Va Vol 46 no 4 jul aug 2018

JULY/AUGUST 2018

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Message from the President

July / August 2018

SUSAN DUSENBURY, VAA PRESIDENT

STAFF

Welcome to Oshkosh!

THIS YEAR MARKS the 100th anniversary of the ending of World War I, which

cost the lives of nearly 117,000 American soldiers. The Vintage Aircraft Association will be paying tribute to the U.S. military through an encampment of original WWI fighters and bombers, with a few replicas in the mix. Weather conditions permitting, these aircraft will be flying during the convention.

Every day at 2 p.m. VAA’s Chairman of Vintage in Review Ray Johnson will be on the WWI flightline, interviewing the pilots and owners of these historic planes, followed by an engine run. These original WWI aircraft were manufactured only 13-14 years after the Wright brothers made their monumental first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903. Listening to these old engines brings to mind the incredible innovations that have occurred in the development of the aircraft engine over the last 100 years.

If you have ever wondered how a “blip” switch works or just how in the world the ignition system on an engine with rotating cylinders works, you will want to be at the WWI encampment at Vintage Village at 2 p.m.

Those of us who own and fly a small private plane have heard the following statement many times over the years: “You must have a whole lot of money to be able to own and fly a plane.” Of course, those of us who fly know that this statement is not necessarily true. Many of us fly what I call fun and affordable airplanes. These are planes in the $15,000-$40,000 range, similar to the price range of an SUV or bass boat. The Vintage Aircraft Association will be featuring these fun and affordable aircraft in a display across the paved road and to the east of the VAA Red Barn during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018. Bill Pancake, Aeronca expert extraordinaire and 2018 recipient of the prestigious FAA Technician of the Year award, will be presenting two forums on fun and affordable airplanes in the Vintage Hangar during the week of AirVenture. Bill will be presented the Technician of the Year award at AirVenture during a ceremony at EAA’s Theater in the Woods.

The Vintage Aircraft Association will open the week of AirVenture with a town hall meeting beginning at 8 a.m. in the Vintage Hangar on July 23. This is an opportunity for VAA members to meet and express their thoughts about the organization to the officers and directors of VAA. Coffee and doughnuts will be available starting at 7:30 a.m. Later that morning we will be dedicating the Charles W. Harris Memorial Park (Charlie’s Park) in honor of Charlie Harris (1927-2017). Charlie was one of VAA’s most dedicated and respected members as well as being a huge supporter of sport aviation. The Ladies for Liberty will be performing patriotic songs from the World War II era in the style reminiscent of the well-known Andrews Sisters as part of the dedication ceremony. A Luscombe once owned by Charlie Harris will be in the Fun and Affordable aircraft display.

VAA has nearly 600 volunteers who arrive a week or so before the official start date of the fly-in to make the preparations for your arrival and to park airplanes. Their workdays are typically 8-12 hours in duration. Please join me in thanking them for their hard work.

Visit www.EAAVintage.org/Oshkosh-2018 to read more on Vintage programs at AirVenture.

Publisher: Jack J. Pelton, EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board Editor: Jim Busha / jbusha@eaa.org Vintage Aircraft Association Executive Administrator: Jan Johnson / jjohnson@eaa.org / 920-426-6110 Senior Copy Editor: Colleen Walsh Assistant Copy Editor: Katie Holliday-Greenley Proofreader: Jennifer Knaack Senior Graphic Designer: Brandon Jacobs

ADVERTISING: Vice President of Marketing and Business Development: Dave Chaimson / dchaimson@eaa.org Advertising Manager: Sue Anderson / sanderson@eaa.org Mailing Address: VAA, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903 Website: www.vintageaircraft.org E-Mail: vintageaircraft@eaa.org

Visit www.vintageaircraft.org for the latest in information and news and for the electronic newsletter: VINTAGE AIRMAIL

Current EAA members may join the Vintage Aircraft Association and receive VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for an additional $45/year.

EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine and one-year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association are available for $55 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included).

(Add $7 for International Postage.)

Foreign Memberships Please submit your remittance with a check or draft drawn on a United States bank payable in United States dollars. Add required Foreign Postage amount for each membership.

Membership Service PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086 Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM—6:00 PM CST Join/Renew 800-564-6322 membership@eaa.org EAA AirVenture Oshkosh www.eaa.org/airventure 888-322-4636

www.vintageaircraft.org

1

Contents F E AT U R E S

16

An Airplane Archaeologist And an award-winning Cub Special

By Sparky Barnes Sargent

26

Halcón Numero Uno: The First Skyhawk to Come out of the Nest Dennis Ozment’s iconic bird

By Budd Davisson

36

2018 SUN ’n FUN Vintage Photo Roundup

50

Super Fun

Super Cub on floats opens a world of adventure

By Beth E. Stanton

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? Send your thoughts to the Vintage Editor at: jbusha@eaa.org For missing or replacement magazines, or any other membership-related questions, please call EAA Member Services at 800-JOIN-EAA (564-6322).

2 July/August 2018

July/August 2018 / Vol. 46, No. 4

C OL U M N S Message From the President

01

By Susan Dusenbury

04

VAA News

12

How To? Select and Use Aircraft Plywood

By Robert G. Lock

14

Good Old Days

60 The Vintage Mechanic

Part Two: Ignition System Troubleshooting

By Robert G. Lock

64

VAA New Members

C OV E R S Front Don Wade cruises over the Wisconsin countryside in his awardwinning Cub Special.

Photo by Ed Hicks

Back The first of many. Dennis Ozment keeps his Skyhawk in factory-fresh condition.

Photo by Scott Germain

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM RAEDER

www.vintageaircraft.org 3

VAA News

Events at AirVenture 2018 SPECIAL EVENTS FUN AND AFFORDABLE AIRPLANE SHOWCASE

Location: Across the paved road to the east of the VAA Red Barn.

WORLD WAR I AIRCRAFT ENCAMPMENT

Location: Across the paved road to the east of the VAA Red Barn.

VINTAGE MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY AIRCRAFT

Cessna 170, Swift, Hatz Biplane, and Cessna 175.

Location: Type club parking area south of the Hangar Café and west of the paved road.

VAA TOWN HALL MEETING

Meet and talk to the VAA officers and directors over coffee and doughnuts.

Location: Vintage Hangar.

Monday, July 23, 8-8:45 a.m. Coffee and doughnuts starting at 7:30 a.m.

4 July/August 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM KOEPNICK

PRE-CONVENTION

DEDICATION OF THE CHARLES W. HARRIS MEMORIAL PARK

Location: Behind the Vintage Hangar.

Monday, July 23, 11:45 a.m.

The Ladies for Liberty will be performing.

TALL PINES CAFÉ

Saturday, July 21, and Sunday, July 22.

Open for breakfast (6:30-9:30 a.m.) and supper (4:30 p.m.-7 p.m.).

YOUTH DAY

Youth Forums.

Location: Vintage Hangar.

Tuesday, July 24 8 a.m.-noon.

VAA RED BARN

ANNUAL VINTAGE PICNIC

Location: Tall Pines Café.

Wednesday, July 25, 6:30 p.m.

The Ladies for Liberty will be performing.

Tickets on sale at the VAA Red Barn.

Interviews with young aviators.

Location: Vintage Interview Circle.

Tuesday, July 24, 11 a.m.-noon.

Hospitality. Lemonade and popcorn.

VAA history on display. Information desk.

Saturday, July 21, 1-5 p.m.

Sunday, July 22, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

AMERICAN BARNSTORMER TOUR PLANES

Arrive Sunday, July 22, midday.

VINTAGE DAY

VAA fundraiser lunch.

Hot dogs, apple pie, and ice cream.

Location: Tall Pines Café.

Wednesday, July 25, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

LADIES DAY

RED BARN MERCHANDISE SALES

Interviews with women in aviation.

Location: Vintage Interview Circle.

Thursday, July, 26, 11 a.m.-noon.

Sunday, July 22, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

VINTAGE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

VINTAGE LINDY AWARDS CEREMONY

Location: Tall Pines Café.

Wednesday, July 25, 5-6:15 p.m.

Location: Vintage Hangar.

Friday, July 27, 7 p.m.

Complement your Vintage Aircraft Association Membership.

AMERICAN AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY - Receive quarterly journals & newsletters - Online access to 60+ years of publication

- Host of CentennialofFlight.net - Access to the photo archives

Go to: WWW.AAHS-ONLINE.ORG/VAA PO Box 3023, Huntington Beach, CA 92605-3023 1928 Stearman C3-B at Lee Bottom Airfield July 20, 2007. Photo by Bob Burns

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW ZABACK

www.vintageaircraft.org 5

VAA News

DAILY EVENTS VINTAGE BOOKSTORE

Location: Behind the bleachers.

Monday, July 23-Friday, July 27, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

VINTAGE HANGAR FORUMS

Monday, July 23-Friday, July 27, 9 a.m.-noon.

Type Clubs, noon-5 p.m.

AIRCRAFT JUDGING

Monday, July 23, 9:45 a.m., through Friday, July 27, noon.

6  July/August 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD, CONNOR MADISON

VAA RED BARN

Hospitality. Lemonade and popcorn.

VAA history on display. Information desk.

Monday, July 23-Saturday, July 28, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sunday, July 29, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

VINTAGE IN REVIEW

Daily OX-5 engine run and Ladies for Liberty will be opening the program every day.

Location: Vintage Interview Circle.

Monday, July 23-Friday, July 27, 11 a.m.-noon.

TALL PINES CAFÉ

Monday, July 23-Saturday, July 28, Breakfast.

6:30-9:30 a.m.

HAND-PROPPING DEMONSTRATION

Location: Just west of the bleachers beside the bookstore.

Monday, July 23, 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Tuesday, July 24-Friday, July 27, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Reliability Begins with Quality Update your classic Piper with the accessories it deserves.

METAL SHAPING WORKSHOP

Location: Vintage Hangar south door.

Monday, July 23-Friday, July 27 VINTAGE CHARGING STATION

Sunday, July 22-Saturday, July 28, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sunday, July 29, 8 a.m.-noon.

VAA RED BARN

Merchandise sales.

July 23, 24, 26, and 27, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

July 25 and 28, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

July 29, 8 a.m.-noon.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHIRS MILLER

Coming soon ... an Alternator that fits Lycoming Wide- or Narrow-Deck engines with NO change of oil cooler location required!

316-283-8000 • BandC.aero www.vintageaircraft.org 7

2018 Hall of Fame Inductee

Ron Alexander (1942-2016)

BY SUSAN DUSENBURY, PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

RONALD RAY “RON” ALEXANDER (1942-2016) has been

named the Vintage Aircraft Association’s Hall of Fame Honoree for 2018.

The Vintage Aircraft Association initiated its prestigious Hall of Fame program in 1993. Since then, 33 exceptional men and women of the vintage aircraft movement have been inducted into this select group of vintage airplaneoriented aviation achievers.

Ron’s aviation achievements have not only secured him the VAA Hall of Fame honor, but have most assuredly secured him a prominent place in the history of outstanding aviation achievements.

Ron’s fascination with airplanes began when he was just 16 years old and lasted throughout his lifetime. He soloed an Aeronca Champ at the age of 16 and earned his private pilot certificate at 17 while still in high school. After high school Ron enrolled in the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, where he also chose to enroll in the Air Force ROTC flight-training program. During that period, Ron

8 July/August 2018

flew co-pilot on both the C-45 and the DC-3 for Indiana University. Upon graduation from Indiana University, Ron was selected as a Distinguished Military Graduate in the ROTC program. He entered the United States Air Force as a second lieutenant and began Air Force flight training. In 1966 Ron was assigned to South Vietnam to fly the C-7 Caribou, supporting the Marine Corps and the Army Special Forces. He was based in Da Nang.

During his service in Vietnam, the Air Force awarded Ron the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Air Medals for his courageous service. Ron received an honorary discharge from the Air Force in 1969 and was immediately hired by Delta Air Lines and soon

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM BUSHA

Ron’s aviation achievements have not only secured him the VAA Hall of Fame honor, but have most assuredly secured him a prominent place in the history of outstanding aviation achievements. thereafter bought a J-3 Cub, which he never parted with. In 1974, Ron moved to Griffin, Georgia, to live on a community airstrip. Soon thereafter Ron began restoring vintage aircraft. He has restored a Taylorcraft, a J-3 Cub, two Stearmans, and he built a 1916 Curtiss Jenny with a partner. In addition to the Cub and the Jenny, Ron also owned a DC-3 known as the Candler Field Express, a Stearman Cloudboy 6L, and a Waco YMF. After retiring from Delta in 2002, Ron continued to serve as chief pilot on the Delta Air Lines DC-3 from 1999 through 2004, flying the DC-3 on a number of trips in addition to training other pilots.

In 1979 Ron founded Alexander Aeroplane Company, which became a major source of materials for vintage aircraft restorers and homebuilders alike. Ron operated the company until January 1996 when Aircraft Spruce and Specialty purchased it. In 1992, Ron developed a series of hands-on workshop programs designed to instruct people in aircraft building and restoration skills. He named these programs SportAir Workshops. Thousands of builders and restorers have since been trained or fine-tuned their skills in these SportAir Workshops.

In 1999, the workshops were sold to EAA, with Ron remaining as the director of the program for a threeyear transition period.

In 1992, Ron purchased a DC-3 to use as a promotional tool for Alexander Aeroplane Company, and after the sale of the company he used the aircraft to give sightseeing rides and flight instruction, including DC-3 type ratings.

Also in 1992, Ron purchased Stits Poly-Fiber Inc. and remained president of the company until he sold his share to his business partner in 2002.

Stits (now Consolidated Aircraft Coatings) headquarters remains at its original manufacturing facility on Flabob Airport in Riverside, California.

Ron started or purchased several other companies, including Atlanta Aerospace Composites and the Accessory Overhaul Group. Atlanta Aerospace Composites began with composite work on general aviation aircraft and later the company focused on radome repair work for regional airlines and corporate aircraft. Accessory Overhaul Group specializes in the overhaul of brakes, generators, wheels, etc.

Ron was a regular contributor to EAA Sport Aviation, Vintage Airplane, Kitplanes magazine, and the Vintage AirMail newsletter, typically writing technical articles for both builders and restorers. He was also a regular presenter in the Theater in the Woods during AirVenture. Ron’s main area of

interest in the world of vintage airplanes was World War I aircraft.

In 2004, Ron founded the Candler Field Museum, a nonprofit organization created in part to replicate the original Candler Field. Included in the project are the airfield (formerly Peach State Aerodrome now Alexander Memorial Airfield), an airpark development, and the Candler Field Flying Club, which focuses on teaching young people how to fly.

Ron took his final flight west on November 17, 2016. Aviation will be eternally grateful for his many contributions.

It is with the greatest honor the Vintage Aircraft Association will posthumously induct Ronald Ray “Ron” Alexander into the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame on November 8, 2018, in the Founders’ Wing of the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

www.vintageaircraft.org 9

Friends of the

RED BARN

2018

IN THE FALL OF 2001, two of the Vintage Aircraft

Association’s most effective officers created a program with the goal of having dedicated members support improvements to the Red Barn and all that the Red Barn represents. These two individuals were then-president Butch Joyce and VAA treasurer Charlie Harris. The idea behind the program not only included physical improvements to the Red Barn, but also offered a means to support and expand VAA’s programs for members and their guests during the EAA convention.

Over the years the Friends of the Red Barn has enjoyed a high level of success, which has allowed us to make muchneeded structural repairs to the Red Barn itself while developing and expanding programs for our guests at Vintage Village. As our flagship building, the Red Barn has served us well as a meeting place where old friends meet to renew their friendship and as a gathering place where you are certain to make new friends. The Red Barn is the home to Vintage hospitality and now houses an area depicting the very interesting history of the Red Barn. New to the Red Barn

This is the new north entrance to our iconic Red Barn. At the opening of AirVenture 2017, we rededicated our expanded Welcome Center and also dedicated the Stadtmueller Patio to the original family who farmed this land for more than a century.

10 July/August 2018

in 2018 will be a tribute to our Hall of Fame inductees and to those individuals who were so instrumental in the founding and early success of our organization.

Interestingly, a large majority of the Red Barn’s supporters have been involved since the very first year of the Friends of the Red Barn program. Vintage is extremely proud of these dedicated members and supporters. They are at the very foundation of what we are working towards in the vintage aircraft movement. These donors are directly responsible for the Friends of the Red Barn’s success and for making the Red Barn the focal point of Vintage Village, with all of the gracious hospitality that the Red Barn is so famous for.

We are very proud of the fact that this VAA treasure — the Red Barn — was member created and is member maintained, principally through our Friends of the Red Barn fundraiser program. Our Vintage area has over the years grown from one dilapidated and abandoned barn into an entire village filled with interesting and fun places to visit. And yet, there is much, much more to be done. With your help, every year we will provide our members and guests with an ever more broadened fun-filled and interesting experience.

All of the supporters’ names are listed annually at the Red Barn and in the pages of Vintage Airplane magazine.

Please stand tall and join us in Friends of the Red Barn. You will be forever proud and happy that you did.

SUSAN DUSENBURY, PRESIDENT VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON, STEVE MOYER

CONTRIBUTION LEVELS ↓ DIAMOND PLUS $1,500 & higher DIAMOND $1,000 - $1,499 PLATINUM $750 - $999 GOLD $500 - $749 SILVER $250 - $499 BRONZE PLUS $150 - $249 BRONZE $100 - $149 LOYAL SUPPORTER $99 and under

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A “6-Pack” Special Access to Donor Appreciation FORB Air-Conditioned of Cold Bottled Badge Volunteer Certificate Water!

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Two Passes Breakfast at Tall Pines to VAA Volunteer Café Party

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Tri-Motor OR Two Tickets Close Helicopter to VAA Picnic Auto Parking Ride Certificate 2 tickets 2 tickets 1 ticket

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Full week 2 people, 2 people, full week full week Full week 2 people, 1 day 2 days

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2018

Name: __________________________________________________________ EAA #: ________________ VAA #: __________________

Address:______________________________________________________________

City: _____________________________________________________________State: _____________________ ZIP:_______________

Choose your level of participation: o Diamond Plus ($1,500 or more) o Diamond ($1,000-$1,499) o Platinum ($750-$999) o Gold ($500-$749) o Silver ($250-$499) o Bronze Plus ($150-$249) o Bronze ($100-$149) o Loyal Supporter ($99 or less) Badge Information

Phone:__________________________________________________________ E-mail: _____________________

o Payment enclosed (Make checks payable to Vintage Aircraft Association)

(for Bronze Level and above)

o Yes, prepare my name badge to read: _________________________________ (Please print name)

o Please charge my credit card for the amount of: $ Credit Card Number: Expiration Date: Signature:

o No, I do not need a badge this year.

Certificates o Yes, I would like a certificate. o No, I do not need a certificate for this year.

Vintage Aircraft Association | 3000 Poberezny Rd., Oshkosh, WI 54902 | 920.426.6110 | EAAVintage.org The Vintage Aircraft Association is a nonprofit educational organization under IRS 501(c)(3) rules. Under Federal Law, the deduction from Federal Income tax for charitable contributions is limited to the amount by which any money (and the value of any property other than money) contributed exceeds the value of the goods or services provided in exchange for the contribution. An appropriate receipt acknowledging your gift will be sent to you for IRS gift reporting reasons.

www.vintageaircraft.org 11

How To? ROBERT G. LOCK

Figure 1

Select and Use Aircraft Plywood

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

Figure 2

12 July/August 2018

AIRCRAFT PLYWOOD is a very versatile form of wood called a veneer. Thin layers of wood are cut from a round log, cut to an approximate size of 4-by-8 feet, and the grain lines are laid at 90 degrees to each other, thus giving superior strength in two directions; whereas solid wood will only give strength in one direction — lengthwise. Plywood will come in odd number of plies — 3, 5, and 7 ply, each consisting of a veneer.

Common thicknesses are 1/16 inch, 3/32 inch, 1/8 inch, 3/16 inch, 1/4 inch, 3/8 inch, etc. Aircraft plywood comes in 90-degree and 45-degree sheets.

Figure 1 shows an old partial sheet of 3/32-inch mahogany 45-degree grain plywood that I have had since around 1959; it is a beautiful example of this great plywood.

Common hardwoods that are used are mahogany, birch, and basswood. Some plywood may be pressed with two outer plies of mahogany or birch with a poplar or basswood core. I had a sheet of 1/4inch stock that was entirely basswood.

To determine if a wood is either hardwood or softwood, the shape of the tree leaf must be known. Softwoods come from conifer (cone-bearing) trees with small, needle-shaped leaves, while hardwoods come from trees with large, flat leaves. Spruce or Douglas fir is a common softwood, while oak and maple are common hardwoods.

Figure 2 above shows the rotary method used to cut the very thin veneers used to manufacture plywood. The log would be mahogany, birch, basswood, or poplar.

Figure 3

Aircraft plywood is manufactured to specification MIL-P-6070 that calls for shear testing after immersion in boiling water for three hours.

Waterproof glue is used to bond the veneers together, and a hot press is used to apply pressure while the adhesive cures. When the plywood sheet is removed from the hot press, one side will be relatively smooth (A side), and the other side slightly rough (B side).

When gluing I always use the B side because of its roughness to allow better penetration of the adhesive being used. I will also gently hand sand the side to be bonded using coarse sandpaper — I don’t want to remove material but rather just put some scratches in the surface to promote better adhesion. This is particularly true of bonding birch plywood.

Figure 4

Figure 3 on the facing page shows a sketch of 3-ply and 5-ply plywood. When making a scarf joint on plywood, each of the plies will appear equal in width if the scarf is done accurately. The technique used in making scarf joints to plywood is the same as making scarf joints to a composite laminate — the difference is the laminate has plies of reinforced fiber cloth that give the same appearance as a veneer grain line.

In Figure 4, assume a line is drawn that slopes from the top ply to the lower ply and is 12 times the thickness of the plywood sheet. That is the length of a scarf joint on a stressed plywood skin. Actually, making a scarf splice on a plywood skin is no great mystery — it just takes a little practice using the trusty disc sander. The taper of the splice will be 12 to 1; thus, for plywood 1/16 inch thick, the splice will be 3/4 inch in width.

There may be times when plywood must be formed around a leading edge that will require soaking or steaming the wood to soften it. There are times when it will be necessary to soak just a portion of the wood where it bends at the point of the leading edge. I have made a soaker by fabricating some 3-inch diameter PVC pipe into a form to hold water. Rip-cut an opening along the length of a piece of 10-inch plastic pipe, glue end caps, and fill with hot water. Place the section of wood (up to 8 feet in length) into the slot and allow it to soak for about three hours. I made a jig to hold the plywood in the curve I wanted and allowed it to dry. When finished the plywood fit perfectly, as illustrated in Figure 5.

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Figure 5

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Winner is responsible for all applicable taxes.

www.vintageaircraft.org 13

Good Old Days

From pages of what was . . .

Take a quick look through history by enjoying images pulled from publications past.

14  July/August 2018

www.vintageaircraft.org 15

AN

“

Airplane ARCHAEOLOGIST “

AND AN AWARD-WINNING CUB SPECIAL

BY SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

“THE AIRPLANE WAS SITTING THERE QUIETLY, IN A BARN ON A GRASS RUNWAY IN A LIT TLE TOWN JUST SOUTH OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, JUST BEGGING FOR SOMEBODY TO DO SOMETHING WITH IT,” said C & D

Aviation owner Don Wade. “The owner wanted us to make it like it was when it came out of the factory; we took that to heart, and that’s what we did.”

16 July/August 2018

In 2017, just 13 months after the Cub Special was first hauled to Don’s hangar at the Bessemer, Alabama, airport (KEKY), Don, Vintage 725859, and his family team at C & D Aviation LLC had N5533H flying again and looking virtually brand new. It garnered numerous accolades during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2017, and there seemed to be an endless throng of admirers hovering around it.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ED HICKS

www.vintageaircraft.org 17

ANAIRPLANEARCHAEOLOGIST

A

THE PA-11

ccording to Clyde Smith Jr. (aka “The Cub Doctor” and 2012 Vi n t a g e A i r c r a f t Association Hall of Fame inductee), Piper Aircraft Corporation started production of the PA-11 Cub Special at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, and Ponca City, Oklahoma, in 1947. The PA-11 incorporated many changes from its J-3 Cub predecessor.

Notably, the Cub Special featured an enclosed engine cowling with newly designed nose bowl, boot cowl, instrument panel, and windshield. It also had streamlined front lift struts, an elevator bungee, and its landing gear shock cords were dressed up with metal streamlined fairings.

O r i g i n a l l y p owe r e d b y t h e Continental A65-8, the Continental C90-8 became an option in early 1948.

An 18-gallon fuel tank in the left wing gravity fed a 1-gallon header tank in the fuselage. The seat back of the front seat conveniently folded down for easier access to the rear seat, and the cabin had removable aluminum lower sidewall panels. Some PA-11s were used for agricultural dusting or spraying, and some were built for the U.S. Army as L-18Bs. Further development of the PA-11 led to the PA-18 Super Cub.

CHAIN OF OWNERS

N5533H (serial No. 11-1036) was powered by a Continental C90-8F, and was manufactured in 1949. It has changed hands many times, according to the aircraft’s registration records.

Three bills of sale were dated June 1949 in West Virginia: Stewart Aviation Company at Parkersburg purchased the airplane on the 16th from Piper Aircraft Corporation and sold it to Thomas Flying Service at Fayetteville on the 17th.

On June 18, N5533H landed in the hands of Orville F. Fitzwater in Oak Hill.

In 1952, Orville had most of the airframe re-covered in grade A cotton and finished in Cub Yellow and brown. The following year, he had the front and rear lift strut forks and barrels replaced per a Piper service bulletin. Orville relinquished ownership to James McAlister of Huntsville, Alabama, in March 1957, and the airplane has been registered in Alabama ever since.

In 1960, James had the airframe restored. All metal parts were stripped, re-chromated, and finished with enamel. The airframe was covered with grade A cotton, and a new windshield and windows were installed. James sold the restored airplane to John Rasquin of Huntsville in 1961. But like a homing pigeon, it flew back to James just a year later. Then in 1964, John purchased the PA-11 from James’ estate. Sometime during John’s ownership of N5533H, the airplane was flown in support of missions and operations for the Huntsville Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol.

In 1966, John let the airplane fly away to W.A. Griffin of Montgomery, who kept the PA-11 until 1971 when H.B. Bartlett of Pike Road acquired it. In 1984, the Cub Special was once again disassembled, inspected, and covered with grade A. Two years later, the original Goodrich wheels and brakes were replaced with STC’d Cleveland 6.00-6s. A Brackett Aero Filters air filter was installed in 2001, and in 2004, an Avglas STC’d repair kit for the carb heat box was installed.

Piper PA-11, circa late 1940s, at Piper Aircraft in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.

18 July/August 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF CLYDE SMITH

AND AN AWARD-WINNING CUB SPECIAL

AIRPLANE ARCHAEOLOGIST

By early 2016, N5533H was once again in need of a ground-up restoration. C & D Aviation became immersed in the project and, being fairly new in the business, sought detailed guidance from Clyde to make the airplane as close to original as possible.

The most challenging aspect of the restoration for Don was finding and reproducing the detail pieces such as the correct knobs for the throttle and control sticks. While cleaning and restoring the wings, he also made it a point to preserve the Piper Aircraft inspector’s initials and airframe serial number, which were written on the wing spars with a red grease pencil in 1949.

“I call them the ‘1-percent’ things; they were some of the details that had been lost through the years,” Don said. “So that gave us the chance to really dig into Piper history and learn about PA-11s. I feel like an airplane archaeologist now! It took us about 3,500 hours to restore this airplane.”

Don Wade, “Airplane Archaeologist,” and the award-winning 1949 Piper PA-11.

“Restoring this airplane has been such a humbling and wonderful experience … it is hard to do the details, and that’s what makes the difference.”

— Don Wade PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURIE GOOSSENS

www.vintageaircraft.org 19

ANAIRPLANEARCHAEOLOGIST

COVER AND COATINGS

SPECS Manufactured under ATC A-691.

Eligible to be flown as a light-sport aircraft.

ENGINE: GROSS WEIGHT: EMPTY WEIGHT: USEFUL LOAD: WINGSPAN: LENGTH: HEIGHT: BAGGAGE CAPACITY: FUEL: OIL: MAX SPEED: CRUISE: STALL: RATE OF CLIMB: SERVICE CEILING: RANGE: FUEL BURN:

Continental C90 1,220 pounds 750 pounds 470 pounds 35 feet, 2-1/2 inches 22 feet, 4-1/2 inches 6 feet, 7 inches 20 pounds 18 gallons 1 gallon 112 mph 100 mph 40 mph 900 fpm 16,000 feet 350 statute miles 5 gph

The C & D Aviation team has about six people who work during various phases of each restoration project. “I’m mainly involved in fabric and painting the finish,” Don said. “My wife, Cathy, does covering; my brother, Ron, and his wife, Jeanette, do substructure; my friend J.R. is a painter who helps me; and Annie is the head cover girl and a key part of our quality workmanship. We sew our own fabric envelope for the fuselage and make a seam right down the backbone near the spine where the vertical stabilizer joins the fuselage. “It’s a folded seam and you can’t see a seam at all the way we do it. The wings are covered with two pieces of fabric, and the ailerons and tail components with one piece of fabric each. It takes a lot of careful ironing and sanding to get the cover and finish coats looking good.”

N5533H is finished with Consolidated Aircraft Coatings’ Stargloss covering system, which uses proprietary vinyl and polyurethane coatings. “It’s a fabric primer and UV blocker, and it really is a wonderful product. You put it directly on the fabric after you’ve done your basic covering, but it still takes a lot of hand sanding,” Don said. “It only takes two coats, and it really allows you to easily do the fine detail sanding because it doesn’t gum up the sandpaper. Then we put two coats of Ranthane paint on so it’s lighter weight overall.”

Don used a high-volume, low-pressure (HVLP) system to apply the coatings and create a resplendent finish. “We used an HVLP Anest Iwata gravity-fed paint gun,” Don said with a chuckle. “Most people have never heard of it. The nozzle has a double cut in it; it looks like a plus sign, and when it atomizes the paint, it creates a fan about 8 to 10 inches wide. That way, when you’re spraying you don’t have the tiger stripes or dry sprayed edges. You can really create a beautiful pattern, and because it atomizes the paint so well, you don’t really have to load the paint onto the surface to get that nice glossy finish.”

FIREWALL FORWARD

The project begins – Ron Wade strips old fabric from a wing.

Jeanette Wade and Annie work together during the fabric installation process.

The C & D Aviation restoration team at work.

Leah Jones, who worked for Piper Aircraft long ago, with N5533H during Sentimental Journey at Lock Haven.

20 July/August 2018

Quick to give credit where it’s due, Don describes his brother as “a sheet metal master,” adding that Ron made the boot cowl and many of the other sheet metal products. “We used a Univair cowling and nose bowl, and Clyde Smith made the stainless steel firewall,” Don said. “I really give total credit to Clyde for so many restoration tips and details — the guy’s a wonderful cornucopia of knowledge! For instance, we learned from him that the original flexible engine baffling material was leather and put on with staples at the factory. So we went to the detail of using 0.041 safety wire, and it’s bent over so it looks just like staples — this is just one of the ‘1-percent’ things that we did.”

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF DON WADE

AND AN AWARD-WINNING CUB SPECIAL

Additional finishing touches are noticeable when peering inside the cowling, and one is the anti-chafe material. Don used a Model A Ford style brown radiator shell lacing for that; he purchased it from Mike’s “A” Ford-able Parts of Maysville, Georgia. Inside the engine room, Don highlighted a few other items. “We used brass safety wire as fasteners for the cables and hoses, and if you look at the aluminum scat tubing, you’ll see the chafing protectors that my sister-in-law hand sewed from No. 2 duck cloth,” he said. “We also painted the motor mount Hickory Brown, and the cowling brackets are Lock Haven Yellow. All those details were how it was supposed to have been done at the factory.”

Acknowledging a few changes from the PA-11’s original configuration, Don explained that certain concessions were made with enhanced safety and reliability in mind. Slick magnetos and a Marvel-Schebler carburetor were installed, and bumps on the cowling accommodate the shielded ignition.

“Don Swords of Don’s Dream Machines in Griffin, Georgia, rebuilt this C90-8 Continental motor, and it is the serial number of the engine that came out of the factory,” Don said. “When Don Swords builds something, it’s right — this motor cranks with one flip of the Sensenich [72GK50] propeller. Clyde told us the crush plate and bolts would have been silver cad plating in this era, instead of the goldish hue, so that’s what we used. We also installed the Continental ‘Powerful as the Nation’ cover plate.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ED HICKS, LAURIE GOOSSENS

Note the silver cad plating on the prop bolts, and the new Sensenich 72GK50 prop.

Close-up view of the C-90 engine and leather baffling.

www.vintageaircraft.org 21

ANAIRPLANEARCHAEOLOGIST

PANEL AND INTERIOR

Motioning with a crook of his finger, Don beckons admirers to look inside the cabin at numerous authentic details. With as straight a face as he can muster, he comments that the Cub Special has a glass panel — then, seeing the expression of disbelief on people’s faces, he chuckles and points out the glass-faced instruments.

“Someone had put those old plastic labels on the panel, and it was all beat up, so when we took the panel apart, I grabbed the razor blade and gently peeled up the labels. Lo and behold, there was the original stenciling,” Don said. “So, we got a local graphics shop to re-create the stencils from the originals, and we did the same thing for the fuel gauge. When you discover those original details, you’re kind of overwhelmed with the history of it all. That round oil temp/ pressure gauge is ‘unobtainium’ — it’s not a Stewart Warner gauge. We bought that from Keystone Instruments at Lock Haven, and we also had the primer knob re-chromed.”

The PA-11’s original floorboard was in sad shape, but that didn’t deter Don from reusing it — after having it restored, that is. “I have a wonderful woodworking guy who filled the holes with epoxy and fixed it,” he said. “We refinished the whole floor and it just turned out beautiful. My brother redid all the cabin panels and made them exactly like the originals, and my sisterin-law made the new seat covers. The lid on the luggage compartment is the original — it still has the riveted-on data plate. We did install seat belts for safety considerations.”

The knobs on the controls are an eye-catching bright blue, and drew quite a bit of attention. “Those metal knobs are hard to find now. Scott Revoir, a Sentimental Journey judge from New York, loaned a set to us,” Don said. “We took them to a machine shop and had CAD drawings made [and] then a guy machined them for us. The part of the knob above the control stick had faded through the years, but the part of the knob that was down inside the stick was the original color so we tried to color match that. Here’s another detail we discovered — the throttle knob is just a slightly different size from the control stick knob!”

Just the basics! Cream-face instruments in the new panel.

22 July/August 2018

AND AN AWARD-WINNING CUB SPECIAL

AIRFRAME EXTERIOR

N5533H sports brand new Univair stainless steel flying wires and new, galvanized control cables. Heel brake pedals operate the STC’d Grove disc brakes, which were installed for improved reliability and low maintenance. Brand new 8.00-4 Goodyear tires and tubes were installed, along with an original-type Scott tail wheel.

Although the airplane had sported a blue and yellow color scheme for years, it’s now finished in Lock Haven Yellow with a Hickory Brown stripe on the fuselage, as per one of the factory original paint schemes for the PA-11. “We got the Piper Aircraft build sheet for this airplane from Clyde, and it lists those colors and design as being original,” Don said.

Another finishing touch is the Piper Cub Special decal on the tail. “Clyde re-creates the old water transfer decal just like it was from the factory,” Don said.

“When we were at Lock Haven with the airplane I hadn’t put the decal on yet, so we went over to Clyde’s hangar, which is one of the old Piper hangars, and we put it on. When you’re doing things like that, you get the feeling that the airplane isn’t just tubing and fabric — it’s got life.”

C & D AVIATION

Don’s interest in airplanes started with model planes when he was a youngster in his home town of Helena, Alabama. It lingered with him into adulthood and through his service in the U.S. Navy. After years of running his other business, Country Boyz Heating and Cooling, that ol’ aviation bug was rekindled by going flying with friends. Newly inspired and finally having the financial means available, Don attained his dream of becoming a pilot. He earned his private pilot certificate in December 2012 and acquired his A&P mechanic certificate in October 2014.

“I started C & D Aviation because of my desire to preserve and learn about these old airplanes, and most of all, as a way to connect the hearts of all the people who brought them to life,” Don said. “I like what I do; to me, this airplane is a piece of history.

We’ve done about six different Piper restorations, and we’ve had SUN ’n FUN classic winners. We just enjoy learning and dealing with fabric and vintage airplanes.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURIE GOOSSENS, SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

Note the special anti-chafe tape for the cowling and the pristine windshield trim piece.

Note the new pulley, cable, and hardware.

A skylight enhances visibility.

Close-up view of the aileron control horn.

BACK TO THE BIRTHPLACE

N5533H’s formal debut after restoration was, appropriately enough, at the Sentimental Journey Fly-In in Lock Haven. For this PA-11 it was a flight back to its birthplace, where it was heralded as a Grand Champion. For the Wades, it was a rewarding journey imbued with sweet nostalgia, during which they were able to develop an even deeper feeling for the Piper family lineage. One of the highlights for them was meeting a nonagenarian, Leah Jones, who had worked for Piper Aircraft from 1946 to 1951.

“I got a picture of her standing behind the lift struts of this airplane as she remembered all the flying she used to do,” Don said. “It kind of brought tears to our eyes; it was overwhelming to be able to bring those memories back to her and talk to her. She was also a ferry pilot at a very young age, back in the day when we didn’t have GPS or near as many roads to follow. So for me, being able to meet her and hear her story in person was really amazing.”

“THE CUB DOCTOR” KUDOS

Don is pleasantly persistent about crediting “The Cub Doctor” with detailed guidance throughout the restoration. C & D Aviation took those tips and suggestions to heart and found ways to implement authentic details, which helped N5533H achieve award-winning status — including being honored with the Classic Category Reserve Grand Champion Lindy Award at AirVenture 2017.

“Restoring this airplane has been such a humbling and wonderful experience … it is hard to do the details, and that’s what makes the difference,” Don said. “If you own a Cub or want to restore anything Piper, I recommend going to Clyde Smith’s class, because the knowledge that ‘The Cub Doctor’ will give you is invaluable.” www.vintageaircraft.org 23

ANAIRPLANEARCHAEOLOGIST

“Our aspiration in the aviation field is to listen and learn from the people that built these engines and airplanes, so that with every project we do, we can pass on and preserve that knowledge for future generations.” — Don Wade “I’ve watched these guys come from nothing to some of the best in quite a short time,” Clyde said. “They were very friendly and easy to work with and listened to my advice and suggestions very well. I used to joke with them because they would call me with a question about three times a day, for quite some time when they were in the middle of it. The airplane detail is exceptional, and though they missed only a few little items, they took it very well and came out of it wanting to do even better the next time. I helped with almost every aspect, from supplying factory photos, blueprints, and even making and sending them some of the little detail parts like the dollar patches for the control surface stitches. The airplane turned out awesome, and I know we’re going to see much more of their work in the very near future.”

ON THE HORIZON

One of those up-and-coming restoration projects is a Piper PA-14 Family Cruiser.

Others include a 1939 Piper J-3 Cub, a 1939 Great Lakes biplane, and a 1945 Piper L-4 Grasshopper.

“Our purchase of Don’s Dream Machines [in October 2017] — the company that rebuilt the small, older Continental motors — lets us merge that business with C & D Aviation, and proudly makes us a full-service restoration shop,” Don said. “Our aspiration in the aviation field is to listen and learn from the people that built these engines and airplanes, so that with every project we do, we can pass on and preserve that knowledge for future generations.”

24 July/August 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ED HICKS

26 July/August 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT GERMAIN

DENNIS OZMENT’S ICONIC BIRD

T

BY BUDD DAVISSON

THE FIRST SKYHAWK TO COME OUT OF THE NEST

he Cessna 172 is so ubiquitous that it is hard to imagine aviation without it. It continues to be such an integral part of aviation that it’s difficult to get your head around the fact that it was introduced in 1956. To put it another way, an excited teenager who started learning to fly in Cessna’s newest aluminum wonder at that time would be coming up on 80 years old today — a disturbing fact if there ever was one!

A nearly unbelievable fact about the 172 is that the first of the more than 44,000 built (the most of any airplane in history) is still alive and well. It’s actually better than well: It is air show quality without being so perfect that it has taken on a model airplane look. Its owner, Dennis Ozment, Vintage 724236, of Quincy, Illinois, has seen to that.

“To eliminate all the marks on skin that is over 60 years old would require a huge amount of reskinning, and that would defeat the purpose of the restoration,” he said. “I wanted it to show a few of the scars that anything picks up in the act of being used. I wanted this one-of-a-kind artifact to be authentic, not a show piece. I didn’t do this to win prizes. I did it to bring a really interesting piece of history back to what it was in the beginning. Think about it: This was the first of 44,000.

That’s hard to comprehend.”

Although Dennis comes from a family of pilots and he started flying with the rest of them, medical school and two overseas medical deployments in Iraq with the National Guard slowed him down. He didn’t get his private pilot certificate until his military service was behind him and his new medical practice was on its feet. While all this was going on, Cessna 172 N5000A was patiently waiting for him, although he didn’t know it at the time. www.vintageaircraft.org 27

B

oth Dennis and the airplane were lucky.

Dennis is lucky in that he eventually found the airplane, and 5000A was lucky because it had led a better life than many of its peers.

N5000A was built in late 1955 but didn’t officially leave the factory until February of 1956. It went to Skyway School of Aviation initially and then bounced around before being purchased by Joe Nelson in McKinney, Texas. Before selling the airplane to Dennis, Joe had the airplane for nearly 20 years, and much of the time it sat outside in an open-sided hangar while he worked on it.

This included overhauling the engine and restoring the engine compartment. However, the rest of the airplane, although totally flyable, still needed lots of TLC. Joe said the logbooks show that the firewall had seen major replacement twice, and the airplane may have been on its back at some point because the top of the vertical fin had been replaced along with the entire cowling and firewall. The wings, however, escaped unscathed. Like we said, a lucky 172.

When it came time for Dennis to look for a replacement for the C-150 in which he had learned to fly, several aspects of his background guided him.

Every little detail is period correct on this beautiful restoration.

28 July/August 2018

“When I was a kid, my dad dragged his dad’s 1953 tractor home and got it running. Years later I was able to bring it back to showroom condition,” he said. “When I was 15 and old enough to appreciate and participate in the process, my dad and I brought a ’55 Chevy Bel Air back to life. Saving vintage mechanical artifacts must be in my DNA.” Dennis loved the concept of bringing older mechanical goodies to life, but he was also a realist when it came to looking for his next airplane. His medical practice wasn’t going to let him spend the enormous amount of time it would take to do a full restoration on an airplane. “Besides,” he said, “I wanted something to fly while I was working on it.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MILLER

The business end of the first Cessna 172.

He started looking at vintage airplanes and ran the gamut from Stinsons to Staggerwings, but he knew better than to look at basket cases. Then he stumbled on Joe’s ad for 172 N5000A. Although Dennis had a little difficulty believing that it truly was the first one, Joe had documentation to back it up. More importantly, it was a flying airplane. But until Dennis took a trip down to McKinney, he didn’t know how much work it was going to take.

“I flew down to look at it and immediately knew I had to have it,” he said.

“Besides being historic, it checked off all of the goals I had set for acquiring an airplane. First, it was mechanically sound. In fact, the engine was still the original and only had about 350 hours on what was probably the third or fourth overhaul, and it was done fairly recently. Although it

“I want originality, not perfection.” was nearly 60 years old, the airframe had only 4,400 hours on it.

It was a safe, reliable, flying airplane that actually looked pretty good for its age. So, after a long interview process similar to taking Joe’s daughter out on a date, he let me buy it.”

Dennis was in no rush to start working on the airplane: It was a flying airplane so, for a year, he flew it. There is nothing like logging some time in an airplane to get to know not only its personality, but what needs tending to. Also, spending time with the airplane helped him define his goals. He had always said, “I want originality, not perfection,” but both of those terms need definition to be accomplished. His time in the airplane helped him get a clear idea of how he wanted the airplane to be when finished: The phrase “original, not perfect” gained meaning. www.vintageaircraft.org 29

EXTERIOR FIRST

The cosmetics of the airframe were straightforward but labor-intensive. Especially the paint. However, miraculously, there was very little corrosion, and it cleaned up easily. It was miraculous because it sat outside for two decades with the Gulf of Mexico barely 250 miles away. Having no corrosion meant little to no major reskinning. However, all of the corrugated control surfaces showed their age, with lots of wrinkles, broken corrugations, and the usual stuff a Cessna invariably collects as it ages. So, Dennis’ mechanic, Rodney Halfrap, and fellow A&P mechanic Louis Ihnene, who he said were indispensable in getting the project finished, replaced them all.

With any older aluminum airplane that was repainted back in the day, owners have to ask, “What does the aluminum actually look like under the paint?” Paint can act as camouflage so Dennis had no idea what he was likely to find underneath it.

30 July/August 2018

Inasmuch as he wanted to take it back to the original 1956 paint scheme, which had a lot of bare aluminum showing, the condition of the aluminum was critical. Too often, as an airplane ages and it is given a quickie paint job to make it look more salable, the surface prep can be pretty aggressive. Scotch-Brite pads come out in force, and the thin Alclad protective coat of pure aluminum that keeps the metal underneath from corroding is literally scrubbed away. If the Alclad is gone, it’s nearly impossible to get a decent shine.

“Fortunately, except for a few small spots, it looked as if they barely scuffed the aluminum, so I had plenty of Alclad on top of the sheeting to work with,” Dennis said. “I developed a seven-step process in which I would start out with 800-grit paper, wet, then 1,000, 1,200, 1,500, then go through three grades of Nuvite polish. You have to carefully hand sand something like this because you didn’t dare touch a rivet with a machine.

It would deform or disappear in a heartbeat. And getting into the crevices around each rivet was a real chore. I found it took 45 minutes per square foot for all seven steps, and I don’t want to know how many square feet I did. It would depress me.”

One of the most important items Dennis found in his never-ending search for the information required to do the airplane “right” was a pristine, four-color 1956 Cessna brochure that gave him lots of detailed information on both the exterior and interior. That gave him the original color, Cardinal Red, but it was the airplane itself that gave him critical information for laying out the paint scheme.

Anyone who has seen an older aluminum airplane stripped of its paint has seen the shadows of the first scheme it carried etched into the Alclad. The original paint stripes, etc., protected the aluminum until it was stripped off and generally replaced with an all-over coat of paint because bare aluminum is hard to keep looking good. This is especially true of older Cessnas, which usually incorporated a lot of bare aluminum into the factory schemes. The etched lines gave Dennis the exact position and shapes of every part of the paint job.

GOIN’ INSIDE

The brochure was a great guide for the upholstery but, here again, the airplane itself told Dennis what had to be done. When the back seat was reupholstered decades earlier, the upholsterer just covered over the original fabric. It didn’t take Dennis long to discover that the fabric was exactly the same as was offered as an option in 1955 Oldsmobiles. GM didn’t make its own cloth, and the original supplier was still in business.

So, it was a simple task to order the fabric and have a local shop, Dennis Wolter at Air Mod in Batavia, Ohio, redo the interior once again.

This is not just a piece of history, but rather, it’s part of every man’s aviation lifetime.

Usually, the longer an airplane survives as a flying airplane, the more the instrument panel will be reworked (or butchered, depending on your point of view) to take advantage of newer generations of avionics. With the passing of at least five decades, untold new avionics packages have been available, each tempting a new owner to cut a new hole to accommodate it. In the case of N5000A, its luck stayed with it.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT GERMAIN, CHRIS MILLER

DEFINING NO. THE EVENTS LEADING UP to the production of the 172 were actually driven by one of Cessna’s prime competitors for the early 1950s general aviation market: Piper Aircraft. Although general aviation, up to that point, had been almost completely dominated by tailwheel designs, with the Ercoupe being the primary exception, when Piper offered the nose wheel as an option on its Pacer and called it the Tri-Pacer, Cessna was forced to take notice. The Tri-Pacer sold well almost from the beginning. Cessna’s C-170 was also doing well, but going into 1953 the C-170 sales were starting to slide and the company recognized it needed to be updated. The first major move was to redesign a prototype with a squared off tail like the later C-180. Although it has been reported that it was designated as a C-170C, Dennis Ozment said that’s not the case.

“Neither Cessna nor the FAA has records of the existence of a C-170C. What they do have is an experimental license granted to N41768, the straight-tail C-170 prototype that had received a nose wheel and carried the designation of 172,” he said. “It carried the serial number of 612-Experimental 172, which denoted it as a Cessna experimental model. June 6, 1958, Cessna filed for cancellation of that number stating that the aircraft had been scrapped. At the time it had a total of 260 hours. So, technically N5000A isn’t the first C-172, but was the first to come off the production line. It stayed with Cessna for nearly six months while they did further flight tests on it and used it for promotional purposes before it was sold to its first owner, Skyway School of Aviation in Oregon.”

www.vintageaircraft.org 31

32 July/August 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT GERMAIN

www.vintageaircraft.org 33

Dennis Ozment’s 172 is not just another 172.

“The panel wasn’t butchered, and what was changed was easily covered by a new metal overlay piece, which is all that is seen,” Dennis said. “The original Lear radio was gone, but the hole was there so we fabricated a rack for a Garmin radio and transponder to fit that hole, but we can easily pull it out when [we’re] at shows. I found one of the original Lear radios and, using a chop saw, whacked off about the first inch that contains all of the controls. So, at shows that clips into place and all the knobs and dials [turn]. It looks original and it is, but it doesn’t work.”

The “looks original” theme in anything — airplanes, cars, etc. — is usually dependent on a lot of little details being correct. For instance, the airplane’s original seat belts were included in a box of parts that came from Texas with the airplane, and they are installed when at a show. The control yokes are the originals but have been rehabbed by a company that specializes in such things. The oil filler door is not original, and that frustrates Dennis because the spring-loaded latch had caused so many cracks in it that it couldn’t be saved.

Dennis did his best but wound up plunking down a sizable chunk of change for an original one directly from Cessna.

The truth is that 172s are so common that if you had one gold plated and displayed it among all the antiques and homebuilts at Oshkosh, it would barely rate a nod from fly-in veterans, “It’s a 172, so what?” Yet Dennis said the reaction of the crowd wasn’t what he expected.

“Our experience at Oshkosh this year was amazing! There was always someone there looking at it and asking questions,” he said. “One of the interesting aspects of the crowd was the way they took pictures. People did not take pictures of the airplane. They took pictures of themselves with the airplane.

This is not just a piece of history, but rather, it’s part of every man’s aviation lifetime.”

Sometimes an airplane is more than just an airplane. It doesn’t have to be a Mustang or ancient string-bag flivver from the dawn of aviation. Some just touch a common chord in people. Just knowing that this airplane was the very first in an unbelievably long line that has touched generation after generation makes it something of a generational keystone. It’s a 3D chromosome that the entire aviation clan shares so, at some level, it ties us together. Dennis Ozment’s 172 is not just another 172.

34 July/August 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT GERMAIN, CHRIS MILLER

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MILLER

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The 2018 Ford Mustang GT Convertible is provided with the support of Ford Motor Company & Kocourek Ford, Wausau, Wisconsin. *Purchase tickets at the EAA Aviation Museum or during EAA® AirVenture® Oshkosh™, July 23-29, 2018. All ticket sales end on Sunday, July 29, 2018 at 12:00 p.m. Drawing is at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, July 29, 2018, at EAA AirVenture Welcome Center, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, 3000 Poberezny Rd., Oshkosh, WI. For more information and rules visit EAA.org/YERaffle or call 800-236-1025.

www.vintageaircraft.org 45

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE WITTY

46 July/August 2018

www.vintageaircraft.org 47

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

48 July/August 2018

B R CU SUPE

50  July/August 2018

ON F

N S OPE LOAT

S A W

VE OF AD D L R O

NTUR

E

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM RAEDER

BY BETH E. STANTON

RAY COOK’S AFFECTION for the Cub began early. He flew

his first 10 hours in a rented J-3 Cub at age 14. His father instructed in a J-3 on floats based on the Fox River in his hometown of McHenry, Illinois. Ray earned his seaplane rating when he was a junior in college. He’s flown for American Airlines for almost 40 years, but general aviation has remained his favorite kind of flying.

www.vintageaircraft.org 51

NOT A J-3

R

ay still owns his dad’s 1958 Cessna 175 that he soloed in on his 16th birthday. Both of his sons also soloed in it on their 16th birthdays, and it’s been to all 48 of the continental United States.

Ray, Vintage 715358, rebuilt a 1946 BC12-D Taylorcraft that won a Bronze Lindy in 2002. A Cub was wrecked after it hit a fence a few miles from his home, and Ray bought the project. “It never really left me; I’ve always wanted a Cub,” he said. In 2009, he was awarded another Bronze Lindy for the restoration of that 1946 J-3-65C. CUB PLUS FLOATS

In addition to annual pilgrimages to Oshkosh, Ray flew the Taylorcraft three times and the J-3 once to the SUN ’n FUN International Fly-In & Expo in Lakeland, Florida. He flew solo since, with gear for camping for a week, there wasn’t room for anyone else. He began to notice that the Super Cub had a lot more utility than the J-3. He’d also always wanted a floatplane.

“There aren’t very many places in the country where you can actually go rent an airplane on floats,” he said. “Either you own one or have somebody that you can go fly with.”

A Super Cub on floats would combine the best of all worlds for the type of flying he and his wife, Christina, like best. For them, a Super Cub would be the perfect traveling, camping, and utility airplane.

While at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2011, Ray saw a 1959 PA-18 Super Cub project advertised on Barnstormers that was located in Moorhead, Minnesota. Christina encouraged him to go for it. He bought the plane sight unseen over the phone. When he went to pick it up, he found a rough pile of parts in a garage.

He loaded it all into a U-Haul and brought it home.

52 July/August 2018

Ray had confidence for his new project from his rebuild of the J-3. “I thought the Super Cub would be very similar, but it turns out that those airplanes are not even close to being the same,” he said.

The basic design function is comparable, but he discovered that many aspects of the Super Cub — including wing installation, flaps, trim, and fuel system — were very different.

Ray’s experience with systems, metal work, fabric, and paint had evolved from his previous projects. He had already acquired the necessary tools such as a 4-foot finger break, 4-foot shear, corner shear, and notcher for this rebuild.

He decided to put a wide-body fuselage on the Super Cub and replaced the fuselage truss with a new 4-inch-wide truss from Airframes Alaska. Next, he began fabricating a new aluminum interior.

“There is way more metal work in the Super Cub than the J-3,” he said.

“The interior is all bent aluminum so it was a very lengthy project just covering the interior.”

Ray described the Super Cub fuel system as “infinitely more complicated” than the J-3. The J-3 has a simple tank in the nose with one line running up to the gascolator and then to the engine.

The Super Cub has two wing tanks with a balance line between the tanks and a main feed fore-and-aft of each tank with all four lines running down to a valve and then up to the engine. Installing the fuel system turned out to be a time-consuming challenge. The Lycoming O-320 engine that came with the project was overhauled and installed.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD

www.vintageaircraft.org 53

NEW WINGS

Ray described the wings that came with the project as a “mess.”

“They were really ugly and in really bad shape,” he said. “I’m looking at them thinking this is going to be a nightmare tearing these apart and trying to eliminate all the non-stock parts that I didn’t want.”

He saw an ad in Trade-A-Plane for a brand new set of Dakota Cub wings with square tips and extended ailerons and flaps.

“This guy was going to put them on his Breezy [and] then decided they were way too much wing for it,” Ray said.

They were still in the box, and he bought them for $5,000 less than from the factory price. He flew to Kansas City, loaded the wings onto a U-Haul truck, and brought them home. “Other than a lot of fitting and work on fairings and stuff like that, it saved a ton of work as opposed to trying to rebuild the old wings,” he said.

54 July/August 2018

Life doesn’t get much better; flying low over the water with the doors open.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD

AVIONICS

On his previous rebuilds, Ray tried to make everything as original as possible with the ambition of taking it to Oshkosh to be judged. With the Super Cub, he focused more on making it practical and personalized for his needs. “In my mind, I just wanted to make it the way I wanted it as a utility airplane.”

With limited panel space, each instrument was chosen for its small size, light weight, and functionality in a highnoise environment. Ray flush-mounted a Garmin 796 Area GPS in the center of the panel and hard wired it, eliminating external wires and mounts. This unit was paired with a Garmin GDL 39, giving it ADS-B “in” capability, which includes live radar, weather, and traffic. “The Garmin units provide great GPS navigation, along with all the information you need on long cross-countries. There is no vacuum pump and no gyro instruments, so the 796 provides pretty good electronic backup,” he said.

“I obviously love the build part, but this airplane just absolutely fulfills every dream you could have for adventure.”

— Ray Cook

FABRIC AND PAINT

Standing tall — the Super Cub is beautiful on land or water.

Ray felt he didn’t need to reinvent the wheel after using the Superflite covering and paint process for his previous two restorations. “I like their glues in the covering process, and their polyurethane primer goes on with minimum number of coats, meaning less sanding,” he said. “The topcoat goes on easily and is as durable as it is good looking.” www.vintageaircraft.org 55

WHEELS FOR OSHKOSH

R The Wipaire 2100A floats provide all the versatility on or off the water.

ay had painted the Taylorcraft and J-3 in a makeshift paint booth fashioned by hanging tarps and a tube axial exhaust fan in the ceiling ducted to the outside of his pole barn. Every time the fan was on, the tarps got sucked in, and he had to focus more on how the paint booth was behaving rather than the actual paint job.

He decided it would be worth the time to make something more substantial so he framed in solid walls and cut an inlet filter, allowing him to install a full-sized automotive filter intake.

He built ductwork along the back wall from the ceiling to the floor, allowing the exhaust fan to draw air from the bottom of the booth, instead of pulling everything off the floor and back over the plane. He thinks the booth was worth every minute of his time. “The whole painting process became a whole lot more fun,” he said.

The door to the paint booth is wide enough to get a fuselage and wing in but not wide enough for a car. “So all my friends aren’t bringing their cars over to my paint booth,” Ray said with a laugh.

FLOAT FINAGLING

Ray put down a deposit on a set of Wipaire 2100A amphibious floats, and the company sent him the install kit so that the hydraulics and electrical work required could be integrated during the course of the rebuild. This task alone added a significant amount work to the project and was a big learning curve.

Ray said that Dan Gutz at the St. Paul facility was immensely helpful before and after the sale. “Wipaire was incredible to work with, and I can’t speak enough about those people,” he said.

Although floats can certainly be installed on an already finished airplane, in Ray’s mind, there’s no question that it was easier to install the systems for the floats on an unfinished, uncovered airplane. “It’s a pretty big project even with just a basic truss. I can’t imagine fishing through all the cables and wires and the hydraulic lines on a plane that is already assembled.”

56 July/August 2018

One month shy of three years after starting the project (and five days before AirVenture 2014), Ray flew the Super Cub for the first time. He wanted to be sure that any bugs were worked out before he put the floats on and flew it at first with Airframes Alaska Bushwheel 31-inch tires on the 3-inch extended main gear and an Airframes Alaska Baby Bushwheel tail wheel.

There were bugs right off the bat. A minor fuel leak was an easy fix, but an oil temperature issue required pulling the engine off. After a challenging five days, Ray flew the Super Cub to AirVenture to be judged in the Contemporary category.

“It’s always fun to build them and take them to Oshkosh,” he said. “It turned out the judges liked it very well.” Ray’s 1959 PA-18 Super Cub N4273S was awarded the Gold Lindy at AirVenture 2014.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Ray believes that building airplanes is like anything else: The more you do it, the better you get at it. “I’ve done enough of them now so my confidence level has gone up,” he said. “I’ve gotten to know what to look for and what looks good when it’s finished and what doesn’t.”

Christina loves watching Ray work on the airplanes. “He’ll point something out and say this isn’t right,” she said.

“I’m constantly amazed by what he is able to do and how he is able to make these incredible airplanes.”

Ray is happy with the outcome of all of his projects and sees them as an evolution. “The Taylorcraft looked nice, but in the fabric and the paint there are a lot of mistakes. The J-3 came out a little bit better. With the Super Cub, I learned from the other airplanes. I tell everybody that yeah, it looks nice, but the next one’s going to be really beautiful.”

BET TER WITH FLOATS

The Super Cub remained on wheels for nine months. “It just flies so nice and is so much fun to fly,” Ray said. By the time he was ready for the floats, it was autumn so he decided to keep it on wheels over the winter. In the spring, he flew to the Wipaire factory in St. Paul, where they bolted on the floats.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM RAEDER

www.vintageaircraft.org 57

Super Cub “When I put it on floats, I liked it even better,” Ray said. Even so, the airplane was so cool to fly on big tires that it inspired the current project in his barn — another Super Cub that will stay on wheels. He’s finding the second one easier and made many of the parts from scratch. It’s all assembled with the wings on, and after a couple more “nitpicky things,” he’ll be ready to cover it.

“I keep going,” he said. “It doesn’t end.”

AIRCRAFT MAKE & MODEL: Piper PA-18 Super Cub CERTIFICATION: August 20, 1959 FLOATS: Wipaire 2100A with amphibious landing gear LENGTH: 26 feet, 3 inches WINGSPAN: 35 feet, 6-1/2 inches with Airframes

Alaska 4-inch wide body fuselage HEIGHT: 9 feet, 6 inches MAXIMUM GROSS WEIGHT: 2,000 pounds with Wipaire gross weight kit installed EMPTY WEIGHT: 1,487 on floats FUEL CAPACITY: 48 gallons SEATS: Two plus third seat option in baggage compartment POWERPLANT: Lycoming O-320-A2B HORSEPOWER: 160 PROPELLER: McCauley 1A175/GM8244 CRUISE SPEED/FUEL CONSUMPTION: 100 mph/8 gph

on floats TAKEOFF AND LANDING DISTANCE: 200 landing roll, 350 takeoff roll on wheels 430 landing, 700 takeoff on floats VNE: 153 on wheels, 120 with floats installed VSO: 38 mph VX: 45 mph VY: 75 mph AVIONICS ● ●

DREAM ADVENTURES

“I obviously love the build part, but this airplane just absolutely fulfills every dream you could have for adventure,” Ray said. The first trip after the floats were installed was to their nephew’s home on a lake in Lakewood, Wisconsin, where they parked in his front yard. The whole neighborhood came out, and Ray and Christina spent the day on the dock giving the neighborhood kids rides. Ray said he enjoys giving rides to people who have never flown or have never been in a seaplane before.

“To me, it’s kind of goodwill with the community,” he said.

“My wife is a trooper; she’ll stand there on the dock helping everybody load and put their seat belt on.”

Ray and Christina are like a couple of giddy kids and have already put about 275 hours on their Super Cub, flying to nine states. Their home is in Spring Grove, Illinois, but the Cessna 175, Taylorcraft, and J-3 live in a hangar about 30 miles away in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Super Cub on floats is hangared in Camp Lake, Wisconsin, on the north end of the Illinois Chain O’ Lakes.

They like to plan an adventure, and then hop in the plane and go.

58 July/August 2018

● ● ● ●

Position Advisory System Becker 4201 comm Becker ATC4401 transponder PS Engineering 1200 intercom Garmin 796 Area GPS Garmin GDL39 with ADS-B “in” capability

“It just takes preparation and making sure that you have everything, but not too much because you don’t want to be too heavy,” Christina said. The Super Cub hauls all their gear: tent, air mattress, sleeping bags, clothes, and tools and still has room for plenty of fuel.

They are kindred spirits when it comes to meticulous attention to detail.

“After the show, we talked to Bill Pike from Wipaire, and he offered to keep the airplane while we went home for a month.” They returned and spent a month seeing how many lakes and restaurants they could visit. They explored the exquisite Tavares Seaplane Base, Jack Brown’s Seaplane Base in Winter Haven, and Lake Placid. Landing on the St. Johns River,

“One of the things I love about flying with Ray is just being able to look out and see the beauty of this country.

It’s just amazing.” — Christina Cook “You should see her checklists for these trips!” Ray said. “Every event has a different checklist of what to bring.”

“I break it down into what is in which location,” Christina said. “I have a hangar list, a barn list, and a house list.

It’s very helpful.”

After their first trip to SUN ’n FUN in the Super Cub, they realized that Florida is a seaplane wonderland. 2018 marked their third year in a row flying to Florida to camp at SUN ’n FUN.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD, JIM RAEDER

alligators on the shoreline watched silently as they taxied by.

They’ve been to Gaylord, Michigan, for the big Otsego Lake Splash-In and have camped out for long weekends on Washington Island in Door County, Wisconsin. “You see the same people going to all the fly-ins, and the social aspect is as much fun as the trip,” Ray said. “The fact that we’ve met so many great people is absolutely a great bonus for having the airplanes.”

LIFETIME PASSION

Ray and Christina got married in 2013 and are still as madly in love as newlyweds. “I knew when we started dating that this was something that was part of his life and important to him,” Christina said. “I just started with this crazy community since I’ve been with Ray. Now I love it too.”

Christina used to fly commercially often for work. The first time she and Ray flew to Florida in the Super Cub was a breathtaking experience for her.

“When you’re flying commercially, you never see below you. One of the things I love about flying with Ray is just being able to look out and see the beauty of this country. It’s just amazing.”

Ray’s official retirement date flying Boeing 787s for American Airlines is July 31, but he planned his last trips so he could make it to AirVenture 2018. “I grew up with general aviation. It’s the first flying I did, and it’s something I never grew away from,” he said. “Everybody has a hobby and a passion, and that’s been mine throughout my whole life.”

People ask Ray what he’s going to do in retirement. “I say well, now I’m going to do what I want to do full time: flying and building little airplanes,” he said. www.vintageaircraft.org 59

The Vintage Mechanic ROBERT G. LOCK

Part Two: Ignition System Troubleshooting

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

UNLESS YOU HAVE the correct tools, timing a mag-

neto to the engine can be frustrating. First, let’s review some details about the magneto. If the magneto has come from an overhaul facility, it should be ready to install. The overhaul facility should have provided a maintenance release tag (commonly called a “yellow tag”) and a copy of the work order showing what was done to the magneto.

The engine should be set to the proper full advance piston firing position in the No. 1 cylinder on the compression stroke. I use a Time-Rite (Figure 1) to set the piston location on the Wright R-760 engine at 25 degrees before top dead center.

Remove all front spark plugs and rotate the engine until you feel compression on the No. 1 cylinder.

The master spline on the crankshaft will align the propeller centerline with the centerline of the No. 1 cylinder. Move the crankshaft back until the prop makes a 45-degree angle to the centerline of the No. 1 cylinder. By referring to the instructions, choose the correct card and arm assembly for the Time-Rite, in this case card 4A and pivot arm “C” with the hook end pointed down.

Insert the Time-Rite assembly into the front spark plug hole on the No. 1 cylinder and rotate the prop to bring the piston through the full top dead center position on the compression stroke (Figure 2). Rock the propeller to the left and right of the cylinder centerline. Move the prop back to about the 45-degree position. Adjust the scale to read zero degrees on the card. The scale card is now positioned to show the piston at top dead center (Figure 3).

Slide the pointer up past the timing point, in this case 25 degrees. Move the prop by tapping on the trailing edge with your hand until the pointer reads 25 degrees on the scale card. The engine is set to receive the magneto. Hold the magneto in the “E” gap position and engage it into the magneto drive on the engine accessory case.

60 July/August 2018

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Move the magneto until the slots are positioned in the center of the attaching studs, install the washers and nuts, and tighten them so the nuts just barely touch the magneto surface. Attach a timing light to the magneto points and tap the magneto until the points just open.

Snug down the attach nuts, rotate the prop back, move the pointer to around 35 degrees, and tap the prop toward the firing point. The points should just begin to open at the 25-degree mark. Rotate the propeller in the direction of rotation and adjust the magneto until the points just open at the firing point as specified by the manufacturer of the engine.

Another method to set the crankshaft and piston firing position is by use of a timing disc attached to the crankshaft of the engine. I prefer to use the TimeRite because it has been my preference for the past 50 years!

If a mechanic has replaced the point assembly, the first step is to set the maximum point gap opening (Figure 4). In the Scintilla VMN7DF magneto, set the point gap opening to 0.010 inch minimum, 0.012 inch desired, and 0.014 inch maximum. Align the timing marks on the magneto case (B and BB) with timing marks on the large gear (A and AA). When these marks are aligned the points should just begin to open. This is called the “E” gap. This is where the magneto should be engaged into the engine accessory drive.

Timing of the Bendix SF7 magneto is very similar to the Scintilla VMN series (Figure 5). The TimeRite setup is the same, but the means of setting the “E” gap on the Bendix is slightly different.

Instructions for the timing of the Bendix SF7 magneto as reprinted from service instructions dated January 1943 are shown. You will need a 6-inch scale or small straight www.vintageaircraft.org 61

The Vintage Mechanic ROBERT G. LOCK

Figure 4

Figure 45

edge to bridge between the fixed timing marks on the magneto case (Figure 6). It is also important to locate where the firing finger is pointing because it must be located at the harness lead for the No. 1 cylinder. Note that the magneto is turned to align the timing mark “A” on the distributor rotor with mark “B” etched on the case. It will be necessary to rotate the magneto shaft through several turns until scale “K” aligns the step on the cam with the timing mark “M” etched on the case. Once the magneto “E” gap is set on the No. 1 cylinder, the magneto may be engaged into the accessory drive gear.

There are two methods to check the “E” gap point opening — use of a timing light or a cellophane strip.

Timing lights are rather straightforward; simply follow the instructions as to how to set up the lights. If cellophane is used, cut a piece of the material about 1/4 inch by 1 inch and open the points to slide the cellophane between the points. Pull gently on the cellophane and have someone tap the propeller toward the firing point. When the points start to open, the cellophane will be Figure 6 released from between the points.

It’s an old trick, but it works. It can be used for field timing of a magneto, and there will usually be a source for cellophane, as it is still used for wrapping of commodities. Although I never have smoked, cigarette wrappers make a good source for cellophane. As an alternative, use a clean 0.0015 inch feeler gauge in place of the cellophane.

If you were in the middle of nowhere and a magneto decided to cause problems, you will have to ship in a replacement magneto. To field time a magneto without the use of a timing light or piston firing position indicator in the No. 1 cylinder, you might try this. Remove the spark plug from the No. 1 cylinder and rotate the prop until you locate

the compression stroke. Again, make sure the magneto switch is in the OFF position before moving the prop. The propeller centerline will align with the cylinder centerline; back off the prop about 45 degrees. (This is true for a metal propeller; some wood propellers may be indexed 90 degrees to the crankshaft throw.)

Insert a strip of cellophane between the points of the good magneto and tap the prop in the direction of rotation until the strip is released. If the specifications state that both magnetos fire at the same piston position, the engine is ready to receive the replacement magneto. Insert the cellophane strip in the points of the replacement magneto and align the timing marks. When the strip is released, this is the “E” gap. Hold the large gear or distributor rotor in this position and install the magneto. Snug the retaining nuts, reinsert the cellophane strip, and move the magneto in its slots until the strip is released. The engine should run fine at this point.

However, if the rpm drop is a little excessive, loosen the retaining nuts slightly and rotate the magneto in one direction, until the end of the slot is reached. Snug down the nuts and run the engine. If the rpm drop got better, you lucked out and went in the right direction. If the rpm drop got a little worse, you went in the wrong direction.

Loosen the retaining nuts and move the magneto in the opposite direction until it reaches the limit of the slot. Tighten the nuts and run the engine again.

This concludes our discussion of ignition system troubleshooting. Hopefully most of the important issues were covered. Remember, there is more than one way to troubleshoot a problem, and I have only presented my experience on this subject. However there is only one way to time a magneto to an engine properly: the right way.

62 July/August 2018

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64 July/August 2018

DIRECTORY OFFICERS President Susan Dusenbury 1374 Brook Cove Road Walnut Cove, NC 27052 336-591-3931 sr6sue@aol.com

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DIRECTORS EMERITUS David Bennett antiquer@inreach.com

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ANTIQUE

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

Aircraft | Personal Non-Owned | Powered Parachute & WSC Trike | Accidental Death & Dismemberment | Flight Instructor | Hangar | Airport

EAA.org/Insurance | 866.647.4322

When you insure with the EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan you are helping VAA to continue to promote the heritage of vintage aviation.