vintage airplane - aug 2005

8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Aug 2005

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VOL. 33 ,

NO

. 8

2005

CONTENTS

1

Straight and Level

2

VAA

News

3

Friends

of the

VAA

Red Barn 2005

4 Aeromail

6

Reminiscing

with

Big Nick

The Pylon Club- Part I

by Nick Rezich

1

The First Practical Airplane

Part I: The Wright s dogged pursuit of useful flight

by H.G. Frautschy

16

Trans-Atlantic

Moth

Torquil Norman s D.H . 85 Leopard Moth

by H

.G

. Frautschy

2 The Forgotten Performers

OVERS

FRONT COVER: On August 5 , 1904 Orville Wright flew the

Flyer II a total of 356 feet over the grassy hummocks of

Huffman Prairie , outside of Dayton, Ohio. It was the

19

th

flight of the summer. Throughout all of 1904 the Wrights

struggled with obtaining consistent, controllable flights. Af

ter numerous crashes and subsequent revisions to their

Flyer,

they would achieve their goal of a truly practical air

plane

in

the late summer of 1905. with their

Flyer III.

See

the first of a two-part article on the Wrights' activities dur

ing those two years , starting on page 10. This detail is a

part of a larger image from a Library of Congress negative

(the original was a 5

x7

glass plate negative). Library of

Congress, Prints

&

Photographs Division, (LC-W86-00617)

BACK

COVER:

M.

Randall Mytar's watercolor painting Fly

Fishing depicts a father sharing his love for fishing and

ftying with his young son . The artwork was presented with

the

1st

place Vintage Category award during the

2005 EAA

Sport Avia tion Art Contest. A very limited number of prints

are availabl

e.

Contact

Mr.

Mytar

in

Sherman Oaks, Califor

nia, at 818-789-7719 for more information.

STAFF

Publisher

Tom Poberezny

Editor-in-Chief

Scott

Spangler


3/36

G OFF

RO ISON

PRESIDENT VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

ummertime

in Oshkosh

I

t's the

Fourth

of

july

weekend,

and I am writing this

column

from Oshkosh

as

I sit at my picnic

table in Camp Scholler.

I m

here

tending

to a number of last-minute

EAA

AirVenture logistical items

that

needed attention.

I

realize

that

few

of

you

folks

have ever seen the EAA grounds

here in

Oshkosh

other

than

dur

ing EAA

AirVenture. It's a typical

summer

day here in

the upper

Mid

west, and as I look

north

from my

camper, I can see the large field EAA

uses for car parking,

and

a little fur

ther, across

the

road, is

EAA s

Pio

neer Airport.

The

grass in

the

field

is tall

and

turning brown,

and

you

can

see

the wind push it around,

making the grass look like waves. In

just a few

short

weeks, it

won t

be

nearly as serene.

It

is

always interesting

to

observe

the

variety

of

reactions

of

first-time

pre-convention volunteers who are

among

the

hundreds who

come

here to prepare the grounds for this

world-premier event each year.

In the weeks

just

prior

to EAA

busy little

community

airpark. It's

really quite wonderful

If you have an opening in your cal

endar, consider

donating that time

to the VAA Division and EAA. Think

about coming early, and staying late,

to experience what this little piece of

heaven

is

like prior to the main event.

For the uninitiated, few have a real

feel for the massive effort

that must

be put forth to prepare the grounds

and

arrange for all of

the

necessary

logistical issues that are required

in

preparation

for the thousands

of

visitors

the

world's greatest aviation

event attracts each year.

It

is

often heard

around

here

that

without the volunteers

at EAA

Air

Venture, this event would not be pos

sible. As you know, I have oftentimes

extolled the

many

virtues of

our

val

ued volunteers.

Although

this is a

true statement about our volunteers,

in this

month s column

I

wanted

to

also extend the gratitude of the Vin

tage organization to the often-forgot

ten individuals who toll away every

work day of

the

year to make this lit

tle piece of heaven more heavenly for

sues, or even

how much

lemonade to

have

on

hand to keep our volunteers

upright and

in forward motion.

Be-

lieve me, this list

is

never ending.

Everybody

pulls together

every

year to get this huge job done in what

can

only be labeled

as

a professional

and

helpful

manner.

This effort

put

forth by the staff is remarkable, and

it

is

important

that

we all recognize

their efforts and offer them our sin

cere gratitude.

Yes,

it may be impossible to put on

this world-premier event

without

all

of

the

volunteer efforts,

but it is

im

possible for

me

to

imagine

what

this

event would be like without the ever

important participation

and qual

ity

efforts

of

your

EAA

staff.

Many

thanks to each of you for your dedi

cation

and

hard work.

By

the time this column hits your

mailbox,

EAA

AirVenture 200S will

be

but

a recent memory. Here's hop

ing it

is

a safe

and

successful event.

As

I am putting

the

finishing touches

on this

month s

column,

word

reached

my

desk today of

the

loss of

two icons of the air show circuit. The


4/36

Dinner and Murder

Celebrate Aviation s

Good

01 Days With EAA

Visitors enjoy the golden age

of

aviation at Good 0 1 Days 2004

There's

nothing quite

like the good

01'

days, especially

when

it

comes

to

airplanes. On August 20-21, the good folks

at

EAA's Pioneer

Airport present the Good

01

Days of Aviation, a heartwarming return

to a simpler time of open cockpits, leather helmets, and goggles.

All are invited

to

experience

what

airports were like during

the

early

days. Meet characters from the past, and rediscover the folklore, crafts,

and skills of old-time aviation.

Weather permitting, visitors will see incredible vintage airplanes

EAA's and those from visiting pilots (as detailed in last month's VAA

News )-fly throughout

both

days. Don't miss

the afternoon

"parade

of flight" and special flight demonstrations, like balloon bursting.

Other weekend features:

• At

our

large children's activity center kids can play the games

that

were popular during

the

golden age of

aviation.

• Original aircraft building skills are

kept

alive

in the

restoration

workshops. Watch a 1930 Monocoupe get .restored,

and talk to

the

E

A

staffers

Gregg and Trish Deimer

at the

2004

mystery dinner.

Visit EAA's Pioneer Airport for a

fabulous buffet d inner on a 1930s

movie set. Rub shoulders with

glamorous

movie stars, but watch

out for

shady

characters Don 't be

surprised if a terrible

murder

takes

place during dinner-after which

it '

ll

be up to you and the other pa

trons to find the culprit.

Tickets, including dinner, are $25

for EAA members, $30 for

others.

Reservations are recommended

and

can be made online at https://secure

eaa orglmuseum/murdermystery asp

or

by calling 920-426-6880.

First

Biplane Fantasy Camp

in September

Everything you wanted to know

about biplanes will be discussed at

EAA's first Biplane Fantasy Flight

Camp September

23-25.

Included

are

three biplane

flights from Pio

neer Airport, with extensive pre

flight and starting procedures

briefing for groups, simulator flights

in a )-3 Cub from the virtual Witt

https://secure/https://secure/


5/36

Hoppenworth,

the creator of

the

original youngster's pedal planes

you see at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

and

at Pioneer Airport

(thanks ,

Marv!), we

have

this

little

tidbit

of

restoration information:

"It seems none of the parts-sup

ply people that I

could

find

have

Continental gray engine enamel. I

hear comments like, 'It is like Pratt

& Whitney gray with blue in

it.'

I'm in the process of working on

an

A-65

Continental

that

is

going

to be installed

on

a museum-bound

Cub,

and

I

wanted to get the true

color. I removed the dataplate (l'm

replacing it),

and

there was

Conti

nental gray, which had been

in

the

shade for 60 years. Then we

took

the case half to our

local

DuPont

paint

dealer

and

went through

the

color charts and came up with a

DuPont color match. The

DuPont

number

is DA182A. This

happens

to be the C

entari

acrylic

enamel

number; this

can

probably

be got

ten in

Dulux enamel, too.

CALL

OR

V HALL OF FAME NOMINATIONS

Nominate your favorite aviator for

the

EAA Vintage Aircraft Association

Hall of Fame. A huge honor could be bestowed upon that man or woman

working next to you on your airplane, sitting next to you

in

the Chapter

meeting, or walking next

to

you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Think

about the people in your circle of aviation friends, that mechanic, that

photographer,

that

pilot who has shared innumerable tips with you and

with many others. They could be the next

VAA

Hall of Fame inductees-but

only if they are nominated.

The person you nominate can be a citizen of any country and may be

living or deceased, and his or her involvement

in

vintage aviation must have

occurred between 1950 and

the

present day.

His

or her contribution could

be in the areas of flying; design; mechanical or aerodynamic developments;

administration; writing; some other vital, re levant

fie

ld; or any combination

of fields that support aviation. The person you nominate must

be

or have

been a member of

the

Vintage Aircraft Association, and preference

is

given

to those whose actions have contributed to the

VAA

in some way, perhaps

as

a volunteer; a writer; a photographer; or a pilot sharing stories, preserving

aviation history, and encouraging new pilots and enthusiasts.

To nominate someone

is

easy. It just takes a little time and a little

reminiscing

on

your part.

• Think of a person, think of his or her contributions.

• Write those contributions in the various categories of the form.

• Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions.

Make

copies of newspaper or magazine articles that may substantiate your view.

. If you can, have another person complete a form or write a letter about this

person, confirming why the person

is

a good candidate for induction.

• Mail the form to:

VAA

Hall of Fame

H.G. Frautschy

PO Box 3086

Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086

REM EMBER ,

YOUR

CONTEMPORARY" MAY

BE

A CANDIDATE-

NOMINATE SOMEONE TODAY

!

Call the

VAA

office

for

a form (920-426-6110); find it at

www vintageaircraft org;

or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information:

• Date submitted.

• Name of person nominated.

• Address and phone of nominee.

• Date of birth of nominee. I f deceased, date of death.

• Name and relationship of nominee's closest living relative.

• Address and phone of nominee's closest living relative.

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


6/36

FRIENDS OF

TH V RED BARN 2005

OUR THANKS TO THOSE LISTED FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THE VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION'S ACTIVITIES

AND PROGRAMS DURING

EAA

AIRVENTURE OSHKOSH.

This list includes donors as of July 7,

2005.

Again , thank

you

for being a Friend

of

the

VAA

Red

Barn!

DIAMOND LEVEL FRIENDS

Don Abbott, Sanibel,

FL

Ted

Beckwith, Jr. , Tullahoma,

TN

VAA

Chapter 10, Claremore, OK

VAA Chapter 11, Glendale,

WI

Kenneth Cianchette, Pittsfield,

ME

Jacie & Scott Crowell, Bandon,

OR

Bud Field, Hayward, CA

Nikki Field, Hayward,

CA

Rich Giannotti, Brookhaven, NY

Charles

W.

Harris, Tulsa, OK

Lynn Jensen, Ashland,

VA

Norma Joyce, Greensboro, NC

Butch Joyce, Greensboro, NC

Bob Lumley, Brookfield, WI

Skip Rawson, Rocky Hill ,

NJ

Ronald Tarrson, Santa

Fe,

NM

John Turgyan, New Egypt,

NJ

James Turrell, Flagstaff, AZ.

PLATINUM LEVEL FRIENDS

D.

Ronald Boice, Chandler, AZ.

Buck Hilbert, Union, IL

Ben Scott, Reno, NV

Donald J. Warner, Gilbert, AZ.

GOLD LEVEL FRIENDS

BRONZE LEVEL FRIENDS

William

R.

Aikens, Bloomfield Hills, MI

Lloyd L. Austin, Dover,

DE

Lawrence A. Bartell , Waukesha,

WI

Dave Belcher, Abington, MA

Clifford Belleau, Anchorage, AK

Kent Blankenburg, Groveland,

CA

Sandy Blankenburg, Groveland, CA

Stacey

&

Michael Boggs, Keyser, WV

Denis

G.

Breining, Austin, TX

Charles

B.

Brownlow, Weyauwega,

WI

Steven L. Buss, Oshkosh,

WI

Perry M. Chappano, Columbus,

OH

Gene R. Chase, Oshkosh, WI

Geoffrey

E.

Clark, Portsmouth, NH

Sydney B. Cohen, Wausau,

WI

John & Marge Cooke, Galena, IL

John S. Copeland , Northborough, MA

Dan Dodds,

St

. Anthony,

MN

Cheryl & Chris Drake, Lindenhurst, IL

Theodoore Embry, Cleburne,

TX

James E. Fischer, Lakeville, MN

David

G.

Flinn, Lansing,

NY

Robert

L.

Fornesi, Claremont,

CA

Henry

G.

Frautschy, Oshkosh,

WI

Mal

&

Inge Gross, Eastsound,

WA

William W. Halverson, Henderson,

NV

Carl W. Higgins, Aloona,

WI

John M. Patterson, Lexington,

KY

Gary

L.

Petersen, Walton,

NE

Ray Pool, Madera, CA

Tim and Liz Popp, Lawton, MI

Ron

Price, Sonoma,

CA

Bob & Norma Puryear, Trinity Center, CA

Theodore Reusch, La Verne,

CA

Charles Schumacher, Boulde

r,

CO

Arthur F. Sereque, Jr., Woodridge, IL

Jeffrey

L.

Shafer, Fond du Lac,

WI

Peter Sherwin, St. Louis, MO

Colin A. Smith, Henderson,

NV

Randolph

H.

Smith, Cody,

WY

David

P.

Smith, Pacific Palisades, CA

Joseph M. Smokovitz, Tecumseh , MI

Guy

A.

Snyder, Bartonville, IL

Jim Snyder, Morgantown , WV

L. Dean Spencer, Beadford, IN

Seymour Subitzky, Reston,

VA

Carson E. Thompson, Elmhurst, IL

Don Toeppen, Sun City West,

AZ.

Robert

O.

Tyler, Great Falls ,

VA

Harland Verrill , Flint, MI

Tom

Vukonich, Southfield,

MI

Donald L. Weaver, EI Centro, CA

LeRoy Weber, Jr. , Rio Vista,

CA

D.

Jeanne Will iams, Sonoma,

CA

Red Hamilton & Marily Boese, Fort Bragg, CA


7/36

be

making final taxi

tests at San Diego

one

weekend,

and that if

everything

went

well,

it

might

fly. So

some of

us

drove

down

to Lind

bergh Field and

parked down

t h e

runway

at the poin t

where the en

gineers had

calculated it

would

leave

the g round

I

was thrilled

Here

s Richard s

photograph

of the

XC-99 s

irst flight.

The XC-99

I only recently ran across

the

July

2003 issue with the article "The Goli

ath of the Airways" about the XC-99.

COincidentally, I was culling

some

old slides I'd been saving

which

in

cluded the XC-99's first flight.

On

page

9

it

is

reported,

The

XC-99 was first flown on April 18,

1952." Not true. Later, on page 20,

"The Goliath's first flight was

made

on November 24, 1947. 1947

is

correct, but

I m not

sure

of the

month. On page 22, It was built

at the

Consolidated factory in Fort

Worth " That's

not

true.

Actually,

it made

its first

flight

from Lindbergh Field in San Diego

in 1947. Here's

my

story:

In 1947 I was a newly

graduated

aero engineer

and

former bomber

to

see,

at

the

far end of

the

runway,

the

Ryan

Aeronautical Company, where

Lindbergh's

plane was built.

"The tremendous, lumbering

C-99

made

a few high-speed taxi tests,

then revved

up and

took off

on

its

first

flight. Just

as

it passed

us,

it

lifted

into the

air."

Richard Parvin

Clearwater, Florida

Woodworker Extraordinaire

Restoring

an

antique airplane

calls for many different kinds

of

skills.

And

like

most people,

I

found myself deficient in some

categories.

Woodworking

was

the

biggest problem, both from

an

ex

perience

level and

having tools to

make

complex

parts.

My current project is a Fairchild

works

with hand

tools

as well as

power tools.

He

primarily builds elegant

cus

tom

furniture from

old-growth,

tight-grained wood, which

is

highly

figured. His

work

is

like

fine

art

you'd

expect in a

known

gallery.

So

I felt privileged that he found

it interesting

and

enjoyable

to

make

some airplane pieces for me. And,

at a reasonable price

All I supplied was

the aircraft

grade

Sitka spruce and enough

of

the old

tattered

parts to get

some

dimensions.

I'd like to share his name and

address

with others

who

might

be

wood challenged" like myself:

Frank Strazza

329 Coastal Lane

Waco,

TX

76705

254/71 5-6660

[email protected]

Dal Donner

Clifton, Texas

Dal s experience with Frank Straza

highlights the fact that you can, un

der

FAR 21.303, make a part for your

own

aircraft, provided you have what

the FAA considers appropriate infor

mation (drawings, for example).

The

rules also

require

that

if

you're having

someone help you produce the part,

that the creation

of

that part is done

under your direct supervision. Check

with your

A P-IA

mechanic and

your

local

FSDO

regarding

th

e appropriate

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


8/36

REMINISCING

WITH

IG

NICK

TH

PYLON

CL.UB PA RT

I

have

been a

racing nut

ever

since I was knee high to a tail-

skid, and I still am. Going to

the air races to me was like go

ing to

church-it

was very spir

itual. The "spirit" has never left me,

but it did turn my life around at one

pOint, which led to

the opening

of

the world-famous "Pylon Club."

I

have been asked

by many

of

the younger

generation to tell

Nick Rezich

"Daddy, you know

what

you re

so why try hiding the truth?" With

that statement I grounded her for a

week

and

am proceeding with the

Pylon Club story.

Air

racing

faced

certain doom

following the 1949 fatal crash of

Bill

Odom and

the cancellation

of

the

Cleveland Air Races.

In the three short years of post

war air racing, millions of dollars

land out

of the racing picture, this

left Miami as the only

remaining

hope to air racing survival. Fortu

nately for the Midgets, Miami

and

Continental Motors went

on

with

the

winter

races.

The

Unlimiteds,

however, were

not

as fortunate;

they

were locked

out with no

one

willing to sponsor them because

they were labeled

as

dangerous by

a few blockheads whom sponsors


9/36

owners in Michigan for their sharp

P-51,

which

wasn't doing well at

Cleveland,

to

purchase

their

racer

at the close of the 1949 races.

I managed

to

get

out

from under

the-51 after

the

race cancellation,

but I was

determined to

build and

race the Midget. These were the

events that set

the

stage of

the Py-

lon Club.

I needed a platform to launch

my campaign to save air racing. I t

had to be a platform where I could

reach the public, news media, the

business world, FAA and other in

terested parties. How and where?

The where was easy-I felt Chi

cago was the city because Chicago

had been a good racing city, hav

ing

hosted

the 1930 National Air

Race

the

1933 American

Air

Races,

and the International Races, and it

had

the

airports reqUired for such

an

event.

The how was yet

to

be thought

of. I went to Miami for the Conti

than talking about it.

The

how

idea came to me while

I was flying

the Chicago-Seattle

Chicago-Burbank

run

for the

non

scheds. Those lO-hour flights gave

a guy a

lot of time to

dream, and

dream

I

did.

I came upon the

idea of

opening

a fabulous sa_

loon that I would call a night

club.

This club

would have to be

something unusual in

order

to at

tract the

people

I wanted to reach.

I designed a very elaborate

saloon

that carried the

theme of air rac

ing to its fullest extent-thus be

came the Pylon Club.

When

I

announced

my plan to

my brother

Frank,

who was my

partner in the Midget, he thought

I had flipped. His reaction

to

the

idea

was,

What

the

hell do you

know about running a saloon?

and, What are you going to use for

money? I explained to

him that

any dummy can pour a beer and

that

I still had the money from the

location. The exact location was

3017 W. 63rd Street, which was 2-1/4

miles east of Midway. This location

put

me between the

A.L.P.A.

Head

quarters

and

Dr. Fenwick's office,

the doctor

who

gave mos t all of the

FAA physicals on

the

south side.

For the sake of you historians, we

were located just two blocks east of

where Benny Howard built

the

first

Howard DGA-8.

Flying for Monarch Air Service,

the

non-sched kept

me out

of town

quite

a bit,

which kept

the project

on

low burner. Time was

slipping

by when fate struck a blow that put

us in high blower.

The non-sched I was working for

hired a new chief pilot from Miami,

where

he was

flying

a

Lockheed

Lobster.

We

were operating three

DC-3s, three C-46s, and a Lockheed

10. This

new

guy never even rode

in

a C-46, but had lied that

he

was

type rated in the DC-3 and C-46.

He started out by riding with the


10/36

a glazed ice runway at Midway with

no problem.

The

airplane

had no squawks,

so the

Honcho

fills it

with

gas and

skulls

and

files

for

LGA

. He cranked

up and taxied to 31L without los

ing it

on

the ice, but

about

a quar

ter way down the runway he did

lose it. For takeoff power in the -46

he was

using

DC-3 settings, and

when he lost it, he pulled

off

at

about 80

mph.

It came off, but

not

for

long

-

that

over-grossed pig fell

back

in

,

and

there was no

room

to

stop it on the ice. The co-pilot, who

knew how to fly the -46,

moved

in

and advanced

the

throttles to max

power. From my house it sounded

like

he

double clutched it . Now the

Chief Honcho moves in again

and

pulls

it

off,

only

this time

he

is

off

the

runway

and

headed for

John

Casey s house, the airport man

ager. Before he gets to the

house,

John s BT 13 interrupts the flight .

The nose, wings,

and

engines clear

ance was cancelled on the carrier

and

Monarch

went

out

of

the big

airplane non-sched business. And I

was out of a job.

WHEN THE

PAINTER

SHOWED UP

AND

I

EXPLAINED

TO HIM

WHAT I

WANTED

,

HE

,

TOO

,

TOLD

ME I WAS

NUTS.

nal plans. This was dictated by the

price

of

the

rent, heat, and

light.

The next awakening was the prices

for the decor and insurance.

I licked

some

of

the

decor costs

by calling on a former Howard Air-

craft employee, Mike Bernat, who

turned to interior decorating after

Howard closed. We

took

my origi

nallayou

t

and shrunk

it

to

fit the

smaller building. We added Mike

Bernat s ideas for

the

final outcome.

I could save 500 words here if I

had

a photo of

the

interior of the Club.

But believe it

or not, out

of hun

dreds of photos taken by maga

zines, newspapers, customers, and

friends, I

do

not have a photo of

the

place. I ll tell you

why

later.

You will have to use your imagi

nation

as

I try

to

give you a mental

picture of

the

place. For the ceiling

we used parachutes

with

the har

ness removed. Mike

hung

them in

clusters, with the top

center

fas

tened

to

the ceiling and the cano


11/36

taking

and

very costly in

time and

money

. I had 3-D color photos of

Cleveland, Miami,

and

California

races that I wanted reduced in full

detail on the 20-by-8-foot sections

of wall. At first I thought I

could

get them blown up to billboard size

like they use for outdoor advertis

ing,

but

when

I

told

them

I

only

wanted

one each

they thought

I

was crazy or rich or both. When

they

quoted me 4,000

and

no

guarantee of quality, I scrubbed the

blow-up idea.

ment on price and

time. Now for my

5,000 mistake

the painter

asked

i f I wanted the

paintings on

can

vas or

the

wall sur

faces. I opted for

the

wall

because

i t was cheaper, I

thought, which I

was to regret later.

Next

proj ect

was the identifier.

My

original

plans

called for a bea

con on the roof

and a

huge

neon

lighted pylon

in

front.

When

I ap

proached the land

lord

and

informed

him I was going

to erect

a

beacon

tower on the roof,

he

flipped and

darn near ran

me

out

of town. Next

to

get

shot down

was

the

neon-lighted pylon

First, the building would have

to

be beefed

up to

hold it; next a

special permit from the city was re

quired, extra insurance,

and when

I got the price from the sign com

pany

to build

it

, I gave

up and

opted for a 6-foot script-lettered

Py-

lon Club neon sign. I was fast learn

ing about

the

saloon business. Here

I am, three weeks away from my

proposed opening date and I am

broke and borrowing-and with six

piece when I got the brilliant idea

of just one

more painting

. After

we all destroyed a bottle of booze,

I

asked

Jeff i f he

would

paint

a

panoramic view of racers on the

racecourse at

Cleveland on the

window

up

front facing

the

street.

By now he was so wrapped up in

the

place

and so full of enthusi

asm and booze that he agreed .

This painting turned out

to

be a

classic. Up until now we had the

window

covered so no

one

could

see in while we were working.

When Jeff started to paint

that

window, I had

to

bar

the

door. Ev-

erybody wanted in-finished

or

not.

In

the meantime

we fixed

up

the back bar with a big OX-5 Ham

ilton prop, which I borrowed from

my brother Mike. A pyramid of Carl

Hubbell's black

bordered

pre-war

Thompson

Trophy

winners were

hung

on the wall. Red

and white

checkered pylons were placed all

over the place, along

with

trophies

and a whole new slew of photos of

racers, people,

and

events. Between

the Hubbell paintings and the

OX 5

prop

hung

a beautiful

painting

of

our Midget racer No. 43. This paint

ing was a gift from Paul Schaupp,

builder of Mr ip No. 27 Midget

racer, from Inglewood, California.

Before we opened formally, we

had

a premier showing for

the

avia

tion and public press and other

se-

lected guests who made the Pylon

Club possible. We named the

mu

rals as follows: the south half of the

west was the Art Chester Wall; this


12/36

THE

Part

I

The Wright s dogged pursuit

o

useful flight

H G FRAUTSCHY

T

wo weeks

after arriving

home from the windblown

sands of North Carolina s

Outer Banks, the

Wright

brothers were working

on

their next

flying machine. New

Year

s

Day saw

Orville sending the

engine

casting

patterns to Harry Maltby for changes.

(A few days

later

he returned

the

patterns, saying he couldn t make

the requested Changes.) Casting pat

nearly identical in

shape and

form

to the 1903 machine,

with

one im

portant exception: They

changed

the wing camber

from 1 in

20 to

1

in 25, flattening

out the

wing s cross

section,

which

slightly reduced

its

drag, but also its lift.

As

the

sum-

mer

months progressed, the heat

and humidity

affected

the unvar-

nished wooden structure,

and

the

airfoil further flattened

out to about

to snatch

the controls from the op

erator and

to

move to the full-up or

full-down posit ion

when the

control

was moved in flight. The location of

the

engine was also revised

to

move

the center of gravity. During

the

sea

son, they also installed steel bars

weighing

as much as

70

pounds

un

der forward rudder, bringing

the

to

tal weight

of the machine to about

915 pounds.


13/36

airscrews

had

survived the

tumble

over the sand after the fourth flight

on

December 17 and were to be used

on

the 1904 machine for the very

first trials.

It

is unclear exactly when

they

were

removed from

the

1904

machine, but it seems likely it was

in advance of this notation made on

August 10, 1904:

Broke rudder before final landing.

Broke screw was the entry related to

By

May

of 1904

the

Wrights had built a new version of

the

Flyer they had

tested

in

Kitty Hawk at the end of the previous year. Desiring a closer location to

their home

in

Dayton, they gained permission to

fly

in Torrance Huffman s prai

rie pasture, just

a

few miles outside of Dayton.

There,

they

built a

hangar

shed

to

house their airplane, shown in

these photographs

in

its initial 1904 configuration.

Orville

leans on the strut while chatting with his older brother Wilbur,

standing

on

the right. What appears to e a Richards anemometer is mounted to an outboard

wing

strut, just

behind

Wilbur s head. You

can

clearly see a

larger

gasoline

tank

and a

radiator/expansion

tank mounted on center-section

struts

near the horizon

tal four-cylinder engine. The forward rudder

(elevator)

is clearly

different

in plan

form from

the 1903

Kitty

Hawk Flyer

world's

most

experienced glider pi

lots over hundreds

of glides

since

they started

flying

from the

Great

Hill near Kitty Hawk, North Caro

lina, when they

started flying again

in 1904

they had

a

combined

total

of only 98 seconds of powered flying

time-Orville

with

a

total time of

27 seconds, Wilbur with 71 precious

ticks of the stopwatch in his diary/

logbook. This inexperience

and

the

combined effects of density altitude

and a very narrow performance en

velope added to their challenges.

After waiting for high

winds

to

subside

on that

Monday in

May,

they were dismayed to see the wind

die off almost completely.

They

placed the Flyer II on the new 100

foot launching rail they had built,

and

one of

the brothers

(it s not

it unceremoniously ran off the end

of

the track.

A few days later, with

the

weather

still unsettled and rainy, Orville

managed a meager 25-foot hop.

Once again, their

father, 76-year

old Bishop Milton Wright, made

the

8-mile trip

on the interurban

trol

ley from the west side of Dayton to

Simms Station, across the road from

Huffman Prairie.

The summer of 1904 would be a

real test of the brothers' persistence.

They were somewhat surprised and

very disappointed in the initial tri

als,

and

probably a bit embarrassed

as well.

Not

since

the

train

ride

home

from North Carolina in Au

gust

of 1901 had

they

been more

perplexed

and

frustrated in

their

aerial experiments.


14/36

In 1904

the

Wrights

would accumulate

45

minutes of

flying

time

during

105 flights. Most of the flights were measured in seconds, such

as

this ef

fort flight number 30. Wilbur is shown in mid-flight on August 13 1904.

He

would cover

784 feet

in

22-3/4

seconds

skimming

low over the

tall

grass

in

Huffman

Prairie.

Two

interesting details

see insets)

are

present

in

this image. First on the left below the right wing of the

Flyer

a couple

of

people can

be

seen

riding

in a horse-

drawn

cart. One can only

imagine

what

they

were

thinking

as

the biplane ski

mmed

the grass. Second,

on

the far right it appears Charlie Taylor is the man in shirt

sl

eeves

with his hands on his hips as the

yer

clatters by.

they had taken advantage of along

North

Carolina s

Outer

Banks.

Rec-

ognizing that much lower average

wind

speeds were available in cen

tral Ohio during

the

summertime

the

brothers built a

longer

set

of

launching

rails, each

section

mea

suring 20 feet.

At one

point, 12 sec

tions of rail were laid and staked to

the ground

for a

total of

240

feet,

but it was soon discovered

that

lay

ing that much track was not par-

ticularly useful.

It took

too long

to

lay the rail, and often when

the

last

section was lined up and bolted to

the derrick down to the base and over

another

pulley, where it changed di

rection and ran alongside the rail to

the opposite end of the shorter track

(now 60 feet). There it made a 180-de

gree turn at the launching end of the

rail, running back to the Flyer perched

on top

of its

launching

truck. There

it was attached to the launching

truck,

which

had

small bicycle

hub

wheels that rode on the metal-topped

wooden rail. A second rope attached

to a

stake

driven into the ground

restrained the

Flyer When

a 1,200

pound

weight was dropped 16-1/2

tempted and accomplished, simply

due to the vagaries of

the

wind direc

tion. Thanks to the rapid accelera

tion

from

the

catapult, the controls

were effective quickly, giving

the

pi

lot the ability to counteract the effect

of the crosswind.

A few weeks after

starting

to use

the new launching system, they flew

longer

and

farther

than

ever before.

On

a cloudy Tuesday morning, Sep

tember 20, 1904 starting with a

crosswind from the left, Wilbur man

aged a flight of just

over

a minute

in time, covering 2,520 feet. He also


15/36

even better

than

that, and an inter

ested and erudite witness was there

to see

the

flight.

Sixty-four-year-old Amos Root,

the editor of

Gleanings in

Bee

Culture

had driven 175 miles to visit friends

in

Xenia,

Ohio, and made

a

side

trip

to

Huffman Prairie to meet

the

Wrights. He'd

been reading about

them in

the

few

mentions

made in

the press up to that date and wanted

to see for himself

what

was

happen

ing outside of Dayton.

As

luck wou

ld

have it, he arrived

on

September 20.

Root was no crackpot looking for

a cause. A leading citizen of Medina,

Ohio, he

bought the

first bicycle in

northern Ohio

in

the

1870s, and

he purchased a new Olds Runabou t

motorcar in 1903. Root was known

as

a fellow

who

was willing to em

brace new technologies as soon as

they

we

re viable.

He

drove

the

Olds

on

a 400-mile tour of

Ohio during

the summer

of 1904 and

drove to

Huffman Prairie in September. Root

had established

a successful busi

ness centered on beekeeping and

is

known today

as

the

father of

the

modern

beehive. His business,

A.I.

Root Inc., a company now known as

a worldwide supplier of candles and

beeswax, is still in its original build

ing in Medina.

The cloudy skies gave way

to

rain

later in the

day,

with the

breeze

shifting

from

out

of

the north

west to crossing

the

field from

the

northeast. As

shown

in a

diagram

drawn in

Wilbur s

diary, Orvi

ll

e,

with

a right crosswind

to compen

sate for as he started, was launched

while

sit ti

ng up. You can eXperience hoW

extended periods could

be.

Next time you 're at home watching

te

levision,

try

lying on your stomach and watching

an

entire episode

of

your favor

ite sitcom for the entire half-hour- no breaks, no stretching,

just

you and

your head tilted upward as

if you

needed to always see where

you

were

headed. You can bet the brothers looked forward to that power increase!

The

other reason was terrain. The Wrights didn't yet have the luxury

of a prepared field that was long and free of obstructions. The terra


16/36

The Wr

ights st

ruggled

durin

g

all of

1904

with controllability

issues and

fight-

ing the effect

s

of what we have

come

to understand

as

density

aHitude. Too often

,

a

flight

would

end

with

th

e

lyer I darting into the ground

such

as

this

incident

at the end of flight 31 on August

16, 1904.

Orville was the pilot. The fellow

stand-

ing to

the

right of

the

launching rail appears to be Charlie Taylo

r the

Wrights

mechanic.

Flights

ending like

this

prompted

the

brothers to create

a

catapuH sys-

tem

which they started using on September

7, 1904. The

addition

of the

catapuH

meant

that

flights

could

be

started

at a

speed

that

would

allow the

lyer

to

accel

erate and

the

Wrights

fli

g

ht

t

imes immediately

began

to increase

.

The leaves have

fallen ,

but the

excite

ment of being able to

fly the

lyer I

for over

a minute

t

a time

was irresistible for

the

brothers

as

they

both

learned how to control

their recalcitrant

flying

machine

,

and

contin

ued

to refine

their

de-

sign.

This

photograph

of flight

85 was

taken on

November 16, 1904,

during

a flight

in which Orville

cov

ered

1,760

feet in

40-

112

seconds.

Consistent

flight

continued to elude

them even

while they

were able

to

keep

the lyer I in the

air

fo

r more

than five

mi

nute

s,

sometimes circling

the

field

four or

five

times.

When

they

c

onclud

ed

the

1904

flying season on December

9,

they had plenty of scientific work ahead of

them

.

Confident

they could solve the

problems

,

the following spring

was s

pent trying to sell

their flying machine and

dant

at one tim

e wh

en the

rop

e

ca

me

off

th at started it, sa id he was shak

ing

fr

om head to foot as i f he had a fit

of

ague. His shaking was uncalled

for

however, for the intrepid manager suc

ceeded in righting up his cra ft and she

mad

e one

of

her very b

es

t

fli

ghts.

Ve ry be st fli ght ind ee d ; th e

52nd

fli g

ht

th e b ro th ers m ad e

with th e

Flyer II

was

th

e longes t ,

in

t e rm s o f tim e a nd d ist a n ce,

th e

y had ever m ade.

In 1904,

th

ey made a total of 105

fli

ghts mo st o f th em fa irly sh or t,

with limited turns pe

rf

ormed within

the co nfines of th e eld. More th

an

onc

e

one of the brothers would land

before

turnin

g

an

y great amo

unt

,

for fear th ey would fly o

ut

side the

boundaries of th e roughly lOO-acre

Huf

fm an Prairi e. Th

ey

w

ere

still

feeling out the amo

unt

of turn the

machine would tolerate and more

than

once th e

turn

end ed in an un

intended landing.

Friday, December

9

saw th e end

of th e 1904 flying season a season

of remarkable progr

ess

and madden

in

g problems. The a irplan e still was

unsta

bl

e in pitch, it still had

th

e odd

tend ency to slide o ff to th e side in

turns and the power available was

barely enough to sustain

th

e Flyer in

the air. They

di

smantled the

Fl

ye

r

II

,

keeping th e hardware eng

in

es and

propellers but burning th e remain

ing

w

oo

d

and

fabri

c.

The in

fo

rm a

tion th ey had gathered in th eir first

full

se

a

so

n of powered

fli

g

ht

was put

to use

as th

ey began construction of

the 1905

Flyer

III.


17/36

Eugene Geno Breiner

Newville, PA

_ Graduate of Roosevelt

Aviation School, Long

Islanel,

NY

_ n 1985 restored Fleet 2,

NC8 89 manufactured in 929

_

1987

:

Best Open Cockpit-

Potomac

Antique Aero-Squadron

PAAS)

Horn Point, MD

_

1989

:

Best Antique

Sentimental Journey to Cub Haven

_ 1992: Grond Champion -

PAAS

I have enjoyed my aircraft through

the

years and have

enjoyed working with AUA, Inc., since 985 for all my

insurance needs.

Geno Breiner


18/36

Torquil Norman s D.H.8S Leopard oth

H G FRAUTSCHY

here s always room for im-

provement in

an

airplane,

ping

out

at about 137 mph while car-

rying three people. Pleased with the

in a great deal of discussion. Should a

pilot be in the same cabin, where he


19/36

JIM KOEPNI K

dealt with,

but

his help could be of

great benefit, was further

enhanced

War

II

broke

out,

44 of them were

appropriated by

the

British military

covered

the

airplane

in

1990 and

brought

it to England, where Ben

and

Jan Cooper

of

the

Newberry

Aeroplane

Co. restored it. Torquil

Norman,

aircraft collector extraor

dinaire,

bought

the aeroplane from

Roger before Roger's disappearance

and presumed death in a Tiger Moth

during an attempted crossing of the

English Channel in

the

late 1990s

Quite thoroughly restored,

with

an engine overhaul performed by

Mike Vaisey of Vintech, the Leopard

Moth is now

registered as G-ACOJ

and

is

kept

by Torquil at

a

small

strip called Rendcomb Aerodrome,

located southeast of Gloucester in

the United Kingdom. Like Geoffrey

de

Havilland,

Torquil fell

in

love

with his Leopard Moth, flying as

often

as he could. And like

many

pilots of old, the lovely

handling

qualities

of the D.H.85 provided

the

opportunity

to fly

the aero

plane long distances. Record-breaking

flights from England to Africa and

Australia were made in

the

1930s,

and

taking inspiration from those

intrepid pilots,

Torquil

Norman

had Henry Labouchere install a

long-range tank under

the

back seat

of the Leopard Moth, giving it a

96 U.S. gallon capacity, enough to

keep the Gypsy Major running for

about

11 hours A couple of warm

up flights to Italy and France gave

him

the

confidence in the aircraft

to

fly the North Atlantic.

A

number

of you may recall that

in 1966, Torquil and Henry Labouch

ere

flew

a lovely de Havilland Dragon


20/36

Torquil Nonnan aircraft collector

extraordinaire.

Like

many

of

ts de

Havilland siblings the Leopard

Moth

features

foldable

wings

which

help maximize available storage facilities.

necessary for

such

a long trip and

Iceland

landing

after a

9 l/2 hour

flew to Wick

in

far

northeastern

journey.

n attempt

to

fly

over

the

Scotland.

Donning an

exposure suit Greenland ice cap was rebuffed by

and

departing with a full 96 gallons

clouds so a run

down the

east coast

of fuel he pushed off to Reykjavik

was made l

anding

in

Narsarsuaq at


21/36

the southernmost tip of Greenland.

There he was greeted with beautiful

weather,

with

temperatures in

the

60s

and

sunshine.

A long run

to

Goose

Bay

Labra

dor, in Canada gave Torquil a taste

of just about every type of weather

one

can expect

to encounter

, from

solid IFR conditions nearly

down

to the sea, to a

near

gale bl

owing

along the Canadian coast

when

he

(';j was getting ready to

land.

From

there

he

flew

down to

Sept-lies, on

g

the north

shore of

the St.

Lawrence

a:

'

____ . . . . . . : : u . . . . _ Seaway in Quebec,

where

he says

Electricity for the Moth

is supplied

y this strut-mounted generator,

which is

he enjoyed a marvelous lobster din-

driven

by

a carved

impeller. You

can see

the

damage done

to it

y ice and pre- ner.

Then

it was on to

the

States,

cipitation encountered on

the

trans-Atlantic trip . making his way to

EAA

AirVenture

Oshkosh 1999 after a few stops

to

visit friends along the way.

AHamilton

vertical

All in

all,

he didn t

feel

the

air

card compass

(right)

craft

ever

ran up

against

insur-

supplements

the

stan

mountab le issues during his

long

dard

British

compass

flight, but

there

were

times when

mounted

at

the bottom

the long legs of the Leopard Moth

center

of

the

instru

were not

contributing

to

the

com

ment panel.

fort of the pilot Having made the

trip

in both

the

Rapide

and the

Leopard

Moth,

Torquil

didn t

feel

it was likely he d repeat his trans

Atlantic hop,

but he

certainly has

created a whole new set of stories to

tell his chums at home. .......


22/36

THE FORGOTTEN

PERFORMERS

Bellanca s record-making airplanes

VIC

PIKE

Clarence

Chamberlain on his

way

to Gennany

sk

anyone in

a pi

lot's lounge what

airplane

Charles

Lindbergh

flew

across the Atlan

tic and

the reply

will be, Why, a

Ryan, of course. But relatively few

current

pilots

are

aware

that

two

weeks after Lindbergh's famous

flight, Clarence Chamberlain and

Charles Levine flew a WB-2 Bel

lanca

named Co lumbia immediate

predecessor to

the

Bellanca Pace

unknown

airmail pilot, Lindbergh.

From the mid 1920s through the

early 1930s, Bellanca monoplanes

routinely

set

records for distance,

altitude, and

endurance that made

their

superlative performance an

expectation.

Victories

at the

Na

tional

Air Races

in

both

1925

and

1926. An endurance record of 51

hours and 11 minutes in 1927, and

New York to Havana, Cuba, in 1928,

both

by the Co lumbia .

Then it was Maine to Spain by

set in

1931 by

Bellanca test

pilot

George Haldeman.

1931 also saw an around-the

world flight with Clyde

Pangborn

and Hugh Herndon in Miss Veedol

which culminated in a 4,558-mile,

41-hour

and

13-minute leg across

the

Pacific

Ocean

from

Sabishiro

Beach, Japan, to Wenatchee, Wash

ington, which is a story in itself .

This record stood until 1947,

when

it was eclipsed

by

a u.S. Air Force

8-29. Miss

Veedol was renamed th e


23/36

bled a

parasol-wing

monoplane

powered by a three-cylinder, 30

hp Anzani engine. After flying this

airplane,

Clarence Chamberlain

remarked, I was

thoroughly

con

vinced

that

Bellanca

not

only

was a

genius,

but

a hero

of

a rare sort.

In 1912, Bellanca established

the

Bellanca

Aeroplane

Co.,

con

structed a second

monoplane, and

opened

a flight school.

One of

his

students was Fiorello

LaGuardia,

later New York's famous mayor. In

1916,

Bellanca designed

the

CD

and

CE biplanes

for

the

Maryland

Pressed Steel Co. To

illustrate

his

engineering acumen,

the

CE (1917)

would cruise at 100 mph

on 90 hp, while

the

con

temporary Curtiss IN-4D

Jenny, also with 90

hp,

followed at 65

mph.

The CF monoplane

first flew on June 8, 1922,

and

was

spectacular

for

its era. With an enclosed

cabin carrying four pas

sengers and powered by

a 90-hp, 10-cylinder An

zani radial (twin rows of

five cylinders), the CF

cruised

at

100

mph for

600

miles and enjoyed

an impressive 12-to-1

glide ratio. With the CF,

Bellanca created a signature airfoil

fuselage profile

that continued

into

post-war designs.

Airmail pilot William C Hopson

campaigned the

CF

in a series

of

competitions during the

summer

of 1922. He took first place in every

conflicts with Wright Aeronautical

in

Patterson, New Jersey,

he

moved

to

New York

and entered

the con

tentious partnership with

Charles

Levine. When that unraveled, Bel

lanca re-established

production

in

a

rented warehouse on Staten Island.

Bellanca's

outstanding

airplanes

enticed the

state of Delaware,

and

particularly

the

du Pont family, into

courting

him

to settle there. After a

temporary operation

in

Wilming

ton, a factory

and

airfield were con

structed at New Castle; stability was

finally achieved.

The rugged construction and

prodigious load-carrying

capacity

of these unique airplanes

disbursed their activities

all over

the

world, where

they

served careers from

distinguished air trans

port

to

bush hack. An ul

timate utilitarian charac

ter relegated the grand

birds

to

situations of ex

pendability that, unfor

tunately, caused attrition

to eliminate alarming

numbers of them.

Out of the 60 that were

built, only one airwor

thy

example

of a Pace

maker

CH-300 exists to

•

- . -<

-

u

all-wood

WB-1,

followed by the steel

tube

fuselage WB-2,

using the

im

proved 220-hpJ-5. The WB-1 was de

stroyed

in

a crash in 1926, and the

record-breaking WB-2 olumbia was

lost in a hangar fire

in

1934.

From the WB planes evolved the

day, NC251M, Serial No.

154. And even this one is currently

undergOing

a

complete

and

to

tal rebuild with new fuselage and

wings

and

a target date for comple

tion

in

the summer of 2005.

Throughout the story of this air

plane is the striking reality of how


24/36

ter-IsIand

Airways

(now Hawaiian Air

lines) of Honolulu.

t

served

primarily

with

sightseeing

flights,

while

In

ter-Island's passen

ger service evolved

around Sikorsky

S-3S

amphibians.

On

April

IS, 1933,

NC251M was sold to

Mr. G.

Fowble (pos

sibly

a

broker)

of

San

Bernardino,

California, and

then

resold

on

April

27 to MacMillan Pe

troleum

Corp.

of

Los Angeles. Remember MacMillan

Ring Free Motor Oil? On March 20,

1935, it was purchased by Unious

Mac McGee (McGee Airways) in

Anchorage, Alaska, to begin 15 years

as a bush

workhorse.

On April 20,

1935, McGee Airways was sold to

Star Air Service in Anchorage, which

became Star Airlines,

which

became

Alaska Star Airlines,

which

became

Alaska Airlines in May 1944.

Steve Mills, chief pilot for Star, was

flying a sister Pacemaker, NC259M,

when a fatal crash

claimed

his life

in 1936. After usable parts were sal

vaged, the remaYJs were

burned at

the site of the accident. In 1995, the

curator of

the

Alaska Aviation Heri

tage Museum (and a walking ency

clopedia of Alaska aviation history),

Ted Spencer,

recovered

the parts

and

stored them

at

the

museum

in

Anchorage. Steve's grandson, Dave

PICTORIAL

HISTORIES PUB

CO

NC25 M n 1929

Engine blew up.

Ship moored

at

Naknek. Rate of climb reads

SOO

feet down

in

level flight . Wind

shield gives pilot cold shower.

Turn and bank

no

good. Can't

adjust altimeter. (Signed, Satan.)

Repaired left wingtip, spliced rear

spar. Rebuilt left elevator.

Another entry notes, Flew every

day from 1-20 to 2-14.

With

such

casualness, the suspicion

is

that un

derstatement must be

intrinsically

characteristic of these bush

pilots;

there 's no mention of the ffort in

volved in keeping a 1929 airplane

flying every day

during

the rigors

of

an

Alaskan winter.

The logs include entries by

many

noted Alaska bush pilots, a few

of

which were Kenny Neese, Johnny

Moore,

Don Goodman,

Jack El

liot

(who onee

swooped down and

speared a wolf with his ski), and Bill

tures.

Mel Monsen

related that when

he

and

his friends

played

bush

pi

lot,

there

was al

ways

an argument

about

who

would

be

Kenny

Neese.

In

these early

days,

it was usual

for Alaska air ser

vice companies to

struggle

wi

th fi

nancial solvency.

Star was no

excep

tion, and in June

1939,

in exchange

for some capital

investment,

the

ownership

of its

entire fleet

was

transferred to

bankers Thrall

and

Williams of Minneapolis, Min

nesota.

In

contemporary terms,

these

treasures included four CH

300 Pacemakers,

three

CH-400

Skyrockets, two

Stinson

SM-SAs,

a Fairchild Pilgrim 100A, a Cessna

C-34 Airmaster, and a Ford 5-AT-C

Tri-Motor. The arrangement ap

parently worked , because by Feb

ruary 1940,

everything

was back

in

Star's legal possession.

In June 1946, Alaska Airlines

performed a field conversion

from

wheels

to Edo

4665

floats.

When

completed, notification was sent to

the

CAA

with

the

simple

comment

that

it

was

similar to

Bellanca

NC256M. Approval was granted.

From 1929,

NC251M

flew with

a Wright R-975 J-6-9 of

300

hp, re

placed

or overhauled a number of


25/36

out of Juneau in

the mid 1930s.

Shutte

and

Kay

did contract flying

for the U.S. Coast

Guard

and opened

a hotel in

King

Salmon called Na

knek Sky

tel, with

NC25 1M providing

charter flight ser

vices. The business

suffered

a setback

in 1950

when

the

hotel

burned,

and

on a trip south, the

Bellanca was

dam

aged in

an

accident Kenmore Air

1950s

On the float is Bob Munro; Walt Winsman mechanic;

near Prince Rupert, and Bill Lund Alaska

Airlines pilot

on a day off.

British Columbia.

Bob Munro of Kenmore Air Har

bor in

Seattle salvaged

the plane

with the

promise that

insurance

would cover the costs. The insur

ance

company

refused, and Munro

took possession of the Bellanca as

payment.

After repairs were com

pleted, NC25 1 M joined

the

Ken

more fleet. Currently, Kenmore is

a world-class floatplane

operation,

holds

the

type

certificate for Edo

floats, and

has

developed many

STC'd modifications for de Havil

land Beavers and Otters.

From 1955 to 1957, Munro leased

NC25

1 M to Bob Hall

of

Kodiak

Airways (actually,

it

was sold and

repurchased for liability protec

tion).

Kodiak ran scheduled mail

and

passenger service

to the

five

villages

and

nine canneries on Ko-

diak Island. The chief pilot was Gil

more

than

seven decades and con

firmed his existence with

Bill

Whit

ney, Kenmore's

senior pilot

who

flies turbine Otter floatplanes.

I visited Scott in his large han

gar

on the

Renton Municipal Air

port in Washington state where

he

conducts

business as

Jobmaster

Co. his aircraft modification firm.

Out

front

was a

beautiful Cessna

195 on floats,

and inside

I found

him

working on a de a v i l l a ~ d

DHC-2

floatplane.

Looking at

the

man and

his environment, I imme

diately

realized that this was hal

lowed ground.

I told

him my visit was prompted

by an understanding that he had

once installed floats

on

a Bellanca

Pacemaker, and he

replied,

Yes,

that

was in

1957.

We replaced a

set of Edo 4665s for some 6470s.

As predictably oc

curs in the life cycle

of utility airplanes,

NC251M was show

ing tatter and wear

by the late 1950s; the

engine found a home

on

the nose of an

other ship, the wings

were pulled, and it

ended up in the back

of Kenmore's storage

yard. In

June

1960,

Dick Poet

of

Aums

ville, Oregon, pur

chased the airframe

and floats.

Poet was an aerial

applicator pilot and,

with his wife, Helen,

owned

Wilderness Airlines in Bella

Cool

a

British Columbia. Dick's me

chanic,

Bob

Bohanan, completely

refurbished the Pacemaker, includ

ing

new

fabric, paint, and an over

hauled R-985 from Wesco Air Service

on Boeing Field,

which

returned it

to pristine condition.

With the rebuild

complete on

June

25, 1962,

there

was

the

issue

of taking the airplane off

the

Poets'

grass strip. Straw was spread

down

the

runway to reduce friction, and

with

Dick in

the

cockpit, power

was fed to the R-985. Sufficient air

speed

was

achieved,

but

the

long

floats prevented rotation and take

off was denied. Bohanan then con

structed

a two-wheel dolly from

an old

truck

axle, and this time,

Dick lifted off while

the

do lly bur

ied itself in the brush at the end of


26/36

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Each

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VAA 2006 Calendar

ree Skies Forever

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r to order by mail, send your check/money order to :


27/36

DOUG TEWAR T

Whether/weather

to go,

or not

T

here I was, driving along

the

turnpike, looking up

at a severe clear cerulean

sky, and rather than find

ing

myself

ecstatic

at

that

beauti

ful sight, words

that cannot

be re

peated in this

column

were form

ing

on

my lips. Gosh darn (it was

really a lot stronger said

than

that),

the briefer said, VFR not recom

mended, and now instead of being

up in

that

sky where I belong, I am

down here,

ground

bound, driving

to my destination.

I know probably

everyone of

us has

been

in

this situation,

per

haps more times

than we care

or

choose to

remember.

As the say

ing goes, There are old pilots

and

bold

pilots,

but no

old,

bold pi

lots. Many

of

us are aware

that

most aviation accidents, when as

sociated with weather, tend to be

fatal ones . Thus, if we are not in

strument rated and current, or fly

take a look at

the

numerous tools

we have for making

the

go/no-go

decision relative to

the

weather.

To

help

determine

if the forecast

is

going

to hold true

I usually first

consult the METARS.

Check

re

porting stations along your route.

If you are able, get a history show

ing

the reports over the past

three

to

four

hours and

see if

the

reports

are

corroborating the

forecasts.

DUATS, WSI, and Meteorlogix are

all

great

sources for this informa

tion.) What trend do you see in

the

reports? Is the weather

get

ting

better or worse or

holding

the

same? Is it

doing what

the

TAF and

FA said it would?

I'm also sure

to

compare

the

ter

minal forecasts

TAF)

with the Area

Forecast FA). The

TAF

covers only

a S-mile radius of the

aerodrome,

whereas the

FA

covers

an

entire

area. Keep in

mind

that cloud bases

in the TAF are AGL (above ground),

well

launch

on my

own

flight.

While we are mentioning PIREPS,

let's not forget that (as in all things

in

life) what goes around comes

around.

If

we are seeking

PIREPS

in

helping

us

to make the

go/no-go

decision, we should also

consider

filing them.

It

takes

only

a few mo

ments to

file a PIREP,

and

in

doing

so

you

are assisting

many other

pi

lots in their flight planning.

These are a few

of

the tools we

can

use while still

on the ground

to

determine if

the

forecast is hold

ing

true. But what

about

when we

are already en route? How

can

we

know whether the

weather

will be

as forecast?

Obviously, if

the

forecast was for

severe clear and there are a

lot

of

clouds forming,

you

do not need

to be a rocket

scientist

or a brain

surgeon

to know

that the forecast

is not

holding

true.

But there are

many

other clues that

might not


28/36

will be different, thus yielding dif

ferent headings and groundspeeds

than we had planned.

There

is

something

else

that can

give us a

heads-up about

the pos

sibility of

the

forecast going south,

and

that

is the temperatures

aloft.

Most aircraft

have

outside air tem

perature

gauges (OAT), and

these

can

be very useful tools-ones

that

many

pilots ignore. An

OAT

can be

used to

corroborate

whether

the

temperatures

aloft are as forecast .

(You

do remember

that

the

fore

cast temperatures aloft are included

with

the winds aloft, don't you?)

This can give us

an understanding

of whether

the fronts are moving at

the

speed

and

direction forecast or

if

they might

be moving slower or

faster

than

expected.

Keeping

track of

the tempera

tures as you climb can also help you

quickly determine if the lapse rate is

stable. Remembering

that

the stable

lapse rate is ZOC per

thousand

feet,

one can make a note of

the

temper

ature

on

the ground prior to takeoff

and then check it as you climb.

If

it

is less than

ZOC

per thousand, one

of the major ingredients in the pro

duction of thunderstorms is pres

ent,

that

being an unstable

lapse

rate. (The other

two

are

moist

air

and

a lifting

action of some

kind.)

Thus the OAT can

be a useful

tool

in

confirming,

or

refuting,

the

fore

cast

of

thunderstorms.

One could spend a lifetime study

ing

the weather

and not get

any

closer

to predicting what it might

do. And I

can't

do justice to the sub

ject in

this short

article. However,

when

it comes

to weather I

must

say

that

discretion is the better part

of

valor.

There

are

certainly times

when

the

briefer will give

the

warn

ing

that VFR is not

recommended

and the

day

turns

out to

be beauti

ful. But

there

are also

times

when

your beautiful day

turns

ugly.

Regardless of whether the fore

cast is for

good

weather or bad, be

sure to

have

an alternate plan in

ERO

CL SSIC

COLLECTOR SERIES

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New USA Production

Show off your pride and joy with a

fresh set of Vintage Rubber. These

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are

FAA-TSO d

and speed rated to 120 MPH. Some

things

are

better left the way they

were, and in the 40 s and 50 s, these tires were perfectly in

tune to the exciting times in aviation.

Not only do these tires set your vintage plane apart from

place. Remember to run

the

PAVE

and

CARE

checklists

that I wrote

about in previous articles to help

you

make

the

proper decisions

relative to

the

weather. Using

the

tools I have

mentioned

above will

help you in checking the enViron

ment, help in

understanding the

consequences

of the hazards

as

sociated with some

aspects

of th

e

weather,

and

aid you in

assessing

the

realities

of what the weather is

really doing.

And

when the

briefer gives

you

that dire

warning of VFR

not rec

ommended,

keep

in

mind

that i t

is always

much better

to be

on

the

ground wishing you were

up

in

the

air than

up

in the air wishing you

were

on

the

ground.

He might be

wrong,

and

I ve offered

some

tools

to help determine that,

but

he very

well might be right.

Doug Stewart is the 2004 National

CFI

o the Year a Master CFI and a

DPE. He

operat

es

DSFI

In

c.

bas

ed at

the

Columbia County Airport

lBl


29/36

BY H.G. FRAUTSCHY

THIS

MONTH S MYSTERY

PLANE

COMES

TO US FROM

THE NEWLY ACQUIRED GARNER P.

EMMERSON COLLECTION

DONATED TO

EAA

BY BOB

HIGHLEY

OF

LAKELAND, FLORIDA.

Send your answer to EAA Vintage

Airplane P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh,

WI 54903-3086. Your answer needs

to

be in no later than September

10

for

inclusion in the

November

2005 issue

of Vintage Airplane.

You

can also send your response

via e-mail. Send

your

answer to

[email protected]. Be sure

to

include

your

n'ame, city,

and

state

in the body of your note, and

put

(Month)

Mystery Plane in the

subject line.

MAY S

MYSTERY NSWER

as residing in Los Angeles

at

that

time. I learned this while roaming

on www.aerofiles.com last evening.

I already

had

seen

the

aircraft

in

the

British magazine

eroplane

Monthly that has

the

same photo

as yours, along with some contem

porary aircraft, in an

illustrated

article in

the

September 2003

is

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


30/36

E E

BUCK

HIL ERT

Aeronca

C-3

N-13000

I

've been asked many times,

Why do you hang onto this

old airplane?

Several

reasons.

Mostly, it has

a

place in

more recent his tory

namely

the last real Cleveland Air

Race

held in

1948 . And probably

another reason is it represents,

at

least to me,

the memory of the

last

of

the

barnstormers.

To the best of

my

knowledge, the

last

time

this little C 3 flew was at

the

1948 Cleveland Air Races.

The airplane belonged to Duke

and

Martha Hashner, the owners of

Global Airshows and promoters

of

the races that year.

Duke flew this Aeronca C 3 in a

clown act. The airplane was painted

up

with

a clown face, was all red

and

white,

and

I've been

told

he

did a remarkable job

of entertain

ing

the

crowd.

Duke

also flew

other aerobatic

aircraft

in the

show, while

Martha

was

the wing-walker,

parachute

jumper, ticket seller.

static display show.

The '50s

saw the advent of the

shopping center. Global Airshows

would truck its airplanes

to

the new

shopping center parking

lots

and

display them

in

full air

show

rega

lia.

Martha

and Duke

would

dress

the

part,

entertain

the crowds, and

dreamed of once again being active

air show circuit acts.

The airplane

elonged to

uke and Martha

Hashner

Unfortunately,

Duke,

suffering

from a brain tumor, lost ability

tact

and

complete, but each needed

restoration. Also in

the

collec

tion were pieces and

parts of two

Aeronca C-3s, a J-2 Piper, a Taylor

craft L-2

and

a Fairchild 22. Along

with the airplanes came

numerous

engine parts, old tools, and propel

lers, along

with

the trailers used to

haul the airplanes.

What happened to the air

planes? is the frequently asked

question . Bill Ross was past presi

dent

of

the EAA Warbirds of Amer

ica; owned a P-38, Leroy Grum

man's

personal

F3F and an F6F;

and

had his

hand

in

several enter

prises while

involved

in Warbirds.

Right at that time he discovered the

Grumman

Goose was the best bet

in sport flying,

and

his attention

was diverted in that direction.

The

Meyers

and

the

Porterfield

were restored by Bill and sold. The

project Fairchild 22

and

J-2

went

to

a

couple of

our

Vintage members

and were

restored

and are flying.

The Waco F was sold never did


31/36

into a cloud that had a rock in it.

Another reason for hanging on.

I t

reminds me of Bill Ross and his

contributions

to the Warbirds

of

America being part of

EAA.

Oh

yes, we

did

get

the

C-3

fly

ing, but the engine ate itself up af

ter

about

4S minutes. Time for a

different approach.

I had a set of floats and rigging,

and Brian Van Wagnen

and

I de

cided the little

C-3

would be a real

hoot to see flying on floats. However,

we

wanted a reliable engine, and the

one we had was mostly junk.

Brian tore

into

it, but

the crank

was beyond

repair.

At great ex

pense a new one was made,

dual

ignition heads were installed, and

a new single-drive dual mag was in

stalled after modifying

the

tail case.

I t runs,

but

the vibration was bad

enough to

cause distrust. Another

disassembly

and

recheck as well as

internal component balance were

in the works when tragedy struck.

Brian had a

hangar

fire

and

lost

everything

he had

in the 70-by-90

hangar and its

24-foot

lean-to

his

Widgeon project, the Fleet

wing Seabird, two antique Aeronca

Chiefs, a Piper 180, all his toys,

shop

equipment,

tools,

and,

of

course, the building.

The little C-3 stored in another

building, was all that was left. The

floats, rigging,

and

all

the

spare en

gine parts

were destroyed in the

fire. A small loss in comparison to

what Brian suffered.

With no hangar,

and no

shop,

the decision was made to disassem

Come

or

t e weekend

BUILD FOR A LIFETIME

HANDS-ON

HOMEBUILDER WORKSHOP

SCHEDULE

Aug. 26-28 Oshkosh, WI

Aug. 27-28 Arlington,

W

Sept.

9-11

Griffin,

G

(Atlanta Area)

• Repairman

(LSA)

Inspection-Airplane

• RV Assembly

•TIC Welding

Sept. 10-11

Corona, .C

(LA Area)

• RV Assembly

Sept. 10-11

Lakeland, FL

(Sun N

Fun

Campus)

• RV Assembly

Sept. 10-11 Houston, TX

(Westwood Aviation

Institute)

• Composite Construction

• Sheet Metal

Basics

• Fabric Covering

• Electrical Systems

Sept. 16-18 Frederick, MD

• Repairman

(LSA)

Inspection-Airplane

Sept.

vintage airplane - aug 2005

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