VINTAGE WALK-AROUND
SUPER CUB CHARM
CAP VOYAGER
THE VINTAGE FLIGHTLINE AT EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is a long and thin chunk of real estate, being 1-1/4 miles long and with varying widths. The Vintage area starts at the VAA Red Barn and ends just south of the current ultralight runway. The southern reaches of Vintage have affectionately been dubbed “North Fondy.” Think of our nearest city about 20 miles to the south of Oshkosh — Fond du Lac.
Anyway, getting from here to there (that is, from your airplane to your temporary home for the week) with all your luggage, camping gear, and whatever else you have decided you cannot live without during your week at Oshkosh can be a real trial. Known to some and not known to others is that Vintage provides transportation for our members, guests, and their equipment to and from their destination on the grounds. Typical destinations would be Camp Scholler, the Warbirds camping area, or the bus stop at the main entrance.
The two Vintage transportation services are known as Luke’s Raiders and Tony’s Red Carpet Express. Both are free of charge to the users. (We do accept donations to defray some of the costs associated with these two operations.)
Luke’s Raiders (i.e., Luke Lachendro’s taxi service) consists of Luke, 10 Raiders, and three golf carts. Tony’s Red Carpet Express is chaired by Jim Brown and consists of Jim, one SUV, and eight other Vintage volunteers. Both services operate from the Friday before AirVenture to the end of the convention on Sunday afternoon. At this time, we have tentatively planned to back up one day and start Tony’s Red Carpet Express on Thursday to coincide with the start of the Oshkosh NOTAM (notice to air mission!).
Those of you who are unfamiliar with these two Vintage “taxi” services are probably wondering just how you would secure a ride for you and your cargo. Basically, this is arranged for you. When you park your airplane anywhere on the Vintage flightline, volunteers will automatically radio for transportation if they think you need a ride to your campsite, etc. Or you can simply just make the request. Luke’s Raiders also drives through the entire Vintage area and beyond, looking for anyone who may need a ride.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 64
November / December 2022
STAFF
Publisher: Jack J Pelton, EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board
Vice President of Publications, Marketing, Membership, and Retail: Jim Busha / jbusha@eaa org
Senior Copy Editor: Colleen Walsh
Copy Editors: Tom Breuer, Jennifer Knaack
Proofreader: Tara Bann
Print Production Team Lead: Marie Rayome-Gill
Graphic Designers: Julee Schampers, Brandon Wheeler
ADVERTISING
Advertising Manager: Sue Anderson / sanderson@eaa.org
Mailing Address: VAA, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903
Website: EAAVintage org
Email: vintageaircraft@eaa org
Phone: 800-564-6322
Visit EAAVintage org for the latest in information and news
Current EAA members may join the Vintage Aircraft Association and receive Vintage Airplane magazine for an additional $45/year
EAA membership, Vintage Airplane magazine, and one-year membership in the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association are available for $55 per year (Sport Aviation magazine not included). (Add $7 for International Postage.)
Foreign Memberships
Please submit your remittance with a check or draft drawn on a United States bank payable in United States dollars Add required foreign postage amount for each membership
Membership Service
P O Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086
Monday–Friday, 8 AM 6 PM CST Join/Renew 800-564-6322 membership@eaa.org
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh www EAA org/AirVenture 888-322-4636
Known to some and not known to others is that Vintage provides transportation for our members, guests, and their equipment to and from their destination on the grounds.
Nominate your favorite vintage aviator for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame. A great honor could be bestowed upon that man or woman working next to you on your airplane, sitting next to you in the chapter meeting, or walking next to you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Think about the people in your circle of aviation friends: the mechanic, historian, photographer, or pilot who has shared innumerable tips with you and with many others. They could be the next VAA Hall of Fame inductee — but only if they are nominated.
The person you nominate can be a citizen of any country and may be living or deceased; his or her involvement in vintage aviation must have occurred between 1950 and
the present day. His or her contribution can be in the areas of flying, design, mechanical or aerodynamic developments, administration, writing, some other vital and relevant field, or any combination of fields that support aviation. The person you nominate must be or have been a member of the Vintage Aircraft Association or the Antique/Classic Division of EAA, and preference is given to those whose actions have contributed to the VAA in some way, perhaps as a volunteer, a restorer who shares his expertise with others, a writer, a photographer, or a pilot sharing stories, preserving aviation history, and encouraging new pilots and enthusiasts.
To nominate someone is easy. It just takes a little time and a little reminiscing on your part.
•Think of a person; think of his or her contributions to vintage aviation.
•Write those contributions in the various categories of the nomination form.
•Write a simple letter highlighting these attributes and contributions. Make copies of newspaper or magazine articles that may substantiate your view.
•If at all possible, have another individual (or more) complete a form or write a letter about this person, confirming why the person is a good candidate for induction.
We would like to take this opportunity to mention that if you have nominated someone for the VAA Hall of Fame, nominations for the honor are kept on file for three years, after which the nomination must be resubmitted.
Mail nominating materials to: VAA Hall of Fame, c/o Amy Lemke
VAA
PO Box 3086
Oshkosh, WI 54903
Email: alemke@eaa org
Find the nomination form at EAAVintage.org, or call the VAA office for a copy (920-426-6110), or on your own sheet of paper, simply include the following information:
•Date submitted.
•Name of person nominated.
•Address and phone number of nominee.
•Email address of nominee.
•Date of birth of nominee. If deceased, date of death.
•Name and relationship of nominee’s closest living relative.
•Address and phone of nominee’s closest living relative.
•VAA and EAA number, if known. (Nominee must have been or is a VAA member.)
•Time span (dates) of the nominee’s contributions to vintage aviation.
(Must be between 1950 to present day.)
•Area(s) of contributions to aviation.
•Describe the event(s) or nature of activities the nominee has undertaken in aviation to be worthy of induction into the VAA Hall of Fame.
•Describe achievements the nominee has made in other related fields in aviation.
•Has the nominee already been honored for his or her involvement in aviation and/or the contribution you are stating in this petition? If yes, please explain the nature of the honor and/or award the nominee has received.
•Any additional supporting information.
•Submitter’s address and phone number, plus email address.
•Include any supporting material with your petition.
For one week every year a temporary city of about 50,000 people is created in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the grounds of Wittman Regional Airport. We call the temporary city EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. During this one week, EAA and our communities, including the Vintage Aircraft Association, host more than 600,000 pilots and aviation enthusiasts along with their families and friends.
As a dedicated member of the Vintage Aircraft Association, you most certainly understand the impact of the programs supported by Vintage and hosted at Vintage Village and along the Vintage flightline during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh every year. The Vintage flightline is 1.3 miles long and is annually filled with more than 1,100 magnificent vintage airplanes. At the very heart of the Vintage experience at AirVenture is Vintage Village and our flagship building, the Red Barn.
Vintage Village, and in particular the Red Barn, is a charming place at Wittman Regional Airport during AirVenture. It is a destination where friends old and new meet for those great times we are so familiar with in our close world of vintage aviation. It’s energizing and relaxing at the same time. It’s our own field of dreams!
The Vintage area is the fun place to be. There is no place like it at AirVenture. Where else could someone get such a close look at some of the most magnificent and rare vintage airplanes on Earth? That is just astounding when you think about it. It is on the Vintage flightline where you can admire the one and only remaining lowwing Stinson Tri-Motor, the only two restored and flying Howard 500s, and one of the few airworthy Stinson SR-5s in existence. And then there is the “fun and affordable” aircraft display, not only in front of the Red Barn but along the entire Vintage flightline. Fun and affordable says it all. That’s where you can get the greatest “bang for your buck” in our world of vintage airplanes!
For us to continue to support this wonderful place, we ask you to assist us with a financial contribution to the Friends of the Red Barn. For the Vintage Aircraft Association, this is the only major annual fundraiser and it is vital to keeping the Vintage field of dreams alive and vibrant. We cannot do it without your support.
Your personal contribution plays an indispensable and significant role in providing the best experience possible for every visitor to Vintage during AirVenture. Contribute online at EAAVintage.org. Or, you may make your check payable to the Friends of the Red Barn and mail to Friends of the Red Barn, PO Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086.
Be a Friend of the Red Barn this year! The Vintage Aircraft Association is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), so your contribution to this fund is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Looking forward to a great AirVenture 2023!
Michael Surls first came to Oshkosh in 1988 to see all the airplanes. He was an aspiring pilot, taking lessons at the time. Michael got his pilot certificate because he’d signed up with Cessna for a chance to win free flight lessons. He won and took his flight lessons at the Kalamazoo Cessna Flight School.
The Surls family has volunteered with Vintage as well. His sons, Daniel and Will, both volunteered at Points Classic and Magoo. His wife, Deb, volunteered as a crossing guard and now serves as a volunteer with an EAA Lifetime member group.
Michael started to volunteer with Vintage in 1990. He comes back every year to volunteer because “all the planes I love are in Vintage.” He loves the antiques, radial engines, and classic aircraft. “I love working Point Classic, as it allows me to observe almost every aircraft at AirVenture, and I get to work with the best volunteers in the world. It’s my home when I am working at Vintage. I am very grateful to have been selected to be trained to be a point man by Dale Masters and Denny (Hot Rod) Gruizenga.”
Moving aircraft and working with volunteers is a big part of his job, but Michael also loves what he does behind the scenes. “I love seeing the planes, visiting with the people who bring their airplanes, asking what they plan to do during the week, and seeing how I can make their time at Oshkosh better. I want to help people have a great time while they are at Oshkosh. Whenever I see a need, I try to figure out a way to help.”
In addition to the countless hours he volunteers with Vintage, Michael arrives three weeks before the air show to volunteer with South 40 maintenance. He helps maintain and service the 900-plus vehicles for all areas. He specializes in the VW Beetles we all see zooming around the grounds, and was responsible for getting a new engine for Antique Denver’s VW.
Michael continues to come back because, in his words, “I love the Vintage volunteers, airplanes and their pilots, parking the planes, and developing lifelong friends.” He looks forward to seeing these people each year and catching up with one another like family.
of the Year.
Jim started volunteering about 28 years ago when a few chapter members put a plan out there for Toney’s Trolley, as it was named at the time. “I was asked to volunteer for the welding on the handicap trailer since that is what I do,” Jim said.
“I also helped drive the tractor during AirVenture,” he said. “After Florence Toney’s passing, my partner, Steve Betzler, and I were asked by the Vintage leadership if we would operate a custom transportation service for Vintage with a vehicle. There was a huge need to move people and luggage/ camping gear, etc., from one place to another during AirVenture.
“So that’s how the driving began, and we’ve been doing it ever since,” Jim added. “We tweaked the name slightly from Toney’s Trolley to Tony’s Red Carpet Express.”
Before making any changes, Jim contacted Toney’s nephew Pete Bunce for background on her, and he had a lot to say. Toney gave Pete his first airplane ride and inspired him his whole life. Pete went on to become a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and is now the president of GAMA. To this day, he thinks of her every time he flies.
“Unfortunately, I never knew Florence Toney. But the love everyone had that knew her was good enough for me,” Jim said.
HARVEST A SPRUCE TREE, saw into the very best timber cuts, cure and kiln dry and then select the finest edge grain/ quarter sawed wood and you have aircraft-grade lumber. It’s just that simple. But let’s look into the details of what it takes to produce aircraft-grade Spruce. Many mechanics may think that specifics for aircraft wood come from FAA AC43.13-1B, and that is partly true. However, every piece of data concerning aircraft wood structures aircraft-grade comes from ANC Bulletin 19 dated 20 December 1943. Specifications for wood have not changed over the years, however, bonding methods have.
First it is important to understand what happens to wood when it is air and kiln dried. It shrinks as moisture is removed and certain types of cuts will warp dramatically. Just go to your local lumber supplier and look for plain sawed lumber, and you will see how it cups as it dries.
When trees are cut, much of their weight is water – free water will be removed by air drying and imbibed water will be removed by kiln drying. Spruce gives the highest strength-to-weight ratio of
all the woods and is considered as the standard for aircraft construction. All cut logs will have radial cracks known as checks. Checks are cracks across the annual rings. Harvested logs are kept wet to protect against internal cracking. Aircraft wood with these defects is rejected and not used.
In the sketch removed from ANC-19, the cut shown in the lower left portion of the log is quarter sawed, while the cut on the top is plain sawed. Notice how the shrinkage is even in the quarter-sawed wood, while it is uneven in the plain sawed wood. Quarter sawed wood gives very good edge grain of 90-degrees to 45-degrees to the wide face. In the sketch above, edge grain is 90-degrees. As you might imagine, quarter-sawed wood is the most expensive to produce, as the following sketch shows. Not shown in this sketch is the heartwood and sapwood. Heartwood is the center portion of the log, and for spruce is a pinkish color. Sapwood is the part of the log that is alive and growing and is a whitish yellow in color. That is the portion of the log that we want to use. Cuts made tangential to the growth rings are called plain sawed and is shown to the right of the log, and cuts made radially to the growth rings are called quarter sawed and is shown to the left of the log.
Growth rings, called annual rings, equal one year of growth of the tree. That is why folks can tell about how old a tree is – by counting the annual rings. For aircraft-grade spruce, 8-10 annual rings per inch is minimum; however, in really good wood you can count 20 or more rings per inch. Spruce has nice straight grain, but grain slope is limited to 1 inch in 15 inch length. This means, if you draw a box on the wood 1”x15”, the grain should enter and exit
within the box. Grain slope must be considered both on the wide face of the board and on the edges. On figure A there is no grain slope whatsoever, while the other sketches all have some type of grain slope. Grain slope is important because the greater the slope, the weaker the wood in bending moments.
After the wood is cut, it is air dried. This reduces the moisture content to about 25-35 percent, and the wood will not dry below that amount. Now it must be placed in an oven called a kiln and heated to remove more moisture. Moisture content of aircraft-grade wood is 8-12 percent, although most marine spruce will have a moisture content slightly higher, around 15 percent.
Finally, wood structure is made up of long cells, almost like a straw in a milkshake. The sketch shown here is of softwood, and note that there are dense fibers representing summerwood when the tree grows slowly and springwood when the tree grows rapidly. The annual ring is represented by both spring- and summerwood. Here, one can see in detail what the end cut of spruce looks like and why it is so important to completely seal the end grain of a wing spar. The tube-like grain structure drinks in varnish like a sponge, so brush on several coats until the grain is bright and shiny.
Bottom right is a pile of aircraft spar stock. I am selecting from my old favorite supplier, Spar Lumber Company in San Pedro, California. This photo was taken some 40 years ago when they would let me go into the yard and select my own roughcut spruce. Rough-cut spruce is “as sawn” from the mill and comes in odd dimensions – for instance, a board that will mill 3/4 inch x 6 inch x 20 feet will measure 7/8 inch to 1 inch thick by 6-1/2 inch wide and slightly over 20 feet long. When planed it will give exact dimensions required. The boards in this photograph were 1 inch x 6 inch x 16 feet -18 feet, and I bought them when I was restoring Aeronca Champs, Chiefs and Taylorcrafts. All spars to those ships were about the same dimensions.
This was beautiful rough-cut spruce direct from the mill. Today it is difficult to find old-growth Sitka spruce with large dimensions – spar stock that will measure 2 inch or above thick by 8 inch or above wide and 20 feet in length. Back then it was common.
The appearance of corrosion varies with the metal. On an aircraft, the most common type of corrosion is on its surface
when paint becomes oxidized, banged-up, or worn away. Here, it often appears as a grey or white powdery haze. With removal, if you’re lucky, the surface may appear etched and pitted alerting you to the potential for crack development and greater structural damage.
Some types of corrosion burrow between the inside of the surface paint and the bare metal, following grain boundaries or spreading at random. Aluminum is particularly susceptible to this type of corrosive attack and may exist without visible surface evidence for quite some time before component failure.
Prevention is always better than the cure. Ensuring suitable corrosion protection priortoandduringassemblyof individual aircraft parts like stress relief heat treatmentsorcorrosioninhibitorscanhelp prevent or significantly delay the onset of
corrosion. Unfortunately, it’s not always the case. Routine inspections for any signs of corrosion and regular preventative maintenance are critical. Protective coating applications that deposit an added barrier against paint deterioration and inhibit further oxidation, soiling and stains are essential in the fight against corrosion. Products that protect like NUVITE’S NuPol® , NuPower II®, NuGlaze® & CitriCut® Xtra guard against UV and other atmospheric degradation.
Drag relies on the chaotic property changes in airflow caused by physical disturbances along what should be a flat, waxed, solid surface. Increased irregularities in smoothness causes more fuel to be burned from increased drag.
For painted metal, laying the buffer flat against the surface is better. Not so on bare metal. It’s critical to hold the buffer at a 10 -15° angle, so only one side of the pad is working polish into the surface. This avoids unwanted swirl marks, cuts, and overheating. Always focus on no more than a 24” square, moving up/down, left to right, fully polishing the target area.
Full NUVITE Product Line Available at:
To Order: 877.477.7823 aircraftspruce.com
From the pages of what was ...
Take a quick look through history by enjoying images pulled from publications past.
THE WEATHER WAS SIMPLY gorgeous each day of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, and by opening day, the fields were filling up rapidly with a vibrant and tantalizing display of airplanes.
EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board Jack J. Pelton’s tagline for AirVenture this year — “Unlike Anything Else” — was truly indicative of the exuberant spirit of this year’s fly-in and record-setting attendance. Yet there was a note of melancholia that swept through the grounds when attendees learned that Tom Poberezny, retired EAA president and chairman, and son of EAA founder Paul Poberezny, had passed away during the morning hours of opening day.
On a brighter note, Susan Dusenbury, Vintage Aircraft Association president, commented: “I am always impressed by the pilots and restorers who choose to fly their beautiful vintage airplanes to Oshkosh to share with all of us. Every day during AirVenture 2022, I visited the entire Vintage flightline and was thrilled by what I saw. What an amazing collection of aviation treasures! The commitment of these pilots and restorers, members and guests, and all of the 642 (a new record!) Vintage volunteers who came together to make AirVenture 2022 their ‘field of dreams’ is really quite extraordinary.”
Interestingly, there were two airplanes inconspicuously nestled into the field of flying machines that were especially notable for their provenance: Each was previously owned by a director emeritus of the Vintage Aircraft Association. One was an exquisite 1948 Luscombe 8F, whose previous caretaker was the late Charlie Harris, a founding member of EAA’s Antique/Classic Division (which became the VAA) and 2006 VAA Hall of Fame inductee. The other was an exceptionally rare 1939 Howard DGA-11, formerly owned by the late John Turgyan, the 2019 VAA Hall of Fame inductee.
VAA Director Ray Johnson once again enthusiastically highlighted pilots and their airplanes during his Vintage in Review sessions, and the voices of the Ladies for Liberty trio rang out in melodious fashion.
All told, there were 1,375 aircraft in Vintage aircraft parking, and 87 seaplanes at the EAA Seaplane Base. Visual treats along the flightline at Wittman Regional Airport ranged from big and bold to colorful and shiny, including rare aircraft such as a Noorduyn Norseman, Lockheed Air Trooper, Auster Arrow, Poplar Grove’s scratchbuilt Jenny replica, Brunner-Winkle Bird, Waco S3HD, Funk, CallAir A-2, Cessna Airmasters, Culver Cadets, SIAI-Marchetti FS.260, Monocoupes, Bücker Jungmann, and Howard DGA-11.
C’mon, let’s go cruise the flightline to learn more about the pilots and airplanes that made the flight to Oshkosh this summer!
This year marked the 75th anniversary of the Bonanza, and the American Bonanza Society and the Vintage Aircraft Association worked together to celebrate this milestone. Rick and Leslie Fortier were among those who participated in the special Bonanzas to Oshkosh flight.
“We flew about four hours from our home base at Chico, California, to Rock Springs, Wyoming, and got fuel. Then we flew about 2-1/2 hours to Valentine, Nebraska, and stayed the night. We flew to La Crosse, Wisconsin, the next day and met up with the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group, and then we came in on Saturday with everyone. There were five of us in that group who came to park here at Vintage, but most went to the Bonanzas to Oshkosh parking area in the North 40,” Rick said. “There were 100 parking spots here in Vintage for Bonanzas manufactured up to 1970.”
Rick’s father bought N5256C in 1971, when it had a G-model paint scheme on it. In the 1980s, a family friend stripped the paint and put it back to its original polished scheme in exchange for use of the airplane. When Rick’s father bought another Bonanza, he kept N5256C, and in the early 1990s, he offered half-ownership to Rick in exchange for his Ford Ranger pickup truck.
“My brother and I grew up in car seats in the back seat of this plane, and there were many times we were up front with my dad in this airplane and he would throw the yoke over, but I learned to fly in a Cessna 172. Now Leslie and I have two daughters who grew up in the back of
this Bonanza; one has started taking flying lessons, and our youngest wants to get her license as well.”
The Fortiers’ Bonanza is not only steeped in sentimental history, but it also continues providing their family with the cherished freedom of flight. “It’s great to just open the hangar, check it over, and get in it and go!” Rick said.
Leslie has been flying with him since he earned his private in 1990, and enjoys seeing a different perspective of the world, as well as meeting up with flying friends at various small airports. “We go to fun places and have a meal, and share stories and talk airplanes. Rick loves that, and it’s fun to see him do something he enjoys,” Leslie shared, “because he works really hard to keep this airplane in the condition it is. He usually gets young high school kids to help him polish once a year, and he pays them and takes them flying to lunch — and the kids love that!”
The Vintage judges noticed that mirror-image polish; N5256C received the Outstanding Beech Small Plaque award this year.
who preserved the parts and created this airplane, and his good friend Steve Miller, who bought it from Jim’s estate. Daniel purchased the Lockheed for his birthday in March 2021 from Steve, who kept it until Daniel could visit him and then fly it to AirVenture 2022. Both airplane and owner have intriguing backgrounds.
“John Thorpe was a great designer for Lockheed, and he designed this airplane. Jim’s wife said that Jim would have loved to have seen his Air Trooper attend Oshkosh,” Daniel said, “and Steve and I brought it here in memory of Jim, because he was the creator.”
Daniel is pleased with the Air Trooper’s flight characteristics, and he pointed out the flying stabilizer with its built-in control stop to prevent the aircraft from stalling. Powered by a Continental O-200, which burns 5 gph, the Air Trooper has a 5-gallon fuel tank in each wing and 15 gallons in the fuselage tank. It cruises comfortably at 2350 rpm, indicating 90 mph. During ground maneuvering, Daniel is mindful of when he needs to apply brakes, since it doesn’t have differential braking.
Daniel is an aircraft designer himself, working first for McDonnell Douglas (which was bought out by Boeing) and now for Northrop Grumman. When he was 13, he and his family escaped from Vietnam to the United States just hours before the fall of Saigon in 1975. Bubbling over with enthusiasm, Daniel shared his outlook on life: “Just be happy; don’t let anything bother you, and do your best!”
Daniel Nghiem of Westminster, California, received the Replica Aircraft Runner-Up award for his Lockheed Air Trooper (NX100GR). Parked at the Bill and Myrt Rose Vintage Plaza throughout the week, this little Lockheed was quite an unusual sight. Daniel is quick to credit George Robertson and Jim Fernandez as the ones
Howard Bohl and Presley Melton of the Howard Aircraft Foundation were elated to have this rare, historical airplane at Oshkosh. Only four Howard DGA-11s were built, and the late John Turgyan bought NC18211, the last
remaining original DGA-11, on July 4, 1976 After John’s death, Howard and Presley coordinated efforts to obtain and preserve this DGA-11, which is now owned by the Howard Aircraft Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation. The members debated as to whether it should be shown at Oshkosh in its unpainted condition. Ultimately, the decision was made to do so, and plans are underway to paint it in an original cream and red scheme.
The DGA-11 has a more streamlined belly than the DGA15Ps and narrower landing gear. NC18211 is powered by a 450-hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 with a supercharger with a 10-to-1 blower, and has a fuel capacity of 127 gallons The airplane was flyable when John purchased it, Howard said, “but after he flew it in to the airport at Robbinsville, New Jersey (N87), it basically sat pretty well disassembled until 2006 Then he had it moved down to Jim Younkin’s shop at Springdale, Arkansas, where Darrell Williams started restoring it. The NACA cowling was built in Younkin’s DGA-9/11 mold, and under Younkin’s guidance, Darrell produced this cowling. It’s all aluminum and a work of art; same thing with the wheelpants.”
Howard worked with John to acquire the original 1930s Pioneer instruments, which were silk-screened with modern range markings by Precision Dial in Kalamazoo, Michigan “I worked with Darrell on the panel and setting up the fuel system, and after Darrell finished the airplane at his shop, it was test-flown by Jim Wiebe,” Howard said “John wanted the airplane back in Robbinsville, so Jim flew it there John flew this aircraft twice, and started disassembling it because some of the fairings weren’t up to his specifications. Then he took the propeller off, and various parts were shipped out to different people, so the airplane basically ended up sitting for 12 more years.”
During the COVID pandemic, Presley learned the sad news that John had unexpectedly passed away. “We contacted John’s sister, Evelyn Fowler, and Presley and I went to New Jersey and met with Evelyn at John’s hangar to talk about donating this disassembled DGA-11 to the Howard Aircraft Foundation In May, she agreed to donate it, stipulating that it not be sold, and that John’s hangar filled with his collection of aviation-related items had to be cleared out,” Howard said. “Over the next six months, I made four trips from Chicago to New Jersey, taking tools and a new battery that I would need to get the airplane flyable. I put in some long days in cold weather and finally got the airplane together in November 2021.”
Howard took off and flew NC18211 to Reidsville, Pennsylvania, where he stayed the night due to weather, and then flew on to Chicago the next morning “I didn’t have ADS-B Out in the airplane at that time, so I had to get permission from Chicago TRACON to fly it into their airspace,” Howard said “And for the next several months I worked on this airplane, installing ADS-B and doing little things that needed to be addressed ”
This grand 83-year-old DGA-11 is currently based at Bolingbrook’s Clow International Airport in Illinois (1C5) and is hangared next door to the Illinois Aviation Museum. “It’s really neat having this airplane based there, because it was built 10 miles from Clow, south of what is now Midway International Airport (KMDW, formerly Chicago Municipal) We flew the DGA-11 in the ‘Cavalcade of Planes’ at Clow this summer,” Howard said, “and the weekend prior to AirVenture, my wife, Gail, and I flew it up to Siren, Wisconsin, for the annual Howard gathering.”
On the Monday during AirVenture, they flew in a formation with nine Howard DGA-15Ps from Siren down to Oshkosh. “This airplane was number 10 in that formation. I requested to be in the back, because that’s the position John Turgyan always flew with us in his Baron, and he would circle the formation as we went along,” Howard said “We literally circled the entire formation three times, and at that point I realized how fast this airplane is!”
That traditional Howard flight and arrival at Oshkosh was a poignant and triumphant history in the making. John’s presence, most appropriately, will always be part of this DGA-11.
David Nelson of Niceville, Florida, is a former Navy pilot and worked for the airlines (Republic Northwest and Delta) for 35 years He first soloed in a Cessna 140 on his 16th birthday and bought his Cessna 170B in March 2018 Powered by a 145-hp Continental, N4170B holds 37-1/2 gallons of fuel and burns about 8 gph while cruising about 110 mph
“The gentleman I bought it from got it from an insurance reclaim out of Canada. He trucked it down to Ohio and rebuilt the wings and tail, and put the different modifications on it, such as
the stall fences, and redid the interior,” David said. “He did a real nice job. I got rid of the suction gauges and the venturis on the side of the fuselage — I took out 10 pounds of suction equipment!”
David flew to Oshkosh in his Cessna 140 a few times in the 1980s, until it started getting harder to get time off from work. He retired in December 2015 and has more free time now to go to fly-in events. He likes his 170B because “it’s still economical and can go places. I keep coming back to Oshkosh for ‘the clowns, not the circus’— you know, to strike up old friendships with people who are here.”
He flies anywhere between 50 and 100 hours a year and has started flying longer crosscountries recently, including going to the Cessna 170 convention in Burlington, Vermont. “I just like the freedom of being up in the sky and seeing what a vast world we have — and it’s fun to fly!”
Father and son Jack and Seamus Haggerty share a love of aviation that encompasses both vintage airplanes and jets. Jack was an airline pilot for Flying Tigers and FedEx, and when Seamus isn’t flying his father’s Fairchild, he’s flying for JetBlue. “My father bought it down at Atlanta two years ago and brought it up to the Syracuse, New York, area where we live,” Seamus said. “My dad had always liked the Fairchild, and when one came around that was the right price, it all worked out for him to buy it. We’ve been flying it to Oshkosh since we’ve gotten it.”
Pleased with N81234’s exterior paint, father and son decided to focus on sprucing up the interior. “This past winter we had a gentleman redo the seats, and then my father redid the floor and side panels. It has a 200-hp inline Ranger, and although I like radial engines, I like the Ranger better than the Warner, just because it has a nice art-deco look,” Seamus said. “The Fairchild has two 30-gallon fuel tanks and cruises about 105 mph. It’s not super fast, but it’s very comfortable!”
Home base for the Fairchild is their private grass strip, Anthonson Airport (NY28), which is only 1,250 feet long. “It has more of a climb prop on it, so we can fly it from our short strip,” Seamus said, “but it’s a little tight, so we don’t really load it up when we go out of there.”
They’ve found the airplane to be very docile and stable, with nice stalling characteristics, and both favor making three-point landings on the grass and wheel landings on pavement. “Flying this airplane has become a good tradition; it has brought us closer together because we take small trips here and there,” Seamus said. “It’s fun coming to Oshkosh, because we run into people we haven’t seen in forever, and we keep realizing just how much of a small world it is!”
“It’s a phenomenal surprise to see this much participation, especially to see young men and women that are interested in aviation, which is what we need, and particularly so in Vintage. Every one of these airplanes has a story!”
— Ozzie Carrerou, 1940 Boeing Stearman
fuselage paint trim, and polished the airplane to perfection,” Charlie wrote.
“The restoration was completed in 1997, and it mostly sat in Charlie’s hangar in Tulsa up until the time I purchased it,” Terry said. “This was one of Charlie’s favorite aircraft, and Saxon Moore, who worked with Charlie at the airport, kept telling Charlie that he needed to sell 02B, and Charlie would say, ‘Not quite yet.’ I just by chance called down to Dan Howard Aircraft on the same field and said I was looking for a Luscombe. They put me in touch with Saxon, and he said, ‘I think Charlie recognizes that he needs to sell it, but he can’t quite bring himself to do so. If you come down with your checkbook and a one-way ticket, and you pass all the questions, I think you could fly it home.’”
When Terry went to look at the Luscombe, Charlie interviewed him and asked what his intentions were for the airplane. A bit surprised, Terry replied, “Well … to fly it! Charlie told me, ‘That’s the right answer; this airplane needs to be flown.’ It only had 900 hours’ total time, and the good news was that it had 60 hours on the engine overhaul. The bad news was that the overhaul had been done 25 years prior.”
Terry Durham of Parker, Colorado, bought his beautifully restored Luscombe from Charlie Harris of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2014. Terry enjoys flying it frequently from Centennial Airport. Terry has kept Miss Ruby in immaculate condition, and the judges accordingly selected NC1902B as the Best Continuously Maintained award winner. (In 2015, Miss Ruby won a Bronze Lindy in Class II [81-150 hp] in the Classic Division.)
Charlie himself summarized NC1902B’s ownership in a letter dated June 8, 2015: “… the owner of this airplane prior to [my] acquisition in 1986 was Fritz King, working foreman of the Luscombe plant in West Trenton, NJ, and the man who test flew the majority of all the Luscombes manufactured during that pre-war era. … [I] owned this airplane 28 years, 1986 to 2014, and Fritz King had owned it 14 years before that.”
After Charlie purchased the Luscombe, he hired A&P/ IA mechanic Francis “Frannie” Rourke and his son, A&P/ IA Pat Rourke, to completely rebuild the airframe and overhaul the Continental O-200. Then the project transitioned to the hands of T.R. Boyd, who “… completely restored the exterior, interior, engine compartment, instrument panel, seats, side panels, carpets, luggage area, headliner and paint trim in the 1949 Luscombe 8F Deluxe maroon upper
Nevertheless, Terry was pleased with the engine’s performance; he put 700 hours on it and then had it overhauled in May 2021. “I’ve put 900 hours on the airplane since I bought it, and I can now officially say that I’ve got more time in it than anybody in the years prior,” Terry said, and added with a chuckle, “The Luscombe group knows this airplane as Fritz King’s airplane, and when I’m at Oshkosh, people say, ‘Oh, this is Charlie Harris’ airplane. When I go back home, people refer to it as ‘Terry’s airplane.’ She’s just a joy to fly!”
Ozzie Carrerou of Bartow, Florida, was relaxing by the Stearman he purchased five years ago, after his first time flying in to Oshkosh. He departed from home Saturday morning and flew four two-hour legs before stopping in Owensboro, Kentucky.
“I was beat! It was an awful lot of work because of the wind, even though the plane flies very true,” Ozzie said. “The next day, we had to divert a couple of times for weather and had the pleasure of landing on a couple of grass strips, so that was a plus. On Monday, we took off from
Madison, and it was very easy coming in to Oshkosh.”
Years ago, Ozzie learned to fly in a Cessna 152 and then moved on to a Cherokee, Saratoga, and Navajo; he currently flies a Cessna 414. He said he was drawn to N4908N because “a Stearman just has a mystique and almost everyone wants to own one, and I wanted to be one of those people. It’s an easy airplane to fly, but can be very difficult to land. John Amundsen, my instructor whom I purchased the airplane from, has been teaching me, and I’ve got about 20 hours with him in the airplane. I’ve learned you just have to be careful, because when you think you really have it under control, it will wake you up!”
The Stearman, named Lizzy Bell after one of the restorers of the airplane, has given Ozzie a lot of joy, and he plans to keep it in the family as long as possible. Lizzy Bell hasn’t required anything other than normal maintenance, and he especially likes flying it locally, just for fun. After experiencing AirVenture, he reflected that “nothing compares to Oshkosh. It’s incredible being here, and I hope to be back next year. This is wonderful because the people are like-minded; one of the real surprises and nice things is I just notice so many more young people and women and children now. It’s a phenomenal surprise to see this much participation, especially to see young men and women that are interested in aviation, which is what we need, and particularly so in Vintage. Every one of these airplanes has a story!”
1936 WACO YQC-6
Steve Zoerlein of St. Charles, Illinois, was happy to be at AirVenture this year with an award-winning Waco. NS16212, with its handsome art-deco paint scheme, was deemed the Silver Age (1928-1936) Champion Bronze Lindy winner. When Steve helped Ron France pick up the YQC-6 project a decade ago, it needed lots of work.
“I wish I could take full credit for this restoration; Ron did a beautiful job. When he got it, it had a fuselage with the wood stringers and formers maybe 80 percent complete, and the bottom wings were done, and the top wings were about 50 percent complete. Ron fixed everything in the wings, and cut the fabric off the lower wings because we wanted to see what was in there, and made some changes,” Steve said. “Then he built up the tail section. It took almost two years before he could finally dry rig the airplane. Then it took eight years of covering, painting, and rigging the rest of the airplane. Ron had the engine overhauled by Radial Engines Ltd. in Oklahoma. Two years ago, Fred DeWitt and I purchased the airplane from Ron.”
The Waco had flown for the first 41 years of its life, then sat for 42 years until Steve and Fred made the first postrestoration flight in April 2021. After that, Steve finished the fairings and upholstery and flew it to AirVenture. The state of Nebraska was the original owner — hence the “S” designation in the N-number.
Ron used the Poly Fiber system with an Aero-Thane top coat for the original paint scheme, with customized retro American Airlines colors. “Andy Heins shared old Waco marketing pictures of the paint scheme,” Steve said. “There were two airplanes that went to South America with this scheme on it. My wife and I have already taken a couple trips in it, and if you get it up to 7,500 feet, you can get 145 to 150 mph out of it; it’s a great airplane!”
“The doctors thought I wasn’t going to make it. They were telling my family they needed to come to be with me, immediately. My dad’s a horse trainer and he was at a horse show, and he was upset that he couldn’t jump in an airplane and fly down to get to me faster. So when I was sitting in the hospital, he ran over to the local flight school and got all the stuff I needed to study and got me signed up for lessons. I took my first lesson two months after I was diagnosed, and I still had to do three-and-a-half years of chemotherapy.
“I heard about the sport pilot license, so I found this Chief and learned to fly in it. I got my sport license and flew around for about 300 hours after finally finishing treatment. Then after I was cancer-free, I got my medical and went on to get my private, skipped the instrument, got my commercial, and I started towing banners in a 180-hp Super Cub — which I’m planning on buying at the end of September. I currently fly for Air Wisconsin Airlines as a regional first officer on a Bombardier CRJ200.”
Ryan’s future is as bright as his smile and as uplifting as his outlook. You might say that Snoopy is a reflection of that; it was awarded Outstanding Aeronca Chief this year.
Ryan Meléndez of Valley Center, California, has owned his Aeronca Chief since April 2018. At that time, he was flying as a sport pilot, and the old Chief was dressed in blue and silver. Powered by a Continental A65, he uses both the 15-gallon main tank and the 8-gallon auxiliary tank when he’s flying cross-countries. In 2020, Ryan decided to spruce up NC9510E and gave it a new paint scheme using the Randolph Coatings dope system. He did the work himself, with the help of his father and an A&P on the field. Ryan added a few personal touches as well, such as painting “Chief” on the wheelpants and styling new white vinyl upholstery.
Ryan’s well-loved Chief acquired the moniker Snoopy because “the previous owner’s daughter thought it looked like Snoopy’s airplane, so I decided it was a fitting name and kept it,” Ryan commented, “and now I’ve created a social media following for the airplane!”
There’s far more to Ryan’s story than loving an old Chief he’s dolled up. In his own words, this is his back story of how he became involved in aviation: “In 2015, I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and I had always wanted to learn how to fly. My dad used to have a Cessna 182 with David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, but he stopped flying in 2000. After I was diagnosed, I said, ‘I want to learn how to fly.’
Rick Sass of Battle Creek, Michigan, is having fun flying the Morrisey he’s owned for three years. Parked way down south, his enthusiasm for attending AirVenture was nevertheless palpable.
“I used to park up in the North 40, so I wasn’t surprised to be on Row 175,” he said, smiling. “I couldn’t get any farther south if I tried, because I’m already right by the airport perimeter fence! But it’s been fun, and I kind of like it down here.”
Rick just retired after following a rather unconventional career path — he ran a dive school and store for 42 years. Rick first soloed in a Cessna 172 and then got his high-performance checkout in a T-34.
“I flew a Cessna 182T for the Civil Air Patrol for a while,” he said. “Anything that’s got wings on it is fun! I used to own a Navion and flew it to Oshkosh for eight years in a row. I sold the Navion, and this is the first year I’ve been to AirVenture for about a decade.”
After selling the Navion, Rick flew rental airplanes, but that grew old after a few years, so he started an earnest quest to find the rather rare Morrisey. The Morrisey (similar to the Shinn/ Varga/Kachina types) flew onto his radar around the time he earned his private in 1986, and he’s loved them ever since. So he was excited to discover N5115V in Kingsman, Arizona.
“It was a hangar queen when I found it, and we took eight months out there with the FBO to rebuild it and get new hoses in it. It was in pretty bad shape,” Rick said, “but I hadn’t previously run into one that I could buy at the time they were available. I love flying it; it’s very simple and intuitive and does what you think it’s going to do. It’s very responsive. I cruise at 2300 rpm at 105 mph — maybe 110 if I go to 2400 rpm.”
The Morrisey 2150A is powered by a 150-hp Lycoming and holds 35 gallons of fuel. “That’s as long as I want to fly, because the seats don’t adjust. I’m 5 feet 10 inches, and I’m about as tall as you want to be in this airplane. If you were any taller than that, you’d have your knees in your chest the whole time!”
Back in October 2018, Dan Mersel of Hayward, Wisconsin, and friend Cliff Korn, who own a 1946 Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser and a 1940 J-3 Cub, respectively, decided they needed another old airplane. Bingo! Just as soon as they started looking, they found a Funk advertised on Barnstormers. So they became partners in it and enjoy flying the Funk, since it’s a bit lighter on the controls. “When I land it right, I don’t even
know I’m on the ground, so I like that!” Dan said. “It gets off the ground very quickly, and the cruise is not as fast as I’d like, perhaps, so I have to take 85 mph, plus or minus.”
Designed by fraternal twins Joseph and Howard Funk, N24170 was manufactured in 1940 by the Akron Aircraft Co. in Ohio. “This plane was donated to the Port Townsend Aero Museum in Washington, which has a youth mentorship program devoted to investing in the future of flight. The museum uses aircraft restoration as a teaching tool to introduce mainly young people to aviation. However, it apparently never got around to restoring the Funk. An A&P at Paso Robles, California, bought it and restored it over a five-year period, putting a Continental C85 in it, and we ultimately bought it from him.”
Dan first learned to fly at age 31 in a Cessna 150 at Kingston-Ulster Airport (20N) on the Hudson River, about 100 miles north of New York City. “That runway was paved and roughly 2,500 feet long, and had three ‘endearing’ characteristics. One, it was only 15 feet wide. Two, the winds never blew down the runway, so I learned to handle crosswinds. Three, if you were taking off to the south, you had to clear a bridge spanning the Hudson River, so you had to make sure you were airborne enough not to hit anything!”
He still has fond memories of his instructor, Nancy Moore, who was in The Ninety-Nines. “I took my flight test at Albany, New York, and I had made arrangements for a florist friend of mine to meet me at another airport in between Albany and 20N, and I bought a dozen roses and gave them to her,” he said.
single-place airplane that did get finished and fly,” Jeff said. “We’d go compete against the Civil Air Patrol students and do navigation and preflight contests. Burrows had a 1978 EAA Sport Aviation sitting there in class one day, so I looked through that and joined EAA back then, not even knowing what EAA was. Later, I read an article about a clipped wing Luscombe in Sport Flying magazine, and then an article by Chuck Lisher in Air Progress about a Swift.”
Those articles stayed in his mind and inspired him to rise to the challenge of owning and flying those particular types of airplanes. Jeff also owns another Swift (N3845K) that he bought from Charlie Nelson, who founded the Swift Museum Foundation and since passed.
Jeff Smith has been taking his family to Oshkosh since 1991. He first discovered N3849K languishing in an old shed near Raleigh East Airport, North Carolina, in 1994. Its bare metal had oxidized, and its red grill and fuselage trim were faded, but he was determined to purchase it. In 1996, the owner agreed to sell it. After getting it ready to fly, he took it back to his farm field near Asheboro, North Carolina.
“In the early 2000s, I started tinkering with it to get it back to this point, finding and installing interior pieces, including the Bakelite on the panel, the engine turned center panel, and the yokes,” Jeff said. “In January 2019, my wife, Donna, and I got a letter from EAA, inviting us to fly the Swift up for the 50th anniversary of [AirVenture] Oshkosh, because this was one of the airplanes that had registered as a showplane in 1970. They had a picture of it, and that’s how we found out it was painted in that traditional color with the big numbers on the side. So we did, and the judges gave us an Outstanding Swift award and were very kind, giving us tips on things to change to make it even better. So we’ve kept working on it.”
Jeff had a rather unusual introduction to aviation, thanks to a Capt. Clinton Burrows, who flew B-29s in World War II and started an aviation program at his high school. “I was fortunate that I went to Eastern Randolph and was able to participate in that program. We built parts of a Bede BD-5 that did not get finished, and a Mini Coupe
There was apparently only one Vagabond on the flightline this year, and it was a very nice one. Owned by Bob Goudreau of Indianapolis, Indiana, N4614H received a Bronze Lindy (Class I, 0-85 hp). Bob thoroughly enjoyed his first time flying in to Oshkosh.
“I’m a low-time sport pilot. I got my license when I was 59; I’m now 62. I learned in a Champ and have only flown tailwheels. I owned a Chief, which is a nice airplane, but I like the feel of control sticks better than yokes. So I started looking around and did some research on short wing Pipers. Because I have to stay within the sport category, the Vagabond looked like a good
option,” he said. “I saw this one in Barnstormers; Bob Hunt in China, Michigan, had recently finished restoring it. It was a 10-year full restoration, so to me it’s like a brand-new airplane. Two nice features are an 8-gallon auxiliary wing tank and the Grove disc brake conversion.”
Last year Bob and his son, Matthew, drove up to Michigan to meet Bob Hunt and see the Vagabond in person. “He was wonderful. He pulled the plane out of the hangar and started it up for us,” Bob said. “We stayed there talking for hours. Before we departed, I took Matt aside and asked, ‘What do you think?’ He said, ‘You’ve got to buy this plane!’ I took his advice and thoroughly enjoy being the new caretaker of this beautifully restored aircraft.”
Bob especially likes the handling of his short wing Piper. “It has a 6-foot-shorter wingspan than my Chief, so it’s not so kitelike. I prefer flying solo, so this is my little toy that I play with around the Indianapolis area. I’ve met many wonderful people here at Oshkosh; some said I should attend the MAAC Grassroots Fly-In at Brodhead, Wisconsin, in September, and I’m planning to do that,” Bob said. “I’ve met quite a few fellow Vagabond enthusiasts here — they all love their airplanes and seem to hold on to them — it’s almost like an obsession!”
Bill Weyers has a real affinity for old tailwheel airplanes; his first one was a Cessna 120. Then, about 15 years ago, he bought N8340A, a Cessna 170B. He’s pleased that it’s required very little maintenance as the years go by.
“I’ve put on an oil filter, and that’s about it! It’s in amazing shape, and it doesn’t have a DG or artificial horizon in it — it’s stock 1952,” Bill said. “People are modifying 170s a lot these days, and this is about as straight a version as you can get.”
Bill is currently based at Boone, Iowa (KBNW), which he said has “a nice grass crosswind runway. They build a lot of RVs there, and it’s a great airport. I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and we developed Lakewood Airpark with a 2,500-foot grass strip about 70 miles north of Lakewood, Wisconsin (4WN3). This is a perfect airplane for that type of place!”
He attended AirVenture for many years with his children. “But they’re all 18 to 26 years old now, and they all have girlfriends and jobs, so they didn’t want to come with Dad this year. I still enjoy being here and just seeing friends and meeting people. My wife says my love of flying is a genetic flaw,” Bill said, laughing. “I can’t help it, and it gives me great joy! You can’t put a price on flying — I can have the worst week ever, and go up and do five touch-and-goes and feel good again. If I’m in a bad mood, my wife tells me to go fly. It’s an attitude adjustment, and having the perspective of leaving the ground is a special thing.”
Poplar Grove’s amazing scratchbuilt 1918 Curtiss Jenny JN-4 was on display in front of the Red Barn all week. N1DP was the Replica Aircraft Champion Bronze Lindy winner. (Read more in the August 2022 issue of EAA Sport Aviation.)
Mark and Dee Dee Holmquist of Suwanee, Georgia, with their 1939 Beechcraft D17S (N19493), which won the Antique Grand Champion Gold Lindy. (Left side) Sarah and Tom Westfall of Westfall Aviation at Clinton, Arkansas, painstakingly restored this splendid Staggerwing.
NC4880M, a 1947 Piper PA-11 Cub Special, was restored by Dave and Jeanne Allen, Elbert, Colorado, and won the Grand Champion Gold Lindy.
Univair is the Type Certificate holder for the Stinson 108 series. We have thousands of quality parts specifically for these airplanes. Many of our parts are made on the original tooling that was used when these great aircraft were first produced. We also have distributor parts such as tires, batteries, tailwheels, and much more. Call today for a free catalog (foreign orders pay postage).
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This Bronze Age Runner-Up is a 1941 Waco UPF-7 (NC32016) (foreground) owned by Scott Rozzell of Hous- ton, Texas.
Jon Broz of Lorain, Ohio, received the Outstanding Piper PA-23 Multi Engine award for this 1958 Piper PA-23-160 (N4014P).
Andrew King of Vienna, Virginia, received the Silver Age Outstanding Open-Cockpit Biplane award for his 1930 Brunner-Winkle Bird (N727Y). Known as the “Lindbergh Bird,” this is the airplane in which Charles A. Lindbergh taught his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, to fly.
N33GM is a 1947 Bellanca 14-13-2. It belongs to Scott Ewart of Fallon, Nevada, and won the Outstanding Bellanca Small Plaque.
NC18056 is a 1937 Monocoupe 90A powered by a Warner 145, and it won the Bronze Age (1937-1941) Champion Bronze Lindy. It’s owned by Drew and Meghan Bowe of Poplar Grove, Illinois.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINE HUMPHREYS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TANDESS O’NEAL
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAM SASIN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINE HUMPHREYS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TANDESS O’NEAL
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE SWARTZ
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK MOORE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEONARDO CORREA LUNA
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MILLER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE SWARTZ
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW ZABACK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALDEN FRAUTSCHY
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TANDESS O’NEAL
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDY THOMPSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MILLER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK FLEETWOOD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TANDESS O’NEAL
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE SWARTZ
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHIL HIGH
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF
BY MARK DANKEL AND LEONARDO CORREA LUNA
“Flight of two Cessnas, you are cleared to land on Runway 36. Welcome to Oshkosh!” So there I was on final with my beloved C-170, following Bill Thacker in his “barn find” 172. We were the advance group of our extended OSH family arriving early on Wednesday to start setting up camp. A while later, when unpacking, Mark Dankel arrived in Bill’s just-restored Piper PA-18. It looked gorgeous, this shiny yellow Cub, even better than when it left the Lock Haven factory in 1953.
To be honest, at the moment, I only took a quick glance, no doubt a superb restoration. And while I love Cubs, I shamefully recognize that I only dedicated a few minutes to walk around. Later that day, my “boss” Jim Busha, editor at large of this magazine, arrived to say hi. After the usual pleasantries, I focused on trying to steal his convertible VW Beetle; luckily, I succeeded, as he was distracted by Bill’s Cub and interested in doing a story about it. While enjoying my drive in the Beetle around the OSH grounds, I was thinking, “Why did Jim want a story about this Cub?” It was time for a better look. Obviously, this was not just another pretty restoration.
Knowing how humble Bill is, I decided to use a different source for this story to get all the details. If Mark was the designated pilot to fly it to OSH, he probably had something to do with the restoration. I wasn’t wrong. Here is the story of The Sweetest Cub you will ever see or fly, as told to me by Mark Dankel. This is a story about love, not just an airplane.
“Piper niner-three Zulu cleared to land on the yellow dot. Welcome to Oshkosh.”
At just under three hours, it had been an easy flight from Thacker Airport (11LL) in Chenoa, Illinois, with only a brief period of MVFR and some light precipitation. The cabin heat was enough to offset the cold, damp air in the
rain showers, permitting the door window to be left open. Now, with Lake Winnebago coming into sight, the clouds parted, and OSH was bathed in sunlight. It had been nearly 20 years since my last arrival, this time in The Sweetest Cub.
This is a story about a restoration, but not in the usual sense. The Sweetest Cub does narrate the resurrection of a well-used Cub with several previous lives, owners, and N-numbers, to again become pretty, proud, and safe. Still, it is not a forensic walk through every granular detail. Instead, it is about a community of families and friends who have shared their lives for 40 years at OSH and 11LL. Celebrating friendship, flying, and occasionally solace in tragedy.
The Sweetest Cub speaks the voices of pilots young and old who have flown it, of students it has taught to fly or who have gained tailwheel endorsements, and hundreds who’ve experienced the joy and wonder of flight in a small, classic airplane for the first time. It is also about how this Cub and its family and friends returned to the sky, one who thought he would never again hear the rush of grass under wheels.
Despite being raised by a career naval aviator, I learned to fly late in life — in my 30s — on KOAK’s North Field, just 12 miles south of the now-closed NAS Alameda, whereas as a tot, I used to climb in
and out of my father’s squadron airplanes. You can’t do that anymore. The U.S. Navy has decided 4-yearolds threaten operational readiness and national security. I was taught to fly by Lou Fields, a retired Navy fighter pilot and veteran of World War II in the Pacific, Korea, and Vietnam. He used taildraggers, the Navy’s flight curriculum, and the Navy’s standards. After gaining my private, I bought a Citabria (N2994G), which made a few trips to OSH, and then a Luscombe 8A (N77819), which I flew cross-country via OSH ’97, where I met Bill and Janis Thacker (EAA 202172, Vintage 7513) and “the tribe.”
My wheels touched down midday on Saturday, July 27. I tied down in Vintage aircraft camping, pitched my tent near Paul’s Woods, and wandered off. When I returned, my tent was surrounded by a group who had obviously known one another for a very long time and had the OSH camping thing down to a science. They had set up a cooking area and tents for their families, including really young kids, which made me smile. Several introduced themselves, and the following day, Robert “Jungle Bob” Crissman (EAA 840073), who flew 400 hours in an H-21 on two tours in Vietnam, handed me a
cooking utensil and pointed at a grill. Breakfast KP duties were assigned and accepted; apparently, I’d been adopted.
I returned to OSH with the tribe every year until 2002, first in a Cessna 140 (N89173), which replaced the Luscombe 8A, and then a Piper PA-22/20 (N6671B), acquired after a transfer to southeast coastal Georgia (KSSI). Every trip routed through a little bit of heaven — Bill and Janis’ grass strip in Chenoa, Illinois, where we’d rendezvous for a pre-OSH celebration and fly out together the next day. If you wanted to camp together, you had to arrive together.
Post-9/11, I assumed duties in the western United States and moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, but regrettably, there was no room in the inn at KLRU; no hangar availability. Like 70 percent of public airports in the United States, there was a hangar waiting list, and it did not move fast; I was number 68. Too nice an airplane to tie down outside, my Pacer went to its next steward, who has treated it right. With no airplane and a 24/7 job with extensive travel, I put away my E-6B, grateful to have flown in beautiful places and for the many fine people I’d met along the way. My father later asked me whether I missed flying. I told him, “I miss the people.”
Piper PA-18-95 (N1380C) was born on April 7, 1953. An early Super Cub, it shared many similarities with its predecessor, the PA-11, including no flaps and a Continental 95-hp engine. Lighter than later Super Cubs, with 36 gallons of gas divided between two wing tanks, it had very long legs. Between 1953 and 2017, it wore five registrations and had more owners. It arrived at 11LL, its final home, wearing N666G.
Nicknamed Yellows — because it wore five different shades — the Cub immediately acquired a fresh engine. Then, in 2021, Bill decided it was time for new clothes. The disrobing was accomplished at 11LL with the help of Bernie Ockuly (EAA 93106), who, in 1998 with his daughter Sarah, flew his Ercoupe from Medina, Ohio, to the Arctic Circle in Alaska and back. Then he built an RV-7A. For his dedication to aviation, and more than 50 years and 3,500 hours of safe flying, the FAA recognized him with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in 2021.
I was again a pilot, brought there by The Sweetest Cub, the generosity of friends Bill and Janis Thacker, lifted by the memory of my father and Lou Fields, both gone west.
An airline captain, Bill is also an A&P/IA mechanic who has won Best of Type at Oshkosh for three airplanes: a Luscombe (N71968), Cessna 180 (N4750B), and PA-18 (N3286Z). Upon inspection, he decided to take the fuselage and one wing up to South Dakota, where Dakota Cubs rebuilt the wing using its STC’d ribs and welded some safety modifications into the fuselage cage. Bill believes they are essential for any Cub. These include moving the lap belts to the floor structure, adding brackets for inertia-reel shoulder harnesses, and the all-important X-brace at the top of the cabin. These accomplished, he brought the airplane home.
In the fall of 2021, sandblasting gun in hand, Josh Fisher (EAA 1167257), who flies a 767, cleaned the fuselage tubing, and then, never having used a paint gun, epoxy-painted it. Janis spent the fall blasting corroded but serviceable bits and pieces in the booth so they could be primed and painted. Next came the usual control routing and pulley replacement, best done undressed, and then the re-cover. Bill chose the waterborne Stewart Systems process. The owner, Andy Humphrey, is super easy to reach on the phone, always ready to answer questions. And it’s eco-friendly; you can work with the products all day long and not feel ill, and the glue affords a long work time to reposition things before it sets up. It’s just really great stuff.
Fuselage dressed, Janis began the buildup, first brushing on a coat of EkoBond. Then came the UV protector EkoFill, followed by white EkoPrime. This was in December, the central Midwest winter in full force, but the hangar was heated, and Bill had built a new paint booth so work could progress without seasonal interruption.
I had maintained contact with, but had not seen, Bill or Janis since our last OSH meetup in 2002. Shortly before Christmas, I called and suggested visiting on my way back to New Mexico after time with family back east, and they said, “Come on!” So, the week after Christmas, my English springer spaniel Ollie and I drove to 11LL. During the week we spent becoming reacquainted, Bill and I sanded the EkoPrime, and he sprayed the fuselage with Cub Yellow.
And one other thing — before beginning the drive back to New Mexico, on a miserably cold day, in marginal VFR, the grass strip covered in snow, Bill (also a CFI-I) and I made a brief ascension in his son’s C-172 (N9870G) — my first flight as a pilot in 18 years.
It was late January 2021, and I began to think about flying again. So I acquired a new third-class medical, and on January 25, in an aircraft I had no time in, I did a biennial flight review with Cody Ash, a CFI-I in the Las Cruces Aviators Club.
While at home, Bill and I talked on the phone and emailed several times about the Cub. His plan was to accomplish the restoration in stages, only re-covering the rebuilt wing, cleaning up the other, and spraying both in the same paint. Still, I suggested he consider restoring both wings and told him I’d come back and help. And so it came to pass, in mid-February, through a three-day blizzard, Ollie and I drove back to 11LL. We arrived on February 17, remaining through Easter — six weeks.
When covering two wings, the first is the “trainer.” I messed up and had to pull the fabric off the first wing, and then there was the other, covered perfectly, that I forgot to install the nav/strobe light wiring in. Checklist? Hmmm. After both wings were covered, and we’d watched a YouTube video several times to relearn the Staggerwing knot, Bill and I powered through rib-stitching. Listening to James Taylor on Spotify, two people can stitch a wing in eight hours.
As deep winter faded to not-yetspring, and snow yielded to grass, members of the OSH tribe began dropping in. First, Josh returned and helped to apply EkoFill to one wing. Then Dell McCoy and Priscilla “Purr’s” Kinney (EAA 143711) spent a few days at 11LL. Dell applied tapes on the wings while Purr’s drove the tractor and rolled the 2,200-foot grass strip. In the same period, Max Foor (EAA 1452254) popped in periodically and joined the focus of the moment, often tedious stuff that had
to be done perfectly. Max’s first airplane ride was when he was 7 years old, with Bill, at 11LL. Now a registered nurse who has crewed on a Learjet air ambulance, he determined he’d also like to be a professional pilot and cruised through his private to CFI-I and CMEL in one year.
After filling the weave and priming, it was time to “make yellow,” painting the wings and feathers and applying for the new registration number. Its sixth — N9193Z — represents the birth years of Bill and Janis’ son, Jake (EAA 1215177), a pilot and A&P/IA, and daughter Jessica (EAA 1247467), a regional airline captain. When I first met them, they were 6 and 4 years old. Time does fly.
As everyone who has restored an airplane knows, there is “big” stuff and “little” stuff, and there’s an awful lot more of the little stuff. We spent a lot of time working on the little stuff, checking off items as we made it through the list, and adding more we’d forgotten about. And there were the usual “Is this good enough?” “No.” “Okay, we’ll make it again” moments. A lot of them. But there was also a lot of fun.
Easter weekend, the house was packed and the grass strip was busy. While snow was still possible, and did fall a week later, the weather permitted pulling out a couple of airplanes and running ’round the patch. I went up with Josh (a CFI-I) in a Luscombe 8A (N71698) belonging to retired airline captain and tribe member Bud Schrautemeyer (EAA 632911). My three obligatory takeoffs and landings brought back both happy 8A memories and tailwheel currency.
On April 5, Ollie and I loaded the car and began the drive back to New Mexico, leaving Bill to do things neither requiring nor benefiting from “help”: hanging the
engine, building the panel and electrical system, and flying international trips for the airline.
The final push! Ollie and I returned to 11LL in mid-May. Then, it was time to assemble N9193Z. When I walked into the hangar, it was inspiring to see it on its gear, with the boot cowl and engine mounted. Then it was time to hang the wings and feathers and install the interior, door, windows, and fairings.
For the big day, farmer Jim Killian (EAA 418534) and his two sons-in-law, who live just down the road in Lexington, Illinois, came to help. In an hour, N9193Z had its wings on. It was not nearly done, but the Cub looked splendid and became more complete each day. Finally, at the month’s end, N9193Z now entirely in hand, Ollie and I returned home.
They say the last 10 percent takes 90 percent of the time. Maybe, but in this case, Bill had it ready to test-fly in June, only eight months after bringing the rebuilt wing and fuselage back to 11LL from South Dakota.
Bill took it up for the first post-restoration flight on June 22, 2021, and sent me a photo. While not there in body, I was in spirit. When we had talked seven months earlier, all he wanted was his Cub back in the air by spring, and it was, but even better than he’d initially planned. Next up, AirVenture ’21 and OSH!
Everyone in EAA either has flown to or has dreamed of flying to AirVenture. Bill had done it for decades in several commendable and awarded planes. Then, for AirVenture ’21, he asked me to fly N9193Z up to OSH. While
I had flown to OSH many times, I had not flown cross-country in nearly two decades, and he asked me to fly the Cub up. What a gift! How did Paul Poberezny put it so often? “It’s not just about the planes; it’s about the people.”
Our tribe camped 28 airplanes in Vintage aircraft parking, a record for us. Having missed AirVenture ’20 due to COVID-19, it was a joyous reunion for the entire EAA family and us. For me, it was also a restoration. I was again a pilot, brought there by The Sweetest Cub, the generosity of friends Bill and Janis Thacker, lifted by the memory of my father and Lou Fields, both gone west.
Had N9193Z been restored by Bill alone, it would have been perfect, and perhaps he might have won another award. But instead, he shared his Cub with the tribe — mentoring, teaching, and trusting — and it turned out mighty lovely. I know that’s what Paul would have wanted. He used to dance the polka with us.
There was one other event that made AirVenture ’21 very special. In 2015, Josh came to AirVenture with a friend of the tribe and there met Jessica Thacker. Six years later, on what is traditionally “Brat Night,” surrounded by family and friends, Josh asked Jessica to be his best friend and spouse forever. The wedding is planned for September 2022 at Thacker Airport, where she and her brother Jake were both raised and learned to fly. It will be the third wedding in the hangar.
Why The Sweetest Cub? A few weeks later, after OSH ’21, it was time for Bill to hang up his airline wings (most of them, as he is still carrying passengers around the country in EAA’s Ford Tri-Motor!). After an incredible career flying Beech 18s to 747s, and 35 years flying with United Airlines, he did his final airline landing in the Boeing 787. Then, of course, there was a party at
And up we went, and that is when I decided to name this Cub The Sweetest Cub. … Everything about this airplane was just sweet. I landed with a massive smile on my face.
11LL, and this tribe likes to party. We gather all together for a long weekend with our airplanes and friends. Good food, drinks, and a lot of flying! This was my opportunity to photograph the PA-18 and, of course, fly it.
Bill, in his usual generosity, told me to just take it. But, of course, I couldn’t accept that (I did accept that the next day). I demanded to be checked out. And up we went, and that is when I decided to name this Cub The Sweetest Cub. It is just sweet. The flight controls are light; the 90 hp makes the right amount of power combined with the light weight. And the performance is smooth all the way, not too much like a 150-hp Super Cub, not sluggish like a loaded J-3 in summer. Everything about this airplane was just sweet. I landed with a massive smile on my face.
If you happen to be in central Illinois, drop by 11LL. There will be some awfully fine people to welcome you, very likely some restoration for you to do, and if the weather is cooperative, a hop around the patch in The Sweetest Cub. It’s what we do in EAA.
BY SPARKY BARNES
Jim Kjeldgaard has always liked working on mechanical things, thanks in part to growing up on a farm in Nebraska. He acquired his love of aviation from his father, who earned his pilot certificate when he got out of the service after World War II. “My dad had a J-3 Cub; then he bought a Luscombe. I loved to fly,” Jim said, “so when my dad said, ‘Maybe you should go to A&P school, because there’s not enough farm here for all of us,’ that’s what I did. I went out to the old ordnance plant at Sidney, Nebraska, where they had an A&P school.”
While Jim was learning the intricacies of aircraft maintenance, he and his classmates worked on a Stinson 10-A. Fifty years later, that memory surfaced in the forefront of his mind in a rather compelling way. With a nostalgic yearning casting its spell, Jim soon found himself the proud owner of a 10-A project. In hindsight, he joked good-naturedly, “Flashbacks like that can cost a lot of money!”
The conglomeration of Stinson pieces and parts that made up the project weren’t much to admire at that point. In fact, the remains of the tired-but-spunky little Stinson begged to be restored to the sparkling beauty it was in 1941, and is now — except now it’s also much spunkier than the original.
Jim first learned of NC31594 when he was rebuilding a Taylorcraft for a customer who happened to own the 10-A. So Jim traveled down to southern Nebraska to close the deal and haul the Stinson 10-A home. He then commenced its five-year restoration by taking an inventory. “It was just a pile of parts on a trailer, and I had to figure out where things went and how they fit together,” Jim said, “because it’s just not quite as common an airplane as a Cub.”
Fortunately, Jim is an A&P/IA mechanic, so he not only had the skills and talent to tackle such a project, but also had a great place to work on it — he’s president of Fremont Aviation, the FBO at Fremont Municipal Airport, Nebraska (KFET). He’s restored a number of other airplanes throughout the past 50 years, taking on restoration projects as fill-in type jobs. Additionally, he has a pair of helping hands in the form of his son, Greg, who is also an A&P/IA.
“We didn’t work on it full time; it was just a part-time thing, since we’re busy doing everything else around our FBO,” Jim said. “This was the first Stinson I’d ever restored, and I was pretty impressed with the quality of the construction for 1941.”
On April 16, 1941, NC31594 rolled out of the Stinson Aircraft factory, a division of Vultee Aircraft Inc., at Wayne, Michigan. It was one of hundreds that ushered in the Stinson Voyager series, of which fewer than 70 are listed on the FAA Registry. The three-place 10-A (Voyager 90) followed the Model 105 in production, and it was the forerunner of the later Stinson 108 Flying Station Wagon.
“This was the first Stinson I’d ever restored, and I was pretty impressed with the quality of the construction for 1941.”
— Jim Kjeldgaard
JimKjeldgaard with the Stinson 10-A he restored.
The 10-A somewhat resembled the 105 in its general appearance, with its cantilever tail group and landing gear. But the 10-A’s visibility was thoughtfully enhanced for its pilot by a shortened, sloped engine cowling and a smoothly contoured windshield. Its walnut-grained panel sported room for a radio and glove box, and insulation helped soundproof the cabin. “Environmental controls” included vents in the wing leading edges, sliding windows, and a heater. The luxurious interior was comfy and cozy, and a third seat was behind the pilot’s seat, facing the right side of the cabin.
The late Owen Gassaway, who was president of Florida Airmotive Inc. at Lantana airport, personally remembered the Voyager’s debut in 1941, when nearly two dozen were sold in the Lantana area. Owen shared his recollections with the author in 2003: “That airplane was really one of the first automobile marketing [strategies] used in the aviation industry, and I still have a ‘flipand-tell’ board that the traveling Stinson rep used. Rather than having the regular doped fabric interior, Stinson came up with a very tastefully upholstered interior, along with control yokes that resembled a car’s steering wheel. And it had a starter button on the floor just like cars of that period. There was a tremendous amount of styling done with the airplane, and they gave it Madison Avenue-style marketing.”
The 10-A was inherently stable and easy to fly, with ball-bearing mounted aileron and elevator controls. Leading edge wing slots added to the airplane’s safety by providing greater lateral control at slow speeds and helping to prevent unintentional spins. Three-position wing flaps enabled it to fly into and out of short fields, and the shock-absorbing oleo-spring gear struts, along with hydraulic brakes and a steerable tail wheel, facilitated ground operations.
Most of NC31594’s welded-steel airframe was in decent shape, and Jim determined that it just needed some minor repairs. The top and bottom wood framework for the fuselage was completely rebuilt, which was a rather time-consuming task. The horizontal stabilizer was another story — it’s the known weak spot of the 10-As, since they were constructed of wood and had a tendency to rot when the airplane was stored outdoors. Jim completely rebuilt the horizontal stabilizer and skinned it with aircraft-grade plywood. The wood spars in the wings were in good shape, and a few of the aluminum ribs needed repair.
Luckily, the nose bowl was still just fine and only needed to be stripped and repainted. But Jim did have to do a bit of sheet metal work when he fabricated a complete new top and bottom engine cowling and boot cowl. Numerous small parts were in good original condition, such as the chrome for the nose bowl, door handles, and even the tail wheel.
After researching and poring through old Stinson ads to discover what the interior details should look like, Jim enlisted assistance from a friend at Sky’s Seat Cover Center in Fremont. “He does a lot of antique and custom cars, and he did my interior work, including the wool headliner,” Jim said. “One of the articles I read said the 10-A had a walnut panel, so I got a chunk of walnut and made that. The seat frames were original and had never been repainted, so we tried to match the glove box door to that brown color. I’ve got a third seat for the airplane, but I took it out because I couldn’t put anybody back there anyway.”
Original items inside the cabin included the flap lever, both sets of rudder pedals (with the word “Stinson” still legible on them), the aluminum scuff shield on the door jam, and the assist handles. The windows and windshield needed to be replaced, so he ordered new ones from Great Lakes Aero Products in Flint, Michigan.
There were just a few things that Jim wanted to change on the Stinson — with safety and performance ever present in his mind. “I did a Cleveland wheel-and-brake conversion and used the kit that fits on J-3s and other airplanes that have an inch-and-a-quarter axle. It just bolts right on,” Jim said. “Of course, I had to get a Form 337 field approval for that.”
The modification he most wanted became the worst challenge that Jim encountered during the entire restoration — obtaining approval to install a different engine on the 10-A. “I put the 150-horse Lycoming conversion on it and
1941 STINSON MODEL 10-A (VOYAGER 90) ATC 738
NOT ELIGIBLE TO BE FLOWN BY A SPORT PILOT
got a one-time STC from the FAA, which was not easy to do,” Jim said. “That’s what took a lot of time; I had it all done but had to wait on that until I could start flying it.”
Despite that delay, Jim felt pretty lucky because he managed to find a designated engineering representative “down at Wichita; he had retired from the FAA and is an antiquer who has a Stearman and a Cessna 195. He said he would help me, and so he took this project on, and together, we got it done. If it wouldn’t have been for him, I probably would have never gotten it done. The trouble is, I’m used to the old days back 50 years ago, where you’d call your local FAA office, and the guy would come out and look at the airplane, and say, ‘I see no reason that won’t work.’ Then he’d sign it off. But those days are gone.”
The 10-A originally had one 20-gallon wing tank, but a second tank was optional. NC31594 has the full 40 gallons of fuel to quench the thirst of its Lycoming. On his way to Oshkosh from Fremont (about 382 nm), Jim said, “We were making 105 or 110 knots coming over, and it took us about four hours to get here from our home base.”
Fully aware of the role in history that some Stinson 10-As filled, Jim set about researching this NC31594 to determine whether it was flown as a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) airplane. “I ran the N-number on a website where you can look for an old picture of the airplane, and I
found it,” Jim said. “It had a military airplane sitting behind it, but I don’t know for sure if it was a CAP airplane. The logbooks show it was up in New Jersey once upon a time [where a CAP base was]. But I just kind of thought, let’s go ahead and make it look like one.”
During WWII, the Armed Forces used Stinson 10-As, as well as other lightplanes, for a variety of missions. Several 10-As reportedly fulfilled observation and patrol duties in France during the early days of the war. Stateside, the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) used the 10-As for flight training. “Experienced Civilian Pilot Training Operators now place their chief reliance on Stinsons for cross-country work … No other plane is more competent than a Stinson for this vital job.” (Popular Aviation, September 1941)
In addition to its use as a trainer, the Stinson 10-A Voyager was used by the Civil Air Patrol, which was founded in December 1941. A call to duty was extended to all civilian pilots: “General Curry made it clear shortly after the CAP was formed that every one of the country’s 3,000 women flyers who enrolled would be utilized to the fullest. ‘There will be absolutely no discrimination in the Civil Air Patrol, and each member is to be accepted and assigned to duties strictly upon the basis of his or her experience and record of performance,’ said General Curry.” (The Aircraft Year Book for 1942)
In March 1942, the CAP Coastal Patrol began operations to protect the East Coast from German submarines, which were sinking scores of ships, including tankers and freighters, off Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The military, however, questioned the value of civilian anti-submarine patrols and decided to evaluate their effectiveness for a period of 90 days at three experimental bases: Atlantic City, New Jersey; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; and Palm Beach (later Lantana), Florida. The latter was home of the 3rd Task Force, where a “fleet” of two dozen yellow-and-blue Stinson 10-As were based.
The 10-As had an advantage over many other lightplanes of that era because they were radio capable, which allowed two-way communications. When a civilian pilot and observer spotted enemy invaders on the beaches or submarines (U-boats) off the coastline, they contacted coastal military bases to send out available Army or Navy bomber forces.
The early CAP operations were funded by CAP members themselves, as well as donations
“My son, Greg, made the ‘bomb’ that hangs under the belly from a piece of irrigation pipe, a spinner, and a piece of flat aluminum; he’s really good at welding aluminum.”
— Jim Kjeldgaard
from the “sink-a-sub clubs,” which were organized by private citizens, and later by major oil companies. The coastal patrol was active for 18 months, from its inception in early 1942 through August 31, 1943 (but CAP operations continued to fulfill other wartime missions on an ongoing basis throughout the war). During the coastal patrol, CAP developed an impressive record by sighting 173 U-boats, damaging 10, sinking two, and dropping bombs or depth charges on 57. Notably, a Stinson 10-A was credited with sinking one submarine.
The persistent presence of the coastal patrols helped wield a noteworthy defense; enemy submarines had withdrawn from the East Coast by the end of August 1943. Reportedly, a German officer later remarked that the U-boats were withdrawn “because of those damned little red and yellow airplanes.”
By 1943, CAP coastal patrols had flown 244,600 hours. They had summoned help for 91 ships in distress and aided in the rescue of 363 survivors of submarine attacks. By the end of WWII, CAP volunteer pilots had logged more than 500,000 hours. Ninety of their aircraft were lost, and 64 volunteers died while serving their country. The Stinson 10-A was praised for its CAP role in the May 1945 issue of Flying: “… Here at home, another Stinson plane — the Voyager — has carried out 65 percent of the operations of the Civil Air Patrol.”
Jim once again dug into the annals of history in order to replicate the CAP livery for his 10-A. Though other color combinations had been used, he decided upon the brilliant yellow-and-blue scheme. “I used Super Flight coatings,” Jim said, “and I painted the airplane with just a regular old Binks paint gun — I’m old-style! My son, Greg, made the ‘bomb’
that hangs under the belly from a piece of irrigation pipe, a spinner, and a piece of flat aluminum; he’s really good at welding aluminum.”
One of the other finishing touches is the large Civil Air Patrol insignia on the fuselage and under the wing. Another is the CAP’s 3rd Task Force insignia on the boot cowl, depicting a caricature of an aircraft carrying a bomb directly over a periscope projecting from the ocean. The insignia was originally created and painted by famed cartoonist Zack Mosley.
That insignia is symbolic of the armament the lightplanes were finally authorized to use. The Stinsons and other privately owned aircraft didn’t start out flying the patrols with bombs and depth charges strapped under their fuselages; there’s a little story about how that came about. Owen Gassaway explained that “in May 1942, there was a patrol that went out of Lantana, flown by Doc Rinker and Tom Manning, and they patrolled up to Banana
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River [Cape Canaveral]. In a shallow inlet up there, they came across a German submarine that was beached. They had come in rather shallow and were sitting up on a sand bar when the tide went down. Well, these guys knew what it was, and they were yelling and shouting on their radio, ‘We’ve got a submarine — it’s beached here, and it’s trying to get off, and it can’t.’ It was an easy target, but they weren’t armed. By the time a bomber had been located and was flown to the site, the tide had risen and that submarine was gone. Well, the commander of this base here in Palm Beach happened to have been a personal friend of Gen. ‘Hap’ Arnold. He picks up the phone and says, ‘Hap, we just missed a submarine. We couldn’t get anybody to support us in time, and we talked to everybody on the radio. The story goes that right after that phone call, Hap Arnold authorized the carrying of bombs on Civil Air Patrol airplanes.”
And so it was that the venerable Stinson 10-A was outfitted with a 100-pound bomb. According to an account by Zack Mosley in his book Brave Coward Zack, Civil Aeronautics Administration airworthiness inspectors were called upon to figure out how to safely install bomb racks underneath several types of lightplanes, and determine how much stress their small airframes could handle.
Two lengths of baling wire were affixed to the bombs and depth charges, according to Mosley’s account, and the wires were routed directly through the floorboard, terminating in a yellow or red handle. Apparently it was the observer’s duty to pull the red handle, which armed the bomb, and the yellow handle, which released the bomb from its shackles.
Civilian aviators and their lightplanes bravely answered the unique call of duty with a singular devotion to their homeland during WWII by flying and patrolling the vulnerable East and Gulf coasts. Jim and his son, Greg, are glad they had the opportunity to restore NC31594 in CAP livery, thereby helping preserve the colorful history and noteworthy service rendered by venerable veteran Voyagers during that era.
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THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS month’s column is to give some tips on preparing the aircraft structure for covering. With modern covering materials it is possible for the fabric to last 30 years or more. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare the structure to last that long. Keep this in mind during restoration. First, the aircraft should have been assembled and rigged at least once prior to covering. Figure 1 shows my Command-Aire assembled for a preliminary weight-and-balance check. Numerous precover checks were made before covering.
Some of my restorations require partial assembly at least twice, followed by a complete assembly. When I restored my Command-Aire there was a question as to
exactly where the center of gravity should be located. So I covered everything except the fuselage, assembled the aircraft, put it on the scales (see Figure 2) and weighed it so I could compute the empty-weight center of gravity (CG) location. The calculations showed I should locate the battery in the aft section of the airplane. The finished product had the CG located so the trim handle is in the center of its travel during cruise flight. So pre-assembly is well worth the effort!
Before covering, assemble all the paperwork that will be needed for filling out Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Form 337, weight-and-balance data, and the logbooks. This is also a good time to check the moment arm measurements of required, optional, and special equipment that may have been installed in the aircraft. This data will be used when computing the weight-and-balance report. Draft the entries for the logbooks and Form 337 major repair/alteration data.
Having completed the above, it’s now time to do the actual inspection. So here we go! Here’s my checklist:
FUSELAGE
• All controls subject to movement work properly and can be moved the full range of operation.
• Electrical system wiring harness clamped/tied — no chafing. Power on system function check.
• Instrument system lines clamped — no chafing. Airspeed indicator works properly (blow gently into pitot line). Instrument range markings are installed. Placarding (if any) is properly displayed.
• Brakes properly installed; lines clamped. No chafing of lines.
• Fuel system tank secure; fuel lines clamped — no chafing. Selector valve operates correctly; placarding installed.
• Seat belts installed correctly; belts/buckles conform to TSOC22. No interference or chafing on structure.
• Seat installations for security. Seat belts (and shoulder harness) in proper location to secure around lower torso of person.
• Tail wheel locking/steering mechanism works properly. No chafing or binding anywhere. Full range of travel. Tail wheel moves with rudder movement (steerable only).
• All wood parts secured for permanent installation.
Figure 1A difficult task during restoration is to think ahead so problems with assembly do not rear their ugly heads later. One such problem on my Command-Aire was the previously mentioned battery location. Because the ship was never designed to have a battery installed, there was no factory guidance. Where to mount it while avoiding interference with control system components was a concern. So think ahead and ask yourself, “If I put it here, will anything interfere with it?”
Brace wires tensioned properly, no chafing, and secured in center. Jam nuts tight; clevis pins safetied. Note: Prior to installation, wings should have already been trammeled.
• All bolts and nuts tight and safetied.
• Control cable/push-pull tubes installed. No chafing on structure. Check for the location of rib lacing cord around internal control components. Check problem lacing areas.
• All nail/rivet heads covered with tape. Sharp areas that could chafe fabric are covered with cloth tape, the same material used to tape athlete’s ankles, etc.
• Inter rib bracing installed correctly (if used); all ribs straight.
• Navigation light assembly and wiring properly installed, wires secured to structure, and no chafe points.
• All glue joints secure; structure well sealed with varnish, particularly spar ends.
• Wing or center-section fuel tank for proper installation, lines clamped, and no chafing. If possible conduct a leakage test of all lines and fittings from upper wing tanks to fuel strainer.
Wings can present a unique problem in that they must not only bolt together, but the trailing edges must match, along with root ribs and leading edges. In Figure 4 you can see that I constructed one wing completely, with no leading-edge skin installed.
Then I assembled the second wing and bolted it to the completed wing. The wing was trammeled and all ribs and gussets glued in place. When it reached the same point of completion as the first wing, I separated the two structures; the bolts would almost slide out, requiring a light tap of a plastic mallet.
This is an important step in constructing wings or any other structure that must ultimately bolt together. When the leading-edge plywood was glued in place, care was taken to make sure the wing spars were level and parallel. Failing to do this step might
result in a warped wing, which would cause the ship to exhibit poor flying qualities.
EMPENNAGE
• If not already completed, check the fit of all components to the fuselage.
• Check the trim system for proper operation, correct movement, and range of travel.
• All hardware tight and safetied.
• Navigation light and wiring properly secured.
CONTROLS
• All cables and push-pull rods that are installed are properly safetied; cables tensioned correctly. Note: Tension all cables with the surface clamped in neutral position.
• Bellcranks and push-pull tubes move in proper direction.
• For cables, single-wrap safety is approved, but double wrap is preferred. Always use .041–inch-diameter safety wire. Either brass or stainless steel is approved.
1. Lightly sand all wood surfaces where fabric touches; sand just enough to remove any roughness.
2. Using a wooden straight edge, check all areas where the fabric may touch the structure. When tightened, the fabric sags between the ribs and stringers. Formers/bracing not properly trimmed could protrude above the ribs or stringers, causing lumps in the fabric after shrinking.
If not already completed, sketch the opening location in the fabric covering for rudder, aileron, and elevator cables; trim cables; and tail wheel steering cables, etc. Mark where the aileron push-pull tubes penetrate the fuselage fabric in line with the aileron torque tube control. And don’t forget the pitot/static lines that penetrate the fuselage covering from the lower wing. Be sure to mark the locations.
The structure’s inspection should be made by the supervising airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanic who holds an inspection authorization. Approval for cover should be given and recorded on FAA Form 337. The inspecting mechanic may make an entry, “Inspecting left and right upper and lower wings this date. Okay to cover,” or the entire aircraft may be approved for cover.
This is only a suggested guide for precover inspection of a typical aircraft. Inspection points may vary based on the specific type of aircraft, equipment installed, etc. But the bottom line is to prepare the structure for long-term service and make sure that nothing in the airplane rubs together during the vibrations caused by flight. Correcting this later can be a real pain.
I say again, the aircraft structure must be prepared for at least 30 years of service; that is what I always think of before the fabric is applied. Since radial engines tend to run with some vibration, it’s always a good idea to make sure nothing rubs together, because over time it will wear. Either clamp it or pad and tie it together so the parts cannot rub together. The precover inspection should be thorough, and every detail should be inspected.
Good luck to all you restorers, and happy flying!
Tony’s Red Carpet Express gets the word out a little differently. It uses flightline operations, the Red Barn hospitality desk, signage, handheld radios, business cards, bulletin boards, and cellphones. So, if you land at AirVenture and park on the Vintage flightline, transportation is available for you and your gear to any location on the AirVenture grounds.
And on another note, congratulations to our two Vintage Volunteers of the Year. Jim Brown (yes, the same Jim Brown of Tony’s Red Carpet Express fame!) was selected as the Behind the Scenes Volunteer of the Year, and Michael Surls was selected as the Flightline Volunteer of the Year.
I would like to mention that Jim Brown is part of our work party group that meets three times per year to maintain the Vintage properties. Jim showed up by himself last fall and completed painting the exterior upper sections of the Vintage Hangar. All of the painting was done from a ladder. Wow! Thanks, Jim!
And a special thanks to Michael, who ramrodded and supervised the engine overhaul of Antique Denver’s flightline VW at AirVenture 2022. The overhaul was completed in record time! (As an aside, each and every piece of equipment we have is needed, and when something goes
down for unscheduled maintenance during the convention, a multitude of problems are created.) Thanks, Michael!
These volunteer awards are really quite an honor, as Vintage had a total of 642 talented volunteers (a new record!) who worked a total of 32,504 hours during the two weeks surrounding AirVenture 2022.
Jim and Michael will receive their awards at the fall VAA board of directors meeting in Oshkosh. Again, congratulations to Jim and Michael!
Blue skies!
AIRCRAFT
1948 Stinson108/4-place/ in parts: have wings, doors, struts, tail, and seats & frame $5,000. 906-283-3853
BOOKS
“To Look Upward: One Flight Instructors Journey” Rob Mixon Amazon
WANTED
Set of plans for the Davis DX-1 Starship Alpha, flying wing demonstrator; rfhowley@msn.com
Manuals for the Culver PQ-14A, PQ-14B, TD2C-1. Fred Howley: 719-495-2541 or rfhowley@msn.com
COPYRIGHT © 2022 BY THE EAA VINTAGE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
VINTAGE AIRPLANE (USPS 062-750; ISSN 0091-6943) copyright © 2022 by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, Inc., is published bi-monthly by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, Inc., EAA Editorial Department, 3000 Poberezny Road, Oshkosh, WI, 54902. Periodicals postage is paid at Oshkosh, WI, 54901, and additional mailing offices. U.S. membership rate for the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association, Inc. is $45 per 12-month period for EAA members, and $55 for non-EAA members.
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PRESIDENT Susan Dusenbury 1374 Brook Cove Rd. Walnut Cove, NC 27052 336-591-3931 sr6sue@aol.com
VICE PRESIDENT Dan Knutson 106 Tena Marie Circle Lodi, WI 53555 608-354-6101 lodicub@charter.net
SECRETARY
Dan Wood 75 Walton Place Dr. Newnan, GA 30263 678-458-3459 fly170@gmail.com
TREASURER
Paul Kyle 1273 Troy Ct. Mason, OH 45040 262-844-3351 paul_e_kyle@hotmail.com
Jerry Brown Greenwood, IN 317-627-9428 lbrown4906@aol.com
George Daubner Oconomowoc, WI 262-560-1949 gdaubner@eaa.org
Jon Goldenbaum Riverside, CA 951-203-0190 jon@conaircraft.com
John Hofmann Columbus, WI 608-239-0903 john@cubclub.org
Ray L. Johnson Marion, IN 765-669-3544 rayjohnson@indy.rr.com
Steve Nesse Albert Lea, MN 507-383-2850 stnes2009@live.com
Earl Nicholas Libertyville, IL 847-367-9667 eman46@gmail.com
Joe Norris Oshkosh, WI 920-279-2855 wacoflyer@gmail.com
Tim Popp Sun City, AZ 269-760-1544 tlpopp@frontier.com
Jesse Clement jesseclement1@gmail.com
Luke Lachendro avidaviator98@gmail.com
Kathy McGurran kmcgurran@aol.com
Kevin McKenzie kevinamckenzie@yahoo.com
Charlie Waterhouse charles.e.waterhouse@gmail.com
Maxwell Wenglarz waco20900@gmail.com
DIRECTORS EMERITUS
David Bennett antiquer@inreach.com
Robert C. Brauer photopilot@aol.com
Dave Clark davecpd@att.net
Phil Coulson rcoulson516@cs.com
Ronald C. Fritz itzfray@gmail.com
Robert D. “Bob” Lumley rlumley1@wi.rr.com
Gene Morris genemorris@charter.net
Amy Lemke alemke@eaa.org
