VA-Vol-29-No-8-Aug-2001 by EAA Vintage Aircraft Association

The Magazine of the EAA~ VrN~TAGE AI. RC路 RA~T ' A SSO路CIIA1r'110N'

STRAIGHT AND LEVEUButchJoyce

VAA NEWS/ HG.Frautschy

REMINISCING WITH DUTCH! Dutch Redfield

AIRMAIL PILOT/ Win Goulden

WINDSOCKS YOU CAN BUILD/

RobertShogren, Jr., & H G. Frautschy 12 AIRCRAFT MARKINGS/ HG. Frautschy 14 CUSTOM WITH A FLAIR! HG. Frautschy 19 A TALE OF TWO CLiPPERS/ Build Davisson 23 MYSTERY PLANE! HG. Frautschy 24 PASS IT TO BUCK! Buck Hilbert 26 NEW MEMBERS 28 CALENDAR 30 CLASSIFIEDS

www.vintageaircraft.org

Publisher

TOM POBEREZNY

Editor-in-Chief

scon SPANGLER

Executive Director, Editor

HENRY G. FRAUTSCHY

VAA Administrati ve Assistallf

THERESA BOOKS

Executive Editor

MIKE DIFRISCO

Contributing Editors

JOHN UNDERWOOD BUDD DAVISSON

Art/Ph oto Layolll

BETH BLANCK

Advertising Sales Coordinator

PATTY STEINIKE

Photography Staff

JIM KOEPNICK LEEANN ABRAMS

A dvertising/Editorial Assistant

ISABELLE WISKE

SEE PAGE 31 FOR FURTHER VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION INFORMATIO N

STRAI G HT & L EVEL

by ESPIE "BUTCH" JOYCE PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Fly-In Notes I am writing this "Straight & Level" less than 10 days before I depart for Oshkosh and EAA AirVenture 2001. Some of you will be reading this as you attend the con vention. Welcome to our ranks! I hope you'll find your stay enjoyable. If there's anything we can do to enhance your experience, be sure to stop by the Vintage Red Barn and let us know. Most of you will be reading this after you return home and AirVenture 2001 is history. We'll be sure to give you plenty of highlights here in the pages of Vintage Air plane in the coming months. It is quite easy to tell that it is getting closer; most of my days are now spent dealing with different factors re lating to the operation of the vintage area of the convention grounds. While filling out the chairman list that I submit to the convention office each year, I no ticed that my years of service as a volunteer now number 27. It made me think back to the number of trips that I have made to Oshkosh. I have traveled by almost all means of transportation. I have driven the trip often, sometimes alone and on other occasions with six people in the car. I have flown the trip occasionally by airline, but most often I've flown my own airplane or been someone else's co-pilot. As for lodging, I have camped in a pup tent, stayed in the back of my pickup camper shell, bunked at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh dorms, and for a number of years stayed at several different mo tels. I'm back to "camping" now that we bring an RV. I really find staying at the campgrounds to be the most enjoyable, by far. When I once again have a vintage airplane to show

off, I will be flying to the show. Four to five hours of fly ing time sure beats 21 hours of driving! However the trip has been made, it has always been fun. As most of you are aware, the opening day for EAA AirVenture 2001 has been moved forward one day. We're all curious to see how this works out since a number of events will have to be shifted a day or two on the schedule. In next month's column, !'lIlet you know how it went. There may be a need to further adjust the schedule or timing of some of these activities. If you have any suggestions that you feel would benefit your Vintage Aircraft Association, please contact me at any time. In an unfortunate series of coincidences, a number of major fly-in events have been cancelled. Each cancell a tion was due to some sort of issue with the venue for each fly-in, and each of the organizers plan to be back with us next year. First was the Copperstate Fly-In, dropped for this year while they work to find a more suitable location. Then the National Biplane Fly- In was cancelled this year because of construction delays at the Bartlesville, Oklahoma, airport. And the news is just out that the Golden West Fly-In has been cancelled until they can find another suitable location . The Vintage Aircraft Association has been moving to a stronger committee structure to deal with the different matters that the officers and directors review at each board meeting. I'll have a list of these committees and each committee chairmen next month. As members you'll be invited to give your input to the appropriate committee chairman. Let's all pu ll in the same direction for the good of aviation. Remember, we are better to gether. Join us and have it all. .... VINTAGE AIRPLANE

VAA NEWS

compiled by H.G. Frautschy

COVERS

FRONT COVER: Marty Lochman wanted a nice custom airplane, and he spent 11 years making certain his Cessna 140 was just what he was looking for in a restoration project. He and his wife, Sharon, took home the Custom Grand Champion Classic award from Sun 'n Fun 2001 . EM photo by Jim Koepnick, shot with a Canon EOS1 n equipped with an 80 200 mm lens on 100 ASA Fuji slide film . EM Cessna 210 photo plane flown by Bruce Moore. BACK COVER: Morning Rush Hour, Americus Georgia 1941 is the title of Paul Eckl ey's acrylic on Masonite painting. Here's what Paul wrote: "In April of 1941 I was an aviation cadet in the United States Army Air Corps. I had been sent to primary flying school at Americus, Georgia. I had always wanted to do a painting that would show the early morning scramble of the cadets and their instructors in their Stearman PT-17 aircraft. The field had a surface of red Georgia clay. When dry it pro duced enormous amounts of red dust, and when wet it was slippery and extremely gooey. " Paul's art career parallels the time he served in the military and his subsequent civilian career. Six months after graduating from the Pratt Institute, an art school in Brooklyn, New York, he enlisted in the aviation cadets, and he graduated from flying school five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was soon the co-pilot on a B-17 winging its way from McDill Field in Tampa to Java in the South Pacific. He eventually wound up as a member of the 19th New Bomb Group flying from Australia and New Guinea. After serving as a command pilot and lieutenant colonel in the Air Force for 24 years (including a stint as the director of graphic arts at the Pentagon), he worked as an office manager at the Communications Satellite Corporation (COM SAT). Retiring to Florida, he has continued to paint and has had paintings exhibited at the Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola and the EM AirVenture Museum. Paul's a member of the American Society of Aviation Artists (ASAA), and you can view his artwork at www.eckleyaviationart.com. For more infor mation , you can send him e-mail at theartist@eckleyaviationart.com. or regular mail at 2695 Augusta Drive, N., Clearwater, FL 33761 . 2

AUGUST 2001

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST VAA CHAPTER Congratulatio ns to our n ew est VAA Chapter, Chapter 36 based in Troy, Ohio. Richard Amrhein i s their first president, and you can call him at 93 7/ 335-1444 for information. They m eet every second M onday o f the month at the Waco Field hangar. M eetings start at about 8 p.m. TARVER (AEROMATIC) PROPS Th e latest information w e have on Tarver props shows some m ove m ent on their statu s as an FAA approved facility . Tarver i s n ow ap proved as an FAA certificated repair stati o n for A eromatic pr o p ell er s. They hold the type certificate for the Aeromatic and i ssued the recent ser vice bulletin regarding inspection of th e propeller blad es. Whil e an air w orthiness directive (AD) wa s not issued against th e Aeromatic, co m pliance with the bulletin is strongly encouraged. You can get a co py of th e service bull etin at www .aero

mane.eom. You ca n al so e-mail Kent Tarve r at kent@ph on ewave. n et. If you must call, please do so between 7 and 9 a.m . or b et w een 7 and 9 p.m. at 77 5/ 423-0378. Th e fact that an AD was n o t i s sued against th e Tarver prop i s an excellent example of cooperation be tw ee n the FA A, EAA, and T y p e Clubs, as comments concerning the actual extent of th e problem w ere gath ered using the Airworthines s Con ce rn Sh eet proc ess. Onc e th e FAA w as satisfi ed that the i ssue was being given the correct level of at tentio n using the service bull etin , they determined an AD wasn't w ar rant ed . Thank s t o all wh o participated in th e process, w hich continu es to ben efit both the FAA and recreational aviation. BIPLANE EXPO/TULSA REGIONAL FLY-IN CANCELED Th e spon soring organization s of the 15th Annual Biplane Expo and 45th Annual Tulsa Regional Fly-In

Registration markings on vintage airplanes can often be the source of confusion. Here's an unusual case. It's the prototype of the stick-controlled version of the prewar Aeronca Chief. Densil Williams decided to restore the airplane as it appeared just after its completion, when it was being flown with an experimental airworthiness certificate. The "X" can be included in the color scheme even if the airplane is currently registered with a standard airworthiness certificate. Densil also chose to use the large 24-inch numbers on the wings since they were part of the markings when the Chief was built. For more on how you're allowed to mark your restoration, see "Vintage Markings, " starting on page 12.

announced the cancellation of the combined aviation event, which was scheduled for September 21-22 at Frank Phillips Field, Bartlesville, Ok lahoma. A major taxiway construction pro ject, which has been ongoing since late September 2000, has experi enced extensive weather-related delays through the fall and winter of 2000 and spring of 2001, said Chair man Charles W. Harris. The uncertainties and unpredictability of a completion date and related access to the airport taxiway, ramps, and general field parking areas necessi tated the decision to cancel for September 200l. The two events, both among the largest sport aviation gatherings in the United States, plan to reschedule in Bartlesville in 2002 on their tradi tional dates based on acceptable fie ld conditions. For more information, call Harris at 918/622-8400.

shou ld be covered so it is relatively free of wrinkles, and does not droop excessively between rib bays or steel tube structures. If you're not sure how tight is tight enough, the Air craft Fabric Covering video (PLU Fl1636) from the EAA SportAir work shop, available from EAA's Membership Services department, is a great place to get smart. Call them at 800/342-3612. The tape retails for $39.95 plus shipping.

MORE ON LOOSE COVERING We just got a call from Butch Walsh, who has restored many Stin sons to showplane condition. He wanted us to correct something writ ten by Dip Davis in last month's magazine. Butch asked that we point out that Stinson did indeed attach the fabric to the top of the fuselage by mechanical means. They originally used 40 screws to attach the fabric to the formers and stringers. He also confirmed that as Dip Davis correctly pOinted out, they did not cover the top of the fuel tanks, but ran a strip of fabric tape around the perimeter to seal the gap between the fuel tanks and the wing structure. Not attaching the fabric to the top of the cabin will cause the fabric to chafe, especially if the fabric is in stalled too loosely. It wou ldn 't take much wear for the fabric to come loose from the top of the cabin. When shrunk using the proper iron settings, Dacron fabric will shrink ten percent. If the fabric is in stalled too loosely to start with, no amount of heat shrinkage will prop erly shrink it over the structure. It

Led by Ken Hyde of The Wright Experience, the Discovery of Flight Foundation is undertaking an ex tensive and careful examination of the third Wright engine ever built. On loan from the Engineers Club of Dayton, where it has been on dis play for more than 50 years, the third engine was often referred to by Orville Wright as the "guinea pig." When the examination is com

e-HOT LINE LAUNCHED EAA recently launched e-Hot Line, a new weekly e-mail newsletter for EAA members, its divisions, and affil iates. Delivered weekly to subscribers on Friday afternoon, e-Hot Line pro vides brief reports of current EAA

news, including sport pilot updates, upcoming EAA Chapter events, gen eral and recreational aviation news, and a question of the week. Hyper links connect you to more complete information on EAA's website as well as other sites. e-Hot Line is available in both HTML and plain text for mats. To subscribe to e-Hot Line, log on to the EAA website at www.eaa.org. Click on the "Members Only" button along the left side of the page. Enter your last name and EAA number to enter the site. Click on the e-Hot Line logo, then complete the online regis tration form. Be sure to select the version you wish to receive, then click "Subscribe." An e-mail will be immediately sent to you confirming your subscription to e-Hot Line . ....

WRIGHT EXPERIENCE EXAMINES ORIGINAL WRIGHT ENGINE NO.3 plete after six months, a full set of digital images and blueprints will il lustrate how the Wrights and Charlie Taylor built their early en gines. For more information, visit www.wrightexperience.com. For more information on the Engineers Club of Dayton, of which Orville Wright was a charter member when it opened its doors in 1918, visit

www.engineersclubdayton.org.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

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by Dutch Redfield Over the past couple of years we've received a number of comments from members who enjoyed the series of articles written by Dutch Redfield. He was kind enough to send along a few more anecdotes from his experiences during the golden age of aviation. -H.G. Frautschy An American Airways Curtiss Con dor, en route from Cleve land to Newark, landed at Syracuse in a gath ering eveni n g snowstorm. T h e airplane loomed out of the steadi ly increasing snow above the two large floodlights on th e fi eld 's edge that lighted the landing path on the now snow-covered field. The Condor's landing lights were also on as th e plane touched down and taxied to the floodlighted ramp in front of the airport's tin y administration building. The Condor was a large twin-en gine biplane with Wright Cyclone engi n es mounted close inboard on each lower wing. The fabric-covered wings and fuselage were finished in magnificently shiny American Air ways' colors, dark blue fuselage and bright red wings. There were no de icers on the wings' leading edges or tail. As the plane's engines clanked to a stop, I was on the gas truck to help Tex Perrin fue l the plane. With lad 4 AUGUST

2001

der in place, Tex climbed to the wing, and th en I passed up the large filter funn el and the heavy hose and climbed up beside Tex in the blow ing snow. Once the wing tanks were fi lled, Tex pulled the fuel truck away. I stepped into the sma ll dispatch of fice to soak up some heat and get out of the whistling wind. Ernie Dryer, the pilot, who was in a heavy overcoat and American Air ways cap, stood at the station manager's desk, conversing on the phone with the airline's flight con trol center in Newark. He explained the flight cond iti ons and recom mended canceling the trip at Syracuse and then originating a west bound flight the next day with the same airplane and crew. I didn't hear the other side of the conversation, but short ly the phone was crashed into its cradle, and Dryer stomped out of the door. He, followed by his co-p il ot, trudged through the deep eni n g snow and climbed back aboa rd . It was a lousy night for fly

ing as the Condor lifted off and banked eastward. The slanting wet snow was very apparent in the beams of the plane's lights. I had a feeling of apprehension. I wished Ernie well as I climbed into my car and headed for home. The next morning's radio news re ported the airp lane overdue, never having reached its next scheduled stop at Albany. In late morning, search flights were organized, and on a now clear, co ld winter's day, as an observer, I accompanied Francis Loomis and Jim Heffernan in Loomis' Stinson Detroiter. We re mained airborne for several hours, with all eyes outside, as we criss crossed the Condor's route across the lower Adirondack Mountains. Many aircraft from Syracuse, Utica, and Albany also searched. Two days later the Condor still had not been located. Then, in late afternoon a plane from Utica saw a spot of red. The Condor had crashed in heavy woods. All passengers and crew sur

vived, thanks to the slow speed of the airplane. Precipitation snow static imping ing on the plane's long antennas made useless the low-frequency ra dios then being used for en route navigation. But worse than that, the Condor's wings had iced up in the wet snow, distorting airflows and di minishing lift to the point that only descending flight could maintain control. In the dark of night, in the dimly illuminated cockpit, Ernie had no way of determining where he was coming down and whether he wanted to or not. Today, perhaps it was then, the captain's decision regarding the safe operation of a flight is, and should be, final. The chief pilot may later question it, but it should not be overruled. ****************

Around two o'clock on a busy Sun day afternoon of a rare three-day Fourth of July weekend, we were of floading and reloading between flights when a man with a large cam era case and photographic gear stepped alongside the rolled-down pilot's window of the Waco cabin. He said that he was a photographer for Life magazine and that it was im perative he charter the airplane so he could fly down the river and photo graph the St. Lawrence Seaway, then

under construction. My passengers were already aboard. Bill was pushing us away from the dock, waiting for me to start the Jacobs. I yelled to the man from Life that I was sorry; we were too busy to shut down operations for a 30- or 40-minute flight down the river on a busy weekend like this. But he was still there when we re turned to the dock for another load. He pleaded that his editor had given him a deadline that simply had to be met and asked how much the flight would cost. I again told him that I could not leave a line of waiting pas sengers that had already paid for their ride. When we returned for the next flight he was still there, and this time he told me that price was no object; he just had to get these pictures. I told him $150. He shouted, "Fine! Let's go!" and loaded his camera gear while Bill and I poured some tins of fuel aboard. We took off, turned east, and were soon banking this way and that as we flew down the river so he could get his photographs. In a short while he was satisfied, and we were back at our dock and again hard at work. At the completion of another flight I was surprised to see him alongside the cabin window again. He was humble and chagrined. He had

failed to remove the lens cover from his camera. We would have to go back and do it again. "Okay, an other $150!" Because of the time of day in volved, there was a problem on the second expedition down the river. For the photographer to meet his deadline, he'd have to catch a train out of Massena, not far from the east ern end of the flight. Could I possibly fly him there? The only landing place at Massena was a narrow sluiceway that supplied a dam for the wartime Alcoa aluminum plant. We touched down in the sluice way with the bow into a fast-mOVing current, an experience new to me. I couldn't shut down the Jacobs to of fload my passenger, but I was able to crab sideways to a position alongside the steeply sloped bank, holding the plane there with the running engine so he could jump ashore. Bill passed the photographer's film and equipment to him and then slid back into the seat next to me. I opened the throttle. The floats were quickly planing in the strong cur rent. We were airborne in the Waco's shortest run ever, as uniformed hos tile guards ran to the scene with rifles and drawn pistols. How this was ex plained I never found out. Counting up the day's take that night was es pecially pleasant. ~ VINTAGE AIRPLANE

weslev Smith,

Falling in love with aviation during the airmail pioneer days bV Win Goulden Artwork by Edward Shenton, from his book "Couriers of t he Clouds," published in 1930-37 b y Macrae-smith Company

he mechanic advanced the throttle_ Oil spray encircled the open cylinder heads, was flung headlong over the fuselage, and flashed past the massive dorsal fin. The de Havilland pulsed with life, poised on tiptoe, struggling to rise from the chocks as the mechanic fed the coal to it, then lapsed into a shudder when he throttled back. I was 10 years old, and I was standing at a point in time, a marker in my life that had been designated for me. I was standing on the tarmac of Hadley Field, it was 1927 in Plainfield, New Jersey, and I was in love. I was in love with aviation, and more specifically, I was in love with airmail pilots. These youthful heroes of my childhood, with their Army-style brush haircuts, their fur-lined boots and flying suits, their weathered leather helmets, and huge moon-like goggles nightly took the mail out of Hadley Field to Cleveland. They navigated

6 AUGUST

2001

their de Havilland biplanes over the Allegheny Mountains, relying on luck and a line of primitive beacons lodged on evil saw-toothed ridges to guide them to the general vicinity of that city. My first contact with an airmail pilot came when my brother brought me to the home of Wesley Smith. Wes stood 6 feet 4 and hit the marker at a solid 225. His hair was blue-black, and he wore a thick, bristly moustache to complement what was on top . He had the word "PILOT" emblazoned on his forehead, or so it seemed to me. "So you're Winnie!" he rasped . "Well, contact!" And he swept me up over his head, turned me upside down for an instant, and then grounded me safely at his feet . "There! You've just soloed. Howdja like that?" He need not have asked. I was enthralled, and from that moment on I was also in love with Wesley Smith.

It was a strange and lasting relationship, strange because of the difference in our ages, yet lasting because of our mutual love for aviation, he as a performer and I as a favored page. I sit here now, and I thread the projector of my memory and rerun the film once again. It is December 1930, and the temperature holds at 30 degrees . I am with my brother at Wes' home in New Brunswick, New Jersey, once more. We are picking Wes up and driving him to Hadley Field . He has drawn the Cleveland night run. We struggle into my brother's Nash, and the ride from New Brunswick to Plainfield is less than comfortable for me until Wes murmurs an expletive under his breath and hoists me to his lap. I look up at him, and I am directly under the classiC overhang of his moustache. I can hear his voice resonate in his chest cavity as he booms his conversation

to my brother at the wheel. Hadley lies out there in the black, a few feeble smudgy flares outlin ing its boundaries. There isn't much here for one to see in daytime; a few terrified tin hangars crouched in a corner of a rolling meadow, a couple of cannibalized fuselages. But at night there is only a sickly beacon that pOints a tremulous fin ger into the darkness as it rotates the full 360 degrees. We pull up in front of one of the sliding panels. Wes jumps out and pounds on the tin sheathing. In the winter stillness the noise is shatter ing. "Axel!" he shouts. "Come on! Come on!" Slowly the doors slide apart, and the most beautiful sight in the world stands before us. "Wow!" says my brother. I cannot speak. Four brand-new Douglas biplanes stand in a chorus line, wingtip to wingtip, their silver wings and Navy blue fuselages shimmering, their bur nished wood propellers in contrasting hue, their massive water-cooled en gines with their protruding exhaust stacks grimacing at us. Far to the rear, relegated to the outer shadows, we see two old de Havilland Fives observing the scene jealously. "Brand new!" Wes chortles. "Brand damned new, and I'm taking the first one out tonight!"

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We assemble in the pilot's ready room with its six lockers, each with a pilot's name taped to the door. I look at the names ... Smith, Chandler, Hill, Ames .... Ames? "But I thought Ames got killed ... " "Shut up!" my brother says sav agely, and then he is instantly sorry. My eyes fill with tears. Wes puts a paw around me, and I am the center of their concern. "Yes, Winfield," he says with great gentleness, "Ames was killed on this run." He looks at my brother and shrugs. A look passes between them. "But how?" "He ran into a mountain over Bellefon te." There is a silence. No one feels comfortable. Then there is a ripping sound as Axel tears Ames' name off the locker door. Wes strips to his boxer shorts. He pulls on a blue-veined set of long johns. Then he pulls on a pair of thick-ribbed hockey socks, which he rolls down just below the knee. Over this goes a pair of olive drab Army trousers. He tucks in a woolen Army shirt and finally covers all of this with fur-lined coveralls, which sport a massive fleece collar. He sweeps his helmet and goggles from the shelf and, with much growling, pulls them on. Now we wait. Outside, the mechanics have

wheeled the Douglas onto the tarmac in front of the hangar. Huge wooden chocks are placed in front of each massive solid rubber tire. One me chanic mounts the toe steps to the cockpit and settles in, his greasy for age cap looking somehow out of place even for a knight's squire. Now from offstage comes a dinky little mail truck, chuffing along in ridiculous contrast to the mastodon crouched above it. A hastily lettered sign proclaims U.S. MAIL, and we see now that it is a converted deliv ery truck with the fish market's identity crudely obscured by the hasty paint job. My attention is suddenly di verted as I see six mechanics form a line, hand in hand, to the left of the propeller: "Off and closed!" one shouts. "Off and closed!" comes a muffled shout from the cockpit. "Contact!" "Contact!" Then, still hand in hand, all six on signal break into a dead run. Each flashes by the propeller except for the last man. He grabs the prop blade, and his tug, coupled with the weight and momentum of the others, drags the blade in a clockwise whirl. There is a second's pause, then a sharp bang. Smoke belches from the ex haust stacks, and the engine blasts. You can't hear us, but we are all

-continued on page 27 VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Two very different approaches to telling which way the wind blows

you can build Windsocks are the ultimate in simple flight instruments. Even though they're at the top of a post somewhere on the airport, I consider the sock to be one of my most often referred to instruments. Even when it's reduced to rags flapping lazily in the breeze, the tattered remains still tell me some足 thing important. Here are two different approaches to building a windsock frame, one requiring no machine tools at all, and the other an exercise in lathe use and welding skill. Whichever type you prefer, pay attention to what it tells you as it points crosswise to your runway-it could save you from an embarrassing explanation as you avoid landing downwind! - H.G. Frautschy GREAT IDEA FOR A W INDSOCK By Robelt Shogren Sr. I wanted a windsock in the hopes that I might be able to fly out of a field across the street, but the ones available for sale cost $ 70 or more. You've no doubt seen those S-gallon plastic pails that contain everything from pickles to plaster. Out in the garage I had a spare pail, and looking at it I thought, "If the bottom were cut out, it would look sort of like a windsock." After I removed the han足 dle, I got out my saber saw and cut off the bottom. (See the drawing.) It was too heavy to turn easily, so I cut it down so it was 9 inches from the mouth of the frame to the rear. Then 8 AUGUST 2001

I marked it so I could cut out four equal sections from the sides and leave four 2-inch sections or ribs on the sides, each connected to a I-inch ring around the bottom. That gave me a frame 12 inches in diameter at the mouth and 10-1/2 inches at the back. As originally made, to reinforce the area where the bail attaches to the pail there are two layers of plas足 tic. I drilled a 3/8-inch hole through both sides and put in a 20-inch threaded rod, with two I-inch brass sleeves located at the turning points where the bail used to be. These bushings, or sleeves, are held in posi足 tion with a nut at the top and bottom

@-N",

- Plastic Washer

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Peen end of rod after 1" Brass Sleeve__--.top nut is loosely installed.

5 Gallon Plastic Pail

Plastic Washers (Typical)

9" Overall

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Washers (Typical)

Note: Plastic Washers can be made from pail scraps.

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and four plastic washers at the top and bottom. I used several small round pieces of the sides I cut out earlier. (I suggest a minimum of two or three washers at the top and bot tom so it will turn smoothly.) Now you get to practice your sewing skills. Purchase a lightweight piece of nylon in red or orange big enough for a section 48 inches long and 38 inches wide. Sew the sock with a 12-inch diameter opening on the front and a 9-1/2-inch opening at the rear. Attach the sock to the rim of the frame in any way you like. Now that you've finished your sock, take it outside and hold it up in the breeze; neat eh? You can use anything for a pole a piece of conduit and some hose clamps will work. For mine I used an 8-foot piece of PVC pipe, 1-1/2 inch diameter, and two hose clamps to se cure the threaded rod to the pol e. Then you can set it in the lawn. A piece of pipe that will slide onto the outside of the pole can be placed in a hole in the ground-the pole then can be eas ily removed . Once up, it worked just like one of the store- . bought expensive models. For a more permanent mounting, drive a steel fence post in the ground and use two more hose clamps to attach the pole to it.

EAA's Chuck Lars en welded his windsock pole to a large diameter steel wagon wheel, so he can easily move it when his airstrip needs mowing. BAUKEN NOACK'S EAA WINDSOCK

48" Finished Length

By H.G. Frautschy

1" Hem, 10" Diameter

12" Diameter

Nylon Windsock

1" Hem , with drawstring

Robert Shogren's project is a great hardware-store and garage-scroung ing project. No doubt many of you will come up with slightly different methods to modify the S-gallon pail. Windsocks are built in a special way, particularly the frame. Why is there a bail behind the frame? Why not mak e it like a fish or butterfly net? By putting a shallow bail behind the frame, the windsock is already open to catch the breeze, and as long

to attach to frame

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

as the frame can pivot freely, the windsock will react to wind direc tion changes more quickly than one with a simple hoop to hold the windsock. It also minimizes the likelihood the windsock will foul it self on the frame. At EAA headquarters, we're blessed with one of the most tal ented machinists I've ever known, Bauken Noack. Bauken has con structed a number of windsocks for use on the EAA grounds, and he consented to building us a new one for the VAA Red Barn. His windsock frame is con structed of steel (with an aluminum cap) and uses a pair of sealed ball bearings. The slightest whisper of a breeze causes it to weather vane into the wind. Here's how Bauken built our windsock. We'll let the pictures tell the tale. (Right) Let's start with the bail and hoop for the windsock frame. This happens to be an 18-inch diameter frame, but this method would work for any frame size you choose. If you choose to use a commercially avail able windsock, be sure to have it on hand before you start building the frame. A steel tube hoop with an outside diameter of 18 inches was bent using a set of forming blocks on a hand-operated rotary tool. The same tool was used to form the curved ends of the bail, which simply overlap one anoth er at the apex 16 inches inside the windsock.

(Left) A pair of crosspieces of the same tubing are used across the center of the hoop frame. The center is cut away so the frame support, made of a 5-inch long piece of 1-114-inch steel tube, can be weld ed in place. Make certain the support is perpendicular to the frame, or the frame may not rotate freely. A 3-1I2-inch long vertical support tube car ries the pair of sealed ball bearings. Both bearings are installed with a slight press fit. Bauken chose to machine the inside of the tube so that each bearing was pressed into the tube until they contacted a shoul der. The top bearing is installed flush with the top of the tube, and the bottom is recessed 1/4 inch from the bottom, pro tecting it from the weather. The tube is welded to the center of the support tube. Before welding, drill a small hole in the center of the vertical tube to relieve air pressure for when you weld a cap on the opposite end of the frame support. 10 AUGUST

2001

The axle for the bearings also serves as the fit ting for the unit's installation on a section of pipe. Machined from a piece of 7/8-diameter steel bar stock, the upper section is sized to fit the inside diameter of the bearings (in this case 0.657 inch) and is drilled and tapped at the top with 1/4-20 threads. In this case, the unpainted portion of the axle is 3-1/4 inches long. From the shoulder to the 7-1/2-by-1-1I2-inch handle (much handier than using a pipe wrench!) is 3 inches, and a 1-inch pipe thread fitting is weld ed to the bQttom of the axle. The cap at the top is machined from aluminum bar stock, with a hole drilled in the center to accept a 1/4-20 stainless steel bolt. Bauken also machined a slight recess in the inner portion of the hole so an O-ring could be slipped over the bolt after it passed through the cap. The 0 ring keeps water from running down the bolt threads and corroding the steel axle. A lock washer was used under the head of the bolt. We added one thin stainless steel washer on the top of the axle after we found the cap binding slightly with the edge of the vertical support tube.

Here it is completely assembled. Karen Lamb sewed our new windsock from bright red nylon . An 18-inch diameter windsock has a finished length of 70 inches. To make it easy for the sock to be removed and installed, Karen sewed hook and loop fasteners to the inner seams. To do that, she added 2-1/2 inches to the regular 2 inch seam. Karen prefers to make her windsocks using three panels sewn together. Each panel is 20 inches wide, tapering to 10 inches. With 3/4 inch seams on the long axis, a 2-1/2-inch hem is used on each end. The entire piece uses 1/4-inch wide zigzag stitching . When fin ished, the small end of the sock has an 8-inch diameter, while the 18-inch diameter end has a circumference of 58 inches.

•

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

Vintage Aircraft Markings

by H.G. Frautschy Ou're in the homestretch in your restoration project, really making headway and about to finish the painting, when you realize you haven't decided how you're go ing to layout the registration numbers. How big do they need to be? Where do they go? What do the regulations say? You'd have to look at "Subpart C-Nationality and Reg istration Marks" under "45.22 Exhibition, antique, and other air craft: Special rules" for the details . For the part that concerns most of us, it reads:

1I(b) A small U.S.-registered aircraft built at least 30 years ago or a U.S.- reg istered aircraft for which an experimental certificate has been issued under Sec. 21.191(d) or 21.191(g) for operation as an exhibition aircraft or as an amateur-built aircraft and which has the same external configuration as an aircraft built at least 30 years ago may be operated without displaying marks in accordance with Secs. 45.21 and 45.23 through 45.33 if: 11(1) It dis plays in accordance with Sec. 45.21 (c) marks at least 2 inches high 011 each side of the {uselage or vertical tail sur face consisting of the Roman capital letter If Nil followed by: l'The U.S. registration number of the aircraft; or (ii) The symbol appropriate to the airworthiness certificate of the aircraft ("C II, standard; IIRIII restricted; IILI'I limited; or IIX II, experimental) fol lowed by the U.S. registration number of the aircraft; and (2) It displays no other mark that begins with the letter IINII anywhere on the aircraft, unless it is the same mark that is display ed under paragraph (b)(1) of this section. II It goes on to explain what is needed if you wish to fly your 30 year-old or older airplane in an ADIZ or DEWlZ, as well as in a foreign country So What Does All This Mean? 12 AUGUST

2001

Quite simply, it allows you to put the same type of markings on your freshly restored antiq ue, classic, or contemporary aircraft that were in stalled by the factory, without having to deface or screw up an oth erwise beautiful paint scheme. It also means that you can build a replica of any of these aircraft and mark them as the manufacturers did when they were built, with some small excep tions (letters at least 2 inches high-remember, the 2-inch dimen sion is a minimum, not the only size you can make the letters). Now none of this is recent news. We've had this agreement via the regulations for more than two decades. EAA founder and Chairman of the Board Paul Poberezny kept working on this is sue for 12 years with the FAA, and the Antique Airplane Association was making its opinion known to the FAA as well. Still, even after all these years, we routinely receive calls stating, "My local FAA inspector says I have to have 12-inch numbers. Here's the straight skinny on that-you need 12-inch numbers ONLY if you plan to fly through an ADIZ or DEWlZ, as well as in a foreign country. Even then, you can mark your aircraft with temporary 12-inch registration markings if you're planning on mak ing that international trip or if you plan on transiting coastal airspace. Adhesive tape that will not blow off is all that is required for your tempo rary markings. For a ircraft over 30 years of age, that 's t he only time 12-inch numbers are required. One other note . While you do have to put the registration marks on the fuselage or vertical tail sur face (usually on the rudder or vertical fin), you don't have to put the large wing numbers on. If your airplane was delivered with them, and you want to be authentic, you II

certainly will want to do it, but you don't have to as far as the FAA is concerned. Take a look at the photos included in this article for some explanation. One of the first things you may no tice is that many of the older antiques have registration markings that have more than the letter "Nil included. To make it easy for the lo cal inspector to approve, here 's an FAA memo, Number N8130.61, dated December 31, 1990, and penned by Dana D. Lakeman, who was the Acting Manager, Aircraft Manufacturing DiviSion, Aircraft Certification Service. It reads in part: "An antique aircraft or replica of an antique aircraft described in FAR 45.22(b) may display the symbols appropriate to the airworthiness cer tificate of the aircraft as part of the nationality and registration marks under the aircraft as part of the na tionality and registration marks under the regulation. The capital let ter "Nil followed by eit her a "C", (standard); "R", (restricted ); "L", (limited); or "X", (experimental) fol lowed by th e U.S. registration number of the aircraft. When th ese marks are included with the nation ality and registration marks they add to the authenticity of antique and amateur-built copies of antique air craft. However, if these symbols are added to the nationality and regis tration marks displayed on the aircraft, they do not become part of the

official aircraft registration numbers. II (Emphasis added.) This is exactly as spelled out previ ously in the regulations, but there has been some confusion about the issue. Most of it dealt with the fact that the official registration certifi cate issu e d by the FAA will not include the added mark, since it is not part of the official registration . This caused some heartburn with

Antiques certainly have some interesting markings. This is Doug Fuss' Laird Commercial biplane built in 1926. Doug had carefully documented the markings, including photos that showed h is exact air plane's registration numbers. The markings start with the letter "C," before the addition of the "N" was widespread. The "C" was assigned to all licensed commercial aircraft; the addition of the "N" would have denoted one engaged in foreign commerce. Later the "N" was required on all U.S. civil aircraft.

some inspectors, who had noted the difference between the airplane and the FAA airworthiness and registra tion certificates. The memo was intended to clarify this issue to the FAA inspectors in the field. All of this means that if your air plane was built more that 30 years ago, you can restore your airplane with the exact same markings that were applied by the manufacturer. Now you can get out there and start masking off your markings. You're almost done now! ..... Here's a close-up of the markings you can use on the vertical tail of your antique, classic or contemporary aircraft. These happen to be larger than the minimum required by the FAA, but that's simple to explain. That's the way they were done on the J-2 at the Piper factory! The 2-inch dimension called out in the regulations is a minimum, not an exact size. The "C" can be added to your number if it was originally included, even though it's not part of your current registration .

Twelve-inch numbers such as these are not

required unless you plan to fly through an

ADIZ or DEWIZ, as well as in a foreign coun

try. Even then, you can mark your aircraft

with temporary registration markings if

you're planning on making that internation

al trip or if you plan on transiting coastal

airspace. Adhesive tape that will not blow

off is all that is required for your temporary

markings. By the way, although the ICAO

standards call for 12-inch numbers, the

United States and Canada have a gentle

men's agreement that allows Canadian air

craft to enter the United States with 6-inch

letters and wing markings, while Canada

will allow U.S. aircraft at least 30 years old

to enter with 2-inch numbers. Even if you're

using a custom color scheme on your

restoration, you can use the markings

appropriate to when your airplane was built. In this Widgeon's case, a vertical stack of 2-inch letters and numbers on the rudder would be acceptable. Check with your type club for the type and size of the markings used on your aircraft when it was first built.

The Fokker Dr.1 replica from Cole Palen's Old Rhinebeck collection is able to use small N num

bers under the horizontal tail since it is a replica of an aircraft built more than 30 years ago

(and how!). In fact, the markings do not have to feature much contrast.

Antiques with markings like this are able to be marked as such under authorization of FAR

45.22 (b)(1}(i and ii). Since aircraft such as this are exempted from complying with FAR 45.21,

the registration can have ornamentation, and it can also have little contrast with the back

ground. VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

14 AUGUST

2001

Marty Lochman's experience as a military aviation technician pays offwhen he restores his own Cessna 140 by H.G. Frautschy

JIM KOEPNICK

t should come as no surprise that an aviation

professional restored this beautiful custom Cessna 140, but he's not one who does restorations for a living. This is his first civilian project like this! Marty Lochman serves the military in two ways. As an Air Force Reserve technician, he's been a crew chief on an F-16, and he also flies for the Air Force Reserve as an air refueling boom operator. Marty's a second-generation Air Force man; his late father, Eugene, served his nation as a jet engine mechanic and then later did similar work for American Airlines. While Eugene always intended to get both his pilot's and me足 chanic's certificates, the elder Lochman never accomplished those two feats, but his son carried on the dream, earning both. Born in 1956, Marty grew up during the Cold War and saw the Air Force's constantly evolving series of jet aircraft. When he started serving with the Air Force Reserve, the aircraft for which he was responsible were known for their impeccable mainte足 nance. He thought nothing of spending a little extra time polishing the tail hook so brightly you could shave with the edge and use its mirror finish to check on your progress! Being fastidious about his own restoration came naturally, given Marty's talent and training. He couldn't have started with much more of a challenge. After he learned to fly, he wanted to buy a Cessna 172, but one ride in a friend's Cessna 120 changed Marty's mind. Actually, it rekindled something he'd felt before. "As a kid I thought that flying was supposed to be like that, but I'd never experienced it in a nosewheel-equipped airplane," he recalled. During a long cross-country while working on his commercial and his instrument rating, he stopped in Conroe, Texas. There at Montgomery County Airport sat a tired 140, its tires flat, with blistered paint on the instrument panel and no headliner in the cabin. Writing down the N number, Marty looked it up in the FAA registry and fired off a "Do you want to sell?" letter to the owner. "No," was the curt reply. Charlie Williams, the Cessna's owner, pondered the question for four months and then wrote Marty a letter offering to sell it to him. Charlie even went to the trouble of getting a ferry perVINTAGE AIRPLANE

Circuit breakers replaced fuses, modern instruments replaced those that were worn out, and a wood overlay panel adorns the custom instrument panel. A pair of adjustable Cessna 150 seats were installed, and to neatly illuminate the instruments, a custom installa tion of fiber-optic lighting was performed (inset).

The overhead panel conceals a speaker behind the fabric and a rheostat to control the engine instrument lighting. To the far left is the switch to control the flight instru ment lighting, and on the far right is a fre quency flip/flop switch linked to the com munications radio and the intercom on/off switch.

mit since the airplane was out of an nual, but since Marty had no piloting experience in tailwheel air planes, he wisely chose not to fly the airplane home. Instead, he drove to Texas from his home in Newalla, Oklahoma, and on the bed of a trailer he hauled the tired Cessna to his garage. For a fellow handy in aviation sheet metal repair, the 140 offered plenty of opportunity to practice his skills. The wings had been metalized in 1959, and Marty didn't like what 16

AUGUST

2001

he saw. lilt just looked pitiful," he said. "I thought the fabric wing would give me better speed because it's cleaner and lighter. When you've metalized a fabric-covered wing, you take away your ability to change the wash-in or wash-out of the wing changing the length of the rear strut has no effect with the wing riveted together. I just wanted some flexibil ity there." Marty installed a new pair of landing/taxi lights in a standoff framework he designed. He didn't care for the regular installation method, which bolts them directly to the spar. Plenty of sheet aluminum was changed on the airframe, and a lot of the parts that were kept were re moved or disassembled, cleaned, and then reinstalled. Marty recalled, Over the course of time I just started at one spot and worked all the way through. Using the drill, I took off everything I could!" With the wings reworked to their original configuration, he tackled the rest of the airframe. "l ended up re-skinning the bottom of the hori zontal stabilizer, the upper right stabilizer, and I took the leading II

edges off and installed lead ing edge stiffeners that help increase the structural strength of the horizontal stabilizer." That wasn't the limit of his tail surface and other sheet metal repairs. "I had to make a repair on the bottom of the rudder. I put a new nosebowl on it and installed new lower left and right cowl skins because mine were pretty much beat up." On one occasion, Gary Rice, who holds one of the STCs for the installation of a Continental 0 200 in the 140, was over at Marty's house looking at the airplane. Gary pointed out that his cowlings were from two different model years. If he wanted them to match, he just hap pened to have the correct upper cowl to match Marty's 1946 lower cowl, so they traded parts. It pays to invite friends to look over your project! Two areas of Marty's restoration get lots of attention from admirers. The cockpit and engine compart ments are expertly done. Under the cowl, there's a lot of precise work, es pecially the engine baffles. His approach to installing the cowling and baffles bears repeating. First, he fits the cowling to the airplane, and then he fits the baffles. That may seem pretty obvious, but often ready made baffles depend on excessive use of seal strips to fill in the gaps between the cowl and baffle. While there has to be some room between the cowl and baffles for the engine to move during normal operations, Marty wanted a tight set of baffles. He took an original set of baffles that had the seal material removed, and with the cowl mounted in place, he

added strips of tape to fill in the gaps. Then he carefully marked the places where the tape joined the cowling and cut his new baffles close to that mark. Since they're at ground zero as far as vibration is concerned, Marty took extra care to be sure he didn't build in stress risers in each component of the baffles. When a part had a bend, such as the back section, even 90-degree bends were made with a radius of at least 1/4 inch. He used cut radii as large as 1/2 inch to prevent cracking because of stress risers induced by trimming parts too closely. Forty-two parts make up the baffles, and Precision Anodizing in Oklahoma City an odized all of the aluminum parts, for the princely sum of $115. In keeping with his standards as a military aviation technician, Marty took the time to add markings to each component and line in the en gine compartment, including each pass through the firewall. The cockpit was another place

Marty'S attention to detail shone through. Since he started the project 10 years ago, the interior ABS plas tic panels installed by him are no longer made by Texas Aeroplastics. He spent six weeks fitting the various panels, which in clude bezels for the Marty and Sharon Lachman, Newalla, Oklahoma skylights, an overhead con sole for the speaker and a protect the lettering. Rich Nichols, who works out of lighting/radio control panel, and headliner/aft bulkhead panels. his shop in Oklahoma City, built the For paint Marty used a Martin wood overlay on the panel. It's two Senour polyurethane acrylic enamel pieces of red oak that started out l called Nitram, sold through NAPA inch thick. Subsequent runs through automotive stores. All of it was shot a planer and the application of a in Marty's garage in a paint booth router made a piece that fit exactly built out of schedule 40 PVC pipe like the original sheet metal part. In and plastic sheeting. As you can see, cluded in the overlay is a series of many parts had to be shot at least fiber-optic cables that route light twice-first the color was appli ed, from a central source to each of the then the rub-on markings were put instruments. Behind the panel, each wire con in place on areas such as the firewall and instrument panel, and then it nection is soldered and covered with was repainted with a clear coat to heat-shrink tubing, and extensive VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

very emotional. "After we broke ground and cleared the power lines, I just started crying," he said. "For 11 years it was just a bunch of parts, and al though it became an airplane as it went to gether, it never was an airplane until that mo ment." Landing after 15 min utes, he hopped out so his son, Andrew, could go for a ride, and Marty saw his Cessna 140 fly for the first time. He really wanted to share the moment with his supportive wife, Sharon, so he called her on the cell phone and held it up to the sky as the Anywhere you look in the engine compartment you see the results of hours of painstaking labor by Marty Cessna made a low pass. as he strove to create a truly custom showpiece. Each of the lines is labeled, as is each pass through the fire

After getting insurance

wall. A Continental 0-200 is installed in the 140 under an STC available from Gary Rice of Corpus Christi, Texas. through the Vintage Airplane Association pro gram administered by AUA Inc., Marty got checked out and started putting as much time on the Cessna as he could, with a goal of 200 hours by the end of the first year. After that threshold, his insurance premi ums would decrease, and he could increase the level of coverage he had on the airplane. During his time in the airplane during 2000, he flew it to three fly ins and took home top awards from the Vernon, Texas, event, the Tulsa fly-in, and the Cessna 120/140 Asso ciation annual convention at Gainesville, Texas. His flight to the 2001 Sun 'n Fun EAA Fly-In resulted Leave it to the crew chief of a military aircraft to come up with a simple, clever way to keep in the Custom Grand Champion the upper cowl doors open. Marty made a bent-to-shape piece of stainless steel tubing and Classic award. His dad, Eugene, installed it using two holes drilled in stiffeners riveted to the cowl doors and center section of would have been busting his but the upper cowl. A plastic cap keeps them from working out of the hole (see the engine com partment photo above), and it can be kept in the cowl during flight by pulling it out of the tons with pride had he lived to see upper hole and laying it in a notch cut in the baffle. Marty complete the Cessna, but he passed away in 1989, not too long com, along with an altitude-encod after Marty brought it home. Given use of terminal blocks and circuit ing altimeter. A 60-amp alternator is his son's accomplishments up to breakers bring the electrical system installed on the aft end of the Conti that point, I'll bet he went to his re up to today's standards. For modern ward already very proud of his day flying wherever he wants to go, nental 0-200 engine. After 11 years of effort, the first talented son. Seeing this outstand Marty installed a II morrow GX65 moving-map GPS, a 760-channel flight with his buddy Daryle ing custom Cessna would just be communications radio, and an inter Humphrey doing the honors was icing on an already sweet cake. . . . 18 AUGUST

2001

by Budd Davisson

t Sun 'n Fun 2001 there were two very different Piper Clippers

parked side by side. One was a glistening red beauty with the

look of an airplane that had had much time spent on it. The

other was gray and a little frayed around the edges. It looked as if it had had a lot of time spent in it, rather than on it ... VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Gilbert and Barbara Pierce fly The Red Lady, while their son Steve owns the well-worn gray Piper Clipper. Barbara and Gilbert along with Steve and his friend Cathy all came to Sun 'n Fun 2001 in their Clippers.

The name tags on both airplanes identified them as being owned by a man named Pierce. Gilbert Pierce, of Germantown, Tennessee, owns the red airplane, which he and his wife, Barbara, call The Red Lady. The gray machine is owned by Steve Pierce, Gilbert's son, from Graham, Texas . As different as the two airplanes are, their stories are entwined as much as the story of a close father and son can be. Gilbert, the elder Pierce, was a ca reer Navy man (an aviation radio technician) who, " ... stopped at air ports constantly to watch the airplanes take off and land. I was al ways looking at little airplanes. But, I had three kids and was in the Navy, so .... " We all know the rest of that story. When he retired from the Navy, he started on a second career by go ing to school to get a degree in mechanical engineering. That ca reer, most of which was spent with Cummings Engine, came to an end last May when he retired. But back 20 AUGUST 2001

in 1989, his avocations took a 90-de gree left turn when his wife Barbara surprised him with a Christmas gift he didn't expect. "She went out to the airport and found out how much it cost to get a license and paid for it. She gave me my pilot's license for Christmas!" Now, what had been a dream became a reality. Barbara said, "When I got him the lessons, I thought he'd get his li cense and that would be that. He'd never talked about actually owning an airplane, but as soon as he had his license, he started talking about buying an airplane." Gil looked around, but his natural ability to build things began to change his perspective. He began to look at building an airplane, which received his wife's blessing. "Some how, it just made sense to me that you could build an airplane cheaper than you could buy one," she said. They decided the Kitfox made some sense, so soon there was an air plane going together in their garage. "Besides," she said, "I didn't want

him to have any regrets left in life, and not building an airplane would have been a regret." Building things and taking stuff apart runs deep in the family. His son, Steve, was heavy into cars while in high school, which was good. What was not good, accord ing to Gilbert, was that the youngster would wheel a car into their garage and take it apart, and it would take them forever to get their garage back. "We went away for a trip once," Gilbert said, "and to make sure the kids didn't do anything in the garage, I parked our car in there and took the keys with me so it couldn't be moved ." Barbara laughed as he told the story. "We came home, and when I threw the garage door open, it was just like cockroaches scattering when the lights were turned on. Kids and car parts started moving every direc tion. They had jacked up my car and took it out of the garage so they could move one of Steve's friends '

cars in to change the engine./I Of course, Gilbert can take some blame for Steve's mechanical bent. When it came time for Steve to have a car of his own, Gilbert bought an old Plymouth that had a bad engine. He towed it into the garage and said to his son, "You want a car? There's the car; there're the tools, /I and walked out. After Gil got his certificate, he naturally started taking his kids for airplane rides, and the aviation bug bit Steve really hard. When he grad uated, he went to Dallas to get his A&P certificate. "While we were do ing the dope and fabric part of the course, I started hanging out around the Confederate Air Force (CAF). They were looking for volunteers to do fabric work, so I jumped right in./I After he got his A&P certificate, the CAF asked him if he'd go to shows with them, as a mechanic. Then he went down to Graham, Texas, to help maintain and restore CAF airplanes based there. In a short period of time, he found himself working on warbirds full time at

Nelson Ezell's well-known restora tion shop in Breckenridge, Texas. "I worked for Nelson for about five years, but decided it was time to move on, so with Nelson's blessing, I set up a shop of my own where I now maintain and rebuild every thing from J-3s to a prop-jet Malibu. It was about that time I started think ing about learning to fly and getting my own airplane. When I talked about this, Nelson always started talking about a Piper Clipper he had owned and what a great airplane it was. He kept hounding me about the Clipper until I started looking for one./I He already knew the air plane fairly well because when he'd been working at Graham there were four Clippers based there. Just as Gilbert had an effect on Steve, Steve had an effect on his dad. Because he talked so much about the Clipper, Gilbert decided he had to have one, too. The great Clipper hunt was on! Steve found his airplane up in Utah. "It was a fisherman's airplane that had no interior, and the way it was described, it sounded a little

doggy. But, it was a flyable airplane, although it was out of license. He had a friend look at it and found that it had been described accu rately, so we took a trailer up and brought it back down to Brecken ridge. "I wanted to learn to fly in the Clipper, and it wasn't easy finding an instructor who would go along with that. In fact, after a bunch of lessons, I was still having problems. The instructor tried to talk me into learning in something easier. I said, 'I own a Clipper, and I'm going to learn to fly in it' and that was that! Then, one day, the lights came on, and it's been great ever since. "I guess it's a little bit like the cob bler's kids. I'm so busy working on other people's airplanes, I don't have time to work on my own. Not much anyway. When I got it, one wing wasn't painted, so I took care of that, but I still don't have the headliner in it. "Mostly what I do is fly the air plane. I finish work and tell my girl, 'I'm going to be out,' and I crank up the Clipper and head for the run-

piper'S Little Four-Place Job By H.G. Frautschy

The Piper PA-16 was the first four-place version of the short-wing Piper se ries of aircraft. When directed to create the Piper PA-15 Vagabond, from the start the Piper engineering staff had an expansion of the design in mind. Howard "Pug" Piper could see there was still a place in the postwar market for a light, inexpensive four-place airplane. When, in late 1947, they finally got the go-ahead to expand the Vagabond, an added bay and door were added with a bench seal. While at amaximum gross weight of 1,650 pounds, the Clipper, pow ered by the 115-hp lycoming, could cruise at112 mph. Equipped with dual controls and abungee landing gear (the early Vagabond depended completely on the shock absorption capabilities of its Goodyear Airwheeltires and the skill of its pilo!), the Clipper was just the ticket for the fellow who wanted to take along the

wife and kiddies. Seven hundred thirty-six Clippers were built before the design became known as the Piper PA-20 Pacer, partially due to the objections of Pan American Airways, which held the trademark/copyright to the Clipper name. Piper had already been working on arevised version of their lightest four-place airplane, so the name change was no big deal. The Piper PA-16/PA-20/22 series, which induded the Tri-Pacer and its vari ants, still remains one of civilian aviation's most memorable designs. More than 450 of the PA-16 Clippers remain on the FAA registry. VINTAGE AIRPLANE

way. It's so light, just over 900 pounds, that even with the stock 0-235, it really performs. I take off out of there at max rate, and whatever was bug ging me during the day disappears. I absolutely love slipping it around the corner to a landing. It does it so well." At this point, Steve has more than 1,000 hours in the air plane, so he definitely has been flying the wings off it. Gilbert took a little longer to find his airplane. "We looked at a few of them, including one that was touted as an award winner," he said and grinned. "Even as we walked towards the airplane, we could see runs in the paint. It was definitely not an award win ner!" Airplanes show up in the oddest places, and Gilbert ran across a "For Sale" notice for a Clipper. He called the owner and asked, "How long has it been for sale?" The owner responded, "Two years." Of course that got Pierce con cerned, and then the owner added, "At least it's been two years that I've been telling my wife it was for sale." The airplane was described as a nine on the outside and a five on the inside. So, Gilbert hopped on a Northwest flight to Seattle, looked at the airplane, wrote a check, and headed for home. He and Barbara flew the airplane for a while, and then Steve came home for Christmas and started to help him do an annual, which showed that the wings needed re covering. The interior was " ... 19S0s red and black Naugahyde," which they didn't like, so it was time to take the airplane apart and move it into the garage. The intent was not to re-cover the entire airplane, but they were going to repaint it, which meant stripping as much paint as possible. Much of that fell to Barbara. "Getting the

we thought we ' d never get any altitude." Barbara said, "He had been talking for a long time about putting a lS0-hp engine in The Red Lady, and after that takeoff I told him, 'Go ahead and put the engine in.' Of course, I didn't think to ask what that was going to cost." You'd think that having an A&P as a son would be a great advantage when it came time to build up an engine, and to a certain extent it was. Gilbert found his engine and shipped it down to his son to help him rebuild it. When he walked into his son's shop, Steve said, "You want an en gine? There are the parts; there are the tools." Some thing about payback time fits here. Steve laughed when he told the story. "It took him a while, but he finally got it to gether, and it runs really well." At the beginning, Steve's Clipper would easily outperform his dad's because it was so light. He said he figures about 110 mph on 6.3 gph. Now, Gilbert's can outclimb him and cruises at 117 to 120 mph on 7.8 gallons. Steve summed up both of their feelings about the airplanes when he said, "We always have old guys walk up to our airplanes and say, 'I used to have a Clipper. Man, I wish I'd never sold it.' Our airplanes aren't for sale and never will be. There is just too strong of an attachment there." Steve is now talking about putting an 0-320 Lycoming in his airplane, too, because he can't stand to see his dad outperform him. Also, the Short Wing Piper Convention is in Alaska this year, and who knows what kind of terrain they'll be facing. The Short Wing Piper clan has a strong bond, and nowhere is that bond stronger than between the fa ther and son short-Wing team of Gilbert and Steve Pierce. .....

Gilbert bought an old

Plymouth that had a bad engine. He towed it into the garage and said to

AUGUST

2001

his son, uYou want a

car? Theres the car;

there are the tools, "

and walked out.

paint off was really tough, but one day I stumbled into a secret. I had been soaking rags in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and letting them lay on the paint to soften it. Then, one day, I forgot and went to lunch after putting the rags on. I came back, and the MEK had evaporated, and the rags were stuck to the paint. When I yanked the rags off, every bit of paint under them came off right down to the silver. From that point on, that's how I stripped the paint." Steve said he now uses the same method to strip paint on the air planes he's repairing or restoring in his business. While re-covering the wings, Gilbert also took the opportunity to repair damage resulting from two different ground loops the airplane had suffered in the past. For a while, both airplanes had the same llS-hp, 0-235 Lycoming the Clippers came with during their single year of production in 1949. Then, Gilbert and Barbara went to the Short Wing Piper Club conven tion in Denver. "We took off, and

sions, as depicted in the May issue of Vintage Airplane. Emil Cassanello Huntington Station, New York From overseas we received:

August Mystery Plane

by H.G. Frautschy

This month's Mystery Plane is a rare metal plane from the post-World War II era. Send your answer to: EAA, Vintage Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Your answer needs to be in no later than September 15 for inclusion in the November issue of Vintage Airplane. You can also send your response via e-mail. Send your answer to

vintage@eaa.org.

the May Mystery Plane is a Bristol F.2b, the best allied two-seat fighter in World War I. Lt. A.E . McKeever of No. 11 Squadron R.A.F. shot down 30 ai/planes, almost all with the BristoL Fighter. After the war, the British & Co lonial Aero plane Co. Ltd. (Bristo l) produced a number of passenger-carrying conver-

The May MystelY PLane is a version of the Bristol Tourer, which was an attempt to find a civilian use for the 1914-18 war swpLus Bristol Fighter (F.2b) airframes. There were four variants: the type 27 with an enclosed cabin for one passenger, type 29 with an open cockpit for one pas senger, type 28 with an enclosed cabin for two passengers side by side, and type 47 with an open cockpit for two. These numbers were allocated in 1923. The en gine used was a 240-hp Siddeley Puma. My two-vo Lume copy of British Civil Aircraft 1919-1959 (Putnam) refers to eight type 28 Tourers going to Aus tralia and others to Belgium and Spain, but there is no mention of saLes to the United States. A paral/el, more highly modified de velopment is refe rred to as having multi-disc Ferodo brakes. These must have been effective because the undercar riage was fitted with a skid to prevent nose-overs. Gordon Hughesdon Addlestone Surrey, United Kingdom Other correct answers were re ceived from Arnie Roosa, West Chicago, Illinois; Dave Dent, Cam den, New So uth Wales, Australia; V. Jay Broze, Seattle, Washington; and Brian R. Baker, Farmington, New Mexico. ......

Bristol Tourer I

Be sure to include both your name and address (especially your city and state!) in the body of your note and put I/(Month) Mystery Plane" in the subject line. The times certainly are changing. For our May Mystery Plane, only one of our answers was sent via the regu lar mail, with the rest all coming in over the electronic transom. Here's our first answer:

PA SS

IT TO

BU C K

by E.E. "Buck" Hilbert, EAA #21 VAA #5

P.O. Box 424, Union, IL 60180

How we complied with American Champion AD2000 25·02 How we complied with American Champion AD2000-2S-02. Inspection requirements: inspect the entire length of the front and rear spars for cracks, compression cracks, longitudinal cracks through the bolt holes or nail holes, or loose or missing rib nails. That's the way the AD reads in part, but that is the main gist of it. So "Dip" Davis and I went at it. How did we do it? First we re searched an alternate method that was more to our liking than poking a bunch of holes in the upper surface of the wing. We used the approved Citabria Owners Group Wing Spar Inspection Letter, version 1-02-7-29 99, but we enhanced it a little, as you shall see. We'll tell the tale using photos. If you're planning this operation,

get into the mind-set to do some real scrunching and neck bending. If we had charged ourselves the shop rates of today, the labor alone would be over $1,200 plus the supplies. We blew a bunch of bucks on the

borescope and Bend-a-Light, too, so it wasn't cheap or easy, but it's com pleted, and now, Over to you, f'(

~t(ck ~

After checking the paperwork, we lined up the tools to do the job. A Bend-a-Light Pro, a mirror, wedges, a flanging tool, a load of inspection rings, a few inspection plates, tapes, fabric, cement, dope, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), silver, sandpa per, and some almost-matching paints. We even invested in a very expensive borescope and its magnifying fiber optics, which helped in some areas not too easily seen with just the mirror and the Bend-a-Light.

Next, to facilitate access without undue back strain and neck stretching, we put the old Champ up on her nose. This made the top of the wing easily acces sible with a step stool and the bottom easy to get at for the installation of the inspection rings and the subsequent inspection. 24

AUGUST

2001

Dip insisted, and I agreed, that the critical area would be the juncture of the strut attachment to the front spar along with the fittings, so we started there. We slit the fabric on the top of the wing to gain access, trimmed back 1-1/2 inches of the leading edge metal, re-flanged it, and cleaned the top of the spar with MEK. Then using our bifocals, a near-vision enhancer (magnifying glass), and the mirrors, we began the inspection process. We could reach 20 inch es on either side of the strut attach fitting. A good place to start.

Once the left wing was done, I moved to the right side to repeat the process, while Dip, the fabric man, began to tape and re-cover the hole we had made.

After the inspection of the right side was completed, we moved to the underside of the wing. Using the inspection holes, we soon found we couldn't really inspect the spar to our satisfaction without additional access. Some calcula tions resulted in new inspection rings and holes being installed every 39 inches at both the front and rear spars. With considerable neck craning and scrunching, we were able to reasonably assure that the inspection was complet ed and the spars were intact, free of cracks and airworthy. Now came the work that took the most time. Since this is a Model 7, and it has less than 90 hp, this is a one-time inspection . We had cemented the inspection rings in place and cut the holes, and now we decided that installing inspection plates was unnecessary. We cut big circle patch es out of fabric and just covered up the inspection holes, rings in place, just in case we ever have to go in again .

The next task is tedious-dope, sand, silver, sand, and try to match the color. All this takes time. The dope must be dry before sanding, and the silver has to be used to fill. When the final coats of not-quite-the-same-color went on, the finished product sure looked like a well-worn, very-patched Champ. There was the assurance, though, that we had an airworthy flying machine. I couldn't help but be a little dis mayed at the appearance, so we stenciled the leading edges of the wing with let tering that spelled out" AD complied with," and the new name on the cowl ing says it all. VINTAGE AIRPLANE

NEW MEMB E RS

Edward D. Frey ..Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada Peter W. Foster ........ Caledon East, Ontario, Canada Andrew R. McLaurin .............. Huntsville, Ontario, Canada Greg A. Robinson ................ Hanover, Ontario, Canada Ron Bramley ........ .. .. Clr Is Waters Gold, Australia William K. Evans .. ............ .... ...... Carms, Great Britain Diana Kill .... .... .. ......... .Waltenweiler, Germany Hans J. Storck ... .. ................... .. .. .. ..... .Tokyo, Japan Greg Powell .... .. .. .. .. .. .... .... North Little Rock, AR Stanley L. Benson ............ .. ....... .. ....... .. .... Hollister, CA

Michael A. Chase .... .... .................... ..

.. .... .... .... .. .. .......... Santa Barbara, CA

Donna Dal Porto ...... .. .. .. .. .. .. .......... Angels Camp, CA George V. Kuntz .. .... .... .. .... ........ .. .... Castro Valley, CA Gary Leemaster ............ .... ........ ...... .. .... .. .. .. .. ...... .. .... ..Woodland Hills, CA Timothy Myrtle .. .... ...... Sonoma, CA Gary Nickless .... Citrus Heights, CA Benton L. Seeley ...... Tahoe City, CA Ted Stinis ............ .. .. Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Rodney Brown .......... Lakewood, CO

Joe Copley .............. .. .. Loveland, CO

Peter W. Johnson ...... .. .. Hamden, CT

Ron Turochy .. ........Wilmington,DE

Thomas R. Bailey .. .... ........ Pace, FL

Joy Doumis ...... .... .. .... Marathon, FL

William M . Fife .... .... ........ Ocala, FL

Nancy Givens .. .. ...... Cape Coral, FL

Tom Gordon ...... .... ...... Titusville, FL

Robert L. Odell .. ...... .. .... Panacea, FL

Robert Payton .... .. ........ .... Tampa, FL

Richard G . Evelyn .. .. .. Marietta, GA

26 AUGUST

200 1

John Ferrey .......... .. Watkinsville, GA Mark Oltjenbruns .... Woodstock, GA Michael White .. .... ...... Oakwood, GA Frederick E. Dewitt .... Sycamore, IL Mark Dickenson .. .... ........ Roscoe, IL Kevin W. Frings .. .. .. .. Champaign, IL Steven Hughes .... .. ............ ....... .... .. ... .... Deerfield, IL

N. Joel Johnson, Jr....... Winnetka, IL Mark J. Krohn .. ...... Crystal Lake, IL Ed McCanse .. .. ................ Oregon, IL John G. McDougal .......... Roscoe, IL Vince Rukstalis .. ...... Wilmington, IL Steven Farringer ............ ...... .. .... North Manchester, IN Tim Hayes .... .... .. ........ .. .. Denver, IN Tony Valentic .. .. ...... Terre Haute, IN Robert F. Tidd .... .. ...... Wellsville, KS Charles Moore ...... Lake Charles, LA Sandra Kraege Higby ....... ............. .. .... .. ........ .. Milford, MA Charles R. Schwartz ...... Shirley, MA Blake James ............ .... Beausejour Manitoba, MB Irvin L. Fisher .......... ..Crisfield, MD Daniel M. Lancaster ........................ .. .. .......... ............ ........ Mt. Savage, MD Charles Tankersley .... Topsham, ME George Binson ................ .. ...... Madison Heights, MI

H. R. Chappell ...... ..Farmington, MI

Craig V. Lahti .... .......... Fife Lake, MI

Tom Mathews ............ St. Joseph, MI

F. W. Mcchristy .. ...... Schoolcraft, MI Robert A . Smith .. .... Kalamazoo, MI Mark Weigand .................... Troy, MI Carol A. Cansdale ........ .... .. .............. ..Eden Prairie, MN

Daniel Newkirk ........ Owatonna, MN

Gary Strong .................... Blaine, MN

Randell D. Roy .............. Liberty, MO

Charles Kemp .............. Jackson, MS

Jim W. Davis .... .. ........ .. .. Ayden, NC

Norma Joyce .. ........ Greensboro, NC

Sheldon F. Koesy .... Wilmington, NC

Frank C. Heinisch .. .. .... ..Geneva, NE James Rutherford ........ ...... .............. .. S. Effingham, NH Robert H. Branche .......... Trenton, NJ Arlene D. Farrell ...... Blackwood, NJ William Delong .... Albuquerque, NM Charles T. Friske .. Sandy Valley, NV Talma A. Howell .. N. Las Vegas, NV Marsha Pike ............ .. ........ Reno, NV Mariana Gossnall ...... New York, NY Robert W. Mackie ...... Fly Creek, NY Frank Ortega ........ ..Cold Spring, NY Todd Roy ............ .. ...... Moriches, NY Bradley K. Crow ................ Troy, OH Robert W. Jenkins ... .... ..................... Fredericktown, OH Nelson Wolfe .............. ...... Tulsa, OK Gordon P. Anderson .. .......... Erie, PA Eugene Breiner ............ Newville, PA Paul A. Hertzog .... ...... ..Reading, PA Elwood F. Menear ........ Annville, PA Paul D. Quinn .............. Lancaster, PA Dennis D. Martens .... Vermillion, SD Jim Ash .......... .. ............ Bellville, TX David R. Carter ................ Ennis, TX Scott B. Corey ........ The Colony, TX Larry Smith .................. .. .. ..Eddy, TX Captain Adrian Trevis .... Austin, TX Ray Walker .................. Mcallen, TX David R. Bradford .. .. .......................... Spanish Fork, UT

William Dougherty ...... Danville, VA

Roger A. Jennings .......... Moneta, VA

William Kantzier .......... .. Amelia, VA

Bruce Kristof ............ Petersburg, VA

Juergen Nies ...... Cross Junction, VA

Herbert L. Huestis .. .. ...................... ..

............ .. .. ........ .... Point Roberts , WA

Steve Kline ........ Otis Orchards, WA

Mitchell Knox ...... .... .. .. .. Seattle, WA

Bill Morton ........ Ocean Shores, WA

Aaron Pailthorp .............. Seattle, WA

George Bindl ............ Waunakee, WI

Samuel C. Johnson ........ .. Racine, WI

Robert J. Triplett .... ...... Cameron, WI

-Air Mail Pilot from page 7 cheering. Then the engine falters and begins to sputter. We groan. But then it catches to a full-throated roar, which this time stays constant. We are home free. The mechanic eases the throttle back, and the engine ticks, each revolution causing the plane to shake with expectancy, like a bronco in the chute. Wes slaps my brother on the back, cuffs me gently, and shrugs into his parachute harness. Then he is out the door, hoisting his chute pack up against his back side as he waddles clumsily toward the plane. Halfway out the floodlights pick him up. Boosted by the mechanic, he mounts the to e steps, swings one leg and then the other into the cockpit, and settles in with a mighty "whoosh." The mechanic drops off the lowest step and high-tails it for the hangar. Two others flit in behind the knifing prop and snap the chocks away. Wes twists in the cockpit and looks our way. With his helmet strapped under his chin and his gog gles down, he is a grotesque gargoyle. He raises his arm, and for the first time we see a long white scarf snap ping in the slipstream. He guns her, and the plane begins to move . Slowly, applying a little more throttle, he inches her off the tarmac and onto the grass. The wings rock crazily when he hits the rough. He opens her up a little more and taxis out past the flare pots, and then suddenly he is gone in the darkness. We hear him applying short bursts of power as he fishtails gently from side to side so he can see the flare markers, which will indicate to him where he is to turn about and begin his takeoff run . There is a pause. He is turning 45 degrees now and will run up the engine. There it is. We hear the engine sound rise higher as the rpms in crease. He is checking the mags: Right mag okay. Left mag okay. Now the noise suddenly drops. He is turning, lining himself up for the takeoff run. And then we hear it. Full power. Balls out. The sound of the U.S. Air Mail.

The sound builds and builds, but we still can't see him. Then, for a frozen instant, he flashes through the floodlights a few feet off the ground, pulls up sharply, and is gone, with the twinkling exhaust the only evidence that he was ever here. Wes made it to Cleveland that night and many nights after that. He was the last of the old Hadley pilots, and he finally surrendered to the Douglas DC-3, forerunner of every airliner in the world and a plane he grew to love. In 1936 he survived a crash in Chicago th at left him with a twisted arm, gro unded him permanently, and broke his spirit and his heart. I remember our last reunion. It took place in 1942, and I was an Army Air pilot with brand new shiny wings; just graduated and the most dangerous of all pilots, because I knew everything. Wes was sitting alone in the half darkness of his den when I came in.

He looked tired, and there were dark rings around his eyes that he didn't get from an open cockpit. He hadn't flown in six years, and his face and body showed it. A part of him had died. We talked about flying far into the night, and we got more than a little drunk, but his eyes were on fire, and he knew exactly what he was saying. He asked me thousands of questions about power settings, flaps, glide ra tios, aerobatics, and God knows what else. Then it was time for me to go. He grabbed my hand in what once had been a great paw and looked into me : "Good lu ck, Winfield, come back." "Yes." "I won't be here," he said. "I know," I replied. I had to leave him there in the half-light of his den. He was gone by 1945 when I came home after serv ing as an assault glider pilot. .....

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216/932-3475. AUGUST 18 -Powell, WY - Wings and Wheels Fly-in and Car Show. Municipal Airport (POY). Info: 307/754-5583 or bibbeyt@wir.net. AUGUST 19 - Dayton, OB - EAA Ch. 48 Pancake Breakfast, Moraine Ailpark.lnfo: 937/291-1225 or 937/859-8967.

Ch. 391 's 18th Anllual Labor Day Weekend Prosser Fly-In. Info: 509/735-1664.

SEPTEMBER 1 - Zanesville, OH (Riverside Airport) - EAA Ch. 425 Annual Labor Day Weekend Fly InlDrive-ln, 8 a.m.- 2 p.m. Lunch items and ailplane rides after 11 a.m. Info: DOli 740/454-0003

SEPTEMBER 1- Marion, IN (MZZ) - 11th Annual Fly-In Cruise-In, Marion Municipal Airport. Pan AUGUST 18 - Spearfish, SD - 18th Annual Fly-In, cake BreaAfast 7am-Ipm. All types ofaircraft, plus sponsored by EAA Ch. 806. at Black Hills Air antique, classic and custom vehicles. Info: 765/664 port/Clyde Ice Field. Camping under wing. Aug. 2588 or rayjohnson @bpsinet.com or 17th, "Cream Can Dinner" served at 7:30 p.m. Air wwwjlyincruisein.com. craft judging. displays. steakjiy. SD Aviation Hall ofFame Ceremony. Cessna 150 sweepstakes, and SEPTEMBER 2 - Mondovi, Wl - 15th Annual Fly-In, Log Cabin Airport. Info: 7/5/287-4205. more. Info: 605/642-0277 (days), 605/642-2311 (evenings), or C21golay@mato.com SEPTEMBER 7-9 - Marion, OH - Mid-Eastern EAA

Fly-In Calendar

The following list ofcoming events is furnished to

our readers as a malter ofinformation only and does

not constitule approval, sponsorship, involvement.

control or direction ofany event (fly-in, seminars,jly

market, etc.) listed. Please send the information to

Fly-In. AUGUST 19 - Brookfield, WI - VAA Ch.ll·s 17th An EAA , Att: Vintage Airplane. P. O. Box 3086,

nual Vintage Aircraft Display and lee Cream SEPTEMBER 8-9-Glenvi/le, N Y- Empire State Social, Noon-5 p.m. at Capitol Airport. Also, Mid Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Information should be re

Aerosciences Museum Flight 2001 Airshow. Sch west Antique Airplane Club 's monthly jly-in mtg. ceivedfour months prior to the event date.

enectady County Airport. Route 50. Acrobatics, Control-line and radio controlled models on dis pyrotechnics. parachutes, gliders, military aircraft, play. Info. 262/781-8132 or 414/962-2428. AUGUST 10-12 -SI/OllOlIIish, WA - 19th Annual West activities for children, and more. Will highlight the Coast Travel Air Reunion. Harvey Field (S43). AUGUST 19 - Pontiac, lL - 2nd Annual Fly-in/Drive 10th Anniversary ofOperation Desert Storm. Gates open 9 a.m. Show begins at I p.m. Tickets $12 for Largest Travel Air gathering for 2001. Local air In Pancake Breakfast sponsored by EAA Ch. 129 tour, memorabilia auction and more. Info: Larson adults and $5 for children. Fly-ins welcome. Info: and Pontiac Flying Service. Pontiac Municipal Air 425/334-2413 or Rezich 805/467-3669. port (PNT). RafJIe. aircraft judging, PIC eats free. 518/377-5129. Info: 815/842-2707 or pontjIy@dave-world.net. A UGUST II - Cat/iliac, MI - EAA Ch. 678 Flv SEPTEMBER 14-16 - Watertown, WI (RYV) - 17th In/Drive-In Breakfast, Wexford County Airp;rt (CAD). 7:30 a.m.-II:OO a.m. Info: 213/779-8113.

AUGUST 24-25 - Coffeyville, KS - 24th Annual Funk Aircraft Owners Assoc. Reunion and Fly-In Cof feyville Municipal Airport. Info: Gerald 302/674-5350.

AUGUST 12 -Allblll'll, IN - Hoosier Warbil'd Fly-in and Pancake/Sausage Brea!.fast at the Hoosier Air Museum, DeKalb County Ai/port. Info: 219/457 AUGUST 24-26 - Sussex, NJ - 29th Annual Sussex 5924 or 44gn@kconline.com. Airshow. Top performers, ultralights, homebuilts. warbirds. IlIfo: 973/875-0783 or Sussex@lIac.net AUGUST 17-19 - Alliance. OB - Ohio Aeronca Avia or www.Susse.xAilportlnc.com. tors ' Fly-In and Breakfast at Alliance-Barber Airport (2DI). Info: ww w.oaafly-in.com or

AUGUST 31- SEPTEMBER 2 - Prosser. WA - EAA

"I couldn't have won these swell trophies without Poly-Fiber!" Roscoe Turner - Famous Race Pilot

ell, OK... maybe he didn't actually say that. .. but we bet he would have if Poly-Fiber had been around in the '30s. His plane would have been lighter and stronger, too, and the chance of fire would have been greatly reduced because Poly-Fiber won't support combustion. Not only that, but Gilmore's playful claw holes would have been easy

to repair. Sorry, Roscoe.

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AUGUST 2001

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Annual Byron Smith Memorial Midwest Stinson Re union. Info: Nick or Suzelte, 630/904-6964.

SEPTEMBER IS-Moriarty, NM- Land ofEnchant ment Fly-il, / Young Eagles Rally at the Moriarty Municipal Airport (OEO). Homebuilts, classics, warbirds. military vehicles, classic cars & motorcy cles. Freejlights to kids and teenagers (8-17). 8am pancake breakfast, pig roast at dusk. Info: 505/296 5050 or netrick@thumek.net.

Fly high with a quality Classic interior Complete interior assemblies ready for installation Custom quality at economical prices.

• Cushion upholstery sets • Wall panel sets • Headliners • Carpet sets • Baggage compartment sets • Firewall covers • Seat slings Free catalog of complete product line. Fabric Selection Guide showing actual sample colors and styles of materials: $3.00.

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SEPTEMBER 16-Utica/Rome, NY-Oneida Counly Airport. Air Acts, Jet Demos, Fly In EAA Break fast..Show hours Ilam-4pm Fuel discounts for all fly-ins and free lunch. Info : 315-636-4171 or ljraya@auglobal.net. SEPTEMBER 15-16 - Rock Falls, IL -North Cen tral EAA "Old-Fashioned" Fly-1n, Whiteside COllnty Airport (SQI). Forums, workshops, fly market, camping, exhibilOrs.food, and air rally. Aircraftjudging ends Noon Sun. Sunday Pancake Breakfast 1nfo: 630/543-6743 or eaaI01@aol.com. SEPTEMBER 21-22 - Abilene, TX - Southwest EAA Fly-III. SEPTEMBER 21-22 - Bar~t~a.I Frank Phillips Fiel~. ['1.~/y-1n,. ~ esville, OK - Frank Ph_~ . 15th annual Biplalle Expo.

SEP._

SEPTEMBER 22 -Asheboro, NC -Aerofest2001 Old Fashion Grass Field Fly-itl and Pig Pickin '. EAA Ch. 1176. 1nfo: 336/879-2830. SEPTEMBER 22-23 - Riverside, CA - EAA Ch. One Open House and Fly-1n at Flabob Airport (RlR). Free Admission. Saturday evening banquet tickets may be purchased in advance. 1nfo: 909/682-6236 or eaachapterone@yallOo.com. SEPTEMBER 28-29 - Visalia, CA - Vintage Years Air & Car Show at Visalia Municipal Airport. Spe cial "Laughter In Bloom, A Tribute to Jack Benny" one-mall show on 9/28 at Fox Th eater. 1nfo : 559/289-0887. SEPTEMBER 29 - Hanover, IN - Wood, Fabric, & Tailwheels 2001, at Lee Boltom Ailport (64i). 20 mi. from Louisville, Kentucky. (Rain date, Sunday, Sept. 30) 1nfo: 812/866-3211 or NX21175TH@aol.com. SEPTEMBER 29 - Topping, VA - Wings and Wheels 2001 al Hummel Air Field (W-75), 60 mi. east of Richmond, VA. Food, crafts, rides, NASA GA, USCG boats. Jayhawk helicopter. hot air balloon, and lIIuch, lIIuch more. Contact for participant 's fee. Spectator parking fee $4. 1nfo: 804/758-4330, willgsandwheels@hotmail.com or website: hIlP:/Ifly.to/wingsandwheels SEPTEMBER 29 - Zanesville, OH - VAA Ch. 22 of Ohio 10lh Annual Fly-In. John's Landing Ai/jield. 8 a.1II - 5 p.m. Breakfast and lunch, free participa tion plaques. Rain date Sept. 30th. Info: 740/453-6889 or 740/455-9900.

• Introduction To Aircraft Building

• Engine Installation • Fabric Covering

OCTOBER 5- 7 - Evergreen, AI - 11th Annllal EAA South East Regional Fly-In. On field campground, showers.food,flying & fun. Info: www.serfi·org.

• What's Involved In Building An Airplane

• CompOSite Construction

OCTOBER 6- 7 - TOllghkenamon, PA - 31st EAA East Coast Regional Fly-111. New Garden Flying Field (N57). 25 miles west ofPhiladelphia. Clas sics we/come, awards, plenty offood all day. For filii, come dressed in your yesteryear aviation at tire. 1nfo: 302/894-1094.

• TIG Welding

• Finishing And Spray Painting

OCTOBER 6-7 - Rlltland, VT - Rutland State air port. EAA Ch. 968's 11th Leafpeepers Fly-In Breakfast. COllie see the fall colors in the Green Mountaills of Vermont. Info: 802/492-3647.

• Sheet Metal Forming

• Gas Welding • Sheet Metal

• Electrical Systems. Wiring And Avionics

OCTOBER /3 - Hampton, NH - VAA Ch. 15 Pump kin Patch Fly-In and Pancake Breakfast, Hampton Airfield. Rain date Oct. 14. 1nfo: 603/964-6749. OCTOBER /3-/4 - Winchester, VA - EAA Ch. 186 Fall Fly-In. Winchester Regional Ai/port (OKV), 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Pancake brea~iast8- 11 a.m. Static display ofaircraft; airplane and helicopter rides, demos, aircraft judging, children's play area, and more. Concessions, souvenirs, goodfood. Info: Ms. Tangy Mooney 703/780-6329 or EAA 186@Jletscape.llel.

WORKSHOPS

--iID- I-SOO-WORKSHOP 1-800-967-5746 workshops@sportair.com www.sportair.com

• Test Flying Your Project • Kit Specific Workshops: Lancair Assembly Vans RV Series Assembly Velocity Assembly

i&. V')

~-m Alrcr.U C .. nllr . I.I"

www.polyfiber.com

www.aircraftspruce.com

VINTAGE

TRADER

Aircraft Exhaust Systems Jumping Branch, WV 25969 800-227-5951 30 different engines for fitting Quebec's Brome (ounly Fokker O·VII with its original 191 Blozenge print linen.

VltiTAGE. AE.RO FAP.>RIC./. LTD ::=:::: c7'J1I1 1J ( 1/(1/,\ :::::;

Something to buy, sell or trade? Classified Word Ads: $5.50 per 10 words, 180 words maximum, with boldface lead-ill all firslline. Classified Display Ads: One column wide (2.167 inches) by 1, 2, or 3 inches high at $20 per inch. Black and white only, and no f requency discounts. Advertisillg Closing Dales: 10th ofsecond month prior to desired issue date (i.e., January 10 is the closing date for the March issue). VAA reserves the right to reject any advertising in conflict with its policies. Rates cover one insertion per issue. Classified ads are not accepted via phone. Payment must accompany order. Word ads may be sent via fax (9201426-4828) or e-mail (classads@eaa.org) using credit card payment (VISA or MasterCard). Include name on card, complete address, type of card, card number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to EAA. Address advertising corre spondence to EAA Publications Classified Ad Manager, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod bearings, main bearings, bushings, master rods, valves, pis ton rings. Call us Toll Free 1/800/233-6934, e-mail ramremfg@aol.com Web site www.ramengine.com VINTAGE ENGiNE MACHINE WORKS, N. 604 FREYA ST., SPOKANE, WA 99202.

Don't compromise your restoration with modern coverings... finish the job correctly with authentic fabrics. Certificated Grade A(allan

Early oimalt (allan

Imported aimolt Linen (beige and tan)

GermanWWl lozenge print fabric

Fobri( tapes: straight, pinked and early Ameri(an pinked

Waxed linen ladng (ord

Vintage Aero Fobri(s, ltd. 18 Journey's End, Mendon, VT 05701

tel: 802-773·0686 fox: 802·786-2129 website:www.ovcloth.(om

Antiques, Warbirds, General Aviation 304-466-1724 Fax 304-466-0802

World of Flight 2002 EAA's 2002 Calendar Features the Best In Aviation Photography with ...

Airplane T-Shirts 150 Different Airplanes Available WE PROBABLY HAVE YOUR AIRPLANE! www.aimlanetshirts.com 1-800-645-7739 BIPLANE ODYSSEY - Flying the Stearman to every U.S. State and Canadian Province in North America. Hardcover. 382 pages. 16 pages color illustrations. $25. Mountain Press, 609-924-4002. www.biplaneodyssey.com

• 13 fli ght inspi ring months to schedule appointments and important events. • 12" x 24" format you can proudly display in you r home and office.

World of Flight

The Best in Aviation Pbotography

• Dates and web sites to assist in plann ing your trip to EAA AirVentu re Oshkosh and the many EAA Regional Fly- Ins throughout the US.

THERE'S JUST NOTI;IING LIKE IT ON THE WEB!! www.aviation-giftshop.com A Web Site With The Pilot In Mind (and those who love airplanes) For Sale - Unique - One of a kind deHavilland Tiger Moth 82-C. Restored and modified by Gar Williams to resemble 82A. Over $125,000 invested. Best offer over $89,000. Send for complete description. Write LNC, 4 West Nebraska, Frankfort, IL 60423 USA. Fax: 815-469-2555. E mail: Loran@LNCmail.com Wanted: "Brownback" or similar brand, radial engines, complete or crankcase/shaft, circa 1920s 1930s, even number of cylinders (six or eight). Write or call J. D. Hicks, P. O. Box 159, Fisherville, KY 40023, 502-649-5833. For sale, reluctantly: Warner 145 & 165 engines. 1 each, new OH and low time. No tire kickers, please. Two Curtiss Reed props to go with above engines. 1934 Aeronca C-3 Razorback with spare engine parts. 1966 Helton Lark 95, Serial #8. Very rare, PQ-8 certified Target Drone derivative. Tri gear Culver Cadet. See Juptner's Vol. 8-170. Total time A&E 845 hrs. I just have too many toys and I'm not getting any younger. Find my name in the Officers & Directors listing of Vintage and e-mail or call evenings. E. E. "Buck" Hilbert

• Full -color images ideal for framing.

To Order Cal l:

1-800-843-3612 (Outside US & Canad a 920-426-5912 )

Send your order by mail to:

EAA M ail O rders

PO Box 3086

O shkosh, WI 54903-3 086

Major credit cards accepted. W I resid ents add 5% sales

tax . Shipp ing and handl ing not included.

= _

The Leader In Recreational Aviation

Membershi~ Services Directo!y_ VINTAGE

AIRCRAFT Enjoy the many benefits ofBAA and the

BAA Vintage Aircraft Association ASSOCIATION

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

OFFICERS President Esple 'Butch' Joyce P.O. Box 35584 Greensboro. NC 27425 336/393-0:J44 wlndsock@ool.com Secrelary Sieve Nessa 2009 Highland Ave. Albert Lea. MN 56007

W7/373-1674

Vice ~ President

George Daubner 2448 Lough Lane

Hartford . WI 53027

262/673-saa5 anliq ue2@a ol.com

Treasurer Chartes W. Harris 7215 Easl461h St. Tulsa. OK 74147 918/622-8400 cwh@hv5u .com

DIRECTORS Dovld Bennefl P.O. Box 1188 Roseville. CA 95678 916/645-<>926 anliquer@lnreach.com

Jeannie Hili P.O. Box 328 Harvard . IL60033 815/943-7205 dinghao@owc.net

Robert C. ' Bob' Brauer 9345 S. Hoyne pholoplol@aoi.com

Sfeve Krog 1002 Heather In. Hartford. WI 53027 262/966-7627 sskrog@aol.com

John Berendl 7645 Echo Polnl Rd. Cannon Falls. MN 55009

Robert D. ' Bob' Lumley 1265 South 124thSt. Brookfield. WI 53005

Chm~~9~~m20

W7 /263-2414

2621782-2633

fchld@rconnecl.com

lumper@execpc.com

John S. Copeland 1A Deacon Slreel North~/~~r:4~~ 01532 copeland1@juno.com

Gene MorriS 5936 Steve Court

Roanoke. TK 76262

817/49 1-9110

n03capt@flash.net

Phil Coulson 284 15 Springbrook Dr. Lawton. M149065 616/624-6490 rcoulsonS16@cs.com Roger Gamoll

3~~~1~~:'~~3 W7!2 88-2810 rgomoll@holmall.com

Dean Richardson 1429 Kings Lynn Rd

slou~~~971.\~9 dar@aprilalre.com

Geoff Roblson 1521 E. MacGregor Dr. New Haven. IN 46774 21 9/493-4724 chlet7025@aoi.com S.H. "Wes" Schmid

Dale A. Guslcrison 7724 Shady Hills Dr. Indianapolis. IN 46278 317/293-4430

2359 Lefeber Avenue Wouwatosa. WI 532 13 414/771-1545 shschmid@gdinet.com

DIRECTORS

EMERITUS

Gene Chase 2159 Carlton Rd. Oshkosh. WI 54904

920!231-W02

Phone (920) 426-4800 Fax (920) 426-4873

Web Site: http://www.eaa.org and http://www.airventure.org E-Mail: vintage @eaa.org

E.E. ' Buck' Hilbert P.O. Box 424 Union. IL6018D 815/923-4591 buck7ac@mc.net

EAA and Division Membership Services 800-843-3612 ... . . • .... . .• FAX 920-426-6761 Monday- Friday CST) (8:00 AM - 7:00 PM • New/ renew m emberships: EAA, Divisions (Vintage Aircraft Association, lAC, Warbirds), National Association of Fligh t Instructors (NAFI) • Address changes • M erchandise sales • Gift m emberships

Programs and Activities EAA AirVenture Fax-On-Demand Direc tory . . . . . . . . . . .. ..... . . . . .... . .. . . 732-885-67U Au to Fuel STCs ......... .. . . . . . 920-426-4843 Build / restore informat ion . . . . . . 920-426-4821 Chapters: locating/ organizing .. 920-426-4876 Education . . . . . .. . . .. . .... . .... 920-426-6815 • EAA Air Academy • EAA Scholarships

EAA 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 Foreign Postage.)

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION Current EM members may join the Vintage Aircraft Associaton and receive VINTAGE AIRPLANE maga zine for an additional $36 per year. EM Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine and one year membership in the EM Vintage Air craft Association is ava ilable fo r $46 pe r year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included). (Add $7 for Foreign Postage.)

lAC

Alan Shacklelon

P.O. Box 656

SUgar Grove.IL60554{)656

630/466-4193

Current EM members may join the International Aerobatic Club , Inc. Division and receive SPORT AEROBATICS magazine for an addit iona l $40 per year. EM Membership, SPORT AEROBATICS magazine and one year membership in the lAC Division is

Steve Bender 815 AKport Rood Roanoke. TK 76262 817/491-4700

Dove Clark

635 Vestal Lane

Plainfteld. IN 46168

sstlCX>@email.msn.com

davecpd@iquesl.net

317/839-4WO

Benefits Aircraft Finan cing (Textron) . . . . . 800-851-1367 AUA .......... . . . .. . ... . . . . . . . 800-727-3823 AVEMCO ...... . .. . . ... .. . . . . . 800-638-8440 Term Life and Accidental . .. . . .. 800-241-6103 Dea th Insurance (Harvey Watt & Com pany) Editorial Submitting article /photo; advertising information 920-426-4825 .•.........•. FAX 920-426-4828 EAAAviation Foundation Artifact Do nations .. . .. . .... ... 920-426-4877 Financial Suppo rt ..... . .. . ... . 800-236-1025

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

ADVISORS 1033<t6.1772@compuserve.com

Fligh t Advisors information ... . . 920-426-6522 Flight Instructor information . . . 920-426-6801 Flyi ng Start Program .•.•.. . . • . . 920-426-6847 Library Services/ Research . . .. . . 920-426-4848 Medical Question s .. .. ... ... . . . 920-426-4821 Technical Counselors . . .. .. . .. . 920-426-4821 Young Eagles . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . . 920-426-4831

available for $50 per year (SPORT AVIATION mag azine not included). (Add $10 for Foreign Postage.)

WARBIRDS Current EM members may join the EM Warbirds of America Division and receive WARBIRDS magazine for an additional $35 per year. EM Membership, WARBIRDS magazine and one yea r membership in the Warb irds Division is available for $45 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included). (Add $ 7 for Foreign Postage.)

EAA EXPERIMENTER Current EAA members may rece ive EAA EXPERIMENTER magazine for an add itional $20 per year. EM Membership and EM EXPERIMENTER mag az ine is available for $30 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included).(Add $8 for Foreign Postage.) .

FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS Please submit your rem ittance with a check or draft drawn on a United States bank payable in United States dollars. Add required Fore ign Postage amount for each membership.

Membership dues to EAA and its divisions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE (ISSN OO9t-6943) IPM 1482602 is published and owned exclusively by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Associatioo 01 the Experimental Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EAA Aviation Center. 3000

Poberezny Rd.• PO. Box 3086. Oshkosh. Wiscon~n 54903-3086. Periodicals Postage paid at Oshkosh, Wiscon~n 54901 and at add"ional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to EAA Vintage Aircraft Association,

P.O. Box 3086. Oshkosh. WI 54903-3086. FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES - Please allow at least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via sunaee 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 C8f1 be taken. EDITORIAL POLICY: Readers are encouraged to subm" stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Respon~bility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely w"h the contributor. No renumeration ~ made. Material should be sent to: Ed"or. VINTAGE AIRPLANE, PO. Box 3086. Oshkosh. WI 54903-3086. Phone 9201426-4600. The words EM, ULTRALIGHT, FLY WITH THE FIRST TEAM, SPORT AVIATION, FOR THE LOVE OF FLYING and the logos of EM, EAA INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, EAA VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION, INTERNA TIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB, WARBIRDS OF AMERICA are ® registOfed trademarks. THE EAA SKY SHOPPE and logos of the EAA AVIATION FOUNDATION. EAA ULTRALIGHT CONVENTION and EAA AirVenture are trade mar1<s of the above associations and their use by any person other than the above association is strictly prohibited.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Espie "Butch" Joyce Madison, NC Started flying in 1946 with father, Espie, Sr. Began flying lessons at age 11 President of the

VAA EAA Vintage

Aircraft Association

AUAis

~ approved.

Butch and grandson Hunter prepare for takeoff in the Luscombe BE.

liMy grandson, Hunter Otey, and I have

AUA's Exclusive EAA Vintage Aircraft Assoc. Insurance Program

confidence in his grandmother, Norma

Joyce, President of AU A, Inc. She has Lower liability and hull premiums

put together, with AIG, a great VAA

Medical payments included

insurance program for AUA's customers

To become a

and her loved ones."

- Butch Joyce

member of the

Fleet discounts for multiple aircraft carrying all risk coverages No hand-propping exclusion No age penalty No component parts endorsements

Vintage Aircraft

Discounts for claim-free renewals carrying all risk coverages

Association call The best is affordable .

800-843-3612

Give AUA a call - it's FREE!

Remember, We're SeHer Togetherl

800-727-3823 Fly with the pros.. .fly with AUA Inc.

AVIATION UNLIMITED AGENCY

BETTER IDEA #28