VA-Vol-7-No-5-May-1979 by EAA Vintage Aircraft Association

STRAIGHT AND LEVEL

By Brad Thorn as

Communications can present problems with any volunteer group of leaders and their associates. The success or failure often ties itself directly to not the method but possibly the time element involved. Time is a factor that sometimes bestows apprehension within a Division member requesting information or just simply basic facts. With our Headquarters in Wis co nsin and our Board scattered throughout the United States, it was often felt we were not bringing effective and prompt communications to those requesting specific informa tion requiring prompt replies or facts . There is no single member of our Board nor member of our Divi sion that can possibly answer correctly any and all re quests presented . We do have available however, an exceptional group of volunteer members who do have an enormous amount of expertise relative to vintage aircraft. Most of us have an area of specific knowledge that can be readily ta;:>ped and is available to you. In order to alleviate so m e of th ese problems and bring our leadership closer to its m emb ers , we have begun to formulate seve ral policy areas and have des ignated Board M embers and Advisors to direct these specific regions. For the past few years a committee has be en work ing and formulating a permanent set of rules and standards for judging aircraft in the Antique/Classic Division of the EAA International Fly-In and Conven tion. This basic judging system has been employed for the past few years and justifies our thoughts that a

method of judging could be developed that was accu rate and effective, one that was fair in all respects to each aircraft judged , and one that could standardize EAA judging at all fly-ins. It has been our experience to state that fewer complaints and queries have come to our attention since the inauguration of our present system. We are not claiming to be perfect ; however , we feel we have arrived at the most practical and ac curate system to date . Not only have we set up the judging system, but we have compiled guides for use by the restorer in regard to maintenance, restoration, and construction standards . Our intent is to have this system estab lished for all EAA fly-ins and to extend an invitation for all fly-ins to use our methods and standards. Av ailable from EAA Headquarters is the VINTAGE AIR CRAFT COMPETITION JUDGING MANUAL, at a cost of $1.00. Every restorer, builder or exhibitor should have a copy in his file for reference . Board member Claude L. Gray , Jr., has been ap pointed Chief Division Judge and he will welcome your inquiries regarding judging rules for either An tique and/or Classic aircraft, or about maintenan ce, restoration, or construction standards. Is there an EAA Antique/Class ic Chapter in your area? Have you thought about forming one? Did you know that you need only five Division members in good standing to form a c hapter? Do you belong to a large EAA Chapter that has not only homebuilt admirers but a sizeable group of An tique and/or Classic buffs? Hav e you thought of forming an EAA Antique / Classic Chapter within your EAA Chapter?

This new chapter policy area is being headed by Division Advisor Ronald Fritz. After a preliminary in formal discussion among those interested , get in touch with Ron for additional information and details that will bring into your area a new group who will not only promote our Division , but create interest among the regular members . Plans are already underway to formulate a HALL OF FAME in our EAA Air Museum. Our Antique / Classic Division will be playing an important part by recognizing those worthy persons in a permanent place for all to pay tribute . As these recipients peaked their activities in the period of time that our Division represents, it should be an extremely exciting venture to envision and see the material being explored by Morton W. Lester. We will be advising you of prog ress in the HALL OF FAME as the material is compiled and placed on display. A policy co mmittee has been formed to research the possibility of establishing definite merchandising areas specifically to promote and enhance the pr e stige of our Antique/Classic Division of EAA. You will be reading more from AI Kelch and Dick Wagner re garding this endeavor. Every Officer, Director and Advisor is a volunteer dedicating his tim e and effort to serve the member ship of our Division. Each one has specific duties to repr ese nt you , not only during the International Con vention, but on a daily basis . Your questions , co m ments and suggestions are the basic reasons we exist as your source of information to enhance and formu late the polici es of our Division and to fulfill our pur pose. Writ e or call us. Our names , addresses and phon e number s ar e listed in th e front of Th e VINTAGE A IRPLANE.

Editorial

Staff

Tti~ VI~TA(7~ AIl?VLA~~ OFFICIAL MAGAZINE

EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC

DIVISION INC.

of THE EXPER IMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION P_O . Box 229, Hales Corners, WI 53130

Publisher Paul H. Poberezny

Editor David Gustafson, Ph.D.

Rya n ST A owned by Lou Russo.

MAY 1979

Th e Cover ... Fairchild 24 restored by Charlie D ay .

Associate Editors: H. Glenn Buffington, Edward D. Williams, Byron (Fred) Fredericksen Readers a re encouraged to sub mit sto ries and photog raph s. Associate Editorships are assigned

to those writers who submit five or more articles which are published in THE VINTAGE AIR·

PLANE during th e cu rrent year . Associates receive a bound volume of THE VINTAGE AIR·

PLANE and a free one-year membership in the Divi sion f or their efforts. POLICY-Opinions

expressed in article s are so lely those of the au thors. Responsibility for accuracy in rep orting

rests entirely with the contribut or .

Directors

PRESIDENT W. BRAD THOMAS , JR.

301 DODSON MILL ROAD

PILOT MOUNTAIN , NC 27041 919/368-2875 Home 919/368-2291 Office

VICE· PRESIDENT JACK C. WINTHROP ROUTE 1, BOX 111 ALLEN , TX 75002 2141727-5649 '

SECRETARY M. C. " KELLY" VIETS 7745 W. 183RD ST. STILWELL, KS 66085 913/681-2303 Home 913/681-2622 Office

TREASURER E. E. " BUCK" HILBERT P.O. BOX 145 UNION, IL 60180 815/923-4205

Claude L. Gray, Jr . 9635 Sylvia Avenue Northridge, CA 91324 213/349:1338

AI Kelch 66 W. 622 N. Madison Avenue Cedarburg, WI 53092 414/377-5886 Home

Dale A. Gustafson 7724 Shady Hill Drive Indianapolis , IN 46274 317/293-4430

Morton W . Lester P.O . Box 3747 Martinsville, VA 24112 703/632-4839 'Home 703/638-8783 Office

Richard H. Wagner P.O . Box 181 Lyons, WI 53148 414/763-2017 Home 414/763-9588 Office John S. Copeland 9' Joanne Drive W estborough , MA 01581 617/36&-7245

Ronald Fritz 1989 'Wilson , NW C rand Rapids , MI 495 04 6161453-7525 Stan Gomo ll 1042 90th Lan e, NE Minneapolis, MN 55434 6121784-11 72

Arthur R. Morgan 3744 North 51st Blvd . Milwaukee, WI 53216 414/442-3631

Advisors Robert E. Kesel

45S Oakridge Dri ve

Rochester, NY 14617 7161342-3170 Home 7161325-2000, Ext. 23250/23320 O ffice Gene Morris 27 Chandell e Drive Hampshire , IL 60140 3121683-3199 '

Dan Neuman 1521 Berne Circle W est Minneapolis, MN 55421 6121571-0893 John R. Turgyan 1S30 Kuser Road Trenton , NJ 08619 ' 6091585-2747

NUMBER 5'

VOLUME 7 (Ph oto Provided by Charlie Day)

TABLE OF CONTENTS Straight and Level b y Brad Thomas . ............ . .... ... .... ... . . ... ... 1970 Tour of South America in a 1948 Cruisair by Michael G. Emerson and William T . Thompson ................... Vintage Album ....................... .. .............................. Borden ' s Aeroplane Posters From The 1930's b y Lionel Salisbury .... .. .. . Second Annual Aeronca Fl y-In by Jim and Debbie Polles ... ............. Radiators and Wh eels for Replica Airc raft by Neil Thomas ... ...... .. .. . . Completed Antiqu e/ Classic Aircraft ............. .. . . . . ......... ... ..... Antique/ Classic Aircraft Under Construction . . ... . . _. ... . .. .•..... .. _... Calendar of Events . . .. .... . ................... . ... .. .. ............ . .. Letters To The Editor .................................................

2 4 14

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MEMBER - $20.00. Includ es one year members hip in th e EAA Antique/ Classic Division , 12 monthly iss ues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE ; o ne year mem bership in the Experimental Ai rcraft Association and separate membership ca rd s. SPORT AVIATION magazine not includ ed.

EAA MEMBER - $14.00. Includes one yea r membership in th e EAA Antique/Classic Division, 12 monthly iss ues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE AND MEMBERSHIP CA RD . (A ppli ca nt mu st be current EAA member and mu st give EAA membership number. )

Robert A . Wh it e P.O. Box 704 Zellwood, FL 32798 305/88&-31 80

THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE (ISSN 0091-6943) is owned exclusi vely by EAA Ant ique/Classic Division , Inc ., and is published monthly at Hales Corners, Wisconsin 53130. Second class Postage paid at Hales Corners Post Office , Hales Corners, Wisconsin 53130 , and addi tional mailing offices. Membership rates for EAA Antique/Classic Division , Inc., are $14 .00 per 12 month period of which $ 10 .00 is for the publicat ion of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE . Membership is open to all who are interested in aviation .

Page 4

Page 16

Page 18

By Michael C. Em erson

and

William T. Th o mpso n

(Photos Provided b y th e Auth o rs)

Pu rrr rrrr rr- rrr-rr-r- rrrr r-r rrrr . " Sounds a little rough , doesn't it? " " Airplane engines always run rough when there ' s no place to put down. " Outside our twenty-two year old Bellanca the Andes , glistening white in their winter wraps , reached up toward us with icy fingers and we weaved our way among th e higher peaks, cruis e-c limbing out of San Carlos de Bariloche in south ern Argentina. We were cli cking away with our cam e ra s and exulting in th e magnificence around us until thi s rud e slap back into reality. " We're not climbing anymore. Something ' s wrong. " "Maybe a mag. " Sure enough, switching to the left mag brought on severe misfiring , whereas the right by itself seemed to improve matters . Scratch one mag .

" Want to go back? " " It looks better up ahead if we can get around those peaks." " O.k ." W e ll, this was not the b es t pi ece of geography to b e flying over on one ma g , but if the good on e stay ed good and if we could hold altitude ... Many a pilot ha s gotten into situations where the ego bruising question, "how th e - - did you get your se lf into thi s mess?" sudd enly springs up through th e cowling. For us this was definitely one of those times. The chain of events leading to this particular mess was 11,000 miles long and eight months old, the first link undoubtedly having been the purchase in California of N74492, a 1948 Bellanca 14-13-3, or Cruisair Senior, whose long-range capability excited dreams of faraway places to fly to. Eu rope by way of the North Atlantic? Too expensive for us. Where then? Why, South America , of course. The final decision was made in March, and then began three months of preparation aimed toward a June 14 departure from Cape Kennedy, by no means too much time, considering the amount of territory to be covered and the scarcity of useful information about it. Flight planning was done using ONC charts , the enroute low altitude package for Central and South America (for frequencies and restricted areas ), th e I nternational Flight Information Manual , Interna tiona I Notams and som e publi cations from the Air

Th e auth ors and their proud bird at the cape (Merritt Is l an d, Fl o rida ) a ft er a stre nu o us but enjoyabl e trip . M i chae l Emerson on th e right and Bill Thompso n on th e left .

craft Owners and Pilots Association. General tour in formation was from such sources as the Pan Am Guide , National Geographic, etc. After laying out the route (with alternates) and a rough timetable we bought international liability insurance (mandatory in Brazil); assembled a survival kit and collection of spare parts ; got passports, permits, and visas; and had ourselves vaccinated and innoculated against all the bad things there are shots for. Inasmuch as this wa s to be a low budget adventure , we also acquired complete camping gear. 492 was powered by a 150 hp Franklin with fixed metal prop, and counting the auxiliary tank could hold 54. 5 gallons of 80/87 - enough for seven hours at economy cruise. That's good insurance for flying where weather information is infrequent and unreli abl e and airports ·are sometimes far between. Equip ment included a full gyro panel, two 90 channel transceive rs, VOR, ADF, and an e mergency locator beacon. The ADF was a new unit bought especially for th e trip despite the chunk out of our budget, and it proved to be worth the investment , emphatically. Although there are quite a f ew VOR ' s in South Ameri ca now, some of th e more desolate areas are still without them . And of course ADF is nice to have ove r wat er .

climb were adequate but not spectacular, averaging about 800 feet ground roll and 600 fpm climbout when fully loaded at 2150 pounds. A controllable prop would have helped at both ends of the perfor mance range, but we had chosen the fixed metal prop for economy and reliability. 80/87 fuel being rare in the islands, we were burning 100/130. Though much cheaper than in the USA, it was more heavily leaded and almost immediately began to bother the Franklin , which is not rated for leaded fuel. Cylinder compression began to deteriorate and plug fouling was frequent.

1970 TOUR OF

louth •

,J.merlca IN A 1948 CRUISAIR

Flying the islands is familiar to many. We found them to be on the whole expensive and not too friendly with a tendency to become more agreeable as one proceeds south. VFR navigation , needless to say , is a cinch except for the 350 mile stretch from Grand Turk to Puerto Rico when the clouds are low and Hispanola cannot be seen. An ADF needle locked on Ramey AFB Rbn is very consoling then. Otherwise the only likely problems are numerous summertime thunderstorms and prevailing headwinds if one is traveling southeast. A triple-tailed Bellanca with two guys camping next to it in a wierd-Iooking pop-up tent is a thing of curiosity in these parts, we were beginning to find out. But that's not necessarily bad. At Piarco airport near Port-of-Spain the refueling crew came over to look and wound up having a party for us, including some of the local dishes and first-rate rum. Getting to meet people like this on a person-to-person rather than a tourist to native level was one of the most re warding aspects of the trip. It became a frequent happening on the mainland.

The Bellanca seemed ideal for what we had in mind and after a May annual appeared to be in top notch condition. Layoffs from our aerospace jobs had broken the last ties by the time D-day arrived. As we taxied onto the runway at Merritt Island airport that June morning, there was a feeling of complete free dom, almost as if we were birds ourselves. The Bel lanca, loaded to the limit, leaped into the sunrise, then headed down the coast to cross from West Palm Beach to the Bahamas. That was the beginning of ten days of island hop ping, all the way to Trinidad and the mainland of South America. At 2300 rpm we were cruising in the 120's TAS and burning 7 to 7.5 gph. Take-off and

This was reached the very next day as we made the short hop across from Trinidad to a point near the Venezuela-Guyana border, plagued by extensive areas of thunderstorm activity not mentioned by the weatherman. It was a muddy, mangrove-covered coastline, but it was South America. Things soon im proved weatherwise, and so we elected not to make a fuel stop at Georgetown - maybe a mistake, because twenty miles from our destination of Zanderij in Surinam an impassable wall of rain shut us off. No thing else to do but test our bird's short field ability by going into Zorg en Hoop's 700 foot strip of pave ment, luckily in the clear, to wait out the weather. No problem except that following the controller's direc tions we wound up hub-deep in mud on the apron. Friendly hands helped us get out, and soon we were five gallons richer in fuel and on our way to Zanderij. 5

Another day's flight over jungle that didn't look all that scarey brought us to the equator and the south bank of the Amazon at about th e same tim e. Th ere 's an official entry point for Brazil there at Macapa. Ou r three week stay in that amazing country got off to a fine start , though a stumbling one, as we were sud denly co nfronted with having to commu ni ca te in Por tuguese. Actually, it was n ecessa ry to land again at Belem on the Amazon's south bank to go through so m e more entry procedures and buy fuel. The 200 mil e crossing turned out to be less fearful than expected, what with several farm strips o n huge IIha Marajo , that fills up much of the delta . After Bel em , th o ugh , such soothing sights were not to be had, only m iles and miles of unbroken jungle. True , there were occa sional small clearings with a few grass houses, but fly ing low and surveying them through binoculars, we never saw a soul - an eerie fee ling to say the least. The glint of reflected sunlight could all too pften be seen among the trees. Fortunately we were soon within sight of the Atlantic, and the Franklin could once again be heard above the sound of our heartbeats. The next week was spent cruising down the coast and then inland in the part of Brazil generally refer red to as the Dry Northeast. After rounding the eas ternmost reach of the continent near Natal - the jumping off point for Africa in the old days - we fi nally escaped from the persistent headwinds and were able to make decent ground speeds for the first time on the trip. The combination of scenery and per fect weather when we turned inland from Recife made flying a pure pleasure . No one living in that area should be without an airplane, or maybe a sailplane , as the thermal activity along the Rio Sao Francisco was phenomenal. A day and a half of flying and gliding brought us to the next objective, Brasi lia , right out in the middl e of nothin g . From th e air you ca n 't help being im pressed with th e ambitiousness and in spiration that must have gone into th e project , still in c omplet e though it is . Even h ere at the capital we were able to camp b esi de th e plan e, parked in the ge neral aviation areaaway from th e jets. After hours of hiking through the endless ex panses of the city and a good night's rest it was tim e to move on toward the place we'd most been waiting for - Rio! It didn ' t disappoint us, not from the very first glimpse coming over the mountains at 9500 feet and suddenly seeing it all below us tucked in among the hills and bays. What a sight to behold! And what 6

Bellanca N74492 camped on Vieques Island just east of Puerto Rico. Author Bill Th ompson with the Cruisa ir.

Th e majestic " Pitons " on the southwest end of 51. Lucia. We spent several enjoyable days on St. Lucia . Rented a c ar and drov e around th e island. People we re very fri endly . Picture tak e n on departure o n our way to Trinidad .

Zona -e n-Hoop Field, Suvinam. A little tight for the Bel lan ca, but we made it with inches to spare.

Typi ca l small fishing boat harbor o n the Amazon River at Ma capa , Brazil.

a thrill to descend then to sea level all on one long, ear-popping final into Santos Dumont airport with Sugarloaf right off the end of the runway across a small stretch of water . Truly one of the unforgettable moments . And the excitement didn ' t fade away, not for seven days. How can it in Rio? Even trivial things can stimulate the adrenalin. Like taking a bus ride with a driver who thinks he's in the Nurburgring. Or provid ing target practice for VW's the moment you try to cross a street (beware of occasional sidewalk snipers, too). Moreover, prices are very reasonable. Two dol lars is (was?) enough for a feast, and the public trans portation is excellent and only cost a few cents. We hated to leave the place, and yet the trip wasn't even to the halfway point. So ... The next stop was supposed to be Sao Paolo, only a couple of hundred miles away. But it took three days to get there - with the airplane, that is. Actually we overflew it within two hours after leaving Rio , but someone didn ' t keep their promise, and the weather went IFR shortly before ou r arrival. We radioed for clearance to the next large city, but that soon went I FR , too . So, back to the coast , and down to 2000 feet to get below the cloud level. By then Sao Paolo was VFR again, but that didn't do us any good since the mountains we had to cross were obscured. Worse yet, the fuel supply was at the level where some kind of landing would soon be imminent. " Hmmm ... That beach looks good, and cars are driving on it." "O h, but there's an airport." No matter if it had ruts filled with water. Ker plop!! Well, everything turned out for the best, for we had just splashed into a workers' union vacation re sort. The dentist on duty there arranged overnight accommodations free of charge, drov e us to Sao Paolo the next day, and gave us a tour of the city. Thus when we finally did get the somewhat bespat tered Bellanca th ere, it was just to buy fuel before hea ding inland to Iguassu Falls. With perfect weather once again we sat back and watched miles of green forests and farmland watered by large rivers pass below us . After several hours a gigantic plume of white appeared in the distance which looked like smoke, but was in fact the mist from Iguassu with its 300 separate cataracts , 75 miles away . The falls were at their seaso nal height , sending spray several hundred feet above and bathing the Bel lanca as we made two or three low passes . Next day, viewing the falls from the ground, we got bathed, too. 7

At that point we left Brazil and filed advance notice and a f li ght plan to enter Argentina. A hassle w ith the Brazilian customs official who kept sending us back and forth to town for various reaso ns left a bit of a sour note o n departure. The taxi driver was a fr iend of his. Favorable winds h elped coo l o ur tempers and rushed us toward Buenos Aires, which we made non-stop, co min g into the main jetport, Ezeiza. Now, there's a place that can surely rival any in th e world for efficiency in handling arrivi n g foreign aircraft. O ne half hour was all it took to go through customs, and immigration, obtain a 30 day flying permit for the entire co untry, and get tied down and r efuel ed. A dispatcher for Lufthansa, who spoke English, made reservatio ns at an inexpensive h ote l for us , drove us to town, and reco mm eded a pl ace to eat beef. Such beef! If we had our ow n personal SST, we'd fly to Bu enos Aires for dinner at least twice a week. After five days of feasting and sightseeing we fi足 gu red we 'd better get on over the Andes whil e we still could and hopped on a bus to Ezeiza. Dutifully filing a flight plan and getting everything all loaded in w e pressed the starter button o nly to find that ou r bird didn 't want to fly. No amount of coaxing would persuade the engine to stay lit, as compression was nearly nil in three cylinders. What to do? Without going into details , we wound up getting essentially a top overhaul and were on our way again five days later and $500 poorer. During that time we talk ed to se veral pilots about crossing the Andes. Most of them turned a shade or two lighter when we mentioned going over the Men足 doza pass, 12,500 feet high and flanked by a 20,000 foot peak on one side and a 23,000 foot one on the other. Their tales quickly convinced us to lower our ambitions, and so all was back together we took off for San Carlos de Bariloche , 800 miles southwest. " Don ' t ~iss Bariloche: ' everyone had said; " It's th e Switzerland of South America. " Wonderful, but how is it flying in Switzerland in the wintertime? That, we were about to find out. Fighting headwinds as high as fifty knots , we mad e it across Pampas and into th e mountains in two days, setting down into a typical forty knot wind at Barilo ch e just ahead of a snow squall. This turned into freezing rain and utt er mi sery, last in g two more days. On the third m o rnin g th e clouds opened briefly just after dawn, and y,e zin ged ou t of there bound fo r Santiago de Chile, about 600 miles to the north. The clouds cleared nicely over the mo untains , and we were having a great tim e, rejoicing in our escape. That was when th e left mag quit.

Looking west up the mighty Amazon at a manganese ore boat.

Rippled sa nd dunes stre tch nea rl y 40 miles along the northeastern coast of Brazil nea r Sa n Luis.

Approaching Rec ife, Bra zil, kn own America.

as th e Venice of So uth

Well, we didn't make Santiago. The right mag did get us through the mountains, though, and we put down at Chillan. That's not an airport of entry, but the police were sympathetic to our predicament. Everyone went out of their way to help us, especially the radio operators, one of whom invited us to din ner with his family while the other insisted that we use his quarters that night. He slept on the floor in the transmitter room . With a new set of points from our spare parts kit we were off again the next morning bound for San tiago, accompanied part way by a retired Chilean Air Force Colonel in his Piper Pacer. Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas, was almost im mediately visible, beckoning us to the capital, which we reached in a couple of hours amid a flock of Hawker Hunters on practice runs . Excellent seafood and superb wines helped fight off the winter chill for four days of r & r b efore attempting the next haz ardous stretch of flying - th e Atacama Dese rt. Because of thermal turbulence above the interior . we were advised to stay over the coast, which has beaches in some areas but is largely sheer 2,000 to 3,000 foot cliffs dropping right into the pounding sea. Between La Serena and Arica on the northern border Th e religi ous mecca of Bom Jes us de Lap a, on th e Rio we saw very little sign of life other than a few mines Sao Francisco . There w as a shrin e carved out of th e rock and fishing villages and the city of Antofagasta, a formation near the riv er. We ca mped overnight on our convenient fuel stop. There was a strong temperature inversion along the whole route (and into Peru , too) w ay inland to Brazilia. with typical readings of 500 at 2500 feet and 85 0 at 5000 feet. Visibility at low altitudes in flat areas was fre quently poor due to blowing sand. At Arica we spent a couple of days getting pre pared for traversing Peru. For foreign aircraft flying in Peru is the most re strictive of all the countries of South America . You must have in your possession be fore entering permission from Lima giving the names of the airports you may land at and th e dates. VFR flights are controlled almost as closely as IFR, and HF equipment is desir able , sin ce man y of the VHF ground transmitters are eith er too far away or to o scratchy for effective co mmuni cation s. If, in addition , you are not all that handy with th e language, you can expect to have a few troubl es, as w e did. Even so , th e country itself was so in credibl y fascinatin g that it w as worth all th e delays and irritati o ns. Except for Lima , which wa s ben e ath th e u sual winter overcast of advection fog from th e Humboldt curr ent , our flight o ver Peru wa s CAVU all th e w ay . Down below yO!} co uld frequ ently see ruin s from Inca and pr e-Inca tim es, som e o f th em still b eing used as dwellings . And , of course, th e sno w-covered

The grim task of a top overhaul at the Ezezza Airport at Buenos Aires, Argentina . The authors, Bill Thompson , right and Mi cha el Emerson, left, and our mechanic, Pedro in th e middle. The high lea d content of th e fu els available throughout South America apparently did in the Franklin 150 valves.

The auth or Mi chael Emerson with a view of th e Federal buildings, HOLlse of Congress and a new church. Brazilia, Brazil.

Brazilia at night as viewed from a popular rooftop restaurant.

Ca bl e ca r ca rrying to urists to the top of Sugarloaf. Copa ca bana Beach is in th e upper left of th e picture .

N74492 at San Carlos de Bariloche Airport with ice on th e runway and Mt. Tronadon in the background.

Final approach to Santos Dumont field at Rio d e /aniero. Sugarloaf is th e peak across th e bay. The magnificent roar of the world's largest cata racts 足 Falls of Igua ss u . The plume in the pictures co uld be seen 80 miles aw ay.

A beautiful view of San Carlos de Bariloch e o n pictures足 que lake Nahvel H aupi. Mt. Tro nadon pierces the hori足 zo n. Typical view of inhospitable snow cove red peaks. Th e chill factor doubles when you are over these peaks on one magneto.

peaks of the Andes were always off our right wingtip. Other than getting in and out, we had a great time in Li ma , fou r days of it. The main ai rport has every modern facility , probably the best we landed at, but we had heard talk of shakedowns for " protection " money there. So we parked next to some RAF Vulcan bombers with all-night guards. No problems at all! By this time our supply of travelers checks was nearing the end of the usable. Therefore, the plan was to get home as fast and as cheaply as possible , hopefully within two weeks, making allowances for some bad weather as we approached the tropics. We departed Peru at Talara in haste, leaving a surprised customs official, who had tried to collect the same ten dollar fee from us twice, standing at the window of his office while we "went to the plane for the money". Enough is enough. Soon we were flying over jungle once more, stopping at Guayaquil to re fuel before going on toward Cali, a large city lying between two mountain ranges in Colombia. VFR weather was the forecast, and four hours was our es timate . Somehow , four hours became eight days . The Franklin had already begun to lose compression again and was really struggling to keep us going at 100 mph indicated. Added to this, the terrain below us gradu ally rose to meet the overcast above, and our ADF "weather radar" kept pointing toward thunderstorms right on our course to Cali. The only alternative was to go back to the coast and either return to Guayaquil, which didn't intrigue us, or head for Buenaventura, Colombia's main Pacific seaport. That didn't intrigue us either because we'd been told it was a good place to stay out of, but we chose it as the lesser evil. Unknown to us, the reason to avoid it had been eliminated two months earlier with consid erable bloodshed. Things were getting rather tense in the cockpit , as the sky looked about to fall, the Buenaventura beacon wouldn't come in, and the treetops seemed closer every minute. From 1000 feet over jungle in the rain ONC charts leave something to the imagination . Thank the Lord , or the Colombians , that Buenaven tura is in a prominent spot . We sighted it just as the sky did begin to fall , plopping down half-blind into the mud . The next week was spent trying to get back out. Three cylinders were just about dead, and the engine would do no more than cough raggedly on its re maining good lungs. It was a time for soul searching. What's an airplane really worth, all considered? The result of many hours of painful debate was that we dismantl ed the Bellanca, put it on a truck to Cali , left it at th e aeroclub there for future retrieval maybe, 12

One of th e man y ca n yons branching o ut from th e In ca Vall ey alo ng th e South ern Peruvian Coast.

Plaza de A rm ar in Lima, Peru. Th e Pres idential Palace is th e backdrop fo r th e sixteenth century fo untai n .

Ruin s of a pre-Inca c ulture at Cajamaquilla, fift een miles outside of Lima , Peru. Th e dismantl ed Bellanca o n the edge of th e jungle airstrip at Buenaventura , Co lumbia. A diving knife, some non essentials and cloth es bought us enough muscle power to load the Bellanca into a tru ck for its trip to Cali.

and as soon as we could get permission to leave the country hopped on a jet to Miami, much worn out and wanting more than anything else to get back to the good ole USA. Part of the reason for hastening back home, it must now be revealed, was that my good buddy Mike had a fast approaching wedding date . Well, it's hard to lose two friends at once, so instead of going back to work I went back to Cali, taking along three good cylinders and all the necessary parts and manuals . We'd gotten the wings and landing gear on before leaving Colombia , and so completing the reassembly , putting the instruments and radio gear back in, and swapping the cylinders was really only a one man job anyway, with an occasional assist when an extra pair of hands was needed. Ten days later the Bellanca was ready for a check flight. This revealed ' no problems except that the trim had to be adjusted . The following morning 74492 and I were homeward bound. Depending on how the plane performed, the route would be either up through Central America or across the water in a more direct line . From Cali to Panama all went flawlessly, and so I decided to aim for San Andres, a speck in the Caribbean 400 miles north. The friendly Canal Zone radar controllers pro vided vectors around some intense cells off the coast, and with good wishes from the FSS as they an nounced I was not leaving the range of VHF com munications , I swung left to intercept the course , felt to make sure my life jacket was there, and began praying and also looking for ships. At 13,500 feet the prayers no longer seemed appropriate. Besides, the ADF was beginning to pick up San Andres. A couple of hours later the island itself came into view - right where it was supposed to be . After that the water flying didn ' t seem so bad, even a long hop to Grand Cayman. There I was un able to get permission to fly the Giron corridor across Cuba and had to take the long way around via Mon tego Bay and Great I nagua to Fort Lauderdale, arriv ing just in time to pay an eighteen dollar overtime customs fee . But at least the journey was over, and all those who had left four months before on this South American adventure were safely home again . Finally, this long-winded tale must be concluded with a word of appreciation. A word of appreciation to N74492. Thoughout the trip she negotiated rough fields, soft fields, short fields, crosswinds, turbu lence, and every kind of weather, carrying heavy loads with a sometimes sick engine - with poise and confidence . Even after an insulting truck ride and hasty reassembly she winged her way across 2000 miles of water without complaint. Truly a fine old bird. 13

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BORDEN'S AEROPLANE POSTERS

FROM THE 1930'S

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Poster number four in our series from 1936, as pub足 lished by the Borden Company, as a promotion for one of their dairy products , illustrates the Pitcairn PA-19 Autogiro . Do you recognize the buildings in the background? I do! Even though I was never there to see it the way it used to be. It's the skyline of New York City. I recog足 nized it from photos I recall from that time , and also, as it was in an old movie about Mayor Jimmy Walker of that city, as shown recently on TV. The three-view and notes are from the back of the poster. NEXT MON TH - Th e Boeing Transport M odel N o. 24 7

Article number 4, p oster number 4, series number Th e Pitca irn Autogiro By Lionel Salisbury 7 Harp er Road Brampton, O nta rio Canada L6W 2 W3

PITCAIRN PA-19 CABIN AUrOGIRO

30' s"

13'-6"

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DESCRIPTION OF PITCAIRN PA-19 CABIN AUTOGIRO Specifications: Rotor diameter, 50 ft. 7'12 in. Length overall, 35 ft. 9 in. Height overall , 13 ft. 9'12 in. Weight empty, 2,675 Ibs. Gasoline capacity, 90 gallons. Use fulload, 1,360 Ibs , Gross weight, 4,035 Ibs. Perfonnance: Top speed , 120 miles per hour. Cruis ing speed, 100 miles per hour. Landing speed , 0 miles per hour. Take-off distance without wind, 260 ft. Cabin holds 1 pilot and 3 passengers. The engine in sta lled in the first series is the Wright R-975 E-2 delivering 420 hp at 2,150 rpm.

Provision is made also for easy modification to ac commodate a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior. This ship incorporates a complete innovation in rotor pylon, the mass supporting the rotor blade. By mean s of a crank and worm gear, the rotor pylon can be moved to vary the ang le of incidence of the entire rotor assembly relative to the ship. By this means the pilot can maintain the rotor at a correct angle to obtain a maximum performance in both vertical de scent and forward flight conditions . This would be like

changing the ang le of incidence, that is the angle at which the wing is placed in respect to the horizontal path of flig ht, on a regular airplane, but this is not done. The PA-19 has two small fins and rudders instead of one large fin and rudder becau se of the need for adequate clearance between the rotating blade and the tail surfaces.

SECOND ANNUAL

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By Jim and Debbie Polles 29 9 N azareth Drive Na zareth , PA 18064

The sun did not come up that morning, rather the rays penetrated the fog and haze. Whether the fly-in was to be or not was questionable. Nonetheless, we decided to go ahead with the day's planned activities . We would at least be at the airport to welcome the hardy few who decided to penetrate the northeast's answer to L. A. smog . The hot, humid , hazy, calm air did no t prov e to be enough of a d eterrent to dedi ca ted A e ro n ca love rs. By te n a. m . wh e n th e f ly-in was sch edul ed to start , vi sibility was still lo usy but al ready half a doze n Aeronca 's were on the flight line. From then on it was a fun game of hearing, waiting , and finding the arriving air craft . Usually th ey were spotted by the early arrivals who already knew where the haze was the thickest and thines!, and would look for the ' thin ' corridors to the airport. Anticipation of who would spot the next arrival set the mood for the rest o f the day. Within the hour visibility would im prove t errifi cally helpin g those who fl ew long dis tanc es to more easily f ind the airport and really " . get the show on the road ".

Aerial view of flighl line, this picture was taken before the peak of the fly-i n on ly about 2135 of the tota l ai rcraft are in th e p icture. No te C-/72 and Luscombe in near end of rea r row.

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Having an annual Aeron ca fly-in was a brainstorm of mine which was brewing in my head for a couple of years, but one which I thought was out of reach (or should I say reality?) for one person to organize . Most of the fly-ins my wife and I had gone to had a ground crew of eight to ten people , plus some serv ing food , some selling variou s tickets , and another dozen doing all the odd jobs connected with a fly-in. It seemed frightening to think of organizing such an event. Still, the idea stuck. Letters were written to Charlie Lasher , President of the Aeronca Owners Club, phone calls were made to local Aeronca owners ask ing if they would attend this sort of fly-in , and a lot of hangar visits at different airports started getting re sponses. Finally , the commitment was made. We would have the fly-in and play it by ear . Charlie Lasher was a great help, offering ideas to help guide us along. Also the response from local owners was terrific, everybody thought it was a great idea and just couldn ' t wait for the day of the fly-in. That was in 1977 and the first annual Aeronca fly-in was a roaring success , with seventeen Aeronca's and a few non-Aeronca's making a total of twenty-two air craft . The next year we decided to do it again with a little more publicity to ' spread the word'. The first year single page flyers were sent to airports for bulle tin board posting. In 1978 that was done again , along with notices in SPORT AVIATION , Th e VINTAGE A IRPLANE, and two Northeast publications . That did the trick! Soon , there were about a dozen Aeronca's on the flight line. Chiefs and Champs abounded , with a sprinkling of Sedans, Champions, and a Defender. Harry Williams , Leonard Marcus and Orville Wright Williamson all flew in with identical Champs painted white with red trim . On the side of Harry's Champ is placed one small flag for each state he has flown it in , and a good part of the Champ is covered by flags. Talk to him for a few minutes and you get the impre ssion he likes to fly in the Champ. These were not the only identical triplets at the fly-in , but more of that lat er . N47502 is an Arm y L-3B devoid o f her origi nal colors. Flown in from Su ssex, New Jersey, by Bill Shatt and hi s wife, '502 is all white with Bill 's artwork on the side in the form of a cute Raggedy Ann doll and smile faces under the wings. While looking 'up at the underside of Bill's wings at one point, you can also notice an echelon of three Champs arriving from Bermudian Valley Airport, near Harrisburg, Pennsyl vania. After circling once and getting everyon e's at tention th ese little Blu e Ang el s pro cee d e d to fly overhead and peel off one by one, then follow each

other in to a landing in a very professional manner. Upon closer examination this second trio of identical Champs was definitely out to secure your attention . They taxied, turned, parked and shut down in time with each other faultlessly . Each was painted with yel low wings , dark blue fuselage with red band behind the side windows and yellow tail with the rudders having a vertical blue stripe on the hinge line and horizonal red and white stripes behind that. Army stars on the wings gave the finishing touch. Bart Baughmon , G . E. Tolbert and Ralph Griffiths were the pilots of these neat machines, and can be very proud of them . Impressive is the word to see them perform. As Bart , G .E. , and Ralph were swamped with ques tions and picture takers, yet another formation of three Champs approached Easton Airport after leaving Sky Manor Airport , New Jersey just a few minutes be fore . Rather than just make a quick hop from one airport to another these three fellows decided to ar rive ' in style ' and therefore flew the twenty miles to gether, led by Aeronca Ace Gary Hartung. Excitement was at a high after the arrival of the two flights of Aeronca's and it seemed the Second Annual Aeronca Fly-In was in full swing . Many other proud owners had washed and waxed their prized Aeroncas and were there to show them off. There were 7AC's , 7Ee's, the L-3B, 7BCM's , 11AC's, 15AC's, and a few newer 7ECA's and 6GCB's. (For you non Aeronca types, that means Champs, Champions, De fender , ' Super' Champs, Chief's, Sedans and Citab rias.) The Champs outnumbered all the others , with examples like that of H. H . Rice of Staten Island, New York, with his all silver 7AC finished in Air Force " Stars and Bars" making it look like it was right out of WW II. Also there were a surprising amount of fac tory style paint schemes on many of the Champs, with at least five of them trying to turn back the hands of time . If a person were to concentrate on looking only at the original paint jobs and listening to the sounds of all the engines idling, taxiing, taking off, and flying overhead, it might seem , with a little imagination thrown in , like a busy day in Middletown during the post-war year s. Should you manage to transport yourself to the late Forties there were two other aircraft present with which you could continue your time trip right back through the Forties to the mid-Thirties. These were a couple of very appealing airplanes , and Aeronca ' K' and a C-3. Gary H artun g and wife soak ing up th e fl y-in . Ga ry led th e ec helon of Champs from Sky Mano r A irpo rt to Eas to n A irpo rt i n his Champ, N2828E.

H ea d-on close up of Ted Giltn er's C-3 with all 36 hp hanging out.

Ja c k M c Cluan is th e proud own er of this sharp 1947 Champ, N 3 91 6 E. Flying in from Berwi ck, Penn sylvania, Jack wa s th e first arrival of th e day.

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NC1142H is one of two 15AC Sedans which showed up for the fly-in. The Sedan is a four place machine powered . by a 145 hp Continental. This good looking example is owned by Gene Krou.t of Lewistown, Pennsylvania and recently turned 31 years old! (The airplane, that is.) '

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N82L, owned by Bart Baughan of Kralltown, Penn syl vania. There was not a place on the outside of the airplane that did not shine like the underside of the wing, which says something for the pilots since their home field has cows roaming the grass runways!

Gordon White arrived with his 1938 ' K' in due fashion. It is almost authentic although it is powered with a 65 hp engine instead of the original Aeronca engine. Gordon has done a superb job of keeping the 'K' from showing her age as is exhibited by the super clean interior and sparkling green and yellow exterior. Blue and red were the colors of Ted Gilt ner's C-3 which he flew in from Walter Grimes Air port, some sixty-five miles distant. That might not seem remote in today's 150 hp trainers, but Ted flew the whole way back behind only 36 hp since his im maculate C-3 has an original Aeronca engine. His trip to the fly-in in the 1934 C-3 took him a little over an hour but he was fighting a headwind all the way. The little C-3 seemed to turn into the apple of everyone's eye as one after another of those attending the fly-in gave it a going over, and then their stamp of ap proval. Indeed, it was hard to find a flaw that Ted had not already tidied up. Too bad Oshkosh is so far from Grimes ' Airport, otherwise Ted would have some trophies decorating the mantle. As mentioned earlier, there were a few original factory paint schemes present that beautiful summer day, John Vicario, Ed Thuesen, Jay Gleitz, John Stewart, and S.R , Swyers all had their Champs look ing like they just rolled out of the Middletown facility in the late '40's. Dave Keller had the sole example of the 11AC line. Hailing from Lincoln Park, New Jersey, Dave 's Chief although not original colors had the original paint scheme. Decorated in basic vintage cream, with red trim, the Chief definitely had the air of a distinguished Classic about it, as did all the Aeronca's present. Bob Bahruth accompanied Dave in his own Chief which was also tastefully painted , but in the colors of blue and white. Paralleling Bob's Chief was the Chief flown in by Kirby Anderson of Mattawana, Pennsylvania, which was white with the priginal blue trim on the fuselage and broad stripes on the wings and tail. Kirby's Chief was recently re done by N. R. Metz and one look can tell that he put much time and thought into it. Many of the aircraft present, if not all, exhibited extensive evidence of tender loving care. It seems that as these airplanes reach middle age they are being given a much needed shot in the arm (wing?) toward maintaining their youth . Instead of sitting in the back row of tie downs and looking forlornly for a bath they seem to be popping up in the better hangars with mainte nance a big part of their life as it should have been all these years. Too many were left to rot outside while time passed them by. Let us hope that some day all these aircraft will receive the attention they've de served all along.

The Second Annual Aeronca Fly-In reached its peak about one o'clock in the afternoon , and after that departures began for those who traveled long distances and wanted to get a head sta rt in case it was n ecessa ry to dodge a thunderstorm or two . As the last Airknocker winged off and we pushed our own Champ into the hangar which was u sed for the food lin e during th e fly-in, a count on th e reg istration sheet showed a total of 36 Aeronca's had graced the g ree n grass of Easton Airport that day. Hopefully many happy memories were also made that day. It was enco uraging to see the response and turn out of th ese people at the fly-in because the simple fact that all these people did turn out is proof of the co n tinu ed interest we all have in grass roots today. let's all hope for o ur future generations' sake that that spark is never quenched. Should any of you decide to host a fly-in such as thi s, let me give you a quick run down on the things you will need. It's not as bad as you might think. First off, and most important , (bec ause you won 't get anywh ere without her) is one loving and understand ing wife , who is willing to coordinate all the feeding of those at the fly-in. She must be able to make su re 30 pounds of bar-b-que will be ready on time, along with 15 gallons of Kool-aid, potato chips, buns and cupcakes. Also needed is a dedicated family and friends to help out. In our case , we had both sets of parents , brothers, sisters-in-law, cousins, uncles and aunts and every other relative and friend we could round up for the day. Most of the male help was used on the field doing whatever needed to be done, while the female counterparts were kept busy dishing out the food to the hungry fliers. My many thanks to them all , and to all of those who flew their cherished aircraft to the fly-in. Without them, there would have been no fly-in . And many thanks to Ed Braden for the use of his airport, without which the fly-in would never have gotten off the ground. Finishing up, I would like to say if any of you have any interest in putting on your own fly-in definitely do so. The rewards are many, the satisfaction great, and it' s a lot of fun. Plus when it is allover there' s a feel ing of accomplishment and gratification that you have done something for your aviation community. I will be happy to answer any questions and provide help to anyone wanting to put on their own fly-in. Just write . Incidentally, these things are like a habit, once you start it's hard to stop. The Third Annual Aeronca Fly-In will be on July 8, 1979, rain date one week la ter . See you there in your Airknocker!

N4409E, owned by John Vicario and Ed Thuesen, at rest at the Fly-In.

N47502 is a LJ-B owned by Bill Shatt of Sparta, New Jer sey . . Note most of the original greenhouse is covered over. Rag doll and smile face are Bill's handiwork.

RADIATORS AND WHEELS FOR REPLICA AIRCRAFT By Neil Thoma s

2572 Arthur Kill Road

Staten Island, New Yo rk 70309

(Ph otos by Ray Pignato)

RADIATORS Having initiated the romantic notion of building a flying replica antique aeroplane from scratch , I had to consider the problems of keeping my SESa as near the original as possible while remaining within the boundaries of current safety requirements . One of my primary co ncerns was how to resolve the engine cooling problem. Forging ignorantly and smugly ahead (strange how those two words seem inseparable), I kept postpon足 ing the day of reckoning concerning a radiator. I never believed I would find an original, though such luck is not all that extreme when antiquers start scrounging. I had toyed with the idea of letting prac足 tical and eco nomic considerations turn me from a true reproduction on this one item. As I looked deeper into the problems of building a pair of twin radiators and started to resolve the difficulties in the construction of tanks , necks, and ancillary plumbing parts I concluded that all this was a great deal of work . Since I was so committed to this volume of work why settle for a tube type core similar to pre足

sent day automobile practice. " Why , for a few hundred more and a little extra work I co uld have a pair of honeyco mb/cartridge type cores." I think it is safe to say that throughout this entire aeroplane building project the two qualities that have helped me co me as far as I have are a monum ental ignorance of the depth of th e problem s to b e en countered; an ignoran ce that is surpassed only by a gargantuan stubbornness that some have generously call ed " tenacity of pu rpose". There is a world of dif ference between building a pair of radiators with fin and tube type cores and building a pair of cartridge type cores. But I can t ell you that only now. Like so many problems one encounters in life th e real difficulties often lie in the contemplation and when one starts digging in many shrink, but practi cally none disappear! The shrinkage occurred only because of help from tool and die maker fri end s and old timers in the automobile replacement co re indu s try who remembered cartridge type cores. Noneth e less , I struggled on and succeeded in producin g a rather acceptable SE5a radiator of rea so nable accu racy . A fellow antiquer on Long Island saw photo s of the radiator and about a year later ca ll ed me on the phone with a requ est. The Scylla of ignoran ce and th e Charybdis of over-confidence seduced m e into agreeing to build their monstero us proge ny, th e Fok ker DVII radiato r . I can honestly say that of all th e

projects so far undertaken in building my SE5a , the radiator was the most difficult. Yet compared to the DVII radiator it was relatively silllPle. It must be borne in mind also that I went into the SE5a radiator with no knowledge or experience and yet th e background acquired in manufacturing it still did not let th e DVII radiator be anything less than three tim es as difficult. The frontag e areas of the two are rather clo se, if anything the DVII is just a bit smaller. The SE5a, using 3/8" O.D. brass tubing , required about 3000 4" long tubes. Th e DVII was supposed to have 1/4" tub es (7 mm) but Jo hn wa nted me to use 5/16" to hold down costs so m ew hat. This reduction by 1/16" fro m 3/8" to 5/16" jump ed the number of tub es for th e same fro n tal area from 3000::!:: to 6500::!::. According to an article in World War I Aeroplanes (January '78) the U. S. Army Air Service evaluation group put th e number at 3000 with 1/4" tubes. They forgot to multiply by 2.5 ! I'm sure glad John wanted to save mon ey. Lo sing another 1/16" in diam eter down to 1/4" would have set th e numb er over 8000. As it is , with sp littin g los ses et cetera, you're talking of a 1/2 mil e of b ras s tub e at $.40 per foot! I start ed with th e flat ce nte r portion . After all , build th e flat, small er, ce nter portion first; tis eas ier. Di saste r! Th e so ld er alloy u sed to dip automobile h eate r cores wo rk s g reat und er heavil y co ntro ll ed production m ethods but is use less for th e amateur.

Scratch one old timer's advice. One idiot metallurgist told me to throw out $450 worth of solder and start over! Scratch him!! I finally resolved the solder for mulation problem and succeeded in fa ce dipping the center core. It came out beautiful. Confidently and much pleased with myself I then procee ded to the side cores. 2500 brass tubes could not be held together for one dipping as long as the crankshaft slant was included in the pre-form . Th e idea of making the staggered side in blo cks of 800::!:: tubes and th en soldering the blocks together looked good on paper but the angle of stagger in each seg ment could not be held with anything even approach ing accuracy or similarity. Try taking 2500 stuck together brass tubes apart, cleaning th em up , and soldering them together again - 3 times! For the first tim e since starting my SE5a, I felt just about beat , but by a Fokker DVII!! I finally got four block s of tubes that fit together and proceeded to lay up an addi tional 900::!:: tubes on each side by hand to form th e bottom slants for the c rankshaft cl ea rance . Now being able to hold th e stagger for each side I pro ceeded to face dip th e assemblies as a unit. The re sult was dramatic and acceptable. Th e upper and lower tank s were straight forward boxes and pre sented no problems. Since no dimensions for the top tank, filler n ec k or ca p were available these wer e "eyeba lled " from photograph s and drawings, often themselves interpreted and eyeballed.

We concluded that the radiator cap held a pres sure device so I provided two removable inserts from a modern automobile radiator cap, one 4 pounds and the other 10 pounds. No one seemed to kn.ow the reason for the protruding tube in the side of the filler neck. It may have been an attachment whereby hot water could be pumped through the motor for easier winter starts. The engine oil was preheated for just that very reason. Things were rough in the Great War. Everyone has an idea of what a DVII radiator should look like and john and I established what he wanted in appearance for his. In all the literature, photos, drawings, etc., there did not turn up one that fit what we thought was typical - this is until I was nearly done and john produced an old magazine photo of a DVII in the French National Museum that matched ours perfectly . On page 172, of Funder burk's "The Fighters" is another that I did not notice until the radiator was finished. Most had very narrow flat centers, which would only have made the job even more impossible, and john and I decided that this type was not very typical - history and facts not withstanding. john later asked me if I ever figured out how the Germans made them in production dur ing World War I. I never did, but I learned why they lost the war. Everyone was building DVII radiators and there was no one left to do the fighting. They've had a latter-day revenge though: 60 years later they really brought SESa production on Staten Island to a screeching halt for six months! I'm glad that I was asked to make the radiator. It provided valuable insight into the construction, metallurgical, and supply problems that will make fu ture aeroplane and antique automobile cores easier

to assemble . I'll make cores but complete radiators of this complexity require too much of my time for jobs that cannot be delegated. Besides, almost everyone knows a "tin knocker" or hobbyist coppersmith who can turn out a decent tank. It is the core that defied solution and that I can do. WHEELS I bought a pair of original clincher jenny-type wheels but decided not to use them because respok ing them to SESa style would have been as much trouble as making new wheels altogether and I would have lost a good pair of original wheels that someone else could use. I had a pair of old Harley side-car hubs and decided to work around them. If I were doing it again I would use Suzuki front wheel spools . These can be bored out to take 1314" axle with thick bronze bushings. The spool itself has provisions for a bolt-on brake disc for those wishing better ground control and the rims are of course much lighter. Using Harley steel rims gave me great strength and weight. I have, basically, a 19" motorcycle wheel with a bored out and sleeved hub extension to permit the attachment of the side load spokes. The rims were drilled near the rim flange and spokes were at tached radially to the extended hub. The wheel cover clips at the rim are 1/16" stainless steel cotter pins placed between the radial spokes . I then mounted Dunlop tires and got my wheels. If, however, I can ' t strike a workable weight and balance I shall be ob liged to remake them but from Suzuki parts. With the wheels and radiator finished I now have a very expensive test stand for my 220 hp Hispano Suiza motor - it's called an SESa fuselage .

Dear David: I thought you might be interested in this 8" x 10" photograph of our classic C-170B for The VINTAGE AIRPLANE. This photo was taken in the 170 fly-by at Oshkosh '78. Lake Winnebago is in the background. This aircraft is owned and flown by Glenn A. Loy, Sr., of Flint, Mi chigan . Photograph was taken by his son, Glenn Jr. Sincerely, Glenn A. Loy , Jr. 2357 Southampton Flint, Michigan 48507

CALENDAR OF EVENTS MAY 4-6 - BURLINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA - Spring Fly-In . Planes to be judged should be on the fi eld by 2 P.M. on th e 5t h . Awards dinner Saturday evening. Sponsored by EAA Antique/Classic Chap ter #3. For further information , contact Geneva McKiernan, 5301 Finsbury Place, Char lotte, NC 28211. MAY 5-6 - SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA - First Annual Foot hills Fly-In , sponsored by EAA Chapters 249 and 584. Awards , co n tests and breakfast o n Sunday, with camping . Rain Date May 19 20. For furth e r information , contact Brian Benjamin , 803/518-6607 or Don Sa nkey, 803/244-4292. MAY 12 - FRANKLIN, WISCONSIN - Midwest Aero Histori ans Spring Meeting. EAA Aviation Museum , 11311 W est Forest Home Avenu e, in Franklin . Registration at 8:30; program at 1:00 p .m . Hi story of Ryan aircraft by Bob Baker . Ot her speakers and a film . For further information co ntact Ken Borkowitz , 707 West Maplewood Court, Milwaukee, WI 53221, 414/482-0696. MAY 20 - ROMEOVILLE , ILLINOIS - First Annual Fly-In Breakfast of the yea r at the EAA building at Lewis University Airport. 7 a.m . to 1 p .m. For f urth er information, co ntact J. P. Fish, P. O . Box 411 , Lemont, IL 60439. MAY 25-27 - WATSONVILLE , CALIFORNIA - Fift ee nth Annual An tique Aircraft Fly-In and Air Show at the Watsonville Airport. Co sponsored by the Northern Ca lifornia Chapter, Antique Airplane Association and Watsonville Chamber of Co mmerce. For further information con tact Earl Swaney, 525 Saratoga Avenue #3, Santa Clara, California 95050, 41 5/645-3709 days, 408/296-5632 eve nings. JUNE 2-3 - FRONT ROYA L, VIRGINIA - EAA Chapter 186 Annual Sp rin g Fly-In . Warren County Airport. Hanga r Dan ce o n Saturday . Pancake Breakfast on Sunday. Q uarterly Va. Ercoupe Gat hering. Cont ests, awards, and lodging available. For further information , conta ct Jack Crater, 2502 Ryegate Lane , Alexandria, VA 22308 o r 703/360-3954 after 6 p .m. JUNE 3 - ELMIRA, NEW YORK - Fly-In/Walk-In /Drive-In Breakfast . Waco 10 and Starduster Too rides . Chemun g Co unty Airport. JUNE 9-10 - FLANDERS, NEW JERSEY - First Annual Fly-In spon so red by EAA Antiqu e/Classic Chapter 7. Hangar Square Dance, Saturday. Rai n Dat e is Jun e 16-17. Fo r further information , co ntact Walter Ahlers , 60 Main Street, Flanders , NJ 07836, or 201 /584-7983 or Anne M. Fennimore, Four Ridge Road , Succasunna, NJ 07876 or 201 /584-4154.

1.. I~rl"I'I~11S Dear David : Your inquiry regarding Barkley-Grow's still in existence prompted this quick note - yes - at least one is sti ll extant and I saw it last summer on the way back to O'k in Assiniboia, Sask . It is in the collection of Harry Whereatt and I believe it was sin 1 - not registered as CF- BVE - in excellent shape - not currently airworthy, though . Also , I just acquired a '39 Stinson HW-75 and need lots of info for res toration purposes. Enjoying The VINTAGE , hope the i nfo is of interest - thanks for your help. Regards , Tim Talen P. O. Box 920 Cottage Grove, OR 97424

JUNE 23-24 - LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK - Summ er Fun Fly-In spon so red by Chapter 594. For further information, co ntact Alf R. Ti· berg at 516/825-4148 or at Seven Birchwood Drive, West, Valley Stream, NY 11580. JUNE 23-24 - SAN ANGELO, TEXAS - Mathis Fie ld . Antiques and CA F. Awards. For further information, co ntact Charlie Day, 915/ 944-2621. JUNE 24 - ANSONIA , CO NNE CT ICUT - Pip er Vagabo nd Fly-In . For 'further info rmation co ntact Jim Jenkin s, 569 M oose Hill Road , Monroe, CT 06468 o r at 203/261-5586. JULY 6-8 - MINDEN , NEBRASKA - Third Ann ual National Stinson Club Fly- In . Pionee r Fi eld near Harold Warp ' s Pioneer Village. For further info rm ation, contact C. R. Bob Nea r, 2702 Butterfoo t Lan e, Hastin gs, NE 68901 or at 402/463-9309. JULY 7-8 - TOLEDO , OHIO - Annua l Fly- In sponsored by EAA Chap ter 149. Met ca lf Field . Free breakfast for pil o ts o f homebuilts and antiques both days . For further info rmati o n , co ntact Dave at 41 9/ 923-3712 or Gene at 419/53 1-1819. JULY 14-15 - ROMEOVILLE, ILLINOIS - Nineteenth Annual Midwest Fly-In and Air Show at Lewi s University Airport. Show's theme and feature will be W.W. I aircraft. Airport will be renamed to add to the illusion of the era. Sponso red by Chapters 15 and 86. tor further information , contact J. P. Fish , P.O . Box 411 , Lemont, IL 60439. JULY 15 - FORT WAYNE, INDIANA - Eleventh Annual World's Big gest Little Fly-In & Air Show at Sm ith Field . Sponsored by EAA Chapter 2, the activities include breakfast and lun ch, flea market , workshops , static displays, and an air show at 2 p .m. For furth er information , co ntact Jay Henschen at 219/485-5709 or 219/485-7282. JULY 28 - AUGUST 4 - OS HK OSH , W ISCONSIN - Twenty-seve nth An nu al EAA Fly-In. Plan no w to attend - it's th e greatest show on eart h. \ OCTOBER 12-14 - CAMDEN , SOUTH CAROLINA - Fly-In. All divi sions, awa rd s will be presented . Fo r further information, co ntact Gen eva M c Kiernan , 5301 Finsbury Pla ce, Charlotte, NC 28211. Spon sored by EAA Antiq ue Classic Chapt er # 3. SEPTEMBER 5-9 - GALESBURG, ILLIN O IS - Ninth Annu al Stearman Fly-In. Anyone with any interest in the Stea rm ans is cordially in vited. For furt h er information, co ntact th e Stearman Res to rer s Association , Inc. , 823 Kingston Lan e, Crystal Lake, IL 60014. SEPTEMBER 27-30 - TULLAHOMA, TENNESSEE - First Annual Fly In . Plan now to attend - it's the greatest show on earth .

Dear David : Staggerwing Museum Foundation of Tul lahoma, Tennessee, has authorized reprinting of Robert T. Smith 's book " STAGGERWING ", the story of Beeche ' s Classic Model 17 Bi plane. Now a collectors' item , this 248-page book was originally published in 1967. A group of dedicated Staggerwing pilots has undertaken updating and publishing this famous book. Sixteen pages will be added with current in formation . The book, hard bound, will be available in August , 1979, for $27.95. A special pre-publi cation price of $22.95, plus $1.75 postage and handling, will be in effect until July 30, 1979. Orders with remittance may be sent to : Stag gerwings Unlimited , P. O. Box 964, New Mil ford , CT 06776. For further information contact: James C. Gorman , President , THE STAGGERWING CLUB, 1885 Millsboro Road, Mansfield, OH 44906 . James C. Gorman

COMPLETED ANTIQUE/CLASSIC AIRCRAFT AERONCA CHIEF 11-BC Harlan D . jacobson , 1501 Loftsgordon Ave nu e, Madi son, WI 53704 CESSNA 195 Ray B. And erson, 133 Vi sta Del Parque , Redondo Beach , CA 90277

ANTIQUE/CLASSIC AIRCRAFT UNDER CONSTRUCTIO

AERONCA 7AC john Mike Connor , 79 Hillsbo rough Drive, So rrehto ,

FL 32776 BELLANCA 14-13-2 William B. Cam p , Rt . 3, Hwy. 230 West, Hawkinsville, GA 31036 CESSNA 140 Coy E. johnston, Pleasant Valley Airport, Rt. 1 Box 178, Snyder, OK 73566 LUSCOMBE 8A Tim Bauer, 110 W . Cherry Street, Compton, IL 61318 john A. LeRoche, 17 jerome Avenue, Bloomfield, CT 06002 PIPER CLIPPER Butch Wa lters, 285 Pare Road, Kelso , WA 98626 STINSON 108-2 Lars F. Williamson , 840 Marin Drive, P.O . Box 736, Mill Valley, CA 94941 TAYlORCRAFT B-C-65 Edward Allen Mori, 107 West Wendy Ct. , Un io n City, CA 94587

(Dave Gustafso n Photo)

Bill Schmidt's PA-16 ro lls across the ramp at Oshkosh . .. won't be long before it happens again.