vintage airplane - dec 2011

8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Dec 2011

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Thank you from the staff at AUA. We wish you happy holidays

and we look forward to serving you in the new year!

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www.auaonline.com


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3 News

5 The Waco Model ‘C’ Classy custom Cabins

by Sparky Barnes Sargent

12 Going Home Again At age 12, I harbored aspirations of flying fast, like my heroes, the Mercury astronauts . . .

by Philip Handleman

16 My First Airplane by Lee Hurry

18 Chapter Locator

20 Light Plane Heritage Remember the Avro Avian? by Bob Whittier

28 The Vintage Mechanic Tail Wheel Installations by Robert G. Lock

32 The Vintage Instructor Short-Field Operations Part 2 by Steve Krog, CFI

34 Mystery Plane by H.G. Frautschy

37 Classifieds

38 A Little Smooth Air by Michelle Souder

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1

A I R P L A N E DECEMBER

C O N T E N T S

S T A F FEAA Publisher Rod HightowerDirector of EAA Publications J. Mac McClellanExecutive Editor Mary JonesExecutive Director/Editor H.G. Frautschy

Production/Special Projects Kathleen WitmanPhotography Jim KoepnickCopy Editor Colleen Walsh

Publication Advertising:Manager/Domestic, Sue Anderson

Tel: 920-426-6127 Email: [email protected] Fax: 920-426-4828

Senior Business Relations Mgr, Trevor Janz

Tel: 920-426-6809 Email: [email protected]

Manager/European-Asian, Willi Tacke

Phone: +49(0)1716980871 Email: [email protected]: +49(0)8841 / 496012

Classified Advertising Coordinator, Jo Ann Cody SimonsTel: 920-426-6169 Email: [email protected]

C O V E R S

Vol. 39, No. 12 2011

FRONT COVER: In the days before World War II, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA)

and its predecessor, the Department of Commerce, Aeronautics Branch, had a stable of air-

craft to be used by inspectors in the field. This 1939 Waco AGC-8 was one of those airplanes.

You can enjoy the story of its history and restoration in Sparky Barnes Sargent’s article start-

ing on page 5. EAA photo by EAA’s chief photographer, Jim Koepnick.

BACK COVER: With a nod to longtime EAA editorial contributor Bob Whittier, who reminded

us of this cover, we bring you the seasonally appropriate cover artwork by Stewart Rouse

of the December 1933 issue of Model Airplane News , featuring a Christmastime message

stamped in the snow to greet the pilot of the “New Heath Parasol.”

5

For missing or replacement magazines, or

any other membership-related questions, please call

EAA Member Services at 800- JOIN-EAA (564-6322).

20

28


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2 DECEMBER 2011

and the entire staff of the EAA

On behalf of the offi cers, directors, and the staff of the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, we wisheach of you peace, joy, and prosperity during the holiday season and throughout the new year, with

many days of safe, enjoyable flying!

Merry Christmas! • Happy Holidays! • Happy New Year!

Paul PobereznyRod Highower Geoff Robison

George Daubner Dan Knuson Seve Nesse

Seve Bender Dave Bennet Bob Brauer

Jerry Brown Gene Chase Dave Clark

Jack Copeland Phil Coulson Ron Fri

Dale Gusafson Charlie Harris Buck Hilber

Jeannie Hill Buch Joyce Seve Krog Bob Lumley

Gene Morris Wes Schmid

John Turgyan H.G. Frauschy

Theresa Books


5/44

VAA NEWS

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

Tom Poberezny Inducted Into San Diego Hall of Fame

Congratulations to EAA Chairman

Emeritus Tom Poberezny, who was

inducted into the San Diego Inter-

national Air & Space Hall of Fame

on November 5. Tom was honored

for his leadership of EAA, his 25-year

air show career, and the creation of

EAA’s Young Eagles program. Otherinductees included Apollo astronaut

Walt Cunningham, Voyager pilot

Dick Rutan, the U.S. Navy TOPGUN

school, and World War II pilot Jerry

Coleman, perhaps better known as

a second baseman for the New York

Yankees in the 1950s and a Hall of

Fame baseball broadcaster. Paul Po-

berezny had been inducted into the

same hall of fame in 1996.

EAA Mourns Death of Longtime Aircraft Technician

EAA staff members are mourn-

ing the loss of co-worker Ted Mos-

man, whose expertise in aircraft

maintenance kept EAA’s B-17 andFord Tri-Motor flying on tour for

the past 20 years. Mosman died

on October 20 after a battle with

cancer. He was 57.

M o s ma n , a n I o w a n a t i ve ,

joined EAA in 1980 when the or-

ganization’s headquarters were in

the Milwaukee area, then made

the move to Oshkosh with EAA

in the early 1980s. He was an in-

tegral part of EAA’s B-17 and Tri-

Motor restorations and worked on

every aircraft owned by the orga-

nization. He also assisted air showperformers and others who han-

gared aircraft at the Kermit Weeks

Flight Research Center during

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. “When-

ever we needed something done

on the B-17 when it was on the

road, Ted was right there; he was a

natural mechanic,” EAA Founder

Paul Poberezny said. “He’d always

go along on the test flight after-

ward and listen to make sure ev-

erything was right.”

John Underwood Inducted Into VAA Hall of Fame

During ceremo-nies held the eve-

ning of October 27,

2011, noted author

and aviation history

enthusiast John

Underwood was

inducted into the

Vintage Aircraft As-

sociation’s Hall of

Fame. Other induct-

ees included Jack

McCornack of Cave

Junction, Oregon (Ultralight Hall of Fame), the late Tony LeVier of La

Canada, California (International Aerobatic Club Hall of Fame), the

late David B. Lindsay Jr. of Sarasota, Florida (Warbirds of America

Hall of Fame), and Ed Fisher of Gilbert, South Carolina (Homebuilders

Hall of Fame).

“Each of these five individuals has made a unique contribution to

the world of flight that has benefited all of us,” said Rod Hightower,

EAA president and CEO. “These inductees serve as an example for

everyone involved in flying and represent the best that recreational

aviation has to offer. We recognize their commitment and passion for

flying and are honored to welcome them into the EAA Sport Aviation

Hall of Fame.”

We’ll have more on Underwood’s lifetime in aviation in the Jan-

uary issue of Vintage Airplane.

Geoff Robison, John Underwood, and Rod Hightower. S H A R P S H

O O T E R I M A G I N G


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4 DECEMBER 2011

More Informationon Bellanca N6561N

As is often the case with our vin-

tage aircraft, there’s much more tothe story of an aircraft featured in

our pages than meets the eye. Such

is the case of Bellanca Cruisemaster

N6561N, and in the caption accom-

panying the photo of the airplane

published in the October issue, we

should have filled in a few more

blanks. Prior to being acquired by its

current owner, Ron Hansen, it was

owned by Al Pontious and Jere Calef.

After being damaged when the left

main gear leg collapsed on landingat the Columbia, California, airport

during the annual Bellanca fly-in,

the airplane was declared to be a to-

tal loss by an insurance company. It

was disassembled and placed in stor-

age pending its disposition. The most

likely outcome was that the airplane

would be sold for parts.

Pontious, who has owned, main-

tained, and restored Bellancas for

many years and who is a well-known

expert on Bellanca aircraft, did notwant to see another Bellanca del-

egated to the parts bin, so he and

Calef purchased the pieces, brought

them home to Mojave, and began

the repair/restoration. In addition to

the damage caused by the gear col-

lapse, there was significant damage

inflicted when the aircraft was disas-

sembled and transported to the stor-

age facility. After a little more than

a year’s worth of effort, N6561N

again took to the skies in the condi-tion shown in the October issue. Mr.

Hansen subsequently purchased the

aircraft from the partners, who were

glad to see another Bellanca cruising

the skies.

VAA DuesPer Section VI., Dues, of the VAA’s

bylaws, the VAA board of directors

has voted to set the yearly dues of

the association at $42 per year, effec-

tive March 1, 2012.

Louie Andrew Honored

With Henry Kimberly Leadership Award

Longtime Fond du Lac, Wiscon-

sin, attorney Louie Andrew was

awarded the Henry Kimberly Spirit

of Leadership Award for his volun-

teer effor ts on behalf of EAA and

the community during the Sport Avi-

ation Hall of Fame banquet Octo-

ber 27 at the EAA Aviation Center

in Oshkosh. As part of the award,

named for renowned Oshkosh busi-

ness leader and EAA supporter

Henry Kimberly, Andrew received a

$1,000 prize to designate toward any of EAA’s programs.

Andrew’s advice, knowledge of the community and region, and

passion for flight contribute to his effectiveness in his role as in-

terim chairman of EAA’s board of directors. He also serves as

chairman of EAA’s executive committee and a director for the In-

ternational Aerobatic Club.

He began flying at the Fond du Lac airport at age 14, soloed on

his 16th birthday, and obtained his private pilot certificate at age

17. Andrew, who holds single- and multi-engine land and instru-

ment ratings, flies a Piper Aztec and an Aeronca Super Chief that

are based at Fond du Lac County Airport.

Andrew, a University of Notre Dame and Marquette University

Law School graduate, has been a practicing attorney in Fond du

Lac for 45 years, specializing in corporate and real estate law. He

also owns and operates Guaranty Service Group Inc., which oper-

ates seven title insurance offi ces and provides services to lend-

ers in the state of Wisconsin and six other Midwestern states.

Andrew and his wife, Sue, live in Fond du Lac and are parents of

five children.

Louie Andrew


7/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

A

trio of grand old Waco C-8

Cabin models gleamed mag-

nificently under the summer

sun at EAA AirVenture 2010,just as the vintage field be-

gan thoroughly drying out from re-

cord rainfalls. Like the sunshine,

these luxury custom Cabin Wacos

were a welcome sight. Fewer than

30 of these biplanes were manufac-

tured, and it’s estimated that about

half exist today, with less than a

handful in flyable condition.

Of the threesome, Bob and Barb

Perkins’ Waco AGC-8 (N20908) was

manufactured in 1939 under ATC

664. The “A” denotes its 300-hp Ja-

cobs L-6 engine. Jim Clark’s Waco

(NC61KS) rolled off the production

line in 1939 as an AGC-8, but wassoon converted to a model EGC-8.

The “E” denotes the 320-hp (super-

charged to 350-hp) Wright R760-E2.

Bill McCormick’s Waco (NC2279)

was originally manufactured under

ATC 665 as an EGC-8. Waco’s “C”

Model was spry yet gentle, and pi-

lots still appreciate it for its quick

takeoffs and slow landings, in addi-

tion to its other fine qualities. Let’s

take a closer look at the septuage-

narian Wright-powered EGC-8.

The Luxury EGC-8 Cabin ModelWaco produced seven EGC-8s.

The EGC-8 had seating for five,

with an overall wi ngspan of 34feet, 9 inches (lower wingspan of

24 feet 4 inches) and a length of

27 feet 4 inches from nose to tail.

It towered 8 feet, 7-1/2 inches

tall and had a 108-inch-wide gear

tread. The EGC-8 weighed 2,447

pounds empty, had a payload of

563 pounds, and had a gross weight

of 3,800 pounds.

Its mighty Wright turned a Ham-

ilton Standard controllable pro-

peller, and with 95 gallons of fuel

Waco Model “C”

Classy Custom Cabins

BY SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

T h e

JIM KOEPNICK


8/44

6 DECEMBER 2011

available, it burned 18 gph while

enjoying a cruising speed of 147

mph (up to 159 mph at optimum

altitude) and a range of 713 miles

(with 15 percent reserve). The stan-

dard color for the “C” Model’s

hand-rubbed, lustrous finish was

Gunmetal Gray, but customers

could also choose from the optional

Waco Vermilion (which added 33

pounds to the empty weight), Insig-

nia Blue (which added 7 pounds),or Silver.

A company brochure touted the

Waco Model “C” as representing

the finest in air travel, since its “re-

fined streamlining was responsible

for faster airspeed, and a lengthened

fuselage with an efficient flap design

provided better control at slow land-

ing speeds.” Designed for pilot and

passenger comfort alike, this model

featured elegant interiors that could

also accommodate a variety ofcargo, since the biplane was “…of-

fered with a freighter interior and

may also be equipped as an aerial

ambulance. When so equipped, the

stretcher is concealed when not in

use and the usual passenger interior

remains unimpaired.”

One especially interesting fea-

ture were the split flaps: “At any

time prior to landing if unexpected

obstructions appear, the throttle

may be opened fully and the flaps

NC2279’s instrument panel.

A peek inside NC2279’s exquisitely detailed cabin.

NC2279 is finished in Henry King’s

signature paint scheme.

A company brochure about the

Waco Model “C” Cabin models. SPARKY BARNES SARGENT PHOTOS


9/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

will close themselves automatically

and slowly without further loss of

altitude and without effort on the

pilot’s part. When the emergency

has passed the pilot may close the

flap control valve until ready to use

it again.”

With fresh air supplied to the

cabin (from intakes in the wings),ashtrays for those who smoked,

and a comfortable back seat where

passengers could relax into “aerial

naps,” the Model “C” was designed

to please. Special design consider-

ation was also given to mechanics

who would maintain these flying

machines: “It is a delightful experi-

ence for a mechanic to study this

WACO and see the care that has

been taken to make the entire air-

plane readily accessible for serviceattention with a minimum of time

and effort.”

Speaking of maintenance and

more, each of the EGC-8s that

flew in to AirVenture (NC2279 and

NC61KS) were recently restored to

virtually authentic configurations

and have their own bit of notewor-

thy history to share.

The ‘King’ Waco

NC2279, a 1938 Waco EGC-8, isowned and flown by Bill McCor-

mick of Clarkston, Michigan. It

was restored by Rare Aircraft Ltd. of

Faribault, Minnesota, and received

the Bronze Age (1937-1941) Out-

standing Closed Cockpit Biplane—

Small Plaque during AirVenture.

No doubt its original owner, Henry

King, were he al ive today, would

be quite proud that the biplane

is not only an award winner, but

that it looks just like it did when heowned it.

Henry King was a movie director,

and perhaps best known by avia-

tion enthusiasts for Twelve O’Clock

High and A Yank in the RAF . Born

in January 1886, he first started di-

recting movies three years before

earning his pilot’s license in 1918.

He built an impressive career as he

continued directing for nearly half

a century and was one of the top

directors in Hollywood during the

1920s and ’30s. His achievements

included directing more than 100

movies, receiving the first Golden

Globe Award in 1944, and being one

of the founders of the Academy of

Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Throughout his career, he re-

mained an avid aviator, and a

sportsman pilot—his personalized

private aircraft insignia appears in

The Amateur Air Pilots Register a s

early as 1934. In September 1938,King took delivery of NC2279

(s/n 5064). It was the fourth of

five Wacos he owned. Each one

was finished in his signature color

scheme—vermilion with black and

gold trim. Notably, his passion for

flying led him to become one of

the founding fathers of the Civil

Air Patrol (CAP) during World War

II. King served as the deputy com-

mander of the CAP Coastal Patrol

Base in Brownsville, Texas.

King owned NC2279 until 1940,

when he traded it in. Waco then

sold the biplane to Eastern Coal

Corporation of Bluefield, West Vir-

ginia. The government bought it in

1942, and three years later, it landed

in the hands of a citizen in San Di-

ego, California—at that time, its reg-

istration number had been changedto NC50610. This Waco flew from

owner to owner through the years,

but then languished from the early

1960s for several decades. Eventu-

ally it wound up in Vancouver, Brit-

ish Columbia, as a project. In 2004,

Bill McCormick of Clarkston, Michi-

gan, purchased it. The airframe had

a total time of 3,115:45 hours, and

McCormick decided to have it dis-

assembled and trucked to Rare Air-

craft for reassembly. That’s when itbecame apparent that the old bi-

plane needed a substantial amount

of work, and an 18-month restora-

tion ensued. Jeremy Redman of Rare

Aircraft explains:

“The airplane came to us covered

and painted, and we started getting

ready to put stuff together, when

we saw corrosion on the fuselage.

We started punch testing a couple

of tubes and found a rotten cluster.

And then we were inspecting thewings and found a couple of cracked

spars. Also, there was rot back in the

stabilizer ,and we thought, ‘Man,

we have to do something here!’ Bill

agreed, and it essentially turned into

darn near a full restoration. We built

four new wings; interestingly, one

upper wing assembly on this custom

Cabin Waco consumes more labor

than the entire wing set on a UPF-

7. We also rebuilt the tail feathers.

There were some compression fail-ures where the steel fittings bolted

on to the stabilizer and the airframe,

and this model has a cantilever sta-

bilizer, so it’s very important that

the integrity of the wood is good.”

Additionally, Rare Aircraft re-

paired the fuselage and engine

mount, rebuilt the ailerons, re-

placed fairings and leading edges,

and fabricated new wing flaps.

While they were at it, they also fab-

ricated a new aluminum bulkhead

“It’s one thing

to have

an antique

airplane that is

beautiful to look

at, but an an-tique airplane

that flies as

friendly as this

airplane—it’s a

real joy!” —Jim Clark


10/44

8 DECEMBER 2011

for the panel and a stainless fire-

wall. They restored the cowling and

dishpan, rebuilt the landing gear,

re-bushed the tail wheel support

assembly, and fabricated new fuel

and oil tanks. To facilitate flying

and communicating in today’s air-

space, a VHF transceiver, transpon-

der, encoder, intercom, and Whelenstrobe system were installed.

While the airframe work was

transpiring, the engine was being

overhauled as well. “Mike Connor

overhauled the Wright R760-E2 en-

gine,” says Jeremy, declaring, “He’s

the Wright guru. I dare say, I don’t

know if there’s anybody out there

who could do a Wright as well as

he could.”

In the interest of safe ground

maneuvering, Cleveland wheels

and brakes were installed. “We did

a conversion on this one, and did

articulating toe brake pedals and

removed the original pedals,” de-

scribes Jeremy, “and it really trans-

forms the handling of the airplane.

If you just put a toe brake pedal ontop of the rudder pedal, when you

have full left rudder in, it’s like you

can’t push the brake pedal. It gets

really precarious, and in these big

heavy taildraggers like this, you

need some brake when you’re on

the last part of the roll out, because

your control surfaces aren’t going

to overtake the mass of the airplane

if it starts to divert.

“The owner, Bill, has a dog that

jumps up on the hat shelf and goeswith him when he flies this,” Jer-

emy says with a smile, adding, “he’s

a business executive, so you might

say that the biplane is doing the

same thing in 2010 that it did in

1938—transporting executives. Bill

has always had airplanes, and he’s

active with his local EAA chapter.”

The ‘CAA’ Waco

Jim Clark of Chapman, Kansas,

flew NC61KS (s/n 5072), his 1939Waco EGC-8, to AirVenture this

summer. He arrived in good com-

pany, with his grandson Brody

Clark, who is already a veteran Air-

Venture attendee at age 12, and

young friend Patrick McElligott,

who is a mentor in their local EAA

Chapter 1364’s Wing Nuts youth

program. They taxied in to the Vin-

tage area, drawing admirers even

before they tied down and set up

their camping tent. This black and

The instrument panel in NC61KS.

The original Switlik parachute seats

were modified so they now have a

roomy pocket for stowing items.

S P A R K Y B

A R N E S

S A R G E N T

P H O T O S

JIM KOEPNICK


11/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

orange Cabin Waco is unmistak-

able, with its large Civil Aeronau-

tics Authority (CAA) logo carefully

painted on the broad fuselage. Jim

also flew the biplane to the AAA/

APM Fly-in in Blakesburg, Iowa,

where it received the SweepstakesClassic (1936 to 1941) award.

“Three or four years ago, I

started looking for a Cabin Waco,”

says Jim with a smile, “because I

wanted a big flying SUV that could

carry all my stuff! So I started go-

ing all over the country look-

ing and could not find one that I

wanted to buy or restore. This air-

plane was located only 15 miles

from my home, and its longtime

owner, EAA member Chuck Hall,was a friend of mine. I bought it in

September 2007, and even though

it hadn’t flown for about 18 years,

it had been stored properly.”

Jim became intrigued by the his-

tory of his “new” Waco, and his re-

search revealed that NC61KS was

one of eight model AGC-8s that

were originally ordered by the CAA.

His Waco’s first bill of sale was from

Waco Aircraft to the CAA and was

dated August 17, 1939. Registeredas NC-61, it was delivered to the Air

Safety Board and was based in Gar-

den City, Long Island, New York.

Just a few years later, the CAA or-

dered an engine change.

“The CAA had all those Wacos

converted to the supercharged 350-

hp Wright R760-E2 and changed

the model number from AGC-8 to

EGC-8. The aircraft records show

that a CAA Repair and Alteration

Form dated June 18, 1941, was

completed by the Spartan School

of Aeronautics, and it listed the

‘removal of Jacobs L6MB and in-

stallation of Wright R760E-2 as per

form 337.’ Then in December 1945,NC-61 was declared surplus and

had registration number NC69607

when it was released [from govern-

ment service in the mid 1940s]. Af-

ter Chuck bought the airplane in

1970, he got the registration num-

ber back as close as he could to NC-

61, by adding ‘KS’ for Kansas.”

Before Raven Aero Service could

begin restoring NC61KS, it sent

a couple of its technicians to go

over it and get it ready for a short

ferry flight from Manhattan to its

shop in Junction City. “The en-

gine had been pickled properly, so

we could bring that back to life,”

recounts Jim, “but the brake lineswere corroded into solid rods—

so we ran new brake lines and

had the master cylinders rebuilt.

I learned through the National

Waco Club online forum that the

Cleveland wheels and brakes for

the late-model Cessna 310 also fit

a 1939 Cabin Waco EGC-8. So I

ordered a set, and we jacked the

airplane up and bolted the brakes

on—without having to make a

single modification. I’m a member

Jim Clark brought some good company with him to AirVenture—his grand-

son, Brody, and Brody’s young friend, Patrick.

Jeremy Redman of Rare Aircraft Ltd. demonstrates NC2279’s split flap. S P A R K Y

B A R N E S

S A R G E

N T

P H O T O S


12/44

10 DECEMBER 2011

of both the National Waco Club

and the American Waco Club,

and both are great groups. Na-

tional has a very active [online]

forum, with a tremendous wealth

of knowledge.”

The ferry flight took only 40

minutes—and Jim made sure that

Chuck was in the right seat. Therestoration started in November

2007, and was completed in July

2010. The biplane, covered and

finished with Superflite, was bril-

liant in its CAA black and orange

livery—a far cry from its previous

pale green and red scheme—and

the pleasing scent of new leather

permeated the spacious cabin.

Once again, Chuck was in the

right seat when Jim made the first

flight after restoration. Just a few modifications were

made during the restoration—the

first being the new wheels and

brakes. Another change involved

relocating the oil cooler to solve an

overheating problem. “The origi-

nal oil cooler was behind the dish

pan and almost against the fire-

wall,” explains Jim, “so airflow was

nonexistent. I became acquainted

with Addison Pemberton—a great

guy and aircraft restorer—and I no-

ticed when I was at his hangar in

Spokane that he hung the coolers

underneath all his aircraft. So he

sent me some pictures and helped

us out. We reformed the cooler

and belly-hung it—and it has just

worked excellently!”

Additionally, and similarly to

NC2279, Jim’s Waco received newnavigation and communication

equipment. “We went with Becker

in-panel radios, transponder, and

comm,” shares Jim, “and I do have

weather on a Garmin 496, but it’s

covered by the original ‘coffee

grinder crank’ radio face.”

It takes a discerning eye to ob-

serve several unique features of

NC61KS. Perhaps the most obvi-

ous is the second rear door. Less

obvious is the fact that the doorshave a jettison lever—and yes,

that feature is still functional. An

“Emergency - Do Not Touch” sign

warns the rear-seat passengers

not to turn the handle. A cursory

glance at the pilot and passenger

seat backs reveals deep, wide pock-

ets for stowing items—a clever use

of space made available when the

original Switlik parachute seats

were modified. Also, the small

baggage compartment aft of the

“...interestingly,

one upper wing

assembly on this

custom Cabin

Waco consumes

more labor than

the entire wing

set on a

UPF-7.”

—Jeremy Redman

NC61KS in the Vintage area at EAA AirVenture 2010.

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT


13/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

rear seat was neatly converted to

Waco’s freighter configuration

for extra cargo space. One more

item is the original wood rack for

holding emergency flares, which

is mounted inside the fuselage, in

the cargo area. Jim doesn’t have

the actual flares, but he dummied

the location on the side of the fu-selage by using inspection rings

and fabric patches.

One significant challenge that

Jim encountered was locating the

proper CAA emblem for the fu-

selage. “In 1939, the CAA used

a five-point compass rose with

their name in it, and wings and

a shield that had the Wright

Flyer on it . But in 1940 they

were under the Department of

Commerce, so they changed theemblem to an office building and

a shock of wheat. We researched

extensively, but didn’t find a

complete photo of the 1939 em-

blem. We had a picture of the

CAA airplanes in a hangar, so we

went by that as much as possi-

ble. Also, the CAA did not use the

color trim around the windows,

so the fuselage stripe was posi-

tioned higher than on the other

Cabin Wacos.”

Flying the EGC-8 Jim has about 700 hours’ tail -

wheel time, and flies a Piper Pacer

and Cub regularly. He was pleas-

antly surprised by the EGC-8’s

gentle flying characteristics—with

one exception. “On takeoff, I let

it come off the ground about 60

mph, then climb out at 80 mphfor the first 100 feet. Then I go to

90 mph and get a nice climb rate

out of it. Cruise climb is about

100 mph, and I get about 500

fpm climb at that. I don’t push it;

I watch the cylinder head temps

closely. She cruises about 130 mph.

Then on downwind and base, I fly

about 100 mph, and I don’t cross

the fence under 80 mph—below

that is a danger zone, because

when you start flaring with thosebig flaps down, you lose 20 mph

and she’s on the runway; there is

no float. I think you’d better have

the runway made when you de-

ploy the flaps,” he says and laughs

heartily, then adds, “but when

you’re on final, and you’re sure

you’re high and fast, you’re just

right—drop those flaps and wow,

you hit the numbers! But this is

not a challenging airplane in my

opinion. In fact, I wouldn’t put an

EGC-8 driver in my Pacer and ex-

pect him to do okay. This is just

a big, friendly, predictable, nice-

handling biplane, so I’m thrilled

with my choice. She is just a sweet-

heart to fly. It’s one thing to have

an antique airplane that is beauti-

ful to look at, but an antique air-

plane that flies as friendly as thisairplane—it’s a real joy!”

Smiling as he reflects about

these classy custom Cabins, he

shares, “the C-8s have gotten

more attention from the restora-

tion crowd lately. They fly great,

land easy, and with the gear ‘down

and welded,’ they’re not nearly

as complex as the antique retract-

ables—and they’re strong enough

to handle bumpy grass strips with

nary a shrug.”So with a tip o’ the hat to history,

it’s rather pleasant to imagine the

nostalgic reactions that Henry King

and the CAA pilots who flew NC-61

might have, if they ambled through

the vintage field. They’d likely de-

clare in quite the surprised tone,

“Hey, I recognize that Waco! I can’t

believe it’s still flying!” To which

the owners might nod affirmatively

and respond, “Want to take her up

around the patch?”

JIM KOEPNICK


14/44

12 DECEMBER 2011

A prominent man of let-

ters famously wrote,

“You can’t go homeagain.” The proposition

has been debated ever

since. Some interpret the familiar

maxim to mean we are unable to

repeat a cherished experience be-

cause reunions, anniversaries,

homecomings, and the like sim-

ply lack the spontaneity that capti-

vated us initially.

But I’m not so sure that the

magic and wonder of first encoun-

ters are necessarily out of our grasp

for the remainder of our lives.

Somehow it seems we ought to be

able to reach back and capture pastfelicity. And even if impassable bar-

riers block our way physically, who

is so presumptuous to assert that re-

kindling moments of endearment

in the surroundings we currently

inhabit constitutes a bridge too far?It was an early spring day in

1963. The breaking dawn bared a

dew-moistened landscape under a

clarion sky. Seizing the fortuity, my

parents granted my longstanding

wish for an airplane ride. That brisk

morning they drove me to a grass

airstrip nestled in an outlying sub-

urb of Cleveland. The field was strewn with airwor-

thy Piper Cubs, the classic all-yellow

J-3 models with feisty four-cylinder,

65-hp engines. High-time Cubs,

identifiable by their oil-splattered

fuselages, were for sale at the bar-

gain price of $600. Less-worn Cubs,

whose fabric retained the factory-

fresh mustardy sheen, were offered

for the princely sum of a $1,000.

The telltale smell of butyrate

dope and burnt fuel, the sweet

Going Home AgainAt age 12, I harbored aspirations of flying high and fast,

like my heroes, the Mercury astronauts…BY PHILIP HANDLEMAN


15/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

aroma unique to airports, wafted in

the air. Every once in a while, one

of the high-wing taildraggers taxied

into position, and when the engine

revved up from a gentle putt-putt

to a high-pitched raspy buzz, the

plane sped down the emerald car-

pet of freshly sprouted grass androse skyward. The transition from

ground to air manifested what

seemed to be the singular response

to an irresistible summons. Like the

gazelles that run wild on the vast

stretches of the Serengeti, the ma-

chines were evidently drawn into

the domain that beckoned their

occupants with expectations of re-

lease from earthly burdens.

At age 12, I harbored aspirations

of flying high and fast, like my he-roes, the Mercury astronauts, whose

forays into the new frontier had

begun just two years earlier. Cape

Canaveral was their portal to the

heavens, but for at least a couple

of the original seven space travel-

ers, the genesis of their remarkable

journeys was a small airfield near

their childhood homes. My nascentaerial odyssey began similarly, at

the charming, if unadorned, Cha-

grin Falls Airport.

The grass was green, the sky was

blue, and every direction I turned

there were agile yellow ships ready

to sail on voyages of discovery. The

airport’s verdant landscape and

tinny hangars evoked the perfect

aura for my maiden flight. Every-

one on the field, from the mechan-

ics in grease-stained coveralls tomy uniformed instructor pilot, ap-

peared to be devoid of the conceits

and affectations I had experienced

elsewhere. Instead, they projected a

sense of high purpose, a desire to do

something grand—not for material

reward, but for the satisfaction that

came from the doing itself. And

as such, these otherwise commonmen were, in my eyes, noblemen.

The miracle of the Piper Cub was

that it made the sky accessible to

whoever had a desire to flirt with

the clouds. In a way, the remark-

able airplane’s evolution started in

1911 when an adolescent named

Clarence Gilbert Taylor saw Cal-

braith Perry Rodgers amble by in a

garishly decorated Wright B biplane

dubbed the Vin Fiz. The flimsy and

mishap-prone crate was participat-ing in a flight contest to cross the

country in fewer than 30 days.

From that day forward, the teen-

ager later known as C.G. Taylor

was intent on building his own

planes. By 1927, he was designing

lightplanes with his brother Gor-

don in their hometown of Roches-

ter, New York. The first design was a

two-place, high-wing configuration

called the Chummy because of its

snug side-by-side seating.In 1929, city development offi-

cials and private investors lured the

brothers to Bradford, Pennsylvania,

where they formed Taylor Broth-

ers Aircraft Co. Among their finan-

cial backers was William T. Piper, a

member of a local farm family. Mr.

Piper had served in the Army dur-

ing World War I, and subsequently

earned a mechanical engineering

degree from Harvard. He had in-

terests in oil and real estate, but nobackground in aviation.

The brothers’ timing could hardly

have been worse. The stock mar-

ket crashed that autumn, signaling

the onset of the Great Depression.

In 1931, overhead costs in the face

of declining sales made bankruptcy

unavoidable. The only buyer for the

assets was Mr. Piper, who paid $761

to become the sole owner. He short-

ened the company name to Taylor

Aircraft Company.


16/44

14 DECEMBER 2011

Hopes for the struggling business

rode on C.G. Taylor’s latest design,

the E-2. This was a refinement of prior

designs that sought to appeal to fly-

ing schools as a light and economical

tandem-seat trainer. The E-2 was for-

mally named the Cub, and the mod-

els that rolled out of the factory had

the name emblazoned on the fin.Conflicting accounts continue to

muddle the story of how the name

“Cub” was adopted and who con-

ceived it. It is certainly true that

success has a thousand fathers, for

there were at least several com-

pany employees, an advertising

executive, and an airport manager

who claimed paternity. Regard-

less of its provenance, the name

took on legendary status. It even-

tually encompassed not just themore than 30,000 single-engine

lightplanes of similar configura-

tion built by Taylor/Piper in suc-

ceeding years, but virtually every

plane subsequently produced that

bore a resemblance to the Taylor

design. Cub became synonymous

with lightplanes, as Lear did with

corporate jets.

The little plane was dreadfully un-

derpowered, but that changed when

Continental Motors developed theA-40 four-cylinder, horizontally op-

posed engine. This light 37-hp en-

gine had been the missing link, and

once incorporated into the Cub it

changed the company’s fortunes and

the course of history. To be sure, early

problems plagued the new engine,

but once the wrinkles were ironed

out, the airplane sold like hotcakes.

In 1933, a newly graduated engi-

neer from Rutgers University showed

up looking for work. Walter Corey Ja-mouneau was originally hired as an

unpaid engineer, and was the only

person on the factory floor with a col-

lege degree. He proved to be a jack-of-

all-trades, excelling at manufacturing,

sales, and design. Four months after

starting with no salary, he was being

paid $15 a week. With Mr. Piper’s en-

couragement, he significantly rede-

signed the Taylor E-2.

Because of the extensive changes, a

new model designation was required.

The company decided on J-2, which

many believe was a way for the cor-

porate executives to recognize the

young engineer, whose surname be-

gan with the letter J. More likely, the

company simply stuck with its exist-

ing designation system, which had

already reached the letter H. Propo-

nents of this theory believe the com-pany skipped over the letter I to avoid

confusing it with the number 1.

The J-2 received certification on

February 14, 1936, and was marketed

as the New Cub. However, not all had

been going smoothly in the executiveechelon. Mr. Taylor couldn’t stand to

see his design tinkered with. More-

over, he fundamentally disagreed

with Mr. Piper over the business plan,

which called for selling a higher vol-

ume of planes at lower prices. The

discord reached an impasse, and Mr.

Taylor left the company in December

1935. He moved to Alliance, Ohio,

where he made highly regarded side-

by-side two-seaters under the Taylor-

craft banner.The Bradford factory had served

the company well, but it was rife

with fire hazards. It erupted into

flames late on March 16, 1937, and

was left a smoldering hulk. Luckily,

no one was injured, and 15 airplanes

were moved to safety.

By summer, operations and person-

nel began moving to an abandoned

100,000-square-foot silk mill in Lock

Haven, Pennsylvania, 85 miles from

Bradford. Roads, rail lines, and the

Susquehanna River made the Lock

Haven plant readily accessible by con-

ventional means. Importantly, the

city had offered to construct a 2,000-

foot hard-surface runway as an incen-

tive for the company’s relocation.

Despite the company’s many

challenges, Mr. Jamouneau was

charged with further improving theCub. He replaced the tailskid with

a tail wheel, flight instruments were

added to the panel, a higher grade

of steel tubing was used to accom-

modate larger engines, and seat

cushions were installed for in-

creased comfort. This variant of

the Cub was designated the J-3.The first of these iconic models

was rolled out in the autumn of

1937. It sported what became the

familiar all-yellow paint schemehighlighted by black stripes along

the sides of the fuselage, as well

as the teddy bear emblem on the

fin. As Carroll V. Glines points

out in his superb history of the

Cub, the shade of yellow bright-

ened after World War II, when

butyrate dope instead of nitrate

was used for finishing.

In November that same year, the

company opted to change its name

to avoid confusion with C.G. Tay-lor’s new firm. William Piper had la-

bored to make ends meet through the

hard times, even foregoing a salary

for part of the troubled decade. It was

only logical that the company’s name

should be Piper Aircraft Corporation.

By the end of 1940, with war

clouds on the horizon, Cubs were

churned out of the expanded Lock

Haven factory at a rate of 125 a week.

During the global conflict, Piper Cubs

played meaningful roles, notably asArmy liaison airplanes with the des-

ignation L-4. Among various duties,

they served as aerial ambulances, ar-

tillery spotters, and VIP transports.

Moreover, Piper boasted that four of

every five U.S. military pilots during

the war had received their introduc-

tory flight instruction in the compa-

ny’s airplanes.

After the war, surplus Cubs flooded

the market. Also, tricycle-gear de-

signs were catching on as the pre-

Regardless of

its provenance,

the name tookon legendary

status.


17/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

ferred configuration. Production of

the ubiquitous Cub ceased in 1947,

though a considerably beefed-up

look-alike, known as the PA-18 Super

Cub, was introduced in 1949 for util-

ity-type operations.

The Cub had had an amazing run.

Records indicate that 22,206 civil vari-

ants and 8,197 military variants werebuilt. The most numerous model was

the J-3 with a total of 9,782 com-

pleted. The Cub was unquestionably

the Model T of the air.

In the hopeful aftermath of World

War II, Mr. Piper penned an autobi-

ographical book that talked up the

business of general aviation. America

was back to work and at peace. The

future seemed limitless.

The book’s concluding paragraph

embodied that optimistic outlookas Mr. Piper laid out his deep con-

victions about lightplane flying and

the people who do it. He stated, “A

healthy personal plane industry is of

great material and social value to the

United States. The private pilot serves

as one of the most effective instru-

ments of goodwill.” Amen.

The Cub that would provide my

ride had taxied up. I shook hands

with the pilot, M.R. Smith, and bid

a temporary adieu to my parents.It must have been a special day for

them, too, a culmination of sorts.

My mother grew up on the pe-

riphery of the Cleveland Municipal

Airport (now Hopkins International)

during the golden age of flight. She

scaled the fence Labor Day week-

ends throughout the 1930s and

beheld the National Air Races, argu-

ably the greatest aviation spectacles

of all time. She later went to work

as a ticket agent at that very airportand met my father there shortly after

World War II, as he re-acclimated to

civilian life following three years in

the Army Air Forces as a desk-bound

sergeant at a couple of air bases. The

two of them knew that extraordinary

things can happen at airports.

I buckled into the back seat of

N98029. Without fanfare, Mr. Smith

switched on the Cub’s engine. He

hollered to me over the cacophony

to cup, not grip, the control stick

with my right hand, motioning as he

spoke, and to place my feet over the

rudder pedals. I would follow his in-

puts on the controls.

Through the Cub’s side window, I

caught a glimpse of Mom and Dad.

I waved, but my attention quickly

shifted back to the airplane. The

Cub taxied far more bumpily thanI had imagined. This was it, though,

the nonpareil event, the lissome

ship about to lift its eager passenger

on its high-spread wings into its ex-

alted realm.

We taxied a long way to be able

to take off into the wind. The wad-

dling S-turns across the field enabled

a slow-motion survey of the whole

airstrip, a chance to absorb the scene

from the privileged vantage point re-

served only for those in an airplane’scockpit. I was in sync with the re-

splendent and invigorating gateway

to my dreams. This was the most

magical place in the world.

The noise was louder inside the

Cub than out as we clattered down

that rough-hewn runway, throttle full

open. Before I knew it, we were air-

borne and climbing. We leveled off

soon because it didn’t make sense to

go high during a 15-minute orienta-

tion flight.The hum of the engine subsided as

the rush of air became aurally domi-

nant. The horizon defined our rela-

tionship to the globe, which wended

beneath us at a crawl. We were one

with the sky, like a vessel floating

on gentle ocean currents, more skiff

than speedboat.

My nervousness was more than

balanced by the sense of adventure.

Mr. Smith turned his head to check

on me. He saw a 12-year-old trans-fixed by the sight-picture and beam-

ing with joy.

With a steady hand, Mr. Smith per-

formed gentle turns left and right. He

told me to coordinate stick and rud-

der, to feel the airplane. Yes, it was ru-

dimentary, the first building block of

airmanship, but I was flying.

The world wasn’t so big anymore;

it could be tamed. I was, briefly, the

master of my fate, an individualist

empowered to exercise a newfound

independence and ride the wind in

whatever direction my heart deemed

desirable. I had discovered the dream

of flight, which is the dream that any-

thing is possible.

The quaint airport where I was

initiated into the milieu of fliers has

long since given way to the vagaries

of real estate development. Whereonce Piper Cubs gathered momen-

tum in dashes for the sky, homes now

predominate in the archetypical grid

work of late-20th century American

subdivisions. According to a database

search, the faithful airplane, good old

N98029, was eventually stricken from

the federal registry, its assorted parts

perhaps languishing forgotten and

forlorn in someone’s barn, awaiting

either the brusque consignment of

the junkman or the affectionate reju-venation of the restorer.

Notwithstanding the Cub’s re-

ported disposition, the flight in that

unassuming ship lives on where it

matters most. In the precious minutes

that I sailed on its mustard wings,

the kingdom of the sky was revealed

and it touched my soul. So, no mat-

ter what airplane has been handy

since, I feel that I have gone home

again and still do each time I rum-

ble down a grass strip, raise the tailwheel, ease back on the stick, and re-

enter the Cub’s rarefied and everlast-

ing domain.

Further Reading Piper Cubs by Peter M. Bowers. TAB

Books, 1993.

Mr. Piper and His Cubs by Devon

Francis. Iowa State Universit y

Press, 1973.

Those Legendary Piper Cubs: Their

Role in War and Peace by Car-

roll V. Glines. Schiffer Publishing

Ltd., 2005.

Piper: A Legend Aloft by Edward H.

Phillips. Flying Books Interna-

tional, 1993.

Private Flying: Today and Tomorrow

by William T. Piper. Pitman Pub-

lishing Company, 1949.

The Piper Cub Story by James M.

Triggs. TAB Books, 1978.


18/44

16 DECEMBER 2011

Toward the end of World

War II, in 1944, a limited

amount of civilian flying

resumed after being mostly

banned since the beginning of the war

for the United States. With no civilian

airplane production authorized, we

were using the old prewar Cubs and

Aeroncas with 50- and 65-hp Frank-

lins, Lycomings, and Continentals—many of them from the now defunct

Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) program.

With a disability pension from the Air

Corps, I was back home in Minnesota,

and with those extra funds, and by

swapping a few of my guns, I was able

to make a deal to get my private cer-

tificate from a local instructor/A&P

mechanic in his personal J-3 Cub. By

then I had progressed from crutches

to a cane, which we were able to stash

in the Cub.Later we heard about a fellow over

at Rochester, Minnesota, who had an

old Cub for sale. He was flight test-

ing his freshly constructed Pieten-

pol, and he needed the money. My

flying buddy and I looked the Cub

over. It was flying and in license,

a 1937 Piper J-2 with the little 40-

horse Continental. Since this engine

had only a single mag, it actually

only made 37 hp; the later models

with dual mags put out 40 hp.

The owner wouldn’t budge on

his $200 asking price, but after hag-

gling a bit he finally offered to in-

clude another plane he had in his

hangar. This was a dismantled but

complete and virtually identical

1936 Taylor Cub, which needed a

total rebuild. That clinched the deal,

as we knew we could profitably part

it out. I won the coin toss to fly thein-license Cub home to Mankato,

with my partner driving back. Then

we returned with a trailer to haul

the other one home. We sold the

fuselage and engine, which ended

up being modified into a snow ma-

chine; this was fairly common in

those days before snowmobiles.

I reworked the complete empen-

nage into the J-3 configuration, and

along with the wing struts, I used

them on a Piper L-4, which I wasbuilding up for our Civil Air Patrol

squadron. The wings ended up with

Norm Sten, which were to be used

with a float-equipped fuselage he had

acquired. He never did get that proj-

ect completed, and the wings ended

up in Dick Christianson’s hangar

behind the hangars of Arden Mag-

nuson’s Tailwind and Dick Harden’s

Cessna 140 at Flying Cloud Airport

in St. Paul, Minnesota. These were

all EAA Chapter 25 members. Dick

always said he was going to use them

on an original-design ultralight, but

he never did.

The early J-2s had tailskids, but

since Rochester now had a surfaced

runway, the airplane had been con-

verted to a tailwheel. Mankato was

still sod, so to do a full-throttle run-

up to ensure the single mag was

okay, the trick was to get one wheelbehind a lump of grass. That held the

airplane briefly before the airplane

launched you on your takeoff roll in

this no-brakes machine.

When taxiing, one watched the

wind and approached the gas pump

from the downwind side, cutting the

mag at the appropriate spot; it is kind

of like learning to “sail” a floatplane.

Maybe that’s why I got my float rat-

ing with only one hour of instruction.

It differed a bit from the later Cubs inthat the throttle was a metal-rod af-

fair and the stabilizer trim consisted

of a cotton rope around a pulley (yes,

sometimes it, too, slipped, just like

J-3s). The panel was Vee’d in, and it had

the minimum required instruments:

a tachometer, a nonsensitive altime-

ter, oil pressure gauge, and an oil tem-

perature gauge, but it didn’t have any

cabin heat, no carb heat, and it didn’t

have a compass. It did have a 9-gal-

lon fuel tank. The rudder had no aero-

My First AirplaneBY LEE HURRY

VAA 1473, MEMBER SINCE 1974


19/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

dynamic counter-balance, so it was

quicker to move, and overcontrolling

was common until one got used to

it. It handled like a 65-hp Cub with

two aboard when you were flying it

solo, and like a brick when you were

flying with another person aboard. It

cruised around at about 60 mph.

When I took off from RochesterI lost my bearings (remember, no

compass) and went north instead of

west. Since I had planned to go IFR (I

Follow Roads) back to Mankato, and

the highway wasn’t where it was sup-

posed to be, after 10 minutes into the

flight I concluded I must be lost. Ac-

cordingly I checked the horizon and

headed for the nearest water tower,

which wasn’t much lower than I was.

With the town identified and located

on my chart (that’s what we calledthe road maps), I turned 90 degrees

onto the approximate course, which

took me right over a turkey farm!

At that time there were a lot ofthese in southern Minnesota, andwe had all been warned to stay awayfrom them, since the birds would runaway from the overhead ship andpile up in a fence corner and suffo-cate. A couple 0f area pilots lost law-suits over this! I hauled my bird up

into a turn as steep as I dared, so thefarmer couldn’t get a good look at thebig numbers under my wing. It ap-parently was a successful maneuver,because I didn’t stall out and nevergot arrested. I even managed to findthe correct highway (it was the onlyone going into the sun, i.e., west).

It was a fun little plane. We usu-

ally flew it solo using less than 3 gal-

lons per hour. We didn’t like the fact

that it was built without carb heat. I

think the carb bolted to the oil sumplike a Lycoming and assume that the

hot oil was supposed to prevent carb

ice. At any rate, we modified a carb

heat system from a 65 Continental,

wrapping a pair of stacks as a muff,

and thinking we now were better

equipped, we were happier.

Forced landings were not uncom-

mon, and we were trained to pick

appropriate fields; making actual

landings on the occasional farm field

was expected. Many years later my

1936 Fairchild 24 with Ranger power

had the same omission, but its en-

gine took carb air from inside the

cowl, which was previously heated

by the cylinders. Since the seller had

confessed that there were forced

landings in its history, one of my first

(of many) alterations was to devise

and install a carb air system, whichdid provide the legal required air

temp rise. I even got it STC’d.

We flew that little Cub all over

Minnesota to fly-ins, flight breakfasts,

etc. With two aboard, it was pretty

“loggy” on climb, but there was a

row of metal grain storage bins near

the airport, so we would go back and

forth over them, using the heat lift

till we got a couple hundred feet ofaltitude to go flying around the area.

Glider pilots can appreciate this.

In cooler weather it would evencarry three—myself, my wife, andour baby daughter. We would fly outto Marshall to visit family friends.The J-2 had four straight stacks, nomuffler, and no cabin heat, and evenwith only 37 horses, with the unmuf-fled Continental, it got pretty noisy.To this day my daughter complains

that is why she has hearing problems(so do I). Fortunately this ship hadthe optional side window kit. J-2swere built as an open parasol mono-plane with only a windshield. Thetop of the rear fuselage met the wingtrailing edge and had a vertical ta-pered front edge behind the back seatto streamline it. In later years it wascommon to modify J-2s into J-3s bycutting off the short brakeless axles,replacing them with J-3 units.

Further required changes included

revising the rudder/fin configura-

tion, the cabin windows, and bird-

cage, and bolting on a J-3 nose with

the 65 Continental engine. The re-

sult was a slightly lighter airframe

with a lower gross weight, but it

made a better-performing legal J-3,

similar to ’46 J-3s that were modified

into PA-11 models with the -11 nose,with the substitution of a 90-hp en-

gine and the addition of a wing tank.

After awhile the slow 60-mph cruise

speed got to us, so we decided to get

something faster, like a J-3! We found

a wind-twisted fuselage for $35 and a

crashed ’46 fuselage with papers. We

made one airplane out of the two and

in about a year ended up with a ’46

metal spar J-3 with an electrical sys-tem, a 65 Continental, and a metal

prop. It indicated a solid 85-plus mph,until I had the Maxwell prop shop

check the prop, and Mr. Maxwell re-

pitched it flatter as it was supposed to

be; then it would barely make 80!

We sold the J-2 to a fellow at Fair-mont who subsequently made a hard(very hard) landing and broke thetwo lower longerons at the tail-wheel-mount bolt. Since most planes weretied down instead of hangared andwere taildraggers, the snow and rain

that found their way inside the fuse-lage flowed downhill to the back endand rusted the tubes. Some new tub-ing welded in made it like-new again.I well remember having to dig snowout of the rear of the L-4s, whichweren’t sealed off behind the backseat like J-3 Cubs are. That is, afterwe had dug the plane itself out of thesnow drifts! Cubs were fun on skis.We’d land on the lakes by the ice fish-ermen. I even managed to get stuck

in the snow at Le Sueur, Minnesota,when the wind blew me sideways andthe skis cut in. My buddy had to getout and push, and I circled back topick him up on the roll (slide?).

Our continuing search for more

speed next led us to a pristine han-

gar queen ’46 Super Cruiser with its

big 100-hp Lycoming engine, but

that was my third or fourth, so I bet-

ter quit. Flying holds for us so many

great adventures, and then so many

wonderful memories!

I

was able tomake a deal toget my privatecertificate

from a localinstructor/A&Pmechanic in hispersonal J-3 Cub.


20/44

18 DECEMBER 2011

CALIFORNIA Hayward, CA, VIN 29

Meeting: 2nd Thurs., 6:00 p.m.

Hayward Airport (HWD)

See website for hangar info.Gary Oberti, President

Phone: 510-357-8600

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.vaa29.org

CALIFORNIA Sacramento, CA, VIN 25

Meeting: 2nd Sat., 9:00 a.m.

See chapter website for

location.

Robert Opdahl, PresidentPhone: 530-273-7348


Website: www.vaa25.eaachapter.org

CAROLINAS, VIRGINIA Walnut Cove, NC, VIN 3

Meeting: Contact President

Susan Dusenbury, President

Phone: 336-591-3931


Website: www.VAA3.org

FLORIDA Lakeland, FL, VIN 1


Bobby Capozzi, President

Phone: 352-475-9736E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.FSAACA.com

ILLINOISLansing, IL, VIN 26


Peter Bayer, President

Phone: 630-922-3387


INDIANA Auburn, IN, VIN 37

Meeting: 4th Thurs., 7:00 p.m.

DeKalb County Airport (kGWB)

Hangar A—VAA 37 Clubhouse

Drew Hoffman, President

Phone: 260-515-3525


Website: www.VAA37.org

KANSASOverland Park, KS, VIN 16

Meeting: 2nd Fri., 7:30 p.m.

CAF Hangar,

New Century Airport (K34)Kevin Pratt, President

Phone: 913-541-1149


Website: www.VAA16.com

LOUISIANA New Iberia, LA, VIN 30

Meeting: 1st Sun., 9:00 a.m.

LeMaire Memorial Airport (2R1)

Hangar 4

Roland Denison, PresidentPhone: 337-365-3047


MINNESOTA Albert Lea, MN, VIN 13

Meeting: 4th Thurs., 7:00 p.m.

Albert Lea Airport FBO (AEL)

Steve Nesse, President

Phone: 507-373-1674

Vintage Chapter LocatorVisit the VAA chapter nearest you and get to know some great old-airplane enthusiasts! You don’t need

to be a pilot to join in the fun—just have a love of the great airplanes of yesteryear.

TM

C hap ter 3, Ro x boro,

Nor t h Carolina Fl y -In

Chapter 16, Overland Park, Kansas


21/44

NEW HAMPSHIRE

North Hampton, NH, VIN 15

Meeting: 2nd Sat., 11:00 a.m.

Hampton Airfield (7B3)

Robert Drake, President

Phone: 603-942-9242E-mail: [email protected]

OHIO

Delaware, OH, VIN 27

Meeting: 3rd Sat., 9:00 a.m.

Delaware Municipal Airport (DLZ)

Terminal Building

Woody McIntire, President

Phone: 740-362-7228


Website: www.EAAdlz.org

OHIO

Zanesville, OH, VIN 22

Meeting: 2nd Fri.; 6:30 p.m.

Perry County Airport (I86)

John Morozowsky, President

Phone: 740-453-6889

OKLAHOMA

Tulsa, OK, VIN 10

Meeting: 4th Thurs., 7:00 PMHardesty South Regional Library

No meetings in July, Nov. & Dec.

Joe Champagne, President

Phone: 918-257-4688

Email: [email protected]

TEXAS

Spring, TX, VIN 2

Meeting: 4th Sun., 2:00 PM

David Wayne Hooks Airport

(KDWH)Fred Ramin, President

Phone: 281-255-4430

Email: [email protected]

WISCONSIN

Brookfield, WI, VIN 11

Meeting: 1st Mon., 7:30 PM

Capitol Drive Airport Office

Donald Hyra, President

Phone: 262-251-1778

Email: [email protected] AIRPLANE 19

Want to Start a VAA Chapter?It’s easy to star t a VAA

chapter. All you need to

get star ted is fi ve vintage

enthusiasts. Then contactthe EAA Chapter Offi ce at

920-426-6867 or chapters@

eaa.org to obtain an EAA

Chapter Starter Kit. EAA

has tools to help you get

in touch with all your local

Vintage members, and

they’ll walk you through

the process of starting a

new chapter.

Chapt er 25, Sacr ament o, Calif or nia, GeeBee Racer

Chap ter 25, Sacramen to, Cali f

ornia, a t Al ta Sierra.

Chapter 29, Hayward, California

and Young Eagles in January

2011.


22/44

20 DECEMBER 2011

Today’s typical aviation enthusiast has en-

countered the name Avro many times in the

course of his reading. Literature on World

War I aviation makes frequent mention of

the Avro 504 general-purpose and training biplane,

and literature on World War II has much to say about

the Avro Lancaster, Lancastrian, and Lincoln four-en-

gine bombers used by the RAF.

After World War II there were the Avro York and Tu-

dor airliners, and the Vulcan military jet.But mention an Avro model called the Avian today

and more often than not you’ll get a “What’s that?”

response. Only an occasional antique airplane enthu-

siast will show a glimmer of recognition, but it would

be more realistic to say that his face will probably

light up as much as yours does upon encountering a

good friend!

In its time the Avro Avian two-seat, open-cockpit

training and sport biplane was quite well-known and

played an interesting role in British civil aviation ac-

tivities. Because more of them were built, more re-

stored antique examples exist today, and more plans

for model airplanes of the type have been published,

though the very similar-appearing de Havilland Gipsy

Moth today is much better known. Nevertheless, the

Avro Avian deserves to be remembered.

The name “Avro” was derived from the name of an

Light Plane Heritage

published in EAA Experimenter January 1993

Editor’s Note: The Light Plane Heritage series in EAA’s Experimenter magazine often touched on aircraft and concepts

related to vintage aircraft and their history. Since many of our members have not had the opportunity to read this se-

ries, we plan on publishing those LPH articles that would be of interest to VAA members. Enjoy!—HGF

REMEMBER THE AVRO AVIAN?BY BOB WHITTIER

EAA 1235

Above: A Cirrus-engined Avro Avian taking off. Note

ripples in the thin plywood covering on the fuse-

lage side. The letter G on the rudder stands for

Great Britain and is the outcome of security-con-

scious European bureaucrats insisting on plaster-

ing nationality identifications all over airplanes.


23/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21

English aviation pioneer, Alliott Ver-

don Roe. The name of the eventu-

ally large and famous firm, which he

founded, was A.V. Roe & Co. Ltd.,

and Avro was the obvious contrac-

tion. As time went on and his aero-

nautical accomplishments mounted,

Roe was knighted, so his name in lit-

erature on aviation history appearsas Sir Alliott Verdon Roe.

While still a young man, Roe was

an officer in the British Merchant

Marine and had ample opportu-

nity to observe and marvel at the

graceful soaring of the albatrosses,

which followed the ship on which

he served. The more he watched

them, the more his interest in hu-

man flight grew. He obtained and

eagerly read the literature on air-

craft design and construction,which was becoming increasingly available in the

first decade of this century.

Roe’s steadily growing knowledge of the principles

of mechanical flight led him to enter a rubber-powered

model airplane in a contest held in March of 1907 by

the prominent Daily Mail newspaper of London. A ca-

nard (tail-first) biplane of 8-foot wingspan, it managed

to fly the then-creditable distance of a little more than

100 feet. That was good enough to win the first prize of

75 pounds sterling.

Roe used this money to construct a full-size, man-

carrying airplane patterned after that model. Unable toafford the high price of a real aero engine, he rented a

French-built Antoinette engine and installed it in this

creation. In July of 1908 he managed to make a flight

of sorts at the aerodrome, which by then existed inside

the circuit of the famous Brooklands auto race track in

Surrey to the south of London.

A score of years later the Royal Aero Club appointed

a committee to decide once and for all who officially

made the first powered airplane flight in Britain. They

decided that the uncertain skips and hops that char-

acterized the Roe machine’s performance could not be

considered as proper sustained and controlled flight,so he lost out on that great honor.

Most of the early European aviation pioneers were

men of means, which Roe definitely was not. His un-

derfinanced messing about with flying machines did

not make him particularly welcome at the elite Brook-

lands’ drome, so he transferred his activities to some

open space at a place called Lea Marshes. In July of

1909 he did manage to win fame as the first person in

his country to fly an all-British aircraft.

The machine he built was what we today might call

a “contraption.” While generally called a triplane, its

triple-tail surfaces were so large as to look more like

wings rather than stabilizers, and so we’re tempted to

call it a “sextuplane.” It was powered by a J.A.P. mo-

torcycle engine delivering a pathetic 9 hp. The en-

gine’s name is derived from the initials of its maker,

J.A. Prestwich.

To fly with such feeble power, Roe went to extremes

to save weight, and even covered the wings with com-

mon brown paper. He was an intelligent and persistent

man, and in 1913 demonstrated his well-designed and

able model 504 biplane to British military officials. It

was a fairly large but light and capable aircraft that was

docile and easy to fly. Orders were soon coming in tothe Roe establishment.

The 504 was used for many purposes, including com-

munications, reconnaissance, light bombing, and even

as a fighter. More than 7,000 of them were built between

1913 and 1931, and a variety of engines were fitted.

This vast production effort taught the Avro people

much about aircraft design and mass production. A.V.

Roe was different from many high-ranking aircraft in-

dustry executives in that he retained a keen interest

in small, economical airplanes suitable for training

and sport flying. He had his people design and enter

various small planes in the lightplane trials held atthe southern England town of Lympne (pronounced

“Limm”) from 1923 onward.

Early Lympne competitions were for very light air-

planes powered by fuel-stingy little engines of from 750

to 1100 cc displacement. Nobody was manufacturing

real aircraft engines of such small size, so various mo-

torcycle engine conversions were used instead. A motor-

cycle able to reach 80 mph on a suitable track or open

road actually spends most of its service life doing 30 to

40 mph on average roads, so it is seldom highly stressed.

But to get even very light aircraft off the ground and

up to cruising altitude, the motorcycle engines used at

The young A.V. Roe displays his prize-winning rubber-powered model of

8-foot wingspan.


24/44

Lympne had to be run at full throt-

tle most of the time.So it worked out that many an

otherwise well-engineered light-

plane entered in these contests

turned out to be little more than

an excellent forced-landing trainer.

By 1926 officials came to realize

that although low fuel consump-

tion might be highly desirable in

theory, in practice the small en-

gines that were available were sim-

ply not able to serve dependably

in the noses of lightplanes.After much discussion, contest

officials decided that for the 1926

meeting, the rules should state that any engine weigh-

ing less than 170 pounds complete could be used. They

realized that while they might use more fuel, larger

engines running at conservative rotational speeds

would be a lot more reliable. By that time government-

subsidized flying clubs aimed at creating a base for fu-

ture military air power were growing in number, and

what they needed above all else was engine reliability.

Shortly after World War I the Avro Company de-

signed and built a simple single-seat biplane intendedfor sport and touring use—“touring” being the British

term equivalent to our “cross-country flying.” Called

the Avro Baby, the prototype was powered by a 1910

four-cylinder, water-cooled Green engine of 35 hp,

which had been overhauled for use in this ship be-

cause no better small engine of good reliability was

then available. Along with this engine, Avro obtained

production plans and anticipated building more of

these engines if the demand should arise. But that

never happened.

Although the Baby flew well, there was a problem.

Anyone able to afford a new single-seater would soon

wish he had spent just a little more for a two-seater,

so he could introduce his friends to the great adven-

ture of flying. You can attach a sidecar to a motorcycle,

but if anyone has ever attached one to an airplane, we

have certainly never heard about it!

So Avro contrived a two-seater version of the Baby.

Two people sat one behind the other in an elongated

open cockpit. But the extra weight and drag was more

than a 35-hp engine could handle acceptably well.

Work with the Baby and the low-powered Lympneentries, however, gave the Avro design team a good

background in lightplane design. When rules for the

1926 competition were announced, a new and good

small airplane engine had finally appeared on the mar-

ket. It was the five-cylinder, radial, air-cooled Arm-

strong-Siddeley Genet, which produced a useful 60 hp

and fell within the 170-pound weight limit.

The contest rules were too involved to describe here,

but had the effect of forcing designers to use much

mathematical calculation and ingenuity to come up

with aircraft having a chance to win. To keep weight to

a very minimum, some Lympne designs had each and

22 DECEMBER 2011

Alliott Verdon Roe, born April 26,

1877, died January 4, 1958.

An Avro 504 of World War I vintage in flight.

The two-seat version of the Avro Baby, circa 1920.


25/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

every part so thoroughly engineered to save all possible

weight that the resulting planes would obviously be too

expensive to manufacture. Some entries even appeared

with two sets of wings, a small set for the speed events

and a large set for climbing and altitude events. A few

were even convertible from monoplanes to biplanes.Now obviously, while enabling certain planes to

score well in various Lympne events, these extra wings

would add unacceptably to the cost and complication

of everyday airplane ownership and use. That is a good

example of the pitfalls that can lurk in competition

rules supposedly drawn up to produce whatever results

sponsors might have in mind.

The 1926 rules called for two-seaters able to carry

a minimum load of 340 pounds for occupants and

fuel. So, a designer could elect to use a very small en-

gine having a modest fuel supply or a larger engine

requiring more fuel tankage but also able to carry alarger load, or anything in between. Avro’s chief engi-

neer, Roy Chadwick, felt that the new 60-hp Genet was

clearly the wisest choice for reliability, realistic touring

baggage allowance, and reserve power for coping with

turbulent air.

The airplane he conceived to go with this engine

was engineered to be light in weight, but this goal was

to be achieved by wise overall design rather than ex-

pensive ounce-saving tricks in the many small parts

involved. While not what one would call a sleek air-

plane, the design he worked out did have a light and

airy look about it. This was in notable contrast to someBritish airplanes, which looked as heavy and graceful

as a threshing machine.

It was given the lilting and easily remembered name

of Avro Avian. We can appreciate the engineering skill

that went into its design by noting that while the empty

weight was 695 pounds, weight with a full load aboard

was 1,600 pounds. Wingspan was 32 feet, and the bi-

plane configuration gave a total wing area of 295 square

feet. This large area in turn gave the quite low wing-

loading of 5.3 pounds per square foot to help the ship to

score well in the takeoff and obstruction-clearing tests.

But luck plays a large part in every competition.

The new Avian did not deliver at

Lympne for a couple of madden-

ingly trivial reasons. The weight-

saving welded aluminum gas tank

sprang a leak that could not be re-

paired in the field at Lympne, and

so required the plane to be flown

with a reduced fuel supply. Then,

the aluminum magneto drive shaftfailed, and as it could not be re-

placed in time, this put the Avian

out of competition. A stronger steel

shaft would have weighed but a

few ounces more. These are good

examples of the kind of bugs that

have to be worked out of every new airplane.

But all of Avro’s effort did leave them with what was

basically a good new airplane design, and they eventually

got something worthwhile out of it. The fuselage was of

simple flat-sided, all-wood construction with spruce lon-

gerons and cross-members tied together with a coveringof three-layer plywood. This did away with the numer-

ous, fussy, and expensive truss wires, turnbuckles, and fit-

tings typical of earlier wood fuselage framing.

Because Avro hoped the Avian would go into pro-

duction, a construction and assembly method was

worked out to keep labor costs to a minimum while

still not getting themselves involved with the great ex-

pense of heavy mass-production machinery. The fuse-

lage was put together from right, left, top, and bottom

subassemblies. A fifth subassembly formed the cockpit

floor and control system mounting base.

Fuselages of this basic type have been much used inEurope for both amateur and factory-built airplanes.

The work can be done with ordinary hand tools and

common woodworking machines. A disadvantage is

poor occupant protection in serious crashes, for they

tend to shatter and splinter rather than bend and ab-

sorb energy like metal structures.

The Avian’s fuselage was flat-sided, but the radial-

type Genet engine had a more or less round shape.

Fuel and oil tanks were thus shaped to fit on top of

and onto each side of the front of the fuselage, and the

conical form of the side tanks did a simple but effective

job of fairing the engine’s roundness into the flat sur-faces of the fuselage. This also put the tanks into good

view for ease of inspection.

The Avian followed 504 and Baby practice, in that it

had no vertical tail fin but only a balanced rudder. This

was perhaps done for weight and cost savings. In the

years we have been reading books on airplane design, not

once have we found a useful discussion of the pros and

cons of rudder-only tail design. Many early planes used

this design, too. From what we can put together from

the few brief mentions we have encountered, it appears

that rudder-only tails offer light, quick, and powerful re-

sponse, which is good for aerobatic and fighting aircraft.

The Genet-engined Avian built for the 1926 Lympne lightplane competition.


26/44

24 DECEMBER 2011

But these qualities also appear to make keeping

a steady course in long cross-country flights an at-

tention-demanding and therefore tiring proposition.Wing dihedral and vertical tail work together to pro-

vide whatever directional stability a particular plane

might or might not have.

Visualize a plane flying in turbulent air, and suppose

that a gust comes toward the plane from the right. Di-

hedral on that side thus tries to raise the right wing, so,

of course, the left one goes down and the plane then

wants to turn to the left. But the same gust also presses

on the right side of the vertical tail and pushes the tail to

the left. That, of course, will tend to turn the nose to the

right, thus countering the plane’s turning to the left.

A plane with rudder only must wait for the pilot tosense what is happening to the plane and then feed

corrective pressure into the controls.

A vertical fin of any useful size will, on the other

hand, come into automatic and immediate action to

do the same thing. As soon as Avro Avians begin to

make long-distance flights, tails were quickly changed

to the fin-and-rudder configuration. With the passage

of time, wind tunnel testing and mathematical analy-sis gave designers tools for calculating the interaction

between dihedral and vertical fin while a new plane is

still on the drawing board.

When evaluating any particular airplane, we have to

try to put ourselves into its designer’s circumstances.

Avro wanted large wing area for the Lympne Avian

but at the same time very much wanted the plane to

be as slight as reasonably possible. Obviously no plane

docile enough for training use and powered with a

60-hp engine could go fast enough to make the drag

of biplane wings a serious matter. But the very efficient

bracing trusswork possible with the biplane configura-tion would permit them to design wings of large area

but light weight.

Spruce used by European airplane builders had to

come to them from the very distant Pacific Northwest.

Although the Avian’s upper and lower wings would re-

Note carefully the stub wing on this Avian III of 1928. Wheels moved aft as wings were folded to compensate for

aft shift of center of gravity. Thin wing airfoil prompted use of thicker auto fuel tank mounted in center section.

This is a Whittelsey Avian manufactured in 1929 at Bridgeport, Connecticut. American models did not have the

wing-folding feature, so straight landing gear shock struts passed through holes built into wings. Handley Page

automatic slots are clearly seen on top wing.


27/44

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

quire a total of eight spars, compared to the four required

for a pair of monoplane wings, each one could be made

from raw stock of modest and therefore easily obtained

and economical dimensions. So again the biplane config-

uration made sense. Although homely looking to mod-

ern eyes, the squared-off wingtips of the original Avian

also made production sense, since they avoided the needto make special tip rubs and four wingtip bows. And it

was considered that on so slow a plane, their aerody-

namic dirtiness would not be a serious drawback.

The reason only a small amount of stagger was used

between upper and lower wings had to do with the

fact that one of the contest rules required each entrant

to pass through a dummy garage door for storage.

Wings of small monoplanes could quickly be made

detachable, but that’s not so easy to do with biplane

wings because of their struts and tie rods. So obviously

the new Avian would have to have folding wings. Very

little stagger could be used for the sake of keeping topand bottom wing root pivot pins in line with one an-

other. But the small amount of stagger that was used

did have the effect of keeping the tips of the lower

wings from touching ground when folded back a

vintage airplane - dec 2011

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