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8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
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8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
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G OFF RO ISON
PRESIDENT V NTAGE AIRC RAFT ASSOC IATION
AirVenture 2009 proved to be not only an
awesome
event but also
a
wildly
successful one
[
returned
from AirVenture
and
my head is still
spinning
trying to
determine
what dynamics
were
put into place to
make
this
event
so wildly successful. The best I can
come
up with, considering the eco
nomic
challenges
we are all
cur
rently experiencing in one degree
or another,
is
the
leadership team
as well as staff at EAA
and the many
before the convention volun
teers
who
again
put together
such
a wide-ranging schedule
of events
and attractions for this year's event.
The
dedication of so many re
turning volunteers
plus
what
was
planned
and then ultimate ly deliv
ered to our
EAA/VAA
membership
created
an
event
that
many
folks
were simply unwilling to miss.
The one word we heard
through
out the
week of AirVenture
was
simply, "Wow." As I stated
in
last
month's column, all early indica
tors seemed to strongly suggest
the
flight in front of so
many
aviation
minded individuals? Where else in
these United States can you get
up
close to
and
climb aboard
an
Airbus
A380 airliner, or wa lk around and
observe a
demo
flight of a Predator
Boperated by
the
U.S. Customs and
Border Protection? It's a rare day in
The one word we heard
throughout the
week
of
AirVenture was
simply,
"Wow:'
your life if you can see a full-scale
replica de Havilland Comet DH.88
on
display, as well as in flight. But
these aircraft and their pilots were
all a part
of
the
most
exciting avia
tainment
provided by the Doobie
Brothers and by an appearance
of
the
puppet
master/comedian
Jeff
Dunham and
his sidekick Guitar
Guy. Thousands of our guests at Air-
Venture were in
attendance at
these
very special shows . Wow You guys
are all dynamite performers, and
your
efforts
were greatly appreci
ated by all in
attendance.
The Vin
tage parking area experienced an
other
year of wide-ranging aircraft.
The barnstormer's tour brought
in
nine
fine examp les
of
the barn
storming era, not to mention Clay
Pork Chop Adams'
beautifully
restored
motorized
couch, racing
stripe and all. Yeah,
you heard
me
right. You cou ld see Clay
motoring
around the campground
nearly ev
ery night of the convention on this
crazy
contraption,
ridesharing and
having a
ton of
fun. I got my ride
Thanks, Clay,
it
was a hoot. You
guys are awesome.
We
were also
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5
TEM ER
EAA Publisher Tom Poberezny
Directorof
EAA
Publications Mary Jones
ExecutiveDirector/Editor H.G. Frautschy
8 The Vi
ntag
e Mechanic
Breaking
in
a radial engine
Production /SpecialProject
Kath l
ee
n
Witman
by Robert G. Lock
Photography Jim Koepnick
BonnieKratz
3 4
The Vintage Instructor
AdvertisingCoordinator Sue Anderson
Whose Rules
ClassifiedAd Coordinator LesleyPoberezny
by Doug Stewart
Copy
Editor Co
ll
eenWalsh
G
N E
VOL
37 ,
NO.9
2009
O
NT
NTS
I
e Straight
&
Level
AirVenture 2009 proved to be
no t
on
ly
an
awesome event,
but also a wildly successful one!
by Geoff Robison
2
News
4
E
AA
AirVenture 2009 Awards
6 Yah
, Dat
Be
a Swedish Ahrplane
Lars
de Jounge's
Saa
b Safir
by Budd Davisson
2
Lucky Lady
One
Simply Splendid Stearman
Brou
ght to
you by the restorer and the reluctant pilot
by Sparky Barnes Sargent
18
It Does
Matt
er
The mission
is
simple
by Brian Kissinger
3
Light Plane Heritage
The Driggs Dart I
by Jack McRae
6 Fr
iends of the Red Barn Thank
You
STAFF
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E
Receives
Approval From
F
for Vintage
DERs
By David
Sakrison,
EAA
AirVenture Today
EAA's Vintage Aircraft Asso
ciation (VAA)
and
the FAA an
nounced
Wednesday, July 29, that
two years of effort resulted
in
the
approval of a new FAA program
to authorize designated engineer
ing representatives for
vintage
air
craft- vintage
DERs.
The new VDER designation
should help
reduce
the
cost
and
complexity
of obtaining engineer
ing approvals for vintage aircraft.
DERs essentially are engineers
for-hire, recognized by
the
FAA
for their knowledge of a particular
aircraft system-engines, electri
cal, structural. The vintage DER
(VDER) addition to the designated
engineering representative pro
gram covers the following:
• Once
appointed
the
author
ity,
the VDER program
authorizes a
VDER to approve
data
for only the
types of repairs and alterations to
vintage airplanes
and/or
engines
that would be eligible for FAA field
approvals under FAA Order 8900.l.
.The
intent of
this authority
is to allow individuals who don't
meet the conventional
DER ap
pointment
criteria to become
VDERs with limited
approval
au
thori ty
in multiple technical
specialties for repairs and/or altera
•
Note:
Vintage
engines
include
all radial
engines
and
all
other
piston
engines
manufactured
before 1973.
DERs
playa
crucial role
in
keep
ing aircraft flying. When a
vintage
airplane needs a major repair, a
field modification, or a newly fab
ricated part to replace
an
original
part,
the
DER is
the one who
ap
proves
the
engineering data, certi
fying that the
data
are consistent
with or superior to the original.
But vintage aircraft present a
special challenge . A DER is typi
cally
limited
to issuing approvals
on a particular system or structure.
I f
you want to
hang
a
90-horse
engine on a plane that left the
factory with 6S horses, VAA Ex
ecutive Director H.G. Frautschy ex
plained, you might
have
to hire
three
DERs to
get
the engineering
approvals-an airframe DER, an
engine
DER, and a propeller DER,
he said
.
The cost
of
hiring those
DERs
can
be
prohibitive.
Under the
new
program, the
FAA will
begin
designating a new
breed of DERs-vintage
DERs
whose demonstrated expertise cov
ers
an
entire
vintage
airplane. They
will
have holistic
authority
to
approve engineering data
on any
system or structure on a
specific
aircraft.
The VDER's authority will be
limited , however, to one make
of aircraft,
though
a single VDER
could
apply
for and receive sepa
rate
VDER
designations
for
multi
ple aircraft.
This is going to really help peo
ple
with small, older airplanes,
Frautschy said.
The people
who
have the exper
tise
on
these airplanes
are
in
the
type clubs,
and their
expertise is
broader and more comprehensive
than a single system or
structure
.
It makes sense, he added, for the
FAA to tap that expertise to assist
owners and the FAA .
FAA Small
Airplane
Directorate
Manager Kim Smith told Frautschy,
We're
excited [about VDERs] for
two reasons:
The
vintage airplanes
[at AirVenture] are beautiful, and
it's exciting to help
them
to stay
safe
and airworthy.
And this is a
great example
of
the aviation com
munity approaching
us with an
2 9 V Hall of Fame Inductee Steve Pitcairn
The individual
selected
by the VAA
board of directors to be honored with
induction into the
EAA
Vintage Aircraft
Association
Hall
of Fame in 2009 is the
late Steve Pitcairn. The son of aviation
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idea
that
m akes
sense-
t
ha
t
we
hadn't th
ou
ght
of.
' 'It
shows
what
can
happen
when
you work toge
th
er toward a
common
goal.
Dave Swartz,
of
t
he Anchorage
Aircraft
Certification
Office, was
instrumen
tal
in getting the VDER
program approved and has
been
tasked
with
overseeing
VDER im
plementation
. He
and
Smith o
ut
lined
plans
for
impleme
n
ting
t he
program at
the FAA.
Smith told
Frautschy,
Yo
u
can
get
the
word out
to
your members
a lot faster
than
we
can
comm
uni
cate with ours.
If
[applicant
s]
work
with us
thro
ugh
VAA,
that will
he
lp
smooth out
some of t
he
bumps.
Frautschy and
Smit h
agreed
that people
who want to
apply for
VDER
certification
sho
uld
contact
the
Vintage Aircraft Associ
ation
be
fore
submitting their app
li
cations
to
t
he
appropriate aircraft certifica
tion office . In
the
days fo llowing
the announcement, the VAA
re
ceived nearly a dozen
inq
uiri
es.
We
can help
them submit
the
application, and we'
ll
work
wi th
[the
FAA s Smith
and Swartz] to
get
it into
the
right channels,
Frautschy said.
EAA an
d the VAA are willi n g
to
help
VDER
app licants through
the process by reviewing t
heir
ap
plication materia
ls
prior
to
their
submittal
to the FAA . As this issue
of
Vintage Airplane
was be
in
g com
pleted, Randy
Hansen,
EAA's
gov
ernment
rel
ations
director, was
in
the
process
of
finalizing
a
chec
k
The V
AA
will also be keeping a list
of those
mem
bers who are approved
VDERs,
an
d we will be
posting
that
list
on the
VAA
website
as
those ap
provals are made
by
the
FAA.
Vintage rea Popular During
E irVenture 2009
More than 800 showp
l
anes in
the
Vintage judging categori
es
were
parked
as
far sou
th
as Row 153 this
year.
In
fu
ture
iss ues,
we'll
have
plenty of coverage of this year's
fly
-
in in Vintage Airplane and Vintage
Aircraft On line The new
Vintage
Hangar
was
enthu siastically
re
ceived
by
the
type
club
and
work
shop
folks,
and the
first
year of
Vintage Aircraft
in
Review
on the
as-
phalt
pad in
front of
the
VAA
head
quarters area was also mentioned
as
one
of the
h
ighligh
ts
by
many
of
o
ur
visitors
and members. Check
the awards list
start
i
ng on
page
4,
and
l
ook
for
more to
come
on the
event
in
the
next
few mon
ths .
Ted Koston 1923 2009
Famed aviation
photographer
Ted Costopoulos (
aka Kos
ton) of Melrose Park, Illinois, passed away Saturday, August
2, at the
age of 86.Ted loved aviation and managed
to get
involved
in
as
many facets of it
as
he could. Over
the
past
four
decades,
Ted
has blessed
EAA with
his services
as
a vol
unteer
photographer
. Starting in
the
1960s he shot some
of
the
most famous images of
EAA
and
VAA
members and their
aircraft. He continued
to contribute to Vintage Airplane
on a
Ted
Koston in a
amiliar
regular basis, and
our
archive
of
images shot by
Ted
over the
years will always be a valued resource.Ted s photography
has
pose to
many
longtime
EAAers
-
behind
the
been published in
EAA
publications and all over
the
world.
viewfinder of aGraflex For his broad dedication
to the world
of vintage airplanes
and
the people who fly them, he was inducted into the EAA
camer
a.
Vintage Aircraft Association Hall
of
Fame in 2001.
Koston s firs t
flight made in
1937, was
in
a Kin
ner-powered Bird
CK
biplane.
Ted
s lifelong fascina
tion
with
photography blossomed, and he was soon
shooting aircraft on a regular basis.
During
World
War II, he served as a naval aviation photographer
aboard the aircraft carrier
USS
St . Lo (ex-USS Mid
way). His naval service also included a stint per form
i
ng
reconnaissance
photography
in
the
Marshall
Islands and Guam. Returning
to
Chicago after World
War II, he opened his
own photography
studio and
immediately
got busy on a number of civilian avia
tion
fronts. He served as:
.President of the Illinois Air Pilots Association.
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9
ANTIQUE
AWARDS THROUGH AUGUST
1945)
Antique Continuously Maintained Aircraft
Dean Del Bene, Monee, Illinois
1937 Stinson SR-9C, NC18407
World War
II
Military Trainer/Liaison Aircraft Outstanding
Jay Rud
&
Pete Nelson, Sandwich, Illinois
1942 Boeing A75N1 (PT-17l, N59223
Customized Aircraft Outstanding
Jim Head, Galena,
Ohio
1943 Boeing A75, N450BB
Customized
Aircraft
Runner-Up
Paul Fries, Wheeling, Illinois
1943 Boeing B75N1, N347KF
World War
II
Era
(1942-1945)
Runner-Up
Ted Davis, Brodhead, Wisconsin
1941
White
New
Standard D-25A, N7286
Bronze Age
(1937-1947) Outstanding Closed Cockpit Monoplane
James Lange, Brookfield, Wisconsin
1941 Taylorcraft BC12 -65, N33951
Bronze Age (1937-1941) Outstanding Closed-Cockpit Biplane
Ron & Mark Morrison,
Bloomingdale
, Illinois
1938 Beech F17D, NC18781
Bronze Age (1937-1941) Runner-Up
Jack Carol Vautin, Thousand Oaks, California
1939 Piper J-3C -65, NC23266
Transport Category
Champion Bronze
Lindy
Robert Penny, Versailles, Missouri
1944 Cessna T-50, N30F
Customized Aircraft
Champion Bronze
Lindy
Jerry & Vivian May, Kearney, Nebraska
1936 Rearwin Sportste r, N16473
World War
II
Era (7942-1945)
Champion Bronze
Lindy
Kurt
Bromschwig,
Bloomington
, Minnesota
1945 Beech D17S, N51121
Bronze Age 7931-1941)
Champion Bronze
Lindy
Mark McGowan & Ken Kreutzfeld, Plymouth Michigan
1940 Taylorcraft BC-65, NC24371
Silver Age (1928-1936)
Champion Bronze
Lindy
Larry Howard, Green Acres,
Washington
1930 Laird
LC
-1 B-300,
NC1
0402
Antique Reserve Grand Champion Silver Lindy
Jack Tiffany & Jim
Hammond
Spring Valley,
Ohio
1932 Pitcairn Autogiro PA-18, NC1267B
Antique Grand
Champion Gold
Lindy
Joseph Kaminskas, Biglervil le, Pennsylvan ia
1930Waco
RNF,
NC859V
CLASSIC
AWARDS SEPTEMBER
1945
THROUGH 195
5)
Outstanding Aeronca Champ Small Plaque
Steve Krueger, Merrill, Wisconsin
1946 Aeronca 7
AC
, N83355
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Outstanding
Cessna 190/195 Smal/
Plaque
Arnold Peckar, Boulder, Colorado
1947 Cessna 195, N4331N
Outstanding
Navion Smal/
Plaque
Alan Sickinger, New Philadelphia, Ohio
1947 North Amer ican Navion A, N285TC
Outstanding Piper J 3 Smal/ Plaque
Clarence Easley, Pleasanton, Kansas
1946 Piper J-3C-65, N92446
Outstanding Piper Other Small Plaque
Steven Johnson, Bo ise Idaho
1954 Piper
PA
-18-135, N9967Q
Outstanding
Stinson Small
Plaque
Shawn Haring, Lincoln, Kansas
1948 Stinson 108-3, NC6010M
Outstanding Swift Small Plaque
John Renwick,
Minneap >
lis, Minnesota
'1950Temco
GC-1
B,N2431 B
Outstanding Limited Production Small Plaque
David Smith, Milaca, Minnesota
1954 Meyers MAC-145, N551
Preservation-Smal l Plaque
Ronald Busch, Cedarburg, Wisconsin
1947 Aeronca 11 BC N3923E
Custom
Class
B
87
- 7
5
hpj Smail
Plaque
Joseph Leslie, Abbotsford, British Columbia
1946 Fleet Canuck, CF -EAU
Custom Class C (151-235 hpj Smail Plaque
Marvin Homsley, Maumee, Ohio
1946 Globe GC-1 B,
N61
PK
Custom Class 0 (236+ hpj Smail Plaque
Mike Barron, Per ry, Missouri
1944 Beech C-45H, N241
t>
Best
Custom Runner-Up-Large Plaque
Peter Kerwin, Naperville, Illinois
1946 Piper PA-12, NC2755M
Reserve Grand
Champion Silver
Lindy
Donal Halloran, Dodgeville, Wisconsin
1948 Piper
PA
-15, N4469H
Grand
Champion Gold
Lindy
Charles Rober t Parish, Tullahoma, Tennessee
1952 Beech D18S, N4477
CONTEMPORARY
AWARDS
(1956- 1970)
Outstanding Beech Single
Engine Outstanding In
Type
Kevin O'Halloran, Cordell, Oklahoma
1960 Beech 35-B33, N638V
Outstanding
Bellanca Outstanding
In
Type
Gail Steve Jones, Wadsworth Illinois
1965 Bellanca 14-19-3, N8506R
Outstanding
Cessna ISO Outstanding
In
Type
Kevin Becky English, Deerfield, Wisconsin
1959 Cessna 150, N5978E
Outstanding Cessna 170/172/175 0utstanding In Type
Frederick Bradford, Fort Worth, Texas
1967 Cessna 172H, N2722L
Outstanding Cessna 180/182/21 O Outstanding
In
Type
Robert Moreland, Byron, Illinois
1957 Cessna 180A, N5224D
Outstanding
Cessna
31
a Outstanding In
Type
Gary Hess, Dexter,
Michigan
1968 Cessna
31
ON
N5063Q
Outstanding Champion Outstanding
In Type
James Bunner, Belleville, West Virginia
1958 Champion Aeronca
7FC
N7543E
Outstanding Mooney Outstanding In Type
Lawrence Freer, Burien, Washington
1964 Mooney M20E, N93GG
Outstanding Piper PA 24/30 Comanche-Outstanding
In
Type
Garry Bernardo, Lakeworth, Florida
1964 Piper
PA
-30, N7409Y
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The Safir features a swing-open canopy (complete
with
curtains!) for easy access
to the
cockpit and baggage area.
I
had
started learning in 1947,
Lars remembers, and was flying Kl-
emms, which had been part of the
Swedish air force
and
before
that
had been used by the German Luft-
waffe as trainers. During each of my
vacations from the mines, I flew the
Klemms as much as I could. So, I
guess I have a soft spot for
the
air-
plane because
that's
where I first
learned to
fly
.
His career took
him
all over the
world, including a sojourn in India,
where his wife began taking lessons
in Cubs, but the bug
didn
't bite her
as hard
as
it had Lars. She never so-
loed, but didn't mind if I spent time
and money at it myself.
A trait that appears constant
throughout his career is keeping
an
eye open for aircraft he would like
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Thanks to the aerobatic capabilities of the Saab
Safir,
the seats feature
full
aer
obatic harnesses.
The
cockpit of the Saab has a portable Garmin 296 GPS mounted on the panel.
utility with aerobatic capabilities.
At
one point an
old
classmate
bought
the
last flying A model
Sa fir
in
Denmark. The airplane had been
damaged
when the
gear collapsed,
and
he
bought
it sight unseen.
I
had
first rights
to buy
it,
if
he
ever
sold it. But
that didn't
work out, so
I kept looking.
After Lars
moved to
California
he
began to hear about
a Safir
that
might
be
located
in the
San Fran
cisco area,
and
after tracking down
leads he did, indeed, find
a late
model
Safir, a 91D disassembled
in
storage.
I t
was one of
the
last 20 pro
duced for a Dutch flying school. But
it
wasn't
for sale. Although
the
air
plane had been sitting
for several
years, it was one of those
I
'm going
to
get
it
flying
one of
these
days
airplanes
that
owners just
can't
bring themselves to part with.
Lars
,
however
, is nothing if not persis
tent,
as
his restoration of
the
Klemm
indicated. That was 1986, and even
though he
moved several times, he
never
gave up, and
the owner
be
came accustomed to hearing
from
him
. Finally,
in
2002, 16 years af
ter
he
made his first offer
on the
air
plane, the owner relented
and
sold
it to
him
. Of course, during those 16
years,
the
airplane,
which
was sit
ting
outside,
had
deteriorated con
Siderably.
He
dismantled it
and
had
it trucked
to
his
home
outside Vero
Beach, Florida, in January of 2003.
The
engine only had 50
hours
on
it, Lars says, but
the
overhaul
had
been
done
in 1983, just before
it was ferried to San Jose
and put in
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The Saab Safire 9
In
1944, when
it
appeared the war was going
to
end favorably,
Saab
de
cided
it
was time
to think
past the conflict
to
its future in the postwar avia
tion world. It concentrated its efforts on a three-seat aircraft
to
be used for
training, touring, and liaison work.
If
the outlines
of
the airplane remind you
of
something, think back
to
the
German Bucker Bestmann. It looks simi lar because
it
was designed by A.J.
Andersson,
who
was chief designer for Bucker and was responsible for the
design
of
the Bestmann. . .
The prototype flew in November
of
1945 with a 147-hp Gypsy Major In
the nose (Model 91
A).
Several years later,
Saab
introduced the 91
and
91 C
(four-place with the fuselage tank relocated into the wings) powered by the
six-cylinder 190-hp 0 -435 Lycoming. Production was also undertaken in the
Netherlands because Saab was overloaded
with
military contracts. Then
the final variant was the 91 D
with
a tried and true 180 Lycoming dragging
it around. The last one rolled off the line in 1962 with a total of 323 built and
sold
to 23
countries. Approximately 75 are known
to
still be flying, with Lars
airplane being the only airworthy version in the United States.
Througho all
f
his
trav
ling
ld adv nturou
craft projects
e of Swed n s
wn
product
Saab
Model
Sdfir
hdd been
ttlng around
t
e g ~ s of his
sian we'd find. However,
it
was all
good
news, as we
found
no corro-
sion of any significance.
When
it came to the fabric, I was
really
fortunate in having
William
Kaser as a
next-door
neighbor.
e-
fore I even bought
my
house I talked
to
him
about helping me because he
had restored a number of Stearmans
and really knew how
to do
fabric.
He was a lifesaver on
this
project.
The same thing goes for Pattie Da-
vis, who did
the upholstery
in the
same black leather
as
the
original.
It doesn't take
much
imagination
to picture
what
nearly two decades
sitting out in the California sun
would
do
to
those
parts of the air-
frame that are
bound
to take a beat-
ing in
that
kind of situation.
e cowling the 180-hp Lycoming
has
its outlets for the cooling air on the
side. The
amount
of
deflection for the side vents
can be
adjusted on the ground.
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trol
system,
which
uses ball bear
ings
and
roller bearings exclusively,
only required several bearings be
re-
placed,
and even those
were
stan
dard bearings. The same thing was
true of
the
landing
gear,
which
is
mechanical and
spring-loaded like
an
old Mooney: I t
took only
clean
ing up
and
painting.
We
did, how
ever, replace
the Goodyear
brakes
with more
modern
Cleveland units,
which
made them
much
more reli
able
and
easier to maintain.
The original bladder tanks did
the
normal thing
that
happens when
they sit empty for a decade or two
and
died.
We
removed the bladders
and
It's a
great
flying
airplane.
All
of
the
controls are
in
ball bearings,
so they are
smooth and wonder
fully effective. It's
comfortable
on
cross-countries,
and
I flight plan 107
knots, which
is
slower
than
it should
be. It should
do
110
knots.
It
has
ground-adjustable
cooling flaps
in
the
cowling,
and
I have
them
set to
the Wide-open, high-drag position.
I think, if I were to adjust those, I'd
pick up some speed.
I
love
doing
aerobatics
in
it.
It's approved for everything except
snap
rolls and
inverted
spins. I fly
the
Sportsman sequence
in
it all the
time,
and t does it as well as any
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
14/44
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
15/44
he sunny
Lakeland sky and vintage
flightline provided a cheerful backdrop
for Pete and Jeanne Reed's Stearman,
splendidly poised in its
quietly stated
elegance. Dressed in Moss Green and Sun
Valley Ivory, Lucky Lady is adorned
with
accessories including a smooth engine cowl, pol
ished spinner, and wheelpants. Born in 1943 s a
Boeing Stearman N2S-5, this biplane
eventually
found its way to Central America, before returning
to
the United States
in
disrepair.
rom th Ground Up
It took Pete Reed 3,000 hours to complete the
custom restoration-
but
it was work
he
knew well
from previous experience. He has restored 18 Stear
mans with partners and through his business,
Reed's Restorations, in Goshen, Ohio. Pete ac
quired his airframe and powerplant mechanic cer
tificate
with
inspection authorization
and
his pilot
certificates back when he was in college, and his
affinity for Stearmans developed when
he
started
flying them in 1975.
Lucky Lady is the first project the Reeds have
owned
without
a partner; hence the restoration
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
16/44
With Boeing Stearman drawings
in hand,
Pete used 4130 steel tub
ing to repair
the
fuselage
and
tail
feathers,
then
sandblasted
and
ep
oxy primed
them.
New elevator
and
rudder hinge bearings were in
stalled,
and the
wings were repaired
with
Sitka spruce
and
plywood. He
coated
the
wood with polyurethane
and
installed fabric on
the
airframe
§ using
the
Poly-Fiber process,
with
an
Aerothane topcoat. Selecting
the paint
scheme was easy.
I had
picked
out the
green early
in the
project, because there was a Waco
that had
a
paint
scheme I really
liked. But I
couldn t
find a cream
color to
match
it, shares Pete
with
o
a smile, so a friend of ours is an
Q. interior designer,
and
I showed
her
the color chart. She immediately se
lected
the
Sun Valley Ivory.
orsepower
Pete
and
Jeanne carefully con
sidered whether they wanted to go
with a 450-hp Pratt Whitney en
gine
and
decided instead to use a
300-hp R680-E3B Lycoming. That
turned
out
to be
the
ideal engine for
the
airplane, explains Pete. It's ba
sically
the
same weight as
the
225
hp Lycoming stock engine, so the
only additional weight is
the
con
stant-speed prop. It works
out
really
great,
and
has 75 more horsepower.
The 300-hp Lycoming
is on
the
type
certificate data sheet
and
can be in
stalled (with a Form 337) using
the
Mississippi Valley Aircraft Service
paperwork. The 300 uses
the
same
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
17/44
cowling that I modified, and every
thing
just worked great."
The cowling looked so nice that
Pete decided the Stearman needed
a set of wheelpants, too, so he pur
chased them from Wag-Aero. Even
tually, he also installed Redline disc
brakes. Pete didn't have trouble with
field
approvals for the various mod
ifications, for a couple of reasons.
Jeanne explains,
We
have a wonder
ful FSDO
in Cincinnati tha t knows his
work well. Almost all the Stearmans
he restored went from restricted cate
gory to standard,
so
he would
layout
all this paperwork on a white table
cloth in the hangar, and they'd come
in and everything was right there. So
it's a matter of being prepared and de
tailed-and
that pays off."
Reluctant Pilot
being with
the
people,
but
I
didn t
want
to get
in
the
airplane
and
fly.
I was really afraid because I
didn t
understand
the
mechanics of it,
and
I
thought
if you
throttled
back,
the
engine was going
to
quit.
Then
when
Pete lost his medical, he was
so devastated
that
I
thought,
well,
maybe I can [learn to fly]."
So at age 46, she started taking les
sons from an instructor at Bowman
Field
in
Kentucky. I t was a tedious
and
arduous process for Jeanne. Yet
her primary motivation-love for
her
aviator husband-compelled
her to embrace
and
grow beyond
her
personal
boundary
of fear. "My
instructor was
one
of these
who
just
wore
the
airplane," says Jeanne,
smiling brightly. "And
he
knew I
was afraid. Every time we'd go up,
he d push
me just a little bit fur
her private. She took her checkride
in the
Piper J-5
in
which she'd been
taught and in the
examiner's Cita
bria, as well. "The day I got my li
cense, I was so excited about it,"
shares Jeanne . "It was probably
the
biggest accomplishment and
the
best feeling
that
I've ever
had
abo
ut
any
particular thing. It was so unbe
lievable to me
that
I was able to do
it
and
to
do
a good job.
So
I flew my
J-5 for about 350 hours before we
got
the
Stearman flying."
ockpit hallenges
Now
that
Jeanne was a pilot, an
unforeseen challenge crept into the
cockpit. Pete describes it this way:
"The problem arose
when
we start
ed flying together, because I was go
ing to 'be
the
pilot' and [tell her how
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
18/44
it out,
and he
has learned to listen
to me, because he finally realized I
do know what I'm doing."
More than likely,
the
Reeds aren't
the only couple who have experi
enced this type of situation. Fortu
nately, they've diligently worked
through
their differences. IIShe s
such a good pilot," says Pete, with
a respectful nod to his wife, and
she's proven
that
she can
do
it. I
don t need
to
criticize her at all."
When it first came time for
Jeanne to start flying Lucky Lady af-
ter Pete had completed the restora
tion, Jeanne's original flight instruc
Close-up view of the panel.
The engine
air
intake
is
flanked
by
a pair
of exhaust stacks
protruding from the
smooth cowl.
LEFT
The baseball-stitched leather
covering on the fuselage handle adds
came easily
to
me.
tor came to Ohio and checked her
out in it. She was sure he wouldn't
make her solo the Stearman the first
time they went up ...but that's exact
ly what he did. IIWe did several land
ings," recalls Jeanne.
li he
runway
was only 1,800 feet at
the
time, and
our brakes were
not
Redline brakes.
So when he parked, and his seat belts
came off, I thought,
Oh
no.' Then I
thought, 'Okay, I can do this ' I did
two landings, and they worked
out
fine. Even though I knew I could
fly
it, I wanted Pete to go up with me for
a while-I just had to get comfort
able first. I didn't want to get cocky,
because that's very dangerous."
Jeanne finds
that
male pilots,
IIfor
the
most part, are so support
ive of my flying. There are some
that
don t
like to
think that
a
woman
can
fly a Stearman,
but
for the most part,
they're so happy for me. It helps
that
I learned to
fly in
taildraggers.
Also, I play
the
piano and
the
organ,
so I have
the
hand-eye coordina
tion with
my
feet,
and
it was just a
natural thing. It clicked right away;
I could work
the
rudder pedals and
feel for
the
ground,
and
the
landings
By now, I have
over 1,000 hours in taildraggers."
lying Lucky Lady
The majority of those hours are in
the
Stearman, which, Jeanne says, is
lIalmost easier to fly
than
thej-S, be
cause it's bigger and heavier. It's
not
as easy to land, because it's squirrel
Iy. When
you take off, you just wait
for it to
fly
right
off-you
can take
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
19/44
in
on
the glide slope, touch down at
the bottom of the hill, and you still
have 1,000 feet of runway left. Most
of the time I do three-point landings,
and of course Stearmans prefer grass
to hard surface, especially if there's
any wind. But if there is a wind on a
hard surface, I do either a tail-low at
titude or a wheel landing."
With her cowled 300-hp Lycom
ing and slick wheelpants, Lucky Lady
will cruise at 110
mph on
16 gph. She
has a fuel capacity of 46 gallons, and
the Reeds flight plan for two-hour
legs.
They
fly
only in good weather,
and though they used to
fly
with just
a finger tracing their flight
path
on
a sectional
as
they peered over
the
cockpit coaming to
the
earth passing
below their wings, they now have a
GPS/corum, transponder, encoder,
and a backup GPS in the front cock
pit. That's primarily because their
home strip in Ohio
is
just inside Cin
cinnati's 30-nautical-mile veil, and
the updated equipment gives them
more in-flight options.
Psst-Be Involved!
A Word to
the Women
Jeanne volunteers at a hospital in
Cincinnati, where she and at least a
dozen ladies enjoy lunch together
when they work. Quite naturally, the
ladies heard about her flying the Stear
man and were intrigued. So Jeanne
invited them all over for lunch, with
the promise of showing them the
air-
plane and giving to those who
might want to go up. To her surprise
and delight, most of the ladies eagerly
Jeanne and Pete Reed really enjoy their custom Stearman. The registration
number has special significance to the Reeds; 5 is Jeanne's lucky number, and
the
P
and
R
are Pete's initials.
a pinch-hitter course, it could be so
beneficial. Don't be afraid of flying,
and don t
be afraid
to
turn
the di
als on
the
panel.
Don t
be afraid to
take
the
stick or the yoke-just do
it. Once you
do
it a few times, it be
comes a little more comfortable,
and
then
you're not totally unaware of
[how
the
airplane works].
You
nev
The
PR is
for Pete Reed,
and
the
double 5s are, well, twice as lucky
for Jeanne. Hence
the
biplane'S nick
name,
Lucky Lady. liThe
name
fits,
because she's brought us luck and
has been a good airplane for us," ex
plains Jeanne. Indeed, good fortune
has smiled
upon the
Stearman, its
restorer,
and the
reluctant pilot. The
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
20/44
IT
OES
TTER
The mission
is
simple
Step 1: Survive brain cancer.
Step
2: Restore a
1942
L-4
Cub, with the help of
EAA
Chap
ter 64, to fulfill
the
dream of
fly
ing again.
Step
3:
Fly
the
L-4
across
the
country.
Step
4 :
Continue to dream,
enjoy life, fly and remember . . .
there are
no
ordinary moments
in life, and what you do every
minute does matter.
The horrific
thunderstorm
has
passed and
the
smell
in
the
air is
now fresh and clear. It's reminiscent
of copper and iron, like a handful of
pennies or blood flowing from a fresh
cut. In this war, however, too much
blood has already been spilled. Too
many lives were lost that could have
perhaps been saved if only.
But I
can t think about that
now.
The sky is clear, and I must focus on
the
mission at hand. I finish
the
last
few sips of my coffee and head out to
the airplane.
BY BRIAN KISSINGER
flight, before it is all taken away from
me to end
in
death.
Today people are counting on me
to lead the way .. . not to victory, but
to hope. Together, we create one more
day of
hope that
someday soon, we
will be victorious.
There is no time to waste.
My 1942 L-4 Piper Cub is pulled
from her hangar. It's my pride and joy
dubbed Miss P after my wife, Priscilla,
and
for perseverance, two forces that
help me get through day after day.
After a quick preflight I
straddle
the right-front tire, hold
on
firmly to
the inside of the cockpit, and reach
out to throw the propeller down with
one quick arm motion.
The finely
tuned
engine leaps to
life with a roar. Miss seems as eager
as I am to get back
in the
air. With
the
prop blast blowing
on
me I start
to hop in the front seat of the Cub. I
pause, look back,
and
smile at my ob
server who is already strapped in the
back seat. We are ready to
go.
Fifteen minutes later, as we circle
over a German castle, I can t believe
I m actually fighting in a war. It's so
peaceful now, so serene.
My
observer
and I enjoy the view for a moment.
Then it hits me.
People are dying. Dying for no
good reason. Dying from a hideous
enemy
that
has no soul. An
enemy
that doesn' t care if its victim is a man,
woman, or child. It simply attacks
ev
eryone in its path without regard.
As Gen
. William
Sherman
first
said, "War
is
hell.
I
I
have to
say I
wholeheartedly
agree. Fighting brain tumors and can
cer is hell, yet
this
is
the
war I am
fighting. Cancer is a hideous, soulless
monster that kills randomly, without
regard to socio-economic status, sex,
age
or any other demographic.
The
flight described above actu
ally occurred during my Brain's Flight
2007
tour
on a stop in Burnet (pro
nounced BERN-it), Texas. While we
weren't fighting in the European the
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
21/44
ater in World War II, we did fly my
freshly restored 1942
L-4
Cub over a
German castle built in the Texas hill
country near Burnet. The castle is
called Falkenstein.
Every day on my three-week tour
I knew I was flying and fighting for
others with brain tumors and cancer.
My
mission was simple ...raise aware
ness and money for brain tumor and
cancer research. I
was thankful every
day for the opportunity to have one
more flight, and for
being
cancer
free . I slept well each night and awoke
with a smile
on
my
face
every morn
ing, knowing I was headed to the air
port to do it all over again. It was the
best of times
barnstorming
against
cancer and brain tumors-an experi
ence both uplifting and life-growing.
I'd like to share my experience with
you. So please, jump in the plane and
brain surgery to remove the primary
tumor, followed by 20 months of che
motherapy, it appears that the cancer
is
now in remission.
While
it
was
not easy
getting
through the cancer, I fared
better
than
many other people fighting this
hideous disease. I survived the surgery
with no major complications and did
not need any post-surgery physical
or occupational therapy to regain my
strength or coordination like
many
people do. I made a promise to my
self, and to the big guy upstairs, that
if I survived I would not waste the gift
of life and would
do
something to
help others dealing with cancer and
brain tumors. But what?
I knew I wanted
to
get back into
flying. To some people it might sound
crazy that a guy
with brain
cancer
wanted
to fly again, but flying has
body to invade. I declared
war,
deter
mined to eliminate my
foe s
existence.
To put it plainly, the surgery
sucked. Chemotherapy
was
not much
better. My family, friends,
and
co
workers were incredibly supportive.
With their help
I
made it through
the
pain, negative
feelings, sleep
less nights, and other obstacles. I
also knew that somewhere,
no
mat
ter how terrible I felt, someone had it
worse. Someone was losing her battle
against this disease.
I tried
to
focus on hobbies other
than
flying, since I was grounded un
til I fully recovered. Even in the midst
of
chemo my
body remained
rela
tively strong, so I started training for
another
marathon. In
the
past I had
been a runner. I decided to
put
my
physical strength to
the
test, at
the
same time doing what I could to help
my cause. I raised a
few
thousand dol
lars for
brain
tumor
and
cancer re
search with the help of several friends
and family members.
Completing
the
marathon on
the one-year anniversary of my sur
gery was a
rewarding experience,
but it
wasn t
flying. The brain sur
geon hadn t cut
out
the part of me
that
held my strong love of aviation.
He couldn t because it resides deep
in my heart and in my soul. Keeping
my sights set
on
getting back into the
cockpit helped me make it
through
my chemo. As soon as my treatments
were done I moved back into flying
as
safely (and quickly) as possible.
"It's not
wh t h ppens to
you, but how
you
react
to
it
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
22/44
the
1990s
I
served
over
seas
in the
Air Force as a
navigator
and electronic
warfare officer with
the
1st Special Operations
Squadron
.
During
a
stop
in
Korea I ordered base
ball caps embroidered
with our names.
Mine
was misspelled B-R-A-I-N
instead of Brian. Despite
my objections, which usu
ally
make
things
worse
when
you re
around
a
bunch
of
crew
dogs,
the
name
stuck. Little
did
I
know how
prophetic the name
would become.
Since I was flying for those
with
can
cer and brain tumors,
I thought it
natural
to use
myoId
crew
moniker
Brain instead of Brian for the flight.
Shortly after
I
began formulat
ing my
plan,
I
found an
almost
abandoned 1942
L-4 Cub
project at
my
local airport . It was as
i f this
air
craft
had been
waiting for me just as
much as
I
had
been
looking
for her.
To non-fliers or
restorers
this
may
seem strange, but
I feel
that aero
space
vehicles
are incredible ma
chines with special characteristics
unlike
any land-based vehicle. Sim
ply put they fly
They take
their
occupants into the atmosphere and
to
places
not
everyone gets
to
see.
The L-4 project became my pas
sion,
my obsession, over
the next
seven
months. With the help of
sev
eral members
of my
EAA Chapter
64
and
one person
in
particular,
fel
low pilot
and
cancer
survivor
Todd
Drenkhahn,
we finished the project
in efficient order, and I took off on
was
produced
by
the
Piper factory
in
the summer
of 1942
and
delivered
to
the
U.S.
Army in August 1942.
It
was
brought on the books after
the
fiscal
year (October
1)
and given
the
se
rial number 43-570. The L-4 is a mili
tary version
of a J-3 Cub that, with
few modifications, was painted ol
ive
drab and sent
off to war.
My L-4
Cub
served its war years
at
Fort Sill,
Oklahoma, helping to train Army
Air Corps pilots
and
observers
to
di
rect artillery. She later served with
the
South Carolina Civil
Air
Patrol before
being
sold to a private
individual in
the
1950s.
The old
Army
Cub
even
tually
made it to
Marvin Campbell,
the
fixed base
operator owner at the
Sparta, Illinois,
airport where
it suf
fered severe
damage
from a bad go
around attempt that ended with the
Cub flipping over in a ditch.
I first saw the dust-covered, ol
ive drab
Cub in the
back
of the
large
maintenance
hangar at
the
Sparta
airport. It was love at first sight.
The
restoration
had stalled years before,
and
now cobwebs
and
dust were
her only
friends. I was
immediately
drawn
to
the L-4, and as I first looked
year later.
As an airframe
and powerplant mechanic
with
inspection authori
zation
(A&P/IA),
Marvin
also supervised
most of
the
work
on
the
aircraft.
Together with Marvin
,
Todd, several
members of
my
local
EAA Chapter
64,
and
other generous folks,
we
finished the
restora
tion in seven months
of
weekends
and
evenings.
As
with
any
project
one
of
the
first
things you need to do
is
to put to
gether a plan
and an
inventory,
which
I did.
Then
it's all
about
executing
the
plan with
dogged
determination
and
not letting the
inevitable, albeit fig
urative, brick walls get in your way.
Brick walls are for people
who don t
want something bad
enough. People
who are determined will either climb
over or knock
down the brick walls in
their lives.
One of the many brick
walls we
faced during
the
restoration was
when
we started
to put the
Lexan glass
on
the
greenhouse after we
had cut
and
fitted
everything.
The
glass was
in
place, but the paper would not
come
off
Those of you who have
worked
with
Lexan before know that the pro
tective
paper is supposed to
peel off
easily. But after a couple of years of sit
ting around
the
hangar, "easy" did not
happen.
We
tried everything we knew
to
remove
the
paper. Nothing worked.
Frustrated, I
went home that
evening
dreading the inevitable need
to
fit
and
cut
new
Lexan for
the
entire aircraft.
Then someone
threw me
a rope from
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
23/44
AUA is responsive, professional, competent, competitive
and friendly. Plus it is nice to
do
business with
good
friends
who are also avid sport aviation enthusiasts a valued
long-term experience.
- John Parish Sr
John
Parish Sr
Tullahoma TN
• Founder
and
chairman of
the board
of Beechcraft Heritage
Museum
;
president for
20 years
•
Past board
member fAA Aviation
Foundation
and
fAA Aviation
Assoc
for
over 30 years
•
Commercial
instrument multi-
engine land and
sea; 5,000+ hrs
• Three
sons also
p
ots
and
satisfied
clients ofAUA
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
24/44
and spring of 2006-2007.
Every Saturday and Sun
day after
church I was
there,
along with
sev
eral others who would
show up
as
often
as
they
could. I was never sure
who would come along,
but when they arrived
I had a
task
for them;
there was always some
thing to do. One person
Brian Kissinger
and fellow
cancer
survivor
Tod
d
Dre
nkhahn
was there
nearly
every
rebuilt
Brian s L-4
over
seven
months during 2006 200
7.
day
with
me. Todd was
my partner in the Luscombe. He is an
A&P who works for Boeing (formerly
McDonnell-Douglas) in
St.
Louis. His
contribution to the project cannot be
understated.
Without
Todd I would
not
have completed the restoration in
time to depart
on
the first of June.
I
am
sure there are people out there
who say they have completed
their
airplane project
all
by
themselves,
without
any
help
or advice from
someone else, but I have never met
such a person. There were so many
other
people,
too many to mention
in this brief article, that contributed
to the success of my project.
As
a sign
of
my sincere
appreciation, when
we finished fabricating the new bag
gage compartment panel, I had every
one who worked on
the
project sign
the
panel. Now during
my
preflight,
when
I flip
up
the panel to pull out
my fuel strainer and flashlight, I al
ways look at those names
and
smile.
I
thank
them again
in
my mind for
their selfless
dedication
and
time
given for a good cause.
As
the project started to come more
done
anything
like this before, her
help was very welcome
and
valuable.
I could stay focused
on
finishing the
airplane project, test-flying it, and my
flight planning.
On May 26 Todd gave me a hand
prop prior to
the
first flight myoid
Cub
had
seen in
many
years. I taxied
out at
the
Sparta airport, and after my
pre-takeoff checklist, I said a prayer,
looked up at
the
St. Christopher's
medal I had placed on the instrument
panel, and laughed as I prepared for
takeoff. The epoxy
compound I used
to attach the medal to the dash
had
set up
hard and
strong.
However,
overnight
the
medal had shifted and
was now at an almost 90-degree angle
to the right. St. Christopher looked
like he was falling over.
Oh
well, any
one could
put
a medal on straight, I
thought. "Let's slip the surly bond of
earth, Chris "
When the
wheels left
the
ground
and
I was in the air, a feeling came
over me like no other.
t
was a complex
mixture of astonishment, pride, and a
sense of accomplishment. I
was
on an
approaching. On
June
1 we
gathered near
the
Mississippi River and the
St. Louis Gateway Arch
at the St. Louis Down
town Airport in Cahokia,
Illinois. I said
my
good
byes to everyone, espe
cially
my
wife and kids,
and
after a few passes by
the Arch I turned east for
my first stop. The next
three weeks were simply
amazing,
flying
across
the country in my Cub on a mission
to raise research money and aware
ness. I saw some old friends and made
many new friends. People amazed me
with their generoSity and willingness
to help.
Despite being an
Air
Force-trained
navigator
and an instrument-rated
certificated flight instructor, I go back
to
the basics when flying my Cub.
First of all, I never underestimate the
power of IFR in these old airplanes. Of
course IFR stands for I Follow Roads
or
Railroads navigation and
not
In
strument Flight Rules. Another help
ful
navigation tool
is
the
water
tower" navigation technique. For ex
ample, if you are
not
sure where you
are, simply observe the name on the
city's water tower, reference it to your
sectional, and you can probably
fig-
ure out where you are.
Remember, you are never in a
hurry
when
flying a Cub, or
at
least
you
shouldn't
be. You aren't getting
anywhere fast in a Cub anyway. Sim
ply fly slow and low and enjoy the
view. Also, enjoy life and whomever
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
25/44
Light Plane Heritage
PUBLISHED IN E Sport viation
APRIL 96
The Driggs Dart at the 1926 National Air
Races
in Philadelphia.
T H E
D R I G G S
D R T
I
The Driggs Dart I was
one
of
the
best-known and most practical of
th
e early
lightplanes
produced in
this
country.
In
addition to com
peting successfully in closed-course
races, the Dart was one of the few
lightplanes
of its time
that
was ca
pable of long cross-country trips .
The
first
airplane
of the se
ries, known as
the
Driggs Johnson
BY
J ACK M c R E
ficiency
Race
the OJ-I was second in
spite of two forced landings due to
fuel stoppage. This race was won by
Harvey Mummert in his Harley Da
vidson-powered Sport Plane. He was
more fortunate in having
only
one
forced landing. The
third
lightplane
event was for the Rickenbacker Tro
phy and was flown over a 140-mile
course. Johnson had
anoth
er forced
Fokker practice at that
time with
a
steel tube wire braced fuselage and a
plywood-covered, tapered-cantilever
wing. A metal propeller and a
streamlined cowling
with
pressure
cooling were installed.
The DJ-l was also
one
of
the
few
airplanes of
that
time to
have
an
enclosed cabin. Most pilots
then
believed
that
to fly an airplane
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
26/44
surfaces were also of steel
tubing
fabric-covered with external wire
bracing.
The
single-piece
cantilever
wing of about
75
square feet area
was of wood construction and used
the
US
45
airfoil.
The two spars
were built
up
of
laminated
1/8-inch
thick spruce planks with 12 lamina
tions
at
the root, tapering to four
at
the
tip. Ribs were of
plywood
and
the
wing
was covered
with
3/64
inch plywood aft to the rear spar.
The careful design work that went
into the
OJ-I
is
shown
by
the
empty
weight of only 330 pounds includ
ing 127
pounds
of engine. The span
was 27 feet. The top
speed
was 84
mph ,
and the
rate
of
climb was
320
feet/minute. The ceiling was 12,000
feet. Gross
weight
was 511 pounds
with
a ISO-pound pilot.
The DJ-l
was
also
flown
in the
1925 National Air Races at Mitch
ell Field
New York.
I t
had been
rebuilt
after
a
crackup
with cowl
ing
modifications and with the
1924,
which
received
considerable
publicity. After
the
performance of
the
OJ
-1 at the Dayton Air Races,
where
it was
closely
observed by
such prominent aviation people as
Gen. William Mitchell
Lt.
Jimmie
Doolittle
and Capt. Eddie Ricken
backer
arrangements
were
made
for
the
U.S. Army Air Corps to pur
chase a refined model known as
the
Driggs Dart
I
It was given Serial No.
A.S. 26-205 and had the McCook
Field
Number P-443. I t was
also
felt
that
small-engine development
needed stimulation so
an
order was
placed by the Air Corps for six of
the
new Wright-Morehouse 28-hp
engines
which appeared to be the
most
promising lightplane power
plant. Driggs
set
up a small shop
in Dayton
and
started construction
on two Driggs Dart airplanes the
first of which was
delivered
to the
Air Corps.
The military
Driggs
Dart
was used for flight-test work sup
plementing wind tunnel research
on high-lift
devices and
eventu
ally for static tests to determine the
structural properties of wood and
metal
cantilever
wings. After deliv
ery
to
the Air
Corps
the airplane
was
modified by
the
installation of
wing flaps and
leading edge
slats,
which extended
from
the
wing
root
to the
inboard
end
of
the
aileron.
The slats
and
flaps were intercon
nected and the
maximum flap
angle
was 26-1/2 degrees. This
mod
ification increased the wing weight
by
about
48
pounds
but
greatly im
proved the landing and
takeoff per
formance . The gross weight of
the
airplane
due to this and other mil
itary changes
increased
from 532
pounds
to
639 pounds.
Maximum speed
with
high-lift
devices extended was 65 mph and
with
them
closed it
was
79
mph.
The relatively poor
top
speed
with
slats closed may have been due to
the poor
fit
of the
slat leading edge.
Landing speed
with
slats
and
flaps
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
27/44
extended was
42
mph compared
with 55
mph
for the plain wing.
These tests were made in March 1928
at the maximum gross weight of 639
pounds. The test pilot complained of
the excessive vibration of
the
engine.
The Air Corps Material Division
built an experimental all-metal wing
intended to be used on the Dart but
the
airplane was ordered to be sal
0.020-inch
and
0.030-inch corru
gations.
Spar flanges varied from
0.040 inch to 0.064
inch. Many
details
of the metal
wing
and
static
test are given in Air Corps Techni
cal Report No. 3415.
THE COMMERCI L D RT
The third airplane of
the
Driggs
Dart I series was also built
in
1926
engine
was off the
ground
con
Siderably quicker than
the
Dart. In
the air however the speed of the
two ships was
about
equal.
The Airplane
Reliability Tour
started
from
Detroit
on
August
7
1926. The Dart with Racing No. 24
and flown by
Jack
Laass suffered
a forced
landing
due
to
fog on
the
fourth lap of the tour near St. Paul
Minnesota
.
The following day
shortly
after
takeoff a
crankshaft
failure forced the withdrawal of the
Dart from
the
competition. The en
gine was repaired
and
about a week
later Laass and the Dart joined the
tour again at Indianapolis. The
next
day
valve
trouble
caused the Dart
to be
withdrawn again. In spite of
the bad luck
with the
engine
an
average speed of 77 mph
had
been
maintained
by
the
Dart for
the
580
miles comp leted which favorably
compared
with
speeds
of some of
the standard-size airplanes.
The 1926 National
Air Races
were
held in September
1926
in
conjunction
with
the SesqUicen
tennial Exposition. The Dart again
piloted by
Jack
Laass was
flown
from
Dayton over the Alleghen y
Mountains in weather so bad
that
many
of
the larger airplanes were
grounded. This flight is described
in detail by Laass
in the
October
1926 Aero igest.
In
the
three lightplane
events
at
the
National
Air Races
the
Dart
placed second in
one
race and fourth
in the other two being beaten by the
Heath Tomboy Racer and the
Kre-
ider-Reisner Midget. The best average
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
28/44
Diamond Plus Level
Gordon Anderson
Charlie Harris
Marlin Horst
Matthew
Hunsaker
Lynn
Jensen
Norma Joyce
Espie Butch Joyce
Robert Long
Bob Lumley
Bill Saundra Pancake
Ronald Tarrson
Tulsa, OK VAA hapter 10
John
Turgyan
Diamond Level
Raymond
B
Bottom, Jr.
Susan Dusenbury
Earl Nicholas
Robert Schjerven
Steven Nancy Taft
Silver Level
Jerry Brown
Brodhead Peitenpol Assoc.
John Carr
Phil Ruthie
oulson
Tom Hildreth
A ] Hugo
John Kephart
Larry Nelson
Roger
P
Rose
Carson E Thompson
Jamie Wallace
Shawn Lynch
Bronze Level
John
adou
George Ceshker
Gene Chase
David Clark
Wanda Clark
Geoffrey Clark
Kenneth Clark
Sydney ohen
John Cooke
Leland Corkran
Gary COVington
Gerald ox
Dan
Dodds
John
Elliott
H.G. Frautschy
Tim Greene
Terry Griffin
Malvern Gross
Red Hamilton
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
29/44
ank
y u
for
your generous donations
Gerald Liang
James Lockwood
Charles Luigs
Thomas Lymburn
John Lyon
Sarah Marcy
Bill Marcy
William Morgan
Roscoe Morton
Jim Moss
Stephen Moyer
C.Keith Newman
George Northam
Lynn Oswald
Steven Judith
Oxman
John Patterson
Roy Reed
Theodore Reusch
Jerry Riesz
Robert Wagner
on Weaver
LeRoy Weber
Roy Williams
Alan Williams
Daniel Wood
Michael
Wotherspoon
Brian Wynkoop
Supporter evel
John
Addams
Harry Barker
Jesse Black
Noble Blair
James Braden
James Buddemeyer
Larry Collins
Camille Cyr
Petter D' Anna
Alex Hudnall
Walter Kahn
Nicholas Kapotes
Peter Karalus
Grady Keith
Richard
A
Kempf
John
Koons
Robert Lannon
Ballard Leins
John Montmorency
Frank
Moynahan
Harry Mutter
Eugene Nabors
James Newhouse
Keith Plendl
Ray Proctor
Thomas Reilly
Frank Schelling
Leon Siverling
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
30/44
YROBERT G LOCK
eaking in
a
radial engine
I
n this issue we discuss radial engine break-in pro
cedures. Keep in
mind
that these are my opinions,
but
they should be consistent
with
other
mechan
ics maintaining radial engines in the industry.
First, when the
old engine is
removed,
there is
a
great
opportunity
to clean
and
inspect the remaining
components
of
the
engine
compartment.
You
might
want
to
remove, blast, inspect, and paint the
engine
mount.
Remove
and
flush
the
oil
tank and
oil cooler,
and clean the inside of all oil lines. In
other
words start
the
new
engine with
a clean firewall-forward instal
lation. Replace all rubber shock
mounts;
inspect and
cadmium-plate
the
bolts. These bolts are usually quite
long
and
expensive to replace. There
is nothing
wrong
with having these bolts cad-plated
as
long as
they
are
baked after plating. A
competent
plating
shop
knows
how to
handle the
plating
. Replace the nuts and N
washers when installing
the
engine.
When the newly overhauled engine arrives, inspect
for any shipping damage. Hopefully the engine
has
at
least five
hours of test-stand time
so
the
break-in
process has started. I f there is
no
test-cell time on the
engine, I
don t recommend
running it for five
hours
on
the
ground
before flying. Install it in the airplane,
assure everything
is
airworthy,
and
go flying .
Hoist and install the engine in the mount, torque
the
mounting bolts/nuts,
and safety
them with
cot
ter pins. Then go about installing all that other stuff
that
was
removed
with the
old engine. Again, this
is
a great opportunity to inspect/repair/paint if needed)
all those components. I always either flush the oil
tank
with solvent
or steam clean it. The oil cooler
(if installed) should be sent out for overhaul or at
least be flushed to assure
there
are no
metallic
frag
ments in the cooler. I
heard
of an
owner
replacing a
newly
overhauled engine
because
he found metal in
the
screen. Seems it came from
the
oil cooler because the previous en
gine had an internal failure. This is
also a good time to closely inspect
all components of the exhaust and
sumps are full, bring
the
level back
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
31/44
A newly installed Wright R 760 engine in the New Standard
Ready
for the first flight after
an
engine overhaul
up
to
4 gallons. After pre-oiling, we
are ready
to
start
the
engine.
Prime
and start the
engine.
Watch
the
oil pressure gauge;
the
pressure
should show almost
im
mediately.
If
there's
no
pressure in
dication within 30
seconds,
shut
the
engine
down
and
troubleshoot.
Safety is a
prime
issue
on the
first
start, so have
a
second person
standing by with a fire extinguisher.
If
a fire starts
in the
intake system,
continue
cranking
the
engine
with
the
starter
to
suck
any
flames
into
the
engine.
Assuming
everything went
well
on the
start
and no
problems were
encountered, run the engine
from
idle to about 1000 rpm to warm
it up.
Shut
down and
inspect for
oil
and
fuel leaks. Let
the
engine
cool until you
can
touch the
cyl
inder
heads
with
your
hand. e-
start the engine,
allow
it
to run
near
idle,
then
run it
up and do
a
quick check of
the magneto and
carb heat
operations. Reduce
the
power
to
idle for cooling,
and then
shut
the
engine down.
Inspect
the
engine
compartment
at
each shut
down. Don t run the
engine for
long periods
on
the
ground.
The
supervising
mechanic will
dictate
the number of
ground runs. Long
ground
runs will cause overheating
and can
glaze
cylinder
walls, and
the
rings will never seat properly.
When the mechanic is sure ev
erything is airworthy it's
time
for
the
test
flight.
Don t run
the en
gine on the ground for extended
sary. Now, go flying for 10
hours.
I recall
breaking
in a Ranger in
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
32/44
Run the
engine
hard Continue to
note the time and amount of
oil
added on your notepad.
Then drain
the
oil and check
the
oil screens again. Check
the
cylin
der compression/leakage. Check
your notepad
for how much oil
you have added. Oil consumption
should
show
a
decline. When
oil
consumption stabilizes at
the
10-15
hour
mark,
the
rings have seated. If
there
is still oil consumption, con
tinue
the
high-power flight until oil
consumption
lowers
and
stabilizes.
If the oil
consumption
does not de
crease, then
the
cylinder walls have
glazed
and the
rings will never seat.
I t
will be
necessary
to
remove
all
the cylinders, hone the walls, rein
stall
the
cylinders,
and
go
through
the
break-in procedure again . Run
ning
the engine hard during initial
flights will lessen
the
possibility of
cylinder
wall glazing. The
Wright
R-760 in
the
New Standard stabi
lized in about 13 hours. Oil con
sumption went
from
more than
a
quart per
hour
to a quart every four
When I broke in the
Wright R-760,
I ran the engine at
1800 rpm until the
rings seated,
which
took
about
10 hours.
It is important
to keep
the
rings loaded;
don't "baby" the
engine or you'll
pay for it later!
un it hard!
line
engine installed
in
son Rob's
Fairchild
PT-26
several years ago
(see the
accompanying
photo).
The
Ranger engine is
very
tightly
cowled, and the rear
cylinder al
ways runs hot. I called
the
overhaul
shop before
running the
engine
and asked for its advice
regarding
the engine's
break-in
procedure.
I
was
informed
to prepare the
en
gine for first
start
by
pre-warming
the
oil
to
40°C
to 50
°C.
Put
4 gal
lons of preheated oil into
the
tank,
start the
engine, and
run
it for no
more than five minutes at 1000
rpm.
Shut
down and check for oil
and fuel leaks. Allow the engine
to
cool until
you can touch the cyl
inders
with your hand.
Restart
the
engine, give it
one minute
to warm
up, then
change the rpm to
1000
for five minutes, and shut it down.
Check
the
engine
compartment
again, but don't let the
oil
cool.
Start the engine and
taxi to
the
runway. Begin
the
takeoff roll,
and
check
the
magnetos at
1300
rpm;
if they are okay, go to full power,
hours.
When the
engine rings
and other components
climb at 100
mph, and
keep
the
airspeed
at
100
mph
"seat
in, the
oil and
cylinder head temperature
re
or greater. Keep monitoring
the engine
instruments
duces,
along with
oil consumption.
That's how you
for any abnormalities. After 20 minutes,
throttle
back
know that things have seated in. I change oil every 5
to
2250 rpm, fly for up
to
one hour,
land
, and check
hours of
operation
(no filter
is
installed),
and
I check
the engine compartment
again. Now, go flying using
cylinder
condition
by
conducting
a leakage check
at
a
high
power setting
until
oil
consumption
stops. Ini
least every 100 hours of operation. As
the
engine con tially
the
engine was
burning
3 quarts of oil per hour.
tinues
to
wear, I start checking cylinder leakage every
Oil consumption stayed
near
this rate
until
15
hours
50 hours. of operation.
Then,
all of a sudden ,
the consumption
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Sep 2009
33/44
dropped to 1 quart every three hours. Not too bad for a
Ranger. The engine
had no
run-in time from
the
over
haul shop. If it had five hours,
then the
break-in would
have
happened after only 10 hours of flight. That's
how you break in engines.
Troubleshooting
Static
rpm is
very
important
because it
determines
whether the maximum rpm will
or
will
not be
ex
ceeded in level flight. I don't
check
static rpm on a
new engine; I take a quick look at full-throttle rpm
on
takeoff when there
is
air flowing around
the
cylinders.
If the
overhaul is
done
correctly,
then
the maximum
rpm
the
engine can
turn
is governed by
the
prop pitch.
Many engines use a ground-adjustable prop. Climb or
cruise performance can be set by adjusting the pitch of
the
prop.
Cylinder leakage tests can give
an
indication of cyl
inder condition. I always
conduct the
leakage test with
the
engine warm
when the
rings seal
the
best. Leakage
checks are usually
conducted
at 80 psi;
the
tester puts
80 psi into the combustion chamber of the
cylinder
when at top dead center
(TDC) on
compression stroke,
and
the amount
of leakage
is
measured by reading how
much
pressure the cylinder will hold. I f
you hear
air
flowing around
the
rings, you can hear it
in the
crank
case
breather
system. Air flowing around an
exhaust
valve can be heard in
the
exhaust collector system,
and
-
air flowing around
an
intake valve can be heard
in
the
intake system, specifically the carburetor. Normally I
look at the spread of leakage
between
the cylinders.
A common
question
is:
How
much leakage
before
you have to
do
something?" I say
when 2S
percent of
the
80 psi leaks out, then it is time
to
do
something.
However, since the engines I maintain are "for hire,"
if the cylinder
leakage gets into the
upper
60s, I
do
something
. I've
found
that
on
the
Wright R-760s, 80
psi
into
the
cylinder will show normal readings of 72
78 psi. Even
at
the 1,100 hours since major overhaul
pOint, at
80
psi the cylinders are still holding 70-74
psi So the power output is still there at the 1,100-hour
stress failure, I changed the cylinder. That cylinder had
only
30 hours since
the
overhaul. Don't mess with this
problem; change
the
cylinder immediately
Another problem I inherited was a sticking exhaust
valve
in the number
four cylinder. It was hard to locate
because the problem was intermittent, but I could hear
the sound of exhaust, and there was definitely a "miss"
during
the
firing of
the
engine; it would
happen when
the
engine was
under
a heavy load. I finally figured
out
where the problem was and started
to
remove the ex
haust
valve cover.
When
I tapped
the
cover with a mal
let to loosen it, I heard
the
valve close with a "bang."
I
attempted
(with success) a repair
without
removing
the
cylinder. Here's
how
to do it.
Move
the piston to
TDC and then back off a little.
Remove both spark plugs
and
force a 1/4-inch diame
ter nylon rope
into the
combustion chamber. Carefully
move the piston toward TDC
until
the
rope com-
presses
against
the
valves. You
can
then remove the
valve springs;
now
back off
the
piston position
and re-
move
the
rope . I mixed
up
some engine oil with valve
l
apping compound,
squirted it in the valve guide,
put
a
short length of
rubber hose on the valve stem,
and
rotated
the
valve, working it up
and
down
as
I rotated
it. When the valve had
loosened
(valve