Vintage Airplane - Jan 1990

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STR IGHT ND LEVEL

by spie Butch Joyce

t s the usual practice for the Straight

and Level column for the January

issue each year to report on the State

of the Antique/Classic Division . YourDivision is progressing very well.

The total membership is at an all

time high. The financial position of

the Antique/Classic Division is on a

sound footing. The Officers, Directors

and Advisors are all working hard with

the good of the Division in mind . Our

relationship with EAA has never been

better as is our relationship with the

International Aerobatic Club and the

EAA Warbirds of America.

Our Convention management of theAntique/Classic area at EAA Oshkosh

'89 went very smoothly because of all

the great help given to us by the volun

teers. Because the Division has finally

gotten on the plus side financially, we

are now able to purchase and offer to

the membership, some much requested

merchandise sporting the A/C logo.

You can now order these items from

Oshkosh to make this merchandise

available to those who are unable to

attend the Convention at Oshkosh.

Your Division also received the recognition it has so long deserved this

past year at EAA Oshkosh '89 with the

arrival of all those Jennies.

2 JANUARY 1990

The Jennies and their pilots caused

a great deal of interest in our area from

people who normally would not have

come down to visit us. Quite a few of

these people joined up with us and will

help tell about the antique and classic

movement.

This past year, your publication

VINT GE IRPL NE has steadily im

proved. Your editorial staff, Officers,

Directors, Advisors and the member

ship can all take credit for this . This

month is another milestone for V -

T GE IRPL NE and you will seecolor on the inside pages. The color

section will be repeated on a quarterlybasis from now on . We set this goal

some 2 months ago and have finally

gotten there. We have set some new

goals for this coming year that I think

everyone will like .

This time of year in the Carolinas

can give you any kind of weather. One

day it might be 60 degrees and sunny,

then 2 days later it can be 25 degrees,

snowing or freezing rain. This past

Saturday , we had one of those days .

We had freezing rain and sleet. On this

day, I was again reminded of howmuch I enjoy airplanes and airplane

people . EAA Chapter 8 has for the past

few years had a Christmas party (co

vered dish lunch meeting) held at my

hangar at the county airport in Shiloh.

This Chapter is very active with meet

ings held at different airports year

round . My hangar was filled with

airplanes that could not be put outside

because of the ice against the hangar

door . We usually have 60 to 75 peoplefor this event. This Saturday we ended

up with only eleven hardy souls who

ate a great lunch, drank coffee and

watched the "Jennies to Jets" video.

We shared stories, experiences and

pictures of airplanes. As we sat at ta

bles under the wings of airplanes, I

thought how lucky I am to be with

people who Jove aviation and talk my

language - airplane .

Oh yes, some of you may remember

me talking about my daughter Sarameasuring her legs to see if she could

reach the rudder pedals. I am happy to

report that two weeks ago, she took

her first flying lesson . She walkedaround all day showing everyone her

first logbook entry, "Straight Lev

el. How many of you remember

yours?

Next month (February), your Vice

President, Art Morgan, will be writing

this column to share some of his views

with you . I am not going anywhere,

I'll be back here in the March issue .Let 's all pull in the same direction

for the Good of Aviation.

Join us and have it all



PUBLICATION STAFFPUBLISHER

Tom Poberezny

VICE-PRESIDENTMARKETING &COMMUNICATIONS

Dick Matt

EDITORMark Phelps

ART DIRECTORMike Drucks

ADVERTISINGMary Jones

ASSOCIATE EDITORSNorm an Petersen Dick av in

FEAnJRE WRITERSGeo rge A Hardie, Jr. Dennis Pa rks

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTIsabelle Wiske

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERSJim Koepnick art Schuppel

Jeff Isom

EM ANTIQUE/CLASSICDIVISION, INC.

OFFICERSPresident Vice President

Espie "Butch" Joyce Arthur R Morgan

604 Highway SI. 3744 North 51st Blvd.Mad ison. NC 27025 Milwaukee. WI 53216

919 /427-0216 414/442-3631

Secretary TreasurerGeorge S York E.E. "Buck" Hilbert

181 Sloboda Ave. P.O.Box 424Mansfield. OH 44906 Union. IL60180

419/529-4378 815 /923-4591

DIRECTORSRobert C. "Bob" Brauer John S. opeland

9345 S.Hoyne 9 Joanne DriveChicago. IL 60620 Westborough. MA 01581

312m9 2105 508/366-7245

Philip Coulson Will iam A Eckhoff28415 Springbrook Dr. 41515th Ave . N.E

Lawton. MI 49065 St. Petersburg. FL 33704616/624-6490 813 /823-2339

Charles Harris Sta n Gomo ll

3933 South Peoria 1042 901h Lane. NEP.O.Box 904038 Minneapolis. MN 55434Tulsa. OK 74105 6121784 1172

9181742 7311

Robert D. "Bob" LumleyDale A Gustafson 1265 Sou th 124th SI.

7724 Shady Hill Drive Brookfield. WI 53005Indianapolis. IN 46278 4141782 2633

317/293-4430Steven C. Nesse

Gene Morris 2009 Highland Ave.115C Steve Court. RR. 2 Albert Lea. MN 56007

Roonoke.1X 76262 507 /373 -1674817/491 -9110

SH. OWes " SchmidDaniel Neuman 2359 Lefeber Avenue

1521 Berne Circle W. Wauwatosa. WI 53213Minneapolis. MN 55421

414m1 15456121571 0893

DIRECTOR EMERITUSSJ. Wittman7200 S.E. 85th Lane

Ocala. FL 32672904/245-7768

ADVISORSJohn Berendt Gene Chose

7645 Echo Point Rd. 2159 Carlton Rd.Connon Falls. MN 55009 Oshkosh. WI 54903

507 /263-2414 414/231-5002

George Daubner John A Fogerty2448 Lough Lane RR2. Box 70Harlford. WI 53027 Roberts. WI 54023

414/673-5885 715/425-2455

Jeann ie HillP.O.Box 328

Harvard. IL 60033815/943-7205

JANUARY 1990 • Vol. 18, No 1

Copyright © 1990 by the EAA Antique/Classic Division, Inc. All rights reserved.

Contents

2 Straight and LevelJby Espie Butch Joyce

4 AlC News/compiled by Mark Phelps

6 Editoriallby Mark Phelps

7 AerogramsPage 8

8 Vintage Literaturelby Dennis Parks

10 Members Projectslby Norm Petersen

14 Jack Compere

17 from Paul s Scrapbook

18 Vintage IFRlby Dick H ill

Page 2020 Culver Cum Laudelby Mark Phelps

26 Paul Poberezny/In terview

32 Pass I t To Buck/by E.E. Buck Hilbert

35 Vintage Trader

38 Mystery Planelby George Hardie, Jr.

Page 26

FRONT COVER Steve Givens in his 1940 Culver "Dart" (before theM-12 was re-named the " ader}

(Photo by Carl Schuppel, photo plane flown by Carl Keeling)

REAR COVER .. . An "air minded" cove r for Fortune Magazine. donated

to EAA by Dick Hill.

The words EM. ULTRALIGHT, FLY WITH THE FIRST TEAM, SPORT AVIATION .and Ihe k>gos 1 EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION INC ., EMINTERNA

TIONAL CONVENTKlN , EM ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION INC .. INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB INC ., WARBIRDS OF AMERICA INC .• are registered

trademar1<s. THE EM SKY SHOPPE and k>g6s 0I 1he EM AVIATKlN FOUNDATION INC . and EM ULTRALIGHT CONVENTION are trademat1<s 0I 1he above

associatioos and IOOr use by any person oihef Ihan Ihe above assodalioos is stricIy prohilited.

E<ltorial PoIK:y: Readers are encouraged to submn stories and phoIogaphs. PoIK:y opinions expressed in artides are s o I e ~ !hose 0I1he authors. Responsililrty to<

accuracy " repOf1ing rests e n t i r ~ wiIh Ihe oonIrilutof . a t e r i ~ shook! be senl to: E<ltl>'. The VINTAGE AIRPLANE, WrtIman RegioM Airport, 3000 Poberezny Rd .,

OsI1<osh, WI 54903-3086 . Phooo:41 41426-4800.

The VINTAGE AIRPLAINE (SSN 0091-6943) s pu blished and owned s i v ~ by EM Division, nc . of Ihe Experirnenlal Aircraft Association. Inc and

pub lshed r o o n l h ~ al Wmman R e g K J n ~ Airport, 300Il PoberelOY Rd ., Oshkosh . WI 54903-3086. Second Class postage pakj at OsI1<osh . WI 54901 and additional

mai lng offices. Merrbership ates II>' EM AntiqueiCiassic Division, Inc. are $18.00 lor current EM members II>' 12 rrooth period 1 whictl $12.00 II>' Ihe publication1 The VINTAGE AIRPLANE. Merrbership open to who are t e r e s t e d in aviation.

ADVERTISING - n t i q u e l C ~ Division does oot guaranlee or endorse any produci oNered Ihrough our advertising. We invne constructive cfiticism and welcome

any report 1 inferior merchandise obtained Ihrough our advertising so Ihat l > r e c t ~ e measures can be laken .

POSTMASTER: Send address changes 10 EAA a s s ~ Inc.• P.O. Box3086. Oshkosh , WI 54903-3086.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

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Compiled by Mark Phelps

John Hatz

John Hatz, flying instructor and de

signer o the Hatz Biplane, died n

November 1989 from injuries sus

tained n a pick-up truck accident.

John was technical advisor to EAA

Chapter 640 n Gleason, Wisconsin

which named its newsletter the

"Haymeadow Flyer" after John's grass

strip, Haymeadow Airport . For years,

John offered flight instruction n his

fleet o Cubs and other ai/draggers,

drawing students from hundreds o

miles away and turning down many

more than he was able to accept.

John's funeral, held n his shop at

Haymeadow Airport was a celebration

o his life and was attended by an over

flow crowd o friends , associates and

past students . Karen Kudla , editor o

the Haymeadow Flyer printed the fol

lowing on the front o her Decemberissue. She is happy we are able to

share it with all members o the An

tique/Classic Division .

A week after John Hatz 's death. I

received the following message along

with a note saying, "Karen, please use

this as you wish . We should all thank

the author for sending it anonymously.

Not only is it a wonderful tribute to

John, it's also a gift to all of us . We'll

always think kindly of the person who

was able to put into works some of

what we felt , and wonder if the person

we happen to be talking to is the one

who did it. Whoever you are .. . Thank

you. - Karen Kudla

"John Hatz was n ordinary man

with an extraordinary ability to make

other people's dreams come true. He

was able to tum back the clock about

40 to 50 years, allowing those fortu

nate enough to know him , a chance to

re-Iive a simpler, less hurried period in

our past. His business dealings werethe same, too . A handshake and your

word were all John ever required. You

had to watch this man, though . He

Rick Northrup a ski-plane pilot from Green Bay Wisconsin presents John Hatz with atoken of ppreci tion from ll his admirers. John will be missed.

could come up with the most imagina

tive ways for you to not have to pay

him the full amount earned. As if his

instruction time should, somehow, be

free periodically . You had to watch

him all the time.

"John Hatz was a modest man, usu

ally not at the center of attention. He

avoided the spotlight. He was, how

ever, the person you would seek out in

the crowd, if only to say, 'Hi, John '

and share a few words. He was the

designer and builder of a very popular,

two-winged aircraft. We know it as

"The Hatz. Yet John would invariably

refer to is simply as , 'the homebuilt. '

"John was a teacher. Someone once

asked him, 'John, if you had a million

dollars and could have any plane you

wanted, but only that one plane, which

would it be?' John responded with,

'The Piper Cub . ' Unfortunately, time

ran out before he had the chance tobuild his own special, "million-dollar

Cub , as he refered to it. But, to us

students who flew with him and

learned from him , the time we spent

with him and the Cub he taught us in

was priceless.

"John Hatz left a little bit of himself

in all of us . We should not feel sorry

for John, as he led a rich, full , reward

ing life , enjoying every day while

ama ssing a treasure trove of stories,

experiences and memories. Rather, we

should feel regret for those who willnot get the chance to meet John , or

have the opportunity to learn from him .

However, any time there is a gathering

of small, multi-hued airplanes, along

with their flyers, spectators and dream

ers, both young and not-so-young, you

can bet that John s spirit lives within

that group. It's at the very core of that

camaraderie and good will. And , when

you look up and see a little yellow

airplane above you, perhaps just doing

lazy circles against the blue sky, youcan be sure John 's spirit is there, too .

"John Hatz was the best. Just ' Ask

any pilot. ' " - Anonymous

4 JANUARY 1990



Mike Strook

On December 15, 1989 Mike Strook

died of leukemia at the Milwaukee

County Medical Center. He was 25.

Antique/Classic members might have

seen him at EAA Oshkosh 89 zipping

around on his motorscooter with his

neck loaded down with cameras. s

anintern

inthe EAA photography department, he shot many of the static

and detail pictures that have appeared

in VINTAGE AIRPLANE Mike s tal

ent, courage and determination will be

remembered and missed at EAA Osh-

kosh '90. We extend our sincere con

dolences to his family.

Mitchell Gallery of Flight

Travelers stranded at Mitchell Field

in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are treated

to an unusual way to pass the time .

The Mitchell Gallery of Flight is a

small but intriguing museum tracing

the history of aviation in the Mil

waukee area. One of the exhibits is a

scale replica of the Layton A venue Air

Terminal, since tom down . Some 20

exhibits are included in the gallery.

Some are permanent and others rotate

on a space-available basis. The

museum is a joint effort of the airport

authority and volunteer organizationknown as the Friends of Mitchell Gal

lery of Flight. Membership is currently

250 enthusiasts and growing . The

group's resident historian is none other

Brett Clowes left), debr iefs with Gene Chase after flying the EM Aviation FoundationAero Sport II.

than George Hardie, Jr. , author of

"Mystery Plane" in this magazine.

G day Mate

EAA said so long to Brett Clowes

of Australia on December 4 . Brettcame to stay for a few months before

EAA Oshkosh '88 and just never left

- until a few weeks ago . He is headed

to Sao Paulo, Brazil to spend some

The Rev Thomas Rowland visits with his Ereoupe.

time working on - airplanes. The only

change for Brett will be the climate, as

he put his skills to work on several

EAA Avitaion Foundation aircraft,

most notably the Acro Sport II. After

it was severely damaged in a forced

landing, Brett rebuilt the airplane al

most single-handed. Shortly before his

departure, Brett went up to sample his .

work with Gene Chase in the rear

cockpit. On landing, Brett said , Til

have to get me one of these. Wrap it

up. I'll take it home " Brett hopes to

make it to EAA Oshkosh 90 before

heading back to Australia later this

year. So far, he s managed to

hopscotch the equator, effectively

spending most of his time in summer

weather.

The Reverend Thomas Rowland visits his airplane in the EAA Air Ad

venture Museum

One of designer, Fred Weick s

staunchest fans visited The EAA Air

Adventure Museum last month and un

covered some interesting details on his

1940 Ercoupe, now on display on the

main floor. The Rev. Rowland dis

coursed on the original smooth 7:00 x

4 tires and the "mudscraper"

nosewheel fork, so-called because its

narrow clearance between fork and tire

was designed to clear the tire of mud

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5



and snow while taxiing. Museum Di

rector, Carl Swickley escorted the

Rev. Rowland on his tour and

everyone at Headquarters who had the

opportunity to meet him enjoyed his

visit.

Staggerwing vs Starduster

Armin Holle's snappy Starduster

Too, pictured in Buck Hilbert's col

umn, Pass It to Buck in the June

1989 issue was damaged by a

Staggerwing in a taxi accident at Gil

lespie Field in San Diego. The Beech's

propeller did extensive damage to the

right wings and tail surfaces as well as

the fuselage. Armin plans to rebuild .•

EDITORI Lby ark Phe lps

november 18, 1989 a Cessna150 pilot was practicing turns at 2,500

feet (approximately 1,500 feet agl)

four miles southeast of Air Lake Indus

trial Airport . That's under the Min

neapolis TCA and within the 30-mile

Mode-C veil. Although the Cessna was

squawking a 1200 code with its Mode

C transponder, it collided with a Beech

Baron on an IFR flight plan. The Baron

had been cleared to descend to 2,500

feet for the approach to Flying Cloud

Airport, also within the veil some 18

miles to the northwest. The aircraft methead-on and the Cessna dove to its

right while the Baron initiated a climb

ing tum to its right. As a result, the

right wingtip of the Baron hit the left

wingtip of the Cessna. Eighteen inches

of the Cessna ' s wingtip were sheared

off and the aileron was damaged . Still,

the pilot was able to land at Air Lake

eight minutes later and neither he nor

hi s passenger were injured . The Baron

lost three feet of wing and also landed

safely at Air Lake, although it sustained substantial further damage after

leaving the runway on rollout. The solo

pilot was al so uninjured .

The accident occurred in clear6 JANUARY 199

weather. Legally, both pilots were responsible for seeing and avoiding each

other. The Baron pilot said that he did

not recall an ATC advisory of VFR

aircraft in his flight path . In fact, at

least two other Mode C-equipped VFR

aircraft were flying in the area at the

time.

Therein lies a problem .

Flying IFR in crowded airspace is

theoretically and statistically safer than

running the gauntlet VFR . For that

reason, it seems to make sense that it

would be safer if VFR flying weremore like IFR flying in those areas.

That's why all the restrictions have

been placed on VFR flight in TCAs,

ARSAs, etc. and why those classes of

airspace have been developed in the

first place . The responsibilities of the

VFR pilot have grown accordingly , in

cluding learning all about the airspace

and its boundaries and most lately in

cluding the installation of a Mode-C

transponder in his airplane . This gives

the other member of the air safetyteam, the controller, more informa

tion . Whether this is realistic or not is

open to debate. But even if the theory

were proved, there is still a problem

that this incident brings to the forefront.With all the changes in FARs and

airspace, the leg l responsibility of the

FAA and its controllers has not grown

one iota while the pilot has been forced

to comply with a number of compli

cated new restrictions and respon

sibilities. In this accident, an IFR air

craft was cleared to pass over an airport

with significant VFR activity, at a busy

altitude well below that which would

be expected for an IFR aircraft 18

miles from its destination airport . If no

advisories were relayed to the Baronpilot, it would seem to have been an

ill-advised clearance on the part of the

controller, yet he still retains no re

sponsibility for his actions . The law

still says it's the pilot's responsibility

to, see-and -be-seen in visual mete

reological conditions, even if he's

ushered into a traffic jam by the traffic

cop himself.

The FAA has assumed a great deal

of new authority by requiring Mode C

on all aircraft flying within TCA veilsand above 10 ,000 feet nationwide. The

agency needs to assume a comparable

dose of responsibility to go with the

authority . •



People watcherDear Sir,

I would like to place on record thepleasure I get from reading both

SPORT A VIA TlON and especiallyVINTAGE IRPL NE when they con

tain hi storic aviator/aviatrix articles .

More please if possible.

Best regards,

George WrightSutton Cold field

West MidlandsEngland

Send more moneyDear Mark,

Happy to see the Fairchild Clubli sted among the type clubs in the

November issue of VINT GE

IRPL NE Only one small problem.

The dues are $10 .00 per year not

$5 .00 . Could you correct this please.

I am sure that EAA gets requests abouttype clubs and it will cause a problem.

Sincerely ,John Berendt, President

Fairchild Club

Splinter groupDear Norm,

I m a 70-year-old, 3,000-hour pri

vate pilot with multi- and instrument

ratings. My 1932 Heath Parasol has a

Continental A-40-4 engine. The

airplane was restored in 1983 and has

been flown 40 hours since. On a beau

tiful North Carolina evening in May I

was flying from my private strip. t

400 feet agl there was a sudden noise

and something went by the cockpit.

This set up a terrific vibration to the

point that I thought the engine would

separate. I immediately closed the

throttle and shut off the switch. Being

only a half mile from the strip, I was

able to land without difficulty.

A third of the prop was gone and it

was split to the hub. Also, the small

spinner was gone. Also, one arm of

the engine mount was cracked . I saw

four possible reasons for my adven

ture :1. Had the propeller been damaged

in the hangar? Unlikely. I did a good

preflight , including pulling the prop

through at least a dozen times.

2. Could the spinner have separated

and hit the prop causing the split? Also

unlikely.3. Could a jealous husband have

taken a shot at me? Very unlikely .

4. Primary failure? In my opinion,

that is the probable cause.

In any case, the mount was repairedand a new prop installed . The Heath is

flying again .

Best wishes,

Ed Garber, Jr.

Fayetteville, North Carolina

The remains o r. Garber s propeller.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7



V I ~ T ( 3 ~ L I T ~ I T U I 2 ~by enni§ Vark§

Libl a0 ~ I c h i v e §Uil ed()1

unk Aircraft and Ford EnginesAuto engines, being cheap and plentiful

compared with certified aircraft engineshave proven tempting to those who would

try to adapt them to aircraft use . Further

more, the successful use o such engines in

homebuih aircraft in the 1930s, such as the

use o the Ford Model A engine in the

Pietenpol Air Camper, provided an added

impetus to those trying to cut the cost o

aircraft production during the Depression.

No doubt the interest was further spread by

the appearance o a Ford-conversion articleby Pietenpol in the 1932 FLYING MANUAL. Pietenpol remarked in the introduc

tion that interest in the conversion o the

Ford Model A to the Air Camper wasmighty hot. His overview o the Ford

was as follows:The Ford motor makes an ideal power

plant. t is rugged and very reliable . t is

comparatively low speed, and can be serviced anywhere the ship may be forced

down . And it is cheap enough to be easyto buy. The whole motor, brand new costs

but little more than a hundred bucks, and

when converted will develop a good 38-40hp , which is enough to fly two people in

the Air Camper monoplane .

Pietenpol turned the engine back tofront , installed a new intake manifold,

added pressure oiling, magneto ignition

and produced a successful engine for thehomebuilder. One that he said was, capa

ble o carrying you and your crate

thousands o miles.In 1932 a commercially-made conver

sion o the Ford Model A engine appearedin the Straugham-Holmes Model A

Parasol. This was to evolve into the WileyPost biplane that was type certificated in

1935 .The $700 Airplane program conceived

by Assistant Secretary o Commerce,Eugene Vidal was an effort to find out

whether a plane could be produced that

would cost no more than a medium pricedcar. Most o the entries in the program wereautomobile engine powered. Ole Fahlin

buh one with a Plymouth Six , Arrow builtthe Arrow Sport F around the Ford V 8 and

Waldo Waterman used a Studebaker Six

in his' Arrowbile.

The largest producer o certified converted auto engine powered aircraft was the

Akron Aircraft Company. This company

was formed in 1937 to produce the aircraftdesigned by Joe and Howard Funk. First

developed in 1934, the plane developed in

terest with its appearance at the 1937

Miami Air Races where it was test flown

by Clarence Chamberlin . The Civil Aero

nautics Administration bought one for

evaluation. This aircraft, known as theFunk B went into production in 1939 and100 o the aircraft powered by the Ford

based engine were constructed in 1939 and1940. In late 1940 the Funk Brothers

switched to the new geared 75-hp Lycom

ing engine.The Funk version o the Ford Model B

engine involved a lot o development. This

development was reported by Joseph Funk

in a paper for presentation at the 1947 SAENational Personal Aircraft Meeting held in

Wichita . In light o continued attempts to

adapt auto motors to aviation, the papercalled Experiments With Converted Au

tomobile Engines For Light Aircraft PowerPlants provides an interesting insight into

such a process.The original aircraft that the Funk

8 JANUARY 1990



brothers built was powered by Szekely

three-cylinder aircraft engine of 45 hp . n

his paper, Joseph Funk reported that the

powerplant did not give satisfactory relia

bility. A check by Funk revealed that the

only available aircraft engines in produc

tion were the 40-hp Continental and the

LeBlond 70. He felt that the Continental

did not have sufficient power and the Le

Blond was too costly at $ 1,000.He reported , "We therefore elected to

investigate the question of automotive con

version," futher , "We were impressed by

the performance obtained by ce rtain

amateur experimenters who

used the Ford Model A, four

cylinder engine in several types

of very light aircraft." They

were also impressed by the ap

parently high output which race

car experimenters were able to

derive from the engine. Thus

they decided to begin experi

ments with the Ford engine.

"As rated by the Ford Motor

Company, it produced approxi

mately 40 horsepower at 2,200

rpm., and since the engine

weighed approximately 350

pounds , not including coolant

and radiator, it was obvious

that to obtain really satisfactory

performance , it would be nec

essary to make certain altera

tions which would both in

crease the power and decrease

the weight, if possible."Aerodynamics was also a

consideration:

"I might point out at this time

that another factor in the altera

tion of this engine was the firm

resolution on our part not to

sacrifice any pos sible aero

dynamic efficiencies or general

arrangement features which

would be detrimental to visibil

ity or require any other un

reasonable compromises in the

structure of the aircraft."

The weight problem was approached with the adaptation of

an aluminum cylinder head which was

available from accessory manufacturers .

Aluminum was also used for valve covers,

crankcase, coolant pump and end housing .

However, every attempt was made to keep

the substitution to a minimum due to the

high cost of the accessory parts. The final

weight of the powerplant including the

radiator and coolant was nearly 300 pounds .

The biggest problem confronting them

was how to raise the power of the engine

without abandoning the low price and relia

bility objectives. The induction system wasthe area they explored and they ended up

using the value assembly from the

Plymouth P. B. engine. They had a setback

when they found out that the low-priced

aluminum heads were low-cost not because

of quantity production but beca use they

were defec tive . Thus Funk had to produce

its own aluminum cylinder heads.

The flight tests showed that the perfor

mance of the aircraft with the modified

Ford was quite desirable. As th e author reported:

In fact, at this date, Jun e 1936 , there

was nothing available from commercial

light personal aircraft production which

le Fahlin s Plymouth engine conversion

KRON

The unk Ford

even approached the performance charac

teristics of this aircraft. Our engine pro

duced 63 hp at 2,134 rpm. , weighed 305

pounds.

The inverted feature of the engine, to

gether with what was at that time a very

novel co mpletel y tunne lled radiator instal

lation with manually controlled cooling

flap, gave the aircraft a degree of cleanness

which was at that time practically unknown

to the light plane industry.

An engine was sent to the CAA for type

certificate endurance runs but as soon astest began, crankshaft failures became so

prevalent as to di scourage the government

from further testing. It was at this point

that Funk redesigned the engine and

changed over to the Ford Model B engine

which had a heavier crank. The induction

system and accesso ries remained the same.

The next problem was piston failure

which forced the abandonment of produc

tion automotive pi stons and required them

to acquire a mold and make their own pi stons. This was a discouraging setback in

their cost objectives. However , the engine

was certified by the government. Unfortu

nately the experimental and approval work

had req u ired three years so that

by the time the engine was cer

tified, all of the automotive

parts which they used were no

longer current and they had to

locate sources other than Ford.

This they were able to do and

approximately 100 units were

produced and sold. The ulti

mate cost of the engine was ap

proximately $400.

Of course like all new things

there were problems. To quote

Mr. Funk:

And like all new engine de

velopments, the service dif

ficulties were legion I believe

more so than most other engine

developments . Occasionally a

customer would fail to get all

the way home on the initial de

livery flight without major en

gine failure."He concluded his paper with

a list of the most noticeable dis

advantages of the engine . The

first was the ex.tremely heavy

weight due to automotive de

sign and liquid cooling feature .

Second was the mechanical

failures on parts which they

were unable to alter or control

without completely abandoning

the low price which was the pri

mary justification for the en

gine in the first place.

Third, they failed completelyto convince both salespeople

and customers that low-price automotive

replacements could NOT be used in the en

gine. He said that was a major problem

because many of the parts appeared to be

similar and many failures occurred due to

their use in aircraft engine overhauls.

There was further development of the en

gine and an 80-hp version was produced

using a higher compression ratio and dual

ignition. Several units were built , but by

this time the large producers of small air

craft engines had arrived at a sufficient

quantity of production that Funk shifted tostandard aicraft engines to power its planes .•

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9



M E M E R S ~PROJECfS

Andrew King EM 275985, N

10739) of Valley Cottage, New York

sent in the photo of this nearlyfinished Pietenpol, which has been

the "object of his affection" forsome lime. Besides spending manyhours at Cole Palen's Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome each summer, Andrew still finds lime for the Pietenpolproject. He hopes to have it at Oshkosh '90.

Additional work by Andrew King is shownin this photo of Mike Hart's EM 157528 ,N 6364) big New Standard 0-25. Be-

tween 80 and 9 percent of the wings arenew according to Andrew plus new seatsand miscellaneous parts and pieces.

Since the photo was taken, the wings havebeen covered. (It must take quite a fewyards of cloth to cover those huge wingsurfaces )

Notice the very nice woodwork in theupper wing panel (lett) of the New Standard. The large plywood covered aileronsare set at quite an angle to the spars asseen in this Andrew King photo.

1 JANUARY 1990



by Norm Petersen

Pushed out to see the light of day is the latest effort of Morton Lester EM 55178, N 14 and his crew. It's a 1936 WACO YKS-6, NC16249,S N 4466, powered with a 245-hp Shaky Jake spinning a Hamilton Standard propeller. The total restoration is finished in white withtwo-tone blue trim. Complete with wheelpants, the YKS-6 is one of 14 remaining on the U.S. register from an original production runof 65 airplanes. Note the outside baggage door just aft of the lower wing.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11



M E M E R S ~PROJECfS

Dear Mark:

N32455 was built on January 16, 1941 with serial 588, and was pretty close

to being the last Airmaster produced as the serial numbers went to 591. This

airplane was originally delivered to actor Robert Cummings and nicknamedSpinach III and painted an overall light and dark green with the name printed

rather large on its side (Robert Cummings was and still is a vegetarian and

named all his airplanes, all Airmasters in fact Spinach, this one of course being

his third).

The airplane has spent most of its time in the Northwest until I bought her

back in 1984 and took it to Pensacola, Florida for four years. I brought her back

to the Seattle area early last year and now keep it at my home in Buckley on

Cawley-South Prairie Airpark. Late last month though I had a slight problem withher: A friend of mine and I were on our way to Snohomish, WA about 55 miles

north of here, when the Warner on her seized up at about 2,000 feet agl im

mediately after swallowing a valve in the number-four cylinder. We were about

three and a half miles from the airport but there was no way we were going to

make it so we landed on a two-lane highway just southwest of the field with no

further damage to the airplane. After the Highway Patrol, FAA IV crews, etc. had

their say, we towed the airplane, fully intact to Harvey Field, using the highway

and a couple of corn fields to get there. I pulled the engine and am in theprocess of taking the wing off to trailer it all back home where I plan on rebuilding

the entire airframe since I was going to start on that anyway this winter. A zerotimed Warner will be installed and the Aeromatic Propeller with be overhauledas well. The project should take from one and a half to two years; I ll be sure to

send you a photo of the finished product. Although the airplane is in good shape,except for the engine, the covering is about 20 years old and its time to take alook inside for any wood damage and I d like to restore it back to original Cessna

colors I think I ll pass on Spinach green).

Eric Sorenson

12 JANUARY 1990



Cruising over the beautiful country of the state of Washington is Cessna Airmaster, C-165 N32455, SN 588, owned by Eric Sorensonof Buckley, WA One of the last Airmasters built, N32455 was delive red to actor Bob Cummings in 1941 and named "Spinach III". Afterbouncing around the Northwest, Eric Sorenson bought the bird in 1984 and has enjoyed the Cessna since (most of the time ) Just amonth ago, the 165 Warner swallowed a valve and quit at 2000 feet AGL Unable to make the airport, Eric made a forced landing

on a highway without damage. The airplane is now dismantled for total overhaul including a zero time engine and a newlyoverhauled Aeromatic propeller. Eric plans on an original Cessna paint scheme rather than "Spinach" green

Eric Sorenson stands in front of his favorite airplane, a Cessna C-165. A DC-8aptain for Hawai ian Airlines by trade, Eric enjoy.s the unique qualities of the

Cessna and always allows extra time on landing to explain to the local folksthat it isn't a Cessna 195 We look forward to a photo when N32455 is totally

rebuilt and resplendent in its new paint scheme.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13



INTERESTING

JACK COMPERE

from material submitted

by uddy Joffrion4 JANUARY 1990



ack Compere flies an Ercoupe. So

do lots of other people who enjoy the

classic little twin-tail sportplane. Jack

is unusual in that he was stricken with

polio as a high-school student in the

late 1930s that has restricted the use of

his legs. The two-control Ercoupe is

perfect for someone in Jack's cir

cumstance, but after hearing his story,

you get the feeling that he could fly,drive, ride or otherwise master any

thing else you threw at him.

Houston in the 1930s was not an

affluent area . Jack built his character

by selling magazines, cutting lawns

and walking a paper route at 4:30 am

- 2:30 on Sundays . The strapping

youngster played football and basket

ball at San Jacinto High School and his

coach, Jesse Madden got Jack and

three other players summer jobs dig

ging post holes in the stifling Gulf

Texas heat for 45 cents an hour - un

told riches during the lingering Depres

s On .

t was later that year that he con

tracted polio, leading to a year-and-a

half hospital stay . He emerged with

braces and crutches and took up his

studies again - as well as respon

sibilities as the equipment manager on

the football team. He also re-Iearned

to drive a car with his handicapped

legs .

n early 1940, an operation allowedthe removal of one of his braces and

Jack was walking with the aid of a sim

ple cane. Two years of college later,

Jack took a summer job as a horse

wrangler and broke his left knee. Un

able to return to school, he began work

in a defense plant where he met and

married his wife, Marie. n 1955, the

family moved to California and in

1974, Jack formed his own company

associated with the electronics indus

try.

Two years before, in 1972, Jack

took up sports car racing and joined

the Sports Car Club of America, racing

against such notables as Steve

McQueen and Dan Blocker - Hoss

on the TV series, Bonanza.

n 1985 Jack sold his business and

took up flying. He bought his 1946 Er

coupe and hired an instructor. Late in

1986, he was preparing for his check

ride when he was stricken with a heart

attack and underwent triple-bypass

surgery. Within a year, he had passedthe treadmill exam, re-acquired his

medical certificate and passed his

checkride. He now flies his Ercoupe,

anywhere he cares to go.

Jack's is typical of the character

traits often found among sport pilots .

His story is special, given the easily

recognizable hurdles he had to over

come. But the qualities he exemplifies

are those that are not uncommon

among all pilots. Especially those de

dicated to the preservation and flying

of antiques and classics. Hats off to

Jack Compere, the man they couldn't

keep down . •

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5



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ROMPAUL'S SCRAPBOOK

Wally SpoHs with a 90-hp inverted Cirrus Great Lakes.Note the spiffy whitewall tires.

Danny Phelps with Bucker Jungmeister.The airplane is now in the National Airand Space Museum.

DooIiHle and the LairdSuper Solution probably

at the P W facility in Hartford, Connecti cut.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17



V IN T G E I R

Dateline - Mather Field , California

1943

The above photo was taken with an

early box camera by Lee Bolton of

Racine, Wisconsin . It would appear

that this was an instrument familiariza

tion flight. The instructor is flying the

approach. Manifold pressure is 7

inches, rpm 1,750. The student's

sleeves are rolled up and he's ready to

take over. The amber glass is in place

over the windshield and the student

pilot has his blue goggles stretchedover his headphones. The instructor is

wearing glasses, obviously too old to

be a real pilot for the military .

Backpack parachutes are slung over

the pilots' chairs. These photos were

prohibited as the T-50 Bamboo Bom

bers were classified equipment in those

days . Lee was sitting in the back seat

waiting his tum at the wheel. Now , 46

years later, Lee is in the process of

checking out in the Cessna T-50 once

again . He has been flying with me in

the "Bimbo Bomber," N 30L.During World War II and for many

years afterward the blue/amber system

was used for instrument flight training.

8 JANUARY 1990

by ick Hill

It was phased out with the advent of

welders' masks and the use of flight

simulators. The blue/amber system

was cumbersome and wearing the blue

goggles made it very dark and hard to

see in the cockpit. For instrument prac

tice in single-place fighter planes, the

pilot would put the amber Plexiglas in

place, make his take-off and at the pre

determined ceiling, don the goggles.

A chase plane would take off in closeformation and stay on his wing to

watch for traffic and errors during the

flight.

For many years during the formulat

ing of instrument training the canvas

hood was used. Jimmy Doolittle used

this system in the first real instrument

flight and evidence of this system is

still apparent in the turret on the Bam

boo Bomber in the photo . You can see

the button-snap on each side of the stu

dent's head. One is visible on the win

dow post and one on the top of theglareshield at the " NO" of the NO

SMOKING sign.

The canvas hood snapped to these

and several other points to obscure the

vision of the student. It also obscured

the vision of the instructor and in

creased the accident potential. This is

where the blue/amber became a more

practical system because it did not re

strict the instructor's vision out of the

cockpit.

Another system that was used in

larger planes consisted of a frame that

was built to fit the windshield with

"venetian blinds" placed vertically.

The instructor pilot in the right seatcould look through the blinds with al

most no restriction . Then came the full

flight simulator to replace the risky in

strument training flights .

At right, we see how far instrument

flying aT-50 has come in half a cen

tury. Jim Kramer of Boynton Beach ,

Florida brought hi s customized T-50

to EAA Oshkosh '89 along with seven

other Bamboo Bombers for the largest

collection of the twin trainers at Osh

kosh in memory . Jim's panel reflects

all the ammenities of the modem IFR

pilot including HSI, DME, loran , in

tercom and weather radar. How times

have changed •




http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-jan-1990 20/402 JANUARY 199


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vintage-airplane-jan-1990 21/40VINT GE IRPL NE 2



The Culver s interior is simple. Main wheelwells are visible below the pilot s nd passenger s knees, nd a p nel of Plexiglas allows

visible examination of the ge r position.

Brakes on the left only. The red wheel in the middle is for ge r operation.The

prop control t the top of the p nel oper ted a Beech-Roby vari blepitch unit - since repl ced with a fixed-pitch Sensenich.

226 is rabidly active and its members

have about 15 airplanes among them.

Steve has logged time in such diverse

aircraft as a PT-19, a Sonerai, a Pitts,

an Ercoupe , a Stinson, and a lot o

hours in his own Cessna 170 before he

got the Culver bug. In 1988, Steve be

came president o Chapter 226 and

serves in that capacity today.The Culver Cadet caught Steve's at

tention when he was looking for an

airplane to replace his Cessna 170. He

liked the Cessna, but found that he sel

dom used its hauling capabilities and

was looking for something more efficient. When you look up efficient in

an aviation dictionary, you find a pic

ture o Al Mooney next to the word.

Mooney was a natural designer . As

an eighteen-year-old in Denver, he

looked at the Alexander Eaglerock 1 6and knew he could make it better. The

result was No . 1 7 - the long-wing

Eaglerock that performed notably bet

ter than its predecessor in Colorado'sJANUARY 1990



Steve s Culver is powered with a Continental A-7 as was the original.

rarified air. The most noticable feature

of the Mooney Eaglerock was its lower

wing s greater span, caused by equal

sized upper and lower wing panels and

the lack of an upper center section. The

OX-5 powered airplane was one of

Mooney s few biplane designs. From

there on, a succession of ever-slip

perier monoplanes flowed from his designer s pencil.

Notable among them was the Ale

xander Bullet which first flew on Jan

uary I I, 1929. t was a low-wing,

three-place cabin design with a radial

engine. The Bullet epitomized

Mooney s efforts to develop a sleek

airplane that got the most out of its

available horsepower. With its eliptical

wings and retractable gear, the Bullet

claimed a top speed of 148 mph on 165

hp .

Like most airplane designers,

Mooney moved from company to com

pany. While work ing for Clare Bunch

at Monocoupe in St. Louis, he de-

The gear is simple, with semi-circle leaf springs and mechanical brakes.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23



signed a nifty two-place called the

Monosport . It was powered with a

series of radial engines and had

Mooney's characteristic eliptical wing .

Mooney came to work for Knight

Culver when the wealthy financier

bought the Monosport design form

Monocoupe. Culver had interests in

several . areas, including speedboats

built by the Dart manufacturing com

pany. His airplanes, variations on theMonosport theme, also became known

as Darts. By now they had enclosed

Plexiglas canopies and were quite ad

vanced for a 1938 sportplane .

Mooney s next move was to further

refine the Dart with manually retracta

ble gear, clamshell doors and one of

the new horizon-

tally-opposed, four-

cylinder engines, in

do with the airplane's future . A rapidly

re-arming military saw the need for a

light , inexpensive drone target to train

anti-aircraft gunners for both the Army

and Navy. Radio control had advanced

to the point of practicality . The little

drone , the military thought, could be

controlled from a UC-78 mother ship

and the gunners could blaze away at a

live target.

The factory at Columbus was innundated with orders for civilian M-12s

and a move to larger quarters was al

ready in the works when Col. George

Holloman from Wright Field first

broached the topic of converting Cul

vers to drones. About 45 airplanes

were built in Columbus and they were

guns being used in training were radar

aimed and the non-reflective wood

didn ' t return a sufficient target for the

radar. The stealth drones were given a

coat of aluminum paint , the better to

be seen by the gunners' radar. The only

difference between the PQ-8 drone and

the civilian Cadet was the tricycle land

ing gear on the drone.

Later , Mooney redesigned the PQ-8

with a larger engine and a longer , narrower wing with a high aspect ratio .

An example of the resulting PQ-14 is

on display in the EAA Eagle Hangar

- having been restored and donated

by EAA Director Morton Lester of Vir

ginia. This long-wing drone was the

harbinger of ultra-efficient Mooneys to

come - the M-18

Mite and the M

20 - later to be

come the 20 I , 23 I ,his case a 75-hp"THE ARRIVAL OF

232 etc . Who knowsontinental A-75. what would haveoster Lane , the

happened if theixed base operator THE M 12 INmillion dollars ofho leased space

to Culver in Col civilian orders for1940 HAD EVERYTHINGumbus reports that Cadets had been

filled instead ofooney's office wasTO DO WITH ITSn the upper level shifting to military

of Hangar One and

he would see the

light burning late

into the night as

Mooney worked on

the newer , lighter version of the Dart .Mooney numbered all his designs

with his M- designation. The Eagle

rock biplane was the M-I, the Bullet

was the M-4 and so on . The new de

sign was the M-12 and it first flew on

December 3, 1939 with Foster Lane at

the controls. Mooney had been out to

develop a $2,000 cruiser that would

carry two people and a suitcase apiece

at two miles a minute. Fuel bum was

about four gph .

Like all Mooney's airplanes, the M 2 was a wood airplane . At a time

when the industry, led by Don Lus

combe's Silvaire, was switching to all

metal construction, the little wooden

airplane represented the fullest poten

tial of the medium. It was smooth,

strong and light. Efficient. Actually ,

the M-12 wasn't all wood. It had a

steel truss in the wing center section,

and the trademark clamshell doors

were aluminum. Built one by one, the

doors are not really interchangeable

from one airplane to the next withoutmuch reworking .

Timing is everything, and the arrival

of the M-12 in 1940 had everything to

4 JANUARY 199

FUTURE."

still called Darts . Jim Givens' airplane

is serial number 133, or the 33rd built,

technically making it a Dart rather than

a Cadet, as the airplane was known

after the move to Wichita.

What followed was both a success

story and a tragedy, depending on how

you feel about the airplane. Supplying

the military with cannon fodder made

the Culver Aircraft Co. lots of money,

but production of the Cadet for civilian

flying came to a virtual halt. There

were some magic moments when military service pilots would depart the

airport in Wichita . The drones were

temporarily configured for piloted op

eration for delivery purposes and the

pilots would leave in groups of four or

eight. The little mini-fighters would

roar off the airstrip at intervals and the

pilots engaged in spirited dogfights

over the factory before forming line ab

reast formation to fly the aircraft south

to EI Paso and eventual destruction .

The non-strategic wood construc

tion of the drones - one of the reasonsfor choosing them for the project

was also one of the problems in the

early days. Some of the anti-aircraft

production.

Steve has owned

two Cadets. His

first was a Wichita

built machine that

he bought at a Taylorcraft fly-in. Thatairplane convinced him that he wanted

a mint Cadet to restore to near-original

condition . Hi s current airplane, NC

29264 was built in 1940 in Columbus,

before the company moved to Wichita .

The wartime logs are missing, but evi

dence indicates it was based in Arkan

sas. The trail picks up in Ohio during

the 1950s. Bob Minimum bought the

Cadet in 1960 or '61 but didn't fly it.

He owned it until the early 1970s.

James Zachary of Muncie , Indianabought the airplane from Minimum

and began his restoration project. He

performed most of the wood work on

the Cadet and covered it with cotton

fabric. Zachary only flew the airplane

about 30 hours after finishing the resto

ration in 1977 and it sat n an open

hangar after that.

t was 10 years later, in October

1987 that Steve and his partner , Jim

Wright, also of Chapter 226, bought

NC 29264 and began their rebuild. The

airplane flew again in September 1988 .Steve says that he did all the work

that is visible. Zachary had reskinned

the fuselage and wingtips so the only



structural restoration needed was

where the wing ' s trailing edges had

bowed somewhat from the shrinking

fabric. The cotton itself was bad and

the airplane needed to be recovered.

Steve repainted the Cadet working

from some original factory black-and

white photographs from Charlie Har

ris. In the photos, early M-12s had

their rudders painted the same color as

the fuselage, unlike later Cadets whoserudders were cream colored, as were

the wings. The exact shade of maroon

came from the fuel tank . When Steve

stripped it of its black, brushed-on

paint, he found fresh maroon under

neath and matched it exactly for the

exterior fusleage color.

Steve says that

lim did all the

work that doesn't

show . The Conti

nental A-75 was insad shape when the

pair bought the air

plane . The crank

shaft was out of

service limits, the

cam lobes were

worn, three cylin

ders were bad and

it had a bent rod.

The mags had also

deteriorated to out

of-service condi

tion. lim dug in

and overhauled the

engine. He also re

furbished the land

ing gear, fitted the new windshield and

hand-tooled a new doorknob when no

original one could be found.

The panel was original when they

bought the airplane but Steve and lim

felt it needed to be replaced. They used

it as a pattern and burled the veneer

themselves. The upholstery in the

airplane was original so they were ableto match the color of the seats . The

fabric on the cockpit sides and doors

is GM Cadillac upholstery fabric and

matches the original almost exactly .

All the original instruments were over

hauled but the tach quit after 10 hours

and had to be replaced. The manifold

pressure gauge was replaced with a

vertical speed indicator since the

Beech Roby adjustable prop was re

placed with a fixed pitch Sensenich

wooden prop. Cadets were also avail

able from the factory with Freedman

Burnham ground adjustable props.

The Hayes brakes were overhauled.

The original design used master cylin

ders from a '39 Dodge and overhaul

kits are readily available. The tail

wheel was converted to a steerable unit

- a safety conversion that is highly

desirable on the short-coupled Cadet.

The airplane has no electrical system.

Steve has flown the airplane about

65 hours since its restoration, mostly

to local fly-ins such as Murfee in Mar

ion, Ohio where it won Grand Cham

pion Antique honors . He flew to Oshkosh with his son for EAA Oshkosh

'89 where the Cadet won the award for

Outstanding Closed Cockpit Mono

plane from the Contemporary Age. lim

Wright has built several airplanes in

cluding a lunior Ace and a Hatz Bi

plane. He flew the Hatz to EAA Osh-

im Wright lett) nd Steve Givens

kosh '89. He is a millwright by profes

sion, and Steve refers to him as the

character behind the project. l m is

not overly concerned with awards for

his airplanes and sometimes goes to

fly-ins wearing a hat that reads, I

didn't come all this way to be

criticized. He finds the rewards of ajob well-done to be sufficient gratifica

tion.

The Culver Cadet got a reputation

as a hot number when it first arrived

on the scene. With retractable gear and

a cruise speed of 120 mph, it was a

giant step away from the strutted,

draggy sportplanes everyone was used

to. Actually, it's not a difficult airplane

to fly or land if proper technique is

used. It's the same story with so many

other airplanes. The difficulties are

exaggerated, but often, they are simply

differences rather than difficulties . For

instance, the Culver requires practice

at raising and lowering the gear with

the handle and lock arrangement be

tween the seats . It does require steady

ing the stick with the pilot's knees for

a moment, but after two or three cy

cles, the technique becomes second na

ture for Culver pilots. Early pilot re

ports indicate that ice and snow could

play havoc with the gear extension se

quence . The prototype had gear-leg

doors whidh were later dropped from

the production models. One articlesays that it was common practice to

make two attempts at lowering the

wheels and then fly over to a field with

a good repair station and belly land as

close to the hangar as possible. Dam

age was usually minimal.

Foster Lane mentions that the lead

ing edge wing slots

on the Cadet are al

most accidental. Ac

cording t Lane

who was there -Mooney was tinker

ing with the wing

and cut the slots as

an experiment a

few days before the

CAA inspectors ar

rived to certify the

airplane. The cer

tification therefore

included the slots

by default. Opinions

differ on whether

the slots actually

improve stall char

acteristics. Most agree

however, that stall

speed remains the same with the slots

taped over, although pro-slot pilots claim

that the break is much more benign

with the extra airflow over the ailerons.

The little airplane sure is efficient.

With the fixed-pitch Sensenich prop,

Steve gets about 118 mph at 75 percent

power. Rate of climb is between 500

and 600 fpm. Range is adequate forYFR travel around the local area, al

lowing trips to most of the local fly

ins that Steve wants to get to. The

smallish cabin is comfortable for Steve

and his older son and the baggage com

partment carries anything they need for

their odysseys throughout the Indiana

area.

Steve and his Culver are a good

example of what EAA can do for an

individual and what the individual can

give back to EAA . Steve had his indoc

trination to aviation the EAA way, and

EAA members get to enjoy a super

sharp restoration of a historical

airplane. It's nice when we all win . •

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25



C NDID

INTERVIEW

WITH . . .

PAUL H.

PO EREZNY

W hen anyone thinks of

the home built movement they

think of Paul Poberezny.The founder nd Chairman

of the Board of EAA has

h d his thumb in a number

of pies however and he

turned up a plumb when he

recognized the potential for

an Antique Division n 1970.

Later the division was

expanded to include theClassic Category as well.

u

Over the years the Antique/26 JANUARY 1990



Classic Division has assumed a prime

role in the perpetuation o sport avia

tion in this country.

On a cold and windy day last

November, I caught up with Paul in

his new offices adjacent to the Kermit

Weeks Flight Research Center. Later,

we adjourned to his new Presidential

Library to examine some o his

memorabilia by the fireplace . We

talked about flying OX-5-poweredairplanes, his favorite antiques and

classics, Pioneer Airport, the growth

in exportation o our classic airplanes

and the role o the

Antique/Classic Di r--------------------------------vision. Paul ex

pressed his opin

ions and concerns

candidly. Among

his most profound

concerns is EAA s

niche in aviationhistory and how it

will all be remem

bered. - Mark

Phelps

PHP I've got

boxes of material

from Hales Comers

that would take a

tremendous amount

of time just to go

through . When we

moved from Hales

Comers, my sec-Corl Schuppel

retary , Millie spent

three months going

through all the cor I should have kept the wholrespondence, keep

ing the important airplane but I did keepthings and working

with me on that. the prop.The newspaper

clippings - I've

got hundreds and

hundreds of those .Earlier this year when I was in my

wheelchair, Lisa Chapman worked

with me and got a lot of our records

straightened out. Before that, my

daughter, Bonnie spent the summer of

'88 - spent about two and a half

months out there going through our

basic records - '53 all the way up .

Got a lot of those all by year in files .

I've got thousands of pictures that are

in files but really need to be re

catalogued and put in the books with

identification plus a lot of them that

are just in boxes.

VA So it s going to be a monumental

job to sort out all that history.

PHP It'll take the rest of my lifetime

to do it.

VA You have 379 different aircraft

types represented in your logbook.

Can you name some o the antique and

classic aircraft that stand out in your

mind.

PHP Well, I'd start out with all mod

els of the Cub; the E2 to the 12, the

Bs. I got into the OX-5s. At different

times I owned four Waco lOs with OX5s . I've flown the short-nosed Amer

ican Eagle, the long nose American

Eagle with OXs. I've flown the Eag

lerock with a Kinner.

Going back to the Curtiss Robin,

with both the Lycoming Challenger

and OX-5 engines; the Tank engines

which we have here . The Ford

Trimotor, Taperwing Waco with the

300 Wright; Travel Airs, OX-5 Travel

Airs; 1000, 2000, 4000E, 4000 . . .

VA: You could probably go on with

this all day long .

PHP Yeah, all the old airplanes . I've

always enjoyed flying the old-timers.

Now that our Pheasant is completed, I

flew that a little bit this summer but I

didn't have the time and after my back

surgery I wasn ' t in the best physical

condition to fly it. But it made me feel

like a kid. The other people who flew

the airplane were Gene Chase and

Colin Soucy - of course, Gene has

flown airplanes without brakes, and

with tailskids so it was a little refresherfor him but Colin Soucy caught on

quite rapidly, being the natural pilot

that he is .

which we did when it was too windyon the taxiway, unless we had some

body out there'd grab a wingtip to tum

into the wind. And then our airports,

too, were fields and grass where you

could always land into the wind. Today

you've got runways which makes it

difficult.

VA What memorabilia do you have

from these early airplanes that you still

treasure?

PHP Part of the original propeller

from my American Eagle that's

mounted in my home. I should have

kept the whole airplane but when I

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7

It kind of re

minds me of a lost

art, Today, pilot's

are pretty dam for

tunate having brakes,

tri-gears, steerable

tailwheels and all

that where in the

older days youdidn't have that.

On a cold day like

today, if you asked

a pilot of an OX-5

powered aircraft,

What would be

one of your first

concerns before you

even start the en

gine ? he'd say,

Oh, I'd better find

some cardboard to

cover the radiator

to ensure that water

temperature was

up. Think of that.

And then he'd

look around and

ask himself how he

was going to get to

the end of the run

way. Or should he

take off from right

here into the wind,



went to World War II, I kind of walked Audrey to give me a two-year's Christ PHP: That'd be 1943. I had 9 forced

away from it and never knew what hap mas present - or three, or whatever it landings on the way down from both

pened to it, but I did keep the prop. It takes. Buck Hilbert has a Porterfield carburetor ice, which they were known

was in my mom's home for years and just like the one I had. If I can locate for at that time, plus a water pump

years and then when I moved up here, him a lower case for a Hisso, we can leaking . I'd lose my water and the

I got it from her and it's mounted make a deal. I would like to fly it just engine'd get hot and I'd have to land.

downstairs along with a lot of other a little, keep it a while and give it to I met a lot of farmers. And then I

memorabilia. the EAA Air Adventure Museum as went down to Streetor, Illinois . I

part of my history. landed on the side of a hill - it was

VA Would you say that was the most There's also an American Eagle March and the fields were soft

significant thing? It s the first thing with a Kinner out in Gunnison, Col and the airplane rolled back. If you

that came t your mind. orado that a fella out there would sell didn ' t hold the stick back , it would

to me, but he's asking a little bit too dig in and bust the elevators, so you

PHP: Yes, the most significant thing . It's much for it. I'd convert it to an OX had to hold the stick back if she

got a little knick in started to slide

- andhe proprromwhen r----------------------------------------------------------, backwards

I let Slim Schobert

fly it once. He

owned an American

Eaglet and I'd fly

my Waco, or my

Eagle at the time.

Slim taxied myEagle out in acrosswind and - if

he would have kept

the power on,

(mimics stick and

throttle motions with

his hands) full rudder

and the elevators

up, he could have

have just missed it.

But he caught the

right wing on oneof the airport boun

dary markers and

just took a piece

out of the prop. I remember taking myThe other thing

that I have is the handkerchief to filter mos-control stick out of

the first powered quitos and other stuff.airplane that I soloed

- a 1935 Porter-

field with a 70-hp

all these little tech

niques .

It carried a lot of

water and I re

member down in

Arkansas I landed

in a cotton fieldand the fella there

gave me water out

of a rainbarrel. I re

member taking my

handkerchief and

straining it to filter

mosquitos and other

stuff that was in the

water barrel, and go

ing up there and put

ting it in the radiator.

The OX-5 was areal good engine.

Usually when they

quit - a rocker

arm broke or something - the other

cylinders would tumenough rpm to

keep you going. Agood OX-5 turned

1,400 to 1,420 rpm

at 90 horse and youleBlond. I have the - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - cruised at about

control stick out of that and the vertical long nose. It hasn't flown since World 1,300 - 1,175 and she'd just knockfin. The airplane was in a crash and War II . It's uncovered and hanging up around there. Where do you get an

one of my partners was killed in it. in a hangar. airplane today that bums six gallons an

The stick is bent. I've got a piece of hour or so, carries three people, cruises

wing rib and I've got the newspaper VA: Are there any other stories you at 80 and gets out of a pickle patch?

clipping from when it crashed. I was can think o associated with any o But I ferried a couple of those down

going out to fly it that day when I saw your pictures or bits and pieces o to Arkansas and we barnstormed

all the cars along the road and I saw airplanes? weekends down there . One advantage

him laying there. The engine had we had was we could get fuel. Every

started running bad and he tried to get PHP: Well, I bought a couple of OX- body else got an A stamp and a B

around the pattern and just stalled as 5s and I ferried them while I was teach stamp, which limited the amount of

he turned base leg at about 100 feet, ing primary at Helena, Montana. Took gallons. I've got a picture of Pappy

and she just went in. off one March day with one of 'em for Hughes, Jack Wismar - he was one

Arkansas between classes . . . of the instructors - and me . Pappy

VA That s a shame. had this 55-gallon barrel in back of this

VA: About what year would that have Ford pick-up. We ' d carry anybody for

PHP: Yeah. I'm trying to convince been? a ride for 50 cents or whatever. This28 JANUARY 1990



was down in Arkansas. Those were the

good old days.

VA Do you have a favorite antique

airplane?

PUP Yeah , the American Eagle was

my favorite , I guess , because it was

the first airplane I owned . I came from

a real poor family. I taught myself to

fly the glider and made some 2,800

flights, with it towed behind the car.

And my dad went to the bank and bor

rowed 250.00 (which I didn t know

at the time) - and,

heck , he was onl y

making probably

40 bucks a week

. I don ' t eve n

know, less than

that , really . But

he borrowed the

money and I boughtthe Eagle from

Dale Crites. Dale

checked me out in

the airplane and I

had a field over

near the house I

flew out of quite a

bit. Patty Ott's

field . He was an

old bachelor auc

tioneer and had a

couple of horses

there . For me toleave my airplane

on his field there

about seven blocks

from the house

I'd bring some of

my mom's pickles

or sometimes a

bucket of coal from

our coal pile .

V A: That s how

PUP I have about 1,700 hours in

the L-17 which is a Navion - to me

it felt just like walking That was an

airplane that I demonstrated for the

Army , short field takeoffs and land

ings. The Navion wasn't as fast as

a Bonanza , but for getting off and

ca rrying a load and landing short, it

was tremendous . I remember I made

over 200 barrel rolls continuously,

circling Hales Corners airport at about500 feet ju st for demonstration. I tell

you, when I got down, boy, I was

pretty woozy

it from him . Audrey didn't know it for

- oh, probably, six months . She went

to a ladies ' function over at Mark 's

house - they only lived about a block

away from me in Hales Corners - and

his wife asked, "How do you like the

Cessna"? That spilled the beans . Up

until then Audrey thought I'd just been

borrowing the airplane.

VA: Do you see the criteriafor antiqueand classic aircraft expanding in the

forseeable future ?

PUP think we

r ; : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : ; ~ = = : : : : : : : : : : : : : ; : : : ; l can see some ex

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - airplanes, I would

"Audrey thought I d justeen borrowing the

airplane. "

pansion of the

classic category na

tionwide, but park

ing at the Conven

tion is a problem.

The reason I'm

holding 1955 atOshkosh is logis

tics. We need

enough people and

space to handle the

airplanes properly .

I give credit to the

wonderful people

who do it. I also

feel the airplanes

should be show

quality , not just a

place for a transient

who finds it moreconvenient to park

in the Antique

Classic area than in

the North 40 . Until

they can figure that

aspect out on it , to

give credit to those

who have put qual

ity maintenance

and care into their

you paid your tie-downs, eh? VA: Thatl

do it.

PUP Well , and to use his field . I had PUP But I flew that and I really ento put a wider tail skid on because he joyed that airplane. It 's a fine shortsa id my tail skid was churning up his field airplane and one that is veryalfalfa. But Slim and I and Bud Perry, docile. I enjoyed it.who later got killed flying a P-38 in As far as some of the others - r hadAfrica, we'd go out near Burlington a Cessna 195 which I really enjoyed;and Waterford and circle around, gun it ' s a pilot's airplane, especially in aour engines and land and people would crosswind or choppy weather or windcome out and we'd take 'em for a ride condition that challenges you on landfor whatever they had . I had a solo ing . It's very comfortable. In fact, oflicense . It wasn' t legal. all the airplanes that we had , Audrey

thought it was the most comfortable

VA Getting into classics, do you have sitting in the back . I bought it from

a favorite one o those that you could John Mark . He groundlooped it once

talk about? and it was enough for him, so I bought

like to hold the limits to just what wehave and try to ensure that what we dis

play in those categories are show quality.

VA: How about Pioneer Airport?

What do you see in the future for

Pioneer Airport?

PUP At the present time I don't see

much there other than static display

and occasional flying . t hasn't worked

out like I would like because we just

don't have a cadre of pilots who can

fly the airplanes regularly . We can't

take the risk of losing some of these

valuable airplanes, and right now

we're also limited a bit. In summer,

VINT GE IRPL NE 9



unfortunately, our winds are out of the

southwest and some of the days we're

limited by crosswinds. Our runway is

long enough; it's about 2400 feet with

good approaches .

But to find somebody who's qual

ified to fly some of these airplanes con

sistently - not just once a year - isn't

easy . Of course, the money to license

the airplanes is a factor, too . Heck

the Ford Trimotor flew just one timethis year. The amount of work put into

licensing it wasn't really worth the ef

fort. I hope that maybe this summer I

can personally spend

more timethere . I'd like to

see something like

Cole Palen's opera

tion in Rhinebeck,

New York but I'd

rather not take a

chance on sacrific

ing the airplanes

when you don't

have somebody who's

readily available .

We have excel

lent cooperation

from the control

tower. We stay

clear of Wittman

Field's runways and

we have our own

patterns. The tower

people enjoy it andthey get credit for

all the aircraft

movements. So we

haven't had a prob

lem there. In fact,

I give a good plug

for our FAA people

there and the Tower

Chief Zonnie Fritsche ,

and the tower chiefs

before him .

VA How o you feel about the role o

the Antique/Classic Division within

EAA from the outset and on into the

future ?

PUP Well, I'm responsible for form

ing the Division - I don't know if

you're aware of that. When EAA was

formed , I was everything to it , from

aircraft parking to on-stage entertain

ment. I found that if the organization

was going to succeed, I'd better sur

round myself with people of a particular interest who would do what I'd

been doing . I couldn't continue trying

to be everything and seeing it not being

3 JANUARY 199

done right. There's only so much time.

So, as far as the Antique Division, I

called a group together that I thought

would form it, and we held the meeting

at Hales Comers . I'd have to look at

my diary, back to 1970 when it started.

I proposed that we form a division, but

we'd just appoint officers rather than

have elections - and no dues . EAA

would issue membership cards and we

would keep a list of everything Themain reason for it would be to work at

the Convention and take care of those

people who had antique and classic

over . . - - - - ----------------------------

or classic aircraft?

PUP Well, I had proposed to the FAA

to grant the individual who completely

restored an antique airplane under the

supervision of an A&P or AI, the same

type of repairman certificate that you

have for a homebuilt. It would be valid

for that particular airplane, and only

that airplane, as long as he or she

owned it. Most of the restorations thatcome here are done by individuals

without an A&P. And so I sent it to

FAA and we had good support .

At that time, we

were shot down.

Here it comes up

again . Mechanics

say, Well, we got

our A&P the hard

way; you've got to

get yours the hard

way. I've seen

this in other areas

of aviation. The

Recreational Pilot's

license is the same

thing . Gee, whiz

A guy can't learn

to fly a Cub with

out going through

what I had to go

through to get my

license," and that's

ridiculous And here

it is, it's coming upagain with the Pri

mary Category. I

feel that, though I"Overall, it's worked got a lot of support,

out well, nd it's

growing."

type airplanes. And, so everybody

agreed . I think there were about 60

people at the meeting.

Well , about a year went by and we

found that nobody was joining because

it was free. So we set up a five-dollar

dues. Then people responded and it's

something I've learned . When it's

free , it has no value. So we did that.

We've had some ups and downs just

the same as the Warbirds and lAC but

overall, it's worked out well, and it's

growing.

VA What is the current status on the

petition to establish a repairman s cer-

tificate for the restorer o an antique

we didn't get enough

from the people

themselves who could

benefit by it. So

it's lain dormant.

Maybe we can pur

sue it again. It's

something that we should not give up.

And if there were enough people who

wrote to us about it, who see the bene

fits of it within the Antique/Classic Di

vision, we could pursue it further.

VA: There s been a lot o talk about

the exportation o classic airplanes,

primarly to England. We re getting

more and more mailfrom England with

pictures o Luscombes, Cubs and

Champs. Do you have any comments

on the fact that many o our classic

airplanes are disappearing overseas?

PUP Well, I'm sure glad to see some

body want 'em and take care of 'em.



It's our own fault if we sell something because they don t make any more, but people can never recognize that and in

away. But, on the other hand, if an you can get them. And Classic Aircraft the industry, they want to promote

owner decides to sell his airplane, he s is building type-certified Wacos in transportation because that seems to be

got to get a fair price for it, wherever Lansing, Michigan and, heck, a guy legitimate . Recreation is legitimate

he sells it. Whether it's here or else can still get a set of Fleet drawings. too! It s the biggest business we ve got

where, it's certainly making the air We have to really scrap for power in this country . Most people who fly

planes more valuable . It s helping our plants, but there are still a lot of Con the airlines fly for recreation, not busi

enthusiasts over there who would tinental 220s and Jacobs around for ness . The airlines couldn't afford to

never have the opportunity to fly that type, full-size airplane. run their business if it was only for

airpbnes. And thankfully we've got business travellers. When I ve got

the homebuilt movement to balance V How do you feel about the cost of more invested in my airplane than theour loss . flying these days price of a ticket on the airline, I should

have a little more privilege and consid-

VA: How do you personally see the PHP The high cost of owning and eration.relationship between

the homebuilt movement and the an

tiques and classics?

PHP The antiqueairplane's alwaysbeen my first love,

but I guess that'sbecause of the era Igrew up in . It has

so much nostalgiaand that's whymaybe I builtairplanes like thePober and theSuper Ace. ThePober Junior Ace ,which is muchmodified from theold Corben Junior

Ace airplane couldbe made a cabin or- the one I m

building is going to You're limited on howbe open cockpit,side by side. It's far you can fly yroomier than thosefrom the old days your pocketbook.- but still has lowwing-loading andnostalgia. And that'spretty important This

Schuppel

VA: You see the

antiques and class

ics fitting into that

role in what way?

PHP Into recreation? They're al

ready in it. Why dopeople fly all theway from California, New York,

Texas to come hereto this one spot onEarth during thelater part of July?

It s recreation andfun.

It also adds tothe safety. Ourchapters putting on

their events and ourregional events causepeople to fly andwhen you causepeople to fly, youimprove their skills.And we re the onlyorganization thatdoes that!

VA: What's impor

tant to remember

is why the homebuilt movement hasbeen so important because you canmake your own dream come true.

VA: What I hear from you is that we

need low-and-slow airplanes, air

planes that are easy to fly and that can

use rural strips. The numbers of thoseaircraft are decreasing with attrition

and the antiques and classics going

overseas, and you see a need to re

place those with more of that style of

homebuilts.

PHP I agree with that completely.Dale Crites built one J-5- and one Continental-powered, straight-wing Waco

operating an airplane is an importantfactor in aviation today . The averageguy who rents an airplane, who flies30 or 50 hours a year - he s hemmedin by range of his pocketbook. The recreational pilot, flying 100 miles fromthe airport maybe can ' t afford to flyeven that far . At 100 mph, that's fi fty

bucks out, fifty bucks back - $100 ona weekend or Saturday? People don t

understand that. You re limited onhow far you can fly by your pocketbook when you rent. And when you

own, you can go out a little bit fartherbut, still, it costs you a lot of money .

The average guy who buys an

airplane, buys it for fun. A lot of

for the future of M and the Antique!Classic Division?

PHP Well, I support all of aviation.I ve been privileged to fly airplanesfrom gliders to jets, to transports, refuelers, the whole works - I love it all.And it saddens me to see those in aviation not supporting all of aviation . Isupport all of it - from airlines to military flying, and I hope this organization does that in the future. I knowsome of the meetings I ve been attend

ing - well, some people say we shouldspecialize. You ve got to supporteveryone - or you lose everyone'ssupport. It s that simple . •

VINT GE IRPL NE 3



P SS IT

- -1]An information exchange column with input from readers

by Buck Hilbert

EM 21 N 5

P.O. Box 424

Union, IL 60180

Number please?Letters? Who writes letters any

more? Now phone calls, that's the way

to GO As a matter of fact just after I

started the first sentence of this column, I got one from a professional

photographer with an assignment for a

major clothing manufacturer who

wants a World War I airplane as back

ground for a line of men's shoes. That,

folks, is the kind of stuff that's being

passed to Buck.

This past couple of weeks I've had

calls from Michigan, Iowa, California

(outside the earthquake area), Maine,

Wisconsin and here in Illinois. Now

these are only a few that I can recall

right off the top of my head. The sub

ject range is anything from engines to

tailwheels. Seems writin' this column

does attract people who have to talk to32 JANUARY 1990

someone and they want answers NOW

rather than waiting for the U. S . Mail.

Please don't misunderstand. I enjoy

getting these calls and I do enjoy being

able to offer suggestions and advice. IDO try to help and I think it shows. I

know that at times a fella just needs

someone to talk to, and ifI fill the biII

why, I'm more than willing .

Kinner engines seem to be a real hot

topic the last few days. The Fleet boys

are running low on pieces and I guess

some of my preaching about "there are

NO 2,OOO-hour pre-war engines" is

taking effect. Two of the calls were

about that. The fact that they've

reached the mark where they are think

ing about the major overhaul. Where

do you get parts? Well I can only

suggest they get in touch with others

who have had recent experience with

getting parts and having had their en

gines overhauled . Fortunately , I know

of a few people who are able to help

these callers .

Parts-timeTwice in the past month I've had

calls from people who are rebuilding

some real choice projects. One Fleet

and one Consolidated PT-3. Again

they are looking for data, prints andparts. Fleets aren ' t easy to find wing

ribs for. The ribs are formed top-hat

sections heat treated and they attach

directly to the spars front and rear.

There are a set of dies around some

where; last I heard they were in

California, but the waiting list is so

long it's almost impossible to get any

where on this one .

PT-3

The Consolidated PT-3, now thereis a real project. A Wright J-5

Whirlwind is rare enough, but to re

build a partial fuselage, recreate the

landing gear, cabane struts and in

terplane struts is a real project. Our old

friend Virginius Clark (Yep the Air

foil Man) designed the PT-l that the

entire line of Consolidated Airplanes

came from . Clark, one of the leading

aeronautical engineers of that day, and

head of the U. S. Ai r Service Research

Development Center at McCook

Field, now Wright-Patterson AFB

created the specs for a new primary

trainer to replace the Jennies that were

fast disappearing through attrition. He

was an artist, and although the overall

effect just oozes simplicity, you

wouldn't believe how complex the

machine is beneath that fabric exterior.

It uses World War I Jenny-type con

struction but with three different sizes

of steel tubing braces with numerous

drag & anti-drag wires in each square

of each bay. There are more than 150wires and turnbuckles in the section of

fuselage aft of the cockpits. The front

part is made of I 1/8 tubing, the

cockpit area one inch, and the rear 31

4 . They all plug together and are held

with 3/16 bolts at l20-degree angles

to one another. It looks so neat on

paper that anyone could have thought

of it But that was the weak spot in the

whole fuesleage and why there aren't

any PT-3s around today, except in

museums. The old soft steel tubing was

very subject to rust and corrosion and

was further weakened with these bolts

in each of the longerons. After only

about 12 years of use the entire inven



tory was either donated to various avi

ation schools around the country, or

scrapped. The one the EAA Aviation

Foundation has came from the base

ment of the Arkansas State Teachers'

College a number of years ago . The

fuselage broke in half as the pilot aligh

ted after delivering the airplane to the

college. It was used to teach mechanics

wood and fabric work during the War

Training Programs prior to World War

II

Boy, am I ramblin' on, but this

airplane is one of my favorite projects .

I d really like to see it completed and

flying as a tribute to Virginius Clark .Clark went on to both heights and

depths in his career. He later developed

the molded plywood techniques used

at Lockheed to build the Vega and

Sirius machines and from there formed

his own company called the General

Aircraft Company, building Vega

look-alikes. He later went back to Fleet

to build the F1eetstar, another Vega

look-alike. (He had resigned from the

u. S. Air Service to work with Reuben

Fleet to form the Consolidated Aircraft

Company and they built the PTs that

he had originally designed.) I don t

think too many people are aware of all

the contributions Clark made to avia-

Virginius Clark s Consolidated PT .

tion design or how many people he

trained and taught his construction

methods to. But John Northrop was

one of his students and he was one of

the principles in the design and build

ing of the giant Hughes Flying Boat.

He was still associated with that project

when he died . I only regret that I never

had the chance to meet the man.

Pet projectAnother of my phone calls was from

Birmingham, Alabama. Dick Simpson

has finished up his E-2 Taylor Cub .

His description of its flight characteris

tics is that he feels like he is "beatingthe family pet" running that A-40 hard

enough to keep the E-2 in the air. It s

so humorous and yet truthful, that I ve

asked him to give us the full story on

the restoration. He s promised it,

SOON .

Follow the FleetRalph Driscoll out in Iowa has his

Fleet going. It was a struggle to get the

K-5 parts he needed, but he made it

I m invited out to fly it, and I m gonna

do it too But after the weather gets

back to normal. We ve just had two

days of SNOW here in northern Illinois

and its only October 20. It was one

short Indian Summer, believe me And

there is no way I want to freeze these

buns flyin' a Fleet in 30-degree weath

er.

I ve also heard from Bill Woodward

up near Travis City, Michigan. He

owns a straight-wing Great Lakes rep

lica built by a fella name of Harmon,

back in 1982 up in Brownsville,

Maine. Charlie put a Kinner on it and

solved the built-in tail heaviness that

brought about the swept wing on the

later Lakes by poking the engine out

in front a couple more inches. The re

sult is a real neat looking homebuiit

that is all Great Lakes except for thestraight wing. I d like to fly that one,

too, when the weather permits . Mean

while, I ll just stay warm and cozy here

in front of the typewriter and the

phone. Whoops there it goes again.

Anybody know what color the head

liner is in a 1940 Aeronca Chief?

George York You take that one will

you?

Winter doldrumsOne thing I like about winter, the

flies all dies That s the only real nice

thing about winter. Quite frankly, the

thought of getting the machine out of

the hangar and going through the cold

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 33



weather starting procedures is more

than enough to tum me off. Now, V -

T GE IRPL NE Associate Editor,

Norm Petersen, on the other hand , ac

tually enjoys the challenge. He suits

up in the appropriate gear, goes

through all the motions and ski-flies

around terrorizing the neighbors and

having fun (?) . Not for me I more or

less hibernate and that' s the way it is .

More and more phone calls keepcoming in, but some letters too. Got

some comment on pullin' the prop

through before starting from one of our

seaplane pilots over in Michigan . He

actually agreed with me. Must be from

the old school . I wonder what he does

in the wintertime?

opher broke

What brought all this on was that a

couple mornings ago, with the frost on

the pumpkins, I went out to fly . I dragged the old 182 out of the hangar after

I d pre-flighted it (I m no fool I pre

flighted it inside the hangar even be

fore I opened the door, out of the wind

and cold, where I could do it in a lei

surely manner.), cranked it up (yes , I

did pull it through in the hangar) , and

almost as soon as it began to run,

pulled on the cabin heat and the defros

ter. Where, oh, where is that WARM

air? What the heck is that funny smell?

Are those com leaves coming out of

the defroster? Darned if it ain ' t What

in the heck is goin ' on? I shut down

and investigated . Back in the hangar,

of course .

Normally, when weather permits

and I have something going in the

hangar, the 182 sits on the tiedown line

outside , its tail pointed toward the ad

jacent cornfield . We had been working

on the Mooney, the Porterfield 35-70

and a couple of the Varga fuel tanks

so the Cessna spent quite a bit of time

out there this past month or so . Well,I guess the gophers must have thought

they had a real good home , ready

made, snug and warm 'cause they had

literally stuffed the cabin heat air duct

with com leaves. They were all nice

and dry and crumbly and a real com

bustible mess . When I pulled on the

cabin heat they were forced into the

system and some of the looser debris

came right on through and into the de

froster. This is what I noticed when I

pulled the cabin heat knob. This was

the first time I'd asked for cabin heat

this season . How long the debris was

in that duct is anybody's guess , but we

now had some work to do - purge the34 JANUARY 199

duct, the heater and the distribution

system throughout the cabin . That was

the biggest chore . Just making sure all

was clean and in order.

The point I m trying to make is that

when I uncowled the engine and went

after the debris, I got to think in ' about

the importance of checking the heat ex

changer and the exhaust stacks the

muffs get their heat from . What if I

hadn t had enough debris comethrough that I d noticed it? Would it

have ignited? Was the integrity of the

system compromised? Was carbon

"This inci-

dent c rne

pretty close

to horne.

Heck t

vvas horne "

monoxide a consideration , as well as a

fire threat?

Regardless as to how the little ras

cals (nice word for - varmints) had

gotten in there, and I feel it was almost

an impossibility, they created a prob

lem that could exist in YOUR airplane

as well as mine. I think with all the

winter flyin' advice , the cabin heater

should be on the list of things to check

not only for proper operation , but bear

ing in mind the potential threat of car

bon monoxide poisoning and the po

tential fire hazard.

We ve all heard the horror stories

and have had examples thrown at us.

This incident came pretty close to

home . Heck t was home I m adding

a check of the heating system, includ

ing a complete disassembly of the

muffs , and a stack integrity check to

my fall duties even though the annual

was done in August.

Oily bird

One other thing. Brian Van Wagnen

was here last week , and I m goinaround the 182 with a can of Aero

Lube spray and lubing the hinges , etc.

I got a real nice informative lecture .

The theory is that the Aero Lube is a

grease and will actually clog up the

pores of oil-light bearings. t would be

better if light oiling were used rather

than the grease base. t will penetrate

the bearing surfaces much better, and

all the lubricant will flow.

HeroesAnother subject. I get a little depre

ssed at how the regs and the bureaus

are seemingly trying to put us in our

place. When is it going to be fashion

able again to "love airplanes"? Here in

Illinois, we have a state program called

Aviation Ambassadors. A group of us

are volunteers and we talk and preach

aviation to any and all - Lions Club

luncheons, VFW halls , Senior Citizen

programs , school kids, anyone who

will listen. The group does some 30 or

so talks a month here in Illinois . We

need to advertise the fact that we are

aviators . We have accomplished some

thing in our way of life that is an

achievement to be proud of. Where do

the Lifeline Pilots come from who vol

unteer to fly medical cases to places of

treatment? Where do the med-evac

copter pilots come from ? How about

the corporate biz-pilots , the airline

pilots, mechanics and the like? They

weren ' t born at the controls .

One thing stands out in my mindthough, and that is the ones who have

stuck it out , the ones who fly in today 's

astmosphere are more than mere pilots

to me. They are Heroes . They are the

ones who keep me going . The dyed-in

the-wool guys who enjoy flying, and

"fly" their Antiques and Classics.

We ll keep on f1yin' no matter what

the cost or how difficult it becomes.

We are the proud victims of the

Airplane disease and the only way we

can help ourselves is to FLY

Move over Norm, I think I'll find

some skis . •

Over to you



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Where The Sellers and Buyers Meet...

25¢ per word, $5.00 minimum charge. Send your ad toThe Vintage Trader, EAA Aviation Center

Oshkosh, WI 54903-2591.

MEMBERSHIPINFORMATION

EAAMembership in the ExperimentalAircraft Association, Inc. is $30.00for one year, including 12 issues of

Sport viation. Junior Membership(under 19 years of age) is availableat $18.00 annually. Family Membership is available for an additional$10.00 annually.

AIRCRAFT:

Replica 213 scale Jenny - 2 place, 4130. Outperforms the original. Inexpensive and fast to build flown to Oshkosh twice. Plans - $75 .00, video

$25.00, info - $1.00. Wiley, P.O. Box 6366,Longmont, CO 80502. (12-3)

(2) C-3 Aeronca Razorbacks - 1931 and 1934.

Package includes extra engine and spares. Fuse

lage, wing spars and extra props. Museum quality !$30,000 firm! No tire kickers , collect calls or penpals, please! E.E. "Buck" Hilbert, P.O. Box 424,

Union, IL 60180-0424.

1943 Stinson Gullwing V-77 - Brand new groundup restoration to civilian status with new right side

steps and door. 300 Lycoming runs perfect and

looks like new. Rebuilt prop and instruments. New

glass, new Stits, new upholstery, new tires and battery and a new annual. Only 738 hours TT since

new A&E. A black beauty with gold and red trim.Fly it home for $69,500. John Bohmer, Box 400,Brooten , MN 56316 or 612 /346-2234. (1-1)

Bellanca 1946 14-13-2 Cruisair - 1100 TTAF,

670 TT, Franklin 150 hp, 45 STOH, runs great! 7.5

gph, 140 mph, always hangared, new wheels andbrakes, pictures available, will deliver. 11 ,000

obo, Jim 5171773-3852. (2-2)

PLANS:

POBER PIXIE - VW powered parasol - unlimitedin low-cost pleasure flying. Big, roomy cockpit for

the over six foot pilot. VW power insures hard tobeat 3 '/2 gph at cruise setting . 15 large instructionsheets. Plans - $60.00. Info Pack - $5.00. Sendcheck or money order to: ACRO SPORT, INC.,

Box 462, Hales Corners, WI 53130. 414/529-2609 .

ACRO SPORT - Single place biplane capable ofunlimited aerobatics. 23 sheets of clear, easy to

follow plans includes nearly 100 isometrical drawings, photos and exploded views. Complete parts

and materials list. Full size wing drawings . Plansplus 139 page Builder's Manual - $60.00. InfoPack - $5.00. Super Acro Sport Wing Drawing

$15.00. The Technique of Aircraft Building $12.00 plus $2.50 postage. Send check or moneyorder to: ACRO SPORT, INC., Box 462, HalesCorners, WI 53130. 414/529-2609.

ENGINES:

Franklin 6A4-165-B3 - 176 hours since 0 timeby factory. Engine is disassembled , all parts arecleaned and preserved. Needs a crankshaft, flange

is bent and cracked . Call 303/536-4253 for com

plete details. Asking $1,600 obo . (1-1)

A65-8F - 152 SMOH. Complete with chromecylinders and logs. Bendix Mags S4RN-20 and 21

with noise suppressors (82S0H) . This engine is

absolutely ready to fly! $4,000.00 . (Sensenichmetal prop, 90SN, 74-CK-042 & bolts available) .John Barrett 303/934-5755, 7:30-4 :00 wkdys. 3031422-9011 eves & wknds . (1-1)

MISCELLANEOUS:

Super Cub PA18 fuselages repaired or rebuilt

- in precision master fixtures. All makes of tube

assemblies or fuselages repaired or fabricatednew. J. E. Soares Inc., 7093 Dry Creek Road, Belgrade, Montana 59714, 406/388-6069, Repair Station 065-21 . (c/4-90)

ANTIQUE/CLASSICSEAA Member - $18.00. Includesone year membership in EAA Antique-Classic Division, 12 monthlyissues of The Vintage irplane andmembership card. Applicant mustbe a current EAA member and mustgive EAA membership number.

Non-EAA Member - $28.00. In-cludes one year membership in theEAA Antique-Classic Division, 12

monthly issues of The Vintage ir -plane, one year membership in theEAA and separate membershipcards. Sport viation not included.

1910-1950 Original aviation items for sale - in

struments , wood propellers, helmets, goggles,manuals, 44-page catalog airmailed , $5 .00. Jon Al

drich, Box 706, Airport , Groveland , CA 95321 , 2091

962-6121 . (c-2 /90)

Will Share my treasure of aircraft parts! - 24

year collection with continuous additions andstill buying for all types of aircraft. Tell me what

you need! Air Salvage of Arkansas, Rt. 1, Box

8020, Mena, Arkansas 71953, phone 501 /3941022 anytime. (c-3/90)

JN4-0 Memorabilia - "Jenny Mail" collector

cachets , actually flown in Jenny to Day and Osh,along with T-shirts, pins, posters, etc. Send SASE

for catalog/pricing. Virginia Aviation Co ., R.D. 5,

Box 294, Warrenton, VA 22186. (c-5/90)

lACMembership in the InternationalAerobatic Club, Inc. is $25.00 annually which includes 12 issues ofSport Aerobatics. All lAC membersare required to be members of EAA.

WARBIRDS

Membership in the Warbirds ofAmerica , Inc. is $25.00 per year ,which includes a subscription toWarbirds. Warbird members arerequired to be members of EAA.

Gipsy Major Tiger Moth - parts, aircraft and airboat builders supplies. Pusher propellers, informa

tional brochure, $5.40 postpaid. Provairco, HoneyHarbour, Ontario, Canada POE 1EO, 7051756

2664. (1 /1-90)

Let the government finance your small business.Grantsl loans to $500,000. Free recorded mes

sage: 707/449-8600. (HP7) (2-2)

EAA EXPERIMENTEREAA membership and EAA EXPERIMENTER magazine is available for$28.00 per year (Sport viation notincluded). Current EAA membersmay receive EAA EXPERIMENTERfor $18. 00 per year.

For sale - Vintage Airplane issues 11 /75

through 12189 , like new. $80.00 obo. John Cadman , 30 Valley Falls Road, Vernon, CT 06066. (11)

Your Antique or Classic airplane is not only a pleasure for you to see, own and fly, it is an investment.When you choose us you are guaranteed qualityworkmanship, experience and on-time delivery in

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WANTED:

Wanted : Continental 670 parts needed. Motormount ring , wood prop hub , nut and cone. Stearman exhaust system and heat muff and shields.These are for a homebuilt. 6091783-5466 after 5:00

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Please submit your remittance witha check or draft drawn on a UnitedStates bank payable in UnitedStates dollars.

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE 37

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by George ardie Jr

H ere s another from the Golden Age

of Aviation. Typically, it was intended

as a trainer. The photo was submitted

by George Goodhead of Tulsa, Ok

lahoma, date and location not given .

Answers will be published n the April

1990 issue of VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Deadline for that issue s February 10,1990.

The Mystery Plane n the October

issue didn't fool many readers.

38 JANUARY 199

Casimier Grevera of Sunnyvale,

California writes:

The October Mystery Plane s Jack

Northrop ' s first attempt at the flying

wing. This s his original flying wing

built n 1928 by his newly formed

Avion Corporation. The wingspan was

30 feet, six inches. The early modelwas a pusher as shown n your photo ,

powered by a Cirrus engine . A later

model was a tractor powered by a

Menasco A-4, four-cylinder air-cooled

engine of 90 hp. The test pilot was

Eddie Bellande. t made numerous

flights in 1929 and 1930 at Muroc Dry

Lake. The design was patented May

10, 1929 (U.S. Patent 1,929,255),

the experimental license was approved

May 31, 1929 (Reg . 2164).

Designed with two cockpits, offsetfrom the center engine, the airplane

J was usually flown from the left cockpit

while the starboard opening was faired



over. The landing gear was a reverse

tricycle undercarrieage designed by

Northrop and built by Menasco

Motors.

The all-metal airplane employed a

newly developed type of structure in

which the reinforced Duralumin skinprovided both covering and most of the

strength of the wings and tai I surfaces .

This first flying wing was not actu-

The irst Northrop Flying Wing.

ally an all-wing airplane . The design

did not have all the factors of stability

necesary for the elimination of the tail

accounting for the two outrigger-type

booms which carried the required tail

control surfaces. References can be

found inNorthrop - an aeronautical history

by Fred Anderson - published by

Northrop Corp. 1976

Wing Wonders - the Story o the ly-

ing Wings

by E.T. Woolridge - National Air and

Space Museum Smithsonian Institution

Press 1985 .

Northrop lying Wingsby Edward T Maloney - World War

II Publications Buena Park CA .

1975 . •

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 39



Documents

Vintage Airplane - Jan 1990