Vintage Airplane - Jul 2009

GEOFF ROBISON
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

It's EAA AirVenture time!
It's here. For aviators around
the globe, the month of july
always brings EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh to mind. Most every
one of these aviators will wish
he or she were going to be able
to attend, but for varied reasons,
many are never able to make it.
Here's hoping this is the year for
you! I still remember my first EAA
convention in 1984. So far, I have
not missed a single Oshkosh since
my first, and each of them has
been very enjoyable . But, some
members are not as fortunate as
J am in being able to come to this
great event every year. Even if you
can get here only once, you really
owe it to yourself to experience
this amazing celebration of the
Spirit of Aviation .
One of the great benefits of
membership is the opportunity
to serve your fellow members as
a Vintage volunteer during EAA
AirVenture. So, as we typically
do each year in july, here's a
partial list of names and contact
information for many of the
volunteer chairpersons for the
Vintage area of operations. Want
to rev up your visit by installing
some extra horsepower to yo ur
Oshkosh e xperience? just drop
these folks a lin e, and they wi ll fill
you in on these varied volunteer
opportunities . Hope to see yo u
around the Red Barn.
Please do us al l the favor of
inviting a fri end to join the VAA,
and help keep us the strong
association we have all enjoyed for

so many years now.
VAA is about participation: Be a
member! Be a volunteer! Be there!
Let's all pull in the same
direction for the good of aviation.
Remember, we are better together.
join us and have it all.

Merchandise
Bob Lum ley, Chairman, lumper@
execpc.com, 262-782-2633
Metal Forming Workshop
Steve Nesse, Chairman, stnes2009@
Iive.com, 507-373-1674
Parking and Safety
Michael Kosta, Chairman, cubflyr@
Vintage Aircraft Association
comcast.net, 303-673-9355
Chairpersons
Participant Plaques
jack Copeland, Chairman,
Convention Management
copelandl @jul1o.com, 508-393­
Geoff Robison, Chairman,
4775
chief7025 @ao l. com, 219-493­ Past Grand Champions
4724
Steve Krog, Chairman, sskrog@aol.
Butch joyce, Vice-Chairman,
com, 262-966-7627
windsock@aol. com, 336-427-0971
Safe Flying
Convention Management Field Ken Morris, Cha irma n,
Operations
taildragger7w@aol .com, 815-547­
George, Daubner, Vice-Cha irman,
3991
[email protected], 414-673-5885
Security
VAA Judging/Awards
Tim Fox, Chairman, tim @
Dave C lark , VAA C hi ef judge,
f l yingshepherds.com, 260-486­
[email protected], 317-839-4500
8126
Computer Operations
Tall Pines Cafe
Ear l Nic hol as, Cha irman, eman4@ Steve Nesse, Chairman, stnes2009@
ameritech.net, 312-451 -2930
Iive.com, 507-373-1674
Construction and Maintenance Tony's Trolley
Michael Blombach, Chairman, jim Brown, Chairman, 414-895­
m ichaeI84 6 @aol.com, 260-745­
6282
2339
Tour Tram
Headquarters, Sales
james LeFevre, Chairman, 920-434­
Ruth Co ul son, Chairman,
1656
rcoulson516 @cs.com, 616-624­ Type Club Headquarters
6490
Steve Krog, Chairman, ss krog@aol.
Headquarters, Information/
com, 262-966-7627
Activities
Volunteer Center
jeannie Hill, Chairman, 815-943­ Steve Moyer, Chairman, 215-514­
7205
1855
Membership/Chapter Info
Volunteer - Hospitality Center
Dave Bennett, Chairman, antiquer@ Lorraine Eber le, Vice-C h airman ,
inreach.com, 916-645-8370
920-233-2324

VOL. 37, NO.7

2009

u

y

CONTENTS
I Fe

Straight & Level
It's EAA AirVenture time!
by Geoff Robison

2

News

6

The Vintage Aircraft Association
Who we are ... how fortunate we are .. . and all for so little!
by Charles W. Harris

9

It All Started With Dad's Airplane:

The Jacobson Family Saga of N5752C
A Grand Champion with a family connection
by Budd Davisson
15

N90 Tango Tango to Oshkosh
The vintage AirVenture experience
by Mike Sheetz

20

The McBride C-150TD
A family project
by Budd Davisson

26

The Vintage Mechanic
Adhesives and bonding, Part II
by Robert G. Lock

34

Mystery Plane
by H.G. Frautschy

36

Eagles Nest at Platte Valley
Giving new meaning to the golden age of aviation
by Sparky Barnes Sargent

38

Aeromail

39

Classified Ads

STAFF

EAA Publisher
Director of EAA Publications
Executive Director/Editor
Production/Special Project
Photography
Advertising Coordinator
Classified Ad Coordinator
Copy Editor
Director of Advertising

Tom Poberezny
Mary Jones
H.G. Frautschy
Kathleen Witman
Jim Koepnick
Bonnie Kratz
Sue Anderson
Lesley Poberezny
Colleen Walsh
Ka trina Bradshaw

Display Advertising Representatives:
Specialized Publications Co.
U.S. Eastern Time Zone-Northeast: Ken Ross
609-822-3750 Fax: 609-957-5650

COVERS


[email protected]

FRONT COVER: One of the best reasons to choose a project airplane can be its history
with your family; that same reason can cause your judgment to be clouded when it comes

U.S. Eastern Time Zone-Southeast: Chester Baumgartner
727-532-4640 Fax: 727-532-4630

to the project's viability. When it was discovered his newly pu rchased C-170A was a frosty

cbauml1 [email protected]

caricature of an airplane crafted entirely out of corrosion, Steve " Jake" Jacobson just
couldn 't say " No," and so an extensive restoration of this classic was done and it was
selected as the Grand Champion Classic of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2008. EAA photo by
Mike Steineke.
BACK COVER: There are five McBrides, and they all had a hand to one extent or another
in the creation of this modified Cessna 1500. Just saying you're going to convert a 150
to a taildragger sounds like it's easy, but it 's not. There is a lot of work that has to be

U.S. Central Time Zone: Gary Worden
800-444-9932 Fax: 816-741-6458
gary. [email protected]

U.S. Mountain and Pacific Ti me Zones:John Gibson
916-784-9593 Fax: 510-217-3796
[email protected]

done and a lot of parts to be chased . See Budd Davisson's article on the McBride fami ly

Europe: Willi Tacke
Phone: +49(0)1716980871 Fax: +49(0)8841 /496012

project starting on page 20. EAA photo by Bonnie Kratz.

willi@{lyillg-pages.com
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

Rare Pitcairn Autogiro Arrives for AirVenture
Around this time last year, Jack and Kate Tiffany, of Spring Hill, Ohio, and the crew of Leading Edge Restora­
tions, were anticipating the flight of their recently restored Pitcairn PA-18 Autogiro to Oshkosh for AirVenture
2008. However, the rotor blades were significantly damaged during testing about a week prior to Oshkosh,
and the flight had to be called off.
That made the arrival of the PA-18 that much sweeter as the 77-year-old rotorcraft landed safely at EAA's
Pioneer Airport on Wednesday, June 24, 2009, in plenty of time for this year's convention. A total of 19 Pitcairn
PA-18s were built from 1932-1933, and this one, the result of nearly a decade-long restoration, represents the
only flying example left in the world.
The last leg of the journey to Pioneer Airport was from the Hartford, Wisconsin, airport, about 38 nautical
miles south of Oshkosh. With just a hint of emotion in his voice, Jack remarked as the 'gyro took off on the final
leg from Hartford, Wisconsin, "It's unreal [to see it depart]; 40 miles from Oshkosh, after nine years ... it's unreal:'
Plans are for the aircraft to be displayed at-where else-Pioneer Airport's Pitcairn Hangar until right
before AirVenture, then it will be relocated to the Vintage area on convention grounds for static display
throughout the week. For more on the arrival of the Autogiro along with a video clip of it in flight, visit www.
AirVenture.org and click on the Multimedia link.
After AirVenture, the PA-18 will return to the Pitcairn Hangar for display through August. Andrew King, pi­
lot, may even fly the Autogiro in EAA's Good 01' Days of Aviation event scheduled for August 29-30 before de­
parting to the airport in Brodhead, Wisconsin, and then back to Spring Hill, Ohio.
2

JULY 2009

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Volunteer Booth

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Ta ll Pines Cafe­
Near Ultralight Runway

o

VAA Special
Interest Aircraft
Display
Area

VAA Parki ng- ­
No Ca mpi ng
Row 62 t hrough Row 77

~

East Side VAA Camping
and Parking Starts Here­
Cont inues to Row 150

Grass Runways and Fuel
Also o n o u r VAA web sit e, we
p ubli sh a li st crea t e d b y VAA

Row 50

R..... C6lO9

To help members who fly in to understand the layout
of the convention area administered by the VAA, we've
prepared this simplified map. As you can see, camping
starts at Row 74 on the east side of the main north/south
road (Wittman Road), with the areas to the north of that
line set up to handle display-only vintage aircraft. That's
why you may see open areas as you taxi south to your
camping location.
Once you arrive, you'll need to register your aircraft
and/or campsite. In addition to roving registration ve­
hicles, there is one main aircraft registration building, 10­

As an EAA m ember (an im por­
tant part of yo ur VAA m emb er­
ship), you can use the EAA Flight
Planner to ch art your trip to Wit­
tman Field for EAA AirVenture Os­
hkosh 2009 . Just click on the EAA
Flight Planner link on the left side
of the members-only home page at
http://Mem bers.EAA.org or you can
log in at www. VintageA ircraft.org.

D

CommCenter

Rows 60
& 61

Row 78

Flight Planning for Your EAA
AirVenture Trip

Wayfinding Tower

Past Grand Champions - parked along road
VAA
and in rows 60 & 61,
Operatio ns

Shack


cated just south of the VAA Red Barn (see map). The EAA
convention campgrounds are private campgrounds and
are not open to non-EAA members. Each campsite must
be registered by a current EAA member.
Another immediate benefit of VAA membership is
your free VAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009 Participant
Plaque, which you can pick up in the rear of the Red Barn.
EAA and VAA memberships are available at both aircraft
registration and at the membership booth located under
the VAA Welcome Arch, northeast of the Red Barn at the
corner of Wittman Road and Vern Avenue.

m ember Kris Kortokrax.
Kris flies a variety of old biplanes
that are mo re pleasant to fly when
they are flown from grass strips, and
he and his buddies from Shelbyville,
Illinois, do th eir best to keep the
old biplan es h appy (and keep tire
wear to a m inimum) by flying cross­
co untry fro m grass st rip to grass
strip. Finding fuel facilities can be
a challenge these days, and Kris has
distilled t h is airport information
to be useful for like-minded grass­
runway-preferring pilots. Th is data
was current as of the beginning of
the year, and we'd suggest calling

ah ead to confirm fuel availability
and hours of operation, If you have
any changes or additions, drop us
an e-mail here at VintageAircraft@
eaa.org and we'll forward it to Kris.
Our thanks to Kris for sharing his
list. Let us know if you find it useful!

Breakfast and a Briefing
The VAA Tall Pines Cafe will be
in operation again this year with
an expanded schedule prior to
con vention, and fly-in-style pan­
cake and egg breakfasts during
EAA AirVenture. Starting on Friday
morning, July 24, and continuV I N T A G E A I RPLANE

3

ing through Sunday, July 26, the
VAA Tall Pines Cafe will be open
for breakfast (6:30 - 9:30 a.m.) and
dinner (4:30 - 7:30 p.m.). Start­
ing Monday, July 27, only break­
fast will be served at the Tall Pines
Cafe (6:30 - 9:30 a.m.). Just to the
north, an FAA Flight Service Sta­
tion (FSS) trailer will be located
near the cafe. At the trailer you'll
be able to check the weather for
your flight and obtain a full brief­
ing from FSS specialists with­
out having to trek up to the FAA
Building near the control tower.
We'll see you there each morning
for "breakfast and a briefing."
Are You a Friend of
the VAA Red Barn?
If so, be sure to check in at the
information desk at the VAA Red
Barn. There, we'll issue you a spe­
cial name badge. We can also pOint
out the location for the Ford Tri­
Motor rides. If you have any ques­
tions, feel free to ask for Theresa
Books, the VAA administrative as­
sistant. If you need to reach her in
advance of your arrival, call her at
EAA headquarters, 920-426-6110.
Our thanks to each of you
who have contributed to the VAA
Friends of the Red Barn 2009 cam­
paign. We'll have the list of con­
tributors in the September edition
of Vintage Airplane!
VAA Message Center
If you would like to leave a mes­
sage for people you know who fre­
quent the VAA Red Barn, stop by
the information desk. You can
write them a message in our "note­
book on a string," and we'll post
their name on the marker board so
they'll know there's a message wait­
ing for them. Sure, cellular phones
and walkie-talkies are great, but
sometimes nothing works better
than a hand-scribbled note!
VAA Picnic
Tickets for the annual VAA picnic
to be held Wednesday, July 29, at
the Nature Center will be available
for sale at the VAA Red Barn. Tick4

JULY 2009

ets must be purchased in advance so
we know how much food to order.
The delicious meal will be served af­
ter 5:30 p.m. Trams will begin leav­
ing the VAA Red Barn around 5 p.m.
and will make return trips after the
picnic. Type clubs may hold their
annual banquets during the picnic.
Call Jeannie Hill (815-943-7205),
and she will reserve seating so your
type club can sit together.
Shawano Fly-Out
The annual fly-out to Shawano
is Saturday, August 1. The sign-up
sheet will be at the desk at the VAA
Red Barn, and the briefing will be
at 7 a.m. the morning of the fly­
out. The community of Shawano,
approximately an hour north of
Oshkosh (as the Cub flies), is a big
supporter of VAA and puts forth a
lot of effort to sponsor this event.
Shawano's residents do a great job
of hosting us, and we hope you'll
help us thank Shawano by joining
us on the flight.
VAA Red Barn Store
The VAA Red Barn Store, chock­
full of VAA logo merchandise and
other great gear, will be open with
expanded hours all week long,
Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m.
until 6 p.m. Early-bird arrivals can
shop on the previous weekend as
well, during limited hours. Show
your VAA membership card (or
your receipt showing you joined
VAA at the convention), and you'll
receive a 10 percent discount.
One evening during AirVenture
there will be a special VAA mem­
bers-only sale. Inquire at the store
for the date. Bring your VAA card,
and you'll receive an additional
discount on specially priced mer­
chandise. See you there!
VAA Volunteer Opportunities
Are you an ace pancake flipper?
If you're not one yet, we can help!
The VAA Tall Pines Cafe is looking
for volunteers who can help provide
a hearty breakfast to all the hungry
campers on the south end of Witt­
man Field. If you could lend a hand

for a morning or two, we'd appreci­
ate it. If that's not your cup of tea, feel
free to check with the VAA Volunteer
Center, located just to the northeast
of the VAA Red Barn. The volun­
teers who operate the booth will be
happy to tell you when your help is
needed each day. It doesn't matter if
it's just for a few hours or for a few
days-we'd love to have your help­
ing hands! There is no need for you
to contact us ahead of time; you can
talk with us when you arrive.
VAA Judging Categories
and Awards
The VAA's internationally recog­
nized judging categories are:
- Antique: Aircraft built prior to
September I, 1945
- Classic: September I, 1945 - De­
cember 31, 1955
- Contemporary: January I, 1956
- December 31, 1970
Any aircraft built within those
years is eligible to park in the Show­
plane parking and camping areas.
If you wish to have your aircraft
judged, let the volunteer know
when you register your aircraft and
camping area. If you want your
aircraft to be judged by VAA vol­
unteer judges, you need to be a cur­
rent Vintage Aircraft Association
member. VAA contributes a signif­
icant portion of the costs related
to the EAA awards that are pre­
sented to the award winners. The
Awards Ceremony will be held Sat­
urday evening at 6 in the new Vin­
tage Hangar - not in Theater in the
Woods as in previous years.
Designated Smoking Areas
Near Flightline
Smoking on the flightline at EAA
AirVenture is prohibited because
it's a hazard to all aircraft. There are
several deSignated smoking areas
with butt cans along the flightline,
well away from aircraft and refuel­
ing operations.
DeSignated smoking areas will
be south of the ultralight runway;
near the Hangar Cafe; near the
Warbirds area (northeast corner of

A Night at the Movies With EAA Fly-In Theater
Bring your blankets and lawn chairs and watch a great aviation movie at the
EAA Fly-In Theater, presented by Ford Motor Company and supported by Hamil­
ton Watches. Movies are shown nightly, from Sunday, July 26, through Saturday,
August 1, and each film is introduced by a celebrity presenter. The theater is lo­
cated just north of EAA's Camp Scholler at the end of Doolittle Drive, and the pro­
gram begins at 8:30 p.m.

AirVenture NOTAM

www.AirVenture.org/flying
Alternate Airports
and Waypoints

www.AirVenture.org/flying/alter­
nate_airports.html
www.AirVenture.org/2008/
news/08060S--presentations.html
Put more than a thousand pre­
sentations, workshops, and other
scheduled events at your fingertips.

Here's the lineup of movies, along with the guest presenters who have
been confirmed:
Sunday, July 26

One Six Right

(presenter TBD)

and Barnstorming

presented by Paul Glenshaw
and Andrew King

Monday, July 27

The Right Stuff

(presenter TBD)

Tuesday, July 28

Cloud Dancer

presented byTom Poberezny
and friends

Wednesday, July 29

Six Days Seven Nights presented by Harrison Ford

Thursday, July 30

Bat*2 1

Friday, July 31

X-1S

Saturday, August 1

Pearl Harbor

Audrey Lane and Eide Avenue); the
Wearhouse flag pole area; the shade
pavilion north of the control tower;
and near the Ultralight Barn. Lo­
cations will be indicated on EAA's
free convention grounds map. The
admission wristband also instructs
visitors that smoking is allowed
only in deSignated smoking areas.
EAA AirVenture Is Almost Here
... Are You Ready?
Just a few short weeks from now,
many of you will make the annual
pilgrimage to Oshkosh for EAA Air­
Venture 2009. Are you ready? Here
are several handy online tools on the
newly redesigned AirVenture website.
Visit www.AirVenture.org and find
out what you need to know about
The World's Greatest Aviation
Celebration.

(presenter TBD)
presented by Joe Engle
(presenter TBD)

Admission, Parking, Hours

www.AirVenture.org/planning/admis­
sion.html
Find or Share a Ride to Oshkosh

www.AirVenture.org/rideshare

Site Map
www.AirVenture.org/planning/
AV2009....grounds_map.pdf
Quick reference guide of new site
layout: www.AirVenture.org/siteplan/
guidechanges.html
AirVenture Schedule

www.AirVenture.org/schedule
Where to Stay

www.AirVenture.org/planning/where_
to_stay.html

Find Your Favorite
Presentations and
Workshops Online
With hundreds of the world's
leading aviation authorities giv­
ing close to 1,000 individual pre­
sentations at nearly 4S locations
spread throughout the AirVenture
ground s, finding out who is pre­
senting, where, and when, can be,
in a word, challenging. The EAA
AirVenture website has an online
tool that can make this task sim­
ple when you use the integrated
AirVenture Schedule.
Located at www.AirVenture.org
under "A ttraction s" an d then
under" Ac tivitie s, Presentations
& Workshops," the d atabase in­
cludes all the venues, sub jects and
topics, presenters and events from
not only Forums and Workshops,
but also Warbirds in Review, Kid­
Venture, Museum Speakers Show­
case, Authors Corner, Theater in
the Woods, special " at the air­
craft" presentations on AeroShell
Square , and more. In addition,
the web schedule is updated on a
daily basis.
A quick link to this new sched­
ule is www.AirVenture.org/schedule.
A brand-new ground breaking
feature this year is the ability to cre­
ate your own itinerary of various
events of interest. You can save or
print it out for future reference.
The online schedule will now
make it easier for you to find pre­
sentations, book signings, activi­
ties, movies, and other events at
every venue on the site.
.......
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

5

THE VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

Who we are . . . how fortunate we are .. . and all for so little!
BY CHARLES

The grassroots aviation commu­
nity of the good old United States is a
most fortunate and privileged group
of airplane enthusiasts. We have be­
come the current-day recipients of
the brilliant aviation concept that
Paul Poberezny and his small group
of close flying friends created in Mil­
waukee, Wisconsin, in January 1953
and what has since become a world­
wide movement of people from ev­
ery walk of life who have banded
together in a common cause-the
cause of sport aviation! Sport avia­
tion now encompasses every phase
of aviation and airplane interests;
6

JULY 2009

W. H ARRIS

antiques, classics, contemporaries,
warbirds, experimentals, light sport,
aerobatics, replicas, biplanes, ad in­
finitum, and all of these areas of our
special interes t are welcomed and
encouraged under EAA and its huge
160,000-member umbrella.
In the Vintage Aircraft Associa­
tion (VAA), while we embrace virtu­
ally every airplane we see, the older,
more historic airplanes have a very
special appeal and Significance to us.
From the days of Orville and Wil­
bur and their first ingenious and
miraculous flying machine, from
Capt. Eddie and his sturdy Spad,

from "Slim" Lindbergh and his Ryan
NYP, from Jimmy Doolittle and his
Gee Bee and Super Solution, from
Howard Hughes and his simply
fabulous world-speed-record-break­
ing Racer, and from Benny Howard
and Ike, Mike, Pete, and Mulligan
came our inspired and breathtak­
ing background . Mr. Piper and his
Cubs together with e.G. Taylor and
his Taylorcrafts, Don Luscombe
and his Monocoupes and later his
even more successful and remark­
able "8" Series Luscombes, and still
later, Duane Wallace with his highly
marketable 140s, 150s, 170s, 172s,

180s, 182s, and 195s together with
Mr. Piper again and his Short Wings,
Cherokees, and Comanches cre­
ated the marketing successes that
brought aviation down to a cost
level that nearly everyone could af­
ford. These aviation pioneers an d
their airp lanes together with Wal­
ter Beech's engineering masterpiece
Bonanzas brought us aviation as we
know it today.
In addition to these legends
there have been all the other greats
and near greats who with their un­
canny abilities have developed the
airplanes for us individual pilots
who love the sky, who love to fly,
and love the indescribable magic
of liftoff and flight through Mother
Nature's heavens in what is still a
never-ending miracle. Today thou­
sands and thousands of these unbe­
lievably fine airplanes are available
to us with all of their proven capa­
bilities at essentially bargain base­
ment prices. We are the present-day
beneficiaries of our glorious avia­
tion past; additionally, we are the
recipients of what EAA founder
Paul Poberezny envisioned and cre­
ated. It should be crystal clear to
everyone what an exceptionally
fortunate group we are.
This is who and what we are. Our
love of airplanes is what we are, and
the airplanes are our glue. But the
who we are even tops the what we
are. The people of EAA and VAA are
the emotional heart and soul of all
of this magic. When one steps onto
the porch of the Red Barn or into
the brand-new Vintage Hangar at
EAA AirVenture Osh kosh, even if
it mig h t be your very first time
... and even if the place is busy as
a bee-there is not a single stranger,
not one.
Whether you pose a question in
the information area of the Red Barn
or sit down on the Red Barn's front
porch next to someone you have
never met before, you will be as much
at home as you are at your hometown
airport hangar. The conversations will
center on airplanes, about aviation
happenings and personalities, and
the attachment and affection EAA

FAA Admin istrator Marion Blakey speaks to a group ofType Club officia ls
during EAA AirVenture. In cooperation w ith EAA, the Vintage Aircraft Asso­
ciation has regular contact with many levels of the FAA as we work to repre­
sent our membership on maintenance and operational issues.

The VAA volunteer kiosk is always a busy place. More than 500 members
volunteer their time and expertise during the weeklong convention .

and vintage members have for their
airplanes, their aviation friends, and
their aviation organization.
This is who we are, this is what we
are; we are the living counterparts
of those who pioneered the devel­
opment and sparked the fervor of
self-taught surplus IN-4 drivers in
the 1920s, the Taylor Cub and Piper
Cub buyers and pilots of the 1930s,
and who in the postwar years would
buy and fly the Swifts, Bonanzas,
Comanches, Mooneys, Sky hawks,
and Skylanes. We have grown into
a 600,000 certificated pilot group in

the United States and support the
largest private aircraft industry in the
world, but through it all, our hearts
would always be in the pride and
privilege of flying our own little air­
planes from our own home airports,
when we chose, to where we chose,
and fly them with the safety and
competence that has been gained by
scores and scores of years and thou­
sands of hours in the air. This is who
we are, this is what we are.
This is our past, this is our heri­
tage, this is who we are .. .and all of
this is now part and parcel of EAA's
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

7

Ken an Lorraine Morris explain the proper w ay t o hand-prop an airplane,
one of the educational events the VAA hosts in its area every yea r.

Expert metal workers demonstrate metal-shaping techn iques t o mem
who can then give it a try themselves.

When the food service vendor for the convent ion decided to drop morning
food service on the south end of the field, VAA stepped up to the challenge
and created the VAA Tall Pines Cafe. Like t he rest of VAA's programs and of­
ferings during the week, the meals are cooked by volunteer staff.
8

JULY 2009

VAA. We have been the leaders in our
chosen field since our first days in
1972. We have moved consistently
over the past 37 years to perpetu­
ate our historic past and at the same
time deliver the utmost to our VAA
members in the way of, first and al­
ways foremost, our freedom to fly.
Without EAA and our 160,OOO-plus
members and our never-ending vigi­
lance for our freedom to fly, it is al­
most certain private and sport flying
in the United States, and perhaps
over the entire world, would not ex­
ist. Secondly, VAA is never ending in
its quest to provide its membership
with the utmost in solid, meaning­
ful, ever greater member benefits and
value. Our members presently receive
so much value for their affiliation
within our special area of interest
that we quite often lose sight of the
forest for all the beautiful (airplane)
trees. Virtually sight unseen, almost
invisible, and taken for granted every
day are the things that VAA has pro­
vided us through the years, and the
ever more new things that further
enhance our membership.
Are you aware or have you ever
considered:
e The VAA has two full-time staff
members: namely, an executive di­
rector/magazine editor and his very
able assistant. EAA provides access
to EAA staff in everything needed
for the business of running an as­
sociation, from membership cards
to financial accounting. Addition­
al! y, VAA en joys edi torial assis­
tance from the EAA editorial staff
and constantly commissions out­
side professional writers to provide
Vintage Airplane magazine readers
the finest in articles about our most
outstanding historic airplanes and
sport aviation personalities.
e The VAA publishes and distributes
12 full-color monthly magazines to its
members each year with 40 pages of
content. There is hardly a monthly
aviation magazine in the country to­
day that can be obtained for $36 per
year, and certainly not one devoted
exclusively to vintage airplanes.
e The VAA has 19 local chapters
continued on page 32

MIKE STEINEKE

The Jacobson Family Saga

of N5752C

A Grand Champion with a family connection
BY B UDD D AVISSON

t's amazing how strong both
nostalgia and sentimental
attachment can be. In Steve
"Jake" Jacobson's case, even
he admits it was powerful
enough to totally overcome com­
mon sense and financial fore­
boding when it was discovered
his newly purchased C-170A was

I

a fros t y caricature of an airplane
crafted entirely out of corrosion.
"Every time we took something
apart, it got worse and worse. This
airplane was so far gone it would
have been d ifficult t o part it out
beca u se so little was usa ble." He
makes it sound as if the scrap recy­
clers would have refused it . Had it

Above: The tapered outer
panel wing outline of the
170A would become a clas­
sic planform in its own right,
used on everything from the
Cessna 150 up through the
modern 182.

V I NTAGE AIRPLANE

9

been any other C-170, a scrapyard
would have been its final destina­
tion. But N5752C wasn 't just any
C-170, and Steve Jacobson wasn't
just any C-170 owner.
Steve was born into aviation, and
his life and this particular C-170A
have been entwined, in one way or
another, for nearly half a century
(48 years to be exact) .
liMy dad flew for American Air­
lines and was based out of Nash­
ville for many years," he says.
"While there, he and three other
pilots decided to buy an airplane
to fly their families around in and
possibly teach some of their kids to
fly. That airplane was N5752C."
The year was 1961, and Steve
was learning to fly.
II Actually, I had flown a lot with
my dad. In fact, I was sort of his au­
topilot. Then, when I was about to
turn 16, he gave me a few official
flying lessons in a Champ, getting
10 JULY 2009

me ready to solo on my birthday.
However, when the time came, we
were delayed by weather, and in
the meantime, the C-170 was de­
livered. Since it was there, Dad gave
me a few hours of dual in it, and
away I went, doing my initial solo
in our own 170./1
By now, you're getting an inkling
as to why Steve is so attached to his
airplane, but hang on because the
story doesn't flow as smoothly as
he would have liked.
"Our airplane was never a cream
puff," he says. lilt flew pipeline pa­
trol for 10 years, then sat around
for six months before Dad and his
friends bought it. He eventually
bought them all out, and even
though it was a little tired look­
ing, it was corrosion-free and had
a strong engine. My grandparents
lived in Kansas, which was a two­
day trip on the ground, so Five
Two Charlie spent a lot of time

droning back and forth between
Tennessee and Kansas."
As is always the case, we tend to
outgrow airplanes with which we
were perfectly happy as we yearn
for something that's faster and of­
fers more utility.
"In 1972 Dad sold the 170 and
upgraded to a C-l72 with an Avcon
180-hp conversion and a constant­
speed prop . By that time, I had al­
ready gone to college and was fly­
ing A-7s in the Navy Reserve after
being on active duty for six years,
including a tour in Southeast Asia.
I had known the pilot Dad sold
the C-170 to when I was based at
NAS Lemoore, California, when he
was flying A-4s. I gave him a few
hours of dual and watched our first
family airplane disappear over the
horizon. At the time, the airplane
had around 6,000 hours on it, but
it was still a strong-running, well­
maintained airplane.
II

While Jake Jacobson toyed with the idea of a super-duper, full-of -bells-and­
whistles modern panel, once the decision was made to put the airplane back to its
original configuration, there was no turning away from creating a restored panel,
right down to the brown-faced flight instruments and NARCO radio.

Interestingly, the airplane was
again sold to another U.S. Navy pi­
lot whom Steve had known.
"For whatever reason, when I
got back into flying little airplanes
again-I was flying for the airlines
almost since getting off active
duty-I decided I wanted our old
airplane back. It was as simple as
that. I wanted it, no matter what,
which is a bad mind-set to have
when buying an airplane. It clouds
your judgment.
" I tracked down the second
owner who had moved to Fort Lau­
derdale. It turned out the airplane
had been out of license and sit­
ting outside for four years almost
within sight of the ocean. I knew
that was a potentially lethal envi­
ronment for an airplane, but as I
walked around it, I kept telling my­
self, 'It doesn't look all that bad .'
Truth was, if a door had fallen off in
my hand, I still would have bought

Steve"Jake" Jacobson and Chris Shaw, who was instrumental in getting the
Cessna 170 restored to award-winning condition. Chris works for Harry Del­
licker of Del-Air in Porterville, California.

it. And I made a really dumb error:
I agreed to take it at a lower price
and out of license, rather than pay
full price and have the airplane in-

spected and licensed. The decision
was also easier because the owner
had recently left Florida and moved
the airplane to Phoenix, which
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

11

The interior fabrics were duplicated by Ronnie Broadhead, owner of Bust­
er's Auto Upholstery in Porterville, California. The multipanel design from
1950 was expertly re-created, and shoulder harnesses were installed in
such a way that few would think they weren't original equipment.
Back before the days of electric trim
and a flap motor, the pilot could
quickly "grab a handful of flaps"and
roll in just the right amount of trim.
Duri ng the restoration, care was
taken to duplicate the style and finish
of the placards and lettering style.

would save me a lot of flying time
getting it home.
"1 knew things were probably
worse than the y appeared when
I forked over $3,000 just to get a
ferry permit because the mechanics
didn't want to do all the work the
airplane needed to be licensed. Re­
gardless, I hopped in and pointed it
west toward San Francisco, where I
was based at the time."
Moving an airplane into the
Bay Area, or any metropolitan area
for that matter, isn 't as easy as it
sounds because of that famo us six­
letter obstacle: hangar.
"I couldn't find any place to put
it that wasn't as bad, or worse, than
sitting outside at Fort Lauderda le.
Even tiedowns in th e mud were
wildly exp ensive, and the salty
mist in th e Bay Ar e a would eat
what was left of my oid airplane in
no time at all. At m y father's rec­
ommendation, I contacted Harry
12 JULY 2009

Dellicker of Del-Air in Porterville,
California . Tha t was well inland
and away from the sea. Besides,
Harry had done the conversion on
Dad's 180-hp 172 and came highly
recommended by a wide variety
of sources as being one of the best
metal men in the country.
liMy original intent was to have
Harry fix what needed fixing so I
could go flying and en joy my air­
p lane. However, it seemed as if it
was a matter of only a few hours
after he started taking t h ings apart
that I knew my airplane was much
sicker than I thought it was.
"For one thing, t here was a lot
of seam and rivet corrosion . In
fact, later on, after we had decided
to do the entire airplane, I found I
cou ld hit a belly skin wit h my fist
and break the rivets loose! Those
four years sitting on the ramp in
Fort Lauderdale had done some se­
rious damage.
A good percentage of t he more
serious damage was because there
was a leak in the ceiling, and all that
salty water was running inside and
down one of the door posts into
the belly. One of the gear brackets
looked like a stack of potato chips;
it had exfoliated so badly. It was
II

way past the intergranular stage,
and that gear could have ripped
out of the airplane at any second .
Knowing how far I had ferried the
airplane, when I saw that, I couldn't
believe I had dodged that particular
bu llet. It shou ld have come home
on a truck.
"Early in the process, I came to
grips with reality: I hadn't bought
an airplane; I had bought a flying
basket case. Everything about the
airplane was wrong, and there was
simply no way to put it back into
the air safely without doing a com­
plete restoration. But, I didn't know
if I really wanted to go that way or
not. I knew I didn't want a show
winner, but I did want a totally safe
airplane with a nice paint job, new
interior, and IFR panel. "
Something happens to owners
when an airplane is totally broken
down to its basic structure. It is so far
apart that they usually find them­
selves thinking, "Well, we've gone
this far, we might as well do just one
more thing.... " And that leads to an­
other. And another. And ...
"I designed this lavish panel after
one I had seen in a Bonanza and ac­
tually had it machined out. It had
all the bells and whistles, but when

With more than 75 percent of the exterior skins replaced during the restoration, the 170 gleams in the partly sunny
skies over Waupaca, Wisconsin, one of our regular sites for a relaxing afternoon of air-to-air and ground photogra­
phy during the annua l EAA convention.

I went radio shopping, I found the
bells and whistles were going to
cost something like five times what
I had paid for the airplane in the
first place. I just couldn't do it.
At the same time, I sat back
and thought about how much of
my life had been spent glaring at
illuminated gauges in the middle
of the night in lousy weather. I had
done it in single-engine Navy air­
planes and most recently in 777s,
and it was usually over the ocean. I
was building this airplane to fly for
fun, but as many dark, nasty nights
had repeatedly reminded me, flying
hard IFR quite often is a long way
from being fun.
"I was in the middle of an
epiphany of sorts and didn't know
exactly which direction I wanted
to go with Five Two Charlie. But
IFR was becoming a non-factor in
the equation.
About that time I went to Oshkosh,
where the place seemed overrun
with beautiful 170s, and I looked at
them all in great detail. I was learn­
ing a lot, and each airplane gave
me ideas. However, the airplane I
kept coming back to was Don Lind­
holm 's prizewinning 170A. It was
polished and just seemed 'right' to
me. The hook had been set, and
II

II

I then knew what I wanted in an
airplane: a no-frills, fun-to-fly, and
fun-to-Iook-at airplane. Five Two
Charlie was going back to original.
When Steve returned home, he
pulled the trigger on a total res­
toration, and Harry Dellicker in­
cluded a bunch of extra sheets of
aluminum in his next truckload
of metal because he was going to
need it for S2C.
Del-Air is well-equipped for do­
ing complete 170/172 rebuilds be­
cause, among other things, it has
one of the original fuselage jigs it
bought from the factory, and Steve
Jacobson made good use of it.
lilt became obvious that there
wasn't one piece of major structure
that shouldn't come apart, if noth­
ing else to check for corrosion, and
the jigs were going to be invaluable.
After 6,000-p l us hours in
the air and over SS years, even
though the old engine had been
leaking enough oil tha t the en ­
gine compartment had no corro­
sion, the firewa ll forward looked
pretty sorry. In fact, t h e firewall
itself looked pretty sorry. It was a
mess of cracks and had so many
extra holes in it that it looked like
Swiss cheese. We had to replace
the entire thing.
II

"Incidentally, as soon as I saw
Lindholm's airplane, I knew Five
Two Charlie was going to be pol­
ished, and that drove many of the
decisions during restoration."
It goes without saying that pol­
ishing an airplane doesn't give the
restorer anywhere to hide. Every
single little nick, ding, and zit be­
comes painfully obvious, and ev­
ery time he lines up a rivet gun to
drive a rivet he asks himself, "ls this
the one where I'm going to screw
up and put a 'smiley face' on an
otherwise pristine panel and have
to replace it ?" It's a nerve-racking
process tha t leads to 'craftsman­
ship paranoia' during the restora­
tion. It's an old axiom that perfec­
tion is the enemy of completion,
but an imperfect polished airplane
isn't someth ing any true craftsman
wants to lay claim to. It's perfection
or nothing. That's the nature of re­
storing an airplane to be polished.
And that meant S2C was going to
have to be something other than a
run-of-the-m ill C-170A.
As we worked our way back
down the fuselage the amount of
rivet corrosion was, in some places,
unbelievab le. Everything was so
bad we just figured a piece was
for patterns only unless proven
II

V IN TAGE AIRPLANE

13

otherwise. We wound up replac­
ing about 75 percent of the skins.
Even the fin was mostly junk. All
we were able to save were the ribs.
The same thing applied to all the
control surfaces. The corrugations
were terrible, so we got new skins
and remanufactured the surfaces .
We weren't restoring an airplane.
We were building a new one, one
piece at a time!
liThe wings were basically a re­
peat of the fuselage. We pulled ev­
ery bolt and rivet and replaced ev­
erything, including skin s, cables,
pulleys, and anything else that
wasn't close to looking like new,
and I don't remember much that fit
that description.
liThe instrument panel had been
modified for an old VTR-1 , so we
just rebuilt one and put it back
in. We're using the receiver and
the VOR, but the transmitter isn't
hooked up . The one [transceiver]
we use is in the glove box. "
Steve can ' t say enough about
the support he got from the Inter­
national Cessna 170 Association
or the maintenance guys at the
Cessna Pilots Association, but none
of them could help him when it
came time to do the interior. There
was lots of information for a 170B
but nothing for a 170A, and Steve
hadn't come that far only to cut
corners at the last minute.
"Ron Partridge, customer service
manager for the propeller division
at Cessna, and his staff shuffled
through a bunch of drawings and
came up with engineering specs on
the fabric and stitching patterns.
I took this to Ronnie Broadhead,
owner of Buster's Auto Upholstery
in Porterville, who is known for his
195 interiors. Using that informa­
tion, he was able to duplicate the
original 170A interior."
When speaking about the resto­
ration process, a number of names
come up repeatedly because over
the several decades the rebuild
was in process, the hands on the
job changed .
"John Garrett at Del-Air, an ab­
solute wizard with metal, got us
14 JULY 2009

"I decided I wanted our

old airplane back.

It was as simple as that.

I wanted it, no matter what,

which is a bad mind-set to have

when buying an airplane."

started before he retired, and then
Paul Lodas jumped in . However,
Chris Shaw, who was a young guy
just out of school, took over and
finished the airplane by himself, in­
cluding doing the panel, rewiring
the entire airplane, and shooting
the Insignia Red in the original fac­
tory scheme. He can't get too much
credit for what he's done.
"Chris also polished the airplane
so well that I needed welder's gog­
gles to approach it for the first flight,
which was Valentine's Day, 2007 . It
was 22 years since its last flight.
"I don't know exactly how to say
what my feelings were on that first
flight . I was worried, careful, and all
the things you'd expect. But, there
was something else . Something
more powerful.
liMy dad didn't live to see the

airplane finished, but as I took
off, I knew he was watching, and
I couldn't help but grin, think­
ing that my career, in fact, my
entire life, started right there in
that same cockpit, with him by
my side. Absolutely nothing gets
better than that."
Nothing we can say would add
anything to that.
.....

Suppliers/Shops
Del-Air Porterville
2099 Wildcat Way
Porterville, CA 93257
559-784-9440
Buster's Auto Upholstery
365 W. Olive Ave.
Porterville, CA 93257
559-784-5667

N90 Tang

lOa-

ango


The vintage AirVenture experience
BY MIKE SHEETZ

or an "old" student pi­
lot and devout aviation
"junky," there is nothing
like a trip to Oshkosh, Wis­
consin, for EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh. I was fortunate enough
this past July 2008 to join with my
older brother, Harry, my certificated
flight instructor, on our annual pil­
grimage to the mecca of aviation
as we have for some 20 years now.
Only, this time it would be a lot dif­
ferent. You see, we were given the
privilege of flying there from our
northern Indiana home in a beauti­
ful , fully restored 1957 Beechcraft
Super E18S Tri-Gear.
The original plans were for the
owner, Tony Miller of Warsaw, Indi-

P

ana, to fly the vintage aircraft early
in the week to the show. We were
to follow with the company's King
Air in mid-week and return with
the Twin Beech at the close. As luck
would have it for me, Tony was un­
able to go but wanted to still show
the beautiful '57. Brother Harry and I
were given the opportunity to fly the
vintage aircraft to the show, prepare
it for judging, and return. I couldn't
believe it was really going to happen.
The plan was to leave sometime
on Wednesday afternoon and arrive
at Oshkosh's Wittman Regional Air­
port (OSH) when it reopened after
the afternoon air show. Of course,
the weather always has the last say
in things. So early Thursday morning

we would take this beautiful bird for
its flight to the big dance. Up early
Thursday morning, I found ground
fog and low ceilings to be ruling our
departure plans. Harry is instrument­
rated but preferred to not depart un­
til the elements were at least a little
more accommodating.
We arrived at the hangar in great
anticipation of the day and events
to come. Just walking in and see­
ing the two birds in that beautiful
hangar setting was worth the price.
I wasn't disappointed in what I saw
of the Super 18 when I first laid eyes
on it. Spectacular in cream and red
with gold accents, it certainly was a
plane begging to be flown, admired,
and preserved for lovers of flying
V I NTAGE AIRPLANE

15

A close look at the award plaque and the Lindy trophy.

machines. Tony had seen that it was
lovingly restored with beautiful at­
tention to nearly every detail. The
panel was closely restored to origi­
nal except for the GPS autopilot
navigation systems and the radios
including the Bose headsets. I was in
aviation heaven already.
With our luggage, flight bags,
navigation charts, and supplies to
prepare the plane for judging, we
were set to get this journey mov­
ing. Fortunately, the ground fog be­
gan to lift around 9 a.m . We knew
that the overcast was shallow and
we would arrive on top in short or­
der. We pulled the beautiful bird
out into what was left of the mist,
had the fuel truck top the tanks, and
prepared for departure. Start-up was
more than I expected. The checklist
for an older radial-engine airplane
like this is extensive. Bringing each
of those beautiful-sounding engines
to life is an experience I had never
16 JULY 2009

had before, but will always remem­
ber. We made our way down the
taxiway, made our radio calls, and
were heading down Runway 27 with
the morning light behind us. We
climbed through the shallow cloud
cover and in just a minute were on
top with a beautiful morning sun
shining off to my right as we headed
north for our first rendezvous pOint,
the Pullman, Michigan, VOR (PMM).
Lake Michigan came into view early
on and seemed a frontier to be con­
quered, but not frightening in our
beautiful machine.
Harry is a very experienced pilot,
with nearly 18,000 flight hours in
everything from Piper Cubs to cor­
porate jets. My job was to help keep
track of our position and frequencies
for our communication and navi­
gation. Occasionally Harry would
let me handle the flight controls
while he set the GPS, navigation ra­
dios, and alternate frequencies, and

checked our heading. We were listen­
ing to air traffic control (ATC) out of
South Bend, Indiana, and Chicago
Center as we climbed to a cruising
altitude of 4,500 feet mean sea level.
Angling across Lake Michigan to the
northwest can be a little unnerving
for a student pilot like me, but with
Harry's careful eye on things, I was
comfortable just keeping an eye out,
watching his moves, and listening to
ATC. Those beautiful round engines
had such a low and quiet reassuring
rumble, too.
Once you ' re halfway across the
lake and lose sight of the eastern
shore, the western shore comes into
view. We had planned to stay east of
Milwaukee's airspace and arrive over
the lakeshore heading just south of
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Heading
more westerly we were monitoring
ATC at Oshkosh's Wittman Regional
and Fond du Lac (FLD). Out of the
haze just south of Fond du Lac we

came upon what seemed like a hun­
dred windmills generating electricity.
Quite a sight I must say, just spin­
ning gracefully in the wind. About
this time we heard from Oshkosh
ATe. There had been some delays,
and if we weren't yet circling around
Green Lake west of Ripon, the en­
try point for Wittman Regional dur­
ing AirVenture, we had better find a
place to just lazily bore a hole in the
sky for a while until things eased up.
Harry decided to head toward Fond
du Lac after a bit and set down for a
while instead of burning off fuel at
50-plus gallons per hour even in effi­
ciency cruise. About 15 minutes later
a more serious ATC communication
informed us that an incident had
occurred at Wittman Regional, and
ATC was shutting down arrivals for
at least an hour. Now the fun began.
Harry steered our Beech from the
southwest, making a nice gradual
turn back to enter a left downwind
for 36 at Fond du Lac. We could see
aircraft coming from Green Lake and
Ripon like bees going back to the
hive. Once in the pattern we were
able to get in line and were quickly
turning onto left base for 36. Com­
ing directly at us on a right base for
36 was a Mooney. About that time
Fond du Lac tower said, "Twin Beech
cleared to land on 36." Harry banked
our bird in a smooth 90-degree low
turn and headed for the numbers.
The last I saw of the Mooney off to
my right was it beginning to climb
out for a go-around and keeping its
distance. "Thanks," I thought, to the
Mooney pilot, "for giving way."
With gear extended the Beech
hit right beyond the numbers, and
Fond du Lac tower told us to high­
speed taxi all the way to the end of
the runway. I got a good look at a
lot of the planes sitting there as we
hurried past and exited to the right.
Looking back down the runway was
a sight to behold. Anyone flying
into a busy airport at the height of
mass arrivals knows what I mean.
Back down the runway were at
least a dozen or more planes on the
ground or in the air on final, each
following the tower's directions. For

the next half-hour it never let up.
After an hour or so of waiting, we
got news that Wittman was about
to open; we prepared ourselves for
departure. After a brief delay caused
by other parked aircraft was solved
by the line crew, we made a hard
left turn from our parking spot and
then traveled down the taxiway for
departure on 36. One or two aircraft
departed ahead of us, but soon we
were off and turning west toward Ri­
pon and entry into the line for Wit­
tman. Scanning for other planes, I
assisted Harry with information for
approach, and we fell in behind a
couple of Cessnas heading up the
tracks from the southwest toward
Wittman. We had to drop the gear
and flaps and go into a near-stall
configuration, with an occasional
chirp from the stall warning, to stay
behind them. ATC asked us to do the
usual wing waggle to make sure we
were in communication. About the
time I thought Harry was going to
take the high and wide approach of
faster aircraft, ATC told us to head di­
rectly east from our position over the
town of Fisk and follow Fisk Avenue
(County Road N), which would take
us into an extended direct base entry
for 36 at Wittman. With light winds
Wittman Regional was using both
runways for arrivals. We had maybe
two other aircraft ahead of us, and
compared to our arrival at Fond du
Lac, this was a piece of cake. That big
runway was a sight to behold, with
all the planes and activity going on
to our left. It was magical. Harry put
the Beech down on the numbers,
and we followed directions like we
were told. We had our signs in the
windows to alert the ground crew of
our vintage tie-down destination.
We barely had the Beech shut
down, and already we were drawing
a crowd. As we exited some admirers
came up and were soon followed by
a couple of the award judges. They
asked if we were entering the Twin
Beech into the judging, and we re­
plied yes. They said they would be
back the next morning at 9 a.m. to
take a look. This was going to be an­
other part of the adventure this time.

The next three to four hours were
spent cleaning the plane in prepa­
ration for judging and setting out a
display that detailed the restoration
of this fine aircraft. I couldn't believe
I was here, at AirVenture, helping
prepare a beautiful aircraft for judg­
ing. I didn't mind dirtying up my
AirVenture cap from the year before
while getting to baby this beauty.
Anyone who knows about round en­
gines knows they aren't the clean­
est, but that makes them all the more
unique. After all, how many times in
one's lifetime do you get to fly in an
honest-to-goodness classic airplane
in exchange for preparing it for the
highlight of being at AirVenture. I
still couldn't believe it.
Once Harry and I finished clean­
ing up and locking things up for the
night, we headed out for food and to
check out some of the other aircraft.
Of course, we spent some time talk­
ing to a lot of people about our ride
and got to know some of the other
Twin Beech parties around us, all
great people. We had some visitors
from all over, including Australia .
Venturing through some of the clas­
sic, vintage, and antique aircraft on
display, we made our way down to
the ultralight strip.
We're fortunate our older brother,
Jim, lives in the nearby Appleton
area. He and his wife, Jan, welcome
us to AirVenture every year. Jim's not
a pilot but enjoys the show enough
to join us one day each year to see
and hear the action and take plenty
of pictures. They knew of our plans,
but we called them to set up a meet­
ing place so we would have ground
transportation to their place. They
were bringing their daughter, Saman­
tha, and grandson, Seth, to see the
planes. Apparently, Seth, not quite 2,
has a big interest in planes already.
We watched several of the para­
planes and ultralights make several
passes into and out of the grass strip,
and then we headed to Jim's place
for the night.
Friday morning brother Jim offered
the family's second car for us to drive
to the show. We arrived at the Twin
Beech in time to wipe off most of the
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

17

dew and a few night bugs stuck on the
surfaces, set up the restoration photo
display, and chat with those who
came by to admire the Beech. One fel­
low gave quite a compliment by say­
ing he had been around AirVenture
three days taking pictures and that the
Twin Beech was the best looking of
the lot. The judges arrived promptly as
planned and quickly went about their
duties. We could tell they were im­
pressed, but there are so many beauti­
ful aircraft here at Oshkosh. Anyone
would be hard-pressed to judge them
all. Several others stopped by, includ­
ing the pilot-owner, Rod Lewis, of the
P-38 Glacier Girl. That was a special
treat. We watched a lot of planes ar­
rive through the rest of the morning,
monitoring ATC and admiring the
controllers' professionalism.
Harry stayed with the plane, and I
headed out to check out the displays
and consider some souvenirs from
my stay. My daughter, Suzie, had
given me a gift of a ride in a plane
owned and flown by EAA. Friday
afternoon found me in EAA's Ford
Tri-Motor flying over part of Lake
Winnebago and then over Oshkosh
and near Appleton and back to Air­
Venture. That is a whole other story.
What a grand plane, and beautifully
flown I might add. I took in some
warbirds on display, ate an ice cream
cone and some chicken, submitted
entries in various draWings, watched
some of the air show, went through
a couple of the commercial build­
ings, checked out the Fly Market,
18

JULY 2009

and finally made it back to
the plane.
A nice surprise was there
waiting at the Twin Beech
when I got back. An invita­
tion from the judging com­
mittee to attend the Saturday
evening awards ceremony
had been handed to Harry.
Wow! This was to be a real
event-filled week! I'm sorry
the owner, Tony, wasn't in
attendance. We called to let
him know of the invitation.
I could hardly wait. The rest
of the evening was taken up
with a few conversations with
admirers of the Beech and shutting
down for the night. We walked over
to the Theater in the Woods to take
in the program. I believe that night
included an interview with Jimmie
Doolittle's navigator, Dick Cole. That
was primetime, too.
Saturday was taken up with trying
to get in as much as possible with the
commercial building displays, more
air show with warbirds and all, tak­
ing in the Ford exhibit, checking out
some of the newer designs, and ad­
miring the work of others. The big
aircraft at show central are always a
hit, as are the military aircraft dem­
onstrations. There was so much to
see and do. Of course, the evening
program was yet to come.
Theater in the Woods is a special
setting for AirVenture faithful. This
is where we get to know those who
have made aviation such a grand un­
dertaking. Many notable figures have
appeared there, and the programs are
always entertaining and rewarding.
The awards programs are no excep­
tion, and for me tonight's was really
special. I can only imagine what it
is like for those who have toiled for
years and countless hours fine-tun­
ing an aircraft to receive a Lindy tro­
phy. That has to be truly rewarding.
On stage sat the judges and what
must have been 30 or more tro­
phies. A Lindy is a likeness statu­
ette of Charles Lindbergh, a fitting
award for the highest achievement
in aircraft quality. You could see the
pride in the award winners as they

came to the stage to be recognized
for their achievements. We sat there
not knowing for sure what the out­
come would be, just that our atten­
dance was requested. Finally, the
moment came and brother Harry
made his way to the stage to receive
the Bronze Lindy for the Outstand­
ing Customized Contemporary Air­
craft. Older brother Jim was there
taking pictures, as was I. Harry ac­
cepted the award on behalf of Tony
Miller, the owner. I was very proud
to be even a small part of it all. Back
at the house that evening, we remi­
nisced about the entire goings-on
and then, sadly, began plans for
Sunday and leaving AirVenture.
The time had finally come to pack
up and be on our way back home.
We contacted the volunteer shed
handling departures and cranked up.
Again, Harry had to make a hard turn
out of our parking spot to avoid some­
thing, this time a PA speaker pole. Out
on the taxiway there was quite a line.
Then to top it off, a departing aircraft
apparently lost a fuel cap. Runway 18
was shut down to allow a couple of
vehicles to cruise the runway looking
for the missing cap. When the runway
was finally cleared, the line moved
fairly quickly under the watchful eye
of the controllers. I was able to take
a couple of quick photo shots as we
lined up on Runway 18 of the long
runway ahead of us and a final shot
of the miracle of AirVenture. Winding
up those beautiful radial engines, we
climbed out to about 500 feet until
clear of the pattern and a few miles
beyond, and then began climbing to
our cruise altitude for crossing Lake
Michigan. I go through withdrawal
every time I leave. I just pray I get the
opportunity to return next year, and
the next, and the next ...
Thank you, EAA, for one of my
fondest memories of AirVenture and
aviation. Thank you, Tony Miller, for
allowing me to be a part of showing
your beautiful bird to an admiring
aviation crowd. Thank you, brother
Harry, for taking me along once
more. I am blessed!
I so look forward to AirVenture
2009.
~

Emory Chronister
Stonevilre, NC
_ Graduated from Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical Institute in 1962

_ Joined Braniff Int'l Airlines
in 1965
_ Over lost 40 years has flown for
three airlines, a charter company,
and as a corporate pilot
_ 29, 000 hours

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viation has a way of be­
coming a form of fam­
ily DNA, and it is often
passed down from gen­
eration to generation.
That's only a theory, but if you
were to look at Bob McBride's fam­
ily and its C-1S0 taildragger, you'd
definitely believe in the concept.
There are five McBrides-Bob;
his wife, Robbie; and their three
sons, Bob Jr., Chris, and Greg-and
the entire crew is severely infected

A

20

JULY 2009

with AV (aviation virus). They each
have their own tastes and prefer­
ences, but they all came together
on the C-1S0TD.
Bob the elder, who now calls
Mineola, Texas, home, began his
aviation career as a mechanic on
Martin B-26s in the U.S. Army Air
Corps in 1942. The war was just
barely over when he received his
commission and was assigned as a
flight engineer on B-29s.
He was, however, determined to

fly, and he kept after it until the
brass gods on high assigned him to
flight school in 1947.
"I was in the first class to re­
ceive primary and basic instruction
in T-6s. That was the very first air­
plane we flew," he laughs. "At that
time Randolph AFB had all grass
runways, and it took me 10 hours
to solo the old Texan, which was
about average. "
You can't help but wonder what
it must have been like to be an in­

"I went to Williams AFB and flew
T-33s getting ready for F-80 fighter/
bombers overseas. I wasn't crazy
about the F-80, but at least it was
a fighter. I really wanted F-86s, but
they were all going to the more sea­
soned hands.
Fate has a way of changing the
cards an individua l holds in the
oddest of ways, but seldom is it as
odd as the next turn of events.
"I was on leave during Christ­
mas of '51 from fighter/bomber
sch ool at Ne ll is. I decided to try
to drive thro ugh a blizzard, which
was a serio us mistake. I got stuck
and nearly died before being res­
cued. However, I had frostbite seri­
ous enough that they temporarily
grounded me and I couldn't report
as per my orders.
"When my new orders arrived,
it was to be part of the first class of
pilots to be checked out in F-86s. I
was finally going to get to fly the
fighter we all dreamed about."
When he arrived in Korea he
flew 100 combat missions in the
F-86 with the 51st Fighter Group.
Bob went on to a distinguished
career in the Air Force, which in­
cluded 170 missions in Vietnam
flying RF-101 Voodoos, before retir­
ing as a fu ll colonel.
Although the military kept him
in the air and moving from base to
base, it wasn't enough to satisfy his
aeronautical desires, so he bought
his first airplane.
"I was based at Offutt AFB in
Omaha and kept my Swift right
th ere on base. The old man, Gen.
LeMay, had his Howard based
there, too. Can you imagine keep­
ing a private airplane on a military
base today?"
While in the military he bought
and rebuilt a Navion and then moved
up to a '53 Bonanza, but he was al­
ways looking for the next project.
"I was just out of the military and
made it up to the last day of Osh­
kosh in 1974 and was looking on
the bu lletin board at airplanes for
sale. There was a Piper PA-12 listed
as being for sale in Minnesota, and
we decided to go look at it.
II

The McBride family took home the
Class I Single Engine (0-160 hp)
Bronze Lindy for the outstanding
conversion and restoration of their
Cessna 150.

structor at that time: There you are
in the back seat of an enormous air­
plane with a student up front who
has never been in an airplane. The
program must have weeded out a
lot of pilots and instructors.

Bob's goal from the beginning
had been to fly fighters, but that
wasn't to be.
"Most of the class went into
Mustangs, but I wound up doing
advanced training in B-25s and
went from there to instructing in
the reserves."
Bob's disappointment didn't last
long because, when his unit was ac­
tivated in 1951, he volu nteered to
go to Korea with the condition that
he be trained to fly fighters .

VIN TA GE AI R P L ANE

21

The distinct head-on view of the
high-wing Cessna is punctuated by
the deep black McCauley prop.

With just a couple of slight changes to make the 150 a bit more accommo­
dat ing to the modern operating environment, the interior of the restored
150 hearkens back to a less complicated time of flight instruction and per­
sonal transportation .

"We flew over to Spring Valley,
and the gentleman who had it for
sale met us there. It was David Pi­
etenpol, Bernie's son. He took us
over to his dad's hangar, the same
one that is now sitting on EAA's Pi­
oneer Airport. When he slid open
the door, I could hardly believe how
pristine the PA-12 was. It was beauti­
ful, so naturally, we bought it."
That PA-12 turned into not only
a family project, but also a paint of
family pride.
"Both sons Rob and Chris be­
came aircraft mechanics, so when
we decided to restore the Super
Cruiser in 1990, Robert overhauled
the engine and Chris painted it. We
22 JULY 2009

installed a full gyro panel and did
what we thought was a first-rate job
on the airplane."
Most of the rest of aviation
agreed with them because the air­
plane won Best Piper-Other at
Oshkosh, Best PA-12 at Sentimen­
tal Journey in Lock Haven, as well
as awards at almost every fly-in in
which it was judged. Even better,
again at Oshkosh it was awarded
two Bronze Lindys.
The taildragger 150 happened
because Bob Jr. bought a basket­
case 140.
"Dad kept looking at that air­
plane and liked it," Bob Jr. says .
"Then he started looking around at

Cessna 140As because their tapered
metal wing was a little more effi­
cient than the early model wings."
Bob the elder continues, "I
liked the A Model 1405, but then I
started looking even closer at con­
verting a square-tail 150 into a tail­
dragger. That would be the best of
all worlds. It had the Fowler flaps
and better ailerons as well as a more
modern panel. The only thing
wrong with the pre-'63, straight-tail
150s was that the little wheel was
on the wrong end. So, we decided
to find an airplane and convert it."
Just saying you're going to con­
vert a 150 to a taildragger sounds
like it's easy, but it's not. There is a
lot of work that has to be done and
a lot of parts to be chased.
Bob the younger says, "We bought
a wrecked 120 fuselage, which gave
us two good gear legs and one good
gearbox. We bought the other one
from Univair. The STC for the con­
version comes from David Lowe in
Sacramento, Kentucky."
Of course, even if you have the
paperwork and some of the parts,

Bob Jr., mom Robbie, father Bob Sr., and brothers Chris and Greg all had a hand in creating a new-old classic.

you still need an airplane to convert.
Bob Sr. says, "I started the search
in the usual place, Trade-A-Plane,
and found a listing for a 1963 C-lS0,
which was the last year of the straight
tail and had the best panel. The air­
plane was in Mountain City, Tennes­
see, so we bought it, then drove 950
miles to pick it up, intending for one
of us to fly it home.
"When we got there the airplane
had no wings or tail on it. At some
point in the past, the seller had
taken it apart and taken it home
so he wouldn't have to pay stor­
age fees for it on the airport. In fact,
when we arrived the wings and tail
weren't even at the airport.
"He finally delivered the wings
and other missing parts at nine the
next morning," Bob Sr. remembers.
"We all jumped on it with both
feet, and we flew it at three that af­
ternoon. I had to laugh when one
of the local guys said, 'Y'all act like
a NASCAR pit crew.' He was right.
We were really working."
Chris did most of the conver­
sion work at his shop in Cedar
Park, Texas, and says, "When we

The "fastback" version of the Cessna 150 makes a sharp-looking subject for
a tailwheel conversion. Many pilots claim that a fastback 150 is quicker than
the later Omni-Vision version of the airplane.

took the airplane apart, we found
it was pretty clean with no corro­

sion or hidden damage. Part of the
STC requires that you remove the
tail cone to inspect for cracks be­
fore mounting the tailwheel cast­
ing, and we did find a few minor
ones there that we fixed.
"We had to remove the £1oor-

boards back to the location of the
new gearboxes, but you have to re­
move the belly skin back to the old
gearboxes. You use the old skins as
patterns, but the new skins are all
thicker, mostly 0.040 and 0.050. In
addition, there are some longitudinal
stiffeners that have to be installed.
"We replaced the 150 mount
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

23

with one from a 140A to get rid of
the nose-gear mount bracketry and
to clean up the cowling area.
"Part of the firewall forward
cleanup includes removing the
steering mechanism and flush
patching the holes in the boot
cowl. And, of course, you have to
cut the nose-gear connections off
the pedals themselves. We spent
quite a bit of time tidying up every­
thing ahead of the firewall.
"When we started on the instru­
ment panel, the original idea was
to hard-mount the entire thing, but
we decided to maintain the original
panel on the right. We'll do a plas­
tic overlay for the entire panel, as
soon as we can get Mom and Dad
to stop flying it for a day or two."
Dad chimes in, "We didn't plan
on redoing the wingtips and the dor­
sal, but the dorsal was pretty sorry. It
wasn't straight because the mount­
ing flange was bent and probably
always had been. So, Chris did a 'fl_
angectomy.' He cut the entire flange
off, made another, and riveted it in
place. He also made up mounting
flanges for the 152 wheelpants."
Once the airplane was on its gear

24

JULY 2009

it was Bob Jr.'s turn.
"I painted everything inside, in­
cluding the doorsills, so we wouldn't
have to worry about them when
painting the rest of the airplane.
"We replaced all of the glass, and
when it came time to do the uphol­
stery, [we] used Airtex seat kits and
the wool headliner, but I had to
work it quite a bit to get a clean fit."
Little by little, as the airplane
came together, the pile of painted
pieces continued to grow, and Bob
Jr. kept moving them into his back
bedroom for safekeeping.
"I took some time to build a
regular paint booth for the fuse­
lage and the wings, and it was well
worth the effort."
As Oshkosh 2004 began bearing
down on them, Bob Jr. says they
were putting in 80-hour weeks try­
ing to get everything done. Plus,
their mother had just gotten out
of the hospital from bypass surgery
and didn't have enough strength to
flare the PA-12 to land it. For that
reason alone, they vowed to have
the airplane at Oshkosh, when
their parents showed up.
Bob Jr. says, "We decided to

go with a slightly modified 1955
Cessna 180 paint scheme, but we
had to do it in red. Dad is a real red
freak, so there wasn't even a ques­
tion what color the trim would be.
He continues, "We really wanted
to surprise them, and, in fact, we
sort of kept it a secret, and they
didn't see the airplane for the first
time until the two of them walked
up at Oshkosh. Mom hadn't been
out of the hospital very long at all,
and she absolutely lit up when she
saw the airplane. That was the ef­
fect Chris and I had both been
hoping for. That made it all worth­
while. The fact that we received a
Bronze Lindy made it even better!"
These days so many families
have a difficult time maintaining
their relationships as the kids get
older and new families begin to take
precedent. However, it doesn't take
more than a few minutes around
the McBrides to realize that they
definitely don't have that problem.
Love takes many forms, and in this
case, it is shaped like a little red and
white airplane, and neither Bob Sr.
nor Robbie McBride would have it
any other way.
......

CONCORDE COCKPIT CREWS 40TH ANNIVERSA

OTH AN IVER A Y

OL AIR CAMPER 80TH ANNIVERSA

JE F DUNHAM LIV
CANADA'S lOaTH ANNIVERSARY OF POWERED FLIGH

-

And that's just for starters. You just gotta be there to see it all.
The World's Greatest Aviation Celebration I July 27 - August 2 I www.airventure.org

OSHKOSH

~

BY ROBERT G. LOCK

Adhesives and bonding
Part II
In this issue I want to follow up
on the subject of a previous arti­
cle-bonding. Specifically, I want
to comment on the use of epoxy
resin on type-certificated aircraft.
But first, let's explore where the
FAA stands on this issue . Advisory
Circular 43.13-1 B is the latest re­
vision and contains the approved
adhesive for the construction and
repair of type-certificated aircraft.
Chapter I, Paragraph 1-4a (1 )
says to refer to the aircraft repair
manual for acceptable adhesive
selection. There's only one prob­
lem here-there are no structural
repair manua ls for old airplanes!
Paragraph 1-4a (2) says adhesives
must meet a military specifica­
tion (mil spec), aerospace material
specification (AMS), or technica l
standard order (TSO) for "Wooden
Aircraft Structure." Further, Para­
graph 1-4b states, "Adhesive tech­
nology continues to evolve, an d
new types (meeting the require ­
ments of Paragraph 1-4a may be­
come available in the future ." And
fina lly, Paragraph 1-4b (6) states,
"Many new epoxy resin systems
APPEAR to have excellent work­
ing properties. Ca ution: It is es­
sent ial that only those products
meeting the requirements of Para­
grap h 1-4a be used in aircraft re­
pair." So where does that leave
us? Currently there is no directly
approved type of epoxy adhes ive
for the construction and repair of
26

JULY 200 9

Fabricating a Command-Aire wing rib using aluminum fixture fabricated
from an original rib. The rib fixture was fabricated from a good original
factory wing rib, thus contour and spar spacing were accurate (there were
no drawings available for this aircraft).

The Command-Aire upper wings taking shape. Note
that the wings are bolted together to assure proper
fit when aircraft will be rigged for flight. At this point
the leading edge plywood skin has not been installed.
Installation of the leading edge skin takes skill; the job
is made easier if one has done it before. Nailing strips
will be used to apply pressure to glue joints while the
adhesive cures. Nailing strips are cut from clear pine
and will measure 118-inch thick and 114-inch to 1/2-inch
wide depending on how wide the glue joint requires the
clamping pressure to be applied.

wood aircraft structures. Each approval, including
the use of the WEST SYSTEM on an FAA type-certifi­
cated airplane, has been done on an individual basis.
Don't look for any mil spec, AMS, or TSO approv­
als for epoxy adhesives for wooden aircraft to come
jumping out of the woodwork! The only way to use
this new stuff is with an FAA field approval, and
they are beginning to come forth. Before you start
your restoration, touch base with your local flight
standards district office (FSDO)inspector to be sure
you 've gotten approval to proceed with restoring
your structure with epoxy.
Perhaps the best epoxy laminating system for

The upper left wing for a New Standard ready for
installation of plywood leading edge. The lower skin
is bonded in place and varnished well to resist water
damage. Outboard skin is bonded in place, and nailing
strips can be seen applying pressure to the adhesive
joints. Inboard skin has been prepared by applying
several coats of varnish. Note the rib, spar, and stringer
locations do not have varnish but are the raw wood. A
light sanding, just enough to scratch the surface, will
improve bonding strength. Adhesive is applied to both
surfaces to be bonded, and the skin aligned and tacked
in place at the upper corners. Now the nailing strips
are put into place to apply pressure to the joint. Waxed
paper is placed between nailing strips and skin. I'll go
into more detail as to how to align, mark, and apply skin
in a future article.

wood is the WEST SYSTEM, manufactured by the
Gougeon Brothers. It was specifically designed for
marine use and can be used on woven fibrous mate­
rials, such as fiberglass, Kevlar, and graphite . I have
used it on both wood and fiberglass structures. It
works well, is easy to mix (ratio of 5 part resin to
1 part hardener or 3 parts resin to 1 part hardener,
depending on what type mix you need), and is rela­
tively easy to spread. When cured it is clear, so the
epoxy does not stain the wood structure. Take a look
at its website: www.WESTSYSTEM.com. You can read
product information and download the instruction
manual. The epoxy resin and hardener are available
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

27

from Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Company or almost
any marine supply business.
There are precautions that m ust be observed wh en
using any epoxy adhesive. For old-timers wh o have
used Resorcinol or plastic resin (no longer approved)
adhesives, clamping pressure for spar splices or an y
bonded joint with a large surface area was by m eans

of C-clamps or para llel cla m ps. Clamping pressure
for those older adhesives is recommended at 125-150
psi fo r softwoods and 150-200 psi for h ardwoods . If
on e uses that mu ch pressure with epoxy adhesives,
the pressure will drive th e epoxy resin from the joint
an d a wea k bond will occ ur. A clamp that applies
en ough pressure to bring surfaces into con tact and
all ows so m e "squeeze out" of ex­
cess resi n is n eed ed . If possible,
spring-type clamps and caul blocks
sh ould be used.
For ri b fabrica t ion, use brass
n ails an d n ail through gussets for
pressu re during cure. For installa­
ti on of p lywood skin over wood
ribs, use nailing strips and lI2-inch
to S/8 -inc h lo n g p lain wire nails.
The nailing strips will be removed
after cure.
Note : My m ain concern when
u s in g epoxy res in is clamping
p ressure wh en th e joint requires
m ech anical clam ping. If mechani­
cal clamping is required, make sev­
eral test samples until the clamping
press ure yields an airworthy joint.
An
airwort hy joint will cause wood
The Command-Aire lower left wing with skin bonded to upper and
or show wood fibers in the
to
fail
lower surfaces. Leading edge skin is birch, while lower wing walk area
bond
li
ne wh en test ed to destruc­
is mahogany plywood. Difference in color is apparent. Both birch and
tion
.
Clamp,
cure, and destruct test
mahogany plywood are from the hardwood family of woods, but birch is
samples
u
nt
il
you achieve the de­
denser and harder than mahogany. It can be difficult to nail with brass nails,
Most
repairs to wood
sired
results.
especially if it is more than liB-inch thick.
st ructures are classified as rna jor
repairs, so the airframe and pow­
erplant mech anic with inspection
authorizat io n m ust conduct these
tests since h e or she will
be signing to return the
structure to service.
Mixing th e WEST
SYSTEM is easy. Wh ile
m a n y p r evio u s ep­
oxy resi n s were q u ite
visco u s (res ist ance to
p o ur ), t h e WEST SYS­
TEM is abo ut th e right
consistency and is easily
spread with a brush . The
mix ratio is specified by
the manufacturer but is
either 5 parts resin to 1
The quality of the bond joint is traced back to the person who mixed,
part hardener or 3 parts
spread, and clamped the adhesive. Curing pressure, temperature, and
resin to 1 part hardener
clamping time are of the utmost importance. One must always read
depending on wh at you
and follow directions exactly as specified by the manufacturer. Always
are using. The res in is
remember that the number one objective is safety; make all the right moves part n u mbe r lOS, fast
so a pile of parts like this . . .
h ardener i s 205, and
28 JULY 2009

AERO CLASSIC

slow hardener is 206. I've used only the slow hard­
ener. You can purchase pumps that fit in the can that
will meter out the exact amount of resin/hardener.

"COLLECTOR SERIES"

Vintage Tires
New USA Production

EPOXY TIPS
Mixing: Use unwaxed paper cups; do not use any
container that is glass, waxed, or plastic foam. Some­
times the pumps that dispense the resin and hard­
ener will "spit" some air, particularly if they haven't
been used for a period of time. In that case, meter
some resin into a cup, then meter some hardener
into the same cup. If the pump does not emit any
air with the material, you're good to go. If some air
is emitted with either the resin or hardener, throw
the batch away and mix a new batch as the ratio of
resin and hardener will not be correct.
Stir slowly for at least a minute to thoroughly
mix the hardener with the resin . Don't "whip" the
mixture, as you will introduce air bubbles into the
adhesive. Popsicle sticks or tongue depressors make
good stir sticks.
Once mixed, the pot life will depend on ambient
temperature and amount of epoxy in the cup. Ep­
oxy resins cure by chemical cross-linking of mole­
cules. The byproduct of this cure is exothermic heat
(exotherm). Once the cure process kicks off, the ma­
terial will begin to gel. Your project must be assem­
bled and clamped before the material begins to gel.
If the resin is in a pot, the gel time will be very lim­
ited due to exothermic heat buildup . So don 't mix
too much material at one time. It's always better to
mix small quantities often than to throwaway large
batches when they kick off.
Spreading: Use a brush that doesn't shed bristles.
For hardwoods (plywood) I sand bonding surfaces
lightly with a fine grade sandpaper; just enough to

Show off your pride and joy with a
fresh set of Vintage Rubber. These
newly minted tires are FAA-TSO'd
and speed rated to 120 MPH. Some
things are better left the way they
were, and in the 40's and 50's, these tires were perfectly in
tune to the exciting times in aviation.
Not only do these tires set your vintage plane apart from
the rest, but also look exceptional on aU General Aviation
aircraft. Deep 8/32nd tread depth offers above average
tread life and UV treated rubber resists aging.
First impressions last a lifetime, so put these
bring back the good times .....
New General Aviation Sizes Available:

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M

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Products for fabric, metal and composite aircraft.


. . . Can grow into something that looks like this. It just
takes time and patience and following directions.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

29

OISE


put some scratches in the surface.
Softwoods (spruce) do not need
sanding. Spread an even coat on
both surfaces to be bonded , as­
semble, and then apply appropri­
ate pressure.
Clamping: Apply only enough
pressure to bring surfaces into
good contact and allow for a
small amount of "squeeze out"
of resin . Maintain pressure until
resin has cured.
Curing: I usually leave clamps in
place at least overnight and keep
temperature to around 70°F (I'm
from the old school) .

Cribbage Boards

FI LLERS

Handcrafted from wood , they include game instructions, pegs,
cards and historic information about the plane. Game board can
be removed from airplane for playing.

There may be a time when a
filler material can be added to the
epoxy resin mix to create a spe­
cial occasion product. I have used
two types: microballoons and
cotton linter. Micro reduces the
density of the epoxy and can be
mixed to any consistency from
syrup to peanut butter. It depends
on what you are going to do with
it. Micro and epoxy make good
filler that is easily sanded but has
very little structural strength.
Cotton linters and epoxy resin
is strong when cured, but it has
little use on wood aircraft struc­
tures. Be sure to thoroughly mix
the resin/hardener first and then
add in filler.

Nieuport28C1 52652955
Spruce Goose 52652956

$149.00

Men's Cotton Golfshirt
Green with Tan details
$31 .95
V13340 S
V13341 M
$31 .95
V13342 L
$31 .95
V13343 XL
$31 .95
V13344 2X
$31 .95
Charcoal Grey with white details
V0778? M
$32.99
V07788 L
$32 .99
V07789 XL
$32 .99
V07790 2X
$35.99
Black with Red details
$31 .95
V13301 S
V13302 M
$31 .95
V13303 L
$31 .95
V13304 XL
$31 .95
V13305 2X
$31 .95
Navy with Tan details
V07791 M
$32.99
V07792 L
$32.99
V07794 2X
$35.99

30 JULY 2009

OTHER USES
When we were restoring the
New Standard biplane , the fac­
tory made all wing and landing
gear struts from round chromoly
tubing. This was faired to stream­
line with balsa wood leading and
trailing edges, then wrapped with
pinked-edge surface tape. Since
this was a nonstructural fairing,
I decided to hot-wire cut polysty­
rene foam to the desired shape
and fiberglass the outside sur­
faces. I used a medium-weight
glass fiber cloth and the WEST
SYSTEM epoxy resin . I should
note that epoxy resin will stick
to polystyrene foam, but poly­
ester (boat resin) will cause the

foam to soften. When the lam­
inated glass fiber is in the liB"
stage of cure (resin begins to gel
and exothermic heat increases),
the glass can easily be trimmed to
shape using a razor blade, knife,
or scissors. After complete cu re
I sanded the fairings to fit each
strut. I then mixed resin an d
added cotton linters to make a
thick paste and stuck the fairings
to the struts, applying pressu re
with masking tape until cured.
Adding filler material (cotton
linters) to epoxy resin makes a
good gap-filling adhesive, but it
doesn't sand easily, so wipe off
excess resin that squeezes out.
I then sanded and wrapped the
fairings with pinked-edge surface
tape and finished with the Poly­
Fiber process. It worked great and
is very lightweight.
Epoxy resins can be useful for
repair of structures due to their
flexibility. Perhaps the FAA door
to granting approval for use on
type-certificated aircraft has
opened ever so slightly. There are
some FAA field approvals available
for use of WEST SYSTEM epoxy
resins in wood structures . Some
of the type clubs would have a
337 available. It's only a matter of
time now.
........

Flight Comes
~ALIVE!~

Members get in FREE!
www.airventuremuseum.org
Phone:(920) 426-4818

•


1\1RV ENTU RE
~~~

JOIN EAA's

VINTAGE AIRCRAFT

ASSOCIATION

TODAY!


Who we are . ..

continued from page 8

Gene Chase, a longtime VAA member, is just one of the
many volunteer/ members who stand ready to help. Like
the otherVAA directors and director emeritus, Gene's a
great resource to the VAA staff throughout the year.

throughout the country to support
local vintage airplane owners and en­
thusiasts ' groups. All of these local
chapters originate and distribute peri­
odic aviation newsletters to their mem­
bers and supporters. Many local VAA

Volunteers like Dwayne and Sue Trovillion exemplify
the camaraderie and spirit that's just part of the VAA
experience.

chapters organize and conduct vintage
airplane fly-ins throughout the coun­
try each year for the benefit of area
members and the entire vintage air­
plane community.
e The VAA represents its more

Hundreds of showplanes means dozens of flightline volunteers who safely
marshal the airplanes in and out of the parking areas.

The VAA's Red Barn Hospitality Center and Headquarters is the hub of activ­
ity during the annual convention.
32

JULY 2009

than 7,000 members and approxi­
mately 40,000-50,000 non member
vintage airplane owners at FAA Ag­
ing Airplane conferences each year.
e The VAA nationally has 24 mem­
ber-elected officers and directors
directly, publicly, and visibly in con­
stant support of the vintage airplane
movement 12 months each year.
e The VAA has initiated and con­
ducts the only annual Vintage Aircraft
Hall of Fame program in the world.
e The VAA conducts and hosts the
largest gathering of the finest show­
class vintage airplanes in the world
each year at AirVenture in an area
specifically reserved for vintage air­
craft. It hosts each member attending
the convention in a newly enlarged,
most well-known, and highly recog­
nized meeting place in the world for
vin tage airplane fans ...the one and
only, internationally famous Red
Barn and, now, the 7,500-square-foot
VAA Type Club Hangar.
e The VAA has just completed a
new, large, one-of-a-kind Type Club
and workshop/meeting and dis­
play facility on Wittman Field for
the benefit of vintage aircraft type
clubs of the nation.
e During the annual AirVenture,
the VAA hosts member picnics ,
member fly-outs, and volunteer ap­
preciation parties.
e The VAA maintains an active
membership of more than 7,000 mem­
bers dedicated to vintage airplanes.

HARRY HOUDINI LEn

NOTHING TO CHANCE.


• Through EAA, the VAA has access
to the highest reaches of the Depart­
ment of Transportation and FAA, as
well as the highest reaches of the po­
litical spectrum in Washington, D.C.
• The VAA recruits more than
"It's all right! There's
500 volunteers each year at AirVen­
ture to assist in hosting and to sup­
the Pol~-Fiber stamp!
port the 700-800 vintage airplanes
Go ahead and give'er
that attend the largest sport avia­
the gun! "
tion event in the world.
• As this summary is written,
VAA prepares to launch, in mid­
July 2009, the first issue of a new
You don't have to be a
medium, Vintage Airplane Online e­
ma~i cian to put the
newsletter. It will be timely, with
tou~hest, easiest-to-repair fabric coverin~ on your pride
current updates on the happenings
and joy. Just follow the clear detailed instructions in our
in the world of vintage aircraft, and
ente~ manual. Before you can say "Hocus-pocus!"
will include a calendar of events, a
you'll have a ~or~eous coverin~ job that you can show
question and answer section, photo
off and bra~ about for years to come. You don't need
gallery, as well as links to interest­
a m~ic wand - all you need is Poly-fiber!
ing websites. Now, where else can
you be so current on vintage air­
*Friendliest manual around
plane matters as at your home or
*Toll-free technical support polyfiber.com
office computer screen! Your cost?
information@
Zero, zilch, all courtesy of the VAA!
8~)61-3490 polyfiber.com Air craft Coating _
• Vintage operates an exclusive
vintage airplane merchandise and I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
apparel shop within the Red Barn
during AirVenture to make vintage
airplane gifts and apparel available
to all at modest prices.
• More than 100 dedicated VAA
volunteers provide daily breakfast
food services in the far south area of
Wittman Field during AirVenture at
our Tall Pines Cafe.
. The VAA maintains a complete
"information please" booth at the
Red Bam to dispense full information
It's caned rejuvenation, and it works great with real
to all comers who may be new to Air­
dope finishes. Spray our rejuvenator over aged dope;
Venture or to anyone with a question.
it soaks in and restores flexibility for years of added
• In addition to all of the above,
the VAA further provides the finest in
life. It can even hide hairline cracks. And no finish
constant and openly accessible mem­
has the foot-deep luster of
bership-elected leadership in the
world of sport and vintage aviation.
authentic polished dope.
We are the members of the Vintage
Aircraft Association, and we enjoy
Roll back the calendar on
the special camaraderie of airplane
your plane's finish!
people and flying the skies bonded
together through the VAA to further
our special field of enjoyment all the
while protecting our aviation inter­
ests through the strength and cama­
RandolphAircraft.com
raderie of EAA and VAA. We have so

And the rest is history.

airplanes,

got the idea from

800-362-3490

much for so very little!

.......
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

33

BY H.G. FRAUTSCHY

THIS MONTH'S MYSTERY PLANE COMES TO US FROM

A SUGGESTION BY WES SMITH OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS .

Send your answer to EAA, Vintage Airplane, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Your answer needs
to be in no later than
August 15 for inclusion in
the October 2009 issue of
Vin tage Airplane.
You can also send your
response via e-mail. Send
your answer to mystery
[email protected]. Be sure to
include your name plus
your city and state in the
body of your note and put
I/(Month ) Mystery Plane in
the sub ject line.
II

APRIL'S MYSTE RY A NS WER
We didn't fool many of you with
the April Mystery Plane. Here's the
first answer we received:
The April Mystery Plane is a

Kreutzer K-S built by Air Transport
Manufacturing for LA businessman
Allan Hancock in 1929 (NC99SY).
Later the K-Sdesignation was

changed to the T-6 and put into pro­
duction for a Latin American market.
Julian A. Smith
Hernando, Mississippi
Hayden Hamilton, who
serves as the managing edi­
tor for the American Avia­
tion Historical SOCiety, sent
us a bit more on the K-S:
The mystery aircraft ap­
pears to be a Kreutzer Air
Coach, Model K-S, designed
and manufactured by the
Joseph Kreutzer Corp. (Air­
craft Division) of Los Ange­
les, California. This aircraft
design was issued ATC 223
September 6, 1929. This
aircraft was an enhanced
version of the Kreutzer Air

34

JULY 2009

Coach introduced in 1928 which was offered in two
models (ATCs 170 and 171) and were designed for the
smaller airlines operating over rugged and desolate
country. The company also thought the design would
appeal to business owners looking for extra comfort
and the safety of multi engine flying.
The design, created by Albin K. Peterson, was a
"baby tri-motor" powered by three Kinner K-5 100­
hp engines. The cabin could accommodate six pas­
sengers in a spacious cabin that was equipped for
heat and ventilation. The windows were made from
shatterproof glass, thereby providing a perception of
added safety. The total 300 hp provided more than
ample reserve power that translated into higher per­
formance while providing ample power for contin­
ued flight if an engine where to fail.
The Air Coach saw utilization with airlines op­
erating in Arizona and Louisiana, both of which
offered bleak terrain where the margin of safety was
most likely appreciated by all on board. Kinner En­
gine Co. operated a K-5 as a demonstration aircraft,
flying around the country to show off their engines.
Production was suspended with only about nine
planes being produced, one of the many aircraft
companies that folded during the Great Depression.
An attempt was made in 1935 to revive the design
by the Air Transport Mfg. Co., but this venture was
not successful.

Specifications:
Length: 33 feet 6 inches
Wingspan: 48 feet 10 inches
Height: 9 feet 6 inches
Wing Area: 315 square feet
Empty Weight: 2,745 pounds
Gross Weight: 4,443 pounds
Useful Load: 1,698 pounds
Fuel: 85 gallons
Maximum Speed: 130 mph
Cruising Speed: 110 mph
Landing Speed: 45 mph
Service Ceiling: 17,000 feet
Range: 520 miles
Sources:
U.S. Civil Aircraft, Joseph P. Juptner, Vol. 3, pp 71-73
Aerofiles.com - Aircraft A to Z

Other correct answers were received from Gary Gray,
Darmstadt, Germany; Dave Dent, Camden, New South
Wales, Australia; Frank Pavliga, Randolph, Ohio; Jack
Erickson, State College, Pennsylvania; Arthur L. Bartley,
Rochester Hills, Michigan; Thomas Lymburn, Princeton,
Minnesota; Clarence E. Hesser, St. Augustine, Florida; and
Ken Krohncke, Rio Vista, California.
.......

Runways:
11/29-3950 ft. paved
17/35-2150 ft. paved

derl""'_-'"
e~~~~~~~~~d~~
"~~-'.:-5 1runways left traffic

..

800/235·8528 • [email protected]
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

35

Eagles Nest "at Platte Valley

Giving new meaning to the golden age of aviation

'
It S

a topic that many of us
are reluctant to think
about: How long will
my loved ones be able to live inde­
pendently, and if they should come
to a point in time when they need
assistance with their daily living,
what's the next step? How about an
assisted-living facility designed espe­
cially for aging aviators? Thanks to
one woman's personal inspiration,
there actually is such a place.
Marilyn Taylor, of Eagles Nest
Aviator Homes Inc., has a soft spot
for aviators, having been closely as­
sociated with them for years-espe­
cially Swift owner and pilot Mark
Holliday, her longtime boyfriend
and stalwart supporter in the Ea36

J U LY 2009

BY SPARKY BARNES SARGENT

gles Nest project. Taylor's vision
of an aviation-themed assisted­
living facility was first inspired by
Dr. James Parks, founder of the La­
fayette Foundation and the Vintage
Aero Flying Museum at Platte Valley
Airpark in Colorado. "He was in the
late stages of Alzheimer's disease and
was living with one of his children.
His son, Andy (who now heads the
foundation and museum), would
bring him to the airport on week­
ends, and even though he could
not communicate very well, his avi­
ation vocabulary was still strong,"
reflects Taylor thoughtfully. "He
would sit for hours and watch the
activity and completely enjoy his
lifelong passion-he seemed to be

alive and thriving, despite his con­
dition. When the family could no
longer care for him at home and
he had to go into an assisted-liv­
ing home, he immediately started
to go downhill. The facility was nice
and clean with good care, but there
was nothing to stimulate his mind
and keep his passion and memo­
ries alive. When I would visit him,
he did not talk or communicate at
all, except the one time when he
showed me an old picture of his
dad in his World War I aviator uni­
form-he said very clearly, 'That's
my dad; he was a pilot.' I thought
then that there should be some way
to provide a familiar atmosphere
for seniors during this phase of

Eagles Nest at Platte Valley's living area is cozy with its gas log fireplace and
comfortable seating.

their life. During the course of the
next several years, I had the same
type of experience with numer­
ous facilities accommodating both
Mark's mom and my dad. This just
reinforced my philosophy that se­
niors should be able to enjoy their
passions through every phase of
their lives."
Taylor's father passed away in
2006, and she says she used her
"minimal inheritance to purchase
a piece of property adjacent to
the airport, prepared a marketing
plan promoting my unique concept
to a local bank, and in conjunction
with the Small Business Administra­
tion, was able to secure financing."
The design and building process
presented challenge after challenge,
but Taylor persisted, and in February
2009, Eagles Nest opened its doors.
If you're not familiar with the
goals of an aSSisted-liVing environ­
ment (as opposed to nursing care),
this excerpt from the Eagles Nest at
Platte Valley's marketing plan spells
it out succinctly: "By definition, as­
sisted living is a long-term care al­
ternative for seniors who need more
assistance than is available in a re­
tirement community, but who do
not require the heavy medical and
nursing care provided in a nursing
facility. Security and independence,
privacy and companionship, and
physical and social well-being are
the primary characteristics of an as­

sisted living setting."
If you are familiar with these
types of facilities, think about the
ones you've visited: Within most as­
Sisted-living facilities, seniors find
themselves living with a group of
folks with whom they have few, if
any, personal connections and very
little in common. And so, even
though they are surrounded by their
peers, they may feel disconnected
from their lifelong careers, hobbies,
and paSSiOns, as well as from their
friends and families with whom
they shared these activities. The
lack of a common bond can make
it a challenge for seniors to strike
up new friendships and maintain
their lifelong interests, and it isn't
unusual to observe decreasing am­
bition and motivation in their daily
lives-just as Taylor observed.
Yet consider the possibilities for
seniors who are surrounded by a
community of those who share
their own interests-in this case,
aviation. These proverbial "birds of
a feather" can collectively fan the
embers of their aviation memories
and keep them glowing brightly.
Such a scenario holds the poten­
tial for new friendships and cama­
raderie to be easily established from
a mutually held longtime passion
and, of course, for an abundance of
hangar flying and tall tales.
To that end, Eagles Nest has
been designed to reflect the his­

tory and nostalgia of flight in ev­
ery room. This country-style home
is tastefully adorned with aviation
memorabilia and artifacts, com­
plementing a general 1940s de­
cor. Monthly rental rates include
nutritious home-cooked meals, a
24-hour snack bar, medication assis­
tance, daily housekeeping, personal
laundry service, and an in-house
beauty/barber shop. Trained staff
members are on-site 24 hours a day,
and residents also enjoy events and
scheduled outings.
Additionally, a cozy library
houses a collection of aviation
books and publications, and there's
even a game room with several com­
puter flight simulators where resi­
dents can exercise their flight skills
with a variety of aircraft. The nine
private bedrooms, a guest suite, and
the activity area have been named
in honor of Colorado aviation pi­
oneers who have been longtime
friends and supporters of the Platte
Valley Airpark community.
The most enticing aspect of Ea­
gles Nest is that residents can enjoy
hearing and seeing local aircraft fly­
ing virtually every day-they can
even judge landings from their com­
fortable front porch, all with the
magnificent scenery of the Rock­
ies as a backdrop. Located in Weld
County, Eagles Nest is adjacent to
Platte Valley Airpark, a privately
owned/public-use airport, and the
Vintage Aero Flying Museum. Resi­
dents have abundant opportunities
to visit the museum and participate
in educational programs, where they
are invited to share their wealth of
aviation knowledge and experience
with local youth.
With a caring heart and em­
pathetic spirit guiding her, Tay­
lor has worked hard to bring her
unique idea into reality. Smiling,
she shares that Eagles Nest at Platte
Valley "welcomes retired aviators,
aviation enthusiasts, and seniors of
all interests who would enjoy and
thrive in a nostalgic country atmo­
sphere and a loving home environ­
ment." If you'd like to know more,
call 303-536-4880.
......
VINTAGE A I RPLANE

37

EM calendar of Aviation Events Is NowOnline

P.O. Box 3086


EM's online Calendar of Events is the "go-to'
spot on the Web to list and find aviation events
in your area. The user·friendly, searchable format
makes it the perfect web-based tool for planning
your local trips to afly·in.
In EM's online Calendar of Events, you can
search for events at any given time within acertain
radius of any airport by entering the identifier or a
ZIP code, and you can further define your search to
look for just the types of events you'd like to attend.
We invite you to access the EM online Calendar
of Events at http://www.eaa.orgjcalendar/

OSHKOSH, WI 54903-3086

OR YOU CAN E-MAIL THEM TO: [email protected]


Upcoming Major Fly-Ins

SEND YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS TO:

VAA, LEITERS TO THE EDITOR


Arlington Municipal Airport (AWOl ,
Arlington. Washington
July 8-12, 2009
www.NWEAA.org
EAA AlrVenture Oshkosh
Wittman Regional Airport (OSH),
Oshkosh. Wisconsin
July 27·August 2, 2009
www.AirVenture.org
Colorado Sport International Air Show
and Rocky Mountain Regional Fly·ln
Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC),
Denver. Colorado
August 22·23. 2009
www.COSportAviation.org

MId-Eastern Regional Fly-In
Grimes Field Airport (174), Urbana, Ohio
September 12·13. 2009
www.MERFI.info

Thanks to James W. Campbell, M.L.S, librarian and curator of manuscripts of
The Whitney Library at the New Haven Museum & Historical Society in New
Haven, Connecticut, we have thi s shot of the Kimball Model K Beetle.

Dear H.G.,
state registration, No. 30.
Leo Kimball was involved with
In the February 2009 issue of Vin­
tage I was extremely interested in the testing of the airplane, mainly be­
Mystery Plane explanation on page cause of his engine, the Kimball
30, the Curtiss UN-4 Jenny, with the Beetle, shown in the photo. It was a
seven-cylinder radial, 120 hp at 1850
Sikorsky wing.
For many years, probably since rpm, and was the Model K. Only five
I was about 17, I have known about of the Kimball radial engines were
one of those airplanes. I used to ride built, and none survive. You may
my bicycle up to Bethany Airport, also read about the history of the
Bethany, Connecticut, and recall viv­ Kimball Aircraft Corporation in the
idly just such an airplane there. It was American Aviation Historical Society
always known at the field as the Sikor­ Journal, Fall 2008, Vol. 53, Number 3,
sky-winged Jenny. There is a wonder­ which I researched since I was a kid
ful photo of that very airplane taken and finally wrote for the Journal. Mr.
at Bethany, with the pilot Gus Graf Kimball and his family lived across
(early parachute jumper) and his good the street from us, and I was good
friend Leo B. Kimball standing by the friends with him and his children for
airplane. On the rudder, near the top, many years.
is the number 6703, and on the rear
Ev Cassagneres
side of the fuselage is the Connecticut
Cheshire, Connecticut
38

JULY 2009

Copperstate Regional Fly-In
Casa Grande Municipal Airport (CGZ).
Casa Grande, Arizona
October 22·24. 2009
www.Copperstate.org

Southeast Regional Fly-In
Middleton Field Airport (GZH),
Evergreen . Alabama
October 23-25. 2009
www.SERFI.org

U.S. Sport Aviation Expo
Sebring Regional Airport (SEF).
Sebring. Rorida
January 21·24 , 2010
www.Sport·Aviation·Expo.com

AERO Frledrlchshafen
Messe Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen. Germany
April 8-11. 2010
www.Aero-Friedrichshafen.com/html/en

Sun 'n Fun Fly·ln
Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL). Lakeland ,
Rorida
April 13-18. 2010
www.Sun·N·Fun.org

Virginia Regional Festival of flight
Suffolk Executive Airport (SFQ). Suffolk. Virginia
May 22·23 , 2010
www.VirginiaFlyin.org

For details on hundreds of upcoming aviation
happenings, including EM chapter fly-ins ,
Young Eagles rallies, and other local aviation
events. visit the EM Calendar of Events
located at www.EAA.orgica/endar.

OA. 6to~1J of tA. 19J9 d/"a.tlolla.l ofl~ cJ{sz.c.!I

The only in-depth DVD Story of the 1939 National Air Races available!

• A90 min., in-depth, narrated story
• Includes 45 min. of outstanding COLOR film
Something to buy,
sell, or trade?
Classified Word Ads: $5.50 per 10
words, 180 words maximum, with boldface
lead-in on first line.
Classified Display Ads: One column
wide (2.167 inches) by 1, 2, or 3 inches
high at $20 per inch. Black and white only,
and no frequency discounts.
Advertising Closing Dates: 10th of
second month prior to desired issue date
(i.e., January 10 is the closing date for
the March issue). VAA reserves the right
to reject any advertising in conflict with
its policies. Rates cover one insertion per
issue. Classified ads are not accepted via
phone. Payment must accompany order.
Word ads may be sent via fax (920-426­
6845) or e-mail (c/[email protected] using
credit card payment (all cards accepted).
Include name on card, complete address,
type of card, card number, and expiration
date. Make checks payable to EAA.
Address advertising correspondence to
EAA Publications Classified Ad Manager,
P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.

....

~

• Also, 300 archival photos

~.".

• Military aerial maneuvers
• Thompson, Greve, and Bendix Races
• Aerobatic acts, it's all here!

fflt. ~~~~

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+ S&O

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Sell 39 Luscombe 8 Ser #863. 65 Cont. TI
1700 5MOH 60 TIAF 1400 LSA qualified
Mich based Don 734 646 0025

MISCELLANEOUS

OS~KOS~

- ~Otv1£ AGAil\l

Flying wires available. 1994 pricing. Visit

www.flyingwires.com or call 800­
517-9278.

HAT OUR MEMBERS
ARE RESTORING

PROPELLERS
CARVE YOUR OWN PROP-THE EASY WAY.
THE ALL POWER-TOOL METHOD.
Complete information, material and tool
list with many photos and diagrams.
Anyone who can build an airplane can
do this. Contact Dan at he/spersew@

aol.com for free information e-package,
details, photos, overview and ordering info

SERVICES
Always Flying Aircraft Restoration,
LLC: Annual Inspections, Airframe
recovering, fabric repairs and
complete restorations. Wayne A.
Forshey A&P & IA. 740-472-1481. Ohio
and bordering states

Are you nearing completion of
restoration? Or is it done and
're busy flying and showing it
If so, we'd like to hear from
u. Send us a 4-by-6-inch print
a commercial source (no
ome printers, please-those
• •iiil~r~nts just don't scan well) or
~
a 4-by-6-inch, 300-dpi digital
..,
photo. A JPG from your 2.5-megapixel (or higher) digital
camera is fine. You can burn photos to a CD, or if you're on a high-speed
Internet connection, you can e-mail them along with a text-only or Word document
describing your airplane. (If your e-mail program asks if you'd like to make the
photos smaller, say no.) For more tips on creating photos we can publish, visit VAA's
website at www.vintageaircraft.org. Check the News page for a hyperlink to Want To
Send Us A Photograph?

j;iiiii•••

For more Information, you can also e·mall us at [email protected] or call us at
920·426·4825.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE

39

Membershi~ Services Directory
VINTAGE

ENJOY THE MANY BENEFITS OF EAA AND
~
AIRCRAFT
EAA's
VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION
ASSOCIATION
EAA Aviation Center, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh WI 54903-3086

~ TM

OFFICERS
Pres ident
Geoff Robison

152 1 E. MacGregor Dr.
New Haven, IN 46774
260·493-4724
chie([email protected]

Secretary
Steve Nesse

Vice-President
George Daubner

2448 Lough Lane
Hartford, WI 53027
262·673-5885
gdaubfler@leaa. or8

Treasurer
C harles W. Harri s

2009 Highland Ave.
Albert Lea, MN 56007
507-373-1 674

72 15 East 46th St,
Tulsa, OK 7414 7
918-622·8400

[email protected]

cw h@h v5u .co m

DIRECTORS
Steve Bender

85 Brush Hill Road
Sherborn, MA01770
508·653-7557

Jea nnie Hill

P.O. Box 328
Harvard, IL60033-0328
815·943·7205

ss t ] ()@co mcast .fl et

375 Killdeer Ct
Lincoln, CA 95648
916-645-8370

David Bennet t

Espie "Butch" joyce
704 N. Regional Rd .
Greensboro, NC 27409
336-668·3650

antiquer@inreacli. coIIJ

winrisock@aoi. coln

Jerry Brown

4605 Hickory Wood Row
Greenwood, IN 46143
317-422·9366
Ibro1Vn4906(!Paoi.col11

Dave Clark
635 Vestal Lane

Plainfield, IN 46 168
317·839·4500

Dan Knutson

106 Tena Ma rie C ircle


Lodi, WI 53555

608-592-7224


[email protected]
Steve Krog


1002 Heather Ln .

Hartford, WI 53027

262-966·7627


Ph on e (920) 426-4800

Fax (920) 426-48 73


Web Sites: Wlvw.vintageairaa(t.org, WlVW.airventllre.org, WlVW.eaa.org/memberbenefits E-Mail: vintageairaa{[email protected]

EAA and Division Membership Services (8:00 AM-7:00 PM
Monday- Friday CST)

800-564-6322
FAX 920-426-4873
www.eaa,argjmemberbenefits
membership@eaa,arg

- New/ renew memberships -Address changes -Merchandise sales -Gift memberships

EM AirVenture Oshkosh
www,airventure,org
888-3224636
Sport PilotjLig;ht·Sport Aircraft Hotline 877-359-1232
www.spartpilat.arg
PrOgramS and Activities

Auto Fuel STCs

920-426-4843
Education/ Aeroscholars
920-426-6570
920-426-6880
www. airacademy. org
- EM Air Academy
920-426-6823
- EM Scholarships
Right Instructor information
920-426-6801
www.eaa.orgjnafi
Li brary Services/ Research

920-426-4848
Benefits

AUA Vintage Insurance Plan

800-727-3823
www,auaonline,cam
EM Aircraft Insurance Plan
866-6474322
www.eaa.arg/ memberbenefits
EM VISA Card
800-853-5576 ext. 8884

EM Hertz Rent-A-Car Program

800-654·2200
www.eaa.arg/ hertz
EM Enterprise Rent-A-Car Program
877421·3722
www.eaa.orgjenterprise
Editorial
www.vintageaircraft.org
920-426-4825
VAA Office
FAX 920-426-6579

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
airacademy@eaa,org
[email protected]
tdeimer@eaa,Org;

slurvey@eaa,Org;


[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

EAA Members Information Une
888-EAA-INFO (322-4636)

Use this toll·free number for: information about AirVenture Oshkosh; aeromedical and technical aviation questions;

chapters; and Young Eagles. Please have your membership number readywhen calling.

Office hours are 8:15 a.m. - 5:00 p.m, (Monday - Friday, CST)


davf'[email protected]

sskrog@aol. com

john S. Copeland
Northborough, MA 01532
508-393-4775

Robert D. "Bob" Lumley
1265 South 124th Sl.
Brookfie ld, WI 53005
262·782-2633

(opeland [email protected]

[email protected]

EAA

lAC

Phil Cou lson

S. H. "Wes" Schmid

Membership in the Experimenta l Aircraft
ASSOciation , Inc. is $40 fo r o n e year, ineluding 12 issu es of SPORT AVIATION. Fa mily
m em bership is a n additiona l $10 a nnu a lly.
Junio r Membe rship (und er 19 years of age)
is available at $23 annually. All m a jor credit
cards accepted for m embersh ip. (Add $16 for

C urrent EAA m e mbe rs m ay jo in the
Inte rnational Aerobatic C lub, Inc . Divi ­
s io n a nd rece ive SPORT AEROBATICS
m aga zine fo r a n additiona l $45 p e r year.
EAA Membe rship, SPORT AEROBATICS magazine and one y ea r membe rship
in the lAC Divi s ion is availabl e fo r $55
p e r ye ar (SPORT AVIATION m agaz in e
n o t includ e d ). (Add $18 for Foreig n

I A Deacon Street

2841 5 Springbrook Dr.
Lawton, MI 49065
269-624-6490

Wauwatosa, WI 532 13

rcoJllSoI15 [email protected]

sllscllmid@gmail .com

2359 Le feber Avenue

41 4-77 1-1545

Da le A. Gustafso n


7724 Shady Hills Dr.

Indianapolis, IN 46278

317-293-4430


Foreign Postage.)

dale{aye@m sll .com

DIRECTORS

EMERITUS

9345 S. Hoyne
Chicago, IL 60643
805-782-9 7I3

Robe rt C. Brauer

E.E. "Buck" Hilbert
8102 Leech Rd .
Union, IL 60180
8\5-923-4591

pllOtOpilot@aol. cOlll

bllck7ac@gmail. com

Gene C hase

2159 Carlton Rd.
Oshkosh, WI 54904
920-23 1-5002
[email protected]

Ro n ald C. Fritl

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

Gene Morri s

5936 Steve Court


Roanoke, TX 76262

817-491-9110


[email protected]
John Turgyan

15401Sparta Ave.
Kent City, MI 49330
616-678-50 12

ro Box 219
New Egypt, Nj 08533
609·758-29 10

rFril z@pa thwaynet.com

j rtu [email protected]

~

EAA SPORT PILOT
C urre nt EAA m e mbe rs m a y a dd EAA
SPORT PILOT m agazine fo r a n additio nal
$20 p er year.
EAA M e mb e r s hip and EAA SPORT
PILOT m aga zin e is availa ble fo r $40 p e r
yea r (SPORT AVIATION m aga zine n o t ineluded). (Add $16 for Foreign Postage.)

VINTAGE AIRCRAFf ASSOCIATION
C urre nt EAA m e mb e rs m ay jo in th e
Vintage Airc ra ft Asso c ia ti o n a nd rece ive
VINTAGE AIRPLANE magazine for a n ad­
ditio nal $36 p er year.
EAA Memb ership , VINTAGE AIRPLANE
magazin e and one year membership in the EAA
Vintage Aircraft Association is available for $46
per yea r (SPORT AVIATION magazine no t ineluded). (Add $7 far Foreign Postage.)




Postage.)

WARBIRDS
C urrent EAA m embers may join the EAA
Wa rbirds of Am erica Divi sio n and receive
WARBIRDS m agazine fo r an additio n al $45
p er year.
EAA M e mbe rship, WARBIRDS m aga­
z in e and o n e ye ar m e mb e rship in th e
Wa rbirds Div isio n is ava il a bl e fo r $55 p e r
yea r (SPORT AVIATION magazine n o t ineluded ). (Add $7 for Foreign Postage.)

FOREIGN MEMBERSHIPS
Pl eas e submit yo ur re mittan ce with a
c h ec k o r draft dr a wn on a Unite d Sta t es
bank payable in United Sta tes dollars, Add
required Fo reign Postage a mount fo r e ach
m embership .

Membership dues to EAA and its divisions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions

Copyright ©2009 by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, All rights reserved.
VINTAGE AIRPLANE (USPS 062-750; ISSN 0091-69431is published and owned exclusivelyby the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association of the Experimental Aircraft Association and is published monthly at EAA
Aviation Center, 3000 PobereznyRd., PO Box3086, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54903-3086, e-mail: [email protected]. Membership to Vintage Aircraft Association, which includes 12 issues of Vintage Airplane
magazine, is $38 per year for EAA members and 546 for non-EAA members, Periodicals Postage paidat Oshkosh,Wisconsin54901and at addhional mailing offices, POSTMASTER: Send address changes
to Vintage Airplane, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086, PM 40063731 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Pitney Bowes IMS, Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor, ON N9A6J5. FOREIGN AND APO
ADDRESSES - Please allowat least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AiRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surface mail. ADVERTISING - Vintage Aircraft Association does not guarantee or endorse
any product offered through the advertising. We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken.

EDITORIAL POLICY: Members are encouraged to submh stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely
whhthe contributor. No remuneration is made. Material should be sent to: Editor, VINTAGE AIRPLANE, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Phone 920-426-4800.
EAA®and EAA SPORT AVIATION®, the EAA Logo® and Aaronautica'" are registered trademarks, trademar1ts, and se!Vice mar1<s of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. The use of these trademarks
and service marks without the pennission of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. is strictly prohibited.

40

JULY 2009

Drive one.


Drive Smart

I

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• Six-Speed Paddle-Shifted Automatic Transmission
• HID Headlamps
• Intelligent Access with Push-Button Start
• BLlS®Blind Spot Information System
• Voice-Activated Navigation System
• Reverse Sensing System
• SOS Post-Crash Alert System
• SecuriCode™ Keyless Entry
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