Vintage Airplane - Sep 2002

8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2002

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VOL. 30, No. 9

SEPTEMBER

2002

STRAIGHT &

LEVELlButchJoyce

2

VAA

NEWS/H.G.

Frautschy

4 EAA VINTAGE AIRVENTURE

AWARD

WINNERS

6 MY FIRST AVIATION JOB

BEING

A MECHANIC IN THE EARLY

DAYS/JOhn

M.Miller

8 LETIING

GO

YOU LL

KNOW WHEN

IT S

TIM

ElNoel

llard

10 MEETING LINDBERGH

A

CHILDHOOD DREAM

COMES TRUE

/

Ev

Cassagner s

13

ONE MEYERS

IS NEVER ENOUGH

Budd Davisson

18 THE

FIRST

SCHEDULED AIRLINE

THE

ST.

PETERSBURG MUSEUM

OF HISTORY S

BENOIST 14B REPLIcA/H .G. Frautschy

22 NEW MEMEBERS

24 PASS IT TO BUCK/Buck Hilbert

26

MYSTERY

PLANE

27

CALENDAR

30 CLASSIFIED

ADS


3/36

T

Y

ESPIE BUTCH JOYCE

PRESIDENT

VINTAGE ASSOCIATION

E

AirVenture-What

an

event!

For all of you who attended, what

a great

event

EAA AirVenture 2002

was

The Vintage area of the conven

tion

grounds

will be

remembered

as

having the greatest number

of

qual

ity aircraft

ever. We

had

a

terrific

number of antiques in attendance,

including the one-of-a-kind Pasped

Skylark, powered by a 165-hp Warner

and owned

by

Bob Penny of

Mis

souri. Tom Brown, one of the truly

great restorers, rebuilt the

airplane,

and it won

the Champion

Bronze

Age award.

Moving around the Antique parking

area [ was happily thunderstruck to see

three

G-model Staggerwings and one D-

model converted to

a

G-model

(a

Younkin conversion ) that is owned

by Larry Beck of Canby, Oregon. Larry

did

much

of the work

on

this aircraft

himself,

and

it

is

outstanding

. It

won

the Antique Champion-Customized

Aircraft, and [ will

bet that

you '

ll

be

seeing this

yellow beauty

at fly-ins

aroLind the country.

Our grand champions in all

three

categories were excellent examples of

what dedicated people can accomplish.

Be sure to review the entire list of award

winners starting on page

four.

Once again,

the

Red Barn was

the center of the activity during

the convention. One

of

the fea

tured

spots in the

Red Barn

was

your

Vintage merchandise sales area.

Magazine and websites are great,

but

filled with items that friends have

purchased. I am glad to do this, but it

has

made me

aware that

this

is

an

area

that

we can help.

The Red Barn

is

also a place where

YO i

can find informat ion, leave mes

sages

for

friends,

pick

up your

participant plaque and fly-in mug, and

look at the weather on the DTN com

puter. The Red Barn is also a gathering

place for the gang during the air show.

[n

front

of

the

Red Barn this year

for

everyone

to view was

Jim

Younkin's

Mr

Mulligan as was

Jim

Moss'

new

Laird Super Solution

replica.

What

a great sight it was to

see

both of

the aircraft in the air fly

-

ing together. Where else but at

Oshkosh during EAA

AirVenture

could you relive the golden age

of

air

racing with a scene like that?

Where

else

but

at Oshkosh

during

EAA AirVenture

could you relive

the golden age of

air racing

. . .

Eighteen years ago the Vintage

This year we had 29 returning air

craft,

which

really

adds to

the

quality of

aircraft

on

display. Seeing

these great airplanes adds to the en

joyment

of

the event for

both

the

general public

and

for all members.

This year the 50th anniversary

fly-

in

celebration

gave a palpable sense

of nostalgia for a great

many

mem

bers. Many

members

came

to

this

year's event precisely for that reason,

and it was said many times to me and

other

directors

and

staff how enjoy

able

the convention

was

this

year. I

couldn't

agree more.

I had a

meeting

with Tom back

in January concerning division busi

ness,

and during that meeting

Tom

expressed his interest

in

seeing

the

divisions

also

take

part

in

the an

niversary

celebration. At the

ribbon

cutting of the re-creation of the first

fly-in area, the Vintage Aircraft

As

SOCiation,

with Charlie

Harris

performing

the

master of ceremonies

honors, presented an original Pat

Packard painting of the first fly-in to

Paul.

Presented

to

him

as a way of

thanking

him

for

his vision and

ef

forts

to propel EAA to the huge


4/36

V NE 5

COMPILED BY

H G FR UTSCHY

TYPE CLUBS

MEET

WITH FAA AT EAA AIRVENTURE

Various clubs representing a wide range of aircraft

types discussed several key issues during a meeting with

FAA

officials

at

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2002. Topics

included expanding the use of designated engineering

representatives

(DERs);

expanding the number of modi-

fications or additions to aircraft that will not require a

supplemental type certificate (STC); the Airworthiness

Concern Sheet (ACS) program; and the release of older

information and intellectual property laws as they per-

tain to maintaining and restoring older aircraft.

EAA

Washington

Office Director Doug

Macnair

hosted the meeting at EAA s Mini Museum with FAA

Small Airplane Directorate Manager Mike Gallagher

and FAA Small Airplane Directorate Assistant Manager

will be issued during the second half of 2002.

An

up-

date of

the

field approval guide for FAA inspectors

is

in the works, and the guide should make it easier for

FAA

inspectors to approve Form 337s.

Airworthiness Concern Sheet Program

Many type club members have participated in the

Airworthiness

Concern

Sheet (ACS) program com-

menting on maintenance issues that affect their

particular aircraft. About 60 percent of those mainte-

nance issues become

airworthiness

directives

AD),

with the other

40

percent becoming special

airworthiness information

bulletins

SAIB). In the

past, a

much higher

per-

centage of

maintenance-

related issues would have

become ADs.

Release of Older

Information and

Intellectual

Property Laws

Many of the attendees

representing

type clubs

expressed frustration

in

obtaining

field approvals

and

the pertinent

infor-

mation

including

factory

draWings, needed to maintain and restore

their respective airplanes. A frank discussion of the

issues

involving

the release

of

older information

and

the intellectual property laws that

mayor

may


5/36

f J G

AIHVENTURE

O S KO S 2 2

E IRVENTUR

E

OSHKOSH

2 2

In

this

month's issue of

Vin-

tage irplane we've included

the

list of award winners from

EAA

AirVenture 2002,

and

we'll have

full-color coverage

of the hap

penings in the

Vintage area

in

the October issue.

During the annual business

meeting

of the Vintage Aircraft

Association,

President Espie

Butch

Joyce, Secretary Steve

Nesse, and directors Jeannie Hill,

John Berendt,

Robert Lumley,

Dean Richardson, Steven Krog,

and Geoff Robison were

re

elected to two-year

terms

.

In

addition,

advisers David Clark

and Steve Binder were elected as

directors

on

the

VAA

board.

2 2 RT MO RG N

V OLUNTE E RS

OF

THE YE R

Volunteers really

do

make the

Vintage area tick,

and

each year we

recognize

a few

individuals for

their

efforts. This year's

honorees

are

as

follows:

Flight Line

:

Tom Taylor,

Cherry Valley, Illinois

Behind the Scenes:

Sandy Perlman,

flew

more than

100

Young Eagles

during that time period

In addi

tion to being awarded with

a

commemorative

plaque of his

own,

Lloyd's

name

was

added to

the perpetual plaq

ue

kept

at

the

VAA Red

Barn.

COPIES OF

I N D I V I D U A L

A I R C R A F T

RECORDS

For

many

years,

the

records for

your

aircraft were available on mi

crofiche for a very reasonable fee.

Now

that

data

is

available on

a

more

modern media-a

CD-ROM.

The

FAA Aircraft Registration

Branch

maintains registration

records

on

individual

aircraft

and

also serves as a

repository

for air

worthiness documents received

from

FAA

field offices.

Aircraft registration records con

tain documents related to an

aircraft's registration history, such

as

applications for aircraft registra

tion, evidence

of

ownership,

security

agreements, mechanics

liens, lien releases, leases,

and

lease

terminations. The

airworthiness

portion

of the

file contains

items

such as

applications for airworthi

ness,

copies of

airworthiness

certificates, major repair

and

alter

ation reports,

and

related items.

Copies of

these

records

may

be

ordered

on

paper or CD-ROM.

One

aircraft record is

included

per CD,

and

it

can

be viewed

using

Adobe

Acrobat Reader.

The

most current

version

of

Acrobat Reader will be

included on

the

CD.

V STICKERS

f you've renewed or

joined

the

VAA

within the

last few

months, you've received our new

VAA Mylar

stickers. These

new

decals are

proving to

be

much

more

durable

and

fade resistant

than the

previous stickers, and as

an

added bonus, they are printed

on both sides, so they can be ap

plied to

either

the inside

of a

window or

any

outside

surface.

Please let

us

know wha

t

you

think

of

the

new decals

PAPER:

$2

search fee for each

aircraft record requested. Plus, 25

cents

for a

photocopy of the

first

page of records

on

paper, and 5

cents for each

successive

paper

page.

An average paper record

has

76

pages.

Plus,

as

appropri

ate,

$2 if

the

record

must

be

recalled

from

Federal Storage. $3

to

certify

the

record is true and

complete, again

generally only

required for

court

cases.

A billing letter will be

sent with

the

requested aircraft records.

Requests

for

copies of

an air

craft's records

may

be

sent to

the

Aircraft Registration

Branch

by

letter

(address below), online

https://diy.dot.gov),.or by fax

(405-954-3548).

Requests from outside the

https://diy.dot.gov%29%2C.or/https://diy.dot.gov%29%2C.or/


6/36

AWA

Grand

Champion:

Vernon

Vick, Dublin,

OH

1942 Boeing

PT-17

Stearman

(N75SV)

Reserve

Grand

Champion:

Herbert Clark, Weirsdale, FL

1942

Boeing

Stearman (N55511)

Champion Replica

Aircraft:

Jim

Moss, Graham,

WA

Laird

Super Solution (N22ML)

Champion World

War

II

Military

Champion

Bronze

Age:

Robert

Penny,

Versailles,

MO

- 1935

Pasped Skylark

W1

(NC14919)

Bronze Age Runner Up:

David

Stark,

Weatherford,

TX

1937

Stinson SR-9F

(N18425)

Champion World

War

II

Era (1943-1945):

Steve Craig, Lawrence,

KS

1946 Beechcraft G-175 Staggerwing

(NC80321)

Outstanding Customized

Aircraft:

James

Hardie,

Heber

Springs, AR

IHVENTUHE

OS KOS

*

ZI I I IZ

iZ

Outstanding

Open Cockpit

Monoplane:

Car

lene

Mendieta , Pinole , CA

1936

Ryan Aeronautical

,

STA

(NC16039)

Outstanding

Closed Cockpit Biplane:

Les Chasmere,

McAleste

r OK

1936 Waco

ZQC-6

(N16203)

Outstanding Open Cockpit

Biplane:

none awarded

in

2002

WWII

Era (1942-1945)

Outstanding Open Cockpit

Biplane:

Jim Jones, Newton,

IA

1942 Meyers

OTW-145

(N34323)

Closed

Cockpit

Monoplane Runner

Up:

Raymond

Johnson,

Buffalo,

MN

1943

Boeing Stea rman (N6

5691)

Continuously Maintained Aircraft:

Bradley

Larson, Excelsior,

MN

1938 Ryan SCW-145 (NC18912)

Judges' Choice:

Arngrimur Johannsson, Iceland

1943

Piper

L-4/ J-3 (

TF-CUP

)


7/36

Reserve

Grand Champion:

Stephen

Culler,

Winston-Salem, NC

Tri-Pacer

PA-22-150

N2311P)

Best

Classic

I (0-80

HP):

Raymond Cook,

Spring

Grove,

IL

Taylorcraft

BC12D

NC43645)

Best

Classic

II

(81-150 HP):

Mark Holliday,

Lake Elmo, MN

Swift Temco

GC-1B

N2353B)

Best

Classic III (151-235

HP):

Edward

Monoski, Kent,

CT

108-2 N9609K)

Best Classic

IV (236 HP

Up):

Charles Luigs, Bandera,

TX

Cessna 195

N4426C)

Best

Customized

Classic:

Marty

Lochman,

Newalla, OK

Cessna 140

NC773SH)

Customized Class

A 0-80

HP):

none awarded

in

2002

Customized Class B (81-150

HP):

Bob Reuther,

Nashville, TN

Luscombe NC144BR)

Customized Class C (151-235

HP):

Raymond Miller,

Taylors,

SC

Swift

GC-1B

N80856)

Customized

Class D (236 HP

Up):

Rod

Hill, Carefree,

AZ

- C-195A

N9869A)

Best Customized Runner Up:

Frank Sperandeo, Fayetteville, R

Pacer PA-22/20 N3383A)

Best Aeronca Chief:

Patricia Early, Palmyra, P

11AC NC3729E)

Best

Beechcraft:

Roland Schable,

Janesville, WI

Best Navion:

Luis

Olaguibel, Mexico

City,

Mexico

XB-BEM

Best

Piper

J-3:

Madonna McMahan,

Wausau,

WI

J-3 NC88456)

Best

Piper Other:

Eric

Presten, Vineburg,

CA

PA-16 NC5875H)

Best

Stinson:

Steven

Smith,

Santa Rosa,

CA

108-1 NC97979)

Best

Swift:

Donald

Woodhams, South

Haven, MI

GC-1B

N3866K)

Best Taylorcraft:

Lee

Bowden,

Independence, IA

BC12-D

N39911)

Best Limited Production:

Edward

Sweeney

Jr., Black Forest,

CO

Aerocar

Nl02D)

Preservation:

Donald

Claude, Poplar

Grove, IL - Taylorcraft BC-12D

NC96440)

Cessna

170/172/175:

Ed Wischmeyer,

Redmond,

WA

1959

Cessna

175 N59175)

Cessna

180/182/ 210:

Mike

Forney,

Lambertville,

NJ

1965 182-H N940W)

Mooney:

Donald McGettigan, Mesa,

AZ

1962 Mooney N6242U)

Piper PA-18 Super

Cub:

Jack Menier,

Coon

Rapids,

MN

1959 PA-18 N9796D)

Piper PA-24 Comanche:

William

and Susan

Harryman, Marion, WI

1965 PA-24-260

N8582P)

Piper PA-28 Cherokee:

Donald

Downin, Mesa,

AZ

1965

PA-28 N6874W)

Limited Production:

Robert Gutteridge, Santa Rosa, CA

1957

Champion

N7557B)

Best

Continuously

Maintained:

Jim Simmons, Nashville, TN

1962

Piper

PA-24-250 N8071P)

Most Unique:

Jan Christie,

Ft.

Atkinson,

WI

- 1958

Percival

N7

4 7

JC)


8/36

eing a mechanic in the early days

JO N M

MILL R

In

May 1927 I

cut

classes at engi

neering school to witness the takeoff by

Lindbergh for his famous flight across

the Atlantic . The next month I graduated

with a degree

in

mechanical

eng

ineering;

I was then at loose ends for a while. The

licensing and regulation system for avia

tion

was

just beginning that year. I'd

had

some flying experience before, in 1923

24 , but now had no airplane no new

pi

lot certificate , no money, and I had not

been

flying in the interim wh i

le

in school.

Aircraft and pilots were being tested

under new Department of

Comme

rce reg

ulations during 1927, with such licensing

to become mandatory in

1928.

Many

of

the World War I surplus airplanes

in

use

were

in

bad condition and were being

re

jected and grounded by the new

inspectors. I decided that I could qualify

for one of the new mechanic's licenses

because of my experience working vo l

un

tarily for a barnstorming pilot

in

1923. I

had worked on his IN-4 Jenny, which

he later

gave

to

me in

bad condition. But

I reconditioned and flew it in

1923-24

,

son it was necessary to license mechan

ics as soon as possible, but they were

having difficulty finding men who could

pass the examinations. The ex-military

mechani

cs

by

that time had secure jobs

in other occupations , plus families, so

they

weren 't interested.

Since there was no hangar or office

on the field , the inspector gave me the

exams in his government car. They took

much

of

the day.

He

would read a topic

from a manual,

and

then ask

me

to write

how I would solve the problem or do the

work. The morning was spent writing

my

answers, a paragraph at a time , or ver

bally answering on the

subject of

airplanes. The types in common use at

the time were the war surplus Curtiss IN

4 and

the

Standard J-1,

very

similar

World War I training airplanes.

The questions were about repairing

the woodwork and

the metal fittings

making up and splicing control and struc

tural cables , rigging and inspecting all

structures, controls, shock absorbers ,

etc., and how to recover wings and con

an aircraft shop before World War

II.

A short time later, the famous Gates

Flying Circus came to town to hop pas

sengers on that same little field, known

then as Poughkeepsie Airport, now long

gone. They were flying five airplanes

four Standards and one larger plane,

the World War I Curtis R-4, which had a

big noisy and powerful engine, the 400

hp Liberty. I introduced

myself to the

pilot of that airplane, telling him that I

was a licensed A P mechanic. He was

very

surprised to

find a

licensed

me

chanic in

an

area where there was only

one old, still unlicensed surplus Jenny.

At

the end of the very busy day of flying

on Sunday, he to ld me

that

there were

two severely blowing exhaust valves

on

the engine and asked me whether I

could repair them.

Of

course

I

said

I

could

do

so

al

though I had never before been within

shouting distance of a big Liberty engine,

but I had studied the manual carefully.

When I confirmed that I could have it

ready by the next Saturday, he hired me

to do it. I worked hard at it during the

week, removing the overhead camshaft

and

hand grinding the two valves, which

fortunately were on the same side.

When he

returned the next Saturday,

he was so pleased

that

he offered me

a job on the Circus to act as crew

ch

i

ef

on

that airplane.

He

was in a hurry to

fly to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where

the

Circus was

to

operate that week

end. Leaving my motorcycle

there

on

the field, I got into the airplane, without

even

a toothbrush

and

rode up to

Pittsfield. There was an enthusiastic

crowd, and they became even more so


9/36

loads of four passengers at $2.50 each,

one

right behind the other

in

a tight circle

around the field.

Toward

the end of the

evening I was watching the

R-4

make its

unusually steep climbing turn when

sud

denly the engine quit Smoke, oil, and

small fragments of something trailed

be

hind

the curved path of the plane.

The

pilot,

Ive

McKinney,

who

was

a

re

ally skillful and colorful

pilot, easily

landed back

on

the field

and

rolled to a

stop

right

on

the

line in

front of the

crowd , as

if it

were a normal flight. Of

course I was alarmed about some mis

take I might have made

in

my work on

the engine, but it turned out that a piston

rod

had failed and wrecked the engine.

Ive

then said that I would stay

in

Pitts

field with a helper to change the engine,

with a replacement

to

be

shipped

up

from

Lodi ,

New Jersey,

near Teterboro Air

port.

The

job was done successfully

by

the time

Ive

returned the

ne

xt

Friday.

We

were then to fly west to

Troy, New

York

,

for the weekend circus operation at

an

airstrip owned

by

the Ford Motor

Com

pany at Green Island. This flight turned

out to

be

a rather scary one,

and

that is

one

reason I

am

telling this story.

Since Troy, New

York

, was some 25

nautical miles

northwest of

Pittsfield,

with hills in between, a low ceiling of

no

more than

800

feet at Pittsfield,

and no

weather reports available for Albany or

Troy

in those days, there was

an

obvi

ous problem. But that did not bother

Ive

McKinney. With only

an

ordinary road

map (there were

no

sectional charts

in

1927), he took

off

and headed north

west.

We

could see that the overcast

was

not too thick, since

we

could see a

through the murk. Ive knew absolutely

nothing about instrument flying but had

experience with zooming

up

through stra

tus layers , briefly, without any outside

vision. With

me and my

helper

and Ive

's

girlfriend

in

the front cockpit, he opened

the engine wide. After getting full speed

with the biplane, perhaps 115

mph

, right

under the base of

the

overcast

, he

zoomed upward into the

ce

iling. Finally,

the airplane staggered

and

fell

off

on one

wing

and

dived back out of the bottom of

the clouds, with the ground right

in

front

of the nose of the airplane

·C rr E S

lfl S

IR US

,

,

Amerloa .

King 1 the Air

CLYDE E

Upside Down

to help in holding the right angle of climb

and

one direction toward it,

he

was able

to stagger out of the clouds

up on

top.

Of

course , during all of this hazardous per

formance

I was just

about

scared

to

death. I was enough of a pilot to know

the danger

and

the long record

of

many

accidents

when

pilots got into the clouds

during that

era

(

and

even

today

.

Well, finally out of the clouds

and

in

the clear, with the

red

sun

just

about to

set, it was beautiful up

there-my

first

time But the clouds ranged far ahead.

How were we

to

know whe

n

we were over

Troy? Finally a hole in the clouds ap

peared, but

down

at the ground

level

the

sun had set and it was very dark down

there That didn 't disturb Ive.

The

sun

was

long gone. He made a beautiful

hel

i

cal descent with 45-degree banks ,

down

through that little hole,

and we

found our

selves flying

in

darkness. Fortunately the

lights of

Albany

and

Troy were

visible.

How

he

found that little airstrip at

Troy

in that darkness, I

don

't

know

. But

as

he

circled it,

we

could barely see the line of

four Standards tied down ,

and he

made

a beautiful landing

in

the dark.

He

su

rely

didn 't have any night vision problem .

Th

e

re

were

no

lights on eit her the air

plane or the airstrip.

No

one was there ,

for all the pilots had gone to the hote

l.

We

got a ri

de and

joined them

happily.

Af

ter a dinner I went to

bed

,

happy

with the

wonderfu l scary memories.

The

chief

pilot

of

the

Circus

was

Clyde Pangborn, who

later became a

very good friend of mine along with

Ive

and the other pilots , Lee Mason, Joe

James

, and Roy

Ahearn.

Pang

later

made the f irst trans -Pacific

nonstop


10/36

• •

This

story

is

not about

acquIrIng

some

wonderful new

thing but rather

about

l tting

This

is

me, this

is who

I am.

Letting go

of one

part of yourself is

hard.

Walking away from it makes

you feel less than you were. Some

how when

we acquire stuff, it makes

us bigger; when we let go, we feel di

minished. But

sometimes, you

just

have to let

go;

life changes. That's the

situation

I

found

myself in

with

my

airplane, my pride

and joy

my Chief,

when I made the decision to sell it

af-

ter

31

years of ownership.

To

me it

never was an Aeronca

11AC,

it

was

simply

The Chief We

n t cover the

entire

cost. Each

mem

ber, whether we flew

the

182

or

not,

was assessed $1,000, a whole lot of

money back then. My

wife

was

aghast. "You

could

own

your own

plane for what you spend."

I looked

at

a Cessna

140

at Buf

falo

and

then

met

two

on-strike

Northwest

mechanics, Cliff Bakko

and Roger Poore. Their Chief was for

sale. It was reasonably

priced

and I

bought

it

in

the

fall

of 1970. Cliff

and Roger nursed me around

the

pattern

for

a few

hours,

then

in


11/36

Left)

One of my favorite

photo-

graphs, taken on base leg to the

beautiful grass strip at Sky Harbor

Minnesota.

teeth at Southport, then Lake Elmo

when Southport closed. Sometime in

1976 I took t

apart

and brought

it

home to rebuild. I carefully pho

tographed

every area, and then

as

I

disassembled each component, drew

pictures of what it looked like before I

pulled it apart. I did the whole nine

yards, removed

the

fin strake, sand

blasted the fuselage, epoxy primed it,

fashioned all new

formers, stringers,

seats, etc. I labori

ously

spliced

new

tips onto the wing

spars, hovered over

the engine while it

was being majored

at the Minneapolis

Aviation Vo-Tech,

then using the Stits

process all the way carefully glued on

the

fabric

and

tapes

so

that

every

seam and line

was

absolutely straight.

My wife even got into the act, sewing

the top gusset triangle so per

fectly...wow was I proud of it when it

was finished.

My

day-by-day inspector was Rich

Klepperich, who got to be one of my

best buddies

and

let me

rent

half of

his hangar at Webster, Minnesota,

for the next ten years. He had re

stored a beautiful Stinson 108, and

the

two

airplanes were a

magnifi

cent pair. One day, Rich decided he

was

perfect-only fifteen

minutes

from home, a long grass airstrip, and

most always aligned with

the

wind.

But fate was not kind there either;

Tom bought another airplane.

The

next home was a little farther down

the strip, yet a similar fate eventu

ally

occurred.

I was evicted again.

New

owner

with more airplanes.

Certainly there were

other

hangars

in the realm. But all of them were

farther

from home. I had learned

over the years from many incidents

of

hangar rash, two

major

and sev

eral

minor,

that the only way to

own

an airplane

is

if you also

own

a

hangar.

It was

not

in

the

cards

for

me and the reality of the situation

was simply

that the

whole

thing

was

too much on my plate. My flying

hours

had

always been

too

few each

year to justify the time spent putter

ing,

the annuals, biennials,

medica Is and the expense of hangar

rent, insurance,

and

parts.

The

die

had been cast.

My wife

and

I had always enjoyed

canoeing. We own three, including

a

genuine

birchbark model. On a

beautiful Saturday, I would look up

over

to

Stanton, Minnesota, and

made

a landing on one

of

the

crossed runways, then another, and

another,

and

another, each from a

different direction.

As

I pulled away

I could see my wheel marks on each

runway,

starting

from nothing and

ending all at once,

as

if the machine

that

made them were only a phan

tom, here and

then

dissolved.

Another

early morning just after

the sun

was up, I circled

in

dead still

air

above

Cedar

Lake by Jordan,

Minnesota,

at

800 feet, looking into

the water

to

see what had enticed all

the local fishermen

to

be

up so early.

Ahead, I could see

a gaggle of pelicans

flapping across in

front of me

at

the

same altitude, just

on their way to

somewhere,

not

having

learned the

value of

tight

for

mation flying

like

geese. As

the

tailender

passed before

me,

on

a

lark I

turned

after them. My plane

shuddered, not unlike

passing

through a weak thermal. I was

moved with emotion. I had passed

through their turbulent wake. Have

you ever done

that?

There were as many moments as I

could count, sleeping under the

wing at Blakesburg, taking my

grandchildren for

airplane

rides,

mentoring

a high school student in

aviation and giving him his first air

ride, flying in formation with

other


12/36

r;:

--.

( '

CD

\ I

'

~ = h '

If :

hile this year, 2002, is

the

75th anniversary of

Charles

A.

Lindbergh's

incredible solo airplane

flight from New

York

to Paris in 1927,

it

is also a time for me to reflect upon

meeting

this

gentleman

many years

after his famous flight.

To get to

meet

and to know

this

flyer of all flyers,

and

his wife, Anne

Morrow Lindbergh, as well

as

other

family members, has been a highlight

of my life. How could such a meeting

be arranged, with this world famous

man,

who

traveled

the

globe so ex

tensively, and who was involved with

so many good projects covering so

many interests? Here

is

the story.

Having

begun

my research

into

the

history of

the

Ryan Aeronautical

C

ompany

of San Diego, California,

back in about 1957,

t was

kind of in

evitable that we might connect in the

future.

On May

18,

1957,

I

had

checked

out

in a rare 1936 Ryan

ST

classic airplane. This was the only

one

left of

the

original five that were

built. I became obsessed with the his

tory of

that

particular airplane,

and

then

of course,

with

all

the other

Ev

CASSAGNERES

As

I delved deeper into

the

subject,

many

questions

surfaced, some of

them even today unanswered

. So

how do I find the answers? I was fi-

nally convinced that

only

Lindbergh

could give me the correct informa

tion

I needed.

Oh

, sure,

now

how in

the

world do you

contact

this man ,

who lived

a

private

life,

although

only about 60 miles from my

home

at the time, here in Connecticut.

I n the early stages of

the

forming

of

the Connecticu t Aeronautical His

torical Association, and

as

one

of the

founders

of this first of

its

type in

the country,

I

became acquainted

with

some interesting

pioneers of

aviation

then

living

in

the

state. I

became

friends with such noted in

dividuals

as

Howell Miller

and Ed

Granville

of the

Granville

Brothers

Gee-Bee

fame,

Igor Sikorsky,

Sr.

and

Jr.,

and Carl Schory. Schory was

the

man who

installed the baro

graph

in

the

NYP

at

Roosevelt Field

before

the

flight to Paris. At that

time,

Schory

was

Secretary of the

Contest Committee of

the

National

Aeronautic Association.

I spoke

with

Carl

Schory

about

said that

if I needed any

help

around the world,

he would

put

me in contact with

offices

of the

United Aircraft Corporat ion

of

Hartford, Connecticut. He was

a

retired vice president of the firm.

Then , in 1968, after

intense

work

in

collecting material on Ryan, I

called

Mr.

Lyman

and made

another

date to

visit with

him

for an update

on

my work. Again,

he

was

appar

ently impressed, and said,

I think

it 's

time for you

to

make

contact

with

Lindbergh. He

suggested

I

write

a

simple and to-the-point letter, and to

be

sure to mention

his (Lyman's)

name. He even instructed me on how

to address the envelope, etc.

A few days later I

had lunch

with

Col. Richard Gimbel, (from

Gimbel

Bros. Dept. Store

in

New York),

an

aeronautical

historian who had an

office

at Yale

University.

At

that

meeting

I

asked his opinion on

meeting Lindbergh, who

was

his

friend as well. He also suggested a

letter. Gimbel was

retired from the

Air Force,

and

had one of the largest

aeronautical collections of any

thing

to do

with aeronautics

and


13/36

So

with that, I erased it all out of my

mind,

and as

they say ... went

on

with

life and forgot the whole thing.

On Tuesday evening,

the

27th, my

wife and daughter, Kirsten,

and

I were

having supper. At about 6:00 p.m.

the

telephone rang.

The male party

on

the other end,

with a sort of high-pitched voice and

Minnesota/Wisconsin accent, asked

for me by name,

pronouncing

Cas

sagneres (Casa-near) quite well. He

said he was Charles Lindbergh,

and

that

he had received my letter that

day (mail was a bit faster back then) ,

and

was

quite

interested

in my

proj

ect, and he offered his help.

Of course I

had

almost completely

forgotten my letter, and thought this

must be some joke by

one

of my pilot

friends, some of whom I knew would

pull off

such

a

thing.

I had

it

boiled

down to three of them. So I said, Is

this REALLY

C

ha r

les Lindbergh, or

some kind of joke? He laughed I am

sure he was kind of used to this) and

said he had spoken to Deac Lyman

about me and wished to be of help.

After

our extensive conversation

he suggested we get together some-

time

soon. I

thought to

myself

soon

could mean

anything,

considering

his schedule,

but

low and behold,

he

suggested that I come to his home for

supper,

with my

wife, and suggested

this for

the

very

next evening,

the

28th. He said that Deac Lyman and

his wife and

Frank

Delear and his

wife would be there. Delear was from

Sikorsky Aircraft,

and doing

a biogra

phy

on

Igor.

down.

However, by the next day I

had memorized it for security reasons

[Q: What kind of security reasons?

Was he told to

do

so?],

and

tore up

the

paper. I still reme

mber the

num-

ber. It's

amazing

what we

remember

in life.

Aft

er the

phone callI

went back to

the

kitchen

to

finish supper

with the

family, still in a trance, and my wife

said, Did

you

tell him we are vege

tarians? I hadn't even thought about

that

She suggested I call

him

back.

Just then the phone rang again , and

it was Lindbergh, who had forgotten

to mention to me that this first meet

ing would have

to be

cut short

as

f aiJp

(emu;

im

'

-;rifwere mu

; r p f t 1 1 p P ~ w ~

f l f Y t m a : P . f ~

~ W ~ ' I e a t

nal raia6i1itp;

m u ~

Anne

had

to be

at

the dentist in the

morning, and he wanted to be sure

she got to bed early.

So

I said that I

was about to call

him

about our food

preference. He said

that

was okay as

they had

friends

who

were vegetari

ans, so we both tried to come up with

me, just as we approached the door,

Are you sure this

is

the right place?

With that, the door opened, and there

standing in the

doorway was

l ind-

bergh, in

his suit, who said, Please

come in, I am Charles Lindbergh. I

thought to

myself, "Who else

in the

world would you be?

We

found the home very attrac-

tive,

simple,

cozy

and inviting,

with pictures

of nature,

and

a roar

ing fire in the fireplace. Soon

introductions were made with the

other

two couples.

While

Mrs. Lindbergh

offered

drinks to everyone, the men became

acquainted while discussing our mu

tual

aviation

interests. We were also

served cheese

and

crackers as good

discussions were in progress.

Lindbergh was of course quite tall,

with a receding gray hairline. He im

mediately showed an interest in my

work,

and wanted to

get right

into

the subject matter.

Dinner was served buffet style, and

after Charles

and

I

picked up our

trays of food

and

a glass of milk (we

were

the

only milk drinkers), we got

comfortable

on

a small couch in front

of

the

fireplace in

the

living room.

In

our telephone

conversation

he had suggested

that I

bring any

photographs

and

a list

of

questions

with me for discussion

and his

help,

which I did.

When we looked at the

photos

he

identified people and places, ·and in

some cases

the

circumstances. I

went

slowly

down

my list of questions

.

Two or three times

during our con-


14/36

Sanders Allen, in reply to one of my

questions.

He offered

to

give

me

an

extra copy he had if I wished, which I

did accept.

He made many suggestions and

cleared up several questions and mis

conceptions,

some

rather

startling.

This

was

when

I heard for the first

time the true

story

of the meaning

We,

which

did NOT

mean he

and

the airplane. He made

it

clear that he

NEVER

meant

it to mean that.

At one

point I asked for permission

to inspect the NYP in detail, in order

to try

to determine the

correct serial

number, and study other

details

of

the

airplane. Permission was granted

and

he said that anything his friend

Paul

E.

Garber,

then

the long time cu

rator of the

National

Air

Museum's

collection,

would

agree to

he would

also, on my behalf. I shall never for

get the confidence it instilled

in

my

own

mind when

it came to his coop

eration in such matters.

In

the

course of our conversation I

brought up the

subject of

the

Japan

ese NYP-2 built by Ryan (the Japanese

were

planning

to fly the Pacific

with

it). He

had

only

heard

about

it

but

did

not

know

the

details, and wanted

to know

more.

He asked if I would

send him further information on

the

airplane, which I did.

I mentioned his

old

Monocoupe

NR211, and the deplorable condition

it

was in, Sitting

in

a lean-to

in

St.

Louis,

under

the care of

the

Missouri

Historical Society.

He

appeared quite

concerned, and mentioned that he

appreciated my concern also.

concerned.

He asked if I would

send

his

best wishes to

William

Wagner,

Walter Locke, Claude Ryan, and

Hawley Bowlus

of

the Ryan

Com

pany, with whom I was in

constant

contact

with.

I asked about Frank Hawk's Ryan

B-1,

the Goldbug

and

he

said it

did

not become the NYP; the NYP was

built up from scratch.

He asked

me

who the

two

pilots

were that flew the Standards for Ryan,

and

thought

one was Red Harrigan,

which was

correct.

The

other

was

Dick Bowman.

Soon it was time to leave,

at about

10:15 p.m., and

the

four of us

spent

some time talking about our children.

We showed them

a

couple

slides

of

our daughter, Kirsten.

They showed

much

interest.

Eline was

pregnant

with our son Bryan

at that

time.

While getting our coats on, Charles

mentioned the two

books, Th

e Spirit

ofSt.

Louis

and the Lockheed book by

Allen, and promptly disappeared for a

few minutes. Shortly he came back

with both

and handed

them

to

me

.

With many thanks I thought, 1 won

der

i f

I

should

ask him to

sign the

Spirit

book,

but then realized after

all, he entertained us

at

their home,

and was willing to

keep

in contact

with me to help in the Ryan project.

What more could I ask for, so gave up

the idea,

realizing

also that he had

been hounded by people

most

of his

life for his

signature. Good

I did, as

you will see.

We bid goodbye

and

arrived home

at about 11

:45

p.m.

I

climbed

into

black ink, and signed in his incredi

bly consistent signature. I never

expected this

and

was

happy

I had

not asked

him to

sign the

book

dur

ing

our visit. This

book

will become

an

heirloom

in

our family.

My wife, Eline, recalled at

the

time

that

she was the skeptic in our family,

and she said that if I ever received a

reply from Lindbergh

she

would pay

me

a

dollar,

which of course I col

lected not long after. She remembered

that

she wore a navy blue wool dress,

with a printed skirt and black shoes

that

night. She also remembered

that

the large

black

mailbox in front of

the

Lindbergh home did

not have

a

name or number on it. She found

the

house to be simple with

no

pretense.

Eline remembered

that we

had

goat cheese, which according to

Mrs .

Lindbergh, Charles liked very

much.

Eline

felt right at home, as

did I, and

found the atmosphere

very relaxing. The

view

into the

cove was lovely, with swans

and

many

birds flittering around.

She found Charles quite handsome

with piercing blue eyes, a gentleman,

who seemed

very much aware

of

other

people

and their feelings. She

found

Anne

a very warm person in

terested in

other

people and their

feelings. She was interested in what

other people had to say.

On April 7, 1968, Lindbergh wrote a

letter to me, three pages typed, in which

he followed up with remarks regarding

our discussion at

that

first meeting. t

was in this letter, on page three, that he

mentioned in a paragraph the real and


15/36

F

rst, a word

of warnin

g: jeal

ousy

is

a wasted emotion. Just

keep

that

in mind while we

tell

you the tale

of

Dennis

and Janeen Kochan

and

the latest

addition to their aerial menagerie.

Married for

11

years,

the

Kochans

make the rest of us realize

that

, yes,

you can live

your

dreams. And you

can fly your dreams.

And you

can

pretty

much

be who and

what

you

want to be if you have the determi

nation and, most

of

all, the right

partner to work shoulder to s

houl

der with to achieve those dreams. In

this case, there's no doubt Janeen

was made for Dennis and vice versa.

Their backgrounds are similar, their

goals compatible,

and their

taste in

airplanes identical

and

impeccable.

UDD DAVISSON

PH

OTOS

BY

JI

M K

OE

PNI

CK

you about the jealousy thing.

Dennis Kochan moved to Winter

Haven, Florida,

with

his family in

the

early 1950s. They

moved into

a

house

only

a short

distance

from

what

was then a

civilian-operated,

military-contract flight school that

was based

at Winter

Haven

airport

.

His father

was

a pilot, and it was

only a short time before young Den

nis found himself among instructor

pilots and other fliers that his father

had befriended.

Dennis took all of this in and be

gan his own climb toward being an

aviator via free-flight and radio-con

trol models. I started taking flying

lessons,

Dennis

says, at another

field ,

but

my

father

said

he'd pay

the difference if I'd go over to Jack

young pilot and soon-to-be-airplane

rebuilder to come

of

age.

Everyone was

rebuilding

some

thing, and I

made

it a point to help

where I could. I worked on a little of

everything and helped one group do

a complete restoration on a Cub.

That's when I really started learning

about,

and

appreciating,

older

air

planes. Even though I was young, I

just seemed to

identify

with the

older ones better than the more

modern ones, recalled Dennis.

At

the same

time Dennis was

doing a huge amount of flying,

building up ratings and beginning

to see

that

there actually was a ca

reer to be had in aviation.

At

about the

same time else

where in

the

state, Janeen , a


16/36

ing. Part

of

Janeen is

an

educator,

and

that

part merged with

her

background in

human

factors to

set her in a

slightly

different but

allied direction .

At

first

she

started

casually giving flight instruction

to

people in their own aircraft and

working with

commercial

opera

tors on their certification processes

and training manuals.

In a

short

time

Janeen

had a

cockpit

training

business

that

catered

to everything from

tail

wheel transitions

to Gulfstream

II

small airline and freight operators.

The more of that she did, the more

she

began

to

know airline/freight

flying,

and

the more she found her

self drawn to it.

I liked

the

way

the

carrier

I'm

now

working for did

their training

,

so I applied for a job, Janeen says.

I started out

in

the right seat of a

YS-ll, flew captain

on the

DC-9 and

DC-8, and I'm now in the left seat of

B-767s.

She continued her education and

was working on

her

Ph.D., but as

is

on

floats

that Jon

Brown

owned

in

partnership with one of his instruc

tors a guy named Dennis

something or other. I asked Jon if I

could

fly

the airplane,

and

he said to

ask Dennis. I asked Dennis Kochan

if I could fly his airplane, one thing

led to

another,

and

you

can guess

the rest. That was in 1988, and we've

been together since.

Janeen says, We flew a lot of dif

ferent airplanes

and

ferried a

bunch

for commercial operators. At the

same time Dennis was flying a Gulf


17/36

Meyers,

although

I've always liked

them, Dennis says. This particular

one

belonged to

one

of

our

neigh-

bors who had lost his

medical.

I

offered to let

him

keep it in

our

hangar until I got time to ferry it to

Virginia for him.

Janeen says, It was sitting there,

and

we'd walk around it all

the

time,

and somehow it just seemed as if it

fit with

the

rest of

our

airplanes.

Be-

sides, it was a fairly modern airplane,

and we needed something more

Will you sell us the air

plane for that?'

And

we

became

the

proud owner

of a Meyers 200D.

Dennis says, I'm not

saying we always go at

things

the

right way, but,

for

instance, when

we

bought the Stearman, Ja

neen said it was

because

she had this great helmet

and headset and needed

an

open cockpit

biplane

to go with it. We heard of

this Stearman

for

sale,

walked

in,

fell in love ,

and

bought

it in about

five minutes.

We did

about the

same

thing with the

F-

normal

for

transportation. t

was a

really good airp lan e

with

decent

paint

and

radios,

but

it hadn 't flown

in something like five years.

We kept walking around it, and

one

day

I coul dn

't

take it

any

longer, so I

told

the owner, 'We

have this

much

money

in

the bank.

Dennis explains, Most of

the

air

planes we've bought have been out

of

annual. Some

of

them for a

long

time.

Both

Janeen

and I are A&Ps

and lAs, so where an airplane that

hasn

't flown for a while normally

hurts its sales val ue,

that

doesn't

mean much to us because our labor

is

free. We can

put

them back into

the air

for

much

less

money

than

most people can.

Some

of the air

planes, like the Fairchild, haven't

needed

much except a good bath

and some flying.

Others like

the

200D needed a lot

of

cosmetic work

and

some

small

mechanical

stuff

like re-bushing the landing gear.

And this brings us up to

the

Mey

ers 145. Dennis says, We belong to

the Meyers (Owners) Association

and

have for a few years. In

one

of

the newsletters, we saw an

ad

that

had

a 145 Meyers being offered as

part of an estate sale. t had not

been

advertised

anywhere else, so

most people didn't even know it was

for sale.

We contacted the estate and

found

the

price

was

entirely too

high for us. Apparently it was too

high for everyone because after a lit

tle while the price came down.

The airplane

hadn't

flown for

two years

and, in fact,

had

only

flown about 20 hours

in

the last 15

years .

That

was

the

bad

news. The

good news was that it only had 950

hours

on it since new. The airplane

had been built in 1956 and was

the

last

of 20

145s that were built. The

last

owner

bought it in

1960 and


18/36

of airplane, that's pretty rare. It had

been repainted

in 1990,

but in

its

original colors.

Dennis adds, Although he didn't

fly the

airplane very much, the

owner

was careful to come out and

run it up fairly regularly. His widow

told us she'd come out with him

and sit

in

the car

while

he got the

engine up to temperature.

Janeen and I talked about

it

for a

few

minutes

, Dennis says, then

decided we'd

buy

it

and

restore it to

original configuration.

We

negoti

The 145

is the

product of

l

Mey

ers,

who

moved to Tecumseh,

Michigan, in

the

early 1940s

to

take

advantage of the labor base that

hovered around the

automotive in

dustry. He wanted to build airplanes,

and

that's exactly what

he

did. He

and his fledgling company built the

Meyers OTW (Out

To

Win)

primary

trainer that, although it was a minor

player in

the

wartime

training

pro

grams, was still a profitable product

for him.

At the

end of World

War

II he,

and

Globe/Temco, producers of

the

Swift. Meyers was apparently much

more of a bUSinessman,

and

he was

n't going to build what he

didn't

know was sold.

Meyers' approach to building air

planes

meant

two

things, both of

which were revolutionary

within

aviation:

he

would only build to or

der and he

purposely

kept his

airplane manufacturing small so he

could control it. If you wanted one

of

his

airplanes,

you had to

drop

a

check

on

his desk and then go stand


19/36

While not exactly a T-shaped panel this Meyers

145

has the original instru

ment panel

intact without

the usual

cutouts

made

for

more modern

equipment.

tion.

He designed a top and

subsequently

sold a reported

25,000 of them.

The

Meyers 145 was origi

nallya 125,

but the

1,700

pound

(gross) airplane was

found to be underpowered, so

a 145-hp Continental was in

stalled. The resulting 950 fpm

climb and 145 mph cruise

speed was impressive, but im

pressive or not, in 1948 there

was still a

limited

market for

such

an airplane.

The

orders

didn t

come in, so he

didn t

build the airplanes. Globe as

sumed the

sales would be

fuselage were

aluminum,

the main

fuselage

and

wing center-section

were welded steel

tube that

carried

all of the land gear and main flight

loads. The airfoil was typical for the

period, a 24015 at the root tapering

to

a 24009

at

the tip; loosely trans

lated that means the airplane had a

relatively sharp

stall,

but nothing

the

returning

fighter jocks couldn t

handle.

One thing

Meyers did

change

early

on to

make

the

air

plane more docile was

the

addition

of a

very tall

tailwheel

strut. The

original

was so short and the deck

angle so steep that the airplane was

terribly blind and really easy to stall


20/36

~ f J M i

1

Scheduled Airline

The

st

Petersburg Mus

umof

History's Benoist 14B replica

H.G.

FRAUTSCHY

I

f you' re visiting the west coast of

Florida, a

stop in

the

Tampa/St

Petersburg area holds a special

treat for antique airplane en thusiasts.

At

the

base of

the

li he Pier in down

town St Petersburg, Florida,

is the

St.

Petersburg Museum of History. The

centerpiece of its

many

exhibits

is

a

beautifully constructed replica of

the

Benoist

fl

yi

ng boat

used

in

the

establishment of

the

first

scheduled airline service in

the United States.

Members

of the Florida Aviation

Historical Society

built this

remark

able craft The endeavor was a

widespread

volunteer

effort. A high

school

shop

class

band

sawed

the

wing ribs while other volunteers engi

neered a

propeller/engine

drive

system to replicate

the 7S hp

Roberts

inline six-cylinder installation. Hank

Palmer

built

a mock-up

of the

drive

train

and the replica's engine, a six

cylinder Chevrolet that was tested

along with the chain

drive and pro-


21/36

Suspended in the First Flight gallery the Benoist Model

4B

flying boat is a faithful replica

of

the biplane used for

the first flight

of

a scheduled airline

in

the United States. Along the wall

in

the back framed by the floor to ceiling win

dows is a chronology

of

the airline industry.

peller. Ed Hoffman , a well-known

Florida aircraft builder and seaplane

pilot, was one of the many volunteers

and served as the replica's pilot.

The society had voted in 1980 to

build and fly the replica to commem-

orate the historic

first

scheduled

airline flight , which

took

place on

New Year's Day in 1914. The push

was on to

complete the project

St. Petersburg


22/36

Like many pioneer-era

aircraft

, the Benoist

was found to

be

lacking in directional stability, so

a rectangular section of fabric was installed be

low the horizontal

tail

and

the top

of

the

aft

fuselage. When the replica was readied

for

per

manent display, the temporary fin was removed.

process. Thanks to the

hard work of so many vol

unteers, the airplane was

ready to be test flown by

the

fall

of 1983.

Teething problems

with

the drive

system

were

dealt

with,

and

a

few other

corrections

were made to the Benoist

replica before

it

was

flown to St. Petersburg.

Seventy

years

to the

day

and

time, Ed Hoffman

took off from the harbor

which required two years of research

before

th

e first

structures could

be

built . A

seemingly simple airframe

was built, using measurements and

photographs

tak

en

of

the

Model 12

Benoist in

the

Smithsonian s collec

tion of aircraft. The research revealed

that even for a relatively simple air

plane, constructing it as closely to the

original as possible was a painstaking

waters of St. Pete and

flew to the other side

of

Tampa

Bay,

averaging

55 mph.

Overall,

the replica

flew

a total of four

hours and

24

minutes,

including a

stint

in front

of

the

IM X

cameras

for the

National

Air

and

Space Mu

seum s movie n the Wing

If you re

unable

to make the trip,

we re pleased to show you

just

a

few

of

the details you d see at the

excellent display

in

the

St. Peters

burg Museum

of

History. There s

quite a

bit

of historical data

on th

e

many aspects

of

the Benoist flying

boat and

the

St. Petersburg-Tampa

AirBoat Line. Also, when you re fin

ished viewing the Benoist, be sure

to visit the rest of the museum-it

has a fascinating

and

well-presented

collection

of

artifacts, both modern

and

ancient.

If you'd like

to

read more about

the

history

of the

St. Peters-

burg/Tampa AirBoat Line and the

replica's

creation,

we've

repro-

duced

an

article entit led

The

World's First Airline f irst pub-

lished in

the

March 1984

issue

of

Vintage Airplane.

You

can view

the

article

on

our

web page

at

www vintageaircraft org Click on

Publications,

and then

select

Interesting Past Articles from

the menu.

peclaliles ervices

CR NKSH FTGRU HNG

ROCKERAR ST RTER D PTERS

CR NKSH FT

B L NCING

T PPET BODIES

ULTR SONICINSPECnoNS

C MSH FT

GRINDING

COUNTERWEIGHTS CUSTOM M CHINING

CONNECnNG RODS

M GN fLUXING PL nNG

http://www.vintageaircraft.org.click/http://www.vintageaircraft.org.click/


23/36

The actual survival material

went to

the

Smithsonian

in Wash

ington.

Other

parts

from

the

NYP,

that

made the flight from New York

to Paris, went to the

Lindbergh

In

terpretation Center

in Little Falls,

Minnesota. The

rest of

the

material

went to the San Diego Aerospace

Museum

in San

Diego, California,

all of which was

eventually

lost

and

has never been found.

I still own part of the original NYP

artifacts, and have since had

them

professionally mounted in a specially

built wooden case for protection, dis

play, and possible sale.

Over the next two or three years

Lindbergh and I were

in contact

by

phone, and

by letter,

and

a couple of

times

in person

. I

have developed

some questions since his death that I

never

thought

of during that time, so I

may never learn the true answers.

I always found him to be friendly,

gracious,

and

quick with his carefully

thought out answers, and detailed re-

marks,

and

suggestions. I also

found

him to

be

sincere

and

soft spoken,

with an unassuming dignity, with

great natural ability, and genius. He

had high values, virtues, and spiritual

ity (the latter often discussed with his

close friend, Igor I Sikorsky,

Sr. .

He was a whole

man,

honest with

others

as well as

with

himselC

and

a

true gentleman of the old school. He

practiced and believed in well-organ

ized

hard

work. He

had the

will to

achieve and succeed, but

not

at the

project with Mrs. Lindbergh. t was al

ways a

pleasure, spending

relaxing

time in healthy inspiring conversation

on many different topics.

I never thought much about asking

for her Signature on any of her books.

However, on one of

our

visits my wife

had asked, Mrs. Lindbergh, of all the

books

you have

wr i

tten,

which

one

did you enjoy the

most

from an au

thor's

standpoint?

After

careful

thought Mrs. Lindbergh said, Listen

to

the

Wind. So I thought

if

the time

was okay

and

I felt comfortable about

it, I

would

ask

her

to sign my copy.

So, on our last

viSit,

January 17, 1979,

and as we sat before a warming fire in

the

fireplace,

she agreed

to

sign the

book

. To Eline

and

Everett

Cassag

neres,

in appreciation and

with

all

good wishes, Anne Morrow l ind

bergh with the date.

That was the last time we visited

her in

Darien, and

in

reflection, we

cherish this friendship,

and

miss her

very much.

Since

the

passing

of

Anne Morrow

and Charles A.

Lindbergh,

I

have

found it to be a pleasure, and

an

inspi

ration to continue a friendship with

some

of

the members

of

the l ind

bergh family.

I

wish to take this opportunity

to thank Reeve Lindbergh Tripp,

their

daughter, for

answering my

many questions, and for her offer

of

help

and encouragement

over

so

many

years.

I

have been further encouraged

There is something strangely

sacred

about

the

fact

that

there

is

salt

water

in

both

tears

as

well

as

the sea.

ABOUT

THE

AUTHOR

Ev Cassagneres

is

the

interna

tionally respected Ryan Aircraft

historian,

pilot, author,

and the

world's

foremost

and preeminent

specialist

on

the Ryan-built and

Lindbergh-flown Spirit ofSt.

Louis

After

more

than

35 years of

intensive and

dedicated

re

search and writing,

he has

just

completed

the

very

first

book

ever attempted on

the

history

of the

Spirit

of

St.

Louis The

book was released in July of

this

year,

the 75th anniversary

of the famous 1927 flight from

New York to

Paris.

The

title is

The Untold Story

of

the Spirit

of


24/36

NEW MEMBERS

John Kite . . . . . .

Clyde, AB,

Canada

Elizabeth Murphy . . . . Calgary,

AB,

Canada

Ian

G.

Smith .

Calgary,

AB

, Canada

Darian

Wayne Swartz

. . . Vernon,

BC,

Canada

Marian Du Toit . . . . . . .St. Mar ys, ON , Canada

Keith

Kunder

. . . . . . . .Gravenhurst, ON, Canada

Steven]. Lubczuk . . . .Kitchener,

ON,

Canada

Hugh Shields .

St. Thomas,

ON,

Canada

Michael Wotherspoon . . .

Barrie, ON,

Canada

Ernie

Amadio

. .Niagra

Falls,

ON , Canada

Emmanuel

Rollier

. . . .Lamorlaye,

France

A.

L Wickens

. . . . .

Berks

England, Great

Briti

an

John

D. Ander

son . . . . . . . . . .

Hong

Ko

ng

Daniel

Roberts

.

.

Hod-hasharon,

Israel

Moshood Atanda Salaudeen . . . . . . Lagos State, Nigeria

Lance

Lawler

Poynter . .Scottburgh Natal,

Republi

c of South Africa

Axel

Meier

. . . .Wald ZH, Switzerland

Tom Friedrich . . Bridgend Isle of Islay, United Kingdom

Christopher Boyes . . . .W

es

tern Australia

A. E. Gerken . . .Anchorage,

AK

St

eve

Willis

. . .Wasilla,

AL

Roy S.

Grady . . . . . . .

Batesville

,

AR

S. C. Musick

. . . . . .

Ft

Smith,

AR

Billy

Dulles

. . . . . . .Scottsdale,

AZ

Robert

A.

Martino .

Camp Verde, AZ

Donald M. McGettigan . . .

Mesa

,

AZ

Allen Struthers . . . . . . . .Tucson,

AZ

Alan Trabilcy . . .

Paradise

Valley, AZ

David C. Blyth

e .

.

.

.

San

Bernardino, CA

Sheldon O. Bres

in

. . . . . .Phillips

Ranch,

CA

Francis

Cummings,

III

. . . . . . San Francisco , CA

Gordon

D. Dani

elson . . . . .

. . Kentfield , CA

Damon

Duree

. . . . . . . .Oakland,

CA

Marty Eisenmann . . .

. . Alta Loma, CA

Kenneth R. Finch .

.

Paso Robles,

CA

Kenneth

J.

Frank . . . . . . .Nevada City, CA

Robert

L

Graves . . . .

Palo Alto

, CA

Tom

Harper

. . . . .

Reseda

, CA

William Helve

y .

.

. . . . . . .

Los

Altos

, CA

Elvin W

Hurst .

. . .

Santa

Rosa

, CA

Darrel E.

Jones .

.

.

Sonoma, CA

Marc Pell

etier . . .

. . .

Daniel son, CT

Norman Ross . . . . .Putnam, CT

Calvin J.

Arter,

Jr. . . .

.

.

. . Mulberry,

FL

Thomas Karrer . . .

. . .

. .

Miami

,

FL

Charles Nickerson . . . . . . . .Bonita Spring

s, FL

John W. Preiss . . .

. . . . . . .

Da

ytona Beach ,

FL

Donald M. McBride . . .

Roswe

ll

, GA

Wayne Bausch . . . .

Ames

, IA

Thomas

W

Gillum . . . . . . .Davenport, IA

Craig T. Martin . .

.

. .

Des

Moines, IA

Aaron

Dwayn

e

Siegfried

. . .

.

. . .

.

Anken

y, IA

David Bona . . . . . . . .joliet,

IL

Bob

Brandt . . . . . . Schaumbur

g, IL

Brian

Cummings .

.

.

.

Naperville,

IL

Donald

R. Ev

ersman .

.

. . . . . . . . . .

Lisle

,

IL

Brett M. Lecy . . . . . Chicago,

IL

Douglas

L

Mays . . . .

. .

. Chenoa,

IL

Michael Monreal . . . . . . .

. . .

.

. .Mar engo ,

IL

C.

Jud Nogle . . . . . . . . . .

Sav

oy, IL

Joseph

K.

Russe

ll

.

.

.

Kankak

ee, IL

Edward]. Turner,

III

. . . . Mokena ,

IL

Jim

Hartlage . . . .

Lanesville,

IN

Stephen

Him es

.

. . .

. .

Bristol,

IN

Gordy L

ee

. . . . . .Indianapolis, IN

Emmett

L

Owens . . . . Madison, IN

Gregory

A.

Smith . .

North

Web

ster, IN

Ronald G. Wright .

. . . .

. . .Austin , IN

Maurice

Brand

.

. . . .

.

Valley

Cente

r,

KS

Kenneth Joy . . . . . . . .Wichita, KS

Bobby].

Newsom

. . . . Wichita, KS

James T. O'

Dani

el .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .De

rb

y,

KS

Arch

E.

Pat

er

so

n . . .

.

Leawood, KS

John

H.

Plumb .

. . .

.

.

.

Delia

,

KS

Michael Scott

Bursk

. . . . .

.

Wild

e

r,

KY

Rob

Dorsey

. . .

. . . . . . . . . . Florence,

KY

Robin Dorsey . . . . .Florence, KY

Charles

R.

Huff .

.

. . . . Prospect, KY

Lowell

G. Sharkey . .

.

.

. .Manitou ,

KY

John

Hall

.

. . . .Northborough, MA

Tim

O'Neill . . .

.

.

.

.Bradfo

rd

, MA

Daniel J. Schwinn . . . . . . . . .

. . . Lincoln,

MA


25/36

Kenneth j Jasorka . Minneapolis, MN

Don

Kerkhoff . Good Thunder, MN

Julius

Salinas

. . .

Esko, MN

Jerry Woodstrom Hugo,

MN

David

L.

Alexander . . . St. Cha

rles,

MO

Harry Linn .

.

Vanzant,

MO

Duane Oosterhuis . . . . . Ozark,

MO

Matthew Pierce . .

.

. . Florissant, MO

Kari Pierce . .

. Florissant, MO

Dwight E. Lee . Macon, MS

David L. Andrews . .

Ca

ry,

NC

Stephen

R.

Culler . . .winston-Salem,

NC

David

Culp .

. .

Wilmington, NC

Peter Inglis

. Chapel

Hill, NC

Larry Weida

.

.

.

Fuquay-Varina,

NC

Erick

S. Corbridge . . . . . .

Seward,

NE

Michael

Mitche

lle

. . .

.

Wilber,

NE

Donald

J.

Stoops . . . Peterborough, NH

Marie Stoops . . . . Peterborough, NH

Kurt M. Wien . .

. . . West

Ossipee,

NH

Harvey

B.

Hasl

ett .

. . . . . . Galloway, NJ

Stephan Koenig . .Ringoes,

NJ

James

Dudley .

. . .

.

Albuquerque, NM

Maynard

H.

Ingalls .

.

.

Dayton, NV

Gerald

J. Bainbridge . . . . . .

Buffalo, NY

Stuart

W.

Felberg . . .

.Chichester,

NY

Clifford

L.

George . . . Geneseo,

NY

William Richard

s . . . . Gardiner,

NY

George Stahl . . . . .Long Island City,

NY

Jerry Anderson . . . .Ca nton, OH

David Brickner

. . .

Fostoria, OH

Jay

J. Gleason . Maumee,

OH

H.

Thomas Griffing . . . . . Sandusky,

OH

Brooke

Ha

yes

.

.

.

Worthington,

OH

Thomas

Howen

stine .

.

Hicksville,

OH

Ted

Kelley

. . Lyndhurst,

OH

William Leff .Dayton, OH

Paul

Lutz

.

.

Wadsworth,

OH

Alan Peters .

. . .

Blacklick, OH

Kenneth L.

Sto

ck

er

.

.

.

New

Philadelphia,

OH

Douglas M.

Frantz . . . . . .

Mustang, OK

Will

N.

Harris

.

.

.

Edmond, OK

Rand

y W. Harrison .

Sitgler, OK

Ca

r

ey

Johnson .

.

Lawton,

OK

Max Mcdermott . . . . . Alva, OK

James

L.

Williamson .

. . . . .Sand Springs, OK

Eric

L.

Graham . . . . .Gresham, OR

Bill Hall .

. . . . . . Portland, OR

Chuck Milton .

Indepe

nd

e

nce

,

OR

Daniel Owen

. .

. . Portland, OR

Steven

E.

Zimmerly . . .

Hill

sboro, OR

John

Hess

.

.

. .jonestown,

PA

James

L.

Freeman .

.

. . Anderson,

SC

Tom Lewis

.

.

. . . Franklin,

TN

Bob Reuther . Nashville, TN

Olga Cassella . . . .

Rutland, VT

John K Desm o

nd

. .

S Burlington, VT

John

A. Birney

. . . . . .

Lake

Stevens, WA

Ken

Co

uch .

Arlington, WA

J.

Scott Haywa rd . . . .

. . .

Aub

urn,

WA

Stephen L. John

so

n .

. . . . . Arlington,

WA

Michael D.

Latta

. . . .

.Auburn,

WA

Steve

Albert

Smith . Buckley, WA

j F Vallee .

. Vancouver, WA

Jan Christie . . Ft. Atkinson , WI

Kent R. Crain . . Gr

ee

n Ba

y,

WI

Randy

Erickson

. .

. Mosinee, WI

Alan j

Georgia . . . . . . . . . .Green

Bay,

WI

Leslie

L.

Gore

.

.

.

Sheboygan, WI

William M.

Gore

. . . .Sheboygan, WI

David

M. Henry . . . . . Hartland,

WI

Kenneth

Hodg

es

.

. . . .

Edge

rton,

WI

David

L.

Hotzfeld . . . . . .

.

Merrill,

WI

John H. Kass . . Holman, WI

William S. Knight .

. .

.

. . Brodhead, WI

Thomas Knutson . . .

. . . Chetek, WI

Michael Levono

wich

. .

Kenosha,

WI

Robert J. Pernic .

Williams Bay, WI

Alan

Reschenberg .

.

.

Oconomowoc, WI

Alex F Ro

ss

ul

ek .

.

. . .

. . . . .

Ferryville,

WI

David K. Schmitz . . . Spooner,

WI

Don ald Shine . . . . . . . .

Waterford,

WI

Bradley

W.

Stellrecht . . . . . . . . . Clintonvill

e,

WI

Jam

es

j Thomp

so

n . . Bristol, WI

David Bennett Tomich . . .

. . . .Sheboygan, WI

Dax

D. Wanl

ess

. . .Middleton, WI

William

G.

Waring . . .Green

Bay

, WI

Ernest P C

la

y .

.

Huntington, WV

EAA Celebrates a

Century of

Powered

Flight

with the most exciting and most

loved

aircraft

designs

of the century!

Q:

Looking for

a

fun way

to

support

EM programs, plan your month and enjoy some

of the

finest

examples of

aviation ph

otography?

A: World of

Flight 2003

accomplishes

all

three.

8/20/2019 Vintage Air

Documents

Vintage Airplane - Sep 2002