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E

VOL. 34, NO.3

ARC H

2006

C ONTENTS

Straight and Level


by Geoff Robison

VAA News

Aeromail

A Silver Eagle
Part II - Hightlights of 1930
A biography of E.M. "Matty" Laird

by Robert G. Ell iott a nd Ed Esca llon


12

Type Clubs to Oshkosh


Row after row after row ...
by Tim Fox

14

Dinndorf, Doolittle, & Their Stinson


Nearly lost to the ages, a h istoric airplan e m akes a comeback
by Budd Davisson

20

54 Days With the Blue Phoenix


[s it an end, or a beginni ng?
by Glen Scott

25

Pass It to Buck
Here's the drill
by Buck Hilbert

26

100 Years at Huffman Prairie


The Wrights' home fie ld adva ntage is celebrated
by Scotty Markland

28

Books and Movie Review


by H.G. Frautschy

32

The Vin tage Instructor


CRM
by Doug Stewart

34

Mystery Plane
by H.G. Frautschy

38

Calendar

39

Classified Ads

COVERS

FRONT COVER: Tom Dinndorf and his wife. Mary, are thrilled with their big piece of history, a 1938

Stinson SRl0J that was purchased by the Shell Oil Company, and flown by its aviation manager,

Jimmy Doolittle. Restored by Rod Roy, the thundering Stinson was photographed by EAA photogra

pher Mike Steineke. EAA photo plane flown by Walt Dorlac.

BACK COVER: Major Mathew Taylor, an FA18 test pilot for the USMC at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland,

flies a Howard DGA15P that he owns with his wife, Candice. The Howard's restoration was begun by

the late Bryce Hunt of Santa Paula , California, and finished by the Taylors. The Stearman is owned and

piloted by Mathew's father, Larry Taylor, of Madison, Georgia. The photo ship was a Stinson V77 Gull

wing owned and piloted by Ricardo Traven of Lexington Park, Maryland, and the photographer was Randy

Hepp of Leonardtown, Maryland. The photo was taken this past spring during Pax River Expo '05.

STAFF
EAA Publisher
EAA EditorinChief
Executive Director/Editor
Administrative Assistant
Managing Editor
News Editor
Photography

Tom Poberezny
Scott Spangler
H.C. Frautschy
Jennifer Lehl
Kathleen Witman
Ric Reynolds
Jim Koepnick
Bonnie Bartel
Advertising Coordinator
Sue Anderson
Louise Scoenike
Classified Ad Coordintor
Colleen Walsh
Copy Editor
Director of Advertising
Katrina Bradshaw
Display Advertising Representatives:
North east: Allen Murray
Phone 60926S I666, F.~X 6092651 661 email: allelllnllrmy@!lllillrlsprillg.colll
Southeast: Chester Baumgartner
Phone 7275730586, FAX 7275560177 ema il; cbauIll111@'lIillrlsprillg.colII
Central: Todd Reese
Phone 8004449932, fAX 8167416458 email: todrl@SpclIIag.colll
Mountain & Pacific: Keith Knowlton &: Associates
Phone 7705162741, email: kklloIVItoll@eaa.org

GEOFF ROBISON
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT AS SOCIATION

VAA aging aircraft proposal


By now a large segment of our
membership has had an opportu
nity to review the proposed aging
aircraft initiatives developed by EAA
and the Vintage Aircraft Association
(VAA). Most would certainly agree
the time is upon us to recognize the
need for some resolution to these
long-term issues. The intent here
is to create a new, optional, aircraft
certification category that will give
owners and their mechanics the
ability to maintain vintage aircraft
using safety-based forms, with fit
and function criteria, as opposed
to unavailable or outdated type
certificate data. Contrary to some
misinformed opinions I've heard, it
is not an owner maintenance pro
gram like the one in Canada.
Within 24 hours of the announce
ment of this initiative we began to
hear from the membership and rep
resentatives of the various type clubs.
Some of the immediate concerns we
heard: "What is the potential impact
on the value of my aircraft?" "What
impact can I anticipate from my in
surance provider if I move my air
craft to this new category?"
The real answer at this juncture is
that only time will tell for certain!
Please read the article starting on
page 12. What is most important at
this critical juncture is for us to con
tinue to hear the thoughts, ideas,
and concerns from VAA members
and the type clubs. I shared some
of the concerns I have heard to this

point, but I believe these concerns


can be sufficiently addressed in an
appropriately structured rule.
We probably all know of at least
one restoration project in our in
dividual regional area tha t has se
rious issues because of the lack of
available data to get it restored and
signed off for flight , not to men
tion those aircraft that will remain

EAA/VAA

proposed initiative

will be presented

at the aging aircraft

public meeting on

March 22-23 in

Kansas City, Missouri

in "basket" status until the owner


has at least some assurance that his
or her monetary resources and per
sonal efforts will not be wasted .
We have also heard some great
ideas for additional new VAA-related
initiatives from our members. This
dialog is of great value to us, and
I would encourage each of you to
share your thoughts and ideas with
the VAA. In just a short few days we
have heard some great ideas, and
I hope to see it continue. If you
haven 't reviewed this proposa l in
its entirety, it is availab le for re
view at www.vintageaircraft.org/news.

Click on 2006 - 02/08 - EAA Set to


Advance Vintage Aircraft Proposal
Next Month.
This jOint EAA/VAA-proposed ini
tiative will be presented at the aging
aircraft public meeting on March
22-23 in Kansas City, Missouri .
The proposal, which conceptually
met with approval by key mem
bers of the FAA management team
during the EAA/FAA Recreational
Aviation Summit, was presented
Tuesday, February 7, in Washing
ton, D.C., to representatives from
the National Air Transportation As
sociation (NATA), General Aviation
Manufacturers Association (GAMA),
Professional Aviation Maintenance
Association (PAMA), Aircraft Own
ers and Pilots Association (AOPA),
the Aircraft Electronics Association
(AEA), and others.
In other news, the VAA was
deeply saddened to hear of the re
cent death of Daryl Lenz in a traffic
accident near his home. Daryl served
as the director of aircraft mainte
nance at the Kermit Weeks Han
gar in Oshkosh for more than 15
years. Daryl most recently served as
a key member of the EAA AirVenture
Tea-m who was directly responsible
for coordination and display of the
ma ny special aircraft that have vis
ited our annual event each year. Da
ryl was a friend not on ly to me, but
also to the entire VAA family. Daryl
was truly one of us, and he will be
continued on page 37

HAVE YOU MADE YOUR PLANS TO ATTEND THE 2006 EAA AIRVENTURE?

EAA AIRVENTURE OSHKOSH 2006 , THE WORLD ' S GREATEST AVIATION CELEBRATION- JULY
VAA IS ABOUT PARTICIPATI ON : BE A MEMBER! BE A VOLUNTE ER! BE THERE!

24-30

VINTA GE AIRPLAN E

Lawrence to Speak
on Aging Aircraft
EAA Vice President of Industry and
Regulatory Affairs Earl Lawrence will
speak at a two-day public meeting on
aging aircraft, scheduled for March
22-23 in Kansas City, Missouri. The
meeting will emphasize what can be
done to mitigate the effects of fatigue,
corrosion, and deterioration on aging
general aviation airplanes.
PartiCipants will share informa
tion, resolve questions, and discuss
potential solutions regarding the
continued airworthiness of older GA
airplanes. The current fleet average is
approximately 35 years old and will
increase to SO years old by 2020.
Vintage Aircraft Association Ex
ecutive Director H.G. Frautschy
also plans to share expertise at the
meeting, which is slated to begin at
8 a.m. each day, with registration at
8 a.m. on March 22.
Individuals may submit a request
to present a statement at the meet
ing. If unable to attend, either mail
a statement to FAA Small Airplane
Directorate, FAA Central Region, At
tention: Mr. Marv Nuss, 901 Locust,
Room 301, Kansas City, MO 64106,
or e-mail marvin.nuss@{aa.gov.

VAA Board Members Retire


Bob Brauer, of Chicago, Illinois,
and Roger Gomoll, of Blaine, Min
nesota, decided to step down from
the VAA board last year, and during
this past winter's VAA board meet
ing, both men were recognized and
honored for their long commitment
to the VAA and for their past work as
chairmen during EAA AirVenture.
Bob has been a
fixture of the VAA
for nearly the en
tire existence of
the organization.
An electrical en
gineer by trade,
Bob has served
as the VAA build
ing and mainte2

MARCH 2006

VAA Question of the Month

I fly a neat old biplane, and sometimes I need to extend my day

a bit on the trip home. My take on the required lights needed for
: ~ying at ni~ht are position lights plus an anti-collision light,
eIther a rotating beacon and/or strobes. My friend says antiques are
grandfathered in here, and that they don't need anything but position lights.
Can you shed some, er, light, on this subject?
-An Antique Flier
(the airplane, not the pilot!)
: Antiques and classics are definitely reqUired to have an
anti-collision lighting system as well as navigation lights if they want to
fly at night. The only grandfathered part is they have to meet the ear
lier requirements for the placement and coverage of the anti-collision
beacon, rather than having to meet the most current requirements. It
basically comes down to having a strobe or rotating beacon on either
the top or the bottom of the aircraft (belly, tip of the vertical, or wher
ever); that's sufficient for aircraft that wete type-certificated before April
I, 1957. These aircraft can't get by without anything or just position
lights, but they don't need as extensive a system as a more modern air
plane would need.
Since you asked, here's a bit more on requirements for flying at
night:

CFR 14 Part 91.205


(c) Visual flight rules (night). For VFR flight at night, the following in
struments and equipment are required:
(1) Instruments and equipment specified in paragraph (b) of this section.
(2) Approved pOSition lights.
(3) An approved aviation red or aviation white anti-collision light
system on all U.S.-registered civil aircraft. Anti-collision light systems
initially installed after August 11, 1971, on aircraft for which a type cer
tificate was issued or applied for before August 11, 1971, must at least
meet the anti-collision light standards of part 23, 25, 27, or 29 of this
chapter, as applicable, that were in effect on August 10, 1971, except
that the color may be either aviation red or aviation white. In the event
of failure of any light of the anti-collision light system, operations with
the aircraft may be continued to a stop where repairs or replacement
can be made.
(4) If the aircraft is operated for hire, one electric landing light.
(5) An adequate source of electrical energy for all installed electrical
and radio equipment.
(6) One spare set of fuses, or three spare fuses of each kind required,
that are accessible to the pilot in flight .-]oe Norris, Senior EAA Infor
mation Specialist, and H.G. Frautschy, Editor, Vintage Airplane
Do you have a question related to vintage airplanes you'd like answered? If we
don't know the answer, we'll find the right person to fill in the blanks, and publish
the answer here. Submit your questions to Joe Norris at info@eaa.org or to the
VAA at vintageaircraft@eaa.org. Be sure to put "VAA Question of the Month" in the
subject line. If you'd prefer, you can drop us a note at VAA, Question of the Month,
P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.

nance chairman for many years. For


well more than a decade, Bob worked
with Roger's father, the late Stan Go
moll, as they kept the VAA's build
ings in good repair and oversaw the
updating of some structures on the
VAA grounds. He's worn a number of
hats as chairman, including co-chair
of the Parking committee, and he
served for more than a decade as the
board's point of contact man for VAA
Chapters and the EAA Chapter Office.
Bob was asked to come on board as
an adviser to the VAA board in 1986,
and became a director in 1988, a po
sition he held until his retirement in
the summer of 200S. Bob is still ac
tive as a volunteer, and if you make it
to any of the VAA work parties during
this spring, he'll be happy to find you
some work to do!
Roger comes
by his work for
VAA naturally;
his father, Stan,
was a longtime
board member
and active vol
unteer who en
couraged his
son's love of avi
ation. Roger has served EAA as a vol
unteer for many years, including his
time at EAA's Pioneer Airport, where
Roger can often be found grinning
as he gives another ride to a paying
customer in EAA's Travel Air biplane.
Appointed to the VAA board after his
father's untimely passing, Roger has
been right in the thick of things, serv
ing as the Type Club chairman, and
during the year he served the board
while overseeing our VAA mem
bership recruiting efforts, a natu
ral extension of his full-time work
as a membership recruiting expert
for Minnesota Public Radio. We'll
miss his cool-mannered expertise as
a chairman, but we also appreciate
that any advice related to our mem
bership campaigns is only a phone
call away.
Please join us in wishing our two col
leagues well as they move on to their
next opportunity, and our thanks to
Roger and Bob for all the work they've
done for the VAA and its members!

atnIP.nrHM_nrtl for complete details.

What Do You Want to Know?


Forums and workshops

teach aviation

A wise man once said, "If it has


something to do with aviation,
chances are you can learn more
about it at Oshkosh."
Want to learn the proper way to
build wing ribs? Or the latest in al
ternative fuels research? How about
wing flutter analysis from FAA aviation
safety experts? Imagine hearing about
a historic aviation achievement by the
person who actually achieved it.
Add the entire spectrum of EAA
SportAir Workshops, sessions on
any engine type imaginable, and the
SpaceShipOne team of Burt Rutan,
Mike Melvill, and Brian Binnie, and
you've still only scratched the sur-

EM AlrVenture
Planning Guide
Once you've made the decision
to attend EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
2006, you can't just wait for July,
hop into the cockpit, and show up.
You need to start planning, and now.
A great way to start is by download
ing the EAA AirVenture 2006 Plan
ning Guide, now available at www.
airventure.org.
The handy document includes es
sential information about admission,
lodging, driving directions, commer
cial flights, vehicle rental, ground
transportation services, and a lot
more. Get your copy today and start
charting your EAA AirVenture Osh
kosh adventure!

EAA AirYenture Pit Stops


Attention FBOs and other way
points: Send your information, includ
ing name of business, airport, phone
number, e-mail address, and any spe
cial offers for EAA AirVenture travel
ers, to webmaster@eaa.org, and then
watch for it on www.airventure.org.

EAA AirYenture RideShare


Looking for a ride, or have a spare
right seat for Oshkosh? Visit www.
airventure. org/rideshare.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Helio Courier Notes


If your Helio H-391-B, H-250, or
H-295 has in excess of 3,600 hours
and needs to be upgraded per Air
worthiness Directive 82-16-08,
Amendment 39-4427, parts are be
coming an issue with older airplanes
in the field.
Several Helio owners have asked
us recently about the availabil
ity of new parts, the current own
ers of Helio Aircraft. LLC are not
presently manufacturing replace
ment items, such as leading-edge
slats and wing carry-through as
semblies. With the current fleet at
around 200 airplanes, those older
models that have 4,500 hours plus
are in need of replacement items.
We can at this point direct you to
rebuilders with an excellent reputa
tion and knowledge in Helio Couriers
based upon many years of experience.
The following individuals and/
or organizations may be of some
assistance.
JAARS Aviation Div.
Jim Metzler,
Head of Maintenance
Waxhaw, North Carolina

GIVING BACK

EAA Vintage Chapter 27 in Delaware, Ohio (DLZ), is a small but busy


group. Chapter 27 had a very successful air show in August of 2004 and
is planning another for August 2006. We also have a pancake breakfast
on the third Saturday of each month from May through September. As
a result, for the first time since the Chapter was organized in the early
1990s, we have some assets in the bank.
We wanted to give back to the community that has supported our
organization. As a result, the city has donated land on the airport for
us to build a shelter house to be available to the public, and we have
enclosed one end of it for the VAA kitchen for our pancake breakfast
and meetings.
Chapter 27 and donations from local businesses have supported the
shelter costs. The city assisted us with trusses and some heavy work,
and our members have done the rest. We have had a lot of fun with the
construction project and plan to finish the interior this winter and be
ready in May for our pancake breakfasts.
Sincerely,
Roger R. Brown
VAA Chapter 27 President

www.jaars.org
Aero Pacific
Steve Murray
Carlsbad, California
760-931-0022
A complete list of Helio main
tenance personnel is to be made
available March I, 2006.
For additional information, visit

www.heliocourier.net.

International Young Eagles Day


2006: Make Plans to Participate
The world's most successful youth
aviation program holds its biggest day
of the year on June 10, and you can
take part. On International Young Ea
gles Day, thousands of EAA volunteers
in the air and on the ground bring
the thrill and excitement of flight to
thousands of kids aged 8-17.
EAA Chapter leaders, make sure
you let EAA's Young Eagles head
quarters know about your flight
rally plans and then, after it's over,
drop an e-mail to YOllngeagles@eaa.
org to let them know how it went.
4

MARCH 2006

SEND YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS TO:

VAA,

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

P.O. BOX 3086

WI 54903-3086

OSHKOSH

OR YOU CAN E-MAIL THEM TO: VINTAGEAIRCRAFT@EAA.ORG

Friends of the Red Barn Campaign

Many services are provided to vintage aircraft en


thusiasts at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh . From parking
airplanes to feeding people at the Tall Pines Cafe and
Red Barn, more than 400 volunteers do it all. Some
may ask, "If volunteers are providing the services,
where is the expense?"
Glad you asked. The scooters for the flightline crew
need repair and batteries, and the Red Barn needs
paint, new windowsills, updated wiring, and other
sundry repairs, plus we love to care for our vol un teers
with special recognition caps and a pizza party. The
list really could go on and on, but no matter how
many expenses we can point out, the need remains
constant. The Friends of the Red Barn fund helps pay
for the VAA expenses at EAA AirVenture, and is a cru
cial part of the Vintage Aircraft Association budget.
Please help the VAA and our 400-plus dedicated
volunteers make this an unforgettable experience for
our many EAA AirVenture guests. We've made it even
more fun to give this year, with more giving levels to
fit each person's budget, and more interesting activi
ties for donors to be a part of.
ThankYou Items
by Level

Access to
Volunteer
Center

Special
FORB
Badge

Your contribution now really does make a differ


ence. There are six levels of gifts and gift recognition .
Thank you for wh atever you can do.
Here are some of the many activities the Friends of
the Red Barn fund underwrites:
Red Barn Information Desk Supplies
Participant Plaques and Supplies
.Toni's Red Carpet Express Repairs and Radios
Caps for VAA Volunteers

Pizza Party for VAA Volunteers


Flightline Parking Scooters and Supplies
Breakfast for Past Grand Champions
Volunteer Booth Administrative Supplies
Membership Booth Administrative Supplies
Signs Throughout the Vintage Area
Red Barn and Other Buildings' Maintenance
And More!

Two Passes
to VAA
Volunteer
Party

Special
FORB
Cap

Two Tickets
toVAA
Picn ic

Close Auto
Parking

2 Tickets

Full Week

2 People/ Full Wk

2 Tickets

2 Days

1 Person/ Full Wk

1 Ticket

Name Listed:
Vintage, Web
& Sign at
Red Barn

Donor
Appreciation
Certificate

Diamond , $1,000

2 People/ Full Wk

Platinum, $750

Gold, $500

Silver. $250

Bronze, $100

Loyal Supporter,
$99 & Under

~-

Breakfast
at Tall Pines
Cafe

TriMotor
Ride
Certificate

VAA Friends of the Red Barn

Name_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _EAA#_ _ _ _ VAA#_ _ __


Address________________________________________ __
City/State/Zip_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Phone______________________E-Mail____________________
Please choose your level of participation:

__ Diamond Level Gift - $1,000.00


__ Silver Level Gift - $250.00

__ Platinum Level Gift - $750.00


__ Bronze Level Gift - $100.00

__ Gold Level Gift - $500.00


__ Loyal Supporter Gift - ($99.00 or under) Your Support $ _ _
o Payment Enclosed (Make checks payable to Vintage Aircraft Assoc.)
o Please Charge my credit card (below)
Mail your contribution to:
Credit Card Number ______________ Expiration Date _ __
Signature_________________

EAA, VINTAGE AIRCRAR ASSOC.


PO Box 3086
OSHKOSH, WI 54903-3086

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

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

The Vintage Aircraft Association is a non.profit educational organization under IRS SOld rules . Ullder Federal Law, the deduction from Federal Income tax for
charitable contributiol'lS is limited to the amoullt by which any money (and the value ofallY property other than money) contributed exceeds the value of the goods or
services provided in exchange for the contribution. An appropriate receipt acknowledging your gift will be sent to YOIl for IRS gift reporting reasons.

VINTA GE AI RP LA NE

PART II - HIGHLIGHTS OF 1930

A biography of

E.M. "Matty" Laird


By

ROBERT

G.

ELLIOTT

AND ED ESCALLON

The highlight of 1930 proved to


be the design and construction of
the Solution racer, which became
the first and only biplane to win the
coveted Thompson Trophy Race for
the fastest aircraft of the day. The
Solution had been built in a record
30 days and was completed just one
hour before the race. In the follow
ing year, Matty's newest racer, the
Super Solution became the first air
craft to win the new Bendix Tro
phy, setting the trans-continental
speed record of 11 hours, 15 min
utes, under the capable pilotage of
Jimmy Doolittle.
An executive transport biplane
became the next challenge to be de
signed and fabricated at the Laird
factory at Ashburn Field. Construc
tion was mixed with an aluminum
semi-monocoupe finely tapering fu
selage, fabric-covered wood wings,
and a steel tubing center section.
The prototype was built to an order
placed by George Horton, president
of Chicago Bridge and Iron. SpeCial
features included an on-board lava-

Matty and Elsie Laird enjoy their mountain retreat on the shores of Lake Tox
away, North Carolina, and sat momentarily for this photograph in July 1975.

tory and provisions for the even


tual incorporation of retractable
gear. Performance data of the 450hp prototype included 180 mph
cruise airspeed with over 200 mph
at full power.
While the Sesquiwing was be
gun in 1931, the ailing economy,
together with the extensive fabri
cation details reqUired for the air
craft, delayed its rollout until 1934.
About the time that factory flight

tests were completed, but just prior


to their being submitted for ATC
certification, Horton suffered a fa
tal heart attack. Subseq uently the
airplane was given to his alma ma
ter, Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti
tute in Troy, New York. Sadly, the
aircraft's subassemblies were last
seen undergoing various stress
tests for aero-engineering classes .
Although no doubt of great edu
cational value, it is a pity this one-

Reprinted from Vintage Airplane July 1976


6

MARCH 2006

Laird Solution, in which Speed Holman won the Thompson Trophy Race in 1930. This
aircraft was 30 days old the day of the race, having been completed about one hour
before the race began, allowing time enough for a short test hop and refueling due to a
short postponement of the Thompson Race start.
LEFT: Speed Holman.
Full view of completed Laird Sesquiwing.

of-a-kind Laird was not preserved


instead of being destroyed.
The middle '30s saw the develop
ment of a huge airline industry in
this country. Chicago became a ma
jor airline hub and drew heavily on
the aviation talent in the area. Many
of Matty's employees went with the
airlines during the lean year that en
veloped the Laird Co., and a few are
still involved in the management of
this industry today.
After a few years of operation,
the DC-3, which had become the
airlines' workhorse, began to re
quire refurbishment of the fuel
tanks due to corrosion. Matty bid
against the Curtiss Co . for t his
work and won the contract offered
by American Airlines. In the ensu
ing years, work on these tanks for
American, United, TWA and Bra
niff provided steady income for
the Laird factory. Matty also con
tracted to build passenger-loading
stands for the airlines.
Reminiscent of the early '30s
period, "Matty's race to the race"
V INTAGE AI RPLA NE

Photograph taken at the 1930 Chicago


National Air Races, which were conducted at
Curtiss-Reynolds Airport, Chicago. Speed
Holman is shown at right, rounding a pylon in
the Laird Solution. Upper center is what is
believed to be the plane of Arthur Page, who
was pulling out of the race. Page made a crash
landing and died of injuries, while Holman went
on to win the Thompson Trophy Race.

continued into 1937, when Roscoe


Turner brought in two projects just
two months before the National Air
Races. They were his damaged We
dell-Williams and a partially com
pleted new racer. Matty's brother
Harold was assigned to rebuild the
Wedell, which had been a victim
of carburetor icing, causing an en
gine-out landing in the wastelands
of New Mexico.
Its many flights as a basket case
hadn't helped the lightweight air
frame, either. Despite its condition,
Harold and his team were able to
meet the time schedule and ready
the golden racer for the upcom
ing National Air Races. Joe Mackey
piloted this plane in several sub
sequent seasons under an agree

MARCH 2006

ment with Roscoe. Obsolescence


and technical problems prevented
it from ever again placing in a ma
jor event.
Roscoe's second major project was
a racer that had been designed by
Messrs. Barlow and Akerman of the
University of Minnesota and whose
subsequent construction had been
begun by Lawrence Brown of Los
Angeles. Various technical, personal,
and financial problems had erupted
during the project, forcing Roscoe
to have the airplane's assemblies
shipped to Matty for completion.
A review of the design revealed a
wing configuration that was unsuit
able for the challenges of the Ben
dix and Thompson. The wings were
disassembled to the spars and re

built with the internal drag bracing


lightened, and a greatly improved
fuselage attach method was incor
porated. Existing ailerons were used,
with the flaps extended to cover the
span added to the wing. The result
ing loading of 50 pounds per square
foot was among the highest used in
aircraft at the time, and much tech
nical comment centered about it.
Actually, the wing turned out to be
one of the really outstanding as
pects of the racer, and its configu
ration was widely copied in World
War II fighters.
Additionally, Matty added about
a square foot to the elevator sur
face area and completely outfit
ted the fuselage structure almost
from scratch. Larger fuel tanks than
Brown had planned on using were
included. In many respects the ren
ovation of the Laird-Turner Racer
was more difficult than building a
completely new aircraft.
When finished, a weight check
confirmed Matty had eliminated
more than 400 pounds of weight just
from the parts Brown had shipped
him. The LTR-14 was tested success
fully and accepted by Roscoe, who
proceeded to California in it ... on
its second flight.
In succeeding years the Laird
Turner Racer served to change the
fortunes of tough-luck Roscoe. Dur
ing the 1937 Thompson, Roscoe,
who was leading the race, was mo
mentarily blinded by the sun while
rounding a pylon. Turning back to
re-circle the pylon, he lost his lead
to Earl Ortman and Rudy Kling. In
a last-minute burst of speed, Rudy
drove the diminutive Folkerts racer
past Ortman to win. Roscoe fol
lowed in third place.
However, the following year, the
Laird-Turner, racing as the Pes co
Special, placed first in the Thomp
son, breaking Michael Detroyat's re
cord speed set two years previously.
The 1939 National Air Races were
largely overshadowed by the grim
turn of events taking place in Eu
rope. Roscoe, racing for the last
time, again won the Thompson, fly
ing the Laird-Turner, which for the

Jimmy
Doolittle
is congratulated
by Matty Laird after winning ui: i ll.""_.~
the Bendix Race, September 1931. inUJ
ti::

=>

occasion had become Miss Cham 8


pion. This victory made him the
5
only man to ever win the coveted ::t:~ ~~=-----~~~~~~~--~~~~~~~~~~~~~--~
famil
Thompson Trophy three times. De Laird-Turner on the line after being rebuiH by the E.
iar
Laird
trademark
on
the
tail.
spite the credit due Matty, Roscoe
never properly recognized him.
Matty, however, never pressed the
issue, saying, "That's just the way
Roscoe was."
Turner's victories plus those ear
lier in the decades by the Solu
tion and Super Solution gave Laird
planes three first and two third
places in the Thompson Races,
one first in the Bendix, and a trans
continental and tri-Capitol speed
record, in addition to at least a
dozen different inter-city records.
For a small civil-based aircraft fac
tory, the E.M. Laird Co. had won a
large share of the records and races
of the '30s, due to the skill of the
employees and the genius of E.M.
"Matty" Laird.
As this country's involvement in
the World War II became more im
minent, Matty realized it was go
ing to be pretty tough sledding for
a non-military manufacturer. In
an attempt to get subcontracting
work on military aircraft, a Chicago
friend persuaded him to consider
setting up an aviation division for a
manufacturer of metal door trim, at
Laporte, Indiana. Matty looked the
operation over and elected to be
come vice president of the company
(later becoming Laporte Corp.). He
brought with him all his factory
machinery, equipment, and mate Matty Laird, center, surrounded by his fellow craftsmen at the Laporte Corp. dur
rials, but retained personally all his ing WWII. The vertical fins of the 8-24 behind are autographed by all members
airplane designs. The Laporte Corp. of his workforce.
(/)

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

The Laird Speedwing Solution


(Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior engine)

Winner First Place


-Thompson Trophy Race
Chicago, Illinois, September 1, 1930

Average speed 201.91 mph


for 100-mile race
(20 laps around a 5-mile course)

Piloted by
C.W. "Speed" Holman

successfully met the challenges of


wartime materials shortages with
a labor force consisting mostly of
women . Although untrained, and
faced with schedules that doubled
every month, they rapidly grew into
a skilled team under the able guid
ance of Matty. His talents in produc
tion were directed to the production
of B-24 and SB2C vertical fins, com
plete empennage groups for Martin
B-26s, and numerous other items,
such as wing flaps, radio cabinets,
crew bunks, and de-icer tanks for
the Martin PBM.
Matty never had any interest in
military aircraft, with the possible ex
ception of building a trainer for the
armed services. He had lost an early
bid for a trainer in the Laird Swallow
days, when Maj. Reuben Fleet, a pro
curement officer for the Army, vetoed
the purchase. Fleet later resigned from
the Army and organized the Consoli
dated Aircraft Co., which received the
order for his training plane.
The wartime production of the
Laporte Corp. was a credit to Mat
ty's ingenuity in training and
mustering every effort from his em
ployees during the critical time of
his country's need.
At the war's end, Matty restudied
the designs he had worked up for ci
vilian airplanes before the war. One
particularly appealing model was a
four-place, high-wing monoplane
with a semi-monocoupe aluminum
fuselage and wooden wings. Plans
were to use a new six-cylinder in
to

MARCH 2006

verted engine that Continental was


developing. In considering the cap
italization costs involved that had
doubled since the '30s, and know
ing firsthand the boom-bust mar
ket that followed the previous war,
Matty decided to retire from the
aviation business.
An additional factor that prompted
his decision was the fact that his
daughter had contracted polio. At
the time, the only known treatment
was frequent immersions in warm
water combined with physical ther
apy. Consequently, Matty decided to
move to a warmer climate, choosing
Boca Raton, a small community on
the lower east coast of Florida. There,
he and his lovely Elsie, whom he
married in 1933, devoted themselves
to raising their son and daughter.
In later years the Lairds purchased
some land in the Lake Toxaway
area of North Carolina and built a
home. The lake had been a million
aire's hideaway in the early 1900s
until the dam supporting it burst in
1916, flooding many of the lower
communities. Ironically, the lake
was later re-dammed after the Lairds
built their home, and the high wa
ter level forced them to again move.
Later they purchased an adjacent
home on the lakeshore. They spent
their summer months enjoying the
beautiful mountain lake area, while
wintering in their 50-year-old Span
ish-style home in Boca.
In 1967 Matty became president
of the Early Birds, an international

organization of pilots who made


their first flight before December
17, 1916. Matty also became active
in the Connecticut Aeronautical
Historical Association's restoration
of the Solution beginning in 1964.
He first became acquainted with
the Florida Sport Antique and Clas
sic Association at the Remuda Ranch
Fly-In during November 1974,
where he was an honored guest.
There he joined the EAA. In recog
nition of his many achievements
prior to 1940, Matty was awarded
the coveted Silver Eagle member
ship in the association. Since then
the Lairds have been active in EAA,
being honored among the avia
tion greats at Oshkosh, 1975, and
appearing at many EAA functions
throughout the state of Florida.
His present work on EAA's res
toration of the Super Solution has
brought him back, full circle, to the
work to which he began devoting his
life in 1910 ... that of building the
finest aircraft in the country.
At 80 years on November 29, 1975,
Matty has been described by his
friends as "a Volkswagen with 80 hp."
The Florida Association and the
Experimen tal Aircraft Association
are privileged to know and be able
to work with people of Matty 's
background, energy, and character.
Matty Laird ... a true genius and
pioneer of American aviation.

Editor's Note, 2005: Matty Laird passed


away in 1982 at the age of 87. .......

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BY TIM

VAA TYPE

id you notice the rows of the


same aircraft parked together
at Oshkosh this year? There
were Cessna 170s, Aeroncas,
Taylorcrafts, and Swifts. Last year it
was Stinsons and Helio Couriers. Ever
wonder how they all got to park to
gether in such a great spot? It's simple.
The Vintage Aircraft Association
provides a limited reserved parking
area for type clubs. The type clubs are
a part of Vintage activities, and year
round they support their particular
aircraft through activities such as fo
rums, chat rooms, and newsletters on
topics that range from historic infor
mation to the latest maintenance is
sues. Type clubs can be found during
the convention in the large tent just
south of the Vintage Red Barn. We
publish an annual list in the January
issue of Vintage Airplane, and we keep
a continuously updated list on the
Vintage Aircraft website. If you have
an interest in a particular airplane, we
encourage you to join the club.
Last year I had the pleasure of coor
dinating the Stinson type club fly-in to
Oshkosh, and I wanted to help other
type clubs see what's involved in taking
advantage of this great VAA benefit.
The process starts with your type
club group. You need the commitment
of not only the club leadership, but
12

MARCH 2006

H.G. FRAUTSCHY

Fox

CLUB PARKING COORDI N ATOR

the members as well. Nothing is worse


than doing all the work, planning, and
publicity, only to have no one show up.
It had been several years since the Stin
sons had been in a group at Oshkosh,
and the club directors were excited
about the possibilities. You have to start
early in your planning efforts, and we
started right after Oshkosh 2003 with
announcements in the club newsletter.
This past year's type club groups were
organized and had their spots set up
before the end of 2004.
You should estimate the attendance
potential of your group so you can
request space in the type club area.
Space is limited, and to reserve space,
VAA is looking for a solid commit
ment from your group. You should
also be prepared to make your request
ASAP. The groups for EAA AirVenture
200S already had their requests sub
mitted in December and some groups
did not get space, as the area was al
ready filled. The groups that were not
accommodated will have priority the
following year, so it's never too late to
start the process.
Information needed for your re
quest should include the type club
represented, the number of aircraft
parking spots requested (we reserve
the right to limit the number of air
planes for any given group so we can

accommodate a few different types


every year), the wingspan of the air
craft, and a contact person who will
be coordinating the event. Your re
quest should be forwarded to VAA,
and they will forward it to the type
club parking coordinator.

Planning
Several steps are necessary to en
sure a successful event for your club.
Developing interest and enthusiasm
will ensure that you have a good turn
out and provide a good time for all.
Many of your members may have
never been to Oshkosh or have not
come for many years. Some may at
tend every year but park randomly,
and not with a group.
Oshkosh is a dream trip for most
pilots, and I have never met one
who didn't say he either has been or
wanted to go. Make your event the
reason to make that decision. With
the Stinson group we had many first
timers who made the decision to fly
in from all over the United States and
Canada. Our event was the motiva
tion for many of these pilots. It was
a trip they will remember for the rest
of their lives! Many will come back
again and again.
Starting in January, I placed an ar
ticle outlining a portion of the plans

for the event in every month's issue


of the club newsletter. I wanted to
be sure that all the pilots knew what
was going to happen and what they
could expect. It's important for pilots
to make the commitment early so
other summertime activities don't use
up available leisure time. This can't
be done on a last-minute basis. Also,
when planned ahead, variables such
as fuel costs, meals, and lodging do
not playas big a role.

Arrival
Many of you have seen the large
group arrivals of the Bonanzas and
Mooneys. Almost all pilots come in
through the normal NOTAM arrival
from Ripon, but if your group is large
enough, you may qualify for a special
arrival. The type club parking coor
dinator can help you find out if your
group qualifies. With special type
club parking reserved, how and when
your group arrives does not matter, as
they are assured that their parking is
reserved together.

Parking
When most people arrive at Osh
kosh they hold up placards that say
VAC for "vintage aircraft parking."
They are directed to Papa taxiway
and head south into the Vintage area.
Once they arrive they are parked in
the next available open spot, in rows
going south. The sooner you get there,
the closer you are to the action. As
many of you know, a late arrival can
find you closer to Fond du Lac than
Oshkosh! Type club reserved aircraft
receive a special placard that identi
fies them as having reserved park
ing. You are then directed by ground
handlers right to your parking in the
type club area! Please keep in mind
that we can't hold your spot indefi
nitely. There is an arrival window, so
you have to be there by a certain date
and time (unless you are being held
out by weather), or your spot will be
given to someone else.

Registration
Once you arrive, you'll proceed
north to camper registration, regis

ter your aircraft, pay for camping if


you're camping on the field, and get
admission wristbands for your stay.
Shortly after your arrival and regis
tration, Vintage volunteers will come
out and take a picture of your plane
and it will be placed on a participant
plaque. This is available free to VAA
members, courtesy of the Vintage Air
craft Association in the Vintage Red
Barn Headquarters building. You are
also entitled to a free participant mug.
If you ask the participant plaque staff
in the back of the hospitality center in
the Red Barn, they can come out and
take a special picture of you with your
aircraft for the plaque. This plaque is
available for all VAA participants at
Oshkosh. While at the Red Barn you
can check out the activities, browse
the VAA store, or check out the type
club and workshop tents.

Activities
This is the cornerstone of your type
club event. Plan activities for your
group. The type club parking coordi
nator can help you with suggestions
and arrangements for ground trans
portation, restaurant reservations, or
group activities. This should all be set
up as soon as possible, as you need
plenty of time to advertise in your
club newsletter.
If you're stuck for ideas on what to
do, here's some good news-the VAA
already has things scheduled that you
can participate in as a group, such as
the VAA picnic. It's a great time for
your type club to get together and
have dinner at the EAA Nature Center
with other vintage aircraft owners in
a casual setting. The various forums
presented during the convention may
also be of interest to your members,
and, of course, your group can meet
together to discuss topics related to
your specific aircraft.
VAA also will showcase an airplane
from the type clubs on the lawn in front
of the VAA Red Barn HQ each day. This
is a great way to get folks to come by the
tent and chat about the airplanes.
The Stinson group planned a din
ner off EAA grounds with a local
lakefront restaurant and chartered a

bus to transport everyone. The turn


out was so large we had to charter an
additional bus to handle the group!
Stinson owners from all over the field
wanted to join in, and hopefully we
gained some new membership. The
type club rented a van so the mem
bers had a way to travel into town to
resupply and get items not available
on field.
With the heavy airspace traffic
around Oshkosh and the problems of
moving and parking aircraft, daily fly
outs are not encouraged, but on Satur
day there is a fly-out to Shawano, Wis
consin, that your group can participate
in. Shawano is approximately SO miles
north of Oshkosh, so it's a short flight.
There is a signup list at the Vintage
Red Barn, and a briefing is held early
Saturday morning for participants.
This is a great fl y-in hosted by the
town, and they really enjoy the vin
tage aircraft coming from Oshkosh. If
you provide a list of your pilots they
will send an invitation. All arriving pi
lots get a free breakfast, ice cream, and
some Wisconsin cheese. Of course,
your parking places are saved back in
Oshkosh, so you can leave your camp
setup and come back at your leisure.
There's really a lot for your group
to do!
Parking within your aircraft group
is fun and a learning experience. Com
mon interests and experiences are
shared by owners with the same type
of plane. It's also an opportunity to
look at other aircraft to see how things
were done. It's any easy way to see what
modifications may be available and
what equipment has been installed.
Type club parking can be a great
benefit for your group, and we encour
age you to take advantage of this op
portunity. Have a type club representa
tive contact the Vintage Aircraft Asso
ciation for further information.
The most effective way to contact us
about type club parking is to send an
e-mail to vintageaircraft@eaa.org.
Please put Type Club Parking Request in
the subject line. We'll forward it to the
type club parking coordinator, and he'll
be in contact with you shortly.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

13

time, a pilot leaves something behind


in the airplane's soul. Tom Dinndorf
of Baudette, Minnesota, is acutely
aware of that, and he doesn't take
the responsibility lightly.
"I've owned this airplane for
over 30 years and carted its remains
around to various locations as I
moved," he said. "Eventually, I re
alized I wasn't going to get the air
plane done in my lifetime, and that
just wasn't right. lowed it to the
airplane and to history to get it fin
ished. Thank goodness I found Rod
and Dottie Roy. They are the only
reason the airplane is finished, and
they should get all of the credit."
As Dinndorf got into the project,
researching its history became a near
obsession, but just as it's difficult to
prove "Washington Slept Here," it's
often impossible to prove a given pi
lot has flown a given airplane. Unless,
of course, you have his logbooks.
"Doolittle kept very careful records
of his flights, and when I started re
searching the airplane, I found his
logbooks were among his personal
effects that had been donated to the
University of Texas. I knew the air
plane had been purchased by Shell
Oil on 12 August of 1938, but I didn't
know for sure if Doolittle had flown it
at that time. If he did, it would prob
ably be in the logs. "
Tom called the university archives
and asked the helpful curator if he
16 MARCH 2006

could take a look at the logbooks


and get back to him. "I didn't expect
him to drop what he was doing and
search, but that was exactly what he
did. He had me hold on while he
got the logbook and thumbed back
to August '38. He said, 'Yes, on Au
gust 13th it says 'acceptance flight,
new Stinson, 15 minutes.' I can't tell
you how that made me feel. Today, I
have copies of all of Doolittle's Stin
son log entries, and I periodically
pull them out and look at them to
convince myself the Doolittle con
nection is real. It's almost scary to
own and fly an airplane with that
much history to it. "
Although the Stinson is a work of
art today, it wasn't always that way. In
fact, it has spent far more time in der
elict and/or project condition than it
did in flying condition.
"The last time the airplane flew,
before we got it back in the air, was
in 1952, even though it was only 14
years old at the time. Then, somehow
it wound up in an aviation mechanics
school, where it was stripped and the
seats and a bunch of other stuff disap
peared. Then it was pushed outdoors
and pretty much abandoned. Since it
had not been licensed since 1952, it
lacked a permanent airworthiness cer
tificate, (which became) another hill
to climb."
It is at this point in an airplane's life
that its continued existence hangs by

The luxurious front office of the Stin


son and its massive control wheels.

a thread: The dual vandals of weather


and human nature can reduce an
airplane in this situation to junk in
nothing flat unless a savior rides over
the horizon. NC21104 was lucky. Its
savior was named Luke Youngren.
Dinndorf said, "In 1971 I heard
about the airplane and thought I'd
like to restore an antique. I went over
to take a look at it, and it was a disas
sembled, sad-looking thing crammed
into Youngren's hangar along with
a bunch of spray planes. Youngren
was a duster pilot and didn't really
intend to restore it. He had bought it
strictly to save it. If he had waited a
few more years, there wouldn't have
been much to save.
"We struck a deal and I trailered the
carcass home. Looking back, I was in
credibly naIve. I had been close to some
Cub restorations, and that's what I must
have had in my mind when I started

this. I put the fu


selage in my base
ment shop and
the wings in the
garage, thinking
I'd start restor
ing it. I bought a
compressor and
sandblaster and
started cleaning
the fuselage and I
think that's when
the lights started
coming on that
this was going to
be a much big
ger project than I
thought it was."
Dinndorf had worked in his father's
pharmacy as a youngster and, when
he went to college, continued in that
direction. Eventually he was in the
manufacturing end of the pharma
ceutical business and found himself
leaving Minnesota for Atlanta.
"I trailered the fuselage down be
hind a little 2-liter Oldsmobile. We
were so marginal on power that we
couldn't run the air conditioner and
climb even the slightest hill, so we
just rolled the windows down and
sweated all the way.
"When I got to Atlanta, life took
over and I barely touched the air
plane. It was sad. And I was getting
really frustrated. Here I had this amaz
ing historical artifact and I couldn't
do anything with it!"
Life eventually seems to work
things out, and after he moved back
to Minnesota, he met Rod Roy and
Roy's wife, Dottie. "I was at Oshkosh
and saw Paul Sensor's Stinson that
he had done, and it was nice. It was
past being nice. It was beautiful, and
I started talking to Rod about doing
my airplane."
Rod and Dottie could easily be the
poster children for aviation couples.
They were high school sweethearts
who went their own ways but even
tually found each other again in their
early 20s when Rod was already well
into his career as airport manager. He
has been the manager and primary
FBO at several Midwestern airports
and said, "We've always been a full-

service FBO in that we do every type


of maintenance except avionics. The
restoration projects are part of that."
His first rebuild project was the
"ratty" C-140 he and Dottie had
bought. "We took it to Oshkosh as
part of that 150 or so C-140 gaggle,
and ours was the airplane the EAA
singled out for photos when they
were covering the event."
Rod's first big project was a pair of
Christen Eagles, one of which won
a grand champion Lindy at Osh
kosh. Along the way, Dottie, who is
a trained and experienced nurse, be
came part of the restoration team.
"Almost from the beginning," Rod
remembered, "she'd do all of the rib
stitching and got really good at it. At
the time, I didn't do upholstery and
usually bought a kit and installed it.
We were in the process of installing
one of those when Dottie said, 'Hey, I
can do that.' She took a trade school
course in upholstery at night for a
year and has been doing all of our in
teriors since."
Almost since the beginning, Rod
had been doing the motors for his re
builds, so adding upholstery rounded
out his in-house capabilities.
"We usually spend a little more
time with a restoration than other
shops, but that's deceiving because
we aren't farming anything out. We're
a one-stop restoration operation, and
the airplane never leaves our build
ing. Plus, I have to give credit to my
shop crew. They're a group of really
motivated and talented guys.
"Our first restoration that gained
any notoriety was the red-and-black
SR-8 Gullwing that became Hallmark's
Christmas ornament for that year.
That's the airplane Tom saw at Osh
kosh and started him talking to us."
Tom loaded his airplane (even he
uses the term "airplane" loosely), and
all the parts onto a trailer behind a
Ryder truck and headed for Grand
Marais, Minnesota, where Rod has
been the FBO for the last six years.
Grand Marais, inCidentally is on the
north shore of Lake Superior, 30 miles
south of the Canadian border, eh?
Rod said, "When we unloaded it,
I knew it was bad, but later I real

ized that as negative as I had been, I


had underestimated it badly. It was
far from being a hopeless basket case,
but it was far worse than I initially
thought it was. It took us about a
week to figure out what we had, but
then it took over three years before
we figured out what we didn't have."
While Rod was banging on the
airplane, Tom continued scroung
ing, splitting his time between dig
ging up historical information and
missing parts.
Tom said, "We had a lot of peo
ple really help us on this, including
George Alleman, president of the Na
tional Stinson Club, but finding and
visiting Jerry Arnold, another Gull
wing restorer up in Winnipeg, got us
some of the hardest-to-find parts, in
cluding the front seats. The back seats
are just slings, so Rod could fabricate
those, but the front seats are very
unique. Jerry has a trucking company
and a nose for wrecked Stinsons. Since
the airplane was sort of a 'poor man's
Beaver,' lots of them were used in Ca
nadian bush flying and many were
torn up in the process. Many were
just abandoned or pushed against
hangars. Jerry scouted them out and
backhauled them to his hangar.
"The front seats I got still had the
original leather on them, which was
good because we could then do a bet
ter job of duplicating the material and
the pattern. He also had a vacuum
tank that I had just about given up
on finding."
The original concept Eddie Stinson
had, when it came to building his air
planes, was that they should be lim
ousines of the air, and since he was
based in Detroit, it was natural that
they would have a lot of automotive
flavor to them.
Tom said, "The SR series of air
planes had a lot of car stuff in them.
They had an artificial wood-grain
panel, roll-down windows, cranks,
hang straps, all the stuff you associate
with a car and not an airplane. That
was part of his marketing program
make it look luxurious and then
charge top dollar for it, and that's ex
actly what he did."
The target markets for the GullVINTAGE AIRPLANE

17

The Great Doolittle/Porta Potti Ambush

Tom Dinndorf admits to being a Doo


little nut. Which is actually a huge un
derstatement.
" I'm a little frustrated that so many
peop le only remember him for the To
kyo raid when there are so many other
things he should be remembered for.
Besides his achievements in air racing,
he pioneered instrument flight, did the
first outside loop, and, if he hadn't read
Hitler' s mind and talked Shell into set
ting up production of 100-0ctane fuel in
the 1930s, we would have been in real
trouble in the early days of WW II.
" During the four years we worked on
this airplane, Doolittle was never more
than a millimeter from my mind or from
the heart of this project. I had read ev- Tom Dinndorf, proud caretaker of

erything I could on him and searched the DooliHlelSheli Stinson.

the archives in every museum you

could think of looking for things that would tie him to our airplane.

" During one search at the Smithsonian , I stumbled on a really nice 8


by-10 of our airplane in the original Shell paint job, and I wanted desp~r
ately to not only meet Doolittle, but to show him the picture. My ~ppor~unlty
came some years ago at Oshkosh when he chaired a panel on air racing.
"I won't say that I was actually 'stalking' him. Well maybe I was. Anyway,
I spotted him in the crowd just as he stepped into a Porta Potti. I waited. un
til he came out, and introduced myself. I should also say that I was a little
nervous but he could not have been more congenial or gracious. We talked
about m~ airplane and him having flown it. Then I showed him the picture ,
and without asking, he took it away for a few minutes and came back hav
ing signed it for me. I'm too old to do double back flips, but if I could have,
I would have. He was just so nice about it.
" Later, I saw a Discovery Channel program on him that featured his sec
ond son, John P. I Googled the name for a phone number and hit him on the
first call. I explained the airplane thing to him , and he was just as gracious
as his father had been . Plus, he led me to Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, the
granddaughter, who was doing an insider book on Jimmy, Calculated Risk.
He also introduced me to Jimmy Doolittle III, grandson and namesake.
"We spent some time together with them at Oshkosh, when
we had the airplane there, and we tried to get up for a
flight, but weather and schedules kept us from get
t ing together. I' m still talking with Jimmy III
and Jonna, and both really want to get up
in their grandfather's Stinson.
"Everything about this air
plane just keeps get
ting better and
better."

18

MARCH 2006

wings were split between feeder air


lines, corporations, and very rich
sportsmen. Although Eddie Stinson
had died in 1932, the result of a crash
at the end of a forced landing in Chi
cago's Jackson Park, the company
policy was well entrenched and no
corners were cut in building his air
planes. The outline of his airplanes
was very distinctive not only because
of the "gull" at the wing root where
it went into the fuselage, but also the
finely shaped, bumped cowls all the
civilian Gullwings sported (military
Reliants had smooth cowls). Unfor
tunately, the bumped cowl loomed
large on Dinndorf's "missing" list.
"It's difficult to describe how much
effort we put into trying, and I em
phasize 'trying,' to find the right cowl
for the airplane. I had a cowling, but
it was a smooth one, and I had de
cided very early on that the airplane
was going to be exactly, and I mean
exactly, the way it was on August 13,
1938, when Doolittle first flew the air
plane. Going with a smooth cowl sim
ply wasn't an option."
The airplane had already become
as much a fabrication project as a res
toration because, as Rod put it, " ...
there was practically nothing on the
airplane, either wood or metal, that
was rebuildable." So the logical solu
tion for the missing cowling was to
build a new one-no small project.
The bumps, rather than being formed
separately and riveted to a base cowl
ing, were part of the primary surface.
To make matters worse, the cowl ta
pered slightly toward the rear.
Tom found a metal smith, Larry
Rampic, through another SR-I0 owner
and had him make the 18 bump cowl
sections on an English wheel. Then
Rod and his crew tackled the daunt
ing task of making a cowl out of the
sections. This required building a
frame and then painstakingly fitting
the sections, welding them together
and then working the surface down
to perfection. Then they had to add
the hinges, door, and louvers.
Rod said, "The steel part of the air
plane was fairly straightforward, ex
cept there's a lot of it. There was some

rust, but nothing catastrophic, and


luckily, the steel truss wing spars
weren't bad at all. We had to do a lit
tle welding on it, but since this was a
300-hp airplane, not a 450, the spars
weren't heat-treated. If they had been
heat-treated it would have made re
pairs much more difficult.
"The very first time I saw the fu
selage," Tom remembered, "my first
thought was, 'This isn't made to fly;
all the tubing is too stout.' It's abso
lutely massive in some areas."
The steel tube spars of the Gull
wing are streamlined with ribs built
up from small, square aluminum tub
ing that is gusseted and riveted to
gether. What makes the process of
restoring them so "interesting" is that
they use square aluminum tubing
that was manufactured spedfically for
Stinson. Luckily, according to Tom,
getting a supply of it turned out to be
no problem.
"Charlie Near, yet another Stinson
restorer, this one from Nebraska, han
dled irrigation pipe, and he apparently
found the original dies for the rib tub
ing and had some made for his Stin
son. The problem was, he had to buy
the entire mill run, so he had thou
sands of feet of the stuff. For someone
like me, who thought we'd have to go
through the same process as Charlie,
that was a good problem to have."
The double tapered wings hide a
couple of complexities that Rod could
only iron out by going back to the
English Wheel again.
Rod said, "Part of the leading
edge, where it forms the 'gull,' is
compound curved. The wingtips
too. Being able to do that in-house,
right on the airplane, really made

the process much easier."


When it came to doing the inte
rior, they were in trouble because
nothing of the original remained and
they were unsuccessful in finding suf
ficient photos to use as a guide. They
did, however, luck out when discover
ing a series of detailed drawings.
"We used the drawings done by
William Wylam, which were incred
ible in their detail and were drawn
from Stinsons back when they were
still in their heyday. We judged them
as being accurate because we looked
at his drawings of other airplanes for
which there were photographs to use
as comparisons, and he was dead on.
So we felt safe in using his work."
Dottie laid in a supply of whole
hides and started cutting and stitch
ing, using both the original, rotting
seat upholstery and the Wylam draw
ings as guides.
One thing we'd like to ask Dottie is
about rib stitching the wings: At the
root, they are at least 16 inches deep.
Running a stitching needle that far
and being that accurate must be a real
art. Or does she have some tricks she
can share?
When the airplane was up through
silver (using the Super Flight system)
it was time for the paint, but this was
something Tom had been doing a lot
of work on.
"We wanted the paint to be so
accurate Jimmy Doolittle wouldn't
know it had been repainted, so we
went right to the source. First, I found
Jimmy Haislip, who had raced with
Doolittle in the '30s and was still his
good friend. He gave me Doolittle's
phone number. I called the man him
self and told him I had his airplane

Rod Roy, ace restorer from the shore


of Lake Superior in Grand Marais,
Minnesota.

and was looking for a way to exactly


duplicate the colors and the logo. He
in tum plugged me into someone in
Shell, who not only gave us permis
sion to paint the logo on the airplane,
but also got us a color chip for us to
match. It's kind of funny because
when we gave the chip to PPG, they
found it was identified as Shell Yellow.
I guess we could have asked them
first, but we probably wouldn't have
trusted them anyway."
Rod is justifiably proud that every
single bit of trim, except the Stinson
logo, is masked paint.
Although Rod usually does his
own engines, he was up to his hips in
Stinson parts and both he and Tom
wanted to get the airplane done in
time for Oshkosh. So the R-680, 300
hp Lycoming was sent out to Radials
Inc., in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
So how did Tom feel the first time
he felt the wheels leave the ground?
"First, I was nervous as a cat. This
airplane isn't really mine. It belongs
to history and I'd hate to damage it
somehow. Once I got over that and
we were cruising around, I simply
couldn't get Jimmy Doolittle off my
mind. I met him only briefly, but he
impressed me, and of course, what he
contributed to aviation is legendary.
I guess maybe I feel as if this airplane
is my tribute to him, and the longer
this airplane is flying, the longer more
people will remember him and what
he contributed."
.......
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

19

Is it an end, or a beginning?

BY GLEN SCOTT

ew airplanes deserve a bi
ography more than 01 Blue.
She started out in Octo
ber of 1934 as a Fairchild
22C7D, built at the Fairch
ild factory in Hagerstown, Maryland.
This Fairchild had character from
the start and has touched many lives
over the past 71 years. I can tell the
story for 01 Blue, as I have had the
tremendous pleasure of flying and
learning how she was built. My time
was short with her, only 54 days this
past fall. I am telling this part of her
story for now, as I expect someone
to continue with Part Two in the
future. NC14302 (Fairchild 22 SIN
915) suffered a serious blow that few
airplanes can endure: a hangar fire,
a freak incident that no one ever an
ticipates will happen to them . My
brief experience with Blue took years
to make happen (30 years, to be ex
act) but actually started out on the

20

MARCH 2006

afternoon of October 20,


2005, when Jon Bartell and
his son Louis arrived at Ar
lington, Texas, Airport in the
afternoon. This was a mo
mentous day as I waited with
friends for their 1,000-mile
journey to terminate at my
hangar.
Bartell had agreed to part
with Blue after learning how
much I appreciated the rare
Menasco power plant. I have
had a running C-4 Menasco
that has never been installed
on an aircraft, which would ensure
many hours of flight over the Texas
countryside. I intended to share the
experience with as many people as
possible over the next few years.
Ralph Schmidt, the retired president
of Menasco Manufacturing, was ea
gerly waiting for the gala event,
along with Clare Wright, a retired

Jon Bartell enjoys his last moment in


01 Blue.

Menasco employee and company


historian. This history was thick in
my hangar with a display of Me
nasco archives provided by Al Me
nasco h imself. There were original
advertisements, brochures, photos,

Left: NC14302, 28 years after a Jim


Dewey restoration. This is the very same
airplane featured in the 2006 VAA calen
dar, as published by Turner Publishing.

and blueprints. A lO-foot length of


sectional chart was starched on the
wall for the crew t o autograph at
the end of their flight from Ohio.
The last 12 days of October of
fered few daylight hours to fly af
ter a day of work, so I enjoyed my
evenings making small improve
ments and learning the aircraft. I
managed to squeeze in a few flights
before the annual inspection came
due. I was on cloud nine!
The entire month of Novem
ber was spent learning the aircraft
and performing the annual on this

Ralph Schmidt, retired presi


dent of Menasco, checks out the
Fairchild.

rare gem . I couldn't believe


the incredible craftsmanship
that Jim Dewey and his crew
had lavished on the restora
tion of 01 Blue in 1977. Jim
was the original owner of this
aircraft when her life began
with a Gipsy engine, but he re
stored her with a Menasco D
4-87 with the help of Al Ball
of Santa Paula, California. I
performed a very through in
spection and found almost nothing
that wasn't perfect . I spent much
time on the gear, shocks, wheels,
and brakes. The sport landing gear
was showing a little age, as the dope
was starting to peel. I removed all of
the dope and enamel from the fab
ric and refinished the gear. Much
of the work was done at night in

The day after the fire. No wood, fabric and


very little sheet metal survived. The annual
inspection consumed the month of Novem
ber. The fire consumed everything else.

my well-equipped hangar. The


wings were awesome to in spect, as the woodwork was superb and there are no cables,
pulleys, or moving parts in
them. A simple push rod from
the stick to the aileron does
the job very well. The IS-foot
ailerons were damage free and
reflected Dewey's work, as did
the cowling and metal wheel
pants. Metal never fit so well! I
enjoyed much of getting acquainted
with Ole Blue and it was as if making
a new friend . I realized that I had a
thoroughbred that I could enjoy for
many years to come.
My next and last flight in the
Fairchild was on December 3 with
my wife Rosa, when we flew locally
for an hour and experienced a stiff
crosswind. The controls and han
dling were better than anything I
had flown and made easy work of
the flight. The engine was perform
ing well and started with ease, much
to the surprise of the skeptical air
port audience. After that great flight,
it was time to study the D-4-87 en
gine in detail and check all the
maintenance items. I was to check
the valve ad justment and re-index
the prop to the exact requirement of
the manual. I was to closely check
the magnetos for proper advance/re
tard and refinish the gorgeous Fahlin
propeller. I polished the brass lead

gj

b
i
~

~
~
U

ing edges and repainted the tips, but


now I had to put her to bed without
her cowling. Later I would touch up
the paint and detail that gorgeous
Menasco engine.
The evening of December 12 I was
going to visit 01 Blue at the hangar.
As my wife and I arrived at the air
port in the dark, so did the fire trucks!
They were also going to the T-han
gars. Then I saw the black smoke boil
ing from the end of a row of hangars.
Our row!
The smoke was coming from a
spot only eight to 10 spaces from my
hangar, but the firemen wouldn't let
me get close. As Rosa and I stood 20
yards away from 01 Blue's hangar,
we could see the glow and hear the
explosions coming from within the
hangars. This sent chills in us, but
all that we could do was go home
and try to sleep. Right. About 11:30
p.m., my good friend Clare Wright
called to tell me the bad news; yes,
my plane and spare engine were
gone, and this was possibly the hot
test spot of the fire.
The next morning I took off
continued on page 36
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

21

Flying as a

ort
Becoming the first
certificated sport pilot
in Illinois
BY MARTY TOWSLEY

became truly interested in


aviation when my father
and I started building and
flying radio-controlled mod
els in 1970. In 1977, at the
age of 16, I started to take
flying lessons, flying Grumman Tr-2
trainers and Cessna lS0s . Due to
cars, motorcycles, girls, and the as
sociated costs of those aforemen
tioned items, I got out of flying for
a while, even though I had passed
my FAA written and had about 30
hours' flying time.
A childhood friend of mine, Mike
George, with whom I had flown ra
dio-controlled planes, had started
flying full-sized planes about the
same time I did. He continued on
and currently owns many planes,
including a P-S1 Mustang and F4U
SN Corsair. I had flown with him
in several of his other aircraft, but
one summer day in 2004 he de
cided to put me in the left seat of
his Piper Arrow. During and after
the flight he encouraged me to start
flying again and to get my certifi
cate, as I seemed to have retained
some of my skills. He told me about
the sport pilot initiative and, dur
ing ensuing conversations, urged
me toward buying a Taylorcraft.
He also owns a Taylorcraft L-2 and
has always been pleased with how
22

MARCH 2006

At that time,
unbeknownst to
me, I had
become the first
certificated sport
pilot in Illinois.
well it flies. As a side note, both of
my parents had flown 1941 Taylor
crafts in the mid-1940s as part of
the Civil Air Patrol and the Civilian
Pilot Training Program.
Encouraged with the thought
of being a sport pilot, and the fact
it truly fit my budget and how I
wanted to fly, I started to search the
Internet. I discovered a 1946 Tay
lorcraft BC-12D not far from my
home. After exchanging e-mails
and photographs with the current
owner, Mike offered to fly me, my
wife, and a mechanic to the airport
to inspect the Taylorcraft. It was a

clean l,3S0-hour example. While it


wasn't a showplane, it flew nicely.
Exactly one week later, October 16,
2004, it was mine.
Mike had introduced me to an
instructor who was a friend of his,
Denny Taft. Denny was a former F-1 6
pilot, is a current airline pilot, and
also had tailwheel time in a friend 's
newer Taylorcraft that was based at
Taylorville, Illinois, where I was go
ing to base my aircraft. Denny and I
flew my Taylorcraft to its new home
in a stiff breeze, where I saw the cars
on the two-lane roads making better
headway than us.
As I had decided to become a
sport pilot and the rating was so
new, Denn y and I had to liter
ally rewrite the book. Many of the
signoffs had to be re-created, as
Denny was familiar with the pri
vate pilot certificate requirements
and ratings, such as the instrument
rating, but not the brand-new sport
pilot certificate. The lack of avail
able information seemed to be a
common issue while trying to ob
tain my certificate.
As I had stick time in many diffe r
ent aircraft over the years, the flying
part was not overly burdensome,
though it was a workout at times,
and I learned much from Denny.
Probably the most challenging

nois spoke of this event.


For the most part every
one I have come into contact
with has been supportive.
There seemed to be inter
est and questions whenever
someone learned I was sport
pilot certificated, and I have
encouraged them to inves
tigate this avenue of flying.
Though one or two have be
littled the certificate, I know
those one or two will prob
ably be looking at this cer
tificate when perhaps minor
health issues start to ap
pear and they want to con
tinue flying . Though I could
have gone on and received
aspect was landing in a taildrag
ger, especially crosswind landings.
At one point, while walking from
the hangar after a particularly gru
eling landing session, I dejectedly
encouraged Denny to let me know
if I needed to sell the T-craft. I told
him I completely understood if he
told me to sell it. He informed me
everyone had the occasional bad
day, and even though there were
still rough days ahead, I was finally
successful in soloing for the second
time in my life.
I started building time and prac
ticing for the flight exam, but this
was where another stumbling block
was encountered. No one could
be located who could conduct the
flight exam in a fixed-wing cer
tificated aircraft, so I did some re
search. I learned any designated
flight examiner could be a sport pi
lot flight examiner, as long as he
notified the local FSDO of his in
tentions, experience, and the type
of aircraft he wanted to test in.
One day I was at the Illinois De
partment of Transportation, Di
vision of Aeronautics building in
Springfield, Illinois, and met a
gentleman named Don Cramer. In
conversation with Don I learned he
was a designated flight examiner,
and I told him jokingly I needed
him to be a sport pilot examiner.

As I left the building


I called my instruc
tor, Denny, and told
him of my conversa
tion with Don. Denny
advised me he had re
cently heard of Don
and had wanted me
to speak to him about
being a sport pilot
examiner. I retraced
my steps and spoke
with Don about this. As most of
this was new to him and the local
FSDO, several calls and conversa
tions were made by him and the
FSDO personnel to confirm what
was needed for him to become a
sport pilot examiner.
Finally the day arrived, and I met
a well-prepared Don for the ground
portion of the exam. Once that was
accomplished, Mike flew us to Tay
lorville Municipal Airport, where
the flight portion of the exam was
started. A stubbornly fouled spark
plug threatened to cancel the flight,
but it was finally cleared and the
flight exam took place. Apparently
Denny's work with me had stuck,
and I completed the exam just fine.
At that time, unbeknownst to me,
I had become the first certificated
sport pilot in Illinois. Later, a small
feature and picture in a newsletter
sent to all registered pilots in Illi

my private pilot certificate, for the


time being I am happy with my
plane and the type of flying I do .
I have the signoffs for Class C and
D airspace, and I make the Sunday
morning fly-in breakfasts with my
friends, as well as lunch and dinner
dates with my supportive wife.
It seems many people I have
spoken with have longed for their
first plane and to perhaps own and
fly it again. I decided to skip the
middle portion of buying more
expensive and complex airplanes,
and stick with one of the finest air
planes ever built. And nowadays,
you really can't beat 4 gallons of
gas an hour .. .

V I NTAGE AIRPLANE

23

Dear Famii't
NASA is going to be atliN nRIN.
'can't wait!
1

Lov~

Your Pilot In Command

Make plans today to attend this week-long event filled


with aviation seminars, workshops, daily airshows,
miles of aircraft and industry exhibits, tastes at
the acclaimed SUN'n FUN International Food Court
and the spectacular Night Air Show
- a schedule bursting with activities.
Purchase your tickets online at www.sun-n-fun.org

and join thousands of aviation enthusiasts at the first


of the 2006 aviation year.

Lakeland Lind er Airport (KLAL) Lakela n d Florida

E.E . " BUCK " HILB ERT

Here's the drill


Most of us amateur metal bend
ers and wood butchers reach for
a drill and use it with little or no
regard to whether or not the work
calls for a special bit for the particu
lar job.
Oftentimes, we're in a hurry, in
the middle of a job that can't wait,
so we grab a hand drill, search
through the available bits, grab the
one closest to the size we need, and
punch the hole.

Hey! It works. I can see daylight


coming through the hole. What
more do you want?
Well, if you go by the book and
do the job as required, you take
your time, analyze the job and the
needs, find the proper bit, make
sure everything is in place, and
then drill the hole.
The job's done, but not the way
the book says.
Before we talk about bits, let's
look at the drill motor
first. What type of drill
is safest to use around
LIP OR
aircraft? Pneumatic or
CUTTING EDGE
electric?
I guess this question
can be answered by the
mechanic himself. Some
learned using the pneu
matic, others the elec
tric. And if you are one

who prefers mobility, you use one


of the new rechargeable battery
powered, variable-speed jobs that

The tip does the


actual cutting
work; the flutes al
low transport of
the chops away
from the work ...
doesn't have cords or hoses to get
tangled up, snag on the job, or trip
people. Whatever the choice, the
end result is about the same. Your
comfort level is the concern here.
continued on page 36

FLUTE

B.

LAND

HEEL ANGLE
(12- 15)

irl

LIP ANGLE
(NORMALLY 59)

LLI

i~::I:~~"=--==:::::::;:;:-",- L1PS OR

CUTTING EDGES

V I NTAGE AIRPLA NE

25

EAIS

at Huffman Prairie

The Wrights' home field advantage is celebrated


ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY
SCOTTY MARKLAND

CHAPTER

We had a remark
able experience on
Monday, October 3,
2005. We watched as
a replica Wright III
1905 biplane was cat
apulted into the sky
as a re-enactment of
Orville and Wilbur's
flights from historic
Huffman Prairie, at
Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base in Greene
County, Ohio . We
were standing 500 feet
away when mechanics
for the Flyer III started

26

MARCH 2006

610

COUNSELOR

the engine. Pilot


Mark Dusenberry re
leased the weight on
the catapult, the bi
plane moved down
the track, and then
the Flyer rose from
the track after a run
of about 50 feet. We
could hear the clatMark Dusenberry
skims the surface of
Huffman Prairie in his
Wrigbt Flyer III replica,
a few days before the
official celebration.

ter of the engine clearly and saw


the slowly turning propellers rotat
ing at 400 to 450 rpm. Except for
the engine noise, it was very quiet.
It was early morning, the fog had
lifted, and the grass was wet with
dew. The pilot made a leisurely
flight at 25 feet of altitude. Time
aloft was 5 to 7 minutes, covering
a mile or less.
At the southwest end of the prai
rie the pilot made a ISO-degree
shallow bank and turned around
a small tree before returning to the
launching point and landing on its
skids. It was eerie; it was like going
back 100 years and watching a 1905
Wright airplane flying from the
same field on a beautiful October
morning. In your imagination you
could see the brothers out there fly
ing their invention, dressed in the
clothing of the day.
The group from EAA Chapter
610 was invited to static display our
1911 Wright B replica (more later).
There were two other Wright B air
craft on display as well, the Day
ton Wright B and the Utah College
Wright B.
There were a total of three fly
ing Wright airplanes, and one on
static display. That's a remark
able assembly in itself. During this
demonstration, there were only 20
or 30 people present. On Wednes
day, October 5, an official dedica
tion marking the 100 th anniversary
of the Wrights' flights at Huffman
Prairie was made, with many digni
taries present. Speeches were made,
after which Mark flew his Wright
Flyer III replica two more times
in front of about 200 spectators .
These flights were made straight
ahead, as the FAA and National
Park Service didn't want any of
the replicas to do any more turns.
There were officials from France,
Brazil, and the United Kingdom
observing the flights.
After Mark's flights and the cer
emonies, the Dayton Wright Band
the Utah Wright B each mad e a
pass over the prairie. This was fol
lowed by a pass in review of 14

general aviation airplanes over the


prairie. Most of these pilots were
from Chapter 610.
A little information about the
EAA Chapter 610 Wright Model
B. The aircraft is 99 percent com
plete. The engine has been run 30
minutes with the flight propellers
installed. A few minor oil and wa
ter leaks were fixed, and the chains
were adjusted. A tachometer and
water temperature gauges were in
stalled for the Model A engine. We
are getting close to completion.
We still have the problem: who
is qualified and going to fl y this
thing? It has to be someone with
wing warping experience. We ob
tained a lot of information from
Mark on how he flew his wing

warping, but we have a different


control system. Mark is an inter
esting guy. He built the airplane
and engine, and learned to fly it
on a student permit. All of the
workers on the 610 project are pi
lots, and I am in awe. When I am
standing beside that big-winged
aircraft with its engine clattering,
and the wings vibrating and shak
ing, I think, "Someone's going to
fly this thing?"
We are used to smooth, easy op
eration. But that is the state of the
art today, and that was the state
of the art 100 years ago, so that is
what they flew. They really didn't
know any better. It's like the old
hot rodders saying, "You run wat
cha brung."
......
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

27

One Six Right


A movie by Brian Terwilliger
This is a love story.
Really.
Sure, the title leads you to believe
it's about the people and planes of gen
eral aviation as manifested in Van Nuys
Airport near Los Angeles, but it's really
all about the love affair so many of us
have with aviation. It just happens to
be wrapped around the story of Van
Nuys and the many people who've
brought it to life over the past decades.
It's about every airport and every pilot
who ever loved his local airport and
his fellow pilots. Twenty-nine-year-old
Brian Terwilliger, the director and pro
ducer of this terrific film, and a pilot
himself, understands that underlying
theme well; he subtitled his film The
Romance ofFlying.
With the exception of the IMAX for
mat films shot with an aviation theme,
few movies have captured the visceral
essence of flying as well and as pro
fessionally as Terwilliger and his crew
have in One Six Right. Told through the
voices of those who keep the airport
alive (you may watch the entire film
before you realize there is no narra
tor) the passion these men and women
have for flying and general aviation is
highlighted by some of the best foot
age ever shot of aircraft in flight.
Steven Miles, the director of photog
raphy, and aerial directors of photog
raphy Carston Bell and Doug Holgate
all get a standing ovation from me for
the fabulous gyro-stabilized air-to-air
and ground-to-air shots of everything
general aviation, and serves as
from a Fleet 7B biplane to
a terrific and entertaining tool
a Gulfstream business jet.
to enlighten the general pub
(A nod also to helicopter
lic about the value of their lo
pilot Kevin Larosa for his
cal airport and general aviation.
piloting skills during those
I highly recommend it; in fact,
shots.) Coupled with Kim
after viewing a preproduction
Furst's excellent editing,
copy, I ordered both the DVD
and a breathtaking original
and the CD of the soundtrack.
musical score by Nathan
One Six Right is available by log
Wang, and fun guitar mu
ging on to www.onesixright.com
sic by Freddy Clarke, One
Six Right is a superb movie Rudy Salar and his Fleet 7 is just one of the many or by ordering from Sporty's at
800-776-7897.
about all that we love in stories highlighted in One Six Right.
28

MARCH 2006

Flying Thoughts: An Aviator's Flight


Through Life
A book by Richard Ward
Dick Ward's expertise when it comes to th e Twin
Bonanza and its brethren is well known to Beech
crafters, but I didn't know much else about this eru
dite fellow Midwesterner until I read his self-published
book. That's too bad, because he strikes me as the
kind of fellow you 'd like to get to know. He's like
many of us-nuts about airplanes since h e was a
youngster building stick-and-tissue models of his fa
vorites and then gathering as many ratings as time
and circu mstances would allow.
Sprinkled with Dick's poems and wide- ranging
thoughts on subjects as diverse as politiCS and learn
ing to fly float -equipped J-3 Cubs on the Allegh eny
river in Pittsburgh, you'll never wonder where Dick
Ward stands on subjects near and dear to his h eart.
As a pilot, he shares how the diScipline and stru cture
we're all taught can be applied to everyday life. It's all
here, and quite entertaining to read. Flying Thoughts
can be purchased through the Twin Bonanza Associ
ation at www.twinbonanza.com-click on the Market
place tab. Or you can write to them at: Twin Bonanza
Association, 19684 Lakeshore Drive, Three Rivers,
MI 49093 USA. The 156-page book costs $18.95 plus
shipping for addresses in the United States.

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enthusiasts of all ages . Ms. Winegarten has t aken
the time to fill in many details of Stinson's life, and
while adding fictiona l dialogue to "history" books is
not among my favorite literary devices, Winegarten
does her best to restrain herself and doesn 't allow
those additions to become overwhelming. I particu
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son's activities after her flying career. (Did you know
she became a well-known Santa Fe architect?)
The overall theme of the book-one of personal
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29

the many photographs and illustrations that comple


ment the text. There are a couple of layout errors, most
notably an upside-down reproduction of a still from
the movie Hell's Angels of the zeppelin emerging from
the clouds, but then it's not as if anyone today who's
not an aviation enthusiast would recognize an upside
down zeppelin!
Wohl is a professor of history at the University of
California at Los Angeles. The Spectacle of Flight, pub
lished by Yale University Press, is available from book
stores, identified as ISBN 0-300-10692-0.

Flights Forgotten . . . And Remembered

The Spectacle ofFlight


A book by Robert Wohl
Published by Yale University Press
This beautifully printed volume of the history of
flight during the past century (it still seems odd to
write that!) starts off with a photograph of a crowd in
front of a building that I instantly recognized; it was
the St. Louis Art Museum, with thousands of spectators
looking up at Lindbergh's Spirit of st. Louis after his re
turn to the United States.
I'd been on Art Hill dozens of times during my
college career and have always marveled at the tre
mendous crowds that gathered all over North Amer
ica wherever Lindbergh flew after his record-setting
flight. His impact is highlighted by the choice of au
thor Robert Wohl to begin this 364-page book with 40
pages on the Spirit's flight in 1927. Mercifully, Wohl's
intent is not to give the reader a blow-by-blow chro
nology of the history of flight, but a neatly crafted
book detailing the impact that aviation had on the
world prior to 1950. In particular, the world changed
directly due to the influence of both the technology
of flight and the impact of those men and women
who challenged the sky. From the aircraft design firms
of America and Europe to the soundstages of Holly
wood, aviation was part of everyday life during the
first half of the 20th century in ways that only today's
Internet seems to rival.
Wohl's book is a terrific effort, and while scholarly
in tone, it's not dry reading; rather, it's refreshing to
read a chapter at a time, thanks in no small part to
30

MARCH 2006

Lt. Col. Boardman C. Reed (USAF Ret.)


Boardman Reed has been a VAA member for de
cades and was, for many years, a faithful responder to
our Mystery Plane column. His military career, which
offiCially started just before World War II, actually
starts in 1928, when he began logging each flight ex
perience in meticulous detail. Boardman maintained
his very detailed logs until he was an aviation cadet,
when he simply no longer had the time to dedicate
to such detailed entries. I've enjoyed reading Tom
Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, but there's simply
nothing like hearing it from one who's been there,
and Reed certainly was present and active flying so
many of the remark
able aircraft of the
'30s, '40s, and '50s.
As a career military
man, he started life
in the Army Air
Corps, transitioning
to the newly formed
U .S. Air Force af
ter the war. Later,
he flew all manner
of civilian aircraft,
including his good
friend Pete Bower's
Fly Baby and Curtiss
Pusher. All together,
Boardman's book is
an enjoyable read,
wri tten by a man
who seems quite
pleased and content with a life well lived. We're lucky
to have had men like him when we needed them the
most. Flights Forgotten . .. And Remembered is available
directly from the author, and he'll personally inscribe
and autograph your copy if you make your request with
your order. You can e-mail himatB17f@sbcglobai.net.
Each copy costs $24.95, plus $2.07 per issue for ship
ping in the United States. You can order the book
from Boardman C. Reed, 2050 Springfield Dr., #109,
........
Chico, CA 95928-6361.

We're lucky
to have had
men like
him when
we needed
them the
most.

Peter Novak
Bloomington, IL

Soloed 1969, private same year


Commercial 1970
Instrument MEL 1971
CFI 1972; ATP 1973
Captain United Airlines 8-777
- 23,000 hours total time

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courteous, and now economic policy. Also appreciate
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BY DOUG STEWART

CRM
CRM. In the airlines it stands for crew resource
management. In the airplanes you and I fly it stands
for cockpit resource management. And unfortunately
for me, it so often seems to stand for can't remember
much. (Bear with me a moment and I'll remember
why I started to write this article ...)
Oh ... right ... I remember
now. CRM. It's an initialism that
many of us have heard, but it's
possible that you really don 't un
derstand how a term that's used
by the airlines could be applied
to the cockpits of our personal
airplanes . If we consider that it
refers to using all available tools,
it could make a bit more sense.
Let's take a look at those tools
and how we can use them, espe
cially when the yogurt starts to
creep up above the eyeballs. My
list is not prioritized; because
of my "can't remember much,"
they're listed as I think of them.
Let's see now ... checklists . .
. they're a good tool (especially
for my personal CRM). I have
a checklist in my airplane for
every phase of the flight, from
preflight through post-flight. It is one that has been
in a slow evolution from the earliest days of my fly
ing, and it includes all the things I have forgotten at
one time or another. For example, my cruise check
list includes, after setting the power, checking that
the flaps and landing gear are cleaned up. (I know
I'm not the only one who has forgotten to do that.)
Cowl flaps closed, transponder on altitude (so that
controllers don't ask me to recycle the XPDR, their
nice way of saying you forgot to turn it on, dummy),
and heading indicator checked with the compass are
all included in my checklist, as they are all things
I have forgotten at one time or another as a result

of distractions from passengers, air traffic control


(ATC), or aircraft anomalies.
Suppose you select gear down as you enter the down
wind leg of the traffic pattern, and you don't see "three
in the green." Is this an emergency situation? Do you
need to have the manual gear extension procedure
memorized? The answer to both
questions is no. What should you
do? The answer is simple .. .leave
the traffic pattern, climb to a safe
altitude, and get out the checklist.
This is not a procedure that you
have to have memorized. It is not
an emergency situation ... yet. Us
ing the checklist will ensure that
you don't miss anything. Check
lists are one of the best tools in
our CRM flight bag.
Passengers .. . they sometimes
can be one heck of a distrac
tion, especially if they have not
been briefed on the sterile cock
pit concept, which is no talking
about anything (the wife and
kids, the ball game , the great
joke they just heard, etc.) except
flight-related issues anywhere in
the airport environment. That
includes from on the ground while taxiing until 5 to
10 miles away from the airport on departure, or the
reverse, if arriving.
Passengers can indeed be major distractions, but
they can also be fantastic aids as well, again, if they
are properly briefed. They can look up information
from a variety of resources while you fly the airplane.
They can help program the GPS (if they know how),
and they can dial in radio frequenCies. Most impor
tantly, your passengers can serve as an extra set of
eyes in scanning for traffic. Do ensure that they have
been briefed to call traffic in "clock" direction and
altitude relative to you.

If your sectional is

back in the luggage

compartment, it isn't

going to do you much


good when the

batteries in your

handheld GPS die.

32

MARCH 2006

What about all the possible resources for informa


tion that you, or your passengers, might be referenc
ing? I certainly hope you have brought along all the
current and proper charts that you might need, but I
have noticed that many pilots forget to bring along
a current Airport/Facility Directory (AFO) or other suit
able reference for airport, NAVAID, and other related
information. Many pilots are now tending to rely
solely on their GPS for this information (as well as
the daily lunch special at the airport restaurant) but
forget that if the database in the GPS is not current,
then the information might very well not be reli
able, and if the batteries die, that information will
become unavailable.
Having current charts and publications is a big part
of CRM, but another important part that is sometimes
forgotten is proper cockpit organization. If your sec
tional is back in the luggage compartment, it isn't go
ing to do you much good when the batteries in your
handheld GPS die. So be sure the charts are not only
in the airplane, but also accessible in an organized
manner. For those of you pilots flying instrument
flight rules (IFR), this is even more important.
For the IFR pilot, ATC is an essential part of good
CRM. ATC can be a great source of weather infor
mation, and weather avoidance vectors. just be sure
you confirm with controllers whether or not they are
painting the weather. just because the last control
ler to hand you off was painting the weather does
not necessarily mean the current controller is, even
when they are sitting side by side in the same radar
room . So please be sure to confirm that the new con
troller is in sync with what you need.
For the visual flight rules (VFR) pilot, ATC can
also be a wonderful CRM tool. How often have I
heard on the frequency, "... uh, approach ... uh ...
any chance of vectors for the Boondock airport?"
A tactful way of saying, "Help ... I'm lost." Even if
you are superb at pilotage and dead reckoning, and
don't ever get lost, ATC can still be a great resource.
If you use ATC to provide flight following, control
lers can (on an available basis) call out traffic for you
and sometimes help to steer you clear of potential
airspace violations. Remember, though, that the re
sponsibility for remaining clear of restricted airspace
is totally yours, the pilot in command, if you are fly
ing VFR. So is staying clear of other airplanes. The
radar coverage and communication from ATC is a
handy reference, but it doesn't serve as a replace
ment for your eyeballs. Regardless, whether IFR or
VFR, ATC is another one of the good CRM tools for
all of us to use.
While discussing CRM tools relative to the radio,
certainly other pilots on the frequency can be good
resources . As an example, on a recent flight to the
West Coast, I had departed johnson County Execu
tive Airport (KOjC, near Kansas City) into a lOO-foot

ceiling. About 10 miles before reaching Emporia,


Kansas (KEMP), the fog ended. At this time there was
a pilot on the frequency with Kansas City Center
who was inbound to OjC from the east. It was obvi
ous the fog would not be lifting for a while, prevent
ing the approach, but the pilot was unable to pick up
the weather at EMP. He was thus unsure of where he
should divert. A quick call from me to Kansas City
Center confirmed that the fog ended a little bit east
of EMP and that he could easily divert there.
Remember that what goes around, comes around!
I'm sure there have been times that you wished there
were a pilot report (PIREP) to confirm weather con
ditions somewhere along your route of flight, but
none existed. If we all spent a little more time giving
PIREPs, it would definitely aid in everyone's CRM.
These are but a few of the tools that we can use
in effective cockpit resource management. Next
month I would like to discuss some more of them.
Hopefully my CRM (can't remember much) won't
take effect until I complete the article. In the
meantime may you be blessed with blue skies and
tail winds.
Doug Stewart is the 2004 National CFI of the Year,
a NAFI Master Instructor and a DPE. He operates DSFI
Inc. (www.dsflight.com) based at the Columbia County
Airport (1B1).
.......

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VINTAGE AIRPLANE

33

BY H.G. FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTH'S MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US FROM A MEMBER'S COLLECTION, WHICH WE'LL

NAME WHEN WE GIVE THE ANSWER. I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR REPLIES.

Send your answer to EAA, Vintage


Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh,
WI 54903-3086. Your answer needs
to be in no later than April 15 for
inclusion in the June 2006 issue of

Vintage Airplane.
You can also send your response
via e-mail. Send your answer to
mysterypiane@eaa.org. Be sure to
include your name, city, and state
in the body of your note, and put
"(Month) Mystery Plane" in the
subject line.
Those of you who are regular readers of the column caught the fact that during the page layout process, we
wound up with the Mystery Plane from last September, the Aerial Mercury Senior. Our apologies!
The December Mystery Plane, also from the "Emy" Emerson Collection, brought plenty of replies.

DECEMBER'S

MYSTERY
ANSWER
Here's our first letter:
The December Mystery Planes are
SE-SAs of the Skywriting Corpora
tion of America. They are all painted
white, are powered by 200-hp Hisso
engines, and are lined up on Curtiss
field , Long Island, where they were
based. The picture was taken in 1923.
Skywriting was made practical
by an Englishman, John C. Savage,
after about three years of experi
menting with oil mixtures, heat
ing means, valves, etc. Cyril Turner,
formerly an RFC pilot in WWI, did
most of the original test flying.
The first full word written was
"VIM." Shortly after, skywriting be
came commercial as the Wakefield
company paid to advertise their

34

MARCH 2006

product on May 30, 1922, with the


word "CASTROL."
Savage formed the Savage Sky
writing Company, and acquired
more planes and pilots. The busi
ness did well in Europe, but was not
so successful in England. Savage ex
panded into the United States late
in 1922. He brought two of the SE
SAs with him, and bought the rest
here. They had been built here un
der license during the war, and were
readily available. The company was
based on Curtiss field, and did a
good business.
The original of the picture used
in Vintage magazine had the com
pany name "The Skywriting Corpo
ration of America," written in large
letters on the fuselages. I guess you
"whited" them out to make us work
harder. (Yes, we did. Couldn't make it
too easy for aIL ofyou!-HGF)

Arnol Sellars
Tulsa, Oklahoma

The six aircraft are Royal Aircraft


Factory SE-SA World War I surplus
fighters converted for skywriting.
They are probably part of the fleet of
the Skywriting Corporation of Amer
ica operating from 1922-1924.
All of my information comes
from A.j. jackson's book British Civil
Aircraft 1919-59 Vol. 2, published
by Putnam of London. The infor
mation is on pp. 230-235.
"... In civil form the S.E.SA will
be associated forever with Major J.
c. Savage and skywriting, his first
aircraft G-EATE being used by Cyril
Turner for the first public demonstra
tion of black smoke writing on May
30, 1922. Smoke producing chemi
cals of secret formula were carried in
a specially installed tank in the fu
selage and could be fed at will, by
means of a cock, into the hot exhaust
gases. The smoke was led through a
special pipe under the fuselage and
the starboard elevator fabric was

partly removed to prevent charring.


This system was soon superseded by
white smoke led through lengthened
exhause (sic) pipes to a Y junction at
the stern post ..."
The latter arrangement seems to
be on your photo examples. There
is some more interesting info on
their practice techniques for the
skywriting that I am omitting here,
but jackson goes on later to say:
"... Two were shipped to Amer
ica, where they wrote 'Hello, New
York' over the city and then car
ried out a million dollar contract
with the American Tobacco Com
pany. They operated as the Skywrit
ing Corporation of America whose
fleet eventually numbered II, five
of which were later Americanised
with under-slung radiators and
streamlined, spin polished cowl
ings. In this form they continued to
write 'Lucky Strike' until the end of
1924, when they passed into local
ownership and were allotted new
constructors and licence numbers
1-5 and NC2677-81 respectively."
The examples in your photo have
the original cowling, which is quite
different from the later American
ized, streamlined ones as pictured
in the book. There is a neat reminis
cence of Savage and the American
Tobacco Co. on Aerofiles .com (use
the SEARCH capability on "skywrit
ing" to find it quickly).
Jack Erickson
State College, Pennsylvania
Other correct answers were re
ceived from Don Connell, Des
Moines, Washington; Chuck War
ing, Roanoke, Virginia; Toby Gur
sanscky, Sydney, Australia; T.
Streett, Baltimore, Maryland; Tom
Lymburn, Princeton, Minnesota;
Don Harris, Cherry Hill, New Jer
sey; Russ Brown, Lyndhurst, Ohio;
Wayne Van Valkenburgh, Jasper,
Georgia; and Stephen S. Martin
of Huntington Station, New York,
who mentioned that one of the
past members of the Bayport Aero
drome, Tom Murphy, actually was
an early skywriter and flew this
type of aircraft at one time. .......
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

35

Blue Phoenix
continued from page 21

continued from page 25

The second question is about


drill bits. How are we supposed to
choose from all those drills that are
known by different sizes? Numbered
(1 through 80), metric (heaven for
bid), fractional, or decimal.
In my case, the problem is nar
rowed somewhat. I haven't a metric
drill bit in the shop, nor any deci
mal-sized bits. I haven't seen any of
them since my apprentice days, a
long time ago.
I do have a couple of sets of
numbered drills and a rack and box
of fractional.
The aircraft metal work uses
mostly numbers 40, 30, 21, and II.
All are just slightly larger than the
rivet diameters to be used. The rivet
is about .002 to .004 inch smaller
than the hole being drilled by its
corresponding number drill. That
way it slips into place easily, and
the small space on the sides of the
rivet shank allows for shank expan
sion when the head is bucked. A
good supply of nicely sharpened
numbered drills of these sizes is an
absolute necessity.
Wood work, on the other hand,
requires a brad-pointed drill, and
whatever you do, don't try to use
one of them in metal. It isn't tem
pered or intended for anything
except woodwork. However, with
care, it can be reworked to work
well in Plexiglas, polycarbonates,
and plastics. There are special bits
made just for drilling Plexiglas and
its plastic cousins. These bits are de
signed to minimize chipping of the
edges of the drilled hole; chips or
edge cracks can quickly lead to a
long crack in an expensive wind
shield . I'll describe the technique
for drilling plastic next month.
Maybe a description of the drill
is in order now. A drill bit has three
main parts. The shank is what you
stick in the chuck, and the drill size
is usually stamped onto the shank.
The tip does the actual cutting
work; the flutes allow transport of
36

MARCH 2006

the chips away from the work, help


cool the tip, and allow cutting oil
to reach the tip.
The tip, when looked at from
the bottom, looks a bit like an
hourglass. Believe it or not, the
angle at which the lips or cutting
edges are cut makes a big differ
ence. Aluminum should have an
included angle of 118 degrees.
That makes the sharpening angle
59 degrees. Use a high speed and
keep steady downward pressure to
prevent the bit from chattering in
the work.
Bits used for stainless steel
should have a sharpening angle of
70 degrees, 140 degrees included,
with a slow tip speed and some
what heavier downward pressure.
Soft materials such as soft alumi
num, lead, copper, and brass are 90
degrees or a 45-degree sharpening
angle. Speed is determined by how
the cutting is going.
Unless you are a production
shop, and most of us are not, drill
bit sharpening gauges, and actual
sharpening and going for the op
timum angle for the material used,
are best left to the experts who do
it every day. I find that in the long
run it is easier to just run down to
the supply house and buy myself a
couple of each size and a few more
for spares.
Of course, you can expend some
dollars and buy one of those fancy
bench-top drill bit sharpeners.
However, if I did, I'd endanger my
reputation as a retired "cheap air
line pilot!" There is another rea
son, too.
I'd have to read the book to see
how the proper sharpening angle is
set. That could be a problem, because
someone who doesn't understand
English wrote most of those books.
English that I can read, that is.
That's the drill and it's over to
you,

from work, but for safety and fire


inspection reasons, I wasn't al
lowed to see my hangar. A day
later, Wright brought the photos
of the disaster to my house, along
with cheerful photos of the arrival
of NC14302. My hangar suffered
the most damage, as it was right
next to the source. I was very con
cerned of the source of the blaze, as
I had practiced good house keep
ing and safety measures. A few days
later I was to learn that an electri
cal short and careless housekeeping
in the hangar next door caused it. I
wasn't allowed to view the damage
in the daylight until almost a week
later-it was sickening!
By my knowing the history on
this Fairchild, I had no doubt that
01 Blue was to be a phoenix and
fly again. Carefully, this skeleton
was photographed, disassembled,
and stored in a safe location. The
engines were taken home for in
spection and preservation, and the
ashes were sifted for fittings, sam
ples of craftsmanship, and puz
zle pieces. Some areas were spared
for replicating, and this Fairchild
will fly again someday because the
owners who preserved her history
from 1934 until 2005 saved pho
tos of the step-by-step restoration
in 1977. When the right person
comes along with dreams, ambi
tion, and craftsmanship, the Bille
Phoenix will fly again. This person
is to take on the duties of caretaker
and to write Part Two! The 54 days
of enjoyment with serial number
915 will stay with me forever. This
couldn't have been possible if Jon
Bartell hadn't done everything pos
sible to let me enjoy her, just like
Bob Fergus did for him, and Jim
did for Fergus.
Now that this is done, I can
start writing the biography on 01
Blue. This will take some time, but
it will be worth it! I hope to have
it finished before the Blue Phoenix
is completed.
....

missed by the entire team at Osh


kosh. Our hearts go out to his fam
ily as well as his many friends and
associates at the Fox Valley Techni
cal College in Oshkosh. For those
who may be inclined, a memorial
scholarship fund has been set up
at Fox Valley Tech in Daryl's name.
Please contact Fox Valley Techni
cal College, 1825 N. Bluemound
Drive, P.O. Box 2277, Appleton, WI
54912-2277, 920-735-5600 or 800
735-3882.
The Harold Neumann Mono
coupe restoration team of volun
te ers from VAA Chapter 37 made
another trip to Oshkosh in Janu
ary. This trip was scheduled for the
purpose of transporting the Mono
coupe fuselage to a hangar at the
Dekalb County Airport in Auburn,
Indiana, home to Vintage Chapter
37. The 350-mile trip home went
without a hitch. Many thanks to
all the volunteers for taking such
good care of Harold's airplane while
in transport. Chapter 37 President
Tim Fox was on hand, and is plan
ning on setting a schedule of work
weekends soon for anyone wish
ing to visit the project, or help out
in the restoration. Also that week
end was the annual Skiplane Fly
in at Pioneer Airport at Oshkosh.
Even though there was no snow in
sight, a good time was had by all in
attendance. A large crowd of avia
tion enthusiasts were on hand for
some great chili, and to wish Au
drey Poberezny a happy birthday.
Of course, on Sunday morning as
we prepared to depart Oshkosh with
the Monocoupe it was snowing like
mad. By the time we finished our
early morning breakfast there was a
good 2 inches on the ground!
Let's all pull in the same direc
tion for the good of aviation. Re
member, we are better together.
Join us and have it all.

Come or t e wee en

BUILD FOR A LIFETIME

March 18-19 watsonville. CA

March 24-26

Riverside. CA

Repairman (LSA) Inspection- Airplane

March 24-26

Frederick, MD

Repairman (LSA) Inspection- Airplane

Mar. 31-April 2 Griffin,GA


(Atlanta Area)

Sheet Metal Basics


Electrical Systems & Avionics
Introduction to Aircraft Building
Composite Construction

TIC Welding

April 1-2

Calgary, Ab,
Canada

Sheet Metal Basics


Fabric Covering

April 22-23

Detroit, MI

May 5-7

W. Palm Beach, FL Repairman (LSA) Inspection- Airplane

May 6-7

Oshkosh, WI

Fabric Covering Sheet Metal Basics


Electrical Systems & Avion ics
Introduction to Aircraft Building
Composite Construction

RV Assembly

(EAA HQ)

~ EAA

~A'

1-800-WORKSHOP

1-800-967-5746

www.sportair.com

."DII
rJfJl.

WORKSHOPS

---~--YOU CAN BUILD IT! LET EAA TEACH YOU HOW.


VINTAGE AIRPLANE

37

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


of information only and does not constitute approval, sponsorship, involve
ment, control, or direction of any event (fly-in, seminars, fly market, etc.)
listed. To submit an event, send the information via mail to: Vintage
Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Or e-mail the infor
mation to: vintageaircraft@eaa.org. Information should be received four
months prior to the event date.
MAY 5-7-Burlington , NC-Alamace County Airport (KBUY).
VAA Chapter 3 Spring Fly-In. All Classes Welcome! BBQ Fri Night,
Acft Judging/Banquet Sat Night. Info: Jim Wilson 843-753-7138 or
eiwi/son@homexpressway.net

MAY 21-Warwick, NY-Warwick Aerodome (N72). EAA Chapter 501


Annual Fly-In. 10am-4pm. Unicom advisory frequency is 123.0.
Food available. Trophies awarded for difference classes of aircraft.
Registration for judging closes at lpm. Info: Don Provost 973-492
9025 or donprov@opton/ine.net
MAY 21-Romeoville, IL-Lewis Romeoville Airport (LOT). EAA Chapter 15
Fly-In Breakfast. 7am-Noon. Info: George Linkis 630-243-8213
MAY 27-Zanesville, OH-Riverside Airport. EAA Chapter 425 Pancake
Breakfast Fly-In, Drive-In Breakfast. 8am-2pm with lunch items available
after 11am. Info: Chuck Bruckelmeyer 740-454-7487
JUNE 2-3-Bartlesville, OK-Frank Phillips Airfield. 20th Annual Biplane
Expo. Info: Charlie Harris 918-622-8400 , www.bip/aneexpo .com
JUNE 15-18-St. Louis , MO-Dauster Flying Field, Creve Coeur
Airport (lHO) . American Waco Club Fly-In. Info: Phil Coulson 269
624-6490, rcou/son516@cs.com or Jerry Brown 317-422-9366,
/brown4906@ao/.com , www.americanwacoc/ub.com

JUNE 24-Zanesville, OH-Riverside Airport. EAA Chapter 425 Pancake


Breakfast Fly-In, Drive-In Breakfast. 8am-2pm with lunch items available
after 11am. Info: Chuck Bruckelmeyer 740-454-7487
JULY IS-Zanesville, OH-Parr Airport. EAA Chapter 425 Pancake
Breakfast Fly-In , Drive-In Breakfast. 8am-2pm with lunch items available
after 11am. Info: Chuck Bruckelmeyer 740-454-7487
AUGUST 26-Niles, MI-Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport (3TR). VAA Chapter
35 Fly-In Drive-In Corn & Sausage Roast. llam-3pm. Rain Date August
27th. Info: Len Jansen 269-684-6566
SEPTEMBER 2-Zanesville , OH-Riverside Airport. EAA Chapter 425
Pancake Breakfast Fly-In, Drive-In Breakfast. 8am-2pm with lunch items
available after llam. Info: Chuck Bruckelmeyer 740-454-7487
SEPTEMBER 22-23-Bartlesville , OK-Frank Phillips Airfield. 50th
Annual Tulsa Regional Fly-In. Info: Charl ie Harris 918-622-8400.
www.tu/saf/yin.com
SEPTEMBER 30-Hanover, IN-Lee Bottom Flying Field (641). 10th Annual

Wood, Fabric, & Tailwheels Fly-In. Come see what everyone is talking
about. If you love the good old says, then you ' ll love this event. Info:
www.LeeBottom.com
38

MARCH 2006

2006 MAJOR

FLy-INS

For details on EAA Chapter fly-ins and

other local aviation events,

visit www.eaa.org/events

Sun In Fun Fly-In


Linder Regional Airport (LAL), Lakeland, FL
April 4-10, 2006

www.sun-n-fun.org

EM Southwest Regional-The Texas Fly-In


Hondo Municipal Airport (HDO), Hondo, TX
May 11-14, 2006

www.swrfi.org

Golden West EM Regional Fly-In


Yuba County Airport (Myv), Marysville, CA
June 9-11, 2006

www.goldenwestflyin.org

Rocky Mountain EM Regional Fly-In


Front Range Airport (FTG), Watkins, CO
June 24-25, 2006

www.rmrfi.org

Northwest EAA Fly-In


Arlington Municipal Airport (AWO) ,
Arlington, WA
July 5-9, 2006

www.nweaa.org

EM AirVenture Oshkosh
Wittman Regional Airport (OSH),
Oshkosh, WI
July 24-July 30, 2006

www.airventure.org

EM Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-In


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

Virginia Regional EM Fly-In


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

www.vaeaa.org

EM Southeast Regional Fly-In


Middleton Field Airport (GZH), Evergreen, AL
October 6-8, 2006

www.serfi.org

Copperstate Regional EM Fly-In


Casa Grande (AR) Municipal Airport (CGZ)
October 12-15,2006

www.copperstate.org

U.S. Sport Aviation Expo


Sebring Regional Airport, Sebring, FL
October 26-28, 2006

www.sport-aviation-expo.com
For details on EAA Chapter fly-ins and
other local aviation events, visit www.

eaa.org/ events

Something to buy, sell, or trade?


Classified Word Ads: $5.50 per 10 words, 180 words maximum, with boldface lead-in on first line.
Classified Display Ads: One column wide (2.167 inches) by 1, 2, or 3 inches high at $20 per inch. Black and white
only, and no frequency discounts.
Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of second month prior to desired issue date (Le., January 10 is the closing date for the
March issue). VAA reserves the right to reject any advertising in conflict with its pOlicies. Rates cover one insertion per issue.
Classified ads are not accepted via phone. Payment must accompany order. Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426-4828)
or e-mail (c/assads@eaa.org) using credit card payment (all cards accepted). Include name on card, complete address, type of
card, card number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to EAA. Address advertising correspondence to EAA Publications
Classified Ad Manager, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086
Warner engines. Two 165s, one fresh
O.H., one low time on Fairchild 24
mount with all accessories . Also
Helton Lark and Aeronca C-3 project.
Find my name and address in the
Officers and Directors listing and call
evenings. E. E. "Buck" Hilbert.
CUSTOM PRINTED T-SHIRTS for your
flying club, flight shop, museum. Free
samples. Call 1-800-645-7739 or 1
828-654-9711
A&P I.A.: Annual, 100 hr. inspections.

Wayne Forshey 740-472-1481

Ohio - statewide.

THERE'S JUST NOTHING LIKE IT

ON THE WEB!!

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

BABBITT BEARING SERVICE - rod


bearings, main bearings, bushings,
master rods, valves, piston rings.
Call us Toll Free 1-800-233- 6934,
e-mail ramremfg@aol.com Website
www.ramengine.com VINTAGE
ENGINE MACHINE WORKS,
N. 604 FREYA ST., SPOKANE, WA
99202
Airplane T-Shirts
150 Different Airplanes Available
WE PROBABLY HAVE YOUR
AIRPLANE!

www.airplanetshirts.com
1-800-645-7739
1938 CESSNA AIR MASTER 1874TI,
165 HP WARNER SUPER SCARAB,
480 HRS, CURTISS REED PROP,
ALWAYS HANGARED, FRESH
ANNUAL $54,500 (707) 812-0300
OR (707) 480-1012

flying wires available. 1994 pricing.


Visit www.flylngwlres.com or call
800-517-9278.
SPECTACULAR PRIVATE airport and
estate home for sale. Upper bracket
rare opportunity. Located 45 min south
of Montgomery, AL. Just minutes from
historic Greenville. Private historic
airport with 3000' putting green runway,
great approaches, large main hangar
with offices, 2 aux hangars, 10,000
gal fuel and much more. Charming
Sourthern estate home features 4500
sq. ft. and is situated on picturesque
private lake. Located in area of other
exclusive property. 60 acres total,
more acreage available. Tremendous
development potential. When only
the best will do! $2.5 million. www.
mcgowinfiled.com or call Jimmie
Ann Campbell at Prudential Ballard
Realty 334-221-5800.

WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE RESTORING


For many years, we ran a regular monthly feature called 'What Our Members Are Restoring ". Over the past couple
of years, the number of submissions for that feature has dwindled to a trickle , and we 'd like you to help us give it a
boost. In the distant past, each new and renewing member of EM and VM received an "activity card" that gave the
member the opportunity to tell headquarters what airplanes they were working on. Since that card is no longer part of
a new-member packet, we have no way of knowing what you're up to , so here's our request.
Are you nearing completion of a restoration? Or is it done and you're busy flying and showing it off? If so, we'd
like to hear from you. Send us a 4-by-6-inch print from a commercial source (no home printers, please-those
prints just don't scan well) or a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital photo. A JPG from your 2 .5-megapixel (or higher) digital
camera is fine. You can burn photos to a CD, or if you're on a high-speed Internet connection , you can e-mail
them along with a text-only or Word document describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program asks if yo a' d like to
make the photos smaller, say no.) For more tips on creating photos we can publish , visit VAA' s website at www.

vintageaircraft.org. Check the News page for a hyperlink to Want To Send Us A Photograph?
For more information, you can also e-mail us at vintageaircraft@eaa.org or call us at 920-426-4825.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

39

Membershi~ Services
VINTAGE

AIRCRAFT

ENJOY THE MANY BENEFI TS OF EAA AND


ASSOCIATION
THE EAA VI NTAGE A IRCRAFT A SSOCIATION
OFFICERS
President
Geoff Robison
1521 E. MacGregor Dr.

New Haven, IN 46774


260-493-4724
cllief7025~{loJ.com

Secretary
Steve Nesse
2009 Highland Ave.
Albert Lea, MN 56007
507-373-1674
stlles@''fleskmedia.com

Vice-President

George Daubner
2448 Loug h Lane
Hartford, WI 53027
262-673-5885
vaa{lyboyCiVtrlSfl.com

Treasure r
Charles W. Ha rriS
7215 Eas t 46th 51.
Tu lsa, OK 7~147
918-622-8400

cwh@hvsu.coll1

DIRECTORS
Steve Hender

Jeannie Hil l

85 Brush Hill Road


Sherborn, MA 0 1770
50B-653-7557

P.O. Box 328


Harvard, IL 60033-0328
815-943-7205
dinghaoowc.l1et

sst 10@comcast.1Iet

David Bennett
P.O. Box 1188
Rosevi lle, CA 95678
916-645-8370
antiqller@;nreadl.co1ll
John Berendt
7645 Echo Point Rd.
Ca nnon Fall s, M N 5S009
507-263-24 14
mjb(cItJd@rcol1llect. co l1J

Dave Clark
63S Vestal Lane
Plainfield, IN 46168
3 17 -839-4500

davecpdcr!liques t.llet

Espie "Butch" Joyce


704 N. Regional Rd.

Greensboro, NC 27409
336-668-3650

windsock@aoi.com
Steve Krog

1002 Heathe r Ln .
Hartford, WI 53027
262-966- 7627

EAA Aviation Center, PO Box 3086, Osh kosh WI 54903-3086


Phone (920) 426-4800

Fax (920) 426-4873


E-Mail: vintageaircra(t@eaa.org

Web Site: www,vintageaircraft,org and www.airventure.org


EAA and Division Membership Services
800-843-3612 . ....... FAX 920-426-676 1
(8:00 AM-7:00 PM
Monday-Friday CST)
- New/renew memberships: EAA, Divi
sions (Vi ntage Aircraft Associatio n, lAC,
Wa rbirds), Na tion al Association of Flight
Instructors (NAFI)

-Address changes

-Merch andise sales

-Gi ft memberships

Programs and Activities


EAA AirVenture Fa x-O n- Demand Directory
. ..... _... . .. . ........ . . 732-885-671 1
Auto Fuel STC5 ............ 920-426-4843
Build/ res tore in fo rmatio n ... 920-426-482 1
Chapters: locating/orga nizing920-426-4876
Ed uca tion ....... . ... . .... 888-322-3229
- EAA Air Academy

- EAA Scholarshi ps

Flight Advisors info rmation .. 920-426-6864


Flight Instruct or info rmation 920-426-6801
Flying Start Program _.. .... 920-426-6847
Library Services/Research .... 920-426-4848
Medical Questions _.... . _.. 920-426-6112
Techn ical Counselors ... , ... 920-426-6864
Young Eagles ..... .... , _. _ 877-806-8902
Benefits
AUA Vintage Insurance Plan _ 800-727-3823
EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan . 866-647-4322
Term Li fe and Accidental. ... 800-24 1-6103
Death Insurance (Harvey Watt & Com pa ny)
Editorial ....... __ ........ 920-426-4825
Vi ntage ..... _. __ ..... FAX 920-426-6865
- Subm itting article/photo
Adve rtiSi ng in fo rmation
EAA Aviatio n Foundati on
Artifact Donations .... . ... 920-426-4877
Financial Support. .. . ... _, . 800-236-1025

sskrog@aoi. com
Robert D. "Bob" Lumley
1265 South 124th St.
Brookfiel d, W I 53005
262-782-2633
lumper(if!('xecpc.com

John S. Co pe land

Gene Morris

IA Deacon Street

5936 Steve Court


Roanoke, TX 76262
8 17-491-91 10

Northborough , MA 01532
508-393-477 5
(opeland l @jllllo. com

genemorris@charter."et

Phil Coulson
2841 5 Springbrook Dr.
L.lwton, Ml 49065
269-624-6490
rcoll/sonS 16@cs.co11l

1429 Kings Lynn Rd


Stoughton, WI 53589
608-877-B485
dar@.)aprilaire.com

Da le A. Gustafson
7724 Shady H i lls Dr.

2359 Lefeber Avenue

Ind ianapoli s, IN 46278

Wa uwatosa, WI 532 13

3 17-293-4430

414-771- 1545
sllsch,nid@fllilwp c,coln

dalefaye@msIJ. com

Directory

Dean Richardson

S.H. "Wes" Schm id

DIRECTORS

EMERITUS

Gene Chase

E.E_ " Buck" Hilbert

2159 Carlton Rd .
Oshkosh , WI 54904
920-231-5002

P.O. Box 424


Union, IL 60 180
8 15-923-459 1

GRCHA@dwrter.lIet

b7ar@mc.l1et

Ronald C. Fritz

1540 1 Spa rta Ave.

Ken t City, MI 49330

6 16-678-50 12

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
EAA

lAC

Membership in the Experimental Aircraft


Association, Inc. is $40 for one year, includ
ing 12 issues of SPOR T AVIATION. Family
membership is an additional $10 annually.
Junior Membership (under 19 years of age)
is available at $23 annually. All major credit
cards accepted for membership. (Add $16 for
Fureign Postage.)

Current EAA m embers may join the


International Aerobatic Club, Inc. Divi
sion and receive SPORT AEROBATICS
magazine for an additional $45 per year.
EAA Membership, SPOR T AEROBAT
I CS magazine and one year membership
in the lAC Division is available f or $55
per year (SP OR T AVIATION maga zine
not included), (Add $15 fo r Foreign
Postage,)

EAA SPORT PILOT


Current EAA members ma y add EAA
SPORT PILOT magazine for an additional
$20 per year.
EAA Member ship a nd EAA SPO R T
PILOT magazine is available for $40 per
year (SPOR T AVIATION m agazine not in
cluded). (Add $16 for Foreign Postage,)

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION


Current EAA m embers may join the
Vintage Aircraft Associatio n and receive
VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for an ad
ditional $36 per year.
EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE
magazine and one year membership in the EAA
Vintage Aircraft Association is available for $46
per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not in
cluded), (Add $7 for Foreign Postage.)

WARBIRDS
Current EAA members may join the EAA
Warbirds of Am erica Division and receive
WARBIRDS magazine for an additional $40
per year,
EAA Membersh ip , WA RBIRDS ma ga
zine and o ne ye a r membership in th e
Warbirds Division is available for $50 per
year (SPORT AVIATION magazine n ot in
cluded). (Add $ 7 for Foreign Postage,)

FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS
Please submit your remittan ce with a
check or draft drawn on a United States
bank payable in United States dollars, Add
required Foreign. Postage amount for each
membership.

rFritz@path waYl1et.com

Membership dues to EAA and its divisions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions
Copyright 2006 by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association
All rights reserved.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE (USPS 062-750; ISSN 0091-6943) is published and owned exclusively by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association of the Experimental Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EAA

Aviation Center, 3000 Poberezny Rd., PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54903-3086, e-mail: vintageaircraft@eaa.org. Periodicals Postage paid at Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901 and at additional mailing offices. POST
MASTER: Send address changes to Vintage Airplane. PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. PM 40032445 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to World Distribution Services, Station A, PO Box 54 , Windsor,
ON N9A 6J5, e-mail: cpcretums@Wdsmail.com. FOREIGN AND APO ADDRESSES - Please allow at least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLAN E to foreign and APO addresses via surface mail. ADVERTIS

ING - Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the advertising. We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our
advertising so that corrective measures can be taken.
EDITORIAL POLICY: Readers are encouraged to submit stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with
the contributor. No remuneration is made. Material should be sent to: Editor. VINTAGE AIRPLANE, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Phone 920-426-4800.

EAA and EAA SPORT AVlATION, the EM Logo and Aeronautica are registered trademarks, trademarks, and selVice marks of the EXperimental Aircraft Association, Inc. The use of these trademarks and
service marks without the permission of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. is strictly prohibited.

40

MA R CH 2006

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