vintage airplane - feb 1997

8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 1997

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3/36

STRAIGHT LEVEL

The

winter of 1997

has

really struck a

blow to aviation activity over a good portion

of the USA. With the floods in the Pacific

Northwest, and valleys

of

California, the ex

treme cold and snow

of

the Midwest and the

Northeast, people have had survival rather

than flying on their minds. t

is

hard for peo

ple

who

live in my area of the country to

imagine how the people in the Midwest can

make it through such a winter. It

is

equally as

hard for Midwesterners to understand what a

hurricane can do to this part of the country.

When I go to the airport, the topic

of

hangar

discussion

is

the concern we have for all those

people out there

in

harm's way - our thoughts

are with you.

This

past

weekend

a few

brave

souls

brought out their airplanes on skis and at

tended the annual ski-plane fly-in at

EAA's

Pioneer Airport behind the EAA Air Adven

ture Museum in Oshkosh. Twenty-five gal

lons of chili were

consumed,

helping keep

the participants warm. As with almost every

EAA gathering, this one was run on volun

teer

power.

Even

with a

brisk 20-25

mph

wind blowing the snow around, everybody

had a great time.

I'd

certainly

like to take a

moment

this

month to recognize the volunteer work done

by the Antique/Classic Chapters in the USA

and abroad. Now

numbering

20 , with a

by Espie Butch Joye

determined group to complete such an effort .

Finally, you may have a fly in group, who en

joy hosting a

fly

-

in

every so often. You may even

have

a Chapter

that

combines ll of

the facets

into a

well

rounded

organization.

There are a number of factors that deter

mine the direction a Chapter pursues. These

items

may

include the size of the member

ship,

its

location

in the

country, available

meeting facilities and the interests of the ma

jority.

The

most

important aspect

is the

amount

of

volunteerism available,

and the

level of leadership.

The best reward you can give these vol

unteers is to

go

up to them after a Chapter

meeting, shake the ir hand and express your

gratitude for the

job

they are doing.

It's

al

ways

amazing

h

ow

much a litt le thing like

that will mean to a volunteer - you may even

see the results in your next meeting

I'm

sure you've heard the expression, " If

you re

not the

lead dog, the view

never

changes "

Tcan te ll you if you're the pilot

flying on the front of the broomstick, it is

hard to know where the people behind you

want to go . If you have some ideas, speak

up - te ll your l

eadership.

They'll be

glad

you did .

That

goes for me as wel l -

if

you

have

any

ideas concerning the direction of

the Division as a whole, drop me a note.

The

Antique/Classic Board of Directors

will meet this month to discuss the Division's

business. We' ll be discussing the prospect of

building a permanent structure to house the

Type Clubs during the Convention each year.

Along with the style of the structure, we'll be

talking about its location, as well as the funds

needed to build

it.

We'll also be discussing a membership re

cruiting

/ retention program .

Of

course, the

regular business items will also be discussed.

If

you have anything you'd like to bring up

for discussion to the Board, please contact me

right away - you can send me a Fax via EAA

common

thread

in so much that is done in

the Antique/Classic world? Billy says, "A

volunteer is

someone who gives freely

of

his /her time and

energy without

thought of

personal benefit." How true

I'll

have more

to say about Sun

'n

Fun next month.

Speaking of fly-ins, the Granddaddy of

them all, EAA

OSHKOSH

is shaping up to

be one great event.

One

of

the most recent

announcements relates to the National Trans

portation

Safety Board

.

They

' ll have their

very first meeting ever held outside of Wash

ington,

D.C.

right in Oshkosh during

the

Convention. The

50th

anniversary of

the

founding of the U.S. Air Force is celebrated

during 1997, and the Air Force will have a

great presence at the

Convention to

com

memorate this historic

mi

lestone.

In the Antique/Classic area, we will have

a large contingent

of

Aeroncas at the Fly-ln.

Densel Williams (you might remember his

Grand Champion Aeronca

II

CC

Super

Chief)

is

putting together an Aeronca get-to

gether in southern Wisconsin just before the

Convention, with a planned group arrival at

the Convention so they can all be parked to

gether.

If you're

interested

in

joining them,

contact Densel at 517/569-3609.

The

A/C Web

site

is up and running

Check

it

out at http://www.eaa.org, and click

on the Special Interest Groups button.

Finally

, I 'd like to tell you

about

a

friend, IC Vice-president George

Daub

ner. In his

regular

life, he's a computer

wizard and corporate pilot for an engineer

ing firm in the Midwest. He had the oppor

tunity

to demonstrate

his

professionalism

and

character one afternoon this

past Jan

uary. He had departed in the company cor

porate twin enroute

to

Omaha

when

40

minutes into the flight he experienced some

difficulty

with

one

engine. As

he headed

back to his home base, the engine

failed,

presenting

him with

the

added bonus

of
http:///reader/full/http://www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/http://www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/http://www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/http://www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/http://www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/http://www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/http://www.eaa.org


4/36

A C NEWS

compiled by H.G. Frautschy

EAA Antique/Class ic Division

Hom e Page

~ ~ . . ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~

~ ? .

SPl'C :IIt\

lTolllr

(.

I

OUIl'

80 OCTANE AIRPORTS

I f you're an F BO and you offer 80 oc

tane avgas, and you d like to be included

on our 80 Octane Airports list, drop a note

and tell us who you are, where

you're

lo

cated and your hours

of

operation.

We're

particularly interested in your plans for

selling 80 octane during the Summer

months, especially around the time

of

the

EAA

Convention. It appears most likely

that 80 octane avgas will not be available

on Wittman Regional Airport, due to a de

cision by the local FBO, Basler Aviation,

not to carry the fuel any more due to stor

age limitations. We'd like to ensure that

those

of

you who would prefer to fill up on

80 octane avgas can do so with a little ad

vance planning. We'll publish the list be

ginning with the June issue, and we'll also

post the listing on our Web Site as well as

make

it

available from EAA's Fax-On-De

mand system that is set up each

year

to

civil and military judging , parts swaps and

entertainment. Stinson owners of all types,

military, civil, Straightwing

or

Gullwing ,

as well as Voyagers are all encouraged to

attend the fly-in, held where Marjorie and

Katherine first started their flight school in

1915. Pilots and

friends

of the Stinsons

who are unable to fly their own aircraft in

can

certainly

fly

commercially

into San

Antonio. Many local attractions are avail

able for the entire family in San Antonio,

and

extreme fun vacation town. This

type

club event,

the first of

its

kind for

Stinsons,

is sponsored by the Southwest

Stinson Club. For information and reserva

tions, call Marcia Gietz

713 /

522 2456

,

Fax

713 /522 2458. E-Mail stinsonv@concen

tric.net

A VIATION URBAN LEGENDS

Most of you have heard by now of the

passing of pioneer aviation Elrey Jeppesen,

AlC WEB SITE UP AND RUNNING

For those of you who

are

net surfers ,

you' be excited

to

know that the

Antique/Classic

Web

site is now

avail-

able on

the

Internet. You can

acce

ss it

by going to the

EAA

web site at

www.eaa.org

and

clicking

on "

Specialty

Groups on the

EAA

Home

Page. You 'll

see a

screen

just

like this

(left).

Click

on

the

area

your interested

in

and you

're on

your way. As

the

year progresses we ' ll

expand

the

site to include

other member

requested areas. Let us

know

wha t

you

'd like to see

on

the EAA AlC

Web

Site

never signed

Government

issued

pilot's

li

censes. What many early aviators did carry

was an F AI (Federation Aeronautique In

ternationale) sporting

license,

a form of

identification that allowed pilots with those

credentials to compete in, and set interna

tional records during, sanctioned competi

tions and record attempts. Elrey, as well

as Steve Wittman and many o ther notable

aviators from that time period, were issued

FAI Sporting Licenses . Orville was the

Chairman of the National Aeronautic As

sociation (NAA) Contest and Records

board and as such

was

the FAI s repre

sentative

who

signed

the

credentials

is

sued to pilots

who

requested them. Nei

ther the U.S. nor any

other

government

issued

the

documentation,

nor

were

they

considered

official government licenses .

A modern day

analogy

might be

the

is

suance of a competition card for a partic

ular international sport. For instance, be
http:///reader/full/tric.nethttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/tric.nethttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.org


5/36

VINTAGE

ro

HALTERMAN WIRE FAILURE

Dear Henry,

I read with great interest the article written by John Halterman re

garding the roll wire failure on his Waco. John and I spent consider

able time examining the failed wire at Bartlesville an hour

or

so be

fore his tragic accident. He placed the short section of the failed wire

in the baggage compartment just prior to the cras

h.

We import and distribute the Brunton line of aircraft wires, there

fore I had considerable interest in the failure mechanism. Bruntons

Aero Products has been manufacturing aircraft wires since 1909!

The failed wire was not manufactured by Bruntons

of

Scotland.

The failure was not caused by a material defect and was a classic

example of an overstress condition. The wire had failed a short dis

tance from the round to streamline transition, which

is

the area that

all wires fail when tested to destruc tion. An overs tres s condition

with ductile materials such as the 316 stainless results in a necked

down section as the material exceeds its elastic limit with further

elongation in the necked down area until the tensile limit is reached ,

at which time the wire fails. This is an extremely rare failure mecha

nism for aircraft wires.

I immediately called Bruntons to see if they were aware of any

similar failures. They had not experienced any failures of this type.

I then called Bob Edelstein of Classic Aircraft who had a similar fail

ure in his desk, also a roll wire from one of their

YMF-5 Wacos,

which might suggest a marginal size for that application.

When one examines the function

of

rol1 wires, it is easy to see

that they take the total twisting loads of the entire wing system

if

a

hard landing occurs on one wheel. Most, but not

al1

roll wires have

a round section under the sheet metal to minimize the possibility of

the streamline sections chafing at the cross point.

Subsequent conversations with some of our seaplane customers

revealed that overstress failures occur occasional1y with float instal

lations as water landings can create some high shock loads.

It

is appropriate to review the wire manufacturing process as well

as some basic material properties for aircraft tie rods.

Al1

Brunton products which features the stronger rolled threads

start with centerless grinding

of

the surface to remove

al1

surface de

fects . The rods are then cold worked to the desired profile, either the

familiar streamline (lenticular) shape or the reduced round section as

in the 7xx series of tie rods. All threads are rolled, which further in

creases tensile strength and provides excellent surface fini sh.

The inspection process 100 percent in spects all physical dimen

sions and 100 percent

proof

loads all wires to 60 percent of MINI

MUM tensile strength requirements. One sample from each order is

I. Vibration and flapping due to improper tensioning

2. Nick induced failures when using aluminum javelins

3. Asymmetrical loading of duplicate wires

4.

Salt corrosion pitting causing stress risers

5.

Landing shock loads (overstress)

6. Aerobatic loads (overstress)

7. Material defects.

I hope the above will clarify the Halterman wire failure incident

and also help to better understand the manufacturing and testing of

aircraft wires. I have enclosed one of our flyers that has some valu

able technical data that may be of some interest to antique restorers.

Very truly yours,

Hale Wallace

Steen Aero Lab, Inc.

1210 Airport Road

Marion, NC 28752

Our thanks to Hale for his letter clarifying the failure mode

of

John s wire. Before he left for the NBA Fly-In, he mentioned that he

was unsure about the cause of th efailure, and that he d get back to

me iffurther clarification was needed. Th e lettering in the flyer

would be too small to read

if

it were reproduced here so

i f

you d like

a copy ofSteen Aero Lab s

flyer

describing the aircraft streamline

and round tie rods, and thread

ed

clevis type terminals, send them a

se lfaddressed, stamp

ed

leg

al

size envelope (SASE) at the address

noted above.

-

HGF

CHAMBERLIN

RECALLED

I enjoyed your ar

ticle

on Clarence

Chamberlin in your

latest Vintage

Air-

plane

magazine

, and

read it over a number

of

times. T am send

ing you a picture post

card which they gave

you after a flight with

him in his Curtiss Condor.

There

is a brief history of him on the

back of the card. I cannot give the exact date, bit it had to be in the

slimmer of 1938 or

39

at the Kalamazoo, MI airport . I can still feel


6/36

HE

AEROGRAM

by

Patricia

"r sh"

Dor lac

This article is a continua

tion in a series written about

volunteers at Oshkosh. This

month I am proud to intro

duce you to the staff

of

the

Aerogram, Sarah and Bill

Marcy and Earl

Nicholas,

Co-Editors and Publishers

who run a full time operation

at Oshkosh, putting

out

seven

issues, totaling over

7500 copies

distributed in

one week

The

newsletter started

eight years ago as two pages

with Phyllis Brauer as editor

and publisher and has since

grown to eight pages . Seri

ous commitment and dedica

Geoff Robison and George Daubner present Bill and Sarah with the 1995 Backstage Volunteers of

tion

are

required

to

put

to

the Year Award, recognizing the time and effort they have contributed to the Antique/Classic Divi

si

on

as Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Aerogram.

gether a newsletter of this

qual ity and these characteris

tics are found in Sarah, Bill

and Earl.

Earl Nicholas has been a part of the

Aerogram since it's conception, literally

providing the computers for the operation.

He brings them every year from his home

town of Barrington,

Illinois where

he

teaches

fifth

grade and

also

works

in his

family's business doing electrical contract

ing and

remodeling.

Earl

belongs

to

the

Stick and Rudder Club in Waukegan, a club

known for being the world's oldest and

largest non-profit flying club, where h has

served as president. He has been volunteer


7/36

(Left) Earl Nicholas

and

his 11-year-old assistant

Jason

Hartwig

head off

on

yet

another

mission.

Bill's

job

with the Aerogram, his would be

hard to bea

t

In addition to hi s experience

with Chapter 30 I, Bill is also active in the

Antique Airplane Associat ion, the Centen

nial

Pilots

Association,

AOPA,

and has

served as a past director of the Wings Over

the Rockies Museum in Denver. Bill re

ceived his formal schoo ling in Ca li fornia

with Masters degrees in both Aerospace

and Mechanical Engineering. He has de

signed a "Kid Pl ane" and if your child did

not get a chance

to

ride on it at Oshkosh, he

rea lly missed out Bill a lso received th e

Majo r Achievement Award for

Out

stand

ing Service to Sport Aviation in 1987.

To help fill the Aerogram with interest

ing features , he goes out on the flightline

and looks for that rare and unusual bird, in

terviews the

owner

and or

builder

, takes

pictures and lets us read about it so we can

go and check it out As Earl so beautifully

phrased it, " While Gordon Baxter is well

known as the Mark Twain of modern day

ge nera l av iation, Bill Marcy is known in

Antique Classic as the Mark Twain at the

teer is Jason Hartwi g who started out as a

runner

and we

a ll en ded up

working

fo r

him . He earned the honorary title, Editor

(Below) Earl

and

Sarah pause for a mo

ment while composing

an

issue of the

daily Antique/Classic newsletter,

Aero

gram. Earl s assistance

with the com

puters is

invaluable,

while

Sarah s ex

pertise

in

editing and proofreading

helps

adds to the enjoyment of the newsletter.

or metal working, bring it by th e Aerogram

trailer behind

th e Red Barn

Maybe

you

know someone who can get some specialty


8/36

ROBIN'S NEST

y J

ames

Hayn

es

New York

plant.

Shortly

after, on

January

I, 1928, it

was

an

nounced that a new company, The Curtiss-Robertson Aeroplane

and Motor Company had been formed and would manufacture the

Robin in Anglum, Missouri, seven miles from St. Louis. Major

William B. Robertson, president of Robertson Aircraft Company,

became the new company's president, chairman and director. The

groundbreaking took place on the 45,000 square foot plant on

March I, 1928. It was completed by May .

The first two Robins were built and tested at the Garden City plant

in the spring

of

1928. By the end of May, ATC 40 was assigned to

the first Robin model, which was the OX-5 version. The jigs, tools

and dies were then shipped to the St. Louis facility on what is now

known as Lambert Field. The first production Robin rolled out of the

factory on August 7, 1928. Coincidentally, ATC 62 was assigned

to

the Challenger powered Robin the following day.

A TC 143 was assigned in June, 1929 for the upgraded 185 hp

Challenger C-I model Robin. The structural changes added about

150 pounds, but it did not seem to affect the performance. From

that time until production ceased, there was about equal production

ofOX-5 versus Challenger models.

On

September

5, 1929 , ATC #220 was assigned for the

J-l

model powered by the Wright J6-5 engine. There were less than

50

of

these built. It was a deluxe model with extra options offered.

Today there are some Robin B models that have been converted to

the J6-5 configuration.

There was an attempt to manufacture a four-place Robin, the

4C-IA

ATC 3 09, to meet the competition of the Stinson Jr. This

proved unsuccessful because the Challenger engine, besides im

provements, did not obtain the desired performance. There were

but few built. One is still in existence belonging to Elizabeth

Q 2

Nichols of Marion, North Carolina.

The Robin was the product of the Curtiss

Aeroplane

and

Motor Company, a giant

among giants in the airplane manufacturing

business during the I920s. Curtiss was the

leading manufacturer

of

military aircraft

and the engines to power them. They had

done little in the civil area until the country

went crazy about flying after Charles Lind

bergh's Atlantic flight in May, 1927.

It

was a corporate decision to enter the

As

the

first Rob i n of

th

e season brings you

happiness in the knowledge

that

s

pring

has come,

so will your first Curti

ss

Robin

thrill

you with

the

realization

that

new

comfort, luxury,

safety

and economy ha ve arrived in air transportation .


9/36

EAA s

newly restored Curtiss

Robin is powered

by the

Milwaukee

Tank

V-502 engine, an aircooled

version

of

the

Curtiss OX-5.

Restored

by

volunteers

at

EAA s

Aeroplane Factory the

Robin

now joins the display fleet at

EAA s Pioneer

Airport.

Other engines at one time or another were

ATC'd

for the Robin,

but performance was about the same. A Warner, Hisso and a Kin

ner were all approved either by ATC or Letter. The Robin was the

test bed for the ill-fated Crusader engine .

The Robin was we ll accepted and, in all, according to Bowers,

769 were built, which is not too bad considering the avai lable pool

of

pilot-owners

in

existence at that time

in

aviation history.

The sale

of

this many Robins

in

such a short period

of

time of

its production

is

a credit

to

the marketing genius

of

the parent com

pany. A new company, the Curtiss Flying Service, was created

with the goal

of

establishing fields around the country to provide

pilot training and sale

of

airplanes, not only of Robins , but others

that Curtiss had the license to market. When Robins came

off

the

production line , they went to these dealers and shown as sales .

Some, as was the case with the Robin that belonged to this writer's

as late as 1932 and it was still possible to order new parts from the

factory as late as 1939.

Senior citizen flyers who flew the Robins

in

the old days recall

the airplane with affection. They have mixed reviews about the re

liability

of

the OX-5 model, but most feel the Challenger was very

trustworthy, even admitting its vibration tendency.

The Robin saw a life as an endurance airplane. The first was the

flight

of

Howard DeCelles at Tulsa

in

December, 1928,

in

an OX-5

Robin. He stayed

in

the air

19

hours, six minutes and

51

seconds.

From July 13 until July

31,1929

, Forest O 'Brine and Dale

Jackson set an endurance record

of 420

hours and

21

minutes

in

the St. Louis Robin powered by a Challenger engine. This was a

company sponsored activity. When the Hunter brothers broke this

record soon after

in

a St

in

son, Jackson and O' Brine reestablished

their record, but it was disallowed for technical reasons .


10/36

Tinka Haaland were getting married at the

parsonage

north of Ridgeway. A few of

the neighbors had gathered at the

hangar

which

I had

erected

to

shelter the plane.

We made some plans.

My

brother bought

$1.00 worth of rice, and Gilbert Christen

was to practice dropping the rice and act as

bombardier. We

made

a few practice rice

drops on the metal hangar roof

and Gilbert

scored every time. There was room for a

passenger so Clarence Borseth went along.

First we flew to the parsonage a few miles

away. There was no one there so we scanned

the roads for cars. We found them on

No.9

but had to circle around to allow them time

to get to the bride's home. in the meantime,

Gilbert got airsick so Borseth had to change

seats with him to be next to the door. When

the wedding party arrived we were there

with the rice. We made several passes to be

sure we hit the target.

In another incident, the lowly barnyard

fowl guinea was used to pull

off

a stunt in

A von, Illinois.

Frank Clugsten,

the local

Chevrolet

dealer, went into the airport business on the

edge

of

Avon , Illinois in the fall

of

1929.

He became

quite

popular with his OX-5

Robin , giving his friends rides, etc .

The

town also had a country club on the oppo

site side

of

the village and in 1930

Clug

sten's

friends involved him

in

the July 4th

celebration there. The celebration commit

tee,

seeking to raise

funds for the

fire

works, conceived

the

idea of

selling

1

tickets on a raffle

of

sorts. This is

where

Frank

came

into the

pict

ure. At a given

hour, Frank flew his Robin over the coun

try club with his mechanic, Barney Rogers

and ten guineas that had numbers attached

to

their

legs.

Being careful

as

possible,

Frank maneuvered the plane low over the

grounds and Barney released the fowl.

They swooped

in ten

different

directions.

When last seen, they were heading for the

nearby cornfields. Not one was retrieved

for a $ 10 prize.

The Robin was said

to

also be

a fa

vorite among bootleggers during that time

between

their

manufacture

and the 21 st

Amendment , 1933 . Bob

Richardson of

Broken Arrow ,

Oklahoma

tells

about

his

friend Big Ed.

Big

Ed

was

not one

who would easily

talk

about

his experiences during

those

wild days, but he did have a favorite story

about one near disastrous booze hauling

trip in that Challenger Robin.

t

seems that

an Idaho Falls

bootlegger had

a need

for

a

quick supply of

whiskey

and Ed agreed to

furnish the

stuff

by air. With the rear seat

removed, the Robin

was

loaded

with a

number

of

bright shiny five gallon tin cans

of booze

and Ed took

off, heading

for a

landing

spot

just

outside

the Idaho Falls

city limits. Unfortunately, Big Ed encoun

tered a few low clouds and had some diffi

culty getting through the mountain passes

which

caused

him to arrive

at

the

secret

landing strip just before dark. He managed

to get the Robin down in one piece and un

loaded

the

booze

as

quickly

as

possible.

The

booze was

covered

with

a

tarp and

pine tree branches and Ed then took

off

to

meet his customer at the municipal airport

cafe on the other side of town.

The

local bootlegger was nowhere to

be found and it was ten a.m. the next day

before he was located. Yes, he still wanted

the supply and was willing to pay

a

pre

mium for

it.

He cranked up his 1923 Dodge

panel truck and he and Ed headed for the

cache

of booze.

To their

amazement, it

was nowhere to be seen. Ed was stunned

until he began to look

around

and finally

realized that in the darkness he had missed

the

designated landing

strip.

Instead

he

had landed

at

least a mile south of the in

tended landing site.

By now it was nearly noon and after a

frant ic search in the old truck, they finally

found

their

lost load by driving toward a

shiny reflection on the horizon. The reflec

tion was the sun shinning brightly

off

their

square tin five gallon cans which were neatly

stacked one on the other and completely de

void

of

camouflage so carefully applied the

night before. During the night a strong front

had blown through the area, taking with

it

the

tarp and all the protective tree branches, leav

ing the canned booze for all the world to see,

including cops and prohibition agents. To

make matters worse, Ed had landed some 20

yards from one of the local farm to market

roads and fairly heavy traffic had been going

by all morning.

After some consultation and much hand

wringing by the customer, they finally de-


11/36

cided

to

take

a

chance that

the law was

nowhere around and made a mad

dash

for

the pile of cans which they quickly loaded

into the truck and sped away as fast as the

old truck would take them.

Big Ed was paid

off in

a hurry and deliv

ered to the airport where he cranked up the

Robin and set a course for Monida Pass and

home, much wiser and feeling pretty lucky.

The Robin, as usual, perfOtmed perfectly.

Big Ed is gone now. He missed Oshkosh,

Blakesburg, Bartlesville, Merced, Lakeland

and all the other great places where knowl

edgeable people still love and appreciate the

ssembling the Robin

The Robin assembly line

n

St Louis on

what is now Lambert International


12/36

You say you re itching to get going on your rib stitchin' , but your buddies are all out fishing

or

re-or

ganizing their stamp collection when you call for help? And every time you try to flip one

ofthose

wing

panels over, your cat Rex takes offence at being moved from the top

of

the wing and hangs on upside

down with his claws buried in your freshly laid Dacron? Is that what s

troubling you, bunky?

Then step right up and dust off that welding torch, because you can so lve you problem with this handy

setup for a rotating wing jig Using some tubing and a couple

of

wheels from the hardware store, you ll

be able to spin yo

ur

wing panels around with the greatest

of

ease

Here

s a

you have to do, as shown in these pictures:

I.\ 4l

These

four

shots

show

the overall

composit ion of the rotating wing

j ig

built by

Denny Marshall of Pasadena

CA.

Denny

was

rebuilding

a Stagger-

wing and

worked

up his own version of

this tool.

Using

the

two

interplane

strut

attach points and the

spar

root

end

fit-

tings

the wing can be easily positioned

by rolling the

hoop

on the wheels and

turning about the single axle mounted

at

the root.


13/36

The

j ig

uses

3/4

conduit

rolled

into

a

64 dia.

circle.

(64 was

used for

this

j ig

based

on the chord

of

the Stag

gerwing wing, plus a bit

of

breathing

room

- you

can adjust the diameter

of the hoop somewhat,

but be careful

not

to

make

it

too

small,

or

the

stability of having

the

wheels set far apart will

be lost.)

fi::7l

The steel

was cleaned with muriac

acid to

make it weld

better. The

stand

was welded up

using square

tubing.

Look around your shop

or

the scrap

bin of

the

local machine shop for

some

suitable

steel.

If

being able

to

roll it around the shop

is important, add casters to

the stand.

In

these details, you can see

how

the spar

root

fittings are picked up

with

a

bar and

a

pair

of plates welded at the ends at the correct

distance.

A

split

tube used as the axle

bushing can be clamped

in

place

using a

bolt through

a tab.

That will lock the posi-

tion

of

the wing, and a quick

tum of

the

bolt

will release the axle.


14/36

rS \

The

conduit hoop

rests

o

a pair of ball

bearing wheels that have the

tires

cut

off. A pair of hard-

ware store bronze bushing

wheels

would

work as well.

Keeping them as far apart as

possible will help keep the as-

sembly stable while rotating

the

wing

but remember that

as you

get

them further apart

you ll cause the hoop to get

closer to the ground.

A pair of guards can be made

to retain the

hoops

in the

wheels if desired.


15/36

ows

Do you believe

in

Rainbows? You know,

the legend of the pot of gold at its end? One

of our users of the "Emergency Aircraft Re

pair" at Oshkosh believes. This repair faci l

ity for convention flyers has been a service

project

of

Chapter

7

from the Quad-Cities

of

Illinois and Iowa, USA for 35 years. Our

basic function is to get airplanes with prob

lems fixed so they can safely return home.

We

could

list

the

many

different

repairs

made during the Convention, but this year

we had one that had that "rai.nbow" ending.

Geo Hindall

didn t

even get to Oshkosh

with his 1937 Fairchild 24 before trouble

struck. He started 8 years ago to restore it.

He

made many

of

the

parts

from

scratch

using factory prints

.

One of these parts

was the right gear leg. Landing at dusk, he

heavily damaged

it

at Fond Du Lac on

a

bad landing.

The first we saw Joe, he had a borrowed

pickup truck with these twisted tubes in the

back. His dream of restoring and flying his

Fairchild to Oshkosh was still in Fond Du

Lac. As one of our personnel said .. "Looks

just

like the damage to my

Dad s

Fairchild

leg. t was a weak point in his, also. When

we

rebuilt

his

gear,

we

sleeved the front

tube

so

it would not happen again."

Could we help? Of course That s why

we come each year

The damage was at the heavy cluster

composed of

the two

down tubes

and the

axle . t was

going

to take a lot

of heat

to

even attempt to straighten and align.

Our

repair facility only has a single small torch

but

we

knew from experience where we

could borrow another. So off we

went

to

EAA maintenance, borrowing their torch on

a

trailer.

We

also make stops

in

several

places looking for tubing to sleeve and dou

by Cy

Galley

under

the

pressure

and the heat of the

torches.

Finally,

Joe the

perfectionist,

is

happy.

The

dull

red

metal

is

allowed

to

slowly cool.

Back to the pickup to return to Fond Du

Lac to do a trial fit. This time Joe

doesn t

have to talk his way back in, as Cy Galley

provides a gate pass so he can use gate 7 at

our back door.

After taking some more

measurements

off

the good left leg, Joe returns. This time

he

is

even more upset, more forlorn. He had

gotten out

his presentation

book from the

airplane

to show us pictures of

his

1937

Fairchild 24. To add insult to the injury of

his prize and

joy,

he had lost this presenta

tion

book

of

documentation

for the

plane

Then late Sunday afternoon,

it

rains, can

celing the airshow. As the rain passes over,

a fabulous rainbow forms to the East. Not

just

any rainbow, but a perfect double rain

bow. From our vantage point at the repair

building, it looked like a good omen for Joe

as one end was over his plane.

I d like to tell you that Joe won.

That

he had won a Lindy for the best Fairchild

at Oshkosh

96.

That

he

won the

pot

of

gold

at

the

end of

the

rainbow

in the pic

ture.

But

I

can t

as he

didn t. But I ll

bet

Joe will be back to try again

with

new

gear

legs for both sides.

The

Fairchild

however

carried Joe and

his wife safely home again without incident.

That was and remains the mission of

the


16/36

alrc

1

---venture

by Geo. Joe indall

DeKevin Thornton

Photos

Many of our members know that I have

been restoring a rather historic 1937

Fairchild 24-G slowly over the last 8 years.

Last year I made a commitment to finish

the darned thing and have it on the show

line of Oshkosh '96. The first advice I can

give, if you're not accustomed to being ob

sessed, don t ever make such a promise to

yourself.

It

drained me physically, socially

and financially but by George we made

it to Oshkosh.

I was more than a

month

behind my

wife Genie in going to Delaware, while I

stayed behind

in

Englewood, FL working

2 to 5 hours a day to get the 24-G to

gether and airworthy. At that point AI

Quaglieri , Gene Naples and Dave Kelce ,

Bill Zeller and myself concentrated on the

big

jobs,

leaving the little

problems

for

later. Taxi tests on July 10th, first flight on

the 12th, fuel consumption test flights on

the 14th.

Small things like

an

irritating oil

leak, fuel gauges that didn t work very

well, a right mag that was intermittently

dropping more than the left and a Loran

that J didn

t

know how

to use

were

all

things that I could overcome later. So, .

These

three views of

Geo.

Joe Hindall's

1937 Fairchild 24-G

show off his exceptional

workmanship and attention

to

the little things that make

up a

grand restoration. The

airplane is restored as it was

painted

during its

service

in the Civil Air Patrol during

WWII.


17/36

eral oil, work on what we thought were the

oil leaks, some spit and polish, fabrication

of two cabin fresh

air

vents for the roll up

windows and a good GPS flight plan , we

had to wait most of the morning for the fog

to lift on August 1st, opening day.

Once we got to the Chesapeake Bay the

weather opened

up

and we had beautiful

flying weather.

Through

the

OCAIBAL

VFR

corridor, across

West

Virginia, S.W.

Pennsylvania , Ohio, (we fueled

just

west of

the

Ohio River at Cadiz with 80 octane )

and on across northern Indiana were we fu

eled again at Michigan City.

Time

was running out

on

the Oshkosh

curfew and we

decided to fly

across the

lake to Chicago to save a little time. The

52-year-old 185 HP Warner was running

we ll and what the heck, we had done it sev

era l times before.

Head winds

of give or

take ten knots had slowed

out

progress all

day and as we were approaching Milwau

kee

it became apparent that 8:30 p.m .

would leave us far short of our destination.

Fond Ou Lac, here we come.

Joe and

Genie

Hindall after

all

had been

forth to Fond Ou Lac to get on with the re

pair whatever it may amount

to .

What

a

Godsend that truck was

.

Friday morning

we were back in Fond Ou Lac and had the

gear

off by noon.

After

lunch we were at

the Emergency Aircraft Repair Facility op

erated by

EAA

Chapter 75 of Rock Island,

ILL and chaired by Cy Galley.

Cy

has

put together a fabulously tal

ented team

from as

far away

as

Colorado

.

Not

only were they talented craftsmen and

technicians, but psychologists too. I think

that my spirit was probably twisted worse

than the gear. Recognizing that, the whole

crew set to work fixing me first.

Working with them

,

we set about de

signing the repair procedure , locating the

materials and torches and building a screw

jack

stretcher tool.

Saturday morning everything and every

body

was in place and the stretching and

straightening got started. Sunday morning

it was back down to Fond Ou Lac to fit the

gear and make

final

measurements

for fit

and alignment. The problem here was try-


18/36

The complete

flare

system is in

stalled , including the

tubes

and

the control

panel

in the cockpit .

Long since

i l legal to

us e , the

tubes are blocked

off

using

a

tr

io

of plastic

baseballs

The cockpit of

the

Fairchild is a won -

derful reminder

of

the

Golden

Days of

Aviation

, w i

th

some

modern

ameni

-

t ies added. The beaut

i

ful wood

grained instrument

panel

over

lay

might

look famil iar

to those of you

who

have been members for a while.

It was

the panel finished by "Wood

grain By Estes," as detailed in an arti

cle

published in Vintage Airplane in

February 1993. The right side panel

can

be

neatly covered

up

with a simi-

lar woodgrained

panel which

has

a

vintage radio faceplate installed.

Even

the round-faced

Loran can be

covered

by an ashtray faceplate


19/36


20/36

As we ve mentioned in the past, a num-

ber

of

the airplanes that fa ll in the Contem-

porary

classification

of

Antique/Classic

judging are sti11 working airplanes. Most of

those work part of the time, and then are al-

lowed to accompany their owners for plea-

sure trips. Wayne and Janice Strader, Ard-

more

OK

are

a pair

of high

school

sweethearts who use their hard working

18

for both pleasure and work. Janice and

Wayne are Oklahoma cattle ranchers, and

like many of their neighbors, the Straders

have a private strip as part of their property.

Hopping in the 180 and heading

off

to a

neighbors for breakfast is a regular occur-

rence for those who live in areas where the

distance from

homestead

to

homestead

measured in miles instead

of

feet. With it

so handy, they try to fly it every day, as long

as the weather will let them.

A short hop to the neighbors or to the

city is not the only thing the Straders have

done with airplanes, though. Wayne, who

is a strictly VFR pilot, has had aircraft un-

der his command as far north as the Arctic

Ocean and south past the Tropic

of

Cancer

nearly

to

the Yucatan Peninsula, exploring

old Mexico.

The

trip to the Arctic Ocean in 1988

took him north to the Great Slave Lake in

the Northwest Territories, then northwest,

following the Mackenzie river to Norman

We ll s and Inuvik, culminating at Tuktoy-

aktuk near the Beaufort Sea. At that time,

Wayne was flying a Cessna 182, and as

Often

f lown

as

a

two-place

airplane

with lots

of baggage

(or

camping

equipment) the

Straders enjoy

using

their

180

locally and

for

long distance

cruising.


21/36

much as he liked the airplane, a friend of

hi

s who accompanied him on his trip had a

180, and Wayne really liked his airplane.

He kept it

in

mind until later, when he be

gan

to

look for a 180. He searched for over

a year and a half before seeing N9776B.

Billy Copeland

of

Paris

,

TX had the

180, and had done an excellent job keeping

the Cessna up

to

par. At a great little fly-in

at Red Claw in Texas, Wayne and Janice

saw the airplane for the first time. Wayne

made an offer a bit below the asking price,

and told Billy that he 'd give him a little bit

infectious smile,

it

was obvious

she's a

morning person when we caught up with

her as the morning dew was still evaporat

ing from the Sun 'n

Fun grounds. Janice

was busy folding the tent and packing the

campsite, and was effervescent even before

she had eaten her breakfast She also puts

some of her

energy

in

keeping the

180

looking

sharp

- there

wasn't

a

bug

or oil

smear anywhere on the airplane, and she

kept after it each morning so the dew and

dust would not muss up the nice looking

blue and white color scheme.

Janice hit the appropriate button on the Lo

ran and gave Wayne a heading to the near

est airport, only eight miles away. An un

eventful

forced

landing

with

about

10%

engine power was accomplished at Helms

Sevier airport, and the newly installed , yel

low-tagged carburetor

was

removed

and

disassembled. A piece of metal was found

in

the

je t

, and the float was dragging

in

the

just overhauled

carbo

So much for feeling

confident behind a newly overhauled carb

from that shop

The folks at DeQueen were just great to


22/36


23/36


24/36

while

I

was running

a

hand mower back

and forth in Mrs . Miller's back yard. She

had

already handed

me two silver dollars

for

that month's

lawn care. I

hadjust

switched the coins from

my sweaty

palm

into a

trouser pocket when

a

new yellow

plane caught my eye as it banked for a

tum

onto final. I recognized it as the plane be

ing used for $1.75 rides

advertised

on a

sign newly erected

on a fence in front

of

the FBO.

I finished cutting the grass, went home

to clean up, and rode my bike to the airport.

The sound

of

silver settling onto a glass

countertop mellowed

Dora

considerably.

She called a pilot-mechanic and he led me

to the aircraft. A line boy gave us a prop.

Excitement mounted as the pilot held clear

of

a taxi strip with the nose of the aircraft

facing the control tower. A controller shot

us a green light. We taxied to a runway

with a huge "30 " painted on it.

Another

green light sent us on our way.

The

marvelous panorama

that met my

gaze just seconds

after

liftoff amazed me .

"What a sight," I thought as we reached 600

feet on what amounted to one fairly wide cir

cuit

of

a left traffic pattern. On downwind

leg

my

eyes followed familiar streets until I

located our house, the lawn I'd mown, and a

f w

other landmarks. Looking ahead, I could

see the downtown area and beyond.

The pleasant illusions associated with get

ting high were apparent. We seemed to be

moving slowly even though the ship's air

first

of

many earned trips with larger doses

of thrills. I became delirious with euphoria

as hundreds of horses roared , taking my

awe-struck senses above

a

deck of scat

tered clouds. ]n that new and strange realm,

the irresistible urge to

get

high as often as

possible got into my blood and I had no de

sire to seek a cure.

During December

of that year

,

the

Japanese

bombed Pearl Harbor.

As

I

passed through puberty, 75 percent of

America's WW pilots served as my role

models by using Piper Cubs for their first

highs. Meanwhile , a war fueled economy

lined

my pockets with hard earned cash.

Thousands

of

Cubs, Cessnas

and

other

ideal vehicles for getting high donned olive

drab disguises and operated under assumed

names as they left factories and went

off

to

war. Left behind were Curtiss Robins and

other planes too old for the war but spunky

enough to get a teen high.

My big

break, however, didn't come

about until my

junior

year in high school.

The

war

ended and

many

aircraft returned

to civilian life, including the famous L-4 or

Piper J-3. A physician I caddied for told

me

about

a

new flying service that had

been established at a remote airfield south

west of town. The place sounded perfect.

There was no control tower to bother with.

Rental rates and taxi time were minimal,

and none

of

my mother ' s spies were likely

to stumble across the place.

I recall leaving home on a weekday at

plenty

of

guides explaining everything. I

then joined a few of those congenial hangar

fliers for lunch in the airport's cozy diner

where they introduced me to Bruce Wetzel,

a flight instructor and former Navy flier.

Chain

0 Lakes'

answer to the grouchy

Doras of this world was Betty, the cute, pe

tite,

young

lady who ran the office. She

sold me some required text books, sched

uled

my

first

J-3

lesson with Bruce

in

NC9847I for June I, 1947, and said that 30

minutes of dual would cost me $4.50.

Two months and

just

under seven flight

hours later, Bruce Wetzel turned me loose

to

get high on my own.

I

could write

a

small book about that memorable event.

Suffice it to say that taking

off

to the north

west

without

the bulk of

an instructor

blocking

my view of the instruments left

me

with

a

marvelous

feeling.

NC6216H

leaped off the ground and climbed like a

homesick angel. Every fiber of my being

went on high alert.

My instructor

had a

few anxious

mo

ments when he saw me leave the pattern

from

downwind

leg. Anxiety,

however

,

turned

to

pride when

he

noticed that

the

wind

direction

had changed.

I

turned

around and entered the pattern for two ad

ditional full stop landings to the southwest.

A friendly group of airport regulars met

me at the ramp and cut a piece of material

from my shirttail. While

my

instructor

recorded my name and July 25, 1947 on

it

,

others brought me a nickel Coke, a couple


25/36

ing my first solo, a flight examiner kept me

up for 50

minutes

in

NC7304H. During

that

check ride for a

private

license , we

wore parachutes because of the spins and

other precision maneuvers I had to perform

to

his satisfaction. My favorite drills, how

ever, were spot landings and the power off

720 approaches that commenced directly

overhead at 1500 feet.

The

J-3 performed

beautifully that day, and I was hot. I still

recall the examiner s instructions to plan a

high approach for the landing that signaled

the end of the test. On final I slipped

over

and past some tall trees for a short landing

to the southeast .

My second year of

flying (June

1948

through June 1949) was marked by a record

indulgence

in

my

favorite habit.

During

that year, I added seven different models

of

aircraft to my list

of

vehicles that took me

away from

earthbound

realities. All of

them were destined to be

classified

as ei

ther Antiques

or

Classics by future genera

tions. Nevertheless, s andwiched between

flights in four models

of

the new

or

nearly

new

PA-II, PA-12,

PA-15

and PA-16

planes, I managed to squeeze in more than

a dozen Cub flights.

Quite

naturally, cu

riosity drove me to also try Ercoupes with

various powerplants, the lone Aeronca C 3

on the field,

and

a

brand new single

seat

Mooney Mite.

The

latter tiny aircraft had

retractable landing gear.

On

my third

flight, it collapsed on touchdown.

Chuck

Post

replaced the

wooden

prop, fixed the

next year

didn t

change my attitude toward

my first love at all. Shortly after discharge

from the service

in

May

of

1953,

I bor

rowed NC98248

from a

young lady who

owned a pet skunk. Then, for

just

ten min

utes, I

exposed

Nancy

and

our

II

day old

infant son to a

baby bear

hop . We

didn

t

get very high before the droning Continen

tal

engine

put

Dennis

to

sleep

. On a later

flight

in

the

same

plane also

flown

from

Mishawaka, Indiana

s

Cadet Field

, I

learned the ideal age for a

baby s

first high,

that is, four months.

Dennis

was all

eyes

and

he

grinned broadly when

he

wasn

t

looking

just

plain awe-struck .

Life

became

more complicated after

that. We lived close to an airport north of

Elkhart

that was loaded with

Cessnas

of

every description:

120s, 140s, 170As

,

170Bs and even 195s. I soon learned that

Jim

Hanley s

Flying Service had important

connections with the government. Through

his dealership, they picked up

75

percent of

the tab for supporting a

veteran s

habit. I

all but overdosed on flying during the next

eight months

of

indulgence in Cessnas.

I

did

enough spins in N2132V, a 120,

to make a

beginner dizzy. Its

85

horses

rushed me

through

a series

of uppers

and

downers until

I

developed the knack

for

entering

a

spin

on

a

north heading

,

mak

ing just

two turns

,

and recovering

on the

same heading.

I used the 140s for

cross-country

trips

and night landings

.

Both N3607V and

me on a couple hops in his Cessna 195, the

largest,

most

comfortable, and fastest sin

gle engine taildragger for miles around.

All of that intensive indulgence in get

ting high led to a

dependence

on

Cessnas

as strong as my attachment to Pipers. That,

in

turn, led to the inevitable mix of punish

ment and reward.

A flight examiner from South Bend in

tercepted

me

at

the

Goshen airport

in the

heart

ofIndiana s rich, flat, Amish farm

land. The rules called for the ominous rit

ual of

donning parachutes

.

Then

Mr. Pe

terson put me through a grueling, one hour

and 55 minute check ride.

Fatigue gave way to elation as the mes

sage that I had passed sank

in

. Overjoyed

beyond words, I watched with eager antici

pation as the

examiner

wrote me a tempo

rary

commercial ticket. That

, of

course

,

qualified me to push highs for a profit.

To

hone my skills further, I headed for

American

Flyers

in

Texas

and

learned to

stay high on

instruments .

After three

weeks

of

ground school and pretend flying

in a

link

trainer, I spent a

week

flying in

some nifty Cessna 170A taildraggers fitted

with a bunch

of

black boxes that replaced

their back

seats.

t

was great

sport

to fly

blind

with airliner

avionics

:

dual every

thing

pushed to

outer markers and

down

glideslopes by

45

horses.

The

following

year some older

flying

junkies with oodles

of

experience began to

get me higher

on

larger

more powerful


26/36

Rental Cubs were becoming scarce

and

my fixed copilot salary wouldn ' t

cover

the

co

st of ownership. I searched and found

NC3597N at Mettetal Airport in the Detroit

suburb

of Plymouth. During a

balmy and

clear day off, I took

my

three

year old

son

up for a color tour as a preclude to having a

talk with him

about the

welling belly

that

was changing his mother's shape.

What

a relief We flew with the

doors

open, and Dennis got some stick time while

I secretly assisted him with the rudders. He

enjoyed the ride as only the typical fearless

toddler can. Through his

jabbering

I gath

ered that

the

Cub was

living up to the

ex

pectations

I d

prepared

him

for. By the

time we landed, baby

bears were

in his

blood and he wanted more.

I paid for

the flight while some

young

girls mothered Dennis. Then the two

of

us

left and strolled in and around hangars and

planes while

we

had our little talk about

human

reproduction

- as

opposed

to the

usual birds

and

bees

malarkey and

other

wild allegations. Dennis

happily

accepted

the facts of life with nonchalance and con

fessed

that

he wanted a sister because

Mom already has a boy."

The

colors peaked the next

week

so we

rented the same plane, visited the same ice

cream parlor, and talked about the ultimate

high- to reminisce about chugging along

at 75 mph with the throttle set at 1900 rpm.

We both knew that nothing could

compare

to a low

altitude

run with an

endless

encourage young pilots, saying , " He started

here on Cubs Here 's the solo cloth we cut

from his shirt1ail," etc .

As time passed and responsibilities in

creased

at

home and on

the jo b , the

chore

of

keeping logbooks bulged

with

entries

soon

took

its toll on my record-keeping

habits.

I stopped recording the names of

stewardesses when I began to fly larger air

craft that

carried

several

of

them ,

some

joining

or leaving

a flight at intermediate

stops. In 1958 I took a

cue

from a

pioneer

who had soloed before I was born and quit

my

habit

of jotting

down

the number of

takeoffs and landings I performed. By that

time, Captains were either delegating me to

do half

of

them

or

more than my share.

My

daughter, Brenda , reached the age

of four months about the

same

time that

I

got the

chance

to fly

N3525V,

a

plush

Cessna 140

from

Wayne County

Airport

(airlines were still

using

Willow Run). In

my

mind it seemed

fitting to

expose

my

feminine, blond

and

blue-eyed offspring to

getting high

in

a shiny, silver, magic carpet

with a fine figure and a lovely cabin.

The

wife held

the baby in her

lap.

Brenda

remained awake and alert for the

entire flight. She

seemed

to enjoy

hearing

conversations over the ship's radio speaker,

and it amused us as she swiveled her head,

taking in everything with awe. Occasion

ally she glanced at me and grinned.

The log

entry

for

Brenda's first plane

ride also marked the end of recording

first solo.

The

control tower

operator's

in

structions perked

my

undivided

attention

and made my day.

" Beechcraft-seven-two-victor, extend your

downwind

to

follow a Piper Cub on final."

My heart jumped with

joy

as I strained to

catch sight of a gleaming yellow plane below

and to my left. My, what a beautiful sight

"

Roger

, tower. I

have

the

traffic

in

sight. Is she based here?"

"That' s affirmative, seven-two-victor."

After

landing

, I rushed over to the Cub

and intercepted her owner. I lured him into

my aircraft and we enjoyed

some heavy

hangar flying. He was so impressed with the

cockpit

of that G-18-S Twin Beech in mint

condition that he greeted my urge to fly his J

3 with great amusement. I assured him that

flying

either a

Twin Beech or

a

DC-3 re

minded me

of

flying a J-3 in many ways. In

addition, I shared a recent remark made by a

former airline colleague while we sat in the

cockpit

ofa Boeing 747. I had asked, " How

does she handle, Jim?"

"Like a Piper Cub, Bob," he replied with a

wistful look. She's a gigantic J-3. You re

member those, don't you?"

The owner of the J-3 was spellbound as I

went on to relate how the minds

of

two gray

beards drifted from the cockpit of a jumbo

jet

back to the small planes that had

drawn

us

into their cockpits during the days of our

youth.

There's little doubt that

my

true tale

caused the young Piper J-3 owner to develop


27/36

yNorm

etersen

Pictured

(below, right) is veteran munition were successfully delivered

to

the

EAAer, Erik MaLmmose (EAA 165539) of

Danish Underground.

Faaborg, Denmark , who as an active mem E rik

Malmmose, whose

wife,

Heddy,

ber of the Danish Underground in WW Il, was also in the Danish Underground, ran a

was the munitions rece iver for a scheduled crop spraying operation in

Denmark for

weapons drop on the night

of

May 7, 1944, forty

years before the envi

ronm

enta

lists

at a large farm estate ca

ll

ed Rugaard

just

clo

sed

the

operation

down.

Retired

to a

a few miles west ofOdense, Denmark. beautiful farm with its own landing strip,

On the right

is Mackey

Barron from

he l

oves

to fly his

Piper

L-4

Cub

and has

Connecticut, who was the co-pilot on a

B been

a

member of the

KZ

Veteranfly

24 Liberator bomber flying out of England,

Klubben (KZ Antique Airp

lan e

Club)

that made the succe

ss f

ul weapons drop at for over

15

years.

Mackey and Erik

Rugaard that fateful

night

in May, 1944.

Following

the low

altitude

(300

feet)

weapons

drop, the

B-24 turned west and

was int

ercepted and shot down

ov

er

Jut

land ,

Denmark,

by a Junkers

JU-88.

Mackey Barron survived the crash

to

spend

the rest of the war in a German Stalag Luft

prisoner

of

war camp.

Fifty-two years later, the young man in


28/36

WH T OUR

MEMBERS RE RESTORING

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - b y N o r ~

Petersen

Ole lindhardt s

Z

VII

l ~ r k e

This photo

of

a 1947 Danish KZ VII La:rke (Lark), registered OY-ABL in Denmark, SIN

171

, and owned by Ole Lind

hardt (EAA 435510, lC 20881) of Helsinge, Denmark, was sent in by Peer Slmtt of Nordborg, Denma

rk

. One of 56 KZ

VII built by Kramme Zeuthen in the 1947-49 period , OY-ABL is a U-4 model with a

125

hp Continental engine and 110

liter fuel capacity. With fixed wing slots, large flaps and drooped ailerons, the KZ VII

is

a true STOL aircraft with very

short takeoff and landing runs.

It

can haul four people in its large cabin with very comfortable seats, excellent visibility and a

cruise speed of

105

to 110 mph. OY-ABL was on the German register as D-EABE for a number of years before returning to

Denmark. From the production of 56 aircraft, there are just over thirty

KZ

VII remaining

in

the world today.

Helmut Tue

mm

els C

ess

na 140

This very pretty

1946

Cessna

140

N76724, SIN I 1156, is the pride and joy of

Helmut Tuemmel (EAA 526813) and his

Glen Ern

st's

Fairchild

24H

on

Edo

floa ts


29/36

Fra

nk

Ma

rici

's

NicholasBeazley

NB SL

This photo would come under the clas

si fication of " rare " This pretty red and

yellow parasol is a 1931 Nicholas-Beazley

NB-8L,

NC538Y, SN

K-24,

two-place,

s ide-by-side trainer belonging to Frank

Marici, M.D. , of Roslyn Estates, Long Is

land, NY. Originally, the NB-8B

was

powered with a five-cylinder Armstrong

Siddeley "Genet" engine

of

80 hp. Frank

replaced the Genet with a 90 hp Lambert

R-266

engine

installed

under

an

STC

which made the airplane an NB-8L. Once

all the paperwork was completed, the flight

trials began - and trouble started. An un

fortunate engine failure resulted in a forced

landing with extensive damage to the air

frame. The airplane has since been rebuilt

and should be re-covered by the time you

read this. When everything is ready for

flight once more, Frank has promised vet

eran aviation photographer, Howard Levy,

a chance for full blown coverage with air

to-air pictures and the works. We

can

hardly wait This NB-8L is one

of

six re

maining on the U. S. register.

This pretty photo of a 1937 Fairchild 24H,

registered CF-BKB in Canada, carrying Serial

Number

3218, and mounted on a set

of

Edo

2425 floats, was sent in by Glen Ernst (EAA

480972 , AIC 23523) of

Temecula

, CA. The

pretty yellow and green Fairchild, with only

1059 hours since new and with 336 hours on a

factory new Ranger engine, was eventually

so ld on wheels to another Canadian owner.

The Edo 2425 floats were sold in Sacamento,

CA, for

a

Stinson

108

installation and the

struts and rigging were sold

in

Fresno, CA, for

another Fairchild 24H float installation . This

very airplane, which was NCI6909 before em

igrating to Canada many years ago, is pictured

on

whee

ls in

Juptner

's

Volume

7, page

11

8.

Glen has since purchased a Cessna 180 on PK

3000 floats

to

satisfy the urge to fly off water.

Dave Perschau's Stearman PT-17

Da ve and Donna Persc hau (EAA

130944, A IC 22382)

of

Glencoe,

Min


30/36

Annual Inspection

I have just finished two owner assisted

Annuals. What lea rning experiences The

first was a learning experience on my part.

This individual soloed in a Champ when

he was

J

6; he has been around

Aeronca

7 ACs since. He is now 50 years old.

The learning experience was MINE. I

was absolutely amazed at his

depth

of

knowledge about hi s

Champ'

Although

the logbooks didn ' t indicate how much he

cared and tended for this machine, it was

quite evident that his experience level far

exceeded the ordinary individual.

I gave him the check list and explained

to him what my part was going to be (su

pervising,

of

course), and then the

inspection and the list

of

discrepan

cies that I would provide, and then

the final inspection.

I got a phone call, not exactly a

nuisance call, but it took me away for

about 10 to

15

minutes while I talked

to

a fellow antiquer about metal tanks

in an

Aeronca Sedan. When

I

got

back to the project I

was amazed!

The inspection plates were

off

and

arranged in neat order on the table,

the engine cowling was almost off,

and the belly was opened up.

PASSdk

BUCK

by E.E. "Buck" Hilbert

EAA #21 Ale #5

P.O. Box 424, Union, IL 60180

in the belly, an old set

of

earplugs and a beat

up ball-point pen and some oil saturation in

the firewall

sound

proofing , and the EL T

failure to pass the part 91 inspection. The

battery was OK but the darned thing

wouldn't activate. We ordered a new one.

The

second

Annual wasn't quite the

same. This was a PA-20 Pacer that I have

cleane

st log

book

s

I'd

seen in a long time.

This guy

is so

meticulou

s he

gives me

an

inferiority complex, but on with the story.

Another antiquer and homebuilder fri end,

who listened to me exhort the value and the

condition

of this

neat

little machine, ex-

pressed great interest. He agonized over

it

for

about two weeks. He tried to justify buying

it, couldn't, but after his family looked at it

and his daughter said,

"Ge

e, Dad, now we

can FLY up to Oshkosh and

camp

under

the wing while I volunteer to work at the

Wearhouse with Mrs. Hilbert ," that did it!

He took it.

One

of the reaso ns it was a

bargain

,

among others,

wa s

that

it

came

to us

needing the annual. We started by my

giving him the books on the airplane. In

cidentally, it

came

with a very

complete

set

of

manuals and exemplary paperwork

file, and I told him to get into them.

This one called for close atten-

tion ; this was the new owner's first

annual. I explained how to remove

the inspection plates and he lea

rn ed

very quickly to keep

hi

s finger out of

the way of that spring as he snapped

one. That got his attention

Anyway,

so me

13

hours later

,

we were reading the list of discrep

ancies and talking about the need to

do a wax job. It was a learning ex

perience for both of us. Here was a

true pilot who,

even

though he had

Here s

this

month s Mystery Plane,

again coming from the E Archives.


31/36

A small biplane,

we

dont have much to

go on for information here in the Boe-

ing Aeronautical Library. Any takers

out there? If so , youll want to get your

replies in by March 25,1997

for

inclu-

sion in

the

May issue of Vintage Air-

plane.

by H.C. Fra

ut

schy

Not much

is

know about the November

Mystery

Plane.

t is the

Lanzius L

II

, rebuilt

after the L I crashed. Its special feature was

its variable angle of incidence wing , listed

as

varying

as

much

as

15. Only one reference

was

listed

in

bibliographies

of

the early days

of aviation, a reference

to the

ad we've

repro-

duced on this page .

Professor Lanzius is not listed in Who ' s

Who

of

aviation nor

is

the airplane listed

anywhere but

in

one entry

in

the 1917 issue

of

Jane's All The Worlds Aircraft.

No

photo was published in that issue, and by

1920

no listing was even made for the com

pany, which had an address

in

the Singer

building on Broadway in New York City.

Both the L [ and L

II

used the 140 hp Due

senberg engine, and were listed

as

weighing

in

at 1 400

and

1 200

Ibs respectively.

Apparently, the Lanzius' variable inci

dence wing(s) were a complete failure, (it

broke

up

in flight , killing the pilot)

as

we

never read anything about the Professor or

about

the

airplane again.

John Underwood , Glendale , CA and

Leonard E. Opdyke were the only ones who

sent in a note with the airplane's J.D.

Leonard mentioned that his magazine,

WW

[ AERO, will have a article

on

Prof.

George Lanzius and his four designs

in

the

February issue. [fyou'd

like

to subscribe

to

WW [AERO, call them

at 914

473 3679.

WELCOME


32/36

N W MEM ERS

,

Fly In

Calendar

The

following

li

st o coming events is fur

nished to our readers as a matter o

information only and does not constitute

approval, sponsorship, involvement, control

or direction

o

any event fly-in, seminars,

fly

market, etc.) listed. Please send the

information to fAA, Aft: Golda Cox, P.O.

Box 3086, Oshkosh WI 54903-3086.

Information should be received four months

prior to the event date.

REGIONAL

l

-INS

JU l

Y 9-13 - ARLINGTON, WA - Northwest

Reg

ional Fly-In

-

Call Barbara Lawrence,

360/435-5857.

SEPTEMBER 6- 7 - MAR I

ON

, O H -

Mid

Eastern EAA Fly-In (M ERFI . Call L

ou

Lindeman,

573/849-9455.

OCTOBER 9-12 - MESA, AZ - Copperstate

Fly-In.

Ca ll

Bob Hasson, 520/228-5480.

OCTOBER 10-12

- EV

ER

GREEN, AL

Sou theast Regional Fly- I

n. Ca

ll Haro ld

Bubba Hamiter, 334/765-9109.

OCTOBER

10-12

-

WILM

I

NGTON

, DE -

Eas

t Coast EAA Fly- In.

Ca ll Andrew

Alvarez, 302/738-8883.

OCTOBER 17-19 - KE RR VILLE, TX

Southwest Regional Fl y- In. Call Stu

McCurdy, 5 2/388-7399.

FEBRUARY

28

-

MARCH

2 -

39th Ann

ual

Cactus Fly-In sponsored by Arizona Antique

Aircraft

Association at Casa Grande, AZ.

Contact

John En

g

le

602/830-9670.

APRil 6-12 - LAKELAND, FL - 23rd Annua l Sun

'n Fun

EAA

Fly-In and Convention. 813/644

2431.

APRil

26 -

LEVELLAND,

TX

-

EAA

Chapter

19

Fly-In breakfast.

8-10

a.m. I

nfo:

Ca ll Bob

Stites, 806/

794-5961

or Lome Sharp,

806/793-3202.

APRil 27

-

HALF MOON

BA Y,

CA - 7th

Annual Pacific Coast Dream Machines, bene

fit for the Coastside Adult Day Health Center.

Ke

nn

e

th

M . Asb ury

.... .......

...

.

..

..........Simp

so

nvill

e, SC

Monte

L.

Ausmus

.

...

.............. ...............

...

Lamar, CO

John D. Baird

.....

.. ................. .. .W adestown, WV

Richard G. Bernard

....

..

....

..

................. Enumclaw, W A

K.

M.

Blank

s,

Jr.

............. .... ......Newport News,VA

Geo r

ge

F.

Br

ewer

....... .

..

...

..

............

..

..Ev

ergr

ee

n,

CO

Dave H. Bultz

...

.

...

..... ........... Indepe

nd

ence,MO

Ian Burnett

.. ..

....

..

Reading, Berkshire,

En

gland

JamesM . Burr

........................... Kansas Cit

y,

MO

Andre

Ca

rollo ..........Vacavill

e,

CA

Roger W . Clark ....... Longmont, CO

Ri

cha

rd

F.

Colton

.

Chino

Hill s,

CA

Joe M . Contreras ......

...

..Freson , CA

Jo

hn Fr

anklin C

ru

chelow

.... .. ............... ...........Ca rrollton, TX

Christoph Des trignevi ie

.....

.......Mandres Les Roses, France

St

ephen

E

D

ye

r ........Brighton, CO

Th omas F. Egge rt ........ .

Wi

chita, KS

Terry L.

Enm

ark.......

Stou

ghton, WI

Marion

L

Fi

sher

.... .... ........... .. .Port Town send,

WA

Raymond C. Gould ,

Jr

.

.... .. ............ .. ............Fort Plain, NY

Robert Gow

........ .. ...Wyeva le, Alberta, Ca nada

Christopher Grege rsen

...

............... .... .....

...

Burnsv il l

e,MN

D

av

id

L

Harsh ..... .

...

.Daniel

s,WV

Sco

tt A.

Hint

on ..........

..

Mobil

e,

AL

Alvin W . Iddings......... Pitca irn, PA

MAY

24 - DECA TUR

, AL

-

(KDCU)

EAA

Chapter

947 9th Annual Fly-In . Food, fun, aircraft

judg

ing. For more information contact Dick

Todd, 205/971-4060

or

205/96 1-4540 (work).

Ron

Janzen

............Coaldal

e,

Albert

a, Ca

nada

Paul L. K

ru

se

..

..

.............. Co

lf

ax,

IL

Lawrence Lugten .. ..

...

.Holland, MI

Edu ardo

O.

Lur

ag

hi

.. ......................... .. ...Issaquah, WA

Ted M arch................. .. .Fallon, NV

Ch

a

rl es

W. McConnell

..

Salem, SC

Mi

chae l

R.Mundt..

.... .Denison, IA

Stephen J. O' Donn ell .....Viol a,WI

Peter M. Ogt ...Frankfort, Germ any

Br

ent A .

Ow

ens ...W

es

tervil l

e,

OH

Rick Paul ....Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

Mi

chae l A. Pea r

ce

..Silve rdale,WA

Joel V. Perry ............... Raleigh, NC

Byron C Pete

rson

.............. .... ........... Collinsville, OK

Stephan L Pier

ce

. ... .

.. ..

..

...

............

Br

ec kenrid

ge,

TX

Dav

id

Pike .. ................. EI Paso, TX

Jo

ao B. Poubel .........

Nit

eroi,

Braz

il

W ayne Rawn ........Cos hocton, OH

JohnJ. Salter ...

.. ..

Hamptst

ea

d, NH

Mike P. Sarsfield

......... .. ...... ..

... ...

Lawrenceville, GA

Peder C Serkl a

nd

.......... .................

Misso

uri Cit

y, TX

JohnA. Shea rer ....Chapel Hill , NC

Athos Storchi

...

.. ....Novellara, Italy

Christine M . Stulik

.... .................. N

ew

port Beach, CA

W ayne A. Stull ...... ... .... Lenexa, KS

Gordon G. Swan

so

n

...

Eve rett,

WA

Hal Todd .................. Rock Hill, SC

Donald W . Trett .... ...

Be

llevue, WA

W aco Hi sto

ri

ca l Soc iet

y,

Inc.

.... ............. .

...

...............

..

.T

roy,O

H

Phillip Wilkins ... .....Boonvill

e,

NC

J. F.

Willi

amson

.. .. ..

Shreveport, LA

MarkA. Yokers.. ....Hamilton, OH

JUNE 15 - ANDERSON

, IN

- Anderson

Mu

ni

cipal Airport.

EAA

Chapter 226 Father's

Day Fly- In breakfast, 7 a.m. - 17 a.m. For info

ca ll Larry Rice, 317/649-8690.


33/36

MEMBERSHIP

INFORMATION

EAA

Membership

in

the Experimental Aircraft

Association,

Inc. is

$35

for

one

year

,

including

12

issues

o SPORT AVIATION. Family membership

is available for an

additional

$10 annually.

Junior

Membership (under 19 years o age) is available

at $20 annually.

All major

credit cards

accepted

for membership.

ANTIQUE/CLASSIC

Current

EAA members

may join the Antique/

Classic Division and receive VINTAGE AIR

PLANE

magazine

for

an

additional

$2

vintage airplane - feb 1997

Documents