into the early drafts of the reauthorization bill on behalf of EAA and all who own and fl y vintage aircraft.

As with all new laws, time will show how eff ective these measures prove to be in obtaining certifi cation and design data for older aircraft. EAA will be monitoring how this process unfolds and is prepared to pursue additional rem-edies should they become necessary. For now, however, owners of vintage aircraft have an opportunity to seek data by filing a Freedom of Information Act request to the FAA (visit the FAA FOIA office website at www.faa.gov/foia) for the information necessary to restore and maintain their aircraft, and those owners have a fi ghting chance of actually obtaining it.

Vintage Aircraft DataNewly signed FAA reauthorization bill allows for release of abandoned data


4 MARCH 2012

User Fees: Good News,Bad News

The possibility of GA user fees just wont go away, despite more than a decade of congressional opposition from both parties and overwhelming negative responses from the aviation community. Already in early 2012 we have heard good news and bad news on the subject.

First the good ne ws: The final language in the first full FAA reau-thorization bill in five years passed both houses of Congress in early February and was signed by Presi-dent Obama on Feb. 14. It contains no provision for user fees and no in-crease in the aviation fuel tax, which is GAs fair contribution to FAAs funding. The reauthorization bill was a goal of EAAs advocacy efforts, as it stabilizes the agencys funding and planning through 2015 and al-lows major initiatives such as Next-Gen and airport improvements to move forward.

N o w f o r t h e b a d n e w s : T h e Obama administrations proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget includes a $100-per-flight user fee for selected GA aircraft flying within controlled airspace. While the budget proposal would exempt all piston aircraft, mil-itary aircraft, public aircraft, air am-bulances, aircraft operating outside of controlled airspace, and Canada-to-Canada f lights, the plan would create additional financial burdens for GA and require new bureaucracy to administer user fee collection. It also opens the door to an eventual expansion of user fees to other pri-vate aircraft and GA operations.

E AA and fel low GA groups re-sponded immediately to the budget proposal. The leadership of GA cau-cuses in the House and Senate has been alerted to the need to again op-pose the user-fee plan.

User fees is an issue where the concept of stronger together is essential. It is the unified strength of aviators and their representa-tive groups such as EAA, AOPA, and others fighting a specific proposal when it emerges in Washington that will prevail.

To nominate someone is easy. It just takes a little time and a little reminiscing on your part.Th ink 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, confi rming why the person is a good candidate for induction.

Th is years induction ceremony will be held near the end of October. Well have follow-up information once the date has been fi nalized.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 fi le 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]

Remember, your contemporary may be a candidate; nominate someone today!

Find the nomination form at www.VintageAircraft.org, or call the VAA offi ce 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 nominees closest living relative. Address and phone of nominees closest living relative. VAA and EAA number, if known. (Nominee must have been or is a VAA member.) Time span (dates) of the nominees 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 fi elds 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. Submitters address and phone number, plus e-mail address. Include any supporting material with your petition.

Nominate your favorite vintage aviator for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame. A great honor could be besto wed upon that man or woman wor king next to y ou on your airplane, sitting next to you in the chapter meeting, or walking next to y ou at EAA Air-Venture Oshkosh. Th ink 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 oth-ers. Th ey could be the next VAA Hall of Fame inducteebut only if they are nominated.

Th e person you nominate can be a citiz en of any country and may be living or deceased; his or her involvement in vintage aviation must

have occurred between 1950 and the pr esent day. His or her contribution can be in the areas of fl ying, design, mechanical or aer odynamic developments, administration, writing, some other vital and relevant fi eld, or any combina-tion of fi elds that support aviation. Th e person you nominate must be or hav e been a mem-ber of the Vintage Aircraft Association or the Antique/Classic Division of EAA, and pr efer-ence is given to those whose actions hav e con-tributed 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 stories, preserving aviation history, and encouraging new pilots and enthusiasts.

CALL FOR VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATIONNominations


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

EAA Skiplane Fly-InLike so many locations here in the north-

ern half of the United States, the winter has been unusually mild (yes, we consider 25 degrees F to be a mild winter!) and very dry, with little snowfall. Happily, theres been exactly one Saturday when the annual EAA Skiplane Fly-In at Pioneer Airport could have accommodated skiplanes, and that was Saturday, January 21. With just the right amount of snow on the ground, 33 skiplanes flew in and participated, joining hundreds of attendees on the ground. A last-minute snowfall the day before covered Pioneers runway, drawing planes from three states.

Th e gathering was also a celebration of Audrey Pobereznys birthday, and attend-ees enjoyed celebratory chili, soup, and birthday cake inside one of the Pioneer Air-port hangars.

EAAs Sweepstakes Cub sporting new TrickAir wheel-penetration skis was a pop-ular participant, prompting several attend-ees to enter the sweepstakes on the spot. A list of attending skiplanes appears at www.SportAviation.org.

Right: Rick Kluvers Piper J3C-65 painted up as a NE-1, the Navys version of the L-4. His NE-1 isnt knock-kneed, its just that the port ski has stuck with its nose in the same position it was in while the Cub rested on the ground. When a ski is stuck in this way, while its not the preferred way to have a ski hang up, all is well as long as a wheel landing isnt attempted. Normally, a length of cable and bungee cord will keep the tips slightly up in relation to the centerline of the air-plane, like the position of the starboard ski.

What Our Members Are RestoringAre you nearing completion of a r estoration? Or is it done

and youre busy flying and showing it of f? If so, wed like to hear from you. Send us a 4-by-6-inch print fr om a commer cial source (no home printers, pleasethose prints just dont scan well) or a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital photo. A JPG fr om your 2.5-megapixel (or higher) digital camera is ne. You can burn photos to a CD, or if your e on a high-speed Inter net connection, you can e-mail them along with a text-only or Word document describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program asks if youd like to make the photos smaller , say no.) For more tips on cr eating photos we can publish, visit VAAs website at www.VintageAircraft.org. Check the News

page for a hyperlink to W ant To Send Us A Photograph?For more information, you can also e-mail us at [email protected]

or call us at 920-426-4825.

EAAs grand prize Piper Cub was on hand, complete with a new set of TrickAir Skis. You can win this Cub this summer when its awarded to some lucky EAA Sweepstakes supporter. For more information, visit the Win the Cub Sweepstakes website at www.AirVenture.org/sweepstakes, or see the insert in the April issue of Sport Aviation.


Friends of the Red Barn 2012Friends of the Red Barn 2012

6 MARCH 2012

Each year at EAA AirVenture Osh-kosh the largest single space for the display of enthusiasts aircraft is the Vintage parking and camping area. For four decades its been not only a picturesque scene of the fi nest restored airplanes in this country, but also a gathering place for aviation people and their magnifi cent machines to share knowledge and friendship.

Each day during the convention, we get to see the widest variety possible of airplanes, including a few one-of-a-kind aircraft. Dont forget the special Type Club parking area, where we host many examples of a particular manufacturers airplane. From replica race planes to the American Barnstormers Tour, the amazing colors and outlines of the golden age of aviation are on display for all to see each year. All of this is pos-sible through the efforts of the nearly 500 VAA volunteers, the volunteer VAA board of directors, and the VAA staff.

Their passion is what makes it a great place to be throughout the week of AirVenture, and its why so many visitors and aviation enthusiasts come back year after year to work, relax, and enjoy aviations premier event. Its a place to rekindle old friendships and make new ones. A time to relax and enjoy aviation, learn something new, and rub elbows with our fellow aviators. As you can imagine, it takes some fairly substantial fi nancial resources to under-write such an event, and the Vintage area at EAA AirVenture is no exception.

The Vintage Aircraft Association has, by necessity, elected to under-write a portion of its yearlong activi-ties with funds other than members dues. The proceeds from this fund pay for all sorts of volunteer activities and improvements to the VAA area, as well as supporting VAA advocacy efforts and educational endeavors. It serves as working capital for improve-ments such as the Vintage Hangar, the VAA Flightline Safety Operations Center as well as for upkeep of many

structures. Theres never a shortage of windows that need caulking, doors that need to be replaced, and roofs that need to be repaired. To be cer-tain, almost all of the labor involved is performed by our dedicated and talented volunteers, but what about the cost of supplies and hardware?

Thats where our Friends of the Red Barn campaign comes init provides all of us, who wish, the opportunity to assist in the vital fi nancial support of the VAAs activities.

Were most appreciative of the contributions made by hundreds of VAAers who see the tangible benefi ts of supporting their fellow VAA members in this manner. As a critical part of the VAA budget, the fund pays for such diverse items as VAA awards presented during the annual EAA Vintage Aircraft Awards program, special recognition for our many volunteers, and expenses associated with our special displays, fo-rums, and educational areas such as the VAA Workshop and Type Club areas in the Vintage Hangar.

Your annual contribution made in the fi rst half of 2012 will directly ben-efi t this years convention activities and VAA programs throughout the year.

Please consider actively participat-ing in the 2012 VAA Friends of the Red Barn Campaign. Your donation may be tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, and you can enhance your partici-pation if you work for a matching gift company. You can do so by copying and fi lling out the form included on these pages, by fi lling out and sending in the form included in the mailing that will arrive in many of your mail-boxes in April, or by donating online at www.VintageAircraft.org/programs/redbarn.html. If you desire more infor-mation concerning the VAA Friends of the Red Barn Campaign, feel free to call us at 920-426-6110. Wed be happy to speak with you!

Many services are provided to vintage aircraft enthusiasts at EAA

AirVenture Oshkosh. From parking airplanes to feeding people at the Tall Pines Caf and Red Barn, volunteers do it all. Some may ask, If volunteers are providing the services, where is the expense?

Glad you asked. The scooters for the fl ightline crew need repair and batter-ies, and the Red Barn needs paint, new windowsills, updated wiring, and other sundry repairs, plus we love to care for our volunteers with special recognition caps and a pizza party. The list really could go on and on, but no matter how many expenses we can point out, the need remains constant. The Friends of the Red Barn fund helps pay for the VAA expenses at EAA AirVenture, and its a crucial part of the Vintage Aircraft Association budget.

Please help the VAA and our nearly 500 dedicated volunteers make this an unforgettable experience for our many EAA AirVenture guests.

Your contribution now really does make a difference. There are seven lev-els of gifts and gift recognition. Thank you for whatever you can do.

Here are some of the many activi-ties the Friends of the Red Barn fund underwrites:Red Barn Information Desk SuppliesParticipant Plaques and SuppliesTonis Red Carpet Express Van and Radio Rental

Caps for VAA VolunteersPizza Party for VAA VolunteersFlightline Parking Scooters and Sup-plies

Breakfast for Past Grand ChampionsVolunteer Booth Administrative Sup-plies

Membership Booth Administrative Supplies

Signs Throughout the Vintage AreaRed Barns and Other Buildings Maintenance

Tall Pines Cafe Tent Rental and Kitchen Updates

Flightline Safety Operations CenterAnd More!


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

VAA Friends of the Red BarnName______________________________________________________________________EAA #___________ VAA #___________

Address______________________________________________________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip________________________________________________________________________________________________

Phone___________________________________________________E-Mail______________________________________________

Please choose your level of participation:

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

*Do you or your spouse work for a matching gift company? If so, this gift may qualify for a matching donation.Please ask your Human Resources department for the appropriate form.Name of Company __________________________________________________________________

No badge wanted for this year. Yes, prepare a name badge to read:__________________________________________________________________First M. Last (Please print just as you wish your badge to read)

The Vintage Aircraft Association is a non-profi t educational organization under IRS 501c3 rules. Under Federal Law, the deduction from Federal Income tax for charitable contributions is limited to the amount by which any money (and the value of any property other than money) contributed exceeds the value of the goods or services provided in exchange for the contribution. An appropriate receipt acknowledging your gift will be sent to you for IRS gift reporting reasons.

Mail your contribution to:VAA FORB

PO Box 3086OSHKOSH, WI 54903-3086

Become a Friend of the Red Barn.Help the VAA make EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

an unforgettable experience for our many guests.

____ Diamond Plus $1,500.00

____ Diamond Level Gift - $1,000.00

____ Platinum Level Gift - $750.00

____ Gold Level Gift - $500.00

____ Silver Level Gift - $250.00

____ Bronze Level Gift - $100.00

____ Loyal Supporter Gift - ($99.00 or under) $_______ Amount

Diamond Plus$1500

Diamond$1000

Platinum$750

Gold$500

Silver$250

Bronze$100

Loyal Supporter$99 & Under

EAA VIP Center 2 People/Full Wk

VIP Airshow Seating 2 People/2 Days 2 People/1 Day

Close Auto Parking Full Week Full Week 2 Days

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

Breakfast at Tall Pines Cafe 2 People/Full Wk 2 People/Full Wk 2 People/Full Wk 1 Person/Full Wk

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

This star represents qualifying tribute for level of participation.

BRONZE LEVEL AND ABOVE


Copyright 2012 EAA

Whats on

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

T r a v e l A i r :Performance and

Dependabilityby Sparky B arnes Sargent

The excitement of sharing it w ith people!

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT


A gleaming new Travel Air Model 3000 (C-5427, s/n 516) climbed aloft in the summer skies above Wichita, Kansas, for its first flight in 1928. Powered by a water-cooled, 8e-cylinder Hispano-Suiza Hisso Model E 180-hp engine, its wings embraced the sky as its elephant-ear

ailerons created a distinctive silhouette on the tips of its 34-foot, 8-inch wingspan (lower span 28 feet 8 inches). The new three-place biplane measured 24 feet, 3 inches from its wood prop to tailskid. It carried 42 gallons of fuel and could cruise at 100 mph with a range of more than 400 miles.

A perusal of this Travel Airs records is a glance back into familiar aviation history. The fi rst document in its airworthi-ness fi le is the manufacturers affi davit, which states that the airplane was manufactured on June 7, 1928, in conformity to ATC No. 31 and was signed by Walter H. Beech and notarized by Olive Mellor of Travel Air Manufacturing Co. Inc.

The Travel Air Manufacturing Company of Wichita, Kansas, touted its new biplane as typical of the proverbial brilliant performance with dependability that characterizes all Travel Air Biplanes (Aero Digest, April 1928). Two years later, the Travel Air Company Division of Curtiss-Wright advertised the Travel Air as:

A Plane for Every PurposeSportsmen Penetrate the Wilds in Their Travel Airs. In commercial flying, Travel Airs daily ply their way over mail, transport, and business corporation routes. They constitute a major proportion of all commercial planes in service in the United States. And in distance and speed contests, these planes capture firsts with a regularity that is almost monotonous (Country Life, April 1930).

Speaking of contests, it was pioneering aviatrix Louise Thaden who cheerfully focused the media spotlight on Travel Airs. She was an employee of Douglas C. Warren, the West Coast Travel Air dealer, and her employer encouraged her record-setting efforts.

Louise set a womens altitude record of 20,260 feet on De-cember 7, 1928, in a Hisso-powered Travel Air (C-5425) at the Oakland Airport. In March 1929, she flew Travel Air C-5426 (sister ship to Joes C-5427) and set a solo endurance record of 22 hours, 3 minutes, 28 secondsagain at the Oakland Airport. The biplane was modifi ed for the task, and featured DC War-

10 MARCH 2012

Wing to fuselage t, rear view.

Aft cockpit seat.

Empennage.

Instrument panel.

The 1928 Travel Air was own for re-creation scenes for the lm.COURTESY JOE SANTANA

COUR

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COURTESY HEATHER TAYLOR


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

ren Northern California Distribu-tor for Travel-Air on the fuselage.

Current CaretakerJoe Santana grew up in Sac-

ramento, California, where his neighbor first introduced him to aviation. He had a homebuilt Stits Playboy at the airport, and he used to let me sit in it, shares Joe. After I soloed at 17 and earned my pri-vate that summer, he also took me to my fi rst EAA meeting.

Joe also spent a lot of time hang-ing around a duster strip just south of Sacramento. Thats where he started learning about the joys of old bi-planes and the pilots who fl ew them. Back in the early 1970s, my fi rst air-plane was a Luscombe, and I fl ew off a strip at Clarksburg. There was a per-son who restored dusters there, and they were using N3N Stearmans and Travel Airs for dusting. I used to sit around with those guys at the shop, and the old duster pilots used to tell me that a 220-hp Travel Air could outfl y a 450-hp Stearman, recollects Joe, adding, I really wanted to get an old biplane, and I decided I wanted a Travel Air, because it cruises fast, fl ies real well, and hauls a good load.

Finding that Travel Air would take a few decades, though. In the meantime, he tried college after high school, but just didnt take to scholastic bookwork very well. So he obtained his A&P and CFI and taught fl ying for a while. He worked for a Piper dealer in Sacramento and then started flying DC-3 freight-ersand even flew as a fish and game warden pilot, using a Beech 18 to plant fi sh in the high Sierras. In 1985, he was hired by Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). Today, Joe resides in the scenic Shenandoah Valley in Waynesboro, Virginia. Hes captain of an Airbus 320 and enjoys his ongoing long-term career with PSA (now merged with US Airways).

In 2004, his long-held dream of owning a Travel Air became tangible.

Bit O HistoryTwenty-seven years before Joe

was born, a brand new Travel Air

(C-5427) was sold to D.C. Warren Company at Oakland Airport in San Francisco. In April 1929, the biplane was sold to W.J. Browne of Stockton, California, and it re-mained in the Golden State for years. In January 1943, the biplane landed in the hands of Harry New-ell of Phoenix, Arizona. It stayed in The Grand Canyon state for nearly three decades.

In 1945, the biplane was con-verted for use in crop dusting and seeding. A hopper, agitator, and gearbox were installed. The elevator controls were modifi ed, and a cen-ter section fuel tank was installed. The Hisso was removed, and a 9-cylinder, 220-hp Wright Whirl-wind J-5A was installed (changing the biplane to a Model 4000).

In 1947, owners Wayne J. Kem-painen and James A. Strand of Farm Aero Service in Phoenix had the Wright J-5A and motor mount removed, and a Lycoming motor mount and Lycoming R680-9 in-stalled, along with a Stearman oil tank and modified exhaust stack that extended over the top wing.

In February 1970, NC5427 landed in the hands of PSA Captain Spen-cer Nelson of San Diego. Spence was very well-known in the Travel Air world as a restorer, explains Joe, and he and PSA mechanics Jim Ward and Harry Somers worked with him to rebuild the biplane.

After Spence died in a PSA midair collision in September 1978, Jim and Harry continued with their Travel Air West restoration company. They sold NC5427 to Leland Jones of An-chorage [in 1983], with the agree-ment that Travel Air West would continue the restoration work, which they finished in 1991. Jim and Harry put the overhauled Con-tinental W-670 on it and converted it back to standard confi guration.

The biplane required extensive work; the men essentially rebuilt the entire aft fuselage, and replaced the old fi rewall with stainless steel, and installed new 3/8-inch birch plywood floorboards. They fabri-cated and installed a new front in-

strument panel of laminated birch plywood and a new aft cockpit panel of laminated birch and rose-wood, as well as installing new seat belts and a shoulder harness in the aft cockpit.

They replaced all of the wood-work on the fuselage, and fabri-cated new stainless steel control cables. The biplane was finished with Stits Aerothane in an elegant combination of dark green on the fuselage and cream-colored wings.

Joe took note of this handsome Travel Air during his PSA overnights in San Diego, and discovered that it had already been flown 105 hours since its restoration. He bought the biplane from then-registered owner Carolyn Jones of Alaska in Au-gust 2004. Then I flew it home to Waynesboro, says Joe, smiling, and have had the airplane ever since. Ive probably put 220 hours on it, fl ying it mostly during the summers.

Flight Transition Despite his fairly extensive fly-

ing time in 2004including 3,500 hours of tailwheel timethe insur-ance company wanted Joe to log fi ve hours of time with a fl ight instructor in the Travel Air in order to insure it.

It really worked out great, shares Joe enthusiastically, elabo-rating, Captain Dick Doll, who was No. 1 on the PSA seniority list, did some of the flying on the air-plane when it was first restored. Dick started out flying in dusters and raced P-51s at Reno, and I was never senior enough to fly with him on PSAso I asked him if hed check me out. He said, Yeah, sure! What a pleasure that was! The fi rst time we went out, he flew it from the back seat and put me up front, where theres just a stick and throt-tle. He said, Lets go out and makes sure it stalls and falls through okay, because it hadnt fl own for a while. So we flew around for 15-20 min-utes, and he shot a landing with it, and then we taxied back in. Then he puts me in the back seat and he gets in the frontwe fl ew the fi ve hours in two days and shot a bunch


of landings. That was a real treat, because hes such a great guy.

Exceptionally pleased with his Travel Air, Joe says, It fl ies great! It lifts off around 55 mph, climbs right out, and cruises about 95-97 mph indicated, at low altitude. I fl y fi nal around 55-60 mph, and its pretty straightforward in a crosswind. It originally had a skid, but now it has a tail wheel. The 12-inch mechani-cal brakes are original for that air-plane and work great. Theyre good enough, and thats what you want on that airplane. It burns 12 gph at cruise and holds 68 gallons of fuel, with 26 in the center section and 42 in the main tank. The longest leg Ive fl own is 4 hours and 45 minutes, and it burned about 52 gallons before I landedand it had 16 gallons left.

Joe hasnt had any maintenance challenges with the Travel Airbut it has had a few repairs. Incidents can happen to any pilot, and Joe unabash-edly admits that he ground looped it at Oshkosh two years ago, so Ted Davis in Wisconsin repaired the lower left wing. That was a good opportu-nity to do some other work, so we had the engine overhauled by Al Holloway in California. We also discovered that one wheel was crackedwhich was unrelated to the ground loopso we replaced that as well. Other than that, the airplane hasnt had any signifi cant work done since the 1991 restoration by Travel Air West.

Making Modern-dayHistory

Truthfully, Joe is really a modern-day barnstormer at heart. The rea-son is pretty simple: He derives the most joy from flying his biplane

built for three across the country and sharing the experience with others. (And hes currently trea-surer of the Travel Air Restorers Association.) Of course, sharing starts at home; hes enjoyed tak-ing his two sons up for early-evening flights in the Shenandoah Valley. (His youngest son, Peter,

has just earned an instrument rating, and his older son, Paul, is a Black-hawk pilot with the National Guard in Iraq.) The Travel Air is a great air-plane, and we have a lot of fun with it, shares Joe.

His biplane was featured during the Vintage Aircraft Associations centennial celebration of the first air mail flight in the United States, which was held during EAA AirVen-ture 2011. Though NC5427 was not owned by Pacifi c Air Transport, it was selected as an example of the type that fl ew the mail. Andrew King of Virginia called me to see if I was in-terested in bringing the Travel Air for the air mail display at Oshkosh, ex-plains Joe, and he was familiar with Pacific Air Transporttheir planes were green and cream, and they did have a Travel Air. So my airplane was a good representation of that. We got some original pictures of a Travel Air 4000 that were taken at Pearson Field, which was one of their termi-nals in Vancouver. Thats how we replicated the Pacific Air Transport Air Mail graphics for the fuselage, which we put on just for Oshkosh.

NC5427 also enjoyed a bit of movie star status during AirVenture, when independent film producer and director Heather Taylors Breaking Through the Clouds: The First Womens National Air Derby was screened. (www.BreakingThroughTheClouds.com, see ac-companying movie overview.)

Back in 2009, Joe spent Memorial Day weekend at the Golden Age Air Museums airfield in Grimes, Penn-sylvania. Once again, it was Andrew King who had extended a special in-vitation to Joeto fl y his Travel Air during the fi lming of a documentary

about the First Womens Transcon-tinental Air Derby of 1929. Andrew was aerial coordinator for the film, and Joe was happy to participate, along with several other antique air-plane owners.

The photo planes were a Breezy and a J-3 Cub. Describing the experi-ence and the fi lm itself, Joe explains, Heather worked on this fi lm, on her own, for 13 years. She gathered un-believable amounts of archival foot-age about the women and the Air Derby, and includes that in the fi lm. She fi lmed our airplanes because they were similar to ones that fl ew in the Air Derby, and that way she could in-clude current color footage to bring the airplanes to life for the audience. We filmed for a couple of days, and we each fl ew about three hours.

Built for SharingJoe has been depositing numerous

experiences in his memory bank of favorite Travel Air fl ights since 2004. Though hes enjoyed them all, there is one particular annual deposit that registers at the top of his account.

Probably the greatest thing we do with this airplane is taking it to the Dirksens family farm in Winchester, Indiana. The year before last, I took three people upand they were in their 30s, but they had never been in an airplane before in their life. We go to the Dirksens, and their kids are so excited to have us come, and they treat us so well!

We get to land in their hayfi eld, and the whole town comes out, and we give rides. I mean, thats what its all about, shares Joe exuberantly, and to fl y with Ted Davis, Andrew King, Jim Hammond, Steve Roth, and Bob Coolbaugh is just such a treat. Some of those guys are the best pilots Ive ever seen, and Ive been flying for many years. The excite-ment of having the Travel Air is be-ing able to go out every summer and fl y with those guys. Thats what its forwe share it with people! [Note: The Dirksens farm is featured in the documentary BarnstormingFriends Really Can Drop Out of the Sky. Filmed in 2009, it candidly describes the

12 MARCH 2012


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

unusual friendship formed be-tween a farming family and aviators who first landed in their hay field in 1999. www.BarnstormingMovie.com]

He also fl ies the Travel Air to Hagerstown, Indiana, for an-other fun gatheringthe Hag-erstown Or Bust Ford Model T and vintage airplane fl y-in. Lit-erally hundreds of Model Ts from across the country show up there on the fairgrounds, and they have a nice grass fi eld for the airplanes, adds Joe, smiling, We do a balloon bust there, a flour bomb drop, and Ted gives rides in the New Stan-dard. Well also fl y to Brodhead, Wisconsin, and Blakesburg, Iowa, for those fl y-ins.

One thing is certainwhen the Travel Air landed in Joes hands in 2004, it found a very good home, indeed. It fl ies reg-

ularly, and continues bringing joy not only to its caretaker, but to many others across the coun-try. And its still pleasing to the discerning eyes of aircraft judges at fly-ins. Thats quite under-standable, since NC5427 still looks like its fresh out of resto-rationeven though its been 20 years. This handsome bi-plane received two awards to its credit this past year: the Silver Age (1928-1936) ChampionBronze Lindy at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, and the Travel Air Type Club Award at the Antique Airplane Associations annual invitational fly-in. Joe readily credits these awards to the resto-ration efforts of Travel Air West and recently affixed a tasteful brass plaque to the aft portion of the fuselage, as a way of pay-ing homage to Jim Ward and Harry Somers.

Engine assembly.

Fabrication of turtledeck.

Tailfeathers in silver.Heather Taylor with Joe Santana, during the lming of Breaking Through the Clouds.

Applying Poly-Brush.The sun rises and lights up Joe Santanas Travel Air on the ight line at AAAs y-in at Blakesburg, Iowa.

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BONNIE KRATZ

COURTESY HEATHER TAYLOR


14 MARCH 2012

Tenacity, ambition, spirited pas-sion, personal convictionthese are some of the qualities that imbued the 20 participants in the First Wom-ens National Air Derby in 1929.

Three-quarters of a century later, aspiring filmmaker Heather Taylor

heard about those women pilots who undertook that nine-day race across the country, and instantly felt a connection. Inspired by their ac-complishments, and sharing those same personal qualities, Heather felt an irresistible inner calling to convey

the nearly forgotten stories of those Derby fliers. Those elements, com-bined with a burgeoning technical knowledge of fi lmmaking, led her on a 13-year quest to create a colorful documentary about them.

Heather grew up in an aviation fam-

Breaking Through the Clouds: The First Womens National Air Derby

Th e story of grassroots aviation pioneers by a grassroots independent fi lm producer

by Sparky B arnes Sargent


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

ily, and her direct inspiration to create the documentary arose during a con-versation with the legendary Evelyn Bryan Johnson in Morristown, Tennes-see. Known as Mama Bird, Evelyn has logged 57,635.4 hours of flight time. Heather had the opportunity to meet Evelyn, and recalls asking her a few questions about the races and how they began. As she talked, says Heather, something just clicked inside of my gut, and I knew this was the story I had been looking for. Heather embraced her own challenge and resigned from her position with Discovery Communi-cations in mid-2007, in order to devote her full-time energy to the task.

Filmmaking can be a tedious un-dertaking. In Heathers case, it was similar to a fi rst-time aircraft restorer tackling a ground-up restoration. Heather shares that the most sig-nificant challenge she encountered while creating this fi lm was likely her own confi denceor lack thereof.

I had been in the industry over a decade, had a masters in produc-ing film and video, but I had never produced my own fi lm, she admits, adding, The other signifi cant chal-lenge was finding the right people to help work on the fi lm. But in the end, I met some incredibly talented and gifted people and am grateful for what they brought to the project.

Though there were times when Heather really didnt know how she was going to achieve her goal, that wasnt a deterrentin fact, it turned her personal resolve into tangible ac-tion. Id never written a scriptand [eventually realized that] I had to be the one to write the film. [Another challenge] that took years to work through was how to actually begin such a vast subject, says Heather, elaborating, I credit story consul-tant Fernanda Rossi with helping me . . . break the project down into siz-able portions and decide what I felt was the most important.

Breaking Through the Clouds mas-terfully threads modern color footage in with extensive archival footage. The new footage includes the fol-lowing airplanes from the vintage/antique community, which were se-

lected by Aerial Coordinator Andrew King as representative of the types flown in the 1929 Air Derby: 1928 Travel Air 4000 (Joe Santana), 1929 Speedwing Travel Air B9-4000 (Bill Plecenik), 1930 Monocoupe 90 (Bob Coolbaugh), 1928 Monocoupe 70 and 1929 Waco GXE (Paul Dough-erty), and 1930 Fleet 7 (Mike ONeal).

Ever attentive to detail, Heather ensured that when the audience sees archival footage of Louise Thadens Travel Air fl ying, they hear a Wright J-5 engine and not some other en-gineand she did this as closely as possible with each aircraft.

Watching this documentary makes it easy for viewers to feel as though they have been personally intro-duced to each of the featured women

pilots. The transitional graphics were tastefully done, the clips of the origi-nal pilot licenses added even more historical detail, and the personal in-terviews (especially with Pat Thaden Webb, Margaret Whitman Blair, and Elinor Smith Sullivan) added great depth to the documentary.

Heather offers a bit more insight to the fi lm, and her own personal phi-losophy, by sharing: Even though the derby happened in 1929, the les-sons, experiences, and courage the women displayed are life lessons for us today, and so I do not think of it as history. Rather, I think the women are role models for us all on how to act when something excites you and captures your imagination.

Once you fi nd that energy, then you must have the passion and cour-age to follow through to bring these ideas to the forefront. We all have

been given talents and gifts, and it is our responsibility, in my opinion, to nurture, develop, and explore those interests, no matter how irrational it may be. To do so means giving back to the world and making it a better place. The women in 1929 did this with gusto. I can only hope that by exploring my interest in these women and bringing their story for-ward, it will inspire others to take a risk of their own and contribute to the world in their own unique way.

Most any project comes bear-ing not only cloudy challenges, but the proverbial silver linings, as well. Heather thoughtfully reflects, One perspective I gained in researching all about these women is that rather than seeing them as icons or legends per se, I realized they were just people too, doing something they felt called to do, and they went and did it. In the end, I lovelearning from those who have overcome their own personal obstacles to achieve something.

Heather eloquently sums up her unique mission in creating her film company, Archetypal Images, with the following statement: to produce films that explore and harness that light in the eyes of people who have found their calling in life, and share that sparkle with others who are still searching to fi nd their own passion.

It is clear that Heather has discov-ered her own calling in life, and her passion for accuracy and authen-tic detail was the catalyst for her to achieve excellence in her work. Breaking Through the Clouds: The First Womens National Air Derby has re-ceived the National Aviation Hall of Fames 9th Annual Combs Gates Award, the Indie Award of Excel-lence, is an IDA/ABC News Video-Source Award fi nalist, and has been offi cially selected for numerous inde-pendent fi lm festivals.

Those of us who treasure aviation history heartily applaud Heathers ef-forts and extend gratitude to her for having the inner fortitude and vision to bring this documentary to fruition. For more information about the fi lm and ordering details, please visit www.BreakingThroughTheClouds.com.

I can only hopethat . . . it will inspire others to take a risk of

their own and contribute to the world in their own

unique way.Heather Taylor


16 MARCH 2012

Th e T h u n e r s e e , a 12,000 acre lake lo-cated in the Swiss Berner Oberland re-gion, dominates one of the countrys most

stunning flying regions, dividing fertile wetlands on its northern bor-der and various Alpine giants to the south in a most dramatic and eye-catching manner.

In summertime this heteroge-neous airspace is crisscrossed by Switzerlands most unique pelican-shaped vintage aircraft, made airwor-thy only some few months ago: a blue/white colored Czech-built Praga E.114M Air Baby. This 1947 Air Baby,

registered HB-UAF for more than four decades, is the sole remaining fl ying specimen of its kind and a very welcome member of Switzerlands vintage aircraft community.

From Its Early Life . . .Praga E.114M Air Baby light-

weight aircraft were manufactured s ta r t ing in 1934 by the Ces -komoravska-Kolben-Danek Praga A.S (aka CKD-Praga) aircraft factory in Prague (Czechoslovakia). Produc-tion ceased during World War II.

Following the German occu-pation and World War II, Praga restarted its aircraft-building ac-tivities immediately after the wars

end. During this period, ending in 1948, 110 E.114D (with a 75-hp en-gine) and M models (powered by the Walter Micron III 65-hp engine) were produced. The Walter Mik-ron III, developed in the mid-30s and actually still in production, is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted straight engine, optimized for use in light general aviation aircraft. The British fi rm F. Hills & Sons ac-quired a manufacturing license and built the E.114 as the Hillson Praga at its factory at Trafford Park, near Manchester. In total Hillson built 39 aircraft before World War II. An-other 26 E.114Ms were built by the Rudy Letov company.

Praga E.114M Air Baby

HB-UAF restored

to fl ying status

BY STEFAN DEGRAEF/PICTURES EDWIN BORREMANS

Achtung, Baby!


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

The Czech-built Praga E.114M Air Baby c/n 119 was constructed in 1947 and was immediately ex-ported to southern France. After ar-rival at Cannes in November 1947, this factory-fresh single-engined aircraft received its F-BCSN registra-tion. Having spent some 10 years as part of the Aeroclub du Var at the French Riviera, the aircraft was sold mid-1957 to a Swiss owner, who based the aircraft at Thun and registered c/n 119 in its new Swiss HB-UAF identity.

Its Swiss fl ying career would only last 14 years. Soon after its last documented fl ight out of Thun on October 24, 1971, the aircraft was

dismantled and stored, predestined to be lost for eternity. In 1982 the remains were purchased by Fritz Moser, who stored the wings of the aircraft in a barn at Suderen, lo-cated close to Thun. The fuselage and engine were stored in Mosers garage at home.

The peaceful but hibernal sleep of HB-UAF would last some two de-cades, before Fritz Moser and his son, Andre, showed a willingness to restore the aircraft to its former fl y-ing status. The long-lasting inactiv-ity of the aircraft, however, needed an in-depth evaluation of the over-all condition of the wooden struc-ture of the fuselage and wings.

Overall assessment by Max Brug-ger, constructor of a Colibri MB lightweight-built aircraft, proved to be positive and started the lengthy process of overhauling and restor-ing the aircrafts remains, plus the manufacture of missing parts. Some parts have not been available for de-cades, either in the market or within the vintage aircraft community.

. . . To Its ReincarnationThe restoration started in 2004 and

would eventually last some six years. Its wooden framework surprisingly in good condition, the aircraft was com-pletely stripped down and almost rebuilt from scratch. The original


18 MARCH 2012

Walter Mikron III engine was sent for overhaul and revision to Parma Tech-nic in the Czech Republic. In 1999 this Czech engine company received offi cial approval from the Czech avia-

tion authorities to overhaul and re-pair these types of engines. Some of the parts of the aircraft includ-ing the brakes were rebuilt by Andre Moser. Additional overhaul was per-

formed by the well-known Airla vin-tage aircraft restoration company at Langenthal-Bleienbach aerodrome in northwestern Switzerland, the work performed by Max Brugger. To comply with Swiss general aviation regulations, some modern avionics including a radio, transponder, and an ELT were installed in the wooden dashboard in the cockpit.

With all parts overhauled and re-installed, the aircraft was transported by car to Langenthal for its first flight and airworthiness validation by Gerhard Staude, owner of Airla, and officially licensed by the Swiss Bundesamt fur Zivilluftfahrtl (BAZL) (i.e., Civil Aviation Authority) to de-liver the much desired certifi cate of airworthiness. Pending its fi rst fl ight since its restoration, various taxi tests and aborted takeoff runs were made to check the various characteristics and performances of the engine. Fi-nally on September 9, 2009, Praga E.114M Air Baby HB-UAF made its second very successful and emo-tional maiden fl ight. With no fl ying manuals available, operating this Air Baby proved to be an on the job effort. The excellent gliding charac-teristics of the aircraft immediately became apparent, forcing Andre to adjust its landing techniques since the aircraft has no external slats or any kind of air brakes. Nowadays this pristine and unique vintage air-craft is based at Flugplatz Reichen-bach (LSGR), located in the Swiss region of Berner Oberland and close to some of the countrys most stun-ning fl ying areas.

Praga E.114 M General characteristics

Crew 2

Length 7.05 meters (23.12 feet)

Wingspan 11 meters (36 feet)

Wing area 16.20 square meters (174.375 square feet)

Empty weight 370 kilograms (815.7 pounds)

Max takeo weight 585 kilograms (1,290 pounds)

Powerplant Walter Mikron III four-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted straight engine (65 hp)

Performance

Maximum speed 187 kph (116 mph)

Cruise speed 165 kph (102 mph)

Range 730 kilometers (454 miles)

Service ceiling 4,300 meters (14,107 feet)

Climb to 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) 6 minutes 40 seconds


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20 MARCH 2012

At any gathering of sport planes, one is likely to see at least a few monoplanes of the parasol type. Old-timers will have seen so many of them that theyre likely to take them quite for granted. And new-comers often have such scant knowledge of aviations long and in-volved history that to them a Loehle Parasol or Baby Ace is likely to be just another of a thoroughly bewil-dering array of fl ying machines.

Actually, theres much of inter-est and use that can be said about parasols. But before we explore this subject, a few words of wisdom. As the years go by, more and more of the people active in sport aviation were born during or after World

War II. The many informative books and magazines published between around 1920 and 1940 are becoming increasingly hard for them to locate because both public and technical school libraries tend to discard or store away older literature to make room for new acquisitions. But since the older literature deals with air-craft in the performance range to-day associated with sport flying, much useful knowledge is today, regrettably, out of reach of more and more enthusiasts. [Although, happily, much of this knowledge is being republished on the Internet; for instance, the entire archive of the Brit-ish periodical Flight is now online at www.FlightGlobal.com. Click on the

Historic link in the menu at the top of the web page.HGF]

My own collection of literature goes back to the 1930s, and I refer to it often when writing. Also, I live within an hours drive of the aero-nautics library at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When starting work on this article I spent hours there leafi ng through such books as Janes All the Worlds Aircraft going back to 1909, the U.S. Civil Aircraft Se-

Light Plane Heritagepublished in EAA Experimenter March 1993

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

EXPLORING THE PARASOL MONOPLANEBY BOB WHITTIER

EAA 1235

Figure 1 Above Parasols have been around for a long time. Far man in France built this one in 1910. The ul-timate in visibility! For some obscur e reason the Gnome r otary engine was mounted ahead of the pr opeller.


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21

ries by Joseph P. Juptner, and the Aircraft Yearbooks by the Aeronauti-cal Chamber of Commerce. I was quite surprised at the large number of parasol types I found pictured and described in these old books. While many were obscure types, all were interesting to study with the question in mind, Why did the de-signer do what he did?

A parasol monoplane is one on which the wing is mounted above and more or less clear of the fuse-lage. The word is derived from the Italian parare, meaning to ward off, and sole, meaning sun. A ladys parasol wards off the sun. Because a wing above the fuselage wards off the sun, the French seem to have been the fi rst to apply the word parasol to airplanes. Fig. 1 shows a parasol monoplane built by Henri Farman in 1910. He was famous for his biplanesperhaps he cobbled up this parasol to learn something about the characteristics of monoplanes. Most monoplanes of that time had their wings at-tached to the top longerons of their fuselages, so presumably the word parasol was adopted to describe this new arrangement.

When World War I began, air-planes were at fi rst used only for re-connaissance fl ights. The thin wing airfoils then in use obliged the use of shallow and therefore quite fl ex-ible wing spars, so biplane and mid-

wing configurations were popular because these arrangements lent themselves to effectively arranging the many rigging wires needed to achieve structural rigidity.

But such planes soon showed themselves to have unacceptably poor downward visibility for mili-tary observation work. Pusher-type biplanes were tried, with observers riding in the front cockpits of their nacelles to get good downward vi-sion. But objects falling or blowing out of open cockpits could fly back into pusher propellers, and in the fre-

quent crashes of those days, pusher engines could tear loose and fl y for-ward onto unfortunate airmen.

Parasol monoplanes provided the answer. Fig. 2 shows a German-designed, Austrian-built Albatros of 1914. The good downward visibility is obvious. Note also the many brace wires. Bleriot and Morane Saulnier in France brought out similar-looking designs, and two-seaters from the latter company were used by the French throughout that war.

As the outcome of several inci-dents of the wings of wire-braced monoplanes collapsing under the strain of combat fl ight, other coun-tries such as Britain stayed with the more rigidly trussed biplanes. Seek-ing more speed from available en-gines, late in the war the Germans developed monoplane fi ghters such as the Junkers and Fokker Triplanes. The latter had its cantilever wing mounted parasol-fashion above the fuselage to put it out of the way of aiming forward-fi ring machine guns.

As the result of aerodynamic re-search begun during that war and carried on into the 1920s, thicker airfoils came into general use. These allowed the use of deeper wing spars, so multiple brace wires below and above parasol wings gave way to simpler, cleaner wing struts running from fuselage lower longerons out to fi ttings on the undersides of wings.

Strut-braced low-wing mono-planes were also built but had dis-advantages. Struts running from top longerons to fittings on the upper surfaces of wings disturbed airflow and hurt wings lifting qualities. Some low wings had struts running from awkward-looking landing gear trusses to fi ttings on the lower sur-faces of wings. Sometimes this ar-rangement brought a planes center of drag so far below the propeller thrust line as to bring on trim or longitudinal stability problems.

Browsing through Janes volumes from about l920 to 1940 reveals a surprising number of both military and civilian parasol types. Some were handsome and others homely. Practically every European manu-

Figure 2As shown by this Albatr os of 1914, militar y men quickly r eal-ized their superior downwar d visibility made parasol monoplanes ideal for reconnaissance work. Rotar y engines belched a cloud of castor oil smoke upon being star ted.

While many were obscure types,

all wereinteresting to

study withthe question

in mind,Why did thedesigner do

what he did?


22 MARCH 2012

facturer built military observation and fighter planes of this type be-cause of good visibility and simple, sturdy construction. When twin machine guns were mounted in fu-selages, it was necessary to use in-terrupter mechanisms to halt their fi ring when propeller blades passed in front of the guns. Some 1920s parasol fighters moved the guns outboard to where struts met the undersides of their wings. Fairings enclosed the guns and at the same time cleaned up the airfl ow where struts met the wings. This allowed uninterrupted and therefore more deadly gun fi ring.

The more designers studied para-sols, the more advantages they dis-covered. As originally produced, the sleek 1927 Lockheed Vega, Fig. 3, was a high-wing cabin mono-plane. Western Air Express liked its speed but found things to com-plain about. The cantilever wings deep spars intruded into cabin

headroom. Because of its shape, the single pilots seat up forward intruded into cargo space at the for-ward end of the cabin. Pilots felt it would be hard to get out of the enclosed cabin should they have to take to their parachutes. In a crash, the cargo would come flying for-ward onto them.

Lockheed engineers realized the Vegas wooden wing and fuselage could easily enough be revised to create the parasol Air Express. Rais-ing the wing clear of the fuselage got its deep spars out of the cabin headspace. Cargo area was increased at the front end of the cabin. Prob-ably lift was increased by separating the underside of the wings central portion from the fuselage, thus in-creasing the amount of working wing area. Accustomed to open-cockpit biplanes, pilots had no trou-ble with poor forward visibility in the rearward-located open cockpit. They could bail out of it much eas-

ier and faster. Their weight so far aft balanced the extra 200 pounds of the 425-hp Pratt & Whitney engine that replaced the original Vegas 220-hp Wright Whirlwind. When a mixed load was to be carried, cargo could be loaded into the front of the cabin with passengers behind it, affording them the best possible safety in a crash.

This mention of the Air Express brings out the point that the para-sol confi guration lends itself to the simple and clean installation of one-piece wings, either strut-braced as in the Pietenpol, Fig. 7, or can-tilever as on the Potez 60, Fig. 19. Such long wings can be awkward in a homebuilders basement shop, but in factory-built planes save the weight and cost of center section fi ttings. Cutouts in the top or bot-tom of a fuselage are not needed.

Because the weight of the fuse-lage, engine, occupants, and land-ing gear are all well below a parasol

Figure 3Ther e are many variations on the parasol theme. High-wing Lockheed V ega, lower left, was r evised to parasol, upper left, to suit an airlines needs. Exter nally the English Comper Swift, above, looked like a high-wing but str ucturally was a parasol. Its layout facilitated cockpit access. Small engine on long nose balanced pilots weight aft of the wing.

Figure 4The r elationship between center of lift and center of gravity dif fers as between parasol and low-wing monoplanes, and as between level and steep-climbing ight. This signi cantly af fects longitudinal stability .


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

wing, what is called pendulum sta-bility is good. Looking at a parasol monoplane from ahead or behind, its easy to visualize how all this weight below the wing will act to restore an upset plane to level at-titude. But its easy to place more importance on this than is justifi ed. If it has been well-designed and its pilot is normally alert, a low-wing plane will not suddenly roll over upside-down.

However, its not as well-known as it deserves to be that parasols are very good in regard to longitudinal stability. That is valuable in respect to behavior in steep climbs, stalls, and turbulent air. In Fig. 4A, note the relationship between the cen-ter of gravity (CG) and the center of lift (CL) in this parasol in level fl ight. It is standard practice to po-sition the center of gravity ahead of the center of lift and to balance a plane with a download on the stabilizer. An appreciable nosing down-force, D, is then present. When the engine is throttled or quits, the plane will automatically nose down and begin to glide. In this drawing, the center of gravitys forward position has been exagger-ated in the interests of clarity.

As this parasol noses up, Fig. 4B, the wing sort of rotates backward. This shifts the center of lift back-ward, too, and the force D becomes stronger. More backward stick force is needed to hold the nose up, which is a desirable characteristic.

In level fl ight, a low-wing as in Fig. 4C has about the same force arrangement. But when it noses up, due to its lower position the CL does not rotate aft and so the nosing-down force D in Fig. 4D is therefore considerably less. In many airfoils the CL moves for-ward as angle of attack increases, so in some cases the force D can be significantly reduced. Stick force and stall behavior can be adversely affected. Before designers learned how to deal with this problem, the CL in some low-wings could move ahead of the CG, causing a plane to become so suddenly and

Figure 5Parasols can be ver y handsome, as shown by this Menasco-powered Fairchild 22 of the early 1930s.

Figure 6The Ross parasol was not handsome! High-set wing and low-set fuselage facilitated cockpit entr y and exit.


24 MARCH 2012

puzzlingly tail-heavy as to make it rotate backward into inverted posi-tion. This was called catastrophic instability. When this appeared while fl ying at low altitude, the re-sult was indeed catastrophic.

Because of this lessened nosing-down tendency with increasing angle of attack, low-wings can be sensitive to load distribution, how fuel happens to slosh back in tanks when climbing steeply, airfoil cen-ter of lift travel, amount of wing dihedral (which affects the verti-cal location of the center of lift), position and weight of the landing gear, and so on. Ride or feel in turbulent air can be jiggly. In-creasing lightness of rearward stick force when approaching the stall can be a warning that a low-wing is approaching catastrophic insta-bility. Now you understand clearly why we have aeronautical engi-neers and test pilots.

After World War I, some designers looked for ways to improve the per-formance of cheap, surplus Curtiss Jennys. Its often easy to rebuild a bi-plane into a parasol monoplane. The center section cabane strut fittings are already in place, and fittings where lower wing spars attached to the fuselage can be reworked if necessary to accept parasol lift strut ends. Thick-airfoil monoplane wings installed on Jenny fuselages resulted in worthwhile performance improvement and called the parasol design to the attention of the Amer-ican aviation community.

While surplus Jennys were cheap to buy, they were large and com-plicated airplanes and thus costly to recondition after some years of service. Commercial fliers could include such expenses in the rates they charged customers, but private owners often continued to fly de-crepit Jennys until they crashed.

In 1927 and 1928 there appeared on the American scene 55 to 60 hp Air Cat, Velie, and LeBlond fi ve-cylinder, air-cooled radial en-gines. To provide smaller, simpler, and more economical airframes to take these engines, some design-

Figure 7Fr ont pits of some ships such as the Pietenpol r equire a step-by-step cockpit entr y/exit technique.

Figure 9Double-taper ed wing on 1929 Davis helped fr ont cockpit acces-sibility. Note wide, stable landing gear .

Figure 8This 1934 Czechoslovakian Letov solved the entr y problem by putting the fr ont cockpit ahead of the wing.


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

ers brought out neat parasols such as the Davis, Fig. 9, and the Inland Sport, Fig. 10. Open cockpits were then still much in favor, and many designers were still wary of low-wings. These monoplanes needed substantially fewer wing spars/wing-tip bows and ribs than did biplanes.

The depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929 increased designers interest in monoplanes, including parasols. Some outcomes of this were the very handsome Fairchild 22, Fig. 5, for affl uent buyers and the low-priced American Eaglet, Fig. 13, Taylor Cub, Fig. 14, and others for less well-heeled customers.

To coax acceptable climb from low-powered airplanes, its impor-tant to reduce drag. Open-cockpit parasols like the Eaglet and Cub could be fitted with detachable cockpit enclosures, which helped. And, by making cold-weather fly-ing more bearable, these accessories boosted small airports income by encouraging wintertime instruc-tion and rentals. Merely by raising the light superstructure atop fu-selages, some of these ships could easily be changed into high-wing cabin jobs.

In some cases its possible to argue at length as to whether a particular ship is a parasol or high-wing cabin plane. The English Comper Swift, Fig. 3, and Corben Super Ace, Fig. 15, are examples. In some planes such as the Ford-engined Pietenpol, Fig. 7, and the Cirrus-engined Westland Widgeon, Fig. 11, the carburetors were posi-tioned so high that in order to ob-tain dependable gravity fuel feed, fuel tanks were mounted in the parasol wings. This weight added to that of the high-mounted wings could raise the center of gravity so high as to aggravate the tendency to lean over in crosswind landings and fast taxiing turns.

Therefore, wide landing gears were favored. The outrigger type on the Fairchild 22 and the Inland Sport afforded wide wheel spacing while retaining acceptable load-

Figure 10Smaller radial engines of 33-36 inch diameter led to wide fuse-lage, side-by-side seating in 1929 Inland Spor t.

Figure 11Parasols, such as this 1929 English W estland Widgeon, ar e adaptable to folding wings.

Figure 12Clar ence Chamberlins air school built this Kinner-power ed parasol training plane.


26 MARCH 2012

Figure 13Open American Eaglet could be winterized with detachable, transpar ent side and r ear panels.

Figure 15Cowling to t Ford A engine on Corben Super Ace was extended aft to enclose str uts that sup-ported center of wing.

Figure 17Sweptback wing of 1960s Kaminskas aerobatic of fered cockpit access and r etained pr oper center of lift location.

Figure 19One-piece wings ar e easily attached to para-sols such as this Fr ench Potez 60 of the mid-1930s.

Figure 14Open Cub E-2 and F-2 (shown) could be en-closed same way. Raising the fuselage top fairing cr eated cabin J-2 and J-3.

Figure 16Ger man school-built A.B. 4 car ried wing on a pylon. V-bottom wood fuselage had ve longerons; 20-hp Mercedes power ed the air craft.

Figure 18Polish S-4 Kania; 125-hp radial engine had great rearview mir ror visibility for glider towing.

Figure 20Fr ench Bour gois fuselage had thr ee lon-gerons; note the str ut position. Bulkheads and wood veneer for med the covering.


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

carrying angles for the various struts. In some parasols such as the smallish Pietenpol, the vertical space between fuselage top and the lower surface of the wing was just scant enough to make front cockpit entry and exit a problem. Pilots instructed passengers in a well-thought-out en-try and exit procedure. Glued wood-to-wood joints are not as strong as are welded ones in steel tubing, and a fuselage is basically a beam that carries engine weight in the front and elevator up-and-down loads at the rear end. To avoid discontinuity in a wooden top longeron caused by a cockpit door cutout, designer B.H. Pietenpol did not incorporate a door in his Air Campers fuselage. Large people or ones having arthritic knees sometimes could not get into a Piet. But the welded steel tube con-struction popular in the fuselages of factory-made parasols made the incorporation of door openings a simple matter.

Some parasols had their wings mounted as high as their designers dared, such as on the Ross RS-1, Fig. 6, to facilitate entry and exit. But this could bring on a tendency to tip easily in crosswind landings. In those days flying was often done out of farm fields, which allowed taking off and landing into the wind all the time. But the high-winged, narrow-geared Ross could be a problem on a modern airstrip during crosswind conditions.

The Czech Letov, Fig. 8, had an-other approach to front cockpit accessthis cockpit was located ahead of the wing. It worked, but put pilot and passenger unhap-pily far apart. A more common approach to the cockpit access problem was to incorporate a cut-out in the wings trailing edge. This could be a modest one as on the Fairchild 22, or a large one as on the S-4 Kania, Fig 18. Such a large cutout can impair a wings aerody-namic efficiency, but seemed ac-ceptable in this glider tug that did mostly local fl ying. A rearview mir-ror positioned in the cutout gave a superb view of a towed glider. A

few Pietenpols had hinged fl aps in the trailing edges of their wings. These helped cockpit access yet retained unbroken trailing edge shape in fl ight.

The 1929 Davis had a double-tapered wing employing box spars that were deepest at the point of wing V-strut attachment and ta-pered both toward the tips and the center section as yet another way of improving cockpit access. This design also kept the struts short so as to make them stiff and compara-tively light, and also to reduce drag.

Yet another cockpit access solu-tion was to use swept-back wings as in the Kaminskas aerobatic para-sol, Fig. 17. This puts the center section ahead of the cockpit, while the sweepback positions the wings center of lift where it has to be for proper aircraft balance in flight. Many military parasols used this confi guration to keep the center sec-tion ahead of tandem cockpits to fa-cilitate quick exit should it become

necessary to take to parachutes.French air show pilots favored

Morane Saulnier and Dewoitine parasols for yet another reason. When going upward at the begin-ning of a loop, one sees only empty sky in front of the planes nose. Then as one goes over the top and starts down, the center section of a parasol (or biplane) facilitates judg-ing attitude in relation to the up-side-down horizon.

We could say many more things and print twice as many photos, if space permitted. But what weve been able to cram into the avail-able space should be enough to help you to learn how to under-stand and evaluate parasol mono-planes. The type is very old, but will be with us for a long time to come because of its versatility and adaptability to various sport fl ying requirements. Why, when rain-storms disrupt activities at fl y-ins, people even scurry to get under the wings of parasol monoplanes!

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28 MARCH 2012

Defects in wood structures are critical, and inspec-tion techniques must be developed to locate and iden-tify these structural problems. This data is important to new mechanics who may not be familiar with inspect-ing wood structures, particularly wood wing spars.

This is important when inspecting wood spars in Aeronca, Bellanca, and Champion aircraft. FAA Air-worthiness Directive 2000-25-02 R1 in particular re-quires close inspection of wood wing spars installed in Aeronca 7 and 11 series aircraft and Bellanca Citabria acrobatic aircraft.

One would think that a 65-hp Aeronca Champ or Chief would not experience compression failures in wing spars, but I have seen this defect and feel it is im-portant to expand on the airworthiness directive be-cause compression failures are diffi cult to locate, and in the case of the Champ and Chief, are often mostly hidden because they will form under a wing rib that is nailed to the spar at a critical location.

American Champion Service Bulletin 406 Revision A gives detailed information on the subject. These compression failures can happen if the aircraft ground loops and the wingtip strikes the ground, or they can be caused by over-stressing the spar when pulling some gs performing spins or other semi-aerobatic or aerobatic maneuvers.

A compression failure is defined as a break across grain lines of the wood caused by very high compressive forces placed on the spar, normally from a high positive g-load on the outer portion of a wing that is unbraced.

An old publication issued in 1943 by the Army-Navy Civil Committee on aircraft design criteria and identi-fi ed as ANC-19 was the bible for mechanics that inspect, maintain, and repair wood structures. Its data should be a regular reference for modern-day mechanics who work with these structures. All the data that is contained in FAA AC43.13-1B is extracted from this reference source.

Illustration 1 is a photo of a compression failure in Sitka spruce; this photo shows the failure almost completely across the entire board. You wont find anything like this in aircraft unless a very bad acci-

dent occurred. This type damage may have happened when the tree was cut and it fell across another tree or a large rock, which fractured the entire log. In-service compression failures will normally appear on the top fl ange of the spar, and in the case of Aeronca and Bel-lanca spars, directly adjacent to a plywood plate in-stalled at the front and rear strut attachment point. Read on . . .

Illustration 1: Major compression failure in Sitka spruce.

To understand the stress forces carried by a wing spar one must know that the upper third and lower third of the spar width carries all fl ight loads, with the center third of the spar width in a neutral plane. When the wing is positively loaded (positive g), the upper spar fl ange carries a compression load and the lower

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

Wood defects: Compression failure, shakes, checks, longitudinal cracks

THE Vintage Mechanic


VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29

spar fl ange carries a tension load. Therefore, any crack across the grain lines can be dangerous, and if not de-tected, it can lead to complete failure.

Illustrations 2-4 are three photos that show a com-pression failure I found on a Bellanca 7ACA. Illustra-tion 2 is the back side of the front spar. The bright wood to the left of the photo is where a plywood rein-forcement plate was glued to add strength where the front lift strut attaches. To the right of the photo is out-board of the plate and the typical spot where a com-pression failure will form.

The lines are made with a pen to highlight the de-fect. There are some interesting items to observe here. First the crack go

Vintage Airplane Vol.40 No.03 (2012-03)

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