VOL. 34, No.

A N E
2006

M A y

Straight & Level

by Geoff Robison

VAA News

Bucker Lite
Lightened Bucker biplanes were
used to set Czech national records
by Pat Quinn

Antique Instruments
Some clever solutions to
measuring flight
by H.G. Frautschy

Vintage Aircraft in the United Kingdom

The Shuttleworth Collection
by H.G. Frautschy

12

Standard Issue or Customized

Take Your Pick
Dan Wood and his Takes-a-Lickin'-and-Keeps-on-Tickin' C-170
by Budd Davisson
Jack Russell Rescues a 170 and Makes It His Own
by H.G. Frautschy

24

rass It To Buck
Dear Buck,
by Buck Hilbert

26

The Vintage Instructor

What goes around, comes around
by Doug Stewart

28

Restoration Corner
by Buck Hilbert and Ron Fritz

36

Mystery Plane
by H.G. Frautschy

38

Calendar

40

Classified Ads

COVERS

FRONT COVER: Jack Russell and Gene Day, along with Jack's fiancee, Cindy Johnson, and Gene's
wife, Bonnie, restored Jack's Cessna 170 with a bit of a custom flair, using a color scheme that is
based in part on the old Eastern Airlines markings. Read about it and a stock Cessna 170 in the
article starting on page 12. EM photo by Jim Koepnick, EAA photo plane flown by Bruce Moore.
BACK COVER: Dan Wood and his son Nick did all the metalwork when they restored their pristine
Cessna 170, shown here over a broken layer of clouds west of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, during EM
AirVenture Oshkosh 2005. EM photo by Mike Steineke, EAA photo plane flown by Bruce Moore.

STAFF
EAA Publisher
EAA Editor-in-Chief
Executive Director/Editor
Administrative Assistant
Managing Editor
News Editor
Photography

Tom Poberezny
Scott Spangler
H.G. Frautschy
Jennifer Lehl
Kathleen Witman
Ric Reynolds
Jim Koepnick
Bonnie Bartel
Advertising Coordinator
Sue Anderson
Classified Ad Coordinator
Louise Schoenike
Copy Editor
Colleen Walsh
Director of Advertising
Katrina Bradshaw
Display Advertising Representatives:
Northeast: Allen Murray
Phone 6092651666, FAX 609-265-1661, e-mail: a/lemnllrray(4'l llilld.~prillg.co/ll
Southeast: Chester Baumgartner
Phone 7275730586, FAX 7275560177, email: ci>allllllll@' niwisprillg.colll
Central: Todd Reese
Phone 800-4449932, FAX 8167416458, email: todd@Sp,mag.culll
Mountain & Pacific Keith Knowlton & Associates
Phone 770-516-2743, e-mail: kekllowltoll@?llilldsprillg.coJII

GEOFF ROBISON
PR ES ID ENT, VINTAGE AIRC RAFT AS SOCIAT IO N

EAA convention thoughts

With the flying season now in full

swing, I have been out doing my
spring thing by knocking off the rust
that gets attached to my flying skills
over the long Midwestern winter. I typ
ically start by flying a bunch of touch
and-go landings and some simulated
short-field takeoffs. And then I finish
off with some short-field landings,
turns around a pOint, and some slow
flight maneuvers. It always feels good
to get back into the full swing of things
with both of my flying machines. By
the time you read this, both of the an
nual inspections will hopefully have
been completed in the Cessna 120, and
the 170A. Both annuals are anticipated
to go well. The spruce-up of the C-120
continues to go pretty well, and again,
by the time you read this column
hopefully it will be at the interior shop
for all the finishing touches. My favor
ite tin bender should have the wheel
pants and the lower cowl finished later
this week, so the paint shop can get to
work on the new finish. The top cowl
was in the worst shape, and the tin
man did a really nice job of fabricat
ing a new replacement center section,
as the old one had a bu nch of vibra
tion cracks that were slowly getting
worse. We also now have all the mate
rials needed to replace the ratty-look
ing and mostly ineffective cowl seals. I
can't wait to see how it all works out.
For those of you intending to visit
us at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2006, be
sure to watch the June issue of Vintage
Airplane for a newly feat ured item. Vin
tage Directors Steve Krog and Bob Lum

ley came up with a great idea of printing

a removable insert to the magazine that
will feature a convention program spe
cific to the Vintage area of operations.
So be sure to remove it from your maga
zine and bring it along to AirVenture for
an opportunity to save you and your
guests some steps while visiting the VAA
grounds. I'm guessing that a good num
ber of members will learn of several ac
tivities in this program that you were
previously unaware of. If you forget to
bring it along, or maybe you just don't
want to alter your copy of Vintage Air
plane, that's fine, because we intend to
do an overprint of these program pages
and have them available to the mem
bership in the Vintage Red Barn for
your convenience. After all, the new
catch phrase for the Vintage area at
Oshkosh this year is "Vintage aircraft;
not just a lifestyle, it's an adventure."
Speaking of the 2006 event, my e
mail box has been pretty active for sev
eral months now with members who
have shared their displeasure with our
200S policy of parking only Classic air
craft directly south of the Antique dis
play area and the Theater in the Woods.
We had previously decided this would
improve the overall layout of the field
and provide for a more common sense
approach of displaying the various types
of vintage aircraft in our area. Boy, did
I get an earful from those of you who
typica lly come early with your Con
temporary aircraft to make certain you
will be able to camp in this obvious ly
popular area. Most of us actually had no
idea how many Contemporary airplane

drivers choose to arrive early to be as

sured of a camping space in this popu
lar area. So, you will all be pleased to
learn we have chosen to rescind policy
for at least the short term to again al
low access to Contemporary campers in
this area. Please be aware that this spe
cific area is strictly available on a first
come, first-served basis for our members
camping with their vintage aircraft. We
do intend to occasionally revisit our
aircraft parking layout in future years;
however, major changes are unlikely
until additional camping facili ties be
come availab le further south on the
field. Although I have communicated
with a good number of folks who took
the time to write or call, I also wanted to
apologize to anyone else who was unex
pectedly displaced to the south because
of this 200S policy change.
Also, while we're on the topiCof new
facilities, be sure to come visit us at the
Tall Pines Cafe again this year and check
out our brand new kitchen facility down
near the Ultralight area of operations.
The new facility will now house the en
tire cooking operation for the cafe and
shou ld prove to be a much more effi
cient operation . Be sure to come join
us at the kitchen and experience a great
meal for a good value.
VAA is abou t participation. Be a
member! Be a volunteer! Be there!
Let's all pu ll in the same direction
for t he good of aviation. Remember,
we are better together. Join us and
have it all!

HAVE YOU MADE YOUR PLANS TO ATTEND EAA AIRVENTURE 2006?

EAA AIRVENTURE OSHKOSH 2006, THE WORLD ' S GREATEST AVIATION CELEBRATION-JULY
VAA IS ABOUT PARTICIPATION : BE A MEMBER! BE A VOLUNTEER! BE THERE!

24-30

VIN T A GE AIR P LA N E

EAA's Advocacy,
Members Help Bring Change
to FAA Medical Processing
Backlog reduction is fi rst goal
Among the most important issues
facing the pilot community has been
the FAA's backlog in special issuance
medical certifications, as well as the
cost and difficulty associated with ob
taining and renewing a special issu
ance medical.
That's why EAA is committed to
finding a solution to the special issu
ance process that affects or will affect
many of its members. The issue came
to a head at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
200S, when the majority of questions
fielded by FAA Administrator Marion
Blakey at her annual Meet the Admin
istrator session were from pilots con
cerned or upset about delayed special
issuance certificate applications.
After EAA AirVenture 200S, EAA's
Aeromedical Advisory Council, a
group of volunteer flight surgeons
who serve as a reservoir of aeromedi
cal expertise to EAA and its members,
developed a plan to attack the prob
lem . Based on this proposal submit
ted to the FAA last December, EAA
officials received an invitation from
FAA Associate Administrator Nick Sa
batini and new FAA Flight Surgeon
Dr. Fred Tilton to visit FAA head
quarters in Washington, D.C., for the
purpose of discussing the recommen
dations. A review of new agency ac
tions in response to EAA's proposal
to improve special issuance process
ing was also part of the session. The
meeting was held March 30, with
Sabatini, Tilton, and Peggy Gilligan,
FAA deputy associate administrator
for aviation safety.
EAA President Tom Poberezny and
EAA Aeromedical Advisory Council
Chairman Dr. Jack Hastings led the
EAA delegation that also included
Dr. Richard Jennings, EAA aeromedi
cal advocate and incoming president
of the Aerospace Medicine Associa
tion (AsMA); Earl Lawrence, EAA vice
president of industry and regulatory
2

MAY 2006

affairs; and Doug Macnair, EAA vice

president of government affairs.
EAA's recommendations to the
FAA for improving medical certifica
tion processing were summarized in
four points:
. Review of examination intervals
(e.g., one year instead of six months for
first class examinations, and five years
for third class medical certificates).
. Review of special issuance medi
cal conditions with the potential for
complete elimination of some and/
or reduced reporting requirements
for others.
. A "super AME" concept, includ
ing the delegation of additional
review and approval authority to avi
ation medical examiners (AMEs) who
are willing to assume the responsibil
ity and have demonstrated compe
tency in aeromedical disposition.
Review of the third class medi
cal certification system with consid
erations ranging from elimination of
the certificate to more relaxed medi
cal requirements.
Sabatini said EAA's recommen
dations were "right on target." The
FAA responded with a series of ac
tions intended to address the spe
cial issuance medical certification
backlog. The actions the FAA has
proposed, or are continuing to work
on behind the scenes, address all of
EAA's recommendations.
The FAA is taking these immedi
ate steps to ease the special issuance
backlog, while EAA and the FAA con
tinue to work on more sweeping,
long-term improvements:
.Farming out special issuance cases
electronically from the Civil Aero
medical Branch in Oklahoma City
to the FAA regional flight surgeons,
effectively increasing the number of
doctors available to review and ap
prove special issuance applications.
Expanding the list of approved
conditions for which medical exam
iners may renew special issuance cer
tificates under the aviation medical
examiner assisted special issuance

(AASI) process. This process allows

medical examiners to renew special
issuances directly instead of sending
them to the FAA for review.
Undertake an extensive commu
nications effort to educate medical
examiners and encourage them to
participate more fully in the AASI
process. This can dramatically ease
the renewal of special issuances. The
FAA is enlisting EAA, the EAA Aero
medical Advocates, the Civil Aviation
Medical Association, and other asso
ciations to assist in distributing infor
mation about the new AASI program
and to help encourage both doctors
and medical certificate applicants to
take advantage of the program in
stead of deferring the renewal of spe
cial issuances to the FAA.
The FAA has pledged to address
EAA's longer-term recommendations
for increased certificate duration and
explore opportunities for greater del
egation of authority from the FAA to
the aviation medical examiner (EAA's
"super AME" proposal). These pro
posals are long-term efforts because
they require additional rulemaking,
but the agency is willing to undertake
significant changes in these areas.

Annual EAA Business Meeting

July 29 at EAA AirVenture
In accordance with its bylaws, the
Experimental Aircraft Association
will hold its annual business meet
ing at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 29, at
the Theater in the Woods during EAA
AirVenture 2006, Wittman Regional
Airport, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Electing eight Class I directors
(three-year terms) will be the first
agenda item, said Alan Shackleton,
secretary of the EAA board of direc
tors. For these pOSitions, the nomi
nating committee has submitted the
following candidates : Richard W.
Beebe, Jerry Baker, Michael H. Dale,
John W. "Jack" Harrington, David C.
Lau, David R. Pasahow, Robert Reece,
Dan Schwinn, Alan R. Shackleton,
and Paul]. Spanbauer.
~

Friends of the Red Barn Campaign

Many services are provided to vintage aircraft en

thusiasts at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. From parking
airplanes to feeding people at the Tall Pines Cafe and
Red Barn, more than 400 volunteers do it all. Some
may ask, "If volunteers are providing the services,
where is the expense?"
Glad you asked. The scooters for the flightline crew
need repair and batteries, and the Red Barn needs
paint, new windowsills, updated wiring, and other
sundry repairs, plus we love to care for our volunteers
with special recognition caps and a pizza party. The
list really could go on and on, but n o matter how
many expenses we can point out, the need remains
constant. The Friends of the Red Barn fund helps pay
for the VAA expenses at EAA AirVenture, and is a cru
cial part of the Vintage Aircraft Association budget.
Please help the VAA and our 400-plus dedicated
volunteers make this an unforgettable experience for
our many EAA AirVenture guests. We've made it even
more fun to give this year, with more giving levels to
fit each person's budget, and more interesting activi
ties for donors to be a part of.
Thatlk-You Items by level

Name Usled:
\\ntage,Web&~

at Red Bam

Donor
Appreciation
Cerlilicale

Actess to
Volunteer
Center

Special FORB
Badge

Your contribution now really does make a differ

ence. There are six levels of gifts and gift recognition.
Thank you for whatever you can do.
Here are some of the many activities the Friends of
the Red Barn fund underwrites:
Red Barn Information Desk Supplies

Participant Plaques and Supplies

Toni's Red Carpet Express Repairs and Radios
Caps for VAA Volunteers
Pizza Party for VAA Volunteers
Flightline Parking Scooters and Supplies
Breakfast for Past Grand Champions
Volunteer Booth Administrative Supplies
Membership Booth Administrative Supplies
Signs Throughout the Vintage Area
Red Barn and Other Buildings' Maintenance
.And More!

Two Passes to
VAA Volunteer
Party

Special FORB
Cap

Breakfast at Tall
Pines Cafe

Tri-Motor Ride
Certificate

Two Tickets to
VAA Picnic

Close Auto
Parking

Diamond, $1,000

2P,opItfF,.1I\

2Tickets

Full Week

Platinum, $750

2PeopIeIfIlIII\

2Tlckets

2Days

Gold, $500

1Ponoo/F,.II\

1Ticket

Siver, S2SO

Bronze, $100

loyal Supporter, $99

&Under

~-

VAA Friends of the Red Barn

Name_______________________________________________________EAA#_ __ _ VAA#_ _ __

Address___________________________________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip____________ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Phone_________________________________________E-Mail_ ___________________________________

Please choose your level of participation:

_ _ Diamond Level Gift - $1,000.00

__ Silver Level Gift - $250.00

___ Platinum Level Gift - $750.00

__ Bronze Level Gift - $100.00

___ Gold Level Gift - $500.00

__ Loyal Supporter Gift - ($99.00 or under) Your Support $ _ _

o Payment Enclosed (Make checks payable to Vintage Aircraft Assoc.)

o Please Charge my credit card (below)
Mail your contribution to:
Credit Card Number _____________ Expiration Date ___ _
Signature____________ _____ _

EAA, VINTAGE AIReRAn ASSOC.

PO Box 3086
OSHKOSH, WI 549033086

*00 you or your spouse work for a matching gift company? If so, this gift may qualify for L -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _- - '
a matching donation . Please ask your Human Resources department for th e appropriate form .

NameofCompany ~--~----~~~~~--~~--~~~~~--~~~~~~~

The Vintage A ircraft A ssociatioll is a non-profit edllcatiolwl organization uruler IRS SO Ic3 rilles. Under Federal Law, the dedll clioll fro m Federal Incom e tax fo r
charitable corltriblltiolls is limited to the amount by which any m oney (and the value o( any property other tlwn m oney) contribllted exceeds the value o( the goods or
services provided in exchange for the contribution. A n appropriate receipt ackl10wiedgillg YOll r gift will be sent to you (or IRS gift reporting reasons.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Bucker Lite

Lightened Bucker biplanes were used to

set Czech national records
BY PAT QUINN

n the Cold War days of the

1960s, Czechoslovakia was a
firm Communist member of the
Eastern Bloc and civilian flying
as we know it didn't exist. Virtually
all private aviation was via the aero
clubs throughout the country and
was administered by the military.
The aero clubs were equipped with
the indigenous version of the Bucker
Jungmann, the Aero C-104, powered
by a 10S-hp Walter Minor engine.
Because the Czech military consid
ered the small biplane obsolete, it be
gan preparing to dispose of the type.
To do so, it simply chopped the air
craft into pieces. For an 18-month
period, however, the SVAZARM (As
sociation for Cooperation with the
Army) gave permission to the coun
try's aero clubs and the Central Avi
ation School to modify the Aero
C-104 to attempt to set national and
international records . The Central
Aviation School and two aero clubs
accepted the challenge.
Although some records were set in

MAY 2006

the 1,000-kg class in the L-40 Meta

Falcon during the same time period,
many were set with Aero 104s in the
FAI (Federation Mronautique In
ternationale) C-la class of SOO ki
lograms (1,102 pounds) of gross

weight! To qua lify for the SOO-kg

class, three Aero 104 biplanes were
stripped of all unnecessary weight,
including the front cockpit instru
ment panel, seat controls, and wind
shield. All three then had the front

With its lightly clothed pilot, Karel Balasek, on board, OK-AXF weighed less
than 1,102 pounds (500 kg) when it set a SOO-kilometer (310_7-mile) speed
record of 93.21 mph on October 19, 1961.

cockpits faired over. The standard

empty weight of an Aero C-104 was
859 pounds, and the three clubs were
able to somewhat reduce this weight.
The entry from the Central Avia
tion School at Vrchabi, OK-AXF, was
equipped with an enclosed rear cock
pit. Aeroklub Jihlava submitted a
lightened entry, OK-AXG. Aeroklub
Kladno equipped its mount with a
140-hp M332 engine. This engine is
now marketed as the LOM M332.
On June 17, 1960, Helena Rum
lerova flew the stripped and tuned
OK-AXG to a C-1a world record al
titude for women of 18,553 feet.
When the luncheon to celebrate
her record achievement was fin
ished that day, Rumlerova returned
to the airport and was shocked to
find the SVAZARM had already de
stroyed OK-AXG.
Fifteen months later, the M332
powered OK-AQR started setting
national records over a four-day in
terval. September 11, 1961, was the
busiest day of all. Eva Leignerova
flew into the record books at 129.6
mph over 3-kilometer and 15
kilometer courses, thereby set
ting national records for women.
Leignerova followed that up with a
record of 129.1 mph over a 100-kilo
meter closed course. Karel Jares also
set national records for men on the
same day in OK-AQR on the 3-kilo-

Helena Rumlerova received a bouquet

of flowers after setting a world altitude
record. While she was at a celebratory
luncheon, her mount for the record,
OK-AXG, was chopped up and de
stroyed by government officials.

meter and IS-kilometer courses with

identical speeds of 129.6.mph. Jares
then flew OK-AQR to a new national
C-1a altitude record of 23,589 feet on
September IS, 1961.

On October 19, 1961, pilot Karel

Balasek, who weighed less than 130
pounds, was attempting to break the
national C-1a speed record over a
500-km course in OK-AXE His crew
rolled the aircraft onto the certified
scales, and then removed everything
possible from the airplane, but it was
still just a little bit over the 1,102
pound (500-kg) maximum weight.
Balasek then removed his clothes,
including his shoes, until he was
wearing only his shorts, undershirt,
and socks. Finally, 7 ounces under
the 500-kilogram requirement, Bal
asek set a new record of 93.21 mph
over the 31O.7-mile course with the
stock-powered Aero C-104, but in
the la te fall air, he nearly froze to
death doing so!
In the end, the government de
stroyed the other two aircraft, but
these were impressive records set in
lightweight biplanes.
Footnote: Joe Krybus, a Czech ex
patriate, is the foremost expert on
Bucker aircraft in the United States
and, perhaps, in the world. He op
erates a shop at the Santa Paula
Airport in California, where he re
stores, supports, and builds Bucker
aircraft. This story represents many
years of Joe's research, and I write
it with a great deal of gratitude to
him for the information.

Balasek set a new

record of 93.21 mph

over the 310.7

mile course with

the stock-powered

Aero C-104, but in

the late fall air, he

Editor's Note: Pat Quinn owns and
pilots a Lycoming 0-360-powered
nearly froze to death
Spanish-built Jungmann , which he
hangars at the historic Santa Paula
doing so!

Airport in California.
....

Records were also set in the L-40 Meta Falcon during the same time period.
VINTAGE A I RPLANE

tique
Instruments
Some clever solutions to measuring flight
BY

H.G.

FRAUTSCHY

i nce man bement makers began

gan flying, he's
filling requests from airwanted a way to
craft manufacturers and
quantify the experience
pilots who needed to
of flight.
know more.
Was the airplane turnAs aviation matured
ing a lot, or just a little?
as an industry, new
And what direction was
companies started to fill
it headed? The hiker and
the needs of the aircraft
the mariner had a solumanufacturers. Founded
tion, which was quickly
in 1917, Rieker Instru
adapted by aviators.
ment Company (now
A magnetic compass,
known as Rieker, Incor
pivoted on a jeweled
LEEANNABRAMS
porated), Philadelphia,
pin, wit h the m ovem ent Th;;RiieiUeriLii4iiiViaitiOii1i1cliilOinet;r,iiijiiiiidWCfumiiYiiieSisaHmrue;-' Pe n nsyIva n i a, has be e n
dampened by a slightly company for decades.
busy filling orders for its
viscous fluid, did the
spirit-filled glass levels
trick pretty neatly. There was quite
and inclinometers for 89 years. Af
a bit more, however, to measure.
ter its founding during WWI, aviWas the airplane in a skid or a
ation products soon became one
slip? The aviator could feel the efRieI~er,
of its primary product lines, and
fect in the seat of his pants or the
Rieker quickly became known for
slipstream on his cheek, but with
its high quality and innovation. In
the propeller blasting the air back
~eS t
fact, it remains in business to this
in a whirling horizontal tornado,
day, supplying not only aviators,
the effect wasn't always felt if the
sI~id but also the commercial and indus
slip or skid was minimal. A tuft of
trial trade with spirit levels and inclinometers for use on fire engines,
yarn, tied to a cross brace or strut outside of the prop's slipstream,
0
lift trucks, and any other vehicles
that may encounter a grade, along
worked a bit better.
If the pilot wanted to know how
with electronic digital inclinome
much the nose of the airplane
ters. It has maintained its presence
pitched up or down, a glance out
in aviation and, in fact, is open to
at the bottom of the wing would
making just about any aircraft in
tell him what he needed to know.
strument it has made over the past
When airplanes were more frail
89 years. If it still has the mold, it
and were flown only in the best
will make it.
of weather conditions, these envi
Rieker still makes the familiar
ronmental observations were more
slip/skid indicator many of us see
than adequate, but as aviation be
on the instrument panels of many
came more sophisticated, instruvintage airplanes, either as a stand-

Inc _

-II

Stl l11.a
fal11.iliar slip/

he

d-

In Icator l11.any

us See on

the instrul11.en t

panels of l11.any

vintage airplanes_

MAY 2006

alone instrument or as
now you know-one
the "ball" portion of a
end houses the expan
turn -and-bank gyro in
sion chamber.
strument. Its PMA'd
Each tube is then set
1040 manual inclinom
in potting compound
eter (we know it as a
within a cast and ma
slip/skid indicator) is
chined aluminum
still in production and
housing that has been
used on new manufac
painted. Then the letter
tured aircraft.
ing cast in them is filled
I asked the folks from
with a "wipe 'n' white"
Rieker to send us a few
paint. For some appli
samples so we could see
cations, a pair of lubber
LEEANN ABRAMS
what goes on inside, and
lines may be included to
The larger Rieker 1030, which has the same 10-degree graduations
indicate when the incli
not surprisingly, I could
as the smaller 1040. The handblown glass tube with a steel ball is
see a few things hidden
nometer is centered. Typ
the heart of the alcohol-filled aviation slip/skid indicator.
ically, that's done on the
from view that are key to
the success of the
units intended for
indicator. For the
use in a turn-and
normal slip/skid
bank indicator or
indicator, glass is
an aviation slip/
blown in a mold
skid indicator.
Rieker has in
to produce a con
dicated it will re
Sistently shaped
curved tube. The
build the glass
size is critical,
portion of any
since a steel ball
indicator manu
will be dropped
factured by it.
You can contact
into the tube be
fore it is filled
the company at
with clear fluid
www.riekerinc.com
(normally alco More commonly used in antique aircraft before the widespread use of gyroscopic in
or by calling 800
hol). The top is struments, spirit levels with a bubble were used to indicate the inclination of the air 497-4523.
then sealed by a plane in roll. A similar unit was installed in the Ryan NYP The Spirit of Sf. Louis.
During the
glass blower, with
1920s, aviation
a small amount of air left in the
instrumentation became far more
very top of the tube's small umbil
sophisticated with the introduc
ical. The airspace serves as an ex
tion of the gyroscopiC instruments
pansion chamber, and as a clever
built by Sperry. Still, the spirit
way to keep the instrument's vis
level was well regarded, particu
ible portion free of any air bub
larly for flight in visual flight rules
conditions. Often installed in con
bles, which can negatively affect
the ball's movement in the tube.
junction with Sperry's gyros, the
Tubes that have a more pro
nounced curve may not have the
umbilical, as the expansion cham
ber bubble can be maintained in
At the time of Lindbergh's construction of
the tops of the upturned tubes.
the Spirit, he chose the lightweight Rieker
For others that have no steel ball
P1917 Degree Inclinometer to give him
included in them, the small bub
climb and descent angle infonnation. This
ble used in the "upside down"
replica instrument panel of The Spirit of
level is all the expansion bub
St. Louis was displayed during the 75th
ble the unit needs. If you've ever
anniversary exposition of artifacts related
wondered why most slip/skid in
to Lindbergh's historic 1927 flight. Apair
of Rieker inclinometers were mounted In
dicators have those funny little
upturned bumps on each end,
the lower center of the panel.
VINTAGE A I RPLANE

A copy of the tube used in the vertical pitch indicator shown on the Spirit's panel.

When the nose pitches down, the fluid in the tube facing the pilot descends, and is read on a graduated scale mounted with the

tube on the instrument's case. The opposite is true for the aircraft in a climb. The kink in the lower tube serves as a fluid move

ment damper, while the disc-shaped part of the tube is a fluid reservoir.

Rieker units were relied upon for

both pitch and roll information,
albeit with some inherent limita
tions. One of the most famous in
stallations seen in the 1920s was
the use of a pair of Rieker glass tube
instruments on the panel of the
Ryan NYP The Spirit of st. Louis.
As a young boy I understood the
operation of the curved, inverted
spirit level at the top of aT-shaped
pair of tubes mounted dead cen
ter in the Spirit's panel. After all,
it was just like the level my dad
had used so often when we were
building things in the basement,
but the vertical tube was a bit of a
mystery to me, and I never gave it
much thought, until I was looking
at the marvelous cockpit photos of
the Spirit for the book At the Con
trols: The Smithsonian National Air
and Space Museum Book of Cockpits,
edited by Thomas M. Alison and
Dana Bell. There, glowing back
at me in luminous yellow-green,
were those tubes I recalled seeing
in drawings.
Ned Denigan, president of Rieker,
was happy to explain them to me,
and he kindly sent me a sample
of one of the instrument's tubes.
Again, it's what you don't see that's
the most interesting. Take a look
8

MAY 2006

at the photos as you read along. So

simple, but very clever.
For the Rieker P-1917 Degrees
Inclinometer used in the Spirit of
St. Louis and many other aircraft of
that period, a triangle of tubes is
formed by the glass blower, with a
disc-shaped reservoir chamber on
one leg, and a small kink formed
a bit further down the same tube.
Both the kinked restriction and the
reservoir chamber are on the lower
leg of the triangle. The tube is filled
about halfway with dyed alcohol.
At first, I thought the liquid might
be antifreeze, since it resembles a
certain brand-name product, but
I was assured it has always been
plain old alcohol with a bit of yel
low/green dye added to it.
The tube is then mounted in a
case that has a series of "catcher's
mask" wire guards across the face,
to protect the tube from being ac
cidentally broken. So the indicators
can read correctly, the instrument
panel must be installed with its face
vertical when the aircraft is in level
flight, as well as level from wingtip
to wingtip.
As the nose of the airplane dips
in flight, the fluid level in the tube
facing the pilot will go down, indi
cating a dive, and the opposite is

true as the airplane's nose is pulled

up in a climb. The small restriction
in the lower tube acts as a damper,
allowing the alcohol to pass by
without causing the fluid to exces
sively jump up and down in the
visible portion of the tube. With
it, Charles Lindbergh and other pi
lots who were challenged by their
aircraft's configuration were able
to accurate ly determine climb or
dive angles and the aircraft's rela
tive trim.
Considering its limitations, the
spirit level-based degree inclinom
eter worked particularly well. The
fluid is still subject to acceleration
errors, so in low-visibility flight
conditions the spirit levels cannot
be relied upon to give accurate indi
cations concerning the actual bank
or pitch angle of the airplane. It
would require the additional work
of Sperry and other gyroscopic in
strument makers to make true
instrument flight practical, but in
terestingly, the small, simple fluid
filled steel ball slip/skid indicator
is still found on just about every
aircraft instrument panel, from the
lightest lightplane to the largest air
liners. It works, with a minimum of
fuss. What more could you ask of
an instrument?
......

The Shuttleworth Collection

BY

B.G. FRA UTS C HY

PHOTOS BY D AVID MACR EADY

A number of years ago, VAA member David

Macready, of Rugby, Warwick, Great Britain,
was kind enough to send us a three-ring binder
chock-full of slides taken at various vintage
aviation events in the United Kingdom. David's
photographs are great, and what made them
doubly useful was his careful attention to detail

A lineup of antique and antique

replica aircraft on the line at the
Shuttleworth Collection aerodrome.
From left to right, the Bristol
Boxkite replica, 1912 Blackburn D
Monoplane, 1910 Deperdussin, and
Avro Triplane replica.

in labeling each slide with the aircraft name,

registration markings, and the event at which
the photograph was shot. We'll present the vin
tage aircraft shot by David in a few more issues
of Vintage Airplane. Let's get started with his
shots taken at the Shuttleworth Collection in
Old Warden Park, North Biggleswade.

The Shuttleworth Colledion

A remarkable setting for some of the rarest airplanes still flying, the Shuttleworth
Collection is located in the English countryside, with a grass runway and eight han
gars. It is open all year, with special flying display days held throughout the flying
season. For more information, visit its website at www.shuttleworth.org.
The Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden Park, Nr. Biggleswade, Bedford
shire SG18 9EA.
Visitor Centre phone: (01767) 627288. E-mail : collection@shuttleworth.org.
VINTAGE A I RPLANE

The Percival Mew Gull G-AEXF was badly dam

aged after an engine failure, but was expertly
restored by Hawker Restorations. Shown here
at the Shuttleworth Military Pageant in August
2001, this is the same airplane flown by Alex
Henshaw in his historic flight from London to
Cape Town, South Africa, in February 1939. It
is owned by Desmond Penrose of The Real Aero
plane Co. of Breighton.

Another of the original airplanes on display at the Shuttleworth Collection is this Bleriot XI monoplane. This Bleriot was
used at the Bleriot School at Hendon in 1910, and is the 14th model XI built. Crashed in 1912, it was stored for a time un
der a railway bridge. Rebuilt by A.E. Grimmers, it was bought in 1935 by Richard Shuttleworth, his first historic aeroplane
purchase. Still in flying condition, it is restricted to straight hops down the grass runway at Old Warden. The engine is the
original three-cylinder, 24-hp Anzani.
10

MAY 2006

The oldest flying aircraft in the United Kingdom,

this is an original 1912 Blackburn Type D Mono
plane, powered by a 50-hp Gnome rotary engine.
First constructed by Robert Blackburn's com
pany in 1912 after an order was received from
Cyril Foggin, it was used by Foggin to deliver the
Yorkshire Post newspaper from Leeds to York in
July 1913. Crashed and abandoned in 1914 by a
subsequent owner, the late Richard Shuttleworth
discovered the aircraft buried under a haystack.
After buying the haystack to obtain the aero
plane, he took it back to his airfield at Old War
den and began restoration. His untimely death
delayed the restoration's completion until 1949,
when it was finished by L.A. Jackson. It was first
flown by Group Captain A.H. Wheeler on Sep
tember 17, 1949, and it remains airworthy. It is
flown when the air is calm in the early evening.
In 1963, Daryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox approved the production of a movie set in 1910, which centered
around a mythical air race between London and Paris. Re leased in 1965, Those Magnificent Men in Th eir Flying
Machines became a classic for its broad comedy and exce llent use of rep lica aircraft for the flying scenes. The
movie was rece ntly released on DVD. Air Commodore A.H. Whee ler was tasked w ith coordinating the creation of
nine replica aircraft, five of which had to be flown. Within six months, he had seen to the construction of the
aeroplanes, of which three of each example had to be built. Here are two of the replicas that were constructed for
the film and subsequently purchased by the Shuttleworth Trust.

The first is the Bristol Boxkite replica, flown

in the movie as an "American airplane."
The replica was built by Miles Aircraft, with
George Miles himseH serving as its test pilot.
The constructors of the replica had planned
on using a Rolls-Royce (Continental) A-65
engine, but it ran too hot while being run
as a pusher at high speeds, so the decision
was made to re-engine the aircraft with the
C-OO. Even still, the main fuel jets had to
be reamed out to make the engine run a bit
richer, to aid in cooling! It is shown here in
preparation for flight during the Sunset Dis
play 3 at Old Warden in July 1999.

One of the most flightworthy of the replicas made

for the film was the Avro IV Triplane. Powered by
the 105hp Cirrus Hermes, the triplane was flown
by the movie's villain, Sir Percy Ware-Armitage.
Built by the Hampshire Aero Club, the replica was
known for its strength and pleasant flying charac
teristics, at least as far as a 1910 aeroplane was
concerned! These shots were also taken during the
Shuttleworth Collection's Sunset Display and its
pageant at Old Warden Aerodrome.
VIN TA GE AIR PLA N E

11

Standard Issue

Dan Wood and his

Takes-a-Lickin'-and-Keeps-on-Tickin' C-170
BY BUDD DAYlSSON

an Wood has an un
usual perspective on
airplanes and why
some of them last as
long as they do.
"The best thing to happen to my
airplane, II he says, "was the tornado
that totaled it in '85. It was appar
ently pushed into a hangar and the
usual stuff was crumpled. I couldn't
track it all down , but I knew for
sure it crunched the fin, a wing,

D
12

MAY 2006

and a strut, but there had to be lots

of stuff I didn't know about."
Even the most casual listener
would have to question this being
a good thing.
"If the airplane hadn 't been so
severely damaged, it wouldn't have
been totaled and sold by the insur
ance company. The current owner
would have simply repaired it and
kept it. It also wouldn't have been
completely rebuilt, which took it

out of circulation for a time. If it

hadn't been completely rebuilt,
it would have been just another
rag-wing 170, and there was a
time back then that straight 170s
weren't worth much. Many wound
up sinking into the ground on the
back tie-down line . By the time
this airplane re-emerged, that time
was past. I think the tornado saved
this airplane. II
Ip a twisted sort of way, there's

or

Customized

some logic to his argument. The

original 1948 170 was so quickly
and completely eclipsed by the
all-metal 170A and its handsome
tapered wings that the old 170
immediately began to look a lit
tle dowdy. Not to mention, from
a distance, it looked for all the
world like a 140. Today, a good
percentage of those in sport avi
ation don't even know that the
ancestor of the now-famous C
172 had rag wings. However, you
don't have to look far past Dan's
airplane to know it's one of the
best of a relatively rare breed.
Dan came by aviation naturally:
his first ride was in a Brantly he

licopter by the Brantly test pilot,

his uncle Elton Barnum. Plus, his
father had flown Taylorcrafts dur
ing World War II, doing his part
for liberty while flying CAP pa
trols. Wood-the-elder saw the
spark of interest in his son, and
even though he'd been out of avia
tion for years, the two of them de
cided it would be a good thing for
them to do together (Dan's father,
W. Robert Wood, passed away Au
gust 21, 2005).
"Dad always wanted me to get
my A&P, and I did after getting
my BS in aircraft engineering from
Western Michigan University. I
worked in the aerospace industry

for a while and am now a supplier

quality team leader at General Mo
tors in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
"We decided that rather than
renting for me to learn to fly," Dan
says, "we'd buy a 150. He got cur
rent while I was working on my li
cense. We were having such a good
time that shortly after I got my
ticket, my wife [Debbie] decided she
wanted to fly with us, so we bought
a 172. Even though she was preg
nant, she decided she wanted to
learn to fly and started taking les
sons. When someone is pregnant,
however, there comes a time when,
for increasingly obvious reasons,
you can't land an airplane.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

13

MIKE STEINEKE

J:

(!)

Intended to be the
four-place airplane
any Cessna 120/140
pilot could handle,
from a distance the
first version of the
Cessna 170 could
easily be mistaken for
its smaller brethren.

t)~
3
.;';
~
',
Dan Wood (above) did all of the
metalwork with his son, Nick.
As is always the case with avia
tion, the birds of a feather thing
kicks in, and you begin making
friends you would never have found
if it hadn't been for airplanes. In so
doing, you often find yourself dis
covering new facets of aviation.
"I hung out with some friends
that were into vintage airplanes.
Nothing really exotic. Just the usual
tail dragger stuff, and that's what
got me hooked on older airplanes.
They just feel right. The 172 was a
great airplane, but I seemed to like
the older airplanes better. So, my
wife and I bought a 7AC Champ.
"I started going to dawn patrols
in Michigan with my dad in the
early '70s. We must have gone at
least 10 times every summer, and
that helped fuel my interest in vin
tage airplanes, too. It became pretty
obvious that many of the older air
14

MAY 2006

planes could be just

as reliable and pro
vide exactly the same
utility as newer ones,
and I found that re
ally attractive."
The 172 had set
the s tan dar d for
the Wood family in
.
terms 0 f uti1Ity, so It
was a foregone conclusion that the
Champ wouldn't last long. ''It was
fun, but the Champ was just too
small and too slow. My son, Nick,
and I started flying and camping
earlier in the 172, and after one
camping trip in the Champ, it was
obvious that more room and speed
was needed.
"We began looking for a four
place, all-aluminum airplane, and
when you're looking at older air
planes, there are really just a cou
ple choices that fit that description,
the 170 and 180 being the first two.
One-eighties were out of our bud
get, but we thought by doing some
creative searching we could find
a 170 of some kind. At the time, I
wasn't looking for a straight 170,
but was looking at 170s in general.
"I didn't want a project, but some
part of me was attracted to finding
an airplane that I could do a lit
tle work on and make it our own.

I found a straight 170 in Georgia

that was flying reasonably priced. It
was pretty rough and needed lots of
TLC. Lots of it.
"I liked the fact that the airplane
had never been painted. Plus the
skin was good enough to polish,
which I also found enticing. The
airplane did have some damage his
tory, but it was a little hard to figure
out exactly what had happened to
it from looking at the logs. I was ly
ing in my tent relaxing at Oshkosh
this year when I heard a gentleman
getting more excited the closer he
got to my airplane. He turned out
to be the pilot who had owned the
airplane in 1985 when the tornado
totaled it. John Startz owned this
airplane in Houston, Texas, and he
was sure that the insurance com
pany had scrapped it. He was so ex
cited to see her still flying, and we
became instant friends.
"It was really fun to watch him
walk around and look at the airplane.
The last time he'd seen it, it was in a
pile against a hangar. He told me the
whole story. That's one of the things
that makes owning an airplane like
this so much fun. Every vintage air
plane has had a long string of own
ers, and you never know when you'll
run into one of them."
When a machine has lived for

More outstanding
metalwork by Dan
and Nick Wood is
evident in this shot
of their engine com
partment.

Russell handed

him an envelope.

In it was his

last rent check

all torn up.

He said, "It is

your hangar
for as long as
I am alive."
While not intending to create a perfect
stock Cessna 170, the Woods' airplane
maintains the feel of the airplane as it
was in the late 1940s.

16 MAY 2006

well more than half a century, it

is bound to have had its fair share
of incidents, but you'd think get
ting scrambled by a tornado would
be enough for an airplane. But fate
wasn't finished with the Wood fam
ily C-170.
"In 2000 a friend was flying
it when the engine quit cold. It
turned out there was a slug of wa
ter in the fuel. He got it down okay,
but it went up on its nose. Thank
fully, it didn't hit a hangar, or we
would have been right back where
this particular airplane started. It
did, however, get the cowling,
the prop, the landing gear, and a
few other items. So, even though
I wasn't looking for a project air
plane, right at that moment, that's

A modern set of ra
dios is installed in the
lower left corner of

the instrument panel,
which otherwise looks
stock, complete with
a new reproduction of
the plastic panel with
a "graph paper" style
insert in the lower
center.

exactly what we had.

"One of my aviation buddies
that got me interested in vintage
taildraggers is Jay Cavender. Jay is
an IA and operates Classic Flight
Inc . in Brooklyn, Michigan. We
took the wings off and got it ready
to rebuild it. We decided this would
be the obvious time to do some of
those things we'd been wanting to
do all along."
The wings and engine were left
in Jay's care, and the fuselage
went home to Tennes
see. When the Wood
family first moved
to Tennessee and
started looking for
a hangar, they met
a person who would
become a good friend
and inspiration. Russell
Puckett owned an airport
in Eagleville, Tennessee, and he had
a hangar across the road for $30 per
month. It became normal to stop and
talk to Russell and his wife, Nora, al
most every time Dan went flying.
Russell was a civilian instructor
at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, during the
war flying PT-19s. After the war, he
became a Piper dealer buying new
J-3s for $600 each. At one time he
had six new J-3s with the wings off in
that hangar. Dan and Russell became
lifelong friends, and one time Dan
stopped by and Russell handed him
an envelope. In it was his last rent
check all torn up. He said, "It is your
hangar for as long as I am alive."
"The hangar was getting really
bad, and when the airplane was
finished, I think it broke his heart

The rounded tail sur

faces are another
distinctive charac
teristic of the 170.

when I told
him that I
wasn't put
ting it back
in there. I
continued stop
ping by and talk
ing airplanes until
he passed away last
year at 96 years young.
I still see him sometimes
at 6,500 AGL.
"When we started
work, the goal

Bob had redone his panel and

steered Dan to Joy Warren with
the Cessna 120/140 Association
who makes the reproduction
plastic panels that dominate
the lower part of most vin
tage Cessna panels.
"We refinished every
thing on the panel in
the interior in
original
colors
and

A pair of A-framed wing struts and fab

ric-covered wings are your first clue this
is the Cessna 170, not the single-strut, all
metal taper wing Cessna 170A that was
to follow.

wasn't to have a completely origi

nal airplane. At its core, we wanted
a completely usable airplane that
was as original as we could make
it without compromising its util
ity. For instance, when doing the
panel, on the one hand I took the
LORAN out of the glove box and
kept looking until I found an origi
nal door for the box. On the other, I
stayed with the Terra avionics stack
in the panel."
Dan met another friend-to-be,
Bob Runkle, at a fly-in, where Bob
had his beautiful 1948 Cessna 140.

used one of Joy's reproduction

plastic panels to replace the orig
inal one that was getting pretty
funky looking. Then, I polished the
switch keys. Unnecessary, but very
cool looking.
"We completely zero timed the
engine, including replacing the
crank with what was essentially a
new one. The original crank cracked
when the airplane went up on its
nose during the accident."
When working on the airplane,
Dan corrected something that had
never made any sense to him, and
V I NTAGE AIRPLANE

17

since the root cause of the

incident was water in the
fuel, some corrections had
to be made.
"The original rag wing 170s
have two 12-gallon, Cessna
140 tanks in the right wing,
but only one on the left. This
airplane had been modified
and had a fourth tank in the
left wing. However, only two
fuel drains were installed.
So, water can get trapped in
the outboard tanks, and you
have no way of draining it
out. We decided to add addi
tional fuel drains to the out
board tanks to get the fuel
out. Then we added Monarch
fuel caps to keep the water
out in the first place. Field
approvals were received for
both modifications.
"When the gear was bent
back, it really did a number
on the forward lower fuse
lage, so we had to do some
surgery in that area. My son,
Nick, and I did all the met
alwork ourselves, with Nick
doing the bucking bar du
ties, something of which he is
very proud.
"The rest of the airplane
was actually fairly clean in
side, considering its age, but
naturally some stuff was
worn. We installed new seat
tracks and did some detail
work, like painting the en
tire interior so it matched the
Silver French Gray that was
found on the rear ashtrays.
"The cowl was pretty beat
up in the accident, but rather
than replace it, we rolled
most of the wrinkles out. At
the same time I removed the
antenna, which for some rea
son they had mounted right
in the top, center of the cowl
ing and replaced the sheet
metal. Very weird.
"We replaced all of the win
dows in the airplane and went
back to the original two-piece
windshield. For whatever rea
18

MAY 2006

son, I just think it looks better

on that airplane."
Regardless of what kind of
airplane we're talking about,
if it has the original alumi
num wheel pants and they are
polished, everyone who sees
the machine gives it a mental
thumbs-up, and that is definitely
the case with the Wood 170.
"The wheelpants were
bought a couple of years
ago, and they were painted.
I stripped the paint and re
moved all the filler and
found they didn't seem to
be that bad underneath, so I
took them to one of the met
alworking shops at Oshkosh
2004. There I spent some
time with Shawn Miller of
Miller Custom Metalcrafting
who runs one of the forums,
and he showed me how to
work the metal with a dolly
and slapper. I learned a lot
from him in a very short
time, and after a couple of
weeks working on them in
my basement, I had a re
spectable pair of wheelpants.
It was amazing to watch the
surfaces start to come back
up level. (Editor'S Note: In
the VAA Metal Shaping tent
located just south of the VAA
Red Barn, Shawn Miller will
be demonstrating metalwork
again during EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh 2006.)
"My great-great-granddad
was a blacksmith, so I guess I
have it in my blood."
Dan may have the blood of
a blacksmith flowing through
his veins, but you're going to
be hard-pressed to find any
one viewing his gem-like air
plane who has "blacksmith"
tucked away in the back of
the mind as a way of describ
ing the airplane. Actually, the
word "jeweler" comes to mind.
Or maybe "silversmith." Not
bad for an airplane that has
been brought back from the
dead twice.
........

Jack Russell
Rescues a
170 and Makes It
His Own
BY

H.G. FRAUTSCHY

hen you look through the

restoration photo album
compiled by Jack Russell,
you quickly realize that
most amateur-built airplane
kits have more components riveted together
than his Cessna 170 did when it was disas
sembled during restoration! There are times
in every restorer's life when the project feels
more like an exercise in frustration. Most bat
tle through those days, and for Jack and his
fiance, Cindy Johnson, the end result of hang
ing in there is this agreeably restrained custom
Cessna 170.
Many years ago, Jack learned to fly in a
Cessna 140. For much of the time since then,
he's wanted to own a Cessna 170. Before fly
ing became his life's career, he graduated from
East Coast Aero Tech in Boston. His early years
were spent working as an airline mechaniC,
first for American Airlines and later for East
ern. While bending wrenches for Eastern at
its Boston base, Jack heard the word that the
airline was looking for pilots, so he restored

an Aeronca Chief to use

for his commercial rating.
Nice airplane, but he re
alized he'd have trouble
meeting the requirements,
since the Chief lacked a
radio. On to plan B, in
this case a Cessna 140 he
bought and flew to obtain
his commercial. All of that
effort took about eight
years, and when Jack ap
plied for one of the pilot
slots, he was told he was
too old, at the completely
washed up age of 28!
Chagrined,Jack returned
to Boston and heard that
Gillette was looking for a
copilot/mechanic for its
corporate flight depart
ment. Out of 100 appli
cants, Jack was one of only
three who could meet its

requirements of five years

of maintenance experience
and 500 hours of multien
gine time. He was pleased
to find he'd been chosen
out of the three, and went
on to fly the Gulfstream
G-I and the newly acquired
Gulfstream G-II, serial no.
3. After being upgraded
to first officer on the G-II,
he retired his wrenches.
He has spent an aviation
lifetime flying Gulfstream
business aircraft for 37
years . He worked for Gil
lette for 12 years, and then
found himself working dur
ing the next decade for the
royal family of the United
Arab Emirates, flying a G
III all over the world. He
came back to the United
States in 1989, doing conVINTAGE AIRPLANE

19

tract flying for a number of operators, most re

cently for an Australian businessman and his
wife. The couple has homes on multiple con
tinents, and Jack's last type rating before he
retired was for a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ),
which he also flew all around the globe . He
retired in 2004, and spent the first year of his
retirement in the home stretch of finishing a
project that began in 1999, when he located a
Cessna 170 to restore.
He found his 170 on the west coast of Florida,
and trailered it home to his place, Tradewinds
Aerodrome on the Space Coast of eastern Flor
20

MAY 2006

" .. . the inte..io.. of these

wings
was aa.azlng;

you could use thea. as a

a.i....o .. to shave."

ida. His grass strip airport is only

12 miles north/northwest of the
Shuttle Landing Facility runway at
the Kennedy Space Center. You can
imagine the view during a rocket
launch!
As you would expect with an air
plane found in a saltwater coastal
environment, as Jack disassembled
the airplane he found surface corro
sion. Now he had to make a choice;
should he scrap the project or dig
in and start restoring? He chose the
latter, but there were days when
he really questioned whether he'd
made the right decision.
Not surprisingly, there's one fe l
low whom Jack credits with mak
ing the project possible, his friend
Gene Day. While Jack was the
cleaning-up and refinishing fellow,
Gene did the metalwork, and Jack
says he really was the backbone of
the operation. If it were not for this
79-year-old spark plug, he doubts
the project would have been suc
cessfully completed.
Along with Gene, who's been in
aviation maintenance all his life,
Gene's wife, Bonnie, was also in
volved in the teardown and repair
of the airframe. It was her work that
showed the crew just how badly cor
roded the original wings were. The
wings nearly brought the project to
a halt. It became clear that unless a
new set of serviceable wings could
be found, the labor involved in the
other wing was just more than they
could bear. Jack had to make a de
cision; should he simply scrap the
airframe, tear it apart and start an
in-depth restoration, or check on
an alternate route?
A parts search canvassing the
United States uncovered a pair of
wings at a Cessna parts dealer in
Colorado. They were new old stock,
still covered in the original fabric,
and had never been installed on
an airplane. Sometimes it pays to
own one of the airplanes that isn't
the leader in production for a par
ticular model! Jack says, "Believe it
or not, the interior of these wings
was amazing; you could use them

The instrument panel

has a solid period
feel, with a few cus
tom additions, like
the powder-coated
piano switches at the
center panel, and
the custom-engraved
bone-colored plastic
panel. Detail at right.

Buckskin, sad
dle, and camel
were the colors
of the AirTex in
terior installed in
1959, and it still
worked well with
the new color
scheme, so Air
Tex was again
called upon to
update the inte
rior of the 170.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

21

A Grimes retractable
landing light is pow
ered by a GO-amp
alternator, the only
major change to the
accessory section of
the newly overhauled
Continental C-14S.

as a mirror to shave . We were re

luctant to prime them. They were
that good." Primed in the same way
as the fuselage, the metal-structure
wings were covered in new Dacron
polyester, and painted to match the
fuselage. All of the paints used were
Randolph products, including the
Tennessee Red base color with Las
Vegas gold trim.
Starting at the tail cone, the fuse
lage skin rivets were drilled out and
the airplane disassembled right up
to the baggage compartment. All of
the skins except one (which had a
surface patch they didn't like) were
salvageable, but each had to be
stripped of any paint, cleaned with
metal brightener, and alodined for
corrosion resistance. Then the skins
were painted with a zinc-chromate
epoxy primer.
The aft fuselage skins were a start;
from that point, every component
on the airplane was removed, disas
sembled, and evaluated for airwor
thiness. Jack was happy to find the
vast majority of parts on the Cessna
were repairable, and once cleaned
up and repainted, they were ready
to be installed on the airframe.
The six-cylinder Continental
C-14S engine, which had more
than 1,700 hours on it with one
overhaul done in that time, was
also reduced to a box of parts, and
they were sent to Engine Compo
nents Inc. (ECi) of San Antonio,
Texas, for inspection and machine
work. That included a complete
set of updated new ECi cylinder
heads installed by ECi, which
22

M AY 2006

Jack says was done for precau

tionary reasons. The crankshaft
was also replaced, when it was
deemed the original crank was
marginal when it came to passing
inspection. The engine's acces
sories also passed inspection, but
were certainly due for overhaul,
and were sent to Kelly Aerospace
in Alabama for their work and
yellow tags. The original 20-amp
generator was replaced with a 60
amp alternator, also from Kelly
Aerospace . Finally, at the nose of
the airplane, the fixed-pitch prop,
which is original to the airplane,
was sent to Space Coast Propeller
in Cocoa Beach, Florida, where it
was checked and recertified.
As the work progressed, all of the
flight instruments were checked,
and with the exception of the big,
heavy old gyros, each was over
hauled and kept. All the engine in
struments were replaced with UMA
instruments, and the panel was re
stored with correct-looking left and
right side panels, which is typically
where radios are installed in the
older Cessnas. The left side panel
now holds a Garmin 2S0XL GPS re
ceiver and a Garmin transponder;
on the right side there is the origi
nal glove box.
As you'd also expect of a restora
tion, the wiring behind the panel
needed quite a bit of help, so the
cockpit was rewired by Denton Air
craft of Titusville, Florida. Jack built
up a wooden mock-up of the panel
and the instruments, and sent that
along so the harness could be cus

tom fitted to the installation. The

new installation included circuit
breakers that replaced the origi
nal fuses in their proper locations.
There is a separate sub-panel for the
avionics, located in the left panel,
near the Garmin GPS.
You can't help yourself from be
ing drawn to the center panel of
the post-war Cessnas. The plastic
panel on Jack's is expertly machined
and laid out with neat, tidy mark
ings. Each of the push/pull controls
knobs was duplicated from the origi
nal plastic. Then they were powder
coated to match the red color of the
exterior, as were the "piano switches"
at the bottom of the panel.
Buckskin, camel, and saddle were
the colors of the new AirTex interior
which was installed in 2004, which
worked well with the red and gold
exterior chosen for the exterior. The
interior side panels were sent off to
AirTex, where new fabric match
ing the older interior was installed.
Plenty of care went into the instal
lation of the headliner and side pan
els, where a lapse of workmanship
can really show. Not so in the Rus
sell 170-ifs first class all the way.
Jack and Cindy plan to use the
170 during the entire year, enjoying
the winter in Florida at their home
on the Space Coast and their sum
mers in New Hampshire. It's pretty
clear that wherever they go, their
custom Cessna 170 will be caus
ing people to nudge their neighbor
hanging on the airport fence, and
perhaps say, "What a nice 170. I al
ways wanted one of those." ......

Richard and ~ne

Hawleyand Bailey"
Conifer, CO

Soloed a 1-3 Cub in 1962

Pilot for Southwest Airlines
for over 20 years
Former Vice President of the
International Cessna 195 Club

"If you want the very best value for your insurance dollar, AUA
simply cannot be beat. I appreciate AUA's close bond with the
vintage/classic airplane. They understand hand-propping and
grass runways and offer an excellent multi-plane discount."

- Richard Hawley

The best is afforda ble. Give AUA a ca ll - it's F

800-727-3u.....~

E.E. " BUCK" HILBERT

Dear Buck,
I've been reading your articles on
propping techniques and accidents
and enjoying them immensely.
They've stirred up some old memo
ries I'd like to share with you.
Although I never flew airliners,
as you did, our careers have some
similarities. I guess that's not so un
usual for guys of our generation.
I started as a line boy and me
chanic's helper in 1945 and then
entered the Navy upon graduation
from high school in 1946. I was as
signed to carrier duty (USS PHILIP
PINE SEA CV-47) and eventually
became a member of Air Group 20,
Squadron VBF-20. We were operat
ing Grumman F8F Bearcats at the
time; what an airplane that was!
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I worked as a line boy at Smith
Field, in Fort Wayne, Indiana; I
learned to fly, and lived in Hun
tington, a small town about 25
miles southwest of there.
I was working for AIRGO, and
one of the owner's nephews, Larry,
came to work for them shortly af
ter I did. We hadn't worked there
long when Larry began learning to
fly. He was a smart kid and picked
up things quickly; he was also a
smart ass!
One day I noticed him propping
one of our Luscombes, and it was
being a little stubborn. Larry called
for OFF and OPEN, then began
twisting the prop backward. He
called for CLOSED, BRAKES, and
CONTACT. Getting the proper re
sponse from the pilot, he pulled it
24

MAY 2006

through a couple of times without

success. Then he called for OFF.
With his left hand on top of the
right blade and his right hand un
der the left blade, he began screw
ing the engine through about four
or five compressions. BRAKES and
CONTACT, he cried, and the en
gine started. When all of this was
over, I pulled him aside and asked
him what he'd have done had the
engine started while he was twist
ing with both hands. I got a smart
reply as he turned and walked
away; so I forgot about it.
About a month or so later, I quit
AIRGO to work for Pierce Aviation,
which was next door. One day
while I was working in the shop I
heard a siren just outside our door.
On the ground lay Larry, writhing
in agony in front of a Luscombe.
Fortunately, he was not seriously
injured, but I'd bet that was the last
time he ever did the two-handed
prop twist!
I've tried to always be serious in
any matter concerning airplanes and
flying, but at age 17 one is prone to
forget occasionally; in other words,
I screwed up once in awhile!
The other FBO on the field was
Inter-City Flying Service, and its
shop was next door. It also had
a kid about my age working for
them; his name was Johnny.
One day Johnny was going to
move an Aeronca Chief to the flight
line from the shop. He yelled over
to me for a prop, and I obliged his
request. Johnny was already in the

plane when I got there. I noticed

that there were no chocks avail
able, and I reminded him of this.
I called for SWITCH OFF, THROT
TLE OPEN. Getting the proper re
sponse, I pulled the prop through
several blades, and then , THROT
TLE CLOSED, BRAKES, and CON
TACT; again the proper response. I
gave a mighty pull on the prop and
the engine started-WIDE OPEN! I
jumped back and to one side. For
tunately for me, Johnny was hold
ing the brakes.
As I jumped back I fell down. As I
pulled myself up again, I looked be
hind me; about 50 feet away stood
Jack Barrens, a CAA inspector from
South Bend, Indiana, who witnessed
the whole episode. He turned and
walked on, shaking his head.
Later I went to the restaurant for
lunch, and who should sit down
next to me but Mr. Barrens. I tried
to look invisible but wasn't suc
cessful. He looked at me, shook
his head again, and said, "Did you
learn anything today?" I avowed
that I definitely had! Johnny and
I had some words also, and about
a month later he was involved in
wrecking one of Inter-City's planes;
in the meantime Pierce went out of
business. Inter-City fired Johnny
and hired me as his replacement;
bad story, happy ending!
One Sunday morning I was pre
flighting all of our planes. We had
two Aeronca Chiefs sitting on the
line in front of the main hangar.
One of AIRGO's Luscombes was

sitting next to them. An instruc

tor and student walked out to the
Luscombe. Once the student was
situated in the cockpit, the instruc
tor went to the prop to get them
started. Again, the aircraft didn't
want to go! "OFF" and "OPEN,"
the instructor shouted. The stu
dent, a man in his late 50s or early
60s, with about three hours of dual
time , repeated the commands.
When the instructor pulled it
through, it started-also wide
open. The instructor jumped to his
left as the plane lurched forward .
Grabbing the wing strut, he began
yelling instructions to the student,
who at this pOint was paralyzed
with fear. Around and around they
went, each time getting closer and
closer to our Chief. Finally, with
smoke coming off of his shoes, the
instructor dropped to the ground,
and the plane took off across the
airport, still wide open.
The student immediately be
gan a turn and headed back for the
flightIine, this time directly at both
of our Aeroncas. Realizing this
wasn't too good he started reversal,
and this time the Luscombe's Sil
flex landing gear flexed the wrong
way and folded under the fuselage,
bringing the story to a close-one
damaged Luscombe, one horri
fied student (who never did solo),
one instructor who needed a new
pair of shoes, and two fortunate
Aeronca Chiefs!
In November 1946 our Air
Group left the carrier for our shore
station at the Charlestown Naval
Auxiliary Air Facility, about 12
miles east of Westerly, Rhode Is
land . On my first liberty, I was up
bright and early, thumbing my way
into Westerly, or farther, if I should
happen to be lucky. I went to learn
about the town and find out where
the nearest airport was. I learned it
was Stonington Airport, which was
about 3 miles out of town.
Finally arriving at the airport,
I proc eeded to introduce my
self to the operator, George Hol
zer. George had been a B-29 pilot

a year earlier and was beginning

to learn the facts about fixed base
operation. The field had been
built during or just prior to the
start of World War" and was
used as a training base, probably
CPT or WTS. It was a pretty little
grass strip with a nice hangar and
shop, classrooms, and a restaurant
on the second floor. At the time
the GI Bill was making business
pretty good. George had three or
four Cubs; two Luscombes, one of
them on floats; and a Republic Sea
Bee. There was a channel that par-

One day

during the

winter of

1946-4 7,

the girls, as we

referred to them,

came out to fly.

The weather wasn't

too great, but good

enough for local

flying, and it

was cold!

alleled the main runway. The air

port, as it would turn out, would
be my main haunt for as long as
we were shore based, and I would
spend many hours, days, and
nights enjoying this surrounding.
The hangar was large enough to
hold several aircraft, and there were
five or six privately owned planes
there. One of them was a 40-hp J
2 Cub that belonged to a couple
of lady schoolteachers; I never did

learn their names, but they were

always friendly and pleasant to
be around. They would come out
on Saturday mornings, and if the
weather forecast was good, you
might not see them again until Sun
day evening; that little J-2 saw most
of the New England landscape!
One day during the winter of
1946-47, the girls, as we referred to
them, came out to fly. The weather
wasn't too great, but good enough
for local flying, and it was cold!
They asked a man who was wear
ing one of those heavy sheepskin
lined bomber jackets that were sold
surplus from World War II if he
would mind getting them started,
and he obliged them.
After the little Continental
was running, apparently the girls
wanted to tell him something, and
he stepped back to see what they
wanted. When they finished talk
ing, he walked around the front
of the plane again and walked too
close to the idling prop. It caught
him on his left shoulder, narrowly
missing his left ear. The impact
knocked him down and shattered
the prop. The bomber jacket saved
his bacon; all he suffered was a
bruised shoulder. I don't think it
even tore the jacket, but the girls
had to buy a new prop.
I learned to fly in 1944, in a J-5
Cruiser. I've spun a lot of props in
my lifetime, and never minded do
ing it. I had a good instructor who
demanded the best from me and
also demanded that I learn and
follow proper procedures for any
thing related to airplanes; and it
has paid good dividends.
My flying career hasn't been
totally accident free; I've been
involved in a couple of ground ac
Cidents, which were both dumb and
basically my fault. But this has got
ten to be a little longer story than
I had planned, so perhaps I should
save those stories for another time;
should you be interested. Till later
then, it's "Over to you. "
Very truly yours,
Edward E. (Ed) Beatty
......
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

25

BY DOUG STEWART

What goes around, comes around

Walking out to my car I looked up at the sky. (Isn't
it so easy to pick out the pilots in a crowd? They're the
ones who always have their heads bent back, looking
up at the sky. Perhaps because of the sound of a distant
engine high above, or perhaps because of what the
wind is doing on the ground, or maybe because of the
quality of the light. But for what
ever the reason, pilots are always
looking skyward when they are
ground-bound.)
In this particular situation I
was heading to my car to make a
trip to the other side of the state
to pick up my son. I had planned
on flying, but the briefer had
said, in definite terms, "VFR not
recommended." So now I was go
ing to spend the better part of a
day in my car. Looking at the sky
I couldn't help but think: "What
was the briefer talking about?" He
had said VFR flight was not rec
ommended because of AIRMET
(airman's meteorological infor
mation) reports for moderate tur
bu lence, mountain obscuration,
and IFR conditions. But the wind wasn't blowing, and
the skies were clear.
I had run my PAVE (Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, Ex
ternal pressures) checklist and had checked off several
items. I, as pilot, had one minor item. I was current,
and healthy, but I was a bit tired after a long hard week
with close to 30 h ours already logged for the past six
days. The airplane portion caused concern. My PA-12
isn't IFR certificated, and although I've been in some
pretty rough turbulence, if I had my druthers I'd rather
not expose myoid bones to a rough ride, and my air
plane is only a few years younger than I, so if it had
a vote, it wou ld probably make the vote unanimous.
The environment, next on the list, was questionab le
if I was to believe the briefer. (More on that in a mo-

ment.) As for the external pressures, my son was com

ing home for spring break, so although a short flight
was preferable to a long car ride, it wasn't a "got to, got
to!" flight.
There were enough check marks on the PAVE check
list to indicate a no-go situation. And since I subscribe
to the philosophy that there
might be old pilots (Yikes, some
might say I fit that category), and
there might be bold pilots, but
there are no old, bold pilots, I
had decided to drive rather than
to fly.

But darn it! Looking at the sky,

it sure didn't look like the fore

cast was anywhere near accurate
today. If only there had been
some PI REPs (pilot reports) to
aid in my decision. When I had
asked the briefer if there were
any PIREPs for my route (not that
we ever question the credibility
of a briefer), he had responded
that there were none. It got me
to thinking about why, when we
most want or would like a PIREP
to confirm (or refute) a forecast, there are none. The
three-hour drive ahead of me would give me plenty
of time to think about this, especially as I climbed
up through the Berkshire Hil ls on the Mass Pike and
didn't see even t h e slightest bit of mist enshrouding
the higher peaks.
Standing at the top of my list of possibilities of why
pilots do not file PIREPs was the thought that many
pilots do not file PIREPs for the simple reason that
they either don't know how to file one, or they do not
know who to file it with. If we look in the Aeronauti
cal Information Manual (AIM) for guidance (under 7-1
21 Pilot Weather Reports), it might appear a little bit
intimidating as to all the information that should be
reported, and the form and order the report should

As for the external

pressures, my son was
coming home for
spring break, so
although a short flight
was preferable to a
long car ride, it
wasn't a "got to,
got to!" flight.

26

MAY 2006

take. I think that sometimes the reason pilots don't

file PIREPs is because they've looked in the AIM and
it makes it appear as if the process is much more dif
ficult than it really is.
And what a shame that is. For PIREPs are one of the
greatest tools we have in determining what is actually
going on with the weather. It's not telling us what some
inanimate computer model has "thought" would hap
pen. It's not telling us what some highly educated and
experienced meteorologist has contemplated might
happen. A PIREP tells us exactly what is happening,
where it is happening, and when it is happening.
Let's take a look at what 's involved with filing a
PIREP, whom we should file it with, and what should
be included in the report. It's really quite easy and sim
ple. Remember that the important thing is that we are
all helping each other by filing them.
Let's begin with whom we should file our report. At
the top of the list is EFAS, more commonly known as
Flight Watch. You can reach it on 122.0 virtually any
time you are above 5,000 feet mean sea level (MSL).
You can also file a report with any air traffic control fa
cility, be it Tower, TRACON (approach control), ARTCC
(Center), or any Flight Service Station. You could even
file a PIREP by telephone, calling flight service after
you have landed.
If we look in the AIM we see there is a long list of
things that should be reported, and the order in which
they should be reported. The important thing to re
member here is that you do not have to report all those
things, and even if you don't use the suggested order,
the person taking the report will organize it for you.
What the AIM says is this: start with the nearest VOR
or airport, then the time (either Zulu time, or minutes
ago), altitude, and aircraft type. (Another way of think
ing of this is where [three dimensionally], when, and
who.) This information is important because it gives
relevance to the report.
Next, the AIM requests cloud type, coverage, and
height, followed by visibility and any restrictions to
visibility, such as haze, smoke, or dust. Then it asks for
precipitation type and intensity, the temperature, the
wind direction and speed, followed by turbulence, and
icing, and any remarks. Or more simply said: What is
happening weatherwise.
Wow! That's daunting. One might think that all
those things have to be reported. But the fact of the
matter is that they don't. It doesn't mean you have to
try and spin your whiz wheel, trying to figure out what
the winds aloft are doing while barely being able to
hold on to the thing as you get bounced all over the
cockpit by the turbulence. It doesn't mean you have
to fly up to the bases of the clouds to be able to report
their altitude.
What is important are the four Ws: where; when;
who; and then only what you are experiencing. Re
member, the purpose of these reports is to aid other pi

lots in making their go/no-go deciSions, or formulating

an alternate plan of action. (It also is one of the best aids
the meteorologists have in assessing what the weather is
really doing.) So a simple report such as this, "Down in
the Hungabottom valley, the wind at Broken Tailspring
Field was blowing over 20 knots out of the southwest,"
might be the real deciding factor for some pilot plan
ning on heading there for that mega-dollar burger.
I can't encourage all of you in strong enough terms
to not be shy when it comes to filing a PIREP. Even if
you are of an anti-authority mentality (as I sometimes
find myself) , there is one rule we can't escape. What
goes around, comes around! If you find yourself wish
ing there had only been a PIREP to help you make your
go/no-go decision, ask yourself, when was the last time
you filed one?
If we want to get them, we are also going to have
to give them, even if it is only to say: "Cub November
One Charlie Echo (NICE), over the jewel intersection
at 2,000 feet, it's CAVU and the ride is smooooth!" If
we all started doing this more often, we'd really know
when there are blue skies and tail winds!

Doug Stewart is the 2004 National CFI of the Year, a

Master Instructor, and a designated pilot examiner. He oper
ates DSFI Inc. (www.dsflight.com) based at the Columbia
County Airport (lBi).
........

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE

27

BY BUCK HILBERT

AND

EAA 21, A/C 5

RON FRITZ

EAA 9448, A/e 337

Current Editor's Note: This issue of Vintage Airplane contains the second in a series of nine articles pertain
ing to the restoration of antique and classic airplanes. They were originally written in the mid-1980s by di
rectors of the then-named Antique/Classic Division of EAA, and are still relevant for today's vintage aircraft
enthusiasts; most of our current membership was not part of the VAA when these articles were first presented.
Our members have years of experience and a tremendous amount of talent; however, it's likely everyone will
learn something new from each article. Please let us hear from you; write to H.G. Frautschy, Editor, Vintage
Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086, or e-mail vintageaircraft@eaa.org.-HGF

Original Editor's Note: This is the

Selecting and Buying

second in a series of articles per

taining to the restoration of an
tique and classic airplanes. The
subject matter will range from se
lecting a project to test flying the
finished product.
Officers and directors of the An
tique/Classic Division have ac
cepted the responsibility for many
of the articles, but contributions
will be provided by others as well.
As the series progresses, if read
ers wish to share their ideas, tech
niques, etc., they are encouraged
to do so. Just because a subject has
been presented doesn't mean the
matter is closed. We plan to publish
supplemental information on the
various subjects, and we look for
ward to reader input.
Some of the material present
may be "old hat" to those who
have been in the vintage airplane
hobby or business for many years,
but newcomers have to start at
ground zero, and this information
could be the basis for a manual of
sorts, which could be referred to for
years to come.
Even with the years of experience
and tremendous amount of talent
of many members, it's most likely
that everyone will learn something
new from each article. Please let
us hear from you.-Gene R. Chase
(Editor, 1979-1987)

by Buck Hilbert

See it? It's the ragged-lookin' blue

one with all the patches and multi
color paint splotches! Yeah! That's
the one!
How many times have you heard
those words or similar ones when a
fellow aficionado points out an air
plane that has been sitting at the lo
cal airport for years, in an obviously
neglected condition . This could
be a perfect project for a potential
restoration. It might be a rag-wing
Luscombe, a T-craft, Champ, an
Ercoupe, Cessna 170, or whatever.
There it sits-an example of decay
ing aeronautica, just begging to be
taken into your family. If adopted
and started on the road to recovery,
it could be made useful and grand
again, to make someone happy. It
could teach one of the kids "how to
do it" and maybe learn to fly, and
to spark the" airplane disease bug"
in the old man.
First, let's look at the plane's reg
istration. It indicates the registered
owner is William G. Pilot, and he
lives right near here in Whyville
on Dollar Street. Let's go home,
look him up in the phone book,
and see if we can possibly talk him
out of it.
Mr. Pilot's wife says she's sorry,
but Mr. Pilot isn't in. She suggests
you leave your name and number,

and she will have him call when

he comes in . You oblige, and sure
enough, after you've nearly forgot
ten about acquiring this project,
you get the call. Mr. Pilot's story is
a familiar one. Either his wife ob
jected to his flying because it made
her a nervous wreck, or he lost his
medical, or he couldn't afford the
annual, or whatever, but he is will
ing to sell for a price! Lo and be
hold that price is equitable to what
you had in mind. So the next move
is up to you. Now where do you
begin? First you tell Mr. Pilot you
want to look a little more before
you jump, and he agrees to meet
you at the airplane on Tuesday.
Great! Next we line up our
friendly mechanic to inspect the
plane on Tuesday to tell us whether
we have a good deal or not. A slight
problem arises when we learn our
mechanic and his frau are off to
Cancun for a little frolic in the sun
and surf and won't be back until a
week from Saturday. Oh well, Bill
Bangup is a mechanic, and he'll
help me with this. Ouch, for 50
bucks plus expenses he will! Heck
with him, I'll look it over myself. I
can tell whether it's a good deal or
not. After all, I've been flyin' these
things for better than six years now.
What more experience do I need?
This tale could become a horror
story illustrating how a guy can re-

SECOND IN A SERIES OF NINE ARTICLES

REPRINTED FROM Vintage Airplane MARCH 1986
28

MAY 2006

ally get himself into a trap by using

the above approach. Or he co uld
approach this in a rational manner
and come out ahead on the deal.
One of the grea te st trap s the
potential restoration candidate
should be made aware of is th e
"love affair." Love is blind! Most of
us know that from firsthand expe
rience. Love can cause one to over
look faults and problems that could
be seen instantly if one wasn't in a
fog. So, if you have my problem, a
love affair for every airplane I see,
you can really get yourself into a
pickle barrel.
Your best bet is to pay Mechanic
Bangup, who at least has eno ugh
sense to try to make his business
pay. If you have a hang-up on a par
ticular airplane because it's pretty,
or you've conjured up an image in
your mind that it's the perfect air
plane for you even though you 've
never flown, ridden in, or worked
on one, maybe you'd better see
your analyst and take his advice.
You should at least investigate the
characteristics of the machine and
talk to knowledgeable people who
have had experience with one be
fore you delve any fur th er into
your pocketbook.
If you decide you can't live with
out it and you've convinced your
family and they're as enthused as
you are, and the kids think it's go
ing to be neat to have an airplane
in the garage, and everybody you
know is pushin' you into going for
it, then do it!
Before Tuesday, ask Mr. Pilot to
bring all the paperwork with him.
This should include the registra
tion and airworthiness certificates,
the engine logs, the propeller and
aircraft logs, the FAA Form 337s
showing any ma jor repair or al
terations, the weight and balance
papers, owner's and operator's
manuals, the equipment list, and
anything else he has , too. He
should have a pretty good fi le on
hand. Be sure the chain of own
ership is complete, and if pos
sible, before you strike the deal

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE

29

get somebody in the FAA Aircraft

Records Section at Oklahoma to
check the files and make sure no
liens are on the machine. This is
doubly important because you
might be well along in the resto
ration before learning a bank in
Arkansas holds a lien against the
plane. Make certain it's going to be
your airplane and nobody else's.
[AOPA has a great aircraft title ser
vice. -HGFJ
After you're sure that Mr. Pilot
isn't sellin' you a pig in a poke, look
the plane over carefully. To really
get to know an airplane takes more
than just a good preflight. Impor
tant factors are the length of time
the machine has been sitting, how
long it's been since the last annual,
Mr. Pilot's attitude and manner, and
how complete his paperwork is.
There may be an underlying motive
for his wanting to sell. Maybe there
is an airworthiness directive (AD) of
major consequence that is overdue,
like a spar mod with a time limit on
it or an engine mod that requires
splitting the case to pin the bear
ings or a major aircraft or engine
bulletin that could be costly and
time-consuming.
If obvious repairs to the struc
ture are noted, such as spar splices,
tubing welds, etc., be sure these are
covered by one of the Form 337s
that are a part of the records file. If
no record exists, you'll have to con
vince the airframe and powerplant
(A&P) mechanic with an inspection
authorization (IA) who's going to
sign off your rebuild job to assume
responsibility for someone else's re
pairs. This may be difficult to do
even if it looks good on the surface.
Have I convinced you yet that you
need a knowledgeable person to fall
back on at this point?
When you've decided that Mr.
Pilot is honest, straightforward, and
not going to swindle you, then pro
ceed with your self-inspection rou
tine to assure yourself this project is
as represented. Check again on the
AD notes. Allow yourself at least
twice as much time as would seem
30

MAY 2006

logical for the AD check. Many oth

erwise competent mechanics have
severe writer's cramp, and a typical
log entry will read, All ADs com
plied with through 75-21" (or some
such date). You might assume from
that statement that you need not
concern yourself with anything
earlier than that date. Unfortu
nately, many ADs prescribe an in
spection of a specific part or area at
hourly or calendar intervals until
1/

I USED THAT TIME

TO GET BETTER

ACQUAINTED WITH

THE MAN AND TO

FORM A FRIENDSHIP

THAT TRIGGERED A

FEELING THAT

HE WAS PASSING

HIS BELOVED

POSSESSION ON

TO SOMEONE WHO

CARES, AND

I DID!

said part is replaced or permanently

reinforced. If the compliance state
ment doesn't specifically state that
the permanent fix was performed,
you'd better count the cost of hav
ing this done as part of the pur
chase price.
Call your local General Aviation
District Office and ask someone
there to look up the ADs for you.
Better yet, take a trip out there
and get copies, in chronological
order, and then compare the list
with what is in the logbooks. Satis

fied? Then you can proceed, know

ing the ownership is free and clear,
you have all the paperwork, the
ADs are up to date as to the last an
nual, and there aren't any major
structural or engine ADs outstand
ing. [Nowadays, you can have your
local mechanic look them up on his
computer, since he most likely sub
scribes to one of the electronic records
services.-HGFJ
You haven't got the mechanic
with you, so let's assume you are
on your own. You plan to do a
complete rebuild on this thing, so
you're only interested in the down
to-earth basic pieces. At this point
you don't care about the rag and
the upholstery or the glass, side
panels, or windshield. What you re
ally want to know is if the weather
and age has been kind to the old
bird. Get yourself a note pad, screw
driver, and flashlight.
The cabin/cockpit area comes
first. Have raccoons built a home in
the fuselage? Have the mice eaten all
the insulation out of the side panels
or off the wiring? Are the control
cables all rusted out? Is the hard
ware in some semblance of recogni
tion, or is it gone? Is the instrument
panel complete or rebuildable?
What does the tach read? If it
has a primer, does it leak? Does the
engine turn over, and are the con
trols free? Are the radios over age
and beyond the point of no return?
Pull down the back partition and
look back toward the tail post. A
flashlight will be really handy here.
How does it look? Does the battery
compartment ooze corrosion? Are
the control cables intact? Make a
note on your pad for future refer
ence. Satisfied? Then look under
the cowling.
Look for birds, bird dirt, oil, seep
age, fuel stains, frayed hoses, and
wires. Check the oil. If there is fuel,
drain some. Is there any water in
the gas? Are any oil change service
stickers to be found? How do their
numbers compare with the logbook
and tachometer hour readings?
Can you see the engine mount well

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enough to determine if there are

cracks or deformities? Is the hard
ware rusted or corroded? Do you
like what you see?
That's the real clue. If you don't
like what you see on any of this,
then pick up your marbles and walk
away. They can't make you buy it!
And if you feel deep down there is
just too much wrong, then take a
hike. This goes for any part or piece
of the airplane. Sure, money can
rectify a lot of wrongs, but you
should have made up your mind
long before this how much you are
willing to shell out.
An important consideration at
this pOint is the dollar value of the
finished product. How much will
you have to spend to get it into the
salable condition? How much labor
will it take? Does the simple arith
metic compute? Use your com
mon sense. It may be better to find
a plane certificated and flying and
spend a couple of extra bucks to as
sure yourself you have what you
want. It's up to you.
Next crawl under the belly and
check for old oil streaks and/or ac
cumulated crud. Look at the tires
while you're down there. How about
the brakes? Tires tell tales if they are
worn uneven. Are there any suspi
cious wrinkles, rips, or big dents
under there? A runaway light can
wreck havoc! How about the under
sides of the elevator? Does the tail
wheel have a tire on it? Is it or the
nose wheel tire worn uneven?
Look at the doors. How do they
fit? Examine the gear attach fittings
and the area around them for any
distortion or wrinkles. Look at the
horizontal tail surfaces. Are there big
dents in the leading edges? Are the
fairings in good shape? Shake the el
evator and rudder to see if the hinges
are secure and snug. Are the bear
ings or bushings intact? You should
really be getting into this now, and
making more notes on your pad. Do
you still like what you see?
Stand a few feet behind the plane
and examine the symmetry of the
wings and tail surfaces to the fuse
32

MAY 2006

lage . Do the pieces look like they

belong? Great! Come back up the
other side of the fuselage and look
over the upper surfaces of the wing
as you walk up to the trailing edges.
Sight down the edges to check for
warps. Inspect the ailerons and
flaps. Work them! Are they full of
hangar rash? Do they move freely?
Shake them! Are the tracks, bear
ings, and bushings worn? Don't
forget to check the other side when
you get there.

SO, IF YOU
HAVE MY
PROBLEM, A LOVE
AFFAIR FOR EVERY
AIRPLANE

SEE,

YOU CAN REALLY

GET YOURSELF
INTO A PICKLE
BARREL.
Check the wingtip for hangar
rash . Sight down the wing leading
edges. Will they have to be replaced
or require cosmetic treatment?
Keep on going and look at the wing
attach hardware and the struts. Al
ways check for evidence of repairs.
As you pass in front of the pro
peller, look for obvious signs of dis
tress, corrosion, nicks, and gouges.
Did you look at the air filter and the
cowling when you went over the en
gine? Determine that the mag switch
is off; then pull the prop through.
Does each of the cylinders have com
pression? Continue your inspection
on the other side of the airplane.
I have neglected to emphasize
the importance of looking for corro
sion. In an aluminum airplane, look
for that frosty appearance, or if it's
painted, pay particular attention to
the seam overlaps, where blistering

paint will clue you in. Look really

hard at the control surfaces and see
if they are pockmarked or if the paint
is frosting off. You can't really get
inside the structures until you dis
assemble the parts, but a good look
at it externally will often give you a
pretty good idea of what is inside.
Don't fail to remove the wing
root fairings to check wing attach
fittings and the associated hard
ware. DO-it-yourselfers are prone to
stuff this area with insulating ma
terial in an effort to reduce drafts
and wind noise. While this is often
quite effective, it also may have ab
sorbed a lot of water and provided
an ideal atmosphere for rust and
corrosion . Spar carry-through chan
nels on Luscombes and Cessnas are
difficult to inspect properly with
out removing the wings and can be
a real budget buster to repair if cor
rosion has progressed far.
You may find what the mice did
with the upholstery material that
was missing from the cabin, too.
Mice seldom get out of bed to go to
the bathroom when they hibernate
in these cozy nests, and the resul
tant soggy material will do more
damage than an equal amount of
battery acid.
If it's a rag-covered taildragger,
pay strict attention to the lower lon
gerons in the area of the tail post.
Is there any rust showing around
the attach fittings at the stabilizer?
Take your pocketknife or a pick and
try to penetrate the areas that are
suspicious. If the probe goes into
the metal longeron, there is a ma
jor problem.
On the tricycle-geared planes,
check carefully for rust and corro
sion in the lowest area of the fuse
lage. Piper Tri-Pacers have a habit of
accumulating moisture behind the
landing gear support structure tub
ing, which can promote corrosion.
All the discrepancies you've
noted on your pad should be to
taled up. Do you still like what you
see? If so, then go after that air
plane. Use a little more leverage on
Mr. Pilot and take it from there.

Purchase Price
by Buck Hilbert

Let's assume you've already ac

complished the selection of the
aircraft you want as your project.
You've hurdled all the obstacles,
and you've located the ship of your
dreams. Now comes stark reality.
What is the price?
"Give me some guidelines. How
much should I shell out?/I is the
most often asked question. You ask
anyone who will listen, and you'll
hear as many answers as there are
people to ask.
The broker who is in this only to
make a living and who treats these
airplanes only as potential revenue
garners will have one price. It usu
ally includes a markup to cover his
commissions, advertising, phone
bills, and whatever other overhead
he may anticipate. He does have one
advantage, though. He may have a
listing and know exactly where the
merchandise is. That is especially
true in today's computerized mar
ket. So the extra bucks, in this case,
may be a worthwhile layout.
If in the process of selecting your
project and locating it, you have
found a private owner who is will
ing to dicker or bargain, then you
have it made. I had to wait almost
eight years before the previous
owner of my Swallow was willing
to part with it. I used that time to
get better acquainted with the man
and to form a friendship that trig
gered a feeling that he was passing
his beloved possession on to some
one who cares, and I did!
When the opportune time came,
the price was high, much higher
than my original offer, which in the
light of subsequent events turned
out to be a giveaway. But at the time,
I felt he had violated our friendship,
and I almost didn't take the deal.
Often, the end value of an air
plane is its present market value, be
it aT-craft, Ercoupe, Mooney, Ryan,
or what have you. A good place to
find a starting price is in the want
ads in EAA publications, Aircraft
Owner, Trade-A-Plane, Controller, Air

Show Journal, General Aviation News,

etc., and they will give you a good
idea as to the current market value
of your specific machine. [The In
ternet is also a good place to start, al
though the prices seen on auction sites
can sometimes appear to be signifi
cantly more than the top price other
wise seen for the aircraft.-HGF]
There is an Airplane Pricing
Guidebook, too, which most in
surance adjusters carry. This book
is often updated. In it the values
are broken down as to makes and
models, engine times, accesso
ries, and radios. If there is damage
history, the cost to repair and/or
replace parts is listed. Call your
aviation insurance person to get
a quote from the book. After all,
this is the basis for accepting or
denying the insurance coverage
you pay so dearly for.
One disadvantage is that your
airplane may not be listed if it is an
antique, or it may be lumped into a
category if it's outside the approved
insurability tables.
Take the numbers you get, aver
age them out if they are from sev
eral sources (and they should be),
and then temper them with your
feelings and the airplane's desir
ability and availability. Then you'll
have your own personal appraisal.
What you are willing to pay for
the airplane of your choice with
the equipment you desire now be
comes the final factor. Next sub
tract what has to be done to put
the plane into the condition you
desire, and you'll know what you
want to pay.
If it needs restoration, price out
the necessary supplies, such as
paint, upholstery, etc., and then
double that figure to cover labor.
Don't forget that you have an in
vestment, too, in your workshop
utility bills and tools-and that you
might have to hire an A&P me
chanic with an IA to assist and to
sign off the final product.
Do the arithmetic, total the
plusses and minuses, and then
you can make your own decision.

Don't become discouraged. Some

times it takes a cold shower to
make a person think clearly. Peo
ple can get pretty hot over a par
ticular airplane, so much so that
they lose all sense of reason. Then
they suffer afterward by winding
up with an unsalable item because
it's now overpriced.

Retrieving Your Treasure

by Ron Fritz

After making the decision to pur

chase a plane, the next step is get
ting it home. This mayor may not
be a difficult task depending on its
condition, the distance to bring it
home, and the necessary equip
ment to transport it if it cannot be
flown. Retrieving a newly acquired
airplane is a great adventure and
will provide you with storytelling
material for years to come.
Since retrieving a plane can be an
involved process, it is a good idea to
draw from the experiences of oth
ers who have done this. If the dis
tance to bring it home is Significant,
it might be a good family adventure,
as it is difficult for one person to at
tempt it alone. It can be a trying and
tiring experience also, so use discre
tion if the spouse is less than enthu
siastic about the whole matter.
If the airplane is airworthy and
currently in license, the Simplest
and cheapest way to get it home is
to fly it. This is only true, of course,
if you have the time to spare as well
as the skill needed to fly it. Some
times it will be more prudent to
have someone else do the flying and
pay the expenses. Finding someone
to fly your new plane isn't usually a
problem, as there is generally a pi
lot hanging around the local airport
with the time and inclination to do
this for you. Be careful, though, as
there is the occasional pilot whose
ego far exceeds his flying ability.
If someone else is going to do
the flying, make sure she is quali
fied to fly the plane and don't hesi
tate to check her qualifications. A
lot of logged flying time doesn't
necessarily mean a pilot would be
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

33

qualified to fly your new plane.

Use caution here, as it could save
you a lot of money and heartache.
Ask the pilot for references from
other owners who have had her fly
a similar airplane.
If the plane is not in license but is
flyable, it can still be flown provided
a ferry permit is obtained from the
FAA. This will involve an inspec
tion by a certificated mechanic with
a logbook notation stating the air
plane is safe to make this one trip.
It might be a good bargaining point
to insist the seller guarantee a ferry
permit with the sale of the plane.
Purchasing a "ferriable" airplane
sight unseen can be risky, as the
seller's idea of ferriable might differ
drastically from yours. Remember,
the mechanic ultimately must make
that determination.
If the airplane cannot be flown
or you don't care to take a chance
on flying it, then the only other
alternative is to transport it home
in a disassembled state. If miracle
of miracles happens and the seller
agrees to deliver for a reasonable
price, take him up on this. You can
not go wrong. If you must retrieve
the plane yourself, make adequate
preparations. Make sure your equip
ment is adequate for the job, and

a:

car-top carrier on a Pinto was used successfully to transport this uncovered

Aeronca KCA fuselage, wing spars, ailerons, and cowling across two states.

take plenty of padding and rope

to lash the plane securely. As men
tioned before, draw from the expe
riences of others if possible.
The ideal vehicle to do the job
is a pickup truck with a long-bed
trailer. By using this setup you will
most likely be able to get the whole
plane in one trip. If the plane is
only a short distance away and sev
eral trips are pOSSible, a truck or
trailer alone may be adequate.
If the plane must be transported
a long distance, a truck or trailer
alone can be adequate providing

mem
, area
A-frame to safely carry this French-built M.S. 181 from Florida to Jackson, Mich
igan, where EAA Chapter 304 members restored it for the EAA AirVenture Mu
seum. The frame consisting of one-by-fours, two-by-fours, and four-by-fours was
carried on a flatbed trailer.
34

MAY 2006

you make good preparations and

construct racks to carryall the
components . Interestingly, a lot
can be carried on car-top carriers.
For example, several years ago an
enterprising EAAer transported a
complete, uncovered Aeronca KCA
fuselage, wing spars, ailerons, and
cowling from Western Michigan to
Eastern Ohio atop a Ford Pinto. The
trip was uneventful , trouble-free,
and provided him with stories to
tell for years.
Should an adequate trailer not be
available, a suitable trailer can be
made out of a snowmobile or boat

The landing gear/motor mount fittings

on the fuselage rest in notched two
by-fours.

don't exceed the width limits in

the state(s) you will be traveling
through . Movable surfaces should
be removed if the plane will be
loaded with the tail facing forward.
Leave the engine and cowling at
tached if possible.
It a rough or bumpy trip is antic
ipated, it might be a good idea to
support the front of the engine to
relieve stress on the engine mount
and forward fuselage. The landing
gear may be left attached as long
as they don't protrude too far and
aren't a danger. The axles provide an
excellent place to lash the fuselage
The cabane struts of the parasol wing
down. By leaving the landing gear
M.S. 181 are bolted to the Aframe to
on, you have an excellent place to
stabilize the load.
store other components beneath the
fuselage. Two wings, padded and
Plenty room is available at the aft
bed using lumber and plywood. A end of the fuselage for landing gears
lashed securely, usually will fit un
word of caution here: don't exceed and tail surfaces. Note padding on
der the fuselage very well.
the weight limits of the trailer.
When the wings are still cov
Aframe where wings were mounted.
Loading the plane is going to be
ered, they should be laid flat and
a formidable challenge, and much assembled state, so much the bet
lashed down securely. If mounted
caution must be used . Everything ter because you will gain valuable vertically, the side area is too great
must be lashed down or confined so experience if you disassemble it and will probably lead to an uncon
it won't fall off and be damaged or yourself. You will also have the as trollable trailer or truck in a strong
endanger other persons. Use good, surance that you have all the parts. crosswind. It the fuselage hangs over
strong rope or straps, and make Purchasing a basket case is risky, as the end of the trailer or truck, make
sure the ends are fastened securely. there always seems to be a piece or sure you have adequate padding to
prevent damage to the longerons or
Check the load frequently while two missing.
traveling to make sure the lashings
It's important to know that it monocoque structure. When load
haven't loosened. Make sure your isn't necessary to completely dis
ing a trailer, distribute the weight
outside mirrors allow you to keep assemble the plane to transport it . properly. Maintain weight on the
an eye on the load.
The tail surfaces may be left on as hitch, as an evenly balanced trailer
It the airplane is purchased in an long as they are immobilized and or trailer with excess weight behind
the axles will give you real problems
unless the vehicle pulling it is excep
tionally heavy. The success of your
trip will be enhanced by planning
ahead and trying to anticipate prob
lems. Larger planes demand heavier
and stronger equipment. Low-wing
planes require the fuselage to be
placed in a special cradle or rack. Bi
planes have extra wings to concern
yourself with. Each airplane has its
own peculiarities, and measures that
work with one won't necessarily
work with another. When transport
s:~ ing airplanes, certain basics should
~ be remembered. Use common sense,
don't allow yourself to be rushed,
An example of how not to transport a disassembled aircraft. Strong crosswinds
have someone look over your work,
can make a light vehicle or trailer difficult to handle when the wings are carried
and don't take chances.
........
in this fashion.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

35

BY H.G . FRAUTSCHY

if HIS MONTH' S MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US VIA THE LATE TED BUsINGER, AND WAS
PART OF HIS JOHN SUNYAK COLLECTION.

Send your answer to EAA, Vintage Airplane, P.O.

Box 3086, Oshkosh, W I 54903-3086. Your answer
needs to be in no later than June 10 for inclusion in
the August 2006 issue of Vintage Airplane.

You can also send your response via e-mail. Send

your answer to mysteryplane@eaa.org. Be sure to include
your name, city, and state in the body of your note, and
put "(Month) Mystery Plane" in the subject line.

F EBRUARY ' S MYSTERY

The February Mystery Plane,
from the EAA's Garner P. "Emy"
Emerson Collection, got a few
folks thumbing through their air
craft identification books. Here's
our first letter:

Th e Mystery Plane is the BIeriot

165, cln I, F-AIKI, originally named
36

MAY 2006

Leonardo da Vinci. It first flew on

October 27, 1926, and was delivered
to the airline Air Union in October
1927. The sister ship, cln 2, F-AITU,
was originally named Octave Cha
nute. Both aircraft later had Ie Rayon
d'Or (the Golden Ray) painted on the
nose during Air Union service. Both
were powered by Gnome Rhone Jupi-

ANSWER

ter 9Ab air-cooled radials of 420 hp

each, which were developed from the
Bristol Jupiter.
All of my information comes from
John Stroud's book European Trans
port Aircraft Since 1910, published
by Putnam of London in 1966, p. 56.
He has a photo of F-AIKI with the
later fleet name and also all of the di

mensional and performance data.

Jack Erickson
State Col/ege, Pennsylvania
Tom Lymburn painted out in his
note that the airplane was painted
in white, red, and gold, and that
the slipper tanks mounted on the
upper wings were in the location of
previously mounted engines on the
four-engine Bleriot ISS.
Other correct answers were re
ceived from Susan Baker, Wauke
sha, Wisconsin, and Wayne Van
Valkenburgh, Jasper, Georgia ........

JOIN TODAY!

Feel free to write us here at Vintage Airplane; send us your

kudos, complaints, corrections, or just plain old good stuff you want to
share with everybody. Send your note to:

800-322-241 2
AND R ECEIVE 12 ISSUES
OF VINTAGE AIRCRAFT
ALONG WITH OTHER
GREAT BENEFITS

Vintage Airplane
Aeromail
PO Box 3086
Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086
You can e-mail your letter at tf1is address: vintageaircraft@eaa.org
Be sure to put Aeromail in the subject line of your message.

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE

37

The fo llowing list of coming events is furnished to our readers as a matter

of information only and does not constitute approval, sponsorship, involve
ment, control, or direction of any event (fly-in, seminars, fly market, etc.)
listed. To sllbm it an event, send the informa tion via mail to: Vintage
Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Or e-mail the infor
mation to: vintageaircraft@eaa.org. Info rmation should be received four
months prior to the event date.
MAY 5-7-Burlington, NC-Alamace County Airport
(KBUY). VM Chapter 3 Spring Flyln. All Classes
Welcome! BBQ Fri Night, Acft Judging/Banquet
Sat Night. Info: Jim Wilson 843753-7138 or
eiwi/son@homexpressway.net
MAY 6-Columbia, CA - Columbia Airport (022).
EOC Region 7 Fly In @Camp Grounds. Info:
contact Dan Hall @ (949) 643-6793 www.
airnav.com/ airportj022
MAY l~Kennewick, WA-Vista Field. EM Chapter
391 Ry-In Breakfast. Info: R.L. Shaub 509
735-1664
MAY l~San Martin, CA-San Martin Airport
(E16). Wings of History Museum Open House.
Info: www.wingsofhistory.org
MAY 19-21-Kewanee, IL-Kewanee Municipal
Airport (KEZI). 4th Annual Midwest
Aeronca Festival. Food, Fun, Contest
and Entertainment. Seminars. Info: Jody
Wittmeyer 309-853-8141 or jodydeb@
earth/ink.net. www.angelfire.com/ stars4/
aeroncafest. Bring your tail draggers.
MAY 21-Warwick, NY-Warwick Aerodome
(N72). EM Chapter 501 Annual Ry-In.
10am-4pm. Unicom advisory frequency is
123.0. Food available. Trophies awarded for
difference classes of aircraft. Registration for
judging closes at 1pm. Info: Don Provost 973
492-9025 or donprov@opton/ine.net
MAY 21-Romeoville, IL-Lewis Romeoville Airport
(LOT). EM Chapter 15 Fly-In Breakfast. 7am
Noon. Info: George Linkis 630-243-8213
MAY 26-29-Watsonville, CA-Watsonville
Airport. 42nd Watsonville Antique Ry-In &
Airshow. Friday arrival suggested. Info: www.
watsonvilleflyin.org
MAY 27-Zanesville, OH-Riverside Airport. EM
Chapter 425 Pancake Breakfast Fly-In, Drive-In
Breakfast. 8am-2pm with lunch items available
after 11am. Info: Chuck Bruckelmeyer 740
454-7487
JUNE 2~ Bartlesville, OK-Frank Phillips Airfield .
20th Annual Biplane Expo. Info: Charlie Harris
918-622-8400, www.bip/aneexpo.com
JUNE 2~Merced, CA-Merced Airport.
49th Annual Merced Antique Fly-In. Friday
arrival strongly recommended. Info: www.
antiqueflyin.com
JUNE 8-11-Marysville, CA-Yuba County Airport
(MYV). Golden West Regional Fly-In. Info: www.
go/denwestflyin.org
JUNE 15-18-St. Louis, MO-Dauster Flying Field,
Creve Coeur Airport (lHO). American Waco
Club Fly-In. Info: Phil Coulson 269-624-6490,
rcoulson516@cs.com or Jerry Brown 317-422
9366, /brown4906@ao/.com,
www.americanwacoclub.com
JUNE lS-lS-Middletown, OH-Hook Field
Municipal Airport (MWO). 13th National
Aeronca Association Convention. Info: Brian
Matz 216-337-5643, bwmatzllac@yahoo.
com, www.aeroncapilots.com
JUNE 17-Fresno, CA-Chandler Executive Airport.
5th Annual KJWL Father's Day Air Show & F1y
In. Five thrilling aerobatic performers, Warbird
fly-bys, Classic and Vintage Aircraft on display,
food and crafts vendors plus a children 's play

38

MAY 2006

area. Info: 559-289-0887

JUNE 2226-----Terrell, TX-Terrell Municipal Airport

(KTRL). The 2nd Great Ercoupe Round-Up. EOC
Nationals. Info: www.airnav.com/airport/ KTRL
JUNE 232S-Richland , WA-Richand Airport. EM
Chapter 391 First Annual Fly-In. Info: Jeromie
Mead 509-946-6958
JUNE 24-Zanesville , OH-Riverside Airport. EM
Chapter 425 Pancake Breakfast Fly-In , Drive-In
Breakfast. 8am-2pm with lunch items available
after 11am. Info: Chuck Bruckelmeyer 740
454-7487
JULY 79--Lompoc, CA-Lompoc Airport. 22nd
Annual West Coast Piper Cub Fly-In. Flour-bomb
drop and spot landing contests, awards, Friday
night spaghetti, Saturday night Lompoc-Style
Tri-Tip BBQ. Pancake breakfast on Saturday
and Sunday. BBQ hotdogs and hamburgers
for Lunch on Friday and Saturday. "Secret"
entertainment. Cub clothing, hats and
memorabilia will be available. Info: Bruce Fall
805-733-1914
JULY 1S-Zanesville, OH-Parr Airport. EM
Chapter 425 Pancake Breakfast Ry-In, Drive-In
Breakfast. 8am-2pm with lunch items available
after 11am. Info: Chuck Bruckelmeyer 740
454-7487
JULY 19-21-Keokuk, IA- ILPA - IBDA Formatioin
School. Many activities, all Warbirds welcome.
Info: Jim Grenier 508-366-5876
JULY 22-Colusa, CA-Colusa County Airport (008).
10th Annual Old Time Fly-In . Info: www.airnav.
com/ airportjOOB
AUGUST 12-Auburn, CA-Auburn Municipal
Airport (AUN). Thunder In The Sky. Info: www.
thunderinthesky. org
AUGUST 18-2~McMinnville, OR-McMinnville
Airport. McMinnville Antique Fly-In. Info: www.
nwaac.com
AUGUST 18-2~Alliance , OH-Alliance-Barber Airport
(2Dl). 8th Annual Ohio Aeronca Aviators F1yln.
Info: Brian Matz 2163375643, bwmatzllac@
yahoo. com, www.oaaflyin.com
AUGUST 2526-----Long Island, NY-Bayport
Aerodome (23N). 2nd Annual Antique
Aeroplane Club Flyln. All vintage, antique,
classic airplanes and pilots welcome. For
"Welcome to Bayport DVD " and Info: Sbain@
emdiaofny.com. www.AACGNYorg
AUGUST 26-----Niles, MI-Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport
(3TR). VM Chapter 35 Fly-In Drive-In Corn &
Sausage Roast. 11am3pm. Rain Date August
27th. Info: Len Jansen 269-684-6566
SEPTEMBER 2-Zanesville, OH-Riverside Airport.
EM Chapter 425 Pancake Breakfast Flyln,
Drive-In Breakfast. 8am-2pm with lunch items
available after 11am. Info: Chuck Bruckelmeyer
740-454-7487
SEPTEMBER 2-Prosser, WA-EM Chapter 391's
23rd Annual Labor Day Weekend Prosser Flyln.
Info: R.L. Shaub 509-735-7664
SEPTEMBER 2-Marion, IN-Marion Municipal
Airport (MZZ). 16th Annual Fly-In CruiseIn . Features antique, classic, homebuilt,
ultralight. & warbird aircraft as well as vintage
cars, trucks, motorcycles, & tractors . All
You-Can-Eat Pancake Breakfast is served.

Proceeds benefiting the local High School

Band. Info: Ray Johnson 765-664-2588. www.
Fly/nCruiseln.com
SEPTEMBER 9--Blue Bell, PA-Wings Field (LOM ).
17th Annual Vintage Aircraft & Classic Car Show.
10am-3pm. Free Admission. $10 Automobile
Parking. Food, Music, Entertainment. & Exhibits.
All net proceeds will go to benefit Angel Flight
East. Rain Date: September 10th. Info: Bonni
800-383-9464 x106
SEPTEMBER 9--Newark, OH-Newark-Heath
Airport (VTA). Annual EM Chapter 402
Fly-In Breakfast. Breakfast: pancakes ,
eggs, sausage, juice, coffee. Vintage and
homebuilt aircraft. Young Eagles Flights.
Buckeye Chapter of RVAtors fly over. Fly-ins
and drive-ins welcome . Info: Tom McFadden
740-587-2312 or tmc@alink.com
SEPTEMBER 222~Bartlesville , OK-Frank
Phillips Airfield. 50th Annual Tulsa Regional
Fly-In. Info: Charlie Harris 918-622-8400.
www.tulsaflyin.com
SEPTEMBER 24-Hinkley, IL-OC2. EM Ch. 241
Breakfast on the Grass. 7:30am-Noon. Info:
847888-2119
SEPTEMBER 36-Hanover, IN-Lee Bottom Flying
Field (641). 10th Annual Wood , Fabric, &
Tailwheels Flyln. Come see what everyone is
talking about. If you love the good old says, then
you'll love this event. Info: www.Lee8ottom.com
OCTOBER 29-Jean, NV-Jean Airport. 18th Annual
North Las Vegas International Ercoupe Fly In and
Halloween party (EOC Region 8). Info: http://
www.airnav.com/ airportjOL7

2006 MAJOR

FLY

INS

For details on EM Chapter flyins and

other local aviation events, viSit www.eaa.orgjevents
EAA Southwest Regional-The Texas Ryln
Hondo Municipal Airport (H DO), Hondo, TX
May 11-14, 2006
www.swrfi.org

Golden West EAA Regional FIyln

Yuba County Airport (MYV), Marysville, CA
June 9-11,2006
www.go/denwestf/yin.org

Rocky Mountain EAA Regional Fly-In

Front Range Airport (FTG), Watkins, CO
June 24-25, 2006
www.rmrfi.org

Northwest EAA FIy-ln

Arlington Municipal Airport (AWO).
Arlington, WA
July 5-9, 2006
www.nweaa.org

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

Wittman Regional Airport (OSH),
Oshkosh, WI
July 24-July 30, 2006 www.airventure.org

EAA MidEastern Regional FIyln

Marion Municipal Airport (MNN),
Marion,OH
August 25-27,2006

Virginia Regional EAA FIyln

Dinwiddie County Airport (PTB),
Petersburg, VA
September 30-0ctober 1,2006

www.vaeaa.org

EAA Southeast Regional FIyln

Middleton Field Airport (GZH), Evergreen, AL
October 6-8, 2006
www.serfi.org

Copperstate Regional EAA Fly-In

Casa Grande (AR) MuniCipal Airport (CGZ)
October 26-29,2006
www.copperstate.org
For details on EM Chapter flyins and other local avia
tion events, visit www.eaa.orglevents

VINTAGE

Membershi~ Services
AIRCRAFT

ENJOY THE MANY BENEFITS OF EAA AND

ASSOCIATION
THE EAA VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION
OFFICERS
President

Vice-President

Geoff Robison
1521 E. MacGregor Dr.
New Haven, IN 46774
2604934724
cllie{7025@'(w/.(om

2448 Lough Lane

Hartford, WI 53027
2626735885

George Daubner

v{/a!lyboy@"JtllS11.coln

Senetary

Treasurer

Steve Nesse
2009 Highland Ave.

Charles W. Harris

Albert Lea, MN 56007

5073731674

7215 East 46th St.

Tulsa, OK 74147
9186228400

stlles@fleskmeriia.cOlll

n .... h@hvsu.com

DIRECTORS
Steve Bender
8S Brush Hill Road
Sherborn, MA 01770
5086537557
.u t l 00'cotn((lst.flet

David Bennett
1'.0. Hox 1188
Roseville, CA 95678
9166458370
(ltltiqller@inreach.(ollJ
John Berendt
7645 Echo Point Rd .
Cannon Falls, MN 55009
5072632414

I1Ijbfcl1ld{[!"rcoII/, ect ,com

Jeannie Hill
P.O. Box 328
Harvard, IL 600330328
815943 7205
dil1gllau@ulVc.llet

Espie "Butch" Joyce

704 N. Regional Rd.
Greensboro, NC 27409
3366683650
windsock@)aol.com

Steve Krog
1002 Heathe r Ln.
Hartford, WI 53027
2629667627
sskrus(g'la ul.cum

Robert D. "nob" Lumley

Dave Clark
635 Vestal Lane
Plainfi eld, IN 46168
3178394500
rlavecpd(!]liquest.1/(' t

John S. Copeland
1 A Deacon St reet
Northborough, MA 01532
5083934775
copl'lal1t1I@Jjllno.com

1265 South 124th St.

Brookfield, W I 5J0t.l5
2627822633
/umper@lexeCpc.cufU

Gene Morris
5936 Steve Court

Roanoke, TX 76262
81749 19 110
gellfrllvrris@clwrter.llet

Phil Coulson

Dean Richardson

28415 Springbrnok Dr.

L.lwton, MI 49065
2696246490

1429 Kings Lynn Rd

Stoughton, WI 53589
6088778485
dar@aprilaire. com

reolllsol15 J 6@Cs.com

Dale A. Gustafson
7724 Shady Hills Dr.
Indianapoli s, IN 46278
3 I 72934430
dale{i1ye(!!'m sll. (u m

S.H. "Wes" Schmid

2359 Lefeber Avenue

Wauwatosa, WI 532 13
4147711545
sI1scl/mid(q)nilwpc.com

DIRECTORS

EMERITUS

Gene Chase

E.E. " Buck" Hilbert

21S9 Carlton Rd.

Oshkosh, WI 54904
92023 I 5002
GRCHA @Clwrter.tlet

P.O. Box 424

Union, IL 60180
8 I 5923459 I
b7ac@mCllet

Ronald C. Fritz
15401 Sparta Ave.
Kent City, MI 49330
6166785012
rfritz(ii'pathwaYllet.com

Directory

EAA Aviation Center, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh WI 54903-3086

Phone (920) 426-4800

Fax (920) 426-4873

Web Site: www.vil1tagea ircm(t.org and www.airventllre,org

EAA and Division Membership Services
800-843-3612 . ... .. . . FAX 920-426-6761
Monday-Friday CST)
(8:00 AM-7:00 PM
- New/renew memberships: EAA, Divi
sions (Vi ntage Aircraft Associati on, LAC,
Warbirds), Na ti onal Association of Flight
Instructors (NAFI)
- Address cha nges

- Merchandise sales

- Gift memberships

Programs and Activities

EAA AirVen ture Fax-On-Demand Directory
........................ 732-885-6711
Auto Fuel STCs ............ 920426-4843
Build/res tore information ... 920426-4821
Chapters: loca tin g/o rga ni zing920-426-4876
. ... .. 888-322-3229
Education. . . .
- EAA Air Academy

- EAA Scholarships

E-Mail: vintageaircra(t@)eaa.org

Fligh t Advisors information ..

Fligh t Instructor informa tion
Flyi ng Start Program .......
Library Services/Research ....
Med ical Questions .. . .. ....
Techn ical Counselors . ... . ..
Young Eagles .............

920-426-6864
920-426-6801
920-426-6847
920-426-4848
920-4266112
920-426-6864
877-806-8902

Benefits
AUA Vintage Insurance Plan. 800-727-3823
EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan . 866-647-4322
Term Life and Accidental .... 800-241 -6103
Death Insurance (Harvey Watt & Company)
Editorial . ................ 920-426-4825

Vintage .............. FAX 920-426-6865

- Submitting article/photo
- Advertisi ng information
EAA Aviation Foundation
Artifact Donations ........ 920-426-4877
Finan cial Support . ......... 800-236-1025

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
EAA
Membership in the Experimental Aircraft
Association, Inc. is $40 for one year, includ
ing 12 issues of SPORT AVIATION. Family
membership is an additional $10 annually.
Junior Membership (under 19 yea rs of age)
is available at $23 annually. All major credit
cards accepted for membership. (Add $16 for
Foreign Postage.)

EAA SPORT PILOT

Current EAA members ma y add EAA
SPORT PILOT magaZine for an additional
$20 per year.
EAA Membership and EAA SPORT
PILOT magaZine is availabl e for $40 per
year (SPORT AVIATION magaZine not in
cluded). (Add $16 for Foreign Postage.)

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Current EAA members ma y join the
Vintage Aircraft Association and receive
VINTAGE AIRPLANE magaZine for an ad
ditional $36 per year.
EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE
magazine and one year membership in the EAA
Vintage Aircraft Association is ava ilable for $46
per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not in
cluded). (Add $7 for Foreign Postage,)

lAC

Current EAA membe rs may join the

International Aerobatic Club, Inc. Divi
sion and receive SPORT AEROBATICS
magaZine for an additional $45 per year.
EAA Membership, SPORT AEROBAT
ICS magaZine and one yea r membership
in the lAC Division is available for $55
per year (SPORT AVIATION maga zi n e
not included). (Add $15 fOT Foreign
Postage.)

WARBIRDS
Current EAA members may join the BAA
Warbirds of America Division and receive
WARBIRDS magazine for an additional $40
per year,
EAA Members hip, WARBIRDS maga
zine and one year membership in the
Warbirds Division is available for $50 per
year (SPORT AVIATION magaZi ne not in
cluded), (Add $7 for Foreign Postage.)

FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS
Please subm it your remittance with a
check or draft drawn on a United States
bank payable in United States dollars , Add
required Foreign Postage amount for each
membership,

Membership dues to EAA and its divisions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions
Copyright 2006 by the EM Vintage Aircraft Association
All rights reserved.
VINTAGE AIRPlANE (USPS 062750: ISSN 00916943) is published and owned exclusively by the EM Vintage Aircran Association of Ihe Experimental Aircran Association and is published monthly at EM
Aviation Center, 3000 Poberezny Rd. , PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 549033086, email: vintageaircraft@eaa.org. Periodicals Postage paid at Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901 and at additional mailing offices. POST
MASTER: Send address changes to Vintage Airplane, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 549033086. PM 40032445 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to World Distribution Services, Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor,
ON N9A 6J5, e-mail: cpcretums@Wdsmail.com. FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES - Please allow at least two months lor delivery of VINTAGE AIRPlANE to foreign and APO addresses via suriace mail. ADVERTIS

ING - Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the advertiSing. We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our
advertising so that corrective measures can be taken.
EDITORIAL POLICY: Readers are encouraged to submit stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirety with
the contributor. No remuneration is made. Material should be sent to: Editor, VINTAGE AIRPLANE, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 549033086. Phone 920-4264800.
EM and EM SPORT AVIATION, the EM Logo and Aeronaulica' are registered trademari<s, trademarks, and service marks of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. The use of these trademarks and
service marks without the permission of the Experimental Aircraft Association. Inc. is strictly prohibited.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

39

Classified Word Ads: $5.50 per 10 words, 180 words maximum, with boldface lead-in on first line.
Classified Display Ads: One column wide (2.167 inches) by 1, 2, or 3 inches high at $20 per inch. Black and white
only, and no frequency discounts.
Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (Le., January 10 is the closing date for the
March issue). VAA reserves the right to reject any advertising in conflict with its policies. Rates cover one insertion per issue.
Classified ads are not accepted via phone. Payment must accompany order. Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426-4828)
or e-mail (c/assads@eaa.org) using credit card payment (all cards accepted). Include name on card, complete address, type of
card, card number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to EAA. Address advertising correspondence to EM Publications
Classified Ad Manager, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086
Warner engines. Two 165s, one fresh
O.H., one low time on Fairchild 24
mount with all accessories. Curtiss
Reed prop for 165. Find my name
and address in the Officers and
Directors listing and call evenings. E.
E. "Buck" Hilbert.
CUSTOM PRINTED T-SHIRTS for your
flying club, flight shop, museum. Free
samples. Call 1-800-645-7739 or 1
828-654-9711
THERE'S JUST NOTHING LIKE IT

ON THE WEB!!

www.aviation-giftshop.com
A Website with the Pilot in Mind
(and those who love airplanes)

Airplane T-Shirts

150 Different Airplanes Available

WE PROBABLY HAVE YOUR AIRPLANE!

www.airpianetshirts.com
1-800-645-7739

HANGAR SPACE - 38 miles west of Atlanta.

2200' grass strip. 770-562-3512

BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod

bearings, main bearings, bushings,
master rods , valves, piston rings.
Call us Toll Free 1-800-233-6934,
e-mailramremfg@aol.comWebsite
www.ramengine.com VINTAGE
ENGINE MACHINE WORKS ,
N. 604 FREYA ST., SPOKANE,
WA 99202

Flying wires available. 1994 pricing.

Visit www.flyingwires.com or call
800-517 -9278.

A&P I.A.: Annual, 100 hr. inspections.

Wayne Forshey 740-472-1481
Ohio - statewide.

WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE RESTORING

For many years, we ran a regular monthly feature called "What Our Members Are Restoring". Over the past couple of
years, the number of submissions for that feature has dwindled to a trickle, and we'd like you to help us give it a boost.
In the distant past, each new and renewing member of EAA and VAA received an "activity card" that gave the member the
opportunity to tell headquarters what airplanes they were working on. Since that card is no longer part of a new-member
packet, we have no way of knowing what you're up to, so here's our request.
Are you nearing completion of a restoration? Or is it done and you're busy flying and showing it off? If so, we'd like to
hear from you. Send us a 4-by-6-inch print from a commercial source (no home printers, please-those prints just don't
scan well) or a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital photo. A JPG from your 2.5-megapixel (or higher) digital camera is fine. You can
burn photos to a CD, or if you're on a high-speed Internet connection, you can e-mail them along with a text-only or Word
document describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program asks if you'd like to make the photos smaller, say no.) For more
tips on creating photos we can publish, visit VAA's website at www.vintageaircraft.org. Check the News page for a hyperlink
to Want To Send Us A Photograph?
For more information, you can also e-mail us at vintageaircraft@eaa.org or call us at 920-426-4825.
40

MAY 2006

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Ford Motor Company, in association with EAA, is proud to offer their members the opportunity
to save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on the purchase or lease from one of their family
of brands - Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar vehicles.

Get your personal identification number (PIN) from the EM website (www.eaa.org) by clicking on the EAAlFord Program logo.

You must be an EM Member for one year to be eligible. This offer is available to residents of the United States and Canada.

Certain restrictions apply. Available at participating dealers. Please refer to www.eaa.org or call 800-843 - 3612 .

VOLVO
LINCOLN

MERCURY

JAGUAR

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