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$y ~.R. NIELAI\EJER• .JR. Once again we come to the end of a year with the Christmas Season and holiday spirit marking the termination of the old and the beginning of the new. It is the time for reflection on our past achievements (or lack thereof) and for looking ahead and making our plans for the future. Your Antique/Classic Division has achieved some noteworthy milestones this year, although the ultimate goals are still in the future. Our membership roster is at an all time high, with a 40% growth over the past two years, but it is still only one half of what we need to be able to provide you, the members, with a larger magazine, as well as to provide the add itional member services desired. In addition, we would like to expand our Division's part of the EAA Convention at Oshkosh so that you can have even great er enjoyment and satisfaction when you attend. This year marked an all time high both in the numbers of antique and classic aircraft displayed and the number of volunteers who helped with Convention duties. How ever, we can accommodate more display aircraft at Oshkosh, and we need many more convention volunteers to provide the many convention services to which your Division has committed itself. The end of this year also mark s the end of an era for your magazine, THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE. Two years ago Director AI Kelch agreed to take on the editorship of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE for a period of one year. Since that time, AI and his wife, Lois, have been
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completely and totally involved in its production. AI set aside one complete room which contained only manu scripts, layouts and photographs for the publication. His desk was typical of the proverbial editor, being piled high with stories and photos. The first year slipped by, and, since we were unable to find a replacement, AI and Lois agreed to continue. However, with this issue, AI and Lois bid farewell to their literary endeavors. They have asked to be relieved of their editorial duties, and the Board of Directors has accep.ted their resignations. Of course AI will continue to serve as a Director of the Division On behalf of the Officers, Directors, Advisors and each and every member of the EAA Antique/Classic Division, we want to extend our thanks and sincere appreciation to AI and Lois for the wonderful job which they have done, and we look forward to seeing more of AI's beautiful restorations on the flight line now that he will have time to complete them. Starting with the January 1978 issue, we shall wel come David Gustafson as the editor of THE VINTAGE AI RPLANE. Dave has written many articles for SPORT AV IAT ION, his latest being "Dave McKGntie's Home bui It Great Lakes" in the October 1977 issue. We are sure that you will continue to enjoy your magaLine under Dave's editorship. Your Division Officers, Directors and Advisors wish to extend to you and your families their most sincere best wishes for a very Merry Christmas, a most joyous Holiday Season, and a very Happy New Year. May 1978 be the year that we are all able to enjoy the sight of many newly restored rare birds again taking to the air . Editor's Note: The two years that Lois and I have spent on the magaLine is an experience that we both value very highly. The new friends, the insight to what goes on in the Division allover the country, and the notes of appre
clation for the end result, which is our only remunera tion, have been most rewarding. For those of you who have been contributors, we thank you immensely and a special thanks goes to Bob Elliott, Ed Williams and Glenn Buffington, our three Associate Editors, who have pulled us out of a hole so many times when the cup board was bare of articles. Our new editor, Dave Gustafson, is going to not only need your support, but an increased effort is necessary, since the magazine is increasing in pages steadily. The most seriously needed support is that of the membership themselves. We are including two membership blanks in each issue, and the alarming thing is that for the last six months we have received only two completed blanks a month in return . I reinstate my original plea, and that is for each member to get one new member a year. We sincerely need this to even continue as a Division. If you appre ciate the efforts that are being put forth by all you r officers, directors and editors, it is important that you spend a little time to acquaint new members with our efforts. For those of you who have sent articles into the maga Line, everything is catalogued and filed. As soon as Lois and I have time, we will inventory the total and each of you will receive a letter stating the dispensation of your article. We both will continue to help in any way possible as our comp lete dedication is to the drawing together of all of the antique and classic restorers into one big happy family. Great benefits can be had by all of us in maintaining the I'ight"to fly in a free airspace . Organiza tion on this principal is a must, and EAA has done so much for all of us in saving our rights and the future battles wi ll be the bigger ones. Help to join in the effort and we will al l profit from it. AI Kelch
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
ANTIQUE / CLASSIC DIVISION
Editorial Staff Editor AI Kelch
of THE EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION
P.O, Box 229 Hales Corners, Wis, 53130
Assistant Editor Lois Kelch
A ssoc iate Editor Robert G. Elliott 1227 Oakwood A ve . Daytona Beach. Fl orid a 32014
DECEMBER 1977
Restorel"s Corner , .. "., .. ....... .. , .... , .. . . . . . . . . , . . .. , . .. ,., 1
Orville Hi ckman, Aircraft Designer . . . ... .. , . .. .... . .. " .. .. .. " . . ,. 3
TRANSCON. Ed Wil liams, ... . .. . ... ...... . . ... . . .... . ... . , . , . .. . , 10
Vintage Albu~ss~.c: ~~ ...... , .... ...... ... , ........ . , .. ... Carl Swanson, Restorer .. ...... . .. . . . .. ". , . .. , .. . . .. ... .. Sopwith Came l .... ... .. .. ......... . . .... , . . ... .... ... .. Otto Graser and Hi s Gnome Jenn y . , . ,. ,"', . . ,"' , ... , . , ...
Directors
OFFICERS PRESIDENT J.R. NIELANDER, JR. P.O . BOX 2464 FT. LAUDERDALE, FL 33303 VICE·PRESIDENT
JACK WINTHROP
RT. 1, BOX 111
ALLEN, TX 75002
SECRETARY
RICHARD WAGNER
P.O. BOX 181
LYONS, WI 53148
TREASURER E.E. "BUCK" HILBERT
8102 LEECH RD.
UNION, IL 60180
NUMBER 12
Associate Edito r Edward D. Williams 713 Eas tman Dr. Mt. Prospect , Illinoi s 60056
As socia te Editors will be identi fied in the tab le of con· tent s on articles th ey se nd in and repea ted on th e article if they have written it. As<ociate Edi torships wil l be assigned to those who qua li fy (5 arti cles in any ca lendar yea r).
ANTIQUE AND CLASSIC DIVISION
VOLUME 5
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11
13
14
21
William J. Eh len Route 8 Box 506 Tampa, Florida 336 18
Evand er M. Br ill Box 1525 Lumberton, North Caroli na 28358
CI,lude L. Gray, Jr. 9635 Sylvia Avenue Northridge, Cali fo rnia 91324
AI Kelch 70 18 W. Bonniwell Road Mequon, Wisconsin 53092
Dale A. Gustafson 7724 Shady Hi ll Drive Indianapolis, Indiana 46274
MorlOn W. Lester Box 3747 M,lItinsville, Virginia 241 12
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M.e. "Kell y" Viets RR 1, Box 151 Stilwell, Kansas 66085
NON·EAA MEMaER - $34,00. In cl udes o ne year membership in the EAA Antique/Classic Division . 12 monthly issues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE; one year membership in the Experimental Aircraft Associa tion , 12 monthly issues of SPORT AVIATION and separate membership cards .
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NON-EAA MEMBER - $20.00. Includes one year membership in the EAA Antique/Classic Division , 12 monthly issues o f THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE; c,ne year membership in the Experimental Aircraft Associa tion and sepa rate membership cards. SPORT AVIATION nol included. EAA MEMBER - $14.00. Includes one yea r membership in the EAA Antique/Classic Division, 12 monthly issues o f THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE and membersh i p card . (Applieant must be current EAA member and must give EAA members h ip number.
W. Brad Thorn,lS, Jf. 301 Dodson Mill Road Pilot Mount ain, North Carolina 2704 1 Advisors Ar thur R. Morgan 513 North 91 st Street Milwaukee, Wi sconsin 53226 Roger J. Sh erro n 446·C Las Ca si tas Santa Rosa , California 95401
Stan Gomoll 1042 90th Lane, N.E. Minneapolis, Minneso ta 55434
EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION MEMBERSHIP
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Robert E. Kesel 455 Oakr idge Drive Rochester, New York 146 17
Robert A. Wh ite
1207 Falco n Drive
Orl and o, Florid a 32803
THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE is owned exclusively by Antique Classic A ircraft, Inc . and is pub l ished m o nthly at Hal es Corners, Wisconsin 53 130. Secondj class Postage paid at Hales Cor ners POSt Office, Hales Corners, Wisconsin 53130, and additional mailing offices. M embership rates for Antiqu e Class ic Aircra ft , Inc. at $14.00 per 12 m ont h pe riod of which $10.00 is for the publication of THE V INTAGE A I RPLANE. Membership is open to all who are interested in aviatio n.
ON THE COVER
Merry Christmas to 0/1 Photo by Dick Bay ley
PICTURE BOX (Back Cover)
To 01/ a good night
Photo by Dick Bayley
Copyright © 1977 Antique Classic Aircraft , Inc. All Rights Reserved .
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.AIR KING
•PHEASANT
.STARLING
AIRCRAfT DESIGNER By: AI Kelch, Editor
Orville Hickman, a farm boy from the area betwee n Rodium and Steward, Kansas, hiked himself up by his bootstraps, as the sayi ng went in those days, left th e farm and accumulated quite a few laurels for himself in the aircraft design field. He has been credited with de signing 16 airplanes. Th e ruts of his activity were not cut deep enough to stand the trodding of time, and with a year and a half effort, only the main airplanes that he designed, became evident. This story started with the presence of a Pheasant airplane being located in the State of Wisconsin. Being such a rare airplane, many of us were interested in ac quiring and restoring it. After many years of lyin g fal low , EAA acquired th e airplane for its museum. It ha s been restored to original condition, and stands as a hand some exhibit in the museum .
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This event was my first contact with an airplan e that was designed by Orville Hickman, however, I was not aware of who had designed it at th at time. At a later date whil e doing some hangar flying to pass the time on a cold winter day, Bill Koelling, a visitor from Kansas, spoke of the Air King, an airplane that was a complete stranger to me. He mentioned havi ng a beautiful printed brochure by the company that built the airplane, called Nat iona l Airways Systems, of Lomax, Illinois. He very kindly offered the brochure to use in the magazine. A letter that accompanied the brochure sta ted that Orvill e Hick man had designed the airplane, and had also de signed the Pheasa nt and possibly the Star ling. My curi osi ty was great ly aroused and I started on a research program. I wrote Bill Koelling, who offered to start the prooject by locating Orvill e Hickm an' s widow, and getting what he could from her. His trip to see her proved suc cessful enough to get the proj ect started. Her memories gave us an outline of his life to start from. Most of his material had been lost, through negli ge nce, at the time that Orvill e had died. She came up with three excellent pictures - one each of the Air King, Ph easant, and Star ling. I then contacted Art Morgan, who spent some time with George Hardie in his fabulous collection, and they ca me up with many references in earl y magazines, from
which this art icle is composed. The stor y, though fragmentary, gives an incite to one of our earo ly designers, whose woroks Me (0 be appreci ated, but wer'e never' lucky enough to (r'avel on the har-d road to success. The era through which Orville's life was spent in design was a rough road, including the stock market crash, and the complete co ll apse of the aircraft indu stry for a period of time. Orville's next stop from the farm was to attend Ottawa University in 1920, one of the few sc hools that obvious ly had an aeronautical engineer ing cou rse. After leaving school, one of his first jobs was with Loening Engineering, makers of the Loening Amphibian Air planes. This part of his career also is lost, and from what we have, the assumption is he was an und er ling in the Engineering Dept. Probab ly thi s was one of the first br'icks to be mortared into the structure of his career, forming a good foundation . Hi s next job was in the Engineering Dept. of th e Swallow Aircraft Company, which would be a second solid brick in that foundation. He was now rubbing el bows with the original greats of aviatio n. In Matty Lair'd's co mpany, the likes of Ll oyd Stearman and Walter Beech were to be found in the shop. Forever seeki ng a way up the ladder, Orvill e answered an adver ti se ment run by a group of businessmen from Lomax, Illinoi s who had formed a company cal led National Air ways Systems, and were putting together the engineering team to design an airplane. The contact Mr . Hickman had was a man named Tann er, whose principal business was reported to be an iron works. It was through thi s association that the Air King was bom. The fact that Orville now had established a flare for design is evident in some of the features, which he in stiga ted on this air plane. It was fairly large airpl ane for its time, being a 33' span, with a 26' length, 300 sq. f1. of wing area and a empty weight of 1,095 Ibs., the usefu l load being 850 Ib s. these are quite hand some figures for this era, con side rin g that an OX 5 engine was pulling it around. The lightn ess ca n be accounted for by Orville's use of Duralu min, which is stated in advertisements as "having the strength of steel with only 1/3 the weight". The design of th e tail gro up used Duralumin throughout, and the total tail assem bly empennage weigh ed only 30 Ib s. He had al ready graduated to using a tru st tub e fuselage with no wires and was quite daring by usin g aluminum tube for all str uts and landing gear, the two bein g faired to shape in streamline form by bal sa wood wrapped and doped
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The Air King was advertised as a 4 place, having a wide bulky fuselage, The lower wing was longer than the top, giving it a odd look. With no stagger it probably had an upside down look to those who first saw it. with cloth. It sported an oleo type landing gear, having done away with the shock cord system, with the purpose of defeating parasite drag. The tail skid had been modernized to a leaf spring from wood and shock cord. The result was an airplane that they counted as having quick take-offs and fast climb and very slow landings , The Air King progressed through sever'al models, the next being a model 27, headlined as a "light commercial four place biplane with an OX 5 engine, The publicity states that r'Ccent addition to the light commercial plane has been entered by National Airways System as the Air King Four Place. An entirely new under carriage, but one taking a step backwar'ds, was the split axle type with
shock cords, no doubt a price oriented substitute. For the heavier loads they also deserted the aluminum tail surfaces for those of tubular steel. The stagger was in creased to 16", increasing stability and the range of vision. Better climb and lower landing speeds are touted as features of this new model 27. They are now offering the airplane with a Hisso or Wright Whirlwind at addi tional cost. Cockpits are deluxe, being finished with leather and provided with full length windshields, a Hart ze ll propeller being provided with a spinner' fitting into the str'eamlining of the engine, inspection doors having been added for easy access to cdl"buretor/ and other parts. The radiator was maintained as a honeycomb radi
ator located ju st below the upper wing. The wings now have graduated to spruce box spars with ash ribs, the ribs being placed quite close in increment of 9" apart near the fuselage . The airplane struts have dropped the aluminum and gone to steel tube of a streamline form, and upda t ing to the N type strut eliminating all incidents bracing wires. An innovation were small windows in the lower wing to permit inspection of the aileron controls on nor mal preflight walk arounds. This plus a lever controlled stabilizer trim adjustment were its principal improve ment features. An interesting advancement was the use of push-pull tubes for the ailerons as a safety measure . It was pointed
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out that by this method the ailerons work independent of each other, giving control should one aileron fail. It is stated that contro l of the plane is possible with either the right or the left hand pair of ai lerons working. The upper and the lower wings are identical on each side and are interchangable. Since there is no center se(:tion, the lower wings are lon ger, due to the width of the fuselage. It is interesting to note that the name of the plane was obtained by a remark made by a casual observer during intial trials, the remark was made to the test pilot. On landing, the observer stated that "certainly the grace with which the machine went through its maneu vers made it King of the Air". The name was reversed and Air King was thus adapted.
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The records are incomplete, but through the maga zines, we have traced the improvements in models of the Air King through four stages, which we have illustrated in th is artic le. The next model that we could find was a Wright Whirlwind model carrying a J 5 and was called the big brother of the Air King. The first of this model was built up specially to take part in a Dole race as the "City of Peoria". It was stated that this ship created a great inter est when flown to the Pacific Coast and supposedly created somewhat of a sensation at the Oakland Air·port. As will be seen in the illustration, it was a large boxy fuselage, with an extremely large vertical stabil iter and rudder. The wing area is now 342 S4uJre feet, using the
N.A.C.A.M.-12 wing section. Natural progression of the Air King was towards the complete ly enc losed passenger plane, and how far the effort went is questionable. They did, however, make at least a prototype which was ad vertised in late November of 1928 called "The Air King MonoA". We were unable to locate any specifications on it, but it i~ obvious from the picture that it is very simi lar to the Ryan and other airplanes of this era. It was supposedly plushly upholstered, finished inside with the luxuries of an automobile in both site and comfort, in cluding roll-up windows. They stress in their advertisements that there is ample space for arms and legs and easy access through four doors. It is not appar ent why the airplane failed or what happened to the
Star/bIg.4ircraIt The Starling was a very good looking design with sharp lines. The top half of fuselage was dark blue and the bottom a light·blue-green.
company . The history is not clear, but it is reported that Orville moved on to Memphis, Missouri, where he de signed the Ph easant airplane. The A.T.e. number for the airplane was 36, granted in 1928. From the sli ck appearance of the Ph easa nt, it is obvious that Orvi ll e's engineering instincts are more sharpely hon ed in the classic lines of the air pl ane. Unfortunate ly the airpl ane was born at the wrong time, and enjoyed a very brief history.Through advert ise ments the nam e beca me well known, but there were very few airpl anes to follow up the good pUblicity. To quote U.S . Civil Aircraft "memory can sti ll recall vividly how we were so thoroughly impressed with our first good look at a Ph easant biplane. It s lines were
catc hy and its performance was impressive in the numer ous flights th at after noon. Pilots who were for tun ate enough to fly it th at day were very enthusiasti c. One of its dist inctive fea tures was placing the radiator in the nose of the airpl ane in a nea tl y designed cowl that reminded one of the classic automobiles of the day , hav ing numerous louvers on th e side to provid e for ample airflow out of the engine compartment. Th e land ing gear was a long legged affair giving the airplane quite a dapper attitude wh en sitting on the ground. Eleven Ph easa nts were built in 1927 by the Pheasa nt Company, managed by Lee R. Briggs who also operated a local airport and flying sc hool just ouside of Memphi s, Misso uri. Orville's boss Lee Briggs was reported killed in
a test flight short ly thereafter. In one of Bill Koellings in terviews with Orvi ll e 's wife, the following quote appears "Things were going pretty good until the main financial backer, Lee Briggs was killed in an air pl ane acc ident. He and his students fell out of an airplane they were flying." Mrs. Hickman stated the "they were a little careless and didn't fasten their seat belts." The main financial backer and manager gone, the company was obv io usly in dire trouble with no means of continuing. On e of the di stribut ors of the Ph easa nt working in Wi sco nsin, was Steve Wittman. Lee Briggs' attorney, knowing Steve's familiarity with the airplane, called on him to help. (A phon e ca ll to Steve revealed a littl e side
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Orville and his race plane. light on the story at this point. He stated that he went down to give assistance, and was asked to take over the company. It was obvious to him it was a hopeless situ ation, due to the lack of financing at this time. He of· fered his help, and evidently returned several times to give the attorney a hand in the management of Mr. Brigg's affairs.} Things went steadily down hill, and when Steve Wittman was approached by a local business group from Fond du Lac, who had plans for designing and building a single place airplane of a new design, Steve advised them they would be better off buying a going company, due to th e ex tensive costs of design, development and type certification. He suggested that the Pheasant Aircraft Company might be available. Ne· gotiations were obviously completed, and the Pheasant Aircraft Company of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin was formed. Steve Wittman became part of that organi zation. (That is another story which Steve has promised us for some future date of publication). To quote Orville Hickma n in a 1929 art icle in Modern Mechanic . "at present there arc disadvantages to the professio n of aircraft design ing. Once the engineering is complete and a ship is put into produ ct ion , most com·
panies are too small to continue hiring an engineer, which makes for frequent job changes in the pro fession". This is obviously a cue for his next change, and to quote Mrs. Hickman "after Mr. Briggs was killed, the company did not last too much longer, and Orville went to Minneapolis where he stayed until after World War 11." There was little information available as to who the Starling Aircraft Co. was started by, but we found some information in a copy of Aviation for 1928. The article stated the Starling Aircraft Comapny was the second aircraft company in Minneapolis going into quantity pro duction, the first one being th e Mohawk Pinto. In going through the specifications for the Starling Aircraft Com pany's new product it is obvious Orvill e was merely con tinuing his line of effort rath er th an depart from a good thing. In the pictures we have published, both airplanes being taken from approximately the same angle, it is obvious that the Starling is merely a continuation and refi nement of the Phea sa nt· sa me frontal radiato r is used, the fuselage has lost a little of its heft, and things look a little more streamlined. Th e tail surfaces have changed shape and cha rac ter and there were mi nor re
finements, such as chrome plating on all struts and ex ternal fittings to add some "pizzaz" to th e new plane. A full length head rest was added, which enhances the ap pearance somewhat, and a two tone blue color scheme adapted for the fuselage, the lower section being light blue, and the upper dark blue, with silver wings and tail. Having seen the Pheasant, it is obvious that the Starling is a handsome machine. Going through th e specifications of the two airplanes, there were very minor inch differ ences and the same design feature of using two air foils is used in both airplanes. Th e Starling and th e Pheasant both using the aero marine section for the lower wing, which is intended to contribute to the fast take·off and slow landing, while a Clark Y modified section is used for the upper wing to give it better maneuverability in high er top speed. I somehow think their wires got crossed in this statement, since the Clark Y section can hardly be considered a good air foil for top speed. The aeromarine being better suited for speed. Construction of both pl anes arc very si mil ar and straight forward throughout, using conventional truss ribs, I"outed spars, Duralumin lead ing edges on the wings, strea mlined wire s, with interiors completely uphol stered in leather, as was
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Like the later Staggerwing Beach first glance tells you the plane is flying upside down. The lower long wing looks strange. Mr. Hickman, is shown below with the last of his works done for the Starling Aircraft Co. of which he is also Vice足
Mr. Hichman, is an old hand in the aviation engineering game, having designed some 76 successful ships. Above is the last of his efforts, the Starling Imperial monoplane, a five place Wright Whirlwind cabin ship. To the right is shown the beauti足 fully engineered Starling OX5 com 足 mercial biplane.
Air King Mono Four has a resemblance to the Ryan.
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Below, Model 27 Air King. U. S. Department of Com merce Approved Type CeIJif~->'--icate No. 29. ~
appearance, loaded the plane with people who are wav ing from the windows, then strategically placed a couple of airplanes in front and ran them up static in order to create a wind, so that the people looked like they were flying. It is very probable that the monoplane wreck, coupled with the depression, put the Starling Aircraft Co. out of business. There was also some report of hard luck in that a hangar burned. Evidently Orville had some racing tendancies to satis fy. During the time at Minneapolis he built and raced a
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Right, Big brother of the Air-K'flfl,.rl-_ 27. Identical to the Air-King en tered in the Dole Race. ~
Orville's previous method of customer appeal. The airplane was officially test flown around June 4, 1928 and Gene Shank, the test pilot, flew it from the Wold Chamberlin Airport and stated that it took . off after a comparatively short run and climbed at about 800 ft. in the first minute. It was put through its tests in serious fashion to simulate the most severe conditions. He states that the Starling was perfectly controllable at all times, and was very light on the controls. It is stated that Orville Hickman was pleased that the airplane met his design goals. The following figures were submitted after the test flights, and are actually so close that they are applicable for both the Pheasant and the Starling. Minor differences were top speed stated at 104 for the Starli ng, and 100 for the Pheasant, with a cruise range of 500 miles for the Pheasant, and 400 for the Starling. In the figures there was evidence of very minor fine tuning, such as minimal changes in incidents and the lowering of dihedral, which would of course increase the speed. The Starling has
picked up about 100 Ibs. in gross weight, with payload remaining about constant. The company evidently stayed in business and pro gressed long enough to have made a prototype of a closed cabin plane, again following a ve'ry similar pattern to the one of Pheasant Aircraft. Starling Imperial mono plane was a 5 place airplane, with four in the cabin and the pilot up front, using the Wright J 5 engine. There is very little information on this airplane or what happened to it, but Bill Koelling in his research states through a Minneapolis source that the same test pilot, Gene Shank, who ran the Robindale Airport, said "the plane was evidently not very long lived and was wrecked before much testing was done". He reported that it struck a snow drift at the side of the runway, and was de molished. Another bit of information was offered to Bill by Ken Moxlow regarding the method that they took pro motional pictures of the monoplane. He stated that they set the airplane up on oil drums to get an in flight
monoplane. We were lucky enough to come across one picture of the plane, with Orville standing beside it during construction. This venture too was ill fated in that it was wrecked in Kentucky in a forced landing on the way to a race. From this point on, there was very little information on Orville's activities, except that he was a civilian pilot instructor at Wold Chamberl in, during World War II. After the war, Orville moved back to his home territory at Stafford, Kansas where he ran the airport and was very active in the c.A.P. It is sad that Orville's efforts, as so many others, were thwarted by wrong timing and the Great Depression, causing them to lose all identity and their rightful place in the history of aviation, being deemed too unimpor tant to keep track of. It is a shame that these small bits of history are lost, as each thread helps to make up the whole cloth of history. Do a good deed and save some history that is around you then see that it gets into print for safe keeping.
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By Ed Williams
(Associate Editor, EAA No. 57070)
77 3 Eastman Drive, Mt. Prosoect, III.
Photos Courtesy of United Airlines
This year the airline industry is celebrating the 50th anniversary of transcontinental air service, and the dif ferences between coast-to-coast service 50 years ago and today illustrates the great advances in aviation in that time. It was on Sept. 1, 1927, that a Boeing 40A of Boeing Air Transport and a Douglas M-4 of National Air Trans port linked up at Maywood Field, Chicago, giving trav elers the opportunity for the first time to go ocean-to ocean on scheduled airlines. Boeing Air Transport (BAT) flew between San Francisco and Chicago, starting on July 1, 1927 on Con tract Air Mail route 18. When National Air Transport (NAT) got a Contract for Air Mail route 17 from the Post Office De partment and began operating between
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Lell: General Iliew of coc/~pil area showiny machine足 gun, right middle wing mounting to cabane strut, and instrument installation. Compass, I wo mag switches, watch, single needle airspeed and alt imeters are seen. Fuel level gauge next 10 altimeter can also be seen. Spade grip with firing button for machine gun is readily discernible. Below: 730 H.P. Rotary Clerget engine as cleaned up and ready for installation on aircral"t. Engine was received (rom England in original crating from 7979. The engine log showed iust four hours running time before being crated. Propeller shown is not of proper siLe and dimension for this engine but is typical of rotary engine propellers and \Vas set in place to check out engin e mOllem ents.
For yedrs the stories were going around that there was a fabled resto rer and builder of WW I planes in Sycamore, III. who iud a bunch of elves working for him turning out Sopwith Camels, Nieuports, Spads and the like that just had to be made out of candy and ginger足 bread they were so wonderful. I never found time to venture to his airport land and verify the rumor and was not real sure he existed having never seen any of his
BLACK MARIA
(On the line and ready to fly)
Album
lfJgc MJchilll'~
planes at the fly-ins I have attended over the years. I finally met CARL SWANSON at Oshkosh '77 fly in, he was for real, even if none of his works were on display. Di ck Stouffer suppli ed the pictorial proof which we display in the artic le commencing on the following page. AI Kelch
Above: Carl Swanson, in the cockpit, and Walt Addems, go ova the Iflle points and techniques startillg rotary engines bdore they start the engine on Black Maria for the !irst time since 7979.
or
Right: I nterior viC'w of cockpit showing instrumenta足 tion, mag switches, spade grip and firing hUllon lor machine gun . Rudder Bar may be seen on the floor forward of control column. Oil pereolaler may be sel!n on left side 01 picture under the RPM gaug~. Below: Rear guarll'ring view of finished aircraft on Ihe flight line. Aircraft ready lor delivery to Canadian Air Museum.
Center section strut and upper wing panel details. Wind driven air pump to pressurize fuel tank on right strut. Oil tank above fuel tank with filler nozzle built through oil tank for fuel tank. Vickers machine gun mounted on cowl top. Carl Swanson, Sycamore, Illin o is, completed the Billy Bishop Nieuport 17 in the Spring of 1964 for the Cana dian Air Museum of Ottawa, Canada. At the time, Mr. Mo ul so n expressed a desire for a Sopwith Triplane to be flown at the Canadian Expos ition and later to be housed in the Canadian Museum. This was to be BLACK MARIA for anoth er Canadian Ace, Co lli shaw.
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Work was started on the Triplane and I first saw the fuselage in an uncovered condition in December of 1964 where th e first pictures were taken of the construction and other details . A rotary 130 HP. Clerget engine was procured from England. The engine had been crated in 1919 and remained unopened until Carl opened it in his shop. The original engine log showed that the engine had been removed from an airframe and crated for later use. Tota l time on the engine was about 4 hours actual run ning time. The engine was well protec ted in cosmoline and was ind eed in good shape. Carl overhauled the engine and it later ran on the first pull through of th e propeller. Th e wings were constructed by Octob er 1965 , and I aga in saw the airplane at this point. Details of construc tion were recorded with res pect to construction of the wings and center section of the upper win g. In Novem ber of 1965 the wings were trial rigged to the fuselage, and pictures were taken. Measureme nts were made for the rigging cables for flying and landing wires and drag and anti-drag wires were fitted at this time. In late Februa ry 1966, the Triplane was comp leted and ready for the trial running of the engine. Walt Ad dams, a retired United Air Lines pilot with long exper i ence with engines, was present to help with the starting of t he engine. Carl and Walt discussed clearances, toler ances, and techniques of running and operating the en gi ne. Walt gave the engine several tugs and pulls whil e the plane was sti ll in the hangar, listening for any un usual clanks, puffs, and hisses. Car l and Walt seemed satisfied that the engine was in good shape and I helped wheel the airframe out to the flight line, where the tail was tied to a goo d stout stake driven in the gcound. The main gear and wheels were well chocked, and all was ready for the first attempt. Carl climbed into the cockpit while Walt and I primed the eng in e. I pulled the engi ne through nin e cy lind ers while Walt primed each cyli nd er with three sq ui rts from a pressure oi ler fi ll ed with fue l. Walt pulled each intake valve open and squirted the fuel inside. Wh en all was prim ed, Walt ca ll ed "Contact" and gave one good pull through on the propeller, and the eng in e started smoothly, acce lerat ing to about 1200 rpm, and ran as though there had not bee n 48 year-s since the last t ime it had been run. My on ly regret in getting pictures for posterity, was that I did not have a tape recorder to record the sounds of the engine starting and procedures. The next time I wi ll have a comp lete set of so und and pictures. ~
Above: Black Maria beiny chocked and blocked prior to starting the engine for the first time since 7979. Aircraft ready for delivery 10 Canadian A ir Museum at this time. Below: View of uncovered fuselage frame wor/? in level attitude. Machine gun on floor will later be installed on cowl.
SOPWITH CAMEL
By: Dick Stouffer Towards the end of the completion time for the Sop足 with Triplane, Carl received word from Mr. Moulson, of the Canadian Air Museum, that they had an original Sop足 with Camel 2F.1 that they would like to have restored for flight and in original configuration. Apparently the Camel had flown last in the late Forties or early Fifties, and was in sorry shape. I n addition, the cockpit area had been butchered and was not right. In the early Spring of 1966, a RAF C-130 Hercules arrived at Rockford airport to pick up the Triplane, and to leave the Camel for Carl to work on. He was given just one year for the recon-
Lake Zurick, III. struction and rebuilding of the aircraft, since it was wanted also for the Exposition in Canada and would be flown at that time. I first saw the Camel in April of 1966. Carl had already stripped the fabric from the fuselage, and had made an assessment of the work to be done. I wanted to photograph th is Camel in the condition that it was when received by Carl. Many of the joints would have to be reglued. Much of the wood needed to be replaced. The cockpit area had to be rebuilt. The original small cockpit and characteristic hump had been enlarged, and the
Below: Side view of Restored Sop with Camel, 2F. 7 by Car! Swanson. All the pictures in these 2 articles
were taken by Dick Stouffer the author of this article.
Above: This is a good view of the condition of the aircraft as it was received by Carl. In this picture Car! is beginning the disassembly of the engine. There were a number of parts missing from the engine and these had to be searched out and replaced. hump removed. Many of the engine parts were missing and would have to be replaced. Magnetos needed to be reworked. Trailing edges of the wings looked like pieces of moist spaghetti . Fortunately the main structural members of the air足 frame were reusable. The wing spars were good. The longerons in the fuselage were good, but fairing strips and stringers and some formers would have to be re足 placed. Some wing ribs needed new cap strips and some needed to be rebuilt. Trailing edges were also reworked. The RNAS 2F.1 had a floation system in the aft fuselage area behind the fuel tank. This was removed and the plumbing for the inflation of the floatation bags was also removed in the renovation of the airframe. There !ii, .;"0+" was much work to be done.
Above: Fuselage of aircraft with fabric stripped Above: General wide angle view of entire air Above: Close up of fuel control section of off as Carl received the plane from the Cana cockpit shoWing throttle, mixture, and fuel craft as it existed during this stage of the res dian Air Museum. This shows the condition of toration process for the Canadian Air Museum.
valves as restored to factory specifications by the airframe prior to any restoration work The fuselage is leveled for rigging of the wings
Car! Swanson for the Canadian Air Museum. being accomplished on the plane. Car! Swanson that will be removed for covering before final
Old and new wood can be seen here in fuselage is seen here starting to disassemble the rotary members and new plywood former and string assembly and checking.
engine in his shop for rebuilding and majoring. ers on outside of fuselage.
Engine was received with many missing parts and push rods. Below: Sop with Camel 2F.7 restoration. Close up view of restored cockpit with original instruments installed as from the factory. Spadegrip stick .and firing button for machine gun are seen as well as the two magneto switches on the lower left portion of the instrument panel. The large silver like tube behind the By the end of November 1966, Carl had the fuselage spadegrip is the air intake manifold for the engine. put back together with new wood where needed. Itwas true and ready for covering. The landing gear had lost its rickety configuration and stood ready to do a proper job of supporting the aircraft on the ground. The hump was back in place and new plywood was installed on the cockpit turtledeck forward. The airframe had a new fire wall. All in all, Carl had done a very remarkable job with the restoration. A real taut ship was ready to go. On February 3, 1967 the wings were on the covered fuselage and rigged, but uncovered. Essentially the job was complete except for covering and final rigging. One thing of note about this 2F.1 is the fact that it is a break apart fuselage at a station just aft of the cockpit. There are four external turnbuckles and the ends of the fuselage longerons are keyed to fit together at this point. There are quick release fasteners to the rudder and eleva tor cables at this point such that the fuselage could be readily broken down for shipboard storage or just as quickly assembled for flight. There were special tie down rings in the aft fuselage to aid in tie down on shipboard. The fully restored and as factory built Camel was
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Above: View along the right side of fuselage just aft of roundel. External elevator horns and the locking turnbuckle for the fuse/age juncture can be seen here. The characteristic Hump is seen well in this view. ready by early May 1967. Almost one year to the day that Carl received the delapidated airframe. It was a very business like machine that was rolled from the hangar for pictures on th at great day . Carl seemed justifiably proud of his work, and well he might be. Certainly the standards he had set for his previous projects had been well carried out in this restoration. More than words call tell, the pictures must and do tell the complete story of all the hard work that was put into this airframe. When last I visted Carl many years back, he had a welded fuselage for a Fokker Triplane and was now in the midst of a Sopwith Pup for a client, according to a recent letter. Surely, there will be many more tales to tell from th e work shop at Sycamore Airport, Sycamore, Illinois.~
Above: Close up of engine section, center section and landing gear details of completed project. Upper Right: Restoration work by Carl Swanson, on WW I Sop with Camel, 2F.7 for Canadian Air Mu足 seum. View shows ammunition cartridge pipe for spent cartridges. Original motor mounts und truss. This is the original condition as received by Carl Swanson. Lower Right: View along upper cowl of completed restoration showing Vick ers machine gun and ring and bead sight. Cables from upper Lewis gun enter the cockpit and go to charging and firing handle lo足 cated under the crash pad of the cockpit. Calendar of Events January 23 - 29, '1978 - Sun 'N Fun Fly-In, Lakeland, Florida Oshkosh '78 - Jul y 29 - August 5, 1978 Oshko sh, Wi sconsin
Here's your chance, climb into this cockpit of a Boeing 40A at San Francisco check your two passengers and mail, give her the gun and climb for your life to clear the mountains then make all the stops Oakland, Sacramento, Reno, Elk 0, Salt Lake City, Rock Springs, Cheyenne, North Platte, Omaha, Des Moines, Iowa City and Chicago.lt's 22 hours later how do you feel? (Continued from page 70)
Chicago and Hadley Field, New Brunswick, N.]., two months later, transcontinental air service was born. The service left a lot to be desired, however. The combined routes of BAT and NAT served 17 cities, with 1 5 intermediate stops. The segment between San Francisco and Chicago included scheduled stops at Oak足 land, Sacramento, Reno, Elko, Salt Lake City, Rock Springs, Cheyenne, North Platte, Omaha, Des Moines and Iowa City. The segment between Chicago and New Brunswick included intermediate stops at Bryan (OH), Cleveland and Bellefonte (PA). The 105-mile-an-hour Boeing 40A -- a new airplane -足 flew the 1,846 miles in the western segment in 22 hours, including time on the ground. The 110-mile an hour Douglas M-4 -- a modified mail plane used by Post Office Department pilots and then sold to NAT -- took 10)12 hours to fly the 731-mile eastern segment. Airline passengers today who fly at 550 miles-an-hour
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at 43,000 feet might find it difficult to put themselves in the role of passengers in September, 1927. The pioneer passengers were adventurous and hardy and flew in noisy and uncomfortab Ie byplanes. The modern air passenger flying coast to coast in a Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 or Lockheed L-1011 makes the trip in less than five hours nonstop and has all the comforts found in a fine restaurant. Passengers in 1927 flew in the cramp led two-person cabin of the Boeing 40A and were treated to a box lunch of one cheese sandwich, two ham sandwiches, some shoestring potatoes and a thermos of coffee. The lone passenger in the M-4 front cargo compartment got nothing. In both cases, the pilot flew in an open cockpit behind the passengers. Because this was still the era when the mail and not the passenger was ki ng, the passenger in the M-4 had to sit atop mail bags and had to wear a flying suit over his
or her clothes and then wear a parachute. And the NAT passenger bought his ticket with the understanding that mail had priority and that he would go only if there was room after the mail was put aboard. The early airliners flew at 8,000 to 10,000 feet and were at the mercy of the weather, which sometimes made their passengers quite ill, indeed. To top it off, the 1927 coast-to-coast passenger paid $404 for his one-way ticket, compared to about half that for the one-way, coach fare charged by the airlines today. And the present cost can be as low as less than one-third the 1927 fare if a discount fare is used. But the 1927 air passenger had one important conso足 lation for the rigors of his travels. He still made the coast-to-coast trip in 40 hours less than the fastest trans足 continental train of that time. To operate its CAM No. 18, BAT put its new plane into service. The Boeing 40A cost $24,500 from the
factory, and BAT used 24 of the 25 40As built. Manu factured by the Boeing Airplane Co. at Seattle, it was given Approved Type Certificate No.2 and went into service July 1, 1927. The 40A was powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp A, with 420 horsepower, giving it a top speed of 128 miles an hour and a range of 560 miles. It carried a payload of 1,600 pounds, including the two passengers. The 40A had a wingspan of 44'2" and a length of 33'3". It was a fine plane, not only for that day but also for some years to come, when it was given greater power and evolved into the 40B-4, with a four-passenger cabin. In 1928, the same BAT planes were given Pratt & Whitney Hornet A engines, with 525 horsepower and were re-designated Boeing 40B aircraft. Except for the engines, the As and Bs were the same aircraft, and the 40Bs were given ATC No. 27 to reflect the modification. The Boeing 40B-4, with ATC No. 183, was a follow on design and came off the assembly line in 1929. The Douglas M-4 used by NAT was not a first line aircraft. Built by the Douglas Co. of Santa Monica, it originally came off the assembly line as the Army 0-2 and was re-manufactured as the M-2, costing $12,900. It was further modified as the M-3 for Post Office Depart ment air mail operations. The department used the M-3 as a replacement for its aging, war surplus de Havilland DH-4s. NAT bought 18 of these surplus M-3 airplanes and, after some modifications of its own, the company re designated them M-4s, although they actually were still M-3s. (New M-4s ATC No.6 came off the assembly line in mid-1927.) The plane was powered with a Liberty 12 engine, with 400 horsepower. It had a wingspan of 39'8" and a length of 29'3". It carried a payload of 1,000 pounds at a top speed of 142 miles an hour at a maxi mum range of 700 miles. Although NAT continued to operate the M-4 with the Liberty engine, it did modify one of its 18 planes by installing a 525 horse power Pratt & Whitney Hornet engine, but it was not for regular scheduled purposes. The fact that the continent was spanned from coast to coast by air service drew little public attention in 1927. In a way, Col. Charles A. Lindbergh's historic New York - Paris flight a few months before was partially re sponsible for this lack of interest because newpapers were full of stories about other fliers trying to duplicate or even exceed Lindbergh's three-month-old ach ieve men!..
Above: Douglas M-4, note the long tail pipe. Passenger had to sit on top of the mail ·in hole iust in front of pilots cockpit.
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Below: This is eVidently a M-3 reworked to M-4. Exhaust is on the right and dig that neat silencer on the end. Would like to be in his
Now the passenger is recognized as important and taken in out of the cold, but he still is the small part of the load. Pilots are dispensible so they sit out in the cold rain and snow. The one door heading to the two seats that are sandwiched between the two mail compartments is readily visable. The New York Times of Sept. 2, 1927, did devote appeared over the Atlantic-shortly before his flight. almost a column on page three to the transcontinental Sharing news accounts with Givon and 'Corbu were linking, but headline news was dominated by more glam- two pairs of Canadian fliers who took off Sept. 1,1927, orous aviation events. on "city to city" adventure. CA. (Duke) Schiller and The lead story reported the ill-fated departure from Phil Wood left from Windsor. Ont., for Windsor, Eng" Le Bourget Field of the Leon Givon and Pierre Corbu, but their Stinson monoplane was forced down in fog at St. which marked the second French attempt to fly from Johns, Que. Lt. William V. Medcalf and Capt. Terrence Paris to New York. The first by Nungesser and Coli who Tully, bound from London, Ont., to London, Eng., ran posed a threat to Lindbergh's "first", until they dis- into a similiar problem and landed in a field ncar Boeing 40 Models under construction. Strange plane in center unidentified.
Two passengers could be carried in snug cabin, more often mailbags rode in the seats.
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Caribou, Maine. Three earlier flights also commanded considerable space that day. Concern was mounting for the safety of British pilots Capt. Leslie Hamilton and Col. Frederick F. Minchin, who had departed from London on August 31, 1927, bound for Newfoundland and Ottawa. They had hoped to make the first eastward crossing of the Atlantic. Also in the Fokker monoplane "St. Raphael" was their 62足 year old financial backer, Princess Lowenstein-Wertheim, who was the first woman to start a transatlantic flight. The "St. Raphael" was last seen passing over Galway Bay on the I rish coast. "The Pride of Detroit," piloted by Americans Edward F. Schlee and William S. Brock, was luckier, having just landed at Constantinople. The stop in the Turkish city came just five days aftel- they had left Newfoundland bent on setting an around the wOI-ld speed record. But Paul Redfern was less fortunate, as he had been missing for seven days since taking off from Brunswick, Ga., bound nonstop for Brazi I. I n fact, for the next three weeks, the New York Times devoted page one space to the various exploits of these and other transoceanic aviators. And the coverage continued through the fall as this phase of aviation con足 tinued to be of considerable interest to its readers. The optimism of the young airline industry was re足 peated in NAT's company publication, the "Bulletin Board ". Commenting on passenger service, in 1927 the magaLine reported that:
Passenger service must have picl?ed up, the Model 40 B-4 had two cabins and 4 seats.
"The recol-d sett les any question co ncerning th e rece ption of air passe nge r serv ice by the pUblic . "A very sat isfacto ry phase of the passe nger business so far is th at the people using the service, instead of being ce leb rities seeki ng publicity, have a very definit e object in view in making trip s by air, namely, the saving of time." Air freight also was seen to have a bri ght fut ure by the company. Commenting in the same issu e, th e "Bulle足 tin Board" noted th at : " Prospects for an exte nsive air exp ress system throughout the United States are exceed in gly bright. ..judging from the heavy demand for sc hed足 ul es and rates." The first express fli ght fro m Chicago to New York carr ied the fo ll owing items li sted by the magazine: "Radio loud speake rs; clothes for New York ers, tailored in Chi cago; Paris garte rs; news reels; X-ray reflecto rs; machinery parts; advertising copy, cuts and electrotypes; specialti es; railroad ti ckets; trade journals and ca ndi es.
tinental air service begu n by two of its predecesso r com足 A speaker at an Eastern business conference in 1927 , panies. Passe nge rs flyi ng coast to coast during the first predicted that "getting the airpl ane o ut of the country week in SePte mber rece ived a spec ial cer ti ficate attest in g and into th e cit y will brin g success to commercial avi足 In 19 34, BAT and NAT co mbin ed with two other to their flight o n the 50th annive rsa ry of the inaugural. at ion in the coun tr y. " But o n that sa me day, a resident pioneer airlin e co mpani es -- Varney Airlines and Pac ific As today, th ere were various views about av iat io n in of a Boston suburb sign ed an in surance poli cy protec ting Air Transport -- to form United Airlines, which se t last 1 927, as ill ustra ted by two se para te events. him aga in st falling airp lanes. month asid e to co m memora te th e 50 yea rs of transcon Loading the rear mail compartment, which is large enough for the man to walk around in. Boeing built 24 of these Loading the front mail co mpartment, note the
The 40 B-4 was a large ship, the man working 40-A planes in six months to serve on the western route neat foldout platform the man is standing on.
on the lower wing had to reach. starting July 7, 7927.
In 1910 Otto Graser of Riverside Calif, a native, and the younger of two brothers, suddenly found himself the first aviator in Riverside at the ripe old age of 15. It all began Otto says, as a resuli of laziness. He and his older brother, both in their teens, would work in their father's field shocking hay and daydreaming and we didn't like work. But on one such occasion his brother came up with an idea "LETS BUI LD A FLYING MACHINE". That was all it took. After that the two arose early every morning to work on a glider before going to school. When the craft was finished the brothers along with
"TT" GRASER
al?d
His Gl?()IVe jel?l?Y
By: Ray Cocking 3468 Barnaby Ct. Riverside, Calif. 92504
Otto Graser's Gnome jenny about 7928. Note upper wing has been clipped. Hangar has now been built on Arlinton Airport.
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their friends, carried it to the top of a hill just back of where the Community hospital now stands. Only one problem faced th is pioneer band ---- Who was to have the honor of being the pilot? Otto recalls they were all scared -- so just to be smart, I volunteered --- I took a run planning to stop at the edge, but I was over the edge before I knew it. But it flew, I didn't know a thing about controlling it, and was wondering if I'd get down in one piece. But after flying about an eighth of a mile to the corner of Fourteenth and Brockton, it hit and broke into pieces. It was several years later before Otto became actively
Otto Graser and wife HaLel, 7926.
interested in flying. In the meantime he served in the army during World War I, and it was there that he fell in love with the sound of a Gnome Rotary engine and learned all the secrets of the famous rotary engines from the French mechanics. Later, after the war he worked for the Curtiss Air plane company at March Field (now March Air Force Base) and by watch ing the pilots he learned to fl y h im self. This led to his buying a new surplus J .N.4D. but Otto didn't think an OX-5 was going to give him the performance he wanted --- so the logical engine was a 165 H.P. Gnome rotary. So back to Clarence Prest, (a close friend, and owner of Prest Aviation Co.) where he had purchased the Jenny, and bought a new 165 H. P. Gnome to hang in the nose. Around 1926 the finished product was ready to fly fly - and fly it did! she was a real performer. With the lighter engine and more than double the H.P. it lifted at a terrific rate, it would take off in about two lengths of the airplane and had a top speed near one hundred M.P.H. One day three Consolidated P.T.-1 's dove down be side him to see what they were looking at and it was all they could do to keep up with the Jenny. Some years later in the middle of the depression Otto sold the Gnome Jenny to Joe Mays, who flew it from the Shandin Hills Airport in San Bernardino, Calif. for about a year, then it was sold to Paul Mantz, the famous movie stunt man for many years. Paul Mantz, (chuckling) told me a couple ot years before he died that he used the Gnome Jenny for one day in a movie sequence and charged them $1500.00. When they complained about the price Paul said "Well I've been paying hangar rent for X number ot years". hank Clark also flew it in a movie during the time Otto still owned it. To the best of my knowledge the wings were used on a Curtiss pusher of Mantz's and the fuselage was stored in the back lot till it was completely ruined. I was fortunate enough to have a ride in the Gnome Jenny and that rotary was the smoothest engine I've ever sat behind. And to those who have never heard a Gnome howling in the sky have just never lived ----I'll never for get that airplane and the beautiful sound.
Above: Paul Mantz's pusher at Burbank about 7940, note the clipped upper wing, identical to upper wing of Gnome jenny.
Below: Gnome 765 H.P. installation in Curtis j N4D, note narrow and higher landing gear, also prop driven air pump.
Otto Graser still lives here in Riverside where he has spent almost all of his life, and is st ill going strong at 83 years young. ~
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