Va vol 41 no 5 sep oct 2013

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013

Super

CUB One

•Flying a Helio Courier •AirVenture Awards •Vin Fiz

Straight & Level

Vintage Airplane STAFF

GEOFF ROBISON

VAA PRESIDENT, EAA 268346, VAA 12606

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

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

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

Oshkosh 2013 is now in the history books

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jbusha@eaa.org

VAA Executive Administrator. Max Platts

920-426-6110. . . . . . . . . . mplatts@eaa.org

Advertising Director. . . . . . Katrina Bradshaw

202-577-9292. . . . . . . . . . kbradshaw@eaa.org

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

We are proud of the partnership between Ford and EAA and the benefits we can bring together to AirVenture. Our relationship spans more than a decade, and we continue to expand each year!

Our goal is to enhance the EAA experience for all members and to improve the consideration of Ford Motor Company products.

EAA appreciates Ford’s active involvement at AirVenture by supporting the opening day Chicago concert, the nightly Fly-In Theater, the fantastic Thunderbirds Edition Mustang benefitting the Young Eagles and so much more.

2013 AirVenture was a remarkable week of excitement and fun.

Thank you for attending AirVenture and we look forward to seeing you again next year!

EAA members are eligible for special pricing on Ford Motor Company vehicles through Ford’s Partner Recognition Program. To learn more on this exclusive opportunity for EAA members to save on a new Ford vehicle, please visit www.eaa.org/ford.

Edsel B. Ford II Board Director, Ford Motor Co.

Jack Pelton EAA Chairman

recent FAA action to assess operational fees for air traffic control services at AirVenture Oshkosh. To me, this is a particularly troublesome development that arises out of the issues relevant to sequestration as it was applied to the FAA. Early on in this debate Congress responded by exempting the FAA from the budget cuts that sequestration imposed on them. Of course, we all wrongly assumed that this would eliminate the then “proposed” fees placed on AirVenture Oshkosh.

This very burdensome level of fees is really an unfair tax on a significant aviation event that has been leveled by the FAA without any authority whatsoever to act in this manner. My real purpose here is to merely reach out to our membership and encourage you all to continue to communicate to your representatives in Washington our strong displeasure with this unauthorized attack on general aviation.

This action by the FAA has now caught the ire of many of the members of the GA coalition in our Congress, and this has resulted in a strong admonition to the FAA from them. So, please be sure to also thank those congressional members who have taken a strong position against this unauthorized action by the FAA. Finally, please be assured that our government relations group at EAA is deeply engaged on this issue, and we all appreciate their efforts and hope for a positive resolution to all of these issues.

As I pen this edition of Straight & Level, it is actually the day before AirVenture 2013 begins. Many early signs of a successful event are developing right before our eyes. Strong numbers of volunteers, record numbers of registered returning past Grand Champions, a strong number of early arriving display and camping aircraft, and a good number of vintage aircraft that we have never before seen at Oshkosh are all excellent indicators of a successful event.

Of course, by the time you read this month’s Straight & Level column, AirVenture 2013 will be in the history books, and I am optimistic that those of you who came to share the passion had a grand time and enjoyed yet another excellent episode of the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration.

It’s also very appropriate to me that we recognize the efforts of the VAA board of directors for their monstrous engagement in this year’s event and the hundreds of vintage volunteers who yet again invested continued on page 63

Advertising Manager . . . . . Sue Anderson

920-426-6127. . . . . . . . . . sanderson@eaa.org

Art Director. . . . . . . . . . . Livy Trabbold VAA, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903 Website: www.VintageAircraft.org Email: VintageAircraft@eaa.org

TM

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION Current EAA members may join the Vintage Aircraft Association and receive VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for an additional $42 per year.

EAA Membership, VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine and one year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association is available for $52 per year (SPORT AVIATION magazine not included). (Add $7 for International Postage.)

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

Member Services PO Box 3086 Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086 Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM—6:00 PM CST Join/Renew 800-564-6322 membership@eaa.org EAA AirVenture Oshkosh www.airventure.org 888-322-4636

www.VintageAircraft.org

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Vol. 41, No. 5

2013

CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 20

Flying a Helio Courier in a Country Kinda Way! Aaron Tippin and his 1959 H-395 Helio Jim Busha

28

Turning Back the Hands of Time The resurrection and restoration of the first Piper Super Cub Jim Busha

38

The Papoose Pair A different kind of Cub at AirVenture Budd Davisson

COVERS

FRONT COVER: Roger and Darin Megger’s are all smiles in their Super Cub number one. Russ Munson Photo.

BACK COVER: Aaron Tippin flies his Helio Courier for Jim Koepnick’s camera lens.

45

Coast to Coast With the Vin Fiz Part 1 The 84-day odyssey of Cal Rodgers Mark Carlson

ANY COMMENTS?

Send your thoughts to the Vintage Editor at: jbusha@eaa.org For missing or replacement magazines, or any other membership-related questions, please call EAA Member Services at 800-JOIN-EAA (564-6322).

@VintageEAA

facebook.com/EAAVintage

COLUMNS 1

Straight and Level Oshkosh 2013 is now in the history books Geoff Robison

8

Join Friends of the Red Barn

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SEPTEMBER / OC TOBER 2013

4

Air Mail

6

2013 AirVenture Vintage Awards

10 How to?

Prepare a surface for fabric covering

Robert G. Lock

15

Ask the AME Disqualifying medical conditions John Patterson, M.D., AME

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16

Good Old Days

The Vintage Instructor Aviation growth through vintage aircraft Steve Krog, CFI

54

Around the Pylons How to beat your plowshare into a sword Don Berliner

58 The Vintage Mechanic

Aircraft covering, Part 1

Robert G. Lock 63 Gone West & New Members www.VintageAircraft.org

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Air Mail Don Berliner’s July/August column Hi Jim, Just got the new Vintage mag. And, as always, enjoy reading it. Please send this attachment to Don Berliner that wrote the article on the race planes in July/August. In the 1991 EAA Sport Aviation there is also an article on race planes with Pete. Ed Marquart restored Pete’s structure, and I covered and painted it in ’91 just before we took it to Oshkosh. Pete was cut in half to restore, as the front half had been so modified with welding that Ed remade the front for Pete, and Greg Laird made a new aft for Little Audrey as discussed in the attached article.

Thanks.

Jan Johnson Jim, I was reading Mr. Berliner’s piece in the July/August issue and stopped at the Kadiak Speedster and looked at the attached pictures, and N11312 hit me.

This machine was also owned by Robert Young of Martinsville, Indiana, probably in ’41 plus or minus a year or two. Bob and my father were primary training pilots for a school in Indianapolis owned by Roscoe Turner. They trained the new boys on the basics in J-3s.

Bob and my father, Don Moschenross, are now gone, but in their flying days I loved to go on the Saturday tours of various garages and basements in the early ’70s. Bob built a Baby Ace, Pitts, Woody Pusher, and flew them all. My father built a Starlet which was last seen, and was flying in 2001, in the hangar of Vern Bothwell in west central Indiana.

It continued with my building of a Lazair with 4

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Kadiak Speedster N11312

Sport Aviation, November 1991 many old eyes watching as they helped and advised.

I enjoy all the EAA publications and will continue to support your efforts to support private aviation.

Please use this e-mail as you wish and, of course, send it on to Mr. Berliner.

Jim Moschenross EAA 391629 Hi Jim, In the article written by Don Berliner in the July/ August issue I have a photo of one of the airplanes mentioned, which I bought on eBay several years ago.

It is of Kadiak Speedster N11312. Since there wasn’t a photo of this aircraft within the article, if interested, I can send a digital file of the photo.

Great magazine!

Albert Dyer

Jim, I very much enjoyed Don’s articles on pre-World War II racing aircraft. These articles tie in with two articles I wrote about the Hunter brothers that were published in Vintage Airplane in June and July 2012. Gordon Israel was a good friend of Kenneth Hunter. In fact, Kenneth and Gordon Israel built a racing plane and planned to enter in the 1932 National Air Race at Cleveland, Ohio. Kenneth crashed the airplane while testing it at Lambert Field in St. Louis. Israel and Hunter decided not to rebuild the airplane. Gordon Israel went on the work for Grumman Aircraft during WWII. Walter Hunter purchased the Travel Air Mystery Ship NR614K from Curtiss Wright in June 1931. He replaced the engine with a Curtiss Wright J6 engine that Curtiss Wright gave the Hunter brothers after their record-setting endurance flight. He flew the airplane to Teterboro, New Jersey, and installed a new Curtiss Wright J6 engine. He flew the airplane to Burbank, California, for the Bendix Transcontinental Race.

An article in the February 1983 issue of Vintage Airplane magazine provides details of Walter’s experience on his flight from Burbank to Cleveland. When Walter arrived in Cleveland in NR614K, he flew around the course for the Thompson Trophy race. The engine caught fire again, and Walter was forced to bail out of the airplane. When the airplane struck the ground, the fire was extinguished. The wrecked airplane NR614K was returned to Albert Hunter’s home near Tilden, Illinois. The tail of the wrecked NR614K was donated to the Beech Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennes-

see, by one of Albert Hunter’s daughters and Walter’s niece. The tail of NR614K was used in rebuilding Travel Air Mystery Ship NR614K, which is now on display at the Beech Heritage Museum. The airplane is painted as it was when it won the 1929 Thompson Trophy race.

When Walter rebuilt the airplane for the 1931 Bendix Trophy Race, he painted it orange and black, the colors of the University of Illinois.

Robert H. Hayes EAA 1021394 VAA 721606 Dear Jim, I truly enjoyed the Laird article in the May/June 2013 issue. Amazing that No. 203 survived in the factory crates for all those years! The number of Lairds manufactured needs clarification though.

On page 35 it states, “Were 203 different Lairds built in the various models.”

The first Laird serial number was, in fact, 101 for the first 1923 Swallow and continued to 215. I would say 115 is a more likely number for the various models. There is no data known to me for serial numbers 208 through 215 (if, indeed, these were constructed).

Sincerely, Richard L. Seely VAA 722449 Thanks for the clarification and history lesson Richard—much appreciated!

—Jim www.VintageAircraft.org

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2013 AirVenture Vintage Awards Antique (through August 1945) Transport Category Runner-Up Keith Swalheim Cottage Grove, Wisconsin 1934 Stinson SR-5A, N14163

Golden Age (1918 1927) Champion - Bronze Lindy Timothy Bickford Limington, Maine 1927 Travel Air 4000, N6005

Customized Aircraft Runner Up Charles Doyle Webster, Minnesota 1942 Boeing A75N1 (PT-17), N966CD

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

Antique Grand Champion - Gold Lindy Dave and Jeanne Allen Elbert, Colorado 1934 Waco YKC, N14137

Bronze Age (1937-1941) Outstanding Closed-Cockpit Monoplane Joseph Flood Franklinville, New Jersey 1945 Aeronca 65-C, N23927

Silver Age (1928-1936) Outstanding

Closed-Cockpit Monoplane

Glenn Peck

Maryland Heights, Missouri

1929 Mono Aircraft Monosport 2, N4799E

Silver Age (1928-1936) Runner-Up Thilo Eckardt Beaumont, Texas 1930 Waco RNF, N107Y Transport Category Champion - Bronze Lindy James Hawkes Jupiter, Florida 1947 Beech G17S, N80315 Customized Aircraft Champion - Bronze Lindy Sarah Wilson Lakeland, Florida 1929 Stearman 4E, N667K

World War II Era (1942 1945) Champion - Bronze Lindy Roger Brown Port St. Lucie, Florida 1943 Howard DGA-15P, N29457 Bronze Age (1937 1941) Champion - Bronze Lindy James Savage Gibsonia, Pennsylvania 1939 Spartan 7W, N17634 Silver Age (1928 1936) Champion - Bronze Lindy Chris Galloway Davis, California 1935 Beech B17E, N14458

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Classic (September 1945-1955) Outstanding Aeronca Champ - Small Plaque Duane Jones New Carlisle, Ohio 1946 Aeronca 7AC, N2189E Outstanding Bellanca - Small Plaque Bryan Quickmire Tiny, Ontario, Canada 1950 Bellanca 14-19 Cruisemaster, CFGLQ Outstanding Cessna 120/140 - Small Plaque Thomas West Phoenix, Arizona 1947 Cessna 140, N2574N Outstanding Cessna 170/180 - Small Plaque Vincent Lalomia Montclair, New Jersey 1954 Cessna 170B, N1936C Outstanding Cessna 190/195 - Small Plaque Michael Pratt Louisville, Kentucky 1950 Cessna 195A, N1001D Outstanding Luscombe - Small Plaque T.J. Stegman St. Peters, Missouri 1946 Luscombe 8A, NC45896 Outstanding Navion - Small Plaque Glenn Krafcik Hinckley, Ohio 1948 Ryan Navion, N4411K Outstanding Piper J-3 - Small Plaque Matthew Foster Poplar Grove, Illinois 1945 Piper J-3C-65, N42436

Outstanding Piper Other - Small Plaque Timothy Moore Trumansburg, New York 1947 Piper PA-11, N4769M

Class IV (236-plus hp) - Bronze Lindy Raymond Franke Walnutport, Pennsylvania 1953 Cessna 195B, N195RA

Limited Production - Outstanding in Type Gary White Spokane Valley, Washington 1969 Aero Commander 100, N4153X

Outstanding Swift - Small Plaque James Minor Lake Dallas, Texas 1946 Globe GC-1B, N3370K

Best Custom - Bronze Lindy James Younggren Hallock, Minnesota 1951 Piper PA-18, N1066A

Preservation Award - Outstanding in Type Michael Tovani Windsor, California 1957 Champion 7FC, N7557B

Outstanding Taylorcraft - Small Plaque Mike D. Ramos Stoughton, Wisconsin 1946 Taylorcraft BC12D, N44034

Reserve Grand Champion - Silver Lindy Kenneth Morris Poplar Grove, Illinois 1950 Cessna 140A, N9467A

Class I Single Engine (0-160 hp) - Bronze Lindy Chris Demopoulos Dyer, Indiana 1966 Cessna 172H, N3832R

Custom Class A (0-80 hp) - Small Plaque Michael Lazarowicz Port Clinton, Ohio 1946 Taylorcraft BC12D, N95817

Grand Champion - Gold Lindy Greg and Cindy Heckman Polo, Illinois 1946 Funk B85C, N77727

Class II Single Engine (161-230 hp)-Bronze Lindy Dale Phillips Westfield, North Carolina 1969 Piper PA-28-180, N6428J

Custom Class B (81-150 hp) - Small Plaque James Strong Williamsville, New York 1950 Luscombe 8F, N815B

Contemporary (1956-1970) Beech Single Engine - Outstanding in Type Alex Watson Brighton, Colorado 1961 Beech 35 B33, N285BW

Class III Single Engine (231-plus hp)-Bronze Lindy Stephen Jones Cypress, Texas 1959 Beech K35, N5EH

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

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

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

Piper PA-28 Cherokee - Outstanding in Type Matt Hofeldt Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1968 Piper PA-28-180, N6496J

www.VintageAircraft.org

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Nominat ions

C A L L F OR V I N TA G E A I R C R A F T A S S O C I AT ION

Join Friends

of the Red

Barn!

Your support is crucial to the success of VAA’s AirVenture activities and programs VAA members like you are passionate about your affiliation with vintage aviation, and it shows.

You’re the most loyal of all EAA members, renewing your VAA membership each and every year at a rate higher than any other group within the EAA family. We appreciate your dedication! Each year we give you another opportunity to strengthen your bond with the VAA by inviting you to become a Friend of the Red Barn.

This special opportunity helps VAA put together all the components that make the Vintage area of EAA AirVenture a unique and exciting part of the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration. This special fund was established to cover a significant portion of the VAA’s expenses related to serving VAA members during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, so that no dues money is used to support the convention activities.

This is a great opportunity for Vintage members to join together as key financial supporters of the Vintage division. It’s a rewarding experience for 8

SEPTEMBER /OC TOBER 2013

each of us as individuals to be a part of supporting the finest gathering of Antique, Classic, and Contemporary airplanes in the world.

At whatever level is comfortable for you, won’t you please join those of us who recognize the tremendously valuable key role the Vintage Aircraft Association has played in preserving the irreplaceable grassroots and general aviation airplanes of the last 100 years? Your participation in EAA’s Vintage Aircraft Association Friends of the Red Barn will help ensure the very finest in EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Vintage programs.

To participate in this year’s campaign, fill out the donation form by visiting our website at www.

VintageAircraft.org/programs/redbarn.html to make an online contribution. And to each and every one of you who has already contributed, or is about to, a heartfelt “thank you” from the officers, directors, staff, and volunteers of the Vintage Aircraft Association!

Nominate your favorite vintage aviator for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame. A great honor could be bestowed upon that man or woman working next to you on your airplane, sitting next to you in the chapter meeting, or walking next to you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Think about the people in your circle of aviation friends: the mechanic, historian, photographer, or pilot who has shared innumerable tips with you and with many others. They could be the next VAA Hall of Fame inductee—but only if they are nominated.

The person you nominate can be a citizen of any country and may be living or deceased; his or her involvement in vintage aviation must have occurred between 1950 and

the present day. His or her contribution can be in the areas of flying, design, mechanical or aerodynamic developments, administration, writing, some other vital and relevant field, or any combination of fields that support aviation. The person you nominate must be or have been a member of the Vintage Aircraft Association or the Antique/Classic Division of EAA, and preference is given to those whose actions have contributed to the VAA in some way, perhaps as a volunteer, a restorer who shares his expertise with others, a writer, a photographer, or a pilot sharing stories, preserving aviation history, and encouraging new pilots and enthusiasts.

To nominate someone is easy. It just takes a little time and a little reminiscing on your part.

•Think of a person; think of his or her contributions to vintage aviation.

•Write those contributions in the various categories of the nomination form.

•Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions. Make copies of newspaper or magazine articles that may substantiate your view.

•If at all possible, have another individual (or more) complete a form or write a letter about this person, confirming why the person is a good candidate for induction.

We would like to take this opportunity to mention that if you have nominated someone for the VAA Hall of Fame; nominations for the honor are kept on file for 3 years, after which the nomination must be resubmitted.

Mail nominating materials to: VAA Hall of Fame, c/o Charles W. Harris, Transportation Leasing Corp.

PO Box 470350

Tulsa, OK 74147 E-mail: cwh@hvsu.com Remember, your “contemporary” may be a candidate; nominate someone today!

Find the nomination form at www.VintageAircraft.org, or call the VAA office for a copy (920-426-6110), or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information: •Date submitted.

•Name of person nominated.

•Address and phone number of nominee.

•E-mail address of nominee.

•Date of birth of nominee. If deceased, date of death.

•Name and relationship of nominee’s closest living relative.

•Address and phone of nominee’s closest living relative.

•VAA and EAA number, if known. (Nominee must have been or is a VAA member.)

•Time span (dates) of the nominee’s contributions to vintage aviation.

(Must be between 1950 to present day.)

•Area(s) of contributions to aviation.

•Describe the event(s) or nature of activities the nominee has undertaken in aviation to be worthy of induction into the VAA Hall of Fame.

•Describe achievements the nominee has made in other related fields in aviation.

•Has the nominee already been honored for his or her involvement in aviation and/or the contribution you are stating in this petition? If yes, please explain the nature of the honor and/or award the nominee has received.

•Any additional supporting information.

•Submitter’s address and phone number, plus e-mail address.

•Include any supporting material with your petition.

www.VintageAircraft.org

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How to?

ROBERT G. LOCK

In photo 2, the padding is bonded in place using manufacturer’s approved adhesive. The Champ wing chord is too wide to blanket cover the wing; therefore, three strips of fabric had to be sewn together so there was no need to glue fabric to the leading edge. Do not glue fabric to the padding; it won’t work.

Prepare a surface for fabric covering

other places on occasion. Photo 3 is a Bücker BU-133 Jungmeister wing I covered many years ago for John Hickman. These wings were narrow chord, and the fabric could be blanketed in place and not require any machine sewing.

The upper Bücker Jungmeister wing as it’s being covered with the Ceconite process back in 1970. This wing is all wood construction, and the leading edge and other areas are covered with padding. The fabric was installed around the leading edge and glued to the inside of the wing spar. A little preshrink-

Preparation of a structure to

receive fabric covering requires some thought be given to sharp edges or overlaps that need to be covered with tape.

And, depending on what type of fabric attachment is chosen, one may want to cover the leading edge metal with a polyester padding that will blend out surface irregularities such as skin overlaps.

I always cover any nail heads on the leading edge with a good grade tape—I particularly like to use “gaffer’s tape.”

Gaffer’s tape has an adhesive that securely bonds it to an aluminum leading edge. Do that first before installing the polyester padding. Then inspect the rest of the structure, checking if there are any sharp edges that could penetrate and damage the fabric. I always put tape over trailing edge rivets.

See Photo 1.

Polyester padding may then be installed on the leading edge of the wing by bonding it along upper and lower edges of spars. Do not attempt to bond the entire leading edge as the padding needs to be soft and pliable. Right, gaffer’s tape

10

SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

Photo 3 Photo 2

Using this method of leading edge protection will lead to a very smooth covering job where skin overlaps and nail or screw heads cannot be seen. Whenever possible I always use padding on the leading edges and a few

ing was done to tauten the leading edge and then it was coated with nitrate dope. Then the bottom of the fabric was bonded in place, wrapped all the way around the leading edge, and bonded to the area along the top of the spar. What did the airplane look like when it was finished? Well, here it is in Photo 4.

Photo 1

covers sheet metal attaching screws on a leading edge, and a strip of polyester padding is ready to be bonded in place.

Photo 4 www.VintageAircraft.org

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The Vintage Instructor STEVE KROG, VAA DIRECTOR AND CFI

Aviation growth through vintage aircraft I’ve watched nearly every aviation alphabet

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

Think back in time for a moment. Was your first bicycle a brand-new 10-speed racing bike?

Take a look at this example proving my point.

If a young man or woman, currently not exposed to aviation, as we all are, decides he or she has an interest in learning to fly, the usual first step taken is visiting the Internet and doing a search under “learn to fly.” This search instantly offers 66 pages with 10 to 12 titles per page that talk about learning to fly. If that isn’t confusing enough, most of the titles deal with computer games about flying. Any person searching through the first few pages will become overwhelmed and click out of the search.

If the individual is persistent, though, and 12

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finally finds a title that actually talks about learning to fly, he or she will find a list dealing with all of the requirements. This information is important, but it doesn’t address the key question of “How can I learn to fly and then affordably continue to fly?” I couldn’t find a single article of the 600 to 700 articles listed that answers this question! And not a single one of these articles addresses the sport pilot category.

A novice who is truly interested in flying might next conduct an Internet search for airplanes. They might even visit the area bookstore and pick up an aviation magazine. There isn’t a single new aircraft available under $100,000, and most are considerably more. That alone is a big negative for a potential new pilot. The novice then discontinues his or her search thinking that learning to fly is an unattainable expensive dream. Another potential pilot lost because of incorrect market perceptions!

a bit differently. You may have repainted the frame, added mud flaps, changed the size of the front tire, clothes-pinned a baseball card in the front spokes, or added reflectors, but it was still the first bike.

A year or two later you outgrew your first bike, sold it to another neighborhood kid, and bought a bigger, faster, more complex bike with money you saved. You traded up, so to speak. This bike may not have been brand-new, but it was bigger, faster, and it had some additional bells and whistles.

Then a couple of years later, when you had a parttime job, your income allowed for you to purchase either a new 18-speed racing model, a 12-speed mountain bike, or a lightweight small-frame bike on which you could do all sorts of bike tricks.

This same example could be used for buying a first boat, motorcycle, or downhill skis and boots. But more important, the example parallels how most of us were able to get involved in flying and then owning our first airplane.

Enter Vintage Aircraft

The most affordable path toward pleasure flying today is through vintage aircraft. One doesn’t need to spend more than $100,000 to own and fly an airplane!

However, most individuals wanting to learn to fly are unaware of the cost and variety of the many makes and models qualifying as vintage aircraft. As an industry as a whole, we’ve never

Entry Level and Transitions

Think back in time for a moment. Was your first bicycle a brand-new 10-speed racing bike?

Of course not. If your childhood was similar to mine, you learned to ride on a well used but sound bike that you probably purchased from a neighbor or family friend. It was your first bike, and you really didn’t care if it was well used. It was new to you, and that is all that mattered.

With a little help and a lot of encouragement, you learned to ride that bike. As you perfected your riding skills, you began looking at your bike

Cessna 150

promoted entry-level aviation and aircraft ownership. Rather, like the auto industry, we promote new makes and models and all of the high-end bells and whistles that can be installed in same. Look at the airplane ads in any aviation publication today. Ads directed toward the sport pilot audience promote aircraft in the $120,000 range and up. The ads from the major aircraft manufacturers feature new single-engine aircraft in the $275,000 range and up. We market ourselves out of the potential pilot/aircraft owner audience before ever getting a chance to speak with the potential pilot.

Prospective flight students have regularly contacted me expressing interest in both learning to fly as well as owning an airplane. But there is always a “but” that follows: But it costs so much for flight lessons, and airplanes are way out of my league financially.

However, if there is truly a will, there is a way to accomplish the desire of the prospect. A good example is a current flight student. Jeff had a real desire to learn to fly and had conducted the magazine and Internet searches described above.

Initially he determined that the cost didn’t justify the desire. The desire to fly continued to burn from within, and Jeff took the next step by attending one or two fly-ins, looking at airplanes, and asking a lot of questions. Soon he came to the conclusion that if he purchased a vintage-era airplane and used it to learn to fly, he could realize his long-term dream.

He came to me one afternoon in late winter, and we discussed his wishes at length. He wanted to get a certificate, own a plane, fly off a private strip on his farm, and not have to get a flight physical every two years. He had no desire to either fly at night or have to deal with Class C or D airspace. Jeff just wanted to enjoy the pleasure of flight.

Not wanting to deal with flight physicals immediately made him a sport pilot candidate. Then we discussed the various make and model aircraft of the vintage era that met the sport pilot/sport airplane limitations. Armed with www.VintageAircraft.org

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Aeronca Champ

Cub

this information, Jeff began his search for an airplane with the enthusiasm of a 16-year-old about to go on his first date.

When Jeff found an airplane that looked and sounded good in the ads for same, he would bring the information to me, and we would discuss flight 14

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characteristics for this particular make and model, anticipated maintenance costs, and finally what to look for when seeing the airplane firsthand. Armed with a checklist, Jeff began the next step toward acquiring an airplane. After rejecting one or two planes, he found one that seemed to meet the criteria we had established. A pre-purchase BONNIE BARTEL inspection was then arranged. The aircraft was pronounced fit and the sale concluded.

The airplane was located about 100 miles away, so we arranged for a friend to fly us there the following Sunday. I then had the true pleasure of flying the airplane to Hartford with Jeff.

As we made our way, I looked over at him. He had a grin equal to that of Ronald McDonald. I commented that he will always remember this day, and it would be third on the list of memorable events, following getting married and the birth of his first child. He paused for a minute or two and STEVE CUKIERSKI then stated, “It might be number one on my list ahead of marriage and first born, but don’t tell my wife that!”

The thought I want to leave with you readers is this: Jeff was persistent in pursuing his dream.

By doing so, he was able to acquire and then take flight lessons in his own airplane. And he will be able to accomplish his goal for less than $20,000!

There are hundreds of airplanes out there that fit into this or a similar scenario. Champs, Chiefs, Taylorcraft, Luscombes, Cessna Taylorcraft 120s and 140s, Cubs, and yes, even the Cessna 150 all fit.

Now, if we can just get all of the alphabet groups to rethink their approach to attracting new pilots using the bicycle analogy and vintageera aircraft, we might start to see an increase in pilot numbers.

Ask the AME JOHN PATTERSON, M.D., AME

Disqualifying medical conditions We have talked in a previous article about the specifically disqualifying medical conditions that will require special issuance. These are disease states that require review by the FAA in Oklahoma City or one of the regional FAA offices. Your aviation medical examiner (AME) cannot issue the medical without review and will need to defer that decision. This can sometimes take 60-90 days to get FAA approval and will in some cases require further information or testing.

There is very good news in this regard. The FAA has identified 18 medical conditions that can now be issued a medical certificate without special issuance. Hypertension, being so common, has been a condition that the AME could approve with additional testing forwarded to the FAA if it is controlled by an appropriate medication. Almost all medications given for hypertension today are approved. The standards however have been streamlined in the most recent modification to make it easier to approve with less required information.

These conditions have been divided into two groups. Group 1 has already been implemented and includes arthritis, asthma, hepatitis C, hypothyroidism, pre-diabetes, migraine and chronic headaches, renal cancer, testicular cancer, and prostate cancer. Criteria have been established that if satisfied, the AME can issue the medical at the time of the physical. With regard to the cancers listed here, the airman must have completed treatment, usually radiation or surgery, and have no evidence of current or re-

current disease to be approved.

The second group of medical conditions will have criteria that will soon be released and may have already been instituted by the time this article is published. Again they include several cancer disease states such as Hodgkin’s disease and lymphomas, leukemia, bladder cancer, and colon cancer. The other conditions are carotid artery stenosis (restriction of the main artery in the neck that provides blood to the brain), colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. Also included are the ever elusive and nebulous issues surrounding kidney stones. Now criteria have been established that will allow approval where previously the presence of even a tiny stone would require at least a call or consultation with Oklahoma City or the regional office. Being a urologist myself, I am anxiously awaiting the protocol to allow approval without having to make that call.

Obviously this is a step in the right direction, and as these logical decisions bear up over time, hopefully more conditions will be added. There will be some who will not meet the criteria and will continue to undergo the special issuance procedure. At least we now have some specific guidelines for approval rather than a blanket deferral. I hope to have more good news in upcoming articles.

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15

Good Old Days

P A R C S K O O B

Take a quick look through history by enjoying images pulled from past publications.

From the pages of the past . . .

Brochure from the EAA archives advertising the Helio Courier Brochures from the EAA archives advertising the Super Cub 16

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s d A d e fi i lass

What would you have found . . .

C

AeroDigest, July 1935

Aero Digest, July 1940

Aero Digest, December 1940

Aero Digest, December 1940 18

SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

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Aaron Tippin and his 1959 H-395 Helio Jim Busha

Flying a

Helio Courier

in a Country Kinda Way! 20

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JIM KOEPNICK

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BRADY LANE PHOTOS

I

f you are like most people and think that flying and country music are cool, then I hope after reading this story, looking at the photos and watching the video on the EAA website, you will unanimously agree that Aaron Tippin’s 1959 H-395 Helio Courier is red hot!

When I last visited with the countr y music singer at his home in Liberty, Tennessee, about six years ago, he told me he was itching to get another airplane to add to his growing stable that at the time included a PT-17 Stearman, a Bell JetR anger, a Decathlon and 22

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a J-3 Cub—one that fit him like a pair of his favorite blue jeans—well-worn and comfortable. Aaron said that his next airplane was going to be either a warbird so he could pay tribute to all the brave men and women who have served this country of ours or he was going to buy something that reminded him of his aviation mentor—his dad Willis “Tip” Tippin. So when I caught up with Aaron at Sun ’n Fun a few years ago, he acted as proud as a strutting rooster when he dragged me to his newest acquisition and told me that he accomplished both of his goals with the purchase of one

airplane—a Helio Courier.

A a r o n ’s c r e a m - a n d - b l u e striped Helio was built in 1959 as a civilian model H-395 Super Courier by the Helio Aircraft Company in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Powered by a bulletproof sixcylinder O-480 Lycoming engine that spins a three-bladed propeller, Aaron knew from past experience that the Helio Courier acted more like a helicopter than it did as an airplane.

“The first time I ever laid eyes on a Helio was when my daddy threw me in the right seat of one when I was just a youngster growing up in Greenville, South Carolina,” said Aaron. “My dad, who had been a fighter pilot in WWII and later instructed in military jet trainers, was working as a corporate pilot for a textile company, and they were considering purchasing a helicopter to fly from plant to plant with. My dad had done some earlier demonstration flights with the Helio and quickly realized its capabilities. He asked them to reconsider the helicopter idea and proved his point when he landed the Helio on the well-manicured front lawn of one of the plants. That is the

real jewel of the Helio; with its awesome STOL capabilities, it can take off and land just about anywhere. I kept those great memories of flying with my dad in the Helio tucked away in my back pocket as I entered my own aviation world.”

While Aaron was growing up and learning how to fly in the late 1960s, the United States military had already noticed the flying qualities of the Helio Courier and quickly drafted them into service. The military model was dubbed the U-10 and was used effectively and extensively as a multi-role workhorse in and around the jungles of Vietnam with both the military and CIA. It was a common practice for those pilots to land and take off from hand-carved strips on the sides of mountains with sheer drop-offs at each end. But the military wasn’t the only satisfied operator of the Helio. Missionary pilots from around the world were enamored by the performance of this homesick angel and began using them, as they still do today, for humanitarian flights to remote third world airstrips.

With a successful countr y

music career already estab- decided he had to have himself a lished, Aaron began to stir his Helio Courier. Period.

“I knew I wanted an airplane memories about his past flying experiences with his father and that I could not only pack my

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JIM KOEPNICK

BRADY LANE

24

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family into, but also one that could carr y just about any thing I could stuff inside of it,” said Aaron. “I also liked the fact that a Helio is built more like a NASCAR racer with a roll cage wrapped around the cockpit that can sustain up to 15g’s. Flying safely is a huge component especially when I carry my family around with me. I couldn’t get the thoughts of a Helio out of my mind as I kept reminiscing about my dad flying one, and it just seemed that adding a Helio to our family was the right thing to do. As I began my search for a suitable airplane, I had been told that the modern history usage of the Helio was split between two groups of pilots: missionaries and drug dealers. Thankfully I found my airplane with a fellow down in Louisiana named Jerry Gonsoulin who was neither a missionary nor a candidate for the FBI’s Most Wanted.”

Although Aaron had originally set his sights on a tricycle-geared Helio Courier that was for sale, he had stumbled into Jerry while at Sun ’n Fun a few years ago, and the two of them hit it off immediately with their shared interest in Helios. As Jerry shared his stories with Aaron on how he acquired the Helio, what it flew like, and what it meant to be the custodian of this tall-tailed taildragger, Aaron knew that this was the airplane he had been searching for. The problem was, though, that Jerry, who wanted Aaron to own this airplane over anyone else, was beginning to have seller’s remorse.

“I bought the Helio back in 1988 from a fella named Valentine,” said Jerry. “The airplane had been completely rebuilt, but

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BRADY LANE

JIM KOEPNICK

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

SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

in the Helio is the STOL takeoff and landings. With those flaps and slats hanging off the wings I sometimes wonder why they poured all that concrete on a long runway—anything over 100 feet is wasted space!

“When I reluctantly put the Helio up for sale, I knew I wanted Aaron to have this airplane. He is such a likable person and is an airplane fanatic. I knew he would be the right pilot to appreciate the Helio flying world. Before I let him fly away with the Helio, though, I made him promise me

that he would keep the lucky penny that my wife, Scotty Ann, glued to the dash before we were married and while we were dating. The first time I saw the Helio fly was when Aaron picked it up and flew it back to Tennessee. I am not ashamed to admit that it brought a tear to my eye, and I got all choked up as I watched him disappear into the distance.

I even called Aaron before he landed back home and told him he could have all his money back and then some. Now when we talk, he asks if I still have a spare key for the airplane—he’s afraid I will steal it back!”

With the Helio now registered to Aaron and hangared safely at his private airport in the Volunteer State, Aaron went looking for someone to teach him the finer points of Helio flying. Aaron admits he is a “training freak” when it comes to checking himself out in a new airplane. Poring over manuals and talking to other people who have flown this type of aircraft are just a few of the things Aaron did to prepare himself for some serious Helio training.

“I am a heav y believer in training,” said Aaron. “I love to train, and I can see how in the olden days that a guy could flip through the pages of a manual such as this one and slowly transition into the realm of STOL flying. This manual is very straightforward for someone who already has some tailwheel experience under their belt. But if you really want to grasp the true capabilities of flying this airplane in all kinds of conditions, then I recommend having a high-time Helio pilot teach you. Lucky for me I found a friend by the name of Steve

Schafer who used to work for my dad. I consider Steve a ‘Helio guru,’ and he used all of his JAARS experience as he ran me up one side of the mountain and down the other as he taught me the ins and outs, do’s and don’ts of flying the Helio. For starters I had to change my mental perception on taking off and landing this airplane.

“The tall tail of the Helio was the first thing I had to get used to, especially in a crosswind condition.

Like any other tailwheel airplane that wants to weather vane into the wind, this tall tail will accelerate that fact if you don’t stay on top of it. One trick I learned on takeoff, especially if it is a crosswind, is to taxi out onto the runway and go to the far side placing the right wheel on the edge of the runway. When I am ready to take off I just ‘lay the whip’ on it and turn the airplane into the wind, and I am usually off the ground in less than 50 feet. Turn the nose back to runway heading and off we go. The landing is just as unconventional. There is really no stall speed with the Helio, and one of the most effective ways of using the Helio is below 50 miles per hour. That’s when the wing slats jump out as you control descent with power. You have to be real careful in this configuration because you can hit pretty hard if you’re not careful. Most of my passengers who are first-time Helio fliers get a little nervous when I point the nose straight down at the numbers. But because it all happens so slowly, it’s just a matter of pulling it back into a flare and boom! Touchdown. It truly is the perfect airplane for my backyard runway.”

Aaron’s grass strip lies in the shadow of a mountain on one side and a creek on the other.

With a lot of burbles and rolls coming off the surrounding hilltops when the wind kicks in, it has some unique characteristics when it comes to operating under these conditions.

“With my 2,000-foot strip I call Soggy Bottom—don’t land if it rains hard!—nestled right up against a mountainside, this is Idaho flying in Tennessee,” said Aaron. “Some of my friends who fly over to see me, chicken out when they look down the barrel of that thing and swear that the runway is only a few hundred feet long. It is only when they drive over and walk it off themselves that they realize that it is really 2,000 feet long— that’s three touch-and-goes in a Helio! Whether I am flying out of this strip in my Cub, Stearman, or Helio, it has definitely made me a better pilot.

But I have to admit that since I acquired this airplane, the departures are more helicopter-like,

especially when the wind is blowing.”

So what does the future hold for Aaron and what does sport flying in general mean to him?

“My dream would be to paint the Helio in the colors it wore in Vietnam as a tribute to those brave men and then demonstrate the capabilities of the Helio at air shows just like my dad used to do,” said Aaron. “I would love to share this experience with my aviation friends and peers because it is not only such an impressive machine; it is also the ultimate in STOL flying.

“What does aviation mean to me? It’s the one thing in my life that has remained constant. Although I am a singer/entertainer by trade, deep down inside I am very humbled by the fact that God is just being nice to me. But when it comes time to get away from the day-to-day business side of life, my only escape is in flying. I was raised at an airport, and I still consider myself a ‘ramp rat.’ There is no greater joy for me than to be at an airport at dusk or just before sunrise watching the soft colors of the sky change before my eyes. Like my father before me, flying is the one legacy I want to pass on to my children, hopefully at the controls of our Helio Courier.”

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27

create magic every time they lay their hands on an airplane in need of restoration—even if it’s the serial No. 1 Piper Super Cub.

RUSS MUNSON

Turning Back the Hands of Time

The resurrection and restoration of the first Piper Super Cub Jim Busha 28

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Let’s face it; most of us enjoy being number one in some aspect of our lives. Athletes for example enjoy that title when winning a championship, while others like me simply relish in the moment every time I find myself at the front of a checkout line minutes before someone pulls up with a half-dozen carts full of merchandise. Yeah,

being number one is an awesome thing—big or small. The same can be said for owning the first airplane off the production line. There is something magical about owning serial No. 1, let alone the bragging rights.

But as you are about to find out, EAA Vintage Aircraft Association members Roger and Darin Meggers of Baker, Montana,

Born to Fly Roger Meggers doesn’t remember a thing about his first airplane ride; he just relays what his father Donald told him later in life.

“I guess I was kind of ‘born into aviation’ because in 1956 my dad f lew my mom to the hospital in rural North Dakota in the back of a PA-11 hours before I was born,” said Roger.

“I grew up in aviation; my dad went into the Army Air Force but was washed out due to too many pilots and sent to gunnery school and survived 28 missions over Europe as a waist gunner on a B-17. When he came back he learned how to fly and then opened a crop dusting business using PA-11 Cubs and then on to Super Cubs, 150 and 235 Pawnees, and finally ended up in a Cessna Ag Truck, basically spraying small grains in western North Dakota. I started in aviation at a young age, cleaning windshields at 5 years old and then became a flagman in the field. I would step out into the field so many steps, my dad would be flying overhead and line up on me, wiggle his wings and come roaring overhead, and then I would do it all over again.

But I didn’t have a lot of interest in aviation until I hit my teenage years.”

Roger’s father was a farmer as well, so he taught Roger how to turn wrenches. If a tractor broke down, they would jump in the Super Cub, fly to town for parts, and then f ly back and fix it.

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RUSS MUNSON PHOTOS

planes! I liked the Cubs because I liked to weld and paint, but I was also fascinated with tube and fabric airplanes. They were a challenge for me because I also strove for perfection. After each project I tried to make the next one even better.”

on all the machinery as well— what farmer in his right mind could ever afford to pay someone to fix something! By the time he had turned 14 he had learned to paint trailers, combines, and tractors before turning to cars.

But when Roger wasn’t working on the family farm, he was in the air learning how to fly.

“I soloed in November near my 16th birthday, then got my license when I was 17 years old.

“When I hit 20 I went to Florida and received a bunch more ratings: CFI, multiengine, and CFII. “I returned home and took a corporate job in Baker, Montana, and got out of the spraying 30

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

In Search of Lost Treasure Ro ger admitted he really didn’t need another airplane to work on, but that didn’t stop him from constantly surfing the web in search of another project.

“There was an airplane advertised on eBay out in Caldwell, Idaho, and I looked at it, and it looked like just another rattylooking Super Cub,” said Roger.

“It appeared to have had a rough life, and the seller wanted quite a bit of money for it. I blew it off not knowing the historic significance of this Piper treasure.”

In 1949 the Piper Aircraft Company produced a new model called the PA-18 Super Cub. The original prototype, serial number 18-1 was test-flown on No-

Roger and Darin Meggers.

vember 23, 1949. That airplane became the genesis for a series of fabric Piper models that are famous and noted the world over. The PA-18 Super Cub was in production longer than any other aircraft model that Piper ever built. The PA-18 was used extensively in a variety of roles including agricultural work, aerial patrol, search and rescue, bush flying—either on skis or

floats—as well as a military liaison and missionary—able to get into very remote places. There are some who claim the Piper Super Cub is one of the most popular and recognizable aircraft flying today. Unfortunately, Roger Meggers didn’t recognize what he was looking at the first time on his computer screen.

Thank God for second chances.

“The ratty airplane I first saw

on eBay was sold to a Kelly and Norman Coffelt of Bend, Oregon, in 2006,” said Roger. They had purchased it from a gentleman named Eugene Franks who had owned it for 40 years. When the Coffelts bought it, it still had an Irish linen cover on it. They ended up patching it up, repainting it, mounting a new aileron and installing flaps, bolting on 29-inch Bushwheels, along with the installation of a longer propeller and a 150-hp engine.

“Kelly had called me a few years later as he was looking at one of our projects and wanted to know if we were interested in a little horse trading. I asked him what he had to barter with, and he replied, ‘It’s just an old Super Cub; actually it’s the oldest one—Super Cub No. 1.’

“I was shocked and it knocked me back a little, and after the shock wore off the detective in me kicked in and I asked what proof he had. Kelly said he had the original logs, which set the hook for me, and I said I would be very interested in it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t come up with a deal that we both agreed on, but Kelly promised that if he ever sold it, he would give me first dibs.

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Russ Munson

we f lew it for a while, and it flew nice. One thing I noticed right away was that it had sevAbove right: The eral patches, mostly on the right Megger’s autowing. In fact there were more graphs inside the patches than there were original fuselage. fabric; it would have been easier Far left is a 1955 Fly- to re-cover the whole wing!” ing magazine ad.

Roger had contacted Clyde “The Cub Doctor” Smith about Left is the artwork the airplane, and he was excited from a matchbook about it until he saw a picture of cover. it. Clyde was just about in tears when he saw what had hapairplane,’ as we shook hands pened to it.

“It had been modified for and struck a deal in March crop dusting right after it left of 2010.” the factory,” said Roger. “It was sold to Art Witaker who develBack to the Future— oped the duster sprayer for the Restoring serial No. 1 Roger admitted that when he Super Cub. They simply pulled first laid eyes on the Super Cub the back seat out of it, fabriit looked rather tired. It was cated a duster/sprayer combipainted in a cream and white nation to sit in the back seat of paint job with red trim, but it the airplane. The airplane spent was hard to tell what color was most of its life as a duster, and what because of the fading. But looking through the logs there were several props replaced, in the air it flew like a Cub. “It flew great,” said Roger. “It crunched wingtips, bent landstill had the original struts on it ing gear, and so on. It was a very yet, and that was easy to tell be- hard-working machine.”

When Roger finally made the cause it had the original paint on them. That made me kind of decision to pull out his razor nervous as there had been sev- knife and make the first cut, he eral ADs on those. Although the knew the fun of flying “No. 1” whole airplane was rough-looking would be put on hold.

Above left: Early Piper Super Cub ad.

“About a year later out of the blue he called and said he was ready to sell. But before any money was exchanged he asked me a very serious question. He said, ‘Roger, what would you do with that airplane?’ I told him I would restore to look like the day it rolled out of the Piper factory hangar, right back to the original 90-hp engine, correct wheels, wings, prop, and ever ything else in-between.

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“Taking the razor to it was difficult,” said Roger. “You really have to build up your enthusiasm because once you make that first cut, that’s when all the work begins!”

Roger was pleasantly surprised when he saw the innards of the Super Cub. There was very little rust or corrosion.

Roger did find that there had been several repair spots that he matched up with the 337s and other records. There was damage to the right side of the cockpit and the tail post area, and these were eventually cut out and replaced with new material.

“We replaced a lot of tubes,” said Roger, “and then after sandblasting them we put epoxy chromate primer on everything. We ended up painting it with polyurethane enamel to help preserve it—it should last indefinably. We also treated the longerons with oil so it should only have to be recaulked at some point.”

W hen Roger and Darin turned to the wings they found that they had been converted with flaps and balanced tail surfaces, so they completely rebuilt the wings and placed an original unbalanced tail surface on it.

“We took the flap mechanism out of the wing,” said Roger, “and cut all the brackets off the tubes so we could return the wings back to how they came from the factory. To assist in our restoration we ended up acquiring a lot of the Piper blueprints and drawings over the years from Univair in Denver. Jim Dyer was a godsend as he shared proprietary drawings with us to help us out.

Clyde also was a great help by coming out to our shop on two different occasions and ended up covering the wings through

silver, looking just like they did back in 1949.”

Roger is both an A&P and IA, and Darin is also an A&P so during the cold Montana winter they plugged away at their project as momentum picked up.

They eventually got sidetracked looking for new old stock parts because they strived to keep it original Piper, so it took them a little longer on the rebuild.

“We ended up manufacturing some of the ribs because we just couldn’t find what we wanted,” said Roger. “The most difficult part to locate was the oil pressure/ oil temp gauge because in the late 1940s they used a U.S. gauge and then a Stewart gauge after that; they were impossible to find! But Clyde Smith came through again as he ‘just happened to have an old one lying around’ and do-

nated it to me to keep it original.

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

“There are a lot of parts that just aren’t available anymore that we had to fabricate. One example was the boot cowl, which

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RUSS MUNSON

is very similar to a PA-11 boot cowl, but because they changed the structure of the tubes, the instrument panel stands up a little more vertical than the PA11 so it takes a different cowl.

Like other hard-to-find items we ended up fabricating a new one.”

The Meggers Super Cub unfortunately did not retain the original Continental 90-hp (C-90) engine it left the factory with because it had been replaced back in 1952. Roger acquired another C-90 and refurbished all the parts, assembled it, and overhauled the engine.

“We found an original carburetor and magnetos, and I actually installed an un-shielded ignition, which you can’t buy,” said Roger. “I ended up buying the Packard 440 wire from Fresno Air Parts in California with original wire ends, and we built our own ignition harness.”

The Super Cub swings a Sensenich 72GK50 wood propeller with a very special insignia fixed to both blades.

“In our research we noticed that all the pictures we had from the early PA-18s there was a little orange dot on the prop blades,” said Roger. “We couldn’t tell what it was even by enlarging the photos up, and unfortunately Sensenich didn’t know what I was talking about either. I was fit to be tied and almost gave up when the answer was right under my nose. Darin came running into the shop one day with an old prop my dad had run through a snow fence with our PA-11 years ago. One end was splintered pretty bad, but the other blade had the decal on it—it was the Sensenich wing design, and the orange circle was a picture of a little bear, and

test flight of the Super Cub. Darin admitted that working on a piece of history like the serial No. 1 Super Cub took a while to soak in, but once he was airborne he realized that all their hard work, bloodied knuckles, long hours and sleepless nights finally paid off.

“It was a complete surprise when Dad asked me to do the test flight,” said Darin. “When we rolled it out of the hangar and hand-propped it, it started on the first blade. Everything ran up fine; it felt like a new old Cub taxiing out. The brakes were weak; you could feel every bump and dip in the pavement because the tail wheel is just a solid rubber tire. After the runFlying a Legend To Darin’s surprise, his fa- up I had to get used to the ‘backther asked him to complete the ward tach’ moving left-hand surrounding it were the words “especially built for Piper.” We were able to locate some originals in Florida, and Sensenich put them on our prop and varnished the decals right in.”

When it was time for the Super Cub to get some new rubber, Roger decided to keep it original and went back to the original Goodrich expander tube brakes and installed 800 by 4 smoothfaced tires on it, and the tail wheel is a Scott 3000. By the time early July 2012 rolled around, the “new and improved” Super Cub No. 1 had been returned to its former glory and was ready to take to the skies once again.

instead of right; this was also my first time in a 90-hp Super Cub. I had been used to the 125-, 135-, 150-hp models with a lot more get up and go, so I was expecting a weak Cub. It surprised me when I lined up the nose on the centerline, pushed the throttle forward, and glanced down to make sure everything was in the green. When I looked up we were off the ground flying—that quick and going like a rocket!

“At only 783 pounds’ empty weight and 1,500 gross weight, it’s lighter than a 150-hp Super Cub. At 90 hp it’s just as fast as the modern Super Cub, but this one sips fuel and is lighter on the controls—ailerons are very responsive. Flying this Super Cub is more fun to fly in my mind than all of the modern stuff I have flown. I am very much into the older airplanes, and I appreciate the originality of this airplane and how simple flying was supposed to be. It’s just stick and rudder flying, and it still has the new airplane smell!

“There’s a great difference between rebuilding and restoring an airplane to original. On a rebuild, you can specialize the airplane to your needs and update to the latest and greatest through modifications or stay semi-original and paint it with any variation of colors you want. Restoring these old airplanes to just how they came from the factory can be very challenging. Figuring out what was used during what years of manufacturing can be overwhelming! A lot of the information is not abundant and can be hard to get a hold of for these vintage aircraft. This can be as simple as what colors where used or trying to come up with it since that process or line is no longer available. A person definitely has to have the passion for this kind of thing, and my father and I definitely do.”

Roger echoes Darin’s thoughts about this airplane project and how it just may have turned back the hands of time for the father and son team.

“It really made me feel a lot younger when I saw it fly for the first time,” said Roger. “I have to admit, seeing it fly I felt as if I was transported back to 1949 really quick! I am satisfied for the most part with this restoration, but I can always do better! As a father, though, it was a great thrill for me to work side by side with my son as the ‘old airplane’ torch that had been passed on to me by my father is now being passed on to a future generation of restorer/ pilot. I hope both Darin and Super Cub No. 1 grace the skies for a long time to come.”

So do we, Roger, so do we . . .

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The Papoose Pair A different kind of Cub at AirVenture Budd Davisson 38

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What is it that drives usually sane people to do things that “normal” people would judge to be insane? Or, if not insane, at least much more difficult than a very similar way of doing things. For instance, add the letter “P” to the end of the ever-present J-3 designation, and instantly everything

J-3Ps to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2012.

Considering that AirVenture 2012 was the year of the Cub, with more than 150 J-3s gathered on the grounds like Monarch butterflies in migration to honor Cub’s 75th anniversary, it was nearly impossible for any one of the breed to stand out. The J-3Ps, however, with their typical Cub behind-the-firewall appearance, and their anything-but-Cub firewall-forward countenance, were hard to miss. The “What’s that?” factor was enormous. As was the cuteness factor. They were AirVenture 2012 superstars.

The period of the Cub’s birth and growth, the last half of the 1930s, was also the period in which the search for the ideal light aircraft engine was underway. Even though the Great Depression had thrown a wet blanket over the economy, the 1930s were still a golden age for aviation, with more development taking place in all parts of the industr y than almost any decade since. Even though bread lines circled the block, the light trainer/personal aircraft market, as represented by the J-3, Taylorcrafts, Luscombes, and their peer group, quite figuratively exploded. Enterprising entrepreneurs become fully aware of that fact and recognized that the need for small, powerful, economical powerPHIL HIGH plants would expand as well. about the concept skyrockets in This gave birth to a wide range complexity. And rarity. And frus- of new engines, all aimed at betration. And, most of all, dedica- coming the darling of the evertion required. All of the foregoing expanding trainer market. applies to Ingrid Zimmer-Galler, We saw ever y thing from Malcolm Van Kirk, Ben Davidson, the tiny, two-cylinder 37-hp and the rest of their happy little Aeronca opposed-twin to the band of Papoosers who brought a flathead, four-cylinder A-40 pair of Lenape Papoose-powered Continentals and O-145 Lycomwww.VintageAircraft.org

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Ben Davidson of WAAAM filled us in on his J-3P’s history and the reason for its vaguely lived-in look. He says, “Essentially, even though our airplane went through a long series of owners, it was kept flying, in one form or another, from the day it was originally built in 1938 to today. When new, it was the Piper factory’s Lenapepowered demonstrator.”

“Terry Brant, who started the WAAAM museum,” he continues, “bought the airplane in the early ’90s. He was, among other things, collecting three-cylinder aircraft, which eventually led him to build a 95,000-squarefoot museum in Hood River, Oregon, that features, among other things, the world’s largest flying collections of both threecylinder airplanes and those powered by OX-5s. We have a little of everything there in the way of airplanes and cars, but mostly the museum is about what we personally like and what we think is both historical and that the public will like.”

Ben goes on to say, “When we decided to bring the airplane to Oshkosh, it hadn’t flown in several decades, so we did what amounted to a super annual on it, repairing everything that needed repairing, but did very little actual restoration. This is pretty much how she has looked since last covered in ’74, and at that time she was just repaired, not restored. In fact, it has never been completely restored.”

Although in theory the Papoose Cubs could have been flown from their homes to AirVenture, cooler heads took the reliability of the engine into account and both the WAAAM airplane and the Zimmer-Galler

Ben Davidson, right shows off his pride and joy to an admirer.

MARK CARLISLE

BRADY LANE PHOTOS

ings, to the abbreviated radials like the Szyekely and the Lenape Papoose. The ultimate winner was the amazing A-65 Continental, but it didn’t claim the crown before the others got their time on stage while mounted to the nose of a Cub. None, however, received the public relations splash that accompanied the Papoose in a J-3P. An odd-appearing (to modern eyes), three-cylinder, triangular 50-hp radial, the engine would appear on the front of 24 J-3 Cubs (according to most sources) before the competition from the A-65 and its descendants put the company out of business. During that time it gained its share of headlines by dragging a Cub from New Jersey to Florida and back nonstop.

(See the sidebar for details.)

After the war most were reengined, the often-cantankerous little Papoose replaced with the ever-sweet Continental.

Only a very small number of J-3Ps lasted to modern times with their original three-jug oil slinger in place and the two in attendance at AV2012 represent just about the entire flying Papoose Cub population.

The black one from the WAAAM (Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile) museum in Hood River, Oregon, was a avery early J-3P with J-2 type wings and aileron hinges on top and was essentially an unrestored, but constantly repaired, airplane, while the yellow one belonging to and restored by Ingrid Zimmer-Galler with help from Malcolm Van Kirk and others made only its second post-restoration flight at AirVenture. A restoration doesn’t get any fresher than that.

Ingrid Zimmer-Galler and Malcolm Van Kirk

machine were hauled by trailer to the airport in Hartford, Wisconsin, just outside of Oshkosh, where they were assembled and test-flown before making the short hop to AirVenture. For Ingrid’s airplane, it was only the second time the airplane had tasted the sky since sometime in the ’90s.

Ingrid Zimmer-Galler could be seen as an unusual owner

for such an unusual airplane. A nationally recognized expert in ophthalmology and an associate professor of ophthalmology at the John Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute (she specializes in vitreoretinal surgery and is the medical director of the Frederick, Maryland, satellite office), she came into aviation as the result of a caring husband.

She says, “My husband acwww.VintageAircraft.org

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MARK CARLISLE

I learned a little about its background, and I thought someone ought to get this piece of history back in the air

tually signed me up for flying lessons while I was doing my residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in the early 1990s, because he thought I was spending too much time in the hospital, and I quickly got hooked on all things aviation.

“While training for a tailwheel endorsement at a flight school in Frederick, Maryland, I noticed the Lenape Cub hanging in pieces on a wall in the hangar. It had been totaled in a windstorm 10 years earlier. I learned a little about its background, and I thought someone ought to get this piece of history back in the air, so I purchased the project from Malcolm Van Kirk who has been instrumental in getting the restoration project completed.”

Ingrid continues, “I spent countless hours researching and collecting information and artifacts on the history of NX20280 and the record-setting flight it took, flying nonstop from Newark to Miami and back in 1938.

I also spent countless months, actually years, looking for a magneto. . .and additional Lenape engines. Many thanks go to Charlie Deck in Florida and 42

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Dick Kanode in Maryland for donating two spare Lenape engines, which were used to restore my engine.”

Malcolm continues the airplane’s history. He says, “I purchased the airplane from Dick Kanode. The plane was originally configured back to the Lenape engine by Dr. Garrison in 1974 when it won outstanding Cub at Oshkosh. After I purchased the plane in 1986 it was flown regularly on evenings, sightseeing along the Potomac River, and on many mornings flying ‘dawn patrol’ with other like-minded antiquers.

Unfortunately the airplane was seriously damaged in an unexpected storm in the early 1990s. “My plan was always to restore the plane,” says Malcolm.

“So, when Ingrid wanted to get it in the air again, I transferred the title to her, and together we put the plane in her garage to begin the long way back.”

Malcolm says, “We started by stripping the fuselage and found it had only a little corrosion. We cleaned all of the tubing, fuselage, rudder, fin, stabilizers, and elevators right there in her garage. We sandblasted late at night until the neighbors complained about the noise. We

also epoxy-primed all parts that were in good shape right there.

“Early on it was just the two of us, but as the project moved forward, I had started to work for Cessna Aircraft in the Cessna Pilot Center Program, and it seemed that time was nonexistent. So, we made the decision to get outside help so that we could get the plane flying again.

“The damaged parts and specialty items, like the engine mount, were the biggest concern. Especially the fuselage, which was seriously bent. So, we located Charlie Deck in Jacksonville, Florida, who had the jig necessary to get the fuselage straightened out. One fine day we strapped the fuselage to the roof of Ingrid’s Volkswagen Diesel and we headed for Jacksonville. You can’t imagine what we looked like going down Interstate 95, and the questions people asked when we stopped for gas.

“Charlie Deck had his work cut out for him,” Malcolm says. “The fuselage was compressed downward and twisted at the tail. The rudder and fin were bent, the engine mount was bent, and the rubber engine mount biscuits were damaged. These were some of the more difficult parts to duplicate, as the durometer of the rubber used had to be determined and new metal rings, which sandwich the rubber, remade. Fortunately, we did find a shop in Griffin, Georgia, that took on the project of making a new mount.

Of course, the cowling, and all of the fairings, which were quite soft, needed to be made.

“We happened to meet Harry Mutter at the Sentimental Journey Fly-In in Lock Haven. He introduced us to Dave Liebegott, who had completed the restora-

The Original Butt-Buster Derby EWR to MIA to EWR in 63 hours nonstop What has to be one of the world’s most ambitious light aircraft trips ever attempted was that taken by Ken Kress and Glenn “Boog” Englert in May of 1938. Both were Piper production test pilots, and they intended to fly from Newark, New Jersey, to Miami, Florida, and back, a distance of 2,400 miles nonstop in, of all things, a Lenape-powered J-3P Cub (the very aircraft restored by Ingrid Zimmer-Galler and Malcolm Van Kirk). They took off from EWR and landed back on the same airport more than two-and-a-half days later (63 hours, 56 minutes).

The normal 9 gallons of fuel in the nose tank was augmented by 24 gallons in a streamlined belly tank, which is being replicated for fitting on the Zimmer-Galler Cub. They had refueling stations set up at Raleigh, North Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Miami, Florida. At each location Kress would fly down the runway and Englert in the back seat would lower a rope with a hook and, on repeated passes down the runway, a Lenape factory worker, often strapped to the front of a car, would send up seven 5-gallon cans, in addition to many quarts of oil, sandwiches, etc.

The aircraft had a “continual loss” oiling system in which a quart of oil was always in a specialbuilt funnel next to the pilot’s head continually feeding the engine through a small hole. It took about an hour for the quart to drain. A small diameter line down a gear leg continually drained oil out at the same rate so the engine would always be using clean oil.

Kress said, “To avoid too many refueling contacts, we decided a 50-hp engine was necessary to allow carrying maximum gasoline . . . we departed Newark 324 pounds over normal gross but got off in 17 seconds. She handled the load excellently, with little or no tendency to be sluggish. At Jacksonville, we . . . hauled up 45 gallons of gasoline and 19 quarts of oil giving us a gross load of over 1,400 pounds [normal gross was 1,000 pounds]. Boog, of course, was almost buried under oil cans and extra 5-gallon fuel tanks.”

The adventure had many serious, heart-stopping moments, like getting down to less than 10 minutes of fuel before the first can came on board at Jacksonville. Then, on departure, getting lost in fog and smoke and wandering around for three hours in almost zero visibility until finally finding Orlando in the middle of the night. This put them so far off course that they had to return to Jacksonville for more fuel.

They couldn’t communicate with the ground except by passing down written notes, but they did have a battery-powered, low-frequency Lear receiver, so they had A-N range navigation available, which saved their bacon when a map blew out of a window and they had to fumble their way to Raleigh on the return trip. They also had battery-powered wingtip navigation lights.

When they arrived at Newark, the airport didn’t know they were arriving, so the runway lights weren’t on and they surprised their reception committee. Upon deplaning, after spending twoand-a-half-days folded up in the Cub’s notoriously cramped seating position, Kress could barely stand, and Englert was so hoarse from shouting at the refueling crews that he could hardly speak.

Still, even at an average speed of 40 mph and 3.7 gph over the 2,400 mile straight-line distance (some estimates place the actual distance at closer to 3,400 miles because they circled so much while either lost or waiting for weather to clear at refueling stations), they proved a valuable point: light aircraft were indeed viable cross-country transportation, and the “around the patch” image that had hounded light aircraft was forever shattered. www.VintageAircraft.org

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I was able to get the overhaul specifications from EAA, and, utilizing a lot of parts from the donor engines, Bill and his helper Harvey completed the overhaul. But, we still had more engine problems ahead of us.

“Finally, in October 2010 we got the call that the plane was ready to test hop. The engine was her normal cantankerous self, hard to start, but she did agree to run for us, and I flew around the patch a few times. I then headed for home, with Ingrid shadowing me in a Cessna.

Once we arrived in Frederick, I loaded Ingrid on board for her first flight and, as luck would have it, one of the magnetos had failed.

“The magnetos were Edison Splitdorfs, and I located a shop in California to overhaul them both. When the box arrived back to us more than a year later, however, there was only one magneto in the box and the other magneto was inexplicably lost. It took yet another year to locate a magneto, which was loaned to us, but it didn’t ‘spark’ properly. I was afraid we wouldn’t make it to OSH this year, when Dick Kanode offered us another Lenape engine with magnetos. The needed spare magneto worked fine, and we took the plane apart and trucked it to OSH, where we reassembled it, flew it, and had it on display. Ingrid received a well-deserved Bronze Lindy for her outstanding efforts and years of effort to get NX20280 back to flying condition.”

Malcolm repor ts the airplane flies about like a normal J-3 but that the engine noise is “…horrible, which combined with the unshielded ignition,

makes radio communication almost impossible.”

Ingrid says, “We hope to fly it, enjoy it, and take others flying in it on sunny, warm-weather weekends. We continue to look for Edison Splitdorf RM-3 magnetos or parts such as points and condensers.” She also says, “When I saw the airplane sitting at Oshkosh, I thought, ‘That’s pretty cool! We finally got it here!’”

When asked whether this was her last restoration, she said, “If another interesting airplane were to come along, I’d love to do it.”

Malcolm adds, “There was no better feeling for a pilot than to see a project of this magnitude come together. It was always a thrill to fly. Also, there’s a whole list of people I want to personally thank including Ingrid, whose dedication to this project was unwavering, and Harry Mutter for getting us to Dave Liebegott. Then Bill Gorge for his expertise and knowledge of this aircraft, his co-worker Harvey Webb for his outstanding contributions with the metal parts, and Dick Kanode for allowing me to own this fine plane in the first place, Then we all have to thank Dr. Garrison for the vision he had all those years ago to restore this Lenape Cub in the first place and saving it from the trash heap. He did history a service.”

It’s universally agreed that every visitor to AirVenture 2012 owes both crews, the WAAAM folks, and the Mar yland Papoose Gang a huge vote of thanks. Seeing any Lenape Cub is a real treat, but seeing two of them together was literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us.

Coast to Coast With the Vin Fiz Part 1

ERNIE VISKUPIC, WINGMAN PHOTOGRAPHY SAN DIEGO

tion of his Piper that had done a world tour. Dave was a master at all things ‘Cub,’ and we loaded the plane in a U-Haul and moved the project to Clearfield, Pennsylvania. Work progressed at a pace that was a bit slower than we all wished, but the quality is unsurpassed. Dave rebuilt the wings, covered the fuselage and wings, and got it under paint.

“Unfortunately, some unforeseen events happened, and the Cub was hangared for the next two years. We finally took the project to Harford County Airport to Bill Gorge shop. Bill Gorge had actually restored the plane for Dr. Garrison in 1974 and was familiar with its idiosyncrasies. So, for the next two years, Bill and his helper, Harvey Webb, went about the task of completing the project, which included rebuilding the engine, cowling, and wheelpants and doing all the finish work.”

Firewall aft, Malcolm, Ingrid, and crew were essentially restoring/repairing a J-3 Cub, but firewall forward was a different situation altogether.

Fortunately they had the two donor engines for spare parts, but even the prop had drama attached to it.

Malcolm says, “The prop is a 72L41, but drawings for the 72L41 had been de-commissioned years ago. So, I took the existing propeller to Sensenich in Plant City, Florida (as carry-on luggage on Southwest Airlines), so they could scan it to make a new one. To our dismay, the new propeller didn’t fit the oneof-a-kind prop hub, so we opted to restore the original prop that was on the plane when it was damaged years before.

“The engine was apart, but

The 84-day odyssey of Cal Rodgers Mark Carlson Cal Rogers

The Catalyst In January 1910, the first Los Angeles International Air Meet was held at Dominguez Field in Los Angeles County.

Dozens of pilots in Wright and Curtiss biplanes competed in altitude, speed, and endurance events. The air meet drew the attention of thousands of spectators eager to see the new wonder of airplanes.

It had only been six years since the Wright brothers had made their historic f light at Kitty Hawk. In the intervening years there had been significant advances in airplane design. But range and speed had increased very little. The average biplane could only manage 70 miles per hour. Range was limited to how much fuel the plane could lift, not the capacity of the fuel tank.

An hour-long flight was considered a notable feat in 1910.

Among the spectators at Dominguez Field, watching the daring young men in their flying machines, was a 13-year-old boy who was fascinated by the darting planes and yearned to find his way into the skies. Soon he 46

SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

would be famous as an aviation pioneer and war hero. His name was Jimmy Doolittle.

The 1910 Dominguez Field air meet was covered by several papers across the country, most notably, those owned by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst.

At that time airplanes were little more than slow, fragile, and unreliable wood-andfabric crates, and the idea of flying from coast to coast was totally ludicrous.

But the seed of such an idea took root in Hearst’s fertile and ambitious mind, and in October 1910, eager to promote aviation and draw readers to his chain of newspapers, he offered the then-staggering sum of $50,000 to anyone who could fly from coast to coast. The challenge was good for one year, starting October 10.

This in itself was a daunting proposition. But Hearst wanted the feat accomplished in 30 days or less.

Today it seems laughable to need so much time.

An airliner can fly from New

York to Los Angeles in about five hours.

With only a little careful preparation a private pilot may fly a Cessna or Beechcraft from coast to coast in about two days, allowing for fuel and rest stops.

Even a single person in a car can drive the 3,500 miles from New York to Los Angeles in less than a week, provided they don’t mind the grind of driving, catnaps in rest stops, and fast food.

Hearst was eager to promote an aviation event his newspapers could cover on a daily basis, thereby increasing sales and profits.

Cash prizes for aviation feats were nothing new, even in 1910.

Lord Northcliffe, the owner of the London Daily Mail, was a fanatically patriotic Briton. In 1908 he put up $10,000 for the first plane to cross the 26 miles of the English Channel between Calais and Dover.

Northcliffe knew there were few U.K.-built planes capable of crossing the Channel, but he preferred that the pilot be an Englishman, or at least an American.

Wilbur Wright was in France

at the time, demonstrating the new Military Flyer to the French government. Northcliffe reportedly offered the elder Wright the sum of $15,000 if he would do it. Wright was tempted, but he turned down the offer. Orville had been demonstrating the same plane at Fort Myer, Virginia, and crashed after a propeller fragmented in front of a crowd of Army brass and spectators. Orville suffered a broken leg, but his passenger Lt. Thomas Selfridge was killed.

Another crash would seriously impair the Wrights’ sales.

As histor y has shown, the English Channel was conquered by air on July 25, 1909, by Frenchman Louis Blériot.

The Challenge Hearst’s challenge earned some attention. The Wrights themselves and their chief competitor Glenn H. Curtiss briefly considered entering but realized that any chance of success would entail huge investments of time and money.

By 1911 airplanes were still a novelty most Americans had never seen. They were hardly capable of flying more than a hundred miles under ideal conditions. Between New York and California the terrain varied from small towns and big cities, hills and mountains, cultivated land and vast stretches of open plain and scorching desert, towering granite mountain ranges and dense forests. And not a single airport.

There were no navigation beacons, no air traffic controllers, and no mechanics waiting to repair balky engines or torn fabric. On a cross-country flight a pilot had to hope he would find a convewww.VintageAircraft.org

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forward canard elevator. In doing this he became one of the first private citizens to buy a Wright airplane. Pilot’s License No. 49 was issued to him on August 7, 1911, by the Aero Club of America.

Just three days later Rodgers entered the Model B in several competitions at an International Air Meet at Grant Park in Chicago.

He did well, winning a total of $11,925 in several aerial competitions and an endurance flight.

COURTESY MARK CARLSON

This was what faced the pilot who chose to accept Hearst’s challenge.

nient road or smooth field to land on. He was on his own, forced to improvise as he went along. And once on the ground he had to make his own repairs and maintenance. Fuel had to be found and 48

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The Daredevil And that man was Calbraith “Cal” Perry Rodgers. Rodgers was born in January 1879 of a wealthy Pittsburgh family. He was a scion of one of the most illustrious Navy dynasties in the country. His ancestors included War of 1812 hero Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the victor on Lake Erie. He also counted among his antecedents Commodore John Rodgers and Commodore Mathew Perry, who had opened Japan to the world in 1853.

With such a pedigree, Cal, as he preferred to be called, was brought to the airplane.

A rough landing or damage eager to join the Navy. But a to the airframe might ground a bout with scarlet fever as a plane for days or weeks until the boy robbed him of much of needed parts could be brought his hearing. He grew up to be a handsome, 6-foot 4-inch tall by rail.

man who loved sailing, football, and was never seen in public without a cigar in his wide, smiling mouth.

Rodgers had earned a reputation as a daredevil. His cousin John, named for the commodore, had graduated from Annapolis. John was one of the first Navy officers to be chosen to fly the Wright Military Flyers purchased by the U.S. Navy in March 1911.

John Rodgers was sent to

Dayton, Ohio, where he began flight instruction at the Wright Brothers’ Huffman Prairie Flying School. Cal visited him there and was instantly bitten by the flying bug.

He learned to fly under the tutelage of Orville Wright and Al Welsh until he felt ready to solo after a mere 90 minutes of flying time.

He bought a Wright Model B, known as the Headless Wright because it lacked the familiar

The Preparation Rodgers had heard of the Hearst coast to coast flight challenge and decided to try for it.

His total flying time amounted to less than 40 hours.

He went about it methodically, securing funding and logistical support from J. Oggen Armour, owner of the Chicagobased Armour Meat Company.

Armour was eager to promote a new grape-flavored soft drink called Vin Fiz. With an agreement that Rodgers’ plane would h av e t h e w o rd s “ V I N F I Z ” painted on the rudders and underside of the wings, he was to be paid $5 for each mile flown east of the Mississippi River and $4 for each mile west of that.

This would be honored regardless of whether he beat Hearst’s deadline. Armour also provided a special three-car train that would accompany Rodgers across the country.

With a boxcar carrying spare wings, struts, rudders, wheels, engines, and enough parts and fabric to rebuild the entire plane at least twice, the train was a rolling repair shop and carried a car able to leave the train and drive to wherever Rodgers had www.VintageAircraft.org

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ERNIE VISKUPIC, WINGMAN PHOTOGRAPHY SAN DIEGO

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

SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

pervised by Charlie Taylor, who had been with the Wrights since before Kitty Hawk. The two women were accompanied by a friend, Charles Wiggin.

The boxcars were painted white, so Rodgers would be able

to spot the train easily from the air, and emblazoned with the Vin Fiz logo, prompting the name of Vin Fiz Special.

Rodgers agreed to pay for the fuel, oil, spare parts, and mechanics’ pay. Taylor was paid $70 per week.

Using his prize money, Rodgers purchased a Wright Model EX (for Exhibition) for $5,000.

The EX was a modified Wright Mo d e l R , w h i c h w a s o f te n called the Roadster or the Baby Wright, and was specifically built for exhibition flying.

The Wrights’ workers lengthened the spruce muslin-covered Model R’s 26.5-foot wing to 31.5-foot with a 5-foot chord.

The separation between the upper and lower wings was just over 40 inches.

The lower profile allowed for better control and maneu-

ERNIE VISKUPIC, WINGMAN PHOTOGRAPHY SAN DIEGO

www.VintageAircraft.org

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The only instruments Rodgers had on hand were his pocketwatch, to keep track of flying time and estimated distance, and a weighted shoestring tied to a bracing wire by his head.

Taylor and Rogers.

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verability, less bracing wire, shorter struts, and reduced wind resistance.

(Note: Some sources say the EX was a Model B, which had a 31-foot wingspan. But the 5.4foot wing separation was more than 2 feet longer than the Model R and the EX. The author supports the Model R, but this may never be proven.)

With a 35-hp upright inline four-cylinder engine turning chains to twin contra-rotating 8-foot propellers at 450 rpm, the EX could maintain a speed of 55 mph for about three-and-a-half hours under ideal conditions.

The EX had no navigation instruments, not even a compass.

Rodgers would have to navigate visually using railroads, euphemistically named the “iron road” or “iron compass.” That meant he could only fly in daylight and with good visibility.

Fog and rain would ground him as surely as a broken wing or clogged fuel line.

The only instruments Rodgers had on hand were his pocketwatch, to keep track of flying time and estimated distance, and a weighted shoestring tied to a bracing wire by his head.

The string served as a sort of inclinometer to tell him if he was pitching or rolling the plane.

The engine was fitted on the wing to his right, which made minor in-flight adjustments possible.

For good luck an unopened

of the coast to coast attempt.

The total distance was more than 4,300 miles. Time would be of the essence, and every delay would cut into the deadline.

The most distance Rodgers could make in a single flight was about 190 miles. Local conditions however were likely to affect this goal. Bad weather and engine trouble, even landing too far from the repair train, could make a second flight in a day unlikely.

It was technically possible to make it to California inside the 30-day time limit, but only if everything went right.

The Vin Fiz Special would eibottle of Vin Fiz was wired to Texas. From there he would fly ther follow Rodgers or lead him, one of the wing struts. Rodgers into New Mexico and Arizona, depending on conditions on a intended to celebrate his vic- and finally into California, particular day.

It was truly an odyssey “where tory by drinking it after land- headed for the goal of Pasadena, the official ending point no man had gone before.” ing in California.

The new plane was instantly dubbed the Wright EX Vin Fiz. Cal Rodgers was not the only pilot trying for the Hearst prize money.

Robert Fowler and James Ward, who each had more flying time than Rodgers, were ready by early September.

Fowler was the first, taking off from San Francisco on September 11 and headed east. But once he reached the towering Sierra Nevadas, he turned back, unable to climb high enough to clear the mountains.

Two days later Ward took a route west from New York C ity, but gave up five d ays later, unable to even get out of the state.

Eager to avoid the mountain ranges Rodgers planned his route along railroads from New York, west into Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and then south to Missouri, Oklahoma, and www.VintageAircraft.org

53

Around the Pylons

How to beat your plowshare into a sword Don Berliner

EAA 5654, Past President, Society of Air Racing Historians

ers were already obsolete and soon would be There’s nothing new about turning a fighter headed for the scrap heap. into a racer. This has been going on since the Gen. “Hap” Arnold saw a possible solution and first postwar Bendix and Thompson Trophy promptly dispatched one of his best Wright Field races at Cleveland in 1946. But turning a racer into a fighter is a very different matter. One at- test pilots, Ben Kelsey, who happened to have a tempt to do this can be traced back to 1936.

The rumbling of a second world war was increasing, especially in Nazi Germany where Messerschmitt and Heinkel and Junkers were hard at work developing military airplanes in clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Still strapped for cash, the U.S. Army Air Corps was sorely in need of new ideas, as its Curtiss and Boeing biplane fight- This page shows two shots of the Caudron C.460.

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SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

graduate degree in aeronautical engineering from MIT, to the 1936 Los Angeles National Air Races.

He was assigned to take a close look at the brandnew French Caudron C-460, which looked faster than anything we had or expected to have in the near future. With a minimum of changes, maybe it could emerge as the Air Corps’ answer to the eternal challenge of a high-speed, low-cost, lightweight fighter.

The C-460 had been designed expressly to win the Coupe Deutsch de la Muerthe, the world’s longest pylon race, consisting of two stages, each for 10 laps of the 100-kilometer (62-mile) threesided course, with all 1,240 miles to be flown on a single day. The annual event combined the practical test of a long race with some of the excitement of a pylon race.

The airplane was as sleek as anything yet to roll out of a factory or workshop. Its drag was the least then possible with an airframe that carried an engine and a pilot, along with landing gear, instruments, and enough fuel. Its engine had been developed for racing.

More than 6,000 miles to the west of the Coupe Deutsch course, as the competitors and the crowd gathered at what would become Los Angeles International Airport in early September of 1936, much of the talk was centered on the long, slender Caudron. The previous year, Raymond Delmotte had won the long Coupe Deutsch Race in an identical machine at an average speed of 275.9 mph, while that year’s Thompson Trophy race had been won with a speed 50 mph slower. The two otherwise very different types of races may have had the same total number of turns, but the Thompson would offer much shorter straightaways on which to build up speed lost in the turns. In addition, however, Delmotte had set a world speed record for landplanes with a C-460 on a 3-kilometer straight course at 314.3 mph in December of 1934.

Even before any stopwatches had begun to click, Ben Kelsey was hard at work, studying every aspect of the dark blue speedster from far across the water. While his eyes took in matters of streamlining, his brain was converting the C-460 into an imaginary pursuit plane. In his report to the War Department’s Air Corps Materiel Division at Wright Field, dated October 12, 1936, he summed up his impressions: “This plane represented a very fine, well-

engineered design for the purpose. Each detail was apparently the result of careful study, combined with experience. As a whole, it is believed it represents an optimum in racing performance with the power available.

“The apparently excellent functioning and dependability of the plane and equipment indicate that the design profited by previous experience with similar designs and that this particular plane had been operated for a sufficient time to work the ‘bugs’ out.

“As nearly as can be determined, the engine, which incorporated a built-in blower, could be considered as a 260-hp at 10,000 feet engine, operating full throttle at sea level. To accomplish this, special fuel approximating a 110 octane rating had to be used. Power estimates vary from 350 hp to 370 hp, depending on the source of the information.”

Kelsey then analyzed the airframe, the specific aspect of the airplane that most interested observers of all viewpoints. More from Kelsey: “There are several special features that deserve notice. The (canopy) is exceptionally small— about 10-½ inches at the bottom—just large enough for the pilot’s head. This obstruction is located pretty far back on the fuselage, which is advantageous from a drag standpoint, and is very carefully shaped to avoid flat surfaces.

“The wing is full cantilever, tapered, and extremely thin, of symmetrical airfoil sections. This thin section is advantageous but feasible only in a light airplane in which the maneuver factors must be low. The details are extremely fine; the trailing edge is practically a knife edge; the ailerons nest into the wing without a gap and with no balance. The controls are all internal.

“The airfoil section was supposed to be a symmetrical section but appeared to be more nearly like some of our earlier racing sections. The thickness at the root was about 10 percent to 12 percent, giving a depth of about 6 inches.

The tips were tapered in thickness to practically nothing. It will be noticed that the taper in plan and the aspect ratio are quite normal and apparently the result of some nice design study. Split flaps were fitted from aileron to fuselage.

“The wing is located up on the fuselage a little from the bottom. There seems to be some reason for maintaining the fuselage lines under the wing without a break, as well as getting www.VintageAircraft.org

55

Curtiss P-36

retracting space for wheels without protruding from the wing.

“The fillet is very small, which is, of course, satisfactory for high-speed conditions.

“The tail surfaces are thin and full cantilever and as fine in detail as the wing and aileron.

These are mounted on an unusually long tail, giving good damping and adequate control with small drag.

“The fuselage is only large enough to accommodate the powerplant and pilot, having been reduced from the dimensions of the early models. The sides are flat which, when added to the (canopy) which is streamlined as a vertical obstruction, gives considerable fin area aft, which apparently accounts for the ability to get away with small vertical control and fin surface in spite of the large side area of the motor installation.

“The landing gear is completely retractable by pneumatic means. When retracted there are no obstructions.

“The powerplant is a six-cylinder inverted aircooled in-line Renault engine. The engine has a displacement of about 465 cubic inches, a bore of 4.25 inches by a stroke of 5.5 inches, and is rated as an 8-liter engine. There is a built-in blower, although apparently the compression ratio was not exceptionally high. The fuel used was specially prepared and furnished by Shell. A sample indicated that there was no fuel of commercial equivalent, but was about 110 octane rating.

“The propeller was driven direct, 6 feet in diameter, and automatic two position. This Ratier propeller was operated without controls by combination of pneumatic and mechanical means.

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SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

It may be assumed that this model is the same as originally on the C-460. The propeller was removed and kept under cover when not being flown. The Ratier propeller originally fitted on the C-460 operated only to increase the pitch from a takeoff position to a high-speed position when a certain speed was reached.

“The blades were held in the hub by a coarse thread whose pitch was so designed that the forces acting on the blade in the hub were normal to the thread shoulders. Ball bearings run into the thread between blade and hub meant that the pitch could be changed easily and tended to stay put with little restraint. A spring acting on a sliding cam rotates the blade from low pitch to high. The spring is held in the low pitch position for takeoff by a little rubber balloon fitted with an automobile valve. The disc out in front has a stem which rests on the air valve.

“When sufficient speed is reached, the pressure on the disc causes it to move back into the hub, the stem pressing the air valve and deflating the rubber balloon. This allows the spring to rotate the blades into the high pitch position.

“Upon landing, the mechanism must be reinflated with a bicycle pump to get it into the low pitch position. This is good, then, for only one flight and is especially adapted for getting a racing plane off the ground with a load, then getting into racing high-speed trim at low altitude, which is held until landing, all with a minimum of weight and controls. This is the reverse of our normal pursuit usage where takeoff is rarely a problem, but maneuvers and changes in altitude require a propeller capable of adapting itself to various conditions.

istics and increased weight, providing satisfactory vision, changing to metal structure, including armament, radio and oxygen, plus the addition of maintenance and service features would increase the gross weight to about 3,000 pounds or better, and require upwards of 1,000 hp to maintain equivalent performance.

This is highly uncertain still, but indicates that when amplified to service use, the plane is not very different from designs now being procured. Certain feaThe Curtiss P-36, which Kelsey figured was the Caudron after tures might be retained to imnecessary mods. prove details of normal design.

When asked about this many years later, the long-retired Kelsey said that “The engine was cooled by air let in through an opening in the front, one apparently directed when Arnold wanted a brief summary, he told his boss that when you take into account all the on the cylinder barrels and the heads, the other changes which would have to be made to turn front opening being the carburetor air intake. the racer into a pursuit, “…we already have that There was an outlet gland on the bottom of the plane: It’s the Curtiss P-36!” With that, any serifuselage below the wing. In addition, there were a few louvers cut here and there in the after por- ous thought of modifying a racer dissolved.

Needless to say, the Caudron C-460 remained tion of the cowl. For oil cooling, large flush surface radiators were let into the side of the engine a classic racer that sired a string of increasingly powerful racing and record-breaking designs cowling on the side and bottom.” which were stymied by the refusal of . . . the Caudron C-460 remained more powerful Renault V-12s to run reliably. The P-36 went on to equip a classic racer that sired a string of many Army Air Corps squadrons and to lead directly to the production run of 12,000 P-40s. As for Ben Kelsey? He increasingly powerful racing and made headlines with a transcontinental dash in a very early P-38 that ended record-breaking designs . . . crumpled on a golf course just short of his goal in New York. With his flying and engiKelsey’s analysis was thorough and couched neering knowledge, he made a highly productive in formal engineering terminology, as would career out of the Army Air Forces, rising to the be expected of a professional test pilot who rank of general. Retired to northern Virginia, he was assigned to weigh the pros and cons of a began building a Pitts Special but died before he new design. could complete it.

A study of the design indicates that there are No original C-460 exists, though a realistic reno modifications which might be made to give production has been built and flown. A fixed-gear tactical usefulness without materially reducing the performance. A rather detailed investigation predecessor of the C-460 is in the Musee de l’Air at le Bourget Aeroport, north of Paris. As for is being made by the North American (Aviation) Company to determine the feasibility of adopting P-36s, one is in the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, while a Hawk 75 export verthis design to military purposes. sion is owned by the Imperial War Museum and The first phase of this indicated that probased at Duxford, north of London. viding sufficient wing for landing characterwww.VintageAircraft.org

57

The Vintage Mechanic ROBERT G. LOCK

Aircraft covering, Part 1 The subject is aircraft fabrics, and it is not my

intent to describe how to cover an aircraft but rather to trace the history of fabrics used in the covering process and touch on the filler materials that were used.

In the beginning, fabric was made by weaving natural fibers, such as cotton or linen. This type of material commonly could be found as bedsheets but could be purchased in the “unshrunk” condition, where water could be used to cause initial shrinking of the fabric after attachment to the structure. Natural fibers were bleached, which removed color from the fibers, turning it white. Cotton fabric, being a white fiber, was not bleached, but some linen cloth, being a light tan color, was bleached. It is difficult to trace fabric history much before World War I, thus much early data pertained to those aircraft used from 1914 to 1918.

However, it is possible that the pre-WWI ships may have used banana oil to tauten and seal fabric weave in the covering process.

Linen fabric met the British Standard Specification 9BSF1 for the period beginning 1914.

Additional specifications and manufacturing instructions could be found in the “Military Aeronautics Specifications” dated 1916. I suspect before the advent of WWI there were no specifications for aircraft fabric since there were few aircraft around, particularly in the United States.

No doubt one had read of the fabric tearing loose from the upper wings of SPAD aircraft when the ship dived to high speeds and the lift forces were greater than what the fabric could withstand.

The principal countries that produced the flax 58

SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

from which linen fabric is manufactured were Belgium, Russia, and Ireland. During the war the Belgian supply was not available, and the Russian supply was difficult to obtain. Thus Ireland was the only source from which to obtain flax in which to manufacture airplane linen. Therefore, the term “Irish linen” was born.

In the United States, the early Curtiss JN-4 Jenny ships were covered with a linen cloth. Although no particular specification can be found, it is, no doubt, very similar or the same as the British Standard Specification 9BSF1 for linen cloth. When the United States entered the war on April 6, 1917, experimental work had been underway at the Bureau of Standards on a fabric cloth made from long-staple cotton fibers. At first there was a decided prejudice against the use of cotton because the dope that had been used to tauten and seal linen fabric did not work with uniformity on cotton. This led to the development of a new dope, which provided a big improvement in cotton fabric usage.

As a result of experiments, two grades of cotton airplane cloth finally evolved: Grade A with a maximum weight of 4-plus ounces per square yard and a minimum tensile strength of 80 pounds per inch, and Grade B with a maximum weight of 4 ounces per square yard and a minimum tensile strength of 75 pounds per inch. As these cloths went into production, it was shown that Grade A had a tensile strength of 85 to 90 pounds per inch. This was the grade that was universally adopted for aircraft fabric covering after February 1918, because the additional

strength more than compensated for the slight increase in weight.

The first orders for about 20,000 yards of cotton airplane fabrics were placed in September 1917, and from that time the use of Irish linen cloth decreased. At the time the armistice was signed, ending WWI, the production of Grade A cotton fabric was approximately 1,200,000 yards per month. By August 1918 the importation of Irish linen fabric by the government for war use was discontinued.

In 1917 the only practical limit to the production of cotton airplane cloth was the availability of a large supply of long-staple cotton fibers,

particularly from Egypt. To guard against a shortage of this critical material, the Signal Corps purchased 15,000 bales of sea-island cotton in November 1917 so there would never be a shortage of this raw material for manufacturing airplane cloth. Once the cloth was attached to the structure, water and dope were applied.

Dope served a two-fold process in aircraft fabric covering.

First, it tautened the fabric, and second, it sealed the cloth weave and made it water resistant. If there were openings between the weave, lifting forces on the wings would be compromised. And the fabric had to be smooth to reduce drag forces in flight. Two types of dope were tested: cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate.

Nitrate was made from cellulose nitrate and wood chemical solvents that produced a surface similar to photographic film of the time. It burned quite rapidly, resembling a July 4 sparkler! Nitrocellulose dope was preferred for training ships because the enemy was not shooting at them. Acetate was made from cellulose acetate and wood chemical solvents, such as acetone. It was a slow-burning material; however, if the ship caught fire in the air, it was going to burn anyway. Cellulose acetate dope was preferred for fighting aircraft because they were being shot at with incendiary bullets that would set the ship on fire. Up to the entry of the United States into WWI, nitrate dope was furnished by various chemical and varnish manufacturers.

The selection of a new dope manufactured from cellulose acetate opened a wide field of research because there was a wartime shortage of the ingredients, which were acetate of lime (acetone), cellulose acetate, acetic anhydride, and glacial acetic acid. Acetate of lime is the base from which acetone is made, and in www.VintageAircraft.org

59

December 1917, the government took steps to commandeer all the existing supplies of these kindred products. Steps were also taken to immediately increase production capacity for airplane dope, resulting in the government making cash advances to large chemical plants located in Collinwood, Tennessee; Tyrone, Pennsylvania; Mechanicsville, New York; Shawinigan Falls, Canada; Kingsport, Tennessee; Lyle, Tennessee; Freemont, Missouri; Sutton, West Virginia; Shelby, Alabama; and Terre Haute, Indiana.

By the time the armistice was signed, 1,324,356 gallons of dope had been produced by the 10 manufacturing plants, which proved to be adequate to meet all government requirements.

After the war ended, there were adequate supplies and manufacturing facilities of dope and fabric to meet production requirements for the birth of civil aviation in the United States. The fabric became known as Grade A cotton fabric, and the dope as nitrate and butyrate. Manufacturing standards and specification for airplane cloth made from long-staple cotton linters were pretty well developed by 1918 and remain today.

Here would be a good time to briefly explain how these early 1914 to 1918 ships were cov60

SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

ered. From the Curtiss JN-4D Handbook dated 1918, “The main panels are covered on the upper and lower surface with fabric. The fabric is carefully stretched over the framework of the panel.

The tension is applied to the linen as necessary for smooth covering, and is directed parallel to the span of the panel. Care is taken not to apply this tension in the direction of the chord, so that when the dope of the linen contracts, it does not alter the wing curve. For sewing the fabric to the ribs, Andover No. 7 harness-maker thread, properly waxed, is used. This thread is taken around each rib, each stitch being properly locked with a knot. The stitches are 4 inches apart. After the fabric has been sewn to the frame, a strip of aeroplane linen, 2-1/4 inches wide, with the threads frayed at the sides 1/8 inch, is doped over the stitches.” Enough nitrocellulose dope is applied to tauten the fabric and seal the weave so as to provide a smooth surface. There was no silver dope applied to block ultraviolet rays of the sun, which rotted the fabric in a short period of time; therefore, all early ships appeared brown or white in color, depending on whether they were covered with linen or cotton cloth. This was the standard covering process for a WWI aircraft.

Early aircraft covering had no protection from the ultraviolet rays of the sun, which deteriorated cotton and linen cloth at an alarming rate. In the early 1960s, Ray Stits developed a synthetic covering process called Poly-Fiber.

He did several tests involving exposure of various types of fabric to the sun. Stits covered several 24-inch-square frames with Dacron and cotton fabric and mounted them to a test fence at a 45-degree angle to the sun in Riverside, California, for 13 months. The fabric was uncoated; however, one-fourth of the surface was covered with plywood to block the ultraviolet rays of the sun. (Riverside is very sunny and hot during summer months.) After 13 months, six 1-inch-wide strips were cut for a pull test. For new Grade A cotton fabric with a strength of 80 pounds per inch, the results showed: • Unexposed – 69.25 pounds per inch (under the plywood protection) • Exposed – 6.75 pounds per inch (direct exposure to the sun) • Indirect exposure – 43 pounds per inch (back side of panel) His conclusion was that exposed cotton fabric was reduced to only 8.3 percent of its original 80

pounds per inch. So here the conclusion would lead one to the fact that Grade A cotton fabric needs a good application of silver dope to protect it from the sun’s rays. The first ships covered with linen or cotton cloth did not have any protection, thus deteriorated at a rapid rate. Therefore, when testing Grade A fabric for strength, one could expect the upper surface of a wing to be deteriorated greater than the lower surface because of indirect exposure.

For testing any type of fabric covering on an aircraft, original cotton fabric is the standard for deteriorated strength. All synthetic covering processes must measure to the minimum standards of cotton aircraft cloth.

Into the early 1920s, the specifications for cotton and linen fabric cloth were pretty well established. From the U.S. Army Air Corps Bulletin 23, dated May 1930, and the Bureau of Aeronautics Index, dated April 1930, the Navy specification for airplane cotton cloth was 27C12; 6-97-B for the Army. Cellulose nitrate dope carried specification 3-151 for the Army and 52D2 for the Navy, while cellulose acetate dope carried speci-

fication 3-110-C for the Army and 52D5 for the Navy. In the civilian world, cellulose nitrate dope became known as just “nitrate,” and cellulose acetate dope was commonly known as “butyrate.”

The use of airplane dope that had been developed for WWI is essentially the same today, perhaps with a little modernization. There now is available “tautening” and “nontautening” dope that may be used to control the amount of shrinking of the fabric cloth. Dope is also available in a limited number of pigmented colors. Nitrate dope has better penetrating qualities than butyrate dope and is still used with the synthetic Ceconite fabric process. It must be noted that nitrate and butyrate dope will not mix and that nitrate dope will not successfully overcoat butyrate dope. However, the opposite is true; butyrate dope will overcoat nitrate dope.

There were several companies that made the dope compounds and sold them to the government during WWI. After the war ended, a few rose to the top in the increasing civilian market. One was Titanine Incorporated of Union County, New Jersey. The company advertised in 1929 that it had furnished dopes and lacquers since 1913. The other company was Berry Brothers, producers of Berryloid aircraft finishes. It manufactured varnishes, enamels, and lacquers from its plants in Detroit, Michigan, and Walkerville, Ontario, Canada. The advertisements shown in this article are taken from the November 1929 issue of Aero Digest.

In the next installment, we’ll explore further the details of early fabric covering and provide more tidbits of interesting data about the early covering process.

References The Curtiss Standard JN-4D Military Tractor Handbook, 1918 by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation, Buffalo, United States.

How to Cover an Aircraft Using the Poly-Fiber System, April 1998 by Jon Goldenbaum.

Aviation Handbook, 1931 by Edward P. Warner and S. Paul Johnson.

Aero Digest, November 1929. www.Archive.org/stream/ unitedstatesarmy00mixtrich/ unitedstatesarmy http://TheVintageAviator.co.nz/reference/ working-irish-linen www.VintageAircraft.org

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Straight & Level

continued from page 1

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thousands of volunteer hours in not only preparation of the grounds, but also their herculean efforts to complete all of the finish work in preparation of AirVenture 2013. I need to also mention the actual execution of a safe and pleasurable event. This group is truly exceptional and is among the very best of EAA/VAA members who serve this organization so well each year at EAA Oshkosh.

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Rates cover one insertion per issue. Classified ads are not accepted via phone. Payment must accompany order. Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426-4828) or e-mail (classads@EAA.org) using credit card payment. Include name on card, complete address, and type of card, card number, and expiration date. Make checks payable to EAA. Advertising Correspondence: EAA, Classified Advertising, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086

VAA

Directory OFFICERS

President Geoff Robison 1521 E. MacGregor Dr. New Haven, IN 46774 260-493-4724 chief7025@aol.com

Secretary Steve Nesse 2009 Highland Ave. Albert Lea, MN 56007 507-373-1674 stnes2009@live.com

Vice-President Dave Clark 635 Vestal Lane Plainfield, IN 46168 317-839-4500 davecpd@att.net

Treasurer Dan Knutson 106 Tena Marie Circle Lodi, WI 53555 608-592-7224 lodicub@charter.net

DIRECTORS

BOOKS

Aviation Books. home.windstream.net/av8terz

EMPLOYMENT

Established Midwestern company seeking seasoned IA with leadership experience.

Candidate must have an extensive background in hands-on restoration activities, be able to manage large projects and be skilled in business development. Our restoration business is unique and requires extensive experience with vintage and Warbird type aircraft. Send resume and salary requirements to wasiresume@gmail.com

WANTED

Restoring a 1929 Alliance Argo, looking for engineering drawings, blue prints, and anything that could be of help. 508-566-6673, dthissell@gmail.com

What Our Members Are Restoring

Are you nearing completion of a restoration? Or is it done and 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 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 you’d like to make the photos smaller, say no.)

For more information, you can also e-mail jbusha@eaa.org.

Ron Alexander 118 Huff Daland Circle Griffin, GA 30223-6827 ronalexander@mindspring.com

Jeannie Hill P.O. Box 328 Harvard, IL 60033-0328 815-245-4464

Steve Bender 85 Brush Hill Road Sherborn, MA 01770 508-653-7557 aaflagship@gmail.com

Steve Krog 1002 Heather Ln. Hartford, WI 53027 262-305-2903 sskrog@gmail.com

David Bennett 375 Killdeer Ct Lincoln, CA 95648 916-952-9449 antiquer@inreach.com

Robert D. “Bob” Lumley 1265 South 124th St. Brookfield, WI 53005 262-782-2633 rlumley1@wi.rr.com

Jerry Brown 4605 Hickory Wood Row Greenwood, IN 46143 317-422-9366 lbrown4906@aol.com

Joe Norris 264 Old Oregon Rd. Oshkosh, WI 54902 pilotjoe@ntd.net 920-688-2977

Phil Coulson 28415 Springbrook Dr. Lawton, MI 49065 269-624-6490 rcoulson516@cs.com

S.H. “Wes” Schmid 2359 Lefeber Avenue Wauwatosa, WI 53213 414-771-1545 shschmid@gmail.com

George Daubner N57W34837 Pondview Ln Oconomowoc, WI 53066 262-560-1949 gdaubner@eaa.org

Tim Popp 60568 Springhaven Ct. Lawton, MI 49065 269-624-5036 tlpopp@frontier.com

Dale A. Gustafson 7724 Shady Hills Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46278 317-293-4430 dalefaye@msn.com

ADVISORS Lynne Dunn 145 Cloud Top Lane Mooresville, NC 28115 704-664-1951 lynnednn@aol.com

Susan Dusenbury 1374 Brook Cove Road Walnut Cove, NC 27052 336-591-3931 sr6sue@aol.com

DIRECTORS EMERITUS

The new standard in antique.

Introducing the EAA and Vintage Aircraft Association Aircraft Insurance Plan with all of the special coverage options VAA Members require for hand propping, tailwheel, grass strips, and unique aircraft. When you insure with the EAA Aircraft Insurance Plan

Robert C. Brauer 9345 S. Hoyne Chicago, IL 60643 773-779-2105 photopilot@aol.com

E.E. “Buck” Hilbert 8102 Leech Rd. Union, IL 60180 815-923-4591 buck7ac@gmail.com

Gene Chase 8555 S. Lewis Ave., #32 Tulsa, OK 74137 918-298-3692

Gene Morris 5936 Steve Court Roanoke, TX 76262 817-491-9110 genemorris@charter.net

Check out the EAA and VAA Plan today!

John Turgyan PO Box 219 New Egypt, NJ 08533 609-752-1944 jrturgyan4@aol.com

Go to EAALowerRates.com or call us toll-free at 866-647-4322.

Ronald C. Fritz 15401 Sparta Ave. Kent City, MI 49330 616-678-5012 itzfray@gmail.com Charles W. Harris PO Box 470350 Tulsa, OK 74147 918-622-8400 cwh@hvsu.com

you are helping VAA to continue to promote the heritage of vintage aviation.

Standard Category | Vintage | Aerobatics | LSA | Homebuilts | Warbirds | Sea Planes | Powered Parachutes & Trikes | Gliders | Helicopters The VAA Insurance Program is brought to you by EAA Insurance and administered by Falcon Insurance Agency, Inc.

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SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2013

Aircraft Insurance © 2012 Experimental Aircraft Assoc., Inc.