Vintage Airplane - Jul 2000

8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Jul 2000

1/40


2/40

STRAIGHT AND

LEVEL

2 VAA

NEWS

4 AEROMAIL

5 THIRTY FIVE YEARS

AT

THE OUTER

MARKER Du

tch Redfield

9

MYSTERY PLANE/H.G.

Frautschy

11

JAEGER WACO YOC/

Budd

Davisson

16 STILL

EARNING

ITS

KEEP/

Bill and

Barbara deCreeft

18

SUN N

FUN

SPLASH-

IN/H.

G

Frautschy

20

THE DAWN PATROL RENDEZVOUS/

Nick Hurm

4 WHAT

OUR

MEMBERS ARE

RESTORING/

Norm

Petersen H.G. Fra

ut

schy

4

PASS IT

TO BUCKl

E.E.

Buck Hilbert

7

CALENDAR

8

CLASSIFIEDS

9

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

www.vintageaircraft.org

Publisher

TOM POBEREZNY

Editor-in

-Chie

scon SPANGLER

Executive Director Editor

HENRY G. FRAUTSCHY

Executi ve Editor

MIKE DIFRISCO

Contribu

ti

ng Editor

JOHN UNDERWOOD

BUDD DAVISSON

Art

Director

BETH BLANCK

Photography Sta

JIM KOEPNICK

LEEANN ABRAMS

MARK SCHAIBLE

Adve

rtising/Editoria l Assistant

ISABELLE WISKE

II

SEE PAGE

3

FOR

FURTHER VINTAG

E AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION INFOR

MAT
http:///reader/full/www.vintageaircraft.orghttp:///reader/full/www.vintageaircraft.org


3/40

STR IGHT

by

ESPIE BUTCH

JOYCE

PRESIDENT

,

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT

ASSOCIATION

The year 2000 edition of EAA AirVenture is just around

corner We'll remember this year for

many

things, in

the expansion of the Contemporary judging

We now

will accept those aircraft

that

were man

through December 31, 1965. The Contemporary

to judging

these aircraft,

and

are ex

d about seeing some great restorations of airplanes from

very active era of general

aviation

.

As

it was with the

category 30 years ago, it will take a

few

years for

the

to come up to standards, and for the appropriate

to

be finalized,

but

we're off

to

a great start

Some of the VAA Directors have been

joking

with me

expansion

of

the Contemporary

category, be

my Baron was built in 1964. They figured I

couldn't

the

airplane

on

the flightline Well, guys, this

driving a

motor

coach to Oshkosh, leaving

at home.

This year at AirVenture 2000 we will again have our fly

to Shawano, Wisconsin, our VAA picnic and many

activities during the week, so be sure

and check

at

VAA Headquarters (the Red Barn) for the most up-to

schedule for

our events.

While

you're

visiting take

relax during your stop at VAA Headquarters. Say

to

everyone, take a rest

on

your front porch

an

some

fellowship

with a wonderful

group

of avia

people.

This year will be the first year I will not have my good

as my Vice-Chairman, VAA

Management.

As

many

of you

know, Bob

away this past year after a fight with cancer.

I will miss his help this year-he made it a lot easier for

the

week of Convention. Starting this

year,

G. Frautschy has been selected as my Vice Chair

Convention Management for the VAA area as part of

as VAA

Executive Director. We're

both

look

to a great Convention

All of the other Chairman

roles are

being once again

by the

same

hard-working

people

as last year.

several people who do quite a bit of work com

individual members

and

organizations in

of

Convention.

They are: Roger Gomoll ,

who

the

Type

Club HQ; 507/288-2810,

rgomoll@hot

, Steve Krog, 414/966-7627, [email protected],

Chairman of

the

returning Past Grand Champions;

George Daubner 414/673-5885,

antique2

@aol.com, Chair

man of the VAA

parking

and Flightline co-chair; Geoff

Robinson, 219/493-4724, [email protected], Chairman

of security and Flightline co-chair. You can

reach

me at

336/393-0344, [email protected]

and

H.G. Frautschy can

be contacted at

EAA

Headquarters

at

920

/ 426-4825 or

[email protected].

I'd like

to

take a moment

and mention Anna

Osborne

(and her husband John, who also lends a helping hand).

She serves as

our

manpower chairman and

does

a

great

deal of work throughout the

year

recruiting VAA volun

teers. f

you

have

not had a chance to volunteer,

give

yourself a small gift while helping out. It's a great experi

ence and

a

good

way

to

get

to know some

terrific people.

Some of the most lasting friendships have come from indi

viduals working together

as

volunteers at Oshkosh.

We

understand

Oshkosh

has

been receiving plenty of

rain this year so everything should be very green. When

there's plenty of rain, that means one other thing grows

well in

Wisconsin,

so pack

your

"skeeter/l repellant

Hope

to

see many of

you

at

Oshkosh this

year.

Be

sure

and say "HL/I

I

am writing this Straight

Level while on our

only

non-aviation related vacation of the year. Norma

and

I are

staying on

St.

George

Island,

off

of the

Gulf

coast

of

Florida . If you love beaches, you should spend some time

on this island. The seafood

is

very good as well and there's

good fishing. We did go out on a charter boat, but it was

so

choppy almost everyone got

sick, including me.

That

trip was

not too

fun Everything else has been great.

I have started punching out the instrument holes in the

new instrument panel I received from Univair for the

Lus-

combe. I have all of the instruments on

hand

as well as

the

avionics

so we are slowly

moving along.

My

plan

is

now

to

have the panel done

and

wired outside of the

Lus-

combe by winter,

then

the work

on the

actual aircraft can

begin. We'll see how it all works out.

f

have not

gotten

your one

new

member for

the

Vin

tage

Association this

year

as

of

yet

you

need to

get

cracking. Lets all pull in the same direction for the good of

aviation

. Remember we are

better together. Join

us and

have it all

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1
http:///reader/full/mail.commailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:///reader/full/mail.commailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


4/40

VAANEWS

compiled y H G Frautschy

ELECTION

REMINDER

Don't forget to mail in your ballot

for the

election

of Officers and Di

rectors of the EAA

Vintage Aircraft

Association. Included in your June

issue, just tear the ballot out, fill in

the appropriate blanks and send it

on its way with a stamp on it. To be

counted, it must be received no later

than

July 25, 2000.

WINDOW

CARDS

Over 1,000 showplanes will head

to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture. f

you re flying one of them and you

plan on bringing your favorite An

tique, Classic or Contemporary

airplane into Wittman Field, make it

a little easier on

the

volunteer park

ing

crewmen

by using the window

cards included in this

month s

issue

of Vintage

Airp

lane

THE

COVERS

FRONT COVER . .Dr. Robert Jaeger

and

his

daughters,

Nancy

and Susan have

a

family

affair going with

their

1935 Waco YOC pow

ered by a

Jacobs

L4

engine.

Recently

restored

by Dr. Jaeger

and

Bill

Smela

of

Allentown

,

Pennsylvania , it was picked as the Antique

Contemporary Age trophy

winner

at this

past

spring s Sun n Fun

EM

fly-in. See

the story

starting

on page

11

for more on the Jaeger

Waco YOC.

B CK COVER

. .

This serene photograph

by

Jim Oltersdorf of Alaska shows

one

of

the

old

est active aircraft in Alaska . Bill and Barbara

DeCreeft

of Kachemak Bay Flying Service,

Inc. P.O .

Box

1769, Homer

AK

99603 phone

907/235-8924 have owned and flown this

1929

Travel Air

6000

since 1969. Restored

in

1987-1990, it still

flies

backpackers

and oth

ers into

the

Alaskan bush . Mounted on apair

of

Edo 4650 floats the Travel

Air is powered

by aWright R-975. For more information, see

the article starting on page

16

.

There s a card for each judging

category,

plus one

for Showplane

Camping, i f you re going

to

enjoy

the sights, sounds

and

smells

of the

Vintage parking area on a 24 hour a

day basis.

The grass is full and lush, and the

grounds look great. So

do the

Red

Barn

and

other

buildings used by

VAA volunteers to keep AirVenture

running

smoothly, thanks to

the

ef

forts of early volunteers

who

have

been

alr

eady hard at work

getting

the VAA area in shape.

We'll see you in a

few

weeks

NEED EAA

AIRVENTURE

INFO?

f

you re

planning to

attend

EAA

AirVenture

by

flying in, you'll

need

to

obtain a copy of

the

NOT

AM

is

sued by the FAA. The easiest way is to

simply download it from the web-it's

at

http://www

.faa

.gov/

oshkosh/

notam.html You can also find a link

to it from

EAA's

Convention-related

website, www.airventure.org

A

condensed

version

of the VFR

arrival

procedure

was published in

last

month s

Sport Aviation

pages

120a and 120b . Please note that

has been a major change regarding

the NORDO procedure, requiring a

phone call

to

the Oshkosh tower

approximately 30 minutes prior to

your

arrival

at

KOSH. See the NO

TAM

for th

e full

details of the

change.

f

accessing

the

NOTAM via

the

web is not an

option

for

you,

you

can obtain a printed copy by visiting

the Flight Service stations in Cleve

land and Dayton, Ohio

;

Grand

Forks,

North

Dakota; Green Bay,

Wisconsin; Huron, South Dakota;

Princeton, Minnesota;

Kankakee,

Illinois; LanSing, Michigan; Terra

Haute, Indiana;

and London, On

tario, Canada.

You

can call 800/564-6322 to

have a copy

sent

to you, or you

can

call EAA's

Membership

Services

at

800/843-3612 to

have one sent

to

you

as

well.

We strongly

recommend

you ob

tain your copy of

the NOT

AM

as

early

as you

can

and familiarize

yourself with the instructions. There

are changes, so don t become com

placient and figur

e,

"lts just like last

year "

It 's

not

hard to fly in,

and many

pilots

consider

it a lot of

fun,

but

there are a lot of aircraft inbound to

Oshkosh,

and

it

helps

knowing

what

you re

supposed to be doing

without having to rustle through

the

papers in the cockpit trying to

find the

NOTAM. Keep

your

eyes

outside

and follow the

controller s

directions,

and

we'll see you

at EAA

AirVenture Oshkosh

FLIGHT

PLANNING

TO

AIRVENTURE

After reviewing your AirVenture

NOT

AM, planning

your flight

is

of

ten

next

on

your agenda. As an EAA

and V

AA

member, you've got access

to

the

powerful tools of Flightbrief.

com, which

you

can

access via the

Member s Only section of EAA

' s

website, www.eaa.org.

Enroute

weather,

satiIlite

photographs and

composite radar depictions are just a

few

of the many options available to

you as you prepare for your flight to

Oshkosh.

AIRPORT

DIAGRAMS

ONLINE

Editso Software has notified us of

a site they maintain at www.airport

diagrams.com.

f you re flight

planning

your trip to Oshkosh, you

may wish to check

this

site for dia

grams of your planned fuel stops.

AIRVENTURE 2

After you arrive, there's plenty to

do, and plenty to

see

The 2000 edi

tion of EAA

AirVenture promises to

be a

humdinger, with this

year s

theme

"Speed" headlining

the

daily

airshow

and presentations

at

the

Theater in the Woods. Not only that,

but the new Eclipse Aviation Forums

plaza is

shaping

up

to

be

the best

place

imaginable

to

learn

about

all

sorts of sport aviation information.

Be sure and pick up your program

when

you

get

to the

Convention

2

JULY

2000
http://www.faa/http://www.faa/http://www.faa/http:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp://www.airport/http:///reader/full/diagrams.comhttp://www.faa/http:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.eaa.orghttp://www.airport/http:///reader/full/diagrams.com


5/40

and take a few moment to read

-

then you won t

have to smack

head with your palm at

the

end

the

week

and

say "Nuts, I missed

"

Vintage

Airplane Association

include:

The V

AA

Picnic: Check

in at the

booth in the

V

AA

Head

building

for tickets. This is

be sure and get

tickets early. The picnic starts at

on

Sunda

y,

July 30 at

the EAA

scrumptious buffet

and beef

dinner

will be

.

VAA

Workshops

and Forums: In

to the

regular forums held

the

Forums Plaza, special

events

also take

place near

the

VAA

building, located just

the

Theater in

the

Woods.

Be

and visit the Type Club tent,

can

learn

about your fa-

Right next

is

the VAA

Workshop

tent,

will

be

bustin ' at

the

seams

hands-in metal shap

Also,

be sure to take you children

to EAA KidVenture, located

the

EAA

Leadership Center at

EAA

AirVenture Museum. Model

airplane models and all

of

other

activities

will take

Get

in

on the fun

f you

have

a

question about the

The

VAA information booth crew

VAA area,

stop

at

the

information

booth in

the Red

Barn.

Jeannnie

Hill,

Sandy Perlman

and

their fellow vol

unteers can gUide you to the right

spot

on the

grounds. Press people are

also encouraged to check

in

with

Jeannie, since she also wears

the hat

of

Press Relations Chairman for the

V

AA

She can point you towards

the

interesting stories on the field.

For

more

information

on

VAA

happenings, be sure and stop by the

VAA

Headquarters building,

and

pick up a

copy

of

the

VAA's own

daily newsletter, Aerograms.

ORUMS

Visitors to EAA

AirV e

nture

Oshkosh are

now

able to create their

own personal schedule from

the

more than S aviation forums,

workshops and seminars available,

thanks

to

new technology

at

www.airventure.org ,

the

official web

site

of the

event.

All of

the educational sessions at

EAA

AirVenture, are be listed on

the

web site's "Forums" area. Web site

users will be able

to

sort

the

sessions

by date, time, aviation interest or

presenter. In addition,

more infor

mation on individual sessions will be

available,

including

the

presenter s

biography,

photo and

other forums

and

workshops

they are presenting

during

EAA

AirVenture.

When

a visitor to web site con

nects

with

the Eclipse Aviation

Forums Plaza page, that person can

choose to

view

the

forums sched

ule

in

one several options : By

date/time,

presenter

, interest group

or

keyword search. For each forum

listed,

there

is a link to the forum's

location, presenter information

and related

topiCS.

Expanded

forum

listings will also

be published in

the

Info

Guide,

which is distributed with the official

EAA AirVenture program

book on

the

grounds.

The on-line

forums

database

is

a

joint project of

EAA and RR

Group of

Brookfield, Wis., a

leading national

software solutions provider. ......

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3
http:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.org


6/40

FORD

THOUGHTS

Hello

Folks:

I was greatly taken by the beauti

fu l

photo

of

the

Ford Tri-Motor on

the cover

of

the

April Vintage Air

plane . My wife was especially

impressed by the nonchalant elbow

sticking

out

the window as if he was

driving

down

to McDonalds

for a

coke

And-like any long-time airplane

nut I have a small story to tell about

my one and only confrontation with

one

of

the

birds

I

have a lot of sto

ries but the photo

awakened this

one.

I was an airport-boy at the Jeffer

son

City, Missouri airport

in

1938

and '39. The airport wasn't much-40

acres, two sod runways, the rest al

falfa, a

hangar and

three

buildings

left over from the pre '29 boom days.

But, things were perking up.

Robertson Aircraft

Corporation

(of

Robin fame) had taken over the op

eration and the

lonely

Challenger

Commandaire was replaced by a 40

hp T-craft and a Lincoln

PTK

(Later

upgraded to a Curtis Fledgling with a

Challenger engine ).

My job was cleaning, fueling

and

greasing

the

assortment. And I mean

greasing. Both the Kinner and

the

Fledgling

had

to

have

the

rocker

arms individually greased by a hand

gun

every hour or two. Those who

flew them really looked glamorous

like the "Hell's Angels" pilots

with

grease spattered around

the

goggles

Anyway, one day a barnstorming

Trimotor came to town. I believe it

had J-5s on it. After two days of rea

sonably profitable passenger

hopping they

were

to

leave.

Then

their luck ran out. The center engine

starter had burned out

and they

had

4 ULY 2000

no spare, as usual in barnstorming

circles.

The other two started OK

A

couple of

solutions

were

dis

cussed ...one

being

to take

off

with

two engines and get

the

other wind

milling

Having

gotten

friendly

with

the

crew

I

put

in my two-cents

worth,

which we adopted.

I

found two substantial wooden

crates that I could stand on to reach

the

prop. After priming a coupl e of

turns

I asked for contact

and,

grab

bing

the

left-hand prop blade I

jumped

off the

crates The engine

spit fire and ran like a Bulova

And I didn t even get a ride in it.

But, I still remember the engine in

struments on

the nacelle struts and

the

piece

of wood

between

the

con

trol pedestal and the brake lever that

looked like a stick shift so prevalent

in the day.

James H Schnell

EAA

2999

Sacramento,

CA

P.S. To this day I don ' t know if

the piece of wood was a

makeshift

parking brake or was a legitimate

part of the airplane kit. I know

the

lever

braked

left

when moved

left

and

right

for

right

brake .

Pulling

straight back applied

both

brakes.

Dear

lam

es,

EAA's

Ford

Trimotor continues

to

give unique flight experienc

es to

old

time

rs

and

yo

ung p

eo

ple alike.

My very

first ride

in

any airplane

was in

Chu ck

L

eMas

ter's 5-A T Ford Trimotor N414H

as

he was hopping

rides

at

th

e

Dupage

County Airport airshow

in

luly of1974.

A

hard-earned

twenty dollar bill bought

me

th

e right

sea

t of

The

Kansas C

lip

per,

where sat and watched

as

the

gauges jumped

up

and down

in

their

rubber

mounts

as

LeMaster push

ed the

throttl

es

forward and the

Ford

roll

ed

down runway

15,

lifting into a bumpy

summer sky

fi

lled with sof t cumulus

clouds. Years later, I've

been

privileged

to fl

y

as

co-pilot

EAA 's Ford

a numb

er

of

tim

es,

and the thrill

is

n

eve

r go n

e.

That first flight was like

one

shared by

countless fo lks

over the

past

7

years,

as

Fords have been flying passengers

con

tinuously

eve

r

since th ey first rolled

out

of

the

Ford

plant

in

1928.

Thanks

for

sharing

your ex

perie

nce -HGF


7/40

e rs

tt

Outer Marker

i

t

the Airline

Pan Am who had done much

in

providing technical assis

to

budding, as well as

airlines

of

foreign

coun

es had more

than

a casual interest

Aeronaves

de

Mexico a Mexican

In 1958 this

carrier

was

in the

of

establishing a route be

New York and Mexico City

z ing newl y-obtained British

airliners equipped with

turbo-prop engines.

with instructors from Pan

Miami

base Jack Ryan

and I were sent to Mexico to assist in

the crew

training

and

implementa

tion

of this new airplane. At the

same time it was intended

that we

gain

familiarity

with the new tur

bine

engines and their operation,

inasmuch

as Pan American

had

very

recently placed an order for the first

707s in the airline industry and

there were only a few on the airline

and

no

one

in

pilot training, with

any turbine engine experience. I am

sure

you remember Jack from my

early Syracuse days. e

had

joined

Pan

American

as

an instructor

dur

ing the Africa-Orient DC-3 program

at Miami.

Prior to

the

beginning

of

our

flight training Jack and I were given

in ten days, the same preparatory

ground schooling

on

this new air

plane,

its

systems and

its

engines,

that others previously sent to Eng

land had been scheduled for

a

programmed

30

days

to

complete.

Our subsequent flight training re

quired many weeks

before

completion, with many interrup

tions

because

the

airplane

simply

could

not

survive

much

more

than

y

Holland Dutch Redfield

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5


8/40

an hour's flying,

nor

f

we

were fortunate enough to

reversed

and the

air

more than three or

four

plane backed up,

often

landings

in

a row with

leave

exico City with

all

cutting the other

way

out having

to

be

before making another

returned to the hangar

try.

components operating

we would

for

another

week

or ten

To

compound the

air

days

of

repair,

or

design

plane's taxiing problems,

modification.

seldom

arrive

in

ew

York

with

with the

propellers

in

Our flight instruction

their normal

low

(fine)

was hit-and-miss and

pitch settings, at taxiing

half of them

remaining because

could occur on a mo

low thrust settings the

ment's notice anytime

engine and generator

one by one

they

fizzled out

in

puffs

the

airplane was de

rpms

would be

too

low

clared

ready

to fly. The

to

keep

the

engine-dri

flight

instruction

itself

of smoke

in

the

radio

rack.

ven generators operating

was conducted

by

one

of the manufacturer's

engineering

test pilots, who inci

dentally

was

not

an

instructor,

nor

was he even remotely familiar with

airline

methods

of aircraft

opera

tion.

After

many

delays from

an

origi

nally

scheduled

departure time, we

finally got

airborne

one day.

Jack

and

I had previously asked

if on one

of our

flights we might see the air

plane's

characteristics in a stall,

an

F required pilot training and pi

lot

checking maneuver

for

airline

pilots. "Certainly," our test pilot in

structor

had

replied, and when

the

time came he proceeded from the

right copilot's seat to extend

the

landing

gear, the wing flaps, re

duced

the power, stalled the

airplane,

dropped

the

nose, applied

thrust

for

recovery,

retracted his

own

flap

and

gear,

and

said,

what

else would you like to see? "

With a few

interruptions

from

Montezuma's Revenge and

the

Mexican "touristas,"

our

haphazard

qualification was finally judged

complete

and

we

then began

a pe

riod

of

qualifying Aeronaves

pilots

on the airplane

while en

route on

the

Mexico City, New York run.

This airplane was eqUipped with

probably

the

world's worst instru

mentation, radio and navigation

equipment. f

we

were fortunate

enough to

leave Mexico

City

with

all

components

operating, we would

seldom arrive

in

New York with half

6 ULY 2

of

them

remaining,

because one by

one they

fizzled

out

in

puffs

of

smoke in

the

radio rack. To inter

pret,

then

fly,

the instruments

of

flight

and navigation on

the

air

plane's

panels

was an exercise

similar to

patting

your head and

rubbing your

stomach as you stood

on

your head. In

addition to

all this,

it just was

not

a good-flying air

plane,

having

little dihedral in

the

wings and

therefore

devoid of lat

eral stability.

t

was, by

any

standard, a big air

plane and one

of

the first

of its

generation with a double-bogied

landing gear, necessary to

support

its heavier weight

without

damaging

the

paved

surfaces

of airports.

s a

result,

moving the

airp lane around

on the

ground preCipitated some

very interesting taxiing problems,

because, by

design, to avoid tire

scrunching and high

twist-loads on

the landing gear, the amount

of

de

flection

of

the steerable nosewheel

was greatly limited. Thus, short ra

dius turns onto

narrow

taxi strips,

and onto

ramp

areas, were impossi

ble. t

was

often

necessary when

clearing a runway

to

position a

man

with his head and

sho

ulders out

of

the

opened navigator's astrodome

in

the ceiling at

the

rear of the

flight

deck. From this position, by

tapping

the

pilot's

left

and

right shoulders

with his feet,

the

observer would sig

nal

as

the

pitch of

the

propellers was

at speeds sufficient to

power

the

airplane's elec

trical buses.

f

rpms were increased

in

compensation, you taxied like a mad

man and in turn badly overheated

the brakes

in order

to keep the air

plane slowed down. To alleviate this

unworkable situation, the propellers

were

ingeniously equipped with an

additional

"superfine" pitch

setting

for ground operation,

which pro

duced

the desirable

high

rpms but

with very little forward thrust.

An often encountered problem

would

occur when attempting to

cancel

superfine prior to takeoff.

This

cancellation

process required

about 20 seconds

on

the runway it

self due

to the very high thrust

settings

and engine

rpms

involved.

The cancellation was

done

two props

at

a

time,

first,

the outboards, then

the

inboards with

very high thrust

settings required

to

supply electrical

needs as the propellers resumed

their more

coarsely-pitched takeoff

settings.

The

airplane shook and

shimmed and roared

as the

proce

dure was performed. Often,

the

cancellation process was unsuccess

ful because

one

or more props would

fail to change from superfine to fine

pitch. This necessitated taxiing

down

the active

runway

to a clear

ing taxi

strip,

and return to the

ramp, with much gnashing of teeth

by the

control

tower and pilots of

other

aircraft

that

had

been

in

line

waiting for takeoff.

Regarding the airplane's flight


9/40

in flight, the

lateral control, elevators

longitudinal control, and rudder

control, were all caused to

flown to the desired deflected

by small "flying tabs

on

trailing edge of each of the sur

The

cockpit

controls

were

to these flying tabs

n

ly

and

at

no

time

on

the

ground

in the air could movement of the

controls directly cause posi

the controls themselves.

This brought up operational diffi

when

preparing for takeoff.

the flight control

gust

lock

as part of

the

pre-take

procedure, th e ailerons on each

wing

fell

down,

both

elevators

each aileron, two lights,

one

for

each elevator, and one additional

light for the

lonesome

trailing rud

der. In cruiSing flight, it was

not

at

all unusual for one or more of these

lights to occasionally come on, per

haps signaling

"left aileron

LOCKED, II

or "right elevator

LOCKED II A frantic grab for re-actu

ation of the gust lock release would

be made by

interested

crew mem

bers in order to extinguish the lights.

The foregoing

certainly

should

have foretold the kind of problems

that

were certain to be encountered

as this mixed-up airplane entered

the

rigors of everyday airline service.

The first really serious problem

occurred

on

a New York area

train-

It was early evening and dark and

raining as we readied for departure,

checked weight and balance figures,

fuel loads,

weather, etc. in the

bustling Pan American flight dis

patch office, while

outside

in the

driving rain two fuel trucks under

each wing pumped hundreds of gal

lons of

aviation

kerosene

into the

huge tanks.

With

a flashlight, a su

pervisor of the ground service people

handing the

airplane

at

New York,

walked

around our

airplane

ac

quainting a new

employee with

some of its turn-around service prob

lems. In the

process

h e opened a

large access plate

in the

belly while

showing

where next summer th ey

would

hook up the

big pipes of

the

we

climbed into the

stronger

upper air

winds,

while out the

side windows

a red

and

green

bottle-like glow was cast against

the heavy storm

clouds

from

our running

lights . . .

down,

and the

rudder flopped

if any crosswind existed, re

less of cockpit control

which only moved the

flying tabs.

Until enough

could be attained on takeoff

the

controls to

be lifted to

a

position, in

addition

to the

the wing flaps extended for

the pilot was also dragging

the runway two drooping

two drooping

elevators,

the

rudder laid full over in

whether he wished it

The control surface

gust locks

applied when ground borne by

pedestal actuated gust lock

con

which

caused h ydra ulically

jackscrews on the

control

itself to center and lock each

In

the cockpit there were

red

warning lights on the

over

the

instrument

in

front

of

the pilots.

confirmed

that

the surfaces

locked.

Two

lights,

one for

ing flight

when

a very

bad

in-flight

electrical

fire erupted in

number

three

engine

nacelle, necessitating

an immediate

landing

at then oper

ating Mitchell Field

on

Long Island.

The airplane was laid up for many

weeks.

My friend Jack Ryan was the pilot

trainee

and Lew

Oates from

the

Mi

ami training base, the

instructor.

I

had been scheduled

to

receive train

ing

on

th

e next

flight

and was on

standby

at

the airport when I

learned of the emergency landing.

We usually traded legs during a

round trip between Mexico City and

New York. My Mexican captain

trainee, a darn good pilot,

had

flown

the flight to New York while en

route I had performed

his

copilot

duties. On the

way

north we had

flown

high

above a

fast-moving

storm

over the Virginias

that

was

working

its way

up

the

coast.

For

the return flight

it

was

to

be

my

turn to fly and we prepared to trade

seats after a quick turn-around.

ground air-conditioning

units,

as

well as the big lever-opera ted valve

inside the access plate that had to be

positioned to "open"

in order to

then

supply the

plane's

cabin

with

conditioned

air. Following the ex

planation the access plate was closed

and the two

moved

on

to discuss

the under-wing fueling system

and

the fueling that was still in progress.

t

was a blustery, wet

night

as we

later

took

off and

quickly entered

the

low han

ging

clouds, their

bulging

underbelly glowing

in

the

reflected brightness of the streets be

low. Radios

were switched

to

departure control frequency to re

ceive

the

first

vector

onto our

assigned southbound airway

and

I

lowered my seat a couple of

notches

while

concentrating on

controlling

the waving, swaying instruments of

flight . The entire instrument panel

bounc

ed as we climbed

through the

now-approaching

and intensifying

storm that we had flown far above

only

a few hours previously

on

our

VINTAGE AIRPLANE


10/40

way

north.

It

had been

a

long day

for us

and

we were all tired, but 1

savored

the

very rapid rate at which the

air

plane climbed with

its

very

powerful and

smooth

turbine

en

gines.

Our flight

was

instructed

,

Turn right,

intercept

the 042

de

gree radial

of

Coyle VOR.

Climb to

flight level

280,

resume cockpit

navigation.

My

copilot

was

very

busy

copying

and reading back

the

many

clearances,

arranging his

air

ways

navigation

charts

and reading

his after-takeoff check

lists,

while

in

the meantime also setting

up

the

fuel, cabin

pressurization, and

cabin

air-conditioning systems

for

climb. He was a busy

man.

I

concentrated

on aircraft control

and airways

navigation

as

we

climbed into the stronger

upper air

winds, while

out the

side windows a

red

and green bottle-like glow

was

cast

against

the

heavy

storm

clouds

from our

running

lights and

th

e ro

tating

beacons flashing rhythmically

from

their positions

on

the top and

bottom of the fuselage.

As

we climbed I began

to

feel a bit

light-headed,

and

was puzzled.

Yes

I

was tired,

but

I

shook my head and

felt

better. The

airplane was

climb

ing

fast

and

passing

through

24,000

feet at the time when I began seeing

double.

A

glance at the cabin

pres

surization

control

panel to the right

of the copilot verified that the

con

trols were properly set and

that

cold

night air was

being

warmed

and

pumped

into the

cabin properly

.

But ,

an adjacent

gauge,

however

,

showed that there was but little

cabin pressure

with a nearby

warn

ing light

confirming thi

s. There was

no

cabin

pressure warning horn

to

alert the crew as on other pressur

ize d

aircraft

I

had

flown, just

the

light

stuck

in

a far

corner

of the

cockpit.

Quickly, I donned my

oxygen

mask, closed

the

four

throttles, and

extended

the landing

gear,

while

nosing over

into

a very steep descent

toward breathable altitudes that

meant our survival. New York Cen

8 ULY 2

Through the

open

valve we had been

attempting

to

pressurize the

state of

New

Jersey.

ter was called

and

advised of our

emergency descent, and

why,

and

we were

quickly cleared

to

8,000

feet .

As

we

descended

a

dark-haired

diminutive

stewardess

opened

the

cockpit

door

and

inched

and slid her

way along

the

steeply inclined flight

deck

floor

to my side, where she

yelled in my ear that she

had dis

abled passengers back in

the

cabin.

As we leveled off we were back in

the clouds and being badly buffeted.

We could

fly at this

lower

altitude

with

no

further breathing problems

but the airplane's

fuel

consumption

down

low was

far

too high for

us

ever to reach Mexico Ci

ty. We

re

quested

clearance back

to

New York

and

removed

our

oxygen masks.

New York Ce

nter

read us

our

new

clearance

routing

and altitudes while

from my manuals I withdrew

charts

and adjusted

to our

new navigation

situation. Many thoughts

whirled

through my head

. We switched

on

a

landing

light to check

for preCipita

tion and

cloud

and

saw

that

we were

now

flying in heavy,

wet snow.

En

gine cowl

and

guide

vane

heat, wing

heat and th

e electric

propeller de

icers were hastily turned on.

In

the airplane's short

history it

had

shown great susceptibility to en

gine icing

and as

we flew I felt in

the

rudders,

and the

instruments

also

showed,

the airplane suddenly

pulling hard

to

the

left.

A

quick

check of the

engine

instruments

showed No.2 engine

tailpipe tem

perature lower

than

the

others

and

dropping fast,

with

the

engine's

compressor rpm

also

dropping.

No.

2

engine had flamed

out

and we

quickly prepared to do

an

in-flight

engine

relight procedure.

For

each engine,

on

the cockpit

overhead

panel

between the

pilots

were rows

of many toggle switches

that were normally utilized

for

ground

engine

starts. Using these

same switches, we

began

the

in

flight

engine

relight countdown.

One, two, actuate a switch, three,

fou r

actua te another,

five, six,

seven,

actuate another, eight,

nine, another,

and

at

the count

of

ten, the

last switch,

the engine

ig

niter

was actuated, which

was

supposed to light off

the

fuel flow

ing to the

engine.

Halfway

through

our countdown the airplane pulled

in the opposite direction

and to my

dismay I saw

that

No.4 engine had

also flamed

out,

but No.2 engine

was

spinning

up and running again

as we

began

a new

countdown

for

NO.4 engine.

My

cockpit companion,

with his

strong

Spanish accent, tried

with

lit

tle success

to explain

to traffic

control what

our

problem was, so I

picked

up my

mike

and

requested

a

no-delay

approach,

which explain

ing our engine

flame-out problems.

We were immediately

cleared

to

a

lower

altitude and

in

the process

had to

relight No.2

engine again. I

was very concerned

that

we might

end

up

gliding

with no

engines

into

the

Atlantic

ocean

below us because

the

airplane's scanty operating

man

ual

cautioned,

I f a

flamed

out

engine cannot

be relit

in 15

seconds

it is

to

be

drained

of fuel

for

five

minutes. f this

is

not done, high

temperatures in the tailpipe can

cause severe

structural

damage to

the airplane's wing spars. Those

writing the manual knew what they

were talking

about because during

an

engine

relight

over England

as

part of the airplane's

certification, a

wing

had

been badly damaged.

Be-

tween

the

req

uired ten-second

- continued on page

6


11/40

by H.G. Frautschy

Obscure aircraft are one of our

fa

vori

t e subjects here at

EAA

Headquarters,

so

when Ralph Nortell

sent us this note related to our April

Mystery Plane, we

we

re intrigued:

Gentlemen,

After 62

years perhaps

I ll l

earn

the

identity

of

parasol monoplane 816N.

My photo was snapped in 1938 t

Bernard Airport, Beaverton,

Or

egon,

with a Kodak 620 Brownie box camera.

At

the

age of 14, i

was probabl

y

too

shy

to ask around

abou

t

the

airplane.

The

major

ob

jective was ge tting th e sna

p

shot

for

my

aircraft photo collect

i

on.

in

view

offuse

la

ge similarities it has

been my contenti

on th t 816

was a

modified

Pi

etenpo

l A

ir

C

amp

er.

The

e

n

ine appears to

be a Lambert Velie

M-5

which had stated ratings

of

55 to 70

hp

.

Individual short

exhaust

stac

ks were

emp lo yed instead of the usual r

ea

r

mounted

collector

ring.

In

1926,

th

e state

of

Oregon

pa

ssed

a

law r

eq

uiring reasonable inspection

of

all aircraft.

How eve

r, the amateur

de

sign and building of aircraft was

s

tr

ongly e

ncouraged

. The strictly non-

commercial Bernard Airport soon

became

a h

ea

dquart

ers for this

activity,

and perhaps

50 proj

ects

were

completed

and

flown th

ere until

th

e

CAA was

es-

tablished

in 1938.

The Oregon aircraft

licen

se

plate

can

be

see

n just

below the

front coc

kpit

on

816N.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nortell

Spokane, Washington

Two of

our

members knew

what

Ralph had shot on

that old

black

and white

film at Bernard Airport.

Marty

Eisenmann,

Alta Lorna, Ca l-

This modem picture

of

one

of

avia

tion s rare

ones was sent

in by

member

David

Carlson, Hay Springs,

Nebraska. Send

your

answers to: EAA ,

Vintage Airplane,

P.O

. Box 3086 ,

Oshkosh, WI

54903-3086. Your

an

swers need to be

in

no

later

than July

25, 2000, for

inclusion in

the Septem

ber

issue of Vintage Airplane.

You

can also send your

response

via

e-mail.

Send your

answer to

[email protected]

Be sure

to include both

your

name

and address in

the

body of your note,

and put (Month)

Mystery

Plane

in

the

subject line.

ifornia,

and

Frank Abar, Livonia,

Michigan,

both

sent in

correct

answers.

While t

wasn t a Pietenpol, we

do know exactly what it

was

thanks

to a coup le of

clues

included

in

Ralph's letter. First, he told

us

where

he had shot it, and

in

what year.

Since we have a couple of CAA air

craft registry documents here at the

EAA Foundation s

library we were

able to quickly look up the registra

tion for

the

airplane and determine

its

designation

and

owner

at that

time.

The

airplane was reg

istered in

Oregon to Harold Langdon of

Au

rora. It's a Bone Golden

Eag

le serial

number 703, and

it s

powered by a

6S -hp Velie M-S engine.

The

R.O.

Bone

&

Associa tes company of Ingle

wood, California, built it in 1929.

Designed by Mark

Ca

mpbell,

th e

type was used by a

yo

ung Bobbie

Trout

to

set a non-refue l

ed en

durance rec

ord

for

wom

en of over

17

hour

s of

continuous

flight. After

Campbell's departure from the com

pany shortly ther eafte r the

manufacturing concern was reorga

nized as

the Golden

Eagle Aircraft

Corporation.

Ten exa mples of th e airplane

in

its various configurations were made

in Inglewo

od

before the company

was moved to Port Columbus, Ohio,

but the expected

production

plans

never

ca

me to fruition. In 1931 Co

l.

Joe Mackey

bought

up

the

assets of

VINTAGE IRPL NE
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


12/40

From the collection

of

Charles Trask, we

have April's Mystery Plane (bottom right),

which was also shot by a young Ralph

Nortell in 1938 at the Bernard Airport in

Beaverton, Oregon. Ralph also included a

newspaper clipping (above) that shows the

aircraft license plate issued by the state of

Oregon in 1938 Ralph

didn t

mention

who

the young lady

with

the crossed fingers was

the company

and

moved it to Lan

caster, Ohio, hoping to put the

Golden Eagle into limited produc-

tion. But again, few were built.

The airplane was advertised with

an initial sale price of 3,950,

which

was later as low as

2,990.

Like so

many

of

the

airplanes of that era, the

Golden

Eagle was

available with

a

number

of different engines, includ

ing

the LeBlond

7-D of

90 hp,

the

Velie M-5 of 65 hp,

and

a

Wright-

Gipsy. There was even one built with

a Kinner

K5

engine

installed.

For

more on the Golden Eagle Chief, see

U S

. Civil Aircraft,

Volume

3, A.T.e.

202, dated 8-16-29.

We didn' t

have the space we

needed in last

month's column

to

include everything I

wanted

to

share

concerning

the

February Mystery

Plane. Here are

the thoughts

of Peter

Bowers concerning the one and only

10

JULY

2000

R O Bone & Associates (later the Golden Eagle Aircraft Corporation) Golden Eagle.

Laird Sesquiwing:

The

February

Mystery Plane is the

single Laird LC-EW-450 Sesquiwing*,

built by the E.M. Laird Airplane Com

pany of Chicago, Illinois. t was all

metal, except

for

the wood-frame, fab

ric-covered upper wing, and it was

powered by a 450 hp Pratt

&

Whitney

R-985 Wasp fl .

engine.

Full details, but

no photos, are

in

fane's All The

World's

Aircraft

for

1935, 1936 and 1937.

The accompanying photos show

some

detail

differences from

the view in

the February issue. There's a different

arrangement

of

center section smits and

wheels much farther back than

in

the

mystery photo. Later views show a no

tably different

vertical tail.

t

is

interesting to note in the side-view

photo that the

N

of

the registration

NC13684 has been painted out, mean

ing that the airplane could not be

flown

out of

the country.

Judging by

the

side-view photo, tak

ing

off

in the Sesquiwing must have

been

a real pilot'S nightmare.

Look

at

how

far behind and below

the engine

he

sits. He'd have to get the tail up pretty

high in order to see

over

the

nose. Also,

in

the

process of

raising the tail,

that

ex

tra-long nose and the short tail aim

would

mean that

the nose would have

a

strong tendency to swing. Such charac

teristics might explain why there was

only one Laird Sesquiwing.

A final guess-since these

old

photos

were

taken on orthochromatic film, I

presume that

the

color

scheme was light

blue (uselage

with

yellow wings

and

tail

with blue trim lines.

Peter Bowers

Seattle, Washington

*The

term

sesquiwing

was also

used

on the Pitcairn PA-5 of 1926, but that

at least had

an

aerodynamically signifi

cant

lower wing. . . . . .


13/40

on the cover

a b e r l ~

~ f u : J ~ - i f n F I . I I .

VI

fl/fl ; J

e

/ J

r

f o ~ r y

y

udd

Davisson

aerial photography by Mark Schaible

ground photography by LeeAnn Abrams
http:///reader/full/ifn#FI.IIhttp:///reader/full/ifn#FI.II


14/40

Iguess my

own

enthusiasm for

airplanes just

rubbed

off

on

my

daughters

and they wanted

in on

this

pro-

ject, says Robert

Jaeger.

What he's referring to

is

NC15244,

which, being a Waco YOC , is

one

of

your more unusual father/daughter

projects. But then, as

fathers and

daughters go, the Jaegers are a little

unusual anyway. Robert is a neuro-

surgeon.

Daughter Nancy

is a pilot

for a major airline. Daughter Susan

is

an archeologist.

Not

a

lot

of under-

achievers in

the

Jaeger family,

t

appears. And

then

there

is the

Jaeger

YOC, which is also pretty unusual,

tep

right up

into

the lap

o

luxury 1935-style.

but at this point in time it's just the

most visible (not the latest) in a

long

line of Jaeger

airplanes. Truth be

known, the YOC actually belongs to

Nancy

and Susan,

and they

just let

their dad fly it. And work

on

it. And

keep it clean. And ...

I was

born

and raised in Buffalo,

New

York,

at

a time when

it

was

pretty hard

not

to get hooked

on

air

planes, Jaeger says.

Among other

things,

on

my paper route I delivered

papers

to

Larry Bell of Bell Aircraft

and

Don Berlin, who designed

the P-

40.

While only 17 years old, Robert

anted up $10 to buy

a

shar

e in

an

old Waco primary glider; Total group

investment was $100. The year was

1940. A year or so later, a group-buy

requiring much more investment

($1,000 between

the

10 members)

re-

sulted in

the ownership

of an

Aeronca tandem trainer, which was

the

airplane

Robert

soloed. He says, That

was in October of 1941,

about the

same

time

I

joined

the CAP and

we

were paying $2

a

month

dues and $2.25

per hour

to

fly.

During WW II Jaeger

was

in the

Navy's V

program,

under

which

he

attended the

Uni-

versity of

Buffalo

Medical Center and

graduated from the

University of Rochester

in 1945.

Then he went

on

to

intern as a sur-

geon.

By

1950,

he

was

again on

active duty

,

this time as a brain sur

geon on

board

the

hospital ship

USS

Haven,

where

he


15/40

Robert Jaeger left) and Bill Smela

treated wounded from Inchon and

Pusan.

When asked what attracted him

to brain surgery, he quickly answers,

"It's just plain fun . It was then , and

it

is

now, but it

is

all-consuming."

The YOC came into the Jaeger

fold in 1987 at the end of a long line

of airplanes beginning with an

$1,800 Seabee in 1952.

The

list in

cludes

a little of everything,

including a Cessna 140, several Co

manches, and

an

Aztec.

He

took his

first serious step into vintage air

planes in 1985 when he purchased a

Waco

YKS 6.

Several years later

he

purchased the YOC in Colorado be

cause he was getting ready to put the

YKS into the

shop

for a restoration.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, de

pending

on

your point

of

view, the

unintentional discovery of a

cement

block in

the

grass while landing the

YOC resulted in it being moved to

the top

of Jaeger's restoration list.

The

cement

block performed a

traumatic amputation of the left gear

leg, but the damage wasn't as bad as

it could have been. However, Robert

had

known, almost from the mo-

ment

he purchased

the

airplane, that

much of it needed

some TLC, in -

cluding the

bottom wings. The

accident damage in that

area

was

limited,

but upon

opening

the

cover

ing further

they

found

much

of the

wood needed replacing. He laughs

when he talks about what else they

The cockpit of the YOC

is

a mix of old and

new, with modern instruments fitted

neatly into the burled walnut wood

panel. The radios are arrayed along the

bottom of

th

panel,

with

their power

supplies mounted below the rear seat

found inside the wings. "The trailing

edges out towards the tips had been

repaired

with beer cans, and

some

still had the labels

on

them "

Further

investigation found po

tentially serious problems elsewhere

that had nothing to do with the ac

cident. liThe skylight was held in by

what

looked like Elmer's glue,

and

the rudder cables were

too

small for

the airplane. The fuselage tubing was

actually in excellent condition, very

little

rust at all, but the

tail

wires

were rusted nearly halfway

through

and part of the

tail

structure was

missing."

The decision to completely restore

the

airplane

turned out to be a no

brainer. The bad news of

the

accident

was tempered by the good news that

it

would

force them

to

take care of

problems

that

had probably existed

since

the airplane was last

rebuilt,

sometime in the 19605.

An airplane

as

big

as

a cabin Waco

is a huge project to

tackle

single-

handedly, so Jaeger

began

looking

around for someone to help him. He

didn t

have to search far because

Bill

Smela

was

just down the road. Smela

is well-known in the Middle Atlantic

States for his long experience in op-

VINTAGE

AIRPLANE 13


16/40

Bill

Smela

demonstrates th split flaps used

by

Waco on

th YOc

erating

and restoring antique air-

craft. He is

now located

right on

Queens City Airport in Allentown,

Pennsylvania, where Jaeger has been

based since 1961.

obert sent the questionable lower

wings down

to

John

Shue in

Imigsville, Pennsylvania.

John

took

one look

and

knew they d be build-

ing a completely new set using the

old fittings

and

the

wood

for

pat

14 ULY 2000

terns. Very little of

the

original wood was good

enough to reuse. The

top wing, however, was

actually

in

quite good

shape and required rel-

atively

minor

repair

and refinishing.

While Shue

was

working on the wings,

Jaeger

and

Smela

started on the fuselage.

Because it had

been

so

long

since any kind of

really

serious

restora

tion had been done,

and

some of that was of question

able quality, they found

that many

of

the

fuselage parts were

going

to

take

too much work

to save. The

cowling

had been

damaged

in

the

accident and

had

the usual collec-

tion of

dings and

patches a bump

cowl develops

during

a half

century

of

service.

Most

of

the

wood

and

other

parts had been damaged to

some degree by moisture. The sheet

metal

also

had the

marks

that

are

impossible to avoid during so many

years

in the

air.

The only solution

was to remove every bolt and screw

and bring the airplane back

up

from

nothing.

Starting

at the

front, they rebuilt

the engine and then

hung

a con

stant

speed Ham-Standard

on it.

Smela built a new cowling using pre-

pressed sections from Classic Waco.

They wouldn t sell a complete cowl-

ing.) Knowing that Jaeger had been

having cooling problems with

the

airplane, Smela carefully resized the

inlet and outlet openings to get max-

imum flow while reinforcing

i t

with

steel

tubing front and

rear. Robert

says i t does a wonderful job of keep-

ing

the

oil

and

cylinder head temps

in the green.

The

windshield was okay, but it

made no sense to go through such an

extensive

res

toration

and wind up

having to

look through scratched

and crazed glass. So, they located a

manufacturer just a few miles away


17/40

that produced special-use

safety plate glass for security

stations and armored

cars.

Jaeger

took

the original glass

down to

him

for patterns.

He

heated the

glass, bent

and laminated

it,

and then

trimmed

t

to exactly fit

the

framework. We had assumed

the right- and left-hand pieces

were the same,

but

he told us

later

that

there was a substan

tial difference between

the

two .

The instrument

panel

has

to

be

studied to appreciate

the

detail work involved. For

one thing, the modern radios

hav

e

been kept to

a

mini

mum,

partially for

appearances '

sake

and par

tially

because

the

room

behind the

panel is limited.

So,

the

nav/comms are 28

volt, short units with

the

power packs

mounted

in their

own little compartment

under the

back seat.

Jaeger says, The radios work re

ally well

because

right

after

they

were installed, we left for Oshkosh.

We took our

avionics guy with

us.

There's nothing like putting your ra

dio man in the cockpit to make him

anxious

to make sure everything

works right.

The wood on

th

e

panel

deserves

special

mention

for a number of rea

sons. First, it

is

genuine

Circassian

walnut, which Bill Smela bleached to

make

the

burl-like grain

mor

e obvi

ous.

What

is easy for folks

to

miss,

how

eve r

is that the wood is

book

mat ched two ways. It is match ed

horizontally across the vertical cen

ter

line

and

again vertically

across

the horizontal

bend

of the lower part

of the panel. Very, very nicely done

and super subtle.

The leather in terior

with

the mo

hair headliner was stitched together

by

Gary

Maucher of

Newton, Penn

sylvania. Eastern

Pennsylvania is

a

hotbed

of antique

and

classic car

restoration activities, and

Maucher

spends most of his time putting inte

riars

in cars.

However,

when he

turned his

talents to the

Waco,

he

really rose to

th

e challenge.

One

of

the modifications they

made

to

the

airplane

in the

name

of

convenience and

safety were large

inspection panels under

the

horizon

tal tail. Before we added the panels,

says Jaeger there was no way to in

spect

the

aft fuselage

or

work on the

tailwheel.

When

it came tim e

to

cover

and

finish the airplane, Jaeger decided on

Ceconite but stuck with dope (Ran

dolph's)

all

the

way

through.

It's

obvious

that

Smela worked

hard

at

color-matching the color of

th

e Sher

win-Williams urethane

on

the sheet

metal to the dope.

In

total

, it

took

Jaeger ,

Smela,

Shue,

and

some oth

e rs over

four

yea

rs to

finish the

airplane.

How

ever, the YO C, with

its

elegant

elliptical wings,

is

to

many

eyes one

of the most graceful

of

the breed, so

the final result was well worth the ef-

fort. This

is

especially true since only

a few of this type (and

most

of

th

e

others are CUCs) are still flying, with

.. .possiblya

small

handful still in

barns

and

hangars.

t

would

be

easy

to think

that

Jaeger and his guys are tired of work

ing

on

airplanes

at

this

pOint,

but

don ' t forget the

YKS.

Also,

we

haven'

t mentioned

the

two Taper

wings in Jaeger's shop, including

the

BSO that

once

belonged

to

WW I

ace, Elliot

White-Springs.

White

Springs

was a

celebrity

for most of

his life, penned the book Warbirds

(possible first use of

the

term),

and

,

when he

bought a Staggerwing, he

was

featured

in Beechcraft ads be

cause

he

operated

the

airplane out of

his SOO-foot strip. White

became

a

multimillionaire (Springmaid sheets)

and, when he bought a Jake-powered

Twin Beech,

he

had to give in and

extend hi s strip... to 7S0 feet. Jaeger

says the wings and tail of the BSO

are finished, and he

and

his crew are

putting upholstery in now.

So the question now

is

how do the

girls like their airplane? In all proba

bility they are

as proud of

it

as

their

fath er. Also, in all probability,

they

don

't

get to fly it very often because

dad

is

always off winning prizes in it.

Isn't

that

just like a father? . . . . .

VINT GE AIRPLANE 5


18/40

ot

all antiques

get

to

rest in

hangars with

polished floors.

Some

th m

still

have

to

work

fo

r a living

6

ULY

2

By ill and Barbara deCreeft

A

ong with the beauty

and

nostalgia of a

vintage

air-

craft, this 1929 Travel Air

6000B, NC9084, has its own

unique

history.

Phillips Petroleum of Bartlesville,

Oklahoma, originally

owned

NC9084

SIN

865). In August 1930,

this plane was known as the City of

Wichita and pi loted

by

Charles

Lander and Roger Rudd,

who

com-

pleted the first of three attempts

at

the refueled endurance record in this

Travel

Air

That flight lasted 11 hours

and 20 minutes, ending due to a fuel

leak. Several days later, the duo was

back in

the

air in NC9084, again try-

ing

for a successfu l flight to break

the existing refueled

endurance

record. But the plane

on

ly remained

Photography by im Oltersdorf

aloft for 13

hours

and 55 minutes.

Less than a month passed before

NC9084,

now

known

as the

Cen-

tury of Oklahoma, was prepared for

the third attempt

at

an endurance

flight record. Pilots Bennett Griffin

and Roy Hunt completed 13 days

aloft before being forced to land dur-

ing a dust storm.

Soon after, records place NC9084

in Pampa, Texas, belonging to

Keenan Brothers Flying Service, who

used t for barnstorming and charter

flights.

In

1936

Monte

Keenan flew

it to California for use in the Bakers-

field area. By 1938, this plane was in

Oakland,

California,

in service by

Duck Airlines for

charter

and

aerial

photography flights. Then it went to

A A Bennett in Salmon, Idaho, who


19/40

-

I


20/40

m


21/40

I


22/40


23/40

the

sandy

the Travel

Air 6

is still quite

of carrying a camping

or

hik-

party

into the

Alaskan bush.

it out

of

his Fly in g

BRanch.

Flying Service, Inc. of Mis-

ul a Montana, purchased the plane

1955

and put it into operation,

ice contracts

by

smoke jumpers to fight for-

and spray

trees. They also

it for passenger service to the

We have had NC9084 since 1969,

we

purchased it from

J

ohn-

lying Service. This aircraft has

worked for a living. We used

on

floats and wheels for passengers

Bill deCreeft refuels

the

1929 Travel

Air

6000

at

its home

base

in Homer,

Alaska. It s

not

possible

to see

into

the

tank

,

so

Bill watches

the

indicator in

the

sight

tube

fue l gauge mounted on

the

bottom of

the

tank

.

and

freight

in the Alaskan

bush.

NC9084 ha s always operated on an

air taxi certificate, and, in fact, it still

stays

bu

sy

carrying

passengers

over

the

gla

ciers

and backpackers

to

mountain lakes for

camping

trips. I t

was also used to transport building

materials to remote native villages,

baby fish for th e Alaska Department

of Fis h and Game,

and

moose meat

and an

tl ers

to Anchorage.

t

even

carried

an

injured man from Homer

to

Anchorag e one

night because

th ere was no other aircraft available.

We

retired the Trave

l Air

in

1976

when we bought our Otter.

In 198

7 we be-

gan

a complete

restoration of the

Travel Air, taking

it from bush plane

to

its original fac-

tory configuration.

From

the

propeller

to the tires

to

the

tin y bathroom,

many painstaking

hours over

three

Alaskan winters re-

sulted in the

Travel Air you see

today.

After

the comp

l

etion

of the

restoration

in

1990

,

NC9084

was

flown to

the

Santa

Pau la Airport

in

Santa Paula, California, in service

for sightseeing trips

and

champagne

flights over its wine country. It now

serves on a

mor

e relaxed schedule.

Mounted on a set of 1934 Edo 4650

floats,

it s based

in Homer, Alaska,

where you re invited to view and fly

in this unique floatplane.

We invite your comments, experi-

ences,

and

your pictures.

Countless

peop le hav e s

har

ed

with

us

their

memories , which we value

and

add

to our information

on NC9084.

Please feel free to call,

write,

or e-

mail u

s.

For further

information,

contact

us directly at:

Kachemak Bay Flying

Service, Inc.

P O Box 1769

Homer,

AK

99603

907/235-8924

e-mail: [email protected]

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


24/40

un'n

n

Marl< Schaible

Alan Crawford

of

Buchanan, Texas flares his Piper

PA-11

during

the

spot landing (floating?) contest

at

Lake Parker in Lakeland.

The shoreline is always filled with spectators

who

come

from

the

local area

as

well

as the

fly

in. The Splash-In on Lake Parker has become

one

of Sun n

Fun's favorite events

The Piaggo Twin Gull is rarely

seen

here in

the

United States. This par

ticular example

is

listed as a

P.136-L2

of

which only

four

are registered.

With its pair

of

300 plus horsepower engines, the Twin Gull can cruise

along

at

165 mph

18 JULY

2000


25/40

Pilot Jim

Poel of

Spruce Creek, Florida, fires up the Franklin on the

Seabee then carefully backs

it off

the shoreline

as

his fr iend Bill Bardin

of Rochester, New York, monito rs the area behind Jim. Jims Seabee

won the Best Vintage Amphibian award.

Ron

Bull

of Fly

Fishing Adventures, Jupiter,

Florida, touches

down

in a slight crosswind

with his Piper

PA

-18 Super Cub during the

spot landing contest.

an HU-16 Albatross was originally a mili

but i t makes a fine civilian seaplane. This

to Clyde Barton

of

Clute,

Texas

.

This handsome

RC-3

Seabee was

flown

in by

Rich

Brumm

of

Northport, New York.

VIN TAG E AIRPLAN E 9


26/40

Fred

Murrins Fokker F I trip lane

is

now

powered

by a 110-hp LeRhone rotary engine . The streaked

green and white color scheme is done in the

markings

of

triplane F I

1 2117

assigned to

Jasta

11

.

It

was

flown

by Manfred Von Richthofen (his

second

flight

in

the

type,

the

first coming earlier

that

morning) on September 1 1917. The

fighter

was lost only

two

weeks later when Obit. Kurt

Wolff

was

shot down and killed by

two

Sopwith

Camels

flown

by pilots

from

No.

10

Squadron,

R.NAS.

1 2117

was

the

second triplane accepted

by the German Air Service along

with

F I 103/17,

which became the personal

mount of

Werner

Voss who was

shot

down

while flying

it

on

September

23 1917

.

The

awn

Patrol Rendezvous

u s

Air

orce

I

n

October

of 1917, McCook Field Those days are

gone

now and most

in Dayton, Ohio, was established

WW I-era aircraft now sit in muse-

as

the

nation s first

aeronautical

ums

on

display for the general public

research and development station for

to view in

wonderment. What

does a

Museum

th e Army Air Corps. LeRhone engine sound like? How did

The setting during this time would these aircraft perform? Why not let a

have been quite a sight for any early

new

generation witness what our

military aircraft enthusiast.

Spad,

founding aviation forefathers like

the

hosts World

Sopwith and Nieuport were

just

a ones

at

McCook Field got to witness?

handful of the aircraft types

that

were Enter the Great War Aeroplanes Asso

tested and

tinkered with

at the air ciation (GW

AA)

and

the

United States

War I fly in

base. After the war, the armistice with Air Force Museum

USAF).

Germany brought

347

more

aircraft With

the

belief

that

we should re

over to th e field for technical study. create history, the two organizations

There is

even

a photo of a Fokker bi

decided to bring together vintage and

yNick Hurm

plane flying over McCook Field.

production aircraft along with vehi

20 JULY 2


27/40

Fred Jungclaus flares his scaled replica S

.E.5

as he lands in

front

of

the

spectators during

the

1998

edition of the Dawn Patrol Rendezvous.

His

biplane is

flown as

a

tribute to

Lt. George A. Vaughn

Jr.

a United States

ir

Service

pilot

assigned

to the

84th squadron

of the

Royal

ir

Force. George

passed away in 1989 at age 92.

cles, radio-controlled modelers,

re-enactors

and

collectors.

The idea

was

quickly

put

into

action as

the

Dawn Patrol

Rendezvous stormed

into

exis

tence. The

event

is one of the

few fly-ins in the country that

is held exclusively for WW I-era

aircraft.

The inaugural fly-in

took place

at

the United States

Air Force

Museum in Dayton

Ohio. The location of the fly-in

is

fitting

because

in 1927

Mc

Cook Field

moved

to this very

location.

Sixty-nine years later,

WW

I

aircraft were

once

again roam

ing the skies of Dayton. Twelve

aircraft participated

in

the

event.

Some of the aircraft

on

included a Sopwith Camel Bristol Bomber, S.E.5

Thomas-Morse Scout. The fly-in also included WW I

vendors, and beautiful WW I authentic ra

model

airplanes that

were

not

only

but

also performed for those in attendance.

The

event

was

such

a success that the US F

Museum

the GWAA decided to

do

it again so

more

of

public could witness

the

event.

n

its sequel held

two

the

Dawn Patrol Rendezvous saw

an

estimated

in

attendance witness

an

even bigger

show

18 flying

machines

and nine static display aircraft.

I

aircraft

from as far

away

as California joined to

a huge success.

Now a third fly-in

is

scheduled to take place. The

WW

I

will be held September 29

through

October I , 2000

the United States Air Force Museum.

The

event looks

promising

as

each day

draws closer. The

Dawn

Pa-

Roger and Ernie Freeman s Thomas-Morse Scout

revs

up its

rotary engine

as it

begins its

takeoff

roll on

the

Air Force

Museum s grounds

at

Wright-Patterson

ir Force base

in

Dayton, Ohio.

trol Rendezvous has

been extended

an extra day, and 35

flying

machines

are already

lined

up to

be there.

The

number of reenactors and vendors has also been

in

creased. The goal of the US F and the GW

is to double

the

attendance from the previous year to 30,000 people.

The best part of the event is that it is free to the public.

The

gates open

at

9 a.m. and close

at

5 p.m. Along

with

viewing WW I aircraft, authentic models, reenactors and

vendors, spectators

can

take a free tour

of the

US F mu

seum. We welcome

yo

u to come join us

and

witness a

little piece of

history

from

the

aircraft that

helped

write

history.

For

more information

call 937/255-4704, Ext. 330

or

332.

Sponsorship opportunities

are

available-contact

Denise Bollinger of the

Great

Warplanes Association at

877 488-4663 .

......

The smell of castor oil and

th

Documents

Vintage Airplane - Jul 2000