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February1997 Vol. 25,No.

2
CONTENTS
I Straight & Level
Espie"Butch" Joyce
2A/CNewslH. G.Frautschy
3 Aeromail
4TheAerogram/Trisha Dorl ac
6Robin'sNest/
Jim Haynes
10 Rotatin' WingJig
13Rainbows/CyGall ey
14 FairchildAdventure/
GeoHindall
17Workin' I80/H.G. Frautschy
21GettingHigh/Bob Hi ggins
25 FiftyTwoYearsBetween/
Nom1 Petersen
26 WhatOurMembers
AreRestori ng/Norm Petersen
28 PassItToBuck!
E.E."Buck" Hilbert
29 MysteryPlane/
H.G.Frautschy
30WelcomeNewMembers/
Calendar
31Vi ntage TraderlMember ship
Infor mation
FRONTCOVER ...The northshoreoflakeParkerin Lakeland. FL is familiartothosewhofly
totheSun ' nFunFly-In eachyear. WayneStrader.a rancherwhoflieshisairplaneoffhis
ownstripoutsideofArdmore.OK flieshisnewlyacquiredCessna 180northfromthecity.
wellaboveIheVFR arrivalcorridorfortheFlyln. EAAphotobyPhil High. shotwitha
CanonEOS-lnequippedwithan80-2oommlens. 1/250sec@fll on 100ASAslidefilm.
Cessna210photoplaneflownbyBruceMoore.

BACKCOVER ...'CuttingThe Cord" is thelilleofthischarcoaldrawingdonebyAndy
George. 10WoodyKnollRd.. Thornville. OH 43076. Andy. age16. wasoneoftheYoulh
as.
DivisionenlrantsinIhe1996EMSportAvialionArtCompelition. Hisverynicelooking
drawing.depiclingthelastwordsbetweenaninstructorandhisstudentbeforeturning
himloosetosolo. wonAndya youthAward.
Copyright 1997 bytheEAAAntique/Classic Division Inc.All rightsreserved.
VINTAGEAIRPLANE (ISSN 0091-6943) is published and owned exclusively by the EAA Antique/Classic Division, Inc. of the Experimental
Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EAA Aviation Center, 3000 Poberezny Rd., P.O. Box 3086,Oshkosh, Wisconsin 549033086.
PeriodicalsPostagepaidatOshkosh, Wisconsin 54901 and at mailingoffices.Themembershiprate for EAA Antique/Classic Division,
Inc.is$27.00forcurrent EAAmembersfor 12 monthperiodofwhich$15.00 isfor thepublicationofVINTAGEAIRPLANE. Membershipisopen
toallwhoareinterestedinaviation.
POSTMASTER:Send address changes to EAAAntique/Classic Division,Inc.,P.O. Box 3086,Oshkosh,WI 54903-3086. FOREIGN ANDAPO
ADDRESSES- PleaseallowatleasttwomonthsfordeliveryofVINTAGEAIRPLANEtoforeignandAPOaddressesviasurfacemait.
ADVERTISING - Antique/Classic Division does not guarantee orendorse any productoffered through the advertising. We inviteconstructive
criticismandwelcomeanyreportofinferiormerchandiseobtainedthroughouradvertisingsothatcorrectivemeasurescan betaken.
EDITORIALPOLICY: Readersareencouraged to stories and photographs. Policyopinions expressed in articlesare solelythose ofthe
authors. Responsibilityforaccuracyinreportingrestsentirelywiththecontributor.Norenumeration ismade.
Materialshouldbesentto: Editor,VINTAGEAIRPLANE,P.O. Box3086, Oshkosh,WI54903-3086. Phone414/426-4800.
The words EAA,ULTRALIGHT,FLY WITH THE FIRST TEAM,SPORT AVIATION and the logos of EAA,EAA INTERNATIONAL
CONVENTION,EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION,INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB,WARBIRDS OF AMERICA are registered
trademarks.THE EAASKYSHOPPE and logos ofthe EAAAVIATION FOUNOATION and EAAULTRALIGHTCONVENTION are lrademar1<s
oftheaboveassocialionsandtheiruse byanypersonotherthantheaboveassociationisstrictly
Page6
EDITORIALSTAFF
Publisher
Tom Poberezny
Editor-in-Chief
JackCox
Edifor
HenryG. Frautschy
ManagingEditor
GoldaCox
ArtDirector
MikeDrucks
ComputerGraphicSpecialists
Olivial.Phillip Jenniferlarsen
MaryPremeau
AssociateEditor
NormPetersen
FeatureWriter
DennisParks
StaffPhotographers
JimKoepnick leeAnnAbrams
Ken Uchtenburg
Advertising/EditorialAssistant
IsabelleWiske
EAAANTIQUE/CLASSICDIVISION,INC.
OFFICERS
President Vice-President
Espie"Butch"Joyce GeorgeDaubner
P.O.Box35584 2448LoughLane
Greensboro,NC27425 Hartford,WI53027
910/ 393-0344 414/6735885
Secretary Treasurer
SteveNesse CharlesHarris
2009HighlandAve. 7215East46thSt.
AlbertLea, MN56007 Tulsa. OK 74145
507/373-1674 918/622-8400
DIRECTORS
John GeneMorris
7645EchoPointRd. 115CSteveCourtR.R.2
CannonFalls, MN5fIXR Roanoke,TX 76262
507/263-2414 817/491-9110
Phil Coulson
RobertC."Bob"Brauer
28415SpringbrookDr.
9345S.Hoyne
Lawton,MI49065
Chicago,IL60620
616/624-6490
312/779-2105
JoeDickey
JohnS.Copeland
55OakeyAv.
28-3WilliamsburgCI.
Lawrenceburg, IN47025
Shrewsbury,MA01545
812/537-9354
508/842-7867
DaleA. Gustafson
StanGomoll
7724ShadyHill Dr.
104290thLane,NE
Indianapolis, IN 46278
Minneapolis,MN55434
317/293-4430
612/784-1172
RobertUckteig
JeannieHill
1708BayOaksDr.
P.O.Box328
AlbertLea, MN56007
Harvard, IL60033
507/373-2922
815/9437205
DeanRichardson
RobertD."Bob"Lumley
6701 ColonyDr.
1265South 124thSt.
Madison.WI 53717
Brookfield, WI 53005
608/833-1291
414/782-2633
S.H. 'Wes"Schmid
GeoffRobison
2359LefeberAvenue
1521 E.MacGregorDr.
Wouwatosa,WI53213
NewHaven,IN 46774
414/771-1545
219/493-4724
GeorgeYork
181 SlobodaAv.
Mansfield,OH 44906
419/529-4378
DIRECTOREMERITUS
E.E."Buck"Hilbert
P.O.Box424
Union, IL60180
815/923-4591
ADVISORS
SteveKrog RogerGomoll
930TaraHLE 3238VicoriaSt.N
Hartford,WI 53027 StPaul, MN55126
414/966-7627 612/484-2303
Page14
Page17
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. It 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
number of applications pending, the Chap-
ters add a lot to the AlC experience.
Unless you've had the honor of holding
an officers position in a Chapter, you may
not be aware of the amount of volunteer time
that goes into running a Chapter. Participa-
tion levels vary from Chapter to Chapter -
some are more like a social organization,
holding meetings with refreshments, or hav-
ing some form of an interesting program for
all to enjoy. Some Chapters are more tech-
nically oriented, and are often a group with
aircraft projects in progress.
Meetings may move from project to pro-
ject, with members receiving advice from
their fellow members on a particular restora-
tion technique . There are also Chapter
restoration projects. It takes a close knit and
by Espie "Butch" Joyce
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 all ofthe 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 t he
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 their hand and express your
gratitude for the job they are doing. It's al-
ways amazing how 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 tell 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 leadership. 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
HQ if you wish at 414/426-4828.
It might be frigid now, but Sun 'n Fun
' 97 is only two and a half months away.
Billy Henderson, their Executive Director,
reports they continue to make improvements
in the fly-in site and he invites all
Antique/Classic members to come and visit
the fly-in - they've put in an order for good
weather!
Antique/ Classic Chapter I runs the An-
tique/Classic Headquarters building, with a
Type Club tent located right beside the
building. Check in with them and enjoy the
weather and their great fi sh fry - check the
date so you can be sure to be there for some
great catfish.
The Headquarters building is completely
run on volunteer power. Are you seeing a
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, AIC 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
having to shoot an instrument approach on
one engine in poor weather.
Even the wind fought him, requiring a
change of runways after shooting the ap-
proach.
Thanks to George's cool professionalism,
everything worked out fine, and the newspa-
per reports in the Milwaukee Journal-Sen-
tinel the next day were written up in a posi-
tive way. Tom Poberezny said this "When
so much media coverage focuses on tragic
aviation incidents/accidents, it ' s nice to see
professionalism recognized." J agree!
You can all help your Division by asking
a friend to join up with us Let's all pull in
the same direction for the good of aviation.
Remember, we are better together. Join us
and have it all! ...
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1
A/C NEWS
compiled by H.G. Frautschy
EAA Antique/Classic Division
Home Page
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~ t - ? . SPl'C' :IIt\
lTolllr (. IOUIl'
80 OCTANE AI RPORTS
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
send Convention information.
Send your note to EAA, Vintage Air-
plane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-
3086. No phone calls, please, but you can
fax your listing to 414/426-4828 or E-mail
it to vintage@eaa.org.
STINSON AERODROME REUNION
'Tis almost fly-in season, and many are
thinking ahead , putting their events to-
gether so things progress smoothly. One of
the early birds has been Marcia Gietz of
Houston, TX. Marcia talked to us in 1995
about a fly-in she was planning for the
Spring of this year in San Antonio, TX .
Taking place April 30 - May 4, at Stinson
Field, the Stinson Aerodrome Reunion will
feature seminars on various Stinson topics,
2 FEBRUARY 1997
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 VIA TION "URBAN LEGENDS"
Most of you have heard by now of the
passing of pioneer aviation Elrey Jeppesen,
who helped early pilots who flew for a liv-
ing make it through safely by keeping
meticulous notes on each airport he visited.
Eventually, he turned his little black note-
book into a multi-million dollar business.
Unfortunately, in all of the writing done
surrounding his passing, there has been an
oft repeated phrase that has taken on a life
of its own. In the Associated Press story
regarding Elrey, they repeated something
mentioned in error by the P.R. Director of
Jeppesen/Sanderson. In that story and the
many others written since his passing, men-
tion is made in various ways to the effect
that he flew with a pilot's license issued by
the government that was signed by Orville
Wright.
To set the record straight, Orville Wright
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 access 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
r equested areas. Let us know what
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 other 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-
longing to the U. S. Figure Skating
Association allows one to compete at lo-
cal levels all the way to qualification for
the Olympics. In aviation, belonging to
the SSA or lAC and competing in sanc-
tioned competitions allows one to set in-
ternational records under the auspices of
the FAr.
Of course, this small error by people other
than Elrey in no way diminishes the accom-
plishments of his long career, but these types
of things seem to take on a life of their own,
and people believe it - after all , it was pub-
lished in the New York Times. Besides,
knowing this neat little bit of aviation trivia
might come in handy during a friendly wager
on the airport fence one day!
VINTAGE
ero
HALTERMANWIREFAILURE
DearHenry,
Iread with great interestthearticlewrittenbyJohn Halterman re-
garding the roll wirefailure on his Waco. Johnand Ispentconsider-
able timeexaminingthe failed wireat Bartlesvilleanhourorsobe-
fore histragicaccident. Heplacedthe shortsectionofthefailed wire
in thebaggagecompartmentjustpriorto thecrash.
Weimportand distribute the Brunton line ofaircraftwires, there-
fore Ihad considerableinterestin the failure mechanism. Bruntons
AeroProductshas beenmanufacturingaircraftwiressince 1909!
The failed wirewas notmanufacturedbyBruntonsofScotland.
The failure was notcausedbya material defectandwasaclassic
exampleofan overstresscondition. Thewire had failed ashortdis-
tance from the roundto streamlinetransition,which is theareathat
all wiresfail when tested to destruction. An overstresscondition
withductilematerialssuchasthe 316stainlessresults in a necked
downsectionasthe material exceedsits elastic limit with further
elongationin the neckeddownareauntil the tensile limitis reached,
atwhichtimethe wirefails. This is an extremelyrare failure mecha-
nism for aircraftwires.
IimmediatelycalledBruntonsto seeiftheywereawareofany
similarfailures. Theyhad not experiencedany failuresofthistype.
IthencalledBobEdelsteinofClassicAircraftwhohadasimilarfail-
ure in his desk, also a roll wirefrom oneoftheirYMF-5 Wacos,
whichmightsuggestamarginalsize for thatapplication.
Whenoneexaminesthe function ofrol1 wires, it is easyto see
thatthey take the total twisting loadsoftheentirewingsystemifa
hard landingoccursononewheel. Most,but not al1, roll wires have
aroundsectionunderthe sheetmetal to minimizethepossibilityof
thestreamlinesectionschafingat thecrosspoint.
Subsequentconversationswith someofourseaplanecustomers
revealed thatoverstress failures occuroccasional1ywith float instal-
lationsas waterlandingscancreatesomehighshock loads.
It is appropriateto review thewire manufacturingprocessas well
as somebasicmaterial propertiesforaircrafttierods.
Al1 Bruntonproducts which features the strongerrolledthreads
startwithcenterlessgrindingofthe surfaceto removeal1 surfacede-
fects. Therods arethencoldworkedto thedesiredprofile,eitherthe
familiarstreamline(lenticular)shapeorthe reduced roundsectionas
in the 7xx seriesoftie rods. All threadsare rolled,which further in-
creasestensilestrengthandprovidesexcellentsurface finish.
The inspection process 100percentinspectsall physical dimen-
sionsand 100percentproofloadsall wires to 60 percentofMINI-
MUM tensilestrength requirements. Onesamplefrom eachorderis
alsotestedto destruction. Qualitycertificatesare provided withall
ordersandare maintained.
Priorto WW II,mostaircraftwireswere manufactured from car-
bonsteel whichwas eitherpaintedorcadmiumplated. Thesewires
succumbedto the elementsquicklyand rusted and pittedbadly. I
haveexaminednumerouswiresstill in service thatquite frankly are
anaccidentwaitingto happen. Stainlesssteel ofthe 316serieshas
beencommonly used sincethe War. This typeofstainlesshas ulti-
matetensilestrengthsgreaterthan 100,000poundspersquare inch
with yieldstrengths from 50 to 80 percentofthis value, depending
ontheamountofcoldworking.
All ductile materialsoncestressedbeyond theirelastic limitbe-
comepermanentlydeformedand in thecaseofaircraftwiresarecon-
sideredscrap. Forthis reasonaprudentdesignerwouldnotdesign to
morethanabout50percentofrated strength. Properpreloading is
determined bythe airframemanufacturerandwil1 typicallyrun 10to
30 percentofratedstrength. Properpreloading is measuredwith a
tensiometer.
Wirefailures, although rare,do happenand the followingseemto
bethe keyreasons forfailure:
I. Vibrationandflappingdue to impropertensioning
2. Nickinduced failures whenusingaluminumjavelins
3. Asymmetrical loadingofduplicatewires
4. Saltcorrosionpittingcausingstressrisers
5. Landingshockloads(overstress)
6. Aerobatic loads(overstress)
7. Materialdefects.
Ihopetheabovewill clarifythe Halterman wire failure incident
and alsohelpto betterunderstandthemanufacturingandtestingof
aircraftwires. Ihaveenclosedoneofourflyers that hassomevalu-
able technical data thatmaybeofsome interesttoantiquerestorers.
Verytrulyyours,
HaleWallace
SteenAero Lab,Inc.
1210AirportRoad
Marion,NC28752
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 ofthe failure, and that he'd get back to
me iffurther clarification was needed. The lettering in the flyer
would be too small to read ifit were reproduced here so ifyou'd like
a copy ofSteen Aero Lab's flyer describing the aircraft streamline
and round tie rods, and threaded clevis type terminals, send them a
self addressed, stamped legal size envelope (SASE) at the address
noted above. - HGF
CHAMBERLIN
RECALLED
Ienjoyed yourar-
ticle on Clarence
Chamberlin in your
latest Vintage Air-
planemagazine, and
read it overanumber
oftimes. Tam send-
ingyouapicturepost
card whichtheygave
you afteraflight with
him in hisCurtiss Condor. There is a briefhistoryofhim on the
backofthe card. Icannotgivetheexactdate,bit it had to be in the
slimmerof1938 or '39atthe Kalamazoo, MI airport. Ican still feel
the vibrations from those CurtissConquerorenginesas wetookoff
and wentaround the patterngettinga good viewofthecity,I also
gota rideoffthi ssameairportthis pastsummerin aFordTrimotor.
Thoseoldairplanessuregetto you. Kalamazoohasavery goodair-
craftmuseumon theairport.
In the slimmerof1924on atrip to Chicago in a ModelT Ford
touringcar,my father stoppedatan abandoned farm house some-
where in Indianathathad an outhouse. Myyoungerbrotherand I
spottedaCurtissJenny in alargeopen field nearby,and that 'swhere
we headed. It wason perfectshapebutthe propandstickhad been
removedto keepanyone from foolingwithit.
Iwould again like to seea 1919 MartinB-1 Bomber. Theyare a
lot like the Condorbut have two400hp Libertyengines, and four
wheel landinggear,also opencockpits.
Ihaveanothercardsoyoucankeepthisone.
Sincerely,
ArthurKrotz
EAA42983
NC 23805
Allegan, MI
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3
HEAEROGRAM
by
Patricia
"Tri sh"
Dorlac
Thisarticle is acontinua-
tion in aseries written about
volunteers at Oshkosh. This
month Iam proud to intro-
duceyou to the staffofthe
Aerogram, Sarahand Bill
Marcyand Earl Nicholas,
Co-Editorsand Publishers
whorun afull timeoperation
at Oshkosh, putting out
seven issues,totalingover
7500 copiesdistributed in
oneweek!
The newsletter started
eightyearsagoas two pages
with Phyllis Braueras editor
and publisherandhassince
grown to eightpages. Seri-
ouscommitmentand dedica- Geoff Robison and George Daubner present Bill and Sarah with the 1995 "Backstage" Volunteers of
tion are required to putto-
the Year Award, recognizing the time and effort they have contributed to the Antique/Classic Divi-
sion as Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Aerogram.
gethera newsletterofthis
qualityandthesecharacteris-
tics are found in Sarah,Bill
andEarl.
EarlNicholashas beena partofthe
Aerogramsinceit'sconception,literally
providingthecomputersforthe operation.
He bringsthemeveryyearfrom hishome
town ofBarrington, Illinois where he
teaches fifth gradeandalsoworks in his
family's businessdoingelectrical contract-
ingandremodeling. Earl belongstothe
StickandRudderClubin Waukegan,aclub
known forbeingthe world'soldestand
largest non-profitflyingclub, wherehe has
servedaspresident. Hehasbeenvolunteer-
ing for theAntique/Classic Division forfif-
teen yearsas abiker,aswell as workingon
the Aerogram. Earl isan original computer
nerdandcanstill programin machine lan-
guage! He is ourchiefcomputerengineer
and we would be lostwithouthim andhis
giftofcomingup with the rightwords for
all situations,henceearninghimthe title,
"EarlthePearlofWisdom."
Bill and Sarah Marcy head back to the Aerogram HQ after getting the scoop on the
Bill Marcy learned to fly beforehe
latest goings-on on the AlC flightline.
learnedto drive. Whenhewasjustnine
years oldhe builtaplaneto fly offoneof
the cliffs in Californiabutdecidedagainst
Jenny Dyke. He was recruited byJ im staysactive with EAA all yearwith Chap-
manningthe initial flight atthe lastmo-
Thompsonfor the Division as an airplane ter30I in Coloradowherehehasheldmost
ment! He'shasbeencomingto Oshkosh
parkerin 1979andmovedto the informa- officesoverthe past twelveyears. He'll
for twentyyears, beginninghistouras a
tionboothwith BobBrauer, beforehead- beserving his fourth yearasPresident in
volunteergiving ladies' flight line toursfor
ing offto workon the Aerogram. Bi ll 1997. Ifresumes were requiredto fill
4 FEBRUARY 1997
(Left) Earl Ni cholas 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 beat! 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 schooling in Cali 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
reall y missed out! Bill also received the
Major Achievement A ward for Outstand-
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, " Whil e Gordon Baxter is well
known as the Mark Twain of modern day
general aviation, Bill Marcy is known in
Antique Classic as the Mark Twain at the
South end of the field."
Sarah Marcy is the "Copy Editor Chi ef,"
or as she calls herself, the head proofreader
and typist. Sarah started out seven years
ago as a typist for the Aerogram. She re-
tired from the aerospace industry and is cur-
rently an active golfer and as Bill describes
her, "An excellent navigator!" They keep a
1947 Navion, which is currently undergo-
ing some changes, at Centennial Airport in
Denver, Colorado. Bill is developing a tur-
bocharger and they are building a new ex-
haust manifold and baffle system, hoping to
fl y it to Oshkosh this year. Without Sarah's
experti se, the Aerogram would not be!
In addition to the three "full -timers," the
Aerogram is fortunate to have several other
guest writers. Our newest unofficial volun-
teer is Jason Hartwi g who started out as a
runner and we all ended up working for
him. He earned the honorary title, "Editor
at Large" this year and wrote three articles
and even illustrated some cartoons. Look
for this yo ung perso n again nex t yea r!
Phyllis Brauer still writes and contributes
wonderful pictures. Kent O ' Kelly from
Colorado and of Short Winged Piper fame
passes on some excellent articles every year
Rich Clements, Lei gh Robinson and Dan
Cal fee all have written articles in the past.
Anna Osborn, our Manpower Chairman,
has written humorous articles on li fe at
Oshkosh and articles regarding women in
aviation. The Aerogram staff welcomes ar-
ticl es about life at Oshkosh and topics that
are of interest to the Antique Classic mem-
bers. If you would like to share your exper-
tise regarding rebuilding your plane, fabri c
(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 the Aerogram
trailer behind the Red Barn! Maybe you
know someone who can get some specialty
parts or goes out of their way to attain the
"unattainable." Share thi s with the mem-
bership!
The Aerogram staff's goal for the future
includes preparing a pre-convention issue
availabl e a few days before the show actu-
ally begins with a map and information re-
garding where to find what you are looking
for, where to go if there is a probl em, and
other pertinent information. If you are
looking for the Aerogram next year, there
are eight di stribution points South of the
Red Bam. Hats off to Bill , Sarah and Earl
as well as to all of the contributing writers
who provide us with great information and
ent ertainment every year wit h
Antique/Classic's own AEROGRAM! ...
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5
ROBIN'S NEST
By James Haynes
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, A TC #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 #309, 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 I 920s. 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
civil aircraft manufacturing field. One myth
has it that Curtiss had in storage over 1,000
uncrated OX-5 engines and bins of parts, so
the decision was motivated by a desire to
get rid of this surplus by placing a low cost
light cabin plane on the market and still re-
alize a profit. Lost in this is the fact that be-
fore Lindbergh's flight, Curtiss already had
the Challenger engine in the design stage, a
powerplant intended for a light plane.
Whatever the motivation, Clement
Keyes, the chairman of Curtiss' Board and
the of directors ordered the Curtiss design
team of engineers to come forth with a light
cabin monoplane capable of hauling up to
three passengers and baggage. By late
1927, the Robin was undergoing wind tun-
nel testing at the Garden City, Long Island,
As the first Rob i n of the season brings you
happiness in the knowledge that spring 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 .
Buzz Kaplan's restored Curtiss Robin J6-5 was built up by Gary Underland and Buzz
during the late 1980s. Originally built as a B model, it was converted to a B-2 model with
a Tank engine in 1946. It later had a 220 hp Continental installed, before being restored
to the J-1 model. This airplane has also been fl own on Edo 2665 floats!
6 FEBRUARY 1997
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 well 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
dad and uncle, had sat in a hangar at the Curtiss Flying Service for
two years before a private owner purchase in 1931.
The Robin was popular with small operators from the begin-
ning. It provided them with a closed cabin airplane of great utility
that was less expensive than competitive airplanes. Flight instruc-
tion, air taxi and cargo were all possible in a Robin. During the
Depression years of the 1930s, used Robins were selling for as lit-
tle as $400 and parts were readily available.
The 1929 October stock market crash and the subsequent shock
waves in the business community put an almost immediate halt to
the production of new starts at the St. Louis factory . The late Ted
Gleick, production supervisor at the Curtiss Robertson factory at
the time, told this writer that he and almost everyone else on the
production floor got their pink slip on December 31, 1929. With
so many Robins in the warehouse, full parts bins, and unsold
Robins sitting on the line at the various Curtiss Flying Service
fields around the country, it did not take the company long to
"downsize." Robins were still assembled from warehouse stocks
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 Stinson, Jackson and O' Brine reestablished
their record, but it was disallowed for technical reasons.
The Key brothers, AI and Fred of Meridian, Mississippi, re-
claimed the endurance record for a Robin by staying aloft 653
hours and 34 minutes in "Ole Miss," a J6-5 powered Robin. This
flight took place from June 4, 1935 until July 1, 1935.
The most famous flight for a Robin was undoubtedly made by
the late Doug Corrigan when on July 18, 1938 he flew his $325.00
Robin B with a J6-5 engine from Floyd Bennett Field, New York
to Baldonnel, Ireland.
The Robin was also a refueler for many endurance flights . Be-
sides refuelers for the "St. Louis Robin" and "Ole Miss," another,
the "Texaco" Robin NC82H acted as a refueler for Loui se
Thaden' s Thrush in 1932.
Like many airplanes in the 1930s, the Robin was used for many
wacky stunts. One of these stories comes from the autobiography
of Clarence Kavale' s Memoirs of the Thirties.
"Winter of 1931-1932"
" My most mischievous act came on May 1 st when I scattered
rice on a young couple on their wedding day. Leon Anderson and
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7
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 t he 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. It seems that
an Idaho Fall s 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-
John Rathjen's Wright powered Curtiss J-1 Robin was flown to EAA Oshkosh '81, sporting
the familiar yellow wings and tail surfaces with an orange fuselage color scheme.
8 FEBRUARY 1997
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
old Robin.
People have asked, " Whatever happened
to all of those Robins?" The answer is prob-
ably no different than asking the same ques-
tion about any of the airplanes manufactured
during the late 1920s to the beginning of
WW II. Many of those old steel tubes went
into the scrap drives during the war. The
postwar market was flooded with new light
planes that were cheaper to operate than
those early OX-5 and radial engined ma-
chines. They suddenly became antiques.
Today there are 58 Robins that can be ac-
counted for, although some are incomplete
projects. Approximately a dozen to 15 can
be classified as airworthy and can be flown,
another dozen are static display museum
birds, eight or ten "serious" restoration pro-
Assembling the Robin
The Robin assembly line in St. Louis on
what is now Lambert International.
jects, and the rest range from a data plate and thusiasts of the Robin. The newsletter has
a few parts to complete Robins resting sub- been successful as informat ion exchange and
limely in a pile somewhere in storage. parts seeking. I t relies totally on postage do-
The Robins Nest was started about eight nations. There is no "Robin Club" in the
years ago to bring together owners and en- true sense of the word. ...
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9
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 troubli ng you, bunky?
Then step right up and dust off that welding torch, because you can solve you problem with this handy
setup for a rotating wing jig! Usi ng some tubing and a couple of wheels from the hardware store, you'll
be able to spin your wing panels around with the greatest of ease!
Here's aU you have to do, as shown in these pictures:
I.\-4l
These four shots show the overall
composition of the rotating wing jig
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.
10 FEBRUARY 1997
The jig uses 3/4"
conduit rolled into a
64" dia. circle. (64" was
used for this jig 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::7lThe 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.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11
rS-9\
The conduit hoop
rests on 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.
Variations of this theme have been seen, including one that dispensed with the stand and
used a pair of hoops, one at the strut attachments and the other at the wing root. A pair of bars
running from one hoop to the other stabilized them when they were fitted to the wings. The
wings could then be rolled back and forth on the hoops to flip them over. Drawbacks to that
design include the long bars getting in the way when you bend over to stitch the wings, and
the extra room needed for rolling the wings around. Ajig or set of jigs like this could be a
great weekend project for a Chapter. Our thanks to George York and the Staggerwing Club
for sharing these photos of Dennys jig with us. ...
12 FEBRUARY 1997
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 75 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. It 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. It 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-
ble the damaged area. We have a small sup-
ply from a wind damaged airplane but it was
only 1.5 inch tubing.
While we are looking, we reassure Joe
that we have had as many as three grand
champions that won from our repair area at
a single Convention. He decides to have it
judged, as that was his goal.
Jim Smith is our welding expert.
Overnight, he devises ajig from airplane
tubing, pipe, and all-thread to push the gear
cluster back when the tubes are slowly
heated. Joe is an A&P so he is making mea-
surements as Bob Olds, Bob Green, Neil
Pobanz, Mike Nevergall, and Ed Lealy are
holding, pushing, bending, hammering as
Jim applies the heat with both torches.
Slowly the wrinkle in the tubes disappears
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
when it fell off the tail gate of his borrowed
truck. All the pictures, all the logs, all the
articles about its war-time CAP use of his
Fairchild were gone!
Still, the plane had to be fixed, so it was
back to the welding table. The leg was re-
heated a second time to tweak the align-
ment. A gusset was welded across the re-
pair to strengthen it. The wooden fairings
were trimmed and re-installed, and the fab-
ric pulled back in place. The cuts in the fab-
ric were glued and taped. Back to the truck
and Fond Du Lac.
The next time we see Joe, he is taxiing
his beautiful Fairchild into our repair area
just one hour before the end ofjudging. The
judges descend in a whirlwind of activity.
They judge, sign off, and disappear.
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
Emergency Aircraft Repair.
As a foot note, Joe wrote us a letter of
thanks. His presentation book had been re-
turned without a scratch. The omen of the
rainbow, of striking gold, was fulfilled.
"Please pass this great news on to any of
your great group of volunteers and thank
them again for their efforts, generosity, and
encouragement. Thank you ever so much. I
will certainly continue to pass on the good
deed. Thank you, Chapter 75. Anyway, all ' s
well that ends well and your team made it
happen."
Geo. "Joe" Hindall
Fairchild 24-G, NC19173
For more from Geo Hindall' s point of
view, here's some of his thoughts on his
Oshkosh adventure . . . ...
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

alrc 1
---venture
by Geo. "Joe" Hindall
DeKevinThornton
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. Itdrained 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
12 to 15 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, .
. . on July 16th I took off with our
Siamese cat Spinner and a cargo of sup-
plies, tools , baggage and camping gear
in an antique that is three years older
than I, on a thousand mile test flight.
Three legs, 8 hours and fifty minutes in
the air, and a couple of gallons of oil later, I
made my first night landing with a motor
driven retractable landing light at Eagle
Crest Aerodrome, our home field near Re-
hoboth Beach, Delaware. Genie had orga-
nized a great welcoming party right there
in the hangar.
We both took a break from the Fairchild
obsession to visit Genie's brother and take
in some of the Olympics in Atlanta. That
was really great.
After another change of break-in min-
ThesethreeviewsofGeo."Joe"Hindall's1937Fairchild24-Gshowoffhisexceptional
workmanshipandattentiontothelittlethingsthatmakeupagrandrestoration. The
airplaneisrestoredasitwaspaintedduringitsserviceintheCivilAirPatrolduring
WWII.
14FEBRUARY1997
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
well and what the heck, we had done it sev-
eral 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.
It was dark now and the runway lights
were so bright that one could see them al-
most 30 miles out. To shorten a long story
I'd rather not remember, nine hours of fly-
ing and runway lights that were blinding
and obscuring the runway combined to
cause a bounced and botched landing that
would not track straight once on the run-
way and carried us off to the right toward
three parked aircraft and a muddy shoulder.
I could see four airplanes being turned
to scrap and the ink on my insurance check
wasn't even dry yet. On the edge of the
mud I deliberately ground looped to get her
stopped . The good Lord and the mud
grabbed the tail wheel, kept the mains on
the ground and stopped us short of disaster.
At this point we still didn't really know
Joe and Genie Hindall after all had been
made well by the men at Emergency Air-
craft Repair. Jim Smith, Bob Olds, bob
Green, Neil Pobanz, Mike Nevergall and
Ed Lealy all worked to get the Fairchild
repaired and back on its gear.
what had happened. It wasn't until I got out
and with the help of a flashlight , saw that the
right gear leg was bent at the axle socket
causing considerable reverse camber and
about 15 degrees of toe-out . With help we
were able to taxi the plane to a nearby
tiedown for the very unpleasant and sleep-
less night. We took the shuttle to the Univer-
sity dorms in Oshkosh without much to say.
I called a longtime friend that night who
works for EAA and he offered a pickup
truck for Genie and me to shuttle back and
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-
ing to make measurements from some
points that I could transfer and carry with
me back up to Oshkosh. Three different
measurements did have to be tweaked any-
place from 114" to 7/16." This became the
biggest problem back on the work bench at
the Emergency Aircraft Repair shed.
I was so confident that we had made the
final adjustments right to the number that
another volunteer on the repair team
brought some fabric repair materials out of
the trunk of his own car and I recovered the
fabric on the bottom of the gear leg.
Sunday it was back down to Fond Ou
Lac to permanently re-secure the gear and
all its fairings, struts and cable brakes and
recheck the alignment. Lee Perazzio at
Fond Ou Lac Skyport, Inc. and his whole
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15
organization were as generous and cordial
as they could be throughout this whole af-
fair. He gave me a comer of one of his pri-
mary hangars underneath an electric hoist ,
and while I had my own very complete tool
bag, he offered me tools and help as I might
need them.
As you might imagine, running one of the
two primary relievers for Oshkosh is a de-
manding 24 hour a day job for Lee and his
staff. Not once did Lee or anyone else lose
the smile of their face or their cheerful voice.
Genie had taken a lot of her time to stand
beside me and try to help every day cleaning
bugs, or grease or running errands or just read-
ing her novel and lending moral support. By
Monday morning, now the fifth of August, we
were ready to take the Fairchild on to Oshkosh.
16 FEBRUARY 1997
The complete flare system is in-
stalled, including the tubes and
the control panel in the cockpit.
Long since illegal to use, the
tubes are blocked off using a trio
of plastic baseballs!
... Finally. After settling a small account
I flew the Oshkosh arrival procedure and
Genie returned the pickup. All the fe ll ows
at the Emergency Aircraft Repair were
anxious to see the whole airplane so I tax-
ied into their compound where the judges
came to look at her and we readjusted the
right si de brake cable.
Aside from all the friends we have and
did make on this trip, a high point was meet-
ing the nephew ofC.A.P. Maj. Arthur Hyde,
the fifth owner of NC 19173 and the pilot
who flew WV Rep. Jennings Randolph on
the first flight in America on gasoline made
from coal. . . in this airplane. [ am now in
correspondence with Mr. Hyde in Hawaii.
The return tr ip to Delaware was high-
lighted by good weather and our two day
The cockpit of the Fairchild is a won-
derful reminder of the Golden Days of
Aviation, wi th some modern ameni -
ties added. The beauti ful wood
grained instrument panel overl ay
might look familiar 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!
visit with a long lost cousin near Cleveland
and a trip to the new Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame on the " new" Cleveland water front.
I! is very well done and you have to count
on spending at least half a day.
Another overnight at Hagerstown, MO
the birthplace of the Fairchild, 1070 hours
earlier in 1937, so await the clearing out of
a slow moving frontal system over the East
coast ... then it was on home and a few
days away from the plane.
EAA Oshkosh means a lot of things, but
the best have to be the people - from Bob
and Noel and their truck, to Cy Galley and
the amazing wizards in the Emergency Air-
craft Repair area, nothing can compare
with such an experience. Thanks, folks!
As we've mentioned in the past, a num-
ber of the airplanes that fall 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 180
for bot h pleasure and work. Janice and
Wayne are Oklahoma catt le 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
Well s and Inuvik, culminating at Tuktoy-
aktuk near the Beaufort Sea. At that time,
Wayne was flying a Cessna 182, and as
Oftenflownasa two-place
airplanewithlotsofbaggage
(orcampingequipment)the
Stradersenjoyusingtheir180
locallyandforlongdistance
cruising.
18FEBRUARY1997
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
of time to think about it while he went and
looked at other airplanes.
As the fly-in was winding down, Wayne
went back to Billy and asked him if he
would accept hi s offer. "You already
bought it," Billy replied.
"No, not yet," Wayne said.
"Your wife said she liked the airplane so
much she was going to pay the difference! "
Wayne says that if Janice hadn't done
that, he problably would not own the 180
today. "I had my own money and I wanted
that plane," Janice told us during Sun 'n
Fun '96.
Since that day, Wayne says the 180 is
Janice's airplane, and that he gets to fly it.
As one might expect, Janice is no Okla-
homa wall flower. A bright lady with an
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.
Wayne thought it was pretty neat that
she made it possible to buy the Cessna,
since he usually buys her fun things like
shotguns (she's a crack shot) and airplane
equipment. She's very proud ofa new
ICOM A22 and a pair of new head sets
from her pilot/husband. Their appreciation
for one another shows in their enjoyment of
each other's company - it obvious they' re
best friends, as well as husband and wife.
Janice has not soloed a taildragger, but
she does have a Student license and has
soloed a 152, 172 and the 182. Janice 's
strength is in her navigating and coolness
in an emergency, which she demonstrated
to Wayne last year during their trip to
Florida, when the engine in the 180 nearly
quit at 7,500 feet over DeQueen, Arkansas.
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 jet, 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
the Straders, helping them get around town
(the local pharmacist gave them the keys to
his truck so they could drive around to get
what they needed) and within a couple of
days they were on their way.
Wayne's adventure with the 180 was
not his first - he had experienced a forced
landing once before, and was able to land
that airplane without incident, so the sec-
ond time he was called upon to react, he
handled the situation with aplomb.
His enthusiasm for aviation has ex-
tended to lightplanes, building a modified
Raven lightplane he dubbed the "Strader
Superstol." Working 1 0 months 10-12
hours a day, powered with a water-cooled
engine, he built the radiator, fuel tank, and
many other components from scratch.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19
Mounted on a pair of home built foam filled
floats, he flies it off the local lakes, including
Lake Murray and Lake Texoma, a lake
formed behind the Denison Dam on the Red
river. At first, some of the authorities weren't
very happy with the idea of someone flying
off the water in their domain, but after speak-
ing with Bob Richardson of the SPA, they
welcomed Wayne and his floatplane. Bob
was able to explain the rights of floatplane pi-
lots to those who would restrict them without
fully understanding where their jurisdiction
ended. With the 180 and the Superstol, he
can enjoy a wide range of aviation.
Another enjoyable aspect of owning the
180 is the 180/ 185 Club. With the airplane
and the type club, they've been to Texas for
a New Year's Eve party, and a fly-in at Mal-
lard 's Landing near Atlanta, GA. Wayne i
made an interesting observation of the pilots
in the club who picked Cessna J80's as their <!i
mount. the majority of them are airline pi- J:
lots, either still flying the line or retired. It
seems that the combination of power, han-
dling and sturdiness of the airplane appeals
to these professionals.
Of course, the 180 and the 185 have been
the favorite of people who use them to fly
for a living as well. The airplane seems to
neatly define the word "utility" when it is
applied to an airframe. On skis or wheels,
on straight floats or those of the amphibious
variety, the 180 series works well with them
all. For over 40 years we've seen the air-
plane grow in terms of power and load car-
rying capability, from the 225 hp six-cylin-
der Continental to the 300 hp of the
Continental 10-520-0 in the 185F Sky-
wagon. The first 180 could carry 1030
The cockpit of the Strader' s
180 (a 1957 model 180A) is still
pretty original from the day it
was built. It now includes an
Apollo Loran, Bendix/King
Nav/Com and a transponder.
Janice' s ICOM A22 is their
backup comm radio.
Janice and Wayne Strader, Ardmore, OK
pounds as useful load, while the ' 85 185F
could haul J,636 pounds off the field. In
terms of numbers, 6193 Cessna 180's were
built from October of 1952 until production
ended for that model September 10, 1981
when construction number 18053202 was
assigned to a Cessna 180K completed on
that day. The numbers quoted here are from
the "Standard Catalog of Cessna Single En-
gine Aircraft," now in its second edition and
compiled by Jim Cavanagh, published by
Jones Publishing, lola, WI. You can buy
the book for 49.95, plus shipping and han-
dling from EAA by calling \-8001J0IN-
EAA (564-6322).
Janice and Way
son, Charles, who is now 25 years old.
Charles runs the commercial real estate side
of the family business, and while he is inter-
ested in aviation, earning his pilot's license
hasn ' t been a priority yet. According to
Wayne, he and Charles are headed back to-
wards the Arctic Circle sometime in the fu-
ture, and his son's request. The stories of
his dad 's enjoyment of the trip fueled the
younger Strader's imagination. Who knows,
perhaps he'll be a rated co-pilot for his dad!
Until then, the J80 and the Strader Superstol
will be hopping around Ardmore and the rest
of the U.S. I don't get the impression that
N9776B will be resting in a hangar for any
length of time - it's just too useful! ...
Jim Koepnick
Photos
Typically,mylifelongaddictionto us-
inganairplaneto gethighbeganatanearly
age. Sincemyparentslivedcloseto the
airportthatservedSouthBend,Indiana,it
seemed thateveryonewasdoingit. Atleast
quiteafew folks supposedlyoldenoughto
know whatthey weregetting into kept
buzzingoverourhouselowenoughtoget
myattentionandperkmy interest.
When Iwas seven, Ibecameenamored
with thefirstPiperJ-3Cubs thatrolledout
ofthe LockHaven factoryandappeared in
BendixField'straffic pattern. Mysituation
was similarto the one described by a re-
tiredairlinestewardesswho- atthe same
age- also developedan incurableurgeto
fly. Ironically, it was Elinor Smith's
motherwhotookherdaughterto aneigh-
boring farmer's fieldwheretheownerofan
old biplanewasofferingrides. Thepoor
girl washookedonthespot. Shepleaded,
by
Bob Higgins
beggedand criedfor aride,buthermother
was like mine. Sheconsidered flying dan-
gerous,afoolhardypastimefordaredevil s.
Beinganinsignificantmalechildwith a
sturdybikecertainJymade iteasierto take
up somethi.ng habitforming. Byageten or
so Icouldescapefrom my home unnoticed
and leavemymotherto herconstantmoni-
toringofmy three femalesiblings. Some-
times [' dpedaloutto StockertFlyingSer-
viceandobserveflying addictswhilemy
motheroccupied herselfwith the hopeless
taskoflookingaftermy sisters' morals.
AtfirstI had to be satisfiedwith shad-
owingpilots aftertheyhadcomedown
from trips. Ispent many idlehours in or
nearahangar, listeningtotheirtantalizing
tales. Thosestoriesfired my imagination
and strengthenedmy resolveto be like
them, butI was too youngand too poorto
do anythingexceptdreamaboutgetting
highwith them.
Hardlyanyoneexceptfor HomerStock-
ert'swifepaidmuch attentionto meat
first, andDora'sattentionwaslimitedto
runningoffthefew barefootboysbrave
enoughto lingertoocloseortoo long in
herterritory. Nevertheless,I keptreturn-
ing. In fact, I madeagameofsneaking
pastheroffice undetected, and thatseemed
to amuse herhusband,the mechanicsand
the flight instructors. In timethey beganto
run interferencefor me.
My fantasyofgoingonhighbecame re-
alityduringmy eleventhsummer. Every
detail ofthatfirstdoseetchedan indelible
imageintomy mind. Theirresistibleim-
pulsestruckme on a hothumidafternoon
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21
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
few 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-
speed indicator registered the highest speed
I'd ever traveled. Below us lay a world of
toys and everything- including a local junk-
yard- looked so nice and clean.
"No wonder people can ' t seem to get
enough ofthis," I thought. "This is wonderful."
The pilot interrupted my revelry with a
sudden exhilarating bank to the left followed
by a glide that gave me a sinking feeling.
What a rush! Much too soon, fast moving
pavement and a gentle thump signaled our
return to the drab world of normal percep-
tions. That mere five minute dose, however,
had worked wonders on my young mind. I
was hooked beyond redemption.
I never had much of a chance to tum out
differently. Washing an addict's mud
splattered Stinson Reliant netted me the
22 FEBRUARY 1997
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 11 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
dawn and pedaling for 30 minutes at a
leisurely pace to reach and examine that
small sod field. As I approached Chain 0 '
Lakes airport from the north, I spotted four
yellow Cubs tied down on the flight line. Six
others were in hangars or on cross-country
flights. Warren Oliver also supplied other
temptations there, including a rag-wing
Cessna 120, a prewar Ercoupe, an Aeronca
Champ, and a PA-12 Super Cruiser. Brand
new designs were on the horizon.
I discovered the airfield's greatest asset
when I entered the small operations-main-
tenance building, namely, the people. The
staff, rental customers and aircraft owners
all treated me like an old friend from the
start. I spent a couple happy hours brows-
ing in and around the four T -hangars with
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
hamburgers and some fries. I felt like a
member of a big happy family as we all
cheered Bruce and watched him nail my
solo cloth with others already hanging from
a cornice board in the ceiling.
Although I wasn't very fussy about what
took me up to the realm of euphoria above
ground level before or after that first solo
flight , I usually depended on my first love
until I passed the test that allowed me to take
others with me on trips. In other words, us-
ing cute little baby bears to get high eventu-
ally led to using more powerful planes. A
Cessna 120, NC89063, for example, had 20
more horses than a J-3 to get me high
quicker, and she could bring me down dizzily
with her tight spin characteristics.
On the ninth of July in the year follow-
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, sandwiched 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
glitch in the landing gear system, and de-
livered N357 A to its new owner, a travel-
ing sales manager.
Barely three years later, it was obvious I
hadn't kicked the J-3 habit. Drafted into
the army for the Korean War, I succumbed
to the temptation on a weekend pass from
Ft. Sam Houston in Texas. A local soldier
gave me a ride to Davis Airport, a small
sod field with runways built on rolling
hills. In exchange, I treated him to a one
hour thrill in NC80035. We enjoyed the
scenery during the climb to 4000 feet.
Then, at John's request, we did some loops.
A spin to a lower altitude and a scenic run
past downtown San Antonio finished a
much needed uplifting.
Marriage and the arri val of a son 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
N2222V had a vertical speed indicator in
addition to a tum and bank gauge for timed
turns and primitive instrument flights uti-
lizing needle and ball airspeed techniques.
Each also carried a radio that picked up
signals from the old-fashioned, low fre-
quency radio ranges. To learn how to use
the new VOR sets and navigate by sight in-
stead of sound, I used N3287A, N2522C
(170Bs), or N91 09A (170A).
For free effortless highs, I hitched rides
on a lumbering two engine, UC-78 Cessna.
It had a spacious cabin, and I have fond
memories of riding in that Bamboo Bomber
before termites had lunched one time too
many on its wing spars.
In looking back, I count my blessings
for the well healed local addict who took
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. It was great sport to fly
blind with airliner avionics : dual every-
thing pushed to outer markers and down
glideslopes by 145 horses.
The following year some older flying
junkies with oodles of experience began to
get me higher on larger more powerful
planes with one or more additional engines.
A sprinkling of aviation pioneers added
zest to my highs and confirmed that I
wouldn' t outgrow my habit .
Despite getting higher and higher with
greater speed and staying up there longer,
the memory of unique thrills of using small
planes kept gnawing at my mind. After
those flashbacks, I yearned to use the first
planes that had weaned me from an earth-
bound existence.
Mounting withdrawal symptoms finally
got the best of me during October of 1955. [
was attempting to enjoy the lovely autumn
foliage on long, nonstop DC-4 trips. It had
been possible to do so while hedgehopping
on DC-3 milk runs, but taking color tours on
high flying DC-4s proved less satisfying.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23
Rental Cubs were becoming scarce and
my fixed copilot salary wouldn' t cover the
cost 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
panorama of matchless scenery slowing
slipping beneath us.
The advent of steady jet flights brought
higher pay and kicks of a di fferent kind
into my life . Although not many small
planes from my past ventured into the high
density airports I began to frequent, I still
kept in contact with my friends at the sod
fields. And they loved it. The coming of
Unicom made a great difference. I' d dial
in 122.8 and all Chain 0 ' Lakes or Elkhart,
giving my altitude, groundspeed and head-
ing. They'd answer and go outside to
watch for me. After they saw me pass,
they'd call me back.
"We saw you, and it ' s good to hear from
you, Bob. "
They were sometimes able to use me to
24 FEBRUARY 1997
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 job, 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
flights made in light aircraft. Neverthe-
less, I hadn't- by any stretch of the imagi-
nation- been cured of getting high in
small planes.
General aviation changed dramatically
during the years that I spent 80 plus logged
hours each month herding large and small
airliners around the country. Cubs and
other small planes I had flown new or
nearly new long ago had become Classics
or Antiques. With graying around my tem-
ples, I had become an antique myself. Yet
the old spark was still there just waiting to
be fanned into a flame . Quite naturally I
never forgot my first love.
That became quite evident when I flew
my one and only charter flight into Burling-
ton, Vermont almost three decades after my
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
a deeper appreciation for his plane. It seemed
to give him a new perspective.
Our conversation led to short hops in both
taildraggers. He relished handling the rugged
Beech while the gear was up, and I was elated
to renew my acquaintance with an old friend
in flight. It was a special treat to watch his fi-
nesse in handling the Cub during the takeoff
and landing. For my part, the three point
landing I made in the Beech obviously im-
pressed him. Together we had recaptured an
era when airliners and small planes alike
touched down on tail wheels and dragged
them to the ramp.
In the rush and excitement, I failed to
memorize that fellow's name or his plane' s
number In all my years of flying more than
60 light planes, that remains my only regret. ....
by Norm Petersen
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- Erik Malmmose, whose wife, Heddy,
ber of the Danish Underground in WW Il, was also in the Danish Underground, ran a
was the munitions receiver for a scheduled crop spraying operation in Denmark for
weapons drop on the night of May 7, 1944, forty years before the envi ronmentali sts
at a large farm estate called "Rugaard" just closed 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 loves 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 Airplane Club)
that made the successful 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 intercepted and shot down over 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
pri soner of war camp.
Fifty-two years later, the young man in
the center of the picture, Kim Juhler, an ar-
dent Danish aviation historian, somehow
managed to track down Mackey Barron in
the U.S . and had him come to visit Erik
Malmmose in Denmark this past May.
Needless to say, it was quite a reunion for
the two old warriors who didn't get to meet
face-to-face on May 7, 1944.
To celebrate the occasion, Erik Malm-
mose loaded Mackey in the front seat of his
newly recovered Piper L-4, regi stered OY-
ECS, SIN 4627, and took off from hi s pri-
vate landing strip near Faaborg and flew
over the farm estate call ed Rugaard. Both
men felt strong tinges of emot ion as they
looked down on the peaceful farm where
exactly 52 years ago, in the dark of night,
some six canisters of small arms and am-
Erik Malmmose, Kim Juhler and Mackey Barron
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25
WHATOUR.MEMBERSARERESTORING
Petersen
Ole lindhardt's KZ VII
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, AlC 20881) of Helsinge, Denmark, was sent in by Peer Slmtt of Nordborg, Denmark. 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 Tuemmel's Cessna 140
This very pretty 1946 Cessna 140,
N76724, SIN I 1156, is the pride and joy of
Helmut Tuemmel (EAA 526813) and his
family of Greer, Sc. The airplane was re-
stored in 1993 after it nosed over during an
aborted takeoff. The restoration work was
done by McCullough Restoration in New-
berry, SC. Included in the restoration was
the installation of a jump seat in the bag-
gage area for the two Tuemmel youngsters,
ages 4 and 5. Powered with a C85-12 en-
gine swinging a metal prop, the 140 cruises
at 100 mph and has I 193 hours on the air-
frame to date. Except for the instrument
panel , the airplane is pretty much original,
right down to the Narco VOR antenna on
the cabin roof. Congrats to the Tuemmel
family on a beautiful Cessna 140.
26 FEBRUARY 1997
Glen Ernst's Fairchild 24H on Edo floats
Frank Marici's Nicholas-Beazley
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, SIN K-24, two-place,
side-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, AI C 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
sold on wheels to another Canadian owner.
The Edo 2425 float s 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 wheels in Juptner 's Volume 7, page 11 8.
G len has since purchased a Cessna 180 on PK
3000 floats to satisfy the urge to fly off water.
Dave Perschau's Stearman PT-17
Dave and Donna Persc hau (EAA
130944, AI C 22382) of Glencoe, Min-
nesota have unveil ed this recently com-
pleted 1941 Stearman PT-17, N59334, SIN
75-1606. Finished in authentic 1941 col-
ors, just as it left the factory, the PT -17
features a 220 Continental swinging a
ground adjustable metal prop. The Stear-
man was built up from bare bones by
Howard Kron (EAA 336904, AlC 27035 )
of Montevideo, MN, who also produced
the famous award-winning Stearman
"Triple Nickel" a few years back.
Howard's latest project is a bare bones
Stinson SR-6A Reliant which is in need of
a great deal of help. If you have any Stin-
son SR parts, pieces or even pictures for
sale, call Howard Kron at 320-269-6849.
Tell him Norm sent you.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27
AnnualInspection
Ihavejustfinished twoownerassisted
Annuals. Whatlearningexperiences! The
first wasa learningexperienceon my part .
Thisindividualsoloed in aChampwhen
he was J6; he has been around Aeronca
7ACssince. He is now50yearsold.
The learningexperiencewasMINE. I
wasabsolutelyamazedathis depth of
knowledgeabouthi sChamp' Although
the logbooksdidn' tindicatehowmuch he
caredandtended forthismachine, it was
quiteevidentthathis experiencelevel far
exceededtheordinaryindividual.
Igavehimthechecklistandexplained
to him what my partwasgoingto be(su-
pervising, ofcourse),and then the
inspection andthe listofdiscrepan-
ciesthatIwould provide,and then
the final inspection.
Igota phone call,notexactlya
nuisancecall,butit tookmeawayfor
about 10 to 15 minuteswhile Italked
toafellowantiqueraboutmetaltanks
in an AeroncaSedan. When Igot
back to the projectIwasamazed!
Theinspectionplateswereoffand
arrangedin neat orderon thetable,
theenginecowlingwasalmostoff,
and thebellywasopenedup.
Thetwo ofus did thecompres-
sion checkwhiletheoil wasdrain-
ing, and before Icouldcoil up the
aircompressorhose, thescreen was
outofthe engineandready for my inspec-
tion. Thisguy was ajumpaheadofmeall
the way!
Icouldgo into furtherdetail on how we
accomplished the restofthe inspection, but
the shortofit is thathe knew his airplane.
Knew it so well, and cared for it , and hi s
personal safety, that it showed. Theair-
planewasclean, he had anup-to-date listof
ADsand Service Bulletins, knewjustwhich
ones werethe recurrentones, andwhere
there werea few thingsthatneededatten-
tion. Thisone wasa pieceofcake! About
the onlything Icould find wassomedebris
28FEBRUARY 1997
PASSdk
BUCK
byE.E. "Buck"Hilbert
EAA #21 Ale #5
P.O. Box 424, Union, IL 60180
in the bell y,anoldsetofearplugsandabeat
up ball-pointpenand some oil saturation in
the firewall sound proofing, andthe ELT
failure to passthe part91 inspection. The
battery was OK but the darned thing
wouldn'tactivate. Weordereda newone.
The second Annual wasn'tquite the
same. This wasa PA-20 Pacerthat Ihave
known for about ten years. In fact , Isold
it for a friend to another friend who loved
andcherished itbeyondbelief.
Priorities change, marriage, house, re-
sponsibilities - you get the picture - and
thisguy was forced to raise some capital
and the airplane wasthe logical answer. I
found outabout itat Oshkosh, and after
ponderingthesituation fora whileand li s-
teningto all the upgrades he'dforked over
big bucks for , I decided to buy the air-
planeback,especiallywhenheofferedme
s uch an attractive price. I was getting
backan IFRcertificated Pacerwith the
cleanest logbooks I'dseen in a long time.
This guy is so meticulous he gives me an
inferioritycomplex,butonwith the story.
Anotherantiquerand homebuilderfri end,
wholistenedto meexhortthe valueandthe
conditionofthisneatlittlemachine,ex-
pressedgreatinterest. Heagonizedoverit for
abouttwoweeks. He tried tojustifybuying
it,couldn't,butafterhis family lookedatit
andhisdaughtersaid,"Gee,Dad,nowwe
can FLYupto Oshkoshand campunder
thewingwhileIvolunteerto workatthe
Wearhouse withMrs. Hilbert!,"thatdid it!
Hetook it.
One ofthe reasons it was a bargain,
amongothers, was thatit came to us
needingthe annual. We startedby my
givinghim the booksontheairplane. In-
cidentally, it camewitha verycomplete
setofmanualsandexempl arypaperwork
file,andItold him to getinto them.
Thisonecalledforcloseatten-
tion;thiswasthenewowner'sfirst
annual. Iexplainedhowto remove
the inspection platesandhe learned
veryquicklyto keephisfingeroutof
the wayofthatspringashe snapped
one. Thatgothisattention!
Anyway, some 13 hours later,
we werereadingthe listofdiscrep-
anciesand talkingaboutthe needto
doa waxjob. Itwasa learningex-
perience for both ofus. Here wasa
true pilotwho,eventhough he had
beenaroundairplanes for morethan
20years,ownedseveral,back in hi s
coll egedaysand beforefamily and
jobresponsibilities hadtakenpriority,
who was even buildingan RV-4, buthad
absolutelyNOexperience with mainte-
nance. Now, not only is he interested, but
hehashi s kids in there with him. Theson
and daughterare outthere with him as I
writethis. Whata wonderful thingtosee
those kidsas interested in the projectandas
happy asDad is tojusthave an airplane.
Hey! And I'mhappy,too! Someoneelse
"loves"an airplaneandwe havetwo new
recruits! Missionaccomplished,so it'sover
to you,
Here's this month's Mystery Plane,
again coming from the EAA Archives.
A small biplane, we don't have much to
go on for information here in the Boe-
ing Aeronautical Library. Any takers
out there? If so, you'll want to get your
replies in by March 25,1997 for inclu-
sion in the May issue of Vintage Air-
plane.
by H.C.Frautschy
Not much is know about the November
Mystery Plane. It 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.
\-\lith the manufacturing facilities of three
large factories in New York. Tennessee and
New Jersey we are in a position 10 execute
with despatch orders for the LANZIUS
CHANGEABLE ANGLE OF INCIDENCE
AIRPLANE in any type for land or water.
or for Standard and Special Design Aircraft,
either wood or steel construction. \Ve furnish
with our standard equipment Duesenberg
Motors. recognized as one of the most power-
ful and efficient Aeronautical Motors on the
market.
LANZIUS AIRCRAFT COMPANY
Executive Office.
~ 1 Singer Building, 149 Broadway,New York
Telephon... 6 7 1 ~ 7 1 1 CorUandt
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29
WELCOME
NEW MEMBERS
-, ..
Fly-In
Calendar
The following list of coming events is fur-
nished to our readers as a matter of
information only and does not constitute
approval, sponsorship, involvement, control
or direction of 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 flY-INS
JUl Y9-13 - ARLINGTON, WA - Northwest
Regional Fly-In - Call Barbara Lawrence,
360/435-5857.
SEPTEMBER 6- 7 - MARION, OH - Mid-
Eastern EAA Fly- In (M ERFI) . Call Lou
Lindeman, 573/849-9455.
OCTOBER 9-12 - MESA, AZ- Copperstate
Fly-In. Call Bob Hasson, 520/228-5480.
OCTOBER 10-12 - EVERGREEN, AL -
Southeast Regional Fly-In. Call Harold
"Bubba" Hamiter, 334/ 765-9109.
OCTOBER 10-12 - WILM INGTON, DE -
Eas t Coas t EAA Fly- In. Ca ll Andrew
Alvarez, 302/738-8883.
OCTOBER 17-19 - KERR VI LLE, TX -
Southwest Regional Fl y- I n. Call Stu
McCurdy, 512/ 388-7399.
FEBRUARY 28 - MARCH 2 - 39th Annual
Cactus Fly-In sponsored by Arizona Antique
Aircraft Association at Casa Grande, AZ.
Contact John Engle 602/830-9670.
APRil6-12 - LAKELAND, FL - 23rd Annual 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. Info: Call 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.
70 a.m. - 4p.m. $10 for adults, 5for children
under 74 and senior citizens (65 years+) Kids
under four free. For info, call 415/ 726-2328.
APRil 30 - May 4 - SAN ANTONIO, TX -
Stinson Aerodrome Reunion. Seminars, alC
judging, part swaps, and entertainment.
Come in your own airplane or fly in commer-
ciall y. Sponsored by the Southwest Stinson
Club. Call Marcia Gietz at 713/522-2456 for
information.
MAY 2-4 - ROANOKE RAPIDS, NC - Annual
Spring Fly-In, sponsored by EAA
Antique/Classic Chapter 3. All welcome. For
info contact Ray Bottom, Jr. 757-722-5056 or
Fax at 757/873-3059.
MAY 4 - DA YTON, OH - 34th Annual EAA
Chapter 48 Fly-In Breakfast at Moraine Air
Park. Lots of Antiques on the field. Contact
Jennie Dyke at 573/878-9832.
30FEBRUARY 1997
Kenneth M.Asbury
.... ....... ... ... ..........Simpsonvill e, SC
MonteL. Ausmus
.... .............. ............... ... Lamar,CO
John D. Baird
..... .. ................. .. . Wadestown,WV
Ri chard G.Bernard
.... .. .... .. .................Enumcl aw,WA
K.M. Bl anks, Jr.
............. .... ......NewportNews, VA
George F.Brewer
....... ... ... .. ............ .. .. Evergreen,CO
Dave H.Bultz
... .... ..... ..... ......Independence, MO
IanBurnett
.. ...... ..Reading, Berkshire, England
James M.Burr
...........................KansasCity, MO
AndreCaroll o..........Vacavill e, CA
RogerW.Cl ark.......Longmont,CO
Ri chard F. Colton..ChinoHill s, CA
Joe M.Contreras...... ... .. Freson,CA
John FranklinCruchelow
.... .. ............... ...........Carrollton,TX
Chri stoph Destrignevili e
..... .......Mandres Les Roses, France
StephenE. Dyer........Bri ghton,CO
Thomas F.Eggert........ . Wi chita, KS
Terry L.Enmark....... Stoughton,WI
MarionL. Fi sher
.... .... ........... .. .PortTownsend,WA
Raymond C. Gould,Jr .
.... .. ............ .. ............Fort Pl ain, NY
Robert Gow
........ .. ...Wyevale, Alberta, Canada
Chri stopherGregersen
... ............... .... ........Burnsvill e, MN
David L. Harsh..... .....Dani els, WV
ScottA. Hinton.......... .. Mobil e, AL
Alvin W.Iddings...... ...Pitcairn, PA
MAY24 - DECA TUR, AL - (KDCU) EAA Chapter
947 9th Annual Fl y-In. Food, fun, aircraft
judging. For more information contact Dick
Todd, 205/971-4060 or 205/961-4540 (work).
JUNE 1 - DEKALB, I L - De Kal b- Tay l or
Municipal Airport. EAA Chapter 241 Fl y- In
Breakfast. 7 a.m . - noon. In fo: Bernie
Simuuich, 8 75/758-8434.
JUNE 6-7 - BARTL ESVIL LE, OK - Frank Phillips
Fie l d. 1 1 t h Annual Nationa l Bipl ane
Convention and Exposi tion. For info call
Charlie Harris, Chairman, 918/622-8400,
Virgil Gaede, Expo Director, 918/336-3976.
JUNE 6-8 - SUGAR GROVE, IL - Aurora
Municipal Airport, EAA Chapter 579 Annual
Fly-In and Open House. lAC Chapter One
Heuer Classic aerobatic competition will be
held at the same time. Antique/Classic aircraft
displays, and EAA B-17 tours are scheduled.
Lunch ava ilable on Fri day, breakfast and
lunch on Saturday. For info: Alan Shackleton,
630/466-4 193, Bob Rieser, 630/466-7000,
David Monroe, 847/639-6490.
Ron Janzen
............Coaldale, Alberta, Canada
Paul L.Kruse .. .. ..............Colfax, IL
Lawrence Lugten.. ..... .Holl and,MI
EduardoO. Luraghi
.. ......................... .. ...Issaquah,WA
TedMarch................. .. .Fall on, NV
Charl es W. McConnell .. Salem,SC
Mi chael R. Mundt.. .....Deni son, IA
StephenJ.O'Donnell .....Viol a, WI
PeterM.Ogt...Frankfort,Germany
BrentA.Owens ....Westervill e, OH
Ri ckPaul....PonteVedraBeach,FL
Mi chaelA. Pearce..Sil verdale, WA
JoelV.Perry ...............Raleigh,NC
Byron C. Peterson
.............. .... ...........Collinsvill e, OK
Stephan L. Pi erce
..... ... ....... ............Breckenridge, TX
David Pike.. ................. EI Paso, TX
Joao B.Poubel.........Niteroi, Brazil
WayneRawn........Coshocton,OH
John J.Salter...... ..Hamptstead,NH
MikeP.Sarsfi eld
......... .. ...... ..... ...Lawrencevill e, GA
PederC. Serkland
.......... ........ .........Mi ssouri City, TX
John A. Shearer....Chapel Hill , NC
Athos Storchi... .. ....Novell ara, Italy
Chri stineM.Stulik
.... ..................Newport Beach,CA
WayneA.Stull...... ... ... .Lenexa, KS
GordonG.Swanson... Everett,WA
HalTodd..................RockHill ,SC
Donald W.Trett.......Bell evue, WA
Waco Hi stori calSociety, Inc.
................. .... ............... ... Troy,OH
PhillipWilkins... .....Boonvill e, NC
J.F.Willi amson.. .. ..Shreveport,LA
Mark A. Yokers .. ....Hamilton, OH
JUNE 15 - ANDERSON, I N - Anderson
Municipal Airport. EAA Chapter 226 Father's
Day Fly-In breakfast, 7 a.m. - 17 a.m. For info
call Larry Rice, 317/649-8690.
JUNE 26-29 - MT. VERNON, OH - 38th Annual
National Waco Reunion Fly-In. 513/868-0084.
JULY 30-AUGUST 5 - OSHKOSH, WI - 45th
Annual EAA Fly- In and Sport Aviation
Convention. NOTE DA Y CHANGE - Now
Wednesday through Tuesday. Wittman
Regional Airport. Contact John Burton, EAA
P.o. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086,
4 74/426-4800.
SEPTEMBER 19-20- BARTLESVILLE, OK - Frank
Phillips Field. 40th Annual Tulsa Regional
Fl y-In. For info call Charlie Harris, 918/622-
8400.
SEPTEMBER21 - HINKLEY, IL - EAA Chapter
24 1 Fall Fl y- In Breakfast. I nfo: Bernie
Simuuich, 815/758-8434.

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1920's Airspeed 4" face 0- 250 MPH $425,
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MK1 Wi ll son "Bugeye" Flying goggles $325 ,01'
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