STRAIGHT AND LEVEL

2 EAA AIRVENTURE 2000 VAA AWARDS

3 VAA NEWS
4 AEROMAIL
5 THIRTY FIVE YEARS AT THE OUTER
MARKER! Dutch Redfield
9 PASS IT TO BUCKlE.E. "Buck" Hilbert
10 YUKON TREASURE/John Underwood
18 YUKON GOLD/john Underwood
22 FORCED LANDING ATTITUDE/
Denis M. Arbeau
24 MYSTERY PLANE/H.G. Frautschy
27 CALENDAR
28 WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
29 CLASSIFIEDS
www.vintageaircraft.org
Publisher
Editor-ill-Chief
Executive Director, Editor
Executive Editor
Contributing Editors
ArtIPhoto Layout
Photography Staff
Advertising/Editorial Assistant
TOM POBEREZNY
scon SPANGLER
HENRY G. FRAUTSCHY
MIKE DIFRISCO
JOHN UNDERWOOD
BUDD DAVISSON
BETH BLANCK
JIM KOEPNICK
LEEANN ABRAMS
MARK SCHAIBLE
ISABELLE WISKE
SEE PAGE 32 FOR FURTHER VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION INFORMATION
s
by ESPIE "BUTCH" JOYCE
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION
NEW AIRVENTURE DATES FOR 2001
Thoughts on Fly-Ins
Followinguponsuggestionsmadein1999andaftersur-
veyingmembersandvolunteersduringthepastAirVenture, it
hasbeendecidedtoshiftthedatesfor AirVenturebyoneday,
makingitnowaTuesdaythroughMondayevent. In2001,
EAA AirVenturewill takeplaceTuesday,July24ththrough
Monday,July30th.Based onthefeedbackwe received,the
newscheduleshouldbetteraccommodatevolunteers, guests
andvendors.
I'mlookingforward tothechangeintheAirVenturesched-
ule. As amemberandvolunteerwhoattendstheentireevent,
itwill makeiteasiertoplanourtripandgiveus plentyoftime
toworkourwayhomeafterAirVenture.
AirVenture2000 is nowpartofthis pastsummer'smem-
ories, and we sure had a greattime! Were you there in
Oshkosh? Lots offun, a littlerain, cool temperaturesand
greatairplanes andairplanepeopleall addedupto awon-
derfulweek.
Totalattendancewasdownabitfor theevent, andthere
mayhavebeena numberofreasons. Gas prices, andthe
weather,whilegenerallygood in theupperMidwest, was poor
for somepeopletryingtofly induringtheearlypartofAir-
Venture.Qualityseemstobethehallmarkoftheairplanesthat
didmakeithereinourarea andthoseofthehomebuilt,war-
birdsandultralightairplanes.It wasquiteaweek!
We hadaboutthesameamountofairplanesinourarea,
withamarkedincreaseinContemporaryairplanes. Whilewe
weredownonAntiqueairplanes,the judgestoldmethatthe
airplaneswe hadwereofoutstandingquality.
I'll haveplentymoretowriteaboutconcerningthe2000
editionofAirVentureinnextmonth'scolumn.
Iwas readinganarticleintheSummer2000issueofSports-
man Pilot magazine, andI'dliketoshareitwithyou.JackCox,
publisherandeditorofthiswonderfulquarterlymagazine
wroteaboutV AA chapter3'sefforts to increaseattendanceat
theirfly-ins.We'veall noticed thatpeopledon'tseemtostay
atfly-ins as longas theyused to. We'veallwonderedwhy, and
as usual,Jackhasskeweredthetruth. Withhispermission,
here'swhatJackwrote:
II This is a problem facing fly-ins all over the country today.
lilt appears that it is not a matter of a lessening of interest in
homebuilts and vintage airaaft, but, rather, that there aresimply so
many more activities competing for people's time these days. The
times they are indeed a' changin'-and all ofus have to cope as best
we can.
For us diehard enthusiasts who will never give up our love for avi-
ation and the kindred spirits who share our affliction, it was
business as usual, however. The same little groups were to be found
sitting under wings taking airplanes, or out wandering up and down
the parking lines admiring the showplanes and talking to their own-
ers. For us, little changes - we just keep enjoying the same 01' same
01', year after year. There are always newly built or newly restored
airplanes to pique our interest and an occasional newcomer to take
into the fold, but how much has really changed in the past halfcen-
tury sinceEAA, VAA and AAA were formed?
Maybe that's really the crux of the matter. With all the dramatic
and often traumatic upheavals we've seen in our way of life in the
past halfcentury, perhaps it should not be surprising that there is a
certain comfort level in being able to sit down under an airplane
wing occasionally and ramble on about our favorite things with
someone who feels the same way about them we do. The older we
get, I think, the more we tend to appreciate such simple pleasures . ..
and in the context ofour current ever-mare-frenetic world, just how
precious and inevitably transitory they really are.
There is one cold, hard fact oflife in all this we have to acknowl-
edge, though. There is not now and there never will be again a
generation that has the same passion for aviation that those of us
have who were born in roughly the first halfofthe 20th century. We
grew up at a time when being a pilot was the most exciting, heroic
thing a person could do-a time before astronauts, rock stars, and
dot.com instant billionaires. When we open our hangar doors and
see our airplanes waiting there, we experience emotions based on
memories, attitudes and experiences that are ofa different time and
a different cultural context. We can't expect younger enthusiasts to
see the world . ..and aviation . ..precisely the same way we do, so
if it is the fate ofour sport aviation world to be inaeasingly caught
up in a struggle by competing interests for everyone's time, we sim-
ply have to roll with the punches. Those of us who are so inclined
can still go to the fly-ins early and stay as late as we please, and
those who can only spare a day in their schedule can do that.
There's really nothing to be gained by getting worked up over the sit-
uation - let's just all enjoy whatever time we can spend together,
whether it's a weekend, a day or just a few hours."
Enjoyingtimespenttogether-isn'tthatthepOint, moreof-
tenthannot?Thinkbacktoyourfavorite fly-in memories. If
you'relike me, I'll betthebestpartaboutitwas thefriend you
sawortheoldbuddyyouhadn'tseeninyears.
Ask afriend tojointheVintageAircraftAssociation. Re-
member,wearebettertogether.Joinusandhaveitall! .....
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1
EAA AIRVENTURE 2000
VAA AWARDS
ANTIQUE
GRAND CHAMPION
John Swander, De Soto, KS, Waco UEC
(NCI2471)
RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION
Densel Williams, Jackson, MI, Aeronca
Chief (NX22378)
SPECIAL AWARD - JUDGES
CHOICE
Delta Airlines, Inc. , Atlanta, GA, Dou-
glas DC-3-G202A (N28341)
CHAMPION - CUSTOMIZED AIR-
CRAFT
Richard Ash, Piffard, NY, Waco UPF-7
(NC29303)
RUNNER UP
Mark Gulbrandson, Prior Lake, MN,
Waco UPF-7 (N39748)
OUTSTANDING
Charles Davis, Washington Island, WI,
Waco YQC-6 (NCI6009)
CHAMPION - TRANSPORT CATE-
GORY
Greg Herrick, Jackson, WY, Stinson Tri-
motor (N11153)
TRANSPORT RUNNER UP
Delta Airlines, Inc., Atl anta, GA, Travel
Air 6000 (NC8878)
CHAMPION REPLICA AIRCRAFT
Jim & Drew Jenkins, Waquoit, MA, Gee
Bee E (NC856Y)
REPLICA AIRCRAFT RUNNER UP
Roy Redman, Faribault, MN, Waco Ta-
perwing (NX5HX)
CHAMPION W.W.II MILITARY
TRAINER OR LIAISON AIRCRAFT
Ken Barnes, San Leandro, CA, Stinson
L-5E (N31858)
W.W.II ERA (1942-1945)
CHAMPION WORLD WAR II ERA
1943-1945
Jim Jones, Newton, lA, Meyers OTW
(N34323)
OUTSTANDING OPEN COCKPIT
BIPLANE
Dan Haas, Galesburg, IL, Boeing A75N1
(N40lDB)
RUNNER UP
Mark Haag, Houston, TX, Boeing E75
Stearman (N99AN)
OUTSTANDING CLOSED COCKPIT
BIPLANE
Archie Lane, Cypress, CA, Beech D17S
(N67736)
CHAMPION SILVER AGE
(1928-1932)
Jack Tiffany, Spring Valley, OH, Davis
D1W (NC854N)
BRONZE AGE (1933-1941)
CHAMPION BRONZE AGE (1933-
1941)
Kent and Sandy Blankenburg, Grove-
land, CA, Lockheed 12A (N99K)
OUTSTANDING CLOSED COCKPIT
MONOPLANE
Max Davis, Waconia, MN, Stinson Re-
liant SR-6A (NCI5127)
OUTSTANDING OPEN COCKPIT
MONOPLANE
William Rose, Barrington, IL, Ryan ST-A
Special (N17368)
OUTSTANDING CLOSED COCKPIT
BIPLANE
William Nutting, Prescott, AZ, Waco
SRE (N1252W)
RUNNER UP
David Stark, Weatherford, TX, Stinson
SR-9F (NI8425)
CLASSIC
GRAND CHAMPION
Thomas J . Hammer and David Liebe-
gott, Clearfield, PA, Piper j3C-65
(N6697H)
RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION
Michael Greenblatt, Midland, GA,
Twin Beech, D-18S (N2913B)
BEST CLASS I (0-80 HP)
James Zangger, Cedar Rapids, lA, Tay-
lorcraft BCl2D (NC94953)
BEST CLASS II (81-150 HP)
Sydney Cohen, Wausau, WI,
Ercoupe 4150 (N94196)
BEST CLASS III (151 -235 HP)
Mark Ohlinger, Akron, OH,
Bellanca 14-13-2 (N86937)
BEST CLASS IV 236 HP &: UP
Charles Luigs, Bandera, TX, Cessna 195
(N9836A)
BEST CUSTOM CLASS A
Carol Cansdale, Eden Prairie, MN, Piper
J-3 (N7072H)
BEST CUSTOM CLASS B
Ellis Clark, Bath, MI, Piper J-3 (N6615H)
BEST CUSTOM CLASS C
Hal Cope, Spring, TX Globe Swift GC1B
(N3303K)
BEST CUSTOM CLASS D
Ronald Judy, Gate, OK, Navion
(N8915H)
BEST AERONCA CHAMP
Melvin Vorbach, Romney, WV, 7EC
(N4306C)
BEST AERONCA CHIEF
Wilbur Hostetler, Marion, IN, llAC
Chief (NC9659E)
BEST BEECHCRAFT
W. Roberts, Fremont, CA, Beech C35
(N1808D)
BEST CESSNA 120/140
Robert Lidster, Mesquite, TX C-140
(NI872V)
BEST CESSNA 170/180
Paul Applegate, Queen City, MO, C-
170B (N2548D)
BEST CESSNA 190/195
Ron Karwacky, Riverside, CA, C-195
(N3089B)
2 SEPTEMBER 2000
BESTERCOUPE
Alan Cuthbert , Dowagiac, MI 415-C
(N93512)
BEST LUSCOMBE
jerryCox,Mattoon,IL 8F (N1947B)
BESTNAVION
AndrewWoodside, Pickerrington, OH
(N4448K)
BESTPIPERJ-3
WilliamHogan,NorthLittle Rock, AR,
j3C-65 (N92611)
BESTPIPEROTHER
CurtisCumberland, Woodbine, MD,
PA-20 Pacer(N7403K)
BESTSTINSON
WilliamSmith, Long Beach, CA, 108-1
(N97979)
BESTSWIFf
DuaneGolding, Marion,TX, Globe B
(N80626)
BESTTAYLORCRAFT
john Knight , jackson, Ml, BC12-D
(N96035)
BESTLIMITEDPRODUCTION
DuanePeters,Anchorage, AK, DeHavil-
landBeaver (N73Q)
CONTEMPORARY
GRANDCHAMPION
Steve Koshar, Coloma,MI, Cessna 172
(N3626L)
RESERVEGRANDCHAMPION
johnMorriso, Collierville,TN,Bellanca
14-19-3 (N8856R)
OUTSTANDING CUSTOMIZED
RonnieCox, NewnanGA, PiperCo-
manche250(N7930P)
OUTSTANDINGINTYPE
BEECH SINGLE ENGINE
ThomasSchoder,Modesto, CA,Beech
BonanzaH-35 (N5487D)
BEECHMULTI-ENGINE
Cody Welch, Linden, MI, Beech H-18
(N6000M)
CESSNA170/172/175
CharlesPapas, CrownPOint,IN, Cessna
172(N7612T)
CESSNA180/182,/210
johnVoninski, Manlius, NY, Cessna
182(N2435G)
CESSNA310
Leonard Rennie, Glenn Dale, MD,
Cessna310(N31OjT)
PIPER PA-22 TRI PACER
j. D'Amico, MountAiry, MD, PA-22
(N7455D)
PIPER PA-24COMANCHE
Clifton Davis, Elida, OH, PA-24
(N5271P)
UNIQUE AIRCRAFT
Bob Luskin, Long Beach, CA, Cessna
175taildragger(N9300B)
LIMITED PRODUCTION
jackArthur, Des Moines, lA, Forney(Er-
coupe) (N3044G)
CUSTOM CLASS ISINGLEENGINE
(0-160hp)
jamesDouglass, Kennedyville, MD PA
20/22(150 hp) (N6043D)
CUSTOM CLASS IISINGLEENGINE
(23 1HP&: HIGHER)
David Bennet, ColoradoSprings, CO,
Cessna21O-B (N21OEA)
CLASS IVMULTIENGINE
jimSimmons, Nashville, TN, PA-23
(N3294P)
SEAPLANEAWARDS
GRAND CHAMPION
MarkTaylor, Riverdale, IN, Grumman
WidgeonG44A (N350GW)
OUTSTANDINGMETAL
Craig Burggraf, Grand Rapids, MN,
Cessna 180j(N410CE)
OUTSTANDINGFABRICFLOAT
PLANE
Steve Petrich, Mound, MN, Aeronca
7AC (N84609)
VAANEWS
compiled by H.G. Frautschy
GRASSROOTS
GATHERINGTOUR
Tom Poberezny, Presidentand
ChiefExecutiveOfficerofEAA, is
takinghis messageto fellow EAA
membersthisfall witha six-stop
"GrassrootsGathering"Tour. Fol-
lowingthesuccessofthespring
meetingsheldinWheeling, Illinois
andFairfax, Virginiaadditionalgath-
erings havebeenscheduledfor the
followingdates:Monday,September
25th,Arlington,Texas;Tuesday,Sep-
tember27th, Dallas,Texas;Tuesday,
October17th,SanJose, California;
Wednesday, October18th,Long
Beach, California;Tuesday, Novem-
ber 14th, Tampa, Florida; Wed-
nesday, November15th,Orlando,
Florida
Exacttimesandlocationsfor the
gatheringsarestillbeingdetermined.
Forthelatestinformation, check
EAA's websiteatwww.eaa.org.
If you'vewantedtofind outmore
aboutEAA programsandservices,
EAA's positiononkey issues, oryou
wantedtoaskquestionsorgive feed-
back to EAA president Tom
Poberezny, theGrassrootsgatherings
areyouropportunitytodoso. We
lookforward toseeingyouthere!.....
THECOVERS
FRONT COVER...The Fokker Universal
restored by Clark Seaborn for the Western
Canada Aviation Museum's collection is a
faithful reminder of CF-AAM's days as a
working bush airplane in Canada's interior.
EAA photo by Jim Koepnick, shot with a
Canon EOS1 nequipped with an 80-220
mm lens on 100 ASA Fuji Provia slide film.
EAA Cessna 210 photo plane flown by
Bruce Moore.
BACK COVER...The Fokker Universal was
designed specifically for the North American
market by Robert Noorduyn,and was built by
the Atlantic Aircraft Company.The cabin
accommodated four fare-paying passengers.
The 1928 model had an enclosed pilot's cock-
pit, and increased horsepower.
John Underwood collection.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3
PIPER "0" WINDOWS
Dear H.G.,
Sometimes an obvious, simple
mechanical cure isn't what it seems
to be. Reference your page "Type
Club Notes" in the August 2000 is-
sue of Vintage Airplane. Clyde Smith,
]r. advocates drilling a hole in the
bottom of "D" type side windows in
all Piper taildraggers to prevent rust-
ing in the lower window channel. If
this is done, a more serious, long
range problem will develop as the
water will drip or flow on the inside
of the fabric, down to the lower
longerons, and flow to the aft end of
the tail, hence, rusting out this im-
portant structural member.
A more positive cure for this
problem is to initially set the plexi-
glass window in a but yl rubber
compound when affixing the win-
dow aft in the channel. This
compound, which comes in strips
(Th e example sent measured
7/ 16xl/ 16"-Editor) is easily gotten at
a local plate glass window store for
literally pennies. The product is li-
able at all temperatures, never
hardens, and is guaranteed for 20
years. I used this compound when
setting all the plexiglass windows
on Miss Pearl and no leaks have de-
veloped since installation.
Another helpful hint is to use
wooden cuticle orange sticks to trim
the excess rubber around the mar-
gins of the windows to prevent
scratching of the plexiglass. (Wal-
mart has this item. ) I would not
advise a silicone rubber application,
as it will cement the window in place
4 SEPTEMBER 2000
and it will be very difficult to extract
the window at a later date. Please
point these suggestions out to the
Piper taildragger owners as our
planes must have a safe longevity in
order to stay in the air without struc-
tural problems.
Frank Sperandeo III
Piper N3383A
Fayetteville, AR
THE END OF THE MV-1
STAR FLIGHT
Greetings,
I just received my August
Vintage Airpl ane and was
amazed that the aircraft piC-
tured on page 8 was the
airplane that I had taken piC-
tures of in May of 1993!
While traveling on vaca-
tion in the lower Louisiana
area, I saw a sign with directions to
the Wedell-Williams museum. I am
one of those who has to check out
all aviation museums and airfields.
You never know what you might
find at one of these places.
The enclosed photos will show
what I found at the museum in Pat-
terson, Louisiana. What a mess. The
aircraft was in such a state that it was
difficult to tell what kind it was.
Best Wishes,
Brooks Lovelace, ]r.
Albany, GA
The one and only Monsted-Vincent MV-1 Star Flight was badly damaged by
hurricane Andrew in 1992.

I ears
att
Outer Marker
The707
P
an American, once again the
leader and again the pioneer
had placed the first industry
order with Boeing Aircraft Company
for seven Boeing 707s, with options
for many more. In 1958 Jack Ryan
and I were assigned to Pan Ameri-
can's initial 707 ground school at
New York and felt very privileged to
be in the first group of pilots to re-
ceive 707 flight training. This
training was most extensive, with all
of it being given on the airplane it-
self. Our flight instructor was Jim
Gannett of Boeing, who later
headed up Boeing's supersonic
transport program.
Was this new machine just an-
other airplane? Indeed it was not.
Despite later to come flight simu-
lator training which very effectively
developed necessary familiarity with
the cockpit, cockpit operating proce-
dures and operating check lists, for
many years thereafter an average of
22 hours on the airplane itself, after
simulator, was required for very ex-
perienced airline pilots. These
airmen, long accustomed to pro-
peller driven aircraft and the docile
characteristics of straight wing air-
planes, had to adapt to the very
different and often unforgiving char-
acteristics of this new swept wing, jet
powered airplane.
In many, many instances the posi-
tioning of hands and feet to produce
an aircraft response to control inputs
were very different and much un-
learning was necessary.
An early industry problem to sur-
face was a rash of short-of-
the-runway threshold touchdowns,
caused by the airplane's very differ-
ent glide characteristics during a
landing approach. The pilot of a pro-
peller-driven airplane, if a bit low on
final approach, by merely adding a
small amount of power could in-
crease the flow of propeller air over a
large portion of the wing behind the
propellers, with the direct result an
immediate increase in the wings' lift,
even prior to speed being gained, or
vice versa if power was reduced. This
resulted in the airplane's being liter-
ally lifted back toward the desired
descent profile with a minimum
change in the airplane's pitch atti-
tude and use of power for landing
approach glideslope control was
quite effective. But it took a while for
many airmen to become really con-
vinced that these old techniques
would not work on the jetliner where
the jet engines were mounted on
pods suspended far below the wing
and where thrust changes, in them-
selves, had no effect whatever on
wing lift.
And where the conventional
straight wing airplane was very toler-
ant of yaw, or skidding flight, the
swept wing airplane very definitely
was not, and there were several early
by Holland "Dutch" Redfield
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5
incidents and accidents, I believe
almost all of them during pilot
training, in which airplanes got in
deep trouble because they were
flown in conditions of excessive
and uncorrected yaw. When thus
triggered, and whether the yaw de-
veloped gradually or rapidly, the
subsequent snap rolls were of such
violence as to cause severe struc-
tural damage and in almost all
cases ended up with the airplane
inverted.
My friend Jack Ryan partici-
pated in what was probably the
first of such incidents. A between
trips layover airplane was being pi-
lot trained in the vicinity of Paris,
France, and Jack was conducting a
training demonstration of the min-
imum speed at which directional
control can be maintained with
two engines at idle on one side,
and very high thrust on the other
two engines. Up to that time it was
a required demonstration.
The early 707 models had an un-
boosted rudder and to protect the
vertical tail surfaces from damaging
pilot rudder inputs at higher speeds,
force limiting springs were placed in
the rudder actuating system between
the pilot's rudder pedals and the big
rudder itself.
During the Paris demonstration
the rudder was fully deflected, but as
the demonstration proceeded, speed
slowly increased causing the forces
in the rudder actuating system to
build up in excess of the values pro-
grammed into the force limiting
springs, at which pOint they released,
with the result that the rudder very
suddenly "blew down" and centered,
despite the still held full pedal deflec-
tion. This caused the airplane to yaw
sharply then snap violently to an in-
verted position.
At that time, the trainer was at
9,000 feet and fortunately had some
wing flap extended. From inverted
flight the nose fell and the plane be-
gan to spin. Jack, well experienced
in aerobatics, was able to stop the
spin and recover at about 2,000 feet.
6 SEPTEMBER 2000
.. .it took a while
for manyairmen to
becomereally
convincedthat
these old
techniques would
notwork on
the ietliner...
As the airplane was leveling off over
the farmlands of France, Herb Seil-
berger, the flight engineer, shouted,
"We've lost No . 4 engine!" Jack
replied, "Well, let's get it going
again!" Herb yelled back, "No, no, I
mean it fell offl"
The flight was closer to better re-
pair facilities in London, so the
crippled airplane was gingerly flown
there and safely landed. Inspection
showed that besides No.4 engine be-
ing no longer there, that No.3
engine was hanging by little more
than the skin of its cowlings.
An early Pan American 707 came
very close to disaster while making a
transatlantic crossing during the air-
craft's introductory phases into
airline service.
Pilot contracts covering pay,
working conditions, etc., had not
yet been signed and delivery of the
industry's first 707 to Pan American
was impending. In the Company's
upper management it had been
hoped that agreements might be ar-
rived at in time that the 707
inaugural flight could be flown on
the anniversary of the airline's
first flight.
Corporate Officer Waldo Lynch,
an airman on the pilot's roster
himself, proposed to Juan Trippe,
president of the airline, that until
such time as signing of the pilots'
contract could in fact take place,
that the many supervisory pilots
throughout the airline's system
could easily be qualified on the
707, thereafter operating the new
jet liners as administrative person-
nel. Captain Lynch's proposal was
quickly approved and imple-
mented on a crash training
program.
The inaugural 707 flight was
flown as scheduled, New York to
London, on October 26, 1958, with
Captain Sam Miller, Chief Pilot of
the airline's Atlantic Division as pi-
lot in command and Captain
Waldo Lynch performing the du-
ties of First Officer. Thereafter, the
newly and hastily qualified 21 ad-
ministrative airmen operated the
airline's 707 schedules between New
York, London, Paris and Rome while
contract negotiations dragged on for
the next 14 months.
It was a few months following
the inaugural flight that Captain
Lynch was scheduled in command
of Pan American's flight 115 from
Paris to New York, with the flight
leaving Paris at six in the evening.
Captain Sam Peters, Chief Pilot of
the Pacific Division, was assigned as
First Officer.
Meeting the crew of the incoming
flight from New York, Lynch was ad-
vised that the trip on the eastbound
crossing had been unable to commu-
nicate with Keflavik, on Iceland, due
to aurora borealis radio interference,
and although Keflavik was much
preferred as a westbound fueling
stop, and because Pan American's
first airplanes were short range, it
was decided to land at London for a
quick topping off of the fuel tanks,
thereafter proceeding London to
Gander, Newfoundland, for another
refueling before continuing on to
New York. After a 12 minute turn-
around at London, the flight was
fueled and again airborne and a short
while later reached its initial cruising
altitude of 29,000 feet. The 707 had
flight plan clearance to later climb to
higher altitudes as fuel consumption
produced lighter gross weights.
Weather reports indicated a large
low pressure area with heavy snow-
storms along the flight's normal
route, so the course purposely flown
took Flight 115 somewhat south of
its normal track, with a turn back to-
ward the north anticipated about
600 miles from Gander.
At cruising altitude the 707 was in
and out of cloud tops with its associ-
ated moderate turbulence and
concerned with the comfort of his
passengers, Captain Lynch re-cleared
to 35,000 feet where they were on
top of the weather and in smooth
ahead of flight plan. In on the discus-
sion and seated in the observer's seat
directly behind the captain's seat was
Flight Dispatcher Tom Mackay out of
the New York flight dispatch center.
As part of his duties Mackay was ob-
serving the company's new aircraft
in line operation.
Satisfied, Captain Lynch walked
back through the open cockpit door-
way. This was prior to the FAA
regulation that airliner cockpit doors
in flight remain closed and locked
due to later-experienced hijacking
problems. It was necessary only that
a small felt-covered rope be un-
clipped for crew members to leave or
enter the cockpit.
The copilot, now alone in his for-
ward pilot's position, huddled head
down in the dimly lit cockpit study-
ing his fuel charts. A few minutes
later, his earphones pressed tightly
to his head, he endeavored at the
encountered the flight's Purser, who
was just finishing up dinner service.
As he asked him how the after din-
ner cabin clean-up was progressing,
he was again aware of the gradual in-
crease in the plane's speed. Then as
he turned back toward the cockpit,
passengers seated in the forward
lounge area asked about New York
weather and the flight's approximate
arrival time. Waldo did not wish to
cut them short despite now feeling
mounting apprehension about the
still gradually and steadily increasing
and uncorrected aerodynamic
airstream noises. He did not think of
the plane possibly being in an ever
steepening dive.
In response to his passenger's
question Captain Lynch temporarily
perched on the edge of the forward
lounge seat, facing aft. From this po-
sition he could see through a cabin
window and out over the airplane's
But, in the meantime, in the dark andunnoted,
the autopilothadsilentlydisengaged...
air. Shortly after the change in alti-
tude, Flight lIS's navigator advised
the crew that it was time to change
course to Gander. Using the engaged
autopilot, a gentle turn to the right
was made.
Captain Lynch had not left his
cockpit position since departure at
Paris and now wished to stretch his
legs and make use of the lavatory.
Shortly following assumption of the
new course, he slid his cockpit seat
full aft and unbuckled his seat belt.
Stepping aft, he checked with Flight
Engineer George Sinski, seated on the
right side of the cockpit directly be-
hind the pilots, how the flight's fuel
burn was progressing and what fuel
remained. He then turned to the op-
posite side of the cockpit, reviewing
briefly with Navigator Laird the
flight's estimated arrival time at Gan-
der, ground speed, wind, etc., and he
was advised they were a few minutes
scheduled time to read and copy
weather observations along the
flight's westbound route on the sta-
tic-ridden high frequency receiver.
But, in the meantime, in the dark
and unnoted, the autopilot had
silently disengaged, permitting the
airplane over a period of many min-
utes to very gradually and very
gently enter a very slowly steepening
diving turn.
Back in the lavatory Captain
Lynch sensed a slight increase in the
airplane's airspeed, evidenced by the
600 mile per hour whistling
airstream sounds streaking along the
plane's outer skin. He believed this
was probably due to the now some-
what lower gross weight because of
fuel burn-off, but he also wondered
why the cockpit crew did not reduce
thrust in compensation, as he had
done previously on the flight.
Stepping outside the lavatory he
left wing, which was in near level
flight, as evidenced by stars visible
above the wing. He hastily apprised
the passengers of New York weather,
that ceiling and visibility were at ap-
proach minimums but that no
problems were anticipated and the
flight's arrival time at New York
would be quite close to that sched-
uled. Then before he was able to
respond to another question and re-
turn to the cockpit, he suddenly felt
heavy aerodynamic buffeting in the
airframe and a glance out the win-
dows showed the left wing rising
rapidly with its tip pOinted toward
the stars. At the same time a power-
ful yawing motion abruptly threw
him onto the floor in the plane's
aisleway.
Back in the cockpit, the first indi-
cation of trouble was the frantic
ringing of the Mach airspeed warn-
ing bell. Captain Peters, in the
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7
copilot's seat quickly, took over and
attempted to recover from the now
steeply banked diving turn, but he
was faced with two big problems.
First, later research showed that at
very high Mach, if rudder and
aileron control is applied, as in this
case, to level the wings, with rudder
possibly applied in excessive
amounts, in response, the airplane
either will not roll at all, or will pos-
Sibly roll in a direction exactly
opposite to the aileron and rudder
being applied. Second, at high
Mach the center of pressure on the
plane's wing is caused to move rear-
ward making an already diving,
accelerating airplane more and
more nose heavy.
Unlike the preceding generation
of propeller aircraft which had a
fixed, bolted-into-position stabilizer
(the horizontal surfaces on the tail
forward of the trailing moveable ele-
vators) this new generation of
jetliners was eqUipped with an ad-
justable stabilizer designed to
minimize drag while still providing a
normal means for cockpit crews to
achieve "hands off" longitudinal
trim of the airplane. These very large
stabilizing surfaces were normally
positioned by an electric drive sys-
tem and caused to change position
by means of thumb switches on the
pilot's control wheels. At very high
speeds, however, under conditions
of excessive elevator inputs, it was
known that the stabilizer drive sys-
tem could be loaded up to the point
where its drive motor would stall out
and the stabilizer position could not
be changed, no matter how desper-
ate the situation. In case of complete
drive system failure the system was
designed so the stabilizer position
could be adjusted manually, if nec-
essary, by actuation of hand cranks
in the cockpit.
Back in the main cabin, Waldo
somehow was able on his hands
and knees to claw his way forward
along the cabin floor; back under
the felt covered rope and into his
left pilot's seat. As he worked his
way past Engineer Sinski's position,
8 SEPTEMBER 2000
George shouted, "Waldo, power is
still at cruise setting!" As Waldo
crashed into his chair he immedi-
ately slammed the throttles closed,
while shouting to NaVigator Laird
who had traded pOSitions with Dis-
patcher Mackay during his absence,
"Strap my belt on for me!" Lynch
never was able to slide his seat for-
ward to its normal position, nor
was he able to pull his feet from
alongside the pedestal up onto the
rudder pedals. Although the flight's
cruising altitude had been at 35,000
feet, as Lynch took control the air-
plane's plunge was taking it
through 17,000 feet.
Waldo's attitude horizon, the
prime instrument for precise presen-
tation of the airplane's wings level,
or climbing/diving attitudes, had
long ago tumbled and now flopped
in a random, useless fashion. His
Turn Indicator, a very basic, non-
preCise, back-up instrument of flight,
showed a full right deflection as dis-
played on its fully displaced turn
needle. The altimeter was unwind-
ing at a frightful rate, "Clunk, clunk,
clunk" per thousand feet, almost as
fast as it can be spoken, and the air-
speed indicator was totally off scale
at 400 knots. Due to Waldo's far aft
seat position his Mach meter could
not be seen.
On the other side of the cockpit
the buffeting was so severe that a
gray plastic decorative shield, also
providing indirect instrument light-
ing for the copilot's panel, had
shaken loose and fallen down, ob-
scuring copilot Peter's instruments,
besides depriving him of vital instru-
ment lighting. Peter's eyeglasses had
fallen to the floor and his earphones
had fallen down over his shoulders.
His desperate control wheel inputs
had bloodied his hands.
At the engineer's panel, the pow-
erful shaking of the airframe had
tripped the field relay on number
three generator supplying the Essen-
tial Electrical Bus, which, in turn
supplied power to the captain's flight
instruments, radios, and cockpit
lighting. Only minimal cockpit
lighting was thus available on
Lynch's panel from emergency
sources, and Engineer Sinski, under
the diving turn's centrifugal loads,
was simply unable to raise his head
to see, nor was he able to raise his
arm in order to actuate necessary
switches on his panel to correct this.
As Waldo took the controls his
first action in the black of night, and
with the airplane now in heavy
cloud, was to attempt to level the
wings, and this by reference to his
only usable panel instrument, the
turn indicator. This successful action
momentarily relieved the turns "G"
loads, and at this point Engineer Sin-
ski was able to reach up and quickly
restore power to the Essential Electri-
cal Bus, thus again providing normal
cockpit lighting.
Noting that the stabilizer indi-
cated full forward (nose down) and
feeling a desperate need to be of as-
sistance in a very desperate situation,
Sinski released his seat belt and care-
fully edged his way forward from his
engineer's station to a position
where he straddled the pedestal be-
tween the two pilots' seats. Here,
with superhuman effort, he began a
turn at a time hand cranking the sta-
bilizer toward a nose-up position.
(Boeing engineers later reported that
hand cranking under the air loads
being experienced would be impos-
sible for one person to overcome.)
NaVigator Laird, seated behind
Lynch, shouted, "Captain, we're go-
ing through 8,000 feet!" Waldo,
realizing that it was now or never,
applied all the strength that he could
muster into a tremendous backward
pull on the control yoke, and while
doing so he was not able to even
brace his feet against the rudder ped-
als because they well still behind
him alongside his chair.
Boeing engineers later estimated
that 6.7 Gs were imposed on the air-
frame as a result of Waldo's last
minute desperate pull. The airplane's
beautifully swept wing, which not
too many moments before had only
-continued on page 26
PASS IT TO BUCK
by E.E. "Buck" Hilbert
EAA #21 VAA #5
P.O. Box 424, Union, IL 60180
DearBuck,
It was goodtotalktoyoutheotherday.Ineeda1918D3-A
Mercedesenginefor myFokkerD.VII replica. Ihavea new
WolfpropellermadebyGuyWatson.
TheD.VII Fokker, as showninthepictures, is completely
hand-craftedfrom GermandraWingsdoneinMetricscale.
At thistimeI'm makingthefuel linesandhandpressure
pumpfittings andtubing. All theinstrumentsare 1918Ger-
manBosch. Newwheelsarebeingmadeatthistime.Thefabric
is from Belgium, andIexpectithereanytime.Ineedeithera
Mercedes orBMW enginetocompletetheproject, andIdon't
wanttoaccepta modernsubstitute.
Idoappreciateanyandall helptolocatesuchanengine.
Thankyou,
Richard R. Enos
SantaMaria, CA
805/922-4063or739-1025 (Shop)
Take a look at the magnitude of the work and the sharp
workmanship Richard has put into his Fokker project. Hope-
fully one of you out th ere can help him find that elusive
Mercedes or BMW engine.
Overtoyou,
t( ~ t c k ~
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9
Fokker'stalentedstaffcreatesabackcountryworkhorse.
A
nthony H.G. Fokker was not
the most popular aviation per-
sonality in the early '20s.
Fokker, a Dutchman, had thrown in
with the Germans in 1914. He was
widely perceived to be a war profi-
teer and, indeed, had been one of
the few major suppliers of the
Kaiser's air service to survive with his
industrial base more or less intact
and plenty of money in the bank.
Within a matter of months after
the armistice, Tony Fokker was back
in business inhis native Holland
manufacturing aircraft. His surrepti-
tious departure from Germany,
which involved marshaling no less
than six trainloads of contraband
materials, tools, engines, and 220
unfinished aircraft, was a classic
piece of international subterfuge. An
ex-fighter pilot, Capt. Hermann Go-
ering, helped with the arrangements.
The future Reichsmarshall, equipped
with a pacified Fokker D.VII, would
be Fokker's sales representative in
Scandinavia for a year or more.
Fokker's detractors have alluded
to a secret 1922 agreement between
the manufacturer and the new Ger-
man government, wherein that
government would have first call
on Fokker's services in the
event of another war. This, of
course, was long before
Hitler came to power and
the idea of another war
was anathema to almost
everyone. Nevertheless, a
German-Soviet pact main-
tained a clandestine
Luftwaffe on Soviet soil.
Fokker supplied most of its
equipment.
The secret of Fokker's success was
his genius for hiring talented people.
He had picked the right engineers
and designers, such as the gifted
Reinhold Platz, a welder who rose
from the ranks, and Walter Rethel,
whose mas-
ByJohn Underwood
10 SEPTEMBER 2000
terpiece would be the Messerschmitt
Bf 109. This team created air
craft that were among the best avail-
able anywhere in the world.
Fokker himself, though no engi-
neer, had an instinctive under-
standing for what was technologi-
cally correct. He was a superb pilot
and did much of his own test fly-
ing. Fokker's brilliant demon-
stration flying and masterful sales-
manship was a combination that
invariably spelled success. That and
the fact that he was not averse to
cheating to make a good perfor-
mance look even better on paper.
Fokker's warplanes were far supe-
rior to anything available in the
United States, which had precious
little expertise in the production of
combat aircraft. The air service had
been equipped exclusively with
French, English, and Italian aircraft
during 1917 and 1918. Indigenous
designs were regarded as unsuitable
for combat for a considerable period
of time thereafter.
Fokker fighters remained in ser-
vice well into the '20s, both in
Europe and the United States, which
had acquired 50 highly esteemed
D.VIIs for the military. In addition,
the army and the navy procured
small quantities of postwar Nether-
lands-built Fokkers. These included
fighters such as the PW-5, CO-2 ob-
servation craft, and T-2 transports,
one of which made the first nonstop
coast-to-coast crossing of the United
States in May of 1923.
The T-2 was a stretched version of
Fokker's F.I1I commercial aircraft,
which had evolved from a prototype
built in Germany in the immediate
postwar period and spirited to Hol-
Fokker escorting Kingsford-Smith's
world girdling Southern Cross in a bor-
rowed Monocoupe, July 1931. He was
fined $500 for performing stunts with a
passenger ("Pushka") and having no
certificate. Fokker had never troubled
himself to apply for any certificate
after earning German FAI License No.
88 in 1911. The fine was rescinded
when Fokker presented his newly
acquired U.S. private pilot's certificate
in September.
"Tony" Fokker, shown in a 1912 Spin
(Spider) . He built and flew his first mono-
plane in 1910 at age 20. He moved to
Germany (Johannistal) in 1912 to seek his
fortune, becoming a naturalized citizen in
1917. Fokker later became a U.S. citizen
and lived in Nyack, NY, when he died of
complications following minor surgery in
December 1939.
land on the q.t. The F.III, with its
comfortable passenger cabin (pilots
preferred to remain in open cock-
pits) , quickly found favor with
Europe ' s infant airline industry,
which included KLM and DVR, the
forerunner of Lufthansa. Fokker, on
one of his early U.S. visits, brought
two F.IIIs to test the North American
market.
There was strong resistance to the
importation of foreign aircraft, par-
ticularly anything Teutonic. Fokker's
modest success in selling aircraft to
the U.S. military was roundly criti-
cized from almost every quarter.
Why spend American dollars over-
seas when the aircraft industry at
home was in dire need of what little
business there was?
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 11
The Fokker F-11, built at Schwerin in 1919, featured
cabin comfort for six passengers. Fokker adopted the
full-cantilever wing in 1917.
Wartime sentiments notwith-
standing, Fokker had friends and
admirers in the business world and
in the U.S. military. One of
them was Brig. Gen. Billy
Mitchell, assistant chief of the
air service. The upshot of this
was the establishment of a com-
pany at Teterboro, New Jersey,
in a nearly new plant formerly
occupied by the Wittman-Lewis
Company, builders of the cele-
brated Barling Bomber. The
venture, funded largely by
American investment, became
known as the Atlantic Aircraft
Corporation.
Fokker had an able assistant
in the person of Robert B.C.
Noorduyn, a fellow Dutchman
whose mother was English,
who would later manufacture
the Norseman bush airplane in
12 SEPTEMBER 2000
Canada. His mother was
English. Unlike Fokker,
Noorduyn had helped
supply the Allies with
aircraft during the war,
notably in the employ
of Tom Sopwith and Sir
W.G. Armstrong-Whit-
worth & Co.
Noorduyn had been
an assistant to another
Dutch designer, Fritz
Koolhoven, at Arm-
strong-Whitworth,
which led to a postwar
hitch in the same ca-
pacity with the British
Aerial Transport Co. , which pro-
duced the BAT monoplane fighter,
an ultralight monoplane called the
Fokker and "Pushka" Galanschikoff, an
early Russian aviatrix, in 1913. Fokker
sold her a Spider and fell in love.
"Pushka" fled the Russian Revolution,
lived in New York, and performed pub-
lic relations services for Fokker. She
aspired to fly the Atlantic in a Fokker,
but Earhart beat her to it.
Crow, and the FK.26 transport, a
cabin biplane. He was an engineer-
designer by training and a born
manager with a full measure of fi-
nancial sense. Noorduyn was named
general manager and treasurer of At-
lantic Aircraft.
Bob Noorduyn's first production
order was for 135 welded steel tube
fuselages to rejuvenate the U.S. air
service's dilapidated de Havilland
DH-4 bombers. The welded fuselage
was largely a Fokker innovation, and
his welders were among the most
skilled in the industry. Many were
Dutch imports themselves. Indeed,
the language on the factory floor was
as much Dutch-German as it was
English.
Commercial aviation was late in
developing in the United States, and
Fokker's F.III transport, which was
widely used in Europe by KLM and
Lufthansa, was a marketing disap-
pointment. Only two F.IIIs were
imported, one of which found its
way to Anchorage, where the broth-
ers Wien hoped to start an airline.
The other later belonged to a boot-
A lineup of Fokker D.Vlls still bearing German crosses at Kelly Field circa 1920.
Peter M. Bowers photo.
The first Fokker Tri-Motor was created on short notice to compete in the 1925 Ford Reliabi lity Tour. It was quite a sensation.
Variants pioneered the airways with WAE, American, and Pan Am.
legger. The lack of suitable landing
facilities, both in the Lower 48 and
in the territories, was a major obsta-
cle that had to be overcome.
That situation began to change
with the privatization of airmail,
which became the foundation for
scheduled passenger services. The
Fords had foreseen the future of air
transportation; So had the Guggen-
heims, whose funding for an
experimental airline resulted in
Western Air Express, which began
carrying a few passengers almost
from the outset. WAE would pro-
foundly affect Fokker's American
sojourn.
Ford aroused public interest by
sponsoring the first Commercial Air-
plane Reliability Tour in 1925. The
nationwide tour afforded millions of
Americans the opportunity to see the
latest developments in air transporta-
tion. Fokker's marvelous F.VIII/3M
Tri-Motor, produced as an after-
thought and brilliantly demonstrated
by its maker, was the sensation of
the event. Reporter Cy Caldwell,
tongue-in-cheek called it the "Fokker
PubliCity Tour," and Ford himself
was so impressed that he bought the
airplane and named it the Josephine
Ford.
"Tony" Fokker, proud of his "non-stalling," 10-seat F.vll ai rliner, had a genius for
adopting innovative features such as the welded tube f uselage, spl it -axle landing
gear, and full-cantilever wing well before the competiti on.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13
The F.III, introduced in the United States in 1922,
needed better landing fields than were generally
available at the time. This one made profits for its
owner by hauling Canadian bootleg.
These developments created the
climate for a viable manufacturing
enterprise that began with the
Fokker Universal, designed specifi-
cally for the North American market.
Noorduyn and hi s technical staff,
which included chief engineer A.
Francis Arcier, a Witteman-Lewis
holdover from the Barling Bomber,
had formulated specifications for a
five-passenger monoplane to be
powered by a 200- hp Wright J-4
Whirlwind.
The Universal embodied the prin-
cipa l characteristics of its Dutch
predecessors with the exception of
the wing, which was semi-cantilever.
Heretofore, Fokker's transports had
featured cantilever wings, innovative
in themselves, almost to the point of
being proprietary. The
Universal's wide-track
tripod landing gear,
also innovative, would
be widely emulated in
the decade to follow.
Up to that point
Whirlwind production
had been reserved ex-
clusively for the
military. The availabil-
ity of the J-4 and
J-5 for commercial ap-
plications greatly en-
hanced Fokker's pro-
spectus for the Whirl-
wind was eminently
reliable. The Univer-
sal, first flown in
October 1925, had come to fruition
in the remarkably short gestation
period of two months. It was an
immediate success.
Colonial Air Transport acquired
the first of three Universals early in
1926. Eddie Hubbard, a pioneer air-
mail contractor, became Fokker's
distributor in the West. Eddie flew
up and down the Pacific Coast, ag-
Hermann Goering, last commander of the famed "Richtofen Flying Circus," was at loose ends following the armistice. He
became Fokker' s sales representative in Sweden before turning to politics. This was his D.VII demonstrator. The cross on the fin
has been painted over with white paint, and the LVG guns have been removed while their cartridge chutes remain in place. It's
interesting to note that the biplane's engine is running, but Herr Goering is nowhere to be seen!
14 SEPTEMBER 2000
gressively demonstrating the
Universal from Canada to Mex-
ico. This resulted in sa les to
Pacific Air Transport and the
Aero Corporation of California,
whose CEO, Jack Frye, was
about to launch the ancestral
beginnings of TWA.
A gold rush in northern On-
tario, near Hudson Bay,
brought the first of many
Canadian orders. Wes t ern
Canada Airways, founded by
Capt. A.C. "Doc" Oakes, col-
lected his first Universal at the
factory on Christmas Day,
1926, during a heavy snowfall, F-32, then the largest airliner in North America, seldom carried profitable payloads and
was prone to distributing passenger equanimity when rear engines failed from overheat-
which necessitated the installa- ing. Only three F-32s were in airline service, and they retired early.
tion of skis. Oakes was so
pleased with the Universal that
he ordered two more on floats for with extensive arctic flying experi - invaluable asset to the Universal
service in the gold-mining district. ence. Balchen, lured to the United program and a great deal more.
WCA eventually had a fleet of 12 States by Cmdr. Richard Byrd's Early o n the Canadians found
Universals. promise of a flying job, did much of themselves with several damaged
Fokker then hired Bernt Balchen, the experimental testing at Teter- aircraft. Thi s was due mainly to
a young Norwegian army aviator boro. He would prove himself an harsh winter flying conditions and
pilot error. It was a new kind of fly-
ing, and everyth ing had to be
learned the hard way. Balchen, a
skill ed mechanic as well as a pilot,
was loaned out to Western Canada
Airways t o oversee repairs and get
their Universals back in service. On
his return he was named chief pilot.
Whereas the Whirlwind's 200 to
220 hp had seemed sufficient for all
practical purposes in 1925, it was
not long before customers were agi-
tating for more horsepower and
increased payloads. No less a voice
than Jack Frye's joined the chorus
for more power. Frye, h aving
bought out Hubbard, was the new
West Coast distributor. For him the
power issue was more a safety issue.
For mountain flying 220 hp just
wasn't enough.
On his way to Spokane for the
1927 National Air Races, Frye had
aCCidentally flown up a blind
Bernt Balchen, on indefinite leave from
the Norwegian air force, became a
Fokker test pilot and field service
mechanic while awaiting arctic flying
opportunities.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15
Fokker's chairman, James A. Talbott, who also presided over Richfield Oil, traveled in style in this executive F-10A. NC535E was
often detailed to events to promote air-mindedness. It conveyed thousands of first timers aloft during its four years with
Richfield. Florence "Pancho" Barnes sometimes spared pilot Jake Littlejohn at the controls.
canyon while wending his way
through the Cascades. Lacking the
power to extricate himself by climb-
ing out, he had no option but to
reverse course with a vertical turn.
The canyon was narrow and steep,
and the Fokker's wheels brushed
leaves from a tree as Frye rolled out
of the turn. It had been a white-
knuckle affair, one that Frye's
passengers would never forget.
A stretched version of the Uni-
versal, known as the Universal
Special, appeared late in 1927. Pow-
ered by a 400-hp Wasp, it had a
larger wing but retained the semi-
cantilever feature. The pilot'S
cockpit was also fully enclosed,
(top right) The Fokker Super Universal,
introduced in 1928, carried six passen-
gers. It proved to be popular in Canada
with bush operators, thanks to its year-
round adaptability on wheels, skis, or
floats.
(bottom right) A Universal on Hamilton
floats built for the Cuban coast guard.
16 SEPTEMBER 2000
with the windshield raked forward
in the characteristic manner of later
Fokker Tri-Motors. This aircraft was
a one-only production.
The Super Universal, which fol-
lowed, differed mainly in having a
new, fully cantilever wing and re-
vised tripod landing gear attached to
the wing spar. The advent of the Su-
per Universal coincided with an
expansion program and corporate
name change. Atlantic Aircraft be-
came Fokker Aircraft Corporation of
The Super Universal became
Fokker's best-selling commercial
airplane. Eighty were built, the last
of which in 1931, many for Cana-
dian users. Western Canada Airways
had 13. In addition, Canadian Vick-
ers built 14 under license and the
Japanese firm of Nakajima built 47,
many of which were military C2N-1
utility airplanes. Japan Air Trans-
port, with government subsidies
permitting fares commensurate
with railroad fares, inaugurated pas-
Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker as
sales manager. The company
planned to build the giant, four-
engine 32-passenger F-32 at a new
plant at Alhambra, California, but
the airplane was neither ready nor
the economy right for so capa-
cious an airplane. Production had
come to a virtual standstill when
Fokker, having divested himself of
his shares, returned to Holland in
1931.
The advent of the Great Depres-
A master self-promoter, Fokker never missed an opportunity to place his name before the public. Richfield's management
held the majority of Western Air Express stock, reequipping the airline with F-10s and F-14s. They controlled the Fokker com-
panyin 1928 and 1929.
America. A new factory was built
near Wheeling, West Virginia, and
production of the Super Universal
got underway early in 1928.
The smaller Universal was re-
tained as a companion model for
several years, mainly for charter op-
erators and private owners. The
enclosed cockpit became a fixture in
1928, and several engine options
raised the horsepower range to 330.
Altogether, 45 Universals were built,
half of which were sold to Canadian
operators either directly or indirectly
as used aircraft.
senger services with U.S.-built Super
Universals in April 1929. Some were
float-equipped to better serve the is-
land empire.
Japan, by far the largest user of
Fokker Universals, supplied a num-
ber of Nakajima-built aircraft to its
puppet state of Manchuko, which
created the Manchurian Aviation
Company Ltd. in 1932, an exten-
sion of Japan's Air Transport's
Korean service.
The Fokker Aircraft Corporation
of America became an element of
General Motors in May 1929, with
sion and a tragic plane crash in
Western Kansas, remembered as the
Rockne disaster, marked the begin-
ning of the end of Fokker as a
manufacturing entity in America.
General Motors reorganized Fokker
as the General Aviation Manufac-
turing Company, which was
unprofitable, and then sold the di-
vision to North American Aviation
in 1934. Many of the skilled crafts-
men included in the transaction
were Tony Fokker's countrymen.
Some would remain on the job into
the jet age. ...
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 17
Fokker's bushcountryworkhorse
Aerial photography by Jim Koepni ck, ground photography by Leslie Hilbert
E
arly in 1929 the twenty-seventh
Super Universal, earmarked for
Western Canada Airways and
registered CF-AAM, rolled out of
Fokker's Teterboro assembly hangar.
Nobody knows for certain who was at
the controls when the Wasp was
cranked up for its maiden flight. The
customer's representative sometimes
carried out these duties, which in the
case of WCAir was usuall y Leigh Brint-
nell, "Doc" Oakes, or "Punch" Dickins.
On this occasion, however, the pilot
was almost certainly Bernt Balchen's
successor, Max Holtzem.
Balchen had thrown in with Byrd
18 SEPTEMBER 2000
for an Arctic expedition, and Holtzem
was doing nearly all of the Teterboro
flying, which included experimental
and production testing. Fokker himself
had been doing some of the test tlying,
but he'd cracked up a new Super Uni-
versal in October while taking a
checkride for a U.S. pilot's certificate. It
was his second serious accident in as
many years. Even Tony had to admit it
was time to let others handle the test
flying.
Holtzem had joined Fokker at Teter-
boro in 1928, having given up a South
American barnstorming operation.
They had met in 1917, when Holtzem
ByJohn Underwood
was a test pilot for Pfalz. Fokker had
been much impressed with a show
Max had put on with a speedy and ag-
ile new Pfalz. It might have won the
fighter competition had the twin-row
rotary been equal to the task. It quit at
an inopportune moment, and
Holtzem, unable to avoid a nasty crash,
had been trundled off to the hospital.
He had, however, walked to the ambu-
lance.
Trained as a military pilot in 1913,
Holtzem had been posted to a Taube
squadron when war was declared in
August 1914. Reconnoitering the front
seemed a relatively tranquil way to
conduct the business of war. There was
a kind of camaraderie between airmen
on both sides at first, with salutations
of one kind or another as they passed
each other over the front lines. Then
someone took a pot shot at someone
else with a revolver, and soon the sky
became as dangerous a place to be as
the battlefields below.
Holtzem's engagement as a Pfalz
test pilot was between two tours with
fighter squadrons. By the latter part of
1917, there was a greater need for ex-
perienced pilots at the front, so he was
posted to a Fokker D.VIII unit. By the
war's end he had downed four enemy
airplanes. Decades later, as a retiree in
California, Holtzem liked to point out
that his four victories had not been fa-
tal to the vanquished.
Holtzem, even in 1916, was fa mous
for being able to walk away from
crashes. So was Doolittle, a fellow test
pilot. But Holtzem's military days were
over, and he saw no future as a flier in
Germany, so he migrated t o South
America to operate a flying circus.
Then came a job offer from Tony
Fokker at Teterboro. Production had
begun to accelerate with the introduc-
tion of the Super Universal and the
F-lO, which was being built at Wheel-
ing, West Virginia.
A 30-minut e hop was usually
enough to sort out any bugs, and in
the case of 'AAM there probably was-
n't much that needed attention. The
wing was jig built, and little was re-
quired in the way of rigging
adjustments. There being no logbooks
from that time, we may assume that it
was a routine test hop and that 'AAM
was handed over to the buyer'S ferry
pilot on or about February II, 1929.
Western Canada Airways, Fokker's
sales representative for the Dominion,
resold 'AAM nine weeks later to Con-
solidated Mining and Smelting, Ltd.
(Cominco, for short), of Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada. The company had
recently acquired a pair of de Havil-
land Moths in an effor t to make
mineral exploration less arduous.
Prior to this, crews in the field had
been obliged to travel by canoe, on
horseback, and on foot when the roads
petered out. The Moths were a step in
(Top) Staggered seats in the cabin
meant side-by-side seating could be
had inside the Super Universal.
According to "Punch" Dickins, there
was a need for cockpit security even in
1929, to protect the pilots from smelly
sled dogs and drunken prospectors.
(Left) Shock absorption at its most
maintainable, the shock cords snub the
impact of landing when acted upon by
the sliding tube assembly.
the right direction, but they were short
on payload. 'AAM's mission was to ser-
vice remote mining sites, both as a
freighter and personnel transport.
'AAM's pilot, Ken Dewar, had
learned to fly in the RFC in 1917. His
flight mechanic, Bob Niven, had
trained at Pratt & Whitney and knew
the Wasp inside and out. They would
work as a team for the next five years,
during which time'AAM served as the
flagship of Cominco's growing fleet.
The competiti on was doing the
same thing, and the airplane quickly
proved to be a boon to the Canadian
mining industry, which was just open-
ing up. Indeed, it was the bush
operations, beginning to a large extent
with Western Canada Airways, that
formed the basis for the scheduled air
carriers that followed in the latter half
of the decade. Men like Dewar would
become the first ge neration to ply
Canada's airways.
Cominco's business policy was "get
there first with the most" and to hell
with the competition. There were the
occasional exceptions when humani-
tarian considerations were involved.
Late in the fall of 1929, Dewar and
Niven were sent to aid in the search
and rescue of eight missing prospec-
tors working for another company.
This was the MacAlpine Expedition,
fielded by Dominion Explorers and
equipped with two Fokkers. The planes
had failed to return to their base and
the search for their crews became front
page news for two months.
'AAM relayed fuel and supplies from
the railhead to Fort Reliance, the base
of operations for the search. The onset
of winter and the remoteness of the
area added to the difficulties. Niven
had to improvise an A-frame, using
lodgepole spruce, to switch from floats
to skis. It was bitter, finger-freezing
cold.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 19
The search concluded successfully,
largely due to the lost party's own re-
sourcefulness and help from the local
Inuit, but the cost in equipment was
considerable. Five aircraft were either
seriously damaged or destroyed. Dewar
and Niven made their last trip out of
Fort Reliance on December 4, 1929 ar-
riving at Winnipeg on the December
6, after an eight-week absence.
'AAM resumed Cominco business,
first at Prince Albert and then at The
Pas, where Dewar was involved in a
forced landing in September 1930.
most aircraft servicing facility.
'AAM shared a shelter with another
Super Universal, G-CASL, which be-
longed to Canadian Airways. The next
morning the aircraft went their sepa-
rate ways, loaded with prospectors and
mining gear. Three months later 'CASL
crashed in the vicinity of Yellowknife,
killing its three-man crew. Fifty years
later the remains of the one Super Uni-
versal would facilitate the rebirth of
the other.
During 1933 and 1934, 'AAM served
Cominco in the Germanson Lake re-
Dewar reported another accident in
February 1934. This time 'AAM was on
skis, and they had frozen to the sur-
face. Efforts to free them were only
half successful. When Dewar applied
power, one ski slid forward while the
other remained stuck. The result was
collapsed landing gear. Such accidents,
though routine in bush flying, could
be catastrophic.
CF-AAM based at Columbia Gar-
dens, near Trail, British Columbia, in
September 1934, where Ken Dewar
and the Fokker parted company. They
(Left) The utilitarian cockpit is basic VFR. To the right of the center windshield strip is the mirror used to read the compass
which is mounted on the bulkhead behind the pilot's head. The markings on the compass read backwards unless read in the
mirror! (Right) From a simpler time, the pitot tube is itself an elegant sculpture.
While on floats and with no open wa-
ter in sight, the Wasp quit. Dewar dead
sticked into a stubble field. The pon-
toons dug in, shearing the landing
gear struts, and 'AAM flipped over on
its back. The crew was badly shaken up
and bruised, but otherwise unhurt.
The Fokker was dismantled and
taken by rail to the company's shops at
Trail, British Columbia. Six months
later it was back in service, again on
floats, after a test hop off the Columbia
River.
Cominco had mining interests at
Great Bear Lake. 'AAM, newly
equipped with a "key and cope" radio
transmitter, was sent there in March
1932. En route the crew spent the
night at Fort McMurray, the northern
20 SEPTEMBER 2000
gion of the British Columbia interior.
At this time, Dewar saved an aspiring
airline operator from certain ruin.
Grant McConachie, a rather impetu-
ous young man with a natural talent
for flying, had been grounded. His two
Fokker Universals had been wrecked
and his remaining aircraft, a three-
place de Havilland Puss Moth, had
been repossessed.
Four of McConachie's clients were
stranded at a remote gold mine near
Two Brothers Lake. They were starving.
Dewar rescued the prospectors, one of
which became McConachie's partner
and principal backer in United Air
Transport, which led to the founding
of Yukon Southern Airlines, a precur-
sor to Canadian Pacific Air Lines.
had been paired for five years. Dewar
subsequently joined Canadian Pacific
Air Lines, retiring in 1958.
In October 1934, 'AAM was sold to
George Simmons of Carcross, Yukon
Territory, for $9,800. Simmons, doing
business at Northern Airways, sent his
pilot, Bob Randall, to ferry' AAM to its
home base. This was a lO-hour trip,
with three intermediate stops. Carcross
then, as now, was little changed from
its turn of the century gold rush begin-
nings, but it had become a hub for rail,
boat, and air transport to nearby min-
ing operations.
Business was such that Simmons
added a Ford 4-AT, G- CARC, to his
fleet in March 1936. The Tri-Motor
had belonged to McConachie's bur-
geoning airline, which was upgrading
its equipment. Eight hours of flying
each day was not uncommon at that
time, and Randall, the principal pilot,
sometimes logged 150 hours a month.
Both the Fokker and the Ford flew reg-
ular mail and passenger runs to
Whitehorse, Dawson City, Telegraph
Creek, AtIin, Selkirk, Mayo, and Teslin.
In the spring of 1935, 'AAM was
chartered by the National Geographic
Society to support the Washburn Ex-
pedition, whose mission was to
explore and chart the St. Elias Range.
This was a 2,000-square-mile blank
spot on the map of Canada and Alaska.
Piloted by Randall and Everett Was-
son, 'AAM proved indispensable
during the 80-day expedition, which
was featured in the June 1936 issue of
National Geographic magazine.
On January 6, 1936, Bob Randall
flew a charter to Francis Lake in ' AAM.
Itwas a 2S0-mile trip with several pas-
senger stops along the way, and he
remained there overnight. The next
morning he cranked up 'AAM for the
return flight to Carcross. Itwould be a
one-minute flight, and the journey it-
self would take months to complete.
As Randall became airborne the
heal of his port ski struck a hard snow-
drift, snapping the forward restraining
cable attachment. This permitted the
ski to rotate downward, bringing the
aft end up hard against the landing
gear strut, thereby creating enormous
asymmetriC drag. Randall could not
maintain altitude, and the toe of the
disabled ski snagged another drift,
causing the aft section to break off
when it struck the strut again. The ski
was now trailing upside down.
Randall had no choice but to Land
immediately as best he could on the
remaining good ski, keeping the port
wing up as long as possible. Itwas a su-
perb landing under the circumstances.
,AAM had slowed well below flying
speed when aileron control played
out, allowing the port wing to drop
with sufficient force to severely dam-
age the outboard half.
There was no radio at Francis Lake,
and the ensuing six days of severe
weather prevented any contact with
the outside world. Randall's young
Cl arkSeaborn,
Don McLean and
BobCameron
wife, expecting their
third child, began to
fear the worst. One
can imagine her re-
lief when, after a
week of silence, a
telegram arrived.
Bob was fine. In-
deed, he would
move on to a career
with Canadian Pacific Air Lines, retir-
ing as a 3S,OOO-hour jet captain. So
would his twin sons, who have also
reached retirement. A third son and
two grandsons continue to fly for CPA.
Nineteen thirty-seven was a bad
year for Simmons and his partners.
Northern Airways' other Super Univer-
sal, CF-ATJ, experienced a similar
mishap at Francis Lake. This left them
with but one aircraft, the Ford Tri-Mo-
tor, and its days of usefulness were
numbered. Ford G-CARC had been
damaged at Telegraph Creek in the
previous November, although it con-
tinued in service for several months. It
was eventually grounded and placed
in storage. (It ' s currently awaiting
restoration in Greg Herrick's hangar,
but that's another story.)
The Fokkers were repaired at Francis
Lake under arduous conditions, one
wing at a time. This was accomplished
in subzero weather by thrusting the
damaged wing through the window of
a cabin large enough to accommodate
the damaged section. This took four
men two months, and both Fokkers
were again flying in March. In the fol-
lowing September, 'AAM was ferried to
Vancouver for a thorough recondi-
tioning.
On December 5,1937, pilot Les
Cook taxied for takeoff at Dawson
City. There was considerable snow on
the runway, and 'AAM was still on
wheels. The Fokker failed to unstick,
and the aborted takeoff resulted in ma-
jor damage to the forward fuselage.
Simmons decided not to repair the ag-
ing aircraft, which by then had
attained 3,2S0-hours on the airframe.
The undamaged wing was shipped
back to Carcross and eventually in-
stalled on Northern Airways'
replacement Fokker, CF-AJC, which
continued to provide yeoman service
until 1942. In June of that year it was
engaged in salvaging parts and equip-
ment from four B-26s that had crash
landed in a nameless valley after be-
coming lost on the way to Fairbanks.
Thereafter, the location was known as
Million Dollar Valley.
On its last trip the Fokker, diverted
by weather, landed on the Dezdeash
River, little more than a stream, with
nearly empty tanks. After refueling, a
takeoff was attempted, but the air-
plane struck an overhanging tree. The
result was a violent water loop into the
riverbank. The engine and fuselage
were salvageable, but the unwieldy
wing was abandoned beside the river.
Thus ended the career of 'AAM's origi-
nal wing.
Fast-forward four decades ...
A second-generation Canadian bush
pilot, Bob Cameron, not yet born
when the forgoing transpired, had
been aware of the remains of 'AAM for
some time. They were worth sal-
vaging, but Cameron didn't quite
know what to do about the commu-
nity of "hippies" living at the site.
They might not take kindly to an in-
truder, especially if they were raising a
little pot with their carrots and beans.
One day Cameron decided to make
his move. He and a friend went in
with a helicopter, hooked a cable to
-continued on page 27
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 21
commentary
Forced Landing
Attitude
One reason why flying can be more dangerous today than it was 7S years ago...
By DenisM. Arbeau
F
lying more dangerous now than
it was 75 years ago? That's silly,
you say? I can understand why
you would feel that way. Orville
Wright did not sign your pilot 's li-
cense and you don' t fly an old
antique biplane with an unreliable
90-some-odd horsepower engine
that may quit at any moment . Your
engine is highly maintained to the
strict levels that common sense and
safety require. It is a basic, relatively
modern, long-reliable design that
has flown millions of safe hours in
thousands of airplanes. Modern air-
plane engines rarely fail. In fact, the
vast majority of pilots today will
never experience an actual engine
failure in their entire flying career.
In his short story, "The Snowflake
and the Dinosaur," from the book
"Gift of Wings," Richard Bach
wrote... "When you fly old-time air-
planes, you expect to have forced
landings now and then. It's nothing
special, it's part of the game, and no
wise pilot flies an antique out of glid-
ing distance of a place to land. In my
few years flying, I'd had seventeen
forced landings, not one of which I
22 SEPTEMBER 2000
Modem day pilots
may not take the
prospect ofa forced
landing as seriously
as their pioneer
brethren did.
had ever thought unfair, for all of
which I was more or less prepared.
But this was different. The Luscombe
I flew now was hardly an antique...
and had one of the world's most reli-
able engines. Modern airplane
pilots... don't want to be bothered
with such things as aerobatic train-
ing and forced-landing practice.
Chances are rare that they'll ever
stop or that a minor little linkage
will break in half. Because a forced
landing.. .is honestly quite unfair, I
began to realize that pilots get to
thinking it can't possibly happen."
Today, most pilots, from the time
they go to full throttle on takeoff un-
til the moment they turn off the
runway, are not mentally prepared
to immediately deal with the chal-
lenge of what they would do and
where they would land if an engine
failed. Ironically, it is because of the
reliability of modern aviation en-
gines that the vast majority of pilots
are lulled into being unprepared.
I've given more than 10,000 hours
of dual instruction and have seldom
seen pilots handle unexpected simu-
lated engine failures properly during
training or BFRs. Usually, the first
few critical seconds after all goes
quiet are spent inactive in shock try-
ing to deal with the fact that the
unthinkabl e has happened. The
worst case scenario had come true.
When the pilot has not kept his con-
tinuous plan for dealing with an
engine failure in the back of his
mind, surviving the ensuing forced
landing is 90 percent luck. I've seen
it. Time and time again.
AIRPLANES DO NOT PLUMMET
STRAIGHT DOWN TO THE
GROUND AFTER AN ENGINE FAIL-
URE! A pilot who is not mentally
prepared to manage a forced landing
will most likely panic and try to
make the airplane do something it is
not capable of doing. In fact there is
a group of Internet Swifters out there
who will recall they were standing
right next to me a few years ago at
Shelter Cove Airport in Northern
California when we were witnesses
to a pilot reacting in just that way.
He took his wife, two kids and least
of all a very nice Stinson with
him...Most forced landings that end
in fatalities are the result of the pilot
stalling the airplane close to the
ground in some panic-driven at-
tempt to delay the inevitable. It
must be understood that when
forced landings are accomplished
with the aircraft under positive con-
trol, even in impossible terrain, the
pilot and passengers have the best
chance of survival.
Am I telling you anything you
didn' t know? "Of course not," you
say. Easy to say "of course not" when
you sit safe and secure staring at this
page. But when you are, let's say,
500 feet in the air and the engine
stops and you were not ready for
something like this to happen, how
well do you think you are going to
handle it? Unless you're prepared,
you probably won't do very well.
Sure, sometimes we fly our air-
craft in situations and/or over
terrain where if the engine stops it's
going to be hard, if not impossible,
to find a reasonably safe place to set
the aircraft down. It is our right and
our decision to accept that risk
should we choose to do so. But not
being mentally prepared to cor-
rectly deal with the unexpected
significantly increases that risk,
even over the most ideal types of
forced landing terrain.
Most instructors are good about
teaching and practicing forced land-
ings with their students. The best
ones even find a way to encourage
those pilots that they can influence
to practice these tasks with an in-
structor from time to time. But many
overlook development of that ALL
THE TIME mind-set in their students
that keeps them thinking about how
they would handle an engine failure
at any given moment while in flight.
That's the key to being properly pre-
pared to have a reasonable chance to
bring a forced landing to a successful
conclusion.
I'll probably go flying within the
next 24 hours after I write what
you've just finished reading here. If
I am true to what I've just discussed,
I will, after I take the runway and
just before I go to full throttle, turn
on that switch in the back of my
mind that arms me to react to an
engine failure as best I can. That
switch will not be turned off until I
am back on the ground. Instructors
can tell us to do that, but we have
to remember to do it.
Seventy-five years ago, the train-
ing and mind-set put the possibility
of an engine failure foremost in the
minds of each aviator, making them
safer pilots than if they ignored the
high probability the event would oc-
cur in their flying career. These days,
most pilots are not ready, so I put
the question to you. When it comes
to an engine failure, are you as pre-
pared as the pioneer pilot who flew
75 years ago? .....
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 23
by H.C. Frautschy
Zephyr and POIter(ield Sportster.
The last remaining Rearwin Jr. 3000
of 23 built, NCll092 belonging to
Marion McCLure (Wiley Post biplane
Thanks to the collection of R. W.
Buttke, we have this month' s Mys-
tery Plane to share with you. Now
obviously, we know who made it,
but which one is it? Send your an-
swers to: EAA, Vintage Airplane,
P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-
3086. Your answers need to be in no
later than October 25, 2000, for in-
clusion in the December issue of
Vintage Airplane.
You can also send your response
via e-mail. Send your answer to vin-
tage@eaa.org.
Be sure to include both your name
and address in the body of your note,
and put"(Month) Mystery Plane" in
the subject line.
owner) of Bloomington, Illinois was
soLd at auction in Billings, Montana for
$35,000. The original new price was
$1795 in 1932. The Junior was then
donated to the Oscar Cooke Museum.
Oscar Cooke re-registered the Junior
as N507Y, after Rearwin Junior X507Y.
An Aero Digest ad for Annitie All-Pur-
pose Cleaning Compound shows this
X507Y with the wing and tail the same
color shade as the fuselage . Possible
color was red with a black spear point
strip and registry.
Regards,
Russ Brown
Lyndhurst, Ohio
July's Mystery Plane, which ap-
peared courtesy of David Carlson,
Hay Springs, Nebraska was known
to a number of you. Here's our first
letter:
Hanging high above farm equipment
seats and Lanterns is the bright red and
yellow parasol Rearwin Junior 3000
with "Say-kay" heads (SzekeLy 45 hp.)
hanging on by straps.
The Rearwin Jr. is a sister ship to the
Eaglet design by Doug Weber and Noel
Hockaday at the American Eagle Co. of
Ed Porterfield. Further Eaglet types were
built as the Rearwin Jr., Porterfield
Wyandotte Pup, Parasol Zephyr, Cabin
David Carlson shot this photo of the
Rearwin 3000 NS07Y (formerly NCll092) at
the now closed Oscar's Dreamland in
Billings, Montana. A major part of the col-
lection was sold at auction this past June,
and the registration number does not cur-
rently show up on the FAA register.
24 SEPTEMBER 2000
Til 0 R 0 U 0 II B R .E I) t I .... Jr. } "-0;;-,---;-;c.,..--,-,---,--,-,
l'...4I:i...Le proudI.0 ..... . ...Heftr..... ...'r..
HF4.R\\,.lIIIJ ,' . HPL4.lIIIJE.i ..-:0a.t .. 4
FAIIIH,X AlilPOkT. KANSAS eny. )l":ANIAS
InTil&: J:RARWIH JII.. AT Til E O"TIIOtT SIlOW-ON TilE FLOOR AND IN THE AIR
n "-I1Ioo't;. 5

As advertised intheApril 1932 issue ofAero
Digest
Lester Everett, Jr., of Craw-
fordsville, Indianaadds:
... Manufactured in Kansas City,
Kansas, it was designed in 1931 and
produced in 1932. The Junior was
available with either the Szekely 45hp
or the Aeromarine AR-3 50hp engine.
The aircraft was a two -seater in a
single tandem cockpit with dual con-
troLs. A detachable winter enclosure
was available. The wing span was 36
ft., Length 21 ft ., 8 in. and the height
was 7ft ., 6 in. Cruising speed was 78
mph with a top speed of91 mph.
Landing speed was 25mph, absolute
ceiling was 16,400 ft., with an initial
rate of climb of 700 fpm.
The Rearwin Junior pictured is still
hanging in the late "Oscar Cooke
Farm Implement Museum- "Oscar's
Dreamland" in Billings, Montana.
Othercorrectanswers were re-
ceived from Wayne Mux l ow,
Minneapolis, Minnesota; Frank
Abar, Livonia, Michigan; Ed Kast-
ner, Elma, New York; Larry
Knechtel, Seattle, Washington; Dr.
Ed Garber, Fayetteville, North Car-
olina, Ken Brugh,Jr., Roaring Gap,
North CarolinaandJohn H. Hess
ofManheim, Pennsylvania. ......
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continued from page 8
been called upon to support the air-
plane's estimated weight of 195,000
pounds in wings level cruising flight,
was now called upon to support an
effective weight, due to the arcing
parabola, of 1 million pounds. For it
to do so was aerodynamically impos-
sible and the terribly flexed wing,
close to the point of failure, went
into a shattering high speed stall.
The subsequent fearful pounding
was described as extremely severe,
yet in a few seconds, the altimeter,
one of the two useful instruments
on Captain Lynch's panel, began
slowing from its unwinding scream-
ing dive, then, as zooming, upward
flight into the night sky was as-
sumed, began winding at a fearful
rate in the opposite direction. The
dive had been arrested somewhere
near 6,000 feet, then back at about
11,000 feet the airplane was finally
pushed over into level flight, where
the airspeed gradually began drop-
ping for the first time from its
pegged position at 400 knots. The
throttles throughout were in the
tight closed position.
As speed diminished the airplane
became nose heavy and Sinski, at
Waldo's request, and still in his
pedestal straddling position, hand
cranked the cockpit stabilizer wheel
in response. It wasn't until this point
that Sinski was able to reach forward
and actuate switches to crossover
Lynch's artificial horizon so that it
repeated off Sam Peter's instrument,
which had not tumbled, and Waldo
again had aircraft attitude informa-
tion displayed on his panel.
As the airspeed continued to slow
Waldo realized with great relief that
the 707 was apparently still in one
piece, but he also realized that the
flight could never hope to make
Gander if they stayed at such fuel
consuming low altitudes. Unsure of
the engines, he gingerly advanced
the thrust levers and was as-
tounded, first, that all engines
appeared to be still attached to the
26 SEPTEMBER 2000
airframe, and second, that they re-
sponded normally. A careful climb
was made back to 29,000 feet where
flight at slow speed range cruise was
established.
In the cockpit, as they leveled off,
little was said with all busy with
they own thoughts. At Waldo's re-
quest, Sinski left his engineer's
station to check the main cabin for
injuries and possible damage. There,
in response to a public address an-
nouncement, the cabin was being
prepared for a possible emergency
landing and the life rafts had been
lowered from their ceiling storage
positions and laid in their assigned
aisle positions adjacent to exit doors
and windows. As George worked his
way back and over the rafts, passen-
gers and cabin crew members
impulsively grasped his hand and
squeezed his arm in gratitude.
At last, on a sparkling clear night,
the lights of Gander could be seen
far ahead. As a precautionary mea-
sure as the flight descended through
10,000 feet the airplane was tem-
porarily leveled off, slowed, and the
gear and wing flaps extended to
check their operation. Except for a
previously observed difficulty in es-
tablishing lateral trim and a now
somewhat sluggish response to
aileron inputs, control seemed near
normal and a normal approach and
landing was made, although flown
at higher speeds due to Lynch's un-
certainty at what yet might be
encountered.
A short while later as the airplane
slowly taxied through the night to
the ramp there were cheers and ap-
plause from the relieved passengers.
The flight crew debarked last and
then walked around and examined
the jetliner's exterior in the glare of
ramp floodlights. First noted was the
large outboard aileron on the left
wing which hung downward, its
drive system broken. It had been
trailing uselessly in the airflows of
flight. There were heavy wrinkles in
the fuselage skin and large creases in
the wing root fairings where the big
wing had flexed upward and a large
30-inch section of the fairing was
missing and had fallen into the cold
Atlantic. The tail root fairings were
also damaged and there were heavy
wrinkles in the skin of the tail's hori-
zontal stabilizer.
Boeing engineers later estimated
the plane dove to a speed of .99
Mach, just below the speed of sound
and far beyond its design limits.
During the 707's earlier certification
destruct tests conducted with hy-
draulic jacks on the factory floor, the
wing tips were purposely and very
gradually flexed upwards 17 feet
from their normal in-flight position
before permanent set to the wings
structure began to take place. Later
checks on Lynch's airplane, after it
was ferried to the factory, showed
that the wings under the 6.7 G pull-
out loads had taken a permanent
set of several inches. It is not diffi-
cult to visualize the loads that this
wing was subjected to and its sur-
vival is quite a tribute to an
extremely well-built, strong air-
plane which returned and flew the
airline for many years afterward.
Waldo's recovery was effected in
the black of night and in cloud and
flown from a full aft and low seat
position with only two usable in-
struments of flight, the Turn
Indicator and the Altimeter. He af-
terward noted, had he been able to
get his feet on the rudder pedals, he
probably would have caused damage
to, or parting of, the airplane's verti-
cal tail surfaces, or possibly caused
an engine, or engines, to part com-
pany with the airframe. As it was,
several engine mount bolts were
later found bent into "U" shapes.
In summation, had not some
fine, basic and intuitive airman-
ship, plus some fine crew back-up
come through under extremely dif-
ficult flight conditions, there
would have been a totally unex-
plainable disappearance of a new
jetliner into the dark wintry waters
of the North Atlantic. Had this oc-
curred, the newly opening era of
this great airplane would have
been set back for years.
-Yukon from page 21
the remains while the helicopter
hovered, and plucked them out be-
fore the astonished hippies knew
what was happening. What was left
of ' AAM was soon on the way t o
Whitehorse, Cameron's home base.
Cameron made further inquiries
and determined that 'AMM's wing
mi ght still be where it had been
abandoned in 1942, 80 miles from
Whitehorse. He' d spoken to a hunter
who had seen it some years before.
The hunter had been in too great a
hurry to investigate the remains. His
main concern at the time wa s
putting distance between himself
and a bear.
The hunter, known as Scotty, led
Cameron to the site. It was difficult
to find, being an isolated spot, and it
seemed to be the last place in the
world one would pick to land an air-
plane on floats. Yet , there was
'AAM's decomposing wing, incon-
trovertible evidence that an airplane
h ad once landed there, on what
passed for a river, and tried to take
off again. Alas, the wing was too far
gone, except for a bucket full of fit-
tings. In the summer of 1982, Clark
Seaborn's family stood aghast at the
sight of a trailer-load of "junk" being
dumped in the driveway of their
Calgary home. Lying on the pave-
ment were the rusting components
of not one, but several Fokker Super
Universals, including the remnants
of CF-AAM. They had come from
the Western Canada Aviation Mu-
seum. In time there would be still
more bits and pieces salvaged from
the crash of 'CASL 'AAM's long-ago
shelter mate at Fort McMurra y.
Seaborn himself had flown to a lake
near Yellowknife, the nearest town,
and hiked to the crash site.
Seaborn, a vintage plane enthusi-
ast with a Waco UIC, had set for
himself the task of re-creating CF-
AAM as a museum piece. Moreover,
it would be a fl ying museum piece.
Seaborn had arranged with the West-
-continued on page 30
Fly-In Calendar
Thefollowing list ofcoming events is furnished to our readers as a matter ofinfor-
mation only and does not constitute approval, sponsorship, involvement, control or
direction ofany event (fly-in, seminars, fly market, etc.) listed. Please send the infor-
mation to EAA, Au: Vintage Airplane, P.o. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.
Information should be received four months prior to the event date.
EAA Regional Fly-Ins shown in bold.
SEPTEMBER 15-I7-WATERTOWN, WI-(RNV) 16th
Annual Byron Smith Memorial Stinson Reunion.
Info: Suezette Selig, 630/904-6964.
SEPTEMBER J6-17-ROCK FALLS, IL-Whiteside
County Airport (SQI). North Central EAA "Old
fashioned" Fly-ln. Sun. morning pancake break-
fast. Info: 630/543-6743 oreaaIOI @aol.com
SEPTEMBER J7-LANSING, IL-EAA Chapter 260
Fly-InlDrive-In pancake breakfasl. Info: 708/474-
3748 or 708/798-3801.
SEPTEMBER 22-23-BARTLESVILLE, OK-Frank
Phillips Field. 43rd Annual Tulsa Regional Fly-ln.
Info: Charlie Harris, 918/622-8400.
SEPTEMBER 23-24-ZANESVILLE, OHIO-John's
Landing. VAA Chapter 22 9th Anuual Fall Fly-In.
Breakfast both days, Hog roast on Saturday night.
Info: Virginia at 740/453-6889 or 740/455-9900.
SEPTEMBER 22-23-ASHEBORO, NC-EAA Chapter
11 76 Aerofest 2000 at Smith Airfield. Oldfash-
ioned grass field Jly-in and pig pickin '. Unicom
122.9. Info: JejJSmith, 336/879-2830.
SEPTEMBER 30-HANOVER, IN-Lee Bollom Air-
port (641). Wood, Fabric and Tail wheels Fly-ln.
Rain date 10/1, starts atlO a.m. Info: Rich David-
son, 812/866-5654, I1r211 75th@aol.com
OCTOBER 5-8-GAINSVILLE, TX-(GLE) 25th an-
nuai international Cessna 120/140 Fly-In. Info: L.
or M. Richey 940/670-1883 or mrichey@ntws.net
OCTOBER 6-7 - SONORA, CA - Columbia airport.
Western Waco Reunion. Info: Jon Aldrich,
209/962-6/21.
OCTOBER 6-8-DAYTON, OH-Luscombe Reunion at
Moraine Air Park(173). Call Mike Williams
937/859-8967.
OCTOBER 6-8 - TOUGHKENA MON, PA - EAA
East Coast Fly-In. Info: 3021894-1094 or www.
eastcoastflyin_org
OCTOBER 6-8 - EVERGREEN, AL - EM Southeast
Regional Fly-In (SERF/). Info: 3341578-1707 or
wwwserji.org
OCTOBER 12-15 - MESA, AZ-Copperstate Regional
EAA Fly-In_ Williams Gateway Airport_ Info:
5201400-8887or www_copperstate.org
OCTOBER 21-DAYTON, OH-Antique/Classic Chili
Fly-IN at Moraine Airpark (I73). Call Darrell
Montgomery at 937/866-2489.
OCTOBER 14-ADA, OK-4th annual Plane Fun Fly-In
and Youth Expo sponsored by EAA Chapter 1005
at Ada Muni. Airport (KA DH). Free T- shirtfor
first 50 pilots. Info: Terry Hall, 580/436-8190.
OCTOBER 12-15-WICHITA, KS-Travel Air 75th
Anniversary Homecoming Celebration. Raytheon
Aircraft, Beech Field. For scheduled events and
registration materials send SASE to Travel Air
Restorer's Assn., 4925 Wilma Way, San Jose, CA
95124 or Mike Sloan ofRaytheon Aircraft, PO
Box 85, Wichita, KS 67201.
OCTOBER 14 - RIDGEWAY, VA - Pace Field
(N36.35.05, W79.52.48.) Old Fashioned Grass
Field Fly-In Pig-Picking. EAA Chapter 970. Info:
Tommy Pace, 540/956-2159.
OCTOBER 20-21 - ABILENE, TX-EAA SOllthwest
Regional Fly-III. The Big cOllntry Fly-In.
Info:8001727-7704 or lVlVw.slVrji.org
SEPTEMBER 16 - ANDOVER, NJ-Andover-
AeroJlex Airport (12NJ- Vintage Aircraft Assoc.
Chapter 7Annllal Fly-In_ Rail! date: 9117
SEPTEMBER 22-24 -LOUISE, TX- Il th annual
"Under the Wing "Jly- in at the Flying Vranch.
Info: Robbie, 979/548-2163 orjlyingv@ykc.com
OCTOBER 6-8 - DARLINGTON, SC-Fall VAA
Chapter 3jly-in. Awards, major speaker, EAAfel-
lowship. Info: 910/947-1853 and 757/873-3059
(FAX).
OCTOBER 14 - NORTH HAMPTON, NH- Hamp-
ton Airfield. 10th annual VAA Chapter 15 Pupkin
Patch Pancake Breakfast Jly-in. 8 a.m.-12 p.m.
Rain date:10/ 15. Info: 603/539-7168 or the Air-
field: 603/964-6749.
JANUARY 1, 2001- NAPPANEE, IN-10th annual
New Year's Day Hang Over jly-in, sponsored by
EAA Chapter 938. II a.m.-2 p.m. Info: "Fast Ed-
die, " 219/546- 2795 or the chapter website:
WlVlV.bnill.netl-jlyboy
VINTAGE AIRPLANE 27
NEWMEMBERS
Mike Bourget...... Orleans, Ontario, Canada
BarryG. Smith...Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Leopold Veilleux..........................................
... ........ ..............St George, Quebec,Canada
StephaneOllier.............................................
........ ....... ..........St Rambert D'Albon, France
Richard Moore...........Boston, GreatBritain
AlexanderTullis............................................
...........................Black Heath, GreatBritain
jeffreyW. Salter............................................
...... ...............Holywood Co. Down, Ireland
Kuni Hasegawa ...... .... .............Tokyo,japan
[van Campbell... ....................... ......... .... ..... ..
... ......................Christchurch,NewZealand
jamesSchmidt.. ............... ........ ....... ..............
.............. .... ..........Warkworth,NewZealand
MervynR. Thompson..... ....... ... ...... ..... ........
............... .........Christchurch,NewZealand
Eric Grover .. ........ ................. ... ............... .......
...............Pretoria, RepublicofSouthAfrica
Williamjustusson...Dhahran,Saudi Arabia
FranzStraumann..............Elgg, Switzerland
DuaneA. Peters....................Anchorage, AK
julianA. Smith........ ............Eagle River, AK
DennisL. Hasha................... Tuscombia,AL
Sidney L. Brain ....................Russellville, AR
jasonP. Overman ........ ... .............Cabot,AR
Donald Downin ............................Mesa, AZ
David Klingensmith......................Mesa, AZ
james Knapp.....................CasaGrande, AZ
Robertj .O' Connell.......................Mesa, AZ
RonaldA. Starling............. ... ... ....Tempe,AZ
Harlan Weissenborn..... ......... .....Aguila, AZ
Mark Boenke............... .... .....Santa Rosa, CA
j.Brian DalPorto............ ..........Sanjose,CA
JohnM Frank... ... .... ....... ....SantaMaria, CA
Mark Kevin Holmes.............. ..... .Chi no, CA
FernandA.Labrecque............ Riverside, CA
jamesLawson.. ... .......... ........Ridgecrest, CA
Bob F. Leitch.......................... ..Sanjose, CA
Peter Lloyd.....................WalnutCreek, CA
28 SEPTEMBER 2000
RobertA. Loogman.................Hanford,CA
Kevin Mccarthy........................Pacifica,CA
Brian Neal.... .... .... ......... ....... ..Monrovia,CA
William R. Schicora..... .......Winchester, CA
jeffreyScholz... ................. ............Perris, CA
PhilSchultz.......................... ..Lancaster, CA
RichardA. Sweet......................Ventura, CA
Klaus tenHagen...................Sunnyvale, CA
DirkA. VanCott.........................Rescue, CA
johnC. Watts.......................San Diego, CA
Bradley P. Hindman..............Littleton,CO
Kris D. Kluge.............ColoradoSprings, CO
Tom Poeling................................Eckert,CO
StephenA. Tonozzi........... ...........................
................................ GlenwoodSprings, CO
RobertL. Williams..........................Erie, CO
Roger L. Klein ...... ......... ..........Hadlyme, CT
johnB. Pelkey, Sr.............. .... .....Enfield, CT
johnBenson.................... ....... .....Naples,FL
JeffreyA. Jones......................Ciearwater, FL
William Lowery .... ...... .. ...... ...... . Geneva, FL
WilliamG. Mercer..............jacksonville, FL
Art K. Sproch.......................jacksonville,FL
Kempton Ballard,Jr... ..............Newnan, GA
Stiles D. Brown.... ..... ...... ... ......Newnan, GA
Steve Forsyth....... ............... ..... ..Atlanta, GA
Ryan R. Funk.............................Atlanta, GA
AllenHayes................. ............Honolulu,HI
JackE. Arthur................. ..... .Des Moines, IA
Richard Minette................ ......lowaCity,IA
TimSteffen............ .. ............. ......Spencer, IA
CharlesL. Farrey...... ...... .. .............Athol, ID
DonaldR. Bartlett.......... ........Carterville, IL
KermitCarlson...... ................. .....Batavia, IL
james].Coonan........................Ransom, IL
joseph M. Czaplicki...... ...................Zion, IL
ScottDowner........... .. ..... .. ....Mundelein, IL
RaymondDreisbach......... ...... . Shefffield, IL
WayneGedutis................ .........Lockport, IL
Steve Haupert...............HoffmanEstates, IL
johnLivesay....................................Pana, IL
John Reinert....................... .Crystal Lake, IL
Kenneth W. Schrader.................Decatur, IL
Michael R. Sices ............... ..... ......Gurnee, IL
Allen C. Smith......................NewBerlin, IL
CarlJ. Tortorige............ .. .............Quincy,IL
Randy D. Whitaker...... ........ .Woodstock, IL
RobertW. Williams................Lexington, IL
MarkW.Hanna1I................Markleville, IN
William Hiller.......... ........ .. .........Marion, IN
Randall Hockenberry.............Ft. Wayne,IN
FrederickA. Martin...... ..ColumbiaCity, IN
ScottA. Martin.... .........................Lizton,I
StanleyR. Peters.............ColumbiaCity, I
EricT. Van Horn.........................Linton,IN
MarkA. Werkema.....................Granger, IN
Steve Williams......................Richmond, IN
C.joseph Beck...........................Wichita, KS
FrancisCannon.........................Wichita, KS
John D. Hawley.. ......... .... ...... .. ..Wichita, KS
PatrickR.Hicks.. ... ... ..... ...... ......Mayetla, KS
RobertBain.. ..... ..... ...........Nicholasville, KY
AnthonyM.Ball....................McCreary, KY
David Lowe.........................Sacramento,KY
Nick Rosato..........................River Ridge, LA
jackSpring.... ........................Kentwood, LA
David I. Arch... ..... ..... ..... .. .... ...Pocasset, MA
Sheldon Buck..... ...................Weliesley, MA
RodneyHinkle......... .... ........ .Falmouth,MA
Robert]. Rittmuller............................... .......
.............. .. ........ .. .........North Falmouth,MA
Linda P. Soltys...... .. ............Gilbertville,MA
Mark Baris ............. .. .............Baltimore,MD
JamesDouglass...............Kennedyville, MD
Marvin Merryman,Jr........... Columbia, MD
ArnoldStackhouse......Havre-de-Grace, MD
Bud Walker................................Bel Air, MD
William Bertrand.....................Harrison, MI
StanleyG. Bieker.... ..... ..........Greenville,MI
DerekK. Bradfield.........BerrienSprings,MI
JosephineM. Clark......... .Traverse City, MI
NormanCroteau................Ontonagon, MI
ChristopherE. Dackson..........Ypsilanti, MI
ScottD. Downing......................Marion, MI
Ken M. Holster..... ...... ...............Cornell, Ml
Kennethjablonski................Waterford, MI
RobertThornRuffini.................Berkley, MI
AI Todd... ............... .. ..... ......Stevensville, MI
HartlandW. Deering............ Stillwater,MN
RandyHuyck.................... .. ..... ..Anoka, MN
R. WilliamIngvoldstad........... . Nisswa, MN
MerrillJorgenson.................PriorLake, MN
Kelly Koza............................... Winona, MN
ThomasH. Lymburn...........Princeton,MN
Kevin R. Moeri ................ ......Mankato,MN
DennisD.Moser............ ......Princeton,MN
DavidArthurSkogland.. ..... . Shakopee, MN
GeneD. Uselman................ .. ....Blaine, MN
KevinJayClark........... .... ... Grandview, MO
ArthurW. Stewart.. .... ... ..... Crestwood, MO
SteveSwinney.......................Raytown, MO
DanielK. Fordice..................Vicksburg, MS
JamesD. Threlkeld...............Columbus, MS
LarryO. jenkins........ .......... .. Charlotte, NC
JonR. Mitchell...... .... ...........Lexington, NC
RodneyLyle Erickson..........Fairmount,ND
GaryM. Stagl..........................Mandan,ND
Steve R. Wetherbee.............Fairmount,ND
Larry Glabe........ ................ .....Hickman,NE
Robert H.Baker... ............ ....Merrimack, NH
AlanEmerson..........................Laconia, NH
H. W. Egdorf......................Los Alamos, NM
KennethJensen...................Edgewood, NM
Richard E. Dayton...................Freeville, NY
HubertU. Gammill...............Wingdale, NY
John E. Garzione..................Sherburne, NY
1. Sapodin......................AtlanticBeach, NY
JamesZambik.....................E.Moriches, NY
TimothyBodnar.... .. .......... E. Palestine, OH
Roger1.James........................Conover, OH
Bernard Rottkamp...... ...... ........Warren, OH
William R. Rousseau...................Salem, OH
MikeThomasStich.. .........Uniontown, OH
Mike Bass.......................... .......Quapaw, OK
DouglasM. Frantz.......... .... ....Mustang,OK
jamesAaron............................Portland, OR
Rod Andersen..............................Banks, OR
Ted Millar.... .......... ... ..... ..........Portland, OR
Robert W. Saville.......................Eugene, OR
JohnBerkstresser.......... ........Bethlehem, PA
jamesS. Dodson,jr..........East Freedom, PA
PatriciaEarly......... ....... .... ....... .. Palmyra, PA
DavidA. Hostetter. .. ........Sheppinsburg,PA
GaryH. Ransom................ ...... ... ...Delta, PA
RichardS. Rhoton..... .. ..........Pittsburgh, PA
MarcRoberts..... ....... ..........Thomasville, PA
William E. Bell... ................Summerville,SC
Jim Herpst............. ........... .....Lexington,SC
WayneNorrisJr. ..... ....................Seneca,SC
JohnLoudermilk.................Brentwood,TN
DonaldD. Way.. ...... .. .............Rickman,TN
David C. Crowe................ . Georgetown,TX
Ronald Havelaar....................Arlington,TX
DonJohnson...........................Houston,TX
DouglasLathem..... .. ..... .. ..........Dalhart,TX
DonJ. Loughran.................. ..... ...Dallas,TX
Michael Alan Luigs ..................Bandera,TX
Michael Masterov.. ..................Houston,TX
Robert Michie.......................LagoVista,TX
EricMotz.............................. . Galveston,TX
ChristineTerrell........ .......WichitaFalls, TX
MattWitt..................................... . Waco,TX
David Beazley........ ....... .. ... .......Palmyra, VA
Michael]. Finnegan...... ..........Leesburg, VA
MarkWalker.......................NewCastle, VA
Michael P. Day.............SedroWoolley, WA
LeonardH.Guttersen.....Leavenworth,WA
KentMehrer..........................Mukilted, WA
DouglasSzymik............................Kent,WA
CindyC. Wischmeyer.........Redmond,WA
Allan O. Checky....................Merrimac,WI
GaryG. Crossman................Eau Claire, WI
ThomasA. DeWinter...........Waunakee,WI
jay Esty........ .............. ................Neenah,WI
josephW. Farwell...................LaCrosse, WI
DarrylD.Jordan ...................Evansville, WI
GregoryT. Kerkenbush.......... . Madison,WI
DanielC. Korth...................Cambridge, WI
WalterC. Lange.................. ....Allenton,WI
MarkD. McNab...................Milwaukee, WI
GrahamOlson..........................Elkhorn, WI
Richard Reinhart....................Appleton, WI
WolfgangRittgers.... ... ...........La Crosse, WI
E. JoeRounce............ .. ..........Shell Lake, WI
GregoryH. Smith.. ............Clintonville, WI
JamesStrawn............ ..... .........janesville,WI
SamTaber...............................EastTroy, WI
EugeneH. VandeHey.....Wrightstown,WI
DonaldH.Walter.....................Algoma, WI
ThomasR. Weiler...... .... ..NewFranken,WI
James A. Wilcox.......................Altoona, WI
VINTAGE
TRADER
Something to buy,
sell or trade?
An inexpensive ad in the Vintage Trader may
be just the answer to obtaining that elusive
part. .55per word, $8.00 minimum charge.
Send your ad and payment to: Vintage Trader,
EAA Aviation Center, P.O. Box 3086,
Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086, or /ax your ad and
your credit card number to 9201426-4828. Ads
must be received by the 20th o/the month/or
insertion inthe issue the second month /ollow-
ing (e.g., October 20th/or the December issue.)
MISCELLANEOUS
BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod beari ngs,
main bearings, camshaft bearings. master rods,
valves. Call us Toll Free 1/ 800/233-6934, e-mail
ramremfg@aol.com Web site
www.ramengine.com VINTAGE ENGINE
MACHINEWORKS. N.604 FREYAST.. SPOKANE,
WA99202.
AIRCRAFT LINEN - Imported. Fabric tapes. For
a 18" by 18" sample, send $10.00. Contact for
price list . WW I Aviation Originals, Ltd., 18
Journey's End, Mendon, VT 05701 USA. Tel :
802/786-0705, Fax: 802/786-2129. E-mail :
Wwlavorig@AOL.com
WearYourFavoriteAirplane!
www.airplanetshirts.com
1/800/645-7739
You'lllookgood inone!!
1940's aircraft oil temperature gauges - 8' capil-
lary,new-old stock,$125 Wind generatorscom-
pletewithaluminumpropeller,new-oldstock,$300
1920's and 1930'sACCA ai rcraft yearbooks.
$125 each . Brass 2" Pioneer Venturi , $145
Buy/SelllTrade vintage aircraft instruments and
parts Old Jon Aldrich,Ph/Fax 209/962-6121, E-
Mailoldjon@goldrush.com
VINTAGEAIRPLANE 29
Fly high with a
quality Classic interior
-Yukon from page 27
ern Canada Aviation Museum to spon-
sor the project, funding it largely on
his own and performing the work it-
self. It would be a monumental task,
even with a team of specialists con-
tributing many thousands of hours of
free labor.
It turned out to be a long-term pro-
ject, consuming the better part of two
decades. Seaborn was fortunate in find-
ing the necessary help, but any account
would be remiss in not mentioning
three key people: Ross Richardson, Ron
Jackson, and Don McLean. Richard-
son, a retired aerospace engineer, is a
noted historian with a large aeronauti-
cal library. Jackson was the guiding
light on many aspects of carpentry,
and McLean toiled eight hours a week
beside Seaborn for a year to complete
the restoration.
Significant input came from pilots
and mechanics who had worked on
the Fokkers when they were new. C. H.
"Punch" Dickins, a WCAir pilot who
SEPTEMBER 2000
had earned high commendation for a
1928 Super Universal survey fligh t,
provided details for an aut hentic in-
strument panel. The wooden parts of
the wing, of course, were all new and
built from a partial set of blueprints
that had somehow survived.
The wing, being a single piece 51
feet in length, was especially challeng-
ing. It is 2 feet in depth at the root and
comprises no less than 600 pieces of
woodwork. Some 90,000 tiny brass
nails were required to fasten it all to-
gether, plus gallons of glue. The driving
of the last nail was the occasion for a
measure of pomp and ceremony, sort
of a modified version of driving the
last spike in the transcontinental
railroad.
The fuselage and empennage were a
less daunting task, there having been
significant elements of several Super
Universa ls in the Western Canada
Aviation Museum salvage yard. This
included the forward half of 'AAM's
fuselage, as rescued by Bob Cameron
from the hippie compound near
Dawson City. Sundry other parts sur-
TN' ONLY ..
WAY TO

YO"R
Of course, if you plan to it,
the easiest way is stiD Poly-Fiber.
faced, including an original Super
Universal rudder.
July 24, 1998, was the culmination
of a labor of love that had consumed
more than 10,000 man-hours over a
period of seventeen years. CF-AAM was
airborne at last, the first Fokker Super
Universal to occupy Canadian airspace
in 56 years. Strangely enough, one or
more Japanese Super Universals sur-
vived World War II in airworthy
condit ion. One or two others are
known to have continued in Latin
American service, at least into 1944
and 1945.
The highlight of CF-AAM's n ew
lease on life was its grand tour during
the summer of 1999, which culmi-
nated at Oshkosh during AirVenture
'99. The tour, which included a side
trip to Red Lake, Ontario, for the an-
nual"Norseman Festival," gave an
estimated million air show visitors a
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carrying all risk coverages
Remember,
We'reSeHerTogetherl
AVIATION UNLIMITED AGENCY
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SteveNesse
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lawton.M149065 1429Kings lynnRd
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VINTAGE AIRPLANE II55N 009t-6943)IPM 1482602 ispublished and owned exclusively by the EMVintage Aircraft Associalioo of the Experimental Aircraft Association and is published monthlyat EMAviation Center.3000
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32 SEPTEMBER 2000