Va vol 39 no 2 feb 2011

FEBRUARY 2011

STRAIGHT & LEVEL GEOFF ROBISON PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Col. Joe Kittinger I took the opportunity to attend the 2010 Wright Brothers Memorial Dinner on December 17 at the EAA AirVenture Museum. This year’s guest speaker was Col. Joe Kittinger, who set the still-standing altitude record for a parachute jump of 102,800 feet. Joe accomplished this record-setting jump way back in 1960 from a balloon while testing various pieces of equipment for the U.S. Air Force. This testing was conducted for the purpose of developing equipment and procedures so that our pilots could survive high-altitude, high-speed emergency egress from a fighter aircraft.

The technology developed out of these experiments is still in use today in front-line fighters all over the world.

Joe Kittinger is a remarkable individual whom I am proud to have met. He has survived life’s challenges on many fronts. He was a squadron commander in the Air Force, flying more than 480 missions during three tours in Southeast Asia, all in the F-4 Phantom over Vietnam. During his last combat tour as commander of the 555th Fighter Squadron, his aircraft was shot down, and he was imprisoned for 11 months in a notorious North Vietnamese POW camp known as the Hanoi Hilton.

Joe received the Distinguished Flying Cross five times throughout his career. Two were for his balloon experiments, and three were for his combat tours in South Vietnam. He is an absolutely captivating speaker.

Joe also wrote a book that chronicles a lifetime of aviation experiences, including his fascination for barnstorming around the United States for several years in a D-25 New Standard. His book is titled Come Up and Get Me, and I heartily recommend it as a great read.

Harold Neumann’s Monocoupe is now back in Oshkosh, and we recently reinstalled the 90AW Warner engine. “Dr. Phil” Riter, the mechanic/project team coordinator, and I installed the engine, bump cowl, and prop, and the aircraft is looking great. We will soon be moving on to painting and installing the tail feathers and then the monster one-piece wing sometime this coming spring. It’s really nice seeing this project coming to a close. It’s been a great experience for numerous members of EAA Vintage Chapter 37 as well.

It’s not too early to begin planning for the 2011 flying season. I have to tell you that the upcoming flying season holds a unique level of excitement for me. I endured a couple of eye surgeries late last fall to correct cataracts in both of my eyes. I also learned through this experience that if I threw enough money at the problem, I could potentially regain the eyesight that I enjoyed for the first 40 years of my life. After signing on to having new lenses implanted in each of my eyes during the cataract procedure, I had a good chance of coming out of this experience with uncorrected near and far vision of 20/20.

After having endured this experience I have described this simple procedure to many of my friends as a ”complete non-event.” I am very fortunate to now enjoy 20/20 vision in both eyes without ever having to wear eyeglasses again. The best news it that it is an approved FAA procedure!

I started my 2011 flying season with a good friend by flying to the annual New Year’s Day “hangarover” fly-in at EAA Chapter 938 in Nappanee, Indiana. This was my first flight since the surgeries, and my pilot-in-command friend in my Cessna 120 was laughing at me full time when I would comment, “Hey, I can see and read the water tower on that little town down there,” or “Wow, I can see the destination runway 11 miles out.” You have no idea how that made me feel! So, as you can imagine, I am really looking forward to getting back in the saddle with my new eyes.

The planning for EAA AirVenture 2011 continues at a brisk rate.

I am particularly excited about the planned celebration of the 100-year anniversary of air mail. The display will reside in the Vintage area, and we already have commitments for some awesome aircraft representing this era of aviation. You will be amazed with what you see! It’s a lock!

See you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh—July 25-July 31, 2011.

A I R P L A N E Vol. 39, No. 2

2011

FEBRUARY

CONTENTS IFC Straight & Level Col. Joe Kittinger

by Geoff Robison

2

News

4

A Family Burger Bomber The Colvins’ Consolidated Vultee L-13

by Budd Davisson

10

Vintage Chapters Across the USA VAA Chapter 15, Hampton Airfield (7B3)

by John Maloney

14

My Friend Frank Rezich, Part V After the war

by Robert G. Lock

20

The Antiques in Winter, Part III If airplanes could talk . . .

by Roger Thiel

22

Light Plane Heritage The Hild Marshonet

by Owen S. Billman

26

4

The Vintage Mechanic Bendix 30x5 wheels

by Robert G. Lock

32

The Vintage Instructor Taking the fear out of crosswind takeoffs

by Steve Krog, CFI

34

Mystery Plane

by H.G. Frautschy

38

Classified Ads

40

But It’s Cold Outside

14

Hangar time—a finer time

by S. Michelle Souder

COVERS

FRONT COVER: Congratulations are due to EAA’s Chief Photographer Jim Koepnick as he sur-

passes his 500th magazine cover photograph with this shot of the rare Consolidated L-13, a military liaison airplane now serving as the “family truckster” for Clu Colvin and his brood. Read about it in Budd Davisson’s article starting on page 4.

BACK COVER: Air Trails was one of the most popular aviation pulp magazines in the years prior to World War II. Their annual Light Plane Survey issues often had colorful artwork depicting the great airplanes of that decade. Can you name them all? The answers are on page 38.

STAFF

EAA Publisher Director of EAA Publications Executive Director/Editor Production/Special Project Photography Copy Editor Senior Art Director EAA Chairman of the Board

Rod Hightower Mary Jones H.G. Frautschy Kathleen Witman Jim Koepnick Colleen Walsh Olivia P. Trabbold Tom Poberezny

Publication Advertising: Manager/Domestic, Sue Anderson Tel: 920-426-6127 Email: sanderson@eaa.org Fax: 920-426-4828 Senior Business Relations Mgr, Trevor Janz Tel: 920-426-6809 Email: tjanz@eaa.org Manager/European-Asian, Willi Tacke Phone: +49(0)1716980871 Email: willi@flying-pages.com Fax: +49(0)8841 / 496012

Interim Coordinator/Classified, Alicia Canziani Tel: 920-426-6860 Email: classads@eaa.org

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1

VAA NEWS FCC Pulls Order to Prohibit 121.5 MHz ELTs Citing a request by the FAA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a final rule on Tuesday, January 11, removing its earlier prohibition of 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) in the United States.

Last June the FCC published a change to 47 CFR Part 87 calling for “prohibiting the certifi cation, manufacture, importation, sale, or use of 121.5 MHz ELTs other than the Breitling Emergency Watch ELT,” due to the fact that satellite monitoring of 121.5 MHz units terminated in 2009.

After protests by EAA and other organizations, the FAA soon requested that the FCC not implement the rule amendment because it created a confl ict in federal regulations; general-aviation aircraft are required to be equipped with ELTs—the overwhelming majority of which are 121.5 MHz. Since the current supply of 406 MHz ELTs is not suffi cient to replace all existing 121.5 MHz ELTs in the short term, such a law would essentially ground most general-aviation (GA) aircraft, the FAA said.

EAA brought forth that very issue when the FCC rule was published in the Federal Register and worked with other aviation associations to explore all avenues of action to address the rule before it went into effect.

EAA contended the regulatory change would impose a substantial and unwarranted cost on GA and also would create a burden for the GA community and those ground-based rescue units that continue to use the 121.5 frequency to perform searches and save lives.

At the very least, EAA con-

2 FEBRUARY 2011

t e n d e d , t h e F C C ’s a c t i o n w a s conducted without properly communicating with the industry or understanding the implications of its action.

This week’s FCC final rule states that no action will be taken regarding 121.5 MHz ELTs until further notice, following an additional opportunity for interested parties to comment.

Pilot Certificate Changes This month, EAA will submit comments to an FAA notice of proposed rulemaking entitled “Photo Requirements for Pilot Certificates.” The proposal, which is in response to a congressional mandate resulting from the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA), would require a pilot, when flying, to carry a pilot certificate that includes a photo.

The proposal, as written, could cause unnecessary financial hardship for EAA members, would not increase the current level of security (now, pilots must present their pilot certificate along with a government-issued photo ID), and may not meet all of the IRTPA requirements.

EAA recommends members submit their comments to the docket, FAA-2010-1127. (See www.

SportAviation.org for a direct link.)

NTSB Recommends Mandating Shoulder Harnesses In a letter issued last month, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that the FAA require aircraft without shoulder harnesses be retrofitted to include them. Aircraft currently equipped with shoulder harnesses would be required to be modified if the seat restraint system is incorrectly installed. sy The Th NTSB made the recommendations after a three-year m study concluded that correctly stu installed shoulder harness/ in lap la belt combinations provide significantly greater protecsi tion in GA accidents than a t lap la belt alone. The NTSB adopted six recommendations, o which also included a reviw sion of restraint systems cers tification standards. ca The NTSB based its conclusion on an analysis of more than 37,000 GA accidents, finding that the risk of fatal or serious injury was 50 percent higher when an occupant was restrained only by a lap belt as compared to the combination lap belt and shoulder harness.

The NTSB recommended that the FAA further study the feasibility of requiring airbag-equipped aircraft. Currently, more than 30 aircraft manufacturers offer airbags as standard or optional equipment. Airbags were fi rst approved for use in the pilot and copilot seats in GA aircraft in 2003. Today nearly 18,000 airbagequipped seats are installed in more than 7,000 of the 224,000 GA aircraft in the United States, according to the NTSB. NTSB recommendations are non-binding; only the FAA has the authority to mandate such action through the federal rulemaking process.

Upcoming Major Fly-Ins Sun ’n Fun Fly-In Lakeland Linder Regional Airpor t (LAL) Lakeland, Florida March 29-April 3, 2011 www.Sun-N-Fun.org AERO Friedrichshafen Messe Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen, Germany April 13-16, 2011 www.AERO-Friedrichshafen.com/html/en Virginia Regional Festival of Flight Suf folk Executive Airpor t (SFQ) Suf folk, Virginia April 30-May 1, 2011 www.VirginiaFlyIn.org Golden West Regional Fly-In and Air Show Yuba County Airpor t (MYV) Mar ysville, California June 10-12, 2011 www.GoldenWestFlyIn.org Arlington Fly-In Arlington Municipal Airpor t (AWO) Arlington, Washington July 6-10, 2011 www.ArlingtonFlyIn.org EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Wittman Regional Airpor t (OSH), Oshkosh, Wisconsin July 25-31, 2011 www.AirVenture.org Colorado Sport International Air Show and Rocky Mountain Regional Fly-In Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airpor t (BJC) Denver, Colorado August 27-28, 2011 www.COSpor tAviation.org Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-In Grimes Field Airpor t (I74) Urbana, Ohio September 10-11, 2011 http://MERFI.com Copperstate Fly-In Casa Grande Municipal Airpor t (CGZ), Casa Grande, Arizona October 20-22, 2011 www.Copperstate.org Southeast Regional Fly-In Middleton Field Airpor t (GZH), Evergreen, Alabama October 21-23, 2011 www.SERFI.org

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

A Family

Burger Bomber

The Colvins’ Consolidated Vultee L-13 BY

4 FEBRUARY 2011

BUDD DAVISSON

JIM KOEPNICK

Actually, they could be considered bigger than we need, since they were originally set up for six seats or two litters. But whoever has too much room in an airplane?

M

“

eet me by that b i g , y e l l o w, round-nosed t h i n g . Yo u can’t miss it, because it towers over all the other ‘planes.’”

“Did you see the inside? You could roller-skate in it!”

“What happened to the tail? It looks as if someone stood up too fast in the tent under it and broke it.”

“It has a nurse painted on the nose. Maybe it’s an ambulance of some sort.”

And so it went for the entire week of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh: The Colvin clan’s colossus towered above the Vintage aircraft area, prompting all manner of comments and guesses. Some about its identity. Some about its mission in life. Some about how short it could land. There were no guesses about its speed—that was obviously measured in various degrees of “slow.”

What few could know was that the airplane was the direct result of 2-year-old Baron Colvin’s birth.

His father, Clu (who’s part Cherokee, and Clu means “Little Bird.”

Fitting, eh?), explains, “We were doing pretty good with our ’54 Bonanza. But we already had two kids, so Baron definitely put us over the limit. We needed more seats.”

Incidentally, the degree of the Colvin family’s dedication to aviation can be seen in their kids’ names: The eldest daughter (8 years old) is Piper; number one son is Lear (6); and Baron brings up the rear.

The need for space was just one of several factors behind Clu’s decision to find an L-13. “When we knew Baron was on the way and we were going to rapidly outgrow our Bonanza,” says Clu, “I initially

thought I’d be buying something like an old C-310. But then I started looking at how we used airplanes. The majority of the time we were just going out to lunch and didn’t need 180 knots.

What we needed was a solid 90 knots and lots of room. Besides, I knew the L-13 fairly well because my dad had a couple projects and one flying at one time.”

Actually, his father had practically everything at one time or the other.

“I’m third-generation aviation,” Clu says. “Granddad was a generalaviation pilot, and my dad went to Spartan School of Aeronautics right out of high school. He was an IA [a mechanic with inspection authorization], but buying, selling, and exporting aircraft was a big part of his business. At the same time, however, he also rebuilt or restored a huge variety of aircraft, including Cubs, Stearmans, BT-13, T-6, B-25, and just about everything in between.”

To say that Clu was into aviation almost as soon as he was out of diapers is no exaggeration. “Mom really got on Dad’s case one time, when she came out in the shop and found he had me down in the tail cone of a Mooney, bucking rivets without ear protection. I was 5 years old at the time.”

Further ensuring that Clu had few, if any, barriers between himself and aviation was that he was raised on his father’s farm in northeastern Oklahoma.

“It actually was a working farm,” Clu says, “so we farmed during the summer and built airplanes during the winter. Dad had a runway on it, and later when I got married, we bought 75 acres, built a house, and

JIM KOEPNICK

started farming on the other end of the runway.”

The farm gave Clu a childhood that was very av-centric because of its semi-isolated location 7 miles from a small town of less than 300.

“We don’t have a stop light, which means, as a kid, my world was very much centered on the farm, and that meant airplanes. I rebuilt a Cub mostly on my own as an afterschool project when I was 12 years old and built up my first Luscombe when I was 14. And of course I had the obligatory and highly illegal ‘farm solo’ when I was 14.

“One day an FAA inspector was out at Dad’s place inspecting an airplane he was going to export. He had been out lots of times and saw me always working on airplanes. I wasn’t 18, so I didn’t have an A&P [airframe and powerplant mechanic] ticket yet. The inspector cornered me and said, ‘I want you in my office on your 18th birthday to take the A&P exam,’ which I did.”

He moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to work for an airline as a mechanic, quickly becoming its top dog for C checks on MD-80s.

He was still flying his brains out and, at one point, met the airline’s chief pilot, which resulted in an offer to fly as a flight engineer.

“I flew as an engineer for a couple of years, moved into the right seat, then was furloughed. I wound up with another carrier that was ab-

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

Stowing the horizontal tail requires nothing more than the removal of a couple of pins and the relocating of the brace strut to two different mounts on the tail and fuselage.

DEKEVIN THORNTON

sorbed by yet another carrier until, in 2001, I landed at my present job where I’m based out of Denver.”

When he’s not playing airline pilot, Clu, like his father before him, is rebuilding airplanes—lots of airplanes. Especially Luscombes.

“I’ve had at least 20 to 25 Luscombes,” he says. “Most of the time, I’ll take a real basket case and build it up to where it’s a pretty easy project for someone and then sell it. I have fuselage and wing jigs, and I’ll go through them and replace everything that needs replacing, which is usually because of corrosion. This is especially true of the wings. I’ve gotten to where I don’t trust the spars. I had 13 sets of wings at one point, and every single one of them had at least one spar with bad intergranular. So, since Univair has the extrusions for the spars, I just replace them. That lets me sleep better at night knowing everything I sell has good spars.”

Even though a lot of Luscombes come and go, he’s working on one for himself. “I have three T8F Luscombes and will finish one up and keep it,” says Clu. But Luscombes wouldn’t even come close to solving his family transportation problem. “When we decided to go big, low, and slow, I automatically thought about the L-13,” he says. “When I was

6 FEBRUARY 2011

a kid, Dad had four or five projects around, so I knew them really well. And they were exactly what we needed. Actually, they could be considered bigger than we need, since they were originally set up for six seats or two litters. But whoever has too much room in an airplane?

“I hadn’t seen one for sale for some time, so I came up with a way of ferreting projects out. I ran a bogus ad on eBay in which I just said, ‘Airplane for sale.’ Since it was eBay, I knew I was going to get tons of responses, which I did, including one from eBay itself, because what I was doing, running an ad to sell something when I really didn’t have anything to sell, was against their rules. I knew that, which is why I put the ad up on Friday, knowing it would take them until Monday to take it down.

“All I wanted to do was talk to a lot of people who were looking to buy airplanes and get the word out about the L-13. Practically no one knows anything about the airplane, and this way I could spread the word until someone sees one. And that’s exactly the way it worked.

“The first one that came up was in Scottsdale. It had no firewallforward, which is pretty standard for these projects because the sixcylinder, 240-hp, flat Franklin they originally had turned out to

be very diffi cult to keep running.

So, a lot of the airplanes became lawn ornaments because of no available engines.

“Originally designed and prototyped by Stinson before it was absorbed into Consolidated Vultee, the military actually bought 300 of the aircraft in 1946 and ’47. It was supposed to be the ultimate ambulance/liaison/utility airplane, so it has a lot of unique features.

For one thing, for battlefield mobility, it’s designed specifically to be able to be towed through a hole no wider than a Jeep. So, not only do the wings and tail fold, but the main gear wheels can be pivoted back inside the landing gear legs, giving it a really narrow profile. I don’t have the right brake line fittings on my gear legs, so I can’t rotate the wheels, not that I have any reason to.

“The flaps are massive, as are the wings, so it can really come down steep and land at practically zero airspeed. Most of its role was taken over by the helicopter, so shortly after the Korean War they were all surplused. Unfortunately, the lack of a suitable engine meant a lot of them wound up rotting behind hangars. Not all of them, though.

“Two companies went through the STC [supplemental type certificate] process to certify the airplane

DEKEVIN THORNTON PHOTOS

The cockpit is very utilitarian, with steeply sloping sides on the instrument panel to allow for maximum visibility. The beefy control yoke columns are unusual, being a triangular cross-section.

With Clu’s son Lear up in the cockpit, Clu Colvin (far right) had two of his flying buddies, Matt Mitchell (left) and Brandon Jewett (center), with him during our EAA AirVenture photo shoot. for a 300-hp, R-680 Lycoming radial. One was known as the Centaur 101. They also did a couple as Centaur 102s with 300-hp Jacobs.

Besides being more horsepower, the Lycoming was a well-proven engine, and at the time there were lots of them available surplus. Another company did a Lycoming type certificate and named their aircraft the Husky. It carried eight passengers with two bench seats in the back. They used the airplanes as air taxis bouncing around the Caribbean islands.

“Because one of the companies had done a Lycoming 680 design investigation for the USAF, they could easily market the conversion, and that’s what saved many of the few L-13s that have survived. With that engine, it began working in Alaska and anywhere a high-lift airplane was needed, such as for towing gliders. They also came up with a conversion for a 450-hp P&W [Pratt & Whitney], and at least one of those has survived and is being restored. Now that one ought to be a real hoss.”

Once Clu had committed to

How many airplanes that you’ve flown come with a trap door? Befitting one of its military roles as a liaison aircraft, the L-13 has this cargo pickup door in the aft section of the cabin. purchase the first L-13 project, he found himself on a roll as a second one popped up on his radar almost immediately. This one was in Van Nuys, California.

“That airplane was a complete airplane, although modified somewhat with metal over the skylights and other changes. One odd thing about this airplane was that I have a picture of me standing in front of it as a little kid. [Even though] this one was a complete airplane as compared to the project I had just trailered home, I wasn’t sure I wanted it. I had just won a salvage bid on a C-195 that had an engine my friend Nick Howell wanted for his Staggerwing, so I was already committed. Still, the 195 was more or less in the same direction as the L-13, so I threw a number at the L-13 owner, deciding ahead of

time that if he took it, we’d just take two trailers and bring them b a c k t o g e t h e r. I w a s n ’t a b o u t to fly it home. Complete or not, it hadn’t flown for 25 years, and I learned long ago that it’s much easier to take an airplane apart on the ramp than in a pasture. That assumes you find the right pasture at the right time.

“He took the offer, so we took off with two trucks and trailers thinking we were picking up two airplanes. However, when we started loading the L-13, we found I hadn’t bought one L-13 but closer to twoand-a-half, because there was another project fuselage and wings as part of the deal. He hadn’t mentioned that. So, at that point I owned three-and-a-half L-13s.”

Because he commuted to Denver for his airline job, Clu had a han-

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

DEKEVIN THORNTON

DEKEVIN THORNTON

The wings are folded after accessing the forward spar mount and releasing the wing root fairing.

JIM KOEPNICK

gar at Front Range Airport, which is only minutes from where he’s based. He has always had an airplane project in that hangar, including the oldest Taylorcraft flying, so he dropped the L-13 off there where he could work on it during the dead times while staying in Denver.

“When we started taking the airplane apart, and bear in mind that it appeared nearly flyable, it became obvious that this was an airplane I would have flown only if someone was shooting at me. For one thing, the yoke was rusted tight, and it took some banging to break it loose. The landing gear wasn’t L-13 gear. I don’t know what it was, but it definitely was not L-13. The L-13 gear is a little odd to begin with because the legs don’t line up right and left: They are a little offset fore and aft, so the upper ends of the legs can miss each other and push against oleos that pivot from the opposite gear leg attach point.

“The tail wheel was…well…

I don’t know what it was. It was

8 FEBRUARY 2011

a cobbled-together something or other. It looked as if someone had stolen the original and stuck this thing under it so no one would notice. I’m certain the owner didn’t even know it had been changed.”

The L-13 is much bigger than it looks in photos unless someone is standing next to it to give it scale.

It’s actually a little taller than a Beaver and a fair amount wider.

Or at least it looks wider, because the cockpit is so open and airy.

That’s one of its most attractive attributes; the entire flight deck is just that, a deck, and only the pilot’s seat appears to be more or less permanently attached in place. Everything else is quickly removable to allow a wide variety of seating/ cargo arrangements. The structure is also easy to access which makes bringing a dead one back to life a little less difficult.

“We crawled all over this thing,” says Clu, “and were amazed at what a small amount of corrosion we found. There was a little rust here

and there on the tubing, but the aluminum needed nothing but a good cleaning. Considering how disreputable the airplane looked, we were pleasantly surprised. We wound up doing a refurbishing job, not a restoration. In fact, that had been our goal all along because we wanted a working airplane that we could enjoy, not a showpiece that we’d worry about scratching. So we didn’t go nuts with the thing in any area.

“We haven’t done the panel yet because we want to find a radio compass and take everything back to pretty much original, but usable. The panel hasn’t been cut, so the radios are mounted in such a way that they can be removed leaving no marks.

“The engine supposedly only had a hundred hours on it since overhaul, but that was back in ’77.

So when an accessory gasket let go while we were running it up, we dropped the engine off. As soon as I got it apart, it was obvious the parts were in good shape, so rather than doing a complete overhaul, I just did an IRAN—inspect and replace as necessary—which was mostly hoses and gaskets.”

When it came time to fly the airplane for the first time, Clu went out of his way to avoid one of the usual pressure points of first flights.

“We did it late in the evening with no one but helpers around.

No spectators. You don’t need a peanut gallery on a test flight.

“The airport is at 5,400 feet MSL [mean sea level], and I chose the long runway just in case. While taxiing out, I messed with the tailwheel lock and found it different

DEKEVIN THORNTON

than most tailwheel locks in that it locks it steerable, not centered; when unlocked, it becomes full swivel, which is usually the case.

“As the power went in, the airplane had barely started moving before the tail wanted to come up, and a few seconds later it was off the ground. This at 5,400 feet MSL! However, as it started accelerating, the trim began trying to push the nose up and the forces got quite high. I found later that the trim cable was wrapped the wrong way around the trim drum and I hadn’t noticed it. I did my Schwarzenegger thing, keeping the nose down and the power back until I came around and landed it. On that first one, I wheeled it on so I could take off again if I needed to. Even on that first approach the flaps were something to be reckoned with: There’s a big pitch change, which helped with the out-of-trim condition, but until you’ve seen it, you can’t comprehend the view out the windshield with the flaps all out.

You’re looking at nothing but pavement, because the nose is so far down. And that’s on every landing.

We flew it again the next day with absolutely zero problems.”

At this stage of the airplane’s development, it was still in bare aluminum. But painting something that big is a pretty daunting task, and Clu gave some thoughts to having a professional paint it.

“I changed my mind and decided to paint it myself when I got the first quote,” he says. “I know that $8,000 isn’t that unusual for a paint job, but I just couldn’t see

paying that much. So I took advantage of a good friend, Brandon Jewett, who wanted to fly the airplane so badly he could taste it. In exchange for some flights in the airplane, we took it up to his private runway and painted it out in a pasture with the help of Tom Alexander, Don Smallwood, and Matt Mitchell. Nothing complicated.

Like I said, I didn’t want a show airplane, but I don’t think it turned out too badly.”

Yellow isn’t a color often associated with ex-USAF aircraft, but it was actually fairly common during the mid-’50s.

“I went for yellow because, among other things, when you have something this ugly, you don’t want to hide it. You want it to stand out. Besides, I remembered that some of Dad’s L-13 parts were yellow. The nose art is inspired by my wife Jenifer, and it’s set up as an air ambulance, ‘Intensive Care Unit.’ We’re thinking about painting our T8F Luscombe the same way and naming it ‘First Aid Kit.’

“When I brought the airplane home, I buzzed the runway so my dad would come out. The first thing he said when I got out of the cockpit was, ‘I wouldn’t pay $8,000 for that paint job,’ and I replied, ‘I didn’t. I paid $457.”

So now the Colvin family has a five-place, $100-hamburger airplane. Clu laughs, “At 17 gallons an hour and 105 to 110 mph, that hamburger had better be pretty close, or it’ll be more than a hundred bucks.”

We, however, think he has to look at his airplane from a different angle. Its normal useful load is 1,900 pounds (wartime useful load was 4,200 pounds!), so with all 110 gallons on board, he can carry his entire family and some baggage for sixand-a-half hours. That’s a lot of flying! Or he can carry four-and-a-half hours of fuel and carry eight people with room to spare. That being the case, Clu says the airplane can be his hamburger bird until child number six shows up. We wonder if he’s really considered that.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

Vintage Chapters

Across the USA VAA Chapter 15, Hampton Airfield (7B3)

BY JOHN

MALONEY

PRESIDENT OF VAA CHAPTER 15

The construction of the chapter’s German primary glider project, an SG38, is one of the many projects VAA15 has undertaken at Hampton Airfield.

ocated 2 miles west of the New Hampshire coastline, Hampton Airfield (7B3) has one 1,800-foot grass runway, 04-22. Owned by Mike and Cheryl Hart since 1975, the field hosts a primary flight school, a fixed base operator, and an antique aircraft restoration business. It’s also the

L

10 FEBRUARY 2011

home of one of the Northeast’s most active groups of Vintage Aircraft Association members, VAA Chapter 15 (we refer to ourselves as VAA15).

The flight school has been operating Piper J-3s continuously since 1946. Best of all, you can solo them! This is the place to come for a tailwheel endorsement. The school also offers C-172s. Should you pre-

Dick has retired from a great career of flying corporate and charter flights in jets, recips, and helicopters as well as a 16 year position as a Safety Program Manager in South Carolina. Due to his contribution to so many pilots, he was named Aviator of the Year in 1999. Dick now enjoys time at his local airport, Whiteplains Plantation, where he keeps this very pretty, 1950, PA-20, Piper Pacer.

It has been a great pleasure to be a customer of AUA. I always receive friendly, understanding and knowledgeable service. To me, AUA means, Always Understands Aviators!

Dick Hitt Lexington, South Carolina A&P, IA Commercial – Helicopter ATP – Lear Jet, Sabreliner, Citation 550, King Air 300 VFI – Single Engine, Multiengine, Instrument Ground Instructor

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VAA15 presents its 2009 scholarship to winner Rober t Nee (four th from the left). Also pictured are Fred Drake, Marcey Nee (Rober t’s mother), George Vossler, Ken Perkins, Errol Dow, and George Schumacher.

Casey Brown’s flight instructor, Bill Rose; Casey Brown of Eliot, Maine; Casey’s mother, Alison; Kim Brown; Casey’s father, Nick; Kent Lawrence, one of the scholarship committee members; VAA15 Technical Advisor Dick Blevens; and Sue Gagne.

12 FEBRUARY 2011

fer that someone else does the piloting, you will fi nd outstanding tours of the Granite State in a New Standard open-cockpit biplane, truly a unique experience.

(Leather flight jacket, helmet, and goggles not included.)

A very welcoming place, the field is home to The Airfield Café for breakfast and lunch. On weekends you may find a group of retired pilots sharing brunch and war stories. During the summer, the Loop–T-Scoop ice cream bar remains open until early evening.

It is a great place to enjoy your favorite flavors while watching some of the classic aircraft based at 7B3. You might see Stearmans, Wacos, New Standards, Cubs, or a variety of homebuilts and ultralight vehicles.

Hampton Airfield is home to VAA15. The chapter boasts both a clubhouse and a workshop, thanks to the generosity of Mike and Cheryl Hart. The group recently completed building an SG38 glider completely from scratch. SG stands for Schulgleiter,

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Kent Lawrence with Rob Drake (accepting the award for his son, Kyle Drake, who was away at school). Kyle is an air traffic control student. In the background is Kim Brown’s Dakota Hawk, a kit from Fisher Flying Products kit that members were tweaking prior to its first flight. a German primary glider, circa 1930. After World War I, because of restrictions on motorized aircraft, Germany focused much of its effort on glider development; the SG-38 was an ideal “stick and rudder” trainer. Indeed, the fi rst part of its name means “school” in German. In this country, the glider is known as a Northrup, named not for aviation’s Jack Northrop, but for the man who first imported one.

VAA15’s SG38 was an educational project and hands-on learning experience for our members.

It took approximately 700 hours to complete. We took the plans from an old Popular Science magazine and converted the measurements from metric. Everything is scratchbuilt: The ribs are Sitka spruce, the fuselage is built with birch Haskelite, and the runner shoe is ash. We fashioned the landing and flying wires from 1/8-inch stainless cable, the control wires from 1/16-inch, and the bracing wires of 3/32-inch. We covered the wings and tail feathers with the Poly-Fiber process.

VAA15 sponsors a scholarship program for young people entering the aviation field. Robert Nee of Salem, New Hampshire, won the $1,000 award in 2009. He is a student at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire.

On the third weekend in May, Hampton Airfield hosts an annual “Fly Market,” an aviation flea market with quite a bit of nonaviation stuff. To raise funds for our projects, VAA15 sponsors a pancake breakfast plus burgers and dogs, perfectly cooked by our talented members. This is a treat not to be missed. Come on up!

In 2010, VAA Chapter 15 did award two $500 scholarships to be used for flight training at our home field, Hampton Airport, in 2010. Casey Brown and Kyle Drake were our scholarship winners.

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What Our Members Are Restoring

Are you u near nearing arin ingg completion of a restoration? Or is it done and you’re busy flying and showing it off? If so, we’d like to hear from you. Send us a 4-by-6-inch print from a commercial source (no home printers, please—those prints just don’t scan well) or a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital photo. A JPG from your 2.5-megapixel (or higher) digital camera is fine. You can burn photos to a CD, or if you’re on a high-speed Internet connection, you can e-mail them along with a text-only or Word document describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program asks if you’d like to make the photos smaller, say no.) For more tips on creating photos we can publish, visit VAA’s website at www.vintageaircraft.org. Check the News page for a hyperlink to Want To Send Us A Photograph?

For more information, you can also e-mail us at vintageaircraft@ eaa.org or call us at 920-426-4825.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13

My Friend

Frank Rezich Part V

After the war BY

ROBERT G. LOCK

PHOTOS COURTESY OF REZICH FAMILY COLLECTION

I

n 1946, after being discharged from the Army Air Corps, Frank opened his own shop at Stinson Airport, a short distance from where he grew up. His brother Nick had just opened the Pylon Club tavern.

Nick approached Frank with a proposal: design and construct a racer for the Goodyear-sponsored

14 FEBRUARY 2011

races at the Cleveland National Air Races. These races became popular after the war and featured some of the hottest World War II military fighters of the time, “souped up” to go even faster. Also featured was a new class of racer, the Goodyear-type racer with engines up to 85 hp. The Continental C-85 was the engine of choice. His brother

Above Lead Photo: Frank with the Rezich Br others Racer, RBS-1, which he designed for the Cleveland National Air Races.

Right: An ar tist’s rendition of the Rezich racer with race number 43.

Mike came to him and said, “Design it for me. You know what the heck you’re doing. Let’s get on with it. I’ll finance it, and you do all the work.” Frank also remembers, “It wasn’t even finished when Bill Odom got killed [in 1949] and there went the races.” The racer was never completed.

Nick and Frank were involved in the construction, but the design was all Frank’s. The ship was designated the Rezich Brothers Racer, RBS-1. Nick’s son Jim provides additional information on the racer.

“I believe this photo was taken in 1951 or 1952. You can see Steve Bevell’s Lil Spook #77 in the background.

The ship was owned by the Pylon Club, as my dad was interested in air racing and flying in air races.

He attended the 1947 Cleveland races and the 1950, Detroit races. I think the construction on the racer was started in 1950 when my dad opened the Pylon Club tavern. The plan was for Frank to build the airplane and Dad to fly it. The airplane was also designed to have the C-85 engine removed and a 600-cubicinch engine installed for use in the Unlimited races. The racer was donated to the EAA and displayed in the museum in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. When the museum moved to Oshkosh, they changed their pol-

icy to having only fully completed airplanes on display. So, they attempted to sell the RBS-1.”

Overcoming some technicalities, Jim was able to obtain the racer.

The ship now resides with the family in its uncompleted state.

While work in his hangar was sporadic and sometimes slow, Frank recalls a series of events that took him to the Illinois Air National Guard.

“Right after the war—I don’t know how long I was out, but an Air National Guard colonel, Wilson Newhall, came over and said he wanted me to go to work for the Guard. I responded I didn’t want any more military, and he said no, no, no, you work as what we call full-time maintenance people; you’re civil service. He said he was buying a P-63 and we’re going to Cleveland with it. We’re gonna race it. Oh, okay. I didn’t have a job.

There was no Howard. So the National Guard of Illinois was right there at Chicago Municipal. They had another strip on the north side of Chicago with two runways that was called the ‘orchard’ that is today O’Hare. So, every three or four weeks the Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin National Guard would go on an encampment. I was chief of maintenance for Illinois, and Mike Sitik was chief of mainte-

A two-view sketch of the racer as designed by Frank. Note the similarity of this drawing to a Cassutt racer that came after this design.

Jim recalls, “Tom Cassutt was a TWA pilot who was a frequent visitor to the Pylon Club and shared an interest in the new Goodyear racers. He was able to see the RBS-1 taking shape, and he sure copied a lot of the same ideas that Frank and Dad had in the design.

He was able to get his airplane finished, and it was well received.

It went on to be a popular spor t airplane and was even upgraded with a tapered wing in place of the ‘Hershey Bar’ wing.”

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

A new R-4360 B-36 engine, with Frank standing third from the right. nance for Michigan. So when Mike went to work for Ford, he came over and kept pestering me, ‘Come on, Frank, you gotta go to work for Ford. We need guys with radial engine experience.’ Mike Sitik spent three hours with me and kept saying ‘Come on, Frank, I’ll give you the general foreman’s job.’ That’s how I got the job at Ford.”

The tumultuous 1940s were over, and those who came home from the war looked for new horizons and stable employment.

Frank wanted to settle into a more normal life, get married, and raise a family.

Ford had received a contract from the military to build R-4360 radial engines that were used in Boeing C-97 and Model 377 Stratocruiser, the Convair B-36, the Northrop XB-35, and the Douglas C-124. Frank was hired and immediately went into management of the aircraft engine division, assembly, and test section. Ford was getting its engines out into the field.

The first engines were being built for the massive B-36 that was be-

16 FEBRUARY 2011

ing constructed at Convair’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant.

As Frank familiarized himself with the new 28-cylinder radial engine, a new position opened, that of a technical representative from the Ford plant. Frank recalls, “The military says to Ford… you gotta have technical reps out there in the field, just like Pratt & Whitney. I go to the guy who is the head of service and tell him I want to be the first guy who goes west or southwest. So I was assigned to Fort Worth and the Convair factory. I’ve got a picture of me walking on the top of the wing of a B-36.”

Frank has always been a people person, working with people rather than against them. That is his strength—confronting a problem, then designing a solution.

When one looks back over Frank’s experiences prior to that point in his career, he was honest and hardworking, and his word was good. If he made a commitment, he would follow through. He seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

People noticed him and were envious of his talent.

Having spent two years in Fort Worth, and with his work at the Convair plant winding down, Frank received his next assignment.

Frank was assigned to the West Coast, specifically at the North American Aviation plant in El Segundo, California.

At that time they were building the F-100 Super Sabre jet-powered aircraft. Pratt & Whitney designed the model J-57 afterburning engine. Ford began production of these engines under contract to Pratt & Whitney, and ace 4360 tech rep Frank Rezich would be involved with the installations in new production aircraft and retrofit in existing aircraft. So Frank began work at El Segundo.

Frank recalls, “I came out here because we [Ford] delivered the engine for the F-100. It was an engine swap—the original airplane had a G.E. nonafterburning engine, and it didn’t perform. Along comes Pratt with the J-57 with afterburner. So I came out here as a factory rep for

Frank (right) on the wing of a B-36 at the Convair factor y in For t Wor th, Texas, perhaps troubleshooting the installation of an R-4360. that engine at North American. A lot of people don’t understand government contracts. North American

builds the airplane, and there are certain products that the government furnishes, GFP. Engines are

one of them. I came out here and met the vice president of manufacturing, their production and engi-

A picture is wor th a thousand words. Working closely with factor y engineers and assembly people, Frank solved critical problems with his hands-on methods.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

Frank Rezich at Nor th American Aviation with a new Ford-built Pratt & Whitney J-57 afterburning engine still in the shipping can. By the end of this contract, Frank’s life would take another interesting turn.

neering people. Pratt & Whitney was also delivering engines, so you could get an airplane with either Pratt & Whitney or Ford manufactured engines installed. Well, they were just ramping up production around 1954.”

Frank’s daughter Kathy was born in 1956, when Frank and Eileen were living in Canoga Park. “As production really got going I got a couple more reps. They [North American] had their own test cells, and we had a contract with PAC that if any warranty work was required it was done at PAC [Pacific Aeromotive Corporation]. Anyway, I was the senior rep on the West Coast for Ford.”

Near the end of the Ford contract, Frank recalls, “Barry Stoh,

18 FEBRUARY 2011

the vice president and general manager [of North American], came to me and asked what I was going to do when the contract was over. I said just go across the runway to the commercial side. He said that was pretty tough over there, and so he made me an offer to come work for us [North American]. So I thought about it a day or two, and I came back to him. What do you have in mind? He said how about assistant to me. We haven’t had any problems with your engines, and if they needed fixing, the work was done on time. Your people got along with our people.

You will have a special assignment out of this office. He made me superintendent of the whole North American Palmdale plant!”

It should be noted here that Frank did not want to go back to Chicago. He liked the West Coast, and that is where he wanted to live. I recall a story Frank told about changing a fuel valve in a DC-3 on the ramp of Chicago Municipal Airport in the dead of winter. With freezing weather and fuel flowing down his arms, the cold was miserable. He thought at that time, “I need to get out of here and go where the summer temperatures are bearable, but the winter temperatures are mild.” He eventually settled in the Canoga Park area of Southern California, between Santa Barbara and San Diego.

Next month, we’ll share some incredible stories from the North American days and the XB-70.

ets.ts k c i t ke ture.org/tic n e e V Air entur

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It’s gonna be a big day. All week long.

This year we’ve packed each day (and evening) of AirVenture with special events and attractions you’ll want to plan around.

Monday, July 25 Opening Day Concert

Tuesday, July 26 Tribute to Bob Hoover

Wednesday, July 27 Navy Day

Thursday, July 28 Tribute to Burt Rutan

Friday, July 29 Salute to Veterans

Saturday, July 30 Night Air Show Returns

Sunday, July 31 Big Finale, the Military Scramble

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The Antiques in Winter Part III

If airplanes could talk . . .

BY

ROGER THIEL

This is the third installment of a story, wherein a large communal lightplane hangar in the present-day American Midwest in winter, six antique airplanes come to life and tell their tales of Depression-era survival to the newer airplanes, who are worried about recent national economic issues.

The Great Lakes’ Story The other antique airplanes had felt some sympathy for the only biplane in the group—called a Great Lakes—because in the fall some minor repair issues had come up on its annual inspection, and it had not flown since.

At last it spoke up: “I heard the earlier talk about the airplane types that did not survive the Depression, and my line was one of them. But such was my design’s unique ability to revive—thus, I have many descendants.

“My line was started in 1928, one of the “brioso” startups that took advantage of the Lindbergh success. I am from 1931, as the factory was soldiering on during the Depression and the situation toughened terribly. My rakish lines

20 FEBRUARY 2011

and aerobatic ability captured the hearts of aviators, but in the end, not their thin wallets. And like so many others, my factory’s doors, too, closed in 1932.

“Everyone thought that we were, well, down. But evidence of our line continued in a surprising and spectacular way, as our design’s popularity as an air show mount kept us going.

“Like the success of Depressionera movies, people would pay a little something for the diversion of an aerial exhibition. It was one of the few ways for pilots to make money in the 1930s, and we Great Lakes were, well, back up at a time when many other airplanes never left their hangars for lack of funds.

“Then came the war, and air shows stopped. Our status, like the

majority of civilian lightplanes, was down again.

“But after the war, something surprising happened, rare in American aviation. As our air show work resumed, our nimble design was appreciated, even with all of the exmilitary biplanes on the market, and we were up again, and referred to in the 1950s as ‘still the standard’ for such flying. Many pilots marveled at our air show performances, and unable to buy one of us, petitioned the design holders for sets of plans. This was done, and in workshops all over the country, Great Lakes biplanes were again made by individuals in the new homebuilders movement.

“As the postwar ‘tail fin years’ passed, new trends in aerobatic flying and competition again threat-

ened the Great Lakes line. Rather than the beautiful, sweeping, lefthand/right-hand choreographed nature of our performances, a new trend called ‘vertical penetration’ came to pass, and the situation again for us looked, well, down.

“Then something happened, even more unusual than the 1950s demand for my plans, something unique at that point in American aviation. In 1974, on a wave of nostalgia and the desire for traditional, open-cockpit flying, a factor y tooled up and began manufacturing my line anew, some 40 years after my company’s demise, in a final swing up of our decades-long up-down ride.

“And so this winter, my tail feathers need some minor repair work and some fabric re-covering.

Am I therefore never to fly again?

Am I expunged from the list?

Should I give up? Of course not!

I will be patched up, and I will fly again. The whole issue, quite frankly, seems normal to me.

“Because, you see, as my line’s histor y bears so well—down is not out—and up can often be just around the corner!”

The Cessna’s Story Known for minding its own business and usually remaining silent, the Cessna 140, with its sleek, understated aluminum covering, and the only all-metal aircraft among the six antiques, spoke up last, and the other five took immediate notice.

“It was a great gamble to make me in 1946,” it said. “As the war ended, Cessna changed over from making wooden-winged, twinengine trainers to a brand new line of three different aircraft models. “ To t h e c i v i l i a n m a r k e t , w e looked modern and different, but of conservative design, and this was extreme risk for us. Everything was designed around patient, safe utility. We received undramatic ‘form follows function’ monocoque fuselages and thin spring-steel landing gears of a sort not seen before on major production aircraft.

“But look at a picture of me on an aircraft ramp in the late 1940s, near a parking lot with contemporary autos, and note the huge contrast.

The public wanted bulgy, tanklike, ‘we won the war’ cars, but Cessna minded its own svelte air business, making its models functional and finished in efficient taste.

“In the postwar bust, we fought for what business there was. And with our step toward great modernity already taken, there was no turning back. We were forced to promote an understated product and fought to persevere.

“We recovered from the postwar slump in slow, undramatic fashion, minding our own business and relying on our sheer practical utility to persevere. Slowly this happened, ushering us into the more prosperous era in which ‘swords were beaten into tail fins.’

“I morphed into the Cessna 150, and my bigger brother into the 172 Skyhawk, which went on to become the most popular airframe in all of world aviation history!

“My line’s story might be compared to comedian and straight man Bud Abbott, who was considered a better talent and paid a higher salary than his partner, punch line-grabbing Lou Costello.

Hardly any of my line has thrilled an air show audience or flown in a speed dash, and yet we patiently and undramatically ‘bring them there’ and get it done every time— again and again and again.

“As American manufacturer Andrew Carnegie said, ‘Put all your eggs into one basket, and then watch that basket.’

“Understated, subdued, and yet the most popular of all time. And how did we Cessnas do it? Why, by minding our own business!”

Had the young airplanes been listening? The antiques didn’t know. And if so, would they even care? Did all of the storytelling even matter at all? The six old airplanes settled into their tidy warren of tail feathers, struts, wing panels, fuselage sides, and tail wheels.

From the unjoined portions of the metal hangar, tiny furrows and channels of light stabbed in, and the shadow-shapes they made etched weird, angular caricatures of airplanes onto each other and onto the cold floor.

The old planes’ thoughts became hazy, too, drifting in and out of warm summer flights, of easy engine starts, of being washed and polished, of being photographed, and of taking people up for their first time off earth. These and hundreds of other pictures, incomprehensible to those who do not fly, came and went.

Outside, the municipal light buzzed amidst the whistling sound as the unconcerned night wind blew tufts of stale snow into small eddies, atop the stark hibernating vegetation, into the ditches of the section line roads . . . and behind all of this was the distant sound of the encroaching trucks, marching in their endless, carnivorous line, roaring like lions.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21

Light Plane Heritage published in EAA Experimenter February 1991

THE HILD MARSHONET BY

It began during World War I . . . two young men, already deeply involved in aeronautics, became determined to design and manufacture for sale an airplane—for the Sunday flier that would be their equivalent of Henry Ford’s ubiquitous Model T Flivver. These men were Frederic Hild and his brotherin-law, Edward Marshonet.

Like so many optimists of the day, they visualized a postwar period when returning servicemen, aviators, “doughboys,” and “swabbies” alike would insist on their right to fly affordable airplanes far and wide across this free land—if, as, and when they chose. To that end they applied themselves to

OWEN S. BILLMAN

their drawing boards and came up with a small, single-seat biplane fitted with a two-cylinder, 20-hp engine that drank gasoline in relatively small sips.

By war’s end these men, living in Hempstead, Long Island, had achieved an enviable reputation in aeronautical circles. In 1910 they entered into a partnership and operated a business they rather grandly called The American Aeronautical Supply House.

They manufactured and offered for sale a Bleriot “type” monoplane. With that small word enclosed in quotation marks, one can only wonder if their offering had the stamp of approval of Louis Ble-

riot, or may have resulted from the borrowing of his original plans. Regardless, their first sale of an aeroplane came in 1911.

It is recorded that in 1912, Hild taught himself to fly in one of their own production ships, a common practice in those early days. He rapidly gained experience and soon flew an exhibition for representatives of Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. On February 22, 1913, he was issued Aero Club of America license number 216.

Hild immediately found his services in demand, so he began making exhibition flights. One was in Newton and another in Asbury Park, both in New Jersey.

Editor’s Note: The Light Plane Heritage series in EAA’s Experimenter magazine often touched on aircraft and concepts related to vintage aircraft and their history. Since many of our members have not had the opportunity to read this series, we plan on publishing those LPH articles that would be of interest to VAA members. Enjoy!—HGF

22 FEBRUARY 2011

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

On March 4, he flew from Hempstead to circle New York City, ran out of fuel, and landed on a farm, on what is now known as Roosevelt Island, gliding in on final under the Queensbury Bridge.

He taught flying around Hempstead, as well as that hotbed of aero activity, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

He and Marshonet soon sold out their supply house in Hempstead only to establish United Eastern Aeroplane Corporation, 1251-57 DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn.

When war broke out in Europe they sold that interest and went into design work, first for the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company in Garden City, Long Island, and later for Standard Aircraft Corporation in Elizabeth, New Jersey. It was during this period they gained the knowledge and experience that enabled them to develop the design for their sportplane. At war’s end in 1918 they began building and testing it. It was ready late in 1919.

Their sportplane was quite small. Wingspan (upper) was 24 feet, and length was 19 feet. Power was supplied by a two-cylinder, 20hp engine of unknown origin. It was a small V-twin that looked suspiciously like a motorcycle engine of the period.

Their concept was unique in that both upper and lower wings were swept, the upper one to the rear and the lower one forward.

Both sets of wings were tapered.

Attached to a cabane strut over the fuselage, the top wing’s rear spar was located about over the pilot’s head; the front spar of the lower

24 FEBRUARY 2011

wing attached to the bottom longeron at a point about even with the pilot’s hips. At first glance this appears to be a strange configuration, but close examination seems to reveal a method in their madness, as we will see.

The fuselage consisted of a long, wooden box that connected the pod housing the engine and pilot with the tail assembly. Entry to the cockpit was gained by stepping

up onto the 18-inch-high fuselage deck with one foot and then into the cockpit with the other while grasping a handhold in the cutout center of the upper wing, slithering forward until comfortably seated.

It can be seen that without the method of staggering the mounting of the wings in this way, entry to the cockpit of such a small biplane would have been very difficult, if not impossible.

Specifications: Span top plane 24 feet Span lower plane 19 feet 3 inches 5 feet to 3 feet Chord top plane Chord lower plane 4 feet 6 inches to 3 feet Gap 3 feet to 4 feet Overall length 19 feet Angle of incidence 4 degrees Wing section N.P.L. No. 4 Total area of mainplanes 160 square feet Area of ailerons (two) 20 square feet Stabilizer 6 square feet Elevators 9 square feet Fin 3 square feet Rudder 6 square feet Factor of safety throughout 7 Empty weight 450 pounds Gross weight 700 pounds Speed range (40-hp engine) 35-65 mph Climb 780 fpm Glide 1 in 8

Dihedral angle of the upper wing was 0 degrees and that of the lower 6 degrees. It was claimed that the unusual layout of the wings made for excellent stability, lateral as well as longitudinal. The wings could be folded very quickly by one man, and the plane stored in a space measuring just 9 feet by 20 feet.

No performance figures are available for the 20-hp version, but the same airframe powered with a 40-hp engine claims a speed range of 35 to 65 mph.

Advertisements showing the new plane appeared beginning with Aerial Age magazine dated March 1, 1920. It included a photo of the Sportsman in profile, proclaiming that readers should own one for pleasure or business . . . save time, earn money. The ad proclaimed, “It is easy and safe to fly. Enjoy good health and recreation by flying through the air.”

Some of the features mentioned were: • You can see the wheels while landing.

• Slow landing speed.

• Will start or alight on roadway, etc., no need for large field.

• Can be stored in a small barn, garage, etc. when not in use. No need to erect a hangar.

• Ease in getting in and out of seat, particularly desirable for ladies.

• Economical. Fuel cost 1 cent per mile.

• Low upkeep cost. Plane can be moved about on ground by one person.

• Motor reliable and efficient. Easy and simple to operate. 18 years of reputation in back of it.

• Large factor of safety. Excellent stability. Workmanship and materials guaranteed for one year.

• Price complete, $2,000.

Sales of their Sportsman apparently did not materialize as hoped, for as later in 1920, Hild and Marshonet dissolved their partnership and went their separate ways. It is not known what happened to the latter, but Hild was next reported in Chicago, where, in 1927, he founded the Hild Floor Machine Company. This business was quite successful, and he operated it until 1954, when he sold out and retired to Florida. He died unexpectedly in Miami on October 31, 1963, at the age of 73.

Much of the material for this article was found in a per-

sonal letter dated April 24, 1963, signed Fred C. Hild, to E.A. Goff, Secretary, Early Birds of American, courtesy of the Library at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. It is regrettable that so little information is available in regard to Edward Marshonet. It is evident that he was a silent partner of Hild’s.

References: Aerial Age Weekly, March 1, 1920 Flight magazine, March 25, 1920 NASM Library Journal of American Aviation Historical Society, Spring 1968

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Vintage Mechanic

THE

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

Bendix 30x5 Wheels Early aircraft wheels were classified as either spoke type (clincher), spun disc type (Bendix 30x5), or cast drop-center type

(Bendix and Hayes). See Figure 1.

Very few aircraft still operate with the spoked clincher-type wheels.

Some, however, operate with the

spun disc Bendix 30x5 wheel, and many more still operate with the cast drop-center type wheel.

FIGURE 1 First, let’s look at loadings on wheels during ground operation and landing. Normal landings do not impose a heavy load on the wheels (assuming it is not a hard landing). Nevertheless, the Bendix 30x5 wheels do not absorb side loads well. The faster the airplane is moving on the ground, the heavier the load imposed on the wheels.

26 FEBRUARY 2011

Figure 2 illustrates what happens when an aircraft touches down in a crosswind landing, in this case from left to right. As the aircraft slows, the rudder becomes increasingly ineffective. Unless brake is used, the ship will weathervane into the wind. If it is traveling fast enough, it will complete a turn, thus damaging the wheel, landing gear, and outboard wing. If things get really bad, it will flip over on its back. A conventional tailwheel-type aircraft would rather travel down the runway tail-first. Therefore, the tricycle landing gear is much preferred for modern flight training. Consider when the aircraft goes out of control, there is a tremendous side loading placed on the wheels.

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3 Figure 3 clearly shows what happens when an aircraft places heavy side loading on the wheels. The aircraft is a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, and the wheels are spoked type clincher. Side loading on the wheels caused by the aircraft sliding sideways has collapsed the spokes, a common problem with this type of wheel. Similar loads can be imparted on the spun disc type Bendix 30x5 wheels if the aircraft ground-loops and slides sideways. The spinnings are not designed to withstand heavy side loads.

Photo from Ron Alexander (http://PeachStateAero.com) and the collection at Candler Field Museum. The photo, taken in 1926, is of Doug Davis who was based at Candler.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

FIGURE 4 Bendix manufactured 30x5 wheels in two basic types, the plain bearing and roller bearing type hubs. The plain bearing hubs used bronze bushings, which slid over the axle and centered the wheel on the axle. Of course, wear was always a problem and the bushings had to be lubricated at regular intervals. Figure 4 shows a cross-section sketch of the plain bearing Bendix 30x5 wheel.

The aluminum hub casting can be seen along with the side spinnings, inner band, and side beads. Roller bearings cannot be used in this wheel assembly.

Figure 5 illustrates the Bendix 30x5 roller bearing type spun disc wheel. Note the difference in the hub casting to accept tapered roller bearings on the axle (left).

Using the chart, one can easily see a maximum wheel load of 1,600 pounds per wheel and a guaranteed side load ultimate strength of 3,300 pounds.

The inboard spun disc is attached to the cast aluminum hub with steel rivets. These rivets should always be checked for looseness. Looseness will be accompanied by a trace of black soot-like dust around the head, indicating that the rivets are moving or the aluminum under the head is loose. The outer portion of the inboard disc is attached to the liner and bead assembly with heat-treated alloy 2117 (AD) or 2024 (DD) flush head rivets of 5/32 inch or 3/16 inch diameter.

The outboard spun disc is attached to the bead and liner assembly with flush-head, heat-treated rivets, the same as the inboard disc. The disc is fastened to the hub with 5/16-inch diameter bolts. In most installations these bolts also fasten a bearing cover to keep dirt out of bearings.

When inspecting these type wheels it is necessary to deflate the tire, loosen the bead area, and move it, in order to inspect the rivet heads. Look for loose or missing rivets. Again, if the rivet is loose, there should be a black powder around the head. Mechanics call this the “smoking rivet.�

28 FEBRUARY 2011

FIGURE 5 Figure 5 contains notes on installation of the wheel and brake assembly. These wheels are designed only to carry the maximum load, which the tire manufacturers specify for standard tires, not oversize. These loads should never be exceeded. Maximum thickness for the brake-mounting flange is also shown in the illustration.

The brake-mounting flange must be machined true to the axle within 0.0005 inch, measured at the outside diameter of the flange. The brake assembly must be concentric with the wheel drum or drum-to-lining clearance cannot be properly set. Brake lining should be adjusted to the least clearance possible before dragging occurs. This clearance is from 0.005 inch to 0.010 inch (0.008 inch to 0.010 inch is usually the norm) depending whether the brake is mechanically or hydraulically activated. It might be necessary to turn the wheel brake drum on a lathe to assure that it is absolutely round, or adjustment of clearance will be impossible. Make a check by inserting 0.010 inch feeler gauge in the slots on the brake-backing plate.

If accurate adjustments cannot be made, check the drum to see if it is, in fact, round.

FIGURE 6

FIGURE 7 Figure 7 shows a typical tapered roller bearing. Bearings should be removed, cleaned, inspected, and repacked with grease at each 100-hour or annual inspection. Any discoloration or grooving of the race is grounds for replacement. Always use a good grade of heavy-duty wheel bearing grease. Most mechanics will hand-pack the bearings with grease, forcing the grease from one side of the rollers to the other side, assuring that all open areas around the rollers are completely filled. Never blow compressed air over the bearing, causing it to spin.

Bearings should be cleaned in mineral spirits or cleaning solvent.

Figure 8 is a photograph of my 1929 Command-Aire 5C3 with Bendix 30x5 wheels and a Scott 3200 steerable tail wheel. The airplane handles extremely well on the ground, even when landing in a crosswind above 20 mph.

Daily inspection includes feeling the inner and outer spun discs for wrinkling and checking for any loose rivets. On one occasion, the rivets that attach the inner disc to the hub were found to be loose. This was discovered when one wheel made a “groaning� sound when the airplane was pushed forward. I found the paint cracked around the rivet heads, a clear indication of loose rivets. The wheel was reFIGURE 8 moved from service. I would not authorize any riveted repairs to the discs other than replacement of a rivet. Riveted repairs, no matter how good, will only return approximately 80 percent strength to the part. Therefore, I would say no sheet metal repairs to the spun discs.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29

INSPECTION: Jack the airplane, spin the wheel, and look for excess wobble.

This indicates a side loading may have been imposed on the wheel or it was repaired incorrectly.

Deflate the tire, move the bead to expose the rivet heads on the inside of the wheel rim area. Look for loose or missing rivet heads, and any cracks along the bead area.

Check for cracks, dents, or wrinkling of spun discs. Run your hand over the disc to feel for irregularities. Look closely at the hole in the outboard disc, where the air valve extenders are installed, and check for cracks.

Conduct this inspection as often as necessary to assure the wheel is in serviceable condition. At minimum disassemble the tire from the wheel at annual inspection time to thoroughly inspect the wheels.

Only the pilot knows of a hard landing or heavy side loading, and if the inspecting mechanic is not promptly informed, wheel failure could occur with subsequent damage or loss of the airplane.

FIGURE 9 In Figure 9, when a severe side load is imposed on these 30x5 wheels, a catastrophe is in the making.

FIGURE 10

Have a comment or question for Bob Lock, the Vintage Mechanic? Drop us an e-mail at vintageaircraft@eaa.org, or you can mail your question to Vintage Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903.

30 FEBRUARY 2011

Finally, Figure 10 shows an original Bendix 30x5 wheel and the disastrous effects of side loading beyond maximum. Note that the flush rivets around the bead are mostly intact, although a few have failed from overstress. Failed rivets can be seen by observing shadow of the wheel on ground—missing rivets allow light to pass through the drilled holes. Obviously this wheel cannot be repaired, but the hub was undamaged. When repairing or assembling these wheels, only the highest-quality craftsmanship is acceptable. If the wheel fails, severe damage to the airplane will occur. Hearing wing spars crack or hanging upside-down in the rear seat is not comfortable! Keep a close watch on all 30x5 wheels for any signs of damage or deterioration.

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Vintage Instructor THE

BY Steve Krog, CFI

Taking the fear out of crosswind takeoffs “Every time I taxi to the runway for takeoff my palms begin to sweat, and I get a nervous knot in my stomach, especially when at a fly-in with a large audience. I’ve read your previous articles about crosswind landings and have put your tips to practice with great success. I no longer fear the crosswind landing, but the takeoff is another matter.”

Crosswind takeoffs can be a little intimidating, especially with a lot of observing critics judging your every move. But, just as with crosswind landings, a little forethought, some practice, and learning to relax will go a long way to perfecting that takeoff.

I’ve found when either giving dual instruction or providing Biennial Flight Reviews (BFR), the hardest part of the takeoff is self-induced pilot anxiety! Whether sitting in the front seat of a J-3 Cub or in the right seat of a Taylorcraft BC-12D, I can practically read the student’s or pilot’s pulse by placing a finger lightly on the control stick or yoke or gently resting a foot against the rudder pedal. The closer we get to the crosswind takeoff, the greater the heart rate and the firmer the grip on the stick.

Let’s analyze a crosswind takeoff step-by-step and see if we can’t eliminate the normally building fear. In this example we’ll assume that we have an approximately 30-degree 10-knot crosswind from left to right on a 75-foot-wide hard-surface runway and we’re flying a J-3 Cub. After taxiing to the end of the runway, completing the pre-takeoff

32 FEBRUARY 2011

checklist, and clearing the runway for approaching traffic, we’ll taxi into position on the runway centerline.

Once positioned and at a complete stop, take two or three deep breaths; this helps relax your breathing as well as your arm and leg muscles.

Now lightly grip the stick in your right hand using your thumb, index, and middle finger. Think of the stick in terms of one of those huge carnival cigars that could be won at any of a number of games of chance. Your ring and little fingers will not be in contact with the stick.

Position the balls of your feet lightly on the rudder pedals, with your heels contacting the floor.

Rudder inputs during takeoff should be made by flexing your ankles, not your entire leg. This is one of the biggest mistakes I find with students and pilots alike.

They all like to let their feet creep up on the rudder pedals, positioning their arches on the pedals. The next trip you make to the airport, sit in your airplane and see where you normally position your feet on the rudder pedals. If your arches are contacting the pedals, rudder input requires movement of your entire leg; this will cause a stiff, jerky movement rather than the desired fluid movement achieved when flexing the ankle. The jerky movement leads to slow rudder input followed by overcorrecting rudder inputs. Improper foot placement will usually lead to a series of small S-turns during the takeoff roll.

With your hand placed properly

on the stick and feet correctly positioned on the rudder pedals, we’re nearly ready to add power. But first we need to make the proper aileron and elevator inputs. Whether the crosswind is 5 knots or 20 knots and gusty, I always use full aileron deflection. In this example the stick will be moved fully to the left with a full up aileron on the left (or windward) side of the airplane. This will prevent the left wing from flying before the right wing. The control stick should be deflected to the aft position, with the elevator in the full up position. By doing so, we’re creating a downward load on the tail, keeping the steerable tail wheel firmly on the ground, which provides directional control at slow speeds.

Before adding power and initiating the takeoff roll, there are two additional items we must do to help ensure a safe, smooth takeoff. First, establish your visual line of sight. On a 75-foot-wide runway I look for, and focus on, the third runway light forward of the airplane. It doesn’t make any difference which side you look at; either side is fine and will depend on which eye is your primary eye.

(Which eye do you use when looking down the sight of a rifle? Right eye? Then look to the right side.)

Second, visualize the takeoff roll in your mind. Engine torque and propeller P-factor will pull the airplane to the left. Add the crosswind from left to right to the equation.

The wind will strike the airplane on the left, attempting to push the

U.S. NAVY FLIGHT TRAINING MANUAL, published in 1943.

tail to the right. This will require slightly more than the normal right rudder input during the takeoff roll.

With the ailerons fully deflected, elevator full up, relaxed grip on the stick, balls of your feet lightly contacting the rudder pedals, and line of sight established, smoothly apply power, moving from idle to full power in approximately three seconds. (Don’t slam the throttle to full power!)

As the takeoff roll begins, the airplane will want to drift to left of centerline. Anticipate and lightly tap and release the right rudder pedal. Do not tap and hold, as you will instantly overcorrect, causing the plane to move to the right. Just tap and release, tap and release, tap, tap, tap. In so doing, you will be able to maintain a straight-line track on the runway. Should the plane actually move a few feet to the left, keep tapping, straightening the longitudinal axis, and continue straight ahead, parallel to the runway centerline. Do not try to move the plane back to the centerline. Just continue tracking straight and parallel to the centerline.

As the ground speed increases, the wings begin generating lift, and the controls begin to become more effective. The greater the ground speed, the less aileron deflection is needed to keep the windward wing from flying. Generally, approximately half of the aileron deflection can be re-

moved. Simultaneously, the elevator is becoming effective, as can be felt by the increasing pressure needed to hold the control stick full aft. At this point, relax enough back pressure to allow the tail to begin flying. Now all of our directional control is provided by the rudder. As the tail lifts, we can anticipate the need for a slight bit of right rudder as again torque, P-factor, and the crosswind are all trying to force the plane to the left. Ideally, we want to lift the tail off the ground but keep it in a slight tail-low, nosehigh attitude. In a normal head wind takeoff, the tail would be kept low but off the ground for maximum angle of attack.

If we lift the tail too high, which is very tempting to do to improve forward visibility, we negate lift and prolong the length of time the airplane is on the ground during the crosswind takeoff roll. Rather, the desire is to raise the tail slightly higher than normal and lift off at a speed slightly greatly than normal.

This will compensate for gusts or changes in wind velocity and increase the safety of the takeoff.

All the while that we’re rolling, inputting aileron, tapping on the right rudder, and lifting the tail, our eyes remain focused on the edge of the runway, approximately three runway lights ahead of the airplane. It’s really tempting to try looking over the nose, but as soon as you do so, you lose all reference

for keeping the airplane tracking straight ahead.

As the airplane approaches liftoff, gently begin moving the control stick to the center position, neutralizing the aileron input just as the plane breaks ground. This technique allows the plane to lift off with the wings even and parallel to the ground rather than the common one-wing low configuration. Continue the climb for 10-20 feet; then lower the nose to level flight and relax all rudder and aileron inputs. This will allow the airplane to weather vane into the wind, which is actually allowing the airplane to set up its own crab angle. Once stabilized, continue the climb out of the pattern, maintaining the crab angle, and be off on another leg of pleasure flying!

Crosswind takeoffs are not overly difficult, but they do require close attention to all details. Begin brushing up on your crosswind technique by practicing in light wind conditions. Then as your technique improves and you become more comfortable, try a takeoff and landing or two in slightly more wind. Practice breeds proficiency, and proficiency eliminates the fear factor.

Happy flying, especially on crosswind days!

To contact Steve Krog or Vintage Airplane editor H.G. Frautschy, send an e-mail to vintage@eaa.org.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 33

by H.G. FRAUTSCHY

MYSTERY PLANE This month’s Mystery Plane comes from a collection of photos we recently noted was updated last year. It is of foreign manufacture.

Send your answer to EAA, Vintage Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Your answer needs to be in no later than March 20 for inclusion in

the May 2011 issue of Vintage Airplane.

You can also send your response via e-mail. Send your answer to mysteryplane@eaa.org.

Be sure to include your name plus your city and state in the body of your note and put “(Month) Mystery Plane” in the subject line.

NOVEMBER’S MYSTERY ANSWER The November 2010 Mystery Plane came to us from the batch of old photos sent to us by Duffy Thompson of Lakeland, Florida.

The answer was provided by Thomas Lymburn of Princeton, Minnesota: The November 2010 Mystery Plane is the Fokker F.III. It appears in

34 FEBRUARY 2011

your photo to be missing its rudder.

Designed in 1920 by Reinhold Platz, the F.III was similar to the earlier F.II, but had increased dimensions and carried five passengers in the cabin, with the pilot’s cockpit on the starboard side recessed into the wing’s leading edge. The prototype was powered by a 185-hp BMW IIIa engine. Initial production models for KLM had 240-

hp Armstrong Siddeley Puma inlines.

Twelve were built for KLM, these entering service on 14 April 1921 on the London-Rotterdam-Amsterdam route.

These cruised at 81 mph and had an endurance of five hours.

Other F.IIIs went to Deutsche Luft-Reederei (with 350-hp BMW engines) and the Hungarian carrier Malert (with 230-hp Hiero IV and

BMW III engines). Some versions were powered by a 350-hp Rolls-Royce Eagle and late production models used Gnome-Rhone Jupiter or Titan radials.

The F.III (also appearing as F.3) had a long career, examples flying all over Europe, Britain, the USSR, the USA, Canada, and one in New Guinea.

Total production is not clear, but estimates range from 50 to 78. Some, called Fokker-Grulich F.IIIs, were manufactured in Germany at Staaken.

Your clue indicates the photo was taken on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

John Stroud’s European Transport Aircraft since l9l0 notes that in 1921 two Fokker F.IIIs came to the United States.

One, registered C 1891 (s/n 1603), was delivered to Brock & Weymouth of Philadelphia. The other, registered C 2720 (s/n 1600), was sent to Fairbanks Airplane Corporation in Alaska and was flown by Noel Wien. He used it to fly passengers and cargo between Fairbanks and Nome. A photo of his F.III from June 1925 appears in Geza Szuroly’s Bushplanes. Two F.IIIs were still extant in Canada in 1931, one

flying on twin floats. These might have been s/n 1600 and 1603.

Jack Erickson of State College, Pennsylvania adds this: My best guess from your photo, hints, and the three references is that the aircraft is a Fokker F.III, designed in Germany with first flight during May 1921, built in Germany and the Netherlands, and used a great deal by the emerging European airlines beginning in about 1921-22. It is unknown how many of the 50-60 F.III built found their way to the U.S. and Canada, but from the U.S. registration system that began in 1927, two were registered in the U.S. Anthony Fokker had a sales office in New York City from about 1920 to 1932 and conducted business there as Fokker Aircraft Corp (FAC). Fokker exported several aircraft to the U.S., and a few F.III demonstrators were probably among them. Later, in December 1923, the Atlantic Aircraft Corp. was founded as a U.S. company. Capital for Atlantic was raised

by New York City businessmen, with Fokker as chief engineer, and built his designs at their factory. Their factory (formerly owned by Witteman-Lewis to build the Barling Bomber) was located at the airport in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, which became Teterboro Airport. In 1926, FAC bought out Atlantic Aircraft Corp. and continued business at Teterboro under Fokker’s ownership and management.

Your photo shows hangars in the background that look like those at Curtiss Field at Garden City, Long Island.

This can be seen in photos of Netherlands-built Fokker S-3 and AO-1/ CO-IV MAIL aircraft in Part 2 of Bowers’ article. During the early days of FAC, and even after Atlantic Aircraft was founded, their aircraft were often photographed for a time at Curtiss Airport. At any rate, your photo was taken on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. at one place or another.

A correct answer was also received from William Abbema of South Rockwood, Michigan.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 35

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(1) Rose Parakeet, (2) Bellanca Jr., (3) Aeronca Chief floatplane, (4) Luscombe 50, (5) Piper J-2 Cub,

(6) Wendt W-1, (7) Porterfield (exact model unknown, flatopposed engine with exposed cylinders; could be Porterfield 40,50 or 60), (8) Welch OW, (9) Dart G, (10) Taylorcraft on floats.

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President Geoff Robison 1521 E. MacGregor Dr. New Haven, IN 46774 260-493-4724 chief7025@aol.com

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DIRECTORS

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Jerry Brown 4605 Hickory Wood Row Greenwood, IN 46143 317-422-9366 lbrown4906@aol.com Dave Clark 635 Vestal Lane Plainfield, IN 46168 317-839-4500 davecpd@att.net John S. Copeland 1A Deacon Street Northborough, MA 01532 508-393-4775 copeland1@juno.com Phil Coulson 28415 Springbrook Dr. Lawton, MI 49065 269-624-6490 rcoulson516@cs.com

Espie “Butch” Joyce 704 N. Regional Rd. Greensboro, NC 27409 336-668-3650 windsock@aol.com Steve Krog 1002 Heather Ln. Hartford, WI 53027 262-966-7627 sskrog@aol.com Robert D. “Bob” Lumley 1265 South 124th St. Brookfield, WI 53005 262-782-2633 lumper@execpc.com S.H. “Wes” Schmid 2359 Lefeber Avenue Wauwatosa, WI 53213 414-771-1545 shschmid@gmail.com

DIRECTORS EMERITUS Robert C. Brauer 9345 S. Hoyne Chicago, IL 60643 773-779-2105 photopilot@aol.com

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 39

But It’s Cold Outside Hangar time—a finer time BY

S. MICHELLE SOUDER

I enjoy our hangar. It’s a place to write, take naps, tell stories, solve problems, visit with airplane folks . . .

A

s I look out my kitchen window this morning, I am keenly aware that Wi n t e r h a s a w a k ened from her slumber and has come to hunt. As she swats us with a snowy paw, five or so inches of her cold, white misery remains in my yard.

While many folks think snow is wonderful, I do not. I much prefer to clean up grass clippings tracked in from mowing the yard than stepping in unseen melted snow puddles in my stocking feet. (Agh!) I don’t have much of a cold tolerance. Never have. I suppose in PC terms you could say I’m thermally challenged. Regardless, it

40 FEBRUARY 2011

limits my ability to enjoy some of the things I like to do. For the next several months there will be limited time spent in the hangar.

That frustrates me. I enjoy our hangar. It’s a place to write, take naps, tell stories, solve problems, visit with airplane folks, or just admire the two airplanes that call it home (particularly the one with my name on the registration).

Hangar time provides some of the finer moments in my life.

Where flying provides the ultimate sanity, hangar time provides necessary solitude or social opportunity mostly at my choosing. I’m thankful for those opportunities.

They are an important part in dealing with the daily challenges in

my life. When I am not personally airworthy I at least have a place to go for some aviation therapy.

Cleaning bugs off the leading edge gets rid of nervous energy, and just the sound of an airplane taking off is good for this aviator’s soul.

I am blessed to be based at a little airport where I know the other tenants on a first name basis and consider them friends. We have good neighbors, and I can share a hangar with someone I know and trust. I fly in a beautiful valley as I choose. With so many negatives facing general aviation, it’s nice to still have an airport (and a hangar) I can call home.

In a little while I will put on my insulated coveralls. (I’ll look like a little kid in a snowsuit.) I will go to the hangar, cold or not.

If the taxiway is cleared I’ll pull out the airplane, gently pull it through to wake it up, and if all is good let those beautiful wings once again take me up where the third dimension makes the world look small and life’s troubles even smaller. I will be glad for my aviation moments, and I really hope the heater works!