Vintage Airplane - Nov 1996

8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Nov 1996

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EDITORIAL STAFF

Pu b l isher

November1996 Vol. 24,No. 11

ONTENTS

Straight &Level/

Es

pi

e"Butch"Joyce

lC

News/H.G.Frautschy

3 Aeromail

4 TheAAAFly-In/

H.G.

Frautschy

andPaulPoberezny

6

The

Marion Fly-In /C ruise-In/

Ra yJohn so n

8 VintageAircraft Markings/

H.G

.Frautschy

10 Mys

te r

yPlane/H.G.Frautschy

12 TypeClubNotes/NormPetersen

13

ommandin

gPresence/

H.G. Frautschy

17 WicksPiperColt/

NormPeter

se

n

21 Helpsand Hints/BradHindall

22

What

Our

Member

s

AreRestoring/NormPetersen

24 Pass

I t

ToBuckl

E.E."Buck"Hilbert

26

WelcomeNewMembers/

alendar

27

VintageTrader/

Membership

Information

Page4

Tom

Poberezny

Editor

-

in

-

Chief

JackCox

Editor

Henry

G.

Frautschy

Manag

i

ng

Ed i

tor

GoldaCox

ArtDirector

MikeDrucks

Compute

r

Graphic

Specialis

ts

Olivia

L.

Phillip

JenniferLarsen

MaryPremeau

AssociateEditor

NormPetersen

FeatureWriter

DennisParks

StaffPhotographers

Jim

Koepn ic k M ik eStein

eke

CarlSchuppel KenLichtenburg

Advertising

/

Editorial

Assi

stant

Isabelle

Wiske

EM

ANTIQUE

/CLASSIC DIVISION ,INC,

OFFICERS

President

Vice-President

Espie'Butch 'Joyce GeorgeDaubner

P.O.Box35584 2448LoughLane

Greensboro,NC27425

Hart1ord,WI 53027

910/393-0344 414/6735885

Secretary

Treasurer

SteveNesse

E.E.'Buck'Hilbert

2009Highland

Ave

. P.O.Box424

AlbertLea,MN56007 Union,

IL

60180

507/373-1674 815/923-4591

DIRECTORS

John

Berencff

RobertC."Bob' Braue r

7645EchoPointRd. 9345S Hoyne

CannonFalls,MN

55009

Chicaw,

IL 60620

507/263-2414 312/ 792105

Phil Coulson

JohnS.Cope land

28415

Springbrook

Dr.

283Williamsbur8Ct .

Lawton,

MI49065

Shrewsbury,MA 1545

616/624-6490 508/8427867

Charles

Harris

StanGomoll

7215East

46thSt.

1042

90thLane,

NE

Tulsa,OK 74145

Minneoolis,MN

55434

918/622-8400

61

/784-1172

DaleA.Gustafson

JeannieHill

7724

Shady

HillDr.

P.O.Box328

Indianapolis,

IN 46278

Harvard,IL 60033

317/293-4430

815/943-7205

Robert

l i c k t e i

Robert

D.

'Bob' Lumley

1708Boy

Oaks

r.

1265 South124th

St.

Albert

Lea,

MN

56007

Brookfield.

WI 53005

507/373-2922

414/7822633

Dean

Richardson

Geoff

Rob

is

on

P

age

13

Page17

FRONTCOVER

Oneofthe

creations

thethetalentedaero-engineer

AlbertVoellmecke.

asbuilt

by

the

ArkansasAircraft

wast

heCommand

Aire

3C

-3.

This example.restored

by Tom

Brown.Unity.WI

andownedby

Art

Know

les.Jacksonboro.TX wasbr

ought

toEM

Oshkosh

'96,

EM photoby

JimKoepnick,

sho

twitha

Canon

EOS-ln

equipped

with

an

----' 80-200mmlens. 1/250sec@tll on 100ASAslidefilm. Cessna

210photo

planeflown

by


3/36

STRAIGHT LEVEL

t is hard to believe it is November already . The leaves

are just beautiful here

in

the foothills

of

North Carolina this

year, but if you haven't seen them by now, it is too late as

the wind and rain we are now having is taking its toll by

stripping the trees . This does , however, give people who are

looking for something to do the job of gathering up those

leaves and disposing of them. Each year I have the fun of

disposing

of

about two dump truck loads.

r

am writing this just before going to the airport to fly my

Baron to Oshkosh for the fall Board meeting. I was looking

at the weather last night and thinking back on how many

trips

r

have made to Oshkosh for meetings. t seems that the

best I can recall is this will be my 89th trip for a board

meeting. Brad

Thomas, past

president of your

Antique/Classic Division who passed away this past year,

and Morton Lester, an EAA Foundation Board member and

past Antique/Classic Director, both live in the same general

area I do and

in

the past we'd trade

off

rides when going to

these meetings. The trips we made together were often an

adventure in themselves. I could spend a lot

of

time telling

you some war stories about them

There are

a

number

of Board

members

who have

volunteered more trips than I have by virtue

of

their long

time service to the board. I have enjoyed, and continue to

by Espie Butch Joyce

some areas of the country, but it certainly is not coming to a

halt. After Thanksgiving, as advertised

in

your VINTAGE

AIRPLANE, there is the Vintage Weekend held at the

Ocean

Reef

Club located

just

north of Key Largo, Florida.

They will have some

of

the most beautiful vintage wooden

boats and vintage autos you've ever seen on di splay, and last

year was the second time for vintage airplanes. The Ocean

Reef has its

own private airport,

managed by

Antique/Classic member and Swift

owner

Denny Moore.

Denny

is

responsible,

in

a large part, for the vintage aircraft

owners being invited for this fun weekend.

If

you want a

weekend of fun , sun, great seafood and fellowship, this is

the place to be. Norma and I will be there again this year;

come and join us. If you're interested, you need to give

them a call as soon as possible, since the normal deadline for

an RSVP has passed - perhaps they can still accommodate

you. Call Marcy Kilby, 305/367-5874 for more information.

You may wish to review the ad on page 29

in

last month s

Vintage Airplane before you call.

Also in December, the First Flight Society and the Man

Will Never Fly Society will meet

at

Kitty Hawk, North

Carolina December 16-17, to honor the anniversary of the

Wright brothers ' first flight on December 7 , 1903. As you

might have already concluded, the First Flight Society is the


4/36

A C N WS

compiled

by

H.

G

Fraut

schy

12 140 FUEL CAPS

In the September issue

of

the Interna

tional Cessna

1201140

Association

s

newsletter, Neal Wright

of

Sunnyvale, CA

wrote a lengthy article detailing the haz

ards

of

using a Cessna "half vented fuel

cap on those Cessna

1201140

' s that require

the fully vented type of cap.

The

fully

vented cap used on the 120 and 140 is not

interchangeable with the cap meant for use

on the 140A and later model Cessnas. We

can ' t go into all the details here, but

if

you

are using that s tyle cap on a 120 or 140

(it's

OK

on the later models), which is eas

ily identified by a silicone tank vent valve

built into the section

of

the cap that ex

tends into the tank, you are at risk to have

a

fu

el starvation incident, should the valve

stick and prevent air from entering the tank

as fuel

is

burned off.

This

is

an excellent example illustrating

why

it is

such a good idea to belong to the

type club for your airplane

.

Why go

it

alone? Take advantage

of

the collective

knowledge

of

people who have been there

and

done that To

join

,

contact

Bill

Rhoades , the editor

of

the International

Cessna 1201140 Association' s new sletter

at Box

830092

,

Richardson,

TX 75083-

0092 or call 6 2 /652 2221. His E-mail is

pilotl40

@AOL.com.

If

you'd

like to buy

a back issue

of

the September newsletter,

call

Be

Be Owen at 407/595 9562.

TYPE CLUB LIST

Once again, we will publish a list of the

Type Clubs

who

have contacted

us

over

fered

in

a fund raising raffle sponsored by

the Don Luscombe Aviation Historica

l

Foundation

(DLAHF).

The drawing for

the raffle was held during the Copperstate

EAA Regional Fly-In

in

Mesa, AZ on Oc

tober 12, 1996. Sanford, who owns a Lus

combe, purchased his tickets several

months

earlier

in a

effort

to

add

his sup

port to the work done by the DLAHF.

This was the fourth time the raffle has

been held, and a fifth Luscombe 8E will be

raffled

off

in 1997,

and

as in

years past

,

there

is

a limit of 2,800 tickets that will be

sold. Tickets for the 1997

drawing

are

now

available

at $40 each or 3 for $ I 00 .

Proceeds from the raffles have funded the

preservation

of

the Luscombe Type Cer

tificate and the production of needed parts.

Other prize winners

in

the

drawing

were:

Thomas Brennan, Oil City,

PA

- a GPS

receiver

W.F. Surgi , Rockville, MD - an ICOM

hand held transceiver

William Loomis

,

Chattadoy

,

WA

- a

$400 parts credit from the DLAHF

Charles Harrison

and

Orlo Ellison -

Luscombe Comprehensive Maintenance

Manuals

Kent Wilson and

Mr. Hard -

Coffee

table book The Luscombe by Saletri

Anthony Kulikowski, James Klover-

strom, Robert Fowler, Dennis Feltin - Vi

sions

of

Luscombe book by Jim Zazas

The Foundation produces

FAA

I

PMA s

parts using many of the original tools pur

chased with the funds generated from the

chased four tickets

to

benefit

the

Swift

Foundation.

A

big contributor

to this

year

' s raffle was Dr. Mike McCutcheon,

who was able to donate half of his invest

ment,

in

addition

to

half

of the cost of

completing Swift N80570 so

it could be

offered in the drawing. Mark hasn't im

mediately accepted the Swift, since he cur

rently has three. He and his accountant are

checking how it might be possible to do

nate the

Swift

back to the Swift Founda

tion, so that

next

year

there could

be

a

drawing for two Swifts, one stock and the

other modified. We'

ll

keep you posted.

Our congratulations to both the DLAHF

and

Swift Foundation for

their

proactive

approach to dealing with the problems fac

ing the production

of

replacement parts for

their respective aircraft, and their work to

preserve

the

heritage

to

these

two

great

Classic aircraft.

S

WEDI

SH SPIRIT OF

ST

LOUIS

lC Secretary Steve Nesse recently re

ceived

a

letter from Pierre Hollander of

Prastgardsvagen 8, S-74637 Balstra Swe

den, phone 46 0 171-59355 . Pierre

is

pro

ceeding with the construction

of

a Spirit of

St. Louis replica, with the wing ready for

covering, along

with all the control sur

faces. All the steel is

welded,

including

the fuselage and landing gear.

He

has the

control system ready, as well as an engine

and propeller, and he even has a working

Earth Inductor

Compass

. Right now, he
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


5/36

VINTAGE

AeroMail

MORE FRANKLIN DISCUSSION

Mr. K C Ostronik,

This is in response to your letter in the

September Vintage Airplane. I can't help

you with

any

info

on

the Lycoming-to

Franklin cylinder mod, but as a Stinson

108

owner

I

sure

know

your problems

with

Franklin parts availability. A few years

ago, I had some success with an

outfit

called Carl Baker Co. in Van Nuys, CA at

least for my Franklin 6 A4-150-B3. I'm

not sure if they have parts for your model,

but

alot of Franklin parts are common

among several models. The address is :

Carl Baker Co.

209280 Osborne St

Canoga Park, CA 91304

8181786-3120

Are you aware that PZL in Poland, who

owns the Franklin type certificates, is now

producing the 6A-350, a 220 hp model that

I think was a growth of your model before

Franklin was sold. Perhaps you could get a

one time approval for the Seabee

without

too much problem. It might be worth the

research. As a Franklin owner I was con

tacted by the U.S. distributor for the PZL

Franklin, who happens to be located

near

me. PZL has no plans to support my en

KIDS, DON'T TRY THIS

AT HOME . . .

Dear Sir,

I have just finished reading Amazing

Float Recovery by David Mathison in

Vintage Airplane of August 1996 and it re

called

an experiment

I

made during the

'50s.

I had read about a pilot who crashed af

ter a failure in the elevator controls, who

tried to land using only the trim tab.

My friend Todd

Crow

owned

a

Lus

combe

8-F and

we talked about how to

solve such a problem.

We used his

Luscombe

and I set the

trim in full nose up position and started the

takeoff

roll. As soon as the wheels were

off

the ground, I took my hands and feet

off

the controls. The nose started to rise and as

soon as the nose reached a good climb an

gie I retarded the throttle to keep the nose

from rising too far.

Then in a climbing and mushing attinlde

we climbed to traffic altitude, reduced

throttle and pushed the left door open par

tially open. The plane heeled over in a left

turn and at the proper time we closed the

door

and opened the right

door

to roll out

level on the crosswind leg.

For the turn to downwind , we repeated

the use

of

the doors, and again on the turn

to base and final , while using throttle to

control altitude. On final , I set up a mush

from Kaunas University of Technology run

by A. Ziliukas has proposed an idea to re

build A Gustaitis aeroplane ANBO-41.

This aeroplane would be useful not only in

Lithuania during aviation festivals, but

helping

keep the memory of General A.

Gustaitis it would be possible to fly around

the Earth and

visit

the fairest Lithuanian

colonies. This would be an extension

of

A

Gustaitis' idea to fly around not only Eu

rope , but the World . This wouldn't be

so

me record

flight ,

but

reminding

the

younger generation about the

name of

Lithuania. This idea was approved by the

Kaunas Department of Lithuanian Culture

Foundation , Aviation Museum,

Hauna

s

Aviation Plant

,

Aviation museums

have

done much

of

the

work preparing

draft

s

(drawings?) of the aeroplane. With the

help of sponsors we will solve the ques

tions of material. But we do have a prob

lem

with an

engine, without

which we

can't

even talk about the rebuilding of an

aeroplane.

That's

why we appeal to you with a re

quest for advice. We have heard that there

are such engines.

If

you have information

or

know where we could get it,

we'd

like to

obtain an Bristol Pegasus .X I part I.M3

1000-1 100 .

Please contact:

prof. A Ziliukas

Kestucio 27


6/36

vlS l fS fH

August 3

by Paul Poberezny

ly In

eptember 2

1996

and H.G. Frautschy

One of

the point

s

of attr

a

ction

on Antique Airfield

are the

AAA

s

hangars housing

their ex

t

en

sive

collect

ion

of

Antiqu

e ai rplanes.

(Above) AAA Founder and President Robert

L. Taylor and EAA

Founder and

President

Paul

Poberezny

after Paul s

arrival

via

his

Harley Davidson.

In response to an invitation extended

by Brent

Taylor

, Executive Director of

the Antique Airplane Association, EAA

founder and chairman

of

the board, Paul

Poberezny and many of the Directors of

the EAA Antique/Classic Division trav

e led to

AAA

s

Antique

Airfield in

Blakesburg, IA over the

Labor

Day

weekend for the annua l AAA/APM In

vitational Fly-In.

The AAAlAPM fly- in br

in

gs together

a variety

of

AAA members who are v

in

tage airp lane enthusiasts and th

eir

air

planes for an extended weekend of shar

ing o ld

airpla

ne

experie

n

ces

and

discussing relevant issue

s

Brent invited

the folks from the EAA to enjoy the fly

in and partake

in

a

di

scussion regarding

maintenance

concerns that effect An

tique, Classic and other older aircraft.

In

1996, EAA and AAA have had a series

of discussions regarding these issues, in-

cluding how to

present

our collective

views to the FAA.

The

meeting, held in o ne of the Air

Power Museum

s

hangars, was attended

by a large number of attendees, and was

opened by Bob Taylor, who founded the

AAA in 1953 and serves as its president,

had a few opening remarks before intro


7/36

(Above

and right)

Brent

Taylor

,

Executive

Director

of

the

AAA ,

speaks

t o

the crowd

about

the

mainte-

nance

is

sues

that are confronting the pilot/owners of

older

airplane

s. EAA

and

AAA have

had

a continuing

series

of discussions regarding these issues, includ

i

ng

how

to

present our collective views to the FAA as

a group.

ducing

Paul Poberezny to

the

as-

sembled crowd.

Paul made some remarks to his

fellow aviators regarding the issues

we all face including an FAA that

has become too politically

moti-

vated,

and efforts

being made to

keep the costs down

of

maintaining

a personal airplane. Paul and Bob

then retired to Bob 's office where

he and Paul reminisced for a couple

of hours about the past successes of

their respective organizations.

Brent Taylor chaired the meet

ing held in one

of

the APM hangars

with

discussions centered around

many

maintenance

issues. IC

Treasurer E.E.

Buck

Hilbert ad

dressed the

group

concerning the

items that have been included in the

ongoing ARAC meetings.

Attending

the Fly-In

were

IC

Directors Gene

Chase and his wife

Dorothy Bob Brauer Phil Coulson

and his wife Ruth Da le Gustafson

and Secretary Steve Nesse.

Of

course there were plenty of

other

things

to do during the laid

back event including visiting with

fellow pi lots of antiques and check

ing out the Air Power Museum the

AAA's collection ofrare antiques

that include

the

one and only

re-

main ing General Aristocrat an al

most complete collection

of

Aeron

cas and the sole remaining Welch

OW-So

The museum alone

is rea

son enough

to

visit

the field

even

outside

of

the Fly- In dates .

It wasn t all work and no play -

after

al l, the

AAA and

EAA Ale Division are dedicated to keeping the an -

t iques flying , and informing those who enjoy them.

The

Wallace

Touroplane (above) of Bill Jowetts made

an

appearance. This Meyers

OTW (below, left),

regis

tered to Dale Benskin, Marshalltown, IA was present,

as well as

the

Hisso

powered

Travel Air (below) flown

by owner Dennis Trone. Over 200

antiques

,

classics

and homebuilts

(and their pilots ) descended

on An-

tique

Airfield

for

the AAA National

Fly-In.


8/36

The

Sixth

Annual Marion,IN

Fly-In/Cruise-In

by R

ay

L John so

n

(Above) Roy Foxwor

thy and his

Johnson

A Charity

fly in

might be

just

the

Rocket

flew

up

from

Columbus,

IN.

ticket for

some

local good

will

The pilot

of

th

is Stins o

V-77 ,

George

Moc

k, le

people

who

were

so in

cl ined to hop

up

in

si

d

and take

a l

ook

a t

th

e

big

cabin

a irplane fro

the

40's .

The idea for the Fly-in /

Cruise-In

started in June

of

1991. Our daughter was

in

the Marion High School Marching Band,

and they were in need of a major fund

raiser. There 's a lot of interest in antique

and

classic automobiles

in our area,

per

haps encouraged by the fact that a movie

legend,

the perfect

tough guy, actor

sixth annual

event.

The weather, thank

fu

ll

y was perfect, and we had 175 aircraft

of all types and 225 vintage vehicles, with

the cars and planes parked amongst one an

o

th

er for the general public to enjoy. All of

the registered participants received a dash

plaque. Between the the genera l pub lic

and the pilots who flew in with their pas


9/36

Pam Workman zipped

over from

Zanesville, OH

with this custom

7EC Champ restored

by

her husband Paul.

Walter Best s

S t e a rman

certainly had

the crowd in

terested in

f ront

of the

h a n g a r s

He

s

from In

dianapolis.


10/36

Antique/Classic

Aircraft

Markings

by H.G. Frautschy

You' re in the home stretch

in

your restora

ti

on pro

j

ec

t, rea

ll

y makin g head way and about to fi nish the

painting, when you rea

li

ze yo u haven ' t dec ided h

ow

you' re go ing to layout the reg istration numbers. How

big do they need to be? Where do th ey go? What do

th e regs say? You'd have to look at Subpart C - Na

ti

onali ty a nd Reg ist ra

ti

on Marks under 45.22 Exhi

bition, antique, and other a ircraft: Spec ial rul

es for

the de ta il s. Fo r the part that co nce rns mos t of us, it

reads:

(b) A sma

ll

U.S. -registered aircraft bui lt

at

least 30

years ago or a U.S.-registered aircraft for which an ex

per i

men

ta l cert if icate h

as

been i

ssued

und e r

1.19 1 d) or 21. 19 1 g) fo r operation as an exhibition

aircraft

or

as a n amateur-built aircraft and which has

the same exte

rn

al configura

ti

on as an aircraft built a t

least 30 years ago may be operated without

di

splaying

marks in accordance with 45.21 and 45.23 through

45.33 if:

( I) It displays in accordance w

it

h 45.2 1 (c)

marks at least 2 inches high on each side o f the

fu

se

lage or ve rtica l ta il surface co nsisting of the Roman

capita l le

tt

er N foll owed by:

12 inch

numbers

such as these are not required unle

ss

you plan

to

f ly

(i)

The U.S. reg istra

ti

on num ber of the air-

through an ADIZ or DEWIZ,

as well

as in a

foreign country.

Even then,

you

can

mark your aircraft with temporary registration markings

if

you

' re

plan

craft;

or

nin

g on making that international trip , or you plan on

transiting coas

ta l

( ii ) T he sy

mb

ol appropr iate to the airwo r

airspace. Adhesiv

e

tape that

will

not blow

off

is

all

that is requi

red

fo

r

you

r

thiness certificate o f th e a ircraft ( C , standard; R ,

te

mporary markings.

By

the way,

although

the

ICAO

standards

call

ou

t f

or

res tri cted; L , limited; or X , ex perim enta l) fo l

12

numbe

rs, t

he

U.S.

and

Canada have a

gentleman

's agr

eement

that

al

lowe d b y th e U.S. reg istration numbe r of the aircraft ;

lows their aircraft to

enter

the U.S. with 6 letters and wing markings, wh ile

and

Canada will

allow

aircraft at least 30 years old to enter

with

2 numbers.

(2)

It di sp l

ays

no

ot

h

er

mark that beg ins

Even if you 're using a custom color scheme on you r restoration , you can use

with the letter N anywhere o n the aircraft, unless it

the mark

ings

appropriate to

when

your airplane was built. In this

Champ

's

is the sa me mark that is di splayed under parag raph

case , a

vertica

l stack of 2 letters and numbers on

the

rudder wou ld be a

c-

cept able. Check

with

your type c lub

fo

r

the

t y

pe and

size of

the

mark i

ngs

(b)( I)

of

this section .

used on your

aircraft

when it

wa

s

first

built.

It goes on to ex

pl

ain what is needed if yo u wish to

fl

y your 30-year-old or old

er

airpl ane in an ADIZ o r

DEWI Z, as we ll as in a foreign co untry. (A lth ough

th e ICAO standards ca ll out for 1

2

numbers, th e U.S.

and Canada have a ge ntleman

's

agreement that a

l-

lows

th

eir aircraft to e nter the U.S . with 6 letters an d


11/36

Barney Petersen's Fokker D.VII replica is able to use these small N numbers un

der the horizontal tail since it is a replica of

an

aircraft built more than

30

years

ago and how ). In fact, the markings do not have to feature this much contrast.

Antiques with

marking such as

this are able to be

marked as such

under authoriza

tion of FAR 45.22

(b) 1) (i and iiI.

Since

aircraft

such as this are

exempted from

comp

lying

with

FAR 45.21, the

registration can

have ornamenta

tion , and

it

can

also have little

contrast with the

background.

on this issue for 2 years with the FAA, and the AAA

was making their opinion known to the FAA as well.

Still, even after all these years, we sti

ll

routinely

receive

ca lls sta tin g

tha

t my loca l FAA in

spector

says I have to have

2

numbers. Here's the straight

skinny on

that - you

need

12 numbers only if you

plan to fly through an ADIZ or DEWIZ, as well as in

a foreign country. Even then, you can mark your air

craft with

temporary

12 regi

s

tration markings if

you're planning

on

making that internationa l trip, or

you plan on transiting coastal airspace. Adhesive tape

that will not

blow

off is all that is required for

your

temporary markings. Fo r aircraft over

30

years of

age,

that's

the

only

tim

e

2

numb

er s

are

required.

One other note - while you do have to put the reg

istration marks on the fuselage or vertical tail surface

(usually on the rudder or vertical fin) yo u don't have

to put the

large wing numbers

on. If

your airplane

was delivered with them, and you want to be authen

tic, you certainly will want to do it, but you

don't

have

to as far as the FAA

is

concerned.

Take

a look at the

photos

included in this article

for some explanation. Now one of the first things you

may notice is that a many of the

older

antiques have

registration

markings

that have more than the letter

N included. In those instances, you can use for jus

tification an FAA memo, number

N8 I

30.61, dated

2/3 /90

and penned by Dana D. Lakeman, who was

the Acting Manager, Aircraft Manufacturing Division,

Aircraft Certification Service. It reads

in

part:

An

antique aircraft

or replica of an antique air

craft described

in

FAR

45.22 (b)

may display

the

symbols appropriate to the airworthiness certificate

of

the aircraft as part of the nationality and registration

marks under the aircraft as part of the nationality and

reg istration marks under the regulation. The capital

letter N followed by either a

C ,

(standard);

R ,

(restricted); L , (limited); or X , (experimental) fol

lowed by the U.S. registration numbe r of the aircraft.

When these marks are included with the nationality

and registration marks they add to the authenticity of

antique and amateur-built copies of antique aircraft.

However,

if

these symbo ls are added to the nationality

and reg istrat ion marks displayed on the aircraft, they

do not become part

of the official aircraft registration

numbers.

Now I realize that this

is

exactly as spelled out pre

viously

in the regulations, but there was apparently


12/36

copter procurement

at

that

time was Col. Keith Wilson

and hi s

had

~ r r ~ ~ = = = = i i i i i i 1 r ~ ~ ~ = =

by H C

rautschy

The

August

Mystery Plane was a

helicopter

and

it was well

known

to many

you particularly

to

someone

who 1 had hoped

would write in - James Ricklefs, a long-time le Division member.

James was one

of

the principles ill the company that bui lt the twill

rotor helo ill the photo. Here s his Ilote:

LANDGRAF HELICOPTER

COMPANY

A Short History Compiled by James S

Ricklefs, AlC 964

Fred

Landgraf

started in 1941 to de

velop

the experimental Model H-2 heli

copter which was a single-place proof of

concept design, built of wood and powered

with an 85 hp Pobjoy English engine. At

that time Fred was working at Douglas' EI

Segundo plant as a landing

gear

and hy

draulics group leader. He quit Douglas

in 1943 to work on the helicopter full

time at home . r joined Fred in 1944 as

his vice president, and also invested some

money

in

the com

pany. We looked

around and found

an

abandoned gaso

line filling station at 8024 S Western Ave.

in

Los Angeles, and with the backing of 55

stockholders and six shop men , we started

the machine on November 17 , 1944 when

one of the wooden hubs let go in forward

flight. He suffered a broken jaw and other

IIlJunes.

Landgraf

then set about designing a

metal rotor hub which was done in the In

dustrial Plastics

Corporation

building at

1440 West I 66th St., Gardena, CA. In the

spring

of

1945 the Army awarded Landgraf

a $50,000 contract for the development of

a rigid rotor blade system to be used on the

H-2 .The head

of Army heli

Landgraf sold forei gn manufacturing rights

to Firth Helicopters Ltd., London, England

for $100 ,000. This

gave

Landgraf th e

money to purchase 13 acres

of

land adja

cent to

the

Central Airport and build

an

80'by 108' brick office and shop building

at

13440 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles ,

CA.

Fred and I tried

hard to get one

of

the

large aircraft compa

nies in the area to con

tinue the project, as we

ran low on money. We

conferences with

Robert

E. Gross

of

Lockheed and many

others

,

but nothing

jelled. The English com

pany

was

also having money and

production troubles as can be seen in

the attached memo written by Landgraf for

the stockholders. (The letter to the share

holders details the concerns Landgraf had

about the overweight aircraft built by Firth


13/36

The November Mystery plane comes

to us

from

the EAA archives. It s a ro

bust looking

biplane with an

interest

ing wing bracing arrangement and

we

await your answers. Replies must be

received

no

later

than December 26 ,

1996

to

be included in

the

February is-

sue

of

Vintage Airplane.

did anything with them as I recal

l.

Mag

ill died July 1986 in Texas at about age

76 after promoting two or three one-man

helicopters.

The Landgraf

company

was dis-

solved in 1952 after selling the land and

building to Robert Schultz. I continued

to rent from

Schultz

until 1955. Fred

died July 12, 1973 in San Diego after a

heart attack. Fred and I kept in touch

through the years.

In

early

luly

1973 he

sent me a long letter helping me with a

weight and balance problem I was hav

ing on the 1916 Spad VII airplane I was

restoring

in

my shop.

n d g r f

H 2

This Mys tery Plane was submitted b y

H

oward

l ung,

Mo

n

terey Park,

CA. Be

sides his des ign work on th e Lusco mbe 8

se ries, Howard was also par t of th e team

working on the Landgraf H 2. In hi s note

that he sent with the photos, he wrot

e:

. .

. e all

(6)

were

fe

llow engineers hired by

Douglas Aircraft-Northrop Division

in

El

Segundo CA.

Fred

Landgrafwas

our

group leader in the landing gear and hy

draulics section. On the side,

Landgraf

was designing a helicopter. e all were

interested and volunteered to work on this

project after hours doing

mostly

shop

work.

The H-2 was powered by an

85

hp Pob

joy

engine, and featured a pair

of

16

ft. in

termeshing, synchronized rotors, with the

helicopter 's attitude controlled by ailerons

built into the trailing edge

of

each rotor. It

had automatic collective pitch control.

(Increasing power resulted in increased

collective

pitch.)

There

was an override

for that system to

fine

tune the collec

tive pitch contro l, and to provide control

during autorotation.

The cockpit controls consisted of a sin

gle control stick and throttle. A later de

sign evolution of the H-2 tested a yaw sys

tem actuated by rudder peda ls in the

cockpit which extended spoi lers at the end

of each rotor blade. By adding drag to the

rotor disc on one side, an increased torque

load was applied to that rotor,

and

yaw

during hovering flight was possibl

e.

With

out the

added

control,

when

the H-2 was

brought into a hover, it would then weath

ercock into the wind.

The retractable

l

anding gear

had long

stroke oleos bu

il

t to soak up the impact

of

a power off

vertical

landing.

Landgraf

was

working

on

the

design of a pair of

larger helos based on the same configura

tion, but no one was interested

in

fronting

the money to put the design into existence

or production. Other correct answers were

recieved from Charley Hayes, New Lenox,

IL; Vi Smith, Uxbridge, Midd lesex, Eng

land; Lennart lohnsson, Eldsberga, Swe

den

Doug

Rounds,

Zebu

lon, GA; Ralph

Norte

ll

, Spokane, WA and Tim Wood, St.


14/36

ypeClub

NOTES

y

orm Peter

n

Compiled from various type club

publications

&

newsletters

Twin Beech Association Inc., Fountain

Valley C 714-964-4864

From the Beech Eagle Flyer, Sept. '96

" Perrone Leathers Tri-Gear 18 was a

big hit at Oshkosh.

If

we were

to

give an

award for extreme patience in restoring a

Twin Beech, certainly Bill Perrone, Senior

and Junior, would be the recipients. They

have had more frustrations than

anyone

of

us could stand, tim e after tim e they ran

into problems with

no

sol utions in hand.

They continued

to

pour money into their

flying , leather

di

splay airplane and never

gave

up

hop

e.

Their last anguish was that

they were upside down money wise in the

airplane. I assured them that they were

not

- th e proof came at

Oshkosh

as

hordes

of people came to

look

at the

prominently displayed airplane. More

than once, check books were pulled out

with offers to the Perrones to name their

price.

One person,

who shall remain

anonymous, wanted

to

be first

in

line and

said

he

would make whatever offer

it

took

to

buy

th

e airplane. Bill and Billy, smiled

proudly as they declined all offers. Billy

ran into a problem when servicing

the

nose gear hydraulic snubber cy linder.

Each time he did so, the right pilot 's mas

ter cylinder went soft. Any ideas? Billy

act ive bunch of ant ique and classic devo

t

ees

in and around the state of Oregon .

The president is Hal Skinner (541-746

3387) and the editor is Tom Bede ll (541

929-5598) with the address

of

the

club

li sted

as

P. O. Box

613, Creswell

,

OR

97426 . Annual due s

are

$10. The

October issue has an interesting member

profile on Don Harrell (EAA 53378)

of

P.

O. Box 205, Brownsville, CA 95919, writ

ten by Carol Skilmer.

"Don was born in Indiana in 1927 on a

farm

near

Monument

City that

is now

under water due to a flood control project.

He has lived in Brownsville, California,

for 12 years and after 17 moves during

hi

s

military career. he says

he

expects to die

there. Although it seems to him he has

only been

married a few

years,

Lucille

reminded him it has been 18 . Must be

wonderful years.

Do

n spent 23 years in the Air Force

sta rting as an aviation cadet but the war

ended. With a B.S. and an ROT C com

mission,

he

went back

to

flight school and

was a full-time pilot for 19 years. Service

as an officer was much more enjoyable.

"Solo

in

g in 1943

in

a brand new Piper

1 5

out of an Indiana cornfield, it was not

until 1945 that Don got his pilot's license.

He now holds commercial, s ingle & multi

Starduster Too.

I has heard that Don had done some

instructing outside the U.S. and thought it

would make interesting reading. First was

ferrying C-119s and setting up a school for

the Indian Air Force.

The

next year he

was a tactical helicopter instructor for the

Venezuelan Air Force. Then came two

years

as an

instructor

/

advisor

with the

Columbian

Air Force where he was the

only English speaking person in town

Shortly after Don a

nd

Lucille were mar

ried, the Shah of Iran advertised on the

Q.T. for single engine jet pilots and heli

copter pilots. Figuring

hi

s life expectancy

was better in the helicopter business, he

persuaded Lucille

to

give it a go.

" But then th e Shah lost his

job

and so

did Don. Says Don, "Getting out is a story

in

itself. Ross Perot is one of my heroes."

All this was followed by a stay in the Fiji

Islands.

"

Don

is

somewhat of an expert

on

Cessna 170s, having owned 14. Three

were

totally rebuilt

and

restored

to

absolute new condition. The only factory

jigs easi ly available to enab le a perfect

rebuild are

in

Porterville, California. The

cost of living there in a motorhome for

four to six weeks increases the cost

of

a

170 to $45,000-$50,000 and nobody wants


15/36

Commanding

Presence

A Newly Restored OX-5 Powered 3C3

Highlights the Work of Pioneer Aero-Engineer Albert Voellmecke

by H.C. Frautschy

Albert

Voellmecke came to the

United

States from Germany during the economic

aftermath of World War I He'd been work

ing for

the

previous 12 years at the Ernst

Heinkel Airplane Works in

Wamemuende,

Germany

, but the

opportunities

in

German

aviation of the 1920' s were not what he de

sired.

In

the States,

aviation seemed

to be

ready

to burst

upon the

scene. Plenty of

Iightplane

work was

being

done in

Ger

many, under the restrictions of the Versailles

Treaty, but that didn ' t satisfy the ambitious

engineer. Incorporated

in

1926

, the

Arkansas Airplane Company

of

Little Rock,

AR was licensed

to

produce

the Heinkel

HD-40 , a mailplane the company intended t

to sell in the very active market of 1927. .

Part

of

the deal saw a very capable German

engineer come

to work for

the Arkansas

"

timl.

Voellmecke put the radiator for the OX-5

in

By 1927, Voellmecke was working in

the

nose of

the Command-A ire ,

giving

an

Little

Rock .

Appointed

the

company's

unobstructed view forward , and lessening

Chief

Engineer, he set about

laying

out a

the drag of the entire unit hanging out in the

new biplane that looked rather conventional.

breeze. Nothing comes free in aerodynam

I t was

one

of many from

that era

built to

ics , and this radiator placement was no ex

take advantage of the many surplus Curtiss

OX-5 engines still stockpiled in the U.S.

ception. It looked great, but airflow through

I f you

were standing

on the grass at an

it was

less

than it

would

be

if

it

were

airport in 1928 taking a look

over

your

mounted elsewhere. When the larger 150 hp

shoulder , its design didn't strike you as

Hisso engine was installed in a later model ,

something radically new, but a closer inves

the added heat generated exceeded the radia

tigation

after it had

been parked

and

shut

tor's

capacity, and

it

had to be moved to be

down revealed a well designed and thought

low the cowl, forward of the landing gear.


16/36

(Above) The

stabilizer of

the

Command-

Aire is adjustable form the cockpit. The

large

cuto

ut

for

the

stab

il

izer brace is

necessary since the entire structure for

t he stabi

li

zer is moved

when

a tr im

change is made.

A brass f uel cap and t

he

TASCO fue l

Below) The

only

instruments are

mounted at

the

forward end of

the

bath-

tub style cockpit, with

a

large crash pad

mounte

d

in

the front.

On

the

left is the

tachometer

and

water temperature

,

and

on the right is

the

height

indicator and

oil pressure

. A Johnson

airspeed indi

-

cator is mounted on

the r

ight

N

strut

, an

a

small

sw i

ng

down

compass is

i

ns

t alled

in

front of the

rear

seat

, to the left

of

the

aft crash

pad.

They hadn

't

learned about

shoulder harnesses back then.

ing of a few economists and businessmen.

Money was being spent, and the market

seemed limitless.

Priced at $3,350,

the

Command-Aire 3C3-T was deemed a good

ship, and at least 30

of

them were pro

duced, and another half-dozen or so exam

dress

of

Albert Voellmecke himself, then

living in Silver Spring, MD, Joe visited him

with a photo of the restored biplane in his

hand. Over a drink of cognac, when Araldi

casually menti oned that

he'd

like to build .a

replica

of

the Little Rocket, Albert made it

possible by supplying a set

of

drawings and

lending technical support to the building of

what he referred to as "Little Rocket No. 2."

First flown in 1990, it can be seen on display

at the Sun 'n Fun Foundation's Museum, on

Lakeland-Linder airport

in

Lakeland. Albert

Voellmecke passed away in June 5, 1994,

after having relived a past glory with the

flights of the new Little Rocket. Joe is now

restoring a 5C3 Command-Aire, a project he

readily admits had gotten under his skin.

The airplane has a soul," he remarked re

cently.

Noted antique airplane collector Andy

Anderson had a Command-Air 3C3 T in his

collection, and in 1976, he advertised the

basket

case

project in Trade-A-Plane.

None

of

the aircraft forward

of

the firewall

was included, but a set

of

wings good only

for patterns was there, along with a complete

fuselage, tail surfaces and landing gear. It

was stamped on the data plate as a C T

model, making it a bit rarer than a straight

3C3.

This particular 3C3 was built

in

March

of 1929 and sold a few months later on June

7 , 1929 to the Curtiss Wright Flying Club

in Kansas City, headquartered at the Presi

dent Hotel. Walter Briggs was the pilot who

picked it up and signed the papers for a bill

of

sale that had $3,421.95 as the list price,

and a 25% discount gave the final price as

$2,584. That figure included 44 gallons

of

gasoline at $13.20 (that's .30 a gallon) and

$6.26 for 5 gallons of oil (they must have

carried one gallon home, because the engine

only holds four gallons).

Delta Airlines Captain Art Knowles knew

what the ad

in

the yellow paper meant. He'd

been keeping an eye open for a Command

Aire project ever since seeing one

in

the pile

of

parts and pieces he helped antiquer John

Thurmon move to the now defunct Justin

Time airport near Dallas-Ft. Worth back in

the mid-1970's. Art also lived on the air
http:///reader/full/3,421.95http:///reader/full/3,421.95


17/36

To regulate the engine temperature the

cowl shutters open and shut. This set of

s

hutters

were handmade by Tom. The

radiator itself was made over a decade

ago by Forres t

Lovely.

With the OX 5

Tom

says the radiator i n

the nose

is

quite suffic

i

ent.

A

later model

with

the

Hisso

engine installed needed

more ra -

diator

area

so it

was

moved

to below

the cowling

in front

of the

landing gear.

pilot who also had a 3C3 he was restoring,

and between the two of them they amassed a

collection of photographs,

brochures,

and

other

information.

Fifteen years ago,

Art

asked Forrest Lovely to build up a pair

of

ra

diators, one for his airplane and the other for

the

Command-

Aire

owned by

his

friend

John Thurmon. That airplane is now owned

and flown by Dennis Trone.

The prop was also purchased early on in

the

restoration

,

carved by

Ole

Fahlin and

carefully stored until it was needed.

The

engine was

of

course , a problem.

Tom Hegy

had one in

Wisconsin,

and

Art

picked

up the parts

and pieces

of

a

couple

more OX s so that a complete engine could

be built up out of the collection. The only

thing he has not been able to locate

is

one of

the original Phylix fire extinguisher sys

tems installed by Command-Aire . Actuated

TX area. After completion, the wings were

carefully stored,

waiting

for the rest of the

project to catch up.

After that, another slowdown

in

the pro

ject was

created

when the

Justin Time

air

port was closed by Ross Perot and his sons,

who bought up a large tract

of

land to build

the Alliance Airport. To ensure its longevity,

the Perot's bought up much of the surround

ing property, precluding any additional de

velopment. The little residential airport was

in

that category, and everybody on it hadt to

l

ooking

back on it , he

says

it was the best

bus iness deal h

e s ever enga

ge d in. More

than that , he said it was the best friendship

deal he ever made. As soon as he saw how

Tom delved into the project and got on

it

im

mediately, Art knew the best thing he could

do to help

Tom

was to pay the bills and let

Tom do his thing.

And do his

thing

was wh a t Tom does

best. A

ll

of the sheet metal

in

the airplane is

flat wrap , with no

compound

curves in any

of it, save for the

spinner

cap, and all of it

was created by

Tom

in his shop. A master

ful restorer, he hand bu ilt the shutters

mounted in front

of

the radiator in the nose

cowl. Even the co w l hold down latches

were

built by Tom , using an original from

Dennis Trone s airplane as a guide.

The project also was aided by two of his

relatives.

Tom s

father Ed Brown was on

hand for those two-man operations, such as

the rigging of the airplane. With 4-1/2 de

grees of incidence

in

each wing, it cruises at

65 mph, and it flies as though it has a couple

of notches of flaps out at all times. The final

touche s, creating the painted

logo

on the

fuselage , were done by

Tom s

sister Donna

Seckler, who lives in the Minneapolis area.

A talented artist, she s done a few portraits

of the airplanes built by

Tom

, and she ll be


18/36

Leonard has a reputation as one of the best

abrasive blasters in the area , and under

stands the difficulties presented to aircraft

restorers who need the

job

done quickly and

right, so that it can be driven home and im

mediately primed and painted. Tom says he

can work through an entire fuselage in about

2 1

2

hours, finding

any

flaws that are

no

ticeable with the naked eye, and he works as

fast as people can hand him the parts. Get

ting there

early

in the

morning meant

it

could be back in Tom's shop getting a coat

ofTenaco

epoxy paint and primer that same

afternoon. Obtained from Viking Paint in

Minneapolis, Tom swears by the stuff - in

expensive, it

is

as hard as nails and sticks to

steel well.

As a

side note,

all

of

the steel

tubing used in the Command-A ire is 4130,

not 1020 that was prevalent at

the time

it

was built.

All covering is with Ceconite and an STC'd

dope finish, with the wood fairing strips at

tached in place per the original with rib lacing

cord. As you can see

in

the photos, no addi

tional do-dads were added

to

the airplane (save

for a compass mounted on a small swing down

panel), and it

is

very original, leading one to

believe that the advertising numbers used for

empty weight were rather optimistic. 1410 Ibs

was listed in

promotional materials

as the

empty weight (early on, an article

in

Aero Di

gest gave it as

1275

Ibs. ). This airplane came

Art let

Tom

just zip along on the project

with minimal influence . The last time

he

saw

it

before it was completed and flying, it

was unpainted and still in pieces all over the

hangar. The

engine was scattered

all

over

the northern U.S., still being prepared for as

sembly. Later that year , while at home at

the ranch

,

Art

answered

the

ringing tele

phone, hearing what sounded like a thrash

ing machine on the other

end of

the line.

Hi, Art, said the cheerful voice on the

phone.

Art

knew then that the OX-5 was as

sembled

and

running in

the

airframe,

and

that the end

of

the project was in sight.

I don't have to be there for

the

first

flight," he told Tom. When you've got it

done

and

happy with it, get it in the air.

That's

exactly what he did, and it

wasn't

un

til three days before EAA Oshkosh

'96

that

Art got to see the completed airplane. One

of the nice things about restoring this partic

ular

Command-Aire

was the fact that

Tom

was able to have the Milwaukee FSDO do a

conformity inspection on the airplane, rather

than needing a visit from the Minneapolis

FAA engineering office, which would have

taken more time. Why?

This palticular airplane was issued an air

worthiness

certificate

on an annual basis,

until 1953. With an original of the last cer

tificate, all that was required to put the air

plane

back in the air was a conformity in

spection. That saved quite

a

bit of time

vane type indicator was often bought and in

stalled by the pilot.

When the appointed time came, Art ar

rived over Tom's grass strip in north central

Wisconsin in

his

Cessna 180. The Com

mand-Aire looked pretty

good

sitting in

front of the

hangar

as he

circled

above.

When he taxied up and got a close up look,

he said he was

speechless

- the

completed

airplane was simply beyond his comprehen

sion, it was so pretty to look at. The weather

didn't

cooperate for three days, but finally

it

relented enough to allow the pair to fly the

Command-Aire to the Convention. The trip

down to Oshkosh wasn't without its thrills.

During the early portion of the flight af

ter it had been running for a hour or so, the

OX-5 hiccupped a couple

of

times, as it had

done once or twice before. Investigating the

problem before they departed didn ' t tum up

anything out of the ordinary, but over the

Wisconsin River, the OX-5 decided to stop

running for a few

seconds.

Art

thought

it

was all over, since whatever

you're

over is

where you're going to land in an antique bi

plane like the Command-Aire. Thankfully ,

it

picked back

up again.

Tom

had a deter

mined look on his face and pointed the air

plane ahead, looking for a strip that he knew

of, one that was not on the map.

They

landed at the duster

strip

used by

Tom Hegy, who had supplied the basic en

gine a few years before. The two Toms and


19/36


20/36

Highly detailed and immaculate eng

i

ne compartment of

the

Piper Colt

reveals

ded

i

cation to or

iginali

ty

. Individual

primer

lines

to each cylin

der ar

e visible

as

well as new

Slick magnetos and shielded harne

ss.

Often referred to as a sleeper

in

the con

temporary class, and probably one

of

the

best

aircraft for the

money

on the

used

market, the Piper PA-22-1 08 Colt comes

from good lineage. It s a sister to the Piper

Tri-Pacer and a first cousin to all the other

short-wing Pipers.

With

Cessna making large inroads on

the training market in the late 1950 s with

their Model 150, Piper decided to bring out

a bare bones trainer that was low in

cost

and economical to operate. The result was

the PA-22-1 08 Colt that a number

of

flight

schools put on the line and

many

pilots

earned their wings in this two-p lace , tri

geared airplane. In addition, the Colt was

certified on Federal skis (three required)

for the

cold weather crowd

and Edo 88

1650 floats for the wet-foot crowd.

With the assembly line cranking up to

produce

Colt

s in 1960,

Piper

went

on

to

build approximately

1850

of

this mode l

during the next three years.

Of

this num

ber, the current FAA register lists 1023 as

survivors some thirty plus years later. In

addition , a number of Colts have found

there way overseas and are serving their

owners

well. The main features

of

the

Colt

, even though the

airframe

is nearly

Right)

Beauti ful ly re

done

interior

includes

f lat black finish

on

in

strument

panel all over-

hauled or new instru

ments

and original

herringbone fabric on

seats.

Note trim handle

on

overhead panel.


21/36

Looking up at Bill Weder as

he brings the Colt in

close,

we get a good look at the

overall

caliber

of workman

ship exhibited by the

Wicks

employees.

Th i s is one

sweet flying airplane

dismantled and hauled back to Wicks Air

craft facility

in

Highland, IL. This was to

be the very first

experience

with a fabric

airplane for the Wicks employees and they

eagerly looked

forward to the

new chal

lenge

.

Before

the airplane was

taken

apart, they were able to start the 1 8 hp Ly

coming engine and

l

isten

to it run

Granted, it only had 1209 hours, however,

the 32 years of little use and long periods

of idle storage had taken its toll , so it was

(Left) Ed Faiss, on

the

left,

holds

the

record flight document

from

the

NAA earned by N4247Z on its flight from Highland,

IL,

to

Kitty

Hawk

, NC. On

the right

is

pilot

Bill

Weder

(with

the big smile) and in between is

the

Grand

Champion

award won at

the

Short Wing Piper Club gathering. To this

collection, we have now added the 96 Contemporary

Reserve Grand

Champion

Lindy.

(Below) Near head-on view

shows

the short, thick (USA 35B

airfoil)

wings

that do a remarkable job of lifting 1650 Ibs. at

gross

weight. The two fuel

caps

are visible on top of

the

wings, each tank holding 18 gallons. Jury

struts from

the

wing struts to

the wing

spars

are

not

used on the short

winged

Pipers.


22/36

Left)

High over

Wittman

Airfield at EAA

Convention t i

me,

the pretty Colt is in-

deed

a

sharp

looking

airplane

with

it

s

original paint scheme in Daytona

White

and

Phoe

nix

Tan.

looks like new

The

original

instrument

panel was to

tally redone and finished

off

in the original

flat black finish. All new or freshly ove r

hauled instruments were installed including

radios ,

transponder,

etc. to

where

the

air

plane

is

now

certified for IFR flight.

The

original lettering on the instrument panel

was precisely duplicated by Moody Aero

Graphics.

The

interior

fabrics on the

seats, walls

and door , were carefully matched

by

the

husband /wife team of Jerome and Nancy

Hediger of the Wicks group, who did a fan

tastic job of duplicating the factory interior

on the Colt. The fabrics were all treated to

meet the FAA fire retardant code before in

stallation .

The

finished

interior

is a

thing

of beauty and makes one feel like

it's

1960

all

over

again

when

you

enter

the

airplane

and sit in the comfortable seats.

One item

that raised

a few eyebrows

happened when

the

search began

for an

original chrome plated ash tray that mounts

on the

glareshield

above the

instrument

panel.

A

phone call

to

Univair (Aurora,

CO) revealed they had only one left - and it

was

an

original Piper ash tray. Almost

afraid to ask the price, they swallowed hard

and said

, " How

much?

" The answer was,

Two dollars

and

sixty cents " (This was

attracted

to the airplane.

The wing

struts

were carefully

punch tested and

found to

be corrosion free. They were

oiled inter

nally, painted on the

outside and

installed

on the airplane.

When

the 0-235 Lycoming

was

dis

mantled,

it

was discovered the crankshaft

had a

crack

in it, so it

was

replaced with a

certified shaft. The camshaft also

showed

signs of wear so it was replaced. In addi

tion

,

four new

cylinders from Lycoming

were installed along with a set of new Slick

Below) The rounded w ingtips and

rounded

ta i l

feathers are all part of

the

design detail found

in

Piper

products

fo

r

many

yea rs.

Both

wi

ng t

ip strobe

light

s

and

left w i

ng land

i

ng

light

are

visi

ble

in

this overhead shot.

A visit

to

the

Short Winged Piper Club

Fall

Fly-In

gave

an inkling

into the future

when the restored Piper Colt ran off with

Grand Championship Award at the fly-in.

Before long, plans were

made

to

attempt

a

record flight

in

December from Highland,

IL

,

to

Kitty

Hawk, NC. On December 16,

1995, with everything fine tuned, the Colt

made the flight to Kitty Hawk

in

eight hours,

two minutes and 24 seconds of flying time,

setting a new record of96.64 miles per hour,

for its official weight class.


23/36

H LPS

nd

by rad Hinda

ll

le

14860

-Occasionally the nozzle of pwnp sprayers

of degreasers and other cleaners will clog.

Trying

to

unplug

it

with a pin usually does not

work. Put an air nozzle with high pressure 90-

100

psi) against the outside orifice. This nearly

always removes the obstruction.

-During a restoration or repair of older air

craft, it

sometimes

becomes necessary to

remove studs, bolts or machine screws that

have broken off in a part. "Easy Outs" can

occasionally do

the

job but a little trick

is to

use

a left-hand drill bit

to

drill the hole for the easy

out. This in itself will sometimes break the

offending fastener loose.

-A large nut, bolt, pipe or piece of tubing is

often difficult to rotate without scratching it

with wrench marks. Or possibly there

is

insuf

ficient clearance to even get a wrench on

it.

A

solution can often be found

by

tightly fastening

a hose clamp around the piece and using slip

HANGAR HINTS

-To hold a large pan gasket in place dur

ing assembly, tie fine sewing thread through

a few

holes

on the pan

and gasket. The

thread is too small to interfere with the seal

formed by the gasket after installation, or

you can snip and pull it out before tighten

ing the bolts or nuts.

-An ordinary deck of playing cards can

be used as a sanding block for irregular or

grooved surfaces. Placed on edge, the cards

will conform to the contour of the surface to

be sanded and the

sandpaper

can then be

folded around them.

-Running wires through rubber grommets

in firewalls and other sheet metal areas can

be made easier with less wear on the wires

and grommets by inserting a short piece of

metal tubing of the appropriate size through

the grommet. The wires are then

passed

them with a bright Day-Glo color and then

coating with clear lacquer or enamel.

-

Wire

buffing wheels

will last much

longer if occasionally turned

around and

allowed to rotate in the opposite direction.

-Various size magnets make great hold

ers for media blasting and painting small

steel parts.

An old refrigerator compressor, after the

Freon as been properly removed, makes a

good vacuum pump

with

some tubing

, a

gauge and valve properly installed.

-When checking clearances with a feeler

gauge, it is

sometimes

difficult to get the

proper "feel" to know exactly what the spac

ing is. To check the clearance, use the go/no

go method. If the setting

is

to be 0.

15

, use

the .015 and .016 leaves of the gauge. If

.015 fits but .016 does not, rest assured you


24/36

WHAT

OUR. MEMBERS

ARE

RESTORING

y Norm

Petersen

John

Gardner s 194 Porterfield CP-65

This very original looking 1940 Porterfield

CP-65 Collegiate, NC27224 , SIN 721, is the

pride and joy of John Gardner (EAA 520119) of

Edmond, OK. Totally restored by the previous

owner, Wallace Black of Chickasha, OK, from

1982 to 1984, the tandem two-placer sports a

Continental C-85-8F in the nose which makes

for some very lively performance according to

John, who soloed an Aeronca Champ in 1945.

The Porterfield is faster in cruise, he says,

And

is a real

delight

to fly

. The colors

are

original silver wings and horizontal tail with a

red fuselage .

There are presently

27 CP-65

Porterfields remaining on the U.S. register.


25/36

Ernie Kittne

r

s

1956

Bell 47G-2

These photos of

a completely

restored

Bell 470-2 heli

copter, N2807B, S N 1495, were sent in by owner, Ernie Kit

tner EAA 531071) of Honesdale, PA, who rebuilt the pretty

machine over the past six years.

It

is used for scenic tours, air

photos, student training and various special occasions. Ernie

has been active in aviation for 52 years and has been a very

busy CFI (fixed wing and helicopter) for the past 45 years with

over 27,000 hours in his logbook He started flying in 1944 in

a Standard Biplane and presently has a 235 Apache, a Cessna

Aerobat

150 hp, a

Cessna

150 and the Bell 470-2. We are

pleased

to

announce that Ernie ' s lifelong dedication to aviation

has not gone unnoticed as he is a recent recipient of the Charles

Taylor

A ward from

FAA

. Congratulations, Ernie, and many

more years of cherished flying experiences.

Ph il Chandler s Champion

E

C on floats

This photo of a pristine 1959 Champion 7EC, C-FWTZ, S N 7EC-629,

mounted on a set of PK-1500 floats , was submitted by owner, I'hil Chan

dler

EAA

517317) ,

of

Sudbury , Ontario,

Canada.

The

pretty

paint

scheme of overall yellow with red trim is most becoming and is set off by

the silver floats. Power

is

supplied by a Continental

0-200

engine of 100

hp swinging a McCauley seaplane propeller. Note the landing light in the

left wing leading edge and the aux. seaplane fins on the stabilizer. Phil

says the Champ is a great two-place floatplane, especially with full electric

systems and all the "goodies". His area in Canada is heavily populated

with floatplanes because of the many fine lakes available - a virtual sea

planer's paradise.


26/36

PASSdb

UCK

by E.E . Bu

ck

Hilbert

EAA 21 Ale 5

P.O

.

Box

424, Union,

IL

60180

Here's more

about

Harry L. Fento n 's

dad, Han), D , with more on hi s adventure

some trip in the middle

of winter

with an

Aeronca C-3 Master.

Dear Buck,

"Thanks for inquiring about my dad and

his Aeronca C-3. The attac

h

ed photos,

though

somewhat

worse for the

wear

, de

picts the typical view of an airp lane flown

from a pasture during the immediate post

war 1940s.

In

cidentally, the bam and farm

are still owned by my fami ly, and

can be

seen

on U. S. 20

between

Rockford

and

Belvidere, Illinois.

"

During

the summer

of

1945 he

pur

chased his little C-3 NC 15290, SIN A620,

and flew it

home

to the family farm

near

Rockford, Illinoi

s

An open pole shed next

to the barn was

commandeered

to house

the little plane , and the

adjacent pasture

was used as his airfield. The

bam

was situ

ated on the highest hill

in

the country , and

everything sloped away steeply from that

point, so takeoffs were downhill , and land

ings were uphill. A beacon was affixed to

the top

of

the silo so that dad could find his

way home at night.

The picture of the plane with my dad is

the

condition

in which he

purchased

it

origina

lly. Dad had the

mechanic at the

airport

in

South Beloit

, Illinois , a fellow

named Smitty, repaint the airplane from its

overall yellow co lor to a medium

blu

e

In

this

shot,

which features Harry

D. (right)

and

his

father Harry

in front

of the

C-3.

The single leg landing gear of the Master replaced the tripod landing gear of the

earlier C-3 and C-2, and the narrower profile of the streamline tires helped remove a

bit of the built-in headwind of

the

C-3 's design.

performance

of

the C-3.

"With only a couple

of

hours

of

time in

the C-3, dad dec

id

ed to fl y to Miami from

Rockford to participate

in

the Gu

lf

Air

Tour

of 1946

.

His mechanic prompt

ly

gro

und

ed

the

plane

up

on

l

ea

rning of my

dad's

intent ions and fina lly re l

ented

on ly

when my dad

, under

much objection

,

of

white on a southerly heading.

T

he destination for that day was Pur

due University Airport and his first landing

on

a

cement runway, which resulted

in

breaking the tail skid offofthe C-3. The

next

day

was

spent dodging

bad

weather

wh

il e

work

ing his

way through

In

diana.

Landings were made at Shank, Bush and

had menaced the trip from the outset fi plane in the pasture and began to filter out

Belvidere Airport. Dick's fami ly has re


27/36

nally closed in, trapping my dad and the C

3 in a fog shrouded Appa lach ian

valley.

Out of gas and in the dark , he landed in a

open field ten miles outside

of

Pelham ,

Tennessee.

After shutdown,

he

crawled

out

of

the little Aeronca and was shocked

to

be confronted by severa l very unfriendly

locals pointing cocked and loaded shotguns

at him

At

this

point

, the socia l

standards

in

place in the Appalachians of southeastern

Tennessee must be considered to put my

dad 's reception in perspective. Knowledge

of the world beyond the hills was limited

and strangers , if encountered, due to the re

moteness

of the area,

were

received

cau

tiously. Given that much

of

the local econ

omy was driven by moonshine production,

to take a look at the flying machine. As it

turned out, modem amenities were unheard

of and even cars were uncommon.

The

C

3 was the first airplane that virtually all of

these country folk had ever seen.

At this point

dad

became a reluctant

guest

of

sorts. He expressed a desire to get

gassed up and continue hi s trip , but he was

informed that, due to the lack of motorized

ve hicl

es, there was

no

gas

to be had for

miles. 1suspect that gas was available, but

deep

down , the country folk of this small

town realized that my dad represented a

glimpse of a civilization other than their

own,

and

they were

not about to let him

disappear back into the sky and beyond the

hills until they were darn well ready. For

three day s dad was treated to the Ap-

mained

active

in

aviation,

and

his so

n,

Steve ,

has

built the

now named

Poplar

Grove Airport into a thriving aviation com

munity . Dad finally so ld the plane when

he became aware of

a

Service

Bulletin

w

hi

ch required an inspection (nitric acid or

magna

flux)

of

the

crankshaft

every

25

hours. The

C-3

had become too expensive

to own.

When

I was about five years old, dad

took the fam

il

y on a vacation and revisited

the town of Pelham. A small reunion was

held in the local restaurant and the locals

recalled his visit from years before, espe

cially

th

e owner

of

the restaurant. It seems

that my dad

's

visit had a profound effect on

the then five -year-old boy and he realized

that there was more to the world than the

most

strangers

were

sirnply not ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

tolerated, let alone strangers

in

air- .

planes (revenuers were known to

use aircraft to hunt for moonshine

sti lls).

So

there stood my dad in hi s

CAP uniform,

his gold wings

looking for all the world to the se

unknowing Tennesseans like the

badge a revenuer would wear, bab

bling

in

Yankee about flying from

a mythical place called Illinois to

an equally mythical place called

Florida. All

of

it

sou

nded lik e

trouble

to

the

suspicious Ap

palachian farmers.

"The events that followed more

closely

re

se

mbled

the fate

of

a

downed

American a

irman

cap- Harry D

Fenton and

his newly acquired Aeronca C-3 Master 500 Roundback

series)

during

the

tured by the Gestapo hundreds of summer of '45

at

the family farm

between

Rockford and Belvidere,

IL

miles

deep

into hostile Germany

territory. The pasture that dad had

landed in was full of cows that had taken

their own particular type of interest in the

C-3.

One cow in particular had decided

that the

C-3

had bee n placed there as a

scra

tching post

for

its

hindquarters.

Alarmed that the cow was going to damage

his plane he tried to get the farmers to help

him

move hi s ship.

The shotgun

toting

farmers, in a tone that did not mask their

intentions for my dad to do exactly what

they told him, shoved my dad into a wagon

paJachian lifestyle

(including delicacie

s

such as mountain oysters), in trade for hi s

discussion of the airplane and

li

fe beyond

the mounta ins . Curiously,

several

of the

farmers took an inte

rest

in

the zippers

in

the C-3 fabric used for inspection access.

More than one thou

g ht that tho

se

areas

would make for excellent areas to transport

the local distilled commodities.

"Eventually, th e loca ls let the young pi

lot go free , and , after some rides, he disap

surrounding hills.

The

little boy worked

his

way through school and

became the

owner of several area restaurants.

"Off and on since the late 1970s I have

tried to trace the subsequent history

of

the

C-3. t was last owned by a fellow named

Doncevic in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

and was de-registered in 1971 . I wrote to

him a couple of times and received no an

swer. I have friends in the area , but no

body seems to have much information on


28/36

WELCOME

NEW

MEMBERS

Aerospace Branch

Library ........Little Rock, AR

Richard

S.

Allen

..

......................... Lewiston,

ID

Steve P. Bentley

...........................

san

Jose

,

CA

Charles Boswell

....................Brandywine, MD

Edmund T. Burke

....................

Toms

Rive

r, NJ

Wayne W. Burkhardt..

...

North Brookfield , MA

Dan

R. Campb

ell .....Trenton , Ontario,

Canada

James

H.

Crowl ey ...................... Rive

rvi

ew,

FL

Tony DeGrand

......

..

...............

Corn

ell,

MI

Arthur

G. Dous

e

....

..

........

Ft.

Lauderdale, FL

Robert J. Floeder

...........

Rosemount

, MN

Henry

J. Frieh

...................... ...............

Joliet, IL

Frank

Gleason

...........

..

......... . .Darlington,

SC

George Greene

.............................

Presque

, MI

Scott Ha

german

....

Markham

, Ontario,

Canada

Charles

J.

Harring

ton

.................... Wichita,

Ks

Fred P.

Hod ge

..................

..

............

sanger, TX

Earl

I

ce

.......................................... Dew

ey, OK

Krista

Ann

J

autz

........ ....... ........ Milwa

ukee,

WI

Carlos

Jobke ......................Olivios, Argentina

Rick R. Jones .................. ..........

Gr

eenville,

NC

Barbara Kajiy

a

....

......................... Duvall, WA

Russ W.

King ..

..

.... ....

.................

In

gl

es

ide,

TX

Gl

enn Kinneber

g ................spring

Grove,

MN

Alan Lackie

..............................Melbourne,

FL

UNITEDSTJJ.TES

l ~ ~

~ 0 M t

VlNTAGR AIRPLAHE

b

1 1.1,1-1.1.1.

9 30 96

_-

Monthly

12

EAA, P.O. Box 3086. Os hk OSh

WI

!l0t903- 3086

$21.00

-

14/426-4825

Statement

of

Ownership. Management, and C

ir

culation

i

POST,jJ,SERVICE,.

(RfIqUftd

by

J J USC 3685)

EM .

P.O. Box

3086,

OShk06h .

WI

!l4903-3086

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ' = t ~ E d I D o , I f t d . . . . . , ~ ( o O n a f .......

* * J

Tbccas p PoberezDY

ltAA. P O Box 3086,

Oshkosh, WI

54'}03-3086

E d l ; J r p - . . ~ ~ - . . t h a }

Henry

G,

F rau t.c::hy

I I T ' * ' ~ f s . . m o l f . k _ I S I J

AA,

P.O. Box 3086, a.hkosh.

loll !l

4903

-J086

Gold"

G. COx

Dod so

n Manly ..................... Fruitland Park ,

FL

Steven A. Marsh

...........

....

..... Eaton Rapids

,

MI

George

F.

Martin ........................ Newville,

PA

Burt

M. Morrow ................. Ormond

Beach, FL

Carl R. Moser

...................... Bloomington, MN

Dou gl

as

G. Murray ................ Mountain Vi e

w,

Alberta , Canada

Mic

ha

el

Naramore

....................Cornelius ,

NC

Robert

C. Nelson

.............

..

............

.Fruita

,

CO

Wayne M. Nichols ..........................

Wra

y,

CO

Kevin

J.

Nugent..

.

.....................Greenville, IN

Paul T.

O'

Reil

ly ...... ................

.....

Burleson

,

TX

Alberto Ofenito ...............................

Venice

,

FL

R.

G.

Ohllll

......

Documents

Vintage Airplane - Nov 1996