VA-Vol-5-No-11-Nov-1977

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Restorers Corner

fJJIJR NIELAlnEHJR

Your officers directors advisors convention chairshymen and convention co-chairmen of your EAA AnshytiqueClassic Division respectfully dedicate this convenshytion coverage issue of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE to each of you who volunteered your time to the Division and put forth your efforts to make th is 1977 Silver Anshyniversary EAA Convention such a great success It would not have been possible without your help and dedicashytion This year 170 of you a 33 increase in Division volunteers over last year pitched in and took over conshyvention duties so that your fellow members their famishylies and guests could enjoy your convention We know that all of you who helped got a great amount of personshyal satisfaction out of being a member of the team Many of you worked as much as fourteen hours per day and we are all very much indebted to you for th is great devotion to your fellow members We sincerely apoloshygize to those of you who because of this great devotion did not have the opportunity to see the other areas of the convention I f an add itional 210 members had offershyed to help with convention duties this year then two 3-hour shifts sometime during the week would have been

all that would have been needed from any volunteer in order to supply the complete Division convention manshypower requirements This desired total of 380 convenshytion volunteers would have made your Divisions part of the convention operate even more efficiently and would thus have made it even more enjoyable for all of us We hope that next year the additional needed volunteers will step forward and help our very ded icated and hard working group

Your convention chairmen and co-chairmen are meetshying with your Division officers directors and advisors at EAA Headquarters on Saturday November 12th for a combined convention debriefing and Board of Directors meeting The suggestions for improvement of the conshyvention which come out of this meeting will be forwardshyed to EAA convention management Your Division conshyvention management team welcomes suggestions for imshyprovement or recognition of areas of deficiency Please send any comments to Division Headquarters as soon as possible so that they can be included in the Division debriefing report

We have written on numerous occasions about the desirability and necessity of increasing the membership in the Division With the holiday season coming up next

month many of us are wondering what kind of a present we can give to that good friend who has helped us so much with the work on our restoration or who has helped us to maintain our bird in such beautiful condishytion Others of us are wondering how we can show our appreciation to the A amp P who has been so helpful in supervising our work or the inspector who has been signing off our periodic inspections or the base operator who has gone out of his way to help us locate much needed scarce parts Why not show your appreciation to these good and valued friends by giving them a membershyship in the EAA AntiqueClassic Division Certainly they have demonstrated their interest in vintage aircraft by the interest they have shown in your project They would surely enjoy such a present and it would be reshymembered all year long with the monthly arrival of THE VINTAGE AI RPLANE magazine

If your friend is already an EAA member you can enroll him as a Division member for just fourteen dolshylars If he is not an EAA member the cost is just twenty dollars and this includes full membership in EAA as well but without the subscription to SPORT AVIAshyTION magazine You can use one of the membership application blanks included with this issue to sign him up If you will attach a note to the application stating that it is a gift membersh ip from you an appropriate letter will be sent to your friend from Headquarters adshyvising him of your gift Do it today so that he will reshyceive his membership in time for Christmas

ANTIQUE AND CLASSIC DIVISION OFFICERS

PRESIDENT J R NIELANDER JR

PO BOX 2464 FT LAUDERDALE FL 33303

VICEmiddotPRESIDENT JACK WINTHROP a RT 1 BOX 111 ALLEN TX 75002

SECRETARY RICHARD WAGNER

PO BOX 181 LYONS WI 53148

TREASURER EE BUCK HILBERT

8102 LEECH RD UNION II 60180

THE VINTAGE AIRP LANE is owned Hales Corners Wisconsin 53130 531 30 and addi tional mailing 01 period of which $1 000 is for the inteested in aviation

Editorial Staff

Editor AI Kelch

Associate Editor Robert G Elliott

1227 Oakwood Ave Daytona Beach Florida 32014

Assistant Editor Lois Kelch

Associate Editor Edward D Williams 713 Eastman Dr

Mt Prospect Illinois 60056

Associate Editors will be identified in the tdble of conshytents on articles they send in and repeated on the article if they have written it Associate Editorships will be assigned to those who qualify (5 articles in any calendar year)

D irectors

William J Ehlen Route 8 Box 506

Tampa Florida 33618

Claude L Grdy Jr 9635 Sylvia Avenue

Northridge California 91324

Dale A Gustafson 7724 Shady Hill Drive

Indianapolis Indidna 46274

W Brad Thomas Jr 301 Dodson M ill Road

Evander M Britt Box 1525

Lumberton North Carolina 28358

AI Kelch 7018 W Bonniwell Road Mequon Wisconsin 53092

Morton W Lester Box 3747

Martinsville Virginia 24112

Pilot Mountain North Carolina 2704 1 Advisors

Me Kelly Viets RR1Box151

Stilwell Kansas 66085

Arthur R Morgan 513 North 91s1 Street

Milwaukee Wisconsin 53226

Roger J Sherron 446-C LasCa si tas

Santa Rosa California 95401

Stan Gomoll 104290th Lane NE

Minneapolis Minnesota 55434

Robert E Kesel 455 Oakridge Drive

Roch ester New York 14617

Robert A White 1207 Falcon Drive

Orlando Florida 32803

usively by Antique Classic Aircraft I nc and is published monthly at Postage paid at Hales Corners Post Office Hales Corners Wisconsi n ship rates for Antique Classic Aircraft Inc at $ 1400 per 12 month

ion of THE V INTAGE AIRPLANE Membership is open to all who are

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE

ANTIQUE CLASSIC DIVISION

of TH E EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

PO Box 229 Hales Corners Wis 53130

NOVEMBER 1977 VOLUME 5 NUMBER 11

flljtecial d~fUJ ~It 77 Ci)f~ Editors Note

We have dedicated this issue to the winners at Oshkosh 77 and have attempted to have one article for each airplane The following are winners whose article was not available at press time

Best Cessna 190195 Best Taylorcraft Limited Prod uction Raybourn Thompson Edwin DischKent JarellienWm Knight Johnson Rocket Houston TX Brodhead WI Orval Fairbairn

Sunnyvale Ca The response was amazing all but three responded making this issue a fat and sassy one We thank

all the contributors and hope you enjoy the reading as much as we have AI Kelch

Assistant Editors Note It has been a pleasure to work with the great stories received from this years winners We thank

them for their time and effort in preparing their restoration stories to share with us all It is interesting to note the similarity of so many of themmiddot that of finding them in barns or in the back of hangars and the work and patience to restore them back to their original Also noted was the fact that almost everyone states they could not have done it alonemiddot they had the help of family and friends and in some cases had the help of total strangers who through the project became close friends

Lois Kelch (Photos of winners receiving their trophy were taken by Bob Mier)

EAA ANTIQUECLASSIC DIVISION MEMBERSHIP o NONmiddotEAA MEMBER - $3400 Incl udes one year membersh ip in the EAA AntiqueClassic Division 12

monthly issues 01 THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE one year membership in the Experimental Aircraft Associamiddot ti on 12 monthly issues 01 SPORT AVIATION and separate membership cards

o NONmiddotEAA MEMBER - $2000 Includes one year membership in the EAA Ant iqueClassic Division 12 month ly issues 01 THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE Gne year membership in the Experimental Aircraft Associamiddot tion and separate membership cards SPORT AVIATION not included

o EAA MEMBER - $1400 Includes one year membership in the EM AntiqueClassic Division 12 monthly issues 01 THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE and membership card (Applicant must be current EAA member and must give EAA membership number

PICTURE BOX ON THE COVER (Back Cover)

Don Freitags Grand Champion Antique (Photo by Les Elliott) Forrest Loveys Grand Champion

Classic (Photo by Les Elliott)

Copyri9ht C 1977 Antique Classic Aircraft Inc All Rights R-ed

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GRAND CHAMPION KARl-KEEN SIOUX COUPE

NC10721 By Forrest Lovely

6905 Elliot A venue South Richfield MN 55423

Strange as it may sou nd this project started with Gary Hanson breaking the crankshaft in the Velie engine on his Star Cavalier on the way to Oshkosh 75 While looking for Velie parts a friend told me of a Kari-Keen in Elroy Wisconsin that had a littl e round engine with one cylinder missing Upon contact ing owner Dick Braund I found that it was a 90 HP Warn er and not a Velie

Gary Hanson Har lan Darr and I went to Elroy one Friday to look at the airp lane and to make a long story short we sti ll didnt have the Velie parts but I now had a big proj ect ahead of me The condition of the airplane can best be described by the fact that about a year later Gary admitted to me that he wondered what I was ever goi ng to do with all that j unk that we hau led home from Elroy

We finally got started rebuilding in February of 1976 The fuselage was in pretty good shape and only two pieces of tubing needed to be replaced The entire st ick control system was mi ss ing and had to be built using

original factory drawings obtained from Way ne Ri sk of Sioux City Iowa One gear leg was missing and was made from a piece of old sty le stream lin ed tubing supplied by Larry Frost of LeSeur Minn This about wrapped up the work on the fuse lage exce pt for sandshyblasting and painting so it was put aside and work was shystarted on the wing

The wing is another story all by itself There wasnt a whole rib left on the wing They had been broken and some had been lost in the many times it had been moved si nce the airp lane was dismantled in 1942 Since every J

rib is different I had imagi ned at least a years work in - bull getti ng the rib s lofted and built Wayne Risk came to the

Forrest Lovey and his pride and joy (Photo byrescue again and supplied me with nearl y a com pl ete set of Ted Kaston) or igi na I factory ri~s tha t had been left over when they

went out of business Better yet he had a ll the rib jigs and Fred Davis used these to make the four ribs that he was smart enough to build a turning fixture for hi s A were missing The spars needed so me new plywood in point of interest here - wh en we first got the a irpl ane places where it had gotten wet and also in a few pl aces home it took seven or eight men to move the wing where I ope ned them up to have a good look at the aro und because anything that big just had to weigh at wood All new wires were bought from MacWhyte and least 500 pounds After it was completed we weighed it the wing was reassembl ed The wing was put on the and found that two guys cou ld easily move it aro und as fuselage for the first time in May 197 6 and all cables it only weighed 17 5 pound s co mpl ete (nicopress) were installed At this tim e I decided not to The engine had been a continuing project all along push the project to completion and took the summer and although it only had 171 hours total time it was in off We actually didnt go back to work on it until about terrib Ie shape I t had sat in the rafters of a mach inc shed November for twenty years missing one cylinder and the birds had

In the meantime Gary had come home fro m Oshkosh moved in and made a four-plex out of the rest of it with the id ea to go completely original in order to qualshy Luckily most of the top end parts are the same as the ify in the antique category This along with Claude old 110-7 cy lind er engine and enough parts were found Grays article prompted me to remove a ll the nicopress to make it run The only thing that was impossible to cab les and lear n the five-t uck sp lice All the elastic stop find were the exhaust va lves To solve this problem I nuts came out and Fred Davis clai ms to have bent over visited an old friend Ed Canaday of Redwood Falls at lea st a million billion cotte r keys The on ly concesshy Mn one weekend When I asked him what he thought I sio n to originality was made on the landing gear The cou ld do abo ut my probl em he calmly walked over to a originals were 22 X lOX 4 Goodyear Airwheels with co rner of hi s shop and came back with a fistfull of 7 16 mechanical brakes Since it was impossible to find tires Lycoming exhaust valves Not only did the valves fit and tubes these were changed to 850 X 6 ti res on perfectly but 50 did the entire spri ng retainer and Cleveland 600 X 6 mecha ni ca l brake wheels This end ed keeper asse mbl y The stem is just a little larger diameter up with a profil e within 1 2 inch of orig inal and st ill than the original Warner valve which enab led us to ream retained the cushion needed as the gear had no shock out the worn out guides and we were in bu siness abso rbers Things got pretty hectic aro und the first week in July

Th e covering process took longer than normal and eve rybody pitched in to help get the ship done to go because of the wing being 30 feet long and 7 6 wide to Oshkosh Ted Dahl volunteered to replace the original and nothing to hang on to It became a regular Saturday interior and did a beautiful job of it Littl e did he know ritual at the Lydia airport for all the neighbors to stop that he was goi ng to have to do it while we were test by the hangar and help turn the wing over I dont envy running the engi ne My pare nts duplicated the original Gar Williams with his huge Cessna AW wing but at least sea t cushions and they must have done everything right

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Forrest Lovley and Gary Hanson making a fly by in the Grand Champ (Photo by Ted Koston)

as I sat on them for four hours going to Blakesburg and I could still walk when I got there

The airplane was test flown on Friday July 29th after A1 Ken Muxlow and F AA inspector Jess Larson gave it their stam p of approval I flew the sh ip about 10 minutes and then after an adjustment on the fin Gary flew it another 10 minutes On Saturday Gary and I went out and rode around together for one hour to get an idea of the gas and oil consumption On Monday I took off at sun-up and 2 hours and 20 minutes later I was sitting at Oshkosh

One of my greater thrills in life was to have had my airplane judged Grand Champion at Oshkosh 77 Although I did not hire any work done on the airplane by no means can I take any where near all the cred it for its restoration To list all the friends that helped just because they wanted to would take at least a ream of paper I will say that Gary and I figured out that in the sixteen months spent restori ng the airplane that we bought 320 cases of beer Thats cheap labor if I ever saw it

After flying the ship for about 20 hours now we are quite pleased with it It cruises at about 100 MPH on 6 gallons of gas and no oil It used a quart of oil in the first hour and hasnt used any since With that big thick under-cambered wing it climbs flat and goes fast It doesnt have any trouble hauling a load and about the only difference it makes with a full load is that the tail skid runs for about 10 feet before the tail comes up When the ship is light the tail comes up immediately All in all it seems to be a pretty honest airp lane and we will enjoy flying it for some time to come

$ad and$oyu ~ RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION

PITCAIRN PA-8 MAILWING N10753 - 1931

By Jack Rose Route 7 Box 737

Spangle WA 99037

Built by Pitcairn Aviation for Eastern Air Transport five model PA-Ss saw service from May 1930 to August 1933 Last registered in 1936 Pitcairn No 164 was brought back to life by myself wife and friends I have the bones of No 162 resting in the corner of my hangar (available for restoration) and along with No 164 are the on ly remaining examples of the PA-S The service life of these ships was typical of the times hauling the night mail for Eastern Air Transport CAM Route No 19 Newark to Atlanta to Miami Early in 1931 the Post Office Department through the Watres Bill stipulated that the mail planes must be able to carry passengers In anticipation of orders by small mail lines who would now be forced to buy new equipment the PA-S was

A boat load of long stem roses to jack and joyce Rose for such a magnificent machine (Photo by Ted Koston)

designed by Pitcairn to fill that need Eastern Air Transport ordered 5 PA-8s for their own use and as it happened they were the only customer The advances in aircraft design had made the commercial biplane obshysolete and even the Condors and Curtis Kingbirds had a short life span The PA-Ss were equipped for night flying and were the first to use the Sperry artificial horizon PA-8 pilots such as Earl Potts and Dick Merrill taught themselves how to fly instruments in these ships and were supplied with radios for the first time Pitcairn Aviation was deep in the Autogiro development at the same time the 8s were being built Little enthusiasm remained regarding further development of the Pitcairn biplane Consequently the PA-S Mailwing was the culmination of efforts of a group of dedicated individshyuals and reflected the ultimate in mail carrying design

In 1973 Tony Stei nback of Klamath Falls Oregon advertised two Pitcairn mailwings for sale Looking for a project but with no idea what I wanted I called my friend Skeeter Carlson and asked him what Pitcairn PA-S was After talking to Skeeter I could hardly wait to go to Klamath Falls and take a look When we arrived we met Tony and he took us to the hangar where the ships had been stored for 25 years Stacked in the corner of the loft of a huge ex-military hangar were the bones of two complete Pitcairns so he said Skeeter and I countshyed wings flying wires struts etc and spent half of a day trying to match up parts In my mind I decided the best course was to buy all the parts he had and sort later hoping for one complete airplane I also found out that Tony was very attached to the Pitcairns and wasnt at all sure he wanted to sell them I t took all afternoo n to

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flJuci ~ 9JJowllty XIkiI

GOLDEN AG E CHAMPION (1918 - 1927 )

SWALLOW MAIL PLANE 3 By Buck Hilbert 8 7 02 Leech Road Union IL 60780

In 1926 when the Swallows of Varney Airlines began the CAM 5 operation maximum payload was about 6001bs Range about 3 hours or approximately 250 miles Weatker was the BIG factor and the pilots of Varney flew a schedule under conditions that today are unthinkable There is more weather information availshyable to the general public today than to professional meterologists of the day Weather observers were farmers along the route or Forest Ranger stations that could be telephoned and queried about the weather at their position

Capt Leon D Cuddeback who was Varneys Chief

The beautiful workmanship is evident in this picture For authenticity they had the help of Earl Potts who flew the same plane for Eastern Air Transport (Photo by Ted Kaston)

convince him that I was sincere and that I intended to restore the ships Time was running out and our flight back to Spokane was due to leave soon I hadnt made much progress but decided to make one last effort We had agreed on a price for both ships and thanks to his wife he reluctantly decided to sell Making a run for the airliner I grabbed the fin which was still covered to show my buddies that I had found a genuine antique airplane to restore Two trailer trips from Spangle to Klamath Falls brought all the parts home Now the fun begins Matching the parts using I D numbers and bolt holes revealed that I did indeed have two complete airshyplanes which were very restorable and would be very original upon completion It also became apparent that neither ship had flown a great number of hours and the best estimate was approximately 450 hours each

The actual restoration began in May of 1973 with my wife sandblasting the fuselage The nuts and bolts of a restoration and the frustrations involved regarding the suppliers is known to all and there is no need to delve into that The knowledge and skills gained from a project such as the Pitcairn are reward ing and when its all said and done its what its all about

In order to make an authentic restoration valuable contacts were made with Stephen Pitcairn the son of the founder and with Carl Gunther the Pitcairn historshyian Never can a restoration be completed wholly by one person --- so with the help of Bill Duncan Skeeter Carlshyson Art Swenson Jack Hordemann and our FAA friend Dale Mumford this Pitcairn No 164 the only example of its type flies again

Many people have asked me how does it fly) My answer is how would you like a big old biplane to fly Its handling qualities are the results of a succession of designs by Agnew Larson who combined all the good traits of the previous models and came up with a ship that took a load off the pilots shoulders and allowed him to concentrate on flying the mail

Wingspan 35 Empty Wt 2294 Total Wt 4000 Useful Load 1706 Wing Loading 144 Ibs pelshy sq ft 100 gals fuel Cruise speed 120 at 15 gal per hour Stall Speed 50 Engine Wright Whirlwind Horsepower 440 Price New $12500 Manufactured April 1931

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Pilot related to me how when the pass was closed th ey used to hire a State Trooper to drive a specially equipped Chrysler over the pass The Swallow would land at an auxiliary field near the pass th e mail would be transferred to the waiting Chyrsler and the Trooper would make a high speed run of about fifty mil es to the other side where the mail would be transferred into another waiting Swallow and then flown on to its destination

Navigation was st riclty pilotage If you couldnt see to fly you set her down and waited till you could The engine reliability was a bit shakey too Walter Doc Eefsen number seven Varney pilot showed me his log book in an attempt to cheer me up after our Wright J 4 had disentegrated I was absolutely astounded to find that about eve ry third entry was a forced landing and the majority of those irregularities as they are called today were engine malfunctions He explained it this way

The Wright Whirlwind was the greatest and most reliable engine we had ever seen or used Adimiral Byrd had used them on his first Polar f lights the engines had set all kinds of endurance and other records but now the J-5 was coming along and the J-4s were surplused by the Navy That was how Varney acquired ours

With all the valve mechanisms out in the open and no overhead oiling of any sort we greased and oiled everyth ing before eac h fl ight These engi nes used a lot of oil too normal being abo ut a gallon an hour After takeshyoff it was sheer fo lly to st ick your head out beyond the windscreen Youd get all full of grease and oil It took about an hour to throw off all of the extra grease and oil then you could almost set your watch in anticipation of what was going to happen About an hour and a half after the engine dri ed up and quit throwing off oil and grease almost without exception one or more of the va lves would start to get st icky If one stuck open which was often the case the pushrod would fall out and you made an eight cylinder landing took out your oi l can and little hamm er and tapped on the offending va lve while oiling it until it broke loose and bega n operating again You then stuck in a spare pushrod and went on your way

Doc showed me pictures of land ing places that would make a stro ng Helicopter pilot cringe From talkshying with these old timers I can tell you forced landings aint what they used to be To illustrate the first Swallow to be di spatched to Pasco Washington where it

was to start the airmail service the next morning had seven yes SEVEN forced landings on the way up there At that time it was equipped with a Curtiss C-6 engine and alth ough they were noted for being hard starting it wouldnt run at all without gas

The Varney pilots and mechanics often one and the same didn t trust those new fangled aluminum fuel tanks and so had theirs made of turnplate Thats kinda like galvanized steel to you young fellows Whoev er had soldered up the tan k had left all the solder flakes inside the tank As the engine vibrated in f li ght it shook all those little flakes and beads down to the point where they would block off the fuel outlet and the engine would quit Bouncing along the ground during the subsequent landing would shake th em all up uncover the out let and when theyd attempt a restart the eng ine would run as if nothing happened On the last and final forced landing luck deserted them They ran thru a ditch and flipped the Swallow

All this goes to illustrate that today we have engines and airframes to take you across the country in living room comfort at speeds better than 10 miles a minute We take this for granted Its inconceiveable to try but lets compare ~he Swallow of fifty years ago with that Freighter you saw fly-by at Oshkosh I flew one of those DC-8 Freighters from Chicagos OHare Field to Detroit Metro Last Tuesday morning we carried thirty six thousand pounds of freight and the trip took forty-three minutes

Let the mind wander for a minute Swallows payload is 600 pounds WOW that means wed have to have six-hundred Swallows to do the job with about four hours flight time for each one Lets see six hundred times 12 gallons times four hours Whats the weathermiddot Hey l How do we navigate Wow Can you imagine what the tower will do when 600 no radio Swallows come on the scene What about hotel rooms for all those pilots Oh man l This is too much

And so when we show the Swallow alongside one of those big jets we arent just showing an airp lane we are showing FIFTY years of aviatio n Fifty YEARS of Aviation progress and although there are those who say all the fun is gone and adventure is no longer I feel its been all our way We can now take our trip in living room comfort at dazzling speeds with inflight entertainment and be reaso nably assured of reaching our destination when the sc hedu le says we should And the Swallow showed them the way

Buck and his immortal Swallow one of the best known antiques of the day (Photo by Bob Miller)

SILVER AGE CHAMPION 1928-1932

1930 PARKS P2-A NC499H By Wayne L Amelang

77 2 Stone Boulevard Tullahoma TN 37388

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Right Wayne Amelang built up what was a sorry old bird that formerly belonged to Richard Bach I can attest to the fine workmanship as I stopped to visit several times on the way to Sun N Fun

I have been flying a Ryan PT-22 for the past 10 years but during all this time I always wanted an old biplane I heard about the Parks being for sale in December 1975 It was disassembled and stored in a hangar in Newman Georgia and I was fortunate in having first choice at buying it I trailered it home in January 1976 and startshyed work on it almost immediately It was obvious that the airplane had been badly neglected and was in need of some TLC

The restoration of the Parks was more or less routine the only thing unusual being the short period of time in which it was done It was dismantled down to bare bones all welding repairs made and all steel parts sandshyblasted and primed All the wood in the fuselage was replaced and many ribs in the wings replaced due to damage or bad repair work I even spliced in a new section on one of the wing spars All leading and trailing edges were replaced All covering was with grad e A cotton butyrate dope and more sanding than I care to do again soon All new cowling was fabricated and new stainless steel flying wires purchased I had never built up a Wright J6-5 engine before but it didnt present any unusual problems I was able to buy all the new parts I needed and it runs beautifully using very little oil

My original goal was to complete the restoration in time to go to the North Georgia Chapter Fly-in at Gainsshyville and I made it with 5 days to spare I test flew the

to Bobby Graves for their help They all spent many Above Sharing your rare airplane with others is half the fun ofowning it Gene is most generous and ifyou look long hours with me and were always available when closely theres a pair of goggles barely visible over the back cockpit - no doubt some future aviator is getting needed initiated to the grand thrill of open cockpit light plane flying (Photo by Ted Koston)

plane on June 26 and was very pleasantly surprised at bull how nice it was I later flew it to Oshkosh and Blakes-~~~Iamp~~~IIbullbullbull_r~-I burg and I have enjoyed every minute of it Its a bull 1 -JJl J delightful old airplane and a joy to fly I did have a small -~~ problem on July 4 I had neglected to grease the plain bearings in my wheels one wheel locked up on a landshying resulting in a ground loop and minor gear damage Fortunately I was on the grass strip I learned from this experience to keep the wheels well greased and have had no problems since

As you know a job like this restoration cant be done by one person and th is restoration was no exception Ill be forever grateful to my son Jerry to Gene Hood and ~~_fotYmiddottar~ p l-i1~~

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SILVER AGE RUNNER UP 1931 AMERICAN EAGLET

NC548Y By Gene and Mary Morris

24 Chandelle Drive Hampshire I L 60740

Whoops my white scarf just got caught around the cabane struts and even at sixty indicated it tied a knot in itself and as I moved to look around the nose I was startled by a pulling around my neck

Th is story takes place enroute to AI Kelchs for his annual Turkey Shoot where all of the Wisconsin antiquers gather at AIs beautiful strip to partake of scrumptious roasted turkey sweetcorn tomatoes and all the rest This fly-in is looked forward to by all of us all year long

My trip in the Eaglet just like any other in any other airplane just like it has always been to us that is we dont hide our little bird back in the corner only to come out for a special fly-in on a special no wind day We fly it just like we would a Cub or Champ and enjoy taking anyone that drops in to visit for a ride I am always amazed and joined by many other at how those 35 horses can carry two grown men so well

Since our last Trophy Winner article we have flown our Eaglet and abused Ole Zeke about 150 hours so

in that time its only natural that Murphys law would get around to leaving the oil shut off at least once and I sure hope its the last time I had to steal the crankshaft from my spare engine and just barely got it altogether again for Oshkosh That was my wife Marys lesson so I didnt say too much but if she does it again Ill cut her arm off

So this day is a beautiful September day with a south breEze eager to push me along my way Higher and higher Ole Zeke pulls us 1500middot2000 ft its getting cool now and my sweater is in the rear seat with my brand new white scarf After four or five minutes of bobbling and wobbling around I have my sweater on and my scarf flying behind Ill fly by when I get there and let the scarf fly in the breeze 3000 ft MSL and I level off enjoying an estimated 30 mile tailwind I estimate for I have no map or compass just a watch which says I will be one of the last to arrive As I near the Milwaukee area Im on top of some scattered clouds I climb up to 4000 to stay more legal and perhaps pick up even more wind The clouds are beautiful from any airplane but I had to wonder if Ole Zeke had ever been there before I ts also getting cold Almost to Kelchs I see Timmerman off at two oclock and moving slowly to my right Ill just stay up here Im thinking Ill be over head on top and see if anyone can figure out what that funny sound is high above the clouds I can see Kelchs now with some 15 beautiful antiques lined up on AIs lawn a sight to behold Ill get a picture from up here before I come down AIs is under a cloud at first but I can see a hole just south and moving north One three sixty and the hole is right over Kelchs where everyone is basking in the sun I quickly turn around and get one my last picture with my wing struts and tip framing my subject

Down I come throttling back and spiraling Ole Zeke is really funny now if they hadnt seen me by now theyll surely hear the popping and backfiring that sounds like a comical shooting gallery Round and round down and down I come at one point I reach 95 MPH Ive never had it that high before and slowly ease it back thinking of those frail little ribs hanging on to the spars with all their might Again my scarf is tied around the cabanes I take time to free it before my low pass so that it will fly properly It did I flew by and landed white scarf and all just in time to walk to the chow line and fraternize with my fellow antiquers knowing all the while that that little Eaglet with that funny little engine makes it all possible

SILVER AGE - OUTSTANDING OPEN COCKPIT BIPLANE

1929 ALLIANCE ARGO N596K By Jim Browder 5647 W Sutliff

Peoria I L 67607

The first time I saw the Argo it was in the back of a hangar (it wasnt for sale at that time) under what appeared to be an inch of dust and bird droppings

In 1950 they had removed all front cockpit controls main wheels and the very low time Hess Warrior and installed a Continental R670 smoke tank in the front cockpit Glidertow hitch wing walk and used it in various air shows

Bill Sweet refers to the oddball (because of the 220 Cont engine) in his book They Call Me Mr Air Show The plane was last flown in 1952

I acquired it a few years later A ferry permit was issued and the plane was flown to Peoria to be rebuilt The airplane was completely dismantled and the momenshytous task of trying to find any information and missing parts was undertaken

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Right Not only is the Argo a rare airplane but the Hess-Warrior engine was built specifically for the airshyplane It would be very safe to say that it is the only such engine operableas is the airplane

Very few people ever heard of it and no one had any information on the airp lane All welds were dye checked the wings and center section rebuilt with Sitka Spruce (as original) by Custom Woodcraft Milan Michigan All new stainless stee l flying wires Grade A cotton and butyrate dope Everything completely original except tail wheel instead of skid new tires chromed stacks shielded ignition and I added a 100 channel trans-receiver radio

Both aircraft and engine restoration was watched and carefully checked by Herbert O Edwards air craft Inspector

Many years were spent in collecting bits of informashytion I talked to Mr lato one of the companys test pilots several times I also learned Russ Miller had built the Miller Special using the Hess Warrior and other parts of the Argo

Anyway after many many years Argo N596K and I made the first flight in May of 1974

I received several trophies at various Fly-Ins in the middle westin 1974 and 1975 including WWII PT FlyshyIn Nationa l AAA-APM Fly-In Due to the weather I made Oshkosh on the last day of the show in 1975

The plane stayed in the hangar and flew very little in 1976 and the spring of 1977 as the weather and my work kept me from havi ng much time to fly it

The plane was built by the Alliance Aircraft Comshypany Alliance Ohio one of the few companies of that era that built both aircraft and engine Approximately 28 were built

N596K is the only one flying and accordi ng to research the only one in existence There was another one in Massachusetts It was rebuilt using a 145 Warner engi ne When this one was being restored I made several trips to the East coast and acq uired the origi nal ground adj ustable propeller and miscellaneous items However that Argo was later destroyed in a hangar fire

The ai rcraft is fully aerobatic and unrestricted It is really a crowd pleaser Very few know what it is Many think it is an original design Few o ld timers recognize it as an Alliance Argo

I was very happy to receive the award at the 1977 -25th Anniversary Convention

~__A~n t-shy

fJlJe Hess- Warrior Aircraft Engitle AI(o powered by our own seven cylmder

r~d~J ir-coolcd eDglnC dcclops 115 horsepowtt u 1925 R P M Thn enlnc cames the ApprdCfJHE

The H~tmiddot~~tRO~middot~-(~Ujns uoh- mmriah recomshymended Iw tmy tod NlY~ Srandlfd Cylinder coostruc shytion IS the same U (ound In ndl~l cnRlnes (wiCe the COSI of the RRIOR

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The Argo

CfJHE oUlsundrng fCrlorm~ncc rn1lncumiddotcTlbdtty ~nJ beaut) o( the rgohtvc on (or II well men ted distinc t iOn lnd pr1lsc wherever II hunown

Clp1blc of l high ~pced of IlS MPH ~ cruising s~ed of JOO M P H Ihe Argo hu euned Ihe righl CO IcldcrshlP 10 rhc sm~1I pl l ne field

wh~~~ ~~rbr(lOk~~ =~J ISrr~ddhs~jl~nn~r PlOneer Insrrumenrs Bendix

The rnHlo t response to Ihe controls hu won pr io rsmiddot ldm lrllion Ihe COUntry o middoter Visrhrll ty IS perfCC1 In Ilndmg or flYing due ro Ihe merhod of (onstrunion

For rhose seckln a smlll flu DEPENDABLE ship for sporr tr~lng or huuness Ihe Argo IS rdeal

middotFLY IT AND YOll ILL BlY IT middot

()

SILVER AGE - OUTSTANDING CLOSED COCKPIT BIPLANE

(OPEN COCKPIT WITH COUPE TOP) 1932 WACO IBA N12453

By Ed Paclwrd 22 7 S Eddy Street

South Bend IN 4667 7 When I was learning to fl y 25 yrs ago I used to

practice landing at Cadet field which was all sod that used to be South Bend Indiana Municipal Airport I saw this old biplane in a hangar that fascinated me For years after I got my license I would stop in and im agine things about that o ld biplane I never saw it f ly or knew who ow ned it

One day I landed on a farm with a friend my oid instructor to ride his horses Hi s wife came by car to pick him up and when I took off I found to my dismay the wind had cha nged and my Cessna 182 didnt fly too well from a valley field with a tai l wind I totaled it so I needed a new airplane

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My son Barney Packard with coupe top on ready to go

A housing development had gone in where the sod fie ld was so I inquired as to what ever happened to that o ld biplane I discovered the fuselage had been stored in a barn for 12 yrs and the wings in another barn 30 miles away I gave $1900 for the pieces and had it rebuilt Six months late r the engine quit because of crud in the carburetor and it went down and over in a cornfield the last week in August I met Walt Sh elto n wh o is an AampE and he used to teach at Parks He is an art ist who loves old planes so he didnt repair it he restored it I sti ll didnt realize what I had excepti ng an o ld biplane that I liked to fly

I saw Haro ld Joh nson from Day ton fly an ai rshow in Wabash He saw my pl ane and said you have a rare Waco so why don t you join the Waco Club He told me about Ray Brandl ey and my education began

The IBA was delivered 45 yrs ago with the coupe-top installed It was gray with silver wings and tail It was advertised as the golfers airplane you land on the golf course when you pl ay Behind the back baggage compartment it says golf clubs only One ad from 1932 showed the golfer with his knickers cap and clubs by the plane on a golf course

Another ad from 32 said The plane for the man who wants to go places and do things The front baggage compartment holds 87 Ibs and the back one 35 Ib s My wife can take all the suitcases and luggage she wants and does

It stalls at 39 MPH cruises at 92 MPH Th e co upe-top speeds it up abo ut 3 MPH and can be install ed in 20 min It is in three pieces One piece goes in each door with sid e window and plastic V shape on top so when door opens V pulls out so you ca n step down inside without craw ling under With coup e-top on you can easi ly converse and look at maps etc

It has the 125 HP Kinn er B54 and wheels are off the ground in 150 feet The span is 30 ft length 21 ft height 86 holds 30 gals gas and burns 71z per hour Waco only sold two IBAs

When I bought it it had 687 hrs airframe time Th e Kinner only had 12 hrs on it because the owner bought it war surplus for $65 They put the B54s on PT 22s to start with but went to the 160 Kinner so 125 HP B54s were sold new for $65 war surplus Ive added almost 800 more fun and loop-filled hours to it and never plan on stopping

CONTEMPORARY AGE CHAMPION (1933 - 1945)

1941 WACO VKS-7F N31653 By Vince Mariani

2409 Sweetwater Road Findlay OH 45840

WACO N31653 was built in August of 1941 as a VKS and converted to a VKS-7F (addition of flaps) by WACO in 1944 The airpl ane was used by the WACO Co executives until 1949

I do have all of the original log books including the C ration gas card used du rin g WWII

I purchased N31653 in August of 1963 and spent the next 3 yea rs re-building and hand rubbing out the butyrate dope over the ceconite covers

Th e airplane is pure pl easure to fly and it is a good comfortable cross country airplane(1 added lots of sound proofing and padding)

It now has bee n flown 11 years (+ 1000hrs) since restoration and N31653 continues to bring home trophies The total trophies and awards number over 90 of which 20 were Grand Champions N31653 has been Grand Champion and past Grand Champion at least 5 times at the Marion Ohio EAA eastern regional fly-in I can only say that owning and flying a WACO has been my boyhood dream come tru e

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CONTEMPORARY AGE RUNNER-UP

1940 FAIRCHILD F24 N25323

By Ed Wegner 70 Stafford Street

Plymouth WI 53073

My Fairchild 24 was purchased from a good friend Andy Dettman from our area He did some work on the airframe He also built up a zero time engine from all new parts - yes - all new parts This was about IS years ago The Ranger performs and runs very well

I completely rebuilt th e wood and wings install ed new wiring instrum ents radio and interior It is finished in red and cream

It cruises at 120 at 22 inches 2100 RPM uses 11 or 12 gallons per hour

I enjoy flying this Fairchild as this is my second F24 I was very pleased to receive the award for Contemshyporary Age Runner-up

Above Bonnie and Vince Mariani (from previous page) and their 7947 WACO VKS 7F It has won a boat load of trophies including 20 Grand Champions (Photo by Bob Miller)

Below Over the years Ed Wegner has cranked out a stable full of immaculate restorations the Fairchild 24 being no exception is letter perfect Of all the exotic airplanes he has restored Ed says the 24 is one he intends to keep

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OUTSTANDING OPEN COCKPIT BIPLANE

1941 STEARMAN N57041 By j F Atkinson Jr

4873 Concho Court Sacramento CA 75847

N57041 is a Boeing A-75N1 serial No 75-2935 PT-17 According to the Stearman Guide book it was one of a batch of 84 delivered in 1941

It was restored by Drs Larry I ngemanson and Rich O Day The covering painting rigging and engine work were done by Air Repair in Clarksburg Ca lif (just south of Sacramento Executive Airport) I know nothing of the planes history prior to that The current airworthy certificate is dated Sept 16 1970

I purchased N57041 in the fall of 1973 It has always been hangared The airplane is flown about 100 hrsyear The engine is a Conti nenta l W670-A The aircraft is as near stock as possib le The only exceptions are electric starter ELTGeneve Nav-Com with built-in intercom and an anti co li ision strobe on the belly

Th e photo included was taken two years ago The on ly change visible since then is the fire extinguisher

Right The flight to Oshkosh from California in a sturdy old Stearman would be enough of a thrill - taking home a trophy is frosting on the cake

door in the proper color (reddish brown) with the stencil fire extinguisher

The flight to Oshkosh took four days and was great fun We departed Sacramento Executive Airport and stopped over night in Ogden Utah New Castle Wyoming and LaCrosse Wisconsin Flying time was approximately 23 hours We settled quickly on legs of 212 hrs more in deference to our sore butts than fuel considerations

The Stearman seemed reluctant to climb much over 9000 feet but we were able to get her up to almost 11000 at times by taking advantage of thermals Probshyably the most exciting part of the trip was departing Elko Nevada at noon time fully loaded with a temshyperature of 95 F and density altitude of 8700 feet Im glad that there were no obstructions higher than a jack rabbits ears for a few miles

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Oshkosh ( our first) and plan to repeat the tr ip next year

I received the plaque in the mail and need less to say was very happy The Stearman has two trophys fro m Merced Ca lifornia Annua l West Coast An itq ue Fly-in The latest and best 1st place Primary Trainer Bip lane in June 1976

CONTEMPORARY AGE OUTSTANDING CABIN BIPLANE

1936 WACO EQC-6 N16591

By Stan Gomoll 7042 90th Lane N E

Minneapolis MN 55434

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