THE RESTORER'S CORNER
By /. R. Nieiander, Jr.
Two years ago this month we discussed in this column the dwindling supply of unrestored antique aircraft and the necessity for eventually turning to replicas to satisfy our hunger for flying the aircraft of yesteryear. We pointed out that plans for some an tiques, such as the Great Lakes Trainer and the Heath Parasol, had been available in the past, and that plans or kits were presently available for the Mooney Mite and for the CUBy version of the Piper J-3. We also noted that many of the ultra-light aircraft of the twen ties and thirties, such as the Aeromarine Klemm, Driggs Dart, American Eaglet, Aeronca C-3 and K, Taylor Cub and Wiley Post Model A, would make easy-to-construct replicas, and could be powered with Volkswagon class engines. In addition, we pointed out that many aircraft of the next larger size, such as the Monocoupe, Savoia-Marchetti S-56B Amphibian, Fairchild 22, Kinner Playboy and Sports ter, Rearwin Sportster and Speedster, Kari-Keen , Aeronca LC, Davis D-1 , Inland Sport, Crosley Moon beam, Mohawk " Pinto", Arrow "Sport", and Culver Dart and Cadet, would also make great replicas if plans for them were available. The first fruits of our effort to compile a list of plans sources for antique replicas appeared in our June , 1978 issue through the courtesy of Leo Opdycke, the editor of WORLD WAR I Aeroplanes. Leo sup pi ied us with the names and addresses of the sou rces for obtaining plans for over 50 different aircraft of the World War I and pre-World War I eras . Interestingly, the same issue contained an article written by Cedric Galloway about the Baby Cessna , an Aeronca engine
powered ultra-light with the full cantilever one piece wing which was to later become a Cessna trademark. This Baby Cessna is just one more simple-to-build antique which would make an excellent replica if plans could be made available for it. One of the obvious sources of plans should be the type club . If its members could gather together a full set of plans for their type aircraft, these could be copied, and plans sets could be sold to help fi nance the activities of the club. Excellent examples of type clubs which could perpetuate themselves by selling plans and thus increasing their numbers with replicas are the Aeronca Club, Culver Club, Dart Club , Heath Club, Monocoupe Club and Porterfield Club, just to name a few. The Airpower Museum of the Antique Airplane Association at Ottumwa , Iowa , recently obtained all of the assets of the Rearwin Company . Hopefully, the museum will be able to make plans available to the replica builder in the not too distant future . The EAA Air Museum Foundation used to sell plans for the Heath Parasol, but the demand dropped off as more modern homebuilt designs became available, so their sale has been discontinued . If sufficient de mand were indicated, Heath plans could again be made available. The Monocoupe Club has already undertaken the task of compiling a complete set of Monocoupe plans which are reproducible. Perhaps a little en couragement from those of you who would like to build a Monocoupe would be all the impetus which they would need to complete the project.
We here at Division Headquarters would like to compile an up-to-date listing of sources of replica plans. By this time next year we hope to publish a list of sources of plans for not only the pre-1920 aircraft, but also for any aircraft of the twenties, thirties, for ties and fifties which would be good easy-to-construct replicas . To accomplish this we need your help . If you know of any sources of plans, or if you know that some of the sources which have been published in the past are no longer supplying plans, please let us hear from you. Also , if you have any plans , even if they are not complete sets, please let us know so that, even if you are not interested in reproducing them yourself, we can possibly help you to get them into the hands of someone who would be willing to re produce them, and thus help to keep one more fine old airplane from becoming extinct. As we men tioned in our column on this subject two years ago, even though these plans which you have stored in a closet or in the basement might be so faded as to be almost unreadable, in the hands of the right techni cians with the proper equipment the faded lines could be brought out, and, using today's techniques, these plans could be copied and reprinted in an ex ceptionally legible form. *****
** ***
*****
Don't forget to earn your share of the prizes in the Division membership contest. Just print your name and Division membership number on the back of the membership applications which have been in cluded in this magazine over the past year, and give them to your flying friends and airport buddies. When Headquarters tabulates five new members sponsored by you, we shall send you a set of genuine antique flying goggles . When we have tabulated five additional new members sponsored by you (a total of ten), we shall send you a new leather flying helm et to use with the goggles. There is no limit to the num ber of goggles and helmets which you can win . If you run out of membership applications, just write to us at Headquarters , and we shall send you more. And don ' t forget that the grand prize for the member who signs up the most new members by the end of 1978 is a five year free membership in the Antique/Classic Division.
The VINTAGEAIBPLANE
Editorial Staff
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
".,
of THE EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION
Publisher Paul H. Poberezny (Chris Sorensen Photo)
Clyde Shepherd's 7949 Ryan N avion "AN.
Editor David Gustafson
P.O. Box 229, Hales Corners, WI 53130 Copyright" 1978 EAA Antique/Classic Division , Inc. , All Rights Reserved .
ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION 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 W. BRAD THOMAS, JR. 301 DODSON MILL ROAD PILOT MOUNTAIN, NC 27041 TREASURER E. E. " BUCK" HILBERT. 8102 LEECH RD. UNION, IL 60180
Directors William I . Ehlen Route 8 Box 506 Tampa, Florida 33618
AI Kelch 7018 W . Bonniwell Road Meq uon, W isconsin 53092
Cla ude l. Gray, Jr, 9635 Sylvia Ave n ue North ridge, California 91324
Mort on W . Lester Box 3747 Martinsvi lle, Virgi nia 241 12
Dale A. Gustafson 7724 Shady Hill Drive Indianapolis, Indiana 46274
Arthur R. Morgan 3744 N. 51st Boulevard Mi lwaukee, Wisconsin 53216
Richard Wagner P.O. Box 181
M. C. "Kelly" Viets RR 1 Box 151
lyons, Wisconsin 53148
Stil we ll , Kansas 66085 Advi sors
Ronald Fritz 1989 W ilson , NW
Stan Gomoll 1042 90th La ne, NE
Grand Rap ids, Mic higan 49504
Minneapoli s, Minnesota 55434
Joh n R. Turgyan 1530 Kuser Road Trenton, New Jersey 08619
Robe rt E. Kesse l 445 Oakridge Drive Roc hester, New Yo r k 14617
VOLUME 6
AUGUST 1978
NUMBER 8
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Associate Editors: H. Glenn Buffington, Robert G. Eiliott, AI Kelch , Edward D. Williams, Byron (Fred) Fredericksen Readers are encouraged to subm it stories and photographs. Associate Editorships are assigned to those writers who submit five or more articles .which are published in THE VINTAGE AIR· PLANE during the current year. Associates receive a bound volume of THE VINTAGE AIR PLANE and a free one-year membership in the Division for their efforts. POLICY-Opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Respons ib ility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the contributor.
EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC
DIVISION INC.
The Restorer's Corner by J. R. Nielander, Jr . , ... . , .. . , . ... " .... , . . ... . .. A Class ic Aerobat by Robert G. Mixon . . . . .. , . . . .. . . ..... . . .. ... . . . , ... . Charlie Miller The " Compleat" Barnstormer by Wm . J. Ehlen , .... . . .. ,',. Conroe 1978 by Cleo Bickford .. , ..... ...... .... , , .. . . . . .. . . . , . .. . .. .... Vintage Album .... . ..... , ... ... .. ... ...... . . .. ....... , , . .... ..... ..... 1923 Baby Ace by Margaret Demond ... . .. . ... , , ...... . . ..... ..... , . . , . . Flight Testing of Corben Baby Ace NX-S148 by Robert Barnes ........ . . . . , Aluminum Corrosion Types and Cures Interview with Bill Chomo . .. .. .... Letters . .. .. , .... , , . ... , .... . .. .. , , .... , . . . . . . . . ... . .. , . , .. ......... . . .
- 2 4 8 13 14 16 20 22 24
EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION MEMBERSHIP o NON -EAA
MEMBER - $20.00. Includes one year membership in the EAA Antique/ Cla ss ic Divi si on , 12 monthly issues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE; one year mem bership in the Experimental Aircraft Ass ociation and separate membership card s. SPORT AVIATION magazine not included ,
o
EAA MEMBER - $14.00. Includes one year membership in the EAA,Antique/Classic Divi sion, 12 monthly issues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE AND M EMBERSHIP CARD. (Applicant mu st be current EM member and mu st give EAA membership number ,)
Roben A. White Box 704 Zel lwood, Florida 32798
THE VINTAG E AIRP LANE is own ed excl usively by EAA An ti que/C lassic Division. In c .• and is published mont hly at Hales Corners. Wisconsi n 53130. Second c lass Post age paid at Hales Corners Post Off ice. Hales Corners. Wisconsin 53 130. and addi ti onal mailing offices. Membership rates fo r EAA An t iq ue/ Classic Division, Inc .. are $14.00 per 12 mon th period of w h ich $10.00 is fo r th e p ub li cati on o f THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE. Membersh ip is o pen to all wh o are in t erest ed in aviati on.
Page 4
Page 13
Page 16
By Robert C. Mixon 73365 5. W. 208 51. Miami, FL 33177
My search for an affordable, classic, aerobatic air plane that started when I was about six years old has ended. Through the years one factor in my search remained constant, this one factor seemingly outweighed the rest; it is what I call the affordability factor. Since the 1950's when I watched Curtis Pitts pro duce the Pitts Special, having done some aerobatics in a Citabria, I knew that I had to have a Pitts Special! You're right, the pictu res you are looking at of my project are definitely not pictures of a Pitts Special . . . But then my pu rchase price was only $1,600 with a completed price of $2,300. 4
What you are looking at is a 1947 Luscombe 8A, which is underpowered for aerobatics with a Conti nental 65 hp engine. It has an all metal airframe, with engineering that is similar in appearance to more mod ern airplanes with those funny training wheels placed in front , on the wrong end of the airplane. (There is a difference between training wheels out front, and TRAINING wheels in the empennage area of an air plane). The Luscombe has unmatched controls in that, when airborne, the long wings require more force to move than the toe dance required to move the light feeling tail feathers. On the ground, however, the Lus combe (aside from a slightly more rigid landing gear configuration) isn't any harder to control than other tai Id raggers. The rigid gear and all metal construction does make a landing on pavement sound like you have dropped
(Photo by Paul Carter)
Paint is blended from dark orange, to medium, to light yellow on wheel covers , wings and fuselage. Notice how stars on wings are darker than sunburst design at trailing edge of wings. White on top of fuselage in front of empenage is covering grinder marks, as is fake black window on fuselage aft of door.
the airplane in from several thousand feet, unless it is an absolutely perfect landing... I found N2838K after returning from a three hun dred and fifty mile flight to see a "rag wing" Luscombe 8A that was advertised in Trade-A-Plane. No kidding, she was in the back of a hanger at the very airport I had first departed from, all covered with dust and in pieces. Her skin was stripped down to bare aluminum and pieces of other aircraft were ' using her as a storage table.
Since my original idea was to restore and polish the airframe, the already stripped airframe set my imagination working overtime . My wife, Nancy, im mediately named the Luscombe Laurie after her sister. (You know, Sally-Salamander, Freddy-Frog, Laurie Luscombe ... that kind of th ing) N2838K was gently carried home a piece at a time with only one mishap enroute . While towing the fuse lage , with the tail resting in the back of a pick-up truck, the windshield fell out on the road and broke into three pieces ! My wife, daughter Kimberly, and son Ricky helped me clean up the airframe with a good old fashioned washing so that we could see it sparkle in the sunlight. It was then that I found grinder marks just forward of the empenage on top of the fuselage, and more marks just aft of the doors where the more deluxe Luscombes have their small side windows adjoining the baggage compartment. A closer look at the wings convinced me that my first idea to restore the original, highly pol ished surface design , which might gleam in the sun light while doing aerobatics, would have to be modi fied to a combination of polish and paint to hide the imperfections made by a thoughtless grinder. Two unstripped areas, by the firewall , produced areas of built up body puddy which required new skin for strength and so that they too could be polished. All of the bolts were replaced and the controls were checked for damage and wear. Two outside hinge brackets were made for the outboard ends of the ailerons. A new trim tab cable was required, while new position lights and the landing light wires were replaced . After repositioning the light lens on the tail, a new landing light lens was made by cutting a piece of plexiglass from the old broken windshield that was then placed over a metal can in my wife's oven, until it became flexible enough to fit the shape of the can. It worked great with very little distortion. The engine only had fifteen hours since it had been topped but it needed new hoses for carburetor heat and the cabin heater. (Yes, it has been getting "cool" here in Florida during the last few winters ...) The tires were replaced and our new tinted wind shield required four attempts at fitting before it would fit properly . (By the way, truck freight costs from the west coast to Florida were the same amount as the total cost of the windshield!) Imron primer and paint were applied on selected areas , G-meter was installed , and the bare alum inum surfaces brou ght to a shine by wet sanding, and rub bing compounds like Aluminu, Met-al, and Nevrdull. It was during this stage that I began to wonder how
I ever got into this project. There sat Laurie L;uscombe (looking more like Sally Salamander), pieces scattered everywhere; not looking especially like anything that was ever going to fly again. As I thought back , the project had probably started early in the First Grade with my first flight of a paper airplane sailing ~.cross the school yard during recess. Or it could have started earlier, when as a child, I would nail three sticks together to form an airplane and "fly" it over the hibuscus hedge at my grand mother's into an equipment storage lot next door. The stick planes would always sink from view before hit ting the ground on the other side of the hedge. (Occa sionally they were followed by the scream of a work man.) I guess, if I must really trace the origin of my proj ect I would have to go back to the year 1939 and Pan
(Photo by Paul Carter)
Nancy, before she was a pilot . . . Notice hole cut for. fuel Selector valve with fiber-glass insulation for sound proofing. Arrows show where holes, for fasteners , were drilled through panel. Fuselage has 8E window painted on to cover grinder marks after this area was filled with primer surfaces .
American World Airways with their seaplane base at Dinner Key (part of Coconut Grove, Florida). The old Pan Am terminal, once so famous, is now the City Hall of Miami, Florida . To meet my father as he returned from his trips to South America, I would accompany my mother to Din ner Key, much as my son now accompanies me when I go to the airport to flight instruct.
5
The old Boeing and Sikorsky "flying boats", as they were called then, would taxi in from the seaplane channel up to the unloading dock that was floating next to the terminal building. As with most EM members, childhood experiences are probably not only quite similar, as they relate to stick airplanes and first paper airplane flights, but EM members are typically "grass roots" orientated in that they hardly ever fail to look in the direction of an air plane engine once they have heard it running. This habit will drive an EM member crazy in South Florida when the Everglades get wet, and there are airboat en gines constantly running everywhere!
(Photo by Paul Carter)
Rob, Ricky, Kim and Nancy.
For those members contemplating a rebuilding or homebuilt project, let me say that every little project can, and usually does, turn into a major time consum ing larger project. Nancy got pretty good at holding wrenches, align ing parts, and making upholstery, as well as decipher ing numbers and parts from the Luscombe Parts cat alogue purchased from Univair. Ricky, my six year old, spent any time that he could being lifted into the cockpit to make airplane and pilot noises, while chasing enemy airplanes; while my daughter Kim usually helped with some of the polish ing and showed her friends "what dad is building" .
Somewhere during the construction stage, Nancy started wondering what it might be like to fly, and she too started making pilot noises! ("brakes, throttle cracked, switch on; Tower this is November 2838Kilo . .. ") Now, I know there are exceptions on both sides, and this might make some of you angry, but since fe males usually don't have the male ego problem to over come when they are learning to fly, they usually make good students. (Sorry guys, but that statement has been verified by other Flight Instructors too . . .) Men, in general, are too afraid of messing it up, and dwell on every little mistake, changing the small mistakes into larger ones. After all, how many men grew up chang~
ing baby brother's or sister's diapers, doing homework, talking on the phone, listening to a soap opera on T.V., and doing the wash and macrame all at the same time! Young men , in our society, are usually taught to con centrate on one thing at a time . Well , as we watch Nancy make graceful, coordi nated , circles in the sky over the airport, the guys are still asking me if I remember when I owned an airplane; and how did I get Nancy to do it anyway? At least I get to fly when I take the kids for a ride around the field, since Nancy has just soloed and is a student pi lot. My son still doesn 't think girls can fly .. .
I guess there is a second type of EAA member that doesn't have the stick airplane building experience or paper airplane background, but is just as adept and enthusiastic about flying the real ones. They also can peek around buildings in South Flor ida to see what kind of airplane is running-up, only to find an airboat! They feel the same sense of pride as it pertains to coordination, and smooth-as-silk landings . These new members can't und!;!rstand why an airplane needs a transponder, ADF, ILS, two VOR's, an Ell, or even an airspeed indicator to get off of the ground and fly safely.
The Luscombe project is a great success, and aero batics in the 65 hp, all metal airplane, are certainly a challenge. I must admit that those Pitts Specials flying over South Florida (usually inverted or doing vertical rolls) sure look invitiog; but I have been forbidden to think about them, and informed that there will be no other airplane at the expense of my wife's Luscombe ...
LUSCOMBE 8A LOAD LIMIT OPERATIONS
- 2.2 to + 4.5 G's MANEUVER (DO NOT EXCEED ENTRY SPEEDS!) Spins Loop Slow Roll Snap Roll Aileron Snap Roll Hammerhead Stall Half Snap (Use Aileron) YsCuban Eight YsFull Snap on Top of Loop Yslmmellman Chandelles Lazy Eights
Power off Stall 125 MPH 135 85 85
110 85 130 135 135
110 100
+2 .5 (recovery)
+2.6 -1.2 +3.0 +3.2 +0.2 +3 .0 +0.2 +0.4 +0.4 +3.2 +2.0
to +3 .6
to +2 .6 to +3 .6 to +3.6 to +3.6
These maneuvers considered to require exceptional skill and a reduction in loading from that used in sub ject tests. Remember the Luscombe is an old airplane and un less you have seen all new materials and rebuilding taking place recently aerobatics could be risky . . . The above information was from a letter to Civil Aeronau tics Adm. Dec. 22, 1947 from Luscombe Airplane Corp., Dallas, Texas, and was originally obtained for my use through the EM. It would be well to contact the lAC of EM for further information .
(Photo by Paul Carter)
1. Dual exhaust stacks replaced singte cross over ar. rangement. 2 . Electrical power by wind gene r ator (makes good conversation at larger "c ity type" airports) 3. New windshield after first " fitting". - 4. Hole cur -{or cabin air source. 5. And last but not least that "ever popular" Luscombe face! ','
'7
CHARLIE MILLER
THE "COMPLEAT"
b
~~I\tS TO\\.~~~ By Wm.
J.
Ehlen (EAA 26796, Ale 441)
Rt. 8, Box 506 Tampa, FL 33618
Lest we forget it, this is indeed a finite world. The way we live our lives from day to day, concentrating only on the matters of the moment, tends to lull us into believing that all things go on forever. But, ever so often, we are brought up short and made to realize that in time all things do end, and that this is indeed a finite world . We who are involved in the fun of sport aviation are particularly prone to thi s tendency. We are uniquely fortunate to be a part of an art, or science, that was born and nurtured to surprising strength within a single life span. There are still many among us who knew the Wright Brothers, and , although it has been fifty years since Lindbergh flew the Atlantic, we still tend to look upon this as modern-day history. Thus , perhaps, it is only natural that we forget that this is indeed a finite world, and that in time all things do end , leaving us with blank spaces that will never be refilled. Aviation has certainly had more than its share of heroes . Its life span has seen many who advanced the art, and even quite a few who succeeded in carving their niche in history; the daring, the record setters , and that extraordinarily glamorous breed of fliers known as "Barnstormers". But, stealthily, the laws of nature stalk us, and those gaping, blank spaces begin to appear leaving behind only memories and legends. Most of us who knew him, or even those who only knew of him, must have assumed that he'd go on for ever. But, at the untimely age of only 77 young years, one of these mm;t illustrious barnstormers is now gone.
S
Another blank space suddenly appears, but the legend of Charlie Miller springs to life. If there is such a thing as a man being a legend in his own time, . then Charlie surely was such a man. From the time he first soloed in 1923 until his last flight some 25 ,000 flying hours later, Charlie's only occupation was flying. And, at the time of his depar ture in February, 1977, Charlie was the proud owner of his own fine grass strip, with six beautiful Cubs that he loved, and he was still instructing. What experience this man must have accumulated from the time he first billed himself as "Indiana's Number One Barnstormer" until he taught his last student, in his adopted state of Florida, some fifty-four years later. Surely, if every student Charlie ever instructed were still flying, the air would be filled with planes, and there might be reason for the cry for more controlled air space.
Charles William Miller was born' February 1, 1900, on a southern Indiana farm somewhere near the vil lages of St. Henry and Huntington , where the super highway 1-64 now threads its way. Like most of our fly ing heroes, Charlie soon learned that the skills of flying do not come easily. As a kid of 12, he rudely learned that there was more to soaring than leaping from a hayloft with a bundle of fodder under each arm. But, in 1916, he had the thrill of his first flight when his cousin , Leslie C. Miller, who later developed the Miller ized Conversion of the Curtiss OX-5 engine, gave him a ride in his Canadian Canuck . Then in 1923, at the more mature age of 23, the die was finally cast for Charlie . While visiting nearby Loui sville, Kentucky, for the Derby, he became en thralled by a plane flying overhead. As he recalled, "Here comes this airplane flying round and round , and
I said to heck with the horses - I'm going to fly". And he did; he was hooked; from then on he knew only one life. In quick time he soloed a Curtiss Jenny under the tutelage of a local pilot, Robert Gast, who was later credited with opening China's first air mail route. Un fortunately, Gast was lost at sea in 1938. His first check pilot was Maj. John Bennett, a retired Air Corp squad ron commander. Like others of this rare breed, Charlie soon bought his own Jenny and hit the barnstorming circuit; for awhile as a loner until he married his lovely, gracious wife, Frances "Frankie" Baxter Miller, of Brownsville, Texas. With an impish grin, Charlie always remarked, "She's ten years younger than I am; I planned it that way". From then on it was a team. "She stood by me all through the depression," he once reminisced. "I was barnstorming; she sold tickets and flew with me to drop out handbills advertising the show ." Besides the regular routine of stunts such as loops, spins, rolls, and wing walking, their show handbills used to read, "SEE LlTILE BILLY MAKE A DEATH DE FYING LEAP WITHOUT A PARACHUTE FROM 1000 FEET." This always guaranteed a gaping, fascinated, half scared crowd. Then Charlie Miller and Little Billy would take off in Charlie's Curtiss " Challenger-Robin" , NC 9244 (Wrongway Corrigan 's was NC9243). Higher and higher they'd climb over the awe-stricken crowd until at last Little Billy would make his " Death Defying Leap" , soaring gracefully to earth. The handbills some how failed to mention that Little Billy was a banty rooster , but that didn 't seem to matter. At show after show Charlie and Little Billy drew crowds as their tour took them from one " Sweet p'tata ridge" to the next. Occasionally their reputation sometimes preceded them with unexpected results. Once, in Montgomery, Alabama, the text of the " Little Billy" handbill ap peared in the newspaper as scheduled , but directly be neath it was another ad proclaiming , " And the Humane Society w ill promptly be there to make the arrest. " Charlie laughingly remarked , " We didn 't even bother to stop there. " At another time , at Belle Glade, Florida, a woman saw the ad and got upset, too, but for a different rea son . She apparently thought that Little Billy was a child , and she summoned a CM inspector to come quite a distance to put a stop to the murder. When the show was over , Inspector Puckett cornered Charlie and stated , " And to think I drove 100 miles to see you throw that damn roo ster out of an airplane! " For years Charl ie's barnstorming tours followed the sun . He'd go to Florida in the winter and , as spring
Charlie's Angels, all five of them , lined up in front of their hangars.
Charlie, right after shutdown an Alexander j-5 Eag/erock .
HONORED MEMBERS OF THE FLORIDA SPORT AVIATION, ANTIQUE AND CLASSIC ASSOCIATION After having flown five Cubs in formation over the Sun·ln·Fun Fly in on Janury 24, t 976 at Lakeland, Florida the pilots above gathered for a long to be remembered group photograph at Charlie Millers flight strip near Plant City, Florida . The accumulated hours logged among the ten on this date were 2t8,392 hours. A total of five hundred and seven years of flying is divided as follows, left to right : Roger Don Rae, Lakeland, FI, 47 years , 27,000 hrs ; Ray van Devere, Lakeland , FL, 47 years, 20,000 hrs ; Truman Miller, Lakeland, FL, 48 years, 14,600 hrs ; l.J. Smith, Welaka , FL, 49 years , 35,500 hrs ; Charlie Miller, Plant City, FL, 53 years, 27 ,000 hrs ; Bill Green, Kansas City, MO, 57 years, 3,000 hrs ; George W. Haldeman, lakeland, Fl, 58 years , 33,792 hrs ; Merl Jenkins , lakeland, FL, 47 years, 12,000 hrs; Harold E. Neumann, leewood , KS, 49 years, 29,500 hrs ; Steve J. Wittman, Oshkosh, WI, 52 years , 16,000 hrs. - Photograph b G
o!~ nt i
{ 2V ~~. ~A~{ ~b
! '" ,. ,
j
11
""0"
jJ~ ~~ J~I ' )S
9
A timeless setting.
came, he'd follow the corn and sweet potatoes clear up to Chicago. Then he'd turn back south and follow the cotton out to Texas. No doubt about it, the gypsy barnstorming life of Charlie Miller was varied and thrilling. His trails crossed those of many of the great ones. Once, in Ful ton, Kentucky, way back in 1924, he and his cousin, Lesl ie, flew an air show with a tall, slim, taciturn, young pilot named Charlie Lindbergh. Miller recalled that, "He was a quiet fella; didn't have much to say; but he must have been steady." Despite the Barnum and Bailey type "Little Billy" stunt, Charlie was best known for his airmanship. One of his most popular stunts was his "Dead-stick" land ing routine, and this lead to what he believes was his most memorable feat one day in 1937 at Evansville, Indiana. As Charlie told it: "I was flying a 1931 Piper Cub J 2, and I was doing a stunt we called, 'Run out of gas and watch it fall'. What I usually did was tak~ the plane up to about 2000 feet, cut the engine, and coast slowly in on a thermal. But this day I caught a headwind of about 32 mph, which was just the landing speed of the old Cub. Well, Sir, I made a vertical descent, I came straight down and landed like a feather. I never did that trick again because I never again found the right conditions. But no one else has ever done it either." Incidentally, this performance was witnessed, and confirmed, by a retired FM Agent, Ivan Hilliard. Undoubtedly such stories could go on and on be cause Charlie lived flying every hour of every day. But, unfortunately, much of his history was irretrievably lost when the great Ohio River flood of 1937 washed away trunk loads of the memorabilia that he had col lected.
During his barnstorming days he picked up all the ratings that he needed for the rest of his life. His type of business also naturally developed his latent charac teristics of self-reliance and independence to such a point that at times even his friends thought him a bit cantankerous . In 1929 he was awarded Commercial Pilot License #416. But sometime later, during a hassle with a CM Inspector over the condition of the fabric of his plane, Charlie tore up his ticket in disgust. Much later it was replaced with #29162. Along the way he also acquired an A&P certificate and an instructor's rating. So, when the novelty of barnstorming started to fade and the war clouds were simultaneously growing over Europe, he directed his flying into other channels . First, in 1938, he was sworn in as the first air mail carrier between the Kentucky towns of Mayfield, Murray, and Paducah . Then Charlie went into a long stretch of years as an instructor. Between 1939 and 1951 he was employed by the Embry Riddle Company to teach flying to vari ous groups of military people, first in Melbourne, Florida, then in Arcadia for the U.S. Army. Within the same year he was transferred to Clewiston where he taught future Royal Air Force pilots in the fine art of his profession. Records show that Charlie Miller grad uated 1700 British pilots from that school. And, he proudly proclaims, "There were only four casualties." As must be expected from a man like Charlie, he had many anecdotes from this period that helped to spice his conversation. On one occasion he recalled, "It was all air to air work; strictly flying. We'd train them on strafing runs on the canals. One time I was in the tower monitoring the air-to-ground talk when one of the fellows in one of the flights got pretty bollixed up. We had women tower operators, and all of a sudden this broad British voice comes in on the speaker saying an eartl:ly synonym for 'I'm all fouled up!'. Well, such talk was strictly forbidden, and I grabbed the mike and requested the pilot to identify himself. 'I'm not that fouled up' he replied. Never did find out who he was." With the dropping of the atomic bomb by the Enola Gay and the ending of the war, Charlie's next endeavor was being engineering test pilot for the Air Force at its Bartow Air Base. So, for the decade between 1951 and 1961, he commuted from his home in Plant City, Florida . He flew over 17,000 missions for the Air Force testing all of the planes that were repaired at all the air bases in Florida. Again, Charlie was able to boast, "I never put a scratch on any of them." Finally, in 1960, feeling the urge to sort of retire, Charlie converted his Plant City farm into a beautiful
grass strip and began teaching private students again. As can be surmised, his one obsession was flying, and his greatest love and desire was to make flying avail able to all who wanted to learn. As mentioned, he was strong willed, and even stubborn, and maybe even a bit cantankerous, but he was honestly determined to keep the cost of flying to a minimum. He insisted on teaching in Cubs because he thought they were the best trainers. He eventually acquired his own fleet of five beautiful Cubs by buying basket cases and re building them hi.mself. The three or four hundred stu 11
dents that earned their ticket from him during the next sixteen years did so at a cost of about one-half of what it would cost at most other schools . It is quite evident that Charlie was a great instruc tor, for he fervently bel.ieved in teaching by the feel of the "seat of the pants ". He had a minimal respect for instrumentation, and, with all his ratings and all his experiences of flying behind everything from OX-S's to jets, he steadfastly refused to have anyth ing to do with instrument flying . Charlie always swore that he'd never even fly through a cloud of only twenty square feet. He commented that instruments lead to over confidence, and that was a way to get killed . He always claimed that "he never wanted to be the boldest pilot; just the oldest." "Besides," he'd ask, "did you ever see a bird on the gauges?" Charlie Miller's life has touched many, many peo ple in all walks of life; the rich and the poor; the fa mous and the unknown. Never has anyone spoken of him in words other than of sincere friendship; maybe even with a bit of inflection of respect and awe. Unwittingly, Charlie left his own personal memor ial to his legion of flying brothers because surely, whenever his name is mentioned, it will conjure the fantastically beautiful vision of Charlie leading his five yellow Cubs in formation over the 1976 SUN 'n FUN Fly-In. Each venerable Cub carrying two old-time pilots having a combined wealth, at that time, of 218, 392 hours of logged time crowded into a total of 507 years of safe flying! Sorrowfully, it is true, there is now another gaping, dark hole in the ranks of our aviation greats, but a leg end has arisen that is more eternal. On a quiet, calm evening, just before the last golden rays of the sun dis appear over the western gulf, if you'll stand along side that grass runway off Wiggins Road and strain your eyes upward to just about where you can visualize a yellow Cub should be turning base, there's a good chance that you might hear the strong, gruff, military voice of an old friend berating a student to, "Feel this plane - don't skid that d--n turn."
HELl" 01 V~:I{'S
AIR,·," (}JRCU'S!
LAWRENCEBURG, SUNDAY, JUNE 14 On W. T. Bond's Farm, One Mile South of Lawrenceburg, on State Highway No. 35
ACT TWO
ACT ONE
Don't Miss This
SEE
Little"Billy
\I\ht: .""Tllt-.K 111': '1'1' n.:t'\ · I'. ~ U : \I' FIWU 1'1 ,'" ..: 1,000 t'rET IIIt ; 1I \\lTlim T \ I'\t(.\·
( 'HtUCUt: ;\111.U : R foOT.\1( ·! '!'fn\T "1I.0T \\'11.1 . BOTtlt: ~lOsT )},\HIS( j ~Tl':\Ts t:\' t:H :-o1',\(it:U
~
III
'1''':.
IS T"ISYI(' I:\I1'\',.
ACT THREE
Notice!
SEE .'
In ordf'r to rompl), wilh tlU' l". 'I'.
Iktmrhnf'lIt of
('OIlU,wrl '"
Satf"),
I'f'Jt'lIlat ioli. n~ Ilarkinl: will hf' 1W'r"
mill~d within a s"f4'1," ZUIlIf' or Bot mile'i around IhE' tly.itlj.!' Ih'ld f'Wt'llt in Ihf' s fW'f'ially f,'ur,'1:' .. ft' ar..t'u ri.:hl 11t',,1 ,., Ih" ft" illl: anti no slllnl fly .
illl: will hi' Iwnllilh'll fI\' i'!" th.,. I'!I~ '
tatOn< ~, Ihat Iht'r t' \,"II! hI' no dan ~er of iwt'ifi,'nt or injury should anYlhill!! hltPIH'1I \\hilt' (h.. l'ohlllls atl' hMn" sCltl:t'11.
The Human Torpedo C'H \~II TIIKUI 4.11 Imuw \\ .\1.1 . IS 1U1.t;.
\
t· I.. \.\t:I~(;
. \~
U "TU:lIO.
TWII
,1·
Parachute .n ','Il's
ACT FOUR --- PASSENGERS TAKEN UP ALL DAY SUNDAY
See The Only Human Bat To Be Seen On The Road SEt: Tilt: HC\I.\~ B.\ T ST.\\' t~ THt; .\lR os III ~ flO)IE :\1,\,,1': WISfi:-; "'RU)' :; TO Hi )IIS1 'Tt:)oi .\SI) (;1.10 ..: UK..: .\ InKI) us Ins HOWS\\'.\Rn t"lfHfT. THI~ IS P'UNITlt:I,\' T Hfo; '- )IOl'iT 1).\ S(;t-:Kon~ STn~'T IS T ilE .\Ite .\ , .. WE .\HE T ilt: OSI .' " sItuW U~ TilE NO.\I) Ton.\\" WITII Tnt: IIt')I.\S n .\T. UOS'T IU': foS .....St:H_HOS·T "',\11. TO :-i t :"; nils SHU\\" .\S IS \\UI.I. HI': Tilt: 1..\ sT .U'I't:.\K.\ Sn; 1)1.' Tilt; R\T .,. 'I' IUS l'it:{ ','I():'\ C)Io' Tilt; ('m ' S 'I'K",
ADMISSION
ONLY 15c PER PERSON
See Ihe Air ShOW .. Wilh it Million ThrillS
Act Each ,Hour ~ BeginQing at 2 P. M. 12
By Cleo Bickford 14202 Skinner Rd. Cypress, Texas 77429
Grand Champion Antique
1937 Fairchild 24W owned by Stuart Holmes of Taylor,
Texas.
With a beautiful assist from the weather man, the fo urth annual Hou sto n Sport Aviation Fly-in has been successfully concluded. A bright sun and cool, dry air made the normally humid Gulf Coast weather quite de lightful. A turnout of over one hundred aircraft almost taxed the limited parking area available thi s year at Mont gomery County Airport. Among these aircraft were about 60 antique and classic and 20 homebuilts . The rest were Wichita moderns. This event was established three years ago to pro vide a stimulus for EM activity in the Houston area. Responsibility for planning and operations is divided among the three Houston EM chapters, Chapter 12, Chapter 345 and Antique and Classic Chapter 2. In past years an airshow was part of the fly-in. This year, due to expansion of the airport, facilities avail able for parking aircraft and handling the spectators was limited . In view of this, the air show was deleted and the fly-in was not promoted to the general public. Montgomery County Airport Manager, Bob Taylor, however, says that by next year all the construction will be finished and more than adequate space will be available. The fly-in activity was kicked off by the arrival of Bill Russell in his bright red bespatted Stearman, and by dark a reasonable assortment of antiques and clas
sics were assembled on the line. John Benham arrived just before dark in last year's Grand Champion Classic Cessna 170A. Th is year it is spo rting a new Continental 210 hp. engine with constant speed prop and sti ll look ing sharp. The early birds were treated to a hamburger cook out and cocktail party jointly administered by Johnn ie Deel , Rocky Howard , Sr. and Johnny Kane. Along about ten o'clock Saturday morning the out of-town aircraft started to arrive and by two-thirty just about all of the aircraft were tied down. The antiques had a very diverse representation with the only duplication of type being four Stearman PT-17's. The classics also were well represented and for once Cessna's were in the minority. Luscombe had seven aircraft in attendance, three of these were the comparatively rare Model 11 Sedans. The homebuilt contingent ranged from powered hang gliders through an unfinished War P-47 up to a magnificent Varieze and an immaculate Smyth Sidewinder. We were fortunate to have in attendance at the field activities and the banquet the Antique and Classic President, Mr. J. R. Nielander and Vice-President, Mr. Jack Winthrop. The banquet speaker and presenter of the awards was the renowned aviation artist and fel low member of Antique & Classic Chapter 2, Mr. Bob Carlin.
The award for Grand Champion Antique went to last year's winner, Stuart Holmes of Taylor, Texas, for " My Fair Child," a 1937 blue and white Fairchild 24W . The Grand Champion Classic award was taken by Bill y McConnell, Spring, Texas, for his beautiful white 1954 Cessna 195B with a 275 hp. Jacobs up front. The Grand Champion Homebuilt award went to an airplane that had people trying to guess what it was made of. It looked like glass, but it was the all alumi num Smyth Sidewinder built by John Lee of Beaumont, Texas. The Conroe Chamber of Commerce award , made in dependently of the normal judging also went to John Lee's Sidewinder. Awards were presented for the various classes within each division and a final award was made by Bob Carlin, based on the airplane his teen-aged daugh ter, Becky, liked best. The award was a Bob Carlin painting of Pappy Boyington's Corsair in action and autographed by Pappy. John Kish of Houston, Texas, was the recipient of this one for his 1946 Luscombe 8. If it seems that this was an all-Texas fly-in, it al most was, but not by design . We did have two out-of state attendees, Mr. John McDonald, New Orleans , Louisiana, in his 1946 T-craft and Mr. E. G . Dunn , Shreveport, Louisiana, in his Stearman.
13
Vintagl CONROI Photos Cleo M. Hie 14202 Cypress The People's Choice
Colorful 1944 Grumman Widgeon owned by John Kane
of Cypress, Texas. Flown in by son Jim Kane.
Best Class I Antique
1940 Aeronca TC-3 owned by Tim Bode, Katy, Texas.
Early Bird No. 1 Bright red and white sunburst 1942 Stearman owned and flown by Bill Russell of Houston, Texas. Aircraft restored by Doug Scott, Sugarland, Texas. Grand Champion Classic 1954 Cessna 195B belonging to Billy McConnell, Spring, Texas .
Album EXAS, 19~8 lided by I (EAA 76494)
ler Rd. :as 77429 What collects a crowd? A hot sun and a beautiful high wing classic. Best Class /I Classic Restored and owned by Anna Lamar Dunn, Houston ,
Texas .
Special Bob Carling award " Daughter's Choice" 1946 Luscombe 8 owned by John Kish, Houston, Texas.
Best Class Il Antique
1943 Howard DCA-IS owned by C. W. Lamson,
Woodsboro, Texas.
Best Open Cockpit Antique 1940 Stearman PT-17 restored by owner Tim Beck of Baytown, Texas .
g~JJ~
~, ,
On October 28, 1977 we concluded an adventure which started for the Demond family on April 30, 1972 - The acquisition and rebuilding of a 1932 Corben Baby Ace Model "B" homebuilt aircraft, it cost us only $1766.75, give or take a little, and untold man, woman, and kid hours to be accomplished. It really began on April 30, 1972 with a spontan eous flyout from Hyne Field in Brighton, Michigan, to Maule Field in Napolean, about 30 air miles away. My husband Rick and I flew our 1940 Piper Cub in forma tion with Lloyd Chamberlain in his 1946 Taylorcraft, and Clayton Cook with an old flying friend Dewey Bry an in Clayton ' s 1946 Taylorcraft . At Napolean after din ner at the restaurant on the field, we all snooped through
16
By M argaret Demond (f AA 49 143-A)
665 Barker Rd.
Whitmore Lake, Mich . 48 189
the old hangars which once were used to produce Maule aircraft. Rick had wanted for several years to meet Dewey Bryan and this was a good opportunity to get acquainted with this man who had been active in flying and homebuilding for many years. Dewey, an inventor by avocation, had been working on roadable aircraft for several years . His present effort was the third attempt, each being a refinement of the previous one . Rick told Dewey about his own project of con verting a Corvair auto engine to aircraft use for some future homebuilt or antique, and Dewey discussed the
Corvair conversion he was putting into hi s roadable. Rick told about the new EM chapter recently formed in Brighton . Dewey seemed warmed by Rick's irre press ible enthusiasm , because he offered to donate for a chapter project an old Corben Baby Ace stored away at home which his brother and he had restored and flown in the late fourties. He hoped to see that little open cockpit monoplane fly again. Later, after getting his brother' s permission, he o f ficially gave the Baby Ace to Rick , with the stipulations that the plane was not to be sold before completion and that he could fly the completed plane at least once . June 25th was moving day. Rick and I along with au r th ree year old son Lee set out in a borrowed pickup
A little water and brush work does wonders for an old aviary.
The author gets a little stick time on the freshly primed fuselage. Tha t's a Continental A-40 hanging out front.
, The Corben is off-loaded into the Demond ga rage, the first step in a slow rebuild. truck. Also my cousin Alvin Golden and his girlfriend came with his pickup truck too . The Taylorcraft wings which it had were extracted from the back of the up stairs of Dewey's garage and were brought back to Rick's hangar at Hyne Field . The dusty fuselage, tail feathers and a 40 hp. Continental engine which had been tucked away in a small lean-to attached to the garage were brought back to our house to be tempor arily stored in our garage. At the EM chapter meeting Rick announced the new chapter project. But, alas; no one really seemed interested. Undaunted, Rick took it on as his own per sonal project, using his own funds.
Finding a place to do the restoration was difficult. The drafty garage with a dirt floor wasn ' t suitable, nor was the open T-hangar also w ith a dirt floor . With no basement, and a toddler loose in the living room, all that was left was a 9'x13' unheated sun porch. A deter mined antiquer does not give up - the little sun porch was to be the place. In October the fuselage was brought in through a window. Then the fabric was stripped off, plus attached parts and old zinc chromate. Inspection of the steel tubing showed it was still in pretty good condition . Only the tailpost and the left rear cabane strut had to be repaired. These were repaired and all tubing was then zinc chromated .
A few parts were salvageable, such as rudder con trol rods and pedals, control stick and mechanism , gas tank, and elevator push rod and bellcrank. These parts were cleaned and inspected, and stored around the house, awaiting assembly. But a fair amount of the Corben had to be recon structed from scratch. With no plans, Rick used a 19 page article from an EM reprint of the FLYING AND GLIDER MANUAL showing how to build the Corben Baby Ace. Plus some knowledge picked up along the way of the methods employed in that era. Using direc tions from the manual a new turtle deck was con structed using new wood stringers tied on with shoe repair string, reportedly a common method in the thir 17
ties. All the wood in the plane was replaced with new except two side stringers. Two coats of Waterlox wood preservative were applied followed by three coats of spar varnish . New floor boards were treated the same. The old seat seemed to indicate the bird had flown very stable. The seat was a wood frame and canvas sling affair. The seat belt attached to the seat which in turn sat unattached in the cockpit on the floor. The new seat was built pretty much by the plans in the manual. It's steel tubing welded to the fuselage with the seat belt attached to the seat and the shoulder harness at tached to the fuselage framework. Wicker material was difficult to find in our area, so sturdy string was substi tuted for the woven part of the seat. The all new instrument panel is aluminum with ma chine scrolling. Only the altimeter came from the ori ginal panel. The airspeed and compass came from a J 3 Cub, the tachometer from a pre-war Aeronca, possi bly a C-3, while the oil temperature and oil pressure gages are new. One morning before Rick left for work he gave me some paper and a compass with instruc tions to arrange the gages where I thought they should go. I know why now. When I fly the plane I can't com plain, with womanly logic, that those gages aren 't really in the right places. Rebuilding was taking longer than I had expected and the little sun porch seemed to shrink with time. Closing in and fixing up the T-hangar seemed a logical step. But the arrival of a baby daughter with a $5,000.00 hospital bill , was overwhelming. Rick started by going out into the woods with a chain saw and sawing rough boards for a most sturdy wall to close in the hangar. On the homemade lumber he nailed free sheetmetal from a torn down building. Later money was raised for a set of doors. On the 50th anniversary of Lindbergh 's flight to Paris a 10'x30' center section of concrete was poured. Three months later the rest of the floor was covered with concrete. Friends donated their labor. Then the Cor ben's fuselage was towed to the hangar on a borrowed trailer. Using original pieces for patterns , cowlings were made from sheet metal and machine scrolled like the instrument panel. A stainless steel firewall replaced the questionable aluminum and wood one of before. The original throttle cable still looked good and was put back in. A primer and carburetor heat box were in stalled where none had ever been before. The Corben plans don't call for a trim mechanism and none was put in, but provision was built in, in case the necessity should arise later. No brakes on the original, and they had to be added for today's airport operations. They are the simple, direct type copied from the Star Cava lier of the same vintage. Honda motorcycle wheels 18
were used to get that old fashioned look when the true vintage kind were unavailable. The old tail skid (made from a Model T spring) is retained for exhibition only, while an ordinary tail wheel is used for most of the flying. Like many homebuilts, this one was unuphol stered inside . One yard of upholstery material, similar to that used in the 1930 automobiles, was cut to size and glued on before covering, which took only four hours and $12.00 (Why don't more homebuilts and re storations have interiors?) The fuselage was then covered with 2.7 oz. dacron using the blanket method, after applying vinyl tape at wear and chafing points. Two coats of dacproofer were brushed on, then three coats of nitrate dope brushed on . Reinforcing tapes were attached with three coats of nitrate next. Nine coats of silver were put on, three brushed and six sprayed, with liberal wet sanding between every two coats of silver. Three coats of insignia blue were sprayed on for trim. A sleek, shiny paint job was avoided in preference to the duller kind common to the 1930's . A teardrop paint scheme was copied from the reprint manual. The company logo and tail numbers were hand painted by Joe Bran cik a chapter member and a commercial artist. Although the Corben had previously flown with Model " A" Taylorcraft wings , Rick opted for new wings. Using a combination of plans from a 1973 issue of MECHANIX ILLUSTRATED , a reprint of a 1956 three part article , and the plans in the reprint of the 1932 FLYING AND GLIDER MANUAL, he built a jig board and precut the materials. Making thirty two ribs is a tedious, almost lonely job; the friendly kitchen table was chosen as the nightly work area. I even made a couple of the ribs myself, using spruce stock and ma hogany plywood gussets held together with brass nails and Hughes epoxy glue. Rick snapped my picture as I performed each step. Later I arranged these pictures on a poster board showing an efficient sequence of steps for rib building for demonstration purposes at EM chapter meetings. New spars were ordered from Trimcraft of Ohio. In the little sun porch they were laid out, drilled, and reamed. The ribs were slid on and glued in place. Modified Piper compression struts were attached and Harley-Davidson spoke ends were used for attaching drag and antidrag wires along with turnbuckle ends. Wing bays were trammelled for squareness ± 1/32". Solid spruce leading edges were attached, aluminum false ribs were made and fastened on. Our now 7 year old son, Lee, sanded and smoothed down the hand holds from the old T-craft wings and finished them with waterlox and varnish, with no assistance from his father. Then these were mounted on the tips of
the wings . Finally, all new fittings and hardware were added. It was a tight fit but the wings came out the door. Resting on chapter owned wing racks atop the family station wagon, they rode to the hangar for fi nal fittings and rigging before covering. Later, when all was covered and ready, several chapter members arrived for a ribstitching party. The job was finished in six hours. The wings were then sprayed at the same time as the fuselage and tail group. After making 1" diameter x .060 thick, 4130 steel struts , the wings were mounted on to the fuselage. The strut ends on the rear struts used the Piper clevis assemblies. Rick rigged the wings with 1% degrees of washout at the tips of the wings and 2 degrees of di hedral per the 1932 manual. This was all accomplished with the help and efforts of Robert Barnes a chapter member, who spent many hours in the cold hangar at night with Rick, in the winter of 1976 and 1977. She was starting to look more like an airplane now instead of airplane pieces, but still a lot remained to be done. In anxious anticipation Rick began putting in long hours at the hangar after work and on week ends. Often I brought supper out to him. Friends and acquaintances dropped in from time to time to look and sometimes to lend a hand, George Lathrup an other chapter member helped many hours after work at night and on weekends . The original landing gear vees were cleaned and then modified by shortening the spindles and welding on adapter plates for the brakes , which she never had before. Honda motorcycle wheels, with 18" diameter x 3" width tires, were also modified by Dewey Hill, another chapter member, who had access to the right equipment to bore the hubs to 1.5" I.D. Then we pressed in four Oilite bushings bored to 1.250" I.D. The wheels are lubricated by a grease gun through the axle hubs. New shock struts were made by modifying the original struts from the plans and using Aeronca Chief landing gear springs, shortened by 3". Rick was fascinated by the prospect of flying with a 40 hp engine, and the Continental A-40 the Baby Ace used to fly on gave every indication of being sound. Even the original engine mount was good. Both were put back on. Although a carburetor heat box had never been on before, one from an A-65 was used with no modification necessary. Just when it was time to build the engine cowling, chapter member Bob Poss stopped in with a nose bowl which he had "found". While driving in the city; he spotted a reflector laying under a broken street light. He retrieved it and the fit was quite satisfactory on the A-40. Late one night, the new cowling was on, and the new prop was installed, and all was ready for a taxi run, but it was too late. The next
day at the chapter's annual cornroast picnic, the Baby Ace made her first taxi test in full view of everyone, dragging her tailskid on the grass and parking on the flight line with the others. There were more taxi tests in the days to follow, and after the FAA inspector, Wayne Dunham, gave the sign off, the first flight test was made. But the 40 horses didn ' t carry the 250 pound pilot very high off the ground and it turned into a hairy ride. After doing a 180 degree turn around the trees and landing downwind, Rick taxied back to the hangar and had the engine sitting on the floor in less than ten minutes . A Continental A-65 was located and bought along with a used prop. A new engine mount was made, as was a complete new exhaust system, and engine cow ling. This cowling used a drone cowling for a nose bowl. The aluminum cowling and nose bowl were all machine scrolled . A weight and balance was again run and the CG moved to the forward limit to correct a slight tail heavy condition observed on the first flight. Once more the plane was cleared by the FAA inspector for flight. Again, taxi runs and trial hops were made, by a three month's older and wiser pilot. For the first cir cuit of the field, the Corben Baby Ace quickly left the ground and climbed to pattern altitude without any hesitation. The plane was found to be stable yet the controls were responsive. A remaining tail heavy con dition was finally corrected back on the ground by raising the horizontal stabilizer h" at the leading edge. The first flight away from the field showed a cruise speed of 94MPH at 2150 RPM, faster than expected. Climbout was approximately 500 ft. per minute at 70 MPH. We found 70 also felt best for glide. We further discovered the Corben favors stall landings, like all good taildraggers do. Several good flights since have shown that Mr. Corben designed her well way back then in 1932. O. C. Corben started his aircraft factory in 1923. The Model "A" was a cabin version, the Model "B" that we have in an open cockpit, and the Super Ace was a racer ver sion of the "B". O. C. Corben sold the early version aces in kits, and several were built during the thirties. Later the Federal Government placed such restrictions on homebuilding that it nearly stopped. In 1953 Paul Poberezny, president of EAA, acquired all the old Corben Aircraft rights. Together with Stan J. Dzik, they redesigned the old Baby Ace Model "B" into the model "C" which was featured in MECHANIX ILLUSTRATED in a three month series in 1956. This series of articles gave the young EAA a great boost. And the Model "C" was also later widened into a two place side by side aircraft and became known as the Junior Ace. The
The original and still authentic instrument panel.
rights were sold to Cliff Du Charme of West Bend, Wisconsin, who redesigned the Model "C" into a more modern version the Model "D". He has since sold the rights to Edwin Jacob of McFarland, Wiscon sin. And finally, Thurman G. Baird of Ace Aircraft MFD. Co., 106 Arthur Rd. Asheville, North Carolina has since acquired the rights from Mr. Jacob. Our model "B" is both an antique and a homebuilt. Not sure what to expect during the five years of restor ation, we find now no disappointment in the non tempermental, charming little airplane.
Rick and Margaret drew some appreciated assistance from members of the local EAA Chapter.
19
~ co9-"t.~
~ "t.<;"\~(, ~.,..",'\... ~\.\(,\\"p.,,'t p.Ct.
By Robert Barnes (fAA 51990)
2942 Verle
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
Rick Demond, the rebuilder, had less than one hour on the quaint little Baby Ace, when he offered me the opportunity of flying his newly restored 1932 Corben Baby Ace Model " B" . Calmly considering the ramifications of this noble offer, I decided to accept. Not wishing to appear over-eager, I waited a sizeable fraction of a second before lunging for the cockpit. After a short yoga session among the struts, a bit tight getting in, I found myself inside the ship. It took some time to attach all the straps, adjust the helmet and goggles and assume the correct posture for the "in trepid aviator" that I was about to become. I familiar ized myself with " all " the controls and when I was cer tain I could quickly locate all five, I turned my atten tion to deciphering the markings on the antique altim eter. I had to cup my hand below the throttle knob and grasp the stick well down on the leather grip, to avoid decapitation of my thumb by the instrument panel. The peculiar hand location proved not to be a prob lem , they simply added character to the venerable old craft. Rick twisted the rubber band, and , while the rest of his family who helped to rebuild this bird watched anxiously, my ride began . Taxiing out, the big motor cycle wheels lacked the cushion provided by plump little aircraft tires and the ship sort of hopped and skipped along like a child out of school going to play . 20
Arriving at the wide end of run~aY"'4~ I found I could look around the pattern ~litfle restriction. The run up was normal but the_mechanical brakes lose the bat tle with the A-65 afibout 1500 RPM. Pointing the nose uphill a little"'~lps considerably. Lining up with the cente v lTne, I let the horses loose. Boy oh boy! Just iJ<e'"'a slingshot, one quick tap on each rudder peddle (response is excellent) and my ground testing came to an end. Before I reached the runway threshold we were off and climbing. Airspeed quickly reached 70 mph and a very re spectable triangle developed between the wingtips and the horizon, in my attempt to keep it on 70. level ing off at pattern altitude, as I turned downwind, the airspeed rapidly advanced to 94 mph. Redline is 95 mph so I throttled back to 2000 RPM to keep it around 90 and checked oil pressure and oil temperature. All was well, so I slipped behind a Cessna 150 and on to crosswind. I turned final over the lake, % mile out from the end of the runway and at 400 ft. altitude. Having escorted Rick on his initial test flights from Hyne Field, in my Aeronca Chief, I knew the silver and dark blue Ace would disappear from the view of following air craft when below the horizon, so I made a special ef fort to watch my tail on final. The expected high sink rate failed to materialize and the Ace assumed a glide angle familiar to any Cub pilot. I held 70-75 mph to the numbers , then leveled off and let the airspeed take care of itself as I coasted down to a satisfying three pointer. The nimble craft slowed quickly with no ten dency to veer. I had expected it to be touchy with the narrow and stiff gear. Rick waved me around again and off I went. The second trip was a carbon copy except for a series of stalls to feel out the effect of the washout we rigged into the wings . Stability was so surprising that I found myself laughing aloud as I repeatedly pulled the nose up 50 to 60 degrees and it just kerplunked through as level as a tabletop to the horizon . Here indeed was a genuine fun ship with no hidden "NASTIES" to get you into trouble the instant you drop your guard. Gee, what a nice flying little ship. After a couple hours of short hops around the coun tryside the next weekend , Rick dismounted and handed me the controls . I suspected he knew as well as I, that this would be the real test flight. I have an affinity for flip-flops and I think we had mutually agreed without a spoken word that I should be the first to know if the Ace was safe to spin . I didn 't pretend any interest in circuits and bumps but climbed straight out to scud level at 3000 ft . AGl and began a series of gradually tightening 720 degree turns . I watched the struts and tail brace wires for any
sign of weakness. I pulled it tighter until I was certain I had more than 3 g's, then leveled off and checked the gages. Clearing the area I nosed down a little and at redline pulled up and around in a gentle loop. As the engine slowed I went over the top and we came out in a 20 degree bank. I wasn't sure if the bank re sulted from torque on the short wings or my inatten tion when the engine slowed at the top. The wings were still part of the ship so I went on about my busi ness. Climbing to scud level I peered out at the puny little wing struts and wished there were some jury struts . out there. Each strut was doing its own little thing and the unsupported aileron cables had a rhyth mic beat out of phase with all of the struts. I butted the stick and kicked the rudder peddles, but none of the rhythmic shaking changed for better or worse, so I ran out of excuses for further procrastinations. One final precaution was in order. I flew east and positioned myself away from housing and highways. Carburetor heat on, clear the area. Nose up and wait, the stick felt suddenly limp so I pulled it tight against the seat and stood on the right peddle. I wanted a little "ballast" to throw overboard, as Mark Twain put it, so I made sure my left-torque generator didn't slow down, too much . The nose slipped off to the right and we tucked under for a half turn, then stabilized at about 70 degrees down angle. I held a turn and a half and neutralized rudder. The rotation stopped in about a third of a turn and I knew the Ace was a safe airplane to spin. Climbing back to 3000 ft. I tried a precision three tu rn to the left and came out 15 degrees short. Recov ery is real good with no need to hit opposite rudder. Now I had done my primary mission and was feel ing good, I decided I would call it a day. Coming down final at 60 mph, as the runway rapidly neared I eased back to flare, surprise! No flares thar, kerwhomp! The gear may be stiff but it's certainly strong. Guess 60 mph was a little too slow . Back to the wide end of run way 22 and let's try that one again. Approach at 65 mph enabled a better flareout, but 70 mph is certainly better or should I say the best. I don 't know why the Ace likes 70 mph on final , yet takes off below 40 mph. I guess I've flown under those long Cub wings too long and expect all wings to behave the same. Small price to pay for the exuberant sense of "riding the back of an eagle " I get in the Ace . The Corben Baby Ace is more fun to fly than any thing I've ever flown since I soloed in 1944. It has an agility and style all its own . In 45 years since it was first flown it hasn 't been beaten even with all the so called modern day knowledge and knowhow. A fine old bird lives on.
~ ~~
CORBEN BABY ACE Single Place Sport Plane
Build A Corben Sport'Plane From Our Semi-Built Assembly Kit... Just Assemble the Factory-Built Parts NO TECHNICAL ABILITY REQUIRED· NO COSTLY TOOLS NEEDED NO DIFFICULT SHAPING
~
E~
fD~~ '£I
~Y~~:
'f h e Corben Baby Ace is a sna ppy single place sport plane which mee ts the requirements of those wishing to build up ad d itional hours, or f or those who desire an economical ship for solo cross country flying.
Wing Span..............................................................25 ft. 4 in.
Height ........................ ........................................................ 6 ft.
Length .................................................................... 17 f t. 5 in.
Weight, empty........ ....................................................400 Ibs .
Usef ul Load .................................................................. 300 Ibs.
Cruising Speed.... .................................................... 80 M.P.H .
High Speed ........................................................ ........ 95 M .P .H .
La nding Speed............ ........................ .................... 30 M .P .H .
Service Ceiling ................................ ........ ................ 15,000 ft .
Priced Flyaway From $1,17Z.00 Up
Semi-Built Kits $375.00
"CORBEN JUNIOR ACE"
GJor
Two-Place Convertible
BUSINESS,
PLEASURE
NO WELDING TO DO NO DRILLING
It is now a very easy job to assemble your own Corben Sport Plane at home from our semi-built kits. All major parts and units are supplied to you factory-built and welded. only such simple work as fairing and cover ing is left for the home builder. Regardless of how limited your experience may be you will have no trouble in finishing your plane with the safety and appearance of a factory built ship. Parts and units are supplied in groups which are shipped on a payment plan.
AND
SPORT
YOU CAN START BUILDING
FOR AS LITTLE AS $10.00
CORBEN SPORT PLANE CO.
MADISON AIRPORT
MADISON
WISCONSIN
~~~~
The new Corben Junior Ace offers many new and unusual features. Convertible from a cabin to an open sport plane w ithin a few minutes, makes it' possible for the owner to enjoy the advantages of two planes at approximately the cost of one ship. Wing Span........................................................................ 34 ft.
Height ......................................................................6 ft. 6 in .
Length Over AIL ...........................................................20 ft.
Weight empty ............................................................ 550 Ibs.
Useful Load ................................................................400 Ibs.
High Speed ................................ ............................90 M.P.H .
Cruising Speed ............................ ..........................75 M.P.H.
Landing Speed .........................:............................28 M .P.H.
Service Ceiling .................................................... .... 13,000 ft.
Priced Flyaway From $1,315.00 Up Semi-Built Kits $549.00
For Further Information
Write
CORBEN SPORT PLANE CO. MADISON AIRPORT MADISON
WISCONSIN
ALUMINUM CORROSION:
Types and Cures An Interview With Bill Choma
fAA Director of Maintenance & Restoration
(reprinted from WARBIRDS) (David Gustafson Ph%)
WARBIRDS; Let's assume that you've got a Warbird torn down for restoration and it has an aluminum skin. You ' re going to encounter different forms of corrosion . What types of cor rosion are there? BILL CHOMO; There's a direct surface attack and this type of corrosion is the most common. Usually, it' s caused by the reac tion between the oxygen in the air and the surface of the metal. It's the least worrysome for the average person . Yet, it prob ably causes the most amount of labor over the period of an aircraft's life because you're constantly polishing it to get rid of that surface corrosion , or Aluminum Oxide. You also have dissimilar metal corrosion . This happens in almost any aircraft where steel bolts connect aluminum parts or different metals used in the construction . The activity in dis similar metal type corrosion depends on the type of different metals and the water, salt spray, or even exhaust gas and con densation in the morning or rain . There can be a lot of action with a good electrolyte and an anode/cathode situation. The cathode is normally the less active of the two metals. The anode is the more active. By active, I mean certain aluminum alloys are very prone to corrosion . The antithesis , of course, is metals like the stainless steels. But, you put those two together, a highly active one and a dormant one, and get the proper con ditions with an electrolyte and it' s going to really go . Magnesi um and aluminum are a good example . Years back they used to make magnesium parts and bolt them right to the aluminum cases on engines . They go fast. Intergranular corrosion is the most dangerous as far as struc ture is concerned . This occurs when the metal is attacked along its grain boundaries . Aluminum has a very odd-shaped grain structure, multi-sided grains which really don ' t bond to each other , so their molecular structure doesn' t hold up well . This kind of corrosion will actually follow the grain structure and it's very difficult to detect in the early stages . But, as it pro gresses, the metal will actually start to bulge, it gets flaky . You can actually take your fingernail or a sharp tool and pry up layer after layer of the aluminum, like strudel, until it's completely gone . When it' s blistered like that, it' s referred to as exfolia tion . Some of the alloys that contain copper and zinc are highly vulnerable to that sort of attack . The way the aluminum com panies slow it down on some alloys is to heat-treat. They bring the aluminum up to 910 0 (plus or minus 100 ) and then quench ing it immediately in cold water . When you quench it at a high heat, the molecules which were really moving around quite
22
rapidly, suddenly, making a much stronger bond . The molecu lar structure is thereby packed much tighter. This is how you also harden steel. Stress corrosion is the next one and basically you will look for this in aileron fittings , bell cranks, anywhere where the aluminum structure has a high stress concentration . Anything made out of aluminum that is put under a static tensile stress can " corrode". It' s basically cracking. The boundaries of the irregular shaped molecules in aluminum are pulled apart from
stress and , of course, then the corrosion can really get in. The only way that I know of to detect it is to clean the part, strip all paint and primers off and use a dye check. Corrosion fatigue , as opposed to stress corrosion, is a cyclic type , and I disagree with the decision to include it under cor rosion in Part 43. It is really failure of the part. But they call it corrosion because it happens to follow those grain boundaries . Any place you have a stone nick, for instance , in the skin you have a potential start of corrosion fatigue. If that part is
vibrating, or being cycled, like a skin being beaten under a prop wash, the crack can start in a small little pit or irregularity, or even a pencil mark. There have been many instances of some one drawing a circle or drawing a certain pattern on aluminum skin during fabrication and having that piece actually break out of the skin along that pencil line. This gets back to a combina tion of corrosion fatigue and dissimilar metals. The graphite in teraction with the aluminum can cause it. This is why you have to be very careful on skin layouts, that you don't draw lines for rivet holes. If a mark is drawn with the wrong thing you could have a double problem, namely a scratch and a diSSimilarity. It will crack for sure. Next is Fretting Corrosion. This is not only limited to sheet metal aircraft - this can develop on any aircraft that has a cowl ing, a door that opens, inspection doors, anything where the two parts cycle at a different rate. It's scuffing or chafing. A fret ting corrosion occurs from a relatively small amplitude move ment. The rubbing, back and forth, causes scuffing and immedi ately a new, direct surface attack happens. It's good in this resp!!ct: aluminum oxide will form on the outside of the skin of an airplane (just from oxygen or industrial gases in the air), once oxidized, the skin is pretty well protected from further attack because aluminum oxide is fairly inert. (Anodized aluminum parts are actually oxidized on purpose along with a pigment to create a surface corrosion which is relatively inert.) With fretting corrosion, the two moving parts constantly keep the metal bright. However, as soon as surface corrosion starts, which kind of seals the metal off, the chafing will keep that metal bright. So that air corrodes, it gets wiped off, it corrodes again, gets wiped off again, etc. It will go right on through metal in a very short time. If you're looking for it, the contact areas will have small, sharp, deep grooves. It will sometimes almost look like a burnished or hammered finish on steel: A very large number of deep, sharp-edged craters. It is usually very apparent. Those are all of the types, and there's a lot out today that's designed to stop all those different types of corrosion. Good aircraft polishes , waxes and paints offer protection against direct surface attack, dissimilar metal corrosion can be retarded with paste, or primers in between the two metals. The intergranular corrosion - here again, the primer that is used is most important. A very good zinc chromate primer is needed to keep all the oxygen from the aluminum parts. Stress corrosion - you really can't do a whole lot about that other than periodic inspections. The same thing is true of fatigue corrosion. Right from the day the airplane comes off the line in the factory, that aluminum skin has to be protected from scratches, pits and so on. Fretting corrosion can be limited simply also. If a part has cyclic action, if it's capable of moving, like cowlings, you just attach chafe strip, the commercial available cloth type, to keep the two metals apart. Clearly, if they're going to cycle, they should be kept apart. On any old aircraft that is being rebuilt, there's a series of things that have to be done in order to detect corrosion, to stop it and to prevent any further action. The first thing for any struc ture is to clean it - clean it as thorolJghly as pOSSible, that in cludes vacuuming out all of the bird's nests and giving the struc
ture a good wash down. At that time it is good procedure to use one of the treatments for cleaning aluminum. With aluminum parts, you'll find that if the aircraft has been out of service for quite a few years, you're probably going to have to go to the strongest cleaning solution. If it's an aircraft that has been op erational and shows very little corrosion, use a less radical clean ing ~olution. I found that in almost every aircraft more than 20 years old, it's necessary to go into the severe cleaning method. That consists of 10% solution of chromic acid to which you add 20 drops of battery electrolyte. Battery electrolyte is sulphuric acid. In some areas it's difficult to apply the solution. Where pos sible, we agitate the juice with a stiff bristle-type brush. Metal brushes with the exception of stainless steel, tend to leave a certain amount of material behind, like microscopic steel par ticals which become imbedded in the surface of the aluminum. This is a perfect spot for dissimilar corrosion to start off right away. So, I prefer a fiber, floor scrubbing brush. It works real well. In a lot of areas you have to run your arm up all the way inside to cover everything. Sometimes we screw broom han dles onto the brushes for extra reach. The wings are the hard est part. WARBIRDS: Now you've got some airplanes like your P-51 and P-64 where there are a number of compartments within that
wing that are totally inaccessible, don't you?
BILL CHOMO: Yes .
WARBIRDS: How can you be sure in working with an acid which is designed to remove surface corrosion, that you have removed all of it from the seams and the cracks afterwards. BILL CHOMO: You have to really flush it. One of the biggest concerns to me is that corrosion could exist between two tightly riveted members, whether it's a stringer to skin, or spar to skin. There really is no easy answer. You can't afford to drill all the skin off, because you might as well build an airplane from scratch then. This chromic acid and electrolyte solution is about the best you can do. You have to visually inspect the skin in all areas to make sure that you don't find any blisters and swollen areas. Intergranular corrosion attacks certain pockets, certain areas of imperfection in the alloy. It will never follow a complete spar line, for instance, so this points up the reason for very close in spection on any aircraft - all metal aircraft, sheet metal air craft, or tube and rag. You'll find that an awful lot of the Warbirds have had their parts anodized inside. In the P-64, all of the ribs, spars and string ers are anodized . When you have to get corrosion off, you have to be careful to avoid scratching the good areas that have been anodized. In a lot of areas like the ribs, for instance, if they're anodized and if you do scratch it, it's going to corrode right through unless you chromate it. The chromic acid treatment also preserves the surface in one way, because it cleans it so well, and being so clean, you quickly get that surface type alumi num oxide corrosion, which is relatively inert. On the other hand, because it happens almost immediately, WARBIRDS: Isn't there the possibility that corrosion could de
they say you should clean structures like that within the same velop in there and be undetectable?
BILL CHOMO: Definitely - and it's a worry. Actually, on a day. With the intergranular corrosion, mechanical removal of complete rebuild we do some reskinning in order to get in. I
wouldn't say that there's much that's completely inaccessible: all corrosive products and the visible delaminated layers must almost always there' s an i nspection hole . You might not be be accomplished in order to determine the extent of the des visually able to see in, but you can get up in there with a brush truction and to evaluate the remaining structural strength of the and really scrub it. We make it a point with a major rebuild to component. Inspection with a 5 to 10 power magnifying glass open them up if there's any justification at all for replacing or the use of dyed penetrant will assist in determining if any un sound metal remains. The powder and the dust should not be the skin.
left in the wing because it will attack again and start into another WARBIRDS: Then what?
structure. Grinding to blend or fare out the edges of damaged BILL CHOMO: You allow that chromic acid to remain in place areas may best be accomplished by using an aluminum oxide for at least 5 minutes . Then, if you can, you remove the excess 'i mpregnated rubber base wheel. Then you need to chemically by flushing with water and try to wipe dry so that the water doesn't clean the exposed surfaces and zinc chromate after. Most often sit in there . O!,)ce you do that to aluminum, it should be abso it's easier to replace a portion of a rib or a bulkhead, by cut lutely bright. Then inspect it immediately. It should be primed ting beyond the corroded area instead of grinding it out. the same day, though we all know that that's not always possible. In any case, corrosion is a fact of aviation life. If it isn't treat That's bec<!use if you've got an old airframe, you're going to find ed, it will spread like a mechanical cancer, with predictable some corrosion that won't be removed by that process. If there's results. intergranular type, for instance, you'll have to mechanically WARBIRDS: 'Nuff said. grind that exfoliation away, until you're down to bright alumi num. This might mean grinding a two or three inch hole in a rib. I'm sure you wouldn't do it in a spar web without consider ing replacing the web. For this, of course, you would have to follow your CAM 18 or Part 43 as far as repair is concerned. But, it's important to note that the corroded part has to be com pletely removed or the process will never stop. What we usually do is go ahead and prime the structure anyway, marking the areas that need repair . We go back and repair those spots later. When the repairs are completed, the whole wing is rechromated and reassembled .
23
LETTERS Mr. jack Cox Editor, SPORT AVIATION Dear jack; It has been a while since corresponding with you. Guess the last time was the material I sent you on the Gwinn Aircar. Your research was excellent and a most interesting article was published. I am now beginning to research an aircraft that was manufactured from 1928 to 1930 approximately. The company started out as Arkansas Aircraft Company, Little Rock, Arkansas. Sometime in the period of late 1928 to early 1929, the company changed to Command Aire, Inc. I have 3 1929 Command-Aire aircraft stored inside of my "barn"; also there is a 1940 WACO UPF-7 await ing rebuild. 2 of the Command-Aires are mine and the third belongs to Tom McMurtry, who lives in Lancas ter. Tom is a NASA test pilot at the Dryden Flight Re search Center on Edwards Air Force Base. Tom is the 747 copilot for the Space Shuttle launches that took place recently. He and I plan to restore all 3 aircraft, possibly beginning this summer . I will probably do most of the work as Tom is very busy. He is the project test pilot for the new Oblique wing aircraft, the AD-1. That should be a very interesting project. In any case, I would like to correspond with any one who has knowledge of, has flown, is rebuilding, or has worked at the Command-Aire factory in Little Rock.
I have corresponded with Art Knowles, of Irving, Texas. Art is beginning the rebuild of a 1928 Command Aire 3C3. Enclosed are some pictures of the aircraft, NC997E. This is the first time the aircraft has been seen assem bled since 1951 . At least that is the year of the last log book entry. The aircraft was assembled on the Reedley College campus for a Vintage Vehicle Day celebration. As the picture shows, the aircraft is in really sad condition. I will have to fabricate 3 new frames; only 1 or 2 wing panels are rebuildable. Landing gears will have to be made new. Tail surfaces and ailerons are in pretty good condition and can be used. I intend to use a Wright R-760 engine to power my aircraft, although engine mounts have been changed to Continental R-670 (these aircraft were modified for crop dusting in Florida). This should be a long term but highly interesting project. I will keep you posted as to the progress of the aircraft. Incidentally, I hope to take the aircraft up to Merced for the antique fly-in june 2nd. I'm sure not too many people have seen an old aircraft as it came from the barn and before restoration. Who knows, one of these years I may make it back to Oshkosh in a bright and shiny Command-Aire!! Sincerely, Robert G. Lock Instructor-Airframe Reedley College 995 N. Reed Ave. Reedley, California 93654
Antique/Classic Headquarters at Oshkosh .. some of you may ha ve wondered what it looked like three weeks before the Convention. nents) for BT-13 (R985) or AT-6 (R 1340
* Belt sander The following items are needed to * Floor sander carryon the programs of the EM Air * small band saw Museum Foundation. If you can help, * Paint spray booth please contact Gene Chase , Museum * Paint storage cabinets Director, at EAA headquarters, tele * Electri.c metal shear phone 414/425-4860. Donations to the * Borescope Museum are tax deductible. * Upright vacuum cleaner * Steam carpet shampooer, like * 25 ton hydraulic press Steamex * Porta-power or body jack set (4
* Bridgeport Milling Vise ton)
* 1 set R-8 Bridgeport Collets * Cherry G-704 power riveter * End .~ills * Air operated automotive bumper
* Rotary Milling table jack
* Indexing Head for Milling ma * Automotive analyzer (Sun Ma
chine chine)
* Arbor Press * Cylinder base wrenches for A-65
* Propeller blades Des. No. 21A1-7 through 0-200 Continental en
to fit a Hamilton Standard Hub gines
No. 5406, for the laird Super So * Cylinder base wrenches for 0-235
lution restoration project. through 0-360. Any condition dis
* Maule Fabric Tester play only.
* 1 cylinder for an Aeronca E-113A * Air Compressor - 5 h.p. or more engine * Propellers (complete or cQm-'po _ -_ _
MUSEUM NEEDS
25
Calendar of Events
AUGUST 6-12 - LAKELAND, FLORIDA - International Cessna 170 Association Convention, Lakeland, Florida . AUGUST 7-12 - FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN - 13th Annual EAN lAC International Aerobatic Championships . For further informa tion contact Sam Maxwell, 2116 Erie , North Kansas City, MO 64116. SEPTEMBER 8-10 - MARION, OHIO - Original MERFI, 13th Annual EAA Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-In . Municipal Airport, Marion , Ohio. Air Show, Awards for Homebuilt, Antique, Classic, and Warbirds. Forums on Airport Camping, Static Displays, etc. For more in formation, contact Myrna Lewis, 241 Ba ssett Drive , Spring field, Ohio 45506. Phone: 1-513/323-2424. SEPTEMBER 9;10 - HERMISTON, OREGON - Annual Waterm elon Fly-In, EAA Chapter 219: Saturday night dinner. Sunday morning breakfast. Contact Ed Betts, P.O . Box 1348, Umatilla, Oregon 97882. OCTOBER 5-8 - HARLINGEN, TEXAS - Confederate Air Force Air Show 78. Contact CAF Public Affairs, Box 2443, Harlingen, Texas . 5121428-4596. OCTOBER 7-8 - REDDING , CALIFORNIA - Oktoberfest at Redding Sky Ranch , sponsored by EAA Chapter 157. Contact Curly Medina 916/241-7737. OCTOBER 21-22 - MARANA, ARIZONA - Seventh annual Copper state EAA Fly-In at Marana Air Park . Awards for homebuilts , antiques, classics and warbirds. Contact Fred Feemster, Box 12307, Tucson , Arizona 85732 . 6021299;2723. NOVEMBER 18-19 - MIAMI , FLORIDA - Antique, Classic and Homebuilt Fly-In at the third annual Harvest - A Country Fair, sponsored by the Historical Association of Southern Florida , at the Dade County Youth Fairgrounds, Coral Way at 112th Avenue . Registration limited to planes manufactured prior to 1950. Awards given for antique, classic and homebuilt aircraft. Contact Capt. Ken Ufland of the Civil Air Patrol, office (305) 552-3106, home after 6:00 p.m. (305) 251-5927, or Mary Dodd Russell, Harvest Coordina tor, at the Historical Museum, 3280 S. Miami Avenue, Building B. , Miami, Fla. 33129.
r ~~
~
THE
FLYING AND GLIDER MANUAL
EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC
DIVISION
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
FOR: 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1929·1933 MISCELLANY $2.50 Each Post Paid
WIN A pai r of Antique Goggles by persuading 5 people to Jom.
*er
A Leather Flying Helmet
when you get 10 people to
sign up.
ORDER FIVE
AND GET THE
SIXTH ONE
FREE
Total Cost For All Six
$12.50
- then start over and win again
CLASSIFIED ADS
~
1940 )-3, L-65, 3900 hrs. T.T. 440 SMOH, Ceconite on fuselage 1973, Wings linen 1969, Metal prop, Battery transceiver, orig inal paint, Fresh annual. $6500. Connecticut, 203-349-8267. 1929 WACO 0 .5.0.: Completely restored, Razorback Cover, 220 Continental (75 SMOH), Chrome Prop, Original Logs, etc. One of six still flying . Asking $29,500. Tilford's Aviation (305) 683-4121.
1940 J-3, L-65 , 3900 hrs. TT. 440 SMOH. Ceconite on fuselage 1973, Wings linen 1969, Metal prop, Battery Transceiver, original paint, fresh annual. $6500. Con necticut, (203) 349-8267.
26
FOR THE COMPLETE
AVIATION LIBRARY
~ A
free five year member ship in the Antique/Classic Division if you sponsor the most new members in 1978.
To Qualify: Write your name and member ship number on the back of the member ship blanks we've been providing in THE VINT ACE AIRPLANE. Headquarters will keep score.
Order From: EAA AIR MUSEUM FOUNDATION BOX 469 HALES CORNERS, WI 53130
Are you restoring a Classic?
,tl~
~(Uf.'t
d)4
~~
I/~,
CUSHION UPHOLSTERY SETS
UPHOLSTERED FOAM CUSHION SETS WALL PANEL SETS • HEADLINERS· CARPETS Airtex interior upholstery items are all made up into complete assemblies, ready for you to install. Your choice of three fabric styles and twenty colors. Luxurious cut pile carpets in seven colors, wrinkle free Duraliner headliners, baggage compart ments, seat slings and fire wall covers are also available for Classic planes.
RE-COVER ENVELOPES
\
,,-1J
Available for all Classics and some Antique models, in Ceconite #101, #102 and cotton. Airtex makes the world's finest envelopes!
Tiandolpl£ FINISH IT RIGHT WITH AN
11~
INTERIOR
All Items Designed for Easy DO·IT·YOURSELF INSTALLATION
AIRCRAFT FINISHES
Nitrate & butyrate dope, enamel, urethane, thinners, reducer, retarder and primers. Complete stock of re-covering supplies. Send $1.00 for Catalog and Our
Fabrics Selection Guide
lJiIdtvx
p~,
Jnc.
DEPT "R", LOWER MORRISVILLE ROAD
FALLSINGTON, PA. 19054
(215) 295 -4115
27