Va Vol 41 No 5 Sep Oct 2013

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
Super
CUB
One
Flying a Helio Courier

AirVenture Awards
Vin Fiz
Straight & Level
Vintage Airplane
STAFF
GEOFF ROBISON
VAA PRESIDENT, EAA 268346, VAA 12606
EAA Publisher . . . . . . . . . Jack J. Pelton,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chairman of the Board
Editor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . J. Mac McClellan
Oshkosh 2013 is now

in the history books
Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Busha
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jbusha@eaa.org
VAA Executive Administrator. Max Platts
920-426-6110. . . . . . . . . . mplatts@eaa.org
Advertising Director. . . . . . Katrina Bradshaw
202-577-9292. . . . . . . . . . kbradshaw@eaa.org
Uppermost in the minds of many of our members today is the
We are proud of the partnership between Ford and EAA and the
benefits we can bring together to AirVenture. Our relationship
spans more than a decade, and we continue to expand each year!
Our goal is to enhance the EAA experience for all members and to
improve the consideration of Ford Motor Company products.
EAA appreciates Fords active involvement at AirVenture by
supporting the opening day Chicago concert, the nightly Fly-In
Theater, the fantastic Thunderbirds Edition Mustang benefitting
the Young Eagles and so much more.
2013 AirVenture was a remarkable week of excitement and fun.
Thank you for attending AirVenture and we look forward to
seeing you again next year!
EAA members are eligible for special pricing on Ford Motor Company vehicles through
Fords Partner Recognition Program. To learn more on this exclusive opportunity for
EAA members to save on a new Ford vehicle, please visit www.eaa.org/ford.
Edsel B. Ford II
Board Director, Ford Motor Co.
Jack Pelton
EAA Chairman
recent FAA action to assess operational fees for air traffic control services at AirVenture Oshkosh. To me, this is a particularly troublesome
development that arises out of the issues relevant to sequestration as
it was applied to the FAA. Early on in this debate Congress responded
by exempting the FAA from the budget cuts that sequestration imposed on them. Of course, we all wrongly assumed that this would
eliminate the then proposed fees placed on AirVenture Oshkosh.
This very burdensome level of fees is really an unfair tax on a significant aviation event that has been leveled by the FAA without any
authority whatsoever to act in this manner. My real purpose here
is to merely reach out to our membership and encourage you all to
continue to communicate to your representatives in Washington our
strong displeasure with this unauthorized attack on general aviation.
This action by the FAA has now caught the ire of many of the members of the GA coalition in our Congress, and this has resulted in a
strong admonition to the FAA from them. So, please be sure to also
thank those congressional members who have taken a strong position
against this unauthorized action by the FAA. Finally, please be assured that our government relations group at EAA is deeply engaged
on this issue, and we all appreciate their efforts and hope for a positive resolution to all of these issues.
As I pen this edition of Straight & Level, it is actually the day before
AirVenture 2013 begins. Many early signs of a successful event are
developing right before our eyes. Strong numbers of volunteers,
record numbers of registered returning past Grand Champions, a
strong number of early arriving display and camping aircraft, and a
good number of vintage aircraft that we have never before seen at
Oshkosh are all excellent indicators of a successful event.
Of course, by the time you read this months Straight & Level
column, AirVenture 2013 will be in the history books, and I am
optimistic that those of you who came to share the passion had a
grand time and enjoyed yet another excellent episode of the Worlds
Greatest Aviation Celebration.
Its also very appropriate to me that we recognize the efforts of the
VAA board of directors for their monstrous engagement in this years
event and the hundreds of vintage volunteers who yet again invested
continued on page 63
Advertising Manager . . . . . Sue Anderson
920-426-6127. . . . . . . . . . sanderson@eaa.org
Art Director. . . . . . . . . . . Livy Trabbold

VAA, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903
Website: www.VintageAircraft.org
Email: VintageAircraft@eaa.org
TM
VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Current EAA members may join the Vintage Aircraft Association and receive VINTAGE
AIRPLANE magazine for an additional $42
per year.
EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE
magazine and one year membership in the
EAA Vintage Aircraft Association is available
for $52 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not
included). (Add $7 for International Postage.)
FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS
Please submit your remittance with a
check or draft drawn on a United States
bank payable in United States dollars. Add
required Foreign Postage amount for each
membership.
Member Services
PO Box 3086
Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086
MondayFriday, 8:00 AM6:00 PM CST
Join/Renew 800-564-6322
membership@eaa.org
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
www.airventure.org
888-322-4636
www.VintageAircraft.org
Vol. 41, No. 5
2013
CONTENTS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
20
Flying a Helio Courier in a

Country Kinda Way!
Aaron Tippin and his 1959
H-395 Helio
Jim Busha
28
Turning Back the Hands of Time

The resurrection and restoration
of the first Piper Super Cub
Jim Busha
38
The Papoose Pair

A different kind of Cub
at AirVenture
Budd Davisson
COVERS
FRONT COVER: Roger and Darin Meggers

are all smiles in their Super Cub number
one. Russ Munson Photo.
BACK COVER: Aaron Tippin flies his Helio
Courier for Jim Koepnicks camera lens.
45
Coast to Coast With the Vin Fiz

Part 1
The 84-day odyssey of Cal Rodgers
Mark Carlson
ANY COMMENTS?
Send your thoughts to the

Vintage Editor at: jbusha@eaa.org
For missing or replacement magazines,
or any other membership-related questions, please call EAA Member Services
at 800-JOIN-EAA (564-6322).
@VintageEAA
facebook.com/EAAVintage
COLUMNS
1

Straight and Level

Oshkosh 2013 is now
in the history books
Geoff Robison
Join Friends of the Red Barn
SEPTEMBER / OC TOBER 2013
Air Mail
2013 AirVenture
Vintage Awards
10 How to?

Prepare a surface for fabric covering

Robert G. Lock
15

Ask the AME

Disqualifying medical conditions
John Patterson, M.D., AME
12

16
Good Old Days
The Vintage Instructor

Aviation growth through vintage aircraft
Steve Krog, CFI
54

Around the Pylons

How to beat your plowshare
into a sword
Don Berliner
58 The Vintage Mechanic

Aircraft covering, Part 1

Robert G. Lock
63 Gone West & New Members
Air Mail
Don Berliners
July/August column
Hi Jim,
Just got the new Vintage mag. And,
as always, enjoy reading it. Please send
this attachment to Don Berliner that
wrote the article on the race planes in
July/August. In the 1991 EAA Sport
Aviation there is also an article on race
planes with Pete. Ed Marquart restored
Petes structure, and I covered and
painted it in 91 just before we took it to
Oshkosh. Pete was cut in half to restore,
as the front half had been so modified
with welding that Ed remade the front
for Pete, and Greg Laird made a new aft
for Little Audrey as discussed in the attached article.
Thanks.
Jan Johnson
Jim,
I was reading Mr. Berliners piece in the July/August issue and stopped at the Kadiak Speedster and
looked at the attached pictures, and N11312 hit me.
This machine was also owned by Robert Young of
Martinsville, Indiana, probably in 41 plus or minus
a year or two. Bob and my father were primary training pilots for a school in Indianapolis owned by Roscoe
Turner. They trained the new boys on the basics in J-3s.
Bob and my father, Don Moschenross, are now
gone, but in their flying days I loved to go on the Saturday tours of various garages and basements in the
early 70s. Bob built a Baby Ace, Pitts, Woody Pusher,
and flew them all. My father built a Starlet which was
last seen, and was flying in 2001, in the hangar of
Vern Bothwell in west central Indiana.
It continued with my building of a Lazair with
4
SEPTEMBER /OC TOBER 2013
Kadiak Speedster N11312
Sport Aviation, November 1991

many old eyes watching as they helped and advised.
I enjoy all the EAA publications and will continue
to support your efforts to support private aviation.
Please use this e-mail as you wish and, of course,
send it on to Mr. Berliner.
Jim Moschenross
EAA 391629
Hi Jim,
In the article written by Don Berliner in the July/
August issue I have a photo of one of the airplanes
mentioned, which I bought on eBay several years ago.
It is of Kadiak Speedster N11312. Since there wasnt a
photo of this aircraft within the article, if interested, I
can send a digital file of the photo.
Great magazine!
Albert Dyer
Jim,
I very much enjoyed Dons articles on pre-World War
II racing aircraft. These articles tie in with two articles
I wrote about the Hunter brothers that were published
in Vintage Airplane in June and July 2012. Gordon Israel was a good friend of Kenneth Hunter. In fact, Kenneth and Gordon Israel built a racing plane and planned
to enter in the 1932 National Air Race at Cleveland,
Ohio. Kenneth crashed the airplane while testing it at
Lambert Field in St. Louis. Israel and Hunter decided
not to rebuild the airplane. Gordon Israel went on the
work for Grumman Aircraft during WWII.
Walter Hunter purchased the Travel Air Mystery
Ship NR614K from Curtiss Wright in June 1931. He
replaced the engine with a Curtiss Wright J6 engine
that Curtiss Wright gave the Hunter brothers after
their record-setting endurance flight. He flew the airplane to Teterboro, New Jersey, and installed a new
Curtiss Wright J6 engine. He flew the airplane to Burbank, California, for the Bendix Transcontinental Race.
An article in the February 1983 issue of Vintage Airplane magazine provides details of Walters experience
on his flight from Burbank to Cleveland. When Walter arrived in Cleveland in NR614K, he flew around
the course for the Thompson Trophy race. The engine
caught fire again, and Walter was forced to bail out of
the airplane. When the airplane struck the ground, the
fire was extinguished. The wrecked airplane NR614K
was returned to Albert Hunters home near Tilden,
Illinois. The tail of the wrecked NR614K was donated
to the Beech Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennes-
see, by one of Albert Hunters daughters and Walters

niece. The tail of NR614K was used in rebuilding Travel
Air Mystery Ship NR614K, which is now on display at
the Beech Heritage Museum. The airplane is painted as
it was when it won the 1929 Thompson Trophy race.
When Walter rebuilt the airplane for the 1931 Bendix
Trophy Race, he painted it orange and black, the colors
of the University of Illinois.
Robert H. Hayes
EAA 1021394
VAA 721606
Dear Jim,
I truly enjoyed the Laird article in the May/June
2013 issue. Amazing that No. 203 survived in the factory crates for all those years! The number of Lairds
manufactured needs clarification though.
On page 35 it states, Were 203 different Lairds
built in the various models.
The first Laird serial number was, in fact, 101 for
the first 1923 Swallow and continued to 215. I would
say 115 is a more likely number for the various models. There is no data known to me for serial numbers
208 through 215 (if, indeed, these were constructed).
Sincerely,
Richard L. Seely
VAA 722449
Thanks for the clarification and history lesson Richardmuch appreciated!
Jim
2013 AirVenture Vintage Awards

Antique (through August 1945)
Transport Category Runner-Up
Keith Swalheim
Cottage Grove, Wisconsin
1934 Stinson SR-5A, N14163
Golden Age (1918 1927) Champion - Bronze

Lindy
Timothy Bickford
Limington, Maine
1927 Travel Air 4000, N6005
Customized Aircraft Runner Up

Charles Doyle
Webster, Minnesota
1942 Boeing A75N1 (PT-17), N966CD
Antique Reserve Grand Champion - Silver Lindy

Mike Araldi
Lakeland, Florida
1938 Waco AGC 8, NC2312
Antique Grand Champion - Gold Lindy

Dave and Jeanne Allen
Elbert, Colorado
1934 Waco YKC, N14137
Bronze Age (1937-1941) Outstanding

Closed-Cockpit Monoplane
Joseph Flood
Franklinville, New Jersey
1945 Aeronca 65-C, N23927

Silver Age (1928-1936) Outstanding

Closed-Cockpit Monoplane

Glenn Peck

Maryland Heights, Missouri

1929 Mono Aircraft Monosport 2,
N4799E

Silver Age (1928-1936) Runner-Up

Thilo Eckardt
Beaumont, Texas
1930 Waco RNF, N107Y
Transport Category Champion - Bronze Lindy
James Hawkes
Jupiter, Florida
1947 Beech G17S, N80315
Customized Aircraft Champion - Bronze Lindy
Sarah Wilson
Lakeland, Florida
1929 Stearman 4E, N667K
World War II Era (1942 1945) Champion - Bronze Lindy

Roger Brown
Port St. Lucie, Florida
1943 Howard DGA-15P, N29457
Bronze Age (1937 1941) Champion - Bronze Lindy
James Savage
Gibsonia, Pennsylvania
1939 Spartan 7W, N17634
Silver Age (1928 1936) Champion - Bronze Lindy
Chris Galloway
Davis, California
1935 Beech B17E, N14458
Classic (September 1945-1955)

Outstanding Aeronca Champ - Small Plaque
Duane Jones
New Carlisle, Ohio
1946 Aeronca 7AC, N2189E
Outstanding Bellanca - Small Plaque
Bryan Quickmire
Tiny, Ontario, Canada
1950 Bellanca 14-19 Cruisemaster, CFGLQ
Outstanding Cessna 120/140 - Small Plaque
Thomas West
Phoenix, Arizona
1947 Cessna 140, N2574N
Vincent Lalomia
Montclair, New Jersey
1954 Cessna 170B, N1936C
Michael Pratt
Louisville, Kentucky
1950 Cessna 195A, N1001D
Outstanding Luscombe - Small Plaque
T.J. Stegman
St. Peters, Missouri
1946 Luscombe 8A, NC45896
Outstanding Navion - Small Plaque
Glenn Krafcik
Hinckley, Ohio
1948 Ryan Navion, N4411K
Outstanding Piper J-3 - Small Plaque
Matthew Foster
Poplar Grove, Illinois
1945 Piper J-3C-65, N42436
Outstanding Piper Other - Small Plaque

Timothy Moore
Trumansburg, New York
1947 Piper PA-11, N4769M
Class IV (236-plus hp) - Bronze Lindy

Raymond Franke
Walnutport, Pennsylvania
1953 Cessna 195B, N195RA
Limited Production - Outstanding in Type

Gary White
Spokane Valley, Washington
1969 Aero Commander 100, N4153X
Outstanding Swift - Small Plaque

James Minor
Lake Dallas, Texas
1946 Globe GC-1B, N3370K
Best Custom - Bronze Lindy

James Younggren
Hallock, Minnesota
1951 Piper PA-18, N1066A
Preservation Award - Outstanding in Type

Michael Tovani
Windsor, California
1957 Champion 7FC, N7557B
Outstanding Taylorcraft - Small Plaque

Mike D. Ramos
Stoughton, Wisconsin
1946 Taylorcraft BC12D, N44034
Reserve Grand Champion - Silver Lindy

Kenneth Morris
Poplar Grove, Illinois
1950 Cessna 140A, N9467A
Class I Single Engine (0-160 hp) - Bronze Lindy

Chris Demopoulos
Dyer, Indiana
1966 Cessna 172H, N3832R
Custom Class A (0-80 hp) - Small Plaque

Michael Lazarowicz
Port Clinton, Ohio
1946 Taylorcraft BC12D, N95817
Grand Champion - Gold Lindy

Greg and Cindy Heckman
Polo, Illinois
1946 Funk B85C, N77727
Class II Single Engine (161-230 hp)-Bronze Lindy

Dale Phillips
Westfield, North Carolina
1969 Piper PA-28-180, N6428J
Custom Class B (81-150 hp) - Small Plaque

James Strong
Williamsville, New York
1950 Luscombe 8F, N815B
Contemporary (1956-1970)
Beech Single Engine - Outstanding in Type
Alex Watson
Brighton, Colorado
1961 Beech 35 B33, N285BW
Class III Single Engine (231-plus hp)-Bronze Lindy

Stephen Jones
Cypress, Texas
1959 Beech K35, N5EH
Custom Class C (151-235 hp) - Small Plaque

James Steier
Omaha, Nebraska
1946 Globe GC-1B, N80973
Custom Class D (236-plus hp) - Small Plaque
William Signs
Dallas, Texas
1954 Beech E18S, N7BS
Best Custom Runner-Up - Large Plaque
John Shuttleworth
Huntington, Indiana
1949 Cessna 195, N55M
Class I (0-80 hp) - Bronze Lindy
Thomas Schoettmer
Greensburg, Indiana
1946 Taylorcraft BC12D, N5045M
Class II (81-150 hp) - Bronze Lindy
Donald Lindholm
Morning Sun, Iowa
1951 Cessna 170A, N1424D
Class III (151-235 hp) - Bronze Lindy
Karl Reik
Fort Thomas, Kentucky
1948 Stinson 108-3, N6183M
Cessna 150 - Outstanding in Type

Billy Forester
Versailles, Missouri
1964 Cessna 150E, N6232T
Cessna 170/172/175/177 - Outstanding in Type
Tom Lynch
Fort Collins, Colorado
1967 Cessna 177
Mooney - Outstanding in Type
Brian Locascio
Orland Park, Illinois
1966 Mooney M20F, N9550M
Piper PA-24 Comanche - Outstanding in
Type
Michael Salmen
Parker, Kansas
1964 Piper PA-24 250, N8346P
Custom Multiengine - Bronze Lindy

Rasmus Nielsen
Seattle, Washington
1959 Beech G18S, N565US
Outstanding Customized - Bronze Lindy
David Smith
Milaca, Minnesota
1960 Cessna 175A, N7040E
Reserve Grand Champion - Silver Lindy
Kent Stones
Lebanon, Kansas
1967 Beech E33, N7150N
Grand Champion - Gold Lindy
Lee Hussey
Martinsville, Virginia
1964 Piper PA-24-400, N8455P
Piper PA-28 Cherokee - Outstanding in

Type
Matt Hofeldt
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
1968 Piper PA-28-180, N6496J
Nominat
ions
C A L L F OR V I N TA G E A I R C R A F T A S S O C I AT ION
Join
Friends
of the Red
Barn!
Your support is crucial to the success of

VAAs AirVenture activities and programs
VAA members like you are passionate about
your affiliation with vintage aviation, and it shows.
Youre the most loyal of all EAA members, renewing your VAA membership each and every year at
a rate higher than any other group within the EAA
family. We appreciate your dedication! Each year
we give you another opportunity to strengthen
your bond with the VAA by inviting you to become
a Friend of the Red Barn.
This special opportunity helps VAA put together
all the components that make the Vintage area of
EAA AirVenture a unique and exciting part of the
Worlds Greatest Aviation Celebration. This special
fund was established to cover a significant portion of the VAAs expenses related to serving VAA
members during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, so that
no dues money is used to support the convention
activities.
This is a great opportunity for Vintage members
to join together as key financial supporters of the
Vintage division. Its a rewarding experience for
8
each of us as individuals to be a part of supporting

the finest gathering of Antique, Classic, and Contemporary airplanes in the world.
At whatever level is comfortable for you, wont
you please join those of us who recognize the tremendously valuable key role the Vintage Aircraft
Association has played in preserving the irreplaceable grassroots and general aviation airplanes of
the last 100 years? Your participation in EAAs Vintage Aircraft Association Friends of the Red Barn
will help ensure the very finest in EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh Vintage programs.
To participate in this years campaign, fill out
the donation form by visiting our website at www.
VintageAircraft.org/programs/redbarn.html to
make an online contribution. And to each and every one of you who has already contributed, or
is about to, a heartfelt thank you from the officers, directors, staff, and volunteers of the Vintage Aircraft Association!
Nominate your favorite vintage aviator for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame. A great honor could be
bestowed upon that man or woman working next to you on
your airplane, sitting next to you in the chapter meeting, or
walking next to you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Think about
the people in your circle of aviation friends: the mechanic,
historian, photographer, or pilot who has shared innumerable
tips with you and with many others. They could be the next
VAA Hall of Fame inducteebut only if they are nominated.
The person you nominate can be a citizen of any country and may be living or deceased; his or her involvement
in vintage aviation must have occurred between 1950 and
the present day. His or her contribution can be in the areas

of flying, design, mechanical or aerodynamic developments,
administration, writing, some other vital and relevant field,
or any combination of fields that support aviation. The person you nominate must be or have been a member of the
Vintage Aircraft Association or the Antique/Classic Division of EAA, and preference is given to those whose actions have contributed to the VAA in some way, perhaps
as a volunteer, a restorer who shares his expertise with
others, a writer, a photographer, or a pilot sharing stories, preserving aviation history, and encouraging new
pilots and enthusiasts.
To nominate someone is easy. It just takes a little time and a little reminiscing on your part.
Think of a person; think of his or her contributions to vintage aviation.
Write those contributions in the various categories of the nomination form.
Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions. Make copies of newspaper or magazine articles that
may substantiate your view.
If at all possible, have another individual (or more) complete a form or write a letter about this person, confirming why the
person is a good candidate for induction.
We would like to take this opportunity to mention that if you have nominated someone for the VAA Hall of Fame; nominations
for the honor are kept on file for 3 years, after which the nomination must be resubmitted.
Mail nominating materials to: VAA Hall of Fame, c/o Charles W. Harris, Transportation Leasing Corp.

PO Box 470350

Tulsa, OK 74147
E-mail: cwh@hvsu.com
Remember, your contemporary may be a candidate; nominate someone today!
Find the nomination form at www.VintageAircraft.org, or call the VAA office for a copy
(920-426-6110), or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information:
Date submitted.
Name of person nominated.
Address and phone number of nominee.
E-mail address of nominee.
Date of birth of nominee. If deceased, date of death.
Name and relationship of nominees closest living relative.
Address and phone of nominees closest living relative.
VAA and EAA number, if known. (Nominee must have been or is a VAA member.)
Time span (dates) of the nominees contributions to vintage aviation.
(Must be between 1950 to present day.)
Area(s) of contributions to aviation.
Describe the event(s) or nature of activities the nominee has undertaken in aviation to
be worthy of induction into the VAA Hall of Fame.
Describe achievements the nominee has made in other related fields in aviation.
Has the nominee already been honored for his or her involvement in aviation and/or the
contribution you are stating in this petition? If yes, please explain the nature of the
honor and/or award the nominee has received.
Any additional supporting information.
Submitters address and phone number, plus e-mail address.
Include any supporting material with your petition.
How to?
ROBERT G. LOCK
In photo 2, the padding is bonded in place

using manufacturers approved adhesive. The
Champ wing chord is too wide to blanket cover
the wing; therefore, three strips of fabric had
to be sewn together so there was no need to
glue fabric to the leading edge. Do not glue
fabric to the padding; it wont work.
Prepare a surface for fabric covering
other places on occasion. Photo 3 is a Bcker

BU-133 Jungmeister wing I covered many
years ago for John Hickman. These wings
were narrow chord, and the fabric could be
blanketed in place and not require any machine sewing.
The upper Bcker Jungmeister wing as its
being covered with the Ceconite process back
in 1970. This wing is all wood construction,
and the leading edge and other areas are covered with padding. The fabric was installed
around the leading edge and glued to the
inside of the wing spar. A little preshrink-
Preparation of a structure to
receive fabric covering requires

some thought be given to
sharp edges or overlaps that
need to be covered with tape.
And, depending on what type
of fabric attachment is chosen,
one may want to cover the
leading edge metal with a polyester padding that will blend
out surface irregularities such
as skin overlaps.
I always cover any nail heads
on the leading edge with a
good grade tapeI particularly like to use gaffers tape.
Gaffers tape has an adhesive
that securely bonds it to an
aluminum leading edge. Do
that first before installing the
polyester padding. Then inspect the rest of the structure,
checking if there are any sharp
edges that could penetrate and
damage the fabric. I always put
tape over trailing edge rivets.
See Photo 1.
Polyester padding may then
be installed on the leading edge
of the wing by bonding it along
upper and lower edges of spars. Do not attempt
to bond the entire leading edge as the padding
needs to be soft and pliable. Right, gaffers tape
10
SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013
Photo 3
Photo 2
Using this method of leading edge protection will lead to a very smooth covering job
where skin overlaps and nail or screw heads
cannot be seen. Whenever possible I always
use padding on the leading edges and a few
ing was done to tauten the leading edge and

then it was coated with nitrate dope. Then
the bottom of the fabric was bonded in place,
wrapped all the way around the leading edge,
and bonded to the area along the top of the
spar. What did the airplane look like when it
was finished? Well, here it is in Photo 4.
Photo 1
covers sheet metal attaching screws on a leading edge, and a strip of polyester padding is
ready to be bonded in place.
Photo 4
11
The Vintage Instructor

STEVE KROG, VAA DIRECTOR AND CFI
Aviation growth through vintage aircraft

Ive watched nearly every aviation alphabet
group wring its hands, spend hundreds of hours

in meetings, and in some cases spend a lot of
money in an attempt to help the general aviation community grow. Ive even been involved in
some of these hand-wringing hours-long meetings. But to me, much of the invested time, dollars, and grandiose ideas are a waste. Were all
collectively focusing on the problem but not on
the process for truly understanding the causes,
which need to be examined and addressed before
the problem can be solved.
Think back in time for a

moment. Was your first bicycle
a brand-new 10-speed
racing bike?
Take a look at this example proving my point.
If a young man or woman, currently not exposed
to aviation, as we all are, decides he or she has
an interest in learning to fly, the usual first step
taken is visiting the Internet and doing a search
under learn to fly. This search instantly offers 66 pages with 10 to 12 titles per page that
talk about learning to fly. If that isnt confusing enough, most of the titles deal with computer games about flying. Any person searching
through the first few pages will become overwhelmed and click out of the search.
If the individual is persistent, though, and
12
finally finds a title that actually talks about learning to fly, he or she will find a list dealing with
all of the requirements. This information is important, but it doesnt address the key question
of How can I learn to fly and then affordably
continue to fly? I couldnt find a single article of
the 600 to 700 articles listed that answers this
question! And not a single one of these articles
addresses the sport pilot category.
A novice who is truly interested in flying
might next conduct an Internet search for airplanes. They might even visit the area bookstore
and pick up an aviation magazine. There isnt
a single new aircraft available under $100,000,
and most are considerably more. That alone is a
big negative for a potential new pilot. The novice then discontinues his or her search thinking
that learning to fly is an unattainable expensive
dream. Another potential pilot lost because of
incorrect market perceptions!
a bit differently. You may have repainted the

frame, added mud flaps, changed the size of the
front tire, clothes-pinned a baseball card in the
front spokes, or added reflectors, but it was still
the first bike.
A year or two later you outgrew your first bike,
sold it to another neighborhood kid, and bought a
bigger, faster, more complex bike with money you
saved. You traded up, so to speak. This bike may
not have been brand-new, but it was bigger, faster,
and it had some additional bells and whistles.
Then a couple of years later, when you had a parttime job, your income allowed for you to purchase
either a new 18-speed racing model, a 12-speed
mountain bike, or a lightweight small-frame bike
on which you could do all sorts of bike tricks.
This same example could be used for buying
a first boat, motorcycle, or downhill skis and
boots. But more important, the example parallels
how most of us were able to get involved in flying
and then owning our first airplane.
Enter Vintage Aircraft
The most affordable path toward pleasure flying today is through vintage aircraft. One doesnt
need to spend more than $100,000 to own and
fly an airplane!
However, most individuals wanting to learn
to fly are unaware of the cost and variety of the
many makes and models qualifying as vintage
aircraft. As an industry as a whole, weve never
Entry Level and Transitions
Think back in time for a moment. Was your

first bicycle a brand-new 10-speed racing bike?
Of course not. If your childhood was similar
to mine, you learned to ride on a well used but
sound bike that you probably purchased from a
neighbor or family friend. It was your first bike,
and you really didnt care if it was well used. It
was new to you, and that is all that mattered.
With a little help and a lot of encouragement,
you learned to ride that bike. As you perfected
your riding skills, you began looking at your bike
Cessna 150
promoted entry-level aviation and aircraft

ownership. Rather, like the auto industry, we
promote new makes and models and all of the
high-end bells and whistles that can be installed
in same. Look at the airplane ads in any aviation
publication today. Ads directed toward the sport
pilot audience promote aircraft in the $120,000
range and up. The ads from the major aircraft
manufacturers feature new single-engine aircraft
in the $275,000 range and up. We market ourselves out of the potential pilot/aircraft owner
audience before ever getting a chance to speak
with the potential pilot.
Prospective flight students have regularly contacted me expressing interest in both learning
to fly as well as owning an airplane. But there is
always a but that follows: But it costs so much
for flight lessons, and airplanes are way out of
my league financially.
However, if there is truly a will, there is a way
to accomplish the desire of the prospect. A good
example is a current flight student. Jeff had a
real desire to learn to fly and had conducted the
magazine and Internet searches described above.
Initially he determined that the cost didnt justify the desire. The desire to fly continued to
burn from within, and Jeff took the next step
by attending one or two fly-ins, looking at airplanes, and asking a lot of questions. Soon he
came to the conclusion that if he purchased a
vintage-era airplane and used it to learn to fly, he
could realize his long-term dream.
He came to me one afternoon
in late winter, and we discussed
his wishes at length. He wanted
to get a certificate, own a plane,
fly off a private strip on his farm,
and not have to get a flight physical every two years. He had no
desire to either fly at night or
have to deal with Class C or D
airspace. Jeff just wanted to enjoy the pleasure of flight.
Not wanting to deal with
flight physicals immediately
made him a sport pilot candidate. Then we discussed the
various make and model aircraft of the vintage era that
met the sport pilot/sport airplane limitations. Armed with
13
Aeronca Champ
Cub
this information, Jeff began his search for an airplane with the enthusiasm of a 16-year-old about
to go on his first date.
When Jeff found an airplane that looked and
sounded good in the ads for same, he would bring
the information to me, and we would discuss flight
14
characteristics for this particular

make and model, anticipated maintenance costs, and finally what to
look for when seeing the airplane
firsthand. Armed with a checklist,
Jeff began the next step toward
acquiring an airplane. After rejecting one or two planes, he found one
that seemed to meet the criteria
we had established. A pre-purchase
BONNIE BARTEL
inspection was then arranged. The
aircraft was pronounced fit and the
sale concluded.
The airplane was located about
100 miles away, so we arranged
for a friend to fly us there the
following Sunday. I then had
the true pleasure of flying the
airplane to Hartford with Jeff.
As we made our way, I looked
over at him. He had a grin equal
to that of Ronald McDonald. I
commented that he will always
remember this day, and it would
be third on the list of memorable
events, following getting married
and the birth of his first child. He
paused for a minute or two and
STEVE CUKIERSKI
then stated, It might be number
one on my list ahead of marriage
and first born, but dont tell my
wife that!
The thought I want to leave
with you readers is this: Jeff was
persistent in pursuing his dream.
By doing so, he was able to acquire and then take flight lessons
in his own airplane. And he will be
able to accomplish his goal for less
than $20,000!
There are hundreds of airplanes
out there that fit into this or a
similar scenario. Champs, Chiefs,
Taylorcraft, Luscombes, Cessna
Taylorcraft
120s and 140s, Cubs, and yes,
even the Cessna 150 all fit.
Now, if we can just get all of the alphabet
groups to rethink their approach to attracting
new pilots using the bicycle analogy and vintageera aircraft, we might start to see an increase in
pilot numbers.
Ask the AME

JOHN PATTERSON, M.D., AME
Disqualifying medical conditions

We have talked in a previous article about
the specifically disqualifying medical conditions that will require special issuance. These
are disease states that require review by the
FAA in Oklahoma City or one of the regional
FAA offices. Your aviation medical examiner
(AME) cannot issue the medical without review and will need to defer that decision. This
can sometimes take 60-90 days to get FAA approval and will in some cases require further
information or testing.
There is very good news in this regard. The
FAA has identified 18 medical conditions that
can now be issued a medical certificate without
special issuance. Hypertension, being so common, has been a condition that the AME could
approve with additional testing forwarded to
the FAA if it is controlled by an appropriate
medication. Almost all medications given for
hypertension today are approved. The standards
however have been streamlined in the most recent modification to make it easier to approve
with less required information.
These conditions have been divided into two
groups. Group 1 has already been implemented
and includes arthritis, asthma, hepatitis C,
hypothyroidism, pre-diabetes, migraine and
chronic headaches, renal cancer, testicular
cancer, and prostate cancer. Criteria have been
established that if satisfied, the AME can issue
the medical at the time of the physical. With regard to the cancers listed here, the airman must
have completed treatment, usually radiation or
surgery, and have no evidence of current or re-
current disease to be approved.

The second group of medical conditions will
have criteria that will soon be released and may
have already been instituted by the time this
article is published. Again they include several
cancer disease states such as Hodgkins disease
and lymphomas, leukemia, bladder cancer, and
colon cancer. The other conditions are carotid
artery stenosis (restriction of the main artery
in the neck that provides blood to the brain),
colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. Also included are the ever elusive and nebulous issues
surrounding kidney stones. Now criteria have
been established that will allow approval where
previously the presence of even a tiny stone
would require at least a call or consultation with
Oklahoma City or the regional office. Being a
urologist myself, I am anxiously awaiting the
protocol to allow approval without having to
make that call.
Obviously this is a step in the right direction,
and as these logical decisions bear up over time,
hopefully more conditions will be added. There
will be some who will not meet the criteria and
will continue to undergo the special issuance
procedure. At least we now have some specific
guidelines for approval rather than a blanket
deferral. I hope to have more good news in upcoming articles.
15
Good Old Days
P
A
R
C
S K
O
O
B
Take a quick look through history by enjoying

images pulled from past publications.
From the pages of the past . . .
Brochure from the EAA

archives advertising the
Helio Courier
Brochures from the EAA archives
advertising the Super Cub
16
s
d
A
d
e
fi
i
lass
What would you have found . . .
AeroDigest, July 1935
Aero Digest, July 1940
Aero Digest, December 1940
Aero Digest, December 1940

18
19
Aaron Tippin and his

1959 H-395 Helio
Jim Busha
Flying a
Helio
Courier
in a Country Kinda Way!

20
JIM KOEPNICK
21
BRADY LANE PHOTOS
f you are like most people

and think that flying and
country music are cool,
then I hope after reading
this story, looking at the
photos and watching the video
on the EAA website, you will
unanimously agree that Aaron
Tippins 1959 H-395 Helio Courier is red hot!
When I last visited with the
countr y music singer at his
home in Liberty, Tennessee,
about six years ago, he told me
he was itching to get another
airplane to add to his growing stable that at the time included a PT-17 Stearman, a Bell
JetR anger, a Decathlon and
22
a J-3 Cubone that fit him

like a pair of his favorite blue
jeanswell-worn and comfortable. Aaron said that his next
airplane was going to be either
a warbird so he could pay tribute
to all the brave men and women
who have served this country
of ours or he was going to buy
something that reminded him
of his aviation mentorhis dad
Willis Tip Tippin. So when I
caught up with Aaron at Sun n
Fun a few years ago, he acted
as proud as a strutting rooster
when he dragged me to his newest acquisition and told me that
he accomplished both of his
goals with the purchase of one
airplanea Helio Courier.

A a r o n s c r e a m - a n d - b l u e
striped Helio was built in 1959
as a civilian model H-395 Super
Courier by the Helio Aircraft
Company in Pittsburg, Kansas.
Powered by a bulletproof sixcylinder O-480 Lycoming engine that spins a three-bladed
propeller, Aaron knew from past
experience that the Helio Courier acted more like a helicopter
than it did as an airplane.
The first time I ever laid eyes
on a Helio was when my daddy
threw me in the right seat of
one when I was just a youngster
growing up in Greenville, South
Carolina, said Aaron. My dad,
who had been a fighter pilot in
WWII and later instructed in
military jet trainers, was working as a corporate pilot for a
textile company, and they were
considering purchasing a helicopter to fly from plant to plant
with. My dad had done some
earlier demonstration flights
with the Helio and quickly realized its capabilities. He asked
them to reconsider the helicopter idea and proved his point
when he landed the Helio on
the well-manicured front lawn
of one of the plants. That is the
real jewel of the Helio; with its

awesome STOL capabilities, it
can take off and land just about
anywhere. I kept those great
memories of flying with my dad
in the Helio tucked away in my
back pocket as I entered my own
aviation world.
While Aaron was growing up
and learning how to fly in the
late 1960s, the United States
military had already noticed the
flying qualities of the Helio Courier and quickly drafted them
into service. The military model
was dubbed the U-10 and was
used effectively and extensively
as a multi-role workhorse in and
around the jungles of Vietnam
with both the military and CIA.
It was a common practice for
those pilots to land and take off
from hand-carved strips on the
sides of mountains with sheer
drop-offs at each end. But the
military wasnt the only satisfied operator of the Helio. Missionary pilots from around the
world were enamored by the
performance of this homesick
angel and began using them, as
they still do today, for humanitarian flights to remote third
world airstrips.
With a successful countr y
music career already estab- decided he had to have himself a

lished, Aaron began to stir his Helio Courier. Period.
I knew I wanted an airplane
memories about his past flying
experiences with his father and that I could not only pack my
23
JIM KOEPNICK
BRADY LANE
24
family into, but also one that

could carr y just about any thing I could stuff inside of it,
said Aaron. I also liked the fact
that a Helio is built more like a
NASCAR racer with a roll cage
wrapped around the cockpit that
can sustain up to 15gs. Flying
safely is a huge component especially when I carry my family
around with me. I couldnt get
the thoughts of a Helio out of
my mind as I kept reminiscing
about my dad flying one, and it
just seemed that adding a Helio
to our family was the right thing
to do. As I began my search for a
suitable airplane, I had been told
that the modern history usage
of the Helio was split between
two groups of pilots: missionaries and drug dealers. Thankfully
I found my airplane with a fellow
down in Louisiana named Jerry
Gonsoulin who was neither a
missionary nor a candidate for
the FBIs Most Wanted.
Although Aaron had originally set his sights on a tricycle-geared Helio Courier that
was for sale, he had stumbled
into Jerry while at Sun n Fun
a few years ago, and the two
of them hit it off immediately
with their shared interest in
Helios. As Jerry shared his stories with Aaron on how he acquired the Helio, what it flew
like, and what it meant to be the
custodian of this tall-tailed taildragger, Aaron knew that this
was the airplane he had been
searching for. The problem was,
though, that Jerry, who wanted
Aaron to own this airplane over
anyone else, was beginning to
have sellers remorse.
I bought the Helio back in
1988 from a fella named Valentine, said Jerry. The airplane
had been completely rebuilt, but
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Aaron Tippin
BRADY LANE
JIM KOEPNICK
it was involved in some kind of

family dispute and had sat in a
hangar for 15 years so it had relatively low time. After I bought
it, I really learned how slow an
airplane could fly. I was amazed
at times when I slowed it down
to 27 mph and still had full control and maneuverability because
this airplane will not stall. I also
own a Kitfox, and I think that
some of the light-sport aircraft
and ultralights will perform like
the Helio, limited only by their
speed and weight, of course. The
most impressive thing for me
26
in the Helio is the STOL takeoff

and landings. With those flaps
and slats hanging off the wings
I sometimes wonder why they
poured all that concrete on a long
runwayanything over 100 feet
is wasted space!
When I reluctantly put the
Helio up for sale, I knew I wanted
Aaron to have this airplane. He
is such a likable person and is an
airplane fanatic. I knew he would
be the right pilot to appreciate
the Helio flying world. Before I
let him fly away with the Helio,
though, I made him promise me
that he would keep the lucky

penny that my wife, Scotty Ann,
glued to the dash before we were
married and while we were dating. The first time I saw the Helio
fly was when Aaron picked it up
and flew it back to Tennessee. I
am not ashamed to admit that
it brought a tear to my eye, and
I got all choked up as I watched
him disappear into the distance.
I even called Aaron before he
landed back home and told him
he could have all his money back
and then some. Now when we
talk, he asks if I still have a spare
key for the airplanehes afraid
I will steal it back!
With the Helio now registered to Aaron and hangared
safely at his private airport in
the Volunteer State, Aaron went
looking for someone to teach
him the finer points of Helio flying. Aaron admits he is a
training freak when it comes
to checking himself out in a new
airplane. Poring over manuals and talking to other people
who have flown this type of aircraft are just a few of the things
Aaron did to prepare himself for
some serious Helio training.
I am a heav y believer in
training, said Aaron. I love
to train, and I can see how
in the olden days that a guy
could flip through the pages of
a manual such as this one and
slowly transition into the realm
of STOL flying. This manual is
very straightforward for someone who already has some tailwheel experience under their
belt. But if you really want to
grasp the true capabilities of flying this airplane in all kinds of
conditions, then I recommend
having a high-time Helio pilot
teach you. Lucky for me I found
a friend by the name of Steve
Schafer who used to work for my dad. I consider

Steve a Helio guru, and he used all of his JAARS
experience as he ran me up one side of the mountain and down the other as he taught me the ins
and outs, dos and donts of flying the Helio. For
starters I had to change my mental perception on
taking off and landing this airplane.
The tall tail of the Helio was the first thing I had
to get used to, especially in a crosswind condition.
Like any other tailwheel airplane that wants to
weather vane into the wind, this tall tail will accelerate that fact if you dont stay on top of it. One trick I
learned on takeoff, especially if it is a crosswind, is to
taxi out onto the runway and go to the far side placing the right wheel on the edge of the runway. When
I am ready to take off I just lay the whip on it and
turn the airplane into the wind, and I am usually off
the ground in less than 50 feet. Turn the nose back
to runway heading and off we go. The landing is just
as unconventional. There is really no stall speed with
the Helio, and one of the most effective ways of using the Helio is below 50 miles per hour. Thats when
the wing slats jump out as you control descent with
power. You have to be real careful in this configuration because you can hit pretty hard if youre not
careful. Most of my passengers who are first-time
Helio fliers get a little nervous when I point the nose
straight down at the numbers. But because it all
happens so slowly, its just a matter of pulling it back
into a flare and boom! Touchdown. It truly is the
perfect airplane for my backyard runway.
Aarons grass strip lies in the shadow of a
mountain on one side and a creek on the other.
With a lot of burbles and rolls coming off the surrounding hilltops when the wind kicks in, it has
some unique characteristics when it comes to
operating under these conditions.
With my 2,000-foot strip I call Soggy Bottomdont land if it rains hard!nestled right
up against a mountainside, this is Idaho flying in
Tennessee, said Aaron. Some of my friends who
fly over to see me, chicken out when they look
down the barrel of that thing and swear that the
runway is only a few hundred feet long. It is only
when they drive over and walk it off themselves
that they realize that it is really 2,000 feet long
thats three touch-and-goes in a Helio! Whether I
am flying out of this strip in my Cub, Stearman,
or Helio, it has definitely made me a better pilot.
But I have to admit that since I acquired this airplane, the departures are more helicopter-like,
especially when the wind is blowing.

So what does the future hold for Aaron and
what does sport flying in general mean to him?
My dream would be to paint the Helio in the
colors it wore in Vietnam as a tribute to those
brave men and then demonstrate the capabilities
of the Helio at air shows just like my dad used to
do, said Aaron. I would love to share this experience with my aviation friends and peers because
it is not only such an impressive machine; it is
also the ultimate in STOL flying.
What does aviation mean to me? Its the one thing
in my life that has remained constant. Although I am
a singer/entertainer by trade, deep down inside I am
very humbled by the fact that God is just being nice
to me. But when it comes time to get away from the
day-to-day business side of life, my only escape is in
flying. I was raised at an airport, and I still consider
myself a ramp rat. There is no greater joy for me
than to be at an airport at dusk or just before sunrise
watching the soft colors of the sky change before
my eyes. Like my father before me, flying is the one
legacy I want to pass on to my children, hopefully at
the controls of our Helio Courier.
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27
create magic every time they lay

their hands on an airplane in
need of restorationeven if its
the serial No. 1 Piper Super Cub.
RUSS MUNSON
Turning Back the

Hands of Time
The resurrection and restoration of the first Piper Super Cub

Jim Busha
28
Lets face it; most of us enjoy being number one in some

aspect of our lives. Athletes for
example enjoy that title when
winning a championship, while
others like me simply relish in
the moment every time I find
myself at the front of a checkout line minutes before someone pulls up with a half-dozen
carts full of merchandise. Yeah,
being number one is an awesome thingbig or small. The

same can be said for owning the
first airplane off the production
line. There is something magical about owning serial No. 1,
let alone the bragging rights.
But as you are about to find out,
EAA Vintage Aircraft Association members Roger and Darin
Meggers of Baker, Montana,
Born to Fly
Roger Meggers doesnt remember a thing about his first
airplane ride; he just relays
what his father Donald told
him later in life.
I guess I was kind of born
into aviation because in 1956
my dad f lew my mom to the
hospital in rural North Dakota
in the back of a PA-11 hours
before I was born, said Roger.
I grew up in aviation; my dad
went into the Army Air Force
but was washed out due to too
many pilots and sent to gunnery
school and survived 28 missions
over Europe as a waist gunner
on a B-17. When he came back
he learned how to fly and then
opened a crop dusting business
using PA-11 Cubs and then on
to Super Cubs, 150 and 235
Pawnees, and finally ended up
in a Cessna Ag Truck, basically
spraying small grains in western North Dakota. I started in
aviation at a young age, cleaning windshields at 5 years old
and then became a flagman in
the field. I would step out into
the field so many steps, my dad
would be flying overhead and
line up on me, wiggle his wings
and come roaring overhead, and
then I would do it all over again.
But I didnt have a lot of interest
in aviation until I hit my teenage years.
Rogers father was a farmer as
well, so he taught Roger how to
turn wrenches. If a tractor broke
down, they would jump in the
Super Cub, fly to town for parts,
and then f ly back and fix it.
Roger learned to weld and work
29
RUSS MUNSON PHOTOS
planes! I liked the Cubs because

I liked to weld and paint, but I
was also fascinated with tube
and fabric airplanes. They were
a challenge for me because I also
strove for perfection. After each
project I tried to make the next
one even better.
on all the machinery as well

what farmer in his right mind
could ever afford to pay someone
to fix something! By the time he
had turned 14 he had learned
to paint trailers, combines, and
tractors before turning to cars.
But when Roger wasnt working
on the family farm, he was in the
air learning how to fly.
I soloed in November near
my 16th birthday, then got my
license when I was 17 years old.
When I hit 20 I went to Florida
and received a bunch more ratings: CFI, multiengine, and CFII.
I returned home and took
a corporate job in Baker, Montana, and got out of the spraying
30
business; I liked to travel. But

a few years later in 1978 I had
second thoughts and bought a
Piper Pawnee and started my
own spray business in Baker
and sprayed up until 1999. I
already had a shop in the area
called Baker Air Service and got
my A&P rating in 1981. I began
rebuilding airplanes and started
with a Cub, and when I finished
that I moved onto another one
and rebuilt several over the
years. Eventually my son, Darin, who is 27 now, joined me
when he was old enough to turn
a wrench and became inflicted
with the same airplane disease
I havewe both love old air-
In Search of Lost Treasure

Ro ger admitted he really
didnt need another airplane to
work on, but that didnt stop
him from constantly surfing the
web in search of another project.
There was an airplane advertised on eBay out in Caldwell,
Idaho, and I looked at it, and it
looked like just another rattylooking Super Cub, said Roger.
It appeared to have had a rough
life, and the seller wanted quite
a bit of money for it. I blew it off
not knowing the historic significance of this Piper treasure.
In 1949 the Piper Aircraft
Company produced a new model
called the PA-18 Super Cub. The
original prototype, serial number 18-1 was test-flown on No-
Roger and Darin Meggers.
vember 23, 1949. That airplane

became the genesis for a series
of fabric Piper models that are
famous and noted the world
over. The PA-18 Super Cub was
in production longer than any
other aircraft model that Piper
ever built. The PA-18 was used
extensively in a variety of roles
including agricultural work,
aerial patrol, search and rescue,
bush flyingeither on skis or
floatsas well as a military liaison and missionaryable to get

into very remote places. There
are some who claim the Piper
Super Cub is one of the most
popular and recognizable aircraft flying today. Unfortunately,
Roger Meggers didnt recognize
what he was looking at the first
time on his computer screen.
Thank God for second chances.
The ratty airplane I first saw
on eBay was sold to a Kelly and

Norman Coffelt of Bend, Oregon, in 2006, said Roger. They
had purchased it from a gentleman named Eugene Franks who
had owned it for 40 years. When
the Coffelts bought it, it still had
an Irish linen cover on it. They
ended up patching it up, repainting it, mounting a new aileron
and installing flaps, bolting on
29-inch Bushwheels, along with
the installation of a longer propeller and a 150-hp engine.
Kelly had called me a few
years later as he was looking at
one of our projects and wanted
to know if we were interested
in a little horse trading. I asked
him what he had to barter with,
and he replied, Its just an old
Super Cub; actually its the oldest oneSuper Cub No. 1.
I was shocked and it knocked
me back a little, and after the
shock wore off the detective in
me kicked in and I asked what
proof he had. Kelly said he had
the original logs, which set the
hook for me, and I said I would
be very interested in it. Unfortunately, we couldnt come up with
a deal that we both agreed on, but
Kelly promised that if he ever sold
it, he would give me first dibs.
31
Russ Munson
we f lew it for a while, and it

flew nice. One thing I noticed
right away was that it had sevAbove right: The
eral patches, mostly on the right
Meggers autowing. In fact there were more
graphs inside the
patches than there were original
fuselage.
fabric; it would have been easier
Far left is a 1955 Fly- to re-cover the whole wing!
ing magazine ad.
Roger had contacted Clyde
The
Cub Doctor Smith about
Left is the artwork
the
airplane,
and he was excited
from a matchbook
about
it
until
he saw a picture of
cover.
it. Clyde was just about in tears
when he saw what had hapairplane, as we shook hands pened to it.
It had been modified for
and struck a deal in March
crop dusting right after it left
of 2010.
the factory, said Roger. It was
sold to Art Witaker who develBack to the Future
oped the duster sprayer for the
Restoring serial No. 1
Roger admitted that when he Super Cub. They simply pulled
first laid eyes on the Super Cub the back seat out of it, fabriit looked rather tired. It was cated a duster/sprayer combipainted in a cream and white nation to sit in the back seat of
paint job with red trim, but it the airplane. The airplane spent
was hard to tell what color was most of its life as a duster, and
what because of the fading. But looking through the logs there
were several props replaced,
in the air it flew like a Cub.
It flew great, said Roger. It crunched wingtips, bent landstill had the original struts on it ing gear, and so on. It was a very
yet, and that was easy to tell be- hard-working machine.
When Roger finally made the
cause it had the original paint
on them. That made me kind of decision to pull out his razor
nervous as there had been sev- knife and make the first cut, he
eral ADs on those. Although the knew the fun of flying No. 1
whole airplane was rough-looking would be put on hold.
Above left: Early
Piper Super Cub ad.
About a year later out of the

blue he called and said he was
ready to sell. But before any
money was exchanged he asked
me a very serious question. He
said, Roger, what would you do
with that airplane? I told him
I would restore to look like the
day it rolled out of the Piper
factory hangar, right back to
the original 90-hp engine, correct wheels, wings, prop, and
ever ything else in-between.
Kelly said, Thats exactly what
I want to see happen to this
34
Taking the razor to it was

difficult, said Roger. You really have to build up your enthusiasm because once you make
that first cut, thats when all the
work begins!
Roger was pleasantly surprised when he saw the innards of the Super Cub. There
was very little rust or corrosion.
Roger did find that there had
been several repair spots that he
matched up with the 337s and
other records. There was damage to the right side of the cockpit and the tail post area, and
these were eventually cut out
and replaced with new material.
We replaced a lot of tubes,
said Roger, and then after sandblasting them we put epoxy chromate primer on everything. We
ended up painting it with polyurethane enamel to help preserve
itit should last indefinably. We
also treated the longerons with
oil so it should only have to be recaulked at some point.
W hen Roger and Darin
turned to the wings they found
that they had been converted
with flaps and balanced tail surfaces, so they completely rebuilt
the wings and placed an original
unbalanced tail surface on it.
We took the flap mechanism
out of the wing, said Roger, and
cut all the brackets off the tubes
so we could return the wings
back to how they came from the
factory. To assist in our restoration we ended up acquiring a lot
of the Piper blueprints and drawings over the years from Univair
in Denver. Jim Dyer was a godsend as he shared proprietary
drawings with us to help us out.
Clyde also was a great help by
coming out to our shop on two
different occasions and ended
up covering the wings through
silver, looking just like they did

back in 1949.
Roger is both an A&P and IA,
and Darin is also an A&P so during the cold Montana winter
they plugged away at their project as momentum picked up.
They eventually got sidetracked
looking for new old stock parts
because they strived to keep it
original Piper, so it took them a
little longer on the rebuild.
We ended up manufacturing
some of the ribs because we just
couldnt find what we wanted,
said Roger. The most difficult
part to locate was the oil pressure/
oil temp gauge because in the late
1940s they used a U.S. gauge and
then a Stewart gauge after that;
they were impossible to find! But
Clyde Smith came through again
as he just happened to have an
old one lying around and do-
nated it to me to keep it original.

We had Keystone Instruments
in Lock Haven overhaul all the
instruments for us. It still has a
non-sensitive altimeter in it and
no electrical system. Darin fabricated all the interior panels, There
were lots of dents and abuse form
the crop-dusting years. But we returned the Super Cub back to its
former glory by installing a wool
headliner just like the original
along with an instrument panel
supplied to us by Clyde Smith. The
seats were another item that we
fabricated to look like the originals. I get a lot of compliments
about them, but to me they reminded me of an old school bus
seat to tell you the truth!
There are a lot of parts that
just arent available anymore
that we had to fabricate. One example was the boot cowl, which
35
36
RUSS MUNSON
is very similar to a PA-11 boot

cowl, but because they changed
the structure of the tubes, the
instrument panel stands up a
little more vertical than the PA11 so it takes a different cowl.
Like other hard-to-find items we
ended up fabricating a new one.
The Meggers Super Cub unfortunately did not retain the original Continental 90-hp (C-90)
engine it left the factory with
because it had been replaced
back in 1952. Roger acquired
another C-90 and refurbished
all the parts, assembled it, and
overhauled the engine.
We found an original carburetor and magnetos, and I actually installed an un-shielded
ignition, which you cant buy,
said Roger. I ended up buying the Packard 440 wire from
Fresno Air Parts in California
with original wire ends, and we
built our own ignition harness.
The Super Cub swings a
Sensenich 72GK50 wood propeller with a very special insignia fixed to both blades.
In our research we noticed
that all the pictures we had
from the early PA-18s there
was a little orange dot on the
prop blades, said Roger. We
couldnt tell what it was even
by enlarging the photos up, and
unfortunately Sensenich didnt
know what I was talking about
either. I was fit to be tied and almost gave up when the answer
was right under my nose. Darin
came running into the shop one
day with an old prop my dad had
run through a snow fence with
our PA-11 years ago. One end
was splintered pretty bad, but
the other blade had the decal on
itit was the Sensenich wing
design, and the orange circle
was a picture of a little bear, and
test flight of the Super Cub. Darin admitted that working on a

piece of history like the serial
No. 1 Super Cub took a while
to soak in, but once he was airborne he realized that all their
hard work, bloodied knuckles,
long hours and sleepless nights
finally paid off.
It was a complete surprise
when Dad asked me to do the
test flight, said Darin. When
we rolled it out of the hangar
and hand-propped it, it started
on the first blade. Everything
ran up fine; it felt like a new
old Cub taxiing out. The brakes
were weak; you could feel every
bump and dip in the pavement
because the tail wheel is just a
solid rubber tire. After the runFlying a Legend
To Darins surprise, his fa- up I had to get used to the backther asked him to complete the ward tach moving left-hand
surrounding it were the words
especially built for Piper. We
were able to locate some originals in Florida, and Sensenich
put them on our prop and varnished the decals right in.
When it was time for the Super Cub to get some new rubber,
Roger decided to keep it original
and went back to the original
Goodrich expander tube brakes
and installed 800 by 4 smoothfaced tires on it, and the tail wheel
is a Scott 3000. By the time early
July 2012 rolled around, the new
and improved Super Cub No. 1
had been returned to its former
glory and was ready to take to the
skies once again.
instead of right; this was also my first time in a

90-hp Super Cub. I had been used to the 125-,
135-, 150-hp models with a lot more get up and
go, so I was expecting a weak Cub. It surprised
me when I lined up the nose on the centerline,
pushed the throttle forward, and glanced down
to make sure everything was in the green. When
I looked up we were off the ground flyingthat
quick and going like a rocket!
At only 783 pounds empty weight and 1,500
gross weight, its lighter than a 150-hp Super Cub.
At 90 hp its just as fast as the modern Super Cub,
but this one sips fuel and is lighter on the controlsailerons are very responsive. Flying this
Super Cub is more fun to fly in my mind than all of
the modern stuff I have flown. I am very much into
the older airplanes, and I appreciate the originality of this airplane and how simple flying was supposed to be. Its just stick and rudder flying, and it
still has the new airplane smell!
Theres a great difference between rebuilding
and restoring an airplane to original. On a rebuild,
you can specialize the airplane to your needs and
update to the latest and greatest through modifications or stay semi-original and paint it with
any variation of colors you want. Restoring these
old airplanes to just how they came from the factory can be very challenging. Figuring out what
was used during what years of manufacturing can
be overwhelming! A lot of the information is not
abundant and can be hard to get a hold of for these
vintage aircraft. This can be as simple as what colors where used or trying to come up with it since
that process or line is no longer available. A person
definitely has to have the passion for this kind of
thing, and my father and I definitely do.
Roger echoes Darins thoughts about this airplane project and how it just may have turned back
the hands of time for the father and son team.
It really made me feel a lot younger when I saw
it fly for the first time, said Roger. I have to admit,
seeing it fly I felt as if I was transported back to
1949 really quick! I am satisfied for the most part
with this restoration, but I can always do better! As
a father, though, it was a great thrill for me to work
side by side with my son as the old airplane torch
that had been passed on to me by my father is now
being passed on to a future generation of restorer/
pilot. I hope both Darin and Super Cub No. 1 grace
the skies for a long time to come.
So do we, Roger, so do we . . .
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37
The Papoose Pair

A different kind of Cub at AirVenture
Budd Davisson
38
What is it that drives usually

sane people to do things that
normal people would judge to be
insane? Or, if not insane, at least
much more difficult than a very
similar way of doing things. For
instance, add the letter P to the
end of the ever-present J-3 designation, and instantly everything
J-3Ps to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2012.

Considering that AirVenture
2012 was the year of the Cub,
with more than 150 J-3s gathered on the grounds like Monarch
butterflies in migration to honor
Cubs 75th anniversary, it was
nearly impossible for any one of
the breed to stand out. The J-3Ps,
however, with their typical Cub
behind-the-firewall appearance,
and their anything-but-Cub firewall-forward countenance, were
hard to miss. The Whats that?
factor was enormous. As was the
cuteness factor. They were AirVenture 2012 superstars.
The period of the Cubs birth
and growth, the last half of the
1930s, was also the period in
which the search for the ideal
light aircraft engine was underway. Even though the Great
Depression had thrown a wet
blanket over the economy, the
1930s were still a golden age
for aviation, with more development taking place in all parts
of the industr y than almost
any decade since. Even though
bread lines circled the block, the
light trainer/personal aircraft
market, as represented by the
J-3, Taylorcrafts, Luscombes,
and their peer group, quite figuratively exploded. Enterprising entrepreneurs become fully
aware of that fact and recognized that the need for small,
powerful, economical powerPHIL HIGH
plants would expand as well.
about the concept skyrockets in This gave birth to a wide range
complexity. And rarity. And frus- of new engines, all aimed at betration. And, most of all, dedica- coming the darling of the evertion required. All of the foregoing expanding trainer market.
applies to Ingrid Zimmer-Galler,
We saw ever y thing from
Malcolm Van Kirk, Ben Davidson, the tiny, two-cylinder 37-hp
and the rest of their happy little Aeronca opposed-twin to the
band of Papoosers who brought a flathead, four-cylinder A-40
pair of Lenape Papoose-powered Continentals and O-145 Lycomwww.VintageAircraft.org
39
40
Ben Davidson of WAAAM

filled us in on his J-3Ps history
and the reason for its vaguely
lived-in look. He says, Essentially, even though our airplane
went through a long series of
owners, it was kept flying, in
one form or another, from the
day it was originally built in
1938 to today. When new, it
was the Piper factorys Lenapepowered demonstrator.
Terry Brant, who started the
WAAAM museum, he continues, bought the airplane in the
early 90s. He was, among other
things, collecting three-cylinder
aircraft, which eventually led
him to build a 95,000-squarefoot museum in Hood River,
Oregon, that features, among
other things, the worlds largest
flying collections of both threecylinder airplanes and those
powered by OX-5s. We have a
little of everything there in the
way of airplanes and cars, but
mostly the museum is about
what we personally like and
what we think is both historical
and that the public will like.
Ben goes on to say, When we
decided to bring the airplane
to Oshkosh, it hadnt flown in
several decades, so we did what
amounted to a super annual
on it, repairing everything that
needed repairing, but did very
little actual restoration. This is
pretty much how she has looked
since last covered in 74, and at
that time she was just repaired,
not restored. In fact, it has never
been completely restored.
Although in theory the Papoose Cubs could have been
flown from their homes to AirVenture, cooler heads took the
reliability of the engine into
account and both the WAAAM
airplane and the Zimmer-Galler
Ben Davidson, right shows off his pride and joy to an admirer.
MARK CARLISLE
BRADY LANE PHOTOS
ings, to the abbreviated radials

like the Szyekely and the Lenape
Papoose. The ultimate winner
was the amazing A-65 Continental, but it didnt claim the crown
before the others got their time
on stage while mounted to the
nose of a Cub. None, however,
received the public relations
splash that accompanied the Papoose in a J-3P.
An odd-appearing (to modern eyes), three-cylinder, triangular 50-hp radial, the engine
would appear on the front of
24 J-3 Cubs (according to most
sources) before the competition
from the A-65 and its descendants put the company out of
business. During that time it
gained its share of headlines by
dragging a Cub from New Jersey to Florida and back nonstop.
(See the sidebar for details.)
After the war most were reengined, the often-cantankerous
little Papoose replaced with
the ever-sweet Continental.
Only a very small number of
J-3Ps lasted to modern times
with their original three-jug
oil slinger in place and the two
in attendance at AV2012 represent just about the entire flying Papoose Cub population.
The black one from the WAAAM
(Western Antique Aeroplane &
Automobile) museum in Hood
River, Oregon, was a avery early
J-3P with J-2 type wings and
aileron hinges on top and was
essentially an unrestored, but
constantly repaired, airplane,
while the yellow one belonging
to and restored by Ingrid Zimmer-Galler with help from Malcolm Van Kirk and others made
only its second post-restoration
flight at AirVenture. A restoration doesnt get any fresher
than that.
Ingrid Zimmer-Galler and Malcolm Van Kirk
machine were hauled by trailer

to the airport in Hartford, Wisconsin, just outside of Oshkosh,
where they were assembled and
test-flown before making the
short hop to AirVenture. For Ingrids airplane, it was only the
second time the airplane had
tasted the sky since sometime
in the 90s.
Ingrid Zimmer-Galler could
be seen as an unusual owner
for such an unusual airplane. A

nationally recognized expert in
ophthalmology and an associate professor of ophthalmology
at the John Hopkins Wilmer
Eye Institute (she specializes in
vitreoretinal surgery and is the
medical director of the Frederick, Maryland, satellite office),
she came into aviation as the result of a caring husband.
She says, My husband acwww.VintageAircraft.org
41
MARK CARLISLE
I learned a little
about its background, and I
thought someone
ought to get this
piece of history
back in the air
tually signed me up for flying

lessons while I was doing my
residency at the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minnesota, in the
early 1990s, because he thought
I was spending too much time
in the hospital, and I quickly got
hooked on all things aviation.
While training for a tailwheel
endorsement at a flight school
in Frederick, Maryland, I noticed the Lenape Cub hanging in
pieces on a wall in the hangar. It
had been totaled in a windstorm
10 years earlier. I learned a little about its background, and I
thought someone ought to get
this piece of history back in the
air, so I purchased the project
from Malcolm Van Kirk who has
been instrumental in getting the
restoration project completed.
Ingrid continues, I spent
countless hours researching and
collecting information and artifacts on the history of NX20280
and the record-setting flight it
took, flying nonstop from Newark to Miami and back in 1938.
I also spent countless months,
actually years, looking for a
magneto. . .and additional Lenape engines. Many thanks go
to Charlie Deck in Florida and
42
Dick Kanode in Maryland for

donating two spare Lenape engines, which were used to restore my engine.
Malcolm continues the airplanes history. He says, I purchased the airplane from Dick
Kanode. The plane was originally configured back to the Lenape engine by Dr. Garrison in
1974 when it won outstanding
Cub at Oshkosh. After I purchased the plane in 1986 it was
flown regularly on evenings,
sightseeing along the Potomac
River, and on many mornings
flying dawn patrol with other
like-minded antiquers.
Unfortunately the airplane
was seriously damaged in an
unexpected storm in the early
1990s. My plan was always to
restore the plane, says Malcolm.
So, when Ingrid wanted to get it
in the air again, I transferred the
title to her, and together we put
the plane in her garage to begin
the long way back.
Malcolm says, We started by
stripping the fuselage and found
it had only a little corrosion. We
cleaned all of the tubing, fuselage, rudder, fin, stabilizers,
and elevators right there in her
garage. We sandblasted late at
night until the neighbors complained about the noise. We
also epoxy-primed all parts that

were in good shape right there.
Early on it was just the two
of us, but as the project moved
forward, I had started to work
for Cessna Aircraft in the Cessna
Pilot Center Program, and it
seemed that time was nonexistent. So, we made the decision
to get outside help so that we
could get the plane flying again.
The damaged parts and specialty items, like the engine
mount, were the biggest concern.Especially the fuselage,
which was seriously bent. So,
we located Charlie Deck in Jacksonville, Florida, who had the
jig necessaryto get the fuselage
straightened out. One fine day we
strapped the fuselage to the roof
of Ingrids Volkswagen Diesel and
we headed for Jacksonville. You
cant imagine what we looked like
going down Interstate 95, and the
questions people asked when we
stopped for gas.
Charlie Deck had his work cut
out for him, Malcolm says. The
fuselage was compressed downward and twisted at the tail. The
rudder and fin were bent, the
engine mount was bent, and the
rubber engine mount biscuits
were damaged. These were some
of the more difficult parts to duplicate, as the durometer of the
rubber used had to be determined
and new metal rings, which sandwich the rubber, remade. Fortunately, we did find a shop in
Griffin, Georgia, that took on the
project of making a new mount.
Of course, the cowling, and all
of the fairings, which were quite
soft, needed to be made.
We happened to meet Harry
Mutter at the Sentimental Journey Fly-In in Lock Haven. He introduced us to Dave Liebegott,
who had completed the restora-
The Original Butt-Buster Derby

EWR to MIA to EWR in 63 hours nonstop
What has to be one of the worlds most ambitious light aircraft trips ever
attempted was that taken by Ken Kress and Glenn Boog Englert in May of
1938. Both were Piper production test pilots, and they intended to fly from
Newark, New Jersey, to Miami, Florida, and back, a distance of 2,400 miles nonstop in, of all things, a Lenape-powered J-3P Cub (the very aircraft restored by Ingrid Zimmer-Galler
and Malcolm Van Kirk). They took off from EWR and landed back on the same airport more than
two-and-a-half days later (63 hours, 56 minutes).
The normal 9 gallons of fuel in the nose tank was augmented by 24 gallons in a streamlined belly
tank, which is being replicated for fitting on the Zimmer-Galler Cub. They had refueling stations set
up at Raleigh, North Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Miami, Florida. At each location Kress would
fly down the runway and Englert in the back seat would lower a rope with a hook and, on repeated
passes down the runway, a Lenape factory worker, often strapped to the front of a car, would send
up seven 5-gallon cans, in addition to many quarts of oil, sandwiches, etc.
The aircraft had a continual loss oiling system in which a quart of oil was always in a specialbuilt funnel next to the pilots head continually feeding the engine through a small hole. It took
about an hour for the quart to drain. A small diameter line down a gear leg continually drained oil
out at the same rate so the engine would always be using clean oil.
Kress said, To avoid too many refueling contacts, we decided a 50-hp engine was necessary to
allow carrying maximum gasoline . . . we departed Newark 324 pounds over normal gross but got
off in 17 seconds. She handled the load excellently, with little or no tendency to be sluggish. At Jacksonville, we . . . hauled up 45 gallons of gasoline and 19 quarts of oil giving us a gross load of over
1,400 pounds [normal gross was 1,000 pounds]. Boog, of course, was almost buried under oil cans
and extra 5-gallon fuel tanks.
The adventure had many serious, heart-stopping moments, like getting down to less than 10
minutes of fuel before the first can came on board at Jacksonville. Then, on departure, getting lost
in fog and smoke and wandering around for three hours in almost zero visibility until finally finding Orlando in the middle of the night. This put them so far off course that they had to return to
Jacksonville for more fuel.
They couldnt communicate with the ground except by passing down written notes, but they did
have a battery-powered, low-frequency Lear receiver, so they had A-N range navigation available,
which saved their bacon when a map blew out of a window and they had to fumble their way to
Raleigh on the return trip. They also had battery-powered wingtip navigation lights.
When they arrived at Newark, the airport didnt know they were arriving, so the runway lights
werent on and they surprised their reception committee. Upon deplaning, after spending twoand-a-half-days folded up in the Cubs notoriously cramped seating position, Kress could barely
stand, and Englert was so hoarse from shouting at the refueling crews that he could hardly speak.
Still, even at an average speed of 40 mph and 3.7 gph over the 2,400 mile straight-line distance
(some estimates place the actual distance at closer to 3,400 miles because they circled so much
while either lost or waiting for weather to clear at refueling stations), they proved a valuable point:
light aircraft were indeed viable cross-country transportation, and the around the patch image
that had hounded light aircraft was forever shattered.
43
44
I was able to get the overhaul

specifications from EAA, and,
utilizing a lot of parts from
the donor engines, Bill and his
helper Harvey completed the
overhaul.But, we still had more
engine problems ahead of us.
Finally, in October 2010 we
got the call that theplane was
ready to test hop. The engine
was her normal cantankerous
self, hard to start, but she did
agree to run for us, and I flew
around the patch a few times.I
then headed for home, with Ingrid shadowing me in a Cessna.
Once we arrived in Frederick, I
loaded Ingrid on board for her
first flight and, as luck would
have it, one of the magnetos
had failed.
The magnetos were Edison
Splitdorfs, and I located a shop
in California to overhaul them
both. When the box arrived
back to us more than a year
later, however, there was only
one magneto in the box and
the other magneto was inexplicably lost. It took yet another
year to locate a magneto, which
was loaned to us, but it didnt
spark properly. I was afraid
we wouldnt make it to OSH
this year, when Dick Kanode
offered us another Lenape engine with magnetos. The needed
spare magneto worked fine, and
we took the plane apart and
trucked it to OSH, where we
reassembled it, flew it, and had
it on display. Ingrid received a
well-deserved Bronze Lindy for
her outstanding efforts and
years of effort to get NX20280
back to flying condition.
Malcolm repor ts the airplane flies about like a normal
J-3 but that the engine noise
is horrible, which combined
with the unshielded ignition,
makes radio communication

almost impossible.
Ingrid says, We hope to fly it,
enjoy it, and take others flying
in it on sunny, warm-weather
weekends. We continue to look
for Edison Splitdorf RM-3 magnetos or parts such as points
and condensers. She also says,
When I saw the airplane sitting at Oshkosh, I thought,
Thats pretty cool! We finally
got it here!
When asked whether this was
her last restoration, she said, If
another interesting airplane were
to come along, Id love to do it.
Malcolm adds, There was no
better feeling for a pilot than to
see a project of this magnitude
come together. It was always a
thrill to fly. Also, theres a whole
list of people I want to personally thank including Ingrid,
whose dedication to this project was unwavering, and Harry
Mutter for getting us to Dave
Liebegott. Then Bill Gorge for
his expertise and knowledge of
this aircraft, his co-worker Harvey Webb for his outstanding
contributions with the metal
parts, and Dick Kanode for allowing me to own this fine plane
in the first place, Then we all
have to thank Dr. Garrison for
the vision he had all those years
ago to restore this Lenape Cub
in the first place and saving it
from the trash heap. He did history a service.
Its universally agreed that every visitor to AirVenture 2012
owes both crews, the WAAAM
folks, and the Mar yland Papoose Gang a huge vote of
thanks. Seeing any Lenape Cub
is a real treat, but seeing two
of them together was literally
a once-in-a-lifetime experience
for all of us.
Coast to Coast
With the Vin Fiz
Part 1
ERNIE VISKUPIC, WINGMAN PHOTOGRAPHY SAN DIEGO
tion of his Piperthat had done

a world tour. Dave was a master
at all things Cub, and we loaded
the plane in a U-Haul and moved
the project to Clearfield, Pennsylvania. Work progressed at a
pace that was a bit slower than
we all wished, but the quality is
unsurpassed. Dave rebuilt the
wings, covered the fuselage and
wings, and got it under paint.
Unfortunately, some unforeseen events happened, and
the Cub was hangared for the
next two years. We finally took
the project to Harford County
Airport to Bill Gorge shop. Bill
Gorge had actually restored the
plane for Dr. Garrison in 1974
and was familiar with its idiosyncrasies. So, for the next two
years, Bill and his helper, Harvey Webb, went about the task
of completing the project, which
included rebuilding the engine,
cowling, and wheelpants and
doing all the finish work.
Firewall aft, Malcolm, Ingrid, and crew were essentially
restoring/repairing a J-3 Cub,
but firewall forward was a different situation altogether.
Fortunately they had the two
donor engines for spare parts,
but even the prop had drama attached to it.
Malcolm says, The prop is
a 72L41, but drawings for the
72L41 had been de-commissioned
years ago. So, I took the existing
propeller to Sensenich in Plant
City, Florida (as carry-on luggage on Southwest Airlines),
so they could scan it to make
a new one. To our dismay, the
new propeller didnt fit the oneof-a-kind prop hub, so we opted
to restore the original prop that
was on the plane when it was
damaged years before.
The engine was apart, but
The 84-day
odyssey of
Cal Rodgers
Mark Carlson
Cal Rogers
The Catalyst
In January 1910, the first
Los Angeles International Air
Meet was held at Dominguez
Field in Los Angeles County.
Dozens of pilots in Wright and
Curtiss biplanes competed in
altitude, speed, and endurance events. The air meet drew
the attention of thousands
of spectators eager to see the
new wonder of airplanes.
It had only been six years
since the Wright brothers had
made their historic f light at
Kitty Hawk. In the intervening
years there had been significant
advances in airplane design. But
range and speed had increased
very little. The average biplane
could only manage 70 miles per
hour. Range was limited to how
much fuel the plane could lift,
not the capacity of the fuel tank.
An hour-long flight was considered a notable feat in 1910.
Among the spectators at
Dominguez Field, watching the
daring young men in their flying
machines, was a 13-year-old boy
who was fascinated by the darting planes and yearned to find
his way into the skies. Soon he
46
would be famous as an aviation

pioneer and war hero. His name
was Jimmy Doolittle.
The 1910 Dominguez Field
air meet was covered by several papers across the country,
most notably, those owned by
newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst.
At that time airplanes were
little more than slow, fragile, and unreliable wood-andfabric crates, and the idea of
flying from coast to coast was
totally ludicrous.
But the seed of such an idea
took root in Hearsts fertile and
ambitious mind, and in October
1910, eager to promote aviation
and draw readers to his chain
of newspapers, he offered the
then-staggering sum of $50,000
to anyone who could fly from
coast to coast. The challenge
was good for one year, starting
October 10.
This in itself was a daunting
proposition. But Hearst wanted
the feat accomplished in 30 days
or less.
Today it seems laughable to
need so much time.
An airliner can fly from New
York to Los Angeles in about

five hours.
With only a little careful preparation a private pilot may fly a
Cessna or Beechcraft from coast
to coast in about two days, allowing for fuel and rest stops.
Even a single person in a car
can drive the 3,500 miles from
New York to Los Angeles in less
than a week, provided they dont
mind the grind of driving, catnaps in rest stops, and fast food.
Hearst was eager to promote
an aviation event his newspapers could cover on a daily basis, thereby increasing sales
and profits.
Cash prizes for aviation feats
were nothing new, even in 1910.
Lord Northcliffe, the owner of
the London Daily Mail, was a
fanatically patriotic Briton. In
1908 he put up $10,000 for the
first plane to cross the 26 miles
of the English Channel between
Calais and Dover.
Northcliffe knew there were
few U.K.-built planes capable of
crossing the Channel, but he preferred that the pilot be an Englishman, or at least an American.
Wilbur Wright was in France
at the time, demonstrating the

new Military Flyer to the French
government. Northcliffe reportedly offered the elder Wright the
sum of $15,000 if he would do
it. Wright was tempted, but he
turned down the offer. Orville
had been demonstrating the
same plane at Fort Myer, Virginia, and crashed after a propeller fragmented in front of a
crowd of Army brass and spectators. Orville suffered a broken leg, but his passenger Lt.
Thomas Selfridge was killed.
Another crash would seriously
impair the Wrights sales.
As histor y has shown, the
English Channel was conquered
by air on July 25, 1909, by
Frenchman Louis Blriot.
The Challenge
Hearsts challenge earned
some attention. The Wrights
themselves and their chief competitor Glenn H. Curtiss briefly
considered entering but realized
that any chance of success would
entail huge investments of time
and money.
By 1911 airplanes were still
a novelty most Americans had
never seen. They were hardly
capable of flying more than a
hundred miles under ideal conditions. Between New York and
California the terrain varied
from small towns and big cities,
hills and mountains, cultivated
land and vast stretches of open
plain and scorching desert, towering granite mountain ranges
and dense forests. And not a single airport.
There were no navigation beacons, no air traffic controllers, and
no mechanics waiting to repair
balky engines or torn fabric. On
a cross-country flight a pilot had
to hope he would find a convewww.VintageAircraft.org
47
forward canard elevator. In doing this he became one of the

first private citizens to buy a
Wright airplane. Pilots License
No. 49 was issued to him on August 7, 1911, by the Aero Club
of America.
Just three days later Rodgers entered the Model B in
several competitions at an International Air Meet at Grant Park
in Chicago.
He did well, winning a total of
$11,925 in several aerial competitions and an endurance flight.
COURTESY MARK CARLSON
This was what faced the pilot who chose to accept Hearsts
challenge.
nient road or smooth field to land

on. He was on his own, forced to
improvise as he went along. And
once on the ground he had to
make his own repairs and maintenance. Fuel had to be found and
48
The Daredevil
And that man was Calbraith
Cal Perry Rodgers. Rodgers
was born in January 1879 of a
wealthy Pittsburgh family. He
was a scion of one of the most illustrious Navy dynasties in the
country. His ancestors included
War of 1812 hero Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry, the victor on
Lake Erie. He also counted among
his antecedents Commodore
John Rodgers and Commodore
Mathew Perry, who had opened
Japan to the world in 1853.
With such a pedigree, Cal, as
he preferred to be called, was
brought to the airplane.
A rough landing or damage eager to join the Navy. But a
to the airframe might ground a bout with scarlet fever as a
plane for days or weeks until the boy robbed him of much of
needed parts could be brought his hearing. He grew up to be
a handsome, 6-foot 4-inch tall
by rail.
man who loved sailing, football, and was never seen in public without a cigar in his wide,
smiling mouth.
Rodgers had earned a reputation as a daredevil. His cousin
John, named for the commodore, had graduated from Annapolis. John was one of the
first Navy officers to be chosen
to fly the Wright Military Flyers
purchased by the U.S. Navy in
March 1911.
John Rodgers was sent to
Dayton, Ohio, where he began

flight instruction at the Wright
Brothers Huffman Prairie Flying School. Cal visited him there
and was instantly bitten by the
flying bug.
He learned to fly under the
tutelage of Orville Wright and
Al Welsh until he felt ready to
solo after a mere 90 minutes of
flying time.
He bought a Wright Model B,
known as the Headless Wright
because it lacked the familiar
The Preparation
Rodgers had heard of the
Hearst coast to coast flight challenge and decided to try for it.
His total flying time amounted
to less than 40 hours.
He went about it methodically, securing funding and logistical support from J. Oggen
Armour, owner of the Chicagobased Armour Meat Company.
Armour was eager to promote
a new grape-flavored soft drink
called Vin Fiz. With an agreement that Rodgers plane would
h av e t h e w o rd s V I N F I Z
painted on the rudders and underside of the wings, he was to
be paid $5 for each mile flown
east of the Mississippi River and
$4 for each mile west of that.
This would be honored regardless of whether he beat Hearsts
deadline. Armour also provided a special three-car train
that would accompany Rodgers
across the country.
With a boxcar carrying spare
wings, struts, rudders, wheels,
engines, and enough parts and
fabric to rebuild the entire plane
at least twice, the train was a
rolling repair shop and carried
a car able to leave the train and
drive to wherever Rodgers had
49
With a boxcar carrying spare wings,

struts, rudders, wheels, engines, and
enough parts and fabric to rebuild the
entire plane at least twice, the train
was a rolling repair shop and carried a
car able to leave the train and drive to
wherever Rodgers had landed.
landed. His wife, Mabel, and his
mother, Mrs. Sweitzer, rode in
a comfortable Palmer-Singer
touring coach with accommodations and baggage. Also on
the train were two Wright mechanics and two assistants su50
pervised by Charlie Taylor, who

had been with the Wrights since
before Kitty Hawk. The two
women were accompanied by a
friend, Charles Wiggin.
The boxcars were painted
white, so Rodgers would be able
to spot the train easily from

the air, and emblazoned with
the Vin Fiz logo, prompting the
name of Vin Fiz Special.
Rodgers agreed to pay for the
fuel, oil, spare parts, and mechanics pay. Taylor was paid
$70 per week.
Using his prize money, Rodgers purchased a Wright Model
EX (for Exhibition) for $5,000.
The EX was a modified Wright
Mo d e l R , w h i c h w a s o f te n
called the Roadster or the Baby
Wright, and was specifically
built for exhibition flying.
The Wrights workers lengthened the spruce muslin-covered
Model Rs 26.5-foot wing to
31.5-foot with a 5-foot chord.
The separation between the upper and lower wings was just
over 40 inches.
The lower profile allowed
for better control and maneu-
51
The only instruments Rodgers had on hand were

his pocketwatch, to keep track of flying time and
estimated distance, and a weighted shoestring tied
to a bracing wire by his head.
Taylor and Rogers.
52
verability, less bracing wire,

shorter struts, and reduced
wind resistance.
(Note: Some sources say the
EX was a Model B, which had a
31-foot wingspan. But the 5.4foot wing separation was more
than 2 feet longer than the
Model R and the EX. The author
supports the Model R, but this
may never be proven.)
With a 35-hp upright inline
four-cylinder engine turning
chains to twin contra-rotating
8-foot propellers at 450 rpm, the
EX could maintain a speed of 55
mph for about three-and-a-half
hours under ideal conditions.
The EX had no navigation instruments, not even a compass.
Rodgers would have to navigate
visually using railroads, euphemistically named the iron
road or iron compass. That
meant he could only fly in daylight and with good visibility.
Fog and rain would ground him
as surely as a broken wing or
clogged fuel line.
The only instruments Rodgers had on hand were his pocketwatch, to keep track of flying
time and estimated distance,
and a weighted shoestring tied
to a bracing wire by his head.
The string served as a sort of inclinometer to tell him if he was
pitching or rolling the plane.
The engine was fitted on
the wing to his right, which
made minor in-flight adjustments possible.
For good luck an unopened
of the coast to coast attempt.

The total distance was more
than 4,300 miles. Time would
be of the essence, and every delay would cut into the deadline.
The most distance Rodgers
could make in a single flight was
about 190 miles. Local conditions however were likely to affect this goal. Bad weather and
engine trouble, even landing
too far from the repair train,
could make a second flight in a
day unlikely.
It was technically possible to
make it to California inside the
30-day time limit, but only if everything went right.
The Vin Fiz Special would eibottle of Vin Fiz was wired to Texas. From there he would fly ther follow Rodgers or lead him,
one of the wing struts. Rodgers into New Mexico and Arizona, depending on conditions on a
intended to celebrate his vic- and finally into California, particular day.
It was truly an odyssey where
tory by drinking it after land- headed for the goal of Pasadena, the official ending point no man had gone before.
ing in California.
The new plane was instantly
dubbed the Wright EX Vin Fiz.
Cal Rodgers was not the only
pilot trying for the Hearst prize
money.
Robert Fowler and James
Ward, who each had more flying
time than Rodgers, were ready
by early September.
Fowler was the first, taking
off from San Francisco on September 11 and headed east. But
once he reached the towering Sierra Nevadas, he turned back,
unable to climb high enough to
clear the mountains.
Two days later Ward took
a route west from New York
C ity, but gave up five d ays
later, unable to even get out of
the state.
Eager to avoid the mountain
ranges Rodgers planned his
route along railroads from New
York, west into Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois, and then south
to Missouri, Oklahoma, and
53
Around the Pylons
How to beat your

plowshare into a sword
Don Berliner
EAA 5654, Past President, Society of Air Racing Historians
ers were already obsolete and soon would be

Theres nothing new about turning a fighter
headed for the scrap heap.
into a racer. This has been going on since the
Gen. Hap Arnold saw a possible solution and
first postwar Bendix and Thompson Trophy
promptly dispatched one of his best Wright Field
races at Cleveland in 1946. But turning a racer
into a fighter is a very different matter. One at- test pilots, Ben Kelsey, who happened to have a
tempt to do this can be traced
back to 1936.
The rumbling of a second
world war was increasing,
especially in Nazi Germany
where Messerschmitt and
Heinkel and Junkers were hard
at work developing military
airplanes in clear violation of
the Treaty of Versailles. Still
strapped for cash, the U.S.
Army Air Corps was sorely in
need of new ideas, as its Curtiss and Boeing biplane fight- This page shows two shots of the Caudron C.460.
54
graduate degree in aeronautical engineering from

MIT, to the 1936 Los Angeles National Air Races.
He was assigned to take a close look at the brandnew French Caudron C-460, which looked faster
than anything we had or expected to have in the
near future. With a minimum of changes, maybe
it could emerge as the Air Corps answer to the
eternal challenge of a high-speed, low-cost, lightweight fighter.
The C-460 had been designed expressly to win
the Coupe Deutsch de la Muerthe, the worlds
longest pylon race, consisting of two stages, each
for 10 laps of the 100-kilometer (62-mile) threesided course, with all 1,240 miles to be flown
on a single day. The annual event combined the
practical test of a long race with some of the excitement of a pylon race.
The airplane was as sleek as anything yet to
roll out of a factory or workshop. Its drag was the
least then possible with an airframe that carried
an engine and a pilot, along with landing gear,
instruments, and enough fuel. Its engine had
been developed for racing.
More than 6,000 miles to the west of the
Coupe Deutsch course, as the competitors and
the crowd gathered at what would become Los
Angeles International Airport in early September
of 1936, much of the talk was centered on the
long, slender Caudron. The previous year, Raymond Delmotte had won the long Coupe Deutsch
Race in an identical machine at an average speed
of 275.9 mph, while that years Thompson Trophy race had been won with a speed 50 mph
slower. The two otherwise very different types
of races may have had the same total number
of turns, but the Thompson would offer much
shorter straightaways on which to build up speed
lost in the turns. In addition, however, Delmotte
had set a world speed record for landplanes with
a C-460 on a 3-kilometer straight course at 314.3
mph in December of 1934.
Even before any stopwatches had begun to
click, Ben Kelsey was hard at work, studying every aspect of the dark blue speedster from far
across the water. While his eyes took in matters
of streamlining, his brain was converting the
C-460 into an imaginary pursuit plane. In his report to the War Departments Air Corps Materiel Division at Wright Field, dated October 12,
1936, he summed up his impressions:
This plane represented a very fine, well-
engineered design for the purpose. Each detail

was apparently the result of careful study, combined with experience. As a whole, it is believed
it represents an optimum in racing performance
with the power available.
The apparently excellent functioning and dependability of the plane and equipment indicate
that the design profited by previous experience
with similar designs and that this particular
plane had been operated for a sufficient time to
work the bugs out.
As nearly as can be determined, the engine,
which incorporated a built-in blower, could be
considered as a 260-hp at 10,000 feet engine,
operating full throttle at sea level. To accomplish this, special fuel approximating a 110
octane rating had to be used. Power estimates
vary from 350 hp to 370 hp, depending on the
source of the information.
Kelsey then analyzed the airframe, the specific
aspect of the airplane that most interested observers of all viewpoints. More from Kelsey:
There are several special features that deserve
notice. The (canopy) is exceptionally small
about 10- inches at the bottomjust large
enough for the pilots head. This obstruction is
located pretty far back on the fuselage, which
is advantageous from a drag standpoint, and is
very carefully shaped to avoid flat surfaces.
The wing is full cantilever, tapered, and extremely thin, of symmetrical airfoil sections. This
thin section is advantageous but feasible only in
a light airplane in which the maneuver factors
must be low. The details are extremely fine; the
trailing edge is practically a knife edge; the ailerons nest into the wing without a gap and with
no balance. The controls are all internal.
The airfoil section was supposed to be a symmetrical section but appeared to be more nearly
like some of our earlier racing sections. The
thickness at the root was about 10 percent to
12 percent, giving a depth of about 6 inches.
The tips were tapered in thickness to practically
nothing. It will be noticed that the taper in plan
and the aspect ratio are quite normal and apparently the result of some nice design study. Split
flaps were fitted from aileron to fuselage.
The wing is located up on the fuselage a little from the bottom. There seems to be some
reason for maintaining the fuselage lines under the wing without a break, as well as getting
55
Curtiss P-36
retracting space for wheels without protruding

from the wing.
The fillet is very small, which is, of course, satisfactory for high-speed conditions.
The tail surfaces are thin and full cantilever and as fine in detail as the wing and aileron.
These are mounted on an unusually long tail,
giving good damping and adequate control with
small drag.
The fuselage is only large enough to accommodate the powerplant and pilot, having been
reduced from the dimensions of the early models. The sides are flat which, when added to the
(canopy) which is streamlined as a vertical obstruction, gives considerable fin area aft, which
apparently accounts for the ability to get away
with small vertical control and fin surface in spite
of the large side area of the motor installation.
The landing gear is completely retractable
by pneumatic means. When retracted there are
no obstructions.
The powerplant is a six-cylinder inverted aircooled in-line Renault engine. The engine has a
displacement of about 465 cubic inches, a bore of
4.25 inches by a stroke of 5.5 inches, and is rated
as an 8-liter engine. There is a built-in blower, although apparently the compression ratio was not
exceptionally high. The fuel used was specially
prepared and furnished by Shell. A sample indicated that there was no fuel of commercial equivalent, but was about 110 octane rating.
The propeller was driven direct, 6 feet in diameter, and automatic two position. This Ratier
propeller was operated without controls by combination of pneumatic and mechanical means.
56
It may be assumed that this model is the same

as originally on the C-460. The propeller was removed and kept under cover when not being
flown. The Ratier propeller originally fitted on
the C-460 operated only to increase the pitch
from a takeoff position to a high-speed position
when a certain speed was reached.
The blades were held in the hub by a coarse
thread whose pitch was so designed that the
forces acting on the blade in the hub were normal to the thread shoulders. Ball bearings run
into the thread between blade and hub meant
that the pitch could be changed easily and tended
to stay put with little restraint. A spring acting
on a sliding cam rotates the blade from low pitch
to high. The spring is held in the low pitch position for takeoff by a little rubber balloon fitted
with an automobile valve. The disc out in front
has a stem which rests on the air valve.
When sufficient speed is reached, the pressure on the disc causes it to move back into the
hub, the stem pressing the air valve and deflating
the rubber balloon. This allows the spring to rotate the blades into the high pitch position.
Upon landing, the mechanism must be reinflated with a bicycle pump to get it into the low
pitch position. This is good, then, for only one flight
and is especially adapted for getting a racing plane
off the ground with a load, then getting into racing high-speed trim at low altitude, which is held
until landing, all with a minimum of weight and
controls. This is the reverse of our normal pursuit
usage where takeoff is rarely a problem, but maneuvers and changes in altitude require a propeller capable of adapting itself to various conditions.
istics and increased weight,

providing satisfactory vision,
changing to metal structure,
including armament, radio and
oxygen, plus the addition of
maintenance and service features would increase the gross
weight to about 3,000 pounds
or better, and require upwards
of 1,000 hp to maintain equivalent performance.
This is highly uncertain still,
but indicates that when amplified to service use, the plane is
not very different from designs
now being procured. Certain feaThe Curtiss P-36, which Kelsey figured was the Caudron after
tures might be retained to imnecessary mods.
prove details of normal design.
When asked about this many
years later, the long-retired Kelsey said that
The engine was cooled by air let in through
an opening in the front, one apparently directed when Arnold wanted a brief summary, he told
his boss that when you take into account all the
on the cylinder barrels and the heads, the other
changes which would have to be made to turn
front opening being the carburetor air intake.
the racer into a pursuit, we already have that
There was an outlet gland on the bottom of the
plane: Its the Curtiss P-36! With that, any serifuselage below the wing. In addition, there were
a few louvers cut here and there in the after por- ous thought of modifying a racer dissolved.
Needless to say, the Caudron C-460 remained
tion of the cowl. For oil cooling, large flush surface radiators were let into the side of the engine a classic racer that sired a string of increasingly
powerful racing and record-breaking designs
cowling on the side and bottom.
which were stymied by the refusal of
. . . the Caudron C-460 remained more powerful Renault V-12s to run
reliably. The P-36 went on to equip
a classic racer that sired a string of many Army Air Corps squadrons and
to lead directly to the production run
of 12,000 P-40s. As for Ben Kelsey? He
increasingly powerful racing and
made headlines with a transcontinental dash in a very early P-38 that ended
record-breaking designs . . .
crumpled on a golf course just short of
his goal in New York. With his flying and engiKelseys analysis was thorough and couched
neering knowledge, he made a highly productive
in formal engineering terminology, as would
career out of the Army Air Forces, rising to the
be expected of a professional test pilot who
rank of general. Retired to northern Virginia, he
was assigned to weigh the pros and cons of a
began building a Pitts Special but died before he
new design.
could complete it.
A study of the design indicates that there are
No original C-460 exists, though a realistic reno modifications which might be made to give
production has been built and flown. A fixed-gear
tactical usefulness without materially reducing
the performance. A rather detailed investigation predecessor of the C-460 is in the Musee de lAir
at le Bourget Aeroport, north of Paris. As for
is being made by the North American (Aviation)
Company to determine the feasibility of adopting P-36s, one is in the National Museum of the U.S.
Air Force in Dayton, while a Hawk 75 export verthis design to military purposes.
sion is owned by the Imperial War Museum and
The first phase of this indicated that probased at Duxford, north of London.
viding sufficient wing for landing characterwww.VintageAircraft.org
57
The Vintage Mechanic

ROBERT G. LOCK
Aircraft covering, Part 1

The subject is aircraft fabrics, and it is not my
intent to describe how to cover an aircraft but

rather to trace the history of fabrics used in the
covering process and touch on the filler materials
that were used.
In the beginning, fabric was made by weaving
natural fibers, such as cotton or linen. This type of
material commonly could be found as bedsheets
but could be purchased in the unshrunk condition, where water could be used to cause initial
shrinking of the fabric after attachment to the
structure. Natural fibers were bleached, which removed color from the fibers, turning it white. Cotton fabric, being a white fiber, was not bleached,
but some linen cloth, being a light tan color, was
bleached. It is difficult to trace fabric history much
before World War I, thus much early data pertained to those aircraft used from 1914 to 1918.
However, it is possible that the pre-WWI ships
may have used banana oil to tauten and seal fabric
weave in the covering process.
Linen fabric met the British Standard Specification 9BSF1 for the period beginning 1914.
Additional specifications and manufacturing instructions could be found in the Military Aeronautics Specifications dated 1916. I suspect
before the advent of WWI there were no specifications for aircraft fabric since there were few
aircraft around, particularly in the United States.
No doubt one had read of the fabric tearing loose
from the upper wings of SPAD aircraft when the
ship dived to high speeds and the lift forces were
greater than what the fabric could withstand.
The principal countries that produced the flax
58
from which linen fabric is manufactured were

Belgium, Russia, and Ireland. During the war the
Belgian supply was not available, and the Russian supply was difficult to obtain. Thus Ireland
was the only source from which to obtain flax in
which to manufacture airplane linen. Therefore,
the term Irish linen was born.
In the United States, the early Curtiss JN-4
Jenny ships were covered with a linen cloth. Although no particular specification can be found,
it is, no doubt, very similar or the same as the
British Standard Specification 9BSF1 for linen
cloth. When the United States entered the war
on April 6, 1917, experimental work had been
underway at the Bureau of Standards on a fabric cloth made from long-staple cotton fibers. At
first there was a decided prejudice against the
use of cotton because the dope that had been
used to tauten and seal linen fabric did not work
with uniformity on cotton. This led to the development of a new dope, which provided a big improvement in cotton fabric usage.
As a result of experiments, two grades of cotton airplane cloth finally evolved: Grade A with
a maximum weight of 4-plus ounces per square
yard and a minimum tensile strength of 80
pounds per inch, and Grade B with a maximum
weight of 4 ounces per square yard and a minimum tensile strength of 75 pounds per inch. As
these cloths went into production, it was shown
that Grade A had a tensile strength of 85 to 90
pounds per inch. This was the grade that was
universally adopted for aircraft fabric covering after February 1918, because the additional
strength more than compensated for the slight

increase in weight.
The first orders for about 20,000 yards of cotton airplane fabrics were placed in September
1917, and from that time the use of Irish linen
cloth decreased. At the time the armistice was
signed, ending WWI, the production of Grade A
cotton fabric was approximately 1,200,000 yards
per month. By August 1918 the importation of
Irish linen fabric by the government for war use
was discontinued.
In 1917 the only practical limit to the production of cotton airplane cloth was the availability of a large supply of long-staple cotton fibers,
particularly from Egypt. To

guard against a shortage of
this critical material, the Signal
Corps purchased 15,000 bales
of sea-island cotton in November 1917 so there would never
be a shortage of this raw material for manufacturing airplane
cloth. Once the cloth was attached to the structure, water
and dope were applied.
Dope served a two-fold process in aircraft fabric covering.
First, it tautened the fabric,
and second, it sealed the cloth
weave and made it water resistant. If there were openings between the weave, lifting forces
on the wings would be compromised. And the fabric had to be
smooth to reduce drag forces in
flight. Two types of dope were
tested: cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate.
Nitrate was made from cellulose nitrate and wood chemical solvents that produced a
surface similar to photographic
film of the time. It burned
quite rapidly, resembling a
July 4 sparkler! Nitrocellulose
dope was preferred for training ships because the enemy
was not shooting at them. Acetate was made from cellulose
acetate and wood chemical solvents, such as acetone. It was
a slow-burning material; however, if the ship caught fire in the air, it was going to burn anyway. Cellulose acetate dope was
preferred for fighting aircraft because they were
being shot at with incendiary bullets that would
set the ship on fire. Up to the entry of the United
States into WWI, nitrate dope was furnished by
various chemical and varnish manufacturers.
The selection of a new dope manufactured
from cellulose acetate opened a wide field of
research because there was a wartime shortage of the ingredients, which were acetate of
lime (acetone), cellulose acetate, acetic anhydride, and glacial acetic acid. Acetate of lime is
the base from which acetone is made, and in
59
December 1917, the government took steps to

commandeer all the existing supplies of these
kindred products. Steps were also taken to immediately increase production capacity for airplane dope, resulting in the government making
cash advances to large chemical plants located
in Collinwood, Tennessee; Tyrone, Pennsylvania; Mechanicsville, New York; Shawinigan Falls,
Canada; Kingsport, Tennessee; Lyle, Tennessee; Freemont, Missouri; Sutton, West Virginia;
Shelby, Alabama; and Terre Haute, Indiana.
By the time the armistice was signed,
1,324,356 gallons of dope had been produced by
the 10 manufacturing plants, which proved to be
adequate to meet all government requirements.
After the war ended, there were adequate supplies and manufacturing facilities of dope and
fabric to meet production requirements for the
birth of civil aviation in the United States. The
fabric became known as Grade A cotton fabric,
and the dope as nitrate and butyrate. Manufacturing standards and specification for airplane
cloth made from long-staple cotton linters were
pretty well developed by 1918 and remain today.
Here would be a good time to briefly explain
how these early 1914 to 1918 ships were cov60
ered. From the Curtiss JN-4D Handbook dated

1918, The main panels are covered on the upper
and lower surface with fabric. The fabric is carefully stretched over the framework of the panel.
The tension is applied to the linen as necessary
for smooth covering, and is directed parallel to
the span of the panel. Care is taken not to apply
this tension in the direction of the chord, so that
when the dope of the linen contracts, it does not
alter the wing curve. For sewing the fabric to the
ribs, Andover No. 7 harness-maker thread, properly waxed, is used. This thread is taken around
each rib, each stitch being properly locked with
a knot. The stitches are 4 inches apart. After
the fabric has been sewn to the frame, a strip
of aeroplane linen, 2-1/4 inches wide, with the
threads frayed at the sides 1/8 inch, is doped
over the stitches. Enough nitrocellulose dope is
applied to tauten the fabric and seal the weave so
as to provide a smooth surface. There was no silver dope applied to block ultraviolet rays of the
sun, which rotted the fabric in a short period of
time; therefore, all early ships appeared brown or
white in color, depending on whether they were
covered with linen or cotton cloth. This was the
standard covering process for a WWI aircraft.
Early aircraft covering had no protection
from the ultraviolet rays of the sun, which deteriorated cotton and linen cloth at an alarming rate. In the early 1960s, Ray Stits developed
a synthetic covering process called Poly-Fiber.
He did several tests involving exposure of various types of fabric to the sun. Stits covered several 24-inch-square frames with Dacron and
cotton fabric and mounted them to a test fence
at a 45-degree angle to the sun in Riverside,
California, for 13 months. The fabric was uncoated; however, one-fourth of the surface was
covered with plywood to block the ultraviolet
rays of the sun. (Riverside is very sunny and hot
during summer months.) After 13 months, six
1-inch-wide strips were cut for a pull test. For
new Grade A cotton fabric with a strength of 80
pounds per inch, the results showed:
Unexposed 69.25 pounds per inch (under
the plywood protection)
Exposed 6.75 pounds per inch (direct exposure to the sun)
Indirect exposure 43 pounds per inch (back
side of panel)
His conclusion was that exposed cotton fabric
was reduced to only 8.3 percent of its original 80
pounds per inch. So here the conclusion would

lead one to the fact that Grade A cotton fabric
needs a good application of silver dope to protect it from the suns rays. The first ships covered
with linen or cotton cloth did not have any protection, thus deteriorated at a rapid rate. Therefore, when testing Grade A fabric for strength,
one could expect the upper surface of a wing to
be deteriorated greater than the lower surface
because of indirect exposure.
For testing any type of fabric covering on an
aircraft, original cotton fabric is the standard for
deteriorated strength. All synthetic covering processes must measure to the minimum standards
of cotton aircraft cloth.
Into the early 1920s, the specifications for cotton and linen fabric cloth were pretty well established. From the U.S. Army Air Corps Bulletin 23,
dated May 1930, and the Bureau of Aeronautics
Index, dated April 1930, the Navy specification
for airplane cotton cloth was 27C12; 6-97-B for
the Army. Cellulose nitrate dope carried specification 3-151 for the Army and 52D2 for the
Navy, while cellulose acetate dope carried speci-
fication 3-110-C for the Army and 52D5 for the

Navy. In the civilian world, cellulose nitrate dope
became known as just nitrate, and cellulose acetate dope was commonly known as butyrate.
The use of airplane dope that had been developed for WWI is essentially the same today,
perhaps with a little modernization. There now
is available tautening and nontautening
dope that may be used to control the amount of
shrinking of the fabric cloth. Dope is also available in a limited number of pigmented colors. Nitrate dope has better penetrating qualities than
butyrate dope and is still used with the synthetic
Ceconite fabric process. It must be noted that
nitrate and butyrate dope will not mix and that
nitrate dope will not successfully overcoat butyrate dope. However, the opposite is true; butyrate
dope will overcoat nitrate dope.
There were several companies that made the
dope compounds and sold them to the government during WWI. After the war ended, a few
rose to the top in the increasing civilian market. One was Titanine Incorporated of Union
County, New Jersey. The company advertised
in 1929 that it had furnished dopes and lacquers since 1913. The other company was Berry
Brothers, producers of Berryloid aircraft finishes. It manufactured varnishes, enamels, and
lacquers from its plants in Detroit, Michigan,
and Walkerville, Ontario, Canada. The advertisements shown in this article are taken from
the November 1929 issue of Aero Digest.
In the next installment, well explore further
the details of early fabric covering and provide
more tidbits of interesting data about the early
covering process.
References
The Curtiss Standard JN-4D Military Tractor
Handbook, 1918 by Curtiss Aeroplane and
Motor Corporation, Buffalo, United States.
How to Cover an Aircraft Using the Poly-Fiber
System, April 1998 by Jon Goldenbaum.
Aviation Handbook, 1931 by Edward P. Warner
and S. Paul Johnson.
Aero Digest, November 1929.
www.Archive.org/stream/
unitedstatesarmy00mixtrich/
unitedstatesarmy
http://TheVintageAviator.co.nz/reference/
working-irish-linen
61
Straight & Level
continued from page 1
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thousands of volunteer hours

in not only preparation of the
grounds, but also their herculean
efforts to complete all of the finish
work in preparation of AirVenture
2013. I need to also mention the
actual execution of a safe and
pleasurable event. This group is
truly exceptional and is among the
very best of EAA/VAA members
who serve this organization so
well each year at EAA Oshkosh.
Well, now the planning for
AirVenture 2014 begins. Hope to
see you all there!
As always, please do us all the
favor of inviting a friend to join
the VAA, and help keep us the
strong association we have all
enjoyed for so many years.
Lets all pull in the same
direction for the good of aviation.
Remember, we are better
together. Join us and have it all.
Gone West
Lee R. Koepke
Lee R. Koepke, 87, of Ypsilanti,

Michigan, passed away on July
3, 2013. After serving in the
Army Air Force during World
War II, Lee pursued a career as
a mechanic and IA. Known for
taking a derelict 1937 Lockheed
10 Electra destined to be used
for firefighting practice at Willow
Run Airport, he restored it for the
1967 Earhart commemorative
flight. He went on the flight with
pilot Ann Pellegreno, copilot
William Payne, and navigator Bill
Polhemus. The group successfully Lee Koepke, Bill Polhemus,
Ann Pellegreno and William Payne.
located Howland Island on the
date, 30 years later, that Earhart
was to have landed there. Lees Lockheed is in the National Transportation
Museum of Canada, representing Trans Canada Airlines first purchase of a
modern airliner in October 1937. Lee will be remembered by many mechanics
who attended the Detroit Institute of Aeronautics that he founded in 1968
and operated until it was purchased by the Michigan Institute of Technology
in 1990. Koepke retired as an aircraft mechanic from Republic Air Lines in
1980. As an aeronautical tribute, Lee leaves not only his work as a mechanic
but also hundreds of persons whom he taught, mentored, and helped,
including his two sons, Jeff and Gary, who became aviation mechanics.
Welcome
New VAA Members
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*Shipping and handling NOT included.
Major credit cards accepted. WI residents add 5% sales tax.
Jon Shimer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frederick, Maryland

Patrick Brown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lucas, Texas
William Nelson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hawthorne, California
Laura White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall City, Washington
Jorge Rios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Santiago, Chile
Robert Camacho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nipomo, California
Raymond Piantanida. . . . . . . . . . . . . Florahome, Florida
John Bell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Largo, Florida
Mike Pastore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Naperville, Illinois
Michael Ganio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ashland, Oregon
Gary Merrill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dallas, Texas
Steije Ruiters . . . . . . . Loenen aan de Vecht, Netherlands
Fred Gleiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cochrane, Wisconsin
Earl Koski. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crystal Falls, Michigan
Jerry Lane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phoenix, Arizona
Brent H. Chidsey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genoa, New York
Joaquin C. Delgado, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kingwood, Texas
Dennis Van Gheem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . De Pere, Wisconsin
Lawrence Buul . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harbor Springs, Michigan
Thomas Monteith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Okeechobee, Florida
Jane Mooney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Larry Coppernoll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Linden, North Carolina

Doug Jenkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Universal City, Texas
William Miles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lillian, Alabama
David Peters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Saratoga, California
Daniel Wiirre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hibbing, Minnesota
Menno Burmeister. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Greenwich, New York
David Klevorn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Saint Louis, Missouri
Karl Norman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Butte City, California
Sergio Quadrelli. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Macao
Keith Swalheim. . . . . . . . . . . . . Cottage Grove, Wisconsin
Gary Van Roy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Robert Willms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katy, Texas
Eugene Bibber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kotzebue, Arkansas
Bryan Hunt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rockford, Illinois
James Savage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gibsonia, Pennsylvania
Eric Hiser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Powell, Ohio
Richard Broderick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bettendorf, Iowa
Peter Griffiths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Temecula, California
Jeffrey Collins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Glarus, Wisconsin
Stephen Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . Lopez Island, Washington
Bruce Daniels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Durban, South Africa
63
Vintage Trader
S o m e t h i n g t o b u y, s e l l , o r t ra d e ?
Classified Word Ads: $5.50 per 10 words, 100 words maximum. Classified ads may be
submitted online at www.EAA.org at https://secure.eaa.org/advertising/classified_ad.html
Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of month, two months prior to issue date (i.e., January 10 is
the closing date for the March issue). EAA reserves the right to reject any advertising in conflict
with its policies.
Rates cover one insertion per issue. Classified ads are not accepted via phone. Payment must
accompany order. Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426-4828) or e-mail (classads@EAA.org)
using credit card payment. Include name on card, complete address, and type of card, card
number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to EAA.
Advertising Correspondence: EAA, Classified Advertising, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086
VAA
Directory
OFFICERS
President
Geoff Robison
1521 E. MacGregor Dr.
New Haven, IN 46774
260-493-4724
chief7025@aol.com
Secretary
Steve Nesse
2009 Highland Ave.
Albert Lea, MN 56007
507-373-1674
stnes2009@live.com
Vice-President
Dave Clark
635 Vestal Lane
Plainfield, IN 46168
317-839-4500
davecpd@att.net
Treasurer
Dan Knutson
106 Tena Marie Circle
Lodi, WI 53555
608-592-7224
lodicub@charter.net
DIRECTORS
BOOKS
Aviation Books. home.windstream.net/av8terz
EMPLOYMENT
Established Midwestern company seeking seasoned IA with leadership experience.

Candidate must have an extensive background in hands-on restoration activities, be
able to manage large projects and be skilled in business development. Our restoration
business is unique and requires extensive experience with vintage and Warbird type
aircraft. Send resume and salary requirements to wasiresume@gmail.com
WANTED
Restoring a 1929 Alliance Argo, looking for engineering drawings, blue prints, and
anything that could be of help. 508-566-6673, dthissell@gmail.com
What Our Members Are Restoring
Are you nearing completion of a restoration? Or is it done and youre busy flying
and showing it off? If so, wed like to hear from you. Send us a 4-by-6-inch print
from a commercial source or a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital photo. A JPG from your
2.5-megapixel (or higher) digital camera is fine. You can burn photos to a CD, or
if youre on a high-speed Internet connection, you can e-mail them along with a
text-only or Word document describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program asks
if youd like to make the photos smaller, say no.)
For more information, you can also e-mail jbusha@eaa.org.
Ron Alexander
118 Huff Daland Circle
Griffin, GA 30223-6827
ronalexander@mindspring.com
Jeannie Hill
P.O. Box 328
Harvard, IL 60033-0328
815-245-4464
Steve Bender
85 Brush Hill Road
Sherborn, MA 01770
508-653-7557
aaflagship@gmail.com
Steve Krog
1002 Heather Ln.
Hartford, WI 53027
262-305-2903
sskrog@gmail.com
David Bennett
375 Killdeer Ct
Lincoln, CA 95648
916-952-9449
antiquer@inreach.com
Robert D. Bob Lumley

1265 South 124th St.
Brookfield, WI 53005
262-782-2633
rlumley1@wi.rr.com
Jerry Brown
4605 Hickory Wood Row
Greenwood, IN 46143
317-422-9366
lbrown4906@aol.com
Joe Norris
264 Old Oregon Rd.
Oshkosh, WI 54902
pilotjoe@ntd.net
920-688-2977
Phil Coulson
28415 Springbrook Dr.
Lawton, MI 49065
269-624-6490
rcoulson516@cs.com
S.H. Wes Schmid

2359 Lefeber Avenue
Wauwatosa, WI 53213
414-771-1545
shschmid@gmail.com
George Daubner
N57W34837 Pondview Ln
Oconomowoc, WI 53066
262-560-1949
gdaubner@eaa.org
Tim Popp
60568 Springhaven Ct.
Lawton, MI 49065
269-624-5036
tlpopp@frontier.com
Dale A. Gustafson
7724 Shady Hills Dr.
Indianapolis, IN 46278
317-293-4430
dalefaye@msn.com
ADVISORS
Lynne Dunn
145 Cloud Top Lane
Mooresville, NC 28115
704-664-1951
lynnednn@aol.com
Susan Dusenbury
1374 Brook Cove Road
Walnut Cove, NC 27052
336-591-3931
sr6sue@aol.com
DIRECTORS EMERITUS
The new standard in antique.

Introducing the EAA and Vintage Aircraft Association Aircraft Insurance Plan with all
of the special coverage options VAA Members require for hand propping, tailwheel,
grass strips, and unique aircraft. When you insure with the EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan
Robert C. Brauer
9345 S. Hoyne
Chicago, IL 60643
773-779-2105
photopilot@aol.com
E.E. Buck Hilbert

8102 Leech Rd.
Union, IL 60180
815-923-4591
buck7ac@gmail.com
Gene Chase
8555 S. Lewis Ave., #32
Tulsa, OK 74137
918-298-3692
Gene Morris
5936 Steve Court
Roanoke, TX 76262
817-491-9110
genemorris@charter.net
Check out the EAA

and VAA Plan today!
John Turgyan
PO Box 219
New Egypt, NJ 08533
609-752-1944
jrturgyan4@aol.com
Go to EAALowerRates.com or call us toll-free at 866-647-4322.
Ronald C. Fritz
15401 Sparta Ave.
Kent City, MI 49330
616-678-5012
itzfray@gmail.com
Charles W. Harris
PO Box 470350
Tulsa, OK 74147
918-622-8400
cwh@hvsu.com
you are helping VAA to continue to promote the heritage of vintage aviation.
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013

Flying a Helio Courier

Straight & Level

VAA PRESIDENT, EAA 268346, VAA 12606

EAA Publisher . . . . . . . . . Jack J. Pelton,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chairman of the Board

Editor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . J. Mac McClellan

Oshkosh 2013 is now

Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Busha

VAA Executive Administrator. Max Platts

Advertising Director. . . . . . Katrina Bradshaw

Uppermost in the minds of many of our members today is the

Advertising Manager . . . . . Sue Anderson

Art Director. . . . . . . . . . . Livy Trabbold

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Vol. 41, No. 5

Flying a Helio Courier in a

Turning Back the Hands of Time

The Papoose Pair

FRONT COVER: Roger and Darin Meggers

Coast to Coast With the Vin Fiz

Send your thoughts to the

Straight and Level

Join Friends of the Red Barn

SEPTEMBER / OC TOBER 2013

Ask the AME

Good Old Days

The Vintage Instructor

Around the Pylons

58 The Vintage Mechanic

SEPTEMBER /OC TOBER 2013

Kadiak Speedster N11312

Sport Aviation, November 1991

see, by one of Albert Hunters daughters and Walters

2013 AirVenture Vintage Awards

Golden Age (1918 1927) Champion - Bronze

Customized Aircraft Runner Up

Antique Reserve Grand Champion - Silver Lindy

Antique Grand Champion - Gold Lindy

Bronze Age (1937-1941) Outstanding

Silver Age (1928-1936) Runner-Up

World War II Era (1942 1945) Champion - Bronze Lindy

SEPTEMBER /OC TOBER 2013

Classic (September 1945-1955)

Outstanding Piper Other - Small Plaque

Class IV (236-plus hp) - Bronze Lindy

Limited Production - Outstanding in Type

Outstanding Swift - Small Plaque

Best Custom - Bronze Lindy

Preservation Award - Outstanding in Type

Outstanding Taylorcraft - Small Plaque

Reserve Grand Champion - Silver Lindy

Class I Single Engine (0-160 hp) - Bronze Lindy

Custom Class A (0-80 hp) - Small Plaque

Grand Champion - Gold Lindy

Class II Single Engine (161-230 hp)-Bronze Lindy

Custom Class B (81-150 hp) - Small Plaque

Class III Single Engine (231-plus hp)-Bronze Lindy

Custom Class C (151-235 hp) - Small Plaque

Cessna 150 - Outstanding in Type

Custom Multiengine - Bronze Lindy

Piper PA-28 Cherokee - Outstanding in

Your support is crucial to the success of