Vintage Airplane - May 1995

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EDITORIAL STAFF Publisher Tom Poberezny

Vice-President Marketing & Communication s Dick M a t t

Vo l. 23,

May 1995

No.5

Editor-in-Chiet J o c k Cox Editor Henry G . Frautschy

CONTENTS

Managing Editor G o l d a Cox Art Di rector M ike Drucks

Straight & Level! Level!  Espiie " But Esp Butcc h" Jo yce  2

Assistant Art Director Sora Hansen

New s!  Compil Co mpilee d by b y H.G. Fr Fraa ut sc hy 

Computer Graphic Specialists

lC

Olivia L Phillip Jennif er Larsen Advertis i ng Mary Jones

4 Sun ' n Fun '95 Results 

Assoc ia t e Editor Norm Petersen

5 Aeromail  6

UFO John

Feature Writers G e o r g e Hardie . Jr. Dennis Parks

Miller!!Ph Miller Phy ylli s Br a u e r 

8 AI Smith's Gold Plated Cub! Cub !  Norm Pe t e rse sen n 12

A Retirement Machine Adki ss on ' s Luscombe Luscombe!! H .G. Fra ut sc h y

16

Frank Warren's Thompson Trophy Paintings Paintings

Staff Phot ographers Jim Koepnick M ike Steine ke Carl Schuppe l Donna Bushman

Page 8

EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION, INC. OFFICERS Pres iden dentt Espie ' But c h ' Jo Joy yce P.O . Bo x 100 100 1 son Madiso Madi n . NC 27025 910 /57 /573 3-384 3

18 Piper Apache PA231160/G PA231160/G   C ha rl es Gund Gundee rson

22 Members Projects! Projects!  No rm Pe te rse sen n

Edi Ed itorial Assistant Isabelle Wiske

Page 12

Vice · Pres ide nt Arthur Morgan W211 Nl1B63 H i I ~ o p Dr . Germantown ermantown.. WI 5302 2 4 14/ 628-2724

Sec re tary

Treasure reasurerr

NesseAve. 2009Steve Highland Ave . Albert Lea. MN 56007 507/373-167 507/373-16 74

E.EP.O . 'Buck ' Buck' . Box' Hilbert 424 Union.. IL60180 Union 815/923-4591

DIRECTORS

24

Pa ss

it to Buckl E .E. " Bu Buck" ck" Hilb er t

26 My stery Airplane Airplane!Geo !Georrge H a rdi rdiee 28 Welcome New Members

Robe rt C. ' Bob ' Bra uer 9345 S  Hoyne

Gene Ch Chase 2159 a r ~ o n Rd . Oshkosh . WI 54904 414 / 23 1-5002

Joh Jo hn S. Cope Copellond 28 ·3 Will iamsbur8 Ct . Shrewsbury . MA 1545

Ph il Coul Coulso son n 28415 Springbrook Dr. Lawton.. MI 49065 Lawton 616 / 624 -6490

29 Calendar Page 18

30 Vintage Trader

FRONT COVER . The bright gold plated rocker box covers gleam in the sunlight on AI Smith's J-3 Cub. AI hails from Valdosta. GA and restored the two place trainer with Stits Polyfiber and an Aerothane finish. A new metal cowl from Freeman Aviation neatly encloses the Continental A-65 A-65.. EAA ph o to by

Cho rt e s Harri s 7215 East 46th St . Tulso . OK 74145 918/622-8400 Dale A. A . Gustafson 7724 Shady Hill Dr . Indianapolis.. IN 46278 Indianapolis 317 / 293-4430

Jim Koepnick Shot with a Canon EOS-l equipped with an 80·200mm /f2.8 lens. 1/ 250 at f8 on Kodak Ektachrome Lumiere 100 film film.. Cessna 210 photo plane piloted by Bruce Moore .

Robert 1708 BoyUCkte Oaksig r Albert Lea. Lea . MN 56007 507/373--2922 507/373

BACK COVER . . The EAA OSHKOSH ' 94 Outstanding Custom Multi Multi--Engine  Cont em porary class award winner is this 1960 Piper PA23/ l60/ G Apache owned and flown by Charles Gunderson of Redondo Beach . CA. The family size airplane was restored to better than new condition. Pho Phott o by Peter Bernstein. Photo plane piloted by Jerry Jacob.

Gene Morris 115C Steve Court. Court . R.R 2 Roanoke.. TX 76262 Roanoke 817 / 491 -9110

Copyright © 1995 by the EAA Antiqu e/C e/Classic lassic Division Inc. All rights reserved reserved.. VINTAGE AIRPLANE (ISSN 0091-6943) is published and owned exclusively by the EAA Antique/Classic D vision. Inc. of the Experim xperimenta enta l Rd

is published and paid 3086, Oshkosh. Aircraft monthly at EAA 54901 Aviationand Center Wisconsin 54903·3086. , 3000 POberezny ., P.O EAA Antique/Classic Second Association Class Postage at Oshkosh, Wisconsin at additional mailing offices. T.heBox membership rate for Division , Inc. is $27.00 for current EAA members for 12 month period of which $15.00 is for the publ publication ication of VINTAGE AIRPLANE. Membership is open to all who are interested in aviation. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to EAA Antique/Classic D ivision. Inc • P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. FOREIGN AND APO AODRESSES - Please allow at least two months for delivery of VINTAGE AIRPLANE to foreign and APO addresses via surtace mail. ADVERTISING - Antique/Classic Division does not guarantee or endorse any product offered through the advertising. We invite constructive criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken. EDITORiAl POLICY : Readers are encouraged to submit stories and photographs. Policy opinions expressed in articles are solely those of the authors. Responsibility for accuracy in reporting rests entirely with the contributor. No renumeration is made. Material should be sent to : Edrtor. VINTAGE AIRPLANE , P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, W  54903-3086. Phone 4141426-4800.

The words EAA , ULTRALIGHT , FLY WITH THE FIRST TEAM , SPORT AVIATION and the logos of EAA , EAA INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION , INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB , WARBIRDS OF AMERICA are ® reg istered trademarks. THE EAA SKY SHOPPE and logos of the EAA AVIATION FOUNDATION and EAA ULTRAliGHT CONVENTION are trademarks of the above associations and their use by any person other than the above association is strictly proh ibrted.

 

John Berendt 7645 Echo Point Rd . Cannon Falls . MN 55009 50 7/ 7/263 263 -2414

~ ~ ~ ~

20  

508 / 842-7 842-7867 867 George Do ubne Geor bnerr 2448 Lough Lane Hartford.. WI 53027 Hartford 414 / 673-5885 San Gomoll Gomoll 104290th Lane . NE Minneapolis. MN 55434 612/784-1172

Jeannii e Hll Jeann P.O. Box 328 Harvard.. IL 60033 Harvard 815 / 943-7205 Robe D. ' Bob124th ' Lumley 1265rt South St. Brookfield.. WI 53005 Brookfield 414/782·2633 George Yo rk 181 Sloboda Av. Av . Mansfield.. OH 44906 Mansfield 419 / 529-4378

S.H. ' Wes Wes'' Schm Schmiid 2359 Lefeber Avenue Wauwatosa WI 53213 414/771-1545

DIRECTOR EMERITUS S.J. Wittman 7200 S E. 85th Lane Oc a la . FL 32672 904/245-7768

ADVISORS

Joe Dickey 55 Oakey Av. Av . Lawrenceburg . IN 47025 812 / 537·9354 Dean Richardson 6701 Colony Dr Dr.. Madison.. WI 53717 Madison 608/833-1291

Jimmy Rollison 640 Alamo Dr. Vacaville . CA 95688

707 / 451-0411

Geoff Rob Robiison E MacGregor New Haven. IN 46774 Dr.. Dr

1521

219/493-4724 219/ 493-4724

STRAIGHT

LEVEL

y Espie Butch Joyce pr o bl em s as th ey com e to b e kn own in th e Antiqu e/ Cla ssic ar are ea in Os O shk os h. Oshkos sh , th the e 199 5 Co nve nSp ea kin g of Oshko tio ti o n is is u st over the hori riz zon . I will fill every ry on e in as t o th e impr o vem ent s th at will b e t akin king g pl pla ace thi s yea r in your Antique Antiqu e/C l as   

sPLANE i c area in . th e Jun e i ue of VINTAGE AIR  Af t er att ending the Sun ' n Fun Fly- I n in

Lakeland,, I hav e come home with a ren ewed Lakeland sens e of excit ement about the fly-in season ahe ad. Th er e were a good number of An  tiqu e Clas sic and Contemporary aircraft in attenda attend anc e. You will see photos of a numb numbe er of th ese o ut uts st andin nding g aircraft in future futur e i   ues of your VINTAGE AIRPLANE magaz in ine e. A s not note ed be bef o r e, Antiqu e/ Cla Clas ssic Ch apt er #1 manages th e Antique Antique// Cl Cla assic are area for Fun,, and and th they ey do an outstandin outstanding g job Sun ' n Fun of parking parkin g th e aircr aircra aft. I f th the ere is any room for improve improvement nt,, it appears to me m e th at pe per h aps th the e Antiqu e/ Classic area is not la l ar ge enou gh , causin ing g som som e of our aircraft to be come com e mix ed in with the transient parkin g. This is not a big problem , and I ' m sure Sun ' n Fun can r esolv olve e it for next year. Parkin g of aircraft at fly-ins remai remains ns on e mos st probl ematic ar are eas to m an age. of th e mo The Th e pr obl ble ems ari ses not du e to l ack o f con cern o f th the e individu al s re spon pons sibl e, but be b e cause of th e finit finite e amount amount of op en land avail y park aircr ircra aft. One On e airpl irpla ane abl e to ph ys ic alllly can tak e appr ppro oxim xima at ely square squar e fee t i f

A s an add ed be benefit I ha h ave as k ed th e un  derwritin g com compan pany y of your Antiqu e/C l ass ic ins in sur ura anc e program to provid e me with de d e scriptions of the incid incide ents r epo rt ed to t o th the em. I will hope hopeff ully be abl able e to pas s al o ng to y ou f r om time tim e to time what th ese in inc cid ide ent nts s ar e. J hope th at by being al ert ed to th ese it ems, you mi ght b e more inform ed and n o t l et th ese mis mi sf o rtun es happen to you. H er e ar ar e a f ew had to be be made: exa mpl es of th e cl aim s th at ha Fairchild PT -23: Taxied into Cessna Cessna;; damaged Cessna fuselage/ fuselage/ stabilizer. PA-18: Six deer crossed runway as land ing;; ai rcraft flipped over. ing over . Cessna Cessn a 175: 175: Hig High h wings broke tiedowns; tiedowns ; aircraft damaged.

Stinso n 108: Prop strike while taxiing. Cess na 140: Cessna 140: Flyi Flying ng down rive riverr , hit power line;; flipped into water. line PA-12: Engi Engine ne quit; three people injured injured;; was a gascolator problem. problem . Aeronca 7AC: Flying low, hit power

lines; lin es; aircraft flipped fli pped ; injured pilot.

Fairchild (model unknown): Ground

Piper J-3: Tornado Tornado;; ropes held but rud der was damaged and broke windshield. Aeronca 7AC: Bad landing broke land ing gear; damaged prop and air box box.. Piper J - 3: House fire destroyed prop ; homeowner'' s insurance does not cover air homeowner craft aircraft parts parts.. Right landing gear L-6orInterstate: snapped on second landing . Aeronca 7AC: Aircraft was in shop for maintenance when shop burned down;

shop had no insurance. Luscombe 8E: Aircraft flipped on back on landing roll-out. Taylorcraft: Strong wind broke tiedown rope; damaged one wing. Cessna 170: Aircraft blown off of runway on landing ; hit curb;damaged landing gear. gear. Cessna 120: Vandals broke windows and set gas tank on fire . Luscombe; Landed with tailwind while making go around; hit the trees; total loss loss.. Cessna 150: Aircraft hangar burned; was a city hangar; city did not have insur ance. Piper PA-22: Aircraft hit an owl during flight; damaged left wing . Stearman: Ground looped; left wing hit the trees. trees . Piper PA 22/20: Damaged as someone broke in to steal headsets. Fairchild PTPT - 19: Aircraft in landing pat tern hit trees ; went into the ground ; total

loop; damage to right gear and wing . ee d to yo u ta k eom into int sid ide eft r amov tion e that you(t a nxiin h avetaro roo foorcon fo aircr ircra a move ment xiing g) . Tha Th at work s out t o 12.5 airplan irplane es per acr cre e of l and - ca n yo yo u see wh ere we are goin g? A very go good od example of this was wh whe en I att end nde ed th e Swift Association Fly-In in At h ens T ennessee a couple of yea rs ag o . base e o f th e Swift Athen s i s th e h o m e bas A ssociati ociatio o n . Wh en I arriv ed I wa s gr ee t ed b y C harl i e N el so n , pr es id ide ent o f th the e Swift A ssoci ati o n . C h arl i e w as as al alw w ays , th the e graci o us hos t do in ing g hi s bes t in making makin g me fee l at ho ho m e; he eve n gav ave e m e a ride rid e in his hi s T 35 Buck ar oo . Wh at a ni nic ce airpl an e   I had a gr grea t time tim e with the th e Swift group roup.. At h en s i s l oca t ed in hill co untr y so fl at l and i s a r ar e it em. M os t of the Swift Swifts s we r e park ed al ong th e sid side e of th the e runway , f ac in ing g i t. In o rd e r t o vi ew all of th ese b ea utiful Swifts Swift s I ha h ad to t o do a lo t of walkin lking g. T hos e of us who arri arri ve d in t ra nsi ent t yp e air cr aft had t o be st st ac k ed ver y close t o eac h oth the er , ca us in g u s t o m ove seve r al air cr aft eac h ti m e so meo ne need ed t o move fr o m th e b ac k o f the th e p ac k . Eve r yo ne und unde er st oo ood d C harl i e' s pro pr o bl em and wo r ke d to ge th the er in a coo per ati ve spirit. I am sur ure e that Charl i e i s wo rkin rking g all o f th e tim time e t o so lv lve e hi his s probl proble ems as th ey

tiedown ropes; ropes ; total loss loss.. Beech T-34: T -34: Debris from fireworks dam aged paint. Taylorcraft : High wind broke tiedown ropes; aircraft flipped on its back. Ryan PT -22: Aircraft in for an annual fell off of jacks; damaged wing; shop had no insurance.. insurance Waco: Ground loop damaged aircraft . Swift: Strong wind caught tail of aircraft and nosed it over. over . Cessna 170: 170: After takeoff takeoff,, pilot made a low turn ; w i ng dropped ; aircraft ended up trees . in the trees. Great Lakes: On landing roll , pilot hit brakes hard and flipped aircraft . Cessna 195: Ground loop; left landing gear broke off. off . Ercoupe: Hard landing into corn field ; aircraft damaged . Stinson: Tornado hit airport ; aircraft was tied down; ropes broke. broke . Tiger Moth: Hangar partner moved air craft and damaged the tail section . Cessna 120: Bird strike on on downwin d to landing . Aeronca 11A 11AC: C: Pilot made hard landing; landing ;

fence.. fence

pop up , ju jus st as we are workin working g to re remedy our our

broke tail of aircraft. aircraft . Pilot was injured .

t oge th the er. Jo in us us and have it all.

Ercoupe 415CD: High winds broke

Cessna 170: Aborted takeoff; ran into

Taylorcraft: Engine failed on takeoff;

damaged landing gear during landing .

Piper: Tornado broke tiedowns; tota l

loss.. loss

Stinson: Cowling blew open during

flight ; damaged prop and boot. Cessna 182: Tax Taxiied into concrete block; block ; damaged prop. Interstate S1A: Off field landing tore off gear and damaged cowling . Boeing A75NI: Damage to wings and prop landing on a short runway . Stinson 108-3: Storm caused damage to leading edge of wings. You ca n see th at th e in c id ent s run th e

happ en , from unav unavo oid id sp ectrum o f wh at ca n ha a bl e " acts of Go d " t o dam age ca u se d b y thing g th at ca r el ess ness . J hope yo u sa w so methin yo u may find usef usef ul fr om an edu ca tion st andpoint. po int. I k now J sure di d . L et's b e sa f e out out th ere. After all o f tha th at. ask a fri fri end t o j oin us us so th ey ca n enj njoy oy th e A ntiqu ntique e/ Cl ass i c Di vi sio n. L et s all pull in th e sa m e di r ec ti o n f or th e good goo d o f av i ati o n. Rememb mbe er we w e ar ar e bett er ....

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 1  

CI'WJ

compiled by

H G

Frautschy

parents, members and Chapters are urged to secure further information about the 12th annual Air Academy by contacting the E A A Education Office, P . O . Box 3065, Oshkosh , WI 54903-3065 or call 414/426 4888.

INTRODUCES FAX ON-DEMAND SERVI SERVICE CE FOR EAA CONVENTION INFO EAA

Information for the 43rd annual EAA Fly-In Convention is now available through a fax-on-demand system . The new system

save time if you want the latest pre-Convention information on prices , housing , forums, evening pro grams,, transportation and much more. grams more . With instant access available 24 hours a day, the fax-on-demand system will also feature the Convention ' s highlights dur ing and after the event. The system was designed to serve EA A members, Con vention visito visitors rs and media members in the U.S. and elsewhere. elsewhere . To access the fax-on-demand system , call 402 402//220 2073 from any touch tone telephone. Callers may then request a general directory of available information or ask for a particular document from an area of interest by supplying the system with a document number. The caller is also asked to supply a fax machine num ber that will receive the information. That information is then instantly faxed will

to them with a call to their fax machine. The EA A Oshkosh fax-on-demand

system will be available through Septem ber 1, 1995. After the Convention, the service will supply wrap-up information, award winner lists and dates of the 1996 fly-in. Following is the current directory for EAA Oshkosh fax-on-demand. Admission Rates 110 Camping Information 120 Housing Hotline (lodging (lodging)) 130 Exhibitor Rates and Information 135 Exhibitors at Oshkosh 95 136 Convention Highlights (featured aircraft, Tribute to Val Valor, or, Salute to Air Racing, VariEze 20th Anniversary) 14 141 Air Show Schedule Evening Programs 142 Showcase Fly-bys 143 Forums Schedule 144 Air Adventure Museum 145 E AA AIR ACADEMY APPLICATIONS DUE

The EAA Air Academy for youth age 15-17 will be presented from July 15 through July 31 , 1995. Interested youth , ,

NAFI TO AFFILIATE WITH E AA The National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) and the EA A have

reached an agreement in principl principlee to affiliate NAFI with the EAA. NAFI represents nearly 3,000 flight instructors in the US and around the world. The agreement, thusiastically endorsed by the Board of Directors of NAFI, wa wass announced dunng

AND

PHILLIPS THE YOUNG EAGLES PROGRAM EAA is pleased to announce that the Phillips 66 Company has graciously

agreed to again provide a $1.00 rebate for each gallon of fuel purchased for Young Eagle flights between May 20 and July 16 , 1995, including all flights held on Interna tional Young Eagles Day, June 10 ,1995. This is the second year Phillips 66 has of fered the rebate of $1.00 per gallon, and it is hoped many new pilots will join others to take advantage of the program. Guidelines of the rebate program are similar to last year: 1 EAA Chapters, members and pilots from aviation organizations authorized by the Foundation to participate in the Young Eagles Programs are eligible be tween May 20-July 16 , 1995 . 2 . Avgas purchased must be made with Phillips 66 Company credit cards from Phillips 66 FB O ' s . This offer does not include auto or jet fuel, or other

brands purchased with Phillips 66 cards. Individual FBO employees mayor may not be familiar with this program program.. 3 Phillips 66 company credit cards are available in 7-10 days by application from

the annual EAA Sun 'n Fun Fly-In. The affibation will become official after a ratification vot e by NAFI members members.. NAFI will retain its identity and focus focus,, while its administrative headquarters woul move from Dublin Dublin,, OH to Oshkosh. "We look forward to building a close close,, ongoing relationship with NAFI,   says EAA President Tom Poberezny Poberezny.. "NAFI's missions , goals and high standards paral lel our own. We believe the affiliation will strengthen and expand NAFI activities wbile enabling EAA to enhance its scope and image. , , The EAA-NAFI agreement will allow NAFI to further develop educatIOn pro grams and other benefits to both current and future m e ~ b e r s EAA'.s network of more than 825 local Chapters also supplies an outstandmg opportulllty for NAFI members to meet with aviation enthusiasts to share information on flight information and aviation safety. Right now, with tort reform and the word that Cessna is getting back i?to the small airplane business business,, there is excitement in the aviation industry ,   sald Jack Eggspuehler,, who has served as NAFI ' s p r e s ~ d e n t f o r ? ~ y ~ a r s "This s the p e r f e ~ t Eggspuehler time to look at how we will prepare future ptlots. Affthatmg NAFI wlth EAA will continue to build NAFI ' s image witbin the aviation community. t will also allow our organization to benefit from the strength of EAA's growing membership and field structure. Current NAFI members wil not be required to join E AA , however they will re ceive membership benefits at the annual EAA COnvention in Oshkosh Oshkosh.. NAFI activ ities will also be highlighted in EAA's fJagsbip publication, SPORT A VI ATION.

1-800-362-7759 during business hours , Monday through Friday. 4. Customer receipt copies should be mailed by pilots to to:: Susie Wetheri ngton , Phillips 66 Company , 6C-11 Adams Building, Bartlesville, Bartlesville , OK 74004 74004.. Copies must be received by Phillips 66 prior to August 15 , 1995 (no exceptions). For val val idation purposes , each pilot submitting receipts for rebate must write the follow ing statement and sign it: I attest this fuel purchase was in support of the EAA Young Eagles Program.   This is a unique program in the indus try, thanks to Phillips 66's genuine inter est in the future of aviation. t depends on adherence to the simple guidelines and an honor system   of participating individuals who take care not to abuse this special privilege. Pilots in 25 states took advantage of the program last year year,, and we hope to in crease the level of participation in 1995 .

2 MAY 1995  

Although Phillips 66 does not have facili ties in eve ry locality locality,, their leadership by example is appreciated , and we hope hop e oth ers mi g ht follow s uit in th e future throug throu gho ut the th e country. We thank EA A memb e r a nd Antique/Classic Di r ec tor Charlie H a rri rriss for hi s diligent efforts with Phillipss 66 officials to secure this impor  Phillip ta nt support.

ILLINOIS AVIATION CONFERENCE

PIONEER AIRPORT VOLUNTEER PROGRAM 6, when EAA's Pioneer Airport opens its doors to the 1995 season, season, they On May 6, will r elease expectations expectations for another record-brea record-breaking king year at this growing subsidi subsid iary of the world class EAA Air Adventure Museum in Oshkosh, WI. Pione er Airport wa wass the idea of E A A Founder Paul Poberezny, Poberezny , who saw the need for an activ activee facility facility that complimented the the n new EAA Air Adventure Museum. H e intended it to be a place where the golden age of aviation, aviation, t he ' 20s and '3 '30s, 0s, could be highlighted. highlighted . Over the nearly 10 years since it first first open ed ed,, activity at Pioneer Air port has increased dramatically dramatically to where it is open daily from early June through La bor Day and on weekends in May, May , September and October.

The Illin ois Aviatio Aviation n Conference will be he ld Ju Jun n e 7-10 at the Lisl Lislee/ Nap e rv ill e Hilton Hote Hot e l, Li sle, Illinoi s. Samuel Skinner , pr e s ident of Commonwea monw ea lth Edison Co Co.. , formerly Secre tary of the U.S . D e partm e nt of Tran s  portation a nd White Whit e Ho u se Chief of Staff Staff,, will s p ea k a t the Thursday Lunch eo n. The Illin Illinois ois Aviation Hall of Fa m e ban qu e t a nd presentation of awards to the 1995 induct inductees ees will be Thursday eve nin g. The s p eaker a t the ba nque t is Alex Zuyev,, the Ru Zuyev Russian ssian "Top " Top Gun" pil o t who escape d from Ru ssia b y command ee r in g a MiG-29 fighter in May 1989. For further inform a tion on th e Co nference, contact Vi Cox at a t 2 7 785 4529   For ho te l reservations reservations,, contact th thee Hilton at 1-800-552-2599.

EAAOSHKOSH

COUNTDOWN ... ANTIQUE CLASSIC WORKSHOP

Y o u ca n lea rn a lot from a bo ok or vid eo eo,, but nothing beats havin having g a d e mo n  strati st rati o n ri ght in front of yo u. Durin During g th e EAA Co nv nvee ntion , th e Antiqu e/ C la ss ssic ic a rea features o ne of th thee handiest ways to lea rn ab o ut certain re s to r a tion t ec h  niques. niqu es. A / C W orks h o p Chairman G eorge Mea d e r e mind mindss us that the A/C A /C Divi Diviss ion will again ho st a number of diff er e nt work s h o p s in t e nd e d to give memb e r s h a nd nds-o s-on n expe ri e nc e in the following a reas: To lea rn a bout covering usin g sy n thetic mat matee rial rialss there will be b e daily work

The airport is located immediately behind the EA A Air Adven ture Museum with access provided to museum visitors via a free tram ride around the eastern boundary of the grass runway, past the EAA Chapel and Compass Hill, into a period of tim e some so me sixty years ago. Most of the flying programs are concentrated on weekends weekends,, al though this year there will also be Young Eagle rides during the week. Last year, we had a lm lmost ost 100 different volunteers spend time at Pioneer Airport , Some volunteered for a few hour hourss some for months. Each and everyone helped us us promote sport aviation to those thos e who visited the museum. museum. They did so something mething to pro mote the passio passion n of flight we all e njoy so much much.. To recognize this significant donation of time and talent , we introduced a Pioneer Points Program to give proper credit where due. We were pleased to recognize to sil ver and four bronze le lev v e l award winners after the airport closed last fall. But 1995 brings us new challenges and new needs needs.. We need more volunteers to fill important staff position positionss this year. Why more now than the past ? Because we want to increase our human pres pr esee nc ncee factor at P io neer Airport. EAA, more than anything else, means aviation people helping one another, and Pioneer Airport gives you that opportunity. Many of today today''s succe uccessf ssful public attractions depend on high-t high-tee ch (and expensive) rides to bring in th thee pUblic pUblic.. We in sport aviation are us e d to doing it another waythrough volunteering our pe rsonal time, time , effort and skills. The persona l touch. To us , this is what makes our wor ld so pl pleasa easantly ntly different form others. And it is why we are now searching for more good people. Aviation people. People who can talk to visitors about aviation in general and our scorres of Pioneer airplanes in p articular. We have the materials sco material s to lean on when you want to learn more. We nee d peop le who can explain to the public flight planning t ec hnique s from an era prior to GPS ... or ILS. People who can brief a nervous Young Eagle befor beforee a flight. People who can move airplanes. Or clean them when they th ey get dust. Peop le who can help load out Ford Tri-Motor full of eager passengers passengers.. Or the Travel Air, Air , Stinson SM-8A or ell 47 helicopter. We need a Pionee r historian and an event announcer. Or mechanics mechanics,, sign painters and tram drivers. drivers . We can tea eacc h you what you need to know, know , you suppl supply the enthusi asm. But most of all, we n ee d you! Call Chuck Parnall or Nancy Woeshnick at 414/426-4886 weekdays for information about how you might find a place with the growing fami family ly of volun tee rs at EAA's Pioneer Airport. Workshop tent , which is is lo cate d ju s t to

th e so uth of the A / C R e d Barn. See yo u the th ere! 1995 EAA FOUNDATION

Sweepstakes tick ets w e re included with wi th your February iss ue of SPORT A VI ATION. Additional tick ets can b e ob tained b y writin g P . O . Box 738 , Rockford , IL 61105 , a nd yo u can purchase

shop hopss de ta iling the Pol Polyf yf iber process. process. In a ddition , there will b e four morning ses sion ionss conducted by Alexander Aeroplan e Co. on th e Pol Poly yfiber process process . A / C Work Work shop te nt volunteers will be on hand eac h d ay ay,, a ll d ay to assist members who want to apply fabric and ribstitch. Al so, there will be two mornin g ses s ions conducted by LP Aeroplastic s to teach th thee proper methods of handlin handling g and a nd installin g acrylic plastic windows and windshields. Monday Mond ay mornin g, July 31, Airtex will d e monstr ate installation of a new h ea d lin e r , uphol s t ery a nd side pa n e ls in a Cessna 180. Specific times and dates for th e se work s hops will be posted at the A /C

SWEEPSTAKES

Do n ' t mi ss your chance to win one of

the fantastic priz prizes es available in thi thiss year year'' s

EAA Aviation Found Foundaa tion Sweepstakes! First prize is a bea utiful Pip er PA-28 140 Cherokee . This aircraft is currently und e rgo ing complete refurbishm e nt , in

cluding an engine overhaul by Ma ttituck Airbase, Mattituck, NY, a co mpl e t e new in t e rior b y AirMod , Batavi a , O H , n e w paint and an e xtensiv xtensivee annual insp inspec ection. tion. Prizes Priz es a r e not limited to ju st th e a ir plane - othe r g re a t priz es include two TWA Int e rnational round-trip tickets ticket s to Pa ri s France; a BOSE Aviation Hea H ea d se sett ; an ST15 OI by Slendor Boa Bo a ts ; a Flight ma ste r VR virtual rea rea lity fli ght si mul mulaa tor ; and a Slick aircraft ignition system .

your yo ur ticket tick et at EAA OSHKOSH ' 95. Winnin g e ntri es will be selected in Oshkosh,, Wi sco Oshkosh scon nsin on August 23 , 1995. You can ' t win if yo u don ' t e nt nter. er. STINSON DINNER

T

EAA OSHKOSH

f yo u ' r e one of the many Stinson owner/operators wh who o e njoy getting to to gether over dinn er at EAA OSHKOSH , you ll want to contact John Zewiske at 414// 643-7445 (evenings) for more infor 414 mation r eg a rdin g thi s yea r ' s dinn e r. t

will b bee held at Butch Butch''s Anchor Inn at 7:30 p.m. , July 27 , and you can make yo ur r es esee rvation rvationss at th e T y pe Club T e nt. By By thee way, the dinne th dinn e r is is be ing held one d ay earlier than in previous previou s years, so be sure and mark your calendar. ... VINTAGE AIRPLANE 3

 

SUN N FUN 95 WINN RS . . . ANT IQ UE AWARD S 1945 and Ea rli rlie e r)

GR N D CHAMPION PT -17

Stearman N46888 Terry Crawford - Ocala Terry Ocala,, FL

RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION

RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION CHAMP ION - CLA CLASS SSIC IC N o n e S e le c te d

GRAND CHAMPION  CUSTOM CLASSIC Piper Pacer PA-22/ 20 1953) N3383A N3 383A Frank C Sperandeo Sperandeo,, III - Fay Fayett ettvil ville le,, AK

CONTEMPORARY AWARDS 195 6 to 19 19 60 ) BEST CUSTOM Cessna 175A Taildragger N45K William J. See See - Centerburg Centerburg,, OH

Taylorcraft BL-65 N29815 Tom Baker Baker - Effing Effingham, ham, IL

BEST RESTORED

SILVE SILV ER AGE 1933-1945

B elow

Fairchild F-27 N235KT 100 HP Piper J-3 Cub 1946) NC7386H NC7386 H J. W Ev Evans ans - Hami Hamilton, lton, AL

Piper J-3 N30629 Ron Leopold and John Eickmeier  Malenta,OH

165 HP

BEST WW II ER

Cessna 170B 1954 1954)) N2727C Gene Engelskirger - Hinkle Hinkley, y, OH

Boeing N2S N2S-1 -1 Stearman N65648 Martin Lange Lange - Elkrid Elkridge, ge, MD

BEST

165 HP Temco T-35A 195 1950) 0) N904B Robertt Dickson Rober Dickson - Charlot Charlotte te,, NC Over

BI - PLANE

PT -17

Stearman N43320 Mike Danforth Danforth - Orland Orlando, o, FL

BEST MONOPLANE

BEST CUSTOM CLASSIC

Monocoupe 110 Special N2347 Billll Symmes - Miami Bi Miami,, FL

Below

BEST OPEN COCKPIT

Luscomb e 8A 194 1947) 7) N681A Richar Ric hard d Hoyl Hoyle e - Vince Vincent nt,, AL

Fairchild 22 NC14302 Bob Ferg Fergus us - Ocal Ocala a , FL

100 HP

101 165 HP

Cessna 170B 1955 1955)) N611 L Jim Kovalesk Kovalesky y - Clayt Clayton on,, NC

BEST CABIN CAB IN Fairchild 24R NC1595 Walt Wa lt Albert Albert - Ocal Ocala a , FL

Over

Waco l V N 3 N19375 Jack Goodnight - Kan Kannapo napolis, lis, NC

OUTSTAN OUTSTA N DING C LASSICS

Parks P1-H NC15771 l a c k Howard - Lakeland , FL

Globe Swift 1946) N7800G Jack and Lea Anne Nagel Nagel - Homer, AL FL

Jeppesen Found Foundation ation - Longwood Longwood,, FL

MOST ORIGIN ORIGINAL AL Cessna 172 C-FDGS John Van Lie Liesho shout ut - Toron Toronto to,, Ontario

OUTSTANDING TYPE Beech Bonanza G-35 N801 D Bill and and Pat Doty - Winter Haven Haven,, FL Beech Bonanza K-35 N5337E Don Do n and Wendy Gaynor - Engle Englewood wood,, FL Champion 7FC 7FC Tri-Champ N7577B Cliff Harkin Harkins s - Houston Houston,, TX Champion 7FC 7FC Tri-Champ N7534B Stephen Stephe n Button - Indian Indianapoli apolis s , IN Comanche PA-24PA-24 - 180 N5651 R Bob Lock - Gunte Guntersvil rsville le,, AL

65HP

Ryan Navion 1948) N4178K Craig Gevedon - New Carlisl Carlisle, e, OH

OUTSTANDIN G AIRCRAFT

Cessna Airmaster NC19498 Brad and and Glenn Glenn Larson Larson - Sarasota Sarasota,,

BEST TWIN

Cessna 140 1947)N2526N

SEAPLANE AWARDS GRAND CHAMPION SEAPLANE Grumman Goose G-21A N121GL Jerry and Betsye Holmes  Chattanooga , TN

BEST

T AL FLOA OATP TPLA LAN NE

Earl

Fleet Model II N13926 Chester Chest er Fudg Fudge e - Middletown Middletown,, CO

CLASSIC AWARD S 1946 to 1955) GRAND CH CHAMPION AMPION CLASSIC N o n e Selected-

4

MA Y

Smith - Ft Ft.. Meyers, FL

Lusc ombe 8B 1946 Luscombe 1946)) N71645 John and Kathy McMurray Burkburnett , TX Aeronca 7AC 7AC 1946) N83267 Steve Ste ve Lover Lovern n - Concord Concord,, NC Piper JJ-3 3 1946 1946)) N69MH Mike Horn Horn - Little Rock Rock,, AR

DHC-2 Turbo Beaver N53GB Thomas Taylo Taylorr - Houma Houma,, LA Piloted by Bob Butle Butler) r)

BEST AMPH IB IBIIOUS Grumman Widgeon G44 N69058 AI

Nordgren Nord gren - Troutdal Troutdale e , OR

SEAPLAN E SP SPE ECIA CIAL L AWAR AWARD D 1933 Curtiss-Wrig ht N12380 Travel Air 16-E Weldon Ropp - Delray Beach, FL

1995

 

not ed aviation hi storian , Pet er Bowers, who also wrote that NR" stood for Restr icted. My term used to denote th e lavatory as in bathroom when   goesweback e early Minnesota weretosothexc excited ited today havs e a warm indoor "bathroom" rath er than the cold little house out back that we never used a dif ferent name I plead guilty as charged We' ar e ex tremely pleased to report that the sale remain ing Sikorsky VS-44A that you flew in back in 1965 to Catalina Island is be ing totally res tored at the Sikorsky plant at

MAIL

MILES INFO

I wonder if I could , throu throug gh your pa ges, a pp ea eall for any information rega regardin rding g th thee ultimat e fat e of MILES SPARROW

re pl ace aced d th e Sik Siko o rs ky or igina ginalls b eca use tires tir es were no longer commonly available for th e older units units.. At that time tim e th thee air pl a n e h a d not flown for 12 years, ye t Toolco officia ls ha d instructe instruct e d that it not b e so ld . Hu g hes him himse se lf ha d lo gge gged d al mo st a ll of the tim e on it.

HA WK N-C191M that was import importe e d inh S e ptember Hopkin Hopkins s Smit Smith 1936 by James

do take tak e exception exce ption sen se on Itwo points how eve r.with ThMr. e " RP"e tine ro ldn

Dear Sir ,

cadre CT, byworked volunteers a larg eon -Bridgeport many ma ny of ,whom th eof flying huge boat when it was built in 1943.

- Norm Petersen, Associate Editor

NUMBER STYLE Mr. Frautschy, Butch Jo yce, e t all ,

I enjoy reading VINTAGE AIR

Jr.

According to th e limit limited ed inf information ormation I have to hand , I unde und e rstand that it was so ld to Ray Bosw e ll Jr in 1939 and was succ ess ful in many races r aces before be b e in g put into storage in Toronto ca carre of deHavillands deHavillands.. It was sold to G eo eorrge Rob Roberts erts in 1956 a nd

sty le NR r eg styl egiistrat ions did not stand for Racing Racin g but for R es tricted tricted,, just as NX de notee d Exper im e nt not ntaa l a nd NS for gove govern rn me nt owners hip . He al also re fe rs to a " bath bath room " in the r ea r cabin of the S-43. I know of no bathin g facilities on an a ir pl a ne - e x cept pe pe rhaps on so som me lu xurious

PLANE eve ry month but there is one thin g th a t conti nu es to "bu g" me. You see thing I obtained my A&E after WW II II,, b efore thee re was a n EAA. I work th workee d on many air restoreed plan es that now are antiques, and restor a few , Waco RNF, RNF , Fairchild 24 C8F C8F,, J- 3, etc.. I jud ge ai etc aircra rcra ft at our local EAA 186

in Florida ke pt or at so Lantan ae Airfield year before befor it wa s severe severel ly d amfor age da in an accident. I would be be int e rested to d e t e rmine whether parts of thi s aeroplan aeroplanee are sti ll in istee nce a nd would welcome any infor ex ist mation on any aspect of this fine machine machine's 's hi story. unity y to comp li  May I tak e thi s opport unit

ly aow privat private ned basin jumbo jumb oand je t. commode. Surely what hes he mea eant nteis wash commode . T hi proper erlly ca ll e d a lavatory. is prop The onl on ly oth ot her S-43 typ e known to e x ist is a Navy JRS version held in storage by th e Smithsonian. A t leas l eas t it was th e r e wh e n [ saw it 25 yea r s ago. Of cou r se th e re is a lso a non-flyabl e Sikorsky VS VS 44A four e ngin e boat which I had th e gr grea eatt

Fly-In s pecial attention to antiques. H ere's with wh at's bu gg ing me. A re build buildee r puts in man y hard hours hour s on on rebuilding rebuildin g and restoring th e airplane, th e n takess a shortcut and puts mo take modd e rn numb numbee rs on it When I ' m judging his airplan e, that's that 's a bi g demerit demerit-- not a uth uthentic. entic. You can a lso be t that I'll look more closely for oth ot he r thin gs that might have escaped me.

ment it up you on your sup e rb magazine. Ke e p Yours sinc sincee re ly

pleas ur ure e to ride to Cata lin a in 1965. Hea ead dy stuff, this Sincerely,, Sincerely

Lookaren't at theauthentic S-43 (Marc S95). . The num bers   hr95) modern I am also amazed that anyone anyon e would conside consid e r flying a r es t o ration s uch a s this or any restoration , for that fact , without doin g a new complete weight and balance balance,, which means weig weighing hing.. EA EAA A should take a pa ge from car res torers. Chrome i s a no-no when th e orig original inal was nick el Sincerely ,

David Elliott Drivee 69 Shell Shelley ey Driv Broadbrid ge Hea eath th Horssham , Wes t Sussex RH12 3NU Hor United Kingdom

WHAT'S THAT R FOR Dea earr Mr. Frautschy: Norm Peterse n's fascinating article on on th e restored Sikorsk y S-43 a mphibian broug brou ght back a spec special ial memory for me . Assi gn e d to Hou s ton by b y TWA in 1965 , one day I ex plor ploree d the corporate a ircraft si de of Hobby Airport (th (t he n ca ll e d Hous Hou s ton International ) . Stoppin g a t the Hugh es Tool Compa ny facility , I glimp sed sbadowy recesses recesses of th e ir ha nga r a in th e sbadowy twin engine engine,, hi g h win g seap la ne, a nd I guesse d it to be a PBY Catalina . When

Edward Peck (AlC 3225) Springviiew Court 19 6 Springv Louisv ille, KY 40243 Dear Edwar d,

Your reference to the R  in the registra tion number is correct in that it signifies a Restric ted ca tego ry whi ch include d racing   up until 1948. Your commen t ec ho es that of

John Bee Beeb be (AlC 19313) Box 28 7 Whitee Stone, VA 22578 Whit

told that it was a Sikorsky S-43 I gas pe d in disbee li ef. I didn t know that s uch a tr disb trea ea sur uree still existed, so I reque requess te d a closer look . I t took a fe w lov lov ing strokes a lo ng it itss flank to convince me that this wa s not an apparition but an exceedingly rare rea eality. lity. Martin 404 wh ee ls had sometime ea rlier

For those of you who were looking for this last month . here is the MGM Ryan Brougham now being restored by Scott Gifford 550 Fredrick Lane Prescott AZ 86301. If you have any photos or technical info on this airplane please contact Scott. VINTAGE AIRPLANE 5

 

UFO

JOHN MILLER by Phyllis

Brauer

(Ale 15666)

" Aviation is a youth preserver if you

teaching him himself self to fly. "Actually I taught

through it ," observes John Miller a live bona fide UFOer at age 89. He is hardly

myselfintobustin' fly firstit and it upJohn later. No sense up ,"fixed figured at the time. He got the Jenny in November and by his 18th birthday the following month had soloed in it. His instruction manual was " Aerobatics " by Capt. Horatio Barber ,

an unidentified flying object but quite a recognizable one in his Beech Bonanza C35 he flies to Oshkosh from Poughkeep sie , Ne w York during the E A A Conven tion . He belongs to one of the most exclusive flying clubs in the world, the

RFS (Royal Flying Corps) and head o f

United Flying Octogenarians. The re 

training in the British Flying Corps during

quirements are tough with no exceptions for anyone. Members must be at least 80 years old and possess a current pilot's li cense. Since 1923 1923,, John has survived avia tion with flying colors colors,, piloting Jennies to

WW 1. This book is now a collector's item, and John has treasured it all of these

years since he first flew . John speaks with nostalgia of his early aviation days. f you were flying , you

see Charles Lindbergh take off from Roo sevelt Field on his history making flight across the Atlantic to Paris. I watched him disappear into the murk. 'We'll never see that poor guy again,' I thought." Since several pilots had already been lost, in cluding Charles Nungesser, a French WW I ace. John was not too confident of Lind bergh's succe successs .

jets . jets. A J enny , IN-4 (Can) , was his first plane, a gift of sorts, given to him by a barnstormer in 1923 at the end of the sea

were an aviator. There were no regula tions and not a single paved airstrip that I knew of in the United States . Planes, John explained, had no brakes , just tail

so n . He had worked for the pilot that summer for free, maintaining the engine. Pilots , he said, did not know anyth in g about engines; they never even looked at them . John, on the other h a nd , was me chanica lly inclined and had st udi ed air

skids that could not be contro ll ed on hard surfaces. Landing on grass runways pro

plane manuals and books . He admi ts fa fail il ing Latin and French in schoo schooll because of spending so much time reading ab o ut a ir planes. " He gave me a ride in the Jenny the last day of the season then said I could have i t - n o bill of sa le, no registration he just gave it to me," relates John. The old Jenny was a flying wreck and ready to be scrapped. Perhaps giv in g it away wa wass the pilo t's means of abandoning it, but he just may have recognized th at the 17-year-old John Miller would make good use of it , and he did, fixing it up and

vided the friction friction necessary to stop. " Half the art of flying was lea rnin rning g to handle the plane on the ground. It irks me now when people say they are flying taildraggers. They are NOT flying taildraggers ," he as se rt s " but a tail roller which is steerab le. It enables th e plane to go straight. Land ing a taildragger is a lost art. I taught my se lf to fly th thee tail skid t ype. " Less than a year after John so lo ed in the J e nny h e had to part company with her. He so ld it to atte nd Pratt In Instit stitut ut e in Brooklyn, New New York where he majored in mechanical engineering. " I was real lon lone e some without an ai r pl ane , " professed John. He did continue to follow aviation ev e nt s and on May 20 20,, 1927 cut classes to

The next month he gr aduat ed from Pratt and remembers his classmates kid ding him about flying . " You ' ll get killed,"

they told him. " Stop flying and get a good , safe engineering job. " The young man's goal was clear, however. No way am I going to spend the rest of my lif lifee behind a drawin g board, he decided. I'm going back to flying " After all, the whole pur pose of go in g to school he emphasized was to further his flying. Sixty-five years later he received a tele phone call from Pratt inviting him to his class reunion and to attend the gradua tion. After he arrived , he was informed that h e was the g u est of honor as the last surviving member of his class. " I fooled them," laughed John . I was the one who was s uppos ed to get killed. f I get bumped off now, I'm ahead." Like most graduates John was faced with the necessity of earning money so he sent an application to Washington, DC for a mechanic's li cense cense.. A federal examiner came to Poughkeepsie to administer the oral and written tests which took an entire da y . He receiv receivee d his A&E (Aircraft and Engine) mechanic ' s license, #2906, and was promptly hired by the Gates Flying Circus , a barnstorming outfit. John ex ex plained that in 1927 there was a shortage of airplane mech a nics. " That's why the inspector rush rushee d up to Poughkeepsie to give me the test and why r was hired im

mediately. "

H e w or ked with Gates to buy " th e wreck of another airplane airplane," ," as John put it , a WW I Standard J-1 J-1.. Intending to barn

As a mechanical engineering student at the Pratt Institute in New York, John cut classes to watch Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis take off from Roosevelt

storm with it , he installed a Hispano-Suiza

engine , but th e s tate in s pe ctor limited the

Field enroute to Paris. This photo is not what it appears to be - it is actually a shot taken during the filming of the Warners Bros. motion picture The Spirit of St. Louis starring Jimmy Stewart.

plane to carrying th e pilot and two passen gers. With that re striction he was not able to earn enough to meet expenses. The

6 MAY 1995  

Gates C ir ircc u s, he noted, could ca rr y four passengers in it itss planes, th thee number nec essarr y to operate at a profit. H e sold the essa plane the next year and taught the b u ye r to fly it. The n ew owner then took the

plane to Portsmouth , New Hampshire where he eventually lost int erest in it and put it in a barn whe wh e r e it languished for 30 yeaa rs collecting rust and dust. Then a re ye tired TWA captain from Florid a bought a nd restore d it. " It ' s s till a beautiful air plane," plane ," John said with pride . " I've been to see it. " For th thee next two years he hopp hoppee d pas

sengers and barnstorm e d in a N e w Stan dard D-25 with a Wright J-5 , 225 hp en  g in e , the sa me kind that Lindb Lindbee rgh u sed in the Spirit of St. Louis . He remembers that some ow ners of large estat estatee s in Con necticut and Massachu s etts did not like planes flying flying o ver their property and con sidered the pilots tr e spassers . At that time it was a lm ost impossible fo r fliers to get insurance insurance,, so these states required it to discourage people from flying flying.. " The a ut uto o inspectors did the c hec king so T s n ea ke d into Connecticut a nd Massac Ma ssachu husetts setts to do my barn barnsto sto rmin rming g on th thee weekends when I knew th ey were not o n du t y ," c huckl e d J o hn . " I made good mo n ey, " h e contin ued, " but by 1930 b a rn rnss tormin torming g b ega n to Airplanes were not

After watching Lindbergh depart for the other side of the Atlantic John was not too confident of his chances considering the previous attempts made by other pilots .

J o hn fl ew , h e said, ten fli g ht s a da y , s ix ee

Society of Experimental Test Pilots for

fade out. a nd th ere were m ore s uch big novelty, r egaulbi ag tions." then en bought a Pitcairn autogiro PC  He th 2 with a 330 hp e n g in e , a nd in 1931 m a d e th e first tr a nsco ntin ntinee ntal fli g ht in a n east to west di r ec tion with a ro t a r y wing a ir craft. H e crisscrossed the country during 1932-33 d oi n g aerobatics a t major air

d ayst ya rw durin 1939939-40 40 with perfect safe safet eco k rd.during rd . Thi gs accompli acco mplis s hm hmeeant nt, , John feels, did not ge gett the recog ecogniti nitio o n o r public it y it de se rv e d b ec a u se it was o ve rshad owed owe d by b y the war in Europe Europe.. A fte r th e rooftop mail contract ex  piree d , Capt. Mill er re turned to fl yin g com pir me rci a l ai airr lin ers -this tim e with Eastern Airlines where h e r e main e d for 25 years.

work autogiros Grumman am phibiaatesting phibi ns durin during g WW II. and " I'm not as ash ha m ed of th thee m ," he says a nd quotes Will Ro gers gers,, brag gin ' .' ' I f you did it , it a in ' t bragg liv v es in hi s ho m etow n o f John s till li Poug Pou g hk hkee ee ps ie , a nd operates Great-Grand father Miller's Transcontinental Airline . He ha s nine grandchildren and s ix great g randchildren. So m e liv livee in Ca lifornia lifornia,,

s ho w s in C l ev e l a nd , Los Angeles and Chicago. Since th thee a ut utog ogiro iro is is not a n aer o b at ic pl plaa ne, audiences did not ex p e ct to see the loops loop s and rolls John did . " I neve n eve r ev e n b e li ev e d h e did it until a ft ftee r I saw him," him ," sa id Doc Moshe Mosh e r , a lon g- time friend of John's. As avia tion pr og r esse d from bar n  sto rmin rming g to se riou s tr a ns portation , Capt.

With Eastern h e fir st fl e w a D C-3 , th e sam sa m e exac exactt a irplan irplanee now on di diss play in the Aero Sp Space ace Mus Musee um in Washin Washing g ton , DC. " It is in my logbo logboo o k by its numb e r ," said sa id John. He H e piloted the th e DC-4 DC-4,,-6 and -7 plu s four typ types es of Lockh Lockhee ee d Constellations and the L-1 88 Electra. Durin g hi s last five years yea rs in commercial aviation, Capt. Mill er sa i d h e was privil eg e d to fl y th e D C -8 ,

a nd others liv livee in New York . That g ives m e lo t s of ex excc u ses t o fly b ac k a nd forth across th e continent. I still rid ridee motorcy cl es, to o , " adds J o hn . In fact , h e owns th r ee of th e m , plu s four cars a nd a B ee c h Bar aro o n , 58TC. H e h as flown to t o Oshko s h 23 tim es in th e l as t 24 years. For EAA Oshkosh '94 he mad e th e trip from Po Pou u g hk hkee ee p s ie n o n

Miller pro prog gr esse essed d with it. As ea rly as 1930 h e had joined the M a rin e Corps R ese rv rvee at P e nsa nsaco colla , Florid Floridaa as a civilian pilot and also qualified as a Nava l aviator at Qu a n  tico, Vir gi ni a. Begi nnin nning g in 1936 h e took a job with United Airlines flyin g a 247-D 2 47-D on a tr a nscon tin tinee nt a l route. A year la t e r h e went out on loa n t o th e Ke ll ett Auto giro Company of Phil a d e lphi a t o test fl y

which a t th e tim e was th e largest pass en  ger pl a ne in th thee world world.. Although h e e nj oy e d every minut e of hiss career with Eastern , h e speaks of hi hi hiss sep se p ar araa ti o n fro m th e o rga ni za ti o n with hu morou s indi g nati o n . " I was Quesadi ified ," he says referring to General Qu e sa da wh o h ea d ed th e F A A in 1966 a nd instituted the poli policy cy of re tirin tiring g pilots age

st o p on in s trum e nt s in five h o ur s and 53 minutes minut es in his Beec B eec h Bonanz a t he pl a ne John says is half hi s age (45) and was firs t

th e fir firss t wingless aircraft. Although th e testing could not be co compl mplee t ed within hi s leave of abse n ce , h e s ta ye yed d t o fini s h the project, a nd as a result los ostt hi s se ni or it y at United. " So 1 cooked up a scheme to fly maill from the roof of the po mai post st office in th thee center of Phil Philaa d e lphi a to the th e airport. " H e exp lain lained ed that roof top la ndin gs h a d b ee n done b ef o re but not o n a regul ar b as is. " Doing them th em once o r twice twice is not the th e sa me thin g as d oi ng them o n a sc h e dul e. You can't pick th e weather or th thee co ndition s. "

60 a nd o ld er. Capt. Miller feels feels thi thiss action was un f air because the older civ ilian pi l ot s , h e co n t e nd s, h ad th e best safe t y records . H e a lso feels that th thee r easo n for hi s polic policy y was to get rid of civilian civilian pilots to create jobs for fli e rs who we re leav in g the military militar y. Over Ov er the yea rs J o hn has h as collected ma n y fl ying awards, but the o nly ones he spea ks of are th thee 1991 Sik Siko o rs ky ky-- Morri Morriso so n Award for the testing of the a uto utog giro con trol trolss and a nd systte m s and sys a nd a n hono hon o ra r y fellowship in th thee

" W e a r e g rowin g o ld e r without dying faster then they a r e d y in ing g without grow in g old ," h e la ug h s. John , whose flying career has spa nn nned ed the ye a r s f rom b a rn s torm ers to super con co nste ll a ti o ns and s till is not over over,, says the same thin g that m a n y pilots h ave said , " It 's a wonderful lif lifee " Of co ur se , h ow could it be a nyth i n g e ls e? H ow many havee had th e fant as hav astic tic luck combined with a plucky sp spirit irit of adventure to liv e the ro mance o f flight flight from J e nni nnies es t o jets. ...

own n on hi s 45th birthday birthday.. fl ow J o hn j o in e d th e U F O club (U nite d Flying O ct o g en ar i an s) t en years ago

when it was fo un d e d with only ten m em bers. The organization now h as 155 pi l o t s a nd i s incr ea s in g it s m e mb er s hi p .

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 7  

A I Smith's

Prewar )-3 Cub by

orm

Photos by

Peterrs Pete im

n

Koepnick

Bright and shiny valve covers on th e exposed cylinders of a Piper 3 Cub al-

ways draw attention, however, wh en they are go gold ld plated - th e head really spins around for a seco nd look   Walkin g up clos e, I spotted a smiling face in

th e refl ec tion of th e valve cover - it turn ed out to be th e restorer of the air-

plane, Donald A. Smith , Jr. (fAA 110020, NC 222 2221 19 , who answers best to the name, AI. By tr ade, AI is the manage r of a large groce ry store in Valdosta, CA, however, his ex tr a hours have a decided "avia tion bent" to them

B

om and raised on Lo Lon n g Is la nd , NY , AI moved to M o bil bile, e, AL , with hi s parents a nd took hi s first flying lesso n s a t Mobile in a Cessna 150 a nd a n l l A C Aeronca C hief. After ea rnin rning g his Priva Priv a te tick et , h e ow ned a s uc uccess cessiio n of a irpl a nes includin g a C it itaa bria , a Taylorcraft, an L-3 Aeronca a nd several others. By th e la t e 1970's, the ho m eb uildin g " bu bug" g" h ad t ake n ho h o ld of AI a nd h e jumped h ea dlon g into building a n E A A Acro II biplane. This o ut s tandin g piece of work was featured in a full-col o r a rticl e in SPORT AVIATION back in M ay 1983, written by J ack Cox. Besid es h e lping to e liminat e "g lit c h es" in the ea rl rly y Acro II plans, AI b ec a m e h ea v ily involve involv e d as an E A A Desi g n ee (at large) , h e lpin lping g many o th e r build e r s in so lving probl e m s of all kinds. During Durin g this span of tim e, AI earned hi s A P ra r a tin g, which also allows him to work on th thee groce ry company a irpl a nes. AI's good friend, W a lt Pr e tt y man of Valdos ta , is a (EAA 97062 , IC 2960) 8 MAY 1995  

lo n g tim e aviation aficionado who a lways m a na ges to ha v e a few airplanes lay ing around in v a ryin rying g s t ates of needin g h e lp . In 1992, Walt h a d a derelict lookin g J- 3 ba sket case , th a t loo k e d for all th e world lik e ev e n th e ba s k e t n ee d e d r eb uildin g . AI Smith decid ed t o tackl e th e project, knowing his artistry was going to b e sorely n ee d e d to ma k e a n y thin g o f th e p oo r , l o n e l y, 1941 J- 3F-65 C ub - with nothin g forw a rd of th e firewall. Th e work com m e nc ncee d . The best part o f th e airplane was the da t a plate, ho m wed a seriale number of 7232 andwhich a da t esof a nufactur nufacture of 7-30 41. Everything e l se n ee d e d work or r e  plac e m e nt Includ e d in the p a p e rwork w as th e original Bill of Sal e (for $1670) signed by W. T. Pi p e r and an Insp ec tion Stat e m e nt of Conformity signed by Wai t e r C. Jamoun ea u , Piper inspector a nd

how e v e r , numerous cross tubes had t o be replaced replac ed and the aft portion of the fuse lage n ee d ed considerable replacement and r ew e ldin g (remember all the exper ie nc ncee gain ga inee d in buildin building g th e Acro II?). Two n ew h eavy duty la ndin g gea r s were purchased from Univair and a pair of 8:00 X 4 wheels were pur chas e d at Sun ' n Fun ' 93. A fri e nd h a pp e n e d to h ave two new n ew brakes with br a nd n ew expa nd er tube s (AI , keep that ma n ' s phone numb e r sewe d t o your t ee -shirt, right by your h eart ). Together with a n ew set of 8:00 x 4 tires and tubes the

chief engineer.

(sp e dlook $$$), landing g gea was begin ninge llto like a landin firss t cl ass fir J-3r Cub. Th e le ft wing requir required ed a ll new ribs rib s , fit tin gs, spa rs, tr a ilin iling g ed e d ge a nd lea din g ed e d ge m e tal before it co uld m ea s ure up t o AI ' s standards. All hardwar e was replac e d as the win g was assembl e d . The right win g need e d a new butt rib, n ew trailin g and leading e dges and n ew h ar dwar e. Th e

a rdin g the fu se la ge tubin g R egthe AI, found lon ge rons to be b e in good s hape

new ip bo ws of so lid as h were a bit la r gewin on gt the wingtip radius and had to be

so a k e d in h ot water before t h ey wo u ld comfortab ly b e n d arou n d to conform to

the necessary wing shape. Meanwhile, the i nstruments were sent to Keystone Instruments in Lock Haven , PA, for overhaul , including the 3-118 compass that fits in the center of the 1941 panel. The tach tach,, airspeed, altimeter (sin gle needle , non-sensitive and oil pres sure /oil temp gauge were all finished in the correct light ivory co lor. The pane l it self was finished in a black crink le finish s per specs. As the project did not i n cl u de an en  suitable Continental gine, A65 was for lo catedaand completely t aken down overhaul. A long , steady hunt for good cyli n ders turned up four standard jugs installatio n . Wit h all that were ready for installation new bearings, rings, rings , va vallves and a ll the as sortment of parts necessary to make a new engi n e, carefu ll y i n st a ll ed, it was

time to send th t he valve covers o u t for pl p lat ll

ing. A l t ho ug ht t h a t pe r ha ps a ye ow air

(Above) High over t he Florida landscape , AI leans the Cub into a right turn as the evening sun brightens

the yellow paint scheme from spinner to tailwheel. The over all e ffe c t o f the outstanding workmanship on this airplan e can really get the old heart pump i ng  

(Above) Closeup photo of the five lamina tion Sensenich wooden propeller , model

W72CK44, with the tiny J-3 Cub decals , in  stalled just like the original back in 1941. (Right) The brilliant gold plated valve cov ers really add sparkle to the engine on AI Smiith ' s J-3 Cub. There's no oil anywhere on the outside of this engine The Freeman Aviation all-alumi all-aluminum num n osecowling is a real plus in anybody's league , espec i ally when fastened with large black plastic washers and new cowling lock pins. VINTAGE VIN TAGE AIRPLANE 9

 

plane should have gold plated covers to complement th e color, so th e order went along with th e covers. Su r e , it' s a spendy

Stits , having used it in all his recovering work for many years. A close look at the finish o n N38755 revea ls excellent work-

small B ear C ub decals as per original specs, graces the busin business ess e nd of AI 's 1- 3. t is topp e d off with a yellow spinner th a t

way to go, but Al fi g ur e d you only go ar o und once in this world. (You have to admit, the covers are very striking )

manship with a ttention to detail. Up front, a n e w e ngine mount from Univairr started th Univai thee finishing proce process ss along

seems to fit perfectl y. Th e old uppe r a nd lower door sections w e re in very poor condition, so Al

The Cub was covered with Stits Poly-

fiber and finished off with Stits Stit s A e rothane to g ive it the lo n g lasting s hi n e o f a polyurethane fini s h . Al Smith is partial to

with a new metal cowl from Freem a n Aviation, Inc. of Griffin , GA. An original d es ig n S e nsenich wood e n propell e r u s in g five lamination s a nd complete with th e

proc ee ded to build new one s tha t fit much b e tter than the originals. Th i s is for two r easo n s: AI 's patience le v e l is much highe r tha n th e f act or y and h e carefully includ e d th e aluminum d oor w edges unde r the fabric to m ak e th e door se a l much bett er. And the real topper i s the window clip th at holds the window op e n in flight. Al made his own clip out o f .020 4130 stee l , h ea t tr eated it hi m self a nd fastened it in place on the bott om si d e o f th e wing. To d a t e, th e clip h as w or ked flawlessly and really holdss th e window regardless of airspeed hold airspeed.. All the window glass was replaced

a l o n g with a n ew windshie ld . Ev e n the window s lid lides es that go down the left cabin wall were replaced so the l eft w in d ow slides up and down like it is suspended in whipped crea m The factory original window tensioner is installed with its attendant thumb screw to hold the wi nd ow in any position. Another order to U niv nivair air brought forth 1  

MAY 1995

a complete 1-3 1-3 stainless steel exh aust sys tem (spelled $$$ aga again) in) and a compete set of new sea led wing st struts ruts to ma k e sur s uree the wings remain on the airplane (a new set of

paint,, were goo d as n ew. In additio n , th e paint o ri g in a l tail brace wires were useab seablle with a bit of he lp o n A I' s part as he p awe d hi s way through man many y wires to find the proper

these th ese struts can give thethe pilot a very com fortable feeling feeli ng ). Ano r order to Free m a n Avi a tion , Inc. brought forth a n e w set of black seat cushions plus a set of shock cord covers for the l anding gear. At th e sa m e time , a n ew b aggage compartm e nt and a se t of canvas seat slings

in were es tnd A s lthe a ll efittings. d on th thee airp anee ,controls an new contro l bush in gs we r e pressed into pl place ace beforehand t o remove the normal s lop " that a lways cree ps into the movabl e parts. R es ul t : perfectly s mooth controls with no "cl unk " in them as they mov e throu g h th eir com

Above) Abov e) Interior photo reveals reveals new alu minum fuel tank cream faced instrumen ts and varnished wooden floors heels . complete with kickplates for the heels. The triangle edges under the fabric on

the door opening allow the door to seal tightly tightl y when closed closed - a real plus plus n cold weather.

hands off. At 2150 rpm , th thee airspeed reg istered 80-85 mp h , which is is un u sual for a

were ordered to he h e lp fini finiss h th thee a irpl irplaa ne . To m a ke th e trim system work prop-

pl e te ra nge of trav travee l. To ma k e s ur e th e C u b do es n ' t blow

65 Cub. P e rh a p s th e cruise p ro p h as so m e thing to do with it. Full throttl e in

erly , a new jackscrew was insta ll e d a nd a erly, n e w h a ndl e was e mployed to work th e cabi n end of th thee syste m . R es ul t: th thee tr im works perfec erfectly tly with a bsolutely no slip - a rare item in mo moss t 1-3 C ub s A Ma ul ulee tailwhe e l, left ove ov e r from hi s Acro II project, was installed with com pr ess ession ion type co ntrol springs that tig tight ht e n up the hard e r they a r e applied. Al says

away in the wind , a se t of Su p e r C ub ti e down s were mount e d on th e o ut board e nd of th e s truts . Th e se ti edow n s fasten t o the main st rut bolt a nd ca nnot s lide d ow n th e s tr ut as so m e ti edow n s are known to do . One m o r e it e m th a t Al n o te d is that the 1941 Cubs did n ot hav e thee word " PIPER " on th th thee s id e of th thee cowl cow l in g as the po post stw war ones did.

lev e l fli g ht produc es over 90 mph. H e rea dily admits it mak es the cross country tripss go a bit faster , ye trip yett th thee fu e l bill is is the same as if he h e were goi ng 73 mph H a ppi ness is . . . At the time of this in t er v i ew (Sun ' n Fun '94), AI h ad flown th e 1-3 about fifty enjoya bl e ho ur urss and was very well pl eased with the a irpl an e . Th e idea of havin having g an

they work fl aw awlless ly. On e other it em to ass is t in ha h a nd propping the A65 Contin e ntal was a set of n ew Slick m ags , hav  ing impul impulses ses on ea c h one. A l says th ey s ur e ly ta k e th e work out of hand prop pr op ping pin g the e ngi ne. Th e or ig inal jury st ruts were in go o d condition and with a bit of clean up a nd

On c e th e enti r e a irpl a n e was asse m bled and checked over, it was time for A l Sm ith to either fish or c ut bait H e fired up the th e A65 e n g in inee and taxi e d o ut. Takin g off at full bo r e, h e not e d a very quick climb . After lev ev li ftoff a nd a good, so lid climb. e lin ling g off , h e was pl ease d t o lea rn that th e ggin ing g wa wass perfec ectt a nd the a irpl a n e flew ri gg

a irpl a n e a ll d o n e and ready to fly kind of mad e Al a bit jumpy - not hin hing g to repair or bu i ld   W e are h ap p y t o report that h e now has ha s hi hiss ha nds busy restoring a North American T-6 tr trainer. ainer. A l is qui c k t o n o t e th a t it looks li ke a much larger pr projec ojectt th a n the 1-3 . Amen. VINT GE

IRPL

NE

 

e

Retirement

achine

• • •

by H G Frautsc Frautschy hy Adkisson's Luscombe

In 1978, 1978 , Jerry Adkisson (EAA 1477 1477,,

Gene and his new bride for their honey

just headed to the phone to call him

I C 5442) of Tuscola, IL took a trip to the MERFI Fly-In to enjoy the collec

moon in 1949, 1949 , indoctrinating her into the fine art of buzzing fiel fields ds to get the

Since buying the SF , Jerry and his wife D olores have not had to do any

tion ofthat airplanes that would descend on Ohio late summer Saturday. Saturday . While he was there, a shiny Lu sco mb e 8F caught his eye. " I've got to have that airp lane " he thought to himself. The summer gave way to fall and as Jerry checked the list ings in Trade-A-Plane® , he spotted an ad for a Luscombe 8F in Springfield ,

be cattle move before a landing made ,to and he had to bum a fewcould gallons

on the airplane - little things major workther here and e h a ve been the norm .

OH . A call confirmed that the airplane was the same one that had him sa li vat ing the previous month, and so he put his plan into motion to buy the Lus combe . He went to his local banker to ask for a personal loan to buy a recre

ational vehicle. Seem s logi logical cal On Sunday , Jerry hitched a ride to

Springfield to pick up the Luscombe from its r estor er , Tim Rutter. H e headed home , making a fuel stop in In

dianapolis,, IN before the final leg home. dianapolis home . In the fall, dusk comes soon, and so

Jerry found himself making his first ever night landing with his new prize, an ex ercise he does not recommend. After he arrived home with his new airplanee , he began to pi e ce together its airplan history. He's been able to account for nine own e rs so far, including himself. The first owner was the Vice President of Engineering for Luscombe, Eugene W Norris. What was really striking was the rather wild color scheme for the pol ished silver airpl a ne - the large black stripe and star you now see on the plane and

the scheme painted

is original, waswas delivered . A cus when the airplane cus

tom paint job from the factory helps set

of gas from a cement mixer so that the journey coul could d continue continue.. The Norris Norris'' honeymoon co u ld fill an adventure book all by itself. They left Alexandria, VA on June 11 , 1949 and headed south to Myrtle Beach , SC then on to Orlando and Miami. t was then

The tail surfac e s w er e removed and painted black on the undersides , Then , all of the control cables were replaced, the enginepainted , and a large number

time to head off across the waters of the Caribbean, with stops in Cuba , Haiti ,

done during the time the Adkissons

the Dominican Republic and the Vir Virgin gin Islands . A return hop to Haiti and then

"Everybody makes fun o f us, you know - They say, 'What's your ratio o f polishing to flying?' nd I would say it's probably at least three to one; maybe more than that. But we enjoy it nd you wouldn't believe the comments we get from people that come by here EAA OSHKOSH). They say 'Oh, I had one o f these and it never loo ked this good, but I wish I hadn't sold it ' Cuba preceded a flight across the Gulf of Mexico, with stops in Merida, Aca pulco, Mexico City , Cor doba and the Tampico before re-entering stopping in San Antonio, TX onU.S.and July 9 The trip covered 7,000 miles and cost a

of gaskets were replaced. New wing tips were put on , strobes added , and a new E L T to round out some of the work

have owned the a irpl irplane. ane. The next project is a new radio - Jerry says his avionics guy just laughed when he asked if the old Alpha 200 could be repaired. But during the Convention in Oshkosh, the airplane's previous owner owner,, Tom Rutter gave Jerry a 20 dollar bill to cover the cost of the old radio - it had been a gift from his wife when he re  stored the airplane in the mid-70s. Along the way, the airplane has done don e well at numerous fly-ins , including a G rand Champion Neo-Classic at the AAA Fly- In in Blakesburg, IA in 1993. A t the 1994 E A A Convention in Oshkosh , the Luscombe was awarded a Best In Type - Lusc Luscombe ombe trophy. Trophies have not been the main mo tivation behind the Adkisson ' s care of

the Luscombe however - cert certainl ainly, y, they enjoy seeing the airplane looking its best,, but even more than that, Jerry and best D olores like to fly the airplane, and they rclike the looks of a polished air plane. Jerry says the question about the amount of

polishing oftenfun comes up: you makes of us, Everybody know - They say, ' What ' s your ratio of

this beautiful examp le of an SF apart form the other aircraft built by Lus

combe . combe. Norris was not content to just use the airplane locally - he flew the airplane all over the North American cont in ent, and a nd the Caribbean. A vacation trip turned into an adventure one day when after stopping in Santo Domingo the day af ter a revolution had begun , h e and the

airp lane were "guests" of the army fo forr a short time. The Luscombe was also used by 12 MAY 1995  

whopping $150 in fuel bills. bills . The kicker of the whole trip were the various " red tape costs - paying fees and o t h e r

" costs costs"" totaled $240

All o f the s tories about the Lus combe ' s ea r ly days came to Jerry's at  tention after meeting Gene Norris fol lowin g an exchange o f letters via the

Luscombe Association. Association . Norris had writ writ ten the type club and e nclo sed a photo of the airp airpllane - J erry saw the photo and picked up the phone to talk to him about hiss airplane , and found that Gene had hi

polishing to flying ?' And I would say it it'' s probably at least three to on e ; maybe more than that. But we enjoy it And you wouldn't believe the comments we get from people that co me by here ( EA A OSHKOSH) . They say ' Oh, I had one of these and it never looked this good good,, but I wish I hadn't sold it '" Just as it proved useful to Gene Nor ris, the airp lane is no hangar queen for the Adkissons. Th ey use it often for trips kn o cking about the Midwest, in cluding a 3 day jaunt in Wisconsin, and

Jim Koepnick

The honeymoon

Luscombe's first owners, the Norris', could fill an adventure boo k all y itself. They lef leftt Alexandria, V on June 11 949 and an d trave traveled led through Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Miami, Miami, Cuba, Cuba, Haiti, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Virgin Islands, Merida, Acapulco, Mexico City, Cordoba, Tampico, and San Antonio. Th Thee trip trip cov covered ered 7,00 7,000 0 miles an and d cost a whopp whopping ing $1 $150 50 in in fuel bills bills.. Th Thee kick kicker er o f the whole trip were the variou var iouss "red "r ed tape" tape " costs - paying fe fees es and other "costs" totaled totaled $240 $240

Jerry Adkisson (Top) Kept inside and polished on a regular basis (four to six times a year), the Luscombe is lavished with TLC, and it

shows.

(Right) The striking trim on the sides of the Adkisson   s Luscombe is original to the airplane - Eugene Norris, the air 

o f the

plane s or iginal owner, was t he Vice President of Engineering at Luscombe when the airplane was built. The re markable polish job on the airplane is maintained using a combination of Blue Magic and Rolite polish. The t ext ex plains the polishing techniques used by Jerry and his wife Dolores t o maintain

the Luscombe s shine.

VINTAGE AIRPLANE 13 13  

 Left) The unbent trailing edges show that the Adkissons and the airplane s previous owners paid attention when

a trip up and down the Mississippi River to view the river during the drought a

moving the Luscombe around on the ramp and in the hangar.

few ago. Tennessee in during that MO and Lake enjoyable day trip put 6 hours of tach time on the airplane. "We spent six hours in the air that day and probably 45 minutes o f it on

Below) The cockpit is neatly done in velour and vinyl, and is kept as tidy as the rest of the airplane. A Genave Al pha 200 C om/ N av is due to be replaced before the next flying season. A venturi provides enough vacuum to run a directional gyro as well as an at titude indicator.

years

Stops

New Madrid,

land; w hen we got back we w eren ' t through flying yet We were having so much fun we just kept fiying. That

day," Jerry recalled. wasJerry a super and Dolores are also looking

forward to retirement, and plan to utilize the Luscombe for even more trips a r o u n d t h e co u n t ry . A h ard ei g h t hour trip by automobile to visit their d a u g h t e r in Mi n n eap o l i s is t ran s formed into a nice 4 hour flight with the Luscombe.

J e r r y ' s alr eady planning on how

trips will occur. " A lot of times when we want to go places on weekends, we can't go because of the weather. Once we retire, then we can catch a nice day and take off and go somewhere. Then just wait until the weather s nice and it's time to head home." Polishing an airplane to show qual-

ity r equir es an extr a effort, and the

Adkissons have figured out a pretty efficient method for getting the airplane to shine. t truly is a joint labor 14 MAY 1995  

"c

_ _ 

______________________________________________________

he Adkissons are looking forward

t

retirement and plan t utilize the Luscombe Luscombe for even mor moree trip tripss around the country. country. of lo v e, as b o t h Jerry and D o l o r e s work on maintaining the aluminum

luster.

got over here and visited with people , which is a constant thing here with this airplane, it was dry And there's

Whsile at he '94, OSH OSH EA here' how dA escrib edKthe polish

water the That's no spots thing. t makes polish job the last main longer."

system they use use:: "Well, it's been a part of the family.

W e ' v e had it fo r 15 y ears. A n d w e learned a lot about polishing over the years . W e l e a r n e d that you d o n ' t leave it sitting out and polish it once a year like I thought you did. It has to be inside and it has to be polished reg ularly and often, and lovingly. We've been through about every kind of pol

They also noticed that the annual spring cleanup went a lot ea s ier with the airplane polished the previous fall

with Rolite.

A n in terestin terestin g p h en o m en a seems to occur when polishing the a irplan e. With the Rolite, t h e r e seems t o be

T h e wheel pants spend the winter m o n t h s in t h e h o u s e , a n d g et their polishing while they are off the air plane, the gear alongupwith leg fairings. Jerry came mount with neat fairing which involves the removal of a piano hinge pin to remove the fairing . Would he ev er want another nat ural a luminum airplane? Jerry replie replied d , "That, in itself, is quite a story, to be ab le to have an airplane polished and keep it polished, because becau se

"We settled on Rolite AP300, with the buffer. And we still occasionally use a little Blue Magic for touchup for the th in g s that are hard to get at, mainly because of the price differen

much less o f a hazy o r milky appear ance in the polished aluminum, but that can vary with the weather, ac  cording to Jerry. There are days when it changes appearance a bit when you look at it certain ways. " T h e r e a r e d ay s you can d o no wrong and there are days you cannot make it look like you even polished it.

've always been told by people who Ihave polished airplanes or had a pol ished airplane, that you may do it that first time time,, but you probably won ' t buy a second on e . I'll n ever have - no , I'll never have another one, but I don't

tial; tia l; Blu e Magic is cheaper. We ' ve got a lot o f it on hand; we used to buy it by the case before we got off on Ro lite. So we'v e st i ll got lots of Blue

I don't understand that. f I don't un  derstand it after 15 years, we are prob ab l y not going to understand it " ex  claimed Jerry with a la u gh.

come when I won 't be able to get into it, o r I'll feel there 's too much for me to handle, or when it just isn't practic practical al for me to keep it, it ' ll eventually go. But I'm real fussy about who's going to get it, you can bet on that " With a ll the plans D o l o r e s a n d Jerry have for the bright Luscombe, it not very likely we will see an ad in

ish you can imagine.

Magic. W e probably will settle o n Rolite all together eventua ll y t (the Luscombe) can sit o ut in the rain and dew, and you can wipe it off and you don't have any water spots.

"Wh en I woke up this morning it was covered with dew and I thought, ' Oh, here we go again ' By the time I

Jerry thinks so much o f his wife 's

ability to get a great shine on the Lus combe that he bought her a practical present for her birthday last year - a new floor creep er. Wh at a guy, eh? " I t 's really nice ," Dolores remarked. " t a lm ost rolls too freely, if I get to rubbing too hard "

know whether I'll ever p art with this one It's going to be more and more difficult to do . I know the time will

Trade-A-Plane® anytime soon. Re  tirement for them sounds lik e a lot of fun. .... VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15

 

  936 THOMPSON TROPHY paintings y

rank Warren

T h e winners

Michel Detrayat - Caudran 264.26 mph 100

Earl Ortman 248.03 mph #54

-

C 460

Rider R-3

70 Roger Don Rae 236.56 mph

-

Rider R-4

Others i n t h e

# 1 Harold Neumann #33

Marion McKeen

#52

Harry Crosby

-

-

race

Folkerts SK-2

- Brown

B-2

Crosby CR-3

# 3 3 Lee Miles - Granville DNF - Engine trouble

QED

16 MAY 1995  

1935

TH OMPS ON TROP HY The winners :

Harold Neumann - Howard Mr.. Mulligan 220 19 mph Mr 40

Steve WIttman 218 69 mph 4

131

Roger Don 2 1 3 . 9 4 mph

-

DGA-6

WIttman Bonzo

Rae -

Rider R-1

t h e r s i n t h e ra ce : 38

Joe Jacobson

-

Howard DGA-4 Mike

- Lee Mi Mile less - Seversky S EV- 3 (Only amphibian ever entered) 33

Marion McKeen

-

Brown

B-2

Roscoe Turner - Wedell Turner Out lap 9 burned piston (Fastest lap: Turner 240 mph) 57

VINTAGE AIRPLANE

 

N4373P

7

1960 PIPER P PA23 160 G y

harles G underson

Photos by Chuck Stewart and Peter Bernstein

A fami ly airp lane has long been on the want list of my wife Miriam and I - one that could carry three o r four

people nd baggage in comfort and a safety with reasonable ec o nomy . t also had to be fully IFR capable, com pletely o utfitt ed to ta k e advantage of the latest advances in ins in s trum en tation and avionic avio nic s. T h at could co uld describe a lot of airpl airp lanes anes.. For us it turne turn e d out to be a 1960 Piper Apache, but not one th a t

fits the image most people hav e of th that at

airplane type . A new airpl airp la n e just wasn't possible , they're much too ex pe n sive. There certainly are nice air plan planes es being made today,, but to ge t what we wanted in today a ll respects would ha v e cost at leas t h alf a mi l l i o n

dollars

A t some point in the future I do plan on buildin g an a irplan e, but ri g ht now the time is just not ava ilable. That narrowed my options re airplanedown furbishing an older to the thto e our

s ta ndards ndards..

I'm an active CFII and M E l , and I b e liev lievee that twins are d ef init initee ly safer for th o se pilots who s ta y current and r ea lly work at b e in ing g the best pilot they th ey ca n be . So, th e airplane was going to b e a twin. One of the thin gs st ud e nts

teach you when instructing is that they co m e in al alll sh apes and size sizess a nd make up. Mentally, Mentally , some hav havee a s ponge ponge-- like a pp e tite for knowled knowledge ge a nd a re just not sa t isf ied with learnin g only what th ey need to know to get a r a tin g or pass a check ride. Pilot s lik e th at are go o d candidates to own a nd fly a twin b e  cause they will ta k e th e tr o ubl e to r e  a lly understa und ersta nd the a irplan irplanee and stay proficient in it. T h e a d d ed

safety m ar arg g in from red undancy is real for them. On th e other hand, some pi

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