Va vol 42 no 2 mar apr 2014

MARCH/APRIL 2014

•Cub Comparison•Meyers 200B•Aeronca 7AC Champ

Dave and Jeanne Allen’s

WACO YKC

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2014-Ford_EAA_Mar_TransitConWagon_Divis_Ad-Final.indd 1 1/20/14 5:08 PM

EAA Publisher . . . . . . . . .Jack J . Pelton, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chairman of the Board

Vice Pres ., EAA Publications J . Mac McClellan

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Busha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

VAA Executive Administrator Max Platts920-426-6110 . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Advertising . . . . . . . . . . Sue Anderson920-426-6127 . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Larry Phillip920-426-6886 . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . Livy Trabbold

VAA, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903

Website: www.vintageaircraft.org

Email: [email protected]

www.vintageaircraft.org 1

The new year brought us some of the most brutal weather we have experienced here in Indiana over the past 35 years. As I write this column the weatherman is predicting yet another 12 inches of blowing snow for this evening. Again I say, “Oh how I long for the warm breezes blowing through the open hangar door.” Oh well, as they say, “Wish in one hand . . . .” Hopefully that terrorist rodent in Pennsyl-vania will not see his shadow again this year. Hang in there, folks; it’s got to get better, right?

2014 is truly shaping up to be a very exciting year. The EAA just re-cently announced that at least a dozen of the Valdez, Alaska, short takeoff and landing (STOL) competition aircraft will be at AirVenture Oshkosh 2014. To me, this display of talent and capable hardware is equal to or greater in entertainment value than any NFL football game. I mean, really, if I only needed one reason to attend Oshkosh 2014, this is it! Yes, I am pumped! The only downside to this news is the fact that I will now need to purchase at least two extra batteries for my Canon HD video-capable camera. This group of aircraft is made up of a mixture of Vintage production aircraft and homebuilts, and we are planning to prominently display these aircraft in the Vintage area dur-ing the 2014 event.

EAA continues to monitor and react to the FAA’s overreaching policy of mandating pilots to undergo very expensive sleep apnea testing if your measured body mass index exceeds a specific level. It is projected that as many as 120,000 pilots may be impacted in a very negative way if this policy is mandated. At this particular time our EAA and AOPA advocacy initiatives have managed to get this measure delayed, and the U.S. Congress has introduced bills in the House and Senate (H.R. 3578 and S. 1941) that would require the FAA to follow the standard rulemaking process and provide the aviation community the oppor-tunity to provide feedback and comment on the proposed sleep apnea rules. The FAA has yet to provide any relevant data that would support such a policy. I cannot remember a time when any proposed FAA policy has ever generated the current level of sheer outrage by our local pi-lot community. As a result, we all need to continue to reach out to our representatives in Congress, especially the GA Caucus, and let them know in no uncertain terms that this proposed policy will have no im-pact on safety to our GA activities. This initiative is overreaching in na-ture and is totally unsupported by safety data from the NTSB reports.

Straight & Level Vintage AirplaneSTAFF

2014: A year of real excitement

GEOFF ROBISONVAA PRESIDENT, EAA 268346, VAA 12606

continued on page 63

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATIONCurrent EAA members may join the Vin-

tage Aircraft Association and receive VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for an additional $42 per year.

EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine and one year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association are available for $52 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included). (Add $7 for International Postage.)

FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPSPlease submit your remittance with a

check or draft drawn on a United States bank payable in United States dollars. Add required Foreign Postage amount for each membership.

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Join/Renew 800-564-6322 [email protected]

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TM

2 MARCH /APRIL 2014

C O N T E N T SVol. 42, No. 2 2014

20Comparing the ClassicsSetting the baseline . . . the Piper CubBudd Davisson

MARCH/APRIL 201426

Dave and Jeanne Allen’s Waco YKCStately splendor from the golden age Sparky Barnes Sargent

36Meyers 200BJohn Lyon’s classic speed demonBudd Davisson

COLUMNS1 Straight and Level 2014: A year of real excitement Geoff Robison

6 Air Mail

10 How to? Tram a wing Robert G. Lock

12 The Vintage Instructor Observations made by a geezer instructor Steve Krog, CFI

15 Ask the AME Oxygen in general aviation John Patterson, M.D.

16 Good Old Days


C O V E R SFRONT COVER: C

BACK COVER: B

For missing or replacement magazines, or any other membership related ques-tions, please call EAA Member Services at 800-JOIN-EAA (564-6322).

ANY COMMENTS?Send your thoughts to the

Vintage Editor at: [email protected]

59 The Vintage Mechanic Aircraft covering, Part 2 Nonstructural aluminum Robert G. Lock

12 What Our Members are Restoring Beechcraft Musketeer, Model 23 Keith Green

63 Vintage Trader

44The Other Member of Our FamilyPart 1, Aeronca 7AC Champ NC1585ERichard “Dick” Pedersen

52The National Stearman Fly-InA big kid’s Christmas!Harry G . Ballance Jr .

56Reminiscing With an Old FriendA classic Stinson 108 stirs up the pastScott Knowlton

JIM BUSHA WILL WRITE

jbusha

Sticky Note

Dave and Jeanne Allen are all smiles after winning Grand Champion Antique honors at Airventure 2013 Photo credit????

jbusha

Sticky Note

John Lyons Meyers 200B Photo Credit???

4 MARCH /APRIL 2014

VAA members like you are passionate about your affiliation with vintage aviation, and it shows. You’re the most loyal of all EAA members, renew-ing your VAA membership each and every year at a rate higher than any other group within the EAA family. We appreciate your dedication! Each year we give you another opportunity to strengthen your bond with the VAA by inviting you to become a Friend of the Red Barn.

This special opportunity helps VAA put to-gether all the components that make the Vintage area of EAA AirVenture a unique and exciting part of the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration. This special fund was established to cover a significant portion of the VAA’s expenses related to serving VAA members during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, so that no dues money is used to support the con-vention activities.

This is a great opportunity for Vintage members to join together as key financial supporters of the Vintage division. It’s a rewarding experience for

each of us as individuals to be a part of supporting the finest gathering of Antique, Classic, and Con-temporary airplanes in the world.

At whatever level is comfortable for you, won’t you please join those of us who recognize the tre-mendously valuable key role the Vintage Aircraft Association has played in preserving the irreplace-able grassroots and general aviation airplanes of the last 100 years? Your participation in EAA’s Vin-tage Aircraft Association Friends of the Red Barn will help ensure the very finest in EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Vintage programs.

To participate in this year’s campaign, fill out the donation form by visiting our website at www.VintageAircraft.org/programs/redbarn.html to make an online contribution. And to each and ev-ery one of you who has already contributed, or is about to, a heartfelt “thank you” from the of-ficers, directors, staff, and volunteers of the Vin-tage Aircraft Association!

Friends of the Red Barn!Your support is crucial to the success of

VAA’s AirVenture activities and programs

Join

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 to vintage aviation.•Write those contributions in the various categories of the nomination form.•Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions. Make copies of newspaper or magazine articles that

may substantiate your view.•If at all possible, have another individual (or more) complete a form or write a letter about this person, confirming why the

person is a good candidate for induction. We would like to take this opportunity to mention that if you have nominated someone for the VAA Hall of Fame; nominations for the honor are kept on file for 3 years, after which the nomination must be resubmitted.

Mail nominating materials to: VAA Hall of Fame, c/o Charles W. Harris, Transportation Leasing Corp. PO Box 470350 Tulsa, OK 74147 E-mail: [email protected], your “contemporary” may be a candidate; nominate someone today!

Find the nomination form at www.VintageAircraft.org, or call the VAA office for a copy (920-426-6110), or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information:•Date submitted.•Name of person nominated.•Address and phone number of nominee.•E-mail address of nominee.•Date of birth of nominee. If deceased, date of death.•Name and relationship of nominee’s closest living relative.•Address and phone of nominee’s closest living relative.•VAA and EAA number, if known. (Nominee must have been or is a VAA member.)•Time span (dates) of the nominee’s contributions to vintage aviation.

(Must be between 1950 to present day.)•Area(s) of contributions to aviation.•Describe the event(s) or nature of activities the nominee has undertaken in aviation to

be worthy of induction into the VAA Hall of Fame.•Describe achievements the nominee has made in other related fields in aviation.•Has the nominee already been honored for his or her involvement in aviation and/or the

contribution you are stating in this petition? If yes, please explain the nature of the honor and/or award the nominee has received.•Any additional supporting information.•Submitter’s address and phone number, plus e-mail address.•Include any supporting material with your petition.

Nominate your favorite vintage aviator for the EAA Vin-tage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame. A great 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: the mechanic, historian, photographer, or pilot who has shared innumerable tips with you and with many others. They could be the next VAA Hall of Fame inductee—but only if they are nominated.

The person you nominate can be a citizen of any coun-try and may be living or deceased; his or her involvement in vintage aviation must have occurred between 1950 and

the present day. His or her contribution can be in the areas of flying, design, mechanical or aerodynamic developments, administration, writing, some other vital and relevant field, or any combination of fields that support aviation. The per-son you nominate must be or have been a member of the Vintage Aircraft Association or the Antique/Classic Divi-sion of EAA, and preference is given to those whose ac-tions have contributed to the VAA in some way, perhaps as a volunteer, a restorer who shares his expertise with others, a writer, a photographer, or a pilot sharing sto-ries, preserving aviation history, and encouraging new pilots and enthusiasts.

CALL FOR VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Nominations


6 MARCH /APRIL 2014

Air Mail

Stearman spins, sleep apnea, Eignungsfeststellung and more . . .Steve,

I really enjoyed your article on stalls. I am old school and was taught these important items right from the start. My instructor, Dick Burke, made sure I understood what was going on. We only had a Narco Mark 10 for a radio and only used it when returning from practicing. It was after I soloed (1963) that we first flew to PVD where I had to learn to use the radio for real. After 23,550 hours in Cubs, Travel Airs, lots of nosewheel stuff, two Stearmans, actually three. This one belonged to the flight school I was training at. I feel all students should be taught spins and how to recover. I towed banners with the Stearman to help pay for flight lessons, commercial, instrument, mul-tiengine. One day after a banner tow, the chief pilot of the school told me if I wanted, I could gas up the Stearman and go play. Okay, if I wanted? Nah. Of course I took ad-vantage of the opportunity. The guy who restored the Stearman was close by, so I asked him how the Stearman did in a spin. He said, “Ah, don’t worry; it’s just an air-plane.” Now, a few days before this I had sent for the tech orders on spin strips and spin technique by Deed Levy who was chief production test pilot for Stearman.

So, I fired up the Stearman and proceeded out to the designated practice area. I warmed up with some steep turns, couple stalls, then did my spin entry. I was over the Scituate Reservoir in Rhode Island. I picked out a small is-land for a reference point and awaaaay I went. After about five turns I decided it was time to recover. Okay, opposite rudder and forward stick. C’mon Stearman, you’re sup-posed to quit this. Water is getting closer; I started from 7,500 feet. So, I tried left rudder, nothing; okay, forward stick, not much except the spin appeared to flatten.

Now what? I read somewhere that the old guys would just let go of everything. I had nothing to lose cuz we were gonna make a huge splash pretty soon. So, I just let go of everything; throttle at idle. I’m now at about 1,500 feet and all of a sudden the Stearman quit spinning and went into a shallow glide from which I quite easily re-covered. Whew! Time to check my shorts. That was too

close for me. Well, upon calming down, doing couple landings, and refueling, I returned home. I found the tech orders had arrived. Therein was a caution by Deed Levy. He said with a clean wing (no spin strips) a spin of more than three turns is not advisable because the spin may flatten and be UNRECOVERABLE.

Here’s the next item on stalls.I flew for Eastern Air Lines for 23-1/2 years. After

the strike I wound up helping start a DC-9 freight op-eration out here in Michigan, USA Jet Airlines at Wil-low Run (YIP).

While at Eastern, I bid the new A300 Airbus. Eastern was the first airline to use this great airplane. I lucked out and had a super instructor who happened to have gotten his type rating over in France at the Airbus fac-tory in Toulouse. In the airline industry seniority was your life. The more senior, the better the trips and vaca-tion, etc. A lot of real senior guys bid the A300, which was entirely new in concept from the B-727 and L-1011. Some of these guys were afraid of the airplane; however, my instructor loved to fly and knew how to teach. At the time there was no flight simulator so all the training was done in the actual airplane. We used Dade Collier train-ing airport, or TNT as it was termed. This one day at our preflight briefing we were told today we’re gonna do stalls and steep turns plus a few approaches and landings. In the A300 B4, there are about a dozen circuit breakers that need to be pulled so as to disarm all the protective de-vices. There was a stick pusher that actually pushed the yoke forward if the airplane got into an angle of attack that it didn’t like. There was no angle of attack indicator in the panel; however, the magic and mirrors could sense this. Also, the throttles would go forward and hopefully get the dumb guy who entered this area to wake up and fly. This regime was termed “alpha floor” wherein the computers would sense this and start recovering. Okay, we were over the western coast of Florida, all the appro-priate breakers were pulled, and my instructor, Hank, says go ahead and stall the airplane. Whoa, I say, you


want a full stall; what about all that disturbed air trying to go through the engines (General Electric CFM56 C4). Won’t it cause them to also stall and quit? Nope, says Hank, there are variable inlet guide vanes that smooth out the airflow. So, I set about half thrust and let the air-plane slow way down (about 220,000 pounds); finally we felt a little burble and a shake or two. Hank says keep on pulling back until it stalls. Finally, with a lot of shak-ing, buffeting, and rattling, she let go. Hank says keep it straight with the rudder and keep holding back pressure. That nose dropped, and we lost about 500 feet right now. Then whilst holding full back stick, the nose came up a bit, more shaking, dropped again; finally after three or four of these excursions the airplane returned to a mush-ing attitude straight and a bit nose-down. We applied some power, gradually reduced the back pressure, and we were flying again. Wow, amazing.

At USA Jet I became a DC-9 instructor. I always taught stall recovery, especially approaching to land and the departure stall. Stalls were a part of my checkride scenario. Upon reaching age 60, I had to retire, got an instructor job at Kalitta Charters II, teaching the DC-9 and B-727. Again, all the stall series was taught. Couple guys complained about doing stalls. I answered with, Having this tiny bit of knowledge may some day save your back side as well as your airplane.

Thanks for a great article.Pete Chestnut, VAA 65

JimI just received the January/February Vintage Airplane

and am delighted by the content and coverage of such great airplanes. Keep up doing the great things that you do. I find that Sport Aviation has less and less content that I find captivating these past few years, but Vin-tage is going the other direction. My older brother and I lusted after a Spartan in the mid ’60s and nearly were able to by one of the “back row derelicts” at one point. In retrospect, it was probably a good thing we weren’t able to get that or the PT-19 we “discovered” at another date. I’m sure either would have held my interest, and finances, far more easily than college!

I have two (tongue in cheek) comments about this edition’s content that I can’t let pass:

1. In an otherwise interesting and impressive article, “Let the Good Times Roll!” I believe Charles Harris did a great injustice to Bellanca, airplane and man, simply by omission. Giuseppe Bellanca was a famous and bril-liant, albeit eccentric, designer that created numerous benchmark (Pacemaker and Skyrocket to name two) air-craft prior to the Depression and WWII. His company,

Bellanca Aircraft Corp. (BAC) was delving into smaller aircraft in the late ’30s with the 14-9 series of Cruisairs and Cruisair Juniors. He jumped right into the market after the war along with every other company with the 14-13 series of Cruisair Seniors that were another out-standing design. They then soldiered on with the line of 14-19 aircraft until the late ’50s when the Bellanca family lost control of the company to their investors. The aircraft, however, continued to be produced under various names: Northern Aircraft, Downer, Bellanca Aircraft Corporation, and even today as Alexandria Air-craft. The models have morphed from the Cruisemasters of the late ’50s and ’60s to the 260, Viking, and now the Super Viking. Although no aircraft are currently being produced on speculation, rumor has it they will build a brand new Super Viking on order. Quite an impressive survival story for a series of very impressive aircraft.

2. On page 51 in “Walking the Line,” N7632E is iden-tified as a 14-19-3 correctly, but it is a Cruisemaster, the direct successor to the Cruisair.

Guess you can figure out I like Bellancas!Thanks again.Scott ThomasEAA 62459, Chapter 1426VAA 12684, Chapter 3

Response from Charlie HarrisI certainly intended no injustice or disrespect to Bel-

lanca or any other low production number aircraft manu-facturer; I simply concentrated on the more major/larger aircraft companies.

And yes, I would say Scott likes Bellancas . . . to each his own, and more power to him!

—Charlie

John Patterson M.D. AME,I just read your answer to CC, January/February

2014 Vintage Aircraft, on sleep apnea, and it struck a chord.

It was my wife that pointed out to the doctor that I was exhibiting all the symptoms of sleep apnea.

I have a high BMI.I snored a lot and loud. I stopped breathing several times when asleep.I would jerk awake.After eight hours in bed I would still be tired and

would need a nap. After driving for two hours [I] suffered from daytime

drowsiness; I would nod off and jerk awake.My doctor on hearing this set me up for a sleep test.

This consisted of wearing a mask connected to an at-

8 MARCH /APRIL 2014

home monitor overnight and returning the monitor to respiratory therapy in the morning. The respiratory therapist called that afternoon and informed me that an appointment had been made for me to be fitted with a CPAP machine at 8 a.m. the next day.

The technician who fitted me for the CPAP said I was heading for the Gone West column in the EAA as my oxygen saturation was dan-gerously low.

The first night with the CPAP I slept 13 hours; my wife woke me thinking something was wrong as she had not known me to sleep so deeply for any length of time.

All this took place in 2002 one month prior to my third-class medical at which I re-ported this condition as required by FARs to the AME: “medical denied.” The FAA sent me a long list of tests they required and have the results in Oklahoma City within 30 days in order to ob-tain a special issuance medical.

Now the good part (thanks to my wife), I had been proactive and had done the test. The results of which along with a cover letter from my personal physician stating I was under treatment for sleep apnea were sent to Oklahoma City within the required time limit, and I received a special issuance third-class medical.

As to the cost, as I was proactive in seeking medical attention I was covered under my insurance not only for the tests but my CPAP machine, supplies, and mainte-nance. If I had requested the tests to satisfy an outside agency such as the FAA, I would not have been covered and the cost would be out of my pocket.

I am currently on my third machine which has a 4 GB chip that I have read at the respiratory clinic, and the printout tells every aspect of my breathing. This print-out shows the AME I am under continuing treatment for sleep apnea per FAA, satisfying the requirements for him to issue my medical.

This experience taught me several things, not the least of which is to have a medical advocate authorized to speak on your behalf. Be proactive in addressing medical issues as it may save you time, money, and your life. Keep a log of your health, blood pressure, EKG, blood work along with a copy of any test that might have been performed.

Thank you for your great articles on pilot medical is-sues. I hope they will produce a better informed, health-ier aviation community.

Frank MitchellVAA 29EAA [email protected]

Jim,The last issue of Vintage Airplane mentioned tip tanks

on the Spartan Executive. I am attaching a photo of the Spartan 12W about 1951 with tip tanks installed. This was

taken by my father, Art Brown, who was a Spartan student with a part-time job working in their shop overhauling Coast Guard B-17s. The 12W had magnesium wing skins which were replaced with aluminum. He also mentioned that Spartan would bring in wrecked Execs for repairs.

Robert Brown

Dear Jim,Hope the new year finds you well! The photograph of Roger Brown’s beautifully restored

Howard DGA on the back cover of the January/February 2014 edition of Vintage Airplane captures the fruition of Roger’s superb craftsmanship. Roger is a longtime friend and fellow Stearman pilot, so it was especially nice to see his labor of love prominently depicted in the publication.

Sincerely,Philip Handleman

Mr. Busha,In your article on the Super Cub (p. 31 of the Septem-

ber/October 13 Vintage Airplane) you mention a number of uses that it had, among which were “military liaison.” There was another military use that may not have come to your attention. With the U.S. Air Force pretty much in charge, the PA-18 (called then the L-18, and with USAF markings) was used by the German air force in Germany beginning in 1956 as a “screening” device (Vorflug-Ausbildung, in later years called Eignungsfeststellung or assessment of aptitude) to determine which applicants were suitable to be sent on to America for entry into the regular USAF contract pilot-training programs in T-34s and T-28s, and subsequently USAF schools in T-33s.

continued on page 64

Tramming a wing is essentially squaring wing bays. It is accomplished by alternating the loosening and tightening of internal brace wires called drag and anti-drag wires. It should always be done when constructing new wings and should be

checked when re-covering existing wings. It is not a difficult job and requires a set of trammel points. Trammel points are simply a length of spruce stock that measures about 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch by 38 inches (or whatever length needed to diagonally bridge the bay). I tram on the bottom side of the wing and start at the root. Small indentations are placed in the spar at the junction of a point where spar centerline intersects with the compression member. A bay is a complete structural component of the wing consisting of the front and rear spar and two compression members. The wires diagonally brace this bay. Most small aircraft wings will have four bays—smaller wings could have three bays, and larger wings could have more than four bays.

Snug the wires but do not tighten to final ten-sion. Set the points to bridge diagonally across the bay in one direction, and then move the trammel

How to?

Tram a wing

ROBERT G . LOCK

10 MARCH /APRIL 2014

points to bridge the diagonal in the opposite di-rection. Loosen and tighten brace wires until both points are the same length. Proceed to the next bay and do the same thing, proceeding outboard until all bays have been trammed. Then return to the root and check the tram. You will probably have to make a small adjustment and then proceed outboard to the tip bay. Return to the root and check bays again. Chances are good that you will not have to make adjustments. Now it is time to check and set wire tensions. If you have a wire tensiometer, set the wires to between 350-450 pounds for most small wings. If you don’t have a tensiometer, tighten the wires until they make a good bass sound. Do not over-tighten the brace wires. Note: Always tighten each wire the same amount so as not to distort the tram that has been set. Tighten each wire the same amount until proper tension has been reached.

After the wing has been trammed, the ribs may be glued in place (if it is wood) or nailed in place (if the ribs are of aluminum). The above wing is from a Hatz biplane that I had just repaired. New aluminum leading edge is being installed and nailed in place.

Right, the Hatz wing completely assembled and ready to cover with fabric. In this photograph, the compression members and brace wires are plainly visible. This wing has three bays.



I am writing this on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. The outside temp is 5ºF, with snow in the forecast for the next four to five days along with continued single-digit temps. By the time you read this I hope spring is just days away. The skis are on one Cub, and there is plenty of snow on the ground to do some ski flying. However, I draw the limit at 20ºF. Anything colder is hard on a 75-year-old fabric-

covered airplane with an exposed engine, and it is especially hard on old flight instructors.

Throughout the past week I’ve had the pleasure of several informal visits by previous students who have moved on with their lives. It is always interesting catching up on what they are now doing, as well as learning of their continued flying experiences.

One of the previous students, who earned his pri-vate pilot certificate more than two years ago, decided to pursue a career in aviation after college graduation and enrolled in one of the well-known national flight-training schools located in the South. He’s making great progress and will have earned his single- and multi-engine commercial, instrument, and complex ratings by late spring of 2014. He hopes to then earn his single- and multi-engine CFI ticket shortly there-after and begin instructing to build time. His goal is to be hired by the airlines in a year or so.

We enjoyed a lengthy discussion about the differ-ent types of flight instructors and the type of training he was receiving. I asked him to compare his ad-vanced training to the type of training he experienced when learning to fly with me. He just chuckled and offered the following comments:

“When learning to fly at Hartford, you always made every flight fun. You used to preface each flight with the statement, ‘Today’s flight will be safe, chal-lenging, and fun.’ The flight training I’m now receiv-ing is safe and challenging, but it isn’t any fun!

“You always took time to point out the awe, plea-sure, and appreciation of flying an airplane. That is never done in the program in which I’m enrolled. Everything is strictly checklists and numbers. I know

The Vintage Instructor

Observations made by a geezer instructor

STEVE KROG, VAA DIRECTOR AND CFI

BRAD

Y LA

NE


that aspect is important in the advancement of my ratings, but it would be nice, as well as beneficial, if the instructors also showed appreciation for the fun and privilege of flight.”

Another ex-student who stopped by also related a sim-ilar story. In her case she was working on her own to earn advanced ratings. The majority of instruction she had received to date was not positive in her opinion. Rather, she felt as if the instructors were going through the mo-tions, continually on the controls, but never ever express-ing any true interest, let alone the pleasure of flight.

I truly enjoy hearing from past students. But I found their shared comments somewhat disheart-ening. Flying is not a right but rather a privilege! As such it should always be enjoyable, even if it is a tough and challenging training flight. The sheer plea-sure of flight should never be overlooked.

There is nothing more pleasing to the soul in my mind than arriving at the airport just before sunrise on a warm spring morning, opening the hangar door, and pushing my favorite airplane out for a fun flight before the day’s work begins. The meadowlarks are just begin-ning to sing, and the dew is still on the grass. Cool, fresh damp air abounds, and the winds are nearly calm.

After a good preflight inspection, my faithful J-3 is raring to go. It seems that the Cub has a smile on its face, anxious to get going, much like a good hunting dog. For those of you who have done some pheasant hunting with a well-trained dog, you know what I mean. They can’t wait to get going and perform for their owner. The Cub is no different. It wants to get moving, get in the air, and do what it does best—FLY.

After pulling the prop through four blades, the mag

switch is moved to the ON position, and the throttle is cracked just a fraction of an inch. One more pull on the prop and the small Continental engine barks to life, first sputtering a few seconds before all four cylinders settle into a smooth putt, putt, putt.

After climbing into the seat and securing the seat belt, the Cub starts to creep forward ever slow slightly. The hunting dog instinct has taken over its

BRADY LANE

JIM

KOE

PNIC

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soul. A bit of power is added, and we’re headed for the nearest turf runway.

Still covered in the morning dew, the trusty Cub is leaving three small tracks in the wet grass. The Cub door is open and droplets of moisture are kicked up by the right main tire now forming water droplets on the lower portion of the wing struts.

Upon reaching the end of the runway and turning the Cub into the light breeze, I look back and chuckle at the S-turn tracks the Cub has made in the dew-covered grass. If an unknowing police officer were present and looked at the tracks, they may suggest I take a quick breathalyzer test.

The simple pretakeoff checklist is completed, and all systems are normal. After a quick 360-degree turn to check for area traffic, the Cub practically taxis into the takeoff position with little input from me. Just as the sun peeks over the eastern horizon, power is smoothly applied. . . one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, and power is set to the max. The Cub, anxious to fly, is already beginning to roll down the runway before reaching full power.

In a matter of seconds the Cub breaks ground, becoming airborne. It seems to literally jump into the air, ready to demonstrate its capabilities. A quick glance over my shoulder and I can see where the prop blast blew the dew off the grass, followed by three, then two tracks in the wet turf, and then nothing. The remainder of the runway is left undisturbed, awaiting the sun’s rays to evaporate the dew.

The wind entering the cabin via the open door has a bit of a chill but not enough to require even a light jacket. After leveling off, reducing the power setting, and a quick one or two turns on the trim crank, the Cub is ready to do what it does best—fly smoothly

low and slow. A slight turn to the northeast and the Cub and I are ready for a short undisturbed pleasure flight away from nearby farms and country homes.

Deer in the area are openly grazing, and flocks of wild turkeys are busy picking at food. None seem to be the least bit disturbed by the big yellow bird overhead. The sweet smell of a freshly cut alfalfa field permeates the Cub’s open cabin area. Nearby, undis-tracted, and almost flying in formation with the Cub, a hawk is in a glide, searching for breakfast.

After a 30-minute flight in glass-smooth air, it is time to point the Cub toward the airport. Entering the traffic pattern, nary a soul is to be found. The Cub and I still have the place entirely to ourselves. The little yellow airplane makes a smooth three-point landing and again makes tracks in the dewy grass.

Arriving in front of the hangar, I turn the mag switch OFF, and the small Continental is again silent. An easy push and the Cub is back in the hangar, but the cylinder eyebrows and cowl opening seem to be giving me a sly smile and I smile back. A quick rub-down is in order, removing bugs as well as oil droplets from the breather relief tube. The Cub just keeps smiling, appreciating the extra attention.

The Cub seems relaxed after a good workout, as am I. What fun and what a privilege it was to share a sun-rise flight in my favorite airplane, the little yellow Cub.

I’d like to challenge all flight instructors to pause for a moment or two before every flight and reflect on the pleasure to be experienced of the upcoming flight. Learning comes more quickly and easily if the task to be learned is FUN, as well as safe and challenging!

This is what flying is about, whether business or pleasure. And this is what is most often missed by so many.


JIM KOEPNICK

W. C. asks, “Flying to the West Coast is on my bucket list and will be flying at higher than usual altitudes. What about supple-mental oxygen?”

FAR 91.211 specifies that supplemental oxygen is required between 12,500 feet MSL and 14,000 feet MSL after 30 minutes of flying time for the pilot and crew. At cabin pressures above 14,000 feet MSL, the pilot and crew must use oxygen continuously, and over 15,000 feet MSL each passenger must have available supplemental oxygen. Part 135, or commer-cial flights, requires oxygen use after 30 minutes be-tween 10,000 and 12,000 feet MSL and continuously above 12,000 feet.

The air we breathe consists of approximately 78 percent nitrogen and 20 percent oxygen. Most air-lines maintain cabin pressures equivalent to 8,000 feet or less. At 18,000 feet MSL there is only half of the available oxygen at sea level.

The FAA has extensively studied the effects of hy-poxia on pilots and pilot performance. The first sign of hypoxia varies from person to person, and there often is no warning. The primary response, however, is impaired judgment. There may also be an increase in respiratory rate, headache, lightheadedness or diz-ziness, tunnel vision, and in some cases euphoria. An FAA-issued pamphlet on hypoxia states, “You may feel great until it is too late.” Vision is very sensi-tive to lack of oxygen, especially at night; therefore, supplemental oxygen is recommended (though not required) above 6,000 feet MSL at night and 10,000 feet during the day.

Smoking is also an issue as carbon monoxide in the cigarette smoke can displace oxygen from hemo-globin in the blood, forming carboxyhemoglobin. A smoker may have as much as 7 percent carboxyhemo-globin, displacing oxygen to a saturation level of 93 percent. This is the same saturation level expected in a nonsmoker at 8,000 feet. When using supplemental oxygen it is a good idea to use a portable pulse ox-imeter that is worn on the finger and measures the oxygen saturation in the blood. The goal is to try to keep the saturation greater than 93 percent. These are now relatively affordable and available. Emphy-sema, which can result from long-term smoking, also impairs the lung from absorbing available oxygen in the air. So those individuals who live well at sea level may not fare so well at higher altitudes.

There are several ways to deliver supplemental oxy-gen: nasal cannula and oral nasal re-breather masks. Oxygen for nonpressurized situations is generally de-livered through an oxygen tank. The oxygen used for aviation is called gaseous aviation-breathing oxygen. Neither medical nor industrial grade oxygen is ap-proved, as it does not meet FAA standards. This is con-troversial as most feel the only difference other than a significant price differential is differing water content.

In summary, there are several situations where supplemental oxygen may be beneficial for the vin-tage pilot, especially for the pilot going from sea level to mountain or high-altitude situations, and while flying at night.


Ask the AME

Oxygen in general aviation

JOHN PATTERSON, M .D ., AME

SCRAPBOOK

Good Old Days

Take a quick look through history by enjoying images pulled from publications past .

From pages of what was . . .


AeroDigest, January 1938

SCRAPBOOK


AeroDigest, December 1940


Classified AdsWhat would you have found . . .

Sportsman Pilot, April 1937Sportsman Pilot, November 1938

Classified Ads


ATTENTION AUTHORS: VAA will be hosting an Author’s Cor-ner (book signings by the author) at the Vintage Red Barn dur-ing AirVenture 2014 . Signings will be held on Monday, July 28 through Saturday, August 2 . There are two slots available each day on these dates . The morning slots will run from 10:00-11:30 and the afternoon slots will run from 1:30-3:00 .

Authors interested in participating in this event should con-tact committee chairman Susan Dusenbury at [email protected] before April 1, 2014.


What we have here is the present ing

of a series of articles yours truly penned for Sport Aviation a lifetime ago. However the years haven’t changed the facts: classics are still classics, and they are still the entry level for those wanting to get into

vintage aircraft. You might call the series “Comparing the Classics.” Or “Classics Explained.” Actually, you can call it anything you want. We call it an educational reference for those thinking about diving into the wide variety of postwar classics. Since more than 35,000

airplanes were produced in 1946 alone, we certainly have plenty to choose from.

Not so many years ago, evalu-ating postwar classics would have been unnecessary since every pilot had flown most of them. That’s no longer the case. How many of to-

Setting the baseline . . . the Piper CubBudd Davisson

Comparingthe Classics

BRADY LANE


day’s pilots do you suppose learned in a Cub? Or had a Cessna 120 available to rent for $8.50 an hour?

The goal of this series, which will eventually touch on each and every airplane of the period, is to explain those airplanes in commonsense terms. We aren’t going to get into “stick force per “g” or “spiral di-vergence” or any of the other 3-D tech-talk we’ve come to associate with well-done pilot evaluations. We want people to understand how these airplanes compare to airplanes they either have already flown or which are readily available for comparison.

Citabria and C-152 Are the Datum Points

Since so many classic aircraft have the little wheel at the back, we selected the Citabria as the base-line airplane for those han-dling and performance factors hav-ing to do with ground handling. The Citabria is the only tailwheel airplane that is readily available at flight schools, and even it is some-

times hard to find.We selected the Cessna 152 as

the datum for in-the-air compari-sons, unless otherwise noted. The comparisons will be in the vein of “. . . during roll-out the airplane tends to wander a little more than a Citabria. . . ” or “. . . the ailerons are a fair amount heavier than a C-152, but the airplane responds to aile-ron input much more quickly. . . .”

We’ll put these comparisons into a chart, which rates a num-ber of performance and handling factors against the datum air-craft. They will represent zero, and the evaluation aircraft will be rated plus (better, easier, or quicker) or ne gat ive (worse , slower, or harder) on a scale of 1 to 5, plus and negative.

The J-3 CubTo kick this thing off, we thought

we’d evaluate what used to be the airplane to which all others were compared, the J-3 Cub.

There are bound to be a lot of folks out there who are saying,

“What? Another Piper Cub pirep? That’s so basic it’s like explaining dirt. Everyone has flown a Cub!”

Only a few years ago that would have been a valid statement but is definitely not the case today. Be-tween the total takeover of the tricycle gear trainer and the ex-ploding prices of Cubs, with very few exceptions if you want to fly a Cub, these days you have to buy one. They have become so popular because of three basic facts: They are very nostalgic, they are lots of fun, they are cute as a bug.

Mechanical DescriptionWe’re going to ignore the history

of the airplane, because everyone knows it, and get right down to the nuts and bolts.

The fuselage of the Cub is welded steel tubing with the landing gear being a welded “V” with external bungee springing. The wings are attached right in the middle of the cabin where the fuselage truss comes together in an inverted “V.” This means the entire top of the

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cabin and the windshield framing is made of light-gauge, bent steel “U” channels, which are often bent and filled with extra screw holes.

As with all aircraft of its type, the fuselage is prone to longeron rust at the tail post from water running to the low point. Remem-ber, these airplanes weren’t always hangar queens, so most have had, or need, repairs in that area.

Another area of corrosion con-cern is the struts. The original struts were unsealed and could rust internally at the bottom end where moisture collects. That prob-lem, combined with the integrity of the strut forks themselves, is why there’s an inspection AD on them. That’s also why so many peo-ple simply buy new, sealed struts

from Univair and be done with it.The wings used what was to be-

come the standard Piper rib con-struction in that they never went to stamp metal ribs as did Tay-lorcraft or Luscombe. Piper ribs are fragile trusses of “T” sections formed by folding extremely thin aluminum into the required “T” cross section. They are strong, but there are a lot of pieces involved and, once broken, require patience to patch in a clean manner.

Wing spars come in two variet-ies: wood and aluminum. Wood spars are seen in every variation from a single plank, to laminated, to laminated with the individual laminates made up of different length pieces scarfed together. Properly varnished and cared for,

all variations are fine but need in-spection before buying. Beware gray, flaking varnish or dark wood. This is an indication moisture may have found its way in.

The postwar aluminum spars are modified “H” sections and need only be inspected for corrosion on the top side of the lower caps, which can trap moisture. Also in-spect for extraneous screw holes.

The original leading edges were 0.016 soft aluminum and won’t take much abuse before assuming the visual character of a plowed field. When restoring them, most opt for slightly heavier, harder material, which makes a tremen-dous difference.

Tires and brakes are both strong and weak points for the Cub. The original expander-tube brakes use an inflatable doughnut to force a multitude of small blocks against the drums. As brakes go, they stink. That’s also their strongest point because the airplane needs almost no brake for normal op-erations, and the original brakes can’t overpower it. The brakes’ big-gest problem is that they are very expensive to rebuild. The price of expander tubes and blocks have skyrocketed. So have the origi-nal 8.00 by 4 smooth tires. This is one reason so many have gone to Cleveland Wheels and Brakes and 6.00 by 6 tires. That amount of brake, however, is far more than the airplane actually needs. With expander tube brakes, it’s hard to brake it hard enough to pick up the tail. With Clevelands it will go over on its back in a heartbeat.

The usual engine is the Conti-nental A-65, which is probably the most important thing ever to hap-pen to light aviation. This engine made little airplanes practical. If even remotely maintained, it will start and run beautifully. Magneto

coils are just about the only reason the engines won’t start easily. TBO is a little vague, assumed at about 1,200-1,400 hours, but think how long it takes to put 1,000 hours on an airplane like a Cub.

The engines are still relatively inexpensive to overhaul mainly be-cause we haven’t yet reached the bottom of the barrel, which was originally filled to overflowing by the military. The bottom of the barrel, however, is beginning to peek through.

The most common conversion to the airplanes is the simple re-placement of the A-65 by a C-85. The additional horsepower makes the airplane into an entirely dif-ferent animal. It still has its basic pasture goodness but with very spir ited performance. Unfor-tunately, the 85s and C-90s are getting increasingly harder to overhaul. In fact, there is an STC to put the more common O-200 crank into the C-90 case.

From a performance point of view, a metal propeller is prefera-ble because it lets the engine reach peak rpm, but the wooden prop is much prettier. Neither is cheap.

Flight Characteristics To fly the airplane, you have to

get in it, which in a Cub, isn’t as easy as it sounds. You have to mas-ter the entry dance. Right foot in the step, lean far forward over the front seat, left foot past the stick, bring right foot in, lower yourself backward. There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? The canvas sling-back seat is much more comfortable than the front seat. Over-average-height folks will be folded like a cheap pocketknife in the front seat.

If it’s your first time in a Cub, you’ll think you’re sitting at an im-possibly steep tail-down angle. And you are. Few Classics have such a tail-down stance, but the feeling of blindness is largely one of per-ception. Because the airplane is so narrow, only a small wedge is taken

out of the visual field. Unfortu-nately, it’s directly in front of you.

Contact! Brakes! Mags hot! A good engine will catch on the first blade. If it’s your first flight, close the door, as it causes some per-ceptual difficulties because, with it open, you can see so much better out of the right than the left.

The first thing you’ll notice in ma-neuvering on the ramp is how hard the stupid heel brakes are to get at because they’re snuggled under the seat. That’s good. That way you won’t be tempted to use them on landing where they aren’t needed.

S-turns are absolutely necessary to see ahead, but they also give you rudder practice. For some reason, maybe it’s the light tail, the Cub is quicker to respond to the rudder than most light taildraggers, includ-


If it’s your first time in a Cub, you’ll think you’re sitting atan impossibly steep tail-down angle. And you are.

BRADY LANE


ing the Citabria. It’s only a minor difference but noticeable. On take-off and landing it makes it a little easier than some to over-control.

By all means, do a full 360-degree turn to clear the pattern before taxi-ing onto the runway. The pilot sits so far back in the airplane that his vision is sharply limited by the nar-row tunnel of the fuselage and the wings so a full turn is mandatory.

Lined up, suck the stick back and move the throttle smoothly forward. The noise turns into kind of a rattling roar, and the airplane will begin accelerating at about the same rate as a heavily loaded Cessna 152. As soon as the power is full on, ease the stick smoothly forward and bring the tail up. If you’re of average height, you won’t quite be able to see over the nose, but the visibility improves drastically anyway. The good news is that there is so much airplane between you and the out-side world, that there is no doubt when the nose tries to move.

The rudder becomes effective as soon as the power is on, and you’ll notice the tail moves each time your foot does. The airplane is very stable directionally. In fact, if there is no crosswind, the tail won’t move side-ways on its own. If it is, stop mov-ing your feet for a second to see if it isn’t you causing the movement.

Even on a calm day, the Cub will

fly off the ground long before you can get in serious trouble. If there is just a few knots of wind on the nose, it’ll leave the ground almost as soon as the tail is up. Solo it leaps off. Dual it takes much longer. The air-plane really reacts to extra weight.

A Cub telegraphs everything it does, especially when it is getting too slow to climb. Play with the speed a few knots at a time, while climbing, and you’ll find a point where you can actually feel the drag building, control effectiveness fall-ing off, and the climb slowing as the nose is brought up. Every Cub likes a slightly different climb speed, usu-ally because the airspeed indicators are so far off, so just feel it out.

With one on board, a 65-hp Cub in 75°F air may give as much as 400-500 fpm. Eighty-five hp adds at least another 200 rpm, and a C-90 makes you feel like you have a flyweight tiger by the tail. The in-creased power is also very notice-able on takeoff acceleration.

As you level off and the speed rockets ahead (read that with a lot of sarcasm), be suspicious of any speed above 80 mph indicated. Seventy-five mph is a pretty stan-dard Cub cross-country speed.

The controls in a Cub set the stan-dard for most of the long-wing Pip-ers to follow. There’s a fair amount of system friction because every-

thing is cable- and pulley-operated. These days, unless the airplane has been restored, the friction is almost always aggravated by at least one pulley that isn’t turning. The fric-tion helps build the perception that the aileron forces are heavy, but they really aren’t. The airplane re-sponds very much in proportion to the amount of stick put into it and will actually roll into a bank much faster than people expect, if they put their shoulder into it. The pres-sures are much lighter and the re-sponse faster than a Citabria, for instance. Compared to a C-152, they are about even, although it’s hard to compare pressures between a stick and a yoke.

Elevator pressures and rates are matched to the ailerons, and you won’t even notice the rudder be-cause it mixes in so naturally. And you will need rudder. The airplane has noticeable adverse yaw, and the pilot who doesn’t coordinate will polish the bottom of his jeans smooth. That’s one of the things that make it such a great trainer

Stalls in a Cub can be what you make them. Normally, they are soft and f loppy with very little edge to them. Feeling goes out of the controls in such a noticeable fashion, as the stall approaches, that your hand will tell you some-thing is happening, if nothing else

JIM KOEPNICK


does. If you have the door open, the bottom half will begin to float up as the stall is approached. If you crowd the stick back hard or persist in an exaggerated nose-high atti-tude, it will pay off, drop the nose, and make you light in the seat.

Coming in to land, power back opposite the end of the runway, you risk a stretched muscle as you lean forward trying to get the carbure-tor heat on the right side wall by your foot. Crank, crank the elevator trim and the airplane will hold an approach speed of 60 mph by itself. It can fly the approach much slower, but there’s no reason to.

The Cub is dirtier than most of its contemporaries so its glide slope is a little steeper. It comes down even faster than a Citabria or 152, but at such a slow speed, the pattern is still not super tight or rushed. Also, there is no such thing as “too high” in a Cub, as it is one of the best slip-ping airplanes ever invented.

A secret for getting consistent, good landings: break the glide just a little higher than you think you need to. If you fly it into ground effect expecting to burn off speed and three-point it, you’ll almost certainly touch the mains before getting the tail down. For some reason, Cubs appear to have less ground effect than many airplanes.

The nice thing about a Cub land-ing is that it happens at a near walk. Actual touchdown is around 35 mph, so even if your technique is sloppy, everything is happening so slowly you have all day to set it straight. If you don’t have much tailwheel time, try not to think about it. Get the airplane on more or less straight, and it will roll more or less straight. Start fighting the rudders simply because it’s a tail-dragger and you think you should be doing something, and it will do a slow motion dance. Best advice in

landing a Cub is to make sure it is straight and not drifting and leave it alone after touchdown. There’s a reason for the saying “. . . lands easy as a Cub. . . .”

A word about crosswinds and gusts: The airplane is really lightly wing loaded and rides thermals and gusts like a cork. It will, how-ever, handle much more crosswind than most think it will, provid-ing the pilot has a firm hand and a good head. It can, however be overwhelmed. Winds, which are an annoyance in a 152, are a chal-lenge in a Cub. In a pinch, diago-nal the runway or turn into the wind at the end of roll-out. Then you have to worry about taxiing. It’s entirely possible to land in a wind, which is too high to taxi in. In that case, keep the nose into the wind and wait for help to walk you in. More than one pilot has had to coast past the hangars at

50 feet with the door open and the throttle back while yelling for help before landing.

One common J-3 variation seen, by the way, is the Reed clipped-wing conversion, which removes 40-1/2 inches from each wing root. To many, this makes a good air-plane even better. Besides making it capable of loop, roll, spin, type of aerobatics, with 85 hp, it will cruise at nearly 90 mph, and its entire handling package tightens up, be-coming quicker and crisper. It will also handle much more wind with the short wings.

Market forces almost always place a price premium on products that have proven themselves both in aesthetics and use. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the J-3 Cub, as it is easily the most expen-sive airplane in its category. This is a distinction many believe to be well deserved.


Stately splendor from the golden age Sparky Barnes Sargent

Dave and Jeanne Allen’s

Waco YKCPHIL HIGH


Stepping carefully onto the wing and entering the cabin, the plush ambi-ance of the golden age of

aviation enveloped me. Soft gray wool upholstery felt heavenly be-neath my fingertips, and nickel-plated handles and knobs sparkled like sterling silver as the sunlight streamed into the spacious cabin. Ensconced in the comfortable seat beside pilot/owner Dave Allen, I quietly absorbed my surround-ings and noted the exquisite atten-tion to detail that he and his wife, Jeanne, had invested in this Waco YKC. As Dave engaged the starter and the Jacobs rumbled to life, I was transported to the world of 1934 and the elegant style of exec-utive travel that state officials en-joyed in this very airplane.

OwnersOriginally powered by a 225-

hp, seven-cylinder Jacobs L-4, this Cabin Waco was (and still is) splen-didly singular in appearance. Fin-ished in an eye-catching teal color highlighted with cream trim and gold pinstriping, the fuselage dis-plays the hand-painted lettering “Ohio National Guard” and Ohio’s colorful Great Seal. The YKC’s first logbook entry was Paul Thorn-

bury’s 1.5-hour test flight on No-vember 23, 1934—the day before the Waco Aircraft Company of Troy, Ohio, sold NS14137 (s/n 4223) to the state of Ohio’s Bureau of Aero-nautics. Note that the Roman letter “S” is no longer used in registration numbers, but historically speaking, the “S” denoted a state or federal government-owned aircraft “used solely for governmental purposes and belonging to States, Territo-ries, possessions, or political sub-divisions thereof,” according to The Amateur Air Pilots Register 1934. The application for identification mark was signed by Capt. Fred L. Smith. He, along with C.D. Barnhill, both logged time flying the ship for the National Guard during the next five years; their flights were primarily to locations within Ohio and neigh-boring states.

In October 1939, an application for commercial registration (chang-ing the letter “S” to “C”) was made by Adjutant Gen. Gilson D. Light, the state director of Selective Ser-vice, and the ship was then sold to Aero-Ways Incorporated. This grand biplane last flew in the late 1940s and was eventually purchased in 1971 by Frank J. Obermiyer of Brookfield Aviation in Trumbull, Ohio. Apparently his intentions to

restore it never came to fruition; in-stead, the Waco ended up in his es-tate sale some 30 years later.

New StewardsIn 2003, Dave and Jeanne Al-

len of Elbert, Colorado, heard that there was a virtually complete Cabin Waco YKC project near Cin-cinnati—with its original uphol-stery, headliner, side panels, rear seat, and trim. Enticed by opportu-nity (and a previous flight in Alan Buckner’s 1931 Waco QDC), Dave and Jeanne became willing and ca-pable stewards of the YKC that De-cember. They were no strangers to biplane projects, having completed an open-cockpit antique Straight-wing Waco and an experimental Taperwing replica—and the al-lure of a comfortable enclosed cabin had long attracted Jeanne. But Dave had previously resisted taking on a Cabin Waco due to the myriad parts involved and the te-dious efforts it would require.

Nonetheless, they became com-mitted to restoring the YKC to its original splendor—and they did so with untiring, persistent devo-tion and utmost attention to de-tail. Their wonderful Waco made its formal debut at AirVenture 2013, where it received the Antique

Jeanne and Dave Allen

PHIL HIGH


Grand Champion—Gold Lindy award. It was also voted as the An-tique Airplane Association and the Airpower Museum’s 2013 Antique Grand Champion.

Dave, an ex-military pilot who holds an ATP with flight instruc-tor ratings, smiles as he declares,

“Aviation is my passion; it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. My mom has a picture of me when I was 3; I’m holding a couple of boards nailed together, and she said I called it an A-plane. I became the little boy waving at crop dusters, and was flagging for them by age 11. I am

living my dream.”Jeanne, whose interest in avia-

tion began before she met Dave, holds a glider pilot certificate, and crewed for Dave when he was soar-ing. He logged more than 2,000 soar-ing hours and established several records that still stand. Jeanne and

The original Waco YKC project in 2003, as it was when Dave and Jeanne became its new stewards .

Jeanne examines the fit of the wing root fairings .

Trial assembly of fuselage, empennage, cowling, and gear .

Waco Hand Hole Assemblies—first step .

Note the myriad identification tags for routing and installation purposes .

Dave applies Poly—Brush while Milli the feline supervises .

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Dave continue to share their mutual enthusiasm for aviation—and that’s part of the secret to this husband-and-wife team’s restoration success.

TeamworkThey worked on their Waco YKC

project virtually every day for a de-cade—sometimes together, and sometimes taking on separate tasks. They also carefully docu-mented each aspect of the project by taking notes, making sketches, and shooting video and still pho-tos—all of which came in handy as their work progressed.

Sharing her insight about work-ing as a team, Jeanne says, “There’s going to be one person who’s the ‘boss’ and the other one is the ‘em-ployee.’ You just have to say, ‘If we’re going to accomplish this proj-ect, then somebody is calling the shots.’ So I did things like running errands, researching the airplane’s history, and keeping track of all the book work. That allowed him to think through the process of what needed to come next, so we could

keep moving on the project.” Jeanne also tackled the “dirty

work.” She donned protective garb and stripped and cleaned metal components, then chemically prepped them for Dave to shoot primer on them. She was also able to salvage many of the wood string-ers by patiently using sandpaper, steel wool, and Formby’s Condi-tioning Furniture Refinisher.

Wings, Fuselage, and GearEarly on, Dave contracted with

John and Scott Shue (Aircraft by Shue) in Pennsylvania to build the wing frames; having built Waco wings previously, Dave figured that he’d save nearly two years’ time that way. While the Shue father-and-son team worked on the wings, Dave worked on fuselage repairs and making new wood formers. He also refurbished and installed the flare tube cover and panel in the fu-selage. In the meantime, a new set of ailerons were built by (the late) Tom Flock, who was a well-known Waco restorer.

After the wing frames were com-pleted by the Shues, Dave and Jeanne made the cross-country trek to haul the wings home to Colorado. Dave made and installed the lead-ing edges and the wingtips that he made from laminated 0.8-mm Finn-ish plywood. He also installed the overhauled original landing lights and two new 35-gallon fuel tanks that were fabricated by John Mur-ray. (This gives the YKC 65 gallons of usable fuel; originally the tanks were 25 gallons each.) Dave says he decided to make and install alu-minum skins over the wing tanks, after heeding Forrest Lovley’s ad-monition that the fuel tanks would leak in half the time if they were in-stalled with fabric.

Dave also shortened the aft por-tion of the side stringers in order to

PHIL HIGH


allow good access to the tailwheel as-sembly, and extended the baggage compartment and made a triangular external baggage door for it. Prior to fabric installation, Jeanne brushed two coats of varnish on the wood wings, and Dave followed up with spray coats of epoxy varnish.

With a mind toward safety and reliability, new gear struts were machined by Jon Nace, who also completed the Cleveland wheel and brake conversion. The origi-nal Johnson bar was retained but converted to operate only the park-ing brake. Dave opted to keep the small, original 8-inch tail wheel, which has one solid wheel cover and one split cover to accommo-date the valve stem.

Throughout the restoration, Dave and Jeanne worked with a friend who was also restoring the

same make and model. “Roger James is a partner in a car resto-ration business, D&D Classic in Ohio, and we collaborated quite a bit,” says Dave, adding, “He and his wife, Jetta, were most accommo-dating. We even took the fuselage back to Ohio, so he could reference the original woodwork.”

Using original components as patterns, D&D Classic replicated the wheelpants, dishpan, and cowl. “The fin fairing was original and still in good enough shape to use after I had weeks of training in D&D’s body shop,” shares Dave, “and there were many other origi-nal parts, including the wing root fairings, strut cuffs, and the belly doors with the big louvers. I did all the flat sheet metalwork, and Roger figured out from old pho-tographs that the fairings for the

original-style wheelpants were a flat wrap, so I made those as well.”

Fabric and FinishWhen it came time for fabric,

Jeanne and Dave worked together, from installing the Poly-Fiber fab-ric and tautening it, to rib stitching and applying finishing tapes. For the inspection access holes, they used the nifty old-style Waco Hand Hole Assemblies and cover plates. Period advertising described the assemblies as being “used on all Waco airplanes manufactured since 1934 . . . this provides the aircraft owner with an inspection opening that is flush with the orig-inal cover, and which does not offer drag of any kind.” The assemblies consist of two contoured rings that are crimped together, neatly sand-wiching the fabric.

Dave and Jeanne’s attention to detail is easily visible inside the luxurious cabin .

Close-up view of the original 8” tail wheel .

Here you can see the louvers on the belly panel .

Dave made these original-style baffles for the Jacobs .

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Dave and Jeanne carefully rep-licated the original top coat and trim colors—and even the dimen-sions and placement of the trim design, by studying an old photo

of the YKC and the original fu-selage sheet metal and covering. Dave did all the painting with an HVLP system, and used Ranthane for the top coat, which provided

the durability of urethane with the satin luster of dope. Then they tested their personal tenacity by sanding and hand-rubbing the en-tire airplane. “If there were any or-


1934 Waco YKC–SpecificationsLength 25 feet 4 inchesHeight 8 feet 6 inchesUpper wingspan 33 feet 3 inchesLower wingspan 28 feet 3 inchesChord 57 inchesAirfoil Clark YWeight empty 1,800 poundsUseful load 1,050 poundsPayload with 50 gallons fuel 550 poundsGross weight 2,850 poundsMax speed 149 mphCruise 130 mphLanding 50 mphClimb at sea level 850 fpmCeiling 15,500 feetGas capacity 50 gallons Oil capacity 4 gallonsCruising range 480 miles (at 14 gph)Price $6,450

Derived from Juptner’s U.S. Civil Aircraft, Vol. 6Note the turnbuckles which are used to fasten the cowling together .

The handsome window trim and wool upholstery .

The nickel plated handles and fixtures, and the neatly-stitched headliner .

The newly woven seatbelts were patterned after the original ones that came with the project .

This was the original seatbelt with the “Phoenix bird” design .

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ange peel or dry areas, we had to sand with 1000 wet or dry grit, and sometimes even 800 grit,” recalls Dave, adding, “then we’d work our way to 2500 grit before we used the rubbing compound.”

Upon examining an original rudder, they could see that the registration number had simply been masked and brushed. While looking for trim paint that could easily be brushed on, they discov-ered Sign Painters’ 1 Shot enamel. “We were out at Riverside, Califor-nia, and met Poly-Fiber specialist Hualdo Mendoza and his brother, and they were a huge help with the finish. We used 1 Shot to brush on all the cream trim, and then we found a wonderful guy, Rick Losh, to do the gold pinstriping and also the Great Seal and hand-lettering. I provided him with our rendition of the seal, as best we could tell from our research.” (The seal is a rather intricate design, and Dave and Jeanne invoked a bit of artistic license with it—in nearly micro-

scopic detail. But only those with an eye to the sky and fields may discern their creativity.)

Throughout the project, another member of their family was con-stantly in the shop, supervising Dave and Jeanne’s progress. One day, feline Milli just couldn’t resist lending her helping (or hindering) paws with the trim. “I had the fuse-lage on its side with a ladder beside it, and when I went to help a neigh-bor do something, Milli jumped up on the ladder and then onto the fu-selage,” recalls Dave with a wry grin, “and we had cream paw prints down the entire length of the fuselage!”

Interior Though worn and faded, the orig-

inal interior provided many clues and patterns. The side wall panels revealed a “feathered wings” stitched pattern, and the seat belts were in-tact with their original latches and “Phoenix bird” design woven into the strap. But the precise weave and color of the original wool fabric just

wasn’t available. “So we went abso-lutely crazy,” says Dave with a smile, “and through automotive restora-tion channels, we located a mill in Philadelphia to weave the fabric.”

The new interior was installed by Joe Smith of D&D Classic of Ohio. “He’s the best upholstery man in the business,” shares Dave, “and he was able to replicate the piping and wind lace exactly.”

The YKC offers pilot and passen-gers excellent in-flight visibility, via its five-panel windscreen and side and aft windows. A contoured origi-nal panel showcases instruments that were overhauled by Keystone and sports a lustrous faux wood finish. “We used a Grain-IT Tech-nologies kit; they supply the base coat and a gel-type roller, which you roll on an ‘ink pad’ and then onto a wood grain plate,” describes Dave, adding, “after you transfer the wood grain onto the metal panel and let it cure, you clear coat it. It’s not quite as easy as it sounds, but we enjoyed learning a new skill.”


MIKE STEINEKE

Perhaps the smallest detail of which Dave is proudest is the tiny colorful decal on the ash-tray, which resembles perhaps an art deco-style f lower or even a stylized propeller. “That is the correct decal,” he smiles, elabo-rating, “we were searching for a way to replicate it for a long time, and then fellow Waco enthusiast and model builder Tim Sherwood made the decal, and we put it on just before AirVenture.”

Fuel-Injected JacobsThe heart of this splendid bi-

plane is its powerplant. Instead of installing the original manu-ally greased Jacobs L-4, Dave and Jeanne decided to have Steve Curry of Radial Engines Ltd. in Okla-homa build a 275-hp fuel-injected Jacobs R-755B2M engine, which is the modern updated version of the L-4. Steve, who has been in the business for years, says, “This is the first Cabin Waco that has ever had a fuel-injected Jacobs. Externally, the engine looks very original; it was the first time that I had ever seen those [greaser style] baffles installed on an engine. They were very unusual, and they cool very well. Dave did not need to install an oil cooler, which is a little bit unusual, as tightly as it’s cowled.”

While the fuel-injected Jacobs is STC’d by Radial Engines, there isn’t an airframe STC for the Waco YKC. “So we got DER approval to install the airframe side, just by similarity to other Waco models that did have the STC. We test run the engine here, starting at idle and getting up to full power in 5.5 hours—but you really can’t run the GAMI lean test properly unless you’re flying,” Steve explains, “so during each f light, Dave and Jeanne would do GAMI lean testing. They’ve got a JPI En-gine Data Monitor 700-7C, so they’d

just plug a flash drive into it, and it downloaded all the data from the flights. They e-mailed that to us, and we’d analyze the data, which included CHT, EGT, time, rpm, manifold pressure, oil pressure, oil temperature, and outside temper-ature. Then we would send them some nozzles—it usually takes three or four attempts to get those dialed in just perfectly. A typical Ja-cobs engine will burn about 14 or 15 gph. On cool days, Dave can lean his back without loss of power to about 9.5 gph, which provides fuel savings and range increase as well.”

Dave spent a year fabricating the original style baffling, and he also devoted quite a bit of time to replicating an original small air box (as opposed to using the com-monly available but larger Cessna T-50 air box). To keep the cabin at a comfortable temperature, he made large air vents for ventilation, and successfully blocked excessive heat from the engine room by installing an original-style aluminum firewall on the cabin side, and a stainless steel firewall on the engine side. This provided ample room for in-sulation between the two, and a stainless steel plenum at the bot-tom of the firewall directs heated air down and out through the aft-facing louvers in the belly panel.

Dave says he is “absolutely happy” with the cabin’s comfort and the engine’s performance. “We think we’re going to do an honest 120 mph cruise,” he adds. “We’re at a high density altitude in Colo-rado—it’s routinely 10,000 feet, and the first flight demonstrated that we needed to switch props and install the Curtis-Reed, which made a tremendous difference.”

If We Can Do This. . . T houg h there were myr iad

hurdles and obstacles that arose

throughout the decade-long resto-ration, Dave reflects that “the most challenging aspect was the puzzle of assembling the biplane. It’s not a complex airplane, but even though we had the basic airframe, we still had to learn how everything was supposed to come together. For ex-ample, both the elevator and the rudder cables cross, and I had to figure out how to route them.”

But overall, he declares ada-mantly, “If we can do this, any-one can. Simply put: If you want a Waco, you can build a Waco. It takes no special skill or talent or equipment. It really doesn’t; that’s the beautiful thing about Wacos—they have very few castings or forg-ings. But it does take tenacity and the ability to establish priorities. You have to have desire and per-sistence—but don’t try to get your arms around the whole thing at once. Just enjoy and learn what-ever process you’re doing at the time. Then move on to the next one. Speaking of the next one—we may be crazy, but we’ve got a Waco RNF project after this.”

Of course, it always helps to have plenty of support and resources during a project of this magni-tude. “Our IA, Jamie Treat, was most helpful throughout the res-toration. In our opinion, having a good relationship with your IA is critical. So many people have helped us,” shares Dave, “but I give Jeanne all the credit, because none of this would have happened without her.”

Reflecting on their project and flying in general, Jeanne shares with a gracious smile, “The Waco people are so great for helping and encour-aging us, and I’m sure other type clubs are the same way. And we’ve had so many adventures through our flying. That’s really what flying does; it gives you another dimen-sion of life.” Well said, Jeanne.


Meyers 200B, N489C, was born in Tecumseh, Michigan, in a tiny building (10,000 square feet) that seemed more like Geppetto’s workshop, alive with hand-done craftsmanship, than an aircraft factory. It was the fourth produc-tion bird to be built, and in fact, its original birth certificate reads

Meyers 200A even though it’s now a 200B. However, what appears to be a glitch in its birth certificate does not mean that it’s an orphan child. Rather, it means that it’s a very lucky child of aviation: Some-time in the 1960s, the owner flew the airplane with the propeller bolts only finger tight. It flew for

almost three hours before winding up on its belly in a field. When re-turned to those who created it for rebuild, it was upgraded to 200B standards, all of which worked very much to the benefit of John Lyon in Los Angeles, the pres-ent owner, who many years later sorted out the paperwork and got


Meyers 200B

John Lyon’s classic speed demonBudd Davisson


it redesignated as 200B. A Con-tinental IO-520A of 285 hp was installed in place of the original 260-hp IO-470 during the rebuild.

“When I found the airplane at Montgomery Field in San Diego in 1976, it was covered with sheets and was really in excellent condi-tion,” he remembers. “It had been

sitting for a while but needed very little work. That would all come much later, after I’d put quite a bit of time on it. In fact, when I bought it, it had 2,100 hours on it. Now it has over 4,500 hours. So, it hasn’t been a hangar queen.”

Born and raised in Tulsa, Okla-homa, John says his dad, a WWII

Navy vet, was always starting new businesses, and he moved the fam-ily to Ruidoso, New Mexico, to start a café because “. . . it had 26 bars but only one restaurant.” Eventually, they wound up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where his dad provided se-curity and other services to the AEC during A-bomb tests.

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“When we lived in Tulsa, my granddad would take me to the air-port, and we’d sit on the roof ter-race of the cafeteria of the Spartan School of Aviation and watch the airliners,” John says. “I was collect-ing baggage tags at the time. Even then I knew I wanted to fly, but most of the other towns we moved to didn’t have airports. So, I didn’t get back to aviation until much later, when I’d graduated Harvard

Law School and was in-house coun-sel for a company in New York City. A friend was taking lessons at the now-gone Ramapo Valley Airport that was a little west and north of the city. One day, he asked me if I wanted to come along. I was just standing around just watching when a guy asked me if I wanted to get a close look at an airplane. Be-fore I knew it, we were racing down the runway, and we were barely in the air before I was totally hooked! I started taking lessons right then and there.

“I was flying the Meyers out of Van Nuys, when in 1988, I decided it was time for a complete restora-tion. It was still flying fine, but it was time to look inside of it. I hired mostly freelance mechanics, and we took everything off the airplane that didn’t take a cutting torch to remove. I was pleasantly surprised to find no corrosion at all. In fact, the Meyers guys had shot most of the rivets wet, so they were build-ing it for the long run with safety

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John Lyon and the Flabob Connection

As a businessman and lawyer, John moved to Los Angeles, where his circle of flying friends expanded to include, among others, Tom Wathen.

“I checked Tom out in his newly acquired Meyers 200, when both of our Meyers were based at Van Nuys,” says John. “In fact, Tom generously let me fly his 200 during the six years it took me to rebuild my own airplane.

“Tom and I later worked on setting up his foundation, the Tom Wathen Center, dedicated to providing education through aviation. In 2000 I was helping Tom look for a place where the Tom Wathen Center could do its work. One candidate was Flabob Airport, and I heard some rumors which prompted me to call Tom in France, where he was on his honeymoon. Tom asked me to go find out what was going on and to take his stepson Doug who was a real estate expert. Doug and I went to Flabob, where we learned that the owners were go-ing to sign sale papers the next morning to sell the airport to developers who would scrape it and build houses. We said that Tom would match the offer and keep it as an airport, and Doug wrote a deposit check. He called Tom at one in the morning (French time) and said, ‘Good news! You now own an airport.’ He also asked Tom to transfer some funds the next morning to cover the rubber deposit check he had written.

“Like so many others, I’ve always considered Flabob to be the pilot’s form of paradise. In fact, I now have a sec-ond home adjoining the Flabob Airport, with a hangar in the backyard, where the Meyers lives most of the time. It’s every boy’s dream. Not the one with Gina Lollobrigida in it, the other one with the airplane in the backyard.”


being first and speed second. “Every piece of glass had to go, and the doors

needed a lot of work to make them fit better. The main doorframe is fiberglass, and every piece of metal around it is a compound curve. So, getting the door to fit perfectly takes a lot of work. Meyers’ doors were originally hand formed, so every one is slightly different. We spent a lot of time getting all of that set right.

“There are four fuel tanks in the center section and outer wings that are suspended in straps. They are thin and prone to cracking, so every one of those had to be gone through. The same thing was true of the landing gear. It pivots in Oilite bush-ings, so every 600 or 700 landings the entire gear has to be re-bushed.

“The elevator trim is a vernier knob on the panel, so a Bowden cable runs all the way to the tail where it drives a screw jack. That has to be watched care-fully and lubed at least every five years. That goes for a lot of really early parts, which at this stage of the game are over half a century old. You have to maintain them. This includes things like the hy-

John Lyon

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Al Meyers is one of those aviation pioneers who came out of the 1930s that blazed a trail well into the 1950s and beyond. Unfortunately, not many folks know his name today, which is a shame. The three aircraft designs that bear his name are near-cult objects to those who know or own them, because their quality, performance, and reputations put them in a class of their own.

It’s a curious fact that exactly when America was in a well-developed economic tailspin, aviation spawned one entrepreneur after another. It’s often overlooked that names such as Cessna, Beech, Stearman, Mooney, and many others were actually the names of men who left giant aviation concerns to establish aircraft compa-nies of their own, even though the Depression was in full swing. Al Meyers was one of those. After stints with Chance Vought, Glenn Martin, and Stinson Aircraft (all of which also carry the names of their entrepreneurial founders), he set up his own company in Michigan. His specialty was designing aircraft that had a number of unique features, with safety, performance, and reliability being the keynotes throughout.

The first of those aircraft was the OTW biplane of 1939, which supposedly had the honor of being the only Civil Pilot Training aircraft never to kill a student. It is also likely to be the only all-aluminum structure biplane (fabric wings) ever certified.

The war behind him, Meyers’ creative business streak saw him applying what he knew about aluminum fabri-cation to building boats. Where the anticipated boom in light aircraft had led many aviation companies off on a wild goose chase, which resulted in scores of bankrupt-cies, Meyers’ boat business flourished. He had tapped into a goal many returning veterans had on their minds: They didn’t want to go flying; they wanted to go fishing.

Meyers’ boating success gave him the financial lati-tude to get back into designing what he knew and loved best—airplanes. But rather than evolving something out of the OTW, he looked around at the sleek designs other

companies were produc ing and d e c i d e d to d o them one bet-ter. The f irst of th os e de s i gns f l e w i n 1 9 4 7, the two-place 125/145 was of l i m i t e d p r o -duc tion (only 22 were built), but they la id t h e g r o u n d -w o r k fo r h i s fire-breathing 200 of 1958. Here was an airplane that promised (and delivered) a cruise speed of 200-plus mph, which the competition couldn’t touch. In fact, for the next decade, as the design went through a variety of owners, it became the darling of the racing set and established a number of records, culminating with Don Washburn clocking 239 mph over a 3-kilometer course in a bone-stock 200D, the final production version of the airplane. At the time, it was the fastest normally aspirated, reciprocating aircraft in certified production. Even today there are few that can beat it, and most of those are turbocharged.

A purebred, the Meyers had a serious Achilles heel, nonetheless: It was complicated (read that as “expen-sive”) to build. The basic structure that made it so strong and has yet to see an AD against it didn’t lend itself to mass production. The cabin and center section from main

Meyers 200: A History

The chronology of the production breed reads as follows. Note that sources of production num-bers vary.

Meyers Production200 – single prototype with 230-hp O-470200A – 8 to 11 built, 260-hp Continental IO-470 200B – 13 to 17 built, slight structural improve-ments, higher-limit speeds200C – 7 to 9 built, raised roofline and larger wind-shield200D – 4 to 8 built, 285-hp Continental IO-520A, flush-riveted wings

Aero Commander production200 – 77 to 83 built (approximately), same as 200D


draulic selector valve, landing gear scissors, and anything that moves or rotates.”

Like so many airplanes of the time, there was a rotating beacon mounted on the vertical fin that “. . . was really big! I mean big! So, we got a 337 to put that smaller one on. At the same time, we 337’d a new set of wingtips for it.”

One of the biggest advantages to John’s airplane having spent some time lying on its belly in a cornfield and going back to Meyers to be re-paired and upgraded was that its new “B” model status meant it was eligible for installation of an auto-pilot, so John added a Century III coupled to the new KLN 89B GPS.

The real strong suit of the Mey-ers is, and always has been, the fact that it’s one of the fastest—if not the fastest—normally aspi-rated single-engine aircraft (civil-

ian) ever built. Certainly, when it was produced, it was the fastest. At cruise, they claim well over 200 mph (174 knots), but John says, “I generally get about 167 knots (192 mph) at 65 percent and 14.5 gph. It’ll go a lot faster, but I see no rea-son to burn that much gas.”

With that kind of speed, when he was rebuilding it, he concen-trated on making sure it was not only comfortable but equipped for the A-to-B mission for which the airplane was designed.

“ We c o m p l e t e l y re d i d t h e panel,” he says, “but didn’t get crazy with the layout. It’s pretty much what 200s had in the early ’60s, because the 1958 layout was a little scattered. So, now I’m fly-ing with the very latest and great-est 1990 had to offer. And it all works perfectly! No reason to fix what doesn’t need fixing.”

gear to main gear was 4130 tubing with all the external sheet metal at-tached to it; so the parts count was high, and it required more handwork than a straight monocoque structure would have needed.

Al Meyers had a dedicated group of craftsmen who literally hand-built each airplane. They had only temporary, one-piece-at-a-time jigs and tooling, which worked fine for them because they were build-ing to order. When someone wrote a check, they built an airplane. The result of that approach was that ev-ery one of the approximately 30 to 40 planes to come out of his little plant was literally custom built with no two exactly the same. However, when North American–Rockwell’s Aero Commander division bought it in 1965, intending to cut costs through mass production, it found it had bit off more than it could chew. High-production tooling/jigs didn’t exist, and in the process of building the 77 to 83 aircraft to come off its line, a lot of money was spent trying to tool up to the usual Aero Commander stan-dards. Unfortunately, it just couldn’t get the labor costs down, so it shut the production line down in 1967.

The exact number of Meyers 200s produced is a little fuzzy, but 115 to 130 is close. The number still surviv-ing is also hidden in the haze of his-tory, but most assume something like 100 of the total production still exist, which has to be one of the highest survivor-to-production ratios of any aircraft produced. This is a testimony to the airplane’s tanklike construc-tion and flight characteristics. It ’s one of the few production airplanes in history never to have a single air-worthiness directive on its structure. It also formed the basis for the 400-hp Intercepter 400, the first certified, pressurized turboprop single-engine aircraft, which sadly never went into full production.

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It only takes a casual glance at the cockpit to see that the uphol-stery, although having seen use since the rebuild, still looks like new. It’s during this examination that the overall visibility from inside of the airplane is noticed: It has complete 360-degree vis-ibility, almost as if it has a bubble canopy but without the sun glar-ing down on you.

“When we painted the airplane, we used a late Meyers’ scheme but picked cabin Waco colors,” John says. “It is all Fitch paint: Sunproof

Red, Dark Red, and Las Vegas Gold. For this rea-son, I call the airplane The Red Menace.”

When it comes to fly-ing, John says the aile-rons feel a little heavy but that the response is faster than most aircraft of the type. The stability is such that the autopilot is almost never turned on because the airplane will go straight ahead al-most indefinitely.

On takeoff, he says, “It definitely needs some

right rudder even before leaving the ground. With a span of only 30 feet 6 inches, the wing is shorter than some in the category, which is where some of the speed comes from, but it gets off fine. However, it wants some speed before it’ll begin really climbing. Still, even though it’s re-ally fast, the stalls are incredibly be-nign. It doesn’t have a mean bone in its body. Every Meyers 200 had hand-tuned, individually adjusted stall strips. When stalled from any attitude, so long as the ball is cen-tered, it will roll wings-level.”

Since it is such a high-perfor-mance airplane, it’s easy to as-sume that the landings are critical and you’ll be coming down final at fighter speeds. Not so, according to John.

“I f ly final at 80 knots with a little power,” he says. “The landing gear is really dirty and can be used as speed brakes because it can be lowered as high as 145 knots. It’s hard to believe how easy it is to slow the airplane down for the ap-proach, considering how fast it is. And it’s so stable on approach, you feel as if you’re in an airliner.

“I like to see 70 knots over the fence, and it squats onto the mains really easily. Also the fact that the nose tire is the same size as the mains means it ’s happier than some high-performance tri-gears on unimproved surfaces.”

The Meyers 200 is one of those machines, not unlike “D” Jaguars or other exotics, that doesn’t ap-peal to everyone. But those who feel the mechanical arrow through their hearts could have nothing else. So, don’t look for a “for sale” sign on John Lyon’s Meyers 200B anytime soon.

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I was just a 9-year-old kid in 1959, helping my dad, Harry Pedersen, rebuild B on anz a s at the R u sk County Airport in Tony, Wisconsin. He had started

a Bonanza rebuilding business in 1957 at this small airport that had two sod runways, a gas pump, and a very small building that served as the office for the airport manager, Elmer Wisherd.

My dad had a beautiful blue and white 1949 A-35 Bonanza that he had rebuilt using parts from 11 dif-ferent wrecked Bonanzas while he

was still living in California and decided to sell it in late 1959 as he was rebuilding another Bonanza for himself at the time. In Decem-ber of 1959 a farmer from the Withee, Wisconsin, area drove up to Tony with his wife to look at the Bonanza. He had already looked at other planes, but his wife didn’t like any of them. After he looked over the Bonanza he brought his wife into the cold unheated hangar to see the Bonanza, and she took one look at it and told her husband that this was the plane he could buy as she liked the looks of it and

the paint colors. The buyer and my dad then

began negotiating on the deal. My dad was a horse trader, so to speak, and this fellow had a 1946 Champ that he wanted to trade as a down payment on the Bonanza. My dad agreed to trade as he was always trading Luscombes, Cessna 120/140s, Champs, and Chiefs any time he could make a little money on the deal. Being only 9 years old, I couldn’t understand why my dad was so excited about trading off a beautiful Bonanza for a lowly old Champ.

Part 1, Aeronca 7AC Champ NC1585ERichard “Dick” Pedersen

photos courtesy author

TheOther Member

of Our Family


The ChampNC1585E was a 1946 7AC in

original condition with the orig-inal fabric on it yet and had only 180 hours’ total time on it when the former owner flew it up to the Rusk County Airport on Decem-ber 29, 1959, to pick up the Bo-nanza. The Champ was 13 years old at this point, and as Champs went, it looked like the average Champ to me, and I still had a hard time un-derstanding my dad trading off a beautiful and fast Bonanza with a new leather interior and shiny new paint for such an old and slow rag bag as this Champ. Airplanes that were 13 years old back in 1959 were considered old, and if they had 700 to 800 hours on them they were considered high time. Little did I know back then as a kid that this would be the plane that I would solo in, and close to 50 years later I would be totally restoring it, while still at the Rusk County Airport, owning and running the Bonanza maintenance business myself.

This Champ first took to the air on September 16, 1946, from the Aeronca factory at Middletown, Ohio, with H.J. Rosing at the con-trols for the 30-minute test flight.

The Champ’s fuselage before the finishing touches .

The Champ’s fuselage painted .


On September 20 and 21, 1946, 85E made the ferry flight from Ohio to Wisconsin logging seven hours and 25 minutes. On September 29 the first owner, V.S. Lewandowski, received a checkout flight in his new plane. The Champ appears to have only been annualed every other year until March 16, 1950. That was the last flight before 85E was put into long-term storage, with only 119 hours’ total time.

If I remember the story cor-rect ly, Mr. L ewandowski was an Aeronca dealer and had this Champ and a new Chief that he couldn’t sell so he put them into storage until he could find buyers for them. On July 5, 1957, 85E re-ceived its third annual inspection, this time by Don Woods from the CAA GSDO-21 office. 85E was ap-parently sold to Roland Misfeldt, the farmer from Withee, Wiscon-sin, at this time. She logged 61 hours from that annual in 1957 until my dad took over ownership on December 29, 1959.

The Champ turned out to be my father’s “hangar queen.” He always had it for sale but kept the price high on it, and when a buyer would come to look at it and seemed re-ally interested the price would go up several hundred dollars. Several hundred dollars back then was like several thousand dollars today. He didn’t fly her all that much, just fun flying and looking for deer in the winter time for the Wisconsin Con-servation Department when the deer would yard up due to the deep snow we would get back then. I can remember freezing my butt off in the back seat as my dad would circle the deer yards for what seemed like hours to me. I would climb out after we landed, frozen stiff, with a split-ting headache and queasy stomach from the noise, vibrations, and con-stant circling he would do at low al-

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titudes. But by the next weekend I would be ready to go again. And once again would arrive back at RCX an hour later frozen and nauseated. One would think I would have given up on flying after riding in this old Champ so many times, but some-thing was starting to kindle a fire in me about 85E.

OverturnedOne May evening in 1962 when

my dad came home from working at the airport, he had a more seri-ous than normal look on his face. He said he had some bad news about the airport. The night be-fore there had been some storms that ripped through parts of Rusk County, and the airport was one of the hardest hit areas. A bunch of planes were damaged, and some of the hangars were blown down. The T-hangar that his Champ was

in was one of the hangars that was down, and the Champ was lying upside down on top of what was left of the hangar.

I had been in school that day and wanted to go out to the airport af-ter supper and see what had hap-pened, but my dad had already flipped the Champ back over onto its landing gear and had moved it into his big Quonset hangar. I knew this was going to be a proj-ect my dad would have to rebuild as the Champ wasn’t damaged as badly as one would think. The aft fuselage by the vertical fin was twisted somewhat, the rudder was damaged as well as two wing spars and a bunch of wing ribs. Surpris-ingly, none of the original windows or the windshield were damaged as the wood prop somehow turned to the vertical position when the Champ was picked up and turned over in the strong winds.

My dad always left the prop in the horizontal position when the Champ was stored, but fortunately it somehow rotated to the vertical position before the plane landed on top of the remains of the han-gar, which prevented more dam-age from happening to the wings, windshield, upper fuselage, and cowling. The prop tip didn’t even get damaged, but there was a bad gouge on the forward side of one of the wood blades.

My dad started the rebuild on 85E almost immediately and bought two new wood spars for the right wing from the Champion Air-craft factory in Osceola, Wisconsin, and a section of aft fuselage and a rudder from a damaged Champ in Pipestone, Minnesota. He repaired a bunch of the wing ribs, replaced some leading edge sections, and re-covered the entire plane in Irish linen and butyrate dope.

Not much else exciting hap-

Engine installation .

Cowling .


pened with 85E until July 9, 1965. This was the day of my first dual instruction with Elmer Wisherd as my flight instructor. 85E was never used for pilot training so it was a new experience for both of us, al-though I’m sure 85E caught on to what we were trying to do faster than I did. My flying lessons were sporadic as I was only 15 at the time and Elmer would work me in between all of his other students, his A&P work, and airport man-ager duties. He would come over to my dad’s shop and holler in the door, “Has he done enough rivet-ing to earn another hour of dual?” Of course my dad would always say yes as he wanted to see me con-tinue an active interest in avia-tion, which by this point in my life I knew what I wanted to do, and it all involved aviation. On February 13, 1966, I had a flying lesson I will never forget.

There wasn’t much snow that winter and the Flambeau River forms a large flowage just off the departure end of Runway 32, and there is a 60-foot bank at the end of 32 that drops down to the flow-age. The lack of normal snowfall that winter along with some high winds had swept the entire flowage free of snow, leaving smooth, bare ice on the entire flowage. Elmer and I were departing on 32 on my fourth lesson, and we were almost at the departure end of 32 when Elmer chopped the power and hol-lered “force landing.” I instinctively dropped the nose somewhat to maintain 60 mph while making a slight turn to the left to better line up with the flowage. I made a half-way decent landing on the glare ice, and I had let the Champ slow down to what would have been a normal taxi speed when Elmer hol-lered forward to me to try and turn around so we could take off going

the other way. I put the Champ into a gentle left turn and we slid sideways for quite a ways across the ice until Elmer gunned the 65-hp Continental several times and got us pointing in the right direc-tion for takeoff. Then we would take off and climb up about 200 feet and chop the power and land again, and shoot touch-and-goes all the way down the flowage un-til we got close to the other end of the flowage, then Elmer would take over and make a low-level 180 and give the plane back to me for some more touch-and-go practice all the way down the flowage again. We did this for almost an hour to sharpen up my landing skills, and I was having a blast but the setting sun ended this fun flying all too soon. I had to climb back up to land at RCX as the “official” runway was 60 feet above us.

SoloOn August 3, 1966, I soloed 85E

after seven hours of dual instruc-tion. The Champ flew much better without all the extra weight in the back seat and was also much qui-eter without all the hollering com-

ing from the back seat. I flew 85E solo for a little over a month, and then 85E didn’t get f lown much after that as we always had late model Musketeers and Bonanzas to fly after rebuilding them. During this same time period, my father had acquired a large parcel of land in the woods north of Tony, Wis-consin, and he and I built a 3,000-foot sod runway and hangared the Champ there for many years. Also during this time period I had started my own collection of planes so the Champ was now a real han-gar queen that didn’t get out much. Unfortunately for 85E the hangar it sat in for many years was in the woods, and the mice and red squir-rels were always a problem. They seemed to like 85E, and no matter what we tried using to keep them out of the wings never seemed to work. The mice would roll the mothballs around in the wings for nightly entertainment, and Decon was like candy to them; in fact, they would even eat the card-board box that it came in. Mouse-traps would have to be tied with wire to something on the outside of the plane; otherwise, they would


sometimes crawl further into the wing after they sprung the trap, which made retrieval of the trap a problem. The Champ didn’t get an-nualed on a regular yearly schedule during this period, and whenever I would feel the need to annual it I would have to cut more inspec-tion holes in the wings to remove mouse nests and to check for cor-rosion and chewing damage. It got to the point that there were more inspection holes in the bottoms of the wings than are now required by AD 00-25-02R1 for the wood spar inspections. The wings looked as if they had been shot with a shot-gun several times and patched with metal inspection covers.

On January 30, 1986, the Peder-sen family suffered a tremendous loss. Harry Pedersen passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on that cold winter afternoon. Even though I had enough planes of my own at the time, I knew what I had to do to keep 85E in the Pedersen family as my father had wished. I bought 85E from my dad’s estate that year, and I also earned my IA rating that same summer. 85E was out of annual by several years, so later that summer I went through the Champ rather closely to deter-mine just how bad it was internally. It still had the fabric on it that my dad put on in 1962, and it still tested good as he had used lots of silver and dope when he re-covered it, and it had been hangared all of its life. I replaced the rudder cables, brake cables, air filter, and had Maxwell Prop Shop in Minneapolis

recondition the prop and magna-flux and cad plate the prop bolts. 85E had 609 hours’ total time at this point. My dad never tried for an IA rating so up until now 85E had been annualed by some of the best-known IAs in northern Wisconsin, including Leon Loo-mis from the Mondovi area, Ken Maxwell from Minneapolis, John Kevari from Ironwood, Michigan, John Hatz from Gleason, Wiscon-sin, and Elmer Wisherd from Tony. This was about the only time that 85E would fly outside of the Wis-consin borders; otherwise, it has spent most of its entire life in Rusk County in northern Wisconsin.

Champ RestorationI didn’t f ly 85E very much af-

ter purchasing it as I had an RV-3, 1 9 4 9 T- 8 F L u s c o m b e , 1 9 7 0 Mooney M10 Cadet, and a 1980 Varga Kachina that I had either built from scratch or had bought wrecked and rebuilt. After sell-ing my father’s house and land, I was running out of places to keep my planes, so I had to sell a few of them as I needed the hangar space to run my Bonanza business in. On August 31, 1998, I took my last ride in 85E for a while. The Champ had 670 hours’ TT on it at that time, and I had decided that now was the time to totally restore it. I pushed it into the shop and argued with myself if I should just restore the wings now and then a year or two later do the tail feathers and then the fuselage later yet, or just bite the bullet and do a complete

restoration now. After totally disassembling it, I

pulled out my knife and proceeded to cut the fabric off of everything. Now I was committed. I got a sur-prise as I was cutting the fabric off one of the ailerons in that it still had Grade A fabric on it, not the Irish linen that my dad had used back in 1962. Was this still the original 1946 fabric, or had my dad simply ran out of Irish linen and used a piece of Grade A? I was quite sure it was still the original fabric. I knew this would be a long-term project as I wanted to put it all back to original, and I had never tried my hand at fabric work. I had been a sheet metal guy all of my life. Plus I needed to keep the Bonanza busi-ness going, and that business was getting harder to keep up with as time passed. Due to the business, I could only work on the Champ project during the winter months when I would take time off to do things that I wanted to do for my-self such as restoring/rebuilding rare airplanes and finishing the in-terior of my new house.

The wood spar damage and the chewed-up rib lacing were the main reasons for starting this restoration project. I started restoring the fuse-lage first by stripping the fuselage down to the frame, then sandblast-ing the tubing and epoxy priming with a water-based product that I thought would be safer to use. Lit-tle did I know at the time that this would be a mistake and cost me some time in the future. After prim-ing the fuselage tubing I moved on to


the wings as I had hauled them home to my basement workshop. While I was tearing the wings apart there were some rumors starting about a wood spar AD that might be com-ing out in the future. I found the name of the FAA person responsi-ble for the proposed AD and called him to see what he thought the problem was and what the require-ments of the AD would be. I needed new spars, all four of them, as two were the original 1946 spars yet and the other two were the two that my dad had replaced when he rebuilt the Champ. All four spars had chew-ing damage on them on the bot-tom edges. They could have possibly been saved by splicing in a new piece, but the splice would have to run al-most the entire length of the spars. I had my mind made up already that I would be buying four new spars, but I was undecided if I wanted to buy four new wood spars or spend even more money and buy the Mil-man STC’d aluminum spar kit that was available. The wood spars were the reason for the restoration, and with a possible AD coming out on wood spars I finally decided to go the Milman route even though I knew the aluminum spars would add 10 pounds to the empty weight.

After I opened up the box that the spars arrived in and inspected all the pieces that came with the spars, I knew I had made the right choice. The spars were beautifully made and came with all the neces-sary spacer blocks and hardware required to slide the old wood spars out of the ribs and slide the new aluminum spars into place. Ev-erything you needed to complete the project was there as it was a very well-thought-out kit. I only had one complaint about the kit, and that was with the instruction sheets. I called Milman to complain about the instruction sheet print

being way too small to see and easily read, and the good folks at Milman were already working on making the instruction sheets and drawings to a larger scale. Those of you who are laughing right now, just wait a few more years and you will know what I’m talking about.

I replaced all of the leading edge skins with new ones that I fabri-cated, rebuilt all the ribs that had some corrosion damage on them from the mice, installed a few new ribs to replace some that had been patched by my dad after the tor-nado damage but didn’t look real nice, installed new aileron bearings and aileron cables, and rebuilt the ailerons by installing new leading edges and trailing edges to both of them. Before assembling the wings, I etched and epoxy-primed all the pieces using Poly-Fiber primer. Next I sandblasted the fu-selage tubing for the second time,

as I had noticed several months after priming it the first time the year before that the white paint on the tubing was taking on a snake skin color with blotches of a darker color starting to appear.

I contacted the water-based paint folks, and they suspected that the tubing was rusting under the primer and wanted me to send them a sample of the paint that was discoloring on the tubing. When I scraped off a sample, I knew right away that they were right. After sandblasting the fuselage again, I epoxy-primed it with Poly-Fiber primer this time, and didn’t have any more problems. Fortunately the rust under the water-based primer was just minor surface rust, and it cleaned up quite easily. Ev-erything I primed from then on, steel or aluminum, was primed with Poly-Fiber products. See Part 2 in the May/June issue of Vintage Airplane


Different national holidays mean different things to different people. If one were to ask 12 people about Labor Day and what it means to them, one would probably get 12 different answers. To many it might be to celebrate yet another day free from the daily grind of their work. For others, it connotes the close of the boating season, the start of school, and hamburgers on the grill. To be sure, the summer is winding down. However, to a Stear-man aficionado, it can only mean one thing: the start of the National Stearman Fly-In at Galesburg, Il-linois. This fly-in was started some 43 years ago by Tom Lowe and Jim Leahy and has continued to grow and gather momentum over the

years. One might ask why such an unlikely place as Galesburg to hold a fly-in such as this? I think the only substantive answer is that it was close to where they both lived. However, the reason it continues to be held there, with attendees from all over the country, as well as several from Canada and Europe, is the spirit of the citizens of Gales-burg and the surrounding towns. This is no ordinary fly-in. At most of the larger fly-ins I attend, once I am safely on the ground, I tie my airplane down and do not plan to fly it again until I am ready to leave. That is certainly not the case here. Every day is filled with care-fully planned events, to include seminars, f ly-outs to neighbor-

ing communities, and socializing. Stearman people are, on the whole, pretty accepting. One friend of mine attended several years ago flying a C-182. Nobody thumbed their nose at him because he was not flying a Stearman, and he was included in all of the seminars and social events he desired to attend. In fact, he enjoyed it so much that he attended the next year, as well, still in the C-182.

This doesn’t all just happen. The citizens of the community are a powerful force all year long to make each fly-in better than the one that was held the previous year. The level of volunteerism among the citizenry is simply something to behold. They run flightline tours,

The NationalStearman Fly-In

A big kid’s Christmas!Harry G. Ballance Jr.photos courtesy author


they make coffee for the attend-ees, they drive courtesy vans to and from the hotels, and they will graciously do just about anything else that is reasonable. I can recall a situation some years ago where a hapless pilot was stuck with a punctured tailwheel tube. One of the volunteers took the tube into town and had it repaired—to FAA standards, of course. Throughout the year there are several fundrais-ing events in Galesburg that offset some of the costs of the fly-in. Per-haps the largest such event is the annual golf tournament. What this means to the Stearman pilot is that it costs nothing to attend this fly-in. In fact, the FBO even gives each Stearman a quantity of free fuel. When is the last time you ever got paid to attend a fly-in?

There are several of us from the Atlanta area who try and f ly up there in a “gaggle.” It is just more fun that way, and there is some safety factor if one of the air-planes has mechanical problems. Sometimes we take two days to make the trip, and sometimes we can make it in one, if the weather and winds are favorable. It is a long one-day trip, however. We try and arrive on a Saturday or Sunday, even though the event does not really start until a free barbecue—hosted by the citi-zens of Galesburg—on Monday

evening. This gives us some slack time in the event of bad weather en route. This event only happens once a year, and no Stearman pilot would want to miss a single day of it. As we cross the Ohio River into Illinois, the countryside changes dramatically. The harsh coal strip mines of Kentucky give way to neat farms, organized along the section lines, all displaying var-ious colors of crops, depending whether or not it is corn or soy-beans, and whether or not they have been harvested. This is truly some of the most beautiful coun-try I have ever seen. However, just because one is in Illinois, does not mean that one is in Galesburg. Illinois is a long, skinny state, and there is still a lot of f lying left before we arrive at our ulti-

mate destination. As we approach Galesburg, I get sort of a “giddy with excitement” or anxious feel-ing in my stomach, even after fly-ing professionally all of my adult life. As we enter the traffic pat-tern, we are rewarded by a choice of two nicely maintained turf run-ways. Stearmans, lest the reader forget, do not behave very well on a hard surface runway. After roll-ing out and taxiing to the parking area, we are rewarded by the sight of row after row of Stearmans. In spite of what Thomas Wolfe said, we are “home” again. There are a couple of events for those who ar-rive early. Kewanee, Illinois, hosts a fly-out breakfast, while the city of Galesburg holds a Labor Day parade and asks those of us in at-tendance to fly over. One year the


briefing included the directive “. . . the citizens of Galesburg like air-plane noise, so fly low and make plenty of it.” At the barbecue sup-per on Monday evening, we see old friends from previous years: Stearman pilots as well as many of the volunteers with whom we have developed a close friendship over the years of having attended this event. Old men and not-so-old women brimming with excite-ment catching up on the events of the past year, like teenagers at a soda fountain after the first day of school.

Tuesday morning most of us arise early, only to hear “Old Bob” Siegfried out on “dawn patrol.” He takes off before dawn, climbs up to an unreasonable altitude consider-ing the temperature and the stan-dard adiabatic lapse rate, and sees

his first sunrise of the day. Then he slips down a couple of thousand feet and sees the second sunrise, finally catching a third one as he lands. It is not every day one can see three sunrises, particularly from an open-cockpit biplane.

Typically, there is no official fly-out on Tuesday, so a lot of the Georgia contingent, with other in-terlopers, fly to the Amana Colo-nies in nearby Iowa for lunch. We land on a beautifully manicured, level and wide, turf crop duster strip, owned and maintained by a real nice guy named John Thomp-son. You just have to experience it to believe it. This is some of the most beautiful real estate in the world. If the winters were not so harsh, I suspect the price of land would be higher than that of Palm Springs. After a walk into town,

shopping for the wives among us as well as those who stayed behind to tend the home fires, and a boun-tiful midday repast, we all lumber back to our airplanes and head back to Galesburg. Supper that eve-ning is in the nearby town of Mon-mouth, at a really good restaurant, loaded with airplane parapherna-lia, called Cerar’s Barnstormer. Wednesday holds more seminars, from anything to airplane rigging to basic aerobatics, and then a brief flight to nearby Kewanee for lunch. In the afternoon there is an aero-batic contest, and then we are left to our own devices to dine at the many restaurants in Galesburg. Thursday brings another round of seminars, then a lunch trip to Geneseo, Illinois. This, again, is a beautiful grass runway, carved out of a cornfield, complete with corn growing on either side of the runway. A lot of the formation groups are honing their skills for the contest on Saturday, and early lunch arrivals can watch their ar-rival. You really don’t understand how good corn on the cob can be until you have experienced it fresh from an Illinois cornfield. Another event of interest, in terms of “giv-ing back” to the local community, is visiting the local schools. Typ-ically, multiple teams of two will visit several classrooms and tell the kids about Stearmans, their careers, what led them to become pilots, and answer just about any airplane-related question the kids throw at them. Thursday evening the Stearman Restorers Associa-tion hosts a complimentary pizza supper. Friday there are short-field takeoff, flour bombing, and spot landing contests. There is no offi-cial fly-out, but a local family that is heavily involved in aviation, the Wolfords, hosts a fly-out to their farm, just a short distance south.

Pete Smart, Cal Tax, Jim Ratliff and Harry Ballance refueling in Tullahoma, TN .


This really is a runway carved out of a cornfield. It is beyond the power of the written word to describe the Stearmans lined up in neat rows next to various farm buildings and equipment against a background of corn-stalks. It is also fun to climb on top of one of the big grain storage bins and watch the arrivals, impromptu aerobatic displays, and departures. Friday night there is another banquet, if you will, in the Jet Air hangar as well as a speaker who is of interest to the Stearman segment of our society.

Saturday, regrettably, is the last day of the fly-in. Typically there is a dawn patrol to a nearby city, last year Burlington, Iowa. Participants take off at official sunrise and venture to the breakfast destination. Af-ter returning, the afternoon is filled with formation contests, all of which are pretty impressive. There is another supper that evening, and most of the par-ticipants are rather melancholy that another week of doing what we like best is rapidly drawing to a close. Sunday morning the NSFI holds a farewell breakfast, again in the Jet Air hangar. Most of the pilots load up, knowing that this will most probably be the only substantive meal they have until their arrival at their home airport. The measure of local support is very gratifying, as a lot of the locals drop by to wish us a safe trip home and thank us for attending their event. We typically try and make the trip to Atlanta in one day, with only two fuel stops, which is doable if there is a slight tailwind. There have been times, however, when the weather precluded our even making it out of the state of Illinois on the first day. Such is the nature of flying the older airplanes. Kids look forward to Christ-mas. Big kids, like me, look forward to the National Stearman Fly-In. Don’t miss it, even if you have to drive. Only 6 more months to Galesburg!

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T he nondescript envelope was waiting for me after a four-day weather-filled trip with my airline. Too

tired to open the rest of the bills and bank statements that awaited me on my return home late that eve-ning, I busied myself with the rou-tine tasks of putting away my roller bag, overcoat, and hat while nursing a beer. My eye caught the envelope again sporting a United States of America postage stamp; the return address was Atlanta, Georgia. In our age of e-mail, text messaging, and social media this handwritten piece of mail spoke of a different, simpler time—an era when waiting for a re-sponse to correspondence was mea-sured in weeks or months rather than mere moments. At the same time as my bed called, my curiosity

got the better of me, and I finally plucked the envelope out of the pile and dug into it with my index figure. It was a one-page typewrit-ten letter from a man named Bruce Greenwood stating that at one time he owned a Stinson 108 that he purchased in Tennessee as a young ensign in the Navy. After owning it for four years, life, marriage, and the need for a home got in the way of his airplane dreams, and he re-luctantly parted with his beloved bird and moved on to start and raise a family. As often happens in later life, Bruce began to reminisce about his Stinson and wondered what had become of it. Knowing the se-rial number of the aircraft, Bruce was able in short order to follow the path of serial number 268 built by the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft

Company in the state of Michigan in 1946. The beauty of the Internet led Bruce to me in Canada as the current owner, and his letter was in-tended to make contact with me in order to find out about his old bird. Making the link between old school mail and present day communica-tions he included his e-mail address.

I went to bed thinking about Bruce and his letter and marveled at the vast number of lives one old classic airplane can touch. What was going on in the world when Bruce was the caring owner of my Stinson? Were there more small air-planes flying the skies than there are now, airports dotting the coun-tryside, pilots flying for the sake of just being up in the air? As the cost of ownership and operation of an aircraft continues to rise, I could

ReminiscingWith an Old Friend

A classic Stinson 108 stirs up the past

Scott Knowltonphotos courtesy author


certainly identify with this man as the notion to sell my airplane to reduce my cost of living had fre-quently entered my mind. The next morning, prior to getting lost in the business of catching up on things not done from my being away, I made sure to respond to Bruce with a quick e-mail acknowledging his letter and confirming that I was in fact the present owner of the Stin-son he once owned and for good measure included a couple of pho-tos. This seemingly simple e-mail to a stranger in another country started a chain of events that would conclude with Bruce and I meeting and he having an opportunity to re-unite with his long-lost Stinson.

Bruce quickly responded to my e-mail with his own photos of serial number 268 both before and after he had her restored. As a fire inspec-tor for an insurance company, Bruce often traveled to different parts of the country to do his work and asked me if I might let him see his old air-plane. Only a few short weeks went by before Bruce informed me that he had work scheduled in Niagara Falls, less than an hour’s drive from the Grimsby Airpark where I keep the Stinson. Bruce gave me ample no-tice so that I could ensure my flying roster would not have me scheduled to work, and we agreed to meet on a Wednesday evening in mid June.

With my schedule cleared and weather looking very promising I headed for my field at about 5:30 on that warm, sunny Wednesday eve-ning. A rental car was parked in the airport parking lot, and as I pulled in a gentleman in his mid-60s with a bright grin on his face got out of the car and approached me. “You must be Scott!” he beamed and shook my hand. “You don’t know how excited I am right now!” he exclaimed walk-ing with me toward my hangar. As we talked I began to learn about

Bruce’s fascinating past. He served two tours in Vietnam as an attack reconnaissance officer on Vigilantes aboard the USS Saratoga. Research after my visit with Bruce revealed that the U.S. Navy sustained heavy losses of Vigilantes during the war. Their mission was to first photo-graph an enemy area intended for bombing and then return only min-utes after the bombing mission was complete to record the results. Their pattern was well known by the North Vietnamese Army, and as a result a disproportionate number of Vigilante crews either lost their lives or were captured. Bruce down-played his role in Vietnam and only after a lot of questions and prod-ding did he reveal that he’d flown 150 missions, many of which took place during the deadly Tet Offen-sive. What made all of this even more fascinating was finding out that the lion’s share of Bruce’s Stin-son flying took place between his two tours in Vietnam. I admit that f lying my Stinson has provided me with a great source of therapy to deal with the stress of daily life

and work along with the economic uncertainty of my airline, but how could I compare my trivial worries to what must have been on Bruce’s shoulders while at the controls of the very same airplane?

The sun was sinking toward the west as I opened the hangar doors to shed light on the 66-year-old tube and fabric classic for which I was presently the custodian. Bruce qui-etly walked around her running his hand down the fuselage, drumming the fabric and judging her gleam-ing finish. “You sure keep good care of her,” he said—the compliment causing me to beam with pride. We pushed her out onto the tarmac, and Bruce stood silently respecting my preflight routine. We talked for a while about airplanes, ownership costs, and the act of flying purely for the simple joy of being aloft. “I paid $3,500 for that plane in 1969,” Bruce gestured toward my old Stin-son, “but of course that’s the same price you would have paid for a new Corvette back then,” he added. I felt a pang of guilt realizing I had been harping over the rising cost of fly-

Scott Knowlton with former owner, Bruce Greenwood .


ing just moments before. I suppose it’s easy to believe that flying was cheaper in the “good old days,” yet when Bruce owned my Stinson he didn’t have cellphone data plans, second or third TVs, or the multi-tude of other consumer distractions competing with his desire to own and fly his idea of a magic carpet.

I offered Bruce the left seat, which he happily clambered into donning the headset that had been resting on the glare shield. He paid full attention as I went through my normal passenger safety brief-ing—something I was sure he must have done countless times with many passengers in the very same airplane he was now sitting in. I climbed in, started the Franklin en-gine, and caught a glance of Bruce beside me while taxiing—his warm grin and deep-set crow’s-feet both evidence of a man who was not only clearly delighted in the moment but also very happy during his life. We took off toward Lake Ontario and headed east along the shore-line with the evening light playing a glorious show along the Niagara

Escarpment and its plentiful vine-yards. Clearly enjoying the view and the ride Bruce seemed both ready and eager to take the controls when I offered them to him. I resisted the temptation to give him my routine instruction regarding the necessary rudder input required to keep the ball centered—something I always do to prepare any general aviation pilot to the idiosyncrasies of the Stinson. Bruce took control, gently centering the ball, and settled into a smooth purposeful manipulation of the yoke, rudder, and throttle clearly demonstrating his knowl-edge and past experience of the air-frame we were in. “I love the sound of the old Franklin engine,” he sighed, “and she still flies the same way I remember.” I thought of the many times Bruce must have flown this old classic in the early ’70s and marveled at how 40 years later the machine could still perform in the same familiar way. What machine, other than a classic airplane, can de-liver that kind of service?

The sun began to set to the west, and as the light dimmed I had Bruce steer us back toward the airport. As we joined the circuit I offered him the opportunity of landing his old machine. Graciously, he turned down the offer saying he wanted to end the day on a high note. I re-sumed control on final approach and endeavored to demonstrate a flawless three-point landing. If you want to get a healthy debate go-ing, have a group of tailwheel pilots compare the merits of three-point versus wheel landings. I have always been a strong proponent in the clas-sic three-point landing with both my students as well as myself. Per-haps it was the awe I had for my passenger or the bright setting sun, but regardless of excuses I uncer-emoniously thumped the poor old bird onto the tarmac. Bruce smiled at my poor performance and slyly

commented, “I’ve always been par-tial to wheel landings myself.” That’s okay, Bruce, I thought, I won’t hold that against you.

After putting the Stinson to bed and bidding farewell to a very satis-fied passenger and fellow aviator, I reflected on the encounter I had with the fine gentleman who used to be the keeper of my Stinson. Little sepa-rated the two of us in the enjoyment we derived from being at the controls of an old rag and tube airplane. At the same time the lives we lived dur-ing our respective care and feedings of one particular Stinson were so radically different. Here I was fight-ing the good fight in my own mind as I paid my bills, raised my family, and attempted to maintain a reason-able work/life balance while flying a roster typical of most airline pilots. The Stinson, I felt, was my escape from the stresses of life—an elixir to calm my spirits and worries. Bruce, in comparison, flew the Stinson in between bouts of high stress com-bat. I imagine during these flights his thoughts would not have strayed far from the friends he’d lost or the unknowns facing him on his next tour of duty. That chance letter I re-ceived from Bruce only a few short weeks ago led me on a remarkable path of discovery of a man who gave yeoman service to his country. I felt honoured to reintroduce Bruce to his old airplane, but in doing so I feel I became a richer person for it. Not only did I have a renewed sense of attachment to my venerable old tail-dragger and the rich history she car-ried with her, my perspective of the many great things I am blessed with in my life I normally take for granted changed after hearing Bruce’s story. I hope to be lucky enough to be the custodian of Stinson number 268 for many more years to come and in do-ing so look forward to meeting the people like Bruce she seems to bring into my life.

Bruce reflects on past memories with his old classic airplane .


To press on with our discussion of continued air-worthiness of aircraft structures, we will concentrate on nonstructural aluminum. This material would be used on various secondary structures that are non-load-carrying, such as engine and cockpit cowling, nonstressed panels, fairings, fuel and oil tanks, wheel fairings, and such.

Essentially, nonstructural aluminum is not heat-treatable but can be hardened by hammering, draw-ing, or bending. There are two types of aluminum that come immediately to mind: alloy 3003 (3S) and 5052 (52S).

Alloy 3003 is pure aluminum alloyed with manga-nese, and 5052 is pure aluminum alloyed with mag-nesium. Of the two described above, alloy 5052 has the most strength; therefore, it is popular for use in cockpit cowling and fuel and oil lines. Both are weld-able with either gas or TIG processes and are easily handworked by hammering or bending.

When describing the working ability of these two metals, there are three terms that stand out.

1) Ductility, which means the material is flexible.

2) Malleable, which means the material is capa-ble of being extended by hammering or rolling.

3) Fusibility, which means the ability to become liquid with heat for the welding process to take place. Remember, heat-treatable alloys are NOT WELD-ABLE (except for alloy 6061, which is both weldable

and heat-treatable).The initial condition of aluminum is important if

cold-working is necessary. The wrought alloys are coded with the letter “O,” which means annealed or in the “dead soft” condition. In the case of nonstructural alu-minum, you will see a code of 3003-O or 5052-O. To form fuel and oil lines the tube material should be in the “O” (annealed) condition and preferably alloy 5052.

As the metal is cold-worked, such as hammer-ing or rolling (English wheel), the slip planes along grain lines move and the material begins to harden. Have you ever bent a mild steel clothes hanger until it breaks? Initially the slip planes move, but as they harden, adjacent slip planes move and, eventually, in the area of the bend, two things happen. One, the bend area gets hard and brittle; two, the bend area gets warm due to the movement of the slip planes, and it will eventually fail.

The amount of cold-working in nonheat-treatable alloys will determine eventual hardness. For alloy 3003, full-hard is designated as H18, with H12 being one-quarter hard, H14 being half-hard, and H16 be-ing three-quarters hard. For alloy 5052, one-quarter hard is designated H32, one-half hard is H34, three-quarters hard is H36, and full-hard is H38.

The particular reason to have some knowledge of hardness range is to know how much cold-working the material will take before it cracks. Obviously H38 will not take much cold-working, while H34 can take

The Vintage Mechanic

Aircraft covering, Part 2Nonstructural aluminum

ROBERT G . LOCK


quite a bit. I have fabricated cockpit metal and fuel and oil tanks from 5052-H34 aluminum.

When cold-working 3003 or 5052, the material may become brittle from hammering or rolling. The brittle area will turn to a dull gray color, which in-dicates that the slip planes have been used and the metal is no longer ductile and malleable. The area may be softened by the annealing process, which for us “old-timers” was known as “torch annealing.” There is nothing finer than to watch an expert work and form aluminum into complex shapes. There are only a few individuals left in the industry who are capa-ble of this craft. When I lived in Reedley, in my back yard was the prototype Beech 18, the very first twin-engine aircraft built by Walter Beech. I remember in-specting the fairings and admiring the work as they were hand-formed by craftsmen at the factory. You could still see the hammer marks in these fairings af-ter the many years of service.

From the Standard Aircraft Handbook, typical an-nealing procedures for wrought aluminum alloys are

also shown (Illustration 1). An old trick to anneal non-structural aluminum is to use an I need your “Woe Is I” book!oxygen-acetylene gas torch. Light the torch with acetylene gas only. Pass the torch over the area to be annealed until black soot covers the surface. Now ad-just a soft neutral flame and pass the torch over the sooted area. As the aluminum comes up to annealing temperature, the soot will be burned off the surface. Do not concentrate the heat in one location, rather keep moving the torch. Concentrated heat from the torch will melt the aluminum. Torch flame temperature is about 6,000°F at the cone, and melting temperature of aluminum is about 1,200°F. As one can see, it would not take long to melt the aluminum. Once the soot has been burned off, more cold-working can take place.

When riveting repairs are made to nonstructural aluminum, the 1100 pure aluminum rivet (coded “A”) is used. Never use structural rivets to make repairs to nonstructural components. “A” rivets are coded with no marks on the head, are very soft, and drive easily. When received they are bright and shiny and are very soft.

Shown from left to right: “A” rivet with no head marks from 1100 pure aluminum, “AD” rivet with a dimple in the head from alloy 2117, “B” rivet with raised cross on head from alloy 5056, “DD” rivet with two raised dashes on head from alloy 2024, and “D” rivet with one raised dot from alloy 2017. The “D” and “DD” rivets require heat-treatment before driv-

ing because they are so hard. They are also called “ice box” rivets because they must be stored in a freezer or on dry ice after quenching to remain soft for driv-ing. When driving the “D” and “DD” rivets, once they are heat-treated and quenched they are about as soft as an “A” rivet. This is the only method used to drive these structural rivets.

Many aluminum parts on the aircraft may have been anodized for corrosion protection. Anodizing is an electro-plating process using either chromic or

Illustration 1 is taken from the Standard Aircraft Handbook, page 72, and it describes tempers of non-heat-treatable alloys .

Illustration 2 taken from the Standard Aircraft Hand-book shows typical universal head rivets widely in use for fabrication and repair .


phosphoric acid in a tank with electrical current be-ing passed through the part. The chromic acid anod-izing (CAA) will turn aluminum to a gold color, while phosphoric acid anodizing (PAA) will leave the part in a dull gray color. Most all the aluminum components including the cockpit and engine cowl metal on the Stearman were phosphoric acid anodized.

In the anodizing process a direct current (DC) power supply is used with a rheostat to control both amps and volts through the part. Only enough power is used to cause bubbles to form around the part, which indicates the process is taking place.

The sketch in Illustration 3 shows a typical alu-minum anodizing circuit using chromic acid. This method is perhaps the best for surface protection against corrosion. Depending on how long the parts are left in solution will govern final surface appear-ance of part, which is a golden color.

Repairs to nonstructural components are not nearly as critical for airworthiness as are repairs to primary structure. Cracks should be stop drilled with a #30 drill bit and a patch riveted over the crack using a minimum number of rivets. In some cases a crack on soft aluminum can be welded instead of being patched. It all depends on where it is and what ap-pearance and final outcome of the repair are desired.

There is not much direction in FAA publications for making repairs to secondary aluminum structure. Sometimes one has to be “creative” when making such repairs. It is not entirely necessary to bring the struc-ture back to full strength but more to cover a crack with a doubler. Flush repairs (smooth) are difficult to make, and unless the mechanic is a “real pro,” the repair tends to warp. In many cases the panel can be repaired by welding, most likely with an inert-gas TIG weld pro-cess. There are very few aluminum gas welders left in the world. There are some aluminum brazing processes

available, but the inspecting mechanic should evaluate these methods before attempting the repair.

Illustration 4 shows my 1929 Command-Aire 5C3 with new 5052-H34 aluminum engine cowling, cockpit, and turtledeck cowling. Seats, baggage compartment, and fuel and oil tanks were also fabricated from this material, as were all other aluminum fuselage compo-nents. Although the fuel tank is cardboard for pattern, it was made from alloy 5052-H34 aluminum.

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Illustration 4


Is it possible to have a love affair with an airplane? The answer to that question is yes if it is the right air-plane. For that would be N8748M, a Beechcraft Mus-keteer, Model 23, built in Wichita, Kansas, on August 19, 1963. It is one of 553 aircraft of this type that Beech designed to compete with Piper and Cessna.

The aircraft was promoted throughout the United States in the summer and fall of 1962. Starting on July 20 and lasting until October 16, one man and two young ladies flew three aircraft to major cities all over the country giving demo flights. Known as the Three Musketeers, they promoted the aircraft in 72 cities and 35 states in six different legs.

I started my search for a Model 23 in the fall of 2003. In June of 2004 I found N8748M in New York. The aircraft serial number is M-536, and the produc-tion run ended with number M-554 in August of 1963. The plane was in fair shape; it just needed a lit-tle TLC that it was about to get.

After 13 years of starting and stopping, catching up on funds, and getting help when it was needed most, I think the project is done. People that helped till the end were Flint Pulis, Franklin County Avia-tion; Allen Hosier, Northwest Arkansas Avionics; Pam Wells, Mena Aircraft Interiors; and Don Gray, Grays Aircraft Painting.

I was in the fresh poultry sales business for 43 years and used the aircraft we owned to call on suppli-ers and customers along with pleasure flights when I could. I do the Young Eagles program in our area, and since retiring five years ago I am closing in on 100 demo flights.

Beech had several ideas in mind when it designed the Musketeer: competition, training aircraft for its proposed aero centers, and a comfortable, efficient airplane for the small-business person. It succeeded in all of those areas. N8748M will be 50 years old this August and is still doing the economical chores it was designed to do.

What Our Members Are Restoring

Beechcraft Musketeer, Model 23

KEITH GREENE

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Also, as many of you know, the petition to elimi-nate the third-class medical is still pending a deci-sion by the FAA. As you can imagine, this is a very popular concept among those of us engaged in the general/recreational aviation community. Our own Indiana Congressional Representative Todd Rokita and several other GA Caucus members proposed the General Aviation Pilot Protection Act that further enhances the original EAA/AOPA petition to elimi-nate or redefine the third-class medical rules. After all, don’t we all personally self-certify ourselves ev-ery day we fly as “fit for mission?”

Again, this is not a spectator sport! Although we have witnessed some real enthusiasm for this pro-posed legislation, we all need to continue to weigh in here and communicate to all of our representatives in Washington the need to support H.R. 3578 and S. 1941 and the General Aviation Pilot Protection Act, which has already garnered more than 16,000 com-ments from the pilot population. We need to quickly turn those 16,000 comments into 25,000. Hope-fully, by the time you read this column we will see all of these legislative initiatives passed through the House and Senate.

I would also like to recommend to our members that whether or not you choose to reach out to your local representatives in Congress, when the debate has ended, regardless of whether these initiatives are successful or not, find out how your representa-tives voted on these issues and let them know that you appreciate their vote or that you’re disappointed with their vote.

As always, thanks for being a member, and please do us all the favor of inviting a friend to join the VAA, and help keep us the strong association we have all enjoyed for so many years.

VAA is about participation: Be a member! Be a vol-unteer! Be there!

Let’s all pull in the same direction for the overall good of aviation.

Remember, we are better together. Join us and have it all.

Straight & Levelcontinued from page 1 Something to buy, se l l , or t rade?

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Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (i.e., January 10 is the closing date for the March issue). VAA reserves the right to reject any advertising in conflict with its policies. Rates cover one insertion per issue. Classified ads are not accepted via phone. Payment must accompany order. Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426-4828) or e-mail ([email protected]) using credit card payment (all cards accepted). Include name on card, complete address, type of card, card number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to EAA. Address advertising correspondence to EAA Publications Classified Ad Manager, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.

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AIRCRAFT1953 Piper PA 22-135 Tri-Pacer. 1475 TT. Hangared, Logs, 8/13

Annual. Great vintage plane. $21k OBO. Call George at 512-694-4067

WANTEDRestoring a 1929 Alliance Argo, looking for engineering

drawings, blue prints, and anything that could be of help. 508-566-6673, [email protected]

Donate your Airplane to Samaritan Aviation, a charity that provides missions and medical services to remote areas of the world. www.samaritanaviation.com 970-249-4341

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The candidates received 25 hours in the Super Cub; most of the instruc-tors were USAF, but there were some German instructors. The time was 18 hours dual and seven solo. The washout rate was about 41 percent.

The rationale is easy to see: In those days it was considered a major and expensive big-deal to send people over the ocean and start them in USAF fly-ing training. If the least promising candidates could be identified early and not sent, then the washout rate here in America would be reduced at a con-siderable cost savings. So this program with German applicants was primary training in a certain sense, but the real purpose was not to teach students how to fly, but to determine if it was likely that they COULD fly. Neverthe-less, once they were in USAF flying training, their washout rate was about the same as for the Americans (and the scattered folks from other countries).

Of course other programs in the world have undertaken similar screening programs (perhaps Cessna 172s at the USAF Academy or ROTC for exam-ple), and the German air force itself has continued with it I think until to-day, for after the PA-18s, they used the Piaggio P-149D in Germany and in recent years I think Grobs are being used at the Goodyear Airport (Arizona), right next to Luke AFB.

Dennis K. McDaniel

Dear Jim:I wish to compliment you and the others on the outcome of Vintage Air-

plane. The writing is interesting. The center-fold photo is quality and suit-able for framing. I enjoy Steve Krog’s flying lessons and also Sparky Barnes Sargent’s “Walking the Line.”

In the October 2012 issue was a picture of an Interstate Cadet. I looked in my logbook and “Bingo”, that’s it! The very same aircraft I soloed back in 1947.

The color adds quality to the magazine and although I must wait an extra 30 days for the next ‘Vintage’, it is worth it. Keep up the good work!

Marv HoppenworthEAA 2519, VAA 2773

Monosport CorrectionsThis is from Marcus Ogle, son of Haswell Ogle (one of the last Monosport owners).Since publication of “Sole Survivor,” several facts have come to light as

pointed out by a son of one of 8989’s previous owners.A) In 1952, there were three men, Haswell Ogle, Bob Day, and a third

whose name has been lost, who pooled their money to buy the Monosport. Both Ogle and Day flew the plane days before it was damaged.

B) The aircraft was damaged in a wind storm in August of 1952 as stated in the logbook. Both Day and Ogle concurred with the log. Mrs. Ogle recalls see-ing her husband’s new purchase for the first time, damaged, along with other aircraft, as a result of the high wind. The aircraft was not ground looped.

C) The owner, Haswell Ogle, passed away in December 1982, not 1973, as stated in the article. At the time of his passing, he was looking forward to retirement so he could finish restoring the plane and fly it to OSH.

D) The Monosport never spent any time in a barn as alluded to. The air-plane was kept in hangars and workshop garages in College Park, Maryland; Roanoke, Virginia; New London, Virginia; and Colleyville, Texas.

Air Mail continued from page 6

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Kent City, MI 49330616-678-5012

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Tulsa, OK [email protected]

E.E. “Buck” Hilbert8102 Leech Rd.Union, IL 60180815-923-4591

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Gene Morris5936 Steve Court

Roanoke, TX 76262817-491-9110

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S.H. “Wes” Schmid2359 Lefeber Avenue

Wauwatosa, WI 53213414-771-1545

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John TurgyanPO Box 219

New Egypt, NJ 08533609-752-1944

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Lynne Dunn145 Cloud Top Lane

Mooresville, NC 28115704-664-1951

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Va vol 42 no 2 mar apr 2014