THE RESTORER'S CORNER By J. R. Nielander, Jr.
With Oshkosh 78 now having been inscribed in the \inna ls of aviation history, it is indeed appropriate that we review the part played by your Division and that we acknowledge the fine efforts put forth by all of those who volunteered their time to make the con vention such a great success. Your Division officers, directors and advisors extend to each and every vol unteer their sincere thanks and appreciat ion for a great job exceptionally well done. Without this dedi cated group, many of whom have been working with the Division since our first participation in the con ve ntion in 1972, it would not be possible to give you members the varied activities and the smooth opera tion which you have come to expect as routine . Speak ing of activities, the forums on antique and classic aircraft under the direction of Bill Ehlen and AI Hen ninger were their usual great success, many having been presented to audiences which overflowed the 250 seat forum tent . The "History of Flight" pageant, presented at the Wednesday evening air show under the direction of Ron Fritz and Phil Coulson, was a big hit with the entire air show audience. Nowhere else in the world is it possible to see 75 years of continuous aviation history fly by in sequence .
This year saw the introduction of organized social activities for the Division members. Under the direc tion of John Turgyan a picnic dinner was held on Tues day evening , and a social hour was held on Friday evening after the awards program. Both activities took place in Ollie's Park, the beautiful picnic grounds lo cated immediately behind the Division headquarters barn and forum tent . Judging by the size of the crowd and the festive mood of all of those who participated, both events were a big success, and they will continue to be included in the planning for future years. The management and operations committees were all kept busy and did their usual superb jobs. The parking committee under the direction of Art Morgan and Bob Kesel again parked a record number of an tiques and classics this year . There were so many out standing aircraft that the judging committees under Glaude Gray, Brad Thomas , and George York had an exceptionally difficult time in narrowing down the trophy winners. Division convention headquarters , that old red barn under the direction of Kate Morgan and Donna Bartlett, was its usual beehive of activity , even more
so th is year with the manpower committee under Jack Winthrop and Jack Copeland and the security com mittee under George Williams and Jim Smith sharing space in it. The two Jacks had the job of keeping a steady flow of volunteer workers coming to the other committees which needed the manpower, particularly the parking and security committees. George and Jim along with their vcilu nteers were responsible for the security of the antique and classic aircraft as well as the entire Antique/Classic operating area. Farther up the road in the commercial display building, your Division had a promotional booth under the direction of two lovely airline stewardesses, Jackie House and Mary Morris. These gals, along with their volunteers , did a great job of promoting the Division and added many new members to our roster. AI and Lois Kelch, along with Charlie Nelson and his Temco Buckaroo aerial photo plane, provided the Division press coverage . The superb results of their efforts will be evident in this publ ication as well as SPORT AVIATION and others over the coming year. The Divis ion awards program on Friday evening under the direction of Dale Gustafson was a fitting prelude to the social hour which followed it as the trophy winners, celebrating their victories , were toasted by all in attendance . Two committees which had completed their tasks before the convention started, but without whose ef forts the other committees could not have operated, were Stan Gomoll's decorations committee and the equipment and supply committee headed by Art Mor gan and John Kalas. Stan did the beautiful decorating job on the promotional booth as well as helping to set up the headquarters barn, while Art and John ob tained or repaired the equipment for the parking com mittee including overhauling the motor bikes. Again , a great big "THANK YOU " to all of the Division chairmen and co-chairmen and an especially big "THANK YOU " to all of you who volunteered your services to the Division 's convention effort. Your of ficers , directors and advisors hope that you enjoyed working with them as much as they enjoyed working with you, and they look forward to seeing you again next year. We are now about three quarters of the way through our membership contest. It will terminate dt the end of December. If you haven 't used the mem bership applications wh ich you have been receiving in the magazine, please do so soon and win yourself a pair of antique flying goggles and a new leather fly ing helmet. Details of the conte st are found in a dis play advertisement in this issue.
The VINTAGEAIBPLANE
Editorial Staff
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC
DIVISION INC.
of THE EXPER IMENTAL A IRCRAFT ASSOCIATION P.O. Box 229, Hales Corners, WI 53130
Publisher Paul H. Poberezny (Photo by David Gustafson)
Earl Long's po lished Cess na 180.
Editor David Gustafson
Copyright" 1978 EAA Antique/Classic Division , Inc., All Rights Rese~ed .
SEPTEMBER 1978
Directors ANTIQUE/CLASSIC
DIVISION
OFFICERS
W illi am J. Ehl en
Rout e 8 Box 506
Tampa, Florida 33618
AI Kelch
701 8 W. Bonn iw ell Road
Mequo n , Wi sconsin 53092
Claude l. Gray, Jr .
Morton W . Lester
PRESIDENT
9635 Sylvi a Avenu e
Box 3747
Northridge, Californi a 91324
M artin sville, Virginia 2411 2
J. R. NIELANDER , JR . P.O. BOX 2464
Dale A . Gustafson
Arthur R. Morgan
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL 33303
7724 Shady Hill Drive
3744 N . 51 st Bourevard
Indianapolis, Indiana 46274 Milwaukee, Wi sconsin 53216
VICE·PRESIDENT
Richard Wag ner
M . C. " Kell y" Vi ets
JACK WINTHROP
P.O . Bo x 181
RR 1 Box 151
RT. 1, BOX 111
Lyon s, Wi sconsin 53148
Stillwell, Kan sas 66085
ALLEN , TX 75002
Th e Restor e r ' s Corner b y J. R. N i el a nd e r , Jr . .. . .. • .. .. ...... . • ....... . .. . Oshkosh 7 8 ..... . . . . .. . .. ......... , . ..... . ... .. .. . . ... .. . . . . . .. .. .. .. The Winners at O shkosh 7 8 ...... .. ........... ..... .. . . . ... .. . .. ... . . . " The First Cub " .. .. . ..... ... ...... . . .. ... . .. . . ..... , .... . . . ,. . . . .. .. . . Ste ve Jon es' Stearman Re storation Part I by St ev e & Kay Jones .. . .. . . .... . Help! .. . ..... .... ...... ... . ..... . . , ... . . ..... , ....... .. . . . . .. . . ... .. . . Vintage Album ... , . .. . .. ... . . ..... . ...... , .. .. ... . •. , . ... . .. ... . , , . ... Gu s' Aeroplane 1913 by D . D . Peterson ........ ...... , . . . . . . . ... .. .. . ... Bu y ing An Old Airp lane Is Just The Beginning b y Bob Barne s . .... .. . . . ... Aviation Day At Curtis s Fi e ld , 1921 b y L. G. Duckert , M.D . . . .... . • ... , . . ..
TREASURER
E. E. " BUCK" HILBERT
8102 LEECH RD.
UNION, IL 60180
Ronald Fritz
1989 Wil son , NW
Grand Rapids , Michigan 49504
John R. Turgya n Rob ert E. Kessel
1530 Ku ser Road 445 Oakridge Drive
Trenton , New Jersey 08619 Roch es ter, New York 14617
Stan Gomoll Ro bert A. Whit e
1042 90th Lan e, NE Box 704
Minneapolis, Minn esota 55434 Zellwood , Florida 32 798
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EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION MEMBERSHIP o NO N-EAA
MEMBER - $20.00. Includ es on e year m embership in th e EAA Antique/
Class ic Divi sio n , 12 monthly is su es of THE VINTAG E A IRPLANE ; o ne yea r mem
bership in th e Experim ental Aircraft Ass o cia tion and separate me mbership card s.
SPORT AVI ATION magazin e not included .
Advisors
SECRETARY
W. BRAD THOMAS, JR.
301 DODSON MILL ROAD
PILOT MOUNTAIN, NC 27041
NUMBER 9
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Associate Editors: H. Glenn Buffington, Robert G. Elliott, AI Kelch, Edward D. Williams, Byron (Fred) Fredericksen Readers are encouraged to submit stories and photograph s. 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. PO LICY-Opinion s expressed in articles are solely those of the authors . Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests enti rely with the contributor.
VOLUME 6
(On The Cover . .. foh n Eberle 's Fokker /riplane arrives at Os hkosh . Dave Gustafson Ph%.)
o
EAA MEMBER - $14.00. Includes on e yea r membership in the EAA Antique/Classic
Divi sion , 12 monthl y issues o f THE V INTAGE AIRPLANE AND MEMBERSHIP CARD .
(A ppli ca nt mu st be current EAA m emb er and mu st give EAA membership number .)
THE VI NTAG E AIRPLA NE is owned exclu sively by EAA Antique/Classic Division , Inc .. and is published
mon th ly at Hales Corners, W isconsin 53 130. Second class Postage paid at Hales Corners Post Office ,
Hales Corners , W isconsi n 53 130, and additional mailing o ffi ces. Membership rates for EAA Anti q ue/
Classic Division, Inc ., are $1 4.00 per 12 monlh period o f which $10.00 is for the publica t ion of THE
VINTAGE AIRPLA NE. Membership is o pen to all who are interested in aviation .
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Page 8
Page 21
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Ray Stephel? owns this Stearman YP-9 which was built in 7930.
President Poberezny provided famed news commenta足 tor Paul Harvey with a guided tour of the Antique and classic areas.
Mr. Richard Martin flew this Meyers OTW down from Green Bay.
The view from the tower: looking over the Antique / Classic display area.
5
Sporting a Warner Super Scarab 185, this Fairchild F24W belongs to Steve Thomas of Belvidere, Illinois.
Tim Buttles of Manawa, Wisconsin gave his /lAC Chief one of those popular paint jobs.
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This 1944 Tiger Moth was flown in from Kalamazoo, Michigan by John Bright.
This 1947 Navion belongs to Ed Hedlund of South Haven, Michigan. Whatta way to go camping.
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THE WINNERS AT OSHKOSH '78
11
ANTIQUE
Stinso n Reli ants are big! Tallie H o lland bro ught this 300 horsepower job fro m Co lumbus, O hio.
Am o ng th e m an y m eta l pl anes g li tte rin g in th e sun w as this ou tsta ndin g Lusco mb e 8 F o wn e d b y La rr y Tr as kos o f Bellev ill e, M ic higa n . It h as a 750 ho rse pow er Lycoming!
Grand Champion - 1929 Curtiss Robin - joseph Erale NR59H Reserve Grand Champion - 1938 Rearwin Sportster - Alfred Nagel NC20723 Golden Age - 1918-1927 Champion - 1926 Swallow - Buck Hilbert Silver Age - 1928-1932 Champion -1929 Boeing 100 - P-1 2 - S. L. Wallick . N872H Ru nner-Up -1928 Waco ASO - Dean Crites,- NC 6930 Outstanding Open Cockpit Biplane - Stearman YP9- 1930 - Ray Stephen N788H Contemporary Age - 1933-1945 Champion - Waco UPF-7 Richard Peterson , Wm . Amundson - N29903 Runner-Up - 1941 Waco VKS - Vince Mariani N31653 Outstanding Open Cockpit Biplane - Stearman Roger Koerner, N61511 Outstanding Closed Cockpit Biplane - Waco VKS 1941 - Kermit Hoffmeier, NC2309 Outstanding Open Cockpit Monoplane - 1931 American Eaglet - Gene Morri s, N548H Outstanding Closed Cockpit Monoplane-1937 Stin son SR9C - Stan Kuck N18410 Customized Aircraft Champion - 1931 Waco QCK- Lee Parson s, NC11427 Runner-Up - 1938 Spartan Executive - j . T. Patter son , NC1 7165 Outstanding - 1940 Spartan Executive - Donald Cass idy, N97DC Replica Aircraft Champion - 1911 Curtiss Pu sher - Dale Crites 1911D Runner-Up - SPAD - Gerald Thornhill - N9104A Outstandin g - Flying Bathtub - Irvin Mahugh N131M Homebuilt Antiques Ch ampion - 1932 Corben Baby Ace - Richard Demond - N4851 Runner- Up - 1934 Pietenpol - Allen Rudolph N13691
CLASSiC Grand Champion - Aeronca 7AC N85448 - Ron Wojnar , Milwaukee, WI Reserve Grand Champion - Rawdon T-1 N5160 jack Chastain, Creve Coeur, MO Class I - Taylorcraft BC-12D, NC5020M - Ralph Lauritsen , Boone, IA Class II - Lu scombe 8E N2424K - Gregg Bietel, Charlotte , NC Class III - Cessna 195 N4477C - Ray Thompson, Houston , TX Cu stom Class A - Piper j-3 N42478 - john Lamas cus, Pacific Grove, CA Cu stom Class B - Cess na 140 N2436V - Thomas Weaver , Kalispell, MT Custom Class C - Bellanca 14-19 N6Rj - Ronald joslyn , Malibu , CA Be st Workman ship - Stinson 108-1 N8509K Daniel Bauman, Dorr, MI
BEST OF TYPE Aeronca Champ - 7AC NC81583 - Theo Travis, Flushing , MI Aeronca Chief - 11-CC N4628E - David Long , Keyser, WV Beech - D-18S N4477 - john Parish , Tullahoma, TN Bellanca 14-13-2 - N46LW - Robert Knauff, Langley AFB , VA Cessna 120/140 - 140 N76509 - jame s Schock, Farmington Hill s, MN Cessna 170/180 - 170A N711DR - William Lower, Citrus Heights , CA Cess na 1901195 - 195 N88DL - john Ankers , Boca Raton , FL Ercoupe - N2279H - john Wright , Springfield , IL Lu scombe - 8E N2493K - Leo Bachman, Decatur, IL Navion - N8997H - Ben Gentile, Huntington , L.I., NY Piper j -3 - NC3432 N - Donald jensen , Albert Lea, MN Piper - Other - PA-12 N2903M - Bob Byers, Salk ville , WI Stin son - 108 N389C - Boyd Walsh, Marion, IN Swift - GC-1A N80905 - Charles Hoover, St. Paul, MN Taylorcraft - BC-1 2D N96818 - William Knight, Brodhead , WI Limited Production - Commonwealth Skyranger 185 - Ross Gresley, Anderson , IN Northern Illinois Aero Club - Best Owner Re stored Airplane - Curti ss Robin NR59H, joseph Erale
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Figure 1
~~the Back in the summer of 1930, things were not going well at the Taylor Brothers aircraft factory in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Their first aircraft, "The Chummy " , wasn ' t selling . Evidently the $4,000,00 price tag was too high for the depressed economic conditions. A new and much cheaper model was needed . Thus , from a : desperate necessity, the first Cub was born. This is the story of that first Cub , SI N 11, Id entification 10547.
8
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Taylor serial numbers started with #1, a converted Jenney. #2 through #10 were an assortment of rebuilds and Chummys. #11 was the first Cub, and is shown with it's Salmson engine (Fig . 1). The first official record relating to this plane is a letter, (Fig. 2) to the Department of Commerce request足 ing an identification mark . Shortly thereafter a second letter (Fig. 3) reports that the original Tiger Kitten en足
gine had been replaced by the more powerful Salmson AD9 . Note that references to the Chummy have been deleted from the letterhead. These documents would indicate that the E-2 had been designed and built before August 20,1930 . This prototype E-2 reveals some of its Chummy ancestry. The wings are the same shape, the tail has similar lines and the fuselage bracing around the cockpit is familiar.
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Th e most obviou s difference between the two plane s is the change from side-by-side to tandem seating. 6 :;~9 A clo se examination of the photo also reveals that TAYLOR BROTHERS AIRCRAFT thi s plane differs in a number of details from its thou c c,it POll. 1> 1' 10 ;" sand of descendants. (See Fig. 4, a picture of SIN 12 , !S::~~~ 1.~.~(1 : ~,~ f." I~: n:s ~Ii" .4 n i a which is the first produ ction modeL) The most obviou s differences are: Septombor 2~::,r~l!O '. * Fabric to firewall ~:10 St.p _. .... ,."f,'?,: * No diagonal brace behind back, instead two small ' V <.$ ' f De pa rt ment o f comcerce~ ' '/ .9 braces Aa r onau tlC8 Bran oh. * Tank on top of wing 11 ce ~ sin ~ Divlsion. nash i ngton. D. C. * Back seat two inches forward Gen t lemen : * Lower turtleback, especially at tail * No adjustable stabilizer Wo rocoDtly Bo n t you application. for an IdBntlfi CDt. i o r.,...-J!la: k~ ~o r au r plaD;8 ".11. Model Z2. and rece! ved the
* Fuselage strait one station behind strut attach. nu m be r . ).?~ Did they ori ginally plan parallel struts lik e the t h 1s applica t ion \\'8 8 baa ed , on -the ir:.stallatlOll of Chummy? a f l ge r Xltl8n. Mod el 30 e n~ lne. Tbla englfi8 wae u~ed in test f11 &ots horo rece n tly. but provod to bo of lL8Uff iciont po.or, * Drag cable to engine mount * Aileron cable runs further out on wing to ClL of e o t ~ .~ ~. we ha ve hlle: t o c h .'l n ~:· o en 5 ine e.
Accordln&ly. we are encloeino herewith new applications aileron. Connecting cable runs on top of wing , f or th e same plane, but ba ~ ed on t h o new motor whicb Is DOW be l r.g lus ta110J ' In tho pl ane . ?lo ~ o. b. sood oDOugh to B•• that
with a guide at the tank. this change is porperly recorded.
* Two small jury struts , further out on mains . We d o n o t know th&t we ha v e use d the proper form iL * Elevator horn outside of fuselage . rep o r t iLg this cher.oe. but if ana other ~ould Buit the purpo8e Evidently no more Cubs were manufactured , until De t t e r we would like to r ecei ve a ~ 8upply of them. · ~l.o send us
the adoption of the A-40 engine in the spring of 1931. a lle~'V au pply a f Form '''.. I t. .
very trlly 70cra. Records show that 14 E-2' s were built during the summer of 1931 before the Approved Type Certificate #455 'U YL0rl rs.j ?'!'.'IErl ~ .y~ i!u·r CO~ORAT I O N became official on the seventh of November 1931. It " '~/1/' '/{~was first applied to SIN 26, NC-11674. . ",,/ • :Ide. llanaoler . 1 What happened to thi s historic plane? The FAA e aC1l ] e t te/ b records show that it wa s sold by the factory in 1931 and shortly thereafter came into the hands of two men named Barney and Burkowski , identified as " fugitives from justice" . A 1935 registration (Fig. 5) shows it in the Detroit area. Shortly thereafter a final entry indi cates the registration was cancelled " due to an acci dent" . Very likel y thi s hi storic plane was scrapped at __. _ _ _ , LAN I TlAINING .oJ PE I. S ONAL thi s time , ending th e story o f " The First Cub " . '" , R, C A ' S F J N E S T ~;
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STEVE JONES'
STEARMAN
RESTORATION
PART I
By Steve & Kay Jones 729 Val Verde Or. S.E. Albuquerque, NM 87108
(Photo
by Steve Jones)
Steve Jones and his Stearman PT-17 fuselage in his garage in Albuquerque, New Mexico .
(Reprinted from SRA "OUTFIT")
Since 1943, when I was an Aviation Cadet at Rankin Academy in Tulare, California, I have dreamed of ac quiring a Stearman . It was difficult tosee my way clear of owning one - until five years ago when I purchased a "basket case" from a fellow in Phoenix who had ap parently lost interest in his restoration project. If it were not for my love of the Stearman, I most probably would have fallen victim to the same disinterest. In a conversation with Bill McCreary, who has one of the most beautifu lIy restored stock Stearmans I have ever seen, he commented that after being in volved in his restoration project for several years, he thought to himself, "What the hell am I doing with this airplane? I'll never finish." He did, however, and so will I - I hope! Bill, who until recently resided in the Phoenix area, was fortunate in that he purchased his Stearman in tact, whereas mine was completely dismembered. I made several trips to Phoenix before Bill moved, to seek his advice and use his plane as a guide, trying to visualize what my "basket case" would look like some day.
10
The first major step of my project was of course, the purchase . My prize possession was to be hauled from Phoenix to Albuquerque in a truck borrowed from a local plumbing supply, but not without complications as I was soon to discover. My purchase was a package deal - both a duster and stock fuselage. I was not in terested in the duster fuselage, save for the landing gear. The bolts which after years of being in place, were frozen to the fuselage and gear, making it impos sible for me to remove them at that time . I could not load but one fuselage on the truck, so I was forced to leave the gear beh ind. After a short interval, a friend of mine, Troy Elliott, who owns a local welding shop and who worke'd at the Boeing Stearman Plant in Wichita during the war (and a big help with my project), re turned to Phoenix with me in his pickup with his oxya cetylene gear. Using his equipment, we warmed the landing gear in the area of the attach bolts and we were then able to remove the bolts and gear and return to Albuquerque. The first several months consisted of sorting out the bits and pieces in order to take inventory. After
much time spent at this tedious task , I found that my pride and joy's previous owner, George Brinkoff, had two or three rights and no lefts, or visa versa . He was also short many of the littl e " Goodies" necessary to make the airplane original. Most of the first year was spent in studying the parts manual and acquiring the hard-to-get hardware articles. I spent many hours at a local metal finishing shop using the glass beader, cleaning up the numerous parts in preparation for repainting, cad plating or anodizing - whichever the case was. The chrome pi ston assemblies and the knuckle and axle combination were removed from the main part of the gear fo r cleaning and inspection. I ordered and received new chrome piston assys., as the original had a spot of chrome worn off one cylinder, and my prob lem was then how to separate the knuckle and axle as sembly from the piston assembly. After several local inquiries, I found, to my dismay, there was little - if any - information available locally to assist me with my Stearman project. I found th is to be painfully true in each search for Stearman details, which appropri ately led me to sign one of my many letters to Tom Lowe, President, Stearman Restorer's Association, as "Lonesome Jones". The two bolts passing through the knuckle and pis ton assembly were removed, but this had no loosening effect on the two members. Troy Elliott and myself de signed a steel fixture to separate these two pieces . It consisted of two brackets with holes for bolts that would mate with the holes in the knuckle assembly and the scissor bracket on the piston assembly . Troy had a ten ton press which we used to install this Rube Gold berg setup. Almost full pressure was applied when the structural members of the press began to bend, but there was no relative motion apparent at the separa tion point 'o f these two units. A sudden loud explosion shook both Troy and I and only slightly separated the two units, but you might say, it "broke the ice"! With additional pressure applied to the press, the two parts separated in increments of about Va" at a time. The male end of the knuckle assembly appeared to be gaulded . It looked as if its apparent chrome surface had become gaulded from being pulled apart. Being unfimiliar with this problem and not knowing the ex tent of damage to the plating, I consulted with Kaehr Metal Finishing - who incidentally has done a lot of plating, anodizing, etc. on my project and who allowed me the use of their glass beading machine for cleaning the parts . Ray Kaehr, an expert on metal treatment, ad vised me the gaulded plating was a plating of tin which insures a positive seal on reassembly. The male ends of the knuckle assembly were cleaned and tin plated.
-'-'~"'"'--~.-.
Upon checking the ID of the piston and the aD of the knuckle, I fou nd there was .002"-.003" interference fit between these mateing surfaces. Now the problem was how to get these parts back together. In my read ing and inquiring, I was acquainted with the procedure of putting the female end of the piston in boiling water to expand, and I conjectured further that if boiling wa ter is beneficial, perhaps boiling oil would be even bet ter. I also thought of putting the male end of the knuck le in dry ice to shrink. We placed the female end of the piston in the boiling oil which was kept at the flash point (a C02 fire extinguisher was kept handy to douse the oil flashes). The piston remained in the hot oil and with the use of inside micrometer, we would fre quently check the increase in diameter. When we real ized the aD had increased to the limit and the male end of the knuckle assembly had shrunk all it was going to, we were ready for the moment of truth. The problem at hand now was to successfully assemble these two parts and ali,gn the two bolt holes before the two sur faces would sieze. I am sure the boys at Boeing in Wichita had a better procedure for aligning these two pieces! Our first at tempt was limited to eyeballing the two bolt hole pat terns, and I was able to get the piston on to the knuckle assembly only halfway before the two parts siezed. It was back to the pulling jig as mentioned before, and then back to the tin plating on the male end of the knuckle assembly. Before the next try I had second thoughts about the use of the dry ice to shrink the male end of the knuckle assembly. The shrinkage was very slight and it was possible the cold knuckle pin touching the piston as sembly was accelerating the contraction of the female opening. So the second time around, I decided to leave the knuckle at room temperature and expand the pis ton opening to the maximum with the use of boiling oil. When the piston had reached its maximum expansion and with the knuckle assembly held in the vice, I socked the piston onto the knuckle and this time - I made it. I would estimate that from the time the two parts started to mate, there was about two seconds available to align the holes. This procedure was done on right and left sides of the gear and with very close alignment. I did have to run a line reamer through the holes after assembly to allow the bolts to pass through. The gear was sandblasted and primed with epoxy type aD primer. On reassembly, a new set of chevron seals were installed. The fuselage tubing was lineoiled, and to my sur prise, it took nearly seven gallons of linseed oil to fill completely. The fuselage assembly is now complete
with all the original "goodies". I was able to locate two sets of new instruments with original lemon-lime color dial markings. Upon disassembly of my Continental 220 engine for inspection and overhaul, I noted the red oxide paint on the interior of the engine. I wrote to Teledyne Contin ental Motors inquiring as to the purpose of this red ox ide coating. Their reply informed me that its original purpose was to seal the pores of the casting to prevent oil seepage. It was later discovered that this procedure was not necessary and the paint coating was found to create more problems that it solved, such as flaking off. Being advised to remove the red coating, I accom plished this by use of paint stripper, followed by glass beading, followed by solvent cleaning. All of the parts of the engine have been cleaned and magnifluxed and are ready for reassembly. The new set of standard cylinders I acquired came packed in wooden crates stamped EI Toro Marine Air Base 1944. The nails and wire bands were rusty, but the cosmolined cylinders inside were in perfect condition. The old engine had five oversized and two standards. The five oversized pistons have been turned down to standard, including cutting the depth of ring grooves the same as diameter of piston. In my quest for origi nality I have located two sets of original gosports, and interestingly enough, one of the sets came from my Rankin flight instructor, Bill Jonker, and the other from Bill Mason, a flight instructor at Rankin. Of course, the original Stearman only had one set of gosports, but I'd like two-way communication now. Another interesting bit of nostalgia surrounding my Stearman, is the log sheet I received on this particular sin from the Air Force Museum. Its record shows it spent part of its active life at Rankin Field at the time I was a cadet. I have also received from the Boeing Wichita plant a copy of the delivery date record indi cating when my sin was delivered to the Army Air Corps, 11-14-41. I have fabricated a steel jig to build wing tip bows and also an engine overhaul stand patterned after the pictures in the Continental Overhaul Manual. I have also constructed a Continental puller and crankshaft aligning jig and a thrust nut tool. I am now in the pro cess of rebuilding the wings - part two of this story that will have to wait. This restoration is certainly a labor of love. If it weren't, I dare say there would be a "For Sale" on it today! Briefly, my progress with the fabric portion of the restoration - I purchased dacron from Aircraft Spruce Specialty not knowing of the STC requirements for
--~ --~-~,,,,~
~
Rear cockpit area of Steve Jones' PT- 77 undergoing restoration .
What a relief to know the wing fits!!
11
My Stearman Ska sembly and ~ning .
Standard category aircraft . My inspector said he could not sign off the work without FAA approval. Contact was made with the local GADa office who in turn re ferred me to the regional office in Fort Worth . They were respon sive to my request and after some investi gation and consideration gave me a one-shot approval to use Aircraft Spruce dacron for my Stearman. I have also built a wing overhaul stand . With the fuselage completed including firewall, it lacked about 2" clearing my garage door opening. I tried letting the air out of the tires and hung 200 pounds on the landing gear cross member in an attempt to compress the gear - but no luck. I subsequently de cided on a steel cradle to support the axle, mounted on three caster wheels . With this rig I gained 4". I guess you could say, I have the only set of Stearman "skate boards" in captivity! On one of Jim Ardy's cross-country trips, he flew his #1 beauty to the Boeing plant in Wichita to show it off. In the course of a conversation there, he was told about
12
som e parts on the shelf left from production days. The parts were the tail wheel post and axle assembly . Jim bought everything on the shelf and later gave me the opportunity to buy one. Of course , I jumped at the chance to purchase an original part off the factory shel f. I had to rebuild the fire wall to comply with stain less steel and aluminum sandwich requirements. I lucked out finding a quantity of original style rivets , large 00 and low profile head. In order to duplicate the 4 dimples in the fire wall at the motor mount attach points , I had a local machinist make a male and female die to form this dimple. The machinist measured as close as possible the dimensions - depth, taper, diam eter - the first set of dies gave a dimple too deep . On the second try the dimple came out perfect. The two halves were held together with a strap loop. Pressure to form the dimples was applied with a ten ton hydrau lic press. The fire wall came out just like storebought. In my never-ending search for detailed information ,
I obtained a roll of microfilm of the Boeing Stearman Airplane drawings. Thi s film wa s procured from the Dept. of Air Force, Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton , Ohio, and required permiss ion from the Boeing Seattle Divi sion for release. I had to sign a release to relieve them of liability that might result from my use or misuse of the drawings. ' I have built jigs to construct ribs from and have finished two sets of ribs complete with spar opening. In retrospect , I have learned from the old pros that the spar openings should not be enclosed until after the ribs are in place. The ribs should have only the forward vertical truss in place . This would align the ribs and the three remaining vertical trusses installed after the ribs are in place. I haven ' t assembled my first wing panel as yet , but will start assembly as soon as I have the spars drilled using the old spars as a pattern. I have been advised to remove three of the vertical trusses , but am going to try to work around this error in con struction. In my second installment I will report my
findings . Hindsight is always better than foresight and this project is no exception! I would like to express my appreciation for detail assistance with my project to three individuals in par足 ticular: Tom Lowe and Bill Bohannan, both of SRA and Paul Quinn of Mid-Continent in Hayti, Missouri. I would also like to express my thanks to Charlie Dickinson for helping disassemble and inspect my Continental 220 engine. I would like also to say how much I have enjoyed the past two visits with Bill and Beth Mason when they visited in our home on their cross country trips. Bill always let me fly from the back seat, which sure reminded me of the good old days at Rankin Acad足 emy. As I mentioned to Tom Lowe previous to starting this project, I had only the love of a Stearman and my experience as an aviation cadet to get me going, but when I get a live bird out of this project, I will have a thorough knowledge of the Model 75 Stearman . On one occasion when my son was checking out my progress, he made a comment that was the greatest compliment a son could ever give his dad . "Dad", he said, " You can do about anything and what you can't do, you can find out how." If I didn't have this ability to find out what I don ' t know, my Stearman project would have gone down the tubes long ago .
A p air of excellent Cub restoration s return from a formation flight.
HELP! The Vintage Airplane Magazine is in grave danger. The problem is lack of material. As with SPORT AVIATION and other EAA publications we are almost totally depen足 dent on the photographic generosity and writing activity of our readership. It's up to you to share with the other members of the Antique/Classic Division your experiences, memories, photographs or research. Headquarters can not do it all on its own. The supply of manuscripts is so low that unless we hear from some of you soon there may not be a happy new year. Please get involved ... now! Paul H. Poberezny, Publisher David Gustafson, Editor Piper Pacer belonging to David Vanciere, Mitchell, 50 .
My den as wing assembl y shop.
Guiseppe M. Bellanca designed and built his first airplane in Milan, Italy, 1908-09; learned to fly at Mineola, N .Y. in 19 12. H e master-minded the building of the record breaking Bellancas, and organized his factory at New Castle, Delaware in 1927.
Source of pixs and info:
Aircraft Age Air Travel News Western Flying National Glider and Airplane News "Man's Fight to Fly", Heinmuller (1945)
Vintag Some BELLANC Compiled
}. Wes le y Smith (L) and George H aldeman (R) pictured with the Aviation Town and Country Club Trophy (L), the Cleveland-to-B uffalo Efficiency Race Trophy (M id) and the Detro it News Air Transport Trophy (R), won by the Bel足 lanca pilots in speed and efficiency races at the 1929 Nationa l Air Races.
The "Co lumbia " was one of th e early record breakers; set
a world non-refueling endurance record of 51 hrs. 11 min., in May of 1927 by Claren ce Chamberlin and Bert Acosta. A fortnight after Lindy's flight, Chamberlin, with Charles Levine as passenger, flew the "Co lumbia" from Roose足 velt Field to Eisleben, Germany in 42 hrs. 45 min. A second trans-Atlantic flight was made by Erro ll Boyd and Harry Connor in the fall of 1930. This 1933 picture, with ring and logo added, was taken before Boyd, Lyon and Davis flew from New York to Haiti and return.
Album
tory of Yesteryears
'nn Buffington
Earl y-on corporate pilot, June Quinn, (L) and Win Camp bell (R), nationally known baker, who used a Bellanca in visiting his thirty plants, extending from the Rockies to the Atlantic. Campbell-Taggart Associated Bakeries head quartered in Kansas City, circa 7937.
A Bellanca Skyrocket, one of the planes used by Co lorado Utah Airways, subsidiary of U.S . Airways, over its Denver, Grand Junction - Salt Lake City rout ing, circa 7932.
I Elinor Smith, teenage Long Island pilot, used Bellancas in
setting altitude and endurance records - Apr. 23-24, 7929 26 hrs. 27 min. non-refueling endur~nce flight and Mar. 70, 7930 - 27, 448 ft. over Roosevelt Field in a Pa cemaker.
Clyde Pangborn (L) and Hugh H erndon (R) flew the Bel lanca "M iss Veedo l " around-the-world in 7931. They completed the first non-stop trans-Pacific flight on Oct. 5, 7937 - in a 47 hr. 70 min. flight from Samushiro Beach, Japan_to Wenatchee, WA, dropping their landing gea r after the take-off.
f!JLi; S)
'@~@f!!~~r:s'c!!!~.·------ Gus Riggs' Biplane
By D. D. Peterson, Ale 660
74 Doe Drive
Terre Haute, Indiana 47802
(Photos Provided by the Author)
In the decade following the Wright brothers first powered flight, and particularly after their first public demonstrations, a slowly growing number of new air craft designs appeared in the United States, their builders hoping to establish themselves in a new in dustry. The 1913 issue of Jane's All the World 's Air
16
craft states that "there are certainly no less than two thousand people in the U.S.A. who have built flying machines. The greater percentage of these have been home made copies of standard machines." It states further that " the general public takes very slight intel ligent interest in aviation." Developments in this country lagged far behind those in Europe, even be fore the stimulus provided by World War I. Two original designs were built in Terre Haute, Indiana - the Johnson Brothers monoplane (covered in The Vintage Airplane, October, 1977) and a tractor biplane designed and built by E. A . "Gus" Riggs, the subject of this piece . Each of these aircraft was equiva lent to - and in some respects superior to - much better known European designs.
Terre Haute at t hat time was a typi ca l small mid western city with a population of app rox imately 65,000. It was in the center of one of the country's biggest beds of bituminous coal, and was also a transportation cen ter - being served by 8 railroads and 4 interurban lines. Terre Haute had the largest wholesale grocery business in Indiana, the largest distillery in the U.S . with a daily capacity of 60,000 gallons, and a great diversity of light industry. Eugene Augustus "Gus" Riggs was born and raised on a farm near Farmersburg, about 15 miles south of Terre Haute . He completed 3 years of high school and gained his knowledge of engineering and aero nautics by studying college textbooks at home . He stated in a 1958 interview that "there were no aero
nautic courses available and anyone who expressed an interest in airplanes was t hought to be nuts ." The information in this article was obtained from a taped interview of Mr. Riggs by three members of the Wa bash Valley Pilots Association , microfilm copies of local newspapers, some information from the Smithsonian Institute , and personal communication. Unfortunately w e haven ' t found anyone who remembers seeing this airplane fly , but I've talked to 2 people who hung around the Riggs' shop during their boyhood . D esign work on the Riggs' tractor biplane apparent ly was started in 1911 , possibly after he had seen the first flying exhibition ever made in Terre Haute by Rene Simon and Captain J. J. Frisbee in June, or the first flights of the Johnson Brothers' monoplane in Augu st and September , 1911. Work on this project was postponed when he was commissioned by Dr. Belden , a local dentist, to build a copy of a Wright Bi hlane . Riggs went to St. Louis and was allowed to make detailed measurements and sketches of the Wright Model B owned by Mr . Lambert . He returned to Terre Haute and built a reasonable facsimile of a Wright biplane powered by a Fox 2 cycle engine. The plane stalled and crashed on its initial flight in 1912, while being pi loted by a man named Piceller , FAI #116. Riggs then got back to work on h is origi nal design and final assemb ly was comp leted late in May, 1913 . In the 1958 interview Riggs claims that there were , at that time , only 3 other designers in t he Un ited States building tractor bip lanes, and that he p referred this arrangement because t here was less danger to t he p ilot in t he eve nt of a mi shap if th e pil ot was behin d t he motor . T h e fr am ework , of spru ce an d as h , wi th wi r e braci ng, w as d escrib ed as a " w o rk of art" and acco rd i ng to Elling O . Weeks, w ho was to b e its fi rs t pilot , it w as t he li ghtest machine he had ever seen . It had a win g span of 32 feet. Th e plan form o f t he win gs and the win g w arpin g system were qu ite similar to a Wri ght biplan e. The fuselage wa s enclosed bac k to th e co ck pit, the verti cal tail surface and probably the horizon tal tail were fully moveable. The control system was th e same as that used on the Deperdussin with which Ve drines won the 1912 Gorden Bennett race, a wheel controlled the wing warping and horizontal tail , and a rudder bar was connected to the vertical tail. Power was supplied by a 60 or 80 hp Hall-Scott, V-8, water cooled engine that had been obtained from a wreck Kearney had off the California coast on an attempted f light from Los Angeles to San Francisco . The propeller was 8 feet 3 inches in diameter and had been carved
from laminated spruce and walnut by Lloyd Where , who was then a student at Rose Polytechnic In stitute. The Terre Haute Tribune articles in the summer of 1913 referred to the craft as the Riggs Tractor No. 13, supposedl y becau se the young men thought the name would bring them luck - as they were using a motor which had been owned by a dead aviator . Work on the machine was started on the 13th of the month and was completed in 1913 . They claimed the airframe was made out of the wood of a casket. In the 1958 inter view Mr. Riggs simpl y referred to it as his tractor
G us Riggs ' bip lan e is airborn e.
biplane. The three men were certainl y young - Riggs, the designer and builder, was either 20 or 21, E. O . Weeks , the pilot, was soon to have hi s 23rd b irthday, and Lloyd Wehr was probably 19: Elling O . Weeks joined Riggs in early 1913 as an experienced aviator. He was a native of Iowa, had been i nvolved in auto racing around Chicago, and had learned to fly a plane he had built in 1911 . He was later associated with O . H . Williams in building and f lying
17
an airplane in Scranton , Pennsylvania. After making some record flights in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre he took some further instruction on a Thomas Brothers' school plane in Bath , New York, and was awarded FAI license No . 214 on March 12, 1913. Riggs had apparently done his homework well be cause Weeks had no significant problems on the first flights which were made from a field on the south edge of Terre Haute, very near where the johnson mono plane was being flown by Ross Smith. A newspaper article on june 17th reports that he had made at least 40 flights - most of them of at least 10 minutes dura tion, and a june 19th article gives details of a 28 minute flight over the city. There had been one forced landing because of an engine malfunction . Flights continued quite regularly and an article on july 18 reported that the craft was being modified to allow carrying a pas senger. This must not have been a very big job because on july 21 Weeks took Ross Smith, the pilot of the John son monoplane, Lloyd Wehr and Billy Burke for short rides in somewhat gusty weather . We have no pictures of the plane carrying two people, but presume the pas senger was seated in front of the pilot. An article later in July reported that Riggs was starting to take flying lessons from Weeks . Undoubtedly this lack of "teething problem s" wa s the result of several factors ; Gus had used a conven tional design with a proven control system , the engine was a standard type as reliable as most at that time, and the flying was done by an experienced and com petent pilot, E. O . Weeks . There was apparently some friendly competition between the johnson and Rigg s
Gus ' Aeroplane
camps, both a 10 mile race and some other trials were planned, as well as joint exhibitions. There were also ' plans for other projects such as taking aerial motion pictures of the business destrict, the waterfront and the portion of the city devastated by the March tornado and flood. About August 1 the airplane was shipped from Terre Haute to Holland, Michigan where Weeks made daily flights at a fair and later a round trip flight from Hol足
land to Saugatuck. In the following weeks they ap足 peared at many fairs in several mid-western and upper plains States, getting as far west as Denver. The craft was apparently wrecked in a crash at Fort Collins, Colorado and was not rebuilt. . Riggs returned to Terre Haute and set to work on an improved , design which was larger, had a slightly more powerful Hall-Scott engine, had ailerons for lateral control, and other refinements, Weeks had
found some financial backing in Eagle Grove, Iowa, so Riggs joined him there in 1914 to build the new design. Those who knew him say Gus Riggs was quite in足 dependent, an avid reader with a fantastic memory, and a meticulous craftsman who "built no junk", He'd work very long and hard on a project that had his interest, but there were other periods when he , did little or! nothing. He served in Europe as a technical
19
John son Bro s. Monoplane - Art Smith Pilot .
Acknowledgf2ment: Photos and the taped Riggs inter足 view used in preparing this article were provided by John Blouch EAA 75223, Ale 1657. He's too young to remember the 7913 airplane, but spent many boyhood hours in th e decade following WWI loafing in Gus' shop, which was less than a block from the Blouch home. John probably knew Gus Riggs as w ell as anyone in Terre Haute knew him, and our conversations have given me a good idea of what kind of man Riggs was .
advisor for the Air Service in World War I, and built a couple of airplanes and some custom automobiles in Terre H aute in 1919and the early 20's. He left Terre Haute in 1928 and worked with Walter Beech at Travel Air in Wichita for a while before joining his friend Billy Park er in the Star co mpany in Oklahoma, where he
20
was chief designer of the Star Cavalier. He was back in western Indiana in the depression years , where he was involved in a variety of activities , but apparently was never again active in any phase of aviation . So, like the Johnson monoplane, the second ori足 ginal airplane built in Terre Haute, which also had a
promising beginning and potential for future develop足 ment, never led to any great success for its designer and builder . But it' s interesting to speculate about what might have been .
Buying an old Airplane •
IS
just the beginning '.
By Bob Barnes
294 2 Verle
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48704
Everyone knows an old airplane is always in need of a little fixin', but just how much can you expect when you buy a 30 year old flyin' machine? I suppose some are better than others, but I strongly suspect the difference really isn't great. I thought perhaps sharing my experience with my Aeronca Chief would give those of you who are enter taining thoughts about picking up a little old so me thing to fly a better idea of just what to expect. Please don't get discouraged by the len gth of my li st of "things to do " . I am not the type who can just hop in and go. I want to fly with the satisfaction of knowing all is well and I'm willing to go to a great deal of trouble to put things in shape . My ship had been in basket condition for some time, the tai l surfaces having been recovered by one owner and the wings by another since its last sojourn into the blue. I entered the scene just as the wings were being refitted to the airframe. I volunteered to help, peeking around as best I could during the reassembly to see how she looked inside. I couldn't see any signs of the ship having been badly damaged at any time and outside of being very old and bit dirty, it looked fairly respectable. I made an offer and was on my way to learning all about old 'airplanes . Let me take it more or less in order from back to front. The rudder horn for the steerable tailwheel had been misplaced. I welded a strap of mild steel to a short length of 3/ 4 " conduit. This part is not structural, and conduit works OK here only. The tail brace wires were slightly rusted and paint was shot, so I sanded them carefully and gave them one coat of zinc chro mate and one coat of aluminum enamel. Some more rust was sanded f rom tubing in t h e fin where water got in aro und the in spection plates. Chromate was ap plied here too. In attemptin g to hook up the elevato r trim tab , the cab le broke. A new cabl e was in stalled after a search for a place with swaging equipment. Th e new cable left the trim tab range badly off-center . Investigation revealed it had been that way for some time . A link was made to correct the off-center condition because I don't like controls whi ch don ' t work the way they're supposed to. I put new bolts in th e tailwheel asse mbly because they take quite a beating with a heavy tailed ship. Grease was liberally applied to force out the old dirty stuff from th e wheel bearings and the pivot. The stop-bolts were mi ss ing from the elevator, so new ones were in sta lled and adjusted. No further probl ems were found in the tail until flight testing dis clo sed the need for heavy right rudder pressure and ve ry touch y ground handlin g on Hyne 's rJarrow run
21
way. The rudder pressure was alleviated by installa tion of a 12 square inch trim tab (bent aluminum plate screwed to the trailing edge). The tricky steering was attributed to an unskilled pilot for a while but re drilling the new steering horn to reduce steering leverage made a pussycat out of the wild beast and re-established competence in the pilot. Moving forward now, let's stop at the reverse tank located behind the baggage compartment. No drain cock could be found , but an inspection plate dis closed a pipe tee with a cap. A radiator drain valve was secured from an automotive supply house and in stalled with a short hose which was routed through a slot cut in the inspection plate . The tank was flushed and though clean, the fuel was discarded (I discarded it into my VW tank) . There were no leaks, so we moved on to the baggage compartment . It had been pulled out and simply required reinstallation and a couple of new snap-fasteners from the tent repair shop . The header was tougher. A zipper ran clear across the cabin for access to aileron cables. It had bee{l left unzipped too long and had shrunk so it lacked 112" for closure . I installed two rows of eyelets and laced the thing together. The recovered wings had pulled in the root ribs so the gap fairings couldn 't be reassembled with the original screwholes. Several new holes were needed. An old antenna was secured to the left fairing and a new length of coax was prepared and run down to a BNC connector installed on the panel. A pair of rotating air vents were located in the nose fairings on either side of the windshield and they were loose as a goose and rusted there. New ones were made and fitted with spring washers and thick cork gaskets in case I wanted to fly in the winter. Flight testing revealed treacherous wing dropping in a stall , so rigging was checked and 1V2 degrees of wash-in was found in the wings. With rerigging to 0 degrees the ship picked up 3 mph and now stalls right straight ahead as it should . Windows were filthy and appeared in poor condi tions. Careful washing with lots of water followed by a coat of automotive turtle wax made them all shine like brand new . Caught in time! The door catches were badly worn , but so far I haven ' t found any good way to repair them so I use them with care. A square of WD-40 made a lot of difference in the way they work. Rusty aircraft bolts with no nuts had been jammed in to serve as door hinges . The work involved in fitting new clevi s pins and cotter keys made me realize why a less ambitious owner had taken the easy way out. I did it the right way, nevertheless. Wiring for navigation lights had been installed in the wings during recover and the ends were hanging
22
out in the breeze. I installed seaplane grommets an inch from the exit points and shoved the wire end s back inside the wing through the grommets . Looks fine . In transporting the wings to. the airport on cartop carriers the trailing edge of the left wing had been crushed forward very slightly and the fabric had wrinkles at each rib juncture. A little work with a travel-iron heating through a scrap of cloth corrected the wrinkles without damaging the finish. The E.L.T. was attached to the left door at a point where it presented neither hazard not inconvenience (except in its cost) . This permitted the antenna to lie near the window without interference with metal ob jects which would reduce its effectiveness. A defective plastic ventilator in the right side of the boot-cowl was replaced by a metal cap attached with a wingnut in case it becomes advisable to reinstall a vent next summer . The engine cowling had 3 dzus fasteners which had pulled clear through the aluminum cowl. Patches were riveted in place and the fasteners carefully located and reinstalled. New fasteners were put in where the slots had been butchered by improperly equipped pilots. At this time a couple of dzus keys were made and became a permanent addition to my key rings. A fuel drain bottle was made up with a slotted neck to reach up from the bottom of the cowl and engage the quick-drain lugs . Wheel bearings were repacked and the shock struts were refilled . A strut safety cable was missing on the left side so a new cable and mounting clamp were made up and insta.lled. Brakes were adjusted. New bolts were installed in the landing gear struts and in the wing struts . The front fuel tank was thor oughly flushed and the gauge checked for accuracy below Y4 tank . Primer lines were removed for anneal ing and new fittings were installed when incorrect fittings were discovered on the lines . A leak check proved OK. The altimeter had been removed and pre sented a real hassle getting it back in place . The oil pressure gauge line was Y4" copper tubing with about a pound of fittings on either end. After about 8 trips to the automotive supply house, a proper Va" line was installed with correct end fittings instead of tirepump clamps, etc. All lines under the panel were strapped or taped together and the fuel lines separated from electrical wiring. Several grommets were replaced in the fire wall and a new engine groundstrap was made up and installed. The th rottle cable and carbu retor-head cable were rerouted into smooth curves and clamps made to hold them from slipping endwise.
A compression check showed a very soft jug. Pulling the cylinder revealed a slightly wobbly rod . Pulling the rod di sclo sed a heavily worn bearing. At this point the purchase price dropped $200 and the top overhaul became all my responsibility. I pulled all jugs and rods . A good tugging verified no unusal wear on the mains and everything inside looked up to snuff. I borrowed a set of good micrometers and checked out the crank throws, pistons, cylinders, and piston pins. The crank was within limits and not even undersize. Same for the cylinders , but the y had noticeable ridges . I bought a cylinder hone and went to it. They cleaned up nicely. I used an axial wire brush in a portable electric drill wrapped in rags to clean carbon from the heads so I could inspect what looked like a crack be tween valve seats. This proved to be just a casting mark but I looked everything over under 100 watt light stuck right inside the jugs . All OK . I ground and lapped in all the valves using a simple tool I made at the old Hartung Airport in 1943 . After I finished they all refused to leak a drop of gasoline in 10 minutes. Number 2 jug had a bad exhaust valve guide so I lost an evening making a guide driving punch. Next weekend I drove over to see Del Hickox near Benton Harbor and came back with a valve guide, a set of rings, new rod bearings, intake hoses , a couple spare valves, and a set of gaskets. While I had the engine down I decided to correctly safety the carburetor on which one screw was not in cluded in the safety loop. Just to get at that one screw was a chore and I couldn 't get the wire to go through it. I decided the wire had been sheared off by tightening the nut with safety wire in place. To remove the nut I had to pull off the mixture control. Inside the mix ture control I found red powder . Also, the valve disc was frozen in place . I decided the carburetor would go home with me. Pulling off the carburetor heat assembly, I discovered the cable had been improperly fitted and there was no way the carburetor heat could have been turned on full. Having once explained to the Brighton Troopers why I had parked an airplane on US 23 with carburetor heat halfway on, I decided a Iittle rework was in order. I redesigned the cable at tachment so the flapper actually makes a slapping sound when it's operated so I would KNOW it was fully on or off. I had to make a special screwdriver with a 4" lever arm to break loose the mixture control disc. It was really glued shut. A lot more red dust came out of the jets as I flushed out the guts. I lapped the mixture con trol disc against a garage window with valve lapping compound and reassembled a very clean carburetor . My only experience with a dead engine on take-off
from Hyne was from a plugged carburetor and I'm leery of them noW, you see? Eventually the engine was back together with all bolts carefully torqued to book values. I used all new brass exhaust nuts so I won't have to swear next time I pull the pipes. The cooling baffles looked like doilies so I stripped them off and went home and got out the tin snips and made a whole new set, using the old ones for patterns . I used leather strips from a billfold on the edges, attaching the leather with pop rivets and back-up washers. A new set costs either $86 or an evening or two. I had more evenings than $86 bills. The little aluminum baffle plates that fit between the jugs on the bottom were all cut up from vibrating against the fins on the cylinders, so I made new ones and supported them with springs and short lengths of welding rod like the original aircraft manufacturer used. I broke one cigarette (internal spark plug insula足 tor) and John Bennett found one in his collection of goodies. All the plugs were new, since one of the previous owners works for AC. That saved me a bundle. I made a timing disc from an old 24 hour clock dial and made up a mag timer from a circuit in an EAA how-to book. Both mags were set precisely together. I cleaned the oil screen and dumped in 4 quarts of NON-detergent oil. After 20 hours the screen was again cleaned (after inspection for particles) and de足 tergent (not really detergent; aircraft oil is ash-dis足 persant, not detergent) oil was used. Ash dispersant oil keeps oil so clean an engine takes 100 hours to break in. The cheap stuff lets just enough grit circulate to set the rings in 20 hours . Then it's time to get it out of there . After 20 hours a compression check showed the worst cylinder was better than the best one before the overhaul. About the only other work was fitting some short lengths of aluminum tubing inside the heater ducting to give the clamps something to grip. Without the inner rings they can collapse, shutting off carburetor air without explanation. I have flown the Chief to 14,500 feet; dove her to redline ; looped, rolled, and spun her; even learned how to land her fairly well in a 20 mph crosswind, and so far I' m thoroughly pleased with my investment. It was 5 weeks from the day I bought her until I had the pleasure of flying her around the patch, but I feel I now have a ship I can trust.
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AVIATION DAY AT CURTISS FIELD, 1921 L. C. Duckert, M.D . 104 16 th Avenue North Hop kins, Minnesota 55343 Waldemar lell
5024 Xerxes Avenue South
M inneapolis, Minnesota 55 455
An early aero exhibition at Curtiss Field , Mineola, Long Island on Sunday, October 16, 1921 provided the aviation enthusiast a first hand look at pioneer ai r足 craft. Many of the featured aircraft demon strated early attempts t o provide comfortable economical passen ger service. The photograph s capture both the uniqueness of the airc raft and the enthusiasm of the crowd . It is grat ify ing that thi s fervor has persisted through the year s and can still be witne ssed at the an nual O sh足 kosh con ve ntion and ot h er aviation meets.
(Photograph s W. lell)
FIGURE 1 Curtiss "pusher" Mode l E. The aircraft is a center stage attraction at the exhibi足 tion consistent with its general popularity. The Fok足 ker F-3 is airborne in the background.
FIGURE 2 Fokker F-3 This six place aircraft was manufactured in Holland and was the first commercial Fokker demonstrated in the United States. The pilot's cockpit was exposed to both the discomfort of the elements and the engine. A three passenger Farmen is in the background.
FIG URE 3 Remington-Burnelli Airliner Manufactured in Hartford, Connecticut, the fuselage was shaped like an airfoil to create additional lift.
FIGURE 4 Junkers J-L 6 The early all metal aluminum passenger plane carried seven passengers and pilot. The plane was sold in America by the Junkers-Larson Company and estab足 listed a speed record for six passengers between At足 lantic City and Philadelphia and return in a little over 59 minutes. The vertical stabilizer of a Sperry modi足 fied Curtiss J.N. is seen at the left.
FIGURE 5 Verville R-l This 1920 Pulitzer racer was powered by a 638 hp Packard V-12 engine. The pilot is unidentified. The J-L 6 is seen in the background.
Calendar of Events
SEPTEMBER 8-10 - MARION , OH IO - Original MERFI , 13th Annual EAA Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-In . Municipal Airport , Marion , O h io . Air Show, Awards for Homebu ilt, Antique , Classic, and Warb irds. Forums on Airport Camping, Stat ic Displays, etc. For more in formation , contact Myrna Lewis , 241 Bassett Drive, Spring fie ld, Ohio 45506. Phone: 1-513/323-2424. SEPTEMBER 9' 10 - HERMISTON, OREGON - Annual Watermelon 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 Affa irs , Box 2443, Harlingen, Texas . 5121428-4596. OCTOBER 7-8 - REDDING, CALIFORN IA - Oktoberfest at Redding Sky Ranc h, 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. Award s for homebuilts, antiques, classics and warbird s. Contact Fred Feemster, Box 12307, Tucson , Arizona 85732. 6021299-2723. NOVEMBER 18-19 - MIAMI, FLORIDA - Anti q ue, Class ic and Custom Built Fly-I n at t he thi rd ann ual Harvest - A Co untry Fa ir, sponsored by t h e Historical Association of Southern Flo rida , at the Dade Co unty Yo ut h Fai rground, Coral Way at 112th Avenue . Awards given fo r antiq ue, classic and cu stomb uilt ai rcraft. Contact Capt. Ken Ulland 01 t he Civil Air Patrol, office (305) 552-3106, home after 6 :00 p.m. (305) 251-5927, o r Mary Dodd Russell, H arvest Co ordinato r, at the Historical Museu m, 3280 S. Miami Aven ue, Bui ld ing B., Miami, FL 33129 :
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1940 )-3, l-65, 3900 h rs. T.T. 440 SMO H , Ceconite on fuselage 1973 , Wings linen 1969, Metal prop, Battery transceive r , orig i nal paint, Fresh annual. $6500. Connecticut, 203-349-8267. WANTED : Back issues of avia tion magazines; TION, Vintage Airplane, Model Aviation, etc. D . Adobe Rd., 29 Pa lms , CA 92277.
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