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VOL 33 No 1 2005

CONTENTS 1 Straight and Level

2 VAA News

4 Friends of the Red Barn

6 Vintage Hall of Fame Espie Butch Joyce by HG Frautschy

8 The Vintage Instructor Winter Operations by Doug Stewart

10 Reminiscing with Big Nick The Model 18 by Nick Rezich

14 Not Just Another Cub Story The Bair Wings J-3 by Budd Davisson

19 Type Club List 25 Mystery Plane

by HG Frautschy

26 Pass It To Buck The Best of Buck by Buck Hilbert

30 Classified Ads

COVERS FRONT COVER In 1940 The Wings cigarette brand was advertised using a number of gimmicks includmiddot ing a prize of a Piper Cub given away each week on the radio program Wings of Destiny Craig Bairs awardmiddotwinning Cub is one of those very airplanes Read about it in Budd Davissons story starting on page 14 EM photo using Canon professional photography products by EM Chief photographer Jim Koepnick EM photo plane flown by Bruce Moore

BACK COVER Setting the Record depicts the singleshyengine world speed recordmiddotsetting ftight by the late Jim Wright in his amazing recreation of the Hughes Hmiddot1 racer The FAI category Cmiddot1d record was set at 30407 mph on September 13 2002 at the RenoshyStead airport in Reno Nevada Thomas A Smith a professional artist specializing in aviation was awarded an Honorable Mention ribbon by the jury of the 2004 EM Sport Aviation Art Competition for his acrylic airbrush on canvas work You can reach Mr Smith in Tucson Arizona at 52()39amp6429

STAFF Publisher Tom Poberezny

Editor-in-Chief Scott Spangler

Executive DirectorEditor HG Frautschy

Administrative Assistant Theresa Books

News Editor Ric Reynolds

Photography Jim Koepnick

Bonnie Bartel

Production Manager Julie Russo

Advertising Sales Loy Hickman

913-268-6646

Classified Ad Manager Isabelle Wiske

Copy Editor Colleen Walsh

Kathleen Witman

Graphic Design Olivia Phillip

GEOFF ROBISON PRESIDENT VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Speaking up for your airport Tis the season when the inside of

the hangar feels colder than the outshyside air because in some cases it is No one warned me that my blood would thin over time to a point where I just have so little tolerance of the cold weather It used to be an acceptable notion to not hesitate in getting the airplane out on a 30degF day and go somewhere Now I shiver at the thought of going out on a 40degFshyplus day Yeah yeah I can hear all you snowbirds chuckling at me all the way from Florida or wherever youre nesting this winter I guess Ill just have to wait out old man winter at least one more year

It seems of late that more and more GA airports are being threatened by local politicians and real estate moshyguls who envision a better use for our valuable not to mention irreplaceable aviation facilities Nearly every aviashytion newsletter or website I read of late has news of yet another airport on the targeted for closure list When is this phenomenon going to stop What can or should be done When one looks closely at the efforts put forth by groups such as Friends of Meigs Field and othshyers one can only wonder What else could have possibly been done to save that airfield I and many other tenshyants of historic Smith Field Airport in Fort Wayne Indiana have recently exshyperienced just such a threat to our own treasured airfield More than two years ago our local airport authority voted to close this facility and in the aftermath of unrelenting efforts by hundreds of supporters of this airfield that vote was eventually reversed I firmly believe we as aviators enthusiasts and supporters need to do a better job of preserving promoting and protecting all facilities

on a continual basis -not just when they are suddenly threatened with closhysure A continuous effort to keep your aviation facility perceived in the comshymunity as a valued asset as well as a safety asset is absolutely crucial and alshyways the best approach to avoiding the inevitable We can all do more to assist in educating the public and helping to maintain a positive image of these facilities

I promised the membership last month that I would keep you updated on the business of your organization so heres the long and short of it The Board of Directors met in regular sesshysion on November 5 This meeting served as an excellent exercise for me to cut my teeth on because an unshyusual number of issues were at hand for the Board of Directors to address As I previously alluded to the Board members have been paying close atshytention to our financial health

We (the Board) are going to conshytinue to capitalize on another memshybership drive and enhance our curshyrent fundraising efforts such as the Friends of the Red Barn campaign The membership drive is not just a key initiative from a financial point of view it is all about our strength as an association Your former VAA President Butch Joyce and the staff were successful in earlier membershyship drives The membership under Butchs watch was easily doubled and at one time nearly tripled Even though EAA has always been helpful with funding these direct-mail memshybership initiatives the age-old rule of business always has an impact It takes money to make money and that always means its a bit of a roll of the dice to sign onto this type of

initiative You as a member can help out by asking your friends to join up with us If we are still into black ink at the end of the current fiscal year (March I 2005) be assured it will be all about initiatives related to the membership drive and all of you fine folks who have graciously supported the Friends of the Red Barn fund As I have mentioned in the past the VAA continues its sound financial status We will continue to look to the future so that we are able to remain on firm financial ground

As mentioned in the December issue of Vintage you will see the enshyhanced benefits of the 2005 Friends of the Red Barn program in this issue of Vintage I am certain I speak for the entire Board of Directors when I say we all hope you will find these proshygram enhancements beneficial and of good value for your much-needed contributions Again for those of you who have supported this effort in the past you have our heartfelt gratitude And for those of you who have conshysidered supporting these efforts in the past we hope you find these new levshyels of giving appealing and reconsider supporting your organization Please keep in mind that all contributions to Friends of the Red Barn fund go dishyrectly toward offsetting the expenses involved in all the valued programs benefits and exhibits offered in the Vintage area during the annual EAA AirVenture event

Lets all pull in the same direction for the good of aviation

Remember we are all better toshygether Join us and have it all

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Start Your Virtual Visit Here Theres no waiting in line for the

EAA AirVenture Museum virtual tour Just click on The Virtual Museum headshying on the left side of the home page at wwwairventuremuseumorg to see an arshyray of virtual and interactive activities

Sit inside the cockpit of the XP-51 Mustang Watch a first-person oral hisshytory Timeless Voices video Or cruise around the EM AirVenture Museum and explore innovative airplanes such as the Aerocar Loudenslager Shark and Rutan VariEze prototypes

Missed some of the museums webshycast presentations Youll find them archived there too See whats going on at Pioneer Airport using the live webcam Like the virtual museum the webcam runs 247 year-round Note some of these activities require the latest version of the Apple QuickTime player or Macromedia Flash player which are easy and free to download

Joe Funk Passes Away at Age 94 Joseph c Funk of Coffeyville Kanshysas who with his twin brother Howard built 365 Funk airplanes in the 1930s and 1940s passed away on December 2 at the age of 94 in Coffeyville Kansas Born in Akron Ohio on September 171910 the brothers built just over 330 Funk airplanes in their factory that at one time employed 100 people (EAA has a donated 1940 Funk B in its collection) As a side business they also created and produced for the Ford tractor a power takeoff which sold well When the bottom fell out of the aircraft industry they switched to transmissions and beshycame Funk Manufacturing which was later acquired by John Deere and continues to be the largest emshyployer in the city of Coffeyville Joe EAA 37967 continued flying until the 1980s and was often present at the annual Funk Fly-in His brother Howard passed away in 1995

JANUARY 2005

VAA Volunteers of the Year Each year during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh two

special VAA volunteers are chosen one as the Beshyhind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year and the other as Flightline Volunteer of the Year

This years recipient of the Behind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year is Paul Kyle of Germantown Wisconsin Paul has been attending EAA AirVenshyture with his father Leland since he was a young man and started volunteering as soon as possible He s become a real jack of all trades and has been particularly active in the Tall Pines Cafe before heading off to work a shift on the flightline Hes also been busy on many of the weekend work parshyties we have during the spring and fall helping keep the VAA buildings in top shape

Our Flightline Volunteer of the Year is Doug Marshytel (right) of Littleton Colorado In his real life Doug is a cardiologist and he really looks forward to spending a week away from it all and working the flightline directing and parking vintage airplanes in our area Doug so enjoys his time on the line that there are times when its hard to get him to quit at the end of his shift

The awards were presented during the fall VAA Board Meeting held the first weekend in November Our congratulations and thanks to Doug Martel and Paul Kyle our 2004 VAA Volunteers of the Year

EAA Seeks Nominations for by the membership it is anticishyClass I Directors pated that 15 Class I Directors

Pursuant to the Amended and will be elected at the 2005 annual Restated Articles and Bylaws of business meeting held in Oshkosh Experimental Aircraft Association This number includes current Class Inc the President has designated a I Directors whose terms expire nominating committee of six EAA during 2005 and additional Class members to receive nominations I Directors as necessary so they for Class I Directors Its members collectively compose at least 51 are Chairman Ron Scott N8708 Sky percent of the Board The current Lane Rt I East Troy WI 53120 Class I Directors whose terms do lonnie Fritsche W6305 Peninshy not expire in 2005 will continue sula Court Neshkoro WI 54960 to serve Robert D Lumley 1265 S 124th The terms of four Class I DirecshyStreet Brookfield WI 53005 Fred tors expire in 2005 John Beetham Stadler 1718 Autumn Lane Arlingshy Mal Gross Paul Poberezny and Alan ton TX 76012-5437 Cody Welch Ritchie The individuals elected to 8529 Pineview Lake Dr Linden MI fill these seats will serve for three 48451 and Harry leisloft 2787 Leishy years to expire in 2008 Class I Dishysure World Mesa Al 85206 rectors may serve for an unlimited

In light of the modified govershy number of successive terms nance structure recently approved To achieve a total of 26 Class I

Paul Kyle

Doug Martel

2

VOL 33 No 1 2005

CONTENTS 1 Straight and Level

2 VAA News

4 Friends of the Red Barn

6 Vintage Hall of Fame Espie Butch Joyce by HG Frautschy

8 The Vintage Instructor Winter Operations by Doug Stewart

10 Reminiscing with Big Nick The Model 18 by Nick Rezich

14 Not Just Another Cub Story The Bair Wings J-3 by Budd Davisson

19 Type Club List 25 Mystery Plane

by HG Frautschy

26 Pass It To Buck The Best of Buck by Buck Hilbert

30 Classified Ads

COVERS FRONT COVER In 1940 The Wings cigarette brand was advertised using a number of gimmicks includmiddot ing a prize of a Piper Cub given away each week on the radio program Wings of Destiny Craig Bairs awardmiddotwinning Cub is one of those very airplanes Read about it in Budd Davissons story starting on page 14 EM photo using Canon professional photography products by EM Chief photographer Jim Koepnick EM photo plane flown by Bruce Moore

BACK COVER Setting the Record depicts the singleshyengine world speed recordmiddotsetting ftight by the late Jim Wright in his amazing recreation of the Hughes Hmiddot1 racer The FAI category Cmiddot1d record was set at 30407 mph on September 13 2002 at the RenoshyStead airport in Reno Nevada Thomas A Smith a professional artist specializing in aviation was awarded an Honorable Mention ribbon by the jury of the 2004 EM Sport Aviation Art Competition for his acrylic airbrush on canvas work You can reach Mr Smith in Tucson Arizona at 52()39amp6429

STAFF Publisher Tom Poberezny

Editor-in-Chief Scott Spangler

Executive DirectorEditor HG Frautschy

Administrative Assistant Theresa Books

News Editor Ric Reynolds

Photography Jim Koepnick

Bonnie Bartel

Production Manager Julie Russo

Advertising Sales Loy Hickman

913-268-6646

Classified Ad Manager Isabelle Wiske

Copy Editor Colleen Walsh

Kathleen Witman

Graphic Design Olivia Phillip

GEOFF ROBISON PRESIDENT VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Speaking up for your airport Tis the season when the inside of

the hangar feels colder than the outshyside air because in some cases it is No one warned me that my blood would thin over time to a point where I just have so little tolerance of the cold weather It used to be an acceptable notion to not hesitate in getting the airplane out on a 30degF day and go somewhere Now I shiver at the thought of going out on a 40degFshyplus day Yeah yeah I can hear all you snowbirds chuckling at me all the way from Florida or wherever youre nesting this winter I guess Ill just have to wait out old man winter at least one more year

It seems of late that more and more GA airports are being threatened by local politicians and real estate moshyguls who envision a better use for our valuable not to mention irreplaceable aviation facilities Nearly every aviashytion newsletter or website I read of late has news of yet another airport on the targeted for closure list When is this phenomenon going to stop What can or should be done When one looks closely at the efforts put forth by groups such as Friends of Meigs Field and othshyers one can only wonder What else could have possibly been done to save that airfield I and many other tenshyants of historic Smith Field Airport in Fort Wayne Indiana have recently exshyperienced just such a threat to our own treasured airfield More than two years ago our local airport authority voted to close this facility and in the aftermath of unrelenting efforts by hundreds of supporters of this airfield that vote was eventually reversed I firmly believe we as aviators enthusiasts and supporters need to do a better job of preserving promoting and protecting all facilities

on a continual basis -not just when they are suddenly threatened with closhysure A continuous effort to keep your aviation facility perceived in the comshymunity as a valued asset as well as a safety asset is absolutely crucial and alshyways the best approach to avoiding the inevitable We can all do more to assist in educating the public and helping to maintain a positive image of these facilities

I promised the membership last month that I would keep you updated on the business of your organization so heres the long and short of it The Board of Directors met in regular sesshysion on November 5 This meeting served as an excellent exercise for me to cut my teeth on because an unshyusual number of issues were at hand for the Board of Directors to address As I previously alluded to the Board members have been paying close atshytention to our financial health

We (the Board) are going to conshytinue to capitalize on another memshybership drive and enhance our curshyrent fundraising efforts such as the Friends of the Red Barn campaign The membership drive is not just a key initiative from a financial point of view it is all about our strength as an association Your former VAA President Butch Joyce and the staff were successful in earlier membershyship drives The membership under Butchs watch was easily doubled and at one time nearly tripled Even though EAA has always been helpful with funding these direct-mail memshybership initiatives the age-old rule of business always has an impact It takes money to make money and that always means its a bit of a roll of the dice to sign onto this type of

initiative You as a member can help out by asking your friends to join up with us If we are still into black ink at the end of the current fiscal year (March I 2005) be assured it will be all about initiatives related to the membership drive and all of you fine folks who have graciously supported the Friends of the Red Barn fund As I have mentioned in the past the VAA continues its sound financial status We will continue to look to the future so that we are able to remain on firm financial ground

As mentioned in the December issue of Vintage you will see the enshyhanced benefits of the 2005 Friends of the Red Barn program in this issue of Vintage I am certain I speak for the entire Board of Directors when I say we all hope you will find these proshygram enhancements beneficial and of good value for your much-needed contributions Again for those of you who have supported this effort in the past you have our heartfelt gratitude And for those of you who have conshysidered supporting these efforts in the past we hope you find these new levshyels of giving appealing and reconsider supporting your organization Please keep in mind that all contributions to Friends of the Red Barn fund go dishyrectly toward offsetting the expenses involved in all the valued programs benefits and exhibits offered in the Vintage area during the annual EAA AirVenture event

Lets all pull in the same direction for the good of aviation

Remember we are all better toshygether Join us and have it all

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Start Your Virtual Visit Here Theres no waiting in line for the

EAA AirVenture Museum virtual tour Just click on The Virtual Museum headshying on the left side of the home page at wwwairventuremuseumorg to see an arshyray of virtual and interactive activities

Sit inside the cockpit of the XP-51 Mustang Watch a first-person oral hisshytory Timeless Voices video Or cruise around the EM AirVenture Museum and explore innovative airplanes such as the Aerocar Loudenslager Shark and Rutan VariEze prototypes

Missed some of the museums webshycast presentations Youll find them archived there too See whats going on at Pioneer Airport using the live webcam Like the virtual museum the webcam runs 247 year-round Note some of these activities require the latest version of the Apple QuickTime player or Macromedia Flash player which are easy and free to download

Joe Funk Passes Away at Age 94 Joseph c Funk of Coffeyville Kanshysas who with his twin brother Howard built 365 Funk airplanes in the 1930s and 1940s passed away on December 2 at the age of 94 in Coffeyville Kansas Born in Akron Ohio on September 171910 the brothers built just over 330 Funk airplanes in their factory that at one time employed 100 people (EAA has a donated 1940 Funk B in its collection) As a side business they also created and produced for the Ford tractor a power takeoff which sold well When the bottom fell out of the aircraft industry they switched to transmissions and beshycame Funk Manufacturing which was later acquired by John Deere and continues to be the largest emshyployer in the city of Coffeyville Joe EAA 37967 continued flying until the 1980s and was often present at the annual Funk Fly-in His brother Howard passed away in 1995

JANUARY 2005

VAA Volunteers of the Year Each year during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh two

special VAA volunteers are chosen one as the Beshyhind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year and the other as Flightline Volunteer of the Year

This years recipient of the Behind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year is Paul Kyle of Germantown Wisconsin Paul has been attending EAA AirVenshyture with his father Leland since he was a young man and started volunteering as soon as possible He s become a real jack of all trades and has been particularly active in the Tall Pines Cafe before heading off to work a shift on the flightline Hes also been busy on many of the weekend work parshyties we have during the spring and fall helping keep the VAA buildings in top shape

Our Flightline Volunteer of the Year is Doug Marshytel (right) of Littleton Colorado In his real life Doug is a cardiologist and he really looks forward to spending a week away from it all and working the flightline directing and parking vintage airplanes in our area Doug so enjoys his time on the line that there are times when its hard to get him to quit at the end of his shift

The awards were presented during the fall VAA Board Meeting held the first weekend in November Our congratulations and thanks to Doug Martel and Paul Kyle our 2004 VAA Volunteers of the Year

EAA Seeks Nominations for by the membership it is anticishyClass I Directors pated that 15 Class I Directors

Pursuant to the Amended and will be elected at the 2005 annual Restated Articles and Bylaws of business meeting held in Oshkosh Experimental Aircraft Association This number includes current Class Inc the President has designated a I Directors whose terms expire nominating committee of six EAA during 2005 and additional Class members to receive nominations I Directors as necessary so they for Class I Directors Its members collectively compose at least 51 are Chairman Ron Scott N8708 Sky percent of the Board The current Lane Rt I East Troy WI 53120 Class I Directors whose terms do lonnie Fritsche W6305 Peninshy not expire in 2005 will continue sula Court Neshkoro WI 54960 to serve Robert D Lumley 1265 S 124th The terms of four Class I DirecshyStreet Brookfield WI 53005 Fred tors expire in 2005 John Beetham Stadler 1718 Autumn Lane Arlingshy Mal Gross Paul Poberezny and Alan ton TX 76012-5437 Cody Welch Ritchie The individuals elected to 8529 Pineview Lake Dr Linden MI fill these seats will serve for three 48451 and Harry leisloft 2787 Leishy years to expire in 2008 Class I Dishysure World Mesa Al 85206 rectors may serve for an unlimited

In light of the modified govershy number of successive terms nance structure recently approved To achieve a total of 26 Class I

Paul Kyle

Doug Martel

2

GEOFF ROBISON PRESIDENT VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Speaking up for your airport Tis the season when the inside of

the hangar feels colder than the outshyside air because in some cases it is No one warned me that my blood would thin over time to a point where I just have so little tolerance of the cold weather It used to be an acceptable notion to not hesitate in getting the airplane out on a 30degF day and go somewhere Now I shiver at the thought of going out on a 40degFshyplus day Yeah yeah I can hear all you snowbirds chuckling at me all the way from Florida or wherever youre nesting this winter I guess Ill just have to wait out old man winter at least one more year

It seems of late that more and more GA airports are being threatened by local politicians and real estate moshyguls who envision a better use for our valuable not to mention irreplaceable aviation facilities Nearly every aviashytion newsletter or website I read of late has news of yet another airport on the targeted for closure list When is this phenomenon going to stop What can or should be done When one looks closely at the efforts put forth by groups such as Friends of Meigs Field and othshyers one can only wonder What else could have possibly been done to save that airfield I and many other tenshyants of historic Smith Field Airport in Fort Wayne Indiana have recently exshyperienced just such a threat to our own treasured airfield More than two years ago our local airport authority voted to close this facility and in the aftermath of unrelenting efforts by hundreds of supporters of this airfield that vote was eventually reversed I firmly believe we as aviators enthusiasts and supporters need to do a better job of preserving promoting and protecting all facilities

on a continual basis -not just when they are suddenly threatened with closhysure A continuous effort to keep your aviation facility perceived in the comshymunity as a valued asset as well as a safety asset is absolutely crucial and alshyways the best approach to avoiding the inevitable We can all do more to assist in educating the public and helping to maintain a positive image of these facilities

I promised the membership last month that I would keep you updated on the business of your organization so heres the long and short of it The Board of Directors met in regular sesshysion on November 5 This meeting served as an excellent exercise for me to cut my teeth on because an unshyusual number of issues were at hand for the Board of Directors to address As I previously alluded to the Board members have been paying close atshytention to our financial health

We (the Board) are going to conshytinue to capitalize on another memshybership drive and enhance our curshyrent fundraising efforts such as the Friends of the Red Barn campaign The membership drive is not just a key initiative from a financial point of view it is all about our strength as an association Your former VAA President Butch Joyce and the staff were successful in earlier membershyship drives The membership under Butchs watch was easily doubled and at one time nearly tripled Even though EAA has always been helpful with funding these direct-mail memshybership initiatives the age-old rule of business always has an impact It takes money to make money and that always means its a bit of a roll of the dice to sign onto this type of

initiative You as a member can help out by asking your friends to join up with us If we are still into black ink at the end of the current fiscal year (March I 2005) be assured it will be all about initiatives related to the membership drive and all of you fine folks who have graciously supported the Friends of the Red Barn fund As I have mentioned in the past the VAA continues its sound financial status We will continue to look to the future so that we are able to remain on firm financial ground

As mentioned in the December issue of Vintage you will see the enshyhanced benefits of the 2005 Friends of the Red Barn program in this issue of Vintage I am certain I speak for the entire Board of Directors when I say we all hope you will find these proshygram enhancements beneficial and of good value for your much-needed contributions Again for those of you who have supported this effort in the past you have our heartfelt gratitude And for those of you who have conshysidered supporting these efforts in the past we hope you find these new levshyels of giving appealing and reconsider supporting your organization Please keep in mind that all contributions to Friends of the Red Barn fund go dishyrectly toward offsetting the expenses involved in all the valued programs benefits and exhibits offered in the Vintage area during the annual EAA AirVenture event

Lets all pull in the same direction for the good of aviation

Remember we are all better toshygether Join us and have it all

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Start Your Virtual Visit Here Theres no waiting in line for the

EAA AirVenture Museum virtual tour Just click on The Virtual Museum headshying on the left side of the home page at wwwairventuremuseumorg to see an arshyray of virtual and interactive activities

Sit inside the cockpit of the XP-51 Mustang Watch a first-person oral hisshytory Timeless Voices video Or cruise around the EM AirVenture Museum and explore innovative airplanes such as the Aerocar Loudenslager Shark and Rutan VariEze prototypes

Missed some of the museums webshycast presentations Youll find them archived there too See whats going on at Pioneer Airport using the live webcam Like the virtual museum the webcam runs 247 year-round Note some of these activities require the latest version of the Apple QuickTime player or Macromedia Flash player which are easy and free to download

Joe Funk Passes Away at Age 94 Joseph c Funk of Coffeyville Kanshysas who with his twin brother Howard built 365 Funk airplanes in the 1930s and 1940s passed away on December 2 at the age of 94 in Coffeyville Kansas Born in Akron Ohio on September 171910 the brothers built just over 330 Funk airplanes in their factory that at one time employed 100 people (EAA has a donated 1940 Funk B in its collection) As a side business they also created and produced for the Ford tractor a power takeoff which sold well When the bottom fell out of the aircraft industry they switched to transmissions and beshycame Funk Manufacturing which was later acquired by John Deere and continues to be the largest emshyployer in the city of Coffeyville Joe EAA 37967 continued flying until the 1980s and was often present at the annual Funk Fly-in His brother Howard passed away in 1995

JANUARY 2005

VAA Volunteers of the Year Each year during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh two

special VAA volunteers are chosen one as the Beshyhind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year and the other as Flightline Volunteer of the Year

This years recipient of the Behind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year is Paul Kyle of Germantown Wisconsin Paul has been attending EAA AirVenshyture with his father Leland since he was a young man and started volunteering as soon as possible He s become a real jack of all trades and has been particularly active in the Tall Pines Cafe before heading off to work a shift on the flightline Hes also been busy on many of the weekend work parshyties we have during the spring and fall helping keep the VAA buildings in top shape

Our Flightline Volunteer of the Year is Doug Marshytel (right) of Littleton Colorado In his real life Doug is a cardiologist and he really looks forward to spending a week away from it all and working the flightline directing and parking vintage airplanes in our area Doug so enjoys his time on the line that there are times when its hard to get him to quit at the end of his shift

The awards were presented during the fall VAA Board Meeting held the first weekend in November Our congratulations and thanks to Doug Martel and Paul Kyle our 2004 VAA Volunteers of the Year

EAA Seeks Nominations for by the membership it is anticishyClass I Directors pated that 15 Class I Directors

Pursuant to the Amended and will be elected at the 2005 annual Restated Articles and Bylaws of business meeting held in Oshkosh Experimental Aircraft Association This number includes current Class Inc the President has designated a I Directors whose terms expire nominating committee of six EAA during 2005 and additional Class members to receive nominations I Directors as necessary so they for Class I Directors Its members collectively compose at least 51 are Chairman Ron Scott N8708 Sky percent of the Board The current Lane Rt I East Troy WI 53120 Class I Directors whose terms do lonnie Fritsche W6305 Peninshy not expire in 2005 will continue sula Court Neshkoro WI 54960 to serve Robert D Lumley 1265 S 124th The terms of four Class I DirecshyStreet Brookfield WI 53005 Fred tors expire in 2005 John Beetham Stadler 1718 Autumn Lane Arlingshy Mal Gross Paul Poberezny and Alan ton TX 76012-5437 Cody Welch Ritchie The individuals elected to 8529 Pineview Lake Dr Linden MI fill these seats will serve for three 48451 and Harry leisloft 2787 Leishy years to expire in 2008 Class I Dishysure World Mesa Al 85206 rectors may serve for an unlimited

In light of the modified govershy number of successive terms nance structure recently approved To achieve a total of 26 Class I

Paul Kyle

Doug Martel

2

Start Your Virtual Visit Here Theres no waiting in line for the

EAA AirVenture Museum virtual tour Just click on The Virtual Museum headshying on the left side of the home page at wwwairventuremuseumorg to see an arshyray of virtual and interactive activities

Sit inside the cockpit of the XP-51 Mustang Watch a first-person oral hisshytory Timeless Voices video Or cruise around the EM AirVenture Museum and explore innovative airplanes such as the Aerocar Loudenslager Shark and Rutan VariEze prototypes

Missed some of the museums webshycast presentations Youll find them archived there too See whats going on at Pioneer Airport using the live webcam Like the virtual museum the webcam runs 247 year-round Note some of these activities require the latest version of the Apple QuickTime player or Macromedia Flash player which are easy and free to download

Joe Funk Passes Away at Age 94 Joseph c Funk of Coffeyville Kanshysas who with his twin brother Howard built 365 Funk airplanes in the 1930s and 1940s passed away on December 2 at the age of 94 in Coffeyville Kansas Born in Akron Ohio on September 171910 the brothers built just over 330 Funk airplanes in their factory that at one time employed 100 people (EAA has a donated 1940 Funk B in its collection) As a side business they also created and produced for the Ford tractor a power takeoff which sold well When the bottom fell out of the aircraft industry they switched to transmissions and beshycame Funk Manufacturing which was later acquired by John Deere and continues to be the largest emshyployer in the city of Coffeyville Joe EAA 37967 continued flying until the 1980s and was often present at the annual Funk Fly-in His brother Howard passed away in 1995

JANUARY 2005

VAA Volunteers of the Year Each year during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh two

special VAA volunteers are chosen one as the Beshyhind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year and the other as Flightline Volunteer of the Year

This years recipient of the Behind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year is Paul Kyle of Germantown Wisconsin Paul has been attending EAA AirVenshyture with his father Leland since he was a young man and started volunteering as soon as possible He s become a real jack of all trades and has been particularly active in the Tall Pines Cafe before heading off to work a shift on the flightline Hes also been busy on many of the weekend work parshyties we have during the spring and fall helping keep the VAA buildings in top shape

Our Flightline Volunteer of the Year is Doug Marshytel (right) of Littleton Colorado In his real life Doug is a cardiologist and he really looks forward to spending a week away from it all and working the flightline directing and parking vintage airplanes in our area Doug so enjoys his time on the line that there are times when its hard to get him to quit at the end of his shift

The awards were presented during the fall VAA Board Meeting held the first weekend in November Our congratulations and thanks to Doug Martel and Paul Kyle our 2004 VAA Volunteers of the Year

EAA Seeks Nominations for by the membership it is anticishyClass I Directors pated that 15 Class I Directors

Pursuant to the Amended and will be elected at the 2005 annual Restated Articles and Bylaws of business meeting held in Oshkosh Experimental Aircraft Association This number includes current Class Inc the President has designated a I Directors whose terms expire nominating committee of six EAA during 2005 and additional Class members to receive nominations I Directors as necessary so they for Class I Directors Its members collectively compose at least 51 are Chairman Ron Scott N8708 Sky percent of the Board The current Lane Rt I East Troy WI 53120 Class I Directors whose terms do lonnie Fritsche W6305 Peninshy not expire in 2005 will continue sula Court Neshkoro WI 54960 to serve Robert D Lumley 1265 S 124th The terms of four Class I DirecshyStreet Brookfield WI 53005 Fred tors expire in 2005 John Beetham Stadler 1718 Autumn Lane Arlingshy Mal Gross Paul Poberezny and Alan ton TX 76012-5437 Cody Welch Ritchie The individuals elected to 8529 Pineview Lake Dr Linden MI fill these seats will serve for three 48451 and Harry leisloft 2787 Leishy years to expire in 2008 Class I Dishysure World Mesa Al 85206 rectors may serve for an unlimited

In light of the modified govershy number of successive terms nance structure recently approved To achieve a total of 26 Class I

Paul Kyle

Doug Martel

2

Directors an additional 11 Class I Directors will be elected Upon election initial term expiration dates will be assigned to these 11 so their expirations are staggered as required by the Associations Arshyticles and Bylaws Class I Directors elected in 2006 and thereafter shall serve for terms of three (3) years

By this notice nominations are hereby solicited for the IS Class I Director positions to be filled at the 2005 annual membership meeting Nominations for these positions shall be made on officia l nominashytion forms available bye-mailing jreadereaaorg or writing EAA PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903shy3086 Attn Judy Reader

Candidates must be current EAA members and the nomination petition should include a recent photo and a brief resume of the individuals background and expeshyrience Each petition requires the signatures of at least 25 EAA memshybers including their EAA numbers and membership expiration dates Submit nomination petitions to Nominating Committee Chairman Ron Scott EAA Aviation Center PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903shy3086 no later than March 1 2005 If insufficient nominations are received the boards Governance Committee will make additional nominations of its own

The annual business meeting will be held during EAA AirVenshyture Oshkosh at the Theater in the Woods Wittman Regional Airport Oshkosh Wisconsin at 10 am COT on Saturday July 30 2005 Voting instructions and procedures will be published in a forthcoming issue of EAA Sport Aviation and EAA Sport Pilot

Alan Shackleton Secretary

Experimental Aircraft Association Inc

Mail Could Hold Your Winning Ticket in EAA 2005 Sweepstakes

Watch your home mailbox this month for a special delivery that could ultimately result in your winshy

ning a better than new totally reshyfurbished Piper Cherokee 140 The EAA 200S Sweepstakes is under way and this year were making it easy to enter and become eligible to win Along with the Cherokee top prizes also include a brand new 2005 Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle aJohn Deere X475 tracshytor and a Bose Aviation Headset x Winning entries will be drawn and prizes delivered at the end of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 Imagshyine flying home from Oshkosh in a new airplane

This is the first time were pershysonalizing the coupons and mailing them separately from the magazine directly to members said Elissa Lines EAA vice president of develshyopment Entering the sweepstakes is as easy as mailing them back A donation is not required to enter although a minimum amount of $1 per coupon is suggested Donations are tax-deductible to the extent alshylowed by law and you can enter as many times as youd like

The annual EAA sweepstakes raises crucial dollars that allow the association to continue its imporshytant work in all areas of its mission preparing for aviations futureshycreating and expanding youth education programs like Young Eagles middot preserving aviations rich heritage-proceeds help maintain restore and operate vintage airshycraft that are part of EAAs flying heritage program and golden age of aviation at EAAs Pioneer Airport the sweepstakes program also provides support for EAA AirVenture Museum operations exhibit development public programs and other activities middot promoting access to the dream of flight and middot protecting the right to fly by allowing EAA to continue its advocacy mission on behalf of the membership

Not Your Fathers Cherokee The slick refurbished Piper inshy

cludes a number of enhancements and upgrades that belie its 1969 pedigree Start under the cowl where weve installed an over-

hauled-to-better-than-new 160-hp Red Gold engine from Teledyne Mattituck Services The new powshyerplant turns a new prop from Sensenich Propeller of Lititz Pennshysylvania speeding the airplane to more than ISO mph

Art Mattsons Aircraft Modificashytions Research and Development (AMRampD) of Woodstock Illinois supplied the prop tip mods vortex generators gap seals and stabilashytor tips while Met-Co-Aire of Fulshylerton California contributed the wingtips and LP Aero Plastics Inc supplied the windshield and winshydows A King KLX-135A comm GPS and King KT-76A transponshyder by BendixKing was purchased from Airtronics Engine instrumenshytation is by Mitchell Aircraft Prodshyucts Lake Bluff Illinois while the engine pre-oil pump comes from George McCrillis of Oilamatic Inc Englewood Colorado

Custom interior including the modified pilot and copilot seats were designed and installed by Dennis Wolter of Air Mod Batavia Ohio Acoustical engineer Jon Telshylock installed a Skandia EASE sound control system New interior plastic by Heinol amp Associates Tyler Texas and brand new seat belts by Aircraft Belts Inc Kemah Texas round out the Pipers special modifications

FSDOs Officially Authorized to Issue Sport Pilot Certificates

The FAA has released specific inshystructions to its Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs) outlining procedures for issuing student pilot certificates to sport pilot candidates

The document N 870034 Isshysuance of Student Pilot Certifishycates to Sport Pilot Candidates should clear up any confusion in the fie ld regarding issuance of student pilot certificates says Martin Weaver FAAs Light-Sport Aviation Branch manager Quesshytions regarding the notice should be directed to the Certification and Flight Training Branch AFSshy840 at 202-267-9374

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

The Vintage Aircraft Association is a major participant in the worlds largest annual sport aviation eventshyEAA AirVenture Oshkosh The Vinshytage division hosts and parks more than 2000 vintage airplanes year from the Red Barn area of Wittman Field south to the perimeter of the airport

Approximately 450 dedshyicated volunteers from all parts of the country and world help make this an unforgettable time for our many EAA AirVenture guests

The financial support for

each

levels entitles you to a certificate of appreciation along with a letter of acknowledgement of your gift The VAA is a nonprofit 501(c)3 so your contribution to this fund is tax deshyductible to the extent allowed by law

New for the current 2005 fundraising campaign

SILVER LEVEL ($250) and higher donors in addition to the above mentioned items will receive two passes to the VAA Volunteer Party

DIAMOND LEVEL $1 000 GIFT

PLATINUM LEVEL $750 GIFT

GOLD LEVEL $500 GIFT

SILVER LEVEL $250 GIFT

BRONZE LEVEL $100 GIFT

LOYAL SUPPORTER $99 OR UNDER GIFT

and a special Friends of the Red Barn cap

GOLD LEVEL ($500) conshytributors in addition to the above mentioned items will receive one certificate for a flight on EAAs Ford Tri-Motor redeemable during EAA AirVenture or during the summer flying season at Pioneer Airport Youll also

the various activities in connection with the weeklong event in the VAA Red Barn area is underwritten by a yearly special convention support fund This effort is the VAAs Friends of the Red Barn program

This fundraising program is an annual affair beginning each year on July 1 and ending June 30 of the following year As noted above there are six levels of gifts and gift recognishytion

Each contribution at one of these JANUARY 2005

Your name will be listed as a contribshyutor in Vintage Airplane magazine on the Vintage Aircraft website and on a special display at the VAA Red Barn (Please let us know if you do not want your name published)

BRONZE LEVEL ($100) and higher donors will also be presented with a special name badge recognizing your level of participation During EAA AirVenture youll have access to the Red Barn Volunteer Center a nice place to cool off

receive one ticket for a free breakfast at the Tall Pines Cafe for the full week of EAA AirVenture

PLATINUM LEVEL ($750) donors will receive two certificates for a ride on the Ford Tri-Motor redeemable during EAA AirVenture or during the summer flying season at Pioneer Airshyport Youll also receive two tickets for a free breakfast at the Tall Pines Cafe for the full week of EAA AirVenture As added thanks you will receive two tickets to the VAA Picnic during EAA

4

AirVenture as well as a two-day auto pass to park your automobile conveshyniently close to the flightline

DIAMOND LEVEL ($1000) doshynors will also receive two certificates for a ride on the Ford Tri-Motor reshydeemable during EAA AirVenture or during the summer flying season at Pioneer Airport and two tickets for a free breakfast at the Tall Pines Cafe for the full week of EAA AirVenture As additional thanks youll receive

two tickets to the VAA Picnic during EAA AirVenture as well as a full-week auto pass to park your automobile closer to the flightline

This is a grand opportunity for all Vintage members to join together as key financial supporters of the Vintage division It will be a truly rewarding experience for each of us as individushyals to be a part of supporting the finshyest gathering of Antique Classic and Contemporary airplanes in the world

At whatever level is comfortable for you wont you please join those of us who recognize the tremendously valuable key role the Vintage Aircraft Association has played in preserving the irreplaceable grass-roots and genshyeral aviation airplanes of the last 100 years Your participation in EAAs Vintage Aircraft Association Friends of the Red Barn will help ensure the very finest in EAA AirVenture Oshshykosh Vintage Red Barn programs

VAA Friends of the Red Barn Name ________________________________________________________________________ __

EAA______________________________VAA ____________________________

Address_______________________________________________________________________

City StateZip ___________________________________________________________

Phone________________E-Mail__________________

Please choose your level of participation

___ Vintage Diamond Level Gift - $100000 Mail your contribution to

___ Vintage Platinum Level Gift - $75000 EAA

___ Vintage Gold Level Gift - $50000 VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOC PO Box 3086

___ Vintage Silver Level Gift - $25000 OSHKOSH WI 54903middot3086 ___ Vintage Bronze Level Gift - $10000

___ Vintage Loyal Supporter Gift - $9900 or under

D Payment Enclosed (Make checks payable to Vintage Aircraft Assoc)

D 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

NameofCompany ________________________________________________________

The Vintage Aircraft Association is a non-profit educational organization under IRS SOlc3 rules Under Federal Law the deducshytion from Federal Income tax for charitable contributions is limited to the amount by which any money (and the value ofany 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

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

VIN T AGE HALL OF FAME

Espie Butch Joyce

Butch Joyces first logbook entry for a half-hour of dual instruction at age 10 in a]-3 Cub was made on Septemshyber 9 1954 but his roots in aviation go all the way back to his birth His fashyther Espie Sr was a pilot and owned a variety of aircraft when his son was growing up next to the local airport near Mayodan North Carolina

While in college and serving in the Army (where he served with the elite Special Forces Green Berets) he built a Pitts Special biplane and became an EM member serving as EM Chapter 8s president during the 1960s

Later in that decade Butch became involved with an aircraft group whose primary interest was older airplanes That group now VAA Chapter 3 reshykindled his love for antique and classic aircraft and he would go on to own and fly a Staggerwing Beech Monoshycoupe UPF-7 Clipped Wing Cub and a Model 35 Bonanza among others Starting on the AntiqueClassic Board as an advisor in 1981 he was elected president in 1988 and held that posishytion until 2004 a span of 16 years

Butch says that hes most proud of the fact that in 1991 in cooperation with the Aviation Unlimited Agency he initiated the creation of the VAA Aircraft Insurance program He credits his wife Norma for keeping the proshygram running well in an ever-changshying insurance market The program has grown to become one of the VAA divisions most popular benefits and has helped create growth that has seen the divisions membership more than double from 3200 to 8400 members

During that time he has also served as the chairman of VAAs activities during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh He was presented with the EAA Presishydents Award in 2004

After stepping down as VM presishydent in 2004 Butch was elected to continue to serve on the VAA Board where he will continue to serve the membership of the VAA

HG FRAUTSCHY

Butch and his human powered flying machine at the age of 3 By age 5 he was allowed to walk across the road and visit the small airport adjacent to the homestead Butchs willingness to hop into anyones airplane to go for a ride resulted in a couple of long disshycussions with his mother His pal on many of his journeys across the road was his dog Studebaker

1956-Butchs father Espie Joyce Sr with his brand new Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer Butch would fly this Tri-Pacer more than 1000 hours and earn his commercial pilot certificate in the airplane

The Joyce Flying Service circa 1956 The airport was on the Joyce family farm property As a young man Butch spent much of his time at the field and was inshyspired by many local pilots including Charles Bailey John Pace and Ray Griffin who taught young Butch the Flying Fanner act Griffin performed at air shows

JAN UARY 2005 6

ilPIPllt~O plenty elbow grease (along with a great paint job) to this early Bonanza during its resshytoration Later Butch would fly a twin-engine Beech Baron he had refinished in a similar color scheme

The Monocoupe has been a fashyvorite for decades and Butch bought this 160-hp Monocoupe 90A in 1969 and flew it for a number of years

Below Biplanes have always been a favorite of Butchsshythis UPF-7 was owned and flown by him and while in colshylege he built a Pitts Special

In his early teens Butch started building a 1934 Ford hot rod so hed have something to drive when he turned 16 Both the hot rod and airshyplanes competed for his interest that year as he soloed a J-3 Cub

Aircraft Association brought Butch in contact with hundreds of volunteers Just one of the many is shown here reshyceiving her Behind the Scenes Volunshyteer of the Year award Sue Eichman

Butch has served the VAA division since the AntiqueClassic days starting in 1981 as an advisor He began the Type Club tent in 1982 and has served as the chairman of convention activities He served as president from 1988 until 2004 a remarkable tenure unmatched by any other VAA president

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

DOU G STEWART

Winter Operations I was planning on leaving for the

airport early this morning to meet a client for tailwheel training in my 1947 Piper Super Cruiser The thershymometer outside my window was registering in the mid-30s (and this was just the first week of Novemshyber) and the wind was making a moaning sound as it blew the last of the dying maple leaves around the corners of my house Looking up at the dark gray clouds whipping past overhead I noticed that there were snowflakes here and there

How could this be Just a few weeks ago I was still wearing shorts and a T-shirt and now I had to think about winter operations It seemed like only yesterday that I was concerned about density altishytude considerations and watching oil and cylinder head temperatures on the climb out Today I would have to think about the possibility of an engine preheat and my own body would need the extra warmth of a pair of long johns for the cold back seat of my PA-12

There was no escaping the fact that the time of year was here when I would have to change my menshytality from warm-weather operashytions to winter operations There are some pilots like my friend Tim who rather than deal with the burdens of operating in cold climes move to southern locales In Tims case I can hardly blame him If I think that the back seat of my Super Cruiser is cold it must still feel tropical in comparison to the back hole of his Stearman But those pilots who migrate to warmer

JANUARY 2005

climates in the winter dont often get to experience the phenomenal performance that only a cold highshypressure day affords us in the winshytertime They dont get to experishyence the truly CAVU skies that can only be found at least up north on those mid-winter days Winter flyshying certainly has some wonderful benefits but it also has some speshycial considerations Lets take a look at some of them

The first consideration Id like to mention should be a no-brainer yet every year there are pilots who seem oblivious to the fact that airplanes will not fly very well if at all when the lifting surfaces have been conshytaminated with ice snow or frost They manage to ruin perfectly fine airplanes when they crash as a result of an attempted takeoff without reshymoving the contamination I saw a pilot once who started to taxi to the runway with at least 2 inches of powshyder snow sitting on the wings and tail of his airplane He had thought that the snow would blow off the wings at the start of his takeoff roll Fly NOT as one of my younger sons might say

So if upon your arrival at the airshyport on a frosty winters morn you find your wings prop and tail feathshyers coated with ice snow or even just frost the first order of business will be to remove it (Of course if your aircraft has been parked in a hangar there might be other considerations if you find frozen contamination on your airplane) If the tops of your wings are painted a dark color like the Tennessee Red of my Super Cruiser

and the sun is shining even in the depths of winter it shouldnt take too long for that passive solar heat to do its thing But if your wings are a weather-beaten white and havent seen a coat of wax in awhile it could be quite some time before they are rid of their lift-defying contamination

For many years one of my winshytertime duties at the flight school where I worked was the removal of snow and ice from the tied-down airplanes on the line It didnt take me too long to realize how dark colors and smooth waxed surfaces aided me in my job Those aircraft were quickly and easily de-iced But those aircraft that had old chalky and faded finishes someshytimes had contamination stuck on their surfaces until the temperashytures rose above freezing And there were times when that might be more than several days

I do hope that you are also aware that even a thin coat of rough frost could have the potential to prevent the wings from generating enough lift to allow takeoff So if you find your wings frost-covered and the sun and breeze dont have enough strength to sublimate it (or you dont have the time to wait for the sun to do its thing) be prepared to remove or polish the frost manually At least while you are vigorously rubbing the wings down with an old towel youll also be increasing your circulation raising your body heat and getting a wonderful red glow on your cheeks

Now if it has been cold enough to leave frost snow or ice on your airframe then it is probably

8

HOMEBUILDER WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Jan 29-30

Jan 29-30

Feb 25-27

Feb 26-27

March 5-6

March 19-20

Denver CO

Oshkosh WI

Griffin GA (Atlanta Area)

Lakeland Fl (Sun N Fun Campus)

Dallas TX

bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics bull Cas Welding Test Flying your Project

bull TIC Welding

bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics

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bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Electrical Systems and Avionics

~ ~ ~ ~~ __ a _

1-800-WORKSHOP 1-800-967-5746

YOU CAN BUILD IT LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

cold enough to warrant the preshyheating of your engine There are some folks who advocate keeping the engine preheating all the time while parked utilizing an electrishycal preheating device and there are others who insist it is better to only preheat prior to each planned flight (If only the heat generated by the arguments between these two opposing factions could be harnessed I could easily reduce the electric bill for preheating my own airplane) There are also those folks who prefer to use some form of forced hot air to preheat their aircraft I guess whatever melts your candle but regardless of how you preheat it should be done if you care at all about extending the life of your engine instruments and avionics

Your engine isn t the only thing that needs preheating your instrushyments and avionics need that preheat as well Not only is the oil in your engine sump thick but also every moving part in your airplane is going to be sluggish The gyros in your inshystruments the cables and linkages of throttle mixture and prop controls and the displays on your avionics all need a preheat as well

My personal way of taking care of the preheating is to have a Tashynis heater heating the oil sump and cylinders of the engine I also have a small ceramic heater inside the cockpit These are both plugged into an inexpensive 24-hour timer which I set to turn on about four hours before my expected deparshyture time In this way the airplane is already warm when I get to the airport It is rare that I have a difshyficult start this way

The issues of getting our cranky aviation engines started in the winshyter is worthy of a separate article so Ill deal with my techniques and the dangers associated with those techniques in the next article In the meantime I guess Ill go dig those long johns out of their sumshymer storage Its feeling like it might be a long winter

TAKE SOME OF THE EXPERIMENTING

OUT OF HOMEBUILDING HANDS-ON

REMINISCING WITH BIG NICK

THE MODEL 18 Reprinted from Vintage Airplane August 1974

The Model 18 like the Howard factory got off to a bad start and the climb-out was slow When the first bids for CPTP and Army PT trainers were let Howards Board of Direcshytors could not make up their minds whether to get a piece of the action or not The issue at hand was money Mr BD DeWeese our new preSident finally convinced them we could and should build the trainer

When the Board finally decided to go ahead with the new project it was too late Fairchild Ryan Stearman and Waco all had airplanes ready to go Howard went ahead with the project and we built the new plane to meet CAA certification requireshyments and Army specs

The first move by BD was to reshyhire Gordon Israel as chief engineer Gordon was happy to return to Howshyard and was eager to get the new airshyplane designed and built

It was just a week into the projshy10 JANUARY 2005

by Nick Rezich All Photos Courtesy the Nick Rezich Collection

ect when the head-banging contest started First it was BD trying to tell Gordon what to design and second was the stingy Board of Directors dolshying out a handful of chicken feed to build it with

With the money allotted Gordon designed the original 18 around a 16S-hp Warner engine His new deshysign was a slick one The fuselage was steel tube with the rear-half fabshyric covered and the cockpit forward section fitted with removable sheet metal The wings were two-pieceshymono spar all wood full cantilever panels The tail group included steel flippers and rudder and a wooden stabilizer and fin The final layout looked great

Ted Linnert designed a beautiful control system-all needle bearings and balanced 100 percent aerodyshynamically and statically The landing gear was the pride of Gordon Israelshyit was an anti-nose-over gear It was

built so that when you jumped on the binders the nose would come up instead of pitching you over on your back We had fun testing this gear It was an odd feeling going down the ramp at 30 or 40 mph and being able to jump on the binders without findshying yourself on the nose

Throughout the design process Gordon kept maintenance and sershyvice in mind (something todays engineers dont do) The 18 was a mechanics dream and a builders delight About halfway through the preliminary stress analYSiS word came down that the prototype must be in the air within 30 days That took care of the preliminaries now it was full bore with everything beshying right Now The main event of the head-banging contest was to emerge Eli Newberger our chief in charge of stress (who is now with the FAA) complained that he could not finish the stress analysis in time to

release the prototype for flight Gorshydon told him not to worry about the flying that he and Walt Daiber our test pilot would take care of meeting the flight deadline With Eli settled down Gordon released the primary structure drawing some comshyplete and some incomplete

To meet the 30-day time limit it was decided we would build temshyporary jigs for the wings and fuseshylage and that we would build two airplanes from these jigs The first machine would be the flying proshytotype and the second the static load test machine The two fuselages were built in a wood jig much the same as EAA homebuilders use toshyday The wing jig was made of angle iron bolted together The later pershymanent jigs were all welded You mayor may not believe the rest of this story but believe-you-me it is true With only 30 days time and no additional help to build the first two airplanes the true Howard Aircraft loyalty craftsmanship and ingenushyity emerged

All the available factory space was being used to maintain a one-week production schedule for the Model IS which we could not disturb To make room for the wing and fuseshylage jigs for the 18 we removed the foremans desks and the clothes lockshyers from the wood shop and welding shop and doubled up with the paint department and sheet metal departshyment The rest of the 18 was built in corners and at night

The first to burn the midnight oil was engineering I can well rememshyber coming to work in the mornings and finding Gordon Israel asleep in his chair at a drafting table BD would tell Gordon to go home and get some rest but Gordon would stay on until he finished what he was working on so he could release it to the shop for construction

Mike Babco and Conrad Wayne built the first fuselage in two days The fuselage was finished about 330 pm and went to the paint shop for routine zinc chromate prime The cleaning painting and drying was scheduled as a three-hour job At

about 500 pm during a meeting I received a phone call from the paint shop foreman informing me that the primer would not dry I told him to give it another 30 minutes and it should be okay

I CAN WELL REMEMBER

COMING TO WORK

IN THE MORNINGS

AND FINDING

GORDON ISRAEL

ASLEEP IN HIS

CHAIR AT A

DRAFTING TABLE

Thirty minutes later he called again and said it was still wet I left the meeting and when I was 50 feet from the paint booth I got the word-or should I say the smell What I smelled was not zinc chromate but enamel No wonder it wouldnt dry Tom Handler the painter had grabbed a 5-gallon pail out of storage and did not check what it was He opened it and it was yellow so he dumped it into the pressure pot and started to spray What he was spraying was road marking enamel that we used to paint the compass rose at the airport Needshyless to say I got ugly with him-and it cost him a 30-day suspension

This little mistake cost us a whole day The paint shop stripped the enamel re-cleaned and re-etched the tubing and painted it that nightshyin zinc chromate this time-so it was ready for subassembly the next morning The experimental assembly department consisted of Mike Molshyberg IISludge Doyle Frank Rezich Ted Linnert and Gordon Israel For the next five days this bunch worked 16- and 24-hour shifts without any breaks When the gang was hungry Gordon would give Frank Rezich $10 and send him over to Monkey Faces a local gag and vomit shop for a bagshyful of sandwiches and coffee which

were eaten whenever a man had the time to take a bite or two The corker came one night when Frank Rezich fell asleep lying on a sawhorse Evshyeryone was taking bets as to when he was going to roll off I went home about midnight and he was still on dead center as far as I know he never rolled off

After the tail group was fitted and all controls checked out the fuseshylage went back to the paint shop for fabric covering While the fuselage was being covered the stuff hit the fan BD DeWeese and the Board of Directors switched engines on Gorshydon They said the 165-hp Warner was too expensive and we were to use the 125-hp Warner instead Well Gordon promptly told them in what particular part of their anatomies they could insert the 125 Warner The head-banging ended with Gorshydon losing the contest

Using the small Warner meant all new performance figures new weight and balance in fact new everyshything firewall forward and no place to chop any weight other than in the finish The first set of wings was finshyished by now and the second set was already started so it was too late to design or build a new lighter wing When the smoke cleared Gordon jumped into his Dodge and headed for Andy Klucks II Barn li where he could think in peace and settle down with the aid of the spirits

In the meantime Eli Newberger Ted Linnert and Wally French reshyengineered the 18 to match the 125 Warner They made some changes in the Number 2 static test airplane but left Number 1 alone it was still full bore on the flight-test plane Harold Bates joined the experimental group in charge of engine installation and the airplane was fully assembled at the factory and checked out then the wings were removed and the ship was trucked to the airport for final asshysembly taxi test engine run etc

While all this was going on Eli and his gang were working around the clock building the IIwhiffle tree for the wing static testing building the drop test rig for the landing gear

V INTAGE AIRPLANE 11

A Model 18 with an NACA cowl

and working out some final figures before the first test flight We still had about five days left to meet the deadshyline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to fly the 18 He had been running slow taxi tests engine tests etc plus test-flying the ISs He had been given instruction from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it

Well 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved to fly One aftershynoon after all the squawks had been worked off Walt asked to run some high-speed tail-up tests on the runshyway Gordon said okay but don t fly it and to make sure he wouldnt Gordon instructed the mechanics not to put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel Walt jumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank cranked him up As Walt taxied out he had the grin of the cat that just swallowed the canary Yep you guessed it-when he got down to the west end of the eastwest runway he opened up the throttle up came the tail and about 200 feet later the 18 1 2 JANUARY 2005

was in the air Walt climbed it out at max angle

circled the field to about 3000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steep turns dives etc he returned to the field made a pershyfect three-point landing and taxied in with that same $-eating grin on his face Gordon was so happy to see his new design fly he forgot all about his no fly order He jumped up on the wing slapped Walt on the back and asked How was it Walt still smiling said Build it-it flies like a toy

The following weeks were spent on the static load tests and keeping BD DeWeese away from the airplane Walt was about three jumps ahead of everyone in the flight tests and again Gordon warned him not to spin or dive the airplane until the wing tests were complete Unbeknown to Gorshydon Walt had already spun it Walt let the cat out of the bag when the enshygineers were installing the spin chute He told them Hell you dont need

that it spins nose down Walt was skating on thin ice however because a few days later the wing failed at the torsion box with a lesser load than for which it was designed This section was modishyfied and the airplane went through the cershytification tests with no other problems

Our next problem was production We had to rearrange the factory to accommoshydate both the 18 and the 15 In the meanshytime the sales departshyment had sold a mess of 18s and wanted deshylivery yesterday Buildshying the first 10 18s caused many red eyes it was common to work three days straight Yes I remember it wellshygoing to work on Monshyday and going home for the first time on

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

AirVenture as well as a two-day auto pass to park your automobile conveshyniently close to the flightline

DIAMOND LEVEL ($1000) doshynors will also receive two certificates for a ride on the Ford Tri-Motor reshydeemable during EAA AirVenture or during the summer flying season at Pioneer Airport and two tickets for a free breakfast at the Tall Pines Cafe for the full week of EAA AirVenture As additional thanks youll receive

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At whatever level is comfortable for you wont you please join those of us who recognize the tremendously valuable key role the Vintage Aircraft Association has played in preserving the irreplaceable grass-roots and genshyeral aviation airplanes of the last 100 years Your participation in EAAs Vintage Aircraft Association Friends of the Red Barn will help ensure the very finest in EAA AirVenture Oshshykosh Vintage Red Barn programs

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

VIN T AGE HALL OF FAME

Espie Butch Joyce

Butch Joyces first logbook entry for a half-hour of dual instruction at age 10 in a]-3 Cub was made on Septemshyber 9 1954 but his roots in aviation go all the way back to his birth His fashyther Espie Sr was a pilot and owned a variety of aircraft when his son was growing up next to the local airport near Mayodan North Carolina

While in college and serving in the Army (where he served with the elite Special Forces Green Berets) he built a Pitts Special biplane and became an EM member serving as EM Chapter 8s president during the 1960s

Later in that decade Butch became involved with an aircraft group whose primary interest was older airplanes That group now VAA Chapter 3 reshykindled his love for antique and classic aircraft and he would go on to own and fly a Staggerwing Beech Monoshycoupe UPF-7 Clipped Wing Cub and a Model 35 Bonanza among others Starting on the AntiqueClassic Board as an advisor in 1981 he was elected president in 1988 and held that posishytion until 2004 a span of 16 years

Butch says that hes most proud of the fact that in 1991 in cooperation with the Aviation Unlimited Agency he initiated the creation of the VAA Aircraft Insurance program He credits his wife Norma for keeping the proshygram running well in an ever-changshying insurance market The program has grown to become one of the VAA divisions most popular benefits and has helped create growth that has seen the divisions membership more than double from 3200 to 8400 members

During that time he has also served as the chairman of VAAs activities during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh He was presented with the EAA Presishydents Award in 2004

After stepping down as VM presishydent in 2004 Butch was elected to continue to serve on the VAA Board where he will continue to serve the membership of the VAA

HG FRAUTSCHY

Butch and his human powered flying machine at the age of 3 By age 5 he was allowed to walk across the road and visit the small airport adjacent to the homestead Butchs willingness to hop into anyones airplane to go for a ride resulted in a couple of long disshycussions with his mother His pal on many of his journeys across the road was his dog Studebaker

1956-Butchs father Espie Joyce Sr with his brand new Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer Butch would fly this Tri-Pacer more than 1000 hours and earn his commercial pilot certificate in the airplane

The Joyce Flying Service circa 1956 The airport was on the Joyce family farm property As a young man Butch spent much of his time at the field and was inshyspired by many local pilots including Charles Bailey John Pace and Ray Griffin who taught young Butch the Flying Fanner act Griffin performed at air shows

JAN UARY 2005 6

ilPIPllt~O plenty elbow grease (along with a great paint job) to this early Bonanza during its resshytoration Later Butch would fly a twin-engine Beech Baron he had refinished in a similar color scheme

The Monocoupe has been a fashyvorite for decades and Butch bought this 160-hp Monocoupe 90A in 1969 and flew it for a number of years

Below Biplanes have always been a favorite of Butchsshythis UPF-7 was owned and flown by him and while in colshylege he built a Pitts Special

In his early teens Butch started building a 1934 Ford hot rod so hed have something to drive when he turned 16 Both the hot rod and airshyplanes competed for his interest that year as he soloed a J-3 Cub

Aircraft Association brought Butch in contact with hundreds of volunteers Just one of the many is shown here reshyceiving her Behind the Scenes Volunshyteer of the Year award Sue Eichman

Butch has served the VAA division since the AntiqueClassic days starting in 1981 as an advisor He began the Type Club tent in 1982 and has served as the chairman of convention activities He served as president from 1988 until 2004 a remarkable tenure unmatched by any other VAA president

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

DOU G STEWART

Winter Operations I was planning on leaving for the

airport early this morning to meet a client for tailwheel training in my 1947 Piper Super Cruiser The thershymometer outside my window was registering in the mid-30s (and this was just the first week of Novemshyber) and the wind was making a moaning sound as it blew the last of the dying maple leaves around the corners of my house Looking up at the dark gray clouds whipping past overhead I noticed that there were snowflakes here and there

How could this be Just a few weeks ago I was still wearing shorts and a T-shirt and now I had to think about winter operations It seemed like only yesterday that I was concerned about density altishytude considerations and watching oil and cylinder head temperatures on the climb out Today I would have to think about the possibility of an engine preheat and my own body would need the extra warmth of a pair of long johns for the cold back seat of my PA-12

There was no escaping the fact that the time of year was here when I would have to change my menshytality from warm-weather operashytions to winter operations There are some pilots like my friend Tim who rather than deal with the burdens of operating in cold climes move to southern locales In Tims case I can hardly blame him If I think that the back seat of my Super Cruiser is cold it must still feel tropical in comparison to the back hole of his Stearman But those pilots who migrate to warmer

JANUARY 2005

climates in the winter dont often get to experience the phenomenal performance that only a cold highshypressure day affords us in the winshytertime They dont get to experishyence the truly CAVU skies that can only be found at least up north on those mid-winter days Winter flyshying certainly has some wonderful benefits but it also has some speshycial considerations Lets take a look at some of them

The first consideration Id like to mention should be a no-brainer yet every year there are pilots who seem oblivious to the fact that airplanes will not fly very well if at all when the lifting surfaces have been conshytaminated with ice snow or frost They manage to ruin perfectly fine airplanes when they crash as a result of an attempted takeoff without reshymoving the contamination I saw a pilot once who started to taxi to the runway with at least 2 inches of powshyder snow sitting on the wings and tail of his airplane He had thought that the snow would blow off the wings at the start of his takeoff roll Fly NOT as one of my younger sons might say

So if upon your arrival at the airshyport on a frosty winters morn you find your wings prop and tail feathshyers coated with ice snow or even just frost the first order of business will be to remove it (Of course if your aircraft has been parked in a hangar there might be other considerations if you find frozen contamination on your airplane) If the tops of your wings are painted a dark color like the Tennessee Red of my Super Cruiser

and the sun is shining even in the depths of winter it shouldnt take too long for that passive solar heat to do its thing But if your wings are a weather-beaten white and havent seen a coat of wax in awhile it could be quite some time before they are rid of their lift-defying contamination

For many years one of my winshytertime duties at the flight school where I worked was the removal of snow and ice from the tied-down airplanes on the line It didnt take me too long to realize how dark colors and smooth waxed surfaces aided me in my job Those aircraft were quickly and easily de-iced But those aircraft that had old chalky and faded finishes someshytimes had contamination stuck on their surfaces until the temperashytures rose above freezing And there were times when that might be more than several days

I do hope that you are also aware that even a thin coat of rough frost could have the potential to prevent the wings from generating enough lift to allow takeoff So if you find your wings frost-covered and the sun and breeze dont have enough strength to sublimate it (or you dont have the time to wait for the sun to do its thing) be prepared to remove or polish the frost manually At least while you are vigorously rubbing the wings down with an old towel youll also be increasing your circulation raising your body heat and getting a wonderful red glow on your cheeks

Now if it has been cold enough to leave frost snow or ice on your airframe then it is probably

8

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Jan 29-30

Jan 29-30

Feb 25-27

Feb 26-27

March 5-6

March 19-20

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Oshkosh WI

Griffin GA (Atlanta Area)

Lakeland Fl (Sun N Fun Campus)

Dallas TX

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YOU CAN BUILD IT LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

cold enough to warrant the preshyheating of your engine There are some folks who advocate keeping the engine preheating all the time while parked utilizing an electrishycal preheating device and there are others who insist it is better to only preheat prior to each planned flight (If only the heat generated by the arguments between these two opposing factions could be harnessed I could easily reduce the electric bill for preheating my own airplane) There are also those folks who prefer to use some form of forced hot air to preheat their aircraft I guess whatever melts your candle but regardless of how you preheat it should be done if you care at all about extending the life of your engine instruments and avionics

Your engine isn t the only thing that needs preheating your instrushyments and avionics need that preheat as well Not only is the oil in your engine sump thick but also every moving part in your airplane is going to be sluggish The gyros in your inshystruments the cables and linkages of throttle mixture and prop controls and the displays on your avionics all need a preheat as well

My personal way of taking care of the preheating is to have a Tashynis heater heating the oil sump and cylinders of the engine I also have a small ceramic heater inside the cockpit These are both plugged into an inexpensive 24-hour timer which I set to turn on about four hours before my expected deparshyture time In this way the airplane is already warm when I get to the airport It is rare that I have a difshyficult start this way

The issues of getting our cranky aviation engines started in the winshyter is worthy of a separate article so Ill deal with my techniques and the dangers associated with those techniques in the next article In the meantime I guess Ill go dig those long johns out of their sumshymer storage Its feeling like it might be a long winter

TAKE SOME OF THE EXPERIMENTING

OUT OF HOMEBUILDING HANDS-ON

REMINISCING WITH BIG NICK

THE MODEL 18 Reprinted from Vintage Airplane August 1974

The Model 18 like the Howard factory got off to a bad start and the climb-out was slow When the first bids for CPTP and Army PT trainers were let Howards Board of Direcshytors could not make up their minds whether to get a piece of the action or not The issue at hand was money Mr BD DeWeese our new preSident finally convinced them we could and should build the trainer

When the Board finally decided to go ahead with the new project it was too late Fairchild Ryan Stearman and Waco all had airplanes ready to go Howard went ahead with the project and we built the new plane to meet CAA certification requireshyments and Army specs

The first move by BD was to reshyhire Gordon Israel as chief engineer Gordon was happy to return to Howshyard and was eager to get the new airshyplane designed and built

It was just a week into the projshy10 JANUARY 2005

by Nick Rezich All Photos Courtesy the Nick Rezich Collection

ect when the head-banging contest started First it was BD trying to tell Gordon what to design and second was the stingy Board of Directors dolshying out a handful of chicken feed to build it with

With the money allotted Gordon designed the original 18 around a 16S-hp Warner engine His new deshysign was a slick one The fuselage was steel tube with the rear-half fabshyric covered and the cockpit forward section fitted with removable sheet metal The wings were two-pieceshymono spar all wood full cantilever panels The tail group included steel flippers and rudder and a wooden stabilizer and fin The final layout looked great

Ted Linnert designed a beautiful control system-all needle bearings and balanced 100 percent aerodyshynamically and statically The landing gear was the pride of Gordon Israelshyit was an anti-nose-over gear It was

built so that when you jumped on the binders the nose would come up instead of pitching you over on your back We had fun testing this gear It was an odd feeling going down the ramp at 30 or 40 mph and being able to jump on the binders without findshying yourself on the nose

Throughout the design process Gordon kept maintenance and sershyvice in mind (something todays engineers dont do) The 18 was a mechanics dream and a builders delight About halfway through the preliminary stress analYSiS word came down that the prototype must be in the air within 30 days That took care of the preliminaries now it was full bore with everything beshying right Now The main event of the head-banging contest was to emerge Eli Newberger our chief in charge of stress (who is now with the FAA) complained that he could not finish the stress analysis in time to

release the prototype for flight Gorshydon told him not to worry about the flying that he and Walt Daiber our test pilot would take care of meeting the flight deadline With Eli settled down Gordon released the primary structure drawing some comshyplete and some incomplete

To meet the 30-day time limit it was decided we would build temshyporary jigs for the wings and fuseshylage and that we would build two airplanes from these jigs The first machine would be the flying proshytotype and the second the static load test machine The two fuselages were built in a wood jig much the same as EAA homebuilders use toshyday The wing jig was made of angle iron bolted together The later pershymanent jigs were all welded You mayor may not believe the rest of this story but believe-you-me it is true With only 30 days time and no additional help to build the first two airplanes the true Howard Aircraft loyalty craftsmanship and ingenushyity emerged

All the available factory space was being used to maintain a one-week production schedule for the Model IS which we could not disturb To make room for the wing and fuseshylage jigs for the 18 we removed the foremans desks and the clothes lockshyers from the wood shop and welding shop and doubled up with the paint department and sheet metal departshyment The rest of the 18 was built in corners and at night

The first to burn the midnight oil was engineering I can well rememshyber coming to work in the mornings and finding Gordon Israel asleep in his chair at a drafting table BD would tell Gordon to go home and get some rest but Gordon would stay on until he finished what he was working on so he could release it to the shop for construction

Mike Babco and Conrad Wayne built the first fuselage in two days The fuselage was finished about 330 pm and went to the paint shop for routine zinc chromate prime The cleaning painting and drying was scheduled as a three-hour job At

about 500 pm during a meeting I received a phone call from the paint shop foreman informing me that the primer would not dry I told him to give it another 30 minutes and it should be okay

I CAN WELL REMEMBER

COMING TO WORK

IN THE MORNINGS

AND FINDING

GORDON ISRAEL

ASLEEP IN HIS

CHAIR AT A

DRAFTING TABLE

Thirty minutes later he called again and said it was still wet I left the meeting and when I was 50 feet from the paint booth I got the word-or should I say the smell What I smelled was not zinc chromate but enamel No wonder it wouldnt dry Tom Handler the painter had grabbed a 5-gallon pail out of storage and did not check what it was He opened it and it was yellow so he dumped it into the pressure pot and started to spray What he was spraying was road marking enamel that we used to paint the compass rose at the airport Needshyless to say I got ugly with him-and it cost him a 30-day suspension

This little mistake cost us a whole day The paint shop stripped the enamel re-cleaned and re-etched the tubing and painted it that nightshyin zinc chromate this time-so it was ready for subassembly the next morning The experimental assembly department consisted of Mike Molshyberg IISludge Doyle Frank Rezich Ted Linnert and Gordon Israel For the next five days this bunch worked 16- and 24-hour shifts without any breaks When the gang was hungry Gordon would give Frank Rezich $10 and send him over to Monkey Faces a local gag and vomit shop for a bagshyful of sandwiches and coffee which

were eaten whenever a man had the time to take a bite or two The corker came one night when Frank Rezich fell asleep lying on a sawhorse Evshyeryone was taking bets as to when he was going to roll off I went home about midnight and he was still on dead center as far as I know he never rolled off

After the tail group was fitted and all controls checked out the fuseshylage went back to the paint shop for fabric covering While the fuselage was being covered the stuff hit the fan BD DeWeese and the Board of Directors switched engines on Gorshydon They said the 165-hp Warner was too expensive and we were to use the 125-hp Warner instead Well Gordon promptly told them in what particular part of their anatomies they could insert the 125 Warner The head-banging ended with Gorshydon losing the contest

Using the small Warner meant all new performance figures new weight and balance in fact new everyshything firewall forward and no place to chop any weight other than in the finish The first set of wings was finshyished by now and the second set was already started so it was too late to design or build a new lighter wing When the smoke cleared Gordon jumped into his Dodge and headed for Andy Klucks II Barn li where he could think in peace and settle down with the aid of the spirits

In the meantime Eli Newberger Ted Linnert and Wally French reshyengineered the 18 to match the 125 Warner They made some changes in the Number 2 static test airplane but left Number 1 alone it was still full bore on the flight-test plane Harold Bates joined the experimental group in charge of engine installation and the airplane was fully assembled at the factory and checked out then the wings were removed and the ship was trucked to the airport for final asshysembly taxi test engine run etc

While all this was going on Eli and his gang were working around the clock building the IIwhiffle tree for the wing static testing building the drop test rig for the landing gear

V INTAGE AIRPLANE 11

A Model 18 with an NACA cowl

and working out some final figures before the first test flight We still had about five days left to meet the deadshyline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to fly the 18 He had been running slow taxi tests engine tests etc plus test-flying the ISs He had been given instruction from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it

Well 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved to fly One aftershynoon after all the squawks had been worked off Walt asked to run some high-speed tail-up tests on the runshyway Gordon said okay but don t fly it and to make sure he wouldnt Gordon instructed the mechanics not to put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel Walt jumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank cranked him up As Walt taxied out he had the grin of the cat that just swallowed the canary Yep you guessed it-when he got down to the west end of the eastwest runway he opened up the throttle up came the tail and about 200 feet later the 18 1 2 JANUARY 2005

was in the air Walt climbed it out at max angle

circled the field to about 3000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steep turns dives etc he returned to the field made a pershyfect three-point landing and taxied in with that same $-eating grin on his face Gordon was so happy to see his new design fly he forgot all about his no fly order He jumped up on the wing slapped Walt on the back and asked How was it Walt still smiling said Build it-it flies like a toy

The following weeks were spent on the static load tests and keeping BD DeWeese away from the airplane Walt was about three jumps ahead of everyone in the flight tests and again Gordon warned him not to spin or dive the airplane until the wing tests were complete Unbeknown to Gorshydon Walt had already spun it Walt let the cat out of the bag when the enshygineers were installing the spin chute He told them Hell you dont need

that it spins nose down Walt was skating on thin ice however because a few days later the wing failed at the torsion box with a lesser load than for which it was designed This section was modishyfied and the airplane went through the cershytification tests with no other problems

Our next problem was production We had to rearrange the factory to accommoshydate both the 18 and the 15 In the meanshytime the sales departshyment had sold a mess of 18s and wanted deshylivery yesterday Buildshying the first 10 18s caused many red eyes it was common to work three days straight Yes I remember it wellshygoing to work on Monshyday and going home for the first time on

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

VIN T AGE HALL OF FAME

Espie Butch Joyce

Butch Joyces first logbook entry for a half-hour of dual instruction at age 10 in a]-3 Cub was made on Septemshyber 9 1954 but his roots in aviation go all the way back to his birth His fashyther Espie Sr was a pilot and owned a variety of aircraft when his son was growing up next to the local airport near Mayodan North Carolina

While in college and serving in the Army (where he served with the elite Special Forces Green Berets) he built a Pitts Special biplane and became an EM member serving as EM Chapter 8s president during the 1960s

Later in that decade Butch became involved with an aircraft group whose primary interest was older airplanes That group now VAA Chapter 3 reshykindled his love for antique and classic aircraft and he would go on to own and fly a Staggerwing Beech Monoshycoupe UPF-7 Clipped Wing Cub and a Model 35 Bonanza among others Starting on the AntiqueClassic Board as an advisor in 1981 he was elected president in 1988 and held that posishytion until 2004 a span of 16 years

Butch says that hes most proud of the fact that in 1991 in cooperation with the Aviation Unlimited Agency he initiated the creation of the VAA Aircraft Insurance program He credits his wife Norma for keeping the proshygram running well in an ever-changshying insurance market The program has grown to become one of the VAA divisions most popular benefits and has helped create growth that has seen the divisions membership more than double from 3200 to 8400 members

During that time he has also served as the chairman of VAAs activities during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh He was presented with the EAA Presishydents Award in 2004

After stepping down as VM presishydent in 2004 Butch was elected to continue to serve on the VAA Board where he will continue to serve the membership of the VAA

HG FRAUTSCHY

Butch and his human powered flying machine at the age of 3 By age 5 he was allowed to walk across the road and visit the small airport adjacent to the homestead Butchs willingness to hop into anyones airplane to go for a ride resulted in a couple of long disshycussions with his mother His pal on many of his journeys across the road was his dog Studebaker

1956-Butchs father Espie Joyce Sr with his brand new Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer Butch would fly this Tri-Pacer more than 1000 hours and earn his commercial pilot certificate in the airplane

The Joyce Flying Service circa 1956 The airport was on the Joyce family farm property As a young man Butch spent much of his time at the field and was inshyspired by many local pilots including Charles Bailey John Pace and Ray Griffin who taught young Butch the Flying Fanner act Griffin performed at air shows

JAN UARY 2005 6

ilPIPllt~O plenty elbow grease (along with a great paint job) to this early Bonanza during its resshytoration Later Butch would fly a twin-engine Beech Baron he had refinished in a similar color scheme

The Monocoupe has been a fashyvorite for decades and Butch bought this 160-hp Monocoupe 90A in 1969 and flew it for a number of years

Below Biplanes have always been a favorite of Butchsshythis UPF-7 was owned and flown by him and while in colshylege he built a Pitts Special

In his early teens Butch started building a 1934 Ford hot rod so hed have something to drive when he turned 16 Both the hot rod and airshyplanes competed for his interest that year as he soloed a J-3 Cub

Aircraft Association brought Butch in contact with hundreds of volunteers Just one of the many is shown here reshyceiving her Behind the Scenes Volunshyteer of the Year award Sue Eichman

Butch has served the VAA division since the AntiqueClassic days starting in 1981 as an advisor He began the Type Club tent in 1982 and has served as the chairman of convention activities He served as president from 1988 until 2004 a remarkable tenure unmatched by any other VAA president

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

DOU G STEWART

Winter Operations I was planning on leaving for the

airport early this morning to meet a client for tailwheel training in my 1947 Piper Super Cruiser The thershymometer outside my window was registering in the mid-30s (and this was just the first week of Novemshyber) and the wind was making a moaning sound as it blew the last of the dying maple leaves around the corners of my house Looking up at the dark gray clouds whipping past overhead I noticed that there were snowflakes here and there

How could this be Just a few weeks ago I was still wearing shorts and a T-shirt and now I had to think about winter operations It seemed like only yesterday that I was concerned about density altishytude considerations and watching oil and cylinder head temperatures on the climb out Today I would have to think about the possibility of an engine preheat and my own body would need the extra warmth of a pair of long johns for the cold back seat of my PA-12

There was no escaping the fact that the time of year was here when I would have to change my menshytality from warm-weather operashytions to winter operations There are some pilots like my friend Tim who rather than deal with the burdens of operating in cold climes move to southern locales In Tims case I can hardly blame him If I think that the back seat of my Super Cruiser is cold it must still feel tropical in comparison to the back hole of his Stearman But those pilots who migrate to warmer

JANUARY 2005

climates in the winter dont often get to experience the phenomenal performance that only a cold highshypressure day affords us in the winshytertime They dont get to experishyence the truly CAVU skies that can only be found at least up north on those mid-winter days Winter flyshying certainly has some wonderful benefits but it also has some speshycial considerations Lets take a look at some of them

The first consideration Id like to mention should be a no-brainer yet every year there are pilots who seem oblivious to the fact that airplanes will not fly very well if at all when the lifting surfaces have been conshytaminated with ice snow or frost They manage to ruin perfectly fine airplanes when they crash as a result of an attempted takeoff without reshymoving the contamination I saw a pilot once who started to taxi to the runway with at least 2 inches of powshyder snow sitting on the wings and tail of his airplane He had thought that the snow would blow off the wings at the start of his takeoff roll Fly NOT as one of my younger sons might say

So if upon your arrival at the airshyport on a frosty winters morn you find your wings prop and tail feathshyers coated with ice snow or even just frost the first order of business will be to remove it (Of course if your aircraft has been parked in a hangar there might be other considerations if you find frozen contamination on your airplane) If the tops of your wings are painted a dark color like the Tennessee Red of my Super Cruiser

and the sun is shining even in the depths of winter it shouldnt take too long for that passive solar heat to do its thing But if your wings are a weather-beaten white and havent seen a coat of wax in awhile it could be quite some time before they are rid of their lift-defying contamination

For many years one of my winshytertime duties at the flight school where I worked was the removal of snow and ice from the tied-down airplanes on the line It didnt take me too long to realize how dark colors and smooth waxed surfaces aided me in my job Those aircraft were quickly and easily de-iced But those aircraft that had old chalky and faded finishes someshytimes had contamination stuck on their surfaces until the temperashytures rose above freezing And there were times when that might be more than several days

I do hope that you are also aware that even a thin coat of rough frost could have the potential to prevent the wings from generating enough lift to allow takeoff So if you find your wings frost-covered and the sun and breeze dont have enough strength to sublimate it (or you dont have the time to wait for the sun to do its thing) be prepared to remove or polish the frost manually At least while you are vigorously rubbing the wings down with an old towel youll also be increasing your circulation raising your body heat and getting a wonderful red glow on your cheeks

Now if it has been cold enough to leave frost snow or ice on your airframe then it is probably

8

HOMEBUILDER WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Jan 29-30

Jan 29-30

Feb 25-27

Feb 26-27

March 5-6

March 19-20

Denver CO

Oshkosh WI

Griffin GA (Atlanta Area)

Lakeland Fl (Sun N Fun Campus)

Dallas TX

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bull Introduction to Ai rcraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics bull Cas Welding

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~ ~ ~ ~~ __ a _

1-800-WORKSHOP 1-800-967-5746

YOU CAN BUILD IT LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

cold enough to warrant the preshyheating of your engine There are some folks who advocate keeping the engine preheating all the time while parked utilizing an electrishycal preheating device and there are others who insist it is better to only preheat prior to each planned flight (If only the heat generated by the arguments between these two opposing factions could be harnessed I could easily reduce the electric bill for preheating my own airplane) There are also those folks who prefer to use some form of forced hot air to preheat their aircraft I guess whatever melts your candle but regardless of how you preheat it should be done if you care at all about extending the life of your engine instruments and avionics

Your engine isn t the only thing that needs preheating your instrushyments and avionics need that preheat as well Not only is the oil in your engine sump thick but also every moving part in your airplane is going to be sluggish The gyros in your inshystruments the cables and linkages of throttle mixture and prop controls and the displays on your avionics all need a preheat as well

My personal way of taking care of the preheating is to have a Tashynis heater heating the oil sump and cylinders of the engine I also have a small ceramic heater inside the cockpit These are both plugged into an inexpensive 24-hour timer which I set to turn on about four hours before my expected deparshyture time In this way the airplane is already warm when I get to the airport It is rare that I have a difshyficult start this way

The issues of getting our cranky aviation engines started in the winshyter is worthy of a separate article so Ill deal with my techniques and the dangers associated with those techniques in the next article In the meantime I guess Ill go dig those long johns out of their sumshymer storage Its feeling like it might be a long winter

TAKE SOME OF THE EXPERIMENTING

OUT OF HOMEBUILDING HANDS-ON

REMINISCING WITH BIG NICK

THE MODEL 18 Reprinted from Vintage Airplane August 1974

The Model 18 like the Howard factory got off to a bad start and the climb-out was slow When the first bids for CPTP and Army PT trainers were let Howards Board of Direcshytors could not make up their minds whether to get a piece of the action or not The issue at hand was money Mr BD DeWeese our new preSident finally convinced them we could and should build the trainer

When the Board finally decided to go ahead with the new project it was too late Fairchild Ryan Stearman and Waco all had airplanes ready to go Howard went ahead with the project and we built the new plane to meet CAA certification requireshyments and Army specs

The first move by BD was to reshyhire Gordon Israel as chief engineer Gordon was happy to return to Howshyard and was eager to get the new airshyplane designed and built

It was just a week into the projshy10 JANUARY 2005

by Nick Rezich All Photos Courtesy the Nick Rezich Collection

ect when the head-banging contest started First it was BD trying to tell Gordon what to design and second was the stingy Board of Directors dolshying out a handful of chicken feed to build it with

With the money allotted Gordon designed the original 18 around a 16S-hp Warner engine His new deshysign was a slick one The fuselage was steel tube with the rear-half fabshyric covered and the cockpit forward section fitted with removable sheet metal The wings were two-pieceshymono spar all wood full cantilever panels The tail group included steel flippers and rudder and a wooden stabilizer and fin The final layout looked great

Ted Linnert designed a beautiful control system-all needle bearings and balanced 100 percent aerodyshynamically and statically The landing gear was the pride of Gordon Israelshyit was an anti-nose-over gear It was

built so that when you jumped on the binders the nose would come up instead of pitching you over on your back We had fun testing this gear It was an odd feeling going down the ramp at 30 or 40 mph and being able to jump on the binders without findshying yourself on the nose

Throughout the design process Gordon kept maintenance and sershyvice in mind (something todays engineers dont do) The 18 was a mechanics dream and a builders delight About halfway through the preliminary stress analYSiS word came down that the prototype must be in the air within 30 days That took care of the preliminaries now it was full bore with everything beshying right Now The main event of the head-banging contest was to emerge Eli Newberger our chief in charge of stress (who is now with the FAA) complained that he could not finish the stress analysis in time to

release the prototype for flight Gorshydon told him not to worry about the flying that he and Walt Daiber our test pilot would take care of meeting the flight deadline With Eli settled down Gordon released the primary structure drawing some comshyplete and some incomplete

To meet the 30-day time limit it was decided we would build temshyporary jigs for the wings and fuseshylage and that we would build two airplanes from these jigs The first machine would be the flying proshytotype and the second the static load test machine The two fuselages were built in a wood jig much the same as EAA homebuilders use toshyday The wing jig was made of angle iron bolted together The later pershymanent jigs were all welded You mayor may not believe the rest of this story but believe-you-me it is true With only 30 days time and no additional help to build the first two airplanes the true Howard Aircraft loyalty craftsmanship and ingenushyity emerged

All the available factory space was being used to maintain a one-week production schedule for the Model IS which we could not disturb To make room for the wing and fuseshylage jigs for the 18 we removed the foremans desks and the clothes lockshyers from the wood shop and welding shop and doubled up with the paint department and sheet metal departshyment The rest of the 18 was built in corners and at night

The first to burn the midnight oil was engineering I can well rememshyber coming to work in the mornings and finding Gordon Israel asleep in his chair at a drafting table BD would tell Gordon to go home and get some rest but Gordon would stay on until he finished what he was working on so he could release it to the shop for construction

Mike Babco and Conrad Wayne built the first fuselage in two days The fuselage was finished about 330 pm and went to the paint shop for routine zinc chromate prime The cleaning painting and drying was scheduled as a three-hour job At

about 500 pm during a meeting I received a phone call from the paint shop foreman informing me that the primer would not dry I told him to give it another 30 minutes and it should be okay

I CAN WELL REMEMBER

COMING TO WORK

IN THE MORNINGS

AND FINDING

GORDON ISRAEL

ASLEEP IN HIS

CHAIR AT A

DRAFTING TABLE

Thirty minutes later he called again and said it was still wet I left the meeting and when I was 50 feet from the paint booth I got the word-or should I say the smell What I smelled was not zinc chromate but enamel No wonder it wouldnt dry Tom Handler the painter had grabbed a 5-gallon pail out of storage and did not check what it was He opened it and it was yellow so he dumped it into the pressure pot and started to spray What he was spraying was road marking enamel that we used to paint the compass rose at the airport Needshyless to say I got ugly with him-and it cost him a 30-day suspension

This little mistake cost us a whole day The paint shop stripped the enamel re-cleaned and re-etched the tubing and painted it that nightshyin zinc chromate this time-so it was ready for subassembly the next morning The experimental assembly department consisted of Mike Molshyberg IISludge Doyle Frank Rezich Ted Linnert and Gordon Israel For the next five days this bunch worked 16- and 24-hour shifts without any breaks When the gang was hungry Gordon would give Frank Rezich $10 and send him over to Monkey Faces a local gag and vomit shop for a bagshyful of sandwiches and coffee which

were eaten whenever a man had the time to take a bite or two The corker came one night when Frank Rezich fell asleep lying on a sawhorse Evshyeryone was taking bets as to when he was going to roll off I went home about midnight and he was still on dead center as far as I know he never rolled off

After the tail group was fitted and all controls checked out the fuseshylage went back to the paint shop for fabric covering While the fuselage was being covered the stuff hit the fan BD DeWeese and the Board of Directors switched engines on Gorshydon They said the 165-hp Warner was too expensive and we were to use the 125-hp Warner instead Well Gordon promptly told them in what particular part of their anatomies they could insert the 125 Warner The head-banging ended with Gorshydon losing the contest

Using the small Warner meant all new performance figures new weight and balance in fact new everyshything firewall forward and no place to chop any weight other than in the finish The first set of wings was finshyished by now and the second set was already started so it was too late to design or build a new lighter wing When the smoke cleared Gordon jumped into his Dodge and headed for Andy Klucks II Barn li where he could think in peace and settle down with the aid of the spirits

In the meantime Eli Newberger Ted Linnert and Wally French reshyengineered the 18 to match the 125 Warner They made some changes in the Number 2 static test airplane but left Number 1 alone it was still full bore on the flight-test plane Harold Bates joined the experimental group in charge of engine installation and the airplane was fully assembled at the factory and checked out then the wings were removed and the ship was trucked to the airport for final asshysembly taxi test engine run etc

While all this was going on Eli and his gang were working around the clock building the IIwhiffle tree for the wing static testing building the drop test rig for the landing gear

V INTAGE AIRPLANE 11

A Model 18 with an NACA cowl

and working out some final figures before the first test flight We still had about five days left to meet the deadshyline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to fly the 18 He had been running slow taxi tests engine tests etc plus test-flying the ISs He had been given instruction from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it

Well 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved to fly One aftershynoon after all the squawks had been worked off Walt asked to run some high-speed tail-up tests on the runshyway Gordon said okay but don t fly it and to make sure he wouldnt Gordon instructed the mechanics not to put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel Walt jumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank cranked him up As Walt taxied out he had the grin of the cat that just swallowed the canary Yep you guessed it-when he got down to the west end of the eastwest runway he opened up the throttle up came the tail and about 200 feet later the 18 1 2 JANUARY 2005

was in the air Walt climbed it out at max angle

circled the field to about 3000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steep turns dives etc he returned to the field made a pershyfect three-point landing and taxied in with that same $-eating grin on his face Gordon was so happy to see his new design fly he forgot all about his no fly order He jumped up on the wing slapped Walt on the back and asked How was it Walt still smiling said Build it-it flies like a toy

The following weeks were spent on the static load tests and keeping BD DeWeese away from the airplane Walt was about three jumps ahead of everyone in the flight tests and again Gordon warned him not to spin or dive the airplane until the wing tests were complete Unbeknown to Gorshydon Walt had already spun it Walt let the cat out of the bag when the enshygineers were installing the spin chute He told them Hell you dont need

that it spins nose down Walt was skating on thin ice however because a few days later the wing failed at the torsion box with a lesser load than for which it was designed This section was modishyfied and the airplane went through the cershytification tests with no other problems

Our next problem was production We had to rearrange the factory to accommoshydate both the 18 and the 15 In the meanshytime the sales departshyment had sold a mess of 18s and wanted deshylivery yesterday Buildshying the first 10 18s caused many red eyes it was common to work three days straight Yes I remember it wellshygoing to work on Monshyday and going home for the first time on

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

ilPIPllt~O plenty elbow grease (along with a great paint job) to this early Bonanza during its resshytoration Later Butch would fly a twin-engine Beech Baron he had refinished in a similar color scheme

The Monocoupe has been a fashyvorite for decades and Butch bought this 160-hp Monocoupe 90A in 1969 and flew it for a number of years

Below Biplanes have always been a favorite of Butchsshythis UPF-7 was owned and flown by him and while in colshylege he built a Pitts Special

In his early teens Butch started building a 1934 Ford hot rod so hed have something to drive when he turned 16 Both the hot rod and airshyplanes competed for his interest that year as he soloed a J-3 Cub

Aircraft Association brought Butch in contact with hundreds of volunteers Just one of the many is shown here reshyceiving her Behind the Scenes Volunshyteer of the Year award Sue Eichman

Butch has served the VAA division since the AntiqueClassic days starting in 1981 as an advisor He began the Type Club tent in 1982 and has served as the chairman of convention activities He served as president from 1988 until 2004 a remarkable tenure unmatched by any other VAA president

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

DOU G STEWART

Winter Operations I was planning on leaving for the

airport early this morning to meet a client for tailwheel training in my 1947 Piper Super Cruiser The thershymometer outside my window was registering in the mid-30s (and this was just the first week of Novemshyber) and the wind was making a moaning sound as it blew the last of the dying maple leaves around the corners of my house Looking up at the dark gray clouds whipping past overhead I noticed that there were snowflakes here and there

How could this be Just a few weeks ago I was still wearing shorts and a T-shirt and now I had to think about winter operations It seemed like only yesterday that I was concerned about density altishytude considerations and watching oil and cylinder head temperatures on the climb out Today I would have to think about the possibility of an engine preheat and my own body would need the extra warmth of a pair of long johns for the cold back seat of my PA-12

There was no escaping the fact that the time of year was here when I would have to change my menshytality from warm-weather operashytions to winter operations There are some pilots like my friend Tim who rather than deal with the burdens of operating in cold climes move to southern locales In Tims case I can hardly blame him If I think that the back seat of my Super Cruiser is cold it must still feel tropical in comparison to the back hole of his Stearman But those pilots who migrate to warmer

JANUARY 2005

climates in the winter dont often get to experience the phenomenal performance that only a cold highshypressure day affords us in the winshytertime They dont get to experishyence the truly CAVU skies that can only be found at least up north on those mid-winter days Winter flyshying certainly has some wonderful benefits but it also has some speshycial considerations Lets take a look at some of them

The first consideration Id like to mention should be a no-brainer yet every year there are pilots who seem oblivious to the fact that airplanes will not fly very well if at all when the lifting surfaces have been conshytaminated with ice snow or frost They manage to ruin perfectly fine airplanes when they crash as a result of an attempted takeoff without reshymoving the contamination I saw a pilot once who started to taxi to the runway with at least 2 inches of powshyder snow sitting on the wings and tail of his airplane He had thought that the snow would blow off the wings at the start of his takeoff roll Fly NOT as one of my younger sons might say

So if upon your arrival at the airshyport on a frosty winters morn you find your wings prop and tail feathshyers coated with ice snow or even just frost the first order of business will be to remove it (Of course if your aircraft has been parked in a hangar there might be other considerations if you find frozen contamination on your airplane) If the tops of your wings are painted a dark color like the Tennessee Red of my Super Cruiser

and the sun is shining even in the depths of winter it shouldnt take too long for that passive solar heat to do its thing But if your wings are a weather-beaten white and havent seen a coat of wax in awhile it could be quite some time before they are rid of their lift-defying contamination

For many years one of my winshytertime duties at the flight school where I worked was the removal of snow and ice from the tied-down airplanes on the line It didnt take me too long to realize how dark colors and smooth waxed surfaces aided me in my job Those aircraft were quickly and easily de-iced But those aircraft that had old chalky and faded finishes someshytimes had contamination stuck on their surfaces until the temperashytures rose above freezing And there were times when that might be more than several days

I do hope that you are also aware that even a thin coat of rough frost could have the potential to prevent the wings from generating enough lift to allow takeoff So if you find your wings frost-covered and the sun and breeze dont have enough strength to sublimate it (or you dont have the time to wait for the sun to do its thing) be prepared to remove or polish the frost manually At least while you are vigorously rubbing the wings down with an old towel youll also be increasing your circulation raising your body heat and getting a wonderful red glow on your cheeks

Now if it has been cold enough to leave frost snow or ice on your airframe then it is probably

8

HOMEBUILDER WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Jan 29-30

Jan 29-30

Feb 25-27

Feb 26-27

March 5-6

March 19-20

Denver CO

Oshkosh WI

Griffin GA (Atlanta Area)

Lakeland Fl (Sun N Fun Campus)

Dallas TX

bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics bull Cas Welding Test Flying your Project

bull TIC Welding

bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics

bull Introduction to Ai rcraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics bull Cas Welding

bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Electrical Systems and Avionics

~ ~ ~ ~~ __ a _

1-800-WORKSHOP 1-800-967-5746

YOU CAN BUILD IT LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

cold enough to warrant the preshyheating of your engine There are some folks who advocate keeping the engine preheating all the time while parked utilizing an electrishycal preheating device and there are others who insist it is better to only preheat prior to each planned flight (If only the heat generated by the arguments between these two opposing factions could be harnessed I could easily reduce the electric bill for preheating my own airplane) There are also those folks who prefer to use some form of forced hot air to preheat their aircraft I guess whatever melts your candle but regardless of how you preheat it should be done if you care at all about extending the life of your engine instruments and avionics

Your engine isn t the only thing that needs preheating your instrushyments and avionics need that preheat as well Not only is the oil in your engine sump thick but also every moving part in your airplane is going to be sluggish The gyros in your inshystruments the cables and linkages of throttle mixture and prop controls and the displays on your avionics all need a preheat as well

My personal way of taking care of the preheating is to have a Tashynis heater heating the oil sump and cylinders of the engine I also have a small ceramic heater inside the cockpit These are both plugged into an inexpensive 24-hour timer which I set to turn on about four hours before my expected deparshyture time In this way the airplane is already warm when I get to the airport It is rare that I have a difshyficult start this way

The issues of getting our cranky aviation engines started in the winshyter is worthy of a separate article so Ill deal with my techniques and the dangers associated with those techniques in the next article In the meantime I guess Ill go dig those long johns out of their sumshymer storage Its feeling like it might be a long winter

TAKE SOME OF THE EXPERIMENTING

OUT OF HOMEBUILDING HANDS-ON

REMINISCING WITH BIG NICK

THE MODEL 18 Reprinted from Vintage Airplane August 1974

The Model 18 like the Howard factory got off to a bad start and the climb-out was slow When the first bids for CPTP and Army PT trainers were let Howards Board of Direcshytors could not make up their minds whether to get a piece of the action or not The issue at hand was money Mr BD DeWeese our new preSident finally convinced them we could and should build the trainer

When the Board finally decided to go ahead with the new project it was too late Fairchild Ryan Stearman and Waco all had airplanes ready to go Howard went ahead with the project and we built the new plane to meet CAA certification requireshyments and Army specs

The first move by BD was to reshyhire Gordon Israel as chief engineer Gordon was happy to return to Howshyard and was eager to get the new airshyplane designed and built

It was just a week into the projshy10 JANUARY 2005

by Nick Rezich All Photos Courtesy the Nick Rezich Collection

ect when the head-banging contest started First it was BD trying to tell Gordon what to design and second was the stingy Board of Directors dolshying out a handful of chicken feed to build it with

With the money allotted Gordon designed the original 18 around a 16S-hp Warner engine His new deshysign was a slick one The fuselage was steel tube with the rear-half fabshyric covered and the cockpit forward section fitted with removable sheet metal The wings were two-pieceshymono spar all wood full cantilever panels The tail group included steel flippers and rudder and a wooden stabilizer and fin The final layout looked great

Ted Linnert designed a beautiful control system-all needle bearings and balanced 100 percent aerodyshynamically and statically The landing gear was the pride of Gordon Israelshyit was an anti-nose-over gear It was

built so that when you jumped on the binders the nose would come up instead of pitching you over on your back We had fun testing this gear It was an odd feeling going down the ramp at 30 or 40 mph and being able to jump on the binders without findshying yourself on the nose

Throughout the design process Gordon kept maintenance and sershyvice in mind (something todays engineers dont do) The 18 was a mechanics dream and a builders delight About halfway through the preliminary stress analYSiS word came down that the prototype must be in the air within 30 days That took care of the preliminaries now it was full bore with everything beshying right Now The main event of the head-banging contest was to emerge Eli Newberger our chief in charge of stress (who is now with the FAA) complained that he could not finish the stress analysis in time to

release the prototype for flight Gorshydon told him not to worry about the flying that he and Walt Daiber our test pilot would take care of meeting the flight deadline With Eli settled down Gordon released the primary structure drawing some comshyplete and some incomplete

To meet the 30-day time limit it was decided we would build temshyporary jigs for the wings and fuseshylage and that we would build two airplanes from these jigs The first machine would be the flying proshytotype and the second the static load test machine The two fuselages were built in a wood jig much the same as EAA homebuilders use toshyday The wing jig was made of angle iron bolted together The later pershymanent jigs were all welded You mayor may not believe the rest of this story but believe-you-me it is true With only 30 days time and no additional help to build the first two airplanes the true Howard Aircraft loyalty craftsmanship and ingenushyity emerged

All the available factory space was being used to maintain a one-week production schedule for the Model IS which we could not disturb To make room for the wing and fuseshylage jigs for the 18 we removed the foremans desks and the clothes lockshyers from the wood shop and welding shop and doubled up with the paint department and sheet metal departshyment The rest of the 18 was built in corners and at night

The first to burn the midnight oil was engineering I can well rememshyber coming to work in the mornings and finding Gordon Israel asleep in his chair at a drafting table BD would tell Gordon to go home and get some rest but Gordon would stay on until he finished what he was working on so he could release it to the shop for construction

Mike Babco and Conrad Wayne built the first fuselage in two days The fuselage was finished about 330 pm and went to the paint shop for routine zinc chromate prime The cleaning painting and drying was scheduled as a three-hour job At

about 500 pm during a meeting I received a phone call from the paint shop foreman informing me that the primer would not dry I told him to give it another 30 minutes and it should be okay

I CAN WELL REMEMBER

COMING TO WORK

IN THE MORNINGS

AND FINDING

GORDON ISRAEL

ASLEEP IN HIS

CHAIR AT A

DRAFTING TABLE

Thirty minutes later he called again and said it was still wet I left the meeting and when I was 50 feet from the paint booth I got the word-or should I say the smell What I smelled was not zinc chromate but enamel No wonder it wouldnt dry Tom Handler the painter had grabbed a 5-gallon pail out of storage and did not check what it was He opened it and it was yellow so he dumped it into the pressure pot and started to spray What he was spraying was road marking enamel that we used to paint the compass rose at the airport Needshyless to say I got ugly with him-and it cost him a 30-day suspension

This little mistake cost us a whole day The paint shop stripped the enamel re-cleaned and re-etched the tubing and painted it that nightshyin zinc chromate this time-so it was ready for subassembly the next morning The experimental assembly department consisted of Mike Molshyberg IISludge Doyle Frank Rezich Ted Linnert and Gordon Israel For the next five days this bunch worked 16- and 24-hour shifts without any breaks When the gang was hungry Gordon would give Frank Rezich $10 and send him over to Monkey Faces a local gag and vomit shop for a bagshyful of sandwiches and coffee which

were eaten whenever a man had the time to take a bite or two The corker came one night when Frank Rezich fell asleep lying on a sawhorse Evshyeryone was taking bets as to when he was going to roll off I went home about midnight and he was still on dead center as far as I know he never rolled off

After the tail group was fitted and all controls checked out the fuseshylage went back to the paint shop for fabric covering While the fuselage was being covered the stuff hit the fan BD DeWeese and the Board of Directors switched engines on Gorshydon They said the 165-hp Warner was too expensive and we were to use the 125-hp Warner instead Well Gordon promptly told them in what particular part of their anatomies they could insert the 125 Warner The head-banging ended with Gorshydon losing the contest

Using the small Warner meant all new performance figures new weight and balance in fact new everyshything firewall forward and no place to chop any weight other than in the finish The first set of wings was finshyished by now and the second set was already started so it was too late to design or build a new lighter wing When the smoke cleared Gordon jumped into his Dodge and headed for Andy Klucks II Barn li where he could think in peace and settle down with the aid of the spirits

In the meantime Eli Newberger Ted Linnert and Wally French reshyengineered the 18 to match the 125 Warner They made some changes in the Number 2 static test airplane but left Number 1 alone it was still full bore on the flight-test plane Harold Bates joined the experimental group in charge of engine installation and the airplane was fully assembled at the factory and checked out then the wings were removed and the ship was trucked to the airport for final asshysembly taxi test engine run etc

While all this was going on Eli and his gang were working around the clock building the IIwhiffle tree for the wing static testing building the drop test rig for the landing gear

V INTAGE AIRPLANE 11

A Model 18 with an NACA cowl

and working out some final figures before the first test flight We still had about five days left to meet the deadshyline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to fly the 18 He had been running slow taxi tests engine tests etc plus test-flying the ISs He had been given instruction from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it

Well 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved to fly One aftershynoon after all the squawks had been worked off Walt asked to run some high-speed tail-up tests on the runshyway Gordon said okay but don t fly it and to make sure he wouldnt Gordon instructed the mechanics not to put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel Walt jumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank cranked him up As Walt taxied out he had the grin of the cat that just swallowed the canary Yep you guessed it-when he got down to the west end of the eastwest runway he opened up the throttle up came the tail and about 200 feet later the 18 1 2 JANUARY 2005

was in the air Walt climbed it out at max angle

circled the field to about 3000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steep turns dives etc he returned to the field made a pershyfect three-point landing and taxied in with that same $-eating grin on his face Gordon was so happy to see his new design fly he forgot all about his no fly order He jumped up on the wing slapped Walt on the back and asked How was it Walt still smiling said Build it-it flies like a toy

The following weeks were spent on the static load tests and keeping BD DeWeese away from the airplane Walt was about three jumps ahead of everyone in the flight tests and again Gordon warned him not to spin or dive the airplane until the wing tests were complete Unbeknown to Gorshydon Walt had already spun it Walt let the cat out of the bag when the enshygineers were installing the spin chute He told them Hell you dont need

that it spins nose down Walt was skating on thin ice however because a few days later the wing failed at the torsion box with a lesser load than for which it was designed This section was modishyfied and the airplane went through the cershytification tests with no other problems

Our next problem was production We had to rearrange the factory to accommoshydate both the 18 and the 15 In the meanshytime the sales departshyment had sold a mess of 18s and wanted deshylivery yesterday Buildshying the first 10 18s caused many red eyes it was common to work three days straight Yes I remember it wellshygoing to work on Monshyday and going home for the first time on

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

DOU G STEWART

Winter Operations I was planning on leaving for the

airport early this morning to meet a client for tailwheel training in my 1947 Piper Super Cruiser The thershymometer outside my window was registering in the mid-30s (and this was just the first week of Novemshyber) and the wind was making a moaning sound as it blew the last of the dying maple leaves around the corners of my house Looking up at the dark gray clouds whipping past overhead I noticed that there were snowflakes here and there

How could this be Just a few weeks ago I was still wearing shorts and a T-shirt and now I had to think about winter operations It seemed like only yesterday that I was concerned about density altishytude considerations and watching oil and cylinder head temperatures on the climb out Today I would have to think about the possibility of an engine preheat and my own body would need the extra warmth of a pair of long johns for the cold back seat of my PA-12

There was no escaping the fact that the time of year was here when I would have to change my menshytality from warm-weather operashytions to winter operations There are some pilots like my friend Tim who rather than deal with the burdens of operating in cold climes move to southern locales In Tims case I can hardly blame him If I think that the back seat of my Super Cruiser is cold it must still feel tropical in comparison to the back hole of his Stearman But those pilots who migrate to warmer

JANUARY 2005

climates in the winter dont often get to experience the phenomenal performance that only a cold highshypressure day affords us in the winshytertime They dont get to experishyence the truly CAVU skies that can only be found at least up north on those mid-winter days Winter flyshying certainly has some wonderful benefits but it also has some speshycial considerations Lets take a look at some of them

The first consideration Id like to mention should be a no-brainer yet every year there are pilots who seem oblivious to the fact that airplanes will not fly very well if at all when the lifting surfaces have been conshytaminated with ice snow or frost They manage to ruin perfectly fine airplanes when they crash as a result of an attempted takeoff without reshymoving the contamination I saw a pilot once who started to taxi to the runway with at least 2 inches of powshyder snow sitting on the wings and tail of his airplane He had thought that the snow would blow off the wings at the start of his takeoff roll Fly NOT as one of my younger sons might say

So if upon your arrival at the airshyport on a frosty winters morn you find your wings prop and tail feathshyers coated with ice snow or even just frost the first order of business will be to remove it (Of course if your aircraft has been parked in a hangar there might be other considerations if you find frozen contamination on your airplane) If the tops of your wings are painted a dark color like the Tennessee Red of my Super Cruiser

and the sun is shining even in the depths of winter it shouldnt take too long for that passive solar heat to do its thing But if your wings are a weather-beaten white and havent seen a coat of wax in awhile it could be quite some time before they are rid of their lift-defying contamination

For many years one of my winshytertime duties at the flight school where I worked was the removal of snow and ice from the tied-down airplanes on the line It didnt take me too long to realize how dark colors and smooth waxed surfaces aided me in my job Those aircraft were quickly and easily de-iced But those aircraft that had old chalky and faded finishes someshytimes had contamination stuck on their surfaces until the temperashytures rose above freezing And there were times when that might be more than several days

I do hope that you are also aware that even a thin coat of rough frost could have the potential to prevent the wings from generating enough lift to allow takeoff So if you find your wings frost-covered and the sun and breeze dont have enough strength to sublimate it (or you dont have the time to wait for the sun to do its thing) be prepared to remove or polish the frost manually At least while you are vigorously rubbing the wings down with an old towel youll also be increasing your circulation raising your body heat and getting a wonderful red glow on your cheeks

Now if it has been cold enough to leave frost snow or ice on your airframe then it is probably

8

HOMEBUILDER WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Jan 29-30

Jan 29-30

Feb 25-27

Feb 26-27

March 5-6

March 19-20

Denver CO

Oshkosh WI

Griffin GA (Atlanta Area)

Lakeland Fl (Sun N Fun Campus)

Dallas TX

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1-800-WORKSHOP 1-800-967-5746

YOU CAN BUILD IT LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

cold enough to warrant the preshyheating of your engine There are some folks who advocate keeping the engine preheating all the time while parked utilizing an electrishycal preheating device and there are others who insist it is better to only preheat prior to each planned flight (If only the heat generated by the arguments between these two opposing factions could be harnessed I could easily reduce the electric bill for preheating my own airplane) There are also those folks who prefer to use some form of forced hot air to preheat their aircraft I guess whatever melts your candle but regardless of how you preheat it should be done if you care at all about extending the life of your engine instruments and avionics

Your engine isn t the only thing that needs preheating your instrushyments and avionics need that preheat as well Not only is the oil in your engine sump thick but also every moving part in your airplane is going to be sluggish The gyros in your inshystruments the cables and linkages of throttle mixture and prop controls and the displays on your avionics all need a preheat as well

My personal way of taking care of the preheating is to have a Tashynis heater heating the oil sump and cylinders of the engine I also have a small ceramic heater inside the cockpit These are both plugged into an inexpensive 24-hour timer which I set to turn on about four hours before my expected deparshyture time In this way the airplane is already warm when I get to the airport It is rare that I have a difshyficult start this way

The issues of getting our cranky aviation engines started in the winshyter is worthy of a separate article so Ill deal with my techniques and the dangers associated with those techniques in the next article In the meantime I guess Ill go dig those long johns out of their sumshymer storage Its feeling like it might be a long winter

TAKE SOME OF THE EXPERIMENTING

OUT OF HOMEBUILDING HANDS-ON

REMINISCING WITH BIG NICK

THE MODEL 18 Reprinted from Vintage Airplane August 1974

The Model 18 like the Howard factory got off to a bad start and the climb-out was slow When the first bids for CPTP and Army PT trainers were let Howards Board of Direcshytors could not make up their minds whether to get a piece of the action or not The issue at hand was money Mr BD DeWeese our new preSident finally convinced them we could and should build the trainer

When the Board finally decided to go ahead with the new project it was too late Fairchild Ryan Stearman and Waco all had airplanes ready to go Howard went ahead with the project and we built the new plane to meet CAA certification requireshyments and Army specs

The first move by BD was to reshyhire Gordon Israel as chief engineer Gordon was happy to return to Howshyard and was eager to get the new airshyplane designed and built

It was just a week into the projshy10 JANUARY 2005

by Nick Rezich All Photos Courtesy the Nick Rezich Collection

ect when the head-banging contest started First it was BD trying to tell Gordon what to design and second was the stingy Board of Directors dolshying out a handful of chicken feed to build it with

With the money allotted Gordon designed the original 18 around a 16S-hp Warner engine His new deshysign was a slick one The fuselage was steel tube with the rear-half fabshyric covered and the cockpit forward section fitted with removable sheet metal The wings were two-pieceshymono spar all wood full cantilever panels The tail group included steel flippers and rudder and a wooden stabilizer and fin The final layout looked great

Ted Linnert designed a beautiful control system-all needle bearings and balanced 100 percent aerodyshynamically and statically The landing gear was the pride of Gordon Israelshyit was an anti-nose-over gear It was

built so that when you jumped on the binders the nose would come up instead of pitching you over on your back We had fun testing this gear It was an odd feeling going down the ramp at 30 or 40 mph and being able to jump on the binders without findshying yourself on the nose

Throughout the design process Gordon kept maintenance and sershyvice in mind (something todays engineers dont do) The 18 was a mechanics dream and a builders delight About halfway through the preliminary stress analYSiS word came down that the prototype must be in the air within 30 days That took care of the preliminaries now it was full bore with everything beshying right Now The main event of the head-banging contest was to emerge Eli Newberger our chief in charge of stress (who is now with the FAA) complained that he could not finish the stress analysis in time to

release the prototype for flight Gorshydon told him not to worry about the flying that he and Walt Daiber our test pilot would take care of meeting the flight deadline With Eli settled down Gordon released the primary structure drawing some comshyplete and some incomplete

To meet the 30-day time limit it was decided we would build temshyporary jigs for the wings and fuseshylage and that we would build two airplanes from these jigs The first machine would be the flying proshytotype and the second the static load test machine The two fuselages were built in a wood jig much the same as EAA homebuilders use toshyday The wing jig was made of angle iron bolted together The later pershymanent jigs were all welded You mayor may not believe the rest of this story but believe-you-me it is true With only 30 days time and no additional help to build the first two airplanes the true Howard Aircraft loyalty craftsmanship and ingenushyity emerged

All the available factory space was being used to maintain a one-week production schedule for the Model IS which we could not disturb To make room for the wing and fuseshylage jigs for the 18 we removed the foremans desks and the clothes lockshyers from the wood shop and welding shop and doubled up with the paint department and sheet metal departshyment The rest of the 18 was built in corners and at night

The first to burn the midnight oil was engineering I can well rememshyber coming to work in the mornings and finding Gordon Israel asleep in his chair at a drafting table BD would tell Gordon to go home and get some rest but Gordon would stay on until he finished what he was working on so he could release it to the shop for construction

Mike Babco and Conrad Wayne built the first fuselage in two days The fuselage was finished about 330 pm and went to the paint shop for routine zinc chromate prime The cleaning painting and drying was scheduled as a three-hour job At

about 500 pm during a meeting I received a phone call from the paint shop foreman informing me that the primer would not dry I told him to give it another 30 minutes and it should be okay

I CAN WELL REMEMBER

COMING TO WORK

IN THE MORNINGS

AND FINDING

GORDON ISRAEL

ASLEEP IN HIS

CHAIR AT A

DRAFTING TABLE

Thirty minutes later he called again and said it was still wet I left the meeting and when I was 50 feet from the paint booth I got the word-or should I say the smell What I smelled was not zinc chromate but enamel No wonder it wouldnt dry Tom Handler the painter had grabbed a 5-gallon pail out of storage and did not check what it was He opened it and it was yellow so he dumped it into the pressure pot and started to spray What he was spraying was road marking enamel that we used to paint the compass rose at the airport Needshyless to say I got ugly with him-and it cost him a 30-day suspension

This little mistake cost us a whole day The paint shop stripped the enamel re-cleaned and re-etched the tubing and painted it that nightshyin zinc chromate this time-so it was ready for subassembly the next morning The experimental assembly department consisted of Mike Molshyberg IISludge Doyle Frank Rezich Ted Linnert and Gordon Israel For the next five days this bunch worked 16- and 24-hour shifts without any breaks When the gang was hungry Gordon would give Frank Rezich $10 and send him over to Monkey Faces a local gag and vomit shop for a bagshyful of sandwiches and coffee which

were eaten whenever a man had the time to take a bite or two The corker came one night when Frank Rezich fell asleep lying on a sawhorse Evshyeryone was taking bets as to when he was going to roll off I went home about midnight and he was still on dead center as far as I know he never rolled off

After the tail group was fitted and all controls checked out the fuseshylage went back to the paint shop for fabric covering While the fuselage was being covered the stuff hit the fan BD DeWeese and the Board of Directors switched engines on Gorshydon They said the 165-hp Warner was too expensive and we were to use the 125-hp Warner instead Well Gordon promptly told them in what particular part of their anatomies they could insert the 125 Warner The head-banging ended with Gorshydon losing the contest

Using the small Warner meant all new performance figures new weight and balance in fact new everyshything firewall forward and no place to chop any weight other than in the finish The first set of wings was finshyished by now and the second set was already started so it was too late to design or build a new lighter wing When the smoke cleared Gordon jumped into his Dodge and headed for Andy Klucks II Barn li where he could think in peace and settle down with the aid of the spirits

In the meantime Eli Newberger Ted Linnert and Wally French reshyengineered the 18 to match the 125 Warner They made some changes in the Number 2 static test airplane but left Number 1 alone it was still full bore on the flight-test plane Harold Bates joined the experimental group in charge of engine installation and the airplane was fully assembled at the factory and checked out then the wings were removed and the ship was trucked to the airport for final asshysembly taxi test engine run etc

While all this was going on Eli and his gang were working around the clock building the IIwhiffle tree for the wing static testing building the drop test rig for the landing gear

V INTAGE AIRPLANE 11

A Model 18 with an NACA cowl

and working out some final figures before the first test flight We still had about five days left to meet the deadshyline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to fly the 18 He had been running slow taxi tests engine tests etc plus test-flying the ISs He had been given instruction from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it

Well 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved to fly One aftershynoon after all the squawks had been worked off Walt asked to run some high-speed tail-up tests on the runshyway Gordon said okay but don t fly it and to make sure he wouldnt Gordon instructed the mechanics not to put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel Walt jumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank cranked him up As Walt taxied out he had the grin of the cat that just swallowed the canary Yep you guessed it-when he got down to the west end of the eastwest runway he opened up the throttle up came the tail and about 200 feet later the 18 1 2 JANUARY 2005

was in the air Walt climbed it out at max angle

circled the field to about 3000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steep turns dives etc he returned to the field made a pershyfect three-point landing and taxied in with that same $-eating grin on his face Gordon was so happy to see his new design fly he forgot all about his no fly order He jumped up on the wing slapped Walt on the back and asked How was it Walt still smiling said Build it-it flies like a toy

The following weeks were spent on the static load tests and keeping BD DeWeese away from the airplane Walt was about three jumps ahead of everyone in the flight tests and again Gordon warned him not to spin or dive the airplane until the wing tests were complete Unbeknown to Gorshydon Walt had already spun it Walt let the cat out of the bag when the enshygineers were installing the spin chute He told them Hell you dont need

that it spins nose down Walt was skating on thin ice however because a few days later the wing failed at the torsion box with a lesser load than for which it was designed This section was modishyfied and the airplane went through the cershytification tests with no other problems

Our next problem was production We had to rearrange the factory to accommoshydate both the 18 and the 15 In the meanshytime the sales departshyment had sold a mess of 18s and wanted deshylivery yesterday Buildshying the first 10 18s caused many red eyes it was common to work three days straight Yes I remember it wellshygoing to work on Monshyday and going home for the first time on

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

HOMEBUILDER WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Jan 29-30

Jan 29-30

Feb 25-27

Feb 26-27

March 5-6

March 19-20

Denver CO

Oshkosh WI

Griffin GA (Atlanta Area)

Lakeland Fl (Sun N Fun Campus)

Dallas TX

bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics bull Cas Welding Test Flying your Project

bull TIC Welding

bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics

bull Introduction to Ai rcraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Composite Construction bull Electrical Systems and Avionics bull Cas Welding

bull Introduction to Aircraft Building bull Sheet Metal Basics bull Fabric Covering bull Electrical Systems and Avionics

~ ~ ~ ~~ __ a _

1-800-WORKSHOP 1-800-967-5746

YOU CAN BUILD IT LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

cold enough to warrant the preshyheating of your engine There are some folks who advocate keeping the engine preheating all the time while parked utilizing an electrishycal preheating device and there are others who insist it is better to only preheat prior to each planned flight (If only the heat generated by the arguments between these two opposing factions could be harnessed I could easily reduce the electric bill for preheating my own airplane) There are also those folks who prefer to use some form of forced hot air to preheat their aircraft I guess whatever melts your candle but regardless of how you preheat it should be done if you care at all about extending the life of your engine instruments and avionics

Your engine isn t the only thing that needs preheating your instrushyments and avionics need that preheat as well Not only is the oil in your engine sump thick but also every moving part in your airplane is going to be sluggish The gyros in your inshystruments the cables and linkages of throttle mixture and prop controls and the displays on your avionics all need a preheat as well

My personal way of taking care of the preheating is to have a Tashynis heater heating the oil sump and cylinders of the engine I also have a small ceramic heater inside the cockpit These are both plugged into an inexpensive 24-hour timer which I set to turn on about four hours before my expected deparshyture time In this way the airplane is already warm when I get to the airport It is rare that I have a difshyficult start this way

The issues of getting our cranky aviation engines started in the winshyter is worthy of a separate article so Ill deal with my techniques and the dangers associated with those techniques in the next article In the meantime I guess Ill go dig those long johns out of their sumshymer storage Its feeling like it might be a long winter

TAKE SOME OF THE EXPERIMENTING

OUT OF HOMEBUILDING HANDS-ON

REMINISCING WITH BIG NICK

THE MODEL 18 Reprinted from Vintage Airplane August 1974

The Model 18 like the Howard factory got off to a bad start and the climb-out was slow When the first bids for CPTP and Army PT trainers were let Howards Board of Direcshytors could not make up their minds whether to get a piece of the action or not The issue at hand was money Mr BD DeWeese our new preSident finally convinced them we could and should build the trainer

When the Board finally decided to go ahead with the new project it was too late Fairchild Ryan Stearman and Waco all had airplanes ready to go Howard went ahead with the project and we built the new plane to meet CAA certification requireshyments and Army specs

The first move by BD was to reshyhire Gordon Israel as chief engineer Gordon was happy to return to Howshyard and was eager to get the new airshyplane designed and built

It was just a week into the projshy10 JANUARY 2005

by Nick Rezich All Photos Courtesy the Nick Rezich Collection

ect when the head-banging contest started First it was BD trying to tell Gordon what to design and second was the stingy Board of Directors dolshying out a handful of chicken feed to build it with

With the money allotted Gordon designed the original 18 around a 16S-hp Warner engine His new deshysign was a slick one The fuselage was steel tube with the rear-half fabshyric covered and the cockpit forward section fitted with removable sheet metal The wings were two-pieceshymono spar all wood full cantilever panels The tail group included steel flippers and rudder and a wooden stabilizer and fin The final layout looked great

Ted Linnert designed a beautiful control system-all needle bearings and balanced 100 percent aerodyshynamically and statically The landing gear was the pride of Gordon Israelshyit was an anti-nose-over gear It was

built so that when you jumped on the binders the nose would come up instead of pitching you over on your back We had fun testing this gear It was an odd feeling going down the ramp at 30 or 40 mph and being able to jump on the binders without findshying yourself on the nose

Throughout the design process Gordon kept maintenance and sershyvice in mind (something todays engineers dont do) The 18 was a mechanics dream and a builders delight About halfway through the preliminary stress analYSiS word came down that the prototype must be in the air within 30 days That took care of the preliminaries now it was full bore with everything beshying right Now The main event of the head-banging contest was to emerge Eli Newberger our chief in charge of stress (who is now with the FAA) complained that he could not finish the stress analysis in time to

release the prototype for flight Gorshydon told him not to worry about the flying that he and Walt Daiber our test pilot would take care of meeting the flight deadline With Eli settled down Gordon released the primary structure drawing some comshyplete and some incomplete

To meet the 30-day time limit it was decided we would build temshyporary jigs for the wings and fuseshylage and that we would build two airplanes from these jigs The first machine would be the flying proshytotype and the second the static load test machine The two fuselages were built in a wood jig much the same as EAA homebuilders use toshyday The wing jig was made of angle iron bolted together The later pershymanent jigs were all welded You mayor may not believe the rest of this story but believe-you-me it is true With only 30 days time and no additional help to build the first two airplanes the true Howard Aircraft loyalty craftsmanship and ingenushyity emerged

All the available factory space was being used to maintain a one-week production schedule for the Model IS which we could not disturb To make room for the wing and fuseshylage jigs for the 18 we removed the foremans desks and the clothes lockshyers from the wood shop and welding shop and doubled up with the paint department and sheet metal departshyment The rest of the 18 was built in corners and at night

The first to burn the midnight oil was engineering I can well rememshyber coming to work in the mornings and finding Gordon Israel asleep in his chair at a drafting table BD would tell Gordon to go home and get some rest but Gordon would stay on until he finished what he was working on so he could release it to the shop for construction

Mike Babco and Conrad Wayne built the first fuselage in two days The fuselage was finished about 330 pm and went to the paint shop for routine zinc chromate prime The cleaning painting and drying was scheduled as a three-hour job At

about 500 pm during a meeting I received a phone call from the paint shop foreman informing me that the primer would not dry I told him to give it another 30 minutes and it should be okay

I CAN WELL REMEMBER

COMING TO WORK

IN THE MORNINGS

AND FINDING

GORDON ISRAEL

ASLEEP IN HIS

CHAIR AT A

DRAFTING TABLE

Thirty minutes later he called again and said it was still wet I left the meeting and when I was 50 feet from the paint booth I got the word-or should I say the smell What I smelled was not zinc chromate but enamel No wonder it wouldnt dry Tom Handler the painter had grabbed a 5-gallon pail out of storage and did not check what it was He opened it and it was yellow so he dumped it into the pressure pot and started to spray What he was spraying was road marking enamel that we used to paint the compass rose at the airport Needshyless to say I got ugly with him-and it cost him a 30-day suspension

This little mistake cost us a whole day The paint shop stripped the enamel re-cleaned and re-etched the tubing and painted it that nightshyin zinc chromate this time-so it was ready for subassembly the next morning The experimental assembly department consisted of Mike Molshyberg IISludge Doyle Frank Rezich Ted Linnert and Gordon Israel For the next five days this bunch worked 16- and 24-hour shifts without any breaks When the gang was hungry Gordon would give Frank Rezich $10 and send him over to Monkey Faces a local gag and vomit shop for a bagshyful of sandwiches and coffee which

were eaten whenever a man had the time to take a bite or two The corker came one night when Frank Rezich fell asleep lying on a sawhorse Evshyeryone was taking bets as to when he was going to roll off I went home about midnight and he was still on dead center as far as I know he never rolled off

After the tail group was fitted and all controls checked out the fuseshylage went back to the paint shop for fabric covering While the fuselage was being covered the stuff hit the fan BD DeWeese and the Board of Directors switched engines on Gorshydon They said the 165-hp Warner was too expensive and we were to use the 125-hp Warner instead Well Gordon promptly told them in what particular part of their anatomies they could insert the 125 Warner The head-banging ended with Gorshydon losing the contest

Using the small Warner meant all new performance figures new weight and balance in fact new everyshything firewall forward and no place to chop any weight other than in the finish The first set of wings was finshyished by now and the second set was already started so it was too late to design or build a new lighter wing When the smoke cleared Gordon jumped into his Dodge and headed for Andy Klucks II Barn li where he could think in peace and settle down with the aid of the spirits

In the meantime Eli Newberger Ted Linnert and Wally French reshyengineered the 18 to match the 125 Warner They made some changes in the Number 2 static test airplane but left Number 1 alone it was still full bore on the flight-test plane Harold Bates joined the experimental group in charge of engine installation and the airplane was fully assembled at the factory and checked out then the wings were removed and the ship was trucked to the airport for final asshysembly taxi test engine run etc

While all this was going on Eli and his gang were working around the clock building the IIwhiffle tree for the wing static testing building the drop test rig for the landing gear

V INTAGE AIRPLANE 11

A Model 18 with an NACA cowl

and working out some final figures before the first test flight We still had about five days left to meet the deadshyline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to fly the 18 He had been running slow taxi tests engine tests etc plus test-flying the ISs He had been given instruction from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it

Well 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved to fly One aftershynoon after all the squawks had been worked off Walt asked to run some high-speed tail-up tests on the runshyway Gordon said okay but don t fly it and to make sure he wouldnt Gordon instructed the mechanics not to put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel Walt jumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank cranked him up As Walt taxied out he had the grin of the cat that just swallowed the canary Yep you guessed it-when he got down to the west end of the eastwest runway he opened up the throttle up came the tail and about 200 feet later the 18 1 2 JANUARY 2005

was in the air Walt climbed it out at max angle

circled the field to about 3000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steep turns dives etc he returned to the field made a pershyfect three-point landing and taxied in with that same $-eating grin on his face Gordon was so happy to see his new design fly he forgot all about his no fly order He jumped up on the wing slapped Walt on the back and asked How was it Walt still smiling said Build it-it flies like a toy

The following weeks were spent on the static load tests and keeping BD DeWeese away from the airplane Walt was about three jumps ahead of everyone in the flight tests and again Gordon warned him not to spin or dive the airplane until the wing tests were complete Unbeknown to Gorshydon Walt had already spun it Walt let the cat out of the bag when the enshygineers were installing the spin chute He told them Hell you dont need

that it spins nose down Walt was skating on thin ice however because a few days later the wing failed at the torsion box with a lesser load than for which it was designed This section was modishyfied and the airplane went through the cershytification tests with no other problems

Our next problem was production We had to rearrange the factory to accommoshydate both the 18 and the 15 In the meanshytime the sales departshyment had sold a mess of 18s and wanted deshylivery yesterday Buildshying the first 10 18s caused many red eyes it was common to work three days straight Yes I remember it wellshygoing to work on Monshyday and going home for the first time on

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

REMINISCING WITH BIG NICK

THE MODEL 18 Reprinted from Vintage Airplane August 1974

The Model 18 like the Howard factory got off to a bad start and the climb-out was slow When the first bids for CPTP and Army PT trainers were let Howards Board of Direcshytors could not make up their minds whether to get a piece of the action or not The issue at hand was money Mr BD DeWeese our new preSident finally convinced them we could and should build the trainer

When the Board finally decided to go ahead with the new project it was too late Fairchild Ryan Stearman and Waco all had airplanes ready to go Howard went ahead with the project and we built the new plane to meet CAA certification requireshyments and Army specs

The first move by BD was to reshyhire Gordon Israel as chief engineer Gordon was happy to return to Howshyard and was eager to get the new airshyplane designed and built

It was just a week into the projshy10 JANUARY 2005

by Nick Rezich All Photos Courtesy the Nick Rezich Collection

ect when the head-banging contest started First it was BD trying to tell Gordon what to design and second was the stingy Board of Directors dolshying out a handful of chicken feed to build it with

With the money allotted Gordon designed the original 18 around a 16S-hp Warner engine His new deshysign was a slick one The fuselage was steel tube with the rear-half fabshyric covered and the cockpit forward section fitted with removable sheet metal The wings were two-pieceshymono spar all wood full cantilever panels The tail group included steel flippers and rudder and a wooden stabilizer and fin The final layout looked great

Ted Linnert designed a beautiful control system-all needle bearings and balanced 100 percent aerodyshynamically and statically The landing gear was the pride of Gordon Israelshyit was an anti-nose-over gear It was

built so that when you jumped on the binders the nose would come up instead of pitching you over on your back We had fun testing this gear It was an odd feeling going down the ramp at 30 or 40 mph and being able to jump on the binders without findshying yourself on the nose

Throughout the design process Gordon kept maintenance and sershyvice in mind (something todays engineers dont do) The 18 was a mechanics dream and a builders delight About halfway through the preliminary stress analYSiS word came down that the prototype must be in the air within 30 days That took care of the preliminaries now it was full bore with everything beshying right Now The main event of the head-banging contest was to emerge Eli Newberger our chief in charge of stress (who is now with the FAA) complained that he could not finish the stress analysis in time to

release the prototype for flight Gorshydon told him not to worry about the flying that he and Walt Daiber our test pilot would take care of meeting the flight deadline With Eli settled down Gordon released the primary structure drawing some comshyplete and some incomplete

To meet the 30-day time limit it was decided we would build temshyporary jigs for the wings and fuseshylage and that we would build two airplanes from these jigs The first machine would be the flying proshytotype and the second the static load test machine The two fuselages were built in a wood jig much the same as EAA homebuilders use toshyday The wing jig was made of angle iron bolted together The later pershymanent jigs were all welded You mayor may not believe the rest of this story but believe-you-me it is true With only 30 days time and no additional help to build the first two airplanes the true Howard Aircraft loyalty craftsmanship and ingenushyity emerged

All the available factory space was being used to maintain a one-week production schedule for the Model IS which we could not disturb To make room for the wing and fuseshylage jigs for the 18 we removed the foremans desks and the clothes lockshyers from the wood shop and welding shop and doubled up with the paint department and sheet metal departshyment The rest of the 18 was built in corners and at night

The first to burn the midnight oil was engineering I can well rememshyber coming to work in the mornings and finding Gordon Israel asleep in his chair at a drafting table BD would tell Gordon to go home and get some rest but Gordon would stay on until he finished what he was working on so he could release it to the shop for construction

Mike Babco and Conrad Wayne built the first fuselage in two days The fuselage was finished about 330 pm and went to the paint shop for routine zinc chromate prime The cleaning painting and drying was scheduled as a three-hour job At

about 500 pm during a meeting I received a phone call from the paint shop foreman informing me that the primer would not dry I told him to give it another 30 minutes and it should be okay

I CAN WELL REMEMBER

COMING TO WORK

IN THE MORNINGS

AND FINDING

GORDON ISRAEL

ASLEEP IN HIS

CHAIR AT A

DRAFTING TABLE

Thirty minutes later he called again and said it was still wet I left the meeting and when I was 50 feet from the paint booth I got the word-or should I say the smell What I smelled was not zinc chromate but enamel No wonder it wouldnt dry Tom Handler the painter had grabbed a 5-gallon pail out of storage and did not check what it was He opened it and it was yellow so he dumped it into the pressure pot and started to spray What he was spraying was road marking enamel that we used to paint the compass rose at the airport Needshyless to say I got ugly with him-and it cost him a 30-day suspension

This little mistake cost us a whole day The paint shop stripped the enamel re-cleaned and re-etched the tubing and painted it that nightshyin zinc chromate this time-so it was ready for subassembly the next morning The experimental assembly department consisted of Mike Molshyberg IISludge Doyle Frank Rezich Ted Linnert and Gordon Israel For the next five days this bunch worked 16- and 24-hour shifts without any breaks When the gang was hungry Gordon would give Frank Rezich $10 and send him over to Monkey Faces a local gag and vomit shop for a bagshyful of sandwiches and coffee which

were eaten whenever a man had the time to take a bite or two The corker came one night when Frank Rezich fell asleep lying on a sawhorse Evshyeryone was taking bets as to when he was going to roll off I went home about midnight and he was still on dead center as far as I know he never rolled off

After the tail group was fitted and all controls checked out the fuseshylage went back to the paint shop for fabric covering While the fuselage was being covered the stuff hit the fan BD DeWeese and the Board of Directors switched engines on Gorshydon They said the 165-hp Warner was too expensive and we were to use the 125-hp Warner instead Well Gordon promptly told them in what particular part of their anatomies they could insert the 125 Warner The head-banging ended with Gorshydon losing the contest

Using the small Warner meant all new performance figures new weight and balance in fact new everyshything firewall forward and no place to chop any weight other than in the finish The first set of wings was finshyished by now and the second set was already started so it was too late to design or build a new lighter wing When the smoke cleared Gordon jumped into his Dodge and headed for Andy Klucks II Barn li where he could think in peace and settle down with the aid of the spirits

In the meantime Eli Newberger Ted Linnert and Wally French reshyengineered the 18 to match the 125 Warner They made some changes in the Number 2 static test airplane but left Number 1 alone it was still full bore on the flight-test plane Harold Bates joined the experimental group in charge of engine installation and the airplane was fully assembled at the factory and checked out then the wings were removed and the ship was trucked to the airport for final asshysembly taxi test engine run etc

While all this was going on Eli and his gang were working around the clock building the IIwhiffle tree for the wing static testing building the drop test rig for the landing gear

V INTAGE AIRPLANE 11

A Model 18 with an NACA cowl

and working out some final figures before the first test flight We still had about five days left to meet the deadshyline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to fly the 18 He had been running slow taxi tests engine tests etc plus test-flying the ISs He had been given instruction from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it

Well 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved to fly One aftershynoon after all the squawks had been worked off Walt asked to run some high-speed tail-up tests on the runshyway Gordon said okay but don t fly it and to make sure he wouldnt Gordon instructed the mechanics not to put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel Walt jumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank cranked him up As Walt taxied out he had the grin of the cat that just swallowed the canary Yep you guessed it-when he got down to the west end of the eastwest runway he opened up the throttle up came the tail and about 200 feet later the 18 1 2 JANUARY 2005

was in the air Walt climbed it out at max angle

circled the field to about 3000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steep turns dives etc he returned to the field made a pershyfect three-point landing and taxied in with that same $-eating grin on his face Gordon was so happy to see his new design fly he forgot all about his no fly order He jumped up on the wing slapped Walt on the back and asked How was it Walt still smiling said Build it-it flies like a toy

The following weeks were spent on the static load tests and keeping BD DeWeese away from the airplane Walt was about three jumps ahead of everyone in the flight tests and again Gordon warned him not to spin or dive the airplane until the wing tests were complete Unbeknown to Gorshydon Walt had already spun it Walt let the cat out of the bag when the enshygineers were installing the spin chute He told them Hell you dont need

that it spins nose down Walt was skating on thin ice however because a few days later the wing failed at the torsion box with a lesser load than for which it was designed This section was modishyfied and the airplane went through the cershytification tests with no other problems

Our next problem was production We had to rearrange the factory to accommoshydate both the 18 and the 15 In the meanshytime the sales departshyment had sold a mess of 18s and wanted deshylivery yesterday Buildshying the first 10 18s caused many red eyes it was common to work three days straight Yes I remember it wellshygoing to work on Monshyday and going home for the first time on

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

release the prototype for flight Gorshydon told him not to worry about the flying that he and Walt Daiber our test pilot would take care of meeting the flight deadline With Eli settled down Gordon released the primary structure drawing some comshyplete and some incomplete

To meet the 30-day time limit it was decided we would build temshyporary jigs for the wings and fuseshylage and that we would build two airplanes from these jigs The first machine would be the flying proshytotype and the second the static load test machine The two fuselages were built in a wood jig much the same as EAA homebuilders use toshyday The wing jig was made of angle iron bolted together The later pershymanent jigs were all welded You mayor may not believe the rest of this story but believe-you-me it is true With only 30 days time and no additional help to build the first two airplanes the true Howard Aircraft loyalty craftsmanship and ingenushyity emerged

All the available factory space was being used to maintain a one-week production schedule for the Model IS which we could not disturb To make room for the wing and fuseshylage jigs for the 18 we removed the foremans desks and the clothes lockshyers from the wood shop and welding shop and doubled up with the paint department and sheet metal departshyment The rest of the 18 was built in corners and at night

The first to burn the midnight oil was engineering I can well rememshyber coming to work in the mornings and finding Gordon Israel asleep in his chair at a drafting table BD would tell Gordon to go home and get some rest but Gordon would stay on until he finished what he was working on so he could release it to the shop for construction

Mike Babco and Conrad Wayne built the first fuselage in two days The fuselage was finished about 330 pm and went to the paint shop for routine zinc chromate prime The cleaning painting and drying was scheduled as a three-hour job At

about 500 pm during a meeting I received a phone call from the paint shop foreman informing me that the primer would not dry I told him to give it another 30 minutes and it should be okay

I CAN WELL REMEMBER

COMING TO WORK

IN THE MORNINGS

AND FINDING

GORDON ISRAEL

ASLEEP IN HIS

CHAIR AT A

DRAFTING TABLE

Thirty minutes later he called again and said it was still wet I left the meeting and when I was 50 feet from the paint booth I got the word-or should I say the smell What I smelled was not zinc chromate but enamel No wonder it wouldnt dry Tom Handler the painter had grabbed a 5-gallon pail out of storage and did not check what it was He opened it and it was yellow so he dumped it into the pressure pot and started to spray What he was spraying was road marking enamel that we used to paint the compass rose at the airport Needshyless to say I got ugly with him-and it cost him a 30-day suspension

This little mistake cost us a whole day The paint shop stripped the enamel re-cleaned and re-etched the tubing and painted it that nightshyin zinc chromate this time-so it was ready for subassembly the next morning The experimental assembly department consisted of Mike Molshyberg IISludge Doyle Frank Rezich Ted Linnert and Gordon Israel For the next five days this bunch worked 16- and 24-hour shifts without any breaks When the gang was hungry Gordon would give Frank Rezich $10 and send him over to Monkey Faces a local gag and vomit shop for a bagshyful of sandwiches and coffee which

were eaten whenever a man had the time to take a bite or two The corker came one night when Frank Rezich fell asleep lying on a sawhorse Evshyeryone was taking bets as to when he was going to roll off I went home about midnight and he was still on dead center as far as I know he never rolled off

After the tail group was fitted and all controls checked out the fuseshylage went back to the paint shop for fabric covering While the fuselage was being covered the stuff hit the fan BD DeWeese and the Board of Directors switched engines on Gorshydon They said the 165-hp Warner was too expensive and we were to use the 125-hp Warner instead Well Gordon promptly told them in what particular part of their anatomies they could insert the 125 Warner The head-banging ended with Gorshydon losing the contest

Using the small Warner meant all new performance figures new weight and balance in fact new everyshything firewall forward and no place to chop any weight other than in the finish The first set of wings was finshyished by now and the second set was already started so it was too late to design or build a new lighter wing When the smoke cleared Gordon jumped into his Dodge and headed for Andy Klucks II Barn li where he could think in peace and settle down with the aid of the spirits

In the meantime Eli Newberger Ted Linnert and Wally French reshyengineered the 18 to match the 125 Warner They made some changes in the Number 2 static test airplane but left Number 1 alone it was still full bore on the flight-test plane Harold Bates joined the experimental group in charge of engine installation and the airplane was fully assembled at the factory and checked out then the wings were removed and the ship was trucked to the airport for final asshysembly taxi test engine run etc

While all this was going on Eli and his gang were working around the clock building the IIwhiffle tree for the wing static testing building the drop test rig for the landing gear

V INTAGE AIRPLANE 11

A Model 18 with an NACA cowl

and working out some final figures before the first test flight We still had about five days left to meet the deadshyline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to fly the 18 He had been running slow taxi tests engine tests etc plus test-flying the ISs He had been given instruction from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it

Well 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved to fly One aftershynoon after all the squawks had been worked off Walt asked to run some high-speed tail-up tests on the runshyway Gordon said okay but don t fly it and to make sure he wouldnt Gordon instructed the mechanics not to put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel Walt jumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank cranked him up As Walt taxied out he had the grin of the cat that just swallowed the canary Yep you guessed it-when he got down to the west end of the eastwest runway he opened up the throttle up came the tail and about 200 feet later the 18 1 2 JANUARY 2005

was in the air Walt climbed it out at max angle

circled the field to about 3000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steep turns dives etc he returned to the field made a pershyfect three-point landing and taxied in with that same $-eating grin on his face Gordon was so happy to see his new design fly he forgot all about his no fly order He jumped up on the wing slapped Walt on the back and asked How was it Walt still smiling said Build it-it flies like a toy

The following weeks were spent on the static load tests and keeping BD DeWeese away from the airplane Walt was about three jumps ahead of everyone in the flight tests and again Gordon warned him not to spin or dive the airplane until the wing tests were complete Unbeknown to Gorshydon Walt had already spun it Walt let the cat out of the bag when the enshygineers were installing the spin chute He told them Hell you dont need

that it spins nose down Walt was skating on thin ice however because a few days later the wing failed at the torsion box with a lesser load than for which it was designed This section was modishyfied and the airplane went through the cershytification tests with no other problems

Our next problem was production We had to rearrange the factory to accommoshydate both the 18 and the 15 In the meanshytime the sales departshyment had sold a mess of 18s and wanted deshylivery yesterday Buildshying the first 10 18s caused many red eyes it was common to work three days straight Yes I remember it wellshygoing to work on Monshyday and going home for the first time on

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

A Model 18 with an NACA cowl

and working out some final figures before the first test flight We still had about five days left to meet the deadshyline and Walt Daiber was chomping at the bit to fly the 18 He had been running slow taxi tests engine tests etc plus test-flying the ISs He had been given instruction from Gordon not to fly the plane until engineering released it

Well 01 Walt was nothing but a big kid who loved to fly One aftershynoon after all the squawks had been worked off Walt asked to run some high-speed tail-up tests on the runshyway Gordon said okay but don t fly it and to make sure he wouldnt Gordon instructed the mechanics not to put the rear engine cowl on and one side panel Walt jumped into the cockpit and my brother Frank cranked him up As Walt taxied out he had the grin of the cat that just swallowed the canary Yep you guessed it-when he got down to the west end of the eastwest runway he opened up the throttle up came the tail and about 200 feet later the 18 1 2 JANUARY 2005

was in the air Walt climbed it out at max angle

circled the field to about 3000 feet and proceeded to run some stall tests After about 30 minutes of flying around doing steep turns dives etc he returned to the field made a pershyfect three-point landing and taxied in with that same $-eating grin on his face Gordon was so happy to see his new design fly he forgot all about his no fly order He jumped up on the wing slapped Walt on the back and asked How was it Walt still smiling said Build it-it flies like a toy

The following weeks were spent on the static load tests and keeping BD DeWeese away from the airplane Walt was about three jumps ahead of everyone in the flight tests and again Gordon warned him not to spin or dive the airplane until the wing tests were complete Unbeknown to Gorshydon Walt had already spun it Walt let the cat out of the bag when the enshygineers were installing the spin chute He told them Hell you dont need

that it spins nose down Walt was skating on thin ice however because a few days later the wing failed at the torsion box with a lesser load than for which it was designed This section was modishyfied and the airplane went through the cershytification tests with no other problems

Our next problem was production We had to rearrange the factory to accommoshydate both the 18 and the 15 In the meanshytime the sales departshyment had sold a mess of 18s and wanted deshylivery yesterday Buildshying the first 10 18s caused many red eyes it was common to work three days straight Yes I remember it wellshygoing to work on Monshyday and going home for the first time on

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

The first Howard Model 18 at the factory test hangarWednesday smelling like a goat The 18 like the 15 was improved

and modified on the production line by the mechanics and it left the facshytory in traditional DGA form The first batch of 18s had an enamel finshyish on the wings and stabilizer We used a process called wipe-on in which we finished the wood like furniture-sealer filler and color This was supposed to be quicker and cheaper than the customary dope and fabric and did indeed result in a high-gloss finish As it worked out this was more time-consuming expensive and difficult to repair The high gloss was the only thing the method had going for it This was later changed to a dope and fabric finish The wood covering was applied with tacking strips in place of permanently driven nails such as in the 15 The leading edge was a one-piece curved section that we formed ourselves with a steam forming jig We also added check valves to the brake reservoir cans to keep from bathing the pilot with hydraulic oil

The whole 18 program went well

until the airplanes and the summer heat met in Georgia Oklahoma and Texas The operators complained that the airplane would not perform or climb in the 90degF temperatures Gordon was well aware of this situashytion and explained to the salespeople that you couldnt build an airplane that was designed for 165 hp and fly it with 125 hp and expect anything other than a pig

It wasnt long before the sales came to a grinding halt Cw Slim Frietag our vice president of sales an old-time pilot with many hours finally convinced BD DeWeese and

the Board of Directors of the need to install the 165-hp engine if we were to survive Then it was back to the head-banging contest Gordon came out of the contest with the larger lumps-a Kinner engine was purchased and work began immedishyately on the new installation This program was a carbon copy of the 18 as Gordon had originally planned it Sales wanted the plane yesterday so it was back to working all hours of the day and night

Next month The air show and the 18 develops a bad case of the spin shakes

The Model 18 final assembly crew In the center is Mike Molberg the foreman who brought the wreckage of Mr Mulligan back to Chicago To his left is my brother Frank who is with Rockwellintemational working on the 8-1 bomber program

VI NTAGE AI R PLAN E 13

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

660b nol ~~~~~r bull is saying

No t another story about yet another ridiculously expensive j-3 Cub

Yes we have to admit that this is a story about a j-3 Cub but hang in there It s not just any j-3 Cub and you might learn something We certainly did Plus we met some inshyteresting folks and you will too

Every airplane type in history has a circle of enthusiasts around it who know all the historical nitshynoids about it However quite often those of us outside the circle never hear those tales and thats the case with the Bair Wings Cub Not only 14 JANUARY 2005

is the airplane itself unique but it also brings up a subject not many of us know much about airplanes that were produced for unusual purposes and how those that have survived compose an interesting collectors area within vintage airplanes

The Cub in question NC37946 is a 1941 model that came into the Bair familys life in 1978 when jerry Bair of York Nebraska bought the airplane from its 19th owner jerry and his father Don were aviation institutions in that part of the Plains states having been ag-operators almost from the beginning of the concept In addition they opershyated an FBO and flight school on the York Municipal Airport jerrys

son Craig who now owns the airshyplane received a gift of 10 hours of dual with his grandfather in the airplane So to say this airplane has been a part of the family for a long time is an understatement

In 1983 they decided to re-cover the wings but in the process discovshyered dry rot in all four spars so the wings needed a complete rebuild Not wanting to take time from their ag operations to do the work themselves they farmed it out to a local mechanic who took the airplane to his shop to work on it That turned out to be a mistake the mechanic moved to the East Coast and it was 10 years before the Bairs were able to pry the airplane loose and return it home

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Craig who continued in the family business and is now a thirdshygeneration ag-operator took cusshytody of the airplane and in 1995 began to work on it He has done an excellent job of telling the Bair Cub story on the signboard that accompanies the airplane and it s well worth reading

I decided that I wanted the airshycraft to be completely original so I began research on what a 1941 Piper Cub should look like I had heard about a pre-war program in which one Piper dealer in each state

NUSIOU I-IJ~MI O

Pipe Cult Traine Pobobly 110 _ ~ght oWpione ho onjoyd popularity of Pipe Cub ITolne h io y to fty and economical to maintain Private owners And it on ideal plone and it is IMino used extensively in presshy

could acquire a Flitshyfire Those were Cubs

~ painted silver with ~ British markings I ~ thought it would be ~ pretty neat if my Cub

Brown ampWilliamson Tobacco Co sold the Wings cigarette brand and sponsored a number of aviationmiddotrelated promotional items In addishytion to the Wings collector cards that featured illustrashytions of the modern aircraft of the day the company sponsored the Wings of Destiny radio program on the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Each Cub was delivered to an airport nearby the winning contesshytants home and each side of the airplane featured the special logo you see here

ent CfVil Aeronoutics tro~ proshygram A varty of ~ horsepower engines contribut to its performshyance ond economy of operation ~__ Famp-f_P~ two _ _

of _-IshyI ae

=~--- _a__T_c-_-

~ was one of those Flitshylaquo ~ fires but I couldnt sect figure out how to ~ check on that o u

In the summer of 1996 someshyone recommended I contact Clyde

restoration workshops Smith runs a series of ragwing

Piper restoration clinics that take place in various locations around the country They are considered a must do for those serious about that kind of restoration

I attended his workshop in September of 1996 in Fort Collins Colorado I told Clyde I wanted the airplane to be absolutely original but he took that with a grain of salt because hed heard it many times in the past and people apparently didnt follow through

I asked him about the pOSSibilshyity of my aircraft being a British Flitfire and he said he would look into it when he got home after I gave him my registration and seshyrial numbers

II About two weeks went by and I got a call from Clyde He said I have good news and bad news What do you want first I said Give me the bad news He said the Cub is not a Flitfire but the good news is that it is rarer than a Flitfire it is a Wings Cigarettes Cub I asked him how he knew this and he said it was written in the Remarks secshytion in the original factory records

I asked him what he knew about Wings Cigarettes Cubs and he said No t much other than they were given away by the cigashyrette company in 1940 and 1941 He recommended that I call John Stahly in Indiana because he had done a lot of research on Wings Cubs I contacted John and he said he had a Wings Cub but it wasnt restored to original He then sent me copies of everything he had on the promotional program that was called Wings of Destiny by the cigarette company

Finding out he had a rather rare airplane Craig then became a real Wings-aholic and started scratching around for everything he could find out about the Wings airplanes and

Smith Jr about what my Cub should what hed have to do to make his look like to be original Clyde gave absolutely authentic right down me some very good information to the tiniest details Then he got a but suggested I attend one of his boost in the originality department

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Craigs meticulous work on the Continental engine is apshyparent in the fit of the cowling and the eyebrows above each bank of cylinders

when Clyde Smith asked to hold one of his workshops in Craigs facility in York Nebraska

While he was there we made a list of everything Id need to make the Cub original The biggest items I had yet to locate where an original cowlshying carburetor airbox three-piece windshield and the black-faced inshystruments We then discovered by looking at other Cubs that this one had the cathedral ceiling

I began looking everywhere for any original pre-war Cub parts I found the oil temperature gauge and compass in a friends Cub that was in the rafshyters of his hangar Clyde found an oil pressure gauge I already had the airspeed and altimshyeter and Keystone

Because of his profession as an agricul- Instruments supshytural sprayer Craig Bair couldnt make plied me with the the trip to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture Waltham tach and 2004 so his friend Dan McNeill of Placer- 0 v e r h a u led the ville California brought the Wings Cub to other instruments the convention For a long time

I didnt have an original primer then found one just sitting on a bench at another friends shop in Missouri

The search for parts for an airplane such as this often takes weird and serendipitous turns For instance Craig was asked to ferry a 1929 Great Lakes from New York state to Kansas for a friend While he was weathered-in in New York he called Mac MacVicor who had been recomshymended to him as someone who might have Cub parts

I told Mac I needed a three-piece windshield and I could hardly believe it when he said he had a brand new 60-year-old one that was still in its factory wrappings The Pyralin plastic was good only for patterns but the windshield strips were perfect

I also told him I needed original-type cables that had a braided splice Mac said he hadnt done the five-tuck splices he thought they needed for years and recommended I contact Ken Cassens at [Old] Rhinebeck Aerodrome about it Ken in turn recommended I call Andrew King

We called Kings father who said that Andrew was out of town for about a week and to call back So that was that for the time being The weather was lifting and I headed west

I stopped in Kankakee Illinois for fuel and was at the counter paying for my fuel when a gentleman came

16 JANUARY 2005

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Noted restorer Andrew King was enlisted to create a set of accurate control cables complete with Roebling roll splices

up and asked me if I was the one flying the Great Lakes and wanted to know who I was delivering the airplane to It turned out he knew both the seller and the purchaser I about fell over when he introduced himself as Andrew King

I told him he was just the guy Id been looking for and had been told he could splice up cables for my Cub He said he would be happy to and corrected me and said the original cables were not five-tuck spliced but Piper used the Roebling roll splice I sent him myoid cables for patterns and a month later I had a beautiful set of brand new control cables just like they had been made in 1941

In the course of trying for origishynality Craig wanted to re-cover the airplane in Grade A cotton but was unsuccessful in finding a supplier Then in a chance conversation with Dip Davis at Superflite Davis said hed gotten a brochure from someone who was making certified cotton but hed thrown it away Sensing Craigs concern however Davis went through the garbage found the brochure and the Bair Wings Cub now had a bolt of airshycraft cotton on the way

Besides scrounging around for Wings Cub parts Craig was constantly doing the same for Wings Cigarettes memorabilia

I was at a flea market in Lincoln

Clyde Smith Jr lagwing Detective Clyde Smith Jr provides a service analogous to being a genealogist he has

all the Piper records for al l ragwing Pipers and can tell you things about your

airplane you never suspected He can also pOint out special models many of us

never knew existed

For a pa ltry $15 he can supply you with such obscure information as the seshy

rial number of the prop that was originally on your airplane when it rolled out of

the factory Or the engines original make model and serial number He can

also tel l when it was manufactured and when it actually rolied out the door

which are sometimes quite different He can also verify the original color the

color scheme and how the airplane was originally equipped

One of the most important services however is in the records column

marked Remarks This is where factory personnel recorded anything unusual

about the airplane This is where it indicated that the Bair s Cub had been built

for the Wings Cigarettes Company to be used in its Wings of Destiny program

Clyde said What I need to work from is the airplanes N number and the serial

number However people should know that the serial number and the fuselage

number aren t the same thing Often people call all panicked because their fuseshy

lage doesn t match the seria l number and they think they have a problem when

they dont The serial number is on the dataplate while the fuselage number could

be a number of places depending on the model and age of the airplane

What kinds of things does Clyde sometimes ferret out for his customers

In checking this one particu lar J-4 I found it had been built specifically for

the CAA with a full electrical system IFR instrumentation and radios I someshy

times theorize it was headed for the Forestry Service or something but dont

know that for a fact The airplane was painted orange with black trim and had

the CM logo on the door

Some of the better-known Cub variants like the Flitfires pop up from time

to time I show eight Flitfires still on the registry and just recently had the fun of tellshy

ing a lady in Seattle that her Cub was an original Flitfire At this point I think Ive

located all the Flitfires

A Cub variant that is practically unknown was identified by Piper as a Cub Sport

These airplanes were produced in 1938 39 and 40 and were greatly

upgraded airplanes They had red leather interiors spinners strut cuffs and

wheelpants Considering that 6600 out of the original 14000 Cubs built are

still registered there are probably a lot of undiscovered Sports out there

There are also a bunch of TG-8 gliders around that have been converted with

the addition of an engine They are easily identified because the fuselage numshy

ber not the serial number starts with a G I know of only four TG-8s left in their

original configuration Another rare variation is the HE-l an ambulance model based on the J-5

PA-12 airframe There were 100 HE-ls built but I know of only eight left But who knows what

may turn up in a barn somewhere

So do you have a specia l airframe hiding under that fabric you fly around on

weekends Call Clyde and find out

Clyde Smith Jr

570748-7975

Box 721

Lock Haven PA 17745

E-mail cubdrchilitechnet

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Nebraska and found a Wings Cigarette poster and asked the dealer if he had anything else havshying to do with Wings He asked why and I told him about the Cub A lady in the booth behind us asked me if it would be okay if she tried to find the famshyily who had won the Cub in 1941

It was only a few days later when I got a call from the nice lady who was really excited She had found the Nivers family and Richshyard Nivers had been the winner His brother Robert was still living in Omaha The family couldnt beshylieve the airplane had survived all these years and were very excited to hear from me They said Richard was still alive but in a rest home in Burbank California suffering from Alzheimers disease

Robert collected everything he could find about the Cub and sent copies to me He said that he reshymembered the day of the Cub giveshyaway vividly because he sat in his parents 1938 Buick and listened to the news about the attack on Pearl Harbor the presentation giving the Cub to Nivers took place the mornshying of December 7 1941

While researching the screws and bolts for the airplane Craig had been told by reliable sources that all of the screws were slotted not Phillips and of course it was all Type One cadshyplated not Type Two So he bought enough bolts and screws to do the entire airplane and sent them all to United Plating in Tulsa Oklahoma to be re-plated in Type One

Clyde Smith overhauled the engine for me in Lock Haven and had a new nose bowl made by Freeshyman Aviation He was almost done with the engine when a friend and I drove over to help him finish While there I went through the literally tons of Cub pictures Clyde has While doing that I found an original picture of a 1941 instrushyment panel and noticed that Piper 1 8 JAN UARY 2005

used Phillips screws on the instrushyments and to fasten the panel to the boot cowl The photo also clearly shows black wrinkle finish paint on the instrument panel carshyburetor heat well throttle plates and fuel shutoff well We would have never known that without that photograph

When finishing the airplane we followed Piper Report 381 with two exceptions we didnt use nishytrate dope and we painted all metal parts with Air-Tech poly paint

The Wings Cubs were clearly identified by a distinctive Wings of Destiny logo on the side and that had to be duplicated exactly

Clyde had an original photoshygraph of a Wings Cub and between that one others supplied by the Nivers and my original posters we had solid references to work from My helpers brother Greg Elliott is a professional sign painter and he said he really wanted to paint the sign on the Cub Greg made up a full-size drawing from the postshyers and pictures and sent it over for us to proof It looked identical to the originals In December of 2003 Greg drove over from western Neshybraska on a Friday and began to hand-paint the sign on each side of the Cub By Sunday morning we had two exact duplicates of the Wings of Destiny signs on 37946

According to Craig the reassembly after painting was easy because they had completely assembled the entire airplane before it was covered so all the fairings had been trimmed and drilled and the rigging was done

The first test flight was on March 20 2004 and went without a hitch

We only had to adjust the right rear strut to correct for a slight wingshyheavy condition I have test-flown many aircraft but this one meant the most to me It was just like my first solo flight Flying

around in this airplane reminds me why I learned to fly

In June of 2004 Mr and Mrs Robert Nivers drove over to see the airplane for the first time since 1941 Robert even went for a ride He also brought along several picshytures and other bits of memorabilia about 37946 for me to keep It was quite a thrill for us

The story of the Bair Wings Cub shows that many threads of history can weave themselves together into an artifact that simply cant be dushyplicated the Pearl Harbor connecshytion the fact that the Nivers surshyvived along with the airplane the discovery that the Bairs family Cub was a rarity those first 10 hours of flight with granddad

These kinds of things cant be orchestrated Fate somehow made a series of decisions that comshybined to say that this airplane and these people should survive and they would find their way into the hands of someone like Craig Bair who wanted to see that those bits of history should be treated with the care and respect they deserve

Like we said this isnt just anshyother J-3 Cub story

PS Did we mention that the Bair

Cub tied for Antique Reserve Grand Champion and won a Silver Lindy at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2004 Not too shabby And did we mention that in the course of the interview it was discovered that Craigs father gave this writer his first three hours of dual instruction in the late 1950s The threads of aviation history often cross in unexpected places

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Bucker Club A Gordon Clement 2225 Peachford Lane Lawrenceville GA 30043 770-995-1798 E-mail bucker131adelphianet Dues $22yr US amp Canada $27 Foreign in US Funds Publication 6yr

Cessna Airmaster Club Gar Williams 9 So 135 Aero Drive Naperville IL 60564 630-904-8416 E-mail aerocraftaolcom

Cessna T-50 Bamboo Bomber Paul Anderson 1210 Highway 35 Hudson WI 54016 715-549-6327 Fax 715-549-6328 E-mail pjanderearthlinknet Web wwwcessnat50org Dues Call Club for Info Publication Quarterly

Cessna 150 152 Club Royson Parsons PO Box 1917 Atascadero CA 93423-1917 805-461-1958 membershipcessna150-152com Web wwwcessna150-152com Dues $35 USCanada Mexico $49 Foreign Publication Bi-monthly

Cessna International Bird Dog Association (L-19 0 -1) Jim Mulvihill 46 Eagles Nest Kerrville TX 78028 830-896-7604 E-mail N305AFomniglobalnet Web wwwI-19bowwowcom Dues $30yr US $35yr Canada $45yr Intl Publication Quarterly Magazine Monthly Email Newsletter

Cessna 180 185 International Club (ownership required) Dave Hayden 21910 S Gardner Road Spring Hill KS 66083 913-884-2187 Fax 913-884-2167 E-mail davekingsavionicsnet Dues $25yr

Cessna 195 International Club Bob Reiss President 9493 La Jolla Farms Road La Jolla CA 92037 858-457-5987 Fax 858-552-8453 E-mail bobreisslajollafarmscom Web wwwcessna195org Dues $25 to join future assessments as required wont exceed $25 in any yr Publication Quarterly

Cessna Owner Organization Randy Augustinak PO Box 5000 lola WI 54945 715-445-4053 ext 118 888-MY-CESSNA E-mail helpcessnaownerorg Web wwwcessnaownerorg Dues $48yr Publication Monthly

Cessna Pilots Association PO Box 5817 Santa Maria CA 93456 805-922-2580 Fax 805-922-7249 E-mail infocessnaorg Web wwwcessnaorg Dues $45 US Canada Mexico $55 IntI Publication Monthly

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Aeronca Aviators Club Robert Szego PO Box 66 Coxsackie NY 12051 518-731-3131 E-mail robertaeroncaorg Web wwwaeroncaorg Dues $29yr $37 Canada amp Foreign Publication Quarterly Aeronca Aviator

Fearless Aeronca Aviators (f-AA) John Rodkey 280 Big Sur Dr Goleta CA 93117 805-968-1274 E-mail poobahwestmontedu Web httpaeroncawestmontedu Dues None contribute with discussion at e-mail Publication Electronic form only

International Aeronca Association Buzz Wagner Box 3 4011st Street East Clark SO 57225 605-532-3862 Fax 605-532-1305 Dues $20yr Publication Quarterly

T-34 Association Inc Charles H Nogle PO Box 925 Champaign IL 61824-0925 217-356-3063

Staggerwing Club PO Box 550 Tullahoma TN 37388 931-455-1974 Fax 931-455-1994 E-mail museuminfostaggerwingcom Web wwwstaggerwingcom Dues $25yr US $30yr Foreign Publication Quarterly

Twin Beech 18 Society Lorraine Carter PO Box 550 Tullahoma TN 37388 931-455-1974 E-mail staggerwingbellsouthnet Web wwwstaggerwingcom Dues $50yr Publication Quarterly

World Beechcraft Society Steve Oxman 8609 S 212th Kent WA 98031 866-732-3927 Fax 253-395-3354 E-mail adminworldbeechcraftcom Web wwwworldbeechcraftcom Dues $60yr US Publication 6yr

TYPE CLUB LIST This information is listed on our website www vintageaircraftorg throughtout the year Anytime you have changes related to your listing drop a note in the mail detailing the changes (use the format you seen on these pages) Send your note to Editor Vintage Airplane Vintage Aircraft Association PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 or e-mail it to vintageeaaorg

Bellanca-Champion Club Robert Szego PO Box 100 Coxsackie NY 12051-0100 518-731-6800 robertbellanca-championclubcom wwwbellanca-championclubcom Dues $351st yr $63-yrs Foreign $411st yr $68-yrs Publication Quarterly B-C Contact

Bird Airplane Club Jeannie Hill PO Box 328 Harvard IL 60033-0328 815-943-7205 Dues Postage Donation

American Bonanza Society Nancy Johnson PO Box 12888 Wichita KS 67277 316-945-1700 Fax 316-945-1710 E-mail bonanza2bonanzaorg Web httpwwwbonanzaorg Dues $50yr Publication Monthly

Twin Bonanza Association Richard I Ward 19684 Lakeshore Drive Three Rivers MI 49093 269-279-2540 Cell 269-251-2636 Hangar 269-279-7616 Fax 269-279-2540 E-mail forwardnet-Iinknet Web wwwtwinbonanzacom Dues $35yr US amp Canada $45yr Foreign Publication Quarterly

Bucker Club A Gordon Clement 2225 Peachford Lane Lawrenceville GA 30043 770-995-1798 E-mail bucker131adelphianet Dues $22yr US amp Canada $27 Foreign in US Funds Publication 6yr

Cessna Airmaster Club Gar Williams 9 So 135 Aero Drive Naperville IL 60564 630-904-8416 E-mail aerocraftaolcom

Cessna T-50 Bamboo Bomber Paul Anderson 1210 Highway 35 Hudson WI 54016 715-549-6327 Fax 715-549-6328 E-mail pjanderearthlinknet Web wwwcessnat50org Dues Call Club for Info Publication Quarterly

Cessna 150 152 Club Royson Parsons PO Box 1917 Atascadero CA 93423-1917 805-461-1958 membershipcessna150-152com Web wwwcessna150-152com Dues $35 USCanada Mexico $49 Foreign Publication Bi-monthly

Cessna International Bird Dog Association (L-19 0 -1) Jim Mulvihill 46 Eagles Nest Kerrville TX 78028 830-896-7604 E-mail N305AFomniglobalnet Web wwwI-19bowwowcom Dues $30yr US $35yr Canada $45yr Intl Publication Quarterly Magazine Monthly Email Newsletter

Cessna 180 185 International Club (ownership required) Dave Hayden 21910 S Gardner Road Spring Hill KS 66083 913-884-2187 Fax 913-884-2167 E-mail davekingsavionicsnet Dues $25yr

Cessna 195 International Club Bob Reiss President 9493 La Jolla Farms Road La Jolla CA 92037 858-457-5987 Fax 858-552-8453 E-mail bobreisslajollafarmscom Web wwwcessna195org Dues $25 to join future assessments as required wont exceed $25 in any yr Publication Quarterly

Cessna Owner Organization Randy Augustinak PO Box 5000 lola WI 54945 715-445-4053 ext 118 888-MY-CESSNA E-mail helpcessnaownerorg Web wwwcessnaownerorg Dues $48yr Publication Monthly

Cessna Pilots Association PO Box 5817 Santa Maria CA 93456 805-922-2580 Fax 805-922-7249 E-mail infocessnaorg Web wwwcessnaorg Dues $45 US Canada Mexico $55 IntI Publication Monthly

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Eastern 190 195 Association Cliff Crabs 25575 Butternut Ridge Road North Olmsted OH 44070 440-777-4025 E-mail ccrabsaolcom or classic195aolcom Dues $15 initial then as required Publ ication 4 yr approx

International Cessna 120 140 Association Mac amp Donna Forbes President PO Box 669 Alamance NC 27201-0669 336-226-4582 E-mail mcforbes55bellsouthnet Web wwwcessna120-140org Dues $25 yr $35 yr Overseas Publication Bi-monthly Annual Calendar Issue amp Membership Handbook Directory

International Cessna 170 Association Inc Velvet Fackeldey PO Box 1667 Lebanon MO 65536 417-532-4847 headquarterscessna170org Web wwwcessna170org Dues $35 yr Publication Flypaper-monthly The 170 News-quarterly

West Coast Cessna 120 140 Club Randy Thompson 4379 Hwy 147 Lake Almanor CA 96137 530-357-5440 thompsonsairnorthvalleynet Dues $20 yr Publication Bi-monthly

Corben Club Robert Taylor PO Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15 yr Publication 3

Culver Aircraft Assoc Dan Nicholson 723 Baker Dr Tomball TX 77375 281-351-0114 E-mail danngiecom Dues Contact Club Publication Contact

Culver Club Brent Taylor PO Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15yr Publication (3) 16 pg

20 JANUARY 2005

Culver Dart Club Lloyd Washburn 2656 East Sand Road Port Clinton OH 43452-2741 419-734-6685 E-mail washlloydburncrosnet

Culver PQ-14 Assoc Ted Heineman 29621 Kensington Drive Laguna Niguel CA 92677 949-495-4540

Ercoupe Owners Club Carolyn T Carden PO Box 7117 So Brunswick Station NC 28469-7117 910-575-2758 E-mail coupecaperaolcom Web wwwercoupeorg Dues $30 yr Publication Monthly Coupe Capers

Ercoupe Owners Club - Wisconsin Wing Judi Matuscak 6262 Brever Road Burlington WI 53105-8915 262-539-2495 E-mail bjmatusspeeddialnet

Fairchild Club John W Berendt President 7645 Echo Point Road Cannon Falls MN 55009 507-263-2414 E-mail fchldrconnectcom Web wwwfairchildclubcom Dues $15 yr Publication Quarterly

Fairchild Fan Club Robert L Taylor P O Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 E-mail antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15 Publication (3) 16 pg

International Fleet Club Sandy Brown P O Box 511 Marlborough CT 06447-0511 860-267-6562 E-mail flyboyntplxnet Web httpusersntplxnetj-flyboy Dues Contributions Publication 3-4 yr approx

Funk Aircraft Owners Association Thad Shelnutt 2836 California Av Carmichael CA 95808 916-971-3452 E-mail pilotthadaolcom Web wwwfunkflyers org Dues $12j yr Publication 10 yr

Great Lakes Club Brent L Taylor Editor P O Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15 Publication (3) 16 pg Newsletter

The American Yankee Association (Grumman) Stew Wilson PO Box 1531 Cameron Park CA 95682-1531 530-676-4292 E-mail secayaorg Web wwwayaorg Dues $40 yr

American Hatz Association Inc Chuck Brownlow PO Box 10 Weyauwega WI 54983-0010 E-mail brownlowodaolcom Web wwwweebeastiecom hatzcbl Dues $20 yr Publication Quarterly

Hatz Club Robert L Taylor P O Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15 yr Publication (3) Hatz Herald

Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association Greg Burnard Tillsonburg Municipal Airport 244411 Airport Road Tillsonburg OntariO Canada N4G 4Hl 519-842-9922 Fax 519-842-3292 E-mail harvardpilothotmailcom Web wwwharvardscom Dues $50 yr

Heath Parasol Club William Schlapman 6431 Paulson Road Winneconne WI 54986 920-582-4454

Howard Club Edward R Moore PO Box 50 West Mystic CT 06388 386-760-8766 Janl-May 15 E-mai l ebdgaI5paolcom Dues $30 yr Publication Quarterly

Interstate Club Brent Taylor PO Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15 yr Publication (3) Interstate Intercom

Continental Luscombe Association Jim amp Patti Sani President amp Secretary Treasurer 10251 E Central Ave Del Rey CA 93616 559-888-2745 E-mail cajim-pattipacbellnet Web wwwluscombe-claorg Dues $20 US $27 Canada $35 Foreign US Funds Publication 6 yr

Luscombe Association Steve and Sharon Krog 1002 Heather Lane Hartford WI 53027 262-966-7627 E-mail sskrogaolcom Dues $25 US amp Canada $30 Foreign Publication 6 yr

Luscombe Endowment Doug Combs 15815 E Melrose St Gilbert AZ 85296 480-650-0883 dcombsluscombesilvaireinfo Web wwwluscombesorg Publication Electronic

Meyers Aircraft Owners Association William E Gaffney Secretary 24Rt17K Newburgh NY 12550 845-565-8005 Fax 845-565-8039 Dues Postage Fund Donation Publication 5-6 per year

Monocoupe Club Frank and Carol Kerner 1218 Kingstowne Place St Charles MO 63304 636-939-3322 monocoupesbcglobelnet Web wwwmonocoupecom Dues $25 yr Publication website

Western Association of Mooney Mites (WAMM) Wm L Vandersande 100 S Westwood st 2 Porterville CA 93257-7704 559-782-1980 E-mail t35f1yersosinetnet Web wwwmooneymitecom Dues None Publication Via e-mail

N3N Owners and Restorers Association H Ronald Kempka 2380 Country Road 217 Cheyenne WY 82009 307-638-2210 E-mail wyn3naolcom Dues $20 yr Publ ication Quarterly

American Navion Society 16420 SE McGillivray 103 Vancouver WA 98683-3461 360-833-9921 Fax 360-833-1074 E-mail Flynavionyahoocom Web wwwnavionsocietyorg Dues $50 yr Publication Bi-monthly

Navion Type Club at Navion Skies Raleigh Morrow PO Box 2678 Lodi CA 95241-2678 209-367-9390 E-mail Navionlinreachcom Web wwwnavionskiescom Dues $45 yr Publication Monthly amp via e-mail

Parrakeet Pilot Club Barry Taylor Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 E-mail antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15 Publication (3) The Parrakeet Pilot

Brodhead Pietenpol Association Donald Campbell 221 N LaSalle St Ste 3117 Chicago IL 60601 Web httpwwwpietenpolorg Dues $10 yr US Publication Quarterly

International Pietenpol Association Robert L Taylor P O Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15 Publication (3) 16 pg

Cherokee Pilots Association PO Box 1996 Lutz FL 33548 813-948-3616 800-292-6003 Dues $34 US $36 Canada amp Mexico $44 Foreign Publication 11 yr

Cub Club Steve and Sharon Krog 1002 Heather Lane Hartford WI 53027-9045 262-966-7627 Fax 262-966-9627 E-mail sskrogaolcom Web wwwcub-clubcom homehtm Dues $30 US Canada $35 Foreign Publication 6yr

Piper Apache Club John J Lumley 6778 Skyline Drive Delray Beach FL 33446 561-499-1115 E-mail jckllumcscom Web wwwpiperapachecom Dues $35 yr Publication Bi-monthly on web

International Comanche Society Skip Dykema 5604 Phillip J Rhoads Ave Hangar 3 Suite 4 Bethany OK 73008 954-661-1454 Fax 405-491-0325 skipsouthernskybellsouthnet Web wwwcomancheflyercom Dues $64 1st yr $60 add i yrs Publication Monthly 50 pages

Piper Owner Society PO Box 5000 lola WI 54945 866-MY-PIPER Fax 715-445-4053 E-mail helppiperownerorg Web wwwpiperownerorg Dues $48 yr Publication Monthly

Short Wing Piper Club Inc Eleanor and Bob Mills 309 Main Street Suite 4 Halstead KS 67056 316-835-3650 (0) 316-835-3307 (H) membershipshortwingorg Web httpwwwshortwing org Dues $30 yr Publication Bi-monthly

Supercuborg Steve Johnson PO Box 901465 Kansas City MO 64190 816-741-1486 Fax 816-741-5212 E-mail stevesupercuborg Web wwwsupercuborg Dues Donations

Porterfield Airplane Club Chuck Lebrecht 91 Hickory Loop Ocala FL 34472 352-687-4859 Dues $5 yr Publication Quarterly

Rearwin Club Robert L Taylor P O Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15 Publication Rearwin Register

International Ryan Club John R Hodges 6749 Sproul Lane Colorado Springs CO 80918 719-637-0978 E-mail editorryancluborg Web wwwryancluborg Dues $15 electronic subscription $20 print (US) $25 print (International ) Publication Quarterly

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21

1-26 Association (Schweizer) Lisa Sergent 7100 Christy Creek Morehead KY 40351 606-780-4953 Fax 606-780-0196 E-mail lisasergentaolcom Web www126associationorg Dues $15yr Regular $25yr Sustaining $300 life membership Publication Bi-monthly

Stearman Restorers Association Jack Davis 7000 Merrill Ave Box 90 Chino Airport Chino CA 91710 E-mail davcostearmannet Web wwwstearmannet Dues $35yr US $45 Overseas Publication 4yr

International Stinson Club Tony Wright 2264 Los Robles Road Meadow Vista CA 95722 530-878-0219 E-mail stinson2junocom Web wwwaeromarcomswschtml Dues $30yr Publication 11yr

National Stinson Club George Alleman 1229 Rising Hill Road West Placerville CA 95667 530-622-4004 voice amp fax E-mail nscgeorgeinternet49com Dues $20 US amp Canada $25 Foreign Publication 4yr

Stinson Historical and Restoration Society (or Stinson 108 Antique Airplane Association) Robert Taylor PO Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 E-mail antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $24yr Publication (3) SHARS

Swift Museum Foundation Inc (Swift Association) Charlie Nelson P O Box 644 Athens TN 37371 423-745-9547 E-mail swiftlychsaolcom Web wwwswiftpartscom Dues $35yr Publication Monthly

West Coast Swift Wing Mark Kadrich 2836 Autumn Estates San Jose CA 95135 408-313-6263 E-mail starwizzpacbellnet Web wwwnapanetnet-arbeauswift Dues $15yr Publication Monthly

22 JANU A RY 2005

Taylorcraft Owners Club Bruce Bixler II 12809 Green Bower NE Alliance OH 44601 330-823-9748 E-mail tocprezyahoocom Web wwwtaylorcraftorg Dues $12yr Publication Quarterly

Virginia Carolinas Taylorcraft Owners Club Tom Pittman Rt 6 Box 189 Appomatox VA 24522 434-352-5128 E-mail vctoc6junocom Web wwwvctocorg Dues $10yr Publication Quarterly

Travel Air Club Robert L Taylor P O Box 127 Blakesburg IA 52536 641-938-2773 Fax 641-938-2093 antiqueairfieldsirisonlinecom Web wwwaaa-apmorg Dues $15 Publication (3) Travel air Talks

Travel Air Div of Staggerwing Museum Foundation Inc Karen Garrick P O Box 550 Tullahoma TN 37388 931-455-1974 museuminfostaggerwingcom Web wwwstaggerwingcom Dues $40yr Publication 4-5 per yr

Travel Air Restorers Association (TARA) Jerry Impellezzeri 4925 Wilma Way San Jose CA 95124 408-356-3407 E-mail clear_prop2003yahoocom Web wwwtravelairorg Dues $15yr Publication Quarterly

American Waco Club Phil Coulson 2815 Springbrook Dr Lawton MI 49065 269-624-6490 E-mail rcoulson516cscom wwwamericanwacoclubcom Dues $35 US $45 Foreign Publication Bi-monthly

National Waco Club Andy Heins 50 La Belle St Dayton OH 45403 937-227-1326 E-mail wacoasoaolcom Dues $20yr $25 Foreign Publication Bi-monthly

Western Waco Association Barry R Branin PO Box 706 Groveland CA 95321 209-962-6121 E-mail f1ywacojunocom Dues $5yr Publication Occasional

MULTIPLE AIRCRAFT ORGANIZATIONS

Florida Antique Biplane Association Inc Larry Robinson 10906 Denoeu Road Boynton Beach FL 33437 561-732-3250 Fax 561-732-2532 E-mail BeyeViewaolcom Dues $48yr Publication The Flying Wire

National Biplane Association Charles W Harris PO Box 470350 Tulsa OK 74147-0350 918-622-8400 Fax 918-665-0039 E-mail cwhhvsucom wwwnationalbiplaneassnorg wwwbiplaneexpocom Dues $25 individual $40 family add $10 foreign Publication Quarterly

North American Trainer Association (T6 T28 NA64 NA50 P51 B25) Kathy amp Stoney Stonich 25801 NE Hinness Road Brush Prairie WA 98606 360-256-0066 or 360-896-5398 E-mail natraineraolcom Web wwwNorthAmericanTrainerorg Dues $45 US amp Canada $55 Foreign Publication Quarterly NATA Skylines

Talldragger Club Asa Dean 16216 N 34th Way Phoenix AZ 85032-3119 602-622-8335 E-mail asataildraggercluborg Web wwwtaildraggercluborgjtdc

WWI Aeroplanes Inc Leonard Opdycke 15 Crescent Road Poughkeepsie NY 12601 845-473-3679 Dues $42yr $47 Foreign Publication 2 Journals each 4yr

American Aviation Historical Society Bruce Cunningham 2333 Otis Street Santa Ana CA 92704 714-549-4818 E-mail presaahs-onlineorg Web wwwaahs-onlineorg Dues $39yr US Publication Quarterly

Cross amp Cockade Bob Sheldon Secretary 14329 S Calhoun Ave Burnham IL 60633 708-862-1014 Dues $15 yr Publication Bi-monthly

Eastern Reg US Air Racing Association Jack Dianiska President 26726 Henry Road Bay Village OH 44140 440-871-3781

Flying Farmers International Kathy Marsh PO Box 9124 Wichita KS 67277-0124 316-943-4234 Fax 800-266-5415 E-mail Supportflyingfarmerorg Web wwwflyingfarmersorg Dues $25 yr Publication 6 yr

United Aying Octogenarians Herbert Sloane PO Box 11114 Montgomery AL 36111-0114 334-832-2413 E-mail pilotherbyahoocom Dues Dues $12 yr

International Deaf Pilots Association Jeff Willoughby 13 Fox Valley Drive OFallon MO 63366 Web wwwdeafpilotscom Dues $35 yr active pilots Publication yes

Int l Fellowship of Flying Rotarians Tom Surowka World SecjTreasurer 203A Rubens Drive Nokomis FL 34275-4211 941-966-6636 Fax 941-966-9141 E-mail surowkaiffrorg Web wwwiffrorg

International Liaison Pilot amp Aircraft Assoc (ILPA) Bill Stratton 16518 Ledgestone San Antonio TX 78232 210-490-4572 Fax 210-490-4572 wwwcentercompcom ILPA indexhtml Dues $29 yr US Publication Liaison Spoken Here

International Wheelchair Aviators PO Box 2799 Big Bear City CA 92314 909-585-9663 Fax 909-585-7156 E-mail iwaviatorsaolcom Web wwwwheelchairaviatorsorg

Lake Amphibian Flyers Club Marc amp Jill Rodstein 7188 Mandarin Drive Boca Raton FL 33433-7412 561-483-6566 Fax 240-376-4875 E-mail businesslakefiyerscom Dues $56 yr Publication Newsletter Lake Flyer

National Air Racing Group Betty Sherman 1932 Mahan Avenue Richland WA 99352-2121 509-946-5690 E-mail bettyshermanverizonnet Web wwwpylon1com wwwaafocom Dues $15 US $20 outside US Publication Monthly

National Association of Priest Pilots (NAPP) Mel Hemann 127 Kaspend Place Cedar Falls IA 50613-1683 319-266-3889 Dues $20 Publication NAPP

OX-5 Aviation Pioneers Elmer H Hansen 12220 NE 39th Street Bellevue WA 98005-1217 425-885-0299 E-mail elmerHansengtenet Web httpox5pioneersorg Dues $20 yr Publication 6 yr

Piper Aviation Museum Foundation Russell C Nelson One Piper Way Lock Haven PA 17745-0052 570-748-8283 Fax 570-893-8357 E-mail pipercubkcnetorg Web wwwpipermuseumcom Dues $30 per year Publication Quarterly

Seaplane Pilots Association Michael Yolk 4315 Highland Park Blvd Suite C Lakeland FL 33813 863-701-7979 Fax 863-701-7588 E-mail spaseaplanesorg Web wwwseaplanesorg Dues $40 yr Publication Bi-monthly

Sentimental Journey to Cub Haven Inc John L Buchan Fly-In Director PO Box J-3 Lock Haven PA 17745-0496 570-893-4200 Fax 570-893-4218 E-mail j3cubkcnetorg wwwsentimentaljourneyflyincom Dues $12 single $17 family Publication Quarterly

Silver Wings Fraternity Bud OBrien 820 Harper Dr Algonquin IL 60102 847-658-6934 E-mail obconsultsaolcom Web wwwsilverwingsorg Dues $25 1st year $15 renew Publication Quarterly

Society of Air Racing Historians Herman Schaub 168 Marion Lane Berea OH 44017 440-234-2301 Web wwwairracecom Dues $20 yr US - $23 others Publication Bi-monthly

Taylorcraft Foundation Inc Forrest A Barber Exec Dir 13820 Union Ave NE Alliance OH 44601-9378 330-823-1168 Fax 330-823-1138 E-mail fbarberaliancelinkcom Web wwwtaylorcraftorg Dues $10 yr Publication Quarterly

The Howard Aircraft Foundation Edward R Moore PO Box 50 West Mystic CT 06388 386-760-8766 E-mail ebdga15paolcom Dues $30 yr Publication Quarterly

Ninety-Nines Inc Women Pilots Organization Elizabeth Lundin 4300 Amelia Earhart Road Oklahoma City OK 73159 405-685-7969 Fax 405-685-7985 E-mail ihq99scscom Web wwwninety-ninesorg Dues $65 yr Publication Bi-monthly

Vintage Sailplane Association George Nuse 4310 River Bottom Drive Norcross GA 30092 770-446-5533 Dues $15 yr Publication Quarterly

Waco Historical Society IncWaco Aircraft Museum Marla Boone Dir of Membership P O Box 62 Troy OH 45373-0062 937-335-WACO 1-5 pm Sat-Sun E-mail msimonbooneyahoocom Web wacoairmuseumorg Dues $20 yr Publication 4 yr

Women in Aviation International Dr Peggy J Chabrian 101 Corsair Drive Daytona Beach FL 32114 386-226-7996 Fax 386-226-7998 Web wwwwaiorg Dues $39 yr $29 students Publication Bi-monthly

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

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LINCOLN MERCURY JAGUAR

BY HG FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTHS MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US FROM THE EAA BOEING AERONAUTICAL LIBRARY

Send your answer to EAA Vintage Airplane PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Your answer needs to be in no later than February 10 for inclusion in the April 2005 issue of Vintage Airplane

You can also send your response via e-mail Send your answer to mysteryplaneeaaorg Be sure to include your name city and state in the body of your note and put (Month) Mystery Plane in the subject line

O C TOBER S MYSTERY ANSWER The October Mystery Plane came to

us from the collection of Edward Beatty of Ruskin Florida Longtime members might remember Ed and his wife when they were co-chairs of the Flying Cinema at EAA Oshkosh a number of years ago

No one sent us an e-mail on this Mystery Plane and none of our regular mail-in contributors sent in a note either Ill leave it to Edward to fill us in on this biplaneS identity

The plane is the Woodson Express I think it was built in Defiance Ohio sometime in the late 20s or early 30s A local pilot from my hometown of Huntington It appears that only one was built since both Indiana was a test pilot for Woodson during that time registrations that appear within the database on Aerofiles and this picture was among some of his possessions com based on the work of the late Lennart Johnsson when he passed away There were several aircraft built with data compiled by Vincent J Berinati show only in the Defiance area during that time and I think some one serial number for both aircraft registrations of them were built in Bryan Ohio which is only a Woodson Express 2A sin 11 short distance from Defiance Woodson Express 2-A sin 11

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

EE BUCK HILBERT

The Best of Buck Reprinted from December 1988 Vintage Airplane

Hand propping I just finished another of my VFR

1OOO-feet-above-ground-level no nav no comm cross-countr ie s It was fraught with the usual weather and servicing inconveshyniences and the open cockpit was pretty co ld but it was fun There was one thing common to all my stops though that reshyquires comment Finding someone to hand-prop my airplane when it was time to leave

All of the insurance policies have hand-propshyping clauses in them Usually they dont absoshylutely forbid the practice they just wont cover you if a qualified person isnt at the controls I find that the qualified person at the controls is not the problem-it is the person at the propeller that gives me fits

Trying to get someone to prop usually goes like this Can you prop me Well I did it once when I was in college Guess I can do it Or Way sure Ive been around all kinds of airplanes all my life Pawnees Cherokees and Tri-Pacers I can do it And then he grabs the prop about 3 inches from the tip and promptly sticks his head into the plane of rotation And I cringe

Propping an airplane is practishycally a lost art and Im glad Those

26 JANUARY 2005

blades snapping unexpectedly can catch even the most experi shyenced once in a while Recently at Oshkosh as a matter of fact Mike Wilson from Cedar Rapids Iowa

showed up with his hand in a cast Now here is the PT-22 king of Iowa and half of the rest of the country His Kinner bit him Since then he has been bugging me for a starter installation (tha t I keep tellshying him I don t have) A moment of inattention and he caught it Fortunately the broken thumb and badly bruised hand wi ll be okay

but it wasnt a fun experience I almost got my head knocked

off about 10 years ago at Oshshykosh not by a prop but by Bill Haselton who was propping my

Fleet Bill swore I did it to him Here is the most experienced person Id ever hoped to find but because of an imshypulse-coupling malfuncshytion there he was with a busted hand

The lesson here Never ever assume that all is safe when you are at the busishyness end of a prop Beshyfore you even touch the thing go to the cockpit and look at the switches and the engine controls for placement and posishytion Brief the cockpit person on exactly what you and he want to do and establish communishycation that assures both of you know exactly what your and his intentions are Make commands to each other loud and clear so statements are heard and understood Then do

the job correctly Dont ever as I like to term it

make love to a propeller Treat it like its hot always Never assume that the throttle the switch and the mixture are in a safe position Make sure they are

Dont be timid or afraid of the prop Grasp it firmly about halfway out from the hub and use your

body weight to pull it through while you step back as you pull (You step back so you are out of the way as you swing it) Forshyget that old Hollywood stance of swinging your leg up and under the plane of rotation That stuff went out with the battery ignition engines of World War 1 Also make sure the area behind where you are going to step is clear and that the ground is firm and clear of slippery mud or ice patches-and spectashytors More than once Ive had to caution bystanders to stand clear If this thing starts Im going to run right over you getting out of the way

Another oft overlooked point Most engines are eqUipped with an impulse coupling for easier start shying It retards the spark for starting or anytime the engine is turned at slow speeds usually below 400 rpm By swinging the prop hard enough to exceed the rpm limit of the impulse you negate its purpose If you hear that impulse click its working If you dont hear it there is a good chance youll get a kickback So the best method of propping is to pull that prop so you get the best effect from that impulse Firmly but not too fast

InCidentally that impulseshycoupled magneto is the only one that is firing when the key is in the start position on most mag swi tches In the start position the non-impulse mag is not operatshying until you release it back to the both position

Find out which mag has the impulse and then put the switch on that magneto for the handshyprop start

I could go into great d etail as to how many lucky escapes and some of the weird experiences Ive had over the years propping airshyplanes but Ill spare you by menshytioning only a few My first learnshying experience was about a week after getting my first job at the old Elmhurst Airport in Illinois There had been a sudden summer storm and our students came

running for home One woman had tried to take a shortcut taxi route and wound up in a shallow ditch The two of us hung onto the her aircrafts wing struts in the rain and lightning and wind until it passed over and then we pushed the Cub up onto the taxi strip she got in while I waited at the business end to prop it I called Switch off and she reshyplied Switch off and promptly turned it to both I carelessly grabbed the prop with two hands and almost immediately got whacked across the back of both hands with the advancing blade Man oh man did that hurt For a week I couldnt even unbutton a button and that friends is why I respect the propeller end as I do

I could confess to the couple of times that the Swallow chased me across the airport because I had the throttle open when it started and I could also tell some more

tales of defective ignition switches

that in effect were on both when

worthiness directive note on the old A- 7 ignition switches in the early Champs and T-Crafts back in 1946 and 47 where the brass conshytacts wore and bridged all the posishytions together Anytime the switch was out of any detent both mags were hot I still see these swi tches being used in restorations today Watch out for them Theyve been in the junk box for years and have been resurrected because they are neat-and authentic for sure But they can be dangerous

Things are lookin up Ive been getting phone calls from some of the members who either have comshyments to make about the column or would like information One call was to ask why an antiquer would pose beside an ultralight Another was to ask some advice on a Fleet restoration and a couple more were for little details and just to talk Keep em coming

Over to you ~1 L Buck tfL1ACJG-

Flight Control Cables Custom Manufactured

Each Cable is Proof Load Tested and Prestretched for Stability

Quick Delivery Reasonable Prices Certification to MIL-T-6117

amp MIL-C-5688A 1 16 to 1 4 Certified Bulk Cable and

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McFarlane Aviation Inc 696 E 1700 Road

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Fax 785-594-3922

wwwmcfarlane-aviationcom sales mcfarlane-aviationcom

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bull MIL SPEC and RFI SHIELDING CONDUIT ASSEMBLIES custom made per your specifications

bull Original equipment style Braided Conduits in Aluminum Brass or Stainless Steel

bull We carry a complete line of AN - MS Electrical Fittings Backshell Adapters and Specialty Fittings

bull We also have full machine shop capabilities for any custom applications you may require

bull Rebuild your Warbird back to Original

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

body weight to pull it through while you step back as you pull (You step back so you are out of the way as you swing it) Forshyget that old Hollywood stance of swinging your leg up and under the plane of rotation That stuff went out with the battery ignition engines of World War 1 Also make sure the area behind where you are going to step is clear and that the ground is firm and clear of slippery mud or ice patches-and spectashytors More than once Ive had to caution bystanders to stand clear If this thing starts Im going to run right over you getting out of the way

Another oft overlooked point Most engines are eqUipped with an impulse coupling for easier start shying It retards the spark for starting or anytime the engine is turned at slow speeds usually below 400 rpm By swinging the prop hard enough to exceed the rpm limit of the impulse you negate its purpose If you hear that impulse click its working If you dont hear it there is a good chance youll get a kickback So the best method of propping is to pull that prop so you get the best effect from that impulse Firmly but not too fast

InCidentally that impulseshycoupled magneto is the only one that is firing when the key is in the start position on most mag swi tches In the start position the non-impulse mag is not operatshying until you release it back to the both position

Find out which mag has the impulse and then put the switch on that magneto for the handshyprop start

I could go into great d etail as to how many lucky escapes and some of the weird experiences Ive had over the years propping airshyplanes but Ill spare you by menshytioning only a few My first learnshying experience was about a week after getting my first job at the old Elmhurst Airport in Illinois There had been a sudden summer storm and our students came

running for home One woman had tried to take a shortcut taxi route and wound up in a shallow ditch The two of us hung onto the her aircrafts wing struts in the rain and lightning and wind until it passed over and then we pushed the Cub up onto the taxi strip she got in while I waited at the business end to prop it I called Switch off and she reshyplied Switch off and promptly turned it to both I carelessly grabbed the prop with two hands and almost immediately got whacked across the back of both hands with the advancing blade Man oh man did that hurt For a week I couldnt even unbutton a button and that friends is why I respect the propeller end as I do

I could confess to the couple of times that the Swallow chased me across the airport because I had the throttle open when it started and I could also tell some more

tales of defective ignition switches

that in effect were on both when

worthiness directive note on the old A- 7 ignition switches in the early Champs and T-Crafts back in 1946 and 47 where the brass conshytacts wore and bridged all the posishytions together Anytime the switch was out of any detent both mags were hot I still see these swi tches being used in restorations today Watch out for them Theyve been in the junk box for years and have been resurrected because they are neat-and authentic for sure But they can be dangerous

Things are lookin up Ive been getting phone calls from some of the members who either have comshyments to make about the column or would like information One call was to ask why an antiquer would pose beside an ultralight Another was to ask some advice on a Fleet restoration and a couple more were for little details and just to talk Keep em coming

Over to you ~1 L Buck tfL1ACJG-

Flight Control Cables Custom Manufactured

Each Cable is Proof Load Tested and Prestretched for Stability

Quick Delivery Reasonable Prices Certification to MIL-T-6117

amp MIL-C-5688A 1 16 to 1 4 Certified Bulk Cable and

Fittings are Available

-McFarlane Aviat ion Products

McFarlane Aviation Inc 696 E 1700 Road

Baldwin City KS 66006 800-544-8594

Fax 785-594-3922

wwwmcfarlane-aviationcom sales mcfarlane-aviationcom

i ~ VISA

~bullbullbull~~~--~~~~middot I ~bullbullbull~__they said off There was an air- I

bull MIL SPEC and RFI SHIELDING CONDUIT ASSEMBLIES custom made per your specifications

bull Original equipment style Braided Conduits in Aluminum Brass or Stainless Steel

bull We carry a complete line of AN - MS Electrical Fittings Backshell Adapters and Specialty Fittings

bull We also have full machine shop capabilities for any custom applications you may require

bull Rebuild your Warbird back to Original

AIRFLEX INDUSTRIES 2538 SUPPLY STREET POMONA CA 91767

Tel 909-392-8474 AI RFLEXIN DUSTRI ES COM

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

FEBRUARY 5-Brodhead WI-Ground HogChi li Fly-In 11-2pm Note that they do not plow their runways You are welcome to land on wheels but if there is measurable snowfall your may have much diffishyculty Rain Snow date 2605 Info 262-374-0465 doubled53545yahoocom

APRIL 24-Half Moon Bay CA-l 5th Annual Pacific Coast Dream Machines Show 10 am - 4 pm Hundreds of aviation wonders will be on display Fly-ins welcome Spectator admission Adults $15 5-14 yrs and 65+ $5 Kids 4 and under free Info 650-726-2328 or wwwmiramareventscom

MAY 6-8--Burlington NC-Alamance County Airport (BUY) Carolinas-Virginia VAA Chapter 3 Spring Fly-In BB On the field Friday Evening judging in all classes Saturday Awards Banquet Sat Night Everyone welcome Info 843-753-7138 or eiwilsonhomexpresswaynet

The following list of coming events is furnish ed to our readers as a matter of information only and does not constitute approval sponsorship involvement control or direction ofany event (fly-in seminars fly market etc) listed To submit an event send the inshyformation via mail to Vintage Aiplane PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Or e-mail the information to vintageeaaorg Information should be received four months prior to the event date

JULY 2225-Waupaca WI-Waupaca Airport (PCZ) 2005 Annual Cessna and Piper Owner Convention amp Fly-In Info 888-692-3776 ext 118 or wwwcessnaownerorg or wwwpiperownerorg

AUGUST 6middot7-Santa Paula CA-(SZP) Santa Paula 75 th Anshyn iversary Air Fair Exhibits vintage and experimenshytal aircraft displays flybys hangar displays vendor booths dinner-dance and other community activishyties Info 805-642-3315

SEPTEMBER 3-Marion IN-(MZZ) FlyIn CruiseIn Info wwwFlyJnCruiseJncom

70 COMING AT YOU

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Sl~W~rs THE JOURNAL OF ~ THE AIRPLANE 1920-1940

THE JOURNAL Of THE EARLY AEROPLANE

Leonard E ~ Editor

Featuring bull Airplane restoratiors amp bull Accurate detailed drawings

reproductions bull Paint colors markings bull Indepth articles on historic bull Museums amp events

aircraft bull Aircraft engines parts bull Great photos including for sale

details amp cockpits bull Book amp literature reviews bull Scale amp flying models bull Your wants amp disposals

J Send a sample copy at $4+ $3pp o both

J WWl AERO

J SKYWAYS

David 0str0wsJti Editor

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In about 15 minutes the AUA representative called and gave me the

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AUAs Exclusve EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Insurance Program lower liability and hull premiums

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First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

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Desser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

Something to buy sell or trade

Classified Word Ads $550 per 10 words 180 words maximum with boldface lead-in on first line

Classified Display Ads One column wide (2167 inches) by 1 2 or 3 inches high at $20 per inch Black and white only and no frequency discounts

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

Airplane T-Shirts 150 Different Airplanes Available

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THERES JUST NOTHING LIKE IT ON THE WEB

wwwaviation-giftshopcom A Website with the Pilot in Mind (and those who love airplanes)

Flying wires available 1994 pricing Visit wwwflyingwirescom or call 800-517 -9278

BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod bearings main bearings bushings master rods valves piston rings Call us Toll Free 1-800-233-6934 e-mail ramremfgaolcom Website wwwramenginecom VINTAGE ENGINE MACHINE WORKS N 604 FREYA ST SPOKANE WA 99202

Warner engines Two 165s one fresh OH one low time on Fairchild 24 mount with all accessories Also Helton Lark and Aeronca C-3 project Find my name and address in the Officers and Directors listing and call evenings E E Buck Hilbert

For Sale - 1939 Spartan Executive 35OOTT 10 SMOH 214-354-6418

AampP LA Annual 100 hr inspections Wayne Forshey 614-476-9150

Ohio - statewide

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Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vintage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these tires set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging Just like in the Good Old Days

AD the Randolph products aD the Randolph colors aD the Randolph quality An aviation icon is back on the market again to stay

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30 JANUARY 2005

First impressions last a lifetime so put these bring back the good times New General Aviation Sizes Available

500 X 5 600 X 6 700 X 8

Desser has the largest stock and selection of Vintage and Warbird tires in the world Contact us with

Something to buy sell or trade

Classified Word Ads $550 per 10 words 180 words maximum with boldface lead-in on first line

Classified Display Ads One column wide (2167 inches) by 1 2 or 3 inches high at $20 per inch Black and white only and no frequency discounts

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

Airplane T-Shirts 150 Different Airplanes Available

WE PROBABLY HAVE YOUR AIRPLANE

wwwairplanetshirtscom 1 -800-645-7739

THERES JUST NOTHING LIKE IT ON THE WEB

wwwaviation-giftshopcom A Website with the Pilot in Mind (and those who love airplanes)

Flying wires available 1994 pricing Visit wwwflyingwirescom or call 800-517 -9278

BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod bearings main bearings bushings master rods valves piston rings Call us Toll Free 1-800-233-6934 e-mail ramremfgaolcom Website wwwramenginecom VINTAGE ENGINE MACHINE WORKS N 604 FREYA ST SPOKANE WA 99202

Warner engines Two 165s one fresh OH one low time on Fairchild 24 mount with all accessories Also Helton Lark and Aeronca C-3 project Find my name and address in the Officers and Directors listing and call evenings E E Buck Hilbert

For Sale - 1939 Spartan Executive 35OOTT 10 SMOH 214-354-6418

AampP LA Annual 100 hr inspections Wayne Forshey 614-476-9150

Ohio - statewide

AERO CLASSIC COLLECTOR SERIES

Vintage Tires New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a fresh set of Vintage Rubber These newly minted tires are FAA-TSOd and speed rated to 120 MPH Some things are better left the way they

were and in the 40s and 50s these tires were perfectly in tune to the exciting times in aviation Not only do these tires set your vintage plane apart from the rest but also look exceptional on all General Aviation aircraft Deep 832nd tread depth offers above average tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging Just like in the Good Old Days

AD the Randolph products aD the Randolph colors aD the Randolph quality An aviation icon is back on the market again to stay

800-362-3490~ Or e-mail us at info randolphaircraftcom ~

~~

30 JANUARY 2005

Ladies Blouse $3299 Wear this blouse to work for a great business look and after work go casual by rolling up the sleeves Great for a busy day Light blue with blue embroidered Vintage logo Small V03542 Medium V03543 Large bull V03544 X-Large V03545

Ladies Chambray Shirt $3195 Stone washed for soft comfort in any season will look great at all aviation activities Medium Vlll48 Large Vll149 X-Large Vlll60

Ladies Sweater $2499 Love to travel Love to fly Here is the sweater for you Airplane trinkets dazzle this sweater with clouds and travel bag motif Boat neck and a longer length make

a comfortable sweater for most any occasion

Red Small V02929 Medium V02930 Large V02931

Tone on Tone Logo Sweatshirts $1899

2X bullbull _$2299

Medium Navy V03976 Large Navy V04237 X-Large Navy V04238 2X Navy V03977

White Small V02932 1-800-843-3612 Medium V02933 from us and Canada Large V02934 All others 920-426-5912

Navy or httpshopeaaorgSmall V02935 Medium V02936 Check out the web for a viewLarge V02937

of the items in color

Membershi~ Services Directory VINTAGE AIRCRAFT

ASSOCIATION OFFICERS

President Vice-President Geoff Robison George Daubner

152 1 E MacG regor Dr 2448 Lough Lane New Haven I 46774 Hartford WI 53027

260-493-4724 262-673-5885 chie7025aoc0111 vaaf1yboymsllcom

Secretary Treasurer Steve Nesse Charles W Harris

2009 Highland Ave 72 I S 1St 46th SI Albert Lea MN 56007 Tulsa OK 74147

507-373-1674 918-622-8400 stllfsdesk ledia rom cwhhvsll com

DIRECTORS Steve Bender Dale A Gustafson

85 Brush Hill Road 7724 Shady Hills Dr Sherborn MA 01770 Indianapolis IN 46278

508-653-7557 317 -293-4430 ss tJOcommstnet dale(a)crnsncom

David Bennett Jeannie Hi ll PO Box 11 88 PO Box 328

Roseville CA 95678 Harvard IL 60033-0328 916-645-8370 8 15-943-7205

(lntiqlfeNPimeach com dingllao(liowc llet

John Berendt Espie Butch Joyce 7645 Echo Point Rd 704 N Regional Rd

Cannon Falls MN 55009 Greensboro NC 27409 507 -263-2414 336-668-3650

mjblchdrcollnfct com wimlsockaoicom

Robert C Bob Brauer Steve Krog 9345 S Hoyne 1002 Heather Ln

Chicago Ii 6D620 Hartford WI 53027 773-779-2105 262-966-7627

pllotop iotllocom Hkrugaol co

Dave Clark Robert D Bob Lumley 635 Vestal L1I1C 1265 South 124th St

Plainfield IN 46168 Brookfield WI 5J005 317-839-4500 262-782-2633

dllvecpliiqutstl1tl IUlllp(feXecpccom

John S Copeland Gene Morris 1 A Deacon Street 5936 Steve Court

Northborough MA 01532 Roanoke TX 76262 508-393-4775 817-49 1-9 11 0

copeland JjllllOcom genemorrisevJI1(t

Ph il Coulson Dean Ri chardson 28415 Springbrook Dr 1429 Kings Lynn Rd

Lawton MI 49065 Stoughton WI 53589 269-624-6490 608-877-8485

rcollison516cscom dn rnprilairecom

Roger Gomoll SH Wes Schmid R89 1 Airport Rd Box C2 2359 Lefeber Avenue

Blaine MN 55449 Vvauwatosa WI 53213 763-786-3142 414-771 -1545

pledgedriwmsllcOfn sllscllmidmiwprc01l1

ENJOY THE MANY BENEFITS OF EAA AND

EAA and Division Membership Services 800-843-361 2 FAX 920-426-676 1 (800 AM-700 PM Monday-Friday CST)

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THE EAA VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

EAA Aviation Center PO Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Phone (920) 426-4800 Fax (920) 426-4873

Web Site httpwwweaaarg and httpwwwairventurearg E-Mail vintageeaaarg

DIRECTORS EMERITUS

Gene Chase EF Buck Hilbert 2159 Cariton lId PO Box 424

Oshkosh WI 54904 Un ion IL 60 180 920-231-5002 8 15-923-4S91

GRCHAcllnrter tlet b7acmc llet

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Kent City MI 49330 616-678-5012

rFrjtZP(lthWl1)lIetcolll

~ Flight Advisors information 920-426-6864 Flight Instructor information 920-426-680 1 Flying Start Program 920-426-6847 Library ServicesResea rch 920-426-4848 Medica l Questions 920-426-6112 Technical Counselors 920-426-6864 Young Eagles _ 877-806-8902

Benefits AUA Vintage Insurance Plan 800-727-3823 EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan 866-647-4322 Term Li fe and Accidental _ 800-241-6103 Death Insurance (Harvey Watt amp Company) Editorial ___ 920-426-4825 _ _ _ FAX 920-426-4828

- Submitting articlephoto - Advertising information

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MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION EAA lAC

Membership in the Experimental Aircraft Current EAA m embers may join the Association Inc is $40 for one year includshy Internatio nal Aerobatic Club Inc Divishying 12 issues of SPORT AVIATION Family sio n and receive SPORT AEROBATICS membership is an additional $10 annually magaZine for an additio nal $45 per year Junior Membership (under 19 years of age) EAA Membership SPORT AEROBATshyis available at $23 annually All major credit ICS m agazine and one year membersh ip cards accepted for membership (Add $16 for in the lAC Division is available for $55 Foreign Postage) per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine

n o t included ) (Add $15 for ForeignEAA SPORT PILOT Postage)

Current EAA members may add EAA SPORT PILOT magaZine for an additional WARBIRDS $20 per year Current EAA members may join the EAA

EAA Membe rship and EAA SPORT Warbirds of America Division and receive PILOT magazin e is available fo r $40 per WARBIRDS magazine for an additional $40 year (SPORT AVIATION magaZine not inshy per year cluded) (Add $16 far Foreign Postage) EAA Membership WARBIRDS m agashy

zine and on e year memb ership in the VINTAGE AIRCRAFf ASSOCIATION Warbirds Division is available for $50 per

Current EAA members m ay jo in the year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not inshyVintage Aircraft Association and receive cluded) (Add $7 for Foreign Postage) VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for an adshyditional $36 per year FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS

EAA Membership VINTAGE AIRPLANE Please submit your remittan ce with a magaZine and one year membership in the EAA ch eck or draft drawn o n a United States Vintage Aircraft Association is available fo r $46 bank payable in United States dollars Add per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not inshy required Foreign Postage amount for each cluded) (Add $7 for Foreign Postage) membership

Membership dues to EAA and its divisions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions

Copyright copy2005 by the EM Vintage Aircraft Association All rights reserved

VINTAGE AIRPLANE (ISSN 0091-6943) IPM 40032445 is published and owned exclusively by the EM Vintage Aircraft Association of the Experimental Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EM Aviation Center 3000 Poberezny Rd 10 Box 3086 Oshkosh Wisconsin 54903-3086 Periodicals Postage paid at Oshkosh Wisconsin 54901 and at additional mailing offices POSTMASTER Send address changes to EM Vintage Aircraft Association 10 Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Return Canadian issues to Station A PO Box 54 Windsor ON N9A 6J5 FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES - Please allow at least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surface mail ADVERTISING - Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the advertising We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken

EDITORIAL POLlCY Readers are encouraged to submit stories and photographs Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the contributor No remuneration is made Material should be sent to Editor VINTAGE AIRPLANE 10 Box 3086 Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Phone 920-426-4800

EMreg and SPORT AViATIONreg the EM Logoreg and AeronautKatradeare registered trademarks trademarks and service marks of the Experimenlal Aircraft Association Inc The use of Ihese trademarks and sice marks without the permission of the Experimental Aircraft Association Inc is strictly prohibited

The EM AVIATION FOUNDATION Logo is a trademark of the EM Aviation Foundation Inc The use of this trademark without the permission of the EM Aviation Foundation Inc is strictly prohibited

32 JANUARY 2005