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VOL
. 3 No. 1 JANUARY 2004
2 VAA NEWS/H .G.
Fra
utschy
4 AEROMAIL
5
MYSTERY
PLANE/H.G. Frau
tsc
hy
6 2003 VINTAGE HALL
OF
FAME
ALFRED
KELCH/H
G. Frautschy
8 PASS IT
TO
BUCK/Buck Hilbe rt
9 JOHN MILLER RECALLS
TWO
CLOSE
ONES/J
ohn
M. Mi ll
er
10 THE MICHIGAN AIR TOUR
BOYHOOD
DREAMS NEVER TRULY DIE
Bruce H. Carmichae l
12 THE ALLEN S ASO WACO
WHAT TO DO WHEN THE BASKET
IS
MOSTLY
EMPTY
/Budd Davisson
16
THE
2003 NATIONAL
AIR
TOUR
THE CHANCE
OF
A LIFETIME
John Coussens and H.G.
Fra
utschy
21
THE 47TH ANNUAL TULSA REGIONAL FLY -
IN
SEPTEMBER 19-20 ,
2003
,
BARTLESVILLE
,
OKLAHOMA
Charles W. Harris
24 THE VINTAGE INSTRUCTOR
GPS
GLITCHES
BETWEEN THE
EARS
/Doug
Stewart
27
NEW MEMBERS
28 CLASSIFIED
ADS
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STR IGHT
e
LEVEL
ESPIE BUTCH JOYCE
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE ASSOCIATION
icking off 2 4
I
'm
putting
my
thoughts down
on
paper just before Norma and
I depart for Kill Devil Hills,
North
Carolina, the site of the
Wright Brothers National Memorial.
The
weather
looks good,
the
Flyer
buil t by The Wright Experience for
EAA is
set to lift off the launching
rail, and 35,000 people are expected
to be there for
the
celebration. I'm
sure there will be plenty of coverage
of the event, and we'll have an arti
cle
here in
the pages
of Vintage
Airplane
in the February issue.
Writing for publication
is
one
of
the skills I've had to work on while
serving
as
your president. To some,
like
the
late
Winston
Churchill, it
comes easily. Recently, I
was
reading
an
article about Churchill's writing
and
speaking abilities.
He
gave his
first speech at
age 13,
and his last in
1963, two years before his
death at
age 90. His collected speeches fill
eight volumes.
He
was said to have
spent an
hour
preparing each
minute
of a speech.
He
once wrote
about his enjoyment of writing:
"Writing
is
an adventure," he
said.
To
begin with, it
is
a
toy and
amusement. Then it becomes a mis
takes me
half
a day to put together
600 words
for
this column
His
prodigious
and
well-written
output
is
quite an inspiration
As
we
start 2004,
the
state of
the
Vintage Aircraft Association
is
good.
This condition
is
a combination of
all
of
the
hard work
and
dedication of
EAA's
staff,
VAA's
own
H.G.
Frautschy
and
Theresa Books,
the
officers
and
directors, volunteers, and those very
kind and dedicated individuals who
help VAA
by
contributing
to the
"Friends of the
Red
Barn" fund. Our
membership has remained solid, but
has
not increased as the staff
and
I
had hoped this year.
Besides the downturn
in
the econ
omy,
one of the reasons
that
has
contributed
to
us
remaining steady
in our total membership numbers
is
the simple fact
that we
have an older
membership
base
than other
avia
tion associations. None of
us
like
to
admit
it, but we're all mortal,
and
some of our stalwart members have
aged out this past year.
To
keep our
membership num
bers solid,
and
avoid a
downturn,
our membership committee has
made a great effort
in gaining new
plane The magazine
is
a great bene
fit to you
as
a member. It's
the
only
publication devoted
to
vintage air
craft that
is published 12
times
a
year for your information and enter
tainment. Sure, you
can
read "feel
good" articles
in other
magazines,
but
how
many
of these large publi
cations really get
down
to the
nitty-gritty, such
as
the recent article
on "How to
keep your Tailwheel
from
Shimmying,"
or
how to
fly a
tail
wheel airplane.
In 1991,
your
Vintage Aircraft Association had the
vision
to
put
together an aviation
insurance program with
the
help of
AUA
Inc. For the past
13
years,
AUA
has guided this program
through
a
number of different companies
that
are
no
longer in business because of
the
consolidation of aviation insur
ance companies.
By
holding
this
program together during this hard
ening of the insurance market,
vintage aircraft
can
still be insured
in this insurance program.
When
it comes
to
aging aircraft
issues
with the FAA, your VAA
is
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VAA NEWS
E Sport Pilot
&
Light-
Sport ircraft
Magazine
Debuts in
April
For half a century
EAA
has dedi
cated itself
to
making recreational
aviation more affordable to
the
av
erage person,
and
it's launching its
sixth decade in this
effort with a
new magazine,
EAA
Sport Pilot
Light-Sport Aircraft.
Serving its
namesake audience, the 64-page
all-color magazine begins its pub
lishing life with its April 2004 issue.
The sport pilot
and
light-sport
aircraft rules will offer a great op
portunity
to
revitalize personal
recreational flying, said
EAA
Pres
ident Tom Poberezny.
SP/LSA
will
remove
the
barriers of time
and
money
that have prevented
many
people from earning a pilot certifi
cate
or
continuing their flying
activities.
The new
LSA
category
will offer enthusiasts
the
opportu
nity to
purchase more-affordable
ready-to-fly aircraft and aircraft
kits.
This
magazine,
along
with
programs
and services that
we're
developing, represents
EAA's
con
t inuing commitment to make
flying for fun more accessible.
With
the
publication of
the
new
magazine,
EAA
will retire
Experi
menter magazine
,
and
its readers
will receive EAA
Sport
Pilot Light
Sport Aircraft. Experimenter
Editor
Mary Jones will
edit
EAA
Sport
Pi
lot
and the new magazine will
GOOGLE
SEARCHES
VAA
MEMBERS
SITE
Thanks to the staff
in EAA's
web depart
ment,
we
continue to add design features
and capabilities to
www.vintageaircra t.org.
Now you can Google your way around
-
_
_
the
site with
the
world's
most popular
._---"':': .."': .-
search engine. Or expand your search to
the
World Wide Web
by clicking
on
I i i i i i j ; ~ ~
Search WWW
on
the same page. This
handy
search
engine is also a part of the members-only section
of
www.eaa.org.
Starting early next year,
VAA
members will have access to a members
only section of the
VAA
website, which will include a variety of archived
articles from the pages of Vintage Airplane magazine.
Nominations
for
EAA
Directors
Pursuant to the Experimental Aircraft Association Inc. bylaws, the presi
dent has appointed six members
in
good standing to act
as
the Nominating
Committee to receive nominations for Class
III
directors (three-year terms)
to replace those whose terms expire during 2004,
and
for a Class
IV
direc
tor
(three-year term)
to
replace
the
director whose
term
expires
during
2004. Such nominations shall be sent to Committee Chairman Ron Scott
at N8708
Sky
Lane,
Rt.
I, East
Troy, WI
53120.
The terms of five Class
III
directors and one Class
IV
director as listed be-
low will expire
at the
2004
annual
business
meeting
held
in
Oshkosh,
Wisconsin,
and
successors to these directors will be elected at
that
meet
ing. Such directors may succeed themselves.
Class III Directors:
Susan Dusenbury,
Bill
Eickhoff, Bob Gyllenswan,
Vern Raburn, Barry Valentine
Class IV Director:
Louis Andrew
According to the
EAA
Restated Articles of Incorporation, the Class IV di-
rector must reside within 50 miles of the location of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Nominations shall be made
on
official nomination forms available from
Experimental Aircraft Association Inc., c/o Tom Poberezny,
P.O
. Box 3086,
Oshkosh,
WI
54903-3086, or e-mail
The nomination peti
tion shall include a recent
photo
of the candidate and a brief resume of his
or her background
and
experience.
Candidates must have
been
an
EAA mem-
http:///reader/full/www.vintageaircra(t.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orgmailto:[email protected]:///reader/full/www.vintageaircra(t.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orgmailto:[email protected]
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memberships they will
pay
the
annual
dues of $40 and select
the
magazine they wish to receive.
Whether
it s
a powered
para
chute, trike, or fixed-wing, if you're
interested in buying,
flying, and
maintaining
light-sport aircraft
and
their regulatory equivalents
and
FAR
Part 103 ultralights,
EAA
Sport Pilot Light-Sport Aircraft is
for you, said
EAA
Editor
in
Chief
Scott M. Spangler.
f you re inter
ested in
flying, building, and
restoring
aircraft of
all
types,
EAA
Sport Aviation
is
your maga
zine
of
choice.
f
members
want both
maga
zines they
can add the
other for
$20. What's more,
EAAers
can add
either
EAA
Sport
Pilot or
EAA
Sport
Aviation
at
any
time
during their
annual membership and
the sub
scription
will
be prorated based
on the time left before
their
mem
bership
is
due
for
renewal.
In
other
words, the magazines
and
memberships will all be aligned to
a single expiration date.
One dues, pick a magazine does
not apply to members who belong
to EAA s divisions and affiliate.
However, to provide all members
with streamlined,
efficient
serv
ice, over the coming year division
memberships
(and
magazines)
will be aligned with the expira
tion
of
the
EAA
membership.
EAA s
membership
department is
2 3
V
Volunteers
of the
Year
For
many
years, the
VAA has
specially recognized a pair
of
volun
teers who, by virtue
of
their unselfish service to
their
fellow members,
have been singled out to receive a special award. More
than
400 volun
teers
put in
weeks
of
work for
the VAA and
its members. They served
meals to hungry
flight
line
volunteers, or
perhaps
they parked
air
planes in
the
South 40. They were
behind the counter at the Red
Barn,
or
worked
in the
Volunteer
and
Membership
booths out on the
flight
line. Perhaps
they
helped
out
in
the
Type Club
or
Workshop tents, or
were
out
judging airplanes. Wherever you find
them,
take a
moment
and say,
"Thanks "
Steve Peters, Columbia City, Indi-
ana,
shakes Geoff's hand as
he
accepts the
VAA
Behind the Scenes
Volunteer of the Year
award.
In
addition to his work during the
day,
Steve
can
also
be
seen
(and
heard
on the radio ) during most
of
the overnight hours, as
he
helps
VAA
Security ensure everyone
stays safe and secure.
Dyle Wilson Trenton, Missouri,
accepts the Flightline Volunteer of
the
Year
award from
VAA
Director
and Co-chairman ofAircraft Park-
ing GeoffRobison. Dyle
has been
a volunteer
for
more
than a
decade, most of that time spent in
helping EAA and VAA members
park their aircraft in showplane
parking and camping.
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AEROMAIL
hapter Newsletters
Paul Poberezn
y
Sir
I received your letter yesterday,
and I wanted to let you know how
much we appreciated getting it.
Your
comments on
our
newsletter were
perfectly timed. Keith Newman and I
have been talking about the newslet
ter
the
past few weeks, and he was
concerned i
he was
on the right
track with it. I felt he was. When he
read your letter, he
was
quite pleased.
I told him that he had his answer for
sure . Keith's love
of
flying and his
concerns for keeping our freedom to
fly is reflected
in
his editorials
and
his newsletter work in general.
I appreciate your offer for snow. It
is a real
novelty here in
southeast
Texas, and just a little bit of it brings
everything to a halt. I'll be
wa
tching
the skies.
Thank
you again for your letter,
and
thank
you
for
bringing
us
to
where
we
are today.
Clark Morong
President, VAA 2
Many
of
us here at
EAA
headquarters,
Dennis Smith, a VAA member from Houston,
Texas, enjoys
taking
all
sorts offolks
for a ride. Here he s giving Faye
Reimer,
76, ofHempstead, Texas,
her
first airplane
ride
over her
hometown of
Waller,
Texas. They flew out of the Skylakes airport.
out in the tank, which would be dis
astrous. Other knowledgeable
operators generally mix it with fuel
in a shaken 12-gallon can and add it
to
the
tank immediately before [fill
ing
the]
tank (usually
dusters
or
sprayers) . MMO is best used as an
upper cylinder
lube
when drawn
into the intake manifold from a nee
dle valve
regulated
container at
1
quart per 1,000 auto miles . This ratio
actually increases available horse
power
by
virtue of the lubricity
added to the upper cylinder and pis
tons as well as
the
valves
and
seats.
Additionally, its
naphtha
base dis
solves
and
removes
carbon,
including
old,
hard
material.
This
loosens the rings and valves, conse
quently
there's
no
more sticking. I
opened up my 60 OOO-mile flat-head
six in our '42 Dodge after I had been
operating
it with a
homemade top
is
far less efficient, but will he lp. I
run
this
in
all eight of
my
collector
(and new) cars, and if I were still fl
y
ing, my 1936 Fairchild 24 would sure
have a
unit on the
Ranger.
Many
years ago the
CAA
did this on a new
0-235-C1 Lycoming,
running
it to
its TBO , and after finding no discern
able wear,
the CAA
approved it for
aircraft use,
but
most unfortunatel
y
I cannot locate this in my files.
Lee
Hurry
Hopkins, Minnesota
Lee
Hurry s letter
has
an interesting
tidbit. Do any of
our members
reca
ll the
CAA
approval mentioned by Lee? If
so,
we d
love
to
hear
about
it.
We
have
no record of it here at EAA .
Lee also included a few
pages
of
data
and a rough sketch of his upper cylinder
oiler for automobiles. There s too much
data
to publish here, but
if
you'd like a
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BY H G FR A U TSC H Y
OCTOBE R'S M Y S T E R Y A N S W E R
factory color trim.ur October Mystery Plane is a
pretty well-known antique. Its un
usual sesquiplane configuration is
distinctive. Here's
our
note:
October's Mystery Plane
is the
Wright WhirlwindJS powered five
place Buhl
Airsedan
CA-SA
in
Ill-fated Buhl Airsedan N-X
291S,
Miss Doran
with red
wings
and nose,
white teardrop
fuselage
trim,
and
blue
tail was
entered
in
the infamous 1927 Dole Pineapple
Co. Air Race from mainland San
Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii.
Pi-
lot Augy Pedlar from Michigan,
navigator Vilas Knope,
and
passen
ger Mildred
Doran
took
off
in
fog
and
worse,
soon returned
for mo
tor
adjusting,
and
left again to Go
West
into the
foul
weather
over
the Pacific.
Excellent
Dole race
coverage with aircraft photos,
crew, and
even
colors
is shown
in
Aloha by Martin
Jensen with
the
1927 Album series
by Russell
Plehinger in
June 1967
E Sport
Aviation
continuing
in
December
1967 [issue].
Russ
Brown
Lyndhurst, Ohio
A
number
of
other
members
were able
to
correctly identify not
only the
airplane type,
but
also
the
exact
example
built.
They
were
as
follows: John Pugliese, Fresno, Cal
ifornia;
James
Sturber,
Mercer
Island, Washington; Thomas Lym
burn, Princeton,
Minnesota;
John
Mader, Calgary, Alberta; and
Charles F Schultz, Louisville, Ken
tucky. Other correct answers were
received from
Wayne
Muxlow,
Minneapolis, Minnesota; Clarence
Hesser, St. Augustine, Florida; d
Kastner, Elma, New York;
d
Gar
ber, Fayetteville, North
Carolina;
Doug Rounds, Zebulon,
Georgia;
and
Walter
Albert and
John
Bishop, Ocala, Florida.
.......
THIS MONTH'S
MYSTERY
PLANE COMES TO US FROM
JAMES BAYS
OF GARLAND,
TEXAS.
ACCORDING TO
ONE
ARTICLE
HE REFERENCES,
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2 3 VINTAGE
H A LL
OF
FAME
H.G.
FRAUTSCHY
LFRED
B
om in 1918, Alfred Kelch
became enamored with air
planes
and
aviators at age
6 when his
uncle
Percy
Bricker
bought
a war surplus Cur
tiss
Jenny and flew it to AI's
hometown
of
Lake View,
Iowa.
Even uncle Percy's crash landing of
the Jenny didn t dampen his en
thusiasm,
although little Al was
perturbed with his uncle for wreck
ing his Jenny.
He
followed every report
of
Lindbergh's Atlantic crossing, lis
tening with headphones to the
family radio. While Al was
in
jun
ior high school, his uncle returned
to town with
a Curtiss Robin, and
Al was given his first flight lesson.
A lifelong love
affair with
all
things
mechanical has
kept
Al
Kelch involved in
automobile
restoration,
antique
boats, and, of
course, airplanes. A career
mixing
his talents
in art
and mechanical
KELCH
engineering resulted in the found
ing of Kelch Manufacturing, a
company that pioneered a number
of plastic
innovations, including
the
first plastic steering wheel for
the automotive trade.
During
that time, Al
met and,
when
he co u
ld
finally afford
it,
married the lady who would be his
partner
in all his endeavors,
Lois
As
his business grew,
Al
was able
to
squeeze a few dollars out
of the
budget
and
begin his collection of
antique
airplanes. He
purchased
a
Piper
Cub
for $250,
and
has since
restored more than
a dozen
air
planes,
most
of which
he
flew from
his rural home and
airstrip
in
Mequon, Wisconsin, where
he and
Lois
hosted
many years of
antique
airplane fly-ins.
AI's
interest in Lindbergh
led
him
to collect
memorabilia, and
one of the pieces
he
collected was
a small
bronze
statuette of
the
famed
pilot.
Its
resemblance to
Al Kelch designed the
original Lindbergh
trophy used by
EAA
for the
top awards
at
EAA
AirVenture.
On
the
left is the bronze
statue from
the
1920s that served as
the
basis for
the first
prototype
Lindy
shown here on the
right.
That first
Lindy was cast
using
dense
armor
bronze and the finished product was
very heavy.
EAA Lindy
trophy
we all recognize
today
as one of
aviation s most
prestigious awards for aircraft con
struction or restoration.
Al was one of the earliest mem
bers of the Antique/Classic division,
and
became lifetime member num
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9/36
AI's uncle Percy brought a Jenny to town, but man
aged to crash
it
on Main Street. Little
Al
(far right,
In dd·ti
a
I
on to co
untl
ess art i
in co
at
and hat) was annoyed with his uncle for
crashing "his" Jenny
he
and Lois
edited the division's
magazine, Vintage Airplane, and he
also served as the
chairman
of
the
Judging Committee.
He
and
chief judge Claude Gray
created
the
core rules for judging
vintage airplanes, a set of rules
that we continue to use to this
day. He also founded the Grand
Champion
Circle
in
a successful
effort to invite top award winners
to
the E convention.
While serving
as
the
president
of the Travel Air club, a visit to
the
Parish's in Tullahoma, Tennessee,
inspired
l to add a porch to the
convention headquarters of the di-
vision,
the
Red Barn. With
the
design help of Pat Packard and the
carpentry skills of Bob Lumley and
other volunteers, the porch
was
added and continues to serve as a
resting and gathering
spot for
annual
antique fly-in F; mrs, Al
and
Lois were hosts to an
or
many years.
Al
loves
rare
, unusual
airplanes. Here's his
Welch
OW8M.
Al at work res toring his
rare
Curtiss- Wright
Travel Air 12Q.
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10/36
P SS T TO
BUCK
BY E.E.
BUCK
HILBERT, EAA
21
VAA 5
P O
Box
424
,
UNION
,
IL
60180
Winter
and
whatnot
The
phone rings, and it's
our
friendly
editor, H.G.,
bugging me
about a column.
By
the time you read this, we'll be
in the grips of another winter session.
No preaching
to
the choir.
f
you
aren't well informed
as
to
the
what,
how,
and
when
of winter
flying,
then
you just
don't
read or listen
to
all the things that have been written
and
told
about t
over
the
years
when it comes
to the
precautions
and preparations for winter flying.
Me,
I'm looking forward to some
fun times. I just
came
in from the
hangar where I'
ve
been looking at the
skis for
the Champ. It's time, I said,
as
I looked at the weather report for the
next couple of days. The weather guys
are promising 3 to 6 inches of snow.
It's coming Walking in from the
hangar, the little flurries are evident
with the promise of a lot more. The
temperature
is
hovering right
at
the
freezing level, and we are
waiting
expectantly.
There is a lot to be said for winter
flying. The air
is
nice and thick
and
fluid, making
the engine
,
the
prop,
and the airfoils behave beautifully.
The performance
is
really
enhanced
lover, his
talking about
flying his
open
-cockpit Starduster Too
on
skis
in the dead of winter. I asked him
how cold it was.
His
reply
was,
Don't
make
any
difference. Once it gets down to zero
it just
don't
get
any
colder,
and the
flying
doesn't
get any better than
this " I'm also reminded of a couple I
know who spend their summer
in
up
per Ontario, Canada. They go south
for the winter.
All
the way to Duluth,
Minnesota. It's all in your mind, they
tell me.
Make
up your mind
that
you're going to have fun and enjoy,
and then it's a piece of cake.
I
tend to
agree. Being
on
skis gives
one the freedom you never have
on
wheels or
floats. Every field
that's
big enough becomes
an
airport. You
can fraternize with
neighbors like
never before,
and
often
when
I flop
in
on
one of
my
neighbors and after
giving
them
a ride, I'm invited in for
hot cocoa,
or even
something
stronger. Everyone seems to be in
an
exhilarated mood, exuberant, and
full of Christmas spirit.
When the ice
is
nice and thick, it's
also fun to ski and skim along the icy
surfaces. That summer place becomes
mous
EAA
Hall of Fame person. The
wonderful gal
who
has
been right
there since before and ever since
EAA
started
. Come
on out and
wish her
well
f
you want to fly your skiplane
into Pioneer, you have to make prior
arrangements. This thing fills up
quickly, since
we
have only so many
slots available
for
arrivals. You need to
contact
Sean Elliott,
who
heads up
EAA's Flight Department. E-mail him
at selliott org or call his office at
920-426-6801.
Here's one of the things I learned
about winter flying: Carry a spare set
of socks in your jacket pocket. f
your feet get cold, it's because your
socks are
damp. As unseemly
as
it
may
look, pull off
your
boots
and
put
on
the dry
pair
of
socks. Your
feet will
warm up
quickly. Tuck
the
other
pair back in
your jacket
pocket,
and they'll
be ready if you
have to repeat the process.
The increased performance of
your aircraft will really amaze you.
Carefully pre-heat the engine like the
books say, and take it easy
so as
not to
overboost. It can
be
done. Some years
back when I was flying in and out of
Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, for
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
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O
ne
evening
n
1933 I was
returning
from
a trip in
my New Standard D-25
biplane
and
flying
into
the
old Valley Stream, Long Island,
New
York
airport. There was
no
ra
dio at that time
either on
the
ground or
in the
airplanes, so I did
not have any information about
the wind except what I could judge
from the
windsock. t showed
a
good stiff south sea breeze.
I
entered
a
left
downwind
de
scending
for a
south
landing
and
arrived at about 1 000 feet at
about
midfield
and about
70
mph
lAS. As I
started to
descend
the
airplane
suddenly
dived. A glance
at
the
airspeed indicator showed
only about
35
mph.
I let the
plane
dive
and opened the throttle
wide
until enough airspeed was re
gained then leveled off with
barely
safe
clearance
above
ground.
To
say the very least
I
was surprised
and
puzzled.
After landing I took
off
again
and repeated the downwind de
scent
at a
much higher airspeed.
I LEARNED
THERE HAD
PREVIOUSLY
BEEN
A
FATAL
CRASH
OF
A
COMMANDAIR
BIPLANE
THAT HAD
SUDDENLY
DIVED INTO
ent
reason
at that
same location.
Then
one day in
1935
when
I
was
a
member of
the
Marine
Corps
Reserve
Squadron
at
Floyd
Bennett
Field
there was
a
huge
bank of sea fog
just offshore
south of
the
field. We were flying
Grumman
SF-2
biplanes.
I
was
number three in
a formation take
off to
the south
right toward that
bank
of
clouds. The leader mis
judged
the
distance
to
the
bank of
clouds
and
flew right
into
it.
Number two pilot and
I
tucked
in
close to
the leader
to keep for
mation
in
the
dense fog. The
leader made a beautiful left climb
ing
turn and
we
followed
him
through 180 degrees
and
back
out
of the
fog.
I spoke
on the radio to
compli
ment him
on
his great smooth
climbing turn. He
said that he did
not even know
he had
been turn
ing because his
turn indicator-the
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The Michigan
Air
Tour
Boyhood dreams never truly die
BR
UCE
H CARMICHAEL
ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE
LATE
WILLIAM HAGER
O
ne spring morning in 1969
I stood at the edge of th e
Crystal Fa lls
airport
in
the
Upper
Peninsula of Michi
gan. The field was knee-deep
in
weeds and
a
tattered windsock
hung from its rusting ring.
The
sin
gle cinder block hangar was fill ed
with road equipment countering
the
Haight Memorial Airport sign
above the door. My thoughts drifted
back
to the
early 1930s
and the
mar
velous Stinson old Doc
Haight
kept
in that hangar. I was sad to see the
fragile
interest
in
aviation that had
existed here was now gone.
As I gazed across
the
weed-choked
field, a third of a century rolled away,
and
I was once again an 8-year-old
boy. Filled with anticipation I was
riding in an ancient Cadillac touring
car on my way
to
see the airplanes of
the Michigan Air Tour visiting this
to
hav
e
th
e life-sustaining iron
mines close down leaving a vil
lage
of
able-bodied
men
o
ut of
work? A
town with
two
out of
thre e
storefronts
boarded up
kids
who could not
afford
to
go
to the
movies even when
the
price
was reduced to a nickel.
At
the
same
time
th
ere was exci t
ement in the
air! Men, alone and in small groups,
had been
working
to
fashion the
fabulous
airplanes
in
which our
boyhood heroes
charted
the air
trails There was
an innocence and
faith in that
time
telling us that
hard
work and
ingenuity
was bound
to
payoff. The amazing accomplish
ments
of a small group
of
daring
aviators
easily captured our youth
ful imaginations.
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As
we
neared the field we saw
Wacos, Travel Airs, Gypsy Moths,
Stinsons, Bellancas, Fairchilds, and
Stearmans roar
around
the circuit,
land,
and
taxi into neat rows along
the fence. A tiny wire-braced mono
plane with its belly dragging
on
the
ground
turned
out to be the
Aeronca C-3,
predecessor to
the
light plane,
which
would
soon
dis
place the powerful biplanes of the
1920s as the private pilot's mount.
The fragile beauty of an autogiro in
steep descent against the
northern
sky brought a look of wonder to up
turned faces. Suddenly a gasp arose
from the
crowd.
He has lost his
landing gear." A few of us wore su
perior smiles as we recognized the
sleek Lockheed Orion lap the field
with unbelievable speed. The crowd
sighed as the wheels dropped down.
The pilot of the Detroit News cam
era plane barely had time to chop
power before
we
surged
around
him. I touched
the
cool
smooth
standing
in
the drugstore
asking for the latest copy of
lying
ces
magazine. Old
Mr. Sheffer would always
go through the same ritual,
peering
myopically
at the
rack
and muttering,
"Fly
Aces
,
Fly
Aces." Pretending
he couldn't see it. He would
peer
down
over his glasses
and say, "Perhaps it isn't in
yet./I I would point it out to
him, and he would hand it
down. I would stand rooted
to
the
counter,
thumbing
through the exciting pages.
Once I glanced
up and
saw
his understanding,
tender
smile. He knew an airplane
nut when he saw one.
There were
other
mem
ories of that bygone era.
The
joy of the first
airplane model
one
had built
that
actually
flew
The many airplane sketches that
festooned school papers. The
smoothness
of
the
air after
takeoff from a sod field
on
one's
first
airplane
ride.
The
Michigan
Air
Tour, however,
will always
hold a
special
place in
my
memory.
Slowly
the past slipped
away,
and
the
deserted
air
field
once
again came into
focus. How strange this remi
niscing would
sound
to most
people, I
thought.
But
then,
those children of
the
Depres
sion who became infatuated
with
aviation during the
Great Depression
will re
row, Alaska.
Jean
Mermoz, French
Aeropostal
pilot,
was lost in the
South
Atlantic;
the Italian
De
Pinedo in a
fiery
takeoff crash in
New York; and
Levanevsky,
the
Russian Lindbergh, "Lost
between
the North
Pole
and Alaska./I My
closest high school friend van
ished in his
exploding
P-38 when
gunners in a flack tower
hit it
dur
ing
World War II. After the war, so
many
colleagues lost in dangerous
test flying, including Dr. August
Raspet, who gave me my start
in
flight test. In spite of
i t
all,
the
magic remains.
f today
you should attend
a
model
airplane meet,
a sailplane
meet,
an
Experimental Aircraft
As-
sociation fly-in,
an
air race,
an
air
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THE
AL L ENS
What to Do
hen
the Basket
s
Mostly Empty
ave and Jeanne Allen
don't
know how to do
BUDD DAVISSON
on until they had a beautiful Taper
wing that you 'd have to look at the
the
Straightwing project we knew
we'd eventually be doing."
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130s
on rescue missions
in
England, i t allowed
him to
ERWING
Dave has been a
round-motor
bi
plane freak since he was in diapers.
liMy
mother said I used to sit astrad
dle a couple of boards arranged
like
an
airplane
and
make airplane sounds,
he says. I used to race
the
local crop
dusters around Fresno on my bike. I'd
be running down along side the fields
with them
and
constantly
hanging
out at their operation.
Eventually, they put me to work
and at 11 years old I
was
flagging fields
for them. I stayed with them for
the
Y BUILT
when
there was a lot for a young Air
Force pilot to do.
I was put into Special Opera
tions, initially flying a Helio, and a
buddy
and I started volunteering to
go to Vietnam. Again, I
didn t
know
any better. We were young and in
love with
the
Skyraider and we
wanted to
be Sandy pilots.
As
hard
as
we
tried, however, we couldn't get
orders to 'Nam. They were
sending
all
sorts
of
officers
over who
had
families,
but they
ignored a couple
of footloose Lieutenants. t
didn t make any
sense
then
and it doesn't now.
Everything seems
to
hap
pen for a reason and when Lt
Allen was
assigned
to fly C-
o
FOR
CTICE!
next four or five years and they were
even going to teach me to fly. Myavi
ation
career
got
short circuited,
however, when I
was
16 and loading
chemicals. I got poisoned and was so
sick that my mom and dad said that
was it for me and aviation.
Although
he
got the
bug, so
to
speak, at Lawton
Cropdusters
in
Fresno, he didn t actually get to fly
until some years later.
In high school I figured that my
make one of the most impor
tant
decisions of his life.
I had met Jeanne before I
went
to the Academy and we
pretty much
knew
we
were
going to
get
married.
But, I
couldn t ask
her
to marry me
if I was going to Vietnam .
When I found I was going to
England, however, I said something
to the effect of 'How'd you like to go
to England . And, oh by the way,
would you like to get married?'
The Allens come as a pair,
and
you can find nothing, from their air
plane
registrations
to the
card
on
their
propeller at fly-ins
that
say
Dave Allen. It is always Dave and
Jeanne Allen.
She's the other half of me. She's
hands-down the best thing that has
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Mmmm, leather. That
looks
like
pretty
nice place
to
sit
for 4,OOO-mile
odyssey
through
the Midwest
and
east
coast.
Keeping the original style 4-inch instru
ments
was high
on
the
list
the
Aliens.
wouldn't, just write a check
and
buy one.
For one thing, I was just an
old
ex-Air Force guy.
There
was simply
no
way
I could spend that
kind of
money
on
an
airplane. Then,
when
I
went
with
the
airlines, I kept getting
furloughed and one year, betwee n
Jeanne and I, we
had
nine W-2
forms, we had worked so
many
jobs.
Besides, I really like building stuff.
I'm an old-time mod el
airplane
builder and
there
are times
up
here,
when
it's
snowing
and
you're
snug
gled down in your warm
shop
building something,
that
it's really
fun. I guess
you
could say
that's
my
comfort zone.
We figured we could build or re
build an
airplane
because
we
wouldn't have to write one big
check.
We
could go
into
it a little at a
time
and, when the money
slowed
= ~ ~ ~
.
down, we'd slow
down
too.
When we
had money, we'd buy
the
big stuff. When
you're
building or
re
building from scratch,
you
buy
some materi
als, then you spent six
months or a year
working
on it barely
spending a dime. It's a
good way to control
the cash out-flow./I
The first
airplane
project was
the Nu
WACO Taperwing kit
that
was
being pro
duced by Ernie Bodie.
The kit
had
a fully
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17/36
titude
of 9,000-10,000 feet, the zigs
and
zags get really close together
and
that 36-foot runway becomes a side
walk. Landings in
the Taperw ing
were always a cottonmouth affair.
We knew a Straightwing, like an
ASO,
would be
much
better for us. In
fact, we had been looking for
one
for
sometime. We eventually bought
what
would have to
be called
not
a
'basket case,' but an
'envelope
case'
because basically all we
had
was
an
envelope which contained the
pa
perwork for a 1930 ASO Waco.
Not having
an airframe for a pat
tern, the Aliens were
going
to
have
to be creative, resourceful,
and most
of all, determined.
We
got almost complete draw
ings
for the
wings from
the
Smithsonian. For the fuselage, how
ever, we worked with Mike Strong
up
in Powell, Wyoming,
who had
a pat
tern
Waco 10 fuselage
to
be used
in
building a jig. He was already build
ing one for
himself and
asked if we
wanted
one too, so we worked
with
him on it.
With
a
basic fuselage
and
wing
draWings in hand, the Aliens
were
well
on their way
to
having their
Straightwing. However,
since
Dave
was
weldingphobic,
he
sent the
fuselage
up
to
a
Waco fabrication
speCialist
to
have the landing
gear
and
tail built in their hard
jigs.
The wing drawings were actually
pretty good, plus I borrowed a wing
panel from Mike Strong to use
as
ref
erence. Tim Bode made the metal
fittings for me, which let me concen
trate on
the
wood.
had set
for
the airplane.
What
we
wanted
above
every
thing
else was a reliable airplane
that
we could fly without worrying too
much about
it. This airpl
ane
was def
initely not going
t o
be
a
hangar
queen.
We
wanted to
fly it as if it
was a
'normal' airp
l
ane and
take
it
just about anywhere in the country.
A]-5 is j
ust
too hard
to
support
and we'd
always be
worrying
about
it.
So,
we insta lled a ]-6,
which
tech
nically makes our airplane
a CSO,
not an ASO. The
j-6,
however, is
much
easier
to
support because parts
are
more
available. Plus, it's a
more
reliable engine. [t may
not
be a mod
ern engine, but
it's as c l
ose
as we
could get on this kind of airplane.
Dan Murray up in
Longmont
did
the
engine
for us and we hu
ng
it on
a mount made by Don Gene.
Scott Gregerson
up in
Pocotello,
Idaho,
is
an expert in sheet metal and
had some original Waco parts tha t he
duplicated for us .
That
included
the
headrest
and the tail
cone.
Dan
did
the
compound curved
piece
on
the
top of the forward fuselage but
we
did
most
of the rest.
john Cournoyer
of
Creve Coeur, Missouri, made the alu
minum
fuel
tank.
A lot
of the
sheet
metal, like the
pieces between the cylinders,
are
wire rolled
and
[
co
uldn't find any
one
to do
it .
So
I l
ocated one
of
the
elusive Pexto
322
wire rollers and
taught
myself
how
to
do
it. I was
re
ally worried
about
some of
the
parts
because they
were
supposed to be
compound
curves
and
I expected
them to give
me
real
heartburn.
f-
instrument panel, the Allens
had
some serious decisions to make.
We
had
a
bunch of
factory pho
tos and
wanted
to be as
original
as
pOSS
ible,
while
still
making
the air
pl
ane
usable. We
had
a few original
instruments
we
overhauled but
we
refaced
some modern instruments
too.
The
altimeter, for one, however,
had
to
be an original because it was
one
of the old four -inch, nonsensi
tive types
and
a
newer altimeter
would have looked
out
of place.
We weren't looking
forward
to
flying
with
a single-needle altimeter
in some
of
the controlled airspaces
we'd
be
flying into, but
we
didn't
want to
make
that
big of a change in
the
appearance of
the
cockpit. t
turns out we
shouldn't
have worried.
We made the
main
panel look
as
original
as
we could
but
we
mounted
a little bitty 2-1/4 Becker radio
and
transponder
in
small side
panels
down
by my knees. The transponder
took
care of
our concerns
about the
altimeter because in
one
of its modes
it
will
display
a
correct altitude to
the
foot. It's really pretty neat.
Almost
every
antique project of
any kind involves a photo
or
two of
a specific airplane
that
becomes
the
model for
that
project. This was par
ticularly true when it
came
to the
Allen's
ASO.
We decided early to replicate
the
Wacos flown by
Art
Davis
and
johnny Livingston in
various races
and the
1929 Air Tour. That's where
some
of the fairings
came
from and
continued on p
ge
6
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i i i i i i i i i i I ~ ~ T h e 2003 National Air Tour
The chance of a lifetime
JOHN
COUSSENS
RE-CREATING
TilE 192 j-I931
NA.TIONAL IR TOURS
T
h
roughout
life I
have
learned that we never rec
ognize the
most
significant
moments in our lives
until
they ve passed. When a man named
Greg Herrick introduced himself to
me
at AirVenture
2002 and invited
me to fly my
1928
Travel Air 4000
biplane in
the 2003
National Air
Tour, I felt flattered. It
sounded
like
a fun event. Looking back now, I re-
alize
how
thos e few minutes with
Greg changed my life forever.
Thirteen months la t
er,
loaded
with camping
gear,
cameras
and
more than a
little
trepidation I
headed
east from
my home airport
in Arlington, Washington. Ahead
of
me
lay an 8,600-mile odyssey, with
over
half that distance needed just
come. When
starting
day dawned
electricity filled the air as I ate break
fast
and headed
to
the
airport. Low
fog
heightened
the
drama as
I
walked
among
ancient aircraft
on
the eerily silent ramp. During start
ing ceremonies
we
all listened
intently as Edsel Ford II
and
Erik
Lindbergh
spoke of the history and
value of
our coming
event.
The first
minutes of the tour
are
etched
in my
mind
through the
sights and sounds of his tory relived.
Over 30
radial en g in
es
including
Wrights, Pratts, Lycomings,
and
Con
tinentals loafed their idle songs as I
sat in my
Travel Air,
at the back of
the ramp
watching dozens
of
pro
peller
blades spin lazily in the
brilliant sunshine. One by
one
: 26
We
left the
lakeshore fog
of
De
troit behind
us
and
headed west
toward Kalamazoo, my Travel
Air as-
signed
to the
slowest group of planes.
That group included
the
two Sikorsky
Amphibions,
and the awe I felt join
ing those two majestic birds in
formation simply defies description.
Across
the
first four days we
landed in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, and
at each stop we were treated like visit
ing heroes. Young and old alike asked
for
our
autographs
on
programs
and
Air Tour
posters
and hosts at each
airport threw open both their hangars
and their hospitality.
Those first few legs held surprises
and challenges, too, with winds caus
ing a few pilots to delay departures,
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19/36
clear
to
the Gulf of
Mexico
, con-
firmed the wisdom
of
stopping
short. Craig Schiller, Greg Herrick s
righthand man, saved our bacon in
Des
Moines,
arranging hotels for
over 80 people and hangars for most
of the planes
at
that first of several
unplanned overnighters.
Throughout the Tour, weather
continued to alter our plans. During
a scheduled free day in Wichita, the
Stearman owners had arranged to
fly
to
McConnell Air Force base
to
visit
the
very hangar in which their
planes
were built. Concurrently, I
had planned to get all the Travel
Airs
to
their birthplace at
Beech
Field, and possibly visit the original
Travel Air factory buildings that still
stand
within
the
Beech complex.
Steady rains that eased occasionally
but soaked us throughout the day
scuttled
both
trips.
Although
the
rains
of Wichita
gave
way
to beautiful
skies
from
Kansas to Georgia, Hurricane Isabel
lurked
ominously in
the
Atlantic.
Even as early as our first
night
in
Kansas, Isabel s track looked likely
to hit Kitty Hawk only a day before
we
planned to
arrive. We watched
TV weather each night and hoped
for a reprieve.
t
never came.
When
we reached Peachtree,
Georgia,
the
fearsome
power of
Is-
abel stood in our path . No pilot in
the group
felt
willing
to
push
its
boundaries, so by unanimous vote
we
delayed
in
Peachtree to
let the
storm pass. But before the sun had
set,
our
first day in Georgia
took
on
an ominous hue. Miss Veedol slewed
Edsel Ford waves the starter's flag for
Erik Lindbergh recalls the fact
that
his each aircraft and
NAT
organizer
grandfather had planned on flying in Greg Herrick and author Tim
0 -
one
of
the original air tours, but bad Callaghan give a thumbs up as
weather kept him from the start. they taxi out
for
departure.
Typical
of
the vast majority
of
the tour stops, the local
community of
Wausau,
Wisconsin, did their best to make the tour pilots and crew welcome. A terrific
lunch was
put
on in one
of
the
han
ga
rs
,
and
mayor Linda Lawrence and
loca
l
Chamber
of
Commerce members gave a short welcoming speech.
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Greg
Herrick
is pleasantly surprised by
Edsel
B.
Ford
II as Ford presents him
with the family's "Spirit ofFord
award for his work in recreating the
National Air Tour.
Greg's
vision of the
three-week long
event
as one
that
would educate the public
was borne
out
at each
stop
as hundreds
of
people (and
in a couple places, even thousands )
came out to look at the vintage
air
planes on the tour.
Travel Air NAT 2, flown by John
Coussens.
The
NAT planes
line
up for
the first
takeoffof
the
tour
from
Ypsilanti,
Michigan.
Clark Seaborn and his
Fokker
Uni
Ted
Davis Flies NAT 27, a Travel Air
versal crew.
E-4000.
Clark
Seaborn
got a workout at
each
stop, hand cranking the inertia
starter on the Pratt Whitney
mounted on the nose ofthe Fokker
t
each
stop,
the
crowds
had
to
wait
for
just a while so that
each
aircraft
could be serviced with
fuel
and oil.
Then
the crowds
were
allowed to min-
gle with
the
airplanes and aviators
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The
Lock family's pair
o
New Standards rest
for a moment
before start
ing the
day's labors.
Both
big
biplanes hopped rides at the
tour stops,
often arriving ahead
o
the
tour
and stimulating interest in the event.
Ted
Beckwith and
his wife Bev flew
what would be known
as
the small
est airplane
on
the tour, their newly
restored
Great Lakes 2T-1A.
A pair o Tri-Motors , a Stin
son 6000-B, and the
Skyways Ford pass
in review
paying their respects to
the
Wright brothers
as
they pass
by
the gran ite monument at
The grand
Champ
ion
Antique
o
Kill De
vil
Hills, North
Ca
r
EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2003
was
olina,
on
ly
days
after
on
the tour. Here's
Ben
Scott and his Hurricane
Isab
el slashed
spectacular Stearman
4E
Speedmail.
through the Outer Banks.
A
pair
o
1928
monoplanes.
Before
being permanently
retired, th
e
Hank Ga
lpin in his Travel
Air
FAA
's
DC-3,
N34 , participated
in
the
The
reproduction
o
the Spirit
o We
natchee, the 929 Bellanca
Skyrocket
built
by
EAA Chapter
424
was on the tour. Unfor
tunately,
th
e left main
gear fold
ed
during
some gusty crosswinds,
so the Bellanca
had
to
be
trucked
home to Washington state for
re
pairs. We wish them well, and you'd like to
know more about this adventurous project,
log on
to www.spiritofwenatchee.org.
Waldo
Anderson
shep
he
rds Thomas Schrad
e's
Sikorsky
S-38
around
The sight
o
an
the midwestern skies o
other Sikorsky
southern Mi chigan.
Amphibion
o
the
wingtip was enough
to put
goose
bumps
on anyone. Dick
and
Patsy
Ja
ckson's
Sikorsky S-39 is
fram ed by
th
e
tail
o
th
e S-38
Spirit
ofOsa.
http:///reader/full/www.spiritofwenatchee.orghttp:///reader/full/www.spiritofwenatchee.org
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N T iary
byH.G.
Frautschy
Echoing John's comments, joining
the
National Air Tour,
if
only for a few days,
was
the
chance
of
a lifetime. I jumped at
the
opportunity
to
hop
in the
second
Sikorsky 5-38 built by the
late
Buzz Ka
plan's company, Born Again Restorations.
Owned by Buzz's
partner in
the
project,
Thomas Schrade
of
Las Vegas,
the
plane
was being flown on the
first
portion of the
tour by
the amiable Waldo Anderson.
We
waddled down
the
taxiway past a beam
ing pair
of
starters, Greg Herrick and
the
flag-waving Edsel Ford. Ford clearly en
joyed his immersion in vintage aviation,
if
only
for
the morning.
Over
20
years ago, I spent the very start
of my professional career at Sikorsky Air
craft
and
had a black and white photograph
of
the Sikorsky 5-40 Pan American Am
phibion hanging
by my
desk. Never in
my
wildest imaginings would I have believed
we'd be seeing its two predecessors in the
air
together,
let
alone
me
flying one, and
then later the other. lying
magazine
columnist Lane Wallace and I traded
the
right seat of
the 5-38,
and we both mar
veled
at the airplane's capabilities.
With its
hull
suspended below the wing, and the
twin
outrigger booms
stretching
back to
the twin fins,
it
seemed that
the
parts were
flying in formation with the hull
Even
more
amazing was looking
out
the window and
seeing Dick Jackson's incredible Sikorsky
5-39
restoration flying
in
formation. The
two Sikorskys were paired from the
start
until the 5-38 had to leave the tour be
cause
of
a commitment
to
fly the airplane
for a movie (it served as a stand-in for
Howard
Hughes' 5-43).
It seemed every direction you looked,
flew by
at 500
feet. The
group
of
Friends
of
Meigs Field supporters and their banner
held high were clearly visible, and
I m
sure
all of
us
felt
the
same
frustration
at
the
ability of one man to destroy such a valu
able asset
to the
city
of
Chicago.
We
had all
looked
forward
to landing
at
that great
field, but Mayor
Daley's
destruction of
Meigs made that impossible.
It was an
extraordinarily
hazy
day as
we
flew
north,
and as I flew loose
formation
with
the
5-38
along
the
lakeshore, there
was
no discernable horizon unless
you
looked inland. Both Dick and I were mes
merized by
the
same vision, as
we
could
see
only the 5-38 framed in the windshield
frame and
struts.
No lake, no shore, just
the
haze
tapering up
to
a
bit of
blue
the
fur
ther
up
you
looked.
The engine noise
seemed
to be far in
the background, and
the two Amphibions were just suspended in
midair. It felt eerie. It truly
was
an amazing
sight,
one
that none
of
us will
forget.
The next day's leg to Wausau, Wiscon
sin, was with
Ted
Davis in John Coussens'
Travel Air, which gave
me
a great opportu
nity
to
look
at
a number
of
the other ships
in the NAT flight.
The lunch
in
Wausau,
hosted by
the
Chamber of Commerce (in
cluding
VAA
member Madonna McMahon)
was
wonderful.
Wausau was an original
stop in 1928,
and
the
home
field of the
winner
of that
year's tour, John
P.
Wood.
Again, the people
who turned out were
fas-
cinated with the visit, and wanted
to
know
as many details as we could relate about
each aircraft. Greg Herrick's vision
for
the
tour was vindicated each time we educated
the public about
these
grand airplanes.
Far
too
soon
I,
joined by my two chil
Even
the spectators got in on the fun
Ruth
Coulson
dressed
up
in period garb
for
the tour
s
stop
in Kalamazoo,
Michi-
gan. Ruth and her husband,
Phil,
later
joined th
tour
with the Waldo's
Flying
Service New Standards, which flew the
tour and hopped
rides
at
each stop.
in
between. We were doctors,
lawyers,
engineers, airline
pilots,
and
contractors. Our camaraderie
grew
not
from our
occupations
or
hometowns, but rather
from
the
common
love of
antique
aircraft
that
made us willing to give nearly a
month
of
our lives
in
order to fly
the
tour. Nearly all of us made i t
back
to
where we'd started, success-
fully
traveling
over 4 ,000 miles
across
21
states,
and
we did it all
to
gether.
Yet
suddenly it was over.
Leaving Willow
Run after
th e
tour, the sky was strangely void of
friends
surrounding
me. For the first
time
in my
life, flying felt odd
and
empty and
sad;
the lump in
my
throat
stayed with me clear into
Iowa as I mourned the end of such a
grand adventure.
The next day, though, off by my-
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Don Pellegrino s original 1936 Rose Parakeet A 1. It is
Bill Byars
of Okmulgee flew his
rare Luscombe
T8F to
power
ed
by a Continental
C-90. Don flew
260 cold miles
Bartlesville. It s powered by a Lycoming 0235
of
135
hp.
from Rhome, Texas.
THE
47TH
ANNUAL
TULSA
REGIONAL
FLY-IN
September 19-20 2003 Bartlesville Oklahoma
CHARLES W.
HARRIS
SR. CO-CHAIRMAN
ould not have been better if one had set out to
write the perfect script and then implemented
that mythical, impossibly perfect plan.
The weather was beyond belief.. .simply be
yond
the
ability to conceive; absolutely sheer
clear cloudless skies
in
virtually total calm, overlooking
manicured acres of thick grass parking; two incomparable
Oklahoma Indian summer 60- to 75-degree days, back to
back; what could more perfectly set the stage
for the Tulsa
EAA Chapters to host the 47th Annual
Tulsa
Regional
Fly-In.
A turnout of 323 grand grass-roots airplanes came from
near and far. The variety was seemingly infinite How is it
possible
to
park a 1929 OX-5 Command-Aire bathtub
cockpit biplane
next
to
the
most beautiful, highly pol
ished 1938 Spartan 7W;
which
is parked next to an
Executive parked
next
to a Grand
Champion
level 1936
SR-8C Gull Wing Stinson, which is in turn, parked next
to an equally spectacular 1937
SR-9E
Gullwing, which
is
in
turn
parked next to a pristine and rare 1931 Davis D1
W? These beauties were placed on
the
west perimeter of
the Frank Phillips
Field
Ramp as Jim Younkin's stark white
DGA-6 Mulligan and u.S. Senator Jim Inhofe's
brand
spanking new RV-8
sporting
the insignia of the U.S.
Senate, occupied the front and center space. On the south
side of the ramp parked right in the middle of all this fin
ery
was Steve
Patterson s
gorgeous
1979
Aero L-
39C
Czech-Russian jet
trainer
whose camouflage
paint had
been polished to a
high
-gloss sheen. That's the way
the
ramp was parked, if you don t count the two glistening T
6s that were parked just west of Mulligan, or the C -6 and
the
Yak
52 parked just behind the T-6s. The T-6s and the
CJ-6 and Yak had arrived in the closest of practiced forma
tion, further exciting the several
thousand
aviation fans
on
the field admiring the show airplanes.
But the showcase
ramp
airplanes were just the tip of
the iceberg. While we had a few airplanes on Thursday the
18th, Friday the 19th saw a healthy number arrive and by
Friday evening,
we
had nearly 100 aircraft in and grouped
into their respective categories. The body
of
the iceberg
came into full view on Saturday as the airplanes began to
arrive in big numbers even before 8:00 a.m. The enjoyable
and pleasantly cool 60-degree temps and crystal clear skies
coupled
with
near total calm
brought the
airplanes
into
Frank Phillips Field like flies to a mid-summer outdoor
picnic table. And come they did, seemingly every make
and model
that
one can imagine-from Art and Betsy
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Knowles rare bathtub cockpit
configured 1929 Command-Aire
open
biplane to Tom Gu
tmann s
two
brand
new, fresh out of
the
box, European-import super slick
composite
12S-
hp
CT2Ks,
two of
only three in the
entire
United
States.
And
they were
all at
Bartlesville The display of fine
show planes was impressive.
While we
do
not have a
hard
count
on all affinity type air
planes, we know
we had
16
Luscombes, 14 Short Wing Pipers,
13
Cubs, four
or
five Swifts, etc.
There was a batch
of
RVs I would
guess 12-1S, bu t we d i
dn t get
a
good count
or a
good count
on
the 120/140s, 170s, 19Ss, but
there
were a
goodly number of
each group. Obviously, when 323
airplanes attend, there was a lot of
everything on hand.
There
are few, if
any, fly-ins
that
keep their
guests, patrons,
47th Annual
Tulsa
Regional Fly-In
Balloted Grand Champions
Grand Champion,
Antique
1938 Spartan 7W Executi
ve
, NC 17616
Ken
Lorraine Morris , Pop lar Grove , IL
Grand
Champion Classic
1953 Piper PA
20
Pacer
Frank Sperandeo, Fayettevi
lle
, AR
Grand Champion, Contemporary
1967 Gru
mman
Widgeo
n
N4453
Mar
k Trimb le, Holl ister, MO
Grand Champion Experimental
1
961
Corben
Baby Ace N
385T
Jim
Eck
, Ponca Ci
ty
OK
Grand Champion, UltralightlSport Aircraft
1998
Tea
m A
r
Bi ke,
NX
61453
Paul
Fieb
i
ch
, De rby,
KS
Grand
Champion Warbinl
1943 Fai rchild M-62A ,
PT
-19, N 54712
Alan
Brakefield, Goldsby,
OK
Chainnan s Choice
1943
Ho
ward DGA-15P N 9599H
Joe Dudley
, Allen , OK ,
Don Sharp
,
Pauls Valley OK
and staff as well-informed like the
newcomers who might not know the
annual
Tulsa classic does. The pub
history
of
sport
aviation,
its people,
lic address system is up and
its airplanes, and its lore . Bill pro
operating early on so Bill Hare can vides
the
fly-in
patrons
with a
keep everyone informed
on
impor
constant
array
of
up to
the
moment
tant
happenings. Bill's vast reservoir information to
assist
the guests in
of
aeronautical knowledge
is
a golden
staying
current during the
show.
It
is
resource to all, but most especially to this
same
sound system
that also
John
Smith of
Greensboro,
Georgia,
Terry
Wallace
ofBed ford,
Texas,
owns
brings the great music of
the Big
Band
Era as background to the
fly-
in
activities
when
Bill is
not
live
on
the microphone.
Bill
kep
t
everyone alerted to
the high
-profile arrivals,
both
as
to the
personalities
and
airplanes.
There
aren t
many fly-ins that
have the great fortune of an
nouncing arrivals such as
Ken
and Lorraine Morris in their 7W
Spartan, or Jim
Younkin
in his
fabulous
DGA
-6 Mull igan,
or
Art
and
Betsy Knowles
in
their
OX-S
powered Command-Aire biplane,
or,
of
all things
in
landlocked
northeastern Oklahoma,
Mark
Trimble in his flaming red
twin
300-hp Lycoming radial-powered
Grumman
Widgeon amphibian
And there are even fewer fly
ins
that
can
announce
forum
schedules,
especially forums
that
include the chief of the en
tire FAA medical
section, Dr.
Warren Silberman, who is t he best
thing
tha
t
has
happened to
civil
aviation regulatory medical matters.
He is a
champion and without ques
tion,
the best the
FAA
has
ever
had.
The forums included sessions on
the
al
ready mentioned FAA medical
matters, aviation oils and lubricants,
A pair of fire-breathing 300-hp Ly-
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Cessna 120/140s,
Cessna
170s,
Cessna 195s, the Luscombe 8 series,
Swifts, Cubs, short-wing
Pipers,
Mooney Mites and Culvers, experi
mental
autopilots,
the
RV series
of
experimental airplanes, ultralights,
and
light-sport aircraft,
as
well
as
a
forum on Getting Your Experimental
Certificated.
The big Phillips hangar south of
the
FBO
office was filled with people
all day Saturday buying things of in
terest to airplane people. In this area
we
owe
FBO
David Harding a
huge
vote
of
thanks
for
the use
of
the
hangar
and
the great Phillips avgas
discounted to $1.99/gallon.
And, speaking of Phillips 66, we
were pleasantly
and
singularly
hon
ored
on Saturday
morning by the
visit to the busy ramp by newly ap
pOinted Phillips Aviation Manager
Steven McCullough, his lovely wife,
and their two children. They are new
residents of Bartlesville
and
we were
thrilled to
have
them out on the
ramp to enjoy the wonderful Okla
homa weather, the
people,
and of
course
the
airplanes.
We
showed
Steve
the
Ken and Lorraine Morris
perfectly polished 1938 Spartan
Ex-
ecutive, which Steve had
trouble
believing was manufactured long be-
fore he was born Please, everyone,
remember
Phillips is
EAA's
invalu
able partner in fuel
support
for the
Young Eagles program. Can you be
lieve
it
has
been
10 years
since
we
initiated this Phillips 66-Young Ea-
gles Fuel program for EAA? Then
Aviation
Manager
Jack Hammond
was very gracious and warmly recep
concluded and some of the airplanes,
which had been parked all the way
from the FBO ramp south to the ter
minal building
ramp, began
to
depart; we counted
the
ballots and
determined our winners.
We held
the
awards
dinner
in
the
large lion the field"
tent;
the food
was excellent, the band and vocalists
outstanding,
and the
award winners
very deserving.
The 47th Annual Tulsa Regional
Fly-In had
come to
a conclusion. It
was
a picture perfect fly-in under ab
solutely ideal conditions in a superb
location. This
is
one show we don't
have to take on the road six weeks to
get right
The 47th was in the finest tradi
tion of
all
of
its predecessors.
The
planning and organizing committee
is
already at work on the 48th, sched
uled for Bartlesville
on
September 17
and 18, 2004; hold your breath
Our deepest thanks to
the
200
plus volunteers whose unreserved
talent, dedication, and passion for
airplanes and airplane people made
this happen. Thanks
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GPS
glitches
between the
ears
DOUG
STEWART
"Cleared
for
takeoff,
left
turn on
course approved,"
the
tower instructed
Thus I was
me. Looking to the right to ensure that
no one
was
on
final (never
trust
any-
somewhat shocked
one not even
the
tower controller),
I taxied onto the runway. I applied full
when
my GPS
power,
and
as
the
rudder gained
re-
said
the
ETE
ponsiveness
I lifted the tail.
Shortly
thereafter the mains left the runway,
estimated time en route)
and I was on my way back
home
after
enough, there
was the problem. In-
dropping
my son off to return to stead of saying
KGBR
(Great
was more than
school after a weekend home.
Barrington, Massachusetts) it
said
Observing local noise abatement
2 hours.
KGRB (Green
Bay
Wisconsin).
procedures, I climbed through 1,000
feet MSL before turning left on course. This route was be-
coming quite familiar to me, now
that my
son was attending
school
on
the other side of the state from where we lived. I
was
getting to know
all
the landmarks that
defined
the
route like the back of my hand. It wasn't a long trip, just less
than 100 miles by 1 mile, but it always took a lot longer go-
ing back home into the westerly winds. Back when I used to
fly
the
Mirage for my boss
to
this
same
airport, the
trip
home usually took a little under half an hour. In
my
Super
Cruiser it was more like an hour and a half trip.
Thus
I was
somewhat shocked when my GPS
said
the
ETE (estimated
time en
route) was
more than
12
hours.
I
also
noted
that the CD (course deviation indicator) was
Apparently a little bit of dyslexia
had crept in as I programmed my
GPS
for
the
flight home.
And for those
of
you who might ask "Were you
in
a hurry
when
you programmed the GPS?" the answer would have
to
be
in the
affirmative. Had I
not been
familiar
with the
route I
might not
have noticed
the
problem as quickly, and
might have found myself well off course, and perhaps even
violating some airspace.
Herein lies
one of the
traps
of
GPS usage...
and there
are
many
traps. Whether because
of
haste, dyslexia,
or
a myr-
iad
of other
reasons it is
quite
easy to incorrectly enter a
waypoint into our
GPS.
f
we
do not have
a
chart with
a
course
line
drawn
on it,
and if
we have not
plotted
our
true
course
and
converted
it
to
a
magnetic
course, we
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is all too easy to hit the wrong button and become totally
"lost" as you try to get back to the screen you were origi
nally viewing.
(For
those
who
know
what
buttons to push,
it's also very easy to hit the wrong one when the turbulence
starts to kick up.)
Another
problem that
GPS has created is
that
of more
frequent airspace incursion. Wait, you
say,
doesn't
GPS
give
us
much better situational awareness? Indeed it does. But if
we
blindly accept what
the GPS
says
without
backing
that
up with a chart,
and
if we are using a less expensive unit
without
a
moving map, or
have
our moving map
scaled
down to a small scale (to give better clarity to the map), we
might
not see that we
are about to (or perhaps already have)
bust some airspace. Believe me, it
is
happening all too often.
At
the
seminars I give on
GPS
usage I like
to
ask
the
au
dience
the
following questions. Please answer for yourself,
as well.
1.
How many of you have a handheld or panel-mounted
GPS? Many hands usually go up for this one.
2. How
many of
you
know how to
program a
direct-
to" waypoint? Usually the same
number
of
hands is held
high.
3. How
many of
you know how to program a route on
your GPS?
For
this question the number of hands held up is
reduced by typically 50 percent to 75 percent.
4. And
how many
of you
who
know
how
to program a
route also know how
to
edit
the
route?
At
this
point
there
are usually only a few hands being held up. I would like to
say
that
if you
cannot
answer the last question in
the
affir
mative, you still have a great deal to learn about your
GPS.
I would like to offer a
few
tips for better, and safer, use of
GPS
navigation systems. f the unit
is
new to you, take it
home and
learn
how
to use
it in
the "simulator"
mode in
the
comfort and safety
of
your favorite easy chair. In the
cockpit, in flight, is not
the
time to be learning
how
to use
your GPS f using a handheld unit, program your route be
fore engine start.
(In
the winter it
might
be
better
to
program after engine start, but before taxiing, while the en
gine warms up.)
Whether
you
have
a handheld or
panel-mounted GPS, do not attempt to program your GPS
while you are taxiing. Too many runway incursions have
happened as a result
of
this, and taxi collisions have oc
Fly high with
a
quality Classic
interior