vintage airplane - feb 1995

8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 1995

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February1995 Vol.23,No 2

CONTENTS

1

Straight&Level/

Esp ie"B utch"Joyce

2 AlCNews/Compiledby

H.G.Frautschy

4 Aeromail

5 FromtheArchives/

H.G.Fraut

sc

hyandDennisParks

Page11

8 MembersProjects/NormPetersen

11 Contemporary

CustomClassIIWinner

1959Cessna180B/No

rm

Petersen

13

StaggerwingHospitality /

H.G.Fra utschy

16 FrankWarren's

ThompsonTrophyPaintings

Page13

18

JimmyRollison's

LairdSpeedwing/NormPetersen

25 My steryAirplane/GeorgeHardie

27

PassittoBuck!

E.E."Buck"Hilbert

28

WelcomeNewMembers

29 Calendar

Page18

30

Vintage

Trader

FRONT

COVER...JimmyRollison.Vocaville.

CA

rollshis LairdSolutioninto

a turn for his

portrait

during EAA OSHKOSH '95 . EAAphoto

by

Jim

Koepnick.

shot

with

a Canon EOS-l equipped

with

an 80-

200mm

/f2.8

lens. 1/250sec. at f6 .3on

Kodak Ektachrome

Lumiere

100

film. Cessna

210photo plane flownby BruceMoore.

EDITORIALSTAFF

Publisher

TomPoberezny

Vice-President ,

Marketing

and

Communications

Dick

Matt

Editor-in -Chief

Jack Cox

Editor

HenryG.Frautschy

Managing Ed itor

Golda Cox

ArtDirector

MikeDrucks

Computer Graphic Specialists

SaraHansen

OliviaL Phillip JenniferLarsen

Advertising

Mary Jones

AssociateEditor

NormPetersen

FeatureWriters

George Hardie,Jr. Dennis

Parks

StaffPhotographers

JimKoepnick MikeSteineke

CarlSchuppel DonnaBushman

Ed

itorialAssistant

IsabelleWiske

EAA

ANTIQUE/CLASSIC

DIVISION

,INC "

OFFICERS

Pres

idenl

Vice-President

Espie

"Bu tch"

Joyce

ArthurMorgan

P.O. Box1001

W211 N1l863Hililop

Dr

.

Madison.NC 27025

Germantown.

WI

53022

910/573-3843

414/628-2724

Secretory

Treasurer

SteveNesse

E.E. "Buck"Hilbert

2009HighlandAve.

P.O.

Box

424

AlbertLea.MN56007

Union.IL60180

507/373-1674

815/923-4591

DIRECTORS

JohnBerendll

RobertC."Bob "Brauer

7645

EchoPointRd.

9345S.

Hoyne

CannonFalls.MN55009

Chicago.IL60620

507/263-2414

312/779-2105

GeneChose

JohnS. Copeland

2159Carlton

Rd.

28-3WilliamsburgCt.

Oshkosh.WI54904

Shrewsbury.MA

01545

414/231-5002

508/842-7867

Phil

Coulson

GeorgeDaubner

28415Springbrook

Dr.

2448LoughLone

Lawton.

MI

49065

Hartford.WI

53027

616/624-6490

414/673-5885

CharlesHarris

Sta

nGomoll

7215East

46th

St.

1042

90th

Lone .

NE

Tulsa .OK 74145

Minneapolis.MN 55434

918/622-8400

612/784-1172

DaleA.Gustafson

JeannieHill

7724

ShadyHillDr.

P.O.Box328

Indianapolis, IN46278

Harvard.

IL

60033

317/293-4430

815/943-7205

RobertUckteig

ROberiD."

Bob

"Lumley

1708BayOaksDr.

1265

South124thSt.

AlbertLea,MN56007

Brookfield.

WI

53005

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STRAIGHT LEVEL

by Espie "Butch" oyce

The calendar pages seem to be zip

ping by as fast as can be - in only 5 to

60 days

the

1995 fly-in season will be in

full swing Everyone agrees that the

annual kickoff eve

nt

is the EAA Sun

'n

Fun fly-in held in Lakeland, Florida

in April each year.

Over

25 years, this

fly-in has grown from a small local fly

in to a great week-long event.

f

you

have attended Sun 'n Fun you under

stand what

I'm

talking

about. f you

haven't yet had a

chance to

spend a

week

in

the

spring

in

Florida

for

the

fly-in you owe it to yourself to check it

out.

Credit

needs to

be

given to Billy

Henderson

,

the

spark plug for this fly

in for many years. Also

special

credit

needs to be given to Adair Henderson,

the soon-to-be-opened Fa

ntasy

of

Flight complex

that Kermit Weeks

is

building

at

Polk City, Florida,

some

15

miles from Lakeland. I visited this site

a little over a year ago. At

that time

Kermit had a 6000 foot by 300 foot sod

runway

installed ,

as well as

several

buildings . There also is a large lake

adjoining this property that Kermit

says is large enough to

operate

his

Short

Sunderland

flying

boat. Being

located on

Interstate 4 between

Or

lando

and

Tampa

should make

this

quite an aviation

attraction

for tourists.

[ will give

you

an updated report

on

this, hopefully in March.

As

I

was growing up

in Madison ,

North Carolina, my father had an

air

port there from the mid 1940s. Myas

On

January 28, 1995 it was my plea

sure to be

present

with

a number of

other

people

to witness

the

60th an

niversary

of Tom's

first solo flight.

That day,

Tom once

again

soloed

the

same

E-2

Cub

that he

soloed the

first

time.

Afterwards, there

was a recep

tion that gave

everyone

a chance to

visit.

Tom

really has some interesting

tales about his first starting out in avia

tion

at

Camel City Flying Service,

with him landing in

farmers'

cow pas

tures

trying to sell Stinson lOAs

and

the like. That's a long way from own

ing a number

of

Boeing 767s

Your Antique

/C

lassic Division has

started an aggressive

membership

campaign.

Throughout

the year

we

will be direct mailing an invitation to



Th e Fli g

ht Advi

sor

pr o

g

ram

has re

ceived additi onal fin anci al support from

Lycoming and Murphy Aircraft Manufac

turing, Ltd . This new pa tronage add s to

the commitment made by A VEMCO to

support the Flight Advisors program. For

more info

rm

a

ti

on, contact EAA In

fo

rma

tion Services a t

41

4/426-482

1.

CESSNA FUEL REQUIREMENTS

As many o f yo u now know, Cess na is

in

the process of setting up the produc

ti

on

line for single engine piston powered air

cra ft aga in .

(Th

e new fac tory will be in

Ind

epend ence , KS.)

At

a rece nt

ASTM

co nfe re nc e a tt e nd e d by

EAA

' s

Harr

y

Zeislo

ft

and st

af

f member E a

rl

Lawrence,

Cessna made the a nnouncement that they

will

not produce aircraft with fuel require

ment s highe r th an 82 octane. As o ne o f

the prime movers in the formation of this

new specification fu el based on automo

tiv e raw stoc k, Cessna has informed Ly

coming a nd Continent al of th eir require

ments.

Th e bas ic fu e l would be tran spo rt ed

throu gh th e la rge r automotive gaso lin e

distribution system to a di stribution cen

ter equipped with a fu el testing lab. Th e

fuel could then be tes ted at a distribution

center, certified to mee t specifications and

then so ld as the new grad e 82 UL aviation

fue

l. Th

e new fu el specification would al

low for th e use of

MTBE

and/or

ETB

E as

octane e nhancer

s

but would limit alcohol

to extremely low

fr

actions

of

one p

er

cent.

Until th e new specification is approved ,

production pl ans for the new fu el are un

known.

The new specification has been submit

ted to th e ATSM for final approva l, ex

pec ted to co me

durin

g th e co min g yea r.

Th

e only downfa ll of the new specifica tion

is that aircraft currently requiring 80 oc

tane will need an amended or suppleme

n

tal type ce rtifi ca te to use this fu e

l. Th

e

exact deta ils o n how this will be wo rk ed

out are still being discussed.

EA A

' s r

esea

rch on th e e ffec ts o f

MTBE a nd ETBE continu es with th e

E AA Avi ation Foundation 's Cess na 150.

VISA

a nd

Mast

e

rCard accept

ed . Pos t

paid (boo k rate) to the USA and Ca nada.

Ot h

e r co untri es add $6 pe r it e m ab

ove

($12 for both volumes.)

Send yo ur

ord

er to John B. Bergeson,

6438 W.

Millbro

o k, R e mu s ,

MI

4934 0

9625,

51

7/561-2393. John also has copies

of

a

ll

the periodicals a nd will make a copy

from any iss ue for 35 ¢ per page . ($5 mini

mum order)

NASM COLLECTION DDITION

Dan H age

ndorn

, Tea m Lea der in the

Arc

hi

ves division of th e National

Air

and

Space muse um wrote to a dvise us a

ll

that

th e Loui se McPhetridge

Th

ade n Co llec

ti

on (

Ac

ession No.

XXXX

-0006) has bee n

processed and is now open to researchers.

Mr

s. Th ade n wa s a founder and cha r

t e r me mb e r

of

th e ' 99s a nd the

fi r

st

woman , along with her n avigator Bl anch e

Noyes,

to

win th e Be ndix Tr o

phy

race.

She also se t nume rous e ndurance, sp

ee

d

and a ltitude re

cord

s

durin

g her av ia ti on

ca ree r, and in her la ter yea rs, she was an

enthusias tic supporte r of th e Staggerwing

Museum Foundation in Tullahoma, TN.

Th e Th ade n co ll

ection

a t th e NA SM

co nsis ts o f photog

raph

s, news clippings

and correspondence documenting her av i

a tion caree r, and an exce llent findin g a id

compiled by NASM staffer Karen White

hair is available.

f y

ou

' d like

to

c

onduct

resea rch with

the co llection an appointment is needed

given the somewhat limited

fa

cilities ava

il

ab le at th e NASM.

App

ointments ensure

yo u will be abl e to vi ew yo

ur

requ es ted

co

ll

ec

ti

on when you

wi

sh, rather than be

in g to ld th a t th e re was no roo m in th e

archives for you th at da y. Th e sta

ff

also

requ es ts th at y

ou

limit th e number o f re

qu es

ts to o ne pe r mo nth a

nd

no mo re

than five subjects or aircra ft per lette r. In

th at way th ey can se rve as wid e an audi

ence as

po

ssible.

You may make y

our

reques ts for infor

mation or

an

a

ppointm

e nt via ma

il

, te le

phone o r Fax, as we ll as E- Mail.

The address is:

Na tional Air and Space Museum

ployee. H e was th e

pr

oject ma na

ge

r on

ma ny

of

th e a ir cr

af

t

built

in th e

EAA

Foundati on sho ps, in cl uding th e sin gle

a nd two pl ace Acro Sp o rt s, Pober Pixie

a nd th e fir s t Spirit of St. Lo uis replica.

For

15 years, he was the chairm an

of

th e

outdoo r workshops during the

EAA

Co

n

vention

s.

More recentl

y

Bill worked on a

variety of aircra ft projects, lending

hi

s ex

perti se to those who wi shed to l

ea

rn from

his exper ie nce. Our co

ndol

e nc

es to

his

f

ri

ends and family, including his daughter

in-l aw Ca th y, a curr e nt me mb er o f th e

EA

A Headquarters office staff.

FRANK, CAROLYN ND

SCOTT RYDER

Fr a

nk

, Ca ro lyn a

nd

Sco tt R yde r of

Arab , AL were

kill

e d

in th

e cr as h of

Frank s Piper Malibu nea r the Rochester,

MN airport on D ecember 22, 1994. Frank

and Carolyn were bringing Scott home af

ter success ful surgery to remove a be

ni

gn

tumor

on hi s pituitary gland , and had just

depart ed for home on a n IFR

fli

ght plan

into a 600 ft. ove rcas t wh e n th e Malibu

was seen t o ent er a right

turn

and disap

pea r from

th

e FAA ' s rada r sc ree n . t

crashed in a s tee p nose down attitude in a

field a little less th a n two miles north of

the Rochester, MN airport. As of th e sec

o

nd

wee k o f J a

nu

a ry, no

pr

e limin a ry

cau

se has bee n es tabli shed as a possible

explanatio n fo r t he c rash, a nd it remains

und er investiga tion.

Scott Ryd

e r, age 33 , was th e e

ditor

of

Th e First Warpl anes , th e magazine of

the organiza tion started

ea

rl y last year to

g

iv

e a common banner

fo

r a wide ran ge o f

WW I era avia

ti

on enthusiasts to rally un

de

r.

Scott managed a remarkable a ttitude

fo r som

eo

ne whose li fe was filled with po

tenti a lly life- thr

ea

tenin g health problems

during the last year, and

hi

s loss as he saw

the e nd of this particular stru ggle is partic

ul

arly poignant.

Frank and Ca rolyn Ryde r we re a cou

ple who I rare ly saw apart - sure, they may

have bee n at opposite parts of the airport ,

but they were partners in the truest sense,

right down to th eir decision ea rlier in the



FROM

THE ARCHIVES . . .

Mail Planes o National

ir

Transport n the 1930s

by

Dennis Parks

(Above) National s Douglas M3, SIN 314, registered C-7163, after being re-engined

with a 525 hp Hornet.

(Below) l iberty powered Douglas

M3

Mailplane

SIN

624, registered C-1060. The

Douglas Mailplane series

was

a civilian development of their

very

successful

Army

observation plane, the

0-2

series. The

first production

version of

the

mailplane,

the

M-2,

was ordered

by Western

Air

Express, which began operations w ith them in

1926. NAT

was the largest user of

M-

3s and

M-4s, acquiring 18

of the airplanes for

use on

their Chicago-New York

route. They

continued using the Douglas mailplanes

until

October

1930. The

M-4 could carry

1,000

pound

s

of

mail

at

a

speed of

110

mph.

F ro m the co

ll

ec ti o n

of

R ober t

Grospitch a

fo

rm

er

dispatcher with U

ni

ted

in Chi cago comes a gro up of photographs

taken

dur

ing 19 0 of a ir mail opera

ti

ons of

NAT

Na tional A ir

Tr a

nsport. Na tion a l

A ir T ra nspo rt was th e br ain child of

Clement Keys a form

er

WAL L ST REET

J

OU

R

NA

L financial e

dit

or who became

involved as a promoter of aviat ion corpo-

rations. Hi s

fi

rst aviat ion success was in

gaining c

ontro

l of Curtiss in 1916. In 1925

he

fo

rmed No r th A m

er

ica n Av ia tion for

the express purpose of providing organiza-

tion an d

fi

nancing for h

is

av iation ente r-

prises.

NAT was incorpo rated in May of 1925

to ga

in

cont rol of the air mail route linking

Ch

icago and

New Y

or

k.

In November

NAT

wo n the co n tract for the Chicago-

Da llas route. Service started on this route

in May 1926 with a fleet of ten Curt

iss

Car-

rier

Pigeons. In Apri

l 1927

NAT was

awarded th

e Chi

cago New York

route.

Service bega n in

September

with existing

Carrier Pigeons but these were replaced

quickly by 18 D oug las Mailplanes

pur-

chased from

the

Post Office

Department.

Eight

Travel

Air 5000s were also used on

the route. In 1930

NAT

was purchased by

United Air Lines.



Below

and

right)

Curtiss

Carrier Pigeon serial

num

ber G-2,registered

NC-311

N being loaded. This

photo

was one of

the

many

used

as

the

basis

for

drawings done by illustrator/author Edward Shen

ton

in

the book "Couriers of the

Clouds"

published

in 1930 and again in 1937.

i

z

c

2

<

u

.

"

e

( l

Below left) Pitcairn PA-5 Mailplane Serial

Number

25

built

in 1928, NAT

Number

49.

Pitcairn was

one

of the

few

commercial

air

craft companies that built aircraft

s

pecifically

for

air mail

service. The PA-5

Mailwing was primarily

for

service

on

the New York

Atlanta run. The

Mailwing carried

from

500-600

pounds

of

mail

at

a

speed

of

105

mph.

(Below right) Curtiss Carrier Pigeon II Mailplane, serial number G-2, with a Curtiss Conqueror engine. The first one was the Cur

tiss entry in the 1925 Post Office competition for a single-seat mail plane to be powered by a Liberty engine. NAT purchased their

first

one from

the

Post Office and had 10 others built. Three

new

ones were

constructed

in 1929 as the Carrier Pigeon II, and used

a geared 600 hp Conqueror engine

with

a useful load of over 2,000 pounds and a cruising speed of 123 mph.



(Above)The photo shows

the

amazing

clear-span NAT hangar

at

Chicago

dur

ing 1930. Inside

are three

Boeing

Model

95 Mailplanes, NC-425E, NC-412E,

NC

397E.

Boeing

constructed 25

Model

95

Mailplanes

during 1929. Twenty went to

Boeing

Air Transport,

one

to

NAT, and

four

to

Western

Air

Express. With air

mail carriers emerging as passenger op

erations using aircraft such as

the

Ford

Trimotor

that

carried

passengers plus

mail,

the

Boeing

95

was

one

of

last air

craft

special-built

just to

carry

mail. The

95 had a useful load of

over

2,600 pounds

and a

cruising

speed

of

120 mph.

Left) This view is a good example of the

hustle and bustle that accompanies the

loading of a mailplane. The aircraft is a

Douglas

M4

with a Liberty Engine. How

about

the

5

cent air

mail postage sign on

the mail

truck

(Below)

Aerial View of Douglas M4

Mailplane, NAT No. 45.

Note the

covered

front cockpit, large

lights

under lower

wing and very tall radio antenna.



Stinson 108-1 from 45 years ago

This handsome

young

man

is R

alph

Mosling (EAA 192429) of Oshkosh, WI, pho

tographed in 1949 standing by the compa ny

owned Stinson 108-1 Voyager at the Oshkosh

Airport. His father was one of the

founder

's

of

Oshkosh

Truck

Corp. and

the

Stinson was

u

sed

in the business for a numb

er

of years .

Note the wooden Sensenich propeller, the mi

carta radio mast for the

low-frequ

ency wire

antenna

above the cabin and

the

fuel caps on

the wings with

their

forward facing tubul

ar

vents.

The

original factory paint scheme was

overall red with a cream colored stripe. Ralph

says he h

as

many fond memories of flying this

Stinson back in

the

good old days.

He

has

been a longtime volunteer for EAA and is a

strong booster for the organization, especially

with hi s many business contacts around the

world.

Jerry Guyer's Luscombe A

A really happy

and contented owner

of Luscombe 8A , N77807,

SIN 5 4

is

Jerry

Guyer

(EAA

370085,

A C

20476)

of Olath

e, Kan sas. He purchased

the airp lane in June of 1993 and has flown it about 300 hours in the last year

and a half, including trips to Kitty Hawk ,

NC

;

Bar

Har bor , ME , Warrenton,

VA , and

EAA

Oshkos

h

Cruising along at 100 mph (solo), Jerry is

amazed

whenever

he

stops

for fuel -

someone

always

comes up

to re

late

their

Lus

combe story or expe rience. At one stop, a 76-year-old man approached with

a cane and explained how a windstorm flipped his Luscombe. Jerry took him

for a most enjoyable ride and the

o

ldtimer just bubbled with enthusiasm.

Jerry

uses a Valcom 760 for communications, however, navigation is by map

and compass. The ae

ri

al photo was

taken

as

the

Luscombe cruised

over the

leve l lands of Kansas. ....



Way back in 1959, the Cessna Aircraft

Company was busy building smaller air

planes (which they have

not

do ne in re

cent years) and among

their

su

bstantia

l

prod

u

ction

th

at

year

were

306

Cessna

180B models powered with a Continental

0 -470K engines of 230 hp. A popular air

plane, especially among utility type users,

the 180B has been red uced over the years

to a remaining 101 a ircraft o n the FAA

register.

Numerous others are

located

around the world doing yeoman service .

The register total lists 2933 of all the vari

ous Cessna 180 models remaining.

One

of the 101 is N5128E, SIN 50428

a 1959 model that is owned by Douglas

+

u

§

E

(Above) Over the fluffy clouds, the Cessna 180B

comes

into its own as the

pas

sengers keep a close eye

on

Bruce Moore's

photo

plane. The tires on Doug's

plane

are

7:00 X 6, 6-ply and the metal hubcaps came from Aircraft

Spruce &

Specialty.

Left)

The tapered spring steel landing gear, patented by Steve Wittman, leads

down to the McCauley wheels and powerful disc brakes , a vital necessity in

handling a Cessna 180 on the ground, especially

in

strong winds.

with

the Outs

t

anding In Type

award for

the Cessna 120 140 class.

Doug Weiler was smitten with the avi

ation bug when he had his first ride in an

Ercoupe at the age of five. In 1965 he

soloed a 90 hp 7EC Champ and then went

on to earn his Commercial and CFI tick

ets. A four-year stint

in

the Air Force was

followed by 12 years as a

corporate

pilot

in Ohio, flying a Merlin II I , a King Air, a

Westwind

, a

King

Air

100

and

a

Saber-

liner, plus a few more assorted types. All

of

this considerable

and

varied

back-

ground earned him a Ground Instructor's

job at Northwest Airlines. In recent

weeks, he was selected by Northwest to go

work the huge aerial

camera mounted

in

the floor in front of him while the pilot at

tended his duties from the front seat. Be

cause

of

this type

of

work, the Cessna had

received excellent maintenance

over

the

many years and had usually been

hangared.

One item the seller agreed to was to

have the Hartzell propeller yellow tagged

before delivery. Doug says this item alone

cost the seller

about

$2800 before the job

was completed.

A new cowling helped to clean up the

front

end of the

airplane while inside,

Doug built a new instrument panel to up

grade the capabilities and also re-wire the



(Top) Cruising over the Wis

consin countrys i

de

with

the

sun illuminating the

pretty paint

scheme is Doug Weile

r'

s

award

-winning Cessna 1808, N5128E.

(Left) Custom

panel built

by

Doug Weiler features

a

shock

mounted gyro

panel

on the left

,

engine instruments in the cen

ter

with

radios

above and

t o

the

ri

ght.

A really

neat

and

well

thought

out touch

are the

small ,

non

-skid strips fastened

on the

lower rudder

pedals.

a

ll

the he lp he can get Shortly

after

this

work

was

comp

l

eted, Do

ug

was

flying

one

day

when

he

saw the

ammeter peg

itself on the discharge side. The genera-

tor h

ad gone to

"

melt down and the

s u

rge of

e l

ectricity took

about $2000

wort

h

of

e l

ectronics with

it.

Biting

his

upper lip ,

Doug invested

in a

new

50

amp

a lternator and started fixing each

item

in

order.

Thankfully ,

the prob

l

em

has never returned.

Eventua

ll

y the old paint job had to go,

so the Cessna was flown to Aero Services

in Springfie ld,

IL,

where the award-win

ning paint scheme was put on with Alumi

gripTM paint. Doug says he sent about

five

pages of instructions along

to

the

shop

,

however, the paint job came out perfect in

spite of all his "help."

With a 1035 lb. useful load,

the

180B



Text and photos by H.C. Frautschy

ospitality

L e 1994 Staggerwing Convention, held in Tulla-

homa,

TN

, was a wonderful experience for

antique

airplane folks who love the Staggerwing and its rel-

atives, the Travel

Air

and Twin Beech, not to men-

tion their invited guests, the Howards, Twin Bonan-

zas

and

Spartans.

While the

weather

was

not

cooperative during

the

beginning

of

the convention,

it cleared nicely for the weekend , and

our

generous

hosts

, the

John

Parish family, made Ure that all

who were interested were made to feel welcome.

The

highlight

of the

weekend was

the

dedication

of

the new

Beech

Center, linking the Eddie Ross



Above) The

new Beech

Center at

the

Staggerwing Museum in

Tulla-

homa, T honors

the

memory and

accomplishments of both

Olive and

Walter

Beech,

and

it showcases the

restored

Staggerwing

SIN 1

rescued

from an

upstate New York

farm

field

by the

late Steve Pfister.

Below) S N 1

as it

now rests

in the

Beech Center.

The

inset pictures

show an unusual feature of this Stag-

gerwing, something that production

models didn t have - a split rudder to

act as an air brake. Staggerwing

Museum Foundation

president John

Parish shows off the rudder in the

deployed position.



(Above and left) James and Shirley Bohlander of Marengo, IL flew their

E-17B,

S N

198 to

the Staggerwing Convention. They re

flying

to

the

satisfying breakfast put on by EAA Chapter 699 at Winchester,

TN.

Jim, a retired airline pilot,

was

a

smooth

and attentive formation

pilot.

This

was the

first appearance

at a Staggerwing

Convention

by this par

ticular

Staggerwing.

(Below right)

Christine

and

Paul St

. Onge

came

to

the

convention

in

her

bright

blue

C-17B.



1930

T OMPSON

TROP Y

y Frank Warren

The winners

77 Charles "Speed" Holman Laird

Solution

201.9 mph

35 James

Hazlip Travel

Air

Mystery

"S"



1929

THOMPSON

CUP

y

rank Warren

The winners

31

Doug

Davis Travel Air Model R

194.90

mph

80 Lt. R. G Breene Curtiss XP 3A

186.84

mph

Roscoe Turner

Lockheed

ega

163.80

mph

Others

in the race

210 Lt.

Clark Curtiss F6C 3

33

I.M.

McConaughey

Travel

Air

Bll-D

71 H.S.

Myhres

Simplex

30 CD. Boyer Cessna Airmaster



L IRD

y

Norm Petersen

(Top)

You can almost feel the power im

he voice on the phone was in L a ird befor

e.

Howe ve r , a t O gde n ,

th

ey

we re tre at ed lik e r oy alt y a

nd



T

quisitive, "

Wher

e

could

I find

a ha nga r for a

month or two

durin

g EAA O s

hkosh

?

t

wa

s fun

t o talk aga in with a re a l, a irpl a ne

lovin ' guy fr om Ca

liforni

a. But

wh

y

did he n

ee

d a hangar for so long?

In short order, the exciting an swers

came to

li

g

ht

-

Jimmy

Rollison (E

AA

181914 A /C 9884) of Vacaville, CA ,

wa s

brin

gin g hi s long awaited Lai rd

"Speedwing," NC4442, S N 203, to the

big

EAA

affa ir in O shkos

h

A close

fri end of min

e,

with a distinct w

ea

k

ness for biplanes, agreed

to

g

iv

e up his

hanga r for

tho

se po rtions

of Jul

y a nd

Au

gust necessa ry to house th e La ird

durin g it s s t ay in O shko sh ,

so

th e

fri e nd

wa

s put in touch with

Jimm

y

a nd a rr an

ge

me nt s wer e

compl

e ted .

Th e wait began.

Mea nwhile, the stork was making a

second delivery to the Rollison house

hold in the fo

rm

of young James Ru s

sell R olliso n, named

for

his g ra

ndf

a

th e r , a nd b y

introducin

g a

fe

w

co mplica ti o ns

(as

yo un

gs

t e r s

are

known to do) , he managed

to

hold

up

th

e O shk os h de pa rture of

th

e Laird

fo r

seve

r a l w

ee

ks.

Jimm y's

wi f

e,

Mary Ann , was busy with the ir

4-

year

o ld da u ght e r , J ane, a nd th e

ir

new ly

arri ved so n, so Jimmy's clo

se

fri end ,

B a

rr

y W e ll s (E AA 3919

99,

A C

17765) was e l

ec

ted to the

onc

e- in -a

life time tr

ea

t

of

flying

front

se

at

in a

La ird Sp

ee

dwin

g f

rom

California to

Oshkosh.

Ea

rly in the morning o f July 26, the

Laird was packed full of all the neces

sa ry

goo

di es th at two men n

ee

d fo r a

ten day trip a nd

th

e big P&W R -985

e ngin e was fir e d up. T a keoff

was at 7 a. m. and th e twoso me,

with

Jimm

y in the r

ea

r cockpit

and Ba

rr

y pac ked in th e fro nt

c

oc

kpit

, a nd ev

ery conc

eivable

sp

ace

a ro und him fil l ed with

a bo u t 120 l

bs.

of

stu ff, h

ea

d e d

n

or

theas t alo ng Intersta te 80

at

160 mph - truly a unique cruis

ing speed fo r an open cock

pit bi p la ne -

th

a t 's

Utah

, a n e

ld

e rl y m a n , n

ea rl

y 80 ,

walked

up

a

nd

immediately identi fied

th e a

irpl

a ne a nd told a b o ut fl y in g

th e m m any ye

ar

s ago H e o ffe red a

wea lth of in for m a tion o n La ird a ir

pl anes and

Jimm

y a

nd

I liste ned in

te ntly to hi s eve ry wo rd -

af

ra id we

mi

g

ht

mi ss s

om

e

thin

g " Ba

rry

sa

id

the e

ntir

e

trip

felt a lmost like a " tim e

w

ar

p" - making a 1929 trip in

199

4

a n ex pe rie nce like he had neve r had

before or since.

Th

e ove

rn i

ght s

top

was mad e a t

Ch

eye

nn e, WY , where

th

e two tr

ave

l

ers a

nd

th e ir airpl a ne we re mad e to

fee l comple te ly welcome.

Th

e se rvice

was

so

exce

ption

a l, th ey s t o

pp

e d

ov e rni g ht o n th e r e

turn

tr ip a t th e

sa

me place Th e nex t mo

rnin

g,

th

ey

were o ff and

runnin

g

ea rl

y with a stop

at K ea rn ey , NE for

fu

el, fo

ll

owing the

"concre te compa

ss

ca

ll

ed

In t

ersta te

80. Th e next stop was a t Olin (Ol e)

Pas h 's b

eautiful air

p

ort at

H a rla n,

Iowa, eas

il

y located by the Re

publi

c F -8 4 mo

un t

e d o n a

co

nc re te pylo n

Aga

in ,

made

it a po

int

to re me

mb

e r to s

top

for fu el on the return trip.

Th

e fin a l fli ght f

or

day No.2 was

into Madison , WI ,

wh

ere

th

e duo en

jo

yed a bea utiful welcome and sta yed

ove r to ente r th e

bu

sy O s

hko

sh pa t

t e

rn ea

rl y th e n ex t

mornin

g (wi se

move). N

ee

dless to say, the arrival in

Oshkosh of the first ever L aird Speed

win g create d quit e a se nsa tion and

Jimmy Rolliso n and Ba

rr

y We

ll

s were

as

bu

sy as o ne- a rm ed paper ha nge rs

trying

to

answer a ll

th

e qu es tions tha t

were o ffered b y the multitudes. Many

in te rvie ws

includin

g

so

me

(o

n ca m

e ra ) in front o f

th.

e A ntiqu

e/C

l

ass

ic

Red Barn were conducted to lea rn the

fascin ating history of a 1929 Laird b

i

plane

th

a t fl ew for

th

e very fi rst time

in February of 1993

How

could th is b

e?

t se ems th at

in th e tough times of

th

e

ea

rly 1930 's

depr

ess

io n ,

E.

M " Ma tt

y

La

ird

had

built tw

o

Sp ee dwin

g a

irpl

a n

es

a nd

was we ll

in t

o th e

th i

rd a

ir

f ra me

wh e n th e f in a ncia l ro pe g

ot too

sho

rt

a

nd

he cl

ose

d

hi

s C

hic

ago



(Left) Beautiful view of the famous

double

cowl designed by Matty

Laird. Note

four flying wires and

two

landing

wires

in wing

truss,

a

sign of a rugged airplane. Aluminum

"javelin" stops wires from vibrating.

(Below) In 1929, a fast

airplane

re-

quired a large

engine and

a

small

airframe.

Please note

that

the

Speedwing has plenty

of

both Very

sanitary engine and prop installation

caught the judges attention.

fa

ct

o ry T he a

ir

frame

was

cra ted up

a

nd

s to re d fo r a spe ll b

efore

be in g

so

ld fo r $450 (plus $145 fo r crati ng) to

Bud

P

owe

ll

in 194

0

It

passed th ro ugh

seve

ra l ha

nd

s before ending

up

in the

ha

nd

s of no t

ed

a

nt

iqu er J

oe

Era le

on

Long Isla

nd

,

NY

. I t was at

thi

s

jun

c-

ture th at

Jimm

y Rolliso n's fa th er , Ji m

R olliso n , l

ea

rn ed of th e Sp

ee

dwin

g s

ex iste nce and whil e fl ying for T W A ,

Jim visit ed J oe Era le a nd

purch

ased

th e c r a t

es

of Sp ee dwin g p a r ts for

$1000

plu

s a 450 P&W engine

for

an-

oth e r $700 .

Mu

ch

to

hi s futur e cha-

grin ,

Jim

declined

to pur

chase another

of Joe s

offe

rs: th e single pl

ace

La

ird

Solutio n fo r $750

Th

e crates of Sp

ee

dwing parts were

de live red to the R ollison

hou

se hold in

playing "Jungle Jim" and other kid' s

if it were your own airplane ," D an be

nal colors

of

black and gold (Matty



games.

Who

would

ever suspect

that

nearly forty years l

at e

r,

the

grown up

Jimmy Rollison would fly to

the

huge

EAA

Oshkosh

'94 ga thering

in

the

same

Laird

that

was

packed

in

th

e

crates.

The road to Oshkosh '94

would prove to be a long one.

Numerous attempts at

completing

the Speedwing were started over the

years but often the people

doing

the

work would run up against the lack of

fa

ctory drawings to make the neces

sary parts to

complete

the airplane.

One such attempt involved a number

of years

of

work by noted antiquer,

Forrest

Lovley

(EAA

19414 , A

IC

3136), whose s

hop is

located

ju

st

south

of

Minneapolis, near Jordan, MN. On

several occasions, this

author

was per

mitted to examin e the Laird closely as

it was b e ing work ed on in the s

hop.

The many

,

many clever

de tails as

de

signed by Matty

Laird

were evident in

the structure as Forrest carefully ex

plained the project.

To

me, it was

the

treat of

a lifetime

that ran

shiv

ers down

my

spine

as

I s

tood

in total

awe

of Matty Laird 's

gan th e formidable

job

.

Using an

English

wheel

to form

many

of the

compound

aluminum

panels a nd employing a unique grease

gun rig

that

forces

aluminum

into the

proper shape, Dan

was

able

to

pro

duce

some

very nice pieces

that

he lped

to

maintain

"

th

e

look

"

that

Matty

Laird was capable of de signing. R e

me mb er

that

this airplane is a small,

high

speed, biplane with a

big 450

Pratt

e ngin e out front

to ma k

e it go.

A e

rodynamic cleanliness

is of the

essence.

Th

e " doubl e cowl" wa s one of

Matty

Laird ' s ideas

that

r

ea

lly he lped

in the

dra

g department. Th e first cowl

handl

es

engine cooling air

whil

e th e

second

contain

s all th e accesso ri es

and

oil tank

that have

blast

tube

s d i

rected

to them. All this

"s

tu ff" is out

of

th e

slipstream

which

reduces dra

g.

In addition , the la rge, narrow Be

ndix

wh eels

with

th e ir 12-inch mec hanica l

brak

es

in side

produce

mi

nimal drag.

Laird 's

t rademark)

were done in

DuPont Centari

acrylic

enamel

with a

flex

agent added. The in t

e

rior of

th e

cockpit

s was

do n

e

in black

leather

se wn by Dan Murray's wif

e,

Linda.

Again , attention

to detail

is

evident

and

one really

gets

a

feeling

of 1929

when

sitting in

th

e

airplane

.

By February of 1993, th e long, long

process of finally completin g the Laird

Speed wing had come to

pa

ss

and

Dan

Murray called Jimmy Rolli so n

to

come to Santa Paula

and

get

ready for

th e first light.

As

Jimmy says, t was

quite a day . I felt like a ge nuine Laird

factory test pilot - which I was There

were

no

rea l

probl

e

ms on

that

first

flight. The a irpl a ne

was

nose heavy

and

ther

e were little adjustments here

and

there

that would have to be made,

but th

ey

all se em e d

insi

g

nific

a

nt to

me. I

wa

s flying The Laird

All those

years,

all th e drea ms a

nd

frustrations,

th e

mem

o ries of Matty .

I'll

go

to

my

grave

with no other feeling like I

h

ad that

day . The

fun

meter

was really

pegged that day

."

Dan

Murr

ay mad e the sec

br

a inchild . Such

impressions

he

Laird was started in the early 1930 s by

o nd flight

in

the Laird and

are

remembered

forever.

the crew in

Matty

Laird s factory, but

came

up with a couple of ideas

Eventually, Jim Rolli so n

for fine tunin

g the

airplane.

wasn t completed until

1993

ecided to se ll the Laird pro Considerable weight was

jec t , and

although

other av-

ad ded

to

the tai l to get rid of

enu es were

open,

it wa s tough the no se heaviness

and

a llow

to see the airplane in any

other

It

was quite a day. I felt like a genuine

three-point lan dings.

Both

pi

hands.

The

young Jimmy Rol

lo t s

agree

d the

airplane

was

lison,

knowing what th

e

Laird

Laird factory test pilot - which I was "

blessed

with

excess power

meant to his father, went all

out to acq uire the project - and

succeeded The entire

project

was trucked from

Minnesota

to

California

and the next sce

nario began .

Receiving a phone call one day

from Matty Laird's grandson, Jimmy

was

asked

if he was

interested

in

some

old airplane blu eprints

that

he had in

herited. Later

that same

day,

Jimmy

was in

Carson City, NV

, goi ng over

original factory

blueprints that Matty

had

drawn

years ago,

going all the

way back to Wichita. Among the huge

just ad d "coal" and climb from

any

att itude - it rea

ll

y moves

- Jimmy Rollison

out sm a rt l y. Getting us

ed to

Fort

un at e ly , the

set

of smooth Un i

versa l

tires to

fit the

Bendix

wh ee ls

had been

purchased

years

ear

li e r

when they were

still avai

l

able.

Al

though the

Laird

would n orm a ll y

have h

ad

a

tailskid

in stalled in 1929

(all grass a

nd

dirt runways), a Scott

3200 tailwheel was installed for use

on

hard

surface runways

and taxiways.

Although the BT-13 engine pur

the brakes was a bit unusual as

Matty Laird

had designed rud

der pedals

with

extensions inboard to

slide

your

toe upon and push.

Once

the all-important

"fee

l"

is

l

earned,

the

brakes are quite

effective.

Directional

control is quite outsta nding with the

rudder

producing directional

author

ity right from the start. Like nearly all

biplanes,

the

Laird

is blind in the

three-point position, but it isn't

twitchy and mean - it

tracks

straight



CA. However, a

ll

was not los t as the

b

ea

utiful

Lind

y

troph

y

wa

s

soo

n de

liv e re d

to

Jimm y

for

it s pres ti g

io

us

rid e home in a ge

nuin

e La

ird Spee

d

wing.

Leavin g O shk osh on W edn esday

mo rnin g with a ll t he

ir

n ecess

it i

es

tuck

ed into th e stre

amlin

ed a irframe ,

the dynamic

du

o o f Rollis

on

and We

ll

s

hea ded th e speedy bip lan e so uthwest

from Osh

ko

sh, picked up Inte rstate 80

a

nd

he

aded

w

es

t with

th

e first s

top

at

O le P

as

h 's H a ri a n , I

ow

a a irport.

Fr o m t he r e , th e wes tb o u nd fl i g ht

stopped at Lexing

ton

, NE for fue l be

fo re hea di ng in to Cheyenn e , WY for

an welcome overnight stop.

Fee ling a ce rt ain kinship wit h

and

r

eve

re nc e

for Sp ee

d Ho lma n a

nd

Jimm y Doolittl e , bot h form e r L a ird

racing pilots , it w

as

easy for Jimm y

and

Ba

rr

y

to

und

e rsta

nd

h

ow

th

ese

form e r gr eat s

could

lik e such

an

air

plane .

Matty Laird 's genius wa

s

easy

to u

nd

e

rstand

as th ey sped we st to

wards the setting sun. By evening, the

L a

ird

was back in

it

s ha ngar a t Nut

Tr

ee Airport

, Vacavi

ll

e, CA ,

and

two

ve

ry

tir e d (but ha

pp y)

pi l o ts we r e

glad to be home .

Th

e

trip

to

O s

hko

sh

had

taken 12

hours a nd thirty minutes a

nd

th e trip

h o me re quire d thirt

ee

n hou rs with

nary a miss

of

a ny kind from the

Pr

a

tt

Whitn

ey engine. And th e fabulous

p e

op l

e

th

ey ha d me t a lo n g th e way

m ad e

th

e e ntire t r ip a n exciting ad



ST GGBKWING

Continued from page

15

(Above) The Travel

Air Mystery

Ship, NR 1313,

is currently

under

restoration as resources per-

mit

- here, you can see

the right wing and prop

prior to their restoration.

(Left)

Jim

Gorman and Dub Yarbrough look on

as Robert Parish accepts

the

1994 Staggerwing

Young Eagle

award

from Ron Morrison, who

was last

year's winner.

(Below)

Among other invited guests o f the

Staggerwing Museum Foundation

during the

Convention are

Howard aircraft.

This

Howard

DGA-15P is owned and flown by Clayton Graves

of Santa Paula, Californ ia.

(Above)

The Staggerwing

Museum

in Tulla

homa,

TN

is full of interesting artifacts, includ

ing

numerous

t

ools

used to build Staggerwings.

These are

some

of

the

tools built

and used

by

Eldon Bud Penny who

among other

tasks ,

spliced the cables on the f irst 10 Staggerwings.



(Above) Ron and ark Morrison pilot the family s F-17D Stagger

wing. First restored by their late father Bill, the airplane was al-

most completely destroyed in a hangar fire. The Morrisons then re

stored the airplane in Bill s honor.

(Left) Mary Lynn Beech Oliver, Jennifer Oliver Matson and Suzanne

Beech

Warner were

on hand

to attend the

dedication of

the new

Beech Center

at

the Staggerwing Museum. Jennifer, one of Olive s

grandchildren, and

attie

Schultz (not shown), the Museum Foun

dation s executive Director, cut the ribbon to formally dedicate the

Center. Mary ynn and Suzanne are Olive Ann Beech s daughters.

The

Staggen.uing Convention

is open

to all who enjoy

the

Staggerwing. To

attend

the

Convention Staggerwing Museum

Foundation

membership

is

required.

Dues are 30 per year,

and

i

you

are

passing anywhere close by, you owe yourself a

visit to

this

world class facility. The mailing

address

is: StaggerwingMuseum

Foundation,

P.O. Box

550, Tullahoma

TN

37388.

For directions

or

more information,

you

can call

them at

615/455 1974.



ysteryPane

side view

of

this aircraft equipped

with a tail wheel and front landing

gear.

Where

or

when the picture

was

taken

we

do

not know.

John Underwood Glendale

,

CA

adds:

I t 's the Schroeder-Wentworth

Mercury SWM, built by

Mercury

Air

craft

at Hammonsport,

NY

for the

1929 Guggenheim Safe Airplane

Competition, in its original form.

The

central undercarriage

and outriggers

were replaced

after taxi

trials with

a

more conventional

straight-axle land

ing

gear. This

was a big

airplane, the

largest of all the entries, with a span

of

This moth's Mystery Plane should be

a comparatively easy one. The license

number

is

a give away But there

must

be more interesting information on it,

such s how

many

were built, etc. An-

swers will

be

published in the May 1995

issue of VINTAGE AIRPLANE. Dead-

line for that issue is March 25 1995.

y

eorge Hardie

aged

and

withdrawn from competi

tion. I do not

know

what happened to

the

aircraft as it was

never returned to

Hammondsport. Page 8 of the

Octo

ber 1992 Vintage Airplane shows a

57

feet

and 480 square

feet

of

wing

area.

I t was 30 feet in length

and had

a 150

hp

Comet.

Unique

features were the full

span variable camber

capability,

hy

draulically

articulated, and

Schroeder's

automatic, two-position

propeller. Harvey Mummert

had

a

hand

in its conception

and

supervised

its construction. Unfortunately,

there



was

no time

for

tes

t ing

and

t

he SWM

was

trucked

to Mitchel Field,

Long

Is-

land ,

to meet

the

dea

dli

ne

.

Schroede r took it up for a test

hop

o n 21

Nov

ember 1929

to try

the

var

i

ab

le camber and ai l

er o

n contro l,

go t

into

a spiral

at

300

feet and near

ly

a

ugered into the base

h

osp

ital. T he

fact t hat

he

was not injured spoke

w e ll

for the craft s struct

u ra l in -

tegri ty. Howev

e r ,

the SWM was

damaged beyond

repair

and

o u t

of

the

ru nn

ing

R.W . Sh

orty

Schr oeder

was an

Ear

ly Bird (1910)

and

noted

test pi l

ot,

bo t

h in and

out

of the

military

.

He

is

perhaps

best remembered

for his high

flying (1919) and pylon

turns in the

first

Ford Trimotor

at

t he National

A ir Races.

Other

answer

s

were

received

from

harley Hayes

New

Le

nox

IL

and

Rob

r

t

Wynne

Mer

r Island WA.

Above and left) These two

views of the Schroeder-Went

worth safety ship show the full

span

variable camber

wing.

Unfortunately

, the variable

geometry wing did not prove

to be successful in this

case

,

as

R.W. Shorty Schroeder

spiraled

in

f rom

300

feet at

Mitchel

Field, Long

Island, NY

just before the trials

were to

begin

for the

Guggenheim

Safe

Airplane

Competition.

C r r ~

-.;. \,/u )

blocks set up by

the

government.

I

suspect

that other

folks have

ac



• . l . ,

r.,J

•

•

P SS

dfo

B U

CK

by Buck Hilbert • EAA #

21

•

Ale

#5 • P.O. Box 424 • Union, IL 60180

Dear Buck,

I'm writing

to you

since I often read

your column

in

Vintage Airplane

and

know you

are

receptive to correspond

ing with

wannabee restorers like

me. I am a 400+ hour pilot, presently

grounded since I moved

to

Toledo and

sold

my share in a P A28-R200 and

have kids

in

college.

I want

an

air

plane

so bad I

can taste

it,

but

I

can't

afford

much

right now.

I 've

been

toying

with the idea

of

restoring

a

nice

old

short wing

Piper

or similar, but i don't have an A&P li

cense, and

I'm

befuddled

by all

the

FAA rules

about

lay people work

ing on

certified

airplanes.

I

am me

chanically inclined, love working on

machinery of all types,

have an

engi

neering degree (and career), and know

I could do justice to an aircraft restora

tion project.

I

just

don't

know how to

get around all the restrictions and road

complished beautiful aircraft restora

tions

without

being

government

certi

fied. My

question

is - How?

Do

I

need

to

develop

a

friendship with an

AI somewhere

(don' t know

any

around here

yet) in

order

to do the

work

myself?

Do

I

need to hire an

AI

to

inspect my

work at

various

steps

in

the

process? f so, how

are these

steps

defined?

As

you

can tell, I'm totally ignorant

of

the

requirements

for

a commoner

to

do

a

restoration jo b

. f there is a

way

around all

the

red

tape,

I

don

t

know

about

it. Can you

help

me un

derstand

in plain

language what

I

need

to do to

get

a

legal

restoration com

pleted .

Thanks

for

any

response. SSAE

enclosed.

Sincerely,

Daniel

J.

Shoop

Maumee , OH

Hi Dan,

Happy New Year Didn' t mean

to

de-

lay this reply, but the holidays and all . . .

There is no reason you couldn t do a

restoration on an

antique

or classic air

plane. Others have done it, and you can

too

Don t

be too concerned with the go v-

ern m e

nt. If you

are able to

ge

t ac

quainted through your local

EAA

Chap

Chapter, along with a

local

contact.

may wi

sh to approach them about

your

proj

ect. The worst they can say is

no

,



ter or from the local scene somewher

e,

with a friendly

A P

or an fA then you

can work under their superv ision. Get

yourself a copy of

Ad

v isory Circular

AC 43. 13 (Acceptable M ethods, Tech

niques, and Practices - Aircraft

In

spec

tion and Repair) from the

FAA

and use

that as a

guide

when

you hav

e a ques

tion. Als

o,

many of the manufacturers

such as Poly Fiber and Cooper publish

inf

o

rm

a

tion/how-to

booklets

that

are

free for the asking. And don 't forget the

excellent v ideos that EAA produ ces

the Welding, Covering with

Ray Stit

s

and others are all a bonanza of informa

tion on how all

of

these processes work

(See page 32 for ordering information).

The A &P or IA need only make an oc

ca-

sional inspection as you progress or be

there

i

you ha ve a problem or ques tion.

I know there

must

be some more peo

ple in the Tole

do

,

OH

area, I don 't ha ve

an up-to-date Chapter Dir

ec

tory, but i

you call the

EAA

Chapter Office up in

Oshkosh, 414/426-4876 they '

ll

give you

the l

oca

tion of the n

ea

r

es

t

EAA

or

A/

C

Over to you,

Bu ck

Certainly there must be many others

out

there like Dan who want to rebuild

and airplane, and ha e the talent do so,

but

lack

the g

uidan

ce to get started.

sent the address

of

a mechanic I

know

in the general reg

ion

to Dan, but for

many others out there in a similar situ

ation,

you may

wish to try this in addi

tion to the EAA Chapter route. If

you

know what typ e of airplane yo u 're in

terested

in

, ie. a

fabric co

ered tai/

dragger,

or if you

want something co

ered

with

sh

ee t metal,

ask around

at

your

local airport

- odd are there are

on e or two A

P

's in

your

area

who

ha e become kn o wn as "old airplane"

mechanic

s. You

'll want someone fa

miliar

with

th e typ e o

airplane

you

want to rebuild - these days, A P's are

not

taught ery

mu

ch abo

ut st

eel tube,

fabric

co ered airplanes, so there are

fe wer around wh o kn o w th e ty p e.

On

ce

you find

o

ut

who th

ey

ar

e,

you

ri

ght?

Dear Buck

While in

the

process of acquiring an

Aeronca

C-3

Master

the

lack

of

relia

bility

of

the

magneto on the

E-113 en

gine was

mentioned.

Len Tanner mentioned that you

had

an STC to modify

the

mag to make

it

more

re liable. I

would most appre-

ciate

any

information regarding

your

modification.

Thanks

Jim

McCord

Lansdale

PA

Happy New Year

Jim

I don 't know whether to con gratulate

you or kick you, everybody knows that

Ae

ron

ca C-3s

ar

e worthless Hah

f

we

can keep them believing that we can ha ve

them a

ll to

ourselves

I am encl

os

in

g the Dan Kindel Conver-

New Members

Ken G odse

ll

Be lm ond

lA

Cha

rl

es Gr a uer Wilson KS

Billy Da n G r

eeso

n

Winchester TN

Larr y Gr eine r

Be

ll

eville

IL

Judy

Haight Madison WI

G

eo

rge W. Hamm J

ef

ferson

MD

Gr egg Hart Ede n Prairie MN

Arthur

W. Heilmer Bloomington MN

Leroy V. He ndricks

Larned. KS

William

C.

H offman

Somerse t PA

Marvis

T.

H

oge

n Kadoka SO

Ha rry Hough A nchorage

AK

Fr

ank E. H

owa

rd Maco n GA

Fred

Hu

ey Tyrone GA

Jo hn W.

Hu

ghes

Hou

ston

TX

Donald W. Hull Baton Rouge

LA

G. Roland J e nson

Outl

oo k Saskatch ewan

Ca

nada

Harry W. Jo nes

Ce

nte rville

IN

Marvin

K.

J orda n Rensse laer IN

James R. Ka le Ente rpri se A L

Le roy J. Ke ilma n Billings MT

Du

a ne Ke nnedy

Vancouver WA

J. P. King

Ga

dsd

en

AL

sion that I have been

running

on my C-

3 s) for over thirty years. In all that time



I have never had an ignition problem nor

has anyone else that made the conversion.

The only one that we so far as to sub

mit a 337 on the installation

was

John

Kuranz and

I

have included a copy for

your perusal. John did not get an STC

but a field approval for the entire airplane

which included this modification as well

as

several others such

as

brakes and a tail

wheel. He has

been

flying the airplane for

about twelve years and again has had no

problems.

If you have trouble

finding

a magneto

and

the impulse

I may

be able to help

you . Meanwhile I we, would appreciate

info and pictures

of

your project so that

we can maybe put you in Vintage Air-

plane. H.G. and I are always interested

and so are our Antique/Classic members

in what a guy does with his airplanes.

Over to you Jim,

-----------

ly In

Calendar

The following list

of

coming events is furnished to our readers as a matter

of

ill ormation

only alld does not COllstitllle approval, sponsorship, involvemellt, cOlltrol

or

direction

of

any evellt /1y-in, seminars,

fly market

, etc.)

listed

Please send the information to

EAA,

Att: Golda Cox, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Informatioll should be

rece

ivedfour momh

s

prior

to the evellt date.

FEB. 18 - MINNEAPOLIS, MN - 1995

APRIL

29 - LEVELLAND , TX - EAA

Minnesota Sport Aviation Conference.

Chapter

19

Fly-In Breakfast.

8061797 1900.

612/296-8202.

APRIL 29·30 - GRIFFIN, GA - Alexan

FEB.

25-26 -

RIVERSIDE

, CA - EAA

der Aeroplane ' s Builders ' Workshop. 1

Chapter 1 Open House. 909/686-1318.

800/831-2949.

FEB. 18-19

- NASHVILLE,

TN

-

APRIL 30 - CUMBERLAND,

MD

Alexander Aeroplane's Builders ' Workshop.

EAA

Chapter 426 Fly-In Breakfast. 3011777

1-800/831-2949.

2951.

FEB. 25-26 - RIVERSIDE , CA -

EAA

APRIL

30 -

HALF

MOON

BA Y CA

Chapter 1 Open House. 909/686-1318.

Pacific

Coast Dream

Machines Fly-In.

FEB. 26 -

WARROAD

, MN - Lions

415/726-2328.

Skiplane Fly-In Breakfast. 218/386-1818.

MA Y 5-7 - WOODLAND , CA - First

MARCH 3·5 - CASA GRANDE ,

AZ-

Annual Gt. Valley Fly-In. 916/666-1751 ,

37th Annual Cactus Fly-In. 602/641-7467

FAX 916/666-7071.

MARCH 4 - ROCHESTER , WI - 3rd

MAY

6-7 - CLEVELAND, OH - 11 nd

Annual

Midw

est Constructors Confer

Annual

Air Racing History

Symposium.

ence/Open

House . American Champion

216/255-8100.

Aircraft Factory. 1-800/323-0611.

MA Y

6·7

-

GEORGETOWN, TX

- 9th

MARCH

3-5 - CAS A

GRANDE,

AZ-

Annual Fly-In/Airshow. 512/869-1759.

37th Annual Cactus Fly- In. 602/641-7467.

MAY

7 -

Rockford

, IL - EAA

Chapter

MARCH

11 - PUNTA GORDA, FL

22

annual

fly-in

breakfast at Mark Clark's

EAA Chapter

565

Pancake Breakfast Fly-In.

Courtesy Aircraft , Greater Rockford Air

813/575-6360.

port. Wallace Hunt 815/332-4708.

MARCH 11-12 - FT. PIERCE , FL - 7th

MAY

13

- PUNTA GORDA , FL -

EAA

Annual

Delight

of

Flight Airshow /Fly- In .

Chapter

565

Pancak

e Breakfast Fly-In.

407/461-0346.

813/575-6360.

MARCH

11·12 - SAN

ANTONIO

,

TX

-

MA Y 13 -

VIDALIA,

LA - EAA Chap

Alexander Aeroplane's Builders ' Workshop.

ter

912

Spring

Picnic/

Banquet. Rain

date

1-800/831-2949.

5/20. 3181757-2103.

MARCH

16-18 - 1995 Wom e n

in

Avia

MAY

13 -

TOCCOA,

GA

-

EAA

Chap

tion Conference. 618/337-7575.

ter

1011

Parade of Planes. Fax 7061779 2302.

MARCH 18·19 - DALLAS ,

TX

-

MAY

19-21- PAULS VALLEY

,

OK

Alexander Aeroplane's Builders' Workshop.

Antique Airplane Fly-in.

Contact

Dick

1-800/831-2949.

Fournier 405/258-1129 or Bob Kruse

MARCH 21-26 - AVALON, AUS

405/691-6940.

TRALIA

- AirShow DownUnder ' 95.

MAY 20 - DAYTON, OH - Chapter

325

Chester M. Owenby

Vincent Page

George Pascal

Paul J. Patterson

Auburn

D.

Pearman

John

M.

Pinson

Lynn R Pinson

Arden, NC

Katy,

TX

Louisville, KY

Pittsburgh, PA

Tupelo, MS

Harker Heights, TX

Tipton,

OK

Dave Puckrin

St. Albert, Alberta, Canada

Thomas Pue

Eric Rappaport

Mark Robertson

H.

J.

Robinson

Mark Robinson

Arnold Roosa

Edward

H.

Rosen

Robere Salmons

Ronald L Sass

Craig Saxton

Marius Schreiber

E.

R

Sessoms

Oscar M. Smith

Ed Snell

Richard Spiegel

George

W.

Sprankle

Phillip W. Stewart

Marshfield , WI

Cary, NC

5eosauqua, IA

Veradale , WA

Layton , UT

West Chicago, IL

Groton , CT

Berkeley, CA

Overland,

MO

Alamo,

CA

Moelin, Switzerland

Hartsville , SC

Rome,GA

Tucson, AZ

Chicago, IL

Cypress, TX

Highland ,

CA



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per word,

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charge. Send your ad to

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Payment muat accompany ad . VISAIMaaterCard accepted.

MISCELLANEOUS:

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