Download - Vintage Airplane - Nov 2008
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GEOFF ROB ISON
PRESIDENT VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOC IATION
AirVenture
planning
and
the
EAA
Founders' Wing
H
oly cow
Where did the
year go? 2008 is going by
so fast it makes my head
spin. With fall weather
having completely fallen upon
us now, we are
already
facing
the
wrath of
Old
Man Winter blowing
hard over
the
northern half of the
country. But what a year it has been
I don't recall
any recent
years that
have had so many strings
of
great
weather days. The most memora
ble was just before
and during
EAA
AirVenture
Oshkosh 2008.
t just
doesn't get any better than that.
In
the aftermath
of
AirVenture
2008, we
learned
we had
annoyed
a number of members who became
quite vocal
about
their
discontent
about this year's aircraft
parking
plan. They
were
particularly dis
tressed
about
how areas
set
aside
for type club parking
impacted
the
ability for at large" members who
arrived early
to
access a
parking
spot
that
wasn't
south
of the Ultra
light area.
There were
enough comments
that
it's
pretty
clear there probably
are even more of you who were also
annoyed,
but have not yet con
tacted us.
In
the
Vintage showp lane park
ing area, we have always felt it was
important
to
provide
vintage
air
craft parking and camping on a
first-come, first-served basis.
Not
only is this the fairest of approaches
to this
issue, it also
happens to
be
the
easiest
plan
to
implement
.
The only real exception to this plan
over
the
decades
of
providing this
service
to
our members has been
the limited
amount
of type club air
craft parking. Depending
upon
the
wingspan
of
the
various approved
type club aircraft, we typically have
capacity for somewhere between
80
and
100
aircraft
parked
in
this
special parking area.
A bit of quick
history
is in
order
at this point. The 2008
conven
tion
was
my 25th Oshkosh event.
Thanks
to the configuration
of the
airport and surrounding roadways,
the real estate available for parking
. . . the cat got out
of
the
bag
,"
when
increasingly
more
members became
aware of our
type club
aircraft
park-
ing area
opportunities.
and camping in our
area
has not
been able to enlarge, while expecta
tions and requests for parking have
continua
ll
y increased.
Six or seven years ago, the
cat
got
out
of the bag," when increas
ingly more members became aware
of our type club aircraft parking area
opport
unities. Since
then
we
have
experienced
a
growing number of
Vintage type clubs requesting per
mission to be approved to partici
pate in this
popular VAA
offering.
With
a
limited
number of spaces,
we've done our best
to rotate
the
clubs chosen for participation, with
different clubs chosen over the
years.
That
way, we
could share
the
wealth" with as
many
members
and clubs as possible. We 've been
pleased with the response both by
the
participating members
and the
public,
who are often looking for
specific types of airplanes
when
they
come
to
the convention.
Recognizing the
increasing
de
mand for type club parking, we at
tempted to grow the available real
estate by dedicating additional rows
of parking
and
camping. That was
not
at all well-accepted
by
many
members, and I take full responsi
bility for this misstep. Our Parking
Committee and the flightline vol
unteers
were operating under my
specific directions.
This year we simply bit off more
than we could chew
and ended
up
annoying a fair number of you.
Even before
the comments
began
arriving in my
e-mail
and in the
mailboxes of the various leaders
at EAA and VAA it was quite clear
that we had irritated a bunch
of
folks who took the time and en
ergy to bring their aircraft to Osh
kosh. Your letters
and
e-mails
only
reinforced this
be lief. Obviously,
we
stretched
the
rubber
band a
little too tight, and
we
now know
we
have to get
back to the plan
ning board on this
important
is
sue. A
top-to-bottom
review
of the
overall
plan
needs to commence.
continued on p ge
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G
NOV M R
E
OL. 36, No. 11
2008
I
Fe
Straight
Level
AirVenture
planning
and the EAA
Fo
unders'Wing
byGeoffRobison
2 News
4
PreservingEAA's Culture
forfuturegenerations
byGaryDikkers
6 AirVenture2008
Abrightspotinaviation,PartII
byH.G.Frautschy
and
SparkyBarnesSargent
4
The1928Boeing40C
"Sailon,silvergirl
.allyourdreamsare
on their
way"
bySparkyBarnesSargent
LightPlaneHeritage
Rememberthe RazorbackAeronca
by
Bob
Whittier
28
TheVintageMechanic
Inventionof the magneto
byRobert
G.
Lock
ST FF
EAA Publisher
TomPob
erezn
y
34
MysteryPlane
Director of
EAA Publications
Mary Jones
byH.G.Fra utschy
Executive
Director
/
Ed
i
tor
H.G.Fra
ut
schy
Product
ion/Special Project
Kathle
en Witman
N
ews Editor
Ric Re
yn
o
ld
s
36
On
StearmanWings
Photography
Jim Koepn
ic
k
Where
anything is
possible
Bonni
e
Kr
atz
byPhilipHandleman
Advertising Coordinator SueAnder
so
n
Classifi
ed
Ad
Coordinator
Le
sl
ey
P
obe
r
ez
ny
39
ClassifiedAds
Copy Editor C
oll
eenWalsh
Director of Advertising
Katrin
aBradshaw
39 Calendar Display
Adv
e
rti
sing Re
pr
esentatives:
u s
Eas
tern
Time
Zone·
Northeast:
Ken
Ross
Specialized Pnblica
ti
ons
Co.
609-822
·
3750
Fax: 609·
957
·
5650
OVERS
U.S.
Eastern Time
Zone·Southeast:Chester Baumgartner
Specialized Pnblica tions
Co.
COVER:
The
Pemberton family restored their amazing Boeing 40C with the help of more
727-532-4640 Fax:727·532-4630
6 volunteers. Sparky Barnes Sargent fills us in on the project in her article starting on page
baum 111@milldspring com
, and
we
have a few of the details of the transcontinental airmail re-enactment flight in
VAA
U.S.Central Time Zone:
Gary
Worden
starting on
page
2.
Jim Koepn
ick photo; Cessna
18
photo plane flown by Bruce Moore.
Spec
ialized
Pnblica ti
ons
Co
.
800 ·44 4-9932 Fax: 816-741-6458
Member Bob Hollenbaugh, a company retiree, reminded us earlier this year that
gary.
worden
pc-mag.com
by its contracted name, Aeronca, turns
U.S.Mo
un
tainand
Pacific Time Zones:
John
Gibson
years old this November. Its first offerings to the general public were the Aeronca C·2 and
Specia lized
Pn
b
lica
ti
ons
Co.
916·784
-9593
Fax: 510-217-3796
-place follow-
up
design , the C-3. The production of the lightweight airplane powered by
io/mgi
bson pc mag.com
-hp engine signaled the beginning of the lightplane industry in the United States. See Bob
Europe:
Willi Tacke
on the beginnings of the company, starting on page 22. Artwork from an origi
Pho
n
e:
+4
9(0)17
1
698087
1Fax: +4
9(0
)
884
1/
4960
12
; additional watercolor wash by Theresa Books.
willi@{lyillg-pages.com
VINTAGE
AIRPLANE
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:io/[email protected]:io/[email protected]:io/[email protected]:io/[email protected]:io/[email protected]:io/[email protected]:io/[email protected]:///reader/full/willi@%7Blyillg-pages.comhttp:///reader/full/willi@%7Blyillg-pages.commailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:io/[email protected]:///reader/full/willi@%7Blyillg-pages.com
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PEMBERTON-TOBIN-SCOTT
Transcontinental air mail re enactment
"I don't know
how they
did it day
after day," says Addison Pemberton
after
the
conclusion of a re
enactment of the transcontinental
air-mail flights pioneered in the
1920s. Addison was
recalling
the
difficulties encountered
in
the
previous week as he
and three
friends
flew
across
the country
on a more leisurely pace than the
schedule imposed
on
the early air
mail pilots. To have done that on
a regular
schedule in
all
types of
weather with the equipment
they
had
was remarkable,"
he
tells us in
an interview after
the
flight .
The 2008 flight, which included
three
airplanes , flew
across
the
country from Republic Field on
New York's Long Island
to
the
San Francisco Bay area . The trip,
an
"official" route of the U.S. Post
Office Department (700 pieces
of
mail were carried by
the
flight of
three), took place
over
an eight
day stretch, including a four-day
weather delay in Rochelle, Illinois.
It took 28 flying hours
to
cross
the
continent. A special
educational
display was planned for
each
of
the 15 original air-mail stops
during
the
flight
re-enactment,
which
commemorates the 90th
anniversary of air-mail service.
Pemberton flew
his newly
restored 1928 Boeing Model 40 (for
more
on the
Boeing, see
the
article
startingon page 13). Accompanying
the Boeing were Larry Tobin, flying
his 1927 Stearman C3B, and Ben
Scott, flying his 1930 Stearman 4E .
Tobin, who
retired from a career
as a
pilot
for
TWA,
flew
his last
trip with a 767 from New
York
to
San Francisco. Repeating it with
his
restored Stearman was a real
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Then and now : 1928 Grant Donaldson (pilot) standing on the wheel of
5339
, shaking the
hand
of Bill Boeing.
2008 Addison
Pemberton (pilot) standing on
5339
shaking the
hand
of Bill Boeing
Jr
., with Boeing
CEO
Scott Carlson.
N OVEMBER 2008
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Two
of the three commercial biplanes
that
made the transcontinen
tal air-mail re-enactment flight: Larry Tobin s Stearman C3B and Addi
son
Pemberton s Boeing
40C
. Photo
by
George Perks from Ben Scott s
Stearman 4E.
the
same airplane
when
it was new
1930. Now splendidly restored
having been
away from
the
the 4E is , like
biplanes, a design
ally intended for commercial
Thanks to sponsorship of Bill
Jeppesen, the three
modern
Field on September 10 with
in
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania,
ending the day in Cleveland.
sing, Illinois. The next overnight
was to be Iowa City, Iowa, but a
put a
kink in that
plan,
and
trio descended into Rochelle,
what
would wind up
a
three-night
stay, with a
as
the weather began to
on September 15.
Ducking
out under the cloud
deck, a hundred miles to the west
the skies cleared up
and
it was
on
to Iowa City and Grand Island,
Nebraska, for
an
overnight
stop.
With clear skies and the Rockies
ahead, the gang departed at dawn
on the 16th, headed
for
North
Platte, Nebraska.
Then
it was
on
to the only
state with three stops-Wyoming.
Stops were made
in
Cheyenne and
Rawlins,
and an
overnight stop was
made
in
Rock Springs. The next day,
September 17, the three biplanes
were
in
the heart of the Rockies and
on to the Sierras, with stops in Salt
Lake City, Utah,
and
Elko, Nevada,
before
stopping for the night in
Reno. On the last day,
it
was over
the mountaintops; a nice downhill
run to Hayward, California; an air
mail salute
as
the biplanes disgorged
their cargo of special air mail; and
then a tour of the San Francisco Bay
area. Hosted by VAA
Chapter
29,
the pilots had a great time before
Tobin
and
Addison
headed
home
with
their mail planes, while Scott
returned to Reno.
Unfortunately,
Tobin s Stearman
had
an
engine
failure
over
inhospitable terrain
(both
he
and Addison
believe it
was due
to
heavy carb icing) . A
forced landing
in
a very small field
resulted in extensive damage to
the Stearman but, thankfully,
not
a
scratch to the pilot.
George Perks flew
with the
trio
and
created a beautiful photo blog
of the adventure. You can view it at
www irSpaceMag com
Upcoming
Major Fly-Ins
U.S.
Sport Aviat ion Expo
Sebring Regional Ai r
port
SEF) , Sebring,
FL
January 22-25,
2009
www.Sport Aviation Expo.com
Aero Frledrlchshafen
Messe Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen,
Germany
April 2-5, 2009
www.Aero Friedrichshafen.com/
html
/ en
Sun n Fun Fly-In
Lakeland Linder Regional Airport
LAL ),
Lakeland, FL
April 21-26, 2009
www.Sun N Fun.org
Virginia Regional Festival of fl ight
Suffolk Executive Airport
SFQ
), Suffolk,
VA
May 30-31 , 2009
www.
VirginiaFlyln.org
Golden West Regional Fly-In
Yuba County Airport
MYV)
, Marysville, CA
June 12-14 ,
2009
www.GoldenWestFlyln.org
Rocky Mountain Regional Fly-In
Front Range Airport FTG), Watkins,
CO
TBD
www.RMRFI.org
Ar
li
ngton Fly-In
Arlington MuniCipal Airport AWO),
Arlington, WA
July 8-12, 2009
www.
NWEM org
EAA AlrVenture Oshkosh
Wittman Regional Airport
OSH
), Oshkosh,
WI
July 27 -August 2, 2009
www.AirVenture.org
M Id-Easte
rn
Regional Fly In
Grimes Field Airport 174), Urbana, OH
September 12-13 2009
www.MERFI.info
Southeast Regional Fly-In
Middleton Field Airport GZH ), Evergreen,
AL
October
23
-25 2009
www.SERFI.org
Coppe
rs
tate Regional Fly-In
Casa Grande Municipal Airport CGZ
),
Casa Grande, AZ
October 22-
25
2009
www.Copperstate.org
For details on
EM
chapter fly-ins and
other local aviation events ,
visit www.EAA.org/ events.
VI N
TAGE
AIR P L
AN
E 3
http:///reader/full/www.AirSpaceMag.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Sport-Aviation-Expo.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Sport-Aviation-Expo.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Sport-Aviation-Expo.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Aero-Friedrichshafen.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Aero-Friedrichshafen.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Aero-Friedrichshafen.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Sun-N-Fun.orghttp:///reader/full/www.Sun-N-Fun.orghttp:///reader/full/www.Sun-N-Fun.orghttp:///reader/full/VirginiaFlyln.orghttp:///reader/full/VirginiaFlyln.orghttp:///reader/full/www.GoldenWestFlyln.orghttp:///reader/full/www.GoldenWestFlyln.orghttp:///reader/full/www.GoldenWestFlyln.orghttp:///reader/full/www.RMRFI.orghttp:///reader/full/www.RMRFI.orghttp:///reader/full/www.RMRFI.orghttp:///reader/full/www.NWEM.orghttp:///reader/full/www.NWEM.orghttp:///reader/full/www.NWEM.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp://www.merfi.info/http:///reader/full/www.SERFI.orghttp:///reader/full/www.SERFI.orghttp:///reader/full/www.SERFI.orghttp:///reader/full/www.Copperstate.orghttp:///reader/full/www.EAA.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirSpaceMag.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Sport-Aviation-Expo.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Aero-Friedrichshafen.comhttp:///reader/full/www.Sun-N-Fun.orghttp:///reader/full/VirginiaFlyln.orghttp:///reader/full/www.GoldenWestFlyln.orghttp:///reader/full/www.RMRFI.orghttp:///reader/full/www.NWEM.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp://www.merfi.info/http:///reader/full/www.SERFI.orghttp:///reader/full/www.Copperstate.orghttp:///reader/full/www.EAA.org
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Preserving EAA s
Culture
•
• •
for future generations
GARY
DIKKERS
EAA
634044
KEY: 1 EAA Legacy mezzanine gallery 2. Reconstruction of Paul
and
Audrey s original basement office
3. Founder s Library 4. Accessable storage space 5., 6. , and 7. Baby Ace, Waco Primary Glider
and
Little
Audrey
8
Education and Event space
T
he newest
exhibit
being
de
veloped for the
EAA
AirVen
ture Museum-the Founders
Wing-is dedicated to preserving
EAA s
herita
ge
and culture
for fu
ture generations of EAA
members .
The exhibit, which is expected
to open for EAA AirVenture Osh
kosh 2009, will occupy the former
Cess na Restoration Center. The
mezzanine
level exhibit will
in
clude a re-creation
of th
e first of
fices of
EAA,
which were located
in
the basement of Paul and Audrey
Poberezny s home
in Hales Cor
ners, Wisconsin.
I t
will also include
the Paul H. and Audrey L. Pober
ezny Founders Library, which will
be open to visitors to
peruse
the
NOVEMBER
2 8
volum
es
of books
an
d artifacts that
Paul and Audrey
ha
ve retained and
preserved over
the
years.
A third element of the exhibit will
be the Legacy Wall, which will high
light
the
initiatives that have
been
keystone achievements during EAA s
history,
includin
g its emph asis on
homebuilding freedoms as its found
ing theme, as we ll as chapter and
Young Eag les programs, and more.
The main floor of th e exhibit will
be a
spec ial-use area reserved for
out reac h activities and
events
for
youth and adult aviation education.
The
wa ll displays s
urroundin
g
th
e
event
space will recall
th
e
history
of
EAA s
annual fly-in convention
throughout
th
e years, from its origin
in
Milwaukee, through its days in
Rockford, Illinois, and on to today s
recognition as the world s greatest
aviation celebration.
This
artist
rendering depict the
current planned
use of
the
exhibit
space,
as construction begin s in
earnest
within
the next couple
of
months.
As
Tom Poberezny wrote
in his Position Report in the Octo
ber issue, liThe Founders Wing will
preserve the
culture
and core val
ues of EAA,
which
are essential
to
our future Organizations spend
millions of dollars
to
build their his
tory after it s too late
... EAA
has
not
made
that
mistake./I
To
learn more, or to contribute,
visit EAA org/FoundersWing
4
http://www.eaa.org/FoundersWinghttp://www.eaa.org/FoundersWinghttp://www.eaa.org/FoundersWing
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Experimental Aircraft Association
Paul H. Poberezny
Founder
Chairman of the Board
I have been very pleased and proud of the progress that our EAA vintage
aircraft division has made over the many years
of
its existence. It seems like only
yesterday when, in the basement meeting room of our new EAA headquarters
in
Hales Corners in the mid 1960s, I called together a small group
of
EAAers
whose interests were of airplanes
of
the "good old days." Look at the progress and
dedicated enthusiasm that the officers, directors, and members have given to this
part ofEAA's story.
Some may have wondered about
my
personal interest in vintage airplanes or
may have felt that my heart lies with homebuilt or warbird aircraft. Not so. I care
for anything that flies and the folks who make it all possible. I was interested in
vintage airplanes long before my thoughts of founding an organization such as
yourEAA.
In high school, I was the proud owner
of
a 1928 long-nose OX-5- powered
American Eagle biplane (no brakes and a tailskid) that my dad and I purchased
from Dale Crites
of
Waukesha, Wisconsin, for $250 ($125
of
which dad borrowed
from the bank ). It was a learning lesson- piloting and being a mechanic, both
learning and doing- including a few forced landings. As part
of
my early career,
during World War II I flew my OX-5 Waco 1 to Helena, Arkansas- 16 forced
landings- where I was a primary flight instructor in PT-23s and -19s.
Some
55
years have passed since the founding ofEAA A lot has happened,
and thousands or maybe millions of lives have been touched by your organization.
As many
of
you know, Audrey and I are donating our collection
of 55
years of
your organization's history to the planned Founders' Wing that will be built in the
current EAA Restoration Center
in
the main EAA AirVenture Museum building.
Plans have been drawn up, contractors selected, and financial contributions have
gotten the project underway. The Founders' Library dedication ceremony and
completion date is scheduled for the opening
of
EAA AirVenture 2009.
Sincerely
,
EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT
ASSOCIATION
...
/
EAAAviation Center,
Po. SC
3086, Oshkosh, WI
54903·3086 · 920/426·48 4·
FAX
920/426 6504
VINT GE AIRPLANE
5
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by
H G Frautschy and Marcia Sparky Barnes Sargent
NOVEM ER
2 8
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With a six-cylinder inline Ranger engine under the long cowl, the Fairchild 24R has always been a favorite
of
free
flight scale modelers. These pretty examples belong to Terry Blaser, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin (foreground,
NC81361), and the Grand Champion Antique of the
1974 EAA
fly-in, N77661, is now owned and flown by Mike
and
Barb Thern of Winona, Minnesota.
The Reserve Grand Champion Contemporary award winner is this beautiful
1963
Beech Travel Air restored by
the father-and-son team of Mark and Miles Malone of Camarillo, California. We'll have much more on this resto
ration in a later issue
of
Vintage Airplane
LEFT
A gathering storm that passed to the north of the airport certainly didn t stop the Hay family and their
most welcome return to the convention grounds after a couple
of
years absence. Their decidedly flightless orni
thopter is powered
by
an antique one-Iunger gasoline engine. Welcome home, Hays
VINTAGE
IRPL NE 7
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This nice 1959 Cessna 175
on
a pair of Baumann amphibious floats anchors the row of Cessna 175s set up to
commemorate the 50th anniversary
of
the 175.
There's
no
truth to the rumor that Sha-
ron Krengel VAA volunteer Larry's wife)
is actually spinning thread to weave new
Grade A cotton For more than a decade,
Sharon has brought her spinning wheel
to the EAA convention, spinning alpaca
wool into yarn throughout the week.
NOVEMBER 2 8
"
Hey,
Dad, look at that " says Blake Deaton as he and his fa-
ther, Jeff, haul some of their camping supplies to storage.
The
Deatons bring their Beech E35 Bonanza to the convention from
Morehead City, North Carolina.
With the new Wittman tower rising above the trees, Gerald
Bau
-
erle
of
Hammond, Louisiana, taxis out for departure on Runway
36L with his Globe GC-1B Swift.
8
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11/44
' N b k
We
asked VAA member and Vintage irplane contribut ing editor Marcia
S
P
k
Y
ot Sparky Bar,nes a ~ g e n t to visit with VAAers on the flightline. Here are
some of the interesting folks she met. Ph otos by Sparky Barn es Sargent
EAA and VAA member Hal Cope started
his trip to AirVenture by flying his Conti
nental IO-360-powered 1946 Temco Swift
from Spring,
Texas
to
Lake
Elmo, Minne
sota, where a gathering of Swifts takes
place virtually every
year.
Eight Swifts
flew into Wittman Fie ld together after the
gathering. Cope, whose Swift is only two
days older than he is, has been flying
N3303K into Oshkosh for
15
years now
and keeps coming back because he likes
the camaraderie and friendship-every
body seems to r
ax
here a lot more than
they no rmally would . They let loose and
allow themselves to be friends with other
people.
And
since
it
is the largest fly-
in in
the world ,
you
have all of the new electronics , new airplanes, and
just everything here
in
one spot. Cope 's Swift previously
won
the Preservation
Award
(2007) and a Lindy
Award at AirVenture , Grand Champion Custom Classic award at Sun 'n Fun (2002) , and the Grand Cham
pion award three times at the Swift Museum Foundation's Swift National Fly-In in Athens, Tennessee.
NC33587, a Piper J-3C-65 registered to
Joel McKinzie of Lake Crystal, Minne
sota, was out enjoying a late-afternoon
flight during AirVenture. I t was photo
graphed as
it
taxied into the EAA Sea
plane Base,
in
the golden glow
of
the
setting sun. Seaplane attendance was
good this year, as evidenced by the
planes in the background.
These two look-alike Cessnas caught the photogra
phe
r's eye
in
the Vintage camping area. N2538D is
a
1952
145-hp Cessna
170B
, registered to Larry
Schleinat of Denton, Texas. The 1950 100-hp Cessna
140A , N5313C, is registered to James Huff also of Denton, Texas.
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This striking conversion of an early Cessna
150
to a taildragger belongs to Bob McBride
Jr.
It was the winner
of
the Contemporary Class I (0-
160
hp) Single Engine award .
We suspect the crew of Madonna and Merrill McMahan's
Stearman prefers camping in Audrey's woods to staying in
a hotel.
Steve Krog (left), president
of
the Cub Club
and editor of the club's newsletter (and
VAA
di
rector/Type Club Tent
chairman-phew
Good
thing he 's retired now.
,
was this year's hon
oree presented with the Bax Seat Trophy at
EM's
Theater in the Woods.
Bax
was known
for his unbridled love of flight, and the Bax
Seat Trophy is presented annually by LYING
magazine for perpetuating the Gordon Baxter
tradition of communicating the excitement and
romance of flight.
Tom
Benenson (right)
of
LYING presented the award to Steve.
Departure morning, Oshkosh . The tent's rain fly is draped
to dry
in
the morning sun and breeze as the wings are
wiped down.
1 NOVEMBER
2 8
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Alan Reber's Interstate S-1A Cadet was flown in from Indianapolis.
Tony
Miller's Twin Beech E18S was the winner
of an
Outstanding Customized Contemporary aircraft Bronze Lindy.
John Seibold s
1929
Curtiss-Wright Travel Air
A-6000-
A,
restored
by
Chuck Wentworth s An
tique Aero , was flown
to the convention along
with the Grand Canyon
Ford Tri-Motor, N414H.
The
Travel Air was se
lected as the Silver
Age
Runner-Up.
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Remember seeing this on the flightline
in
1969? Stephanie Allen sure does, and now she can relive the Sixties
with her Grand Champion Contemporary Cessna 172K. Her
172
was last year's Reserve Grand Champion Con
temporary. A bit more work on a couple of items gave the Cessna a few more points to put it on top.
Long shadows from the last hour of sunlight highlight the lines of the Grand Champion Classic, this
1946
Piper
J-3C.
The
accomplished restoration was done
by Joe
Dobransky
of
Allen, Texas.
The last pilot and air
plane to depart the Vin
tage parking area were
Ed
McLaughlin and his
Cessna
172.
Ed was on
his way back to Pittsfield,
Massachusetts. Ed told
us that what 's left of the
paint is the original ap
plied by Cessna in 1956.
We li have more coverage of the
people and planes of AirVenture in
next month s intage Airplane.
2 NOVEMBER 2 8
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IIWhile some companies
shy
away
from older aircraft
U
welcomes them with great rates
as
well. It is obvious they are
owners and pilots as it shows
in
the
way
they
do
business. t is also
nice to see the people you talk to on the phone at Sun-N-Fun and
Oshkosh. It adds a nice personal touch to their business. I could not
be happier with the service I receive from
them.
I
Michael
orton
Michael Norton
Rineyville
KY
• Sw i t
G
B N78097 is
fourth plane
owned
• 8 hours
and
an
instrument rat
i
ng
•
Regular
attendee
of
Sun
N Fun
and
Oshkosh
AUA is
intage
Aircraft Association approved To become a member of
V
call
8oo·843·36J2
Aviation insurance with
the E
Vintage Program oHars:
Lower
premiums
with
payment options Additional coverages Flexibility
on the use
of your
aircraft
Experienced agents
On line quote request available AUA
s
licensed in all states
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T
his silver Pacific ir Trans
port mailplane shines
and
sparkles
rivaling
the diamonds she carried
that fateful October day
in
1928,
when the mountainside
claimed her in Canyonville, Oregon.
Thanks to Addison Pemberton s per
sistent dream of
owning and
flying
4
NOVEMBER
2 8
Y SP RKY B RNES S RGENT
a Boeing 40C, NS339 exists today
as the only 40C and
the
oldest air
worthy Boeing.
Finding
and
restoring the Boeing
was partially a tribute to his father s
childhood memories of watching
the mailplanes flying the contract
air-mail (CAM)
route
over Iowa,
and
also Pemberton s way of bring
ing history
to
full-fledged life. After
bartering for the biplane s remains
with
the Oregon Aviation Histori
cal Society,
he
eventually brought a
veritable village together to accom
plish
the
memorable and monu
mental
task of restoration.
I t is quite an experience to per
sonally
behold
this fabulous flying
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SMELL
OF HOT
COLATE AND
T CIDER;
OF
WITH
THE
OF THE
TABLE
HUM OF
E TIG
WELDER,
THE
AND
OF
THE
WHEEL."
ddIson Pemberton
JIM KOEPNICK
machine and
listen as its inertia
starter
whines into
a crescendo,
watch
the
propeller
slowly turn
while the
engine sputters
to
life,
and
hear
the
16-foot exhaust stacks
pipe their
ancient
melodious tune.
This past
summer and
fall,
numer
ous
people
had
that
opportunity.
After flying from Felts Field in Spo
kane, Washington, to Oshkosh,
Wisconsin, for
the
week of
EAA Air-
Venture Oshkosh 2008,
Pemberton
flew the 40C to Blakesburg, Iowa.
There,
in
the
fields of
summer
corn
and soybeans,
N5339
was one of
nine original-type
air-mail
planes
to
actively
participate in the An
tique
Airplane Association
and
Air
Power Museum's 90th
anniversary
celebration
of
the first scheduled
air mail
in
the United States. Along
with
others,
Pemberton
was sworn
in
as
an
air-mail
pilot, signed
a
contract, and flew
the
official
U.S.
postal mail from Antique Airfield to
Ottumwa, Iowa,
and
return.
Soon afterward,
Pemberton
and
the Boeing,
accompanied by
Larry
Tobin in
his 1927
Stearman
C3B,
and Ben Scott in his 1930 Stearman
4E, flew
to
New
York to
begin
their
carefully
planned re-enactment
of
the
transcontinental air-mail
route. The "Transcon"
commenced
September 10 and was successfully
completed September
18, after 29
hours'
flying time. They carried of
ficial U.S.
mail
across
the
country
and
stopped at
each of the 15 orig
inal
air-mail stops,
where
an
edu
cational
program was
shared
with
the
public. Afterward, Pemberton
described
the
flight as "a
trip into
a
time
warp," and himself as
being
"a very
humble
pilot
to
have lived
history up
close and personal, with
an
increased
respect
for
the
air
mail pioneers."
N5339 is
not only
recreating air
mail history; it s making
history
of
its own now-but just how was
it
transformed
from
those charred
remnants
of
a fiery
crash in 1928
into
an airworthy beauty in 2008?
A VILL GE OF VOLUNTEERS
A
proj
ect of
this
magnitude
wouldn't
be easily accomplished
without help-and
Pemberton
was
pleasantly astonished by
how many
volunteers
showed
up
at his
Felts
Field hangar. "They're not so
much
antique
people; I
had
stockbrokers,
doctors, all
walks
of
life-and
i t
was amazing to
me
the talents that
some of these people
had,
reflects
Pemberton, adding, "There are vol
unteers
that
you can give a giant
task to,
with
minimum supervision;
there are
other
ones that have to be
shown how to hold
a
paint
brush.
So the key is to
pair
a
challenged
person
with
a helper."
The entire restoration
process
was
thoughtfully
orchestrated to
best utilize everyone's time. "Be
lieve
i t or
not
,
this
airplane was
built on Wednesday nights over
eight
years, shares
Pemberton,
explaining,
and it took me
five
nights to
make a Wednesday
night
efficient.
I f people show
up and
they have direction, and they've
got
material
and
know what
to
do, they keep
coming
back. If
they stand around, they
go away.
Of the 61 volunteers, there were
21
that did significant
work, and
there
were 10 people
who
virtually
didn't
miss
a Wednesday
night.
My wife, Wendy, fed
them dinner
at 6 p.m. and
we
worked until 2
a.m.-she
fed 14 to 16 people every
Wednesday night for eight years. I t
was really a hoot; it was great!"
Numbering among the volun
teers were
Pemberton's
own fam
ily members. Wendy married
into this
[aviation] disease,
and
she appreciates
aviation
not just
for
the
airplanes, but for
the
peo
ple. They are
usually
the
people
you
want
to have as
friends,
be
cause
they're interesting, moti
vated,
and
active-and a lot of
times, successful.
Our kids
were
raised
in
this environment, and
to my
wife's credit,
she
cooks our
dinner
meal
in the hangar
ev
ery
night.
So our sons did
their
homework there, while
their
dad's
banging
away
on
stuff. There's
a
glider
club
in
Spokane, and
when
my boys
got
to be 14, I
towed
for
them in my
Stearman,
and they
soloed
at 14-1/2.
They
went
right
into power, and
we
built
a
Cub
together. Ryan, my younger son,
learned to become
a
very
accom
plished
TIG
welder
through
the
Boeing
restoration.
Jay
is
a
main
tenance
pilot-he 's a flight in
structor, not
a builder."
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The Boeing factory with
at least
16 of
the
model 4 fuselages
await
-
ing completion.
Pacific
ir
A
shot
dated 9 13 28
of
5339 when it was
being used
by Pacific ir Transport.
HI HLI HTS OF
THE PRO ESS
The
cold
Spokane
winters
were
especially productive
at
Felts Field,
and Pemberton poetically describes
those
long seasons
when
he states,
Winter: The
smell
of hot
choco
late and hot cider; the whine of
the
jointer, mixed with
the
buzz of
the
table saw, hum of the TIG welder,
roar of
the
planishing hammer,
and
swirl of
the
English wheel."
The volunteers were armed with
appropriate tools, materials, and 800
original Boeing drawings. Painstak
ing care was exercised to fabricate
new parts, and old parts were used
1 6
NOVEM ER
2 8
where
possible. "We
consider
the
airplane a restoration," emphasizes
Pemberton,
explaining, The
data
plate in there
is
the original one,
and there
are 70
components that
we moved over from
the
wreck, in
cluding
the footsteps
and handle,
the throttle quadrant bracket and
fuel selector assembly,
the landing
gear forgings, the top
cap
for the
oleos,
and
one wing fitting."
By
late April 2007, the wood
wings were installed
on the
fuselage
for a check fit prior to covering,
and
Pemberton happily announced
that
N5339 could finally hold up her own
wings, for
the
first time in 79 years.
It was
not
a small feat. Describing it,
he
gave "thanks to
my
son Ryan for
all
the
wonderful
compound
sheet
metal work, and to Andy Bradford
for
many late
hours on
the
mill
ing machine
and
file work to make
all the compound angles work out
perfect
on
all
the
wing struts. These
struts are
ot
adjustable and are made
to
pin
center with a .060-inch toler
ance. The airplane has a total of 20
struts
and 30
flying, landing, inci
dence,
and
tail wires.
We
were able
to
rig the airplane closer
than
I could
have imagined,
and
that's a tribute to
Art Swenson
and the
squareness of
the wings, and
the
perfection of
the
fuselage work that
Matt
Burroughs
did seven years ago. The airplane
is
in
rig
within
1/4-inch in
span
(44
lIZ-inch) and 3/8-inch from the
outer
wing struts to the
tail post.
The
one
surprising discovery
is the
firmness of
the
aileron control sys
tem and the
heaviness of
the
eleva
tor-which brings new meaning to a
quote by Les Towers, the Boeing test
pilot: 'The controls are effective
but
feel as
if they are cast in concrete.'"
The wing trailing
edges
have
a
distinguished scalloped appearance,
formed
by stranded and soldered
copper wire, which required careful
attention
during fabric installation.
Wendy used a template to keep
the
scallops symmetrical while shrinking
the
Ceconite fabric,
and
rib-stitched
with flat cord, taking care to ensure
that the
stitches weren't twisted
on
top
of
the
ribs. "Wendy did all
the
covering, taping, and brushing Ran
dolph
nitrates on
the
fabric," shares
Pemberton, "and that's
when
I took
it over, except she didn't allow me
to touch sandpaper to the
fabric
She
had
1,000 hours
putting
fabric
on,
and we put another
1,000 hours
in the paint booth."
The painting
process was
going
strong during the late summer
of
2007,
and
copious
amounts
of dope
were applied
on the
massive wings
with a
high-volume
, low-pressure
HVLP) system. Each of
the
17 coats
per wing required 47 trips
up
and
down the
paint
booth
.
One
of
my
friends, Randy
Ingraham
, vol
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19/44
unteered
to
help
me
in the paint
gun, and he 's like a robot I asked
booth," chuckles Pemberton, "so
he
him,
What
are you not telling me?'
was going
to
be the
grunt and
mix
He told me he worked in a body
the
paint and hand
me hoses.
Then
shop for 12 years.
So
I said, Okay
he
wanted
to
try it, so
he
gets
the
now I m
the
grunt,
and you re the
While th wings are built
up
using wood spars and ribs, there s plenty of
metal used in
th
structure. Here are
th
metal parts ready for final fab-
rication and installation.
One of th four wing panels built for
th
Boeing.
endy
Pemberton was
in
charge of covering the massive airframe. She also
took
on
the task of feeding the regular Wednesday night volunteer corps.
shooter '
So
Randy did all the final
finishes,
and
I did all
the
buildup."
By January 2008, the Boeing was
nearly complete. Its S2S-hp Pratt
Whitney (overhauled by Covington
Aircraft Engines Inc.) was hung, and
with the installation of the impres
sive 16-foot-Iong polished exhaust
stacks (fabricated
by
Acorn Weld
ing
LTD
of Canada), it was time to
hear the
Boeing come to life. Pem
ill berton says that
on
February II, his
;
son
Ryan climbed
into
the cockpit
g
and
"engaged the inertia starter for
the first
time
in 80 years.
He
ran it
iii through six blades, hit
the
mags,
ff
strong and
>
and
the
1340 Pratt lit
0
o
smooth, before
he
could even get to
the booster coil on the first try."
J
Q.
FLIGHT PR P
After NS339 received its standard
airworthiness certificate and the snow
had melted from
the
runway, it was
time for the test flight. Pemberton had
previously taken steps to make sure
that
he
was personally ready
to
fly
it. Having accumulated 10,000 hours
of flying "mostly the old stuff," he
was especially grateful for an oppor
tunity
that
was generously bestowed
upon him in August 2007. His friend
Glenn
Peck kindly arranged a visit
to Creve Coeur, Missouri,
where
Pemberton was invited to solo Al
Stix's Liberty-powered 1919 de Havil
land DH4-M2 mailplane. "The vision
of looking down that long DH nose
at Lambert Field from 1,000 feet over
St. Louis
is
burned into my brain for
the rest of my life," says Pemberton,
adding, "I
had 'flashbacks' to
lind
berg, Jack Knight, Dean Smith,
and
'Wild' Bill
Hopson
flying these air
craft cross-county
on
daily mail runs.
I do
not
think that any other aircraft
could have prepared me better for my
pending Boeing 40C test flight."
Additionally, having logged 1,000
hours in
an
AT-6 he was able to bor
row one from a friend and flew it
from the
back
seat, with the seat
lowered almost to the floorboard so
that
his head was below
the
instru
ment panel-and then he shot land
ing
after landing . Later,
knowing
how well that had prepared him for
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Addison's son Ryan was a integral part of the restora
Addison works
on
the massive landing gear.
All
of the
tion team. Like his brother
Jay
they literally grew
up
parts of this biplane are big
around the project.
The wingtip's hand grip
is
neat
ly
trimmed with cord t reduce wear and
give a ground handler a good gri
p.
Pemberton's attention to detail is
visible even
on
the wheel covers.
The wheels were bu
il
t
up
by
Do
n
McMakin.
the lack of visibility
durin
g Boeing
landings, he had his son Jay practice
the
same routine before letting
him
solo
the
big biplane.
FLYING TH
40C
The
sce
nt
of
aviation
res
tora
tion productivity is such a sweet
fragrance-nearly inebriating
in
and
of itself, and overwhelming in
8
NOVEM ER
2 8
Close-up view of the flare tubes.
its heady final test, wh
en
airplane
and
pilot burst
into
the
sky, home
at long last. That final
test
took
place
on
February 17, 2008, when
the Boeing flew for the first time
in 80 years . Pemberton's sons flew
chase
in
the
family 's
Cessna
185,
with camera
and
video to record
th
e
20-minute flight . They were
as
pleas
antl
y surprised
as
Pemb
erton him
self to discover just how stable
the
Bo
eing was . Afterward, Pemberton
shared that he had the fee ling
The Boeing's fuel gauges are
lo-
cated
on
the inboard section of
each wing.
that
I
cou
ld
have
cr
awled out of
the cockpit and walked
around
the
wings
for a
while
if I had wanted
to- then re tu
rned
to the cockpit
when
it was time
to
land "
Th e
Boeing's powerful perfor
mance was also
notable-and is
ev
ident even to
t
hose
who
watch
it
eagerly th rust itself from the run
way into the air. "The acceleration
is
pr
etty
impressive, I
mean better
than
an
T
-6-when you give the
thing
the needle, it sinks you
in the
sea t .
I t
came
off
on the
very first
flight
in
unde r 10 seconds,
which
I
wasn'
t ready for. And
it's just
a
pretty
flat, levitating feeling-then
you pull
th
e nose up
and the thing
climbs over 1,000 fpm. Within a
minute
of flight, I was ab le to fly
hands-off, so th
at
was rea
ll
y amaz
in g. The ailerons are
heavy
,
but
very
powerful t h e biggest sur
prise was th at the rudder forces are
en
ormous
.
On
t akeoff,
you've got
50
to 70 pounds of
rudder
force ,
but
once
yo u' re
in
cruise,
it
loves
to go
straig
h t. The control forces
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21/44
Specifications
Empty
Weight
4,080 pounds
GrossWei
ght
6,075 pounds
Length
34
feet
Height
13
feet
W
ngSpan
44-1/2 feet
Wng
loadi
ng
10 pounds/squ re feet
Power
loading
10 pounds/horsepower
ruise
115
mph with fuel burn of 28 gph
uel
apacity
120 gallons In three tanks
The airframe
is
nearly complete. Addison refers to the
Boeing construction as hobbyist
in
the sense that
since it uses few cast ings
or
forgings, the airplane
can
be
hand built. Given Its size, that means there
were a lot of hands Sixty-one volunteers were logged
by
the Pembertons, 10 of whom hardly ever missed a
Wednesday night restoration session.
This
40C is powered by a 525-hp Pratt & Whitney 1340
are about three times
that
of a PT
as
straight
as
an arrow, with excel·
q uired after the first flight; they
Stearman with half of its control reo
lent control responsiveness, even
moved the vertical fin over one hole
sponse. In
smooth air, it s a joy and
in healthy crosswinds.
to alleviate rudder force. Pemberton
very relaxing
to
fly; in turbulence,
Only one minor change was reo
continued
testing t
he
flight charac·
it's a workout "
It didn't take long for Pemberton
to learn
that
slipping approaches
to landing are, quite simply, are·
quirement.
He
'll slip it
to within
5
feet of the ground before kicking it
out; otherwise,
he
completely loses
sight of
the
runway. The oleo gear
has nearly a foot of travel, which,
Pemberton says, make touchdowns
"imperceptible
at
times. It's a real
weird feeling-you just feel
you
must be on the ground , because
you're going slow. I wheeled it in
the
beginning to learn
where
the
wheels were,
and now
I'll
three
·
point it, because t just does the
Cub
thing
and
settles
on.
Once
on the ground,
the
Boeing tracks
VI
NT
GE IR P L N E 9
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The luxuriously detailed cabin interior, with brown leather seats comple
menting natur
al
wood and an engraved Boeing logo on the forward
bu
lk
head. The cabin interior is handsomely detailed, right
down
to the cab in
phone
, which allows a passenger to communicate with the pilot
in
the
rear open cockpit. The original throttle quadrant.
The neatly laid-out instrument
panel
and
cockpit note the
Boeing logo on the rudde r pedals
teristics and experienced an interest
ing tendency. We put the airplane
into a
7
percent power climb at al
titude and lowered the left wing 20
degrees and tried to pick the wing up
with rudder. But with
the
wing held
down, it will rudder lock-the rudder
just snaps over
and
locks.
You can
put both feet
on
the opposite rud
der, and you still can t move it, ex
2 0 NOVEM ER 2 8
The Boeing's voluminous mail pit and the leather straps securing it.
plains Pemberton, but you can raise
the wing, and the rudder pops back.
We also determined
that
at about 34
percent mean aerodynamic chord,
it started
to
lose its longitudinal sta
bility-so
we've reduced
the
CG en
velope to about 32 percent max. We
fly
it between 28 and 32 percent, and
the airplane's wonderful. To safely
carry
four passengers, we
have to
throw
200
pounds in
the mail pit,
and it does fine.
BIT 0 HISTORY
Through
the project, Pemberton
became well-acquainted
with Bill
Boeing Jr.,
and
gained a special ap
preciation of the early air-mail indus
try from
him
. Prior to 1926, all the
air mail in this
country
was carried
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by post office-employed pilots flying
DH-4s. In 1925,
the
post office went
to several aircraft manufacturers for
a
r ~ p l c e m e n t
for
the
de Havilland
DH
-
4. So
Douglas submitted
an
air
plane,
as
did
Boeing, Curtiss,
and
a couple of others. Boeing lost that
first bid;
they had
built a wooden
fuselage Liberty-powered Boeing 40
that
was not very successful, Pem
berton
recounts, adding,
"A
year
later, Congress decided
to
let con
tractors haul
the
mail, which meant
they had to come up with their own
airplane.
Bill
Boeing came back with
a
concept
in January
of 1927,
and
by July, he had to build 25 airplanes,
train 50 pilots, place them from Chi
cago
to
San Francisco,
and
have an
operating
airline. And
he
did
that.
Even
in
today's terms,
that s
pretty
overwhelming. That's when he came
up with the steel-tube Pratt Whit
ney-powered version of
the
Boeing
40
that
was successful. The other part
of
that
whole story was
when
Pratt
&
Whitney came
out
with their en
gines in May of
that
year, they didn't
see any assembled airplanes yet
Boe
ing assured them that
in
six weeks,
the
airplanes
would
be assembled.
They assembled them outside, test
flew
them, and
then logistically
placed
them on the CAM 18 San
Francisco to Chicago 1,200-mile air
mail route and began making money
right away. So with that, Bill Boeing
shares
the
feeling
that
this
is
the
first
successful airliner in
the U.S. and
is
as historically significant as a tri-mo
tor, a DC-3,
and
a 707.
SHININ
SUCCESS
The following lyrics seem some
how appropriate when describing
the
newly restored
Boeing 40C,
though it's likely that Paul
Simon
wasn't thinking about
an
antique bi
plane
when
he wrote them: Sail on,
silver girl; sail on by;
your
time has
come to
shine; all
your
dreams are
on
their
way. Indeed, it's
time
for
this Boeing to shine once more, sun
light glinting from her silver wings
to the delight of
not
only
those who
witness her sailing by
in the sky,
but
for
pilot and
passengers as well. A
few
fortunate people
were
invited
to fly back into
time
as passengers
in
the
comfortable
and
handsomely
outfitted enclosed
cabin, where
they
were able to
communicate
via
phone
with Pemberton, who was pi
loting from
the
rear
open
cockpit.
It
was truly a treasured experience for
this author,
who
gazed
out the
Boe
ing's window
into
the
living past to
behold
the de Havilland DH-4
and
Stearman 4DM mailplanes snuggled
alongside the
40C as
the
late
eve
ning
sun cast a peach-colored glow
over velvety green fields.
N5339's 2008 debut has been
virtu-
ally
as
authentic
as
her precision resto
ration,
for
she proudly carried the mail
just as gracefully as she did so many
years ago. And this queenly silver
girl
is
making dreams come true for
Pemberton and his village of volun
teers. The Boeing 40C was awarded
Antique Grand Champion Gold Lindy
at
AirVenture,
and the
2008
AAA/
APM
Fly-In's People's Choice and Jack
Knight
award-Best
Air-Mail Carrier.
Surely the
spirit of air-mail
pio
neer Jack Knight has been cheering
Pemberton
on
along the
way.
VINT GE
IRPL NE 2
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Light Plane Heritage
ORIGIN LLY PUBLISHED IN EAA Experimenter U UST 1993
Remember the
Razorback Aeronca
BY BOB WHITTIER
The Aeronca C-2 of 193 . The first one had the Wright-Morehouse engine which was de
veloped into the Aeronca E-1
7design.
Editor s
Note:
November will mark the 80th anniver- airplanes, along with military liaison and training
air
sary o the founding o the Aeronautical Corporation planes. Aeronca carries on
to
this day currently engaged
o
America, better known by its trade name, Aeronca.
in
the production
o
sophisticated metal structures, in
Created without a product
or
a factory
in
which
to pro-
eluding its pioneering work
in
brazed metal structures,
duce
it, the
directors
were
given a demonstration
o Jean
such
as
the outer skin
o
the Apollo Command Module,
Roche s lightplane, powered by a small two-cylinder
en- and its newest contract
for
the heat shield o the next
gine. They took a chance and created an entirely new generation o NASA spacecraft, the Orion. Bob Whittier
segment
o
American aviation. When Aeronca ceased details the determined
work done
by Jean
Roche
and the
production
o
aircraft in 1951 Aeronca had been one company that would eventually put his
dream
lightplane
o
the preeminent manufacturers
o
sport and training into production.-HGF
Editor's Note: Longtime aviation enthusiasts will recognize the byline of Bob Whittier. Bob has been a regular con
tributor to
EAA
publications since
the
founding of
the
organization,
as we
ll
as
a knowledgeable author for other
aVIa-
tion
and
boating magazines. Bob's Light Plane Heritage series in
EAA s
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 series, we plan on publishing those
LPH
articles
that
would be of interest to
VAA
members. Enjoy -HGF
NOVEMBER 2 8
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T
he early
Razorback
Aeronca
lightplanes
are
surely a convincing exam
ple of
how
the passage of
time
can
alter people's perceptions
of things.
When the
first model
C-2
appeared
on the
aviation
scene
in
1930, it immediately drew hoots o f
derision
from
the
leather-booted,
cavalry-jacketed pilots still
numer
ous at
that
time.
But today when one of
those
early lightplanes
shows
up at
an
aviation gathering,
it
immediately
becomes
the
subject of much nos
talgic
reminiscing on the
part
of
the
old-timers present,
and
curious
staring
and
questioning
on the
part
of those whose bir thday cakes sport
less
than,
say,
50
candles. The dis
tinctive
and
, to some, grotesque ap
pearance of these birds makes
them
stand out clearly and memorably
from all
other
small planes.
The term razorback/'
as
it applies
to these
planes, puzzles
everyone
upon first encountering it. It derived
long ago
from
the
ridgepole-like
shape
of
the top
of early Aeronca
fuselages, imparted by the single up
per longeron of
the
three-Iongeron
welded steel-tube fuselage structure.
And
the somewhat unusual
name
Aeronca was created by
shortening
the
manufacturer's long-winded of
ficial
name
of Aeronautical Corpo
ration of America. Since postwar
models of Aeronca airplanes are still
widely used by private pilots, obvi
ously they have been proven to be a
good
and
durable one.
The Aeronca story begins
in
1906
when
12-year-old
Jean
A.
Roche
came
with
his parents to New
York
City
from France. InCidentally,
this
name is pronounced Rowshay
and Aeronca is sometimes mis
pronounced Aeronica By around
1910
young Jean
had become an
avid
model airplane builder and
frequented
the early and very fas
cinating airfields
that
had sprung
up '
on the
flat fields of Long Island.
Upon graduating from
high
school
he
entered Columbia
University
and graduated
with
a degree in
mechanical engineering.
Like
so
many others Jean
A Ro
che
dreamed of creating a simple inex
pensive plane
that
ordinary people
could afford. His experiments start
ing in 923 led
to
the Aeronca C-2 .
By 1915 he
was
well
enough
versed
in
the
art-science of airplane
design to
find
employment with
the small Huntington lightplane
company
on Long Island, and later
at the
larger
Aeromarine
factory
at
Keyport, New Jersey.
When
the
United States
entered
World War
I
Jean was
sufficiently
proficient at
aeronautical engineering
to
qualify
for
an engineering position at the
Army's aviation research
and
devel
opment
center at
McCook Field in
Dayton, Ohio,
now
Wright Field.
Aviation jobs being scarce
af
ter
the war
was over, Roche pru
dently held onto his job at McCook
and in his spare time pursued
his
interest in light
aircraft for recre
ational flying. In 1923 the
finan
cially
strapped
Army
decided to
investigate
the
possibility of using
gliders for
economical pilot train
ing. Roche was
put in
charge of
the
project
because of
his
familiarity
with lighter aircraft.
Because
the
project was
very
much an experiment, it
was
im
perative
to
keep its cost
to
a mini
mum, consistent with producing
something useful. So the top
wing
from a surplus Curtiss IN-4
trainer
became the basis of the new glider.
This
wing had
a span
of
43 feet 7
inches,
and the rather thin
airfoil
used
for its ribs
resulted
in quite
shallow
and
flexible spars.
To
make
it rigid
enough
to carry even a glid
er s modest air loads, many sup
porting cabl
es
were reqUired.
Designing this
glider
thus
gave
Roche practical experience with
long,
slim, wire-braced wings.
He
came
to realize that they
could
be
designed
to
be quite light in weight,
moderate in cost,
and of good aero
dynamic efficiency-at
least
for
slower aircraft.
McCook Field
in those
days was
a
wonderful place
for
any
enthu
siastic young
airplane
designer
to
work. Being
at
a
major center
for
aircraft development work, Roche
was free
to
associate daily with top
rate engineers and pilots, and
had
access to
the
latest
and
best
in
aero
nautical literature.
And
this
at
a
time
when
most
flying enthusiasts
were hustling to
scrounge
livings
by barnstorming
in
war-surplus
Jennies
and
Standards. The Curtiss
OX-5 and Hispano-Suiza, or Hisso,
engines
that powered
them were
large V-8 mills designed for 50-
hour
service lives. They required constant
maintenance and gobbled gasoline
as
if it were
as
cheap as water.
Roche
realized that while
war
surplus ships
could be purchased
cheaply,
they
then cost a lot to op
erate. Depending on which
old
timer you listen to, an OX-5 burned
around
6 to 7 gallons of gas per
hour. Many yards of fabric
and
tins
of dope indeed were required to re
cover their big wings.
The many
bracing cables, turnbuckles, and fit
tings were a chore
to
keep properly
adjusted
and
maintained. Pilots who
found ways to operate Jennies com
mercially could figure
maintenance
costs
into the
rates they charged,
but many
private owners took scar
ily
long chances on
the airworthi
ness of weather-beaten ships.
It
was obvious
to
Roche
that
this
state
of
affairs
could
not
continue
for long, and so he
believed that
there would eventually be a market
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AIRPLANES OF THE
WORLO DOUGLAS
ROLFE
Because Aeronca designer
ean
A.Roche was a native of France the
1909
Demoiselle above could have given him ideas. Note the three-Iongeron
deep-chested fuselage staight-axle landing gear and flat-twin engine.
Right: Reproduction from a
1933
Aeronca ad. This drawing conveys the
sense of freedom and adventure that comes of exploring the countryside
in
an open-cockpit puddlejumper. 70-mph
at 1 000
feet seems faster
than
170
at
10 000
feet.
for small planes that would be easier
and
less costly for private owners to
keep in good
condition, Although
the
Army glider he designed used a
Jenny wing, when designing its fuse
lage
and
tail he had an
opportunity
to try some of his ideas about simple
and economical construction.
In 1923
and
1924
he
used
this
experience
to design, on his
own
time, a new Single-seat lightplane.
He and
a fellow McCook employee
named John Dohse built it in their
spare time
.
Among other things,
its
wing
used the then
very new
Clark Y airfoil,
which represented
a considerable improvement in
the
lift-to-drag ratio over World War I
types. Its thickness allowed
the
use
of deeper spars, so the number
of
external
brace wires was
substan
tially reduced compared to older
ships. It was possible
to
make the
wing of
good
span
but narrow
chord-such
as
to give it a 9-to-l as-
pect ratio, which helped
the
rate of
climb with low-powered
engines
and
have a surprisingly good glid
ing range when
the
engine was
throttled back or quit.
For lack of anything better, it was
powered first by a straight-4 Hen
derson motorcycle engine
and then
by
a V-2 Indian.
Both
produced
around
18 hp,
which
proved to be
inadequate,
and
suffered serious vi
4 NOVEM ER
2 8
brations
and
reliability problems.
Unknown
to
Roche
and
Dohse,
another McCook engineer
by
the
name
of Harold Morehouse had de
veloped a small, horizontally op
posed,
air-cooled engine to drive
the
impellers used
to
blow air
into
the
ballonets o f Army blimps, then
used
for
slow-speed
observation
work. A ballonet is a
sort of limp
diaphragm built into
the
lower por
tion of a blimp s
envelope
for the
purpose of maintaining
gas pres
sure
and
thus
envelope rigidity.
This well-designed
engine
came
to
Roche s attention and it fasci
nated him. However, as it devel
oped
only
15 hp
and had
a vertical
crankshaft, it was obviously unsuit
able for his little airplane. After talk
ing things over thoroughly, Roche,
Dohse,
and
Morehouse pooled their
limited resources
and went to
work
on a similar
but
larger engine suited
for airplane installation.
Completed in the summer of
1925, it
produced
29 hp and flew
the Roche-Dohse plane very
well
indeed.
In
fact, the shop
became
the
pet of McCook Field pilots,
and
in their skilled hands it received a
thorough and
professional testing.
In 1926 Morehouse left McCook
to
take a job
with
the growing
Wright aircraft
engine company in
Paterson, New Jersey, and later on
Dohse left for Seattle
to
take a job
with
Boeing. And
then the
Roche
plane was involved in a crash that
damaged
the
Morehouse engine be
yond repair. The ship, however, was
repaired
and
put back
into
service
with a series of small engines,
none
of which proved satisfactory.
Then
Roche persuaded two
other
McCook engineers, Roy Poole and
Robert Galloway,
to
design a
new
engine.
I t
was basically like the
Morehouse but
incorporated
some
modifications.
At
first it
had
over
head valves operated by
exposed
push
rods
and
rocker arms,
but
be
fore long was redesigned again quite
extensively.
The
top and
front of
the
crankcase was reshaped to blend
neatly into
the
plane s nose cowling,
and
side-valv
e
flat-head cylinders
replaced the overhead-valve ones.
This arrangement had advantages.
The cost and weight of the overhead
va lve opera tin g
mechanism
was
eliminated. Width and thus
fron
tal area were reduced. Because the
valve operated directly off of the tap
pets located within the crankcase,
wear was less
and the
engine could
be
run longer
before
tappet
clear
ances needed checking. Cylinder and
cylinder-head
pattern
making, cast
ing, and machining were simplified,
which helped
keep
the
cost
down.
For a direct-drive engine turning its
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Top:
FJat-head Aeronca E-1 7, producing 26/
3 hp
, was the ultimate
in
simplicity. Plug location made fou
li
ng
by
crankcase oil so unlikely that sin
gle ignition was feas ible.
Below: Overhead vale E-113 grew from 36 to an ultimate 45 hp. Fins cast
in
crankcase helped cool the oil .
propeller
at an
efficient peak speed
of 2500 rpm, intake and exhaust gas
flow were not impaired to an objec
tionable degree. This redesigned en
gine eventually became
the
Aeronca
E-107 this designation being derived
from the fact that it had a displace
ment
of 107 cubic inches. Upon ex
amining
one of these 26-
to 30-hp
engines in a museum, a modern ul
tralight airplane enthusiast
cannot
help
but
be very impressed with its
clean, functional simplicity.
In 1927 Roche worked out an
agreement
with
the Govro-Nelson
Company in
Detroit
to
build these
engines for him.
I t
was already
making the 110-hp, seven-cylinder
Warner engines and understood aero
nautical requirements. But since his
plane itself was not in production, no
engines were built at that time.
The previously
mentioned
Aero
nautical Corporation of America
was organized in 1928
by
a group
of investors
in Cincinnati
Ohio.
They had an
option
on
factory
space at the new Lunken Airport
there but had
no
airplane
design
that they felt had market possibil
ities.
One member of this group
knew Roche
and
suggested
that
a
delegation
travel to McCook Field
45 miles
to
the north
to
see Roche
and his lightplane.
By
that
time, Roche held the im
pressive title of senior aeronautical
engineer. An Army major had given
the plane
a
thorough
series of test
flights and
wrote
a very favorable
report on it. A capable civilian pilot
hired to do demonstration flights for
the Aeronca people did so very well.
The delegation from
Cincinnati
went home thoroughly impressed,
and
by the
middle of 1929 an agree
ment was on paper
to
manufacture
the
plane.
Roche and some others involved
with the plane moved to
that
city, the
plane was redesigned in certain areas
to better suit
the
needs of mass-pro
duction techniques, and during the
winter of 1929-30
the
new Aeronca
C-2
was displayed at aircraft shows in
various parts of
the
country.
The idea of being able to buy a
new airplane for just
under
1,500
and
flying it on 2 gallons of gas per
hour appealed to enough people to
make the new plane a sales success,
even
though
the stock market crash
of 1929 was sending the county
into
a deepening depression. By year's
end
90 ships
had
been sold. A num
ber of long-distance
and
altitude re
cord flights in C-2s brought much
valuable publicity to
the
plane.
There's a saying
that
even bad pub
licity is good publicity. The curious,
pot-bellied, and low-slung appear
ance of the Aeronca's fuselage quickly
inspired more less-than-complimen
tary nicknames for the ship than have
perhaps been applied to any other
airplane. The
Flying Bathtub
The Pout-
ing Pigeon The
Dowager
The Banana
The Bellydragger and The Buffalo are
examples. Such colorful monikers, of
course, attracted attention.
The more people read, heard
and
saw
of
the new Aeronca, the
more
accustomed to its appear
ance
they
became
. Sales
figures
thus began to improve
at
a time
when many aircraft firms were go
ing bankrupt.
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Having
a
fully
enclosed cab
in
faired out
fuselage top
and
cantilever
land-
in
g gear the 1935-36 model was the last
of
the
C 3
line.
Some
C 3s
and
engine
s
we
re
built under license in England
.
What could e more tho roughly satisfying on a hot August day than an
open
cockkpit
Aeronca
seaplane?
However,
little
i f
anything
has
been written
about the reason for
the
odd fuselage shape. After think
ing about
i t
for years, I have formed
a theory. I can t prove it
,
but you
can decide for yourself
whether or
not
it is sound.
As
a native of France,
Roche
no doubt
kept himself well
informed on aviation developments
in that country
and
knew all about
the little Demoiselle monoplane de
signed in 1909 by aviation pioneer
Alberto Santos-Dumont.
In an accompanying illustration
of this machine, you will notice
the
three-Iongeron fuselage structure;
the low-set pilot's seat;
the
straight
through, one-piece landing gear axle;
and the flat-
twin
engine.
You
can
see
these same things in the Aeronca
C 2 . So it is not unreasonable to
think that this very early lightplane
influenced Roche's thinking.
This layout had its advantages.
The
low
-set bottom
longerons af
forded a place to attach struts or fly
ing wires so
as
to create a favorable
bracing angle when long, slim wings
were used.
The
low-set fuselage
6
OVEM
ER
2 8
avoided the weight and air resistance
of long l
anding
gear struts. Most of
the one-piece straight-tube axle and
all of its rubber shock cord wrapping
were inside t
he
fuselage and thus out
of
the
airstream. The cockpit was so
close to the ground
that
stepping in
and
out
of it was easy-on
ce
one had
figured out
how
to get past the four
flying wires on each side A usefu l
benefit of
the
deep-bellied fuselage
was that it afforded generous, com
fortable leg and foot room.
The engine had to be se t rather
high to
ob
tain
adeq
uate
prope
ll er
ground
clearance.
In
order to
get
the wing
angle
of incidence re
quired for
three-poin
t landings,
the
tail
of the fuselage had to
be
set high to position
the
tail skid. As
owner experience with
the
C 2 ac
cumulated , it was realized that the
rather narrow
landing
gear
often
allowed ships
to
tilt
up
and drag a
wing tip
in
crosswind landings, so a
wider tripod gear was adopted .
A baggage space located
behind
the single pilot seat proved large
enough for
people of slight build
to wriggle into
to enjoy
short but
memorab
le
around-the
-
fie
ld hops.
However,
the
Bureau of Air Com
merce (predecessor of the Federal
Aviation Administration)
refused
to
certify
the
C 2
as a
two-seater
f
or
such
reasons,
as they
feared
crammed -in passengers might
in
terfere with
the
pilot's controls.
But
the
C-2's ability to carry two
peop le on the power
of
the
little
E-107
engine,
combined
with the
s
hi
p's growing popularity among
people who loved
to