Vintage Airplane - Apr 2004

8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Apr 2004

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VOL. 32, No.4

APRIL 2004

2 VAA NEWS/H.G. Frautschy

4 AEROMAIL

5 THE

MORE

THINGS CHANGE .

AN

EDITORIAL BY EAA 'S FOUNDER/Paul H. Poberezny

6 FLIGHT OF THREE, CLEARED

TO

LAND

TO

EAA

AIRVENTURE VIA

OPEN

COCKPITS/Sue

Packer

8 THE VINTAGE INSTRUCTOR

ARE YOU READY OR A

NEW

FLYING

SEASON?

Doug Stewart

10 PERSISTENCE

DICK

AND

PATSY JACKSON 'S SIKORSKY s-39

H.G. Frauts

chy

18 C-180: AT

THE

BEGINNING

RED AND MARILYN S OLDEST 180

Budd Davisson

22 A TRIBUTE TO COLE PALEN AND HIS

FRIEND

GORDON

BAINBRIDGE

THE EARLY DAYS AT

THE

AERODROME

Ev Cass

agneres

26 MYSTERY PLANE/H.G. Frautschy

27

NEW

MEMBERS

28 PASS IT

TO

BUCK

WHAT

IF?/Buck

Hilbert

29

CALENDAR

30

CLASSIFED ADS


3/36

s

T cL

L

SPI

BUTCH

JOYCE

PRESIDENT

VINTAGE ASSOCIATION

Knocking the rust off

H

re

in

the

Carolinas it's

be

ginning to sound and

smell

like spring. Through the

window

next

to my

computer,

I

can see

and

hear the robins,

and

a

few flowers are beginning to peek

out

of

the

ground.

Lots

of

things are growing, in

cluding

my

schedule.

I've

been

able to make a lot of headway

on

my Luscombe project

before

the

schedule gremlins got

control

of

me. I have everything cleaned up

and ready for the

paint gun.

I've

mounted the new

instrument

panel on a jig outside of the air

frame,

and

I've wired it

to

my

handy

Radio Shack power supply.

Everything seems to be

function

ing perfectly. I can't wait to finish,

but I' ll

have to hold off

for

just

about a month.

I have been spending

the

last

week or so getting the motor

home

ready

to

go

to

Lakeland,

Florida,

to

attend the Sun 'n

Fun

EAA Fly-In. Norma

and

I

will

spend almost

two

weeks at the

event; I'll be doing volunteer work

for

the

Vintage

Aircraft Associa

Las Vegas

to attend the

AlA

(Avia

tion Insurance Association)

convention for

five

days. We're

home

for three or

four

days, and

then we move on to

the

VAA Chap

ter

3 Fly-In, which will take place

at the Burlington,

North

Carolina,

airport. This fly-in

is

only about 4S

miles

from

the

house.

It's a

great

time,

and

we're

able

to enjoy it

with our local friends.

So I guess the old

paint

gun will

have to stay on the

workbench

for

a month

or so. Sometimes the

things

you

enjoy

the

most are

those you have to wait for

This

April

issue

lands

in

your

mailbox about the same

time

many of

you

will be brushing off

the

dust

and pushing the airplane

out

of

the hangar

for

the

first

time

in

many months.

Before you strap

in

and head off into the blue, I'd

ask

you

to stop

and

think

for just

a

moment.

First, do a

thorough

preflight

inspection. Look over the airplane

as

though

you

were flying it

for

the first time, and

didn't know

any of its past history. Pull an in

much interest in the mechanical

condition

of his

or her airplane .

Every year we have a rash of in

surance losses called in right after

the

first

nice

weekend

in

the

country. An

engine

failure or a pi

lot's

rusty

aviation

skills are

usually to blame.

It's a shame, but sometimes

these losses

mean

not

only

a dam

age claim to property, but also a

claim

due to

the

injury of

a loved

one. Knock off your personal cob

webs with a few laps

with

a flight

instructor in

the

back

or on your

right

side. Springtime

is a great

time to schedule your flight re

view.

f

you

live

in an area that

doesn

' t

have

a flight

instructor

current

in the type of airplane

you

fly, then be careful and make

a couple of solo flights before tak

ing

up

your buddies.

For

those

first

post-winter

flights, pick

your

days carefully. Windy condi

tions

you

would

have easily

handled in the fall

may prove

to

be too much for your rusty feet in


4/36

V

5

SBA

Solicits EAA

on

Air

Tour

NPRM Information

The controversial

FAA

National

Air Tour Safety Standards notice of

proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was

the subject

of

a recent

meeting with

the Small Business

Administration

(SBA) in

Washington, D.C.

EAA

Vice

President of Government

Affairs

Doug Macnair

was

among those

who presented to

SBA the

hardships

the proposed regulations

would

im

pose on many small aviation

enterprises.

SBA officials

wanted to

know how

many Part 91

operators

the NPRM

would

affect;

how it

would

affect

their

revenue;

and

what

it

would

cost them to meet the proposed re

quirements.

EAA

showed

SBA

how

the rule would affect airfields, flight

schools,

and

charitable

organiza

tions,

and

it presented alternatives

that would allow the

FAA

to achieve

its regulatory goals while reducing

the

burden

on

small businesses.

EAA, which

has

submitted its fi

nal comments to the

FAA,

feels the

NPRM imposes restrictive require

ments

on

the air tour industry that

are unnecessary

and

not supported

by the data. Worse,

the

rule reaches

beyond

the air tour

industry and

adds

new

requirements

for

flight

schools

that conduct

casual sight

seeing flights, Single-ship sightseeing

operations, and operations that pro

vide rides in vintage and historically

significant aircraft.

There is little supporting data to

justify

the

proposed

wide-sweeping

changes, said Earl Lawrence, EAA

vice

president

of industry

and

regu

latory

affairs. For example, the

NPRM would require a 1920s-era air

plane operating at a nontowered

Midwestern airport

to comply with

the same operational

and

adminis

trative requirements as a helicopter

constructed

under

current

require

ments and operated in continuous

service over

the

Grand

Canyon.

That

indicates

that

the authors did

n't

follow past regulatory practice

of

producing

regulations

that are re

sponsive

to

the wide

variety

of

aircraft

and

operations

conducted in

the

United States.

FAA

extended the official

com

ment

period

to

April 19, 2004, to

solicit more input from the air

tour industry

and

other aviation

organizations.

EAA

Works

to Preserve

Ethanol Labels

Working with

the

Wisconsin

Ethanol Producers , EAA recently

helped craft a compromise bill that

gas stations will continue to identify

gasoline that

contains

ethanol. The

original

bill

would have removed

this requirement, unless

the pump

dispensed reformulated gasoline

at

an

airport

for use as

aircraft fuel.

EAA,

which

holds

a series

of

supple

mental

type certificates (STCs) that

allow aircraft owners to use auto fu

proposed legislation, stations could

switch

to an ethanol

blend gasoline

without informing consumers, in

cluding aircraft users.

EAA's

proposed compromise

lan

guage:

A

retail dealer of petroleum

products shall post in a conspicuous

place

and

in a conspicuous

mann

er

on

or

near the e

ntrance

to the filling

station, garage,

or

other place where

the petroleum products are being of

fered

for

sale

a notice stating, for

each device that dispenses petro

leum

products, whether

the

device

dispenses a

gasoline-ethanol

fuel

blend

and the

grade

of the petro

leum product being dispensed.

Multiple issues

with

gasoline oxy

genated with

ethanol

in aircraft use

include vapor lock and material

compatibility issues.

No

Appointment Necessary

Medical Assistance has a new shin

gle on the EAA Members Only home

page

at

http:

mem e

rs

eaa

or

g/home

Easily recognizable and easy

to

navi

gate, the site is

home

to up-to-date

information

on

airman medical certi

fication, the EAA

Aeromedical

Advisory program, and EAA Pilot Ad-

vocates. There are also useful resource

links, articles,

and

downloadable FAA

forms to help resolve a medical issue

and keep you flying.

EAA

Members Have Year Round

Free

Museum

Admission

Starting March

I, 2004, EAA

http://members/http://members/http://members/http://members/


5/36

Get

Your

E

AirVenture Planning Guide

The

EAA

AirVenture Planning Guide will help you arrange your visit to

Oshkosh from Ju ly 27

to

August 2. Now available on

the EAA

AirVenture

website

at

www.airventure

org

you'll find useful information about

the many

lodging options, handicapped services, driving directions,

comme

rcial flight

information, vehicle rental, grou

nd

transportation services,

and

more. View

online or print the four-page

PDF

file and you'll be well

on

your way to

map

ping your

EAA

AirVenture adventure

HOMEBUILT CAMPING

Many VAA members who have

interests

in

the

homebuilt

area

are

aware that

the parking areas for custom-built aircraft have been expanded

In

recent

years. Starting with

EAA

AirVenture

Oshkosh 2 4

, the pilots of custom-

built aircraft

who

prefer to camp with their airplanes will have a new

location. The

southwestern corner

of

the custom -built parking area (just to

the

north

of the

Fly

Market)

has been

designated

as

homebuilt camping.

Showers and

other

facilities

are being readied

for

this shift

in

camping areas.

For

the VAA , it

means

that some additional parking areas will

open up.

If

you

'

ve ever thought about

camping

with

your

vintage airplane

,

plan to

spend

a week

with

your

fellow vintage aviators

at

EAA

AirVenture

Oshkosh

2004

JUDGING STANDARDS

If

you

'

re

planning

on

attending

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

,

and you

'd like to

have

your

aircraft

judged

during

the

convention

,

we

'd

suggest

reviewing the latest

copy of the Official

E

Judging Standards nu l available online

at

www.vlntageaircraft.org.Click

on

the

link

at the

top

of the

page

that

reads

"

How

Do

I

Show

My

Plane?

There

is

also

a

pair of

associated articles

on

the

judging

process highlighted

on

that same web

page. Even

if you've

re-

viewed

the

pages

in the

past

, there

have been

some

changes

to

the

rules

,

so

you may

want to take a quick glance at the

new document.

counter, and current members can

on June 4-5,2004.

purchase $10 family memberships that

This

nat ional event, he ld

in

extend the

free

admission benefit to

Bartlesvi

ll

e since 1987, has

attracted

their immediate family members.

bip lanes from all

over the Northern

The average cost of membership in Hemisphere. The event is no rmally at

a comparable facility exceeds $50. But

tended by 3,000-4,000 people

and

for just $40 (or $50 for a family),

EAA

450-500 airplanes,

of which

approxi

offers unlimited admissions to a world mately 100-140 are biplanes. All of the

Herrick, a recognized aviation histo

rian,

an

avid antique aircraft collector,

and an aviation publisher, gained na

tional recognition in September 2003

with his re-creation of the National Air

Tours

of approximately 75

years ago

when aerial passenger service was in its

infancy.

In honoring Herrick's attendance, the

Expo will additionally invite and host a

number of the antique airplanes of the

National Air Tour 2003

and

recognize

the

pilots

and

crews

who

flew

the

air

craft on tour during September 2003.

The

event

is open

to the

public at

Frank Phillips AirfieldField, Bartlesville,

Oklahoma, on June 4-5. Gate

admis

sion is $3.00 for adults and $1.00 for

children

on

Friday,

June

4

and

$5.00

for

adults and

$3.00 for

children on

Saturday,

June

5.

The public will have

close access

to

the pilots

and

aircraft.

For

information, contact

Charles W.

Harris at 918-622-8400 or www.biplane-

expo.com.

EAA

SportAir Workshop

Schedule

Online

f

you

want

to learn how to build

an airplane, an EAA

SportAir Work

shop should be in your

plans. Held

on weekends

at locations

through

out

the

country,

the

one-,

two-,

or

three-day workshops are

available

to EAA members at a discount. A

comp

l

ete

schedule

for

the

remain

der

of

2004

is

now available

on

www

sportair.com.

Untold numbers

of

home

builders got their start at the

workshops, and

many

of

them

http:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp://www.vlntageaircraft.org.click/http://www.biplane/http:///reader/full/expo.comhttp:///reader/full/www.sportair.comhttp:///reader/full/www.sportair.comhttp:///reader/full/www.sportair.comhttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp://www.vlntageaircraft.org.click/http://www.biplane/http:///reader/full/expo.comhttp:///reader/full/www.sportair.com


6/36

A I

O

I read with great interest Mr. Hurry's

letter in

the

January issue of Vintage

Airplane. He proposed the use of Mar

vel Mystery Oil and a top oiler as a

method

for getting

the

lead

buildup

out of low compression engines.

Introduction

of MMO

into the

in

duction system by a top oiler device is

exactly the application for which MMO

was originally intended. The purpose

was to remove the gum,

tar,

and sludge

buildups so common in the early days

of tetraethyllead and non-detergent

oils. Top oiler insta llations were com

mon in the '30s and '40s, and they

worked!

Most

drivers, however,

just

dumped additives directly into the

fuel

tank and hoped for results.

Installation

of a top oiler on

old

time auto engines is

no

big deal (you

can coast to the curb if things

don't

work out), but it involves drilling the

intake

manifold

and adding tubes,

hoses,

mounting

brackets, etc. On an

aircraft i t would involve all those

things

and

more. Most

important

l

y,

it

could change the fuel-air

mixture

i

the system

is

empty. This could result

in burning high dollar valves

and

per

There

is

an FAA-approved product

formulated specifica lly for helping our

low compression engines spit

out

the

excess lead that accumulates on valves,

etc. Its

name

is tricresyl

phosphate. It

is

marketed by Alcor

as

TCP. The stuff

is availab le at most pilot shops and

parts su

pp

liers at a

reasonable cost,

and it works!

I used TCP

in

a

Jacobs

L4MB en

gine

for nearly 15

years

with

excellent results. Prior

to

using TCP I

had t o freq uently pull jugs d ue to

lead

build

up on

the

va lve faces. Th e

use

of

TCP

so lved the problem in

short order.

So, what

s

a mother to do?

We could build up

an

experimental

system to in troduce an undetermined

amount of

a

mystery product into

our engine.

We

could p ut a specified amoun t of

a

known, tested, and

FAA-approved

product in the fuel and go fly.

Fritz Mair

Keller,

Texas

To clarify, adding any additional

equipment such

as

a top oiler would

have

to be approved by the FAA. I agree

with Mr. Ma

ir's

statement about

TCP i t 's approved,

and

it works.

Why mess with success?

Mr. Hurry's

letter

was run

primarily

to po i

nt

out two things:

first,

his expe-

rience with Marvel Mystery Oil not

always mixing well with

fuel

. We'd be

curious to know ifany other members

have experienced that phenomenon .

Many members have used

MMO for

years and

are

happy with the results,

and

as another

aviation

magazine

mentioned in an article a few years

ago, there's always

been

plenty ofposi-

tive comments

about

the use of the

addi

tive.

Second, Mr. Hurry's mention

of

CAA approval of a top oiler device

sti

ll

intrigues

us.

No other member has

mentioned this CAA approval. Can

one of our more experienced members

help

fill in the

blanks

on

this?

Editor

WRIGHT D Y

SOLO

Our son, Elliott, turned

16

on December 15. I

was hired by a major

airline

as a pi

lot just

six

months to the day before he was born. Natu

rally, while growing up he has spent many hours

fly ing with me and be ing around the aircraft

restorations we have had in the garage. Last

summer

I

began to "of ficially " teach him to fly.

With his birthday so close to the

100th

an

niversary

of

flight, I suggested he might want to

wait a couple of days after his birthday and solo

on the

17th

of December. He thought this would

be a

good

idea.

December

17

dawned with a high ove r

cast

and light winds. We drove out to the small grass

strip where

we

keep our

1941

DL-65 Taylorcraft

(civilian vers ion of the tandem L-2

).

It was a chilly


7/36

The More Things hange

An editorial by

EAA s

founder

PAUL

H

POBEREZNY

We have received several

comments

regard·

ing our last issue of

Vintage Airplane,

and we

were pleased that they

were

favorable and that

we are

able to continue to produce favorable re-

sults. However in organizations such

as

ours,

with our many

and

varied interests that range

from

the homebuilt, antique, classic, contempo

rary, rotary wing and warbird aircraft, many

times

we

find it very difficult to gather the en·

thusiasm for the overall movement, which is

necessary to ensure our total success.

We

must assure

that we

have among us

both workers and a great deal

of

wisdom to

meet the challenges that face sport/general

aviation. In

my

many travels around the coun·

try I am privileged to talk to many who are

involved

in

various phases of aviation. Across

my

desk each

day

come letters expressing

un-

happiness with aviation, in one way or another.

How

does one in

my

position, meet these chal·

lenges of attempting to reduce taxation, ward

off the continuing growth of restrictions on use

of airports or this vast ocean

of

air above us.

All

too often one believes that

he

or she can

join an organization and that the dues will do

the rest. I must admit

that

I too at one time

believed this same thing, but

it

did not take

me long to learn that this is not the solution to

our problems . The solution is to develop a

strong, reputable,

hard

working force. One that

is not made up of ernotion, but is understand·

ing and knowledgeable of the problems that

we all face-regardless of the type of aircraft

we

fly. I

am

sure that

in

the last few years, for

example, many

of you are

concerned with the

inability to use your

own

public airport as was

possible in the past; that you cannot drive, in

many cases, to your hangar or to load and un·

load your airplane on the ramp; that you cannot

scale 1()'

and

12·foot fences

in

some areas to

that we prepare ourselves knowledge·wise, to

speak authoritatively on the particular sub·

ject

whether it be TCAs,

airport

security

possibly the need for better and improved

weather service, rather than to lash out at the

three·letter word

and

accomplish nothing, but

possibly lose the cooperation

of

many dedi

cated people

in FAA?

True, there are those in FAA who perhaps

are not as qualified or have the enthusiasm

that one would expect. We

too ,

in

our organi·

zation, have the same problem. It may be a

chapter president,

an

EAA member, or

an

offi

cer who at

one time

or

another

does not

represent the true spirit of what we are trying

to accomplish.

Oshkosh

time

is a good example

of that

spirit .

The

great many FAA people who come

here to work-a working vacation for them as

well

as

for many EAA members-all serve the

multitude and quite often. Though tired and

exhausted , they are expected to perform per·

fectly or respond pat iently to an individual or

group

of

individuals who have recently arrived

and

are fresh

and

enthusiastic.

At the present time we have three divisions

within EAA-the Warbirds, the International

Aerobatic Club, and the Vintage division. (We

have

since added an affiliate organization, the

National

Association of Flight Instructors

[NAFIJ.-Editor)

The

purpose in founding these

organizations, under the leadership and um·

brella of EAA, was to gather within our

membership, those who had a particular inter

est in assisting EAA Headquarters

by

helping

at our annual convention in providing forums,

programs, parking assistance, judging, award

presentations, and many of the other tasks so

necessary to have a great event.

Th roughout the year, they shou aid head·

19,OOO-Editor

,

the numbers are not large

enough to cover the costs of printing, publish·

ing and mailing a publication that can only

be

increased in size through increased member·

ships and funds.

In

2004, the dues do cover

the cost of each

of

the publications.-Editor

Many times I wonder

if

we

are

not in competi·

tion

with ourselves, when we

must

put out

three extra publications. Perhaps there is a

better way to go, and yet have the identifica·

tion of each group with the leaders to help us,

not only throughout the year but also in con·

vention planning and at convention time.

I

would like

to know your ideas and

thoughts so that I can present them to the Di·

rectors of the various Divisions . I can

remember

when

we

started with the

An ·

tique/ Classic

Division-for

the first year we

did not charge dues

and

very few joined.

When

a dues structure was set up, then people be·

gan to join.

I know that most of you are proud to wear

the patches

of

the groups

you

belong to,

and

this is as it should

be-whether it

is

an EAA

Division, the Antique Airplane Association, the

Professional

Race

Pilots Association, Soaring

Society of America , or others. This identifica·

tion

of

your interests

and

enthusiasm is seen

on

jackets everywhere. I take

my

hat

off

to all

of

those who belong to the many organiza·

tions

, and

not

only support them

through

membership dues, but through personal dedi·

cation and enthusiasm.

We

must

also

use

the

same philosophy

with the FAA to inspire those

who

may not

be

close to the problem or see the reality of the

situation, to take a better

and

deeper look be-

fore making decisions. In

my

opinion, the day

that

FAA

is separated from the Department of

Transportation the President the United


8/36

To E AirVenture via op n cockpits

J

ly 26,

2003-0shkosh con

trol tower announced, "Flight

of three Stearmans, cleared to

land. " Now

anywhere

else in

the

world,

this would

be

an un

usual eve

nt

for three Stearmans to

be in

the

traffic

pattern at the

same

time, but since the start of

E

ir-

Venture

Oshkosh 2003

was only

days away,

this was

a

common

sight.

What

made

this

flight

unique, however, was that Richard

Packer

owns

all

three Stearmans

and that three Packer family mem

bers were the pilots.

SUE

P CKER

Making

the

trip

to

Oshkosh from

Radnor, Ohio, required a lot of

preparation and

some

help from

friends.

s

you would imagine,

the

front seat of each Stearman was a

coveted prize,

and each pilot

se

lected

his

or her

passenger. Since

this was my first

flight

into

Oshkosh,

my passenger needed

prior experience

with

the conven

tion traffic. Bill Bruns from

Milwaukee,

Wisconsin,

who re

cently retired from the F

as an

air traffic

controller,

was chosen.

Bill

had directed aircraft into

aircraft headed

west

toward

Chicago with Valparaiso,

Indiana

,

as

the

first deSignated fuel

stop.

A

strong

south

wind, however,

forced a stop at Warsaw, Indiana ,

for fuel.

When

flying in formation,

the

lead aircraft is

responsible

for

navigation,

with the other aircraft

following along. I was

in

the lead

aircraft,

so

upon landing at

War

saw, both Rich and

Richard

promptly wanted to know where

they

were and why were they

there.

For those of you familiar

with the

Packer

family

,

you

are


9/36

From a stack of

parts

in

a hangar

in

Buckeye

Arizona

Richard

and

Sue

Packer and the crew

at

Packer Aviation

created two beautiful

Stearmans. Added to

the Grand Champion

Stearman

restor

ed by

Richard

in

1986,

the

trio was flown to EAA

AirVenture 2003 to

celebrate the first cen-

tury of flight

Flying north, we passed through

a narrow corridor between Du Page

and

O'Hare Airports. On

a

clear

day,

the

airliners going in

and out

of O'Hare look close enough

to

touch.

On this day, the

haze

around Chicago limited our visibil

ity. The

time

to

Oshkosh went

by

meeting place for acquaintances to

gather

for

the

air

show

, or

to plan

the

next adventure of

the

day. This

year the

National

Air Tour aircraft

were displayed in our normal spot,

so

we

tied

our

aircraft

south

of

the

Vintage Aircraft Registration

booth.

Our Past Grand Champion

Oshkosh. Thanks again.

With the aircraft secure

and the

campsite set up, we were ready to

begin our week

of

sharing flying

stories

and showing off our air

craft.

We set up a table between

the

two new Stearmans,

Fox and

Gulf, and displayed

two

books

showing

the

eight-year restoration.

Restoring

two Stearmans at the

same time seems like a

monumen

tal task, but in many ways the

second aircraft went

together

eas

ier

than

you would

expect.

The

theory that the second time you

do something

goes faster

than the

first time holds true for everything

but

wings. No matter how you look

at it, there

are

eight wings, and

when

it comes to covering and rib

stitching

and sanding, the second

time

is not any

faster than

the

first.

Restoring aircraft that played

such a

vital

part in history is re

warding in

itself, but

sharing

the

aircraft

with

people brings its own

rewards.

Hearing

the stories from

current

pilots mastering the art of

flying

an

old biplane

and

watching

an

older pilot recall his first flight

makes you forget

the

frustration of

trying

to

get the rudder on

and

the

sore fingers from rib-stitching.

Our week at EAA AirVenture was

over all too soon. Our departure was

planned

for Saturday, August 2.

As

the

aircraft were being preflighted,

Kristie Bruns came out to wish

Bill

a

good flight. Since Rich's aircraft did

not have a front seat passenger for

the flight home, we convinced

Kristie to come to Ohio with

us

She


10/36

TAGE

Are

you

ready

for

new

flying season?

DOUG STEW RT

The sound of hundreds of wings

in flight was

distracting

me from

the

job at hand, that being to get

an article written in time to meet a

deadline.

But as I sat at the com-

puter, the buzzing of all those

wings was starting to get irritating.

How

could that

be?

A lover of

flight such as myself being irritated

by the sound of

wings

in

flight?

Distracted, perhaps, for

like

so

many of us I cannot help but stop

what

I am doing

and

look skyward

whenever

I hear the

sounds

of

flight, but

bothered?

That's cer-

tainly

not what

the

sounds of

flight

do to

me.

Yet here I was,

starting to get really upset.

So I

went

over

to

the window.

Looking

outside

I

could

see that it

was one heck of a beautiful spring

day. The snow was gone. The grass

was

starting

to

green

up. The sky

was inviting me

to

get out to

the

airport and add the Tennessee Red

of cluster flies buzzing around

the

window. They too were eager

to

get outside, to stretch their wings

in flight, before

heading

to the

And so it is

with many,

many pilots

across this

great land

of ours.

For

whate

ver

reason,

they

have managed

to rationalize

folded in silent submission

to

the

cruel elements found outside

throughout

the winter. They

can't

wait for spring to come so that

they

can once again be airborne,

fulfilling their purpose here on

Earth.

And so

it

is

with

many, many

pilots across this great land of ours.

For whatever reason, they have

managed

to

rationalize not flying

throughout

the

winter

months.

They wait

impatiently

for that first

warm

spring

day to head

out

to

the airport and partake again

of

the

gift of wings. For

many

of these

pilots it might have been at least

30, 60, or maybe even 90 days or


11/36

(or weekdays for those not

constrained

by oth er re

sponsibilities) are

some

of the most dangerous times

to be flying. I t seems as if every pilot who has spent

the winter chomping at the bit to be back in the air is

taxiing for the active runway, or in the pattern, or

en

route

to his or

her

favorite $100

burger

destination .

And

whereas

the bicycle analogy (you

never forget

how to

ride

one) is

indeed often true

regarding the

ability to fly an aircraft,

i t is

also true

that i f

you have

not

flown

within the

past 30 days, your piloting skills

have probably deteriorated

to

a certain

extent

. And if

the

last

time

you

took

the controls was before

winter

set in, I

think

I could safely say

that

a little recu

rrent

training might be a useful thing.

It is

not only

stick

and rudder skills

that can

get

rusty

(Did

you

remember to

"dive

away"

from

that

quartering tailwind

as

you taxied to

the

runway?), but

also

the memory

of procedures

and

regulations

might

be affected. For example, have you remembered t

hat

if

you have not flown within the previous 90 days

you

will need to perform three takeoffs

and

landings (each

to a full stop if in a tailwheel airplane) before you can

legally carry passengers? Do

you remember the right

of way rules? Sometimes observing

the

antics that oc

cur in

the

traffic

patterns

of nontowered airports

makes me

think

that no

one

remembers those rules or,

worse yet, no longer cares

about them.

Or is i t just as

winter,

that the

best

equipment

for

collision

avoid

ance is the two eyes each of us was

born

with?

So I have a suggestion that could help all of us

who

share the skies on those wonderful days of spring fly

ing.

Why

not use these early days of the season to get

some recurrent training? The

FAA

Wings program is a

wonderful way

to do

that I certainly see

more

pilots

attending winter safety seminars than I

do in

the sum

mer. I f

you have

already been in

the

process of

improving your knowledge

by

attending a seminar

during those dark

winter

months

, all

you need

to do

now is get three hours of flight

training

...

one

hour

each of maneuvers, takeoffs and landings, and instru

ment flight .

2004 National Certificated

Fligbt

Instructor of the Year

Douglas

Stewart,

MeFI

North

Egremont,

Massachusetts

Congratulations

go

to

Doug for earn

ing the distinction

of 2004 National

Ce rtificated Flight Instructor of the

Year.

Doug holds

a

Master Inst

r

uctor

designation and operates Doug Stewart

F

light Instruction (www.ds l ght.com)

at

Kline Kill Airport (NYl)

in Ghent,

New

York. A veteran of U.S. Army service,

h e is a

longtim

e av

iation

s

afet

y

coun

se

lo

r

deSig

nat

ed

pilot

exa

miner

,

and

member of the National Association of

Flig

ht

Instructor

s.

simple as the fact that pilots forget, during the long ir===================;

Lakeland Air Service

u

tM ~ f f l e

0

tM r/(,tiatlYt

( )U«at

7uet

t

Sem t

t m

7br t

Welcomes All VAA Members To

http:///reader/full/www.dsflight.comhttp:///reader/full/www.dsflight.comhttp:///reader/full/www.dsflight.comhttp:///reader/full/www.dsflight.comhttp:///reader/full/www.dsflight.comhttp:///reader/full/www.dsflight.comhttp:///reader/full/www.dsflight.comhttp:///reader/full/www.dsflight.comhttp:///reader/full/www.dsflight.comhttp:///reader/full/www.dsflight.com


12/36


13/36

ror m ny pilots

w ~ o flew t ~ e

39

it ~ e c m e afavorite

n ~ one t ~ e y ~

remem e r for t ~ e

rest of

t ~ e i r

lives.

or

o t ~ e r s , it o u ~

~ e c o m e an aeronautical

~ o l y grail.

intage airplanes are re

markable machines.

When you think about

their longevity, and the

fact

that

so

many of

them

can

be

rebuilt

with

not

much

more than

average craftsmanship and a few

special tools, it's no wonder that

roughly

half

of

all

airplanes built

since World War II are still flying.

But

there

are exceptions. Many

of the airplanes built before WWII

did

not

survive

the

scrap drives of

that

time, or they were tossed

into

the dump. And some, despite be

ing

built

robustly, were ridden

hard and

put

away wet. They were

tools to

be

used and discarded

SIKORSKY

AMPHIBION

African plain or a beautiful blue

green

inland lake teeming with

pike and trout.

t

was a remarkable aircraft,

the

little

brother to

the

larger twin

engine Sikorsky S-38, which was

being used all over

the

globe

to

ex

plore and survey. The S-39 was

to

be the well-heeled sportsman's

personal mount

or

the conven ient

chariot for a champion

of indus

try, an

airplane

he could take

where he

wanted.

A

person could

handle

and dock the airplane

al

one

if need be, and it wouldn't

need

as

much fuel

as the

S-38.

The

S-39 proved to

be

rugged,

even more so than most seaplanes.

Not many were built; besides the

two prototypes,

a

total of

21 air

planes of

the S-39-A, S-39-B, and

the final variant, the S-39-C, were

constructed,

but many went

on

to

serve for

more

than a decade,

and

a few

even

longer than that , sol

Sikorsky test pilot Boris Sergievsky

and the

project

engineer, Mike

Gluhareff, had

to

ride the airplane

down to

a

marsh

on

Long Island

Sound after one of the Cirrus Her

mes

decided to

quit.

Unable to

maintain flight on the other Her

mes, Sergievsky and Gluhareff

managed to swim away from

the

ensuing wreck,

but

the airplane

was totaled. Since his early days as

a designer

in

Russia, Igor Sikorsky

preferred

multiengine

aircraft. He

felt

that

when properly designed,

the loss of one engine should not

result in

the

loss of

the

aircraft.

The S-39 became a single-engine

aircraft after

the

accident with the

prototype. Although Sikorsky still

would have rather

installed a

pair

of

larger

engines,

another factor

came to bear when the decision

had

to be made.

Sikorsky Aircraft

had recently

become a division of

the United

Aircraft

Corp., and


14/36

The (use/age hull and wing bits and pieces

for

5-39

NSOV

SIN 912,

lies in

a loading area after being

re-

covered from the Alaska bush near Naknek, Alaska.

t

had been stripped o just about everything usable and

was

being

used

as a clubhouse

by

an 8-year-old Inuit

boy and his friends . When found, t had small trees

and undergrowth pushing up through the structure

Most often,

each

piece had to be constructed using the

original parts for patterns. Here a portion

o

the en-

gine cowling is used to

create

a pair o dies that were

used to press

louvers

for the

cowling.

as another Sikorsky { Amphibion

(Sikorsky's coined term for his am

phibious

airplanes)- the

four

Dick

Jackson,

of

Rochester,

New

Hampshire ,

has

loved vintage air

planes all his life.

He's

owned

a

num

ber of great ones,

and still owns the

rare Waco Model

D, a closed-cockpit

black biplane that

comes

straight out

of the pages of 1930s

pulp magazines

like

Flying Aces.

He

also

loves

seaplanes, and

so in 1962 he started

researching antique

seaplanes.

An am

phibian made the

most

sense, since

you

didn' t have to

leave

t

outside all

the t ime, and you

could

just

taxi up

to

the fuel pumps. Be

ing able

to alight

on

both water and land

gave

plenty of

op

tions for places to

visit, instead of

be

ing

bound to only

seaplane

bases.

For

practical reasons, he

ruled

out

wooden

airframes, since

they

didn't hold up well

over the years. That

meant an all-metal

airframe, and when the folder

of

research materials started to grow,

t became obvious

that

the air

rsky, he was going to pick apart

every lead

he could uncover. His

first major breakthrough

came

in

1964, when he asked his

good

friend Steve Rhodes to follow up on

his

research. He gave Rhodes a list

of the eight S-39s thought to be in

Alaska. One proved to be if not the

jackpot, at least a good start.

At the

end

of the

Aleutian

is

land chain is the small Inuit village

called

Naknek.

There, Steve asked

about

the whereabouts of the re

mains of

NC-50V,

which had been

rumored to

have been abandoned

after

being damaged in 1944 or

'45.

No adults

knew

of the air

plane,

but

an

8-year-old

boy

did he

and his

buddies

were us

ing

it as

their

clubhouse

By truck to

King Salmon and

then

by airfreight to Anchorage, i t

was

finally

shipped, dirt

and

all

(so

no

little

buried

parts

would be

lost), to New

Hampshire, where it

arrived

in 1965.

Thankfully,

the

airframe did still have its all-im

portant nameplate.

Now Dick

had

a

place to start,

but

didn't

know

how

long

the road

would

be. If

he

had, he

might very well

have

de

cided

the

project was pure folly.


15/36


16/36

The completely new center section with its fabric covering applied.

You

can

see

the fuel tanks installed in the center section which was done in the S 39C

model

of

the airplane. Earlier versions had the fuel in tanks located in the hull.

The two long hatches and the smaller

aft hatch allow you to gain access to

The engine control quadrant like the


17/36

From

the

original

Sikorsky

m-

phibian S 39 brochure.

was intact, it showed the technical

changes

needed to convert the S

39 to

a C

model. Dick deviated

from one method of original con

struction-the

original

corrosion

protection for the wings was a

combination of red lead oxide

primer,

covered

by beeswax.

The

areas coming in contact with fab

ric

were

dope-proofed using tin

foil.

For the

restoration, Dick chose

to use epoxy primers.

The

tail section also required

the

manufacture of some new ribs,

along with

a set of spars. The rud

der

is

an

original part that could be

repaired.

Even the

ripples

in

the

rudder 's skin surface, which were

there

when the

airplane was built,

have been maintained.

The first major piece recovered,

the hull to NC-SOV was severely cor

roded. Three

major

bulkheads

needed to be replaced, as well as

the

upper decking, hatches, and win

dow frames. The

bottom

skins

and

the keel also had to be replaced. All

of

the

riveting was

done

using the

same methods craftsmen at Sikorsky

had used in 1930. The upset side of

the rivet was rounded, instead of

flat . All of the hardware in the air

frame is white cadmium plated, and

all

nuts

that

must be

safetied

are

done so with cotter

pins-no

elastic

stop nuts were used. All of

the

con

trol

cables are spliced,

with no

compression fittings used.

The

interior

is strikingly

origi

nal. Since

both

fabric and leather

upholstery

samples

were

found

from the various S-39s, Dick

and

Patsy

chose to

use leather for the

seat cushions,

and the

interior side

panels were reproduced from ma

hogany, using

the

original parts as

patterns. The

instrument

panel is

equally original,

with

the

addition

of

a

small panel

that hides

the

modern switches and

controls

for

the

alternator, radiOS,

and inter

com. One of the original

parts

in

the

cockpit is the control

wheel,

which

was disassembled and

then

reglued. The S-39

came equipped

with

a control wheel

on the

pilot's

side,

and

a removable control stick

on

the right.

Unlike the S-38, the

cockpit to

the

S-39 is

entered through the

cabin.

(The S-38 must be entered

through hatches on each side

of

the cockpit.)

With

two up forward

in

the

cockpit,

there s

still

plenty

of

room

for two or three

passen

gers in the aft cabin, though with

three

on the

seat, they 'd better be

married or very close friends

Above

the

cockpit,

mounted

on

the wing center section, is a neatly

cowled Pratt

Whitney

96S-ANl,

which

is rated

at 400

hp

at 2200

rpm while

pulling 34 inches

of

manifold pressure. (The -ANI is

the military

designation

for the B

series of the 98S.) The cowling sur

rounding the Wasp Junior is new

and secured using pins and wires.


18/36

I have been lucky

enough to

fly

the S-39

with

Dick and

Patsy

(Thank

you,

Hank Jackson)

on a

couple of occasions, and one of

the most striking aspects of flying

in

the

S-39 is

the

sensation

that

you re suspended from the wing

and

the

rest of

the

airframe. That

feeling

comes

from

seeing

all the

struts that make

up

the

intercon

necting structure of the S-39. All of

the

struts

on

the Jacksons S-39 are

new, and they re

attached

using

the

same system originally used by

Sikorsky. Each strut

end is

secured

using

hollow

steel tubular rivets,

which are then filled with beeswax

for corrosion

protection.

t

took

a

lot of

experimentation

and re

search to duplicate the system.

The landing gear does

have a

modern system installed:

Cleve

land wheels and brakes. Originally,

the

majority

of the

S-39 braking

systems were set

up

so that brake

and rudder input could not be ap

plied at

the same time,

but since

NC-809W had been revised with

toe brakes, Dick chose to use that

configuration

on

NC SOV.

One of the biggest challenges af

ter the fuselage was re-creating the

landing

gear. Four

struts

were re

covered over the years, but none

could

be

successfully

rebuilt.

A

complete

set

of

new

struts was

built, using

chevron

seals and the

original end

caps. Since

the

S-39s

were

built

with varying

sizes

of

tires, it gave Dick

some latitude to

choose something that would work

well

on

grass

and

pavement. A set


19/36

white

photo

was projected onto

the

hull of the S-39

and

each spot care

fully masked

off.

During

their

research, Dick and Pat were amazed

at the number of different types of

giraffe

that

exist in

the

wild-there

are nine different marking sets for

the giraffe.

So how l

ong did i t take?

Well,

over

the

years, whenever some

body

asked

Dick when the

big

Amphibion would be finished, his

reply was always the same.

Thursday.

Over the 40 years it

took

to col

lect and restore the S-39,

2,080

Thurdays went by with a couple of

years taken off in the middle of the

restoration. And over those decades

40,000 man-hours of work went

into the project. Dick estimates

that

over

the

years,

Patsy made thou

sands of

lun

ches for the volunteers.

The

restoration took

more than

half of Dick's li fetime, and

he had

some great helpers along the way.

In

the

beginning he had Lockhart

Smitty Smith, Chickie Mattocks,

and

others

who

are no longer with

us,

including

Steve

Rhodes,

Phil

Redden, Lyman Rice, Norman Wal

lace, Stillman Worcester,

and

Bill

Beck.

Since

the

final eight-year

push to complete the restoration

began in 1995, the core of the

hands-on effort was supported by

John LaChance, Frank Stephens,

Hank Jackson , Barry

Jameson,

Bill

Thaden, Phil

Sawyer,

Dwight

Horne, and Arthur Shute. Through

it all, Patsy

Jackson

was there as

well,

supporting

her

husband to


20/36


21/36


22/36

the 170, the 180 stood out in a

crowd as being something new

and different.

Internally,

the

180 is essential

ly 170,

with

a little extra beef

here

and

there. It's often

thought

that the

180 is a bigger, wider air

plane but that's not

the

case.

Not

only are they the same width,

but

also for

the

first several years of

production, many of

the

parts

numbers were the same.

Factory test pilot Hank Waring

made the first test flight of

the

prototype in January of 1952,

and

it went

into

production even

before the full type certificate was

issued. The first airplane rolled off

the production line in October of

that

year and full type certification

wasn't granted until December. A

year later, a total of 641 C-180s had

rolled off the line at a base price of

$12,950 1953 dollars.

The first two

production air

planes were retained by the factory.

Initially,

they

were pressed

into

service as demonstrators and per

sonnel hacks. In 1956, however,

the

factory was updating the 180 line

and

one

of the updates involved

modified landing gear legs.

As

part

of the testing they did

what

was

essentially a test-to-destruction

and

the airplane chosen for that test was

old Serial No. 30000. They kept

dropping it from higher distances

until at 12 feet,

the

airplane itself

was damaged to the pOint

that

it

wasn't economically repairable. The

second airplane produced was

destroyed

in an

accident leaving

N2802A (the first airplane the facto

ry actually delivered

to

a customer)

the oldest surviving C-180.

Incidentally,

the

first 600 air

planes reportedly

had sequential

liN

numbers beginning with

N2800A, with

the

only exceptions

being the occasional custom num-

ber for a customer. The last two dig

its in the

liN

number

match

the

last digits in the serial number.

The airplane was an instant hit.

With

what

was blazing performance

for

the

time, it was hailed as a true

Business Liner and sales were

strong, peaking out

in

1955 with

an

astounding 891 airplanes built. The

next year, however, Cessna intro

duced

the

C 182. This was

the C

180 with a training wheel up front

and no cowl flaps, and sales

dropped sharply

on

the taildrag

ger

as the rank and file pilot dis

covered the joy and simplicity of

the

nosewheel. By

the

1960's

approximately

150 airplanes a

year were being delivered to those

pilots who still saw the taildragger

as

the

ultimate utility airplane

and capable of going places

the

nose-dragger didn't dare go.

Production continued until 1981

when the last 180 rolled off the

line September

10th of that

year.

The first airplane delivered,

N2802A, went straight to Conti

nental Motors who put 788 hours

on it over the next three years.

Then it went through a succession of

owners until

Red

Hamilton saw it

listed for sale.

Red

freely admits that

he

is

mechanically fixated

on

older

machinery. In fact, that's how he has

always made his living.

He says,

I just like old stuff that

works.

He's always

had an

interest in air

planes but it wasn't his primary pas

sion

when

younger.

I suppose I

shouldn't admit

it,

but

I never did build

model

air

planes as a kid. I was

into

cars,

and

still am . Especially flathead

Fords.

When

I was in

my

teens, in

the

1950's, I started rebuilding

Stromberg carburetors.

In those

days, the old Flathead V-8 wasn't

old. A lot of folks were still driving

them and the

hotrod community,

which I was closest to, still used lots

of them.

My

first V-8 was a '39

Deluxe coupe and, after driving


23/36

ers. I'd

found on

the

flatheads

that the

best

thing you could do for

horsepower was get rid

of the manifolds and

go with tubing headers

to

make the exhaust

flow easier.

I was rebuilding a

lot of

engines, the

majority of

them

flat

heads

and

I equipped

Many have speculated

that

the Cessna 18 was bigger

just

about everyone

than the 170,

but

they

re

the same size. The

e

rly 180's

with headers. Then, in

instrument panel

is

nearly identi

c

l to its earlier cousin.

1974,

J. C.

Whitney,

my primary source for

headers, stopped producing them, so

I started making them

myself

and

that's where my present business got

its real start.

As

improbable

as

it sounds, today

the old flathead Ford engine

is

enjoy

ing a major resurgence courtesy of

the

nostalgia boom in hotrodding

as

well

as

the growing interest in early V-S

Ford cars (1932-1953). Hamilton's

company, Red

s

Headers (22950

Bednar Lane, Fort

Bragg, CA

95437,

707-964-7733 www.reds-headers.com)

was ideally positioned

and

became

part of the boom. The activity was

partially fueled by the discovery of

hundreds of new flathead Ford

engines the French military released

in

the

'9

0s

. Besides his signature tub

ing headers, he supplies virtually

every part necessary to rebuild or

hOp-up a flathead Ford

as

well

as

doing custom rebuilds himself.

When

we were starting a family I

made it a

point to

avoid airplanes

because I knew they'd suck

me

in,

Bombardier,

founder of the

International Cessna 180/185 club.

He told us about

an

airplane that was

for sale

and

told us where to find

the

ad for it. The ad read . oldest

C

180 for sale The word oldest

is probably

what

drew us in.

That was about 1987

and no one

was interested in whether an airplane

like a 180

had

any significance or not.

t was just

anoth

er old airplane to

most people.

We,

however, really

liked the idea of owning the oldest

Cessna 180

and

especially liked

the

fact

that

it was

the

very first one sold.

In production airplanes it's hard to

come

up

with something unique.

In some ways

this

airplane is a

celebrity because it

is

one

of the

air

planes

shown

in the 1953/54 pilot's

handbook.

In the course of

owning

the air

plane we've tried

to

find out

as much

as

possible

about

the

airplane

and

while doing that we ran across an ex

Cessna engineer

who

had

lots of old

scheme draWings from Cessna

and

had

it stripped

and put

back in its

1952

paint

scheme.

I'm

an

engine guy so I did

the

engine,

an

0-470U, myself

under the

supervision of an A

& P

I love doing

crankshaft and rod work so I brought

the

engine

up

to my standards. That

was 600 hours ago and

the

engine

has

been trouble

free and super

smooth

during the entire time.

Being a

hotrodder

at

heart

I

added a Snyder speed kit to

the

air

frame

that

added five

to

six miles per

hour

so

i t

cruises

at

an

honest

160

165

mph.

t already

had the

pants on

it.

We also cleaned

up

the panel.

The

top half

is

original, including

the

hockey puck OG and

antique

arti

ficial horizon. The original plastic

work is still on the bottom center

and

we found

an

original glove box

door

through the

C1S0/185 club.

Basically, we've just enjoyed

the

airplane and

fixed

things as

we

http:///reader/full/www.reds-headers.comhttp:///reader/full/www.reds-headers.com


24/36

A Tribute to Cole Palen and

His Friend Gordon Bainbridge

The

e r

ly days at the

e

rodrome

v CASSAGNERES

I

am very saddened

about the

recent layoffs

of

three

key

people

who

were

part

of

the

Old

Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Rhinebeck, New York.

Ken Cassens,

Jim

Hare,

and

Scotty MacKenzie

were devoted workers whom I got

to

know intimately

and respected. I wish I knew

the

real reason for their

layoff, but I do not. However, I would like to

at

least

convey my early experiences with that world famous

aerodrome, created by James Cole Palen.

Cole Palen

and Gordon

Bainbridge,

along with

a

handful of

others,

will go

down

in history books as

strong, quiet, humble, kind, and interesting pre

servers of our wonderful flying heritage.

I first knew

about

Cole Palen in

the

early 1950s,

when

flying friends said,

some

guy has been flying

a WW I Spad 13 out of Stormville Airport, Stormville,

New York (Pete O'Brien's place) on Sundays. Wow, I

thought, what

a

sight that

must

be. I

never did get

over there to see such a flight.

I did

meet

Cole, however, in about 1956

at

an air

show in Massachusetts. I was riding an original 1880

high-wheel bicycle

at

the show, and t was

not

long

before we struck up a conversation when he

needed

someone to prop

the

Spad, or perhaps it was

the

Nieuport 28. I

had earned my

flying lessons in 1945

while working

as

a line boy,

and propping

airplanes

all day long, winter and summer. I thought I knew all

the

commands

for getting one of these

things

started

by

hand,

until he informed

me

of the command

buzz, but that's

another

story.

(billions

of

rocks I'll

have you know) but

with the

help of other airplane

nuts

like myself, a flying

airstrip began to form, funny looking

as

it was.

Driving over there from

Connecticut

on

weekends

as time went on,

in my trusty old

1951

Hillman


25/36

old

dining

table,

the likes of a

monster

pool

table,

upon which you

were likely to find

just

about

any

thing, and I mean anything,

but

usually airplane

parts, a

whole

crankcase from a Hisso, OX-5, rotary,

dope cans, pieces of fabric, water soaked old airplane

books, and

an

official man

eating guard

Kat, by

the name of Pete. Pete the one-eyed cat, yes, a real

live (most of

the

time anyway) honest to goodness cat

with

one

eye.

He

drifted in from

we

know

not

where,

became part of

the

crowd or crew,

and

left some years

(many years) later just

the

same, off

to

we

know not

where

and

has not been seen since.

Pete and the rest

of us

shared that humongous

table, with real food of the day-a huge

round can

of

the life-giving peanut butter

, and a loaf of bread,

maybe a piece of cheese here and there, a banana or

two,

much

milk (much

to

the delight of old one-eye)

and

of course ice cream

which

we

attempted to

keep

ready

in

an honest

to goodness

ice

box (any of

you younger aviators

out

there ever hear of one?).

As

Cole

and

I were single

at

the time, we would al

ways look forward

to

Saturday

night. Why?

Because

we could jump

into

his

1953

I think)

Chevy,

and

drive the

30 or so miles

off into the country to

Williams Lake, better

known

to the locals as Willie's

Pond.

What

was there, you ask? Aha, water

and

soap

for one. They actually had

real

running water in

showers

and

sinks

and

all

that kind

of

thing.

We

would go early,

get all cleaned

up

from two

days

of

grime,

and

into

our finest dress

clothes

(or

what

ever

we could

afford at the time

with our

limited

funds, which

surely

were

lim

ited). Actually we

really were

rich

men at

that time.

like the waltz, fox trot, rumba, hombo,

and

Iawegeon

polka. AND, real live girls, the

kind who

would actu

ally talk to you and look like girls,

in

real dresses

and

all the rest

of

those fine

and

frilly feminine

attrac

tions. What

fun

it was, for the two daring young

adventuresome

aviators to attack

the

place with our

stories

of grand dogfights over the front of

Rhinebeck. That was living, I can assure you.

In fact, this is where Cole

met

his future bride, Rita,

whom

he

stayed married to for a long time. Rita

had

been

a

wonderful

and

devoted lady

and

a close com

panion

to Cole.

But getting

back

to Willie's. When

midnight

ar

rived , Cole would come over to me

no

matter at

what

stage of a wild

hangar

flying

adventure

I was in

to some unsuspecting young thing who

would in

sist on

giving me

her

phone number

so

she could

find out the next exciting episode. He'd say it's the

bewitching

hour,

and

we

have

to get

back

to

the

field

to

get some sleep so we could arise

at

6 a.m. to

begin working

on

the airplanes.

With

that we'd head

straightway for the door.

I recall one night when it was

raining rather hard

,

we

drove along this dark

and

lonely road. Cole's head

lights spotted

some kind

of animal that appeared to

have been hit by a car

in the

middle of the road,

and

was just

kind of

lying there staring up at us. Cole

stopped

the

car; we

both

got out,

and

went

to

the ani

mal.

I t

was

completely

Cole's idea

to do something,

even though I have always loved animals

and

nature.

But

he did something.

He very,

and

I

mean

VERY

gently,

and with a board ,

picked

up

the

animal-I

think it was a

possum

or beaver. He carefully moved

the

poor thing way

into the

woods out of

the

sight of

people, and remarked,

animals

and

nature

have

a

wonderful

way of healing themselves and

should

be

given a

chance to

survive like us. I never forgot this,

Cole the giver, a man with a lot of love

and

respect for

life, his fellow man,

and

laughter.

We had

a

lot

of fun

in

those

days, scared ourselves

all

the time

, but always

found things

to laugh about,

even

our own

rather stupid mistakes

and

antics. Cole


26/36

GOR ON

B INBRIDGE

(Passed away October 31, 1993)

Gordon

Bainbridge

was

learning to fly from Dave Fox

and

rebuilding a Taylorcraft at

the same time,

when

I first met him.

Gordon

was

the first announcer for Cole Palen, in the

very

early days of the Old

Rhinebeck Aerodrome air

shows

. I

have

to admit I

enjoyed

just as much listen i

ng

to

Gordon on the microphone

as

I did watching all the aeria l antics of Cole's

WW

I air

planes

as they

flew

overhead.

It was a laugh a minute with a profound education on what

was

going on

up

in the

air

as well as who and what was in

the

air.

Why? Because

Gordon Bainbridge,

like

Cole

Palen, was

a special kind of

person.

He was

an

educator by profession,

and

at the

time was teaching art

and

drafting in

the

local

school system.

He was

also a very accomplished artist

and

craftsman.

When

those first old-time

hangars went

up

on

the field ,

Gordon

was the artist

who

painted the

names

of

Curtiss,

Fokker,

Spad, and

others on them,

to give the place that

special

kind

of

appearance,

atmosphere

and

nostalgia. He

also

liked to

do

caricatures of those of

us who hung out there, and was extremely keen

on picking

up

on our

so

called

talents

as

well as our weaknesses

and

blunders-especially

our

blunders.

Case in pOint

I

had just purchased a 1936 Ryan

ST,

and spent a couple of

weeks

polishing and waxing

it,

and flew

it down

to

an air

show in

Pennsylvania.

When

asked to fly with

Harold

Krier

alongside

his

Great Lakes by Pathe News, I

jumped

at the

chance. However,

upon take

off, and

at

altitude of about 50

feet, the

Menasco engine quit cold, and with thousands

of people all over that airport, I had

only

one little corner to land the

Ryan. All

went

well until the left wing stalled first at just

about

the same time the left

landing

gear hit

the

ground,

and

broke

the left rear

spar

at the junction of the flying

and

landing

wires.

So what does this have to do with Gordon

and

Cole? With not much money to have

it fixed, Cole

offered

to do the

job,

loaned me his 1953 Chevy and Rube Goldberg air

plane trailer

and

I brought the sick bird

up

to Rhinebeck,

in

a

snow

storm yet. All that

winter

the

wing was repaired and both wings re-covered. By spring all was

ready,

and

on

a nice Sunday afternoon the airplane was put together

on Cole

's front

lawn

right

in

front of

his

house.

Of course I had to start up

the engine,

and

taxi

it off

the lawn,

down

the

road, and

across the rickety bridge to the airstrip . But wouldn't you know that with all myexcite

ment

and

hurry-up-itis I hit Cole's

three-bladed

propeller

mounted

mailbox

with

the

wing

tip, putting quite a dent

in

the

mailbox, and

scratching

up

the

wing

tip.

Cole

never

stopped laughing

about

this but of course it was Gordon Bainbridge who re

ally

picked up

on

the

opportunity

to

do

a caricature of

this

federal offense, which he did

and

which hung

in the museum in some glass cabinet for

many

years. Every time I went

over there

and

saw it I

had

to l

augh

myself, especially

at

my

embarrassing

blunder.

Gordon

was an inspiration to

us

all back then,

and

as the years

went

on he was re

sponsible, together with his lovely wife, Catherine, who worked at his side, for the

was

that,

and we would put one

in the

air,

with Cole doing the

flying,

of

course.

One day, I shall never forget ,

when he said to

me,

Hey

Ev,

why

don't

you

take

the

Aeronca

C-3

up

and

do something

funny

with

it? (NC17447,

which is

still

there.) And I said, like what?

Oh,

I

don't

know,

you have

a

good sense

of humor,

whatever

comes

into

your mind

is

fine

with me.

So

with

that,

we

propped the

little

bathtub

airplane,

as

it

was

known,

and with only a tail

skid

on the

rear

end, managed to

climb up

to the top

of the

hill

at the south end,

turn

it around ,

check

the single mag

(single ig

nition) and

push

the throttle full

forward .

ll

36 horses

of

that

lit

tle horizontally

opposed

two-cylinder

engine got us

started at breakneck

speed,

down

the

hill with

what ap

peared to

be a lot

of

effort, even

down hill. I was glad I was a thin

and lightweight guy at the

time.

After

what

seemed

like forever I

finally coa xed that little pow

ered glider off

the ground, got

some much needed altitude and

played around with it for

a

while.

Then

I

cut

the

power

and

glided off over

the

hillside and

disappeared

over

a

potato

field

and slow flew (that's the only

kind

of

flying

that

airplane knew

anyway) at 100 feet over the

field. I then decided I had scared

Cole long enough

and came


27/36

were such names

as IBM

engineer Bob Love, old-timer

and highly respected pilot Dave Fox, Morgan Cobb,

Akron Funk, Don Brewster, (C-3) Owen Billman, 0-3)

Tom Stark,

Ralph

Hasking

,

and of course the

leg

endary Mike Spandau.

We

were all given

the

chance

to

fly his airplanes

at

one time or another, sometimes

without

warning.

One nice spring day, during the week,

when

there was

just the two of us sort of taking a break from working

on the

Spad

and

Fokker D-7, Cole asked

the $64,000

question, Ev,

would you

like

to

fly one

of

these

things? Hah, what a question indeed. I figured I

had

died and gone to heaven, and could not wait to climb

into the

Spad. I was all fired up, and full of confidence

(which can be dangerous)

until

he swung

that

big

prop and

the

Hisso came

to

life. Then every bone in

my body shook, and I said to myself, This

is

for real,

kid, think you can

handle

this? And the

answer

quickly came back- NO,

NO,

NO. But what the

heck, you

only

live

once,

just

another adventure to

add to

the

list of life's exciting challenges.

So after a couple of dry runs, with the tail off

the

ground,

down the

runway,

in

both

directions,

I de

cided I was now Captain

Rick-et-y-back

and had to

take care of the

Huns

somewhere

out

over

the

Rhine

(actually

the

Hudson River). And off I went. But that's

another story, which

ended

up with a fair landing,

and

laugh along

with them.

He could

laugh

just as

much at himself as with others. And that

is

one heck

of a special kind of fellow in my book. He

could

be

stone

serious one minute

due

to some weird

mechan

ical

problem

,

and splitting

his sides

laughing

two

minutes later over

some silly or simple

solution to

the

problem.

Cole Palen was a modern day Rickenbacker, Doolit

tle, Lufbery, Lindbergh, Acosta, Papana, all

in

one, with

all

the

talents, daring, adventure, skill, cleverness nec

essary

to

develop and

run

such an operation. A man I

will always admire and remember, and miss.

.......

Fly

high

with a

quality lassic interior

omplete interior assemblies ready for installation

Custom

qu lity

at

econom

ical

pr

ices .

• Cushion upholstery sets

• Wall panel sets


28/36

BY H G F R A U T S C

HY

J A N U A R Y S M Y S T E R Y A N S W E R

Our January Mystery Plane was not a great aircraft,

but

it was fairly well

known

. Here s

one

of

the

lette

rs

we received:

The January 2004 Mystery Plane

is

the 1909 Zerbe

Air Sedan, 4pC quadruplane, designed

and

assembled

by Jerome S Zerbe of Fayetteville, Arkans

as

The cabin

is

clad with plywood;

th

e engine is a 100-hp

Gnome

.

The four wings are of equal length, double cambered,

forward staggered,

and

ganged for an adjustable angle

of attack. (Dust

the bottom and top

wings were ad

justable.

-Editor]

Tom

Flannery

flew

the

Air Se

dan

from a field on the Washington County Fairgrounds in

Fayetteville, Arkansas, for a distance of about 1,000 feet

before being damaged

on landing

. No other flights of

this aircraft were recorded. However, Mr Zerbe contin

ued

to

attempt flight with multi-winged aircraft after

moving

to

California and

becoming an

instructor at

the

Los Angeles Polytechnic High School. He devel-

oped a S five-wing Quintaplane with

an

open frame

and tricycle gear in 1910. This

plan

e was reported to

have damaged

its

landing

gear

prior to

takeoff

at

th

e

1910 Dominguez Hills Air Meet in Los Angeles, Califor

nia. The plane did participate in the closing parade and

was last seen being airlifted by a

hot

hot-air balloon to

Mr Zerbe s workshop. Mr Zerbe also developed a Se

x-

tuplane with

six IS-foot forward-staggered wings

and

two

tractor

props,

but again

there is no record of it s

success.

Tom Godfrey

Superior, Wisconsin

Greg Carter of Fayetteville, Arkansas, would like to

point

out that

Mike Eckels

and

the Fayetteville Air Mu

seum at Drake Field in Fayetteville did much of

th

e

research done on Professor Zerbe and his Air Sedan.

A

number

of

other

members were able

to

correctly

identify not

only

the airplane type,

but

also the exact

example built. They were are as follows: Jim Funk,

Plano, Texas; Thomas Lymburn, Minneapolis, Min

nesota;

Larry Knechtel, Seattle,

Washington

; Wayne

Van Valkenburgh, Jasper, Georgia; and Dick Harden,

Richfield, Minnesota.

T

HIS MONTH

S

MYSTERY

Documents

Vintage Airplane - Apr 2004