Va Vol 47 no 2 mar apr 2019

MARCH / APRIL 2019

BARNSTORMER BLISS TRI-PACER MEMORIES CANADIAN STAGGERWING

Lincoln-Page

Restored

INTRODUCING THE NEW

2019 FORD EDGE

Optional features shown.

The Privilege of Partnership EAA members are eligible for special pricing on Ford Motor Company vehicles through Ford’s Partner Recognition Program. To learn more about this exclusive opportunity for EAA members to save on a new Ford or Lincoln vehicle, please visit www.eaa.org/ford. d

Message from the President

March/April 2019

SUSAN DUSENBURY, VAA PRESIDENT

STAFF

VAA Red Barn happenings EAA AIRVENTURE OSHKOSH 2019

is headed our way fast. Here at the Vintage Aircraft Association, plans have been made and we are in the process of working through them.

This year things are a little different in that VAA will again be handling the merchandising in the VAA Red Barn.

(Four years back VAA contracted with EAA, which took over the entire VAA Red Barn merchandising operation.)

Now the VAA Red Barn store is in the very capable hands of Vintage volunteer and Red Barn Merchandising Chairman Mary Knutson. Mary, who is a licensed practical nurse, has an extensive background in retail. Luckily for all of us she is imbued with a sense of good taste so we can expect some really nice club wear and other special items to be offered for sale in the VAA Red Barn.

Assisting Mary with merchandise selection is Liz Popp. The super-talented Liz has been a longtime volunteer in the judges headquarters during convention and is frequently referred to as “the glue that keeps us (the judges and judging headquarters) organized and holds us together.” Another longtime volunteer, Mary Wendorff, will be assisting Knutson as the co-chairman in the VAA Red Barn. Many of you already know Wendorff with her sparkling personality and keen sense of humor from her time spent as a volunteer in the hospitality side of the VAA Red Barn. VAA is so fortunate to have these three volunteers on our team.

After a thorough examination of the wiring in the merchandising side of the VAA Red Barn we decided that it was past time for new electrical wiring and fixtures. All new wiring and fixtures were completed on the hospitality side of the VAA Red Barn last year. The original wiring in the VAA Red Barn was done by volunteers (all very capable

and done to code at the time — decades ago, I might add), but as the years have gone by new circuits were added to the old breaker box and wiring codes have been changed. In short (no pun intended), it’s just time to organize the entire wiring system and bring everything up to the current code.

Along with the wiring we will be installing new interior walls as well as a new south exterior wall. The south wall has deteriorated over the years from weather and has been in need of replacement for a while. Thanks to a dedicated and generous VAA member we will also be replacing the roof and changing the pitch of the roof to redirect potentially damaging water. The new roof will cover the merchandising side of the VAA Red Barn as well as the porch surrounding the north and east side of the building. Our volunteers are happy with that as they will no longer have to run for the mop and drip bucket every time it rains!

Neither will they have to remove the large puddles of rainwater from the VAA Red Barn just before convention.

VAA Volunteer Maintenance Chairman Mike Blombach and his skillful team will be putting the finishing touches on the VAA Red Barn by repainting the porch and railings.

So, wow! Plan to spend some time at the newly renovated VAA Red Barn in July, and join us for our grand reopening ceremony and ribbon-cutting at the main entrance to the VAA Red Barn store on Monday morning during AirVenture beginning at 9 a.m.

Don’t forget to sign up for the door prizes.Please remember that our friends of the VAA Red Barn annual campaign has begun. Over the years this campaign has made it possible for us to expand our AirVenture programs and develop the Vintage Village.

Publisher: Jack J. Pelton, EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board Editor: Jim Busha / jbusha@eaa.org Senior Copy Editor: Colleen Walsh Assistant Copy Editor: Katie Holliday-Greenley Proofreader: Jennifer Knaack Graphic Designer: Cordell Walker

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 Email: 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

One Glorious 1928 Lincoln-Page Restored with honor, heart, and talent

By Sparky Barnes Sargent

26

Barnstormer Utopia Chasing shadows of the past

By Jim Busha

40

Memories Coming Full Circle Mark Wyant’s déjà vu Tri-Pacer

By Budd Davisson

48

Flying Its Socks Off The Bohmer family Cub Coupe

By Budd Davisson

54

A Canadian Staggerwing — Then and Now Restoration of CF-BJD

By Mike Davenport

2

March/April 2019

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).

March/April 2019 / Vol. 47, No. 2

C OL U M N S Message From the President

01

By Susan Dusenbury

04

Friends of the Red Barn

08

Air Mail

12

How To? Make a Bonded Test Sample

By Robert G. Lock

14

Good Old Days

62

The Vintage Mechanic Aging Aircraft Issues, Part 2

By Robert G. Lock

64

VAA New Members

C OV E R S Front The 1928 Lincoln-Page over Broadhead, Wisconsin.

Photo by Connor Madison

Back Stearmans at sunset. Rod Hocter and Ross Rogers enjoy a late afternoon flight over Stearman Field near Wichita, Kansas.

Photo by Jim Busha

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT SLOCUM

www.vintageaircraft.org 3

Friends of the

RED BARN 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.

4 March/April 2019

in 2018 was 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 ↓

Donor Appreciation Certificate

Special FORB Badge

Access to Air-Conditioned Volunteer Center

A “6-Pack” of Cold Bottled Water!

Two Passes to VAA Volunteer Party

Breakfast at Tall Pines Café

Tri-Motor OR Helicopter Ride Certificate

Two Tickets to VAA Picnic

Close Auto Parking

Special Air Show Seating

Full week

2 people, 1 day

Two Weekly Wristbands

DIAMOND PLUS

DIAMOND $1,000 - $1,499

2 people, full week

2 tickets

1 person, full week

1 ticket

PLATINUM

GOLD $500 - $749 SILVER

BRONZE PLUS $150 - $249 BRONZE LOYAL SUPPORTER $99 and under

#

CHOOSE YOUR LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION:

Name: __________________________________________________________ EAA #: ________________ VAA #: __________________

Address:______________________________________________________________

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)

City: _____________________________________________________________State: _____________________ ZIP:_______________

BADGE INFORMATION Phone:___________________________________________________________Email: _____________________

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.

Contributions must be received by July 15, 2019 to receive recognition at AirVenture 2019

www.vintageaircraft.org

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C A L L F O R V I N TA G E A I R CR A F T A S S O CI AT I O N

Nominate your favorite vintage aviator for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame. A great honor could be bestowed upon that man or woman working next to you on your airplane, sitting next to you in the chapter meeting, or walking next to you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Think about the people in your circle of aviation friends: the mechanic, historian, photographer, or pilot who has shared innumerable tips with you and with many others. They could be the next VAA Hall of Fame inductee — but only if they are nominated.

The person you nominate can be a citizen of any country and may be living or deceased; his or her involvement in vintage aviation must have occurred between 1950 and

the present day. His or her contribution can be in the areas of flying, design, mechanical or aerodynamic developments, administration, writing, some other vital and relevant field, or any combination of fields that support aviation. The person you nominate must be or have been a member of the Vintage Aircraft Association or the Antique/Classic Division of EAA, and preference is given to those whose actions have contributed to the VAA in some way, perhaps as a volunteer, a restorer who shares his expertise with others, a writer, a photographer, or a pilot sharing stories, preserving aviation history, and encouraging new pilots and enthusiasts.

To nominate someone is easy. It just takes a little time and a little reminiscing on your part.

•Think of a person; think of his or her contributions to vintage aviation.

•Write those contributions in the various categories of the nomination form.

•Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions. Make copies of newspaper or magazine articles that may substantiate your view.

•If at all possible, have another individual (or more) complete a form or write a letter about this person, confirming why the person is a good candidate for induction.

We would like to take this opportunity to mention that if you have nominated someone for the VAA Hall of Fame, nominations for the honor are kept on file for three years, after which the nomination must be resubmitted.

Mail nominating materials to: VAA Hall of Fame, c/o Jan Johnson VAA

PO Box 3086

Oshkosh, WI 54903

Email: jjohnson@eaa.org Find the nomination form at www.VintageAircraft.org, or call the VAA office for a copy (920-426-6110), or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information: •Date submitted.

•Name of person nominated.

•Address and phone number of nominee.

•Email address of nominee.

•Date of birth of nominee. If deceased, date of death.

•Name and relationship of nominee’s closest living relative.

•Address and phone of nominee’s closest living relative.

•VAA and EAA number, if known. (Nominee must have been or is a VAA member.)

•Time span (dates) of the nominee’s contributions to vintage aviation.

(Must be between 1950 to present day.)

•Area(s) of contributions to aviation.

•Describe the event(s) or nature of activities the nominee has undertaken in aviation to be worthy of induction into the VAA Hall of Fame.

•Describe achievements the nominee has made in other related fields in aviation.

•Has the nominee already been honored for his or her involvement in aviation and/or the contribution you are stating in this petition? If yes, please explain the nature of the honor and/or award the nominee has received.

•Any additional supporting information.

•Submitter’s address and phone number, plus email address.

•Include any supporting material with your petition.

Air Mail Letters to the Editor PLANES AND PEOPLE FROM WALDO PEPPER

8 March/April 2019

THE PLANES FROM The Great Waldo Pepper

movie have crossed paths with me since the days of the filming in 1975.

I was returning from a drill in a Los Angeles Fire Department Huey helicopter that I was piloting when one of the crew members spotted the World War I fighters at the old Wil-Gap airstrip near Piru, California. I landed a safe distance away, and we toured the set and looked at the beautiful airplanes. We were told that they were setting up for the filming of Waldo Pepper. The photos from that day are in a place of honor on my hangar wall.

Maybe 20 years ago, noted WWI restorer Roger Freeman’s father was showing a friend and me his incredible hangar at Porterville Airport in central California. Along the walls were completely restored WWI aircraft but uncovered and unassembled. Interspersed

among the aircraft were WWI engines on stands. In the center of the hangar and sitting next to the prettiest Jenny I’ve ever seen was the Standard J-1 that Mr. Freeman said was featured in Waldo Pepper.

Finally, Ernst Kessler’s air show airplane in the movie was the late Frank Price’s Bücker Jungmeister. I believe that he did those air show scenes himself. It is now being restored by a former U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot, Joe Vasile, in northern Virginia. A framed patch of fabric from the Jungmeister as it appeared in the movie is also on my hangar wall behind my own Jungmeister at Santa Paula Airport.

Today’s computer-generated movie flying scenes don’t come close to the actual aircraft being used. Besides The Great Waldo Pepper, my favorite movies about that era are The Blue Max and High Road to China.

Pat Quinn, VAA 10079

GREAT ARTICLE BY MARK CARLSON (“Waldo Pepper’s Great Planes,” November/December 2018)! Will you please pass a question to him: What information do you have about the Chipmunk used in the movie?

Mark notes that the Chipmunk flown in the outside loop sequence by Art Scholl came from Australia in 1972.

I rebuilt and fly Super Chipmunk N7DW, which came to Texas from Australia in 1972. One website that lists N-numbers of airplanes used in various movies lists N7DW in The Great Waldo Pepper. Perhaps that’s the source for Mark Carlson’s info.

The timing is right for it to be my plane, and like the Skystreak, mine was converted (in 1965) to fly from the rear with a covered front cockpit. It initially had a bubble, but was later (in 1988) converted to open cockpit, as it remains today.

However, several years ago I researched it and concluded that there are enough differences between the movie plane and mine that it seems unlikely. For example, the

movie plane has the stock de Havilland tail wheel, whereas mine received a Scott tail wheel before it came from Australia (converted when it served as a crop sprayer).

Also, a previous owner, Chuck Stockdale, told me he saw the movie plane rotting in a field in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve never found anyone who can confirm the actual N-number.

But the possibility remains intriguing! I’d love to hear whatever Mark Carlson learned about this movie airplane.

I’ve begun flying air shows in N7DW and have worked on a schtick that re-creates the fatal movie scene with a couple of three-quarter outside loops to vertical, hammer out, followed by a full outside loop with a “death defying” one-anda-half spin at the top. None of it is actually difficult or dangerous, but with the right announcer (Howdy McCann!) it could be a lot of fun! Haven’t performed it yet.

It would be so cool if mine was the very same plane used in the movie.

Mark Meredith, VAA 719150

I CERTAINLY ENJOYED READING Mark Carlson’s article on the George Roy Hill production of The Great Waldo Pepper.

However, I would like to point out an oversight; I certainly understand it had to be unintended. Frank Price flew many of the sequences in this production — in particular a difficult and risky spin to a very low recovery altitude. All of this in his Bücker Jungmeister.

Frank was one of the first four inductees into the International Aerobatic Club Hall of Fame. Included in addition to Frank in the 1987 hall of fame were Duane Cole, Curtis Pitts, and Jose Aresti. Frank was a truly remarkable and accomplished aerobatic pilot. He was also a wonderful friend to many — myself included. He was never too busy to provide thoughtful advice, and he certainly never overstated any of his accomplishments.

AGING AIRCRAFT, TIMELESS TOPIC

THANK YOU FOR CREATING another wonderful maga-

zine. It’s a pleasure to read and a pleasure to own.

The topic of aging aircraft, of course, never gets old!

Thank you to Robert Lock for sharing. This topic is perhaps an example of just how much knowledge is required to properly maintain and restore light aircraft.

I have a couple of suggestions for part two, based on my take from part one.

I think it would be worthwhile mentioning magnesium. It is a material that is found on many older aircraft and, in my limited experience, its treatment is not well documented or understood. For example, chromate primers should not be used on magnesium parts. For the same reason, conversion coatings used for aluminum or steel are generally not appropriate for magnesium.

I think it would be worthwhile expanding a little on conversion coatings. Robert mentions chromic acid as a conversion chemical for aluminum, but there are different types. One of the most toxic of which is what was required to conversion coat magnesium (so it’s hard to find these days and very expensive, not to mention the OSH issues).

I’ve found the best solution for magnesium is Alodine 5700 available in individual wipes for about $9 each. So, mechanical removal of corrosion followed by conversion by wiping with the 5700 wipes (no rinsing) followed by non-chromate/non-etching primer. Without this, expect the magnesium to begin corroding under the topcoat almost immediately.

In general, Alodine 1201 (or similar) is used for conversion of aluminum. (I understand you may not want to use trade names, but this is just how I identify the products.) Phosphoric acid-based cleaner like Alumiprep 33 is used prior to conversion.

The second thing I picked up on was concerning abrasives. While I agree with Robert that sand is commonly used, it actually shouldn’t be used because sand residue can promote corrosion (and silica in your lungs is not at all good). AC43.13-1b has a useful table,

For further information about Frank, I refer you to the IAC Hall of Fame website at www.IAC.org.

Frank’s Bücker Jungmeister, one of two he eventually owned, was formerly displayed and flown by Prince Constantin Cantacuzino and Aresti. Bücker Rangsdorf production serial No. 1015 was registered EC-AEX while in Spain. In 1962, Frank acquired the plane from Aresti and imported it to the United States. From 1963 until 1985, Frank flew this plane as NX87P while hosting annual Tiger Days, numerous air shows as well as movie appearances.

I feel very privileged to be, for now, the custodian of this plane; it is nearing a full restoration by Joe Krybus in Santa Paula, California (SZP).

Stephen J. Craig, VAA 13453 cross-referencing metals to recommended abrasives. When I owned my shop, the easy choice was aluminum oxide, being aggressive enough for most aircraft applications, readily available for media blasters, cutting/sanding discs, and papers, and okay for use on both steels and aluminums.

As I said, I’m not an expert, but I do believe this is a topic where assumptions are made, so kudos to you and Robert for helping expand the general knowledge.

Scott McFadden, VAA 726528

www.vintageaircraft.org

9

Air Mail COMANCHE PANEL PHOTOS

I LIKED THE ARTICLE “Doin’ It His Way” in the

January/February 2019 issue of Vintage Airplane. I really wish you would have included some decent photos of the interior and the panel. It sounds like the owner put a lot of money into the panel, and it would have been nice to have more than just an out-of-focus three-quarter view of his glass panel with the master switch off. Blurry black screens don’t have much of a wow factor.

Christopher Schreiner, VAA 726278 Editor’s note: Thanks for the comment, Christopher. We had so many great photos to pick from to showcase this beauty, we neglected the panel. I hope this shot makes up for it. — JB

10 March/April 2019

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM BUSHA

IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU SEE; YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF.

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Photo by Connor Madison © 2019 EAA

How To? ROBERT G. LOCK

Make a Bonded Test Sample

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

WHENEVER ONE BONDS ANY SUBSTRATE in an aircraft application it is a very good idea to make a test sample to be sure of an airworthy joint.

There are times when I mix a small batch of adhesive and bond two pieces of spruce, plywood, or aluminum together just to test my expertise before actually completing the job. The first discussion will be wood structures — both soft and hard wood.

To make a test sample of spruce, cut two or more sections that measure about 2-by-6 inches and are 3/4-inch thick. Prepare the bonding

Figure 1

surfaces, mix the adhesive, and assemble the two pieces. For synthetic resin adhesive (Resorcinol) AC 43.13-1B recommends a pressing force of 150 psi; in other words use a good bit of pressure.

The purpose of pressure is to force the adhesive into the wood grain, thus ensuring an airworthy bond. Above is a sketch of how a good bond line would appear if you could dissect it. The Army Air Forces called this the “dowel pin action.”

Since the adhesive penetrates into the wood grain, sanding of spar splices is avoided because sand particles will enter grain structure, causing a possible poor joint. A spar splice should always be planed smooth and to an exact fit.

Allow the bond to cure under correct temperature and time, then remove clamps and put into a vise, place a parallel or C-clamp onto the opposite end from the vise and twist, push, and pull until it breaks. Then inspect the bond line for evidence of wood fibers in the adhesive. The wood should break before the bond does.

12 March/April 2019

Bonding with epoxy adhesive is different than bonding with synthetic resin glue. Synthetic resins gain strength from a thin bond line, while epoxy adhesive doesn’t like real thin bond lines. And the clamping pressure is different — clamping pressure of 150 psi will drive all the adhesive out of the joint, and a weak part will be the result. I don’t use epoxy adhesive to bond spar splices because of this clamping problem. On rib repairs I use spring clamps because they provide a positive pressure on the joint until it cures. If you use epoxy adhesive in a spar splice and clamp it with parallel or C-clamps, the pressure will drive some of the adhesive out of the joint, and when you come back later the clamps will be loose. I will continue to make spar splices using synthetic resin glue, but the number of spar splices in my future are very few if none at all.

Bonding of hardwood is quite different. When I speak of hardwood I am referring to plywood — either mahogany or birch, which are common types used in aircraft structure.

First, when possible, plywood should be bonded on the B side (the side that is the roughest) to promote good adhesion. When using birch plywood it is a good idea to provide some sand scratches in the areas to be bonded — just rough up the surface with some 180 or 240 grit sandpaper without removing surface material. You can make the same type of test sample as shown in Figure 1 by gluing plywood to a spruce block of the same dimensions. After it cures, try to peel the plywood from the spruce block. Once again the bond line should not fail. Or you can bond two pieces of aircraft plywood strips measuring 2-by-4 inches,

overlapping at least 2 inches. Allow to cure, then try to break the sample.

Upon breaking each of the wood samples, closely inspect the bond line.

If there are wood fibers in the bond line, it’s good. If the sample failed down the bond line, then it’s not good.

You can create various types of test samples. For instance, if you are gluing gussets to spruce cap strips, begin by making a couple test samples. Apply glue just as you would when building a rib, using nails to apply pressure.

Allow the sample to cure, and then pull it apart to check the bond line.

This will most always ensure one that a good airworthy bond has been produced. When making repairs or fabricating a new structure, mix enough adhesive to do the job plus some extra to make test samples.

Clamp and cure with the structure, then break to destruction to check for airworthiness.

Figure 2

Figure 3

Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT property of

fresno, ca | feb 28 - mar 3

watsonville, ca | march 7-10

concord, ca | march 14-17 sacramento, ca | march 21-24 vacaville, ca | march 28-31

marysville, ca | april 11-14

visit flytheford.org or call 1-877-952-5395 to reserve your flight. www.vintageaircraft.org

13

Good Old Days

From the pages of what was ...

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

14  

March/April 2019

www.vintageaircraft.org 15

16  

March/April 2019

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

RESTORED WITH H O N O R , H E A R T, AND TALENT

BY SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

hiny nickel plating and leather cord lacing; brass hinges and tags and a water-cooled engine; a tailskid with shoe and a walnut propeller — these are a few of my favorite things (borrowing a melody from The Sound of Music) that allow this grand old airplane to sing its own sweet song of history as it wings its way across the sky once more.

This exquisite 1928 Lincoln-Page speaks eloquently for itself, and is best

appreciated from close proximity as a masterful piece of flying artwork. If you allow your gaze to linger on every aspect of this 90-year-old LP-3, you’ll begin to notice myriad fine details. Perhaps best of all, its story is as unique as the airplane is rare.

“As far as I know, this is the only LP-3 flying which has been restored to its original configuration, and it is very likely the lowest-time OX-5-powered airplane in the world, having less than 100 hours’ flight time,” said owner and restorer Greg Heckman. www.vintageaircraft.org

17

LINCOLN-PAGE

Ray Page started Nebraska Aircraft Corp in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1919. In 1922, Ray reorganized the firm as Lincoln Aircraft Corp., and again in 1927 as Lincoln-Page Aircraft Company.

Victor Roos, who was general manager of Swallow Aircraft Corp. in Wichita, Kansas, came on board to serve as president, and brought the Curtiss OX-5 Swallow design with him. After some minor changes, the design became LincolnPage’s first airplane — the LP-3. An ad for the Lincoln-Page in the April 1928 issue of Aero Digest proclaimed, “Its Equal Is Yet to Be Built.”

About 89 of these three-place biplanes were built, and only about eight 150-hp HispanoSuiza-powered LP-3As were built.

PROVENANCE

Assigned registration No. 5735, this Lincoln-Page LP-3 (serial No. 212) rolled out of the factory in Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 31, 1928. It was built for Chuck “CB” Balling of Wheeling, Illinois, and his name and address were even written on the inside of the headrest. Chuck had logged about 60 hours in it when one fateful day in 1929, he was taking

off from a field with long grass. Unable to get enough airspeed and altitude to climb out, he hit a ditch embankment, which heavily damaged the gear, propeller, radiator, and wings. Disheartened, he stored the fuselage in a chicken coop and stashed the wood wings outside the coop where they gradually deteriorated from nearly 40 years of rain, snow, and even a prairie fire.

In the early 1960s, Eric “Andy” Anderson found out about the Lincoln-Page and contacted Chuck about buying it, but it took quite a while before Chuck finally agreed to sell the airplane with one condition — that Andy would put the OX-5 back in it and not modify the airplane. Andy agreed, and bought the LP-3 in 1966 for $800. When he applied for the registration, 5735 wasn’t available so he registered it as 5935. Andy was a young United Airlines captain flying DC-3s and DC-6s, and though he had full intentions of restoring the airplane, he instead ended up storing the LP-3 in his shed.

Greg’s hangar and restoration shop was at the Ogle County Airport in Mount Morris, Illinois, about one mile from Andy’s home, and the two became good friends.

(Greg’s hangar and home are now in Brodhead, Wisconsin.) In 2011, 85-year-old Andy told Greg that he was too old to ever do anything with the Lincoln-Page, and asked Greg if he’d like to take it over and finish it.

“Oh, twist my arm! I was honored because this airplane was so special to Andy, and he had become a great friend of mine,” Greg said. “Andy had flown most every fighter and bomber that had ever been made by the United States, and he never

Chuck “CB” Balling with his Lincoln-Page 5735.

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March/April 2019

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF GREG HECKMAN

Eric “Andy” Anderson (right) and his son Dennis unload the LP-3 project in Greg’s hangar in 2011.

bragged about it; he was very soft spoken but a remarkable man and one of my heroes.”

One of the first things Greg did was to see whether the original registration number was available. To his delight, it was and he promptly reserved it.

EXPERIENCE AND TENACITY

Greg is no stranger to aircraft restoration. Quiet and unassuming, he has abundant historical knowledge as well as hands-on skills. For example, his very first project was a Ryan PT-22 in 1998, which was awarded Antique Grand Champion. He’s been involved in numerous other award-winning restorations since then, including his 1946 Funk B85C, which was 2013 Vintage Classic Grand Champion.

“My education and career was as an engineer, but I left that field about seven years ago,” Greg said.

“Now I teach A&P mechanics at Rock Valley College in Rockford; I’m an A&P/IA.” His restoration of the Lincoln-Page took about 3,500 hours and four years to complete. There were no prints available for the airframe, but there were enough pieces of all the wing fittings, as well as a wing rib that survived, to be used as patterns.

Remarkably, the steel fuselage and empennage were fairly intact.

“These airplanes are really simple, and so nothing is too impossible to make as long as you’ve got the ‘stickto-itiveness,’” Greg said. “And that’s really what it takes more than anything. I mean, I had to force myself to go out in the shop and work on this thing when I didn’t feel like it. So I think just having that fortitude and drive to keep after it was probably the most challenging part.”

AIRFRAME

Surprisingly, after Greg took ownership of the Lincoln-Page, Andy’s interest in the project was piqued and he volunteered to help. Andy made a router jig and cut out nearly all of the one-piece wing ribs from basswood.

Greg is quick to credit him for his enthusiasm and emotional support during the early and most challenging phase of the restoration — building the wings, which took about two years.

Greg had fervent hopes of completing the biplane before Andy died, but it wasn’t to be. “Unfortunately he passed two years ago, but he saw it mostly completed, and it meant a lot to him,” Greg said. “He could tell it really was going to be finished, and he was very proud of that.”

Sitka spruce was used to make the wing spars, and birch/mahogany plywood was used for the compression ribs. The metal attach fittings use the older style drag/anti-drag wires,

which have a ferrule that looks like a spring, with piano wire bent over a loop into the ferrule, and a turnbuckle that tensions it — and Greg made the ferrules and all the wing fittings. The wingtip bow is attached with copper straps.

Though the LP-3’s fuselage is made of steel tubing and stringers, and the empennage is all steel as well, very little welding work was necessary.

Andy primed the fuselage back in 1966, which helped preserve it. When Greg assessed the condition of the framework, he noticed that the stringers weren’t straight. “They looked like a snake curving up and down, so I cut them loose and rewelded them to make them straight,” Greg said. “The steel tube ribs on the horizontal stabilizer were crooked and didn’t quite line up with the ribs on the elevators, so I took those off and rewelded them to line them up, and there was some corrosion, so I had to replace some of the tubing.”

The challenge presented by the absence of original wing lift struts and cabanes provided numerous head-scratching moments. Greg had to assemble the skeletal airplane so he could measure and figure out the precise length of struts and wires. “The cabanes were especially difficult, because they determine the gap, stagger, and angle of incidence,” Greg said.

“So those really had to be dead nuts on. I started with wood mock-ups and used plumb bobs and electronic levels to make sure everything was right.”

Greg fabricated new sheet metal components to replace the originals, which were severely corroded — with the exception of the top cowling doors and eyebrows that go over the front of the cylinders, which were still usable.

Leather cord lacing serves as the antichafe layer between the cowling and firewall.

CECONITE AND DOPE

Greg searched high and low for cotton fabric, but finding none available, he used Ceconite with www.vintageaircraft.org

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Randolph dope on the fabric and enamel on the metal. The biplane was originally red and silver, but Chuck painted it orange and black soon after buying it. “I’ve got the original pieces of fabric where all the logos and licensing numbers were, and underneath the orange you could see the silver. Plus, when I started stripping paint from parts, I could see the original red underneath,” Greg said. “I have a copy of an original Lincoln-Page color brochure, and it shows red and silver as the colors, so I used Silver Metallic and Santa Fe Red for the trim, which was an exact match to the original red.”

DETERMINEDLY DETAILED

Greg’s patient and fastidious attention to historical detail encompassed every aspect of the Lincoln-Page. Even the hardware is authentic to the era. He accomplished this by buying new bolts with raised markings on the heads, machining the markings off, and replating the bolts. Additionally, you’ll only see plain nuts and castle nuts on the airplane.

Each of the original steel flying wires had a brass tag wrapped around it, and when Greg removed one and cleaned it, he saw that it was stamped with the manufacturer’s name, MacWhyte. “You can’t buy MacWhyte wires anymore, so I ordered stainless steel wires from Brunton’s in Scotland and painted them silver to look original,” Greg said. “Then I re-created those brass MacWhyte tags and put those on.”

GLORY RESTORED

One of the original wing sections used for checking dimensions.

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The original louvered cowl door.

The original fuel tank.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON, SPARKY BARNES SARGENT PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF GREG HECKMAN

Even the instruments were kept with the biplane for nearly nine decades. Since they’re non-TSO’d, Greg applied fresh markings on the dials himself — and he even put a new capillary tube on the water gauge. “I wanted the instruments to be absolutely identical to the way they came from the factory, so I re-created the font to make certain the markings remained original,” Greg said.

The old control cables had wrapped-and-soldered splices for the terminal ends, and Greg determined that they were “really unique.”

“It’s a very long, 4-inch splice,” he said. “The early manuals like CAM 18, and even prior to that, show the splice being a lot shorter — but I did make them with the longer, Lincoln-Page style splice. I also made new rudder pedals, and put new 1920s-style HarleyDavidson motorcycle grips on the original control sticks.”

The original seat frames were salvageable, and new cushions were custom made. “The cockpit coaming and the upholstery is a ‘cobra-grain’ leatherette material that Ford used on Model Ts and As. But it does not stretch at all like leather,” Greg said. “My wife, Cindy, is an expert seamstress and did the sewing. It took several tries to get it right, because you have to put puckers in it where it needs to curve and bend — and she made them fit perfectly. Cindy was my rock; she was my support system and gave me the freedom to work on this airplane without feeling guilty about it, and that’s important.”

“This airplane sat for the last 89 years, and this old girl deserves her day of glory, to once again show people what she was created to do — fly!”

— GREG HECKMAN

LANDING GEAR

The Lincoln-Page originally had spoked wheels, which required the use of clincher-type tires. Since those tires are no longer available, Greg had new wheels made to allow the use of drop-center tires. The new wheels maintain the original look on the airplane and facilitate functionality by the use of modern tires.

Greg installed 30 X 5 smooth-contour tires and made aluminum wheel covers on his English wheel. The covers are lashed to the wheels with leather cord lacing. He noticed that the original main gear bungee loops had a unique termination; Lincoln-Page wrapped the ends with a copper wire and then ran a bead of solder across the wire — and that’s precisely what Greg did as well.

The LP-3 is equipped with a tailskid (no brakes). Greg retained the original leaf spring and made a new shoe out of carbon steel.

FUEL TANK

Fabricating a new fuel tank proved to be a rather challenging process. Mice had made a home in the original one, rendering it unusable due to corrosion. “I unsoldered it, took it all apart, and was able to use the original pieces as patterns,” Greg said. “It’s all galvanized steel that has soldered seams, and it’s a very odd rolled shape, with kind of a flanged seam all the way around it. The most difficult thing is to get the steel cut and flanged exactly right, so that when it’s all rolled and folded together, you can hem the edges and then solder it — and you’ve only got one shot to do it. Fortunately, it’s never leaked.”

Page colnin L e n. h th g wit d Bar d Gre intage Re n a y V Cind t of the n in fro

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RADIATOR

The pilot controls the temperature of the OX-5 water-cooled engine with a lever in the aft cockpit, which opens and closes the shutters in flight. As it so happened, serendipity was afoot when it came to sourcing parts for the damaged radiator.

When Andy acquired the airplane in 1966, he wrote to Ray Page’s wife, and she remembered who had made the radiators. Andy located Mart DoRan & Son in Nebraska, and wrote to the company.

Incredibly, the man who replied happened to be the same man who personally made the radiators for Lincoln-Page. But the story gets even better. “The guy checked his nearly 40-year-old old stock and said, ‘I have just enough of the original Winchester core stock material — would you like me to make one more of these radiators?’ Of course, Andy said, ‘Yes!’” Greg said.

PROPELLER

The propeller on the Lincoln-Page is eye catching, to say the least. Greg contacted Sensenich about making a prop for the biplane, and explained that he wanted it to be like the original Hartzell prop. “Don Rowell told me they could manufacture a new propeller that would be identical to the original Hartzell specs. That was great, so I requested walnut with brass

tipping, and showed him pictures of the shape, and he said they could duplicate it,” Greg said. “I made original-style Hartzell decals to put on it, and it’s a spinner prop, so it’s got the spinner hub and it is gorgeous! It’s 102 inches long with an 84-inch pitch, and it throws more air and thrust than I have ever felt behind a propeller. That engine only puts out 90 hp, but the torque is unbelievable.”

OX-5 INTRICACIES

One might think that, in nearly 90 years, parts of this biplane would have become far flung. But they didn’t — thanks to Chuck and then Andy — and that’s one of the most remarkable elements of this restoration. The entire airplane is a time capsule treasure trove. Case in point — the Curtiss OX-5 is the original engine to the airframe, complete with its exhaust and accessories.

“The OX-5 has a really long, spindly crankshaft and the old Curtiss manual says that if you take the crankshaft and camshaft out, they should be hung vertically, because if you lay them horizontally, they’ll bend and take a set. So Andy had them hung vertically for 45 years, covered with grease,” Greg said. “When I dug into the engine, the Babbitt on the rod

bearings was cracked, and I had the bearing inserts repoured with Babbitt by a machine shop in Ohio. The main bearings were fine, and I made new valve guides myself.”

Additional work on the engine included new pistons, which were made to the physical dimensions of stock Curtiss pistons to keep the compression ratio and clearances the same. The new pistons have two compression rings (as did the stock pistons), but they also have one oil control ring (similar to the early Miller pistons).

Intake tubes were originally attached to the Zenith O6DS carburetor, but Greg left them off since he was advised that the carburetor will develop ice, and with the tubes off, enough heat builds up inside the cowling to prevent carburetor ice from forming. A new engine mount was fabricated with 4130 steel instead of the original low-carbon steel, and wood bearers were made from ash hardwood. Greg also made a new galvanized steel firewall.

“The Curtiss OX-5 is unique in that all the steel components are nickel plated, and the aluminum is all natural aluminum, so it’s really a beautiful engine when it’s done,” Greg said. “It’s a tinkerer’s engine because it has to be lubed and greased before every flight, which is a good time to look over

GLORY RESTORED

Andy routed out the wing ribs and Greg built the wings over a two-year period.

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Greg made a tool to make the new louvered cowl door.

Greg made a new fuel tank by using the old one as a pattern.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON, PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF GREG HECKMAN

SPECS things so you can keep on top of any maintenance issues.”

The first engine run was in April 2018 and went quite well.

“It’s one of the easiest-starting engines I have ever hand propped,” Greg said. “Two things make an OX-5 start easily, and one is having a good tight choke because you have to draw the fuel a very long way from the carburetor all the way to the cylinders to prime it. Secondly, you need a really hot magneto, like this Berling mag, which has a rotating coil. The starting procedure is to open the little access doors in the cowling and reach inside and pull the needle that’s sticking up from the top of the carburetor float bowl, which floods the carburetor. Then I pull the prop through with the choke on, six turns, go in, take the choke off, turn the mag on, and with the next throw of the propeller, it’s running! It just sits there and idles away, and I have plenty of time to get my flying jacket and helmet on, and crawl inside the cockpit and get buckled in. All that might take several minutes, and that OX-5 just keeps on purring until I’m ready to fly.”

1928 Lincoln-Page LP-3 Manufactured Under ATC 28 Not eligible to be flown by a sport pilot WINGSPAN UPPER: WINGSPAN LOWER: WING AREA: WING CHORD: LENGTH: HEIGHT: EMPTY WEIGHT: USEFUL LOAD: PAYLOAD: GROSS WEIGHT: ENGINE: FUEL: OIL: CRUISING SPEED: LANDING SPEED: CLIMB: SERVICE CEILING: CRUISING RANGE:

32 feet, 8 inches 32 feet 300 square feet 58 inches 23 feet, 10 inches 8 feet, 10 inches 1,250 pounds 1,000 pounds 400 pounds 2,200 pounds Curtiss OX-5 90 hp 42 gallons 4 gallons 85 mph 35 mph 600 fpm 13,000 feet 500 miles

FIRST FLIGHT

Ninety years to the very day that 5735 rolled out of the Lincoln-Page factory, Greg flew the LP-3 for the first time. “I kind of planned that as I got closer, and I decided to just wait, because it was too special of a date to miss,” Greg said. “I was pretty nervous leading up to the flight, but I had run the engine five hours on the airplane, so I had confidence the OX-5 was going to be okay. So on May 31 at 9 a.m., I jumped in it and rolled out to the runway and took off, at 1450 rpm. I was off the ground in maybe 300 feet, and as soon as the mains left the ground, www.vintageaircraft.org 23

I just relaxed. It was stable and didn’t do anything goofy on me; it cruises at 1300 rpm. The airplane is very honest and predictable; it doesn’t surprise you at all, even in stalls. There’s no airspeed indicator, but it stalls at about 35 mph, so I tell people it has speeds like a 65-hp Cub.” The Lincoln-Page is similar to many of the early airplanes — it’s heavy on the controls and forward visibility is nil.

Greg has about 10 hours on it now and said it lands easily at slow speeds. “I’m

probably coming in at about 45 miles an hour, and I bring the power back to about 1100 rpm, and it just finds its happy spot,” Greg said. “It makes a really nice approach down to the runway.”

The OX-5 burns 9 to 10 gph from its 40 gallons of fuel; its legs are longer than a pilot would want to be flying it without a rest break. “It’s not a comfortable airplane to sit in because the seatback is very upright and

straight, so you kind of get a backache,” Greg said. “And with all the torque from that engine, you’re constantly holding right rudder, so your right leg goes asleep.”

PRESERVING HISTORY

This Lincoln-Page was restored with honor, heart, and talent, and it earned the highest award during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018 — the Antique Grand Champion Gold Lindy. The restoration process is

GLORY RESTORED

The Zenith O6DS carburetor after overhaul.

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One of the original MacWhyte brass tags (lower left) and the new ones Greg made to put on the streamlined wires.

The Lincoln-Page logo on the original fabric.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON, SPARKY BARNES SARGENT, PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF GREG HECKMAN

always multifaceted, and Greg reflected on what he likes most. “The history of these airplanes intrigues me more than the working on them and the flying of them,” he said. “So many people told me, ‘You have to put brakes on this thing, and you have to put a tailwheel on it.’ I said no, I am preserving a piece of history here, and this airplane is just too special to modify!”

Greg’s 105 nm flight from Brodhead to Oshkosh took almost

an hour and 45 minutes. Due to headwinds, his groundspeed was around 60 mph — but he still had a smile on his face when he landed at Pioneer Airport. The Lincoln-Page was on display in front of the VAA Red Barn throughout the week of AirVenture, where numerous people admired it and thumbed through its presentation/restoration book. If you were fortunate enough to listen to Greg describing this grand old biplane, you’d know that his

enthusiasm and devotion to its restoration are genuine and humble.

That heartfelt passion emanates from Greg in a virtually tangible manner. “I didn’t bring the airplane here for me,” he said. “This airplane sat for the last 89 years, and this old girl deserves her day of glory, to once again show people what she was created to do — fly! So that’s really why I wanted her here; it wasn’t for any kind of recognition on my part. It’s all about the airplane.”

Greg hand painted the logo, replicating the original.

The disassembled and original OX-5.

Cindy sewed the cockpit coaming, and the windscreens were made per the original.

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WANNABE BARNSTORMER

FLYING THROUGH THE COOL morning

CHASING SHADOWS OF THE PAST

BY JIM BUSHA

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

summer sky, about the only thing that remains timeless are the patchwork fields below. Resembling a fine Amish quilt with lush greens, dark browns, and golden yellows stitched together, they create perfect squares a thousand feet below. Parked off my right wing on this journey is a much more modern Cessna 172 piloted by my senior editor, Hal Bryan, and his co-pilot, EAA photographer Connor Madison. The three of us were invited to tag along and join the 2018 American Barnstormers Tour in Ames, Iowa, and experience a snapshot of what the life of a modern-day barnstormer is like.

Although my 1943 Stinson L-5 is considered an antique, it is nevertheless a young whippersnapper compared to the Travel Air biplanes from the late 1920s and early 1930s that I am going to meet up with later in the day. My mind wanders, and I wonder how many thousands of detonations have occurred under the cowling of my airplane since we left Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the way to Iowa. But with all the exploding going on only a few feet ahead of me, the Lycoming engine seems to purr in harmonic rhythm as my big wooden club of a propeller slices through the thick Wisconsin air.

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Below: Members of the famed 13 Black Cats barnstorming group, including wing walkers Gladys Ingle (foreground) and Ivan Unger, and pilot Bon MacDougall, prepare for an airplane-to-airplane transfer while Pathé newsreel cameraman Joe Johnston films from a third airplane.

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p ahead, the unmistakable landmark of the Mississippi River cuts through the countryside and divides two states: Wisconsin and Iowa. With churning dark water, picturesque sand bars, and several pontoon boats cruising below, our fuel gauges and bladders remind us it’s time for a quick fuel stop. I can’t help but wonder if longago barnstormers passed over this very spot on their way to the next county fair or random, flat-looking hayfield to offer the locals a chance to “touch the sky and see their farms and towns from above.”

As we leave Wisconsin behind and head west into Iowa, the landscape resembles a tarnished penny: green and flat. Hal and I race our shadows across the fields below, changing leads every so often as we pass over towns, trains, and miles of roads.

As we close in on Ames, we spot no less than four Travel Air biplanes up ahead in the pattern. Seeing one Travel Air in the sky is thrilling enough, but to follow a handful of them around the pattern is something I will never forget. And for the next 48 hours I wound up not only securing a lifetime of modern-day barnstorming memories, but also forged new friendships with the men and women of the 2018 American Barnstormers Tour.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON, PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF EAA ARCHIVES

CHASING SHADOWS OF THE PAST

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS AND THEIR TRAVEL AIRS

Jill Manka

FLYING CIRCUS RINGMASTER

Climbing out of the L-5 in Ames I am greeted by sweltering heat and the sight of those four Travel Airs, which are now in motion on the ground as two more rumble by overhead, only to be drowned out by the sound of a clanging cowbell.

As the ringing subsides, it is replaced with a familiar, excited voice. “Make sure you get your ride today! See your town from the air and enjoy the cool breeze and freedom in an open-cockpit biplane!”

As we make eye contact, it seems like a slow-motion hike for me as my legs readjust to walking again after the threeand-a-half hour cross-country spent sitting on a hard, stiff seat. But it is all forgotten as I receive my customary firm hug from a longtime friend, Jill Manka, who is the “controller of chaos and head cat herder” of the assorted ruffians on the 2018 Barnstormers Tour.

“I didn’t come from the aviation industry,” Jill said. “I come from an event production industry in entertainment. I used to work with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Disney on Ice. My role on the tour is to execute all the behind-the-scenes stuff: to coordinate with the venues, to market the event, take care of the pilots, and get the sponsorship secured. We had such wonderful support from the aviation industry with this tour, I was overwhelmed at the kindness that the industry showed. But most of the credit for

the success of this event goes to my soulmate, Rob Lock; his partner in crime, Clay Adams; and all of the pilots and crews who gave up a month of their lives to re-create history.

“In years past, other tours had been developed on the mission of extending the passion of vintage aviation beyond the daily confines that most of the pilots experienced,” she said. “Clay is a ride provider, Rob is a ride provider, and they got together and said, ‘Why don’t we take our ride concept on the road and see how it’s received by the public? And let’s get a bunch of other vintage Travel Airs to join us.’

“We went to Jefferson City, Missouri, then here to Ames, Iowa, and our next stops will be in Watertown, South Dakota; Brainerd, Minnesota; Eau Claire, Wisconsin, before our final stop at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh,” Jill said.

“I think the story is very timeless, in that it’s about reminding people that this is actually the way flight was intended, and giving them those opportunities to grow as a person and to change their perception of what it means to be in an airplane,” she said. “Sometimes it’s the curious who are the future. So, if we can provide events like this with vintage airplanes and draw that curiosity out, and turn people onto it, then we’re doing our job and preserving history.”

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Clay and Skye Adams

CLAY “PORKCHOP” ADAMS

Hailing from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Clay Adams has barnstormed much of Minnesota and the Midwest for the last 20 years in his blue and silver 1929 Travel Air E-4000. Although Clay was born in 1959, he claims it was about 50 years too late.

“I grew up in a family where aviation was considered a family value,” he said. “I soloed the family’s Piper J-3 Cub (an airplane Clay still owns today) when I was just 16 years old and have logged more than 32,000 flight hours in 146 different aircraft types. I have towed banners, flown corporate jets, and now serve as a captain for a major airline. Antique aircraft still remain my primary passion. Right now, I have 3,000 hours alone in the Travel Air, and most of it has been a lot of fun.

“My wife said, ‘You know, you should maybe sell it and do something else.’ I said, ‘My Travel Air has a soul. We have a major connection. It takes care of me, I take care of it,’” Clay said.

“My dad told me a long time ago … just treat your airplane with the respect, it’ll take care of you. And this one sure has.

“As a barnstormer, I like to share my experience,” Clay added. “I like the Gates Flying Circus era and have always been intrigued by that, and when we came up with this crazy idea it hit me; we’re the only barnstormers tour since the Gates Flying Circus shut down in the ’30s, and I thought, that’s what I want to do. I want to leave an impression of what we’ve done with this in the future compared to the past.

“People say I have the best job around, and I agree when the days are in the 70s and the winds are calm and it’s crystal clear and it’s not bumpy.

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But on these hot days where you’re flying in strong crosswinds and it’s bumpy and lumpy and you’re sweating, and it just — sometimes it’s herding cats. So, it’s those days you kind of say, why am I doing this.

Then you get that next beautiful day, and it all comes back. I like to share the experience. I want to get people up to see what the 1920s were like,” Clay said.

“How did I get my nickname? I was barnstorming at the Air Expo at Flying Cloud, Minnesota, like I had been doing every year since 2001, and my daughter Skye was working the show with me at the time. We were very busy that I can’t … get out and eat, so I’m flying the airplane all the time,” he said. “So, I said, ‘Please get me something to eat.’ So, she came back with a couple of pork chops on a stick, and I just wrapped them up in a rag and I’m flying and I’m chewing on these pork chops and I got a big grease smear going back across my cheek. The passengers up front turn around and laugh, they see me eating and they get out and go, ‘Hey, he’s eating a pork chop.’ The rest, they say, is history.”

CHASING SHADOWS OF THE PAST

ROB “WALDO” LOCK

Rob Lock is the owner/pilot/restorer/ mechanic of Waldo Wright’s Flying Service, which was founded in 1990 with the goal of reliving the golden age of aviation, and specializing in open-cockpit biplane ride experiences.

Rob flies and maintains his fleet of two New Standard D-25s (1929 and 1931), a Boeing Stearman (1942), and his newly restored 1929 Travel Air E-4000. This aircraft was originally owned by Texas Air Transport, which was sold to Southern Air Transport and eventually became American Airlines, and was used to transport passengers from smaller towns to the larger airport in Texas. Rod spends his barnstorming winters in Winter Haven, Florida, and then takes his show on the road to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Whatever and wherever he is flying, Rob loves to share the spirit of the sky with his passengers.

“Success is building a life you don’t need a vacation from,” Rob said. “And so that’s what we’ve tried to do with our storytelling elements with these airplanes as we try to successfully be ambassadors to the vintage side of aviation and have fun with it. With these time machines you touch people and you reach out to people and educate them, and we’re very blessed that we can make a living doing what we do.

We’re working 24 hours a day, seven days a week doing it. This is not a nineto-five job by any means. So that’s kind of been our mantra.

“And I think this tour has been so successful because we tried to make it an element of our life. Instead of a thing we have to do, we immersed ourselves in the experience and made it a part of our life,” he explained. “And we wanted our life to be successful, and happy, and fun. So, by taking ownership over events like this one on a very deep level, I think you can deliver the passion and the enthusiasm. I know it’s working when I see the expression on my passengers faces in the air, in some cases the tears in their eyes, when they realized how different and magical the world looks like from the sky.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

“ S u c c e s s i s b u i l d i n g a l i f e y o u d o n’ t n e e d a v a c a t i o n f r o m , a n d s o t h a t ’ s w h a t w e’ v e t r i e d t o d o w i t h o u r s t o r y t e l l i n g elements with these airplanes as we try to successfully be ambassadors to the vintage side of aviation and have fun with it.” — ROB “WALDO” LOCK

Rob Lock, right, and his son Aaron Lock

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

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JARED “TEX” CALVERT

Hailing from the great state of Texas, Jared Calvert purchased his 1927 Travel Air 4000 at age 28 in 2015. He uses the aircraft to raise funds for Ranger Airfield, a historic grass strip with roots dating back to 1911. Old Sport, as he affectionately calls his biplane, is stored in the airfield’s 1928 hangar. Jared, the first certificated pilot in his family, began flying at the airfield at age 4 and founded the Ranger Old School Fly-In & Airshow in 2008. This is Jared’s first barnstorming tour, but after seeing him in action, I’m sure it’s far from his last.

“If anybody’s around me at all for just even a few minutes, they’re going to hear, Ranger, Ranger, Ranger,” Jared said. “I started going to Ranger Airfield when I was 4.

My dad is not a pilot but liked airplanes, and I just I fell in love with the airfield. But I realized after starting the foundation to help save the airfield that I was talking the talk about this antique airfield, but I wasn’t walking it. So, in 2015, I realized I needed to take another step in saving the airfield and buy an antique biplane. And to help pay for that I decided, you know what, I need to give biplane rides, too.

Before you quit your day job, let me let you in on a little secret.

Barnstorming is not going to make you a lot of money to live on, but it’s going to help pay for the airplane.

“Amelia Earhart visited the field in 1931 and walked on a brick floor in our hangar, and that brick floor is still intact in this hangar.

And that’s the only hangar on the

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field. So, the old biplane just fit in and that led to barnstorming,” Jared said.

“My Travel Air originally was built as a 2000, so it had an OX-5 on it. It now has a 300-hp Lycoming. It was converted to a Lycoming sometime in the late ’30s and became a crop duster,” he said. “When I first got the airplane, I found that there was some lineage that I could trace, and I reached out to a family in Illinois … one of their ancestors owned this airplane in 1930-31. And his daughter that was born in the 1950s came to Texas, and I got to take her up in the airplane. And she told me that her aunt had wing walked it, and that they had some newspaper clippings from the local newspaper during that time,” Jared said.

“She also shared with me that they hunted ducks with this airplane with a double barrel shotgun when it wasn’t busy hopping rides. So, I’m sure a lot of these biplanes did a lot of barnstorming back in the day, but to be able to trace this history back to this particular airplane is pretty cool to have that history.

“I’m the young guy on the tour, and these guys are counting on me to carry on the tradition — I don’t have any problem with that,” he said. “I love giving biplane rides. I don’t get to fly the biplane as much as I would like in Texas.

I can’t fight every weekend with other things that I do. But when I do get to take it out, I get to see the very best from people. Nobody comes out to the airport wanting a biplane ride that’s in a bad mood, and so they’re excited to fly, they’re kind, they’re courteous, and you’re just getting the very best. … So, it’s a great thing to do when I have it out. I love it.”

Amy Reiss and Jared Calvert

CHASING SHADOWS OF THE PAST

David Mars

DAVID “THE CANDYMAN” MARS

As a self-proclaimed “good old boy from Mississippi” and semi-professional barnstormer for more than five decades, Dave Mars has accumulated more than 15,000 flight hours and has been selling rides in vintage aircraft since the 1970s.

Yet it is not about the money or simply sharing the thrill of flying. Dave is on a mission to share his passion for aviation history. He also flies about 100 days a year as co-pilot on a King Air 350 for a corporation and three different families in the Jackson area.

“My old 1929 Travel Air is like an old pair of blue jeans, comfortable and just right,” Dave said. “I just love the Travel Air. I liked the name, I’m infatuated with the designers — Beech, Cessna, and Stearman — and the builders of it, and apparently it attracts the kind of people that I’m attracted to.

So, I like everything about it. Out of that 15,000 hours I have barnstorming there’ve been several instances where there are kids that come back. We just came from Jefferson City, Missouri, and I had flown two girls down there 10 years ago. I told them to be good girls and mind their mamas and study hard and all that. And one of the girls is getting married now, and one is a mechanic for the National Guard. And they attributed my encouragement to them making something of themselves, so I feel a little bit responsible for that. And stories like that have happened many times over through the years, so that’s probably the greatest satisfaction of barnstorming. It’s a real thrill to introduce people to flight, from taking a guy flying that maybe flew in the Second World War, or to see a genuine smile on a kid’s face as he spots his baseball diamond or backyard from the air. So, it’s the whole spectrum but mainly to see the kids get excited.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

“I’m called the Candyman, and I guess Ted Davis called me that back in ’06, the first year we were on the barnstorming tour,” Dave explained. “And he got on the microphone and started telling people that I was the heir to the Mars candy fortune. The Mars family, they don’t claim me, but now I’m stuck with the name, and that suits me just fine.”

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Keith Kossuth

KEITH “MAGIC MAN” KOSSUTH

Keith Kossuth’s story is exactly why the barnstorming tour exists. A few years ago, he took his first biplane ride as a nonpilot with tour participant Brian Shepherd. After that flight, Keith got his private pilot certificate and commercial certificate, and bought his 1928 Travel Air 4000. With a newly minted set of wings, he took the plane on the VintageAirRally with tour participant Pedro Langton through Africa. Keith regularly flies out of Southern California near his home in Chino Hills and enjoys sharing the plane with others who have yet to discover the magic of the open cockpit.

“Before I got into vintage aviation I was really focused on vintage Harleys. Nobody in my life had anything to do with airplanes, and so I thought it was out of my reach to even do … what I’m doing now,” Keith said. “But even just learning how to fly, I thought, was not something that was as easy as it actually was. I mean, not simple, but just with a lot of focus, anyone could do it. It still took me about a year and a half to a little bit longer to figure out that it was possible.

“But what really gets my juices flowing is the airplanes. There’s so much history about this airplane,” he said. “The plane started out as a model S 2000 and came with the Curtiss-Wright OX-5 water-cooled V-8. So, it had 110 hp. And it was first owned by Doug Davis, who was an amazing pilot and a good friend of Walter Beech. And he was the pilot of the Travel Air Mystery Ship, so that’s kind of

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cool history. He had a flight school and the Doug Davis/Baby Ruth flying carnival. So that’s kind of cool history. The airplane was sold after Doug Davis died. It wound up as a crop duster with a Continental 220-hp engine, which is on it now. It was used for 25 years as a farm tool. And it had about six different configurations of CurtissWright J-5. A bunch of different Curtiss-Wright engines on it. And eventually, [in] 1965 it was brought back to the standard category. The caretaker I obtained it from had it restored by the right people that he had, and the people that knew Travel Air the best. And when this one finally was presented to me, I was amazed that I found the right one. And now I’m able to fly it around with all these other amazing ones. It might have some rubbed off paint here and there, but they still let me fly with them. Early on the tour they gave me the nickname of “Magic Man,” and I think they just did that because the plane’s name is Magic One. But now I got a couple people I’ve been helping on the tour. They said, ‘Oh yeah, he’s the Magic Man.’ So, I am very happy helping them keep their planes together.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

CHASING SHADOWS OF THE PAST

RICHARD “TAILHOOK” ZEILER

Owning and flying one of these treasures is thrilling enough, but to be the caretaker of two is out of this world according to Richard Zeiler. Hailing from Thousand Oaks, California, Richard is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who flew an O-1E Bird Dog in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, and spent the better part of a quarter century leading a team of collaborators and craftsmen in the restoration of a 1929 Travel Air D4D Speed Wing.

The Sky Siren was finished just in time for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2014 and received quite a reception. Not to be outdone, Richard’s second Travel Air D4D Speed Wing was rebuilt in meticulous detail and painted with an eye-catching art deco scheme designed by Jim Bruni who was responsible for the Sky Siren’s looks as well. The Sun Siren joined its sister ship on the tour with pilot Glen Frith at the controls.

“It’s bad enough to have one Travel Air, but owning two? Well, there are worse things in the world,” Richard said, tongue in cheek. “Let’s just say I’ve got a very supportive partner. We started in about 1992, building the first one. Had to invoke the Freedom of Information Act to get the drawings and everything for it, and it took us 22 years before we got it flying. We had two others in production, the Sun Siren now that we finished up two weeks before the tour began in early July.

This aircraft right now has, like, 25 hours on it. It flies tremendously well. It’s rigged correctly, and the engine runs cool, and just a joy to fly.

“When my partner and I got into the antique airplane world we didn’t know what we really wanted to do or what we should concentrate on.

And then we found out that Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman were all in the Travel Air Company originally, 1925 to 1930,” he said.

“And so that intrigued us, and we got hooked on that, and just stuck with it over all the years, and researched all the data. We got the gurus of Travel Airs, one on the West Coast was Frank Rezich. Another one back here in Missouri is Harman Dickerson. … Bill Hill was another guy that built a lot of this stuff and was aware of different accidents. And so, he would find out what caused the accident, and then he’d make sure that these aircraft that we put together had that safety feature in it so that couldn’t happen to our aircraft. So those are the support people that just are behind all of this,” Richard said.

“There’s probably somewhere between maybe 25 and 35, I’m guessing, that are still flying. There’s a lot of them that are projects that

Richard Zeiler

are not flying, and there were about 1,430 that were originally built, but they’re all different models. There were 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, D-4000, and these two are D-4Ds,” he explained. … According to Harman Dickerson, there were only three D-4Ds, but there were some others that were converted. The Pepsi aircraft that hangs in the Smithsonian is a D-4D. And the two that we have here are the only two flying D-4Ds. “The D-4D has a little bit shorter wing. The fittings are internal to the wings, so they’re not sticking out in the wind stream. They are faster. The ailerons are inside. And so, they’re flying alongside of an E-4000 they do about 87 miles an hour, and these will do 115 easy,” Richard said.

“When we were coming across New Mexico, we had a really nice tailwind. We were registering 162 miles an hour groundspeed.

“They’re hard to keep clean, but they’re so much fun.

It’s worth the effort. The main thing that you deal with is a little bit of oil on the belly of the aircraft. Occasionally, you can have a little bit of an engine problem, but they’re pretty reliable, and they’re really easy to fly. Landing is a little bit of a challenge, but flying them is a piece of cake. It’s just amazing the design things that are in these airplanes, and what they thought of, and what they did to make these fly so nicely,” he said. “They had these narrower wheels for grass operations and of course, we’ve modified them, and they lost their skid in the back, and we’ve gone to a tail wheel. Most everybody has brakes now, but they didn’t have brakes in the originals. And so that could have been very hairy. Plus, navigating across country in 1929, I can’t even imagine. You need somebody out with bonfires or something to know where you’re going. But that was the golden age of aviation, and what I wouldn’t give to go back even for an hour to experience it. But in reality, I’m doing just that as a modern-day barnstormer.”

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first to join the tour because I’m not the same caliber of barnstorming pilots like these guys who give rides all day,” Tom said. “But Rob said, ‘No, come along because we get all these Travel Airs together,’ and I said, ‘Well I’ve never been to the Midwest flying around, especially with a group of guys like this. And I’ve never been to Oshkosh, and at age 66 I’m not getting any younger. … Yeah, I’d love to do it.’

“So, we put it in a box in May, shipped it over, reassembled it at Andy Salters’ hangar in Flanders Field, and then we flew up in two days to Jefferson City, going through Georgia and the woods and forests, and the flats of Florida, then coming over the Ohio River and the Mississippi, and then eventually to the Missouri River in Jefferson City,” he explained.

“Then the guys were all giving rides for three days, and I just polished it and talked about it to people who were interested about the bits, and it’s great because the young kids loved it. You know this is an age that they don’t even comprehend, and it’s fun to tell people how it evolved and how Pacific Air Transport was what it was and evolved into becoming United Airlines and all this history and the years of golden aviation I think in America, and it’s fabulous. It’s fabulous to be a part of this. It’s really cool.”

Thomas Leaver

THOMAS “AXEL” LEAVER

When Thomas Leaver heard about the American Barnstormers Tour, he decided he would pack up his 1928 Travel Air D-4000 from merry England and ship it across the pond to the United States to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event. His plane was one of the original Pacific Air Transport aircraft, which eventually became part of United Airlines.

“I was born and raised in Sonoma, California, originally but have lived in England for the last 36 years,” Tom said. “My airplane started life as a Travel Air 3000 with a Hispano-Suiza E engine, which was 180 hp. It was delivered by Walter Beech May 7, 1928, and arrived in Oakland, California, in a crate. It stayed in California for the first 15 to 20 years of its life, and then in 1945 the Hispano-Suiza came out of it and a Wright J-5 went into it, and it became a crop duster in Arizona and flew out there up until about 1965.

“Then from ’65 to 2014 it went through several owners before I bought it, and I was a bit hesitant at

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MIKE RINKER

Mike Rinker and his 1932 Wright 975-hp Travel Air B-14-B call Tennessee home.

“This model was one of two built in 1932 due to the Depression,” Mike said. “It has a top speed of 187 mph, and it sure does beautiful aerobatics.”

Mike is an airline transport pilot with more than 12,000 hours. He was a member of the 2007 U.S. Unlimited Aerobatic Team and finished in 19th place in Grenada, Spain. He is on the board of directors of the International Aerobatic Club and a member of the Antique Aircraft Association. Mike does a limited number of air shows in the Travel Air and a clipped wing Taylorcraft. He also owns a 1944 Grumman Goose, a 1946 clipped wing Taylorcraft, a 1946 Aeronca Champ, a 1977 Cessna 182, and a 2017 Robinson R44 Helicopter.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

CHASING SHADOWS OF THE PAST

BRIAN “BIGGLES” SHEPHERD

After 30 years in the music business moving from post boy (mailroom clerk) to CEO of two major U.K. record companies, Brian finally gave in to his real passion — flying.

First working as a flight instructor, Brian started flying Travel Airs for Barnstorming Adventures, giving rides to thousands of passengers out of Palomar Airport (KCRQ) in Carlsbad, California.

“Without doubt the best job in aviation,” Brian said.

After working as a corporate jet pilot and running a Cessna Citation training operation, Brian missed real flying, so with his wife, Janene, he started Fun Flights, taking passengers up in his 1929 Travel Air B4000 Olive over north San Diego beaches.

Brian Shepherd, right, with Keith Kossuth

PEDRO LANGTON

Pedro and his 1928 Travel Air E-4000 reside in California. Pedro was the winner of the Crete to Cape Town South Africa Rally in 2016. In 2017 after everyone else dismantled and shipped their planes back home, Pedro flew solo from Cape Town back through Africa to Greece, the starting point of the Crete2Cape Rally. From Sitia, Greece, he continued on through Europe and arrived back to Shoreham-by-Sea, England. He shipped his Travel Air back to the United States, arriving just in time to join the 2018 Barnstormers Tour.

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MARK WYANT’S DÉJÀ VU TRI-PACER

BY BUDD DAVISSON

ark Wyant, of Dallas, said, “I’d be sitting in class in junior high school with my textbook up, supposedly reading it. What the teacher didn’t know was that the textbook was camouflaging Any One Can Fly by Jules Bergman, which had become my bible. It had a huge impact on me.”

THE FLYING VIRUS INVADES

“When I went into high school, I was too small to play football and frankly didn’t care about it,” Mark said. “For reasons I can’t begin to explain I had an absolute burning desire to learn to fly. It was more than an interest. It was a passion. This was curious because nowhere in my family tree did I have any pilots. It was like a spontaneous virus that popped into my head and

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pushed me along in front of it. My father (Mom was worried) totally supported me, maybe not with money but with their attitudes. Dad was a school teacher and a part-time builder, and he enjoyed talking with me about what I had learned about flying from the many books I had read.”

Flying has never been cheap. And school teachers seldom made enough to afford it, but 15-year-old Mark had the solution to that.

“I took every job I could find,” he said. “Probably my longest one was as a dishwasher at Addison Airport. I didn’t really care because I knew that every dime I earned would go towards me realizing the dream of flying. It is impossible to verbalize how I felt the day I soloed. Totally impossible! It had been a dream and then became a reality. I was well above cloud nine.”

Mark Wyant’s Tri-Pacer may well be the most intensive PA-22 restoration ever done and the most exact.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT SLOCUM

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WHY A TRI-PACER?

“Another thing I can’t explain is why I was drawn to the Tri-Pacer,” Mark said. “My interest in the airplane may have been because my idol, Jules Bergman, had learned in one, and his book had lots of photos of it. I simply loved the way they looked. And, by this time, the mid-’70s, the prices had come down to where they were almost manageable. My dad realized an

airplane, like a house, was an asset, and it would hold its value and could be sold, if need be. Coincidentally, there was a nice example located not far from my flight school at Addison Airport in a hangar. It was N8664D, a PA-22-160 Tri-Pacer. So, we pooled our money and bought it. This was in March of 1976, and I was 16. Only five months later, after I had earned my PPL in N8664D, my parents trusted

me enough to fly them up to Anderson, Indiana, to see my grandmother. Dad was always in the right seat and loved every minute of it. We flew together a lot, and I treasure those memories.”

The Tri-Pacer went away as Mark and his dad satisfied their urge for “higher and faster airplanes.” By this time, Mark had paid his dues and was flying for an airline so money became easier to come by.

“I was really taken by the restored vintage airplanes and those, like Jules Bergman’s book, planted a burning thought in my mind: I thought it would be terrific to restore a vintage a i r p l a n e . ” — Mark Wyant The Tri-Pacer Savior Crew, left to right: Jon Contreras, Davin Hart, and Mark Wyant. Mark owns the airplane. Jon has been his best friend for 45 years and was with him when, as teenagers, they both went to look at the airplane before Mark and his dad bought it. Darin is owner of Legend Cub, the company that restored the airplane in only six months.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

Yes, it looks exactly like a 1958 Piper Tri-Pacer but it is actually Mark Wyant’s monument to his father, with whom, as a teenager, he originally co-owned the airplane .

LIFE MOVES IN UNEXPECTED WAYS

“While flying for the airlines, I thought back to Dad’s part-time house building, and in my spare time I started dabbling in houses,” Mark said. “Then, I started building small, franchised hotels, and that eventually led me to building and operating boutique hotels. My success in that area led me to retiring from the airlines quite early and concentrating on my new business. I currently am developing my own brand of boutique hotel known as The Saint Hotels.”

Mark said he continued to buy and fly little airplanes, and then, in 2016, he went to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

“I was really taken by the restored vintage airplanes and those, like Jules Bergman’s book, planted a burning thought in my mind: I thought it would be terrific to restore a vintage airplane,” he said. “Then, again with little forethought or planning, I once again focused on Tri-Pacers. No, let me correct that. I mentally focused on one Tri-Pacer: N8664D. Dad had died in 2000, and many of the memories I continually replay in my mind about him [are] us enjoying a sunset or a day trip in our Tri-Pacer. I decided that I didn’t just want any Tri-Pacer, I wanted that Tri-Pacer. However, I had no idea whether it still existed.”

RE-ENTER, N8664D

It took Mark about two minutes on the internet, after deciding he wanted to restore N8664D, to locate it. Amazingly enough, it was in Tyler, Texas, less than 100 miles from his home.

“I called the current owner and asked him if he’d consider selling, and his answer was a resounding no,” Mark said. “I called him again about a year later and received the same answer. He was pretty emphatic. When I made my next annual call, I tried a different tactic. This time I told what I was willing to pay, which was easily twice the going price for unrestored PA-22s. He couldn’t say yes fast enough.”

Mark and his childhood friend Jon Contreras traveled to Tyler to get the TriPacer, but they were in for a nasty surprise. “[Jon] had been with me when I first saw the airplane when we were both teenagers,” Mark said. “As we walked around the airplane, that the seller had insisted was in great shape, we were more than a little disappointed. It was in horrible shape! It was so bad I was afraid to fly it the 80 miles home. It had tattered fabric, inoperative radios and the logs had been destroyed in a hangar fire. The owner said it had always been hangared, when what he should have said was that it was leaning up against the hangar.

“Everything about it was trashed.

Everything. However, to be honest, even if I had known it wasn’t as represented, I would have still bought it,” Mark added. “As I opened the front door, a thousand pleasant memories poured over me and made me glad that I had bought it. I knew we could make it whole again. And I had already set the goal of making it to the next AirVenture Oshkosh with it. So, if we expected to make the fly-in, we had better get with it.”

THE TRANSFORMATION BEGINS

“I wanted to have a hand in restoring the airplane, because of my dad, but I knew I didn’t know enough and wouldn’t have enough time to finish the airplane in time for AirVenture. If ever,” Mark said. “I needed to drop the airplane in a professional’s lap and tell him to get with it.”

That professional was Darin Hart who builds the Legend Cubs in Sulphur Springs, Texas, about 80 miles away. I told Darin that I wanted it better than new. I wanted it to be the best Tri-Pacer ever restored. This was in January of 2017. I then told him there was a slight catch: It was do-or-die that we get it ready to go to Oshkosh, www.vintageaircraft.org 43

BORN TOGETHER: LEGEND CUBS AND A NEW TRI-PACER

which was six months away. Darin looked me square in the eye, and with not a moment’s hesitation said, ‘We can do that!’”

By going to Darin, Mark had some of the best hands in the industry working on the airplane, and then Darin expanded the talent-base by bringing Clyde Smith, better known as The Cub Doctor, into the mix. Clyde is widely recognized as one of the, if not the, pre-eminent authorities on rag-wing Piper restorations.

With this team working on the airplane, Mark was assured of both the details and the craftsmanship being right.

Bottom left: Every single detail on Mark’s airplane is correct to the period.

Bottom right: Appearing original, the Narco Omnigator and lowfrequency radio cleverly hide a Garmin 750 GPS and transponder.

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“There was no aviation in my family, but my dad had a guy working for him that had a J-3 and a J-5,” Darin said. “This was in the early ’80s and I was 19. Then he had to sell the J-3, and I jumped in. I had $1,000 saved and got a loan for the $5,000 balance. So, there I was, not even out of college, and I had my first Cub. I had no idea at the time that Cubs and old airplanes would eventually be my profession.”

Darin graduated from college in ’86 and found his way into an engineering slot with Raytheon where he did “secret stuff I can’t tell you about.” However, no matter how secret and high-tech his job was, he was always surrounded by little airplanes, many of them needing TLC, something he developed into a fine art.

“I took my first J-3 to Oshkosh when I was about 28 and won my first Lindy,” Darin said. “I’ve had various airplanes we’ve done earn a half-dozen or so Lindys since. Then, after 13 years with Raytheon, in 1999, I bailed out to form an aircraft cabinetry shop that outfitted corporate jets.”

He was in the process of reverting entirely to restoring airplanes at the exact same time that the whole LSA concept was approved. “I looked around, and it seemed entirely too logical that I go into business building J-3s as an LSA with a slightly modern touch. At the same time, I kept the restoration business going” he said.

GETTIN’ IT DONE ON TIME

It’s probable that Mark decided to take his Tri-Pacer to Darin because Darin had a “production mindset.” He had two dozen workmen who knew the company’s survival was based on them taking airplanes and raw material in one door and shoving completed,

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON, SCOTT SLOCUM

award-winning airplanes out the other end of the building. Darin was running an airplane factory, and it didn’t matter whether they were Legend Cubs or airplanes they were restoring for customers. They were professionals, not hobbyists.

“This isn’t an inexpensive endeavor, and I make sure potential customers know that,” Darin said. “I tell them that if we do nothing more than strip the fabric off, clean it up a little inside, re-cover, and paint it, they’ll have more than its market value tied up in the airplane. If it’s a complete, down-to-the-last-bolt restoration, like Mark’s Tri-Pacer was, they’ll have much more than that in it. In fact, I told Mark he was crazy.

But he knew it would be done right and in a timely manner. Plus, we all knew this was a monument to his father. We average five to six months per airplane, so, when Mark said we had to make Oshkosh, which was only six months away, I knew we could make it. That’s what we do. He also wanted to come away with an award or two. With any luck, we do that too.”

Once work started on Mark’s TriPacer, Darin said his team found that it was in better shape than many of the previous restorations they had done.

“In Cubs we almost always replace the entire aft end of the fuselage tubing, and we had one come in with the structure under the windows completely gone. Not rusted. Gone!” Darin

said. “We only had to replace one or two pieces of tubing in Mark’s airplane. The challenge with his airplane was getting every last detail absolutely right. He wanted it to look exactly as it did, when it rolled out of Lock Haven in 1958. Exactly!”

When a restoration has to be totally accurate down to the last rib stitch and instrument, the process becomes much more tedious. And that’s where Clyde Smith’s encyclopedic knowledge of ragwing Pipers came into play.

THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS

“We probably spent much more time researching details on this restoration than any we’ve done,” Darin said.

“Mark was involved in that, as was Clyde. He had a complete set of Piper factory drawings for the airplane, and they were very detailed. They told us exactly where to put rib stitches, the dimensions of the dollar patches.

Everything was spelled out. We followed those to the letter, and Clyde, who runs a Piper restoration shop of his own, built up a firewall for us. That speeded things up a little. He also helped us verify how details were supposed to be done.”

The restoration team hit a snag when it came time to discuss the paint scheme.

“Mark … wasn’t in love with the Daytona White and liked the factory scheme on a different year Tri-Pacer,” Darin said. “We told him that an exact restoration doesn’t cut corners. It’s

either right or it isn’t. Plus, Piper changed paint schemes almost every year on the Tri-Pacer, so his had to be a 1958 Daytona White and Santa Fe Red scheme or judges would downgrade it.”

Although they were going for complete originality, Darin said the team did make some minor changes.

“This was an airplane that was going to be flown so, where it made sense, minor upgrades were made in the interest of safety,” he said.

“This included modern brakes, nav/ strobe lights, lightweight starter, and alternator.”

After the fuselage tubing was media blasted and clean, it got a coat of epoxy primer and black paint.

However, as per the factory, it wasn’t completely black.

“The factory specs require that certain parts of the tubing have to be painted the same color as the airplane because it’ll be visible,” Darin said. “This airplane is almost new in a lot of ways. Every nut and bolt is new. Same thing with the pulleys and similar hardware. If a metal panel had a dent in it, it was replaced with a new one from Bottom left: Every detail of the firewall forward surrounding the 160-hp Lycoming 0-320 is as original.

Bottom right: The paint scheme required searching out every detail on factory drawings that pertained to the paint scheme, some of which, like the Piper logotype, was unexpected.

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Univair. Ditto with ribs and anything in the wings or fuselage. We only repaired a small amount of stuff. Since Univair had it all, we just bought it new. The instruments went back to Keystone Instruments where they were refinished with the slightly yellow instrument printing they had in the beginning. The upholstery material was sourced through companies that supply vintage automotive upholstering. It was found that ’58 Mercurys used the same fabric as the Tri-Pacer, so that was sourced and used.

However, since it was going in an airplane, we had to send it out to be chemically fireproofed, tested, and then FAA certified as meeting the specs.

For power, Mark chose to go for a factory remanufactured 160-hp engine like the one that was in it originally.

“In reality, the Tri-Pacer is a fairly complicated airplane because it has so many more systems than most rag-wing Pipers,” Darin said. “A full electrical system, a yoke type control system rather than control sticks, hand brake, etc. It has two to three times the amount of stuff a Cub has. This is one reason it took us right at six months to finish it.”

Mark and his best friend Jon, who has been connected with N6844D from the very beginning, tackled the instrument panel with the goal of making it look totally original but able to function like a modern airplane.

“We made up an instrument stack that included a Garmin GPS 750 and a Garmin 345 transponder with ADS-B,” Mark said. “Then we found an original Narco Omnigator and a VLR-3

low-frequency radio and had their faces restored. We mounted the modern radios in a 3/4-inch recessed box and found, to our surprise, that the stack of vintage radios was exactly the same size. So, it was easy to make up a face plate that was the front inch or so of the old radios but pop it out when we want to go flying.

While we were doing that we put in one of my favorite details: the original ash tray recessed into the top of the glare shield along with the defroster tubes to the windshield. This was exactly the way we saw it when Dad and I used to go flying.”

GETTIN’ HER DONE

“We ran the engine for the first time two days before AirVenture 2017,” Mark said.

“The first flight was flawless, and we left for Oshkosh on Saturday, arriving in time for the opening of AirVenture. The

When N8664D was delivered to Darin Hart’s Legend Cub manufacturing facility in Sulphur, Texas, for restoration, the goal was to have it finished for the opening of AirVenture 2017. They made it, although the first engine run was only two days before the event began.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

airplane now resides in a hangar less than 50 yards from the original old hangar where I originally found it. In so many ways, I’ve come full circle with this airplane. Although I flew internationally for American Airlines for 22 years and now fly my Citation Mustang for my hotel business, I feel like with the Tri-Pacer I’ve now come back to my roots — and my dad.

Every single time I climb in the door and scoot across the seat, I can see him climbing in behind me and strapping in.

“Now my son David, who is almost 14, is feeling as if the airplane is just the right size for him. And it is,” Mark said. “It’ll be up to him to pass it along to the next generation. At the same time, he can forward the Silver Reserve Grand Champion Contemporary award we took home! Dad, that one’s for you!”

Top left: Upholstery was the same as that used in 1958 Mercurys.

Top middle: Factory drawings showed the placement of paint details.

Top right: Note the original microphone, upper left.

Right: A 1958 TV Guide published the same month N8664D was produced overlays the removable Narco Omnigator and low-frequency radio panel.

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FLYING ITS SOCKS OFF

When walking around the grounds at EAA

AirVenture Oshkosh,

it’s hard not to notice

a distinct trend among “magazine airplanes,”

T H E B O H M E R FA M I LY CUB COUPE

BY BUDD DAVISSON

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those that appear on the pages of aviation publications: They are uniformly restored to exact, original condition or beyond. Often far beyond. It has become the norm that vintage birds on display are often far more perfect than the day they left the factory. Or they’re customized to be a super slick version of the original airplane brought up to 21st century standards.

And then there is a smaller group of airplanes that, although sometimes unique or semi-rare, bear the marks of something that has been enjoyed and flown, and flown, and then flown some more. Like a well-worn pair of boots, they look, and are, comfortable. And that’s what attracted me to the Bohmer family Piper J-4 Cub Coupe: Not only was it a seldom-seen variation of the venerable J-3, but it had that “lived in” look, which said N33427 was one of those airplanes that most VAA owners could afford and enjoy without the sometimes-significant investment and daily worry that the fully restored birds often represent.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINA BASKEN

The cowling on the ‘40 and ‘41 J-4 Cub Coupe has a lot of what appear to be die-formed compound curve pieces that are hard to find. The Bohmers have chosen to ignore the dings and patches and just enjoy flying their bird.

www.vintageaircraft.org

49

lex Bohmer, a freight pilot based in Milwaukee, brought the Cub Coupe he and his dad own to AirVenture 2018 — his first time to AirVenture flying his own airplane.

“I’ve been coming for years, but this is the first time flying, and I love it!” he said.

Alex’s dad, a mechanical contractor, had learned to fly long before Alex was born, but fell out of the habit.

“He had bought a Beech Sundowner but sold it a couple years after I was born because he wasn’t using it to fly to job sites anymore and couldn’t rationalize owning it,” Alex said. “However, it seems as if almost every pilot goes through a period where they are starting their career and their family at the same time and have to stop flying for a while. I guess I caused part of that gap in his flying, but we’re making up for it now.”

Alex said that when he was a kid his dad would take him to the airport where a friend of his had a PA-11 Cub. “When I was about 12 years old, I made a deal with him where I’d

mow the grass in exchange for time in the Cub,” he said. “I kept after it and soloed shortly after my 16th birthday and got my PPL right after I graduated from high school. Dad took me to AirVenture the first time in 2009, when I was 12, so from the very beginning I was pretty much bore-sighted on sport aviation, specifically vintage airplanes,” Alex said. “Dad had started to fly again, and we started looking around for airplanes that would fit our purpose. He didn’t really need a traveling machine, but he also didn’t have a tailwheel endorsement and knew little about tailwheel airplanes.”

Alex, however, was very much into tailwheels and, with a little prodding, was able to shift his dad’s focus to fun, little airplanes that they could both enjoy.

“We ran across the Cub Coupe in Faribault, Minnesota, which is pretty much local to us,” Alex said. “I’m not sure either of us had ever actually seen a J-4, and that appealed to us. It was something a little different. Also, compared to getting into a J-3, this was much easier and, once inside, it was surprisingly roomy. I don’t know the exact dimensions but compared to a Taylorcraft or Aeronca Chief, it feels much wider. Also, its wing is mounted much higher than most two-place, side-by-side classics so with only a little stretching, you can actually see over the nose and aren’t as blind out to the sides. Plus, the control sticks are shorter than

The tail surfaces are basic J-3 parts.

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March/April 2019

FLYING ITS SOCKS OFF

the Cub’s, which makes them more comfortable to fly.”

The Cub Coupe was only produced for three years, 1939-1941, and only about 1,250 were built.

“I’m not sure if they discontinued it because of the war or because sales were slow compared to the J-3. It was probably both. … It’s unknown how many still exist or fly but best guesses are around 100,” Alex said. “Ours is a 1940 model so it came out of the factory with a 65-hp A65, versus the earlier A50 engine, and the cylinders are completely enclosed rather than hanging out like a J-3. The cowling is compound formed aluminum, and they are hard to find. Fortunately, ours is in good shape.”

Alex said that the airplane was upgraded to a C85 in 1980, which greatly increased its performance.

“I’ve never flown a 65-hp J-4 but knowing how much 85 hp improves the performance of a J-3, I can imagine that there’s a big difference,” he said.

When you stand back and look at a J-4, it’s easy to see its Cub lineage, which is partially the result of Piper’s design philosophy: Design as many new aircraft as possible but use as many common parts as possible. That’s why almost all Piper rag-wing airplanes from the J-3 to the Tri-Pacer use the same ribs, slightly modified tails, and the same basic wing structure with minor updates (aluminum spars).

“At some point, maybe in the 1940s, our airplane may have been damaged because the wooden spars were replaced with aluminum, which was standard on most postwar Cubs,” Alex said. “Also, even though there are no float fittings on the airplane, the logs show it was on floats in the 1980s right after it was re-covered. So, as with many old airplanes’ logs, there are some minor mysteries.”

Alex said people are constantly asking if they’re going to restore it, and his usual answer is — maybe.

“It would be nice to get rid of some of the dings and make a few repairs, which we do from time to time, but we’re unsure about restoring it,” he said.

“Dad says, ‘A daily driver reduces any anxiety about maintaining the aircraft’s appearance in perfect condition.’ Grass stains, fuel stains, exhaust stains, a little chipped paint at the fasteners, etc. are all nothing to be too concerned about. When we take people up for a flight they can just climb aboard and enjoy the experience. We don’t need to worry about leaving a little scratch or fingerprints behind.”

Alex said the fabric on the Coupe is Razorback, which is a fiberglass type of fabric that the FAA recognizes as being a permanent covering.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINA BASKEN

Note the curved control sticks and grouping of all systems controls in the middle of the panel on the Cub Coupe.

The cockpit is much roomier than the Coupe’s peer group side-by-sides.

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“It supposedly doesn’t deteriorate and, in inspecting ours, we can’t find any deterioration except for minor scuffs. That is fine except it places a lot of responsibility on us to do really detailed interior inspections,” he said. “The fact that we have aluminum spars, however, greatly eases the worry about the wings. Internally, they are now all-aluminum with the exception of the carbon steel drag/anti-drag wires. The fuselage, of course, is subject to rust so it requires careful inspection, but we hangar it and, as far as we know, it has spent little time tied down outdoors. Its time on floats, however, keeps us poking around with mirrors and flashlights, but so far, so good.”

Alex said the Coupe’s performance is exactly what they need.

“We flight plan 70 knots, 80 mph, at about 4 gph,” he said. “We have no electrics to worry about and virtually no systems, so it’s an easy airplane to care for and very affordable. It’s nice to have an airplane that

A description of the J-4 Cub Coupe could be “...a fat J-3.”

From top to bottom it can be seen how the cowling differs from any other Piper of the period. Originally the Coupe’s cylinders were exposed like a J-3, but the ‘40/’41 models enclosed them. The wheels and brakes are pure J-3.

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doesn’t become a major financial factor, as so many airplanes do. The Coupe is also a really good flying airplane and is literally a two-place Cub in most areas. Dad got his tailwheel endorsement in it, and we’ve taken it all over our area to fly-ins, etc. and have had zero problems with it. However, an investigation into a minor oil leak led to the discovery of a stripped-through bolt on the engine case that required an engine teardown to install a Heli-Coil in the engine case. Other than its tired appearance, it’s what everyone actually needs in a Sunday morning flyer. We know it looks a little rough around the edges, but it more than makes up for that with affordability and fun.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINA BASKEN

CUB COUPE LOOKOUT DETAILS OF THE BREED (FROM AIRBUM.COM) Even though the Cub Coupe was produced for only three years, 1939-41, it managed to do a fair amount of changing, and all of these variations are worth knowing.

Most of the important changes came about after the first year of production with the introduction of the 1940 model. The most obvious change in the ’40/’41 models is that the exposed engine cylinders of the 1939 J-4 have been cowled in with an extremely pretty piece of sheet metal, possibly one of the prettiest Pipers ever built up to the Twin Comanche Tigershark cowls. At this time, 1940, they were doing their very best to give the Coupe a fancier look to entice more people into using it for business (we think). The cowl had a little chrome trim on it, and the instrument panel was completely overhauled and regrouped. All of the controls were moved into the center of the panel, which included putting the carb heat and fuel cut right in the middle, along with the mags and throttle. It was an unusual arrangement for an airplane, but one that is quite attractive.

All of the J-4s had the same structure, which is to say they were built like a J-3 Cub. The fuselage is steel tubing with wooden fairing strips covered with fabric. The wings have wooden spars, but the ribs are riveted T-shaped aluminum with wooden tip bows, as were all rag-wing Pipers.

Only the spars in postwar airplanes were changed to aluminum.

As far as the wings go, it’s highly unusual to have a truly rotten spar unless the airplane has been left out in the open for many, many years and the fabric drain holes are plugged. But it does happen, and the spars should be looked at closely. Also, since the fittings at either end of the wing struts are steel, they should be inspected for rust and/ or pitting.

On a J-4, something that tops the list in the investigation is the cowling itself. The original J-4 with exposed cylinders has a nosepiece and a top panel that are compound curved and were most likely formed in a die. The late models have even more complex metal work up front.

While there are lots of companies making new sheet metal for J-3s, you might be hard pressed to find a good replacement cowl for a J-4.

As with all Piper aircraft of the period, the wing strut forks at the bottom of the struts have several ADs against them. By this time, if the airplane is flying, those forks have probably been examined and replaced. Since the forks (and new struts) are readily available, it doesn’t make any sense not to replace them.

The 1941 models came out with the 75-hp Continental that gave the airplane a much needed kick in the rear. Going up to a C85 via a field approval would make a totally different airplane out of it.

With the exception of the compound curved sheet metal, the J-4 represents absolutely nothing that is difficult to repair or hard to replace.

Although it’s not a J-3 Cub, an awful lot of J-3 parts can be used to keep it flying. Otherwise, it’s just normal grassroots hardware.

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March/April 2019

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE LUEDEY

A CANADIAN STAGGERWING —

THEN AND NOW RESTORATION OF CF-BJD

BY MIKE DAVENPORT

HE CLASSIC BEECHCRAFT D17S STAGGERWING first appeared in 1937 and was a follow-on design for Walter Beech of the original fixed-gear Model 17 of the early 1930s. It was considered one of the finest and fastest aircraft of the time. It was expensive, with prices quoted between $14,000 and $17,000 depending upon the engine selected. A complex aircraft with retractable gear and a comfortable cabin large enough for five adults and some baggage, it had a top speed near 200 mph, and that appealed to the wealthy businessman in need of fast, efficient transportation.

This Staggerwing, registered CF-BJD, was manufactured by Beech in the spring of 1938 for Imperial Oil in Quebec. Imperial ordered the seaplane version as indicated by the model No. SD17S. Two major differences are the fuel system and the addition of a right side cabin door. There were three tanks in the seaplane version instead of the four normally found in the landplane configuration. There was a tank in the lower wing right and two belly tanks, making it easy to fuel from a dock without the need to climb ladders to fill upper wing tanks.

The airplane was delivered to Canada from the factory in Wichita, Kansas, to Fairchild Aircraft in Longueil, Quebec, where it had a set of Canadian-made EDO WA-4665 floats installed. Six weeks later, the wheels were reinstalled, but brake problems caused an unfortunate incident. On August 12, 1938, the airplane overshot the runway and collected the airport boundary fence in the process. The damage included a bent propeller and also required the replacement of the front spars and a number of nose ribs in both lower wings. The airplane was back in service by October 7, some seven weeks later.

Imperial operated the plane as an executive transport for the next 10 years. For nine of those years the primary pilot was a well-known Canadian bush pilot, T.M. “Pat” Reid.

Born in Ireland in August of 1895 and educated there, Reid served in World War I with the Royal Naval Air Service. He learned to fly with the Royal Air Force and in 1918 was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal. Moving to Canada after a brief career with Handley-Page in England and Zurich, Switzerland, he had a long and distinguished career in Canadian aviation. He began with the Ontario Provincial Air Service in 1924 and in 1928 went on to join Northern Aerial Minerals Exploration (NAME). There, he flew extensively in the north, opening up new routes as well as participating in a number of searches for lost aircraft both in Alaska and in www.vintageaircraft.org 55

The flight test team on February 22, 2015, (left to right) Werner Griesbeck, Ron Helgeson, George Kirbyson, Jim Britton, Mark Hyderman.

Right side gear doors with names of participants.

Jim Britton’s wife’s name on right side aircraft.

Left side gear doors, also with names of participants.

northern Canada. With his wide-ranging knowledge of flying and the north, he joined Imperial in 1931 as aviation manager for its western division and was soon promoted to aviation sales manager, a position that he held until his death in 1954. He was awarded the Trans-Canada Trophy (commonly known as the McKee Trophy) for the combined years of 1942/1943 for “outstanding pioneer flights, which greatly helped to promote aviation in Canada.”

According to the logs, it appears that BJD was Pat’s personal airplane, as he flew it 417 times for an estimated 600 hours between August of 1938 and September of 1947. The logs show flights from Halifax on the east coast to Vancouver on the west, and north to Fort Smith and Norman Wells on the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories.

In 1954, Pat and his wife, Marjorie, were traveling to Victoria when they were killed in a tragic midair collision over Moose Jaw. They were passengers in a Trans-Canada Air Lines Northstar

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when their aircraft was struck by a locally based Royal Canadian Air Force Harvard. Thirty-seven lives were lost that day, including one on the ground.

Imperial Oil declared BJD surplus in 1948 and sold it to Northern Wings in Sept-Ȋles in eastern Quebec in 1948, after purchasing two DC-3s for its expanding aviation department.

Northern Wings operated the Staggerwing until late in 1955. During that time, the aircraft appears to have led a difficult life, as letters between the owners and the Department of Transport attest.

They took BJD out of service in 1955 and stored the disassembled airframe in a hangar at Sept-Ȋles for the next 14 years.

If you are following the chronology, this airplane saw approximately 16 years of service and had accumulated a total of just 2,761 hours in that time.

In 1969, the remains of BJD were sold and flown as cargo in a Curtiss Commando (C-46) to Montreal where it was picked up by the new owner, Ron Uloth. More about Ron later.

The floats arrived in Montreal in 1970 by barge. The fuselage was stored at a technical college and the remaining parts were stored in various garages in the Montreal area, and all were eventually moved to Kemptville near Ottawa 21 years later in 1990.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DENNIS CARDY, MIKE DAVENPORT

RESTORATION 2003-2014

In the fall of 2002, Jim Britton, VAA 722567, of West Vancouver, British Columbia, was looking for a retirement project and purchased the airframe from Ron. Jim had recently retired after a long career in the petroleum industry and was looking for a project to prevent physical and mental atrophy in his golden years.

Jim was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick, in 1934 and was educated in Ontario, obtaining a degree in geological engineering from the University of Toronto. For the next 45 years, Jim worked for a variety of oil companies in Calgary and Vancouver, drilling wells in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. In 1957 he married Silvija, and her name is highlighted on the right side of the cabin, celebrating more than 60 years of marriage to date. Along the way, Jim also found time to get a glider license and spent hours soaring in Alberta.

I asked Jim why he had bought a Staggerwing to restore, as it is hard to comprehend why anyone would undertake such a complex task as a first-time project. He replied simply that he wanted something to keep him active in retirement. He certainly has achieved that goal.

Jim has been exposed to aviation since he was 4 years old when his father, Russell “Jim” Britton, an aircraft engineer would take him to work with him and “Jimmy” would play in the hangar surrounded by Fleet Finches, Dragon Rapides (or should Jim Britton with rib jig.

that be Dragons Rapide), and other biplanes of the era. His first ride came later in a J-3 Piper Cub. While at Avro Canada in Malton, Ontario, he met and became best friends with Ron. Together, they built and flew model airplanes. Ron was Jim’s best man. Ron went on to a career with Air Canada as an aeronautical engineer and in retirement bought a Staggerwing (CF-EKA) to restore. Along the way, he also acquired CF-BJD and ultimately sold it to Jim. With Ron’s help and in a five-day driving marathon, they moved BJD from Kemptville to West Vancouver in a rental truck.

The restoration work has taken 12 years to complete and included replacing all of the woodwork, with the original parts serving only as patterns.

There were times when the wood was in such bad shape that Jim had to obtain copies of the original factory drawings to ensure that the parts were made correctly. Over a period of four years, from 2003 to 2007, he built allnew wing panels, flaps and ailerons, vertical fin, rudder, horizontal stabilizer, and the elevators and used Sitka spruce for the spars and ribs and Finnish Birch plywood for gussets and skins where appropriate. G2 adhesives and sealers were used throughout.

The steel tube fuselage, engine mount, and all of the metal fittings were taken to Lindair Services Ltd., a maintenance facility in Richmond at the Vancouver International Airport.

Jim with wing sideways.

There they were X-rayed and magnafluxed and coated with epoxy. Lindair was charged with assembling the airplane, rigging all of the controls, and providing the necessary signatures.

Then Jim fitted the fuselage with the all-new formers and stringers; the fairings that give the Staggerwing its distinctive art-deco shape. Like so many first-time projects, the quality of the woodwork is so high that it seems a shame to cover it with fabric.

I asked Jim if he had a background in carpentry or cabinet making and his reply was, “No, but my grandpa did.” I guess it must be in the genes.

Next came the restoration of the instrument panel back to its original layout, complete with freshly overhauled old-style instruments. The radios are Garmin, including dual GNC 250XL GPS/comms, a GTX transponder, and a 340 audio panel. The electrical system was updated to 24 from 12 volt, completing work begun by Northern Wings in 1960. A run-out 450-hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 was obtained and sent to AeroEngines Inc. in Los Angeles for overhaul. Jim also obtained and overhauled a Hamilton Standard two-blade propeller complete with a huge and impressive chromed spinner.

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New streamlined flying and landing wires were ordered from Bruntons Aero Products in Scotland and were installed.

All leather upholstery, fabricated by Kaiser Custom Furnishings Ltd. of Richmond, completed the interior at a somewhat higher price than that quoted by Beech in 1939. Beech’s price list then showed a price of $60 for a leather interior.

Modern Cleveland wheels and brakes were installed in place of the original factory-installed Goodyears.

Jim has also added a fourth fuel tank in the lower left wing, increasing the total capacity to 124 gallons and the range to four hours with good reserves.

PRESENT DAY

Fuselage in paint shop in silver.

Wing panel in the rotisserie in Werner’s shop.

As I turned the corner at the hangar, I saw a familiar truck parked in front of the doors, a sure sign that Werner Griesbeck was there. I slid the door open enough to squeeze through and said, “Good morning, you in here, Werner?” A grunt from the cabin of the yellow biplane indicated that he, indeed, was inside and doing some mysterious thing. “What are you up to today?” I asked. “Trying to hook up this damned turn and bank,” he replied.

It seems that the turn and bank indicator was the latest breakdown of note on this project. Previously, he had replaced the manifold pressure gauge, the prop control, the primer, the prop governor, and the clock. All things installed as working by a prior engineer. Each of these tasks was made more difficult due to the lack of room to work in and on a D17.

He crawled out from under the panel, swearing and with bleeding hands from numerous cuts from sharp corners in the close quarters where he was working.

The pressure was on, as this was the week when the first test flight was scheduled. The owner had arranged to have an experienced Staggerwing pilot and his engineer come to Langley from Salmon Arm, British Columbia, and Edmonton, Alberta, to examine and then not only test fly the aircraft but check out at least one local pilot in the complex and very fast antique. That was not to be, as snowy weather in the mountains prevented the pilot and engineer from driving through to the Fraser Valley.

Murphy — as in Murphy’s law — was also on site as minor problems, one after the other, continued to need to be addressed. Detail items, such as the javelins for the flying wires and the placards for the instrument panel, all were needed to complete the restoration and were late in arriving.

Instrument panel BDJ.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE DAVENPORT, MIKE LUEDEY

At this point, Werner has two years into the project, which started out as just fabric and paint work but morphed over time into final assembly and all the other assorted things that needed doing.

Werner, VAA 4344, is uniquely qualified to do this covering work, having restored at least five J-3 Cubs and covered any number of others. His personal Fairchild 24, restored in 1991, and Porterfield CP65, restored earlier in 1981, are examples of his dedication to detail as they both are consistent trophy winners at air shows and fly-ins each year.

He was born in Bavaria in 1943, and he and his family immigrated to Canada in 1950. He learned to fly at the Abbotsford International Airport in 1964 and worked as a flight instructor in Powell River, British Columbia, for four years. He joined Transport Canada in 1970 and worked as an air traffic controller in Langley and Abbotsford, British Columbia, until retiring in 2000. Using his AME certificate he began his next career doing fabric work on such diverse aircraft as an Antonov An-2 biplane and my Stinson 108.

Just fabric on a large, fast biplane like the Staggerwing is a major project in itself that can only be done the same way that you eat the proverbial elephant — one bite at a time. Many hours are required to prep the parts for the fabric, more to glue and shrink it in place, and many, many more to rib-stitch four wing panels, all the control surfaces, and the fuselage, all using the special Staggerwing knot. Once that is done, then it is time to apply all of the tapes and then to plan the paint process. Numerous coats of silver were applied and sanded, taking care not to cut through the cloth or to hide the tapes as they were planned to be still visible even after all of the color coats are applied.

The aircraft had arrived from Richmond to a hangar in Langley, sans fabric in January of 2013. All of the smaller parts — four wing panels, two flap panels, elevators, ailerons, and rudder — went out to Werner’s shop in Aldergrove where he, Dan Holliday, and I covered and rib-stitched the lot. Dan and I each had some experience covering aircraft. Dan had covered a Marquart Charger and his own PA-14, and I had covered a Wittman Tailwind, Pober Pixie, and a Piper J-5, but this was clearly the largest job either of us had ever been involved in.

Werner applied all of the tapes and sprayed the silver, two intermediate coats of white, and five color coats of yellow.

By this time the weather had turned cold so a deal was made to use a heated hangar for the winter. Werner then applied the fabric on the

BJD at Lindair Services in Richmond, British Columbia.

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fuselage, and Dan and I finished the required stitching around the cabin.

During the winter, the fuselage and most of the multitude of small parts were painted. Each required the same coats of primer, white, and yellow as per the wings and control surfaces.

Now, in late spring and back in the unheated hangar on the west side, he began the assembly of all these pieces, a complex job on any light aircraft whether a J-3 Cub or a Cherokee but particularly difficult on a Staggerwing.

Think about the complexity of the gear retraction system with its multitude of doors, springs, motors, brackets, cables, chains, gears, cranks, and backup systems and you begin to get the idea. Several days were consumed in designing and fabricating the jacks required just to lift the airplane in order to “swing” the gear.

The first engine run was also problematic. It wouldn’t start. No fuel was getting to the engine. It seems that the fuel selector (indicator) was in error, pointing to a tank that was believed to contain fuel but was in fact a different, empty one. One more snag for the list.

After a number of delays due to weather and pilot schedules, the first flight of the restored aircraft was rescheduled for December 7, 2014, 58 years after the last flight in 1956. The weather was forecast to be flyable, the first in weeks. An experienced Staggerwing pilot and owner, Mark Hyderman, came over from Edmonton, Alberta, along with Ron Helgeson, his engineer from Salmon Arm, to do the initial test flight and to check out Brad Jorgenson of Delta, British Columbia.

A number of snags prevented flight but did allow some engine runs and a brief taxi test. Some adjustment to oil pressure was required, and significant work to pin the cables to the aileron pulleys also would need to be done before flight. Because these concerns needed to be addressed and planned vacations were scheduled for January, the plans to fly were delayed until early February.

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This time will not be wasted, though.

There is still the headliner to install, as well as the carpet for the floor and then the scuff plates to protect the carpet, touch up any paint chips, and the list goes on.

with no further snags, and we ended the day with two happy pilots and one very happy owner. Congratulations to all involved.

TEST FLIGHT AND CHECKRIDE — FEBRUARY 22, 2015

“For Want of a Nail” — or a 15-cent cotter pin.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.For want of a shoe the horse was lost.For want of a horse the rider was lost.For want of a rider the message was lost.

For want of a message the battle was lost For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

How many times must this adage be proven?

After many delays due to weather, finding and fixing snags, vacation time, and work scheduling, the stars were finally aligned and the time had arrived to see if all the work done to date had validity. In short, would this thing actually fly?

These may have been some of the thoughts going through Jim Britton’s mind on February 22, 2015. Actually, I don’t think he had any doubts.

The weather was good, the pilots were on hand, and the aircraft was checked and checked again. There was gas in the tanks. A chase plane was organized. Camera batteries were charged.

All was ready. Mark was back, arriving around 10 a.m. in his red Staggerwing CF-GKY, along with his engineer, Helgeson. They gave BJD a thorough preflight, and then Mark, with George Kirbyson as co-pilot, took the Staggerwing into the air for the first time in more than 50 years. The first flight was brief and as planned: a lift off Runway 07 and a dumbbell turn back to land on 25. At that point, they had planned to switch seats, putting George in the left in order to make the next flight his checkride. However, Murphy had one last problem to be solved.

During the flight, the airspeed indicator was erratic and needed to be tended to.

They went back to the hangar where it was found that a fitting in the pitot head needed to be replaced. Problem solved.

The day quickly went by and, as Mark needed to get home to Salmon Arm before dark, it was decided to postpone the air-to-air photos to another day and concentrate on George’s checkride.

The second flight lasted about 15 minutes and was flown over the airport to check temperatures and to cycle the landing gear. This time, all went well

POST GEAR-UP LANDING AT ABBOTSFORD, MARCH 10-15

The gear-up lock system had moved countless times during repeated gear swings. During each of those moves, the pin worked back and forth a little until the friction could no longer retain it and the pin fell out. Why? No cotter pin!

Gear selected down and nothing happened except — fire trucks from two departments, two ambulances, an air ambulance, press, and various freelance videographers arrived on site to observe what followed. The gear stayed up. The airplane did not because, well, they always come down. None have ever been left up there.

All this took place during a checkride for Werner Griesbeck.

George Kirbyson was the check pilot that day and had completed a number of flights in the previous two weeks. By this time, George was pretty comfortable in the Staggerwing. George is pretty comfortable in most airplanes. He started flying with the Royal Canadian Air Cadets back in 1964, then moved on to the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he was an instructor pilot on the T-33. After a brief period on the F-86 Sabre, he transitioned to the CF-104 Starfighter. He accumulated 1,000 hours on that hot rod and followed that up with a career in the airlines, flying Boeing 737s.

In 1982 he flew two air shows as replacement lead in the Ray-Ban Gold (Pitts S-2) Aerobatic Team and then flew with them for the next few years.

George currently flies a Westwind executive jet for work and owns and regularly flies that Ray-Ban Pitts S-2 when he needs a change from his day job. Just the kind of pilot Jim Britton needed to have flying his newly restored Staggerwing that March day.

Werner is a high-time pilot in his own right. He is a former flight instructor and owner of two classic taildraggers: a Porterfield and a Fairchild 24K. He had finished a number of circuits at Abbotsford airport and had landed to switch seats so that George could bring the Staggerwing back into the smaller home field at Langley.

Departure and the flight from Abbotsford was normal until it was time to enter the circuit at Langley.

After repeated attempts to lower the

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE LUEDEY

gear failed, they decided to return to Abbotsford with its longer runways.

They advised the tower of the problem, setting the stage for a planned gear-up landing with all of the aforementioned assistance. After orbiting the field to burn off some fuel and to give the airport authority time to prepare, George executed a flawless approach and touchdown on the grass beside Runway 19.

The landing, while remarkably smooth, resulted in the following: The bent prop required replacement with two new blades, the P&W R-985 had to be removed to be checked for internal damage due to the sudden stoppage, new flaps had to be built as both were destroyed in the landing, the lower cowling required repair, and, oh yes, the airplane had to be completely dismantled for transport home to Langley to have all this work done.

Over the winter of 2015-2016, this work was completed and the Staggerwing began to go back together.

Over the spring of 2016 all of the detail work, paint touch-ups, annual inspection, and the all-important gear swings were done.

The Staggerwing was ready to fly once more and did, debuting at the Abbotsford International Airshow on August 12, 2016. Once again flown by George and accompanied by Jim Britton, the very proud owner.

In early September, Brad Jorgensen and Jim took the airplane to the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum in Hood River, Oregon, for the annual fly-in there, stopping off en route at the Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras, Oregon, and the Historic Flight Foundation at Paine Field, Washington.

All this to prove that BDJ is once again capable of writing a new chapter in its long life.

www.vintageaircraft.org 61

The Vintage Mechanic ROBERT G. LOCK

Aging Aircraft Issues PART 2 IN THIS CONTINUATION of the January/February article,

we will discuss some more of the problems facing aging aircraft. Notice I said some of the problems. Trying to list everything would take more space than is available, so I will cover what I believe are some of the most important issues, keeping in mind that some of the airplanes we are dealing with were manufactured 70 or more years ago when aircraft design and construction were in their infancy.

Now let’s look briefly at wood structure.

Rot: Discoloration in the wood is a key indication of wood rot. Dry rot will turn the wood a light tan to a light gray color. Dry rot is really a fungus growth that removes the moisture and causes the wood to lose its strength and turn soft, like balsa wood. Most nails used in wood construction today are brass-coated steel wire. If the brass coating is removed by sanding, the steel wire will rust, and the rust will discolor the wood dark gray to black. This discoloration will be around the nails.

Loose glue joints: This is common, especially in old structures. Casein glue was primarily used in the old days.

The glue rots and fails. Newer adhesives, particularly the epoxy adhesives, are much better and withstand the elements and aging very well.

Shakes, checks, and longitudinal splits: Shakes and checks are likely found on spar ends at the attach fittings.

They are caused by moisture entering the wood grain, causing the wood to swell and crack. Shakes are cracks along the annual rings, and checks are cracks across the annual rings.

Longitudinal cracks are generally cracks along the annual rings that may extend several rib bays. They are most likely found at strut fittings where moisture can enter the wing.

Compression failure: This is a big deal now on aerobatic airplanes with wood wings. The failures are normally located on the outboard edge of the wing strut/wire attachment point.

Most wings have plywood doublers glued to the spars. The failure will be along the outboard edge of the doubler. The failure can also be found along the top of the spar, usually outboard of the strut point. Compression failures are characterized by a “jagged” line across woodgrain. The grain actually fails with the application of very heavy bending load upward. This area is hard to see because, unless one installs inspection openings, there are no inspection openings on the top of a wing surface.

62 March/April 2019

Delamination in laminated structure: Glue failure along the bond line causes delamination. The wood used in a laminated structure should have close to the same moisture content. Widely varying moisture content will stress along the bond line, and these stresses will cause wood to delaminate.

Now let’s move to a quick discussion of common problems with fabric covering.

Wrinkles in fabric: Wrinkles may very well indicate structural problems underneath. Make a thorough investigation of the structure using a flashlight and mirror. Don’t be tempted to just heat-tighten the fabric! You might have to open some inspection holes or even cut the fabric open to completely inspect the problem area.

Lack of ultraviolet protective coating: Silver or gray coatings are required on all fabric (grade A and Dacron) to exclude the ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. Not enough UV protection will allow the fabric to deteriorate at a very rapid pace. Shine a bright light from inside of the fabric and check if the light penetrates to the outside surface. If it does, then more UV protection material should be sprayed on the surface.

It’s really best to make this check before painting the topcoat on fabric surfaces. Usually, if the manufacturer’s instructions for covering are followed and spray-gun technique is good, enough material will be sprayed. However, if spray-gun techniques are poor, there could very well be insufficient material to block the sun’s rays.

Aging fabric: AC 43.13-1B states that aircraft fabric can deteriorate to 56 pounds per inch pull strength. Originally this was 70 percent of new strength for grade A cotton fabric (80 pounds per inch new x .70 = 56 pounds). The 56 pounds per inch is for aircraft with wing loading in excess of 9 pounds per square foot and Vne (velocity never exceed) of 160 mph or greater. This requirement is for any fabric-covered aircraft, no matter what type of fabric was used to cover the surfaces.

Aircraft originally designed with a wing loading of

less than 9 pounds per square foot and a Vne of less than 160 mph could be covered with intermediate grade A fabric that had a tensile strength of 65 pounds per inch. In this case, the minimum tensile strength is 70 percent of 65 pounds, or 46 pounds per inch.

Cracking and peeling of finish and/or filler material: If filler material cracks or peels and you can see the fabric weave, sunlight will destroy the material. It’s really best to re-cover the surface.

Anything less is purely cosmetic and may not last very long.

Inspection and testing of fabric to determine airworthiness: If this is necessary, the most accurate method is a pull test done under controlled conditions in a laboratory. However, this leaves a rather large opening in the fabric surface that must be repaired.

Owners don’t like fabric repairs, so you may be able to field test using a Maule Fabric Tester. This test will give approximate strength of the fabric. However, let me point out that the old Seyboth tool was calibrated only for grade A fabric with about eight coats of dope. The more filler material used, the more error there is in determining the actual fabric strength. If you’re in doubt, have it pull tested by a laboratory for precise strength measurements.

Finally, let me address a problem that is difficult to detect — control cable fraying. Recently I have found two cable problems in aircraft I maintain. First, let me give a short description of the problem. Control cable fraying can occur where the cable rides on a pulley or through a fair-lead. To inspect, one must move the control surface to full deflection and then run a shop cloth over the cable. If there are broken wires, the rag will snag.

I detected a frayed aileron cable where it traveled through a fair-lead in the lower wing. And just recently, another fraying problem in a rudder balance cable was detected, which is

THE EXPERTISE IN KEEPING OUR AGING FLEET AIRWORTHY NO LONGER RESIDES IN THE FAA— IT RESIDES IN THE TYPE CLUBS. very difficult to inspect because it is located under the front seat, and the fraying was against the pulley and not on the outside where it could easily be found. Both cables were removed and replaced, but an inspection program was initiated during which we loosened the aileron cable in order to pull the cable from the fair-lead and through an inspection opening in the fabric to inspect every 100 hours of flight time.

The rudder balance cable will be removed every 500 hours of flight time for complete inspection. Removing this cable is difficult because the front seat must be removed, which is a real pain. So don’t overlook control cables, particularly in areas of pulleys and fair-leads. And remember, some disassembly of the

structure may be required. Here, refer to FAA AC 43.13-1B, Chapter 7, Section 8, particularly Paragraph 7-149 and Figure 7-16. There are a lot of good data here on cable inspection techniques.

Since we operate two New Standard D-25 and two Boeing Stearman ships, I have developed “critical area of inspection” guides for both aircraft types. Whenever a problem occurs more than once, it is logged and the inspection checklist is modified to reflect these concerns.

Inspection guidance is a most important issue with aging aircraft.

Here, the type clubs offer both owners and mechanics this type of guidance. If you are not involved with a type club, think about joining.

The expertise in keeping our aging fleet airworthy no longer resides in the FAA — it resides in the type clubs. Continual vigilance is much better than receiving an airworthiness directive from the feds.

www.vintageaircraft.org

63

NEW MEMBERS Denison Sanford (VAA 727708), Anchorage, Alaska

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