Vintage Airplane - May 2007

8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - May 2007

1/44


2/44

G OFF RO ISON

PRESIDENT VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Together

w

move

forward

Spring has now finally arrived in the

Midwest. This, of course,

is

a welcome

event that has finally, thank goodness,

brought that long, cold winter of '07 to

an

everlasting end, although as I write

this, a massive winter storm is bearing

down

on the

East Coast I am trying

to be optimistic

about the

weather

in

May, hoping that we will see a dramatic

change over what we experienced so

far in April. I am writing this month s

column just days before the beginning

of

the Sun ' n Fun Fly-In at Lakeland,

Florida, and I just

hung the phone

up

with a friend in Albert

Lea,

Minnesota,

and

he

said

the

area

is

expecting up

to

10 inches of snow yet tonight. I also just

received

an

e-mail from

Oshkosh

and

was told it was snowing there again

at

this very moment.

The big debate

on the

new

FM

fund

ing initiatives we have been hearing so

much about of late continues inside the

beltway in Washington, D.C.

Key

mem

bers

of

Congress seem to continue to

be successful

in

debunking

the FAA s

plan and properly labeling it

as

mostly

dysfunctional. I will reserve my final re-

marks

on

this important issue for when

visions, the affiliate [NAFI], and the two

councils) does not function well. The

worst of the matter is the fact that we are

not

doing

a good job

of

providing the

membership with an appropriate level

of satisfaction. We know this thanks to

some comprehensive survey work done

by

EM,

and by comments and requests

sent to us from the membership.

Having collectively recognized that

fact, it truly is time for some change. We

are working

toward

real

changes

that

will positively impact our members' sat

isfaction with EAA, as well as all of

the

divisions and all of the affiliated special

interest groups

that

exist under

the

flag

of

EM.

The process was begun by all

of

the

division and special-interest groups

in

conjunction with

EAA.

We prepared a

list of issues

that

we felt were the most

relevant and critical to

improving

our

ability to deliver the benefits and pro

grams our members expect. We came to

realize just how convoluted a process it

can be to do any kind of business with

the EM, from becoming a member

of

the

organization to renting a display

booth

during

the

convention. I'm sure

That's still a little difficult to quantify

at this moment.

But

what

is interest

ing to

point out

at this juncture is the

fact

that

the leadership

of

EM and all

the different

divisions

and affiliated

special-interest groups are communicat

ing

at

an all-new and refreshing level.

The makeup of the leadership represent

ing all of the different divisions and

the

affiliated special-interest groups is rep

resentative of some of the very best vol

unteer leadership ever to be assembled.

Be

assured, these are not simple is

sues we as an organization are facing. In

a lot

of

ways a great deal

of

these pro

posed changes have

the

potential to

not

only enhance our

following,

but

also

address a large number of the offerings

that an

association of this type should

be routinely providing to its member

ship. And that s potentially the most

exciting part of this initiative. So, stick

with us and come along for the ride. I

truly believe we are prepared to move

forward to a much stronger

and

effec

tive organization in

the

near future. I'll

continue to keep

you posted

on our

progress in the months ahead.

Remember, now

is the

time to begin


3/44

N E

M

VOL 35 , NO.5 2

7

ON ENTS

I

Fe

Straight

&

Level

Togeth er we move forward

by Geoff Robison

2

News

5

AeroMail

6

Restoration

Corner

Steve Wittman on taxi test

s,

first flight , and de

bu

gging

by No

rm Pe

te

rs

en

8

Just Plane

Tomm

y

The story of the Thomas-Mo rse Aircraft Cor pora tion

Part I

by Al Kelch

4

The

Fl

y

ing Pemberton

Family

Like fa th er,

li

ke son, like son

by Sparky Ba rnes Sargent

9

DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver

Ma

king a silk

pur

se

out

of

a

?

by Bu

dd

Davisson

24 Mystery Pl

ane

Extra

The

Bris

tol Prier

by Wesley Smith

3 0 The Vintage Instructor

Airmanship

by Doug Stewart

33 Pass

It to

Buck

Complicat ions

by Buck Hilbert

y

ST FF

EAA Publisher

Tom Poberezny

Director

of

EAA

Publications

David

Hipschman

Executive Director/Editor H.G.

Frautschy


4/44

;

AIHVENTUHE

O S K O S

AIRVENTURENEWS

Beach Boys to Make Encore

Performance at World s

Greatest

Aviation Celebration

With warmed up weather let s get to-

ge

ther

and do it again.

From

Do it Again by Brian Wilson/

Mike Love

(1968)

AeroShell Square will once again

be rockin'

to the

sounds of endless

summer on opening day

as

the Beach

Boys return to perform

at

EAA Air

Venture Oshkosh 2007. The legend

ary

inventors

of

the

California surf

sound will appear from 5:30 to 7:30

p.m., free to all AirVenture guests on

Monday, July 23, courtesy of Eclipse

Aviation and Ford Motor Company.

The band thrilled the standing-room

only crowd last year.

We're thrilled to welcome the

Beach Boys back to EAA AirVenture

Oshkosh 2007, said

EAA

President

Tom Poberezny. Last year's perfor

mance was definitely one of our ma

jor highlights and set the stage for a

four and a half decades. They were in

ducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of

Fame in 1988 and received the Lifetime

Achievement

Award

from the National

Academy of Recording Arts and Sci

ences in 2001. In 2006, the band also

celebrated the 40th anniversary of its

groundbreaking album, Pet Sounds.

year

with our

expanded

square

footage , said KidVenture Chair

man Dan Majka, who coordinates

volunteers from some 25

EAA

chap

ters. A large hangar will offer protec

tion from

the

weather for high-tech

equipment. More room will be avail

able

outSide , which

means

more

space for activities allowing kids to

experience

many different aspects

of flight.

Features this year include:

• Flight-training sessions with Na

tional Association of Flight Instruc

tors certificated flight instructors.

•

Radio-controlled

and control

line air show flying.

• Kids can build and fly their own

balsa gliders in the skunk works area

or design an aircraft

on

the computer

with DaVinci Technologies software.

• KidVenture Heroes Stage returns


5/44

aimed at young children. And Thurs

day through Sunday, ham radio oper

ators will set

up equipment and allow

kids

to communicate with

other far

away operators.

More information about KidVenture

can be

fo

und at

www AirVenture org

Speakers Forums

and

offering airfare discounts during

EM

Workshops Galore AirVenture Oshkosh 2007.

As

of

press

tim

e

we re

stil l final The

discounted

fares are available

izing the

exte

nsive

speaker

,

forum,

co

urt

esy of

the

participating airlines,

workshop, and

other

sched

uled ap which include

American

, Midwest,

pearances for EAA AirVenture Os

h-

and Northwest . Discounts are sub

Create Your Own

kosh 2007,

but by

the

tim

e you read ject

to

individual airline restrictions.

E AirVenture Photo Gallery

this, all

the

details should be ava il For more

information

, visit www

Get yourself in that Oshkosh state able

at

www AirVenture org

A

ir

Venture org/

7

/f/ying/air line_

of mind by visiting the new interactive Schedule

your day in advance by

discounts html

photo

gallery

on the EAA

AirVenture

searching

the

database by personality,

website. View selected images from 2006 sub ject, time, date, and venue . And Bonanzas Cessnas and

and 2OOS, and create your own personal each day during the convention the

Mooneys Plan Group

Arrivals

favorites

ga

ll

ery and slide show. up-to-date

sc

hedule of events will ap

Traditions stretc hin

g

from

two

You

can

also rate the photos you

pear

in AirVenture Today so

yo

u

can

years to nearly two decades con

tinu

e

view. Click for a larger view and see catch

any

late changes.

this

year as several airp lane

groups

specific image information, including

are planning mass arr ivals to this

the

title name of photographer,

and

Airlines

Offer

EAA

AirVenture

year's

EAA

AirVenture

Oshkosh

on

a brief photo description. Search the Oshkosh

Discounts

Saturda

y

July

2l.

gallery by title, description, file name, For those not flying into Wittman The granddaddy of them all , Bo-

and photographer. Regional Airport

or

who live

too

far

nanzas to Oshkosh (B20sh), will

Go

to the EM AirVenture Photo

Gal

to drive

to

the World's Greatest Avia

make its

18th

group flight from Rock

lery link located at www AirVenture org tion Celebrati on, several airlines are ford , Illinois, to EAA AirVenture this

~ ; ; ~

M A1rV

entu . Oshkosh Photo allery

http:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.orghttp:///reader/full/www.AirVenture.org


6/44

Cessnas arriving at

E irVenture

Oshkosh 2006

year. New flight leader Larry Gaines

says

75

aircraft are c

urrently

sign

ed

up to participate, but he

anticipates

100 airplanes this year.

There's nothing quite as thrilling

as flying in before the crowd at Osh

kosh,

he

said, recalling his first

trip

to

OSH

in

1998

in

a Beech Muske

teer. Learn more about B20sh at www.

B20sh.org.)

The

10th Mooney Caravan

fea

tures as many as 48 aircraft flying

in

eight groups of six. They will again

stage at Madison's

Dane County Re-

gional Airport for the flight. For more

on the Mooneys visit www.Mooney-

Caravan.com.)

Cessnas to Oshkosh (C20),

which

organized

for

the

first time in 2006

to celebrate

the 50th

anniversary

of

the C-172/182, plans its second flight

in 2007. Aircraft will gather at Dodge

The

Mooney Caravan plans

a 3:30

p.m.

departure from Madison

and

a

4 p.m. arrival in Oshkosh. Times for

C20

have

not

been announced.

The normal Ripon-Fisk VFR arrival

as described in the 2007 EAA Air

Venture

notice to airmen (NOTAM)

will be in effect

when the group

ar

rivals are

not

in

progress. Visit www.

A rVenture.org/2007/f/ying/index.html

for more

information and to order/

download your NOTAM copy.

New irVenture rrival

TIS Frequency

Several

pilots responding

to an

FAA

survey

about AirVenture proce

dures last year reported difficulty re

ceiving

the

arrival

ATIS

at a distance

from

Oshkosh.

So

this

year the FAA

will use a higher-power transmitter

at

the

Fisk Approach Control location

We'll list all

submitted

type club

events

during EAA

AirVenture

Osh-

kosh 2007. Submit your club's infor

mation online

at

https://Secure.EAA.

org/airventure/type_clubs .html. We'll

post all events submitted by July 14,

and run

them in

the daily

AirVenture

Today

as well.

f you

have questions,

call 888-322-4636, ext. 6112, or e-mail

[email protected].

Type Club

dditions

We have a couple

of

additions for the

type club list.

Cessna T-50 "

The

Flying Bobcats"

Jon

D

Larson

PO Box

566

Auburn,

WA

98071-0566

[email protected]

Dues:

By

donation

Newsletter: Quarterly

http:///reader/full/B20sh.orghttp://www.mooney/http:///reader/full/Caravan.comhttps://secure.eaa/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:///reader/full/B20sh.orghttp://www.mooney/http:///reader/full/Caravan.comhttps://secure.eaa/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


7/44

SEND YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS TO:

VAA, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

P O

Box 3086

OSHKOSH,

WI

54903-3086

OR

YOU

CAN

E MAIL

THEM

TO

: [email protected]

More

on Curtiss Reynolds

I really enjoyed Ken McQueen's ar

ticle on Curtiss-Reynolds Airport.

During

the

1933

event,

I worked

as a "go-fer" for the press group. At

the time, I was

an

Eagle Scout,

and

six

of us were hired by the

Chicago Daily

News one of the

sponsors for

that

duty

. Needless to say, we met all the

high-profile pilots of the day, as we

helped set up interviews for the press.

One

of the men met

was

Maj.

Udet, who became a

high-ranking

official

under

Hitler

for

their

air

force. Of course I also

met

Roscoe

Turner

who

had a lion cub as a mas

cot Later, as a United Airlines

pilot

member of our

UAL

speaker panel, I

was assigned to appear on a program

with Roscoe in French Lick, Indiana.

At

that time

he

was still running his

FBO

in Indiana.

Relative to Curtiss-Reynolds, it

was here I had my first airplane ride.

Our family went out to the field after

dinner

on

a summer evening. Some

pilot had a Ford Tri-Motor and was

always kept an eye out for them . One

day, flying for United in a DC-3, one

showed up near Sandusky, Ohio. I

kept an eye out for it and eventually

found

i t

was based at Put-it-Bay Is

land

(South

Bass)

in

Lake Erie,

and

was flying into Port Clinton. In 1947

we

were visiting in

Ohio

, so we drove

to Port Clinton and met the owner,

Milt Hershberger, and flew to

the is-

land in

the

lO (first officer 's) seat.

On arrival,

I

had

him

sign my log

book for the :15 flight time. He then

gave us a tour of his facility.

After a fine lunch in town, we

bought a mixed case of wine at one

of the wineries. The owner drove us

back to the airport.

When

the

Ford came in , we sat in

the rear with our wine. Milt looked

back

and

saw me,

told

me to come

up, which I did.

He sa

id I

want

you

to

sit

up

here. There's a guy on the trip

I have to talk to . Told him I'd been

drinking. Forget it he said . That stuff is

so weak no one cou ld get high on

it

Well, Milt made the takeoff,

Aviation

is

still a pre tty small com

munity. As a result, we keep bumping

into the same people wherever

we go

Unfortunately

, H.G ., some keep

dropping off at

the

back end.

Like

you,

we

are going to miss Dorothy Hilbert.

Keep the blue side up

Don

&

Mary Toeppen

Sun City West, Arizona

Recommendation From aMember

Dal

Donner

EAA

102228 lAC 3787

Restoring

an antique

airplane calls

for many

different

kinds

of

skills .

And, like most people, I found myself

deficient

in

some categories. Wood

working was the

biggest

problem,

both from an

experience level

and

having tools to make complex parts.

My

current project

is

a Fairchild

24W, and it has a lot of wood which

has suffered neglect and exposure to

the elements.

I t

would

have been convenient

to

go to the nearest Fairchild store to

buy some of these wood

parts.

But

the "Fairchild Store"

is

as much of the

past

as

the

hand

craftsmanship

em

ployed to build this old airplane back

in 1939.

Fortunately I know a young man

who is a furniture maker. In fact, he's

a

third generation

wood craftsman

and has studied

under

American and

European artisans.

He

works with

hand

tools

as

well

as

power tools.

He primarily

builds

elegant cus

tom furniture from old-growth, tight

grained wood which is highly figured.

His work

is

like the fine art you 'd ex

pect

to

see in a well-known gallery.

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


8/44

Editor's Notes:

This

is the 12th and

final installment of

the

current series of "Restoration Corner" articles. The intent of

the

series was to present information of a general rather than highly detailed nature: therefore, more could have been

written on each subject. We encourage readers to share their restoration techniques with us for future "Restoration

Corner"

articles.-Gene. R.

Chase

While Gene and Norm wrote these words nearly 20 years ago, they still hold true today.

We

're

only as

good

as the

information

and

experiences our members share with us. Feel free

to

drop us

an

e-mail

at

vintageaircraft@

eaa

or

g

or drop us a note in

the

mail. The address is

on

the contents

page.-H.G

. Frautschy

Steve Wittman on taxi tests, first flight, and debugging

I t

is

one

thing

to spend

years re

storing an airplane with

attendant

sore hands, tired muscles, and a flat

pocketbook-only to suddenly

re

alize

that

now

you

have to fly

the

critter To

enlighten

us

on the

many

details of flying a newly rebuilt air

plane for the first time, we asked the

old master

, Sylvester "Steve"

Witt

man,

to

give us his

thoughts on

the

proper procedure.

The first

item

on the agenda, ac

cording to Steve, is to properly rig the

airplane

during

final assembly. This

includes putting in the proper wing

dihedral

and wing incidence

. And

when establishing

incidence,

don't

forget the

all-important

wash-out

at

the

wingtips per

the

manufacturer's

recommendations.

"Wash-out"

tips

the trailing edge of the

wingtip

up

ward, allowing the wing to stall first

BY

NORM

PETERSEN

transit, or incidence board

. A final

measurement to determine

that

both

wings

(or

four on a biplane)

are

square with each other

and the

fuselage

is

most important.

And

along this line, make sure the stabi

lizer has the proper incidence (most

often

negative).

Don't

be

lulled

i

nto using

the old

eyeball"

method.

Use proper means

to

establish

the necessary

measurements,

be it a plumb,

land for

the

National Air Races,

only

to

read a story in the

evening paper

claiming that it couldn't fly Suppos

edly, there was insufficient aileron to

offset

the

huge amount of torque The

newswriter estimated that 300 mph

was necessary before

Bonzo

would fly

straight

and level I

am most

happy

to report

that

such was

not

the

case "

Steve

went on to

explain

that when

you have a

midwing

aircraft using a

thin wing section with a large chord,

the

propeller slipstream is anti

torque" as it goes by the wing, allow

ing

the

aircraft to be nicely controlled

by the ailerons about the roll axis.

Once

the

rigging is

determined

to

be okay, the taxi tests may begin. This

is

almost an art in itself

and

should

only be

attempted

on a

taildragger

if you

have

tailwheel experience.

Without

experience along this line,


9/44

the

throttle

and

lowered the

tail. The resulting increase

in angle of attack caused the

Twister to leap some 10 feet

into the

air.

The pilot

was

so surprised he "lost it" and

proceeded to wrap

the

small

biplane into a ball .

According to

Steve,

his

normal procedure

is

to take

off

and climb

for altitude,

watching

the

temperature

gauges closely.

Once he has

1,

500

feet AGL,

he

checks

for

wing

heaviness and pro

ceeds through stalls

and

slow

flight. This helps to relieve

the tension about coming in

for a

landing.

If the aircraft

will stall at the proper nose

high attitude,

h e

knows

it

will

make a

three-point

landing. (And a minimum of

1,500 feet is

the

best insur

ance you can have when do

ing these maneuvers.)

Some years ago, Steve was

invited to fly

another

racing

airplane,

only

to discover in

flight that it had a vicious

stall and would not get into a

normal three-point attitude

Steve Wittman and a 40 hp Taylor E 2 Cub

a red and silver Porterfield. Anxious

to take it up for the first flight, he tax

ied

downwind to the

far

end of

the

hard surface runway.

As

he

came to

the end of the runway, he stepped on

the brakes .

in

that

same

instant

he

remembered

he

had not

connected

the brakes The

Porterfield

went

The

only option left was to

make a tail-high wheel land

ing,

which

he did with the

usual

Wittman finesse. After

the flight,

he wondered

what

might

have

hap

pened if

the

engine had failed, as it

would have been an absolute bearcat

to land

without

the power. Curiously,

the owner never gave so much as a

hint of the weird flight characteristics

abrupt stall-just

like

someone had

cut the string "

When queried

about

the age-old

question of toe-in versus toe-ou t, Steve

thought

a

minute and

answered, "Toe

in is the worst of the two, as it exacer

bates

the

swing of a turn

and

makes

it worse. Toe-out

is

easier

to

control;

however, on hard-surface runways it

will wear out a set of tires in noth

ing flat I have always liked 'straight

ahead' the

best with neither toe-in or

toe-out . I love grass over hard-surface

runways, as you can fly for years from

a grass

runway

and

never

wear your

tires out. The inside

of

the tire carcass

will look like new after many years,

while

the outside gets all

weather

checked

and

cracked."

When it comes time

to

get your

nicely

restored classic

or antique up

to its advertised cruising speed, Steve

says there are many little things to

consider.

Close-fitting

fairings are

important

along with

eliminating

lumps,

bumps, and extraneous

pro

tuberances. Be very critical of

any

in

tersections of less

than

90 degrees,

as

they

create

extra

drag. Round

tubes should

be

fa ired to a stream

line shape, and gaps should be sealed.

Good

common

sense will help a great

deal in "

tweaking

" your

airplane

to

optimum

performance. Even a close

look at a Wittman Tailwind will give

you a number

of

clues as to making

an

airplane go fast. A look at

the

strut

stub reveals a cleaner juncture, since

the bolt head and nut are moved out

of

the high-speed air Even the wing

roots and

the

wingtips are tapered

down in size to save drag on each


10/44

The

story of

the Thomas-Morse

Aircraft

Corporation

Part I

Y AL

KEL

CH

Preface

two-part story in two 1960 issues ofAmerican Airman ex

1982 The following three-part article on

the

Thomas-

tensively researched by Frank Strand with a great deal otorigi

Morse Aircraft Corp. although extensively edited

and

further nal contact with William Thomas

Sr.

researched

by

me should be credited to Robert G Elliott of Frank had permission to use all

of

the material he had gath

Daytona Beach Florida who sought out William T Thomas ered to put together one more article specially tailored tor Vin-

Jr. still

living in

Daytona

Beach.

Mr.

Thomas generously

tage Airplane

magazine on the Tommy-Morse Scout atWorld

shared pictures and recollections of his father plus some ma War I tame. For the real Tommy buffs

it

would pay to seek

out

terial from the personal collections of Paul D Wilson one of his extensive two-part story in the

American Airman

tor June


11/44

The modified Model

TA with dual

controls for in

struction

The Model TA 1911 during its second

fl

ight powered by a

flights.

It

was

powered by a 50-hp

six

-cylinder

Kirkham

en

22-hp Kirkham engine. gine. Note the two narrow

radiators

mounted vertically.

Walter Johnson pilot in the

Model TA with the 50-hp

six

Bud Carey piled up a 1911 pusher on

frozen

Cayuga

Lake.

The

cylinder Kirkham

engine

used for many

exhibit

ion flights.

plane was rebuilt within several

days and

successfully flown.

W.T. Thomas stands at

left

of pilot.

airplane industry began to bud.

In

the

early part

of

1909

Thomas

came to America, where he used his

qualifications to obtain

a job

with

Glenn

Curtiss in the

drafting

room.

His first assignments were in working

out

designs for

motorcycle

engines

and dirigible engines.

I t

was here he

got

his first

taste

of

aircraft

design

craft in America. On June 14, 1910,

final assembly

and

checking

of

this

first Thomas airplane was completed

on

the

Page

Farm,

near Canisteo,

New

York

Initially

the

airplane relied on di

hedral ailerons

wing

warping) for

control

and had two vertical panels

between

the

outer interplane struts

York, with Walter

E Johnson

as the

test pilot.

Somewhere during this period, Wil

liam s brother, Oliver Thomas, joined

the

efforts.

With

the

continued

in

tent

to

manufacture the airplane, a

suitable factory was located at Bath,

New York. The

two brothers

formed

the Thomas Aeroplane Company for


12/44

The 1911 Model TA pusher with Walter Johnson at the

con

trols during exhibition and

races at

the New York State Fair

Syracuse.

Glenn

Curtiss flew

an

80-

hp

pusher and

Walter

Johnson beat

Curtiss

in

a race with his

65-hp

powered TA.

The

state

fair

buildings appear

much

the same

today as

they

did in 1911. The

original

Kirkham

engine

was a geared

drive. The day before the race the gearbox failed so Char

lie

Kirkham

worked

all

night converting

the engine

to direct

drive

and

replacing the prop

.

W.T. Thomas also added addi

tional

fairings to

reduce

drag.

patience

and

a lot of elbow grease. After great effort, with

many

modifications

and

changes

the

airplane finally

became airworthy and accomplished a flight of

about

6

miles on September

20 1910.

The obvious use of an airplane in this period being for

exhibition,

Mr.

johnson

the

company

aviator,

attempted

a show on September 27, 1910, at Binghamton, New York

to thrill

county

fair-goers .

Unfortunately the

machine

hit the cattle tent

on

takeoff

and

was damaged . There is a

substantial lack of data concerning

the

welfare of

the

cat

tle housed within the tent; however, one can imagine the

havoc and scrambling

of those

Wide-eyed,

snorting

cattle

running

loose among

the

fair patrons.

The ensuing repair was rushed, which permitted Walter

johnson to make a circular flight over Concklin Field near

the Binghamton fairgrounds on October 11, 1910. This

successfu l exhibition flight was the 10th flight for test pi

lot johnson.

Later that month at Rochester, New York William

and

his brother, Oliver, witnessed the

International

Air Meet

at Belmont Park, New York. Immediately following that

flight, Thomas

and

johnson accompanied by a mechanic,

trucked the airplane to Rochester, New York, where

john

son

made

demonstration flights

on

November 3 and 10,

1910. The month of December 1910 saw William Thomas

again at Bath, New York,

where

the airplane was fitted

with a single rear elevator. Flights were made

over the

wintry

countryside

from Burleson Field

near

Lake Salu

bria. On

january

27, 1911, Walter

johnson

flying from

the

frozen surface

of the

lake

and

with

only the

22-hp

Kirkham

engine

for power, carried Florence Scrafford as

a passenger. During this period a further modification of

the machine

was made to a

twin rudder configuration

which allowed greater control in flight.

Early in March, William Thomas ,

johnson

and Gene

Bell, their mechanic, departed for Morgan City, Louisiana,

to further continue

their exhibition

flights in a warmer

climate . A ballpark had been reserved in Morgan City,

which proved

too

small upon examination and the dem

onstration was moved

to

a larger field, where all went well

until johnson crashed into a stump on landing. Repairs

were

minor

, allowing time for a circular flight

the

same


13/44

I called, you quoted, I bought.

As

easy

as

1 .

Not

only

easy, but competitive. It's a pleasure doing business with you.

Actually I didn't call, I used your online quote system It was

quick and easy.

- Paul Isakson

Paul sakson

mery

,

WI

• Owner of

a 939

Cub J3F-50

and

a 937

Ryan

ST-A

• Member

of

AOPA and f

since 986

•

Plans

to

add

his

oldest

daughter

who

wants

to be

a

professional

pilot

to

his

policy in the near future

• Whole

family

has been to six out

of

the last eight AirVentures


14/44

Pilot

Fred

Eells W.T. Thomas with anns crossed and Earl

Beers

by

the prop pose

with the plane that achieved an endurance flight record

on

October 31 1912.

the first school chartered by the New

York State Board of Regents.

The earlier

p l

ane with the four

cylinder

Kirkham engine was modi

fied as a preliminary trainer having

been rebu

i

lt

for

dual

instruction.

Many

exhibition flights with the re

built

airplane

continued around

the

New York area.

At

Sylvan Beach near

Syracuse, the

TA

was flown. After be

ing

broken it was

only natural

for

the

Thomas

machine

to be included

for its share of honors.

Johnson

flying a

TA

model

with

a

larger 65-hp engine, and with a school

mechanic as his passenger, established

an

American endurance

record of

three hours, 51 minutes 15

seconds

at

Bath, New York . The flight was be

tween Bath and Savona, New

York

a

Pilot Walter

Johnson and

Earl Beers demonstrate the manner

Glenn Tate at the controls in

about

1912.

The

aileron

of seating in which pilot and

passenger endured

the cold

to

control cable

recessed in a groove

circled

the steering

establish

the

endurance

flight

on Halloween 1912.

wheel.

Note the

sing1e foot pedal.

on

May 7 and 8. From

there

William

Thomas, Johnson and Bell went to

Mississippi and performed at the Delta

Fair in Granville, where their exhibi

new model. This produced much bet

ter flight characteristics,

and

16 miles

were flown from

Savona

to Ham

mondsport in 18

min

utes. The

return

distance

of 235 miles.

The

passenger

weighed 150 pounds. This weight fac

tor was a requirement by the American

Aero Club, under whose supervision


15/44


16/44

ike

father, like son, like

so

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

trio of Stearmans landed

annual invitational fly-in. only completed their family, but the


17/44

Far left: Jay

Pemberton

prepares to fly

the

Wendy

May.

Ryan Pemberton flew this 275 hp

Jacobs-powered Steannan, owned by

a

family friend, to the

AAA

Fly-In

in

Blakesburg, Iowa.

When

their big

radial

engines

had fallen quiet

the three pilots

climbed

out

of

their respective

cockpits and

with

big

smiles

stepped o the

ground.

from Poly-Fiber, and

they

would tell

their teache

rs that

their father had to

go

fly and

make a dope run "

Equally proud of

both

of his sons,

Addison felt

quite

comfortable

with

their

fl

ying skills on

their

long cross

country adventure. Even

as

they

all landed at Chamberlain, South

Dakota, where

the

winds were gusting

to 35 knots, he

wasn t

worried about

them

ground-looping-he

just

hoped

he

wouldn t.

Twenty

-f

our-year

old

Jay

(who has already launched

a successful

career and

is now able

to finance

his

own

flying) soloed a

glider

at age 15

and

has

acquired

nearly

2,200

hours total

time,

with

about 330 of that in Stearmans. He

s

earned the same

certificates

and

ratings as his father-commercial for

multiengine land

and Single-engine

seaplanes,

instrument, and

a flight

instructor

rating-with the

exception

of

an

airframe and powerplant

certificate. Twenty-year-old Ryan ,

who soloed on

his

16th

birthday,

has

logged

about 800

hours

total

time,

with around

260 Stearman

hours

. He's

earned

a seaplane rating

and, according

to his father, didn t

even fly a

nosewheel

airplane until

he had

the

opportunity

to fly a 8

24 Liberator

two

years

ago

for the

Collings Foundation.


18/44

The

Pemberton s Square Tail Stearman 4DM Sr. Speedmail.


19/44

SQUJlR TJULS

Square Tail Stearmans

were

showcased at Blakesburg

in

2006.

Ron

Rex s 1931 Western Airlines Stearman 4D heads

up

the

lineup of Square

Tails.


20/44

smiling as he conveys his enthusiasm

for

the

flight. "It was really neat for

me, because this is the first time I've

flown an airplane to Blakesburg. And

of course, to fly on my dad's wing

and

have

my

brother on the other

side, it was really special.

As

we were

planning the

arrival here, I could just

see my dad starting to get all proud

and

he was really excited."

Speedrnail

Square

Tail Stearmans

were

showcased

during

AAA s 2006 fly-in,

and seven of the 18 flying Square

Tails were on

hand

for the occasion.

Of

those

seven, four were Speedmail

Model 4s,

including

Addison's

Stearman 4DM Sr.

Speedmail.

He

bought

it in 1989 as a $4,000 basket

case and flew it in 1992 after

an

8,000

hour family restoration effort. "There

are only nine Speedmails

in

existence

today, seven of

which

fly actively.

There were

no

drawings for

any

of

them when

we were

restoring this,

he recalls,

then

I met Ben Scott,

and

through our

correspondence, I

reverse-engineered his Speed mail 4£

to build many parts of

mine

."

Addison's 1931 Speedmail has a

top

cruise

of

150

mph and

carries

six hours of fuel. It was originally

manufactured for American Airways;

it was based in

Chicago and

flew

to

Dallas every

night

on

the airmail run.

In the early 1930s, it was also featured

in the movie right Eyes starring

Shirley Temple. Then, in 1934 it

went

back to

the

factory

and had

a front

seat installed so it could be flown as an

instrument trainer. In 1936, it became

apartment with

running water. The

hangars

of the

past only had 'walking

water,'

as

Wendy says. It's been really

nice. So I have a day job,

and

then

a night life

that's produced

all these

great things

over

the

years. The

Pemberton's long-standing

family

Addison named

his 450-hp

ratt

Whitney-powered

Stearman

Boeing)

5

the

Wendy

May

n

honor

ofhis wife,

and the

number

4 9 on

its

cowling

helps him per

when her birthday

is.

business is

also

aerospace-related;

Scanivalve Corporation manufactures

instrumentation

for

the flight-test

and

wind-tunnel markets.

modified

AT-6

canopy

for

the

rear

cockpit,

and

a

tow

hitch for

glider

or

banner

towing. It

has

a standard

airworthiness certificate, which I'm

very proud

of tha t

was quite an

accomplishment to

get

this airplane

out

of an experimental and

into

the

standard category."

Wendy, having learned

the

art

of

dope and fabric along the way, is also

involved in

the

restoration projects.

And she, too, is mighty proud

of her

sons. The excitement

that

my boys

have

in

aviation

has

given th em a

direction, a purpose, and

an

awesome

gro up of people to be around. Pilots

are great folks. The boys never really

had the awkward teenage years where

they never had anything in common

with their

dad, because

there were

always airplanes to talk about. Aviation

is such a diverse field; there are always

new airplanes and

new

challenges,

she reflects, and adds with a dazzling

smile,

"I feel

very

lucky,

because

normally

when

kids

get to

be

20

years old, they're off living their own

life and you don't see

them

as much

anymore-but we

haven't experienced

that.

Jay is 24 years old and he's still

with the family, and it's

just

very

exciting for me as a

mom.

We

do

eat

dinner down

at

the hangar, because

that's where the guys want to be, and

if that's where my family wants to be,

that's fine by me I would rather be

down there with them

than

be home

alone, wishing I was with

my

family."

As the Pembertons ' fleet of

airworthy

vintage and

antique

aircraft continues to

grow

through

their immaculate ,

step

-b

y-step


21/44


22/44

f w

pristine Beavers

th t

spent at least


23/44

o

D

as

an

ignoble end for a movie star-it

You can

carry plenty

in a working machine

such as

this

us plane

smart-

looking Beaver

logo

is embroidered

on

the aft

bulkhead

with a

beefy

cargo net

installed to keep the baggage where

it

belongs.

over. Doug doesn t

think this actual

crash was used in the movie, but the ap

proach was. The airplane was crudely

yanked out of the water and then spent

a few years

as

a pile of parts languish

ing in various

locations

before Doug

DeVries came

into the

picture.

Doug

got

into aviation

shortly af

ter

graduating from

Cal Poly

with

a

degree in mechanical engineering.

"A friend

took me

up,

but

I was

pretty

broke and at

the

time couldn t

do

much more

than

take ground

school,"

he

says.

A

few years later I got

my

private pilot's license

and

rented

for a year or so before going into part

nership in a Grumman Tiger."

Then, as is often the case, career

and other interests

took

precedence.

From the beginning he had wanted to

and the clerk started asking me ques

tions

about what

I was

doing.

Half

hour

later, it

came out that the

clerk

had at one

time

raced

P-S1

Mustangs

at

Reno,

but in

a freak accident

got

a

thistle in

his ear

while

camping

in

the

desert,

got permanent vertigo,

and

lost his medical

and

flying privi

leges forever. His story

motivated me

to start

the

Stearman project now,

as

one can

lose

the

privilege to fly

in

a

moment s notice.

"I

decided waiting

was

the wrong

thing

to

do and

started looking for a

Stearman project."

Doug dragged an incomplete N2S-3

into his shop, and

when

it rolled out

several years

later

and

he flew i t

to

Oshkosh 2000, he took

home

the Best

WWII Trainer trophy. Not too shabby


24/44

I've always loved

the airplane and

decided it would be

my

next project,

so I started look-

ing around. I finally

fou nd the one in

pieces that had been

wrecked

in

the movie

and looked like a

good possibil ity,

so

I

went to look at it."

so I started looking around . I finally

found the one in pieces that had been

wrecked in the movie and looked like a

good possibility, so I went to look at it.

The airplane needed total rebuild

ing from one end to the other because

had to do some serious investigating

to make sure we found all

the

corro

sion. The rear of the fuselage, includ

ing the back bulkhead, was pretty bad,

but the rest was surprisingly clean, con

sidering its history, which made little

difference since so much of the metal

had to be replaced anyway

to

repair

damage. They must have hosed it out

immediately after pulling it out of the

water. However, everything electrical

was useless./I

Doug is very much a hands-on

re

rough and tumble market that included

both civilian and military/governmen

tal bush -type operations . uring its

nearly 20-year production span (1948

1967) 1,657 airplanes were built, but

many of the customers were military

or government departments (the U.S.

military, among many others, operated

hundreds as L-20s , so spares were also

produced by the truckload to support

them.

De

Havilland apparently recog

nized the types of operations in which

the airplane was likely to be involved


25/44

available, Viking Air of Victoria, British

Columbia, purchased all of the avail

able production tooling for the airplane

and has been producing those replace

ment parts that aren't readily available.

In addition, in February 2006 Viking

Air

purchased the type certificate for

the machine from Bombardier Aero

space, which gives it the exclusive right

to manufacture new Beavers. Does that

mean we'll be seeing a new generation

of DHC-2 Beavers in the future? Given

the cost of production and the supply of

older airframes, that doesn't seem

likely

but anything is possible in aviation.

Even if his

airplane hadn't

gone

swimming, the sheet metal

on

Doug's

bird was typical of Beavers worldwide:

It

showed

the dents and

dings

that

come from being gainfully employed

for

more

than five decades. Beavers

have never been relegated to

antique

status, and nearly all

that

are still flying

are still working for a living. In Doug's

case, however, between

the

saltwater,

damage and wear and tear a lot of sheet

metal had to go.

He

says, Around 90 percent of

the

fuselage skins are new along with a lot

of internal structure, especially in

the

cabin area. To straighten

the

fuselage,

I built a jig in accordance with dimen

sions given in the original de Havilland

drawings and used the jig to fix the

precise locations of

the major

attach

points, such as the wing connections.

And yes, it does

fly

straight. There are

a lot of structural frames and string

ers and such in the top of the cabin

that

were damaged, and if the compo

nent needed was a bent-up part and we

couldn' t find NOS we just made it new

field approved,' as ours were dried and

hard.

We

did find a crack in one of our

gear legs but that repaired fairly easily.

11Th

ere are 10 type-written pages in

the

logbook, which

is

actually three

three-ring binders (since condensed to

a mere single three-ring binder)

that

describe the repairs.

Once

he had repaired

the

damage

and

removed the IIpatina that 18,000

hours of hard work had left behind, he

could start working

on

the fun stuff.

There

is nothing

original

on

the

panel. I planned

on

flying this airplane

a lot,

not

just to fly-ins,

so

I wanted it

as

modern

and

as

usable

as

I could make

it. I modeled it in 3-D

on

the computer

in Solid Works and set it up to optimize

the ergonomics from

the

pilot's posi

tion. This included slanting

the

radio

stack toward the pilot so I have a direct

view of the radios.

The cockpit still includes the unique

Beaver oil system: the dipstick is in the

cockpit

and

you can add oil in flight,

something

that's probably important

when flying an

R-985

on long flights.

We had

to

get 22 337s for

things

we modified, ranging from

extending

the

cockpit to installing modern avi

onics. The entire process worked fairly

smoothly because we had

an

excellent

FAA rep

that

worked with us, rather

than

against us.

The paperwork on the airframe work

may

have gone

smoothly,

but

Doug

had another

paperwork situation

that

most definitely didn' t go smoothly.

The title paperwork we got with the

project didn't actually match the data

plate on our airplane.

It

showed a se

rial number which the records showed

and they verified

that

they belonged to

SN799. We combined the ir letter with

photos

of

the airplane

in the

movie,

and the

FAA

relented and issued autho

rization for a replacement data plate.

I thought

long

and

hard about

just staying with the existing

SN

pa

perwork, because by opening that can

of

worms the FAA could just as easily

have said that we looked as if we were

trying to do something fraudulent (and

in fact they did at

one

point), and we'd

have

no

airplane at all. The real turn

ing point came when a safety inspector

came

through

our shop

to

take a look

at the airplane.

He

saw how profession

ally we were approaching the project

and

that

we weren't trying to pull a fast

one

on

them.

Kenmore Air is renown for its exper

tise on the R-985 Pratt Whitney, so

Doug's decision on who should rebuild

the engine was a no-brainer.

IIWhen Kenmore did the engine, we

were surprised to find the inside of the

engine to be in good condition consid

ering the time it had spent underwater.

The original cylinders, which had been

full of saltwater, were reused, although

they were chromed. Major components

replaced were all the pistons, crank

shaft, crankcase, blower, rear case, and

the impeller shaft assembly.

IIWe replaced the two-blade

prop

with a slightly smaller diameter, STC'd,

three-blade McCauley, mostly because

of noise considerations. I'd be working

off Lake Washington, which is ringed

with houses, and I

didn't

like the idea

of being 'that noisy floatplane. '

While Doug was in the rebuilding

process he bought another Beaver to


26/44

y

EXTRA

The

photo of the

February 2007

Mystery

Plane

is identical

to

that

which

appears in The Aero ("The Bris-

tol Two-Seated Monoplane, Volume

5

Number 104, November 1911, page

231). Most likely, this is one of the first

series of Bristol Prier military mono

planes, shown

later in

the February

1912 issue of he Aero ("50 hp Gnome

engined

Bristol Military Monoplane

on Salisbury Plain," Volume

6

Num

ber

107,

page

43) and

described

in

detail in

the

June 1912 issue of Aero-

nautics (London, "The Bristol Mono

planes," Volume

5

Number 82, pages

174-179).

The 1911-12 Bristol Prier series be

gan

as

the 1911 Bristol Prier

P.1

mono

plane

(works number 46) during the

summer of 1911, when M. Pierre Prier

joined the Bristol firm in June 1911.

Bristol (The British

and

Colonial Aero

plane Co. Ltd.) was originally formed in

February of 1910 by Sir George White,

who was at that time chairman of the

The Bristol Prier

Y

WESLEY

SMITH

at

the

British Bleriot school

and

also

served in

the

same capacity for Bristol

at

both of

its Brooklands

and

Larkhill

flying schools.

Three P.1s were built. In addition to

number

46, works numbers 56

and

57

were built during 1911. Both numbers

56

and 57

differed somewhat

from

number 46. As originally built, all

P.1s

were fitted

with

air-cooled

50-hp

Gnome

Omega rotary radial engines.

Numbers 56

and

57 were intended for

use in

the

1911 Circuit of Britain

Race

and

later,

number

56 was temporarily

modified for use in the 1911

Number

2 to be raced in the British Empire Mi

chelin Cup

and

was to be flown by Brit

ish pioneer aviator James Valentine.

In this form, number 56

had

a seven

cylinder, air-cooled 50-hp Isaacson ra

dial installed in order to make the air

craft "all-British." Unfortunately, prior

to

the

race, number

56

was wrecked

by Prier and Number 57 was disquali

fied because of a complicated affair in

ing 18 cylinders.

The nine-cylinder

rotary had a

rating of

100

hp

at

1200

rpm and

displaced 930.69

cu

bic inches; the twin-row version had

double the horsepower and displace

ment. The 50-hp Isaacson radial fitted

to

Bristol Prier P.1

number

56 appears

to have

been

the first

engine

type to

have

been built by

the Isaacson En

gine Co., Boyne Works at Leeds.

First displayed at

the

Third Interna

tional Aero Exhibition at Olympia, the

engine

displaced 312.06 cubic inches

and

produced the rated power at 1600

rpm

(800

rpm at

the propeller shaft).

The engine had a 2-to-1 gear reduction

and forced lubrication was

supplied

by a pump, the engine consuming 1.1

pints per hour. The

overhead

valves

were mechanically operated

by

push

rods,

and

carburetion was supplied by

a White

and

Poppe carburetor attached

to the rear of t};fe crankcase. Fuel con

sumption

was 0.48 pints per hp-hour.

Isaacson also

produced

a twin-row


27/44

ing the original Gnome

Omegas. Theonlyexcep

tion

to

this was

number

56, which in addition to

being

temporarily fitted

with

an

Isaacson, plans

had been

made

to in

stall a

40-hp Clement

Bayard. However, this

if

g was never done.

>

Construction

of

the

original Bristol Prier P.ls

Above:

These

three

angles show an

early

two place

was fairly conventional.

Bri

st

ol

Prier.

visited

the

Henley Royal Regatta and

proceeded

to

shoot up

the

river in a

dangerous manner (Brett, Dallas.

is-

tory

British Aviation Volume

1,

page

109). Gilmour then dove on

the

river,

dragging his wheels in the water, be

fore pulling up just in

time to

miss a

crowd. He then made a rather

abrupt

landing

in

a field near

the

riverbank.

For his transgressions, Gilmour was

called before the Royal Aero Club to

answer for his misdeeds.

As

a result, his

license was suspended for one

month.

Bristol

then

interceded on his behalf by

filing a writ to lift the injunction. This

was unsuccessful, and Bristol appealed

Flight

( The Bristol Mono

plane, 30

September

1911, Number 144, Volume 3, Num

ber 22, pages 839-841) is undoubted

ly

the

best description

of

the original

Bristol Prier P.

l.

The 23-foot

I-inch

fu

selage was of conventional wooden

construction,

utilizing

ash

longerons

and

spacer struts to form a piano wire

braced box girder structure. The Aero

is

believed to list the most accurate fu

selage

length-22

feet 11.875

inches

although this apparently applies to

the

initial two-place

variant.

The

overall

length was 24.5 feet, including the

nose skids.) Unique features of

the

P.l's

construction

included the use

of

pat

ented wood-cored steel tube wing spars

square spade

handle

attached to the

top . Wing warping of the P.I was quite

similar

to

that

of the

Bleriot Type

XI

monoplane, the front

spar being

se

curely fixed in sockets mounted to

fit-

tings attached to the appropriate ash

uprights. The rear spars, however, were

free to pivot at their

attachment

fit

tings . The 3/16-inch

stranded

wire

wing-bracing for the forward spar was

affixed

to

a dorsal cabane pyramid of

oval steel tubing

that

was placed im

mediately ahead of

the

cockpit. Differ

ential wing-warping cables (for

the

left

and right

wing panels) connected to

the stick ran

to

a rocking lever arm lo

cated at the apex of a ventral vee-strut,

located just under the cockpit. The lat

eral control cables from

the

stick were

in turn attached

to

the appropriate

triple warping cables

that

ran to

the

underside of each

rear

wing

spar via

the rocking lever arm. Return carry

through

cables attached to

the

dorsal

side

of

the rear spars completed the

warping control

system. These

ran

from the top of each wing's rear spar

through

tubular

guides brazed to the

rear side of the upper cabane pyramid.

All control wires in the P.ls were dupli

cated in case of failure . The triple brace


28/44

quite sensitive to any pitch input. The

vertical rudder

was

arranged

in the

same

manner

as the stabilator, being

mounted on a steel tube shaft. The sta

bilator of the

P.1

measured 7 feet in

length

(chord),

had

a

span

of

4 feet 2

inches (same as the distance between

the main landing gear skids), and an

area of 16 square feet. The stabilator

had an

interesting

wire bracing sys

tem . Small horns were mounted verti

cally

and

placed on

opposite

sides of

the fuselage. They served as an attach

ment

point

for two cables

that

ran

to

the trailing edge of the stabilator, on

both the dorsal

and

ventral sides.

Additional brace wires

were

at

tached

to each

apex of

the

triangular

stabilator wedge (the central

segment

was removed to allow the stabilator to

fit around

the

fuselage) .

The

vaguely

trapezoidal vertical rudder measured 2

feet high above the fuselage to the top

of the mounting tube

and

was 3 feet 9

inches wide,

which

gave it a total area

of

about

7 square feet. Like the stabila

tor, the entire surface

moved

and was

mounted

on

a centralized tube that

served as the pivot point.

Another

unique

feature

of

the

P.1s

were the

landing

gear

nose

skids.

These

extensions of

the landing gear

strut

skids were intended to

prevent

the

aircraft from

nosing over. On

the

P.1,

the

skid

extensions

were

sharply curved

and incorporated

a

helical spring held

in compression in

order

to

allow

the extensions to

flex

in the event of any

nose-over

mis

hap. The

main

landing

gear

wheels

were held

in

place

by

steel fittings at

tached

to

the main

skids

and through

became school machines. Apparently

the P.1s were fitted with an 8-foot di

ameter Normale mahogany propeller,

which

on

subsequent

machines was

replaced by a Bristol propeller of 8.1

foot diameter.

An

aluminum

cowl was

used on all Bristol Priers,

some

cover

ing the fuselage as far aft as the cockpit

area.

t

least the first P.1 had an aux

iliary fuel tank located

immediately

ahead of the cockpit. The

auxiliary

tank had one of two instruments that

were fitted to the P.l: a fuel gauge (the

other

being

a

tachometer).

The

main

fuel tank of the

P.1

was located imme-

BECAUSE OF ITS

PROFOUND LACK OF

STABILITY AND

CONTROLLABILITY,

FULTON WAS QUITE

UNIMPRESSED

BY

THE

P.1

.

diately aft

of the

pilot's seat. Location

of

the oil

tank

for the

Gnome

engines

is unclear but

was probably just aft

of

the

engine. The

seats

of

Bristol Priers

were of

aluminum construction and

were mounted

on

cables

that ran

be

tween

uprights

on

opposite

sides

of

the fuselage. The fittings that held the

suspension

wires

allowed

the seat(s)

to be

adjustable-both

vertically and

horizontally.

On the

initial

three P.1s

director of fortifications at the British

War Office, but it seems to have had

little impact as Bristol works

number

75 from the first batch of two-place

military machines was subsequent

ly

purchased

for

850

pounds

in Janu

ary of 1912. It was delivered to Larkhill

on February 17, 1912. This aircraft

was

assigned

the

serial number B6

and was assigned to Number 2 (Aero

plane) Company, Air Battalion, Royal

Engineers. Demonstrated by Prier dur

ing

a brief six-minute flight, it was not

flown

by

an

Air

Battalion pilot

until

March 17, when Lt. H.R.P. Richards

made an equally brief eight-minute

flight. B6 was flown again on April 26

whenitmadeamuch longer 37-minute

flight, but it crashed

on approach

fol

lowing an

engine

failure.

The

aircraft

was

then returned

to Bristol's

Filton

works for repair before

being returned

to service on

June

20. A second engine

failure

on

that same day resulted in yet

another crash, with serial number

B6

nosing

over and ending up on its back.

The

aircraft was

returned

to Filton for

a second

time.

The lack of

sufficient

stabilator

control

resulted in improve

ments

introduced at

the

suggestion

of

Bertram Dickson. These improvements ,

incorporated

in most subsequent

Bris

tol Prier types, included a 2-foot 6-

inch

longer fuselage and a redesigned hori

zontal

stabilizer and elevator

of more

conventional

design.

The

new hori

zontal

stabilizer was

of roughly

semi

circular

planform, and the elevator

was roughly a rectangular single-piece

surface

mounted at

the rear.

Well

before

B6 was

purchased,

Bristol

had begun product ion


29/44

upRace or in the Circuit of Britain, the only remaining

race of note in the United Kingdom was the British Empire

Michelin Cup, Number 2 The race began

at

Brooklands

on

July 11, 1911, but despite the planned participation ofjames

Va lentine in number 56 (with the Isaacson radial), th is event

proved to be abortive. In fact, the

on

ly British aircraft

to

com

plete the 1,0lO-mile cross-country flight was flown by Ameri

can expatriate (and naturalized British citizen) Samuel Franklin

Cody, who placed fourth, flying his 1911 Circuit of Britain

biplane. Nevertheless, despite the disappointing showings in

the United Kingdom, a Bristol Prier was the only British ma

chine to be displayed at the 1911 sa

lon de I

aeronautique when

it opened at Paris on December 16. Offered for sale at the price

of 950 pounds,

the

Bristol Prier generated

much

interest af

ter a flight over Paris by James Valentine two days prior to

the opening of the show. During 1911, Bristol trained a to tal

of 53 pupils, 18 at its Brooklands school

and

35 at Salisbury

Plain . The limited success of the Bristol Prier had in no way

affected the success

of

Bristol's highly successful Boxkite bi

plane, which proved to be an excellent trainer.

By

January 1912, Bristol had 100,000 pounds of working

capital. Bristol pilots Howard Pixton

and

Harry Busteed were

henceforth dispatched

to

Spain. t

an

airfield near Madrid,

Pix

ton

gave

demonstration

flights before

the

king of Spain

(Alphonso XIII),

demonstrating

that

the

Bristol Prier could

land and take off from fresh ly ploughed fields . Busteed made

the first aerial crossing of Madrid at an altitude of 5,000 feet,

winning the Avia

up in

the

process.

Pixton

pressed

on to

Johannisthal in Germany where he demonstrated

the

Bristol

Prier to the fledgling German aviation corps, giving flights to

some of those present. Later, Bristol was to sell Prier

mono-

planes to Spain, Italy, Germany, and Turkey and opened flying

schools in Italy and Germany. Several of the initial batch of 11

Bristol Priers went to Spain and Italy. Additionally, it is worth

noting

that

works number 73 (number 14 painted on the rear

fuselage) was fitted with a complex clothesline

antenna

for

wireless experiments conducted

at Hendon

in 1912. In this

configuration,

number

73's antenna

arrangement

was sup

ported by beams attached to

the

dorsal cabane and

the

verti

cal rudder support tube, respectively, which incorporated one

additional diagonal strut for support. Between the two beams,

four wires fitted with ceramic insulators were strung in tele

All

three above:

The Prier P.I

as shown in the

September

30 1911 edition

of he Aero


30/44

2.875 inches for the initial two-place

Bristol Priers. Like the discrepancy

in

fuselage length, this is minor; how

ever, the span of the initial production

batch was apparently increased from

the 30 feet 2 inches (span of the origi

nal three Bristol Priers) to 32 feet 9.5

inches for the initial two-place pro

duction machines. That said, the next

production batch of

eight

two-place

machines (works numbers 82, 85, 87,

89, 91, 130, 155, and 156) appears to

have incorporated the longer Dickson

fuselage

and

conventional

horizontal

stabilizer and elevator. This

is

unfortu

nately contrary to the

Aeronautics

ar

ticle that shows

the

older

empennage

in its drawings.

There was also a different wing area,

possibly due to an increased wingspan

and almost certainly due to an increase

in wing chord. Both Peter Lewis' Brit-

ish Aircraft 1809 1914

and the more

re-

cent

British Aircraft Before the Great War

list

the

span

as

34 feet . I have been un

able to confirm this in the contempo

rary sources, but it

is

possible that one

or

more

of the second two-place pro

duction batch were built with a greater

span

. Aeronautics

indicates

that

the

chord was increased

to

6.4 feet,

and

the

fuselage length was increased to

23.6 feet. The wing area was now stated

to

be 200 square feet , an increase of 7

square feet over

the

older two-place

military variant, which is stated by

The Aero to have

had

a

wing

area

of

about 193.754 square feet (this source

gives the area as 193 square feet, 108.5

square inches).

The

term

military

is

somewhat loosely applied,

but

it per

tains to all tandem-seat,

two-place

M.

Prier is

shown

in

this photo of

one

of

the first three P.ls

retrofitted

with a three cylinder Anzani for flight

school

work.

88.5 pounds of fuel (13.6 gallons). In

any case,

the

1912

two-place Bristol

Prier military had an empty weight

of

670

pounds and

a gross

weight of

1,200 pounds. Both two-place versions

are stated to have an identical max

imum airspeed

of 60 mph, 8 mph

slower than

the

P.1 fitted with a Gnome

Omega

British Aircraft 1809 1914

lists

a speed of 68 mph). The

Aeronautics

article makes

the

interesting distinc

tion of

mentioning that the

two-place

machine

can

be flown in either one

place or two-place

configuration

due

to

the

proximity of the passenger seat

to

the

center of gravity. In

any

case,

number

91

of the second

batch of

eight

two-place

machines was

also

purchased by

the

British War Office

and was subsequently serial numbered

as number 261 in military service.

As

in

the

earlier two-place version,

the

engine

of

the

later two-place Bristol

Prier military was a standard

50-hp

Gnome

Omega. The sole exception to

this were two machines based on works

number

82

that were

constructed

for

Turkey.

These

two machines

(works

numbers unknown) were fitted

with

70-hp

Gnome

Gammas.

The popular one-place

Bristol

Prier

school

machine mentioned

in

ently had a somewhat shorter span

of

29.5 feet

(the

Aeronautics

drawing

confusingly states that it is 10 me

ters, or 32.81 feet). This indicates that

the span was approximately 8 inches

less

than

that

of

the

original

P.1s.

The

wing chord may also have been

slightly less (the

Aeronautics

text states

that it was 6 feet). Whatever the actual

case,

the

stated wing area is

slightly

less than

number

57, being

given

as

160 square feet. The fuselage length

also closely matches

that

of the origi

nal three

P.1s,

the popular length

being listed as 23 feet,

the

longer Dick

son fuselage extension

not

being used

on this

variant. While

the

engine of

the popular is stated to be a three

cylinder 28-hp Anzani, most sources

give

the

actual horsepower as 35

hp.

Empty weight of the one-place popu

lar

is

listed as

450 pounds, and the

loaded weight

is

given

as

750 pounds.

The final Bristol Prier variant listed

in

the

June 1912

Aeronautics article

is a two-place school

machine.

How

ever, other sources refer

to

this Bristol

Prier variant as

the

sociable because

of

its side-by-side

seating arrange

ment.

After Prier

had

left Bristol,

and

Henri

Coanda

(see the November

2006

Mystery Plane) had

joined

the

company

in

January of

1912, Coanda

decided to modify Prier's fuselage de

sign

to

the side-by-side

arrangement

used on the Bieriot Type XI-2. While

the Aeronautics article gives a

span of

41.2 feet (12.55 meters listed

on

the

article's drawing), British Aircraft

Be-

fore

the Great War states that the span

was

34

feet.

In

any case, the Bristol

Prier sociable retained the longer


31/44

the Hendon meet held on April 20-21,

1912, 22,000 admissions were paid to

witness the racing event. James Valen

tine placed first in the pylon race but

was disqualified for overtaking B.C.

Hucks

on the

inside. Valentine never

theless made good

on

the Bristol Prier,

later winning the Whitsun Race at

Hendon. Bristol Priers were also flown

in the Daily Mail's First Aerial Derby,

James Valentine pi loting a Bristol Prier

with

the

race

number

7 for the 460

pound grand prize.

Toward

the end

ofjuly

1912, Bris

tol was forced to temporarily close

its flying

school at

Salisbury Plain

for

the

1912 British military aircraft

competition. Most aircraft were trans

ferred to

the

Brooklands school

and

were placed under the control of Bris

tol

instructors

Hotchkiss and Mer

riam. However,

M

Jullerot,

Gordon

England, Howard Pixton,

and

Harry

Busteed stayed

on

at Salisbury Plain

to

look after the Bristol entries in

the

competition. Determined

to

make a

good

showing at

Brooklands,

eight

Bristol machines flew 20 pupils over

a one-week period, making more

than

300

flights

totaling

40

hours.

Typically, flying began at 4 a.m.

and

continued all day into the evening

hours

. Some

students

are

reputed

to

have

been

roused from

their noctur

nal slumber by

the

instructors waking

them with the aircraft . In any case,

on average, one brevet was awarded

each

day.

Among those who

soloed

during

this period

were

Maj. J.F.A.

Higgins, Capt. C.P.

Michaels,

A.M.

MacDonnell, Lt EE Waldron, Lt K P

Atkinson, Sydney Picks, R.G. Holyo

finally hit the ground. The aircraft was

not very badly damaged,

but

Camp

bell was thrown against

the

padded

cockpit

coaming

and

was fatally in

jured. He was not using a seat belt.

Following

the

trials at Salisbury

Plain, B6 was returned to service on

August 22,

1912,

now sporting

the

new

Royal Flying

Corps

(RFC) se

rial number 256. When tested

by

Capt. C.R.W. Allen

and Lt

C.A. Bet

tington it was

found to climb and

handle well

with the

new

fuselage

extension

and empennage.

I t

was

subsequently assigned

to

Number 3

Squadron, and

on

September 17 was

joined

by the

second

RFC

Bristol

Prier military, which was assigned

the serial

number

261 (Bristol works

number 91).

I t

is unfortunate

that

the

monoplane ban went into effect only

a

short time

later,

and

as such, little

flying was

done with either

of

the

machines.

However, they

were

still

listed on charge

on

December 21,

but by March

28, 1913, they were

listed as

unallotted to

squadron.

They were held at the RFC Flying De-

pot

until

they were finally struck off

charge

on

August 5,

1913

.

Interest

ingly, Jack Bruce's

Aeroplanes o the

RFC Military Wing) gives

the span of

Bristol Prier

military

number

256

as

32 feet 9.5 inches

and

lists

the

length

as

23

feet

7.5

inches. (The span

matches that of the initial produc

tion

batch, but the length is slightly

greater.) He also states

that

the

wing

area was 200 square feet and lists the

empty

weight as 670

pounds

in origi

nal form,

with

a gross weight of 1,200

pounds. (These figures would seem to

the

ground

from 100 feet altitude. He

had only

been

flying for two months

at the time of the accident.

This was followed

by

a

second

ac

cident barely six months later.

On

January

26, 1914, Bristol instruc

tor

Warren Merriam was

flying

a

Bristol Prier sociable fitted with

an

80-hp

Gnome Lambda

at

Salisbury

Plain. His

student,

G.L. Gipps, had

taken his certificate (number 513) on

June 23, 1913. The aircraft was not

equipped with any instrumentation,

and

neither

person

was

strapped in

nor were they wearing crash helmets.

According

to

witnesses, the aircraft

completed

one

circuit of

the

field at

80 feet altitude. The aircraft

then

per

formed

a violent flat turn, stalled,

and dove into

the

ground. Gipps was

killed,

and

Merriam was severely in

jured

but

recovered.

The accident

is

said to have been caused when Gipps

resisted Merriam's rudder

input.

Gipps

then

relaxed his leg,

which threw the

vertical rudder hard-over, causing the

crash. Whatever

the

cause, little more

was heard

of

the Bristol Priers.

It is

somewhat

difficult to ascertain

exactly

how many

Bristol Prier vari

ants

were

built. According

to Peter

Lewis, three sociables were built,

with

works

numbers 107, 108, and 109.

However, unless one also

counts

the

sociable

destroyed in the

Merriam

Gipps aCCident,

the total doesn't

agree with his total

of

33. British Air-

craft

efore

the Great War

states

that

34

were built. Kenneth Munson's

book

Pioneer Aircraft 1903 1914 states that

there were three

original

machines,

followed

by seven one-place

mili


32/44

Y

DOUG STEW RT

Ainnanship

Seeing as

how

the wind was blowing strongly enough

to rattle the windows of my office (located in a trailer at

the

Columbia

County

Airport), I

thought

of

filing a pilot

report PIREP) stating, Moderate turbulence reported by

a trailer parked beside the ramp ... The wind was blowing

so strongly on this post-frontal day

that

my client and I

Documents

Vintage Airplane - May 2007