VA-Vol-27-No-12-Dec-1999

VAA NEWS

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VINTAGE HALL OF FAME

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AEROMAIL

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THIRTY FIVE YEARS AT THE OUTER MARKER/Dutch Redfield

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JOE KREUTZER & CO./John Underwood

13 ANOTHER TREASURE IN THE SIERRA MADRE/John Underwood 20 PASS IT TO BUCKlE.E. "Buck" Hilbert 23 MYSTERY PLANE/H.G. Frautschy 24 WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE RESTORING/ H. G. Frautschy 26 WELCOME NEW MEMBERS/ CLASSIFIED ADS 30 VINTAGE MERCHANDISE

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Publisher

TOM POBEREZNY

Editor-in-Chief

SCOTT SPANGLER

Editor

HENRY G. FRAUTSCHY

Executive Editor

MIKE DIFRISCO

Contributing Editor

JOHN UNDERWOOD BUDD DAVISSON

Art Director

BETH BLANCK

Photography Staff

JIM KOEPNICK LEEANN ABRAMS MARK SCHAIBLE

Adverlising/Editorial Assistant

ISABELLE WISKE SEE PAGE 28 FOR FURTHER VIN T AGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION INFORMATION

VAANEWS compiled by H.G. Frautschy

TYPE CLUB LIST Next month we will publish our annual listing of type clubs which cater to Antique, Classic and Contemporary aircraft. We've recently received this listi ng for the Piper Apache: Flying Apache Assoc.

John 1. Lumley 6778 Skyline Drive Delray Beach, FL 33446 Dues: $25.00 annually Quarterly newsletter 561-499-111 5

THE COVERS FRONT COVER . .. The one and only remaining Kreutzer K-5 Air Coach is back in the air again , and part of the Yellowstone Aviation collection headed up by Greg Herrick of Jackson, WY. Noted aviation author John Under­ wood chronicles the life and times of Joseph Kreutzer himself, as well as the saga of NC612, starting on page 8.

EAA photo by Jim Koepnick, shot with with a Canon EOS1 n equipped with an 80-220 mm lens on 100ASA Fuj i Provia slide film . EAA Cessna 210 photo plane flown by Bruce Moore.

BACK COVER . . . "Northwest Flight"

by Jim Dietz. Painted in the mid-1980s, this oil rendering by Jim depicts the first flight in the Seattle, WA area , which took place on March 11,1910 at the Meadows Race Track. The site is now part of Boeing Field . Charles K. Hamilton , flying the Curtiss Rheims Racer performed four flights that day, taking up a lady passenger on one of his trips.

For his finale he skimmed too low over the standing water on the property and provided Seattle's first airp lane crash! Ham ilton and air­ craft were both rescued , mo re wet than injured.

(Our thanks to the Museum of Flight's Senior Curator Dennis Parks for providing the historical note on "Northwest Flight.")

Fax 561-495-7311 E-mail: jckllum@cs.com If you have a new club or one not in­ cluded in the Janua ry 1999 editi on of Vi ntage Airpl ane, please send in a note with the appropriate information and we'll include it in the listing and on the Vintage Aircraft Ass ociation web site at http :// www.vintageaircraft.org EAA HOSTS AIRCRAFT BUILDING AND MAINTENANC E WORKSHOPS Aircraft builders and owners who want to enhance their own skills are urged to attend comp rehen sive weeke nd work­ shops at the EAA Aviation Center on Jan. 22-23, 2000.

The two-day works hops, presented by Alexander SportAir, allow amateur builders or those interested in beginning an airplane project to learn the necessary skill s from experienced instructors. Topics include In­ troduction to Aircraft B u ild ing; Basic Fabric Covering; Composite Construction; Basic Sheet Metal Construction; and Elec­ trical Wiring and Avionics. All sessions include extensive "hands-on" experience that enhance an individual's confidence level to begin or complete their project.

In addition, a one-day Owner's Mainte­ nance course on Saturday, Jan. 22 offers

aircraft owners of all types home built or production models training on basic main­ tenance procedures that aircraft owners can perform themselves. The hands-on session includes safety wiring, maintenance items such as spark plugs, filters and tires, as well as proper pre-flight techniques.

"In most cases, the biggest hurdle keep­ ing a person fro m building or maintaining their own ai rplane is a lack of confidence arising fro m knowing exactly WHAT to do or HOW to do it," said Ron Alexander, director of the EAAlSportAir Workshops.

"These workshops are particularly useful because peopl e learn by do ing and can then take those new-fo und skills and con­ fidence back to thei r own building or maintenance projects."

Aircraft Spruce & Specialty will also be present at the event with many of the tools, books and materials needed to build an air­ p lane. A representative from Aircraft Spruce will be available to answer ques­ tions and assist with aviation product needs.

An additional benefit of the Oshkosh workshops is their location at the EAA A viation Center, the home of recreational aviation and site of the annual EAA Air­

-Continued on page 27

VAA VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR Our congratulations to Dave Thomas, VAA Flight Line volunteer of the year, and Operations Volunteers of the year Dave Morrow and Dave Clark (above, with VAA Director Dale Gustafson). Honored for their commitment to the Association during EAA A irVenture, each was presented with an engraved plaque to commemorate their dedica­ tion . Dave Thomas was unable to attend the presentation during the Fall Board of Directors meeting in Oshkosh, so Phil Blake stepped up to accept the award. Dave's pres­ ence on the flight line day in and day out in the heat and in the cold for many years has earned him the gratitude of many members.

Dave Morrow and Dave Clark (dubbed the [)2 team by Dale Gustafson) have served the membership over 15 years as aircraft judges.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

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Ed soloed in a Funk In early 1943 at the Kohler, WI airport, and later that same year, his rew ard for cleaning up the f ixed base operator's American Eagle 101, Waco Taperw lng and J-3 Cub was a checkout in each airplane. Joining the CPT program in December (top, right) he served until w ar's end, and then w orked at the Kohler airport for a year, finishing hiS private pilot's license In 1946 This Funk Model B w as Ed's first project.

In 1959, Nadene and Randall Wegner pose for the camera while dad sits in the cockpit of the family Fairchild 24.

Newly minted Private Pilot Ed Wegner had some great times giving rides In a surplus PT-19. The pretty girl behind Ed is his future wife, Isabel.

Ed won the first trophy awarded a Grand Champion Classic, presented at the Rockford EAA Fly-In in 1969. The trophy was presented for his restoration of the only example of the Spartan Model 12. The airplane was the prototype. Over 15 airplanes have enjoyed Ed's lov足 ing care. Ed and his restorations have been presented with many awards, including the National Biplane Association's Robert P. Moore Memorial award, awarded to a restorer who is singled out for his "Outstanding Aircraftmanship".

(Left) Ed and his longtime friend Charlie Bell with Ed's other airp lane - a 1940 Fairchild 24 powered by a 200 hp Ranger. Ed's expertise With the Ranger engine IS Widely know In Fairchild circles. HIs restoration of the 24 earned him a Antique Contemporary Age Outstanding Closed monoplane trophy Charles Stewart photo

ing the flights of Pioneer aviatiors.

BLERIOT COMMENTS Differences in powerplants and air­ Dear Henry, I have just read the new issue of frame construction can wreak havoc with the most meticulously constructed Vintage Airplane with delight as al­ ways. I was especially interested in the replica, as Roger's experiences can flight report on Roger Freeman's new attest. The snapshot oftime detailed in Sam's article was not meant to repre­ Bleriot XI. My trouble with reviews like this, sent Roger's total experience with the which describe such dangerious flying Bleriot, only some ofthe challenges he charactertistics of an old aeroplane is needed to meet.- HGF that they don't correspond very well with flight reports of the period. PROPer DEPARTURE Granted, people's experience in flying Dear Mr. Frautschy, aeroplanes in 1910 and 1911 was not as The letter from H. Kennard Perkins extensive as many people's today, in­ about the massive engine failure of the cluding Roger's, but his description of Cessna 190 reminds me of an almost immense tail-heaviness and instability identical situation out of Asbury Park­ on the ground just are not matched by Neptune Airport in New Jersey in the people at the time. The machine was later 1960s.

Charles Teeters owned a Cessna 190 tail-heavy under certain conditions of trim- we delt with this at some length with the Continetal 670 engine. (The in WWI AERO over the past several Spec Sheet says W670-23). One sum­ years. But by-and-Iarge these pre-war mer day he and some friends were machines flew well and fast and high westbound just north of Harrisburg, PA. and over long distances. Chavez flew Their discription was that the engine one over the Alps before he had his failed and as they were gliding they no­ ticed the prop was missing. They landed heart attack.

Remembering that Cole Palen built in a corn field, with the only damage his Curtiss Pusher from drawings by done to the landing gear box. The en­ Hayward and discovered afterwards gine had seized so abruptly that the that the drawings were so far off as to crankshaft had sheared and the prop de­ make the machine unflyable, it seems parted. It had not hit the plane and was worth looking sharply at the particular found later the same day, undamaged.

The plane was repaired and he re­ layout of this Bleriot, the operation of the engine, the relation of the engine to placed the engine with a Jacobs. He the propeller- all of these things have never opened the engine to find the made trouble for the early machines at Rhinebeck, when these factors were not properly coordinated.

I would hate to see these machines described as basically more unsafe and more unstable than they seem to have been originally.

A thought, anyway.

Very best wishes, Leonard E. Opdycke Publisher, WWI Aero and Skyways LEO's comments regarding Roger's experiences are well taken. Sam Burgess 's article on Roger's experi­ ences with the newly constructed Bleriot were meant to simply convey the difficulty in accurately reproduc­ 4 DECEMBER 1999

cause of the failure but I have walked by that engine a hundred times and al­ ways marveled at how smoothly the crakshaft had sheared.

Sincerely, Billy Gibson Farmingdale, NJ APRIL'S CERTIFICATE Hello H.G., I wanted to drop you a quick note to give you an update on the staus of April Stewart's flight training. As you may recall, we flew our 1936 J-2 "Stewart Family Cub" to Oshkosh for AirVen­ ture '97 and April soloed in the Cub in June 1998, at the age of 16. On Septem­ ber 15, 1999 April completed her training and received her Private Pilot liscense at age 17. Below is a photo­ graph of April and her "ancient" Cessna 150. April took her mother, Martha, as her first passenger in a 1946 J-3, stating that "I would rather fly the Cub than the 150." April is now the third generation of the Stewart family currently flying.

April's grandfather, Bob, turned 80 this past November and still flies his J-2 regularly. April is a high school senior and plans to study mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon Uni­ versity or Penn State University next fall.

Sincerely,

Mark Stewart

Niskayuna, NY

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ears

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Outer Marker Earning a living with Sea Wings For the next couple of months we barn­ stormed the many lakes of central New York, working the towns and resorts along the beautiful shores of the Finger Lakes, Lake Ontario, and villages and towns lying along the Erie Barge Canal.

Although we were having much fun, and learning every day, we really weren't doing much better than making hamburger money, and enough more to at least buy gasoline to keep the Waco going. But, I must say that being my own boss was a new and nice feeling, as well as having the satisfaction of an occasional self-earned dollar in my pocket.

In the meantime, Barb June, who was helping me work the Waco, kept pestering me about moving our base of operations to the Adirondack Mountain area. In prior years, Barb had experience working there with Merrill Phoenix operating an early model Stinson on floats. This very early twin-float seaplane had no water rudders and it was Barb's job, when taxiing, to po­ sition himself on the aft end of one of the Stinson's floats during docking or beaching operations, where he would steer the sea­ plane with a canoe paddle.

Early in July, we packed our bags and flew the Waco northeast to her new base of

operations on Third Lake, one of the Fulton Chain of Lakes in the central Adirondacks.

Barb's mother had a wonderful old camp there and the F-2 was nosed up on a nearby shaded sandy shore, secured by ropes from her wing struts to the trees. Thus was the beginning of several wonderfu l years of seaplaning in this magnificent area.

Also operating his airplane in this Adirondack area was Haro Scott, flying a Wright J-6-7 powered, red and yellow Waco Straight-wing three-place open bi­ plane. At the beginning of our second year there, Scotty suggested we team up and come work alongside of him, but it turned out there was just not enough business to go around and at the end of the season we broke up and went our separate ways. In another year I was to change our summer base to the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River, thereafter operating in the Adirondacks only during the spring and fall months, when I would carry fi shing and hunting parties back into the woods.

Scotty taught me much about seaplan­ ing and flying in the Adirondacks. He was an exceptional and natural airman and a fine seaplaner. I learned an awful lot just by watching him fly , and I studied how beautifully he handled his seaplane when

working under difficult dock and wind conditions.

It was during this second summer and whi le still working with Scotty that we shifted operations, thereafter operating from Scott's base at Eagle Bay and at night keeping the F-2 tied up near Scotty's "pri­ vate hangar," which was a low concrete highway bridge spanning a gently flowing stream between Fourth and Fifth Lakes.

Scotty's Waco would just fit under the bridge provided the prop was positioned crosswise, with perhaps a foot of clearance at the wingtips.

To get to this spot was a half-mile taxi from where the creek emptied into Fourth Lake. What a way to start or fmish a day of seaplaning; taxiing with slow-turning pro­ peller around the windy creek bends with the wingtips brushing low hanging leaves, positioned high in the rear cockpit while standing on the rudder pedals with elbows on the leather cockpit coamings, smelling and feeling the soft serenity. And the float keels sliding gently along a barefoot or two clear of the sun-shafted coppery brown creek bed, with gentle eddies off the floats stems and shifting bottom grasses marking our passage, as did the darting minnows and crawling crabs, alarmed by our

by Holland "Dutch" Redfield VI NTAGE AIR PLANE

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shadow. Scotty showed me the route once and how to take the outside of the bends for deeper water and how to steer around the long-established mossy boulders and mud­ bogged old logs that were hard to pick out in the coppery waters.

There are a myriad of Adirondack lakes and many of those located in proximity to mountain roads are bordered by resort ho­ tels hidden among the trees. As part of our day's work, we would fly from one lake to the next, working the lakefront hotel docks, as well as small grocery store docks or state park benches.

If the weather was good, and it was the right time of the week for the hotel guests, meaning perhaps that they were becoming a little bored with midweek inactivity, or it was too cold to swim or hike, or they were tennis'd out-under these conditions we could be kept very busy hopping passen­ gers from the hotel docks and at the end of the day have our pockets bulging.

As we flew from one lake to another or one dock to another, Barb and I would of­ ten get into disagreement on which spot we should try next. As we flew low over the

more often than not it turned out that Barb was right.

It was customary to announce our ar­ rival at a resort by, for some distance out, establishing a shallow, low-powered dive for the end of the hotel dock. Then abeam its end, full throttle would be applied and a pull-up made into a steep climbing, turn­ ing, wing over. At the wing over's top, and with low airspeed, power would be re­ duced and a strong, fast descending , sideslip entered, with sideslip recovery made just as the flare for touchdown was begun. The F-2 did this beautifully and with great ease, week in and week out.

As I started the flare late one afternoon, it was with great dismay that I discovered the airplane was not responding to my flar­ ing control stick inputs, and before I really knew what happened we hit the water hard in a wing-low, nose-low ungainly bouncing splash. It wasn't until power had been ap­ plied for recovery that I discovered that for the last few split seconds, the control stick's rubber grip handle, which had been loose for some time, had finally slipped up and off when needed most and I had been fran­

black clouds showed broad sheets of rain falling in heavy curtains of opaqueness ad­ vancing toward us, and fast.

From our position, it appeared the storm was still a bit west of Third Lake. I could at anytime put the Waco down quickly if I had to, but it was only a short distance to the end of Fourth Lake, and then only a few hundred yards of land and high trees to cross and we would be at our destination. Although I could land now, I much preferred, if possible, to ride out this oncoming storm with the airplane tied down at her regular beach site, than take a chance on riding out possibly pow­ erful winds while taxiing around in the middle of Fourth Lake.

We kept on and were suddenly in very heavy rain. It pelted and streamed off the small windshields, and stung and hurt my cheeks as with my goggled face over the side I endeavored not to lose visual con­ tact with the surface. The heavy rain on my goggles blurred and badly distorted my VISIOn .

The Waco was being badly buffeted by the storm's advancing gusts and I was busy

Sometimes, to really make his point, he would grasp the interplane bracing wires and slowly slide himself along the wing leading edge out to the interplane struts, with me hollering all the way for him to come back. lakes the entire Adirondacks surely must have heard us as we shouted back and forth between cockpits.

Occasionally, Barb would become ex­ asperated at my stubbornness, forcing open the small forward cockpit door against the strong propeller stream, easing himself out onto the lower wing walkway while clinging to the upper wing center section struts, where he would then sit down with his legs dangling down over the lower wing's leading edge.

Sometimes, to really make his point, he would grasp the interplane bracing wires and slowly slide himself along the wing leading edge out to the interplane struts, with me hollering all the way for him to come back in.

He would then just sit out there enjoy­ ing the view, with the tears running down his flapping cheeks and the buttons pop­ ping from his wind bulged, puffed-out shirt. Under such conditions, I would have to give in to such strong convictions and 6

DECEMBER 1999

tically flying the dickens out of the disconnected grip, the control stick itself impassively retaining its position.

I threw the innocent grip as far as I could, and finished up the summer with­ out one. Also, we didn't go back to that hotel dock for a week, and then only when certain that a new roster of guests would be registered.

Late one muggy, hazy August afternoon Barb and I were flying southwest down Fourth Lake toward our home base at Third Lake. We were only a few hundred feet above the lake's surface and down low there is a real appreciation of an airplane's speed as the scenery unrolls beneath. There is also much more of interest when flying down low, watching fishermen reeling in a catch from a guide boat, swimmers, pic­ nickers and boaters thinking they are alone, etc. But the sky was rapidly getting very dark ahead . A fast maturing mountain thunderstorm with low, white fringed,

at the controls. There was no turning back now because an instrumented tum, if en­ deavored, would have to be made at a very slow rate and we 'd be into the hills rising behind the shore before completing it. A straight-ahead climb into the lowering clouds would put us right in the core of the storm and even if we made it safely through, it was the end of the day and we were low on fuel. And then making a safe descent back through the clouds from any­ thing but a pinpointed position in this mountainous area would be imprudent, dif­ ficult, and hazardous.

Through the deluge something dark loomed close ahead, then as it moved be­ low I could just make out the misted outlines of the wing span width meander­ ing creek that connected the waters of the two lakes. We often taxied down this creek between Fourth and Third Lakes rather than make a short flight. Then the darkness below slipped behind the wing's trailing edges and was quickly gone, and although

I was unable to see, I knew we now had to be over Third Lake. It was small and I knew I had to get her down, and down very quickly, before we ran out oflake.

I side slipped the Waco to slow her and also lose some height, but I was afraid to continue with the slip as I couldn't make out the water's surface in the sheeting whiteness. The throttle was closed and we were descending at a high rate with the wings level and just above their stall speed when we hit the lake's surface with the nose high and very hard, but I was awfully glad to be down. Barb, peering out the side of the front cockpit, hurt his nose as we banged on. At least we were somewhere on Third Lake and we were safe, but we were unable to find the shore through the sheet­ ing downpour until it began to ease off 20 minutes later. Then as the vague outline of the dark shoreline began to appear, we rec­ ognized our dock and taxied in. Barb rubbed his bruised nose.

What a wonderful way to now be earn­ ing a living, flying in this beautiful area.

Besides our summer operations, during the spring and fall we would fly hunters and fishennen back to totally isolated and unspoiled lakes and ponds that were oth­ erwise inaccessible except by long hikes with heavy packs, hikes that had to be of­ ten made over snow-covered mountain trails. We would deposit our passengers and their gear on a lakeshore, then fly back in for them a few days or weeks later. These spots were sparkling in their natural beauty and it was seldom that many deer were not bounding along the shore as we landed.

Those considered the most desirable ponds by my nature-loving fare paying pas­ sengers were also most apt to be the smallest in the area. An approach to one of these lakes might well necessitate a tree­ skimming approach across the shoreline, a shuddering sideslip to get quickly down near the surface, followed by an undigni­ fied and finn touchdown. When the floats ceased planing and came bows high down off the steps, the Waco's tail would gently bob back to taxi attitude and the lake would be all gone.

To get the seaplane back out of that small pond could be a considerable chal­ lenge. The plane would be taxied as close as possible to the upwind shore, then the takeoff initiated with a planing step run di­ rectly downwind toward a corner of the pond. Here, a high speed skidding tum with the floats planing, but the wings not yet fly­ ing, would be made back into the wind, full

power applied, and in a very short distance we'd be airborne. To avoid the high trees ahead, a low- level climbing tum would be immediately started, then, like the wing­ beating loon, we'd circle and circle 'till high enough to flyaway . More than once, as we've climbed away, I've looked down to see if there were any pine boughs caught in the float gear, and quite often, a deer lashed to the floats would peer back at me with unseeing eyes.

Most of the Adirondack lakes were at el­ evations of about 2,000 feet. The thinner air, even at this modest height, greatly at­ tenuated the performance of the airplane and there were many times that I wished the F-2 had more power.

It was near the end of our second Adirondack season that I learned of another Waco F-2 seaplane powered by a 210 hp Continental. This was 45 more hp than the plane I was flying and almost double that of the Warner engine of my first love, the Waco F. The seller flew the airplane up to the mountains so I could fly it.

Before, or since, I have never flown an airplane with such nimble characteristics and high perfonnance. As a land plane, it had been developed by Waco for the U.S. Navy who required a very fast-clinlbing, but slow-flying airplane to act as a courier and scout plane for the dirigible airships Akron and Macon. In this Navy version, the F-2 was equipped with a large hook mounted above the upper wing center section, and the pilot flew so as to engage the hook with a trapeze suspended beneath the airship, fol­ lowing which the airplane would be hoisted into an internal hangar. The higher-powered F-2 was known as the "Macon Scout." As a seaplane it was also equipped with some­ what larger and more buoyant floats, which greatly improved its water performance. It was a powerful, magnificent airplane, and I bought it on the spot.

Yes, yes-of course land plane flying is great. But true joy, my landlubber friend, is skimming over the Adirondacks ' rolling forested hills, stretched below like an un­ ending carpet of many shades of greens, clearing the hilltops by a few hundred feet with another, then another breath-taking view exploding beneath, views that hikers and campers sometimes tramp through the woods and over mountain trails for hours and days to see. But for me, day after day, one after the other, they unfold before me.

And, unlike the land plane in this hostile terrain, such flying can be safely done as pond after pond, lake after lake, slides be­

neath my wings. Small ponds, in-the-valley ponds, big ponds, on the side-of-the-hill ponds, with winding , connecting white rapid turmoiled streams meandering through the forests. All totally beautiful, unspoiled and nature pure.

Many times, upon arriving over a lovely backwoods lake, I've practiced my 720 de­ gree power off overhead approach , spiraling down with propeller completely stopped and engine stilled. While descend­ ing, the only sounds are those of airfoils in unpowered gliding flight , gliding, and banking, and swooping to a soft touchdown on the pond's lightly rippled, sparkling sur­ face. A fmal soft swish as the float's planing lift fades, then she's down off the steps and afloat. All is quiet until the small waves of our touchdown run splash ashore, then all is quiet again.

I rest my chin on the cockpit coaming and the plane now drifts as she pleases in the varying light airs. I contemplate the beauty, the serenity, the loneness. In the cockpit my helmet and strap-frayed gog­ gles drape over the now unfeeling control stick, held forward under the instrument panel by the weight of the elevators on the tail. In the darker depths of the cock­ pit, one shiny foot-worn rudder pedal remains depressed in the position I had last set it to aid her aimless backward drift. An occasional glance at the start air pressure gauge shows it to be holding. It could be a long walk out of here. What a "flash in the pan" is my existence.

And how often, in just such a moun­ tain setting, have I nosed the float bows onto a short stretch of sandy beach under overhanging trees, stepping down from the floats to greet and to help load the gear of fishermen or campers who had been anxiously waiting my arrival. And we've climbed away from the backwoods lake in deteriorating weather, perhaps fol­ lowing homeward a known creek bed descending from one pond to the next , sometimes circling and circling at a cloud hidden, intervening ridge, hoping for the clouds to lift enough so we can get up and over. What a different and ominous mood the woods are in now . Anxiety clearly shows as my passengers look back at me and I am unable to convey to them , no matter what happens , that I can put her easily down on the tiny pond below us , where we can wait, maybe even 'till to­ morrow , for the weather to lift. But we can quickly get down, and we'll be safe.

Continued Next Month in Vintage Airplane. ......

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

7

BY JOHN UNDERWOOD EM 1989

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• ...r.'the remodeled K-S, f0r.merly the prope y of the Kinner company, serveCl.1l Phoenix charter operator before going to Mexico as XB-AAC to fill in for XB-AHO 8

DECEMBER 1999

osef Kreutzer, born in Vienna, had already realized the "American dream." At 34, Joe was the wealthy owner of a Buick sales and service fran­ chise in Los Angeles. By the summer of 1928, he was entertaining still loftier ambitions, inspired largely by Lindbergh's flight to Paris. Aviation was the entrepreneurial new frontier and the "smart money" was getting in on the ground floor.

Kreutzer (pronounced Kroyt-zer) created an aircraft division of the par­ ent Joseph Kreutzer Corporation and hired A. J. Edwards as vice president and general manager. A.J. had con­ vinced Joe that the possibilities were limitless and Edwards had credibility.

After all, he'd sold what became the most famous airplane in the world to the then unknown Charles Lindbergh.

Kreutzer had an option to buy a large parcel of land adjacent to the new Culver City Airport and his mas­ ter plan for a factory complex included an academy of aeronautics to teach everything from manufacturing skills to flying. Lt. Henry (Hank) Og­ den, newly hired as Kreutzer's chief pilot, was to be the school's director.

Ogden had been one of the Douglas World Cruisers.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

9

The corporation's first order of business was to select suitable de­ signs for production. Lawrence W. Brown, an Early Bird whose resume would eventually include several important racing aircraft, had designed a small trirnotor that was drawing considerable interest.

It was an open-cockpit, three-seat monoplane christened the "City of the Angels." Edwards thought it would appeal to air-minded busi­ nessmen and an Arizona corporation was interested in a larger model to provide scheduled services to isolated mining towns.

Another model that seemed to The first Kreutzer Air Coach, desig­ have promise was Donald Douglas' nated TM-4, suffered from a paucity little two-passenger Commuter. The ~.....,_... of power with overrated Velies. It Douglas company, its resources was later converted to a duster with fully committed to the manufacture the installation of a single 300 hp Wright J-6-9. That's starlet Raquel of military aircraft, had elected not to venture into the uncharted waters :~~I~~~=-~~~~-=::j~f~~~J Tomes with the bottle of grape juice.

NASM photo/Parker Aviation data of personal plane production and the Bank E99/2174 project was for sale.

Ogden, who had close ties to the Douglas company, is thought to have engineered the Commuter deal. In any event, Kreutzer acquired manu­ facturing rights for the Commuter and the Larry Brown designs, which included the assets of the Brown­ Mercury Aircraft Corporation.

It soon became clear that the drafty, open-cockpit Brown-Mercury trimotor and its four-place , single­ engine companion, now bearing the Kreutzer SM-4 label, left much to be

[

Anzanis in triplicate propelled Larry Brown's open-air Brown-Mercury "City of the Angels."

1928.

10

DECEMBER 1999

desired. Brown had other irons in the ftre and Kreutzer had no one capable of addressing design problems until Albin K. Peterson presented his cre­ dentials. He was immediately appointed vice-president and chief engineer.

Peterson, a former naval airman who had survived the Shenandoah disaster, was largely self-taught, but so was almost everyone else in the business. He had co-created the 14­ passenger Zenith Albatross, which was much in the news as the largest and farthest flying trimotor in the west, and his proposal to Kreutzer for a scalded-down, six-passenger version was approved late in 1928.

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Jtr'ou'ue:r .I.1roratt Oorpn ' s . six pns.seJ:liGT , ;eto..-od oabin monoplao.e . 'i:'hl, plane Ms

t!O\:lll trom 1.,03 Ant"relo:J to Dotroit tor

on ptll"POSQS r.t the Detroit. Areo 3how .

Day one in the life of SIN 102, March 1929.

Prop maker Art Fritzen (California-Fritzen in more recent times) never forgave Joe Kreutzer for declaring bankruptcy before his bills were paid. Art Fritzen photo

Joe Kreutzer inspects the Menasco-powered Kreutzer SM-4 while Lt. Hank Ogden makes observations from the cockpit. Art White contem­ plates the empennage.

Injust over a month from the com­ pletion of the design the prototype Kreutzer TM-4, X-71 E, was christened the "Air Coach" at a rollout ceremony on Mines Field, now world famous as LAX. Hollywood starlet Raquel Tor­ res performed the traditional bottle-bashing ritual with grape juice.

The TM-4 proved to be a big disap­ pointment. The Velie engines, rated at 60-hp, were more on the order of 40­ 50 hp. They were prone to overheating and the TM-4's shakedown cruise, which doubled as a honeymoon trip for Hank Ogden and his bride, was

more like a roller coaster ride on the Sierra Wave. With only two occu­ pants, the TM-4 barely cleared the mountains between California and Ari­ zona. For a service test it was more an exercise in motor-gliding.

Peterson worked furiously to up­ grade the design using the newly introduced Le Blonds-a single 90 and twin 60s. The result was the Kreutzer K-2, finished just in time for the an­ nual Los Angeles Automobile Show staged during the first week of March.

There wasn't time even for a single test hop. The unfledged X-50 1 was

among a dozen aircraft on display, in­ cluding a pair of Lockheed Vegas and several models offered by the Mono­ coupe company.

On the second day of the event a blaze erupted and the show, which was housed in circus style tents, be­ came a conflagration which destroyed an entire city block. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but all the air­ craft and over 300 automobiles were incinerated.

This was a debacle for the Joseph Kreutzer Corporation, which had ex­ ceeded its R&D budget to the point of VINTAGE AIRPLANE

11

(Left) Summer, 1931. E. L. Hollywood, Sr., (right) and associates pose with the Air Coach bound for Guatemala, Kinner's K-5 Air Coach in the background. (Right) The remodeled K-5, formerly the property of the Kinner company, served a Phoenix charter operator before going to Mexico as X8-AAC to fill in for X8-AHO.

jeopardizing the company's viability.

Although production of several units was underway in the old Bach plant in Venice, California, an Approved Type Certificate had yet to be granted. Survival depended on having something to show at the upcoming All American Aircraft Show in Detroit, which was only a matter of weeks away. An all-out effort was mounted to finish the third Air Coach, Serial Number 102, in time for its debut at Detroit.

Outwardly, the Kreutzer Corporation expressed great optimism. Detroit press releases alluded to a 32-passenger airliner in the offing and a s urge in production, but behind the scenes developments were decidedly negative.

Several key members of the management team defected during the Detroit Show. Edwards threw in with an Ohio group to market a cheap flivver called 12

DECEMBER 1999

the Aeronca and Ogden formed his own company to build light trimotors.

Instead of one-a-week production, only nine Air Coaches were completed in the five months it took the Joseph Kreutzer Corporation to go belly up , beginning in April. By September 1929, there were no funds to meet the payroll.

One month later the Wall Street "crash" precipitated the Great Depression.

The Kreutzer assets , valued at $53,300, were auctioned off in bankruptcy court for $7,000 in July 1930, at which time the Hodkinson Aircraft Corporation, under the management of ex-filmmaker E . L. Hollywood , Sr. , undertook the completion of two unfinished airframes, both for serv ice in Guatemala.

In the following year, the Hodkinson company reorganized as the Air Transport Manufacturing Company to

resume Air Coach production in the old Timm plant at Glendale. Hollywood, in association with designer A. K. Peterson, produced a single, customized K-5 for banker-oilman G. Allen Hancock. This was the fifteenth Air Coach and it was delivered in July 1931.

A modernized version of the Air Coach appeared in 1933 and a production batch of four were in various stages of completion when an early morning fire in the dope shop engulfed one unit of the two-bay factory. Fire hoses had to be st rung across the adjacent Southern Pacific track s and in the confusion no one was posted to flag down an oncoming freight. The hoses were severed and half the factory was destroyed.

A TM made several attempts to resume aircraft production, the last in 1940. The company had fallen heir to the General P2S Meteor, a Peterson design similar to the Fairchild 22, and it was offered with a view towards attracting CPT Program business. It was too dated to compete on a market flooded with new designs . A twin Whirlwind version of the Air Coach was proposed at the same time, but seems to have progressed no further than the preliminary design and modelmaking stage.

A TM mainly survived the '30s as a repair and overhaul station. It reached its full potential as an airframe parts subcontractor during the war years , afterwards gravitating to the electronics field , manufacturing sheet metal chassis. The company is still very much in business. ~

American dreamer Joe Kreutzer made his fortune putting Buicks on the highways and lost it all building some of the first corporate airplanes.

n Tuesday morning, Marc' 24, 1919, Henry Ogden and Art WIllie de­ parted Santa Monica's Clover Field and set a coune for Detroit.

T'eir objective was t'e Second Annual All American Aircraft S'ow. It was by no means certain "at t'e Josep' Kreutzer Corpo­ ration would be allowed to s'ow t'eir new, six-passenger Air Coac'. T'e airplane, finis'ed only tllree days earlier, ad barely Oown and "ere was no guarantee it would be admitted. It was unli­ censed and t'e Detroiters were unwilling to admit any aircraft not bearing a valid "NC" or "X" prefh on its registration.

Entry to tile DetroIt ••ow was t'e aeronautical equivaleat to .mug a ticket to tlae Presideat's Inaugural Ball. Any manufac­ turer w'o didn't preseat Ids new airplane t'ere wasn't taken seri­ ously. Joe Kreutzer, well aware of thls and 'ad reserved space With­ out knowing whether he would be able to use it. Ogden and White were halfway there when they re­ ceived confirmation that the Air Coach, Serial Number 102, had been issued an experimentalU­ cense, X-612. Tat would get the airplane through the exhibition all gate and it would permit pas­ senger Oights afterwards, but for demonstration purposes only.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

13

Greg Herrick, Jackson, WY

The Air Coach was well received at Detroit. Businessmen, weary of long commutes by rail and automobile, took to the idea that corporate ownership of aircraft made sense. Moreover, the price was right. Provisionally priced at $15,000, the Kreutzer K-2, with its sin­ gle 90 hp Le Blond and twin 60s, was by far the least expensive multi-engine aircraft on the domestic market.

The Air Coach's nearest competitor, the I O-passenger Bach 3CT Air Yacht, cost $35,000 and its closest equivalent in load­ carrying capacity and performance were all single-engined. They included the Buhl Airsedan at $13,500, Fairchild's Model 71 at $18,900, Fokker's Universal at $15,000, Ryan's B-5 Brougham at $13,250, the Stinson SM-I F Detroiter at $13,500 and the Travel Air 6000B at $13,000.

Trimotor safety was the sales pitch that counted more than anything else. Hank Ogden was so committed to that ideal that he resigned immediately after the Detroit show to build his own light trimotor, the Ogden Osprey, with 90 hp American Cir­ ruses. Within a matter of months several other light twins and trimotors were mak­ ing a bid for a share of what seemed to be a burgeoning market.

It was clear from the outset that the Air Coach needed more power and the K-3, certified under ATC 170 in June 1929, dif­ fered from the K-2 mainly in having 90 hp LeBlonds in the outboard stations. The ad­ ditional 50 to 60 hp was a significant boost and, although the K-2 was approved under 14

DECEMBER 1999

Greg Herrick contracts with the crew at HO Aircraft based at Anoka County Ai.rport, just north of Minneapolis, MN for much of his restoration work. From left to nght we see John Mohr, Tom Oostdik, Melissa Mliem and Ryan Mohr. Not shown are Dan White, Mike Rawson, Chad Miller, Carie Dahlenberg and Jill Literski.

ATC 171 in July, only five were built and nearly all were quickly upgraded.

The powerplant situation was by no means resolved and the LeBlonds were found to have their share of idiosyn­ crasies. More powerful engines were becoming available, most notably the 100 hp Kinner and 110 hp Warner. The Kin­ ner K-5, manufactured locally, seemed to be the better value. Kreutzer's engineer­ ing department was detailed to adapt the Air Coach to take the Kinner, in which form it became the K-5.

X-612 remained experimental until it was licensed NC612 as a K-3 in July, at which point the Joseph Kreutzer Corpora­ tion was desperate for working capital.

Obtaining a loan on NC612 and NC714K from the Pacific Finance Corp., which specialized in financing aircraft, raised $16,000. But the crash on Wall Street just a few weeks later sealed the company's fate and that of thousands more. The Great Depression had begun. The bank­ rupt Kreutzer Corporation defaulted on the loan and the PFC seized both aircraft on December 13, 1929.

Little is known ofNC612's activities during the next nine months, but almost certainly it was domiciled at the new Los Angeles Metropolitan Airport in Van Nuys, in Hangar 6, in the care of Larry Therkelsen's aircraft brokerage.

Therkelsen was responsible for liquidat­ ing PFC's aircraft holdings and was well

known in South California aviation cir­ cles. His listings for July 1930 included NC612, priced at $8,500.

In August, a sale was transacted by Therkelsen between the Pacific Finance Corporation and one Clyde Palmer of Seattle. Palmer and his partner Don Phillips proposed to operate a daily ser­ vice six times a week linking Seattle with Yakima, via Wenatchee, with no flying on the Sabbath.

Phillips, the chief pilot, was well known in the Northwest. Their company, Inter Citiair Express, Inc., had in fact be­ gun flying "the hump" some six months earlier with a Lockheed Vega. Flying the Cascades was dicey business in a single engine plane and the partners opted to re­ equip with Kreutzer trimotors.

Inter Citiair Express seems to have re­ organized early on as Seattle­ Wenatchee-Yakima Airways, Inc. In any event, Palmer was doing business under that banner when the Pacific Finance Cor­ poration caught up with NC612 at Oakland, where it had been grounded as unairworthy by Dept. of Commerce In­ spector Wiley Wright on November 23, 1930. Palmer, having failed to make any payments on the financed purchase price, was summarily relieved of the airplane.

There had been little maintenance on the airplane during its service in the North­ west. Messrs. Palmer and Smith seem to have operated more as a charter service

than an airline. Exactly how much sched­ uled passenger flying they did is unknown, because the logbook was not aboard at the time of repossession. It is known, how­ ever, that NC612 was a sometime visitor on the Canadian side, the implication be­ ing that it was engaged in a fly-by-night freighting operation. Prohibition had yet to be repealed and the huge profits from haul­ ing bootleg libations were a temptation that was almost irresistible.

Once again NC612 was handed over to Larry Therkelsen, who included it in his May 1931 listings with the notation "Less than 100 hours." This must be a reference to engine time since major overhaul (SMOH). In any case, the LeBlonds, which were not really up to the task, were wheezing again and in need of a full measure of TLC. Therkelsen's price was only $2,500.

Therkelsen was not long in placing NC612 under new management, this time at Winslow, Arizona. Messrs. W. L. Car­ penter, Columbus L. Giragi and C. J. Wiley, doing business as Navajo Air­ ways, proposed to provide a feeder service connecting with Western Air Ex­ press at Winslow. Tourism to the Grand Canyon and sightseeing excursions over the Great Meteor Crater would be their bread and butter. The sale was consum­ mated on May 30, 1931.

By March 1932, NC612 was weather worn and tattered. It was time for a com­ plete airframe overhaul and new fabric .

The control cables were all rusty and the ailerons were permanently warped. Ac­ cording to the paperwork, NC612 had but

197 hours total time. From this, one can only suppose that a lot of flying went un­ recorded, and that the airplane spent a fair amount of time outdoors. The airplane was ferried to Los Angeles for a thorough refurbishing.

Although Navajo Airways was not an element of the T&WNW AE merger that resulted in today's TWA, it operated from the WAE terminal and went so far as to copy the line's distinctive red and silver color scheme. Navajo may well have used WAE as their ticket agent, too.

It is likely that NC612 participated in supply drops that prevented starvation among Indians marooned by the blizzard of January 1932. Other Kreutzers may have been involved as well, there having been three in operation in Arizona at that time. The International Flying Service kept an elegant K-5 , NC243M, at Phoenix and the Packard family at Payson owned NC9493, which spent much of its life barnstorming Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. William A. Packard, close kin to the automaker, had fond memories of the airplane.

As for Navajo Airways, little is known beyond the fact that it probably was a bust for its owners. The company went out of business toward the end of 1932 and on January 9, 1933, NC612 became the prop­ erty of Willard F. Hellman of Glendale, California. Hellman owned a little Kinner Airster biplane that had once been demon­ strated by the Kinner Company' s Boston agent, Amelia Earhart.

Hellman was the proprietor of a radio and appliance business. Hi s serviceman

was a radio expert and when Harold Bromley complained one day that no af­ fordable lightweight transmitter/receivers were on the market, Hellman said he'd try to build one. The unit delighted Bromley, whose friend, Wiley Post, ordered one just like it. That unit may still be part of Winnie Mae's avionics.

On the trip home from Winslow it was evident that the gasping LeBlonds were in need of yet another valve job. Hellman took the matter up with E. L. Hollywood, Sr., whose Glendale based Air Transport Manufacturing Company was created to continue Air Coach production. ATM had a cash flow problem, however, and only one new airplane had been produced. It was a custom K-5 for oilman Allen Han­ cock, one of Hollywood's creditors.

Hollywood's engineer/partner was Al­ bin K. Peterson, who had designed the Air Coach in the first place. Peterson had some improvements he was eager to try out and Hellman was offered a refurbish­ ing proposition he could not refuse. It included the latest Kinner K-5 engines at cost. The Kinner Company, its factory just down the street, hoped to see the Air Coach back in production . Its CEO, Robert Porter, is thought to have had a personal stake in the matter.

NC612 was converted in compliance with ATC 223, which had been amended The cockpit of the Kreutzer K-5 with the throttle quadrant mounted on the floor between the seats.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

15

The three Kinner K-5s swing a trio of Sensenich fixed pitch, wood props to move the K-5 Air Coach along at a stately 100­ 110 mph. AI Ball of Santa Paula, CA gets all the credit for restoring the three Kinners to outstanding condition.

to permit a new fin and rudder design and windshield , mainly in the interests of styling enhancement. The airplane was flying again in March, just in time to pro­ vide an aerial platform to inspect the devastation caused by the Long Beach earthquake. The modernization program seemed to generate new interest, espe­ cially from operators south of the border, and a production line was set up to pro­ duce an initial batch of three ATM style Air Coaches.

In the spring of 1933, Willard Hellman found himself at loose ends. Business re­ versals and a failing marriage prompted him to relocate and start afresh. Through his friend Harold Bromley a connection was made with West Mexican Mines, Ltd., headquartered at Hidalgo de Parral in the state of Chihuahua. The company, which operated an aging Ryan Brougham, had need of a more modern airplane for its mountain operations and NC612, with 16 DECEMBER 1999

Greg Herrick shows great form as he demonstrates the correct procedure for strong-arming Kinner K-5s. The Heywood Air Starters were not installed in time for AirVenture '99.

its Kinner engines, had the desired perfor­ mance. Hellman received another offer he couldn't refuse. In a convoluted deal engi­ neered by Hancock, the oilman, ATM would be paid $29,000 for the airplane.

This included development costs and a generous bonus to Hellman, the actual owner, plus a two-year job contract.

The journey to Mexico was not with­ out incident. Bromley had never flown a Kreutzer before, but he'd done a fair amount of test flying for Lockheed and Emsco, which had produced aircraft for his transpacific escapades in 1929-30. He felt confident that the Air Coach was just another airplane. It was, therefore, a bit of

a shocker when , on the approach to Yuma, a dust devil caused the airplane to lurch sideways close to the ground, drop­ ping a wing . Bromley was unable to check the low wing, which impacted vi­ olently, resulting in a partial cartwheel.

Fortunately, nobody was seriously in­ jured, but the airplane appeared to be all but a total write-off.

Bromley, somewhat chastened, pro­ ceeded on to Parral to explain to the management why there would be a slight delay in implementing the new trimotor service to the mines. HeHman caught the next westbound Curtiss Condor at El Paso, TX, which happened to be a non­ revenue ferry flight with no passengers and no copilot. The captain explained that he was fatigued from a long night of liba­ tion and wondered if HeHman would spare him at the controls while he took a nap.

Thus it was that Hellman flew himself back to Glendale, courtesy of American Airways, while the captain snored in the back until it was time for the landing.

Hellman returned to Yuma with Peter­ son, took stock of the situation and had NC6l2 ignominiously dumped on a rail­ road flatcar for the return trip. Two months later, this time with ATM's Del Hay at the controls, the reconstituted NC6l2 was delivered to West Mexican Mines as XB-AHO. Bromley made the first run to Guadeloupe Y Calvo on the morning ofJune 7, 1933.

For the next several years Bromley re­ mained XB-AHO's pilot exclusively, save for one thoroughly unhappy occa­ sion. The airplane gave 100 percent reliable service and there were only three minor engine incidents, all due to the cen­ ter Kinner's appetite for valves, in nearly 3,000 hours of flying. There were, how­ ever, a number of landing incidents.

Bromley was only carrying a payroll when he landed on GYC's slushy runway and stood the Air Coach on its nose after coasting into a snow bank. The hot en­ gines melted the packed snow and XB-AHO gradually toppled over on its back. Bromley had to hitch a ride on a mule train to fetch a new propel1er.

The Bromley family, which was domiciled at Guadeloupe Y Calvo, were planning a long overdue vacation by the summer of 1935 . Harold arranged with Lake Littlejohn, a former PanAm pilot with several thousand hours of trimotor

"LlnLEJOHN CRAWLED OUT, THOROUGHLY HUMBLED, BUT OTHERWISE UNHARMED. "NEVER IN MY 20 YEARS OF fLYING," HE WAILED, "HAVE ISEEN SUCH HAVOC FROM SUCH SLIGHT

PROVOCATION!"

time, to be his substitute for the month of August. Littlejohn was happy to oblige, because he was between jobs and found the Chihuahua Mountains much to his liking.

Littlejohn, with his vast experience, saw no need for a checkride and the Bromleys left for California. The very next day, Littlejohn was finishing the daily maiVpassenger run to GYC when he slightly overshot his landing at Parral and applied some brake. It was a tad too much.

The tail lifted slowly, hesitated in midair, then flopped over on its back with a grind­ ing crunch . Littlejohn crawled out, thoroughly humbled, but otherwise un­ harmed. "Never in my 20 years of flying," he wailed, "have I seen such havoc from such slight provocation!"

XB-AHO was clearly out of commis­ sion for months to come. The nose Kinner had broken off its mount, all the pro­ pellers were curled, the fuselage was buckled and the landing gear had folded back. It was Bromley's second day on va­ cation and now he had to find a replacement airplane, preferably another K-5 Air Coach.

It took the rest of the month to find one. NC243M, original1y the property of the Kinner company, had been updated

by ATM for the previously mentioned In­ ternational Flying Service of Phoenix.

Bromley got it, through the good offices

of broker Charlie Babb, for $3,000. Thus it was NC243M migrated to Mexico as XB-AAC. XB-AHO was eventually returned to service and plied the airways for West Mexican Mines for several more years. In the late 1930s, however, the Gringo pilots were being disenfranchised and sent home , so native airmen could have the high paying jobs. The trouble was none of the Mexican applicants seemed to be able to get the hang of flying XB-AHO. Brom­ ley, himself, occasionally alluded to its "tricky ways." In the air, "No problema! " But getting back on the ground again was something else, especially on primitive airstrips at elevations up to 8,000 ft.

Even after the deadline, Bromley was given special dispensation to remain un­ til he could train a replacement. Whereas all Americans who held commercialli­ censes had their tickets invalidated in Mexico, a special category had been cre­ ated for Bromley, who was held in high esteem by the Mexicans. He was named Asesor Tecnico # I-literally it meant technical advisor and it permitted him to remain on the job until a qualified Mexi­ can pilot could be found.

The qualified Mexican turned out to be another American, Leo Lopez T., for Ta­ lamantes, used only in formal introductions. Leo, born and educated in EI Paso, held dual citizenship. He had learned to fly in 1931 and, by 1936, was instructing in Col. Roberto Fierro's flight academy. Fierro, former head of the Mex­ ican AF, was also the governor of Chihuahua. For the next several years XB-AHO would be flown by Leo, who was to become one of Mexico's best­ known commercial operators.

In 1939, XB-AHO became the prop­ erty of one Gerardo Heimpel, a German national, long suspected of clandestine activities. Heimpel was an avowed Nazi and claimed personal friendship with Adolf Hitler. His mission, it was said, was to strengthen German ties with Mexico, which were already strong. Heimpel and his countrymen hoped to make Mexico an Axis ally, or at the very least keep it neu­ tral in the event of an American declaration of war on Germany.

Heimpel was involved in mining oper­ ations, which also served Nazi needs. One of his mining operations was Huizopa, in the Western Sierras. Its landing strip was VINTAGE AIRPLANE

17

-'"

.11 c

!

E

~--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~ ~ reputed to be one of the most dangerous in the State of Chihuahua, which had many dangerous strips. XB-AHO's job was to create links between Heimpel' s headquarters in Chihuahua, Huizopa and other holdings.

There were rumors that Heimpel's air­ plane, sometimes described as a twin, was making border crossings into Texas and New Mexico at night, dropping agents and supplies. However true that may be has yet to be determined. What is known for certain is that Heimpel' s services to the Fuhrer came to an abrupt end shortly after the U.S. entered WW II. Mexico threw in with the Allies and a few days later Heimpel was packed off to prison for the duration.

Sometime previous to Heimpel's in­ carceration, X8-AHO had been involved in an accident at Huizopa. The pilot, Desiderio "Chilelo" Varela had trained his copilot to do the braking, but the tech­ nique proved his undoing. There was a fairly violent ground loop, resulting in damage to the wing and center engine.

"Chilelo" and his brakeman-mechanic were out of a job and XB-AHO went into dead storage. Mining operations had been discontinued at Huizopa, due to unprof­ itable production, and the place was abandoned. For the next four decades XB­ AHO was all but forgotten.

In 1980, a charter pilot by the name of 18

DECEMBER 1999

Hernando Garcia Contreras acquired title to XB-AHO from the Heimpel family, which was still domiciled in Chihuahua, although the patriarch Nazi, Geraldo and his pilot son were long gone. The aircraft was complete, except for the three Hamil­ ton Standard propellers and all of the instruments. The propellers had been dis­ tributed among family members as mementos of bygone days.

Garcia's initial sal vage operation, which got underway in May 1981, in­ volved a work party of 25 men and 20 pack animals. They retrieved the engines, fuel tanks, oil tanks, tail wheel, controls and other items. That same year, during November and December, a second expe­ dition was mounted, involving 22 men and 19 pack animals. The fuselage was moved a few kilometers before snowfall halted the program.

Garcia could not return until Novem­ ber 1982, this time with a party of 34 men and 25 pack animals. They were in the mountains for another two months, hack­ ing paths with machetes and actually clearing a roadway near the end of the trail to permit trucking their treasures of the Sierra Madre over the last leg of the journey to Casa Grande.

XB-AHO had not been the only air­ craft retrieved from Huizopa. Another wreck had been of sufficient interest to Garcia to add to his collection. It was an

unidentified biplane and only the fuselage and tail were salvageable. The writer and Garcia examined the remains and found a serial number stamped on a longeron. It was 1000. Could this have been some sort of experimental aircraft? The puzzle re­ mained unresolved until I remembered the daughter of another pilot who had vis­ ited Huizopa as a charter pilot in the early 1930s-an American, George Law. Law had crashed on his last flight out of Huizopa in 1934. A check of the records revealed that Law had been flying a J-5 Eaglerock, NC542Y, Serial Number 1000.

For the next several years, Garcia, his son and nephew, with the help of a Guatemalan mechanic, Marcelino Jolon Camey, labored day in and day out to get the Air Coach back in the air again.

Camey, in his seventies, had worked on Kreutzers in Guatemala in his youth. Pro­ pellers and instruments had to come from north of the border, however, and finding them became a task for Senor Juan. The writer had been recruited as some kind of purchasing agent.

Funding for the enterprise came from an investment group composed of local businessmen and teachers. Art Acosta was the titular head, mainly because he could understand my brand of Spanish, or maybe it was the other way around. None of them, except the Garcias, knew any­ thing about aviation. All the backers knew

was that a trimotor in the U.S . was sup­ posed to be worth upwards of a million dollars. That was the incentive behind the salvage operation from the outset. If XB­ AHO could be made airworthy enough to fetch $500,000 , then it would all be worthwhile.

XB-AHO was repatriated at EI Paso as N612A in 1986 and trundled to Santa Teresa, a few miles west of the New Mex­ ico side , where the Garcias busied themselves with their activities. N612A was ready to fly, or so it seemed, and an­ tique airplane guru Bob Taylor came down from Iowa to give it his blessing.

Alas, the problem was no one with the necessary credentials was willing to sign off the paperwork.

California seemed to offer more favor­ able prospects. The Los Angeles office of the FAA was used to dealing with licens­ ing vintage aircraft. Southern California also seemed to be a better place to locate a buyer. Besides, it was N612A's place of birth and there was the prospect of some free TV coverage. Once again, the Kreutzer was trundled off on a flatbed tractor-trailer.

Finding an airport suitable for a test flight with hangar accommodations was not easy. Chino was considered and ruled out. (Hangar space was $900 per month and there was nothing available.) So was Mojave. Camarillo seemed ideal, with its 10,000 foot runway surrounded by farm­ land and a huge, half-empty hangar for only $400 a month.

The next step was to find a suitable test pilot. There were several volunteers, including Bill Turner of Repeat Aircraft, Mel Heflinger, retired from United Air­ lines, and a gentleman who had flown for NASA for many years, whose name I can't now recall.

Chuck Yeager had also been ap­ proached. He liked to fly oddball aircraft and agreed to do the job at no charge, pro­ vided certain insurance conditions could be met. That was the first hang-up. The actuaries knew Yeager could handle jet fighters "no problem," but they wanted to know how much recent time he had in tri­ motors. In the end, no underwriter was willing to provide coverage on a 60-year­ old trimotor, except L1oyds , and their premiums were prohibitive.

Licensing was another problem. FAA wanted N612A licensed in the homebuilt category. While the aircraft had con­

formed to ATC 223, there was nothing in the FAA ' s files to guide them in the way of an inspection handbook with ATC 223 specifications. All that information had been purged from their files decades ear­ lier. There had not been a Kreutzer trimotor on the FAA's books since 1940.

By a curious coincidence, a long de­ ceased friend, Lee Enich, had fallen heir in the 1950s to the Kreutzer engineering residue, which consisted mainly of a crate of blueprints for the Kreutzer trimotors (three models), the General Western Me­ teor and the Hodkinson trimotor, a Don Berlin venture that had not gone beyond a single prototype. Lee, an early EAA ac­ tivist, had donated everything to the EAA museum, then in its infancy.

An appeal was made to Paul Poberezny, who had a vague recollection of the collection, and made a personal search of material in dead storage. The crate had not been entered into the EAA's computerize property inventory, which necessitated a massive search that proved unfruitful, initially.

Meanwhile, things in California had taken a downward turn. Having been carefully inspected, N612A revealed it­ self to be a cosmetic restoration. Despite invoices in the amount of $7,000 for air­ craft grade spruce and plywood, much of the structure was not aircraft grade. More­ over, the fabric proved to be improperly applied. It was shrinking with the passage of time, warping improperly installed fairing stringers. It was beginning to look like Hell. Close inspection ofweldments in the forward fuselage revealed kinked tubing in critical locations.

Meanwhile, efforts continued to find a buyer. For the next couple of years the writer showed N612A on the average of once a week to prospects, including a Japanese group, which was looking for a theme park attraction. On one occasion, having just returned from the l20-mile round trip to Camarillo, a Trade-a-Plane reader called to say he wanted to see the airplane that very afternoon. It meant an­ other l20-mile trip, but this time at the other party's expense.

He asked me to meet him at nearby BUR and we'd fly out in his airplane, which was assumed to be a Bonanza or Cessna. It turned out to be a beautiful, re­ cently restored B-25. Hey, my friends, that was a memorable trip and a highlight of my mission to find a new home for

N612A. Alas, the gentleman declined to make an offer, which was disappointing, although not entirely unexpected.

N6l2A's owners, having despaired of ever consummating a sale on terms ac­ ceptable to all concerned, eventually hauled the airplane back to Texas, where I never knew exactly . Another decade passed, more or less , before the arrival upon the scene of an extraordinary young man by the name of Greg Herrick. Herrick had just acquired Channing Clark's proto­ type Fleetwings Seabird. He told me he was interested in the Kreutzer and won­ dered if! knew where it had gone to after CMA. I didn't, but I gave him some leads.

The upshot of this was Greg Herrick's becoming N 612A' s protector and bene­ factor, probably for life. I think Greg's ambition is to own the largest private col­ lection of vintage aircraft in the world.

Reflecting upon that expectation is his new hangar at Anoka County Airport, 25 miles north of Minneapolis. It was fin­ ished during this past summer and is big enough to hold 100+ aircraft.

The thing about Greg's taste in air­ planes is that he prefers the rarest of the rare, although he does make exceptions.

For example, he has a weakness for Fairchild PTs, not on the endangered species list, and a couple of Wac os in the same category, but most of his fleet con­ sists of one-only survivors, such as his "Packard" Buhl CA-3D, Cunningham­ Hall PT-6F and Stinson "A" trimotor.

Once again a search was mounted for the Kreutzer blueprints, because nothing much could be achieved without them.

For one thing, the Mexican built wings deviated so far from the originals as to be unrecognizable. The spars were all wrong, so too was the airfoil. This time the blue­ prints were found and they gave new impetus to the program. Indeed, without them the restoration would have been vir­ tually impossible.

Greg has the team and the wherewithal to perform marvelous restorations, but without the late Lee Enich's long ago con­ tribution it probably could not have been done. Hey, it's the happy hour as I write this, so here's to you Lee! If you didn't have the foresight to save those blueprints, NC612A might still be a moldering relic with very little future. Instead, it's a delight to behold and one that will be enjoyed by generations of air show spectators in the new millennium. .......

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

19

PASS IT TO BUCK

by E.E. "Buck" Hilbert

EAA #21 VAA #5 P.O. Box 424, Union, IL 60180

CESSNAS,CESSNAS AND MORE The dates, September 24 and 25, the place, Poplar Grove, Illinois, the event, the Annual Cessna 120-140 Associa­ tion bash.

The weather was absolutely beautiful, as myoId friend Walt Weber used to say, "Seventeen layers of severe clear! " I attended on Saturday the 25. W. D. "Dip" Davis had flown out with the group to Pioneer Airport at your EAA AirVen­ ture Museum and had such good things to say about it all, I had to get over there and see what it was all about. Take a look at the photos that EAA 's Mary Jones took during the shindig in Oshkosh (H.G. was in St. Louis for the Monocoupe fly­ in - hi s report will be in next month 's issue .)

The group has kept me on their mailing list for some time, so I was all primed to go anyway, but seeing as "Dip" was going to do a forum, I decided to chase after him and attend. He drove, carrying all his demo dope and stuff. I flew.

Unfortunately, I don't have a Cessna, so the new Champ, N83760 was put to use . I felt like that Chrysler ad, the red pepper in with all the potatoes, but it was a lot easier to get there. That 18 mile drive is an insult when you can fly, even at 75 mph.

Landing, I was met by Don Alesi near his restored aqua pick-up truck. The truck calls attention to his sign and you then fol­ low his lea d or hi s radio directions to parking. Since I was an oddball (correc­ tion, odd bird) , I parked way over there, away from the stars of the fly-in.

Don then gave me a ride up and down 20 DECEMBER 1999

(Above) The highlight fly-out event of the 120/140 Convention was a trip to Oshkosh to visit EAA's Pioneer Airport and the EAA AirVenture Museum . Landing first at Wittman Field, the pilots were briefed by Joe Schumacher, Director of Flight Operations and then took off for the short flight over to Pioneer field, which it not normally open to transient traffic.

(Below) Richard Harden of Minneapolis, MN arrives at Pioneer Airport with his beautifully polished Cessna 140.

the lines, yes lines, of airplanes. It was breathtaking. Seeing all these beautiful l20s and l40 s parked row upon row just stuns the imagination. No imagina足 tion, reality; there they were, over a hundred of them as I found out when I went in to register.

Don sq uired me around for a while and then had to attend the bri efing for the activities, short field takeoffs and landings and the bomb drop to tak e place after that. But he did take time to say hello to Maureen, his hard working wife, and then dropped me off at the Headquarters.

After I registered, I looked at the Club merchandise on display and just had to have one of the portfolios (to hold my logbooks and paperwork), one of the Club logo pins, and a tote bag for Dorothy, my wife. I'd left her

Poplar Grove Airport (C77) located to the northeast of Rockford, IL is one of the nation's most active recreational aviation fields. Enthusiastically run by the husband and wife team of Steve and Tina Thomas, it has been selected the Illinois Airport of the Year twice, and as you can see, a fly-in community is now being developed to the southeast. The Cessna 120s and 140s filled in the grass pretty well with over 100 airplanes.

(Above) EAA President Tom Poberezny enjoyed visiting with the members of the club during their visit to Oshkosh.

(Below) Herb Rough of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada flew in using Cessna 140, CF-EKU, which is owned by David Zoppa .

Row upon row of the always popular little Cessnas covered the field .

Dave Hedgecock of the Cessna 120/140 club gets things rolling during the forums.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

21

home, so I had to have some kind of peace offering.

One item I could hardly tear myself away from is the Club's 120-140 Refer­ ence Manual. This gem , at $38 .00, is an invaluable asset to any Cessna 120­ 140 owner. It even comes with revisions and has in it every bit of infor­ mation for pilot owners to fly and maintain their airplanes. Every AD and Service Bulletin, Maintenance hints, Dip Davis explains the ins and outs of the procedures, STCs, the works.

Superflite covering process.

Lugging my purchases, I then walked the lines until it was time for the forum , begun as a friendly question and an­ swer session with our friend Dave Hedgecock.

Dave took questions from the floor and answered them with aplomb. That's what all those years of teaching at Blackhawk Tech will do for you; nothing floors you.

Then " Dip" took over with his demonstration of how to be a " dope ad­ dict." "Dip" referred to his sordid past with the The first pilots who landed at Pioneer were able to good­ naturedly score the landings of those who followed, and they airlines and allowed as used plenty of body english to emphasize their reaction to the how in his day the closest touchdown! thing he ever came to a DC-8 was two DC-4s.

That got a laugh and it was on with the demo.

I didn't stay for the finale, I needed a cup of coffee and I needed some just plain airplane gawking time . I wan­ dered the line again, and took some random shots of some of the prettiest, neatest, nicest little Cessnas ever. I didn't dare get too close cause my hot breath and drooling would ha ve messed up those ex­ treme polish jobs.

I had a hard time get­ ting back in Champ. I thought back to the day I took delivery of our first Cessna 120 from the Mid States Distribu­ tor at Sky Harbor. That Northbrook, Illinois Airport was really hum­ ming in those days.

The GI flight program 22 DECEMBER 1999

was in full swing, and the Cessnas were the latest and newest of the trainers for 1946.

Looking at the way these airplanes are dressed up today, it's hard to imagine the spartan little non-electric primary trainer the C-120 was. But that's the way they came. No interior, just door panels. No electric. No "0" windows. No hat shelf.

Just a plain Jane if ever there was one.

But what a performer.

Operating from a 900 foot strip was the norm at our place. Often, with a little wind, we would have 3 or 400 feet by the time we reached the end of that 900 foot runway. On the other hand , it was so light and floaty, it was anyone ' s guess as to where it would touch down . Many a time it made a fool of me while attempt­ ing a spot landing.

It had those old brakes, too, the ones with the buttons and the wobbly discs.

Hard braking would lift the tail right of the ground. If one of them locked up, and they sometimes did, it was real scary. A gear extension modification came along pretty quickly, and that did help.

But enough reminiscing. " Dip" will add his comments and it ' ll then be over to you.

THE BANQUET BY "DIP" DAVIS Nearly 200 members and guests filled the Hoffman House banquet room to ca­ pacity. Those who had flown in found a nice color photo of their airplane on the table at the speaker's stand. Door prizes valued at over $7 ,000 had been donated by various manufacturers and suppliers, and drawings began as soon as the prime rib or chicken Marsala was served, to pre­ vent the dinner from dragging too far into hospitality time. Prizes ranged from a complete magneto ignition system from Slick, to tubes of aluminum polish. Pairs of 6:00x6 tires from both Michelin and Goodyear were eagerly received.

The awards to winners of the Nerfball drop and sho rt landing contest were handed out, as well as those for best air­ craft in each category. Oldest pilot attending the convention award went to Ken Ligget of Limon, Colorado. Ken has a Cessna 180 as well as his really nice 140, but says "Fast airplanes are for peo­ ple who don't like to fly."

Next year's convention is schedule for Gainesville, Texas and I believe everyone is already looking forward to another great time.

by H.G. Frautschy

Via e-mail, we received this note about our July Mystery Plane.

Dear Sir, Reading Cotty Markland 's letter on his Howard DGA -18K 1 took a hard look at your picture and his. The Stinson (NC14572) in both pictures is currently mine, and is in flying condition. Another picture ofit was on the inside front cover and page 7 ofFeb. 1999 Vintage Airplane 1ssue.

In Mr. Markland 's letter to you he also ask why the Stinson wasn't flying on the days both picture where taken. When 1first acquired the plane 1 was able to contact the person who owned it in the early 1950 's. He told me "KiDS" had thrown bricks through the wing fabric. A very good reason why it was in both pictures.

Sincerely, Mike Strieter Laurel, MD Larry Knechtel, Seattle, WA responded with a nice write-up of September's Mys­ tery Plane: The Mystery Plane is the Bendix Model 51A amphibian, completed in 1946.

The Model5IA was all metal with re­

tractable landing gear and as can be seen in the photograph it had a mid-wing and a twin-boom tail. A pusher prop was powered by a 100 hp Franklin. The airplane was planned to be sold as either an am­ phibian or a land-based model, depending upon customer order.

Whether the airplane was going to be an amphibious Model51A or the strictly land-based Model 51 was to be decided mid-way down the automotive style assembly line, according to Bendix engineers. It was at this point that either a strong hull or a more conventional fuselage was to be installed. The upperfuselage had a mating line just above the cabin floor. The two versions were to be identical ex­ cept for the lower fuselage, a different wing incorporating tip tanks and floats for the amphibious version and longer landing gear to clear the hull.

Bendix cancelled the program in September 1946. Company di­ rectors said they felt Bendix would be in competition with itselfby making airplanes while supplying engine and electrical parts to other aiiframe manufacturers. (See last month's Mystery Plane column for Bob Pauley's article on the Bendix Model 55 program, which also died at the same time. - HGF) The Bendix Model5IA shown in the photo had a maximum air­ speed of149 mph, a cruise speed of 138 mph and a landing speed of 55 mph. It used the Bendix 416 wing with a span of40feet. Length was 28 feet and empty weight of1,550 lbs.

Keep us guessing and Keep 'em Flying, H.G. Cheers, Larry Knechtel Seattle, WA Larry cited a paperback book published in 1980 which might be on your shelfifyou've been involved in aviation for a couple of decades - "Closet Cases," written by Randy Mertens and published in 1980 by Pilot News Press of Kansas City. ~

December Mystery Plane

Our last Mystery Plane for this millennium comes to us from Charles Trask. It was taken years ago by George Goodhead, and looks just like something we all know, but it's not what you think it is!

Send your answers to: EAA, Vintage Airplane, PO Box 3086, 54903­ 3086. You answers need to be in no later than December 27, 1999 so they can be included in the February 2000 issue.

If you prefer, you can E-Mail your answer to vintage@eaa.org Be certain to include both your name and the address in the body of the copy and put "(Month) Mystery Plane" in the subject line.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

23

WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE RESTORING

by H.G. Frautschy

LUSCOMBE 8F DELUXE

Charlie Harris, Tulsa, OK has owned this polished aluminum and red Luscombe 8F Deluxe since 1986, when he acquired it from Fritz King. Fritz used to be the Foreman of of Luscombe production at the West Trenton, NJ plant. After a long restora足 tion, it flew in the spring of ' 94, with a zero-timed Continental 0-200. After flying, T.R. Boyd of Lake Jackson, TX took it in and did a detailed completion, including the accent paint, interior and engine compartment. Charlie says it is a pleasure to own and fly the Luscombe, which cruises at 118-120 mph lAS. This past June it won the Neo-Classic Light Grand Champion tro足 phy at the Texas AAA chapter fly-in in Gainesville, TX.

STINSON 108-3

Kerry Uhler of Howard, PA is a lot like many of the vintage airplane people we've met - very tenacious! Having owned this particular airplane for 24 years now, he wasn't about to let a little thing like a hangar fire ruin his fun.

First restored in '77-78, with the help of Jim and Erma Yates, it was the 1981 Outstanding Stinson award winner at EAA Oshkosh. After a hangar fire in 1992 at Bellefonte airport severe ly damaged the Stinson, Kerry had to scrap the wings, ailerons, flaps vertical fill and rudder. Thankfully, the heat didn't damage the fuselage structure, and with the help of his son, a rebuild was accomplished over the next six years. Now based at William T. Piper Memorial in Lock Haven, PA, Kerry also credits his son-in-law Conrad Ciccotello, a metallurgical engineer with help in evaluating the Stinson's structure after the fire.

24

DECEMBER 1999

FIRST PRODUCTION

SWIFT

Lou Leftwich, Winter Park, FL sent us these nice shots of his Globe Swift, NC33336, which was also once registered as NX33336 when it was the first Swift off the production line. Lou says he flies it at least once a week from its home field in Orlando.

That's Lou's wife, Arvella, pointing out the n-num足 ber on this very stock Classic airplane.

CUSTOM STEARMAN

Clark and Mary Dechant currently reside in Saudi Arabia, where Mary is a teacher in an American school, and Clark is the pilot for the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development. He flies a Maule for his work, but back here in the USA, they 've had the folks at Gordon AirCrafting working on their Stearman E75Nl. Between contracts this past summer, Clark and Mary took delivery of their custom airplane, which is powered by a 300 hp Lycoming. They had a wonderful time flying the airplane over the Rockies en route to the National Stearman Fly-In in Galesburg, IL. (That's what the red ribbon on the left interplane strut signifies.) At Galesburg they received a "Brush and Canvas" award and the longest cross-country for their flight from Vancouver, WA. Now in storage in Florida, Nll77 awaits the return of the Dechants from their contract work overseas. After such a wonder足 ful summer with their Stearman, we'd bet they' re pretty anxious to get home!

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

25

R.T. Weedon....................................

Frank Insley ................. Bowie, MD

J. M. Wallace ........... ...Tacoma, WA

........ Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

John C. Harris .... South Bristol, ME

Michael Miller.. .......... Sobieski, WI

Hans Kuttner .... Sesslach, Germany

Jeffrey W. Blanzy .... Watervliet, MI

Rudolph B. Olson ............ ..... ......... .

Tom Cole.... .....................................

Kenneth Christensen Rochester, MI

........... ..... ............... Kansasville, WI

... ........ Beds England, Great Britain

David L. Andersen ..New Ulm, MN

Derek Doyle ........... Dublin, Ireland

Todd Matthies ....... East Bethal, MN

Russell Erickson ...... Humnoke, AR

Timothy J. Miller ........................... .

Richard Alvarez .......Riverside, CA

.............................. Hutchinson, MN

Russell S. Couey ....... Murrieta, CA

Odus J. Sharpe, Jr........................... .

Morris C. Davis ........ Riverside, CA

.. .......................... Rolling Fork, MS

Greg Dodkin ........ Los Angeles, CA

James Wheaton ..... ......... Tryon, NC

Raymond Page ..Lake Elsinore, CA

Remington Ottum .......... Fargo, ND

Michael Rutledge ..... Coronado, CA

Jerry Yochelson .......... Cranbury, NJ

Walt E. SnyderNewport Beach, CA

1. J. Josephson ......... New York, NY

Donald H. Fuester. ....... Arvada, CO

Tom Polatink .... ..... Centereach, NY

Peter M. Lagerman .Longmont, CO

Allen G. Ratterree ..Bay Shore, NY

Tammy A. Piccola ... .......... ............ ..

Larry E. Denton ........... Athena, OR

................... Steamboat Springs, CO

Jon H. Falkner ........ Sharpsville, PA

Thomas Finch ... .......... Newark, DE

Thomas E. Luke ............ Seneca, SC

Harry Jones .............. .Seminole, FL

William M. Bohon ..McKinney, TX

Will D. Weatherbee ... ..Orlando, FL

W. Glynn Gamer ..Brownwood, TX

John White ................. Niceville, FL

Jay W. Prentice ......... Granbury, TX

Barry E. Davis ........ Carrollton, GA

Bruce C. Schmidt.. ................. ........ .

Duane Revennaugh .............. ...........

...................... Highland Village, TX

............................. Stockbridge, GA

Wes Taylor. .................... Dallas, TX

William J. Phillips, Jr.. ..... .. Hilo, HI

Lewis K. Whitlock .................... ..... .

Sheri Hom .............. Cedar Fails, IA

.............................. Martinsville,VA

Michael Jones ............... .Roscoe, IL

Bohdan Lawruk ......... Richford, VT

Stephen F. Koemer.. ..Kankakee, IL

Jim Armstrong ...... ..... Spokane, WA

Keith L. Welsh ............ Marshall, IL

Greg A. Gamer ............ Renton, WA

26

DECEMBER 1999

VINTAGE

TRADER

Something to buy, sell or trade?

An inexpensive ad in the Vintage Trader may be just the answer to obtaining that elusive part.. 50¢ per word, $8.00 mini­ mum charge. Send your ad and payment to: Vintage Trader, EAA Aviation Center, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086, or fax your ad and your credit card num­ ber to 9201426-4828. Ads must be received by the 20th ofthe month for insertion in the issue the second month following (e.g., Oc­ tober 20th for the December issue.)

MISCELLANEOUS BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod bearings, main bearings, camshaft bearings, master rods, valves. Call us Toll Free 1/800/233-6934, e-mail ram­ remfg@aol.com Web site http://www. ramengine.com VINTAGE ENGINE MACHINE WORKS, N. 604 FREYA ST., SPOKANE, WA 99202 .

TAIL WHEEL CHECK-OUT available in a Classic 1941 J-3 Cub - dual or solor rental. Doskicz Aircraft Specialties, Bally, PA (610)845-2366

Wood Prop W76JR53 for 150 hp Stinson 108 w/spinner $1400. Also Comb. O.T.-O.P. gauge for Gullwing $75. Twin Tach and Gen. $75. A-65 Engine $1100. 405/256-5803 (3187)

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News Continued/rom page 1

Venture gathering.

Two-day courses are priced from $199 for the Introduction course to $279 for sheet metal. The one-day Aircraft Maintenance course is $1 49. Accommodations are also available at the beautiful new Air Academy Lodge, located next to the world-class EAA AirVenture Museum. The Lodge, opened in 1998, offers outstanding accommodations on the EAA grounds for aviation enthusi­ asts participating in the workshops.

Workshop participants may also pur­ chase tickets for a specia l dinner and program on Saturday evening, Jan. 22.

Registrations can be made or more in­ formation obtained by ca lling 800-967-5746 or by connecting to the fol­ lowing websites: Alexander SportAir (www. sportair.com) or EAA (www. eaa.org).

Alexander SportAir has been presenting these valuable workshops in conjunction with EAA since 1994. Aircraft Spruce and Specialty is also actively involved in the program, which is dedicated to educating individuals who are building aircraft, restor­ ing older aircraft or want to learn more about properly and safely maintaining their own airplane. ......

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE

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Membershi~ Services Directon'_ VINTAGE

AIRCRAFT Enjoy the many benefits ofBAA and the ASSOCIATION BAA Vintage Aircraft Association

~

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EAA and Division Membership Services 800-843-3612 ••••• • • •• • •• • FAX 920-426-6761 (8:00 AM -7:00 PM M onday- Frid ay CST ) • New/ renew member ships: EAA, Divisions (Vintage Aircraft Association, lAC. Warbirdsl, National Association of Flight Instructors (NAPI) • Address changes • M erchandise sales • Gift memberships

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EAA Aviation Center, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh WI 54903-3086

Membership in the Experimental Aircraft AsSOCiation, Inc. is $40 for one year, including 12 issues of SPORT AVIATION. Family membership is available for an addi­ tional $10 annually. Junior Membership (under 19 years of age) is available at $23 annually. All major credit cards accepted for membership. (Add $ 16 for

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Copyright 1999 by the EM Vintage Aircraft Association

All rights reserved.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE (ISSN 0091·6943) IPM 1482602 ~ published and owned exclusively by the EM Vintage Aircraft Association of the ExperimeolaJ Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EM Aviation Center. 3000

Poberezny Rd.. P.O. Box 3086. Oshkosh. Wisconsin 54903-3086. Period""ls Postage paid at Oshkosh. Wisconsin 54901 and at add~ionaJ mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to EM AnliqueiClassic Division. Inc..

P.O. Box 3086. Oshkosh. WI 54903·3086. FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES - Please allow alleast two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surtace 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: Readers are encooraged to Slbm~ stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in art~1es are solely tf10se of lhe authors. Responsit>lity for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the conlributor. No renumeratioo is made.Materiai should be sent 10: Ed~or. VINTAGE AIRPLANE. P.O. Box 3086. Oshkosh. WI 54903-3086. Phone 9201426-4800.

The words EM, ULTRALIGHT, FLY WITH THE FIRST TEAM, SPORT AVIATION. FOR THE LOVE OF FLYING and the logos of EM, EAA INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION. EM VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION, INTERNA­ TIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB. WARBIRDS OF AMERICA are ® registered trademarks. THE EAA SKY SHOPPE and logos of Ihe EM AVIATION FOUNDATION. EM ULTRALIGHT CONVENTION and EAA AirYenture are trade­ marks of the above associations and their use by any person other than the above association is strictly prohibited.

28 DECEMBER 1999

8'II$cott Spring Hill, FL

Firs' soloed ;RJfather's oircroh of age 16

"I first soloed in dad's aircraft at age 16 and I've been an EAA member since

AUA's Exclusive EAA Vintage Aircraft Assoc.

Insurance Program

1972. AUA has great personal service

approved.

and friendly professional staff and

Medical payments included

great rates."

To become a

- Bill Scott

Fleet discounfs for multiple aircraft carrying all risk coverages No han~ro ping exclusion

member of the

No age pen Ity No com pone t parts endorsements

Vintage Aircraft

Discounts for laim-free renewals carryin all risk coverages

Association call

800-843-3612

lower liabililY. and hull premiums

The best is affordable.

Give AUA a call - it's FREE!

Remember, We're Better Together'

800-727-3823 Fly with the pros.. .f/y with AUA Inc.

AVIATION UNLIMITED AGENCY

V00260 Airshow

V00261 Air Race

"'intag~

V00262 Airmail

ASSORTED VINTAGE T-SHIRTS

BLUE EMBOSSED DENIM JACKET

100% cotton tee featuring four different Vintage scenes.

S- 2X $12.95

Made of 100% cotton. Vintage logo embroidered on front with special embossed logo on back.

V00241 M-XL $65.99 V00244 2X $65.99

VINTAGE MAROON JACKET The perfect jacket for the outdoors! This 100% nylon jacket features the Vintage logo embroidered in front. Also, for added convenience this jacket can be folded and made into a carrying pouch!

V00126 S-XL $25.95 V00130 2X $25.99

VINTAGE NAVY JACKET Gear up for fall in this Acadia lined Jacket. Outer shell fea足

tures 100% waterproof nylon while the lining is a comfortable

cotton/poly blend.

VOOl18 M-X $35.95 V00131 2X $36.95

To Order Call: 1-800-843-3612

(Outside US and Canada920-426-4800)

DENIM SHORT-SLEEVED SHIRTS with Button-down collar by Three

Rivers. Features button-closure on pocket. Double stitching on sleeves

for durability. 100% cotton.

SM-XL V41263 $36.99*

2X V41267 $39.99*

DENIM LONG-SLEEVED SHIRTS with button-down collar.

Similar to above shirt but in long-sleeved design. The shirts feature

two-button adjustable cuffs. Available in light-blue denim or natural

colors.

Natural MD-XL V41268 $39.99* 2X V41271 $43.99*

Lt. Blue MD-XL V41272 $39.99* 2X V41276 $43.99*

BRUSHED COTTON TWILL KHAKi/NAVY PRO STYLE CAP

WASHED BULL DENIM CAP V00222 $12.95

V00227 $12.95

COTTON PIQUE GOU SHIRTS 100% combed cotton. Knit collar and cuffs.

Two-button placket. Drop-tail with side vents.

SM-XL V41294 $32.99* 2X White Khaki SM-XL V41299 $32.99* 2X Navy SM-XL V41289 $32.99* 2X

V41298 V41303 V41293

$34.99* $34.99* $34.99*

100% combed cotton. Knit collar and cuffs with beige trim.

Five-button placket. Drop tail with side vents.

Wine MD-XL V41281 $34.99* 2X V41284 Navy MD-XL V41285 $34.99* 2X V41288 Black MD-XL V41277 $34.99* 2X V41280

$37.99* $37.99* $37.99*

JACQUARD GOU SHIRTS

WASHED PIGMENTED DENIM CAP

COTTON TWILL KHAKI GOLF-STYLE CAP

VOO221 $12.95

V00223 $12.95

BARREL BAG Show off the Vintage colors proudly at the hangar with this gold/navy Vintage imprinted barrel bag!

V00237 $12.95

STUFFED BEARS These brown bears are an adorable accessory to any gift!

Dressed in a gold Vintage t-shirt these bears make a great flying companion.

V00238 Lt. Brown Bear $12.95 V00239 Dark Brown $12.95

LADIES SMALL FLOPPY HAT V00133 $19.95

Feature adjustable leather closure strap. One size fits most.

White V41260 $10.99* Khaki V41261 $10.99* Navy V41262 $10.99* CLUBHOUSE JACKETS

High quality jackets feature two-button adjustable cuffs, elastic waistband, inside coat hook loop, inside pocket with velcro closure and more! Contrasting color trim pieces and adjustable lanyard cord on collar make this jacket very distinctive. Shell and lining are both 100% nylon.

Natural/Navy Trim SM-XL V41250 $63.99* 2X V41254 $66.99* $66.99* Navy /Fst Grn Trim SM-XL V41250 $63.99* 2X V41254 WORLD CLASS NA VY SWEATSHIRT This solid navy blue World Class sweatshirt by Jerzees fea足

tures unique embossed Vintage logo on front. Cotton / Poly

Blend.

M-XL V00252 $27.95

2X V00255 $29.95

MEN' S TRl-MOTOR SPORT WATCH

V00219

$24.95 SMALL VINTAGE PIN

V00258

$3.99

LARGE VlNTAGE PIN

V40120 MEN' S METAL BAND WATCH

WHITE W/BLUE TWO-TONE MUG

V00234

V00215

VINTAGE PATCH

V00257

$28.95

$1.99

LEATHER BAND WATCH

$4.95

Men's Ladies' NYLON/POLY WINTER CAP WITH EARFLAPS

VOOl44

$11.99

V00218 $32.95

V00214

LADlES LARGE FLOPPY HAT

V00132 $23.95

$14.95

(not shown) RABBIT FUR WINTER HAT WITH SIDE FLAPS.

LEATHER EMBROIDERED CAP WITH EARFLAPS

V00137 $29.95

V00134 $32.95