Warren Basler & Saving the DC-3

By Henry M. Holden

When the late Warren Basler opened his FBO, Basler Flight Service in 1957, at the Wittman Regional
Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, (KOSH) he had no idea that one day it would become Mecca for tired DC-3s
looking for a new life. He also could not have predicted that in 1970, when the Experimental Aircraft Associations
(EAA) moved to Oshkosh, his small FBO would become part of the largest annual aviation event in the United
States.
Warren Basler was born on a farm six miles south of the airport, and he was involved in aviation for over
50 years. Basler soloed in a Piper J-3 Cub on his 17th birthday, in 1943. He logged over 26,000 hours as a pilot,
with over 10,000 hours in the DC-3 Type.
Until his tragic death in a mid-air collision, along with three other Basler employees, in March 1997,
Warren Basler and his wife Patricia ran the family business. She remained active in the business until 2002.

Birth of Basler Turbo Conversions
Six years after he opened his FBO, Warren Basler bought his first DC-3. He refurbished it, sold it, and
went into partnership with his customer, arranging charter flights. Before Basler Turbo Conversions was formed in
1988, Basler Flight Service had reworked hundreds of DC-3s, modifying interiors, restoring airframes, and
overhauling engines. Today, Basler
Flight Service is a division of Basler
Turbo Conversions LLC.

Warren Basler and his wife Patricia
(Basler Turbo Conversions)

In 1983 Basler acquired the
prototype of todays BT-67 design
from United States Air Craft (USAC),
completing the prototype for its
service introduction at Friendship Air
in Alaska. The prototype, powered
then by PT6A-45R turbo prop engines
boosted cruise speed to 200 miles per
hour but more importantly boosted
reliability.
Basler recognized early a
need for engine and airframe enhancements for the aging DC-3. Basler got involved with several modification
concepts. Later, with two aircraft and a wish list, he began the modification and certification process.
The FAA granted Basler Turbo Conversions Parts Manufacturing Authority (PMA) for the parts it
manufactures in-house. The FAA's Manufacturing and Inspection District Office still retains manufacturing
oversight.
The major modifications that Basler makes to convert a DC-3 to turbine power are done under a
Supplemental Type Certificate SA4840NM issued in February 1990. Full certification was granted in December
1990. That year, Basler had ten orders for the new Basler BT-67.
Basler redesigned the DC-3s interior, replacing old instruments, and modified the airframe. In the course
of six months, a DC-3 undergoes changes in three major areas. The airframe is returned to its original specification.
The radial engines are replaced with new Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67R turboprop engines, certified to FAR
Part 33, Amendment 10. Maintenance is less because overhaul time is at 6,000 hours verses 1,200 for the radial
engines. Hartzell five-blade metal propellers are used instead of the 3-bladed props that pulled the original aircraft.
Basler-converted airframes are considered to have zero-time with respect to accumulated fatigue damage.
The company inserts a 40-inch plug in the fuselage forward of the wing. This increases the DC-3's volume
by 35 percent, and allows the cabin bulkhead to move forward five feet. Without this plug the props of the new
engine would be right outside the pilots window. We did not think it was a good idea to have the ice shields in line
with the cockpit, said Tom Weigt, president of Basler Turbo Conversions, LLC. There are other performance
improvements also. A fully loaded BT-67 has a slower approach speed than a comparably loaded DC-3. At 10,000
feet, the PT6A-67R engines pull the BT-67 along at 230 mph and burns 150 gallons per hour of jet fuel.
The FAA required improved wing
performance, longitudinal stability, and control,
with the new engines. On the old DC-3, the wing
stalls as a whole, and aileron control is lost. Adding
a wing cuff (a leading edge droop) increased the
wing area effect. The cuff causes the outer wing to
stall last, keeps airflow over the aileron which
improves stall behavior, explained Weigt.

Tom Weigt (Henry M. Holden)

There was an old expression was that
everything on a DC-3 has been changed except its
shadow. Since the BT-67 airframe has been
lengthened, and the outer wing leading edge, wing tip, and tail have been modified, the BT-67 even has a new
shadow.
Basler will convert an owner's existing airframe, or provide an airframe for conversion. Were getting
fewer requests to covert the owners airframe, said Weigt. The condition is probably more important. Airframes
with relatively little corrosion and a good maintenance history are what we are more interested in. We recently
obtained the Miami Valley Aviation (Ohio) fleet of six DC-3s. All but one was in airworthy condition.
The performance of the BT-67 is well-known now, and it continues to be used for special mission
applications. Now, for example, its the number one choice for new polar aircraft (North & South) because of its
superior payload and range on skis. There isnt a better airplane for these hostile environments at any price!
The airplane has proven to be such an excellent survey platform that its now the favorite for new
applications and modernization in the geophysical & environmental survey world. Flights for these applications are
usually made below 500 AGL and at speeds of 100 125 knots where the stability performance, payload and above
all the twin engine safety of the BT67 are the dominant factors in the choice of aircraft.
Basler Turbo Conversions is currently working on its 60
th
conversion. What distinguishes us from other
companies is we keep improving our product, said Weigt. Often a company goes through a strenuous development
period and then it becomes a fixed product. Weve kept ours fluid. We keep making little improvements, and small
changes, and that has helped us. We are a lot more agile, and that I think is what has kept us in the game.

The Basler BT-67 can disperse
chemicals to fight oil spills, seed
clouds and fight fires, all the
things the DC-3 did (Basler
Turbo Conversions)

Basler Turbo
Conversions is active in all the
international markets including
Europe, the Far East, the Pacific
Rim, and Africa. In the past
weve delivered BT-67 aircraft to
Colombian Police, and the Air
Force, said Weigt. In addition
to our Central and South
American customers, we also
serve the U.S. Forest Service,
U.S. Air Force, Thailand, the
Republic of South Africa, Mali, and Mauritania.
Like its forefather, the DC-3 the
Basler Turbo is at home on skis
and high frequency cargo
flights. (Basler Turbo
Conversions)

The number one
driver has been the customer
asking can you do this? A
lot of companies talk about
listening to their customers, but
it is a lot tougher to practice than
to talk about and yet when
youre able to do it, its
worthwhile.
The basic BT-67
aircraft costs $7 million and an
all-up survey aircraft would run
$13-plus million. Every year
we make some changes and
most of them come from our
customers who ask for example, Can you build a glass cockpit? Can you take some weight out of the aircraft; can
you improve the performance, or give us a military flight manual? theyll ask. The good thing is we can responded
to them. We are still small and nimble enough that they dont have to go very far to get their story told. So when the
request comes in we can take action.
One area where change has made a significant difference is in the Gunship (nicknamed Fantasma). The
Gunship loiters at 15,000 feet, and it is not pressurized. In the old oxygen bottle system, said Weigt, we had four
bottles, and if someone was shooting at you, and they hit one of the bottles, you became a flying bomb. To give the
crew some protection we had to add armor protection around the bottles. Suddenly you had 600 pounds of weight
added to the airplane and the oxygen was still dangerous. The new OBOGS is also at a very low in pressure, around
40 psi versus 1,800 psi in the bottles.

Like the old Gooney Bird, this
BT-67 has no problem visiting
far off places such as Chad.
(Basler Turbo Conversions)
Basler trimmed more
weight by reengineering the
floor. We used to use the old
Freuhoff style heavy duty truck
floor out of truck trailers, said
Weigt. It was a good floor but it
was too heavy. We took the same
concept, retooled, and now make
our own floor. It is much lighter,
and it reduced the weight by 350
pounds.
We introduced a
cockpit that is totally night vision
compatible, because weve
changed every light source. All of the panel lights had to be modified so they didnt interfere with the night vision
goggles. Every switch has its own and different light source. Just one switch and everything goes from day to night
or from normal to night. Everything is filtered. Even at night you will see color on the weather radar.
The military wanted better single engine performance so Basler Turbo Conversions introduced a new
propeller that improves performance on the airplane particularly in a single engine emergency situation. In a military
situation it allows one to carry good loads out of high altitude airports. Along with that change they also introduced
a flight manual just for military operations.

The barn doors on the old C-47 are a
convenient carry over to the BT-67 with a
major improvement. Notice the upper lip
which allows larger cargo such as large LD-
5 container. (Basler Turbo Conversions)

The BT-67 has been certified to
colder temperatures, colder than -50C for
their Antarctic customers. That combined
with a new battery system exclusive to
Basler is important for our customers, said
Weigt. It is a non-hazmat battery that is
virtually maintenance free. We tried the
recombination technology batteries and
found them to be 80 percent stronger,
lighter, more durable, lower cost and they
don't require special procedures for
hazardous shipping. More importantly, they
suffer far less power depletion in extreme cold than we found with lead acid batteries, and the Polar applications are
an important market for us. Things like that have kept the business refreshed and our customers coming along.

Jack Goodale (Basler Turbo Conversions)
A lot of the credit for where the company is has to go to Warren,
said Weigt. What Warren did to get us to the starting point weve built on.
Jack Goodale, our current owner, joined us in 1996 and hes the one responsible
for putting the company on solid footing and giving us the support and
encouragement to grow the company. Hes helped us build an incredible
infrastructure. We have an unbelievable stockpile of DC-3 parts, the barn is
full, and we have 30 Sea containers out back filled with spare DC-3 parts.
Thats the beauty of the DC-3. There are still a lot of parts around.
Warren Basler once said that, "The DC-3 was a beautiful, stable, and
virtually indestructible airframe going to waste. We realized that by turbinizing
and modernizing the airplane it would go on for many years. He was right.
The DC-3 turbo conversion should take the old DC-3 to its 100th birthday, and
beyond.
Special thanks to Tom Weigt and Peggy Johnson in the preparation of
this article. For more information: www.baslerturbo.com/


Polar Logistics & Science (Basler Turbo Conversions) A geophysical BT-67 (Basler Turbo Conversions)