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August 1995 Vol. 23, No.8
CONTENTS
1 Straight & Levell
Espie "Butch" Joyce
2 AlC News/H.G. Frautschy
4 Aeromail
5 Life as Viewed through a 140's
Windshield/Don Alesi
6 From the Archives/Dennis Parks
10 Steve Wittman's First Airplane -
The Hardly Ableson/
H.G. Frautschy and Pat Packard
12 The Paramount Cabinaire/
H.G. Frautschy
16 Steve Wittman's
"Hardly Ableson"/
Drawing by Pat Packard
18 AI Nordgren's Grumman G-44
WidgeonlNorm Petersen
22 Vintage Seaplanes/Norm Petersen
24 Pass it to BucklE.E. Buck Hilbert
25 Why did it Sag Off? /
Norm Petersen
26 Mystery Plane/H.G. Frautschy
28 Welcome New Members
29 Calendar
30 Vintage Trader
Page6
Page 18
Page25
FRONT COVER. .The Paramount 'Cabinaire: a WolterCarrdesign from the
roaring twenties. This particularexample. thelost oneofits type. is SIN 7. and
hasbeenrestoredbyFredClarkandBud Rogers. ItwastheAntiqueSilverAge
(1928-1932)ChampionatEMSun 'nFun '95. EMPhotobyJimKoepnick.shot
with on EOS-IN equippedwith a 7D-200mm f2.8 lens. 1/125at fl4on Kodak
Ektachrome Lumiere 100 film. Cessna 210 photo plane piloted by Bruce
Moore.
BACK COVER ... The Mckinnonconversion oftheGrummanG-44 is dubbed
the'SuperWidgeon." This Continental10-540poweredtwinwasrestoredbyAI
Nordgren. and it waspicked as the Best Amphibian at EMSun 'n Fun '95.
EMPhoto byJim Koepnick.shot with onEOS-IN equippedwith a 7D-200mm
12.8lens. 1/250atf9 onKodakEktachromeLumiere 100film. Cessna210photo
planepilotedbyBruceMoore.
Copyright 1995 by theEAA Antique/ClassicDivisionInc.Allrightsreserved.
VINTAGEAIRPlANE (ISSN 0091-6943) is published and owned exclusively by the EM Antique/Classic Division. Inc. of the Experimental
Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EM Aviation Center. 3OIJO Poberezny Rd.P.O. Box 3086. Oshkosh. Wisconsin 54903-3086.
Second Class Postage paid at Oshkosh. Wisconsin 54901 and at additional mailing offICes.The membership rate for EM Antique/Classic
Division.Inc.is$27.00forcurrentEM membersfor12monthperiodofwhich$15.00isforthepublicationofVINTAGE AIRPLANE. Membership
isopentoallwhoareinterestedinaviation.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to EM Antique/Classic Division. Inc. P.O. Box 3086. Oshkosh.WI 54903-3086. FOREIGN AND APO
ADDRESSES- PleaseallowatleasttwomonthafordeliveryofVINTAGEAIRPlANEtoforeignandAPOaddressesviasurfacemail.
ADVERTISING- Antique/Classic Division does not guaranteeor endorse any productoffered through the advertising. We inviteconstructive
criticismand welcomeanyreportofinferiormerchandiseobtainedthroughouradvertiSingso thatcorrectivemeasurescanbetaken.
EDITORIAlPOUCY:Readers areencouragedtosubmit storiesand photographs. Policyopinions expressed in erticlesaresolelythoseofthe
authors. Responsibilityforaccuracyinreportingrestsentirelywnhthecontributor.Norenumeration ismade.
Materialshouldbesentto: Ednor.VINTAGEAIRPlANE,P.O. Box3086. Oshkosh.WI54903-3086. Phone414/426-4800.
The words EM,ULTRALfGHT,FLY WITH THE FIRST TEAM, SPORT AVIATION and the logos of EAA,EMINTERNATIONAL
CONVENTION,fAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION, INTERNATIONAL AEROBATICCLUB,WARBIRDS OF AMERICA are registered
trademarks. THE fAA SKYSHOPPE and logosofthe fAA AVIATION FOUNDATION and fAA ULTRALIGHTCONVENTION aretrademarks
oftheaboveassociationsandtheirusebyanypersonotherthantheaboveassociationisstrictlyprohibned.
EDITORIALSTAFF
Publisher
TomPoberezny
Vice-President
Marketing8c Communications
DickMatt
Editor-in-Chief
JackCox
Editor
HenryG.Frautschy
ManagingEditor
GoldaCox
ArtDirector
MikeDrucks
AssistantArtDirector
SaraA.Otto
ComputerGraphic Specialists
OliviaL. Phillip JenniferLarsen
Advertising
Mary Jones
ASSOCiate Editor
NormPetersen
FeatureWriters
GeorgeHardie.Jr. DennisParks
StaffPhotographers
JimKoepnick MikeSteineke
CarlSchuppel DonnaBushman
EditorialAssistant
IsabelleWiske
EAAANTIQUE/CLASSICDIVISION, INC.
OFFICERS
President Vice-President
Espie' Butch'Joyce ArthurMorgan
P.O.Box35584 W211 N11863HilltopDr.
Greensboro.NC27425 Germantown.WI 53022
910/393-0344 414/628-2724
Secretary Treasurer
SteveNesse E.E. ' Buck'Hilbert
2009HighlandAve. P.O. Box424
AlbertLeo.MN56007 Union,IL60180
507/373-1674 815/923-4591
DIRECTORS
JohnBerendt RobertC.' Bob' Brauer
7645EchoPointRd. 9345S. Hoyne
ConnonFalls,MN55009
Chicaw.IL 60620
507/263-2414 312/ 79-2105
GeneChase JohnS. Copeland
2159CorijonRd.
28-3Williamsbur8Ct.
Oshkosh.WI 54904 Shrewsbury.MA 1545
414/231-5002 508/842-7867
PhilCoulson GeorgeDaubner
28415SpringbrookDr. 2448LoughLone
Lawton.MI49065 Hartford.WI 53027
616/624-6490 414/673-5885
CharlesHarris SfanGomolI
7215East46thSt. 104290th Lone.NE
Tulsa.OK 74145
MN55434
918/622-8400 61 /784-1172
DaleA. Gustafson JeannieHill
7724ShadyHillDr. P.O. Box328
Indianapolis,IN46278 Harvard.IL 60033
317/293-4430 815/943-7205
RobertUCktelg RobertD.' Bob'Lumley
1708BoyOaks r. 1265South 124thSt.
AlbertLeo.MN56007 Brookfield.Wi 53005
507/373-2922 414/782-2633
GeneMarris GeorgeYork
115CSteveCourt.R.R.2 181 SlobodaAv.
Roanoke,TX 76262 Mansfield.OH 44906
817/491-9110 419/529-4378
S.H.'Wes' Schmid
2359LefeberAvenue
Wauwatosa,WI53213
414/771-1545
DIRECTOREMERITUS
S.J.Willman
1904-1995
ADVISORS
JoeDickey JimmyRollison
55OakeyAv. 640AlamoDr.
Lawrenceburg.IN47025 Vacaville.CA95688
812/537-9354 707/45Hl411
DeanRichardson GeoffRobison
6701 ColonyDr. 1521 E. MacGregorDr.
Madison.WI 53717 NewHoven.IN46774
608/833-1291 219/493-4724
STRAIGHT & LEVEL
byEspie"Butch"Joyce
The August VINTAGE AIR-
PLANE is generally considered the
EAA Oshkosh Convention issue of
your magazine. I try to let everyone
know what activities are taking place
during the week, as well as other items
of interest.
It is with great sadness that I must
report to the membership that An-
tique/ Classic Vice-President Art Mor-
gan passed away suddenly July 9, 1995.
It was reported to me that Art was
working on his and Kate' s airplane on
Saturday afternoon with his friend
Andy. Art told Andy that he was not
feeling well and was going home and
take it easy the rest of the afternoon.
That night Art began to feel worse, so
Kate took him to the hospital at 5:00
a.m. Sunday morning. Art had inter-
nal bleeding that the doctors were un-
able to control, and he died at 4:00
p.m. Sunday. A memorial service was
held in Menomonee Falls, WI Thurs-
day night, the 13th of July.
Arthur R. Morgan (EAA 17674,
A/C 2355, WB 9877) was 58 years old
at the time of his passing. He joined
the Experimental Aircraft Association
in 1962 and was a Century Club mem-
ber. He was a very loyal EAA mem-
ber - if you called his phone number
and got his answering machine, there
was a recruiting message about the
EAA Antique/Classic Division, asking
you to join up. Art's volunteer work
began in the days of the Rockford, Illi-
nois Convention. When the fly-in
moved to Oshkosh he became the
Classic Parking Chairman and later
became the Parking Chairman for the
total Antique/Classic area. Still later
he became the Flight Line Chairman,
encompassing the parking and security
areas. Art assembled a very capable
group of volunteers and trained these
people to do a good job. Besides his
work for the Convention, he served as
a Director of your Division for a num-
ber of years, and as Vice-President for
Art Morgan
1937-1995
the past six years. Art was a good
friend, and I'll miss his presence at
EAA Oshkosh '95. Kate, Art's wife,
would like for me to pass along her
thanks to everyone for their thoughts
and kindness.
During the Convention, if you
would like to fly in the Antique/Clas-
sic Parade of Flight, be sure and come
by the red barn to pick up a form.
Fill it out and drop it off there. Pa-
rade of Flight Chairman Steve Nesse
can then look you up and talk to you
about this activity. We also will be
once again having our fly out to
Shawano. This is a good get-together
for a half day to relax and enjoy new
friendships.
Speaking of good fellowship and a
good time, check out the Antique/
Classic picnic. Tickets go fast , so be
sure and stop by early and buy them.
Remember, should you need assis-
tance, come by the RED BARN;
someone there will be able to help you
or know where you ' ll need to go for
help. One of the most active areas
close to Headquarters is the Type Club
tent. Here you can meet the princi-
pals of your Type Club. You' ll often
run into someone you may have talked
to but have never met face-to-face .
Also located next to the Type Club
tent is the Antique/Classic Mainte-
nance Tent; here you can observe and
learn about maintenance practices on
older airplanes as well as perhaps get-
ting an answer to that technical ques-
tion that no one else has been able to
solve for you.
Be sure to check the forum sched-
ule to make sure that you do not miss
a subject that you would like more in-
formation about. The Red Barn, as it
is known, is your Antique/Classic
Headquarters; as I have mentioned
before, this is a very good, recogniz-
able landmark where you can have
your friends meet with you during the
day. Also, the porch at the Barn is a
good place to relax in the shade and
watch the air show.
Just in case you are looking for
them, the OX-5 Headquarters is lo-
cated just to the west of the Barn; then
just to the west of them is located the
airline pilots' sign-in tent. Just across
from the Barn to the east will be 20 to
25 Golden Age air racers - you won't
see that type of gathering anywhere
else . Down the east side of the
north/south paved road you can see
the beautiful past champion award
winning aircraft.
Looking around the show makes
you realize how important the EAA
Antique/Classic Division is as a group
dedicated to preserving and flying An-
tique, Classic and Contemporary air-
craft. It is important that you con-
tinue to ask friends to join up with us
as members. Let's all pull in the same
direction for the good of aviation. Re-
member we are better together. Join
us and have it all! ...
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 2
ARTMORGAN
1937-1995
EAAAntique/Classicvice-presi-
dentArtMorganpassedawayJuly
9,1995. A pilotsince1961,Artand
hiswife Katehave beenEAAand
A/CDivisionvolunteersforover20
years. A DirectoroftheDivision
since1978,hewasservingas A/C
parkingChairmanandasvice-presi-
dentatthetimeofhis death. For
moreonArt,pleasereadpresident
ButchJoyce's"Straight& Level"
columnonpage2.
TheRobertsonWorkExperience
Programofferstheopportunityfor two
youngsterstorecreatetheatmosphere
ofCliffRobertson'sownaviationexpe-
riencesas ayouth,ashetradedhislabor
forafew preciousmomentsin theair.
OurthankstoMr. Robertsonand
TheRayFoundation,theprogram's
sponsor,fortheirsupportandassistance
in bringingtheseyoungpeopletothe
EAAAviationCenter.
AlC CHAPTER29
LocalAntique/Classicactivitycon-
tinuestogrow, andtofurther under-
score thatfact, wehavethenews that
onemoreAntique/ClassicChapterhas
beenaddedtothelist. Antique/Classic
Chapter29, the"SanFranciscoBay
Chapter,"hasbeenorganized,with Bud
Fieldas its charterpresident. Meetings
areheld everysecondThursdayofthe
month atHaywardAirport. Meeting
timeis 7pm,andyoucancontactBud
at510/489-0574orSecretaryLynnJor-
gensonat5101736-2992 for moreinfor-
mation. A totalof37 chartermembers
and officers were included in their
Chapterapplication,anoutstanding
numberfor a new Chapter. We look
WE SHALL MISS.

Haroldmovedontoalong(30 year)ca- Flies"andlatertbeHM-l. The"Zeta, "an-
reerwithTWAas an airlinepilot,andhe otherMillerdesign , is on display in tbe
also keptactivein recreationalaviation,fly- Springfield,MAScienceMuseum,as are
inghis 145 WarnerpoweredMonocoupehe repLicasofbis designsin tbeNew England
called"LittleMulligan." Hecontinuedflying AirMuseum.
aerobaticsuntilwell intohis70' s,oftenflying Hewas an active andenthusiasticsup-
inInternationalAerobaticClubcompeti- portedoftheWolf/Benjaminefforttobuild
tions. LittleMulliganhasbeendonatedto theirreplica oftheGeeBeeR-2,andin fact
theEAAAviationFoundation,andwe look SteveWolfheld aphoneoutthedoorduring
forward toitsdisplay. Delmar'sfirstflightsothatPeteMillercould
hearthesoundofthenewGeeBee.
KenCook
Later,beworked for UnitedTechnolo-
(1914-1995)
giesattheirResearchCenter,from whicb he
retiredin 1969,aftera27 year-longcareer
Formanyofourmembers,the nameKen
with thecorporation.
Cookmayhavea familiarring- bewasthe
publisherofAmerican Airmanmagazine
Our condolences to the family and friends of
duringtbelate 1950'suntil tbeearly'60s.
Harold Neumann, Howell "Pete" Miller and
Ken Cook.
ThefounderofKenCookCompany,apub-
lishingfirm specializingin produetsupport ,
Kenwas alsoan activeaviationbookpub-
lisher,andwasoneoftbefirst ownersofa
militarysurplusjet. Heflew aDHVampire
aroundtbeMilwaukeeareaduringtheearly
1960's.
Howell"Pete"Miller
(1902-1995)
PeteMiller,whoseGeeBeeR)andR-2
designshelpeddefine the"GoldenAgeof
AirRacing"diedJuly10,1995attheageof
93. Petegraduatedfrom NewYorkUniver-
sityin 1926,andwenttowork atbotbHuff-
DalandandKeystonebefore beinghiredby
Zantford"Grannie"Granvilletoserveasthe "
formal engineerfor GranvilleBrothersAir- Howell "Pete" Millerwith the Gee Bee
craft,succeedingBobHall. Hisengineering R-2 replica constructed by Delmar
talentswerealsoseeninFrankHawk's"Time BenjaminandSteveWolf.
Harold Neumann andhisbeloved "Little
Mull i gan," a 145 Warner powered
Monocoupe heflewafterhisretirement
fromTWA.
HaroldNeumann
(1906-1995)
HaroldNeumann(EAA29004)ofRed-
wood City,CApassedawayJuly5,1995 at
age89. Haroldwas theyoungmanwhoflew
BennyHoward's"Mr. Mulligan"tovictory
in the1935ThompsonTrophyrace. '35was
agood yearforHarold,forhealsowon the
GreveTrophyracewith Howard's"Mike. "
Hispassingmeansthelossofthelast pre-war
ThompsonTrophywinner.
Thatsameyear,Mr. Mulliganwasflown
tovictoryin theBendixtranscontinentalrace
byBennyandGordonIsrael. Thethreewins
completedasweepby an airplanemakerof
thetopthreeeventsatthe NationalAir
Racesthatwasneverduplicated.
Haroldflew theFolkertsSK-2"Toots"in
the' 36NAR,winningthe375 cu. inchclass
race,and placingsecondin theGreveand
fourth in theThompson.
compiledby H.C. Frautschy
forward areportoftheiractivities- with
thatmuchenthusiasm,we'resurelotsof
goodthingsarehappening!
CLIFFROBERTSONWORK
EXPERIENCEPROGRAM
TwoYoungEaglesfrom thewestern
partoftheUSAhavebeenselectedas
the CliffRobertsonWorkExperience
Program participants. Tim Reid,16
yearsold,ofCheyenne,WYand17year
old MikeHageleofKamiah,TO have
startedworkingattheEAAAirAdven-
tureMuseum'sPioneerAirport. Dur-
ingthetimethey'llspendworkingatPi-
oneerairport(Julyand August) flight
instructor/mentorInstructorMarkFoss
ofJanesville,WIwill providedual in-
struction.
VINTAGEAIRPLANE3
MAIL
DearSir-
In yourFebruary1995 issue you
haveaspreadofthe1929Thompson
Cupwithall theaircraftin therace.
Tocorrecttherecord,#30wasflown
by C. D.Bowyer-CleidthDonald
Bowyer-whowas my instructorandI
was attherace. Hewasnotflying a
CessnaAirmasterbutrathera Cessna
ACpoweredby a Cometengine. I
haveactuallyflown theairplane.
Thought you' d like the record
straight.
Nice magazine.
Sincerelyyours,
R. N. Buck
P. O. Box689
Moretown,VT05660-068
Gentlemen:
Ihavejustfinished readinga fasci-
nating book, "On A Wing And A
Prayer ,"which is acollectionofavia-
tion columnswritten by ErniePylefor
theWashingtonDailyNewsfrom1928
through1932. FewknewErniePyleas
a pioneeraviationwriter,butremem-
berhimas oneofthebestofthewar
correspondentsduringWWII. He
knewmostofthegreatandnotsogreat
pilotsofthe1928-1932periodofavia-
tionandwroteofthemin hiscolumns.
Someofhisvocabularyis reminis-
centofthetimes. Whatwe nowcall
aerobatics,he calledstunting. Anen-
ginewas a motor,andan instrument
panelwasadashboard.
I began flying in 1929from Chan-
dlerFieldin Atlanta,so manyofthe
namesandstoriesin thiscollectionof
hiscolumnsbringsbackmanymemo-
riesofthosepeopleandtheirtimes.
Letmesharea coupleofthem with
youandyourreaders.
OneofErnie ' s columnswas de-
votedtoJohnnyKytle,apilotfor East-
ernAirTransportontheirAtlantato
Richmond mail run,using Pitcairn
Mailwingairplanes. Inastormynight
flight from AtlantatoRichmond in
1928,Johnnycrashedinto thewest
sideofStoneMountain,with onlymi-
norinjuries. StoneMountain is asolid
blockofgraniterisingabout700 feet
abovethesurroundingterrainwith al-
mostverticalsidesonthreesidesanda
gentleslopeonthewestsidewithscat-
teredscrubtrees. Johnnyflew intothe
slopingwestsideandcametoastopin
thetopsofseveralsmallscrubtrees. It
wasverydarkandhecouldn'tseethe
groundfrom hiswreckedairplanerest-
ingin thetopsoftrees,buthefinally
managedto rescuethemailandclimb
down oneofthetreesto theground.
Johnny' scompanydecided that the
airplanewasn'tworthsalvagingsoit
was bulldozedoverthenorthsideof
the mountain. A localfarmerlater
hauledthewreckageashortdistance
to his barnandchargedtheaviation
hungrypublic25 centsadmission to
seeit.
While my memoryis backin the
late1920sandearly'30s,anotheravia-
tionadventure in Atlantaaviation
comestomind,althoughit is notre-
latedto thePylecolumns.
ChandlerFieldin thosedays had
two fixed base operators, Beeler
Blevins and Doug Davis. Beeler
Blevins,EdHightowerandourlocal
wingwalkerBonnieRowewere the
participantsin thistale. Beelercon-
tractedwitha moviecompanytopro-
vide threeairplaneswith pilotsand
wingwalkerBonnieRowetofilm a se-
quenceinvolvinganairplanelosinga
wheelon takeoff,a secondairplane
loweringa replacementwheelbyrope
toBonnieRoweonthedamagedair-
plane,andathirdairplaneflown by~
Hightowerwithamoviecameraman10
therearcockpittofilm thestunt. Inci-
dentally,theonewheeledairplane
withBlevinsandRoweaboardwas a
Jenny. BonnieRowedid all thewing-
walkingon theJenny,and afterre-
movingawheelandstowingit, hepre-
pared to receive the replacement
wheel from theairplaneflyingclose
formation above. Somehow,in lower-
ing the rope with the replacement
wheel attached,theropebecameen-
tangledaroundthepropellershaftof
theJenny,stallingtheOX-5engine.
BonnieRowe quicklycuttherope
with his sheath knife,separatingthe
twoaircraft,andtheJennymadeaone
wheeldeadsticklandingwithnoin-
juriestoanyofthe participants. The
moviecameramanin EdHightower' s
airplaneflying closebyall thisaction
wassoexcitedby theemergencythat
he forgot tocrankhis moviecamera,
sononeofitwasfilmed.
Once us old-timers get started
tellingtalesoftheearlydaysofavia-
tion,wedon'tknowwhentostop. This
turnedoutto bea longerepistlethanI
hadintended,butit hasbeenfun.
Verytrulyyours,
W.R.(Bill) Plage(AlC 21147)
6165 RiverShoreParkwayNW
Atlanta,GA30328-3704
DearMr. Elliott,
Yourletterto(EAA)VINTAGE
AIRPLANEwas printed in theMay,
1995 issue. Youaskedfor information
regardingMILESSPARROWHAWK
NC191M. Ihavealotofinfoforyou.
Ikeepmy aircraft,NavionN350FU,
atLantanaAirport,Lantana,Florida
and have hungaroundthisairport
sincemy separationfrom theUnited
StatesAirForcein November,1955.
Mr. PerryBoswellofDelrayBeach,
Floridaowned NC191Min the late
1950s. Hehad itmodifiedapparently
for racing-lowersideprofile,etc.
Perryownedseveralinterestingair-
craftsuch as aNieuport28 andothers.
He sold the Sparrowhawk to Mr.
George Roberts, now of Reno,
Nevada. Mr. Robertsownedthebird
atthetimeofitsdemise ,April22,
1959. Onthatdaytheaircraftwasbe-
ingflown inanairshowofthelocalva-
riety. It madea low pass downthe
runway, pulledupsharply,stalledand
flatspunontotherunway, killingthe
pilot,SergeantHamlinofthe USAF,
whowasalonein theairplane. The
aircraftwasacompleteloss,thelargest
piecebeingaboutthesizeofabushel
basket. Mr. Roberts,theownerofthe
Miles, is theonlypersonatthistime
whowould knowofthedispositionof
thewreckage.
Mr. Owen Gassaway,theowner
and operatorofFloridaAirmotive,
Inc.atthisairport,hasbeenpresenton
theairportsince theearly1940s. Heis
thetrueguruofthe airportandis the
final authorityon all ofthevarious
comingsandgoingsatthisairportsince
thattime. Heis a trueaerophileand
lovesairplanesand theirpilots. He
has afew picturesofthesubjectSpar-
rowhawk,includingatleastoneofthe
crashdebris. I amsurehecouldpro-
videadditionalinformationandstories
aboutthisplaneand thepeoplein-
volved. Hisaddressandphonenum-
berareasfollows: 2633LantanaRoad,
Lantana,FL33462;407/965-6400.
(Continued on page 27)
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 4
Lie
as Viewed Through a
140's Windshield
by Don Alesi
NC 16315
month marathon with the 140, we were re-
minded that we were quite a bit younger
and had what it took. I disagree.
This couple still had that same enthusi-
asm we did. I'll bet they could still fly the
socks off our 140 had there been be tte r
weather. Everyone we talked to about
flying, be it young or old, first rides or sea-
soned experts, all shared that same love of
airplanes we did.
I guess what I realized today is that
when it comes to airplanes, pilots and fly-
ing, how you feel on the outside has little
to do with how you feel on the inside. Be-
tween the kids we flew and the adults we
met, I became as young as they are.
I'm 31 , own my own airplane , and to-
day I feel kind of old. I have a job that is
more muscle than mental. I'm beginning
to think like my parents, and getting up at
five for work every day is more hassle
than hustle.
My wife and I rebuilt a Cessna 140 over
a seven month period. Some social life we
had last year! But there is a si lver lining
to that time - with the airplane came a
whole bunch of new friends. Most of these
fine people are over 50 and some are see-
ing the higher side of seventy. I guess by
airplane standards we are quite young.
We bought this airplane about four
years ago noHg.lOwing a thing about an-
t i t ~ , c assic or even modern airplanes,
for tha alter. But as we flew, more and
are young again.
What I have learned from these folks?
They're not old, at least not in the ordi-
nary sense of the word. Sure there's a bit
of gray hair, one more chin, and the two
mile run is not their best event. It's their
mind. It ' s the skill that they never lost.
Plus, all the wisdom, the experience and
stories they have.
I also think of owners of the old bi-
planes. I'm talking Wacos, Fleets, Stear-
mans and more. One owner I met worked
at one of the factories. To them , flying
was just the icing on the cake compared to
the e nj oyment they get working on a
Wright or old Continental engine. They
are craftsman, not just mechanics trying to
make a living. The place where my air-
plane is worked on is run by just such a
man. He works on other people's modern
aircraft with the same enthusiasm he has
when he goes home and putts around his
home with his Stearman or T-28 warbird.
It sure has rubbed off on me.
So how does this fit in with how I feel
today? This morning my wife and I
crawled out of bed, dragged ourselves to
the airport and prepared to go to a nearby
air strip for a picnic and to give a bunch of
kids some rides.
As we strapped on the 140, and fired
up the old Continental, my mood began to
change. The pains in my bones that I
earned as a paratrooper in the Army be-
gan to go away faster than the haze that
had blessed us thi s morning. I thought
about these peopl e and my first ride in a
small air lane.
ne weather was warm and hazy with
the wind predicted to be about twenty
knots at almost ninety degrees to the run-
way. Thank goodness for the parallel
grass runway. Maureen and I were going
to have our hands full.
Throughout the day Maureen and I
took turns giving rides while the other
briefed the kids and vi sited with the par-
ents and grandparents. One elderly gen-
tleman came over and asked that hi s
grandson be given a ride in the same type
aircraft that he took his first ride in. Heck.
We ended up taking both up, and I don' t
know who smiled more. The boy, the
grandfather or myself.
This was about the best fly-in I ever at-
tended. Maureen and I flew about a dozen
kids and five adults. Over eighty kids re-
ceived their Young Eagle flights and al-
though we were exhausted, we felt great.
Whenever I'm feeling tired and old, I
think of these peopl e and how they have
changed my view of things. I hope when
I'm truely old I can say I did a little some-
thing for aviation in the same way these
people have touched my aviation soul. To
all of them, I say "THANK YOU! " ....
FROMTHEARCHIVES . . .
CURTISS
MAILPLANES
1925-1930
From 1925 through 1930 Curtiss pro-
duced a series of mailplanes, many of
which went to National Air Transport.
(see the February 1995 issue of VIN-
TAGE AIRPLANE). National Air
Transport, founded in May, 1925 was
one of the first companies organized
specifically to operate as an airline.
The Curtiss aircraft used by National
were the CARRIER PIGEON, the
FALCON MAILPLANE and the
CARRIER PIGEON II . With the aid
of photos provided by Peter M. Bowers,
the various models are detailed below.
(Top) Curtiss Carrier Pigeon at St.
Joseph,MO.airport,1925.
(Aboveandright)ThefirstoftheCurtiss
airmailseries,theCarrierPigeon. This
designwasofferedinthe1925PostOf-
fice competition for a single-seat
mailplanetobepoweredbyaLibertyen-
gine. NationalAirTransport(NAT) pur-
chasedtheirfirstplanefromthePostOf-
ficeand had 10othersconstructed.
Thesewerepoweredby400hpLiberty
engines. Witha56cubicfootcompart-
ment, theywere ableto carry 1,000
poundsofcargo,witha cruisingspeed
of105mphandarangeof525miles.
6AUGUST1995
o

n.
(Above and Right) The Curtiss Falcon
Mailplane of 1928-29. Fourteen of the com-
mercial version of the military Falcon were
built for NAT in 1928 and 1929. In the air mail
Falcon, the pilot's seat was moved to the aft
observer's position. Up front, two metal-
lined compartments were placed capable of
holding 750 pounds of mail. The 425 hp Lib-
erty powered aircraft had a cruising speed of
125 mph and a range of 728 miles.
(Below) The Curtiss Carrier Pigeon " of 1929.
This was a new design developed in re-
sponse to inquiries for a huge single engine
airplane that could carry a ton of payload.
The Carrier Pigeon" was the largest and
heaviest single engine mailplane of its time
and for some time to come. Though bulkier,
the Carrier Pigeon " was a much cleaner de-
sign than the Falcons. NAT had three of
these mailplanes.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7
CurtissCarrierPigeonII
REGISTRATIONS: NATIONALAIRTRANSPORT 1929-1932
Make:Model Year Registration YearsIn
built Number Register
Ford:5-AT-C 1930 NC-411H 1930,1931,1932
Ford:5-AT-C 1930 NC-4 13H 1930, 1931,1932
Ford:5-AT-C 1930 NC-420H 1931
Ford: 5-AT-C 1930 NC-422H 1931,1932
Ford:5-AT-D 1932 NC-424H 1932
Ford:5-AT-C 1930 NC-426H 1931,1932
Ford:5-AT-C 1930 NC-427H 1931
Ford:5-AT-D 1931 NC-436H 1931,1932
Ford:5-AT-C 1929 NC-841 4 1931,1932
Ford:5-AT-C 1929 NC-841S 1931,1932
Ford:S-AT-B 1929 NC-9668 1931,1932
Ford: 5-AT-B 1929 NC-9669 193 1,1932
Boeing: 40-B-4 1930 NC-103S1 1932
Boeing: 40-B-4 1930 NC- l 03S2 1932
Boeing:40-B-4 1930 NC-l03SS 1932
Stinson:SM-8A 1930 NC-298W 1930,1931
Northrop:Alpha 2 1930 NC-llY 1932
Curtiss:Carrier Pi geon 1926 C-29 1929
CurtissCarrierPigeonII
Make:Model
Curtiss:Carri er Pigeon
Curtiss:Carri erPigeon
Curtiss: Falcon
Boeing:95
Boeing:95
Boeing: 95
Boeing:95
Boeing: 95
Boeing:95
Boeing: 95
Boeing:95
Falcon
Falcon
Falcon
Falcon
Falcon
Falcon
Falcon
Year
built
1926
1926
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1928
1929
1929
Registration
Number
C-31
C-3S
C-11 2E
NC-183E
NC-18S E
NC-187E
NC-188E
NC-189 E
NC-190E
NC-191 E
NC-191E
C-208E
C-209E
C-210E
C-211 E
C-212E
NC-2SSH
NC-2S6H
YearsIn
Register
1929
1929, 1930
1929, 1930, 193 1,1932
1932
1932
1932
1932
1932
1932
1930,1932
1931
1929,1930,1931 ,1932
1929,1930,1931
1929,1930,193 1,1932
1929,1930, 193 1
1929, 1930,193 1,1932
1929,1930,1931
1929, 1930,1931,1932
8 AUGUST 1995
Make:Model Year Registration Years In
built Number Register
Falcon 1929 NC-257H 1930,1931,1932
Falcon 1929 NC-258H 1930,1931,1932
Falcon 1929 NC-301E 1930,1931,1932
Curtiss: Carrier Pigeon 1929 NC-311N 1930,1931,1932
Boeing: 95 1929 NC-397E 1930
Boeing: 95 1929 C-412E 1929
Boeing: 95 1929 NC-413E 1932
Boeing: 95 1929 C-414E 1929,1930,1931 , 1932
Boeing: 95 1929 NC-415E 1932
Boeing:95 1929 NC-417E 1930,1931,1932
Boeing: 95 1928 C-423E 1929,1930,1931,1932
Boeing: 95 1928 C-424E 1929,1931,1932
Boeing:95 1929 C-425E 1929,1930,1931,1932
Boeing: 95 1929 C-426E 1929
Douglas:M3 1926 C-789 1929
Douglas:M4 1926 C-791 1929,1930,1931
Douglas: M4 1926 C-794 1929,1930,1931
Douglas:M4 1926 NC-795 1929,1930,1931,1932
AirKing 1929 NC-883H 1930
Curtiss:Carrier Pigeon 1929 NC-905H 1932
Curtiss:Carrier Pigeon 1929 NC-985H 1930,1931,1932
Douglas:M3 1927 C-lOOO 1929,1930,1931,1932
Douglas:M3 1927 C-1001 1929,1930,1931
Douglas:M3 1927 NC-l003 1929,1930,1931
Douglas:M4 1926 NC-l060 1929,1930,1931,1932
Douglas:M3 1926 C-l061 1929,1930, 1931,1932
Douglas:M4 1926 C-1063 1929,1930,1931
Douglas:M3 1926 NC-1645 1929,1930,1931,1932
Douglas: M4 1926 C-1646 1929
Douglas: M4 1926 C-1647 1929,1930,1931,1932
Douglas: M3 1926 NC-1649 1929,1930,1931
TravelAir: 5000 1927 C-3002 1929,1930
Douglas: M4 1928 C-3881 1929,1930,1931
Stearman: C3MB 1928 NC-4552 1931
Stearman:C3MB 1928 C-4552 1930,1932
Pitcairn: PA5 1928 C-5636 1929
Pitcairn:PA5 1928 C-5863 1929
(Above) WilliamJ. Spencer, NATAirmail Pilot,standsbefore
Douglas:M4 1928 C-7163 1929
anNATCurtissFalcon.
Boeing: 49B 1927 C-7471 1929
Curtiss:FalconMail Pl ane 1929 NC-8670 1931,1932 (Below) An NATCurtissFalconMailplane.
~
k'4fI-
VINTAGE AIRPLANE9
In 1923 and 1924, as Sylvester
"Steve" Wittman was preparing to grad-
uate high school, his dream of becoming
an aeronautical engineer was still a part
of him, but with no financial resources
available for the Byron, WI native to at-
tend college, he had to rely on his own
study habits and the practical knowl-
edge he'd gained to be able to make a
career in the new industry of aviation.
A little background history will give
the reader a clearer understanding of
his aeronautical beginnings . As a
youngster, Steve's father, Martin, was
the station agent for the Soo Line rail-
road in the little Wisconsin town of By-
ron, 7 miles south of Fond du Lac. The
family lived in the depot's living quar-
ters, located on the second floor. His
mother, Mary Ann was also adept at
handling the railroads affairs at the sta-
tion, including being a skilled telegra-
pher.
The family managed to get by fine
for a number of years until tragedy
struck. Little Steve was only eight years
old when his father passed away at the
age of 56. Fortunately, because her co-
workers at the station vouched for her
abilities, Mrs. Wittman was retained by
the Soo Line as the station agent after
her husband' s death. Still, times were
hard, and Steve recalled spending a
good part of his youth working to earn
additional money to help support the
family, which also included his older
brothers, Martin A. , Hubert, Raymond,
and his older sister, Marie. As a young
adult , Martin A. fell ill with a disease
that slowly calcified his back. He be-
came a bedridden invalid, and required
constant care. With his mother working
for the railroad, Steve had to help care
10 AUGUST 1995
for his older brother. He found he had
little time for school, and as a conse-
quence, he didn't finish high school until
he was 20 years old.
After graduating from Fond du Lac
high school in 1924, he and his buddy
Perry Anderson bought a Standard J-I.
He had been riding a motorcycle for a
couple of years with no problems associ-
ated with exceptionally poor sight in his
right eye, the result of a viral illness
Steve suffered at the age of 5. He and
Perry learned to fly the biplane, and im-
mediately put it to work by selling ad-
vertising on its fuselage sides. They
barnstormed all over Wisconsin, selling
rides and putting on flying exhibitions
to help foot the bills. "Witt," as he was
often known to his friends, also ran a
fledgling fixed base operation at the
Fond du Lac airport, then located on
the east end of the town, directly on the
south end of Lake Winnebago.
But all of this took place after an ear-
lier aeronautical project, for Steve
Wittman's first airplane was one he
built himself! Before he graduated high
school, "Witt" had been involved in the
construction of an airplane, the first of
his own design . As he finished high
school, he was also hard at work design-
ing and building his first homebuilt air-
plane. Since motorcycle riding was ac-
complished with no problem, why not
realize a long held dream of learning to
fly?
In a series of interviews with Pat
Packard that took place from 1991 until
1994, Steve related the details of the air-
plane's construction. It was to be a
monoplane of what we now consider
conventional layout, with squared off
tail and wing surfaces. Power was a
SteveWittman's
FIRST
AIRPLANE
by Patrick H. Packard
and H.G. Frautschy
Drawing and model by Patrick H. Packard
Additional biographical information
from "Steve Wittman - One of
the World's Greatest Race PilotsII
by Aaron L.King, Jr.
Harley-Davidson 61 cubic inch V-twin
motorcycle engine of 12-14 hp at 1200
rpm, complete with an added gear re-
duction mounted between the two cylin-
ders to drive the propeller. The power-
plant would give the airplane its name -
it was dubbed the "Hardly Ableson," a
play on words by Steve that pointed out
the Harley's less than adequate power
level, given the task Steve was asking it
to perform. It's probably a safe bet that
Steve didn't actually give it this name
until after he had tried flying the air-
plane.
The actual layout of the wing struc-
ture does have a bit of mystery attached
to it, and with Steve's passing we may
never know. Fortunately, during the
past winter Steve told Pat that he was
pretty sure the spars for his first air-
plane still existed in the hangar loft of
his Wisconsin home. After Steve's
death, as preparations were made to
move artifacts from his hangar, Pat and
members of the EAA Foundation's col-
lections staff, Ron Twellman and Sean
Butler, found a pair of spars that were
identical in shape and layout and ap-
peared to be old enough to be the spars
for the Hardly Ableson. Close exami-
nation showed that spars were not con-
sistent with Steve's description of the
spars for his first homebuilt - they were
strongly tapered, and the mounting was
with straps over the center section, in-
stead of the bolts through the spar as
Steve had described them.
Since Steve had described the use of
the RAF 6 airfoil, and he made no men-
tion of a tapered wing in either chord or
thickness, it leads to the belief that the
spars found are not those of the Hardly
Ableson. They do appear to be old
enough to be part of the materials he re-
ceived when the Pheasant Airplane
Company folded. Steve had been the
test pilot for a number of their airplanes,
and had raced one of their Pheasant
Traveler high-wing monoplanes in local
county fair races and airshows. Al-
though too short to be standard Trav-
eler wings, perhaps they have some an-
cestry in that design. The spars are
interesting artifacts and it is hoped that
once they are put on display in the soon-
to-be constructed Wittman Hangar,
more information will come to light re-
garding their application.
Until later conversations, it was un-
clear if the wings were cantilever or
strut-braced. Without the actual spars
to check, it is difficult to confirm, but
a passing comment by Steve that he
was pretty sure the wing was strut
braced to the third wing rib bay (the
root aileron bay), coupled with the
general layout of the wing, leads to
a strong supposition that each
wing had a pair of struts running
from the landing gear "Vee," at
the point where the gear legs in-
tersect at the fuselage, extending
out to each spar. The RAF 6
was a very popular airfoil of the
period, and was included in a
number of U.S. Navy airplanes
built during that time.
The landing gear was very sim-
ple in layout. Two 3/4" x 3-1/2"
oak "vee's" were bolted flat to
the sides of the fuselage, with a
tubular axle running in slots at the
apex of the "Vees. " The axle was
actually a pair of tubes, one slid in-
side the other for strength, with the
tire mounted on the smaller axle.
Bungee cords supported the solid
axle in the slot, and served as the only
shock absorption in the landing gear.
The construction of the Hardly was
done entirely with wood, except for the
piano wire bracing (purchased from a
Fond du Lac piano store) used in the
wings, tail and fuselage . A spring from
a wagon was fashioned into the tail skid,
and other small fittings were whittled
out of scrap steel. The wood for the
airplane was transported from Green
Bay back to Byron by railroad. The
spars themselves were built in the shops
in Green Bay. One of the men in the
Green Bay shop cut the wood for the
spars, and then Steve brought them
back to the railroad shed in Byron.
Steve had become pretty good friends
with a number of Soo railroad men, and
he would hop a freight train enroute to
the railroad shops in Green Bay, 70
miles to the north, where he was al-
lowed to gather up scraps and other
pieces of lumber. Steve then returned
home with his wood to construct his air-
plane.
The fuselage was laid out so that
Steve would sit on a wooden bench type
seat with no padding, and no seatbelt.
The seat was located between the front
and aft spars so that the proper e.G.
could be maintained. While traveling
around on his motorcycle with friends,
he often would stop at airports and talk
with the pilots, many were WW I pilots
who flew war surplus Jennys and the
like. He learned much of his practical
aeronautical knowledge he had to that
point firsthand, meeting the men who
flew and maintained their own airplanes.
Martin Wittman
/I Little Steve was only eight years
old when his father passed away at
the age of 56."
The shed in Byron did not have a
workbench, and the airplane was built
on sawhorses. After the fuselage was
built, Steve mounted the spars on the
fuselage to use as a "self-jig" for the
wing. He bolted the wing spars into po-
sition on the fuselage, and proceeded to
build the wing while in place. Onlyaf-
ter it was done did he remove it so it
could be covered.
A number of areas showed a good
eye for detail, and you can see the be-
ginnings of some of his intuitive feel for
aircraft construction. The wing ribs all
had lightening holes and cap strips, and
the use of a steel wire trailing edge
showed the young Wittman understood
that an airplane needed to be as light as
practical to fly well.
On the other hand, one item will give
the "willies" to anybody familiar with
what today are considered sound engi-
neering practices. The use of the wood
screw eyes in tension as control surface
hinges was not the best idea - the screw
eyes would pull out of the wood due to
vibration and/or stress over time. Given
the limited flying done with the air-
plane, and the low speeds involved, this
particular fault never came into play.
A 52" prop was carved out of lami-
nated mahogany, driven by the gear re-
duction. The rear bearing for the prop
drive shaft rested in a pillow block
mounted on the top of the cowl, and
the front bearing and gear support
was attached between the two cylin-
ders. The engine was bolted directly
to a pair of bearers projecting from
the firewall. The gas tank sat di-
rectly behind the firewall, with the
pilot's feet extending to the rudder
pedals mounted on the floor be-
low the tank. Steve sat down in-
side the fuselage with his upper
chest, shoulders and head extend-
ing above the top of the fuselage.
All the controls were actuated us-
ing two-cable controls (pull-pull
controls) , and the ailerons and ele-
vator were stick controlled . No
windscreen was fitted.
The covering was cotton sheeting
from the local Fond du Lac dry
goods store, tacked and stitched in
place, and then finished with thinned
varnish, as were the bare wood sec-
tions of the fuselage.
After the airplane was complete,
he and a few of his friends pulled it
down the road to a farmer's field, where
Steve set out to teach himself to fly!
The airplane did not have enough power
to sustain flight - a bump or two in the
field would launch the little airplane
into the air for a flight, but he never
tried to clear the ever-present barbed
wire fences surrounding the field. He
also recalled that on a couple of land-
ings he managed to touch down side-
ways a bit, rol1ing the motorcycle tires
off of the rims. He applied the standard
fix used in those days - he wrapped tape
around both the tire and rim to prevent
the tires from being pushed off the rims
during a side load. Steve recal1ed that
he flew it only a few times, primarily be-
cause it was very underpowered, with
some vibration from the Harley engine.
The last landing of the Hardly Able-
son ended in what we would describe as
a ground loop, with the landing gear
folding and the wire wheels being badly
(Continued on page 17)
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11
Fred Clark andBud Roger's
ParamountCabinaire
An unusual cabin biplane From 1929
is back after 50 years.
As a relatively young man, I'm still
amazed by the fact that "new" old air-
planes are still showing up for the first
time on the modern fly-in circuit. Fred
Clark (EAA 260092) of Deland, FL
and Bud Rogers (EAA 83099, AIC
1243) of Sanford, FL have brought
one of the past 's most rare antiques
back to the skies.
The Paramount "Cabinaire" was
the result of the collaboration of Wal-
ter Carr and Joseph Behse. The two
Michigan aviators saw the need for an
airplane that kept the passengers out
of the slipstream, enclosed in a sump-
tuous cabin.
Walter Carr was a pioneer aviator
who soloed in 1914 using a Curtiss
Pusher. He soon progressed to exhi-
bition flying, showing off the new-fan-
gled flyin' machines to the public.
During the Great War he flew Jennys
as an instructor for the U.S. Signal
12 AUGUST 1995
by H.G. Frautschy
Corps. His aviation experience con-
tinued after the conflict when he
bought his own Jenny and barn-
stormed around the country, eking
out a living. In 1919, domestic life
beckoned, and he married a young
lady named Edith from Saginaw, MI.
As the years passed, Edith made it
clear that she wished Walter would
settle down and live in one location,
so he decided to set up a fixed base
operation at the Saginaw airport.
All the time he spent flying passen-
gers convinced Carr that if aviation
were to progress, with the general
public being flown on a for-hire basis,
airplanes needed to be more comfort-
able. Certainly he was not the first to
realize this - Eddie Stinson saw the
same need, as did many others during
the 1920's. Carr wanted to convert his
philosophy into hardware, so he ap-
proached some local men of substance
- two brothers, Walter and Edward
Savage, and John Coryell, all from the
local area. The four men came to an
agreement that spelled out the estab-
lishment of CSC Aircraft of Saginaw,
MI.
Carr's idea for a cabin airplane
would come to being as a three-place
high wing monoplane powered by an
OXX-6. Tipping the scales at 1660
Ibs, the "Maiden Saginaw" wanted a
lot from the Curtiss engine, and ap-
parently did not enjoy outstanding
flight characteristics, requiring the
touch of an experienced pilot. Unfor-
tunately for Walter, the project never
got past the prototype stage, and only
one of the aircraft was ever built be-
fore CSC Aircraft folded.
Carr wasn't lacking for work at this
point. The Great Depression was still
four years away, and he was busy fly-
ing as the Chief pilot for Northern
(Opposite page) Fred Clark and Bud
Rogers have brought back the Para-
mount Cabinaire, an unusual cabin bi-
plane built in 1929 in Saginaw, MI. Fred
had owned the airplane for over 20 years,
patiently collecting parts and pieces
needed for the restoration over that
time. Bud became a partner in the air-
plane as the restoration was undertaken.
(Top) The distinctive wing and cabin
arrangement of the Paramount Cabi -
naire is shown off in this view.
(Above, right) When Walter Carr decided
to build the Cabinaire, he wanted a cabin
with excellent visibility. The seats fea-
ture a steel tube frame with wicker backs
and seats, and fabric upholstery. The
model 165 had a four-place cabin, and a
rather spartan instrument panel domi-
nated by a Consolidated style instrument
cluster, flanked with an altimeter and
airspeed indicator.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13
Conceived by Michigan aviator Walter Carr and intended for the budget minded busi-
nessman or for charter work, the Paramount Cabinaire received its Approved Type
Certificate a week after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The economic uncertainties
of the time shut off the market possibilities for the Cabinaire, and the company folded
in 1931 after the death of company president Joe Behse.
Airways, most often flying a route be-
tween Detroit, Saginaw and Bay City.
He still had his fixed base operation at
Saginaw, flying charters and flight in-
structing with his trusty Travel Air
2000. His fortunes and experience
both served him well, for in 1927 the
Warner Aircraft Co. of Detroit was
looking for a pilot to test fly their new
engine. The new "Scarab" series put
out 110 hp, and was targeted towards
14 AUGUST 1995
the same pi lots and aircraft who were
flying behind the war-surpl us Curtiss
OX-5 wit h its 90 hp. The OX-5 in
Carr's Travel Air was pulled, and the
new 110 hp Warner put in its place.
Over 150 hours of flight time was put
in by Carr with his Travel Air, helping
to proof test t he engineering in what
would become one of the Golden Age
of Aviation's more well known pow-
erplants.
All that time spent by Carr in the
Travel Air helped gel an idea in his
mind. If the Travel Air was such a
sweet flying machine, why not make it
a cabin job? With one of those new
Warner engines, it could be a real
money-maker, just the ticket for those
charters to the big city, or as an eco-
nomic form of transportation for a
growing businessman.
Capital was sti ll needed though, and
the man who would provide it was a
fellow aviator, a lbeit a rather well
heeled one. Joseph E. Behse was heir
to the Modart Corset factory fortune,
and had learned to fly in the military
towards the end of WW I. He never
made it overseas, with the War ending
before his orders came through. Back
home in Saginaw, he worked in the
family business until it was sold in 1927
to another company.
Behse put his money to work by
backing Walter Carr's new venture,
which may have already had a proto-
type flying. The exact history of the
first Cabinaire is a bit foggy, with some
discrepancy as to when exactly the first
airplane was built. The configuration
of the airplane has never been in doubt,
however.
The biplane featured a cabin
roofline that did not incorporate the
upper wing. Instead, the upper wing
was mounted above the cabin, sup-
ported by a set of short cabane struts.
A single pair of "N" struts braced the
wing structure, with a push-pull aileron
actuating rod extending from a bell-
crank in the lower wing to the ailerons
mounted on the upper wings.
The Paramount Aircraft Corp. was
incorporated at the end of the summer
in 1928. Carr was fortunate to be the
recipient of the SIN 1 Warner "Scarab"
engine, no doubt as partial or full pay-
ment for his services during flight test-
ing of the new engine. It would serve
as the engine in the first "Cabinaire,"
and it appears that his Travel Air also
gave its very best to the project as well.
The actual wings and tail surfaces of
Carr's 2000 were put to use, as was the
basic fuse lage. The upper longerons
were reworked to extend the cabin
roofline, creating a three-seat airplane
with plenty of room for the two passen-
gers to enjoy the sights while the pilot
took them to their far off destination.
As is often the case with a new air-
plane, there were lessons to be learned,
and the first airplane may have been
reworked into the second Cabinaire,
SIN 2. As 1929 progressed, Paramount
Aircraft figured they had a good thing
going, for they sold their first airplane.
The early Cabinaires all had the same
basic layout, including a Warner 110
hp engine and a neat NACA low-drag
cowl, which Carr hoped would stream-
line the airplane enough to negate the
extra drag of the biplane's brace wires
and wings.
Four more 110 hp examples of the
Cabinaire were built, including SIN 5,
which received a CAA Group II ap-
proval a four-place airplane. The next
version of the airplane put the lessons
of the first five into practice. More
power was needed for the Cabinaire to
be a true four-place airplane, and a re-
vised wing and landing gear configura-
tion (used in the earlier production ver-
sions) was incorporated.
The extra power came from a Wright
J6-5 (R-540) which pumped out 165 hp
with its 5 cylinders. The new version of
the Paramount product was to be
known as the Cabinaire 165. The late
fall of 1929 was certainly a "good
newslbad news" time for the company -
the Cabinaire 165 received its Ap-
proved type Certificate, No. 265, on
November 2,1929. But the stock mar-
ket crash only the week before gave
everybody in business the jitters, and
put them all on edge as far as the future
was concerned.
NC-17M was the seventh Cabinaire
built, and the first of the "165" series.
Carr and Behse gamely worked at pro-
moting the Cabinaire, but the market
for the airplane barely existed. Only
two more were ever sold, (including
the rebuild of SIN 3, which created SIN
9) even after the two men set out to
prove the airplane's worth in the 1930
Ford Reliability Air Tour, a cross-
country event that saw 18 entrants.
The Cabinaire placed 15th, not a par-
ticularly great showing. By the fall of
1930, as the Air Tour was winding up,
Carr let Behse know he was leaving
Paramount Aircraft. Sales were going
nowhere fast, and he didn't see how
they would improve.
Joe Behse continued as president,
but not for long. A small two place
floatplane was designed by Ralph John-
son, who had done the engineering cal-
culations on the Cabinaire. It was
named the Paramount Sportster. The
110 hp Warner Scarab once again made
an appearance on a Paramount air-
plane. Unfortunately, the Sportster
was around for only slightly over one
month. First flown in April 1931, it
crashed in the Saginaw river on May
16,1931, carrying Joe Behse and me-
chanic Whitney Merritt to their deaths.
Sometime after the Ford Reliability
Air Tour, SIN 7 was bought by Erie Is-
land Airlines, hopping passengers
around the Put-In-Bay area. They flew
the airplane until just after WW II,
when it was sold to a company in Wis-
consin. Relatively inactive, the wings
were damaged in a hangar fire, and it
later was bought and moved to a mu-
seum in Sarasota, FL. There, Fred
Clark bought the remains of the plane
during the mid '70s.
He continued to collect parts as he
found out about them, and was particu-
larly helped by President Bob Taylor of
the Antique Airplane Association, who
had some parts, as well as Dave Cle-
vanger, who had at one time owned the
airplane and was able to come up with
an engine mount and a few other odds
and ends. '
Bud Rogers is also part owner in the
Cabinaire, and he and his wife Lillian
did much of the restoration work. New
wings had to be rebuilt, since the origi-
nals were damaged in the previously
mentioned hangar fire, and Bud's wife
Lillian helped with the stitching chores.
The fuselage required work as well,
including all new wood. It was decided
that an original Wright J6-5 was to be
used, putting the airplane in its original
configuration. The distinctive look of
the Cabinaire finally was seen by An-
tique enthusiasts at Sun 'n Fun '95.
More than one of us had to take a peek
in "U.S. Civil Aircraft" by Jos. Juptner
to refresh our memories about this par-
ticular airplane. Fred and Bud were
kept busy asking questions all day
about the Cabinaire and the Curtiss
Robin they have re-engined with a
Buick V-8.
The Cabinaire 165 didn't make it as
sales were concerned, but as a temple-
scratching, "I wonder what that is" an-
tique, it's a rousing success. Thanks to
Bud Rogers and Fred Clark, the rare
cabin biplane with the wing above the
fuselage will be puzzling fly-in atten-
dees for some time to come! *
My thanks to Dr. William Ballard,
D.D.S. and Robert Pauley for provid-
ing additional historical background.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15
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STEVE
WITTMAN
(Continuedfrom page 11)
bent. The pile of parts were hauled
back to the railroad shed in Byron, and
Steve began to think about purchasing
one of the surplus airplanes he had seen
during his motorcycle trips around the
state.
Unfortunately, no photos or original
drawings exist of the Hardly Abelson.
In fact, Steve did not talk that much
about the airplane, and rarely men-
tioned it during the course of interviews
about his life. A passing comment about
it piqued the interest of a longtime
friend, artist Pat Packard. Pat contin-
ued to question Steve about the air-
plane, and details began to emerge.
Steve had remarkable recall about
the Hardly Ableson, including the di-
mensions, so the basic outlines of the
airplane went down on paper pretty eas-
ily, and then Pat and he began to fill in
the details, showing him the drawings as
time progressed. Steve would then com-
ment and make corrections on the draw-
ings, which were complete at the time of
Steve's death - they were to be signed
by him upon his return to Wisconsin.
The results are represented by the
drawing on pages 16 and 17. This copy-
righted general arrangement drawing is
one of 4 sheets, and should be suitable
for modeling purposes. Readers are
cautioned regarding the struct ural and
flight characteristics of the airplane as
depicted - no analysis has been done on
this airplane in any way, and as men-
tioned in this article, certain aspects run
counter to building practices now ac-
cepted as correct. A full size, non-flying
replica for display in the Wittman
Hangar at EAA Pioneer Airport is now
being constructed over the next year by
Pat Packard, who generously allowed
the reproduction of this plate so that
modelers and historians could gain some
insight into the first airplane constructed
by the late Steve Wittman. ...
Full size (20x 16) xerographic copies
of the four sheets that comprise the
documentation drawings by artist
Pat Packard are available for $12.00.
The other three sheets are described
on the left side of the drawing.
Write to:
Pat Packard
Box 3373
Oshkosh, WI 54903-3373
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17
Just east of the large city of Portland,
OR, is a smaller community named Trout-
dale - the name alone conjures up thoughts
of patient fishermen, beautiful water and
interesting shorelines - that was the home
of McKinnon Enterprises, Inc., a company
that specialized in converting Grumman
amphibians to corporate chariots with im-
proved performance. The company head-
quarters was actually at Sandy, just down
the road a few miles. However, the main
McKinnon Hangar still stands at the Trout-
dale Airport.
18 AUGUST 1995
AI Nordgren's
Grumman G-44
WIDGEON
by Norm Petersen
Best Amphibian Award Sun In Fun 1995
Right next to the McKinnon building is
a hangar belonging to AI Nordgren of
Troutdale, who happens to own a beautiful
1943 Grumman G-44 "Widgeon," N69058,
SIN 1291, which was one of the more than
fifty that were converted to "Super Wid-
geons" by McKinnon back in the 1950's.
Instead of the original six-cylinder, in-
line Ranger engines of 200 hp with fixed-
pitch wooden propellers, the Super Wid-
geon has Lycoming GO-480-BID engines
of 270 hp swinging three-bladed Hartzell
controllable props with full feathering ca-
pabilities. In addition, it has retractable
wingtip floats , larger fuel capacity (154
gals.) and a beefed up hull and landing
gear to handle an increase to 5500 lb. gross
weight.
Just how AI Nordgren ended up with
this beautiful amphibian at Sun 'n Fun
'95 and ran off with the Best Amphibian
Award is a story in itself. AI was born
and raised in Troutdale, OR, and earned
his helicopter license when he was 18
years old. His father Earl and was also
taking helicopter training, received his li-
cense the very same month.
Moving on to fixed wing aircraft, AI has
bought, sold and traded numerous ma-
chines over the years, but never a Grum-
man Widgeon - until N69058 came on the
scene!
The airplane had been advertised in
Trade-A-Plane and was located at Arling-
ton, WA. AI traveled north to Arlington
and negotiated the purchase, knowing that
a great deal of rebuilding work lay ahead.
This particular Super Widgeon had
been surplused out of the U.S. Navy on
Apri l 27,1947 and was acquired by Lana
Kurtzer of Kurtzer Flying Service on beau-
tiful Lake Union in Seattle, W A. It faith-
fully served over forty years in the Seattle
area until 1988, when it was sold to a party
named Edson, who flew the Widgeon up
to Sitka, Alaska, where it served for about
three years. They brought the old girl
back to Arlington, WA in 1992, where AI
purchased the airplane. It was in need of
considerable help (there were patches on
top of patches) . The Super Widgeon was
dismantled and hauled home on two large
trailers to Troutdale where the long road
to respectability began.
As the airframe was taken apart, all
metal was bead blasted to remove old
paint and reveal any and all corrosion.
There was plenty, especially where it was
not supposed to be. However, where the
rebuilders expected severe corrosion,
there was often bright, shiny, aluminum
with little or no hint of deterioration. Riv-
ets by the thousand were drilled out to re-
move aluminum panels as each section of
the large fuselage came under scrutiny.
Jack Barnes, former McKinnon em-
ployee, was the lead person on the restora-
tion and his expertise was shown at many
critical times. All pieces and parts that
measured up for fina l assembly were
etched and alodined and then sprayed with
a special Boeing primer. AI Nordgren says
the primer does an excellent job of preser-
vation, and it also allows for critical in-
spections in lat er years that might reveal
future corrosion. If one paints over the
primer with polyurethane, the corrosion
does not become visible, and is hidden
from view - not a comforting thought.
New aluminum skins were fabricated
and installed on the belly of the fuselage as
the old ones had seen better days. The en-
tire tai lwheel with its strut assembly was
dismantled, bead blasted and rebuilt with
all new moving parts. The main landi ng
gears were also taken down, bead blasted,
magnafluxed for internal cracks and then
reassembled with all new bolts and fittings.
In addition, new Cleveland wheels and
brakes were installed on the gear.
Before new sides were installed on the
fuselage, a 50,000 BTU Janitrol heater was
installed in the aft fuselage to accommo-
date those cold mornings in places like
Alaska. AI says this heater has been a real
comfort on many occasions. The tail feath-
(Above) The new custom built instrument
panel features a center stack of radios and
late model instruments. Note the cherry
wood control wheels with ebony inlaid de-
signs - a touch of real class.
(Left) The heart of the McKinnon Widgeon
conversion that makes a real hot-rod out of
the airplane are these Lycoming GO-480-
B1C engines that crank out 270 hp each at
full bore, yet the large, three-bladed props
get a really good bite of air at the reduced
propeller speed. (Red wing blackbirds also
like the Hartzell props!)
(Below) With the retractable wingtip floats
in the down position, AI Nordgren brings
the award-winning Widgeon in for a perfect
touchdown on the vented step of the hull.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19
ers of the Widgeon were all rebuilt with
new skins installed on the stabilizer. The
old pieces of aluminum were severely cor-
roded. The rudder and elevators were
cleaned up, primed and covered with fab-
ric, the ribstitching being very closely
spaced for high speed work.
Up in the wing center section, the en-
tire area was opened up, bead blasted, in-
spected, cleaned and then sprayed wit h
Boeing primer. Long range fuel tanks
were installed to bring the fuel capaci ty to
154 gallons from the original 108 ga ls.
Unique to the Widgeon are removable
wing leading edges. These were carefully
bead blasted and reworked to new condi-
tion before being primed and reinstalled.
About this time, Allocated a new set of
landing gear retract mechanisms that had
never been installed in an airplane. He
contacted Sky Control in Sun Valley, CA,
who had built the original gear actuators,
20 AUGUST 1995
(Above) Turning into the evening sun, AI
Nordgren brings the Widgeon up close
for Jim Koepnick's camera. Note his
right hand on the dual overhead throt-
tles. Did you ever notice that a Lycoming
GO-480 engine has a "smiling face" on
its front cowl?
(Left) Backlit by the sun, the familiar
shape of a beautiful Grumman amphib-
ian is easily identifiable against the
darker water.
and t hey were able to supply new actua-
tors . AI's "Good Luck" charm came
through about this time when Mrs. McKin-
non (the widow of A. E. McKinnon, who
did all the conversions) called. She said
the family was selling the airfield and
house. In the attic there was a bundle of
paperwork they were just going to throw
out. She mentioned Al was welcome to
come and r ummage through it to see if
anything was of use. AI says they found all
of the original stamped FAA Approvals
that McKinnon had done on the various
Grumman amphibians! All of this pre-
cious material was saved and eventually
was sent to a museum in Ketchikan,
Alaska, who has charge of the paperwork.
A very special t hank you has to be ac-
corded Mrs. McKinnon for being savvy
enough to call before throwi ng the ali-im-
portant paperwork in the trash bin.
All of the wiring in the entire airplane
was replaced to modern standards and a
new floor was fabricate d fr om Boeing
composite flooring as used in their airlin-
ers. A new one-piece windshield was in-
stall ed along wi th a new interior done in
leather, Ultra Suede and cherry wood.
The colors are light grey, grey and wood to
really add a touch of class. The dual con-
trol yokes are handmade from cherry wood
with ebony inlays. A custom instrument
panel was fabrica t ed to handle all new
avionics and instrumentation.
Both three-bladed, full-feathering,
Hartzell propellers were sent in for over-
haul and the left engine, a GO-480-B1D
Lycoming of 270 hp, was majored. The
right engine had about 1000 hours, but
checked out in good shape.
A major improvement was the installa-
tion of retractable wingfloats on each
wingtip. These are an STC'd installation
and are operated by electrical actuators.
The big advantage is a more efficient
wingtip that increases the cruise speed and
allows the float to be raised when the wing
is passing over a dock or obstruction of
some ki nd. Again, the important thing to
remember is to lower the floats for a water
landing, lest you run out of wingtip flota-
tion when the airplane slows down on the
water. (An upside down Widgeon is not a
very pretty sight!)
Another important addition is a spray
rail that goes completely around the nose
of the fuse lage. This neat spray rail was
designed by veteran Widgeon guru ,
George Pappas (EAA 4071, AIC 7893) of
Anchorage, AK, and really helps to keep
spray off the propellers.
Once the airplane was pretty much all
assembled and test r un, it was carefully
preparedfora newpaintschemewithall
colorsdoneinSterlingpolyurethane. The
basecoatis MatterhornWhitewith the
trim donein ScarletRed, LightGreyand
Gold. Again,extremeattentiontodetailis
evidentandthebeautyoftheentirepaint
schemeaccentstheclassiclinesofLeRoy
Grumman' sbeautifulWidgeon. Needless
tosay,theclassypaintjobcaughttheeye
ofthejudgesatSun' nFunandwhenall
theshoutingwasover,AlNordgrenhad
won theBestAmphibianAwardfor1995
with N69058. (Nottooshabbyforanair-
planethatis 52 years old, havingbeen
builtin1943.)
Followingthe total restoration,which
requiredabout two years time, many,
manydollarsand untoldsorefingers and
muscles,Aldecided tofulfill his lifelong
ambitionand taketheprettyWidgeon to
Alaska. Thetripwas nearlysix months
longandcoveredthegreaterpartofthe
hugeStateofAlaska . Hespottedpolar
bearsalongtheicyshoresnearKotzebue,
found moosealongthemanystreamsand
evenlocatedafewgrizzly bears. Onnu-
merousoccasions,his appreciationforthe
Janitrolheaterthatwas installedduring
therestorationreallycametothefore. As
Alsays,"Itwasoneofthosecasesofper-
fect foresight."
Workinghiswaydown throughsouth-
eastAlaska,which is theabsolutedominion
oftheGrummanamphibians,Alwas able
tovisit many beautifulareasamongtheis-
landsandwatersthathave listenedtoair-
planeenginesfor nearlyeightyyears. This
is wherean amphibian,especiallya " hot
rod" likeaMcKinnonSuperWidgeon,re-
ally comesintoitsown. Al relates the
eventsoftheentiresagawithatwinklein
hiseye. Theinflectionsin hisvoiceletyou
knowitwas an unforgettableexperience.
RunningoffwiththeBestAmphibian
AwardatSun ' n Fun' 95 was theicingon
thecakefor AlNordgrenandafterflying
thebeautifultwin forover300hours,he
plansonsellingtheairplaneand moving
onto thenextproject. Ifyou areinter-
estedin learningthedetails,give AlNord-
grenacallat503-661-8050. TellhimNorm
sentyou.
There are a total of 114Grumman Wid -
geons remaining on the FAA register includ-
ing eleven of the S.C.A.N. Widgeons built in
France under license. ...
(Aboveright) WhenpurchasedinArling-
ton,WA,theWidgeonwasdismantled
andthefuselageandengineswerecare-
fullyloadedonaflatbedtrailer. Notethe
largeaugmentorexhausttubesfromthe
GO-480enginesthatadda bitofthrust
andhelptoquietthebigbird.
(Right) Rebuildingthefuselagewhilethe
leftengineisoutforoverhaul,wegetan
insidelookattheaftfuselagewherethe
50,000BTU Janitrolheaterwasinstalled
beforenewmetalwasrivetedbackon.
Specifications: (Before and after)
SuperWidgeon Original 1943
Takeoffrun @sea level, GW.
Take-offrun from glassywater ..
Rateofclimb @sea level .................
Climbto 10,000ft . .
Cruisingspeed@sea level (75% Power)
Serviceceiling .
Landingspeed
Grossweight
Empty weight
Useful load
.. 600ft ............
....7 seconds ...........
. 1,750ft ./min..
....1Omin.
........ 175mph.
18,000ft .
.. 62 mph.
.....5,500 Ibs.
..........4,016 Ibs.
1,484 Ibs.
......895ft .
......25seconds
......1 ,000ft ./min.
......15min.
..... 142 mph.
15,000ft .
.....50 mph.
.....4,525Ibs.
.....3,240 Ibs .
..... 1,285 Ibs.
EAA has an excellent 80-minute video entitled "Advanced Seaplane Flying"
that is available for $29.95plus S &H. This is in addition to the highlyac-
claimed "Wonderful World ofFloats" which is the finest 2-hour video avail-
able on how tofly floats, priced atjust $29.95plus S & H. For bargain
hunters, order the two videos together for just $49.95plus S &H, directly
from EAA. To order, dial 1-800-843-3612.
VINTAGEAIRPLANE 21
VintageSeaplanes
DeHaviliand DHC-2Beaveron Edo Floats
by NormPetersen
has the hangar next to the Kermit
Weeks Flight Research Center. The
pieces were moved to the new owner's
hangar and the restoration was com-
pleted under the direction of Dave Al-
grem, John Mark's chief mechanic.
The Beaver was then flown to Cam-
bridge, MN for its new paint job before
going to Canada for the installation of
floats.
The partially restored Beaver is pic-
tured in the Vette Hangar at EAA's Pi-
oneer Airport displaying the valiant ef-
forts of the many EAA volunteers. The
flaps, ailerons and tail feathers are on
the floor under the fuselage. Note the
original round window aft of the door
that has been replaced by a Kenmore
large baggage mod and rectangular win-
dow. The fuselage just behind the
Beaver is EAA's DeHavilland DH-89A
"Rapide" named "Sir Robert Puryear"
in honor of one of the donors, longtime
EAA director Bob Puryear (EAA
25472, A/C 77) of Trinity, CA.
This very pretty Canadian registered
DeHaviliand Beaver, C-FRZH,
mounted on a set of Edo 4930 floats was
photographed in front of John Mark's
Mimminiska Lodge in north central On-
tario, Canada. The Beaver is used on a
daily basis for hauling fishermen to out-
lying fishing camps. Some trips are
made with an aluminum canoe tied to a
canoe rack on the float struts.
This very airplane was declared sur-
plus by the Tennessee Valley Author-
itya number of years ago and in 1986
was sold (in pieces) to the EAA Avia-
tion Foundation. Bauken
Noack, of the EAA staff,
hauled the parts and pieces
to Oshkosh, WI, from Mus-
cle Shoals, AL, and the long
rebuild was begun , mostly
with volunteer help. With
the restoration about half
done, the Beaver was de-
clared excess to the future
needs of EAA and was put
up for bids. The high bidder
was John Mark (EAA 9866,
A/C 8935) of Oshkosh who
22 AUGUST 1995
StearmanC3Bon Edo Floats
This sharp photo of a Stearman C3B,
(NC)5686, SIN 245, mounted on a set of
Edo P-3300 float s is from the extensive
collection of Stan Gomoll of Blaine, MN.
Powered with a Wright J -5 engine of 220
hp, the three-place Stearman C3B made a
very respectable seaplane with spritely
performance at 2850 lbs. gross weight. It
was certificated on a Group Two Approval
number 2-124, dated 9-7-29. The swan
logo on the side of the fuselage has "Es-
cadri lle III" printed above it and just for-
ward of the lower wing, a bomb is painted
on the side of the fuselage. Note the navi-
gation lights on the wingtips and top of the
rudder.
Tom Alsworth's Piper PA-11
Pictured on the quiet shore of St.
James Lake at St. James, MN, is this
pretty white and red Piper PA-11 Cub
Special, N4812M, SIN 11-323, mounted
on a set of Edo 92-1400 floats . Pow-
ered with a Continental C90-8 engine
of 90 hp, the PA-11 has been the pride
and joy of Tom Alsworth of Fairmont,
MN, for over 25 years. Originall y re-
stored from a bent up "basket case" by
Tom and his father, the late Lloyd
Alsworth, veteran instructor, FBO and
FAA Designated Flight Examiner from
Fairmont, MN, the PA-11 was mounted
on a set of Edo 1400 floats and splashed
about the lakes of southern Minnesota for
many years.
A smiling Tom Alsworth rests on the
float of the PA-ll as he contemplates
some more water takeoffs and landings.
Tom is related to the entire community of
Port Alsworth, Alaska, which was started
by his uncle, "Babe" Alsworth, back in
the 1930's.
These two photos of the 1929 Su-
permarine Rolls-Royce S.6. are from
the collection of Stan Gomoll of
Blaine, MN. The first is Sqdn, Ldr. A.
H. Orlebar, A.F.C., Officer Command-
ing the High Speed Flight, took up
each of the racing machines himself on
the initial trial flight before handing
over to the officers of the team for
practice flights. He is shown in the pic-
Supermarine Rolls-Royce S.6.
ture ready to disembark from the ma-
chine after setting up the new World's
Record of 357.7 m.p.h. This same ma-
chine also won the 1929 Schneider
Trophy.
The second photo shows the special
touring lighter that was built to the or-
der of the Air Ministry to allow th e
machine to be towed to sheltered wa-
ter when the conditions rendered it im-
possible for the slipways to be used for
practice and trial flights. These lighters
were actually used on the day of the
Schneider Trophy contest. The win-
ning and record breaking Supermarine
Rolls-Royce S.6. is shown on th e
lighter which is fitted with a false bot-
tom running on roilers, and the patent
winding gear launches it complete with
the machine into the water. ...
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23
PASSd
~ U C K
by Buck Hilbert
EAA #21 Ale #5
P.O. Box 424
Union, IL 60180
Ijustreadanotherantiqueairplane
horrorstory. Thereis a pictureofa
beautifulStearmanonits backasa
lead-in for thestory,andas usual in
themass media,thewriteris far from
knowledgeableaboutairplanes. His
headlinelaudsthe"ForcedLanding"
as being heroic because the pilot
missed hittinganybuildingsorhurting
anypeople.
Inreality,thepilotis probablyfeel-
ing painin his wallet,and for aquitea
whilewill bekicking himselffor not
doinga betterjobofpreflightingthe
airplane. Theinvestigation turned up
contaminatedfuel as the reason for
theoffairportlanding.
Alwayson thesideofthe pilot,I
dida little researchoncontamination.
Asfarbackas1964theFAAdidsome
testingona typical highwingairplane
(readCessna170)andcameupwith
someverystartlingresults.
Theyaddedthreegallonsofwater
tothehalffull tanks. Afterafew min-
utesthegascolatorwascheckedfor
water. Guess what? They had to
draintenouncesoffuel beforeany
watershowed. Thisis considerably
morethanI ormostpilotsdrainonan
ordinarypreflight. Thinkaboutit.
Tenouncesis justaboutenoughto
takeyouthrougha fast runupandget
well intothetakeoffrun. Whew!
Theydid a second testwith the
sameairplaneby levelingittosimu-
latelevelflight. Thefuel systemwas
clearedofall water. Thistime,agal-
lonofwaterwasaddedtothehalffull
tanks. Againa checkofthegascola-
tordidn'tshowanywateruntilmore
thanaquartoffuel wasdrained.
Ineachofthetests therewasresid-
ualwaterin thetanksthatcouldn'tbe
removedexceptbydrainingthefuel
tanksumps.
Thelesson hereis thatthegascola-
24 AUGUST 1995
torwill doitsjoboncethewatergets
toit, butwhat'sin thelines has tobe
drainedfirst. Also,eachfuel tank
mustbeturnedontodrainthelines to
thegascolator. Thebest lessons that
cameoutofthesetestswerethatthe
fuel tanksumpdrainswill hold the
water,andtheyshouldbedrainedand
checkedbeforethecontaminateever
getstothegascolator.
Nowifyou'reluckyenoughtohave
a Champora "T"Cart,orevenaJ-3
Cubtype,thegascolatorIS thesump
andyou don'thavea doublecheckto
do,butifyoudohavefueltanksumps,
drainthem! Andbegenerousin the
amountyoudodrain. Youcanalways
pouritbackintothefiller holeifit's
clean. And afteryou'vedone the
tanks,thengotothegascolator.
Also,ifyouhavea bellydrain,that
IS thelowestpointin thefuel system
sobeabsolutelycertainyoudothat
onetoo.
Don'tdothisonlyatpreflightei-
ther. Do it anytimefuel is added
'causeitwillstirupthe bottomand
anything there could show in the
sumpsandeventuallyworkitsway
intothegascolator. Again,don'tjust
dribblea little,doenoughtoreally
checkitout. Andusea containeryou
canactuallyseethesampleinandas-
sureyourselfit'sfreeandclear.
Eventhoughall thiswasdoneway
backin 1964,itholdstruetoday. With
auto fuel going through the EPA
CleanAirconvolutions,andwithall
theresultantconfusion,assureyour-
selfthatyou'vegotthecleanestfuel
systemgoing.
Hey! Happyflying andit'soverto
you,gang!
Why
Did It
SagOff?
How to solve
aproblem with a
major overhaul!
by Norm Petersen
Asyoumayrecallfrom awrite-up
inaprevious"AIC Tidbits,"theCon-
tinentalC90-8engine in my '46J-3
Cub, N10XS, had beengivingme
(andnumerousotherpilots)fits for
thepasttwo years. It would runlike
acharmfor hoursonend,andthen
suddenlysagoffabout200 to300
rpm. It actedlikesomeonepinched
thefuel line! Yetthereseemedtobe
few repetitivecharacteristics.
From the outside, we checked
everypossibleproblemarea. We
knewthatcarburetorheathad noef-
fect onthe "sagging"engineanda
switchto individualmags duringthe
roughspotshadabsolutelynoeffect
either. The idea that an exhaust
valvewashangingupattimesseemed
themostlogical.
Weloadedthefuel with Marvel
MysteryOiltolubricatethevalve
stems. Nochange. Thenext idea
was tocleanoutthecarbonwitha
similarproductcalled"SeaFoam."
Two cans of the stuff were run
throughtheenginewith notevena
hintofchange. It stillsaggedoff.
Theideathatitwasastuckvalvebe-
gantolooseitsvalidity.
TheAnnualInspectionproduced
compression readingsof72 to76
over80 forall fourjugs. TheBendix
magswereretimedrightto themark
(onewasofflessthana degreeand
the otherwasrighton)andthecar-
buretorwasdisassembled,cleaned
andreassembledwithallpartscheck-
ingoutperfectly. Eventheinduction
systemwas checkedandcleanedand
reinstalledwithnewgaskets(itwas
possiblea leakinggasketwasthe
problem.) Aftertheannual,arunup
wasdone,andthena maintenance
check flight. No change, it still
sagged. Hurmph. Thiswasgetting
frustrating!
About this time the fuel system be-
came suspect, so it was completely
taken apart. The fl exible line between
the carburetor and gascolator was old
and partially collapsed. This was re-
placed with no improvement in the sag-
ging off. Next we checked the gascola-
tor sediment bowl. It had a tiny bit of
"stuff" in t he bottom, however, when
we pulled the brass screen from the top
of the gascolator, it was covered with a
layer of cottonwood seeds about 118
inch thick - a perfect "gasket ". Boy,
this time we thought we had this one
nailed! This had to be the source of all
our troubles. What do you know - on
the next flight, it sagged off as usual.
Nuts.
In the cold winter ai r , the engine
would sag off, but if you caught it with
throttl e soon enough, it would come
right back. On an air-to-air photo mis-
sion on skis, Gene Chase had the en-
gine sag off and before he could catch
it, the engine di ed! He made a success-
ful forced landing (the 14th of hi s ca-
reer) in the middl e of a plowed field
covered with snow - a half mile from
the road! EAA photographer Donna
Bushman was in the back seat. After
huffing and puffing the half mile to the
airplane in snow up to our knees, we
found Gene and Donna making " An-
gels" in the snow and giggling with
laughter.
I pulled the prop through four
blades , turned on the switch and it
started on the first pull! Needl ess to
say, Gene and Donna took a bunch of
teasing and razzing on thi s episode. I
fl ew the Cub back home, bending a ski
in the process when I hit a clump of
frozen plowing so hard it ratt led my
teeth.
Through the summer and fa ll , the
engine was sagging off at an increasing
rate, the oil consumption was up to one
quart per hour , and I had the funny
feeling that it was time for a top over-
haul of the four jugs. In October, we
pulled the engi ne and sent it home wit h
Ted Travis (616-627-6409) of Cheboy-
gan, MI. Ted had just fin ished rebuild-
ing Gene Chase's 145 Warner for hi s
Davis D1-W and I have been a fan of
Ted's si nce writing a story about his
In the cold winter air, the en-
gine would sag off, but if you
caught it with throttle soon
enough, it would come right back.
beautiful Corben Junior Ace, " R ag
Rose," back in 1985. Ted soon had the
engine into pieces and parts. His phone
call was "Good News-Bad News". The
bad news: "This engine is a bunch of
junque!" The good news? "We may be
able to save the crankshaft. "
The crankshaft was sent in for over-
haul and came back with a red tag on it
- number three rod journal was cracked!
When Ted took the cylinders off and
flipped it upside down, one of the ex-
haust valve guides fell out on the floor!
It had been going up and down with the
valve and hanging up at times - which
held the exhaust valve open. This was
the reason for the intermittent sagging
off. It was readily apparent that the
previous twenty years of towing gliders
and eight seasons of seaplane/skiplane
use had done the old gi rl in.
A factory new crankshaft from 1963,
still in the factory crate and cosmo line
was located, the crankcase was re-
worked to new specs, the rods were re-
worked to new specs and four brand
new Superior cylinders, complete with
all parts, were installed. In addition, a
new camshaft, lifters, lifter bodies and a
host of other new parts were installed
as Ted carefully rebuilt the engine back
to new condition. His meticulous atten-
tion to detail is something to behold.
Besides the basic engine, Ted com-
pletely overhauled the carburetor, carb
airbox and both Bendix magnetos along
with a new ignition harness. To really
add the finishing touch, he built a new
set of "eyebrows" for the J-3 Cub cool-
ing system.
The engine is finished in gleeming
black Imron paint and finished off with
brass safety wire. It is lit erally too
pretty to put out the re when all the
bugs can juice it up! When Ted deliv-
ered the engine to my home (on a beau-
tiful2 X 8 wooden stand), he brought
along a large box of " former " engine
parts. Would you believe that the box
weighed within a few pounds of the
overhauled engine? In fact , I could al-
most build a nice snow sled engine with
the leftover parts!
The bea utiful new engine is now
hung in the Cub and it makes old
N10XS a real hummer again. Hallelu-
jah! Thank you, Ted Travis, for your
patience, your diligence and above all ,
your outstanding workmanship. ...
Ahhh, the joys of a good
perfonning engine!
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 25
ystery Plane
adds that the airplane was named for a newspaper cartoon
of the time (1928). He also pointed out that at least two
were built by Eyerly, with reportedly a few more built by
amateurs.
The specifications were as follows:
Span: 35'-6"
Length: 18"-9"
The weight of the Whifflehen was approximately 470
lbs, and according to the letter and photos published in the
APM Bulletin, it was built up using steel tubing and cedar
spars and ribs. An overhead stick controlled the airplane.
SIN 1 had a 30 hp Szekely for a powerplant, while the sec-
ond Eyerly built airplane had a Continental A-40. Dick
by H.G. Frautschy
Here's another small aircraft from the pre-war days. Take a
look at that exhaust system - the tubing bender must have had
the day off! From the late Own Billman's collection, the an-
swer will be published in the November issue of Vintage Air-
plane. Answers for that issue must be received no later than
September 25,1995.
The May Mystery Plane is an airplane well known to many
in the country, especially in the great Northwest. It seems to
be known internationally as well, since two of our nine re-
sponses were from members outside of the U.S.
Lloyd Willis, (EAA 28795, A/C 12463)103 Douglas
Rd., Doonside 2767, NSW, Australia writes:
As seen in the article (from the APM Bulletin) it's the Eye-
rly"Wifflehen." An unusual name for an attractive plane.
My interest in vintage aircraft is as a flying scale modeler, and
to that end, does anyone know the colors of the SIN 2 airplane
in the photos?"
You can write to Lloyd directly with your answer, and if
you are able to come up with the colors, please send us a
copy of your letter so we can tell everybody else.
Ralph Nortell, (EAA 8493, A/C 4607) Spokane, WA
26 AUGUST 1995
Geist,theletterwriter,ownstheair-
frame, propandengineofSIN , and
mentionedthattheultimatefate of
SIN 1is unknown.
Correctanswerswere received
from CharleyHayes,NewLenox,IL;
BillRogers,Jacksonville,FL; Lynn
Towns ,Brooklyn,MI;BillEwertz,
Sonoma,CA;BobKaelin,Riverhead,
NY;DougRounds,Zebulon,GA;
and LennartJohnsson,Eldsberga ,
Sweden.
LynnTownsaskedaboutthefu-
tureofMystery Plane, in light of
GeorgeHardie' s retirementfrom the
column. Resteasy,Mystery Plane
fans - thecolumn is oneofourmost
popular(ifnotTHEmost)columns,
andweplantocontinuetheMystery
Planeas longaswe find airplanes
thatfew peopleknow. Which,as you
can imagine, leads us to the next
point,which is ...ifyouhaveanold
pictureofan obscureairplaneyou
thinkwould makea good Mystery
Planecandidate,feel freetosendit in
toDennisParksattheEAABoeing
AeronauticalLibrary, P.O. Box3086,
Oshkosh,WI54903-3086. Wewill
then haveourphotolab makea copy
negativeofyourpictureandsendyou
backyouroriginal,should yousode-
sire. Withyourhelp,wecancontinue
to send membersscurryingoffto
theirbookshelvestolookupourob-
scureaircrafteverymonth! ...
SendyourMysteryPlane Repliesto
EAAHeadquarters:
VintageAirplaneMysteryPlane
P.O. Box3086
Oshkosh,WI 54903-3086
VINTAGE
AEROMAIL
(Continuedfrompage4)
Mr. Gassawayand I havediscussed
yourlettertoVINTAGEAIRPLANE
and the events and facts mentioned
above. Heis agreeabletoreceivingany
letterorphonecall from you regarding
thisincident.
I hopetheaboveinformation is part
ofwhatyouarelookingfor.
Verytrulyyours,
HarveyL.Brown(A/C391)
P.O.Box897
DelrayBeach,FL33483-0897
DearH.G. ,
I have a question aboutanaircraft
and maybe oneofourreaderscanan-
swerit.
Duringthespringorsummerof1946
an airshowwas held at the Mineral
Wells,Texasairportand a featurewas
anaerobaticroutine by a guy named
"Doc"Estesfrom Ft. Worth. Hisair-
craftwasa tinybiplanewith a large ra-
dialengine. Theannouncersaiditwasa
LairdSuperSolution. Ithad no in-
vertedsystemsand theenginewould
coughordieanytimeheflew inverted.
Whenhe triedanImmelmannturn,the
enginedied,theaircraftspunin andthe
pilotperished in thefire thatconsumed
theaircraft.
Myquestionsare:
1. Wastheaircraftactuallya Laird
aircraft?
2. Ifitwasa Lairdaircraft ,was the
announcerrightwhen hesaidit wasa
SuperSolution?
3. Orwas it actuallya LairdSolu-
tion?
I'veoftenwonderedabouttheactual
identificationoftheaircraftandonce
even thoughtofasking Matty Laird
aboutit whenhe was atOshkosh. The
pressofpeoplethere preventedany
questions. Maybesomeonecanen-
lightenme?
Sincerely,
WendellL."Doc"Roy(A/C19307)
520SCR#5
Ft. Collins,CO80524
To: H.G.Frautschy,Editor,EAA
VINTAGEAIRPLANE
Subject: Articles on what to exam-
ine on an antique/classic aircraft prior
to purchase.
Reference: Ron M. Hynes letter in
"Aero Mail," April 1995VINTAGE AIR-
PLANE
I fully agree,an excellentidea; how-
ever,I wouldnotpublish thesesubject
articlesin VINTAGEAIRPLANE.
Ifyoudid publishthemtherein,and
youdid notdeletesomeothersectionof
the magazine,you would run upyour
publishingcosts, hence,anotherin-
creasein dues...
Plus,therewouldbea long-timewait
betweentypeaircraft. My suggestion
wouldbetogatheras much information
aspossible,with as many picturesas
possible ,and putall this material in
loose-leafform becauseas timegoeson
you wouldbereceivingnew andup-
datedinformation.
Youcould,through theTypeClubs
assuggested,begatheringinformation
on most a ntiquelclassic aircraft at
once-nolong-timedelaysfor readers
interestedin acertaintype.
Now,wewouldhaveloose-leafnote-
booksandthosepeopleinterestedcould
purchasethemfrom youdirectly;charge
themyourcostplusshippingandhan-
dling,orwhatyouthink themarketwill
bear! In fact, first askthemembership.
If I were in the market for an
antique/classicairplane,thisloose-leaf
publicationwould bewell worth the
cost,especiallysinceitcouldbeupdated
and I could perhapsgeta handleon
somefuture problemthatmaydevelop
with theaircraftIpurchased.
RoyM. Feher(A/C13798)
5241 N.ViaSempreverde
Tucson,AZ85715-5967
DearMr.Frautschy:
Itwas withgreatpleasurethatIread
yourarticle,"OneofEach,Please,"
which appearedin theJanuary1995is-
sueofVINTAGEAIRPLANE. I was
particularlystruckwith thehistoryof
thisparticularairplanehavingbeende-
livered totheClarksdaleSchoolofAvi-
ation,Clarksdale,Mississippiandactu-
allyendingupatFletcherField.
Thiswasofparticularinteresttome
becausethiswas theschoolwhere Iat-
tendedPrimaryFlightTrainingin August
andSeptember1942aspartofthesecond
classtoattendthatschool. Itgoeswith-
outsayingthatClarksdale,nothaving
beenexposedtoservicepersonnelprevi-
ously,wasan aviationcadet ' sparadise.
Atthat time IattendedFletcherField in
Clarksdale. OurequipmentwasPT-17s
and PT-13 Stearmans. Notall thecon-
structionwascompleteand,forexample,
theSecondStageBuilding,orOpsShack,
had notbeenbuiltatthatpoint.
I have,forshoewhomight beinter-
ested,abookwhich givesfurther details
andphotographsofthestaffatthatfield
atthattime.
Hopeyoucontinuethesuperstories.
Regards,
J. C. (Chuck)Weber(A/C 10028)
390SixthStreet
Dover,NH03820-5903 ...
VINTAGEAIRPLANE 27
JohnW. Meredith Livermore,CA
JimMichlik Streator,IL
WesMilner Beloit,WI
LeRoyMonson Billing,MT
Sid Morris Kenia,AK
Chuck Morrow Waco,TX
GaryMummey Stockport,OH
CharlesL. Munzert Alden,NY
MichaelR. Nash Vicksburg,MI
Linn K. Nelson WestSacramento,CA
RichardNelson Menomonie,WI
JohnA.Neno,Jr. Stormville,NY
DeanNichols LakeOswego,OR
NicholasPane LakeCity,MI
EricM. Parent Hayward,CA
SherryParshley Stroudsberg,PA
Keith Perreault LasVegas,NV
RonPierce Bellville,IL
RickyMPoe Ventura,CA
RonPortzer Jasper,AL
Michael A. Potopinski Schaumburg,IL
JamesL. Pouncey FortSmith,AR
LarryR. Price Jonesboro,TN
WilliamH. Prince Beverly,MA
JoeRadosky Ft Laderdale,FL
JohnR. Randall San Mateo,CA
KennyF. Rauch Newark,OH
RichardG. Reinders Sullivan,WI
RodgerA. Reinhart SanJose,CA
DavidP. Reiter Arvada,CO
JohnReynolds Cincinnati,OH
TerryRiney FortWorth,TX
David M. Robertson
Balmertown,Ontario,Canada
Elwyn Roosevelt Jacksonville,AL
IncRosePackingCompany Barrington,IL
BenjaminSalsburg PaloAlto,CA
LouisC. Sandford Fremont,CA
H.J. Savage Oakland,CA
William R. Scheunemann Hustisford,WI
EdwardK. Schrader Nampa,ID
R. DeanSchumacher Tehachapi,CA
ChristopherJ.Shaker MountainView,CA
JohnJ.Shea Douglas,WY
TimE.Shideler Indianapolis,IN
DerekK. Shipman Denton,TX
TimothyL. Shy Champaign,IL
DavidLeeSkipper Ocala,FL
NancyG.Smart Dallas,TX
LeonardG.Smith SanteFe,TX
RogerA.Spriggel BattleCreek,MI
CharlesW.Starr Randolph,NJ
MimiSteel Pleasanton,CA
DavidGeorgeStilley Waukee,IA
JeffSunzeri SanJose,CA
JosephJamesSypien Geneva,IL
ScottA.Taylor Beloit,OH
DouglasC.Tenneson Saugus,CA
TheWriteInn OakPark,IL
RonThornton Valencia,CA
WilliamH. Valentine Accomac,VA
R. Valier Waterlooville,Hants,England
William L. Vaughan FortPayne,AL
JosephM.Vella Palgrave,Ontario,Canada
RobertP. Vidrine Lafayette,LA
CharlesVranian WBloomfield,MI
JohnD.Wall Maplewood,MN
RonaldP. Washburn WichitaFalls,TX
KenWest Clintonville,WI
JohnF.Whitehouse GulfBreeze,FL
ChrisWoychesin McKinney,TX
TammyJ. Wright Freemont,CA
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Pleasanton,CA
KevinKinch Didsbury,Alberta,Canada
LouisJ.Koch
RichardN. Kohlhaas
GilJ. Kosel
DouglasKrepps
KennethA. Kula
MarkJ.Lerille
AlanL. Lewitzke
WoodA.Lockhart
RoyA.Loper
LanierLowery
JohnMachamer
GregL. Marcum
KatherineJ. McGurran
LeslieH. McCurdy
Olathe,KS
Livermore,IA
Milaca,MN
Griffin,GA
Hollis,NH
Lafayette,LA
Mosinee,WI
Sausalito,CA
Torrance,CA
Walker,LA
Gettysburg,PA
Bringhurst,IN
Aurora,CO
Shelburne,VT
28 AUGUST 1995
AUG.20 - BROOKFIELD,WI - AI C
Chapter11 10thannualvintage airplane
displayand icecreamsocial. noon' til5
p.m. 4141781-9550.
AUG. 25-26 - COFFEYVILLE, KS -
Funk Owners Assoc. Reunion. Contact
GeneVentress,9131782-1483.
AUG. 25-27 - SUSSEX, NJ - Sussex air-
port. SussexAirshow'95. Gates open at
8 a.m., show starts at 1:30 p.m. For info
call 2011875-0783.
SEPT2- MARION,IN - 5th AnnualF1y-
In/Crui se-in breakfast sponsored by
Marion High School Band Boosters.
Antiques,Classics,Homebuilts, as well as
AntiquelCustomcarswelcome. Forinfor-
mation cont act Ray Johnson, 317/664-
2588.
SEPTS-10- VALPARAISO,IN - EAA
Chapter104ofNW indianahoststheTri-
motorStinsonfor ridesduringPopcorn-
fest atPorterCo.Airpor t(VPZ) . Wina-
mack, Indiana Old Antique Car Club
displayand pancakebreakfastonSunday.
FormoreinfocallPaulDeopping,2191759-
1714orRich Lidke,2191778-2709.
SEPT.9-10 - MARION,OH- MERFI
(Mid-Eastern RegionalFly-In) . 513/253-
4629.
SEPT. 9-10 - HAGERSTOWN, NJ -
Washington County Airport. Fairchild
Homecomingand airshow. Gatesopen at
9 a. m., airshow at 1 p.m. Join Fairchild
owners, employees and fans to celebrate
Fairchild's contributions to aviation. For
infocall3101745-5708.
SEPT. 9-10 - SCHENECTADY, NY -
County airport. Northeast Flight '95
Airshow - Sponsored bythe EmpireState
AeroscienceMuseum.
SEPT. 10 - MT MORRIS, IL - EAA
Chapt e r 682 and Ogle County Pilot s
Assoc. Fly-In breakfast. Forinfo call Bill
Sweet at 8151734-4320 or the airport at
8151734-6136.
SEPT. 10 - VALPARAISO, IN (VPZ) -
EAA Chapter 104 4th annual Fly-
In/Drive- In pancake breakfast. Call
2191926-3572for info.
SEPT.14-17- CODY,WY - International
Cessna 195 Fly-In. For info contact
Springer Jones, 50 Schnieder Rd, Cody,
WY 82414. Phone 307/587-8059 or Fax
307/587-8061.
SEPT15-17- URBANA,IL- TheByron
SmithMemorialStinsonReunionFly-In,
Frasca Field. Call 3131769-2432 or
708/904-6964.
SEPT16-17 - ROCK FALLS,IL- North
Centrral EAA "Old Fashioned" Fly-In,
Whit es ide Airport. Contact Gregg
Erikson 708/513-0641 or Dave
Chri stianson 815/625-6556. Pancake
BreakfastonSunday,0700to1100local.
SEPT.16-17- ROCKFALLS,IL- North
CentralRegionalFly-In. 708/513-0642.
SEPT22-23- BARTLESVILLE,OK-
38thAnnualTulsaRegionalFly-In,co-
sponsored by EAA AICChapter 10,
EAAlACchapter10, AAAChapter2.
Forinfo,call CharlieHarris,918/622-
8400.
SEPT22-23- LOD!,CA- TheGreatWest
Fly-In
Calendar
Thefollowinglistofcomingeventsisfurnishedtoourreadersasa matterof information
onlyanddoes notconstituteapproval, sponsorship, involvement, controlordirection of
any event (fly-in, seminars,fly market, etc.) listed. Pleasesendtheinformation to EAA,
Att: Golda Cox, P. O. Box3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Information shouldbe
----------
receivedfourmonthspriortotheeventdate.
CoastWacoandTravelAirFly-In,hosted
byPrecissiFlyingService. Flyingevents,
me morabili a auction, and grea t food .
Cont acts: FrankRezich,805/467-3669or
JonAldrich,209/962-6121.
SEPT.22-23 - MOCKSVILLE,NC- Tara
Airbase. 10th annual " Anything That
Flies" Fly-In. Early arrival on the 22nd,
Big Day on 23rd. USO style big band
party Sat. night ,awards, military vendors.
2100x80 sod strip - private field - opera-
tion and attendance is at your own risk.
Call NovaroorJanNichols,7041' 284-2161,
Or 910/650-8021.
SEPT.23 - NORTHPORT,MI - Woolsey
IntI. airport (5D5) , 30 mil es north TVC
VOR. Fly-IN breakfast , Pa ncakes ,
sausage, ha m, cherry Jam and more.
Antique planes and autos. Biplane rides.
sponsored by the Northport Pilot'sAssoc.
Contact: KeithStrong,616/386-7557. Rain
date9/24.
SEPT. 23-24 - ZAINESVILLE, OH -
Johns Landing Airfield. 4th Annual
AntiquelCiassic Fall Fly-In, sponsored by
EAAAntiquelClassicChapter22ofOhio.
Food, fun and fri ends. Call Virginia for
moreinformation- 614/453-6889.
SEPT.23-24- LUMBERTON,NJ - South
J ersey Regional airport. Air Victory
Museum Air Fair , 10 a.m. -5 p.m., air
shows at12 and 3 p.m. Call 609/486-7575
to volunteer,or609/267-4488 for info and
directions.
SEPT.23-24- ALEXANDRIA,LA- Gulf
CoastRegionalFly-In. 504/467-1505.
SEPT. 2S-0CT. 1 - CAHOKIA, IL -
Parks College reunion for WW II Army
Air Force ca de ts trained by Parks at
Sikeston, Cape Girardeau, Tuscaloosa or
J ackso n, MS. Call Paul McLaughlin
618/337-7575,ext.364or292.
SEPT. 30 - HARRISONBURG, VA -
Shenandoah Valley Airport. Fly-In pi g
roast, sponsored EAA chapter 511, con-
tactSheldonEarly,540/433-2585.
OCT. 1 - HARRISONBURG, VA -
Shenandoah Valley Airport. Fly-In
breakfast , sponsored EAA chapter 511 ,
contactSheldonEarly,540/433-2585.
OCT. 6-S - PAULS VALLEY, OK -
Antique Airplane Fly-in. Contact Dick
Fournier 405/258-1129 or Bob Kruse
405/691-6940.
OCT.6-S - EVERGREEN,AL- South-
eastRegionalFly-In. 2051765-9109.
OCT6-S - WILMINGTON,DE - New
Castle Airport. EAAEastCoastFly-In
25th anniversary. "AGatheringofEa-
gles"WW IIvictoryairshow andFly-In.
Specialstatuededicationin honorofthe
WASP'sofWWII. Forpilot'sinfo pack,
contactEAA EastCoastFly-In Corp. ,
2602 ElnoraSt. ,Wheaton,MD20902-
2706orphone301/942-3309.
OCT. 6-S - HARTSVILLE, SC -
Annual Fall Fly-In for AntiquelClassic
aircra ft , sponsored by EAA AIC
Chapt er 3. Awards in all categories.
Forinfocall orwriteR.Bottom,Jr. ,103
Pwhatan Pky., Hampton,VA23661 Fax
at804/873-3059.
OCT. 7-S - RUTLAND, VT - Rutland
airport. Annual LeafPeepers Fly-In,8-
11a.m. SponsoredbyEAAChapter968,
the Green Mtn. Flyers and R.A.V.E.
(Rutland Area Vehicl e Enthusiasts).
Breakfast both days, Fly-Market. Call
TomLloydfor info: 802/492-3647.
OCT. S - TOMAH, WI - Bloyer Field.
8th Annual Fly-In breakfast sponsored
by EAAChapter935. Fleamarket,stat-
ic di splays. Call John Brady for info:
608/372-3125.
OCT.12-15- PHOENIX,AZ- Copper-
stateRegionalFly-In. 6021750-5480.
OCT. 12-15 - Phoenix, AZ - Williams
Gatewayairport. LuscombeFoundation
Southwest gathering. For info, call the
LuscombeFoundationat602/917-0969.
OCT.12-15 - MESA,AZ- 24t h Annual
Coppe rstate Regional Fly-In. Call
800/283-6372 for info pack, or if you
wish to commercially ex hibit , call
5201747-1413.
OCT 14-15 - SUSSEX, NJ - Quad-
Chapter Fly-In, F1yfflea-market spon-
sored by AICChapter7, EAAChapters
238, 73 and 891. FOr info, call Herb
Dani el, 2011875-9359 or Paul Styger
(Sussexairport)2011702-9719.
OCT. 20-22 - KERRVILLE, TX -
Southwest Regional Fly-In. 915/651-
7882.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 29
MEMBERSHIP
INFORMATION
,
EAA
V I ~ T A 3
TI2A[)(12
Membership in the Experimental Aircraft
Association, Inc. is$35foroneyear, including 12
issuesofSPORTAVIATION. Familymembership
isavailableforanadditional$10annually. Junior
Membership (under 19 years ofage) is available
at$20annually. Allmajorcreditcardsaccepted
formembership.
ANTIQUE/CLASSIC
Current EAA members mayjoin the Antique/
Classic Division and receive VINTAGE AIR-
PLANEmagazineforanadditional$27peryear.
EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANEmag-
azine and one year membership in the EAA
Antique/Classic Division is available for $37per
year(SPORTAVIATIONmagazinenotincluded).
Something to buy, sell or trade? An inexpensive ad in the Vintage Trader may be
just the answer to obtaining that elusive part. .40 per word, $6.00 minimum
charge. Send your ad and payment to: Vintage Trader, fAA Aviation Center, P.O.
Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086, or fax your ad and your VISA or MasterCard
number to 414/426-4828. Ads must be received by the 20th ofthe month for
insertion in the issue the second month following (e.g., October 20th for the
December issue.)
lAC
CurrentEAA membersmayjoin the Intemational
AerobaticClub, Inc. DivisionandreceiveSPORT
AEROBATICS magazine for an additional$30
peryear.
EAA Membership, SPORTAEROBATICSmaga-
zine and one year membership in the lAC
Division is available for $40 peryear (SPORT
AVIATIONmagazinenotincluded).
WARBIRDS
Current EAA members may join the EAA
Warbirds ofAmerica Division andreceive WAR-
BIRDSmagazineforanadditional$30peryear.
EAA Membership, WARBIRDS magazine and
oneyearmembership in the Warbirds Division is
available for $40 peryear (SPORTAVIATION
magazinenotincluded).
EAAEXPERIMENTER
Current EAA members may receive EAA
EXPERIMENTERmagazineforanadditional$18
peryear.
EAA Membership andEAA EXPERIMENTER
magazine is available for $28 peryear (SPORT
AVIATIONmagazinenotincluded).
AIRCRAFT
1936 Aeronca C-3 Master- 15 hours
since total restoration. Perfect. E-113C
engine. 15 hours since reman. $18,950.
Hubie Tolson, days 919/638-2121, ext .
7433; nights (before 9 p. m. EST)
919/637-3332
MISCELLANEOUS
GEE BEE etc. - Model plans used by
Benjamin, Eicher/Kimball, Turner,
Jenkins. 52 plans, 1/3 smaller. Shirts,
etc.! Catalog/News $4.00, $6.00 for-
eign. Vern Clements, 308 Palo Alto,
Caldwell, ID 83605, 208/459-7608. (9-
3)
FOREIGN
MEMBERSHIPS
Please submit your remittance with acheck or
draft drawn on aUnited States bankpayable in
United States dollars. Add$13postage for
SPORTAVIATIONmagazine and/or$6postage
foranyoftheothermagazines.
EAAAVIATIONCENTER
P.O.BOX3086
OSHKOSH, WI54903-3086
PHONE(414)426-4800
FAX (414)426-4873
OFFICEHOURS:
8:15-5:00MON.-FRI.
1-800-843-3612
MEMBERSHIPDUES TOEAAAND
ITSDIVISIONSARENOTTAX
DEDUCTIBLEASCHARITABLE
CONTRIBUTIONS.
SUPER CUB PA-18 FUSELAGES -
New manufacture, STC-PMA-d, 4130
chromoly tubing throughout, also com-
plete fuselage repair. ROCKY MOUN-
TAIN AIRFRAMEINC.(J.Soares, Pres.),
7093 Dry Creek Road, Belgrade,
Montana 59718, 406/388-6069, FAX
406/388-0170. Repair station No.
QK5R148N.
(NEW) This & ThatAboutthe Ercoupe,
$14.00. Fly-About Adventures & the
Ercoupe, $17.95. Both books, $25.00.
Fly-About, P .O. Box 51144, Denton,
Texas76206. (ufn)
FREECATALOG- Aviation booksand
videos. Howto, buildingandrestoration
tips, historic, flying and entertainment
titles. Call for a free catalog. EAA, 1-
800-843-3612.
Wheel Pants - The most accurate
replica wheel pants for antique and
classics available. 100% satisfaction
guaranteed. Available in primer grey
gelcoat. Harbor Products, Co. , 2930
Crenshaw Blvd., Suite 164, Torrance,
CA90501, phone 310/880-1712 orFAX
310/874-5934.(ufn)
Curtiss JN4-0 Memorabilia - You
can now own memorabilia from the
famous Curtiss "Jenny," as seen on
"TREASURES FROM THE PAST." We
have T-shirts, posters, postcards,
videos, pins, airmail cachets, etc. We
also have RIC documentation exclusive
to this historic aircraft. Sale of theses
items supports operating expenses to
keep this "Jenny" flying forthe aviation
public. Weappreciateyourhelp. Send
SASE to Virginia Aviation, P.O. Box
3365,Warrenton,VA22186.(ufn)
WANTED
Wanted - Heath Parasol parts (any
condition) or registration papers .
Dennis, 614/876-0932.
Wanted- Eclipse Hand Crank Starter
for Kinner K-5. Consolidated Mfg. oil
pressuregauge. 516/785-1037.
YouCanB d
AnAirplane. .
A E R O P LANE

VV( Aug12th& 13th:
Jackson MI
Two hands-on days of theory and practice. Aug26th&27t h:
Introductory Course - $149. Excellent North Hamploo NH
overview of designs, materials, & basic skills. 1Zl
h
:
Intermediate Courses - $ 199 each. Oct21st&22nd:
Fabric Cover an actual wing. Tulsa OK
Reservations& Informalion
Welding: Learn how 10 handle a torch. 800-831-2949

Box909,Gri ffin, Georgia30224
UNMANNED AIRCRAFT
RDTORCRAFT & EXPERIMENTAlS
MAINS , Aux & FERRY CEllS
Homebuilts

Kit Plane Co.'s


Ultralights Workshops

0
Warbirds Airshow
Q,

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Antiques
(,)
Fly-Bys
,..
Camping Awards
Vendors Forums
EAA FLY-IN
Auto Engine Round-up Military Aerial Demonstrations
October 12 - 15, 1995 Williams Gatewa
v
Airport
'<t>
Mesa, Arizona 1-800-283-6372 ARIZONA
DoLY-FlBER...plus
r geniu , perseverence,
dedication, perspiration,
and a love of classic aircraft.
Geoffrey de Havi lland
designed the Comet racer
in 1 Y34. A few years later it
became the phenomenal
Mosquito fighter-bomber.
Tom Wathen's replica
chose Poly-Fiber for its
easy appl ication and unri-
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Tone because it recreated
the satin finish of the '30s.
Try it yourself at one of
ollr Learn-to-Cover Work-
shops, held nationwide.
They' re hands on and just
$150 a person. And look
for us at the Oshkosh and
Lakeland fly-ins, too.
The Benchmark of Aircraft Covering Systems
Customer Service:
800-361-3490
Other Stuff:909-684-4280
Post Office Box 3129
Riverside, Cal ifornia 92519
Formerly Stits
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Complete interior assemblies for do-it-yourself installation.
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Cushionupholsterysets
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Firewallcovers
Seatslings
Recoverenvelopesanddopes
Freecatalogofcompleteproductline.
Fabric Selection Guide showing actual sample colors and
stylesofmaterial s:$3.00.
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aiAexl:RODUCTS, INC.
259LowerMorrisvilleRd., Dept.VA
Fallsington,PA19054 (215)295-4115
R.J. "Dobbie"
l.icldeig
Antique Classic
Division, Director and
past President
Retired Business Man
Pilot since 1938
lilt costs less to do business with the best.
I should know - I'm from Minnesota, where
aircraft insurance has been mandated for
over twenty years. When I need aircraft
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iscounts for claim free renewals
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