VA Vol 52 no 1 Jan Feb 2024

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2024

TAR HEEL CUB A FABULOUS FAIRCHILD 24 BEECHCRAFT MUSEUM GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

WALT’S WACO 9

EXCEPT FOR THEIR PANEL. BRING ADDED SAFETY AND RELIABILITY TO YOUR VINTAGE AIRCRAFT WITH THE GI 275 ELECTRONIC FLIGHT INSTRUMENTS AND THE GFC™ 500 DIGITAL AUTOPILOT.

© 2022 Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.

Letter From the President

January/February 2024

SUSAN DUSENBURY, VAA PRESIDENT

STAFF Publisher: Jack J. Pelton, EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board Vice President of Publications, Marketing, Membership and Retail/Editor: Jim Busha / jbusha@eaa.org Senior Copy Editor: Colleen Walsh Copy Editors: Tom Breuer, Jennifer Knaack Proofreader: Tara Bann Print Production Team Lead: Marie Rayome-Gill

ADVERTISING Advertising Manager: Sue Anderson / sanderson@eaa.org

CONTACT US

Charles W. Harris Youth Aviation Center

Mailing Address: VAA, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903 Website: EAAVintage.org Email: vintageaircraft@eaa.org Phone: 800-564-6322

Visit EAAVintage.org for the latest information and news.

WELL, IT’S NOW OFFICIAL. At our

last meeting, the VAA board of directors voted to name our new youth facility at Wittman Regional Airport the Charles W. Harris Youth Aviation Center. Many of you knew Charlie, and for those of you who did not, I feel a short biographical sketch is in order here.

Charles W. “Charlie” Harris was born in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, in 1927. He attended Pawhuska Public Schools, graduating in May 1945.

While in high school, Charlie earned five athletic letters in interscholastic athletics and served as president of his senior class. He attended the University of Oklahoma in the summer of 1945, just prior to his enlistment as a 17-year-old in the U.S. Navy in July 1945, where he served aboard active fleet cruisers: the USS Vicksburg CL-86, the USS Springfield CL-66, and the USS Astoria CL-90. Following his honorable discharge from active duty in August 1946, he enrolled at the University of Tulsa, where he

graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in January 1950.

Just after his college graduation, Charlie joined Commercial

Charles W. Harris was a true friend of vintage aviation.

Current EAA members may join the Vintage Aircraft Association and receive Vintage Airplane magazine for an additional $45/year.

EAA membership, Vintage Airplane magazine, and one-year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association are

Credit Co. in February 1950. He left Commercial Credit in July 1955 to join a Tulsa-based automobile installment financing organization, Security Investment Co., which later evolved into Transportation Leasing Co. Transportation Leasing Co. became one of the largest independent vehicle and aircraft financing, leasing, and rental organizations in the entire Southwest. Charlie served as CEO of Transportation Leasing until his death in 2017. (Transportation Leasing was dissolved and all

available for $55 per year (Sport Aviation magazine not included). (Add $7 for International Postage.)

Foreign Memberships Please submit your remittance with a check or draft drawn on a United States bank payable in United States dollars. Add required foreign postage amount for each membership.

Membership Service P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086 Monday–Friday, 8 AM—6 PM CST Join/Renew 800-564-6322 membership@eaa.org EAA AirVenture Oshkosh www.EAA.org/AirVenture

CONTINUED ON PAGE 64

888-322-4636

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Contents FE AT UR E S

10 Into the Golden Years The Beechcraft Heritage Museum Turns 50

By Holly Chilsen

22 The Uncommon and Capable CallAir Harve Applegate’s dream realized

By Sparky Barnes

30 A Super Fly 9 Walt Bowes’ Waco 9

By Brittany Elise

40 An Old Vet Never Looked So Good The Rozzell-SleeperMagrini-Miller Fairchild F-24R

By Budd Davisson

50 Dee Bradford’s 1939 Tar Heel Cub Bridging the generation gap with generosity and brio

By Sparky Barnes

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

January/February 2024 / Vol. 52, No. 1

COLUM NS 01

Letter From the President

By Susan Dusenbury

04

Hall of Fame

05

Friends of the Red Barn

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How To? Install Aircraft Bolts

By Robert G. Lock

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Good Old Days

60

The Vintage Mechanic Teaching a Nation How to Fly – The Lon Cooper Story, Part 3

By Robert G. Lock

Front Brittany Elise captures Walt Bowes’ Waco 9 near Broadhead, Wisconsin.

Back This award-winning Fairchild 24 graces this month’s back cover as it cruises over the Wisconsin countryside near Oshkosh. Photography by Ed Hicks.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? Send your thoughts to the Vintage editor at jbusha@eaa.org.

For missing or replacement magazines, or any other membership-related questions, please call EAA Member Services at 800-JOIN-EAA (564-6322).

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C A L L F O R V I N TA G E A I R CR A F T A S S O CI AT I O N

Nominate your favorite vintage aviator for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame. A great honor could be bestowed upon that man or woman working next to you on your airplane, sitting next to you in the chapter meeting, or walking next to you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Think about the people in your circle of aviation friends: the mechanic, historian, photographer, or pilot who has shared innumerable tips with you and with many others. They could be the next VAA Hall of Fame inductee — but only if they are nominated.

The person you nominate can be a citizen of any country and may be living or deceased; their involvement in vintage aviation must have occurred

between 1950 and the present day. Their contribution can be in the areas of flying, design, mechanical or aerodynamic developments, administration, writing, some other vital and relevant field, or any combination of fields that support aviation. The person you nominate must be or have been a member of the Vintage Aircraft Association or the Antique/Classic Division of EAA, and preference is given to those whose actions have contributed to the VAA in some way, perhaps as a volunteer, a restorer who shares his expertise with others, a writer, a photographer, or a pilot sharing stories, preserving aviation history, and encouraging new pilots and enthusiasts.

To nominate someone is easy. It just takes a little time and a little reminiscing on your part.

• Think of a person; think of their contributions to vintage aviation.

• Write those contributions in the various categories of the nomination form.

• Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions. Make copies of newspaper or magazine articles that may substantiate your view.

• If at all possible, have another individual (or more) complete a form or write a letter about this person, confirming why the person is a good candidate for induction.

We would like to take this opportunity to mention that if you have nominated someone for the VAA Hall of Fame, nominations for the honor are kept on file for three years, after which the nomination must be resubmitted.

Mail nominating materials to: VAA Hall of Fame, c/o Amy Lemke VAA P.O. Box 3086 Oshkosh, WI 54903 Email: alemke@eaa.org Find the nomination form at EAAVintage.org, or call the VAA office for a copy (920-426-6110), or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information: • Date submitted.

• Name of person nominated.

• Address and phone number of nominee.

• Email address of nominee.

• Date of birth of nominee. If deceased, date of death.

• Name and relationship of nominee’s closest living relative.

• Address and phone of nominee’s closest living relative.

• VAA and EAA number, if known. (Nominee must have been or is a VAA member.)

• Time span (dates) of the nominee’s contributions to vintage aviation. (Must be between 1950 to present day.)

• Area(s) of contributions to aviation.

• Describe the event(s) or nature of activities the nominee has undertaken in aviation to be worthy of induction into the VAA Hall of Fame.

• Describe achievements the nominee has made in other related fields in aviation.

• Has the nominee already been honored for their involvement in aviation and/or the contribution you are stating in this petition? If yes, please explain the nature of the honor and/or award the nominee has received.

• Any additional supporting information.

• Submitter’s address and phone number, plus email address.

• Include any supporting material with your petition.

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DEAR FRIENDS, For one week every year a temporary city of about 50,000 people is created in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the grounds of Wittman Regional Airport. We call the temporary city EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. During this one week, EAA and our communities, including the Vintage Aircraft Association, host more than 600,000 pilots and aviation enthusiasts along with their families and friends.

As a dedicated member of the Vintage Aircraft Association, you most certainly understand the impact of the programs supported by Vintage and hosted at Vintage Village and along the Vintage flightline during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh every year. The Vintage flightline is 1.3 miles long and is annually filled with more than 1,100 magnificent vintage airplanes. At the very heart of the Vintage experience at AirVenture is Vintage Village and our flagship building, the Red Barn.

Vintage Village, and in particular the Red Barn, is a charming place at Wittman Regional Airport during AirVenture. It is a destination where friends old and new meet for those great times we are so familiar with in our close world of vintage aviation. It’s energizing and relaxing at the same time. It’s our own field of dreams!

The Vintage area is the fun place to be. There is no place like it at AirVenture. Where else could someone get such a close look at some of the most magnificent and rare vintage airplanes on Earth? That is just astounding when you think about it. It is on the Vintage flightline where you can admire the one and only remaining low-wing Stinson Tri-Motor, the only two restored and flying Howard 500s, and one of the few airworthy Stinson SR-5s in existence. And then there is the “fun and affordable” aircraft display, not only in front of the Red Barn but along the entire Vintage flightline. Fun and

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD

affordable says it all. That’s where you can get the greatest “bang for your buck” in our world of vintage airplanes!

For us to continue to support this wonderful place, we ask you to assist us with a financial contribution to the Friends of the Red Barn. For the Vintage Aircraft Association, this is the only major annual fundraiser and it is vital to keeping the Vintage field of dreams alive and vibrant. We cannot do it without your support.

Your personal contribution plays an indispensable and significant role in providing the best experience possible for every visitor to Vintage during AirVenture.

Contribute online at EAAVintage.org. Or, you may make your check payable to the Friends of the Red Barn and mail to Friends of the Red Barn, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.

Be a Friend of the Red Barn this year! The Vintage Aircraft Association is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), so your contribution to this fund is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Looking forward to a great AirVenture 2024!

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How To? ROBERT G. LOCK

Install Aircraft Bolts

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

AN BOLTS COME IN diameters from 3/16 inch and up, their diameters increasing in 1/16-inch increments. In most antique and small general aviation type aircraft, the largest bolt diameter you will find is 1/2 inch. The bolts come in drilled and undrilled shanks and should be properly used.

Drilled bolts are for installing a castle nut that requires they be safetied with either a cotter pin or safety wire. Undrilled bolts require the use of locking nuts, either fiber or steel collars. Their lengths are in 1/8-inch increments — the correct

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coding can be found in reference material; the one I use is called the Standard Aircraft Handbook, compiled by Stuart Leavell and Stanley Bungay.

The first rule to know is that drilled shank bolts of 3/16-inch and 1/4-inch diameter cannot be used with locking nuts. However, bolt diameters greater than 1/4 inch may be used with locking nuts. This rule is because when these small diameter bolts are drilled, there is not much material left in that area, and a locking nut can shear off the end of the bolt. I’ve seen it happen, particularly on 3/16-inch-diameter bolts.

The unthreaded portion of the bolt shank is called the grip and is intended to be the approximate thickness of the material to be fastened. Another rule of the industry is that a maximum of three washers be used to compensate for bolt length — and one washer is always placed under the nut to prevent gouging of the surface when the nut is torqued.

If you know the length of the grip, then it is easy to figure out the correct bolt length. Lengths may vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer. Length variation is +0.046 inch and -0.015 inch.

The bolt end is chamfered for easy insertion into the hole, the chamfer angle being 45 degrees. Note that there is a round area just under the bolt head that is 1/64-inch thick so the hexagon head will not contact structure surface.

DRAWINGS COURTESY OF ROBERT G. LOCK

All bolt heads are marked for identification by the manufacturer to assure proper usage. The specific marking that identifies a 2330 heat-treated nickel steel bolt is a cross or asterisk. Although markings deviate between manufacturers, you will always see these two types of identification markings on bolt heads. Use no other bolt head markings as a substitute. Stainless steel bolts have a raised dash, and aluminum bolts have a recessed dash on the head.

For torque values, consult AC 43.13-1B. Torque values are important, especially when tightening bolts on wood structure, as one can crush wood fibers with increased torque. A good rule of thumb for tightening castle nuts on bolts is hand tight plus one or two castellations, then safety with a cotter pin or safety wire.

Locking nuts should not be used where bolts are subject to rotation; instead use castle nuts with a cotter pin safety. Bolts subject to rotation are in shear application; therefore, do not overtorque.

While standard steel aircraft bolts may be used in both tension and shear applications, clevis bolts are shear fasteners and are used in that application only.

The shear bolt code begins with AN21; however, these are rarely used. The most common is AN23, the 3 indicating 3/16-inch diameter, and increases, AN24 being 1/4 inch in diameter, etc.

Clevis bolts come in both drilled and undrilled threads and are intended for a shear nut, either AN320 castle or AN364 fiber lock nut, to be used. Note the shear area just above the threads. When these type

AN23

All bolt heads are marked for identification by the manufacturer to assure proper usage. fasteners are installed, the castle nut should be finger tight and, after cotter pin installation, should be able to be rotated with just a little friction on the fastener.

The same is true when a fiber locknut is used.

Installations should have a shear washer under the nut and a shear washer under the head if possible. Do not substitute AN bolts in place of shear bolts. Clevis bolts are intended to be used in structure where no tension is applied by the fastener. Note that the threads are short compared to the AN bolt, thus they will only accept a shear type nut. The same rule applies on these bolts that applies to AN bolts — do not use a fiber or steel locking nut on drilled shank bolts.

Clevis bolt installations are common in cable systems that have forked ends and in control systems where the load is shear only. Keep in mind that they have no torque and, when grasped with the fingers, can be rotated freely. This information is also useful when inspecting aircraft. If you see a clevis bolt, make sure you can turn it.

AN24

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Good Old Days

From the pages of what was ...

Take a quick look through history by enjoying images pulled from publications past.

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CLICK HERE

TO SEE A VIDEO

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM BUSHA

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THERE’S A LOT TO CELEBRATE when it comes to the advancements of aviation in the 120 years since the Wright brothers took that leap of faithful flight. Aircraft structure improved.

Aircraft technology improved. Aircraft safety improved. …

One designer after another striving to be the first to build the next bigger and better flying machine. We pride ourselves on being able to preserve those achievements. After all, preservation keeps history safe and sound for the present and the future. And that’s what the foundation of any museum stands upon.

The owners of the Beechcraft Heritage Museum hold a dedication to protecting the history of aircraft to a high standard. While their work never stops, they, along with the volunteers, supporters, and visitors, can do a collective cheer for its half a century of existence, and the impact it has had on preserving the trailblazing company founded by Walter and Olive Ann Beech. The Beechcraft Heritage Museum may be a hop, skip, and jump from Wichita, Kansas, but its home in Tullahoma, Tennessee, is proof that home truly is where the heart is. And this museum is all heart.

FROM BASEBALLS TO AIRPLANES

We can’t trace the history of the Beechcraft Heritage Museum without mentioning a family business that pushed it to fruition. For this part of the story, we’ll have to venture

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM BUSHA

back to the year 1912, just years before the heyday of America’s favorite pastime. You see, the Parish family, who owns the museum, was actually in the baseball- and softball-making business. It started with a man named George Sharp Lannom Jr. “My great-grandfather started making horse harnesses before the car came along. He had to shake ‘n’ jive and go to something else. So, he started making baseballs for the carnivals. But then it morphed to working with the major leagues and that type of thing later on,” said Charles Parish, EAA Lifetime 229432/Vintage 15243, president of the Beechcraft Heritage Museum.

The company was called Worth Inc., and it was also born right there in Tullahoma. Not only did they make baseballs and softballs, but also bats and equipment.

“And that was the business. It was four generations long. We had it for 91 years, my family did,” explained Charles, who was that fourth generation to run Worth Inc.

For the first two generations who took the company’s reins, there wasn’t any interest in aviation, but once Charles’ father, John Parish Sr., EAA Lifetime 43943/ Vintage Lifetime 213, came along, that all changed.

John grew up near William Northern Field (now the Tullahoma Regional Airport), an Army Air Forces training base for B-24 Liberator bombers. Being surrounded by airplanes sparked his love affair with aviation. He completed flight lessons in college and managed to buy his first airplane, a Cherokee 180, in 1964.

John attended fly-ins around the county. A favorite was the Antique Airplane Association’s annual fly-in in Ottumwa, Iowa, which he started attending in the late 1960s. It was there that John’s eyes locked on a beautiful airplane known as Big Red.

These early founders were visionaries … and if you look now at it, it’s like it probably surpassed their wildest dreams.

— Charles Parish

at EAA® AirVenture® Oshkosh™ Coming to EAA® AirVenture® Oshkosh™ 2024: Aeronca Nation, hosted by the Vintage Aircraft Association. Parking spaces are being reserved for Aeroncas and Champions, but spots MUST be occupied prior to Sunday night, July 21. After that empty spaces will be filled with other aircraft on a first come, first served basis with ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS.

To park in one of these spots, you MUST BE PRE-REGISTERED. Parking volunteers will be checking the list and only parking those aircraft that have registered prior to arriving.

To register, email AERONCA.NATION.2024@gmail.com with the following information for each aircraft you plan to bring: Last Name First Name N-Number Type Model Year

Cell Phone Number Email Address Street Address City State ZIP Code

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“[He] fell in love with a Staggerwing. It was a G-model, which there were only 20 of them made. They were the postwar Staggerwings,” Charles said.

That G17S belonged to a gentleman by the name of W.C. “Dub” Yarbrough, the president of the Staggerwing Club. The men formed a bond over the beloved Staggerwing and became even more connected through their involvement in the club. By 1970, John was fortunate to have the opportunity to purchase the G17 Big Red from Dub. “Dub moved to Tennessee and started working for our family business. So not only did my dad get the airplane, he got a really good friend and a national account salesman for our sporting goods company. So with them both here in Tullahoma … their love affair for the airplane, my father’s love affair for the airplane, allowed them to say, ‘Let’s have a Staggerwing fly-in convention,’ if you will. And I guess that was the breadwinner to allow my father to have and chase his passion for aviation.”

A lot of times we’ll ask ourselves, ‘Is this what Mrs. Beech would approve of?’ when we make a decision on something.

— Charles Parish

T-34

THE FIRST FLY-IN AND BIRTH OF THE MUSEUM Sure, passion can spark ideas, but making those ideas tangible things is a whole new ballgame. But the idea for a fly-in didn’t take much coaxing, and there was enough land to be able to host it on the Parishes’ property.

Walter Beech Hangar

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM BUSHA AND HOLLY CHILSEN

“My father had a licensed runway here,” Charles said. “And so, the state of Tennessee came to us, they said, ‘We really don’t like two licensed runways here. Would you consider giving up your license and letting us just have the Tullahoma airport?’ So, with that, my dad said, ‘Okay, what do we get out of it?’ Well, what we get out of it is deeded access to this airport forever for the Parish family and our assigned.”

That first Staggerwing Convention in October 1973 not only attracted 40-some Staggerwings, but also aviation pioneer Louise Thaden to attend as the keynote speaker. She was a pilot for Beech Aircraft Co. and also an accomplished racer, becoming the first woman to win the Bendix Trophy in 1936. She also happened to have a shared love for the Model 17 Staggerwing with which she flew. In her speech, she encouraged the club to take their initiative a step further.

“And they decided, hey, let’s start this museum. Let’s do something to foster and preserve the Beechcraft Staggerwing legacy.”

And with that, the Staggerwing Museum Foundation was born.

Of course, when you set out to do something like create a temple, if you

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Staggerwings

will, to celebrate the legacy of the Staggerwing, you do it right, with a great deal of respect for the Beechcraft name and the family who started the legacy. So during a trip to the Beech Aircraft Co. in Wichita, Kansas, members of the Staggerwing Club approached Olive Ann Beech with their idea to build the Staggerwing Museum.

“And most of the time, the people that have these ideas, they got small pocketbooks, and they can’t follow through and make it happen. And so she was not as supportive of it. And of course, I think she thought that they were coming in to ask her for financial support and, you know, would you do this for us and do that for us? And that was not the founders’ intent. That was not their intent to ask her for anything. They wanted to simply get her blessing,” Charles said. “And after some conversation, she said, ‘Well, you have my blessing.’”

The land for the museum, with access to the Tullahoma Regional Airport, was farmland owned by Charlotte Parish, John’s wife. That land was donated, and the real work began.

“My father had the foresight to go find these buildings that were out on the property and basically took them apart like Lincoln Logs. He

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bought three, a barn and two cabins, and he made a guest house and his own personal home out of one of them, and he donated the logs for the museum to start. The one side was the business office. The other side was the library. So that’s how we got started.”

The following year, in 1974, the Staggerwing Museum Foundation opened its doors to the public. In the library sat the museum’s first pieces of memorabilia, put on loan by Louise Thaden’s family.

“A lot of her altitude records, races that she won, the Bendix race in 1936 in a Staggerwing, and her pilot’s license signed by Orville Wright,” Charles said.

Certainly, with many of the founding members proving successful in the business world, it gave them the know-how to run a smooth operation. For John, running Worth Inc. also provided the financial ability to collect old airplanes to add to the museum.

“The baseball and softball was a business, and aviation was his passion. But he couldn’t help but not take his passion for running a business to building something, creating something, which was the museum,” Charles explained. “He liked aviation, but it wasn’t just his thing to have his airplanes and go to his hangar and hang out in the hangar by himself, filling it with his airplanes. He liked to share his passion.”

The Walter Beech Hangar and O.A. Chapel were dedicated in 1975 and 1981, respectively. In attendance was the “First Lady of Aviation” herself. Charles said Mrs. Beech was thoroughly impressed by what the Staggerwing Museum Foundation had accomplished. But there was much more to come.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOLLY CHILSEN AND JIM BUSHA

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C-45

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Beech 18

January/February 2024

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM BUSHA AND HOLLY CHILSEN

GROWING PASSION LEADS TO EXPANSION

It’s necessary to be able to grow with and adapt to the changing times. While the Staggerwing Convention attracted 30 to 40 Staggerwings to the annual event in the early 1970s to 1980s, the Parish family knew that to keep it running, they’d have to make a change.

“As time goes by, you know, less and less people could afford, or less and less people wanted to have, these 40- to 50-year-old airplanes. And so, we got concerned with how do we move into the future and grow with just Staggerwings? And so there were some folks that said we needed to really consider partnering with other Beechcraft type organizations and welcome them to come to our convention,” Charles said.

With that in mind, the foundation began great relationships with the Twin Beech 18 Society, the American Bonanza Society, and the Beech Aero Club. Those partnerships not only helped grow an audience for the fly-in convention, but also helped expand the museum. By the late 1990s, the Staggerwing Museum Foundation began groundbreaking on a brand-new building.

“The first building we built that was not dedicated to Staggerwings was the Beech 18 hangar. Mr. Chuck Cianchette, who was also a board member of EAA back in the day, helped spearhead the building we call the Cianchette Hangar. So I guess we kind of went from just the Staggerwing to the Beech 18s, and then we kind of opened up to Bonanzas and Barons and then the Aero Club that has the Musketeers and Sierras,” Charles explained. “We wouldn’t be what we are today if we didn’t have the support of all the other Beechcraft aircraft.”

To reflect the celebration and preservation of all Beechcraft aircraft, the Staggerwing Convention was renamed the Beech Party in 2000, and the Staggerwing Museum Foundation became the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in 2007. Today the museum houses 38 aircraft, which reflects approximately 80 percent of the Beechcraft lineage, from King Airs, to military types like the C-45 and AT-11, to even a Starship.

Impressively, the museum collection also has several of the first and last Beechcraft types.

“The very No. 1 Baron is on loan to us. We own No. 18 of the Bonanza. The Jim Gorman family donated the very last Beechcraft Duke that was produced,” Charles said. “And of course, I can’t miss mentioning we have serial No. 1

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Staggerwing, and in essence, it was serial No. 1 Beechcraft, because that’s the first aircraft Mr. Ted Wells, the engineer and designer, came up with when Mr. Beech decided to start Beechcraft.”

But Charles said the museum isn’t just a building with airplanes in it. Rather, they’re unique experiences that help tell a story to those who pay a visit.

“There are lots of small exhibit areas within the museum that’s other than just the 38 aircraft or so we have. We have the other different areas like the engine display area, the avionics display area, a location where they can see how the fabric application’s put on … and Beech was really good to us once they saw this would be a good place to hold a lot of the historical documents, and let us take care of them and house them and preserve them into the future.

So I think we’ve been a real blessing to the Beechcraft brand legacy.”

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Through their day-to-day operations and when times call for a decision to be made, they have Olive Ann in mind. “[She] was a very high-standard person. And so we try to run this museum how she ran Beechcraft. That was high quality, high standards, honesty, integrity. A lot of times we’ll ask ourselves, ‘Is this what Mrs. Beech would approve of?’ when we make a decision on something.”

CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION

The Beechcraft Heritage Museum and the Beech Party just marked their 50th anniversary. A celebration of a half a century’s worth of achievements culminated at the 2023 Beech Party in October, which brought in about 150 aircraft and 800 attendees.

That’s a far cry from humble beginnings and the founders who built it from the ground up.

“I’m confident myself and my team have what it takes, but can we carry it to the next level and carry it in the footsteps of some of these folks like Mr. [Jim] Gorman and John Parish and Dub Yarborough and Dick Hansen … what they created? These early founders were visionaries, and they could see what they wanted to do 20 years out, and if you look now at it, it’s like it probably surpassed their wildest dreams,” Charles said.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM BUSHA

Charles humbly gives a lot of credit to those who donated their time, effort, and money to make both the museum and fly-in what it is today. But he said there are two people who deserve the most praise.

“If it wasn’t for my mom and dad, this museum wouldn’t have happened. It just wouldn’t. I mean, there are your founders and your folks who got behind it financially, but if it wasn’t for my dad’s pure love of creating something, and he likes sharing. He basically said, ‘Hey, Charlotte and I will give the property for it, and I’ll be there.’ So if it wasn’t for him, not only running a business called Worth Sporting Goods Co., but on weekends spending time with the museum and keeping it moving, keeping some momentum, and fundraising, it wouldn’t happen.”

And we are certainly glad it did happen, to have a place dedicated to a shared passion of general aviation.

First Beechcraft Serial #1 Staggerwing

“We’re one of the few general aviation, if not the only general aviation, museums, and I think that’s something kind of unique and very special … very special for us,” Charles said.

Holly Chilsen, EAA 1495056, is EAA’s multimedia journalist. She creates content for EAA’s social media channels and writes for EAA’s print and digital publications. When she’s not learning about aviation, she’s cooking up the latest delicious creation in her kitchen. Email Holly at hchilsen@eaa.org.

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n o m m o c n U d n e a Th

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

e l b a Cap

r i A l l Ca Harve Applegate’s dream realized

BY SPARKY BARNES

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HARVE APPLEGATE WELL REMEMBERS one of the first words in his

burgeoning aviation vocabulary: “CallAir.” That’s because when Harve was just a little kid, there was an ag pilot who had a brand-new CallAir A-9 at his family’s strip.

Little did Harve know that about 1939, when his own forebears first settled on their family farm in northeast Missouri, a gentleman in Afton, Wyoming, was developing the prototype CallAir — long before Harve was a twinkle in his mother’s eye. And so it eventually came to be that a CallAir “I ’ve always thought was flying at the Applegates’ farm strip. It was the CallAir is a neat the genesis of young Harve’s lifelong attraction to the CallAir. airplane, and one that “Throughout the years,” Harve said, “I’d see I ’d really like to own a CallAir once in a great while, and when I had someday.” the chance to fly an A-9 sprayer, I really liked the way it flew. I’ve always thought the CallAir — Harve Applegate is a neat airplane, and one that I’d really like to Harve Applegate with his latest restoration, at Brodhead, Wisconsin. own someday.”

But there just aren’t a whole lot of CallAirs around, primarily because so few were built. According to various sources, field elevation] airplane. The 145-hp there were only about 35 A-2s and A-3s built. (The models were virtually the Continental-powered CallAir A-3 same, except the A-2 was powered by a 125-hp Lycoming, and the A-3 by a that I had would literally take off and climb quicker, cruise faster, and 125-hp Continental.) Currently, there are only a total of 15 CallAir A-2s and A-3s on the FAA Registry. But there was a project in waiting at a hangar not land shorter than a 150-hp Super too far from Harve’s hometown of Queen City.

Cub. No one believes that, but it’s “It was stored at Antique Airfield in Blakesburg, Iowa, for 24 years. Greg absolutely true. And I couldn’t tell Herrick owned it, and I’d seen it there and admired it for years. It kind of looks you exactly why, but it just had a lot of good characteristics.” like an ag plane,” Harve said. “So one day, I just got a wild hair to call him to see if he’d sell it. He got back with me two weeks later and gave me a price, and Back in the late 1940s, Kenneth that’s how I finally got my own CallAir. This one is an A-2, and it was built in Arnold of Boise, Idaho, flew his CallAir September 1953. It’s serial No. 136 and was the last one made.” to visit his customers in five states. He was so pleased with the airplane that he sent an autographed photo of himHarve isn’t the only one who’s had a yearning for CallAirs. The late Chet self with his CallAir to Reuel Call, and Peek (2007 VAA Hall of Fame inductee) acquired his own noteworthy CallAir also penned the following note: “Just collection years ago. All told, Chet bought at least 10 CallAirs during the late landed my new CallAir up here in the 1970s through the 1980s. In 1977, he purchased a CallAir A-5 duster from a fellow Wallowa Mountains. I have flown it in Paducah, Texas. “He had several CallAirs that had been put out to pasture, over 125 hours, mostly cow pasture and they looked like they would offer some fun, open-cockpit flying. So I bought work. I can’t tell you how pleased I am one — I didn’t know it, but I had just begun my ‘CallAir affair.’ The fellow had with it. It’s simply a honey.” two more, so I bought those too — then I found more of them in Texas, Kansas, But there’s more … Kenneth Colorado, and Nebraska. They seemed to follow me home like lost puppies! They became widely known for his unidenwere kind of rare,” elaborated Chet, almost wistfully, “and nobody knew much tified flying object (UFO) encounter on about them. They were dirt cheap — you’d buy one for the price of an engine, June 24, 1947, which happened while and you’d get a propeller and airplane with it — literally. The ones I bought had he was flying CallAir N33355 and saw 150-hp Lycomings, which were good engines. I did buy one cabin CallAir, and it nine strange aircraft flying in formahad a 145-hp Continental in it. That’s one of the four that I restored. They were tion at a great speed close to Mount a much maligned airplane, and they were really a tremendous mountain [high Rainier (at around 10,000 feet). His

Other CallAir Admirers

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Close-up of the landing gear – note the rugged CallAir shock struts.

Harve’s CallAir proudly wears “Applegate Farms” on its fuselage.

Note the CallAir logo on the tail.

CallAir A-3 was subsequently depicted on a few magazine covers, as well as the cover of The Coming of the Saucers, which he co-authored. His CallAir was also commemorated by a mural that welcomed visitors to Chehalis, Washington. Later, he and his wife brought the capable CallAir into the limelight again when they campaigned for Barry Goldwater in N2902V.

Bito’ CallAir History

Aviation pioneer Reuel T. Call was born in January 1908 in Afton, Wyoming. In 1939, he and Carl Petersen became acquainted at Soda Springs, Idaho — each had a bit of experience flying a Curtiss-Wright Junior. Reuel expressed his interest in building an airplane for mountain flying, and Carl decided to relocate and work with him. Thomas Call built some of the buildings that housed the aircraft work. Reuel and his uncle, Ivan Call, worked on the primary design and were joined by Reuel’s brother, Spencer, as well as others.

Reuel made the first flight in the pro-

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totype, and in 1940, the Call Aircraft Co. was founded.

When Carl joined the company, he assumed various duties: jig builder, test pilot, and draftsman. Barlow Call was also a test pilot and eventually became president of the company.

The CallAir was designed and built for high-altitude performance on short, rugged runways in the western mountains. Several models would eventually be manufactured, in both passenger and ag plane configurations. Spencer and Carl engineered the airframe design using slide rules for stress analysis calculations. More than 1,200 square feet of detailed drawings were made. Drop tests were conducted with the prewar prototype, and the company designed its own heavy-duty hydraulic and spring shock struts. They all worked diligently for more than two years to meet the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) requirements for a type certificate.

Carl was credited with coining the phrase “CallAir,” and later wrote a book titled The CallAir Affair — An Aeronautical History. Carl wrote: “We were winding up the final flight tests for the type certificate the day Pearl Harbor

was bombed. … Joe Davis and Walter Haldeman were the C.A.A. representatives. They commented and complimented us at that time for having one of the best organized type certificate programs that had gone through the Kansas City office.”

World War II put a hiatus on production, and afterward, there was a dearth of raw materials. Call Aircraft solved that problem by purchasing Interstate Aircraft Corp.’s production materials. Call based its operations in an impressive manufacturing facility in “beautiful Star Valley” in Afton, Wyoming. Their airport, however, was basically an unimproved strip in a cow pasture.

Clever and Creative

An interesting anecdote from The CallAir Affair was this: At one point early on, Carl Petersen and Reuel Call appeared before the town council to request airstrip improvements, including keeping cows and hogs away.

Despite an increase in transient air traffic, the council demurred, saying it would only benefit the factory. Carl thanked them for listening and then came up with a clever idea to impress upon them that Call Aircraft was a significant part of the town’s economy.

He made arrangements to pay the employees with two dollar bills, which quickly started filling the town’s cash registers. It was a gentleman’s touché.

The Call Aircraft Co. applied its creative design skills to other ventures as well. Reuel designed quick-attach airplane skis that could be installed

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

without removing the tires. The skis were stabilized in flight with bungee cords and were CAA-approved. They designed and built the first air-driven snow car, which was powered by an airplane engine and a wide-bladed pusher prop. The snow car was initially built to facilitate mail delivery to Ashton, Idaho, and West Yellowstone, Montana, but it became popular with many who wanted to traverse snowy terrain. Call also designed lightweight and portable snowshoes for aviators.

N2921V ’s Previous Owners

Manufactured in September 1953, N2921V featured improved door and window latches, an aluminum breather tube (instead of a rubber hose), a thicker (3/16-inch) mahogany floor in the rear baggage area, and shoulder harnesses for each occupant.

In October, RJ Spratt of Basin, Wyoming, bought this A-2. In 1954, he had the factory install a 13.5-gallon auxiliary fuel tank under the seat, and in 1956, he had an electrical system and nav lights installed. The following year, Midwestern Aviation Corp. of Salt Lake City, Utah, bought it.

Then in mid-1958, Hansjörg Ebell of Vancouver, British Columbia, purchased N2921V. It was exported to Canada and assigned registration CF-KNP. At that point, it had a total operating time of 617 hours. Little is known about its life in Canada, but somehow, CF-KNP was back in Afton, Wyoming, by March 1962. At that time, Barlow Call bought CallAir components at a sheriff’s auction, including a CallAir model A-2 fuselage (sans wings and struts), a Lycoming O-290-C engine, and an aircraft trailer.

Barlow signed a bill of sale to Clark L. Jensen of Twin Falls, Idaho (later of Mesa, Arizona), in July 1965.

Jensen obtained the original registration number and did a great deal of repair work to the right wing, ailerons, and nose in the 1960s. He removed the Goodyear brakes and installed 6.00-6

Cleveland wheel and brake assemblies, and, among other things, installed CallAir fiberglass wingtips. The airplane was certificated in the experimental classification for the purpose of research and development in May 1970, apparently flown 11 hours, and then received a standard airworthiness certificate shortly thereafter. In the early 1970s, he made repairs to the left wing.

The CallAir then went to new owners in Idaho and Arizona in 1975. Blaine Larson of Indio, California, bought it This is the CallAir paint in April 1977. Within a year’s time, the scheme that Harve replicated for his airplane. wings and fuselage were re-covered with Ceconite, and the airplane was back in Wyoming with a different owner.

John Hanson kept it until 1986, when the Longtines of Riverton, Wyoming, bought it. Two years later, the CallAir landed in the hands of Les DeLine in San Diego. In 1990, the CallAir was clear across the country, first in Virginia, and then in Florida. Greg Herrick acquired it in 1997 and sold it to Harve Applegate in 2021.

CallAir Kudos

Aviation historian and author Joseph Juptner wrote: “Altho’ inherently stable and easy to fly, the A-2 was pleasantly maneuverable and sure-footed as a mountain goat; it was tolerant of little mistakes and completely at home in the thin air of high altitudes. As a workhorse airplane it was frequently asked to do what seemed impossible, and it did it all serenely and without fuss” (U.S. Civil Aircraft, Vol. 8).

And this, written by Bob Arentz: “In its own unique way, this little airplane is as specialized as a Goodyear racer, having a pretty good cruising speed, and doing on take-off, climb, and landing what the Wittman Special does in superior pylon bending. It is interesting to me that both the Wittman and the Call-Air are what might be termed ‘garage-built’ airplanes, designed by persons who had a special demand from an airplane and a determination to resolve it” (“The CallAir,” Flying, January 1950).

A Good Start

Some good fortune accompanied Harve’s project, thanks in large part to Greg Herrick’s initial efforts. “Greg had already started on this project, in a sense, because he’d bought a factory-overhauled Lycoming O-320-A2B for it,” Harve reflected. “That’s a great improvement over the O-290 that the airplane originally had. And he’d had Clifford Hatz build the mount for the new engine, and the cowling.”

Additionally, an Aero Classics oil cooler, Bracket air filter assembly, and Univair engine baffles were installed. The Piper PA-22 fiberglass nose bowl that was previously on the airplane was reused, as was the original CallAir exhaust system.

Approval for the engine installation was done by FAA Form 337 “field approval,” which referenced similar engine changes for several other CallAirs.

“So we were good to go with that engine — it had been pickled well, and it had a brand-new alternator, Slick mags, carburetor, and metal Sensenich fixed-pitch

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propeller. Plus, Greg had special-ordered the windshield for it.”

Airframe

Harve’s full-time occupation is farming corn and soybeans, which allows him time to work on restorations during the winter season. When he and Gale Stock, who had helped Harve haul the project home, rolled up their sleeves and started assessing the condition of the A-2 project, they discovered something surprising. “Apparently the airplane had been in a hailstorm long before I got it, and they took silver furnace tape and covered all the holes on it,” Harve said and chuckled, “and then painted right over the top of it — it was remarkable!”

The CallAir has a welded steel tubing fuselage, with wood stringers and formers for the turtledeck and sides. The wings have wood spars and ribs, and the tail feathers are built of steel tubing.

Harve found that the right wing was in excellent shape, but the left wing needed some work. He repaired the butt rib and the first three ribs using aircraft-grade plywood and epoxy glue.

He also replaced the left wing walk and applied two coats of spar varnish to the repairs.

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“I bought new tail brace wires for it, and then I tried to find replacement landing gear shocks. I called a few people, and they said it was going to be so expensive to make them, that it’d be better to find a set if I could,” Harve said. “Well, it ended up the Airpower Museum at Antique Airfield had a CallAir A-4 sprayer project, and I bought it just to get the shock struts. When I opened up the wooden crate, I couldn’t believe it — the struts were brand-new from the CallAir factory.”

Challenges

Restoring tube-and-fabric airplanes is nearly second nature for Harve. He’s restored a Vagabond, a Rearwin, and most recently, the “Comedy Cub,” which Dick Willits owned and flew in air shows. But as Harve became more involved in the CallAir restoration, he realized it was quite different. “It’s a weird airplane; it truly is. I’m glad I got this and glad I did it, but I can’t say I’d do another one! It was hard in a lot of ways. For one, the cabin ceiling over the seat and baggage area needed to be covered in Ceconite, and that was some of the toughest covering work I think I’ve done. The other airplanes I’ve done were easy to handle, but this CallAir was kind of tough because of its weight and size. And the stringers are all odd sizes; it was just strange to me.”

Helping Hands

Harve’s wife, Carolyn, is also a pilot and has helped her husband on previous aircraft restorations. She and Mary Furlin were happy to lend their helping hands on this project, especially when it came to rib-stitching the Ceconite covering.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

In a quest for originality, Harve decided to use a CallAir paint scheme that he saw on the cover of the January 1950 issue of Flying, and by all appearances, he succeeded, using Randolph coatings. He also derived quite a bit of useful information from The CallAir Affair book.

He had local upholsterer, John Jarvis, sew the baggage compartment and covers for the 43-inch-wide bench seat. (The CallAir was a certified three-place airplane.) “Maurice Bonnel, a local A&P, was so much help on this project. He did paperwork and was always there to help me, like putting on the tail feathers and the tail brace wires,” Harve said. “Anytime I needed to measure something, Maurice was always there to hold the other end of the measuring tape.

I have to say, again, that Greg has treated me wonderfully on this project and has been very supportive, along with Brent and Ben Taylor.”

3200 tail wheel. “I was listening to ATIS before arriving at Oshkosh, and there was a crosswind gusting to 17 — but my three-point landing was a nonevent,” Harve said. “It seems to be that once it’s on the ground, it’s done. It’s kind of different from other airplanes, getting used to all the visibility.

I’ve flown it 65 hours so far, and I think I’m going to keep this airplane — and I love the rock-solid dependability of the Lycoming!”

Though there are few remaining, perhaps one day Harve and other CallAir owners will enjoy a CallAir fly-in similar to the one held in June 1988, when six CallAirs flew back to their birthplace in Afton.

1953 CALLAIR A-2 SPECIFICATIONS MANUFACTURED UNDER ATC 758 (7-26-1944) NOT ELIGIBLE TO BE FLOWN BY A SPORT PILOT.

ENGINE (ORIGINAL): 125-hp Lycoming O-290 LENGTH: 23 feet, 5 inches HEIGHT: 7 feet WINGSPAN: 35 feet, 10 inches EMPTY WEIGHT: 945 pounds BAGGAGE: Over 100 pounds GROSS WEIGHT: 1,550 pounds MAX SPEED: 120 mph CRUISING SPEED: 109 mph STALLING SPEED: 45 mph CLIMB RATE: Over 1,000 fpm SERVICE CEILING: Over 17,500 feet FUEL CAPACITY: 30 gallons RANGE: 456 miles

CallAir Characteristics

Harve’s CallAir has very basic instruments, which were in it when he bought it. He describes the flight controls as being “not as light as my Stinson, but they’re nice. The aileron and rudder control cables are standard size for any airplane, but the elevator cables are a whopping 3/16ths. A lot of the airplane structure seems like overkill, but it was built for rugged runways. It has a very docile stall at around 35 mph, and it gives plenty of warning. The CallAir has an unreal service ceiling of 17,500 feet.”

He likes to pick up the tail early in the short takeoff roll, and even though the extreme visibility through the windshield makes it seem like the propeller is close to the ground, Harve said, “It’s not; there’s hoards of clearance there.”

Landings are docile as well. The CallAir has a 98-inch tread and 8.00-6 mains, with a steerable Scott

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Walt Bowe’s Waco 9

BY BRITTANY ELISE

AS A BORN AND raised citizen of Ohio, the word “Waco” invokes a sense of pride when I think about the aircraft company and the name that embodies the history. The birth of the Waco Aircraft Co. took place in Ohio in 1920 under the name of Weaver Aircraft Co. In 1923, it settled in a modest factory in Troy, Ohio, and the name was changed to the Advance Aircraft Co., still using Waco for the aircraft names. The final name change took place in 1929, and the company became the Waco Aircraft Co. that we know and admire today. The pronunciation is often confused with Waco, Texas (which has nothing to do with the aircraft). As goofy as it sounds, I always tell people that Waco rhymes with the word taco (and one can never go wrong with a good taco).

What I admire most about the Waco name is that it was highly popular between the wars, and had more aircraft registered in the U.S. civil aircraft registry than any other company during that time. During World War II, Waco even produced a series of gliders for the U.S. Army Air Force, as well as the Royal Air Force. Waco was known for its beloved open-cockpit biplanes, which were famous during the barnstormer era, closed-cabin biplanes, and various experimental types. The reputation of the Waco name was well earned by their booming success, and through the wide variety of aircraft Waco had in its arsenal. All that success arguably starts with the staple type of the Waco 9.

The History of the Waco 9 The Waco 9 was first brought to life in 1925 by the Advance Aircraft Co., spearheaded by Clayton Brukner and Elwood Junkin. The two developed the model, which was a three-seat open-cockpit biplane with a steel-tube fuselage and wooden wings, and designed it with passenger carrying in mind. Waco’s earlier types were

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TO SEE A VIDEO

The legendary Curtiss OX-5 engine with its exposed valve rocker arms and brass radiator.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRITTANY ELISE

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRITTANY ELISE

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fairly unremarkable. Model types 4 through 7 used a lot of JN-4 parts with new interchangeable wing panels. The 8 was the first closed-cabin model, but the 9 was the first mass-produced Waco, and the success of the type was almost instantaneous. Thirty planes were built and sold within the first four months of its production. The main competitor, the old Curtiss Jennys and other similar types, were no longer as easy to come by, and the 9 was an affordable and extremely well-designed aircraft. Powered by the iconic eight-cylinder Curtiss OX-5 liquid-cooled engine, the Waco 9 had better performance than the Jenny, too.

The Advance Aircraft Co. entered the Waco 9 in the 1925 National Air Tour, known as the Ford Reliability Tour, where the aircraft caught the attention of many and resulted in numerous sales. Aside from its use as a barnstorming and racing airplane, the Waco 9 proved versatile for a couple early airline businesses: Clifford Ball operated an airline that ran from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cleveland, Ohio, which became known as Capital Airlines. The Embry-Riddle Co. also used the 9 on its passenger express line from Louisville, Kentucky, to Cleveland, Ohio. The 9 was also used for aerial crop-spraying, and was the first Waco certified for EDO floats.

The unique characteristics, reliability, and quality performance of the Waco 9 led to the production of around 270 aircraft between 1925 and 1927. Waco would build you one in 1930 if you wanted one, so it’s impossible to pinpoint its exact production number, but Andy Heins, a Waco expert who runs the National Waco Club, told me that it was probably closer to 296. To this day, Andy said there are only about 10 Waco 9s in existence — three flyable (Mid America Flight Museum and WAAAM plus Walt’s), three in museums or on display (NASM, WACO Air Museum, Pittsburgh International Airport terminal), and four under restoration.

By 1927, the new and evolved Waco 10 was released, with the option to install multiple engine types, such as the OX-5 or

Spoked wheels with no brakes, per 1926.

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a powerful J-5 radial, where the Waco 9 was almost exclusively powered by the OX-5 (apart from some raceplanes that used Curtiss C-6 and K-6 engines). It was almost as if the Waco 9 was the prototype of the Waco 10. The 9 desperately wanted to be ahead of its time but was limited with what it could do.

Waco had developed an advanced formula to transition the 9 to the 10, and eventually the 9 was phased out of production.

Acquiring the Waco 9 Walter Bowe of Sonoma, California, is a Waco enthusiast with a deep love and admiration for almost all the aircraft of the “golden age.” Walt grew up in a conventional flying family; his grandfather was a barnstormer, his father was in the Air Force and flew for the military, and Walt’s older brother taught him how to fly in their family’s Cessna 140. Even if Walt had wanted to escape the family lineage, he probably couldn’t have.

Flying was always meant to be in his blood. Sonoma is something of a hotbed for antique airplanes and has a substantial grassroots aviation community. To Walt, “normal” airplanes were the vintage and antique variety, and because of his background he has always been intrigued with flying. Over the years, Walt and his wife, Carlene, have established quite a lovely collection of these golden age flying machines, and among them is the Waco 9.

This particular Waco 9, NC2668, was built in the factory in Troy, Ohio, and sold new in May 1927 to an owner in West Virginia ( just days before Charles Lindbergh made his famous nonstop flight from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis).

The Waco exchanged hands in the Midwest before making its last known flight in 1941. It eventually found its way back to an owner in Ohio, who then sold it as a project plane to a guy named Bob Howie out of Decatur, Illinois, in 1995.

Bob, who was described to me as a “perfectionist historian,” began in earnest the thorough and lengthy restoration

Flying wires are made from cables instead of streamlined tie rods.

Throttle lever on the left side of the cockpit.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRITTANY ELISE

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Cavorting over the Wisconsin farmland.

process of the Waco 9. Using the original wing fittings, Bob had the wings completely rebuilt by Tom Brown in Wisconsin. He had a new fuselage welded up by John Murray in Missouri, but the tail feathers are still original. Bob Howie completed about 85 percent of the restoration work with the help of some other phenomenal craftsmen.

During the restoration, Bob acquired the esteemed and historic Waco 10 called Miss Fortune. Miss Fortune once belonged to Cecil Hess, who was one of the early stunt flyers of the barnstorming era. During an air show in 1930, Cecil took up an aviatrix who went by the name of Peaches LaMar, and she unsuccessfully parachuted off the wing of his airplane. Her unfortunate demise, among a few other incidents, led to the naming of Cecil’s Waco 10. The acquisition of Miss Fortune and her arguably coveted and fascinating history resulted in the loss of interest in Bob’s Waco

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9 project. The 9 sat around unfinished for many years, and Bob passed away before it could ever be fully restored.

After Bob’s passing in 2018, his estate went into limbo, and eventually his collection of beloved airplanes came up for sale, curated by Forrest Lovley. Forrest was tasked with selling the airplanes, and Walt purchased a total of four from Bob’s collection. Three of them were in flying condition, including the Waco 10 Miss Fortune, and the fourth was the project Waco 9.

Walt decided to take the project plane to Brodhead, Wisconsin, where Chris Price, Jay Berendes, and Ted Davis were tasked with finishing the restoration.

The Restoration When I sat down with Chris Price at the Grassroots Fly-In in September 2023, he told me that Bob Howie had started a perfect project — that Bob had followed the Waco plans for the restoration and gave so much attention to detail that the group didn’t have to change anything Howie did. They just had to finish what wasn’t there. Chris expressed how unusual it was to finish a project in that condition, and wanted to give Bob proper credit for his work and how authentic it was.

The crew at Brodhead working on the restoration (coined the Brodhead Brain Trust by Connor Madison) eagerly set to work on the missing pieces. The Waco 9 needed new landing gear, wing struts, cabanes, and flying wires. Ted Davis oversaw the fabric of the fuselage, and the new sheet metal was done by Jay Berendes. Chris also told me how easy and fun it is to work with Walt. He stated that he could call Walt up and tell him what part was needed for the airplane, and then a new carburetor (or insert a part here) would show up in the mail shortly after, no questions asked. Chris said the project should have taken them about one-and-a-half years of hard work altogether, but because of other irons in the fire (restoration projects), they ended up finishing the Waco 9 restoration in a total of four-and-a-half years.

The paint scheme was inspired by a man named Howard Morey, who had a long history in aviation that spanned more than 60 years. Morey had a hand in managing a couple of air-

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRITTANY ELISE

ports in the Madison, Wisconsin, area. In 1926, Morey purchased a Waco 9, started the Pennco Airport, and began barnstorming around the state. The Army Air Corps took over the municipal airport in 1942, so he opened the Morey Airport in Middleton, Wisconsin, known by locals as Morey Field. Chris and the guys found an old photograph of Howard Morey’s Waco 9 and decided to use it as a reference note and a nod to Morey and the local Wisconsin history.

Photographer’s Impressions When I arrived in Brodhead, Wisconsin, admittedly, I knew little of the Waco 9. I had been tasked with getting some air-to-air shots for the magazine, but was unsure of what to expect. I’d just driven seven hours from Ohio with my dad on our way to Oshkosh and was exhausted, famished, and had a headache. I remember following Andrew King like a lost pup across the airfield, with the heat of the afternoon sun beating down on the back of my neck as he led me to a hangar on the south end of the airport. As the doors opened up, the sunlight chased the shadows into the corners and revealed inch by inch an antique airplane so utterly pristine, I couldn’t decide if I had been transported back in time, or if the airplane itself was an anomaly that didn’t belong in the modern world. It was beautiful. I forgot all about being tired and hungry and in pain, and instead stood in awe of the aircraft before me. It was clear to me that craftsmen and artists were responsible for resurrecting the ol’ bird, and if an inanimate object could somehow be proud, the Waco 9 was every bit of that. The maroon paint on the fuselage sparkled in the summer sun, brightening in transition to the silver body when Andrew pulled the airplane out of the hangar.

Before I consciously knew what I was doing, the camera was in my hands. Now, I will admit to being something of a “prop blur snob” when it comes to photos, and I desperately wanted the challenge of capturing the 9 in all its glory. Chris Buerk was kind enough to take me up in his Command-Aire biplane, and shooting air-to-air from another open-cockpit is a challenge in its own right, but I was eager! Andrew King

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knows what he’s doing in the air, and he knows how to position the airplane to make it look just right for the photos. While I’d like to take some credit, there’s no doubt in my mind that I couldn’t do what I do without the talent and skill behind the subject and photo plane pilots. There’s really something to be said in the adage of “teamwork makes the dream work,” but I was really quite pleased with how the air-to-air photos turned out. I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful airplane to photograph.

Flying Characteristics From Chris Price’s Perspective Chris mostly had pleasant things to denote about the flying characteristics of the Waco 9. “It flies amazingly better than I thought it would,” Chris said. “It ground handles really, really nice. We used the old landing gear design, which pushes the axle back and makes the tail really light.” He said for not having brakes and only tailskids, the steering is unbelievably good. Chris went on to say that the airplane’s controls are nicely balanced, and the elevator and rudders are very responsive. He also noted that the ailerons are remarkably good.

“Now, this is all predicated on 1925 designs; it’s like you’re judging it against a Jenny,” he said. Chris noted that if you were to fly a J-3 Cub at about 55 mph, all the control movements are

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quite comparable. A J-3 usually travels around 70-75 mph, making it a little quicker and more responsive. Chris said if you were to pull back the power in the J-3, he thinks the Waco 9 would fly about like that.

“The one negative trait I think it has is the ability to go very fast, and I don’t trust how strong it is,” Chris said. It’s not an airplane you’d want to fly around and go do aerobatics in. The airplane tends to want to do more than it’s really capable of doing. The wing design for the Waco 9 is not the better design if you are comparing it to the model 10. The 9’s cabane struts go together in an A-frame and there is no center section, which makes them weaker. The model 10 has a center section that gives the airplane the ability to perform with more quality.

The Waco 9 weighs 1,230 pounds empty, which is really light for a biplane. It holds 32 gallons of gas, and burns about 8 gph if you were cruising at about 60 mph. Chris said they really need to fly it in formation with a Cub to test this, but he estimated that it can probably do about 70 mph at cruise, but that would be fast for the airplane. “It’s inherently not super stable; it’s always wandering in pitch but not bad. Ergonomically, it’s a beautiful design. The cockpit arrangement is huge!” said Chris.

For a joke, the crew loaded four people into the airplane and took a picture just to show how spacious it is. The original design is for a pilot and two passengers, but the space is

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRITTANY ELISE

generously wide inside the cockpit. They were able to fit two people in the pilot’s seat alone.

Flying Characteristics From Andrew King’s Perspective Andrew had the honor (and pleasure) of flying the restored Waco 9 to Oshkosh this summer (2023), and I thought it would be interesting to interview both Chris and Andrew to compare the flying notes. Andrew stated, “Talking about how a particular airplane flies always depends on what you compare it to.

The Waco 9 came at a time of transition from the military surplus Curtiss Jennys that were common in the early 1920s to the more advanced new designs that came about in the early 1930s. Compared to a Bücker Jungmann or even to the Waco QCF-2 of 1931, the Waco 9 is kind of a dog, slow on the controls, heavy on the ailerons, and relatively unresponsive. But compared to the Jennys that pilots were used to when the 9 was new, it was a noticeable leap forward, a jump in performance as well as in controllability.”

He went on to say, “The Waco 9 is lighter than a Jenny and better aerodynamically, with the same engine, so it jumps off the ground better and floats into the air rather than plowing into it. This one has the later ‘elephant ear’ ailerons that work better than the earlier plain type. It isn’t exactly stable in pitch

but doesn’t take a lot of work to keep on course, and cruises at about 70 mph. Landing speed is slow, maybe 35 mph, and the large rudder is pretty effective, so keeping straight, even with a tailskid and no brakes, isn’t too hard. One of the great things about the Waco 9 is that it is one of the few OX-5-powered airplanes that doesn’t have a cowling over the tops of the cylinders, so as you fly along you can watch the rocker arms jumping up and down, a real old-timey experience.” (Or as Chris Price compares it to, “Watching it perform like Edward Scissorhands.”) Andrew said, “It really is a time warp machine, giving the pilot a real taste of 1926 as he circles over the farmland of Wisconsin.”

Thanks to custodians like Walt and Carlene — and craftsmen such as Bob, Chris, Jay, and Ted — this link to a bygone era will be around for many years to come, and the “new life” of this Waco 9 is really just beginning. It will be writing new history that hopefully other vintage aircraft enthusiasts can enjoy for many more decades. *Special note: Brittany Elise also has a vintage aviation calendar for sale that features some really neat airplanes along with a blurb of their history. If you would be interested in purchasing one, check out Blackbriar Photography on Facebook and/or Instagram for links to buy.

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An Old Vet

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January/February 2024

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ED HICKS

Never Looked

So Good!

The Rozzell-Sleeper-Magrini-Miller Fairchild F-24R

BY BUDD DAVISSON

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A

PROBLEM WITH LOOKING at history from the wrong end of the telescope is that it’s difficult to get a feeling of scale. The historical optics make everything look farther away and less distinct. In the case of December 7, 1941, to September 2, 1945, so much was happening both in-country and overseas, and in such tremendously compressed time frames, that the memories of uncounted thousands of smaller, but still consequential, happenings are lost.

Look at those dates again: America’s involvement in World War II lasted only three years, eight months, 26 days.

However, America’s exploding industry and military worked with our Allies to simply overpower the Axis on both fronts. Buried deep in those facts are the experiences of individual soldiers, both human and mechanical. Fairchild 24R, N66143, was one of those supporting characters whose story has been forgotten by most.

A lowly four-place form of convenient transportation, what eventually came to be known as N66143 dropped no bombs and fired no guns. However, it joined the U.S. Army Air Force two days before Pearl Harbor and was still in uniform when the last signature of surrender on the historic document was drying on the deck of the USS Missouri. Its life — first as a behindthe-lines trooper, to being an out-of-work vet, to life as a nearly forgotten derelict and its return as an award winner — is emblematic of the lives of all things military, human, and mechanical.

It’s certain that not one worker on the Fairchild production line in 1941 thought they were crafting flying machines that would still be in the air an incredible 82 years later. If a Fairchild factory craftsman were to look that far back from their own point in time, it would be 1859 — the Civil War had yet to begin, and modern armies were armed with swords and muzzle-loading, single-shot muskets.

Few could imagine the concept that machines could fly.

At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023, the aerial octogenarian, NC66143, wearing a

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January/February 2024

Scott Rozzell, left, and John Barksdale, both from Houston, bask in the glow of Scott’s award-winning, Fairchild F-24R.

distinctly determined coat of red, very much stood out on the Vintage flightline. Its slim nose was purposely designed to both hide the sixcylinder, 200-hp inline Ranger L-440, as well as cleave air molecules aside as efficiently as possible. However, its looks were radically different from the way it looked in 1941, when, for $9,442, it was delivered to the USAAF, where it was assigned the serial number of 41-38794. Besides being dressed in olive drab fatigues, at the time its nose was anything but svelte. The seven-cylinder, 165-hp Warner radial engine installed didn’t lend itself to sleek streamlining.

NC66143 was one of 100 24W-41 Fairchilds that was designated to be transferred to the Royal Air Force as Argus Mk.I and Mk.II. However, NC66143 was one of the lucky 21 aircraft that was retained by the USAAF as UC-61s. This was probably because it was delivered to its new owners, the USAAF, on Friday, December 5, and by Monday, the USAAF had an urgent need for anything that flew. That was fortunate, because of the 72 delivered to the RAF, seven were lost when their transports were sunk en route to England. Twelve crashed while in service. One was shot down by “friendly fire”; 35 were “struck on charge,” meaning scrapped; and 22 were returned to the USAAF after the war. Of NC66143’s class of 21 retained by the USAAF during WWII, 17 were destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD

In other words, NC66143 is one of four lucky survivors. Its luck is still with it, because Scott Rozzell, EAA 367522/VAA 21225, of Houston, Texas, its present curator, views it as a portal into a different time.

“I’m not sure there was ever a time that I wasn’t interested in airplanes,” Scott said. “I was the classic ‘airport kid’ and pumped gas and mowed grass for flight time. Soloed at 16, PPL at 17, the classic new-pilot history. I learned in a Piper Colt, and my instructor had been an instructor pilot during WWII. That might be why I was destined to wind up flying older airplanes.

In 1990, I bought a T-6 and spent the next 30 years or so flying warbirds of various types. Then, as I got older, I began looking for new challenges. At one point, I bought a Waco UPF-7 and put 180 hours on it in one year. I flew it all the way to Vermont and spent something over six months cruising around the country.”

Then he ran into NC66143.

“It was love at first sight,” Scott said. “How could it not be? It’s a flawless restoration of an absolutely classic airplane. When I climbed on board for the first time, I really felt as if I’d stepped through a portal into

When I climbed on board for the first time, I really felt as if I’d stepped through a portal into another time.

— Scott Rozzell

another time. In the nearly 200 hours I’ve put on it since buying it, that nostalgic feeling of being connected to early aviation hasn’t changed a bit.

“There are a lot of aspects to the airplane that are hard not to love,” he added.

“In the first place, when you climb into the cabin, it actually is a cabin. Or the interior of a Packard limousine. In fact, the handles that roll down the glass side windows are Packard handles. The upholstery is like overstuffed living room furniture, and the wooden doors, which are really thick, have a solid sound, a ‘clunk,’ when they’re closed. It’s not at all like any modern airplane door. It sounds solid because it is solid. And the airplane flies the same way. Solid and leisurely.”

Scott enjoys flying NC66143.

“On takeoff, it’s fun following that long nose, and the Ranger has a very identifiable sound,” he said. “The airplane weighs 1,864 pounds empty, so 200 hp

During WW II, NC66143 wasn’t nearly as svelte as she is now. That sleek nose was as stubby as only a Warner 165 hp could make it. The Ranger, making her an F-24R, not a 24W, took care of that.

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isn’t going to shove you back in your seat.

However, because nothing happens quickly, you just watch the side of the runway and let the tail fly itself up. At that point, visibility is better and the airplane sort of levitates off the ground. Here too, in climb it feels solid, even if it’s going up at only 500 fpm.

“For the most part, you don’t really worry about the rate of climb,” he said.

“At least I don’t, because I love just rumbling along at 110 mph at 1,000 to 1,500 feet. So, I don’t spend much time climbing. There’s no reason to get higher. It’s great to have an airplane like this that lets you go somewhere but have fun while doing it. Because of the fun factor, speed is not important. If you’re enjoying yourself, the longer it takes, the more fun you’re having.

“While I seriously enjoy this airplane, two guys must be given credit for saving its life and making it so perfect that it was judged as Grand Champion in the Antique category, WWII era, at AirVenture 2023,” Scott said. “They are Shawn Magrini and Ted Miller. Shawn started the restoration ball rolling when he bought it from an estate where it had been in storage for 15 years. He sold it to Ted, who completed the restoration.

Both are from the Salem, Ohio, area.”

NC66143’s long journey to AirVenture 2023 started when the War Assets Administration sold it to U.S. Navy Lt. Jack Bruce in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for $2,661 ($42,897 in 2023 dollars). That was August 1946. It had spent its entire time in the USAAF in the Caribbean area.

An interesting glitch in its documentation happened during the transfer: When re-registering NC66143 as a civilian aircraft, someone grabbed a blank Navy logbook that was lying around and started its civilian records in that. For years, it was thought the airplane had served in the Navy, when it hadn’t. Lt. Bruce kept it for two years, and NC66143’s journey began.

Four years later it was in Norfolk, Virginia, where the 165-hp Warner was replaced by a 185-hp Warner Super Scarab. Seven owners later, on May 24,

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Scott’s Fairchild is loaded with details, but the 200-hp, six-cylinder, inverted, air-cooled Ranger is the most noticeable.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD

1968, after being a civilian for 22 years, the tired, old airplane made its last flight before beginning the slow death that many old airplanes go through. For the next 15 years, it sat in a hangar in Kentucky, during which time the Super Scarab Warner was sold for installation in a Jungmeister replica. At that point, the Fairchild was an engineless, low-value airframe.

In 1983, the incomplete airplane was offered for sale by the late owner’s estate, and Shawn Magrini, in Salem, Ohio, became part of the equation. Total time on the airplane was only 1,342 hours, but the years had taken their toll.

“My dad owned an airport for years, and part of that was rebuilding old airplanes,” Shawn said. “So, as a kid I learned how to weld, blow paint, do covering, the whole old-airplane thing. Plus, my dad soloed me when I was 15. In truth, however, I saw airplanes primarily as work, so, right out of high school, I enlisted in the Army. I was sent to Vietnam in ’70, where I was a mechanic for the 101st Airborne. I was young, so sometimes I’d go along on

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combat missions in their L-19s. When I got back, I used my combat pay to buy a 150 Cessna.

“At the time, the local General Motors plant at Lordstown, Ohio, close to where I was brought up, was hiring vets, so that’s where I went to work,” he said.

“I was a mechanic there, too, and my job was to keep the production lines running.

Thirty-two years later I retired, and although I’d been working on lots of airplanes while at GM, I got serious about it. I was also flying consistently. In fact, I put 600 hours on my Decathlon and also bought a Lycoming-powered Luscombe that I love.

“In ’89, I had taken a ’46 Chief I’d restored to a fly-in in New York State,” Shawn said. “While there, a friend showed me NC66143 and said, ‘You need this airplane.’ I thought about it long and hard and knew I’d never find another Warner. However, Rangers were still around. The problem with hanging a Ranger on it, however, was that I’d need a nose bowl for the cowling, and those were hard to find. I could make the rest of the cowling but not the nose bowl.

So before I bought the airplane, I started looking for a nose bowl. I finally found one, and it included the rails that mounted the cowling to the firewall.

With those in hand, I became a Fairchild owner.”

According to Shawn, the tubing was in pretty good shape.

“I didn’t have to do any welding at all,” he said. “I blasted it, primed it, and got a lot of the fuselage pretty much finished.

However, I had a lot of other projects, both airplanes and cars. Plus, this was a huge airplane compared to everything else I was working on. So, my heart wasn’t really in it. Fortunately, a friend, Ted Miller, came by and asked me if I wanted to sell it. So I did. Ted was really good at everything on airplanes but especially woodwork, which the airplane definitely needed.”

Ted’s background is quite similar to Shawn’s in that his dad also owned an airport that was on his grandfather’s farm. He started it well before WWII. He

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January/February 2024

It’s not a cockpit, but a truly vintage flight deck with limousine features.

It was great to see the airplane at Oshkosh this year, and we were pleased to see both owners took such good care of it that it was still an award winner.

—Ted Miller

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD AND ED HICKS

Lots of wooden stringers give the big airplane its lines.

was also involved in aeronautical commissions, so when he went into the Army Air Corps, it was with a direct commission as a captain. He came out of the war as a lieutenant colonel and expanded his airport.

“I graduated from high school and attended EmbryRiddle Aeronautical Institute in Florida to get my A&P,” Ted said. “I was drafted in 1963 but went into the Air National Guard and was in the Army Reserves for seven years. During that time, I started working for a corporate aviation company as a mechanic and retired 40 years later as a manager.

“I bought the Fairchild from Shawn in ’03, while I was still working,” he said. “I retired in ’05 and continued working on NC66143. Shawn had stripped the airplane down and done a lot of the fuselage work but hadn’t touched the wings or tail, which were all wood. He’d also done nothing about the engine, although he had it overhauled. So it was sort of a basket case, but much of the fuselage work was well along or finished, and everything he touched was extremely well done. That gave me a jump-start on the project.”

Ted said the wings were “pretty sorry” and needed a total rebuild.

“I had to repair a lot of rib damage, and all leading-edge ribs had to be replaced,” he said. “Plus, the leading edges are formed 1/8-inch plywood, and that

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Although it is a big, luxurious airplane, the 24R, like all Fairchilds, has smooth, very pleasant controls.

involved a lot of head-scratching to come up with a way of forming those. They are big!

“The tail is also totally plywood, and, amazingly, there wasn’t any rot,’ he said.

“However, because the airframe had sat around disassembled for so long, there were a lot of dings that needed to be repaired.

“The airframe repair included a huge amount woodwork, a lot of which was mahogany plywood. As is often the case with airframe woodwork, when you have that much varnished mahogany, it’s almost a shame to cover it up,” Ted said.

Because the airplane was totally disassembled when Ted bought it, he was continually running into areas that were jigsaw puzzles: He had no idea how different assemblies were supposed to go together. However, he came up with a unique solution.

“The problem of not knowing how something

“I had to install the headliner for the interior before covering the rest of the airframe, because parts of it wrapped around the fuselage structure. This was no problem, but I had to continually protect it from that point on,” Ted said.

“I also upholstered the side panels, but a local lady who specialized in upholstering hot rods and antique cars did the seats,” he said. “We used a simulated leather material that we used in the upholstery shop in the company I worked for that did corporate jets. It worked well.”

Ted decided to do the instrument panel from scratch and wanted to make it as original as possible.

“I had to add minor panels for switches and circuit breakers that didn’t exist in the 1940s,” he said. “The same holds true for the intercom connections.

48

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ED HICKS

Because of Because of the the fun fun factor, factor, went together was getting to be a real headache,” said. “However, a bare Fairchild airframe that speed is not important. he appeared to be more or less complete came up sale. It was not in very good condition, which If you’re enjoying yourself, for made it less expensive, but it was still mostly the longer the longer it it takes, takes, the the assembled. So, I bought it, learned what I needed to learn, removed a few parts, and resold it for more more fun fun you’re you’re having. having. what I had tied up in it. It was amazing how mysteries were solved by simply looking at — Scott Rozzell many that airframe.

January/February 2024

He also had to make some adjustments to fit the engine.

“Since the airplane had been designed for a radial engine, the inline cowling for the Ranger didn’t quite fit,” Ted said. “I’m told I’m a little obsessive about details others might not see, and this meant some ‘adjustments’ had to be made to the sheet metal that Shawn had tracked down to make it fit. All the original aluminum was there, but a lot of dents and dings had to be ironed out. That was especially true of the nose bowl. It was dead-soft aluminum, so over the years everything in the cowling had taken a beating and had to be ironed out smooth.

“The firewall was also distressed,” he added. “It was galvanized steel and basically pretty ugly. So I cleaned it up, painted it, and created a perfect-fitting polished stainless-steel cover for it and riveted it in place. On the back, where it could be seen in the cabin, I made an upholstered panel that clipped in place.”

When it came time to cover the airplane, Ted used AirTech all the way through.

“Fabric, paint, everything! Once I figured out the best technique for this paint, it went on and flowed out so well that I couldn’t ask for more. I didn’t buff it or anything.”

Ted noted the Fairchild is still a certified airplane, and therefore changes need FAA approval.

“The FAA insists that nothing major be changed without a field approval,” he said. “To upgrade the original fuel valves, for instance, which are known to leak, it took six months to get an approval. The same thing with the baggage door I wanted to put in. The original baggage compartment could only be reached from inside the cabin, which meant removing the seat back. N66143 had a door for the battery compartment in the aft fuselage, so I basically copied that, and the FAA bought off on it much quicker than for the valves.

“Shawn had sent the engine out to be majored, but when we started flying it, it became obvious something definitely wasn’t right,” Ted said. “We were blowing gallons of oil down the belly of the airplane. Shawn had another engine that he had bought off a PT-19 that had been abandoned and was sitting in the weeds, possibly since WWII. It had most of an engine that was all rust on the outside, but when we took it apart, [it] looked brand-new inside. We decided one of the major problems with my engine that led to the phenomenal oil use was that the main bearings were not even close to being correctly fitted. Amazingly enough, this ‘junk’ engine had nearly perfect bearings, which are almost impossible to find. So with a couple of IAs looking over my shoulder (whom I used constantly), I totally rebuilt the engine. In doing that, when I pulled the jugs, I’m not sure some of the rings were even touching the cylinder walls! Those were then sent to Harrison Engine for new chrome barrels.

“When we started flying the fresh engine, one of the unexpected aspects of this airplane was that it uses very little oil,” he said.

“Rangers are well known for being oil guzzlers, but this one doesn’t burn much more than a Lycoming or Continental flat motor.

“When I finished the airplane, and had flown it for about 30 hours, I made the difficult decision to sell it to Bill and Lynne Sleeper in

Bainbridge Island, Washington,” Ted said.

“They flew it close to 300 hours over the years they owned it.

Scott Rozzell talked Bill out of it, and when he contacted Shawn and me, the low oil usage was one of the things he commented on. It was great to see the airplane at Oshkosh this year, and we were pleased to see both owners took such good care of it that it was still an award winner.”

It’s worth noting that 28 years had elapsed between N66143’s last flight in the ’60s and Ted getting it back into the air. It’s good to see an old veteran brought back to life, but it was even better to see it on the flightline at AirVenture 2023.

There, it was a testament to the perseverance of two craftsmen breathing life back into a retired vet and pilots who recognize and enjoy vintage quality.

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January/February 2024

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

Dee Bradford’s

1939 Tar Heel Cub Bridging the generation gap with generosity and brio

BY SPARKY BARNES

WHEN THE YOUNG MEET the old, and the old becomes new … and as personal aviation history draws back its velvet curtain and the sunlight of youth vanquishes a generation’s gloaming, aviation spirits ascend with energy renewed. This story could almost be a movie script, except it transcends the glitz of any silver screen, imbued with deep-rooted passions that allow personal aspirations to flourish and soar.

Tar Heel Cub The story starts in June 1939, when Piper J-3C-40 trainer NC23438 (serial No. 3191) was manufactured at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Per Clyde Smith Jr., “That airplane was painted black with a yellow lightning bolt. That is usually how they painted the J-3P models with the Lenape [three-cylinder Papoose] radial engine, because it wouldn’t show all the oil streaking back along the side of the airplane, but this one had a Continental A-40.”

In 1940, NC23438 was sold by Tom Davis’ Camel City Flying Service (the genesis of Piedmont Aviation) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Ever since, this Cub has been at one home or another in the Tar Heel State. Dee Bradford’s father bought it in 1966.

“It was all yellow when he bought it, and I have a photo of him and his instructor with this airplane in 1966, after they’d made a forced landing,” said owner Cecil “Dee” Bradford, who elaborated with a chuckle, “The instructor had pulled the power back to simulate a forced landing, and the engine cut off unexpectedly.”

Family of Flyers Dee grew up around aviation, but it didn’t captivate him until after he graduated from college and started working in the family business.

“My great-uncle Dwight Cross, on my mother’s side, acquired his first airplane in 1920 and was an avid flyer his entire life. He got my dad interested in flying. We were into oil and natural gas pipeline construction and maintenance, and were traveling up and down the whole East Coast. I saw right quick if I could fly, I could do a lot more,” Dee said, “so that’s really what got me interested in flying. I had flown with my uncle Brooks Cross in the Cub a lot, and I soloed NC23438 on May 31, 1973. I took my checkride in a little 150-hp Cherokee. In 1989, when I ended up buying the company from my father, the Cub came with it.”

Bradford Field Nestled under the outer ring of Charlotte International, on the east side of Huntersville, is a private grass field, sometimes affectionately dubbed “Bradford Outernational.” It’s one of those rare places that exude an alluring aura of grassroots aviation, where the spirit and simplicity of aviation continues to thrive. There’s a little story behind the field itself.

Back in the days of yore, a Cub dealer was located at Brockenbrough Airport (north of Charlotte), and it wasn’t long before Cubs were a common

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sight in the Carolinas.

“Brockenbrough was going to close down, and the pilots based there needed to move their airplanes,” Dee recalled.

“My dad and I were in the grading business back then, and we’d just acquired some bottomland, which was a perfect spot to put an airport.

That’s also when my dad was learning to fly and bought the Cub. So in 1966, we moved everybody from Brockenbrough to our field.” In 2018, Dee became the sole owner of Bradford Field (NC05) and its surrounding 150 acres.

which are mounted on the side of the cabin, right below the fuel selector.”

Instead of erasing the Cub’s history by giving it a tabula rasa of a freshly fabricated cowling, Dee wanted to keep its hardearned historical patina for sentimental reasons.

“You can see imperfections in the nose cowling, and the boot cowling is pushed in just a little bit at the bottom,” Dee said poignantly, “because that helps tell the story of what happened when my dad and his instructor had to make that forced landing.”

Bridging the Gap Preserving the Steve made the first Cub’s Patina flight after restoration, but NC23438 was re-coveven before the Cub was ered in the late 1980s and finished, Dee was on a finished in yellow with an quest to find someone to arrowhead (or fishhook) fly it to the SUN ’n FUN (Left to Right) Dee Bradford, Aubrey Clark, and Cynthia Bradford stripe on its fuselage. By Aerospace Expo. He 2018, it needed some tender, loving care, so Dee wanted to share that week with his wife, Cynthia, hired local A&P mechanic Steve Yancey to and their family at the fly-in, so it just made sense restore it, along with Mike Patton, A&P/IA, to for someone else to fly the Cub. There was, howoversee all the work. As the fabric covering was ever, a bit of an ulterior motive as well — and that removed and inspection began on the airframe, was his desire to provide the opportunity for a they were all pleased — and rather amazed — young pilot to fly an 84-year-old airplane that that the old Cub was in such good shape. had been made new. It was Dee’s way of helping Dee wanted it to resemble the way it looked bridge the aviation generation gap. He’d done in 1939, and to that end, a bit of research was a similar type of thing four years ago, when he required. Nor did he want it to be so slick and gave a young man the opportunity to fly his shiny that the fabric weave wasn’t visible. Steve award-winning 1942 L-4 to Lakeland. used the Poly Fiber process, with a Poly-Tone “We’ve got this generation gap, and we finish coat. shouldn’t have it,” Dee explained. “For example, The original 40-hp Continental was long my two daughters, Allison and Ashley, both flew gone, and the 65-hp Continental that had been since they were tiny toddlers, because we travon the Cub was well worn. “I bought an A-65-8 eled a lot in my Piper Lance. They took flying that a gentleman had just rebuilt,” Dee said, “and lessons, but once they soloed, they slowly lost we found instruments that were original from interest. Now they are in their 40s, and their 1939, including a compass, and had them rebuilt interest is renewed. But I look around at our local and/or refaced by Keystone at Lock Haven. We fly-ins, and the young people just aren’t there.” found the original individual mag switches, It took a roundabout method, but Dee found the perfect person to fly his Cub. “I talked to a

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January/February 2024

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD

young man, Owen, and told him I was looking for somebody. Owen asked a pilot he worked out with at the gym, Grayson, that worked for a charter flying service out of Hickory. Aubrey Clark was working in the office there, and Grayson thought Aubrey would jump at the chance to fly the Cub. So I called her, and when I asked her if she had any taildragger time, she said she and a friend owned an Aeronca Chief.”

Soon thereafter, Aubrey flew the Chief down from Foothills Regional Airport in Morganton to meet Dee at Bradford Field the month before SUN ’n FUN. “I went up with her in the Chief, and I knew right away that she’s got the right stuff. This gal is good! You can just tell by someone’s mannerisms and the way they approach things,” Dee said.

“I mean, it’s a talent — you know, people can either bang on a piano or play a piano. I was very impressed with Aubrey’s abilities and focus. Steve flew with her in the L-4 and agreed with me. She had only recently turned 21, and she already had her commercial, multiengine, instrument, and tailwheel endorsement, and close to 500 hours!”

Brio!

Aubrey’s brio for embracing life is inspirational. She didn’t grow up around aviation and is the only one in her family who flies. She was 18 when she first started flying lessons and was working full time at a campground.

“I didn’t think that I really had the money to go out and learn how to fly. It seemed like something that was kind of exclusive. Like your parents got you into it, or you weren’t meant to be in this field. Initially, everybody I spoke to had grown up flying,” Aubrey said. “Well, when I graduated from high school, it was smack dab in the middle of the COVID outbreak in 2020, and the whole world was kind of in a panic. I was like, ‘You know what, I’ve got better things to do with my time than to sit here,’ so I called the folks at Foothills airport about flight instructors.

They gave me several different numbers to call. I got in touch with Ben Shelton, and he was willing to teach.”

But her interests and energy weren’t completely consumed by aviation at that point. “I was a very big advocate for trades and thought they were super interesting. I got my two-year arts in welding design degree from Western Piedmont

I was just so impressed with the whole situation, and how it all worked out to be able to bring a piece of history there and let people enjoy it. I really can’t describe how good a feeling it was!

— Dee Bradford

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at the same time I graduated high school. When my dad asked me if I could see myself pipewelding for the next 40 years, I remember thinking to myself, ‘No, definitely not!’ There were just so many different things that I was interested in doing,” Aubrey said. “I wanted to do something with art or design; I wanted to fly airplanes and helicopters; I love being outdoors and hiking and camping. My brain was just going in so many different directions!”

Aubrey’s current full-time job is with Thermal Valley Hang Gliding at Foothills Regional Airport. She’s towing hang gliders aloft with an ultralight Dragonfly.

It Can Be Done!

The old adage still rings true: “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Aubrey has plenty of will, and was able to find ways to earn her certificates and ratings. One source of inspiration for her was her first instructor, Ben. He had worked and paid for his own ratings and came from a farming background similar to Aubrey’s, which resonated with her.

“He was a very good flight instructor and took me under his wing,” she said, “and he would look for resources for me. I just learned so much from that guy, and he told me, ‘If you really want to do this, you can put your heart into it, and we will find a way to make it happen.’”

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And happen it did. Aubrey soloed in a 180-hp Cessna 172 that belonged to the Lenoir Aviation Club. “Ben had a handheld radio on the ground, and I wasn’t quite sure if he could hear me in the cockpit, so I was really quiet to begin with, because I just didn’t want to embarrass myself,” Aubrey said and laughed. “But then I was just so excited, I was just whooping and hollering, having the time of my life and grinning ear to ear! I was just giddy! It was life-changing, and I knew it.”

She earned her instrument and commercial in that airplane, and acquired her complex time thanks to the generosity of her instructor and a Piper Arrow owner. In December 2022, she earned her multiengine in a Baron 55 at Shiloh Airport. “That was an amazing experience. The instructor, Roger Smith, and examiner, Zenda Liess, had it down to a science and were quite a team,” Aubrey said. “Roger gave me the rundown on everything that I needed to know to fly a multiengine airplane.”

She became intrigued with flying tailwheel airplanes when she did her spin training in a Citabria. “Man, it changed my life and my perspective,” Aubrey said. “Oh my gosh, all of a sudden you’ve really got to think about the wind. You don’t find out you have lazy feet until you’ve flown a tailwheel airplane!”

Aubrey learned a lot about the art of flying tailwheel aircraft in the Aeronca 11AC Chief (N85915) that she and her A&P

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD

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friend Aaron Crowe purchased in August 2022.

She obtained her tailwheel endorsement in it and had logged about 50 hours of tailwheel time prior to meeting Dee. Flying the ’39 Cub Aubrey returned to Bradford Field to fly the Cub after it was completed. “Steve and I put her in the Cub, and it was a windy doggone day,” Dee said. “She took off and after a while came back and made a couple passes by our field. I thought, ‘Oh gosh, she’s having problems.’ Well, she left, and then in about 15 minutes she comes flying back and lands that airplane, taxis up to us, and jumps out, saying, ‘Man, that was awesome!’ She explained that on the second pass by the field, things didn’t look right, so she just went and flew around a little bit to think about it and get calmed down before she tried again,” Dee recounted.

“And I thought, ‘That’s the person you want in the left seat of an airplane — someone who has good presence of mind, situational awareness, and a good attitude. That’s everything!’ I felt real good about her flying solo on that long cross-country [450 nm] to SUN ’n FUN.”

1939 PIPER J-3 CUB

MANUFACTURED UNDER AIRCRAFT SPECIFICATION 691

ELIGIBLE TO BE FLOWN BY A SPORT PILOT.

ENGINE: CONTINENTAL A-65-8 LENGTH: 22 FEET, 3 INCHES HEIGHT: 6 FEET, 8 INCHES WINGSPAN: 35 FEET, 3 INCHES WING CHORD: 63 INCHES WING AREA: 178 SQUARE FEET USEFUL LOAD: 460 POUNDS EMPTY WEIGHT: 640 POUNDS GROSS WEIGHT: 1,100 POUNDS BAGGAGE: 20 POUNDS MAX SPEED (LEVEL OR CLIMB): 90 MPH CRUISING SPEED : 82 MPH LANDING SPEED: 50 MPH STALL SPEED: 35 MPH CLIMB RATE: 575 FPM SERVICE CEILING: 12,000 FEET FUEL CAPACITY: 12 GALLONS OIL CAPACITY: 5 QUARTS RANGE: 250 MILES AT 4 GPH

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Prior to her flight to Lakeland, Aubrey and Steve collaborated on a strategy for flying ahead of, and around, the frontal system that was forecast. She had her iPad with ForeFlight for navigation, and Dee lent her his Garmin GDL 52 portable unit with SiriusXM weather and ADS-B receiver. “That little rascal worked her way around that weather and went to Camden, South Carolina, and then scooted on and got to Orangeburg, South Carolina, that evening,” Dee said. “That put her on the lower side of the weather. She headed on to Florida, and my family and I drove down and got there Monday morning. Aubrey was the only pilot who’d made it there by then!”

It was Aubrey’s first time to the SUN ’n FUN Aerospace Expo, and lo and behold, she and the Bradford family were exuberant when NC23438 was awarded Most Unique Bronze Age Antique.

Aubrey’s Aspirations Sometimes when Aubrey flies there’s a Marty Robbins soundtrack lilting through her mind.

One song, “Saddle Tramp,” has a few lyrics that resonate with her: “There’s joy in this song that I sing … I’m as free as the breeze and I ride where I please.” For Aubrey, the joy and freedom of flight fulfills her need, she said, “to do something that is constantly challenging and changing.”

Her aspirations include flying humanitarian-type missions to remote villages in South America. Aubrey also wants to obtain her A&P certificate, and she’s been logging some hours while working on the Chief under Aaron’s watchful eye. She’s also working toward her flight instructor rating. “I want to genuinely find out what it takes to teach people how to fly. I want other people to know that they can do whatever they want to with their lives, as long as they are willing to invest the time and brainpower,” Aubrey mused. “I want to help make people’s dreams come true, by sharing the gift of flight. I just want them to see what I see — that there is nothing like flying!”

had flown it there by herself, was great,” Dee said. “And everybody’s interest in the Cub, and having my daughters there, who had both soloed in this same airplane — all these things combined were probably the highlight of my life. I was just so impressed with the whole situation, and how it all worked out to be able to bring a piece of history there and let people enjoy it. I really can’t describe how good a feeling it was!”

In fact, it was such a good feeling that there have been encore performances, in the form of additional flights. Aubrey’s skillful piloting and genuine appreciation for such opportunities facilitated a special friendship with the Bradford family. Hence, another honor and opportunity was generously bestowed upon Aubrey when Dee checked her out in his open-cockpit 1942 Meyers OTW. She flew the biplane to the OTW fly-in this past summer at Honea Path, South Carolina. “I’ve owned that airplane since the early 1990s,” Dee proclaimed, “and Aubrey is the

Dee-lightful Highlight Dee was purely delighted with Steve’s and Mike’s work to restore the Cub, and with Aubrey’s successful cross-country. “Finding Aubrey Clark and having her take that airplane down to SUN ’n FUN, and just watching the judges looking at the airplane and seeing that she

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD

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Aubrey Clark loves flying the Cub.

first person that’s flown it, besides me, since 1993!”

“Dee has changed the trajectory of my life by giving me a chance to fly his airplanes. A month before I met Dee, I thought I may be doomed to spend another several years (or an eternity) working at a desk, spending eight hours of my precious time doing something that felt almost entirely fruitless,” Aubrey declared. “There are so many people that begin their life with bright eyes and big dreams, and they quietly watch as life snuffs out their dreams. This was something I had desperately tried to avoid when I chose to pursue aviation instead of a four-year degree out of high school. We aren’t guaranteed another moment in our lives, and I was aware of this at a very young age; yet I had not realized how easy it was to lose sight of my goals and to stagnate along the way. Flying Dee’s little Piper Cub is a second chance for me, and I find it nearly impossible to adequately describe what it means to me to be afforded the luxury of spending my time wisely. I absolutely will not waste it!”

Putting her words into action, I want other people to Aubrey flew Dee’s Cub solo to know that they can do Sentimental Journey at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, this past whatever they want June. Dee and his family joined to with their lives, as her there, and they all enjoyed another celebratory fly-in. long as they are willing Aubrey was presented with the Buckel Long Distance to invest the time and Len Award [438 nm], and Dee received the Judges Choice brainpower. for NC23438.

— Aubrey Clark Award Aubrey gained a new per-

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spective and inspiration from her trip to Lock Haven. “I think it is a part of my purpose, as someone who has been gifted the ability to understand the value of this kind of flying, to advocate for the vintage side of aviation and to bring a new generation of stewards with me to keep these historical birds flying,” she said.

In July, Aubrey flew the Cub on another solo cross-country adventure — this time, to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Dee and Cynthia happily joined Aubrey there, and NC23438 was not only featured during Vintage in Review, but also received the Bronze Age Outstanding ClosedCockpit Monoplane award. Quite notably, Dee, his Tar Heel Cub, and Aubrey are successfully bridging the aviation generation gap with a heaping dose of generosity and brio!

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

Cub Merchandise

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT EAAVINTAGE.ORG

The Vintage Mechanic ROBERT G. LOCK

Teaching a Nation How to Fly The Lon Cooper story, Part 3

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

HAVING PASSED THE CHECKRIDE and interview that qualified Lon Cooper to attend the Central Instructors School, he reported to Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama, on January 16, 1943. The war in Europe and the Pacific was raging as more and more combat pilots were in training.

To understand the urgency of the situation of military pilot training, one must look back to prewar training numbers. The Army Air Corps and the Navy graduated only 500 new pilots each per year before the war started. All of a sudden, thousands of pilots were needed, and training had to be ramped up to meet the demand. The Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) had produced several thousand civilian pilots in a very successful governmentsubsidized venture, and in fact, the military took over the CPTP in December 1942.

Those in government who looked favorably upon CPTP wanted to continue to teach flying for the military, but the military would have no part of that. The Army Air Corps and the Navy each wanted to instruct flying their way, but neither had the facilities and personnel to achieve the objective. The government went to the private sector for help and proposed a civilian-military partnership to conduct primary flight training. General H.H. “Hap” Arnold went to some of the civilian operators and proposed a bold program whereby private civilian contractors would teach primary flying to military pilots. Private money would build the schools and staff the operation. Eventually, 69 privately owned flight schools would begin the flight training. Primary flight training would involve 10 weeks of intensive flight and ground instruction, much like the CPTP — the instructors would be civilian, the facilities would be civilian, the ground crews would be civilian, but the military would be in charge of training. This plan would be so successful that more than 200,000 military combat pilots would be trained over the course of the war.

Arnold’s plan also addressed the shortage of flight instructors, and that is where the CPTP fits

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COURTESY LON COOPER

A very young Lon Cooper and his newly issued A-2 flight jacket.

into the picture. Robert Hinckley’s idea of creating the Civilian Pilot Training Program generated the perfect pool of qualified civilian flight instructors — his idea hatched three years before the United States entered World War II. Since the CPTP was so very successful because it was well planned and standardized, Arnold used it as a mold. After checkrides, those CPTP graduates that were deemed as “qualified” would be sent to a Central Instructors School for training at Randolph Field, Texas. So this was the beginning of the next phase of Lon Cooper’s flying career. Lon recalled, “Upon arrival at Maxwell Field, I was placed with other new arrivals waiting for the next start of the Central Instructors School at Kelly Field. Physicals were given to each of us. We were authorized and ordered to wear officer’s uniforms even though we were civilians. I had

already purchased my green shirt, pink pants, cap, tie, and brown shoes. We were issued a ‘Trainee Instructor’ arm patch and an A-2 flight jacket. Housing was in framed tents with screened windows erected on a wood floor. A wood-burning stove in the center of the tent supplied heat for a cold January.

Transfer to Kelly Field came February 5, 1943, via a crowded troop train. Someone in a car full of drunken sailors pulled the emergency cord and stopped the train in the middle of nowhere, much to the disgust of everyone. The long train was on an uphill grade and the locomotive could not get started again. It was necessary to back up several miles to level track before the engine could gain enough traction to move the train forward. We finally arrived in San Antonio at 5 p.m. on February 7. Waiting trucks transported us to Kelly Field.”

Kelly Field dated back to December 1903 and was the first training site for pilots, flight instructors, mechanics, and chauffeurs. The field was named for George E.M. Kelly, the first American aviator to lose his life flying a military aircraft, a Curtiss Pusher. Most World War I aviators learned to fly at Kelly Field — 1,459 pilots and 398 flight instructors were trained there during the war. The Enlisted Training Department turned out 2,000 mechanics and chauffeurs per month.

While we’re on the subject of Kelly Field, I have a couple photos of the early days of military flight instruction I’d like to share. They were provided by an old friend, Doug Kelly, who had a fascinating background in aviation and learned flying at Kelly Field.

So Kelly Field was the hub of training activity for WWI and WWII combat pilots. The Central Instructors School was charged with selecting primary flight instructors, then training them to standardize techniques before assigning them to civilian-owned flight schools scattered across the country.

About reaching Kelly Field, Lon recalled, “Accommodations were excellent; four shared a room with a bathroom and shower. To us it was like a deluxe hotel — great food was served family style at tables seating 12. When a dish was empty, it was held up and promptly refilled by a waiter. About 350 potential pilots arrived for the first class. Upon arrival, we were given another physical as we prepared for training. We were taught to make beds so a half-dollar would bounce when tossed on the blanket — and it had better bounce. There were ‘white glove’ room inspections, physical training, close-order drill, ground school, weekly haircuts, and open post. Each day began with the firing of a cannon; the flag was raised as the bugle sounded. It was ‘fall in’ on the drill field for roll call at daylight.

All of our instructors were Army officers and we were really in the Army.”

The training aircraft used at that time were Fairchild PT-19 and PT-26, and Lon recalled, “These did not fly well in slow rolls, snap rolls, and would sometimes go inverted in spins when flying solo from the front cockpit.”

Hard landing near Kelly Field in a Jenny, taken from a scrapbook of Douglas Kelly.

Let’s see, what can we salvage here? Another early Kelly Field wreck during pilot training from the scrapbook of Douglas Kelly.

Douglas Kelly with what appears to be an early Curtiss R-1 racer at Kelly Field, Texas.

Fairchild Airplane and Engine Works received a government contract to supply primary trainers to the Army Air Corps. Originally designated the M62A, the first aircraft flew May 15, 1939, with the first batch of aircraft delivered in 1940. Below is the prototype M62A, NX18689, shown on a test flight in 1939. Note headrest in rear cockpit.

Powered by a six-cylinder in-line Ranger engine that produced 175 or 200 hp, the engine was very smooth when operating because all the cylinders

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The Vintage Mechanic ROBERT G. LOCK

Prototype Fairchild M62A in flight over Hagerstown, Maryland.

COURTESY LON COOPER

were in line with each other. When production ceased, a total of 4,889 PT-19s/-23s/-26s were constructed, with some aircraft being delivered to Canada. Of the total, Aeronca built 620 aircraft and St. Louis Aircraft Company built 44 aircraft. The aircraft that went to Canada were mostly closed-cockpit PT-26 ships that were named the Cornell. Fairchild did export aircraft to several other countries during the production run.

At Kelly Field, Lon was preparing for standardized instruction principles designed by the Army Air Corps in the Fairchild PT-19, shown at upper right. Lon has a parachute on and is ready for the flight.

Lon recalled, “Assignments were made in groups of five. My instructor was Lt. King, a young first lieutenant about 27 years old. I was 22 years old, youngest of the trainee instructor candidates. My first flight was February 21, 1943. Flight maneuvers they instructed were the same as I had been taught in CPTP with very little change. I was glad my instructors at Whitted Airport had been tough on precision. My older and more experienced trainees had difficulty with the precision flying requirements. I passed my final checkride successfully on March 16, 1943. My last flight at Kelly was March 17 — I had flown 10 hours dual and 28 hours solo while there. Of the 350 trainees entering the school, only 65 graduated from the classification phase of our training. The Central Instructors School moved to a permanent home at Randolph Field to complete advanced instructor training for the graduates.”

Randolph Field was named after William Millican Randolph, a native of Austin, Texas, who was killed when his AT-4 ship crashed on takeoff

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Lon Cooper (right) with Lt. King at Central Instructors School at Kelly Field, 1943.

Randolph administration building, 1943.

from Gorman Field, Texas, on February 1, 1928. Ironically, Capt.

Randolph was serving on the committee to select a name for the new field at the time of his death. Randolph Field was dedicated on June 20, 1930, and immediately became known as the “West Point of the Air.” The 15,000 people in attendance that day witnessed a flyby of 233 planes, possibly the largest flying assembly of military aircraft in the world.

Basic flight training continued until March 1943 when the Central Instructors School took over. For the next two years, training instructors for the Air Corps’ primary, basic, and advanced flight training was the primary mission. More than 12,000 instructor pilots graduated from this course.

Lon remembered, “The instructors and the PT-19s followed us from Kelly, and we began flying March 23, 1943. Emphasis was placed on the refinement of maneuvers and teaching techniques. We flew buddy rides with other trainees to sharpen our

skills. Checkrides included helpful suggestions and very little criticism. My last flight at Randolph was April 16, 1943, adding 15 hours’ dual and 33 hours’ solo to my flight time. All 65 trainees from Kelly graduated, and after the ceremony, we were treated to an air show by the famous aerobatic pilot Maj. Alfred ‘Al’ Williams in his Grumman G-22 Gulfhawk II, powered by a Wright Cyclone R-1820-G1, a 1,000-hp engine turning a threeblade Hamilton Standard prop. It was a spectacular demonstration that included picking up a handkerchief from a 3-foot stick with his upper wingtip while flying inverted. His was a flight I shall never forget.”

Lon was presented his graduation certificate by Maj. Frame, and then he proceeded with the assignments to Army Civilian Primary Contract Schools. Lon recalled, “He began by asking Bill, Ben, and me to have seats on the platform with him. He then passed out two decks of playing cards to the other graduates to establish their priority for school selection from a list of schools displayed on the wall. There were more positions available than instructors. Maj. Frame then told me the three of us had been requested by Lodwick School of Aeronautics in Lakeland, Florida. He asked if we wished to accept, and of

Lon Cooper’s proficiency certificate issued from the Central Instructors School, Randolph Field, Texas, April 1943.

course we did. We were issued train tickets to our assigned school. I checked in all items issued to me to ‘clear post.’ With a bus trip to San Antonio and a train ticket change from Lakeland to St. Petersburg, I was home three days later.” The next chapter in Lon’s flying career was about to begin.

“Dream It and Let Your Spirit Soar”

Pave the way for the future of aviation with the purchase of a custom commemorative brick to help fund the construction of the Vintage Aircraft Association’s Youth Center, opening in July of 2024.

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63

Message From the President SUSAN DUSENBURY, VAA PRESIDENT

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

assets were sold after Charlie’s passing. Charlie’s executive assistant of 50 years, Betsey Kersey, handled the sale of Transportation Leasing and now heads up the Charles W. Harris Foundation, which was created by Charlie before his passing.)

Charlie had a lifetime fascination with aviation, which started when he was a child and would fly with his father throughout the Oklahoma countryside in his father’s biplane. Charlie learned to fly as a 16-year-old while in high school. His passion for flying never wavered, and his devotion to aviation lasted his entire lifetime. He was deeply involved in numerous aviation organizations, including a 30-year chairmanship of the Tulsa Regional Fly-In, as well as being co-founder and chairman of the National Biplane Association from 1986 to its conclusion in 2009. His extensive collection of pristine vintage airplanes was well known in aviation circles. His specialty collection included two beautiful Pitts Specials that Charlie frequently flew in regional aerobatic contests.

Charlie served the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association in various capacities, including as director,

treasurer, and chairman of the Executive Committee; as chairman of the Hall of Fame Selection Committee; and as director emeritus from 1988 until his death. Charlie also headed up what is now known as Vintage in Review before he turned the program over to current Vintage in Review Chairman Ray Johnson.

I might add that I first met Charlie when he interviewed me in the late 1980s when I flew my newly restored Culver Cadet to Oshkosh. As an aside, Charlie and I became good friends after that interview. Over the years, we frequently talked on the phone.

The calls always started with “Hello!

Is this Katherine Stinson?” or “Is this Amelia Earhart?” I received many handwritten letters from Charlie as time went on. They were so interesting and well written that I kept all of them, and every now and then I will pull out my “Charlie Harris” file and reread a letter or two.

In closing, Charles W. Harris was a true friend of vintage aviation.

In his lifetime, he stepped forward and worked to make our vintage “field of dreams” come true and continues to do so even now through the generous support of the Charles W. Harris Foundation.

Blue skies.

COPYRIGHT © 2024 BY THE EAA VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. VINTAGE AIRPLANE (USPS 062-750; ISSN 0091-6943) copyright © 2024 by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, Inc., is published bimonthly and owned exclusively by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, Inc., EAA Editorial Department, 3000 Poberezny Road, Oshkosh, WI, 54902. Periodicals postage is paid at Oshkosh, WI, 54901, and additional mailing offices. U.S. membership rate for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, Inc. is $45 per 12-month period for EAA members, and $55 for non-EAA members.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to EAA MEMBERSHIP SERVICES, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. CPC 40612608 FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES: Please allow at least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surface mail.

ADVERTISING: Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the advertising. We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken.

EDITORIAL POLICY: Members are encouraged to submit stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the contributor. No remuneration is made.

Material should be sent to: Editor, VINTAGE AIRPLANE, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Phone 920-426-4800.

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January/February 2024

DIRECTORY OFFICERS PRESIDENT Susan Dusenbury 1374 Brook Cove Rd. Walnut Cove, NC 27052 336-591-3931 sr6sue@aol.com

SECRETARY Dan Wood 75 Walton Place Dr. Newnan, GA 30263 678-458-3459 fly170@gmail.com

VICE PRESIDENT Dan Knutson 106 Tena Marie Circle Lodi, WI 53555 608-354-6101 lodicub@charter.net

TREASURER Paul Kyle 1273 Troy Ct. Mason, OH 45040 262-844-3351 paul_e_kyle@hotmail.com

DIRECTORS George Daubner Oconomowoc, WI 262-560-1949 gdaubner@eaa.org

Steve Nesse Albert Lea, MN 507-383-2850 stnes2009@live.com

John Hofmann Columbus, WI 608-239-0903 john@cubclub.org

Earl Nicholas Libertyville, IL 847-504-6945 eman46@gmail.com

Ray L. Johnson Marion, IN 765-669-3544 rayjohnson@indy.rr.com

Joe Norris Oshkosh, WI 920-279-2855 wacoflyer@gmail.com

Kathy McGurran Brighton, CO 303-829-4808 kmcgurran@aol.com

Marla Simon Boone Troy, OH 937-216-5133 msimonboone@yahoo.com

Charlie Waterhouse Dayton, OH 260-385-0851 charles.e.waterhouse@gmail.com

ADVISERS Jesse Clement jesseclement1@gmail.com

Vaughn Lovley pa11pilot@yahoo.com

AC Hutson achutsonjr@icloud.com

Kevin McKenzie kevinamckenzie@yahoo.com

Luke Lachendro avidaviator98@gmail.com

Maxwell Wenglarz waco20900@gmail.com

DIRECTORS EMERITUS David Bennett antiquer@inreach.com

Phil Coulson rcoulson516@cs.com

Robert C. Brauer photopilot@aol.com

Ronald C. Fritz itzfray@gmail.com

Jerry Brown lbrown4906@aol.com

Robert D. “Bob” Lumley rlumley1@wi.rr.com

Dave Clark davecpd@att.net

Tim Popp tlpopp@frontier.com

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Amy Lemke alemke@eaa.org

© 2022 Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc.

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