Vintage Airplane - Feb 2000

8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 2000

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STRAIGHT AND LEVEL

2 VINTAGE HALL OF FAME

VAA NEWS

6

THIRTY FIVE YEARS AT THE OUTER

MARKER Dutch Redfield

10

MYSTERY

PLANE/HG. Frautschy

12

PASS IT TO BUCKlE.E. uck Hilbert

13 BUD FIELD'S C-180 ...AND NIKKI TOO /

Budd

Davisson

18 GOLDEN WEST FLY-IN/

H G. Frautschy

21 AN EXTRAORDINARY ELDER EAGLE/

Ron Gamer

25

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS/CALENDAR

27 CLASSIFIED ADS

30

VINTAGE MERCHANDISE

www vintageaircraft org

SEE PAGE 2 6 FOR FURTHER

VINTAGE

AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

INFORMATIO

Publisher

Edi

tor-ill

C

hief

Ed

itor

Execlltive Editor

lltribu

ti

llg

Ed

itor

Art Director

Photography St

aff

Advertisill

glEdi

torial Assistalll

TOM

POBEREZNY

s on SPANGLER

HENRY G. FRAUTSCHY

MIKE DIFRISCO

JOHN UNDERWOOD

BUDD DAVISSON

BETH BLANCK

JIM KOEPNICK

LEEANN ABRAMS

MARK SCHAIBLE

ISABELLE WISKE
http:///reader/full/www.vintageaircraft.orghttp:///reader/full/www.vintageaircraft.org


3/36

As

I peer out the win

dow

today here in

North Carolina I am

looking at some

six

inches of

that

white

stuff that is normally re

served for those lucky

people

who

live

North

of the Mason/Dixie line.

the Luscombe and Baron are tucked safely inside our

at Shiloh Airport.

Our Black Lab is out in the back yard, plowing furrows in

snow with her nose. The two cats are sitting on a table

the roof of our cook shed, watching her actions with

disbelief on their whiskered faces. I guess it

boils down to what makes you happy That new snow also

far away in Oshkosh, many people will enjoy the

fly-in at Pioneer airport behind the EAA AirVenture

I hear it's lots of fun

Norma and I traveled to Oshkosh last year for

the

event.

we had that weekend was rain and slush,

year should be great. We'll share some photos of the

f

you're planning your calendar and would like to spend

us get ready for the 2000 edition of EAA

we will again host a fly-in work weekend during

latter part of May. We spruce up

the

VAA

area

on

Field, all the while having a great time working to

and enjoying an evening

of camaraderie that s a

extension of the enjoyable times we spend during the

This is a great time to enjoy some grass roots camping,

fellowship, and at the same time help VAA prepare

area for AirVenture 2000. We'll give you the exact date

soon

as

it is firmed up.

As

you read this February issue of Vintage Airplane, you

about look out over the horizon and almost see the

of Lakeland, Florida. That's right,

the

Sun n Fun

Fly-In happens April 11-17. This exceptional event has

to be a huge success over the years.

One of the important reasons for this great accomplish

was the guidance

and hard

work

of newly retired

Director Billy Henderson. Billy would be the first

tell you his greatest asset is his wife Adair,

who

has

equally as hard to make Sun n Fun a great success.

know Billy for many years, starting from the time he

hard working

volunteer

and

then

moved

on

to be

the full-time paid Executive Director of Sun n Fun.

December 31, 1999 Billy retired from that position. Time

space will

not

allow me to list all of the things and per

sacrifices Billy

and

Adair have

put

forth for

the

good

Personally, I would just like to say, "Thanks, Billy and

your

dedication to sport aviation and

for

the

we continue to enjoy."

John Burton is now the new Executive Director of Sun n

Many of you will remember

John-he

worked for

EAA

as the Vice Presi

by ESPIE BUTCH

JOYCE

PRESIDENT , VINT GE IRCR FT SSOCI TION

dent of Communications. John had also been the link be

tween EAA HQ and Sun

n

Fun management for a number of

years, which gave him a measure of insight in the operation,

and has helped provide for a smooth transition.

I really think that John got to where

he

liked all of

that

sunshine and warm weather. When given the chance, why

not? What about it, John? For those of you who have been

attending Sun

n

Fun, you know how much enjoyment you

can have. f you haven't had a chance to get to the weeklong

event, give it a try.

t

can be a very relaxing kick-off to the

fly

in season.

When

you do go to Sun n Fun be sure to check

out

the

Vintage Headquarters Building, hosted by your V

AA

Chapter

1,

the

"FSAACA".

They have great iced tea and popcorn, and

you can also register your aircraft there

as

well. You can even

renew your V

AA

membership and have your friends sign up

in the V

AA as

well. Just ask Jane Kimball

and

her volunteers

They'll be happy to help. Oh yes, be sure to bring your sun

screen-you ll need

it

But enough daydreaming of warmer weather. I need

to

bring my mind back to the present, to February. Since it has

snowed and I cannot get the airplanes out of the hanger, I'm

going

to

have

to

be good to

my

word and start working on

the Luscombe panel replacement. Years ago, I bought a panel

kit for the Beech D-35 owned and operated for

11

years be

fore moving over to the Baron.

Every so often, I would get that kit out and look at it,

studying all of the things

that

needed to be done in order to

redo the instrument panel. After thinking about the chore

and knowing how much work was there, I would slide it back

into the box and wait another year

I sold the

D-35

before I could talk myself into doing all of

the work. Later I sold the panel kit to an aircraft dealer lo

cated at St. Simons Island, Georgia, delivering it on my way

to Sun

n

Fun.

I have often wondered if he ever got the nerve to install

that kit. The Beech panel would have been quite a project.

Thankfully, I don t think the Luscombe panel rework will be

quite

as

difficult.

Your VAA Board of Directors will be meeting March 31 at

EAA Headquarters in Oshkosh to discuss continuing subjects,

business matters, and government matters related to our air

craft. This

is

your organization, so we invite you to air any

concerns you feel need attention. Drop me note at

P.O.

Box

35584, Greensboro, NC 27425 so that these matters might be

brought before the proper committee or the board for discus

sion. Try

to

get it

to

me before March 1 so we can do our

homework on the subject.

As we look forward to the beginning of the fly-in season,

I'd like to ask you to consider asking a fellow enthusiast to

join your Vintage Aircraft Association.

t

would be great

if

you made this one of your personal goals for the year 2000.

There's strength

in

numbers.

As

we add more members, we

build a stronger voice

when

discussing matte rs that effect

your freedom to maintain and fly your aircraft. Let's all pull

in the same direction for the good of aviation. Remember we

are better together. Join us and have it all ......

VINTAGE

IRPL NE


4/36

Concluding

our profiles of the 1999 \ : \ \ Hall of Fame

inductees

this month Itt s meet

Tom and Barbara Flock

with

one of th five Wacos restored by Tom since 1979. Sadly

Barbara Flock passed away November 23 1999.


5/36

modern airplanes. He s owned two

, the latest this 962 Navlon Rangemaster H he pur-

in 1974.


6/36

V NEWS

compiled by H G Frautschy

GENER L VI TION

CONTINUING IRWORTHNESS

SUMMIT

In Kansas City, Missouri, a spec

trum of General

Aviation

leaders

met with FAA officials

to provide

proactive

input

concerning dealing

with

the

issues surrounding

the

ag-

THE COVERS

FRONT

OVER

One of the

workhorses of the General Aviation

fleet

is

the Cessna 180. Owners Bud

and Nikki Fields are featured

in

this

month's

issue, starting

on

page 13.

EAA

photo

by Mark Schaible,

shot

with

a

Canon EOSIn equipped

with

an

80-220 mm lens on

100ASA Fuji Provia slide film.

EAA

Cessna 210 photo

plane

flown by

Bruce Moore.

B CK OVER

"Feet Dry, Half

Moon

Bay"

is

the title of this etch

ing by

Bill

Ellsworth, Virginia

Beach, Virginia. It depicts

the

USS

Macon

as

it

approaches

Moffett

Field at

the

south

end

of San Fran

cisco

Bay.

The airship

is

flying

in

from the West over Half Moon Bay,

with

another

30 minutes of flight

time

remaining

before docking

at

the Navy field.

Bill is a former Naval Aviator (he

says at his

age,

he's nearly a former

everything ),

and that

he

enjoys

doing artwork depicting Naval avi

ation events that have occurred

within his lifetime.

He is

a veteran

of WW -

II,

Korea

and

Vietnam,

and

flew propeller and jet aircraft off of

27 different carriers. Feet Dry, Half

Moon

Bay was

presented with an

Honorable Mention ribbon during

the 1999

EAA

Sport

Aviation

Art

Competition.

A collection of Bill's etchings is

on display

in the EAA

AirVenture

Museum.

On your next

visit, use

the

stairs located just

behind the

Women

With

Wings exhibit, nex t

to the Air Racing gallery. There are

24 of his etchings on

display

in

the

well-lit stairway.

4

FEBRU RY

2

ing General Aviation fleet. The aver

age age of

the

fleet

is

expected

to

be

41 yea

rs

old by 2009.

Mike Gallagher,

F

Small Air

plane Directorate manager, stressed

that it was important for all partici

pants, including Type Clubs,

manufacturers, associations and

EAA,

AAA

and

the Vintage Aircraft

Association

to provide

input and

assist

the

FAA

put together

a pro

gram that can be proactive instead

of reactive.

As

we've seen in

the

past,

when

pushed by political considerations,

some issues have

not

been resolved

in

a

way that

b

ene

fited

GA own

ers/ users. I t is

hoped that

this

dynamiC approach will result in an

effective program.

For

an extensive description of

the

meeting, please see

the

Febru

ary issue of

Sport Aviation

starting

on

page 12. You

can

also go to

the

EAA

web site

at

www.eaa.org and

e

nter the

"Members Only" Section.

Go to Government and

Industry

Relations"

and

click

on

"Top Gov

ernment

Issues" for a full

article

concerning

this meeting,

a

long

with

a

list of recommendations

made by attendees.

E VI TION FOUND TION

SCHOL RSHIP PPLIC TIONS

NOW

V IL BLE ON LINE

Students interested

in pursuing

aviation studies can now learn more

about up to $67,000 in

EAA Aviation

Foundation scholarships

and

receive

applications

through

a new service

on

the

EAA World Wide Web site:

www eaa org

These scholarships, which range

from $500 to $25,000, recognize, en

courage and support excellence among

individuals studying the essential

technologies

and

skills of aviation.

The

awards

assist outstanding students

demonstrating a financial need to

ac-

complish their

goals.

One

of

the

missions of

the EAA

Aviation Foundation

is

to inspire a

new generation

to

become the next

aviation innovators, said Tom

Poberezny, President of the Founda

tion. "These scholarships are a way

to assist

students

who

are fulfilling

their dreams in the world of flight."

EAA Aviation Foundation

scholarship applicants should

be

well-rounded individuals,

in

volved

in

school

and community

activities as well as aviation. Their

academic record

should indicate

that they can successfully com

plete

the

course of

study

described

in

the

scholarship.

To

reach

the scholarship page

,

connect

with

the EAA

website

then

click on

aviation education

or

type in the direct

page address:

www eaa org/education/schoiarships

HOMEBUILT HE DQU RTERS

SITE UP ND RUNNING

One of the great aspects of being a

part of

the EAA

family

is

access to a

well of

information

that is

so deep

you hardly hear a splash when you

drop

an

AN12 nut

into it. There's so

much stuff available, and sometimes

it can be a bit daunting just knowing

where to start.

Charlie Becker

and the

Informa

tion

Services staff are

one

of your

first links

to

that

information well,

and they've

put

toget her

a terrific

section in the

EAA

"Members Only"

area of

EAA's

web site.

Chock full of

how

to" informa

tion, the

new

s

ite

is a

hand

y

resource for those who are building

an airplane,

and

for those of us who

are

restoring

as well.

Just

click

on

the

"Members Only"

button

on the

left side of

the

home page

at

www.

eaa org

Follow

the prompts

,

and take

a

look

,

but

be

sure and

give yo urself

a

bit

of

extra tim

e;

there's a lot to

see

JOEJUPTNER

Born in 1913, and enamored with

airplanes

as

a young boy listening to

the

stories of

the

barnstormers who

would pass through his home town,

Joseph P.

Juptner

became an

A&E

mechanic and

a civilian pilot,

and

even dabbled in amateur aircraft de

sign.

During

WW-II

he

served as a

Air

Force Fighter group crew chief.

In

the

busy times after

the

War,

he

partnered in a flying school, and

later

operated

a

hobby shop

while

building wind tunnel models.

For

most

of

us ,

Joe's enduring

legacy is a

body

of work that

took

most of his lifetime to compile. Col

lecting photos and information

about

airplanes for

many

years,

he

carefully researched and wrote what

has

become to

be

known

as

the

"Family Tree of the

ATC," the

nine
http:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp://www.eaa.org/education/schoiarshipshttp://www.eaa.org/education/schoiarshipshttp://www.eaa.org/education/schoiarshipshttp://www.eaa.org/education/schoiarshipshttp://www.eaa.org/education/schoiarshipshttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp://www.eaa.org/education/schoiarships


7/36

set

of books published

as

Civil

Aircraft.

First printed by Aero Publishers in

and

more recently in

the

90s

McGraw-Hill, the first 817 Ap

Type

Certificates

are

in

Juptner's breezy,

style

that

comes from a per

who

lived

and breathed the

as a boy and later

a man.

He wrote a couple of other recol

of aviation lore,

including

T-Hangar Tales, published

Historic Aviation in Eagan, MN

Joe was a faithful correspondent

his later years as he lived

in

He

passed away January

2000 in Laguna Hills, California.

Here's a little quiz to

honor

Joe's

of work. Can you name the

and last sequentially numbered

issued by

the

CAA/FAA? No

your books now The an

is at the bottom of the page.

RITE MONOCOUPE

Amistake in reading an "N" num

on

the

tail of one of the

in attendance at

the

Fly-In last Fall meant

wrong name went with the

in last

month's

coverage

of

This is PhH Riter's Monocoupe

NC19429,

not Curtis White

NC19423. Phil

hails from

OH and has owned his

for

many years. Our

......

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8/36

I

e rs

tt

Outer Marker

omfort n

a

abin Waco and

Flying on

the Water

Much

as I

loved flying

in the

Adirondacks, our business in

this

love

ly

area, even during the summer

season, was just

too

slim. Besides

this, in order for us to do

any

busi

ness,

it

was necessary to

do

considerable non-revenue flying be

tween mountain lakes looking

for

it.

In

the

spring, as I had done for

the last few years

with

the F-2, we

rigged the new cabin Waco, tuning

it to its float gear while she sat in her

corner of Harry Ward s hangar.

We

then flew her off the airport s

new runwa

y,

rolling

on

four Model

I

A Ford wheels that were temporar

ily rigged to

the

floats integral

beaching gear axle tubes. Airborne,

and while circling over

the

lake, ta

pered wheel retaining pins were

released by lightweight cables that

were temporarily run to the cockpit

window

s

and

taped to

the leading

edge of

the

lower wings. The Ford

wheels were

then pushed

off

the

axles, dropping

into

the lake with a

huge

splash. This wheel

dumping

was carried on while leaning far out

the cabin side windows, working the

wheels off by the use

of a long

broom handle.

This saved

many

hours of

work that previously

had

been

done under

often times diffi

cult

conditions. In only a few

minutes

we could be switched over

to floats and completely ready for

the summer.

Business at Alexandria Bay the

next

season

was very good and

at

our dock the cabin Waco attracted

many

people who

previously had

just

not

been interested in sitting in

the

F-2 s drafty

open

cockpit,

don-

ning a cloth pilot s helmet in order

to make a scenic flight over the 1,000

Islands.

Also,

it was a very pleasant

summer for us. Peg and I rented a

comfortable summer camp right

on

the river s shore with the seaplane

swinging

nights on

a mooring in a

shallow protected cove

only

a few

hundred yards from our front porch.

By

the end of the first summer

it

was

clear, how

eve r,

that

the

new

cabin Waco was short on power, and

prior to hunting season in the

Adirondacks we replaced her 225

hp

Jacobs engine with a 285

hp

Jacobs,

and this made a fine performing air

plane out of her.

In the meantime, correspondence

had been

taking

place with several

Chambers of Commerce in Florida.

We settled

on

spending the

winter

at Winter Haven, in central Florida,

selected because I had no desire to

operate the airplane in salt

water

with its associated and serious corro

sion problems.

In November,

Peg and

I

took

off

to fly her south. Most of the route

we followed the Inland Waterway

just inside the Atlantic coastline be

cause this provided protected waters

within gliding distance most

of

th e

way. For

one

of

our southbound

stops, we

overnighted

at Wilming

ton, North Carolina, with the Waco

tied out between two large

dock

s

with

high

pilings.

I didn t sleep

much during

the

night and it

was

y Holland Dutch Redfield

6 FEBRU RY

2


9/36

YKS-7 on its land lubber gear makes a low

pass.

and gusting hard

as

broke. The phone rang; it was

hotel

desk

advising

that a

tug

waiting to get dockside where

Waco

was

tied.

We

checked

quickly

and took

a

taxi

to the

The airplane was boarded

in

a

and

getting aboard

not

easy in

the

fast

There was

no

other way to do

it,

and

fortunately the Jacobs caught on the

first cylinder. She was

running

and

whether we liked it or

not

, we were

also moving. The water rudders, po

sitioned by

the

pedals

beneath

my

feet,

now knifed

into the

flowing

water streams

and

we swung away

from the gusting wind toward open

water, steering carefully

between the

barnacled,

tarred pilings of two

commercial

wharves.

But

as

we neared I could

see that the strong

ebbing tidal current was

sweeping

us

seaward and

it was necessary to crab

her sharply over

the

bot

tom

, tracking so as

to

miss the heavy

high

pil

ings

that could easily

bash in our fragile spruce

wingtips.

s we cleared the pro

tection of

the

wharves, a

strong gust hit her

and

heeled

her and

a sharp,

wave-slapping, propeller

spraying

blast from the

engine

was needed

to

swing her away from

the

wind and

onto a down

wind course down

th

e

harbor. The now following waves

were

white

capping and heavy gust

driven rain streaked the windshield

and drummed the taut fabric on top

of

the

fuselage.

It

was an ugly day

and

if

there had been

some

other

place to tie up, I'd have pulled back

in, but there wasn t, because the

night before we'd spent half an hour

tide as Peg

and

I

Dutch s Waco

ZKS-7

set

up

on

the temporary

beaching wheels

borrowed from

a Ford Model

A.

The engine

is

a

285

hp

Jacobs.

down

slip

rickety ladders.

two yel

dock

was necessary

as

stern line was eased,

her bow line slowly

in, putting her

so

we could

the ladders to

floats.

then

hunched our

aft beneath

the

wing, up

the

two

steps to the lower

walkway,

and

into

.

The engine was

pre

and

ready to go

the

lines were cast off

those on the dock.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7


10/36

flying up and down the waterfront

looking for a spot

to

overnight.

Where we d tied her was the only

place.

The evening before we had fueled

with marine gasoline and with 420

pounds of fuel on board, the Waco

was heavily loaded. Even

with the

wind I would need a long, punishing

run to

get airborne and

thereafter

clear a bascule bridge that would be

in our climb-out path.

After a long downwind

taxi,

I

idled her back, pulled

the

water rud

ders up, and let her weathercock into

the wind. The white-capping waves

now

slapped the float bows

and the

idling prop flung back their spray.

Streaking cats-paws showed the gust

ing

wind

patterns

on the

harbor s

surface ahead of us as the throttle in

the center of the instrument

panel

was opened full and

locked

there

with its

knurled

knob. The Jacobs

roared and with

the

wind and the

waves she was quickly

on

the steps.

The waves spanked hard against

the

planing

float bottoms, jarring

us

with lighter and lighter taps as the

wings grasped the air,

then

lifted us

free

and

into turbulent, but

far

smoother, flight than the very rough

waters we had just lifted off from.

The

right wing was low ered

and

we slowly banked away from the wet

gusting

northeast wind.

In the low

level eddying

turbulenc

e both

my

hands and my feet were very busy,

feeling for, and correcting for, and

averaging the buffeting upsets from

my planned curving trajectory.

Pres-

sured inputs to the ailerons and

rudder were simultaneously applied

and also carefully coordinated in or

der

to

avoid

unpleasant,

sloppy,

yawing flight for my very

pregnant

wife Peg.

In a short time the wings were lev

eled and the compass beneath the

rain-smeared

windshield settled

down and showed us heading south

again. The rain and

windswept

buoy-marked waterway was only few

hundred feet beneath us

and

for the

next several hours,

and

to keep the

waterway in sight, we took every

bend of it, banking gently left, then

8

FEBRU RY

2

.. his sudden awareness

of our swift passage

above

him

at mast

height

evidenced by his

wavering

surprised

wake

as we looked back over

the

dripping streaming

trailing edges of the

lower

wing panel.

right,

and we were buffeted and

gusted and rained on. Neither of us

lik

ed

it

but

there

simply

was

no

place

we

could

ride

the storm out

and after a while we became accus

tomed to it.

Ahead we d

see, then

catch up

with, then zoom

over and quickly

leave behind many

pleasure

boats

also heading

south,

his

sudden

awareness of our swift passage above

him

at mast height evidenced by his

wavering surprised wake as we

looked back over

the dripping,

streaming trailing edges of the lower

wing panels

.

Then an

occasional

gentle pull-up to skim a telephone

poled

bridge spanning

the

marshy

winding

shores

of the

waterway,

slowly waggling the Waco s stubby

red

wings

at a decrepit

old Ford,

splashing its way along muddy roads

and

up and over the bridge as we

flew by. And our passage flushed

many

geese

and

ducks, but

most of

them had more

sense

than we as

they

fed and paddled along the

marshy shores till the scudding

storm abated.

With

no

warning, there was a sud

den loud bang,

and

the airplane

shook, and next to me Peg gave a cry

of pain. I was puzzled, as I did not

know

what had

happened and

our

low skimming flight in the rain and

turbulence continued to require all

my attention. Peg was there eside

me,

sobbing

and clutching her

leg,

yet everything seemed normal with

the airplane. I was concerned

and fi-

nally

between

tears we sorted out

that

the plane s

brake

handle was

the culprit. Used

only

during land

plane operations, it had somehow

snapped back

and it her

left

shin

with a vicious whack. The hook for

the

seaplane s water rudder retract

cables had been attached to this un

used

handle at the time the water

rudders were retracted for takeoff

and we must

have

flown into a

frightened low flying duck, which

probably struck one of

the

retract ca

bles down in the float gear, causing

the handle to snap back. It had been

a sharp whack and it hurt.

In a couple of hours

the

scudding,

dark, wet clouds began drying

out,

gradually lifting to a clearing gray,

with occasional patches of blue. We

were able

to

let the Waco climb now

and

the

air

smoothed.

The power

fully surfing, curving shore of the

Atlantic off

our

left wings met

the

now blue sky far ahead to the south.

In

the

snug cabin

the

outside

warmth

we were flying into was

ducted in to us,

and

it felt good. We

munched

a sandwich and I rubbed

Peg s bruised leg and we laughed.

At

Jacksonville, I fueled in shirt

sleeves

and by late afternoon

we

touched her down at her new home

on Lake Howard, at Winter Haven.

Barb, who was driving our car down,

was

not

there yet.

Besides a few charters, then a cou

ple of deep-winter occasions where

we were hired to spend entire nights

flying low over orange groves, stir

ring up the air to pOSSibly prevent

frost damage, plus a few passengers

carried

on

weekends.

My dreams

that Florida could

playa

big part in a

12-month-a-year seaplane operation

turned

out

to

be a giant flop,

and as

it turned out I had to borrow money


11/36

I could get my pregnant wife and

As part of an effort to make

the

could make a few additional dol

if

we

had the capability of flying

dark, on weekend

evenings.

error, Barb and

from lakeshore trees, were able to

saw

up

four small

bamboo

we

them.

Kerosene

truck

were secured to the rafts,

anchored on a line

to the wind. On the air

we mounted a single landing

on

one of

the

float

support

The first

night

we tried our new

the

Waco had just lifted off

was

clearing the tree'd lakeshore

in our climb-out

path

ahead it

pitch black. Suddenly there

was

loud clattering and we both

What

a place for

her

to

" yet the big Jacobs continued

beautifully and we were un

to determine where the banging

from. I switched

our new landing light and in its

glow we discovered a small

cowling

that

gave access to

rear accessory section of the en

was flapping

wildly in the

From our position, to land imme

was impossible and the

batter itself to

by the time we got back

the lake. I asked Barb to fly

passed

the

swing-over

control

to him, then, with my

side

full down I stretched

in the strong propeller

and forward just far enough

the aft cowl fastener could be re-

with my

fingertips.

With

minutes to calm

jangled nerves

and

prepare for

first use of our night water land

system.

With the bright lights of town ,

by utilizing the beam from our

landing light, it was possible

approach the lake's shoreline very

from which position our line of

flares ahead looked beautiful. But it

turned out we

had

positioned the

flares too close to shore

and they

were also

set much too

close

to

gether, because by the time we had

descended from treetop height to a

few feet above the surface, they had

skimmed

beneath us and were far

behind . Ahead on the lake it be

came

suddenly

very dark, but

fortunately there was

plenty

of

smooth

water still

under

us

and

a

slow controlled descent with a small

amount of power put us gently down

and with much room to spare.

Some repositioning of flares,

then

a few

more

trials and we had our

selves a good and workable system,

but

we

found few people really inter

ested in

night

seaplane rides

and

in

a few weeks

we

gave it up.

One March night a whistling

norther

practically blew

the

covers

from our beds and my first thought

was

the

seaplane as I hollered

to

Barb

. The two of us sped to the lake,

zipping pants and buttoning shirts.

In the beam of our headlights

as

we

swung the car toward the

mooring

area, we could see the Waco hobby

horsing badly

as

she crashed

into

large white-capping waves. Despite

lift-destroying spOilers

which

were

tied every night along the upper sur

faces of the lower wing panels, she

was

half flying

and

had

already

dragged her heavy moorings a con

siderable distance toward shore. One

of

her

restraining bridle ropes

had

parted and dangled free.

I kicked off my shoes, dove in and

waded

to

her

in

the

waist deep

waves. Her wild

plunging

made it

very difficult to get aboard, but once

there I quickly threw off

the

engine

covers, climbed in and started her

up. Then, for the next two hours, to

keep her from lifting into flight and

to keep the mooring from dragging

ashore, she was literally flown at the

end of her one remaining

bridle

rope. I was scared for her.

The waves, as the

dim

light of

dawn crept

over the

low gray sky,

were big

and

carried much weight,

and

the wind

streaked them and

blew spin-drift from

their

crests as

the float bows smashed heavily into

them

and the

prop rang from their

impacts.

It

was cold and I was alone.

Barb sitting in the car, watched anx

iously. The norther moaned around

her,

and

buffeted her,

and

shook

her, the shifting winds hitting her

first from

one

side, then

the

other,

as

northers tend to do, and it tried to

get under

her

wings to lift her, so it

could dash her through the surf and

smash her into the

swaying

palm

trees behind. I fought the buffeting

wind

and waves

with the

Waco's

flight controls and propeller thrust.

I couldn't take off with her and put

her

in

her

own element, flying her

out

of the pounding waves, because

I just

couldn't

leave

the

flight con

trols

long enough to

slide

out the

lower wing spars

to

remove

the

lift

destroying spoilers, nor could I sin

gle-handed,

remove the one

still-intact mooring line.

n

a

couple of hours

the

strong

frontal passage winds diminished a

bit as the storm moved rapidly out

to

sea.

There

was now sufficient

light, and Barb was able to wade out

and release her. We

then

taxied and

crabbed her

slowly,

pitching

and

bucking, through the white-capping

waves, across the lake to a protected

corner.

Peg who

had been worried

about us, hitched a ride to the lake

front

in the

dawn with

a

milkman

making early deliveries . She met

us

on the distant shore as we tied up af-

ter

our long

taxi. We watched her

there all that day and all the next

night

as

the norther

gradually blew

itself out.

In the early spring, we flew the

Waco back north, retracing our route

along

the

seaboard, across Pennsyl

vania

and New York, to the St.

Lawrence River and the Thousand

Islands. There

we

worked

her up

onto a ramp just below our camp's

front porch and then spent many

re-

laxing days in fine

spring weather

getting

her

ready for a

summer

of

hard work. t was pleasant being

back

with

friends

and

in familiar

surroundings. In June,

we

were pre

sented with a bouncing baby boy,

Charles Scott. ..

VINTAGE

IRPL NE


12/36

November s

foreign

airplane

presented

few

difficulties

for our

members.

We ll start with

a

note

from

Anna Pennington, Wilming-

ton, NC:

Your November Mystery Plane

is

a

French

Farman F.121 Jabiru. Note

part

of

the name

on

the nose.

t

was

powered by four 180 hp Hispano

Suiza 8Ac engines, and carried

9

or

10

passengers. My two sources varied

on this.)

t

won the 1923 French

Grand

Prix des Avions Transports,

and 500,000

Francs.

Four flew

on

the Farman air

lines Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam

route

during 1926, and Danish Air

lines used a few between Amsterdam

and Copenhagen.

From Pete Bowers, Seattle, WA

who

supplied the photos you see

on

these pages, we read:

The November Mystery Plane is

F-AIAU,

the

forth

often

French

Far

man F-121 Jabirus bui lt between

1923 and

1925.

Also known as

Model F-3X, these nine-passenger,

four-engine

transports

were

built by

A

vions

H.

&

M. Farman

of

Baillan

court. Five

were

used

on

Farman's

own airline, three were so ld, and

two more

were built under license in

Denmark.

The Jabiru was an unusual air

plane

of

combined

wood

and metal

construction. The four 180 hp His

pano-Suiza 8Ac engines were in

tandem pairs in nacelles supported

by a short stub-wing that also sup-

YST R

H

by H.G. Frautschy

ported the landing gear and anchored

the wing struts. I wonder what the

rear

propeller

attrition

rate

was

on

the

Jabiru

and other designs with pusher

props low and directly

behind

the

wheels which

were

rolling

on

dirt and

gravel runways?

The aerodynamic layout

was

also

unusual.

The

wing had a very low as

pect ratio, only

4.46,

and the root

chord was almost half the

len

gth of

the (uselage. As with some other Eu-

Farman R 2 /abiru

ropean transports, the passenger cab in

extended forward clear

to

the nose.

The

pilots

sat

in an open cockpit

above the cabin.

If the Jabiru has any historical

significance, it could be

that t

was

one of the first four-engined trans

ports

to

be designed as such, rather

than being derived from a bomber.

Ralph Nortell,

Spokane,

WA

adds:

A vions Farman was formed by

Ed Parker, Apalachin,

NY,

via John W. McDonald, tipped us off to this photo

published in 1937 by

the

Aeronautical Chamber

of

Commerce.

No,

it's not

the

Aircraf t Yearbook.)

Send your answers to: EAA, Vintage Airplane, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI

54903-3086. Your answers need to be in no later than March 25, 2000

for

in

clusion in

the

May

issue of

Vintage Airplane.

You

can also send

your

response via

e-mail.

Send

your

answer

to

vin

[email protected]

Be

sure to include both your name and address in

the body of

your note,

and

put

(Month) Mystery Plane in the subject line.

10

FEBRUARY 2000
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


13/36

his

uncluttered view

of F-AIAN the

second production Jabiru, shows

the

really

eat engine na celle/stub

wing

arrangement, the passenger windows in

the

nose,

nd the position

of

the pilots cockpit .

rothers Henri

and

Maurice in

1912

.

Both

were pioneer

pilots

and

irplane designers-Henri since 1907 and Maurice since 1909.

liThe firm soon became one of the largest manufacturers in France

l

during the next

25

years

l

Farman built

num

erous military

and

il aircraft in quantity. In 1936

1

when the aircraft industry was na

ionalized

in France

l

the firm merged with

Hanriot

to form Societe

Nationale

e

Construc

tions

Aeronautics

du

Centre (SNCAC). At

that

timel

Henri

and

Maurice retired.

FARMAN F 121

Larry

Knechtel

Seattle

W

writes:

JABIRU {STORK}

Key to the F.121 s

SPECIFICATIONS

safety was the use

of

a

Wing Span

62 ft. 4 in.

high

set

wing of great

area.

This 62 foot, 4

Length

44

ft.

10.5

in.

inch wing span was of

wooden construction

Wing Area 871.8

sq.ft

and

l

as

the

photo The fuselage bulkheads of the Jabiru divide the passenger

Empty

Weight

6 6121bs

shows, strut braced. The

cabin

into

three compartments. Two passengers sit in the

root

chord was no less nose, one in the second compartment, which is directly under

Gross

Weight

11 0231bs

th a n

9

feet

l

8

1

/4 the cockpit, and

six

sit in the main cabin. Note the overhead

inch

es and

the wing was baggage

racks

.

Cruise Speed 108.7 mph

2 feet, 6 inches thick. I

Range 403 miles

continued o page 7

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11


14/36

PASS T TO BUCK

Basics

As

most

of you know,

"my

bag"

is

old airplanes. They

weren't

old

when I was

young, but

we

some

how

seem

to

have aged

together.

My

1934

Aeronca C-3,

which has

been in

the family since 1962, is a

good example. The old airplanes

were very basic. The best

of them,

like

the

Porterfield 35-70,

with

its

sporty

wing

and higher

cross

country speed, and the

cabin

Waco were also

basic,

but the

Aeroncas, Cubs, T-crafts were v ry

basic. You

learned

the basics,

and

you learned

th

em well.

Instruments

were

there to tell

you the oil pressure, oil

tempera

ture (when it

worked),

and the

tachometer

so you could set climb

and cruise

RPM. The

compass

sloshed

around and

was

only

there

to tell you

were

in the Northern

Hemisphere.

Usually

the

airspeed

indicator didn't work too well, the

altimeter was graduated in 200-foot

increments,

and

there was really no

precision

instrument flying as we

know it today. You were

taught

to

fly from

one

forced landing field

to

the

next,

always

keeping in

mind

where the wind

was

from and

mindful

that

the engine

could

lunch out at

any

time. Sometimes

it did Reliability was

never taken

for granted.

Cross-country? What

a

laugh

The reason there were so

many

air

ports around

the area was because a

2

FEBRUARY

2

by E.E.

Buck

Hilbert

EAA #21

VAA

#5

P

. Box 424,

Union, IL

60180

ten-mile cross-country

was an ac

complishment. Most

of

the time

we spent in or near the pattern

next

to

your

home airport. Climb

ing up to fifteen hundred feet

above the

ground sometime

took

ten minutes or more Then

you'd

practice a few

stalls, some turns,

and then

a

couple of power-off

stalls and

you

were

back

down

to

pattern altitude so you shot a cou

ple of landings

and

quit.

All this

was seat

of the pants .

You flew by

sound and

feel. The at

titude indicator

was

the

bottom

of

the

wing

and

the way it angled on

the horizon, and

you flew from

point to point using

the

seat of

your

pants for reference. East was

thataway,

and North

was

that

way.

f in doubt, you looked for a marker

painted on a roof, or read

the

name

of

the

town

on the

water tower.

The best

way was to land and ask

someone if you were lost.

You looked for washing

hanging

on the clothes

lines,

or smoke, or

ripples

on

the water

to tell

where

the wind was from,

and

by drawing

a line on the

map

and

noting how

it cu t the section

lines

you

knew

what

angle you were to

use

for a

heading. You were always aware of

your position

because as I said be

fore, it was

from

the last

forced

landing field to

the

next

one.

By marking off the route

in

ten,

fifteen or

if

you were really opti

mistic,

thirty

mile segments on

the

map

you were

able to calculate

your ground

speed

and

figure

how

long you could fly with the gas you

had left. Many times

,

the

wind

would decimate your 60 mph cruis

ing speed and

the

ground speed

would be maybe 40 or

5

mph.

The "fun" began after you got

there .

The

harrowing

experience

gave way to a joy you

couldn't

wait

to

share

with

others. There was al

ways an air of happiness around

the airport,

you

and all those

around

you ate, slept, dreamed and

talked aviation. We all

had

the Air-

plane Disease,

and

we reveled in it.

t was fun Fun Fun Even

the CAA

guys were a happy lot.

The written test

for

the

Private

Pilot was fifteen

or

twenty ques

tions. The

flight-check

maybe

thirty-five

minutes.

The

poor

per

formance

of

some

of the airplanes

often

had

the CAA man watch

you

fly

while he

stood on the ground

and

critiqued

your

stalls

and

spins

after you landed.

t

was a

much

simpler day. It was

basic flying like there will never be

again. How I wish all of you could

experience that freedom, that joy,

the pure

elation of

flight. But you

gotta

get

old

before

you

really ap

preciate it.

Over to you,

t


15/36


16/36

T

here are

lots

of reasons air

planes are interesting and

the deciding factor

is almost

always the people behind them.

Take

the

nearly

stock appearing

Cessna 180, N180XP, for instance.

Aside

from the fact that

you sel

dom

see 180's

done

in 1950's

era

paint

schemes anymore

and

the

fact

that

this one is cleaner than

most, it would still be easy to coast

right

past

i t

in

search of some

thing more exotic. Something

more /lantiquey."

Then

you see Bud Fields. And, if

you

see Bud Fields, you'll also see

Nikki Fields. Fourth grade, blonde,

energy

personified

and clearly

daddy's little

girl.

It's

the

combi

nation of

Bud and Nikki

that

makes

their

180 special.

Bud, who

owns

a

large

indus

trial plant contracting business in

Hayward, California,

isn't your

av

erage business-man-with-a-180.

Besides

the

fact

that

his

business,

which

is

largely based

on

building,

installing,

repairing

glass melting

The traveling airplane or Nikki and dad,

the

18

fills the need perfectly

by

offering a

good cruise speed (listed between 151 and

16 mph) along

with

great short fie ld per-

formance, particularly with the Horton

STOl kit installation.

14

FEBRUARY 2000

furnaces

for folks like PPG and

Corning,

he has a

serious addic

tion

for

antique

airplanes.

He

started flying in the

USMC

aero

club at

l Toro

while

he

was

stationed there in

1964 as a simu

lator

technician

. He soloed

in their

C-150

but

quickly graduated

up to

the

T-34B.

Then

i t was

college

at

Cal State

in

Fullerton where he

graduated

with a

degree in eco

nomics. He immediately went to

work for

a

concrete contractor,

eventually

establishing his own

company in the

field.

One of their

Th e C

essna

18 has one

o

t he

most di

st

inctive ch ins in

general

av

iation.

major

customers was

a

company

that supported

glass manufacturers and,

when that company de

cided they wanted out of

the

business, Bud sim

ply took them over.

That was

two

decades

ago and

i t has

been up

hill every since.

He had gotten his pi

lot's license

while still

in

the Marines

but

found himself drawn to

tailwheel

airplanes. In

this case

an

old Aeronca

Champ. But, there was

n't anyone

to check him

out. One of

the guys

on

the base

said, I you're a

good pilot,

Bud,

here's

all you

need to know

... "

and

he proceeded

to give him

a

verbal

checkout

in a tailwheel air

plane. Today

Bud

doesn't

suggest

anyone

follow

his lead

in

this

area

as

there

were

a few

I

in

teresting runway

trips," before he

figured it

out,

but

he

never dinged

the

airplane.

Today Bud somehow finds

time

to manage

his business while

man

aging his

fleet of

eleven (that's

right, eleven)

airplanes,

most

of


17/36

Bud Field and h

s

daughter Nikki.

them serious antiques.

Oldest to

newest, there is

the

1928

Travel Air 4000,

two C-3

Aeroncas, the

4CM-1 Bull Stearman, an

ST

A a stock Stearman, an

L-5 Stinson, a 150 horse

PA-12, a Dragon Rapide

(undergoing restoration), a

250

Comanche and the

Cessna 180.

While the entire list of

airplanes

is notable, sev

eral

should

be looked at

individually.

His Ryan

STA

for

instance

is

serial

number 110 1936)

and

is

assu med to be

the

oldest

STA flying. His stock Stear

man

is even more

interesting. A

Lycoming

powered

mode l 75, its serial number is

75001,

which

makes

it

the very

first production

Stearman

built.

SIN 75000 was

the

prototype

and

his airplane was the first in a

batch

of 27 airp lanes ordered by the

Army

in

1936.

t

should also be

noted that

any

time this airplane

is discussed, Nikki

instantly

claims

ownership, something that Bud

doesn t

dispute.

Nikki as

you

will

see

is

very vocal about airplanes.

Oshkosh 99 was the

second

year

Bud

and Nikki brought

the

airplane

east.

The Cessna

was fin

ished

only

two years ago, and their

trip to last

year s AirVenture

Oshkosh included

a

slight dog

leg

up to Alaska on the

way in

and

another little side trip

to

New York

on

their way

home.

That

particu

lar

trip

took three weeks and 100


18/36

Look closely

at

the leading edges of the wings and you can

see

the distinctive

cusp

added during the installation of the

Horton STOL ki t.

hours

of

flying and Bud says, ... Nikki

does

all the

V R navigating. I just drive.

The airplane has 250 hours on it since

they

rebuilt

it and he says Nikki has been aboard for almost every

hour. When asked how

many

hours she has, she

chirps

About 1,000. I f you raise your eyebrows at

the

number, look over at

her

father

who

will grin

and

say, She's

probably about

right.

None

of the air

planes go

anywhere

without

her.

I

showed up

at an

airshow a while back

with

the

Bull

Stearman

and the

first person who

walked

up

said

'where's

Nikki'

at

which

point her

head popped up in the

front

pit. She

had been sleeping, which she often does.

The 180

is

a 1956

model

with a stock 0-470-K done

by Monte Barrett. When

he

bought

the airplane

it

was ...a solid

airplane,

but a

little

faded all the way

around. Field polished it

and

re-painted

the

stripes

and

freshened

up the interior

and panel. Knowing

this

was

going

to be his go-everywhere-airplane, he

added a Horton STOL

kit

to the

wings just

in

case

they decided to drop in some place

that

required the

A handy addition to the

18

are pop out handles to help move

the airplane while on the ground instead

of

pushing and

lifting

on the fixed tai l surfaces.

16 FEBRUARY 2


19/36

low

and slow

capabilities

built

into the Horton STC.

In questioning his

relationship

with Nikki, he says, I'm a single

dad." At which

point

Nikki chimes

in, "Yeah, but you didn't

used

to

be.

The two of

them

talk quite

freely about being a team

and

she's excited

about everything

around

her. There's also the possi

bility she

' s

the only

girl

in her

fourth grade class who can make

comments like, What

dad

really

needs is a Widgeon, or maybe a

Goose

or Mallard.

Then

she

thinks

for a second and adds, Or

maybe a Duck."

Dad is

president of Vintage

Chapter

29

in

Hayward,

which

should be

proud

this year because

the

chapter is home

to

the Parris

brothers whose

Lockheed

12A

brought home the 1999 EAA Air

enture

Grand

Champion trophy

or

antiques.

Recognizing the

uge number of hard

core an

iques in the

area,

as

well

as his

wn, Bud is in the

process

of

building a 38,000 square foot

mu

eum

on the

Hayward

airport

hich will be

home to

the chapter

s well as

housing

his

and

others

ntiques. He says, " .. .it's

going

to

e a flying museum and once a

onth, we'll have

an antique fly

ay in which we get as

many

of

hem into the air as we

can.

It's

alled the Vintage Aero Museum.

When

the future

is

mentioned

Bud and Nikki's

go

where they

want to

go today machine is comfortably set up

to

e nice-cross country machine. No virtual reality here - this is the real thing

around the inseparable pair, two

subjects

generally come

up.

The

first , is what

kind

of airplane

should

be

added to the

collection

next and the conversation goes

something like this:

Nikki

would like us to have a

warbird

but

... " Bud starts

and

Nikki

finishes.

"Yeah, we need an

AD

Skyraider.

One of the four-place versions so I

can take my friends."

"But, Nikki," Bud answers, "We

have a warbird, the L-S

is

a warbird."

"Daaad," she returns,

IIWe

need

something bigger. Maybe something

like an L-l."

Asked what an L-1 is, she answers,

lIyou, know,

the

long,

round-mo

tored, big L-bird. You know."

t

would be

interesting

to hear

her with her peer

group

at a sleep

over.

A friend says, IIDid

you

see

Bobby.

Isn't he

cute?"

She answers, guess so,"

then

she

brightens

up, IIBut did you

know his

dad owns a IIG model

Staggerwing. Now

that's

cool "

The second subject that comes

up when they talk about the fu

ture is a goal Nikki has. She wants

to

be

the youngest person to fly

into Oshkosh. However, since her

birthday is in

December

she

knows

there's probably

no

way

she can do

that

in power

planes,

but

she

has a plan.

IIWhen

I'm still

fifteen, we'll

tow

me

in

in

a glider, then the

conversation expands and

dad

suggests

maybe

he'll tow her

with

the

Bull Stearman. Then the

glider

type

is discussed and i t be

comes a WW-II TG

model.

When

last seen, the two

of

them were

in

animated conversation about all

the

neat things they

were

going

to do together.

Like

we

said, it's

the

people

that

often make airplanes interesting .....


20/36

The

Central Valley of California

is a great place for a fly-in,

and the

1999

edition

of

the

Golden

West

EAA

Regional Fly-In

was blessed

with

the

good flying weather you d

expect. In addition to those pictured

here,

the other

award winners were:

ANTIQUE AIRCRAFT

Reserve Grand Champion

Waco UPF-7 N32135

Gary Entrekin, Ventura, CA

CLASSIC

AIRCRAFT

Grand Champion

Piper J3C-65

Paul and Joyce Brown

Capitola, CA

CONTEMPORARY AIRCRAFT

Grand Champion

Cessna 180, N180LG

Jim Goodman, San Jose,

CA

Champion

Cessna 195B, N2134C

George Dray, Novato, CA

Champion

Cessna 180, N9675B

James Golyer, Arroyo Hondo, NMz

H.G. Frautsch

Amelia Reid's

beautiful

airshow

routine

shows each

of

us

just

how

a

Cessna 150

Aerobat can really be

put through

its paces by a

pilot

whose

flying

skills are

the

very

definition of

finesse. Amelia runs her

own

FBO

at

the

Reid-Hillview

airport

in

San

Jose

CA

and

has trained

over 4,000 pilots.

Sidney Scarlett's justifiably proud

of

his 1950 Beech Bonanza. He's from Phoenix,

AZ

.

Bad

Habit

is

the name given by Scott O'Brien to his Luscombe 8A. This airplane

has a

pretty

low serial number, being the 17th Luscombe

built

in 1945.

18

FEBRUARY 2000


21/36

CA

helps

Mark Backes

register his Stinson

is from Ridgecrest,

CA

The Reserve Grand Champion Contemporary of the

1999 Golden West EAA Regional Fly-In

is

this Bellanca

14-19-3

owned

by Patrick Frewald and Julie Joquette.

Scott Crosby

of

Antelope,

CA

flies this

Steve and Sharon Jebb keep their extra-shiny Luscombe

very sharp 1949 Piper PA-16 Clipper.

A

at

the Fresno-Chandler

field

in Fresno,

CA t

even

includes a well-maintained wind-driven

generator

between

the gear legs.

From the tower cab at Castle Airport controllers Eric Micklesen,

Mark Lambie, Phillip Martin and Don Ide kept

the

traffic flowing

smoothly

during the

three days of

the

fly-in.

VINTAGE

AIRPLANE

19


22/36

Kent

White

of TM Technologies demonstrates gas welding of alu

minum

while

onlookers don masks

so

they can

see

the

results

as

Kent runs a bead. Hands-on demonstrations are always very pop

ular at fl y-in

s.

Marketing & Public

Relations Director of the

Hiller Museum and all

around old airplane

good guy Willie Turner

served as the Golden

West's airshow

boss

.

His

partner

with

the radio is

Jimmy Lichtenstein

who

was

the

airshow's

ground boss .

Jeff Montgomery cleans up while checking in at home on the

phone.

His

1929 Consolidated Fleet biplane was picked as the

Champion Antique aircraft.

Boy

these guys get around David Liebecott, who restored the

Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser "City of

the

Angels" and Harry Mutter,

the owner

of

this historic airplane and historian

of

the Piper

Aviation Museum in Lock Haven, PA pause before taking of f. Harry

and David flew the PA-12 on a recreation

of

a portion ofthe

around the world flight in 1947 visiting all the

us

cities flown into

by George Truman and Cliff

Evans

in

their

PA-12s. You can check

out

the

Piper Aviation Museum's web site at

http: www.kcnet.org/-piper

for

more information. David's restora

tion

of

the globe circling Super Cruiser was honored

with

a

Reserve

Grand Champion

Classic

trophy.

Bud Field, Hayward,

CA

took home

the Antique Grand Champion

plaque for his Stearman 4 CM -1.

20

FEBRUARY

2000
http://www.kcnet.org/-piperhttp://www.kcnet.org/-piperhttp://www.kcnet.org/-piperhttp://www.kcnet.org/-piper


23/36

n

xtraordinary

lder agle

What you

should

do is

get yourself

a

good

Then

your

trip along

major

routes.

lead to

towns

towns have

Stop

every

or two

for fuel

a cup ofcoffee. f

weather ahead

questionable

nd get

some

f the local people.

byRon Gamer

words from his personal

experiences were spoken

to

me by 87-year-old aviation en

thusiast Robert Rietzke,

as we

relaxed

in

his

hangar

located

at

his private

airstrip

in central Minnesota.

The

advice seemed simple enough, espe

cially

coming

from

a

man who's

been there

and done that in al

most

all aspects of

aviation.

It's

advice he and his wife, Marie, fol

lowed

for

years

of

travel in

single-engine aircraft while visiting

many of the lower 48 states . With

the exception

of

a sudden engine

shutdown on

a

cold

winter

after

noon

somewhere over Nebraska, it's

been a flawless plan of travel for the

Rietzkes. The unexpected loss of en

gine power wasn't a big deal to this

veteran airman.

He

simply landed

on a plowed field, found the prob

lem , and returned

them

on

their

way towards the next

town

down

the highway. No big deal for a

man

who has flown in dozens of different

aircraft, starting with open air bi

planes of the 1920s and progressing

to the edge the earth's

atmosphere

in

U-2 spy planes. He even flew in

the

second seat of the once top-se

cret

SR 71 Blackbird.

It's a

story

I

almost

missed. For

many

years I had rushed

past

the

small white sign

announcing Air-

port while hurrying

on

my way to

the

family cabin located on

one

of

Minnesota's ten thousand lakes. But

since I

had

taken up the pursuit of

flying a few years back, my curiosity

about this

little airstrip finally got

the best of me. I decided I'd just

have

to check

out

this

small rural

airfield.

So

one day, instead of rush

ing past, I slowed down and turned

onto

the gravel drive leading to the

neatly mowed grass runway. Enter

ing one of two metal hangars, I was

cheerfully greeted by a friendly ma

ture

gentleman. I'm

still finding it

hard

to

believe that this outgoing

energetic

man is

closing

in on

nine

decades of life. Don, as his friends

know him, was happy to share with

this fledging airman a bit of his per

sonal history. After learning

about

his seven decades of

unique

flying

experiences

I'm

doubtful there are

many

men or women around today

who could come

close

to

having

such a colorful history in aviation

related activities

as

this experienced

VINT GE

AIRPLANE 2


24/36

toured the Pacific

in

this

manner

with

Don aboard

until his discharge

from regular duty

in 1936.

Returning

to

civilian

life,

Don

used his electron

ics

background

to

help work on the

construction of

the

massive aque-

duct project which

Don and a model airplane

award

presented

to him during

brought water over

his Lockheed Skunkworks days

elder eagle.

Robert Don Rietzke was

born

in

Beaumont

, Ca lifornia, in

1912,

about the time

mankind was first

conquering the mastery of flight.

When he was just fifteen

an

older

cousin took

him

for spin in

the

then

modern j enny . Like a fish on a

line,

Don

was hooked. Eagerly

awaiting high school graduation,

Don

already had a flight plan in

mind. He

would

enlist in the Navy

so he could take flight training and

become

a Naval Aviator.

Unfortu

nately for Don, soon after

he

signed

on the Navy changed their policy of

le

tting enlisted men

become avia-

tors. His immediate flight plan was

put on

hold.

He was

left with his

second choice

of

training,

radio

communications.

Som e

time

after

he completed his basic communica-

tions training Don was assigned to

th

e battleship Nevada.

Now it just so

happen

ed

that the

ship carried three float planes

on

board for search and rescue mis

sions. These planes were

laun

c

hed

from

th

e deck of the battleship with

help of a track and catapult system.

Upon their return, a shipboard crane

would pluck them

from

the water

and

return th em to the deck . Don

was

able

to make many flights in

these planes,

not

as the pilot,

but

as

the

radio communications special-

ist. Once airborne

he

would unreel

a

length of

wire and carry out the

business of sending coded messages

back

to

the battleship. The Nevada

FEBRUARY

2000

the mountains to

the

thirsty Los An-

geles basin. Whenever possible Don

would hitch a ride on whatever small

plane was available to keep in touch

with

his passion for flying.

While

working with the water district Don

also

started up

a small

radio shop.

This led him to a position as radio

technician with the

L.A.

police force .

Leaving L.A. for a year

to further

his electronics training

at

the Capi-

tol Engineering

College in

Washington, D.C., Don returned to

the

Los Angeles police force as their

radio

communications

engineer.

I t

was during this period

he

began do-

ing work on the side for

Douglas

Aircraft Corporation.

In 1940,

shortly after being promoted

to

ra-

dio communications superintendent

for the

L.A.

police force,

and

despite

protests from

the

police chief

to the

contrary, Uncle Sam called him back

to active duty. Don was then as-

signed

to the Adva

nced

Training

Carrier Group, which was

then

flying

scout bombers. Don flew in the back

seat as the radio specialist as th e pi-

lots practiced their bombing accuracy

around the Californ ia coast.

His

life

then took unexpec

ted

twist. After the attack of

the

Navy

base at Pearl Harbor, he was assigned

to

Treasure Island, California where

he was to assist starting up a Navy

radio

school. When that task was

complete he was next assigned to

Johnson

Island,

some 600 miles

south of Hawaii. But his trip to John-

son was delayed at Pearl, while the

Navy had him updating I.F.F. equip-

ment, better known to those who

used it as identify, friend or foe.

Fi-

nally arriving

at his

original

destination, he

immediately set

about

working on I.F.F. installations

on johnson, Midway,

and

Palmyra

Island

s.

For Don, the up side of this

assignment

was

being

able

to

serve

as a crewmember for many hours

during

search

and rescue

flights

looking for lost aviators.

1944 found Don back in

the

Hawaiian

Islands

working

on the

huge 500,000-watt

transmitter

which

had

enough power to

send

messages to almost any locati

on

on

the

globe. I t was

here

he met

his

soon-to-be bride. Marie was a Red

Cross nurse assigned

to

duty at Pearl.

After a short aSSignment on

the

flagship

U.S.S.

Rocky Mountain dur-

ing the

invasion

of

the Marshall

Islands, Don returned

to

take Marie

as his wife. Their first flight together

was provided by the Navy on a DC-

3. The Navy flew

the

newlyweds to

the big

island

for a honeymoon

at

the

famous Volcano Island Inn.

Coming back

to California in

1945,

the

couple

went

quickly

to

work finding 400 acres of

open

land

to

build their

first

private

airport .

The state of California and the city

of Beaumont had different plans for

the property and the Rietzke

Airstrip and his radio repair facility

soon

had to be closed for the cre-

ation

of a new

highway.

t was

at

this point in time

that

Don actually

took the time to make his flying le-

gal. He logged some time

with an

instructor

in

an

old

L 2

taildragger

and

shortly

thereafter

received his

official license to fly.

After 18 hours official flight time

Don bought him self an old Stear-

man . He used

this aircraft

to

commute to

many

of his job sites.

With the closure of his private strip,

he

took a position with th e Civil

Aeronautics

Administration in

stalling VORs at all

the major

airports in California. He found it a

great

way

of combining

his flying

and

radio talents. Before long Don

exchanged the

Stearman for a

Lus-

combe,

and

later,

a

beloved

little


25/36

In

no

time at

all

he

and

had

put

over 400 flight hours

this small two-seater.

In

1950 the Navy

once again

Don

back

to

active

duty.

He

to help

supervise the installa

of

radio equipment at Pearl

Discharged

again in 1952

to work for the Hughes Air-

Once more he could

to work in his

little Er

He then left Hughes to work

the F89 project over

at Northrop

At

Northrop

he was re

for the electrical

and

radio

on

newly

designed

air

Northrop Don went to

r Lockheed

at now famous

He was

involved with much of the

used on the exotic

being designed in complete

se-

including the renown SR 71

When

asked

about his

out electronics

at

nearly ten

above sea level he gave a wry

and said, Pretty

much

like

other

flight, except a lot higher.

the real difference is seeing the

the earth."

Not only

did he ride second seat

Blackbird, but also made high

flights

in the famous

U-2

plane. He

notes

that it

came

the

responsibility of

being

an

research engineer for these

aircraft. Even though Don

heavily involved with his design

application work on the top-se

he kept

many

weekends

to pursue his own love of flying.

He

and his wife spent

many

hours

ing up and down the coast of Cal

in the pursuit of new

At one time one of his

pastimes was for a

friend

himself to fly low over much of

open arid

government

land

of

southwest.

Don

had

designed a scintillator, a

like device that would

the presence of uranium.

Af-

likely deposits, they

later

bounce

and

jar

to the

in

an

old

jeep.

f uranium

was

they would file their claim in

of making a profit.

Don

notes

that there were some anxious

mo

ments,

as

they

weren't the

only

ones prospecting and many of the

others

were very well

armed

in at

tempt

to keep newcomers

from

invading territory where they

had

hoped

to strike it rich.

Once again the Rietzkes wanted

their own airstrip

from

which

to

launch flying adventures. They pur

chased and created the Rietzke Flying

Ranch located

about

15 miles from

Palmdale,

California.

Here,

Don

,

Marie, and their daughter Linda were

free to

come

and go

in

a variety of

small aircraft for which

he

kept trad

ing.

Don

had

a

chance

to take his

first flight in a Navion.

He

was smit

ten He knew that some day he would

own and

fly

one

of

these great perform

ing aircraft. In 1968

Don

and Marie, us

ing the road

atlas

technique, headed

towards Minnesota

in

their very own

Navion to

visit

Marie's hometown

of

Aitkin, Min

nesota. Having

finished his career

at

the Skunkworks,

their

mission was

to locate lakeshore

cons at

great distances in the night

sky, Don set

to

work finding a way

to make them brighter. His inven

tion

was the Hali-Brite. His

company

developed a

product that

could enhance

the visibility

and

brightness of established beacon in

stallations.

Before

long his small

company

was

busy

applying

their

modifications to airports all over

Minnesota. Don relates that the

modified beacons are

now

found

at

almost all U.S. airports.

Early in 1986, Don received a call

from a

former colleague at

the

Skunkworks. Would he like to

help

set up

the

radio communications for

the around-the-world, nonstop unre

fueled Voyager project? Never one to

in

her

home

state

Part ofthe Voyager Communications crew, Don center) is flanked

on

which they by Dave Beardon left ) and Bruce Evans .

would build a

re

tirement home.

Finding property

that

suited their

needs,

they

drove

a

bouncy 4x4

jeep

back to California to pack

up

and put the

Reitzke Flying

Ranch

on

the

real estate market.

Wanting

to

use

his retirement

time

and his talents

productively ,

Don

started up

a small company

called Nav-Com Contractors, which

he located at the Aitkin Airport. He

went

about the business of repairing

and installing aircraft avionics in

civilian planes. Never one

to

hold

just single job at a time, he also went

to

work for

the Minnesota

Dept. of

Aeronautics maintaining

nav aids

and VORs. Hearing

comments

about

the

difficulty

of

seeing

airport

bea

miss out

at

a new adventure, Don ea-

gerly agreed to lend a helping

hand.

Working

with

former

Skunkworks

engineer Larry Caskey,

Don

formu

lated

a

plan

for continuous

communication

with

the

Voyager

no matter

what its

location during

the record-breaking attempt

at

non

stop circumnavigation. The summer

of '86 found Mr. Rietzke living

with

Dick

Rutan near

the

Mojave

Air

port.

t

was here that all flight

operations were

to

be

planned,

tested,

and

managed.

Don

was

assigned

communica

t ions director for this historic

undertaking. His first priority was to

establish a working link with numer-

VINTAGE

IRPL NE

23


26/36

Navions back to the skies.

Don uses his tremen

dous patience and aircraft

knowledge to rebuild or re-

new each

component of

the aircraft. Besides N91491

that

Don

completely

re

built, a visit to

the

hangar

workshop will reveal an

other

beautiful Navion

about to brought back to

lif

e.

A set of highly buffed

aluminum wings are cra

dled in the corner awaiting

their turn to be reat

Marie and Don Riezke with

their

beloved Navion

tached.

That'll

be

done

ous agencies

and

companies

in

the

communication community. Using

every resource at his disposal, Don

helped insure

that

flight director

Caskey

was

in continual contact with

the Voyager in order to pass on vital

flight information about weather,

route changes, etc. As the flying world

knows, it worked Dick and Jeana

as-

tounded

the

aviation world with

their nonstop global flight.

Back

at his

home airstrip, Don

continued to have a love affair with

Navions. On

one

of his trips about

Minnesota he had the opportunity

to

meet a fellow pilot

nicknamed

"Navion Mike."

t

seems

that Navion

Mike also

had an intense passion for this par

ticular line of aircraft. Not

only

did

this gentleman have a beautifully

restored Navion,

he

had

another

disassembl

Documents

Vintage Airplane - Feb 2000