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August 1997
Vol.
25
, No_ 8
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL STAFF
Publisher
Tom
Poberezny
EdHor- in-Ch ief
JackCax
EdHor
Henry
G .
Frautschy
Managing EdHor
GoldaCax
Art Di
rector
Mike
Drucks
Co
mputer
Graphic Spe cialists
Olivia
L.
Phillip
Jennifer Larsen
Mary Premeau
Associ
ate
Ed
i
to
r
Narm
Petersen
F
eature
W
rite
r
Dennis Parks
Staff Photographers
Jim
Koepnick
LeeAnn
Abrams
Ken
Lichtenberg
Advertising/EdHorial Assistant
Isabelle Wiske
EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC
DIVISION
,
INC
.
OFFICERS
President
VlC
e -
Presidenf
Espie "Butch"
Joyce
George
Daubner
P.O. Box 35584
2448 Lough Lone
Greensboro.
NC 27425
Hartford. WI 53027
910/393-0344
414/673-5885
Secretary
Treasurer
Steve Nessa
ChariesHorris
2009 Highland Ave.
7215 East 46th SI.
Albert Lea. MN 5f:I:X)7
Tulso. OK 74145
507/373-1674
918/622-MOO
DIRECTORS
John
8efendl
GeneMonis
7645
Echo
Point Rd.
115C Steve
Court
,
R.R.
2
Connon Falls, MN
5fI:XJ'I
Roanoke.
TX
76262
507/263-2414
817/491-9110
Phil
Coulson
RobefI
C. "Bob- Brauer
28415 Springbrook Dr.
9345 S.
Hoyne
Lawton
. M149065
Chicogo. IL 60620
616/624-6490
312/7792105
John
S.
CopeIood
55
Ookey Av .
Joe Dickey
28-3 Wdliamsburg CI.
Lawrenceburg,
IN
47025
Shrewsbury. MA 01545
812/5379354
508/842-7867
stanGomol
7724
Shady
Hill
Dr.
Date
A. Gustafson
1042
90th
Lone.
NE
Indianapolis.
IN
46278
Minneapolis. MN
55434
317/293-4430
612/784-1172
'Jeannie
HiI
1708
Boy Ooks
Dr
P.O. Box 328
Albert Lea. MN 5f:I:X)7
Robert
Ucktelg
Harvard, IL 60033
507/373-2922
815/943-7205
Dean RIchardson
RobefI D.
"Bob
-
Lumley
6701
Colony Dr
.
1265 South 124thSt.
Madison, WI 53717
Brookfield
WI
53005
Page
13
Page
14
I Straight & Levell
Espie "Butch" Joyce
lC News
4 AeroMail
5
ACNolunt
eerslTrish Dorlac
8 From The Arch ives
13 Altitude Record A
ttempt IDon
Lee
14 Sentimental Jouroey/Nonn Petersen
18
Th
e Al
aska
Robi
n!
H.G. Frautschy
24 Mystery PlanelH.G. Frautschy
26 Pass I t To Buck!
E.E. "Buck" Hilbert
Page
18
27 Welcome New
Members
29 Calendar
30 Vintage Trader!
Membership Information
FRONT
COVER
. . .
Ed
Gelvin
and
his
son Stanley took
a
vacation
in
the lower
48 from
their
Central.
Alaska home in Ed
' s newly
restored"Alaska Robin
. - a Curtiss
Robin Ed
restored
from a
wreck he
was
able
to
recover
from
the Yukon
river valley . EAA
~ ~ p
~ ~ = = =
photo
by Jim Koepnick. shat
with a
Canon
EOS-ln
equipped with an 80 200
mm
lens. l/tIJ sec .
@
f
9
on 100
ASA
slide
E-6
slide film
.
BACK COVER Winner of 0 Par Excellence
award
in the 1997 EAA Sport Aviation
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STR IGHT & LEVEL
by Espie Butch Joyce
This
August
issue of VINTAGE
AIRPLANE is printed so that it can
be given away to a new
or
renewing
member at
the
EAA
Oshkosh
Convention
. Therefore, the Conven
tion will be underway or history when
most
of
you will be reading this issue.
There are
a
great number
of
aviation events that take place around
the country each year. These events
take on a great variety
of
definitions .
You have local
events, statewide
events, regional events, national events
and international events. The scope
of
each event f1y-in is generally left to
the sponsoring party, i.e., chapter or
local organization. There has been an
effort to standardize the definition, but
this effort has fallen short
of
its goal.
The reason for this shortfall
is
that
in
regional
event that
it is , it
simply
points out that
a
successful fly-in
requires organization and hard work to
make
it
happen.
As you
move around the USA, each
region has its own landscape, weather
and aircraft. This is a variable that
makes
each
fly-in
have
its own
personality. One item that we can
control throughout all of these different
fly-ins is the judging
of
aircraft.
I have seen over the last 20 years
how the judging system has been the
force that has elevated the quality
of
restorations to an all-time high. I have
had some tell me that we should not be
judging, etc., but at Oshkosh this
is
an
expected
activity.
Often
it
is
responsible
for
a number of award
winners being brought to Oshkosh that
program, and also for the person who
is
restoring an aircraft in hopes that
it
might win an award someday.
This year, as always, we will have
some new and interesting Antiques,
Classics and Contemporary airplanes,
and we will be reporting to you about
these aircraft in the future issues
of
VINTAGE for your enjoyment. By
being
a
member of
the EAA
Antique/Classic Division, you are able
to enjoy the VINTAGE AIRPLANE
magazine
2
months each year. This
is
the only magazine totally devoted to
information
of
interest
about the
Antique,
Classic
and
Contemporary
category
of
aircraft that is published
each month on a regular basis.
I
would
really
like
to
thank
everyone for their support
of
our
o
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A /C NEWS
compiled by H.G. Frautschy
n the order of finish :
~ / 1 ~ f ?
1.
Ro
scoe Turne
r.
L
TR-1
"Meteor",
#29
2. Earle O
rt
man. Marcoux
Bromberg R-3,
#3
3. Steve
Wittm
an. "Bonzo",
#2
4.
Lee Wade. Military HNB-, #41.
ABOUT THAT BACK COVER
PAINTING .
The top award winning painting in the
1997
Sport Aviation Art Competition
is
"Photo Op., 1938" an oil painting by Nixon
Galloway, ASAA. Nixon's
artwork
was
chosen as the winner
of
a Par Excellence rib
bon.
I depicts the great Roscoe Turner with
his Laird-Turner
Meteor
at the National
Air Racing Championships at Cleveland just
prior to the Thompson Trophy race in 1938.
e
won this race and set a new closed course
world speed record
in
283.43 mph. He won
it again the next year and together with his
win in 1934, became the only person to win
the Thompson Trophy three times.
It
is in
deed a photo opportunity, for as
he
poses for
photographers (you can see their shadows
in
5. Joe
Mackey. Wedell-Turner, #25.
6.
Joe
Jacobson. Rider
R-6
"8-Ball",
#18
7. Art
Chester. "Goon",
#5.
8. Harry Crosby
. Crosby CR-4, #52
Artist Fellow member and past president
of
the American Society of Aviation Artists.
When not working in his studio, he can often
be found on the ski slopes, or racing his sail
boat
in
Southern California waters.
MORE 80 OCTANE AIRPORTS
Our thanks to members who have sent in
these reports regarding the availability
of
80
octane fuel. We'd suggest calling ahead to
confmn before heading off
on
a cross-country.
CALIFORNIA
Madera (MAE):
Barber Aviation (209-675-0183)
24-br self-service pump island.
Corona (AJO, formerly L66)
Corona Airport Fuel
Pump island (not yet self-service).
ZLiN TYPE
CLUB
David Sutton, 8 Knollwood Rd., Hack
ettstown, NJ 07840, 908/813-3164 runs the
Zlin Association. They provide owner net
working for Zlin owners and enthusiasts and
maintain close factory ties
in
the Czech Re
public.
THE MOONEY X
A few
weeks
ago I
received
an E-mail
from an EAA member who was looking for
information on the one and only Mooney X,
a one of a kind Mooney apparently built in
the late 1940's . If anyone has information
regarding the airplane, you can E-mail the
member
at gjenny
I@
ix.netcom.com, or
write us here at EAA HQ. We have no in
formation
on
the Mooney X here at EAA.
WIRE ENDS
For almost
an
entire
century, the
name
Mc Whyte Co. of Kenosha, WI meant brace
wires. If you were building an airplane
or
creating a restoration, one
of
the first things
you
had
to
do was send
in
your order
for
brace wires. The lead time for those highly
stressed, finely manufactured items was
measured in weeks,
then
months
and at
times it was measured
in in
years. To many
restorers and builders, it appeared in recent
times that McWhyte was not really inter
ested in making wires, at
least
when you
looked at how long it could be before an or
der was filled.
McWhyte has decided to cease manufac
turing aircraft wires, leaving U.S. consumers
with no domestic manufacturer to fill their
needs. Fortunately, there is a manufacturer
interested
in
supply aircraft wires,
and in
fact ,
they
have been
doing
so
even longer
than McWhyte . Brunton Shaw Limited of
Scotland has agreed to purchase the assets
used in the manufacture
of
aircraft wires at
Mc Whyte.
The
irony
of
the transaction is
that Bruntons originally sold this exact same
equipment
to McWhyte back after the turn
of
the century so McWhyte could enter into
supplying aircraft wires to the then new air
craft industry.
Bruntons Aero Products division, located
in Musselburgh, Scotland, will take posses
sion
of
the former McWhyte equipment and
http:///reader/full/[email protected]:///reader/full/[email protected]:///reader/full/[email protected]:///reader/full/[email protected]:///reader/full/[email protected] -
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NEW AVIATION STAMPS ISSUED BY POST OFFICE
The U.S. Postal Service is honoring a wide variety
of
historical aircraft
with their
new
.32 stamps. They
went
on sale
July
21 , 1997.
"With these stamps, the Postal Service
for
the
first time
pays
tribute to
the
first
50 years
of American aviation history with a full range of inspiring examples of human ingenuity
and know-how," said Postmaster General Marvin Runyon.
The sheet of 20 stamps was designed by Phil Jordan of Falls Church, VA , and illustrated
by
aviation
artist
William Phillips. The stamps are sold on ly in sheets
of
20, and the
list
of
aircraft depicted are:
In the header, on the left is a Curtiss Model D Pusher, and on the right, an F-86 Sabre.
From left
to
right, starting
at the top
,
we
have:
P-51 D Mustang, Wright Model B, Piper
J-3
Cub, Lockheed Vega, Northrop Alpha,
Mart
in
B-10, Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, Boeing B-47
Stratojet
, Gee-Bee Super
Sportster
,
Beechcraft
C17L
Staggerwing ,
Boeing B-17 Flying Fort
r
ess
,
Boeing Stearman
,
Lockheed Constellation, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Boeing Peashooter, Ford Tri-Motor,
Douglas DC-3, Boeing 314 Clipper, Curt iss
IN-4
Jenny and the Grumman
F4F
Wildcat.
You can order first day
of
issue postmarks by mail
or
by phone. Call1-8oo/STAMP24,
or
you can affix the stamps to the envelopes
of
your choice, address the envelopes (to
yourself
or
others) and place
them
in an larger envelope addressed to:
CLASSIC AMERICAN AIRCRAFT STAMPS
POSTMASTER
1111 EAST 5TH ST
DAYTON OH 45401-9991
There is no charge
for this
service,
but
all requests
for
this
first
day issue
postmark must
be postmarked on
the
larger envelope by
August 19, 1997.
BUGATTI100
After nearly six months of effort by EAA staffer Bruce Jovaag, the Bugatti
100
speed ship has been completed for static display and hoisted into
position in
the
Fergus plaza of
the
EAA Air Adventure Museum. Donated
to
the
EAA Foundation
by
Dr. Peter Williamson of Lyme, NH it had been
partially restored
by
Les and Don Lefferts of Ridgefield, CT. The futuristic
look
ing racer, designed for an attempt
on the world
speed
record
, never
flew
in 1940, as
the
invading German
military
put an end to
the
project
only
weeks
before it
was
to fly.
A
complete
clean
up of the structure and the many fittings
,
was done by
by Bruce
,
and each of the various tubes
,
linkages
,
etc
.
were
reinstalled.
The machine work originally done by the machinists in France is quite
extraordinary, and
is something
to
behold.
In the larger photo, Bruce (far left) Bauken
Noack
(center) and Museum
Curator John Gaertner hoist
the
Bugatti to a spectacular viewing location
in
the
Fergus Plaza. In
the
inset cockpit shot,
you can
see the pair of
Jaeger
tachometer
replicas made
by
Bauken, and
some
of
the instruments that
still
remained
with the
airframe
when the aircraft
was received
by
EAA. Unfortunately,
many
of the instruments were
missing.
Most interesting is the
square hole
near the
center of the
panel. The
only photo
we have
of the cockp
it area as it was in 1940
does not show the
panel clearly
enough to make out the
individual
instruments
.
On the far left are the
throttle
controls for the 4.7 l iter Bugatti engines, and one of
two triple pressure gauges delineated in atmospheres. The
other
is located on the
lower left corner
of
the
panel.
Just
above
that
and also
to
the right
are
the landing
gear annunciator lights. One
the far right
is an another gauge, and
the instrument
in
the center remains a bit of a mystery. At
the
top are a
pair
of blue lights, and at bot
tom are a pair
of
red lights, with the
word
ROUES
at the
top, and
the letter
G on
the
left
and D on the
right
,
with
pointers running a range between
the
two lights.
Forward of
the
panel you can see one
of the
two
air tanks
used to
actuate the
Ratier
propellers. The
control stick
is
poking up
and
pointing at the pressure instrument
just
forward of the
throttle levers.
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Gentlemen:
In
yo
ur
Ap
ril issue, page 25, the picture
of
the Curtis BT on a ramp with an arched
bridge in the background. This pic ture was
taken from the Norfolk Naval Air Station.
The bridge and breakwater were erected for
the 1907 Jamestown Exhibition. There are
other pictures of the bridge from the ocean
side with some seaplanes on the beach and
rows of white tents behind.
I
ta
lked today with Mr. Joe Judge at
th
e
Nava
l
Museum in
Norfo
lk and he sa id
there were pictures at the museum not on
display which could be seen by visitors if
requested.
The area where the plane was beached
VINT GE
AeroMail
was later fill ed in and is now par t of th e
present Naval Air Station. A powerful hur
ricane in the 193 0s washed up a long sand
spit whi ch formed the present Willoughby
Bay, protecting the pictured area of the Air
Station from h
eavy
seas. This sheltered
area became a seaplane base during and af
te r WW II .
I enjoy your publi cation. Keep up the
good work.
Sincerely yours,
Donald D Watt
EAA 433990, AlC 20720
Hampton, VA
Dear Frautschy,
Please excuse this paper, it 's not very
formal.
The reason I m writing is to try to
fmd out what this tail wheel fits . It' s the
craziest thing
I ve
seen in years, but is
really well made. The casting is superb,
and the welding is first-rate.
It ' s hard to imagine a factory would
have an exotic affair such as this for a
tail wheel.
the photo is publishable, maybe
our membership can help on the origin.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Joe Locasto
447 State St
San Mateo, CA 94401-1605
Dimens ions: Length , 10 inches;
Width
of
Fork
, 3 1/8
inches (inside)
;
Width, Steering Lugs, 6 inches; Width
of Casting, 2 1/8 Inches (Front) and I
7/8 inches (Rear); Rubber Biscuits (3), 2
inches diameter,
2
inches thick.
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MEET
THE DIVISION
OFFICERS
DIRECTORS
AND
ADVISORS
One of the major reasons some members serve the organization as Officers Directors and Advisors is
to
serve their
fellow
enthusiasts lending their personal skills to
the
operation of
the
Division. Recognizing
members and
the
ir individual achievements is one of
the
many fun
tasks
they get to do
during the
annual
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During the 25th anniversary celebration of the Division in 1996,
past officers and Directors were inv ited to share their experi-
ences. Past president AI Kelch (with microphone) speaks
while (from left to right) Gene Ruder, Don Straughn Bill
Hazelton, and Kelly and Edna Viets listen and reminisce.
quarterly board meetings held
in
Oshkosh. Many live close enough
to Oshkosh that they are there practically every week end to help
with building or whatever else needs doing throughout the year. I
admire this group
of
individuals for their willingness to share their
experience with the rest
of
us, their desire to help preserve our avi
a-
tion heritage, and their actions as volunteers which sets
an
incredi
bl
e
example for the rest
of
us to fo
ll
ow
This year when you see a board
mem e
r, be
sure
to let th
em
know that their work is appreciated Like the rest
of
us volunteer
s,
your words
of
praise and encouragement are the only pay they re-
ceive hey certa inly deserve it
Butch Joyce (right) confers with Advisor Steve Krog (left) and
Director Robert Dobbie Lickteig (center). Steve and Roger
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Four
times
a year,
the Directors
travel
at
their own expense to Oshkosh for
a
Board meeting
,
where
Division
business is con ducted
and
policy is
set.
Decisions regarding
Convention
activities,
magazine content and
expenses
and all of the other
aspects
of running the Division
for
the benefit of the
members are discussed.
Directors
Stan Gomoll
and Dale
Gustafson
work preparing
the
trim
on one of
the new
information booth
that
will be stationed on
each side of the
new
Antique/Classic arch.
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E ANTIQUE CLASSIC
IVISION
BOARD OF
DIRECTORSOFFICERS
PRESIDENT . . Espie "Butch" Joyce
VICE-PRESIDENT George Daubner
SECR
ET
ARY. . . .steve Nesse
TREASURER
. .Charles Harris
DIRECTORS
John Berendt
Gene Morris
Phil Cou lson
Robert " Bob" Brauer
Joe Dickey
Jack Copeland
Dale Gustafson
Stan Gomoll
Robert
Li
ckteig
Jeannie
Hill
Dean Richardson
Robert "Bob" Lumley
S.H. "Wes" Schmid
Geoff Robison
George York
DIRECTORS EMERITUS
Gene Chase
E E "Buck"
Hilb
ert
ADVISORS
Steve Krog
Ro ger
Gomoll
David Bennett
You can often find a work party happening during the spring and
summer weekends here in Oshkosh. After the spring Board of
Director's
meeting, this group headed
over the the
Convention site
to work
on the
two new information
booths.
They are: Janet and
David
Bennett
(David is
our
newest
AlC Advisor) Directors
Stan
Gomoll,
Bob Lumley, Bob Brauer,
Jack Copeland and Dale
Gustafson.
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y
H G Frautschy
From the collection of Clyde C. Wellons, Fayetteville, NC we have these two shots
of a Sikorsky S-388 Amphibion. As listed in
Juptner s
U.S. Civil Aircraft, it is S N
114-29. Equipped
with
a pair
of Pratt
Whitney 425
hp
Wasp engines,
it could e
configured as a
transport with
10 seats,
or with
as few
as four to
six seats in an
executive version. We can t tell you who the older couple is, nor the younger
fellows standing on the right. How do you like the
uniforms
of the men on the
left?
NC-159H was originally delivered with an NR registration while it served as a
Sikorsky test aircraft.
It
was later changed
to
an NC number while it was still
being used by Sikorsky, presumably
to
get
it
ready
for
sale
to
a private
owner
who
could very well be
this
couple.
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The S V A . Floatplane Fighter
Long a favorite
of
modelers, the S.V.A. 5 (Ansaldo)
fighter is one
of the
prettiest looking
fighters of
WW
I
S.V.
A
stood
for
Savioia Verduzio
Ansaldo-
Verduzio
was the designer
of
the land
based
fighter, built in Genoa and Turin, Italy. This photo,
from
the December 1919 issue of Flying
shows
one
of
the S.V. A 5's after
it
had been fitted with a pair
of
wood floats
at the
Ansaldo plant
at
Spezia.
Powered by a Fiat motor, some 50 of the fighters
were equipped
with
floats during the First World
War. Later,
they were
converted back to land
planes. The
normal
compliment of
twin Vickers
machine guns was reduced
to
one
gun
to
offset
the additional weight
of
the floats.
When cars were automobiles and airships were, well,
AIRSHIPS, we have this photo of a Packard convertible
parked in front of the Graf Zeppelin during the great
dirigible 's
global flight
of 1929. The stopover in Los
Angeles, CA on August 26 nearly proved disastrous for
the Graf - a temperature inversion in the skies above
Mines Field meant that hydrogen had to be valved off in
order for the
huge airship
to
descend
to the stub mast
'erected by the U.S Navy. That action caused the Graf
Zeppelin to be so heavy it could not lift itself
from
the
airfield. Finally,
after the crew
, fuel and
water
ballast
had been pared to the minimum, as well as provisions
and cargo,
the
Graf was deemed to be 400 Ibs buoyant.
Even with the weight removed, the takeoff of the great
airship
was
difficult,
with
the giant hurtling at 60 mph
toward the
high
tension electr ic wires along the
perimeter of
the airfield. Only
at
the last instant, as Dr.
Hugo Eckener masterfully commanded the ship, did he
clear the wires by first forcing the tail down into ground
contact, which also raised the nose, and then as the
wires
p s ~ e d
below
the ship, the opposite elevator
command was given, forcing the tail up to clear the
wires. Only
then after
clearing the wires,
could
the rear
most engine be
started
and
was
the
airship able to
climb
into the
warmer air
mass above where
it
could
gain lift as the hydrogen warmed. We don t have any
identification of the Navy personnel pictured.
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HOW RD
MAYES
U E
RE ORD
TTEMPT
by Don Lee
Above) September 6,1936, Huntington, West Virginia - Howard
G
Mayes, Sr.
congratulates
his son
Howard
Jr.
after setting
a
P
new
F I Class 1 altitude record of 19,997 ft.
There weren't many airports around
when Howard Mayes, Jr. started flying . In
1931 his father, Howard Mayes, Sr., leased
the airport at Chesapeake, Ohio, just across
the Ohio river from Huntington, West Vir
ginia.
Prior to the Mayes era, Embry Riddle
ran it but went on to
greater
t
hin
gs.
Howard, Sr. flew Jennys in WW I and then
managed Wertz Field near Charleston, WV
until he moved to Chesapeake. Howard, Jr.
learned to fly at the tender age of 12, and
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(Below) The stick grip and
Scott brake
ped
als are
not
original
but
everything else is
Now
on display at EAA's Pioneer Airport, the single-place C-2N
is often mistaken for a
C-3.
The C-2N was the best of both
worlds - for $1545, you got
the lightweight
C-2 airframe mar
ried
to
the higher
horsepower Aeronca
E-113
engine
(36 vs 26
hpj. Out of nearly 200
C-2 s
built,
only four
of
the
C-2N
models
were ever constructed. NC13089 left the factory as
a
float
plane
equipped
with Warner aluminum floats
and
established
itself
as
a
record breaker, flown by
Ben
King, Howard Mayes
and Irene Crum,
among
others.
NC13089
was donated
to
the
EAA by
John
H.
McGeary,
Jr. December 28,1976.
After
its
restoration
was
completed, it
was
placed on display in
the
EAA
Air Museum
in Hales Corners,
and
then it was
hung above
the
Fergus Plaza
in
the new EAA Aviation
Center. Later, it
was
transferred
to
Pioneer
Airport, where it can
be
viewed
with the
many
other historic airplanes on display.
(Right) This shot of
the
C-2N at Hales Corners
was taken
by then
museum director
Gene Chase,
not
long
after its restoration was completed.
"Now we needed a barograph to record
the altitude and a qualified observer, who
happened
to be
Gordon Chain, who lived
in
Huntington.
We got the barograph and
found a sensitive altimeter which were very
expensive instruments back in those days.
I hung the altimeter up over the strut where
I could look up and see it
Next, we needed oxygen and did not
want
to
carry a standard heavy oxygen tank
with
me
. We had a small, lightweight tank
that was a water and oil separator from an air
compressor. To increase the pressure capa
bility, we wound safety wire around it and
same thing happened. I stuck the hose in
my mouth and turned it on and there was
not much oxygen there, but
it
helped a bit.
"When I got up to 18,000, I had the hose
in my mouth and the valve wide open and
was sucking on it Nothing was happening,
but I
stayed
with it and got up to
what
I
thought was 20,300 feet. I remember that I
could not quite coordinate things. The al
timeter was overhead and I leaned my head
back like this and it
stayed
there. Truth
fully, that
is
the last I remember until I was
back to 12,000 feet. At 12 ,000 I wondered
what
I was
doing
there . Now it was too
So, Junior made an altitude record attempt.
"Irene Crum made an altitude record for
women in the same plane," he said. She
learned to fly at Lawrence County Airpark
which was known
as
Mayes Field then .
She went on to be a WASP and ferried mil
itary planes during WW
II
."
The young Mr. Mayes was pictured on
the front page
of
the local paper, the Herald
Dispatch . Joining him in the photo was
Irene, who had set her record at Gallipolis,
OH on August 23, 1936. Crurn flew the C
2N to an altitude
of 19
,425.814 ft. Irene
and Howard had to share the headlines dur
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Sto
ry
and Photos
by
Norm Peter
se
n
It
is really
surprising
the
number
of
birds that are singing at 5:30 in the morn
ing
at a
quiet Wisconsin
grass landi ng
strip. My wife had graciously driven me
and a large load of stuff' to "Earl 's Inter
national" north
of
Oshkosh, WI, where my
1946 J-3 Cub, NIOXS, waited patiently .
We, my Cub and I were heading out to
attend the 12th Annual Sentimental Jour
ney to Lock Haven, P A, the place where
over 17,000 Cubs were built.
It
was to be
the very first visit to Lock Haven for me
and also the first ever for my Cub - it was
built on
November 21,
1946, in
Ponca
City, OK. The original factory N num
ber was N3675K, SIN 22366, which has
since been changed to N IOXS - which
stands for "One Old Ex Sprayer" in defer
ence
to its
first
twenty years as a crop
sprayer
in
Parkston, SD, when it was flown
by veteran EAAer Cliff Adkins (EAA 717
lC 2241 .
Putting most of my camping gear in the
baggage compartment, I hoisted my
(heavy) duffel bag into the reat seat and
fastened it down with the seat bel
t.
Con
nt l
1997
From the
air the
entire Lock
Haven Airport
is
visible
with
the Susquehanna River
in
the
background
. The
former Piper Aircraft fac
tory
can
be seen on the lef t side of the
photo
with the town of Lock
Haven
behind
it. Several
aircraft
are waiting for takeoff
from
the parallel grass strip with one jus t
starting
a
takeoff
run. A
larger
twin-engine
aircraft readies for takeoff
on
the main Run
way 9.
The
Sentimental Journey grounds
are on
the
near side
surrounded
by trees
and campers.
Bill Schaefer Jr. lifts NC1402N off the
grass runway after a very short
run
.
The Wh
i
taker Tandem Gear is pulled
slightly nose-up by bungee cords,
much like a pair
of skis. Landings
are
much akin
to
landing
in
a
field
of
marshmollows
Watching the
sun rise over
Lock
Haven
the Schaefer
Cub NC1402N SIN 22926
sits
proudly on the Whitaker
Tandem Gear ready to
go for
a
demonstration
flight.
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Winner
of
the
Grand Cham
pion Awafd at
Sentimental
Journey
was this beautiful
1946 J-3 Cu b ,
NC98868,
S N 19127, f lown in by
Steve Logue, Mon
toursville, PA. Displayed
as
an
example
of Randolph
Products, the Cub was
bril
l iantly
restored by
Dave
Liebegott
and
crew
in his
Classic Magic Aviation
at
Duncansville, PA.
Winner of
the
Reserve
Grand
Champion Award was
this
1936 Piper
J-2
Cub, NC16667,
SIN 682,
f lown
in
by Bob
Stewart
of Erie
, PA. The
workmanship on this restora
tion
is
quite
remarkable and a
joy to
behold.
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This
Kinner-powered
Fleet 16, NC343SF,
S N
343,
was flown in from
Wilmington,
DE, for
the
fly-in.
A
considerable num ber
of
lucky
people received rides
in
the Fleet during the
event.
This model
uses
the
160
hp
Kinner
R-56
five-cylinder
engine.
One of
the treats
of
the fly-in was meeting
people
like Robert
Peterson
of
Lock
Haven,
former Piper employee, who not
only
worked
for
years
at
Piper,
but
also
flew
the
company supplied
Cubs during
evenings
and
weekends
for
the standard price of
$1.12
per hour
- wet
This temporary control tower helps
to
advise
pilots
on field
information, traffic
and
conditions. The skeleton hangingby a
rope
had a sign
below it that
read,
This pi
lot
forgot to tie down
his airplane " The
point was
well
taken
and
quite
graphic
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(Above)
A real surprise was this 1930
Bellanca
CH-400
Skyrocket, NC779W,
SIN 617, flown
in
by its restorer,
Richard Schriebmaier, of Sugarloaf, PA. A
former
Alaskan
bush
plane
with
Pollock
Flying Service,
the big six-place
Bellanca was used on wheels, skis and floats. Richard
spent over
8,000 hours in
the total restoration with the
big
bird
making i ts
f irst fl ight in 1994
after a
rest of
37
years This is
the only
CH-400
known to
be flying.
(Left)
Instrument panel
photo
of
Richard Schriebmaier's
beautiful
Bellanca CH-400. Note the control
stick
instead
of a control wheel.
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1 ,AI k,n
[mnli h
long
h n
, pi ,
who
moo
d
women had to be self-sustaining. Being able to take care of your
own and maybe help a fellow Alaskan along the way have been a
part of
life in
the North for
as
long
as
anyone
can
remember.
Among the many who can do just that, one man often stands out.
Ed Gelvin (EAA 204406) of Central, Alaska has been known as a
man who could mine gold, saw wood, build a sled or a house, and
hunt and trap. In a land where some
just
do what they have to to
get something to work, Ed Gelvin
is
thought
of
as one
of
the most
capable people others have ever met. Author John McPhee quoted
one of Ed's neighbors as saying, " Every move he made he was do
ing something. There were no dead moves."
Just doing it isn' t enough for Ed.
If
you're going to bother to do
a task, you might as well do it properly That ' s a great motto to
live by anywhere and it takes skill and know-how to make it work.
But when he saw the Robin, even he wasn't sure it would be possi
ble to
restore and fly
it
The Robin arrived in Alaska
in
1939, spending the next
21
years
ferrying men and supplies around the wilderness. Back in 1950,
Ed
Gelvin, of Central, Alaska
The triangular window in the forward cabin of the Curti
ss
Robin
has long been one of its most identifiable features. The landing
gear had to be completely built, and a set of Cessna 310 wheels
and brakes, couple with a pair of De aviland Canada) Beaver
tires m ke it possible to land the Robin wherever
Ed
Gelvin
would choose.
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Wide stance landing gear, good ground clearance, large, boxy
fuselage
- Hmm, I'll
bet this
would make a good bush plane .
(Above) The
cockpit of the
Alaska Robin had its
in
strumentation
held
to
a
minimum, with
a
transpon
der, radio and a portable GPS used
to handle to
modern duties of
communicat
ion. The lever on
the
lower
left is for
the
effective elevator trim . You can
see
the built
in
forward viewing windows
that
allow
the
pilot to see
past the nose of either
a
air-cooled
radial
or water-cooled
OX-5 engine.
(Right) A Scott tail wheel
and a brand-new shock
absorber are mounted
on the tail of the
Robin
for unimproved strips.
The sharp looking Cur
tiss Robin lettering and
artwork
were
painted by
Ed's
daughter
Carol.
(Left) The fuel tanks
each
have
a
substan
t ial
sump to ensure
consistent fuel flow.
Howard Fowler landed the Robin on the tundra north of the Yukon Also done to make the airplane a capable machine was the in
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River, about 300 miles east
of
Fairbanks. He walked away from
the forced landing to fly
another
day.
Howard
has long since
passed away, but the indications were that the airplane was under
control as Howard landed on the soft surface. The landing gear
was tom off, and the rusting, rotting hulk that remained after sit
ting in the open until
1991
hardly looked like a prospective restora
tion project. As rusty as the fuselage was, I m not sure even a
scrap dealer would have been interested.
Ed Gelvin had known about the Robin for years, finding out
about it 10
years
after
he came to Alaska from the lower 48 in
1949. Almost as long were the tales
of
others who planned on
pulling the wreck out of the back country and restoring it. A fel
low from Texas even managed to obtain the paperwork for the
Robin from Fowler's widow, but he didn' t plan on going to Alaska
to
retrieve the Robin on the tundra.
After
semi -retiring back in the early
90s,
Ed was tooling
around the Yukon valley and decided to take a look at the wrecked
Robin. As bad as
it
was,
it
still intriqued the capable mechanic. In
his mind
he
formulated a plan
to
fly the Robin out, piece by piece,
but before he did that, he researched the FAA records to find out
if
the airplane was currently owned by someone. The fellow in
Texas still owned the paperwork, which Ed bought from him.
Now that he owned the pieces and paperwork for a Curtiss Robin,
the hard work began.
Ed Gelvin uses airplanes like many in Alaska, as a means to ac
complish whatever ends need to be met. While not a FAA certi
fied mechanic, his abilities far outshine those
of
most A&P school
graduates. A master welder and sheet metal man, Ed
is
known
in
Alaska as the best of the best.
He s
pretty ingenious, too . To get
the Robin off the Tundra, he flew in with his Bushmaster on skis.
A Bushmaster?
It s
a Piper PA-22 extensively modified to the
point it carries an Experimental airworthiness certificate . The
fuselage is lengthened, and a total of six feet are added to the
wingspan
.
One
of Alaska s
favorite engines,
the 180 hp Ly
coming, is installed inside the cowl. Ed collected parts and put
them inside the cabin, and those too long to fit inside, such as the
wing spars, were strapped onto the struts and hauled home, pickup
truck style. The fuselage was also one of the parts that
wouldn t
fit, so Ed solved that problem by cutting the fuselage lengthwise
and dragging it home one hal f at a time.
t
took four flights to get
all the parts home.
Flying and building airplanes is
a Gelvin family tradition. Ed s
daughter, Carol, married Scott Reymiller, an A&P with an AI.
Scott's a talented mechanic in his own right, and he d get to put
many of his acquired skills to work as he helped his father-in-law
restore the Robin, and handle the necessary
paperwork
for the
Robin's restoration.
About two-thirds
of
the steel tubing in the fuselage had rusted
to the point of being unusable, and of course, all of the wood in the
wings and fuselage had long since given up any semblance of air
worthiness . Still, between the drawings he had and the parts, Ed
stallation of a 220 hp W670 Continental radial engine driving a
Hamilton-Standard propeller. The engine, used heavily to power
military trainers during the second World War, ha s far more spare
parts and expertise available than the OX-5 or Curtiss Challenger
engines installed in the original Robins, not to mention a longer
TBO and greater reliability. Coupled with the exceptionally tough
Curtiss fuselage rebuilt by Ed, the Robin is actually one tough air
plane, not some dainty hangar queen meant only to fly
in
the calm
evening.
When he found the airplane, Ed found the wings intact, but
none of it was usable except as parts. The Robin has aluminum
ribs, and he had to build up a complete set of them, even going so
far as to proof test them to be certain they were built to withstand
the stresses specified on the factory drawings.
A new set of spruce spars supports the new wing ribs, and all of
it is covered in Dacron and finished with Poly Fiber' s Aerothane
polyurethane paint. Both the fabric and the expertly crafted sheet
aluminum parts were finished with Aerothane. Ginny Glevin, Ed's
wife, contributed to the project by spending some
of
her time pass
ing a rib stitching needle around each of the Robin's 38 ribs . After
the Robin was painted, the finishing touches were added by one
more family member, Ed and Ginny's daughter, Carol. Her exper
tise runs in an artistic vein, for she did the "Curtiss Robin" letter
ing and bird drawing on the rudder of the Robin, and the nicely
scripted lettering for the "Alaska Robin" on the boot cowl forward
of the triangular
cabin window. Carol
is married to Scott
Reymiller, and they have an aviation minded youngster, Darwin,
who enjoys playing with the carved wood model
of
the Robin his
grandfather gave him.
As we mentioned, Ed has always intended for the Robin to be
flown, and he meant it. This past spring, he and his son Stanley
hopped in the Robin and headed south.
t
was a balmy 35 F when
they left Central, AK on March 24, and went to Dawson in the
Northwest Territories. The next morning, it was 28 below Fortu
nately, they had planned ahead and had filled the oil tank with
multi-weight aviation
oil. A
series
of
hops southeast across
Canada brought them to Cut Bank, Montana. I'l l let Stan tell you
what happened.
"When we landed at Cut Bank, it was blowing 40 mph, and we
not only ran into the wind, but I had to get out to tum downwind
and push the tail around and I rode the tail to keep it down. We
taxied right over some tiedowns, and there were a couple of guys
there. They were concerned about
us
being able to stay in one spot
once we stopped,
so
they got a hold of the wings and tied us down.
While we were there it started blowing 45 mph, gusting to 60.
When we got
ready
to
take off,
we
were
afraid
to
taxi
to the
pumps, so they got a pickup with a tank in it and brought the fuel
right to us. Then they held us, and since it was my tum to be
in
the
front seat, I got her running and right from the Customs house they
let us go - they were holding the wings, and I gave them the signal,
and I had the engine really turning and we just took off right from
Pennsylvania and the hills and valleys be
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The
author gets
ready to go aviating w ith Dan
Knutson
AIC judge) to get
some
aerial
photos
of
the
Lock Haven
irp
ort and
surrounding
countryside. The clear
day on Fri-
day made for
some spectacular
views of the area.
JOURNEY Continued from
p
17)
speed
of
87 mph really moved us along.
Passing the huge Horicon Marsh, I noted a
pair of white swans flying over the marsh
in echelon right formation, their long necks
plainly visible as their big wings
slowly
pumped along. The sight almost made me
feel sorry for the "high-speed" flyers
f
you have never flown over rural Wisconsin
with its lush green June foliage, at 80 mph,
you have a treat coming . It reminds
me of
the sign coming into
Northfield,
Min
nesota, " Home
of
Cows, Colleges and
Contentment."
Crossing
the
Illinois border,
we (the
Cub and
I) pass
over
Dick
and Jeannie
Hill's beautiful home and landing strip as
we follow the line on the map. The huge
chunk
of
Class A airspace allocated to
O'Hare Airport passes by the left wing as
the Cub ticks off the miles towards our des
tination
of
Sandwich, IL.
Owned by George Pearce, a pilot, real
estate developer and a real friend
of
avia
tion, the Sandwich Airport features a hard
surface runway, a grass cross runway and
is the home of Dr. Bern Yocke 's excellent
aircraft restoration shop. Besides that, they
Gene and his crew goodbye and headed the
Cub east.
The area south of Chicago is dotted with
small airports and is a virtual haven for the
sport flyer. A light westerly wind pushes
the Cub along as we cross into Indiana and
head for Warsaw, IN, which is the world
headquarters for prosthetic devices. The
non-towered airport is managed by Lance
Ropte, who has really sparked a commu
nity feeling
of
pride in their facility .
It
is
neat as a pin and the service is top shelf.
(Can you imagine an airport courtesy car
with only 32,000 miles on it?) They were
busy getting ready for the coming weekend
Flight Breakfast and Airshow and the place
was really shipshape. A huge new corpo
rate hangar was going up on corporate
row ." The optimism displayed by Lance
and his crew was indeed refreshing
to
see
and feel.
With the sun at my back, the Cub heads
east across Indiana and into Ohio. I don't
ever recall seeing so much home building
going on, especially in the countryside.
Some of the huge swimming pools had div
ing decks up to thirty-three feet (ten me
ters) in height. Perhaps a future Olympic
come far more prominent - and the naviga
tion becomes more difficult. Luckily, the
90 hp Continental is purring away at 2350
RPM and the fuel is in good shape as we
make a few turns left and right to try and
locate Butler, PA. Eventually , I spotted a
Luscombe circling
up
ahead and decided
to
follow him a bit farther east. He led
me
di
rectly
to the small airport
owned
by the
Butler Farm Show. I landed the Cub and
taxied into the thickest infestation of EAA
people I have seen in years
The hangars
were
full
of
neat home
builts, Antiques, Classics and spamcans of
all kinds. One hangar had a Beech Stag
gerwing on wheels and another
Stag
on
floats Next
to
them was a mint Cessna 140
and a spectacular 125 hp polished Swift.
The man behind these beautiful airplanes
was Ranley Nelson (EAA 409613) of
But
ler, PA. In his shop was a pair of Champ
wings being readied for cover. When the
owner, John Lachendro, walked in, it was
like old home week. I had flown these very
wings while giving Champ rides at Beaver
Dam, WI.
The next
hangar
had a very nice Star
duster
Too
biplane undergoing
annual
(Condition) inspection. At the gas pump,
Wellie Forsythe helped me refuel the Cub,
helped me tie it down, drove me to a motel
and picked me up at 8 a.m. the next morn
ing so we
could
have breakfast together.
Not too shabby
Picked
up
Interstate
80
near
Clarion,
P
A
as the morning sun, streaming through
the windshield, warmed my chest. Down
below, four "Great Orange Pumpkins" (as
we call the Schneider Transportation trucks
from Green Bay) gave me
just
a tinge of
homesickness as they rolled along Inter
state 80 .
Before
long, we reached
the
Susquehanna River and turned left towards
Lock Haven.
It
was approaching noon on
Tuesday, June 24th, as I circled the airport
and lined
up for a
lefthand approach
to
Runway 9 (Runway 27 is a righthand ap
proach).
As
I came down over Lock Haven
with the airport ahead
of
me in the wind
shield and the huge closed Piper factory to
my right, I could feel my heart thumping
faster
than
normal - tears ran down my
cheeks - and the emotional experience of
finally coming home to where 17,000 Cubs
Whitaker Tandem Gear along with the air
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plane when they bought it years ago. Be
cause the tandem wheels scrape and scrub
when the airplane is turned on hard surface,
they much prefer to bring the gear system
along and install it for special occasions.
On grass, the gear works very nicely and
can handle rough ground up to fairly good
sized rocks Each footprint supports only
hal f the normal load, so the wheels tend to
ride over most any surface. Alignment is
maintained by cables and a bungee cord,
nearly the same as skis, and attached to ski
fittings on the landing gear. During the fly
in, the Schaefers made several demo flights
for the benefit
of
the crowd, most
of
which
had never seen a Whitaker Tandem Gear
in
action on a J-3 Cub. (Small world dept. :
Bill, Jr. lives on the very same block where
I grew
up
in Tyler, MN )
On the end
of
the same row
of
Cubs was
a '47 J-3 modified for short takeoff events
with the name, "White Hawk," on the cowl.
Flown all the way from Burlington, W A,
by its owner, Jerry Burr (EAA 289379), the
airplane features a we
ll-
tu
ned 0-200 under
the PA-
Il
cowl, extended wings, drooping
ailerons, flaps extended to the fuselage,
vortex
generator
kit, l
ead
ing
edge wing
cuff, Demer drooped wingtips, Super Cub
fuel ta nks and balanced J-3 Cub elevators.
Cruising at 90 mph, t he White Hawk has
won any number
of
short takeoff and land
ing contests including the famous Gulkana,
AK, event. The best takeoff recorded is 17
feet with the shortest landing recorded at
24 feet Jerry says when the airspeed hits 9
mph, the airplane wi
ll
fly. Continental al
lows 3,000 RPM for five seconds on take
off, however, Jerry says that at one and a
half
seconds, he is
off
the ground and re
ducing power. The airp lane is licensed in
normal category and flown all over the
country.
On Tuesday evening, a reception was
held at the Cal Arter home on the Clinton
County Golf Course (Cal's father donated
the land for the go lf course). The perfect
evening, magnificent surroundings, excel
lent food and aviation people from all over
the country made for an outstanding gath
ering. Cal is one
of
the movers and shakers
for Sentimental Journey and his contribu
tions are legendary.
Wednesday morning, the fly-in began in
From the fine community of Lodi, WI, came this father/son team of Judges for Senti-
mental Journey. On the left s Dick Knutson (EAA 37410, AlC 8462) and the driver is
Dan Knutson (EAA 402120, AlC 18753). What this team doesn t know about airplanes,
especially Piper airplanes, could be stuffed
n
a very small sock.
The old Piper Engineering building on
the airport has been purchased to make it
into the Piper Aviation Museum which will
tell the world about the fantastic history of
the Piper
Aircraft Company and Lock
Haven, PA. Harry Mutter is in charge of
co ll
ections
for the new museum and is,
without a doubt, the perfect person for the
job.
Besides leading the charge to get a
portion of the second floor ready for dis
play
at this
year's
Sent
imenta l
Journey,
Harry has also acquired the second "Round
the -World Piper
PA-l2
from 1947 that
was flown by George Evans. (The other
PA-12 is in the Smithsonian.) Harry plans
on restoring the PA- 12 an d flying it for a
spell before putting
it in
the new Piper Avi
ation Museum.
Meanwhile, a group of eighteen Stear
mans arrive en masse to brighten up the
day with the sound
of
radial engines and
spread the aura of brightly colored biplanes
in the pattern. When parked in straight
rows, Stearmans make a very pretty sight,
especially for the camera folks.
Arriving from
Salisb
ury, MD,
were
longtime EAAers, Pau l and Ell ie Ennis
dition, Clyde Smith, Jr. held forth at his
booth each day, answering questions that
on ly a man of his cali ber can answer.
Clyde's Fabric Restoration of Pipers forum
was held on Friday morning with an over
flow crowd in attendance. I, for one, have
never heard Clyde speak without learning
something. His straight forward, knowl
egeable and humble approach endears him
to the audience who, in turn, soak up infor
mation like a sponge.
A forum on the 1947 Round-the-World
flight by two PA-l2 Super Cruisers was
he ld Friday afternoon with Harry Mutter
ha ndling the mike in a most interesting
talk. Having one of the PA- l2's on hand
for a
ll
to see in the lower level of the Engi
neering Building was a huge plus for Harry
and his audience.
A noteable addition to the fly-in was a
completely restored 1930 Bellanca CH-400
"Skyrocket," NC779W, SIN 617, that was
flown into Lock Haven by Richard Schrieb
maier
of
Sugarloaf, PA. The only known
Skyrocket still flying, it spent about twenty
years flying the Alaskan bush with Pollock
Flying Service from 1938 to 1957 when it
-
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Aug 1997
26/36
by
H G Frautschy
The May Mystery Plane resulted in a
nice number of responses, with a variety
of
guesses as to the identity
of
the low
wing, open
cockpit monoplane. We ll
start off with the response of Paul Schid
ing, York, P
A.
Your Mystery Plane this month looked
very
familiar
. Way
back
about 1934-35,
Mr. Jason Moore
of
Lancaster, PA brought
his Westbrook Sportster
to
the York Airport
for repairs. The
8xl0
photo (facing page,
left) was taken at that time. Shortly there
after he crashed, killing himself and his fe
male passenger.
Back
in 1981,
Mauno
Salo,
of
the AAHS (American Aviation His
torical Association) was looking
for
infor
mation and photos
of
the Westbrook Sport
ster and 1 corresponded with him. He sent
me the two smaller photos (right) and the
info sheet I
am
enclosing.
Here s what Mauno Salo wrote about
the Sportster:
Designed in 1929 by Neil Westbrook
Perdew
(MIT)
and Carroll
H.
Mattson
NYU)
as
a low-wing, 2-place sport trainer
monoplane featuring cantilever, plywood
covered wooden folding wings, a steel tube
fuselage and powered by an upright, in-line
4 cylinder engine.
Our Mystery Plane for
August
is this
hot little number from the collection of
Msgt.
Charles
N.
Trask of York
Haven,
PA. Some
of
you folks might accuse me
of
taking it easy on you with this one, but
the fact is you don t see too many of these,
so
we ll
give the younger
generation
a
chance to puzzle over this one. Send your
answers into EAA HQ no later than Sep
tember 2S, 1997 for inclusion in the No
vember issue of Vintage Airplane.
Plane
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8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Aug 1997
27/36
Penn Valley Hobby Cente
r,
Lansdale
, PA is
reproduc
ing
a seri e s o f kits
f rom
t
he
heyday
of th
e
nickel
a
nd
dime sc
al
e k it s sold
in t
he
1930 s by Comet ,
Megow s a nd others .
This is a sample of
one
of their offerings
,
the
Al
lied
Sport
as
o r
iginally
ki tted by Comet,
a
later
vers
ion o f the
West
brook Sportster.
With
th a t long nose and
nicely
proportioned
wing , i t should be a
f ine f lyer on rubber
power
.
See
the text
for more
information
on Penn Valley s kits.
- -----.c
and a tail skid, and that it was "hotter" to fly
than the airplanes he was used to as a stu
dent.
Other correct answers were received
from Wayne VanValkenburgh, Jasper, GA;
'nickel' and 'dime '
kits
with print wood
balsa sheets, machine cut prop are available
at inflated, but relatively low cost from:
Penn Valley Hobby Center
837-B West Main St.
nati, OH; Charley Hayes, New Lenox, IL;
Cedric Galloway, Hesperia,
CA;
Robert
Kaelin, Riverhead, NY and Mike Morton,
Elizabethtown, P
A
In closing, eagle-eyed George T . Smith
-
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Aug 1997
28/36
by
E.E. "Buck"
Hilbert
EAA 21 le 5
P.O. Box 424, Union, IL 60180
He
re
s
one
more
look at
the
prop we
'
re
PASS
db
BUCK
sories - Stromberg carburetor, and Bendix
mags instead of the old BTH British mags.
The
TBO
was somewhat
less
than the
British engine. I remember the props had
the
spinner built
onto it. The Ryan PT
props had spinners built into it but this prop
is
too short to a 165 hp Kinner. Same goes
for OX-5, all of them were about 9
ft.
long.
So I take my first statement back to 90 %
and that will leave me a "bugger factor" of
10%.
Back to you,
"Ace" Cannon
Winterset, IA
P.S.
I
don't know
if
the bolt pattern is
the same for small Menasco and the Wright
Gipsy. f so, it might
fit
on a
small
Menasco - just guessing?
RAISING
TH
E FLAGG
Dear Buck,
Enc losed are the latest pictures of my
Flagg F -13 restoration project. As can be
seen, it is finally getting to the "exciting"
stage although a lot
of
work remains to be
done. One big step was getting the flying
wires ordered from Steen Aero Lab. Now
the last major cost will be the overhaul of
the 145 Warner (and a prop - ouch ).
The engine cowl will have bumps when
completed. They have been formed and
are ready for installation. The cowl itself
was originally spun for a Great Lakes. We
shrunk the aft portion and smoothed it out
on a friends English Wheel.
The rest
of
the
cowling
is all
0.032
2024-T3 with millions of nutplates in
stalled. I am now looking for some ex-
truded aluminum to
stiffen the cockpit
Here is Terry's Flagg F-13
restoration
of
the
original
homebuilt.
It
sure looks
like
a barrel of fun
Look
closely in
the back
ground
and you can
se
e a bit of the
Chastain
family
' s Rawdon T-1, a 7 t ime
-
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Aug 1997
29/36
WELCOME
NEW MEMBERS
Michael
J. Aliison ..........................
Fairfax
,
VA
James
P.
Hanson .......... ....
..
.... .Albert Lea, MN Philip O'Reilly ........
.. ..
.. ...........
MALVERN
, PA
Theodore Armstron
g
......
........
.......
Lincroft,
NJ John
Harrick ...............................Norwalk, CT
Linda
M. P
eacock
..........
.... .. .... ..
Bessemer,
AL
Russell G.
Ashbaugh ..
................Concord, NC David H.
Haywood
.....................
Anthony, FL
Michael M. Penrose ...... .............. Ketc
hum
, ID
Bob T.
Bales
.......... ................Morristown,
TN
Jea
nne
H. Henry ...........
..
.......... Brade
nton
,
FL Josep
h G. Peschke ........
..
.... ....
Crystal
Lake,
IL
Jonathan Baron .... ..............Chariottesville,
VA
Earl Hibler .......................... ..
.....
Hayward , CA
John
W. Pohly ...... ........ .. ..........Berthoud, CO
Larry
Barrett
............
..
.................
Montros
e, MI
Robert
L. Hill ..........................Rensselaer,
NY
Ni ge l Ramsay
..............Lyndhurst,
Hampshir
e,
Great Britain
David
D.
Be
nnett
.........
Colorado
Sprin
gs, CO
Bruce
T. Huntley.............woodland Hills,
CA
Holland Redfield .... ...... ..........
Cutchogue, NY
Timothy
Boland ............
..
........
.5cottsdal
e, AZ Jim E. Irving .................................. .....Erie,
CO
Lin
Reichel ...... .............. ........ .............
Eri
e, PA
Phil Bonin
e ...................
..
.......
Kalamazoo
,
MI Larry E.
I
saac
....
.. ..
........
..
..............
Lamar
, MO
James
F.
Riley
......
..
............
..
....
...
Sa
ratog
a,
CA
Robert
L
Braun .......... ............Springfield, OH Dick Jackson.... .... ...... .. ...... .... .... ..S
eatt
le, WA
Jim
Robbin
s
..
...... .... ...... ....
..
....Lake Orion, MI
Brian Buda
........
........ ..
Hilton Head
Island,
SC Scotty L Jergenson .......................Cheney, KS
Ve
ldon Robinson
.......... ...... .
Span is
h
Fork
,
UT
Jonathan M.
Burk
e ........
..
...........
St
Loui
s,
MO
Howard B. Johnson ...... .. ....
........
.Dun edi
n,
FL
Curtis
L
Rose .......... .... ..........
..Anchorage,
AK
Randal P.
Camp
....
.. ..
...............Shreveport, LA Matthew
C Kawczynski
......
..
...... .Buffalo, NY
John Santonocito .... ...... ....
..Cheektowaga
,
NY
Arthur Cazares
....................
...
Hend
e
rson, NV
Rafael
Linares
......
.. ..
....
..
.......... Des
Pla
in
es, IL
Mary
Beth Schwaege
l
.... ....
....
......
Phoenix
,
AZ
Sherman
Clemens
...... ................ .windsor, CT Stan H.
Lumsden
.... ............... Bloomfield, MO
Bill
C Scott ..
........ ......
..
..............
Kingston
,
TN
Shelley
Cruden Thomas
I. Masterson ................ ......
Chico, CA
..........
Armadale, Western
Australia, Australia
Grover N. Sensabaugh
Gregory
W. McCormick .. ..............Athens, AL
..
.....................................
...
.westminster, MD
Lee Dan ie ls .... .. ...... .... ...... ................Boise, ID
Jack M. McGahey
..
.... .......... ....Brookin gs, OR
Robert
H. Shafran
..
.... .... .........
Columbus,
OH
Sal DiFabio
.............. ....
.......New
Hartford, CT
Peter
M.
McKevitz ........................Clinton,
MI
Don
Sharp
......................
..
...... ........
Dallas
,
TX
Richard
L Dixon
..........
.... .....Owensboro
,
KY
Johan C Meiring
..
Wingate Park, South Africa Dou glas
Smith ..
.... ......
..
.................Arcata , CA
James S. Dixson
............
..
......
..
..........Catlin, IL
Chris
Mihok .......................... Dahlone
ga, GA
Wayne M.
Spani
....
.. ..
....
..
........San Diego,
CA
William
R. Edwards ...... .. ...... ....
Nashville ,
TN
Fred U. Miller ................ .... ...... ....Coppell , TX Helmut Tuemmel .. .......... ................Greer, SC
JOURN Y
Continued/rom
p
23)
different type of music. The food purvey
ors
were doing
a l
and office
bu
siness
all
ney, for the award.
My
only sad feeling is
that
I d idn't
have
the
smarts
to
attend
the
-
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Aug 1997
30/36
SHARE T
HE
EXCITMENTOFEAA 'S
membership renewal.
ANTIQUE/CLASSIC
DIVISION
WITH A
FRIEND
Use
the new member application
form
enclosed within this issue of Vintage Airp lane
If you love the airplanes
of
yesteryear, chances are
to sign up your new member.
Don't miss this chance to enroll a
friend!
across the field
by John Stahly
to
Hangar
No.1, which is
the
FBO on
the field.
In
the back part of the hangar, there is a min i
museum of
Piper artifacts
along with a
rather large storage area for Piper company
records. John has been doing considerable
volunteer work
in this
area wh
ich
merely
adds to his encyclopedic knowledge of
Piper history. From a large file,
he
handed
me a bundle of
delivery
tickets
about
five
inches thick and asked
me to go
thro
ugh
them. I noticed the serial numbers were at
the top of the tickets and proceeded to keep
looking for SIN 22366 - my Cub. In about
ten minutes,
I
hollered "Bingo "
J
ohn
came
over
and confirmed that I had found
the
delivery ticket
for
my J-3
C u
b,
NC3675K, SN
22366, mfg. 11-21-46,
Weight: 707, E.C.G. at 15.6 inches, color:
Yellow and Black. The aircraft was deliv
ered
to
DePonti Aviation Co
., Inc.,
Wold
Chamberlain Field, Minneapolis, Minn. I
made several copies of the ticket before re
placing it in the bundle (in sequence) and
having John Stahly return it to the
proper
file.
(It surely
is
exciting
to
find such
a
record after nearly fifty-one years have
passed by. I took John out for a cup
of
cof
fee to calm
myself
down )
Each evening
of
the fly-in, a different
band would perform in the main building
on the
"Midway" with
substantial crowds
gathering to hear
the
music and talk air
planes.
The
festive
atmosphere was most
congenial and each type of
band
brought a
NEW MEMBER
CAMPAIGN
week
long for two basic reasons: their food
was excellent and
the
prices were
reason
able. A huge breakfast was $2.50 to $3.50
to
give
an example
and
the people
were
very accomodating.
Noted author,
Beverly But
l
er, from
Maribel, WI, was busy during the
entire
fly-in selling
his
book, "Piper Cub Era,"
which for those
of
us
who
grew
up in the
post WWII era, hits the nai l on the head for
accuracy as to
how
it
was
in
those
days.
Reader after reader stopped
by
with
kind
comments on the book and Bev is working
hard on the third printing updates. Recom
mended reading for all Cub drivers.
The Saturday evening Awar
ds
Banquet
was held in a large tent right on the grounds
with a full house in attendence. Roscoe Mor
ton, who handled the microphone during the
entire fly-in, was Master of Ceremonies and
did an excellent job. Our table included Billie
Henderson and his lovely wife, Adair
(of
Sun
'n
Fun fame) who flew up to Lock Haven in
their Piper Pacer. This energetic couple has
been a major help in getting Sentimental Jour
ney started and have added considerable ex
pertise to help the fly-in grow over the past
twelve years.
Perhaps the toughest part of the banquet
was
discovering
that I
was
the
oldest
J-3
Cub pilot to fly a Cub to Sentimental Jour
ney '97. That really smarted
for a
while
(badly bent ego), but once
the
success
of
the fly-in was realized, it turned out to be a
real
prize.
Thank you, Sentimental Jour-
Help
BAA's
Antique/Classic
Division
Grow
first eleven Piper fly-Ins.
The fina
l
ta
lly
for
the
four
day
fly-in
was
88
Piper
J-3
Cubs and abo
ut
450
air
planes total.
This
was the year
of
the J-3
and they were the featured airplane.
Next
year, in 1998, the featured airplanes will be
the
Piper
J-4
Cub Coupe and
the
Piper
J-5
Cub Cruiser. Therefo re, those lucky folks
that have these models should
make
a spe
cial effort to
atten
d
Sentimental Journey
'98.
If you
want
to
enjoy
a fantastic four
day adventure at the birthplace of the Piper
Cub, don't miss Sentimental Journey next
June.
It
will be an unforgetable experience.
I
know
- I was there in 1997
O n
Sunday forenoon,
I
fired up
01'
N 1OXS, waved goodbye to a fine group
of
friends and fe llow pilots and headed home.
The
first stop
was at Yo
ungstown,
Ohio's
El
ster Airport for
fuel
along with
a
Lus
combe and
an
Aeronca
Champ.
The good
weather and slight
tailwind
allowed
me to
make Warsaw, IN, by 5 p.m. where I spent
the night and enjoyed more hospitality with
the airport gang.
By
8 a.m., I was following the finger on
the map across Illinois to my favorite small
strip in Sandwich, IL. A fill of autofuel from
George Pearce and I was
off
to Oshkosh with
a nice tailwind. At : 5 p.m., the yellow Cub
was back in the hangar at Earl's International
on the north
side
of
Oshkosh
and the
tach
showed 23 .3 hours for the entire trip. As they
say in the
TV
ad, It
just
doesn't get any bet
ter than this "
-
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Aug 1997
31/36
Fly-In
Calendar
REGIONAL FLY-INS
SEPTEMBER 67 MARION
, OH
-
Mid
Eastern EAA Fly.ln MERFI) . Call Lou
Lindeman, 513/8499455.
OCTOBER 912 - MESA,
AZ
-
Copperstate
Fly-In. Call Bob
Hasson
, 520/228-5480.
OCTOBER
1012
-
EVERGREEN, AL
Southeast Regional Fly-In. Call Harold
Bubba
Hamiter, 334/765-9109.
OCTOBER 1012 - WILMINGTON
,
DE
East
Coast EAA Fly-In .
Call
Andrew
Alvarez, 302/738-8883.
OCTOBER
1719
-
KERRVILLE, TX
Southwest Regional
Fly
-In . Call Stu
McCurdy, 51
2/388 7399.
AUGUST 10
MENDOTA
, IL
Grandpa's Airport, 1-1
/2 mi l
es south of
town. EAA Chapter
263
Fly-
In brea
k
fast 7 - 11 a.m. Held
in
conjuction with
the Swee t Co rn fes ti val, there wi ll be
transportation ava
il
a
bl
e to take you into
t
ow
n for the
af
ternoon parad
e.
For
in fo:
815/539-68 15
or 815/539-5378.
AUGUST
16
LITTLE FALL S,
MN
Mo rr ison Co unty Airport. Charl
es
A.
Lindbergh 70th Annive rsary fl
y-
in ce le
brat io n. Young Eagl
es
fl ig
hts,
EAA
Spirit of St. Louis re
pli
ca, sta
ti
c di s
pl
ays.
In
fo:
ca
ll
the airport at 320/632
2413 or Karl Kiefer 320/632
-1
978
AUGUST 16 17 WA
KEFIELD
,
MI UP)
Th
ir
d annu al S
und
ay Lake Seap lane
Fly- In. Good food and programs bo th
days.
In fo: 906/224-71 11 .
The following list
of
coming events
is
furnished to our readers as a matter
of
nfor
mation only and does not constitute approval, sponsorship, involvement, control or
diredion
of
any event (fly-in, seminars, fly market, etc.) listed.
Please
send the i n o ~
mation to EAA, Att: Golda Cox, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.
Information should be received four months
prior
to the event date.
AUGUST
30
MARION, IN - 7
th
annual
Fly- In/Cruise-In Breakfast sponsored by
the Marion High School Band Boos ters.
Antiques/Classics/Hom e
builts, as
we
ll
as
Antiqu
e/
Classic
ca
rs welcome. Info:
Ray Johnson, 3 17/664-2588
AUGUST 31 ZA NESVILLE, O H
Rive rs
id
e
Airp
ort. EAA Chapter 425
Annual Labor Day W
ee
kend Br
eakfast.
8
a.m.-3 p.m. Panca ke breakfas t all day.
Sandwiches, sn
ac
ks 11 a. m.-3 p.m .
Res tored Antiqu
e/
Class ic airplan
es
on
di
splay.
EAA Ch
a
pt
er
4
25 hats to the
first
25
PIC.
Pl
ea
se
r
eg
ister.
In f
o: Don
Wahl 614/453 -00
03.
SEPTEMBER 6 OSCEOLA, WI -
L
O.
Simenstad Field . 17th annual vil lage
wide Wh
ee
ls Wings Air Fa
ir
.
Tr
ain
rid
es
, aviation book sa l
es
, 500 classic
ca r show, pancake breakfast fly- in, civil
ian/military static disp l
ays
, arts and crafts
and fair.
Free
shuttle bu
s.
CTAF
11
8.
2,
check
class
NOTAMS
fo
r special air
port conditions. In fo: 1-800/947-0581.
SEPTEMBER
12-14
BEL
VDE
RE
,
IL
Popl
ar
Gro ve A irport (C77) 14th
Annual Stinson Reunion.
In
fo: Suzette
Selig, 9
S.
324
Aero
Drive,
Naperv
il l
e,
IL
60564, phone 630/904-6964.
SEPT. 13 ZANESV
ILL
E, OH -
Ri
ve rside
6154 Riv
er Fores t Dr. , M ana ssa s, VA
2011 2.
Ca
ll 703-590-2375 for info.
SEPTEMBER 19 20 BARTLESVILLE, OK
Fr
ank Phillips Field. 40th Annual Tulsa
Regional Fly-In . For in fo ca ll
Ch
a
rl i
e
Harri
s
918/622-8400.
SEPTEMBER
1921 SELMA , CA 15 th
annual W
es
t Coast Travel A ir Fly-In .
Old
fas
hi
oned fl
y-
in where aviators do
what comes naturall y. Flying even
ts,
memora
bili
a auction, gr
ea
t food. In fo:
Jerr y Impel/ezze
ri
, 408/356-3407 or
Bob
Lo
ck 209/638
-4
235.
SEPTEMBER
20
SULPHUR S
PRINGS
, TX
-
EAA
Chapter 1094 3rd annual Fall Fly
In . Coin c
ides
w ith the 28th annu al
Hopkins
Co
un ty Fa
ll
Fes tiva l and World
Champion
St
ew
Co
n
test. In
fo: 908/885
5525 or 903/439-32 1
2.
SEPTEMBER 27 28 ZANESVILLE, OH
John 's Landing Air F
e
ld. 6th annual EAA
NC
Chapter
22
Fa ll Fl
y- In
breakfast and
lunch bo
th
days. Hog
roast
Sat., Fr
ee
pa r
ticipation pla
qu
es. In fo: ca ll Virginia at
614/453-6889.
SEPTEMBER 28 HINKLE Y IL-(0C2) EAA
Chapter
24 1
Fly-In, Dri
ve
-In Br
eakfast,
7
a.
m.
-N
oo
n. In
fo:
Alan
Abe
ll
847)
888-29
19.
OCTOBER 4 DENVER, CO Front
Range Airport. (
FR
G) Fl
ea
ma rk
et,
Fly
-
8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Aug 1997
32/36
MEMBERSHIP
INFORMATION
E
Membership in the Experimental Aircraft
Association,
Inc.
is $35
for
one
year,
including
12
issues
of
SPORT AVIATION. Family
membership
is
available for
an
additional
$10 annually.
Junior
Membership (under 19
years of
age) is available
at $20
annually
. All major credit
cards
accepted
for
membership.
ANTIQUE/CLASSIC
Current
EAA
members may join the Antique/
Classic Division and receive VINTAGE AIR
PLANE
magazine
for
an
additional
$27 per year.
EAA
Membership, VINTAGE
AIRPLANE
mag
azine and one year membership in the
EAA
Antique/Classic Division
is
available
for
$37 per
year
(SPORT AVIATION magazine not
included).
lAC
Current EAA
members may
join the Intemational
Aerobatic Club, Inc. Division and
receive
SPORT
AEROBA TICS magazine for an additional $40
per year.
EAA
Membership, SPORT AEROBATICS
maga
zine and one year membership in
the
lAC Division
is available
for
$50 per year (SPORT
AVIATION
magazine not included) .
WARBIRDS
Current EAA members may join the EAA
Warbirds of America Division and
receive
WAR
BIRDS magazine for an
additional
$35 per
year.
EAA Membership, WAR BIRDS
magazine
and
one year membership
in the
Warbirds Division is
available
for
45
per year
(SPORT AVIA
TlON
magazine not included) .
EAA
EXPERIMENTER
Current
EAA
members may receive EAA EXPER
IMENTER magazine for an additional
$20
per
year.
EAA Membership and EAA EXPERIMENTER
magazine is
available for
$30 per year (SPORT
AVIATION
magazine
not
included).
FOREIGN
MEMBERSHIPS
Please submit your remittance with a check
or
draft
drawn on
a
United States bank
payable
in
United States dollars. Add
$13
postage for
Something to buy, sell or trade? An inexpensive ad in
the Vintage Trader may be just the answer to obtaining that
elusive part. .40 per word, 7.00 minimum charge. Send
your ad and payment to: Vintage
Trader
fAA
Aviation Center,
P.
O.
Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086, or fax your ad and
your credit card
number
to 414/426 4828. Ads
must be
received by the 20th of the month for insertion in the issue
the second month following (e.g., October 2 th for the
December issue.)
AIRCRAFT
Seeking bids for rare 1944 DH89A Mk IV Rapide
with overhauled Gypsy 6 Series III engines .
Aircraft disassembled and in need of extensive
restoration. Organization looking to sell aircraft to
collector who will return it to flying status. Please
contact
the
EAA Aviation Museum Director
at
414/426-4842 .
Travel Air 2000 Plans - Fabricated assemblies to
fit
your
needs. Prototype Travel Air 2000.
Currently in process of 40 hour test-flight pro
MISCELLANEOUS
SUPER CUB PA-18 FUSELAGES - New manu
facture, STC-PMA-d, 4130 chromoly tubing
throughout, also complete fuselage repair.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN AIRFRAME INC.
(J.
Soa