Va vol 43 no 1 jan feb 2015 by EAA Vintage Aircraft Association

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Funk

Cute Little High-Winger

•2014 AirVenture Picture Essay •Comparing the Classics: Taylorcraft

Vintage Airplane

Straight & Level

STAFF

EAA Publisher /Chairman of the Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack J. Pelton

GEOFF ROBISON

VAA PRESIDENT, EAA 268346, VAA 12606

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Busha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jbusha@eaa.org VAA Executive Administrator. . . Erin Brueggen 920-426-6110. . . . . . . . . . . . ebrueggen@eaa.org

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2015— You Gotta Be There!

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Up to 700 pounds of weight have been eliminated, helping F-150 tow more – up to • Trailer hitch assist adds a new rearview camera feature that incorporates a 12,200 lbs., haul more – up to 3,300 lbs., accelerate quicker and stop shorter, dynamic line based on steering wheel angle in the display to help customers line all with outstanding fuel efficiency. This is a game changer. up their truck and trailer with no spotter or need to exit the vehicle F-150 does more work, more efficiently than ever with two new additions to the • Remote tailgate allows for tailgate to be locked, unlocked and released with powertrain lineup. The 3.5L Ti-VCT V6 provides better power-to-weight ratio than the key fob the previous 3.7L V6 for more performance plus higher efficiency. And the all-new, Equipped with an impressive combination of power, capability and efficiency, the even more efficient, 2.7L EcoBoost® engine represents the next generation of ® EcoBoost technology – including Auto Start-Stop for excellent fuel management. 2015 F-150 is the ultra-capable pickup for the future. Built Ford Tough to help you Not lacking for power, its fast torque rise and direct-injection twin turbo chargers, work smarter, more efficiently and with more confidence than ever. deliver 325 horsepower and 375.-ft. of torque for maximum towing capability.

The Privilege of Partnership

Several groundbreaking features debut in the all-new F-150, including: • 360-degree camera view uses exterior cameras to create a bird’s-eye view of the truck to help drivers park, maneuver in tight spots, and navigate narrow roads and trails

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.

Art Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Livy Trabbold ADVERTISING: Vice President of Business Development Dave Chaimson. . . . . . . . . . . dchaimson@eaa.org

It is my unfortunate task to report to you in this edition of the Vintage Airplane that our VAA administrator, Max Platts, has accepted a new position with Cub Crafters of Yakima, Washington. If you ever had the opportunity to cross paths with Max, I’m pretty certain that you were likely splashed with at least a quart of his old airplane passion. Max’s aviation enthusiasm and his passion for old airplanes will be greatly missed by the officers and directors of the Vintage organization, not to mention a strong number of our members and volunteers. One would have to travel through life a very long way to find a young man that possesses the level of passion that Max exudes on a daily basis! Good luck, Max, and we certainly wish you the very best in your future aviation endeavors. As a follow up to Max’s departure, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you Erin Brueggen as our new Vintage administrator. Erin has a Bachelor of Science degree in aviation management, with a minor in flight operations. She is a private pilot with instrument and commercial ratings. Erin is bursting with enthusiasm and is very eager to re-engage herself in aviation. She has an extensive background in aviation business administration, and we are very excited to have her on board with our Vintage team. I am also pleased to report to the membership that one of our most talented directors has accepted the board’s invitation to serve as the treasurer of the Vintage Aircraft Association. Mr. Jerry Brown, who also happens to serve as our chief judge, was very gracious in accepting the challenge of oversight of our finances. Thanks for stepping up, Jerry! It’s great to have you on board with these responsibilities. Your Vintage board of directors last met on November 13. We experienced one of the most constructive sessions this board has ever had. Many thanks to all who attended! The board signed off on some very exciting capital projects we have had our sights on for some time now. I mention this only as a teaser to what improvements you will see at AirVenture 2015 in the Vintage area of operations. I promise you it will be impressive! The 2015 Oshkosh air-show planning continues to bear fruit and is already shaping up to be yet another very exciting event. Your Vintage organization is already carefully planning for our 2015 venue. Stay tuned to the EAA/VAA websites because I would anticipate a number of announcements very soon regarding features and attractions for AirVenture 2015. Congratulations to Mr. Tim Talen of Springfield, Oregon, for being chosen as the Vintage Aircraft Association’s recipient of EAA’s Hall of Fame. I was

Advertising Manager Sue Anderson. . . . . . . . . . . . sanderson@eaa.org Business Relationship Manager Larry Phillip. . . . . . . . . . . . . lphillip@eaa.org VAA, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903 Website: www.vintageaircraft.org Email: Vintageaircraft@eaa.org

VISIT www.vintageaircraft.org for the latest in information and news and for the electronic newsletter:

Vintage AirMail

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION Current EAA members may join the Vintage Aircraft Association and receive VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for an additional $42/year. EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine and one year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association are available for $52 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included). (Add $7 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. Membership Service PO Box 3086 Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086 Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM—6:00 PM CST Join/Renew 800-564-6322 membership@eaa.org EAA AirVenture Oshkosh www.eaa.org/airventure 888-322-4636

continued on page 63

www.vintageaircraft.org

Vol. 43, No. 1

2015

CONTENTS

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 18

The Funk Greg and Cindy Heckman’s Masterpiece Classic Budd Davisson

Comparing the Classics BC-12 Taylorcraft Budd Davisson

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Vintage 2014

COVERS FRONT COVER: Greg and Cindy Heckman’s Funk, shot by Tyson Rininger over Lake Winnebago, Oshkosh, WI.

BACK COVER: The Fleet NC86V and Bird NC980V are both owned by John Elliot of Arlington, VA. He flew the Bird and David Brown flew the Fleet. Photos are by Tim Loehrke.

COLUMNS 1

Straight and Level EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2015 Geoff Robison

6 Air Mail 7 JASON TONEY

ANY COMMENTS?

Send your thoughts to the Vintage Editor at: jbusha@eaa.org

For missing or replacement magazines, or any other membership related questions, please call EAA Member Services at 800-JOIN-EAA (564-6322).

Vintage News

9 Ask the AME Medications John Patterson, M.D., AME

10 How to? Make and use maiing strips Robert G. Lock 12

Good Old Days

16 Art of Flying Clouds Sarah Wilson 59 The Vintage Mechanic Engine intake manifold leaks Robert G. Lock 64 Vintage Trader

A “6-pack” Special Access to Donor Appreciation FORB Air-Conditioned of Cold Bottled Badge Volunteer Certificate Water! Center

CONTRIBUTION LEVELS ↓

Join Friends

DIAMOND PLUS $1,500 & higher DIAMOND $1,000 - $1,499 PLATINUM $750 - $999 GOLD $500 - $749 SILVER $250 - $499 BRONZE PLUS $150 - $249 BRONZE $100 - $149 LOYAL SUPPORTER $99 and under

of the Red

Barn!

Your support is crucial to the success of VAA’s AirVenture activities and programs VAA members like you are passionate about your affiliation with vintage aviation, and it shows. You’re the most loyal of all EAA members, renewing your VAA membership each and every year at a rate higher than any other group within the EAA family. We appreciate your dedication! Each year we give you another opportunity to strengthen your bond with the VAA by inviting you to become a Friend of the Red Barn. This special opportunity helps VAA put together all the components that make the Vintage area of EAA AirVenture a unique and exciting part of the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration. This special fund was established to cover a significant portion of the VAA’s expenses related to serving VAA members during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, so that no dues money is used to support the convention activities. This is a great opportunity for Vintage members to join together as key financial supporters of the Vintage division. It’s a rewarding experience for 4

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

each of us as individuals to be a part of supporting the finest gathering of Antique, Classic, and Contemporary airplanes in the world. At whatever level is comfortable for you, won’t you please join those of us who recognize the tremendously valuable key role the Vintage Aircraft Association has played in preserving the irreplaceable grassroots and general aviation airplanes of the last 100 years? Your participation in EAA’s Vintage Aircraft Association Friends of the Red Barn will help ensure the very finest in EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Vintage programs. To participate in this year’s campaign, fill out the donation form by visiting our website at www. VintageAircraft.org/programs/redbarn.html to make an online contribution. And to each and every one of you who has already contributed, or is about to, a heartfelt “thank you” from the officers, directors, staff, and volunteers of the Vintage Aircraft Association!

Two Passes to VAA Volunteer Party

10 Minute Breakfast at Chair Back Tall Pines Massage at Café AV2013

2 people, full week 2 people, full week 2 people, full week 1 person, full week

Tri-Motor OR Two Tickets Close Helicopter to VAA Picnic Auto Parking Ride Certificate 2 tickets

2 tickets

1 ticket

Special EAA PHP Air Show Center Seating Access

Full week 2 people, 2 people, full week full week Full week 2 people, 1 day 2 days

1 ticket

All donors at all levels will have their name listed in Vintage Airplane magazine, on VintageAircraft.org, and at the VAA Red Barn during AirVenture.

VAA Friends of the Red Barn

Name________________________________________________ ____________ EAA #___________ VAA #___________ Address____________________________________________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip_______________________________________________________________________________________ Phone___________________________________________________E-Mail_____________________________________ Please choose your level of participation: ____ Diamond Plus $1,500.00 or above ____ Diamond Level Gift - $1,000.00 - $1,499.00 ____ Platinum Level Gift - $750.00 - $999.00 ____ Gold Level Gift - $500.00 - $749.00

____ Silver Level Gift - $250.00 - $499.00 ____ Bronze Plus Gift - $150.00 - $249.00 ____ Bronze Level Gift - $100.00 - $149.00 ____ Loyal Supporter Gift - ($99.00 and under)

n Payment Enclosed (Make checks payable to Vintage Aircraft Assoc.) n Please charge my credit card for the amount of: ____________ Credit Card Number _____________________________ Expiration Date _________ Signature_________________________________________ Badges for Bronze Level and Above:

n Yes, prepare a name badge to read:

Mail your contribution to:

VAA FORB PO Box 3086 OSHKOSH, WI 54903-3086

or contribute online at

www.vintageaircraft.org/programs/redbarn.html

n No badge wanted for this year.

_________________________________________________________________ (Please print just as you wish your badge to read.) First Last Certificates:

n Yes, I want a Certificate

n No, I do not want a Certificate for this year.

The Vintage Aircraft Association is a non-profit educational organization under IRS 501c3 rules. Under Federal Law, the deduction from Federal Income tax for charitable contributions is limited to the amount by which any money (and the value of any property other than money) contributed exceeds the value of the goods or services provided in exchange for the contribution. An appropriate receipt acknowledging your gift will be sent to you for IRS gift reporting reasons.

www.vintageaircraft.org

Air Mail

Vintage News

Letters to the editor

2014 Art Morgan Vintage Volunteers of the Year

Jim Busha, Vintage Editor: You have an interesting article on the Luscombe in the latest issue of the Vintage Airplane. Having owned several Luscombes and having flown and given flight instruction in them for the past 50 years, I would agree with just about everything the author said, especially in his reluctance to use elevator trim. However, historically, Don Luscombe lost control of the Luscombe company in 1939 when he set up a stock sale and one person bought a controlling interest in the company, and Don was edged out by an Austrian refugee from Naziism named Leopold H. P. Klotz. He was not Swiss, as your author states. Had he been, he would have been a neutral, and might have been able to retain control of the company. Klotz had apparently neglected to apply for American citizenship, making him technically an enemy alien, and when the war started, the firm was taken over by the government and operated for the duration by the Federal Government. The firm produced some airplanes until 1942, but mainly was involved in making components for larger firms. In March 1945, Klotz returned to the Luscombe plant in New Jersey, and began organizing postwar production, which involved a move to Garland, Texas, near Dallas. It is good to see an accurate 6

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Mary Knutson, this year’s Behind-the-Scenes volunteer of the year, with Geoff Robison. Luscombe at the 1934 National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio.

Last Phantom built, shot in 1988 near Columbia, California.

analysis of the Luscombe, which has suffered some unjust criticism by people who frankly, just don’t know how to fly them. Budd Davisson chose the right person when he contacted Doug Combs, in Chandler, AZ, as Doug knows more about Luscombes than anyone alive today, as far as I know. I’m enclosing a couple of Luscombe photos from my collection. The first was taken by my father at the 1934 National Air Races at Cleveland. This is the

original prototype Phantom. The second is the last Phantom built up and restored by Doug Combs in the mid eighties. I shot it near Columbia, CA about 1988. Doug was flying. Sorry about the quality, but it is a scan of a 35 mm slide. The BW shot was from a 616 negative. Thanks for publishing the article. Sincerely, Brian R. Baker VAA # 19988

Each year at AirVenture Oshkosh two volunteers are selected who best exemplify the hardworking spirit of Vintage volunteers. One is selected as Flight Line Volunteer, representing our largest and most visible volunteer group. The other is selected as Behind-the-Scenes Volunteer, representing all of the additional service areas provided by the Vintage Aircraft Association. This award was started on our flight line by Art Morgan, longtime board member and flight line chairman at Oshkosh. Upon Art’s death this award was renamed in his honor, and his Oshkosh call sign, Antique 1, was retired. Chris Haeffner from St. Peters, Missouri, is this year’s Flight Line Volunteer of the Year. Chris has been volunteering with Vintage for 13 years, beginning as an airplane parker. Most of you won’t see Chris during convention week. For the past several years Chris has been a point manager at Point Fondy. Vintage operates four taxiway point buildings: Antique Point at show center, and then moving south in order we have Classic Point on the OPS taxiway, Point McGoo, and finally way down south Point Fondy (humorously named because pilots think they have been taxied to Fond du Lac). Chris and his wife, Cheryl, are a Vintage volunteer family team. Chris usually takes morning shifts and then is relieved by Cheryl so that they both can spend quality time with their children during convention week. Mary Knutson from Lodi, Wisconsin, is this year’s

Behind-the-Scenes Volunteer of the Year. Mary, who has volunteered with Vintage for eight years, is also part of a dedicated Vintage volunteer family. Her husband, Dan, is a long-term volunteer, serving as a Vintage board member and currently treasurer of the association. This spring Mary stepped forward and accepted chairmanship of our Red Barn Store. On many spring weekends, as our maintenance team was giving the Red Barn Store a physical makeover, Mary and Dan spent numerous weekend hours ordering, planning, stocking, and displaying our new merchandise in the beautiful new store. Mary brings her years of professional apparel experience to our new store, which was highly successful during Oshkosh 2014.

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Nominat ions

Ask the AME JOHN PATTERSON, M.D., AME

C A L L F OR V I N TA G E A I R C R A F T A S S O C I AT ION

Nominate your favorite vintage aviator for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame. A great honor could be bestowed upon that man or woman working next to you on your airplane, sitting next to you in the chapter meeting, or walking next to you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Think about the people in your circle of aviation friends: the mechanic, historian, photographer, or pilot who has shared innumerable tips with you and with many others. They could be the next VAA Hall of Fame inductee—but only if they are nominated. The person you nominate can be a citizen of any country and may be living or deceased; his or her involvement in vintage aviation must have occurred between 1950 and

the present day. His or her contribution can be in the areas of flying, design, mechanical or aerodynamic developments, administration, writing, some other vital and relevant field, or any combination of fields that support aviation. The person you nominate must be or have been a member of the Vintage Aircraft Association or the Antique/Classic Division of EAA, and preference is given to those whose actions have contributed to the VAA in some way, perhaps as a volunteer, a restorer who shares his expertise with others, a writer, a photographer, or a pilot sharing stories, preserving aviation history, and encouraging new pilots and enthusiasts.

To nominate someone is easy. It just takes a little time and a little reminiscing on your part. •Think of a person; think of his or her contributions to vintage aviation. •Write those contributions in the various categories of the nomination form. •Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions. Make copies of newspaper or magazine articles that may substantiate your view. •If at all possible, have another individual (or more) complete a form or write a letter about this person, confirming why the person is a good candidate for induction. We would like to take this opportunity to mention that if you have nominated someone for the VAA Hall of Fame; nominations for the honor are kept on file for 3 years, after which the nomination must be resubmitted. Mail nominating materials to: VAA Hall of Fame, c/o Charles W. Harris, Transportation Leasing Corp. PO Box 470350 Tulsa, OK 74147 E-mail: cwh@hvsu.com Remember, your “contemporary” may be a candidate; nominate someone today! Find the nomination form at www.VintageAircraft.org, or call the VAA office for a copy (920-426-6110), or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information: •Date submitted. •Name of person nominated. •Address and phone number of nominee. •E-mail address of nominee. •Date of birth of nominee. If deceased, date of death. •Name and relationship of nominee’s closest living relative. •Address and phone of nominee’s closest living relative. •VAA and EAA number, if known. (Nominee must have been or is a VAA member.) •Time span (dates) of the nominee’s contributions to vintage aviation. (Must be between 1950 to present day.) •Area(s) of contributions to aviation. •Describe the event(s) or nature of activities the nominee has undertaken in aviation to be worthy of induction into the VAA Hall of Fame. •Describe achievements the nominee has made in other related fields in aviation. •Has the nominee already been honored for his or her involvement in aviation and/or the contribution you are stating in this petition? If yes, please explain the nature of the honor and/or award the nominee has received. •Any additional supporting information. •Submitter’s address and phone number, plus e-mail address. •Include any supporting material with your petition.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Medications Medication issues are the number one cause of deproved, but one of the more common ones in this lay in airmen medical issuance or subsequent deferral group is Ditropan (oxybutynin), and it is not approved of the medical. So I can’t emphasize enough the need to due to the fact that it has a higher degree of sedation contact the aviation medical examiner (AME) prior to associated with it. the medical exam with any new medications or a change Another scenario can occur when the medication in medication. Doing so will go a long way to ensure that is approved, but additional information and possibly the certificate will be issued at the time of the exam or blood testing is required before issuance of the certifiat least minimize deferral time. cate. One such example is the use of Synthroid for hypoIn many cases the airman or even the prescribing thyroidism. This condition is recently one of the condiphysician is unaware of a probtions that can be approved now lem with flying and the parIn many cases the airman by the AME at the time of the ticular medication. Accutane, medical exam, but it will require for example, is a commonly stability on the dose of medicaor even the prescribing prescribed medication for the tion and a blood test called the physician is unaware of thyroid-stimulating hormone or treatment of acne; however, an airman on this medication will TSH. This test indicates the hypoa problem with flying and be restricted to daytime flying thyroidism is adequately treated due to the potential for impair- the particular medication. on the present dosage. ment in night vision. St. John’s Wort is an herbal One of the more common over-the-counter treatment for problems occurs with the over-the-counter cold medica- a number of ailments and is in itself not disqualifying; tions that often contain the antihistamine diphenhydrhowever, if the airman is self-medicating for depresamine. While not disqualifying, an airman must wait up sion, then the AME is advised to defer and not issue the to 60 hours after taking the medication to fly. This is due certificate pending further evaluation with the FAA in to the long half-life of the drug and the sedating effects Oklahoma City. of it. Alternative medications for runny nose and cold Another not uncommon occurrence is the student symptoms can be prescribed or obtained over-thepilot who is being treated currently or in the past with counter that are non-sedating such as Claritin or Almedications for attention deficit disorder. Many palegra. Zyrtec is also commonly used but not approved tients have been overtreated for this condition or even because of sedating properties. misdiagnosed, but nonetheless they will require addiI covered sleep-aid medications in a previous article, tional information regarding the diagnosis and treatand while approved for short term or occasional use, a ment, and in some cases they will require extensive and wait time before flying is required. For Ambien (zolpiexpensive testing before they can be approved. Most will dem) the wait time is 24 hours, while longer-acting sleep need to be deferred for further evaluation. aids such as Restoril (temazepam) may require 72 hours So you can see it is to the airman’s advantage to conbefore resuming piloting duties. Even medications for tact the AME before the exam to discuss potential medierectile dysfunction have a wait time associated with cal issues associated with any new medications not prethem. For Viagra or Levitra this is six hours, while with viously reported. It is hoped then that the certificate can Cialis it is 36 hours due to the potential for hypotension be issued at the time of the exam and delays in obtainor low blood pressure. ing additional information as well as disappointments Overactive bladder medications are usually apand surprises can be avoided. www.vintageaircraft.org

How to?

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ROBERT G. LOCK

Make and use nailing strips

Safe for You, Safe for the World, Safe for Your Airplane

WW2 broke out. These two companies used a unique way to remove the nailing strips from wood structure. They first put down cotton reinforcing tape and then applied the nailing strips. When glue cured, a worker pulled the cotton tapes thus pulling off the nailing strips and nails. Below, a method used for quick removal of nailing strips from a Beech AT-10 wood wing.

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Nailing strips on leading edge of my CommandAire wings holding the 1/16´´ Birch plywood in place while adhesive cures. These strips are about 1/2´´ wide and are held in place by common steel wire nails.

Nailing strips are used to apply pressure to stressed plywood skin during the bonding process. These nailing strips go back to the beginnings of using stressed plywood skin on primary structure. The following data is pulled from the ANC-19 publication and shows some rare pictures of the manufacture techniques used in the WW2 Beechcraft AT-10 advanced multi-engine trainer, of which 2,371 ships were manufactured between 1942 and 1944. There are very few left, mostly in museums and none (to my knowledge) are flyable. 10

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

The aircraft was constructed mostly of wood because aluminum was going into the war effort and was in short supply. Nailing strips were employed to hold molded plywood skin to the under structure while the glue cured. Nailing strips are made of clear soft pine cut into strips that are roughly 1/16´´ - 1/8´´ thick and 1/4´´—1/2´´ wide. They are expendable and are destroyed when being removed. Beechcraft and Globe both built these aircraft because they were in desperate need for training combat pilots when

Mass-producing stressed molded plywood wings for the Beech AT-10 at the Wichita factory during WW2. www.vintageaircraft.org

Good Old Days

P A R C S K O O B

From pages of what was . . . Take a quick look through history by enjoying images pulled from publications past.

Western Flying, April 1941 The Sportsman Pilot, April 1939

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Western Flying, April 1941

www.vintageaircraft.org

s d A d e fi i lass

What would you have found . . .

Western Flying, April 1941

Western Flying, January 1941 Western Flying, January 1941

October 1931 Western Flying, December 1927 14

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Western Flying, October 1927

Western Flying, January 1941 www.vintageaircraft.org

SARAH WILSON

The Art of Flying

one’s tears for all those years. When the giants are done they go to sleep, resting in the sky, and the giants become gentle again. Once all the tears are squeaky clean and sparkling with dreams, the sky sends the tears down as rain to grow the garden of children.

Do we restore airplanes or do they restore us? In my 50th year, the year you traditionally start counting down to the end of life, I started the engine on my 1929 Stearman Speedmail restoration and suddenly felt young again. The cynical barnstormer and ATP in me flew out the window with Peter Pan, quite literally. I saw art and poetry everywhere in the air, and all my creativity, curiosity, and wonder came flying back in as if I were 8 years old again.

to cultivate the future of aviation. Where are stories that children can sit on their parents’ and grandparents’ laps and share together? Never known for my conventionality, I had the crazy idea to write and illustrate stories to children in a magazine with the demographic of men and women ages 50-plus. Hoping it would inspire everyone to be young again. There’s an art to flying that’s much more than airmanship or skill. It can only be created when we keep the wonder of flying in our hearts and minds, holding onto it as long as we can. Like Peter Pan, staying forever young despite the age of our bodies or our airplanes.

SARAH WILSON

The Art of Flying

If you write, you learn quickly never to write to “them,” but to write to one person. When Jim Busha asked me to write a column for Vintage Airplane magazine, I looked into my imagination, imagining all your faces staring back at me. Scanning a sky full of your faces, I was looking for that one person to write to. I saw him in a cloud. An adorable face, full of promise with an upturned nose and a crooked grin. A “little Mozart.” Then all your faces changed. I saw a “little Mozart” inside each of you, and I knew who to write to. I thought, “Where in aviation magazines is there anything written to children?” Planting seeds in the most fertile of ground—a child’s imagination— 16

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The sun’s been up all day waiting for you. Climb up here and sit on my lap. There’s something I want to tell you. Let’s buckle you up, under my belt. Now put your hands on the stick and fly along with me. See that cloud up there? The fluffy one with the big nose, that’s puffing in and out. It’s smelling you. It thinks you smell like peanut butter and baby shampoo. Your turn. Pick a cloud and breathe in. What do you smell? Don’t be embarrassed; no one can hear you up here. “Rain?” Good. What else? Use your imagination, breathe in again, and tell me what you smell. “Puppy breath.” Excellent! Guess what I smell? Chalk. Let me tell you why. Once upon a time there was a renaissance, a golden age of aviation. Airplanes were brand new then, and what people could do with them was as unlimited as your imagination. Each one was made by hand; because of that each one was unique and perfect—just like all children. Then a war came, and they started making planes all the same on an assembly line. Not that those planes are bad. All planes are marvelous machines, capable of doing miraculous things—just like all people. But when the planes

SARAH WILSON

Clouds

started to look the same, we left something behind on the assembly line. Imagination. Aviation needs children to survive, because dreams begin in children’s eyes. Someday this will be yours . . . well, it already is. I put your name on the registration the day you were born. I’ve never loved anything as much as flying, until I saw you. The sky loves you as much as I do. The sky loves you so much, it sends the clouds down to the ground at night to collect all the tears in the world. Then the clouds take them up to the sky to be dried. Clouds hold millions of tiny tears inside. Clouds carry all the tears of sadness and gladness, which are both good. Everyone needs a good cry. When dried, each good tear has a dream inside. Good tears make the white fluffy clouds that stretch and yawn across the sky. They’re the clouds you see floating by that remind you of your house, or your dog, or your best friend. Those clouds smell like chalk, because they hold your imagination for you forever, even if you’ve forgotten to look up at them. The sky still loves you long after you’ve grown up, but it sends stronger clouds down to collect the tears of adults. Adults’ tears change when they grow up; adults start to cry tears of shame. Tears of shame are the only bad tears to cry. They hold all the could’ves, the would’ves, all of the might’ve beens that grownups hold inside. Those tears can’t be dried, so they are taken up to have the dreams restored in the sky. Clouds that clean the tears of adults are dark inside, and the darkest clouds are the cumulonimbus, the giants of the sky. They’re the ones you see towering and glowering, bubbling and boiling, scrubbing shame out harder and higher. The giants of the sky aren’t terrible; they’re just very tired. After all, it’s a giant job cleaning up every-

Sarah’s flying experience reads more like a full alphabet soup can of FAA ratings, and she is especially proud of the fact that her time spent flying tailwheel airplanes is logged in dog years . . . woof!

Tailwheel Scholarship Offered to EAA Vintage Members Sarah Wilson is offering a tailwheel training scholarship of up to $2,000 in 2015, awarded on the basis of creativity. “Don’t tell me why you deserve the scholarship, show me why,” emphasizes Sarah. “Draw a picture, paint a painting, make a video, build a sculpture, present a performance piece, write a song, create a photo diary, or write a story. Any form of creative expression is accepted. The scholarship will be awarded to the most creative, out-of-the box, totally original, crazy-wacky-wild-fun submission.” Award will be paid directly to the certified tailwheel flight instructor/flight school of your choice. (Pending verification and credentials.) Application period January 1 through May 1, 2015. Awarded after May 15, 2015. Eligibility: U.S. certificated pilots under the age of 29. Submissions by e-mail only to sarah@sarahwilsonpilot.com. “Write a brief e-mail telling me about yourself, your piece of creative expression, and why you want to fly tailwheel airplanes,” adds Sarah. “Photographs of artwork in JPG or PDF less than 6 MB please. Dropbox, YouTube, Vimeo, and links are all great, too.” Creativity is one of the most precious commodities in the world. It will sustain you far beyond money, and it deserves to be rewarded.—Sarah

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The

Funk

MIKE STEINEKE

Greg and Cindy Heckman’s masterpiece classic Budd Davisson

“Hey,

what kind of air pl ane is that?”

“A Funk.” “I didn’t ask what mood you were in. I wanted to know what it’s called.” “It’s a Funk.” 18

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

“What’s a Funk?” “This airplane.” “Once again, what kind of airplane is it?” “It’s a . . .” You know the rest. That’s just one of the drawbacks of owning a cute little bird with a strange,

familiar-sounding name. This is something that Greg Heckman, of Polo, Illinois, knows a lot about, because he’s heard it all in the little over a year since finishing his airplane’s restoration. In fact, you’d think that since his work on the airplane won him the Grand Champion award in the

Classic category, people would begin to know the type. But they don’t. It’s still the “. . . cute little high-winger with the lowslung belly.” Still, although the name may not be familiar (as an airplane), Funks have, for some reason, drawn the attention of outstanding craftsmen like Heck-

man enough times that his was the third Funk to place well in a judging category at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Considering that the Funk brothers (not the noted Motown backup musicians) of Coffeyville, Kansas, Howard and Joe, did the basic design in 1934, the overall

look of the airplane stands up well against airplanes designed right after the war. Yes, its low-slung outline is unique, but it doesn’t say “1934.” It just says “different,” and in aviation, that’s a good thing. One of the design considerations that originally drove the airplane’s appearance was that it didn’t use a flat engine. It didn’t use a flat engine for a reason: They weren’t yet common, they were expensive, and they didn’t develop much power. The flathead Continental A-40 was about the best, but the Funk boys decided to go with the four-cylinder, water-cooled, Model B Ford engine of 1932 (the prototype flew with a three-cylinder Szekely). A subtle redesign of the 1928-31 Model A engine, the Model B had a pressurized oil system (rather than splash lubing), a much beefier crank and, if you believe the Funk ads, put out 63 horses when in airplane configuration. More important, it was readily available and priced at a level that would let them develop an airplane that could be priced accordingly. www.vintageaircraft.org

passengers to a lower-than-typical seating position with the wings right at eyeball level. Reportedly, Howard and Joe were fond of the

PHOTOS COURTESY GREG HECKMEN

ing it. The top and bottom lines of the fuselage are nearly symmetrical, which made for a nice streamlined shape but relegated the

All wing and aileron components were epoxy primed, varnished and assembled with new leading edges.

The detachable Grimes landing lights plug into sockets incorporated into the wing structure.

The aircraft was covered in Ceconite and painted with Insignia Red and black Randolph dope.

Laying out a registration number is tedious on any airplane but NC77727 is a longer than normal number.

PHOTOS COURTESY GREG HECKMEN

Another fact that drove the airplane’s appearance was that it was designed almost entirely around aerodynamics, not the people fly-

When Ed Marquardt passed away his nephew near Toledo, OH acquired all of his aircraft. They were brought to Ohio where Greg purchased NC77727, loaded it up and brought it home on August 16, 2008.

The aircraft was totally disassembled with lots of miscellaneous part scattered around, but eventually most of the airframe was found and brought home.

The wings were in such poor condition, the ribs would crumble in Heckman’s fingers.

The fuselage tubing was in excellent condition but all of the wood was damaged.

Greg had to totally rebuild and detail every part.

The original C-85 came with the airplane along with an 0-235 that he sold.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Fairchild 24 series aircraft, and if you look, you’ll see a close resemblance in their fuselage lines. By the time they had the airplane at the 1937 Air Races, the world of engines was in the process of changing significantly. Continental and Lycoming were actively competing with one another to make their new four-cylinder, overhead-valve engines the industry standard, giving Funk very viable alternatives to the Ford engine. Before World War II shut down Ford’s production lines, the Model B engine had been almost completely replaced by the geared 75-hp Lycoming (GO145). These models were known as B-75-L, and about 60 of each were completed. The line was restarted in 1946, when the Heckman’s airplane was built, and the standard engine had become the legendary C-85-12 Continental. Prewar production is

estimated at about 120 aircraft and postwar, 1946-48, 245. Greg Heckman came into aviation, more or less naturally. He says, “My dad was a B-24 gunner in World War II, but he didn’t fly after the war. However, I grew up hearing all his war stories. One way or the other, airplanes were always in the house. So, it was only natural that I’d learn to fly. When I was around 24, I soloed in a C-172 but almost immediately got into vintage aircraft. “For whatever reason,” he continues, “I’m attracted to old things. Whether they are cars, motorcycles, airplanes, etc. I just like old stuff. So my first airplane was a ’46 C-140. I didn’t really restore that one. It was a flying airplane, and I did the interior and paint, but mostly, I just flew it. Then, I bought a basket case Ryan PT-22. It was basically a big, bare aluminum tube

and a whole lot of boxes.” In the process of restoring the Ryan, Greg went to Rock Valley College to get his A&P, the same school where he now teaches. He also spent several years restoring North American T-28s in Rockford, Illinois. He started the Ryan in 1993 and took it to Oshkosh in ’98. “When I won Grand Champion antique with the 22, I was so surprised that it’s hard to explain. I flew that airplane until 2002 when I sold it. It eventually ended up with Harrison Ford, so it has a good home.” Then Greg reached a period in his life that almost everyone does: his kids, Marty and Melanie, were growing up, and his priorities in life were not airplanes. He says, “When I got back into airplanes, I told a friend I was looking for some sort of unusual airplane to restore, but it couldn’t www.vintageaircraft.org

cost much and, unlike the Ryan, had to meet Cindy’s criteria of being practical. That’s when the Funk surfaced. I researched the type and loved the history of both the airplane and the Funk brothers. I ran across one that had been owned by Ed Marquart, the famous aviation designer, builder, and restorer in Flabob. When Ed passed away, his nephew in Ohio obtained all of his aircraft and started selling

The aluminum wheel pants had been split for hydraulic brakes so Greg had to weld them back together.

them off. I made a call, drove out to Ohio on a weekend with a trailer, and brought it home on August 8, 2005. Its history was interesting. “Ed installed a Lycoming O-235 in 1966, converted it to an experimental for a customer, but the work was never paid for. While sitting, it was wind damaged and spent the next 32 years in storage. In 1998, after getting tired of seeing it take up hangar space, Ed

sued the original owner, who still owed for the work, and had the bill-of-sale signed over to him. It had only 603 hours on it since new. Ed initially started the restoration but, unfortunately, didn’t get very far before he passed away. “When I started the restoration, it took five years to finish, during which time I was building a new hangar, changing jobs, and

One of the reasons Greg chose the Funk as a project was because his wife and he enjoyed local cruising together.

MIKE STEINEKE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Many Funks have two control wheels on the top of the airlinetype control stick.

starting to teach aircraft mechanics at Rock Valley College in Rockford. I was generally working my way through an unsettled period. So, the Funk took longer than it should have. “ W h e n I co m m i t te d to t h e Funk,” he says, “I immediately found that the fuselage tubing was in excellent shape. Ed had sandblasted and epoxy-primed it, and it looked great! However, every piece of wood in the airplane, except the spars, was in terrible shape.” The fact that all of the fuselage wood had to be re-created was critical because a Funk’s fuselage tubing layout is square in cross section, but dozens of stringers and wooden formers create the oval shape that gives the Funk its characteristic look. The longerons are nowhere near the fabric but are buried under wood stringers. Besides being a lot of work to re-create all the wood, not having longerons near the surface made covering the airplane much harder because Greg couldn’t use blankets to cover it. He had to design and sew an envelope.

PHOTOS TYSON RININGER

PHOTOS COURTESY GREG HECKMEN

The gascolater was restored with a new water-transfer decal identical to the original.

Everything on the airplane has been totally remanufactured to asnew condition.

The Grimes landing lights had to be inserted into their sockets before each use.

The tail wheel is the funkiest part of a Funk. It is a fork that attaches to the tail wheel and the rudder creating a rigid link. It can be easily disconnected while on

plane on the runway. Leave it alone and it rolls pretty much straight ahead on its own. While connected, it becomes an issue when trying to taxi or make turns in tight areas because it only moves however much the rudder moves. Greg says, “It requires some attention on landing, but you get used to it very quickly.” Greg reports that the main landing gear was in decent shape, needing only new oleo packing, oil/ springs, and painting. “The brakes,” according to Greg, “are Goodyear mechanical brakes, which were discontinued by the factory the month after mine was built. After that they had hydraulic brakes and a dropped cockpit floor. Apparently, Ed Marquardt was going to convert to hydraulic brakes and had split the aluminum wheelpants to give room for the new brakes. So, when I went back to the Goodyears, I had to close up the split wheelpants that were never finished by Ed and re-weld them. It was nothing short of a miracle that I had the original pants, so I wasn’t

The fact that all of the fuselage wood had to be re-created was critical because a Funk’s fuselage tubing layout is square in cross section . . . the ground, but it gives such direct steering that the airplane, which is the very definition of the word “benign,” becomes quite twitchy: It reflects even the tiniest movement of the pilot’s feet. So, if you have a pilot who isn’t really in touch with his feet, you have a twitchy air-

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“and she found that LeBarron Bonney, the antique auto upholstery people, had the right broadcloth that exactly matched the original. Actually, it was made for Model A Fords. “ When I was doing the interior, I stayed with the flat floor, rather than the dropped floor of the later Funks, even though it’s not quite as comfortable. I used mahogany aircraft ply and stayed with the heel brakes. They’re awkward and won’t even hold during a mag check, but that’s the way the airplane was built, so I wasn’t go-

The C-85 powering Greg’s airplane is the original, but required extensive rebuilding, including replacing a cracked crankshaft. 24

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

PHOTOS TYSON RININGER

going to go without them, no matter what it took.” Normally, when an airplane is as old as Greg’s, it has gone through so many owners and so many rebuilds that it’s anybody’s guess what the factory upholstery was. But, since Greg’s airplane was so low-time and had spent more time disassembled in a hangar than sitting on a ramp, the seat upholstery was original. Ugly and worn, but original and could be used for a pattern. “I got a hold of Lorraine Morris in Popular Grove, Illinois,” he says,

TYSON RININGER

Greg and Cindy Heckman show off their perfect restoration of a Funk.

ing to change them.” The firewall on his airplane had seen better days with lots of wrinkles and unnecessary holes, so Greg made a new one. “The basic cowling was beat up with some cracks that I welded, but the nose bowl was amazingly intact. It’s made of 0.063 dead soft aluminum, and what few dents there were I could easily work out with an English wheel. It was a pleasure to work on.” The Ford/Funk connection carried throughout the airplane in-

A month after Greg’s airplane was built, the factory went to hydraulic brakes but he kept the original Goodyear mechanical versions.

cluding the cowling chafe strips, which were Model A, and the battery contact switch, which is two Model A starter switches back to back, in lieu of a conventional starter solenoid. T h e p ro j e c t c a m e w i t h t h e O-235 and a C-85 core. Greg says, “I immediately sold the O-235 and built up the C-85 to keep the aircraft original. It had a cracked crankshaft, for which I found a replacement. The exhaust system was missing so I had Dawley Aviation make a complete set to Funk factory drawings. The entire engine, accessories and even the old Continental gray color, is completely original.” When it came to the electrical system, Greg went old-school all the way, but did it in a way that didn’t compromise safety or usability. He kept the original starter, generator, and regulator, but overhauled everything and wired it with lacquered, cotton-covered wire that is actually braided over modern aircraft quality wire. The look is very antique-y, but functionally modern in every way. Incidentally, one way of telling that a guy is really serious about authenticity is when he has all of the bolts and other hardware stripped of their type II cad plating and re-plated with the silverish type I plating. Plus, there is not one Phillips head or stainless steel screw in the entire airplane. “When we started on the wings,” he says, “it was a ‘good news/bad news’ situation. The spars were absolutely great, so we finished them in epoxy varnish. You could, however, crumble a rib between your fingers. They were just a couple steps away from being dust. So, every night I’d build up an entirely new rib. It really didn’t take that long, but it was sort of a long, mind-numbing process. The drag,

anti-drag wires, incidentally are still mild steel.” He covered the airplane in Ceconite and finished it with Randolph dope using original colors, which are Insignia Red and Black. One of the more unique features of the airplane is the Grimes landing lights on the bottom of the wings. They are modular units that simply plug into an outlet, when you think you’re going to be challenging the darkness. The nav lights are also antique Grimes units. Once the air plane was completed, Greg had a paper work hurdle to overcome, because the airplane had been previously licensed as an experimental. He says, “I had to get a conformity inspection done by our local FSDO. This allowed me to obtain a standard airworthiness certificate after they made sure it complied with the original aircraft specs. This

went off without a hitch.” “The first flight was on June 14 (6/14) at 6:14,” he says, “and there wasn’t a single glitch to correct. It cruises at an honest 100 mph at 4.5 gph, so the 20 gallons it carries will keep you in the air far longer than most people can handle.” Greg’s current project is interesting because it is a 1928 OX-5 powered Lincoln-Page LP-3. The airplane was wrecked in 1929 with only about 60 hours on the engine and airframe and has been in storage since. This is a major jump up in size and complexity from the Funk. Although Greg still teaches at the college, his antique airplane workshop has been greatly expanded and, along with it, the number of aircraft that he does for other people. He has found another calling that we predict will take over his life, if it hasn’t already. And this is a good thing.

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VINTAGE 2014

JIM KOEPNICK

CHRIS HIBBEN

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Comparing the

The Taylorcraft is a mainstay of the Classic aircraft movement and is one of the fastest of the 65hp crowd.

MIKE KELLY

Classics

BC-12 Taylorcraft Budd Davisson You can almost guess how long an individual has been aware of classics of the late 1940s by the amount of awe in his or her voice when seeing a pristine, restored BC-12 Taylorcraft. The reason for that is the image many carry in their minds of a Taylorcraft sitting lopsided on the back tie-down line, one tire flat, a bird-nest apartment in the cowling, and mice running up and down inside the rotting fabric. Cubs and Champs never slid downhill as quickly as did the 52

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Taylorcraft breed. Even though every pilot on the airport recognized that Taylorcrafts were far faster than the rest of the 65-hp group (with the possible exception of 8A Luscombes), the airport hobo was most likely to be a Taylorcraft. There’s no good explanation for the Taylorcraft’s past image except that there were just so many of them around, some were bound to go downhill. Although never produced in the same numbers as the Cub, as soon as old C.G. Taylor in-

troduced his side-by-side Model A in 1937, the market forced him to crank them out like cookies. It wasn’t unusual for the factory to be doing 30 airplanes a month in 1938 before the Depression had even wound down. The Model A’s had the less than overwhelming A-40 Continental, but it performed so well, everyone loved them. Then came the first of the overhead-valve Continentals, the A-50 (Taylorcraft Model BC), and then a shining knight came

riding over the horizon in the form of the Continental A-65. The A-65, more than any other single technological event, made the Taylorcraft and every other of its peer group take a giant step forward. What had been a good airplane became astoundingly good. C . G . Tay l o r h a d a n e y e fo r b u i l d i n g c l e a n , l o w - d ra g a i rframes. He got his lift from lots of wing and his speed from low drag. On the same engine with which a Cub could barely make 80 mph, the BC-12 series was easily doing 95 mph, and some would touch 100 mph. Taylor built thousands of airplanes before the war shut him down to start making L-2s. After the war, they cleaned up the airplanes still further and introduced the BC-12D. There are probably more of this model existing than any other. By the same token, more BC-12Ds died on back tiedown lines than any other given type. Go figure!

MIKE KELLY

With the struts and step located where they are, a pilot must know the “get-in” dance.

Mechanical Description

Considering that it was built to beat the Cub and humiliate C.G. Taylor’s late business partner, William Piper, there’s very little Cub in a Taylorcraft BC. In fact, he did everything he could to do it different and do it better. The side-by-side seating was a major departure, as were the novel, for the time, control wheels sticking out of the panel. Boarding was via an automotive type door on the right side. Eventually, another door on the other side was offered and became standard in later postwar airplanes. The wing’s airfoil, rather than being the flat-bottom Clark “Y ” or USA 35 everyone else was using , was a semi-symmetrical 23000 series known for low drag and less gentle stall characteris-

The airplane’s clean lines are evident, as is the relationship of the pilot’s head to the wingroot. www.vintageaircraft.org

PHOTOS MIKE KELLY

The long wing guaranteed good performance and lots of float on landing.

PHIL HIGH

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

The cockpit is narrow for modern shoulders but typical for the time.

tics. For a wing that long to be that fast with such a small number of ponies available, it had to have a low-drag airfoil. The prewar airplanes used 1025 steel tube or a combination of 1025 and 4130. Postwar airplanes are all 4130. All of them have to be inspected carefully for rust, if nothing else because they are so old and most sat out for so long. The wings use pressed-aluminum ribs over wooden spars, which also need careful inspecting. Besides age, a surprising number of the aircraft have been ground looped at least once, and the incident may or may not be in their logbooks. The wings have a lot of overhang past the strut attach points, and they could easily have spar cracks that don’t show except under careful inspection. Most Taylorcrafts use Shinn brakes, which are mechanical shoe types with the lining on the drums, not the shoes. Considering that the airplane really doesn’t need brakes most of the time, the brakes work just fine. Their cams can wear, but

Although this one is mostly stock, it’s not unusual so see modified panels.

the units are easier to repair than most of the period. The A-65 Continental engine is the standard by which all small reciprocating engines are measured. It’s reliable, user-friendly, and easy to maintain. Parts are still available, and overhauls still relatively inexpensive when measured against more modern engines. If the mag coils are good and the timing is remotely right, the engines will catch on the first or second blade every time.

If you have wire showing, you have gas. No wire, no gas. Simple!

T-Craft Flight Characteristics

We prevailed on a local Taylorcraft owner to let us use his freshly restored BC-12D as the test vehicle to remind us how a T-craft flies. He said that when he bought his Taylorcraft it was a flying airplane but in need of complete restoration. In the course of taking it apart he found the spars were riddled with cracks. As he put it, “They were really scary-looking.” He feels all owners of aircraft that old should take note of his experi-

ence in that area. His airplane was, as near as he can determine, originally a BC12D-1, which he said was the bottom-line, low-buck airplane that didn’t even have a left door. The second door was added sometime in the 1970s by a previous owner. As with most two-place, side-byside airplanes of the era, getting in is as much a project as flying it. In the T-craft it is made more difficult by a diagonal brace running across the end of the seat.

PHOTOS TYSON RININGER

With a C-65, the Taylorcraft was a good performer. With a C-85, it was a great performer!

PHIL HIGH

The awkward heel brakes are seldom needed.

Early Taylorcrafts have art deco inspired panels. www.vintageaircraft.org

Taylorcraft BC-12D (65 hp)

TYSON RININGER

Worse, slower, Compared Better, faster, Rating Cub 140 heavier, harder lighter, easier -5 to +5 to

Skylights do a lot to add light to an otherwise dark cabin.

Once loaded up, the owner and I were, shall we say, cozy. Our shoulders were definitely touching part of the time. We didn’t measure the cockpit, but it is several inches narrower than a C-150/152. Visibility over the nose, however, was good without even stretching. This was important because the headliner was nearly touching my head, and I would have touched it if I had to stretch. Part of the Taylorcraft’s speed comes from having low frontal area, and this means a low cabin. It is low enough, in fact, that turning your head sideways puts your eyes right in the middle of the wing root. To see to the side requires ducking down quite a bit. This is more of an aggravation than a danger, but the lack of visibility is something to be remembered at all times. The big control wheels are fun, and the brake pedals are funny. They are two tiny, thumb-sized pedals located well back and right between the rudder pedals. They 56

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

•Visibility on the ground •Visibility in the air •Inherent directional stability on ground •Rudder control authority on ground •Brake control authority •Tailwheel authority •Tendency to float in ground effect •Crosswind capability •Gust resistance •Overall relative pilot demand on takeoff •Overall relative pilot demand on landing •Takeoff performance •Climb performance •Effect of gross weight load on performance •Aileron response •Aileron pressure •Roll rate •Elevator response •Elevator pressure •Pitch rate •Cockpit Comfort Real-World Statistics •Cruise Speed—95-100 mph •Stall Speed—35-40 mph •Fuel Burn—4.5-5.0 gph

are nearly touching one another. Fortunately, they are used very little on a normal flight. Taxiing is straight for ward with the only complication being having to look down to dial frequencies into the handheld radio mounted between us on the front seat edge. That location keeps the cockpit looking absolutely original. I hadn’t been in a Taylorcraft in years, and my primary memory was one of the airplane flying as if it was very light. This airplane re-enforced that memory. As soon as the power was up, the airplane wanted to fly, and I barely had the tail up before it floated off. The tail is so far behind us, it has lots of authority, so very little rudder movement was needed to keep it straight. We had barely a breath of wind, maybe 2 or 3 knots, across the runway. Most airplanes wouldn’t have even noticed that wind, but the second we left the ground, the Taylorcraft instantly

Citabria Citabria Citabria Citabria Citabria Citabria Citabria Citabria Citabria Citabria Citabria C-152 C-152 C-152 C-152 C-152 C-152 C-152 C-152 C-152 Citabria

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reacted to the wind by drifting. I found myself crabbing into a wind the windsock barely recognized as being there. The airplane has a definite thistledown feeling to it, and wind is a challenge to it. The best pilot on any airport is the Taylorcraft pilot who easily and routinely conquers a gusty crosswind. With firm hands, the airplane will handle more crosswind than is prudent, but most folks study the windsock carefully before pulling the airplane out. With such a light wing loading and those long wings, it’s second cousin to a parachute. It was fairly cool out, about 70°F, and the airplane responded by giving us a fairly solid rate of climb in the 400-500 fpm range at about 65-70 mph. The owner said he gets about half that during the summer and prefers to fly the airplane solo in those situations. The air was liquid smooth so we didn’t have much turbulence to show the Taylorcraft’s cork-

PHIL HIGH

If nothing else, it has to be said that a Taylorcraft has a perky look to it.

like ability to ride over even the softest bump. We also didn’t have any thermals to help us to altitude. More than any of its peers, the Taylorcraft is eager to lock on to even the weakest thermal and convert it into altitude. As we leveled off, the airspeed stabilized at 90-95 mph, and the owner said he can flight plan 95100 mph and be fairly close. He’s generally burning around 4.5 gallons per hour, and considering his airplane has both wing tank options as well as the fuselage tank, the airplane will stay in the air far longer than he can. The ability to go long distances in a reasonable time on pennies has always been the Taylorcraft’s strong suit. Because Gary had gone completely through the control system, including installing ballbearing pulleys, his controls were surprisingly smooth. There was none of the common feeling that a cable was sawing a pulley in half. Also, when racking the ai58

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lerons around, the airplane was quite willing to respond. We’re not talking Pitts Special roll rates here, but even with those long wings, it rolled faster than most of its peers. Adverse yaw is significant, but not as much as a Champ and about the same as a Cub. The amount of rudder required to coordinate is minimal, but definitely there. In checking pitch stability, it damped out completely in less than three cycles when pulled 10 mph off trim speed. Doing stalls was, as is usually the case with this period of airplane, almost a waste of time because they are so benign. In a normal, slow approach to a stall, the wheel hit the stop somewhere in the low 40 mph range, and the airplane just mushed. If accelerated, either in a turn or straight, it would break slightly and then mush. During the process I was careful to keep the ball centered because the rudder is very effective at those slow speeds. As I remember, if asked, the airplane spins very nicely and willingly, with a positive recovery. There’s no doubt you’re in a fairly small cabin, when cruising. Even though you can see over the nose quite well, your eyes are closer to the thrust line than we’re used to, so the visual down angle is pretty flat. Also, the necessity to duck to see sideways is always there. The overall feeling is one of being in a long, narrow cabin, when really it’s the vertical height that gives that illusion. Skylights would probably open up the cabin feeling considerably. When we came back into the pattern, I reminded myself that this airplane would really glide, so I spaced us out accordingly on base. Even so, I was too high. Fortunately, the airplane is a good

slipping machine. Not as good as a Cub, but still good. Gary said he uses 70 mph, so I did too, which seemed to work out fine. As I came out of the slip and into ground effect, the Taylorcraft’s reputation as a f loater was again re-enforced. We may have been a little fast, but as we floated along while I felt for the ground, I was very conscious of having to be very judicious with what I did with the elevators. Just the slightest amount of too much back pressure and the airplane would try to balloon. Since we were slowing to a near-walk, this was more of a game than anything else. The airplane clearly telegraphed when it was about to settle or balloon, and I just had to adjust accordingly. After a few seconds of floating, it would give up and settle on to the ground. On one, I held it off just a little too long and felt it unhook and drop us the last several inches. That surprised me, but shows it’s not a good idea to hang it on top of ground effect for too long. All of the landings were threepointers, some better than others, and none were even remotely challenging during roll-out. The airplane didn’t want to do anything unusual and was at least as easy as a Champ or Cub to control. The wind had pretty much died down, so we had the best of all possible situations going for us. The T-craft is actually quite a good bargain, even in this period of rapidly inf lating classic airplane prices. When buying an unrestored airplane, however, inspect it very carefully. At some time in its life, it was doing duty as shelter for all types of mice and varmints. So, when buying a newly re-covered airplane, make certain all the rust and rot problems were attended to.

The Vintage Mechanic ROBERT G. LOCK

Engine intake manifold leaks There are a few engine problems that can drive a mechanic nuts trying to troubleshoot, and near the top of the list is an intake manifold leak. To efficiently troubleshoot the problem one must be familiar with the engine’s intake system and how it operates. There are normally aspirated, supercharged, and turbocharged engines, but their intake systems are essentially the same in construction, the objective being to deliver a fuel/air charge to each cylinder. First, let us explore the inside of an intake system and examine pressures (measured in inches of mercury) to get an idea of how they operate. Ambient air pressure on earth will raise a column of mercury (Hg) 29.92 inches at sea level on a standard day. The vacuum inside the intake system of a normally aspirated engine will never go above atmospheric (ambient) pressure, even at full throttle, so the engine will deliver around 28 inches Hg at full throttle at sea level. However, as aircraft or airport altitude increases, the manifold pressure at takeoff will decrease, and the manifold pressure will also decrease (unless it is boosted) as the aircraft gains altitude to a point where the engine cannot produce enough horsepower to keep the aircraft flying. Manifold pressure is an absolute pressure and is expressed as “manifold absolute pressure.” All engines that have variable pitch propellers will have manifold pressure indicators installed in the instrument panel. The manifold pressure gauge is varied by throttle movement and engine rpm by propeller pitch. At or near sea level an aircraft equipped with a manifold pressure indicator will show around

10 inches Hg at idle and around 27.5 to 28 inches Hg at full power. Therefore, the absolute pressure inside the intake manifold is less than atmospheric, and if a leak occurs, atmospheric air will be sucked into the intake causing a lean mixture. If the leak is at a particular cylinder, then that cylinder will run lean. If the leak is at a location other than a cylinder, then all cylinders may run lean. It is easy to spot an intake leak with an engine that is equipped with a manifold indicator, but more difficult on an engine with a fixed-pitch or ground-adjustable prop. Leak detection can be called a shot in the dark as air leaks will not show fuel stains to give away their location. Consider that an intake manifold leak can be anywhere there is a joint in the system, such as intake pipe attachments both on the engine crankcase and at the cylinder. If the engine runs rough, air leaks at these locations can be detected by placing a rubber hose on the outlet of a propane torch (don’t light the torch!), run the engine at idle, and pass the rubber hose emitting a small amount of propane gas around each of the locations. Don’t forget the primer lines and fittings at the cylinder. When the engine runs smooth and gains rpm you have discovered the air leak. Other locations where air leaks can occur are any connections above the carburetor. Once the air leaves the carburetor venturi, pressure has been reduced. Look at carburetor attachment to the engine case. Here there could be a worn or leaking gasket or a crack. Some small cracks will be very difficult to locate as they open up when the engine warms up and expands. www.vintageaircraft.org

Let me give a couple examples for the record. My Wright-powered Command-Aire had been running very well until a particular takeoff from the Selma Aerodrome in California. On takeoff and with the ship about 50 feet in the air, I heard a loud bang, and the engine immediately quit. The runway is only 2,400 feet long so there was not much runway left. I pushed the nose down, flared the airplane, and threepoint landed it, stopping about 100 feet from the runway end and a large ditch filled with water. The engine would not run no matter what I did. I spent several afternoons troubleshooting to determine the cause and eventually detected that the problem started with a cam coming loose on one magneto. The engine backfired, and in doing so either sucked in or blew out part of the gasket that seals a 90-degree adapter that mounts the carburetor to the accessory case of the Wright. It was very difficult to locate, but a flashlight and mirror was used to detect a small piece of gasket sticking out from the two surfaces. Although the carburetor was still firmly mounted to the engine, I could stick a 0.010-inch feeler gauge into the small opening between the two surfaces. It turned out that about 30 percent of the gasket was gone, thus a huge intake leak; the pressure inside the intake system was the same as atmospheric (ambient) pressure, so there was positively no fuel flow. Below in Figure 1 is the NAR-7A carburetor and adapter. The gasket that failed was item R-2992. This turned out to be one of the most baffling engine problems I have ever had to locate and repair.

I have also seen the carburetor come loose on the adapter mount, part number 2980, probably due to shrinkage of gasket number R-2902. Since that time, I always grasp the carburetor or air box and shake it during preflight inspection. If it moves, there could be an intake leak on the horizon. So, what can we learn thus far in this article? Intake leaks will cause a lean mixture that will cause the engine to run rough and erratic all the way to complete failure. It is similar to the famed “Continental cough,” a momentary event when the engine doesn’t fire, but it is hard to read loss of rpm because it is so rapid that one second the engine is running fine, the next there is no sound, and then the engine is running again. Think of an intake leak so severe that the engine is running fine, then there is no sound and the engine never runs again, and you are forced to execute an emergency landing! I have detailed the complete failure of an engine due to a massive intake leak. But let’s look in detail at where typical intake leaks can occur. The most logical point is the intake pipes that connect the induction system to individual cylinders. This location is the easiest to inspect, unless you have to remove a cowling. First, check packing gland nuts for security. To do this you will need a gland wrench designed specifically for this purpose. Normally the gland nuts are threaded well into the case with no threads showing to maybe one or two visible threads. Check for tightness, and if one or more are loose, tighten to a firm fit. Next check the

Figure 1 60

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Figure 3 Figure 2

intake pipe where it attaches to the cylinder head. Normally there will be a triangular base plate with three studs or cap screws that secure the pipe to the cylinder. There will be a crush gasket that seals the joint to make it air tight. If anything is loose, tighten it until snug. Item 9 is the packing gland nut, item 10 is the rubber seal, item 8 is the gasket seal, item 7 is an O-ring type seal, and item 6 is the flange. When intake pipes have been checked, start and run the engine. If the problem disappears, you have found the problem and repaired it. If the engine runs a little lean at idle or into low rpm, pull on the carburetor heat and unlock the primer. This will richen the mixture, and the engine should gain some rpm and run smoother. Figure 2 shows typical radial engine intake pipes and attachments. Always use the manufacturer’s approved tool for tightening the packing gland nut (#9). I remember a fuel problem I encountered on a Cessna L-19 equipped with a PS-5C pressure carburetor. This is not the result of an intake leak, but nonetheless is interesting to inject at

this point. The pilot reported that the engine GAINED rpm when he applied carburetor heat. This was back in my Army days at Fort Hood, Texas, and I was the only mechanic to figure out the problem. The carburetor was running slightly lean, even with the mixture control FULL RICH. We all know that when carb heat is actu-

www.vintageaircraft.org

Figure 4

ated a loss of engine rpm will normally occur. This is because the air is hot, is less dense, and causes a slightly RICH mixture, thus the loss of engine rpm. The rich mixture caused the engine to gain rpm. I had to replace the carburetor since we were not allowed to adjust any mixture except idle. Problem solved. Another problem with the intake system that will occasionally rear its ugly head is a stuck intake valve. Although rare, it can cause the engine to lose power because if the intake valve is stuck open, any spark during the firing of that particular cylinder will cause the fuel/air charge to ignite in the intake pipe and possibly travel into the induction system itself. The problem will give an indication similar to an intake leak but will be even more difficult to trace. Obviously the engine will run rough and will cough during operation, which is caused by the fuel/air charge igniting inside the induction system. In my experience with single row radial engines, stuck valves are uncommon; however, stuck exhaust valves are more common than stuck intake valves. If an intake problem persists, insert a manifold pressure gauge into the induction system to check for vacuum pressures. Figure 3 displays a typical manifold pressure gauge. Remember that at idle the engine will show around 10 inches Hg suction; if it is higher, there is a large leak somewhere. The drill now is to locate and repair it. Figure 3 shows a manifold pressure gauge for a boosted engine since the scale reads to 50 inches Hg. The needle, which is vertical when the engine is not running, will always point to ambient air pressure—that is, if the altimeter reads 30 inches Hg, the needle will point to 30. If the altimeter reads 29 inches Hg, it will point to 29 on the 62

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dial. When the engine is at idle the needle will point to the lowest number on the dial, which is 10 inches Hg. If the engine is running at or near idle, if the needle points to 15 inches Hg or higher, then there is an intake leak somewhere. This particular gauge has an operating range marked to show a maximum manifold pressure of slightly above 36 inches Hg on takeoff and a cruise range of slightly above 21 inches Hg to almost 30 inches Hg. Engine overhaul manuals for various single-row radial engines generally have a section devoted to “Engine Troubles.” Consulting the Continental 670 manual, one finds the following listed under air leaks: “Air leaks in the induction system can easily be located by squirting raw gasoline from an oil squirt can around all induction system connections and packings while the engine is running about 400-500 rpm. If the gasoline is applied to a leaking connection, the intake manifold vacuum will draw it in and the engine will immediately increase its speed. As soon as this extra fuel is turned, the engine will again fall back to its original rpm. Air leaks sometimes cause a sharp high-pitched whistling noise that is particularly audible at or near idling speeds when the intake manifold vacuum is at its highest.” The overhaul manual for Wright Whirlwind 7 and 9 radial engines describes “low power and uneven running,” and lists “leaks in the induction system. Examine intake pipes for cracks and for leaks at the cylinder and crankcase connections. Examine carburetor and intake manifold flanges for tightness.” Finally, intake leaks can be compared to flying at high altitude with the mixture leaned, then letting down for a landing and not richening the mixture. The engine will reach a point where there is not enough fuel in the fuel/air mixture to support combustion, and the engine will begin to backfire and run very rough. The same characteristics of running a very lean mixture will occur if there is an intake manifold leak. Intake manifold leaks are fortunately quite uncommon, but when they occur the problem may be difficult to detect and repair. Figure 4 shows the packing gland nut on my Wright R-760 engine. This is the first place a mechanic looks for intake leaks—the intake manifold assembly. And there you have it! Hopefully this information will be useful someday when the problem happens. Happy flying and be safe.

Straight & Level

AERO CLASSIC “COLLECTOR SERIES”

continued from page 1

fortunate to enjoy this wonderful program and dinner with Tim and his wife and daughter at the Hall of Fame celebration in Oshkosh back in November. Tim is a talented restorer of vintage aircraft. He owns and operates the Ragwood Refactory company in Jasper Ridge, Oregon, which was founded in 1976 in Chico, California. Tim and his company have restored more than 25 complete ground-up restorations in those 35-plus years. Tim is featured in a nice article that appears in the 2014 November/December issue of Vintage Airplane magazine, and it is well worth the read. Congratulations to Tim, and we all hope to see many more great restorations coming out of the door at the Ragwood Refactory. If you haven’t considered supporting the Vintage Red Barn fund in the past, please give strong consideration to supporting the Friends of the Red Barn fund’s 2015 campaign. The invaluable Friends of the Red Barn fund, with contributions each year by fellow Vintage members, makes the supremely enjoyable Oshkosh experience in the Vintage area possible. Without the generous contributions provided by these Vintage members annually, very little of what we experience and enjoy in the Vintage area during AirVenture would be possible. Please join us as a contributing member of the Friends of the Red Barn as we provide the most ideal and perfect setting possible for vintage airplane owners, pilots, historians, and dedicated vintage airplane buffs. Consider it a calling . . . as many of us do! This program is featured on our website at www. VintageAircraft.org. Take a moment and check out the site to see what some of the perks to the program are. And please also remember that no one ever met a stranger at the Vintage Red Barn! Here’s hoping you all had a great Christmas, and a very happy New Year’s! As always, please do us all the favor of inviting a friend to join the VAA, and help keep us the strong association we have all enjoyed for so many years. VAA is about participation: Be a member! Be a volunteer! Be there! Let’s all pull in the same direction for the overall good of vintage aviation. Remember, we are better together. Join us and have it all.

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What Our Members Are Restoring Are you nearing completion of a restoration? Or is it done and you’re busy flying and showing it off? If so, we’d like to hear from you. Send us a 4-by-6-inch print from a commercial source or a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital photo. A JPG from your 2.5-megapixel (or higher) digital camera is fine. You can burn photos to a CD, or if you’re on a highspeed Internet connection, you can e-mail them along with a text-only or Word document describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program asks if you’d like to make the photos smaller, say no.) For more information, you can also e-mail jbusha@eaa.org. www.vintageaircraft.org

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