Va vol 46 no 1 jan feb 2018 by EAA Vintage Aircraft Association

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

A Stearman Issue

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Vintage Airplane STAFF

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

Message From the President

SUSAN DUSENBURY VAA PRESIDENT

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Busha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jbusha@eaa.org VAA Executive Administrator. Jan Johnson 920-426-6110. . . . . . . . . . jjohnson@eaa.org Art Director. . . . . . . . . . . . Olivia Phillip Trabbold ADVERTISING: Vice President of Business Development Dave Chaimson. . . . . . . . . dchaimson@eaa.org Advertising Manager Sue Anderson. . . . . . . . . . sanderson@eaa.org

VAA update

VAA, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903 Website: www.vintageaircraft.org Email: Vintageaircraft@eaa.org

A few weeks back I returned from our annual fall board meeting in Oshkosh. It was four days of both formal and informal meetings. My takeaway was very positive for our organization, the Vintage Aircraft Association. Vintage Park is the area just behind (to the west of ) the Vintage Hangar. It is a very popular meeting and resting place during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, which is mainly due to the beautiful landscaping and mature trees that provide shade on those hot days in July. At this time our talented volunteer maintenance crew headed by Mike Blombach is in the planning stages for a new building to be used as dry storage for the bookstore and IT department. This small building will be located on the uppermost north end of Vintage Park and will include a covered porch for all of you to enjoy. And more good news! We already have a donor for the rocking chairs and benches for the porch. Also discussed at the board meeting was vintage aircraft parking during AirVenture. As I mentioned in my last letter, aircraft parking in the VAA area is an ongoing process. Having said that, we took a shot across the bow at this meeting and made some changes (improvements!). The most important result for all of you flying into AirVenture next July is that early arrivals will start parking in the rows immediately south of the Past Grand Champion parking area. That is close to the flightline building and just east of the Hangar Café for those of you who do not remember where the Past Grand Champion area is located. This will place all of you early arrivals near facilities (showers, etc.) that are open and functioning. In the grander scheme of things, meetings will start in December in Oshkosh for future aircraft parking for the entire Wittman Regional Airport (KOSH) during AirVenture. Barring one of those infamous Oshkosh blizzards, I will be headed back up to Wisconsin for the December meeting. VAA Director George Daubner (past co-chairman and later chairman of Vintage flightline parking and safety) will be there with me representing the interests of the VAA. continued on page 4

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 $45/year. EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine and one-year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association are available for $55 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

www.vintageaircraft.org

Vol. 46, No. 1

CONTENTS

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

The Scott Family’s Aviation Legacy

A scintillating Stearman 4E Jr. Speedmail by Sparky Barnes Sargent

A look down Memory Lane . . . Images from AirVenture Oshkosh 2017

46th Galesburg Homecoming The national Stearman fly-in by Jim Busha

A Pilot’s Dream Spans Generations

Reviving the Johnny Dorr Clipped Wing Stearman by Budd Davisson

ART EICHMANN

ANY COMMENTS?

Send your thoughts to the Vintage Editor at: jbusha@ eaa.org 2

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

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

COLUMNS 1

Message From the President VAA update Susan Dusenbury

4 News 8 How to? Assemble a new wood wing Robert G. Lock 60 The Vintage Mechanic Teaching a Nation How to Fly Part 7 Robert G. Lock 63 VAA New Members 64 Vintage Trader

COVERS FRONT COVER: Jim Raeder captures Ben Scottâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Stearman 4E Jr Speedmail. BACK COVER: Photo by Connor Madison www.vintageaircraft.org

Message From the President

VAA News

continued from page 1

At this board meeting we also discuss the vital role that vintage aircraft such as Chiefs, Champs, Luscombes, Ercoupes, Interstate Cadets (you get the idea!) play in the vintage aircraft movement and in aviation overall. I have always felt that this type of airplane is crucial to recreational aviation and beyond. It is also where the value is in aviation, and I am not necessarily thinking monetary value, although that is certainly a factor. The value here is in the return on your investment, which includes both your time and treasure, i.e., pilots who own and fly these planes are out there flying on a regular basis and are really having fun flying their planes and doing so without destroying their financial budgets. I’m so convinced this is true that I am changing the engine on my J-2 to join in on the fun. Flying at 55 mph with the door open on the J-2 on a late summer afternoon sounds like flying perfection to me! And lastly, but not the least important, I would like to welcome Jan Johnson to the VAA family. Jan will serve as our new executive administrator. She has been an employee of EAA for the last five years working in the Young Eagles office and comes to us highly recommended by her peers. I am sure that all of you will join me in making Jan feel at home in her new position here at VAA. 4

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

The American Barnstormers are excited to confirm their first tour in six years! Tour founders Clay Adams and Rob Lock work to develop the fifth incantation of the event. From July 5-29, 2018, the American Barnstormers Tour will embark on a five-city, fivestate tour, exclusively featuring 10 vintage Travel Air open cockpit biplanes. Six of the biplanes will function as static displays at each venue, with owners and restorers available to answer crowd questions. Four of the biplanes will offer ride experiences to event attendees. One of the pilots, Mike Rinker, will perform an aerial demonstration in his Travel Air Speedwing at each tour stop. The goal of the tour is to extend fellowship, to bridge a gap between the modern day and aviation history, to allow folks immersive flight experiences in the biplanes, to draw communities to their local airports, to tell the story of the modern day barnstormers through documentary filming efforts, and to act as ambassadors to the vintage aviation community. The Barnstormers encourage any and all aviators to join along at different stops on the tour, as each city will

have fly-in opportunities over the three-day presence in each city. Tour stops include cities in Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and conclude with a grand reception at our final stop at the 2018 EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Sunday, July 22, 2018. National sponsors of the tour at time of publication include Concorde Battery, Aircraft Spruce and Specialty, Desser Tire, David Clark, Gulf Coast Avionics, and Hooker Harness. Those in the community who are familiar with the tour know that from 2006-2012, every two years, 10-25 pilots and their vintage planes embark on multiple-week ambassador missions throughout the Midwestern United States. This is the first year a specific type of vintage plane has been highlighted for the tour, the Travel Air. One of the reasons for this big decision is the history of the Travel Air Manufacturing Company, which is seeded with the likes of founders Lloyd Stearman, Clyde Cessna, and Walter Beech. The best way to find out about tour updates and stops while final arrangements are being made is through the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ tour2018 (you can search Facebook for “2018 American Barnstormers Tour” as well, and like and share the page). The American Barnstormers appreciate any and all support of this meaningful tour. Updates to follow in the March issue!

Friends of the

RED BARN

2018

Special Thanks

Friends of Red Barn Gold level contributor Correction and apology Mark and MariAnne Kolesar

The Friends of the Red Barn program is our only annual fundraiser to support the VAA members, volunteers, and Vintage hospitality at Oshkosh. The VAA Red Barn is the centerpiece, the central gathering place for virtually all Vintage members during EAA Oshkosh each year. The Red Barn is where we meet our friends, get our questions answered, sit on the front porch to rest a bit, drink lemonade, and thoroughly enjoy our aviation friends and the spectacular events of the day. We never meet a stranger at the Red Barn; everyone is on cloud nine just to be enjoying a place we so thoroughly appreciate Created in 2001, the Friends of the Red Barn program kicked off the first campaign in early 2002. Our goal was to interest dedicated Vintage members to financially support the physical improvement of the Red Barn and, far more important, upgrade and support it to the point where it became an inviting, pleasant place to meet, greet, relax, and simply enjoy the magic and magnificence that is Oshkosh each summer. The Friends of the Red Barn has become a wonderfully successful support program for Vintage members and guests during the convention. You will be amazed to know that the majority of the Barnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s loyal supporters have been a part of the group since the very first year. Vintage is extremely proud of this dedicated group of members. Their names are listed annually at the Barn and in the pages of Vintage Airplane. These donors have made the Red Barn and its gracious hospitality what you enjoy today . . . and we are just beginning. We hope each Vintage member realizes what a treasure we have in our own facility to serve all of us each summer, and also know that it is member-created and member-maintained, principally through our Friends. Vintage is privileged to provide some very neat thank yous when you become a Friend in return for your contribution. It is a win-win for all. Vintage is the very finest such organization in the world. We attract visitors from all over the world to the Red Barn and our newly expanded Vintage airplane area each summer. We have grown from one lone abandoned barn to an entire complex replicating a small country airport. With your help, every year we will provide more enhanced hospitality for all. Please stand tall and join with us in Friends of the Red Barn; you will be forever proud and happy that you did. Charlie Harris, Director Emeritus EAA Life Member 96978, VAA Life Member 2158

www.vintageaircraft.org

VAA News

In Australia

continued from page 4

There are many EAA and vintage members throughout the world, and they may have joined initially when they visited Oshkosh and retained their membership through the magazines, which are so ably produced. In Australia there are lots of EAA/vintage members and they will also be members of the local Sports Aviation Association or perhaps the Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia. This fly-in was an open one organized by the local Antique Association and supported by the Sydney Vintage Sports Car Club, which supplied the Jazz combo who played all afternoon. Australia has a land mass equivalent to the continental U.S.A. but only a fraction of the population, mostly settled on the eastern seaboard. We have just over 20 million people as opposed to nearly 300 million in the USA. A lot of people were born overseas or their parents were, maybe up to 50 percent. We were from Ireland and there where a mixture of locally born, Americans, Pommies and

the South Africans. We would also include New Zealanders in that group. Most arrived in Australia because they were homesick. They left their home because they were sick of it. As you can see we thrive on good-natured verbal abuse. Twenty-two aeroplanes turned up, as did 50 cars, and we raised monies for the Salvation Army Christmas appeal and a women’s refuge. We had to include the refuge, as our wives considered they might end up there being permanently bewildered and befuddled with aeroplane talk. The airstrip itself has a 600-metre runway adjacent to the river, with a one-way 1,100-metre strip pointing straight into the hill. It is not a strip for the inexperienced. The property is known as “The Missions 1937,” as all the aeroplanes and machinery based there was in use in 1937. A 14-year-old put together on YouTube six- and 12-minute videos of the fly-in, so you may search for it there.

Hall of Fame 2017 Photo Addition Jim Moss’ Super Solution The Super Solution in 2002 was the machine that really stopped the show and rocketed Jim to headline levels. The airplane soon appeared on the covers of Sport Aviation, Paul’s Let’s Fly, and a dozen major aviation magazines.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

Gone West Norman A. ’Nummy‘ Petersen Norman Alfred “Nummy” Petersen, age 87, died on November 1, 2017, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. Norman was born on July 20, 1930, in Askov, Minnesota, the second child of Harald A. and Agneta (Nielsen) Petersen. Norman was hired in 1980 by the Experimental Aircraft Association as an associate editor of Sport Aviation and Vintage Airplane magazines. Norm relocated to Hales Corners, Wisconsin, and eventually Oshkosh. He married Loretta Rennick on August 29, 1981, in St. James, Minnesota. She and her three children joined Norman in Hales Corners and Oshkosh. Norman retired from the EAA at the age of 70. Norman had a passion for airplanes from the age of 12 after earning rides from a barnstormer at the Lincoln County Fair in Tyler. He earned his private pilot’s license June 19, 1956, and was proud to be an EAA homebuilder. He completed his first singleseat EAA biplane in 1968 after five and a half years of building time followed by a two-seater Starduster II biplane that required six years. He enjoyed doing aerobatics and treating friends and family to surprise loops and rolls. Later projects included a Piper J-3 Cub rebuild outfitted with skis and floats, and the start of an antique 1948 Danish KZ3 rebuild imported from Denmark. He was also a proud member of EAA Chapter 252 in Oshkosh, the Midwest Antique Airplane Club, and the Quiet Birdmen. He was proud to have attended 57 consecutive EAA fly-ins dating back to the early years in Rockford, Illinois. His enthusiasm and work helped to initiate the opening of a new airport in St. James. Norm became spokesman for the EAA Seaplane base and wrote numerous articles about float and skiplane flying. Norman loved to travel to Denmark where he was a member of the International

KZ Klubben and attended a number of fly-ins at Stauning, Denmark. He attended many flight breakfasts, taking his children one at a time as his special guests. Norman is survived by, and his memory will be cherished by, his wife, Loretta, of Oshkosh; children Teresa Pedersen of Kuwait, and Norman (Joanna) Pedersen II, Nancy Petersen, Janis Weikle, and Kari Jo (Dwight) Bullard, all of Minnesota. Stepchildren include Lisa (Dan) Morse and Troy (Heidi) Toelle of Michigan, and Wynette (Beau) Jero of Texas. Surviving siblings include Julia (Jim) Steinmetz of Michigan, and Paul (Marilyn) Petersen and Niel (Marlys) Petersen of Minnesota. Norman has 17 grandchildren, five-plus great-grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews, and other relatives.

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How to? ROBERT G. LOCK

Assemble a new wood wing We begin this column with some sound advice from an “old-timer.” You have purchased a basket case, and the airplane is in a thousand pieces; begin by assembling the major structural components to see if they fit together. I know of several people who just took the pieces, farmed some of them out, and when the airplane was ready to assemble, the new wings would not fit the fuselage. Alas, time and money wasted. Below, my Command-Aire 5C3 the first time the pieces went together. This turned out to be a very

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

smart move because there were 3C3 and 5C3 struts and wires mixed together—they looked the same but were different lengths, so I separated those parts so they would not get mixed again. This airplane is interesting because it does not have a center section—the upper wings bolt together in the center line of the fuselage, so precise fit is most important. Which brings up another important point. When constructing new wings, make sure they fully fit their respective attach points. If the aircraft has a center section, restore it first, then build

the wings to fit the center section. When building new lower wings, bolt each wing to the fuselage, then glue in the compression member and wing ribs in the first bay. The upper wings were built one-at-a-time â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I built the left wing first, trammed it, and glued in all the ribs. Everything was complete except the plywood leading edge skin and trailing edge metal. Then I assembled the right wing, bolted it to the right wing, trammed it, and then glued the ribs in place. By doing this I was assured that the bolts would fit in the attach fittings upon assembly. This is how the upper wings bolt together. The bolt load is in tension rather than shear. The left wing has one coat of varnish, while the right wing is bare

wood. Both front and rear spar attach fittings are similar in construction.

It has been many years since these wings were built, but in the photo at left I built the left wing first and then built the right wing to fit. In the photograph below, the upper wings are bolted together to check the fit of the root ribs, leading edge, and trailing edge. Designed by my friend Albert Vollmecke, the upper and lower leading edge was skinned with birch plywood. In this new column we have previously discussed building wing ribs, wing spars, laminating tip bows, and tramming a wing. So here you see these pieces all assembled in my shop in Reedley. Yet to be installed is the plywood leading edge and the aluminum trailing edge. But first the wing must be coated with at least two coats of marine spar varnish or epoxy varnish. Spar ends should receive several coats of varnish to assure penetration into the wood grain and completely seal it. Failure to do this will eventually lead to shakes, which are cracks between annual growth rings, and checks, which are cracks across grain lines. This happens when moisture enters poorly sealed wood; the wood swells because of the moisture and shrinks when the moisture leaves, stressing the growth lines until they crack. So use plenty of sealer on the end grains. www.vintageaircraft.org

A scintillating Stearman 4E Jr. Speedmail by Sparky Barnes Sargent

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

The Scott Family’s

Aviation

Legacy

When William Keith Scott turned 23 in March 1927, he took his first flying lesson at Mines Field near his home in Los Angeles. He learned about straight-and-level flight, as well as gentle turns with power. Keith and his instructor flew for an hour in that open-cockpit Curtiss JN-6H, powered by a 180-hp Wright. It was the beginning of Keith’s lifelong love affair with aviation — a love that he would pass along to his son, Ben, and a love that Ben would in time pass along to his own sons, Kelly and Casey. www.vintageaircraft.org

“… buying back 663K has been a lifechanging event. That airplane has introduced me to so many great people who mean so much to me.” SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

— Ben Scott

The vertical stabilizer is ground-adjustable. 12

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But of course Keith didn’t know he was starting a familial aviation legacy. He was just pursuing his passion. His lessons continued for about 12 more hours in the JN-6H (including wingovers, stalls, spins, loops, and takeoffs and landings), and after a year’s hiatus, his logbook showed several hours of instruction in Fokker F.VII and Fokker F.10 tri-motors. By August 1929, Keith’s logbook revealed numerous passenger-carrying flights in his Wright J-5-powered Stearman C3B. On a solo flight, he wrote, “Climb through fog. Forced landing at Saugus due to Motor trouble.” The very next day, he had another forced landing. But that didn’t dissuade Keith from flying, for he soon made what became another legacy decision. In November 1929 he placed an order with the Stearman Aircraft Co. for a brandnew, three-place Stearman 4E Jr. Speedmail. A few months before picking up the 4E, he flew his C3B to Wichita, Kansas. On February 19, 1930, Keith purchased and personally took delivery of his S t e a r m a n 4E at Wichita. Serial No. 4005 was one of 11 Model 4Es and was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engine. Keith’s 4E included optional equipment such as wheelpants, a reserve fuel tank, landing lights, flare tubes for night landings, and a relief tube — all for the princely sum of $18,107.50. The Stearman was assigned Department of Commerce identification number NC663K, and the bill of sale was signed by Lloyd Stearman himself. The very next day, Keith logged 20 minutes in the 4E, completing four takeoffs and landings at the Wichita Municipal Flying Field. On Fe b r u a r y 21, he departed Wichita and

PHOTOS COURTESY BEN SCOTT

Transcontinental Airmail Re-enactment flight cover.

Wm. Keith Scott’s wolf’s head emblem, from the front of his logbook.

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

Dan Wine’s October 1985 logbook entry.

A sign painter painted the dazzling wolf’s head and applied gold leaf to the emblem.

flew to Amarillo, Texas, and then on to Albuquerque, New Mexico. He logged six hours and 20 minutes that day, with the last 20 minutes being flown at night. The next day, they flew nearly six hours, from Albuquerque to Holbrook, Arizona, to Kingman, Arizona, and then to Palm Springs, California. The following day, it only took an hour to reach their final destination of Alhambra (W.A.E.). Keith, who founded Scott Motor Co. (another legacy he passed along to Ben), flew the Stearman as an executive transport. “Pop was a Cadillac dealer, and he flew the 4E to Detroit for a Cadillac meeting in 1930,” recounts Ben.

Wm. Keith Scott’s CAA Airman Identification Card from the early 1940s.

Three generations of Scott family pilots: Kelly Scott, his father Ben Scott, and grandfather Keith Scott. www.vintageaircraft.org

SPARKY BARNES SARGENT PHOTOS

Note the exhaust bayonets, outrigger gear, and oil cooler.

The horizontal stabilizer is adjustable in flight via a complex jackscrew assembly.

“He also flew it a lot in Reno and Los Angeles. The radio cost $750 and was installed after delivery. He had to convince the FCC he needed a radio station license.” The Speedmail was just a part of the company’s fleet, which included a Stearman C3B as well as Ford and Fokker tri-motors. Each airplane had a dazzling gold wolf’s head emblazoned on the fuselage. “Pop went to the University of Nevada, which is the Wolf Pack, and he adopted that as his Rick Atkins was entrusted with the Speedmail’s most recent restoration.

The exhaust tapers into a long bayonet. Note the treads on the outrigger gear.

Close-up view of the Stearman fuel gauge.

Close-up view of the Grimes light atop the tail.

Close-up view of main fuel tank vent in foreground. The case is painted with the original Pratt & Whitney green.

personal emblem,” recalls Ben. Another emblem on the fuselage represents a rather unique facet of history. “Pop was a charter member of the

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Aero Squadron,” Ben explains, “so he also put the deputy sheriff decal on the Stearman.” The Aero Squadron was proclaimed the “most unusual aerial law-enforcement arm in the world” in a March 1934 issue of the Los Angeles Times. Deputized volunteers flew their own airplanes, at their own expense, to chase bandits, provide aerial reports on natural disasters,

View of the front cockpit — note the variegated paint.

NC663K’s command center — note the parachute flare tube on the floor near the rudder pedals.

and perform search-and-rescue missions. In fact, just after his return from Wichita, Keith flew the 4E on several missions to search for missing Western Air Express pilot Jimmy Doles, who perished in a tri-motor crash near Lake Arrowhead, California. After 12 years and around 1,000 hours of flight time in NC663K, Keith sold the 4E in August 1942 as wartime flying restrictions were imposed on civilian pilots. He went Previous owner Dan Wine (left) and current owner Ben Scott in 2017.

on to fly the DC-3, DC-4, A-20, and A-26 for Douglas Aircraft.

Crop Duster to Museum Display

The 4E’s second owner, Mal Carberry of Brawley, California, converted the biplane into a duster. NC663K underwent considerable engine and airframe work (even after the initial conversion to a duster), including the installation of different engines. Eventually the 4E became der-

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elict until 1968, when antiquer Robert Penney Jr. came upon it. Bob, with the help of Ansel “Smitty” Smith, restored the 4E. “Smitty was the original mechanic for Scott Motor Co.’s aviation division,” recalls Ben. “He was a family friend and served as copilot for all of the airplanes.” Key to the authenticity of the restoration was a very precise model of NC663K, which had been in the Scott family for decades. Resurrected from bygone dusty

days and once more in its blackand-gold glory, it took to the skies in 1971. “Deed Levy, a former test pilot for Stearman Aircraft, flew it,” says Ben. “Lloyd Stearman got the first ride and declared it was the finest airplane he ever built. It was the grand champion at Watsonville in 1971, and then it spent several years at the Flying Lady Museum in California.”

Aloft Again

Dan Wine, then a United Air-

lines captain, purchased the Speedmail in June 1977. “Bob Penney restored a Navy N3N biplane, which I bought from him in 1975,” Dan shares. “At that time, he was working on the big Stearman 4E, and I saw it in its partial state and thought, ‘Boy, that would be a fun airplane to own!’ Bob called me years later and said that it was at a museum in Morgan Hill, California, and that he would have to either donate it or move it — but he didn’t

have any place to put it. So I bought the airplane and flew it back to Denver. It had been in the museum for seven years and had a lot of leaky hoses and things wrong with it that we had to fix, but I managed to make it home, and that’s when my love affair with the airplane started.” Dan loved flying the grand Stearman on long cross-countries and giving rides in it. “I flew it to Oshkosh in 1979 and it won Reserve Grand Champion. I

probably put about 200 hours on it during the time that I owned it. In 1980 I did sort of a barnstorming tour and took it to Illinois and gave my relatives some rides in it. Evidently someone saw it there and sent a note to Mr. Scott that they saw his airplane, and that’s when the Scotts contacted me. I was surprised because I didn’t know the family was still around. They asked me if I would fly it out just for Mr. Scott’s 80th birthday, and I said, ‘No, I’m not going to fly it out over that hazardous terrain for a birthday party. If you’ll buy it, I’ll deliver it to you.’ So they ended up buying it.” On October 16, 1985, Dan flew the Speedmail from Longmont, Colorado, to Rock Springs, Wyoming, to Wendover, Utah, and then to Battle Mountain, Nevada. The next day, he flew to Reno. Dan’s last entry in the logbook was “Battle Mountain Nev to Reno, Nev. Delivery flight to original purchaser Mr. Wm. Keith Scott. Welcome home!!” Poignantly, NC663K arrived just in time to be reunited with Keith, who at 81 had the pleasure of returning to the sky (as a passenger) in his square-tail Stearman 4E. “Dan took Pop for his next to last ride,” shares Ben. “Pop died about six months later, and he got his last ride in 663K when we scattered his ashes over Mount Rose.” Asked what it was like to meet Keith, Dan smiles and declares, “Oh, it was neat! At that point he was sort of a quiet, old gentleman who had very poor vision. I was able to talk to him one-on-one for quite some time about how it was to fly back in the 1930s, and he was very nice to talk to. He told me about going in to Reno with no lights at all on the airport. He had to drop flares to illuminate the runway and circle and land. www.vintageaircraft.org

up and put under the seat cushion so he could see out. It’s a great airplane, and a delight to fly!”

The 4E’s fuselage during restoration by Rick Atkins.

I thought that was pretty slick!” Pausing for a moment, Dan concludes, almost wistfully, “The Stearman 4E was the biggest biplane I’ve ever owned, and it was the most majestic one to fly. I was pleased finally to see it go back to the family because I knew that Ben would take such good care of it. It was the right thing to do; I’m happy it ended up with the Scott family. They sort of invited 18

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

COURTESY BEN SCOTT

Restoration

me to be their company pilot for a couple of years after that, and I would go back and fly it for them. Once I delivered it from the Reno Air Races back to Carson City, and that was a fun flight! But now I just enjoy looking at it. It brings back wonderful memories. My son, Mark, and I really think fondly of the times we flew together — he would be in the front seat, and we had a 10-man tent that we folded

After flying the Speedmail for about 14 years, Ben entrusted its restoration to Rick Atkins of Ragtime Aero in Placerville, California. “Bob Penney restored the airplane as close to its 1930 configuration as he could with the information available to him,” shares Ben. “By 1999, it was time to inspect and re-cover the airplane, and 663K was brought to a higher level because of the information uncovered by Steve Hamilton. Steve had restored a Standard Oil 4E and had done an extensive ‘archeological dig’ about the 4Es. His contribution of knowledge and material was invaluable.” Rick made the first flight after restoration, and in August 2002,

COURTESY BEN SCOTT

The 4E’s fuselage during restoration by Rick Atkins — note the parachute flare tubes and instrument panels.

Ben was flying his 72-year-old Stearman 4E. NC663K’s glossy black-and-gold finish was (and still is) a reflection of magnificent craftsmanship and teamwork. The Stearman’s powerful, rumbling 450-hp Pratt & Whitney was overhauled by Al Holloway of California. Ben says, “The prop blast beats on that engine cowling at about 1500 rpm on static check, and it roars just like a bull!” The old NACA cowling needed to be replaced, and fortuitously, a Grumman Mallard spun cowling was a good match, although it still required some work with an English wheel for a precise fit. The spinner for the propeller was spun to order, and original-style Dzus fasteners were used.” The exhaust system terminates in two long, sound-dampening bayonets, and the Speedmail is equipped with an operable winter front on the engine. “That controls the engine cooling; you can operate the shutters with a car window regulator, which is in the rear cockpit,” says Ben. “But it doesn’t need much cooling because it’s a greased rocker arm

— there’s no oil up in the cylinder head, which is the high-temperature area, so you don’t get as much heat in the oil as you do in a modern engine.” NC663K originally had wheelpants, but Ben says that when his father “landed in the mud the first time, he took them off and threw them away.” So in 1993, Ben had a set made by Fay Butler in Wheelwright, Massachusetts, and they are still on the 4E today.

Unique Details

The wing walk and other treads were made by Steve Hamilton. “Steve created a special 2-by-2inch die and painstakingly stamped out the new treads,” Ben says. “The treads are formed with seven pyramids to the inch and are just the same as the running board treads on the 1926 Pierce Arrow my father courted my mother in. Incidentally, the Arrow never left our family and has never been restored.” Steve also formulated and produced a special two-part paint, which Rick painted on the panel and floorboards. As it dries, the colors separate and create a var-

iegated pattern, yielding a wornleather appearance. The panel has original-type instruments, with the exception of a modern sensitive altimeter for accurate altitude reporting. “It also has an old Paulin altimeter, which is very rare now,” explains Ben, “but it was the first pressurecompensating altimeter and was specially ordered for NC663K.” Two parachute flare tubes are installed on the floorboard near the pilot’s rudder pedals in the rear cockpit; the tubes protrude all the way through the belly of the fuselage. A few modifications were made to enhance safety, such as the installation of a solenoid master switch and a capacitive fuelquantity system on the main tank. Modern avionics were installed, and in 2006 Redline brakes and master cylinders were installed. In 2017, Ben elected to add a Garmin GTX-345, ADS-B transponder, and a Garmin GA-35 WAAS antenna in place of the old King KT-76 transponder.

Speedmail Special Sojourns

Back in May 1938, Keith Scott had the honor of flying the airmail from Reno to Ely, Nevada, and returned during National Air Mail Week to celebrate the 20th anniversary of airmail service. Fifty-five years later, Ben carried on the airmail legacy by flying the mail in NC663K from Reno to Iowa City to commemorate the 75th anniversary of airmail. He was accompanied by Addison Pemberton in his 1931 Stearman Speedmail Senior. The flight took place from August 31 to September 3, 1993, and retraced a challenging portion of the original transcontinental route. Ben and Addison made stops in Elko, Nevada; Salt Lake City; Rock www.vintageaircraft.org

JACK FLEETWOOD

Springs, Rawlins, and Cheyenne, Wyoming; and North Platte and Omaha, Nebraska; before arriving in Iowa City. Ben, who holds a private pilot certificate with single and multiengine land and sea ratings, as well as an instrument rating, wholeheartedly enjoys flying the 4E. “The airplane is delightful to fly,” he says, smiling. “It cruises at 130 mph, and it’s more stable than a trainer-type Stearman. Liftoff is around 70 mph, and I’m probably touching down under 70, since I wheel-land it. It’s a little tricky on the ground, though, because it doesn’t have a steerable or locking tail wheel. Plus it’s very hard to see out of because of that big engine in front of you. If you can see the airport when you’re coming in, you’re going to miss it.” Ten years later, Ben was invited to participate in the 4,000-mile cross-country 2003 National Air Tour. The tour was a re-creation of the 1927-31 Ford Reliability Air Tours that promoted aviation as a safe way to travel. When asked by organizer Greg Herrick if he’d like to join the tour, Ben said he “thought about it for 10 seconds and said ‘yes.’ It was a once-in-alifetime experience, and there were 20

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“Powered with the 9 cyl. ‘Wasp’ C1 engine of 420 h.p. or the SC1 of 450 h.p., the model 4-E had a fairly outstanding performance that translated into a dashing personality.” — Joseph Juptner, U.S. Civil Aircraft, Volume 3

enthusiastic crowds everywhere. We enjoyed lots of great camaraderie with the greatest antiques around and their airplanes. I had the good fortune to have Al Holloway, the engine builder, as copilot.” On Labor Day weekend 2008, Ben participated in the Antique Airplane Association and Airpower Museum’s 90th anniversary celebration of the first scheduled airmail. Ben flew the mail from Antique Airfield to Ottumwa, Iowa, and returned on August 30. That was a warmup for yet another airmail flight that month — the re-enactment of the 1918 Transcontinental Air Mail Route, during which Ben flew his 4E alongside Addison Pemberton in his 1928 Boeing 40C and Larry Tobin in his 1927 Stearman C3B. On September 10, the trio departed on the route

from Republic Field in Farmingdale, New York. They carried official U.S. mail (about 900 flight covers) across the country, stopping at each of the 15 original airmail stops. Al accompanied the trio and kept their engines running flawlessly all the way. They successfully completed the route on September 18 when they landed at San Francisco. Through the years in which Ben has flown the Speedmail, the biplane hasn’t presented any insurmountable maintenance challenges. “On the airways, there is the drudgery of greasing the rockers every day and carrying around a leaky grease gun with Alemite fittings, and also the challenge of finding or carrying enough Phillips 25-60 engine oil,” recounts Ben. “One weekend several years ago, Al was too busy to accompany me to Bill Allen’s fly-in. Passing Lone Pine, California, I had a windscreen full of oil. It turned out to be a stuck ring on No. 5. Al threw his toolbox in his truck, and we spent the weekend on the ramp in Lone Pine changing out a cylinder. We broke a base nut wrench and had to weld up a new one. “I might mention that the base nuts on that 1340 SC1 are brass safety wired. That means each nut has to be fitted so it torques down and the holes line up. No easy Palnuts, and no nylocks on the many cowl fasteners either. The keys to maintaining 663K are Al Holloway for the engine and Rick Atkins for the airframe. Those are two key assets in the world of old airplanes.”

A Family Legacy

Back in 2003, the AirVenture judges proclaimed NC663K the Antique Grand Champion — Gold Lindy winner. In 2017, Ben invited a gregarious, fun-loving couple to accompany him to Air-

Venture. Experienced antiqueaircraft pilot Larry Harmacinski and his wife, Ilse, camped right beside the Speedmail. Once again, the 4E was honored — this time with the Antique Continuously Maintained Aircraft Award. Thoughtfully reflecting upon his Stearman 4E, Ben shares, “Of the top five turning points in my life, buying 663K has to be number two. Marrying Sandy was by far the best thing I ever could have done. But buying back 663K has been a life-changing event. That airplane has introduced me to so many great people who mean so much to me. Just think, without 663K I would never have met some of the world’s great people, such as Addison Pemberton, not to mention great authors such as yourself. In addition, 663K has led me on many adventures, from my first long cross-country to Galesburg to the momentous National Air Tour of 2003. When I bought it back from Dan, I probably paid too much — but in retrospect, it wasn’t enough.” By preserving his family’s remarkable aviation history, Ben Scott has admirably perpetuated the grandeur of the golden age for literally thousands across the country. As for the future of the family’s Stearman 4E, Ben shares, “My son Kelly has flown many hours in 663K. Hopefully he can continue, but he lives in Houston. My son Casey is an ATP with tailwheel experience. Who will carry on, I don’t know. It will take money and dedication. Keep ’em flying!” [Read more about Ben Scott and his aviation legacy in Sparky Barnes Sargent’s book Tales of T i m e l e s s Wi n g s — P re s e n tDay Aviators and Their Flying Machines, available through http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ dgaenterprises.]

General Specifications for

1930 Stearman 4E Jr. Speedmail NC663K s/n 4005 Upper wingspan Lower wingspan Length Height Tread Empty weight Useful load Gross weight Engine Fuel Oil Max speed Cruising speed Landing speed Climb at sea level Service ceiling Cruising range Baggage capacity

2 or 3 POLB Manufactured Under ATC 292 38 feet 28 feet 26 feet, 4 inches 10 feet, 2 inches 96 inches 2,426 pounds 1,501 pounds 3,936 pounds 450-hp P&W 44 gallons wing center section tank, 66 gallons fuselage tank 10 gallons 158 mph 130 mph 55 mph 1,400 fpm 18,000 feet 580 miles 289 pounds

Derived from various sources, including Juptner’s U.S. Civil Aircraft, Volume 3 and ATC 292.

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A look down memory lane . . .

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The Vintage area during AirVenture is known as the “Happiest place on earth.” Its easy to see why with such a diverse collection of Vintage airplanes on hand.

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46th Galesburg Homecoming The National Stearman Fly-In article and photos by Jim Busha The legend behind the Galesburg Stearman gathering goes something like this: Jim Leahy and Tom Lowe would attend the fly-in at Blakesburg, Iowa, every year, sit under the wings of their Stearmans, and say, “Hey, we need to get the Stearmans together in a Stearman-specific flyin.” It was supposed to be a one-time event. They looked up the FAA registry numbers and mailed out about a thousand notices o n a l l t h e t a i l n u m b e r s. Nineteen people showed up to what was supposed to be one-time gathering, and the rest, as they say, is history. Now 46 years young, Galesburg hosted 101 Stearmans to keep the tradition going, including the pilots highlighted below.

Turning Back the Hands of Time Although Robert W. Siegfried of Illinois happens to be 88 years young and likes to be referred to as “Old Bob,” the twinkle in his eyes and the way he pilots a Stearman makes you stand back and wonder if he’s off by 70 years. “Flew my first Stearman in 1947, down in Jacksonville, Florida,” Bob said. “I was in the military, but I Bob was not a military pilot. Th W. Siegfried and his wif elma Jean. e, I was, however, a private pilot, and I went out and rented a Stearman at a immediately, within a month small airport near Jackson- I guess, I checked out in a ville. The Stearman is such Stearman just for the fun a wonderful airplane. Back of it — boy was I hooked! then, of course, they didn’t The Stearman is just an make such a big deal out of open cockpit to the world checking out in one; it was of flight. Lots of fun. I flew just another airplane. I got ’em a little bit every now and a private ticket and almost then when I was in the prowww.vintageaircraft.org

cess of becoming a pilot. I was in the Marine Corps at the time, and I’d take anybody for a ride that would pay the rental. The airport rented them for $15-$20 an hour, and if the rider would pay for the rental, I’d take them up and fly the airplane. “The Stearman taught more pilots to fly than any other small airplane. It’s just such a sweet flying machine. It’s gentle, forgiving, easy to fly. It’s a good old-man’s airplane. That’s what I like about it best. I always feel like a kid when I am sitting inside the Stearman. I’ve been lucky enough to be flying almost my entire life. I’ve never, ever had to work for a living; I’ve always 44

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been in aviation. People paid me for flying airplanes; I think it’s just absolutely unbelievable. What more could a kid ask for? I never got shot at, nothing like that. These guys that flew the Stearman in training, young kids 17, 18, 19 years old, went off and flew fighters, transports, liaisons, and bombers. They did the job for us and our country, some of them making the ultimate sacrifice. Although it’s fun to be associated with these airplanes that they flew back then, it’s a bigger honor to carry on their memories and make sure other people never forget the sacrifices they made for all of us. “The Stearman is so honest and straightforward. It does what you want it to do. It’s a super, super trainer. First one I owned was this one, and I’ve had this about 27 years. This is a Boeing/ Jones Model 20, serial No. 27. It’s built up out of parts by a guy named Pete Jones down in Cleveland, Mississippi. I have the standard Stearman engine up front — a very stock 220-hp Continental. Whole airplane’s very stock.

Mine has a typical Navy paint scheme. Since new I have probably put on 1,500-2,000 hours. Not very much. But I bet I’ve killed a couple million bugs! “I’ve been coming to Galesburg now with my Stearman for about 23 years mostly with my favorite copilot, my wife, Thelma Jean. Why do I keep coming back? Well, because everybody here is madly in love with the airplane. They’re just, what can I say — these are just fun airplanes. They don’t have any good practical purpose of any sort anymore. They don’t use them to dust fields with them anymore; they don’t spray with them. Flying our Stearmans here every year in early September is just a fun thing to do. Us old guys and some young people too just fly and play like we’re young again. The main reason I fly a Stearman and come back to Galesburg is because it reminds me of when I was a kid. We all seem to turn back the hands of time for a brief moment in Galesburg, with our trusty Stearmans filling the skies. It really doesn’t get any better than that!”

Like Father, Like Son Rod Hoctor, of Benton, Kansas, grew up listening to stories told by his father, Ray, about flying Stearmans while in the military during World War II. “He trained in them during the war and always spoke well of Stearmans,” Rod said. “I developed a liking for them as well and built models of them a lot. One

Rod Hoctor

day I was in St. Louis and found out a guy in Washington, Missouri, would check you out in a Stearman. I couldn’t get out there fast enough, and it was really the first time I’d been around Stearmans. I got checked out in it and thoroughly enjoyed it and rented it often as I could. I eventually moved to the Wichita area and bought a Stearman and have had it ever since, about 20 years now. “The Stearman is so enticing. It’s a biplane, which is interesting, it’s open cockpit, it has a radial engine, and all the sounds and sensations of flying open cockpit is what did it for me. The one I own is a 1942 model painted as an Army Stearman. It has a 220hp Continental engine, and we work at it to keep it stock-looking and operating that way. It has a wooden prop as well that really gives it that period look. “I’m often asked what advice I would give to someone who might be interested in buying or flying one of these historic treasures. Well, first off, it’s a taildragger, built as a trainer aircraft. It’s highly rugged and can take 46

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a fair amount of abuse, but it’s also a very demanding airplane to fly. It requires good airmanship. If you’re going to own and operate a Stearman, you need to sharpen up on tailwheel skills, make sure you’re up to flying it. If you wanted to buy one, there’s a lot of them out there. Mostly just check the condition of the fabric and the condition of the engine. Other than that, it’s a very simple airplane, very easy to maintain, and not very expensive to own or operate. A Stearman is a lot of fun to own. It’s like owning a piece of history. When I fly it, when I work on it, I just feel like I’m part of keeping this airplane going. I own it right now, but sooner or later it’s a piece of history that I think needs to keep on going. That’s how I view it. “Funny thing is I don’t really travel much with it, just mainly enjoy flying it around Stearman Field back home in Benton. This is only my second time to Galesburg. Well, the Stearman pilots are a community in themselves. There’s a camaraderie at Gales-

burg, and I really enjoy the camaraderie of the formation pilots. It’s a nice, tight group, and we all really enjoy flying formation. I’m going to Galesburg because they’re going. “Flying a Stearman in formation is a very special, rewarding experience. It’s demanding. It demands a certain level of airmanship and skill, and it’s satisfying to acquire that level of skill and to be accepted into a group of people that respect that type of airmanship. To me, that’s what is enjoyable about it. I enjoy that kind of flying, stick and rudder kind of flying. It makes you a much better pilot, being able to fly formation. Same with aerobatics. That’s why I enjoy both of them so much, especially at the controls of a Stearman.” Wedded Bliss Ma r i e S p e a r, o f Ke n o s h a , Wisconsin, earned her pilot certificate in 1997 and completely blames her husband, Peter, for getting involved in Stearman flying. “Our first date was in his Stea-

Peter and Marie Spear.

rman, which is No. 41,” Marie said. “I never imagined finding myself as a pilot, so my interest increased as we flew together. The fascination started with flying with my husband. Learning the history really got my interest up, but being able to fly a part of history was over the top. What’s also great about Stearman flying is you’re in conditions where you’re out in the open; you’re part of the elements, the sound, the feel, the freedom of be ing above the ground and being able to go pretty much where www.vintageaircraft.org

you want to go and have the fun along the way — it’s an incredible feeling. This is my excitement, and I plan to do it as long as I’m capable of it. That’s probably why I ended up with my own Stearman. “My PT-17 Stearman started out in Carlstrom, and it mainly stayed with bases that were Embry-Riddle training bases. It also was in Dorr Field and Arcadia. Its last duty service base was Terrell, Texas, where it trained British cadets. At one point in time, it went to Orlando, and it was equipped to become a PT-17A, which is a true instrument trainer. This airplane has an interesting military history, but a more inter48

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esting personal history. It belonged to two very close friends of ours, and when we lost our last friend, his family asked me to purchase it. I jumped at the chance because I wanted to keep the remembrance of him and keep it flying and make sure it shows up in Galesburg. “Coming back here every year is like holidays with family in a lot of ways. I came here for more than 20 years without an airplane, just a pilot. There’s always more to learn here from the other pilots; there’s a lot of people here. This is the one time a year that we see a lot of people that we’ve come to know. The camaraderie and the flying, learning other people’s history, just the atmosphere, it’s a lot of fun. It’s like people who enjoy fun, they enjoy flying, and this is actually the best place I can find to do it. When we leave here on the last Sunday, our hearts and our minds are already looking forward to Galesburg next year. This is it for us; I mean, we love to be here as much as we love flying the Stearman.”

Dawn and Ross Roge rs

Stearman Infection Rossi Rogers of Udall, Kansas, blames his wife, Dawn, for getting mixed up with the Stearman crowd. “About three years ago I met my wife, Dawn, through a flight instructor friend of mine that has known me since I was very young,” Rossi said. “They ’re both pilots, and he introduced us. She was a lot more involved with the Stearman community. I was not involved with them at all. She kind of brought me into it, so I blame her for all this. I

“To date, we still have Stearman owners and pilots here that were part of the original movement back in 1972 and on.”

was looking for a challenge, so I went on a formation flight with them. Now, I had been in opencockpit airplanes a few times, but I had never been in a formation flight. I was absolutely awed the first couple of times I went up. That new challenge in my life really drove me into having my own airplane. A Stearman came up for sale, and we kind of jumped on it pretty quick. I tried to be very disciplined; I easily could have been guilty of just buying anything. But, I tried to be very disciplined about it. I had Rod Hoctor check it out. He’s an expert on them. We just came to the conclusion that it was a good buy. www.vintageaircraft.org

“Ours began life as a PT-17; it’s painted in Navy colors now. It was delivered in 1941 to Montgomery, Alabama, to the Army Air Corps. There’s also evidence that it went to Tuskegee for a few months; I have not verified that as of yet, though. Then it came back to Wichita, and it was decommissioned in 1945. It was a crop duster for a while in the Houston area. In fact, I met people in the Houston area where I work as an airline pilot that worked on the airplane and rebuilt it, and refurbished it. It’s got a neat history. “Owning this is incredible. To top it off, the airplane being built in Wichita where I was born. I’ve always loved the history. I never thought I’d have an airplane like this. Never dreamed of it. I consider myself extremely lucky. I have a good job and a great wife. If there’s an opportunity for her to fly it, I want her flying it. I’ve got plenty of other things that I can do as I get more joy watching her fly it as well.” Coming Home Michael Glen Rutledge is originally from Galesburg, Illinois, and now lives in West Point, New York. His full-time job is an active-duty Army helicopter pilot and commander of the aviation department and the executive flight detachment at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. But he wears another hat: president of the Stearman Restorers Association (SRA). 50

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Mike Rutledge

“I was born and raised in Galesburg,” Michael said. “My dad, Russell, was co-owners in a Stearman with a gentleman named Jim Leahy, who co-founded the fly-in in 1972 with Tom Lowe. I got my very first ride on my dad’s lap with Jim Leahy flying us off the grass here in Galesburg in 1976. You’ll hear it probably from several people, but it truly is coming home. The neat thing about the National Stearman Fly-In is that it’s big enough that you can meet people from all over the world. It’s international. We’ve got a Stearman owner from Sweden here this week and another one from France, along with several who fly in from Canada. So it’s big enough to have a really broad scope of people from around the world. But it’s a small enough event, and it’s not so tightly packed with events that you can go up and

down the line and you still have time throughout the week to actually talk to everyone. All events we have are actually centered around getting people together and not necessarily entertaining but just providing a venue for people being in the same place, same time. If you’re a hermit, it doesn’t work out for you, but if you’re halfway social and make the effort, you get to see every single person that flew in here. “If you come out to the Stearman Fly-In whether you own one or not, one of our touchstone thoughts is that you don’t have to own a Stearman. If you’re interested in them and you come out here, you’re going to go fly in a Stearman and you’re going to find out more than you ever want to know about the airplane. So there’s no physical or literal barriers to coming out here. So what many people have said is, ‘I was welcomed as family, and I never even had my hands on a Stearman before.’ So we welcome everyone out here. “To date, we still have Stearman owners and pilots here that were part of the original movement back in 1972 and on. Our concern is as these pilots age out and turn their airplanes over, as is happening with a lot of vintage aircraft owners. The issue is, one, how do we get the word out to a new generation of Stearman owners to come to Galesburg and see what it’s about? Then two, what is it

that motivates them, because maybe the pilots of the ’60s and ’70s aren’t? What motivated them to come and gather may not be the same thing that brings a 25-year-old or a 30-year-old Stearman pilot to Galesburg. So we shoulder with that a little bit, but we’re looking into some innovative techniques and different media outreach and some other items we can use to bring more people to the fly-in. “Education is the biggest part of it. There’s a lot of Stearman owners out there that just simply don’t know that the fly-in exists. Some people just aren’t joiners. So if you’re not a part of the SRA and get the newsletter or you don’t read about it in another aviation magazine, you very well could own a Stearman and not know that this exists. “We want to celebrate the 50th National Stearman Fly-In that’ll be in September, Labor Day weekend of September 2021. We’re making plans for it right now. For us, we kind of see that as a benchmark event in that that’s our opportunity to reach out to Stearman owners or pilots that are new custodians of the airplane that may have not heard about it or got the information passed down to us. So we see that as our opportunity to educate the new generation. So we want to get as many of the new Stearman owners here at Galesburg for that 50th as we can to help carry on the tradition of a great airplane. “

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A Pilot’s Dream Spans Generations Reviving the Johnny Dorr Clipped Wing Stearman by Budd Davisson

photos by erin brueggen Herb Clark said, “When I started cleaning it up, I found a pair of sunglasses and a sectional laying in the bottom of the cockpit. It was as if Johnny Dorr had just shut it down and climbed out. It was a little eerie.” Built in the late ’40s by ag pilot and ag school operator Johnny Dorr in Merigold, Mississippi, and “air showed” through the ’50s, the Dorr Clipped Wing 52

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Stearman became something of a legend throughout the Stearman community in recent years. Although the location of the airplane was well known around central Mississippi, in the rest of the country there was no firm confirmation that the airplane even existed. It could be a myth. And Herb Clark of Weirsdale, Florida — a Stearman devotee of the highest possible order — was

well aware of the rumors. Then he saw the listing on Barnstormers.com: “For sale, Johnny Dorr’s Clipped Wing Stearman. In storage for decades …” Herb knows Stearmans. He really knows them and has made restoring and repairing them one of his passions. In fact, his company, Herbco Aviation, specializes in work on rag-and-tube airplanes. His first Stearman effort, with

Jim and Kevin Kimball’s help, won Grand Champion at the SUN ’n FUN International Fly-In & Expo, Reserve Grand Champion at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, and Best PT-17 at the National Stearman Fly-In. Did we mention that Herb really knows Stearmans? Accordingly, he literally devoured every fragment of fact and fiction he could find about the Dorr Stearman. Then the ad showed

up on Barnstormers.com. He said, “The family had sold the airplane to two gentlemen in Texas who almost immediately put it up for sale again. Ben Morphew, also a Texan and known for owning many unusual airplanes, bought it. He looked through the airplane and decided it was going to be too much work to restore, so he listed it in Barnstormers. “I saw the ad within hours of

it being posted and immediately called him, saying I’d take the airplane. It was as simple as that. No haggling. I left the next day with a trailer, and when I got there, Ben started saying things like, ‘Here are the logs, you can inspect them, and if you …’ I stopped him and said, ‘Here’s the money. I’m buying it, period.’ There was no way I was leaving without that historic airplane. As I was drivwww.vintageaircraft.org

Every weekend during the summer Dorr performed at airshows.

When at home and not teaching wannabee ag pilots the ropes, he played dad.

Absolute classic lines that literally scream “1950s airshow!”.

ing home, I’d look in the rearview mirror and hear myself saying, ‘I can’t believe it! I have the Johnny Dorr Stearman on a trailer behind me. I don’t believe it!’ I was over the moon!” When he got it into his shop and started going through it, he ran into surprise after surprise. He said, “Bear in mind what we’re looking at here. The engine was overhauled by the military in 1948, nearly 70 years ago. The fabric, which was dope on cotton, was just shy of 40 years. The tubing hadn’t been touched since ’48. Basically, nothing had 54 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

been done to it in the intervening years, so what I found during my very detailed inspections shouldn’t have been there. “For one thing, every bit of the fabric easily passes punch tests. The dope finish, which often deteriorates, was remarkably good. All I did was wash it. I put a mirror and flashlight into every nook and cranny of the fuselage and wings and found no deterioration at all! Zero! There was no rust, no corrosion, nothing at all wrong with any of the wood or metal anywhere. This just shouldn’t have been possible! This airplane

sat in a garden-variety hangar in hot and humid Mississippi, yet it looked as if it had been hermetically sealed or something. I’ve inspected and worked on a ton of rag-and-tube airplanes, but I’d never seen anything like this! “The engine was the same way. I poked around inside of it, while cleaning and rebuilding the fuel system, and it was as sparkling and clean as if it had been overhauled last week. It was almost scary. It had about 550 hours’ total time, so it’s unlikely I’ll fly it enough to wear it out.” Almost as soon as he started

The wing panels were new surplus, when Dorr shortened them.

Trailering the airplane from Texas to Florida, Herb Clark would look in the rearview mirror and marvel at his good luck.

looking over the airplane over, Herb set a goal: He wanted to get the airplane back in the air and not change a single thing that wasn’t safety oriented. He wanted it to be exactly as it was the last time Johnny Dorr flew it. Herb saw the airplane as a rare nugget of aviation history, and to disturb the patina the years had given it would be doing it a disservice. He wanted to pass it along to the following generations as an undisturbed aviation time capsule. As he got deeper into the airframe, he found that goal was entirely attainable. “I changed almost nothing on the airplane,” he said. “The brakes had literally rotted off. But a set of Red Lines came with the airplane, so they were installed. Also, the strut for the tail wheel wasn’t right. It was off a Waco, so I changed that. Otherwise, I like the been-there-done-that look. Same thing with the radio. It has this really funky-looking Bendix flight phone in it with a tunable loop on the belly that is turned by a knob at the front edge of the seat bottom. I love it! I use a

Dorr’s last airshow sequence was taped to the instrument panel.

When rebuilt in the 70’s a WACO tailwheel was put on it, but Herb changed it out for a Stearman unit.

handheld, so I don’t have to mess with anything in the airplane. There’s even one of Dorr’s original acro sequence cards taped to the panel. It’s going to stay there. “The smoke system on the airplane was part of its legend. It

was supposed to have laid out a super dense cloud, and I could see why when I looked at the system. It was pneumatic. The oil tank was pressurized so the oil was forced into the exhaust much faster than a normal pump could www.vintageaircraft.org

The rotating radio antenna is still working, but not used. A definite 40’s touch: white walls for the gentlemen pilot.

You don’t often see landing lights on a Stearman. Handy while going to and from airshows.

Cowl flaps and exhaust let the R-680 Lyc do its thing.

Nothing about the cockpit has been changed.

Pitot tube is from an unidentified source.

Johnny Dorr was not only an exceptional pilot but obviously was also good at fabrication.

Bendix Flight Phone is barely visible behind the stick and the loop antenna tuning knob is under pilot’s right leg.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

Almost perfect proportions with an equally perfect sound.

move it. And it became a signature of Dorr’s air show routines. “I learned a lot about the airplane from one of Dorr’s ex-ag students who stopped by. He said the reason the airplane wasn’t flown at all after the last re-covering in 1979 was that Johnny was in a serious car accident that pretty much paralyzed his legs. He also said that part of Dorr’s ritual was that every time anyone walked past the Clipped Wing, you moved the prop a little. That way the rings were always in a different place. I’d sure like to know what else he did to preserve an airplane that well in every way. He also said that Johnny was emphatic that, if he couldn’t fly the airplane, no one else would either.” When it came time to fly the airplane for the first time, Herb saw it as a very historic occasion. “Not only was this the first time the airplane would fly in something like 40 years,” Herb

Herb Clark, certified Stearmanaholic Nearly a half century of sitting considers his airplane to be a his- hasn’t done much to dull down torical artifact. the dope.

said, “but I would be the very first guy to fly it since Johnny shut it down. And the only guy besides Johnny to fly it. That’s really historic. Plus, I was going to get a chance to answer the question that had been bouncing around for decades: ‘How did the Johnny Dorr Stearman fly?’

“It flies like a Stearman but different. For one thing, power off, it really comes down. Probably 2,500 fpm! It rolls much faster, and if you drop the nose the same amount it would take to get a normal Stearman to hit 120 mph, this one is doing 145. And you can feel it. Also, when you’re pulling www.vintageaircraft.org

the nose up into a loop or something, it doesn’t lose speed nearly as quickly, but it still stalls like a Stearman. Fairly gentle. “The canopy works really well but is so tight you can barely move your head around, but it makes cross-country much more enjoyable. I open the canopy on landing, which gives unlimited room to look around. It’ll hit 125 straight and level, but I’m usually powered back at around 105 mph or so.” Considering that almost all of the airplane is as it was 40 to 70 years ago, many would baby it and get no farther away from home than they would be willing to drive to fix it. Herb doesn’t feel that way about it. “This isn’t an airplane that should be hidden away in a hangar and only flown occasionally,” he said. “This is an airplane that needs to be seen by as much of the flying public as possible because it is a visible link to a time long gone. This airplane embodies the feeling and look that characterized air shows in the ’40s and ’50s that mutated into the air shows we know today. This is a living, breathing example of that time. So far it has been to Oshkosh, Blakesburg, and the Stearman fly-in in Galesburg, Illinois. “I’ve flown it enough that I trust it as much as I trust any airplane, and my trust only builds the more I fly it. I get such a kick out of it that every time I land and start to get out of it, I think to myself, ‘I’m flying the Johnny Dorr Stearman!’ and I smile a little. It doesn’t get any better than that! I think Johnny would be glad his old bird is back in the air, although he might be a little perturbed that someone else is flying it!” Sometimes an airplane lucks out and comes under the care of the right person. 58 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

The Origin of the Johnny Dorr Stearman

Johnny Dorr actually had two reputations. First, in the Southeast he was known as an air show pilot, and second, he was known worldwide as an agricultural pilot turned agricultural mentor and teacher who established what is reputed to be the first school dedicated to teaching ag flying. Both of those reputations were molded around Stearman PT-17 type aircraft and especially the Dorr Stearman. Johnny Dorr had been a pilot before World War II, and during the war, he found himself spending thousands of hours as a civilian contract pilot in the front seat of Stearman trainers, teaching aerobatics to fledgling aces. After the war, he returned home to Merigold, Mississippi; population, a slowly decreasing 500 hard-working souls, most of whom were working the surrounding farms. Recognizing the need for aerial application for crops, Dorr quickly bought a Stearman, modified it for ag operations, and went to work. He then looked around the nation and realized that the growth he was seeing in ag flying in his area was being echoed everywhere there were farms. So, he returned to his instructor roots and opened a school aimed specifically at teaching others how to kill bugs without getting themselves killed. The school was immediately successful. Part of his marketing was aimed at getting himself and his business noticed by the public, and air shows were a way to do that. Plus, he had been designing an airplane for the air show market in his mind for a long time. In an article he wrote back in the day, he said, “While flying a military Stearman four hours a day for threeand-a-half years, I got to wondering how the bird would fly if I were to whittle off a piece here and there. A number of changes were being tossed around in my mind. When not flying, I would slip off to the Overhaul Section where I spent as much time as possible, which was a great learning experience.” His daydreaming came to fruition when, in 1948, he had accumulated enough Stearman parts (including brand-new, never-beenflown wings) to build what he saw as the ultimate air show airplane. The firewall-forward included the 295-hp Lycoming R-680-9 inside the cowling of an AT-10, which had covered it during its wartime service. The wings had been trimmed a total of 6 feet and the cutout in the trailing edge of the center section filled in. The turtledeck behind the pilot was raised considerably to streamline a sliding canopy built out of what appear to be BT-13 parts. Dorr became a well-known air show act in the Southeast, but eventually, the airplane began to show its age. So, he dismantled it and completely recovered it. However, it flew only a few hours after the rebuild. In fact, it sat in a hangar where Johnny had parked it sometime in the late 1970s until 2014. Johnny passed in 1987, and his devoted wife, Dot, passed in 2012.

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Teaching a Nation How to Fly The Lon Cooper story: Part 7 I am a relative newcomer to the Lakeland area, first coming here in 1989 but moving here permanently in 2007. I knew local aviation history in California well, particularly around the Reedley area. All of my old friends still live in that area. But as I was researching this story about Lon Cooper, the local history here has been brought to my attention, particularly by Lon. This last episode deals with some of the local history both here and back in the San Joaquin Valley, particularly the discussion about what happened when the primary flight schools closed down as World War II came to a close. But first, one of Lodwick School of Aeronautics auxiliary fields was very interesting. It was the first airport constructed here in Lakeland and became known as Haldeman-Elder Field. Lon described the practice field as if it were yesterday: “South and east of Lakeland was the third auxiliary field we used. Originally it was the Lakeland Airport. It was a double-square grass field, the two squares joining at one corner. Traffic ‘tee’ was the only fixture on this field at that time. The field has an interesting history as it was established by George Haldeman of Lakeland in conjunction with Ruth Elder, a 23-year-old movie actress and aviator. The pair attempted the first New York-to-Paris crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a woman shortly after Charles Lindbergh had made his famous solo flight in 1927. Their Stinson Detroiter developed oil line problems just before reaching Europe, and they had to ditch at sea. A Dutch freighter rescued them, and they received a hero’s welcome in Paris and back in New York.” George Haldeman was a World War I aviator whose experience encompassed much of early aviation. Born in Kansas in 1889, his family moved 60

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

Ruth Elder and her Stinson Detroiter named American Girl.

to Lakeland and he finished high school in the area. After high school, he enlisted in the Army Air Service and attended the School of Military Aeronautics in Austin, Texas. And he was assigned to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, where he became an instructor in aerial acrobatics. He received aerobatic certification from Carlstrom Field, Arcadia, Florida, and rose to the rank of first lieutenant. He left the military service in 1919 to pursue civilian aviation. Haldeman held Transport License Number 222, signed by Orville Wright. Haldeman was into all sorts of aviation ventures. He operated flying schools in various parts of Florida when he became acquainted with Ruth Elder and taught her how to fly. Elder was a part-time movie starlet and part-time aviatrix. She was enthralled with the flight of Charles Lindbergh from New York to Paris and vowed to become the first female to fly from the United States nonstop to Europe. Elder sought sponsors and purchased a new

Stinson Detroiter single-engine cabin monoplane, and she named it American Girl. In this flight, Ruth Elder would be the pilot and George Haldeman the copilot. The airplane was modified to carry a substantial load of fuel for the trip, and they set off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, on October 11, 1927, just five months after Lindberghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s solo flight to Paris. Their route was direct to the Azores, and from there, direct to Paris. However, an engine oil line failed, and they were forced to ditch in the Atlantic Ocean just 360 miles off the Azores. The airplane was lost, but they both survived and were rescued at sea.

American Girl being readied for takeoff October 11, 1927.

It would appear that a downhill ramp was constructed to aid in gaining takeoff speed with the heavily loaded ship. Although the pair from Lakeland, Florida, was unsuccessful in reaching their objective, they were received as heroes. The first airport in Lakeland was named Haldeman-Elder Field in honor of their accomplishments. In 1935, the city of Lakeland decided to move the airport to a site next to Lake Parker, and it is the site where Albert Lodwick built his primary flight training facility. By the time Lon Cooper was shooting takeoffs and landings at Haldeman-Elder Field, there was nothing left there but a landing strip. In 1938, billionaire Howard Hughes focused on a world record attempt to fly around the world using a newly purchased Lockheed Model 14-N2 Super Electra aircraft. Hughes was an avid aviator and daring pilot, setting several aviation world records. In planning the flight, Hughes contacted Albert Lodwick, then

vice president of Curtiss-Wright, to handle flight operations, clearances, landing permits, en route fuel provisions, food, and lodging. It was no easy chore because the flight would take them from Floyd Bennett Field, Long Island, New York; to Le Bourget Field in Paris; to Moscow, Russia; to Omsk, Russia; to Yakutsk, Russia; to Fairbanks, Alaska; to Minneapolis, Minnesota; and back to New York. Departure was July 10, 1938, and arrival in Minneapolis was on July 14. Hughes and his four-man flight crew flew 14,672 miles in three days, 19 hours, 14 minutes, and 10 seconds.

Celebration in New York City for Howard Hughes. Albert Lodwick (right), Hughes (center), Grover Whalen, president of the New York Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fair Corporation (left). (Lakeland Public Library)

A ticker-tape parade rewarded Howard Hughes for his world flight in his Lockheed Lodestar. Albert Lodwick can be seen sitting next to Hughes who is waving to the crowd. Lodwick is wearing a white shirt and dark tie. Just two years later in 1940, Lodwick would open his primary flight training operations in Lakeland, Florida, and later in Avon Park. When his business ceased in 1945, Lodwick wasted little time adapting his flight operation into a peacetime industry, incorporating his new business he called Lodwick Aircraft Industries in February 1946. He had employed several licensed airplane mechanics, and so his new venture engaged in the business of converting surplus military aircraft to commercial use. He also contracted with the War Assets Administration to sell surplus aviation parts and equipment at the Lakeland Municipal Airport. www.vintageaircraft.org

Albert Lodwick (left) and one of his converted C-47 aircraft at Lakeland. (Lakeland Public Library) Another load of surplus aircraft parts at Lodwick Aviation Industries. (Lakeland Public Library)

Inside Lodwickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hangar, a C-47 is being converted from military to civilian use. (Lakeland Public Library)

Above, a surplus Douglas C-47 is being converted by Lodwick mechanics inside the maintenance hangar that was just large enough to accept a Douglas C-47 aircraft. Lodwick also founded Florida Air Express using the C-47 aircraft he had converted to civilian use at his Lakeland facility. At top right, Albert Lodwick (left) and one of his Douglas C-47 ships. Behind the aircraft, another C-47 can be seen as well as a Cessna UC-78 Bobcat, a twin-engine advanced trainer, and a Piper Cub. During the time he ran the primary flight schools, he was actively engaged in commercial aviation. He was a vice president of Hughes Tool Company of Houston, Texas, no doubt because of his involvement with the Hughes world flight in 1938. Albert Lodwick had many contacts in both civilian and military aviation, due primarily to his travels, serving as a board member for several large corporations, and his constant consulting duties. 62

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

Albert Lodwick confers with Charles Lindbergh. (Lakeland Public Library)

Above, Albert Lodwick confers with Charles Lindbergh with his Lockheed Sirius on floats shown in background. Below, Albert Lodwick confers with Jimmy

Albert Lodwick and Jimmy Doolittle with a North American B-25. (Lakeland Public Library)

Doolittle and his converted B-25. This ship could be on the Lodwick leased airport facility at Lakeland, Florida.

B-25s at Lodwick Aircraft Industries, possibly belonging to Jimmy Doolittle. (Lakeland Public Library)

Above, two North American B-25 bombers at Lodwick Aircraft Industries. It is not known if Lodwick converted one or both of these ships for Jimmy Doolittle, but this is the type of work that was done at Lodwick’s facility in Lakeland.

The Lodwick Aircraft Industries hangar and Albert’s executive Beech 18 aircraft. (Lakeland Public Library)

Above, the old Lodwick School of Aeronautics hangar repainted and a new sign over the door. A very nice Lockheed ship, perhaps there for service or modification, sits on the tarmac. However, Lodwick Aviation Industries came on hard times as the supply of military surplus aircraft dwindled and the market for surplus aircraft parts became obsolete and collapsed. By 1954, the company had lost most of its assets and was in bank foreclosure. Lodwick ceased operations in September 1954. Lodwick had become involved with a business located in Miami and eventually moved on to Washington, D.C., where he spent his final years as a consultant to various aviation industries. He had a fascinating career in aviation, opening his primary flight school in Lakeland when he was 37 years old. Albert Lodwick died October 22, 1961, at the age of 57.

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Ray L. Johnson 347 South 500 East Marion, IN 46953 rayjohnson@indy.rr.com

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

Dan Knutson 106 Tena Marie Circle Lodi, WI 53555

Jon Goldenbaum PO Box 190 Warner Springs, CA 92086 jon@conaircraft.com

Robert D. “Bob” Lumley 1265 South 124th St. Brookfield, WI 53005 262-782-2633 rlumley1@wi.rr.com

John Hofmann 548 W James St Columbus, WI 53925 john@cubclub.org

Earl Nicholas 219 Woodland Rd Libertyville, IL 60048 eman46@gmail.com

Joe Norris 264 Old OR Rd. Oshkosh, WI 54902 pilotjoe@ntd.net 920-688-2977

ADVISORS Paul Kyle 1273 Troy Ct. Mason, OH 45040

Kevin McKenzie 40550 La Colima Rd Temecula, CA 92591

DIRECTORS EMERITUS David Bennett antiquer@inreach.com

Charles W. Harris cwh@hvsu.com

Robert C. Brauer photopilot@aol.com

Gene Morris genemorris@charter.net

Phil Coulson rcoulson516@cs.com

S.H. “Wes” Schmid shschmid@gmail.com

Ronald C. Fritz itzfray@gmail.com

John Turgyan jrturgyan4@aol.com

ÂŠ 2016 Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc.

THE

N E W S TA N D A R D

ANTIQUE

The EAA and Vintage Aircraft Association Aircraft Insurance Plan has all the special coverage options VAA Members require for hand propping, tailwheel, grass strips, and unique aircraft. Visit EAA.org/Insurance today for the right coverage at the best price for you.

EAA.org/Insurance | 866.647.4322

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