Vintage Airplane - Dec 2004

8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Dec 2004

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3/36

LANE

VOL 32, No.

2

2 4

CONTENTS

2 Straight

and

Level

3 Aeromail

4

VAA News

5

Reminiscing with ig Nick

Reprinted from Vintage Airplane July 1974

by

Nick Rezich

9 The Vintage Instructor

Landings

by

oug

Stewart

1 1 Pass It to Buck

COVERS

RONT COVER

Syd

Cohen s Ercoupe is a beautiful

example of a vintage airplane you can still buy on

a budget. See Budd Davisson s article beginning

on page 14 for more on making your dream of

aircraft ownership a reality. EM photo by Phil

High, EM Cessna

210

photo plane flown by

Bruce Moore.

BACK COVER Last year it stole the show when it

was on wheels, but this year Chris Price trumped

his own work by adding a pair of Heath floats to

his Heath Parasol. It was selected as the Grand

Champion Seaplane of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

2004. See Oshkosh Oasis for more seaplane

activities.

VM

photo by

H G

Fr

autschy


4/36

G OFF

RO ISON

PRESIDENT VI NTAGE AIR R AFT ASSOCIATION

Transitions of a

Different Sort

Where did the flying season go? The

coolness of winter weather has already

touched us (in some cases slapped us),

and

this is the

time

of year when any

thing over SO°F becomes a real blessing.

This past flying season went particularly

fast for me, and I have

to

tell you

that

I have never enjoyed a flying season

as

much as I have this past year. I purchased

a Cessna

170A in March, and the fun be

gan from that

moment

on.

The transition from my C-8S Cessna

120 to the IS0-hp C-170 was a challeng

ing and educational experience,

which

also proved to be a great revisit of all the

do's and don'ts of flying these wonderful

taildraggers.

In early June I was off

to

Canada

to

participate in

the annual

70 Knotters'

trip. What's a 70 Knotter, you ask? This

is a great bunch of guys and gals who get

together every year and travel around

the

country. The name comes from

the

cruise speed of many of the two-place

lightplanes that were flown on the tours

when they started in the 1970s.

This was my second year of attending

this gad-about and I have never learned

so much about flying in such a short pe

riod of time. My companion on this trip

convenient for your visit.

We

also visited an early 1800s operat

ing historic village in Morrisburg, Ontario.

Check it out online at www uppercanada-

village com

This place was unbelievable.

They have an operational bakery, a saw

mill, a schoolhouse, several restaurants,

operational farm machinery, and a black

smith's shop.

You

actually felt like you had

stepped back in time to

the

early 1800s.

Again, the airport

is

right across the street,

with a short hike to the front gate.

The sights we flew over were often

times breathtaking.

As

you can tell by

my

dissertation, we had a grand time, and I

cannot wait to see where the

70

Knotters

will take us next year. There were many

other weekend trips, and

an

occasional

day trip

to the odd

fly-in breakfast or

chapter get together that added to a very

fulfilling 2004 flying season.

By the time you

read this

column

the

fall VAA

Board meeting will be in the

history books. The business of operating

your association

is

not only challenging,

but I find it exhilarating and at times even

entertaining. As I have stated in the past,

I

inherited

the reins of an association

that stands on firm financial ground. The

real challenges we face

as

an organization

also for their value versus expense.

To

date

I would

respond

that

I see

each and everyone of these benefits to

have been proven to be popular,

and of

good value. But we also need

to

under

stand

that

these

member

benefits come

as

not only an added expense to the or

ganization, but these are expenses

that

continue

to

inflate on

an

annual basis,

and this

is

where the challenge to con

tinue offering these benefits comes

into

play.

What

will the outcome of this con

tinuous review be?

At

this

point

I would speculate that

priority one will be to not only

re

tain

each of these valued benefits,

but

to also continue

to enhance

them

to

a

point where we can attract as many

new

members as

pOSSible

and to also attract

more and more members to attend our

annual

convention and take full advan

tage of what their

VAA

membership af

fords them. I will make it a pOint in

my

next column to keep you informed about

the business transacted at the November

Board meeting. It would also be appro

priate to remind everyone that the

VAA

Board meetings are always open to the

membership. So

if

you are ever interested

in observing your

VAA

Board in action,

http://www.uppercanada/http://www.uppercanada/


5/36

Thanks

utch

When

Vintage Airplane

magazine

arrives in th e mail, it gets opened

immediately

,

and

the first thing

I read as I slowly walk from

the

mailbox to

the

house is "Straight

and Lev el." After the August issue I

will be one of many who will miss

Butch's words.

Butch, thanks for being a great

president of the Association for so

many

years. Many of us appreciate

your accomplishments and the

en

ergy and effort you have

put into

that job for all of us.

Ken Woodard

North Andover, Massachusetts

Bh riot's

Crossing

The referenced article

reminded

me of

my mother's

mention many

years ago of her experience of view

ing the Bleriot channel-crossing

monoplane

following

its

history

making

flight. At the

time

Mother

was a young nurse in

her

home city

of London.

After th

e July

25, 1909

,

epic

flight,

the

Selfridge Store placed

the

airplane

on display in London

to

be seen

July 26th,

27th,

28th, and

29th.

Mother

was

given

a

small

card

setting

forth all performance

and

technical data.

I

have

made a photo

negative of this historic

document

and offer a

copy

herewith

to repro

duce in

the

Vintage Air-

plane magazine.

With warmest regards,

David H. Kenyon

Eugene, Oregon

Parks

I

Greeting from sunny Florida ...

my

wife

and

I

moved down here

after finally

calling

it quits on

Connecticut winters

. We live in

the Spruce Creek fly-in

commu

nity

in

Daytona Beach and are en

joying it very

much

.

I'd hate to see a fellow Parksman

get

in trouble with

the

ghost of

old Oliver Parks so I figured I bet

ter "correct

the record" on

a cap

tioned picture in

the

August issue

of

Vintag

e Airplane.

In

the

"Remi

niscing

with

Big Nick" article on

page

7,

the middle

photo is

de

scribed as a KR-3 1

Challenger. As

an

avid (or is it rabid?) researcher

and collector

of

early Parks" stuff"

I guess

the nitpicker in

me

couldn't

stay

silent . . .

it

is

in

fact a Parks

P-l.

NC962K was

manufactured

in

September of 1929 sportinll

==== E

BLER

IOT M O N O P L A ~ E ~ S l h 1909.

marks

all

the

model's usual OX-5 motor. In

1932, it was replaced by an OXX-6

and

in

1935 replaced again

with

a Milwaukee Tank V-502 engine.

This

changed

the

designation

from a P-1 to a P-1-T. I have pic

tures of 962K with the same paint

scheme

but

with

the

Tank engine

...

the

photo in

the article must

be prior to

June

1935

when

it be

came the P-1-T.

After over four years of begging

and prodding the FAA, I now have

the

maintenance and

ownership re

cords for all the Parks airplanes

. . .

Arrow, P-3, P-4, P-1, P-2, and P-2A

(except for

one Detroit-built

P-2A

which must

really

be

buried in

a

dark

warehouse somewhere

and

is

not able

to

be found

. . .

yet.). My

next step in the

research

depart

ment

is to

try

and contact

the

pre

vious owners listed in

the

records

for any

photos

or

stories they

might

have. I

do

like

the

detective

work

and

this "thrill of

the

chase"

has led me to

many of

Parks' earli

est students with much

informa

tion

and memorabilia

from

their

days at

the

school.

My Parks P-2A is

still in North


6/36

V Calendar

Being

Reprinted

For those

of

you

who

ordered

and

received

your inaugural

issue

of

the

2005 Vintage Aircraft Association Cal

endar, you have a surprise coming in

the

mail. Due to a technical problem

during the production

of

the calen

dar, the large photos of each airplane

were printed with substandard resolu

tion.

To

their credit, the folks at Turner

Publishing have agreed to reprint the

calendars and mail new copies to each

of

the

members

who

paid for

and

re

ceived their calendar. You can expect

to see your new copies within a few

weeks of receiving this issue of

Vintage

Airplane Shipping for

the

new calen

dars is expected

near

the end

of

this

month or very early in January.

We

appreciate

your

patience, and

due to their below standard appear

ance, we ask that you destroy the old

calendar once you've

received

your

new copy.

If

you have any questions, or

would like to order a copy (a very lim

ited overrun

is

produced) you can call

Turner Publishing at 800-788-3350.

Friends

of

the Red Bam

f you would

like

to make

a

con

tribution

to VAA s Friends

of

the

Red

Barn campaign, there's still time to

make your donation before the end of

the year, should you desire

the

deduc

tion

on

your 2004 taxes. There are new

expanded

giving categories for

the

2005 campaign,

and

you can check

on

the new levels at

the

VANs website at

Our symposium exposed the at

tendees

to

a wide variety

of sport

pi

lot experts, helping them learn how

they can build their

business in

the

new sport pilot/light-sport aircraft

market,

said

NAFI

Executive Direc

tor Rusty Sachs. They also had op

portunities to take demonstration

flights in dozens of light-sport aircraft

available

on

site.

Speakers appeared during the two

morning

sessions

and

included John

and Martha King of the King Schools;

Paul Hamilton, founder of Hamil

ton Training Systems

and

Adventure

Productions;

Jack Vandeventer, sea

soned

CFI

and marketing expert; Bob

Mackey

of

Falcon Insurance Agency;

Carla Larsh, chair of the EAA Ultra

light Council; Martin Weaver, head

of

the

FAA s Light-Sport Aviation Branch

in Oklahoma

City;

and Ed Downs,

president

of American Sport

Flying

and

widely respected aviation writer.

What

made

the symposium

unique

was its Trade-A-Flight program,

where participants received a coupon

for a free demonstration flight from

an ultralight instructor in their area.

When the

CFI trades the

coupon

for

the demo

flight, the ultralight instruc

tor

fills

in

the back of the coupon and

mails it

to

NAFI for a complimentary

membership, Sachs said.

Future events will likely be

held in

conjunction with other major avia

tion

events,

perhaps

EAA regional

fly-ins. More

information

will be an

trical systems, wiring,

and

avionics.

Courses will be

held in Oshkosh,

Wisconsin, on January 29-30;

at

the

Sun 'n Fun

Campus

in Lakeland,

Florida, on February 26-27; in Dallas,

Texas,

on

March 5-6; and

in

Watson

ville, California, on March 19-20. For

more information and to register, visit

www sportair com

or call 800-967-5746.

Free SPILSA

Member

Briefing

Before SportAir

Workshops

Each

night

before a scheduled

EAA

SportAir Workshop, EAA provides free

sport pilot/light-sport aircraft brief

ing for all

interested

EAA and

NAFI

members, followed by a

question

and

answer period.

Watch

EAA s website

for details as each SportAir Workshop

approaches.

9th

Annual E Sport Aviation

Art

Competition

The EAA

AirVenture

Museum is

now accepting entries for the 29th

annual Sport Aviation Art Contest, a

showcase

for

some

of the

best

avia

tion art in the

country.

Past

compe

titions have been

based

on a single

overriding theme,

such as last year's

Launching

the

Next Century

of

Flight. That all changes this year, as

artists may submit artwork in one of

four separate categories that

better

reflect

EAA

membership:

- Warbirds-All military aircraft

- Antique/Vintage-Pre-1945 aircraft

- Sport Aviation-General aviation,

http:///reader/full/www.vintageaircraft.orghttp:///reader/full/www.sportair.comhttp:///reader/full/www.vintageaircraft.orghttp:///reader/full/www.sportair.com


7/36

REMINISCING

WITH

BIG

NICK

Reprinted from Vintage Airplane July 974

by

Nick

Rezich

THE

HOW RD

ST RY-

SECOND H LF OF P RT Two

ll

Howards were good stable

fly-

ing machines. The

only

goofy ones

are the twisted wing Navy jobs. I per

sonally like the over all the rest,

as

it was

the

best performer of all

and

had the best feel. The basic structure

remained virtually unchanged from

the

8

through

the

12

and

was

built

like a brick outhouse.

All the

while

the factory was in operation,

the

ci-

vilian Howards were never involved

ing

it

home from the factory and got

into

some

weather between

Lone

Rock

and

La

Crosse, Wisconsin,

and

flew it, full bore,

into

the

ground at

a nearly level attitude. He knocked

off

the

gear and went sliding

on the

belly.

When the

noise stopped,

he

and his lady friend got out, called the

factory and said come get it and fix it.

They go

on and

on.

We had

a black

and

gray 15

which

we

nicknamed

liThe Hearse." This guy was showing

his ranch to some friends and flew it

into a tree. He came

out

of it with a

to the

factory after

the

accident so

that we

could finish assembling

the

airplane

and

we were

short

of fac

tory space, so we decided to

hang

the

fuselage from

the

ceiling

until the

radios came in. As we were hoisting

it

in

place, a cable broke

and the

fu-

selage rolled over

and

came down

inverted. I was standing to

one

side

during the

hoisting, but

when the

fuselage rolled, I was directly under

neath and the cabin roof knocked me

to the

ground

and

out.

What

saved

me from becoming a pancake was a


8/36

Jake

powered 15

. The

ship

is now in Minnesota

dents and

very

little absenteeism.

We trained our own fire brigade

and

they saved the factory twice. It seems

to

me

that all aircraft factories are

the same they always place

th

e

welding department

and

the dope

shop back-to-back. Howard was

no

exception.

The

south

wall

of

the

dope shop was

the

divider between

the welding

department

fitting weld

ers and the spray booth. The welders

would

hang their lighted

torches

on

hangers while turning over parts

went

and that

would

take

care

of

the

factory.

This is hard

to

believe , but BE-

LIEVE-YOU-ME,

the

factory fire

brigade grabbed

their

assigned

ex

tinguishers and rushed in

and

put

out that nitrate dope fire . just as

they ran

out

of extinguishers

and

the sprinklers

went

off.

While

th is

was going on we had one complete

airplane in there being sprayed

with

silver dope, which was removed, be

lieve it or not without fire damage.

The

ghost of Howard made

by

the

paint

shop when

a

layoff

was

announced

.

on

the

second shift. Mike Bernat, the

foreman, was spraying a set of wings

with black nitrate dope when he no

ticed the black turning to orange.

When he

turned around, the

whole

dope room was in flames. Again, the

trained fire brigade extinguished

the

fire and saved the factory. The wings?

They were

O.K.-no

fire damage

Yes

,

we were lucky . . .

but

the answer

to

some

of

that luck

was a good

and

well

trained

fire

brigade

who were

not scared

to

go into the potential

blast area. Speedy response and the

proper type

of

extinguishers were

the

keys. As I said earlier, everybody at

Howard was super.

We built a super airplane

with

su

per

people

and then

we built some

super, SUPER jobs . . . like the ISP


9/36

The Pure

Oil

8

before

and

after.

built the

same as

custom

jobs, in

cluding a high-gloss silver finish and

plush

interior. This

now

paved

the

way for other military orders, which

included the ambulance

and

instru

ment

trainer. Later came a sub-con

tract to build the Fairchild

PT-23.

This

was

when

B.D .

DeWeese

and the

Navy deci

ded

to

twist

the

wing

on the

15

and

goof

up

a good

airplane.

We

stepped up production

to

one

a day

and

received

the

Navy

"E" Award . .

. and I was promoted to

plant superintendent.

In

the meantime

we were build

ing

a

plant in

West

Chicago next

to the

St. Charles airport (now

the

DuPage

County

Airport) . The

new

plant would build

PT-23s on

one side

and

NH-1s

on the

other. The army

was

in

a

hurry and wanted the PT

23s before

the new

plant

could

be

finished. I was sent

to

St. Charles to

get

the

23

program rolling

as

well

as

was

mounted

on

a simulated runway

with grass sides enclosed in glass.

We built some super Howard ISs

for

the duPonts

Shell Oil

bought

two, Texaco one, Pure Oil two,

and

Humble Oil one

.

Several

gover

nors

bought

Howards; Mr. Putman,

president of Chicago

and

Southern

Airways

bought

one,

and

the

Free

French

bought

some. The list goes

on and on

. 1941 was

our banner

year

then BAM

The war.

What

could we

build

for

the

war

effort?

The gutless 18 was

going

to

C.P.

T.,

but

it was

not

accepted as a primary

trainer by

the

Army.

About

the

time it looked like

the

end for

the

15,

10 and

behold

i f 01'

Slim Freitag, vice president and top

salesman,

didn

't come

up

with

the

answer.

He

returned from Washing

ton

with an order from the

U.S.

Navy

for 30

custom built

Howard

DGA

15Ps. These first 30 airplanes were

the

NH-l.

I used

my

Culver Cadet,

which

I

bought the

year before,

to

commute the

15

miles or so between

Muni (present Chicago Midway) and

St.

Charles.

The first

PT-23

was built

in

an old

warehouse

in

Geneva, Illinois,

and

assembled at

the

St.

Charles Airport.

The next six were built at the airport.

We then

moved into the new factory

and

used

the

hangar

as

the

fly-away

hangar.

It

was here

in

St.

Charles that

we

had our first fatal crashes. The air

port

then

had two grass runways-a

long

E/W

and

a

short

SW /NE. Two

Navy aviators were picking up two

NH-1s;

the wind

was

W-SW about

15

, gusting to 25. The pilots were in

structed to take off west.

As

they tax

ied out, one pilot decided to take off

SW

without

informing

the other

pi

lot or the hangar. The airplane taking

off west

was

airborne first the one

taking

off

SW

met

the westbound

plane at

the

intersection and

he

flew right through it. The

westbound craft crashed and

burned and the other landed


10/36

The only near mishap with

a

Navy Howard

came when

the

NACA

cowl came loose

and

tore

up

the

airplane. This was really

funny

when

it happened.

You

would have

to

know

Walt Diaben,

the

test pilot,

to

fully

appreciate

this

story

. This

was GH-2,

built by the main

plant,

and

Walt was west of

Muni putting

the airplane through final flight

test-which

included a dive

to

280

plus

mph.

It

was during

this

dive

that the

cowl

came

loose.

It took

the windshield out, that big

chunk

of tin then took

out

the

compass,

and the

stabilizer

adjustment han

dle (all

on the

roof). The rest

of the

cowl went over

the

wing, taking

out

part of

the left wing, flap, and left

flipper.

In

the meantime

01'

Walt

got

on the

radio

and

called a May

Day to

the Muni

tower-which we

could hear on our hangar monitor.

Well, he never

turned

off

the

mike after the first call

and

all we

kept hearing

was,

"Whoa, you

#$*)% Whoa, you %*(#$) Whoa,

you

%*($)# " He

landed with

full

power to control

the

ship. Later,

he

told us his only worry was whether

the fuselage rib stitching would

hold . He

said

the

fuselage sides

bulged

out like a balloon and he

was glad that fabric was stitched!

Walt was killed after the war while

working

for International

Har

vester-by

a

B-23

propeller.

Howard

continued to

grow

with

the

military contracts

and the new

plant

.

Everything

was

going fine

until

1944;

the

power struggle was

on which ended with the plant

A

production

Navy job built

by the

main Howard

factory

in

Chicago

manager and the new group didn't

want

this. They wanted to milk the

government

dry

with bootleg sub

contracts,

phony payrolls, phony

consultants,

etc. I was

one

of

their

biggest obstacles

... so I

had to

go .

But

how?

Well, I was

single

with

only

my mother

as a

dependent.

Those

(expletive deleted) went to

the

Draft Board

and

told

them they

Fort Sheridan along

with about

20

other faithful Howard employees.

That was in July

1944

and How

ard closed its doors less than a year

later.

End of story?

No

Before I left Howard, I

took

with

me

all

the phony records, phony

sub-contracts,

etc. When

the war

was

over

and I was

operating the


11/36

Several weeks ago on a beautiful

fall afternoon I sat

in

the

back

of

my Super Cruiser as a dear friend of

mine flew us down to

Candlelight

Farms Airport, located in

western

Connecticut.

We

were flying there

so she

could

fly

a PT-17 Stearman.

She has long

admired

the airplane

that

was

used to teach

so many

pilots

how to fly prior to WWII,

and

I

thought it would be

a great

treat

for her and a way of

saying

thanks II for all the help

she

had

given me during the previous year.

Tim

Preston runs

a

marvelous

operation,

offering Stearman

training out of the Candlelight

Airport during the summer, and

moving

to the

Mid-Florida Airport

for the winter months. His Stearman

is a 1941 N2S4, built originally

as

a

PT-17 but then taken over by the

Navy

and

converted. Tim

is

not

only a CFI, but an I as well and

he keeps his Boeing in pristine

condition.

I f you are interested in

flying with him, check out www.

f1ytailwheel.com. (He also

offers

DOUG STEW RT

Landings

She did,

after

all, thoroughly

understand that a landing is not

just

one

short

moment

where and

when we transition from air-bound

to ground-bound, but

that

i t

is a

five-phase sequence of events.

I f

we

know

where

we

are

and

what

comes next, it becomes a very

simple process. The only

thing

that

would

be

different

for her

would

be

the sight

pictures

(well, I guess

the

sweet rumble of that big

round

engine turning at a much slower

rpm than she was used

to

would be

different

too).

s

soon

as

she got

used

to the

proper landing attitude,

I was confident that

her landings

in

the

Stearman would be as fine

as

her landings in

the

Super Cruiser.

So what are those five phases?

They are the glide; breaking the

glide; dissipating the energy;

touching

down;

and

rolling

out.

I

have observed more

landings

than

I ll ever remember, but most that I

remember

are remembered because

they were examples of

the

fact that

the

pilot

did

not

understand

those

could be the touchdown

zone

marks, the numbers, a centerline I

quite typically choose

the second

centerline when

landing

at shorter

runways), or

an area

of different

color

grass

(this

works

great

for

me

at

my

home

base

of

Kline

Kill

Airport)

. Whatever

you have

chosen as your

aim pOint,

you

must now

make sure that it

is

not

moving up or down in

the

window.

If it s moving up, you ll land short

of

your

mark, and vice versa if it s

going

down.

But now, in

addition

to keeping

your

aim

point constant

in your Sights, you must assure that

you are on speed. You must fly

the

appropriate approach

speed for

your

airplane.

I f

you

are too fast,

you will indeed get to your aim

point, but then you'll float forever

in the next phase. And if you get

too

slow you ll rival gliding granite

in the ensuing sink.

Breaking the Glide

For most of us, vision is the most

useful tool in

this

phase.

We

need

http:///reader/full/f1ytailwheel.comhttp:///reader/full/f1ytailwheel.com


12/36

SELECTED WORKS

FRO M

A

2 YE R

R E T R O S P E C T

IVE

O F

EAA

CH

I

EF

PHOTOGR PHER

JIM KOE P NI CK

grease it

on

repeatedly. She

couldn't

see for

beans,

but

by

using every

other

sense

that she had

(hearing,

touch,

etc.)

she

would

feel her

way

into

excellent landings.

Obviously i f we

don't

time the

breaking of the glide correctly, we

will either fly into the runway, with

all the correlated problems that

will present, or find

ourselves

at

the

next phase at an altitude that

will result in

an

arrival rather than

a landing

at

the

conclusion

of that

phase,

which is

Dissipating the Energy

f we have come down the glide

slope

on

target and on speed, and

i f we have broken the glide

at the

proper height above the

runway,

we now

have

to

dissipate

our

energy. t

is

in this

phase

that I see

many pilots yield

to

the hazardous

attitude of

resignation.

They take a

laissez faire

attitude, and

it's kind

of

que sera

ser

until they touch

down.

We

have

to remember

that

we

cannot

stop flying yet.

As we

dissipate

the

energy

still

stored

in ou r

airplane, we

will have

to

continue

to

increase the deflection

of our control

surfaces

as

we

dece lerate. In a full-stall landing,

this

means that

we wi ll have

to

keep

pulling back on

our

stick or yoke

to

deflect

the

elevator more

and

more,

maintaining

the

proper landing

attitude,

as

the

elevator

gets

less

and

less effective in

our

decreasing

speed.

(The same holds true

for

ailerons and rudder

i f landing in

a

just

once.

Unfortunately many

pilots act

as

if this

is

the conclusion

of the landing scenario, and

relax

the

pressures

they maintain on the

controls, forgetting that it's not

over

' til the

fat lady sings. She's

only just clearing

her

throat as we

now

enter the

final phase of the

landing scenario

Rollout

For

you Ercoupe

pilots it's a

pretty simple phase.

But if you

happen

to

be flying a close-coupled

taildragger in a strong crosswind,

it's probably the most exciting

and

demanding

phase of the landing.

We

must remember to maintain

proper control deflection while

we

maintain

directional control.

There

are way too many incidents

that occur during

this phase

of the

landing that never make it into the

statistical

databases. We cannot

become

complacent

now,

lest

we

find ourselves off the

runway in

a

less than fortuitous situation.

So

if we can keep track of

where

we

are in the

landing

sequence

of events, and can manage

our

aircraft's

energy

properly, every

landing

should

be

a

great one.

Perhaps you have heard it said that

a good

landing

is

anyone

that

you

can

walk

away from ... a great

landing

is

one in which you can

use

the airplane

again. There is

no

reason

why all

of our landings

shouldn't be even better than that.

Now

you

might

be

wondering

how

my

friend's

landings

went

in


13/36

I

Editor's note: This

{Pass

it

to

Buck"

is one o

his ftrst

columns, published in the

November 1988 issue o

Vin-

tage

Airplane. Buck recently

had

to

undergo an overhaul

o

his personal hydraulic

system, and since he's a bit

sore

from that

surprise

event,

I thought the last thing he

needed was an

editor poking

him with a stick

to

get his

column in

o enjoy, for

the

next couple

o

months, the

{Best o Buck. -HGF

"Wow A 35-70 Porterfield " The

person I said it to was

looking

all

around for a rifle,

not

an aeroplane.

This was his first exposure to the Por

terfield Flyabout of the mid-1930s.

We were at the Waco Fly-in at Ham

ilton, Ohio,

and the

year was either

1973 or '74. This poor little machine

was sitting in a hangar looking just

about as shabby as 30 years of neglect

could make it. I was drawn to it as

were a few other people and eventu

E.E.

BUCK

HILBERT

Porterfield

35·70

of hours and then

put

it back in the

hangar again. With about 130 hours

total time on the airframe and almost a

zero-time engine SMOH

Again I was down at the Waco

reunion-this time in 1982. In talk

ing

to

Bill I learned

that the

airplane

was still

there and

still

just

"set

ting." Again I called the

man,

and

this

time

he

was no more happy

to hear from

me

than he was the

last time. "This was my father's air

ber when I was a budding lineboy

at

the old El

mhurst

Airport outside

Chicago. This was a new

airplane

then.

It was a racy, sporty perfor

mance machine in

comparison to

the "Cubs," Taylorcrafts, and Aeron

cas of

that

day.

It

even

had

a

round

engine

on

it with 70 horsepower.

It would race

along at

95 mph in

dicated That was a flat 25 big ones

better than your average "Cub." Of

course

the

stall speed was also 20


14/36

delivered from the Porterfield factory

at

Kansas City to Hamilton, Ohio,

in 1936, a new airplane. It never left

Hamilton until Dick came and picked

i t

up and

flew it

home

to Birming

ham, Alabama.

From what I

have been able to

learn,

the

original owner

had

gone

West" several years before I came

on

the scene. The estate proceedings just

caused

the poor

little machine to lie

idle

for so

long

that

even the original

"N" number was given away when it

was dropped from the register.

It

was

NCl6490. The Hogans got the num

ber NC17 490 issued

to the

airplane

when it was re-registered and put back

on

the

books. New logs were

made

up to replace the originals that

had

somehow disappeared into the past as

things sometimes do; the total times

shown

in these logbooks are backed

up

by

the

Hogans' testimony. They

had known the

machine

since it ar

rived there.

Dick Simpson took some dual

in

the airplane, and

then

enough prac

tice solo

to

assure

himself

that

he

could handle this hot machine. After

all, most of his flying experience has

been in "Cubs" and

then

for the past

lO-or-so years in his Cessna 182 with

a training

wheel up

front. He just

needed a little practice, is all.

Well,

he

made it

to

Birmingham,

and flew it a little around

home

only

to have the front main bearing in the

LeBlond eat itself up. Guess what?

Overhaul time And that he did. The

whole bottom came out of the en

gine

and

was re-done. Then the

top


15/36

no way he could ever finish all these

projects. This is where I came in.

I had looked at the airplane when

he had it stuffed in his hangar all dis

assembled, with the engine all apart,

and listened to what he was doing

despite the difficulty of locating parts

and

such. I expressed a more-than

idle interest in his final result. He got

it all back together after EAA Osh

kosh '85, and I went down to look

at it. I was enthused, but

not

enough

to spend any money. I had three kids

in college

and had

just retired from

UAL

so

I wasn't

in

any shape to let go

of my left hip pocket flap.

Then

again in 1986 Dick offered

me

the

airplane,

and

again

in

1987.

He knew I secretly

wanted

it, and

that it was just a matter of time.

Well,

the

time was NOW I

went

down

there

and

flew

the machine

August

25th,

bought

it, and started home

with it Friday the 26th. Bingo Right?

The realization of a boyhood dream.

I got another dream airplane Wow

How lucky can you get?

Well, 48 minutes after I

took

off

for Union from Talladega, Alabama,

I was sitting

on

the airport at Gun

tersville, Alabama, with a three-cylin

der Le Blond engine. "What?" Yes I

had stuck exhaust valves on both the

lower cylinders Dick

Lusk

from Gun

tersville, a retired Air Force mechanic,

jumped

in and

gave me his full at

tention.

We

diagnosed

the

problem

and got with it. Marvel Mystery Oil

and a little exercise got

them

work

ing again, and two and a half hours

later I was on

my

way again. I was

motor oil and a quart of Marvel Mys-

tery. This all went into the gas tank

along with the leaded regular

and

I

liberally saturated

the

valve stems,

guides, sprigs, and half the rest of the

airplane with the same stuff. After

half an hour all was working again

and after being pleasantly surprised

that the lineman knew

how

to prop

an airplane, I was on my way.

Another detour around

the east

side of Nashville

and then

westward

towards

Harrisburg, Illinois,

my

planned

RON

spot. I didn 't get there

As

I was

approaching

Hopkinsville,

Kentucky, just north

of

Fort Camp

bell, the LeBlond let me know it

had

had enough

for

the

day. I looked

at

my

watch, decided

to humor the

engine and

landed. I

couldn t

have

picked a better place

or

better time.

The people there were super Abso

lutely SUPER They gave

me

a cour

tesy car

and

offered me all kinds of

help.

I met one of our EAA

types

there. Wish I knew his name for sure,

but

Bill

showed me his Bellanca Cru

isair, and

then

offered to drive

me

into town or help me anyway

that

he

could. When I found out

that

he had

been working all day after putt ing in

a full night shift out at Fort Campbell

in

their simulator

program,

I sug

gested he go on

home and

get some

sleep. He promised

that

if I was there

the

next

morning and needed help

he'd be more than happy to assist.

I

drove

into

town, got

a

motel,

called Dick Simpson and let him off

the hook for the night, and after a

bowl of soup I

bought

some Lemon

mer. Courtesy car, a friendly smile,

and

a pat on the backside, and after

breakfast I was on my way again to

ward home. I had a dozen or more

alternates picked

out in

case

the

Le

Blond acted up again, but I threat

ened to call home for a trailer if it did

it again and firmly "told" that engine

it was replaceable with an 0-290-D if

it didn' t want to do the job. The bluff

worked and it ran like a jewel the rest

of the way.

A

little

light

rain started

about

Champaign, Illinois,

and

persisted all

the

way

to

Joliet, which was where

I

had planned my next

Mogas fuel

stop.

A happy

tailwind

was

push

ing

pretty

good

and

the fuel gauge

said

there

was

plenty of

reserve so

I

continued

on to

the

Funny Farm.

I landed

with

six

and

a half gallons

still in

the

17 -gallon tank.

I guess the reason I 'm telling all of

you about this

is

because

in my

"Pass

it

to

Buck" column of last month,

I advocated

the

VFR direct type of

flying I have just completed. Well,

maybe it wasn't all

that

direct,

but

it

was VFR,

and

it was all

done about

1,200

to

1,500

feet

above

ground

level, and it was

very scenic

and

without

radios, loran,

or

federal as-

sistance. I saw only ONE airplane the

entire way. (So

much

for our crowded

skies.) And I never

had

less than

eight or

ten miles visibility all the

way home. I also have a tremendous

sense

of

personal

accomplishment

and

a really nice looking airplane in

my

hangar to boot

A look at Juptner's

Vol.

6 will tell


16/36

rplanes

aren't

cheap. No

istic.

If

however,

the budget

allows TLC

and

upgrade it


17/36

is rarely a problem. Having a partner

doubles your buying power or halves

your expenses. Either way, finding a

good partner is

often much harder

than finding

a

good airplane.

You

can always make a weak pilot stron

ger and you can generally work out

the financial factors, but if a person

is a jerk, you can't do much about it

and none of us wants to live with a

jerk.

So

pick partners carefully.

Buying a Flying Bird

to Go

Flying

The assumption here is that you're

going to buy an airplane, fly it pretty

much as is and then resell it without

spending any time or money on it.

There are a surprising number of

airplanes

that

can be had for $15,000.

However, at that level you're working

at the bottom of

the

airp lane food

chain and, not only are the pickings

slim, but sometimes they are pretty

ugly. For that reason there are a few

rules that you must follow because

quite often buying cheap gets expen

sive when something breaks and the

airplane is no longer a bargain. Also

if you buy smart, chances are you can

fly the airplane for several years and

sell it for more

than

you paid for it.

The Cheapskate

s Guide

to Buying

a Fly-

ing

Vintage irplane

- Don t buy an airp lane

tha

t

has

flow

n very

littl

e fo r t h e past

few years. Unless

the

price is low

enough to cover tearing the engine

down for a complete

inspection,

you

could

be

buying

problems.

Lycomings especially love to de

velop rust in areas you

can t

easily

inspect (rear cam lobes) and that

rust eventually goes

through the

engine, eating bearings and other

important stuff in

the

process.

-

Do

n ' t

bu

y a n a i r

pl

a n e th at is

w

i thin

a few

hu

n dred h o u

rs

of

TBO. Even

if

it runs perfectly

and

will give you several hundred

hours of trouble free flying, you'll

have troubles reselling it. Plus, if

it goes sour, it's going to take a lot

of money to get it flying again or

you'll have to

dump

it and lose a

good part of your investment.

-

Don

t

bu

y

qu estio

n a bl e l

og-

books.

Give preference to those

with complete logs that show their

entire history and speak of

good

maintenance.

- Don t buy a ques tio na

bl

e

over-

haul. Look for familiar names in

the logbook, especially from the

last overhaul,

and

check up

on

the

names you don t know.

- Stick w it h pop ular

eng

ines. It's

hard to beat

the

A 65 Continental

and it's harder to support many of

its peers, such as the 0-145 Lycom

ing or 90-hp Franklin. They aren't

bad engines, but should any prob

lems develop, you ll have more

trouble finding parts

and

mechan

ics

that understand them.

- Avo id deter i

ora

t ed a irfram es.

Rust, rot, and corrosion are good

reasons

to

walk away from an air

plane

regardless

of

how

cheap

it

is. Unless you re qualified to do

the repairs yourself, you're talking

about a money pit.

- Buy at the topend

of

that airplane's

price bracket. Every airplane has a

price range that

is

driven by con

dition. Let's say the price range for

normal (not the super cream puffs)

Luscombes is $12,000 to $20,000.

It makes more

economic

sense to

extend the loan out to seven years

from five so you have the $20,000

to buy the best

one

available. That

one will give you less problems, e.g.

cost less money, to keep running

and you

stand

a better

chance

of

recouping your

investment when

you sell. Adog will always bring dog

prices and they usually cost more to

keep flying.

- Give preference

to

po pular types,

if you

plan

on reselling. Although

fringe airplanes, such

as the

Por

terfields, Interstates, Funks, etc.,

represent the

best buys in terms

of flying airplanes, if you're think-


18/36

ing about reselling, remember

that

those airplanes are less expensive

than something like a Cessna 140

for a reason:

the

market has deter

mined it's willing to pay more for a

140

than

a Porterfield. Keep

that

in

mind when thinking of reselling.

•

Ignore the

repu t

ations of air

planes

and

get

the

facts. Aviation

is

rife with old wives' tales about

airplanes

. Go to the

type

clubs

and get

the

facts, plus get a flight

in whatever you're thinking about

buying. A classic example of un

earned reputations

is the

suppos

edly squirrelly Luscombe: it han

dles fine

as long as

you re

ch

e

ck

ed out

properly. Its reputation stems from

pilots who haven't really learned to

fly

and they blame the Luscombe,

when it's really the pilot's fault.

• Buy on condition, not appear

ance. Look past

the

paint

and

in

terior to see

the

actual

condition

cleaning

and

polishing, and have an

airplane as good as

those that

cost

more.

We

said it was a dream

and

it

usually

is

. The costs associated with

fixing anything more than

the

most

trivial cosmetic

problems always

drive

the investment

above

the

ac

quisition

cost of the top airplanes

in

this bracket. The chances of this

working out are slim

but

definitely

not impossible. f this

is

to happen,

the

following conditions absolutely

must be present:

- Low- to mid-time engine with

good history

- Basic airframe

is

clean with

no

rust,

corrosion, or bad dings.

- Exterior has

only

cosmetic prob

lems like paint but fabric and metal

are good.

- All ADs are complied with.

- Instruments and radios (if any) are

serviceable and legal.

- Overall condition

is

above average;

Locate a project and

have it restored

We can make this short and to the

point: this is not

the

way to get into

vintage airplanes inexpensively

and

especially not for 15 ,000. Shop rates

vary wildly,

but

$25 to $35 per

hour

seems to be about average, which is

about $250 per day. Now, think how

many days it will take someone to

do whatever it is

that

your airplane

needs. Let's say six weeks to disassem

ble, cover, and repaint your airplane?

That s 30 working days or $ 7,500

and

doesn t

include materials. Or,

shop around and get prices for dif

ferent segments of it. Recovering at

$10,000, engine $8,000, so

now

we

have

spent

more

than our

$15,000

and

we

haven t

even

bought an

air

plane yet.

To

put

it simply: you can't

pay someone else to do the work and

get into vintage airplane projects on

the

cheap.

Locate a project and

restore it yourself

This has real possibilities, but again,

only

if certain things

happen

or are

present. The first move, however,

is

to evaluate yourself before you evalu

ate a project. It 's super

common

for

people to get all enthused about

the

airplane,

and

then,

when the

gritty

reality of restoration sets in, th e air

plane starts gathering dust. It would

probably surprise all of us to

know

how many classic airplanes are sit

ting

in

garages

and

barns

not

being worked on.


19/36

storage space available for com

pleted components.

Do you have the t ime

There

is

no such thing as free time.

It

all

comes from

somewhere and

for

most folks that means family

and

family activities get short changed.

This has to be

examined

closely.

More than one project has been

abandoned because it was caus

ing too much unrest in the house

hold. Or conversely,

the

project

continued

but

the marriage didn't.

Get the

family

into

the project,

or at least make sure you

aren t

building resentment by

not

being

where you're supposed to

be.

Do

you

have

the skill

s? This

is

a

nonquestion because

you

can

learn

any

skill. Besides, everything

you do must be rechecked by

an

A P anyway. In fact,

one of

the

most

valuable skills you

can

de

velop would be the ability to make

friends

with

A Ps

and

convince

them to come check your work

in

exchange for barbeque or some

thing. For those skills you

don t

want to learn, e.g., welding, paint

ing, etc., you can bring the project

right

up to

the ready-to-weld or

paint stage and pay to have the fi-

nal work done. Most of

the

cost of

either types of work is in the time

spent

in

preparation . Once ev

erything is cut and fit in place,

two

hours of

actual welding

is a huge amount of welding.

Ditto painting. The cost

is

in the

disassembly, cleaning, masking,

and prepping.

Actual

spraying

time to

paint

an entire airplane

probably isn't two hours including

all

the

small parts, if they are

we

ll

organized and ready to shoot.

roject valuation

Deciding what makes a good proj

ect isn't easy and price is most

of-

ten the least important part of the

equation.

Size. Don' t bite off more than you

can chew. Luscombes and 140s are

good little weekend garage proj

ects. A Tri-Pacer

is

a little more la

bor intensive and a 108 Stinson

is

a quantum leap up

the

time

and

complexity scale. If you

opt

for a

bigger airplane, make sure that you

want

that

airplane more than life

itself or you'll run out of steam.

C

ondition.

If the airplane

is

a proj

ect, why did it stop flying? Was it

damaged?

What

kind of damage?

Some types of damage are easier to

fix

than

others

and much

of it

is

outside

the

capabilities of a back

yard restorer. How much storage

damage does it have in the form

of beat-up skins, ribs, etc. What

about

storage conditions? Was it

dry or wet? Is there rust or corro

sion? These are hard

to

fix. Were

mice making

an

apartment house

of the airplane, complete with

their nasty hygiene habits?

Type

of

construction.

Differentindi

viduals have different affinities

Some like

wood,

others are

more comfortable with aluminum

or rag

and

tube. Each material re-

quires different skill sets

and

abili

ties

and

all

demand

a thorough

understanding of FAA-acceptable

repair techniques. This is where a

good A P

is

worth whatever he or

she charges for guidance.

Damage

asses

sment

An airplane

that has been in a serious accident

is

generally better left for the pros

or semi-pros unless the damage is

minor

or limited to rag

and

tube

airplanes, which lend themselves

better to amateur repairs.

Completen

ess. An

airplane that

is

missing parts is an airplane

that

is going to

cost

a

lot in

phone

calls

and

aggravation. Plus those

parts aren t cheap. Don t under

estimate the problems associated

with

replacing something fairly

minor

like

an

aileron or parts of

the

control

system, for example.

I f

the airplane is only

disassem

bled

into

its

major

components

(wings/fuselage/engine), it's easy

to see what is or isn't there. But, if

it's a true basket case or a project

someone

has already totally dis

assembled

to

work on,

doing an

inventory is a major task that ab-

solutely must be

accomplished

before

money changes hands. Also, if this

is to be an accurate restoration, as

opposed

to

a sport flying restora

tion, it's critical that all the trim

pieces on the interior and

cowling be accounted for.

This inventory will be

the

basis for arguing price with


20/36

with a

fresh

engine

is worth

a size-

able premium

Paperwork.

DON'T

BUY

A

PROJ-

ECT

THAT

HAS

NO PAPERWORK

OR

DATAPLATE.

This

is

something

the pros seem to be able to pull

off, but the average guy isn't set up

jousting with the FAA Registration

Branch. In the first place, without

a data plate the airplane has no of

ficial identity and that means you

have no way of proving it's yours

or

it

hasn't

been

stolen.

Without

a data plate there is almost no way

you can license it. Don't even think

about trying

to get it licensed as

an Experimental aircraft. The

FAA

won't allow a formerly certified

airplane to be moved to that set of

certification categories.

Treat

the

paperwork exactly

the

same as if you were buying a flying

airplane and you'll avoid major

hassles later on. And don't plan

on working this out later. It would

be a real

bummer

to finish

an

air

plane and

then

find you can't li

cense it.

Proforma budg

et .Before buying

the project, sit down with a pencil,

or better yet, a computer spread

sheet,

and

work up a budget for

parts, materials and outside labor.

Mentally walk

through what

you

have to do to the

airplane

start-

ing at the front and working back.

Make up three columns labeled

Least, Expected and High

and put numbers in

each of

the

columns. This should give you a

range.

If

possible, get your local

A P

or

EAA

Technical

Counselor

Editor

Low buck

Picks

We're goingto skip the obvious Luscombe/120/140/Champ/T-craft mainstream

aircraft and talk about some

you

may not have thought about

that

can be fit into

the $15K budget.

Aeronc

Chief

This

is a side-by-side Champ; good Super Chiefs (85 hpj probably won't

be

in

the $15K budget.

65TAC-Defender-Pre-war/wartime tandem, pick carefully because of age.

Piper

J 4

Cub

oupe

A side-by-side Cub that for some reason hasn't skyrocketed in

price like the J 3. Good project but rare.

olt

A two-place Tri-Pacer. 15K should buy a reasonable flying airplane or

build a good project.

25 Tri

acer

This is an early Tripe w/0-290 but look for a good engine and

prepare to do some welding. Check the engine carefully-the 0-290 is an "orphan"

engine as far as Lycom i

ng

is concerned.

Interstate Cadet

to sit down and go through it with

you. An extra set of eyes is well

worth the effort. Then add at least

SO percent and you'll be close to

what

it'll cost

to put

it back

in the

air. At

that

point you're ready to

start arguing with the owner about

the price.

ocation. Proximity has a lot to

do

with the worth of a project

because transportation is such a

problem. Although the airplane

that

is

on

the other

coast

may

be

a much better project at a better

price, by the time you get it

home

it won't be much of a bargain.

At

the same time, you have

to

evalu

ate the balance between projects:

it may well be worth the time and

money

if a distant project will re

quire

enough

fewer parts

and

work

to justify the trip.

Wh

ere t o look . Trade-a-Plane is

always

the

first place to start look

ing,

along

with Barnstormers com

and

the

classified section of maga

zines, including Vintage Airplane

However,

the best

deals will al

ways be found

on

bulletin boards

at

fly-ins

and at

local airports. A

lot of airplanes are in

the

hands of

people ready to dump

them

just to

get

them

out of their hair

and

they

usually aren't advertised.

-Ty

pe club i s im p

ortan

t.

The

more

popular

the type, the stron

ger

the

type club will be

and

that's

important.

If you're

restoring a

Porterfield, you'll

have

a much

smaller

number

of people to help

you than if doing a Luscombe or

http:///reader/full/Barnstormers.comhttp:///reader/full/Barnstormers.com


21/36


22/36

shkosh

Oasis

The Vette Seaplane Base 2004

KATHIE ERNST

Like the water

lilies th t ring

the

perimeter of

the

base

Cub row extended southwest

into the

seaplane

cove th nks to the clever work of the

seaplane

docking

crew.


23/36

While not a vintage airplane, the

BE-103

is an interesting airplane

that

gets plenty

of attention.

This

year

I was fortunate to

be

offered a

flight in

a new Russian

twin-engine amphibian, the

Beriev

BE-103.

It's a

rather unusu l

looking

light

twin , with ts

wing-in-the-

water configuration.

I

had

never seen anything quite

like

it

before

and was curious as

to

how it would

fly

We had

a very

experienced crew

at

the controls; Sk

ip

Niedhardt (the Seap

l

ane Pilot's Association

's

most experienced

instructor) and

Kent Linn (another seaplane

p

ilot

and

the North American

distributor

for the BE-103) were the

pil

ots.

We embarked on our adventure in the late

afternoon,

hoping to

catch a

sunset

flight . I

must admit

that it

was

a little

unsettling

to sit

so low in the water,

I

but was reassured of

its very

sturdy construction.

It

handled

remarkably

well in

both

the air

and

in

the

water

. It

was

a very

enjoyable

flight .

"Spasibu

,

thanks to the

Russians

ne

of

the

highlights of

EAA

to summer camp (but like

camp,

corn roast

and the

watermelon fest.

AirVenture Oshkosh 2004 don t forget

to

pack your sunscreen (But get

your

tickets early because

was

the Vette Seaplane and bug repellent ).

they are always a sell out ) Or you

Base. It is truly one of the jewels of

There is no place quite like the

can

find a comfortable, shady spot

the

convention. A short shuttle trip seaplane base with the friendly

and

and

watch the day-to-day activities

from the main grounds, and you find

always helpful staff and the resort

at

the base . It's delightful

to

watch

yourself in a hidden paradise.

like

atmosphere;

it's a

vacation

in these little water birds take off

and

As you walk down the moss

itself. You

can

take a leisurely boat land

in

one of

the

most picturesque

covered path leading

to

the ride around the protected cove

places

in

Oshkosh.

floatplane cove, you

encounter

tiki

and view all the different planes Treat yourself to a little vacation

lights and signs

that

warn of poison up close. You can enjoy the several next year

at

Oshkosh and visit the

ivy. You

can

feel the stress of daily

cookouts the base offers each year, Vette Seaplane Base. You won t be

life slowly melt away. It's like going such

as the

perennial

favorites-the

disappointed


24/36

The Grand

Champion

Gold

Lindy winner of all

the seaplanes was

Chris

Price's fantastic

Heath

Parasol,

mounted on a pair of Heath floats. t was

Antique

Custom

Built champion at last year s

EAA

AirVenture.

Chris buiH the floats using plans published in the

Flying

and Glider

Manual

o

1931,

available from

EAA by calling

800/843-3612. Chris

was feeling

a

bit under the weather during the convention, but

he graciously agreed to do some high-speed (okay,

relatively

speaking) runs

on

the

bay

outside

o

the

seaplane base.

ee back cover.

Bill Schlapman of the Heath Parasol Club took this photo of Chris

and his

Heath just prior to starting.

You can

see how

small

the

Heath

and its floats really are. Each is buiH up with spruce framing covered

in 3I32-inch mahogany plywood, with the floats then covered in

lightweight aircraft fabric.

With the

changes

he

had

to

make

to the airplane to

power

it

with

a Continental A-40, Chris wasn't too

sure

about the float rigging, so

he

built a shallow tank in his hangar to test the configuration

To

fly it to the seaplane base from his hangar

in Brodhead,

Wisconsin, Price had to truck the Heath to Decatur Lake, just north

of Brodhead.

After takeoff during his initial test flight

on

floats,

VAA member

and

volunteer photographer Nigel Hitchman captured

these two

dawn

photographs of the

Heath

with Chris at the controls. Chris

flew formation for a bit with the Curtiss

Jenny

restored

by

Frank

Schelling,

and being

flown by

Eric Presten.

After the float installation was deemed proper, the Heath was

fueled and then flown off the lake for a 60-mile cross-country flight

to the

Vette

Seaplane

base.


25/36

The Bronze

Lindy

winner

in

the Seaplane category is this sharp Piper PA·14 mounted on a pair of amphibious Wipline 2100

floats, and owned and flown by Jon Gottschalk of Phillips, Wisconsin, up in the lake country of the state, northwest of Tomahawk.

Okay,

now

that I caught

it,

what

do

I

do

with

it?

Daria Chirhart,

whose mom, Becky, and

dad,

Todd,

are

local Oshkosh residents who volunteer at the

Seaplane base, spends part of her

week

catching the

reptilian versions of amphibians present at the base.


26/36

Membeps

on

1 UP nelll v,ehiele gurrehase

As a partner with Ford Motor Company,

EM is

proud to offer their

members the opportunity to save on the purchase or lease of Ford,

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27/36

BY

H.G

.

FR UTSCHY

THIS MONTH'S MYSTERY PLANE

COMES TO US FROM THE ZIEGLER COLLECTION IN THE E LIBRARY.

Send your answer to EAA

Vintage

Airplane P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.

Your

answer needs to be

in

no

later

th n

January 10 for inclusion in the March 2005 issue

of Vintage

Airplane.

You

can also send your response via e-mail. Send your answer to

[email protected].

Be sure to include your

name plus your city

nd

state in the

body

of your

note nd put

f (Month) Mystery

Plane

in the subject line.

SEPTEMBER ' S MYSTERY NSWER

Here s one we received via e-mail:

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


28/36

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'-McFarlane

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s

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.

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94

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sales@ mcfarlane-aviation.com

From homebuilts

10

warbirds,

uhralights

10

vintage aircraft,

ii

's

all

here. Including

the

exciting daily

airshow, celebrilY

guests and

inlefviews,

military aircraft

and

The

fo

ll

ow

ing list

of coming

events

is

furnished to our readers as a

matter of

in

fo

rmation only

and

does

not

consti

tute approval, sponsorship involvement,

co

nt

ro l or direction

of

any event fly-in,

sem

in ars, fl y ma rk et, etc.) listed. To

r

~ ~ ~ . . - . - _ ~ subm it an event, send the

information

.,. via mail to : Vintage Airplane,

P.O

. Box

3086, Os hkosh, WI 54903-3086. Or e-

ma

il the info rmation to : [email protected]. Infor

mation should be received four months prior to the event date.

JULY

25-31, 2005

shk

os

h,

WI

-EAA

A

irV

e

ntur

e O shk os h 200 S, Note

date

change! www

a irven t ure.

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Some t h i n g

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Classified Display Ads: One column wide (2.167 inches) by

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$20 per inch. Black and white only, and no frequency discounts.

Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of second month prior to desired issue date

(i.

e. ,

January 10 is the closing date for the March issue).

VM

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

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EM. Address advert ising

correspondence to EM Publications Classified Ad Manager, P.O . Box 3086, Oshkosh,

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29/36

continued from page 3

diamonds,

are

forever.

To

keep the

flavor

of

both the times and

of

Nick's

delivery we've done minimal editing

to

the 30-year-old "Reminiscing with

Nick" series, and in this case, it bit

us. Thanks for keeping us honest f

you have solid information regard

ing Parks aircraft,

feel free to

con

tact

John

at the e-mail address noted

above. - HGF

More

on

Mystery Oil

About the Marvel Mystery OiL ..

I have a

little

bit of information

that may be of interest.

After being discharged

from

the Air Force in the

early

1950s,

I was able to go

to

work for

North

Central

Airlines because I already

had my A P mechanic s certifi

cate. I worked nights

at

first and

when a plane terminated after its

last flight we cleared up any dis

crepancies

that

the pilots wrote

up during

the day s flights.

If a pilot wrote that an engine

ran

rough at times, we would take

a quart

of

M.M.O.

up

to the cock

pit

and run the engine up, and

suck the quart

of

M.M.O.

into

the

engine via the manifo ld pressure

line that we disconnected from

the

gauge.

We had

the 9-cylinder Wright

1820 engines and it was usually a

high-time engine that needed

the

treatment.

It worked every time.

TAKE SOME OF THE EXPERIMENTING

OUT OF HOMEBUILDING

jan . 21-23

Griffin, GA

Atlanta Area)

jan. 29

Oshkosh, WI

• Test Flying Your Project

jan. 29-30

Oshkosh, WI

• Introduction

to

Aircraft Building

• Sheet Metal Basics • Fabric Covering

Feb.

25-27

Feb. 26

Griffin, GA

Atlanta Area)

Lakeland, L

(Sun

N

Fun

Campus)

• Composite Construction

• Electrical Systems and Avionics

• Cas Welding

• TIC Welding

• Test Flying Your Project


30/36

Vanderlei Nazareth . . . . Sao Paulo,

SP,

Brazil

Enrico

Celant

Ispra Varese, Italy

Edmund Houtte

. .

. .

Pa lm

er, AK

Brendan

P. Carmody

. . .

Fres

no

,

CA

Joseph Davis . . . Firebaugh , CA

Mark Timothy Dean Fresno,

CA

Ted G. Lumpkin . . . . Inglewood, CA

Tyler C. Peterson .

Diamond

Springs, CA

James Reyner. Santa Clara, CA

Paul

C.

Rzad . . . . . Martinez,

CA

Frank Hitlaw .

Sebrin

g,

FL

Daniel

S.

Jones . .

Panama

City Beach, FL

Randy Walls . Ke

nn

esaw, GA

John A. Craig . . .

. . Sun Va ll

ey,

ID

Ray Fagre, Jr.

At

hol,

ID

Thomas P. Baber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . McHenry, IL

Larry A. Lyons Stockton, IL

David McCollough . . St. Cha

rl

es, IL

Albert Schrautemyer . . Itasca, IL

Alan N. Harder . . . .

Terre Ha

ut e,

IN

Nelson D. Reynolds, Jr . Evansvill

e,

IN

Alvin E. Tanzey .

Chopin,

LA

James

B. Hawkes . . Beverly, MA

Daniel Feirman . . Portl and ,

ME

Charles W. Checker, Jr. Monroe, MI

Cameron Chute . . . . . St . Paul, MN

Everett K. Hall . .

. Springfield, MO

Stephen

Antonelli . . . . . Fayetteville, NC

J

an

MCDougald . . . Gold Hill, NC

Kurt M. Charpen tier . . . . Lyndeborough, NH

Rand Peck . .

Mount

Vernon, NH

Steve n S. Dow . . . Byron,

NY

Ch ristopher Frank

. . . .Jamaica, NY

Joseph Prato . . . Livonia, NY

Jefferson Sh ingleton Auburn, NY

Bruce W.

Mitton

. Fayette, OH

Timothy Sholl .

Col umb u

s,

OH

Emerson

C.

Stewart WayneSVill

e,

OH

Edward

C.

Yess,

II

I. .

. Blanchester, OH

Bill

Jac

kson . . . Oklahoma City, OK

James D. Sheen . . . Gettysburg, PA

Kenneth B. Carpen ter Knoxvill

e,

TN

Dan Bush . . . . .

Roanoke, TX

Tim Ell iott . . . Sulphur Sprin gs,

TX

Nancy Hoffman Yoakum,

TX

Howard Ho llinger . Dallas,

TX

Bl

aine

Hunsaker . . . Brigham City,

UT

Martin Duke . . .

. . Renton, WA

Jay Jacobsen . Sequi m, WA

Robert Maves . . Ellison Bay, WI

Ken ni th M. Mazac. River Falls, WI

Thomas Schobe r Oconomowoc, WI

Donald E. Cas to . Pt. Pleasant, WV

William D. Ha ll .Huntington, WV

AERO

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31/36

T C Dayis

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_

Rilot

for 5

years

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years as

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avis


32/36

Ladies Blouse..

32.99

Wear this blouse to

work

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great business

look

and

after

work go casual by rolling up the

sleeves Great for a

busy

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mall

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33/36

Biplane

Pins

Accent

any

outfit with one or more of

these stylish biplane pins. Available

in silver or gold tone. Has 1 inch

wing span.

Silver

•••••••••

V02844 $11.99

old

•••••••• •• V02845 $11.99

VAA

GoN Balls

18 or 24 Tube Socks . .

7.59

Great for any athletic activity or for

simply keeping your feet warm and dry

during the fall

and

winter months. Fits

any size.

18 V02928 24 V02927

Whether on

vacation or thinking

ahead to the warm sunny days, get

ready for the golf course with these

Top Flight LX VAA logo golf balls.

V02587

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Ford Tri-Motor

Paperweigtrt

Exquisite, fascinating, unbelievable

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just

a few words to describe

this beautiful acrylic paperweight.

The 3-D plane

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the

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piece

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art.

V03492 14.00

Multi-Tool

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Flashlig11t

Rts in your pocket for any quick mainte

nance job that happens on the

go. You ll

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Ap-

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V

Documents

Vintage Airplane - Dec 2004