The Vintage Mechanic

Th e Vintage Mechanic

ROBERT G. LOCK

Approaching a restoration project: Where do I start? Part 1

While instructing at Reedley College in the aeronautics department, I always had a project going at my shop at home. Occasionally I would bring some of my class, who were interested, over for a tour in the afternoon after instruction ended. Th us it would not be considered a “field trip.” Invariably questions and comments would arise, such as, “How do you know where to start?” or “The project is overwhelming.” I agree that looking at a pile of old airplane parts is a bit overwhelming, but one has to look beyond that. So to identify the task at hand, as related to their questions, take the pieces of a rare 1929 biplane shown in Illustration 1 and turn it into a fine flyable example as shown in illustration 2.

One problem with a project this size is the amount of time (in years) that must be devoted to reach a conclusion. In this case the project was started in 1978 and fi nally concluded in 1989. Th ere were times when I did not work on the ship for six months, so the important thought was to end at a logical stopping point and make necessary notes to ensure there would be continuity when resuming.

My answer to the question, “How can you do this?” was always that I break the project down into smaller objectives. Th e overall objective would be to produce an airworthy and good fl ying airplane, and that would be a long way off in the beginning. But as the project neared completion the realization that I would have to get into the airplane and go fl y it began to appear on the horizon. And the closer I got, the larger the looming test fl ight became. But let’s not get too far ahead and return to the focus of breaking the project down into Illustration 1 Illustration 2

Illustration 3

smaller and more manageable goals.

The first project was to assemble what good pieces I could scrounge from three airplanes, and Illustration 1 shows the result. There were no drawings, rather a few photographs in the beginning. Not many people had ever heard of this type airplane, but I took it to the 1978 Merced, California, antique airplane fl y-in and show. Th e nice folks there gave me a spot on the ramp where I could display my prize, a 1929 Command-Aire 5C3. I hauled the ship out of storage where it had been since 1965, loaded it on my trailer, and hauled it to Merced. With the help of some local folks, we assembled what was left of the airplane that is displayed in Illustration 3.

My wife, Sandy, and I stayed with the airplane the entire weekend, talking to people who did not know what it was. Most thought it was a Travel Air or early Stearman, but fi nally a man walked up and said, “Well, I’ll be darned, I didn’t think there were any of these left. It is a Command-Aire 5C3.” I asked who he was, and he said Joe Juptner, author of U.S. Civil Aircraft (Illustration 4).

If I answered the question, “What is it?” once, I answered it 100 times. Many other comments were received, such as, “It will never fl y!”

Now, it is not my intent here to go into detail of exactly how this airplane was restored, but rather discuss philosophical points and provide “how to” details when the original factory drawings have been lost and there is nothing to use for reference except the major structural parts that were available. In lieu of drawings of any kind available, photographs are the next best things. Since this airplane had been modified for crop dusting, there was nothing in the front seat except the rudder pedal mounts. Th e control stick and torque tube had been removed, as was the seat, throttle mount, etc. But what did all this stuff look like? I learned of a stock mode 5C3 that was located in Long Island, New York. A NASA test pilot friend, Tom McMurtry, would make occasional trips to that area because an experimental pivoting wing aircraft (the AD-1) was being constructed; he was the project test pilot. So I asked if he could fi nd the Command-Aire and take a few photographs for me.

Th e result is shown in Illustration 5. Th ese photos were invaluable in showing details of the rudder pedals, control stick, seat, throttle mounts, and plywood bulkheads at front and rear of cockpit. Even the gas tank mounting can be seen. Th ose pictures were an absolute prize. NC939E belonged to Joe Erale at the time, and he was kind enough to allow Tom access for these pictures. Illustration 4

Illustration 5

Th ank you, Joe!

Since a search for the drawings turned up nothing, some serious sketches needed to be made. Th ere were enough wings and parts to build maybe four or fi ve sets of wings, so patterns were not a problem. All original factory fi ttings were used, as were the brace wires with part numbers still attached in the form of brass sleeves with p/n stamp. All new wood had to be made. One area that caused some thinking was how to make the wingbows, as they are not a fl at bend, rather they take the contour of wing ribs. So a fl at plywood fi xture would not work. Finally, when disassembling a partial wingbow on a lower wing, I discovered that the factory built the bows on the wing and did not use a fi xture as I had once thought. I could tell this because the fi rst strip was nailed into the spars and each succeeding strip was nailed into the spars. If the factory used a fixture this would not have been the case. Illustration 6 shows fabricating the wingbows.

The first lamination of spruce is laid in place. Spar ends have not been trimmed, and common wood nails are driven into spar ends to support laminations in proper location.

Glue is spread on both laminations, and then the next spruce strip is moved into position.

Spring clamps hold laminations in place until they can be securely clamped using C-clamps. After glue has cured, clamps are removed and the wingbow is formed.

Th e wingbow is removed, spars tapered to fi t bow, and necessary joints made to attach bow to leading and trailing edges and ribs.

Now it is time to plane and sand the bow into fi nal shape. Here a small hand plane is being used to roughshape the bow. Final shaping is done with a disc sander and hand sanding. This yields the final product—a perfectly shaped wingbow that follows negative camber of wing ribs.

Tip ribs can now be added—all that remains is to install birch plywood skin on upper and lower leading edge ribs. Pretty neat!

I chose to do the upper wings fi rst.

Illustration 8

There is no center section, so one wing panel is constructed and almost fi nished, and then the second wing is bolted and almost completed. Th is ensures that the two wings will fit together upon final assembly. The lower wings present a different problem in that they must fi t the fuselage and align perfectly because angle of incidence is set here. Illustration 7 shows my father, Leonard, and me around 1984 when we were constructing the lower wings. Th e lower wing was assembled and trammed except for the first bay (inboard). The wing was slipped onto the fuselage fi ttings and attach bolts installed. Then the root compression rib was glued in place, thus ensuring a good fit to fuselage when the wing was completed.

Constructing wood wings is rather straightforward; however, on occasion there will be a mystery or two that must be overcome. Such was with the wingbow on these Command-Aire wings, but once understood the task was easy.

One of the joys of restoration was this particular airplane because I located the original designer, Albert Vollmecke. Al was very proud of the wings he had designed in 1928 and 1929 when these ships were being constructed in Little Rock, Arkansas, by Command-Aire Incorporated. Illustration 8 shows Al Vollmecke with an original Command-Aire wing in 1982. He was 81 years old at this time and had not seen one of these airplanes for over 50 years. Th e fuselage can be seen in the background of my shop along with an Aeronca 7AC I was also restoring.

Finally, when it’s time to check the fit of new upper wings, the attach bolts (which are in tension) slip into place without having to resort to a heavy hammer. Illustration 9 shows the new upper wings but before leading edge plywood is bonded in place. Illustration 9

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