Vintage Airplane - Jul 1995

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EDITORIAL STAFF

Publisher

Tom Pob e rezny

July1995 Vol.23,

No.7

CONTENTS

1 S

tr

aight

&

Level/

Espie

Butch

Joyce

2 AlCNews/

CompiledbyH.G.Frautschy

4 From theA rchiveslDennisParks

7

Pa

ssitto Buckl

Vi

ce

-

Pre sident

MarkeHngII

Commun

ica tions

Di

ck

Ma

tt

Editor"in"

Ch

ief

Jack

Cox

Editor

Henry G. Frautschy

Manag

i

ng

Editor

Go

ld

a

Cox

ArtDir

ector

MikeDru

cks

AssistantArtDirector

SaraA.O tto

Computer GraphicSpecialists

Ol ivia l. Phillip

Je

nniferLarsen

Adve

rtising

Mary Jones

Associate

Ed

itor

Norm

Pe

tersen

FeatureWriters

Geo

r

ge Hardi

e, Jr.

De nn is

Parks

StaffPhotographers

Jim Koe

pn i

c k MikeSteineke

C

arl Sc

huppe l

Do

nna Bushman

EditorialAssistant

I

sabe ll

eW

s

ke

EAA

ANTIQUE/

CLASSIC DIVISION

,

INC

_

OFFICERS

President

Voce-President

Espie 'Butch'Joyce

ArthurMorgan

P.O. Box 35584

W211 NII863

Hilnop

Dr.

Greensboro.NC27425

Germantown.

WI 53022

910/393-0344

414/628-2724

Secretory

Treasurer

SIe

veNesse

E.E.

'Buck'Hilbert

2009HighlandAve.

P.O. Box424

Al

be rt

Lea.

MN 56007

Union.IL 60 180

507/373-1

674

815/923-

45

91

DIRECTORS

John

Berendt

Robert C.

'Bob'

Brauer

7

645

Echo Poi

nt

Rd.

9345

S.Hoyne

C

an

non

Fa

lls. MN55009

Chicago.IL60620

507/263-2

41

4 312/779-2105

GeneChase

JohnS.Copeland

2159

Ca

rtt

on

Rd.

28-3

Williamsbur8Ct.

Oshkosh.WI

54904

Sh

rewsbu

ry.

MA

1545

414/231-5002

fiJ8/842-7867

PhilCoufson

George

Daubner

2841 5SpringbrookDr.

2448 Lo

ugh

Lone

Lawton.MI49065

Hartford.WI s:!IJ27

616/624-6490

414

/673-5885

ChOflesHarris

Stan

Gomoll

7215

East46thS .

1042 90th Lane.NE

Tu isa. OK

74

145

M i n n e a p o l ~ MN 55434

918/622-8400

612/7

84-1172

Dale

A.Gustafson

JeannieHll

7724

ShadyHill

Dr.

P.O.

Box

328

Indi

anapo

lis. IN

46278

Horvard .IL60033

317/293-4430

815/943-7205

RobeltUckteig

Robert D'Bob"Lu

mley

1

708

BayOaksDr.

1265

Sou

th

1241h St

.

AlbertLea .MN

56007

Brookfield.WI

53005

507/373-2922 414/782-2633

Ge

ne

Morris

GeorgeYork

IISC SIeveCourt.R.R. 2

181 SlobodaAv.

Roanoke.

TX 76262

Mansfield.

OH 44906

817/491-9110

419/529-4378

S.H.'Wes'Sch

mid

2359LefeberAvenue

Wauwatosa. WI

53213

414/771-1545

DIRECTOR

EMERITUS

S.J.

Wittman

1904-1995

ADVISORS

Joe Dickey

Ji

mmy

Rollison

55

OakeyAv. 640

Alamo Dr.

Lawrenceburg.IN 47025 Vacaville.CA 95688

812

/

537

-

9354

707/45l-{)411

DeanRichardson

Geoff Robison

6701 Colony

Dr.

1521

E.

MacGregor Dr.

Madisen.

WI

53717

New

Haven.

IN

46774

608/833-1291

219/493-4724

E.E.

Buck

H

il

bert

Page4

8

WhatOur Membersare Restorin

g!

NormPetersen

.

...

- --

-

lr ..zi:

----..

10

TypeClubNoteslNormPe tersen

2 NeopolitanFloat -

Caproni Ca.l001H.G.Frautschy

~

~ I

16

Frank Warren's

Thompson

Trophy

Paintings

Page12

18

ReplicaRacerslH.G.Frautschy

22

TemcoT-35 Buckaroo /

NormPetersen

25 WelcomeNewMembers

26 MysteryPlanelH.G.Frautschy

28

Calendar

29

VintageTrader

32 Antique/ClassicMerchandise

Page22

FRONT

COVER

DelmarBenjamin

and his

Gee BeeR-2SuperSportsterr

ep l

ica

hove been wowing airshowcrowds

and

airracing fonsfor thepast coupleof

years. Delmar ond master builder SteveWolf

of

Creswell.OR built the R-2.

which first flew in 1991. Look for th is and mony other ra

cer

replicas

at

E M

OSHKOSH

'95during

the 'GoIden Age

ofAirRacing"

celebration, EM

Photo

by

JimKoepnick. Shot

with 0

Canon EOS-l

equipped

with

on 8O-2ClJmm 12.8

lens. 1/500at

i l i on

KodakLumiere

100

film. Cessna210 photo

plane piloted

by

BruceMoore.

BACK COVER Aviation ortist Sam Lyons cap

tures the excitement

surroundingSpringfield.MA

ond the

Granville

Bros.

AircraftCo.withhis acrylic

painting en

titled

"G ee Bee Sportste rs :

24"xI8"

limited edition prints

are

available

of this

painting

-

con

tael S&VEnterprises.4600 KingsCrossingDr

.

Kennesaw.GA 30144.orcall1/800-544-4992.

Copyright

1995 bythe

EAA

Antique/Classic

Di

vision

Inc.

All rightsreserved.

VINTAGE

AIRPLANE (ISSN 0091-6943)

is published and

owned

exclusively

by

the EM

An

tique/Classic

Division. Inc.

of

the Experimental

Aircraft Association and is published monthly

at

EMAviation

Center,

3000 Poberezny Rd.,

P.O.

Box 30

B6

Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54903-3086.

Second Class Postage paid at Oshkosh, Wisconsin

54901

and at additional mailingoffices. The membership rate for EM Antique/Classic

Division, Inc.s $27 .

00

for current EM

members

for 12

month

period of

which

$15.00 is for the publication

of

VINTAGE AIRPLANE. Membership

is open to

all

who

are interested

in

aviation.

POSTMASTER

:

Send

address changes

to EM Antique/Classic

Division, Inc

..

P.O.

Box

3086, Oshkosh,W54903-3086.

FORE

I

GN

AND APO

ADDRESSES

- Please allow

at least two

months

for

delivery

of

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

to

foreign

and

APO addresses

via suriace mail.

ADVERTISING

- Antique/Classic

Division

does not guarantee

or

endorse

any product

offered through the advertising.

We

invite

constructive

criticism

and welcome any

report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising

so

that corrective

measures

can betaken.

EDITORIAl

POLICY:Readers are encouraged to submit stories andphotographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the

authors

.Responsibility for accuracy in reporting

rests

entirely w ~ h

the

contributor.No

renumeration

is made.

Material should

be sent

to:

E d ~ o r

VINTAGE

AIRPLANE

,P.O.

Box 3086, Oshkosh,

WI

54903-3086.

Phone

414

426 4800.

The

words

EAA ,ULTRALIGHT,FLY WITH THE FI

RST

TEAM ,SPORT

AVIATION

and

the

logos of EAA ,EAA INTERNATIONAL

CONVENTION,

EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC

DIVISION ,

INTERNATIONAL

AEROBATIC

CLUB

,

WARBIRDS OF AMERICA are registered

trademarks.

THE

EM

SKY

SHOPPE

and

iogos

of

the

EM AVIATION FOUNDATION andEAA

ULTRALIGHT CONVENTION

are

trademarks

of the above associations and their use by

any person

other than the above association

is strictly

prohibited.
http:///reader/full/Chicago.ILhttp:///reader/full/Chicago.IL


3/36

This will be

the last

issue

of

VIN-

AGE

AIRPLANE

you will see before

'95 Convention begins, and

a way it hardly seems fair

that

a com

has passed since the 994 Con

.

There are

a number

of

changes

have

occurred to the grounds this

year. The most noticeable addition

the construction of two new commer

display hangars. These buildings are

west

of

the new concrete taxiway

the heavies and military

aircraft

displayed . Don t fret

though

-

An-

Headquarters will still

be

in the same place as it has been

the past.

I encourage everyone to

by and visit with us and it's a good

ask friends to

gather

for the

Your

Headquarters (the Red

offers

the

following services this

new full line

of

Antique/Classic

that can be purchased

and if space s limited

return trip, shipment can be ar

This merchandise will also be in

year ro und for your

ordering

Through a new policy

this

year, we

have a list of aircraft that are for sale

different individuals located

on

the

grounds.

f

you see an air

the flight line

that

has the

An-

"For sale" sign, you will be

to come into the Red Barn , ask to

the

list and read

information about

f

you wish, you can come

the Red Barn and look at the

in

s

for sa le. f you have an

lan e to sell, we ask

that

you register

airplane for sale . Past

com

men ts

m members about the manner n which

airplanes have been offered for sale

To

make your stay more fun, we will

laminating

service available, as

the button machine to perform

special services that you may

want

At

this time, we are planning to

Pat Packard displaying and selling

STRAIGHT LEVEL

by spie

"Butch"

Joyce

some

of

his

artwork. Pat

is a

very tal-

ented artist and s responsible for a large

portion

of

the

art

and design work in the

EAA

Air Adventure Museum. Pat will

also be happy to talk to

you

about any

specia l

artwork

you might want done. I

plan on asking him to paint my Clipped

Wing Cub on the back of my leather

coat.

The

Red Barn will have a Steve

Wittman area that

I

think that you will

find of interest.

A popular effort appreciated by mem

bers in

the past

is

the information

desk

located on the front porch of the Red

Barn, staffed by

Jeannie Hill

and her

volunteers.

The Barn

sales

area

will be

ably staffed by Kate Morgan, Ruth Coul

son and their volunteers.

Because

of the

increased activities

at

Headquarters, additional volunteers will

be

needed

. Your help as a volunteer is

needed

and appreciated in all areas.

f

you can stop and give some of your time

at

the

volunteer

booth located

on

the

corner (out

in front

of

the

Red

Barn) it

will

make

your time spent at Oshkosh

more enjoyable.

Here

are your A/C EAA Convention

Chairman:

AlC Convention Management

Espie Butch Joyce 910/393-0344

Antique Awards

Dale Gustafson 317/293-4430

Classic Awards

George York 419/529-4378

Contemporary Awards

Dan

Knutson 608/592-3712

Construction and Maintenance

Stan Gomoll 612/784-1172

Data Processing

Janet Bennett 616/684-8813

Flight Line Operations

Art Morgan 414/628-2724

Flight Safety

Phil Coulson 616/624-6490

Fly-Out

Bob Lumley 414/782-2633

Forums

John Berendt 507/263-2414

Hall of Fame

Dean

Richardson 608/257-8801

AlC Headquarters

Kate Morgan 414/628-2724

Interview Circle

Charlie Harris 918/742-7311

Manpower

Gloria Beecroft 310/427-1880

Membership/Chapter Information

Bob Brauer 313/779-2105

OX-5 Pioneers

Bob Wallace 301/686-9242

Parade of Flight

Steve Nesse 507/377-1400

AlC Parking

George Daubner 414/673-5885

Participant Plaque

John Copeland 508/842-7867

AlC Picnic

Jeannie Hill 815/943-7205

Pioneer Video


AlC Press


Security

Geoff Robinson 219/493-3360

Type Club Headquarters

Joe and Julie Dickey 812/537-9354

Volunteer Host

Judi Wyrembeck 414/231-4100

AlC Workshop

George Meade 414/926-2428

AeroGram

Bill and Sara Marcy 303/798-6086

The telephone

numbers

listed

are

ei

ther the home number

or work

number

for

these individual

Chairmen,

should

you need to contact them for any reason

pertaining to the Convention.

We will have the new shower in place

on the south end

of

the flight line. There

have

been

a number

of

other improve-

ments made to the show plane and show

plane camping

parking area from air

show

center

to the south end

of

parking.

I feel I

should

point out

the

official

start date of the Convention s Thursday

July 27. Each year people continue

to

arrive earlier and earlier to get a choice

spot

- that s fine,

but members

who ar

rive early need to understand that all the

services expected from Convention per

sonnel do not go online until the official

opening day

of

the Convention. f you

wish to come early,

you

need

to

plan

your campsite accordingly.

The officers, directors, advisers,

chairmen and staff of the Antique/Clas

sic Division stand

ready to

assist you in

any

way

that

we

can,

so please

let

us

hear

your needs

and

suggestions.

Your

Division is

on the

go, so ask a friend

to

join up with us. Let s all pull together

for the good of

aviation. Join

us and

have it all

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1


4/36


5/36

pilot Alexander Zuyev , Vi e tnam

ace

St

eve Richie,

av ia

tion

writer

Richard

Co

llins and many

ot

hers. New

exhib

its

wi

ll

includ e a tribute

to

W

omen

With

Wings, the new Pioneer Airport exhibit

and perhaps a few added surprises.

WITTM N H NG R PL NS

Over a year before the untimely passing

of Steve

and

Paula Wittman ,

plans

have

been

und erway to build a hangar at Pio

neer

Airport

which would

hou

se th e in

credible ar tifac t collection and aircraft of

the Wittman legacy. The EAA Aviation

Foundation is planning on enter ing th e

next phase

of

those plans with the ground

breaking ceremony scheduled

fo

r Tues

day , August 1, at 11:30 a .m. at Pioneer

Airport

, immedi

ate

ly following the cere

monies at the EAA Memoria l Wall. T he

plans

ca

ll

for a 60x60 foot hanga r in th e

style of

Steve's original hangar. Construc

tion and finishing of th e

han

gar would

take place over the fall and winte r, with

completion in time for the 1996 season at

Pioneer Airport . All interested individu

als a re welcom e to attend

the

gro

und

breaking on August 1, and memorial co

n-

tribution s are welcome . For more

information, contact the EAA Avi ation

Foundation

D

evelopment

D epartment ,

P.O. 3065, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3065.

BEECH 18 COCKPIT DISPLAY

The assistant museum director for the

Staggerwing Museum in Tullahoma, TN,

Bill McClure, has, through the generosity

of D

ave

Warr en of

Southwestern

Aero

Exchange in

Tu l sa, OK

,

ac q

ui re d

the

cockpit and nose section of a Navy Beech

18

. The museum hopes to se t the cockpit

up

fo r di spla y in co mplete as

po

ss ible

condition

and,

to that end, th ey nee d

some donor assistance.

They are

looking

for (but are not limited to) an instrument

panel , all main panel inst rum ents,

both

the pilot's and co-pilot' s

seats, cockpit

lighting floor boards,

and

panel placard

s.

The

plan

is

to involve the st udents in the

Aircraft M

aint

enance program at Middle

Tennessee State University in the

restoration

of

the cockpit,

and

will serve

as a focal

point

in th e incorporation of

the Twin Beech Association s first dis

play at the fi rst-class Staggerwing Mu

seum. Call Bill at 615/895-6836 if you can

provide any

help with

this worthwhile

project.

lC

MERCHANDISE

Be sure to stop by Antique

/C

lassic

Headquarters

(The Red Barn)

and

check

out the new line

of

A/C logo wear, as well

as

many new shirts and sweats with color

fu

l airplane motifs.

For

a preview

of

some

of

the merchandise ava ilable, see the An

tique/ Classic

advertisment

at the

end of

this month 's issue of Vintage Airplane

E ON THE AIR

THE GRE TEST

SHOW IN THE IR

IS

NOW ON THE IR

Did you know that over 27 million

people attended aviation events in

the U .S. last year? Did you know

that makes aviation the second most

popular in-person spectator sport in

the country?

It

shows once again

what many EAAers have understood

for

a long time: Fascination with

flight is something people share al

most universally.

We are pleased to announce one

of

the most ambitious programs to

meet the needs

of

that market ever

undertaken by our marketing and

communications department. On

July 15, at 12 noon EST, a one hour

monthly television series, dedicated

to covering all aspects of aviation

will

premier.

It will

be produced by

EA A

's Paul Harvey Audio/ Visual

Center.

The

production team

is headed

by Dick Matt, Executive Pro

ducerlDirector. Dick

is

also

EAA

's

Vice

President

of Marketing

and

Communications. WriterIProducer

Jon

Tennyson will write and associ

ate produce the series. Director

of

photography

is

Scott Guyette.

Other

team

members are

Tim

Kramer,

editor and Jay

Koepke,

camera mount specialist.

The show is titled Ultimate Flights

and it will appear on the cable sports

programming netwo

rk

, ESPN2. A

n

ew

ly produced one hour show will

follow in each succeeding month

(check your local listings for show

times). Ultimate Flights will follow a

video magazine format simi l

ar

to

many popular news shows. Regular

departments or columns will be

augmented by fascinating features

from all around

the

world

of

avia

tion.

We' ll keep you posted

on

pro

gramming plans for Ultimate Flights

here in the pages of

VINTAGE

AIRPLANE. The premier show

will

feature stories of aerobatic champi

ons; a physically challenged aviator;

women

in

aviation; Steve Wittman's

last interview; a fascinating Young

Eagle youth feature on the most re

cent

activities of Father Goose,

Bill Lishman, the man who trained

wild geese to

fly

in formation with

his

Ultralight; a What's Up current

f-

fairs segment hosted by

EAA

presi

dent Tom Poberezny; coverage of air

racing and other activities from the

Sun 'n Fun

EAA

Fly-In Convention;

a segment on legendary homebuilder

Ray Stits and more.

On-going contributors to the

show, in addition to Tom Poberezny,

will be international aerobatic cham

pion

Patty

Wagstaff, who hosts

Women in Aviation ; John and

Martha King

of

King Schools who

will present Let's

Go

Flying, a seg-

ment designed to teach viewers the

basics

of

aerodynamics

and

flying;

Sean D. Tucker, one of the true su

perstars

of

the airshow circuit, who

will present a monthly feature enti

tled Sky Dancing and Ken Toson,

the young star of the Young Ea

gles motion picture, who will host a

youth in

aviation

segment

called

Young Eagles.

Ultimate Flights will represent far

more than an entertaining hour.

t

will be intended as a forum

of

infor

mation exchange for all who are in

terested in the fascinating world of

flight. From Warbirds to Ultralights;

from hang gliders to tactical je t

s;

from those who have only dreamed

of

piloting a plane to the most cele

brated pilots

in

the world; it's our in

tention to cover it

all.

In a very real sense this show be

lo ngs to all EAA members .

Tell

your friends about it. f you like it,

support the advertisers. Write a let

ter to ESPN complimenting

them

for recognizing the size and impor

tance of the aviation

interested

community

...

and

don 't

forget

us.

Write us here

in

Oshkosh and l

et us

know what you think.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE


6/36

FROM THE RCHIVES ...

The Israel Redhead Racer

Thanks to

the

efforts of

John

Beetham,

EAA

Treasurer, the

EAA photo archives

was

loaned

an

album

of

air racing photos belong-

ing to

the

family

ofHoward Lyon.

The photos

taken by Mr.

Lyon are mainly of

golden

age

air

racers .

Of

special interest

are the photos

of

Gordon

Israel's

Menasco powered racer,

the

Redhead. Mr. Lyon

had

attended

the

Von Hoffman

Aircraft

School

in St.

Louis,

where

Gordon Israel was

a welding instruc

tor. Later,

Lyon

would help Israel

in

the con-

struction

of

the Redhead

racer.

Gordon Israel

not only

designed and

constructed his own racer the "Red

head"

but

also contributed to more

fa

mous

Howard Racers; "Pete,"

Ike,

"Mike" and "Mister Mulligan." Along

with Benny Howard he co-piloted

Mis-

ter Mulligan to

a

win in the

1935

Ben

dix Race.

4 JULY 995

by

Dennis Parks

GORDON ISRAEL

Gordon Israel, from Clayton, MO re

ceived his first airplane ride in 1922 in the

Jenny

of

a friend . From 1928 to 1930, he

worked as an instructor at the Von Hoff

man School which folded up in 1930. Is

rael

was then approached by Benny

Howard, who wanted his assistance in de

signing and building a Wright-Gypsy pow

ered racer.

The

airplane became know to

the racing world as

"Pete." At

the time,

Benny Howard was flying mail between

St. Louis and Omaha via Kansas City.

The racer was constructed in a

hangar at

Lambert

field that had

been

vacated by

the

Von Hoffman

School,

which came

complete with full welding equipment.

In its debut at Chicago, during Sep

tember of

1930,

Pete

won five firsts and

two

thirds out of seven

starts Quite a

demonstration

of

the Howard-Israel the

ory

of

design. Israel would also go on to

help design and build

the

other

Howard

racers, Ike, "Mike" and "Mister Mulli

gan. Israel would co-pilot Mister Mulli

gan to victory

in

the 1935 Bendix race. In

1932 Gordon Israel would design and

build his own Menasco

powered

racer,

the "Redhead." During his professional

career, Israel would remain active in the

aircraft industry, working for such compa

nies

as

Curtiss-Robertson, Buhl, Stinson,

Howard, Grumman and Lear Jet.

REDHEAD

The

Redhead design was conceived in

January

1932. Design and construction

would continue through July when it was

ready to fly. It followed the same design

principles as the previous single-seat

Howard racers, using a steel tube fuselage

and wooden

wings. However the Red

head had plywood instead

of

fabric cov

ered

wings . The Israel design was

also

unique in the use of the inverted gull

wing. Redhead was powered by a super

charged Menasco Buccaneer C-6S six

cylinder in-line engine of 544 cubic inches

rated at

230 hp. Though a faster machine

than Mike or Ike, the

Redhead

was

plagued by engine problems throughout

most

of

its career. However, its first prob

lem was on the first flight, when the test

pilot cracked it up on landing. The air

craft and engine and had to be rebuilt. A

new pilot

was also

needed

and

Israel

found Lou Bowen, an American Airlines

pilot, to

fly

the airplane.

RACES

1932: The Redhead's first racing ap

pearance was at the National Air Races at

Cleveland

in

September

1932

where it

was entered as

the "Gordon Israel

Spe

cial. Israel had high hopes for the ma

chine as it was the only supercharged

Menasco entered.

It

did well at the start,

with Bowen well out in front by the sec

ond

lap,

but the front bearing

on

the

Menasco started

seizing

and the revs

started dropping off. This happened in

every race and Israel came back from

Cleveland

without

earning a penny. A

disappointed Gordon Israel sent the en

gine back to Menasco to have the main

bearing rebored.

1933: Los Angeles - At the Nationals

in July, with Gordon

Israel at

the con

trols, the Redhead fared much better than

in 1932. Israel finished third three times

in the 550 cubic inch events, and fifth in

the 1,000 cubic inch event. For his efforts,

Israel earned 250.

1933: Chicago - At the International

races in September, Israel flew Redhead.

He

placed second twice and third once in

the

550

cubic inch events, which gave him

a

second overall standing

,

earning

him

$225. Roy Minor in the Howard

Ike"

won each

of

the events. Israel ran 197.73

mph in his third event which would have

been fast enough to have won the first two

events, but Minor won at 201.8 mph.

1934: The Redhead" appeared at the

Omaha races in August.

Israel

won the

50 mile free-for-all at a speed of 197.3

mph

.

Unfortunately,

he damaged

the

ship very

badly

when he

hit

a

bump

on

the field on landing

after

victory in the

race. From all that we've

been

able to

find, this was the last time Israel raced the

Redhead.

1935:

In 1935

Gordon Israel

joined

with

Benny Howard

in

piloting the

Howard "Mister Mulligan to victory in

the Bendix cross country race from Los

Angeles to Cleveland.


7/36

bove) This head-on view shows the inverted gull

used by

Israel to reduce the

fuselage intersection drag t the side of the

fuse-

the airfoil had

9

symmetrical section set zero

of

incidence to prevent any airflow separation at

of the center section and the fuselage .

The

short wing of the Redhead had many ribs

strength, along with four compression bays. There

ars to be one piece laminated leading and trail

The elliptical plan form was se

in order to reduce the cord at the side of the

elage. Unfortunately, the airplane had miserable

all characteristics and would snap-roll if one tried to

t on landing.

Above) The engine was Menasco supercharged

5

cubic inch

six-cylinder engine. The fuselage below) was of welded steel tub

ing, the turtle deck

plywood

covered. The center section where

the wing panels were attached was heat treated.

VINT GE

IRPL NE 5


8/36

(Right)

The

Israel Redhead, like the

Howard single-seat racers, was con

structed very robustly. Howard and

Israel were

extremely conscious

about

incorporating enough struc

tural strength. The Redhead and the

Howard racers were stressed to

9G

limit. They were as

strong

as

the

Army pursuit planes flying at

the

time. Israel believed he had enough

concerns about keeping the hopped

up Menasco engines running without

worrying about the airplane coming

apart.

(Left) Because of the miserable low

speed handling

of

the Redhead, when

Israel flew it at the Los Angles races

in

933

he made only wheel landings

to keep from rolling the racer up in

ball.

In

the two months between the

Nationals in

LA

and the Internation

als in Chicago, Israel took the air

plane back to St. Louis and put new

center section on it, greatly improv

ing

the

airplane s handling at

low

speeds.

(Above) After Ben Howard and Gordon Israel produced Pete, and prior to construction ofMike and Ike Israel began work on

his own racer. t was largely completed by the time the Howard racers were begun. Work on the Redhead apparently

stopped while the two new Howard racers were completed. Israel s airplane was completed

in

the summer of

932

after

Ike

and Mike took to the

air.

6 JULY 995


9/36

by

Buck Hilbert

EAA 21

le

5

P O

Box 4 4

Union,

IL

6 18

I'm having a bad

day

I just came

from a

trip

to purchase another

of stamps.

The

Post

Office

is

be

a

major

investment for me. I

more money

down

there

paying

I

to people, parts I mail, and things

get that have postage due

than

I care

think about.

BUT I

gotta

start thinking about

t

is especially difficult to accept

I spend severa l h

ours

each

day

at my typewriter answering letters

trying

to

help people. I feel a need

answer

eac

h and every l

etter

I get. I

enjoy

the sense of accomplish

I

get whenever

I

am

able

to

help

ev e

n

those who

are not yet

ers

of our Antique/Classic Divi

n.

What bothers me is that often, and I

often than

not

, I never

hear

from

the

very people who I try

to

. I send specifications, manuals , in

recommendations , refe r

and in

general do

everything I

to

help

our

members.

Once in a

I even have

to

give advice to

the

you

know

type

- " I

really

like

this

airplane

do

I find

just

the one

that's right

me?") .

I ask

them

to share with

their

fellow

and Division

members

when they

especially interesting project,

or

good idea. I meet

and

see

people

all

the time,

who have

restorations and great ideas

.

In

I often get a deluge of answers

help when I

have

a

question

or

that I need

advice

to

solve

.

it is

frustrating when

I don't

hear

from those who I have sent mate

to

- I

have

no

way

of

knowing

if

or

if they thought I

blowing

smoke. Feedback

is im

P SSd

hBUCK

I'm sure many of you

notice

that I

sign

off my column and letters with

"

Over

to

You."

Sure,

it's

an obvious

reference to

our

aviation

radio phrase

ology, but it much more than

that

When I write you

and

sign

off

with

"Ove

r

to

You," it means I 'd like and

need

a reply.

How do

I

know

I

didn't

say or do

something that displeased

you? C'mon

guys

and

ga

ls, we have a

forum here with the

EAA

Antique/Classic Division's Vintage

Airplane

that

can serve

everyone of

its

members. H.G. and I need your help

and your input, and we need feedback

so we stay on track.

A

good exampl

e

are

my

comments

on

the

Aviation Rul

es

Advisory Com

mitte

e in a r

ece

nt issue. I asked for in

put

on how you wanted to handle th e

revision

of

FAR parts

91

and 43 as per

tains to

Owner/

Pilot

maintenanc e. I

explained that

th

ese

rul

es had been

in

ef

fect since 1938 and they could stand

some changing to m

ee

t today 's needs.

Care to hazard a

guess as

to how

many pe

ople

I heard from?

Believe

it

or

not, less

than

ten

That

's

ten out of

nearly 10 ,000 members out there who

took th

e

time to express their opinion.

I know there is a silent majority out

there.

I

certainly know

it can

be

diffi

cult to

set your mind to

it

and

actually

get with

it.

But

gee whiz, gang, we

have until May

of

'96 to set in place re

vised rules

that

could make it easier for

us to own and

maintain our airplanes.

Isn't that

some

incentive? Paul

Poberezny

can't do it all

alone

-

nei

ther can the other alphabet aviation or

ganizations

or

type clubs. All

of them

need

member participation,

and

they

need it

on

a

frequent

basis.

This

month's

column

isn't

meant

a

to be sour grapes or

browbeating

- it's

your wake up call and rallying cry.

Re

member,

as volunteers we

can't do

your bidding unless you make your

views

known.

Write them

down

and

send them back, and

it

you need more

information before

you can form an

opinion, then all

you

have

to

do is ask.

It's why we are all here.

ll is

not

gloom

and

doom - here's a

humorous note H.G. and I received a cou-

ple of weeks ago . . .

Dear Buck,

Could you po ssibly send me a copy

of your April "Pa ss it

to

Buck" in Vin

tage Airplane? My husband was inter

es

t

ed

in

your

di sc

ussion

of

th

e

engine

hour recorder that didn ' t

require an

elec tric or mec hanical

driv

e. (I didn 't

know that and

gave

the magazine to

the recycler.)

I

hope

you'll be

able to

se nd this

to

me and restore our domestic tranquil

ity.

Enclosed

is $5 .00 which I hope will

cover

your expenses

and a self-ad

dressed , stamped envelope.

Thank you,

Maskao Smith

EAA87167

A/

C4467

W e were able to sen d another copy

of

the April issue to Masako s her husband

could order a

Running

Time Meter for

his airplane We were pleased

to

hear that

everything

worked out fine.

Now

ifwe

can get Masako to hang onto her Vintage

Airplane a few months longer before send-

ing them to the (shudder at the thought)

recycler . . .

Over to

you

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7


10/36

WHAT OUR

MEMBERS RE

RESTORING

by Norm

Petersen

These photos

of

a Piper

PAolI

Cub

Special, N4790M,

S N

11-439, were sent

in by longtime

EAAer, Joe

Gibson

(EAA

6748, A C 16190) of

Caroline,

WI, who

restored the airplane over

a

period of four years. The "basket case"

Cub

was

purchased from Lowell

Stephani (EAA

148825) of Black

Creek, WI, who had started the restora

tion.

The airplane came with a Ly

coming

0-235

engine

of

115 hp

and

a

set of Federal A WB-1500 wheel/ skis.

Joe Gibson s Piper PA ll Cub Special

Joe advertised the A WB-1500's for sale

and the telephone almost jumped off

the

wall

(Apparently the demand

ex

ceeds the supply ) New wing leading

and trailing edges were installed along

with an 18-gal. tank in each wing.

The

entire

airplane was covered with the

7600 Process and

butyrate

dope done

up in the original

Piper

paint scheme.

The majored

Lycoming

is

full electric

with landing light, nav lights, intercom

and all the goodies . A new cowl was

fabricated to go along with the original

nose bowl. Original 8:00 X 4 tires, tubes

and brakes are retained along

with

a

Maule

tailwheel. A complete

set

of

new sealed struts from Univair was in

stalled on final assembly.

Joe

reports

the

PAolI is a joy to fly and really per

forms

with

a

strong

engine and metal

prop. The pretty blue and yellow PA

has recently

been

sold to Johnny

Johnson of

Pound, WI. and

Joe is

now

busy with a

Piper

PA-17 Vagabond.

Tony Morozowsky s a

ird

LC lB

The bare airframe of a 1928 Laird LC-IB, NC5793,

S N

161 , is pictured in the

bright sunshine

at

Zanesville, Ohio. Sent in by owner , Tony Moro

zowsky

(EAA

246668, A C 15283) of Zanesville, Ohio,

the Laird is slowly being restored to flying condition

and will be powered y a Wright J-5 engine, its original

powerplant. Note the many crossed wires used in

the

fuselage truss, a Matty Laird trademark. Visible also

is

the push-pull

tube to the

elevator and

the

slave

struts between

the

upper

and lower ailerons.

(Hey

Tony, those

wheels

are going to be awful rough on

takeoff. Would suggest locating some with a wee bit 0 '

rubber on them ) Tony 's entire family is heavily in

volved with airplanes and they have enough projects to

keep them out of mischief for years to come.

8 JULY 995

1955 Cessna 180

This photo of a 1955 Cessna 180, N3180D, S N

31978, was taken

at

Gallatin Airport, Bozeman ,

MT,

where

the pretty

airplane

is based . Owners

Alan Dvain and Steve Kleimer , both residents

of

Bozeman, were busy polishing the aluminum on

the classic Cessna as I happened by. Present plans

are to fly the 180 to

EAA

Oshkosh ' 95, so

many

more

folks will have a

chance to

view

the pretty

bird.

For

many years, the Cessna 180 was owned

by the

Nash Bros. at

Redstone,

MT,

in the far

northeast corner

of

Montana.


11/36

Sidney Heidersdorf s

Piper J-SA Cub Cruiser

This very pretty

1940

Piper J-5A

Cub Cruiser, N31038, SIN 5-304, is the

proud

possession of Sidney Heide rs

dorf

(EAA

375615)

of Juneau

, Alaska.

This entirely original J-5A sports an

original paint scheme of yellow with a

fish

hook arrow, open

cowling

around

the cylinders of the Continen

tal A-75

engine (complete

with

cast

aluminum valve covers) and propeller

spinner

that flows into the lip

on

the

front of the cowl.

The

metal Sensenich prop

is one of

the very few changes from the original

1940 wooden propeller.

Note

the

original 8:00 X 4 tires , tubes and

brakes. This artistic photo was sent in

by

noted

aviation

photographer, Roy

Cagle (EAA 15401,

A C

1691) , for ton for many years before moving

to

merly of Juneau , AK, and

now

of Alaska, is

one

of 375 J-5A

Piper Cub

Prescott, Arkansas. Sid's J-5A , which Cruisers remaining on the FAA regis

bounced

around

the

state of

Washing-

ter.

.

John Mark s Grumman Mallard

Framed in the left hand window of Bob Redner's

Republic Seabee

is

the beautiful 1947 Grumman

Mallard , N1888T,

S N

131, being flown by owner ,

John Mark (EAA 9866, A C 8935) of Oshkosh, WI.

Pictured over

Lake

Winnebago near Oshkosh, the

pretty much stock Mallard has P W R-1340 en

gines and

is

kept

in

immaculate condition. While

enjoying a ride with Bob and Kimberly Redner

in

their award-winning Seabee, John Mark formed up

on us while over the lake. I leaned across Bob 's lap

and took the picture out the left window. We could

plainly see John Mark ' s big grin on his face as he

pulled along

side

with the pretty Grumman, his

right hand on the

overhead

throttles. Thirty-two

Grumman G-73 Mallard's remain on the FAA reg

istry today.

Douglas Solberg s Noorduyn Norseman

These

photos of a civilianized 1943 No

orduyn Norseman

UC-64A, NC55555 , S N

228, were

sent

in by

veteran photographer,

Roy Cagle, now

of Prescott

, Arkansas.

The

especially rare (on wheels) Norseman was the

pride and joy of Doug Solberg for ma

ny

years

at Juneau, AK where these photos were taken.

Powered

with a 600 hp Pratt

Whitney

R

1340 engine pulling a big

three-bladed pro

peller,

the Norseman

could haul a huge load

on wheels - up to 3400 Ibs. - and over a ton on floats.

Built in Canada in substantial numbers (over 700),

only about 50 of the big, fabric-covered machines

remain in service

today

. This

particular Norseman

is now in a museum in Fairbanks, AK.

Note: The

Norseman

Floatplane Festival

will

be

held

at Red

Lake,

Ontario,

Canada

,

on

July

14 -

16,1995,

and up to 18

Norsemen (?)

on floats

are

expected.)

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9


12/36

Type

Club

The Funk Flyer mance and reliability provided by adding

NOTES

by Norm

Petersen

Compiled

from v rious

type club

public tions & newsletters

Ruth Ebey editor

nd

publisher

(619-466-1461)

A FunkL...Fly-ln?

by Bob

Richardson

My

young

non-aviation neighbor

asked me what I had planned for week

end activity

and

I told him I intended

to

go

to the Funk

Fly-In at Coffeyville,

Kansas. He looked askance at me

and

asked, What 's a fly-in? and

What's

a

Funk? t really takes some doing to ex

plain

to

an uninf

ormed

ground pounder,

but to describe the remarkable charms of

the Funk flying machine is even more dif

ficult. My friend did not seem impressed

with my

dual explanations, shook

his

head and went on about his business mut

tering something about to each his own,

etc.

After that exchange, I began to realize

that

there probably

were a few av iation

enthusiasts around who were not familiar

with the grand old Funk either.

Here is a little background: the design,

a

two-place

, side-by-side, high-wing

monoplane originated with Joe and

Howard Funk in the late '30s, with a few

airplanes built in

Akron, Ohio

, in 1939.

(The CAA Type certificate No 715 was

approved

on August

22 , 1939.)

These

ea rly airplanes were called

the

Model B

and sported

a

63 HP

Funk Model E200

E4L, inverted, liquid-cooled engine (con

verted automotive Model B Ford engine).

The

Funk airplane project was moved

to Coffeyville, Kansas, sometime

in

1941,

but soon

after

the demands of WWII

stymied

airplane production

and the

Funks turned to the manufacture of mili

tary par ts. The little monopl ane , how

ever, remained close to the hearts of

the

Funk broth ers, and

by 1945 th ey

were

ready to come back with a po stwar air

plane, the Model 8-85-C.

A

number of

refinements

had

been

made

to the

after

-war airplanes ,

but

the

big difference was the improved perfor

10 JULY 1995

the Continental C-85-12 (85 HP) engine.

The

Funk was typical of many airp lanes

of the

period

with fabric-covered wood

wings, steel tubular fuselage and conven

tionallanding

gear. Overall dimensions,

performance

figures and maximum

weights vary with model designations,

but , generally,

the

airp lan e has a

wingspan of 30 feet, was 20 feet lon

g

had

a gross weight of 1350 pounds and cruised

aro und 100 mph.

During those heady airplane building

days of

1946,

the sma ll Funk assembly

line

put out

two

airplanes

a day

and

had

an em p loyee force of over 100

people.

Things began to slow down in 1947, and

as every airplane man of the time will teU

you , things

came to

a

screeching halt

in

1948. The Funk brothers closed down the

airplane

business ,

regrouped, and

went

on to bigger and better things, but the lit

tle monoplane remained the sentimental

heart of Funk Manufacturing Corp.

The 8-85-C has been called a gentle

airplane ,

others have called

it solid,

most just say it's a good flying airplane

and as good as you can get with

85

horse

power.

Owners

will tell

you that

they

have never regretted taking a chance on

the little Funk

. The airplane was de

signed with the amateur pilot in mind.

Some

were used as trainers,

but the

ma

jority were valued as personal airplanes.

Over the years the stature of the little

two-seater has grown, and nowadays the

basic fifty-year-old design is very much in

demand by buyers and airplane collectors

around the country. Many of the remain

ing airplanes have been rebuilt and recov

ered several times , a few have been al

tered with

increased

horsepower , but

most remain very close to their original

configuration. Usually

they

conform

to

th e early factory

color

schemes

and are

either

blue with cream trim, red with

black trim,

or

yellow with blue trim .

The

C-85 models are mostly two-toned yellow

and maroon.

Funk airplane owners feel a special ca

maraderie and have banded together in

the Funk Owners Association, a type club

that conducts a national fly-in annually at

Coffeyville , Kansas, usually in the latter

part of August (or the latter part of July).

Everyone

is

welcome to these affairs, and

if

any are

curio us about this little

air

plane

, they should plane to attend

the

next Funk Fly-ln.

Ri

ght

now it is

hard to

pin

down the

exact number of Funk airplanes

of all

models sti

ll

flying,

or

how

many

were

originally built, but one thing is notewor

thy: everyone knows about a ll those

small postwar airplanes that were built in

Kansas, but at least 230 Funks were built

in Oklahoma - South Coffeyville, that

is.

(Ed. Note: 116 Funk aircraft remain on

the F U.S. register today.)

National Stinson Club's Plane Talk

Bill nd Debbie Snavely editors

High Cost of Maintenance

Your

maintenance bill depends on

how much hide your mechanic loses when

he is

inspecting

your

engine.

You

know

those pretty nylon safety wires you put on

your engine to hold things nea tly in place?

When you cut them with the side cutters

(dikes) or your

knif

e, they

leave

very

sharp edges and

get

sharper

as they get

older.

To

alleviate this problem ,

cut them

with your

sharp

knife right at

the

clasp.

Then run your finger over

the

edge to

make

sure you

got

all

the

sharpness off.

f

it is a little

sharp, running

a file

over

the edge will help (to dull the sharp edge).

Safety wire that is as sharp as any nee

dle needs some attention to also. Cutting

them with the side

cutters

(dikes) mak es

them very sharp.

File these edges smooth and then curl

the edge back to

the

existing wire to help

this

problem.

The

same can be

said for

those nasty little cotter keys. I have heard

horror stories

of mec hanics

getting

im


13/36

paled with these wires as they run their

hands

into tight engi

ne compartmen ts.

Usua

ll

y when

no

one is aro

und

to help

yo u out is when this wi

ll

happen . T he

only thing yo u ca n do is grit

your

teeth

and pull the wire back out the way it went

in. Very painful!

Blocked Exhaust

A note from a member sta tes

that

the

flame

tube burnt

out

and blocked the ex

hau st pipe on his Stinson 108-3. Wh en

this happens, you lose three cylinders on

that

side and about 400 rpm. Of course ,

this happened

when

th

ey

had full

tanks

and two friends in

the

back.

Mak

e sur e

that yo u ch

ec

k yo ur exhaust tubes on a

regular basis.

International Cessna 170

Association - The

170

News

Editor, Velvet Fackeldey (417-532-4847)

Rudder Cable Safety Check

Dick Klockner

Last month, as we touched down from

a flight , I heard a

soft

'

ping.

'

As

I was

wondering what the noi se was , the plane

began turning right. When I tried to co

r-

rect with left rudder,

nothin

g happen

ed

.

Then I tried left brake - nothing agai n.

By this time we were heading for the

woods lining both sides of our runway.

Since the plane wanted to go

ri

ght and

time was rapid ly running out, I decided to

try a ground loop. It worked and we spun

a ro und , just

missing

th e trees with o

ur

left wingtip.

Nothing lik e a n exciting landin g

to

wake a pilot up

A rudder cable had

broken. It broke

inside the las t compartment of the ta

il

cone. It is impossible to see in there and

the

corros

ion which was occurring went

undetected over a period

of

time by many

people - including my se

lf.

The rest

of

the

cable

was in fine shape, but

that

small

sect ion inside the cone and behind the

last bulkhead had actually rust

ed

in two.

Since

one

can ' t see in sid e

that

sec tion ,

I would suggest disconnecting the cables

and pulling th em

out

far e

nou

gh

to

in

spect th

em

. Don 't forget this

imp

ort ant

checkup!

National Ryan Club Newsletter

Bill Hodges, editor (501-268-2620)

Oil

Leaks at the Head to Cylinder

Mike Wilson, Technical Director

Check for oil at the h

ea

d gaskets, while

doing the preflight.

I f

oil

is

found coming

out

at

th e gasket,

have

yo

ur

m

ec

hanic

check the

torque of the nuts

; the engine

must be cool.

If

you are not ab le to have

a mechanic

do

it, you

can

do it yourself

for a temporary fix. I t may

not stop

all

the leaks ,

but

at l

east

the

head

will not

come off. A severe leak could damage the

head, cylinder, or piston and rings, due to

excessive heat.

Use a 6 to 8 inch end wrench

and start

to tighten

eac

h nut. There are a total of

16 nuts

(on

a Kinner radial cylinder

head), so tighten eve ry 3rd or 5th nut , just

a little , lik e 1I6th of a turn. This m

ea

ns

you will n

ee

d to go

around the

h

ea

d sev

era

l times. Every 3rd nut means 3 tim es

aro und to do a ll s tud s once . You may

need to go around the h

ead

several times

to

tighten all

th e

nuts

ju

st

a littl e at a

time. The r

eason

why we do it thi s way:

well, just take my word for it. Before you

star t to tighten the nuts, check to see if

some

of

the

st

uds show m

ore threads

be

yond the nut. This may be an indication

of st uds being pulled out of the head

or

stripped threads.

So if you just creep

up

on th e nuts a

littl e at a tim e ,

you will

be ab le

to

ge t

yo

ur

ship

back

home. Don' t

get carried

away, and u

se

a big long wrench , like 12

inches or more.

f

all

yo u have is a 12

incher,

then

hold your hand at the 6 in ch

position .

There are

many o th

er

things to

co n

sider when installing

a (cy

lind

er)

head . I always an nea l the gasket before

installation , also the surfaces mu

st

be

checked for

"t

rue."

More

next time.

From the "International

180/185 Club"

newsletter-

Johnny Miller, president (916-6722620)

Landing Techniques

The high

es

t pe rcent

age

of acci den ts

occ

ur

in the landin g

ph

ase of a flight

(37%). There have been a couple of good

ar ticl es in the past discussing three point

(full stall) landings. Club memb

ers

have

been doin g a good job kee pin g us in -

formed about aircraft maintenance info r-

CRACKS

mation,

but not much is said about

what

yo u

have

to

do

every

time

you fly i.e. ,

land the airplane.

From

the many pilots I've talked with

I have

over

300 180/185's in

sured),

most

say they use a

three

point (nose hi gh atti

tude) full stall technique for the majority

of their landings . They ind icated this is

the way they were taught. Set up the air

plane, pull power and flare a few feet

AGL,

hold

the

yo ke

back

until the air-

plane settles

on

the

runway

.

For

wheel

landings, carry a little extra speed and pin

it

on

the runwa

y.

Nothing could be fur

ther from the truth .

Neither

procedure is

the "best" way to do it.

I be lieve many of you

were

never ini

tially train ed

to

do wheel la ndings the

right way - I

wasn

' t .

Most

are

told you

only do wheel

land in gs in st

rong cross

winds. Some

are

afraid

of

them.

Except for soft field landings, I be lieve

a wheel landing is actua lly the preferred

way to land. It 's easy. I'll briefly discuss

why. Many

of

you know

of the

" MA F"

Missionary

Aviator

's

Fellowship

out

of

Re

dland

s, CA. For over 20 yea rs they

have bee n training th

ei

r pilots to fly

Cessna 180/185 s and 206's in countries all

over the wo r ld a nd

sti

ll have over 40

180/185's in service. Their training con

sists of hundreds of classroom and flight

hour

s with several training flights to Idaho

to

fly the

back co

untry . They

hav

e

in-

structors with over 10,000

hour

s

of

1801185

time alone. I know there are ot her train

ing

facilities , but for my

money,

these

guys are the real experts. They have to fly

these aircraft for a living in all conditions.

Obviously they had to develop, standard

ize and use procedures and techniques to

insure consistency and safety.

Guess what? They use the wheel land

ing 98% of

the

time, except on soft sur

faces.

Landings

depend on feeling, reaction

and response. You want

eac

h landing to

Continued on page 26)

E SNA

PART

#

041173 STRINGER ASSEMBLY

o

From the International Cessna 120/140 Association

Bill Rhoades, Editor and Maintenance Advisor

Roy L. Farris writes: I called you recently to ask if you had any exper ience with

cracked fuselage stringers, and you said

that

you had not.

You asked at the time if I would se

nd

a description of the repairs.

While trying to find a small

vibration

in my (Cessna) 140A, I found the upper

center stringer cracked over 60%

of

its width. It required removal

of

the windshield

and several instruments in order to

remove and buck

the rive ts which

were

neces

sary to replace it. We fabricated a new one, and used the old cast bracket which the

upper

center motor

mount bolts to . Replacing the stringer so lved the vibration

problem. Enclosed is a ske tch of the stringer and location of the crack. I think

these stringers should be checked at

ea

ch annual.

Thank

you, Roy L. Farris #3445

VINTAGE AIRPLANE


14/36

e polit n Float

by H.G. Frautschy

with information supplied by Gerolamo Gavazzi and

his

book Vintage Wings On

The

Lake

The

rem arkable restoration of

the last aproni Ca 1 still flying

Certain aspects of antique airplane en

thusiasts are universal, no matter where in

the world they live or what language they

speak. Gerolamo Gavazzi, IC 15849 of

Milan,

Italy

is

one of

us

who simply

couldn't bear

to

see

an

old

aerop

l

ane

crumble

into

dust.

His

passion

for the

Caproni Ca .100 runs

deep into

his soul.

Before WW II , Gerolamo's father was the

proud owner of a Ca.100, often referred to

as a Caproncino, and it was in this air

plane that as a young boy Gerolamo was

treated to an airplane ride. Later , he even

managed to

fly

I-ABOU on a semi-regular

basis after joining the Como

Aero

Club

in

1962.

His

ties

to the brigh

tly

colored

sesquiplane were steadfast.

When Gerolamo's father gave him that

ride after the War, the Ca.100

was al

ready

an

old airplane. The Italian Air

Force had replaced them in 1938 with the

Breda 25, a more complex training air

craft.

To those who enjoy the history of

various aircraft

of

the world,

the

Ca.100

might have a vaguely familiar look. An

Italian Ministry of Aviation request

in

1928 for proposals to build training air

craft

for the Italian

Royal Air

Force re

quired the

Caproni

factory to work fast,

so, in the interest

of

speed, they acquired

a license to build the DH.60 Cirrus Moth

from

DeHavilland.

The Caproni engi

neers made a few changes to the basic

DH

design - the landing gear was redesigned ,

with a pair

of oleo

strut

shock-absorbed

landing

gears, instead of

the

bungee

corded straight axle landing gear on the

DH.60. The vertical tail also underwent a

profile change,

but

the biggest change to

the DH

design

was a wing

revision.

A

number of

large Caproni bombers

has

used an inverted sesquiplane configura

tion, with the longer wing as the

bottom

surfaces, and the smaller wings mounted

above. The Ca.100 was given this

same

arrangement, resulting in an unusual look

ing

biplane

. By 1930

the

Ca.100 was in

production, and it continued to be made

until 1937. The in

li

ne

upright Co

lu

mbo

S.53 (four cylinder, 9 hp), S.63 (six cy lin

12 JULY 1995

der, 145 hp) and

95

hp, 7-cylinder radial

Fiat

A.50

engines

were used for

power,

with the 145 hp S.63 the favored engine.

Approximately

680 Ca.100

trainers

were built during the 1930's, and it proved

itself a very

capable trainer. Before

the

war began, it was thought that nearly 300

of the aeroplanes still existed, but the war

years

took

their toll on the survivors.

Many pre-war aircraft that served no mili

tary purpose were converted to scrap and

recycled, so few

private

aircraft survived

the second World War. After the War,

there were

15

Ca.l00's remaining, and

three of them were f10atplanes that would

come to operate at the Como

Aero

Club.

The

Como

Aero

Club has a long and

interesting history. Located on the shore

of

Lake

Como

in

the

city

of

Milan

, in

northern

Italy , it was

created

in 1930

to

serve as a base for local flight training as

part

of

a nationwide encouragement

of

aviation

by

the Italian government. It

opened

in

1932, and was officially inaugu

rated the next year with the arrival

of

the

Dornier

DO-X, the 12 engined

German

seaplane which stayed for 3 days.

A flying

club

was

established at the

Como water aerodrome, and was very ac

tive until the start of WW II, during which

each

and every aeroplane owned by the

club was destroyed. When the club was

started

again

in 1946-47,

the organizers

had

to

start

from

scratch

with an empty

hangar.

The empty cove

on lake Como in

northern

Italy began to hum again with

aeronautical

sounds, inc luding a Macchi

MB

308 (a high wing cabin airplane) and a

SeaBee. Amazingly, a Ca.100 was located

and purchased by the club.

The

first

of

three that would operate at the post-war

Como Aero Club was

as

registered

1-

ABOU.

Two more Ca.100's were

added

,

I-COMA

and I-DISC. All

three

were in

service and out of service at various times

and of the three only two survive, I-

DI

SC

and I

-ABOU.

I-DISC was grounded after

being damaged in a landing accident, and

was later restored for static display in the

Giocanni Caproni Museum

in Trento.

1-

AB OU continued to

fly

until 1968.

Macchi of Varese built SIN

3992

Caproni Ca.lOO during the late spring of

1932,

comp

l

eting

the

airframe

in

June.

Built

as

one of

36

seap

l

anes

assigned to

the Rome-Lido Aerobrigta operating as a

pri mary flight school, it operated

there

until 1938, when the school was closed and

the

airplane

was moved for a time to the

town of Desenzano, on Lake Garda.

It

remained

in

service as

a training

aeroplane

until 1940, when it was then

sold to a famous Ita lian powerboat racer,

Samuele Silvani.

The

airplane was flown

to Pavia

water Aerodrome. It

was regis

tered

as

I-ABOU and

kept there until

grounded by

the

hostilities. Fortune

smiled

on the

little

biplane

, for

it's

pur

chase

by a

private individual

just

as

the

War

was beginning would help ensure its

survival. Stored out of sight from both the

Axis and Allied military

,

the

airplane

would remain undisturbed

in

storage until

1947,

when

an

agreement

was made for

the Como Aero Club

to

purchase the

sesquiplane. The

Ca.l00

was flown to

Como in 1948 in less than airworthy con

dition, but it did arrive and delighted club

members began an extensive overhaul.

Along with the aeroplane came a spare

pair of floats.

I-ABOU

has never had a

wheel

landing

gear

, having always

been

mounted on a pair

of

wooden floats. Five

spare Columbo S.63 engines were bought

surplus from the Italian military.

After

it's first restoration, the Ca.100

flew until 1952, when a

landing accident

put

it

out of

commission until 1957,

and

then again,

it was damaged in 1963 and

had to be repaired. As a training airplane,

it is not surprising that the aeroplane had

some hard use , and by 1967, the basic air

frame and engine

bad

simply

begun to

wear out. It's airworthiness certificate ran

out

in 1967-68, and it steadi ly declined as

it

sat

in

the

back

of

the

Como

Aero

Club

hangar.

I-ABOU has

lost

it's

Airworthiness

Certificate because the engine was using


15/36

prodigious rate, and couldnt reach

rated power standards it needed to

inspection.

At some point after

it

s grounded, the Ca.100 was hauled out

hangar and an attempt was made to

the

engine and slide

her

down the

into the water. Before it could be

onto

the lake the Columbo

to a halt , seizing after having sat

long without proper care. The for

antique then sat in the humid lake air

quite some time, corroding and rot

At one point, a businessman from the

town of Brianza was allowed

to

Ca.100 outdoors

in

his garden,

the elements further attacked the air

.

By

the

mid-1980 s,

the airplane

was

in

the

hangar

at the

water

aero

985 proved to be a turning point

the history of I-ABOU. One day, as

sesquiplane was being moved in

hangar, one of the floats cracked open.

was obvious to all that

I-ABOU

had to

or

it would be lost to his

another photo in so

picture collections. The Aero Club

show some interest in

sesquiplane, and the Ca.100 was

to the water aerodrome . Per

it could be restored

to

its

former

. . .

Above) The Caproni

Ca.100

Caproncino captured over Lake

Como

in

northern Italy after its six

year long restoration. The sesqui

plane

is laid

out with the

shorter

wing on top, and

the

entire struc-

ture, including

the

floats, is wood

with metal fittings. The

Ca.1

OO s

basic design

grew

out

of

a licens

ing agreement with DeHavilland to

produce the DH.60 Cirrus Moth.

(Above, right) The instrument

panel has been restored to its original configuration, no

small task considering the rarity of pre-war instruments

in

modern Italy.

(Below) The 145 hp Columbo S.63 six-cylinder engine powered the majority of the

Ca.1OOs built.

VINTAGE

IRPL NE

3


16/36

The projected costs

were

extraordi

nary. Unlike the United States and other

countries around the world where antique

airplanes not only existed but

fl

ew in ap

preciable numbers, It aly simply does n

ot

have a

cac

he

of remaining

antique air

planes a nd spare parts to a llow the

restoratio n of a f leet of antiques, such as

we have here in the States. With that in

mind , it's not hard to imagine the kind

of

responses Gerolamo Gavazzi got when he

started asking potential sponsors if they

were interested in joining him in a restora

(Above) Gerolamo Gavazzi,

the

spark-

plug who

organized

the restoration

of

ABOU. Right) The official

rollout

cere-

mony

of

the

Ca.100

at the Como

Aero

Club

was dramatic, compete

with

an

unveiling of the old club aeroplane as

the restored

sesquiplane

was moved out

of the hangar.

14 JULY 1995

tion

of

the

Ca

.100. They loo k

ed

at him

with

disbelief.

R ebuild that?

To

Fly?

Sure

. .

.

The few sponsors who expressed a cer

tain am

ou

nt

of

faith that it cou ld be

done

wanted

to

impose their

own will on the

project. Friends were also asked to jo in in

the effort, but many simply said it couldn 't

be done. "Put in a modern engine, and

get a 'Special certificate

of

Airworthiness,'

an d add

some radios," were the

word s

most

often spo ken to Gerolamo when

he'd broach the idea to some of his friends.

Finally, it became clear that he was going

to have to go it alone, and orga nize the

restoration

of th e "Capr onc

ino

" on his

ow

n

T he end of th e year 1985, Gerolamo

Gavazzi had orga

ni

zed

"Ca

proncino Sri ,"

formed as an orga

ni

za tion specifica

ll

y to

restore th e I-A BQ U . A pr oposa l was

made to the Como Aero Cl ub, which they

acce

pt

ed, opening the road to restoration

for the old Caproni.

As

is

so

typica l the

world

over, the

restoration of

the

a irpl a ne depended

most on what was needed for the e ngi ne.

(Left)

Another

shot of

the

Ca.100

serenely flying past the Italian villas lin-

ing the shore of Lake Como.

H av ing bee n wo rn o ut a nd the n left to

th e e le me nt s s ur e ly mu st have a lm ost

com ple te ly r

uin

ed it. G e ro la mo fir st

went to each

of

the fl ying clubs th at still

existed wh o in the past had

op

erated the

Ca

.l00

, but none could help with parts

or

any other in fo rma ti on. It was a longs hot,

but how about the Ita

li

an milita

ry

? Since

th e a

irpl

ane had b

ee

n widely use d as a

military trainer before the war , pe rhaps

th e Aeronauti ca Milita re s till had som e

lo n g lo s t pa rt s th a t

could

aid in th e

restoration. Th e upper level Italian offi

cers who met with Gerolamo were int er

ested in helping, but they could not offer

any part s -

inquir

es by the

staff

came

back tim e

and

time again with negative

results .

The

parts simply

didn't

exist in

the normal channels of supply.

Networking can often have unex

pected results, and while conversing with

the

"

Grupo

Amici Velicoli Storici

"

(GA

VS), or the "Friends

of

Vintage Air

planes

Group ,

he was reminded that it

was possible that a few of the

aviation

trade schools had older engines that were

used as training aid

s.

A trip

to

R o me

co

n

firmed

th at the

Galilei In stitut e had a Co lumbo S.63 in

their collection , but the In sti

tu t

e's offi

cials were not thrilled with the prospect

of selling the eng

in

e. Gerolamo's

en t

hu

sias

m mu s t have

swayed

the men, for

they

did

agree

to check into

selling

the

e ngin e to him .

They

l

ater

came back

with the startling news that they

couldn't

se

ll

som

et

hing th

at

didn ' t belong to them

- it was on loa n from the Aeronautica

Militare

An excited Gerolamo Gavazzi went

right back to th e officers who had tried

to

he lp

him

on his

previous

visit.

They

were incredulous, a nd they agreed to

help. At a meeting with all three

of

the

protagonists in this litt le play, Gerolamo

agreed to

provide

the

In

stit

ut

e

with

a

suitab le e n

gine

for instruction , and the

Aerona

utica Militare would se ll him the

Co lumb

o

at auction

.

As

all

of the

bu

reaucratic wheels slowly turned (again,

some things ar e universal ) before the

deal was

consummated

, the engine was

sent to a museum,

where

the curator de

cided he

wanted

to

keep

the engine for

display Fortunately, the officers at the

Aeronautica

Militare

did not

want

to

break

a

promi

se (how refreshing ) and

so they prevail

ed , and the engine wa s

eventually

sold to Ge rolamo for use in

the Ca .lDO .

Anoth

e r en gine was eventually ob

tained from

a

wind machine through

a

surp

lus deale r in on e

of

the seediest sec

tions of Rom e . I t involved the convo

luted negotiations with a wily junk deal er

and tran

s

porting

the engine

home

in the


17/36

a

little

Fiat 131. For the full

, I strongly suggest obtaining a copy

Gavazzi's Vintage Wings

The Lake, a

hard cover

book pub

by

Gerolamo. Details are included

A C

News on page 3

Now he had three engines, and a luck

have it, he was able to

obtain

an

from the "Istituto Technico Malig

" in Udine. Engine

overhaul

could

original engine slated

overhaul, and a second engine to be

as

a spare.

The

remaining engines

be used for spare parts.

After

cleanup , the

parts

were in

, including

the

multiple-piece

pistons

were replaced

the cylinders cleaned up and chromed

to standard.

The

valve guides were

out , and new valves installed. Once

the first rebuild of the Columbo was

nting - it would not produce rated

and so

a

decision

was

made

to

the engine re-overhauled

by

a differ

shop. After another year, the engine

, and was made ready for

in the Ca.100.

The

airframe of the Ca .100 was

sur

sound , and mechanic Sergio

the restoration,

under

direction of

Felice

Gonalba,

found

which

is

built up entirely of

was in reasonably good condition.

tail surfaces were not nearly as

. Damage caused by careless move

in the hangar had banged

up

the

rudder and elevator, and coupled with

rot

from over 50 years

of

exposure and

use had ruined them beyond

repair.

A

new set was built up.

The

wings

didn't

need much

more

than minor rib

repairs

and cleaning up , with a careful inspec

tion

of the entire structure

. The wing

struts were

inspected and repaired, and

the

wooden float

that

had split

open

was

fixed,with

the

other float inspected

and

cleaned up.

The airframe

accessories, including

the fuel tank, canopy frame and oil cooler

took

a

bit more effort, and

all

of the

metal fittings were x-ray inspected, sand

blasted and pronounced fit for use.

The

instrument panel had been cob

bled

up over the years, and so an effort

was

made to return it to it 's previous

glory. A Pezzani model 2 compass, built

up from the parts of two units, is the cen

terpiece of the panel, and

other

instru

ments were found

in

the stores of the

Como water

aerodrome

hangar. A clock

was also built up from the remains of two

non-working clocks.

As the

restoration

progressed, parts

and

pieces from

other

Como warehouses were found , including

a float and other airframe

components.

A few

spare propellers

were

obtained

from the Caproni family, who had

taken

an interest in seeing

the

last Ca.100

take

to the skies again.

After a six year effort, the Caproni

Ca.100 was ready for its first flight, re

splendent in its new green, red and white

Italian military color scheme. Test pilot

Carlo Zorzoli, the

last

man to fly 1-

ABOU

in 1968, was given the honor in

1991 of flying

the

newly restored sesqui

plane from the

Como water

aerodrome.

The test flight was routine , and for the

first time in

23

years, a Ca.100 was flying

in Italian skies.

At the

conclusion of his

book,

Gerolamo's

comments regarding

his reason for passionately ensuring that

the Ca.100 was restored as it was, in orig

inal flying condition, were summed up as

follows:

Static restoration can,

of course,

be

done. While this too is auspicable (com

mendable), it lacks the romantic touch.

A

static

restored

plane is

a

piece

of his

tory,

but

it brings to mind dust, staleness

and

mold. However much it may

evoke

memories and emotions,

it is a ghost of

the past. But when

one

clambers into the

cockpit of a

plane

that flies , from it em

anates a fragrant mixture of oil,

grease

,

petrol, rubber and leather.

The

hotted engine and the drop of oil

on the floor are signs

of

life.

"When the engine is switched on, with

its

unmistakable throb, the vibrations

shudder, and the instruments spring into

action, the aircraft seems possessed of a

soul."

Against monumental odds,

Gerolamo

Gavazzi and his friends and partners have

breathed

life into a

part

of Italy's recent

history.

Our

congratulations of accom

plishing such an extraordinary task

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15


18/36

Roscoe Turner: Three Time WInner

of

the Thompson Trophy ...

Far

right) Roscoe Turner fuels his

racer, dubbed the "Pesco Special,"

during

preparations

for the Na-

tional Air Races in Cleveland during

1938. Roscoe won the race

that

year with a

283 42

mph average

speed. The last National Air Races

held before WW

I

took place Labor

Day weekend 1939 Roscoe re-

turned with the same racer

but

with

a

new

sponsor, Champion Spark

Plugs (right). When the sun se t on

the races at the end of the holiday

weekend, two momentous events

had occurred Roscoe Turner had

won

an unprecedented

third

Thompson Trophy race, and the

Germans had invaded Poland, set-

ting the stage for the second world

war. Roscoe announced his retire-

ment from air racing, and the world

knew that future peace was uncer-

tain until Nazi aggression could be

6 JULY 995


19/36

1939

THOMPSON TROPHY

Painting

by

rank Warren

The

winners

29 Roscoe Turner LTR 14

Miss

Champion

282 54

mph

70 Tony LeVier Rider R 4

Schoenfeldt Firecracker

272 54

mph

2 Earl Ortman

Rider R3

Marcoux-Bromberg

Special 25444

mph

Others

in the race

52

Harry

Crosby Crosby

CR-4

4 Steve WIttman WIttman Bonzo

25 Joe Mackey Wedell Turner

5

Art Chester Chester

Goon

DNF Out

lap 18

out ofoil

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7


20/36

Jim Younkin

of

Fayetteville,

AR

has long

been bitten by

the racer

bug,

having

built up

repli

cas of two of the most famous racers of all

time. In

the

foreground

is the

replica

of

NR614K, the Travel Air Mystery S winner

of

the

Documents

Vintage Airplane - Jul 1995