VAA NEWS

2 VINTAGE HALLOF FAME

4 AEROMAIL
5 THIRTY FIVE YEARS ATTHE OUTER
MARKER/Dutch Redfield
8 JOE KREUTZER & CO./John Underwood
13 ANOTHER TREASURE IN THE SIERRA
MADRE/JohnUnderwood
20 PASS ITTO BUCKlE.E. "Buck" Hilbert
23 MYSTERYPLANE/H.G.Frautschy
24 WHATOUR MEMBERSARE RESTORING/
H. G. Frautschy
26 WELCOME NEW MEMBERS/
CLASSIFIED ADS
30 VINTAGE MERCHANDISE
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Publisher TOM POBEREZNY
Editor-in-Chief SCOTT SPANGLER
Editor HENRYG.FRAUTSCHY
Executive Editor MIKE DIFRISCO
Contributing Editor JOHN UNDERWOOD
BUDD DAVISSON
Art Director BETH BLANCK
Photography Staff JIM KOEPNICK
LEEANN ABRAMS
MARK SCHAIBLE
Adverlising/Editorial Assistant ISABELLEWISKE
SEE PAGE 28FOR FURTHER VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION INFORMATION
VAANEWS
compiled by H.G. Frautschy
TYPE CLUB LIST
Next month we will publish our annual
listing of type clubs which cater to Antique,
Classic and Contemporary aircraft . We've
recently received this listi ng for the Piper
Apache:
Flying Apache Assoc.
John 1. Lumley
6778 Skyline Drive
Delray Beach, FL 33446
Dues: $25.00 annually
Quarterly newsletter
561-499-111 5
THE COVERS
FRONT COVER . .. The one and
only remaining Kreutzer K-5 Air Coach
is back in the ai r again , and part of the
Yellowstone Aviation collection headed
up by Greg Herrick of Jackson, WY.
Noted aviation author John Under-
wood chronicles the life and times of
Joseph Kreutzer himself, as well as the
saga of NC612, starting on page 8.
EAA photo by Jim Koepnick, shot with
with aCanon EOS1 nequipped with an
80-220 mm lens on 100ASA Fuj i
Provia slide film . EAA Cessna 210
photo plane flown by Bruce Moore.
BACK COVER . . . "Northwest Flight"
by Jim Dietz. Painted in the mid-1980s,
this oil rendering by Jim depicts the
first flight in the Seattl e, WA area ,
which took place on March 11,1910 at
the Meadows Race Track. The site is
now part of Boeing Field . Charles K.
Hamilton , flying the Curtiss Rheims
Racer performed four flights that day,
taking up a lady passenger on one of
his tri ps.
For his finale he skimmed too
low over the standing water on the
property and provided Seattle's first
airplane crash! Ham ilton and air-
craft were both rescued , more wet
than injured.
(Our thanks to the Museum of
Flight's Senior Curator Dennis Parks
for providing the historical note on
"Northwest Flight.")
Fax 561-495-7311
E-mail: jckllum@cs.com
If you have a new club or one not in-
cluded in the January 1999 editi on of
Vi ntage Airpl ane, pl ease send in a note
with the appropriate information and we' ll
include it in the listing and on the Vintage
Aircraft Ass ociation web site at http ://
www.vintageaircraft.org
EAA HOSTS AIRCRAFT BUILDING
AND MAINTENANCE WORKSHOPS
Aircraft builders and owners who want
to enhance their own skill s are urged to
att end comprehensive weekend work-
shops at the EAA Aviation Center on Jan.
22-23, 2000.
The two-day workshops, presented by
Alexander SportAir, allow amateur builders
or those interested in beginning an airplane
project to learn the necessary skill s from
experienced instructors. Topics include In-
troduction to Aircraft Build ing; Basic
Fabric Covering; Composite Construction;
Basic Sheet Metal Construction; and Elec-
trical Wiring and Avionics. All sessions
incl ude extensive "hands-on" experience
that enhance an individual's confidence
level to begin or complete their project.
In addition, a one-day Owner's Mainte-
nance course on Saturday, Jan. 22 offers
aircraft owners of all types home built or
production models training on basic main-
tenance procedures that aircraft owners can
perform themselves. The hands-on session
includes safety wiring, maintenance items
such as spark plugs, filters and tires, as well
as proper pre-flight techniques.
"In most cases, the biggest hurdle keep-
ing a person from building or maintaining
their own ai rpl ane is a lack of confidence
arising from knowing exactly WHAT to
do or HOW to do it," said Ron Alexander,
director of the EAAlSportAir Workshops.
"These workshops are particularly useful
because peopl e learn by doing and can
then take those new-found ski ll s and con-
fidence back to thei r own building or
maintenance projects."
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty will also be
present at the event with many of the tools,
books and materials needed to build an air-
plane. A representative from Aircraft
Spruce will be available to answer ques-
tions and assist with aviation product needs.
An additional benefit of the Oshkosh
workshops is their location at the EAA
A viation Center, the home of recreational
aviation and site of the annual EAA Air-
-Continued on page 27
VAA VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR
Our congratulations to Dave Thomas, VAA Flight Line volunteer of the year, and
Operations Volunteers of the year Dave Morrow and Dave Clark (above, with VAA
Director Dale Gustafson). Honored for their commitment to the Association during EAA
AirVenture, each was presented with an engraved plaque to commemorate their dedica-
tion. Dave Thomas was unable to attend the presentation duri ng the Fall Board of
Directors meeting in Oshkosh, so Phil Blake stepped up to accept the award. Dave's pres-
ence on the flight li ne day in and day out in the heat and in the cold for many years has
earned him the gratitude of many members.
Dave Morrow and Dave Clark (dubbed the [)2 team by Dale Gustafson) have served
the membership over 15 years as ai rcraft judges.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1
Ed soloed in a Funk In early 1943 at the Kohler, WI airport, and later that same
year, his reward for cleaning up the f ixed base operator's American Eagle 101,
Waco Taperwlng and J-3 Cub was a checkout in each airplane. Joining the CPT
program in December (top, right) he served until war's end, and then worked
at the Kohler airport for a year, finishing hiS private pilot's license In 1946 This
Funk Model B was Ed's first project .
In 1959, Nadene and Randall Wegner pose for the camera
while dad sits in the cockpit of the family Fairchild 24.
Newly minted Private Pilot Ed Wegner had some great
times giving rides In a surplus PT-19. The pretty girl behind
Ed is his future wife, Isabel.
Ed won the first trophy awarded a Grand Champion Classic, presented at the Rockford EAA Fly-In in 1969. The trophy was presented for
his restoration of the only example of the Spartan Model 12. The airplane was the prototype. Over 15 airplanes have enjoyed Ed's lov-
ing care. Ed and his restorations have been presented with many awards, including the National Biplane Association's Robert P. Moore
Memorial award, awarded to a restorer who is singled out for his "Outstanding Aircraftmanship".
(Left) Ed and his longtime friend Charlie Bell with Ed's other airplane - a 1940 Fairchild 24
powered by a 200 hp Ranger. Ed's expertise With the Ranger engine IS Widely know In
Fairchild circles. HIs restoration of the 24 earned him a Antique Contemporary Age
Outstanding Closed monoplane trophy Charles Stewart photo
BLERIOT COMMENTS
DearHenry,
I havejustreadthe new issueof
VintageAirplanewithdelightas al-
ways. Iwasespeciallyinterested in the
flight reporton RogerFreeman'snew
BleriotXI.
Mytroublewithreviews likethis,
whichdescribe suchdangeriousflying
charactertisticsofanoldaeroplaneis
thattheydon'tcorrespondverywell
with flight reports of the period.
Granted, people'sexperiencein flying
aeroplanes in 1910and 1911 was notas
extensiveas manypeople'stoday, in-
cludingRoger's, buthis descriptionof
immensetail-heavinessandinstability
onthegroundjustare notmatchedby
peopleatthetime. Themachinewas
tail-heavyundercertainconditionsof
trim- wedeltwiththis atsome length
in WWIAEROoverthe pastseveral
years. Butby-and-Iargethesepre-war
machinesflew well andfast andhigh
andoverlongdistances. Chavezflew
oneovertheAlps before he hadhis
heartattack.
RememberingthatCole Palenbuilt
his CurtissPusherfrom drawingsby
Haywardanddiscoveredafterwards
thatthedrawingswereso faroffasto
makethe machineunflyable, itseems
worth lookingsharplyat the particular
layoutofthis Bleriot,theoperationof
the engine, the relationofthe engineto
thepropeller- all ofthesethingshave
madetroublefortheearlymachinesat
Rhinebeck,whenthesefactors were not
properlycoordinated.
Iwouldhateto seethese machines
describedas basicallymoreunsafeand
moreunstablethan theyseemto have
beenoriginally.
Athought,anyway.
Verybestwishes,
LeonardE. Opdycke
Publisher,WWIAeroandSkyways
LEO's comments regarding Roger's
experiences are well taken. Sam
Burgess 's article on Roger's experi-
ences with the newly constructed
Bleriot were meant to simply convey
the difficulty in accurately reproduc-
4 DECEMBER 1999
ing the flights of Pioneer aviatiors.
Differences in powerplants and air-
frame construction can wreak havoc
with the most meticulously constructed
replica, as Roger's experiences can
attest. The snapshot oftime detailed in
Sam's article was not meant to repre-
sent Roger's total experience with the
Bleriot, only some ofthe challenges he
needed to meet. - HGF
PROPer DEPARTURE
DearMr. Frautschy,
The letterfrom H. KennardPerkins
aboutthe massiveenginefailure ofthe
Cessna 190remindsme ofan almost
identical situationoutofAsburyPark-
NeptuneAirportin NewJerseyinthe
later1960s.
CharlesTeetersownedaCessna 190
withthe Continetal670engine. (The
Spec SheetsaysW670-23). Onesum-
mer day he and some friends were
westboundjustnorthofHarrisburg,PA.
Theirdiscriptionwasthattheengine
failed andas theywereglidingtheyno-
ticedthepropwasmissing.Theylanded
in acornfield, withthe onlydamage
doneto the landinggearbox.Theen-
ginehadseizedsoabruptlythatthe
crankshafthadshearedandthepropde-
parted.It hadnothittheplaneandwas
found laterthesameday,undamaged.
Theplanewas repairedand he re-
placedtheenginewith aJacobs. He
neveropenedthe engineto find the
causeofthe failure butIhavewalked
bythatengineahundredtimesand al-
waysmarveledathowsmoothlythe
crakshafthadsheared.
Sincerely,
BillyGibson
Farmingdale,NJ
APRIL'S CERTIFICATE
Hello H.G.,
Iwantedto dropyouaquicknoteto
giveyouanupdateonthe stausofApril
Stewart'sflighttraining. Asyoumay
recall, we flew our 1936J-2 "Stewart
FamilyCub"toOshkoshfor AirVen-
ture '97andAprilsoloedin the Cubin
June 1998,at theageof16. OnSeptem-
ber 15, 1999 April completed her
trainingandreceivedherPrivatePilot
liscenseatage 17. Belowis aphoto-
graphofAprilandher"ancient"Cessna
150. April tookhermother,Martha,as
herfirstpassengerina 1946J-3, stating
that"IwouldratherflytheCubthanthe
150."Aprilis nowthethirdgeneration
ofthe Stewartfamily currentlyflying.
April'sgrandfather,Bob, turned 80
thispastNovemberandstill flies his
J-2 regularly. April is a high school
seniorandplansto studymechanical
engineeringat CarnegieMellonUni-
versityorPennStateUniversitynext
fall.
Sincerely,
MarkStewart
Niskayuna,NY

I ears
att
Outer Marker
Earning a living with Sea Wings
For the next couple of months we barn-
stormed the many lakes of central New
York, working the towns and resorts along
the beautiful shores of the Finger Lakes,
Lake Ontario, and villages and towns lying
along the Erie Barge Canal.
Although we were having much fun,
and learning every day, we really weren't
doing much better than making hamburger
money, and enough more to at least buy
gasoline to keep the Waco going. But, I
must say that being my own boss was a
new and nice feeling, as well as having the
satisfaction of an occasional self-earned
dollar in my pocket.
In the meantime, Barb June, who was
helping me work the Waco, kept pestering
me about moving our base of operations to
the Adirondack Mountain area. In prior
years, Barb had experience working there
with Merrill Phoenix operating an early
model Stinson on floats. This very early
twin-float seaplane had no water rudders
and it was Barb's job, when taxiing, to po-
sition himself on the aft end of one of the
Stinson's floats during docking or beaching
operations, where he would steer the sea-
plane with a canoe paddle.
Early in July, we packed our bags and
flew the Waco northeast to her new base of
operations on Third Lake, one of the Fulton
Chain of Lakes in the central Adirondacks.
Barb's mother had a wonderful old camp
there and the F-2 was nosed up on a nearby
shaded sandy shore, secured by ropes from
her wing struts to the trees. Thus was the
beginning of several wonderfu l years of
seaplaning in this magnificent area.
Also operating his airplane in this
Adirondack area was Haro Scott, flying a
Wright J-6-7 powered, red and yellow
Waco Straight-wing three-place open bi-
plane. At the beginning of our second year
there, Scotty suggested we team up and
come work alongside of him, but it turned
out there was just not enough business to
go around and at the end of the season we
broke up and went our separate ways. In
another year I was to change our summer
base to the Thousand Islands on the St.
Lawrence River, thereafter operating in the
Adirondacks only during the spring and
fall months, when I would carry fi shing
and hunting parties back into the woods.
Scotty taught me much about seaplan-
ing and flying in the Adirondacks. He was
an exceptional and natural airman and a
fine seaplaner. I learned an awful lot just
by watching him fly , and I studied how
beautifully he handled his seaplane when
working under difficult dock and wind
conditions.
Itwas during this second summer and
whi le still working with Scotty that we
shifted operations, thereafter operating
from Scott's base at Eagle Bay and at night
keeping the F-2 tied up near Scotty's "pri-
vate hangar," which was a low concrete
highway bridge spanning a gently flowing
stream between Fourth and Fifth Lakes.
Scotty's Waco would just fit under the
bridge provided the prop was positioned
crosswise, with perhaps a foot of clearance
at the wingtips.
To get to this spot was a half-mile taxi
from where the creek emptied into Fourth
Lake. What a way to start or fmish a day of
seaplaning; taxiing with slow-turning pro-
peller around the windy creek bends with
the wingtips brushing low hanging leaves,
positioned high in the rear cockpit while
standing on the rudder pedals with elbows
on the leather cockpit coamings, smelling
and feeling the soft serenity. And the float
keels sliding gently along a barefoot or two
clear of the sun-shafted coppery brown
creek bed, with gentle eddies off the floats
stems and shifting bottom grasses marking
our passage, as did the darting minnows
and crawling crabs, alarmed by our
by Holland "Dutch" Redfield
VI NTAGE AIRPLANE 5
shadow. Scotty showed me the route once
and how to take the outside of the bends for
deeper water and how to steer around the
long-established mossy boulders and mud-
bogged old logs that were hard to pick out
in the coppery waters.
There are a myriad of Adirondack lakes
and many of those located in proximity to
mountain roads are bordered by resort ho-
tels hidden among the trees. As part of our
day's work, we would fly from one lake to
the next, working the lakefront hotel docks,
as well as small grocery store docks or state
park benches.
If the weather was good, and it was the
right time of the week for the hotel guests,
meaning perhaps that they were becoming
a little bored with midweek inactivity, or it
was too cold to swim or hike, or they were
tennis'd out-under these conditions we
could be kept very busy hopping passen-
gers from the hotel docks and at the end of
the day have our pockets bulging.
As we flew from one lake to another or
one dock to another, Barb and I would of-
ten get into disagreement on which spot we
should try next. As we flew low over the
more often than not it turned out that Barb
was right.
It was customary to announce our ar-
rival at a resort by, for some distance out,
establishing a shallow, low-powered dive
for the end of the hotel dock. Then abeam
its end, full throttle would be applied and a
pull-up made into a steep climbing, turn-
ing, wing over. At the wing over's top, and
with low airspeed, power would be re-
duced and a strong, fast descending,
sideslip entered, with sideslip recovery
made just as the flare for touchdown was
begun. The F-2 did this beautifully and
with great ease, week in and week out.
As I started the flare late one afternoon,
it was with great dismay that I discovered
the airplane was not responding to my flar-
ing control stick inputs, and before I really
knew what happened we hit the water hard
in a wing-low, nose-low ungainly bouncing
splash. It wasn't until power had been ap-
plied for recovery that I discovered that for
the last few split seconds, the control stick's
rubber grip handle, which had been loose
for some time, had finally slipped up and
off when needed most and I had been fran-
black clouds showed broad sheets of rain
falling in heavy curtains of opaqueness ad-
vancing toward us, and fast.
From our position, it appeared the
storm was still a bit west of Third Lake. I
could at anytime put the Waco down
quickly if I had to, but it was only a short
distance to the end of Fourth Lake, and
then only a few hundred yards of land and
high trees to cross and we would be at our
destination. Although I could land now, I
much preferred, if possible, to ride out
this oncoming storm with the airplane
tied down at her regular beach site, than
take a chance on riding out possibly pow-
erful winds while taxiing around in the
middle of Fourth Lake.
We kept on and were suddenly in very
heavy rain. It pelted and streamed off the
small windshields, and stung and hurt my
cheeks as with my goggled face over the
side I endeavored not to lose visual con-
tact with the surface. The heavy rain on
my goggles blurred and badly distorted
my VISIOn .
The Waco was being badly buffeted by
the storm's advancing gusts and I was busy
Sometimes, to really make his point, he would grasp the
interplane bracing wires and slowly slide himself along the
wing leading edge out to the interplane struts, with me
hollering all the way for him to come back.
lakes the entire Adirondacks surely must
have heard us as we shouted back and forth
between cockpits.
Occasionally, Barb would become ex-
asperated at my stubbornness, forcing
open the small forward cockpit door
against the strong propeller stream, easing
himself out onto the lower wing walkway
while clinging to the upper wing center
section struts, where he would then sit
down with his legs dangling down over the
lower wing's leading edge.
Sometimes, to really make his point, he
would grasp the interplane bracing wires
and slowly slide himself along the wing
leading edge out to the interplane struts,
with me hollering all the way for him to
come back in.
He would then just sit out there enjoy-
ing the view, with the tears running down
his flapping cheeks and the buttons pop-
ping from his wind bulged, puffed-out
shirt. Under such conditions, I would have
to give in to such strong convictions and
6 DECEMBER 1999
tically flying the dickens out of the
disconnected grip, the control stick itself
impassively retaining its position.
I threw the innocent grip as far as I
could, and finished up the summer with-
out one. Also, we didn't go back to that
hotel dock for a week, and then only
when certain that a new roster of guests
would be registered.
Late one muggy, hazy August afternoon
Barb and I were flying southwest down
Fourth Lake toward our home base at Third
Lake. We were only a few hundred feet
above the lake's surface and down low
there is a real appreciation of an airplane's
speed as the scenery unrolls beneath. There
is also much more of interest when flying
down low, watching fishermen reeling in a
catch from a guide boat, swimmers, pic-
nickers and boaters thinking they are alone,
etc. But the sky was rapidly getting very
dark ahead . A fast maturing mountain
thunderstorm with low, white fringed,
at the controls. There was no turning back
now because an instrumented tum, if en-
deavored, would have to be made at a very
slow rate and we' d be into the hills rising
behind the shore before completing it. A
straight-ahead climb into the lowering
clouds would put us right in the core of the
storm and even if we made it safely
through, it was the end of the day and we
were low on fuel. And then making a safe
descent back through the clouds from any-
thing but a pinpointed position in this
mountainous area would be imprudent, dif-
ficult, and hazardous.
Through the deluge something dark
loomed close ahead, then as it moved be-
low I could just make out the misted
outlines of the wing span width meander-
ing creek that connected the waters of the
two lakes. We often taxied down this creek
between Fourth and Third Lakes rather
than make a short flight. Then the darkness
below slipped behind the wing's trailing
edges and was quickly gone, and although
I was unable to see, I knew we now had to
be over Third Lake. It was small and I
knew I had to get her down, and down very
quickly, before we ran out oflake.
I side slipped the Waco to slow her and
also lose some height, but I was afraid to
continue with the slip as I couldn't make
out the water's surface in the sheeting
whiteness. The throttle was closed and we
were descending at a high rate with the
wings level and just above their stall speed
when we hit the lake's surface with the
nose high and very hard, but I was awfully
glad to be down. Barb, peering out the side
of the front cockpit, hurt his nose as we
banged on. At least we were somewhere on
Third Lake and we were safe, but we were
unable to find the shore through the sheet-
ing downpour until it began to ease off 20
minutes later. Then as the vague outline of
the dark shoreline began to appear, we rec-
ognized our dock and taxied in. Barb
rubbed his bruised nose.
What a wonderful way to now be earn-
ing a living, flying in this beautiful area.
Besides our summer operations, during
the spring and fall we would fly hunters
and fishennen back to totally isolated and
unspoiled lakes and ponds that were oth-
erwise inaccessible except by long hikes
with heavy packs, hikes that had to be of-
ten made over snow-covered mountain
trails. We would deposit our passengers
and their gear on a lakeshore, then fly
back in for them a few days or weeks
later. These spots were sparkling in their
natural beauty and it was seldom that
many deer were not bounding along the
shore as we landed.
Those considered the most desirable
ponds by my nature-loving fare paying pas-
sengers were also most apt to be the
smallest in the area. An approach to one of
these lakes might well necessitate a tree-
skimming approach across the shoreline, a
shuddering sideslip to get quickly down
near the surface, followed by an undigni-
fied and finn touchdown. When the floats
ceased planing and came bows high down
off the steps, the Waco's tail would gently
bob back to taxi attitude and the lake would
be all gone.
To get the seaplane back out of that
small pond could be a considerable chal-
lenge. The plane would be taxied as close
as possible to the upwind shore, then the
takeoff initiated with a planing step run di-
rectly downwind toward a corner of the
pond. Here, a high speed skidding tum with
the floats planing, but the wings not yet fly-
ing, would be made back into the wind, full
power applied, and in a very short distance
we'd be airborne. To avoid the high trees
ahead, a low- level climbing tum would be
immediately started, then, like the wing-
beating loon, we'd circle and circle 'till
high enough to flyaway. More than once,
as we've climbed away, I've looked down
to see if there were any pine boughs caught
in the float gear, and quite often, a deer
lashed to the floats would peer back at me
with unseeing eyes.
Most of the Adirondack lakes were at el-
evations of about 2,000 feet. The thinner
air, even at this modest height, greatly at-
tenuated the performance of the airplane
and there were many times that I wished
the F-2 had more power.
It was near the end of our second
Adirondack season that I learned of another
Waco F-2 seaplane powered by a 210 hp
Continental. This was 45 more hp than the
plane I was flying and almost double that of
the Warner engine of my first love, the
Waco F. The seller flew the airplane up to
the mountains so I could fly it.
Before, or since, I have never flown an
airplane with such nimble characteristics
and high perfonnance. As a land plane, it
had been developed by Waco for the U.S.
Navy who required a very fast-clinlbing, but
slow-flying airplane to act as a courier and
scout plane for the dirigible airships Akron
and Macon. In this Navy version, the F-2
was equipped with a large hook mounted
above the upper wing center section, and the
pilot flew so as to engage the hook with a
trapeze suspended beneath the airship, fol-
lowing which the airplane would be hoisted
into an internal hangar. The higher-powered
F-2 was known as the "Macon Scout." As a
seaplane it was also equipped with some-
what larger and more buoyant floats, which
greatly improved its water performance. It
was a powerful, magnificent airplane, and I
bought it on the spot.
Yes, yes-of course land plane flying is
great. But true joy, my landlubber friend, is
skimming over the Adirondacks ' rolling
forested hills, stretched below like an un-
ending carpet of many shades of greens,
clearing the hilltops by a few hundred feet
with another, then another breath-taking
view exploding beneath, views that hikers
and campers sometimes tramp through the
woods and over mountain trails for hours
and days to see. But for me, day after day,
one after the other, they unfold before me.
And, unlike the land plane in this hostile
terrain, such flying can be safely done as
pond after pond, lake after lake, slides be-
neath my wings. Small ponds, in-the-valley
ponds, big ponds, on the side-of-the-hill
ponds, with winding, connecting white
rapid turmoiled streams meandering
through the forests. All totally beautiful,
unspoiled and nature pure.
Many times, upon arriving over a lovely
backwoods lake, I've practiced my 720 de-
gree power off overhead approach,
spiraling down with propeller completely
stopped and engine stilled. While descend-
ing, the only sounds are those of airfoils in
unpowered gliding flight , gliding, and
banking, and swooping to a soft touchdown
on the pond' s lightly rippled, sparkling sur-
face. A fmal soft swish as the float's planing
lift fades, then she's down off the steps and
afloat. All is quiet until the small waves of
our touchdown run splash ashore, then all is
quiet again.
I rest my chin on the cockpit coaming
and the plane now drifts as she pleases in
the varying light airs. I contemplate the
beauty, the serenity, the loneness. In the
cockpit my helmet and strap-frayed gog-
gles drape over the now unfeeling control
stick, held forward under the instrument
panel by the weight of the elevators on
the tail. In the darker depths of the cock-
pit, one shiny foot-worn rudder pedal
remains depressed in the position I had
last set it to aid her aimless backward
drift. An occasional glance at the start air
pressure gauge shows it to be holding. It
could be a long walk out of here. What a
"flash in the pan" is my existence.
And how often, in just such a moun-
tain setting, have I nosed the float bows
onto a short stretch of sandy beach under
overhanging trees, stepping down from
the floats to greet and to help load the
gear of fishermen or campers who had
been anxiously waiting my arrival. And
we've climbed away from the backwoods
lake in deteriorating weather, perhaps fol-
lowing homeward a known creek bed
descending from one pond to the next ,
sometimes circling and circling at a cloud
hidden, intervening ridge, hoping for the
clouds to lift enough so we can get up and
over. What a different and ominous mood
the woods are in now . Anxiety clearly
shows as my passengers look back at me
and I am unable to convey to them, no
matter what happens, that I can put her
easily down on the tiny pond below us ,
where we can wait, maybe even 'till to-
morrow, for the weather to lift. But we
can quickly get down, and we'll be safe.
Continued Next Month in Vintage
Airplane. ......
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7
BYJOHN UNDERWOOD
EM1989
"..
. - :-..
. ;'" ..
. .
:
~ .
",.
.. ..- ...............
...r.'theremodeledK-S, f0r.merlytheprope y
oftheKinnercompany,serveCl.1l Phoenix
charteroperatorbeforegoingtoMexico
asXB-AACtofillinforXB-AHO
8 DECEMBER 1999
osef Kreutzer, born in Vienna,
had already realized the
"American dream." At 34, Joe
was the wealthy owner of a
Buick sales and service fran-
chise in Los Angeles. By the summer
of 1928, he was entertaining still
loftier ambitions, inspired largely by
Lindbergh's flight to Paris. Aviation
was the entrepreneurial new frontier
and the "smart money" was getting in
on the ground floor.
Kreutzer (pronounced Kroyt-zer)
created an aircraft division of the par-
ent Joseph Kreutzer Corporation and
hired A. J. Edwards as vice president
and general manager. A.J. had con-
vinced Joe that the possibilities were
limitless and Edwards had credibility.
After all, he'd sold what became the
most famous airplane in the world to
the then unknown Charles Lindbergh.
Kreutzer had an option to buy a
large parcel of land adjacent to the
new Culver City Airport and his mas-
ter plan for a factory complex
included an academy of aeronautics to
teach everything from manufacturing
skills to flying. Lt. Henry (Hank) Og-
den, newly hired as Kreutzer's chief
pilot, was to be the school's director.
Ogden had been one of the Douglas
World Cruisers.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9
The corporation's first order of business was to select suitable de-
signs for production. Lawrence W. Brown, an Early Bird whose
resume would eventually include several important racing aircraft,
had designed a small trirnotor that was drawing considerable interest.
It was an open-cockpit, three-seat monoplane christened the "City of
the Angels." Edwards thought it would appeal to air-minded busi-
nessmen and an Arizona corporation was interested in a larger model
to provide scheduled services to isolated mining towns.
Another model that seemed to
The first Kreutzer Air Coach, desig-
have promise was Donald Douglas'
nated TM-4, suffered from a paucity
little two-passenger Commuter. The
.....,_... of power with overrated Velies. It
Douglas company, its resources
was later converted to a duster with
the installation of a single 300 hp
fully committed to the manufacture
Wright J-6-9. That's starlet Raquel of military aircraft, had elected not
to venture into the uncharted waters

Tomes with the bottle of grape juice.

NASM photo/Parker Aviation data
of personal plane production and the
Bank E99/2174
project was for sale.
Ogden, who had close ties to the
Douglas company, is thought to have
engineered the Commuter deal. In
any event, Kreutzer acquired manu-
facturing rights for the Commuter
and the Larry Brown designs, which
included the assets of the Brown-
Mercury Aircraft Corporation.
It soon became clear that the
drafty, open-cockpit Brown-Mercury
trimotor and its four-place , single-
engine companion, now bearing the
Kreutzer SM-4 label, left much to be
Anzanis in triplicate propelled Larry Brown's
open-air Brown-Mercury "City of the Angels."
1928.
10 DECEMBER 1999
desired. Brown had other irons in the
ftre and Kreutzer had no one capable
of addressing design problems until
Albin K. Peterson presented his cre-
dentials. He was immediately
appointed vice-president and chief
engineer.
Peterson, a former naval airman
who had survived the Shenandoah
disaster, was largely self-taught, but
so was almost everyone else in the
business. He had co-created the 14-
passenger Zenith Albatross, which
was much in the news as the largest
and farthest flying trimotor in the
west, and his proposal to Kreutzer
for a scalded-down, six-passenger
version was approved late in 1928.
u:x,U1 'lTH
Day one in the life of SIN 102, March 1929.
111.OPXIJ...!:lS"
Prop maker Art Fritzen (California-Fritzen in
Jtr'ou'ue:r .I.1roratt Oorpn's. six pns.seJ:liGT,
more recent times) never forgave Joe Kreutzer
;eto..-od oabin monoplao.e. 'i:'hl, plane Ms
t!O\:lll trom 1.,03 Ant"relo:J to Dotroit tor for declaring bankruptcy before his bills were
on ptll"POSQS r.t the Detroit. Areo 3how.
paid. Art Fritzen photo
Joe Kreutzer inspects the Menasco-powered Kreutzer SM-4 while Lt. Hank Ogden makes observations from the cockpit. Art White contem-
plates the empennage.
Injust over a month from the com-
pletion of the design the prototype
Kreutzer TM-4, X-71 E, was christened
the "Air Coach" at a rollout ceremony
on Mines Field, now world famous as
LAX. Hollywood starlet Raquel Tor-
res performed the traditional
bottle-bashing ritual with grape juice.
The TM-4 proved to be a big disap-
pointment. The Velie engines, rated at
60-hp, were more on the order of 40-
50 hp. They were prone to overheating
and the TM-4's shakedown cruise,
which doubled as a honeymoon trip
for Hank Ogden and his bride, was
more like a roller coaster ride on the
Sierra Wave. With only two occu-
pants, the TM-4 barely cleared the
mountains between California and Ari-
zona. For a service test it was more an
exercise in motor-gliding.
Peterson worked furiously to up-
grade the design using the newly
introduced Le Blonds-a single 90 and
twin 60s. The result was the Kreutzer
K-2, finished just in time for the an-
nual Los Angeles Automobile Show
staged during the first week of March.
There wasn't time even for a single
test hop. The unfledged X-50 1 was
among a dozen aircraft on display, in-
cluding a pair of Lockheed Vegas and
several models offered by the Mono-
coupe company.
On the second day of the event a
blaze erupted and the show, which
was housed in circus style tents, be-
came a conflagration which destroyed
an entire city block. Fortunately,
there were no fatalities, but all the air-
craft and over 300 automobiles were
incinerated.
This was a debacle for the Joseph
Kreutzer Corporation, which had ex-
ceeded its R&D budget to the point of
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11
(Left) Summer, 1931. E. L. Hollywood, Sr., (right) and associates pose with the Air Coach bound for Guatemala, Kinner's K-5 Air Coach in the
background. (Right) The remodeled K-5, formerly the property of the Kinner company, served a Phoenix charter operator before going to
Mexico as X8-AAC to fill in for X8-AHO.
jeopardizing the company's viability.
Although production of several units
was underway in the old Bach plant in
Venice, California, an Approved Type
Certificate had yet to be granted. Sur-
vival depended on having something to
show at the upcoming All American
Aircraft Show in Detroit, which was
only a matter of weeks away. An all-out
effort was mounted to finish the third
Air Coach, Serial Number 102, in time
for its debut at Detroit.
Outwardly, the Kreutzer Corporation
expressed great optimism. Detroit press
releases alluded to a 32-passenger air-
liner in the offing and a surge in
production, but behind the scenes de-
velopments were decidedly negative.
Several key members of the manage-
ment team defected during the Detroit
Show. Edwards threw in with an Ohio
group to market a cheap flivver called
12 DECEMBER 1999
the Aeronca and Ogden formed his own
company to build light trimotors.
Instead of one-a-week production,
only nine Air Coaches were completed
in the five months it took the Joseph
Kreutzer Corporation to go belly up,
beginning in April. By September 1929,
there were no funds to meet the payroll.
One month later the Wall Street "crash"
precipitated the Great Depression.
The Kreutzer assets , valued at
$53,300, were auctioned off in bank-
ruptcy court for $7,000 in July 1930,
at which time the Hodkinson Aircraft
Corporation, under the management
of ex-filmmaker E. L. Hollywood,
Sr. , undertook the completion of two
unfinished airframes, both for service
in Guatemala.
In the following year, the Hodkin-
son company reorganized as the Air
Transport Manufacturing Company to
resume Air Coach production in the
old Timm plant at Glendale. Holly-
wood, in association with designer A.
K. Peterson, produced a single, cus-
tomized K-5 for banker-oilman G.
Allen Hancock. This was the fifteenth
Air Coach and it was delivered in
July 1931.
A modernized version of the Air
Coach appeared in 1933 and a pro-
duction batch of four were in various
stages of completion when an early
morning fire in the dope shop en-
gulfed one unit of the two-bay
factory. Fire hoses had to be st rung
across the adjacent Southern Pacific
tracks and in the confusion no one
was posted to flag down an oncoming
freight. The hoses were severed and
half the factory was destroyed.
A TM made several attempts to re-
sume aircraft production, the last in
1940. The company had fallen heir to
the General P2S Meteor, a Peterson
design similar to the Fairchild 22, and
it was offered with a view towards at-
tracting CPT Program business. It was
too dated to compete on a market
flooded with new designs . A twin
Whirlwind version of the Air Coach
was proposed at the same time, but
seems to have progressed no further
than the preliminary design and model-
making stage.
A TM mainly survived the '30s as a
repair and overhaul station. It reached
its full potential as an airframe parts
subcontractor during the war years,
afterwards gravitating to the electron-
ics field, manufacturing sheet metal
chassis. The company is still very
much in business.
American dreamer
Joe Kreutzer
made his fortune
putting Buicks
on the highways
and lost it all
building some
of the first
corporate
airplanes.
n Tuesday morning,
Marc' 24, 1919, Henry
Ogden and Art WIllie de-
parted Santa Monica's Clover
Field and set a coune for Detroit.
T'eir objective was t'e Second
Annual All American Aircraft
S'ow. It was by no means certain
"at t'e Josep' Kreutzer Corpo-
ration would be allowed to s'ow
t'eir new, six-passenger Air
Coac'. T'e airplane, finis'ed
only tllree days earlier, ad barely
Oown and "ere was no guarantee
it would be admitted. It was unli-
censed and t'e Detroiters were
unwilling to admit any aircraft
not bearing a valid "NC" or "X"
prefh on its registration.
Entry to tile DetroIt ow was
t'e aeronautical equivaleat to
.mug a ticket to tlae Presideat's
Inaugural Ball. Any manufac-
turer w'o didn't preseat Ids new
airplane t'ere wasn't taken seri-
ously. Joe Kreutzer, well aware of
thls and 'ad reserved space With-
out knowing whether he would be
able to use it. Ogden and White
were halfway there when they re-
ceived confirmation that the Air
Coach, Serial Number 102, had
been issued an experimentalU-
cense, X-612. Tat would get the
airplane through the exhibition
all gate and it would permit pas-
senger Oights afterwards, but for
demonstration purposes only.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13
Greg Herrick, Jackson, WY
The Air Coach was well received at
Detroit. Businessmen, weary of long
commutes by rail and automobile, took
to the idea that corporate ownership of
aircraft made sense. Moreover, the
price was right. Provisionally priced at
$15,000, the Kreutzer K-2, with its sin-
gle 90 hp Le Blond and twin 60s, was
by far the least expensive multi-engine
aircraft on the domestic market.
The Air Coach's nearest competitor, the
I O-passenger Bach 3CT Air Yacht, cost
$35,000 and its closest equivalent in load-
carrying capacity and performance were all
single-engined. They included the Buhl
Airsedan at $13,500, Fairchild's Model 71
at $18,900, Fokker's Universal at $15,000,
Ryan's B-5 Brougham at $13,250, the
Stinson SM-I F Detroiter at $13,500 and
the Travel Air 6000B at $13,000.
Trimotor safety was the sales pitch that
counted more than anything else. Hank
Ogden was so committed to that ideal that
he resigned immediately after the Detroit
show to build his own light trimotor, the
Ogden Osprey, with 90 hp American Cir-
ruses. Within a matter of months several
other light twins and trimotors were mak-
ing a bid for a share of what seemed to be
a burgeoning market.
It was clear from the outset that the Air
Coach needed more power and the K-3,
certified under ATC 170 in June 1929, dif-
fered from the K-2 mainly in having 90 hp
LeBlonds in the outboard stations. The ad-
ditional 50 to 60 hp was a significant boost
and, although the K-2 was approved under
14 DECEMBER 1999
Greg Herrick contracts with the crew at HO Aircraft based at Anoka County Ai.rport,
just north of Minneapolis, MN for much of his restoration work. From left to nght we
see John Mohr, Tom Oostdik, Melissa Mliem and Ryan Mohr. Not shown are Dan
White, Mike Rawson, Chad Miller, Carie Dahlenberg and Jill Literski.
A TC 171 in July, only five were built and
nearly all were quickly upgraded.
The powerplant situation was by no
means resolved and the LeBlonds were
found to have their share of idiosyn-
crasies. More powerful engines were
becoming available, most notably the 100
hp Kinner and 110 hp Warner. The Kin-
ner K-5, manufactured locally, seemed to
be the better value. Kreutzer's engineer-
ing department was detailed to adapt the
Air Coach to take the Kinner, in which
form it became the K-5.
X-612 remained experimental until it
was licensed NC612 as a K-3 in July, at
which point the Joseph Kreutzer Corpora-
tion was desperate for working capital.
Obtaining a loan on NC612 and NC714K
from the Pacific Finance Corp., which
specialized in financing aircraft, raised
$16,000. But the crash on Wall Street just
a few weeks later sealed the company's
fate and that of thousands more. The
Great Depression had begun. The bank-
rupt Kreutzer Corporation defaulted on
the loan and the PFC seized both aircraft
on December 13, 1929.
Little is known ofNC612's activities
during the next nine months, but almost
certainly it was domiciled at the new Los
Angeles Metropolitan Airport in Van
Nuys, in Hangar 6, in the care of Larry
Therkelsen's aircraft brokerage.
Therkelsen was responsible for liquidat-
ing PFC's aircraft holdings and was well
known in South California aviation cir-
cles. His listings for July 1930 included
NC612, priced at $8,500.
In August, a sale was transacted by
Therkelsen between the Pacific Finance
Corporation and one Clyde Palmer of
Seattle. Palmer and his partner Don
Phillips proposed to operate a daily ser-
vice six times a week linking Seattle with
Yakima, via Wenatchee, with no flying on
the Sabbath.
Phillips, the chief pilot, was well
known in the Northwest. Their company,
Inter Citiair Express, Inc., had in fact be-
gun flying "the hump" some six months
earlier with a Lockheed Vega. Flying the
Cascades was dicey business in a single
engine plane and the partners opted to re-
equip with Kreutzer trimotors.
Inter Citiair Express seems to have re-
organized early on as Seattle-
Wenatchee-Yakima Airways, Inc. In any
event, Palmer was doing business under
that banner when the Pacific Finance Cor-
poration caught up with NC612 at
Oakland, where it had been grounded as
unairworthy by Dept. of Commerce In-
spector Wiley Wright on November 23,
1930. Palmer, having failed to make any
payments on the financed purchase price,
was summarily relieved of the airplane.
There had been little maintenance on
the airplane during its service in the North-
west. Messrs. Palmer and Smith seem to
have operated more as a charter service
than an airline. Exactly how much sched-
uled passenger flying they did is unknown,
because the logbook was not aboard at the
time of repossession. It is known, how-
ever, that NC612 was a sometime visitor
on the Canadian side, the implication be-
ing that it was engaged in a fly-by-night
freighting operation. Prohibition had yet to
be repealed and the huge profits from haul-
ing bootleg libations were a temptation
that was almost irresistible.
Once again NC612 was handed over
to Larry Therkelsen, who included it in
his May 1931 listings with the notation
"Less than 100 hours." This must be a
reference to engine time since major
overhaul (SMOH). In any case, the
LeBlonds, which were not really up to
the task, were wheezing again and in
need of a full measure of TLC.
Therkelsen's price was only $2,500.
Therkelsen was not long in placing
NC612 under new management, thi s time
at Winslow, Arizona. Messrs. W. L. Car-
penter, Columbus L. Giragi and C. J.
Wiley, doing business as Navajo Air-
ways, proposed to provide a feeder
service connecting with Western Air Ex-
press at Winslow. Tourism to the Grand
Canyon and sightseeing excursions over
the Great Meteor Crater would be their
bread and butter. The sale was consum-
mated on May 30, 1931.
By March 1932, NC612 was weather
worn and tattered. It was time for a com-
plete airframe overhaul and new fabric.
The control cables were all rusty and the
ailerons were permanently warped. Ac-
cording to the paperwork, NC612 had but
197 hours total time. From this, one can
only suppose that a lot of flying went un-
recorded, and that the airplane spent a fair
amount of time outdoors. The airplane
was ferried to Los Angeles for a thorough
refurbishing.
Although Navajo Airways was not an
element of the T &WNWAE merger that
resulted in today's TWA, it operated from
the W AE terminal and went so far as to
copy the line's distinctive red and silver
color scheme. Navajo may well have used
WAE as their ticket agent, too.
It is likely that NC612 participated in
supply drops that prevented starvation
among Indians marooned by the blizzard
of January 1932. Other Kreutzers may
have been involved as well, there having
been three in operation in Arizona at that
time. The International Flying Service
kept an elegant K-5 , NC243M, at Phoenix
and the Packard family at Payson owned
NC9493, which spent much of its life
barnstorming Arizona, New Mexico and
Texas. William A. Packard, close kin to
the automaker, had fond memories of the
airplane.
As for Navajo Airways, little is known
beyond the fact that it probably was a bust
for its owners. The company went out of
business toward the end of 1932 and on
January 9, 1933, N C612 became the prop-
erty of Willard F. Hellman of Glendale,
California. Hellman owned a little Kinner
Airster biplane that had once been demon-
strated by the Kinner Company' s Boston
agent, Amelia Earhart.
Hellman was the proprietor of a radio
and appliance business. Hi s serviceman
was a radio expert and when Harold
Bromley complained one day that no af-
fordable lightweight transmitter/receivers
were on the market, Hellman said he'd try
to build one. The unit delighted Bromley,
whose friend, Wiley Post, ordered one
just like it. That unit may still be part of
Winnie Mae's avionics.
On the trip home from Winslow it was
evident that the gasping LeBlonds were in
need of yet another valve job. Hellman
took the matter up with E. L. Hollywood,
Sr., whose Glendale based Air Transport
Manufacturing Company was created to
continue Air Coach production. ATM had
a cash flow problem, however, and only
one new airplane had been produced. It
was a custom K-5 for oilman Allen Han-
cock, one of Hollywood's creditors.
Hollywood's engineer/partner was Al-
bin K. Peterson, who had designed the
Air Coach in the first place. Peterson had
some improvements he was eager to try
out and Hellman was offered a refurbish-
ing proposition he could not refuse. It
included the latest Kinner K-5 engines at
cost. The Kinner Company, its factory
just down the street, hoped to see the Air
Coach back in production . Its CEO,
Robert Porter, is thought to have had a
personal stake in the matter.
NC612 was converted in compliance
with ATC 223, which had been amended
The cockpit of the Kreutzer K-5 with
the throttle quadrant mounted on the
floor between the seats.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15
The three Kinner K-5s swing a trio of
Sensenich fixed pitch, wood props to move
the K-5 Air Coach along at a stately 100-
110 mph. AI Ball of Santa Paula, CA gets all
the credit for restoring the three Kinners
to outstanding condition.
to permit a new fin and rudder design and
windshield, mainly in the interests of
styling enhancement. The airplane was
flying again in March, just in time to pro-
vide an aerial platform to inspect the
devastation caused by the Long Beach
earthquake. The modernization program
seemed to generate new interest, espe-
cially from operators south of the border,
and a production line was set up to pro-
duce an initial batch of three ATM style
Air Coaches.
In the spring of 1933, Willard Hellman
found himself at loose ends. Business re-
versals and a failing marriage prompted
him to relocate and start afresh. Through
his friend Harold Bromley a connection
was made with West Mexican Mines,
Ltd., headquartered at Hidalgo de Parral
in the state of Chihuahua. The company,
which operated an aging Ryan Brougham,
had need of a more modern airplane for
its mountain operations and NC612, with
16 DECEMBER 1999
Greg Herrick shows great form as he demonstrates the correct procedure for
strong-arming Kinner K-5s. The Heywood Air Starters were not installed in time for
AirVenture '99.
its Kinner engines, had the desired perfor-
mance. Hellman received another offer he
couldn't refuse. In a convoluted deal engi-
neered by Hancock, the oilman, A TM
would be paid $29,000 for the airplane.
This included development costs and a
generous bonus to Hellman, the actual
owner, plus a two-year job contract.
The journey to Mexico was not with-
out incident. Bromley had never flown a
Kreutzer before, but he'd done a fair
amount of test flying for Lockheed and
Emsco, which had produced aircraft for
his transpacific escapades in 1929-30. He
felt confident that the Air Coach was just
another airplane. It was, therefore, a bit of
a shocker when , on the approach to
Yuma, a dust devil caused the airplane to
lurch sideways close to the ground, drop-
ping a wing. Bromley was unable to
check the low wing, which impacted vi-
olently, resulting in a partial cartwheel.
Fortunately, nobody was seriously in-
jured, but the airplane appeared to be all
but a total write-off.
Bromley, somewhat chastened, pro-
ceeded on to Parral to explain to the
management why there would be a slight
delay in implementing the new trimotor
service to the mines. HeHman caught the
next westbound Curtiss Condor at El
Paso, TX, which happened to be a non-
revenue ferry flight with no passengers
and no copilot. The captain explained that
he was fatigued from a long night of liba-
tion and wondered if HeHman would spare
him at the controls while he took a nap.
Thus it was that Hellman flew himself
back to Glendale, courtesy of American
Airways, while the captain snored in the
back until it was time for the landing.
Hellman returned to Yuma with Peter-
son, took stock of the situation and had
NC6l2 ignominiously dumped on a rail-
road flatcar for the return trip. Two
months later, this time with ATM's Del
Hay at the controls, the reconstituted
NC6l2 was delivered to West Mexican
Mines as XB-AHO. Bromley made the
first run to Guadeloupe Y Calvo on the
morning ofJune 7, 1933.
For the next several years Bromley re-
mained XB-AHO's pilot exclusively,
save for one thoroughly unhappy occa-
sion. The airplane gave 100 percent
reliable service and there were only three
minor engine incidents, all due to the cen-
ter Kinner's appetite for valves, in nearly
3,000 hours of flying. There were, how-
ever, a number of landing incidents.
Bromley was only carrying a payroll
when he landed on GYC's slushy runway
and stood the Air Coach on its nose after
coasting into a snow bank. The hot en-
gines melted the packed snow and
XB-AHO gradually toppled over on its
back. Bromley had to hitch a ride on a
mule train to fetch a new propel1er.
The Bromley family, which was
domiciled at Guadeloupe Y Calvo, were
planning a long overdue vacation by the
summer of 1935 . Harold arranged with
Lake Littlejohn, a former PanAm pilot
with several thousand hours of trimotor
"LlnLEJOHN CRAWLED
OUT, THOROUGHLY
HUMBLED, BUT
OTHERWISE
UNHARMED. "NEVER IN
MY 20YEARS OF
fLYING," HE WAILED,
"HAVE ISEEN SUCH
HAVOC FROM SUCH
SLIGHT
PROVOCATION!"
time, to be his substitute for the month
of August. Littlejohn was happy to
oblige, because he was between jobs
and found the Chihuahua Mountains
much to his liking.
Littlejohn, with his vast experience,
saw no need for a checkride and the
Bromleys left for California. The very
next day, Littlejohn was finishing the
daily maiVpassenger run to GYC when he
slightly overshot his landing at Parral and
applied some brake. It was a tad too much.
The tail lifted slowly, hesitated in midair,
then flopped over on its back with a grind-
ing crunch. Littlejohn crawled out,
thoroughly humbled, but otherwise un-
harmed. "Never in my 20 years of flying,"
he wailed, "have I seen such havoc from
such slight provocation!"
XB-AHO was clearly out of commis-
sion for months to come. The nose Kinner
had broken off its mount, all the pro-
pellers were curled, the fuselage was
buckled and the landing gear had folded
back. It was Bromley's second day on va-
cation and now he had to find a
replacement airplane, preferably another
K-5 Air Coach.
It took the rest of the month to find
one. NC243M, original1y the property of
the Kinner company, had been updated
by ATM for the previously mentioned In-
ternational Flying Service of Phoenix.
Bromley got it, through the good offices
of broker Charlie Babb, for $3,000. Thus
it was NC243M migrated to Mexico as
XB-AAC.
XB-AHO was eventually returned to
service and plied the airways for West
Mexican Mines for several more years. In
the late 1930s, however, the Gringo pilots
were being disenfranchised and sent
home , so native airmen could have the
high paying jobs. The trouble was none of
the Mexican applicants seemed to be able
to get the hang of flying XB-AHO. Brom-
ley, himself, occasionally alluded to its
"tricky ways." In the air, "No problema! "
But getting back on the ground again was
something else, especially on primitive
airstrips at elevations up to 8,000 ft.
Even after the deadline, Bromley was
given special dispensation to remain un-
til he could train a replacement. Whereas
all Americans who held commercialli-
censes had their tickets invalidated in
Mexico, a special category had been cre-
ated for Bromley, who was held in high
esteem by the Mexicans. He was named
Asesor Tecnico # I-literally it meant
technical advisor and it permitted him to
remain on the job until a qualified Mexi-
can pilot could be found.
The qualified Mexican turned out to be
another American, Leo Lopez T., for Ta-
lamantes, used only in formal
introductions. Leo, born and educated in
EI Paso, held dual citizenship. He had
learned to fly in 1931 and, by 1936, was
instructing in Col. Roberto Fierro's flight
academy. Fierro, former head of the Mex-
ican AF, was also the governor of
Chihuahua. For the next several years
XB-AHO would be flown by Leo, who
was to become one of Mexico's best-
known commercial operators.
In 1939, XB-AHO became the prop-
erty of one Gerardo Heimpel, a German
national, long suspected of clandestine
activities. Heimpel was an avowed Nazi
and claimed personal friendship with
Adolf Hitler. His mission, it was said, was
to strengthen German ties with Mexico,
which were already strong. Heimpel and
his countrymen hoped to make Mexico an
Axis ally, or at the very least keep it neu-
tral in the event of an American
declaration of war on Germany.
Heimpel was involved in mining oper-
ations, which also served Nazi needs. One
of his mining operations was Huizopa, in
the Western Sierras. Its landing strip was
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17
-'"
!
.11
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reputed to be one of the most dangerous
in the State of Chihuahua, which had
many dangerous strips. XB-AHO's job
was to create links between Heimpel' s
headquarters in Chihuahua, Huizopa and
other holdings.
There were rumors that Heimpel's air-
plane, sometimes described as a twin, was
making border crossings into Texas and
New Mexico at night, dropping agents
and supplies. However true that may be
has yet to be determined. What is known
for certain is that Heimpel' s services to
the Fuhrer came to an abrupt end shortly
after the U.S. entered WW II. Mexico
threw in with the Allies and a few days
later Heimpel was packed off to prison for
the duration.
Sometime previous to Heimpel's in-
carceration, X8-AHO had been involved
in an accident at Huizopa. The pilot,
Desiderio "Chilelo" Varela had trained
his copilot to do the braking, but the tech-
nique proved his undoing. There was a
fairly violent ground loop, resulting in
damage to the wing and center engine.
"Chilelo" and his brakeman-mechanic
were out of a job and XB-AHO went into
dead storage. Mining operations had been
discontinued at Huizopa, due to unprof-
itable production, and the place was
abandoned. For the next four decades XB-
AHO was all but forgotten.
In 1980, a charter pilot by the name of
18 DECEMBER 1999
Hernando Garcia Contreras acquired title
to XB-AHO from the Heimpel family,
which was still domiciled in Chihuahua,
although the patriarch Nazi, Geraldo and
his pilot son were long gone. The aircraft
was complete, except for the three Hamil-
ton Standard propellers and all of the
instruments. The propellers had been dis-
tributed among family members as
mementos of bygone days.
Garcia's initial sal vage operation,
which got underway in May 1981, in-
volved a work party of 25 men and 20
pack animals. They retrieved the engines,
fuel tanks, oil tanks, tail wheel, controls
and other items. That same year, during
November and December, a second expe-
dition was mounted, involving 22 men
and 19 pack animals. The fuselage was
moved a few kilometers before snowfall
halted the program.
Garcia could not return until Novem-
ber 1982, this time with a party of 34 men
and 25 pack animals. They were in the
mountains for another two months, hack-
ing paths with machetes and actually
clearing a roadway near the end of the
trail to permit trucking their treasures of
the Sierra Madre over the last leg of the
journey to Casa Grande.
XB-AHO had not been the only air-
craft retrieved from Huizopa. Another
wreck had been of sufficient interest to
Garcia to add to his collection. It was an
unidentified biplane and only the fuselage
and tail were salvageable. The writer and
Garcia examined the remains and found a
serial number stamped on a longeron. It
was 1000. Could this have been some sort
of experimental aircraft? The puzzle re-
mained unresolved until I remembered
the daughter of another pilot who had vis-
ited Huizopa as a charter pilot in the early
1930s-an American, George Law. Law
had crashed on his last flight out of
Huizopa in 1934. A check of the records
revealed that Law had been flying a J-5
Eaglerock, NC542Y, Serial Number 1000.
For the next several years, Garcia, his
son and nephew, with the help of a
Guatemalan mechanic, Marcelino Jolon
Camey, labored day in and day out to get
the Air Coach back in the air again.
Camey, in his seventies, had worked on
Kreutzers in Guatemala in his youth. Pro-
pellers and instruments had to come from
north of the border, however, and finding
them became a task for Senor Juan. The
writer had been recruited as some kind of
purchasing agent.
Funding for the enterprise came from
an investment group composed of local
businessmen and teachers. Art Acosta
was the titular head, mainly because he
could understand my brand of Spanish, or
maybe it was the other way around. None
of them, except the Garcias, knew any-
thing about aviation. All the backers knew
was that a trimotor in the U.S. was sup-
posed to be worth upwards of a million
dollars. That was the incentive behind the
salvage operation from the outset. If XB-
AHO could be made airworthy enough to
fetch $500,000 , then it would all be
worthwhile.
XB-AHO was repatriated at EI Paso as
N612A in 1986 and trundled to Santa
Teresa, a few miles west of the New Mex-
ico side, where the Garcias busied
themselves with their activities. N612A
was ready to fly, or so it seemed, and an-
tique airplane guru Bob Taylor came
down from Iowa to give it his blessing.
Alas, the problem was no one with the
necessary credentials was willing to sign
off the paperwork.
California seemed to offer more favor-
able prospects. The Los Angeles office of
the FAA was used to dealing with licens-
ing vintage aircraft. Southern California
also seemed to be a better place to locate
a buyer. Besides, it was N612A's place of
birth and there was the prospect of some
free TV coverage. Once again, the
Kreutzer was trundled off on a flatbed
tractor-trailer.
Finding an airport suitable for a test
flight with hangar accommodations was
not easy. Chino was considered and ruled
out. (Hangar space was $900 per month
and there was nothing available.) So was
Mojave. Camarillo seemed ideal, with its
10,000 foot runway surrounded by farm-
land and a huge, half-empty hangar for
only $400 a month.
The next step was to find a suitable
test pilot. There were several volunteers,
including Bill Turner of Repeat Aircraft,
Mel Heflinger, retired from United Air-
lines, and a gentleman who had flown for
NASA for many years, whose name I
can't now recall.
Chuck Yeager had also been ap-
proached. He liked to fly oddball aircraft
and agreed to do the job at no charge, pro-
vided certain insurance conditions could
be met. That was the first hang-up. The
actuaries knew Yeager could handle jet
fighters "no problem," but they wanted to
know how much recent time he had in tri-
motors. In the end, no underwriter was
willing to provide coverage on a 60-year-
old trimotor, except L1oyds, and their
premiums were prohibitive.
Licensing was another problem. FAA
wanted N612A licensed in the homebuilt
category. While the aircraft had con-
formed to ATC 223, there was nothing in
the FAA' s files to guide them in the way
of an inspection handbook with A TC 223
specifications. All that information had
been purged from their files decades ear-
lier. There had not been a Kreutzer
trimotor on the FAA's books since 1940.
By a curious coincidence, a long de-
ceased friend, Lee Enich, had fallen heir
in the 1950s to the Kreutzer engineering
residue, which consisted mainly of a crate
of blueprints for the Kreutzer trimotors
(three models), the General Western Me-
teor and the Hodkinson trimotor, a Don
Berlin venture that had not gone beyond a
single prototype. Lee, an early EAA ac-
tivist, had donated everything to the EAA
museum, then in its infancy.
An appeal was made to Paul
Poberezny, who had a vague recollection
of the collection, and made a personal
search of material in dead storage. The
crate had not been entered into the EAA's
computerize property inventory, which
necessitated a massive search that proved
unfruitful, initially.
Meanwhile, things in California had
taken a downward turn. Having been
carefully inspected, N612A revealed it-
self to be a cosmetic restoration. Despite
invoices in the amount of $7,000 for air-
craft grade spruce and plywood, much of
the structure was not aircraft grade. More-
over, the fabric proved to be improperly
applied. It was shrinking with the passage
of time, warping improperly installed
fairing stringers. It was beginning to look
like Hell. Close inspection ofweldments
in the forward fuselage revealed kinked
tubing in critical locations.
Meanwhile, efforts continued to find a
buyer. For the next couple of years the
writer showed N612A on the average of
once a week to prospects, including a
Japanese group, which was looking for a
theme park attraction. On one occasion,
having just returned from the l20-mile
round trip to Camarillo, a Trade-a-Plane
reader called to say he wanted to see the
airplane that very afternoon. It meant an-
other l20-mile trip, but this time at the
other party's expense.
He asked me to meet him at nearby
BUR and we'd fly out in his airplane,
which was assumed to be a Bonanza or
Cessna. It turned out to be a beautiful, re-
cently restored B-25. Hey, my friends,
that was a memorable trip and a highlight
of my mission to find a new home for
N612A. Alas, the gentleman declined to
make an offer, which was disappointing,
although not entirely unexpected.
N6l2A's owners, having despaired of
ever consummating a sale on terms ac-
ceptable to all concerned, eventually
hauled the airplane back to Texas, where I
never knew exactly. Another decade
passed, more or less, before the arrival
upon the scene of an extraordinary young
man by the name of Greg Herrick. Herrick
had just acquired Channing Clark's proto-
type Fleetwings Seabird. He told me he
was interested in the Kreutzer and won-
dered if! knew where it had gone to after
CMA. I didn't, but I gave him some leads.
The upshot of this was Greg Herrick's
becoming N 612A' s protector and bene-
factor, probably for life. I think Greg's
ambition is to own the largest private col-
lection of vintage aircraft in the world.
Reflecting upon that expectation is his
new hangar at Anoka County Airport, 25
miles north of Minneapolis. It was fin-
ished during this past summer and is big
enough to hold 100+ aircraft.
The thing about Greg's taste in air-
planes is that he prefers the rarest of the
rare, although he does make exceptions.
For example, he has a weakness for
Fairchild PTs, not on the endangered
species list, and a couple of Wac os in the
same category, but most of his fleet con-
sists of one-only survivors, such as his
"Packard" Buhl CA-3D, Cunningham-
Hall PT-6F and Stinson "A" trimotor.
Once again a search was mounted for
the Kreutzer blueprints, because nothing
much could be achieved without them.
For one thing, the Mexican built wings
deviated so far from the originals as to be
unrecognizable. The spars were all wrong,
so too was the airfoil. This time the blue-
prints were found and they gave new
impetus to the program. Indeed, without
them the restoration would have been vir-
tually impossible.
Greg has the team and the wherewithal
to perform marvelous restorations, but
without the late Lee Enich's long ago con-
tribution it probably could not have been
done. Hey, it's the happy hour as I write
this, so here's to you Lee! If you didn't
have the foresight to save those blueprints,
NC612A might still be a moldering relic
with very little future. Instead, it's a delight
to behold and one that will be enjoyed by
generations of air show spectators in the
new millennium. .......
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19
PASS IT TO BUCK
by E.E. "Buck" Hilbert
EAA #21 VAA #5
P.O. Box 424, Union, IL 60180
CESSNAS,CESSNAS
AND MORE
The dates, September 24 and 25, the
place, Poplar Grove, Illinois, the event,
the Annual Cessna 120-140 Associa-
tion bash.
The weather was absolutely beautiful,
as myoId friend Walt Weber used to say,
"Seventeen layers of severe clear! "
I attended on Saturday the 25. W. D.
"Dip" Davis had flown out with the group
to Pioneer Airport at your EAA AirVen-
ture Museum and had such good things
to say about it all, I had to get over there
and see what it was all about. Take a
look at the photos that EAA's Mary Jones
took during the shindig in Oshkosh (H.G.
was in St. Louis for the Monocoupe fly-
in - hi s report will be in next month 's
issue.)
The group has kept me on their mailing
list for some time, so I was all primed to
go anyway, but seeing as "Dip" was going
to do a forum, I decided to chase after him
and attend. He drove, carrying all his
demo dope and stuff. I flew.
Unfortunately, I don't have a Cessna,
so the new Champ, N83760 was put to
use . I felt like that Chrysler ad, the red
pepper in with all the potatoes, but it was
a lot easier to get there. That 18 mile
drive is an insult when you can fly, even
at 75 mph.
Landing, I was met by Don Alesi near
his restored aqua pick-up truck. The truck
calls attention to his sign and you then fol-
low his lead or hi s radio directions to
parking. Since I was an oddball (correc-
tion, odd bird) , I parked way over there,
away from the stars of the fly-in.
Don then gave me a ride up and down
20 DECEMBER 1999
(Above) The highlight fly-out event of the 120/140 Convention was a trip to Oshkosh to visit
EAA's Pioneer Airport and the EAA AirVenture Museum. Landing first at Wittman Field, the
pilots were briefed by Joe Schumacher, Director of Flight Operations and then took off for
the short flight over to Pioneer field, which it not normally open to transient traffic.
(Below) Richard Harden of Minneapolis, MN arrives at Pioneer Airport with his beautifully
polished Cessna 140.
the lines, yes lines, of airplanes. Itwas
breathtaking. Seeing all these beautiful
l20s and l40s parked row upon row
just stuns the imagination. No imagina-
tion, reality; there they were, over a
hundred of them as I found out when I
went in to register.
Don squired me around for a while
and then had to attend the bri efing for
the activities, short field takeoffs and
landings and the bomb drop to take
place after that. But he did take time to
say hello to Maureen, his hard working
wife, and then dropped me off at the
Headquarters.
After I registered, I looked at the
Club merchandise on display and just
had to have one of the portfolios (to
hold my logbooks and paperwork),
one of the Club logo pins, and a tote
bag for Dorothy, my wife. I'd left her
(Above)EAAPresidentTom Poberezny
enjoyedvisitingwiththemembersofthe
clubduringtheirvisittoOshkosh.
(Below) HerbRough ofChilliwack, British
Columbia,CanadaflewinusingCessna 140,
CF-EKU, which is ownedbyDavidZoppa.
PoplarGroveAirport(C77) locatedtothenortheastofRockford, IL is oneofthenation'smost
activerecreationalaviationfields.Enthusiasticallyrun bythehusbandandwifeteamofSteve
andTinaThomas, ithas been selectedtheIllinoisAirportoftheYeartwice,andasyoucan
see, afly-incommunityis nowbeingdevelopedtothesoutheast.TheCessna 120sand 140s
filled inthegrass prettywellwithover100airplanes.
RowuponrowofthealwayspopularlittleCessnascoveredthefield.
Dave HedgecockoftheCessna 120/140 clubgetsthingsrollingduringtheforums.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21
home, so I had to have some kind of
peace offering.
One item I could hardly tear myself
away from is the Club's 120-140 Refer-
ence Manual. This gem, at $38.00, is
an invaluable asset to any Cessna 120-
140 owner. It even comes with
revisions and has in it every bit of infor-
mation for pilot owners to fly and
maintain their airplanes. Every AD and
Service Bulletin, Maintenance hints,
Dip Davis explains the ins and outs of the
procedures, STCs, the works.
Superflite covering process.
Lugging my purchases, I then walked
The first pilots who landed at Pioneer were able to good-
naturedly score the landings of those who followed, and they
used plenty of body english to emphasize their reaction to the
touchdown!
the lines until it was time
for the forum , begun as a
friendly question and an-
swer session with our
friend Dave Hedgecock.
Dave took questions from
the floor and answered
them with aplomb. That's
what all those years of
teaching at Blackhawk
Tech will do for you;
nothing floors you.
Then " Dip" took over
with his demonstration of
how to be a " dope ad-
dict." "Dip" referred to
his sordid past with the
airlines and allowed as
how in his day the closest
thing he ever came to a
DC-8 was two DC-4s.
That got a laugh and it
was on with the demo.
I didn't stay for the
finale, I needed a cup of
coffee and I needed
some just plain airplane
gawking time. I wan-
dered the line again,
and took some random
shot s of some of the
prettiest, neatest, nicest
little Cessnas ever. I
didn't dare get too close
cause my hot breath and
drooling would have
messed up those ex-
treme polish jobs.
I had a hard time get-
ting back in Champ. I
thought back to the day
I took delivery of our
first Cessna 120 from
the Mid States Distribu-
tor at Sky Harbor. That
Northbrook, Illinois
Airport was really hum-
ming in those days.
The GI flight program
was in full swing, and the Cessnas were
the latest and newest of the trainers for
1946.
Looking at the way these airplanes are
dressed up today, it's hard to imagine the
spartan little non-electric primary trainer
the C-120 was. But that's the way they
came. No interior, just door panels. No
electric. No "0" windows. No hat shelf.
Just a plain Jane if ever there was one.
But what a performer.
Operating from a 900 foot strip was
the norm at our place. Often, with a little
wind, we would have 3 or 400 feet by the
time we reached the end of that 900 foot
runway. On the other hand, it was so
light and floaty, it was anyone' s guess as
to where it would touch down. Many a
time it made a fool of me while attempt-
ing a spot landing.
It had those old brakes, too, the ones
with the buttons and the wobbly discs.
Hard braking would lift the tail right of
the ground. If one of them locked up, and
they sometimes did, it was real scary. A
gear extension modification came along
pretty quickly, and that did help.
But enough reminiscing. "Dip" will
add his comments and it ' ll then be over
to you.
THE BANQUET
BY "DIP" DAVIS
Nearly 200 members and guests filled
the Hoffman House banquet room to ca-
pacity. Those who had flown in found a
nice color photo of their airplane on the
table at the speaker's stand. Door prizes
valued at over $7,000 had been donated
by various manufacturers and suppliers,
and drawings began as soon as the prime
rib or chicken Marsala was served, to pre-
vent the dinner from dragging too far into
hospitality time. Prizes ranged from a
complete magneto ignition system from
Slick, to tubes of aluminum polish. Pairs
of 6:00x6 tires from both Michelin and
Goodyear were eagerly received.
The awards to winners of the Nerfball
drop and short landing contest were
handed out, as well as those for best air-
craft in each category. Oldest pilot
attending the convention award went to
Ken Ligget of Limon, Colorado. Ken has
a Cessna 180 as well as his really nice
140, but says "Fast airplanes are for peo-
ple who don't like to fly."
Next year's convention is schedule
for Gainesville, Texas and I believe
everyone is already looking forward to
another great time.
22 DECEMBER 1999
by H.G. Frautschy
Via e-mail, we received this note about
our July Mystery Plane.
Dear Sir,
Reading Cotty Markland 's letter on his
Howard DGA -18K 1took a hard look at
your picture and his. The Stinson
(NC14572) in both pictures is currently
mine, and is in flying condition. Another
picture ofit was on the inside front cover
and page 7ofFeb. 1999 Vintage Airplane
1ssue.
In Mr. Markland 's letter to you he also
ask why the Stinson wasn't flying on the
days both picture where taken. When 1first
acquired the plane 1was able to contact
the person who owned it in the early
1950 's. He told me "KiDS" had thrown
bricks through the wing fabric. A very
good reason why it was in both pictures.
Sincerely,
Mike Strieter
Laurel, MD
Larry Knechtel, Seattle, W A responded
with a nice write-up of September's Mys-
tery Plane:
The Mystery Plane is the Bendix Model
51A amphibian, completed in 1946.
The Model5IA was all metal with re-
tractable landing gear and as can be seen in the photograph it had a
mid-wing and a twin-boom tail. A pusher prop was powered by a 100
hp Franklin. The airplane was planned to be sold as either an am-
phibian or a land-based model, depending upon customer order.
Whether the airplane was going to be an amphibious Model51A
or the strictly land-based Model 51 was to be decided mid-way down
the automotive style assembly line, according to Bendix engineers. It
was at this point that either a strong hull or a more conventional
fuselage was to be installed. The upperfuselage had a mating line
just above the cabin floor. The two versions were to be identical ex-
cept for the lower fuselage, a different wing incorporating tip tanks
and floats for the amphibious version and longer landing gear to
clear the hull.
Bendix cancelled the program in September 1946. Company di-
rectors said they felt Bendix would be in competition with itselfby
making airplanes while supplying engine and electrical parts to other
aiiframe manufacturers. (See last month's Mystery Plane column for
Bob Pauley's article on the Bendix Model 55 program, which also
died at the same time. - HGF)
The Bendix Model5IA shown in the photo had a maximum air-
speed of149 mph, a cruise speed of138 mph and a landing speed of
55 mph. It used the Bendix 416 wing with a span of40feet. Length
was 28feet and empty weight of1,550 lbs.
Keep us guessing and Keep 'em Flying, H.G.
Cheers,
Larry Knechtel
Seattle, WA
Larry cited a paperback book published in 1980 which might be
on your shelfifyou've been involved in aviation for a couple of
decades - "Closet Cases," written by Randy Mertens and published
in 1980 by Pilot News Press of Kansas City.
DecemberMysteryPlane
Our last Mystery Plane for this millennium comes to us from Charles
Trask. It was taken years ago by George Goodhead, and looks just like
something we all know, but it's not what you think it is!
Send your answers to: EAA, Vintage Airplane, PO Box 3086, 54903-
3086. You answers need to be in no later than December 27, 1999 so
they can be included in the February 2000 issue.
If you prefer, you can E-Mail your answer to vintage@eaa.org
Be certain to include both your name and the address in the body of
the copy and put "(Month) Mystery Plane" in the subject line.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23
WHATOURMEMBERSARE RESTORING
by H.G. Frautschy
LUSCOMBE8FDELUXE
Charlie Harris, Tulsa, OK has owned this polished aluminum and red Luscombe 8F Deluxe since 1986, when he acquired it
from Fritz King. Fritz used to be the Foreman of of Luscombe production at the West Trenton, NJ plant. After a long restora-
tion, it flew in the spring of ' 94, with a zero-timed Continental 0-200. After flying, T.R. Boyd of Lake Jackson, TX took it in
and did a detailed completion, including the accent paint, interior and engine compartment. Charlie says it is a pleasure to own
and fly the Luscombe, which cruises at 118-120 mph lAS. This past June it won the Neo-Classic Light Grand Champion tro-
phy at the Texas AAA chapter fly-in in Gainesville, TX.
STINSON108-3
Kerry Uhler of Howard, PA is a lot like many of the vintage airplane people we've met - very tenacious! Having owned this
particular airplane for 24 years now, he wasn't about to let a little thing like a hangar fire ruin his fun.
First restored in '77-78, with the help of Jim and Erma Yates, it was the 1981 Outstanding Stinson award winner at EAA
Oshkosh. After a hangar fire in 1992 at Bellefonte airport severely damaged the Stinson, Kerry had to scrap the wings,
ailerons, flaps vertical fill and rudder. Thankfully, the heat didn't damage the fuselage structure, and with the help of his son, a
rebuild was accomplished over the next six years. Now based at William T. Piper Memorial in Lock Haven, PA, Kerry also
credits hi s son-in-law Conrad Ciccotello, a metallurgical engineer with help in evaluating the Stinson's structure after the fire.
24 DECEMBER 1999
FIRSTPRODUCTION
SWIFT
Lou Leftwich, Winter Park, FL sent us these nice
shots of his Globe Swift, NC33336, which was al so
once registered as NX33336 when it was the first
Swift off the production line. Lou says he flies it at
least once a week from its home field in Orlando.
That's Lou's wife, Arvella, pointing out the n-num-
ber on this very stock Classic airplane.
CUSTOMSTEARMAN
Clark and Mary Dechant currently reside in Saudi Arabia, where Mary is a teacher in an American school, and Clark is the
pilot for the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development. He flies a Maule for his work, but back here in
the USA, they've had the folks at Gordon AirCrafting working on their Stearman E75Nl. Between contracts this past summer,
Clark and Mary took delivery of their custom airplane, which is powered by a 300 hp Lycoming. They had a wonderful time
fl ying the airplane over the Rockies en route to the National Stearman Fly-In in Galesburg, IL. (That's what the red ribbon on
the left interplane strut signifies.) At Galesburg they received a "Brush and Canvas" award and the longest cross-country for
their flight from Vancouver, WA.
Now in storage in Florida, Nll77 awaits the return of the Dechants from their contract work overseas. After such a wonder-
ful summer with their Stearman, we'd bet they' re pretty anxious to get home!
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25
R.T. Weedon....................................
........ThunderBay, Ontario, Canada
HansKuttner....Sesslach,Germany
TomCole.... .... .................................
... ........BedsEngland, GreatBritain
DerekDoyle...........Dublin,Ireland
RussellErickson......Humnoke,AR
RichardAlvarez...... . Riverside,CA
Russell S. Couey.......Murrieta,CA
MorrisC. Davis........Riverside,CA
GregDodkin........LosAngeles,CA
RaymondPage.. LakeElsinore,CA
MichaelRutledge.....Coronado,CA
WaltE. SnyderNewportBeach,CA
DonaldH. Fuester........Arvada,CO
PeterM. Lagerman.Longmont,CO
TammyA. Piccola ... .......... ..............
...................SteamboatSprings,CO
ThomasFinch .............Newark,DE
HarryJones .............. .Seminole,FL
Will D. Weatherbee... .. Orlando,FL
JohnWhite.................Niceville,FL
BarryE. Davis........Carrollton,GA
DuaneRevennaugh.............. ..... ......
.............................Stockbridge,GA
WilliamJ. Phillips,Jr.........Hilo,HI
SheriHom..............CedarFails, IA
MichaelJones............... . Roscoe,IL
StephenF. Koemer.. .. Kankakee, IL
KeithL. Welsh............Marshall, IL
26 DECEMBER 1999
FrankInsley.................Bowie,MD
JohnC. Harris....SouthBristol,ME
JeffreyW. Blanzy....Watervliet,MI
KennethChristensenRochester,MI
DavidL. Andersen.. NewUlm,MN
ToddMatthies.......EastBethal,MN
TimothyJ. Miller............................
..............................Hutchinson,MN
OdusJ. Sharpe,Jr ............................
.. ..........................RollingFork, MS
JamesWheaton..... ...... ...Tryon,NC
RemingtonOttum..........Fargo, ND
JerryYochelson..........Cranbury,NJ
1. J. Josephson.........NewYork, NY
Tom Polatink.... .....Centereach,NY
AllenG. Ratterree.. BayShore,NY
LarryE. Denton...........Athena, OR
Jon H. Falkner........Sharpsville,PA
ThomasE. Luke............Seneca,SC
WilliamM. Bohon.. McKinney,TX
W. GlynnGamer.. Brownwood,TX
JayW. Prentice.........Granbury,TX
BruceC. Schmidt................... .........
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WesTaylor.....................Dallas,TX
LewisK. Whitlock.................... ......
..............................Martinsville,VA
BohdanLawruk.........Richford,VT
JimArmstrong...... .....Spokane,WA
GregA. Gamer............Renton, WA
J.M. Wallace........... .. . Tacoma,WA
MichaelMiller............Sobieski,WI
RudolphB. Olson............ ..... ...... ....
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VINTAGE
TRADER
Something to buy,
sell or trade?
An inexpensive ad in the Vintage Trader
may be just the answer to obtaining that
elusive part.. 50 per word, $8.00 mini-
mum charge. Send your ad and payment
to: Vintage Trader, EAA Aviation Center,
P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086,
or fax your ad and your credit card num-
ber to 9201426-4828. Ads must be received
by the 20th ofthe month for insertion in the
issue the second month following (e.g., Oc-
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TAIL WHEEL CHECK-OUT available
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Wood Prop W76JR53 for 150 hp
Stinson 108 w/spinner $1400. Also
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News Continued/rom page 1
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VINTAGE
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Enjoy the many benefits ofBAA and the
ASSOCIATION
OFFICERS
President Vice-President
EspieButchJoyce GeorgeDaubner
P.O. Box35584 2448LoughLane
Greensboro.NC27425 Hartford.WI53027
336/393-ffi44 414/673-5885
EHTlOII:wfndsock@ooI.com e-mail:anHque2@aol.com
Treasurer
Secretary
W.Hams
SteveNessa
7215East46thSt .
2009HighlandAve.
Tulsa.OK 74145
AlbertLeo.MN5lI:1J7
918/622-8400
507/373-1674
cwh@hvsu.com
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e-moi:photopllot@ooI.com e-mail:sskrog@aol.com
JohnBerendt
7645EchoPointRd. Ucktelg
ConnonFalb.MN5Y:X1'I 1708BoyOoksDr.
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JohnS.Copeland
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508/393-4775 Brookfield.WI53005
e-moi: 414/782-2633
copeIoodI@jcno.com e-mail:
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PhilCoulson
28415SprIngbrookDr.
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2159 Rd. P.O.Box424
Oshkosh.WI54904
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DavidBenneff AlanShackleton
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EAAandDivisionMembershipServices
800-843-3612 FAX920-426-6761
(8:00AM-7:00PM Monday-FridayCST)
New/ renewmember ships: EAA, Divi si ons
(VintageAircraftAssoci ation,lAC.Warbirdsl,
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(NAPI )
Addresschanges
Merchandi sesales
Giftmemberships
ProgramsandActivities
EAAAirVentureFax-On-DemandDirectory
......... ....... ..............732-885-6711
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Chapters: l ocating/ organi zing..920-426-4876
Education..... . ....... ... .....920-426-6815
EAAAi rAcademy
EAAScholarships
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BAA Vintage Aircraft Association

EAAAviationCenter,POBox3086,OshkoshWI54903-3086
Phone(920)426-4800 Fax(920)426-4873
WebSite:http://.eaa.organdhttp://www.airventure.org E-Mail:vintage@eaa.org
FlightAdvisorsinformation... ..920-426-6522
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MedicalQ_uestions..... . . . . ....920-426-4821
TechnicalCounsel ors ..........920-426-4821
YoungEagles .... ...... ...... . .920-426-4831
Benefits
AircraftFinancing(Textron) .....800-851-1367
AVA. . ..... ........ ....... ....800-727-3823
AVEMCO .....................800-638-8440
TermLifeandAccidental. ......800-241-6103
DeathInsurance (HarveyWatt&Company)
Editorial
Submittingarticle/ photo;advertisinginfonnation
920-426-4825 . FAX920-426-4828
EAAAviationFoundation
ArtifactDonations............ .920-426-4877
FinancialSupport.... . .. . .. . . . 800-236- 1025
MEMBERSHIPINFORMATION
availablefor$50peryear(SPORTAVIATIONmag-
MembershipintheExperimentalAircraftAsSOCiation,
azine not included) . (Add $10 for Foreign
Inc.is$40foroneyear,including12issuesofSPORT
EAA
Postage.)
AVIATION.Familymembershipisavailableforanaddi -
tional$10annually. JuniorMembershi p(under19
WARBIRDS
yearsofage) is availableat$23annually.All major
CurrentEAAmembersmayjointhe EAAWarbirdsof
creditcardsacceptedformembership.(Add$16for
AmericaDivisionand receiveWARBIRDS magazine
ForeignPostage_)
foranadditional$35peryear.
EAA Membership,WARBIRDS magazineandone
year membership i n the Warbirds Di vi sion
VINTAGEAIRCRAFTASSOCIATION
isavailablefor$45peryear(SPORTAVIATION
Current EAA membersmayjointheVintageAircraft
magazinenotincluded). (Add$7f or Foreign
Associatonand receiveVINTAGEAIRPLANEmaga-
Postage.)
zineforanadditional$27peryear.
EAA Membership,VINTAGEAIRPLANEmag-azine
EAAEXPERIMENTER
and oneyearmembershipinthe EAA VintageAir-
Current EAA members may receive EAA
craftAssociation is availablefor$37peryear
EXPERIMENTERmagazineforan additional$20
(SPORTAVIATIONmagazinenotincluded). (Add
peryear.
$7forForeignPostage_)
EAA Membershipand EAAEXPERIMENTER mag-
azine is availabl e for $30 per year (SPORT
lAC AVIATIONmagazinenotinciuded).(Add$8forFor-
CurrentEAAmembersmayjointheInternati onal eignPostage_)
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AEROBATICSmagazineforan additional$40 FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS
peryear. Pleasesubmityourremittancewi t hacheckor
EAA Membership,SPORTAEROBATICSmagazine draftdrawnonaUnited Statesbankpayablein
andoneyearmembershipinthelACDivision is United States dollars. Add required Foreign
Postageamountforeachmembership.
MembershipduestoEAAanditsdivisionsarenottaxdeductibleascharitablecontributions.
Copyright e1999bytheEMVintageAircraftAssociation
Allrightsreserved.
VINTAGEAIRPLANE (ISSN 00916943)IPM 1482602 published and owned exclusively by the EMVintage Aircraft Association of the ExperimeolaJ Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EMAviation Center.3000
Poberezny Rd.. P.O. Box3086.Oshkosh.Wisconsin54903-3086.Period""lsPostagepaidat Oshkosh.Wisconsin54901 and at mailingoffices. POSTMASTER:Send addresschanges to EMAnliqueiClassicDivision.Inc..
P.O. Box3086.Oshkosh.WI 549033086.FOREIGN AND APOADDRESSES- Pleaseallowalleasttwo monthsfordeliveryofVINTAGEAIRPLANE toforeign andAPO addressesvia surtacemail. ADVERTISING- Vintage Aircraft
Associationdoesnotguaranteeorendorseanyproductofferedthrough theadvertising.We inviteconstructivecriticismand welcomeanyreportofinferiormerchandiseobtainedthroughouradvertisingsothatcorrectivemeasurescan
betaken. EDITORIALPOLICY:Readersareencooraged to storiesandphotographs. Policyopinionsexpressedin aresolely tf10seoflheauthors. Responsit>lityforaccuracyin reportingrestsentirelywiththeconlributor. No
renumeratioo ismade.Materiaishouldbesent10: VINTAGEAIRPLANE.P.O.Box3086.Oshkosh. WI 54903-3086. Phone9201426-4800.
The words EM,ULTRALIGHT, FLY WITH THE FIRSTTEAM,SPORTAVIATION.FORTHE LOVEOFFLYING and the logosofEM,EAAINTERNATIONALCONVENTION.EMVINTAGE AIRCRAFTASSOCIATION,INTERNA-
TIONALAEROBATICCLUB.WARBIRDSOF AMERICAareregistered trademarks. THE EAASKYSHOPPE and logosofIheEMAVIATION FOUNDATION.EMULTRALIGHTCONVENTION and EAAAirYentureare trade-
marksoftheaboveassociationsand theirusebyanypersonotherthan theaboveassociationisstrictlyprohibited.
28 DECEMBER 1999
8'II$cott
SpringHill, FL
Firs' soloed ;RJfather's
oircroh of age 16
"I firstsoloed in dad'saircraftatage 16
and I've been an EAA membersince
1972.AUAhas greatpersonal service
AUA's Exclusive EAA
Vintage Aircraft Assoc.
Insurance Program
approved.
Tobecomea
member of the
Vintage Aircraft
Association call
800-843-3612
and friendlyprofessional staffand
greatrates."
- Bill Scott
The bestis affordable.
GiveAUAa call - it's FREE!
800-727-3823
Fly with the pros.. .f/y with AUA Inc.
lowerliabililY.and hull premiums
Medicalpaymentsincluded
Fleetdiscounfsformultiple aircraft
carrying all risk coverages
No n ~ r o ping exclusion
Noagepen Ity
Nocompone tpartsendorsements
Discountsfor laim-free renewals
carryin all risk coverages
Remember,
We're Better Together'
AVIATION UNLIMITED AGENCY
V00260 Airshow
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