Va vol 39 no 9 sep 2011

SEPTEMBER 2011

The Henley’s Mark, Tanner, and Johnathan ■ Mark is an ATP and has been a pilot since 1976 ■ Tanner is a student pilot who flies every chance she gets ■ Jonathan is 18 and has been a private pilot for one year

Our L-4 was based in the US During WWII from 1943 to 1945. We bought it early this year and have enjoyed every minute of it. The stearman was built in 1942 during WWII and we have owned it since 1975.

Owning and operating antique aircraft has been a part of our family for 3 generations going back to 1963 when my father Tom bought a Piper Tripacer. Our family has owned aircraft ever since. Our aviation roots run deep in this family, and that is why we choose AUA as our agency. They have a long distinguished record of service with the types of aircraft we operate, and understand our problems and concerns.

Thanks AUA !

— Mark Henley AUA is Vintage Aircraft Association approved. To become a member of VAA call 800-843-3612.

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A I R P L A N E Vol. 39, No. 9

2011

SEPTEMBER

CONTENTS 2

Straight & Level A wonderful week and a heartfelt set of thank-yous

by Geoff Robison

3

News

5

Friends of the Red Barn 2011

6

A Handsome 1947 Piper Super Cruiser Paying tribute to aviation’s role in pipeline patrol

by Sparky Barnes Sargent

14

Lloyd Stearman His airplanes and his legacy

by Philip Handleman

20

6

Tribute to a Classic Focke-Wulf Fw.44J Stieglitz reborn in Germany

by Stefan Degraef and Edwin Borremans

24

Light Plane Heritage De Havilland’s Little Birch

by Bob Whittier

30

The Vintage Instructor It’s all in the feet

by Steve Krog, CFI

32

20

The Vintage Mechanic Engine cowls for drag reduction—Part 2

by Robert G. Lock

36

Mystery Plane

by H.G. Frautschy

39

Classified Ads

STAFF

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

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

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

COVERS

FRONT COVER: The versatile Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser has served a variety of roles in it’s 60+ years of flying. This particular PA-12 has been a part of Jim Adams’ family since 1963, and it’s fresh restoration pays tribute to the Gleason Romans Pipe Line Patrol Company. Read more about it by turning to Sparky Barnes Sargent’s story starting on page 6. EAA Photo by Mike Steineke.

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

BACK COVER: Vintage aviation in Europe is alive and well; here’s a restoration of one the Continent’s rarest aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw.44J. Stefan DeGraff and Edwin Borremans tell us all about the challenges of restoring a World War II era biplane starting on page 20.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1

STRAIGHT & LEVEL Geoff Robison EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VAA

A wonderful week and a heartfelt set of thank-yous t was really rejuvenating to get out of town for a good long while and take some time in aviation’s mecca. It was great to visit with all of my wonderful aviation friends from across the globe.

We all experienced many fantastic events at Oshkosh this year, and it is always a highlight to share them with so many of the attendees at AirVenture every year, but this was really one of the best. As Bob Hope always sang, “Thanks for the memories.”

This year’s event was really fun for me. We saw some wonderful aircraft restorations come our way, and they kept our judges pretty busy. Capping off the week was the spectacular Saturday night air show; it was everything it was promised to be. I have personally witnessed some really amazing fireworks in my days, but never have I seen such a unique pyrotechnics show as we had during this year’s AirVenture. The devices they are setting off are far more advanced than what we normally see at the local 4th of July fireworks show; it was nothing short of phenomenal!

Great show, guys! It was a real crowdpleaser. Spread the word, and be sure to visit www.AirVenture.org and click on “Top Videos of AirVenture 2011,” then select “Night Ballet.”

Next year’s event, as always, is already in the planning stages. The 2012 event will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the venerable Piper Cub. Plan to observe a virtual sea of yellow airplanes all parked together in the Type Club parking area in the Vintage area. This will prove to be a special event that you will definitely want to see. Imagine

I

2 SEPTEMBER 2011

a single field with at least 100 Cubs all parked together. The response from the many Cub owners has already been quite impressive. Be sure to come and join in the fun! P.S. If your Cub isn’t yellow, that’s quite all right; we’ve got a spot for you, too!

Feel free to join us.

Congratulations to the staff and leadership of EAA for yet again putting together such an excellent event for us all to enjoy. I don’t know how you continue to do this each year, but it just seems to always to be better than the last one. Of course, I can’t fail to mention here the many volunteers who show up every year and give so much of their time to the organization to assist us in making it all happen. Your collective and individual efforts are so greatly appreciated.

We hope to see you all back next year for yet another week of great fun.

As many of you are aware, each year the Vintage Aircraft Association issues two prestigious awards to recognize our VAA Volunteers of the Year. This year’s Flight Line Volunteer of the Year was awarded to longtime VAA volunteer Dale Masters. Dale, your dedicated service to this organization is greatly appreciated, and you are very deserving of this recognition.

Our Behind the Scenes award went to another longtime VAA volunteer.

She stepped forward several years ago and took on the responsibility of keeping the many Vintage flightline volunteers watered and fed throughout each day of the weeklong event.

Pat Blake is another one of those tireless volunteers who spends countless hours each day running up and down the line serving our volun-

teers not only food and beverages, but also her friendly personality and warm smile. You are greatly appreciated by all of our volunteers, Pat! Thanks for your service. Along with the award, each recipient of the Art Morgan Memorial Volunteer of the Year award receives a free one-year membership to the Vintage Aircraft Association and a commemorative clock. Congratulations to you both!

I want to close this month’s column with a personal note recognizing our past president and now current chairman emeritus of EAA. As many of you are now aware, Tom Poberezny has elected to retire from his responsibilities with the EAA. Tom served our parent organization admirably throughout his tenure as president since 1989, and has worked for EAA in one capacity or another for a total of 49 years of service to the organization his father founded in 1953. Throughout many of the years we’ve been in Oshkosh I have had the distinct pleasure of working with him. No one has ever done more for the Vintage Aircraft Association than Tom and his father, Paul. I will sincerely miss working with him, and my memories of our relationship will always be positive ones. Good luck and blue skies to you in your retirement. The pleasure has truly been all mine.

VAA is about participation: Be a member! Be a volunteer! Be there! Do yourself a favor and ask a friend to join up with us. Let’s all pull in the same direction for the good of aviation. Remember, we are better together. Join us and have it all.

training attendance alone does not satisfy those requirements.

2) Complete Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Form 8610-1,Mechanic’s Application for Inspection Authorization, in duplicate.

3) Show evidence the applicant meets the requirements of §65.93(a) for both the first and second year in the form of an activity sheet or log, training certificates, and/or oral test results, as applicable.

According to the FAA, the requirement for other activity besides a refresher training course has always been an FAA regulatory requirement per FAR 65.93(a) that requires the applicant continue to be “actively engaged” as a mechanic by meeting FAR 65.91 paragraphs (c)(1) through (c)(4), but the documentation for that requirement has been inconsistently applied by the FAA field offices due to the previous definition lacking clarity. Part of the reason for issuing the revised policy is to make the requirement for “actively engaged” beyond the refresher course clearer. When revised the new language clarifying the definition of “actively engaged” within 8900.1 will read: NOTE: Actively engaged means an active role in exercising the privileges of an airframe and powerplant mechanic certificate in the maintenance of civil aircraft. Applicants who inspect, overhaul, repair, preserve, or replace parts on aircraft, or who supervise (i.e., direct and inspect) those activities, are actively engaged. The ASI may use evidence or documentation provided by the applicant showing inspection, overhauling, repairing, preserving, or replacing parts on aircraft or supervision of those activities. This evidence or documentation when required could include employment records showing performance or supervision of aircraft maintenance, return to service documents, and/or copies of maintenance record entries.

Technical instructors or individuals instructing in a FAA part 147 approved AMT school, who also engage in the maintenance of aircraft certifi-

4 SEPTEMBER 2011

cated and maintained in accordance with 14 CFR, can be considered actively engaged. Individuals instructing in a FAA part 147 AMT school, who also engage in the maintenance of aircraft-related instruction equipment maintained in accordance with 14 CFR standards, can be considered actively engaged.

Read the second sentence carefully (we’ve put it in bold type); it does not quantify the amount of work that must be done, it simply states that any of those activities is viewed by the FAA as “actively engaged.” In other words, if you touch an aircraft once a year to perform maintenance within the scope of practice as an A&P-IA, you’ve met the definition of “actively engaged” and need only to meet the requirements of 65.91 (the regulation under which an Inspection Authorization is initially issued) and 65.93 (a)(1), or (2), or (3), or (4), or (5) to be eligible for renewal.

65.93 reads, in part: (a)…In addition, during the time the applicant held the inspection authorization, the applicant must show completion of one of the activities in Sec. 65.93(a)(1) through (5) below by March 31 of the first year of the 2-year inspection authorization period, and completion of one of the five activities during the second year of the 2-year period: As explained to us by the FAA, this means that an A&P mechanic with an inspection authorization who performs a single annual, replaces a single part on an aircraft, supervises A&P activities, etc. each year (which means they are, as defined by the new note added to the policy, now “actively engaged”) and attends a yearly refresher course during each one-year period during the two-year renewal cycle (one of the five activities listed in 65.93(a)) will be eligible for renewal of his or her inspection authorization. The requirements for activity have been met under 65.91(c)(2), meaning that only one more of the follow-up requirements for renewal specified in 65.93(a)(1) through (5) needs to be accomplished.

We’ll continue to monitor the implementation of the new policy published for the FAA’s Flight Standards Management System FAA Order 8900.1. Members who are directly impacted by this policy are encouraged to send us notes describing their experiences at vintageaircraft@eaa.org, or you can post your comments on the VAA’s Red Barn section of the new EAA Forums website, www.EAAForums.org.

Rod Hightower talks with members about EAA’s future during his AirVenture forum.

Hightower Provides a Look to the Future EAA members can expect to see a Young Eagles-style program for adults and a national network of flying clubs, said EAA President/ CEO Rod Hightower at his AirVenture forum.

The jury is still out on what the “adult eagles” program will be called, but Hightower noted that many people have told him they learned to fly after the age of 40.

“They are very active pilots,” he said. “As people get older, they have a little more time and a little more money on their hands to pursue a long-held dream.”

Hightower didn’t offer operational details on the adult phase of the program, but he said those are not the only enhancements in store for the Young Eagles, which has provided 1.6 million youngcontinued on page 38

TM

Friends of the Red Barn 2011 STEVE CUKIERSKI

Thank you for your generous donations!

Diamond Plus Level Gordon Anderson Charles W. Harris Matt and Ken Hunsaker Robert “Bob” Lumley Bill and Saundra Pancake Rick Princell Wes Schmid John R. Turgyan VAA Chapter 10, Tulsa, OK

Diamond Level Jonathan and Ronald Apfelbaum John W. Cronin Jr. Richard and Sue Packer Ben Scott Ronald E. Tarrson

Platinum Level Robert Schjerven

Gold Level Raymond Bottom James Gorman Drew Hoffman Earl Nicholas Arthur H. Kudner Jr. Fund

Silver Level Jerry and Linda Brown Dave and Wanda Clark Lois Cohen

Al Hallett Tom Hildreth A.J. Hugo Peter Jensen Jr. John Kephart Mark Kolesar Sarah and Bill Marcy Dan and Denise Osterhouse Brad Poling Roger P. Rose Carson E. Thompson Dwayne and Sue Trovillion

Bronze Level Lloyd Austin L. Tom Baker Lt. Col. (Ret) Hobart Bates Dennis and Barbara Beecher Logan Boles Gary Brossett Charles Brownlow Thomas Buckles Charles Buckley Robert “Rob” Busch Steve Buss John Carr Gene Chase Dan Dodds Theo Embry Rudy Frasca Terry Griffin Red and Marilyn Hamilton

Bob Kellstrand Rich Kempf Dan and Mary Knutson Marc Krier Lynn and Gerry Larkin Jimmy Leeward Ballard Leins Barry Leslie Joseph Leverone Jr. Gerald Liang Russ Luigs Thomas H. Lymburn Helen Mahurin Pfizer Foundation Roscoe Morton Steve Moyer Lynn Oswald Steven and Judith Oxman Dwain Pittenger Tim and Liz Popp Bob Porter Ron Price Jerry Riesz John Rothrock Jr. Ray Scholler Jeffrey L. Shafer Bob Siegfried, II David Smith Dean Stoker Butch and Pat Tortorige Robert Tyler Thomas Vukonich

Jan Douglas Wolfe Dan Wood Wynkoop Airport

Supporter Level Cam Blazer Charles Burtch Rolly Clark Camille Cyr Bruce Denney Geff Galbari Bruce Graham Richard Heim Barry Holtz Keith Howard George Jenkins Walter Kahn Peter Karalus John Koons James Lockwood Jim Newhouse Charles Pearcy Keith Plendl Frank Schelling Chuck Schonberger Bob and Sue Staight Alan C. Thiel Harland Verrill Fred Warner Robert Weber Michael Williams

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

A Handsome 1947

Piper Super Cruiser Paying tribute to aviation’s role in pipeline patrol BY

MIKE STEINEKE

6 SEPTEMBER 2011

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

r

Y

ou might say that Jim Adams of Pontiac, Illinois, is the proud “papa” of one handsome Piper Super Cruiser. After all, it’s been part of his family since 1963, and he just completed its five and a half year, ground-up restoration. A retired Delta pilot who finished his career by flying Boeing 757s and 767s, Adams is one of those gregarious fellows whose affable laughter is contagious. Within minutes of meeting him, it’s apparent that he’s, well…just having too much fun, and loving every moment.

His affinity for Cubs star ted years ago, and eventually precipitated his airline career. He recalls: “I was a farm boy from central Illinois, and some of my earliest memories are going with my bachelor uncle to air shows.

I had to sneak off as a kid—I was probably 14— and pay a guy to take me for a ride, because my mother would have had a kitten if she’d have known! I just was in love with it,” he shares, laughing, “and when I went to the University of Illinois, I signed up for an aviation program even though I didn’t have the money. So I worked three different jobs, carried a full [course] load, stayed up all night, and got hooked on coffee—but I

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

got my private license! I soloed an Aeronca Champ, immediately followed by a J-3 Cub, and I have loved Cubs ever since.”

Piper Aircraft Right after World War II, Piper vigorously fulfilled a leading role in supplying aircraft for the booming civilian market. The PA-12 prototype was test-flown by Clyde Smith Sr. in the fall of 1945, and the model entered production in 1946. The Super Cruiser sold well; there were nearly 3,800 PA-12s built at Piper’s Lock Haven factory in Pennsylvania (and Ponca City, Oklahoma).

Writer Leighton Collins captured the excitement of the day in his article “Piper Super Cruiser” (Air Facts – The Magazine for Pilots, May 1946): “It could be that it’s just spring, but if you drop in at Lock Haven these days you get a feeling that there’s something more going on in private flying than just catching up on a five-year dearth of new airplanes.”

8 SEPTEMBER 2011

In 1947, a pair of these (modified) Pipers would add new meaning to the model’s name by making a super cruise all the way around the globe. George Truman and Clifford Evans departed Teterboro, New Jersey, on August 9 and completed their world flight when they landed back at Teterboro on December 10. Their 25,162-mile flight took 122 days, 23 hours, 4 minutes and demonstrated to the world the dependability and utility of private airplanes. (“A 1947 Global Flyer— The City of the Angels,” Vintage Airplane, Vol. 34, No. 8, August 2006).

The three-place PA-12 was derived from the earlier 1942 J-5C Cub Cruiser, and improvements included a fuel tank in each wing, metal spars, a new interior, and a streamlined appearance. With a wingspan of 35 feet, 6 inches, it measured 23 feet, 1 inch from nose to tail. Powered by a 100-hp Lycoming O-235, it cruised at 105 mph, and with a 38-gallon fuel capacity, offered it a 600-mile range

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

Jim Adams shows of f the engine compar tment—complete with overhauled engine, new stainless firewall, and even a new boot cowl. while burning 6 gph. It weighed 900 pounds empty and had a useful load of 850 pounds. The PA-12 was manufactured through 1947, when the lightplane market fizzled due to

PHOTOS COURTESY JIM ADAMS

The aft section of the fuselage, after the old fabric was removed— note the wood stringers.

Close-up view of the old trim system. decreased demand and overabundant supply.

Super Cruiser

Fuselage with fabric and metalized headliner.

The wing, with the original truss-style ribs.

NC2827M (s/n 12-1306) rolled outside the Lock Haven factory on December 17, 1946, just seven months after a devastating flood nearly swallowed the manufacturing plant, which was located in a valley alongside the Susquehanna River.

NC2827M was powered by a 100-hp Lycoming O-235C, with a Sensenich wood prop, according to the factory’s final inspection form. Just two days later, it was purchased by Henry Brown of Rochelle, Illinois, and it stayed in Illinois until 1954, when it went to Wisconsin. It quickly went through more than half a dozen owners and remained in Wisconsin until September 1963, when the Rossville Flyers of Illinois (Jim Adams and Thomas Burwash) bought it.

“We bought the plane in 1963, when I was 25 years old,” recalls Adams, blue eyes twinkling, “We had a partnership, and then he eventually put it in his name, but I did the maintenance and hangared it, so it was still part mine.

He passed away, and I bought the plane ‘back’ in 1999. Now it’s in my name and my daughter and son-in-law’s names—Amy and Paul Lamermayer—they also fly.”

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9

PHOTOS COURTESY JIM ADAMS

The Super Cruiser, looking brand new from nose to tail.

The wing and cowling have been painted Tennessee Red. (The pipeline patrol Super Cub that Adams sold to his friend is in the background.)

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

Restoration Inspiration

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

Updated avionics and radio were neatly combined with the original creamfaced instruments.

NC2827M left the factory with this engine; total time now is 1,368.4.

10 SEPTEMBER 2011

In 2004, it occurred to him that it just might be a good idea to thoroughly rejuvenate NC2827M. “I had flown our grandkids in this Super Cruiser and thought, ‘This thing has only been re-covered—it’s never been completely torn down.

Maybe we ought to look at it.’ So here it is, Tuesday, July 28 [2010], at Oshkosh, and we just finished it Friday! We flew it here on Sunday, and it took us exactly one hour and eight minutes. The engine and airframe total time is 1,368.4, and I have all the logs, starting right with the build sheet from the factory— Clyde Smith Jr. got that for me, and I’m really tickled with that! I’ve got every little piece of paper that’s ever had anything to do with it.”

Adams decided to retain many of the PA-12’s original features, while updating it for safety, utility, and cabin comfort. He also owned a PA-18 Super Cub at the time, and the history of that particular airplane inspired him to finish the PA-12 in such a way that it would pay tribute to aviation’s role in the pipeline patrol industry.

“That Cub, N3286Z, belonged to Gleason Romans of Tulsa, Oklahoma, back in the early 1960s. It had the Gleason Romans Pipeline Patrol Company logo on it,” describes Adams, “and a low oil pressure warning horn that would wake the dead—which was a good idea if

Fuselage with fabric and metalized headliner.

Right: Gleason Romans Pipe Line Patrol Company logo—note the multitasking bee peering through binoculars to detect oil leaks, and the oil derrick in the background.

your nose was outside watching for pipeline leaks!”

Adams intended to finish the PA-12, then restore the PA-18 so he would have two airplanes to represent the role of pipeline patrol planes in aviation history. But he says he altered that plan when “a friend of mine, who had lost his hangar and Cessna 195 in a fire, came to me one day, and he said, ‘Jim, I want your Cub.’ I told him it wasn’t for sale, and a day later he owned it. So anyway, I got hold of Gleason Romans Jr., through a friend, and asked him if I could use his father’s company logo, and he said it was okay.”

The front cover of a Gleason Romans Pipe Line Patrol Company catalog, the logo and a photograph taken with the aerial camera system he invented.

Romans’ Pipeline Patrol In 1944, Gleason Romans Sr. started a flying school and maintenance facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He had five airplanes, which were making money only on the weekends. “I had to make some money with them [during the week], so I conceived the idea to use the planes to patrol the pipelines.”

He tested his idea in April 1945, when he hopped into his Piper J-3 Cub for his first trial pipeline patrol flight. Accompanying him was the chief engineer of Stanolind Oil and Gas Company, to help Romans determine the feasibility of aerial patrol for the pipelines. Both par-

ties were pleased with the outcome, and the engineer was enthusiastic about this new aerial method of inspecting pipelines for oil leaks and encroaching vegetation.

Romans then began cultivating his concept into a thriving business.

His first patrol plane was a Taylorcraft L2M, which he modified with an extra fuel tank and an additional window in the cabin portion of the fuselage. As he acquired additional contracts with oil companies, he continued hiring pilots and buying patrol airplanes.

This entrepreneur continually studied ways to enhance the effectiveness of his pipeline patrol, and he developed some innovative devices. One of his inventions was a mechanical, electrically stabilized aerial camera system.

“I built a camera and ran a 5-inch-wide raw film across the slit.

It photographed 240 miles of pipeline on one roll of film as the aircraft flew over the pipeline. It was sort of phenomenal,” recalls Romans with a chuckle, “and the pipeline companies liked it. We had to synchronize the camera with the aircraft, so another person would use a view finder to regulate the speed of the film as the pilot flew patrol.

We installed a gyro in it, and the camera was mounted in a gimbaled ring inside the airplane’s belly, so the camera stayed straight no matter what the airplane did. The pilot flew at 2,000 feet AGL directly over the right-of-way to take the picture.

That gave us a 1/2-mile width on the picture, which the pipeline companies used to count houses along the right-of-way—if it was a congested area, or people lived too close to the line, the companies were required to reduce the pressure in it.”

He also invented an electronic system to radio transmit operating data about ground-installed rectifier devices (used along pipeline routes to inhibit rusting of metal pipe casings) from ground stations to overflying pipeline patrol aircraft.

When asked if he or his pilots ever discovered a major leak, Ro-

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11

mans chuckls and replies, “Oh yes, I was on standby in Tulsa to fly emergency patrol flights. They called me to go out and find something wrong with a pipeline. So I set sail in a J-3 Cub, flying south over this pipeline. I came to the top of a little hill, and I could see that down below, it was solid black. So I went back and called them, and they sent a crew down there, and I went with them.

It was a total black swamp, with oil inches thick, and we took boots and waded in there to stop the leak. I was smoking cigarettes at that time, and I started to light a cigarette, and there was dead silence,” he recalls, laughing and explaining. “That caught my attention, and I didn’t light up.

If I’d lit up we’d all been gone! The gas cloud over the oil would have exploded.”

Pilots sometimes encountered another problem while patrolling. “We had a lot of liability problems with turkeys,” recalls Romans. “They’d fly one way and then the other [in front of us], as we flew over [the line]. But cattle would get accustomed to us; they wouldn’t run from us as we patrolled at about 500 feet. You can tell more about what you’re looking at from 500 feet, or as close as we could get without it blurring with the naked eye.”

At the height of Romans’s business, he had 21 airplanes flying from at least eight locations coast to coast and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, serving about 30 oil companies. By the late 1950s, his aircraft had flown more than 1 million miles on contract pipeline patrol flights, and his business continued into the 1980s. Romans was active in various facets of the aviation industry up until his death and received the FAA’s Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award and the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in 2005. He passed away on August 25, 2006, at the age of 93. [The preceding information was obtained by the author during a personal interview with Gleason Romans in May 2006 for her article that

12 SEPTEMBER 2011

appeared in The Southern Aviator, September, 2006.]

Modifications If Romans were here today to see the PA-12 that Adams has configured to honor the pipeline patrol, he would likely be quite pleased with Adams’ interest and efforts to promote awareness of this unique facet of aviation history.

The Super Cruiser was Adams’s first restoration project, and with the help of two A&Ps—Lovell Pulliam and Harry Pick—he included numerous modifications to the airframe and engine. “We increased visibility by putting a pipeline patrol window in a seaplane door, which replaced the original door; installing a skylight and diagonal cross-brace in the cabin overhead; and extending the rear windows by 16 inches. I’m sure they would have done that for pipeline patrol; Romans was pretty safety conscious. And I think they would have put the ’47 square windshield in it, like we did, because the ’46 had a little round windshield, and man, that’s right where you want visibility. We also installed micro vortex generators and strobes on the wingtips and belly.

I just used the things I thought they’d use for safety, while having a little fun with it and honoring them.”

Additional modifications were made in the engine room, and for the fuel and electrical system. “We installed a new stainless steel firewall, boot cowl, and converted the engine to an O-235-C1, which gives it an additional 15 hp. And we went with an alternator, rather than a generator, along with an entire new electrical system and a new circuit breaker panel,” Adams details, adding, “we revamped the fuel system to a PA-18 system and installed a Piper Pacer ‘left – right – off’ fuel selector valve. We also put in a PA-18 trim system, because the

PA-12 trim was notorious for having a cable slipping—the double cable of the PA-18 system cured that.”

One glance inMIKE STEINEKE side the cabin reveals even more customized features. The updated avionics and radio neatly combine with the original creamfaced instruments, giving the panel a nostalgic yet modern appearance.

“It could be the only PA-12 with color weather radar,” chuckles Adams, explaining, “I have the AirGizmos Box, a Garmin 396 and XM Weather.” Cabin enhancements include new plywood floor panels, an Airtex interior, and inertia reel shoulder harnesses. A metalized headliner, finished in plain polyurethane primer gray, matches the interior.

After installing new aluminum ribs and stringers, as well as a wing flap kit, Adams tackled the fabric installation. “I’m so impressed with the Superflite System VI,” he comments, explaining, “it’s so simple.

I’ve never covered or painted anything in my life, and I’m proud of the way it turned out. I used an HVLP for painting, and it’s just easy to do, and easy to repair. I found out real quick how easy it was to repair.

My buddy was using a ratchet screwdriver, which is like a lawn dart, and it slipped out of his hand and went right through the gear. Two hours later, I had attached the fabric patch and repainted it with an airbrush. I couldn’t believe it went that well.”

Adams’ Piper Patrol Smiling happily, Adams declares that one unexpected reward gleaned from the PA-12’s restoration is that “now my wife, Sandy, loves to go flying with me!” As for future plans for the airplane, this proud owner/restorer says, “I’ll fly it to Sentimental Journey in Lock Haven and other flyins, and wherever I go, I’ll be honoring the pipeline patrol. I just love the freedom of it, and I can go out and fly it all day long and not feel guilty— because it doesn’t burn a lot of fuel. I plan to keep it forever!”

O’HARA COLLECTION/EAA ARCHIVES-BOB STEELE

Lloyd Stearman His airplanes and his legacy BY

Sometimes little things reveal the most about a person’s character.

On June 9, 1930, one of the aviation industry’s leading lights dictated a letter of recommendation for his company’s 17-year-old office junior.

In his nine months on the job, the adolescent ran many errands, including a mail drop at the Wichita, Kansas, post office in the boss’ shiny new Packard sedan. “Don’t crack it up,” cautioned the boss when he handed over the keys. On another occasion, the boss asked his helper to oil his swivel chair,

14 SEPTEMBER 2011

PHILIP HANDLEMAN

which had a nagging squeak.

The letter was succinct and unambiguous in its praise for the “alert, wide awake young man.” It further described the teen as “courteous, conscientious and honest.”

An imposing winged globe with a big “S” inscribed on it decorated the stationery’s masthead. Below the four simple and direct sentences of unreserved endorsement were the signature lines: “Very truly yours, THE STEARMAN AIRCRAFT CO., Lloyd Stearman, President.”

The fastidious office boy, Mar-

vin Michael, ultimately took three educational sabbaticals that culminated in his earning a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering.

He went to work for Boeing, the eventual parent company of Stearman Aircraft. After more than three decades at the company, Michael retired as an engineering test pilot.

Lloyd Carlton Stearman and his early business associates knew the value of a helping hand, an ardent word of support, a hard-earned break. In 1920, at age 22, Lloyd read a newspaper advertisement for a

position at E.M. “Matty” Laird’s air- tractor. As a measure of his determi- In the face of Moellendick’s intranplane company in Wichita. Lloyd, nation, Lloyd completed his flight sigence, Beech and Lloyd sought a native Kansan, wasted no time in instruction at this time in one of backing for a new company.

By the end of 1924, the two frusapplying, for he knew by then that the very planes he was helping to trated men had made the rounds build. his heart was in aviation.

Three and a half years after Matty and persuaded several people to Up to that point, Lloyd hadn’t had much luck completing what Laird founded his company, he de- support their venture. One was a he had started. His civil engineer- parted due to a dispute with his much-admired, self-taught pilot ing studies at Kansas State Agricul- patron, local oil tycoon and pilot who had been entertaining crowds tural College were interrupted by Jacob Moellendick. Lloyd, who had at air shows across the prairie landhis enlistment in the Navy when been one of Laird’s protégés, was scape for a dozen years. InterestAmerica entered World War I. Sim- promoted to chief engineer of the ingly, that pilot had reputedly ilarly, his naval flight training in renamed Swallow Airplane Manu- flown the first plane Lloyd had ever the Curtiss N-9 flying boat con- facturing Company. Lloyd’s knack seen when he was growing up in cluded prematurely when the war for design soon led to the New Swal- Harper, Kansas. More recently, one o f L l o y d ’s N e w ended. Moreover, Swallows had his one-year stint been purchased as an apprenticand flown by ing architect at a the pilot, Clyde firm in Wichita Cessna. seemed to be goIn early 1925, ing nowhere. in a convergence Laird recogof aviation eminized underlying nences rarely qualities in the replicated in the young Lloyd Stea- O’HARA COLLECTION/EAA ARCHIVES-BOB STEELE i n d u s t r y ’s l o n g rman and hired Stearman lent his engineering expertise to the twin-boom Stearmanand consequenhim to perform Hammond Y-1 aircraft built in 1936 as part of the Bureau of Air Comtial history, Lloyd a range of draftmerce’s “$700 safe, affordable” aircraft program.

S t e a r m a n , Wa l ing and engineering duties. Little did anyone know in low. This aircraft was a significant ter Beech, Clyde Cessna, and assorted other partners established the those budding days that once in this upgrade of the baseline product.

The New Swallow was also mean- Travel Air Manufacturing Company groove, Lloyd’s course would lead eventually to his banding together ingfully differentiated from the in the back room of a Wichita millwith various aggregations of extraor- multitude of war-surplus Jennys, in ing plant. Cognizant of his greatest dinarily talented aviation trailblaz- that it was configured to carry three strength, Lloyd retained his post as ers. Nor could anyone have foreseen people, had only two wing struts per chief engineer in the new company.

Lloyd stayed at Travel Air for not then that the dusty little prairie town side instead of four, and featured a to which the scant but growing cadre fully enclosed 90-hp liquid-cooled quite two years, but in that time of air-minded visionaries gravitated Curtiss OX-5 engine. Publicity for he fathered the Travel Air A, BW, would become the “Air Capital of the highly regarded plane was en- 2000/3000/4000 series of biplanes, the World,” much as Detroit ripened hanced by impressive exhibition and the Type 5000 cabin monoflights made by Walter Beech, a plane. These models represented a into the automobile capital.

An eyewitness to the maiden transplanted Tennessean who had technological progression and exflight of Matty Laird’s plane re- been hired as a part-time demon- uded a handsome proportionality. marked that its lissome motion stration pilot only a year after Lloyd The biplane lineup included some models that sported unusual upperthrough the air resembled the poise started working for the company.

The chief engineer and the dem- wing elephant-ear ailerons. of a swallow in flight. Without hesitation, Laird thereupon dropped onstration pilot jointly calculated if Aesthetics were matched by practithe prosaic name of Tractor that he the aircraft’s wood innards were re- cal attributes. Indeed, in 1926, a Travel had given the two-place biplane placed with tubular steel, durability Air won the second annual Ford Reliand rechristened it Swallow. Produc- and performance would vastly im- ability Tour. The same year, another tion of the new aircraft proceeded prove. Moellendick was put off by Travel Air set a new cross-country apace, bolstered by the mechanical the heretical idea, however, primar- record—just 31 hours from coast to prowess Lloyd possessed as a result ily because of the relatively recent coast. Most memorably, on August of the knowledge passed on by his investment he had made in wood- 16-17, 1927, Art Goebel and William father, who was a commercial con- working machinery for the factory. V. Davis won the Dole Air Race with

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

JIM KOEPNICK

a 26-hour flight that spanned the 2,400 miles from Oakland, California, to Oahu, Hawaii, in a Travel Air 5000 dubbed the Woolaroc.

Yet, amid the triumphs, tragedy beset the up-and-coming designer/ engineer. After a flight test of a Model A on August 13, 1926, Lloyd was taxiing to a hangar at Wichita’s municipal airport when a collision occurred. The aircraft’s propeller struck local businessman George Theis Jr., killing him.

Lloyd had eyeballed the airport grounds from the cockpit, but simply didn’t see the man who parked his car close to the aircraft right-of-way and then stepped out inattentively.

Lloyd was heartbroken and extremely apologetic. In the end, the deadly occurrence was deemed an accident.

In October 1926, Lloyd moved to Venice, California. He was drawn by the desire to start his own company in the perennially good flying weather and favorable business environment then endemic to the Golden State. Lloyd was further motivated by Santa Monica-based Travel Air dealer Fred Hoyt, who, along with his partner George Lyle, invested with Lloyd to form the first company to bear the Stearman name.

As his own boss, Lloyd was free to pursue his promising design concepts. The quixotic innovator’s dreams blossomed into a line of aircraft that represented a leap into the modern realm. The first of his new C series biplanes had a substantial and stately profile.

16 SEPTEMBER 2011

The Stearman C3 biplane proved its mettle on the airmail routes of the 1920s. This is Mike Williams’ beautiful restoration of a C3, kept on a grass field in southwestern Wisconsin.

A distinctively squared vertical stabilizer and rudder became a Stearman compositional hallmark.

Advances included wheel brakes and hydraulic shock absorbers in a fixed undercarriage. Additionally, the main landing gear legs were positioned to give a wide stance.

The biplane’s wings had differing spans. In this sesquiwing configuration, the top wing was considerably longer than the lower wing. The C series is perhaps best remembered for its later variants that used progressively more powerful air-cooled radial engines.

Despite its outstanding products, the company was inadequately capitalized. Under the circumstances, in 1927 Lloyd was enticed to return to Wichita. Generous financing was offered by Walter Innes Jr., a former business partner. Lloyd’s company, still with his name on the marquis, moved into a large facility north of town.

The stylish Stearman biplanes that had originated in California spawned the M-2 and C-4A/4C mailplanes and the LT-1 passenger plane. These were in the same class as the regal Douglas M-4, Pitcairn Mailwing, and Boeing Model 40.

Few aircraft evoked a sense of the golden age as consummately as the commercial biplanes.

Their pilots flew from an open cockpit situated along the aft fuselage while passengers and/or mail remained ensconced in a commodious forward cabin. The designs

constituted the aerial equivalents of the period’s chauffeur-driven RollsRoyce and Duesenberg limousines.

Paradoxically, Lloyd, who was described at the time by a Wichita newspaper as “modest and unassuming,” helped to glamorize aviation.

The company’s success prompted its takeover by the huge United Aircraft & Transport syndicate. Under the new ownership Lloyd remained president of his company, but ominously, the transaction occurred on August 4, 1929, less than three months prior to the stock market collapse that reverberated from Wall Street to Main Street and represented the onset of the Great Depression.

At first, the giant holding company was undeterred. With its backing, the Stearman subsidiary proceeded with a major expansion in Wichita. Operations were relocated to a factory that doubled the floor space of the existing facility.

However, production receded unavoidably due to the faltering economy. Lloyd pressed forward with his latest design, the Model 6 Cloudboy, which factored in the transformation of the marketplace.

The new aircraft would lack the grandeur of Lloyd’s designs of the immediate past. Necessity decreed a bare-bones two-seater to serve as an entry-level aircraft, equally suitable for the novice and the aspirant.

The Cloudboy was conceived as an inexpensive-to-build aircraft, using off-the-shelf materials and components in a straightforward

O’HARA COLLECTION/EAA ARCHIVES-BOB STEELE

biplane configuration that manifested elegance in its simplicity.

Lloyd’s new aircraft also preserved the admirable Stearman tradition of ruggedness and adaptability with possible future growth in engine size, weight, and horsepower.

Because of the drop-off in civilian sales, the company looked to the military as an important potential source for new orders. In 1930, the Army Air Corps embarked on a quest for a new trainer to replace its Consolidated PT-3. Not coincidentally that same year, the Cloudboy flew for the first time.

A couple of Cloudboys, designated XPT-912, were evaluated at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. By the end of the year, Lloyd’s design had sufficiently whetted the service’s appetite that a contract was issued for four additional aircraft, with the designation YPT-9, to conduct further testing. The company did not receive the hoped-for production contract, but the Cloudboy military trainer prototype was a crucial step toward development of the fabled Stearman primary trainer.

In any case, Lloyd felt crimped because he no longer called the shots at his company, which now was but one entity in a sprawling conglomerate. For a while he concentrated on his forte of research and development, but by summer 1931 his entrepreneurial impulses prevailed. He left Wichita once again for the seemingly greener pastures of southern California.

In another confluence of aviation wizards, Lloyd teamed with Walter T. Varney, an airline executive whose company had previously bought Stearman planes, and Robert E. Gross, a prominent aviation financier. They had their eyes on Lockheed Aircraft Company, part of the failed Detroit Aircraft Corporation. Though Lockheed was mired in the bankruptcy of its corporate parent, it had a sparkling record as a maker of cutting-edge aircraft that found favor with some of the era’s most daring pilots.

On June 6, 1932, the three businessmen, along with other inves-

Lloyd Stearman (third from left) with fellow executives of Lockheed Aircraft in 1934. Left to right: Ron King, controller; Carl Squier, sales manager; Lloyd Stearman, president; Robert Gross; Cyril Chappelet; and Hall Hibbard. tors, bought Lockheed for the sum of $40,000. (Yes, for less than today’s cost of an F-22 wheel strut, Lloyd Stearman and his associates bought the whole company.) The bankruptcy judge reportedly said, “I sure hope you fellows know what you’re doing.”

Meanwhile, back in Wichita, the Stearman Aircraft Company was being run by its new president, Julius E. Schaefer. One of the priorities was to apply the lessons learned in the company’s loss of the Army trainer competition and offer a winning design for the next round of acquisitions.

Three company engineers—Mac Short, Harold W. Zipp, and J. Jack Clark—logically took Lloyd’s Cloudboy drawings and used them as the predicate for their design work.

Among the changes they incorporated in Lloyd’s original layout were a cantilevered landing gear and installation of ailerons on the lower wings only. Wingtips and tail surfaces were no longer square but round. For ease of production, they stuck with the idea of using readily available materials.

The fuselage was formed by a tubular steel frame. Wings were made of wood ribs and spars. Cotton linen fabric was stretched over most of the fuselage, wings, and tail surfaces.

What emerged from the drafting tables was the Model 70. The company’s chief test pilot, Deed Levy, flew the plane to Wright Field for trials.

The Stearman trainer type was well-regarded by the military pilots who tested it, but one problem stood out. When stalled, the Model 70 just mushed in the air. The pilots opined

that for the aircraft to be an effective primary trainer it would have to have a more definitive break when stalled.

Also, it would have to be more responsive to control inputs in both spin entry and recovery. Eventually, these concerns were addressed by the insertion of stall-spin strips in the leading edges of the lower wings. The wings’ narrower camber changed the airflow at high angles of attack, which produced the desired effect.

An order for 41 of a slightly altered version, known as the Model 73, was placed by the Navy and designated the NS-1. The first aircraft was delivered in December 1934.

The door to military sales was open.

It was an eventful time for the company because a radical restructuring of the corporate parent was mandated under antitrust laws enacted that year. The United Aircraft & Transport empire was split into pieces. The Stearman unit was apportioned to the newly freestanding Boeing Aircraft Company.

Once this corporate upheaval played out, management and design personnel at the Stearman operation in Wichita turned their attention to capitalizing on the Navy’s trainer acquisition by trying to persuade the Army to do likewise.

The Model 73 was minimally modified with changes to both the landing gear and the wing. This refined aircraft was designated the Model X75 and later simply the Model 75.

The Army liked the aircraft and committed to ordering a significant quantity. However, funding shortages delayed purchase of production

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17

BONNIE KRATZ

Interestingly, the aircraft most closely associated with Lloyd Stearman, the PT (Model 75) series of trainers that became famous during World War II, had little of the noted engineer’s involvement, since he’d left the company to run Lockheed before the aircraft was built. His previous design, the Cloudboy, served as the basis for the design of the Model 7x series. models until fiscal 1936. The initial batch of 26 trainers had the 220-hp, 9-cylinder Lycoming R-680-5 radial engine. The Army designated these aircraft the PT-13.

Thus, a legend was born. The Model 75 in its various military designations came to occupy a place of honor in the chronicle of flight. The type is believed to have taught more American cadets how to fly during World War II than any other primary trainer. The many airworthy examples today serve as a ubiquitous bridge to aviation’s glorious past.

With war clouds on the horizon, government leaders recognized the dire need for more military pilots.

Trainer production was dramatically ramped up. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Stearman assembly lines in Wichita were humming. An astounding 8,585 Stearman trainers were built, more than any other American biplane. (Spare parts for the equivalent of another 1,761 aircraft were produced.) Most aircraft went to the U.S. military services, but their universally recognized virtues as a training platform made them popular with numerous foreign air forces.

At Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas, the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, and other military flight-training locations around the country, the Model 75 filled the

18 SEPTEMBER 2011

skies, preparing cadets to fly in the greatest aerial armada ever amassed.

Notable students who received training in the Model 75 included the members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the first women to fly U.S. military aircraft. African-Americans, later celebrated as the Tuskegee Airmen, also learned to fly at the controls of the splendid biplane.

Dozens of fighter aces and even Mercury astronaut John Glenn got instruction in the Stearman trainer’s open cockpit. And, in the frigid skies of the upper Midwest, George Herbert Walker Bush, bundled in a full fleece-lined leather flying outfit and far removed from the trappings of the White House that he would experience much later in a different kind of government service, felt the invigorating rush of air against his face aboard the Stearman as a rite of passage to the rarefied domain of military fliers.

The Army purchased four production versions, mostly the PT-13 and PT-17, with the main difference between models being the engine type.

Concern that Lycoming would not be able to keep pace with the manufacture of airframes caused the Army to order the Continental R-670 engine as a substitute. Aircraft with this 220-hp seven-cylinder radial engine were designated PT-17. Navy equiva-

lents of the PT-13 were the N2S-2 and N2S-5; its equivalents of the PT-17 were the N2S-1, N2S-3, and N2S-4.

Paint schemes were a modeler’s delight. Prewar Army trainers had regulation blue fuselage and orangeyellow wings. The rudder was festooned in patriotic “candy cane” or “barber pole” stripes that alternated red and white. Navy training biplanes in those early years were painted orange-yellow all over to ensure visibility. In 1942, the official paint schemes for primary trainers of both services transitioned to an overall silver shade. By then, many of the trainers were already built and were not repainted unless repair or maintenance reasons required their fabric covering to be replaced.

The company adopted Kaydet as the trainer’s official sobriquet. In time, Army brass embraced the nickname. For its part, the Navy was known for its casual usage of the term Yellow Peril, which applied equally to the variants of the N2S and the Navy’s indigenously produced N3N biplane trainer. Yet, pilots and their flightline colleagues have a strong independent streak, and the sanctioned monikers didn’t ring true; they came across as either stolid or facile.

Students, instructors, and mechanics referred to the formidable biplane trainer by its pedigree—Stearman.

The usage spread and has survived through post-World War II generations to the present. In fact, when an aviation neophyte visits an airport these days and is lucky enough to see a colorfully decorated wartime training biplane coasting overhead, some old wag on the ground, if asked, will invariably identify the antique by saying, “Oh, that’s a Stearman.”

There could hardly be a more fitting tribute to the man whose design genius inspired the airplane that epitomizes silk-scarf flying.

As for the career path of Lloyd Stearman, he became Lockheed’s president at 34 years of age in 1932.

He brought with him a concept for an all-metal twin-engine transport, which during the early to mid-1930s was developed into the Model 10

Electra. In the process, Lockheed was stumped as to how the aircraft’s stability problems could be rectified.

A brash University of Michigan aeronautical engineering student named Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson determined through wind tunnel testing that a split tail was the solution. Refashioned accordingly, the Electra hatched many follow-on configurations, eventually morphing into a patrol bomber that sold in quantity to the British later in the decade. The deal secured Lockheed’s place as a major player in the aviation industry.

Lloyd left Lockheed in 1936. A succession of jobs followed. For a while he partnered with Dean Hammond to redesign the twin-boom, pusher Hammond Model Y lightplane under the new StearmanHammond banner. Sales of the new model were anemic, so in 1938 Lloyd moved yet again. For the duration of the war, he was employed as an aviation engineer at the Harvey Machine Company, which produced engine cowlings for military planes.

In 1945, Lloyd set out to harness the old magic he had ignited years before. He established the Stearman Engineering Company in California and channeled his energies into the design of a purpose-built crop duster. Ironically, it wasn’t able to compete with the aircraft that already bore his name, the Model 75. A spate of Army and Navy Stearman trainers inundated the postwar civilian market at incredibly low government surplus prices. The tried-and-true biplanes made incomparable agricultural applicators.

Rather than resist the obvious and overwhelming tide, Lloyd spent a short time modifying the former primary trainers for spraying and dusting work. He even designed metal wings as a replacement for the standard wood-and-fabric wings.

That led to a job at an agricultural implement manufacturer.

As would be expected, Lloyd yearned to get back into the aviation business. One day in 1955 he walked into the employment office at Lockheed, then headquartered in Burbank, California. The story goes that

he filled out an application, as would anyone coming in off the street. The form included a question about past employment at Lockheed. Lloyd marked the “Yes” box. The subsequent question pertained to former position. Lloyd, not a man of many words, filled in the blank line with his old job title: president.

For the next 13 years Lloyd worked as an engineer for the company he once headed. One of his assignments involved work on the needle-nosed F-104 Starfighter, a Mach 2 interceptor conceived and masterminded by the same Kelly Johnson of Electra redesign fame. By the time Lloyd retired from Lockheed in 1968, the industry he had helped to cultivate looked beyond the sky to the heavens. It was a remarkable genesis from opencockpit flying over the windswept prairies of Kansas to enabling sleek jets to nibble at the edge of space.

Lloyd and his wife, Virtle Ethyl, had two children. Son William was a naval officer in the Pacific during World War II. With advanced degrees in international affairs, he went into the Foreign Service and served both behind the Iron Curtain and in Vietnam. For 17 years, he worked in the White House as a member of the National Security Council staff, including time as an assistant to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Daughter Marilyn married and had five children. One of them, Patrick, learned to fly and not surprisingly developed a soft spot for the planes originated by his grandfather.

Ever the restive dreamer, Lloyd continued to pursue his concept for a crop-dusting airplane during retirement in Los Angeles. He even formed the Stearman Aircraft Corporation, the last aviation company with his name on it, for his desire to create and build winged wonders would never die. But Lloyd’s plane-making days were over, and the cancer that had weakened him finally took its toll. He passed away on April 3, 1975.

On their way to keeping the flame of liberty shimmering, many World War II airmen rode the wings of the biplane whose classic lines

were influenced by Lloyd Stearman.

Only some of the trainers leaving the Wichita factory had manufacturer plates with the Stearman name etched on them, for in the late summer of 1941 it became Boeing’s practice to refer to its Stearman unit as the Wichita Division. Nevertheless, the end-users, the people who flew and maintained the aircraft, branded the product as they saw fit.

Today, in the absence of a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign or a “customer loyalty” program touted by a sports superstar, the brand hasn’t been diluted. Rather, with the passage of time, it has solidified. Conjoining the man with the machine seems natural, even destined, for there could hardly be a better way to immortalize the name of the aviation pioneer whose vision fostered the venerable airplane.

To fly the Stearman is to connect with the spirit of an exalted yore.

The cockpits are not hollow, but overflow with timeless memories of good flights and happy landings.

The wings don’t weary, but hold the wind for climbs to where the birds flutter free and independent. With each ascent, the charmed ship nurtures camaraderie among the souls privileged to soar in its solid yet airy frame and burnishes its namesake’s enduring and proud legacy.

Sources and Further Reading Stearman: A Pictorial History by Jim Avis and Martin Bowman, Motorbooks International, 1997.

Stearman Aircraft: A Detailed Histor y by Edward H. Phillips, Specialty Press, 2006.

Wings of Stearman by Peter M. Bowers, Flying Books International, 1998.

Lloyd Stearman’s son, William Lloyd Stearman, is reportedly readying his memoir, which is expected to cover his childhood in the aviation household, his combat experience in the Pacific War, his service as a diplomat overseas, and his years as a White House foreign policy advisor.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19

Tribute to a Classic

20 SEPTEMBER 2011

Focke-Wulf Fw.44J Stieglitz reborn in Germany

PHOTOS AND ARTICLE BY STEFAN DEGRAEF AND EDWIN BORREMANS

I

n July 1943 Erich Brunotte, nowadays a sturdy 85-yearold German “Adler,” made his first military solo flight in a Klemm 35 monoplane trainer at Prossnitz, Mähren (aka Prostejov, Moravia, in eastern Czech Republic), home base of Luftwaffe’s Flugzeugführerschüle (FFS) A/B 71 pilot training school, and also flew the silver-colored Focke-Wulf Fw.44J Stieglitz biplane advanced trainer. He is by far the oldest active member of the Quax-

Fliegerverein, a Hamm-Lippewiesen (Westphalia)-based vintage aircraft flying club, reassembling several classic vintage mono- and biplane aircraft and gliders. The club has about 30 active members and more than 100 supporting old-time aviation enthusiasts.

Early in 2008, the QuaxFliegerverein celebrated the completion of the immaculate overhaul, restoration, and rebuild of its 1940 Focke-Wulf Fw.44J Stieglitz D-ENAY, painted in full

FFS A/B 71 colors to honor its most illustrious member, who had seen active duty during World War II in Jagdgeschwader 54 “Grünherz” of the Luftwaffe in eastern Europe and over Germany.

Swedish Connection In spite of its Luftwaffe-era colors and unit markings, Fw.44J Stieglitz D-ENAY never saw active military service in Germany. In 1940 the aircraft was manufactured in Västeras, Sweden, by the Central

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21

Various par ts, including original cockpit instruments and panels, were bought from various collectors, using Internet/online auctions.

Verkstaden in Västeras as one of the Swedish air force’s (aka Flygvapnet) 85 Fw.44J training aircraft.

In Flygvapnet service, the Fw.44J design—an export version based on the 1935-developed FockeWulf Fw.44D—became known as Sk12 (“Sk” stands for Skolflygplan o r t r a i n i n g a i r c r a f t ) . Tw e n t y aircraft, capable of wearing skis for snow operations during the winter, were built by AB Svenska Järnvägsverkstäderna at Linköping in southern Sweden. The aircraft department of the Swedish Railway Workshops, ASJA was incorporated into SAAB in 1939. The initial batch of 14 Fw.44Js was delivered factoryfresh from the Focke-Wulf factory in Bremen. The Swedish Sk12s were powered by an air-cooled sevencylinder Bramo Siemens Halske SH-14A4 radial engine, generating 145 hp and manufactured by BMW Flugmotorenwerke in Berlin, Germany.

B u i l t a s “ We r k n u m m e r 4 5 ” in Västeras, our Sk12 received military serial Fv633 and entered operational service with the Kungliga Krigsflygskolan, as part of Flygflottilj (Air Wing) F5 at Ljungbyhed. The Sk12 Fv663 was used as trainer

22 SEPTEMBER 2011

The seven-cylinder Bramo Siemens SH-14 radial engine was stripped, overhauled, and rebuilt by Dirk Bende of Motobende Gmbh. This company, based at Köningswinter-Sassenberg near Bonn, specializes in the overhaul of German-built World War II-era engines and the remanufacturing of engine parts.

Built in 1940 as “Werknummer 45” in Västeras, Sk12 received Swedish air force militar y serial Fv633 and entered operational ser vice with the Kungliga Krigsflygskolan, as part of Flygflottilj (Air Wing) F5 at Ljungbyhed. until 1944 and was sent as a liaison “hack” aircraft to various flottiljs within the Swedish air force.

The final aircraft were withdrawn from operational use by the air force in 1967 and sold to flying clubs and civilian owners, becoming very popular as glider tugs due to their sturdiness. In June 1953, Fv633, still wearing its Flygvapnet color scheme, was sold to the Nykopings Flygclubb, becoming SE-BWH in the process. In August 1958, the aircraft

left its Nordic haven and headed for West Germany.

Having gained the West German D-EGAM civil aviation registration, the aircraft was flown into southern Germany. Damaged by an accident in 1968, its owner repaired the aircraft, offering a “front seat” to German actor Heinz Rühmann, who starred in the 1941 German comedy movie Quax der Bruchpilot.

From the late ’70s on, D-EGAM was displayed for years in the Deutsches

The overhauled Stieglitz D-ENAY was painted with color ful unit markings of Luftwaffe’s World War II-era Flugzeugführerschüle A/B 71 pilot training school, based at Prossnitz, Mähren (aka Prostejov, Moravia, in eastern Czech Republic). Erich Brunotte flew the silver-colored Focke-Wulf Fw.44J Stieglitz biplane advanced trainer.

To highlight the in-depth overhaul of their vintage—but almost zero-houred—Fw.44J Stieglitz D-ENAY, Quax pilots wear original World War II wool flying suits, ideally optimized for open-cockpit operations.

Museum für Naturwissenschaft und Technik (German Museum for Physics and Technology) in Munchen, Bavaria, as part of this well-known museum’s permanent c o l l e c t i o n o f ( We s t ) G e r m a n designed and -built biplane aircraft.

Motivation, Patience, Craftsmanship: Stieglitz Overhaul In November 2001 the aircraft, wearing a circuslike reddish color scheme, was integrated in the “biplane armada” of the QuaxVerein zur Förderung von historischem Fluggerät, based at HammLippewiesen near Dortmund, Westphalia. In need of some indepth overhaul and the replacement of authentic aircraft parts, the redesignated “D-ENAY” was sold to three active Quax members by its owner. Immediately after this transfer of property, the new owners initiated an in-depth overhaul, restoration, and rebuild of the aircraft, aiming to re-create a fully airworthy, authentic Fw.44J/Sk12 Stieglitz trainer by replacing several parts with original instruments and materials.

The original flying surfaces of an Fw.44 Stieglitz, designed by the world-famous German designer Kurt Tank, are mainly made of wood. The fuselage itself, however, is built of welded steel tubes. The overall structure is covered by fabric, part of the wings by plywood, and finally the engine cowling

plating is made of aluminum.

Non-genuine parts, built into the aircraft during previous less in-depth overhauls in 1963 and 1976, needed to be removed, with new safety and radio equipment installed without jeopardizing the overall classic internal and external look of the aircraft. It proved to be a real challenge for everyone involved in the overhaul process.

The seven-cylinder Bramo Siemens SH-14 radial engine was stripped, overhauled, and rebuilt by Dirk Bende of Motobende Gmbh. This company, based at KöningswinterSassenberg near Bonn, specializes in the overhaul of German-built Wo r l d Wa r I I - e r a e n g i n e s a n d the remanufacturing of engine parts. Various parts, including original cockpit instruments and panels, were bought from various

collectors, using Internet/online auctions (especially eBay).

After nearly three years of planning, hard work, patience, and sheer craftsmanship, the reborn, almost factory-fresh FockeWu l f F w. 4 4 J S t i e g l i t z D - E N AY (aka Fv633) made its successful and uneventful maiden flight at Hamm-Lippewiesen. Shining in its original prewar Luftwaffe Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) 01 silver color scheme, the D-ENAY and its Quax pilot, co-owner Uli, performed at various national vintage-aircraft air shows all over Germany—even the Shuttleworth C o l l e c t i o n a t O l d Wa r d e n , Bedfordshire, England, in August 2008—to display its advanced design and pay tribute to the technical excellence of its designers, Kurt Tank and Erich Brunotte.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23

Light Plane Heritage published in EAA Experimenter April 1992

DE HAVILLAND’S LITTLE BIRCH BY

BOB WHITTIER EAA 1235

ver the years several competitions have been organized for the purpose of encouraging people to put their knowledge of aircraft design to work to create airplanes able to fulfill certain needs. In 1929 there was a Guggenheim Safe Airplane Competition. In the mid-1930s the old Bureau of Air Commerce sponsored a contest to develop an everyman’s airplane to sell for $700, which at that time was the average price of an automobile. During the 1960s, EAA sponsored a contest to produce a modern, but simple and economi-

O

cal, homebuilt airplane design.

We have to face the plain fact that such contests have not exactly produced the hoped-for results for their sponsors. Some entries were just too freakish to appeal to ultimate users; others were too complicated or expensive. For example, the above-mentioned contest to develop a $700 airplane produced an assortment of fairly conventional planes powered by converted auto engines that cost a lot more than that sum when put on the market, or which flew so poorly that the flying public rejected them. And while

this contest was going on, sales of conventional but well-designed and good-flying Cubs, Taylorcrafts, and Aeroncas grew at a steady pace.

Equally unexpected and disappointing results came out of a contest held in England in 1923.

Militar y planes left over from World War I could be bought at surplus sales for attractively low prices.

But gasoline was very expensive in that country, and the powerful engines in such aircraft burned much more of it than most private pilots could afford. Hoping to give private flying a boost, the large Daily

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

24 SEPTEMBER 2011

Lead photo: Shown outside the shops at de Havilland’s Stag Lane establishment, the first DH 53 flew in September of 1923. Shortness of the overhead wing struts left a substantial portion of the wingspan unaffected by disturbed airflow over the top surfaces.

Mail newspaper and other parties sponsored a design competition to encourage the development of economical light airplanes.

The rules which were drawn up specified that entries be powered with an engine of not more than 750 cc displacement, which equals 45.75 cubic inches. There were to be cash prizes for the greatest distance covered on one Imperial gallon of petrol (which contains 5 quarts), the greatest number of circuits around a 12.25-mile course on one such gallon, the greatest speed and altitude attained, and the best short-field performance. This contest was described in an article titled “The Search for Perfection”

by George A. Hardie Jr. in the July 1987 issue of EAA Experimenter.

As an outcome of inexperience in planning such competitions, the idea of offering such varied prizes backfired in that some entrants were after one price and others after other prizes. The planes they created were thus engineered to give the kind of

performance most likely to win in a chosen category. Some were designed for speed, some for economy, some for range, and so on. Most of them were thus “specialist” planes, and while the best of them did win the contests they were designed for, most of them were rather poor general-purpose ships. Some were so light that they could do well only in still air, for example.

To be fair, some very interesting designs were created, which taught everyone valuable lessons in good and poor approaches to the problem. And the contest as a whole did get much publicity and served to generate interest in economical private flying.

The most significant outcome of all, however, was that everyone present agreed the plane that impressed them as being the very best for all-around general sport flying was one which won none of the prizes. This was the de Havilland 53, which came to be known as the Humming Bird.

The story goes that one of the pilots who flew it during the Lympne competitions was named Hemming and that people started referring to his plane as “Hemming’s bird.”

From there it was a short and natural step to Humming Bird. While definitely a very light airplane, it looked acceptably like a “real” air-

plane, rather than the result of some engineer’s hallucinations. It didn’t have enough power to capture the speed prize, it had too much drag to win the fuel consumption prizes, and could not reach the 14,400-foot height that won the altitude prize.

Actually two Humming Birds were entered at Lympne, one being flown

by Hubert Broad and the other by Alan Cobham, both very experienced and well-known professional pilots employed by de Havilland.

The converted 750 cc horizontally opposed Douglas motorcycle engines of 26 hp that powered these planes gave endless mechanical problems, as a result of being forced to work too hard in flight. But when in the air, these two pilots gave very impressive demonstrations and showed convincingly that the Humming Bird was the best general-purpose sport plane present.

The various planes entered in the Lympne contest were designed by professional aeronautical engineers employed by prominent firms such as Avro, Gloster Aircraft Company, Handley Page Limited, Vickers Ltd., and, of course, de Havilland Aircraft Company. The engineering and production facilities at the factories were at their disposal, and it’s intriguing to speculate how the competition might have turned out if it hadn’t been divided into differ-

The first DH 53 to be built is still flying at Old Warden Aerodrome in England. Light blue fuselage, silver wings and tail. Aileron push-pull tube is clearly visible below left wing. Engine is fitted with stub exhausts.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25

Location of the Humming Bird’s cockpit gave good view of the ground immediately in front of the wheels, an important thing when taxiing on grass fields likely to have soft spots, animal burrows, and other traps for the unwary pilot. ent performance categories.

De Havilland people discussed at length the design features they should incorporate in their entry.

For acceptable rapid and economical construction of the two planes to be entered in the contest, they chose easily tooled wood as the primary material. In some of their larger commercial designs, they had had good results from a new type of wooden fuselage construction.

In most World War I planes, wooden longerons and crossmembers were trussed together with numerous criss-crossed steel cables. The many eye splices, turnbuckles, and end fittings necessary in this construction called for much tedious hand labor.

In the new method, spruce longerons and cross-members were also used, but the entire fuselage structure was covered with thin plywood. In addition to taking the place of fabric covering, the plywood acted as one very large gusset to tie securely together the longerons and cross-members.

For the light Humming Bird fuselage, 1.5-mm plywood was used, this being practically the same as 1/16 inch. Such seemingly thin plywood was adequate for the purpose it served. But probably due to being made with the casein glue then in

26 SEPTEMBER 2011

wide use for aircraft work, it tended to show unsightly wrinkles if exposed to damp weather for several days.

The tail surfaces were framed with wood and covered with doped fabric, as were the wings. Rudder and elevator cables all ran outside of the fuselage, and all were double.

This to us seems like overbuilding, but we have to remember that in 1923, perhaps due to the memories of having control cables parted by Albatros and Fokker bullets, British airworthiness officials had a phobia about the inspectability and reliability of control cables.

Control horns on the rudder and right and left elevators were positioned well out from the fuselage.

This was because the spruce strips that formed the leading edges of these surfaces were not as well able to handle torsional loads as is today’s steel tubing. Locating them in those places tended to spread out the twisting loads. Those old-timers did things differently from the way we do them, but they had good reasons for doing what they did.

The straight-axle landing gear design on the Humming Bird was of a type that de Havilland had used on other models; you can see details in Figure 1. Since most English airfields of the early 1920s were

surfaced with grass that was kept mowed, it was felt there was little likelihood of such a low-riding axle dragging in tall grass. A useful advantage of the straight axle was that it automatically put both wheels into perfect alignment. Shock struts originally made use of bungee cord, but when this proved too bouncy, firmer rubber discs working in compression were substituted.

The radius strut, which secured the axle against drag loads, ran from fittings at the firewall down and back to the outboard ends of the axle. To the modern American eye this arrangement makes it appear as if some mechanic had installed the landing gear backward.

But de Havilland engineers had a good reason for using this layout.

Because the drag struts were in tension, lighter tubing could be used than if they were in compression.

Originally designed to be bolted to motorcycle frames, the Douglas engine’s crankcase had a rectangular bottom with bolt-holes at each corner. A cast aluminum plate was designed and made, onto which the engine was bolted, as can be seen in Figure 2. Wider than the crankcase, its outer edges bolted to the fuselage longerons. By creating a wider base for the engine, it helped the longerons to take up the twocylinder engine’s torque impulses.

Both high-wing and low-wing designs were discussed at length.

A high wing was initially favored because it could be secured with struts fastened to its lower side.

This would keep the lift—creating an upper surface of the wing free of strut interference. Because no one had ever figured out how to make end fittings for wooden struts that would safely handle the considerable tension loads, it was accepted that struts for a high-wing design would have to be of steel tubing— either round and drag-producing, or streamlined and rather expensive.

But as the talks progressed, a low-wing design seemed more appealing. Riding close to the ground and spanning 30 feet, such a wing

FIGURE 1 The DH 53 had a landing gear of typical de Havilland style. Note doubled rudder control cables. What appear to be single elevator cables here were actually duplicated on the other side of the fuselage. would benefit from ground effect and probably help to give both quick takeoff with low power and a slow landing speed. Since the proposed airplane would be quite light, it was also feared that a highmounted wing would make for a rather unsteady airplane when running crosswind on the ground.

As things worked out, the finished Humming Birds with Douglas engines weighed only 326 pounds empty and 524 pounds loaded. Despite the rather light wing loading of 4.08 pounds per square foot, the planes proved to be quite manageable on breezy days. Another advantage of the low-wing design was that in such small planes, there was no overhead structure to make getting into and out of the cockpits awkward. It was acknowledged that a high wing would afford more protection to the pilot’s head should a plane nose over while taxiing, but in the end it was decided that these planes were going to land and taxi so slowly that it was a risk that could be lived with.

The wing (or more properly the right and left wing panels) was given just as much consideration. A serious problem in low-wing monoplanes with struts on the upper sides of their wings is the struts can interfere with smooth airflow so as to have noticeably adverse effect on lift.

FIGURE 2 Details of installation of the original 750 cc Douglas motorcycle engine of 26 hp. Note mounting plate under crankcase. Long exhaust pipe cut the loud exhaust bark to an agreeable purr.

As finally decided upon, the overhead wing struts attached to fittings on the top surfaces of the wings only 4 feet out from the fuselage.

The angle between the wing surfaces and the struts was thus open enough to minimize the squeezing effect of air flowing through this region. At the same time the outer 9 feet of each wing worked in air not affected by overhead strut interference. Since the struts would all be fairly short, their air drag would be as low as possible.

Since this arrangement would create considerable bending stresses on the spars at the points of strut attachment, deep spars were indicated. In 1923 the thin RAF 15 airfoil was well-known to designers and still much in use, but it was too shallow to house deep spars. The solution to this dilemma chosen by de Havilland seems curious today but made good sense. As seen in a plan view the Humming Bird wings have no taper. But as seen in a front view, there is taper. The standard RAF 15 airfoil was used at roots and tips, but the several ribs in between them were made progressively deeper so as to give the necessary spar depth at the strut attachment points. This called for making jigs for ribs of varying shape, but as such jigs were simple wooden affairs, they were

considered an acceptable extra cost.

Remember, they were after aerodynamic efficiency in hopes of winning a substantial cash prize.

To get adequate strength combined with low weight, tapered box spars were used. These called for more labor than the straight, solid spars so often used on light airplanes for the sake of low labor cost, but again with contest money the aim, box spars seemed the way to go. Each spar was made up with top and bottom spruce cap strips and plywood side webs. Having had much experience in the use of wood for aircraft, de Havilland engineers hit upon a simple but clever way to shape the cap strips. In Figure 3 you can see how a semicircular groove has been routed in the inner surface of a cap strip. This saved a worthwhile amount of weight. Calculations showed that enough wood remained to handle the loads to be imposed in flight. Yet there was still ample surface to create strong, dependable glue lines between the cap strips and the plywood webs.

It would have been an imposition on de Havilland’s purchasing department to ask them to order about 30 feet of streamlined steel tubing for the wing struts of two Humming Birds; so spruce ones were used. They would be fairly

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

Routed wing spar cap strips saved a useful amount of weight but left generous area for secure glue lines.

short and therefore rigid enough to handle the compression loads to which they would be subjected in flight. End fittings were designed with generous area to take those loads off the wood and transfer them to the fuselage fittings. These fittings were robust enough to enable them to handle the mild tension loads they’d experience when a Humming Bird was operating on the ground. And, of course, inverted flight was not contemplated.

The inboard ends of the wing struts attached to the fuselage aft of the cockpit, an arrangement that seems curious today. One would think they’d attach at a point ahead of the cockpit so as not to interfere with getting in and out.

We can only guess at the reason for this. Perhaps because of the light weight of the Douglas engine, the pilot seat had to be located somewhat forward to obtain proper aircraft balance. Then it would have been hard to find space to run a cross tube close in front of him.

Or, as originally planned, the DH 53 was to have folding wings. On the three-view plan visualize pivot lines running from the struts’ fuselage fittings down to the rear spar

28 SEPTEMBER 2011

The aileron control mechanism looks heavier and more complicated than necessary. Location of aileron pushpull tube stud gave differential action to the ailerons because it traveled farther in one direction than the other.

root fittings. The tips of the wings folding back around such pivot lines would easily clear the tail surfaces.

But as finally built the wings were made detachable by pulling three pins for each panel, and perhaps the odd-looking strut arrangement was just left as shown on the plans.

A stout steel tube passed through the fuselage just aft of the pilot to take wing strut compression loads.

The pilot stepped on a foot plate mounted atop the left rear spar root, hauled himself up by grasping the rear strut, and swung his feet over the struts to get into the cockpit.

The ailerons were quite large, and it’s easy to deduce that de Havilland people felt this would provide generous control at the fairly low flying speeds the Humming Birds would experience. Cruising speed was about 60 mph depending on engine, and landing speed about 33 mph. The rudder also had generous area. It was common for planes having tailskids and no brakes to have large rudders to facilitate turning on the ground when taxiing at low speed.

Figure 4 shows the sprocket and chain arrangement used to transmit control cable motion into the aileron actuating push-pull tubes located un-

der the wings. Perhaps de Havilland’s stock room already had these seemingly heavy and complicated units in stock, so they were used as a matter of expediency. Today we would weld together short pieces of steel tubing to make simpler, lighter bell cranks.

Note the stud on the lower surface of the sprocket. This location gave it arcs of travel such as to impart differential action to aileron movement.

In turns, the outboard aileron moved down a smaller amount than the inboard one did, to reduce the adverse yaw effect.

Although the Humming Birds won no prizes at Lympne, the obvious overall practicality of the design got people to thinking about these planes. In those days, the British economy was still hurting from the effects of the recent war, and people in government were very economy-minded. Someone in a position of influence got the idea of supplying several RAF squadrons with Humming Birds so that pilots could keep in practice at low maintenance and fuel cost. These ships might also be used for intersquadron communications flights. So eight were ordered and delivered to various RAF bases.

Large enough to be a docile flier, small enough to be cute, the de Havilland 53 “Humming Bird” marked a step forward in the development of small sport planes. Headrest behind cockpit was actually an auxiliary fuel tank to increase the cruising range.

Since the baggage allowance was a paltry 7 pounds, the Birds proved to be of rather slight use in ferrying parts and supplies from airfield to airfield. But pilots had great fun cavorting about in them. Some even developed surprising skill at low and slow aerobatics and gave demonstrations at air shows.

Two birds were fitted with hook arrangements above their cockpits and were used in experiments to hook flying airplanes onto a pickup device built on the underside of the big R-33 dirigible. At that time Russia was in the practice of buying one airplane of each type built in leading aircraft manufacturing countries to take home for evalu-

ation, and so one Humming Bird went to that land. Another went to Czechoslovakia and a few to Australia. One of the Australian Birds ended up being sold to someone in, of all places, the remote island of Samoa. Altogether 16 were built. The first one to be built still exists and has a safe home in the Shuttleworth Collection at Shutterworth (Old Warden) Aerodrome in England.

Although not a huge commercial success, the Humming Bird design played an important role in de Havilland history. It taught the company’s executives that while such a plane could fly very cheaply, it just was not a practical general-purpose aircraft.

This thought led to the introduction

a few years later of the two-seater 60-hp Gipsy Moth biplane—and when that appeared on the scene, de Havilland fortunes soared!

Because the original Douglas engines proved unreliable, other engines were fitted to Humming Birds. These include the V-twin, 697 cc Blackburne of 24 hp, the 32-hp Bristol Cherub, the 35-hp A.B.C. Scorpion, and the 40-hp opposed-twin Aeronca.

Some of these engines were fitted with stub exhausts, and when in flight, sounded like noisy motorcycles. Others had long exhaust stacks running down under their fuselages and terminating at a point below the cockpits. People who heard these in flight saw that engine noise was thus reduced to a slightly loud but quite agreeable purr.

A replica powered by a 40-hp Continental A-40 engine was built in Alberta in 1967. This might get some readers to thinking that it would be a fascinating project to build yet another one today and power it with one of the new 35-hp opposed-twin Mosler engines. That would combine the very best of antique and homebuilt planes in one ship. But here we run into a jolting example of how sensitive large corporations have become in recent years about product liability. The successor company to de Havilland, British Aerospace, has the original Humming Bird plans on file, but even though this design dates back to 1923 and only a few very dedicated people would want to build replicas, it refuses to sell copies of these plans—because it is so concerned about product liability.

For more information, the de Havilland 53 Humming Bird is thoroughly described on pages 203 to 209 of the book De Havilland Aircraft Since 1909 by A.J. Jackson. A good description of the plane and its construction appeared in the September 27, 1923 issue of Flight magazine published in England, pages 576-580. A four-page rundown on the DH 53 appeared in the April 1985 issue of the British magazine Aeroplane Monthly.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29

Vintage Instructor THE

BY Steve Krog, CFI

It’s all in the feet Not long ago I had a young and fairly new private pilot enroll for a tailwheel endorsement. This person, a very enthusiastic pilot, had accrued about 70 hours’ total time in the previous 18 months. After a preflight briefing, cockpit briefing, and doing some taxi Figure 7s on the ramp, it was time to move to the runway. All proceeded as expected until we positioned the airplane for takeoff. An instant before adding full power, I looked down to ensure the pilot had correct foot placement on the rudder pedals. To my surprise the pilot had removed her feet from the pedals and had placed them flat on the floor.

When asked why she had done so, she replied that her instructor had told her to do that!

At first I thought it was an attentiongetting prank to test me, but she was dead serious. After the flight I gave this some thought and mentioned this situation to another instructor. All we could come up with was “unbelievable!” How could a student obtain a private certificate using this method?

Transitioning from a tricycle to a tailwheel (conventional) gear airplane is great fun, somewhat challenging, frequently frustrating early on, and almost always humorous. I’ve experienced this and more while training new pilots, but it is especially good for a lot of chuckles when working with a certificated, tricycle-experienced pilot.

I’ve trained pilots, both new and experienced, in a lot of different tailwheel airplanes, but I prefer to start them all in the J-3 Cub for a couple of reasons. The student sits in the back seat, with me in front. Positioned in this configuration, the student can see my raised hands when I use them to demonstrate rudder inputs on takeoff and landing. While in flight, I can reach down and place my hands on their shoes and “assist” with rudder inputs when making and rolling out of turns or when maintaining directional control on either the takeoff or landing roll. This method also teaches attitude flying.

Proper Foot Position Is Vital Before ever starting the engine, it is important to have the student get settled in the rear seat. The first thing he usually does is place his feet on the rudder pedals so that the arches of his feet make contact with the pedals. It is very important at this stage to reposition his feet so that the ball of each foot is lightly making contact with the rudder pedals. This allows the foot to pivot at the ankle when applying rudder input. Rudder inputs will be much more fluid and more easily coordinated with aileron inputs, as it requires only ankle pivot. If the arch of the foot is in contact with the rudder pedal, the entire leg has to move to provide rudder input. This action leads to uncoordinated inputs when applied with the ailerons, and we’re always striving for smooth, fluid, coordinated control inputs.

The first question a transition pilot will usually ask is, “I can’t access the heel brake pedals with the balls of my feet positioned this way. How do I do that?”

My response is, “You only use the brakes three times for a Cub flight: when starting the engine, when doing the engine run-up, and when stopping in front of the hangar at the flight’s conclusion. Yes, there are exceptions, such as when taxiing in close quarters or taxiing in a strong wind. But otherwise, if brakes are needed, you’re ‘behind’ the airplane!” In those three situations it is satisfactory to use toe pressure on the brake pedals to prevent pain and strain on your Achilles tendon.

During the first hour of flight in the J-3 Cub, or any tailwheel aircraft for that matter, rudder usage can usually be categorized according to one of the following descriptions: Calf-Cramping Crush: This occurs when one firmly plants both feet on the rudder pedals and applies equal amounts of foot-crushing pressure so as to nearly rip the rudder pedals from the floorboard. This method of rudder

How could a student obtain a private certificate using this method?

30 SEPTEMBER 2011

usage will also cause severe leg cramps later in the day.

Toe-Tickling Touch: This involves just barely touching the rudder pedals for fear of “breaking” something. This input or lack thereof leads to significant adverse yaw whenever attempting to bank the airplane.

Monster Mash: Slamming the rudder pedal to the floor with a size 14 steel-toed work boot whenever a slight bit of rudder input is required.

Severe skidding turns are the usual result, followed by an equally hard skid in the opposite direction when rolling out of a turn and returning to straight and level flight.

Arch Pivot Push: Placing the arches of the feet on the rudder pedals so as to cause unusual ankle contortions with little or no rudder response. Shin splints are sometimes the result of this method of rudder application.

Footrest Roost: Attempting to fly a tailwheel airplane with tricycle-plane inputs. For someone attempting to taxi using this method, the rudder pedals serve as footrests, never to be moved except when taxiing. One will usually see a lot of rapid foot movement in search of the toe brakes, which are not there.

Fluttering Fish: Rapidly moving the rudder from stop to stop, thinking this will help maintain directional control on takeoff or landing.

Watch for this type of rudder movement at the next pancake breakfast, and you will see that the rudder is but a blur until the airplane becomes airborne or comes to a complete stop on the runway.

Around-the-Clock Rock: The act of unconsciously pushing the rudder pedals left and right, usually accompanied by moving the control stick or yoke left and right but not in a coordinated fashion. Frequently induces nausea in a beginning pilot and most often occurs on final approach to land.

Tap and Release When explaining proper rudder usage to a tailwheel transition student for takeoffs and landings, I use

the phrase “tap and release.” With the stick or yoke back and the aircraft aligned with the runway centerline for takeoff, rest the balls of your feet very lightly on the rudder pedals. Do not yet exert any pressure. As you begin smoothly applying full power, the plane will generally want to yaw or swerve slightly leftward. Tap and release the right rudder pedal one or more times. Do not push the right rudder and hold it, as this will immediately cause an overcorrection and the nose of the plane will now be pointed rightward. In order to keep the plane tracking straight forward, the right rudder may need to be tapped and released several times.

As the control stick or yoke is moved slightly forward, raising the tail about a foot above the ground, you will again experience a slight leftward movement of the nose.

Tap and release the right rudder as needed to correct this movement, keeping the aircraft tracking straight forward.

One common mistake I see when teaching takeoffs to both transition and first-time tailwheel students is the attempt to move the airplane back to the runway centerline after the aircraft has been allowed to yaw leftward. In my opinion, this should never be done. Rather, straighten the ground track of the plane and continue the takeoff from that point forward. Attempting to move the airplane back to the centerline will usually induce an interesting S-turning ground track, often leading to a spectacular trip between and sometimes over the runway lights.

Once airborne in a proper climb attitude, slight but constant right rudder pressure is needed until completing the climb, offsetting the engine torque and propeller P-factor.

This is the only time throughout a normal flight where constant rudder pressure is required, with one exception: steady crosswind landings.

Another common rudder usage mistake I’ve experienced is continuing to hold the rudder input when making turns in flight. Several days ago I was working with an experi-

enced pilot on a tailwheel transition.

Every time he turned, he applied and held the rudder until completing the turn. When I corrected him, he told me that his instructor had taught him to do that. Once the desired angle of bank has been established, the control stick and rudder should be neutralized. By that I mean move the stick to the center, removing the aileron input, and take your foot off the rudder. Most of the light singleengine airplanes we fly have a fair amount of positive stability designed into the aircraft. Few or no control inputs are needed after establishing the bank angle to complete a 90-degree shallow-bank turn until rolling out to a wings-level attitude at the turn completion.

When landing, it is important to take a deep breath while on short final so that your muscles are relaxed. This is where one of the seven rudder mistakes most often occurs. Unknowingly, we allow ourselves to get tense in preparation for a tailwheel landing.

Keep the airplane aligned with the runway during the level-off and flare by using slight rudder inputs, again tapping and releasing the pedal each time pressure is applied (except in a crosswind landing). Upon touching down, tap and release the appropriate rudder pedal, keeping the plane on a straight-line track throughout the rollout phase of the landing.

Pushing and holding the rudder will cause overcorrection, leading to another series of runway S-turns. Just tap and release and repeat as necessary to keep the airplane straight.

Again, if the airplane is allowed to drift a few feet left or right, straighten it out with rudder tapping and continue the rollout straight ahead from that point. Do not try to realign the airplane with the runway centerline.

Learning to safely fly a tailwheel airplane is challenging but also a lot of fun. It will teach you to use your feet and make you an all-around better, safer, and more coordinated pilot.

To communicate with the author or editor, send a note to vintage airplane@eaa.org.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 31

Vintage Mechanic

THE

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

Engine cowls for drag reduction Part 2 Parasite drag is defined as the resistance to for ward flight caused by air flow striking the frontal par ts of the air frame. When radial engines aren’t faired, the drag is substantial, as shown in this NASA sketch in Illustration 1.

Fred E. Weick, who headed the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Propeller Wind Tunnel section, conducted early experiments on streamlining the engine installation and focused initially on the Wright J-5 engine.

His wind tunnel work and computations showed that a remarkable increase in airspeed could be achieved by fabricating an aluminum cowling and attaching it to the engine.

Illustration 1

NASA

32 SEPTEMBER 2011

NASA

Illustration 2 shows Weick’s team in the sheet metal shop, fabricating a cowling for a radial engine at the Langley Research Center in Virginia. All experimental cowls were handmade, most likely constructed from drawings made by Weick and his associates. Whenever experiments such as Weick’s work on cowlings were conducted, the data was assembled and placed in a NACA Technical Repor t. A description of the work accomplished, computation tables, sketches, and photographs accompanied the repor t. The repor t was made available to manufacturers who desired to build and market the product. Today these NACA reports are available at the NASA website (http:// NTRS.NASA.gov/search.jsp).

Illustration 2

NASA

Illustration 3

Illustration 3 shows craftsmen installing a ring cowl to a U.S. Navy ship in preparation for flight tests.

These experiments took place from 1925 to 1929 and were funded by the government, just as NASA is funded today. NACA was established in 1915 and charged with coordinating research in aeronautics. It quickly became the prime research organization pushing the boundaries of flight from the early stages through the first supersonic aircraft in 1947. NACA passed the torch to NASA in 1958 and expanded the role of aeronautics research into space exploration.

In Illustration 4 is a cover sheet for a NACA Technical Note authored by Weick in July 1928 regarding wind tunnel tests to determine the drag of a Wright J-5 radial engine. The data compiled herein was used to design and construct low-drag engine cowls for use on military and commercial aircraft.

Illustration 4 NASA

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 33

LOCKHEED

Illustration 6 Illustration 6 shows a standard 1928 Lockheed Vega, a wood monocoque fuselage and cantilever wing design by John Northrop. The Wright J-5 engine cylinders protruding from a streamlined fuselage are quite evident.

Illustration 5

NASA

Illustration 5 is a NACA photograph of the propeller wind tunnel at the Langley Research Center around 1928. The aircraft being tested was a Sperry Messenger, a mock-up of a cabin monoplane with the radial engine fully cowled.

Note that the wind tunnel was constructed of wood. It was this early research that led to fully cowled engines in the late 1920s, particularly the famed Lockheed Vega.

Illustration 7 The early ships were constructed with the most advanced LOCKHEED monocoque fuselage design of the day; however, their With the installation of a NACA pressure cowl as Wright J-5 engines were uncowled and created a substan- shown in Illustration 7, airspeed and range were imtial amount of drag. mediately increased. On Februar y 4 and 5, 1929, Frank Hawks, a famous barnstormer and stunt pilot, established a new Los Angeles to New York nonstop record of 18 hours and 13 minutes flying a Lockheed Air Express equipped with a NACA low-drag cowling that increased the aircraft’s maximum speed from 157 to 177 mph.

The day after the feat, the committee received the following telegram: “COOLING CAREFULLY CHECKED AND OK. RECORD Weick’s NACA research IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT NEW COWLING. ALL CREDIT DUE provided a substantial reducNACA FOR PAINSTAKING AND ACCURATE RESEARCH. tion in parasite drag of an (Signed) GERRY VULTEE, LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT COMPANY” aircraft. The photos below are all from NACA/NASA and show the early use of pressure engine cowls in the United States. Illustration 8 shows a nicely faired Stearman Model 4E complete with pressure cowling and wheel fairings. When speed was ever ything, this was the way to go. When the full-pressure cowling was used, it was necessary to install intercylinder baffles.

Illustration 8

34 SEPTEMBER 2011

BRIMM & BOGGESS

Illustration 9

Intercylinder baf fles or deflectors ser ve to direct air around the cylinders, thus ensuring pressure air cooling for the rear of the cylinder. Illustration 9 shows a Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine complete with all baffling in place.

The baffling actually sealed against cowling, thus forcing air around cylinder fins for cooling. Also there were scoops that directed cool flowing air on magnetos and sometimes the generator to keep those components cool. Illustrations 9 and 10 show engine baffling. These illustrations were taken from Aircraft Engine Maintenance.

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Illustration 10

The invention of the NACA pressure cowl and the research conducted by Weick and Max Munk during 1928 and 1929 laid the groundwork for all future engine cowling installations. Just think of all those fast World War II fighter and bomber aircraft with tight-fitting engine cowling.

The development started here.

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 35

by H.G. FRAUTSCHY

MYSTERY PLANE This month’s Mystery Plane comes from W. Duffy Thompson of Lakeland, Florida. It is of foreign manufacture, but the photo was taken on the East Coast of the United States.

Send your answer to EAA, Vintage Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Your answer needs to be in no later than October 10 for inclusion in the December 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.

JUNE’S MYSTERY ANSWER Our June Mystery Plane came to us from John Schwamm of Carefree, Arizona. It was a true Mystery Plane, as John’s father owned the hangar in the background, but John didn’t know the identity of the little aircraft. Wes Smith, of Springfield, Arizona, did. Here’s his answer:

Among an interesting assortment of aircraft, including the Vance Viking in the background, Tony Schwamm’s hangar was the scene for a quick shot of our June Mystery Plane, the Mendenhall M-1 Special.

36 SEPTEMBER 2011

The aircraft in question is the 1936 Mendenhall M-1, aka Special. A gull-winged, twin-boom, low-powered racer. Test-flown flown by Anthony “Tony” LeVier of (latter day) Lockheed fame. Registered as 16097, it was flown three times using the 22.5-hp Cyclomotor powerplant. On all three occasions the engine failed.

The first two times LeVier was able to execute dead-stick landings. The third time, the aircraft was destroyed and LeVier was slightly injured. It was designed and built by Eugene Mendenhall of Los Angeles. I swear I’ve seen

ternational Airport.

He flew in many of the Howard Hughes’ movies, and one picture I have shows several of his World War I Thomas Morse Scouts in front of the hangar.

And by the way, that “…nt …ction” actually reads “student instr uction.”

The top reads “TONY SCHWAMM,” under that is “aerobatics,” and to the left is “student instruction.”

From John Underwood, another longtime Lockheed man and California aviator, comes this additional Thanks to our “Vintage Mechanic” Bob Lock, we have information: a picture of June’s Mystery Plane, the Mendenhall M-1 Your current MysSpecial completed and ready for flight testing. tery Plane is Gene Mendenhall’s M-1 other photos, but I’m hard-pressed to Special, 16097, which Tony LeVier find them. Aerofiles.com has a fair flight-tested at Muroc and Rosawrite-up, which I used. What tipped mond, near what is now Edwards me off were the hangar markings and Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert. origin. At the time, LeVier was flying These flights were very brief affairs, in Arizona and California, so it makes because the 25-hp Cyclomotor twoperfect sense that the photo came out stroke pusher was prone to overheating of Arizona. Aside from his name, there and quit after about five minutes. The is: “…nt …ction.” There’s also that M-1’s final airing was at Telegraph & big monster sticking out of the hangar.

Atlantic Airport, where the motor quit again one Sunday late in 1936, resulting in a crash-landing in soft soil.

The little plane dug in and stopped so abruptly that Tony’s seat belt snapped and he kept going. He went halfway through the nose and was totally immobilized by the surrounding structure. He was frantic to get out but could barely move and was sure the thing would burn before anyone could reach him. They had to cut it apart to get him out. He had a few minor cuts and bruises, but the M-1 was DBR and never flew again. That’s Tony Schwamm’s hangar at T&A Airport.

The airplane in the background is the Vance Viking, which had been prepped by Clyde Pangborn for a nonstop round-the-world flight that never got off the ground. It was then acquired by a character known as Monty Mason, who renamed it the Mason Meteor and promoted funding from a Texas centennial foundation for another flight that never came off. Mason got into some sort of financial jam (scam?) and also disappeared. It could be he abandoned the Viking in Tony Schwamm’s hangar. Tony had a lot of oddball airplanes, including two American-built Savoia-Marchetti S-55 twin float seaplanes, a bunch of Thomas Morse Scouts salvaged from Howard Hughes’ “air force,” and a whole lot more.

No other correct answers were received.

After receiving the answer, John added some details, noting that the answer made perfect sense: Tony was a good friend of my dad’s.

I had met him several times and heard the old flying stories from him.

The hangar is my dad’s, but in California, not Arizona; it’s now a freeway intersection. Sprott Field it was called. The date is just right, as my dad had the hangar there until about 1937, when it burned. Then he went to Alaska to start a flying business there and later became the first director of aviation for the territory of Alaska, then after statehood, he was director of air terminals, managing Anchorage In-

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 37

sters with their first flight in a GA aircraft. Henceforth, the program’s objective will include “bringing the 77,000 Young Eagles we fly each year through certification,” Hightower said. “We have not paid a lot of attention to that in the past.

Now we will focus attention on helping them all the way through [pilot] certification.”

Hightower’s plan to establish flying clubs comes from his four years living in Europe. Clubs would provide more pilots and potential pilots with access to more aircraft at a more affordable cost, he said. The program will start with creating a flying club at EAA’s Oshkosh headquarters. “We have a bunch of airplanes. Let’s put them into a flying club,” he said. “Establish a safety management system for the operation, and maintain the operation.

We’re in the process of doing that.”

Hightower noted many of the EAA’s 900 chapters would be potential candidates for establishing flying clubs.

Hightower also announced that EAA Sport Aviation magazine, traditionally only available to members, is being distributed through selected pilot shops. “It’s an important opportunity to expand, to take our world-class magazine out to the marketplace,” he said.

iPad 2 winner Leo Mora and his wife, Nancy, pictured by Leo’s pressurized Cessna Skymaster.

First Winner Selected in AutoPilot iPad 2 Sweepstakes Congratulations to Leo Mora, of Shady Shores, Texas, EAA’s first winner of the monthly AutoPilot iPad 2 Sweepstakes. Leo was automatically entered into our monthly drawing for an iPad 2 when he put his membership on AutoPilot—EAA’s automatic dues renewal program—during AirVenture 2011.

Also included is a one-year subscription to ForeFlight HD, supplied by ForeFlight LLC, maker of intelligent apps for pilots. ForeFlight HD allows pilots to plan, organize, and fly their trips like never before and includes features like a navlog, approach plate organizer, integrated FAA Airport/Facilities Directory (Green Book), personal waypoints, airspaces, and more.

An EAA member since 1984, Leo, who lives on an airpark, is a Delta airline pilot, a pressurized Cessna Skymaster owner, and a builder of a Glasair I. Put your membership on AutoPilot by visiting www.EAA.org/autopilot and be entered into the next drawing. It takes just a minute, eliminates the waste of paper renewal notices, and ensures uninterrupted delivery of all your member benefits. Best of all, by signing up today, you too could be a winner! (Visit the website for complete sweepstakes rules. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law.)

Gathering of Eagles Does It Again Aviation leaders, world-renowned celebrities, and those with a shared concern for aviation’s future once again made the annual EAA Gathering of Eagles fundraising gala a tremendous success.

Major highlights this year included an exclusive preview of film icon George Lucas’ latest project set for release in 2012, Red Tails, about the famed Tuskegee Airmen; the first-ever appearance together of all five past and present chairmen of the Young Eagles program: Cliff Robertson, retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, Harrison Ford, Sully Sullenberger, and Jeff Skiles; and a $400,000 winning bid for Ford Motor Company’s one-of a kind 2012 “Blue Angels” Mustang.

The event raised about $2.2 million to support Young Eagles, youth education and experience programs, AirVenture Museum, and other EAA programming to help create the next generation of aviators.

38 SEPTEMBER 2011

There’s plenty more . . . and other goodies at www.vintageaircraft.org

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VINTAGE TRADER

S o m e t h i n g t o b u y, sell, or trade?

Classified Word Ads: $5.50 per 10 words, 180 words maximum, with boldface lead-in on first line.

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 frequency discounts.

Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (i.e., January 10 is the closing date for the March issue). VAA reser ves 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 (920-426-4828) or e-mail (classads@ eaa.org) using credit card payment (all cards accepted). Include name on card, complete address, type of card, card number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to EAA. Address advertising correspondence to EAA Publications Classified Ad Manager, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 39

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

Vice-President George Daubner N57W34837 Pondview Ln Oconomowoc, WI 53066 262-560-1949 gdaubner@eaa.org

Secretary Steve Nesse 2009 Highland Ave. Albert Lea, MN 56007 507-373-1674 stnes2009@live.com

Treasurer Dan Knutson 106 Tena Marie Circle Lodi, WI 53555 608-592-7224 lodicub@charter.net

DIRECTORS

Steve Bender 85 Brush Hill Road Sherborn, MA 01770 508-653-7557 sst10@comcast.net

Dale A. Gustafson 7724 Shady Hills Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46278 317-293-4430 dalefaye@msn.com

David Bennett 375 Killdeer Ct Lincoln, CA 95648 916-952-9449 antiquer@inreach.com

Jeannie Hill P.O. Box 328 Harvard, IL 60033-0328 920-426-6110

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 rlumley1@wi.rr.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

Charlie Harris PO Box 470350 Tulsa, OK 74147 918-622-8400 cwh@hvsu.com

Gene Chase 2159 Carlton Rd. Oshkosh, WI 54904 920-231-5002 GRCHA@charter.net

E.E. “Buck” Hilbert 8102 Leech Rd. Union, IL 60180 815-923-4591 buck7ac@gmail.com

Ronald C. Fritz 15401 Sparta Ave. Kent City, MI 49330 616-678-5012 rFritz@pathwaynet.com

Gene Morris 5936 Steve Court Roanoke, TX 76262 817-491-9110 genemorris@charter.net

John Turgyan PO Box 219 New Egypt, NJ 08533 609-752-1944 jrturgyan4@aol.com

TM

Membership Services Directory Enjoy the many benefits of EAA and EAA’s Vintage Aircraft Association

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EAA Aviation Center, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh WI 54903-3086 Phone (920) 426-4800

Fax (920) 426-4873

Web Sites: www.vintageaircraft.org, www.airventure.org, www.eaa.org/memberbenefits E-Mail: vintageaircraft@eaa.org

EAA and Division Membership Services (8:00 AM–6:00 PM Monday–Friday CST) membership@eaa.org 800-564-6322 FAX 920-426-4873 www.eaa.org/memberbenefits •New/renew memberships •Address changes •Merchandise sales •Gift memberships EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 888-322-4636 www.airventure.org Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft Hotline 877-359-1232 www.sportpilot.org Programs and Activities Auto Fuel STCs 920-426-4843 EAA Air Academy 920-426-6880 www.airacademy.org EAA Scholarships 920-426-6823 Library Services/Research 920-426-4848 Benefits AUA Vintage Insurance Plan 800-727-3823 www.auaonline.com EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan 866-647-4322 www.eaa.org/memberbenefits EAA VISA Card 800-853-5576 ext. 8884 EAA Hertz Rent-A-Car Program 800-654-2200 www.eaa.org/hertz VAA Editorial/Executive Director 920-426-4825 www.vintageaircraft.org VAA Office 920-426-6110

airventure@eaa.org sportpilot@eaa.org stc@eaa.org airacademy@eaa.org scholarships@eaa.org slurvey@eaa.org

membership@eaa.org membership@eaa.org vintage@eaa.org tbooks@eaa.org

EAA Members Information Line 888-EAA-INFO (322-4636) Use this toll-free number for: information about AirVenture Oshkosh; aeromedical and technical aviation questions; chapters; and Young Eagles. Please have your membership number ready when calling.

Office hours are 8:15 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Monday - Friday, CST)

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION EAA Membership in the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. is $40 for one year, including 12 issues of SPORT AVIATION. Family membership is an additional $10 annually. All major credit cards accepted for membership.

(Add $16 for International Postage.)

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

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION Current EAA members may join the Vintage Aircraft Association and receive VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for an additional $36 per year.

EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine and one year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association is available for $46 per

year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included).

(Add $7 for International Postage.)

WARBIRDS Current EAA members may join the EAA Warbirds of America Division and receive WARBIRDS magazine for an additional $45 per year.

EAA Membership, WARBIRDS magazine and one year membership in the Warbirds Division is available for $55 per year (SPORT OficAVIATION magazine not included). (Add $7 for International Postage.)

IAC

Current EAA members may join the International Aerobatic Club, Inc. Division and receive SPORT AEROBATICS magazine for an additional $45 per year.

EAA Membership, SPORT AEROBATICS magazine and one year membership in the IAC Division is available for $55 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included). (Add $15 for Foreign Postage.)

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

Copyright ©2011 by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, All rights reserved.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE (USPS 062-750; ISSN 0091-6943) is published and owned exclusively by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association of the Experimental Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EAA Aviation Center, 3000 Poberezny Rd., PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54903-3086, e-mail: vintageaircraft@eaa.org. Membership to Vintage Aircraft Association, which includes 12 issues of Vintage Airplane magazine, is $36 per year for EAA members and $46 for non-EAA members. Periodicals Postage paid at Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Vintage Airplane, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. PM 40063731 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Pitney Bowes IMS, Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor, ON N9A 6J5. FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES — Please allow at least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surface mail. ADVERTISING — Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the advertising. We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken.

EDITORIAL POLICY: Members are encouraged to submit stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the contributor. No remuneration is made. Material should be sent to: Editor, VINTAGE AIRPLANE, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Phone 920-426-4800.

EAA® and EAA SPORT AVIATION®, the EAA Logo® and Aeronautica™ are registered trademarks, trademarks, and service marks of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. The use of these trademarks and service marks without the permission of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. is strictly prohibited.

40 SEPTEMBER 2011

Thank You from Ford and EAA!

The partnership between EAA and Ford spans more than a decade and the connection continues to grow. Our mutual goal is to continually enhance the EAA member experience.

EAA values the partnership with Ford and Ford’s support of the opening day REO Speedwagon concert, the nightly Fly-In movie theater the spectacular Blue Angels Edition Mustang, and much more.

AirVenture 2011 was an extraordinary event and we look forward to seeing you next year!

Rod Hightower President & CEO, EAA

Tom Poberezny Chairman Emeritus, EAA

Edsel B. Ford II Board Director, Ford Motor Co.

EAA members are eligible for special pricing on Ford Motor Company vehicles through Ford’s Partner Recognition Program.

To learn more on this exclusive opportunity for EAA members to save on a new Ford vehicle, please visit www.eaa.org/ford.

VEHICLE PURCHASE PLAN