LEGACY LOG

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HOMEBUILT & EXPERIMENTAL

AIRPLANESJan/Feb 2019

Above photo from 1931

Sikorsky sales brochure.

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Specifications: Span, 52 feet. Length overall,31 feet 11 inches. Height overall, 11 feet 8

inches. Wing area (including ailerons), 350

square feet. Pratt & Whitney Wasp, Junior, of

300 horsepower. Power loading, 13.33 pounds

per horsepower. Wing loading, 11.43 pounds

per square foot. Weight empty, 2,678 pounds;

useful load, 1,322 pounds; gross weight, 4,000

pounds.

Performance: High speed, 119 miles per

hour. Cruising speed, 100 miles per hour.

Landing speed, 54 miles per hour. Rate of

climb, 750 feet per minute. Climb in 10 min-

utes, 7,500 feet. Service ceiling, 18,000 feet.

Radius, 450 miles. Gasoline capacity, 65 gal-

lons.

Five watertight compartments are incorpo-

rated in the construction of the fuselage, the

framework of which is duralumin covered with

riveted Alclad. The wings and tail surfaces

have a duralumin framework covered with fab-

ric. Ailerons are of the balance type with push

pull tubes. Aileron framework is duralumin

covered with fabric. Hydraulic retractable

landing gear, equipped with Goodyear Air-

wheels, hydraulic brakes and shock absorbers,

is provided.

Equipment includes Hamilton-Standard alu-

minum alloy propeller, Heywood starter, stan-

dard instrument panel, Sperry Artificial

Horizon, Paulin altimeter and life preservers.

The Sikorsky S-39-B Amphibian accommo-

dates five persons. Controls are dual.

The single engine is mounted at the leading

edge of the wing.

Aero Digest

A very rare type of

the Sikorsky

dynasty landing

on Antique Airfield

during our 2008

AAA/APM Annual

Fly-in. Chuck

Stewart pho-

tographed Dick

Jackson’s NC50V

“Spirit of Africa”.

Photo by donor Bob

Straub, AAA M-560,

with note, “Sikorsky S-

39 under restoration

1996, now finished. At

New England Air Mu-

seum, Bradley Int’l Air-

port, Windsor Locks,

CT.”

Sikorsky S-39B “Jungle

Gym” fully restored on

display at the New

England Air Museum.

Photo courtesy of the

New England Air Mu-

seum located at 36

Perimeter Rd, Windsor

Locks, CT 06096.

A special “Thank you” to the

New England Air Museum.Hours of operation are Tues.-Sun.

from 10:00 am-5:00 pm.

Please visit www.neam.org or call

800-623-3305 for more information

on admission and exhibits.

First made in 1930, the S-39 was a single-engine derivative of their suc-cessful twin-engined S-38. It was intended as a smaller amphibian marketedto individual pilot-owner sportsmen and executives and sold for $20,000.Twenty-three were built produced in spite of the Depression and was the firstaircraft designed and produced by Sikorsky after the company moved fromLong Island to Connecticut.

First flown on July 31, 1930, the Museum's S-39, having been owned by anumber of organizations and individuals, made history during World War IIwhen it was used for air-sea rescue missions by the Civil Air Patrol out of Re-hoboth, Delaware. One such mission resulted in the pilot, Hugh Sharp, and hisobserver, Eddie Edwards, becoming the first civilians ever to be awarded theAir Medal. It also earned the Sikorsky Company the prestigious Collier Trophy.

Following its restoration the Museum held a dedication ceremony on Nov.1, 1996. The S-39 was fondly described by a speaker as having the appearanceof "a collection of airplane parts flying together in the same direction." It wasaffectionately called the "Jungle Gym" as its many struts and booms resemblea child's playground apparatus.

Please contact aircraft-collection@neam.org if you have any informationor comments on the Sikorsky S-39.

New England Air Museum, www.neam.org/ac-sikorsky-s39b.php

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Both the Martin MS1

and Cox-Klemin XS1

Scout planes would

look good on wheels

at most any fly-ins in a

later century.

In 1923 The U.S. Navy was a customer

for a little biplane designed to fit onto a U.S.

Navy Submarine the S-1. The S-1 featured

a tubular storage facility on the deck of the

S-1 Sub. The Martin Aircraft went on to be

a major aircraft company. The Cox-Klemin

firm failed to last.

Aviation, Apr. 30, 1923

Aviation, Apr. 7, 1924

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Left, the Trimmer photo

taken at our 1962 AAA Na-

tional Fly-in at the Ot-

tumwa national event. C.

Biemond was flying it from

Ord, Nebraska.

Aviation, Feb. 1946

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The historical background of the Savoia-Marchetti S-56 NC-194M that

was the AAA Grand Champion here at our 1987 AAA/APM Fly-in. Among

the ancestors of the S-56 model built in the U.S. was the Italian built S-13

that was the only entrant in the 1919 third Schneider Trophy Race of the

seven entries to complete the race. In the 4th Schneider Race at Venice,

Italy, in 1920 the Savoia 19 was the winner. Both these Italian built “S” mod-

els reflected the ancestry of the S-56 manufactured by American Aeronautical

Corp. of New York that built several Savoia-Marchetti versions during those

1929-1930 hey days. Herein we reprint a portion of the history of this Amer-

ican built Italian design that made some amphibian aircraft history here on

Antique Airfield.

This Savoia-Marchetti was acquired and restored by the late R. W. “Buzz”

Kaplan. He was AAA member M-13219 and built a fabulous historical avia-

tion collection and air museum at Owatonna, Minnesota.

This rare example of aviation history, NC194M is now in the Reynolda

House, Inc. museum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. R. J. Reynolds is

the founder of this facility.

Dec. 1931 Aero Digest “Stainless Steel Airplane”

National Glider and Airplane News- January, 1932The Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Co. has completed very successful

test craft construction, designed by the engineering forces of the American

Aeronautical Corporation, a subsidiary of the Dayton Airplane Engine Co.

This new construction is in the form of a four-seater amphibian model BB-1,

open cockpit of the Savoia-Marchetti type, entirely constructed of stainless

steel, shot welded, and is equipped with a Kinner 210 H.P. engine. It was

built by the Budd Co. after several years of research and experiment by the

metallurgists and welding technicians of the Budd Co. in collaboration with

the aeronautical engineers of the American Aeronautical Corporation, under

the direction of Enea Bossi, who holds flying license number two of the Italian

government acquired more than twenty years ago.

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A 1956 Piaggio P. 136-L1 Royal Gull at Blakesburg 2018. Photo by G. R. Dennis Price.

John Mohr, AAA Lifetime member M-23295 of St. Petersburg, Florida,

is a retired airline pilot, legendary airshow pilot (retired) flying a stock

220 Stearman, helicopter pilot, flight instructor, A&P mechanic, and of

course, seaplane pilot.

John has reportedly flown his Piaggio Royal Gull, N40022, over a great

part of the world including the Arctic & Europe.

The Piaggio is well known for its short field abilities on both land and

water. It has operated in and out of Antique Airfield on at least three oc-

casions in 2005, 2011, and 2018.

The Italian influence In the design and production of water related

aircraft- The country of Italy has a geographic shape that has a great

amount of sea surrounding its coasts. Possibly, this has influenced the

many seaplanes designed and manufactured in Italy. Of course, we have

been fortunate to have had both Piaggio and Savoia-Marchetti, S.I.A.I. Mar-

chetti, CANT, Caproni, Fiat, Macchi, Breda, Nardi, and a host of other com-

panies building aircraft in Italy.

The Piaggio firm started building aircraft in 1916 and aircraft engines

in 1925. From 1916 the Piaggio firm has manufactured thousands of both

seaplanes and landplanes in size from one place size to four engine trans-

ports.

P-136-L-1 was the first Piaggio model to go into production after the

end of WWII. Twenty-three were first built for the revived Italian Air

Force for training purposes and for the use of the many miles of Italian

coastline.

A similar Piaggio design was the P-166, a six to eight place but only a

land plane also with two Super charged 340 hp Lycoming engines.

Another Piaggio design of the many that came out of their many years

of original designs production was the P-155-SAM which was a rescue fly-

ing boat that had a striking resemblance to the U.S. Martin PBM-1 of WWII

fame. Possibly it was built under license from Martin.

For Antique Airfield to host the Piaggio P-136, not just once, but several

times gives Antique Airfield an international scope we are proud to have.

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8

The famous name of Stearman supposedly took a hit when the founder of

that famous builder of fine airplanes left that firm and become involved with

several other companies including the Stearman-Hammond Company of

some fame in the late “Thirties”.

We have noted a date of 1938 when the Boeing Airplane Company acquired

the name and assets of the Stearman firm that was still building fine airplanes

in Wichita.

However, that name of Stearman still was and many yet today still believe

the primary name of a very famous biplane built both before WWII and dur-

ing most of WWII.

In my own case, as a would-be aviation historian, I had presumed that the

Stearman production line had been shifted up to the Seattle area. As I recall

on my hire up to Boeing in early 1948, I mentioned my interest in possibly

working on the Stearman production line, but the lady interviewing me didn’t

have a clue about Stearmans. It took a while, but I finally learned that the

name of the Stearmans was still a big part of Wichita’s aviation history.

We are always proud to host quite a number of Stearmans with both orig-

inal Stearman models and the more numerous

military models being those that trained so many

fine pilots in many countries prior to WWII.

Robert L. Taylor

Life, Dec. 28, 1942

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Below is an excerpt from an article in

the June 1932 issue of Aero Digest.

BOEING MODEL 204-FLYING BOATThe illustration is that of a six-place Wasp-powered flying boat which is being used extensively on the Pacific. They carry mail from British

Columbia to the United States, serve for mining exploration in Alaska, for use in patrolling fisheries, and for varied activities where it is necessary

to fly over water or where water is the only available surface for landing.

The cabin with its large windows is so situated that a passenger, as well as the pilot, has an uninterrupted field of vision, a feature which

makes this model desirable for scenic trips as well as photographic work. The cabin is luxuriously equipped with comfortable seats and is also

insulated from the sound of the motor. There is a large baggage compartment to the rear of the cabin, which is accessible through a hatch in

the deck.

Boeing makes many models besides this one, ranging in size from the small pursuit plane on page 13 to large eighteen-passenger tri-motored

biplanes.

Boeing mail and passenger planes have flown more miles on trans-continental and Pacific Coast line service than any other type of plane. In-

cidentally, Boeing is the largest manufacturer of planes in this country.

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The letter above that was directed to Helen Scheetz

about her donation of Boeing 80 parts to Pacific Museum

of Flight has a very personal relationship to both the his-

tory of the Antique Airplane Association and just how it

happened that Helen being the wife of the late Charles

Scheetz AAA M-3 was of help in the restoration of the

Boeing 80-A pictured above on this page 10.

I realize that 1980 is quite a long time ago and that

Charlie Scheetz “Went West” December 16, 1973, and

Helen passed away May 8, 2013. However, Helen had

passed on the letter above to me and it was filed with

one of our Boeing Aircraft files here in the AAA Headquar-

ters on Antique Airfield.

My own interest in the Boeing 80-S series is due to my

only contact with any of the model 80 Boeing series, al-

though I was also a Boeing employee from early 1948 to

spring of 1948. I cannot recall the department number,

but I was hanging the R4360 engine on the B-50 Bombers.

I never resigned, but left Boeing and Seattle at the onset

of a “Wildcat” strike at Boeing and returned to Iowa.

My older brother, Ray Taylor, did gain employment at

Boeing later in 1948 and retired from Boeing with seven-

teen years of service including three years at the Boeing

“Minute Man” facility on the Cape Canaveral space base

in Florida. We were fortunate to have attended the third

“Minute Man” space shot there via his Boeing connec-

tion.

Actually, my brother worked at Vega Aircraft (a Lock-

heed subsidiary) most of WWII building Boeing B-17’s no

less, but I served most of WWII in the US Army Air Force

and a year in the (new then) US Air Force in 1950-51.

I realize this letter is somewhat late, but Charlie Scheetz

was both my boss in1952 at the Hunter Flying Service in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and encouraged me in both the start

of the Antique Airplane Association in August 1953 which

was the first and is the oldest organization founded for

the finding, restoration and flying of antique and classic

aircraft.

Our affiliated Airpower Museum, Inc. formed in 1964

was also supported and advised by the late Charles

Scheetz M-3.

The Boeing TOTEM

Aviation Engineering

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Apr. 1940 Popular Aviation

A Boeing Model A Visits the Ottumwa Mu-

nicipal Airport in 1938. The photo above wastaken by Bob Tayler when he made it over there on one

of his frequent hikes to the Municipal Airport that had

several different names over the years, but last used

by the U.S. Navy as one of its facilities during WWII.

No one I knew at the time was aware of the purpose

of its visit, and Ole Oleson the airport manager was out

with a student. I noticed a couple of strangers to the

Ottumwa Airport working on one of the engines. After

I finished my photo taking of this unusual visitor to Ot-

tumwa one of the crew members approached me with

a query about any desire on my part to take a ride in

the largest airplane I had ever seen. I had taken my

first ride in a Ford Tri-motor in 1936, but the Boeing

was much larger to me.

Anyway, the stranger I had met advised me they

needed help in the hauling of some large oil cans, and

if I was available, it would result in a free ride for me in

the big Boeing. The next day we did our best to fulfill

my own duties, as I also had horses and cows to attend

to at my grandfather’s barn about a mile and a half

away.

The Boeing crew member that solicited my help ad-

vised me that my ride would still be available the next

day. When I did make it over, that big Boeing had van-

ished for good, but the photos and the memories re-

main.

The New BoeiNg Model 80-A TriMoTored PAsseNger TrANsPorT

Boeing engineers designed Model 80-A to fly on Boeing routes--not

merely an airplane to sell! Its specifications were based on two

years’ flying data gathered on the Boeing-operated Chicago to Oakland route...

A fleet of Model 80-A’s are now operating on this “longest air line

in the world”... flying rigid schedules... sea level to 12,000 feet... some

airports 6,800 feet altitude... ground temperatures from 30 below zero to

120° Fahrenheit! Tests with full load have proven this transport swift,

highly maneuverable, economical to operate and comfortable

to ride in! Airway Age, Dec. 1929

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Might Have Been A Great Airport CarAlthough, my research goals are most often directed

to the products of the aviation world. It’s also very fac-

tual that Henry Ford went deep into a variety of suc-

cessful aviation corporations including the everlasting

Ford Trimotor.

As I learned first hand in Iowa, Colorado, and the

L.A. areas in my youth that most of those airport photo

ground trips were often a challenge. In addition to my

many years of aviation material related collecting, we

also have added some, but much less material that

somehow is related to our being able to what I visual-

ized as the variety of ways we did hope for but most

often failed in reaching airports far and wide. The des-

tinations we made it to most always made the means

of travel of little concern.

In this issue of the Log we have added the never to

be forgotten American Austin “Bantam” model on this

page. I’m sure this little jewel of the early 1930s would

still be a hit today and would be most welcome to AAA

events, as well.

We invite your comments and just how and when

you managed your trips to just when, where, and how

the aviation “bug” took over your own thoughts and pur-

pose in early life.

Robert L. Taylor, Publisher

The Stearman Flying Wire We have been a member of the Stearman SRA Club for many

years. Our latest issue of the “Stearman Flying Wire” magazine

just arrived very well done, but for those needing a postal ad-

dress rather than by “online” contact Brian Rosenstein, SRA

Membership Director, at 8015 Haley Ct, Stanley, NC 28164.

Legacy Log

P. O. Box 127, Blakesburg, IA 52536

641-938-2773

AntiqueAirfield@sirisonline.com

Publisher: Robert L. Taylor

Research Editor: Ben Taylor

Graphic Editor: Cindy DeWild

PART 1 of the History of the Amphibians, Float

Planes, and Homebuilt Seaplanes that have operated

to and from Antique Airfield

During the past, near at hand, half century since Antique

Airfield was first established in 1970, we have been both

pleased and surprised at the number of water craft that

have operated quite well on and off Antique Airfield.

We regret that recognition for such participation has

been rare in past AAA/APM publications. Our years of pub-

lishing efforts in past eras have been minor in this record;

therefore, Part 2 on such aircraft is already underway. The

major problem is locating the related photos, plus followed

by adequate research to credit those water plane owners

who did join us and were willing to in the early days of An-

tique Airfield conduct operations by displaying both the eras

and types now often out of service and found only in mu-

seums. Your comments most welcome.

2019 Upcoming Chapter Fly-ins:

Mar 1-2, Arizona Cactus Fly-in

CGZ Casa Grande, AZ

May 31- Jun 2, Marginal First Ditch Fly-in

with Early Bird BBQ on May 30,

12Y LeSuer, MN

Jun 7-9, Potomac Antique Aero Squadron

Annual Antique Fly-in, MD1 Massey, MD

Aug 18- Antique Airplane Club of Greater

New York Fly-in, 23N Bayport Aerodome

Aug 28-Sep 1- AAA/APM National Fly-In

Antique Airfield IA27, Blakesburg, IA

Oct 11-12- Texas AAA Annual Fly-in

KGLE Gainesville, TX

Please send your fly-in information and

dates as soon as possible.