vintage airplane - feb 1994
TRANSCRIPT
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EDITORIAL
STAFF
Publisher
Tom
Poberezny
February 1994 Vol. 22,
No.2
CONTENTS
Vice-President,
Marketing
and
Communications
Dick
Matt
Editor-in-Chief
Jack
Cox
Editor
Henry G. Frautschy
Managing
Editor
Golda
Cox
Art Director
Mike Drucks
Computer Graphic Specialists
Sara
Hansen
Olivia L Phillip
Jennifer
Larsen
Advertising
Mary
Jones
Associate Editor
Norm Petersen
Feature Writers
George Hardie, Jr. Dennis Parks
Staff Photographers
Jim Koepnick Mike Steineke
Carl
Schuppel
Donna
Bushman
Editorial Ass istant
Isabelle Wiske
EAA
ANTIQUE /CLASSIC DIVISION , I
NC.
OFFICERS
Pres
ident
Vice
Presi
dent
Espie 'Butch' Joyce
Arthur Morgan
604 Highway
St.
3744 North 51st Blvd.
Modison,
NC
27025
Milwaukee, WI 53216
919/427-0216
414/442-3631
Secretary
Treasurer
Steve
Nesse
E.E.
'Buck' Hilbert
2009 Highland Ave.
P.O. Box
424
Albert Lea, MN 56007
Union,IL60180
507/373-1674
815/923-4591
DIRECTORS
John Berendt
Robert
C.
'Bob ' Brauer
7645 Echo Point Rd.
9345 S Hoyne
Connon Falls, MN 55009
Chicaw, IL 60620
507/263-2414
312/ 79-2105
Gene Chase
John
S. Copeland
2159
Corlton Rd.
28-3
Williannsbur8
Ct
Oshkosh,
WI
54904
ShrewsbulY,
MA
1545
414/231-5002
508/842-7867
Phil Coulson
George Daubner
28415 Springbrook Dr.
2448
Lough
Lane
Lawton, MI 49065
Hartford,
WI
53027
616/624-6490
414/673-5885
Chartes Harris
Sian Gomoll
7215 East 46fh SI.
1042901h Lane, NE
Tulsa,
OK 74145
M i n n e a ~ l i s MN 55434
918/622-8400
61
/784-1172
Dale A. Gustafson
Jeannie HIli
7724
Shady Hill Dr.
P.O. Box
328
Indianapclis,
IN
46278
Harvard, IL 60033
317/293-4430
815/943-7205
Robert Uckteig Robert D. 'Bob ' Lumley
1708 Boy Oaks
r
1265
South
124fh
St
.
Albert Lea, MN 56007
8rookfield, WI 53005
507/373-2922
414/782-2633
1
Straight & Levell
Espie "Butch" Joyce
2
AC News/
Compiled by H.G. Frautschy
4
Type Club Notes
6
Vintage Iriterature/
Dennis P arks
10
What Our Membe
rs
are Restoring/
Norm Petersen
13
Du
sty and Randy's Taylorcraft/
H.G. Frautschy
15 Floatplane and Luges Bonny Flies
Them Am / H.G. Frautschy
16 Taylorcrafts For Two Cities/
Norm Petersen
21 Spark Plu
gs
to TBO/
Bill Claxton
22
Mystery Plane/George Hardie
24 Pass it to Buckl
E.E. "Buck" Hi lb ert
27
Welcome New Members
28
AlC Calendar
Page 24
29
Vintage
Tra
der
FRONT COVER . . . Taylorcrafts are some of the
most
popular lightp lanes ever
produced . Don
Claude
's BC-
12D
Taylorcraft looks as pretty as the Wisconsin
countryside its flying
over
in this EAA
photo by
Carl Schuppel. This good
looki
ng
restoration has
won
the Classic d ivision - Custom Class A award at
the EAA Convention the past four years in a row! Shot with a Canon EOS- 1
equ
i
pped
w i
th
an 8O-200mm lens. 1/500
sec
.
at
f5 .6 on
Kodak Kodachrome
64.
Cessna 210 photo
plane
piloted
by
Bruce
Moore.
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by Espie Butch Joyce
Weather certainly has been
a hot
topic
during the
last
few
months.
Here in North Carolina, the climate
is usually good enough for weekend
flying during
the
winter months,
but
not
this
year. It 's been cold, rainy
and
wet.
On
top
of
that,
we've
had
a
great
deal of freezing rain and
ice
storms.
Listening
to
other
folks from
around
the
country, I've been
hearing
similar comments. The sub-zero cold
has
certainly been a
burden
for those
who live
further
north. The deep cold
snap
has
even
begun to affect struc-
tures. I understand that during the
skiplane fly-
in at Pioneer Airport last
month,
when
they
tried to
open
a
hangar
door,
it
would
barely
budge.
Apparently,
the
concrete apron had
heaved up slightly and jammed the
door. I've also
had
a
similar
problem
with my
hangar
here in Shiloh.
I
have not
been able to open
my
door to
move
my
aircraft
so
I have been
inside working on
the
airplanes. A
250,000 BTU overhead
propane
heater in my hangar
does a very good
STRAIGHT LEVEL
of it compares with
the
hard
s
hips
some of
our
fellow pilots
have had
to
endure. The flooding in the Midwest,
where many pilots lost their aircraft
and hangar,
along with
it
s contents,
is
still
fresh
in our mind
s. I've
not
yet
heard of
any sses
related to air
craft
in
the California earthquake ,
but
certainly
man
y of
our
friends
and
pilots suffered
sses
that will
take
a
lot of work from which
to recover.
Our
sy
mpathy
is extended to
those
who have suffered through
this
disas
ter.
All this
talk about the
weather
reminds
me
of a
point
I'd like to
make
. As you travel about, you see a
wide variety of
hangars
and T-
hangars
that
have
been constructed
over
the
years.
Pilots
, being a
resourceful
group
, have often
tried
to
make a
hangar out
of anything they
could
get their
hands
on, which
has
led to some
interesting
construction
methods
. Wooden
structures
covered
in
metal, pipe
structures
covered
in
tin. You
name
it, it's probably been
used
to
build
a
hangar
.
In many
cases,
these
sheds have given air-
ports
their
unique
character.
Unfortunately, as many
of these
hangars age, they
may
not be able to
safely store your aeronautical pride
and
joy.
you
have your
aircraft stored in.
During the winter, if
you
suspect
your
hangar
roof
may
not be able to
withstand the snow or ice load upon
it
,
add
a few
support
poles .
t may
not
be
convenient,
but
it may save
your airplane. The
attitude
that
the
hangar has b
een there
for 25 years
and
will hold
up
for
another
50
may
not be the case
. Better to be
safe
than to face a
long
and ex
pensive
rebuild
With the weather, it has been very
quiet as far as aviation
activity
is
concerned
in our area.
f
it
were
not
for
the
EAA
and lC Chapter
activi
ty,
not much
would be
happening.
Our local Chapter 8 has been busy
getting
ready
for
the spring
and
summer f lying
season,
and
Antique
/
Classic Chapter
3
has
been
planning their
spring
fly-in. I sup
pose
it
is
not
to
early
to start looking
forward to
the
EAA
Sun
'n
Fun
Fly
In coming up April
9 through the
16th.
This
is always a shot
in the
arm for those of us who have had to
suffer
through the
tough winter.
I
always look forward to
Sun 'n Fun
seeing all
my
friends and looking at
the
newly
restored airplanes that
have
just been finished
during
the
winter months
provides a
pleasant
break during the early
spring.
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YOUR
COMMENTS ARE
NEEDED
As promised
in last month's
issue,
here are the particulars regarding EAA's
proposal
for medical self-certification.
The FAA has
published
the petition in
the Federal
Register, and the deadline
for
your
comments regarding
this
pro
posal must be received by the
FAA
by
March
4
1994.
This
past September, the EAA sub
mitted a proposal
that
would allow stu
dent and recreational pilots to certify that
they have no known medical defects that
would disqualify them from acting as pi
lot-in-command
of
an aircraft. Also, all
certified pilots would be permitted the
same option when they limit their flight
operations to those allowed by the recre
ational pilot certificate. Flight instructors
would also
be allowed to
self-certify
themselves, as long as they limit them
selves
to
teaching student
and
recre
ational pilots.
By eliminating the burdensome cost
of
a medical certificate,
EAA
believes
that
the cost
of recreational
flying will
come
down, along with the hassle factor of
having to find a doctor, set an appoint
ment
and then go have the examination.
By helping eliminate this requirement, it
is hoped that student starts will also in
crease, for many of the same reasons. By
lowering
the cost of flying, it is hoped
that more hours can be flown, and as a
result, pilots will become more proficient.
Some comments have been aired that
by eliminati ng the third class physical, pi
lots who are medically unfit to fly would
be encouraged
or
allowed to fly. In fact,
within the rules established in the present
regulations, pilots "self-certify" that they
compiled by H.G. Frautschy
ational pilots who are not interested in
flying further than 50 mil es from
their
home
base,
the
current
requirements
would still apply.
Your positive comments and sugges
tions regarding this proposal are needed
if the FAA is to see justification
in
chang
ing this FAR.
Address your comments,
in
triplicate, to:
Federal Aviation Administration
Office of the Chief Counsel
Attn: Rules Docket #27517
800 Independence Av., SW
Washington,
DC
20591
In a related area, the AOPA has peti
tioned the FAA to extend the duration of
the third class physical
for
non-instru
ment
rated
private
pilots from
two to
four years.
AOPA
has asked for a two
year trial period ,
after
which the
FAA
can make a determination whether the
extension should become permanent.
EAA has informed
the FAA that
it
strongly endorses the A0 P A proposal"
and believes
that
it will
help
lessen the
burden placed on those pilots who fly pri
marily for fun
and recreation. You can
send your comments to the same address
as noted above, Attn: Rules Docket
(AGC-204) #27473.
JUDGING
AT EAA
OSHKOSH
f you are planning on bringing your
restored
airplane to EAA OSHKOSH
'94, please no t e
that
the
deadline
for
judging
has
been
moved
up one
day.
Judging will
end at
noon
on
Monday, Au
gust
1
and the presentation of the awards
will take
place
during the evening pro
gram the following night, Tuesday,
Au
gust 2,1994.
On
the final day of the Con
vention, the Grand Champions and other
ally contain a change. Changes made on
those pages will be highlighted, so that pi
lots
can
readily
see the new
or revised
data .
f
you order a
complete
manual
subscription, it will be delivered with the
change pages applicable to that edition of
the AIM enclosed.
A two-year subscription to the AIM
is
available from
the
U.S. Government
Printing Office. The cost
is
$58.00.
ABS AND YOUNG EAGLES
A number of Antique/Classic mem
bers who own Beechcrafts also belong to
The American Bonanza Society, and we
are pleased to announce that the ABS
has
entered
into
an
agreement
with
the
EAA Aviation Foundation to participate
in the Young Eagles Program. The orga
nization, with some 10,000 members, has
offered its support to help attain the ob
jective of
the Young
Eagles Program
.
With the added help of the ABS's efforts,
the EAA Aviation Foundation program
is
given a boost towards its goal
of
giving
a million young people an airplane ride
by the year 2003, the 100th anniversary of
powered flight. Glad to have your help,
ABS
DON'T FORGET,
INTERNA TIONAL YOUNG
EAGLES
DAY S
JUNE 11, 1994.
CLIFF ROBERTSON WORK
EXPERIENCE
For
the second year in a row, two
young aviation enthusiasts,
16
or
17
years
of age, will join a CFI 25 years of age
or
younger as th e participants in the Cliff
Robertson Work Experience Program at
EAA's Pioneer
Airport,
a part of the
EAA Air Adventure
Museum. The
James Ray Foundation sponsors the pro
gram as a way to allow a couple of young
sters to experience life as
airport
kids,"
before the days
of
fenced
in
airports.
Application materials
are available
from the Education Office, EAA Avia
tion
Foundation, P.O. Box 3065,
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EAA PERIODICAL
INDEX
It's
ready
for shipment again - John
Bergeson's handy EAA Reference Guide
is now available. The basic volume cov
ers
1953
- 1989, and costs $18.00.
Supplements are available for each of
the subsequent years. Each years supple
ment costs $3.00,
or
$30.00 for the com
plete set.
Payment
is to be
made
in U.S. funds
only, Visa and MasterCard accepted. Or
ders are postpaid (book rate) to U.S. and
Canada. In other countries, add $2.00 per
item above. Copies
of
any article from
any issue are
available
for 35
cents
per
page ($5.00 minimum order). Address all
orders to:
John Bergeson
6438
W. Millbrook
Remus, MI 49340-9625
Phone: 517/561-2393
CUB CLUB PHONE NUMBER
f you 've tried
to
call John Bergeson
using the phone number on the Cub Club
listing in
the November
issue
of
VIN
TAGE AIRPLANE,
you've
probably
heard the recording telling you
that
number is no longer in service. " Well,
John has not moved,
we
just had an incor
rect
phone number
listed for him. The
correct number is 517/561-2393.
1994 SPORT AVIATION
ART
COMPETITION OPEN
The 1994 edition of the Sport Aviation
Art Competition , sponsored by the EAA
Aviation Foundation, is well on its way to
becoming a reality. Applications are now
being accepted for the 18th annual con
test, the longest running aviation art com
petition
in
the world.
This year's special theme
will
be ama
teur-built aircraft - a special Par Excel
lence" award will be bestowed upon the
work which, in the opinion of the judges,
best exemp lifies the joy and fun of build
ing your own aircraft.
Other
recognition
pages of
VINTAGE
AIRPLANE. Most
photos
shot
by our
photo
staff are avail
able, and to further aid those of you who
might be interested in obtaining a photo
print of one of the shots used here in the
magazine, we
will,
starting with next
month's issue, put a small airplane symbol
next to the
photo
credit to al
ert
you
that
the photo is available through the
EAA
Photo department. For
information on
sizes and
prices, you can
ca
ll them at
414/426-4863.
STAGGERWING COMMEMORA
TIVE TOUR, 1936-1996
In 1996, the 60th anniversary of a note
worthy event in Beechcraft history will be
celebrated
- the winning
of
the Bendix
Trophy in 1936 by
Louise Thaden
and
Blanche Noyes in a Wright R975 powered
Beech C17R
Staggerwing. An
added
bonus was the fact that the race had been
won in a
stock lightplane,
one that you
could
order from the factory. Blanche
and Louise became the first women pilots
to win the
premier
cross country race
of
its day. They covered the route from Los
Angeles to New York
in
14 hours and 55
minutes.
To
commemorate that win , over the
Labor Day weekend in 1996, a commem
orative tour will be flown with as many as
100 Beechcraft Staggerwings, from Cleve
land,
Ohio to San Diego, CA. Certain
other Beechcraft airplanes will also be in-
cluded on the tour.
The
route will begin
at Mike Stanko Elser Metro Airport near
Cleveland, with the first overnight stop at
EI Paso, TX. The next day, the tour will
head off to Gillespie Field in San Diego.
For additional information and an itiner
ary, please contact:
William Thaden
34
Goose Point Drive
Kittery Point,
ME
03905
207/439-1161
TAYLORCRAFTFORSALE
According to a press release dated De
cember 14, 1993, the Taylorcraft Aircraft
Glider. He has a set of plans as published
in Modern
Mechanics
magazine, but
gives only limited information. In partic
ular, the details regarding the horizontal
and vertical stabi
li
zer are a bit vague in
the information they have, and they'd like
to get more complete information on the
glider.
f
you
can
help, write
to Bob at
the address listed above, or give him a call
at 603/926-8039.
FLABOB AIRPORT OPEN
HOUSE
f you're
in the Los Angeles
area
the
l st weekend in February, you'll certainly
not want to miss the open house at Flabob
Airport.
Billed
as
A tribute to
the
Golden Age of Air
Racing," this will be
an
unprecedented opportunity
to
view
some of the spectacular reproductions
constructed by Bill Turner and his crew at
Repeat Aviation. The centerpiece of this
display
will
be the recently completed de
Havilland D.H . 88 Comet
racer,
Grosvenor
House." Other exhibits will
include antique, experimental and classic
aircraft, as well as the many projects that
always seem to be ongoing at this mecca
for sport aviation in the L.A. region. Re
freshments will be available , and don ' t
forget the Annual Fund Raiser Dinner,
held at the EAA Club House on Satur
day, February 26, at 6 p.m .
For more information, call 909/686
1318.
ANTIQUE/CLASSIC TRAM INFO
f you
are at EAA OSHKOSH ' 94,
and you decide it would be nice to take a
guided tour of the Antique/Classic Show
plane parking area, feel free to hop on the
Antique/Classic Tram in front of the lC
Headquarters ("The Red Barn"). Ignore
what I wrote last month regarding a small
donation - the ride on the Tram
is FREE,
and does not
cost you one penny.
This
service has been offered by the Division
for the past 8 years, and has grown to be a
much
appreciated part of the Antique/
Classic Division' s serv
ic
es
to the
public
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CLIJB
otes
by Norm Petersen
Don Cox sends
this information
from Brimm and Bogess about wire
gauges. The
chart
lists four
different
measurements
for
converting
gauge
to
inches, but we will only list the Birm
ingham
Wire Gauge
(B .W.G .) as it is
the
one used for steel
tubing and
sheet
and
that
is what we see most often on
the Monocoupe plans.
From
thickest
to thinnest:
auge
Number
/ B.W.G.
Thickness
in inches)
1 .................................... 0.300
2 .................................... 0.284
3 ..................................... 0.259
4..................................... 0.238
5 ..................................... 0.220
6 ..................................... 0.203
7 ..................................... 0.180
8 ..................................... 0.165
9 ....................................0.148
10 ................................... 0.134
11
................................... 0.120
12 ................................... 0.109
13 ................................... 0.095
14 ................................... 0.083
15................................... 0.072
16 ................................... 0.065
17 ................................... 0.058
18 ................................... 0.049
From the Monocoupe Flyer Bob Cool
baugh, Editor (703-590-2375)
Speaking
of Props:
When installing
wooden propellers with a torque wrench,
the following in.-lb. values would apply:
AN6 - 3/8 in. diameter prop bolts
200
+/- 25
AN7 - 7/16 in .
diameter
prop
o ts-
250
/- 25
AN8 - 2 in. diameter prop bolts
300 +/-
25
Caution: Over tightening propeller at
taching bolts will cause
the
wood
of the
hub to crush,
breaking
its
moisture
seal
and slightly reducing drive-torque capac
ity
of
the installation.
-From
Sensenich
Corporation. Refer to
FAA
AC 43.l3-1a
for further information.
From The Bticker Newsletter Chris Ar
vanites, Ed. (815-436-1011)
Sam Burgess just wrote to say that he
has found something very important and
wants to warn those
of
you who are con
verting your lungmeisters from
the
Sie
mans radial over to the flat-four Ly
coming engines. He says that
the
lungmeister has a six-point pick up at the
firewall for the engine mount attachment
to distribute the torque and static loads.
This is because the tubing is only .028"
wall thickness. Some
lungmeisters that
were built after WW II used .035". The
lungmann
has a four-point pick up
for
the lighter and lower horsepower engines.
From the B-C Contact! Larry
D'
Attilio
Editor (414-783-6559)
you have a
similar spot
in your
plane
where water can collect, install a drain at
the lowest point. This is especially impor
tant
if your plane, like the Champ, is tied
outside for long periods of time.
r
have been told this
is
a real problem
for all fabric covered
V
shaped legs.
Some owners use a metal cover, as it isn't
sealed and
will
drain. Not covering to the
bottom of the V on the bottom side is
another
good solution. Even a grommet
at the bottom
will
help.
I would strongly suggest if your
gear
legs are fabric covered, that you carefully
inspect them for corrosion under the fab
ric covering. This might mean that you
will have to remove the fabric. Fortu
nately, the plane can be flown without the
covering on the gear leg. You won't even
notice if you have only one gear leg cov
ered.
Why this gear leg (at Oshkosh) didn't
fold is beyond me. f it had, the resulting
ground loop might have totaled the plane
.
. .
but it would have been on the ground.
Control surfaces, on the other hand, get
stressed in the air. Have one
of
these col
lapse in the air, and the results could be a
lot more serious. Since grommets can
and
do
get plugged,
check
to see if the
grommets
are open
and clear in the bot
tom
of
the flaps, ailerons and elevators.
Retained moisture in our style of air
planes creates serious corrosion and rot.
I t is important to
check
to see
if
grom
mets are open. These small openings also
ventilate and dry out the interior
of
your
wings, flaps, etc. during flight. So go fly
ing. Tell your spouse that the plane needs
airing out. Now that's a real deal.
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8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 1994
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looked
at before
covering?
There
was
surface corrosion on ribs and compression
tubes (made of steel). We looked at the
rib nails. Many were re-inserted because
they were covered with epoxy glue. The
new technique for unribbed nails is to put
epoxy over them. Check the tension on
the tie rods. We pluck each tie rod includ
ing those that go through the center
of
the
fuel tank. t
should make a dull low bass
note. Our
general observation of the
compression fitting outboard was where it
bolts to the front
spar
- it was not sand
blasted or re-chromated
at
recover time.
Epoxy varnish was slopped over
the
fittings right over the rust. Typically, the
wood varnish was thinly applied in the
70's.
This causes longitudinal drying
cracks from root to tip, usually found on
the outboard end of wing, midway from
top to bottom of spar. Eventually a small
crack leads to a large crack. New varnish
could have been added. Varnish had
dripped around
the compression
st
ud
over old rust. The bottom of the tie rods
were rusty and condensation on the bot
tom indicat es it was
not hangared
for a
long time.
Spar compression failure problem was
discussed
in
the newsletter before. Look
at the front spar, outboard of the lift strut
attach point. There are 118" thick ply
wood reinforcing plates which end right
beyond the next outboard rib. In order to
inspect for a
compression
failure
you
have to get a light on top of the
spar
be
yond the rib.
That
takes an outboard in
spection hole. The fact that there was no
outboard inspection hole means that this
airplane has not been checked for com
pression failures
in
the spars, in important
places, since it was recovered. Gee whiz
From the Twin Bonanza Association
Richard Ward, Ed. - 616-279-2540
How would you like to have virtually
every vinyl placard/decal you could ever
imagine, in order to give your old bird a
new look?
Mellissa, one of
the
staff of Moody
Graphics, located
in
Florida, did
a
in
their
aircraft.
One is a fire
extin
guisher, the others are a small tool kit and
some type of first aid equipment.
The
other day, while I was strolling down the
ais l
es
of a local building supply store, I
came
across
a
small
first aid pouch. I
guess what attracted me to it was its com
pact size and
the
nylon zipper case.
The
First Aid Pouch made by
Eastern
Safety
Equipment Co., Inc. contains the follow
ing: instant ice pack , Tylenol, two 2 X 3
pads, two 1 X 3 bandages, ten antiseptic
wipes, two iodine swabs, two sting relief
pads, two ammonia inhalants and lip oint
ment burn cream. All of this
is
packed in
a small red pouch that weighs only a few
ounces.
The
best part is
that
the price
ranges
from $3.99 to $4.95 They are
available
at
most
home
building
supply
dealers, e.g.: Lowes, Builders Square,
Home Depot and
Target.
f you can't
find one, contact Eastern Safety Equip
ment Co., 59-20 56th Ave., Maspeth , NY
11378 or call 718-894-7900 and
ask
for
Ann Beirne.
My advice go out and
pick up one of these before the word gets
out
and the price goes up - Skip-
From the International Swift Association,
Inc. - Charlie Nelson - 615-745-9547
Swift Main Gear Toe-In: We have dis
covered by accident a very simple way to
check the toe-in on our Swift. First, we
have just received from Dennis Gehring,
White Bear Lake, MN, a very nice copy
of
his
A
frame shaped towbar built es
pecially for the Swift. With a golf cart or
garden tractor, I can now, solo, thanks to
Dennis, move
either the Buckaroo or
Swift up and down the ramp into the mu
seum hangar. This towbar attaches to the
Swift via approximately 12" long, 1-114"
steel tube which has a collar machined to
perfectly fit into the axle of the Swift
gear.
The
first attempt to use the towbar
revealed the attach
tube
slid perfectly
into the right gear, bu t would not install
into the left gear. After removing the at
tach tube from the " A frame, it slipped
into the
left gear axle. The
answer
was
then very obvious; with the extension of
told Swift ground handling improves with
proper toe-in . We'll see, my left gear is
off a bunch. Due to the necessity of re-in
flating the ELI, I haven't adjusted it yet.
International Cessna
120 140
Assoc. - Joy
Warren, Ed - Sec-Treas: 319-377-3311
High Engine Oil Temperature - Bill
Rhoades,
Tech
Advisor: The
Cessna
120/140/140A was designed with a pres
sure type cowling. The air enters through
a pair of large openings in front of the
cylinders and is trapped
in
a "box". Air is
only allowed to ex it this box through a
path created by a set of
engine
baffles.
Cooling efficiency
is
determined by the
amount of air in the pressure chamber
that can be directed around the cylinders.
Bad
seals around
the
top cowl
doors,
back
bulkhead
,
or
baffles will bleed off
pressure chamber air. Worn baffles will
allow
the
air to be pulled away from the
cylinder and reduce cooling.
On
some
of
our aircraft there
is
a 1" tube (Part Num
ber 0450240) on the right side of the rear
baffle. This directs air from the pressure
chamber down on the housing for the oil
temperature bulb. According to Cessna
this is to reduce the indicated tempera
ture to match the actual (engineering cali
brated) oil temperature.
The source of heat in our Continental
motor
is,
of course, created during the ig
nition/combustion cycle. This heat drives
the piston down, turning the crankshaft
which spins the prop. Problems develop
when that heat is allowed to escape past
the piston rings into the crankcase. First,
these combustion gases heat the oil that
is
on its way back to the sump and second,
it
builds up a pressure inside the crankcase.
According to Continental, the maximum
crankcase pressure
is
.79 inches of water.
That is the same air pressure it takes to
indicate
40
mph on the airspeed indicator
-
not much. One of the by-products of
over
pressurization
of
the crankcase
is
blow-by. As the air is rushing
out
the
breather , it is taking some of the oil va
pors with it. The end result is a lower
fuselage that will never corrode.
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V I ~ T A t 3 ~ L I T ~ V A T U V ~
by [ enni V d r k . ~
Libr-dr-y / ~ r c h i v e
[)ir-ectur-
From the Pages
of
Aero 1910 1912 Part II
eear end
report
published by
AERO
magazine
in 1911
estimated
300
aircraft had been
constructed
during
the year. The majority of these were
done
by
amateur builders. The Jan
uary 1912 issue
of
AERONAUTICS
estimated that
of
750
aeroplanes
built
during the year,
not
more
than
200
were
constructed by concerns
that
could
be
considered as aeroplane man
ufacturers. The number of engines sold
totaled 425.
This does
not included
those
engines adapted
from automobile
use.
Of the aircraft built
by
recognized
manufacturers,
105 were
built for
ex
hibit use
,
58
for private use
and
11
sold
to various govenments.
Exhibition use
was a great
way
to
spread knowledge of
the
emergent
aircraft
industry and both
Curtiss and Wright had
large teams.
During 1911
, a
number
of world
records were
broken
in the
United
States .
Beachy
made a record flight of
11,642
feet
in
a Curtiss.
G.W
. Beaty
broke
the
world 2-man duration record
by flying 3 hours, 42 minutes, 22
sec
onds
in
August
1911. A
new
duration
record of of
4
hours
,
16 minutes
,
32
sec
onds
was
set
in
October by H.W
. Gill in
a
Wright.
This growth
in aircraft in the United
he list is organized by
type
of
supply
Ball Bearings:
R.I.V . Co., New
York, NY
Bamboo:
J. Deltour, New
York, NY
Carburetors:
A J Meyers, New
York, NY;
Marburg Brothers,
New York, NY
Fabric:
Goodyear,
Akron, OH;
Baldwin, New
York, NY;
C.
E.
Conover, New
York, NY;
Pennsylvania Rubber Co., Pittsburg,
PA;
Wilson and Silsby, Boston,
MA
Glue:
Ambroid, New York, NY
(a
name still familiar and available 84 years later )
Importers:
J.S. Bretz, New York,
NY
Instruction:
Chicago Technical College
Instruments:
Warner Aero Meter, Beloit, W
Magnetos:
Simms,
New York, NY
Patent Attorneys:
Chas. E. Brock,
New York, NY; Aug. P.
Jurgensen,
New York, NY;
E. Ellis Chandlee, Washinton,
DC;
C.L Parker, Washington, DC
Propellers:
Harris-Gassner, Philadelphia,
PA; P.
Brauner, New York, NY; Paragon,
Washington DC; Requa-Gibson, New York,
NY;
M. Stupar, Chicago, IL
Radiators:
EI
Arco,
New York,
NY
Supply Houses:
Aeronautic Supply Co., St. Louis,
MO;
California Aero, San Francisco,
CA;
Chicago
Aero
Works, Chicago,
IL
E.J.
Willis, New York, NY
Tires:
Goodyear,
Akron,
OH,
B.F.
Goodrich,
Akron, OH
Tubing:
Carran Hathaway, Worcester, MA
Wheels:
J.A. Weaver,
New
York,
NY;
Tiger Cycles and Aeroplane; New York, NY
Wire:
John Roebling, Trenton,
NJ;
Scott Cadiz, OH
Wood:
Chicago Embossed Mldg. Co., Chicago,
IL
Wm.P. Youngs, New
York,
NY
You will notice that the greatest number of suppliers were located in New York
City. (17
of
34) The following advertisments were taken from the p ges
of
AERO for the years 1910 1912.
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T
OUR NEW QU RTERS
SUPPLIES
OF THE
Ri ght
Kind
AT
THE
Ri ght
Prices
IN
STOCK
H VE YOU SEEN
OUR BIG
CATALOGUE?
Second Edition of No 3 now ready Free to reade of
AERO
THE AERONAUTIC SUPPLY COMPANY
6664
DELM
A R A VE. ST LOUIS MO
BALDWIN S
VULCANIZED
PROOF
MATERIALS
BALLOONS
AND
AIRSHIPS
AEROPLANE
MATERIALS
A SPECIALTY
CHICAGO AERO WORKS
H. S. RENTON
Pro
prietor
49 Wabash Avenue CHICAGO ILL
Aeroplanes for
sale and built to order. Propellers, Air-
craft
Supplies, Models and Model Stock. Plan . Sketches
and Experimental Work. Flying T
0YII
.
ur Chicago Engines,
35
and 50 H. P. are more dura-
ble
and
reliable
than
any
others. Compr
ess
ed
Air
Motors
for
Trial Machines and Models.
We
Make
Everything
in
Chicago, and our work s super-
intended by
J.
B. Rathbun, A eronautic Engineer and Instructor
Department of Aeronautics Chicago Technical College.
A COURSE IN AVIATION
F1yma
Moder.
of
PrincipaJ Makes
of Ae roplan
es
Prov
i
ded
and
CoMlructed
-
Actual
Fi
eld
T
riaI..
A
VIA
TION is
in its
infancy but rapidly developing. It is
no longer a sport but a hard and fast business propo-
sition
. Now is the time to get your knowledge of it. Get in at
the beginning
of
a proposition destined to make thousands
of
dollars-the
enormous possibilities are absolutely unlimited.
Develop yourself as the business develops.
Don't
delay
but write at once for further information and catalogue.
This is your great opportunity.
The Chicago Technical College
Athenaeum Bldg. 26 E. Van Buren St. CHICAGO,ILL.
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Aeroplane
Protection
on
Landing!
Tearing lcosfl of a
tire as
the ae roplane lands
means serious
inj u
ry
to t he machi ne! Equ ip ped with Goodye
al
'
j)('illchlllJlc ,\f'I'oplanc
'l
' il'cs, in
jury
is impossible, for
42
w ires in
the tape at
the b
ase-2
1 on ea
ch
s i
e
hold the ti re
to
the
r im in a vise- like
gr
i
p.
Tho
on
ly
aerop
l
ane tires
in
the
wo rld
so made
a re t he
GOOD
De tachab l e e r op l ane
T i r e s
The Goodyear
De
lachable
Ti r
es
embo
dy
the
p rincipl
es of the famous
Goodyear
No-R
im-Cut Auto Tires,
Goodyea r Aerop la ne
Ti
r
es
are the li
ghte
s t
ae
rop lane ti res mau u (actu l'ed,
considering size. They combine greatest possible resiliency with extra
tough
tr
ead - hence hard to puncture .
Judge the Goodyear by the fact that t hese av iators have
equ
ipped
their
ow n mach ines with
it:
Capt. T hos. Bal
dw
in , Cha rles
K.
Hamilton and all
of Moisant's crew
o
in t
ern a t
ional
aviato r
s,
J . A, D. McC urdy, Clifford B.
Harmon, Harkn
es s
, 'Wilcox and
scores
of
other famous American and [01'
eign
av
i
ators.
Goodyear ae rop lane fabrics a nd
rubber
shock
absorbers
are being
adopted by the World
's Famous
Aviators,
The Goodyear Tire
&
Rubber Company
Main Offic
e
and
Factory
,
Ninety-sixth St., AKRON,
OHIO
Bra nc
he
s a nd Agencies in all the Principal Cities
In
the
Sky,
Relaxing Fabric
Means DANGER!
ampneu
and cold above the earth C4useJ shrinlcing
of
the wings
of aeroplanes
when built
of
plain. va
r
ni
s
hed
or "treated" fabria.
Th is is followed by
"stretching."
which leaves the
doth
Rapping,
cuts down ,peed nnd is the DANGER SIGNAL!
GOODYEAR
fab ric, the
new
rubberized aeroplane c.loth .. makes stretching and rdaxation
ABSOLUTELY
IMPOSSIBLE I It is waterproof and
cannot
shri
nk
and
stre
i
ch
when subjected
to moiuure and then dried.
Our
rubberized cloth
is the lig
ht e
s t fa bri c
for its pu
r
pose
in
the
world.
"First
In
All
America"
T
he Firat
A
ero Store
in America.
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The
Aviator s
Safeguard
A. P.
W l'IIer,
the lay tor, pronq the Aero-Meter, wb lch .fa
1.11
adaptation of the
&mou.
Warner
AutoMeter
T
HE
vagaries
of the wind are
what
make a
flight
dangerou. f you guess wrong on its velocity when
you
start,
the
leut that can
happen
II a
diaappointinf. exhibition instead of a spectacular achievement.
f the continued wbiuing
of
the
air by your face
while
00 a
flight
baa
dulled your sense of velocity
or air
preuure
it
may
resul
t seriously
when
you
dip or
rise
OT
tum.
This i l
O e
vital part of the "bird
aeme which
it is
difficult to acquire.
No need
to
spend time learning
or
acquiring tbll. A glance will tell all that need
be
known in an in
stant. Rely
fOt'
th1J part of
you
r education upon
Accurately indicates speed
of
the
wind-or h ~ d
pressure-in nules per hou r
TH
E
FIRST
AERO
PLANE
ACCESSORY
nle
Aero
eter ' an
adaptatioo of the
now
celebrated
Warne
r Auto-Meter which indicates rate of
s
peed
and
distanc:e
traveled
by
an automobile
with derfuI
precision. The A
uto-Meter
is used by profes
sIonal
racing drift '$. on the
c:an
of prominent manufacturers, and forms part of the equipment
of
90%
of an pleasure c : a r a 01'
IDQR
It is 10
rmnect
in
c:onstruction,
so phenomena\Jy accurate and
withal 10 durable that it became
ImowD
as '"The Aristocrat
of
Speed Indi cators. The Auto-Me
ter
is
Ilh
ays 8eItf d where the of a car can
afford
i pun:base.
ENT COMPANY
107
B
W T
.
WIS
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WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE RESTORING
y
orm Petersen
Robert Schacht s Ercoupe 415-D
Th
is
rather artistic Ercoupe 415 -D, N89331,
S N
3269,
is
the proud workmans
hi
p
of Rober
t Schacht
(EAA 428922, A C 20405)
of
O'Fa llon, MO. t fea
tures a Continental 0 -200 engine of 100 hp, a 720
NavCom, transponde r
lencoder
and the usua l in
strumentation.
T he in terio r is done in shades of
blue with black trim. Rober t says he
spe
nt
abo
ut
four months in h
is
garage (with the wi ngs off) do
ing the interior, fancy paint scheme and po lishing
the aluminum. The end res ul t
is
an
Ea g
l
e
pai nt
scheme complete with claws on the wheel pa nts.
Note the leading edge landing light in the left wing.
Robert reports the little two-placer draws attention
wherever it goes.
Glenn Mittelstadts J-3 Cub
Pictured by his very original looking 1941 Piper 13 Cub,
N35870, S N 6628,
is
owner
Glen
n
Mittelstadt
(EAA
356507
A C 19546)
of Landrum, Sc. The
Cub has
just
been tota lly refurbished by Glenn and flies as good as it
looks according to the owner. The photo was contributed
by
Art
Scammell
(EAA
304783, A C 21087) of Campbell
sport, WI, a close friend
of Glenn's,
who says
that Glenn
used to live in
Campbellsport before
moving to Landrum ,
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Mike Toman s Taylorcraft BC-12D
Park
ed on some nice green grass on hi s father's airstrip
is
Taylorcraft BC-12D, N44039 , SN 9839,
owned
by Michael
Toman (EAA 414378) of Painsville, Ohio. Mike purchased the
T-Craft
from an airline pilot in 1991. t has 1100 hours
total
time, airframe and engine, with the original Continental A-65
still equipped with the original Case magnetos. Mike reports he
disassembled the engine and replaced all gaskets, rebuilt the car
buretor and after three months of searching for parts, rebuilt the
two Case mags.
He
has also rebuilt the wheels and fuel system
and replaced the bungee cords in the landing gear.
Other
fea
tures on the bright red T-Craf t are a metal McCauley propeller
and a set of nice looking wheel fenders. Mike says the T-Craft
has spent its entire life in
Ohio
.
He
and the airp lane attended
the 1993 Taylorcraft Fly-In at Barber Field.
Steve Zeller s Luscombe 8C
Pictured by his totally rebuilt Luscombe is Steve
Zeller
(EAA
325644,
IC
18133)
of
Alpharetta,
Geor
gia.
The
Luscombe 8C, N28782 ,
SN
1543, is a 1940
model, being one
of
just 57 8C's remaining on the FAA
register. Steve bought
the
badly
bent
airplane follow
ing a ground-loop and rollover in 1991. Two years,
2,000 hours and many dollars later, this is what she
looks like.
The
first flight was
on
December 5,1993
and all went well.
The
Luscombe indicates 110 mph
at
2300 rpm
and
will
do
nearly 120 mph flat
out
with its
Continental
C85-12 engine and a 71 X 52 cruise prop.
Note the
added
glass in
the
lower doors, the Scott 3200
tailwheel and the parachute on Steve 's
tender
body.
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These photos of
a 1940
Piper
J-3F
65
Cub,
NC35052, S N 6059, were sent
in by
owner
Bob Ruffini EA A78135,
IC 17676) of
Birmingham,
MI,
who
recently
restored
the Cub for the sec
ond time. It is one of 157 J-3F-65 mod
els
remaining
on the U.S.
register.
The
history of the Cub is unique in
that it was constructed
on
December
19,1940 and signed off by
Piper Air
craft on
December
26,1940. It
spent
its early life in Detroit, MI, including
having all original logs and documents
stolen from the
airplane
on June 18,
1943.
On
Nov. 12, 1944, it was
crash
landed with
damage
to
the
gear and
fuselage.
On
June 5,1948, it was sold
ob
Ruffini s -3 Cub
to Donald
Kibby of Ferndale, Ml.
t
was
completely disassembled
and
stored
in his
garage.
In 1962, Don
Kibby let Bob
Ruffini
look
at
the
pieces in his garage
and basement. In
1970, the
Certificate of
Registration
was revoked. In 1971, Kibby gave the
entire
airplane
to
Bob
Ruffini, as he
was the only person to ever show an
interest in the Cub. With the old fuse
lage
rusted,
a
replacement
fuselage
was located in 1973, hanging in a barn
in Mt. Pleasant, Ml. In 1974, the Aero
Mechanics High School at Detroit City
Airport
began a total
restoration
with
a C-85-12 engine replacing the original
Franklin 65. From 1976 to 1980, the
Cub was flown 190 hours, however, in
1981, a second rebuild was begun. On
May 21, 1982, the Standard Airworthi
ness Certificate was again revoked.
On
June
11, 1991, the second
rebuild
was
completed and
a new Airworthi
ness Certificate was issued.
On
July
18,1991, the Cub was signed off for
float operation on Aqua 1500 floats.
All covering is Stits
HS90X
with Stits
Poly
tone
finish.
Also installed
were
shoulder harnesses, intercom and
Mode C Transponder.
Bob Ruffini enjoys the Cub
more
than ever
these
days, be it
on wheels
or floats. His
latest project
is a J-5
Cub Cruiser. Stay tuned.
Jack Thompson s Globe Swift
This very nice looking 1947 Globe
GC-IB
Swift, N80563,
SIN 66, is the
pride
and joy of Jack Thompson
EAA
426 43 A IC 20172) of Hope Hull, Alabama . Jack bought
the Swift in March of 93 from the previous owner, William
Hurley, Montgomery, AL, who had owned the airplane for
25 years. Unusual is the engine conversion to a Lycoming
0-290C
of
25 hp with a fixed pitch metal prop. Jack says
the controls are very crisp and responsive and even his son,
who
is
an F-16 pilot, admits the Swift
is
as close to a small
fighter
as
you can get.
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Keeping kids motivated about anything other than video games or
V
can some-
times be a challenge to parents these days. With so many distractions surrounding
today s youngsters, the simple pleasures
of
learning to do something with your
mind and hands is sometimes lost. Dusty Howell and his dad have
found
a way
to get past the modern day distractions and accomplish a series
of
goals along the
way
a process that will continue
for
years to come. Setting
and
achieving goals is
an important lesson
for
all
of
us to learn, and it s especially significant to young-
sters - being able to work towards a dream and reach it with your own efforts is
something that will stay with you
for
the rest
of
your life.
Randy
Howell EAA
443361) of By
ron, CA must have
been pretty excited
that
fall day in 1987.
He
became the
fa
ther of a baby boy, a tiny little fellow he
and
his wife
Marie
named Dustin, but
everybody calls him "
Du
sty." I t was a bit
too cold and windy the day they brought
Dusty home , so his firs t ride
in
a vehicle
was in a car instead of
the
airp lane that
he
a lso built a
specia
l
seat extens
ion so
that Dusty can see over the cowl at about
the same
he ig
ht
as a fully
grown
ad
ult.
With his fat
her
, a CFI , sitting in the right
seat, Dusty can fly the Tay
lorcraft legally
from the left
seat whenever
his
dad
says,
"Want to go fly?"
Dusty also has the added knowledge he
gained while his Taylorcraft was being re
The
BC-12
that
was
restored
came
to
the Howell 's garage
in
a roundabout way,
as
many
restorations seem to
begin.
Bonny Warner had bo ught
the project
back in 1990, intending to restore the air
plane
to
fulfi
ll
a co uple of goals. Already
a floatplane pilot, she wanted an airplane
of her own
she
could fly from her
back
yard , and she wanted to restore
the
air
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8/12/2019 Vintage Airplane - Feb 1994
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low United Airlines pilot and a f10atplane
pilot who lived in the same housing devel
opment southeast of San Francisco.
They've
flown
together
as
the
crew
of
a
United 737 on occasion.
Randy had been flying his Cessna 180
on amphibious floats for
a
number
of
years,
but
felt
that
it would be
too
much
airplane
for his
son to handle when he
started
to learn to
fly.
The Taylorcraft
was just the right amount of airplane
though. A deal was made, and the project
was moved to the Howell household.
From
the
beginning, Randy
intended
the Taylorcraft to be Dusty's airplane. As
I mentioned before , it would be the air
plane he could use to learn to
fly
with, and
eventually it
would be Dusty's to take
with him when he headed off to make his
way in the
world
. Even the
N-number
says
just that
-
N93DH. 93 for the year
the
restoration
was done
,
and DH for
Dusty Howell.
The
rebuild of the BCS-12D was
the
first restoration by Randy, and he also re
lied
on the knowledge of
his
friends to
help him with
the
process
of putting the
airplane back together. As it turned out,
Bonny
did
not
have
to
move to
Denver,
and so she was one of
the
principle re
builders on the project. Bonny, Dusty and
Randy all
learned about
the ins and outs
of rebuilding an airplane together, along
with the invaluable help provided by Sam
Richardson, an
AI and airline pilot who
supervised
the
rebuild
of the Continental
C-85.
Another
irreplaceable person dur
ing the rebuild was Bud Todd, the gentle
man who had started the Byron, CA air
port many years ago
,
and
is
an
accomplished
A&P.
His help
with
the
welding
that
had to be
done
on
the
fuse
lage was one of
the
tasks that was made
possible with his experienced hand.
Another resident of Discovery
Bay,
the area Bonny and Randy reside in, was
also a big
part
of
the
restoration. Ron
Warren
is a retired
general
contractor
who
had
never been involved
in
the
re
build of an airplane before, but he was en
thusiastic about helping, and since he was
quite good with his hands, Randy put him
to work on the project. He was there al
most every day.
There was no dilly-dallying during this
project. Work started the 1st of January,
and didn't stop until the end of April, that
same year April
24 , 1993,
the T-Craft
went into the water for the first time. Be
fore
that could happen,
though, a ton of
work was packed into those four months.
First off, after the fabric was removed
(a favorite task of 5-year-olds, something I
can attest
to
as well ) ,
the
steel
tubing in
the fuselage was tested.
To
their dismay,
both
lower longerons
were found to be
completely
rotten,
with rust due to salt
water totally ruining the bottom of each of
the lower longerons. Ron had
a
neat
method for removing the old tubing using
a ground down drill bit. (Look for a short
article
on this
method
in next
month
' s
VINTAGE AIRPLANE). After
remov
ing the
old
longerons, Bud said
yes
to
Randy's
request that
he weld in
the
new
steel. Fortunately,
the rest of
the
steel
tubing was in good shape, and Randy and
Dusty spent some
time filling
each tube
with preservat ive oil.
Randy
had decided
to
use the Cooper
Superflite system
to
cover the airplane. After
the
prep work
was done, he
started
by painting the fuse
lage structure with Superflite primer.
The
cowling also required some work,
with cracks welded and then ground down
to a smooth finish, or with patches back
ing up the repaired area.
The
project came complete with a
set
of
Edo
1320 floats,
but
the keels on both
floats had seen
better
days.
The
tedious
task of replacing both keels
was accom
plished,
then
any corrosion on the floats
was
removed. Finally, the floats were
treated
with metal prep and alodined.
When everything was ready to be primed,
they coated the metal parts with primer.
With
the
fuselage was
ready
to be put
back together, the wood stringers were re
placed, along with the wood around the
door jambs. Fairleads were renewed, and
the airplane was quickly brought up to the
stage
where
the covering would need to
be applied.
Randy and Bonny took a deep
breath
and
tackled
the
covering in a two
stretch
that included
4
hours of work,
2
on each
day with
about 4
hours of sleep
in be
tween. Because the final top coats should
be applied within seven days, they wanted
to
move quickly,
and
were
able to
neatly
complete the job
in
the
time they had.
You can see
in
the photo that the covering
and priming
process
took
up all of the
Howell
household
, as well as the yard.
Even
Dusty'S swingset and sandbox were
pressed into service. With everything cov
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lies
Them
ll
by H.G Frautschy
Just as this issue of
VINTAGE
AIR-
PLANE
arrives
in your mai lbox this
month, the Winter Olympics
will
have
started in Li llehammer, Norway. As you
peruse
the
pages of
your
magazine , you
may see a face that may be vaguely recog
nizable - that of Bonny Warner, Luscombe
and Taylorcraft pilot, United Airlines first
officer, and retired Olympic luger. Luge?
It's one of the events in the Olympics held
on
the
bobsled tracks. Single and two
person teams rocket down
the
side of the
mountain on small sleds, reaching speeds
near 80 mph.
The
run
is
between 1/2 and
3/4 of a mile,
and
as yo u can imagine , a
ride down the run requires all the skill and
concentration one can muster.
You may see Bonny during the te levi
sion coverage of the Olympics - she
is
tak
ing a few weeks off from her airline job to
work
as
an expert commentator on the
Luge competition for CBS.
As much as she enjoyed being a Luge
competitor , Bonny says it simply was not
as much fun as flying. She te lls the story
of being
a
youngster,
14
years
old
,
and
having a
speaker
come to
her
school with
an interesting idea.
He
to ld the students
that when he was young, he made up a list
of 100 things
he
wanted
to do
in his life.
Whether it was available to him or not at
that time , he
wrote
down
everything
he
thought of. Bonny wasn't sure she could
come up with a
hundred
items, but she
had a
few
, and she wrote them down.
The
list included: be in the Olympics , work
in
television, go to a good college, build a
house and become a pilot.
One by one, she h as picked off h
er
goals,
but
she's
been
happi ly surprised as
to how things have worked out as time has
progressed. She
attended
Stanford Uni
versity in Ca lifornia st udying broadcast
journalism, but
she
had already
been
bit
ten
by
the
O lympics bug.
As
a fresh
man
co llege at hl
ete,
Bonny had been se
lected
in
an
essay contest r un by the
magazine
Runner s World as one of
the
torch bearers for the 1980 winte r Olympics
in
Lake Placid, NY. While
in
Lake Placid,
she saw
the
Luge
competition
in person,
and dec
i
ded
she'd like to
give it
a
try.
Training in Europe during the winter, and
attending
co llege
in between, meant tha
t
the road to h
er
degree was stretched out ,
but she
event
ually did
graduate,
and she
landed a job as a reporter at a San Fran-
cisco television station.
Working as a
reporter
was an excellent
job,
but as
she progressed
in
her
flying,
earning
her instrument,
commercial and
flight instructor licenses, Bonny discov
ered she preferred flying to television.
To
the
amazement
of her friends and co-
workers, she quit her job at the
TV
station
and
went to work full time as a flight in
structor.
All
during
this time, Bonny was going
through the feast of working and then the
famine of
heading
off
to
Europe
for
5
months to train for the Luge. Funding for
training the team
was in
short
supply in
the early '80s when she started training in
the sport, which made it tough for Bonny
Olympic Luger and floatplane pilot
Bonny Warner
and
h
er teammates to make ends meet
while they
tra
ined during the winter. At
first, plane fare
there
and back
was all
they got,
but
as the decade progressed,
more
sponsorship has made it possible for
the
U.S. Olympic Committee to just about
fully fund the Luge team's training effort.
A ll her hard work paid off though - she
made the U.S. Olympic team in 1984 and
again
in '88,
competing
in
the
games in
Sarajevo,
Yugoslavia
and then
Calgary,
Alberta, Canada. (She placed sixth overall
at Calgary, one of only 2 Americans ever
to finish in the top six spots in Olympic
Luge competition.)
Her
big
break
in aviation
came
when
she was
hired
as a flight engineer for
United Airlines in 1990. United, to their
credit
,
was
willing
to work with Bonny
concerning
her
schedule relating to train
ing for the Olympics , and so she was able
to
compete in the 1992
games
in Al -
bertvi
ll
e,
France
.
(As
an aside,
there are
only
2
Luge
courses in
North America
(Continued on page 23)
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ollin
Hatfield .
938
Taylorcrafl BC-66
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neof the prettier pre-war Taylor
crafts
to
grace
the
flightline at
EAA
Oshkosh '93 was NC21239,
S N
1029, re
stored and flown by
Rollin
Hatfield
(EAA
302651,
A C
14732) of Meridian,
Idaho. This bright red with black trim T
Craft ran off with the Runner-Up Trophy
in the Bronze Age (1933-1941) category
of the
Antique
awards. The story about
this
airplane and
its rebuilder, Rollin
Hatfield, who recently retired at age 60,
is
unique.
As a young lad, Rollin enjoyed flying
with his father, who owned a 1939 Taylor
craft BC-65, almost a mate to N21239. By
the time Rollin reached 16, he was ready
to solo (1949) and at age 17, he earned his
Private license. Rollin well remembers his
father looking at two Taylorcrafts for sale
in 1946, just after World War II. One was
a 193740 horsepower model at $300 and
the other was a 193965 horsepower model
at 400. As Rollin says, Dad bought the
BC-65 and I was excited "
Called into service during the Korean
War , Rollin became an A P mechanic
and ,
following
a stint
with
Morrison-
Knudson Construction Co. keeping their
DC-3 in top shape, he joined the Idaho
National
Guard
and became a Mainte-
nance Officer.
Rollin spent
40
years serving
in
the
Idaho National Guard before retirement,
however, when he was about 45 years of
age (1978), he stumbled on to an old T
Craft crammed into a
storage
unit in
Nampa, ID. Closer inspection revealed
the "pile of junk" was a 1938 BC-65 Tay
lorcraft - nearly identical to his father's
old airplane. A deal was struck and Rollin
started
hauling
parts and
pieces
home.
The fuselage was the only part that would
roll on its own wheels.
The fuselage was stripped and sand
blasted
in
the back yard before the prim
ing and steady rebuild began. The previ
ous owner had
added
a skylight , D
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one in New
Hampshire.
All metal plac
ards were accurately reproduced by Noel
Allard
of
Chaska, Minnesota (612-340
4838). An original round control wheel
was located in Portland, W A which made
a good pattern for Rollin to make a sec
ond one
from.
The wheel shafts
were
chrome plated and the wheels themselves
were covered with
sewn
leather (a real
touch
of
class).
A
factory option
in 1938
was
a
split
seat that was trimmed in genuine leather.
A long search located an original one
of
these jewels
in a
chicken barn
in
Okla
homa - under layers and layers of chicken
manure (quit laughing, Charlie, that's the
cultured term ) . Rollin says
the
old
seat
made an excellent pattern for duplication,
albeit a bit sharp on the nostrils.
The wings
had
to be
dismantled
with
each part needing heIp. The spars were in
good shape and only needed varnish. The
ribs, however, were in dire need
of
much
work wi th
nearly
every rib needing
straightening.
Once the wings
were
re
assembled, new leading edges were fabri
cated from 0.0202024 T-3 aluminum and
installed with the aid
of
some cleverly de
signed
leading
edge clamps
that
Rollin
made up. In addition, all metal was re
placed in the two ailerons.
The covering was done in Ceconite 102
using Grade A cotton tapes and butyrate
dope. Matching enamel was sprayed on
all metal parts. The finish is very nicely
done and will turn a judge's eye at
40
paces. All lettering was done with stencils
and sprayed on, just
as
Taylorcraft did
over
55
years ago.
Being an A P mechanic, Rollin over
hauled the A65-8 Continental engine him
self, adding the drilled connecting rods
of
an A75 and 100 oct. valves - even though
he runs the engine as an A65.
The
result
is that it runs nicely on 100 octane fuel.
The four-piece windshield, common to
the
pre-war Taylorcrafts
, was
made up
from flat
stock that
was
bent
with
heat.
The joints are covered with aluminum
strips
and
fastened with
many
small
screws. Plexiglas didn't come along un
til
WW II so
compound
curves
in the
windshield
were
not available
until the
postwar aircraft were built.
Once
the T
-Craft
was all
assembled
and the engine run-in,
Rollin
made the
first flight on May 1, 1988, approximately
ten years after he purchased the "pile
of
junk in 1978.
t
was worth all the blood,
sweat and
tears
because
the
little
two
placer flew perfectly . That summer,
Rollin and his lovely wife, Mary, took off
a month and flew to the Watsonville , CA
airshow. From there , they flew to San
Francisco and then east, aL the way across
the country to Norfolk,
VA.
They
also
made the Taylorcraft
Fly-In
at
Alliance ,
Ohio, the big Oshkosh Fly-In and the
Blakesburg
Antique
Fly-In. Before going
home to Idaho, they
flew
to Evergreen,
W
A. That's
ocean
to ocean
with a 65
hp
Taylorcraft navigating all the way by com
pass and maps.
This
was the third Oshkosh
Antique
award for Rollin and his neat looking Tay
lorcraft
, having previously won the Con
temporary Age Runner-up
in 1988
and
the Contemporary Age Champion in 1990.
Congratulations and best wishes are in or
der for Rollin Hatfield, who is now retired
and
has
somehow
managed to become a
genuine airport bum - but you can be sure
he is enjoying every minute. Perhaps we
should all extend a very special thanks to
Rollin's father , who wisely plunked down
$400 for a '
39
Taylorcraft BC-65 way back
in 1946. Isn't it amazing what it led to?
The BC-12D Taylorcraft evolved from the pre-war BC-65 and all owe their beginnings to the creative genius
of
the talented light
plane designer, C G Taylor. The advent of the opposed, four-cyli nder aircraft engine such as the Continental,
Lycoming
and
Franklin, really made C G Taylor's designs reach their acme ofpopularity. These airplanes were actually affordable to own and oper
ate by the general populace. Don Claude's BC-12D (below) owes a lot to its predecessor, the pre-war BC-65. Note the Billowing
fabric between the ribs, quite typical
of
HS9 X
fabric. Also visible
s
the slightly rounded l ook caused by the wider fuselage stringers.
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Acomment
once h
eard at
an Antiq ue/Classic
meeting went something like this: When the gross
weight
of
the accumu
l
ated trophies exceeds
t he
empty weight of the airplane, the
owner
should re
ally consider a new project.
Although
not yet
in
the
above category, Don
Claude (EAA 134336, A/C 17459) of DeKalb, IL,
is
well
on
his way with his beautiful
Taylorcraft
BC
12D, NC96440, SIN 8740. This
particular airplane
has collected the Custom Class A (0 to
80
hp) award
in
the Classic Division at Oshkosh for the past four
years running. Added to the four beautiful Oshkosh
trophies are a bunch
of
trophies
and
awards won at
numerous smaller fly-ins.
Don is
retired from thirty years as a refrigeration
serviceman at the University of Northern Illinois at
DeKalb. The
Taylorcraft
was his first restoration
project and the only reason he started it was,
Be
cause he didn't know any better "
Way back
in
1965, the two-place Taylorcraft had
been freshly rebuilt by
another
party when a strong
gust
of
wind flipped it upside down
at
its moorings.
The result was a crushed upper fuselage, wing
and
strut damage and a severely twisted tail.
The
wreck
age was bought by
Jerry Hamer
of
Mendota,
IL,
who
after
checking
it
over
carefully, decided to re
sell it with an ad in Trade-A-Plane.
Don
Claude saw
the ad and our story was off and running.
Brought
home
in pieces, the badly
bent T-Craft
had to wait while Don helped a friend build a new
house
with a large garage and generously sized
workshop
in the
basement.
Once the house was
completed,
the wings were
taken into
the friend's
basement and the
restoration
work begun. About
this time, Don picked up another wrecked T-Craft
for parts - especially
one
good righthand wing. The
left wing
of
N96440 was totally rebuilt with a new
rear spar and carefully rebuilt ribs. All "rib to spar"
nails were replaced with new "ring" nails (that grip
the wood ferociously), each one epoxied
in
place.
The righthand wing was also re-nailed and a factory
new, 6-gallon wing
tank
installed. Incidentally, all
four wings spars in the
airplane are built
up from
pieces of Sitka spruce glued together - none are one
piece.
A considerable amount of work was necessary on
i
a.
a.
::J
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(Above) NASA air
scoop
installed in
the
side of
the
boot
cowl. The knob adjusts the amount of airflow.
(Right) Don
takes
a
close
look at the
scale as
the right
wheel
is
weighed during the
weigh-in
process
.
Note
metal
prop
installed.
place the
original
ones
that
were
some-
what pitted.
Once
the engine was installed in
the
bare airframe, the
temptation
became
strong to see
if
it would run after sitting for
nearly twenty years. The prop was bolted
on
and the
fuselage was
tied to
a
tree
in
the yard. After priming the cylinders, Don
turned the switch on and pulled it through
- smartly.
(Neither
magneto has an im
pulse.)
The engine caught
on the
very
first pull. Naturally, the neighbors soon
appeared wanting to
know what in the
world all the noise was about
Unique
to
the
(original) Continental
A65 engine
are
Bendix SF mags with con
secutive serial numbers. Don installed
new shie l ed harnesses, however, he was
not excited about installing the raised
metal
covers on
the
cowl
necessary to
cover the top shielded spark plugs. He in
stalled
the
shielded
lower
harn ess
and
shie l ed plugs, however, on the top of the
engine, he used the
shielded harness
and
the origina l (short) type unshie
l ed spark
plugs. Now when he wants to use a hand
held
radio without
ignition
interference,
he calmly switches to the left mag (which is
entirely shie
l
ed) and jabbers away.
All four cy
lind
ers were removed to
check
for rust
(one
was
cracked and
was
replaced) and when cleaned and painted,
were reinstalled with new gaskets. New
cy linder baffling was fabricated and in
sta lled
with
new felt edging
put
on
with
hand
made stap
les - as per original. The
worn
out
exhaust system
was
replaced
with a new system
made
entirely of stain
less stee l, right down to the extra long
tailpipe. Don originally
planned on
cut
ting the
tailpipe of f
, however, he discov
ered
it is
noticeably quieter with the longer
tailpipe and doesn t streak the belly with
exhaust stains.
While making new stringers to go above
the
cabin,
Don decided to
glue
1/8 inch
plywood to
both
sides
of
the
stringers
(while clamped in a curve). The result is a
set of stringers that you could walk
on.
Likewise, on the fuselage , the old stringers
were poorly supported and gave that " rode
hard and put away wet" look. Don care-
fully built wooden saddles for each tube
juncture that support deeper
stringers.
The result
is
a bit
more
rounded look to
the
fuselage -
almost
like a
Monocoupe.
Visitors at Oshkosh would squint
a l
ong
the fuselage
and
ask Don what was differ
Continued on page 26)
Some of the recommendations related
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SPARKPLUGS
by ill Claxon
AiC 17837)
TOTBO
Last month
we
discussed engine oper
ating procedures
that
are conducive to
and the
replacement of
small
standard
parts not involving complex assembly op
to preventive maintenance to reduce the
effects of spark plug fouling are:
1. Rotate
the
plugs from
top to
bot
tom
at
50 hour intervals since
the
top
plugs scavenge
better than
the bottom
ones. You may need to do this more or
less often depending on your individual
operating conditions.
2. Do
not assume tha t the spark plugs
installed in your engine
are
the correct
ones. Current literature states that in
certain instances, it has
been
found that
the incorrect
spark plugs have been in
stalled.
Look
at the current literature
such as Service Bulletins, Service Letters,
current spark plug manufacturers' listings
and engine manuals.
3. The
plugs can tell a lot
about
the
engine operation. Excess lead deposits
can indicate that the plug
is
too cold for
your type of operation and a hotter plug
may be needed. However, be sure to con
sult the manuals to select a correct plug
in
the hotter range . Excess lead
is
not the
only problem that can be discovered from
the condition of the spark plugs. The de
posits can tell you a lot about the engine
if
you learn to read them.
4.
Clean
and gap
the
plugs if indi
cated. f you use an abrasive blaster, use
it VERY briefly Blasting beyond barely
cleaning the
electrodes
serves
only to
erode them excessively.
f
you erode the
plugs with excessive blasting and repeat
this several times, you are only eroding
away
the
service life
of your
expensive
spark plugs. 1 know; I was taught to blast
away at
the
plugs until all the cavities
were clean. Rather, use Hoppe's 9 Pow
der
Solvent
(or
equivalent)
to
clean the
lead deposits along with the careful use
of a fine probe. This solvent
is
designed
to remove lead deposits from gun barrels
and does an excellent job on your spark
plugs.
You
can buy it at
your
local gun
store.
5. Set the gaps as indicated in the ap
propriate service literature. Always use
spark plug anti-seize compound and new
gaskets when you install the plugs. How
ever, I have annealed
the hard copper
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MYSTERY PLANE
Let 's go back
to
pioneering days for
this month 's Mystery Plane. Yes, it was
an
experiment
tired by a
well known
builder of the period. The photo is from
the
EAA
files. Answers will be pub-
lished in the April issue
of
VINTAGE
AIRPLANE. Deadline for that issue is
February 28
The November
Mystery
Plane re -
mains a mystery. Charley Hayes of Park
Forest,
L
offers these comments:
The plane pictured at top of page 28
in
the November
1993 iss
ue of VIN-
TAGE AIRPLANE may be an ancestor
of the Lincoln Sport. It appears to have
an Anzani engine (prop turns clockwise)
and the nose, gear and wing cellule are a
little like some Lincolns.
On
the other
by eorge Hardie
hand, there's a strong resemblance to the
L.F.G. Roland D-VIB and the Friedrich
schafen 0 1 fight e rs
of
WW I
Except
for
engines and
a
couple of
other fea
tures , they' re rea llook-alikes.
No
other
answers were received.
Maybe at a later date someone will come
up with
the
answer.
Meanwhile
, we ' ll
have to wait.
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Dusty and andy
Continued/rom page 14)
was not that concerned
about
resale value
(it 's
Dusty
' s airplane, after all) he origi
nally was going for a much wilder scheme,
but his
friends
convinced him to tone it
down a bit.
The neat scheme
on
the
air
plane now is a slick looking piece
of
graph
ics.
The
stripe itself is actually vinyl self
adhesive decal material. The forward end
of the stripe (the darker portion) is one
shade of blue, with the portion
aft
of the
wave
in the stripe a lighter shade.
The
wave itself is
cut
from a single sheet of
material with graduated shades of blue .
After
the design was finalized, a friend in
the sign business scanned a drawing
of
the
wave
into
his
computer.
The design was
then cut out using an automatic decal cut
ting machine, in the
same
way the ma
chine can be programmed to cut out letter
or
other designs.
I f
it were ever
desired, the scheme
could be easily changed back to a simple
stripe by removing the wave and replacing
it with a s traight stripe
of
graduated mate
rial. The stripes on the floats were done in
the same way.
With the channel leading to the water-
The Taylorcraft project takes over the
Howell household
. If you look carefully, you
can see that Dusty's
swingset
was even pressed into
service.
The
landing
gea