Vintage Airplane - Sep 1979

8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 1979

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STR IGHT ND LEVEL

For many of us September is a month of seasonaltransition. Schools begin their fall terms fo r thosefamilies with children. Oshkosh is still an excitingmemory, and in the northern climates the leaves ontrees have begun to turn into the fall shades of splendor and we begin looking toward winter. Beginningthis year a new innovation will brighten the fa ll sea

son a n d extend the summer activities through September. This is the EAA NATIONAL CONVENTION, Tullahoma , Tennessee, September 26 through 30, 1979.

During discussions with many EAA and Divisionmembers at vario u s fly-ins , Oshkosh has been omitted from their fly-in schedules for various reasons.S


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Editorialtaff

PublisherPaul H. Poberezny

(Photo by David Gustafson) The view of Antique /Classic parking from th e Os hk o sh EditorTower. David Gustafson, Ph.D.

Associate Editors: H. Glenn Buffington, Edward D. Williams, Byron(Fred ) Frederickse n .

Readers are encouraged to submit stories and photographs. Associate Editorships are assignedto those writer s who submit five or more articles which are published in THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE during the current year. Associates receive a bound volume of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE and a free oneyear membership in the Division for their efforts.POLICY-Opinion sexpressed in articles are solely those of the authors . Responsibility for accuracy in reportingrests entirely with the contributor . .

DirectorsClaude L. G ray, Jr. AI Kelch9635 Sylvia Avenue 66 W. 622 N. Madis o n Avenue

PRESIDENT

W . BRAD THOMAS, JR .301 DODSON MILL RO AD Northridge , CA 91324 Cedarburg , WI 53012

2 3 3 4 9 ~ 3 3 8 414/377-5886 Hom ePILOT MOUNTAIN , NC 270419191368-2875 Home Dale A. Gustafson Morton W . Lester919/368-2291 Office 7724 Shady Hill Drive P.O. Box 3747

Indianapoli s, IN 46274 Martin svi lle , VA 2411 2VICE-PRESIDENT317/293-4430 703/632-4839 Hom eJACK C. WINTHROP

703/638-8783 OfficeROUTE 1, BOX111 Richard H. WagnerALLEN, TX 75002 P.O . Box 181 Arthur R. Morgan

2141727 -5649 Lyons, WI 53148 3744 North 51st Blvd .414 /763-2017 Home Milwaukee, WI 537 16SECRETARY414 /763-9588 Office 414 /442 -3631M . C. " KELLY" VIETS Geo rge S. Yo rk

7745 W . 183RD ST. John S. Cope land 181 Sloboda Ave.dvisors9 ' Joa nne Dri veSTILWELL, KS 66085 Man s fie ld , O H 44906Robert E Kese lW estbo rough , MA 01581 Business P h one 419 /755-1011913 /681-2303 Home 455 Oakridge Dr ive617136(,,7245 I-'ome Phone 419 / 529-4378

913 /782-6720 Office Roches ter , NY 14617Ronald Fritz Jo hn R. Turgyan7161342 -3170 Home1989 'Wil so n , NW 1530 Kuser Roa dTREASURER 716 /325-2000, Ext .

Grand Rapid s, MI 49504 Trenton , NJ 08619E. E " BUCK" HILBERT 2325 0 /2332 0 Office6161453-7525 609/585-2747

P.O. BOX 145 Stan Gomo ll Ge n e Morri s Robe rt A. Whit eUNION , IL 601 80 1042 90th Lane, NE 27 Cha ndell e Drive P.O. Box 704

81 5/923-4205 Minneapolis, MN 55434 Ha mp shir e, IL 60140 Ze llw oo d , FL 327986121784-1172 3121683- 3199 ' 305/88( 3180

THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE (ISS N 0091-6943 ) is owned exclusively by EAA Antique /Cla ssic DiviSio n , Inc ..and is pub lished monthly at Hales Corners. Wi scons in 53 130 . Second class Postage paid at HalesCorners P ost Office , Hales Corners , Wi sco ns in 53130 , and additional ma i ling offices . Membersh iprates for EM Antique /C la ssic Division, Inc .. are $14 .00 per 12 month pe r iod of wh ich $10.00 is for thepublication of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE. Member ship is ope n to a ll who are interested in avia t io n .

T I l ~V I ~ T A 7 ~A I l ? V L A ~ ~

OFFICIAL MAGAZINEEAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC

DIVISION INC.

of THE EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOC IATIONP.O. Box 229, Hale s Corners, WI 5313.0Copyright C 1979 EAA Antique /Classic Division, Inc., All Rights Reserved .

SEPTEMBER 1978 VOLUM 7 NUMBER 8O n The Cove r . . . Aircraft take to Runway 36 at Os hk osh for the 1979 Parade of Flight. Photo by David

Gustafson.)

(Back Cove r . The first Sun day at Os hko sh show s part of th e largest crowd ever seen a t Wittman Fie ldand a good portion o f th e class ic aircraft. Photo by David Gustafso n .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Straight a nd Level by Brad Thomas . 2O s hk o s h 7 9 A Ph o to Report b y David Gustafson, E d i t o r . . 4The Alexander " Eaglerock " Saga by Larry McCarthy . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . .. . . 8Bord e n 's Aeroplane Posters From Th e 1930 's by Lio n e l Salisbury . . . 16A Curtiss Album by George Hardie , Jr . . . 18The Loug h ea d F-1 Seapla n e b y Cedric Ga ll oway . . . 22Matching Pistons a nd Crankshafts For Warner 165 Super Scarab

Engin es by W. B. Richards . . 24Letters . . . 25Calendar O f Eve nt s . . . . . 26

EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION MEMBERSHIPo NON-EAA MEMBER - $22.00 . Include s one year membership in the EAA Antique l

Classic Divisio n , 12 monthly issues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE; one yea r me mbership in th e Experimental Aircraft Associatio n and sepa rate membership ca rd s.SPORT AV IATION magazine not included .

o EAA MEMBER - $14.00 . Inclu des one year me m bers hip in th e EAA. Antiqu e /Clas sicDivision , 12 monthly issues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE AND MEMBERSHIP CARD.(Applic ant mu st be c urrent EAA member and must give EAA membership number.)

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Th e m os t fam o us ga te in av ia tio n. Th ose PT lin es a re di s tin ctive a t a n y a ng le .

Is th a t a n y way to trea t pr op ? nother shining PT 2 2 pr epar es for ta ke off .An o th er d ay gets o ff in th e ir cra ft Ca mp gro und .

Scene fr om on e o the many gatherings in the ntique /Classic Forums Tent.


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Cessna 95 prepares tor touchdown while a BT 3 gets ready for take-off . The Antique /Classic campgrounds as seen from a helicopter .

One o the numerous rare aircraft to visit Oshkosh this summer, a FOCKE-WULF 44J inSwedish markings. AI Kelch's Travel Air 2 Q pass es over the Stinson A Tri Motor.

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by Larry McCarthy2704 South Arthur Av enueLoveland , Colorado 80537

In the late twenties and early thirties it was customary practice to have an Auto Show in mid-summeron the lawn at Denver's Civic Center park area atColfax and Broadway, West of the State Capitol, for

local auto agencies to display new models. One display that especially impressed this writer, as a 10 to11 year old boy , in '26, or '27, was an Eaglerock biplane with silver wings and blue fuselage , with an OX-5engine neatly faired in , that seemed to lend a distinctive grace and beauty. It looked like a bird poisedfor flight.

An article about the business success of Eaglerock planes appeared in the August 1926 issue of the

Denver Commerce magazine published by theChamber of Commerce , that described the Eaglerock plane , powered by a 90 hp Curtiss OX-5 engine,at a cost of $2,475. It has a range of 425 mile s , crui s ingat 85 mph .

A safety feature was claimed that due to a f latglide angle , if an engine quit at an altitude of 2,000feet above terrain, the pilot had 50 square miles ofarea in which he could choose a landing sit e .

Aircraft manufacturing was not the primary ventureof brothers J. Don and Don M. Al e xander . Theywere orphaned at an early age, and went to live withtheir grandparents at Keokuck, Iowa, where theirgrandfather had a shoe store. The town was namedafter the In d ian Chief Keokuck. At the age of 16, JulianDon, (ALWAYS, J Don) apprenticed himself to aphotographer who had a shop across the street fromhis grandfather 's shoe store. One warm Sunday nightin June 1901 with the help of his eight year old brother,

Al and e r Primar y G lid er .


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Alexander Se dan protolyp e Wrighl }- 5 Pow e re d , les lflown Decemb e r 7 , 7927.

Don Miller Alexander (ALWAYS Don M.l climbed tothe roof of the photographer's shop, and using anold kerosene burning French Stereoptican, they projected hand colored slides showing Views of the HolyLand , fol lowed by hand-drawn advertisements forgrandfather's shoe store. For the rest of the summerthe Alexander brothers put on a nightly show, thatbecame popular with home-town residents, and included advertising for other businessmen at $4.00each per week . .

The Alexander brothers ' other grandfather wasVice-President of Missouri-Pacific Railroad , at KansasCity . He invented ref rigerated box-cars for transportation of fruit, etc. instead of iced box-cars .

Shortly after the death of their grandfather atKeokuck, Iowa , J Don was married, and moved withhis bride to Spokane, Washington, where he had a jobas an electrical installer for the Washington Power& Light Company. Don M. remained with hi s grandmother in Keokuck, Iowa , then about 1910, went outto join his brother ' s hous e hold in Spokane, where th eydecided to rai se chickens to supplement income.About that t ime J Don invented an electric c hi ckincubator, and a duplicating machine . The Alexco

duplicator was still being marketed in 1925 by Alexander Industries . As work at the Power & Light Company slowed, J Don started an electrical equipmentstore in downtown Spokane. Family finances f lourished enough by then that J Don could send hisbrother to the Colorado School of Mines , at Golden,Colorado.

J Don found tim e to serve as a Paramount cameraman. Then, recalling their earlier success as advertisers, he set out to develop motion picture advertising commercials in the basement of his electric shop,

about 1919. Soon sc reen advertising caught o nso J Don sent for Don M. to return to help produceAlexander Films. Don M. continued his education atthe Universi ty of Washington, graduating with anEngineering Degree , and was chosen a RhodesScholar.

By 1923, they decided that they needed a morecentral location , to save on shipping costs, and time ,so they moved to Englewood, C;olorado .

Eag/erock Combo-wing , OX-5 Powered - NOle in t e r- plane struls ca nt ed in a l lop.

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j 6 97

E a g /~ ; oc k Long-wing , OX-5 Powered - Note originalTrestle-type cabane struts.

Soon the demand for Alexander movie film advertisements became so great that j. Don perceived thepotential advantage of air shipment, with salesmen'stransportation time a factor. He sent letters to leading aircraft manufacturers asking for prices on a lot of50 planes, but not one of them considered his requestseriously, At that time the most anyone ever orderedwas two planes, so his request was thought to be thework of a prankster. Then he sent one of his moreintrepid associates (he called all employees associates, and treated them with extra consideration,including providing them with insurance after sixmonths on the job), Justin A. Mclnaney to the NicholasBeazley Aircraft Company at Marshall, Missouri, tolearn to f ly from instructor-pilot Ben O. Howard,and take delivery on a Swallow airplane.

just in Mclnaney persuaded Benny Howard togo to Colorado with him, and become an associate .During the landing at the old original Lowry Field,(West of Stapleton at approximately 32nd Avenue &Holly Street) the Swallow, which was not well adaptedto high alt i tude take-off and landings, was slightlycracked or bent. j. Don Alexander was so disgustedwith the State of the Art of the aircraft industryof that era, that he decided to build his own airplanes.

He started with repair-modification of the Swallow , and designated it with Constructor's numberCN-101.

Even before Justin Mclnaney went to Marshall,Missouri, negotiations had begun with A. K Longrenof Topeka, Kansas, for his plane eqiupment and fourplanes that were originally built for the U. S Navy ,so fou r flyable Longrens were delivered as part ofthe deal. They were perhaps the first to use fiberresin molded shapes for the fuselage. CN -102 through105 were assigned to the four Longrens. A. K Longrenwas an aeronautical genius, who later devised analuminum stretch-forming process to form compoundcurves, and subsequently was associated with DonLuscombe. Alexander Industries , was reorganizedwith 2 divisions, with their plant at 3385 South Broadway, Englewood, Colorado, (subsequently 3 divisions) .

Dan Noonan was assigned as engineer to designthe first plane Alexanders actual ly built , CN-106,which involved many compromises, to utilize Longrenparts already on hand (which were sized in metricsystem), and to incorporate some of j. Don's ideas,such as two cockpits capable of holding 2 people ineach. CN-106 was a big, heavy plane, powered byan OX-5. It was painted black on the fuselage, withsilver wings. Associates of the company participatedin a contest to choose a name. Because they hadnursed an Eagle that f lew against an electric trolley

0-2 Fly-about Po w e red by Sz e kely SR 3 e ngine - rat e dat 4 hp on Alexander dynamometer 45 hp by enginemanufacturer.

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wire, in a vain effort to save it, the winning namewas Eagl e rock .

Bill McMahon was an auto me c hanic and e lectrician , who started as a Cadet with Alexand e rAircraft Company to break into aviation and learnto fly. H e received an hour of flight training for eac hweek ' s work , during his six-week probationary period .H e had natural aptitude, and becam e the company'sw e lder.

Jimmy Donahu e was c hi ef rigger and a naturalpilot who had soloed with only 1 hour and 40 minutesof flying time und e r Joe Hammer 's tutelage .

Joe Hammer was also one of Justin Mclnaney 'sinstructor-pilots at Marshall , Missouri . H e was a U. S.Army Air Service pilot during World War I. He cameout of Marshall, Missouri to test fly CN-106.

The night of the 18th of September, 1925, CN-106was towed, fully assembled, down Broadway to anAirfield that was then along Hampden Avenue.

Joe Hammer arrived at the Airfield early on themorning of the 19th fired up the OX-5 , checked it ou t ;then took-off, with much difficulty. It just barely gotof f , and with much luck and skill, he managed to bringit back. Among other problems , the engine was overh ea ting. After it had cooled, while he had a cup ofcoffee, he tried a second flight, with the same result.

J. Do n 's initial reaction wasn't recorded, but hewas very dejected . AI Mooney, age 19 , was among thecrow d watching the tes t flights. He was a high schoolgraduate with no formal aeronautical training . Heapproached the dejected J. Don and offered to redesign the Eaglerock, saying that he thought he couldmake it fly. But w e will need to make a lot of changes.So at $65 per week the teen-ager be ca me a chiefe ngineer . So he set out to design CN-107, which firstflew in Janu a ry, 1926 , without much fan-fare , but itdid fly magnificently.

It is a tribute to th e design genius of AI W. Mooney ,

that of more than 900 Eaglerock biplanes producedbetween 1926 and 1931, very little change was needed.Be nny Howard suggested a change to add. a ce nterwing section and modify cabane struts in 1927, andAI Moon ey designed a split-axle landing gear to minimize th e tendency to tr ip when landing in tallg rass .

The plan es had a distinctive logo artistcally paintedon the tail , showing an Eagle about to land on a rockprotruding above clouds. Some visualized the rockas the top of Pik e's Pea k, eve n though the designo riginat e d before the mov e to Colorado Springs.

Prior to July of 1927, aircraft did not even requireregistration numb e rs , so Eaglerocks w e re id e ntified

in Fed e ral records only as Iongwing , co mbo-wing ,

or s hor t -wing . In mid 1928, the D e partm e nt ofCommerce es tablish e d CAA (Civil Aeronauti cs Administrati o n), now FAA and th e re quir e ment for a nApproved Type Ce rtificat e (A TC ) , so Eaglerock biplanes w e re designed Mo d e l A ser ,e s, with th e firstATC #57 ass igned in August 1928 to:

A-1 Wright J-5 W hirlwind (220 hp) (e n g in e mount6 long ) . ATC #5 7 .

A-2 Curtiss OX-5 (90 hp ), o r OXX-6 (100 hp) ATC#58.

A-3 Hi sso A (150 hp ) Hi spa no ; Suiza, ATC #59.A-4 Hi sso E (180 hp ) (Hi sso .e ngines wer e buil t

under li c e n se .by Wright - they had an e llipti ca l orh ea rt-shap e d au tomobi le typ e radia tor forwa rd ofthe cy lind e r banks .)

A-5 M e na sco-Sa lmson (26 0 hp) (only 3 builtengine had bad habit of blowing cylinder head svery unpopular).

A-7 Ryan-Siemans (125 hp ) (German Siemans &Halske radial marketed by Ryan in th e U. S. - o nl y1 built, Category 2 certificate issue) .

A-11 Warner Sca rab (110 hp) (only 1 built), NoATC.

A-12 Wi sco nsin Co met (130 hp - as rated byEag le rock on their dynamometer, most were rated at150 hp by e n gi ne manufactur e r) .

A-13 Curtiss Challenger (170 hp ) ( twin-row radial,3 cy lind e rs eac h row - several built with this engine).ATC #141.

A-14 Wright J6- 5 (165 hp ) (Category 2 approval only).A-15 Kinn er K-5 (10 0 hp ) 5 foot engine mount to

balance lightweight e ngine - ca lled the 'Ant-eater ).ATC #190 .

Where th ere are gaps in A ser ies numb e ringseq u e n ce are ' where expe rini enta l e n g in es were tried,but ofte n r ejected; s.u ch as: '

Axelson , - Floco (Variously described as rated at125 or 150 horsepower was subject to appr.oval ofDepartment of Commerce - it was not approved).

Hellet (Another radial - very little information ).Curtiss C-6 (150 hp) a unique engine installed

in a special plane built for Reggie Sinclair, incorp o rated a rac,ing wing with the center section).In 1928 , it was entered in air ra ces at i n e ~Field ,(now Los Angeles International Airport) and placed

Prototype of the ul l e / which was first flown on th e 12th

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second, beh ind Walter Beech's Racing Special".During the return trip to Colorado, a fire occurredaround the engine, due to use of gaskets of aluminumexhaust manifolds that were intended to be groundfit to cylinder head to serve as a "heat sink". BennyHoward called to Reggie to hand him the extinguisher,and "Iand this darn thing He put the fire out andthey proceeded on to Colorado Springs, where another f ire developed when they throttled back toland, so again he jumped out and smothered it. Aftof the fire-wall all Eaglerock biplanes were basicallythe same.

Some OX-5 powered Eaglerocks had their engines"Millerized", that is Miller overhead cam heads wereinstal led, Bosch magnetos instead of Dixie mags.This configuration produced 110 horsepower at1400 rpm (some at 1600 with the Jacuzzi tooth-pi ck"raci ng prop) .

For $50 to $100 more than for the basic OX-5 , customers could get an OXX-6 producing 100 horsepower .

The f.uselage was a sturdy Pratt truss of welded1020 steel tubing in the earliest ones , and 4130 chrommoly steel in later ones. It was 2 feet wide at the wingspar attach points at lower longerons, and wider at

the upper longerons.Wings were of a Clark "Y" airfoil with a chord .of60 inches . Upper and lower wing panels were interchangeable on the same side 18 inches each panel),for the long-wing" with overall lower wing span 38 'and 36' upper wing span. This made for good performance at high altitude, with the longer lower wingspan adding to the ground cushion effect upon landing. Inter-wing struts were canted inboard at the top,which was ' a distinguishing feature , different than mostother planes. The reason for it being interchangeability.

For economical operation at lower alt i tudes , a"combo-wing" was made with lower wing panels 3 feet

shorter, so the overall lower wing span was 32 feetwith upper wing span remaining at 36 feet.For racing a short-wing version was built, having

an overall 32 foot span both upper and lower wings.All were spruce with ribs 12 inches apart, and in

termediate false ribs. The entire assembly was dippedin Lionoi, a preservative, before covering.

The main fuel tank in the fuselage held 39 gallons.later models having the Benny Howard" centerpanel in the upper wing had a 31 gallon tank in i t , for70 gallons total.

On June 27, 1927, three fliers were killed at Winne r , South Dakota, when the left upper wing forward spar attachment to a trestle-like cabane strut

arrangement failed. On ferry flights Benny Howardheard about the weakness at that point , so he suggested a modified center wing section , mounted onconventional spread cabane struts. This center wingsection could also accomodate an extra 'gas tank .Benny Howard subsequently quit the company, because he felt they were not making the change fastenough , due to lag time in building a jig and tooling.

Planes powered by the J-5 ' s were most popular.Ted Haueter peeled the wings off one near leadville,Colorado, when the engine quit and he landed inbetween two trees.

One only high wing monoplane transport , calledthe Alexander Sedan, was designed by George DeBellto carry seven passengers, plus a pilot.

When it was test f lown on December 10 , 1927,its performance with a J-5 was sluggish. It was thefirst Alexander plane to use 4130 chrome-moly tubing.It was subsequently sold for $150 to become a hot-

h e Kinn e r K-5 P o w e red Bullet as t s t l o wn at O klahom aC it y with l a ndin g gea r b o lte d in d ow n p os iti o n a n d S p ats(a iring in s tall ed o n s trut s

dog stand. The fuselage was red and wing s werepea green.

Most Eaglerock planes had the fus e lage blue, somered; wing s and elevators always silver . On e , the Mandarin , was painted to resemble a Chinese dragon forSid Grauman.

At 11 :30 a.m. on Friday the 20th of April , 1928 , anexplosion and fire oc c urred at th e Alexander Film& Aircraft Company plant in the 3300 block of SouthBroadway , Englewood , Colorado, that resulted in 11deaths a nd 20 injuries . According to the report ofone witness, the explosion was caused by a shortcircuit in a fan motor that caused a spark to drop intoan open pan of silver nitrat e dope. Double doorsopened inward into the building , so the force of thee xplosion blew the door s shut , then debris fe ll againstthem. The steel windows had small panes of glass ,and the ventilator part of the window did not permiteasy egress , so many victims were trapped . On the

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A-IS Kinn er K-S P o wr ed - Ni c knam ed th e Ant- eat e r ,b ec aus e e ngine s e t far forw a rd to balan ce . (N o te th e

Be nny H o ward ce nter wing panel in up p e r win g andspread cab a ne struts .

Monday prior to the explosion, during a weekly employee group meeting Ella Taylor , age 19 , one of thoseburned to death, had asked for another emergencyegress door.

Carl Mosely was working in the basement of thebuilding when the explosion occurred. He ran out,then pushed open the door where the fire was , wentinto the fire and carried out two victims, then collapsed while attempting to go in for a third. He diedshortly after arrival at the hospital. His brother Sethwas seriously burned, but recovered . Ross Owen Scottthanked another fel low for spraying water on him,saying "God that water felt good", just before hedied.

Don M. Alexander, Vice President of the companywas already enroute , flying from Colorado Springs toEnglewood, when the explosion occurred. Construct ion was already in progress on the new plant inColorado Springs.

During a 5 hour inquest meeting on Monday,April 23,1928 , District Attorney Joel E. Stone deliveredan ultimatum to the Alexander brothers , that he wouldbegin injunction proceedings at once unless theystopped operations at Englewood, (this because ofan attempt to set up a large circus tent in which totemporarily continue operations.)

As a result the Alexanders hired every availabletruck in the area, and at 2:00 a.m. the 24th of April,started moving every item of equipment to ColoradoSprings. Within 24 hours they resumed operation ofthe film service , and completed the entire move bythe end of the -week. They used movie klieg lights towork at night on construction of the unfinished buildings.

Much of this information is from micro-film newspaper accounts in the Denver Post, and Rocky Mountain News at the Denver Public Library. It's also fromthe first draft of a book that Col. John A. DeVries

(Ret.) has very tediously compiled, that will soonbe published, and from Jack A. D'Andrea, who isstill an Artist Associate of the Alexander Film Company at Colorado Springs. He started there in 1928 ,at the same t ime that Helen Mary Everett startedwork sewing fabric on wings as a "cadet". She became an. aeroplane pilot, and starred in AlexanderFilm Company movies such as the Girl of the GoldenWest". She and Jack D'Andrea were subsequentlymarried. Jack D'Andrea designed several clever logos,and did much of the art work.

An outstanding film the company did, was to flya mock-up of a Chevrolet by helicopter to the topof a pinnacle in Monument Valley, near Moab, Utah,then film a spectacular picture of a pretty girl wavingin the breeze , while standing on the narrow rock beside the car, several hundred feet above the Valleyfloor.

At one time 2 ,700 advertisers were using Alexander films .

After the move to Colorado Springs, productionof the biplanes increased, with demand so g r ~ tthatsome prospective purchasers would pay extra toexpedite delivery. By that time many of the planeswere powered by Wright J 5 ' s or Kinner K-5 radial

engines. The company was also producing a smallplane called a Fly-About, and a glider. AI W. Mooney(one of the industry 's more practical design engineers) designed most of the Eaglerock planes . Hesubsequently manufactured his own planes of a verypopular low wing monoplane design.

Nineteen Fly-Abouts were buil t , and approximately300 gliders , more than 900 AU series biplanes werebuilt.

Imaginative J Don Alexander established anothergoal for himself in aviation - to build a plan thatwould deliver one mile per hour speed for each horsepower delivered by the engine. With this objectivein mind, AI Mooney designed a new concept for thatera , a four-place low wing monoplane with retractablelanding gear , which was powered by a 100 hp KinnerK 5 engine , would cruise, amazingly, at better than100 mph.

Thus the fabulous Alexander "Bullet" was born.The first prototype was begun in September, 1928 .Production type jigs were set up in January, 1929.

First f l ight of X6390, the first Bullet, was on the12th of January, 1929 , with Ted Haueter at the controls.Reports indicate that it was off the ground at 75 feet ,and climbed through 1000 feet in a quarter of a mileThere seems to be some confusion as to wheth e r thefirst flight was using an Anzani rated at 110 hp or theKinner that was subsequently in 'stalled , because the

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Anzani was considered unreliabl e. Anyway TedHaueter reported that it flew like a dream

On the 22nd of February Lee Bruss e, ProctorNichols , and a Kinner engineer, took off with a disposable load of 750 pounds to fly over the summitof Pike's Peak (14,110 feet). At an altitude of 16,500feet they had fuel pump problems , so Brusse glidedthe plane ba c k to the airport (15 miles) for a gooddead-stick landing .

On another flight Brus se dived the Bullet to a speedof 180 mph wh e n side window panels and some fabri cpeeled off. J. Don, impressed by his airmanship askedhim to fly certification tests. Legend has it that Brusserefused because he suspected a tend e ncy for spinproblems (remember that he f lew it fully loaded) ,and becaus e of his 6 foot 4 inch frame , he felt thatthe escape hat ch was too s mall for him to get out ina hurry.

Meanwhil e number 2 Bull e t , (NR8227, Kinner K-5powered) , and number 3 (NR8228 Wright J6- 5 powered)were buil t for formal introduction to th e public atthe Detroit All-American Aviation Show, on April21, 1929.

J. Don Alexander re turned to Colorado Springswith orders for 86 of them in his po c ket It was a

ca ntilever low wing monoplane , with retractablegear, capable of transporting four persons and a do g ,( to quote Al exa nder advertising), at spee ds of 150miles per hour, with J5-6 power .

The first three Bull e ts were built to h o u se the landing gear swing inboard to retract, while o n subsequentones it swung aft, with about half of the wh e e l exposed.

Whil e still in ex perim e ntal sta tus , Edith Foltz flew,Bullet numb e r 4, with the Kinn e r e ngin e, in the firstNational Women's Air D e rby in 19 29, from SantaMonica to Cleveland, placing seco nd . (See Jun e, 1978

h e Vintag e Airplane Page 14.)Errett Williams won $15,000 in priz e m o n e y flying

Bullet numb e r 5, po w er e d by a Wright J6-5 (165 hpjwith which h e defeated eve ry rival with up to 225 ho r sepower. H e won first pl ace , flying from Philadelphiato Cleveland, at the Nati o n a l Air Races; first in th e50 mile closed co urs e race for planes with 225 hp o rless, and fir s t in the 50 mil e Aviation Town a nd CountryClub speed ra ce in which it defeated planes of 300h o rsepow e r. Other victories were scored at th e In t e rnational Air Ci rc u s, Kansas C it y; Tulsa Air Meet;D e nv er Air M ee t ; N ebraska Air Tour; Omaha AirM ee t; Atlanta Air M eet; a nd Miami Air Meet.

By usin g clean lin es, ae ro dynami c efficie n cy wasachieved, which impr oved spee d and eco nomy, yetretained a low landing speed. To achieve a ll thi s at

a ltitudes required in Colorado is a t r ibute to gooddesign.

When th e Alexand e r Eagerock Company startedce rtification tests , they found all kinds of problems.There are several different versions or interpretationsof the circumstances. According to th e version foundby Ed Mack Miller, when he wrote th e story entitled"C o lorado's Pioneer Planes" in the D e nver Post Empire section, January 29, 1956 , the theory seemed tobe that the plane was truly spin-proof, and had to beloaded tail heavy in order to induce a spin, whichforced it into a flat spin. According to informationuncovered by Col. DeVrie s during his research , theproblem seemed to b e due to mislo ca te d c g and ashort tail.

Since th e planes Edith Foltz , and Errett Williamsflew with such success, were never fully loaded , andwith only th e pilot aboard, the c g was well forwardand they didn' t encounter any problems, Kinner TestPilot Lee Brusse must have felt a tendency for a flatspin, when h e flew it with three persons and a 750pound load.

Anyway the Departm e nt of Commerce re quirementof certification was that it be able to recove r from asix turn spin, while fully loa d e d.

Errett Williams (who was the Eaglero c k distributorfor South Carolina), f lew th e first spin tes t, in Bull e tX741H, on th e 16th of September, 1929. It was load e dwith boxes of sand, and spun 5 turn s successfully,then went flat. Headlines in pap e rs of the time indicat e dshifting sand was th e problem. Half way through 35turns he climbed out in pr e paration to bail-out, thenh e noticed that the spin wa s turning so s lo wly, and soflat, that the a ltimet e r s h owed a los s of on ly 50 fee tper turn. H e was tempt ed to rid e it down, but th e nwent off the wing to the in s id e of the turn , parachutedsafe ly , la ndin g with only s light bruises. Th e pl a n ese ttl e d down with v ery littl e damage.

Alexander Aircraft Company hi r e d a man , sup pos edto be an expe rt, Dr. Max M. Munk , from Goettingen,Germany, in July , 1929 , to st udy th e problem, beca u se h e h ad developed th e M-series airfoils, buthi s influence on the Bullett was co nsid e red n eg ligibl e.Hi s suggestion was to mount the wing on a jack-screwso it co uld be shifted fore and aft, but the idea wasrejected. H oweve r, th e seco nd and sub seque nt spintest plan es h ad lead weights mount ed on a tra c k , soth e weight co uld be shift e d. The chan ges which werem a d e fin a lly go t the pl a n e to spin - but th e sp in wasflat, and pr act ica lly impossible to br eak .

Bill Sylvester, from Belle Four ch e, So uth Dakot a,volunteered to test numb e r 2 . A lar ge number ofpeople saw him go into a flat s pin hi g h and try all th e

u s ual tri cks to recover , th e n start to climb out thruthe hatch, but then h e sat down aga in. Some thinkthat was b eca use he just th e n rememb e re d the moveable weight , and went ba c k to try it , but it was toolate and too low. He died in the crash. When he tookoff the weight was all the way forward , but when thec rashed plan e was examined, the w e ight was found5 inches aft. The only other difference betw ee n number1 and number 2 test plan es, was that number 2 wasreported to hav e a lifting s tabilizer.

Jame s Shelly Charles, was the third pilot to spintest the Bullet No. X747H, which again made fivenormal turns, then went flat , on the 7th of October,1929. He climbed out the hatch, aft e r a valiant effort to recov e r from the spin, was catapulted 500feet away from the plane , landing safely, with onlya bruised and sprained ankle. .

The lea d s hot was still in the box es of Charles'plane , but h e felt that it wouldn't have helped torelease it. His plane had the fuselage extended a bit,to get the stabilizer out of the wing wa s h . He laterbecame one of Eastern Airlines' top pilots.

Pat Love , age 35, whose specialty was spin testingplanes and who was Superintendant' of Engineering,of the Davis Aircraft Company, of Richmond , Indiana ,

ca me ou t to fly test nu mber 4 , for 1 ,000. He didn' tget out in tim e . Jimmy Donahue recalls that Love wasnot going to wear a p a ra chute until Ludwig Mutherinsisted that he wear it , or he wouldn ' t b e permittedto fly. That flight was on November 5, 1929.

All pr evio us plan es had a Clark Y-18 airfoil, butfor test numb e r 4, Ludwig Muther had chosen to us ea Goett ing e n 387 airfoil . The plane was probablynu mber X761 H. Pat Lov e e nt e red th e s pi n from aninvert e d position, and fought it from 6,000 feet downto 1 ,000 feet with only a sl ight rea c tion by the plane .H e was see n standing in the hatch upon impact. Hisbody was thr o wn clear o f th e wreckag e.

AI Mo o n ey lef t Al exa nd e r Aircraft Company to

sta rt his own co mpany soon after th e first flight ofX639 0, so Ludwig Muth e r , who had been an assistantto Professor Junk e rs in Germany, and associated withth e Fokk e r Company in H o lla nd, was th e n appointedC hi e f Engineer. Now Pr oc tor Nichol s took over asChief Engineer.

Re -d es ig n s tarted th e sa me night a ft e r Pat Love'scras h , to s lightly modify the Goettingen 387 airfoil ,le ng th e n the fuselage a bit more, and ra ise the centerof gravity a nd move it aft, res ulting in Bulle t NX309 V.

An Alexander team , including Don M. Alexander,Ludwig Muth e r, Proctor Ni chols , and Gene Rhinehardt , with Ga rland Peed Jr . as test pilot , went toOklahoma C it y, on th e 17th of D ece mb e r , 1929. Th e

A-12 Wisconsin Co met engine (130hp s rated by Eag/erock on their dyna A-I Wright }-5 Powered , 22


15/28

hp s rated by Eag/erock on their dynamometer, most were rated at 150 hp byengine manufacturer.)

I

.

hp Nqte the Benny Howard'center panel .&, pread caban

. struts . '

Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the Bulletpassed the full load certification test on the 22nd ofDecember, 1929. However, that was with the landinggear bolted in the down posit ion, and with spats ,or fairing on the gear . Accord in g to an article by

Garland Peed in the S.A . E. Journal, the Bullet hadpassed the test, but it had not spun 6 turns left, and6 turns right as required by CAA, because the planecould not be spun in its final configuration. Thusthere were a lot of engineering arguments.

The controversy was ultimately resolved, in February of 1930 , when Garland Peed re-flew the certification test at Bolling Field, Washington , D.C.

ATC number 318 was issued for the Alexander Bulleton either the 6th of May, or the 5th of June, 1930.

By then the depression had its effect upon Colorado, and the Aircraft Division had become a dragon the parent Company, Alexander Film Industries,so on the 5th of August , 1932, the Aircraft Company

was declared bankrupt.An interesting point of consideration is why with

the filming expertise of the Alexanders didn' t theyfilm the spin tests for better engineering ana lysis?

When the depression hit, they did try to save thethe business , by building a small, low cost light plane ,called the Fly-About. The first and third D-1's werepowered by Continenta l A-40 engines, rated by themanufacturer at 37 ho r s epower but found to onlyproduce 27 on the Alexander dynamometer. The second 0-1 was the static test plane that never flew. The0-1 was so under-powered that plane nu mber 3 wasconverted to a 0-2 powered by a Szekely SR-3 enginerated by the manufacturer at 45 horsepower and by

Alexander at40 horsepower. With more power, a largerfin and rudder were added. The 0-2 was awarded ATC#449 (t h e 0-1 was ATC #439). The Fly-About hadfat air wheels to absorb landing shock. There were3 D-1's and 16 D-2 ' s produced , with the last one

assembled by Aircraft Mechanics Indu stries.There was a lot of corporate juggling just priorto the failure of the Aircraft Company with most ofthe key executives transferred to the Film Companyside.

Proctor Nichols was offered a position with theFilm Company, but refused it. Later he leased theAircraft buildings, purchased some of the spare partsat the bankruptcy sale, and formed Aircraft MechanicsIndustries. He managed a hand-to-mouth existenceuntil 1940, when he spent his last'dime to go to California where he obtained a contract from Douglas tobuild welded engine m o un t s for the DB-7 Boston and Havoc bombers. He arranged for an advance

so he cou d get back to Colorado Springs.When AI Mooney qu i t the Alexander Aircraft

Company he buil t 4 planes at Wichita, Kansas, before the depression caught up with him l ike withso many others . Then he built one light plane atDenver. Sometime after that he went to Bellanca Aircraft Corporation. It is interesting that the December1939 issue of Popular Aviation shows a picture ofa Bellanca model 14-9 Cruisair that shows a closesimi larity to the lines of the Alexander Bullet including the airfoil shaped fuselage. It was a threeplace low wing monoplane powered by a LeBlond 90horsepower engine that gave it top speed of 133 mphand cruise speed at 120 mph at 75 % power. Wing

span was 34 feet 2 inches , length 21 feet 3 inches,and it had retractable landin g gear. It is interesting tonote that it had auxiliary vertical fins at the outboardend of the stabilizer on each side. The purpose of thefins were to preclude the possibility of spins out of

any normal maneuver .The cover picture on the January, 1940, issue ofPopular Aviation shows Benny Howards trim crea

tion a high wing cabin monoplane.Jack D 'Andrea ' s family moved to Colorado Springs

so his brother , Michael M. D 'Andrea, (who lost hishearing at the age of 7, during a spinal menigitis epidemic at Louisville , Colorado), cou ld get special training at a sc h oo l for deaf and blind. Because of thisaffliction he became more sensitive than usual to thefeelings , that are the mark of a true poet. The followingis one of his poems that was published in the In t ernational Poets Book, printed in England:

BY WAY OF PLANESThe lur e of the sky

Lies out beyond.Why sail on the cool

And quiet pond?Why linger there

In th e breath of dawn ,Listening to the beauty

and the Blue Bird's song.Go where you hear

The whir of wings . .Up in the sky . . .

The aeroplane sings.by Mi ch e l M. D Andr e - 192 8

5


16/28

BORDEN S AEROPLANE POSTERS

FROM THE 1930 SBOEING BOMBER AND BOEING PURSUIT

Article numb e r 8 poster numb e r 8 series numberBoeing Bomb e r a nd Pursuit

By Lion e l Sa lis bur y7 Harp e r Roa d

Brampton , O nt a rio a nad a L6W W3

In 1936 the Borden Company Toronto Canadaoffice undertook a promot ion of its malted milkprodu c t and made available to pu r c hasers of thebeverag e two series of aeroplane po s ters .

This is poster number eight in series numb erone the Boeing Bomb e r and Boeing Pursuit.

While the des c r ipt ions printed on the back ofmost of th e posters were quite detailed not so in thi scase. All they gave was th e most minimal information .

Mayb e the rest was classified

NEXT M ON T H - Th e Fair child 22

16


17/28

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18/28

By Ge org e Hardi e Jr.EAA Hi s to ria n

LBUM (A ll ph o tos fro m U. S. Navy

The s u e s s f u l f l i g h t sof his hydro airplane in January and February 1911co nvinced Glenn Curtiss of the military potential of his machine. His problemwas to convince the U .S . Navy officials that it would b e of value to the serviceand thus would prompt them to place orders . Lt. Theodore Ellyson had beendetailed by the Navy to report on January 2, 1911 to Curtiss for training as apilot. Curtiss had established his wi nt er camp on North Island at San Diego ,Californ ia Two Army officers, Lt. Paul Beck and Lt. John Walk e r, also reportedfor training .

Besides training sessions on the land version of the Curtiss pusher, th e students were involved in assisting with the experimental work. After the successfulflight to the battleship ennsylvania on February 17, 1911, and the furtherexperiments with the amphibian version , Cu rti ss continued refin e ments inseeking to perfect his new invention . Searching for an original name for hismachine, the cumbersome t itl e hydr o-te rra-aeroplane was first used . Thiswas succeeded by T hree-in-One - land , sea and air - and was finallyshortened to Triad . Further refinements added the retractable feature andCurtiss could now confide ntl y state :

Wi t h these achievements it seems to m e th e aeroplane has r eac h ed thepoint of utility for military purposes - either for the Army or the Navy.

In May , 1911 Curtiss moved his school and experimenta l operations back tohis factory at Hammonsport, New York .

Front view of th e Tria d o n Lak e Ke uk a with Curtiss and Ell yso n.

f - -

I\

Th e Tri a d on Lak e Keuka with Curtiss at the controls and Ll. Ellyson as pa sse ng e r.

Th e Tri a d o n Lak e Keuka . Note th e s ingle pilot p os ition a nd th e forward e leva to r.

18


19/28

Preparing for a flight in the A-I Lt Ellyson piloting and Lt Towers t the left wing. The A-I returning from a flight over Lake Keuka, Lt Ellyson piloting and passengerGeorge Hall e tt, m ec hani c, at the prop e ll e r unidentified.

. . .e ; ; := ~ ~

Lt Towers left) and Lt Ellyson in th e A-I fitted for land operallon. Note th e conve rtibl e Glenn Cur ti ss t th e co ntrol s and R . C 51 H enry, a student, in a Curtiss hydro.co ntrol whee l

9

A CURTISS ALBUM Continued)


20/28

The dil igent efforts of Captain Washington I. Chambers, who had been working with Curtiss to develop an airplane for naval use , finally paid off when on May8 , 1911 the Navy Department placed an order for two Curtiss aircraft, one hydroconvertible to land type , with an 8-cylinder engine, later designated the A 1 ,and a land type, four-cylinder engine, designated the A-2. These airplanes werean improved version of the Triad . Navy specifications called for a second pilotposition for training purposes; thus the control column was hinged so that theupper half mounted on a quadrant could be swung and locked into positionbefore either pilot. The wing surfaces were enlarged to handle the increasedload and more powerful engine. Contract price for the A 1 was $5,500.

On June 27,1911 a second Navy officer . Lt. John Towers, reported for training. On July 1 the Navy 's A 1 was completed and tested by Curtiss. On the following day Lt . Ellyson qualified for his pilot's license in the A-1, thus becomingNaval Aviator No.1 . Lt. Towers qualified on September 14 and on September23 the two Navy pilots established the first Navy aviation camp at Annapolis ,Maryland .

Curtiss ' achievement was officially recognized when he was awarded theCollier Trophy by the Aero Club of America for the most significant contribution to the science of aeronautics during 1911 :

(NOTE: The captions for the photos on the bottom ofPage 4 in the July issue were transposed. The Rheimsracer is on the left and the Golden Flyer on the right.Also Charles F. Willard 's name is misspelled on l ine 1,column 2.)

Lt. Th eo d o re G Ellyso n , Naval Aviator No.7 .

G len n Curtiss at the controls and s tud ents l e ft to right) Lt. J w McClaskey , USMC;Lt. Paul B ec k, U S. Army; Lt. John T o w ers and Lt. Th eo do r e Ellyson , U. S. Navy , atHammond sp o rt , N. Y. July , 797 7

Lt. John H. To w e rs Naval Aviator No.3.

2 0


21/28

Preparing to laun ch th e A-7 from a catapult on the dock at the Wa shington Navy Catapult laun ch o f th e A- 7 from the dock at th e Washington Navy Yard. This was th eYard November 72 7972. seco nd trial .

Th e A- J in a later catapult exper im en t. Note th e dual control wheels. Ellyso n s ex p erim e ntal ca ble laun ch a t ammond sport September 7 7977.

F l


22/28

L O U G H E DF- l

The F l inaugurated d es ign coniiguration that be ca m efamous years later on th e Co n stellation - triple finnedta il .

Th e F l powered by two Hall-Scott engines. Th e wing span is 74 fee t le ng th is 35 fee t.

Allen and Mal co lm Lough ea d at the co ntrol s oi the F I .

by Cedric Calloway14624 Willow StreetH esperia CA 92345

In 1916 All e n and M a lco lm Lo u g h ea d b ega n writin gth e seco nd chapt e r in th e ir saga as p io n ee r airplan ebuild e rs. Th ey es tabli s h e d th e Lo u g h ea d A ir cra ftM a nu f ac turin g C om p a n y in th e rea r of a ga rage n ea r

th e Sa nt a Barb a ra w at e rf r o nt. Th e ir f in a n ces we r em eage r but th ey we re a mbiti o u sBe rt o n R . Ro dm a n Sa nt a Ba rba ra f in a n c ie r a n d

m ac hi n e s h o p o wn e r w as e lec te d p res ide n t All e nfir s t vi ce pr es id e nt Malc o lm sec re ta ry a nd tr eas ur e r N o rm an S H a ll adv e rti s in g a nd sa les pr o m o tio n m a nager a nd Anth o ny Stadlm a n fac to ry s up e ri nt e nd e nt.A Czec h os lo va kia n m ec h a ni c a nd e n g in ee r St a dlmanfi rs t w o rk ed w ith All e n in m a in t e n a n ce of th e C urti ssPu sh e r th a t Lo u g h ea d fl e w d urin g hi s bar n s to rmin gin Illin o is

In m id -s um m e r o f 19 16 a 21 yea r- o ld garage m ech a ni c a nd a rc hi t ec tu r a l draf tsm a n son of a p ro min e ntSa nt a Ba rb a ra co nt r ac tor beca m e a f r eq u e nt vis it o r

Ce nt r a l Powers, th e Navy - anxious to build up it sa ir arm - displayed int e r es t in the Lo ugh ead F-1 and


23/28

h e Lough ead F l se plane in fl ig ht n ea r Sanla Barba ra

at the fa c tory on State Street. He knew th e Lougheadsby re putation. H e had seen th e ir Model G at th e Panama - Pa c ific Exposition the year b e fo r e . And hewanted a job - anything at all, as long as it was conn ec ted with aircraft. Th e young man was th e fars ighted Jo hn K. Northrop , one of th e most tal e nt e ddesigners in av iat ion hi s to ry , wh o se co ntribution st o the progr ess of flying included th e ce lebratedLo c kheed Vega and the famous Northrop Flying Wingbomber .

The Lough ea ds hired N o r throp and put him towork helping to s hap e th e hull of their n e w flyingboat, ca lle d th e F-1 . A se lf-taught e ngin ee r , North

rop un d e rstood stress analysis. He d es igned andstressed th e wings of th e flying boat, world s largestsea plan e at that time .

It was buil t to carry 10 p e rsons , including pilotand co-pilot, and was of wood and fabri c co nstru ction , with e ngin e co wling s a nd fitting s of m e tal. Th eupp e r wing s p a nn e d a mon s trous 74 fee t, a nd the 47foot lower wing carried pontoons ben ea th eac h tip .Two 160 hors e power Hall Scott e ngines hu n g betweenth e wings on e ith e r side of th e hull . It w as a tractortyp e c raft 35 feet long with a gross weight of 3700pounds , a u sef ul load of 310 0 pounds, a top s pe e d of84 mph , and a c ruising sp ee d of 70 mph.

Throughout it showed eve ry evidence of practi ca ld es ign and ca re ful workman ship. For exa mple , wings truts w e re of s teel , bolt e d top and bottom , and encase d in streamlined wooden fairings. The Lougheadsalso d eveloped a rust-proofing process for metal part sthat greatly in cr ease d th e ir durability.

The F-1 w as notabl e, additionally, because it inaugurated a d es ign configuration that became famousyears later on the Con s t e ll a t ion - a tripl e -f innedtail , mount e d on metal boom s attached to the hulla nd wings.

By this tim e the U.S. was on the verge of enteringWorld War I. Th e Lougheads offered to place th e ir

factory and pe rsonal services as train e d pilots atth e government's disposal in event of trouble withany other foreign power. The Santa Barbara NewsPre ss report e d the company also plann e d to offerits F-1 , th e n un d e r co n st ru ct ion , to th e military .Work was ru s h e d in ho p e of completing it by April ,1917 .

With a littl e added equipment we could turn outeac h month two machin es , the story quoted Allen.

We are patterning our n e w machin e in l ine withgo vernment speci fications and it would be availablefor immediat e us e for obs e rvation and reco nn a issan cework , to which it is es pecially adapted.

After th e U .S. d e clared war on Germany and the

p y ga rranged for it to b e flown to the North Is land NavalBase near San Diego for testing. Allen first f lew ita t Santa Barb a ra on March 28, 1918 . The formal laun chin g follow ed what th e News-Press de sc ri b e d as an

impre ss iv e c hr i s t e ning and dedicatory ce r e mo n y .Firs t pass e ng e rs were Ma r y Mi l es Mint er, no t e d s i lentscree n actress who mad e a numb e r of movi es in Sant aBarbara , and h er sister.

On its trial h op th e F-1 made a circular flight thatdemonstrated inh e rent s tab i l i ty although there wa stoo mu ch a r ea in th e co un t e rbalan ce d ai le rons . Th eproblem was quickly so lve d , and a s hort t ime lat e rth e plan e wing e d to North Is land , setting a non-stopo ve r-water m ar k - 180 mi l es in 181 minut es.

Navy offi c ials began a se ri es of rigid f l ight andst ru ct ural t es ts that spa nn ed thre e month s. Thes eco nvin ced them the Lougheads kn ew how to buildan airplane, but the craft was rul e d out because of adesign standardization poli cy. The Government wasco n ce ntratin g production on specified aircraft types ,and the seaplane design it chose was a Curtiss HS2L.Acc o rdingly , th e Lough eads' first mili tary co ntractwas to constru c t two seaplanes patt e rned after th eCurtiss. The trial order was on a cost-plus - 2 12per cent basis , plus spare parts.

We took a beating on th e deal , Allen recalledlater. W e in v es ted between $4000 and $5000 in necessary alterations to the basi c HS2L design and weren treimbursed fo r our expenditures.

At th e p ea k of produ c ti o n , employment at thes mall Santa Barbara plant ro se to 85 m e n . North ro p ,th e n in military service at Ca mp Lewi s, was furloughedan d return e d to Santa Barb a ra to help turn out thetwo planes.

Meantim e, th e Model G co ntinued its successfulca r ee r. Soon after th e Lougheads arrived in SantaBarbara , Allen us e d the pla ce to make the fi r s t cross

ing of the Santa Barbara Channel by air, ca rrying twopa sse ngers and completing the 60-mile trip in justo n e hour.

Eve n though the Navy had turned down the F-1,the Lough ea ds remained co nvinced of its potentialities. After its return to Santa Barbara from the NorthIs land tests in August 1918 , the factory promptly rebuil t it at a cost of $10,000 into a land plane co nfiguration with a landing gear arrangement that co nsisted oftwo main gears and a no se wheel. This modificationwas called the F-1A , which will be the subject of then ex t story in this series.Re fe rences: Of M e n and Stars , A History of LockheedAircraft Corp., by Philip L. Juergens.

3

counterweight center of gravity to be at a particularradius from the centerline of the crankshaft

The weight of the counterweights were then finet d b d i ll i g t ddi g igh t t th fo r


24/28

MATCHING PISTONS ANDCRANKSHAFTS FOR WARNER 165

SUP ER SCARAB ENGINES

By W B Richards249 reer Road

Palo to CA 94303

Following the failure of my 165D Warner 55 fromlack of oil , I found myself involved with the rebuilding of several Warner engines. The engine failurecaused a forced landing of my Bucker Jungmeisterin a mountain-side clearing of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The failure resulted from the oil tank flop tubehanging up in the inverted posit ion during aerobaticflight. This caused the master rod bearing to seize,the master rod to fail and a complete wipe-out of themaster rod, l ink rods and crankshaft, p lus substantialdamage to the cylinder skirts and pistons.

The search for repair parts coupled with my researchand experiments to rediscover the engine balancingformula for radial engines uncovered several interesting aspects of the 165 Warner engines previously unknown to me. I feel this information may also be ofinterest to others flying behind or rebuilding Warnerengines.

There h-as been much discussion of "light weight"and "heavy weight" 165 55 crankshafts, coupled withthe observation that some had bronze counterweightswhile others used cast "Mehan i t e" . Actually, thereis something to all this.

Warner 165 SS engines were made in four differentmodels. The 165B and D models were designed for use

with two-posi t ion or constant-speed propellers andused a longer nose case and a crankshaft about oneinch longer than the basic 165 and 165A models. Inreviewing all available literature including overhaulmanuals, factory balance data, service bulletins, partslists and textbooks, plus my own measurements ofnumerous 165 crankshafts, I can discover no differencein the balance of the engines due to the factory's useof bronze versus Mehanite for the counterweights.The choice of material for the counterweight seemsto have been dictated by material availability. Shapeof the counterweight was apparently dependent on thematerial selected, its density, desired finished weightand the crankshaft/engine design which required the

radius from the centerline of the crankshaft.Pistons, however, are another story. Ear ly 165 en

gines used a 3-ring piston (Warner Part No. 7939) thatweigh an average of 784.7 grams. Later 165 SS engineswere equipped with a considerably heavier 4-ringpiston (Warner Part No. 8549) that weigh an averageof 905.3 grams and also used heavier piston pins (Warner Assembly No. 8605). Warner Service Letter No.A-13 dated July 26, 1943, recommends that engineswi th the No . 7939 pistons be overhauled every 300

hours. The letter advises that the heavier pistons andpiston pins can be instal led in these earlier enginesbut requires the installation of new counterweightsand rebalance of the crankshaft. These pistons arefurther physical ly dist inguished since the No . 7939is smooth, flat-topped with a chamfered edge at thetop while the No. 8549 is domed with valve clearancecutouts and no chamfer.

To further confuse matters, a number of 165 SS engines were sent to Australia and other countries as bothoriginal equipment and spare engines for Fairchild 24Waircraft d u r in g Wo r l d Waj II. Numerous amountsof these engines, which appear t o b e basic 165Dmodels, have been brought back in recent years and,in fact, the engine in my Bucker Jungmeister was oneof these "Austral ian" engines. These engines usedstill another type piston that seems to be identified asB-5881. This is a 4-ring piston that is flat-topped, hasthe top-edge chamfer plus valve clearance cutouts,and weights 825 grams. (All piston weights given hereare less rings and piston pins.) This "Australian"piston also uses the later piston pins.

So there are three different pistons of three differentweights which obviously means crankshafts of threedifferent weight counterweights. Since the engineswere factory balanced for their originally installedpistons, any change to late No. 8549 pistons in eitherthe early model or the "Australian" engines withoutrebalance of the crankshaft will probably result in anunacceptably rough running engine.

Warner engines were fac to ry ba lanced us ing aforumla (Warner Engineering Report A-8-a, dated5-18-45) of:(1) Wx = .865 W r + .5W pWhere: Wx total bob-weight

crankpinto be hung f rom

Wr total masterweight

ro d / l ink assembly

ringsp total piston weand piston pins

ight induding

t uned by dr i ll ing ou t or adding weigh t to the fourbalance holes in the counterweight using a " radiusfactory" of .642 to aCC0unt for the difference betweenthe crankpin radius and t he longer counterweight

' dril l ing hole radius. (W cw = .642 W ) Finally, thexWarner factory mounted the engine on a " j iggler"stand and spun it at operating speed with a DC motor.Adjustable weights placed on a disc mounted on theprop shaft allowed final balance adjustment to minimize engine vibration on the stand.

Application of classical balance formulas to theWarner engine gives a formula of:(1) Wx = Wrot. + .51 Wrecip.Where: Wrot. total weight of the rotating part

of the master rod/l ink rod assembly

total weight of the reciprocatingrecip .parts of the master rod/link rodassembly + pistons and pistonrings

Formula (2) is somewhat more precise than thefactory formula . Applying the factory formula (1) to

measured engine weights nearly always yields thebob-weight value lighter than actually measured.

Therefore, we find we have three different pistonweights , three different crankshaft weights and theyshouldn't be mixed without rebalancing the crankshaft. Weight to be added to or removed from thecounterweight can be calculated by either formula(1) or (2), although formula (2) will be more precise.Whatever combination is used, however, should probably be noted in the engine log book to aid whoeveroverhauls the engine next time.

Finally , it is understood that the factory formula(1) applies only to Warner engines since it is a functionof the particular design and weight distribution of the

Warner master ro d / l i nk rod assembly. The Warnerfactory formula, i f modified to apply to a Kinner, forexample, would becomeWx = .855 Wr + .5 Wpbut would still not be as exact as the classical formulafor Kinners, which isWx = W rot. + .508 Wrecip.(see Engine Balance - Part I) which is based on vectoranalysis of reciprocating engines.

4

WACOTHE AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF WACO AIRPLANES

AND THE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE FOUNDERS - CLAYTONJ. BRUKNER AND ELWOOD J. "SAM" JUNK IN.


25/28

Dear David:Having just received the May edition of Th e VIN-

T G E AIRPLANE I feel that a few lines would be inorder.

We , here in England , have a rather low count of vintage aeroplanes and, to make matters worse, what wehave seem to fly only rarely. More and more are ownedby private collectors and museums , so to be in touchwith the real vintage world, it is my belief that we haveto look to th e United States.

During May , my wi f e and I took our vacation to co

incide with Watsonville and Merced Fly-Ins , our beliefs came true . You are indeed so fortunate to haveso much aviation heritage to share with one anoth e r.

Therefore, I find it hard to understand why 15 of the49 photographs in the present magazine should really

PLEASE NOTE: To the best of my knowledge, neitherFairchild nor Ercoupe ever developed or even considered Staggerwings. Our illustrious printing staff,however, has created a fascinating new game involving the shifting of captions . It's been played at the

not contain any vintage flavour at all. Surely it's aeroplane pictures we all want to see. I do hope you findthis comment constructive.

Please find enclosed a photograph of my " Pa cer ".I have just finished a recover with Grade " A" andButyrate and also fitted new headlining and upholstery. At present I am rebuilding a 1930 D.H. 60G Mothwith hopes of flying for Spring of 1980.

Yours faithfully ,Ron Souch46 , Yardley RoadHedge EndSouthampton , D03 4H QHampshire,ENGLAND, U.K.

" eleventh hour" for the past couple months and welost. This has prompted us to have a little chat aboutthe rules and we now look forward to a new sha redinterest in scho larship.

The Editor.

This hardbound publicat ion , a depiction of thelives of two high school classmates who had a simutaneous desire to build an airplane of their own, wassanctioned by the late Clayton J. Bru kner.

This publication , edited and published by Raymond H . Brandly, President of the National Waco Club ,will be available in June of 1979. This co llector ' s itemwill be introduced at a spe c ial price of $18.95 plus

1 .50 postage and handling. Orders with remittancemay be sent to: WACO PUBLICAT IONS, 2797 ACOSTASTREET, DAYTON, OHIO 45420.

For further information, contact Ray Brandly, Presiden t , National Waco Club, 2650 West Alex.-Bell. Road ,Dayton , Ohio 45459 or call 513-435 -9725.

Classic owners!:/J(Ut t tJ 4

OG ( ~ ~ 1DRESS ~ t i jT UP

WITH A NEW

l ~ INTERIOR!ll I tem s READY -M A D E for E a sy

DO-IT YOURSELF INST ALLA l iON

Sea t Uph o lstery - Wa ll Pa n elsHe a dlin e rs - Ca rp ets - etc .

Ceconite Envelopes and Dopes

Send 1 . for Catalog and Fabrics Selection Guide

~ P ~ 1 H e25 9 - 15 Lowe r M o r r i s ville Rd .

Fa ll s ington , Pa . 19 0 5 4( 215 ) 29 5-411 5

25

CALENDAR OF EVENTS


26/28

SEPTEMBER 5-9 - GA LESBU RG ILLINO IS - Nin th Annu a l StearmanFly- In . Anyo n e with an y in te res t in Stea rm an s is co rd ia lly invited.Fo r furth e r in f o rm a tio n , c o nt ac t St ea rm a n Res torers Associatio n ,In c. 823 Kings to n La n e , Crys ta l La ke, Illin o is 6001 4 . .

SEPTEMBER 12 -16 - SAN A NTO NI O TEXAS - Ame r ica n B o nanzaSocie ty An nu a l Co nv en ti o n a nd Indu s t ry Exhi b it Co n ve nti onCe nt e r. Fo r furth e r in f o rm a tio n , c on t ac t ABS , P .O . Box 37 49,Rea d in g, P e nn sy lva nia 1 9605 , 215/372 -696 7 .

SEPTEMBER 14-16 - K ERRVILLE TEXAS - Fifteen th Annu a l So u thwes t Reg iona l Fly In . Frid ay ni gh t hanga r p a rty , Sa turd ay ai rc raf tjud g in g a n d a ir sh o w from 3 to 6 PM ; Sa turd ay ni g ht b anq u e ta n d e nt ertai nm e nt. Pl e nt y of h o m e bu i lts , antiq u es , and warb ird s. Spo n so red b y th e Te xas C hapt e rs of EAA. For furth e rin fo rm a ti on , co nt ac t D ave Bec k e tt Pr esi d e n t, 5103 Vill age Row ,San Ant o n io Texas 781 28, 512 /653 -4710 .

SEPTEMBER 27-30 - TULLAH O MA , TEN N ESSEE - First A nnu a l Fly-In .Plan n o w - fo r th e g rea t es t sh o w o n e arth.

SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 5 - W ASHI N G T ON , D C - M an ' sQ u es t fo r W n gs : A H is to ry of Flig ht. A we e klo ng se min a r o n th ehi sto ry o f fl ight fea tur ing lec tur es by th e. NAS M s ta ff , fie ld tr ip sto th e var io u s Smith so nia n fac iliti es (in cl udin g S ilv e r Hill ) . Fo rfurth e r in f o rm a tio n , co nt ac t N a n cy St a rr , Se le ct ed Studi es A I119 0A , S m i th so ni a n In s tituti o n , Wa s hin g t o n D .C. 20560, 202 /381 64 34.

OCTOBER 12-14 - CA MD EN , SOU TH CA RO LINA - Fly In . A ll d ivis ions , awa rd s w ill b e pr e se nt e d. F o r furth e r in fo rm a tio n co nt a ctGe n eva M c Kie rnan , 53 01 F in sb u ry Place, C h arlo tt e , N o rt h Ca ro lina2821 1. Sp onso re d b y EAA Ant iq u e /Cla ssi c C h apt e r 3.

NOVEMBER 17-18 - MIAMI , FLO RI DA - Antiqu e , Classic a nd Cu sto mBuilt Fly -tn , a t th e Fo urth A nnu a l H a rv es t - A Co untr y Fai r ,sp o n so re d by th e Hi s t o ri ca l Associa tio n o f So ut he rn Fl o rida ,a t t h e D a d e Co un t y Yo uth Fai rg r o un d s , Co ra l Way a t 112thAve nu e . Aw ar d s give n fo r an t iqu e , classi c a n d c u s t o m b u il ta ir c ra ft . Fo r fu r th e r i nf o rm a tio n , co nt a c t Cap t. Ken Lif lan d o fth e Civ il Ai r Pat ro l, of f ice 305 /552-3106 or a t h o m e af te r 6 P M30 5/25 1-5927: o r C h a rl es Las h er , o ffi ce 305/ 873 -7357 o r h o m eaft e r 6:30 P M 305 /82 1-8 240.

D e ar Da v id :I n o ti ced in T H E V I N T GE I R E yo u had a n a r

ticle on m o d e l aircr a ft. I a m a mo d e l bu i ld e r of s or t , 55y ear s of m y 63 ye a rs. I le arn e d t o f ly in 1932 on a J 2Cu b , but w as g round e d a co up l e ye ar s ba c k b ec au seo f e y es . H a d a lot o f fun , I fle w in th e w a r of 1940 t o194 5, B 24 's a nd e tc.

I h ave se nt yo u so m e pi c tu r es o f m y m o d e ls. Acl ipp e d wi n g 3 C ub sca le flo wn b y ra di o. A 54 w in gspan , a 1 916 Bristol Bull e t. A b ea uti ful fli e r . A Gr eatLa kes Tr a in e r . Th is m o d e l is tw e nty yea rs o ld . A W acoF 3 Sca le. A ni e up o rt 17 a nd a J 3 C u b. Th ese a re a ll2 to l ' sca le mo d e ls - a re f in i sh e d in s ilk a nd d o p e .All co nt r o l b y radi o 3 to 7 c h a nn e ls so m e h ave wo n inloca l co nt es ts.

I a m l oo king ar o und fo r an o ld a ir c ra ft to re buil d.I am r e ti r e d fr o m th e Air For ce a nd Army aft e r 34ye ar s o f se rv ice.

G e ar up a nd Loc kh ee d .S in ce re ly ,Ge o rge Di c kin so n13 11 Am w e ll Roa dSom e rvill e, NJ 08876

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Documents

Vintage Airplane - Sep 1979